San Diego Comic-Con
San Diego Comic-Con International is a multi-genre entertainment and comic convention held annually in San Diego, United States. The name, as given on its website, is Comic-Con International: San Diego, it was founded as the Golden State Comic Book Convention in 1970 by a group of San Diegans that included Shel Dorf, Richard Alf, Ken Krueger, Mike Towry. It is a four-day event held during the summer at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego. On the Wednesday evening prior to the official opening, professionals and pre-registered guests for all four days can attend a pre-event "Preview Night" to give attendees the opportunity to walk the exhibit hall and see what will be available during the convention. Comic-Con International produces two other conventions, WonderCon, held in Anaheim, the Alternative Press Expo, held in San Francisco. Since 1974, Comic-Con has bestowed its annual Inkpot Award on guests and persons of interest in the popular arts industries, as well as on members of Comic-Con's board of directors and the Convention committee.
It is the home of the Will Eisner Awards. Showcasing comic books and science fiction/fantasy related film and similar popular arts, the convention has since included a larger range of pop culture and entertainment elements across all genres, including horror, Western animation, manga, collectible card games, video games and fantasy novels. In 2010 and each year subsequently, it filled the San Diego Convention Center to capacity with more than 130,000 attendees. In addition to drawing huge crowds, the event holds several Guinness World Records including the largest annual comic and pop culture festival in the world; the convention was founded in 1970 by Shel Dorf, Richard Alf, Ken Krueger, Mike Towry, Barry Alfonso, Bob Sourk, Greg Bear. Detroit, Michigan-born, comics fan Shel Dorf, had, in the mid-1960s, mounted the Detroit Triple-Fan Fairs, one of the first commercial comics-fan conventions; when he moved to San Diego, California, in 1970, he organized a one-day convention on March 21, 1970, "as a kind of'dry run' for the larger convention he hoped to stage."
Dorf went on to be associated with the convention as president or manager, for years until becoming estranged from the organization. Alf co-chaired the first convention with Krueger and became chairman in 1971. Following the initial gathering, Dorf's first three-day San Diego comics convention, the Golden State Comic-Con, drew 300 people and was held at the U. S. Grant Hotel from August 1–3, 1970. Other locations in the convention's early years included the El Cortez Hotel, the University of California, San Diego, Golden Hall, before being moved to the San Diego Convention Center in 1991. Richard Alf, chairman in 1971, has noted an early factor in the Con's growth was an effort "to expand the Comic-Con committee base by networking with other fandoms such as the Society for Creative Anachronism and the Mythopoeic Society, among others.." In a Rolling Stone article about the origins of Comic-Con, it noted the work of Krueger, who handled early business matters, worked to get the event to be organized by a non-profit organization.
By the late 1970s, the show had grown to such an extent that Bob Schreck recalled visiting with his then-boss Gary Berman of Creation Conventions and reflecting, "While kept repeating'This show's not any bigger than ours!' I was walking the floor stunned and in awe of just how much bigger it was. I was blown away."According to Forbes, the convention is the "largest convention of its kind in the world. The convention has an estimated annual regional economic impact of more than $140 million. Yet, in 2009, the estimated economic impact was criticized for negatively impacting seasonal businesses outside of Comic-Con, low individual spending estimates of attendees, that a large number of attendees live in San Diego, that the impact of the convention was more cultural than financial. In 2011, the estimated economic impact of that year's convention was $180 million. In 2014, the estimated impact of that year's convention was $177.8 million. In 2016, the estimated impact of that year's convention was down to $150 million.
By 2018, San Diego Comic-Con saw increasing competition from other comic conventions in places such as New York City, Washington, D. C. which caused it to compete for attendees and companies time and budget. The convention is organized by a panel of 13 board members, 16 to 20 full-time and part-time workers, 80 volunteers who assist via committees. Comic-Con International is a non-profit organization, proceeds of the event go to funding it, as well as the Alternative Press Expo and WonderCon; the convention logo was designed by Richard Bruning and Josh Beatman in 1995. In 2015, working with Lionsgate, a video channel was created to host Comic-Con related content. In 2015, through a limited liability company, Comic-Con International purchased three buildings in Barrio Logan. In 2018 Comic-Con International purchased a 29,000-square-foot office in San Diego's Little Italy neighborhood. In 2017, the organization acquired a lease to the Federal Building in Balboa Park built for the California Pacific Internati
Monterey, California
Founded on June 3, 1770, Monterey was the capital of Alta California under both Spain and Mexico until 1850. Monterey hosted California's first theater, public building, public library, publicly funded school, printing press, newspaper. Monterey was the only port of entry for taxable goods in California. In 1846, the U. S. flag was raised over the Customs House, California became part of the United States after the Mexican–American War. The city is located in Monterey County in the U. S. state of California, on the southern edge of Monterey Bay on California's Central Coast. The city hall is at 26 feet above sea level, the city occupies a land area of 8.466 sq mi. The 2010 census recorded a population of 27,810; the city and surrounding area have attracted artists since the late 19th century and many celebrated painters and writers have lived there. Until the 1950s, there was an abundant fishery. Among Monterey's notable present-day attractions are the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Cannery Row, Fisherman's Wharf and the annual Monterey Jazz Festival.
Long before the arrival of Spanish explorers, the Rumsen Ohlone tribe, one of seven linguistically distinct Ohlone groups in California, inhabited the area now known as Monterey. They subsisted by hunting and gathering food on and around the biologically rich Monterey Peninsula. Researchers have found a number of shell middens in the area and, based on the archaeological evidence, concluded the Ohlone's primary marine food consisted at various times of mussels and abalone. A number of midden sites have been located along about 12 miles of rocky coast on the Monterey Peninsula from the current site of Fishermans' Wharf in Monterey to Carmel. In 1602, Spanish maritime explorer Sebastian Vizcaino recorded the name "Bahía de Monterrey", which has evolved into Monterey Bay. Vizcaino landed at the southern end of the bay and described a great port, suitable for use as an anchorage by southbound Manila galleons. Vizcaino noted and named the "Point of Pines". All other uses of the name Monterey derive from Vizcaino's name for the bay.
Variants of the city's name are recorded as Monte Montery. In 1769, the first European land exploration of Alta California, the Spanish Portolá expedition, traveled north from San Diego, seeking Vizcaino's "Port of Monterey" from 167 years earlier. For some reason, the explorers failed to recognize the place when they came to it on October 1, 1769; the party continued north as far as San Francisco Bay before turning back. On the return journey, they camped near one of Monterey's lagoons on November 27, still not convinced they had found the place Vizcaino had described. Franciscan missionary Juan Crespí noted in his diary, "We halted in sight of the Point of Pines and camped near a small lagoon which has rather muddy water, but abounds in pasture and firewood."Portolá returned by land to Monterey the next year, having concluded that he must have been at Vizcaino's Port of Monterey after all. The land party was met at Monterey by Junípero Serra. Portolá erected the Presidio of Monterey to defend the port and, on June 3, 1770, Serra founded the Cathedral of San Carlos Borromeo inside the presidio enclosure.
Portolá returned to Mexico, replaced in Monterey by Captain Pedro Fages, third in command on the exploratory expeditions. Fages became the second governor of Alta California, serving from 1770 to 1774. San Diego is the only city in California older than Monterey. Serra's missionary aims soon came into conflict with Fages and the soldiers, he moved the mission to Carmel the following year to gain greater independence from Fages; the existing wood and adobe building became the chapel for the Presidio. Monterey became the capital of the "Province of Both Californias" in 1777, the chapel was renamed the Royal Presidio Chapel; the original church was replaced by the present sandstone structure. It was completed in 1794 by Indian labor. In 1840, the chapel was rededicated to the patronage of Saint Charles Borromeo; the cathedral is the oldest continuously operating parish and the oldest stone building in California. It is the oldest serving cathedral along with St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans, Louisiana.
It is the only existing presidio chapel in California and the only surviving building from the original Monterey Presidio. The city was the only port of entry for all taxable goods in California. All shipments into California by sea were required to go through the Custom House, the oldest governmental building in the state and California's Historic Landmark Number One. Built in three phases, the Spanish began construction of the Custom House in 1814, the Mexican government completed the center section in 1827, the United States government finished the lower end in 1846. On 24 November 1818 Argentine corsair Hippolyte Bouchard landed 7 km away from the Presidio of Monterey in a hidden creek; the fort resisted ineffectively, after an hour of combat the Argentine flag flew over it. The Argentines took the city for six days, during which time they stole the cattle and burned the fort, the artillery headquarters, the governor's residence and the Spanish houses; the town's residents were unharmed. Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821, but the civil and religious institutions of Alta California remained much the same until the 1830s, when the secularization of the missions converted most of the mission pasture lands into private land grant ranchos.
Monterey was the site of the Battle of Monterey on July 1846, during the Mexican -- American War. It was on
Texas Chainsaw 3D
Texas Chainsaw is a 2013 American 3D slasher film directed by John Luessenhop, with a screenplay by Adam Marcus, Debra Sullivan and Kirsten Elms and a story by Stephen Susco and Sullivan. It is the seventh installment in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise and was presented in 3D; the film serves as a direct sequel to the 1974 film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. The film stars Alexandra Daddario, Dan Yeager, Trey Songz, Tania Raymonde, Scott Eastwood, Thom Barry, Paul Rae and Bill Moseley, with Gunnar Hansen and Marilyn Burns, who had appeared in the original 1974 film; the story centers on Heather, who discovers that she was adopted after learning of an inheritance from a long-lost grandmother. She subsequently takes a road trip with her friends to collect the inheritance, unaware that it includes her cousin, Leatherface, as well. Filming began in the summer of July 2011, it was released January 4, 2013; the film was released in the United States on January 4, 2013 by Lionsgate and received negative reviews from critics.
Although not well received, Texas Chainsaw 3D was a commercial success, making $47.2 million from a $20 million budget. It was the last film both Burns and Hansen starred in before they both died in 2014 and 2015 respectively. A prequel that takes place before the original 1974 film, titled Leatherface, was released in 2017. Following the events of the original film, the people of Newt, led by Mayor Burt Hartman, burn down the farmhouse of the murderous Sawyer clan in an act of vigilante justice; the arsonists are proclaimed heroes of the community, the entire Sawyer family is killed. However, an infant, Edith Rose Sawyer, is found by one of the townsmen, Gavin Miller, who promptly murders her mother, Loretta Sawyer. Gavin and his wife Arlene raise her as their own daughter. Decades Heather discovers that she was adopted after receiving a letter that her grandmother, Verna Carson, has passed away. Heather, her boyfriend Ryan, her best friend Nikki, Nikki's boyfriend Kenny travel to her grandmother's home in Newt to collect her inheritance.
Along the way, the group picks up a hitchhiker named Darryl. Upon arriving, Heather is given a letter; as the group explores the house, they decide to stay the night. Heather and her friends leave to buy food and supplies, leaving Darryl behind to look after the house. Darryl is killed by Leatherface in the basement; that day and her friends return to find the house ransacked. While Kenny is preparing dinner, he goes downstairs to the cellar where Leatherface impales him on a hook. Heather finds Darryl's body and is attacked by Leatherface. Nikki and Ryan draw the attention of Leatherface, while Heather gets in the van and picks up her friends. Using his chainsaw, Leatherface cuts through one of the tires, which causes the van to crash, killing Ryan on impact, he chases Heather to a nearby carnival, where Deputy Carl Hartman, the mayor's son, the police are patrolling the grounds. Heather escapes to the police. While at the police department, she begins digging through the files, learning how the Sawyer family was killed and empathizing with them.
The sheriff and Hartman send an officer to investigate the Carson estate. Over the phone, the officer reports his findings, he finds Nikki hiding in a freezer but accidentally shoots her in the head before he himself is killed by Leatherface. Leatherface skins uses it to create a new flesh mask. Enraged by the officer's findings, Hartman vows to end the remaining Sawyers, kidnapping Heather and taking her to a slaughterhouse to lure Leatherface. Listening over the deceased officer's police radio, Leatherface learns of Heather's location and goes to the slaughterhouse to kill her. Before he is able to do so, he releases her. Leatherface is attacked from behind by Hartman. Hartman physically and repetitively beats Leatherface, until Heather tosses Leatherface his chainsaw, he uses it to force Hartman to his death in a meat grinder. Afterwards and Heather return to the Carson Estate, where Heather reads the letter she was given, it informs her that she is Edith Sawyer, that Leatherface is her cousin and that he will protect her, but it requests that she take care of him in return.
In a post-credits scene, Heather's adopted parents show up at the Carson estate to visit Heather, intending on greedily splitting her assets. As they wait in front of the door, Leatherface comes through the door with his chainsaw in hand. Alexandra Daddario as Heather Miller/Edith Rose Sawyer: The film follows Heather, travelling through Texas with her boyfriend Ryan to collect an inheritance. Dan Yeager as Leatherface: Now identified as Jedidiah Sawyer. Luessenhop stated that he picked Yeager because he felt a sense of "menace" after witnessing Yeager's 6'6" frame, "farm boy arms", "brooding brow" stand "quiet and circumspect", he claimed. Trey Songz as Ryan: Heather's boyfriend, who accompanies her on the trip through Texas. Tania Raymonde as Nikki: She is described as a "small town girl with an attitude", the best friend of Heather. Scott Eastwood as Deputy Carl Hartman: Town deputy and Burt's son. Shaun Sipos as Darryl: A hitchhiker who catches a lift with Heather and her friends. Keram Malicki-Sánchez as Kenny: Ryan's friend Thom Barry as Sheriff Hooper: Town sheriff Paul Rae as Mayor Burt Hartman: Town mayor and Carl's father.
Richard Riehle as Farnsworth: The Sawye
Wildest Dreams (Taylor Swift song)
"Wildest Dreams" is a song recorded by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift for her fifth studio album, 1989. The song was released to radio by Big Machine Records and Republic Records on August 31, 2015, as the album's fifth single. Swift co-wrote the song with its producers Shellback. Musically, "Wildest Dreams" is a dream pop power ballad, with the lyrics describing Swift's plea for her lover to remember her. Following the release of 1989, it charted in the United States and Australia on the strength of digital downloads. After its release as a single, it reached number five on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the fifth consecutive top-10 song from 1989 and Swift's 19th top-10 single on the chart, it became her sixth chart topper on the Radio Songs chart. Swift wrote the track with Max Martin and Shellback. "Wildest Dreams" has been described. Reviewers compared the song to the works of Lana Del Rey, noting a particular resemblance to Del Rey's "Without You." Written in the key of A♭ major in Mixolydian mode and set in a common time signature, it has a slow tempo of 70 beats per minute.
Swift's vocal range spans from E♭3 to E♭5. Sputnikmusic called the song an "impassioned piece" and thought that, "all it proves is that Swift is capable of taking the contemporary influences around her and molding them into something impressively original." Corey Bealsey of PopMatters described it as "Swift doing more or less a literal Lana Del Rey impression and managing it with a ventriloquist's mastery to conjure Del Rey's moody, sultry atmospherics." Marah Eakin of The A. V. Club said that "Swift takes her voice down a few notches, sounding a bit more like the brusque Del Rey than her chipper self." Alexis Petridis of The Guardian praised the wit of the lyrics: "there's something hugely cheering about the way Swift turns the persona of the pathetic female appendage snivelling over her bad-boy boyfriend on its head. Ramping up the melodrama by way of Be My Babyish drums, Wildest Dreams paints the man as the victim, doomed to spend the rest of his life haunted by what he's carelessly lost."
In a review by The New York Times, noted that this song contained the "most pronounced vocal tweak" on the album and how "at the bridge, she skips up an octave, sputtering out bleats of ecstasy, before retreating back under the covers."On the other hand, Craig Manning of AbsolutePunk dismissed the song as "a bit disposable". Jem Aswad of Billboard had a mixed reception about the Lana Del Rey similarities, saying that "it's hard to tell if the song is homage or parody." "Wildest Dreams" first entered the US Billboard Hot 100 at number 76 on the week ending November 15, 2014 as a cut from 1989. Following its release as an official single and the release of an accompanying music video at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards pre-show, the song re-entered the Hot 100 at number 15 on the chart dated September 19, 2015, it reached number 12 the following week, peaked at number 5 on November 7, 2015. The song's peak position made Swift only the fourth artist to have at least one single peak at each position of Billboard's top 10 as the lead performer.
It re-entered the Billboard Digital Songs chart at number 7 selling 83,000 copies. At the Billboard Radio Songs chart it debuted at number 26 with 43 million audience impression, it climbed to the top position of the Radio Songs chart on the week ending November 14, 2015. On Billboard's Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart, the single became Swift's first number one; the accompanying music video was directed by Joseph Kahn, who directed the music videos for the second and fourth singles from 1989. The music video was filmed in California; the video was first aired on television during the pre-show of the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards on August 30, 2015. Scott Eastwood appeared in the video. In the video, Swift plays a fictional actress named Majorie Finn, a reference to her grandmother's name, Majorie Finlay, Scott Eastwood plays a fictional actor named Robert Kingsley. Swift's grandfather's name was Robert and her father's middle name is Kingsley. Swift came up with the concept after reading a book by Ava Gardner and Peter Evans, The Secret Conversations.
Her premise for the video is that—since social media did not exist in the'50s—it would be impossible for actors not to fall in love if they were isolated together in Africa, since there would be no one else to talk to. According to Kahn the video is based on classic Hollywood romances like Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, as well as classic films such as The African Queen, Out of Africa and The English Patient; as of February 2019 the video has received over 640 million views on YouTube. The video, set in an African savanna in the 1950s during the golden age of cinema, follows the story of fictional brunette actress Marjorie Finn shooting a romantic adventure film, Wildest Dreams, with co-star Robert Kingsley; the video is interspersed with shots of African wildlife and natural scenery, including a cascading waterfall and Swift lounging with a lion. Finn and Kingsley are shown having a love affair, but after a fight on set the romance ends and the video cuts to the Wildest Dreams premiere, where Finn sees her co-star, with his wife.
Finn tries to act nonchalant. As they both watch the film, Finn is overcome with emotion, fleeing the premiere and getting into a waiting limousine; the video ends with a shot of the limousine's side-mirror showing Kingsley running into the street and watching as the car drives away. Two different bipl
Alison Eastwood
Alison Eastwood is an American actress, producer, fashion model, fashion designer. Eastwood was born in Carmel, the daughter of Maggie Johnson and movie star Clint Eastwood, she has a brother, Kyle Eastwood, six half-siblings, including Kimber, Kathryn and Morgan Eastwood. Eastwood attended Santa Catalina School in Monterey and Stevenson School in Pebble Beach; when she was eighteen, in 1990, Eastwood enrolled at UC Santa Barbara to study acting. Eastwood landed some professional acting roles during her childhood and preadolescent years, making her film debut at the age of seven in Bronco Billy. At the age of eleven, she had a major role in the thriller Tightrope, she has worked as a runway and magazine model in Paris, posing for several European fashion magazines and Vogue. In February 2003, she posed nude for Playboy. More Eastwood has again appeared onscreen, her film credits include Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Just a Little Harmless Sex and White, Friends & Lovers, If You Only Knew, Power Play, Poolhall Junkies, I'll Be Seeing You, Once Fallen.
Eastwood made her directorial debut with starring Kevin Bacon and Marcia Gay Harden. She has her own clothing line, called the Eastwood Ranch Apparel, she is the founder of a non-profit animal welfare organization. On the small screen, she appeared in the Nat Geo Wild TV program Animal Intervention, she has been featured on the reality TV series Chainsaw Gang as one of the sculptor's girlfriends. The sculptor is her now husband, Stacy Poitras, whom she married on March 15, 2013. Eastwood's cover of "Come Rain or Come Shine", which she is shown performing part of in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, is included on the movie's soundtrack. Eastwood directed the 2017 romantic drama film Battlecreek, starring Bill Skarsgård, Paula Malcomson, Claire van der Boom. Alison Eastwood on IMDb
Clint Eastwood
Clinton Eastwood Jr. is an American actor, filmmaker and politician. After achieving success in the Western TV series Rawhide, he rose to international fame with his role as the Man with No Name in Italian filmmaker Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy of spaghetti Westerns during the 1960s, as antihero cop Harry Callahan in the five Dirty Harry films throughout the 1970s and 1980s; these roles, among others, have made Eastwood an enduring cultural icon of masculinity. For his work in the Western film Unforgiven and the sports drama Million Dollar Baby, Eastwood won Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture, as well as receiving nominations for Best Actor. Eastwood's greatest commercial successes have been the adventure comedy Every Which Way But Loose and its sequel, the action comedy Any Which Way You Can, after adjustment for inflation. Other popular films include the Western Hang'Em High, the psychological thriller Play Misty for Me, the crime film Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, the Western The Outlaw Josey Wales, the prison film Escape from Alcatraz, the action film Firefox, the suspense thriller Tightrope, the Western Pale Rider, the war films Where Eagles Dare, Kelly's Heroes, Heartbreak Ridge, the action thriller In the Line of Fire, the romantic drama The Bridges of Madison County, the drama Gran Torino.
In addition to directing many of his own star vehicles, Eastwood has directed films in which he did not appear, such as the mystery drama Mystic River and the war film Letters from Iwo Jima, for which he received Academy Award nominations, the drama Changeling, the South African biographical political sports drama Invictus. The war drama biopic American Sniper set box-office records for the largest January release and was the largest opening for an Eastwood film. Eastwood received considerable critical praise in France for several films, including some that were not well received in the United States. Eastwood has been awarded two of France's highest honors: in 1994 he became a recipient of the Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, in 2007 he was awarded the Legion of Honour medal. In 2000, Eastwood was awarded the Italian Venice Film Festival Golden Lion for lifetime achievement. Since 1967, Eastwood's Malpaso Productions has produced all but four of his American films. Elected in 1986, Eastwood served for two years as mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, a non-partisan office.
Eastwood was born on May 31, 1930, in San Francisco, the son of Clinton Eastwood and Ruth Wood. Ruth took the surname of her second husband, John Belden Wood, whom she married after the death of Clinton Sr. Eastwood was nicknamed "Samson" by the hospital nurses because he weighed 11 pounds 6 ounces at birth, he has Jeanne Bernhardt. Eastwood is of English, Irish and Dutch ancestry, he is descended from Mayflower passenger William Bradford, through this line is the 12th generation of his family born in North America. During the 1930s, his family moved as his father worked at jobs along the West Coast. Contrary to what Eastwood has indicated in media interviews, they did not move between 1940 and 1949. Settled in Piedmont, the Eastwoods lived in a wealthy part of the town, had a swimming pool, belonged to a country club, each parent drove their own car. Eastwood attended Piedmont Middle School. From January 1945 until at least January 1946, he attended Piedmont High School, but was asked to leave for writing an obscene suggestion to a school official on the athletic field scoreboard, for burying someone in effigy on the school lawn, on top of other school infractions.
He transferred to Oakland Technical High School and was scheduled in January 1949 to graduate midyear, although it is not clear if did. "Clint graduated from the airplane shop. I think, his major," joked classmate Don Kincade. Another high school friend, Don Loomis, echoed "I don't think he was spending that much time at school because he was having a pretty good time elsewhere." "I think what happened is he started having a good time. I just don't think he finished high school," explained Fritz Manes, a boyhood friend two years younger than Eastwood, who remained associated with him until their falling out in the mid-1980s. Biographer Patrick McGilligan notes that high school graduation records are a matter of strict legal confidentiality. Eastwood held a number of jobs, including as a lifeguard, paper carrier, grocery clerk, forest firefighter, golf caddy. Eastwood has said that he tried to enroll at Seattle University in 1951 but instead was drafted into the United States Army during the Korean War.
"He always dropped the Korean War reference, hoping everyone would conclude that he was in combat and might be some sort of hero. He'd been a lifeguard at Fort Ord in northern California for his entire stint in the military," commented Eastwood's former longtime companion, Sondra Locke. Don Loomis recalled hearing that Eastwood was romancing one of the daughters of a Fort Ord officer, who might have been entreated to watch out for him when names came up for postings. While returning from a prearranged tryst in Seattle, Washington, he was a passenger on a Douglas AD bomber that ran out of fuel and crashed into the ocean near Point Reyes. Using a life raft, he and the pilot swam 2 miles to safety. According to the CBS press release for Rawhide, the Universal film company
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