1.
Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
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The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival is a film festival held annually in July in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic. The Karlovy Vary Festival is one of the oldest in the world and has become Central, the pre-war dream of many enthusiastic filmmakers materialized in 1946 when a non-competition festival of films from seven countries took place in Mariánské Lázně and Karlovy Vary. Above all it was intended to screen the results of the recently nationalized Czechoslovak film industry, after the first two years the festival moved permanently to Karlovy Vary. The Karlovy Vary IFF first held a film competition in 1948. Since 1951, a jury has evaluated the films. The Karlovy Vary competition quickly found a place among other developing festivals, the social and political changes that took place after the Velvet Revolution in November 1989 pushed concerns about organizing the Karlovy Vary IFF to the background. The program for 1990 was saved by the release of a collection of Czechoslovak films which had locked up for years in a storage vault. And the appearance of a number of guests such as Miloš Forman, Lindsay Anderson, Annette Bening. Financial problems and a lack of interest on the part of the government, in 1994 the 29th Karlovy Vary IFF inaugurated an entirely new tradition. After nearly forty years of alternating with the Moscow IFF, the festival once again to take place every year. The Karlovy Vary Film Festival Foundation was set up in 1993 co-created by the Ministry of Culture, The City of Karlovy Vary, actor Jiří Bartoška was invited to be the festivals president, and Eva Zaoralová became program director in 1995. Since 1998 the organization of the festival has been carried out by Film Servis Festival Karlovy Vary, the documentary competition is an important festival event. The extensive informative program features both distribution pre-premiers and films awarded at other festivals, for the tenth straight year the festival will present Variety Critics Choice, new and interesting films of mainly European production selected by critics working at this prestigious magazine. Seminars focusing primarily on European film are another important part of the festival, thousands of visitors and the great variety of films testify to the effectiveness of the program team with program director Eva Zaoralová at its head. The festival program has the following sections, Official Selection - Competition – films never before shown in competition at any international festival. East of the West - Competition – films from the former socialist bloc, documentary Films - Competition – a competition divided into two parts, documentaries less than and longer than 30 minutes. Horizons and Another View – a selection of the most remarkable contemporary films, imagina - films with an unconventional approach to narration and style, distinctive and radical visions of film language. Out of the Past - classic, cult, rare and unfairly overlooked films, screened in their original, future Frames, Ten New Filmmakers To Follow - ten directors, an upcoming generation of young European filmmakers, present their student films
2.
Liverpool
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Liverpool is a major city and metropolitan borough in North West England.24 million people in 2011. Liverpool historically lay within the ancient hundred of West Derby in the south west of the county of Lancashire and it became a borough from 1207 and a city from 1880. In 1889 it became a county borough independent of Lancashire, Liverpool sits on the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary and its growth as a major port is paralleled by the expansion of the city throughout the Industrial Revolution. Along with general cargo, freight, raw materials such as coal and cotton, the city was also directly involved in the Atlantic slave trade. Liverpool was home to both the Cunard and White Star Line, and was the port of registry of the ocean liner RMS Titanic and others such as the RMS Lusitania, Queen Mary, and Olympic. The city celebrated its 800th anniversary in 2007, and it held the European Capital of Culture title together with Stavanger, Norway, several areas of Liverpool city centre were granted World Heritage Site status by UNESCO in 2004. The Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City includes the Pier Head, Albert Dock, tourism forms a significant part of the citys economy. Liverpool is also the home of two Premier League football clubs, Liverpool and Everton, matches between the two being known as the Merseyside derby, the world-famous Grand National horse race takes place annually at Aintree Racecourse on the outskirts of the city. The city is home to the oldest Black African community in the country. Natives of Liverpool are referred to as Liverpudlians and colloquially as Scousers, a reference to scouse, the word Scouse has also become synonymous with the Liverpool accent and dialect. Pool is a place name element in England from the Brythonic word for a pond, inlet, or pit, cognate with the modern Welsh. The derivation of the first element remains uncertain, with the Welsh word Llif as the most plausible relative and this etymology is supported by its similarity to that of the archaic Welsh name for Liverpool Llynlleifiad. Other origins of the name have suggested, including elverpool. The name appeared in 1190 as Liuerpul, and it may be that the place appearing as Leyrpole, in a record of 1418. King Johns letters patent of 1207 announced the foundation of the borough of Liverpool, the original street plan of Liverpool is said to have been designed by King John near the same time it was granted a royal charter, making it a borough. The original seven streets were laid out in an H shape, Bank Street, Castle Street, Chapel Street, Dale Street, Juggler Street, Moor Street, in the 17th century there was slow progress in trade and population growth. Battles for the town were waged during the English Civil War, in 1699 Liverpool was made a parish by Act of Parliament, that same year its first slave ship, Liverpool Merchant, set sail for Africa. Since Roman times, the city of Chester on the River Dee had been the regions principal port on the Irish Sea
3.
Lancashire
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Lancashire is a non-metropolitan ceremonial county in north west England. The county town is Lancaster although the administrative centre is Preston. The county has a population of 1,449,300, people from Lancashire are known as Lancastrians. The history of Lancashire begins with its founding in the 12th century, in the Domesday Book of 1086, some of its lands were treated as part of Yorkshire. The land that lay between the Ribble and Mersey, Inter Ripam et Mersam, was included in the returns for Cheshire, when its boundaries were established, it bordered Cumberland, Westmorland, Yorkshire, and Cheshire. Lancashire emerged as a commercial and industrial region during the Industrial Revolution. Liverpool and Manchester grew into its largest cities, dominating global trade, the county contained several mill towns and the collieries of the Lancashire Coalfield. By the 1830s, approximately 85% of all cotton manufactured worldwide was processed in Lancashire, Accrington, Blackburn, Bolton, Burnley, Bury, Chorley, Colne, Darwen, Manchester, Nelson, Oldham, Preston, Rochdale and Wigan were major cotton mill towns during this time. Blackpool was a centre for tourism for the inhabitants of Lancashires mill towns, the detached northern part of Lancashire in the Lake District, including the Furness Peninsula and Cartmel, was merged with Cumberland and Westmorland to form Cumbria. Lancashire lost 709 square miles of land to other counties, about two fifths of its area, although it did gain some land from the West Riding of Yorkshire. Today the county borders Cumbria to the north, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south and North and West Yorkshire to the east, with a coastline on the Irish Sea to the west. The county palatine boundaries remain the same with the Duke of Lancaster exercising sovereignty rights, including the appointment of lords lieutenant in Greater Manchester, the county was established in 1182, later than many other counties. During Roman times the area was part of the Brigantes tribal area in the zone of Roman Britain. The towns of Manchester, Lancaster, Ribchester, Burrow, Elslack, in the centuries after the Roman withdrawal in 410AD the northern parts of the county probably formed part of the Brythonic kingdom of Rheged, a successor entity to the Brigantes tribe. During the mid-8th century, the area was incorporated into the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria, in the Domesday Book, land between the Ribble and Mersey were known as Inter Ripam et Mersam and included in the returns for Cheshire. Although some historians consider this to mean south Lancashire was then part of Cheshire and it is also claimed that the territory to the north formed part of the West Riding of Yorkshire. It bordered on Cumberland, Westmorland, Yorkshire, and Cheshire, the county was divided into hundreds, Amounderness, Blackburn, Leyland, Lonsdale, Salford and West Derby. Lonsdale was further partitioned into Lonsdale North, the part north of the sands of Morecambe Bay including Furness and Cartmel
4.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
5.
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
6.
George Kennedy
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George Harris Kennedy Jr. was an American actor who appeared in more than 200 film and television productions. He received a second Golden Globe nomination for portraying Joe Patroni in Airport, Kennedy was the only actor to appear in all four films in the Airport series, having reprised the role of Joe Patroni three times. He was also recognized as Police Captain Ed Hocken in the Naked Gun series of comedy films. Kennedy was born on February 18,1925, in New York City and his father, George Harris Kennedy, a musician and orchestra leader, died when Kennedy was four years old. He was raised by his mother, Helen A. a ballet dancer and his maternal grandfather was a German immigrant, his other ancestry was Irish and English. Kennedy made his debut at age two in a touring company of Bringing Up Father, and by seven was a New York City radio DJ. Joining the U. S. military during World War II, he spent 16 years in that career until the late 1950s and he reached a rank of captain. His first notable role was a military advisor on the TV sitcom The Phil Silvers Show, where he served as a technical adviser. His film career began in 1961 in The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come and he played the character Blodgett in a 1966 episode Return to Lawrence of the ABC western series The Legend of Jesse James. Kennedy followed with films such as The Dirty Dozen, Bandolero. in 1970, he appeared in the Academy Award-winning disaster film Airport, in which he played one of its main characters, airline troubleshooter Joe Patroni. He reprised this role in Airport 1975, Airport 77, Airport 79, the only cast member to appear in each film of the series. The Airport franchise helped inspire the Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker satire Airplane. in which the filmmakers hoped to cast Kennedy as the bumbling plane dispatcher, the role went to Lloyd Bridges, because Kennedy couldn’t kill off his Airport cash-cow, Jerry Zucker said in 2010. He also starred in two series, Sarge, which aired from 1971-72 on NBC, and The Blue Knight. In 1984, Kennedy starred opposite Bo Derek in the box-office bomb Bolero, there were two sequels in which Kennedy co-starred. On television, Kennedy starred as Carter McKay in the CBS prime time serial Dallas, from the mid- to late-1990s, he promoted Breathasure tablets in radio and television commercials. Around this time, he reprised his role as McKay in the television films Dallas, returns and Dallas, War of the Ewings. In the late 1970s, Kennedy also appeared as a celebrity guest on the game show Match Game. In 1998, he voiced Brick Bazooka for the film Small Soldiers, in 2005, he made a cameo appearance in the film Dont Come Knocking, playing the director of an ill-fated western
7.
A Midsummer Night's Dream
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A Midsummer Nights Dream is a comedy written by William Shakespeare in 1595/96. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of Theseus, the Duke of Athens, to Hippolyta, the former queen of the Amazons. These include the adventures of four young Athenian lovers and a group of six actors who are controlled and manipulated by the fairies who inhabit the forest in which most of the play is set. The play is one of Shakespeares most popular works for the stage and is performed across the world. The play opens with Hermia, who is in love with Lysander, resistant to her father Egeus demand that she wed Demetrius, Helena meanwhile pines unrequitedly for Demetrius. Enraged, Egeus invokes an ancient Athenian law before Duke Theseus, whereby a daughter must marry the suitor chosen by her father, Theseus offers her another choice, lifelong chastity while worshipping the goddess Artemis as a nun. Quince reads the names of characters and bestows them to the players, nick Bottom, who is playing the main role of Pyramus, is over-enthusiastic and wants to dominate others by suggesting himself for the characters of Thisbe, the Lion, and Pyramus at the same time. He would also rather be a tyrant and recites some lines of Ercles, Bottom is told by Quince that he would do the Lion so terribly as to frighten the duchess and ladies enough for the Duke and Lords to have the players hanged. Quince ends the meeting with at the Dukes oak we meet, in a parallel plot line, Oberon, king of the fairies, and Titania, his queen, have come to the forest outside Athens. Titania tells Oberon that she plans to stay there until she has attended Theseus, Oberon and Titania are estranged because Titania refuses to give her Indian changeling to Oberon for use as his knight or henchman, since the childs mother was one of Titanias worshippers. Oberon seeks to punish Titanias disobedience, when the concoction is applied to the eyelids of a sleeping person, that person, upon waking, falls in love with the first living thing they perceive. He instructs Puck to retrieve the flower with the hope that he might make Titania fall in love with an animal of the forest and thereby shame her into giving up the little Indian boy. He says, And ere I take this charm from off her sight, /As I can take it with another herb, Hermia and Lysander have escaped to the same forest in hopes of eloping. Helena, desperate to reclaim Demetriuss love, tells Demetrius about the plan, Helena continually makes advances towards Demetrius, promising to love him more than Hermia. However, he rebuffs her with cruel insults against her, observing this, Oberon orders Puck to spread some of the magical juice from the flower on the eyelids of the young Athenian man. Instead, Puck mistakes Lysander for Demetrius, not having seen either before. Helena, coming across him, wakes him while attempting to determine whether he is dead or asleep, upon this happening, Lysander immediately falls in love with Helena. Oberon sees Demetrius still following Hermia and is enraged, when Demetrius goes to sleep, Oberon sends Puck to get Helena while he charms Demetrius eyes
8.
Twelfth Night
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Twelfth Night, or What You Will is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–02 as a Twelfth Nights entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Viola and Sebastian, who are separated in a shipwreck, Viola falls in love with Duke Orsino, who in turn is in love with the Countess Olivia. Upon meeting Viola, Countess Olivia falls in love with her thinking she is a man, the first recorded performance was on 2 February 1602, at Candlemas, the formal end of Christmastide in the years calendar. The play was not published until its inclusion in the 1623 First Folio, Illyria, the setting of Twelfth Night, is important to the plays romantic atmosphere. Illyria was an ancient region of the Western Balkans whose coast covered the coasts of modern-day Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and it included the city state of the Republic of Ragusa which has been proposed as the setting. Illyria may have suggested by the Roman comedy Menaechmi, the plot of which also involves twins who are mistaken for each other. Illyria is also referred to as a site of pirates in Shakespeares earlier play, Henry VI, the names of most of the characters are Italian but some of the comic characters have English names. Oddly, the Illyrian lady Olivia has an English uncle, Sir Toby Belch and it has been noted that the plays setting also has other English allusions such as Violas use of Westward ho. Viola is shipwrecked on the coast of Illyria and she comes ashore with the help of a captain and she loses contact with her twin brother, Sebastian, whom she believes to be drowned. Disguising herself as a man under the name Cesario, she enters the service of Duke Orsino through the help of the sea captain who rescues her. Duke Orsino then uses Cesario as an intermediary to profess his love before Olivia. Olivia, however, forgetting about the seven years in his case, falls in love with Cesario, in the comic subplot, several characters conspire to make Olivias pompous steward, Malvolio, believe that Olivia has fallen for him. This involves Olivias uncle, Sir Toby Belch, another suitor, a silly squire named Sir Andrew Aguecheek, her servants Maria and Fabian. Sir Toby and Sir Andrew engage themselves in drinking and revelry, thus disturbing the peace of Olivias house until late into the night, Sir Toby famously retorts, Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale. Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, and Maria are urged to plan revenge on Malvolio and they convince Malvolio that Olivia is secretly in love with him by planting a love letter, written by Maria in Olivias handwriting. It asks Malvolio to wear yellow stockings cross-gartered, to be rude to the rest of the servants, Malvolio finds the letter and reacts in surprised delight. He starts acting out the contents of the letter to show Olivia his positive response, Olivia is shocked by the changes in Malvolio and leaves him to the contrivances of his tormentors. Pretending that Malvolio is insane, they lock him up in a dark chamber, Feste visits him to mock his insanity, both disguised as a priest and as himself
9.
The Smiths
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The Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. The band consisted of vocalist Morrissey, guitarist Johnny Marr, bassist Andy Rourke, critics have called them the most important alternative rock band to emerge from the British independent music scene of the 1980s. The NME named the Smiths the most influential artist ever in a 2002 poll, four of their albums appeared on Rolling Stones list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. They have also released several compilations, and numerous non-LP singles, the Smiths had several singles reach the UK top twenty and all four of their studio albums reached the UK top five, including one which topped the charts. They won a significant following and remain cult favourites, although they had limited success outside the UK while they were still together. The band broke up in 1987 and have turned down offers to reunite. The bands focus on a guitar, bass, and drum sound, Marrs guitar-playing on his Rickenbacker often had a jangly sound reminiscent of Roger McGuinn of the Byrds. Marrs guitar-playing influenced later Manchester bands, including the Stone Roses, Morrissey and Marrs songs combined themes about ordinary people with complex, literate lyrics delivered by Morrissey with a mordant sense of humour. In 2014 and 2015, they were nominated for induction into the Rock, on 31 August 1978, Morrissey was briefly introduced to the 14-year-old Johnny Marr by mutual acquaintances Billy Duffy and Howard Bates at a Patti Smith gig held at Manchesters Apollo Theatre. According to Morrissey, We got on absolutely famously and we were very similar in drive. Conversing, the two found that they were fans of many of the same bands, the next day, Morrissey phoned Marr to confirm that he would be interested in forming a band with him. A few days later, Morrissey and Marr held their first rehearsal in Marrs rented attic room in Bowdon, the next song that they worked on was titled The Hand that Rocks the Cradle, which again was based on lyrics produced by Morrissey. Marr included a tempo which was based on the Patti Smith song Kimberly, the third track that the duo worked on was Suffer Little Children. Around the time of the formation, Morrissey decided that he would be publicly known only by his surname. In 1983 he forbade those around him using the name of Steven. After remaining with the band for rehearsals, Pomfret departed un-amicably. He was replaced by the bass player Dale Hibbert, who worked at Manchesters Decibel Studios and it was through Hibbert that the Smiths were able to record their first demo at Decibel, doing so one night in August 1982. Aided by drummer Simon Wolstencroft, whom Marr had worked with in Freak Party, meanwhile, Morrissey took the demo recording to Factory Records, but Factorys Tony Wilson wasnt interested
10.
Franz Ferdinand (band)
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Franz Ferdinand are a Scottish rock band, formed in 2002 and based in Glasgow. The bands original lineup was composed of Alex Kapranos, Nick McCarthy, Bob Hardy, the band has been known for being one of the most popular post-punk revival bands, garnering multiple UK top 20 hits and selling over 3 million albums worldwide, as of late 2009. They have been nominated for several Grammy Awards and have received two Brit Awards—winning one for Best British Group, as well as one NME Award, the band began by releasing their debut extended play, Darts of Pleasure, in 2003, under Domino Records. The band gained recognition in the United Kingdom after the EPs title track peaked at number 44 on UK Singles Chart, in January 2004, the band released the song Take Me Out. The song went on to global recognition, charting in several countries. It has since been noted as the signature song and has received critical acclaim from critics. The band subsequently released their eponymous studio album on 9 February 2004 to critical acclaim. The album won the 2004 Mercury Prize and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Album, in 2005, the band released their second studio album, You Could Have It So Much Better, which was produced by Rich Costey. The album went on to critical acclaim from critics as well as a positive commercial performance. The bands third album, Tonight, Franz Ferdinand, was announced in late 2008. The album gained a commercial performance as well as positive reviews. A remix album of Tonight, titled Blood, was released in July 2009. Four years after the release of Tonight, the released their fourth studio album, Right Thoughts, Right Words. In 2015, it was announced that Franz Ferdinand and American rock band Sparks had formed the supergroup FFS, the two released the album FFS in June 2015. In 2016, it was announced that Nick McCarthy had taken a break from the band to focus on matters and other musical projects. The members of Franz Ferdinand played in bands during the 1990s, including The Karelia, Yummy Fur, 10p Invaders. Alex Kapranos and Paul Thomson met at a party and began a friendship and played together in Yummy Fur. Around the same time, Kapranos taught his friend, Bob Hardy, Kapranos met co-guitarist Nick McCarthy, who had returned to Scotland after studying jazz bass in Germany, in 2001
11.
Canada
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Canada is a country in the northern half of North America. Canadas border with the United States is the worlds longest binational land border, the majority of the country has a cold or severely cold winter climate, but southerly areas are warm in summer. Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its territory being dominated by forest and tundra. It is highly urbanized with 82 per cent of the 35.15 million people concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, One third of the population lives in the three largest cities, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Its capital is Ottawa, and other urban areas include Calgary, Edmonton, Quebec City, Winnipeg. Various aboriginal peoples had inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years prior to European colonization. Pursuant to the British North America Act, on July 1,1867, the colonies of Canada, New Brunswick and this began an accretion of provinces and territories to the mostly self-governing Dominion to the present ten provinces and three territories forming modern Canada. With the Constitution Act 1982, Canada took over authority, removing the last remaining ties of legal dependence on the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II being the head of state. The country is officially bilingual at the federal level and it is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many other countries. Its advanced economy is the eleventh largest in the world, relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources, Canadas long and complex relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its economy and culture. Canada is a country and has the tenth highest nominal per capita income globally as well as the ninth highest ranking in the Human Development Index. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, Canada is an influential nation in the world, primarily due to its inclusive values, years of prosperity and stability, stable economy, and efficient military. While a variety of theories have been postulated for the origins of Canada. In 1535, indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Quebec City region used the word to direct French explorer Jacques Cartier to the village of Stadacona, from the 16th to the early 18th century Canada referred to the part of New France that lay along the St. Lawrence River. In 1791, the area became two British colonies called Upper Canada and Lower Canada collectively named The Canadas, until their union as the British Province of Canada in 1841. Upon Confederation in 1867, Canada was adopted as the name for the new country at the London Conference. The transition away from the use of Dominion was formally reflected in 1982 with the passage of the Canada Act, later that year, the name of national holiday was changed from Dominion Day to Canada Day
