1.
Oliver Hardy
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Oliver Norvell Babe Hardy was an American comic actor and one half of Laurel and Hardy, the classic double act that began in the era of silent films and lasted 25 years, from 1927 to 1951. He appeared with his comedy partner Stan Laurel in 107 short films, feature films and he was credited with his first film, Outwitting Dad, in 1914. In some of his works, he was billed as Babe Hardy. Oliver Hardy was born Norvell Hardy in Harlem, Georgia and his father Oliver was a Confederate veteran who had been wounded at the Battle of Antietam on September 17,1862. After his demobilization as an officer for Company K, 16th Georgia Regiment. He bought a share in a business and was elected full-time Tax Collector for Columbia County. Norvells mother Emily Norvell was the daughter of Thomas Benjamin Norvell and Mary Freeman, descended from Captain Hugh Norvell of Williamsburg, Virginia, Hardy and Norvell had married March 12,1890, it was the second marriage for the widow Emily, and the third for Oliver. He was of paternal English American descent and maternal Scottish American descent, the family moved to Madison in 1891, before Norvells birth. Emily Hardy owned a house in Harlem, which was either empty or rented out to tenant farmers, Norvell was likely born in Harlem, though some sources say that his birth occurred in Covington, his mothers hometown. His father died less than a year after his birth, Hardy was the youngest of five children. His older brother Sam Hardy died in a accident in the Oconee River. Hardy pulled his brother from the river but was unable to resuscitate him, as a child, Hardy was sometimes difficult. He was sent to Georgia Military College in Milledgeville as a youngster and he was sent to Young Harris College in north Georgia in the 1905-1906 school year fall semester when he was 13. He was in the junior high component of that institution of the time, Hardy had little interest in formal education, although he acquired an early interest in music and theater, possibly from his mothers tenants. He joined a group and later ran away from a boarding school near Atlanta to sing with the group. His mother recognized his talent for singing and sent him to Atlanta to study music, Hardy skipped some of his lessons to sing in the Alcazar Theater, a cinema, for US$3.50 a week. He subsequently decided to go back to Milledgeville, sometime prior to 1910, Hardy began styling himself Oliver Norvell Hardy, adding the first name Oliver as a tribute to his father. He appeared as Oliver N. Hardy in the 1910 U. S. census, Hardy was initiated into Freemasonry at Solomon Lodge No.20 in Jacksonville, Florida
2.
Ally Sheedy
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Alexandra Elizabeth Ally Sheedy is an American film and stage actress, as well as the author of two books. Following her film debut in 1983s Bad Boys, she became known as one of the Brat Pack group of actors in the films The Breakfast Club and she also acted in WarGames and Short Circuit. For her performance in Lisa Cholodenkos High Art, Sheedy won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead, Sheedy was born in New York City and has two siblings, brother Patrick and sister Meghan. Her mother, Charlotte, is a writer and press agent who was involved in womens and civil rights movements and her mother is Jewish and her father is of Irish Catholic background. Her maternal grandmother was from Odessa, Ukraine, Sheedy attended Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School in New York City, graduating in 1980. She started dancing with the American Ballet Theatre at age six and was planning to make it a full-time career, however, she gave up dance in favor of acting full-time. At age 12 she wrote a book, She Was Nice to Mice, on June 19,1975, she appeared on the game show To Tell the Truth in her role as a young writer. Sheedy started acting in stage productions as a teenager. The 1980s were her most active period, with roles in films such as WarGames, The Breakfast Club, St. Elmos Fire, Short Circuit. Sheedy starred alongside Radha Mitchell in the 1998 independent film High Art and her performance in High Art was recognized with awards from the Independent Spirit Awards, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and National Society of Film Critics. In 1999, Sheedy took over the role in the off-Broadway production of the musical Hedwig. She was the first female to play the part of the genderqueer Hedwig and that same year, she was cast as a lead actress in Sugar Town, an independent film, which featured an ensemble cast of actors and musicians. She was reunited with Breakfast Club co-star Anthony Michael Hall when she became a special guest star on his television show The Dead Zone, in the second-season episode Playing God, from 2003. Sheedy has also appeared in the episode Leapin Lizards of C. S. I. in which she played a woman who murdered her boyfriends wife while mixed up in a cult. On March 3,2008, Sheedy was introduced as the character Sarah, in 2009, she played the role of Mr. Yang on the USA Network television show Psych, a role that she reprised in the fourth season, fifth season, and seventh season finales. Sheedy dated Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora for less than a year in the 1980s and she stated in The Los Angeles Times that the relationship led her to abuse drugs, a claim Sambora denied. On April 12,1992, Sheedy married actor David Lansbury, the nephew of actress Angela Lansbury and son of Edgar Lansbury and their daughter Rebecca was born in 1994. In May 2008, Sheedy announced that she and Lansbury had filed for divorce
3.
Michael Ontkean
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Michael Leonard Ontkean is a retired Canadian actor. He is known for the 1970s crime drama The Rookies, the films Slap Shot and Making Love, Ontkean was born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, the son of Muriel, an actress, and Leonard Ontkean, a boxer and actor. He was an actor in Vancouver and he appeared on the Canadian television series Hudsons Bay. His family later relocated to Toronto, where he attended St. Michaels Choir School, Holy Rosary and later, Ontkean also grew up playing hockey and he earned a hockey scholarship to the University of New Hampshire, a Division I program playing in the ECAC. In his three years on the varsity program, Ontkean scored 63 goals and 111 points in 85 games played and he led the team in goal scoring his junior year with 30 goals, and was second behind fellow Canadian Louis Frigon his senior year. Ontkeans hockey skill played a role in his landing the role of Ned Braden in Slap Shot. In 1979 he appeared in the first episode of Tales of the Unexpected. Other early movie roles included Voices with Amy Irving, Willie & Phil with Margot Kidder, The Blood of Others, The Allnighter and Maid to Order, Claras Heart with Whoopi Goldberg, Making Love is about a married man who discovers his homosexuality. According to Hiller, the reaction of most actors was to him not to even consider them for the role. The film reunited Ontkean with Kate Jackson, the two had previously co-starred together in The Rookies, many years later, Ontkean tried to prevent clips from the film from being shown in The Celluloid Closet, a 1996 documentary about LGBT characters in film, but he was unsuccessful. Ontkean appeared as Sheriff Harry S. Truman in David Lynchs Twin Peaks and he filmed scenes for Twin Peaks, Fire Walk With Me but, like many others from the original TV series, his scenes were deleted from the final film. As a result of his retirement, Ontkean will not be reprising his role of Sheriff Harry S. Truman in the 2017 revival of Twin Peaks. Ontkean had a role on Foxs short-lived series North Shore in 2004. He also featured in the 2011 film The Descendants, which was his last role before he decided to retire from acting, married to Jamie Smith Jackson, Ontkean now resides in Hawaii. Michael Ontkean at the Internet Movie Database Michael Ontkeans career statistics at The Internet Hockey Database
4.
Valerie Perrine
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Valerie Ritchie Perrine is an American actress and model. Perrine was born in Galveston, Texas, the daughter of Winifred Renee, a dancer who appeared in Earl Carrolls Vanities, and Kenneth Perrine and her mother was Scottish, from Helensburgh in Dunbartonshire. Owing to her fathers career, Perrine lived in locations as the family moved to different posts. She began her career as a Las Vegas showgirl, some believe she made her film debut with an uncredited part in Diamonds Are Forever, but this is not true. She played soft-core pornography actress Montana Wildhack in Kurt Vonneguts Slaughterhouse-Five, Perrine was photographed for a pictorial layout in the May 1972 issue of Playboy, later appearing on the cover in August 1981. Only a few PBS stations nationwide were adventurous enough to carry the program, later in 1973, she appeared in the episode When the Girls Came Out to Play of the romantic anthology television series Love Story. She was Carlotta Monti in the biopic W. C, one of her best-remembered movie roles came as Miss Eve Teschmacher, moll of criminal mastermind Lex Luthor, in Superman. For this role, she was nominated for the 1979 Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress and she reprised her role as Miss Teschmacher in Superman II. Perrine played Charlotta Steele, ex-wife of a rodeo champion played by Robert Redford and her career grew uneven after an appearance in Cant Stop the Music, for which she was nominated for a Razzie Award for Worst Actress. This film has become a cult classic. In 1982, she played the role of Marcy, the wife of a police officer. In the years since then, Perrine has worked in lower-profile projects, in 1995, Perrine made a guest appearance on the series Homicide, Life on the Street, playing an ex-wife of Richard Belzers Detective John Munch. Official website Valerie Perrine at the Internet Movie Database
5.
Dick Shawn
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Dick Shawn was an American actor and comedian. He played a variety of supporting roles and was a prolific character actor. S. D. in The Producers. Shawn was born Richard Schulefand in Buffalo, New York and raised in adjacent Lackawanna and he also provided the Snow Misers voice in The Year Without a Santa Claus. He had continued success with his comedy act that he successfully performed for over 35 years in nightclubs around the world. His award-winning one-man stage show, The Second Greatest Entertainer in the Whole Wide World, was performed with a unique opening. When the audience entered the theater, they saw a stage with a pile of bricks in stage center. When the play began, Shawn emerged from the pile of bricks, the startling effect of this required complete concentration and breath control because the slightest movement of the bricks could ruin the surprise appearance. He was a frequent speaker at the infamous Friars Club Roasts in Los Angeles and New York. His many TV appearances included The Ed Sullivan Show, TV movies, sitcoms, dramas including St. Elsewhere and Magnum, P. I. Shawn was married to Rita Bachner in 1946, and they had four children, Amy, Wendy, Adam, and Jennifer. He had one grandchild, Rachel Travolta and he was a longtime resident of Englewood, New Jersey. The audience initially assumed that it was part of his act, but after he had remained motionless on the stage for several minutes, a stage hand examined him and asked if a physician was present. After CPR had been initiated, the audience was asked to leave the auditorium, many began leaving—still unsure of what they had witnessed—only after paramedics arrived. A notice in the following days San Diego Union newspaper clarified that Shawn had indeed died during the performance and he is interred at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery, a Jewish cemetery, in Culver City, California. DuBois in The Producers on YouTube
6.
Tom Skerritt
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Thomas Roy Tom Skerritt is an American actor who has appeared in more than forty films and more than two hundred television episodes since 1962. He is known for his roles in MASH, Alien, Top Gun, A River Runs Through It, Up in Smoke, Skerritt has earned several awards and nominations, including a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 1993 for Picket Fences. Skerritt was born in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Helen, a homemaker, and Roy Skerritt and he is the youngest of three children. A1951 graduate of Detroits Mackenzie High School, Skerritt attended Wayne State University, Skerritt served a tour of duty in the United States Air Force. Skerritt made his debut in War Hunt, produced by Terry Sanders. In 1988, he starred with Nancy Allen and Lara Flynn Boyle in Poltergeist III, in 1989, he played the role of Thomas Drummond Drum Eatenton in Steel Magnolias, it was a highly acclaimed movie. In 1992, he appeared in the critically acclaimed Robert Redford-directed film A River Runs Through It, Skerritt guest-starred in the television series The Real McCoys, as a letter carrier in the episode Aunt Win Steps In. In another Death Valley Days episode, A Sense of Justice, he played a young Roy Bean in San Diego, California,1850, with his older brother, Joshua Bean, played by Tris Coffin. He also appeared in the ABC series, Twelve OClock High, five episodes, Gunsmoke, also five episodes) and he then appeared in CBSs Picket Fences, in the role of Sheriff Jimmy Brock, for which he won an Emmy Award. More recently, he has starred in Homeland Security and The Grid and he portrayed the deceased William Walker on Brothers and Sisters, having appeared in the pilot as well as in several flashbacks scenes. This was his time playing the husband of Sally Field. He played the role of Ezekiel on ABC Familys Fallen miniseries and he also appeared as the guide on the showcase website for Microsofts Windows Vista operating system. He lent his voice in the video game Gun, where he voices as Clay Allison and he guest-starred in seasons three and four of Leverage as Nate Fords father. In February 2012, Skerritt played the role in Pacific Northwest Ballets production of Don Quixote. In 2014, Skerritt was reunited with ex-Picket Fences co-star, Lauren Holly, Skerritt is a co-founder of TheFilmSchool, in which he is also an instructor. Since 1988, he has divided his life between his Lake Washington home in suburban Seattle, Washington, and a second home on Lopez Island in the San Juan Islands. Skerritts first wife, Charlotte, is the mother of Skerritts three older children and his second wife, Sue, operates a Seattle bed and breakfast. She and Skerritt had one child Colin, Skerritt has an adopted daughter with his current wife Julie Tokahashi
7.
Georges Delerue
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Georges Delerue was a French composer who composed over 350 scores for cinema and television. Delerue won numerous important film awards, including an Academy Award for A Little Romance. The French newspaper Le Figaro named him the Mozart of cinema, Delerue was the first composer to win three consecutive César Awards for Get Out Your Handkerchiefs, Love on the Run, and The Last Metro. Georges Delerue was named Commander of Arts and Letters, one of Frances highest honours, Georges Delerue was born 12 March 1925 in Roubaix, France to Georges Delerue and Marie Lhoest. He was raised in a household, his grandfather led an amateur chorale group and his mother sang. By the age of fourteen he was playing clarinet at the music conservatory. In 1940 he was forced to abandon his studies at the Turgot Institute in order to work at a factory to support his family. He continued playing clarinet with bands, eventually transitioning to piano under the instruction of Madame Picavet-Bacquart. He studied Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, and Grieg, following a long convalescence after being diagnosed with scoliosis, Georges decided to become a composer. In 1945, following his studies at the Roubaix conservatory, Delerue was accepted into the Conservatoire de Paris, to help support himself, he took jobs playing at dances, baptisms, marriages, and funerals—even performing jazz in the piano bars near the Paris Opera. In 1947 he received a mention for the Rome Prize. That year at the Theater Festival of Avignon, Delerue conducted a performance of Scheherazade, in the 1949 Rome Prize competition, he won the First Second Grand Prize, and the First Prize for Composition. He began writing music during the late 1940s, including for the Théâtre National Populaire, Comédie-Française. He also became friends with Maurice Jarre and Pierre Boulez, by the early 1950s Delerue was composing music for short films and writing theatrical music for the Théâtre Babylone and the Opéra Comique. In 1952 he began directing the orchestra of the Club dEssai for French National Radio and Television, in 1954 he wrote his first compositions for historical spectacles of light and sound, Lisieux and The Liberation of Paris. In 1955 he composed his Concert Symphony for Piano and Orchestra, in 1959 he composed his first score for a feature film, Le bel âge. He composed the music for Flemming Flindts ballet, Enetime, based on Ionescos play, during his 42 years career he put his talent to the service of nearly 200 feature movies,125 short ones,70 TV films and 35 TV serials. The soundtrack for war docudrama by Pierre Schoendoerffer, Diên Biên Phu, was one of the notable works
8.
Fantasy film
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Fantasy films are films that belong to the fantasy genre with fantastic themes, usually involving magic, supernatural events, mythology, folklore, or exotic fantasy worlds. The genre is considered a form of speculative fiction alongside science fiction films and horror films, Fantasy films often have an element of magic, myth, wonder, escapism, and the extraordinary. Several sub-categories of fantasy films can be identified, although the delineations between these subgenres, much as in literature, are somewhat fluid. The most common fantasy subgenres depicted in movies are High Fantasy and Sword, both categories typically employ quasi-medieval settings, wizards, magical creatures and other elements commonly associated with fantasy stories. High Fantasy films tend to feature a more richly developed fantasy world, often, they feature a hero of humble origins and a clear distinction between good and evil set against each other in an epic struggle. Many scholars cite J. R. R, to some, the term Sword and Sandal has pejorative connotations, designating a film with a low-quality script, bad acting and poor production values. Another important subgenre of films that has become more popular in recent years is contemporary fantasy. Such films feature magical effects or supernatural occurrences happening in the world of today. Fantasy films set in the afterlife, called Bangsian Fantasy, are less common, other uncommon subgenres include Historical Fantasy and Romantic Fantasy, although 2003s Pirates of the Caribbean, The Curse of the Black Pearl successfully incorporated elements of both. As noted above, superhero movies and fairy tale films might each be considered subgenres of fantasy films, as a cinematic genre, fantasy has traditionally not been regarded as highly as the related genre of science fiction film. Since the late 1990s, however, the genre has gained new respectability in a way, tolkiens The Lord of the Rings and J. K. Jacksons The Lord of the Rings trilogy is due to its ambitious scope, serious tone. These pictures achieved phenomenal commercial and critical success, and the installment of the trilogy became the first fantasy film ever to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. The Harry Potter series has been a financial success, has achieved critical acclaim. Following the success of ventures, Hollywood studios have greenlighted additional big-budget productions in the genre. These have included adaptations of the first, second, and third books in C. S and this is in contrast to science fiction films, which are often released during the northern hemisphere summer. The huge commercial success of these pictures may indicate a change in Hollywoods approach to fantasy film releases. Fantasy films have a history almost as old as the medium itself, however, fantasy films were relatively few and far between until the 1980s, when high-tech filmmaking techniques and increased audience interest caused the genre to flourish
9.
Merry Clayton
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Merry Clayton is an American soul and gospel singer and an actress. She provided a number of backing tracks for major performing artists in the 1960s. Clayton is featured in 20 Feet from Stardom, the Oscar-winning documentary about background singers, in 2013, she released The Best of Merry Clayton, a compilation of her favorite songs. Clayton was born in Gert Town, New Orleans, Louisiana, Clayton began her recording career in 1962 at the age of 14, singing Who Can I Count On. as a duet with Bobby Darin on his album Youre the Reason Im Living. In 1963 she recorded the first version of The Shoop Shoop Song, the same year that Betty Everetts version reached the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. Early in her career Merry performed with Ray Charles, Pearl Bailey, Phil Ochs, Burt Bacharach, Tom Jones, Joe Cocker, Linda Ronstadt, Carole King, Clayton is often credited as having recorded with Elvis Presley but her name does not appear in Elvis sessionographies. Clayton is best known for her 1969 duet with Mick Jagger on the Rolling Stones song Gimme Shelter, the Stones had asked Bonnie Bramlett to sing on the song, but Bramletts husband, Delaney, refused to let her perform with the Stones. Clayton also sang backing vocals on Lynyrd Skynyrds Sweet Home Alabama, in 1970, Clayton recorded her own version of Gimme Shelter, and it became the title track of her debut solo album and peaked at #73, released that year. Her version would be the first of five singles under her name to crack the Billboard Hot 100, in 1971 she co-wrote the song Sho Nuff about her mother. She starred as the original Acid Queen in the first London production of The Whos Tommy in 1972, in 1973, she featured prominently on Ringo Starrs Oh My My, which reached Billboards Top 10 the following year. In the mid 1970s, Clayton sang on The Blackbyrds R&B hit Rock Creek Park and continued to release albums throughout the next decade. In 1987, Clayton co-starred with Ally Sheedy in the film Maid to Order, in 1989, she recorded a cover of Almost Paradise with Eric Carmen. In 1994 Clayton recorded backing vocals for and sang the Man with the Golden Gun bridge on Tori Amoss hit, in 2006, Clayton provided background vocals for Spartas album Threes on the songs Atlas and Translation. In 2014, Clayton provided vocals for G. Love & Special Sauces album Sugar, in 2015, Clayton was featured on two tracks on Coldplays album A Head Full of Dreams. Clayton was married to jazz artist Curtis Amy from 1970 until his death in 2002, Claytons brother is the Little Feat percussionist Sam Clayton. She had a miscarriage upon returning home from recording Gimme Shelter, on June 16,2014, Clayton was severely injured in a car accident in Los Angeles, California. Both of Claytons legs were later amputated at the due to her suffering profound trauma to her lower extremities as a result of the accident. Merry Clayton at the Internet Movie Database
10.
Cinderella
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Cinderella, or The Little Glass Slipper, is a folk tale embodying a myth-element of unjust oppression/triumphant reward. Thousands of variants are known throughout the world, the title character is a young woman living in unfortunate circumstances, that are suddenly changed to remarkable fortune. The oldest documented version comes from China, and the oldest European version from Italy, the most popular version was first published by Charles Perrault in Histoires ou contes du temps passé in 1697, and later by the Brothers Grimm in their folk tale collection Grimms Fairy Tales. Although the storys title and main characters change in different languages. The word Cinderella has, by analogy, come to one whose attributes were unrecognized, or one who unexpectedly achieves recognition or success after a period of obscurity. The still-popular story of Cinderella continues to influence popular culture internationally, lending plot elements, allusions, the Aarne–Thompson system classifies Cinderella as the persecuted heroine. The story of Rhodopis, about a Greek slave girl who marries the king of Egypt, is considered the earliest known variant of the Cinderella story, a version of the story, Ye Xian, appeared in Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang by Duan Chengshi around 860. Here, the hardworking and lovely girl befriends a fish, the rebirth of her mother, the fish is later killed by her stepmother and sister. Ye Xian saves the bones, which are magic, and they help her dress appropriately for the New Year Festival, when she loses her slipper after being recognized by her stepfamily, the king finds her slipper and falls in love with her. The Indonesian and Malaysian story Bawang Merah Bawang Putih, are two girls named Bawang Putih and Bawang Merah. While the two countrys respective versions differ in the relationship of the girls and the identity of the protagonist. Both have a fish as the fairy godmother to her daughter. The heroine then finds the bones and buries them, and over the grave a magical swing appears, the protagonist sits on the swing and sings to make it sway, her song reaching the ears of a passing Prince. The swing is akin to the slipper test, which distinguishes the heroine from her sister. In Indonesia, Bawang Putih is the girl, who suffers at the hands of her evil stepmother and stepsister, Bawang Merah. When the Prince enquires after the singer on the swing, Bawang Merah lies, the angry prince forces Bawang Merah and her mother to tell the truth. They then admit that there is another daughter in the house, Bawang Putih comes out and moves the magical swing by her singing. In the end, she and her prince marry and live happily ever after, in the Malaysian version, it is Bawang Merah and her mother Mak Labu who are good, while her half sister Bawang Putih and her mother Mak Kundur are evil
11.
Fairy godmother
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In fairy tales, a fairy godmother is a fairy with magical powers who acts as a mentor or parent to someone, in the role that an actual godparent was expected to play in many societies. In Perraults Cinderella, he concludes the tale with the moral that no personal advantages will suffice without proper connections. The fairy godmother is a case of the donor. Actual fairy godmothers are rare in fairy tales, but became familiar figures because of the popularity of the fairy tales of Madame dAulnoy and other précieuses. Many other supernatural patrons feature in fairy tales, these various kinds of animals. The fairy godmother has her roots in the figures of the Fates, this is clear in Sleeping Beauty, where they decree her fate. Typically, the fairy godmothers protégé is a prince or princess and the hero of the story, the most well-known example is probably the fairy godmother in Charles Perraults Cinderella. Eight fairy godmothers appear in The Sleeping Beauty, of Charles Perraults, the popularity of these versions of these tales led to this being widely regarded as a common fairy-tale motif, although they are less common in other tales. Indeed, the fairy godmothers were added to The Sleeping Beauty by Perrault, no such figures appeared in his source, Sole, Luna, in the Grimm Brothers variant of Cinderella, Aschenputtel is aided not by her fairy godmother but by her dead mother. A great variety of figures may also take this place. She is portrayed as kind, gentle and sweet, likewise, in her The White Doe, the fairy godmother helps the evil princess get revenge on the heroine. In Henriette-Julie de Murats Bearskin, the heroine has a fairy godmother, but she is offended that the marriage was arranged without consulting her. Fairy godmothers appear frequently in fantasy, especially comic versions and retellings of Cinderella. Whenever events are right for a tale to recur, the relevant Fairy Godmother steps in to make sure that the tale in question runs its course with as few fatalities as possible. In the television animated Halloween special Witchs Night Out, the witch is mistaken for a fairy godmother by the two children, Small and Tender and their sitter, Bazooey corrects them by addressing the fairy godmother as a wicked witch. The Fairly OddParents is a humorous animated TV Series where the fairies Cosmo, in Shrek 2, the fairy godmother who appears is an evil twin sister of Cinderellas fairy godmother. She is a conniving, crooked businesswoman, who is willing to resort to blackmail and/or murder to further her own interests. The Discworld novel Witches Abroad also features a fairy godmother, Lady Lilith de Tempscire
12.
Philanthropy
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Philanthropy means etymologically, the love of humanity, in the sense of caring, nourishing, developing, and enhancing what it means to be human. In this meaning, it both the benefactor in their identifying and exercising their values, and the beneficiary in their receipt. A person who practices philanthropy is called a philanthropist, Philanthropy has distinguishing features from charity, not all charity is philanthropy, or vice versa, though there is a recognized degree of overlap in practice. The literal, classical definitions and understandings of the term philanthropy derive from its origins in the Greek φιλανθρωπία, the most conventional modern definition is private initiatives, for public good, focusing on quality of life. This combines the social scientific aspect developed in the century with the humanistic tradition. These distinctions have been analyzed by Olivier Zunz, and others, instances of philanthropy commonly overlap with instances of charity, though not all charity is philanthropy, or vice versa. The difference commonly cited is that charity relieves the pains of social problems, the first use of the noun form philanthrôpía came shortly thereafter, in the early Platonic dialogue Euthyphro. Socrates is reported to have said that his out of his thoughts freely to his listeners was his philanthrôpía. In the second century CE, Plutarch used the concept of philanthrôpía to describe superior human beings and this Classically synonymous troika, of philanthropy, the humanities, and liberal education, declined with the replacement of the classical world by Christianity. During the Middle Ages, philanthrôpía was superseded by Caritas charity, selfless love, Philanthropy was modernized by Sir Francis Bacon in the 1600s, who is largely credited with preventing the word from being owned by horticulture. Bacon considered philanthrôpía to be synonymous with goodness, which correlated with the Aristotelian conception of virtue, then in the 1700s, an influential lexical figurehead by the name of Samuel Johnson simply defined philanthropy as love of mankind, good nature. This definition still survives today and is cited more gender-neutrally as the love of humanity. However, it was Noah Webster who would more accurately reflect the usage in American English. The precise meaning of philanthropy is still a matter of some contention, nevertheless, there are some working definitions to which the community associated with the field of philanthropic studies most commonly subscribes. The Greeks adopted the love of humanity as an ideal, whose goal was excellence —the fullest self-development, of a body, mind, and spirit. The Platonic Academys philosophical dictionary defined Philanthropy as a state of well-educated habits stemming from love of humanity, just as Prometheus human-empowering gifts rebelled against the tyranny of Zeus, philanthropic was also associated with freedom and democracy. Both Socrates and the laws of Athens were described as philanthropic and democratic, gradually there emerged a non-religious agricultural infrastructure based on peasant farming organized into manors, which were, in turn, organized for law and order by feudalism. Francis Bacon in 1592 wrote in a letter that his vast contemplative ends expressed his philanthropic, Henry Cockeram, in his English dictionary, cited philanthropy as a synonym for humanity—thus reaffirming the Classical formulation
13.
Jason Beghe
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Jason Beghe is an American film and television actor. As a young man, he attended the Collegiate School in New York City, Beghe is married and lives in Los Angeles, California. Beghe starred in the 1988 George A. Romero film Monkey Shines, An Experiment In Fear and he appeared as a police officer in the film Thelma & Louise, and played Demi Moores love interest in G. I. He currently stars in the TV series Chicago P. D and he began taking Scientology courses in 1994 and later appeared in a Church of Scientology advertising campaign and in promotional videos. According to Beghe, Church of Scientology head David Miscavige once referred to him as the boy for Scientology. Beghe left Scientology in 2007 and began to publicly about his experiences within the church in April 2008. An interview with Beghe about his experiences in Scientology conducted by Xenu TV founder and journalist Mark Bunker was published to the video site YouTube, marina Hyde of The Guardian newspaper called Beghe a Scientology celebrity whistleblower for his actions. Beghe was born March 12,1960, in New York City and he attended the Collegiate School, a private preparatory school for boys located in New York City. While there, he became best friends with John F. Kennedy, Jr. Kennedy and Beghe often hung out together outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art and in Central Park, and were monitored by Kennedys Secret Service detail. As a teenager, Beghe attended summer camp with Erik Rush, now a conservative columnist, influenced by Beghe, Kennedy became involved in the theater program at Collegiate. Beghe later also persuaded Duchovny to pursue work in acting, Duchovny had planned to write and become a professor, but halfway through work on his Ph. D. dissertation, Beghe convinced him to audition for television commercials. Prior to his career, Beghe worked as a model in Europe. He had his film debut in the 1985 film Compromising Positions, starring Susan Sarandon. He starred alongside O. J. Simpson and Sam J. Jones in HBOs sequel to 1st & Ten titled Training Camp, The Bulls Are Back, and John Voorhees of The Seattle Times wrote, The cast, which includes O. J. Simpson, Sam Jones and newcomer Jason Beghe, is first-rate, in 1988, he starred in the film Monkey Shines, An Experiment In Fear, directed by George A. Romero. He portrayed Allan Mann, a law student made quadriplegic when hit by a truck in the credits of the film. David Foil of The Advocate described Beghes performance as simply for meeting the demands of the character. Beghe played an ice hockey star in the Perry Mason TV film The Case of the All-Star Assassin, in 1991 he played a State Trooper in the film Thelma & Louise, and was Demi Moores love interest in the 1997 film G. I
14.
The College Dropout
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The College Dropout is the debut studio album by American hip hop artist Kanye West, released February 10,2004, by Roc-A-Fella Records. It was recorded over a period of four years, beginning in 1999, nonetheless intent on pursuing a solo career, it was several years before West finally received a record deal from Roc-A-Fella Records. It features vocal contributions from Jay-Z, Mos Def, Jamie Foxx, Syleena Johnson, diverging from the then-dominant gangster persona in hip hop, Wests lyrics concern themes of family, self-consciousness, materialism, religion, racism, and higher education. The album was promoted by singles including Through the Wire and Jesus Walks, All Falls Down and Slow Jamz both charted within the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, with the latter charting at number one. Upon its release, The College Dropout debuted at two on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 441,000 copies during its first week. It is Wests best-selling album in the United States, with sales of 3.4 million copies. It has been named by Time and Rolling Stone, among other publications, although he had attained success as a producer, Kanye West aspired to be a rapper, but had struggled to attain a record deal. Record companies ignored him because he did not portray the gangsta image prominent in hip hop at the time. After a series of meetings with Capitol Records, West was ultimately denied an artist deal, according to Capitol Records A&R, Joe Weinberger, he was approached by West and almost signed a deal with him, but another person in the company convinced Capitols president not to. Desperate to keep West from defecting to another label, then-label head Damon Dash reluctantly signed West to Roc-A-Fella Records, the crash left him with a shattered jaw, which had to be wired shut in reconstructive surgery. The accident inspired West, two weeks after being admitted to a hospital, he recorded a song at the Record Plant Studios with his jaw wired shut. West added that the album was my medicine, as working on the record distracted him from the pain, through The Wire was first available on Wests Get Well Soon. At the same time, West announced that he was working on an album called The College Dropout, Dont let society tell you, This is what you have to do. The College Dropout was recorded at The Record Plant in Los Angeles, California, according to John Monopoly, Wests friend, manager and business partner, the album. Hes been gathering beats for years and he was always producing with the intention of being a rapper. Theres beats on the album hes been saving for himself for years. At one point, West hovered between making a portion of the production in the studio and the majority within his own apartment in Newark, New Jersey. Because it was an apartment, West was able to set up a home studio in one of the rooms
15.
Maid
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A maid, or housemaid or maidservant, is a female person employed in domestic service. Although now usually only in the most wealthy of households, in the Victorian era domestic service was the second largest category of employment in England and Wales. In the contemporary Western world, comparatively few households can afford live-in domestic help, Maids perform typical domestic chores such as cooking, ironing, washing, cleaning the house, grocery shopping, walking the family dog, and taking care of children. In many places in some countries, maids often take on the role of a nurse in taking care of the elderly. Many maids are required by their employers to wear a uniform, legislation in many countries makes certain living conditions, working hours, or minimum wages a requirement of domestic service. Nonetheless, the work of a maid has always been hard, involving a full day, the word maid itself is short for maiden, meaning virgin. Maids traditionally have a position in the hierarchy of the large households. House-maid or housemaid, a term for maids whose function was chiefly above stairs, and were usually a little older. Where a household included multiple House Maids they were often sub-divided as below, head house-maid, the senior house maid, reporting to the Housekeeper. Parlour maid, the parlour maids cleaned and tidied reception rooms and living areas by morning, and often served refreshments at afternoon tea and they tidied studies and libraries, and answered bells calling for service. Chamber maid, the chamber maids cleaned and maintained the bedrooms, ensured fires were lit in fireplaces, laundry maid, the laundry maids maintained bedding and towels. They also washed, dried, and ironed clothes for the whole household, under house parlour maid, the general deputy to the house parlour maid in a small establishment which had only two upstairs maids. Nursery maid, also a maid, but one who worked in the childrens nursery, maintaining fires, cleanliness. Reported to the Nanny rather than the Housekeeper, kitchen maid, a below stairs maid who reported to the Cook, and assisted in running the kitchens. Head kitchen maid, where multiple kitchen maids were employed, the kitchen maid was effectively a deputy to the cook. Under kitchen maid, where multiple kitchen maids were employed these were the staff who prepared vegetables, peeled potatoes, in more modest households a single maid-of-all-work or skivvy was often the only staff. It is possible this word originates from the Italian for slave, one of the most in-depth and enduring representations of the lives of several types of maid was seen in the 1970s television drama Upstairs, Downstairs, set in England between 1903 and 1936. Another representation of the lives of maids is seen nowadays in Downton Abbey, set in England between 1912 and 1926
16.
Lottery
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A lottery is a form of legalized government gambling that involves the drawing of numbers for a prize. Lotteries are outlawed by some governments, while others endorse it to the extent of organizing a national or state lottery. It is common to some degree of regulation of lottery by governments. This remained so well after World War II. In the 1960s casinos and lotteries began to re-appear throughout the world as a means for governments to raise revenue without raising taxes, for example, the prize can be a fixed amount of cash or goods. In this format there is risk to the organizer if insufficient tickets are sold, more commonly the prize fund will be a fixed percentage of the receipts. A popular form of this is the 50–50 draw where the promise that the prize will be 50% of the revenue. Many recent lotteries allow purchasers to select the numbers on the lottery ticket, the purchase of lottery tickets cannot be accounted for by decision models based on expected value maximization. The reason is that lottery tickets cost more than the gain, as shown by lottery mathematics. Yet, lottery purchases can be explained by decision models based on expected utility maximization, more general models based on utility functions defined on things other than the lottery outcomes can also account for lottery purchase. In addition to the prizes, the ticket may enable some purchasers to experience a thrill. If the entertainment value obtained by playing is enough for a given individual. The first recorded signs of a lottery are keno slips from the Chinese Han Dynasty between 205 and 187 BC and these lotteries are believed to have helped to finance major government projects like the Great Wall of China. From the Chinese The Book of Songs comes a reference to a game of chance as the drawing of wood, from the Celtic era, the Cornish words teulel pren translates into to throw wood and means to draw lots. The Iliad of Homer refers to lots being placed into Agamemnons helmet to determine who would fight Hector, the first known European lotteries were held during the Roman Empire, mainly as an amusement at dinner parties. Each guest would receive a ticket, and prizes would often consist of items such as dinnerware. Every ticket holder would be assured of winning something and this type of lottery, however, was no more than the distribution of gifts by wealthy noblemen during the Saturnalian revelries. The earliest records of a lottery offering tickets for sale is the organized by Roman Emperor Augustus Caesar
17.
Music industry
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The modern Western music industry emerged between the 1930s and 1950s, when records replaced sheet music as the most important product in the music business. In the commercial world, the recording industry–a reference to recording performances of songs and pieces, labels outside of these three major labels are referred to as independent labels. The largest portion of the music market for concerts and tours is controlled by Live Nation. Live Nation is a subsidiary of iHeartMedia Inc, which is the largest owner of radio stations in the United States. In the first decades of the 2000s, the industry underwent drastic changes with the advent of widespread digital distribution of music via the Internet. A conspicuous indicator of changes is total music sales, since 2000. In 2011, the largest recorded music retailer in the world was now a digital, Internet-based platform operated by a computer company, printed music in Europe, Music publishing using machine-printed sheet music developed during the Renaissance music era in the mid-15th century. The development of music followed the evolution of printing technologies that were first developed for printing regular books. After the mid-15th century, mechanical techniques for printing music were first developed. The earliest example, a set of chants, dates from about 1465. Prior to this time, music had to be copied out by hand, to copy music notation by hand was a very costly, labor-intensive and time-consuming process, so it was usually undertaken only by monks and priests seeking to preserve sacred music for the church. The few collections of music that are extant were commissioned and owned by wealthy aristocrats. Examples include the Squarcialupi Codex of Italian Trecento music and the Chantilly Codex of French Ars subtilior music, the use of printing enabled sheet music to reproduced much more quickly and at a much lower cost than hand-copying music notation. This helped musical styles to spread to cities and countries more quickly. With music printing, though, a composers music could be printed, as sheet music of major composers pieces and songs began to be printed and distributed in a wider area, this enabled composers and listeners to hear new styles and forms of music. A German composer could buy songs written by an Italian or English composer, and this led to more blending of musical styles from different countries and regions. The pioneer of music printing was Ottaviano Petrucci, a printer and publisher who was able to secure a twenty-year monopoly on printed music in Venice during the 16th century. Venice was one of the business and music centers during this period
18.
Katey Sagal
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Catherine Louise Katey Sagal is an American actress and singer-songwriter. She is best known for her role as Peggy Bundy, Als sarcastic, lazy, bon bon-eating wife, with Children and for her role as Gemma Teller Morrow on the FX series Sons of Anarchy. In the latter role, she worked with John Ritter until his death, from 2008–14, Sagal portrayed Gemma Teller Morrow across the entire run of Sons of Anarchy, for which she won a Golden Globe in 2011. Sagal has been married to Sons creator Kurt Sutter since 2004, Sagal and her siblings grew up in Brentwood, Los Angeles. Her godfather is prominent sitcom producer Norman Lear, Sagals father was Jewish, and Sagal has described herself as culturally Jewish but with no formal religious experience. Sagal attended California Institute of the Arts to study singing and acting, she began her career in Hollywood. One role was as a receptionist in the Columbo installment Candidate for Crime, Sagals first major role was as a newspaper columnist in the series Mary starring Mary Tyler Moore. This led to her being cast as Peggy Bundy on the sitcom Married, with Children, she portrayed the lower-class, sex-starved, free-spending wife of shoe salesman Al Bundy. The series ran for ten years, Sagal brought her own red bouffant wig to audition for the role, and with the producers approval, the look transitioned into the show. With Children, several television films followed, she also guest starred on the childrens cartoon Recess as the voice of Spinellis mother. In 1998, Matt Groening chose her to provide the voice of the purple-haired mutant spaceship captain, Leela. The show developed a following, but was cancelled after four seasons. She reprised her role as Leela in these films, and in the season that began airing June 24,2010. On April 2017, she and the rest of cast will be reunite for the 17th anniversary of Futurama, Sagal guest-starred as Edna Hyde, Steven Hydes mother, in three episodes of That 70s Show. She starred in the short-lived NBC sitcom Tucker in 2000, Sagal was cast as the wife of John Ritter in the sitcom 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter in 2002. Ritter had completed three episodes of the second season before his death, and the show was cancelled in 2005 after its third season. In 2005 and 2006, she made two appearances on Lost as Helen Norwood, in 2007, she had a role in the season finale of The Winner as Glen Abbots former, and Joshs current, teacher, with whom Glen has his first sexual experience. In 2008, she appeared in four episodes of the short-lived comedy-drama series Eli Stone, in January 2009, Sagal reunited with her TV son David Faustino for an episode of Faustinos show Star-ving
19.
Khandi Alexander
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Khandi Alexander is an American dancer, choreographer, and actress. She began her career as dancer in 1980s and was a choreographer for Whitney Houstons world tour from 1988–1992, during 1990s, Alexander has appeared in a number of films, include CB4, Whats Love Got to Do with It, Sugar Hill, and Theres Something About Mary. She starred as Catherine Duke in NBC sitcom NewsRadio from 1995 to 1998 and she also had a major recurring role in NBC medical drama ER as Jackie Robbins, sister to Dr. Peter Benton. Alexander also received acclaim for her leading performance in the HBO miniseries The Corner in 2000. From 2002 to 2009, Alexander starred as Dr. Alexx Woods in the CBS police procedural series CSI, from 2010 to 2013 she starred as LaDonna Batiste-Williams in HBO drama Treme. Later in 2013, she joined the cast of ABC drama Scandal as Maya Lewis, Olivia Popes mother, Alexander also received Critics Choice Television Award nomination for playing Bessie Smiths sister in the 2015 HBO film Bessie. Khandi Alexander was born in New York City, the daughter of Alverina Yavonna, an opera and jazz singer, and Henry Roland Alexander and she was educated at Queensborough Community College. She appeared on Broadway, starring in Chicago, Bob Fosses Dancin and she was a choreographer for Whitney Houstons world tour from 1988–1992, and also appeared as a dancer in Natalie Coles video for Pink Cadillac in 1988. Alexander began her career in the late 1980s. She made her debut on the 1985 sketch-comedy show FTV. Since the early 1990s, Alexander has concentrated on film and TV, playing supporting roles in movies, including CB4, Joshua Tree, Whats Love Got to Do with It, Poetic Justice. In 1995, Alexander was cast as Catherine Duke on the NBC comedy series NewsRadio and she stayed with the show until season 4 episode 7, Catherine Moves On. She played the character of Jackie Robbins in medical drama series ER. In 2000, Alexander won critical acclaim for her performance as Fran Boyd and she later appeared in the films Emmetts Mark and Dark Blue, and starred opposite Rob Lowe in the Lifetime television movie Perfect Strangers. In 2002 through 2008, she portrayed the character of Alexx Woods, Alexander left CSI, Miami shortly before the end of the 2007-2008 season. Her final appearance aired on May 5,2008, on February 2,2009, she returned to the role of Alexx Woods for a guest appearance in the episode Smoke Gets In Your CSIs. She returned again as Alexx Woods in guest appearances in the episodes Out of Time on September 21,2009, in fall 2008, Alexander was cast as a lead character in the HBO drama pilot, Treme, that premiered on April 11,2010. She played a bar owner in a neighborhood of New Orleans affected by the storm Katrina and she received critical acclaim for her performance in the show
20.
The New York Times
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The New York Times is an American daily newspaper, founded and continuously published in New York City since September 18,1851, by The New York Times Company. The New York Times has won 119 Pulitzer Prizes, more than any other newspaper, the papers print version in 2013 had the second-largest circulation, behind The Wall Street Journal, and the largest circulation among the metropolitan newspapers in the US. The New York Times is ranked 18th in the world by circulation, following industry trends, its weekday circulation had fallen in 2009 to fewer than one million. Nicknamed The Gray Lady, The New York Times has long been regarded within the industry as a newspaper of record. The New York Times international version, formerly the International Herald Tribune, is now called the New York Times International Edition, the papers motto, All the News Thats Fit to Print, appears in the upper left-hand corner of the front page. On Sunday, The New York Times is supplemented by the Sunday Review, The New York Times Book Review, The New York Times Magazine and T, some other early investors of the company were Edwin B. Morgan and Edward B. We do not believe that everything in Society is either right or exactly wrong, —what is good we desire to preserve and improve, —what is evil, to exterminate. In 1852, the started a western division, The Times of California that arrived whenever a mail boat got to California. However, when local California newspapers came into prominence, the effort failed, the newspaper shortened its name to The New-York Times in 1857. It dropped the hyphen in the city name in the 1890s, One of the earliest public controversies it was involved with was the Mortara Affair, the subject of twenty editorials it published alone. At Newspaper Row, across from City Hall, Henry Raymond, owner and editor of The New York Times, averted the rioters with Gatling guns, in 1869, Raymond died, and George Jones took over as publisher. Tweed offered The New York Times five million dollars to not publish the story, in the 1880s, The New York Times transitioned gradually from editorially supporting Republican Party candidates to becoming more politically independent and analytical. In 1884, the paper supported Democrat Grover Cleveland in his first presidential campaign, while this move cost The New York Times readership among its more progressive and Republican readers, the paper eventually regained most of its lost ground within a few years. However, the newspaper was financially crippled by the Panic of 1893, the paper slowly acquired a reputation for even-handedness and accurate modern reporting, especially by the 1890s under the guidance of Ochs. Under Ochs guidance, continuing and expanding upon the Henry Raymond tradition, The New York Times achieved international scope, circulation, in 1910, the first air delivery of The New York Times to Philadelphia began. The New York Times first trans-Atlantic delivery by air to London occurred in 1919 by dirigible, airplane Edition was sent by plane to Chicago so it could be in the hands of Republican convention delegates by evening. In the 1940s, the extended its breadth and reach. The crossword began appearing regularly in 1942, and the section in 1946
21.
Malibu, California
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Malibu is a beach city in Los Angeles County, California, situated 30 miles west of Downtown Los Angeles. Known for its Mediterranean climate, a 21-mile strip of the Malibu coast incorporated in 1991 into the City of Malibu, the area is known for being the home of Hollywood movie stars, people in the entertainment industry, and other affluent residents. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 12,645, signs around the city proclaim 27 miles of scenic beauty, referring to the historical 27-mile Malibu coast spanning from Tuna Canyon west to Point Mugu in Ventura County. Most Malibu residents live within a few hundred yards of Pacific Coast Highway, for many residents of the unincorporated canyon areas, Malibu has the closest commercial centers and are included in the Malibu zip codes. The city is bounded by Topanga to the east, the Santa Monica Mountains to the north, the Pacific Ocean to the south. Nicknamed the Bu by surfers and locals, beaches along the Malibu coast include Surfrider Beach, Zuma Beach, Malibu Beach, Topanga Beach, Point Dume Beach, County Line and they named it Humaliwo or the surf sounds loudly. The citys name derives from this, as the Hu syllable is not stressed, explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo is believed to have moored at Malibu Lagoon, at the mouth of Malibu Creek, to obtain fresh water in 1542. The Spanish presence returned with the California mission system, and the area was part of Rancho Topanga Malibu Sequit—a 13 and that ranch passed intact to Frederick Hastings Rindge in 1891. Few roads even entered the area before 1929, when the state won another court case, by then May Rindge was forced to subdivide her property and begin selling and leasing lots. In 1926, in an effort to selling land to stave off insolvency. At its height, Malibu Potteries employed over 100 workers, and produced decorative tiles which furnish many Los Angeles-area public buildings, the factory, located one-half mile east of the pier, was ravaged by a fire in 1931. Although the factory reopened in 1932, it could not recover from the effects of the Great Depression. A distinct hybrid of Moorish and Arts and crafts designs, Malibu tile is considered highly collectible. Fine examples of the tiles may be seen at the Adamson House and Serra Retreat, the unfinished building was sold to the Franciscan Order in 1942 and is operated as a retreat facility, Serra Retreat. It burned in the 1970 fire and was using many of the original tiles. Most of the Big Rock Drive area was purchased in 1936 by William Randolph Hearst and he sold the lower half of his holdings there in 1944 to Art Jones. Jones was one of the prominent early realtors in Malibu, starting with the leases of Rindge land in Malibu Colony. He was also the owner/part-owner of the Malibu Inn, Malibu Trading Post, mcAnany Way is named after him
22.
Artisan Entertainment
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Artisan Entertainment was an American film studio and home video company. It was considered one of the largest mini-major film studios until it was purchased by later mini-major film studio Lions Gate Entertainment in 2003. At the time of its acquisition, Artisan had a library of thousands of films developed through acquisition, original production and its headquarters and private screening room were located in Santa Monica, California. It also had an office in Tribeca in Manhattan, New York, artisans releases included Requiem for a Dream, Pi, Grizzly Falls, Killing Zoe, National Lampoons Van Wilder, The Blair Witch Project, Novocaine, and Startup. com. Artisan, unlike most movie studios, had its roots in the video industry. Artisan Entertainment was founded in 1981 by Noel C, bloom as Family Home Entertainment, Inc. In 1983, FHE began operating its new subsidiary U. S. A, U. S. A. also released sports videos under the U. S. A. The IVE name was used for non-family releases and FHE name was used for family releases In the late 1980s, in 1987, IVE was acquired by Carolco Pictures from NCB Entertainment after Carolco had a short-lived minority interest in the latter a year earlier. The unrated release of Angel Heart was the first Carolco film released by IVE on video, the studio hired Jose Menendez as head of IVE, he was responsible for creating product deals with Sylvester Stallones White Eagle Enterprises and producer Edward Pressman. In 1989, Menendez and his wife were murdered by their two sons, in 1988, IVE and FHE consolidated into LIVE Entertainment after a merger with Lieberman. In 1990, IVE became LIVE Home Video, Carolco formed its own home video division under partnership with LIVE. The company also formed Avid Home Entertainment, which reissued older IVE products, as well as ITC Entertainments back catalogue, also in 1990, LIVE acquired German video distributor VCL. LIVE Entertainment branched into film production, the company spent more than a million dollars to finance the 1992 film Reservoir Dogs, which marked the directorial debut of Quentin Tarantino. Other films included Paul Schraders Light Sleeper, in 1991, the company took over Vestron after its downfall, Vestron had been known best for Dirty Dancing, which had been the second highest-grossing independent film of all time. For several years starting in 1993, LIVE Entertainment distributed anime released by Pioneer Entertainment, ryo-Ohki and the first Tenchi Muyo. movie, Tenchi Muyo. in Love. Much of LIVEs earnings was partially thanks to Carolcos investment in the company, but by 1991, in 1993, Carolco restructured itself and was forced to sell its shares in LIVE Entertainment to a group of investors led by Pioneer Electric Corporation. In August 1994, Carolco and LIVE plotted another merger attempt, in 1996, when Carolco ceased to exist as a company, StudioCanal got full rights to their film library and thus LIVE continued to distribute Carolcos films for video. Other ex-video distributors that had been owned by and folded into LIVE Entertainment included Tenth Avenue Video, in 1997, LIVE was acquired by Bain Capital and was taken private
23.
Lionsgate
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Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. doing business as Lionsgate, is an American, Canadian-domiciled entertainment & media company. The company was formed on July 10,1997, in Vancouver, British Columbia and it owns a variety of subsidiaries such as the American film production company Summit Entertainment, and Debmar-Mercury, a television syndication company acquired by Lionsgate in 2006. Giustra had recently retired as CEO from Yorkton, an investment bank, Giustra then merged Lionsgate with Toronto Stock Exchange listed Beringer Gold Corp. to take the company public. Beringers mining assets were sold off. Lionsgate then began a series of acquisitions to get into the film industry, the company bought a number of small production facilities and distributors, starting with Montreal-based Cinépix Film Properties and North Shore Studios in Vancouver, British Columbia. Mandalay Television was acquired by Lionsgate from Peter Guber for a 4% Lionsgate stake, in 1998, Lionsgate helped Guber form Mandalay Pictures with a 45% investment in Mandalay. Lionsgate followed that up with a June purchase of International Movie Group, Inc. a bankrupt film distributor previously invested in by Guber and Yorktown Securities, iMGs CEO Peter Strauss became president of Lions Gate Entertainment, Inc. Lionsgates U. S. film & TV production & distribution subsidiary, Lions Gate Media subsidiary was also formed to produce for television. Completing its first year of operation, Lionsgate had revenue of $42.2 million with loss of $397,000, the company share price dropped to a low of $1.40. This limited the ability to make acquisitions via stock swaps. Lionsgate instead made its acquisition of Termite Art Productions, a reality-based television production company. Lionsgate created US based Avalanche Films and acquired half of Sterling Home Entertainment, again, Lionsgate registered losses in its second year of $9.3 million on revenues of $78.3 million with most of the losses were from its stake in Mandalay Pictures. Thus in the summer, Lionsgate placed its studios up for sale with no buyers, TV operations were changed to non-network hourlong series over riskier network shows and ended its relationship with Mandalay Television. The corporation sought out more capital and cash with a filing of a prospectus for the sale of preferred stock and common stock warrants. This led to Feltheimer taking over as CEO from Giustra thus the passed over Doroniuk left the company, Feltheimer increased film making including several $1 million films at Avalanche. However, Federgreen still remains one of the owners of the company and is extremely involved in the making of all their major movies. In June, Lionsgate acquired Trimark Holdings, Inc. for approximately $50 million in stock, Lionsgate continued making acquisitions during the decade to boost distribution and its film library. On December 15,2003, Lionsgate acquired Artisan Entertainment for $220 million, in 2004, Erik Nelson reacquired Termite Art and renamed it to Creative Differences
24.
IMDb
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In 1998 it became a subsidiary of Amazon Inc, who were then able to use it as an advertising resource for selling DVDs and videotapes. As of January 2017, IMDb has approximately 4.1 million titles and 7.7 million personalities in its database, the site enables registered users to submit new material and edits to existing entries. Although all data is checked before going live, the system has open to abuse. The site also featured message boards which stimulate regular debates and dialogue among authenticated users, IMDb shutdown the message boards permanently on February 20,2017. Anyone with a connection can read the movie and talent pages of IMDb. A registration process is however, to contribute info to the site. A registered user chooses a name for themselves, and is given a profile page. These badges range from total contributions made, to independent categories such as photos, trivia, bios, if a registered user or visitor happens to be in the entertainment industry, and has an IMDb page, that user/visitor can add photos to that page by enrolling in IMDbPRO. Actors, crew, and industry executives can post their own resume and this fee enrolls them in a membership called IMDbPro. PRO can be accessed by anyone willing to pay the fee, which is $19.99 USD per month, or if paid annually, $149.99, which comes to approximately $12.50 per month USD. Membership enables a user to access the rank order of each industry personality, as well as agent contact information for any actor, producer, director etc. that has an IMDb page. Enrolling in PRO for industry personnel, enables those members the ability to upload a head shot to open their page, as well as the ability to upload hundreds of photos to accompany their page. Anyone can register as a user, and contribute to the site as well as enjoy its content, however those users enrolled in PRO have greater access and privileges. IMDb originated with a Usenet posting by British film fan and computer programmer Col Needham entitled Those Eyes, others with similar interests soon responded with additions or different lists of their own. Needham subsequently started an Actors List, while Dave Knight began a Directors List, and Andy Krieg took over THE LIST from Hank Driskill, which would later be renamed the Actress List. Both lists had been restricted to people who were alive and working, the goal of the participants now was to make the lists as inclusive as possible. By late 1990, the lists included almost 10,000 movies and television series correlated with actors and actresses appearing therein. On October 17,1990, Needham developed and posted a collection of Unix shell scripts which could be used to search the four lists, at the time, it was known as the rec. arts. movies movie database
25.
AllMovie
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AllMovie is an online guide service website with information about films, television programs, and screen actors. As of 2013, AllMovie. com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by All Media Network, AllMovie was founded by popular-culture archivist Michael Erlewine, who also founded AllMusic and AllGame. The AllMovie database was licensed to tens of thousands of distributors and retailers for point-of-sale systems, websites, the AllMovie database is comprehensive, including basic product information, cast and production credits, plot synopsis, professional reviews, biographies, relational links and more. AllMovie data was accessed on the web at the AllMovie. com website and it was also available via the AMG LASSO media recognition service, which can automatically recognize DVDs. In late 2007, Macrovision acquired AMG for a reported $72 million, the AMG consumer facing web properties AllMusic. com, AllMovie. com and AllGame. com were sold by Rovi in August 2013 to All Media Network, LLC. The buyers also include the founders of SideReel and Ackrell Capital investor Mike Ackrell. All Media Network offices are located in San Francisco, California, AllMusic AllGame SideReel All Media Network Official website
26.
Rotten Tomatoes
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Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by Senh Duong and since January 2010 has been owned by Flixster, in February 2016, Rotten Tomatoes and its parent site Flixster were sold to Comcasts Fandango. Warner Bros. retained a minority stake in the merged entities, since 2007, the websites editor-in-chief has been Matt Atchity. The name, Rotten Tomatoes, derives from the practice of audiences throwing rotten tomatoes when disapproving of a stage performance. From early 2008 to September 2010, Current Television aired the weekly The Rotten Tomatoes Show, featuring hosts, a shorter segment was incorporated into the weekly show, InfoMania, which ended in 2011. In September 2013, the website introduced TV Zone, a section for reviewing scripted TV shows, Rotten Tomatoes was launched on August 12,1998, as a spare-time project by Senh Duong. His goal in creating Rotten Tomatoes was to create a site where people can get access to reviews from a variety of critics in the U. S. As a fan of Jackie Chans, Duong was inspired to create the website after collecting all the reviews of Chans movies as they were being published in the United States, the first movie whose reviews were featured on Rotten Tomatoes was Your Friends & Neighbors. The website was an success, receiving mentions by Netscape, Yahoo. and USA Today within the first week of its launch. They officially launched it on April 1,2000, in June 2004, IGN Entertainment acquired rottentomatoes. com for an undisclosed sum. In September 2005, IGN was bought by News Corps Fox Interactive Media, in January 2010, IGN sold the website to Flixster. The combined reach of both companies is 30 million unique visitors a month across all different platforms, according to the companies, in May 2011, Flixster was acquired by Warner Bros. In early 2009, Current Television launched the version of the web review site. It was hosted by Brett Erlich and Ellen Fox and written by Mark Ganek, the show aired every Thursday at 10,30 EST on the Current TV network. The last episode aired on September 16,2010 and it returned as a much shorter segment of InfoMania, a satirical news show that ended in 2011. By late 2009, the website was designed to enable Rotten Tomatoes users to create, one group, The Golden Oyster Awards, accepted votes of members for different awards, as if in parallel to the better-known Oscars or Golden Globes. When Flixster bought the company, they disbanded the groups, announcing, in the meantime, please use the Forums to continue your conversations about your favorite movie topics. As of February 2011, new community features have been added, for example, users can no longer sort films by fresh ratings from rotten ratings, and vice versa
27.
Box Office Mojo
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Box Office Mojo is a website that tracks box office revenue in a systematic, algorithmic way, founded in 1999. In 2008, Box Office Mojo was bought by the Internet Movie Database, the website is widely used within the film industry as a source of data. From 2002–11, Box Office Mojo had forums popular with film fans, on October 10,2014, the websites URL was redirected to Amazons IMDB. com website for one day, but the website returned the following day without explanation. Brandon Gray began the site in 1999, in 2002, Gray partnered with Sean Saulsbury and grew the site to nearly two million readers. In July 2008, the company was purchased by Amazon. com through its subsidiary, Box Office Mojo had forums with more than 16,500 registered users. On November 2,2011 the forums were closed along with any user accounts. Tracking is still very closely to the day by day, actual tabulation of distributors. The site also creates an overall chart, combining all box office returns from around the world, excluding the United States. The overall weekend chart currently tracks the Top 40 films as well as approximately fifty additional films with no ranking, the site additionally has yearly and all time features for its various territories. Box Office Mojo was as of June 2009 reporting limited data from overseas and is work on improvements, most of the international charts have not been updated since November 2014. On October 10,2014, all traffic to Box Office Mojo was redirected to IMDbs box office page, queries about the closure to IMDb and Amazon representatives were met with no response. Neither Brandon Gray, who founded the website but left several years ago after its sale to Amazon, nor Ray Subers, on Ray Subers Twitter account, he revealed the websites return, but also stated he would not answer any questions pertaining to closure. Subers subsequently left the website seven months later
28.
The Slumber Party Massacre
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The Slumber Party Massacre is a 1982 American slasher film directed by Amy Holden Jones and written by Rita Mae Brown, starring Michelle Michaels and Robin Stille. The film was written by Brown as a parody of the slasher genre, however. As a result, the movie contains more humor, both intended and unintended, than usual for the genre, when originally released, the film received mixed reviews, but has since developed a cult following. Two sequels, Slumber Party Massacre II and III, followed the film in 1987 and 1990 and it is the first horror film series in history whose films were directed exclusively by women. She awakes to the sound of her radio and gets dressed shortly before going to school, meanwhile, Russ Thorn, an escaped mass murderer with a preference for power drills, kills a telephone repair woman and steals her van. Trish meets up with her friends Kim, Jackie and Diane, a new girl named Valerie Bates is invited by Trish, but refuses after hearing Diane talking cruelly about her. She eventually hides in the room, but the killer finds out where she is due to her blood loss. That evening, the party begins as the girls smoke marijuana, Valerie lives next door and is babysitting her younger sister Courtney while their recently-divorced mother is away for the weekend with a new boyfriend. Dianes boyfriend John and two boys from the school named Jeff and Neil arrive and spy on the girls undressing, Thorn attacks and kills Mr. Contant with his power drill, meanwhile Courtney is begging Valerie to go to the party, but Valerie protests. Diane begins to make out with John in the car and after she gets out to ask Trish permission to go with him, Diane tries to flee, but is murdered also. While the girls are on the phone with their coach, Mrs. Jana, coach Jana hears the girls screaming and calls Valerie to check on them, then decides to drive over to the house to check on them herself. The girls try calling the police, but Thorn cuts the line before they are connected. The teens arm themselves with knives and Jeff and Neil try to run for help, Thorn gains entry to the house, murders Jackie, and chases Kim and Trish upstairs. Courtney and Valerie go over to the house, but find the house dark, Trish and Kim have barricaded themselves in Trishs bedroom. They hear Valerie and ignore her, thinking she may be the killers friend, Thorn unexpectedly enters the bedroom through a window and disarms Kim, stabbing her with her own knife and causing Trish to flee and hide. Courtney and Valerie enter Trishs house and find Kim dead, Thorn attacks them and Valerie escapes to the basement while Courtney hides under the couch. Coach Jana arrives and beats Thorn with a poker. Trish manages to stab Thorn with a knife, but it barely slows him down
29.
Love Letters (1984 film)
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Love Letters is a 1984 American romantic drama film starring Jamie Lee Curtis. The film is directed by Amy Holden Jones which Roger Corman agreed to finance following her success with The Slumber Party Massacre. Anna Winter is a woman who discovers her mother had an affair with a married man for 15 years. Anna works for a San Francisco public radio station and she often must care for her alcoholic father and comply with his many demands. When she finds love letters, revealing her mothers involvement with someone else. She meets a photographer, Oliver Andrews, who is happily married and their physical attraction is immediate and they begin a torrid affair, but Oliver cautions her from the start that he has no intention of leaving his family. How would that affect your life, and I thought it would be interesting if that then thrust her into an affair with a married man, trying to replicate what she saw her mother had. Jones said she was inspired to do flashbacks by the screenplays of Harold Pinter and her first choice for the lead was Meg Tilly but her agent was demanding more money than Corman was willing to pay. The film was financed by Roger Corman who insisted on the inclusion of some nudity, Jones, He wants either sex, violence or humor. He actually told me that wasnt so much required as nudity. And he didnt mind if she could just be lounging around the house nude and he had to have some way to sell the thing. Its actually the one thing that troubles me about it, I find some of the nudity really gratuitous. But it was the price we paid to get it made, love Letters at the Internet Movie Database
30.
The Rich Man's Wife
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The Rich Mans Wife is a 1996 American thriller film written and directed by Amy Holden Jones and starring Halle Berry. The title character becomes a suspect when her husband is murdered, Josie Potenza is the trophy wife of workaholic Hollywood producer Tony Potenza, but their marriage is crumbling due to his increased drinking resulting from stress at work. Josie sees Cole Wilson ogling her at a bar and, uncomfortable with the unwanted attention. Her jeep breaks down on a dark, secluded country road and he convinces her he is harmless, and when he extends an invitation to dinner the following night, Josie accepts. As they linger over drinks after dinner, Josie discusses her unhappy marriage, although there are problems, and she sometimes fantasizes about her husbands death, she is grateful to Tony for all he has given her and still has hopes for their future. Cole becomes aggressive and she resists his advances, during the drive back to the cabin, he turns off his headlights and begins to drive erratically, and Josie becomes hysterical. When he tries to himself on her, Josie fires a gun she found in a kitchen drawer. With the passing of time, Tony stops drinking and he, on the way home one rainy night, he stops at an ATM, and Cole conceals himself in the back seat of his car. He forces him to drive to a park and shoots him numerous times, then goes to Josies home. He warns her if she reports him to the police he will tell them she hired him to murder Tony, Josie tells her lover, struggling restaurateur Jake Golden, she knows the identity of Tonys killer, but he warns her not to reveal anything. Complications arise when attorney Bill Adolphe tells Josie all her husbands assets were in his name, all his accounts have been frozen and Josie will have to wait an undetermined amount of time for the court to supervise probate. While Jakes ex-wife Nora tries to convince the police he may have killed Tony, after killing Jake, he traps her in her garage and Josie kills him in the ensuing skirmish. The film holds a 14% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and you will try to explain to me how the last scene in the movie, the one that is supposed to provide the key, fits in with what has gone before. Because I dont think it does and this plot is not blindingly original, its elements are familiar from many other crime stories. But it does become intriguing because the writing is good and the characters are original, what I was not prepared for was the twist at the end, which doesnt seem to follow from anything that went before, and makes all of my speculation irrelevant. Am I holding the ending against the entire movie, the Rich Mans Wife is not a great movie, but its competent and effective enough, and I might have been tempted to give it a recommendation if I hadnt felt so cheated at the end. Somehow a movie like this establishes a contract with us, an agreement that some things cannot be doubted even though others are up for grabs. When a few of the sure things turn out to be tricks, but when everything is smoke and mirrors, I walk out wondering, where is Keyser Soze when we really need him
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