Kids (film)
Kids is a 1995 American independent coming-of-age film directed by Larry Clark with a screenplay by Harmony Korine from a screen story by Clark and Jim Lewis. It stars Chloë Sevigny, Leo Fitzpatrick, Justin Pierce, Rosario Dawson, Jon Abrahams, all in their film debuts. Kids is centered on a day in the life of a group of teenagers in New York City and their hedonistic behavior towards sex and substance abuse during the mid-1990s; the film generated a massive controversy upon its release in 1995, caused much public debate over its artistic merit receiving an NC-17 rating from the MPAA. It was released without a rating; the film begins when an unnamed 12-year-old girl are making out on a bed. With no adults around, older, persuades the girl, a virgin, to have sex with him. Afterwards, he meets his best friend and they talk about his sexual experience. Telly has taken to only having sex with virgins, they go inside a local store, where Casper shoplifts a bottle of malt liquor as Telly distracts the cashier.
Looking for drugs, a place to hang out, they head to their friend Paul's apartment, though they express dislike of him on the way there. They arrive at Paul's house, join the other boys in boasting about their sexual prowess, smoke marijuana while watching a skating video. Casper inhales nitrous oxide out of balloons. Across the city, a group of girls, among them Ruby and Jennie, are talking about sex, with their attitudes contradicting the boys on many topics oral sex and the significance of the boys to whom they lost their virginities. Ruby and Jennie mention that they were tested for STDs at Ruby's request, though Jennie only got tested to keep Ruby company. Ruby's test is negative. Jennie tests positive for HIV, she says, with Telly. Jennie spends the rest of the day trying to prevent him from passing it on. Telly and Casper walk to Telly's house and steal money from Telly's mother, preoccupied with taking care of her new baby, they buy a dime bag of marijuana from a Rastafari. They meet up with a few friends to talk and smoke, one of whom gives a blunt-rolling tutorial.
As they do, Casper and many others taunt a gay couple passing through the park. On the side, Telly talks to Misha, a girl who dislikes Casper, calling him a jerk; as Casper rides on a skateboard, he carelessly bumps into a man. He pushes Casper, but is struck in the back of the head with a skateboard by Harold, causing him to collapse. A number of other skaters join in, beating and hitting the man with their skateboards until he is rendered unconscious by a final blow to the head by Casper. While discussing whether or not they killed the man at the park and some of the group pick up a 13-year-old girl named Darcy, the virginal younger sister of an acquaintance, whom Telly wants to have sex with, he convinces her to go with them to a pool. The other girls engage in kissing and flirtation. Telly and the group go to an unsupervised party at the house of Steven. Meanwhile, Jennie makes her way to Washington Square Park. Here, she talks to Misha. Jennie goes to a rave club called NASA trying to find Telly.
She runs into Fidget, a raver boy, who shoves a pill into her mouth, which he says is supposed to make "Special K look weak". It turns out to be a depressant; the pill kicks in and Jennie finds out that Telly is at the party at Steven's house. Jennie arrives at the party only to learn she is too late, as she discovers Telly having sex with Darcy. Drained and the drug still affecting her, Jennie cries and passes out on a couch among the other sleeping partygoers. A drunken Casper rapes Jennie as she sleeps, exposing himself to HIV; as morning turns to day, a voice-over by Telly explains how sex is the only worthwhile thing in his life. The next morning, Casper wakes up and says "Jesus Christ, what happened?" Larry Clark said that he wanted to "make the Great American Teenage Movie, like the Great American Novel." The film is shot in a quasi-documentary style. In Kids, Clark cast New York City "street" kids with no previous acting experience in the film, notably Leo Fitzpatrick and Justin Pierce. Clark decided he wanted to cast Fitzpatrick in a film after watching him skateboard in New York, cursing himself when he could not land certain tricks.
Korine had met Chloë Sevigny in New York before production began on Kids, cast her in a small role as one of the girls in the swimming pool. She was given the leading role of Jennie when the actress hired to play her was fired. Sevigny and Korine went on to make Gummo together. Korine himself makes a cameo in the club scene with Jennie, as the kid wearing Coke-bottle glasses and a Nuclear Assault shirt who gives her drugs, though the part is credited to his brother Avi. Korine wrote the film's screenplay in 1993, at the age of 19, principal photography took place during the summer of 1994. Contrary to perceptions on the part of many viewers, the film, according to Korine, was entirely scripted, with the only exception being the scene with Casper on the couch at the end, improvised. Gus Van Sant had been attached to the film as a producer. After insufficient interest had been generated in the film, he left the project.
Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character is a founding member of the Justice League; the character first appeared in All Star Comics #8 in October 1941 with her first feature in Sensation Comics #1, January 1942. The Wonder Woman title has been published by DC Comics continuously except for a brief hiatus in 1986. In her homeland, the island nation of Themyscira, her official title is Princess Diana of Themyscira, Daughter of Hippolyta; when blending into the society outside of her homeland, she adopts her civilian identity Diana Prince. Wonder Woman was created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston, artist Harry G. Peter. Marston's wife and their life partner, Olive Byrne, are credited as being his inspiration for the character's appearance. Marston's comics featured his ideas on DISC theory, the character drew a great deal of inspiration from early feminists, from birth control pioneer Margaret Sanger.
Wonder Woman's origin story relates that she was sculpted from clay by her mother Queen Hippolyta and was given a life to live as an Amazon, along with superhuman powers as gifts by the Greek gods. In recent years, DC changed her background with the revelation that she is the daughter of Zeus and Hippolyta, jointly raised by her mother and her aunts Antiope and Menalippe; the character has changed in depiction over the decades, including losing her powers in the 1970s. She possesses an arsenal of advanced technology, including the Lasso of Truth, a pair of indestructible bracelets, a tiara which serves as a projectile, and, in older stories, a range of devices based on Amazon technology. Wonder Woman's character was created during World War II. Many stories depicted Wonder Woman rescuing herself from bondage, which defeated the "damsels in distress" trope, common in comics during the 1940s. In the decades since her debut, Wonder Woman has gained a cast of enemies bent on eliminating the Amazon, including classic villains such as Ares, Doctor Poison, Doctor Psycho, Giganta, along with more recent adversaries such as Veronica Cale and the First Born.
Wonder Woman has regularly appeared in comic books featuring the superhero teams Justice Society and Justice League. The character is a well-known figure in popular culture, adapted to various media. June 3 is Wonder Woman Day. Wonder Woman is part of the DC Comics trinity of flagship characters alongside Superman. Modern historians divide 20th century history of American superhero comics into "ages," The Golden Age being the first. In an October 25, 1940, interview with the Family Circle magazine, William Moulton Marston discussed the unfulfilled potential of the comic book medium; this article caught the attention of comics publisher Max Gaines, who hired Marston as an educational consultant for National Periodicals and All-American Publications, two of the companies that would merge to form DC Comics. At that time, Marston wanted to create his own new superhero. "Fine," said Elizabeth. "But make her a woman." Marston introduced the idea to Gaines. Given the go-ahead, Marston developed Wonder Woman, whom he believed to be a model of that era's unconventional, liberated woman.
Marston drew inspiration from the bracelets worn by Olive Byrne, who lived with the couple in a polyamorous relationship. Wonder Woman debuted in All Star Comics #8, scripted by Marston. Marston was the creator of a systolic-blood-pressure-measuring apparatus, crucial to the development of the polygraph. Marston's experience with polygraphs convinced him that women were more honest than men in certain situations and could work more efficiently. Marston designed Wonder Woman to be an allegory for the ideal love leader. "Wonder Woman is psychological propaganda for the new type of woman who should, I believe, rule the world", Marston wrote. In a 1943 issue of The American Scholar, Marston wrote: Not girls want to be girls so long as our feminine archetype lacks force and power. Not wanting to be girls, they don't want to be tender, peace-loving as good women are. Women's strong qualities have become despised because of their weakness; the obvious remedy is to create a feminine character with all the strength of Superman plus all the allure of a good and beautiful woman.
Marston was an outspoken feminist and firm believer in the superiority of women. He described bondage and submission as a "respectable and noble practice". Marston wrote in a weakness for Wonder Woman, attached to a fictional stipulation that he dubbed "Aphrodite's Law", that made the chaining of her "Bracelets of Submission" together by a man take away her Amazonian super strength. Wonder Woman ended up in chains before breaking free; this not only represented Marston's affinity for bondage, but women's subjugation, which he roundly rejected. However, not everything a
Josie and the Pussycats (film)
Josie and the Pussycats is a 2001 musical comedy film released by Universal Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Directed and co-written by Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan, the film is loosely based on the Archie Comics series and the Hanna-Barbera cartoon of the same name; the film stars Rachael Leigh Cook, Tara Reid, Rosario Dawson as the Pussycats, with Alan Cumming, Parker Posey, Gabriel Mann, Paulo Costanzo, Missi Pyle in supporting roles. The film received mixed reviews and was a box office bomb upon its initial release, but has enjoyed success as a cult film. Wyatt Frame, an executive with the pop music record label MegaRecords, is confronted on a private jet by boy band DuJour over a strange backing track they discovered on their recent single. Wyatt and the plane's pilot parachute out of the jet, leaving it to "kill" the band. Wyatt lands outside of the town of Riverdale, begins searching for a band to replace DuJour, he discovers struggling local rock band The Pussycats: lead vocalist and guitarist Josie McCoy, drummer Melody Valentine, bassist Valerie Brown.
The group accept Wyatt's immediate offer of a major record deal despite its seeming implausibility, are flown to New York City with their manager Alexander, his sister Alexandra, Josie's friend Alan M. The group is rebranded "the Pussycats", to Valerie's chagrin. Meanwhile, MegaRecords CEO Fiona meets with world government representatives, she details how the United States government has conspired with the music industry to add subliminal messages as backing tracks to pop music to brainwash teenagers into buying consumer products. The government theorizes that the economy can be stimulated by channeling the disposable income of young people into trendy and expensive goods; the band's first single is released, due to subliminal messaging, is an instant success. Valerie begins to resent the attention the label gives Josie, while Melody's uncanny behavioral perception makes her suspicious of Fiona. Fiona orders Wyatt to kill Melody before they uncover the conspiracy. Wyatt gives Josie a copy of the group's latest single, which contains a subliminal message track designed to brainwash her into desiring a solo career.
After an argument with her bandmates, Josie realizes. Her suspicions are confirmed when she uses a mixing board to make the subliminal track audible, but she is caught by Fiona. MegaRecords have organized a giant pay-per-view concert, wherein they plan to unleash a major subliminal message. Fiona and Wyatt force Josie to perform solo by holding Melody and Valerie hostage, but are thwarted by the badly injured members of DuJour, who survived the plane crash. Fiona accidentally destroys the machine used to generate the messages, revealing the new subliminal message to be one that would make Fiona universally popular. Fiona reveals that she was a social outcast in high school due to her lisp, while Wyatt reveals that his appearance is a disguise—he went to the same high school as Fiona, but was a persecuted and unpopular albino. Fiona and Wyatt fall in love; the government agents colluding with Fiona arrive, but with the conspiracy exposed, they arrest Fiona and Wyatt as scapegoats to cover up their involvement in the scheme.
Josie and Melody perform the concert together. Alan M confesses his love for Josie, who returns his feelings; the concert audience, able to judge the band on its merits for the first time, roar their approval. In line with its theme of subliminal advertising, the inordinate degree of product placement in the film constitutes a running gag; every scene features a mention or appearance of one or more famous brands, including Sega and the Dreamcast, Starbucks, Snapple, Target, America Online, Pizza Hut, Cartoon Network, Kodak, Advil and more. None of the advertising was paid promotion by the represented brands. Beyoncé, Aaliyah and Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes auditioned for the role of Valerie Brown. Elfont said that they wanted someone who knew how to do comedy, but Beyoncé was "quiet and shy" and Aaliyah was "serious and thoughtful". Lisa was tested twice; when released on VHS and DVD on August 21, 2001, a "Family-Friendly" PG-rated version was released as well: this version omitted a great deal of the profanity and sexual references.
Released by Sony Music Soundtrax and Playtone Records on March 27, 2001, Music from the Motion Picture Josie and the Pussycats was well-received, certifying a gold album with 500,000 copies despite the film's critical and commercial failure. Cook's singing voice was provided by Kay Hanley of the band Letters to Cleo, while backing vocals were provided by Cook, Reid and Bif Naked; the soundtrack was reissued on vinyl by Mondo in 2017. The film grossed $14,866,015 at the U. S. box office, less than its production budget, an estimated $39 million, resulting in a domestic box office bomb. The film received mixed reviews. Based on the Hanna-Barbera series of the 70s, critics felt; the film holds a 53% "Rotten" rating at Rotten Tomatoes, based on an average of 114 reviews, holding the consensus "This live-action update of Josie and the Pussycats offers up bubbly, fluffy fun, but the constant appearance of product placements seems rather hypocritical." On Metacritic, the film sco
Unstoppable (2010 film)
Unstoppable is a 2010 American action thriller film directed and produced by Tony Scott and starring Denzel Washington and Chris Pine. It is loosely based on the real-life CSX 8888 incident, telling the story of a runaway freight train and the two men who attempt to and succeed in stopping it; the film was released in the United States and Canada on November 12, 2010. It received positive reviews from critics and grossed $167 million against a production budget around $90 million; the film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Sound Editing at the 83rd Academy Awards, but lost to Inception. While moving an Allegheny and West Virginia Railroad train, pulled by lead locomotive #777, at a trainyard in northern Pennsylvania, yard hostlers Dewey and Gilleece incompetently allow the train to leave the rail yard on its own power with no one on board. Believing the train is coasting, yardmaster Connie Hooper orders Dewey and welder Ned Oldham to drive and catch up to the train; when Oldham deduces that the train has passed where it was supposed to be, they realize it is running on full power.
Connie alerts Oscar Galvin, VP of Train Operations, instructs local and state police to block all level crossings. Federal Railroad Administration inspector Scott Werner, while visiting Hooper's yard, warns that eight of the 39 cars contain toxic and flammable molten phenol, which would cause a major disaster if the train should derail in a populated area. News of the runaway soon draws ongoing media coverage. Connie suggests. Galvin dismisses her opinion, believing he can save the company money by lashing the train behind two locomotives helmed by engineer Judd Stewart, slowing it down enough for employee and former U. S. Marine Ryan Scott to descend via helicopter over the Keating Summit. Scott is knocked unconscious. Stewart attempts to divert 777 to a siding, but is unable to slow it down efficiently and is killed when he derails, while 777 continues down the main line. Realizing that 777 will derail on the Stanton Curve, a tight, elevated portion of track in populated Stanton, plans are made to purposely derail the train, outside the smaller town of Arklow.
Veteran AWVR engineer Frank Barnes and conductor Will Colson, a new hire on a restraining order with his now estranged wife, are pulling several cars with locomotive #1206 out of Stanton. As their heavy consist forced them to bypass their first siding, they narrowly manage to pull into a "RIP track", before 777 races by, smashing through their last two cars. Frank observes that 777's grain car has an open coupler, so if they could catch up to the train, they could couple their engine and use their own brakes before it reaches the Stanton curve. Will unhitches 1206 from their own cars, while Frank reports his plan to Connie and Galvin, warning that the derailing idea will not work given 777's momentum. Galvin threatens to fire Frank, who responds that AWVR has given him a forced half-benefits early retirement notice; as 777 approaches the portable derail devices, police first attempt to shoot the fuel shutoff switch on the engine, but are unsuccessful. As Frank predicts, the train barrels through the derails without harm.
Connie and Werner support Frank's plan and take over control of the situation from Galvin. Frank and Will catch up to attempt to engage the coupler; when the locking pin will not engage, Will gets injured in the process. Will hobbles to 1206's cab, where he works the dynamic brakes and throttle while Frank dangerously works his way across 777's cars, manually engaging the brakes on each car, they are able to reduce the speed enough to clear the Stanton Curve, with the train tipping but righting itself, before 1206's brakes fail. As 777 picks up speed, Frank finds his path blocked to 777's cab. Ned arrives in drives on a road parallel to the tracks. Will jumps to Ned's truck, Ned drives him to the front of 777, where Will leaps onto the locomotive and engages the brakes, ending the situation. Frank and Ned are heralded as heroes. Frank retires with full benefits, Will reunites with his wife, Connie is promoted to Galvin's VP position, Scott recovers from his injuries, Dewey is now working at a fast food restaurant.
The locomotives used in the movie were borrowed from two railroads. The 2 AWVR locomotives, 777 and 767, were GE AC4400CW; the other locomotives, such as the 1206 and the EMD SD40-2's, were borrowed from Wheeling and Lake Erie. Denzel Washington as Frank Barnes, a veteran railroad engineer Chris Pine as Will Colson, a young train conductor Rosario Dawson as Connie Hooper, a train yardmaster Ethan Suplee as Dewey, a hostler who accidentally instigates the disaster Kevin Dunn as Oscar Galvin, vice-president of AWVR train operations Kevin Corrigan as Inspector Scott Werner, an FRA inspector who helps Frank and Connie Kevin Chapman as Bunny, a railroad operations dispatcher Lew Temple as Ned Oldham, a railroad lead welder T. J. Miller as Gilleece, Dewey's friend a hostler Jessy Schram as Darcy Colson, Will's estranged wife David Warshofsky as Judd Stewart, a veteran engineer, friends with Frank & dies in an attempt to slow the runaway train Andy Umberger as Janeway Elizabeth Mathis and Meagan Tandy as Nicole and Maya Barnes, Frank's daughters who work as waitresses at Hooters Ryan Ahern as Ryan Scott, a railway employee and US Marine veteran of the war in Afghanistan, injured in an attempt to stop the runaway Unstoppable suffered various production challenges before film
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is an American comic book publisher. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. since 1967. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, produces material featuring numerous culturally iconic heroic characters including: Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern,Aquaman,Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow, Hawkman and Supergirl. Most of their material takes place in the fictional DC Universe, which features teams such as the Justice League, the Justice Society of America, the Suicide Squad, the Teen Titans, well-known villains such as The Joker, Lex Luthor, Darkseid, Brainiac, Black Adam, Ra's al Ghul and Deathstroke; the company has published non-DC Universe-related material, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, many titles under their alternative imprint Vertigo. The initials "DC" came from the company's popular series Detective Comics, which featured Batman's debut and subsequently became part of the company's name.
In Manhattan at 432 Fourth Avenue, the DC Comics offices have been located at 480 and 575 Lexington Avenue. DC had its headquarters at 1700 Broadway, Midtown Manhattan, New York City, but it was announced in October 2013 that DC Entertainment would relocate its headquarters from New York to Burbank, California in April 2015. Random House distributes DC Comics' books to the bookstore market, while Diamond Comic Distributors supplies the comics shop specialty market. DC Comics and its longtime major competitor Marvel Comics together shared 70% of the American comic book market in 2017. Entrepreneur Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson founded National Allied Publications in autumn 1934; the company debuted with the tabloid-sized New Fun: The Big Comic Magazine #1 with a cover date of February 1935. The company's second title, New Comics #1, appeared in a size close to what would become comic books' standard during the period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books, with larger dimensions than today's.
That title evolved into Adventure Comics, which continued through issue #503 in 1983, becoming one of the longest-running comic-book series. In 2009 DC revived Adventure Comics with its original numbering. In 1935, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the future creators of Superman, created Doctor Occult, the earliest DC Comics character to still be in the DC Universe. Wheeler-Nicholson's third and final title, Detective Comics, advertised with a cover illustration dated December 1936 premiered three months late with a March 1937 cover date; the themed anthology series would become a sensation with the introduction of Batman in issue #27. By however, Wheeler-Nicholson had gone. In 1937, in debt to printing-plant owner and magazine distributor Harry Donenfeld—who published pulp magazines and operated as a principal in the magazine distributorship Independent News—Wheeler-Nicholson had to take Donenfeld on as a partner in order to publish Detective Comics #1. Detective Comics, Inc. was formed, with Wheeler-Nicholson and Jack S. Liebowitz, Donenfeld's accountant, listed as owners.
Major Wheeler-Nicholson remained for a year, but cash-flow problems continued, he was forced out. Shortly afterwards, Detective Comics, Inc. purchased the remains of National Allied known as Nicholson Publishing, at a bankruptcy auction. Detective Comics, Inc. soon launched a fourth title, Action Comics, the premiere of which introduced Superman. Action Comics #1, the first comic book to feature the new character archetype—soon known as "superheroes"—proved a sales hit; the company introduced such other popular characters as the Sandman and Batman. On February 22, 2010, a copy of Action Comics #1 sold at an auction from an anonymous seller to an anonymous buyer for $1 million, besting the $317,000 record for a comic book set by a different copy, in lesser condition, the previous year. National Allied Publications soon merged with Detective Comics, Inc. forming National Comics Publications on September 30, 1946. National Comics Publications absorbed an affiliated concern, Max Gaines' and Liebowitz' All-American Publications.
In the same year Gaines let Liebowitz buy him out, kept only Picture Stories from the Bible as the foundation of his own new company, EC Comics. At that point, "Liebowitz promptly orchestrated the merger of All-American and Detective Comics into National Comics... Next he took charge of organizing National Comics, Independent News, their affiliated firms into a single corporate entity, National Periodical Publications". National Periodical Publications became publicly traded on the stock market in 1961. Despite the official names "National Comics" and "National Periodical Publications", the company began branding itself as "Superman-DC" as early as 1940, the company became known colloquially as DC Comics for years before the official adoption of that name in 1977; the company began to move aggressively against what it saw as copyright-violating imitations from other companies, such as Fox Comics' Wonder Man, which Fox started as a copy of Superman. This extended to DC suing Fawcett Comics over Captain Marvel, at the time comics' top-selling character.
Faced with declining sales and the prospect of bankruptcy if it lost, Fawcett capitulated in 1953 and ceased publishing comics. Years Fawcett sold the rights for Captain Marvel to DC—which in 1972 revived Captain Marvel in the new title Shazam
Edward Norton
Edward Harrison Norton is an American actor and filmmaker. Regarded as one of his generation's most talented actors, he has received multiple awards and nominations including a Golden Globe Award and three Academy Award nominations. Raised in Columbia, Norton was drawn to theatrical productions at local venues as a child. After graduating from Yale University in 1991, he worked for a few months in Japan before relocating to New York City to pursue an acting career, he gained immediate recognition for his debut in Primal Fear, which earned him a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor and an Academy Award nomination in the same category. His role as a reformed neo-Nazi in 1998's American History X earned him a second Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, he starred in the film Fight Club, which has garnered a cult following. Norton has emerged as a filmmaker in the 2000s, he established Class 5 Films, a production company in 2003, was director or producer of the films Keeping the Faith, Down in the Valley and The Painted Veil.
He has continued to receive critical acclaim for his roles in various ventures, namely The Score, 25th Hour, The Illusionist, Moonrise Kingdom and The Grand Budapest Hotel. His greatest commercial successes have been Red Dragon, Kingdom of Heaven, The Incredible Hulk and The Bourne Legacy. For his role in the 2014 black comedy Birdman, Norton earned a second Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Despite critical plaudits, Norton has gained a notoriety for being hard to work with, including incidents of editing the final cuts and rewriting screenplays against other producers' will, he expresses disinterest in overt stardom. Alongside his work in cinema, Norton is an environmental social entrepreneur, he is a trustee of non-profit organization for affordable housing Enterprise Community Partners. He serves as president of the American branch of the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust, is the United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for Biodiversity. Norton is married to Canadian film producer Shauna Robertson.
Edward Harrison Norton was born in 1969 to a progressive Episcopalian family in Boston and raised in Columbia, Maryland. His father, Edward Mower Norton Jr. served in Vietnam as a Marine lieutenant before becoming an environmental lawyer and conservation advocate working in Asia and a federal prosecutor in the Carter administration. His mother, Lydia Robinson "Robin", an English teacher, died of a brain tumor in 1997, his maternal grandfather, James Rouse, was the founder of urban planning enterprise The Rouse Company and co-founder of the real estate corporation Enterprise Community Partners. Norton has two younger siblings and James. At age five, Norton saw the musical Cinderella with his parents at the Columbia Center for Theatrical Arts, which ignited his interest in the theater. During his pre-teen years, he enjoyed watching movies with his father, but reflected that he was fascinated with the cinematography rather than the acting. Norton recalled, he made his professional debut at the age of eight in the musical Annie Get Your Gun at his hometown Toby's Dinner Theatre.
At the CCTA, he acted in several theatrical productions directed by Toby Orenstein. At fifteen Norton saw Ian McKellen's rendition of the one-act play Acting Shakespeare at the National Theatre in Washington, D. C. which further consolidated his acting aspiration. In 1984, Norton won the acting cup at Pasquaney, an annual summer camp for boys in Hebron, New Hampshire, where he returned as a theater director, he subsequently immersed himself in movies and named Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro as two of his early inspirations because "the ones I liked were the ones who made me think I could do it because they weren't the most handsome guys". He graduated from Wilde Lake High School in 1987, he attended Yale University. During college, he studied Japanese, acted in university productions, was a competitive rower. After graduating from Yale in 1991, conversant in Japanese, Norton worked not-for-profit as a representative for his grandfather's company Enterprise Community Partners in Osaka, Japan.
After five months in Japan, Norton moved to New York City, where he supported himself working odd jobs. He took six months researching different acting techniques, he took lessons from acting coach Terry Schreiber after discovering he was looking for a Japanese translator to help direct a play in Tokyo. Norton described him as a great teacher who encouraged students to become "multilingual actors" with different techniques for versatile roles. Norton wrote scripts for plays at the Signature Theatre Company and starred in Off-Broadway theater, his performance in Brian Friel's Lovers brought him to the attention of playwright Edward Albee, whose one-act plays Norton enjoyed. In 1994, Norton did not get the part. Albee had Norton read for Fragments; the playwright was impressed with Norton's rehearsal performance and cast him for its world premiere. Albee remarked that Norton was a rare actor "who knocked me out". Norton recalled that he was inspired by Al Pacino, who began his career in theater while struggling to establish himself in New York.
In 1995, casting agent Shirley Rich discovered Norton. He rented a studio space near The Public Theater and presented his auditions of Shakespearean works to her. Impressed by his acting, she introduced Norton to the executives
Prince (musician)
Prince Rogers Nelson was an American singer, musician, record producer and filmmaker. With a career spanning four decades, Prince was known for his eclectic work, flamboyant stage presence, extravagant fashion sense and use of makeup, wide vocal range. A multi-instrumentalist, he was considered a guitar virtuoso and was skilled at playing the drums, bass and synthesizer. Prince pioneered the Minneapolis sound, a subgenre of funk rock with elements of synth-pop and new wave, in the late 1970s. Prince was born and raised in Minneapolis and developed an interest in music as a young child, he signed a recording contract with Warner Bros. Records at the age of 17, released his debut album For You in 1978, his 1979 album Prince went platinum, his next three albums—Dirty Mind, 1999 —continued his success, showcasing his prominently explicit lyrics and blending of funk and rock music. In 1984, he began referring to his backup band as the Revolution and released Purple Rain, the soundtrack album to his film debut.
It became his most critically and commercially successful release, spending 24 consecutive weeks atop the Billboard 200 and selling over 20 million copies worldwide. After releasing the albums Around the World in a Day and Parade, The Revolution disbanded, Prince released the double album Sign o' the Times as a solo artist, he released three more solo albums before debuting The New Power Generation band in 1991. In 1993, while in a contractual dispute with Warner Bros. he changed his stage name to an unpronounceable symbol known as the "Love Symbol," and began releasing new albums at a faster rate to remove himself from contractual obligations. He released five records between 1994 and 1996 before signing with Arista Records in 1998. In 2000, he began referring to himself as "Prince" again, he released 16 albums including the platinum-selling Musicology. His final album, Hit n Run Phase Two, was first released on the Tidal streaming service on December 2015. Four months at the age of 57, Prince died of an accidental fentanyl overdose at his Paisley Park recording studio and home in Chanhassen, Minnesota.
Prince's innovative music integrated a wide variety of styles, including funk, rock, R&B, new wave, soul and pop. He has sold over 100 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time, he won seven Grammy Awards, six American Music Awards, a Golden Globe Award, an Academy Award for the 1984 film Purple Rain. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004. Rolling Stone ranked Prince at number 27 on their list of 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Prince Rogers Nelson was born on June 7, 1958, in Minneapolis, the son of jazz singer Mattie Della and pianist and songwriter John Lewis Nelson, his ancestry is centered with all four of his grandparents hailing from that state. Prince was given his father's stage name, Prince Rogers, which his father used while performing with his mother in a jazz group called the Prince Rogers Trio. In 1991, Prince's father told A Current Affair that he named his son Prince because he wanted Prince "to do everything I wanted to do".
Prince was not fond of his name and wanted people to instead call him Skipper, a name which stuck throughout his childhood. Prince has said, he stated, "My mother told me one day I walked in to her and said,'Mom, I'm not going to be sick anymore,' and she said,'Why?' and I said,'Because an angel told me so.'"Prince's younger sister, was born on May 18, 1960. Both siblings developed a keen interest in music, encouraged by their father. Prince wrote his first song, "Funk Machine", on his father's piano. Prince's parents divorced when he was 10, his mother remarried to Hayward Baker, with whom she had a son named Omarr. Baker took Prince to see James Brown in concert, Prince credited Baker with improving the family's finances. After a brief period of living with his father, who bought him his first guitar, Prince moved into the basement of the Anderson family, his neighbors, after his father kicked him out, he befriended the Andersons' son, who collaborated with Prince and became known as André Cymone.
Prince attended Minneapolis' Bryant Junior High and Central High School, where he played football and baseball. He was a student at the Minnesota Dance Theatre through the Urban Arts Program of Minneapolis Public Schools, he played on Central's junior varsity basketball team, continued to play basketball recreationally as an adult. Prince met Jimmy Jam in 1973 in junior high, impressed Jimmy with his musical talent, early mastery of a wide range of instruments, work ethic. In 1975, Pepe Willie, the husband of Prince's cousin Shauntel, formed the band 94 East with Marcy Ingvoldstad and Kristie Lazenberry, hiring André Cymone and Prince to record tracks. Willie wrote the songs, Prince contributed guitar tracks, Prince and Willie co-wrote the 94 East song, "Just Another Sucker"; the band recorded tracks which became the album Minneapolis Genius – The Historic 1977 Recordings. In 1976, Prince created a demo tape in Moon's Minneapolis studio. Unable to secure a recording contract, Moon brought the tape to Owen Husney, a Minneapolis businessman, who signed Prince, age 19, to a management contract, helped hi
