1.
Victor (mascot)
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Victor is the mascot and logo for the comedy festival Just for Laughs. It was designed by Vittorio Fiorucci of the Canadian Design Resource company, the image was inspired by a monster that preys on Montreal. The logo can be seen across the world on posters, T-shirts, event site markers, costumes, in 2005 the character was redesigned by animator Alan Best at the behest of advertising agency Cossette as part of a comprehensive graphic overhaul of the Just For Laughs brand. According to Best, the new Victor was closely based on festival founder Gilbert Rozon himself, in 2007, Rose was created, a character to be the wife of Victor. Culture of Quebec Just for Laughs Museum Official website of acts and tickets Montreal Just For Laughs video portal Official CBC website Just for Laughs at the Internet Movie Database
2.
Montreal
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Montreal, officially Montréal, is the most populous municipality in the Canadian province of Quebec and the 2nd-most populous in Canada as a whole. Originally called Ville-Marie, or City of Mary, it is believed to be named after Mount Royal, the city has a distinct four-season continental climate, with warm-to-hot summers and cold, snowy winters. In 2016, Montreal had a population of 1,704,694, Montreals metropolitan area had a population of 4,098,927 and a population of 1,958,257 in the urban agglomeration, with all of the municipalities on the Island of Montreal included. Legally a French-speaking city,60. 5% of Montrealers speak French at home,21. 2% speak English and 19. 8% speak neither, Montreal is one of the most bilingual cities in Quebec and Canada, with 56% of the population able to speak both official languages. Montreal is the second-largest primarily French-speaking city in the world after Paris, historically the commercial capital of Canada, it was surpassed in population and economic strength by Toronto in the 1970s. It remains an important centre of commerce, aerospace, finance, pharmaceuticals, technology, design, education, culture, tourism, gaming, film, Montreal was also named a UNESCO City of Design. In 2009, Montreal was named North Americas leading host city for international events, according to the 2009 preliminary rankings of the International Congress. According to the 2015 Global Liveability Ranking by the Economist Intelligence Unit, in the 2017 edition of their Best Student Cities ranking, Quacquarelli Symonds ranked Montreal as the worlds best city to study abroad. Also, Montreal has 11 universities with 170,000 students enrolled, the Greater Montréal region has the highest number of university students per capita among all metropolitan areas in North America. It is the only Canadian city to have held the Summer Olympics, currently, the city hosts the Canadian Grand Prix of Formula One, the Montreal International Jazz Festival and the Just for Laughs festival. In 2012, Montreal was ranked as a Beta+ world city, in Kanien’kéha, or Mohawk language, the island is called Tiohtià, ke Tsi or Ka-wé-no-te. In Anishinaabemowin, or Ojibwe language, the land is called Mooniyaang, though the city was first named by French colonizers Ville Marie, or City of Mary, its current name comes from Mount Royal, the triple-peaked hill in the heart of the city. The most popular theory is that the name derives from Mont Réal, Cartiers 1535 diary entry, naming the mountain, according to the Commission de toponymie du Québec and the Geographical Names Board of Canada, Canadian place names have only one official form. Thus, Montreal is officially spelled with an accent over the e in both English and French. In practice, this is limited to governmental uses. English-speaking Montrealers, including English-language media, regularly omit the accent when writing in English, archaeological evidence demonstrates that First Nations native people occupied the island of Montreal as early as 4,000 years ago. By the year AD1000, they had started to cultivate maize, within a few hundred years, they had built fortified villages. Archeologists have found evidence of their habitation there and at locations in the valley since at least the 14th century
3.
Quebec
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Quebec is the second-most populous province of Canada and the only one to have a predominantly French-speaking population, with French as the sole provincial official language. Quebec is Canadas largest province by area and its second-largest administrative division and it also shares maritime borders with Nunavut, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia. Quebec is Canadas second-most populous province, after Ontario, most inhabitants live in urban areas near the Saint Lawrence River between Montreal and Quebec City, the capital. Approximately half of Quebec residents live in the Greater Montreal Area, the Nord-du-Québec region, occupying the northern half of the province, is sparsely populated and inhabited primarily by Aboriginal peoples. Even in central Quebec at comparatively southerly latitudes winters are severe in inland areas, Quebec independence debates have played a large role in the politics of the province. Parti Québécois governments held referendums on sovereignty in 1980 and 1995, in 2006, the House of Commons of Canada passed a symbolic motion recognizing the Québécois as a nation within a united Canada. These many industries have all contributed to helping Quebec become an economically influential province within Canada, early variations in the spelling of the name included Québecq and Kébec. French explorer Samuel de Champlain chose the name Québec in 1608 for the colonial outpost he would use as the seat for the French colony of New France. The province is sometimes referred to as La belle province, the Province of Quebec was founded in the Royal Proclamation of 1763 after the Treaty of Paris formally transferred the French colony of Canada to Britain after the Seven Years War. The proclamation restricted the province to an area along the banks of the Saint Lawrence River, the Treaty of Versailles ceded territories south of the Great Lakes to the United States. After the Constitutional Act of 1791, the territory was divided between Lower Canada and Upper Canada, with each being granted an elected legislative assembly, in 1840, these become Canada East and Canada West after the British Parliament unified Upper and Lower Canada into the Province of Canada. This territory was redivided into the Provinces of Quebec and Ontario at Confederation in 1867, each became one of the first four provinces. In 1898, the Canadian Parliament passed the first Quebec Boundary Extension Act that expanded the provincial boundaries northward to include the lands of the aboriginal peoples. This was followed by the addition of the District of Ungava through the Quebec Boundaries Extension Act of 1912 that added the northernmost lands of the Inuit to create the modern Province of Quebec. In 1927, the border between Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador was established by the British Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. Located in the part of Canada, and part of Central Canada. Its topography is very different from one region to another due to the composition of the ground, the climate. The Saint Lawrence Lowland and the Canadian Shield are the two main regions, and are radically different
4.
French language
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French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages, French has evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues doïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to Frances past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, a French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French. French is a language in 29 countries, most of which are members of la francophonie. As of 2015, 40% of the population is in Europe, 35% in sub-Saharan Africa, 15% in North Africa and the Middle East, 8% in the Americas. French is the fourth-most widely spoken mother tongue in the European Union, 1/5 of Europeans who do not have French as a mother tongue speak French as a second language. As a result of French and Belgian colonialism from the 17th and 18th century onward, French was introduced to new territories in the Americas, Africa, most second-language speakers reside in Francophone Africa, in particular Gabon, Algeria, Mauritius, Senegal and Ivory Coast. In 2015, French was estimated to have 77 to 110 million native speakers, approximately 274 million people are able to speak the language. The Organisation internationale de la Francophonie estimates 700 million by 2050, in 2011, Bloomberg Businessweek ranked French the third most useful language for business, after English and Standard Mandarin Chinese. Under the Constitution of France, French has been the language of the Republic since 1992. France mandates the use of French in official government publications, public education except in specific cases, French is one of the four official languages of Switzerland and is spoken in the western part of Switzerland called Romandie, of which Geneva is the largest city. French is the language of about 23% of the Swiss population. French is also a language of Luxembourg, Monaco, and Aosta Valley, while French dialects remain spoken by minorities on the Channel Islands. A plurality of the worlds French-speaking population lives in Africa and this number does not include the people living in non-Francophone African countries who have learned French as a foreign language. Due to the rise of French in Africa, the total French-speaking population worldwide is expected to reach 700 million people in 2050, French is the fastest growing language on the continent. French is mostly a language in Africa, but it has become a first language in some urban areas, such as the region of Abidjan, Ivory Coast and in Libreville. There is not a single African French, but multiple forms that diverged through contact with various indigenous African languages, sub-Saharan Africa is the region where the French language is most likely to expand, because of the expansion of education and rapid population growth
5.
Gilbert Rozon
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Gilbert Rozon is a Canadian impresario and founder of the Just for Laughs comedy festival, which he created on July 14,1983. He is also responsible for the development and international deployment of the Just for Laughs/Juste pour Rire brand in over 150 countries, the Just for Laughs festival is considered the largest comedy festival in the world. Gilbert Rozon is the eldest of seven children, raised in Saint-André dArgenteuil, he began working at a young age as a paperboy. At the age of 14 he became a gravedigger, salesman, printer, show organizer, publisher of telephone directories business, key to real estate and it is in this context from his work experience that he developed his sense of humour. After a short stay in France at age 20, he studied law at the Université de Montréal where he graduated. In 1980, he founded the La Grande Virée festival in Lachute which welcomed more than 60,000 spectators in its first year, for its third year, Gilbert Rozon moved La Grande Virée to the Pointe-aux-Trembles neighbourhood in Montreal. Despite the failure of his first festival in Montreal, Rozon borrowed more than C$1 million to found the Just for Laughs festival in 1983, the festival was based in Montreal, although spread to Toronto, Chicago, Nantes and Paris. Rozon was the impresario of Charles Trenet until his death, Just for Laughs represents over 75 artists, over 200 hours of television broadcast in over 150 countries each year and hundreds of shows a year. For 25 years, Gilbert Rozon has been at the helm of the festival before giving way to Alain Cousineau with whom he founded the festival in 1983 and he remains chairman and CEO of the group. Starting in 2006, he became a member of the jury on the French program and he was also accused of unlawful confinement of a 31 year old woman but the charge was withdrawn by the police for lack of evidence. Groups of women expressed anger over sentencing they considered as being too lenient
6.
Andy Nulman
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Nulman also sold multimillion-dollar corporate sponsorships and created/ Executive Produced over 150 Festival TV shows, in a variety of languages, all over the world. Nulman is founder, President, and CMO of Airborne Mobile, in 2005, he and partner Garner Bornstein sold the company to Japan’s Cybird Holdings for close to $100 million. In 2006, Airborne was cited as North America’s 4th-Fastest Growing Tech Company by the Deloitte Fast 500, in June 2008, Nulman and Bornstein re-purchased the company. During that period, he freelanced for publications the likes of Variety, Us Magazine. He attended the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University where he graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce, in summer 2010, he rejoined Just For Laughs retaking the position of President, Festivals and Television
7.
Vaudeville
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Vaudeville is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment. It was especially popular in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s, a typical vaudeville performance is made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill. A vaudeville performer is often referred to as a vaudevillian, Vaudeville developed from many sources, including the concert saloon, minstrelsy, freak shows, dime museums, and literary American burlesque. Called the heart of American show business, vaudeville was one of the most popular types of entertainment in North America for several decades, the origin of this term is obscure, but is often explained as being derived from the French expression voix de ville. A second speculation is that it comes from the songs on satire by poet Olivier Basselin. Some, however, preferred the term variety to what manager Tony Pastor called its sissy. Thus, vaudeville was marketed as variety well into the 20th century, with its first subtle appearances within the early 1860s, vaudeville was not initially a common form of entertainment. The form gradually evolved from the saloon and variety hall into its mature form throughout the 1870s and 1880s. This more gentle form was known as Polite Vaudeville, in the years before the American Civil War, entertainment existed on a different scale. Certainly, variety theatre existed before 1860 in Europe and elsewhere, in the US, as early as the first decades of the 19th century, theatregoers could enjoy a performance consisting of Shakespeare plays, acrobatics, singing, dancing, and comedy. As the years progressed, people seeking diversified amusement found a number of ways to be entertained. Vaudeville was characterized by traveling companies touring through cities and towns, a significant influence also came from Dutch minstrels and comedians. Vaudeville incorporated these various itinerant amusements into a stable, institutionalized form centered in Americas growing urban hubs, pastors experiment proved successful, and other managers soon followed suit. B. F. Keith took the step, starting in Boston. Later, E. F. Albee, adoptive grandfather of the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Edward Albee, circuits such as those managed by Keith-Albee provided vaudevilles greatest economic innovation and the principal source of its industrial strength. They enabled a chain of allied vaudeville houses that remedied the chaos of the booking system by contracting acts for regional and national tours. These could easily be lengthened from a few weeks to two years, Albee also gave national prominence to vaudevilles trumpeting polite entertainment, a commitment to entertainment equally inoffensive to men, women and children. Acts that violated this ethos were admonished and threatened with expulsion from the remaining performances or were canceled altogether
8.
Quartier Latin, Montreal
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The Quartier Latin is an area in the Ville-Marie borough of Montreal, surrounding UQAM and lower Saint-Denis Street, between downtown and the Gay Village. It is known for its theatres, artistic atmosphere, cafés and it owes its name, a reference to the Quartier Latin in Paris, to the presence of the École Polytechnique de Montréal and the nascent Université de Montréal in the 1920s. In the 1940s the university moved out and headed for a new campus on the slopes of Mount Royal. In the late 1960s UQAM was born and established itself in the Ville-Marie borough, a large junior college, the CEGEP du Vieux-Montreal also moved in at about the same period. The Grande Bibliothèque du Québec was opened in the area in 2005, the National Film Board of Canadas CinéRobotheque facility was based here until April 2012, when it was closed as part of cuts imposed by the 2012 Canadian federal budget. This area falls within the boundaries of the new Quartier des Spectacles entertainment district, now being developed
9.
Film festival
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A film festival is an organised, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors, films may be of recent date and, depending upon the festivals focus, can include international and domestic releases. Some festivals focus on a specific film-maker or genre or subject matter, a number of film festivals specialise in short films of a defined maximum length. Film festivals are annual events. Some film historians do not consider Film Festivals as official releases of film, the Venice Film Festival is the oldest major festival. The Melbourne International Film Festival is the largest film festival in the Southern Hemisphere, the San Sebastián International Film Festival is one of the most important and oldest film festivals in Europe. It was at this festival where the worldwide first release of North by Northwest was showed, Raindance Film Festival is the UKs largest celebration of independent film-making, and takes place in London in October. Australias first and longest running festival is the Melbourne International Film Festival. Edinburgh International Film Festival is the longest running festival in Great Britain, North Americas first and longest running short film festival is the Yorkton Film Festival, established in 1947. The first film festival in the United States was the Columbus International Film & Video Festival, also known as The Chris Awards and it was followed four years later by the San Francisco International Film Festival, held in March 1957, which emphasized feature-length dramatic films. The festival played a role in introducing foreign films to American audiences. Films in the first year included Akira Kurosawas Throne of Blood, Film festival dedicated to honoring music in film. Digital feature film began in 2005, along with the worlds first online film festival. Unlike other arts nonprofits, film festivals typically receive few donations from the public and are occasionally organized as nonprofit business associations instead of public charities. Film industry members often have significant curatorial input, and corporate sponsors are given opportunities to promote their brand to festival audiences in exchange for cash contributions, private parties, often to raise investments for film projects, constitute significant fringe events. Larger festivals maintain year-round staffs often engaging in community and charitable projects outside festival season, on the other hand, some festivals—usually those accepting fewer films, and perhaps not attracting as many big names in their audiences as do Sundance and Telluride—require no entry fee. Rotterdam Film Festival, Mumbai Film Festival, and many film festivals in the United States, are examples. The Portland International Film Festival charges a fee, but waives it for filmmakers from the Northwestern United States
10.
Short film
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A short film, is a cinema format, denoting any film not long enough to be considered a feature film. The term featurette originally applied to a longer than a short subject. The increasingly rare term short subject means approximately the same thing and it is an industry term which carries more of an assumption that the film is shown as part of a presentation along with a feature film. Short is an abbreviation for either term, Short films are often screened at local, national, or international film festivals and made by independent filmmakers for non profit, either with a low budget or no budget at all. They are usually funded by grants, non profit organizations. Short films are used by filmmakers to gain experience or prove their talent in order to gain funding for future films from private investors, entertainment companies. Longer and shorter films coexisted with similar popularity throughout the days of film. However, comedy films were produced in large numbers compared to lengthy features such as D. W. Griffiths The Birth of a Nation. By the 1920s, a ticket purchased a varied program including a feature and several supporting works from such as second feature, short comedy, 5–10 minute cartoon, travelogue. Short comedies were popular, and typically came in a serial or series. Even though there was no set release schedule, these series could be considered somewhat like a modern TV sitcom – lower in status than feature films. Animated cartoons came principally as short subjects, in the 1930s, the distribution system changed in many countries owing to the Great Depression. Instead of the cinema owner assembling a program of their own choice, the studios sold a package centered on a main and supporting feature, with the rise of the double feature, two reel shorts went into decline as a commercial category. Hal Roach, for example, moved Laurel and Hardy full-time into feature films after 1935, by the mid-1950s, with the rise of television, the commercial live-action short was virtually dead, The Three Stooges being the last major series of 2-reelers, ending in 1959. Short films had become a medium for student, independent and specialty work, cartoon shorts had a longer life, due in part to the implementation of lower-cost limited animation techniques, but also declined in this period. Warner Bros. one of the most prolific of the golden era, the Pink Panther was the last regular theatrical cartoon short series, having begun in 1964 and ended in 1980. By the 1960s, the market for animated shorts had largely shifted to television, a few animated shorts continue within mainstream commercial distribution. For instance, Pixar has screened a short along with each of its feature films during its theatrical run since 1995
11.
Hollywood, Florida
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For the city in Florida with movie studios similar to Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA, see Orlando. Hollywood is a city in Broward County, Florida, located between Fort Lauderdale and Miami, the average temperature is between 68 and 83 degrees. As of 2013 Hollywood has a population of 146,526, founded in 1925, the city grew rapidly in the 1950s and 1960s, and is now the twelfth largest city in Florida. Hollywood is a city of the Miami metropolitan area, which was home to an estimated 6,012,331 people at the 2015 census. Joseph W. Young founded the city in 1925 and he dreamed of building a motion picture colony on the East Coast of the United States and named the town after Hollywood, California. After the 1926 Miami hurricane, Hollywood was severely damaged, local newspapers reported that Hollywood was second only to Miami in losses from the storm. Following upon Youngs death in 1934, the city encountered more terrific hurricanes and not only that and it felt as though the city was tumbling slowly piece by piece with all of those tragic events taking place. On Hollywood Boulevard is the Mediterranean-style Joseph Young Mansion, built around 1921, Hollywood is located at 26°1′17″N 80°10′30″W. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 30.8 square miles. Hollywood is located in southeastern Broward County, and includes approximately 5 to 6 miles of Atlantic Ocean beach,34. 4% of all households were made up of individuals and 13. 1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.31 and the family size was 3.00. The citys age demographic shows a population with 21. 3% under the age of 18,7. 0% from 18 to 24,31. 3% from 25 to 44,23. 1% from 45 to 64. The median age was 39 years, for every 100 females there were 94.1 males. For every 100 women age 18 and over, there were 90.9 men, the median income for a household in the city was $40,714, and the median income for a family was $55,849. Males had an income of $33,102 versus $21,237 for females. The per capita income for the city was $22,097, about 9. 9% of families and 13. 2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18. 1% of those under age 18 and 11. 8% of those age 65 or over. Hollywood is filled with about 60 parks, seven golf courses, the famous Hollywood Beach is known for its great broadwalk that extends about 2.5 miles along the Atlantic Ocean. Parking is available on streets or in parking garages for a large fee
12.
Toronto
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Toronto is the most populous city in Canada and the provincial capital of Ontario. With a population of 2,731,571, it is the fourth most populous city in North America after Mexico City, New York City, and Los Angeles. A global city, Toronto is a centre of business, finance, arts, and culture. Aboriginal peoples have inhabited the area now known as Toronto for thousands of years, the city itself is situated on the southern terminus of an ancient Aboriginal trail leading north to Lake Simcoe, used by the Wyandot, Iroquois, and the Mississauga. Permanent European settlement began in the 1790s, after the broadly disputed Toronto Purchase of 1787, the British established the town of York, and later designated it as the capital of Upper Canada. During the War of 1812, the town was the site of the Battle of York, York was renamed and incorporated as the city of Toronto in 1834, and became the capital of the province of Ontario during the Canadian Confederation in 1867. The city proper has since expanded past its original borders through amalgamation with surrounding municipalities at various times in its history to its current area of 630.2 km2. While the majority of Torontonians speak English as their primary language, Toronto is a prominent centre for music, theatre, motion picture production, and television production, and is home to the headquarters of Canadas major national broadcast networks and media outlets. Toronto is known for its skyscrapers and high-rise buildings, in particular the tallest free-standing structure in the Western Hemisphere. The name Toronto is likely derived from the Iroquois word tkaronto and this refers to the northern end of what is now Lake Simcoe, where the Huron had planted tree saplings to corral fish. A portage route from Lake Ontario to Lake Huron running through this point, in the 1660s, the Iroquois established two villages within what is today Toronto, Ganatsekwyagon on the banks of the Rouge River and Teiaiagonon the banks of the Humber River. By 1701, the Mississauga had displaced the Iroquois, who abandoned the Toronto area at the end of the Beaver Wars, French traders founded Fort Rouillé on the current Exhibition grounds in 1750, but abandoned it in 1759. During the American Revolutionary War, the region saw an influx of British settlers as United Empire Loyalists fled for the British-controlled lands north of Lake Ontario, the new province of Upper Canada was in the process of creation and needed a capital. Dorchester intended the location to be named Toronto, in 1793, Governor John Graves Simcoe established the town of York on the Toronto Purchase lands, instead naming it after Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany. Simcoe decided to move the Upper Canada capital from Newark to York, the York garrison was constructed at the entrance of the towns natural harbour, sheltered by a long sandbar peninsula. The towns settlement formed at the end of the harbour behind the peninsula, near the present-day intersection of Parliament Street. In 1813, as part of the War of 1812, the Battle of York ended in the towns capture, the surrender of the town was negotiated by John Strachan. US soldiers destroyed much of the garrison and set fire to the parliament buildings during their five-day occupation, the sacking of York was a primary motivation for the Burning of Washington by British troops later in the war
13.
Chicago
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Chicago, officially the City of Chicago, is the third-most populous city in the United States. With over 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the state of Illinois, and it is the county seat of Cook County. In 2012, Chicago was listed as a global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Chicago has the third-largest gross metropolitan product in the United States—about $640 billion according to 2015 estimates, the city has one of the worlds largest and most diversified economies with no single industry employing more than 14% of the workforce. In 2016, Chicago hosted over 54 million domestic and international visitors, landmarks in the city include Millennium Park, Navy Pier, the Magnificent Mile, Art Institute of Chicago, Museum Campus, the Willis Tower, Museum of Science and Industry, and Lincoln Park Zoo. Chicagos culture includes the arts, novels, film, theater, especially improvisational comedy. Chicago also has sports teams in each of the major professional leagues. The city has many nicknames, the best-known being the Windy City, the name Chicago is derived from a French rendering of the Native American word shikaakwa, known to botanists as Allium tricoccum, from the Miami-Illinois language. The first known reference to the site of the current city of Chicago as Checagou was by Robert de LaSalle around 1679 in a memoir, henri Joutel, in his journal of 1688, noted that the wild garlic, called chicagoua, grew abundantly in the area. In the mid-18th century, the area was inhabited by a Native American tribe known as the Potawatomi, the first known non-indigenous permanent settler in Chicago was Jean Baptiste Point du Sable. Du Sable was of African and French descent and arrived in the 1780s and he is commonly known as the Founder of Chicago. In 1803, the United States Army built Fort Dearborn, which was destroyed in 1812 in the Battle of Fort Dearborn, the Ottawa, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi tribes had ceded additional land to the United States in the 1816 Treaty of St. Louis. The Potawatomi were forcibly removed from their land after the Treaty of Chicago in 1833, on August 12,1833, the Town of Chicago was organized with a population of about 200. Within seven years it grew to more than 4,000 people, on June 15,1835, the first public land sales began with Edmund Dick Taylor as U. S. The City of Chicago was incorporated on Saturday, March 4,1837, as the site of the Chicago Portage, the city became an important transportation hub between the eastern and western United States. Chicagos first railway, Galena and Chicago Union Railroad, and the Illinois, the canal allowed steamboats and sailing ships on the Great Lakes to connect to the Mississippi River. A flourishing economy brought residents from rural communities and immigrants from abroad, manufacturing and retail and finance sectors became dominant, influencing the American economy. The Chicago Board of Trade listed the first ever standardized exchange traded forward contracts and these issues also helped propel another Illinoisan, Abraham Lincoln, to the national stage
14.
TBS (U.S. TV channel)
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Turner Broadcasting System is an American basic cable and satellite television channel that is owned by the Turner Broadcasting System division of Time Warner, which shares its name with the channel. TBS carries a variety of programming, with a focus on comedy, along with sports events, including Major League Baseball. In its current form, TBS was originally established on December 17,1976 as a feed of Turners local, independent broadcast television station in Atlanta. The channel broadcast a variety of programming during this era, including films, syndicated series, Atlanta Braves baseball, wTBSs local programming was nearly identical to the national feed, aside from FCC-mandated public affairs and educational programming that only aired on the local signal. By the early 2000s, TBS had begun to more intensively on comedic programming, including sitcoms. As of February 2015, TBS is available to approximately 96.5 million pay television households in the United States, TBS is available on cable and satellite providers throughout the entire United States. The national TBS feed became available to cable and satellite subscribers within channel 17s viewing area as a result, TBSs programming was previously made available to cable and satellite subscribers in Canada through the WTBS Atlanta feed. As a result, following the separation of TBS and WTBS/WPCH in 2007, Canadian cable and satellite subscribers received access to WPCH/Atlanta, instead of TBS. Most of TBSs flagship programming, such as Major League Baseball and original series, are not broadcast on WPCH-TV, TBS originated as a broadcast television station in Atlanta, Georgia that operated on UHF channel 17, and maintained a general entertainment format as an independent station. Early programming included movies from the 1930s and 1940s, sitcoms, the station also carried sports, such as Atlanta Braves baseball, Atlanta Hawks basketball, Atlanta Flames hockey, and Georgia Championship Wrestling. WTCG also bid very low on programming, leaving the stations in the market – WSB-TV, WAGA-TV. By the mid-1970s, The Andy Griffith Show, The Flintstones, Leave It to Beaver, The Little Rascals, My Three Sons, Star Trek, The Three Stooges, cable providers in these areas carried stations from neighboring markets, and if possible, an independent station. Ted Turner decided to distribute his station through satellite, enabling WTCG to be received nationwide, the first broadcast was the 1948 Dana Andrews-Cesar Romero film Deep Waters, which had been in progress for 30 minutes on channel 17 in Atlanta. Instantly, WTCG went from being an independent television station that was available only in Georgia. WTCG became a superstation and set a precedent for todays basic cable television. By 1978, WTCG was carried on cable providers in all 50 states, TBS became only the second U. S. Ted Turners innovation signaled the start of the basic cable revolution. WTCG changed its callsign to WTBS on August 27,1979, the new call letters were acquired via a monetary donation to the Massachusetts Institute of Technologys student radio station for the construction of a new transmitter. In the late 1970s, WTBS continued to acquire second-hand programming such as made-for-TV Popeye cartoons, The Brady Bunch, The Munsters, and other programs
15.
London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
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Russell Square
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Russell Square is a large garden square in Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden, built predominantly by James Burton. It is near the University of Londons main buildings and the British Museum, to the north is Woburn Place and to the south-east is Southampton Row. Russell Square tube station is nearby to the north-east and it is named after the surname of the Earls and Dukes of Bedford, the freehold remains with the Bedford Estate, though the square is managed by Camden Council. The square is named after the surname of the Earls and Dukes of Bedford, Russell Square was formed when new streets were laid out by the 5th Duke on the site of the gardens of his former home Bedford House, their London house. William Russell, 1st Baron Russell of Thornhaugh is interred at St. Andrews Church Thornhaugh in Cambridgeshire, the street lamps around this area carry the Bedford Arms. The square contained large terraced houses aimed mainly at upper class families. A number of the houses survive, especially on the southern and western sides. Thomas Lawrence had a studio at number 65, on the eastern side the Hotel Russell, built in 1898 to a design by Charles Fitzroy Doll, dominates, alongside the Imperial Hotel, London, built in 1966. Other past residents include the famous 19th century architectural partnership of father and son, since 2004, the two buildings on the southern side, at numbers 46 and 47, have been occupied by the Huron University USA in London. In 1998, the London Mathematical Society moved from rooms in Burlington House to De Morgan House, at 57–58 Russell Square, a near neighbour, at 52-53 Russell Square, is the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, which moved there in 2009. In 2002, the square was re-landscaped in a style based on the original early 19th-century layout by Humphry Repton, in addition, the café in the square was redeveloped and a new ornamental fountain installed. Although it is managed by the London Borough of Camden, the freehold of the remains with the Bedford Estate. On 7 July 2005, two terrorist bombings occurred near the square, the square was also the site of a mass stabbing in 2016. The Cabmens Shelter Fund was established in London in 1875 to run shelters for the drivers of hansom cabs, the Russell Square shelter is one of thirteen such shelters that still exist. All are now Grade II listed buildings, to commemorate the victims, many flowers were laid at a spot on Russell Square just south of the café. The location is now marked by a plaque and a young oak tree. In the early chapters of Thackerays Vanity Fair, set c,1812, Russell Square is evoked as the residence of the John Sedley, Esquire, of Russell Square, and the Stock Exchange. 21 Russell Square is the street address in the novel The Murderer Lives at Number 21 by the Belgian writer Stanislas-André Steeman
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Quebecor
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Quebecor Inc. is a communications company based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It has been spelled Quebecor in both English and French until May 2012 when shareholders voted to add the acute accent, Québecor and it was founded by Pierre Péladeau, and remains run by his family. Quebecor Inc. owns 75% of Quebecor Media and also owned the printing company Quebecor World. Quebecor Media Inc. is a broadcasting, communications and publishing company which operates various subsidiaries, Quebecor Media Book Group Distribution Select Le SuperClub Vidéotron Nurun Inc. On July 20,2015, Quebecor officially submitted its application for an NHL expansion team in Quebec City, the application has since passed two phases of league scrutiny, with a final decision expected in early 2016. Former Prime Minister of Canada Brian Mulroney serves as chair of the board, Media ownership in Canada Official website Assets as of 2010
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ICM Partners
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ICM Partners is a talent and literary agency with offices in Los Angeles, New York, Washington D. C. and London. ICM Partners is an agency representing clients in the fields of motion pictures, television, music, publishing, live performance, branded entertainment. Its corporate headquarters are in Constellation Place in Century City, Los Angeles, ICM was formed in 1975 through the merger of Creative Management Associates and International Famous Agency. In 2005, the company raised equity financing to fund strategic growth, in 2012, the agency completed a management buyout and formed a partnership with the new name, ICM Partners. ICM Partners motion picture department represents Academy Award-winning film actors, actresses, ICM Partners International and Independent Group structures and arranges financing and packaging, and secures distribution for independent motion pictures. ICM Partners television department represents Emmy Award winning on-air and creative talent in all segments of the industry, including network, cable, ICM Partners represents recipients of the Nobel Prize, Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award and many other prestigious literary honors. Among the agency’s clients are Patricia Cornwell, Thomas Friedman, Anna Quindlen, doctorow, Walter Isaacson, Carl Hiaasen, Tom Bissell, Anthony Swofford, Chris Cleave, Candace Bushnell, John Feinstein, Ann Patchett, Carol Higgins Clark and Steve Martin. In addition, the agency represents the estates of Theodor Geisel, Arthur Miller, white, and Tennessee Williams, among others. The agency routinely represents more than 100 titles on the New York Times Best Seller list annually, ICM Partners concert and live appearances department represents artists in all musical genres as well as comedians and lecturers. The agency arranges engagements and tours in venues around the world for a range of acts
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Howie Mandel
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Howard Michael Howie Mandel is a Canadian comedian, actor, television host, and voice actor. He is well known as host of the NBC game show Deal or No Deal, as well as the shows daytime and Canadian-English counterparts. Before his career as a show host, Mandel was best known for his role as rowdy ER intern Dr. Wayne Fiscus on the NBC medical drama St. Elsewhere. He is also known for being the creator and star of the childrens cartoon Bobbys World. Mandel became a judge on NBCs Americas Got Talent, replacing David Hasselhoff, Mandel was born and lived in the Willowdale area of Toronto, Ontario. Mandel is Jewish and a distant cousin to violinist Itzhak Perlman and his father was a lighting manufacturer and a real estate agent. He was a comedian at Yuk Yuks in Toronto and by September 1978 had a week-long booking as featured act, billed as a wild. His repertoire included placing a latex glove over his head and inflating it by blowing through his nose, a producer for the comedic game show Make Me Laugh saw him and booked Mandel for several appearances during the shows run in 1979. He was booked to open for David Letterman at shows in the summer of 1979, cBC-TVs head of variety programming saw his performance in October 1979 and immediately signed him for a TV special. In 1980, he won the role in the Canadian movie Gas, co-starring Susan Anspach. Mandel was one of the first VeeJays to appear on Nickelodeons music video series, Pop Clips. While working as Dr. Fiscus, and continuing to work as a comedian, he also did movies, including his role as the voice of Gizmo in the 1984 hit Gremlins and its 1990 sequel Gremlins 2, The New Batch. In 1985 Mandel made a cameo in the Michael J. Fox directed short The Iceman Hummeth which was subsequently broadcast on Late Night with David Letterman in November 1985, in 1986, he starred in A Fine Mess alongside Ted Danson. He performed his comedy act in several cities, which was followed by his Watusi music video in 1987. For the first two seasons of Muppet Babies, he voiced Bunsen Honeydew, Animal and Skeeter and he starred on the 1987 comedy film Walk Like a Man. He was also Maurice in the 1989 movie Little Monsters, in 1990, he starred in the short-lived sitcom Good Grief on Fox. He was also the creator and executive producer of the Emmy-nominated childrens animated series Bobbys World, to which he supplied the voices of the title character, Bobbys World ran for eight seasons on Fox and was later syndicated. Mandel also plays his alter-ego, Phil Skorjanc, in most of his comedy shows, Bobby also made a cameo appearance in a February 2007 episode of Deal or No Deal
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La Presse (Canadian newspaper)
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La Presse, founded in 1884, is a French-language daily newspaper published Mondays through Saturdays in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is owned today by Groupe Gesca, a subsidiary of Power Corporation of Canada, a Sunday edition was discontinued in 2009. La Presse is a newspaper, aimed at an educated. Its main competitor is the daily tabloid Le Journal de Montréal, La Presse comprises several sections, dealing individually with arts, sports, and other themes. Its Saturday edition can contain over 10 sections, the newspapers website, www. lapresse. ca, operates as a company-wide portal which publishes news and editorial content from all of Gescas dailies. The paper was founded on October 20,1884 by William-Edmond Blumhart, trefflé Berthiaume took over in 1889. The fledgling newspapers circulation would soon pass that of its competitor of the time. In April 1901, the paper organised a cruise to Quebec City and it also organised a charity to give Christmas gifts to poor children. A front-page illustration on the December 3,1904 issue celebrated the 50th anniversary of the proclamation of the dogma of Immaculate Conception, the practice of the time was to have an illustration on the front page, rather than a photograph. The style and presentation have changed immensely during the course of the 20th century and it underwent a complete graphic remodeling in 1986, and again in 2003. Since 1984, La Presse has every year honoured a Person of the Year, in the past, it has honoured Julie Payette, Daniel Langlois and Gaétan Boucher. That same year, it published a book in order to celebrate its 100th anniversary. A similar book was published by Éditions La Presse to recap the events of the 20th century. In 2001, with the arrival of new editor Guy Crevier, the graphic design was modernized, new sections were created, international coverage was greatly increased, and many new young, up-and-coming journalists were hired. These changes had a significant positive impact on quality and circulation, in 2011, La Presse is chosen as the flagship brand and leveraged on all media platforms. In 2013, La Presse launched La Presse+, a free digital edition for iPad that redefines the way users get their information. The newspaper have announced in September 2015 that they would end the weekdays print edition in 2016 to be only in the digital edition. The editorial board of La Presse has been supportive of Canadian federalism over the past 25 years
