title: Tata Sons

text: Tata Sons Private Limited was established as a trading enterprise in 1917, and engaged primarily in the lucrative opium and tea trade with Mongolia and China before moving from conducting businesses directly to becoming the principal holding company of Tata Group. About 66% of the equity capital of Tata Sons is held by philanthropic trusts endowed by members of the Tata family. The biggest two of these trusts are the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and Sir Ratan Tata Trust. Tata Sons is the owner of the Tata name and the Tata trademarks, which are registered in India and several other countries. It is one of the largest conglomerates in the Indian subcontinent.


title: Tata Sons

text: Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and Sir Ratan Tata Trust are the two biggest shareholders of Tata Sons, with a combined stake of around 50%, while Pallonji Shapoorji Mistry was the largest individual shareholder. Pallonji's father, Shapoorji Pallonji Mistry was a prominent construction magnate who acquired a significant stake of Tata Sons in the 1930s initially from Framroze Edulji Dinshaw, and finally when JRD Tata's younger brother, Dorab, sold his shares in a fit of anger. Pallonji's shareholding was divided equally between his two sons, Shapoor Mistry and Cyrus Mistry, who died in September, 2022.


title: Tata Sons

text: Natarajan Chandrasekaran took over as Chairman of Tata Sons on 21 February 2017. The company also undertook conversion from a public limited company to a private limited one in 2017; both these decisions were challenged in court by former executive chairman Cyrus Mistry.


title: Tata Sons

text: In December 2019, NCLAT declared the conversion, and by extension, Chandrasekaran's chairmanship, illegal and restored Mistry. On 10 January 2020, however, the Supreme Court stayed NCLAT's order; in response, Mistry filed a cross appeal in the court, seeking explanations for anomalies in the NCLAT. On March 26, 2021, The Supreme Court of India upholds Tata Sons' decision to sack Cyrus Mistry.


title: Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest

text: The series has received a manga adaptation, serialized on Ovelap's "Comic Gardo" website since 2016, as well as a "yonkoma" comedy spinoff and a manga adaptation of the prequel novel, all three licensed by Seven Seas. An anime television series adaptation by White Fox and Asread aired from July to October 2019. A second season by Asread and Studio Mother aired from January to March 2022. A third season has been announced.


text: High-schooler Hajime Nagumo is bullied by his classmate for his relationship with the class idol, Kaori. When he and the rest of his class are transported to a fantasy world, all of his classmates get powerful magical abilities, while Hajime only gains the basic alchemical magic to transmute solid materials, a common ability usually found in craftsmen and smiths. During a dungeon raid, he is betrayed by one of his classmates and dropped to the bottom of the dungeon. He survives the fall and creates weapons to escape the dungeon and become stronger. On his journey, he meets with the imprisoned vampire Yue, and later is joined by the bunny-eared Shea, the perverted dragon Tio, and others.


text: Ryo Shirakome originally published the series as a web novel on the user-submitted content site Shōsetsuka ni Narō. The main story ran for eight books from November 7, 2013, to October 31, 2015, and has been followed by three after-stories and an extra story since. The series was picked up for publication by Overlap, and they released the first light novel, with illustrations by Takayaki, under their Overlap Bunko imprint in June 2015. When the anime adaptation was announced to have been delayed until 2019, the eighth volume of the light novel was also delayed by a month, from March to April 2018. The series ended with the release of its thirteenth volume.


text: A prequel light novel series titled , or "Arifureta Zero", was published from December 2017 to December 2021 in six volumes.


text: Digital publisher J-Novel Club licensed the series for an English release, and published the first chapter on February 21, 2017. During their panel at Anime Expo 2017, Seven Seas Entertainment announced that they would publish a print version of the novels as part of their collaboration with J-Novel Club. J-Novel Club has also licensed "Arifureta Zero", and the series was the publisher's first simultaneous publication.


text: A manga adaptation by RoGa has been published on Ovelap's "Comic Gardo" website since its inception on December 22, 2016, and the first volume was published three days later on December 25 to coincide with the release of the fifth light novel. The series has been licensed by Seven Seas Entertainment.


text: A "yonkoma" comedy spinoff by Misaki Mori, titled , began serialization on Overlap's "Comic Gardo" website on July 11, 2017. Seven Seas announced their license to the series on January 10, 2019.


text: An adaptation of the prequel light novel "Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest Zero" by Ataru Kamichi began serialization on February 23, 2018, on the "Comic Gardo" website. Seven Seas announced their license to the series on January 10, 2019.


text: A series of two drama CDs were released with the seventh, eighth, and tenth volumes of the light novel on December 25, 2017, April 25, 2018, and June 25, 2019. The drama CDs share the same voice cast as the anime.


text: An anime television series adaptation was announced on December 3, 2017. The series was initially intended to premiere in April 2018, but on January 15, 2018, its release was pushed back due to "various circumstances". Originally, the series would have been directed by Jun Kamiya and written by Kazuyuki Fudeyasu, with animation by studio White Fox and character designs by Atsuo Tobe, who also would have served as chief animation director. However, following the postponement, it was announced on April 29, 2018, that Kinji Yoshimoto would be taking over as director and studio Asread would be joining White Fox as animators. Additionally, Chika Kojima took over from Atsuo Tobe as character designer to adapt Takayaki's original designs, and Kazuyuki Fudeyasu left his position as scriptwriter, being replaced by Shoichi Sato and Kinji Yoshimoto. Ryō Takahashi composed the series' music. Void_Chords feat. LIO performed the series' opening theme "FLARE", while DracoVirgo performs the series' ending theme .


text: The series aired from July 8 to October 7, 2019, on AT-X, Tokyo MX, SUN, and BS11. It ran for 13 episodes. Two original video animations (OVA) were released with the second and third home video sets on December 25, 2019, and February 26, 2020.


text: Funimation had licensed the series for an English simulcast and SimulDub. Following Sony's acquisition of Crunchyroll, the series was moved to Crunchyroll.


text: After the first season's finale, it was announced that the series would receive a second season. Akira Iwanaga replaced Kinji Yoshimoto as director, and Studio Mother replaced White Fox as the secondary studio. The rest of the staff and cast returned to reprise their roles. It aired from January 13 to March 31, 2022, on AT-X, Tokyo MX, and BS11, and is available to watch on iQiyi. The opening theme is "Daylight" by MindaRyn, while the ending theme is by FantasticYouth. A two-part OVA was released on September 25, 2022 titled .


text: On September 10, 2022, it was announced that a third season is in production. Asread is animating the season, with Akira Iwanaga, Shoichi Sato, and Chika Kojima returning as director, scriptwriter, and character designer, respectively.


text: The series was the 27th best-selling light novel series in the first half of 2017, with 84,372 copies sold.


text: Rebecca Silverman of Anime News Network enjoyed the series, praising it for its central premise and how it was "good twist on the genre conventions" by making its hero have to work for his overpowered hero status instead of immediately gaining it like many light novel protagonists. She criticized the series for its depiction of the romantic relationship between Hajime and Yue, which she called "unhealthy", and also felt that the translation wasn't as good as some of J-Novel Club's other releases.


text: The anime adaptation was subjected to extremely sharp and negative criticism. Christopher Farris of the Anime News Network, cited manufacturing issues as the main causes of the series's failure. Farris points to the poor quality of the animation and the first episode missing most of the original source of the original novel.


title: Sunny Ozell

text: Sunny Ozell, Lady Stewart (born December 23, 1978) is an American singer and songwriter who resides in England. She is married to the British actor Sir Patrick Stewart.


title: Sunny Ozell

text: Ozell grew up in Reno, Nevada, in a musical household and began her classical training at an early age. Her parents did not play or perform themselves, but they had a passion for music and took music education seriously, getting Ozell to play the violin from the age of just four years old. She also started vocal training at the age of 11 years and soon after realised that music was the career path she wanted to pursue. From 13, she started working with an opera coach.


title: Sunny Ozell

text: At university in Boulder, Colorado, she majored in English Literature and sang in blues bands and soul-funk bands in her spare time throughout college. After graduating, she started performing in clubs around New York and became a part of the city's musical community with her blend of jazz, blues and American roots music, performing both original material and interpretations of works by other renowned blues, soul and country songwriters.


title: Sunny Ozell

text: She considers "Take It with Me" (which mainly consists of covers of works from artists such as Howard Jones, Hank Williams, Randy Newman, T Bone Burnett and Tom Waits) to be her debut album.


title: Sunny Ozell

text: Both on "Take It with Me" and live, Sunny Ozell works with renowned musicians, including guitarist Aaron Lee Tasjan (Semi Precious Weapons, Drivin N Cryin), bassist Andy Hess (The Black Crowes, Gov't Mule, Uberjam), keyboard player Andrew Sherman (George Duke, Mariah Carey), pedal steel player Jon Graboff (Ryan Adams & The Cardinals), backing singer Nicki Richards (Madonna) and drummer Ethan Eubanks (Teddy Thompson, Crash Test Dummies, Joseph Arthur).


title: Sunny Ozell

text: Ozell performs frequently at Rockwood Music Hall and The Living Room in New York and has collaborated with musicians such as Jim Campilongo and Adam Levy of Norah Jones’ backing band, and Krystle Warren.


title: Sunny Ozell

text: Ozell cites Gillian Welch and David Rawlings as influences, for their "simplicity and their total lack of pretension", but also American jazz singer Cassandra Wilson, in particular her 1993 album "Blue Light ‘til Dawn". She is also inspired by soul music that is not limited in any way to the traditional definition of the genre (i.e. Motown or Stax Records).


title: Sunny Ozell

text: Ozell is married to English actor Patrick Stewart. They met in 2008 at Franny's restaurant in New York where Ozell was working as a waitress while Stewart was performing in "Macbeth" at the nearby Brooklyn Academy of Music.


title: Sunny Ozell

text: In March 2013, it was reported that Stewart and Ozell were engaged and they married on September 7, 2013, beside Lake Tahoe in Nevada with actor Ian McKellen officiating at the wedding ceremony. In marriage to Stewart, she has two stepchildren.


title: Sucker Punch (2011 film)

text: Sucker Punch is a 2011 American psychological fantasy action film directed by Zack Snyder and co-written by Snyder and Steve Shibuya. It is Snyder's first film based on an original concept. The film stars Emily Browning as "Babydoll", a young woman who is committed to a mental institution. As she collects items she needs to escape, she enters a series of fantasy worlds where she and her fellow inmates are strong, experienced warriors. Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, Vanessa Hudgens, Jamie Chung, Carla Gugino, and Oscar Isaac also star.


title: Sucker Punch (2011 film)

text: The film was released in both conventional and IMAX theatres in the United States on March 25, 2011. The film received generally negative reviews and was a box office bomb, grossing just $89 million against its $82 million production budget.


title: Sucker Punch (2011 film)

text: A young woman named Babydoll is committed to a hospital for the mentally insane by her stepfather to stop her from talking to the police about how he murdered her sister. Prior to the murder, the stepfather had murdered the girls' mother and sexually abused them both. He bribes asylum orderly Blue Jones to forge psychiatrist Vera Gorski's signature to have Babydoll lobotomized. Babydoll takes note of four items she would need to escape.


title: Sucker Punch (2011 film)

text: Babydoll slips into a fantasy world in which she has newly arrived at a brothel owned by Blue, who in this world is a mobster, where she and the other patients are sex slaves. Babydoll befriends four other patients: Amber, Blondie, Rocket, and Rocket's sister and "star of the show", Sweet Pea. Dr. Gorski is the girls' dance instructor. Blue informs Babydoll her virginity will be sold to a client known as the High Roller, who is actually the doctor scheduled to perform her lobotomy. Gorski has Babydoll perform an erotic dance, during which Babydoll fantasizes she is in feudal Japan, meeting the Wise Man. The Wise Man presents Babydoll with weapons and tells her that she needs four items to escape: a map, fire, a knife and a key; other than the named items, there is also a fifth unrevealed item that only she can find, which would require "a deep sacrifice" and bring a "perfect victory". She fights three samurai giants, then finds herself back in the brothel having impressed Blue and other onlookers.


title: Sucker Punch (2011 film)

text: Babydoll convinces the four girls to join her preparations to escape, planning to use her dances as a distraction while the other girls obtain the necessary tools. During her dances, she fantasizes adventures that mirror the escape efforts. These adventures include infiltrating a bunker protected by World War I German soldiers to gain a map (mirrored by Sweet Pea copying a map of the brothel/institution from Blue's office), storming an Orc-infested castle to retrieve two fire-producing crystals (mirrored by Amber stealing a lighter from the mayor's pocket), and fighting robotic guards onboard a train to disarm a bomb (mirrored by Sweet Pea stealing a kitchen knife from the Cook's belt). During the last fantasy, Rocket sacrifices herself to guarantee Sweet Pea's escape from the bomb's blast, paralleled by the Cook fatally stabbing Rocket as she tries to protect her sister.


title: Sucker Punch (2011 film)

text: Blue overhears Blondie relaying Babydoll's plan to Gorski. He locks Sweet Pea in a closet and confronts the other girls. He fatally shoots Amber and Blondie, and attempts to rape Babydoll, but she stabs him with the kitchen knife and steals his master key. Babydoll frees Sweet Pea and starts a fire to keep the orderlies occupied while they seek an exit. A throng of men blocks their way. Babydoll deduces that the fifth item she needs is actually her own sacrifice, and that this is actually Sweet Pea's story. Babydoll distracts the men long enough to allow Sweet Pea to slip away.


title: Sucker Punch (2011 film)

text: Back in the asylum, the surgeon has just performed Babydoll's lobotomy. Gorski notes that during her short stay, the girl stabbed an orderly, started a fire, and helped another girl escape the asylum. The surgeon asks Gorski why she authorized the procedure, and Gorski realizes that Blue has been forging her signature and summons the police, who apprehend Blue just as he attempts to rape Babydoll. As he is being arrested, Blue also incriminates the stepfather. Babydoll is shown smiling serenely.


title: Sucker Punch (2011 film)

text: Sweet Pea is stopped by police as she tries to board a bus, but the bus driver (the Wise Man) misleads the police and lets her board.


title: Sucker Punch (2011 film)

text: "Sucker Punch" is described by Snyder as ""Alice in Wonderland" with machine guns". The film first gained attention in March 2007. Snyder put the project aside to work on "Watchmen" first. The film was co-written with Steve Shibuya, who authored the original script on which the story is based. Snyder directed and produced with his wife and producing partner, Deborah Snyder, through their Cruel and Unusual Films banner. Wesley Coller served as executive producer.


title: Sucker Punch (2011 film)

text: Warner Bros. announced in early 2009 that they would distribute "Sucker Punch" due to the success of Snyder's previous film, "Watchmen". "They've never said, 'Ahh, it could have been shorter', or, 'Too bad it's so R-ish.' And that's really cool. I'm challenging them again with "Sucker Punch"." In early interviews, Snyder stated that he would make "Sucker Punch" an R-rated film, but a later interview stated that he was aiming for it to be rated PG-13. In its theatrical release, the movie was ultimately rated PG-13. Snyder cut many crucial scenes before the film's release in order to satisfy the MPAA's censors, but claimed that the home media release of the film will be a director's cut and closer to his original vision.


title: Sucker Punch (2011 film)

text: When Snyder was in San Diego hosting a Blu-ray live screening of "Watchmen" for Comic-Con, he handed out T-shirts for "Sucker Punch" featuring the first art for the film. The art was designed by Alex Pardee of Snafu Comics, with title art work by Los Angeles graffiti artist Galo Canote. Pre-production began in June 2009 in Canada. Snyder had also added that he enjoyed the freedom of filming his own original script. Photographer Clay Enos was hired to take still pictures on set and to take portraits of the main actors.


title: Sucker Punch (2011 film)

text: Before casting started in March 2009, Snyder revealed his ideal cast for the feature film. He chose to go with an all-female cast in this film saying that "I already did the all-male cast with "300", so I'm doing the opposite end of the spectrum."


title: Sucker Punch (2011 film)

text: Snyder had tapped Amanda Seyfried first for the lead role, Babydoll. When asked if Seyfried was up for the role, Snyder said, "We'll see. We're trying to, so ... She's great. It would be great if it worked out". Snyder had also offered roles to Abbie Cornish, Evan Rachel Wood, Emma Stone, and Vanessa Hudgens. However, Seyfried turned it down due to a conflict in schedule with her HBO series "Big Love". Browning agreed to replace Seyfried in the role. During the confirmation of her involvement, Hudgens, Wood, Cornish, and Stone were all still in talks. According to Brie Larson in a 2020 video on YouTube, she mentioned that she auditioned for "Sucker Punch".


title: Sucker Punch (2011 film)

text: Wood dropped out of the project due to scheduling conflicts with her recurring role in HBO's "True Blood" and her stage production of "". She was later replaced by Malone for the role of "Rocket". Chung was signed up to play "Amber"; Emma Stone had been offered the part but declined due schedule conflict with her film "Easy A". Freida Pinto was also considered for the role of "Amber" before it went to Jamie Chung. Gugino, who was cast as "Madam Gorski", a psychiatrist in the asylum, previously worked with Snyder on "Watchmen". Hamm was confirmed in late August 2009 to play "The High Roller". Isaac was also tapped at around the same time. Snyder confirmed that Glenn agreed to be involved in the project, portraying "The Wise Man".


title: Sucker Punch (2011 film)

text: Prior to filming, the cast had twelve weeks of training and fight evaluations, beginning in June 2009 in Los Angeles and continuing through filming. The leads in the film were trained to deadlift up to for their roles. Damon Caro, the stunt coordinator and fight choreographer from "300" and "Watchmen", Snyder's previous films, was hired for the action design, stunt training and fight choreography for the movie. The other cast members started training without Hudgens while she was involved with other projects, including "Beastly". Abbie Cornish said that the rest of the cast were training six hours a day, five days a week in martial arts, swords and empty hand choreography. Jena Malone has stated that her daily routine comprised four hours of warmups and mixed martial arts wushu training, then three hours of weight training, then firearms training and tactical positioning, and then pole-dancing lessons. Snyder said that when the girls are fighting, "[like] they're on their way to kill a baby dragon, they've killed all of these orc-like creatures and they're entering a door [and] it's this classic, real Navy SEAL style room clearing. They have machine guns but they're fighting mythic creatures, impossible creatures. The hand to hand stuff is all brutal, because Damon [Caro] did all the [fights] in "Bourne" and it has that vibe to it." Snyder remarks that in the girls' imaginations "they can do anything".


title: Sucker Punch (2011 film)

text: Pre-production began in Los Angeles in June 2009 then moved to Vancouver in July. Principal photography began in September 2009 in Vancouver, and concluded in January 2010. With an $82 million budget, post-production began in September 2009 and was expected to last until January 2010 in Vancouver and Toronto. Originally, production would have started in June 2009, but it was postponed. Production concluded on January 22, 2010. Snyder confirmed that prior to the set production date, he already shot some fantasy sequences for "Sucker Punch". Snyder said the film is a "stylized motion picture about action and sort of landscapes of the imagination and things of that nature". Snyder had also been decided on the film's title for some time, stating it is a pop-culture reference. "It's about hopefully what the movie feels like when you watch it, more than a specific 'Oh, it's a story of this person.' It's all stylized."


title: Sucker Punch (2011 film)

text: The film includes an imaginary brothel that the five girls enter in the alternate reality, where singing and dancing take place. The fantasy sequences include dragons, aliens, and a World War I battle. Snyder expressed his interest in the film's content:


title: Sucker Punch (2011 film)

text: On the other hand, though it's fetishistic and personal, I like to think that my fetishes aren't that obscure. Who doesn't want to see girls running down the trenches of World War One wreaking havoc? I'd always had an interest in those worlds – comic books, fantasy art, animated films. I'd like to see this, that's how I approach everything, and then keep pushing it from there.


title: Sucker Punch (2011 film)

text: Rick Carter served as production designer while the visual effects of the film were done by Animal Logic with 75 visual effects specialists, and the Moving Picture Company (MPC) who were awarded over 120 shots. "Sucker Punch" operates on three levels – a reality, then a sub-reality where the psych ward world shifts into a strange high-roller's brothel. The final level is made up of a dream world where more action sequences that are removed from time and space take place. Warner Bros. announced earlier that "Sucker Punch" would be released in 3D format. Snyder describes the conversion into 3D as a completely different process. However, it was later announced that the film would not be presented in 3D. Snyder filmed a "Maximum Movie Mode" interactive Blu-ray commentary for the film's home media release.


title: Sucker Punch (2011 film)

text: Snyder wanted to design the film as something with no limits, considering that he co-wrote the script from an original idea. He added that he wanted it to "be a cool story and not just like a video game where you're just loose and going nuts." Snyder also noted the influence of Asian iconography, particularly Japanese elements such as samurai, anime, and mecha.


title: Sucker Punch (2011 film)

text: Snyder has stated one interpretation of the film is that it is a critique of geek culture's sexism and objectification of women.


title: Sucker Punch (2011 film)

text: Music plays an integral role in the film. "In the story, music is the thing that launches them into these fantasy worlds", Snyder explains. Composer Tyler Bates said that the songs "function as the subconscious mind of Baby Doll and her journey", and musical producer Marius de Vries considered it "an important task of the songs to signplace which particular world you are inhabiting at a particular moment". They used pre-existing songs for "Sucker Punch", covering them in a way that would create suitable moods. Music thus becomes the backbone of the film and is used as it was in "Moulin Rouge!", according to Snyder. Dance choreography was spearheaded by Paul Becker. Emily Browning did the vocals for the songs Sweet Dreams, Asleep and Where Is My Mind that are played during the movie. Carla Gugino had to take singing lessons for her scenes as a choreographer madam in the brothel. The brothel scenario has "sexy" songs, as Jamie Chung described, and dance fantasy scenes. Due to time constraints, Snyder was forced to cut most of the dance sequences for the theatrical release of the film, but there is one during the credits. He did mention that for the home media release of the film's "director's cut", the dance scenes will be re-inserted.


title: Sucker Punch (2011 film)

text: In September 2009, Chung reported that they had begun recording tracks for "Sucker Punch". Oscar Isaac said the songs used in the film are not original, but are new arrangements of existing music.


title: Sucker Punch (2011 film)

text: Tyler Bates (who composed all of Snyder's previous live-action films) and Marius de Vries (who composed the score for the film "Moulin Rouge!") co-wrote the film score. The official trailers contain samples from the songs "Prologue" by Immediate Music, "Crablouse" by Lords of Acid, "When the Levee Breaks" by Led Zeppelin, "Tomorrow Never Knows" by The Beatles, "And Your World Will Burn" by Cliff Lin, "Panic Switch" by the Silversun Pickups, and "Illusion of Love" (Fred Falke remix) by Uffie.


title: Sucker Punch (2011 film)

text: "Sucker Punch: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack" was released on March 22, 2011 by WaterTower Music. It contained nine tracks, all covers, remixes, and mash-ups (as the label website says, "wildly re-imagined versions of classic songs") of tracks by Alison Mosshart, Björk, Queen, and performances from stars Emily Browning, Carla Gugino, and Oscar Isaac. The album was praised by music and film critics, as were Browning's vocals.


title: Sucker Punch (2011 film)

text: "Sucker Punch" participated in the Comic-Con 2010 and showed the first footage of the film, featuring the songs "Prologue" by Immediate Music and "The Crablouse" by Lords of Acid. The trailer was released on July 27 on Apple Trailers. The second official trailer was released on November 3 and was attached to "Due Date", "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1", and "Black Swan". On February 15, Titan Books released the official "Art of the Film" book full of pictures, to mark the film's release in the following month.


title: Sucker Punch (2011 film)

text: The film received a PG-13 rating. To avoid an R rating, a scene that implied sex was cut. Browning said, "I had a very tame and mild love scene with John ["sic"] Hamm ... I think it's great for this young girl to actually take control of her own sexuality. Well, the MPAA doesn't like that. They don't think a girl should ever be in control of her own sexuality because they're from the Stone Age... they got Zack to edit the scene and make it look less like she's into it. And Zack said he edited it down to the point where it looked like he was taking advantage of her. That's the only way he could get a PG-13 [rating] and he said, 'I don't want to send that message.' So they cut the scene!"


title: Sucker Punch (2011 film)

text: In the United Kingdom, the film received a 12A certificate for "moderate violence, threat, language and sexual references". The film was passed with no additional cuts required. The extended cut was given a 12.


title: Sucker Punch (2011 film)

text: "Sucker Punch" grossed $19,058,199 in its first weekend, an opening that placed it second behind "". It also opened in 23 markets that weekend, standing at sixth in the overseas box office with $6.5 million. The following weekend, it dropped to seventh place in North America with $6 million, but fared better overseas, where an expansion to 16 more countries led to a $11.5 million gross which topped the international ranking. "Sucker Punch" eventually grossed $36,392,502 domestically and $53,400,000 abroad, leading to a worldwide total of $89,792,502.


title: Sucker Punch (2011 film)

text: "Sucker Punch" was released on DVD and in a Blu-ray combo pack on June 28, 2011. The film reached #1 best-selling DVD for four weeks in a row, selling over a million copies in America on its premiere day. An R-rated extended cut was included on the Blu-ray release, which adds 18 minutes to the film. The bonus features include four animated shorts based on the four fantasy scenarios.


title: Sucker Punch (2011 film)

text: Snyder has stated that the extended cut of "Sucker Punch" isn't his desired version of the film, but complications over film rights make it uncertain as to whether or not his director's cut could ever be released.


title: Sucker Punch (2011 film)

text: Review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 22% of 218 critics have given "Sucker Punch" a positive review, with an average rating of 4.2/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "It's technically impressive and loaded with eye-catching images, but without characters or a plot to support them, all of "Sucker Punch"s visual thrills are for naught." Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 33 out of 100, based on 29 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Sucker Punch (2011 film)

text: Although Snyder had claimed that he wanted the film to "be a cool story and not just like a video game where you're just loose and going nuts", some critics compared the film unfavorably to a video game in their reviews. Richard Roeper gave the film a D, saying that it "proves a movie can be loud, action-packed and filled with beautiful young women – and still bore you to tears." The "Orlando Sentinel" gave the movie one out of four stars calling it "an unerotic unthrilling erotic thriller in the video game mold". "The A.V. Club"'s Nathan Rabin wrote, "with its quests to retrieve magical totems, clearly demarcated levels, and non-stop action, Snyder's clattering concoction sometimes feels less like a movie than an extended, elaborate trailer for its redundant videogame adaptation." Reviewing it for "The Sydney Morning Herald", Giles Hardie called the film "incredibly ambitious", and explained that while "traditional depths of character development and motivation are sidelined, [...] this is intentional, allowing the audience to immerse in the layers of dreams and later piece together what actually happened".


title: Sucker Punch (2011 film)

text: British film critic Mark Kermode described the film as "the most boring, ploddingly put together, infantile, crass, adolescent, stupid, chauvinistic twaddle that I've sat through in a very, very long time." Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino named it one of the worst movies he had ever seen in 2011.


title: Sucker Punch (2011 film)

text: Legendary Pictures reportedly attributed the movie's failure to become a box office hit to movie audiences not accepting a female action hero.


title: Sucker Punch (2011 film)

text: Not all reviews were negative, however. Keith Uhlich of "Time Out New York" named "Sucker Punch" the tenth-best title of 2011: "This excessive digi-satire spits in the face of fanboys-'n'-their-franchises." Sonny Bunch hailed the movie as an "exciting, entertaining piece of work, one that subverts your expectations even as it plays to your presumptions." In a 2018 article for Oscilloscope Laboratories, Sheila O'Malley wrote favorably of "Sucker Punch" and described its similarities with the Depression-era musical "Gold Diggers of 1933".


title: Sucker Punch (2011 film)

text: "Sucker Punch" also drew criticism for its depiction of women. Several critics described the film as misogynistic and others expressed concern over its treatment of sexual violence. Monika Bartyzel of Moviefone writes: "The women of Zack Snyder's "Sucker Punch" are not empowered. Though they are given vicious snarls, swords and guns, the leading ladies of Snyder's latest are nothing more than cinematic figures of enslavement given only the most minimal fight. Their rebellion is one of imaginative whimsy in a heavily misogynistic world that is barely questioned or truly challenged." Michael Phillips of "The Chicago Tribune" stated that "Zack Snyder must have known in preproduction that his greasy collection of near-rape fantasies and violent revenge scenarios disguised as a female-empowerment fairy tale wasn't going to satisfy anyone but himself."


title: Sucker Punch (2011 film)

text: "St. Petersburg Times" critic Steve Persall found that the most offensive fact about the film was that it "suggests that all this objectification of women makes them stronger. It's supposed to be reassuring that men who beat, berate, molest and kill these women will get what's coming to them. Just wait, Snyder says, but in the meantime here's another femininity insult to keep you occupied." A.O. Scott of "The New York Times" described the film as a "fantasia of misogyny" that pretends to be a "feminist fable of empowerment" and found that the film's treatment of sexual violence was problematic and believes the target audience as a whole is in favour of it. Peter Debruge of "Variety" argued that the film is "misleadingly positioned as female empowerment despite clearly having been hatched as fantasy fodder for 13-year-old guys" and that the fact that the young women in the movie are "under constant threat of being raped or murdered" makes the film "highly inappropriate for young viewers."


title: Sucker Punch (2011 film)

text: However, Betsy Sharkey of "The Los Angeles Times" suggested that the film neither objectifies nor empowers women, and is instead a "wonderfully wild provocation – an imperfect, overlong, intemperate and utterly absorbing romp through the id that I wouldn't have missed for the world." In a retrospective article about the critical reception of "Sucker Punch", James MacDowell questioned the alleged misogyny of the film, arguing that it does not in fact aim to offer female empowerment, but is instead "a deeply "pessimistic" analysis of female oppression", because it makes clear that, "just as men organize the dances, so do they control the terms of the fight scenes; in neither do the women have true agency, only an illusion of it."


title: Sucker Punch (2011 film)

text: Writing in a separate piece for "The A.V. Club" months after giving the film a "C−" grade, Nathan Rabin concluded, "Depending on whom you ask, Snyder set out to make either the ultimate sexist masturbatory fanboy fantasy or the ultimate critique of sexist masturbatory fanboy fantasies. He failed spectacularly on both counts, but in true Fiasco form, there's something fascinating and even strangely majestic about that failure."


title: Sucker Punch (2011 film)

text: Scott Mendelsohn of "The Huffington Post" called the film a "bitterly sad and angrily feminist mini-epic", and said that while it presents scenes of "matter-of-fact lechery from men towards women that is an accepted norm in our society, both then and now", it "earns kudos for daring to actually be about something relevant and interesting. It is actually very much about the sexualization of women in popular culture, rather than just using those tools to make pointless exploitation fare." Patrick Bromley of DVD Verdict posited that "Sucker Punch" uses the "prism of popular culture to say something about the roles that women find themselves forced into—and not just in the fantasies of geeks and fanboys". Bromley further judged that the film is "about fighting a losing battle. About using every tool at your disposal, be it sexuality or physical strength or wit or the ability to band together to fight a common enemy—the tool of Sisterhood—and about how that still isn't enough."


title: Sucker Punch (2011 film)

text: In retrospect, Snyder said: "I'm always shocked that it was so badly misunderstood. I always said that it was a commentary on sexism and geek culture. Someone would ask me, "Why did you film the girls this way?" And I'd say, "Well you did!" Sucker Punch is a fuck you to a lot of people who will watch it." Double Toasted criticized this statement in a retrospective review, claiming the film had not aged well in recent years.


title: Sucker Punch (2011 film)

text: Though the film's content was derided, the film received some recognition for the visual effects of the fantasy sequences. "Sucker Punch" received a nomination at the 2011 Scream Awards for Best F/X, and its stunt work was nominated for a Taurus Award. The film was also pre-nominated for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.


title: UB40

text: UB40 are an English reggae and pop band, formed in December 1978 in Birmingham, England. The band has had more than 50 singles in the UK Singles Chart, and has also achieved considerable international success. They have been nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album four times, and in 1984 were nominated for the Brit Award for Best British Group. UB40 have sold over 70 million records worldwide. The ethnic make-up of the band's original line-up was diverse, with musicians of English, Welsh, Irish, Jamaican, Scottish, and Yemeni parentage.


title: UB40

text: Their hit singles include their debut "Food for Thought" and two "Billboard" Hot 100 number ones with "Red Red Wine" and "Can't Help Falling in Love". Both of these also topped the UK Singles Chart, as did the band's version of "I Got You Babe". Their two most successful albums, "Labour of Love" (1983) and "Promises and Lies" (1993), reached number one on the UK Albums Chart. UB40 and the English ska band Madness hold the record for most weeks spent by a group in the UK singles chart during the 1980s, with 214 weeks each.


title: UB40

text: The band's line-up was stable for nearly 29 years, from March 1979 until January 2008, when frontman Ali Campbell left the band, followed shortly thereafter by keyboardist Mickey Virtue. Another member, Astro, remained with the band until November 2013, when he departed the original band to team up with Campbell and Virtue in a new version of UB40. In 2014, legal advice was sought by the original band (now consisting of remaining co-founding members drummer Jimmy Brown, guitarist Robin Campbell, bassist Earl Falconer, percussionist Norman Hassan, and saxophonist Brian Travers, along with new vocalist Duncan Campbell) who took action against the group containing Campbell, Virtue, and Astro over usage of the band name, due to it being used by both parties. On 5 July 2021, it was announced that Matt Doyle (formerly of the reggae band Kioko) would become the band's new vocalist, following Duncan Campbell's retirement due to ill health. Travers died from cancer on 22 August 2021, and Astro died on 6 November 2021 following a short illness.


title: UB40

text: The band members began as friends who knew each other from various schools across Birmingham, England. The name "UB40" was selected in reference to an attendance card issued to people claiming unemployment benefits from the UK government Department of Employment. The designation UB40 stood for Unemployment Benefit, Form 40.


title: UB40

text: The origins of what would become UB40 began when in mid-1978 guitarist Ali Campbell, together with the rhythm section of drummer Jimmy Brown and bassist Earl Falconer, began rehearsing charting reggae songs in addition to some of their own original compositions. They were soon joined by several of their friends, firstly percussionists Yomi Babayemi and Norman Hassan, and then saxophonist Brian Travers and keyboardist Jimmy Lynn. Robin Campbell, although initially reluctant to commit to forming a band with the others, was invited to join once again by his brother and bought a guitar with which to do so in December of that year. Once Robin had joined the others in their jamming sessions, the eight musicians formed a band, deciding on the name 'UB40' after a friend suggested it was an appropriate name given the unemployed status of all of the band members. Prior to this, Travers had work as an electrical apprentice for NG Bailey; whilst Robin Campbell had been an apprentice toolmaker.


title: UB40

text: This lineup of the band lasted long enough to play their first show at the Hare & Hounds pub in Kings Heath in February 1979 and one other, before the band underwent its first lineup change in the form of Babayemi and Lynn leaving the band and Mickey Virtue joining in place of Lynn. A month later UB40's classic lineup was rounded out with the inclusion of percussionist and vocalist Astro. Astro had previously been working for Duke Alloy's sound system attending reggae dances in Birmingham. Before some of them could play their instruments, Ali Campbell and Brian Travers travelled around Birmingham promoting the band, putting up UB40 posters. Their sound was created and honed through many long jam sessions at various locations in Birmingham.


title: UB40

text: Their first gig took place on 9 February 1979 at The Hare & Hounds Pub in Kings Heath, Birmingham for a friend's birthday party. This was commemorated in October 2011 by the unveiling of a plaque at the venue, indicating the band receiving the Performing Rights Society's Music Heritage Award. UB40 caught their first break when Chrissie Hynde saw them at a pub and gave them an opportunity as a support act to her band, The Pretenders. UB40's first single, "King"/"Food for Thought" was released on Graduate Records, a local independent label run by David Virr. It reached No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart.


title: UB40

text: The title of their first album, "Signing Off", indicates the band was signing off from, or ending, their claim for unemployment benefits. It was recorded in a bedsit in Birmingham and was produced by Bob Lamb. Norman Hassan said of the recording: "if you stripped my track down, you could hear the birds in the background." This is because his tracks were recorded outside in the garden. "Signing Off" was released on 29 August 1980. It entered the UK Albums Chart on 2 October 1980, and spent 71 weeks in total on the chart. "Signing Off" is now a Platinum album. As UB40 grew in popularity, they encouraged and supported local musicians and bands from Birmingham, such as Beshara, often bringing them on tour.


title: UB40

text: After great success in the UK, UB40's popularity in the US was established when they released "Labour of Love", an album of cover songs, in 1983. The album reached number one on the UK Albums Chart and number 14 on the "Billboard" 200 in the US five years later. The album featured the song "Red Red Wine", a cover version of a Neil Diamond song (in an arrangement similar to that of Tony Tribe's version); it reached number one in the UK in 1983 and number one in the US in 1988. Three years later UB40 performed at the Birmingham Heart Beat Charity Concert 1986. In 1987 Ray "Pablo" Falconer, producer of UB40 music, died in a car crash. His brother, Earl Falconer, the band's bassist, was driving with nearly twice the legal limit of alcohol in his blood. Earl was sentenced to six months imprisonment in June 1988 and banned from driving for three years.


title: UB40

text: On 11 June 1988, UB40 performed at the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute concert that took place at Wembley Stadium in London and also involved Dire Straits, George Michael, Whitney Houston, the Bee Gees and other artists.


title: UB40

text: Their most successful worldwide single release is their reggae/pop version of "(I Can't Help) Falling in Love With You", which was the main title to the 1993 Sharon Stone movie "Sliver"; it was a number one hit across Europe and in the US. In 1995 they covered the Stevie Wonder song "Superstition" for the Eddie Murphy movie "Vampire in Brooklyn" and it appears on their album "The Best of UB40 – Volume Two" which they released that year. The group also made a guest appearance in the 1997 feature film "". UB40 are featured in the 1988 film "The Yob". UB40 toured South Africa in July 2007 and headlined the Live Earth concert at the Cradle of Humankind, near Johannesburg.


title: UB40

text: In 2003, UB40 and the United Colours of Sound recorded "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" as the official anthem for the England national rugby union team. Following England's victory in the 2003 Rugby Union World Cup, it reached number 15 in the UK Singles Chart.


title: UB40

text: On 24 January 2008, it was announced that Ali Campbell would be leaving the group after 30 years. It was originally stated that this was in order for Campbell to concentrate on solo projects, but Campbell later said he was leaving due to management and business disputes. The remaining seven members released a statement saying: "Ali made a very simple decision; he chose to pursue and put his solo career over and above continuing to work with UB40 after February 2008. It’s as simple as that". Mickey Virtue departed shortly afterwards citing the same issues that Campbell had as reasons for his departure.


title: UB40

text: It was reported by some Birmingham newspapers on 13 March 2008, that Maxi Priest would be the new lead singer of UB40 and had recorded a cover of Bob Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff" with the band, based on information from an unnamed "source close to the band." Priest had joined UB40 on their arena tour in 2007, culminating in sell-out shows at the NEC Birmingham in December. Another local newspaper reporting that Maxi Priest would be the new UB40 frontman, also included a statement from band spokesman Gerard Franklyn which contradicted this claim: "Maxi is collaborating with the band to record material but no decision has been made to replace Ali Campbell with one definitive singer. The reports are half correct he will be appearing with them for this new recording." In April 2008, the BBC reported that Campbell was to be replaced in the band by his brother Duncan, with reggae singer Maxi Priest also bolstering the line-up on tour.


title: UB40

text: The band released their next album, "TwentyFourSeven", UB40's last with their classic lineup, by way of a free insert in "The Mail on Sunday"s 4 May 2008 issue. The newspaper sold nearly three million copies. This led to a backlash when the full 17-track version was released 21 June 2008, and most of the big retailers refused to stock it. It failed to reach the Top 75 in the UK, which was a first, as all their official albums had previously made the Top 50 on the UK Albums Chart. Their next release, on EMI, was a collection called "Love Songs", which was a compilation of hits mainly from the Labour of Love series and all featuring Ali Campbell on vocals – it reached number 3 in the UK. The band toured the US, which included their first show at the Hollywood Bowl.


title: UB40

text: In 2009 the band released the first new album with their new lead singer Duncan Campbell; another in the "Labour of Love" cover series entitled "Labour of Love IV". The album was in the charts for only two weeks reaching number 24. During the 2009 US Tour UB40 offered fans live concert recordings on USB wristbands. The wristbands also included the Dub Sessions remix album and photos.


title: UB40

text: UB40 announced that after completing a coast-to-coast 2010 American tour they would be playing a nationwide UK tour of theatres in October/November 2010 performing their seminal album "Signing Off", in full, along with a second set of popular UB40 songs. To coincide, on 1 November 2010 a remastered 2CD+DVD of "Signing Off" was released as a '30th Anniversary Special Edition'.


title: UB40

text: In 2011 five founding members of the group and directors of their DEP International label, had bankruptcy proceedings started against them relating to debts of the record label. In October 2011 Travers, Wilson, Hassan and Brown were declared bankrupt. Former member Ali Campbell was also declared bankrupt. In 2013 a new album, "Getting Over the Storm" was announced, their first since 2010 and "Labour of Love IV".


title: UB40

text: In November 2013, UB40 revealed dates in anticipation of their UK Tour in early 2014. The announcement of the tour followed the success of the band's latest Top 30 album, "Getting Over The Storm", which was awarded BBC Radio 2's 'Album of the Week' accolade and received 5-star reviews from the UK's music press on its release in September 2013. On 22 November 2013 Astro announced in a statement that he had left the band, describing it as a "rudderless ship" and criticising the "serious lack of communication between the band and management" and the country-orientated direction of their latest album. Astro joined former UB40 members Ali Campbell and Mickey Virtue on stage at the indigO2 Arena in London on 6 December 2013, and on 17 January 2014 the trio announced on their website that they were in the studio recording new music. Ali Campbell was highly critical of his replacement in UB40, stating "I sat back for five years and watched my brother Duncan murdering my songs." Ali Campbell toured as UB40 with Astro and Virtue over the summer. The new album "Silhouette", featuring the trio, was set for release on 6 October 2014.


title: UB40

text: In December 2014 Ali Campbell claimed that he would be prepared to go to the High Court in London over the matter rather than settle out of court.


title: UB40

text: Duncan Campbell retired from UB40 in June 2021 due to ill health, following a stroke he had suffered the previous year; he was replaced the following month by Matt Doyle of fellow Birmingham reggae band Kioko.


title: UB40

text: In August 2021, saxophonist Brian Travers died of cancer at the age of 62 in his Moseley home. In November 2021 former vocalist and founding member Astro died following a short illness.


title: UB40

text: In August 2022, the band performed "Red Red Wine" at the Commonwealth Games Closing Ceremony, with the show also featuring other acts from Birmingham and the West Midlands region such as Musical Youth, Panjabi MC, Dexys, Ozzy Osbourne and Apache Indian. They also issued the single "Champion" in association with the Commonwealth Games with this Official Anthem being their first single to be sung by Matt Doyle. "Champion" also features Dapz on the Map and Gilly G, and can be found on the "On Record" compilation of Birmingham-based bands alongside "It’s a Brum Ting" by Friendly Fire Band, the track the BBC used for their Commonwealth Games coverage.


title: UB40

text: UB40 were influenced by the many blues parties they attended as teenagers in the multicultural Balsall Heath area of Birmingham. Their love of ska, reggae and early lovers rock inspired such original tracks as "King", "Madam Medusa", "Food for Thought", "Signing Off" and "One in Ten". Their early musical style was unique, with a heavy influence of analogue synthesisers, psychedelic rock guitar, saxophone and dub producer techniques.


title: UB40

text: The Campbell brothers are the sons of the late folk musician, Ian Campbell. Their father regularly took them to folk festivals and gigs and introduced them to music and to touring. It was at his father's folk club "Jug O' Punch" that Ali Campbell made his singing debut with Dave Swarbrick's daughter, Suss, singing "Why Does It have To Be Me?".


title: UB40

text: UB40 are one of the most commercially successful reggae acts of all time in terms of record sales (over 70 million), chart positions and touring schedule. During their three-decade long career, they have been performing sell-out shows worldwide and headlining the Reggae Sunsplash music festival in Jamaica, as well as spreading reggae to Russia, South America, etc. They have performed twice at the Night of the Proms, in 2000 and in 2006. They have been nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album four times, and in 1984 were nominated for the Brit Award for Best British Group.


title: UB40

text: In October 2011, UB40 were commemorated with a Heritage Award, a ceremonial plaque from the UK's PRS for Music. A plaque was placed at the Hare & Hounds Pub in Birmingham, England, the location where they played their first gig.


title: UB40

text: All three of their UK number one hits and four of their five US top ten hits were cover versions. UB40 collaborators include: Pato Banton, Madness, Bitty McLean, Chrissie Hynde, Maxi Priest, Robert Palmer, Hunterz, Japanese artist Mikidozan, French artist Nuttea, Lady Saw, Afrika Bambaataa, 808 State. With 214 weeks spent on the UK singles charts over the course of the 1980s, UB40 and Madness hold the record for most weeks spent by a group in the 1980s UK singles charts.


title: UB40

text: Referencing the group's longevity, Ali Campbell has said that the group was fortunate in choosing a relatively young genre, as reggae "... hasn't outlived its own cool like jazz has".


title: UB40

text: Terence Oswald Wilson (24 June 1957 – 6 November 2021), better known by his stage name Astro, was a British musician, rapper, and toaster, who was part of UB40 from 1979 until he left the group in November 2013. His nickname comes from his childhood as he wore a pair of Dr. Martens boots with the model name "Astronaut".


title: UB40

text: He went to school with the future keyboard player of UB40, Virtue. While DJ-ing, he met the Campbell brothers, and bonded so well with them over a love of Jamaican music that they invited him to join them as their MC. He believed that reggae music was for everyone, and shouldn't just be for Jamaican Rastafarians.


title: UB40

text: In the band's 1983 version of "Red Red Wine," he added his own "toasting" lyrics, which is a Jamaican forerunner to rapping. This became an integral part to the group's sound. Astro offered the band a more militant edge, rapping about social injustice and racism. He encountered racism himself when he was refused admittance to nightclubs on account of his dreadlocks, when white members of the band were welcomed.


title: UB40

text: He eventually quit the band in 2013 after they decided to record a set of country songs. He wasn't interested in this genre of music and was only interested in performing and promoting reggae. He went on to join Ali Campbell and Virtue in a Rival band to UB40.


title: UB40

text: Duncan Campbell (born 3 April 1958 in Birmingham) is an English musician and former lead singer of UB40. He joined the band in 2008 after the departure of his brother Ali Campbell, the former UB40 lead singer. Current bandmate Robin Campbell is also his brother, and he is the son of the late folk singer Ian Campbell. Campbell announced his retirement from live concert performances after suffering a seizure in August 2020. His replacement as lead singer was announced on 5 July 2021 as Matt Doyle, formerly of the band Kioko.


title: UB40

text: Campbell sang in a harmony group with his brothers as children and performed with their father on stage. He also recorded a reggae album in Jamaica for his brother Ali's record label, but it was never released. He was a professional spoon player. "I was the only professional spoon player in the country registered with the Musicians' Union – until they registered me as a vocalist," said Campbell. He also worked as a casino manager in Barbados, ran a fish and chip shop in Perth, Australia, and has worked as an actor.


title: UB40

text: On 24 January 2008, UB40 lead singer Ali Campbell announced that he was leaving the band after a dispute with the management; UB40 announced that they would carry on. On 30 April 2008, UB40 unveiled Duncan as their new lead singer.


title: UB40

text: Duncan was offered the position of lead singer in 1978, but turned it down at the time, and said that he "wouldn't get the chance in another 30 years". Ali Campbell was "disappointed but didn't object" to him joining UB40. When asked why he did not join UB40 in 1978, he joked because they were "crap" and that he "was too smart for them and he knew that they would get nowhere". In 2014, Ali formed a rival version of UB40 with Astro and Mickey Virtue. He said of his brother's singing, "I sat back for five years and watched my brother Duncan murdering my songs. We're saving the legacy". Duncan suffered a stroke in August 2020 and announced his retirement from the band in June 2021, citing ill health.


title: UB40

text: Earl Acton Falconer (born 23 January 1959 in Meriden, Warwickshire) is a British bass player and singer in UB40. Falconer also co-founded the UK bass label Circus Records alongside Flux Pavilion, Doctor P and DJ Swan-E.


title: UB40

text: Falconer attended St. Benedict's junior school and Mosely Road School of Art. He was an unemployed plasterer at the time of UB40's formation.


title: UB40

text: Norman Lamont Hassan (born 26 January 1958) is a British musician of Yemeni and Welsh descent who is best known as being a member of UB40 since its foundation in 1978. Norman Lamont Hassan was born in Birmingham to Yemeni and Welsh parents, and attended Park Hill School and later Queensbridge School in the city. He worked as a carpet fitter before joining the band UB40 in 1978.


title: UB40

text: After starting off as percussionist in 1978, he learned the trombone in 1981, when the band decided to add a brass section. He sang his first lead vocal on "Labour of Love". He is also known for his on-stage dancing. Like the rest of UB40, he still lives in the City of Birmingham. He is also a fan of the local football club Birmingham City. He has wide-ranging musical tastes, from reggae to soul to opera.


title: UB40

text: Brian David Travers was one of the founders of the band. He played the saxophone and was also an arranger and lyricist. He had suffered from cancer since 2019 and he died in August 2021. Travers was a founding member of the socialist Workers Party of Britain in 2019.


title: UB40

text: In January 2014, Astro, with other former UB40 members Ali Campbell, and Mickey Virtue, announced plans to reform and record under the UB40 name. The band released their new song, "Reggae Music" as a free download in January 2014. In February, with the original band and the newly formed splinter group both due to perform in Dubai under the name UB40 within a few months of each other, the new group announced a name change to 'UB40 Reunited'. Then the splinter group changed their name again, settling on 'UB40 featuring Ali, Astro, and Mickey', until late 2018 when Virtue departed the band, after which they continued touring and recording as 'UB40 featuring Ali Campbell and Astro'. Astro died on 6 November 2021 after recording tracks for the band's new album "Unprecedented".


title: UB40

text: Ali Campbell's UB40 splinter group also featured the vocalist Matt Hoy until he quit in July 2021. On the week of 20 March 2022, Hoy's new single "We Are One" appeared on the countdown as shown on "The Heritage Chart Show with Mike Read", one place above his former bandmates new single "Sufferer", with Hoy invited to perform his song live in the studio on the programme as broadcast of Talking Pictures TV on 10 April 2022.


title: Projections of population growth

text: Population projections are attempts to show how the human population statistics might change in the future. These projections are an important input to forecasts of the population's impact on this planet and humanity's future well-being. Models of population growth take trends in human development, and apply projections into the future. These models use trend-based-assumptions about how populations will respond to economic, social and technological forces to understand how they will affect fertility and mortality, and thus population growth.


title: Projections of population growth

text: The 2019 projections from the United Nations Population Division show that annual world population growth peaked at 2.1% in 1968, has since dropped to 1.1%, and could drop even further to 0.1% by 2100, which would be a growth rate not seen since pre-industrial revolution days. Based on this, the UN Population Division projects the world population, which is 7.8 billion , to level out around 2100 at 10.9 billion (the median line), assuming a continuing decrease in the global average fertility rate from 2.5 births per woman during the 2015–2020 period to 1.9 in 2095–2100, according to the medium-variant projection. A 2014 projection has the population continuing to grow into the next century.


title: Projections of population growth

text: However, estimates outside of the United Nations have put forward alternative models based on additional downward pressure on fertility (such as successful implementation of education and family planning goals in the Sustainable Development Goals) which could result in peak population during the 2060-2070 period rather than later.


title: Projections of population growth

text: According to the UN, about two-thirds of the predicted growth in population between 2020 and 2050 will take place in Africa. It is projected that 50% of births in the 5-year period 2095-2100 will be in Africa. Other organizations project lower levels of population growth in Africa based particularly on improvement in women's education and successfully implementing family planning.


title: Projections of population growth

text: By 2100, the UN projects the population in Sub-Saharan Africa will reach 3.8 billion, IHME projects 3.1 billion, and IIASA is the lowest at 2.6 billion. In contrast to the UN projections, the models of fertility developed by IHME and IIASA incorporate women's educational attainment, and in the case of IHME, also assume successful implementation of family planning.


title: Projections of population growth

text: Because of population momentum the global population will continue to grow, although at a steadily slower rate, for the remainder of this century, but the main driver of long-term future population growth will be the evolution of the global average fertility rate.


title: Projections of population growth

text: Walter Greiling projected in the 1950s that world population would reach a peak of about nine billion, in the 21st century, and then stop growing after a readjustment of the Third World and a sanitation of the tropics.


title: Projections of population growth

text: Estimates published in the 2000s tended to predict that the population of Earth would stop increasing around 2070. In a 2004 long-term prospective report, the United Nations Population Division projected the world population would peak at 7.85 billion in 2075. After reaching this maximum, it would decline slightly and then resume a slow increase, reaching a level of 5.11 billion by 2300, about the same as the projected 2050 figure.


title: Projections of population growth

text: This prediction was revised in the 2010s, to the effect that no maximum will likely be reached in the 21st century. The main reason for the revision was that the ongoing rapid population growth in Africa had been underestimated. A 2014 paper by demographers from several universities and the United Nations Population Division forecast that the world's population would reach about 10.9 billion in 2100 and continue growing thereafter. In 2017 the UN predicted a decline of global population growth rate from +1.0% in 2020 to +0.5% in 2050 and to +0.1% in 2100.


title: Projections of population growth

text: Jørgen Randers, one of the authors of the seminal 1972 long-term simulations in "The Limits to Growth", offered an alternative scenario in a 2012 book, arguing that traditional projections insufficiently take into account the downward impact of global urbanization on fertility. Randers' "most likely scenario" predicts a peak in the world population in the early 2040s at about 8.1 billion people, followed by decline.


title: Projections of population growth

text: The population of a country or area grows or declines through the interaction of three demographic drivers: fertility, mortality, and migration.


title: Projections of population growth

text: Fertility is expressed as the total fertility rate (TFR), a measure of the number of children on average that a woman will bear in her lifetime. With longevity trending towards uniform and stable values worldwide, the main driver of future population growth will be the evolution of the fertility rate.


title: Projections of population growth

text: Where fertility is high, demographers generally assume that fertility will decline and eventually stabilize at about two children per woman.


title: Projections of population growth

text: During the period 2015–2020, the average world fertility rate was 2.5 children per woman, about half the level in 1950-1955 (5 children per woman). In the medium variant, global fertility is projected to decline further to 2.2 in 2045-2050 and to 1.9 in 2095–2100.


title: Projections of population growth

text: If the mortality rate is relatively high and the resulting life expectancy is therefore relatively low, changes in mortality can have a material impact on population growth. Where the mortality rate is low and life expectancy has therefore risen, a change in mortality will have much less of an effect.


title: Projections of population growth

text: Because child mortality has declined substantially over the last several decades, global life expectancy at birth, which is estimated to have risen from 47 years in 1950–1955 to 67 years in 2000–2005, is expected to keep rising to reach 77 years in 2045–2050. In the more Developed regions, the projected increase is from 79 years today to 83 years by mid-century. Among the Least Developed countries, where life expectancy today is just under 65 years, it is expected to be 71 years in 2045–2050.


title: Projections of population growth

text: The population of 31 countries or areas, including Ukraine, Romania, Japan and most of the successor states of the Soviet Union, is expected to be lower in 2050 than in 2005.


title: Projections of population growth

text: Migration can have a significant effect on population change. Global South-South migration accounts for 38% of total migration, and Global South-North for 34%. For example, the United Nations reports that during the period 2010–2020, fourteen countries will have seen a net inflow of more than one million migrants, while ten countries will have seen a net outflow of similar proportions. The largest migratory outflows have been in response to demand for workers in other countries (Bangladesh, Nepal and the Philippines) or to insecurity in the home country (Myanmar, Syria and Venezuela). Belarus, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, the Russian Federation, Serbia and Ukraine have experienced a net inflow of migrants over the decade, helping to offset population losses caused by a negative natural increase (births minus deaths).


title: Projections of population growth

text: The median scenario of the UN 2019 World Population Prospects predicts the following populations per region in 2050 (compared to population in 2000), in billions:


title: Projections of population growth

text: Projections of population reaching more than one generation into the future are highly speculative: Thus, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs report of 2004 projected the world population to peak at 9.22 billion in 2075 and then stabilise at a value close to 9 billion;


title: Projections of population growth

text: By contrast, a 2014 projection by the United Nations Population Division predicted a population close to 11 billion by 2100 without any declining trend in the foreseeable future.


title: Projections of population growth

text: The UN Population Division report of 2019 projects world population to continue growing, although at a steadily decreasing rate, and to reach 10.9 billion in 2100 with a growth rate at that time of close to zero.


title: Projections of population growth

text: This projected growth of population, like all others, depends on assumptions about vital rates. For example, the UN Population Division assumes that Total fertility rate (TFR) will continue to decline, at varying paces depending on circumstances in individual regions, to a below-replacement level of 1.9 by 2100. Between now (2020) and 2100, regions with TFR currently below this rate, e.g. Europe, will see TFR rise.  Regions with TFR above this rate, will see TFR continue to decline.


title: Projections of population growth

text: Other assumptions can produce other results.  Some of the authors of the 2004 UN report assumed that life expectancy would rise slowly and continuously. The projections in the report assume this with no upper limit, though at a slowing pace depending on circumstances in individual countries. By 2100, the report assumed life expectancy to be from 66 to 97 years, and by 2300 from 87 to 106 years, depending on the country. Based on that assumption, they expect that rising life expectancy will produce small but continuing population growth by the end of the projections, ranging from 0.03 to 0.07 percent annually. The hypothetical feasibility (and wide availability) of life extension by technological means would further contribute to long term (beyond 2100) population growth.


title: Projections of population growth

text: The table below shows that from 2020 to 2050, the bulk of the world's population growth is predicted to take place in Africa: of the additional 1.9 billion people projected between 2020 and 2050, 1.2 billion will be added in Africa, 0.7 billion in Asia and zero in the rest of the world. Africa's share of global population is projected to grow from 17% in 2020 to 26% in 2050 and 39% by 2100, while the share of Asia will fall from 59% in 2020 to 55% in 2050 and 43% in 2100. The strong growth of the African population will happen regardless of the rate of decrease of fertility, because of the exceptional proportion of young people already living today. For example, the UN projects that the population of Nigeria will surpass that of the United States by about 2050.


title: Projections of population growth

text: Thus the population of the More Developed regions is slated to remain mostly unchanged, at 1.3 billion for the remainder of the 21st century. All population growth comes from the Less Developed regions.


title: Projections of population growth

text: The UN projects that between 2020 and 2100 there will be declines in population growth in all six regions; that by 2100 three of them will be undergoing population decline, and the world will have reached zero population growth.


title: Projections of population growth

text: The UN Population Division has calculated the future population of the world's countries, based on current demographic trends. Current (2020) world population is 7.8 billion. The 2019 report projects world population in 2050 to be 9.7 billion people, and possibly as high as 11 billion by the next century, with the following estimates for the top 14 countries in 2020, 2050, and 2100:


title: Projections of population growth

text: From 2017 to 2050, the nine highlighted countries are expected to account for half of the world's projected population increase: India, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Tanzania, the United States, Uganda, and Indonesia, listed according to the expected size of their contribution to that projected population growth.


title: Projections of population growth

text: Large urban areas are hubs of economic development and innovation, with larger cities underpinning regional economies and local and global sustainability initiatives. Currently, 757 million humans live in the 101 largest cities; these cities are home to 11% of the world's population. By the end of the century, the world population is projected to grow, with estimates ranging from 6.9 billion to 13.1 billion; the percentage of people living in the 101 largest cities is estimated to be 15% to 23%.


title: Projections of population growth

text: The following 101 metropolitan areas with the largest population projections for the years 2025, 2050, 2075, and 2100, according to professors Daniel Hoornweg and Kevin Pope, are listed below.


title: Chungking Express

text: Chungking Express is a 1994 Hong Kong romantic crime comedy-drama film written and directed by Wong Kar-wai. The film consists of two stories told in sequence, each about a lovesick Hong Kong policeman mulling over his relationship with a woman. The first story stars Takeshi Kaneshiro as a cop obsessed by his breakup with a woman named May, and his encounter with a mysterious drug smuggler (Brigitte Lin). The second stars Tony Leung as a police officer roused from his gloom over the loss of his flight attendant girlfriend (Valerie Chow) by the attentions of a quirky snack bar worker (Faye Wong).


title: Chungking Express

text: "Chungking" in the title refers to Chungking Mansions in Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong, where Wong grew up in the 1960s. "Express" refers to the food stand Midnight Express, located in Lan Kwai Fong, an area in Central, Hong Kong.


title: Chungking Express

text: In 2022, the film appeared at number 88 on the decennial Sight and Sound critics' poll of the greatest films of all time.


title: Chungking Express

text: Taiwan-raised cop He Qiwu is dumped by his girlfriend named May on 1 April. To verify her earnestness in breaking up with him, Qiwu chooses to wait for a month. Every day he buys a tin of pineapples with an expiration date of 1 May, because May enjoyed pineapples and 1 May was his birthday. Meanwhile, a woman in a blonde wig tries to survive in the drug underworld after a smuggling operation goes sour.


title: Chungking Express

text: On 1 May, Qiwu approaches the woman in the blonde wig at the Bottoms Up Club. However, she is exhausted and falls asleep in a hotel room, leaving him to watch old films and order food. He shines her shoes before he leaves her sleeping on the bed. She leaves in the morning and shoots the drug baron who set her up. Qiwu goes jogging and receives a message from her on his pager wishing him a happy birthday. He visits his usual snack food store where he collides with a new staff member, Faye.


title: Chungking Express

text: Another police officer is also dealing with a breakup—with a flight attendant. Faye secretly falls for him. One day, the flight attendant visits the store and waits for the man. She learns he is on his day off and leaves a letter for him with the snack bar owner containing a set of keys to the officer's apartment.


title: Chungking Express

text: Faye tells him of the letter, but he delays reading it and asks the snack bar to keep it for him. Faye uses the keys to repeatedly enter the man's apartment to clean and redecorate. Gradually, her ploys help him cheer up. He finds Faye coming to his apartment and realises that she likes him; he arranges a date at a restaurant named California. Faye does not arrive, and the snack bar owner, her cousin, goes to the restaurant to tell him that Faye has left for the US state of California. She leaves him a boarding pass drawn on a paper napkin dated one year later.


title: Chungking Express

text: Faye, now a flight attendant, returns to Hong Kong. She finds that the man has bought the snack bar and is converting it into a restaurant. He asks her to stay for the grand opening, and asks her to send him a postcard if she leaves. As Faye is about to leave, he presents the boarding pass, wrinkled and water-stained, and she writes him a new one. She asks him where he wants the destination to be, to which he replies, "Wherever you will take me."


title: Chungking Express

text: Wong Kar-wai made "Chungking Express" during a two-month break from the editing of his wuxia film "Ashes of Time". He said "While I had nothing to do, I decided to make "Chungking Express" following my instincts," and that "After the very heavy stuff, heavily emphasized in "Ashes of Time", I wanted to make a very light, contemporary movie, but where the characters had the same problems." Originally, Wong envisioned the stories as similar but with contrasting settings: one in Hong Kong Island in daylight, and the other in Kowloon at night. He felt that "despite the difference, they are the same stories": one was about encountering love in the tight city, the other was about the keeping love without physical connection.


title: Chungking Express

text: The screenplay was not finished by the time filming began; Wong finished it when filming paused over New Year. He wrote the second story in a single day. He developed a third story, about a love-sick hitman, but as he felt it would make "Chungking Express" overlong, he produced it as a separate film, "Fallen Angels" (1995).


title: Chungking Express

text: Wong wanted to film in Tsim Sha Tsui, since he grew up in the area and felt a strong connection to it. He described it as "an area where the Chinese literally brush shoulders with westerners, and is uniquely Hong Kong." He was drawn to Chungking Mansion for its many lodgings, mix of cultures, and its significance as a crime hotspot; he felt that, as a "mass-populated and hyperactive place", it worked as a metaphor for Hong Kong itself.


title: Chungking Express

text: The director once talked about his inspiration by the works of Haruki Murakami. As an example, the original title of the film is "重慶森林", while the Chinese title of Haruki Murakami's "Norwegian Wood" (1987) is "挪威的森林".


title: Chungking Express

text: The second story was shot in Central, including Lan Kwai Fong, near a popular fast food shop called Midnight Express. "In this area, there are a lot of bars, a lot of foreign executives would hang out there after work," Wong remembers. The fast food shop is forever immortalized as the spot where Tony Leung and Faye Wong's characters met and became attracted to one another. Wong was also drawn to "the escalator from Central to the mid-levels. That interests me because no one has made a movie there. When we were scouting for locations we found the light there entirely appropriate." The apartment of Tony Leung's character was cinematographer Christopher Doyle's apartment at the time of filming.


title: Chungking Express

text: Wong narrates the story in a fragmented structure and connecting it through monologues. By looking at the pictures created by Wong, it can be clearly seen that the emotions and themes which are created by Wong.


title: Chungking Express

text: The film's marketing posters were designed by artist Stanley Wong, under his pseudonym "Another Mountain Man".


title: Chungking Express

text: The main recurring music for the first story is Dennis Brown's "Things in Life". The song "Baroque", composed by Michael Galasso, can be heard twice during the first part of the movie: during the opening and when Brigitte Lin's character takes the gun in the closer. This track does not appear on the soundtrack album, although three other tracks are similar to it: "Fornication in Space" (track 3), "Heartbreak" (track 8) and "Sweet Farewell" (track 9), played respectively on synth, guitar and piano.


title: Chungking Express

text: The song "California Dreamin'" by The Mamas & the Papas plays in the key scenes in the second story, which also features Faye Wong's Cantonese cover version of "Dreams" by The Cranberries, which is also played over the end credits (titled "Mung Zung Yan", it is also included in her 1994 album "Random Thoughts" while her next album, "Sky", includes a Mandarin cover).


title: Chungking Express

text: "California Dreamin'" is played numerous times as it is the favourite song of Faye Wong's character, which showed her aversion but desire of changes, and fits the theme of the second story. "What a Diff'rence a Day Made", performed by Dinah Washington, is played during a scene between Tony Leung and Valerie Chow's characters, as well as an encounter between Tony Leung and Faye Wong's characters later in the film.


title: Chungking Express

text: The film's soundtrack is also widely credited with introducing Dream Pop to the Hong-Kongese market. Bands featured in the soundtrack, including The Cranberries and Cocteau Twins saw significant commercial success in Hong Kong following the release of "Chungking Express", and contemporary Canto-pop stars such as Candy Lo began adopting a more dream-pop sound, such as in Lo's 1998 EP "Don’t Have to be… Too Perfect" and subsequent album "Miao...".


title: Chungking Express

text: On 8 March 1996, the film began a limited theatrical run in North America through Quentin Tarantino's Rolling Thunder distribution company under Miramax. The Region 1 DVD was distributed by Rolling Thunder as Tarantino is an admirer of Wong Kar-wai.


title: Chungking Express

text: "Chungking Express" was later released by The Criterion Collection on DVD and Blu-ray Disc in 2008, although both versions are now out of print. Criterion has since reclaimed the rights and the film is currently available on its streaming platform, the Criterion Channel (as of July 2022). In March 2021, the film was re-released in a new 4k-based version by Criterion as a part of their Blu-ray box set, "The World of Wong Kar Wai".


title: Chungking Express

text: "Chungking Express" earned HK$7,678,549 during its Hong Kong run. In the United States, opening on four screens, it grossed $32,779 ($8,194 per screen) in its opening weekend. Playing at 20 theatres at its widest point, it went on to gross $600,200 total.


title: Chungking Express

text: During its release in North America, "Chungking Express" drew generally positive, sometimes ecstatic reviews from critics. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 88% based on 65 reviews, and an average rating of 7.80/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Even if all it had to offer were writer-director Wong Kar-wai's thrillingly distinctive visuals, "Chungking Express" would be well worth watching; happily, its thoughtfully drawn characters and naturalistic performances also pack a potent dramatic wallop." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 78 out of 100 based on 18 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: Chungking Express

text: This is the kind of movie you'll relate to if you love film itself, rather than its surface aspects such as story and stars. It's not a movie for casual audiences, and it may not reveal all its secrets the first time through . . .


title: Chungking Express

text: If you are attentive to the style, if you think about what Wong is doing, "Chungking Express" works. If you're trying to follow the plot, you may feel frustrated ... When Godard was hot, in the 1960s and early 1970s, there was an audience for this style, but in those days, there were still film societies and repertory theaters to build and nourish such audiences. Many of today's younger filmgoers, fed only by the narrow selections at video stores, are not as curious or knowledgeable and may simply be puzzled by "Chungking Express" instead of challenged. It needs to be said, in any event, that a film like this is largely a cerebral experience: You enjoy it because of what you know about film, not because of what it knows about life.


title: Chungking Express

text: There is no mistaking Wong's talent. His hypnotic images of love and loss finally wear down your resistance as seemingly discordant sights and sounds coalesce into a radiant, crazy quilt that can make you laugh in awe at its technical wizardry in one scene and pierce your heart in the next.


title: Chungking Express

text: Mr. Wong has legitimate visual flair, but his characters spend an awful lot of time playing impish tricks. A film in which a man talks to his dishtowel has an overdeveloped sense of fun.


title: Chungking Express

text: In a 2002 poll published by "Sight and Sound" (the monthly magazine of the British Film Institute) asking fifty leading UK film critics to choose the ten best films from the previous 25 years, "Chungking Express" was placed at number eight. In the magazine's 2012 poll to find the most acclaimed films of all time, "Chungking Express" ranked 144. The film was included in "Time"s All-Time 100 best movies list in 2005. The film ranked 56th in BBC's 2018 list of The 100 greatest foreign language films voted by 209 film critics from 43 countries around the world.


title: Dee Bradley Baker

text: Dee Bradley Baker (born August 31, 1962) is an American voice actor. Much of Baker's work features vocalizations of animals and monsters. Baker's roles include animated series such as "", "", "Gravity Falls", "Steven Universe", "Phineas and Ferb", "Ben 10", "The Legend of Korra", "The 7D", and "American Dad!" His voice work in live-action series includes "Legends of the Hidden Temple" and "Shop 'til You Drop", as well as films such as "Space Jam" and "The Boxtrolls".


title: Dee Bradley Baker

text: Baker has also voiced characters in video games such as "Halo", "Gears of War", "Viewtiful Joe", "Spore", "Destiny", and "Overwatch". He is especially known for his work on various "Star Wars" television series, mainly as the voice of Captain Rex and other clone troopers in "", "", and "".


title: Dee Bradley Baker

text: Baker was born in Bloomington, Indiana, on August 31, 1962, He grew up in Greeley, Colorado. He started performing at the age of nine and steadily worked in musicals, operas, plays, and stand-up comedy. As a child, he was a fan of "Star Trek", "Star Wars", "Planet of the Apes", and the music of Frank Zappa; he also had an interest in insects, arthropods, and dinosaurs. He graduated from University High School in 1981 and received a Boettcher Scholarship.


title: Dee Bradley Baker

text: Baker attended Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he studied philosophy, biology, fine arts, and German, the last of which he studied overseas for a year at the University of Göttingen. He was involved in local theater productions and singing groups. After graduating with a BA in philosophy in 1986, he was involved in many community theater projects, including a sketch comedy movie that aired on local public television.


title: Dee Bradley Baker

text: In 1989, Baker moved to Orlando, Florida, where he worked on an improv sketch comedy show titled "The Anacomical Players" at EPCOT Center's Wonders of Life pavilion and joined various projects for Disney and Universal Studios. His first major experience on national television was on the Nickelodeon game show "Legends of the Hidden Temple" from 1993 to 1995, where he was not only the announcer, but also the giant talking rock-god Olmec. He portrayed Olmec with a "big, booming, loud, god-like voice". During parts of the show, he would narrate a legend, and then ask the kid contestants related trivia questions. The show lasted three seasons and 120 episodes. When host Kirk Fogg moved to Los Angeles, he was encouraged to move there as well. In 2016, he and Fogg reprised their roles for a live action television movie adaptation of the show. He reprised his role of Olmec again when Legends was revived in 2021 on The CW.


title: Dee Bradley Baker

text: Baker moved to Southern California about a year before the 1994 Northridge earthquake. He got involved in voice-over work; his first major character was Cow & Chicken's dad in the "Cow & Chicken" and "I Am Weasel" cartoons. His first feature film voice-over was on the basketball-themed "Looney Tunes" film "Space Jam" where he voiced Daffy Duck, Taz and Toro. He did voice work for various episodic and recurring cartoon characters in "The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest", "Johnny Bravo", "Dexter's Laboratory", "SpongeBob SquarePants", and "The Powerpuff Girls". He voiced starring characters Og in "Mike, Lu & Og" and Bagheera in the second season of "Jungle Cubs". In 2001, he added voice roles for Sanjay, Binky and other characters for "The Fairly OddParents" and co-starred as Mandy's father on "Billy and Mandy". He had a lead role as in "".


title: Dee Bradley Baker

text: On the live-action front, he became the co-host and announcer for the game show "Shop 'til You Drop" which spanned several hundred episodes when it resumed broadcasting on the Family Channel and on the Pax television network, until a series retool in 2003; it was produced by Stone Stanley Entertainment, which had earlier co-produced "Legends of the Hidden Temple". He also had an on-screen recurring role as Phil Berg in the Nickelodeon sitcom series "The Journey of Allen Strange" where he plays a crazed journalist who tries to expose Allen's identity as a space alien.


title: Dee Bradley Baker

text: Starting with gigs on "The Wild Thornberrys", he voiced an assortment of animal characters, which would become one of his specialties. He voiced Pig George in the live action animal film "My Brother the Pig". Baker has also been involved with television shows for younger children including: "Dora the Explorer" where he provided animal sounds; "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" where he voices Boo Boo Chicken; "Curious George" where he voices Gnocchi; "My Friends Tigger & Pooh" where he voices Buster the dog and "Jake and the Neverland Pirates" (airing on Disney Junior) where he voices Tick-Tock the crocodile. In "" where he voiced the creatures Appa and and would soon voice many other creatures in the series as well as its sequel, "The Legend of Korra", where he voices Naga, Pabu and Oogi. He voiced in the "" and "Ben 10" series, the latter of which he voiced many alien creatures such as Stinkfly and Wildmutt, as well as some of the transformations. He also voiced in the "Ben 10" sequels such as "", "" and "", as well as its live-action adaptations and the show's reboot. Derrick J. Wyatt, who was the art director for "Omniverse", noted that they had to allow other voice actors to do some of the aliens in the later series because Baker was doing almost all of them and some of the characters were putting a strain on his throat. Outside of television, he provided the voice of Captain Jack Sparrow's talking parrot in the refurbished "Pirates of the Caribbean" rides at Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom.


title: Dee Bradley Baker

text: In 2007, Baker got the role of Perry the Platypus in the Disney series "Phineas and Ferb". At the San Diego Comic-Con 2013 panel, Baker mentioned that when he auditioned, he was asked to provide three different creature sounds, regardless of whether it actually sounded like a platypus, of which one was selected as Perry's characteristic sound. Perry has become a breakout character for the series, with Baker appearing at multiple Comic-Con panels for the show. In 2014, Perry was nominated for a Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award for Best Animal Sidekick. Coincidentally, another one of Baker's voiced characters, Waddles the pet pig in "Gravity Falls", was nominated for the same category.


title: Dee Bradley Baker

text: In 2005, Baker landed a role as Klaus Heisler, an Olympic ski jumper from Germany who was body-swapped into a goldfish, in the primetime cartoon sitcom "American Dad!" The series has run for over 15 seasons on Fox and TBS. In an interview with "Pop Break", Baker said that he liked playing Klaus because he loves the German language, the part was well written, and it is not stressful on his voice. He compared the rehearsals to being on "The Carol Burnett Show". He participated in "American Dad" panels at San Diego Comic-Con 2010 2012, and 2014; and the New York Comic-Con in 2014. In 2017, he received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance for Klaus in the episode "Fight or Flight".


title: Dee Bradley Baker

text: His voicing of council member Tarrlok in "Korra" garnered a nomination for the Behind the Voice Actors (BTVA) Voice Acting Award in 2012. In addition to television shows, Baker voiced characters in many animated and live action animation films, including some of the classic ghost monsters in "", and Maurice in "Happy Feet". He also had roles in the "Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated" TV series and its direct-to-video releases.


title: Dee Bradley Baker

text: Baker was involved in the "" film released in 2008 and afterwards which ran for seven seasons. He provided the voices for not only the characters Captain Rex and Commander Cody, but also all the supporting clone troopers, the last of which he received an Annie Award nomination for Voice Acting in a Television Production in 2012. He has also reprised the role of the of Captain Rex in "Star Wars Rebels", beginning with its second season. He also provided the voice of Boba Fett for "Star Tours – The Adventures Continue". In the 2011 "Family Guy" episode "It's a Trap!", a parody of the "Star Wars" film "Return of the Jedi", he voiced Klaus as Admiral Ackbar. In 2021, he reprised the role of the clones in the "Clone Wars" spin-off , including the titular group of experimental clones.


title: Dee Bradley Baker

text: In the video game world, Baker reprised his roles in Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon's multitude of show-related game releases. He also voiced Gravemind in "Halo 2" and "Halo 3," and the title character Joe in the "Viewtiful Joe" series released from 2003 to 2005. He provided the creature sounds for the "Spore" video game which allows players to create and evolve their own creatures. At San Diego Comic-Con 2008's opening night, he was a featured performer at the "Video Games Live" concert, where he voiced characters from "Gears of War" and other series. He provided voices for two Blizzard Entertainment characters – Murky, a baby murloc in "Heroes of the Storm," and Hammond, a genetically engineered hamster in "Overwatch." He is also the voice of the Death in "Dante's Inferno", released in 2010, and Atlas and P-body in "Portal 2", released in 2011.


title: Dee Bradley Baker

text: In 2014, Baker continued participating in "American Dad", "Gravity Falls", and a fourth season of "The Legend of Korra". He voiced Dopey in the Disney XD series "The 7D"; and Fish, Wheels and Bucket in "The Boxtrolls" film, in which he was nominated for an Annie Award for voicing Fish. In the "" video game, he voiced Brainiac. He voiced George Clooney and his dog in "The Animated Episode" of the TV Land series "Hot in Cleveland". In 2020, he voiced the hero Leef in "Rocket Arena".


title: Dee Bradley Baker

text: Baker has appeared on various panels at Comic-Con and other conventions where he talks about voice acting in general. He also created a website called IWantToBeAVoiceActor.com, where he answers frequently-asked questions about voice acting and gives advice. The site has been cited by fellow voice actors Steven Blum and Rob Paulsen as a valuable resource for getting into voice acting.


title: Dee Bradley Baker

text: Baker met his wife when they were doing children's theatre at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. They married in 1990, and have two daughters. They live in Los Angeles.


title: Dee Bradley Baker

text: Outside of voice acting, Baker enjoys photography, mostly taking pictures of small flowers and insects. He is fluent in German.


title: Flashdance

text: Flashdance is a 1983 American romantic drama dance film directed by Adrian Lyne and starring Jennifer Beals as a passionate young dancer who aspires to become a professional ballerina (Alex), alongside Michael Nouri playing her boyfriend and the owner of the steel mill where she works by day in Pittsburgh. It was the first collaboration of producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, and the presentation of some sequences in the style of music videos was an influence on other 1980s films including "Footloose", "Purple Rain", and "Top Gun", Simpson and Bruckheimer's most famous production. It was also one of Lyne's first major film releases, building on television commercials. Alex's elaborate dance sequences were shot using body doubles (Beals's main double was the uncredited French actress Marine Jahan, while a breakdance move was doubled by the male dancer Crazy Legs).


title: Flashdance

text: The film opened to negative reviews by professional critics, including Roger Ebert, who panned it as "great sound and flashdance, signifying nothing" (and eventually placed it on his "most hated" list). It was a surprise box-office success, becoming the third-highest-grossing film of 1983 in the United States. Its worldwide box-office gross exceeded $200 million. The soundtrack, compiled by Giorgio Moroder, spawned several hit songs, including "Maniac" (performed by Michael Sembello), and the Academy Award–winning "Flashdance... What a Feeling", which was written for the film by Moroder, with lyrics by Keith Forsey and the singer Irene Cara. "Flashdance" is also often remembered for its film poster featuring Beals sporting a sweatshirt with a large neck hole (according to the actress, her look in the scene came about by accident after she simply cut a large hole at the top of one that had shrunk in the wash).


title: Flashdance

text: Alexandra "Alex" Owens (Jennifer Beals) is an eighteen-year-old welder at a steel mill in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who lives with her dog, Grunt, in a converted warehouse. She aspires to become a professional dancer, but has no formal dance training and works as a nightly cabaret performer at Mawby's, a neighborhood bar and grill.


title: Flashdance

text: Lacking family, Alex bonds with her coworkers at Mawby's, some of whom also aspire to greater artistic achievements. Jeanie (Sunny Johnson), a waitress, is training to be a figure skater, while her boyfriend, short-order cook Richie (Kyle T. Heffner), hopes to become a stand-up comic.


title: Flashdance

text: One night, Alex catches the eye of customer Nick Hurley (Michael Nouri), the owner of the steel mill where she works. After learning that Alex is one of his employees, Nick pursues her on the job, though Alex turns down his advances. Alex is also approached by Johnny C. (Lee Ving), who wants her to dance at his nearby strip club, Zanzibar.