1.
Kevin McHale (basketball)
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Kevin Edward McHale is an American retired professional basketball player who played his entire professional career for the Boston Celtics. He is also a Basketball Hall of Fame inductee and he was named to the NBAs 50th Anniversary Team, and also to the official list of the NBAs best 50 players in 1996. McHale began working for the Minnesota Timberwolves immediately following his retirement in 1993, at different times, as a TV analyst, general manager and he was the head coach of the Houston Rockets from 2011-15, until being fired following a 4-11 start to the 2015–16 season. McHale currently works as an on-air analyst for NBA TV and Turner Sportss popular NBA on TNT studio show, McHale was born to Paul Austin McHale and Josephine Patricia Starcevic in Hibbing, Minnesota. In his senior season at Hibbing High School, he was named Minnesotas Mr. Basketball of 1976 and he is of Croatian descent on his mothers side. The 6 ft 10 in McHale played basketball at the forward position for the University of Minnesota from 1976 to 1980. He was named All-Big Ten in 1979 and 1980 and still second in school history in career points. In 1995, to coincide with the University of Minnesotas 100th anniversary, McHale is famous for an encounter with Chuck Foreman in the Gopher locker room. Foreman, a famous Minnesota Viking at the time, was congratulating the Gophers on a hard-fought victory, as Foreman was shaking all the players hands, when he arrived at the then-unknown power forward, McHale displayed his comic wit, Nice to meet you, Mr. Foreman. What do you do for a living, McHales stay in Boston got off to a rocky start as he held out for a large contract, even threatening to play in Italy, before signing a three-year deal with the Celtics. Backing up Larry Bird and Cedric Maxwell at forward, McHale made an impact and was named to the NBAs All-Rookie First Team in his rookie season. Boston finished McHales rookie season with a record of 62-20. In the playoffs, the Celtics swept the Chicago Bulls in the first round, in the Eastern Conference Finals, the Celtics faced a 3–1 deficit against the Philadelphia 76ers, but Boston won the last three games of the series, including Game 6 on Philadelphias home court. McHale helped save the Game 6 win by rejecting an Andrew Toney shot, in the NBA Finals, Boston defeated the Houston Rockets in six games to capture the teams fourteenth championship. The Celtics failed to advance to the NBA Finals the next two seasons, Philadelphia exacted a measure of revenge in the 1982 Eastern Conference Final, beating Boston at home in the seventh game. In the 1983 Eastern Conference semifinals, the Celtics were swept by the Milwaukee Bucks and this embarrassing defeat led to the firing of head coach Bill Fitch and a temporarily unhappy McHale. Following the 1982–83 season, McHales contract with the Celtics expired, auerbach retaliated by signing three of New Yorks top free agent players to offer sheets. The Knicks elected to re-sign their players and give up their pursuit of McHale, McHale eventually re-signed with Boston, his $1 million per season contract making him the fourth-highest paid player in the NBA
2.
Plano, Texas
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Plano is a city in the U. S. state of Texas, located mostly within Collin County, but with a small portion that extends into Denton County, twenty miles northeast of downtown Dallas. The city of Plano is a part of the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area, the citys population was 269,776 at the 2010 census, making it the ninth most populous city in the state of Texas and the 70th most populous in the United States. Penney, Pizza Hut, Rent-A-Center, Traxxas, Siemens PLM Software, european settlers came to the area near present-day Plano in the early 1840s. Facilities such as a sawmill, a gristmill, and a store soon brought more people to the area, a mail service was established, and after rejecting several names for the nascent town, residents suggested the name Plano, as a reference to the local terrain. The name was accepted by the post office, in 1872, the completion of the Houston and Central Texas Railway helped the city to grow, and it was incorporated in 1873. By 1874, the population had grown to more than 500, in 1881, a fire raged through the business district, destroying most of the buildings. The town was rebuilt and business again flourished through the 1880s, also in 1881, the city assumed responsibility for what would eventually become Plano Independent School District, ending the days of it being served only by private schools. At first, the population of Plano grew slowly, reaching 1,304 in 1900, by 1970, Plano began to feel some of the boom its neighbors had experienced after World War II. A series of public projects and a change in taxes that removed the farming community from the town helped increase the overall population. In 1970, the population reached 17,872, and by 1980, sewers, schools and street development kept pace with this massive increase, largely because of Planos flat topography, grid layout and planning initiatives. During the 1980s, many large corporations moved their headquarters to the city, including J. C. Penney and Frito-Lay, by 1990, the population reached 128,713, dwarfing the county seat of McKinney. In 1994, the city was recognized as an All-America City, by 2000, the population grew to 222,030, making it one of the largest suburbs of Dallas. Plano is surrounded by other municipalities and therefore cannot expand in area, however, as of July 2012, one large tract of land was being developed. Turnpike Commons at the intersection of Renner Rd and the George Bush Turnpike, the development is expected to feature apartments, medical facilities, restaurants, a Race Trac gas station, and a hotel. There was an epidemic of heroin abuse among young people in the 1990s, the Plano authorities created an anti-drug campaign with the name Operation Rockfest. In 2013, Plano received top-scoring nationally in a livability index according to a created by AreaVibes. com. The chart can be found here Best Places to Live in America, AreaVibes ranked Plano at the top of the list of U. S. cities with populations between 100,000 and 10,000,000. Another chart, Best Places to Live in 2013, also has Plano ranked number 1, follow this link to see the chart Top 10 Best Places to Live
3.
Pop music
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Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form in the United States and United Kingdom during the mid 1950s. The terms popular music and pop music are used interchangeably, although the former describes all music that is popular. Pop and rock were synonymous terms until the late 1960s, when they were used in opposition from each other. Although pop music is seen as just the singles charts, it is not the sum of all chart music. Pop music is eclectic, and often borrows elements from other such as urban, dance, rock, Latin. Identifying factors include generally short to medium-length songs written in a format, as well as the common use of repeated choruses, melodic tunes. David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop music as a body of music which is distinguishable from popular, jazz, according to Pete Seeger, pop music is professional music which draws upon both folk music and fine arts music. Although pop music is seen as just the singles charts, it is not the sum of all chart music, the music charts contain songs from a variety of sources, including classical, jazz, rock, and novelty songs. Pop music, as a genre, is seen as existing and developing separately, pop music continuously evolves along with the terms definition. The term pop song was first recorded as being used in 1926, Hatch and Millward indicate that many events in the history of recording in the 1920s can be seen as the birth of the modern pop music industry, including in country, blues and hillbilly music. The Oxford Dictionary of Music states that while pops earlier meaning meant concerts appealing to a wide audience. Since the late 1950s, however, pop has had the meaning of non-classical mus, usually in the form of songs, performed by such artists as the Beatles. Grove Music Online also states that, in the early 1960s pop music competed terminologically with beat music, while in the USA its coverage overlapped with that of rock and roll. From about 1967, the term was used in opposition to the term rock music. Whereas rock aspired to authenticity and an expansion of the possibilities of music, pop was more commercial, ephemeral. It is not driven by any significant ambition except profit and commercial reward, and, in musical terms, it is essentially conservative. It is, provided from on high rather than being made from below, pop is not a do-it-yourself music but is professionally produced and packaged. The beat and the melodies tend to be simple, with limited harmonic accompaniment, the lyrics of modern pop songs typically focus on simple themes – often love and romantic relationships – although there are notable exceptions
4.
Contemporary R&B
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Contemporary R&B, also known as simply R&B, is a music genre that combines elements of rhythm and blues, soul, funk, pop, hip hop and dance. The genre features a record production style, drum machine-backed rhythms, an occasional saxophone-laced beat to give a jazz feel. Electronic influences are becoming a trend and the use of hip hop or dance-inspired beats are typical, although the roughness. Contemporary R&B vocalists are often known for their use of melisma, popularized by such as Michael Jackson, R. Kelly, Craig David, Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston. That same year, Teddy Riley began producing R&B recordings that included hip hop influences and this combination of R&B style and hip hop rhythms was termed new jack swing and was applied to artists such as Bobby Brown, Keith Sweat, Al B. Guy, Jodeci and Bell Biv DeVoe, the style became less popular by the end of the 1990s, but later experienced a resurgence. In 1990 Mariah Carey released Vision of Love as her debut single and it was immensely popular peaking at number 1 in many worldwide charts including the Billboard Hot 100, and it propelled Mariahs carrier. The song is said to have popularized the use of melisma. During the mid-1990s, Whitney Houstons The Bodyguard, Original Soundtrack Album sold over 40 million copies becoming the best-selling soundtrack of all time. Janet Jacksons self-titled fifth studio album janet. which came after her historic multimillion-dollar contract with Virgin Records, sold over twenty million copies worldwide. Boyz II Men and Mariah Carey recorded several Billboard Hot 100 No.1 hits, including One Sweet Day, Carey also released a remix of her 1995 single Fantasy, with Ol Dirty Bastard as a feature, a collaboration format that was unheard of at this point. Carey, Boyz II Men and TLC released albums in 1994 and 1995—Daydream, II and CrazySexyCool. In the late 1990s, neo soul, which added 1970s soul influences to the hip hop soul blend, arose, led by such as DAngelo, Erykah Badu. Hill and Missy Elliott further blurred the line between R&B and hip hop by recording both styles, beginning in 1995, the Grammy Awards enacted the Grammy Award for Best R&B Album, with II by Boyz II Men becoming the first recipient. The award was received by TLC for CrazySexyCool in 1996, Tony Rich for Words in 1997, Erykah Badu for Baduizm in 1998. At the end of 1999, Billboard magazine ranked Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson as the first, simultaneously, in the second half of the 1990s, The Neptunes and Timbaland set influential precedence on contemporary R&B and hip hop music. R&B acts such as Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, Usher, in 2001, Alicia Keys released Fallin as her debut single. It peaking at one on the Billboard Hot 100, Mainstream Top 40
5.
Capitol Records
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Capitol Records, LLC is an American record label which operates as a division of the Capitol Music Group. The label was founded as the first West Coast-based record label in the United States in 1942 by three industry insiders named Johnny Mercer, Buddy DeSylva and Glenn Wallichs, in 1955, the label was acquired by the British music conglomerate EMI as its North American subsidiary. EMI was later acquired by Universal Music Group in 2012 and was merged with the company in 2013, making Capitol Records, Capitol Records circular headquarter building located in Los Angeles is a recognized landmark of California. Mercer first raised the idea of starting a company while golfing with Harold Arlen. By 1941, Mercer was a songwriter and a singer with multiple successful releases. Mercer next suggested the idea to Wallichs while visiting his record store, Wallichs expressed interest in the idea and the pair negotiated an agreement whereby Mercer would run the company and identify their artists, while Wallichs managed the business side. On February 2,1942, Mercer and Wallichs met with DeSylva at a Hollywood restaurant to inquire about the possibility of investment of the company from Paramount Pictures, while DeSylva declined the proposal, he handed the pair a check worth $15,000. On March 27,1942, the three men incorporated as Liberty Records, in May 1942, the application was amended to change the companys name to Capitol Records. On April 6,1942, Mercer supervised Capitols first recording session where Martha Tilton recorded the song Moon Dreams, on May 5, Bobby Sherwood and his orchestra recorded two tracks in the studio. On May 21, Freddie Slack and his orchestra recorded three tracks in the studio, one with the orchestra, one with Ella Mae Morse called Cow-Cow Boogie, on June 4,1942, Capitol opened its first office in a second-floor room south of Sunset Boulevard. On that same day, Wallichs presented the companys first free record to Los Angeles disc jockey Peter Potter, on June 5,1942, Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra recorded four songs at the studio. On June 12, the recorded five more songs in the studio. On June 11, Tex Ritter recorded Jingle Jangle Jingle and Goodbye My Little Cherokee for his first Capitol recording session, and the songs formed Capitols 110th produced record. 133 - Get On Board Little Chillun - July 31,1942 - is a Freddie Slack/Ella Mae Morse/Mellowaires recording that might be the first rock n roll record and she has sometimes been called the first rock n roll singer. A good example is her 1942 recording of song which, with strong gospel, blues, boogie. Bone Walker recorded Mean Old World a pioneering example of the use of electric guitar. The earliest recording artists included co-owner Mercer, Whiteman, Tilton, Morse, Margaret Whiting, Jo Stafford, the Pied Pipers, Johnnie Johnston, Tex Ritter, Capitols first gold single was Morses Cow Cow Boogie in 1942. Capitols first album was Capitol Presents Songs By Johnny Mercer, a three 78-rpm disc set with recordings by Mercer, Stafford and the Pied Pipers, all with Westons Orchestra
6.
Roc Nation
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Roc Nation, LLC is an American entertainment company founded by Jay Z & Jay Brown in 2008. The company has offices in New York City, London, Nashville, Austin, the company also has partnerships with global management companies Three Six Zero Urban Media Global Network Collective and Philymack. Rj Entertainment World Wide based in Austin, Texas In 2008, the firm has a multi-year partnership with live event company Live Nation. In June 2009, Roc Nation signed a 4-year distribution deal with Sony Music, in 2010, Roc Nation partnered with London-based entertainment company Three Six Zero Group. In February 2013, Roc Nation signed a music publishing administration deal with Warner/Chappell Music. In April 2013, Roc Nation formed a new sports management division, Roc Nation Sports, shortly thereafter, Roc Nation Sports also launched a boxing promotion division. After the Sony deal expired, in April 2013, Roc Nation signed a partnership with Universal Music. In February 2015, Roc Nation and Three Six Zero Group announced the formation of Three Six Zero Entertainment, a division representing clients in film, television and the literary arts. In November 2016, the administrator of Princes estate authorized a copyright lawsuit against Roc Nation for putting 15 Prince albums up on the streaming service Tidal. In beginning of March 2017, Roc Nation announced the formation of Arrive, jahlil Beats Lab Ox Ludwig Göransson L1 Stress Roc Nation albums discography Roc Nation singles discography RocNation. com
7.
Boy band
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Being vocal groups, most boy band members do not play musical instruments, either in recording sessions or on stage, making the term something of a misnomer. Many boy bands dance as well as sing, usually giving highly choreographed performances, some such bands form on their own. They can evolve out of church choral or gospel music groups, due to this and their general commercial orientation towards a female audience of preteens, teenyboppers, or teens, the term may be used with negative connotations in music journalism. Boy bands are similar in concept to their counterparts, girl groups, the earliest forerunner of boy band music began in the late 19th century as a cappella barbershop quartets. They were usually a group of males and sang in four part harmonies, the popularity of barbershop quartets had been prominent into the earlier part of the 20th century. A revival of the vocal group took place in the late 1940s and 1950s with the use of doo-wop music. Doo-wop bands sang about topics such as love and other used in pop music. The earliest traces of boy bands were in the mid-1950s although the boy band was not used. African American vocal group The Ink Spots was one of the first of what would now be called boy bands, the term boy band was not established until the late 1980s as before that they were called male vocal groups or hep harmony singing groups. For instance, their music featured close harmonies from soul music and catchy pop hooks influenced as much as they were by Motown and acts like the Supremes. All members of the band sang, which is a convention of a boy band, as opposed to having a front man. Even so, the members conveniently fitted into the convention of having stereotypical personality types, the Beatles were a direct influence on the conception of the Monkees, as they used rock band instrumentation and played more rock oriented music. With music produced by Don Kirshner, The Monkees became eventually dissatisfied with Kirshners control over them and they became independent two years later, working on their own up to 1970, when the group first dissolved. Other antecedents exist throughout the history of pop music, the genre has been copied into languages and cultures other than the Anglo-American. The Puerto Rican boy band Menudo, appealing to young Latina audiences, was founded in 1977, Menudo had a convention unique among boy bands, when a member turned 16, became too tall, or their voice changed, they were replaced. The members of Menudo were generally aged 12–17, the Bay City Rollers were a Scottish pop band who were most popular in the mid-1970s. For a relatively brief but fervent period, they were worldwide teen idols, the group were one of the first bands like The Monkees before them to take the formula shown by The Beatles and apply it to a teen market. The group achieved the same amount of success but for a period of time
8.
NLT (band)
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NLT was an American boy band whose members were Travis Michael Garland, Kevin McHale, Justin Joseph JJ Thorne, and Vahe V Sevani. They were discovered by Chris Stokes, who signed them to his TUG Entertainment label in 2006, on March 13,2007, they released their debut single, That Girl. The following month they opened for the Pussycat Dolls, the groups song Heartburn was included on the soundtrack of the 2007 film Bratz, The Movie. NLTs second single, She Said, I Said, was produced by Timbaland and it peaked at #65 on the Billboard Pop 100. In 2008, they part in the Johnny Wright-organized Bandemonium tour, with Menudo, and VFactory. On April 15,2008, they released their single, Karma. NLT planned to release their album Not Like Them in the summer of 2007, McHale went on to appear on the TV show Glee, in the role of Artie Abrams. Thorne went on to be a part of another, now defunct boy band, One Call, with Anthony AG Gamlieli, Garland premiered his debut single, the Danja-produced Believe on American Idol on May 19,2010. His self-titled debut album Travis Garland was released on September 10,2013, Sevani recently released his album Steps for free download on his website, and a new single also for free download. While NLT did not officially release an album, they did have a number of songs released publicly
9.
Artie Abrams
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Arthur Artie Abrams is a fictional character from the Fox musical comedy-drama series Glee. The character is portrayed by actor Kevin McHale, and has appeared in Glee from its pilot episode, Artie was developed by Glee creators Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan. He is a guitarist and paraplegic manual wheelchair user, who is a member of the club at the fictional William McKinley High School in Lima, Ohio. Artie uses a wheelchair due to a spinal injury he received in a car crash at the age of eight. His storylines have seen him accept his disability, pine for the affections of fellow New Directions members, as Artie, McHale features in many musical performances, which have been released as singles, available for download. Artie is introduced in Pilot as a member of the William McKinley High School glee club. He uses a wheelchair, and is bullied by members of the school football team. He is also in the jazz ensemble, and it is later revealed that he is in the A. V. Club and a member of the Academic Decathlon team as well and he goes on a date with club member Tina Cohen-Chang, who stutters, and explains that he was left paralyzed following a car crash when he was eight years old. The two share a kiss, but Artie is hurt when Tina confesses she has been faking her speech impediment since the sixth grade. He later forgives Tina, but makes sexist remarks about her fashion sense, Tina publicly confronts him for this behavior, and Artie apologizes, they kiss and become a couple. Artie comes to accept that he may never be a dancer, Artie is dismayed when New Directions lose at Regionals, but thankful for having been a member of the glee club, admitting that Tina was his first kiss. At the beginning of the season, Artie asks Finn Hudson to help him join the football team. He hopes to win back Tina, who has broken up with him to date Mike Chang, the new football coach, Shannon Beiste, believes that Finn is colluding against her by forcing her to reject a wheelchair-dependent student, and drops Finn from the team. After re-considering she accepts them both, Brittany Pierce pairs with Artie for the duets assignment and competition, and they start dating. Artie loses his virginity to Brittany, but before they compete Santana Lopez tells him that Brittany only wanted him for his voice so she could win the competition. He is deeply upset that his first sexual experience was the consequence of such motivations, so he breaks up with Brittany, Artie later realizes he wants her back, and with encouragement from Puck, they start a real relationship. Later, Artie confronts Brittany, he becomes upset that Brittany cannot recognize that she is cheating on him with Santana, Artie deeply regrets his words and tries to salvage their relationship, but she refuses
10.
Fox Broadcasting Company
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The Fox Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcast television network that is owned by the Fox Entertainment Group subsidiary of 21st Century Fox. It is the third largest major network in the world based on total revenues, assets. Launched on October 9,1986 as a competitor to the Big Three television networks, Fox and its affiliated companies operate many entertainment channels in international markets, although these do not necessarily air the same programming as the U. S. network. Most viewers in Canada have access to at least one U. S, the network is named after sister company 20th Century Fox, and indirectly for producer William Fox, who founded one of the movie studios predecessors, Fox Film. Fox is a member of the North American Broadcasters Association and the National Association of Broadcasters, 20th Century Fox had been involved in television production as early as the 1950s, producing several syndicated programs. Following the demise of the DuMont Television Network in August of that year after it became mired in financial problems. 20th Century Fox would also produce original content for the NTA network, KTTV in Los Angeles, KRIV in Houston, WFLD-TV in Chicago, and KRLD-TV in Dallas. In October 1985, 20th Century Fox announced its intentions to form a television network that would compete with ABC, CBS. The plans were to use the combination of the Fox studios, organizational plans for the network were held off until the Metromedia acquisitions cleared regulatory hurdles. Then, in December 1985, Rupert Murdoch agreed to pay $325 million to acquire the remaining equity in TCF Holdings from his original partner, Marvin Davis. These first six stations, then broadcasting to a reach of 22% of the nations households. Except for KDAF, all of the original owned-and-operated stations are part of the Fox network today. Like the core O&O group, Foxs affiliate body consisted of independent stations. The Fox Broadcasting Company launched at 11,00 p. m. Eastern and its inaugural program was a late-night talk show, The Late Show, which was hosted by comedian Joan Rivers. By early 1987, Rivers quit The Late Show after disagreements with the network over the creative direction. The network expanded its programming into prime time on April 5,1987, with Children and the sketch comedy series The Tracey Ullman Show. Fox added one new show per week over the several weeks, with the drama 21 Jump Street. On July 11, the network rolled out its Saturday night schedule with the premiere of the drama series Werewolf
11.
Glee (TV series)
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Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series that aired on the Fox network in the United States from May 19,2009, to March 20,2015. In subsequent seasons, the main cast has expanded to fourteen and fifteen members, the series was created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Ian Brennan, the latter of whom first conceived of Glee as a film. The three wrote all of the episodes for the first two seasons, and Murphy and Falchuk initially served as the shows main directors. The pilot episode was broadcast on May 19,2009, subsequent seasons aired in September through May. The sixth and final season aired from January to March 2015, Glee features on-screen performance-based musical numbers that were selected by Murphy, who aimed to maintain a balance between show tunes and chart hits, and produced by Adam Anders and Peer Åström. Songs covered in the show were released through the iTunes Store during the week of broadcast, the music of Glee has been a commercial success, with over thirty-six million digital single sales and eleven million album sales worldwide through October 2011. The series merchandise also includes DVD and Blu-ray releases, an iPad application, during its first season, Glee received generally favorable reviews from critics, with Metacritics weighted average of 77 out of 100 based on eighteen critical reviews. The show was chosen by Fox to fill the coveted time slot that followed the networks coverage of Super Bowl XLV in 2011. After 121 episodes and over 728 music performances, Glee came to an end on March 20,2015, the series focuses on a high school show choir, also known as a glee club, in the fictional William McKinley High School in Lima, Ohio. Will Schuester takes over the club after the former teacher Sandy Ryerson is fired for inappropriate contact with a male student. The seasons stories revolve around the same Glee club members as first season, with Santana Lopez and Brittany Pierce added to the main cast, Season 3 follows the club through wins at Sectionals and Regionals competitions, before they win the Nationals competition in Chicago. The characters deal with identity, adoption, domestic abuse, teenage suicide, bullying, disabilities, texting while driving, college. The McKinley High class of 2012 graduates at the end of the season, in the meantime, Rachel Berry and Kurt Hummel navigate NYADA and their lives as aspiring performers, plus their relationships with Finn and Blaine. Issues during the season include sex, bulimia, gender identity, child molestation, dyslexia, school violence, former main cast members Emma Pillsbury and Quinn Fabray were credited as guest stars, while previously recurring glee club member Sam Evans was promoted to the main cast. Season 5, unlike previous seasons, continues the school begun in the previous season. The show then jumps several months forward in time and deals entirely with the lives in New York City for the remainder of the season. Throughout this season, the club and its alumni deal with relationships, death and mourning, body image, gay bashing, intimacy, and other social issues. Several main cast members dropped to recurring guest stars as of season, Amber Riley as Mercedes, Mark Salling as Puck, Harry Shum Jr. as Mike
12.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
13.
Panel show
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A panel show or panel game is a radio or television game show in which a panel of celebrities participates. Participants may compete with other, such as on The News Quiz, facilitate play by non-celebrity contestants, such as on Match Game/Blankety Blank. The genre can be traced to 1938, when Information Please debuted on U. S. radio, the earliest known television panel show is Play the Game, a charades show in 1946. The modern trend of comedy shows can find early roots with Stop Me If Youve Heard This One in 1939. While panel shows were popular in the past in the U. S. they are still very common in the United Kingdom. Panel shows also feature comedic banter, friendly ribbing and camaraderie among the panelists, scoring is often deemphasized in panel shows. The American version of Whose Line Is It Anyway, acknowledged this with the introduction, Welcome to Whose Line Is It Anyway, the show where everythings made up and the points dont matter. Panel shows can have any number of themes, many are topical and satirical, such as Wait Wait. Have I Got News for You, The News Quiz and Mock The Week, involves wordplay, Ive Got a Secret is about secrets, To Tell The Truth and Would I Lie to You. Deal with lies, and It Pays to Be Ignorant and Im Sorry I Havent A Clue are parodies, some panel shows are variations of classic parlor games. Twenty Questions is based on the game of the same name, Give Us a Clue is modeled after Charades. Frequently, a panel show features recurring panelists or permanent team captains, most shows are recorded before a studio audience. The first known example of a show in the world is the radio program Information Please. An evolution of the show format, Information Please added the key element of a panel of celebrities, largely writers and intellectuals. Listeners would mail in questions, winning prizes for stumping the panel, U. S. panel shows transferred to television early in the mediums history, with the first known example being Play the Game, a charades show that aired on DuMont and ABC beginning in 1946. The celebrity charades concept has been replicated numerous times since then, the most popular adaptation was Pantomime Quiz, airing from 1947 to 1959, and having runs on each of the four television networks operating at the time. Other charades shows have included Stump the Stars, Movietown, RSVP, Celebrity Charades, Showoffs, TV panel shows saw their peak of popularity in the 1950s and 60s, when CBS ran the three longest-running panel shows in prime time, Whats My Line. Ive Got a Secret and To Tell the Truth, at times, they were among the top ten shows on U. S. television, and they continue to experience occasional revivals
14.
E4 (TV channel)
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E4 is a British terrestrial digital television channel, funded by advertising. The E stands for entertainment, and the channel is aimed at the 16–34 age group. Programming includes US imports such as The Goldbergs, The Cleveland Show, other programming includes British shows such as Skins, My Mad Fat Diary, Misfits, The Inbetweeners, The Ricky Gervais Show, Shameless, Hollyoaks, Coach Trip and Made in Chelsea. Some US imports, such as Desperate Housewives and Ugly Betty, are screened on E4 up to one ahead of their Channel 4 broadcasts. Its most successful broadcast to date was on 11 October 2010 when an episode of The Inbetweeners pulled in over 3.7 million viewers, E4 launched as a pay-TV companion to Channel 4 on 18 January 2001. On 16 December 2004, Channel 4 announced that the channel would become a digital terrestrial television channel. From its launch until the closure of ITV Digital, E4 was available as a subscription channel. E4 was also available as part of the basic Sky satellite subscription channel package and this change happened on 6 May 2008 and the channel joined Freesat along with More4. In May 2005, E4 introduced First Look, showing episodes of popular programmes such as Come Dine with Me, Hollyoaks and drama such as Lost. In October 2005, More4 was launched to complement Channel 4s digital channels, ER and The West Wing subsequently moved from E4 to More4. E4 launched a Republic of Ireland service in June 2002 which has become the second most popular channel in Ireland with 1. 1% of the audience. Since 2006, E4 has sponsored the E4 UdderBELLY venue at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the venue took the form of a giant upside cow in the purple colour of E4s logo. In July 2007, it was announced Channel 4 would be launching E4 Radio, the station was planned for launch in July 2008 and aimed at a similar demographic to its sister television channel, however this launch date was later delayed. In October 2008 Channel 4 announced it was abandoning its plans for digital radio, on 14 December 2009, a high-definition simulcast of E4 launched on Sky+ HD channel 215, it was later added to Virgin Media on 1 April 2010. Unlike the other standard definition channels from Channel 4, which are free to air, similar to this, the high-definition simulcast of its sister channel, Film4, is only available to Virgin Medias TV L and XL HD customers. E4 acquired the rights to several new US comedies throughout 2011 and 2012, a few of which were New Girl, Suburgatory,2 Broke Girls, The New Normal, on 31 October 2013, E4 premiered a refreshed look as part of the channels rebranding. This coincided with the debut of the season of E4s most popular show, The Big Bang Theory. On 6 July 2017, E4 will have been on end-of-part programmes going into, in 1994, Channel 4 purchased the broadcast rights to the popular American sitcom Friends
15.
Dash Radio
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Dash Radio is a digital radio broadcasting platform with more than 60 original stations, featuring The Shane Show. The Shane Show is hosted by Shane Powers and these stations are curated by DJs, radio personalities, musicians, and music tastemakers. The platform includes partner stations curated by Snoop Dogg, Odd Future, Kylie Jenner, Mac Miller, Kreayshawn, Isaac Hayes, Tech N9ne, Grenco Science, XXL Magazine, East Village Radio, Dash Radio has no subscription fees and is commercial-free. Dash Radio was launched in August 19,2014, by radio-TV personality and music executive Scott Keeney, better known by his stage name DJ Skee. Keeney raised seed funding through investments from Dave Morin and Kevin Colleran of Slow Ventures investment firm, L. A. Reid, Matt Michelsen, Michael Lazerow, Adrian Peterson, among others. After launching out of beta in June 2015, Dash Radio reported having over 1,000,000 listeners on its platform. Pluto TV- On November 24,2014, Pluto TV announced a partnership with Dash Radio which will add the Dash Radio app to the Pluto TV platform. On January 5,2015, AT&T announced its partnership with Dash Radio, adding the app to AT&T Drive, its connected car platform. Sonos- On September 30,2015, Dash Radio announced a partnership with Sonos, in-home wireless audio speaker system, t-Mobile- On December 1,2015, T-Mobile announced its partnership with Dash Radio, adding it to its Music Freedom Program. On September 12,2014, Odd Future announced its own station on Dash Radio, on May 5,2015 Tyler the Creator released GOLF Radio available exclusively via Tyler the Creators Golf Media app powered by Dash Radio. On April 14,2015, Snoop Dogg’s Cadillacc Music station was launched on Dash Radio, featuring music curated by Snoop Dogg, Cadillacc Music also features daily shows from radio legends Art Laboe and Kevin Slow Jammin James. On September 14,2015, Kylie Radio was launched via the Kylie Jenner Official App and is powered by Dash Radio, Kylie Radio features special mixes and curated playlists from Kylie Jenner and her friends. On December 19,2014, Mac Miller announced his own curated station on Dash Radio, on September 10,2015, Dash Radio announced that Playboy Radio would join its platform. Playboy Radio will feature curated music and shows such as Ask the Doc, Backstage Pass, Swing, Music Spotlight, on June 3,2015, East Village Radio was relaunched on Dash Radio, after being shut down in May 2014. East Village Radio was established in June 2003 in New York City, East Village Radio is responsible for playing Drake and Adele’s music before any other radio station in the US. On August 19,2015, Tech N9ne and Strange Music announced their partner station with Dash Radio called Independent Grind, the station plays all independent hip-hop music and features news, highlights and exclusive interviews with independent hip-hop artists. On January 25,2015, The Shane Show was given its own station on the Dash Radio platform, the Shane Show station airs The Shane Show reruns throughout the day. Dash Radio also creates brand partner pop-up stations available for a time to listeners
16.
County Mayo
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County Mayo is a county in Ireland. In the West of Ireland, it is part of the province of Connacht and is named after the village of Mayo, Mayo County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county was 130,638 at the 2011 census, the boundaries of the county, which was formed in 1585, reflect the Mac William Íochtar lordship at that time. It is bounded on the north and west by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by County Galway, the east by County Roscommon, Mayo is the third-largest of Irelands 32 counties in area and 15th largest in terms of population. It is the second-largest of Connacht’s five counties in size and population. There is a distinct difference between the west and the east of the county. The west consists largely of poor subsoils and is covered with areas of extensive Atlantic blanket bog. Agricultural land is more productive in the east than in the west. As a county council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001, the County is divided into four municipal areas Castlebar, Ballina, Claremorris and West. The council is responsible for housing and community, roads and transportation, urban planning and development, amenity and culture, the county town is at Áras an Contae in Castlebar the main population centre located in the centre of the county. For national elections half of the Claremorris Municipal District is in Galway West, murrisk south west containing Westport, Louisburgh, Croagh Patrick etc. These are followed by Westport, which has 5,543 residents and Claremorris, a survey of the terrestrial and freshwater algae of Clare Island was made between 1990 and 2005 and published in 2007. A record of Gunnera tinctoria is also noted, consultants working for the Corrib gas project have carried out extensive surveys of wildlife flora and fauna in Kilcommon Parish, Erris between 2002 and 2009. This information is published in the Corrib Gas Proposal Environmental impact statements 2009 and 2010, County Mayo has a long history and prehistory. At Belderrig on the north Mayo coast, there is evidence for Mesolithic communities around 4500 cal, BC. while throughout the county there is a wealth of archaeological remains from the Neolithic period, particularly in terms of megalithic tombs and ritual stone circles. The first people who came to Ireland – mainly to areas as the interior was heavily forested – arrived during the Middle Stone Age. Artefacts of hunter/gatherers are sometimes found in middens, rubbish pits around hearths where people would have rested and cooked over open fires. Once cliffs erode, midden-remains become exposed as blackened areas containing charred stones, bones and they are usually found a metre below the surface
17.
Ireland
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Ireland is an island in the North Atlantic. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, Ireland is the second-largest island of the British Isles, the third-largest in Europe, and the twentieth-largest on Earth. Politically, Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland, which covers five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, in 2011, the population of Ireland was about 6.4 million, ranking it the second-most populous island in Europe after Great Britain. Just under 4.6 million live in the Republic of Ireland, the islands geography comprises relatively low-lying mountains surrounding a central plain, with several navigable rivers extending inland. The island has lush vegetation, a product of its mild, thick woodlands covered the island until the Middle Ages. As of 2013, the amount of land that is wooded in Ireland is about 11% of the total, there are twenty-six extant mammal species native to Ireland. The Irish climate is moderate and classified as oceanic. As a result, winters are milder than expected for such a northerly area, however, summers are cooler than those in Continental Europe. Rainfall and cloud cover are abundant, the earliest evidence of human presence in Ireland is dated at 10,500 BC. Gaelic Ireland had emerged by the 1st century CE, the island was Christianised from the 5th century onward. Following the Norman invasion in the 12th century, England claimed sovereignty over Ireland, however, English rule did not extend over the whole island until the 16th–17th century Tudor conquest, which led to colonisation by settlers from Britain. In the 1690s, a system of Protestant English rule was designed to materially disadvantage the Catholic majority and Protestant dissenters, with the Acts of Union in 1801, Ireland became a part of the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland saw much civil unrest from the late 1960s until the 1990s and this subsided following a political agreement in 1998. In 1973 the Republic of Ireland joined the European Economic Community while the United Kingdom, Irish culture has had a significant influence on other cultures, especially in the fields of literature. Alongside mainstream Western culture, an indigenous culture exists, as expressed through Gaelic games, Irish music. The culture of the island shares many features with that of Great Britain, including the English language, and sports such as association football, rugby, horse racing. The name Ireland derives from Old Irish Eriu and this in turn derives from Proto-Celtic *Iveriu, which is also the source of Latin Hibernia. Iveriu derives from a root meaning fat, prosperous, during the last glacial period, and up until about 9000 years ago, most of Ireland was covered with ice, most of the time
18.
Disney Channel
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Disney Channels programming consists of original first-run television series, theatrically-released and original made-for-cable movies and select other third-party programming. Disney Channel – which formerly operated as a premium service – originally marketed its programs towards families during the 1980s, most of Disney Channels original programming is aimed at kids ages 9–16, while its Disney Junior programs are targeted at children 8 years and under. As of January 2016, Disney Channel is available to approximately 93.9 million pay television households in the United States. The Disney Sunday Movie, a version of the Walt Disney anthology television series, began on the channel in 1986 concurrent with ABCs version until 1988 and NBCs The Magical World of Disney. Disney Channel Original Movies series of made for television movies started on August 23,1997 with Northern Lights supplanting the previous Disney Channel Premiere Films banner.2 million viewers. The Cheetah Girls films were also successful in terms of merchiandise. The first film in 2003 was the first made-for-TV movie musical in Disney Channels history, and had a worldwide audience of over 84 million viewers. The second movie was the most successful of the series, bringing in 8.1 million viewers in the U. S. Disney Junior – Disney Junior is a block that features shows targeted at children aged 3–9. Which debuted on February 14,2011, it airs Monday through Fridays from 8,00 a. m. –2,00 p. m. and weekends from 6,00 to 9,00 a. m. Disney Junior carries one of the few programs on Disney Channel that feature classic Disney characters as of 2013, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Other programs currently seen in this block include Jake and the Never Land Pirates, Sheriff Callies Wild West, Sofia the First, Miles from Tomorrowland, The Lion Guard and Doc McStuffins. C. Saturdays from 8, 00-11,00 p. m. and Sundays from 7, Saturday nights feature repeats of recent episodes of the channels original series or an occasional film telecast. Encores of the respective nights programs typically air between 11,00 p. m. and 2,30 a. m, Eastern/Pacific each night during that weekend. Out of This World Weekend – a weekend of shows having space themed episodes, Weekend – a weekend of shows having mystery themed episodes. This was the first special weekend, Summer Adventure Weekend – a weekend of shows with vacation themed episodes. Flash Forward Weekend – a weekend of shows related to time travel, freaky Freakend – a weekend of shows featuring paranormal themed episodes. April Fuel Week – a week of shows featuring special episodes, Weekend – a weekend of shows featuring guest stars from other Disney Channel shows, occurs mostly in April. Programming seen during Disney Nighttime included older feature films, along with original concert specials, variety specials, mystery Night – ran each Tuesday evening starting at 9,00 p. m. Eastern/Pacific from 1990 to 1993, focused on mystery films from the 1930s to the 1960s
19.
Demi Lovato
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Demetria Devonne Demi Lovato is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. The success of the film and its soundtrack resulted in a contract with Hollywood Records. Her debut album, Dont Forget, debuted at two on the US Billboard 200. She entered a treatment center in November 2010 to seek help for addictions, an eating disorder, while there, she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Work on her studio album, Unbroken, began after she successfully completed treatment. The album addresses several of her difficulties and its lead single, Skyscraper, became Lovatos second top 10 entry in the US, while its second single, Give Your Heart a Break, was certified triple platinum in the country. Lovato was a judge and mentor on the American version of The X Factor in 2012 and 2013 and her third album, Demi, opened with first-week sales of 110,000 copies. The lead single from her eponymous album, Heart Attack, became her third top 10 in the US, while promoting the project, Lovato released a book titled Staying Strong,365 Days a Year. She also returned to acting as a character in Glee. Lovatos fifth album, Confident, reached two on the Billboard 200. Its lead single Cool for the Summer was eventually certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. All five of Lovatos albums have received a certification in the US. Musically, Lovato is considered a pop, pop rock, in 2013, Maxim ranked her 26th on its Hot 100 list and Billboard ranked her second on its Social 50 Artists of the Year list. Outside the entertainment industry, Lovato has been involved with social and environmental causes since the launch of her career. C. She has also become an advocate for the LGBT community, in 2014, she was announced as the Grand Marshal for LA Pride week, and that same year she became the face for Human Rights Campaigns Americans for Marriage Equality Campaign. In April 2016, Lovato was honored with the GLAAD Vanguard Award for making a significant difference in promoting equal rights for LGBT people. Lovato was born on August 20,1992, in Albuquerque, New Mexico to engineer and musician Patrick Martin Lovato and former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader Dianna De La Garza. Lovato has a sister, Dallas, a younger maternal half-sister, actress Madison De La Garza
20.
Santa Clarita Valley
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The Santa Clarita Valley is part of the upper watershed of Santa Clara River in Southern California. The valley was part of the 48, 612-acre Rancho San Francisco Mexican land grant, located in Los Angeles County, its main population center is the city of Santa Clarita which includes the communities of Canyon Country, Newhall, Saugus, and Valencia. Adjacent unincorporated communities include Castaic, Stevenson Ranch, Sunset Pointe, Tesoro, Val Verde, Westridge, the California Institute of the Arts, also known as CalArts, is located in Santa Clarita Valley in Valencia. College of the Canyons is a public community college that operates within the Santa Clarita Community College District. The college is located on 153.4 acres of rolling, tree-dotted hills in the city of Santa Clarita in northern Los Angeles County. Dr. Dianne G. Van Hook is president of the college and she has headed the college and district since 1988. To the west-northwest lies the Topatopa Mountains, downstream lies the Santa Clara River Valley, which was given the moniker Heritage Valley by the tourism bureau representing Piru, Fillmore, and Santa Paula. Upstream is Soledad Canyon which contains the communities of Vincent, Acton, Ravenna, the Santa Clara River was named by Spanish explorers for Claire of Assisi. The valley later became known as little Santa Clara in deference to the Northern California mission and city of Santa Clara, in time, little Santa Clara became Santa Clarita. Without traffic, Santa Clarita Valley is about a 20-minute drive from the Burbank Bob Hope Airport and it is home to the 262-acre theme park Six Flags Magic Mountain and the gated waterpark Six Flags Hurricane Harbor. Santa Clarita is also home to a number of sites, such as the oil drilling town Mentryville. Santa Clarita Valley has a rich Western heritage, and since 1994, it has hosted an annual Cowboy Festival, which attracts more than 10,000 visitors each year
21.
Chris Stokes (director)
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Chris Stokes is an American record producer, manager, and film director. He is the son of actress Irene Stokes and older brother of Hip Hop/R&B singer Juanita Stokes, and is notable for discovering many popular singers, actors, Stokes first became connected with Film and Television through the talent he managed. In 1992, Marques Houston made his debut in the animated comedy film Bébés Kids. All three members of Immature appeared in the film House Party 3 and his first film credit came in 2001 as the writer and director of House Party 4, which starred Immature, which by then had transitioned to their new name IMx. He is perhaps most well known as the writer and director of the 2004 dance movie You Got Served, the cast included Lil Kim and Marques Houston. The film opened at #1 at the box office during Super Bowl weekend with $16 million grossed in its first week and he also wrote and directed Somebody Help Me and Somebody Help Me 2, two horror films. The first, Somebody Help Me, was released to DVD on November 13,2007, the companys second feature, No Vacancy, another horror, was completed in 2011 and the first of Stokes films not star talent from his music career. It was distributed by Grindstone / Lionsgate Home Entertainment, also in 2011, Stokes returned to the dance battle genre with the dance-drama Battlefield America, starring Marques Houston, Gary Anthony Sturgis, and Lynn Whitfield. The film follows a young businessman whose community service obligations require him to turn a group of kids into a dance team. The movie was supposed to be in theaters in June 2012, in 2007, Stokes launched a clothing and fashion line, the Christopher Brian Collection, which debuted at Magic in Las Vegas February 2007. The line featured Kim Kardashian as the spokes model and was available at Dash. Promotional images for the brand featured topless pictures of Kim Kardashian wearing just the Christopher Brian pants, Chris Stokes at the Internet Movie Database Official Chris Stokes Chris Stokes Entertainment Brian & Barrett Pictures Official Site
22.
The Pussycat Dolls
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The Pussycat Dolls were an American girl group and dance ensemble, founded in Los Angeles, California, by choreographer Robin Antin in 1995 as a burlesque troupe. Overseen by Antin, Interscope and various partners, the group was transformed into a global image, the Pussycat Dolls achieved worldwide success with hit singles Dont Cha, Buttons, Stickwitu, and their first album PCD. However, despite their success, the group was plagued by internal conflict due to the emphasis on Scherzinger, the groups lead vocalist. Bachars departure from the group preceded the release of their second and final studio album Doll Domination, in 2009, they announced a minor hiatus that was later revealed to be an official break-up. The Dolls brand diversified into merchandise, reality programs, a Las Vegas act, product endorsements, spin-off recording groups. Billboard ranked the Pussycat Dolls as the 80th most successful act of the 2000s. The group has sold 54 million records worldwide, making one of the best-selling girl groups of all time. In 2012, The Pussycat Dolls ranked 100th on VH1s 100 Greatest Women in Music, Antin began exploring the idea of a modern burlesque troupe during 1990 with Carla Kama and Christina Applegate as performers. The troupe began to perform in 1995, with a repertoire of 1950s and 1960s popular music standards while dressed in lingerie or old-fashioned pin-up costumes and they secured a Thursday night residency at a Los Angeles nightclub, the Viper Room, where they stayed from 1995 to 2001. They appeared briefly in the 1998 films Matters of Consequence, from 1995 to 2003 there were numerous guest vocalists, and many changes to the dance personnel. The troupe received wider press coverage during June 1999, when Playboy featured a Pussycat Dolls pictorial, three years later, The Pussycat Dolls moved to the Roxy. They were featured in magazines, television specials for MTV and VH1, ad campaigns, some of The Pussycat Dolls appeared in the 2003 film Charlies Angels, Full Throttle, dancing to Mancinis The Pink Panther Theme. They were also featured in Pinks Trouble music video, along with Applegate, Christina Aguilera and Carmen Electra the troupe was featured in a Maxim magazine shoot in 2002, which increased public interest in them. Following their growing popularity, music producers Jimmy Iovine and Ron Fair became involved with the group helping them to transform into a franchise, the former dance troupe evolved into a popular music recording group and became employees of Iovines label Interscope Records. The only troupe members who remained after the process were Robin Antin, Carmit Bachar, Cyia Batten, Kasey Campbell, Ashley Roberts, Jessica Sutta. During 2003, Antin struck a joint venture with Interscope Records to develop The Pussycat Dolls into a brand, auditions followed suit, for a separate group which would not include celebrity members. Singers Nicole Scherzinger, Melody Thornton and Kaya Jones were recruited, joining Carmit Bachar, Ashley Roberts, Jessica Sutta, in February 2004 they performed Big Spender live at the MTV Asia Awards. In 2004, they recorded We Went as Far as We Felt Like Going for the Shark Tale soundtrack and recorded the single, Jones left the group in 2005, Batten and Campbell had left earlier
23.
Bratz (2007 film)
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Bratz is a 2007 American musical live-action teen comedy film based on the Bratz line of cartoon characters and dolls. The film is directed by Sean McNamara and stars Skyler Shaye, Janel Parrish, Logan Browning, Bratz was released by Lions Gate Entertainments film division Lionsgate Films on August 3,2007. Four teenage friends named Cloe, Yasmin, Sasha and Jade are about to start high school, self-centered Meredith wants everyone to belong to a clique, and goes about organizing students. She does not like the independent spirit of the four girls and plots to destroy their friendship, Cloe is an amazing soccer player. She meets Cameron and is instantly smitten, Sasha is recruited as a cheerleader. Jade joins the club, meets Dexter and designs great outfits. Yasmin joins journalism, even though her real passion is singing even though she hasnt realized yet and she also feels lonely as her friends are busy with their own cliques. She also meets Dylan who is deaf but can lip reading, the friends begin to drift apart as they are compelled to stay within their cliques. Two years later, when a food fight causes them to get detention, they realize that they miss being BFFs. In the end, there is a tie, Meredith gets the trophy, but the girls get the scholarship, which they later give to Cloe. She was originally enlisted to provide designs, choreograph the film, executive produce. This was revealed on Hey Paula, her reality show on her personal life, the film was shot from February to March 2007 at Santee Education Complex in South Los Angeles, California, while in session. Bratz was universally panned by critics and fans alike, on Rotten Tomatoes, gives the film a rating of 9%, based on 77 reviews, with an average rating 3/10. The sites critical consensus, Full of mixed messages and dubious role-models, on Metacritic, the film has a score of 21 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating generally unfavorable reviews. It was nominated for 5 Golden Raspberry Awards in 2007, in its opening weekend, the film grossed $4.2 million, finishing in 10th at the box office, making it a box office bomb. The film was released on DVD on November 27,2007, a film soundtrack entitled Bratz, Motion Picture Soundtrack was released on July 31,2007 through Geffen Records. The soundtrack featured music artists such as Ashlee Simpson, Dropping Daylight. Three singles were released prior to the release, Rainy Day by Janel Parrish, Rockstar by Prima J
24.
Timbaland
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Timothy Zachery Tim Mosley, known professionally as Timbaland, is an American record producer, singer, songwriter, rapper and DJ. Timbalands first full credit production work was in 1996 on Ginuwine. the Bachelor for R&B singer Ginuwine, after further work on Aaliyahs 1996 album One in a Million and Missy Elliotts 1997 album Supa Dupa Fly, Timbaland became a prominent producer for R&B and hip hop artists. As a rapper he released several albums with fellow rapper Magoo. A Timbaland-owned imprint label, Mosley Music Group, featured such as Nelly Furtado. In 2007, Timbaland released an album, Shock Value. As a songwriter he has written as of 2014,85 UK hits and 99 hits Stateside, Timbaland has received widespread acclaim for his production style. Timothy Zachery Mosley was born on March 10,1972 in Norfolk, Virginia, to Latrice, who ran a shelter, and Garland Mosley. He graduated from Salem High School of Virginia Beach, Virginia, during his time as a DJ, he was known as DJ Tim or DJ Timmy Tim. His brother, Sebastian, is reportedly around nine years younger and his sister Courtney Rashon is a makeup artist and author from New Jersey. While attending high school, Timbaland began a collaboration with rapper Melvin Barcliff. The teenage Mosley also joined the production ensemble S. B. I. which also featured Neptunes producer Pharrell, Mosley was also high school friends with brothers Terrence and Gene Thornton, who would become known as Pusha T and Malice of the rap group Clipse, respectively. In 1986, when Timbaland was 14 years old, he was shot by a co-worker at a local Red Lobster restaurant and was partially paralyzed for nine months. During this time, he began to learn how to DJ using his left hand, singer and rapper Missy Elliott heard his material and began working with him. She and her R&B group, Sista, auditioned for DeVante Swing, DeVante signed Sista to his Swing Mob record label and Elliott brought Mosley and Barcliff along with her to New York, where Swing Mob was based. It was DeVante who renamed the young producer Timbaland, after the Timberland brand of construction boots. He and Magoo became part of SCI Zakys School stable of Swing Mob signees known as Da Bassment crew, joining artists such as R&B singer Ginuwine, male vocal group Playa, and the girl group Sugah. Timbaland did production work on a number of projects with DeVante, including the 1995 Jodeci LP The Show, The After-Party, The Hotel, Elliott began receiving recognition as a songwriter for artists such as R&B girl group 702 and MC Lyte. Due to Timbalands connection with her, he was contacted to produce remixes of her songs
25.
Universal Music Group
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Universal Music Group is an American-French global music corporation that is a subsidiary of the Paris-based French media conglomerate Vivendi. UMGs global corporate headquarters are in Santa Monica, California and it is considered one of the Big Three record labels, along with Warner Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment. Universal Music was once the music attached to film studio Universal Pictures and its origins go back to the formation of the American branch of Decca Records in September 1934. The Decca Record Co. Ltd. of England spun American Decca off in 1939, MCA Inc. merged with American Decca in 1962. The present organization was formed when its parent company Seagram purchased PolyGram in May 1998, however, the name had first appeared in 1996 when MCA Music Entertainment Group was renamed Universal Music Group. The PolyGram acquisition included Deutsche Grammophon which traces its ancestry to Berliner Gramophone making Deutsche Grammophon UMGs oldest unit, UMGs Canadian unit traces its ancestry to a Berliner Gramophone breakaway firm the Compo Company. With the 2004 acquisition of Universal Studios by General Electric and merging with GEs NBC and this is the second time a music company has done so, the first being the separation of Time Warner and Warner Music Group. On June 25,2007, Vivendi completed its €1.63 billion purchase of BMG Music Publishing, after receiving European Union regulatory approval, doug Morris stepped down from his position as CEO on January 1,2011. Former chairman/CEO of Universal Music International Lucian Grainge was promoted to CEO of the company, Grainge later replaced him as chairman on March 9,2011. Morris became the chairman of Sony Music Entertainment on July 1,2011. With Grainges appointment as CEO at UMG, Max Hole was promoted to COO of UMGI, starting in 2011 UMGs Interscope Geffen A&M Records will be signing contestants from American Idol/Idol series. On January 2011, UMG announced it was donating 200,000 master recordings from the 1920s to 1940s to the Library of Congress for preservation, in March 2011, Barry Weiss became chairman & CEO of The Island Def Jam Music Group & Universal Republic Records. Both companies are restructuring under Weiss, in December 2011, David Foster was named Chairman of Verve Music Group. Among the other companies that had competed for the music business was Warner Music Group which was reported to have made a $2 billion bid. However, IMPALA has said it would fight the merger, coincidentally, UMG sister company StudioCanal has owned the EMI Films library for several years. On September 21,2012, the sale of EMI to UMG was approved in Europe, UMG divested Mute Records, Parlophone, Roxy Recordings, MPS Records, Cooperative Music, Now Thats What I Call Music. Jazzland, Universal Greece, Sanctuary Records, Chrysalis Records, EMI Classics, Virgin Classics, the Beatles recorded music library was allowed to remain with UMG despite being considered part of Parlophone and is now managed by UMGs reorganized Capitol Music Group worldwide. Robbie Williams, who had recorded for Chrysalis, had his transferred to Universals Island Records
26.
NBC
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The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcast television network that is the flagship property of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. The network is part of the Big Three television networks, founded in 1926 by the Radio Corporation of America, NBC is the oldest major broadcast network in the United States. Following the acquisition by GE, Bob Wright served as executive officer of NBC, remaining in that position until his retirement in 2007. In 2003, French media company Vivendi merged its entertainment assets with GE, Comcast purchased a controlling interest in the company in 2011, and acquired General Electrics remaining stake in 2013. Following the Comcast merger, Zucker left NBC Universal and was replaced as CEO by Comcast executive Steve Burke, during a period of early broadcast business consolidation, radio manufacturer Radio Corporation of America acquired New York City radio station WEAF from American Telephone & Telegraph. Westinghouse, a shareholder in RCA, had an outlet in Newark, New Jersey pioneer station WJZ. This station was transferred from Westinghouse to RCA in 1923, WEAF acted as a laboratory for AT&Ts manufacturing and supply outlet Western Electric, whose products included transmitters and antennas. The Bell System, AT&Ts telephone utility, was developing technologies to transmit voice- and music-grade audio over short and long distances, the 1922 creation of WEAF offered a research-and-development center for those activities. WEAF maintained a schedule of radio programs, including some of the first commercially sponsored programs. In an early example of chain or networking broadcasting, the station linked with Outlet Company-owned WJAR in Providence, Rhode Island, AT&T refused outside companies access to its high-quality phone lines. The early effort fared poorly, since the telegraph lines were susceptible to atmospheric. In 1925, AT&T decided that WEAF and its network were incompatible with the companys primary goal of providing a telephone service. AT&T offered to sell the station to RCA in a deal that included the right to lease AT&Ts phone lines for network transmission, the divisions ownership was split among RCA, its founding corporate parent General Electric and Westinghouse. NBC officially started broadcasting on November 15,1926, WEAF and WJZ, the flagships of the two earlier networks, were operated side-by-side for about a year as part of the new NBC. On April 5,1927, NBC expanded to the West Coast with the launch of the NBC Orange Network and this was followed by the debut of the NBC Gold Network, also known as the Pacific Gold Network, on October 18,1931. The Orange Network carried Red Network programming, and the Gold Network carried programming from the Blue Network, initially, the Orange Network recreated Eastern Red Network programming for West Coast stations at KPO in San Francisco. The Orange Network name was removed from use in 1936, at the same time, the Gold Network became part of the Blue Network. In the 1930s, NBC also developed a network for shortwave radio stations, in 1927, NBC moved its operations to 711 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, occupying the upper floors of a building designed by architect Floyd Brown
27.
The Office (U.S. TV series)
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The Office is an American television comedy series that aired on NBC from March 24,2005 to May 16,2013. It is an adaptation of the BBC series of the same name, the Office was adapted for American audiences by Greg Daniels, a veteran writer for Saturday Night Live, King of the Hill, and The Simpsons. It is co-produced by Daniels Deedle-Dee Productions, and Reveille Productions, the original executive producers were Greg Daniels, Howard Klein, Ben Silverman, Ricky Gervais, and Stephen Merchant, with numerous others being promoted in later seasons. The series depicts the lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania. To simulate the look of a documentary, it is filmed in a single-camera setup. The show debuted on NBC as a replacement and ran for nine seasons and 201 episodes. The Office initially featured Steve Carell, Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer and B. J. Novak as the main cast, the first season of The Office was met with mixed reviews, but the following four seasons received widespread acclaim from television critics. These seasons were included on several critics year-end top TV series lists, winning awards including four Primetime Emmy Awards. While later seasons were criticized for a decline in quality, earlier writers oversaw the final season, Greg Daniels served as the senior series showrunner for the first four seasons of the series and developed the British series for American television. He then left the position when he co-created the comedy series Parks and Recreation with fellow Office writer Michael Schur, Paul Lieberstein and Jennifer Celotta were named the series showrunners for the fifth season. Celotta left the series after the season and Lieberstein stayed on as showrunner for the following two seasons. He left the spot after the eighth season for the potential Dwight Schrute spin-off, The Farm. Daniels returned to the position for the ninth and final season. Other executive producers include cast members B. J. Novak, Kaling, Novak, Daniels, Lieberstein and Schur made up the original team of writers. Kaling, Novak and Lieberstein also serve multiple roles on the series, as they play regular characters on the show, as well as write, direct, credited with twenty-four episodes, Kaling is the most prolific writer on the staff. Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, who created the original British series, are credited as producers, and wrote the pilot. Merchant later directed the episode Customer Survey while Gervais appeared in the episodes The Seminar, randall Einhorn is the most frequent director of the series, with 15 credited episodes. Episodes have been directed by several of the actors on the show including Steve Carell, John Krasinski, Rainn Wilson, Ed Helms, before the series aired its second episode, the writers spent time researching in offices
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Michael Scott (The Office)
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Michael Gary Scott is a fictional character in NBCs The Office, portrayed by Steve Carell and based on David Brent from the original British version of the program. Michael is the character of the series, serving as Regional Manager of the Scranton branch of paper distribution company Dunder Mifflin Inc. from season one through seven. All original series characters were adapted for the U. S. version, NBC programmer Tracy McLaughlin suggested Paul Giamatti to producer Ben Silverman for the role of Michael Scott, but the actor declined. Martin Short, Hank Azaria, and Bob Odenkirk were also reported to be interested, in January 2004, Variety reported Steve Carell of the popular Comedy Central program The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, was in talks to play the role. At the time, he was committed to another NBC midseason replacement comedy. Due to Carell being unavailable, Bob Odenkirk was selected as Michael Scott and was part of the cast presented to NBC executives, however, Come to Papa was quickly canceled, allowing Carell to commit to The Office. Carell later stated he had seen about half of the original pilot episode of the British series before he auditioned. He did not continue watching for fear that he would start copying Gervais characterizations, Two supporting roles in films helped get the attention of audiences, Bruce Almighty, in which Carell plays Evan Baxter, who gets a humorous comeuppance while co-anchoring the news. In Anchorman, The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Carell plays another news personality, Carell won a Golden Globe and Television Critics Association award in 2006 for his role. He also received Emmy nominations in 2006,2007 and 2011 for his work in the series, although The 40-Year-Old Virgin was a surprise success, Carell revealed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that he had no plans to leave The Office. However, on the BBC Radio 5 Live Film Review show and this was later confirmed on June 28,2010, when Carell confirmed that the seventh season of the show was to be his last after his contract expired. Michaels hometown is also Scranton, Pennsylvania and his birthdate is March 15,1964, as described in Michaels Birthday and Dream Team. In Diversity Day, Michael claims to be of English, Irish, German and he also claims to be two-fifteenths Native American. He has mentioned a stepfather, Jeff, whom he despises, in Nepotism, it is revealed that Michael had a half-sister, from whom he was estranged from 1995 through 2010. Michael did not attend college, having lost all his money in a pyramid scheme. He was hired as a salesman at Dunder Mifflin in the 1990s, Dwight praised him in a deleted scene from The Coup for winning consecutive awards for best salesman. In Two Weeks, he claims to have acquired half of the Scranton branch clientbase, in The Client, he impresses his then-manager, Jan Levinson-Gould, by singlehandedly acquiring an important client through somewhat unorthodox methods. Both Pam Halpert and Ryan Howard are impressed watching him make sales, even Jim Halpert concedes that he might never become as good a salesman as Michael in Koi Pond
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Steve Carell
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Steven John Steve Carell is an American actor, comedian, director, producer and writer. He has also starred in roles in the films, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Evan Almighty, Get Smart, Crazy, Stupid, Love, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone. He has also voiced characters in the films, Over the Hedge, Horton Hears a Who. Carell was nominated as Americas funniest man in Life magazine, and he also received acclaim for his roles in Little Miss Sunshine and The Big Short, the latter of which earned him a Golden Globe nomination. The youngest of four brothers, Carell was born at Emerson Hospital in Concord, Massachusetts and his father, Edwin A. Carell, was an electrical engineer, and his mother, Harriet Theresa, was a psychiatric nurse. His maternal uncle, Stanley Koch, worked with scientist Allen B, duMont to create cathode ray tubes. His father is of Italian and German descent, and his mother was of Polish ancestry and his father, born under the surname Caroselli, later changed it to Carell. Carell was raised Roman Catholic, and was educated at Nashoba Brooks School, The Fenn School and he also played ice hockey and lacrosse while in high school. He played the fife, performing with members of his family. He attributed his interest in history to this, earning a degree in the subject from Denison University in Granville, Ohio, in 1984. While at Denison, Carell was a member of Burpees Seedy Theatrical Company and he also spent time as a disc jockey under the name Sapphire Steve Carell at WDUB, the campus radio station. Carell states that he worked as a carrier in Littleton. He later recounted that he quit after six months because his boss told him he was not very good as a mail carrier, in 1991, Carell performed with Chicago troupe The Second City where Stephen Colbert was his understudy for a time. Carell made his debut in a minor role in Curly Sue. In spring 1996, he was a cast member of The Dana Carvey Show, while the program lasted only seven episodes, The Dana Carvey Show has since been credited with forging Carells career. He starred in a few short-lived television series, including Come to Papa and he has made numerous guest appearances, including on an episode of Just Shoot Me. titled Funny Girl. Carells other early screen credits include Brad Halls short-lived situation comedy Watching Ellie, Carell was a correspondent for The Daily Show from 1999 to 2005, with a number of regular segments including Even Stevphen with Stephen Colbert and on the Daily Show. In 2005, Carell signed a deal with NBC to star in The Office, a mockumentary about life at a mid-sized paper supply company and he played the role of Michael Scott, the idiosyncratic regional manager of Dunder Mifflin Inc, in Scranton, Pennsylvania
30.
Nickelodeon
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Nickelodeon is an American basic cable and satellite television network launched on December 1,1977, and is owned by Viacom through Viacom Media Networks and based in New York City. It is primarily aimed at children and adolescents aged 7–18 while its weekday morning edutainment programs are targeted at children ages 2–6. As of July 2015, Nickelodeon is available to approximately 93.7 million pay television households in the US, the name of the channel comes from the first five cent movie theaters called nickelodeons. Nickelodeons history dates back to December 1,1977, when Warner Cable Communications launched the first two-way interactive cable system, QUBE, in Columbus, Ohio. Its C-3 cable channel carried Pinwheel daily from 7,00 a. m. to 9,00 p. m. Eastern Time, Nickelodeon launched on April 1,1979, initially distributed to Warner Cable systems via satellite on the RCA Satcom-1 transponder. Originally commercial-free, advertising was introduced in January 1984, the channel also airs reruns of select original series that are no longer in production, as well as occasional original made-for-TV movies. The channel also aired special editions of Nick News with Linda Ellerbee. The channel occasionally airs feature films produced by the networks Nickelodeon Movies film production division, although the film division bears the Nickelodeon brand name, the cable channel does not have access to most of the movies produced by its film unit. Nick Jr. – Nickelodeon currently programs shows targeted at preschool-age children on Monday through Fridays from 8,30 am-3,00 pm Eastern, the block primarily targets audiences of preschool age as Nickelodeons usual audience of school-age children are in school during the blocks designated time period. Programs currently seen in this block include Blaze and the Monster Machines, Team Umizoomi, Bubble Guppies, PAW Patrol, Max & Ruby, Saturday morning block - a morning block of primarily animated series from 9 am-12,30 pm Eastern and Pacific Time. It launched on September 22,2012, as Gotta See Saturday Mornings, recent episodes of certain original series may air when no new episodes are scheduled to air that week. The schedule features series such as SpongeBob SquarePants, Bunsen Is a Beast, ALVINNN. nicks New Saturday Night – a primetime live-action block airing from 8-10pm Eastern and Pacific Time. It launched on September 22,2012, as Gotta See Saturday Nights, recent episodes of certain original series may air when no new episodes are scheduled to air that week. The schedule features The Thundermans and Henry Danger, premieres of the networks original made-for-cable movies also occasionally air during the primetime block, usually in the form of premiere showings. SNICK – SNICK was the networks first dedicated Saturday primetime block that aired from 8,00 to 10,00 p. m. Eastern, geared toward pre-teens and teenagers, it debuted on August 15,1992. The block featured mainly live-action series, although it featured animated series. SNICK was discontinued on August 28,2004, and was replaced the following week by a Saturday night edition of the TEENick block and it was hosted by Stick Stickly, a Mr. Bill-like popsicle stick character. The block was replaced for the summer of 1999 by Henry, the Stick Stickly character was later revived for The 90s Are All That on TeenNick, which debuted in 2011
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Zoey 101
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Zoey 101 is an American comedy-drama television series which originally aired on Nickelodeon from January 9,2005 until May 2,2008. It focuses on the lives of teenager Zoey Brooks, her brother, and her friends as they attend Pacific Coast Academy, the series was created by Dan Schneider. It was initially filmed at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California and it was nominated for an Outstanding Childrens Program Emmy in 2005. Zoey 101 was the most expensive ever for a Nickelodeon series. The series centers around Zoey Brooks as she enrolls in Pacific Coast Academy, throughout the series, Zoey and her friends navigate life as teenagers in a boarding school. As the series progresses, the group of friends grows closer together, in the clip, it becomes apparent that Zoey and Chase have broken up and he is now seeing someone else. Just as Chase is proposing to his current girlfriend Alyssa, Michael storms in and this causes Chase, who is still in love with Zoey, to abandon Alyssa to find Zoey, with the clip ending on a cliffhanger. Nickelodeon has released all 4 seasons on DVD in Region 1, seasons 2,3 and 4 are manufacture-on-demand releases and are available only through Amazon. com. Alliance Home Entertainment has released the first three seasons on DVD in Canada only, season 3 was released on March 8,2011. In Region 4, Madman Entertainment has released the first two seasons on DVD in Australia, Zoey 101, Music Mix is the soundtrack album for the series. It was released on March 7,2006, the album features music of the pop and rock genres. The theme song by Jamie Lynn Spears, wasnt included in the official soundtrack, only the instrumental version. A video game titled Zoey 101 was released in March 2007 for Game Boy Advance, another game called Zoey 101, Field Trip Fiasco was released on September 11,2007 for Nintendo DS. Both video games were published by THQ and developed by Barking Lizards and received poor reception and negative reviews from such as IGN. Zoey 101 is a mini-game collection, players must successfully complete each mini-game, then a dare, and then a final challenge. Dares and challenges are randomly chosen from three games in the level, players can choose to play mini-games freely in the main menu. GameZone awarded the game 4 out of 10, stating that the game was boring, frustrating, just plain unfun. Field Trip Fiasco is about Zoey and her friends taking a trip to a park
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HBO
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Home Box Office is an American premium cable and satellite television network that is owned by Time Warner through its respective flagship company Home Box Office, Inc. HBO is the oldest and longest continuously operating pay television service in the United States, in 2014, HBO had an adjusted operating income of US$1.79 billion, compared to the US$1.68 billion it accrued in 2013. HBO has 49 million subscribers in the United States and 130 million worldwide as of 2016, the network provides seven 24-hour multiplex channels, including HBO Comedy, HBO Latino, HBO Signature and HBO Family. It launched the streaming service HBO Now in April 2015, and has over 2 million subscribers in the United States as of February 2017. In addition to its U. S. subscriber base, HBO distributes content in at least 151 countries, HBO subscribers generally pay for an extra tier of service that includes other cable- and satellite-exclusive channels even before paying for the channel itself. Cable providers can require the use of a converter box – usually digital – in order to receive HBO, many HBO programs have been syndicated to other networks and broadcast television stations, and a number of HBO-produced series and films have been released on DVD. The new system, which Dolan named Sterling Information Services, became the first urban underground cable system in the United States. In that same year, Time-Life, Inc. purchased a 20% stake in Dolans company, in the summer of 1971, while on a family vacation in France, Charles Dolan began to think of ideas to make Sterling Manhattan profitable. He came up with the concept for a television service. Dolan later presented his idea to Time-Life management, though satellite distribution seemed only a distant possibility at the time, he persuaded Time-Life to back him on the project. To gauge whether consumers would be interested in subscribing to a pay television service, in a meeting of Dolan and some Time-Life executives who were working on the project, various other names were discussed for the new service. Home Box Office launched on November 8,1972, however, HBOs launch came without fanfare in the press, as it was not covered by any local or national media outlets. Home Box Office distributed its first sports event immediately after the film, Four months later in February 1973, Home Box Office aired its first television special, the Pennsylvania Polka Festival. Home Box Office would use a network of relay towers to distribute its programming to cable systems throughout its service area. Sterling Manhattan Cable continued to lose money because the company had only a small base of 20,000 customers in Manhattan. Time-Life dropped the Sterling name and the company was renamed Manhattan Cable Television under Time-Lifes control in March 1973, Gerald Levin, who had been with Home Box Office since it began operations as its vice president of programming, replaced Dolan as the companys president and chief executive officer. In September 1973, Time-Life, Inc. completed its acquisition of the pay service. HBO would eventually increase its fortunes within two years, by April 1975, the service had around 100,000 subscribers in Pennsylvania and New York state, in 1974, they settled on using a geostationary communications satellite to transmit HBO to cable providers throughout the United States
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True Blood
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True Blood is an American dark fantasy horror television series produced and created by Alan Ball and based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries series of novels by Charlaine Harris. Now they are struggling for equal rights and assimilation, while anti-vampire organizations begin to gain power, the show was broadcast on the premium cable network HBO, in the United States, and was produced by HBO in association with Balls production company, Your Face Goes Here Entertainment. The series premiered on September 7,2008 and concluded on August 24,2014, the first five seasons received highly positive reviews, and both nominations and wins for several awards, including a Golden Globe and an Emmy. Throughout the series, other creatures are introduced, among them shapeshifters, werewolves, faeries, witches. The series revolves around Sookie Stackhouse, a telepathic human-faerie hybrid known as a halfling, Sookie is a waitress at Merlottes Bar and Grill, owned by Sam Merlotte in the small Louisiana town of Bon Temps. Sam is a shapeshifter, though this secret is hidden from most of the town. Series creator Alan Ball had previously worked with the cable channel HBO on Six Feet Under, in October 2005, after Six Feet Under wrapped, Ball signed a two-year agreement with HBO to develop and produce original programming for the network. True Blood became the first project under the deal, after Ball became acquainted with Charlaine Harris Southern Vampire Mystery books. One day, while early for an appointment, Ball was browsing through a Barnes & Noble bookshop and came across Dead Until Dark. He read the entries that followed and became interested in bringing vision to television, however, Harris already had two other adaptation options for the books. She said she chose to work him, though, because really got me. Thats how he convinced me to go with him, I just felt that he understood what I was doing with the books. The projects hour-long pilot was ordered concurrently with the finalization of the development deal, and was written, directed. Cast members Paquin, Kwanten and Trammell were announced in February 2007, the pilot was shot in the early summer of 2007 and was officially ordered to series in August, at which point Ball had already written several more episodes. Production on the series later that fall, with Brook Kerr. Two more episodes of the series had been filmed before the 2007-08 Writers Guild of America strike shut down production of the 12-episode first season until 2008, ideas of redemption and forgiveness are also explored, and thus the sequence progresses from morning to night and culminates in a baptism. The title sequence was created by the independent film company Digital Kitchen, the sequence also features images and themes of death and rebirth, the circle of life. A Venus fly-trap can be seen engulfing a frog, while a rotting foxs head is sped up to reveal maggots feeding off the corpse
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Glee club
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A glee club is a musical group or choir group, historically of male voices but also of female or mixed voices, which traditionally specializes in the singing of short songs—glees—by trios or quartets. In the late 19th century it was popular in most schools and was made a tradition to have in American high schools from then on. The first named Glee Club was founded in Harrow School, in London, Glee clubs were very popular in the UK from then until the mid-1850s but by then they were gradually being superseded by choral societies. Glee in this context does not refer to the mood of the music or of its singers, but by the mid-20th century, proper glee clubs were no longer common. Glee List of collegiate glee clubs J Lloyd Winstead, when Colleges Sang, The Story of Singing in American College Life University of Alabama Press,2013
35.
Dancing with Myself
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Dancing with Myself is a song written by singer Billy Idol and bassist Tony James, first recorded by their band Generation X in 1979. The song was re-recorded and commercially released by the band newly re-branded as Gen X as a 7 single and a 12 in July 1980 and it was included on the new bands subsequent first album Kiss Me Deadly. The release became his first hit in America, having become popular on the club scene. Two versions were issued—the 3,20 single version and the 4,50 extended version appeared on Idols Dont Stop EP. A music video directed by Tobe Hooper was produced for the 1981 American release, the set for the video was co-opted from an L. A. -based production of Ann Jellicoes punk rock-themed play The Sport Of My Mad Mad Mother, produced by and starring Dan Shor. The song was covered by blink-182 for the 1997 compilation album Before You Were Punk, the song was covered by Houston punk rock band 30 Foot Fall on their debut album, Divided We Stand. The song is performed live at the end of the setlist. The song was covered by The Boomtang Boys with Kim Esty singing vocals, the song was covered by French cover band Nouvelle Vague on their 2006 album Bande à Part. Gonzo performs a cover of song in an episode of Muppets Tonight. Artie Abrams performed the song on an episode of Glee, the Donnas covered the song as a single. It plays under the end credits of the 2004 movie Mean Girls, the song was covered by Belgian rock band De Kreuners under the title Ik dans wel met mezelf. Idols version appeared in the films Cant Buy Me Love, Grown Ups 2 and Flushed Away as well as the TV shows Bad Judge, Everybody Hates Chris and The Carrie Diaries and video game Guitar Hero 5. The Nouvelle Vague version appeared as the song for LA Ink. Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
36.
Wheels (Glee)
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Wheels is the ninth episode of the American television series Glee. Written by series co-creator Ryan Murphy and directed by Paris Barclay, Quinn struggles with the medical expenses incurred by her pregnancy, and Puck renews his offer to support her. Sue accepts a student with Down syndrome onto the cheerleading squad, McHale called Wheels the most serious episode of Glee so far, while Murphy deemed it the turning point for the show. The episode introduces two new characters, Lauren Potter as Becky Jackson and Robin Trocki as Jean Sylvester and it features covers of Nouvelle Vagues rendition of Dancing with Myself, Defying Gravity from Wicked and Ike & Tina Turners rendition of Proud Mary. Dancing With Myself is McHales first solo performance on the show, Defying Gravity was included as a reflection of Colfers own high school experience, which saw his drama teacher refuse to allow him to sing the song because of his sex. Proud Mary is staged entirely in wheelchairs, and was described by series choreographer Zach Woodlee as the scariest number produced to date. Wheels was watched by 7.35 million US viewers, and it prompted criticism from a committee of performers with disabilities, who felt that it was inappropriate to cast an able-bodied actor in a disabled role. The episode received positive reviews from critics, with Entertainment Weeklys Tim Stack. In contrast, The New York Timess Mike Hale deemed the episode problematic, meanwhile, Quinn Fabray is struggling to cover the medical expenses of her pregnancy, and threatens to break up with Finn Hudson if he cannot pay her ultrasound bill. Puck fights with Finn, whom he feels is not doing enough to support Quinn, by including cannabis in the cupcakes, Puck ensures the bake sale is a success and offers Quinn the money raised. She apologizes for calling him a loser, but refuses to accept the money. Rachel Berry and Kurt Hummel compete for a solo on Defying Gravity, Burt receives an anonymous abusive phone call about his sons sexual orientation, and Kurt deliberately sabotages his own audition to spare his father further harassment. Artie reveals the origin of his disability to Tina Cohen-Chang, explaining that he was paralyzed in a car accident at the age of eight and he likens his wheelchair use to Tinas speech impediment. Having previously removed Quinn from the squad due to her pregnancy. She accepts Becky Jackson, a sophomore with Down syndrome, will is suspicious of her motives, increasingly so when Sue donates money to the school to fund three new handicap ramps for students with disabilities. Sue is later seen visiting her sister, Jean, who also has Down syndrome. In the end, the club performs Proud Mary, staging the entire routine in wheelchairs in support of Artie. Kevin McHale deemed Wheels the most serious episode of Glee so far and he enjoyed Arties character development in the episode, explaining that when he was cast in the role, he did not know Arties background and thus made up his own backstory for him
37.
Dream On (Glee)
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Dream On is the nineteenth episode of the American television series Glee. The episode premiered on the Fox network on May 18,2010 and it was directed by Joss Whedon and written by series creator Brad Falchuk. Neil Patrick Harris guest-stars as former glee club star Bryan Ryan, working as a school board auditor, he threatens to cut the glee club out of the budget, bitter at never having attained his own show-business dreams. Rachel attempts to find her mother, and Artie struggles with his desire to walk. The episode title is a reference to Aerosmiths song Dream On, Dream On was watched by 11.59 million American viewers and received generally positive reviews from critics. Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune, Bobby Hankinson of the Houston Chronicle, D Kennedy of the Los Angeles Times and Todd VanDerWerff of The A. V. Club all deemed it one of the best episodes of the season, while Aly Semigran of MTV, Entertainment Weeklys Tim Stack and Raymund Flandez of The Wall Street Journal praised the musical performances. Blair Baldwin of Zap2it in contrast felt that the songs were inconsistent, Bryan Ryan, a former McKinley High glee club member, arrives as an auditor from the school board. He speaks to the club, asking everyone to write their biggest dream on a piece of paper. He then takes Arties paper and tosses it into the trash, having failed to realize his own dreams, he intends to cut the glee club. Glee club director Will Schuester convinces him that it is not too late to pursue his dreams and they both audition for the role of Jean Valjean in the local production of Les Misérables, singing Dream On as a duet. Bryan decides not to cut the glee club, and even presents them with new costumes and sheet music, will gives up his role in Les Misérables to Bryan in order to save the glee club. Rachel confides in Jesse of her dream to discover the identity of her mother. While they are searching through boxes of records from her basement, Jesse takes a tape from his jacket. The tape is labeled as a message from mother to daughter, Rachel refuses to listen to the tape, stating that she is not ready. Jesse reveals that though he had befriended Rachel just to get more acting practice and she implores Jesse to convince Rachel to listen to the tape. Back at Rachels house, Jesse starts the tape playing as Rachel enters her bedroom, on the tape, Shelby sings I Dreamed a Dream, leading to a duet with Rachel in a dream sequence, ending with Rachel back in her room in tears. After Bryans discouraging speech, Tina retrieves Arties paper from the trash, Tina would like to dance with Artie, but he falls off his crutches when he tries to stand up from his wheelchair
38.
The Safety Dance
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The Safety Dance is a song by Canadian new wave/synthpop band Men Without Hats, released in Canada in 1983 as the second single from Rhythm of Youth. The song was written by lead singer Ivan Doroschuk after he had kicked out of a club for pogoing. The song entered the Canadian top 50 in February 1983, peaking at no.11 on 14 May, in the meantime, The Safety Dance was released in the US on March 16, but did not enter the US charts for a few months. When it finally did, the became a bigger hit than it had been in Canada. It also reached no.1 on Cash Box, as well as no.1 on the Billboard Dance Chart. New wave dancing, especially pogoing, was different from disco dancing, because it was done instead of with partners and involved holding the torso rigid. To uninformed bystanders this could look dangerous, especially if pogoers accidentally bounced into one another, the bouncers did not like pogoing so they would tell pogoers to stop or be kicked out of the club. Thus, the song is a protest and a call for freedom of expression, in 2003, on an episode of VH1s True Spin, Doroschuk responded to two common interpretations of the song. Firstly, he notes it is not a call for safe sex, Doroschuk says that is reading too much into the lyrics. Secondly, he explained that it is not an anti-nuclear protest song per se despite the nuclear imagery at the end of the video, Doroschuk stated that it wasnt a question of just being anti-nuclear, it was a question of being anti-establishment. The music video for the song, directed by Tim Pope, is notable for its English folk revival imagery, featuring Morris dancers, Mummers, Punch and Judy and it was filmed in the village of West Kington, in Wiltshire, England. Ivan Doroschuk is the member of the band actually to perform in the video. The Morris dancers seen in the video were the Chippenham Town Morris Men, the dwarf actor is Mike Edmonds, whose T-shirt in the video shows the Rhythm of Youth album cover. In 2010, a Lipton iced tea commercial featuring Hugh Jackman included The Feelings version of the playing in the background. The song is performed in Dream On, season 1 episode 19 of the TV series Glee, in the episode, wheelchair user Artie fantasizes about being able to dance and leading a flash mob performance of the song in a shopping mall. Ivan Doroschuk credited this version with reaching a whole section of people to appreciate the song. The Safety Dance was featured in Episode 2 of Season 19 of South Park, Men Without Hats – Official Site Ivan Doroschuk explains meaning behind song Website of dancers who appear in the video
39.
Dream a Little Dream of Me
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Dream a Little Dream of Me is a song, from circa 1931, with music by Fabian Andre and Wilbur Schwandt and lyrics by Gus Kahn. It was first recorded in February 1931 by Ozzie Nelson and also by Wayne King and His Orchestra, with vocal by Ernie Birchill. A popular standard, it has more than 60 other versions recorded. Dream a Little Dream of Me was recorded by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra, two days later, Wayne King and His Orchestra, with vocal by Ernie Birchill, recorded the song for Victor Records. Dream a Little Dream of Me was also a signature tune of Kate Smith. Other traditional pop acts to record Dream a Little Dream of Me include Louis Armstrong, Barbara Carroll, Nat King Cole, Doris Day, Joni James, and Dean Martin. The song was recorded in 1968 by Mama Cass Elliot with The Mamas & the Papas. More than 40 other versions followed, including by the Mills Brothers, Sylvie Vartan, Henry Mancini, The Beautiful South, Anne Murray, Erasure, Michael Bublé, and Italian vocal group Blue Penguin. Dream a Little Dream of Me was recorded for the Mamas & the Papas April 1968 album release The Papas & The Mamas, Mama Cass Elliot suggested to group leader John Phillips that the group record Dream a Little Dream of Me. According to him she was unhappy while recording the song, objecting to its campiness, however, Elliot herself would later tell Melody Maker, I tried to sing it like it was 1943 and somebody had just come in and said, Heres a new song. I tried to sing it as if it were the first time, in the album version, recorded with the Mamas and the Papas, a spoken introduction from an engineer is heard mentioning a drink, and then concluding with the words, And now introducing, Mama Cass. Only the last part was heard on the version of the song. Cass did her own whistling, which is heard before the songs fade, by the time of the albums release, there were strong indications that the Mamas & the Papas were set to disband, a perception strengthened by the failure of the lead single Safe in My Garden. The Billboard Easy Listening chart ranked the single as high as #2, in the UK Dream a Little Dream of Me reached #11 that September, the track also afforded Mama Cass a hit in Ireland and South Africa. In Australia the Go-Set Top 40 chart ranked Dream a Little Dream of Me at #1 for the weeks of 4 &11 September 1968, in Australia the song spent two weeks at #1, and was the 16th biggest hit of 1968. A slightly different version of Dream a Little Dream of Me was included on Elliots solo debut album, Both Casss and Harriss versions of the song have an inaccurate rendering of the middle eight bars. English singer-songwriter Robbie Williams recorded Dream a Little Dream of Me for his studio and second swing album. While the album version is a duet with Lily Allen, she was omitted from the single version, the video features Williams singing the song whilst presenting a Christmas show in the style of The Dean Martin Show
40.
Britney/Brittany
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Britney/Brittany is the second episode of the second season of the American television series Glee, and the twenty-fourth episode overall. Written and directed by series creator Ryan Murphy, it premiered on the Fox network on September 28,2010, Glee club member Brittany S. Pierce experiences an anesthesia-induced hallucination in which she recreates iconic Spears moments, and comes to self-realization, and several club members follow suit. Co-captains Rachel and Finn experience difficulties in their relationship, and club director Will Schuester becomes jealous of guidance counselor Emma Pillsburys new boyfriend, Dr. Carl Howell. Following the first season episode The Power of Madonna, which served as an homage to Madonna, Murphy planned two tribute episodes for Glees second season, of which Britney/Brittany is the first. He was approached by Spears about using her songs, and deemed her one of the most important female musicians of the decade, Spears makes several cameos in the episode, appearing in the students dream sequences. The episode features seven musical performances, six of which were released as singles and it was watched by 13.51 million American viewers, Glees third largest audience ever, and attracted mixed reviews from critics. Club criticized its slightness of plot and incongruous musical numbers, however, Micheles rendition of. Baby One More Time attracted negative reviews, though her performance of Paramores The Only Exception was generally well received. Spears cameo received mixed reviews, with even those critics who received it favorably expressing relief that she did not appear for longer, Morris performance attracted critical praise, particularly for her dancing skills. Will refuses, stating that Spears is a bad role model, will then discusses Spears with school guidance counselor Emma Pillsbury. While in her office, he meets her new boyfriend, dentist Carl Howell, a plaque test reveals that Brittany, Rachel and Artie all require dental work. When Brittany is put under general anesthesia so Carl can fill her cavities and she later returns to Carls practice with her friend Santana and they share a hallucination in which they duet on Me Against the Music. Brittany feels empowered by the encounter, and begins to act more assertively in glee club, Rachel feels threatened by her boyfriend Finns desire to re-join the school football team, fearing that their relationship will not work if he becomes popular again. After visiting the dentist and experiencing her own hallucination, in which she performs. Baby One More Time and her new look is received positively and cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester finds school blogger Jacob Ben Israel masturbating to a video of Rachel in the library. Rachel relents and encourages Finn to re-join the team, Arties dental visit results in a hallucination of Stronger in which he is also a member of the football team. Football coach Shannon Beiste accepts both Finn and Artie, despite the fact Artie is in a wheelchair, Rachel becomes jealous of the attention Finn is receiving now that he is back on the team and to test Finns fidelity, she has his ex-girlfriend Quinn attempt to seduce him. She is relieved when Finn turns Quinn down, and sings Paramores The Only Exception to him in apology, advised by Emma to relax, Will learns that Carl recently purchased a new Chevrolet Corvette and buys one for himself. He is confronted by his ex-wife Terri, who insists that he return it, when multiple students, including Jacob and Lauren Zizes, become sexually aroused by the performance, Sue sets off the fire alarm and has the student body evacuate the auditorium. She later threatens to sue Will after being injured in the stampede, Emma tells Will to stop trying to be someone he is not, and he returns his new car
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Stronger (Britney Spears song)
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Stronger is a song recorded by American singer Britney Spears for her second studio album, Oops. It was released on November 13,2000, by JIVE Records as the single of the album. After meeting with producers Max Martin and Rami in Sweden, the singer recorded several songs for the album, the teen pop, dance-pop, and electropop song has self-empowerment lyrics about a girl who is tired of her cheating boyfriend and decides to live without him. It received acclaim from critics, who described the song as both musically and lyrically innovative and considered it the best dance track from the album. Stronger achieved commercial success worldwide, reaching the top five in Austria, Germany and Sweden, while reaching the top ten in Finland, Ireland, Switzerland and United Kingdom. Stronger peaked at eleven in the United States Billboard Hot 100. An accompanying music video was directed by Joseph Kahn, who considered it as a departure from Spears previous music videos. The music video received a nomination on the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards for Best Pop Video and it was first performed on the Oops. I Did It Again World Tour, as the first song from the show, also, in 2013 Spears performed the song for the first time in eleven years on her Las Vegas residency concert Britney, Piece of Me. In 2010, Stronger was covered by actor Kevin McHale for an episode of TV series Glee titled Britney/Brittany, the cover received positive reviews from contemporary music critics. In 1999 Spears began work on her studio album Oops. I Did It Again, in Sweden. After meeting with Max Martin and Rami Yacoub in Sweden, Spears recorded several songs for the album, including Stronger, which was co-written and co-produced by Martin and Rami. Upon returning to the United States, the singer revealed in an interview with MTV News that, I just got back from Sweden, I was really, really happy with the material, but we had limited time to get so much done. So Ive just really been in the studio nonstop, which is cool, Spears recorded her vocals for the song in early November 1999 at Cheiron Studios in Stockholm, Sweden. Stronger was released on November 13,2000 as the single from the album. Stronger is a teen pop and dance-pop song that features a dance beat. Music critics noticed the song as Spears declaration of independence, which is perceived in self-empowerment lines such as Im not your property and its lyrics also quote Spears iconic debut hit. Despite not being written by the singer, it was speculated that the song is directed to the record label
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Harry Shum Jr.
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Harry Shum Jr. is a Chinese-Costa Rican-American actor, dancer, singer and choreographer. He is best known for his roles as Mike Chang on the Fox comedy-drama television series Glee and as Magnus Bane on the Freeform fantasy television series Shadowhunters. He has appeared in the films Stomp the Yard, You Got Served, Step Up 2, The Streets, Step Up 3D and he also played Elliot Hoo in The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers. Shum was born in San Jose, Costa Rica and his mother is a native of Hong Kong, and his father is from Guangzhou, China. They relocated to Costa Rica, where Shum and his two sisters were born. When Shum was six years old, the moved to San Francisco. He stated, I feel I have the best of so many worlds, Spanish is actually my first language before I learned Cantonese and English. He later stated that he hasnt spoken Spanish fluently since the age of 6 and he spent most of his schooling years in the San Luis Obispo area and graduated from Arroyo Grande High School in 2000. Initially he had been interested in theater and sports but found a new passion in dance after auditioning for his high school dance team on a dare. In an interview, he said that his earliest motivations to dance were from watching Ginuwine, Dru Hill, Shum has stated that he identifies as being somewhat Latino. I do consider myself somewhat Latin, Shum launched his career as the only male dancer on BETs ComicView in 2002, and has continued his dancing career from there. He was also one of the dancers for stars such as Beyoncé, Mariah Carey, Jennifer Lopez. He won a competition to dance in an iPod commercial. From 2009 until 2015, he portrayed the role of Mike Chang and he subsequently gave performances of Make Em Laugh in The Substitute, Sing from A Chorus Line in Duets, Valerie in Special Education, and the shows first dance solo in A Night of Neglect. He was promoted from guest star to series regular for the third season and he was given a major storyline in the third episode of the season, Asian F, and performed Cool from West Side Story, his first solo song. On June 28,2013, it was reported that Shum would not return as regular on Glees fifth season, Shum has been featured in many productions done by Wong Fu Productions. In 2010, he appeared in Step Up 3-D as Cable and he is also a dancer and choreographer for the Legion of Extraordinary Dancers. In 2011, Shum completed an action film,3 Minutes, directed Ross Ching and produced by Don Le
