Taylor Lautner
Taylor Daniel Lautner is an American actor, voice actor, model. He is known for playing Jacob Black in The Twilight Saga film series based on the novels of the same name by Stephenie Meyer. Lautner began his acting career playing bit roles in comedy series such as The Bernie Mac Show and My Wife and Kids, before having voice roles in television series like What's New, Scooby-Doo? and Danny Phantom. In 2005, he appeared in the film Cheaper by the Dozen 2 and starred in The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D, he starred in the 2011 action film Abduction. Since 2013, Lautner has starred in the BBC sitcom Cuckoo as the son of the titular main character. In 2016, he played a leading role, Dr. Cassidy Cascade, in the second season of FOX black comedy series Scream Queens; the late 2000s saw Lautner become a teen idol and sex symbol, after extensively changing his physique to keep the role of Jacob Black in further Twilight installments, generating media attention for his looks. In 2010, he was ranked second on Glamour's "The 50 Sexiest Men of 2010" list, fourth on People's "Most Amazing Bodies" list.
In the same year, Lautner was named the highest-paid teenage actor in Hollywood. Lautner was born on February 11, 1992, in Grand Rapids, the son of Deborah and Daniel Lautner, his mother works for a software development company. He has one younger sister named Makena. Raised as a Roman Catholic, Lautner has Austrian, English, German and Swiss ancestry, has stated that he has "distant" Native American ancestry through his mother, he grew up in a town near Grand Rapids. He has stated, he commented, "I just had to tell myself'I can't let this get to me. This is, and I'm going to continue doing it.'"He took his first karate class at the age of six. A year he attended the national karate tournament in Louisville, where he met Michael Chaturantabut, the founder of Xtreme Martial Arts. Chaturantabut invited Lautner to a camp he held at University of Los Angeles. Lautner trained with Chaturantabut for several years, earning his black belt by the age of eight, winning several junior world championships, he appeared in an ISKA karate event televised on ESPN in 2003, lampooned on the sports-comedy show Cheap Seats that first aired in 2006.
In junior high, Lautner—who was involved in karate and hip-hop dance—won the award for "Best Smile" and played in the school's Turkey Bowl American Football game. He went to public school in California at Valencia High School until his sophomore year. Chaturantabut, who once portrayed the Blue Ranger in Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue, suggested to Lautner that he take up acting. For a few years, the Lautners flew from Michigan to Los Angeles for auditions when his talent agency called, returned to Grand Rapids for school sometimes the same day. Lautner balanced karate and acting with being on the football and baseball teams at his school, taking up jazz and hip-hop dance. After that became tiring and his family decided to move to California for a month, to try it out, before moving to Santa Clarita, permanently in 2002. In his first months after moving to Los Angeles, Lautner appeared in small television roles, small film roles, ads and commercials. In 2001, Lautner first appeared in Shadow Fury.
He got a voice-over job in a commercial for Rugrats Go Wild. He appeared in small television roles on The Bernie Mac Show, My Wife and Kids, Summerland. Lautner earned voice-over roles in animated series such as Danny Phantom, Duck Dodgers, What's New, Scooby-Doo?. The same year, he earned his first breakout role, starring in the film, The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D. Lautner spent three months on location in Austin, Texas, to film the movie, received with negative reviews from critics, was a minor international success. However, Lautner was nominated at the 2006 Young Artist Awards for Best Performance in a Feature Film by a Leading Actor. For the film, Lautner choreographed all of his fight scenes after director Robert Rodríguez learned of his extensive martial arts training. Months he played Eliot Murtaugh in Cheaper by the Dozen 2, panned by critics, being named one of the "Worst Films of the 2000s" by Rotten Tomatoes. After returning from Canada filming the latter movie, Lautner said he realized his newfound fame, from Sharkboy and Lavagirl.
In 2006 he appeared in the show Love Inc. and the TV special He's Charlie Brown. Two years Lautner appeared in a lead role in the short-lived NBC drama, My Own Worst Enemy, portraying Christian Slater's son, Jack Spivey. Rolling Stone coined his early roles as either "the popular kid, jock, or bully." In 2007, filmmakers began a search for actors to portray Jacob Black, a Native American friend of lead character Bella Swan in Twilight, the first film in The Twilight Saga film series. In January 2008, an open casting call was held in Oregon. Lautner was urged by his agent to audition. At his audition, he read lines with Kristen Stewart, cast as Bella, they acted out scenes from The Twilight Saga: New Moon and The Twilight Saga: Eclipse; the film was a commercial success, earning $69 million its opening weekend, has grossed $392 million worldwide. It received mixed reviews from critics, having a "Rotten" rating with a weighted average of 5.5/10. In describing the critical consensus, it stated: "Having lost much of its bite transitioning to the big
Christopher Jackson (actor)
Christopher Neal Jackson is an American actor, singer and composer. He began his career in 1995 starring in the Off-Broadway musical Time and the Wind by composer Galt MacDermot when he was just 20 years old, he made his Broadway debut in 1997 as an ensemble member in the Original Broadway Cast of Disney's The Lion King. He remained with the show for several years taking over the role of Simba, he went on to perform leading roles in several more Broadway musicals and plays, including After Midnight, Bronx Bombers, Holler If Ya Hear Me, Memphis. He drew critical acclaim in several projects with Lin-Manuel Miranda: originating the roles of Benny in In the Heights and George Washington in the smash hit Hamilton. For the latter role he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical, he collaborated with Miranda on the Disney film Moana in which he provides the singing voice of Chief Tui. His other film work includes secondary roles in After. Life and Tracers. Jackson stars as Chunk Palmer in the main cast of the CBS television drama Bull.
His other television work includes the recurring role of Perry Loftus in the HBO prison drama Oz and guest appearances on Fringe, Gossip Girl, Nurse Jackie, The Good Wife and White Collar. Active as a film and television composer, he won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Song for "What I Am" for the children's television program Sesame Street, he has written music for LL Cool J, Sean Kingston, will.i.am. Born in Metropolis and raised in Cairo, Illinois by his mother, Jane Adams, a vocal music teacher and stepfather Herbert Michael Hodges. In 1993 he graduated from Cairo High School. While a student there he performed in plays and was encouraged to pursue a career as an actor by one of his high school teachers, Lynn Steveson, who led the school's debate team which Jackson was a part of, she cast him in a production of Arthur Miller's The Crucible. He credits Pilots basketball coach Larry Baldwin and Pastor Larry Potts of Mighty Rivers Regional Worship Center as other important mentors during his growing up years in Cairo.
After graduating from high school, Jackson attended the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City. Jackson began his career in 1995 starring in the Off-Broadway musical Time and the Wind by composer Galt MacDermot of Hair fame, he made his Broadway debut in 1997 as an ensemble member and the understudy for Simba in the Original Broadway Cast of The Lion King. He took over the role of Simba in 2000, he did work in the theater scenes in Chicago and Minneapolis–Saint Paul, notably earning a BATC Award nomination for Best Actor for Beggar's Holiday in 2004 for and winning a Joseph Jefferson Award in 2006 for Comfortable Shoes. In 2007 he returned to New York to join the cast of the Off-Broadway musical In the Heights as Benny; the cast won the 2007 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Ensemble Performance. He continued with the show when it moved to Broadway in 2008. In 2009 Jackson was tapped to write music for the revived children's television program The Electric Company. In 2012 he returned to Broadway as Delray in Memphis, in 2013 he replaced Everett Bradley as "Diga Diga Doo" in the Broadway musical After Midnight.
In 2013 he appeared as Derek Jeter and Bobby Sturges in the Eric Simonson's Off-Broadway play Bronx Bombers as Primary Stages. He remained with the production when in moved to Broadway in 2014; that same year he portrayed Vertus in the short lived Broadway musical Holler If Ya Hear Me, based on the life of Tupac. In 2015, Jackson originated the role of President George Washington in the musical Hamilton on Broadway, he was nominated for a Tony Award and concluded his run on November 13, 2016. Beginning with the 2016-2017 season, he plays Chunk Palmer in the CBS courtroom drama Bull. Jackson's film and TV work includes Moana, The Good Wife, Person of Interest, A Gifted Man, Nurse Jackie, he is a member of hip-hop group Freestyle Love Supreme. He has been nominated for three Emmy Awards for composing music and lyrics for television. In 2004, after meeting through a production of In the Heights, Jackson married actress and singer Veronica Vazquez. Before the first run-through of the Off-Broadway production of In the Heights, Jackson learned that his son had been diagnosed with autism.
Jackson and his wife are advocates for the organization Autism Speaks. They have one daughter. Jackson is 6'0" tall. Christopher Jackson on IMDb Christopher Jackson at the Internet Broadway Database
Central Park
Central Park is an urban park in Manhattan, New York City. It is located between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side bounded by Fifth Avenue on the east, Central Park West on the west, Central Park South on the south, Central Park North on the north. Central Park is the most visited urban park in the United States, with 40 million visitors in 2013, one of the most filmed locations in the world. In terms of area, Central Park is the fifth largest park in New York City. Central Park was first approved in 1853 as a 778-acre. In 1857, landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted and architect/landscape designer Calvert Vaux won a design competition to construct the park with a plan they titled the "Greensward Plan". Construction began the same year, the park's first areas were opened to the public in late 1858. Additional land at the northern end of Central Park was purchased in 1859, the park was completed in 1873. After a period of decline in the early 20th century, New York City parks commissioner Robert Moses started a program to clean up Central Park.
Another decline in the late 20th century spurred the creation of the Central Park Conservancy in 1980, which refurbished many parts of the park during the 1980s and 1990s. Central Park was designated a National Historic Landmark by the U. S. Department of the Interior in 1963, it was placed on the tentative list for UNESCO World Heritage sites in April 2017; the park, managed for decades by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, is managed by the Central Park Conservancy under contract with the municipal government in a public-private partnership. The Conservancy is a non-profit organization that contributes 75 percent of Central Park's $65 million annual budget and is responsible for all basic care of the 843-acre park. Central Park is the fifth-largest park in New York City, behind Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Van Cortlandt Park, the Staten Island Greenbelt, Pelham Bay Park. Central Park is located on 843 acres of land; the park, with a perimeter of 6.1 miles, is bordered on the north by Central Park North, on the south by Central Park South, on the west by Central Park West, on the east by Fifth Avenue.
It is 2.5 miles long between Central Park South and Central Park North, is 0.5 mile wide between Fifth Avenue and Central Park West. Central Park's size and cultural position, similar to London's Hyde Park and Munich's Englischer Garten, has served as a model for many urban parks, including San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, Tokyo's Ueno Park, Vancouver's Stanley Park; the park, which receives 35 million visitors annually, is the most visited urban park in the United States. It is the most filmed location in the world. A December 2017 report found that 231 movies have used Central Park for on-location shoots, more than the 160 movies that have filmed in Greenwich Village or the 99 movies that have filmed in Times Square; because of its cultural and historical significance, Central Park has been a National Historic Landmark since 1962. Central Park is divided into thirds. From north to south, they are the "North End", north of the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir; the park contains six visitor centers: Charles A. Dana Discovery Center, North Meadow Recreation Center, Belvedere Castle, Chess & Checkers House, the Dairy, Columbus Circle.
While planting and land form in much of the park appear natural, it is in fact entirely landscaped. The park contains several natural-looking lakes and ponds that have been created artificially by damming natural seeps and flows. There is a large area of woods in addition to seven major lawns, the "meadows", many minor grassy areas; the 6 miles of drives within the park are used by joggers, cyclists and inline skaters. Central Park constitutes its own United States census tract, number 143. According to American Community Survey 5-year estimates, the park's population in 2017 was four people, all female, with a median age of 19.8 years. However Central Park officials have rejected the claim of anyone permanently living there; the real estate value of Central Park was estimated by property appraisal firm Miller Samuel to be about $528.8 billion in December 2005. Central Park is patrolled by its own New York City Police Department precinct, the 22nd Precinct, located at 86th Street Transverse Road.
The precinct employs both regular auxiliary officers. The 22nd Precinct has a lower crime rate than in the 1990s, with crimes across all categories having decreased by 87.2% between 1990 and 2018. The precinct saw 0 murders, 3 rapes, 13 robberies, 4 felony assaults, 0 burglaries, 27 grand larcenies, 0 grand larcenies auto in 2018; the New York City Parks Enforcement Patrol patrols Central Park. There is an all-volunteer ambulance service, the Central Park Medical Unit, that provides free emergency medical service to patrons of Central Park and the surrounding streets, it operates a rapid-response bicycle patrol during major events such as the New York City Marathon, the 1998 Goodwill Games, concerts in the park. The park is maintained by the Central Park Conservancy, a private, not-for-profit organization that manages the park under a contract with the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, in which t
Bicycle messenger
Bicycle messengers are people who work for courier companies carrying and delivering items by bicycle. Bicycle messengers are most found in the central business districts of metropolitan areas. Courier companies use bike messengers because bicycle travel is less subject to unexpected holdups in city traffic jams, is not deterred by parking limitations, fees or fines in high density development that can hinder or prevent delivery by motor vehicle, thereby offering a predictable delivery time. After the development of the pedal-driven velocipede in the 1860s, people began to use the bicycle for delivery purposes. David V. Herlihy's 2004 book on the early history of the bicycle contains several references to bicycle messengers working during the late 19th century, including a description of couriers employed by the Paris stock exchange in the 1870s. During the bicycle boom of the 1890s in the United States, Western Union employed a number of bicycle telegraph boys in New York City, San Francisco, other large population centers.
One of the earliest recorded post-war American bicycle courier companies was founded by Carl Sparks, in San Francisco, in 1945. According to the San Francisco Bicycle Messenger Association, "Sparkie's went on to become Aero, bought out in 1998 absorbed into CitySprint." By the late 1970s, there were well-established companies offering bicycle messenger services in many major cities in the U. S. In Europe, the bicycle had fallen out of favour as a means of delivery in the third quarter of the 20th century, it was not until 1983. London's "On Yer Bike" and "Pedal-Pushers" were pioneers of pedal over petrol, the rest of the city's courier companies followed suit. By the late 1980s, cycle couriers were a common sight in central London and a British manufacturer named a range of mountain-bikes for them, the Muddy Fox'Courier'. Entrepreneurs in continental Europe, some inspired by seeing couriers in the U. S. or in London, began to offer bicycle courier services in the late 1980s, by 1993 there were sufficiently large numbers of bicycle couriers in Northern Europe and North America that over 400 attended the inaugural Cycle Messenger Championships in Berlin, Germany.
Bicycle messengers have not become common in southern Europe, the heartland of world competitive cycling. There are few bicycle couriers in Portugal, Spain, or Italy. Outside Europe and North America, there are now large bicycle messenger services in Japan, in New Zealand and Australia. More several companies started offering bike messenger services in Central and South America in México City, México. Messengers carry a huge variety of items, from things that could not be sent by digital means to mundane items that could be emailed, albeit without the air of importance attached to an express courier delivery. Messengers deliver digital content on optical media or hard disks because, despite high speed broadband connections, companies find it easier to send a disc than to work out how to transmit larger amounts of data than an email account can handle. Legal documents, various financial instruments and sensitive information are sent by courier, reflecting a distrust of digital cryptography. Commentators have claimed that technological innovation will reduce the demand for same-day parcel delivery, predicting that the fax machine, the internet, would render the messenger business obsolete.
There is still a demand for fast courier services but there is some truth in the predictions. Reliable data relating to bicycle messenger occupational statistics is hard to find: the U. S. Department of Labor statistics does not track bicycle messengers and does not include "independent contractors" in statistics referenced for this industry occupation, but reports indicate the business is shrinking; the gradual acceptance of electronic filing by U. S. courts has had a negative effect on the market. In San Francisco, bike messengers report a smaller work force coupled with decreased earnings. In New York alone, the number of messengers dropped by 1,000 between 1998 and 2008; the conditions of employment of bicycle messengers vary from country to country, city to city and company to company. Contracts governing the relationship between individual courier and company are subject as much to customary practice, as local ordinance. In some places messengers are independent contractors paid on commission and do not receive benefits such as health insurance.
In other places they will be regular employees of the courier company enjoying all the benefits thereof. The employment status of the bicycle messengers of one of the UK's biggest same-day courier services, CitySprint, was challenged by the GMB trade union in December 2007; the challenge arose. The GMB sought to establish that more than 1,500 CitySprint operatives classified as self-employed sub-contractors should be re-classified as employees; the job is poorly paid relative to the effort required. In 2002, a Harvard Medical School study of injury rates among Boston bicycle messengers determined that the rate of injury requiring time off work among the sample group was more than thirteen times the U. S. average, more than three times higher than the next highest group, workers in the meat-packing industry. Bike messengers have been killed while working in the United
Action film
Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist or protagonists are thrust into a series of challenges that include violence, extended fighting, physical feats, frantic chases. Action films tend to feature a resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life-threatening situations, a villain, or a pursuit which concludes in victory for the hero. Advancements in CGI have made it cheaper and easier to create action sequences and other visual effects that required the efforts of professional stunt crews in the past. However, reactions to action films containing significant amounts of CGI have been mixed, as films that use computer animations to create unrealistic unbelievable events are met with criticism. While action has long been a recurring component in films, the "action film" genre began to develop in the 1970s along with the increase of stunts and special effects. Common action scenes in films are but not limited to, car chases and gunplay or shootouts; this genre is associated with the thriller and adventure genres, they may contain elements of spy fiction.
Some historians consider The Great Train Robbery to be the first action film. During the 1920s and 1930s, action-based films were "swashbuckling" adventure films in which actors, such as Douglas Fairbanks, wielded swords in period pieces or Westerns. Indian action films in this era were known as stunt films; the 1940s and 1950s saw "action" in a new form through cowboy movies. Alfred Hitchcock ushered in the spy-adventure genre while establishing the use of action-oriented "set pieces" like the famous crop-duster scene and the Mount Rushmore finale in North by Northwest; the film, along with a war-adventure called The Guns of Navarone, inspired producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman to invest in their own spy-adventure, based on the novels of Ian Fleming; the long-running success of the James Bond films or series introduced a staple of the modern-day action film: the resourceful hero. Such larger-than-life characters were a veritable "one-man army"; such heroes are ready with one-liners and dry quips.
The Bond films used fast cutting, car chases, fist fights, a variety of weapons and gadgets, elaborate action sequences. Producer-Director John Sturges' 1963 film The Great Escape, featuring Allied prisoners of war attempting to escape a German POW camp during World War II, featuring future icons of the action genre including Steve McQueen and Charles Bronson, is an example of an action film prototype. During the 1970s, gritty detective stories and urban crime dramas began to evolve and fuse themselves with the new "action" style, leading to a string of maverick police officer films, such as Bullitt, The French Connection and The Seven-Ups. Dirty Harry lifted its star, Clint Eastwood, out of his cowboy typecasting, framed him as the archetypal hero of the urban action film. In many countries, restrictions on language, adult content, violence had loosened up, these elements became more widespread. In the 1970s, martial-arts films from Hong Kong became popular with Western audiences and inspired big budget films such as Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon.
Chuck Norris blended martial arts with'cops and robbers' in films such as Good Guys Wear Black and A Force of One. From Japan, Sonny Chiba starred in his first martial arts movie in 1973 called the Karate Kiba, his breakthrough international hit was The Street Fighter series, which established him as the reigning Japanese martial arts actor in international cinema. He played the role of Mas Oyama in Champion of Death, Karate Bearfighter, Karate for Life. Chiba's action films were not only bounded by martial arts, but action thriller and science fiction. In the 1980s, Hollywood produced many big budget action blockbusters with actors such as Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lorenzo Lamas, Michael Dudikoff, Charles Bronson and Bruce Willis. Steven Spielberg and George Lucas paid their homage to the Bond-inspired style with Raiders of the Lost Ark. In 1982, veteran actor Nick Nolte and rising comedian Eddie Murphy broke box office records with the action-comedy 48 Hrs. credited as the first "buddy-cop" movie.
That same year, Sylvester Stallone starred in First Blood, the first installment in the Rambo film series which made the character John Rambo a pop culture icon. 1984 saw the beginning of the Terminator franchise starring Linda Hamilton and Arnold Schwarzenegger. This story provides one of the grittiest roles for a woman in action and Hamilton was required to put in extensive effort to develop a strong physique.1987's Lethal Weapon starring Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Darlene Love was another significant action film hit of the decade, another "buddy-cop" genre classic, launching a franchise that spawned 3 sequels. The 1988 film, Die Hard, was influential on the development of the action genre. In the film, Bruce Willis plays a New York police detective who inadvertently becomes embroiled in a terrorist take-over of a Los Angeles office building high-rise; the use of a maverick, resourceful lone hero has always been a common thread from James Bond to John Rambo, but John McClane in Die Hard is much more of an'everyday' person whom circumstance turns into a reluctant hero
Hackensack, New Jersey
Hackensack is a city in Bergen County in New Jersey, United States, serves as its county seat. The area was named New Barbadoes Township until 1921, but it was informally known as Hackensack since at least the 18th century; as of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population was 43,010, reflecting an increase of 333 from the 42,677 counted in the 2000 Census, which had, in turn, increased by 5,628 from the 37,049 counted in the 1990 Census. An inner suburb of New York City, Hackensack is located 12 miles northwest of Midtown Manhattan and about 7 miles from the George Washington Bridge. From a number of locations, the New York City skyline can be seen; the Metropolitan Campus of Fairleigh Dickinson University straddles the Hackensack River in both Hackensack and Teaneck. Hackensack is the home of the New Jersey Naval Museum and the World War II submarine USS Ling. Astronaut Wally Schirra is Hackensack's most famous native son; the city is known for a great diversity of neighborhoods and land uses close to one another.
Within its borders are the prominent Hackensack University Medical Center, a trendy high-rise district about a mile long, classic suburban neighborhoods of single-family houses, stately older homes on acre-plus lots, older two-family neighborhoods, large garden apartment complexes, industrial areas, the Bergen County Jail, a tidal river, Hackensack River County Park, Borg's Woods Nature Preserve, various city parks, large office buildings, a major college campus, the Bergen County Court House, a vibrant small-city downtown district, various small neighborhood business districts. The first inhabitants of the area were the Lenni Lenape, an Algonquian people who lived along the valley of what they called the Achinigeu-hach, or "Ackingsah-sack", meaning stony ground. A representation of Chief Oratam of the Achkinhenhcky appears on the Hackensack municipal seal; the most common explanation is that the city was named for the Native American tribe, though other sources attribute it to a Native American word variously translated as meaning "hook mouth", "stream that unites with another on low ground", "on low ground" or "land of the big snake", while another version described as "more colorful than probable" attributes the name to an inn called the "Hock and Sack".
Settlement by the Dutch West India Company in New Netherland on west banks of the North River across from New Amsterdam began in the 1630s at Pavonia leading to the establishment of Bergen in 1660. Oratam, sachem of the Lenni Lenape, deeded the land along mid-Hackensack River to the Dutch in 1665; the area kept its Dutch name. Philip Cartaret, governor of what became the proprietary colony of East Jersey granted land to Captain John Berry in the area of Achter Kol and soon after took up residence and called it "New Barbadoes," after having resided on the island of Barbados. In 1666, a deed was confirmed for the 2,260-acre tract, given earlier by Oratem to Sarah Kiersted in gratitude for her work as emissary and interpreter. Other grants were given at the English Neighborhood. In 1675, the East Jersey Legislature established the administrative districts:. In 1683, Bergen was recognized as an independent county by the Provincial Assembly; the seal of Bergen County bearing this date includes an image of an agreement between the settlers and the natives.
New Barbadoes Township, together with Acquackanonk Township, were formed by Royal charter on October 31, 1693. In 1700, the village of Hackensack was little more than the area around Main Street from the Courthouse to around Anderson Street. New Barbadoes Township included what is now Maywood, Rochelle Park and River Edge, along with those portions of Oradell that are west of the Hackensack River; these areas were all sparsely populated and consisted of farm fields and swamplands. The few roads that existed included the streets now known as Kinderkamack Road, Paramus Road/Passaic Street and Essex Street; the southernmost portions of what is now Hackensack were not part of New Barbadoes Township at that time. The neighborhood that came to be known as the village of Hackensack was a part of Essex County until 1710, when Bergen County, by royal decree of Queen Anne of Great Britain, was enlarged and the Township of New Barbadoes was removed from Essex County and added to Bergen County. In 1710, the village of Hackensack in the newly formed Township of New Barbadoes was designated as being more centrally located and more reached by the majority of the Bergen County's inhabitants, hence was chosen as the county seat of Bergen County, as it remains today.
The earliest records of the Bergen County Board of Chosen Freeholders date back to 1715, at which time agreement was made to build a courthouse and jail complex, completed in 1716. During the American Revolutionary War, George Washington headquartered in the village of Hackensack in November 1776 during the retreat from Fort Lee via New Bridge Landing and camped on'The Green' across from the First Dutch Reformed Church on November 20, 1776. A raid by British forces against Hackensack on March 23, 1780, resulted in the destruction by fire of the original courthouse structure; the Hackensack Improvement Commission was incorporated by an Act of the state legislature approved on April 1, 1868, within New Barbadoes township and including the village of Hackensack, with authority to develop sewers and other improv
Fandango (company)
Fandango is an American ticketing company that sells movie tickets via their website as well as through their mobile app. Industry revenue increased for several years after the company's formation. However, as the Internet grew in popularity and medium-sized movie-theater chains began to offer independent ticket sale capabilities through their own websites. In addition, a new paradigm of moviegoers printing their own tickets at home emerged, in services offered by PrintTixUSA and by point-of-sale software vendor operated websites like "ticketmakers.com". An overall slump in moviegoing continued into the 2000s, as home theaters, DVDs, high definition televisions proliferated in average households, turning their homes into a preferred place to screen films. On April 11, 2007, Comcast acquired Fandango, with plans to integrate it into a new entertainment website called "Fancast.com," set to launch the summer of 2007. In June 2008, the domain Movies.com was acquired from Disney. With Comcast's purchase of a majority stake in NBCUniversal in January 2011, Fandango and all other Comcast media assets were merged into the company.
In March 2012, Fandango announced a partnership with Yahoo! Movies, becoming the official online and mobile ticketer serving over 30 million registered users of the Yahoo! service. On January 29, 2016, Fandango announced its acquisition of M-GO, a joint venture between Technicolor SA and DreamWorks Animation which it would rebrand as "FandangoNOW". In February of that same year Fandango announced its acquisition of Flixster and Rotten Tomatoes from Time Warner's Warner Bros. Entertainment; as part of the deal, Warner Bros. would become a 30% shareholder of the combined Fandango company. In December 2016, Fandango Media purchased Cinepapaya, a Peru-based website for purchasing movie tickets, for an undisclosed amount. Fandango charges a premium to use its services, ranging from 75¢ to $2.50, which reserves a ticket to be printed out upon arrival at a movie theater, thereby avoiding lines. Seating was promised for sold-out shows, but this feature was discontinued for most theaters, as not all were equipped to handle reserved seating and will call lines.
With ticket prices in many areas exceeding US$10.00, purchasing tickets through Fandango and other ticketing websites can make movie-going an expensive proposition. Fandango's advertisements play before previews at participating movie-theater chains and feature lunch bag puppets telling various one or two-line jokes and riddles centering on the company's name; the company produced an advertising segment, based on the song, "We are the World". Fandango's website offers exclusive film clips, celebrity interviews, reviews by users, movie descriptions, some web-based games to their members; as of March 5, 2015, Fandango provides customers with memberships the ability to refund or exchange their orders 2 hours before the showtime of their film. Fandango's Android app was listed among Techlands 50 Best Android Applications for 2013. Fandango is one of three major online advance movie ticket sale sites, along with MovieTickets.com and AtomTickets.com. Before being acquired by Comcast in April 2007, Fandango was owned, with the major stakeholder being the second largest movie-theater chain in the U.
S. Regal Entertainment Group, including the United Artists and Hoyts theater chains. Along with other partners, Regal founded Fandango to prevent the older MovieTickets.com from establishing a monopoly on phone and online ticketing services. It's advertising agency decided on its name because it sounded "fun and smart," "easily pronounce and remember--even though it has nothing to do with movies."Mergers of movie chains have complicated matters regarding which company provides online ticketing for a particular chain. Upon Regal's acquisition of Consolidated Theatres, that chain was under contract to MovieTickets.com. On the other hand, Regal's acquisition of the Hoyts chain resulted in Fandango taking over their online ticketing. Prior to 2012, Fandango did not provide online ticketing for many AMC Theatres. However, it provided online ticketing for those AMC Theatres part of the Loews Cineplex Entertainment chain, due to contractual obligations in place prior to the 2005 merger of the two movie chains.
Loews had attempted to break the contract in 2002 under pressure of bankruptcy and from AOL Moviefone and its partner, Loews' Cineplex subsidiary. As of February 8, 2012, Fandango began providing ticketing for all AMC Theatres in the US, after which MovieTickets.com's fellow shareholders sued AMC for breach of contract. AMC and MovieTickets.com settled in 2013, with an agreement that the theater chain's online ticketing would be available on both Fandango and MovieTickets.com. In May 2012, Fandango announced a partnership with former partner of MovieTickets.com. Atom Tickets, a movie ticketing app and website, launched in 2014, has been called a "serious competitor" for Fandango. In July 2009, it was revealed that Fandango along with other websites, including buy.com and Orbitz, were linked with controversial Web loyalty
