title: Stormy Daniels

text: Daniels has appeared with performers such as Randy Spears, Julian and Brendon Miller, to whom she was married and who edited about half of her movies. Daniels was inducted into the AVN Hall of Fame on January 18, 2014, and was inducted into the XRCO Hall of Fame on April 16, 2014. Her directorial work that year earned fourteen AVN Award nominations including a nomination for Best Safe Sex Scene for her performance with Brendon Miller in François Clousot's "First Crush".


title: Stormy Daniels

text: In 2018, Daniels toured strip clubs as part of a "Make America Horny Again" tour. She was given the key to the city of West Hollywood, California, on "Stormy Daniels Day", May 23, 2018. Daniels was named to host the 2019 XBIZ Awards.


title: Stormy Daniels

text: Daniels appeared in an episode of "Real Sex" where she is seen participating in 2001 Miss Nude Great Plains Contest. She appeared in "Pornucopia" in 2004. In early 2007, she appeared in "Dirt" on the FX Network, where she played a stripper who helps to set up a basketball player played by Rick Fox. Later in 2007, Daniels appeared in Maroon 5's music video for their song "Wake Up Call" as a pole dancer. She appears in the film "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" (2005), when the main character (Steve Carell) watches her in the video "Space Nuts: Episode 69—Unholy Union" and then tries dreaming about her. She appears in the film "Knocked Up" (2007) as a lap dancer. She appeared on "Saturday Night Live" as herself on May 5, 2018. She appeared as a model in artist Nika Nesgoda's 2002 photographic series "Virgin", portraying the Virgin Mary.


title: Stormy Daniels

text: In 2018, there was wide speculation that Daniels would be a housemate on "Celebrity Big Brother 22" in the United Kingdom. Despite the reports, Daniels did not enter the house on launch night.


title: Stormy Daniels

text: Speculation about her absence included demands for more money, a legal affair involving her husband, and a desire to spend time with her daughter. Her attorney Michael Avenatti told the Press Association that Daniels was in fact set to enter the house, but producers attempted to manipulate her into acting a certain way.


title: Stormy Daniels

text: A "Big Brother" statement read: "Stormy Daniels was booked to appear on the show several months ago and hours before the show was due to go live, informed the production team that she no longer wished to enter the house as previously agreed. Producers discussed a variety of options with her but were unable to agree any acceptable conditions for her entering the house. Our focus is now on making a brilliant series with our fantastic celebrities."


title: Stormy Daniels

text: Daniels said that she offered to appear on the show during the live launch to explain her absence, but was turned down by producers.


title: Stormy Daniels

text: On the August 17 edition of spin-off show "Big Brother's Bit on the Side", host Rylan Clark-Neal explained that just five hours before the first live show, Daniels said she only wanted to appear on launch night and then leave. "Big Brother" tried to negotiate a compromise, but nothing came of it. Clark-Neal also insisted that money was not a factor and there was no attempt from producers to try to manipulate her to achieve a specific outcome.


title: Stormy Daniels

text: A group of fans attempted to recruit Daniels to run against Republican senator David Vitter in Louisiana in 2010. The recruitment process was centered around the website DraftStormy.com. On May 21, 2009, she formed an exploratory committee, initially inspired by revelations about "Vitter's connections to a prostitution ring".<ref name="Condon_4/6/2010"></ref> In August 2009, her campaign manager's car was blown up, although no one was in the car at that time.


title: Stormy Daniels

text: In April 2010, Daniels finally declared herself a Republican candidate. Her decision was inspired by disclosures that the Republican National Committee (RNC) had paid expenses for fundraisers at a "lesbian bondage themed nightclub" in Los Angeles, stating that the revelations "finally tipped the scales". She explained that the RNC's use of party funds for sex convinced her that Republicans represented her libertarian values best: Daniels said she has been a registered Democrat throughout her life, "But now I cannot help but recognize that over time my libertarian values regarding both money and sex and the legal use of one for the other is now best espoused by the Republican Party."


title: Stormy Daniels

text: She made several listening tours around Louisiana to focus on the economy, as well as women in business and child protection and stated that if elected, she would likely retire from the adult industry. On April 15, 2010, she announced that she would not be running for Senate, saying she could not afford a run for the Senate seat and stating that the media never took her candidacy seriously.


title: Stormy Daniels

text: Daniels was married to Pat Myne from 2003 to 2005, and took his legal surname "Clifford". She was married to Michael Mosny (screen name "Mike Moz") from 2007 to 2009. She was arrested in July 2009 pertaining to a domestic violence charge by Mosny. She married Glendon Crain in 2010; they have a daughter. Crain filed for divorce in July 2018.


title: Stormy Daniels

text: Daniels has been fond of horses her entire life; she owns several and has won multiple blue ribbons at equestrian events.


title: Stormy Daniels

text: In October 2016, shortly before the presidential election, Donald Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 in hush money to deny that she had an affair with Trump a decade earlier in 2006.<ref name="Rothfeld_Palazzolo_1/12/2018"></ref><ref name="Prokop_1/12/2018"></ref> Trump's spokespeople have denied the affair and accused Daniels of lying. On behalf of his client, Cohen denied the existence of an affair between Trump and Daniels,<ref name="Stern_Snow_1/12/2018"></ref> but he later stated: "In a private transaction in 2016, I used my own personal funds to facilitate a payment of $130,000 to Ms. Stephanie Clifford."


title: Stormy Daniels

text: On March 6, 2018, Daniels filed a lawsuit against Trump. She said that the non-disclosure agreement that she had signed in reference to the alleged affair was invalid because Trump had never personally signed it. The suit also alleges that Trump's attorney had been trying to intimidate Daniels and "scare her into not talking". A day later, Cohen initiated an ex parte arbitration process which resulted in an order that barred Daniels from disclosing "confidential information" related to the non-disclosure agreement. The order itself, which Daniels' lawyers called bogus, was supposed to remain confidential.


title: Stormy Daniels

text: In a March 25, 2018, interview with "60 Minutes", Daniels said that she and Trump had sex once, and that later she had been threatened in front of her infant daughter and felt pressured to later sign a non-disclosure agreement.


title: Stormy Daniels

text: On April 9, 2018, FBI agents raided Cohen's office and seized emails, tax documents and business records relating to several matters, including payments to Daniels.


title: Stormy Daniels

text: On April 30, 2018, Daniels filed a lawsuit against Trump on libel charges because he called her statements "fraud". It related to Trump's statements on Twitter saying that Daniels had invented the story of the man who threatened her after she decided to tell journalists about their affair. In October 2018, the suit was dismissed on First Amendment grounds, and Daniels lost her appeal in August 2020.


title: Stormy Daniels

text: In August 2018, Cohen reached a plea deal with prosecutors, saying he paid off Daniels "at the direction of the ... candidate" and "for the principal purpose of influencing the election". In September 2018, Cohen offered to invalidate the non-disclosure agreement with Daniels if she would refund the $130,000 Cohen's company paid to her. Lawyers for Trump have declared that Trump will neither enforce the non-disclosure agreement nor contest Daniels' claim that it is invalid.


title: Stormy Daniels

text: On July 12, 2018, Daniels was arrested in Columbus, Ohio, by undercover vice cops in a sting operation. Authorities accused her of "fondling" patrons and police officers in violation of Ohio strip club law. While Daniels was booked into the county jail, two other female adult entertainers who were arrested at the club for the same alleged violations were given summonses to appear in court and (unlike Daniels) did not have their mugshots taken. Daniels retained Columbus defense lawyer Chase Mallory, who worked with prosecutors to dismiss the charges less than 12 hours later, saying that the law did not apply to out-of-town performers.


title: Stormy Daniels

text: Daniels' personal attorney, Michael Avenatti, vowed to sue the local police on the grounds that the arrest was politically motivated. It was later revealed that the lead detective on the vice squad in charge of the arrest was a supporter of Donald Trump. Emails belonging to another vice squad detective who made the arrest reportedly showed that days before Daniels arrived in Columbus, the detective had already obtained pictures/videos of Daniels and the location of her planned performance.


title: Stormy Daniels

text: A day after the arrest, the Columbus police chief declared that "a mistake was made" during the arrest, as "one element of the law was missed in error." In January 2019, Daniels filed suit in federal court against the City of Columbus, alleging police were politically motivated when they arrested her and seeking $2 million in damages. In March 2019, an internal police investigation found that Daniels' arrest by the four undercover officers was improper, but not premeditated or political in nature. In August 2019, Columbus Division of Police interim chief Tom Quinlan announced that five Columbus police officers faced departmental punishment for their roles in the arrest for violating rules of conduct. In September 2019, the parties agreed to settle the federal lawsuit, with Daniels receiving $450,000 in compensation.


title: The Good Nurse

text: The Good Nurse is a 2022 American drama film, starring Jessica Chastain and Eddie Redmayne, about Amy Loughren, a night nurse, who suspects that her co-worker is the serial killer Charles Cullen. The film is based on by Charles Graeber. It is directed by Tobias Lindholm and written by Krysty Wilson-Cairns. The film also stars Nnamdi Asomugha, Kim Dickens, and Noah Emmerich.


title: The Good Nurse

text: "The Good Nurse" had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 11, 2022, and was released in select cinemas on October 19, 2022, before its streaming release on October 26, 2022, by Netflix. The film received positive reviews from critics, with praise towards to Chastain and Redmayne's performance.


title: The Good Nurse

text: In 2003, Amy Loughren is a single mother and nurse working in the intensive care unit (ICU) at Parkfield Memorial Hospital in New Jersey, who is suffering from cardiomyopathy, unbeknownst to anyone at the hospital, and fears dismissal. Due to having no health insurance, Amy has no other choice than to remain working for another four months, in order to acquire the insurance to afford a heart transplant. The hospital recruits experienced nurse Charles Cullen to help her work the night shifts, and they quickly become good friends. Charlie discovers her condition and empathetically agrees to keep it a secret.


title: The Good Nurse

text: When an elderly patient named Ana Martinez, who was being looked after by Amy and Charlie, suddenly dies, the hospital's administrative board contacts the state police, represented by detectives Danny Baldwin and Tim Braun. However, the board, led by risk manager Linda Garran, quickly downplays it, claiming the death was unintentional and that the reason for reporting it was simply to abide by health protocol. Baldwin is immediately wary of the situation, noting they reported Martinez's death seven weeks after its occurrence after the body had been cremated. He fixates on Charlie and discovers he had been convicted of minor charges in 1995. They question Amy who notices that insulin had been administered to Martinez, demonstrated by her decreased C peptide levels, despite her being a non-diabetic. She is questioned about Charlie's character but Amy is quick to challenge them.


title: The Good Nurse

text: Baldwin and Braun attempt to contact the hospitals where Charlie had worked previously but none are willing to cooperate. Parkfield finally shares its investigation with the police, but Baldwin notices that it is fragmentary, leading him to snap at Garran, causing him and Braun to be banned from the hospital. Meanwhile, after Kelly Anderson, another ICU patient suffers a seizure and inexplicably dies, Amy discovers insulin had also been administered to her the night before. Suspicious, she contacts an old friend, Lori, a fellow nurse who worked with Charlie at a different hospital. Lori reveals that during Charlie's employment, the ward he was assigned to dealt with numerous sudden deaths, with the discovery of insulin in several of them. Shocked, Amy raids Parkfield's storage, discovering holes in several IV bags, indicating they had been contaminated. During her discovery, she collapses and ends up in the ER.


title: The Good Nurse

text: Finally convinced of Charlie's complicity, she alerts the detectives. They convince Kelly's husband to exhume her body in order to perform an autopsy; it reveals a dual combination of insulin and digoxin led to her death. Meanwhile, Garran fires Charlie under the pretext of minor discrepancies found in his résumé. In an attempt to entice Charlie into disclosing his actions, Baldwin and Braun have Amy arrange a meeting with him, but he reacts aggressively when she asks about his dismissal from Parkfield.


title: The Good Nurse

text: The police arrest and hold him, but are unable to get him to confess on record. Unwilling to see him released, Amy volunteers to talk to Charlie; she has a warm conversation with him, and asks that he tells the truth. After some deliberation, Charlie confesses, stating that he simply "did it". When Amy asks why, he says, "Because they didn't stop me."


title: The Good Nurse

text: A textual epilogue reveals Charlie was sentenced to 18 consecutive life sentences for the murders of 29 patients, but that the actual number could be as high as 400. Amy underwent the heart surgery she needed, and now lives in Florida with her daughters and grandchildren.


title: The Good Nurse

text: The film was announced in November 2016, with Tobias Lindholm set to direct and Krysty Wilson-Cairns writing the screenplay adapting Charles Graeber's 2013 non-fiction book "". Lionsgate was initially set to distribute. In August 2018, Jessica Chastain and Eddie Redmayne entered negotiations to star in the film.


title: The Good Nurse

text: No further development on the film was announced until February 2020. Chastain and Redmayne were confirmed to star, with Lionsgate no longer involved. Netflix entered negotiations to buy the film's worldwide distribution rights for $25 million.


title: The Good Nurse

text: In March 2021, Nnamdi Asomugha was added to the cast, with Noah Emmerich and Kim Dickens joining in April.


title: The Good Nurse

text: "The Good Nurse" was the most-viewed film on Netflix on October 27, 2022, the day after its release. In its first week, it debuted at number one on Netflix's Top 10 with 68.31 million viewing hours with it being Top 10 in 93 countries. The next week, it dropped to second, behind "Enola Holmes 2", having received 36.78 million viewing hours.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: USS "Iowa" (BB-61) is a retired battleship, the lead ship of her class, and the fourth in the United States Navy to be named after the state of Iowa. Owing to the cancellation of the s, "Iowa" is the last lead ship of any class of United States battleships and was the only ship of her class to serve in the Atlantic Ocean during World War II.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: During World War II, she carried President Franklin D. Roosevelt across the Atlantic to Mers El Kébir, Algeria, en route to a conference of vital importance in 1943 in Tehran with Prime Minister Winston Churchill of the United Kingdom and Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union. When transferred to the Pacific Fleet in 1944, "Iowa" shelled beachheads at Kwajalein and Eniwetok in advance of Allied amphibious landings and screened aircraft carriers operating in the Marshall Islands. She also served as the Third Fleet flagship, flying Admiral William F. Halsey's flag at the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: During the Korean War, "Iowa" was involved in raids on the North Korean coast, after which she was decommissioned into the United States Navy reserve fleets, better known as the "mothball fleet." She was reactivated in 1984 as part of the 600-ship Navy plan and operated in both the Atlantic and Pacific Fleets to counter the recently expanded Soviet Navy. In April 1989, an explosion of undetermined origin wrecked her No. 2 gun turret, killing 47 sailors.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: "Iowa" was decommissioned for the last time in October 1990 after 19 total years of active service, and was initially stricken from the Naval Vessel Register (NVR) in 1995, before being reinstated from 1999 to 2006 to comply with federal laws that required retention and maintenance of two "Iowa"-class battleships. In 2011 "Iowa" was donated to the Los Angeles–based non-profit Pacific Battleship Center and was permanently moved to Berth 87 at the Port of Los Angeles in 2012, where she was opened to the public as the USS "Iowa" Museum.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: Ordered in July 1939, USS "Iowa" was laid down at New York Naval Shipyard in June 1940. She was launched on 27 August 1942, sponsored by Ilo Wallace (wife of Vice President Henry Wallace), and commissioned on 22 February 1943 with Captain John L. McCrea in command.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: USS "Iowa"s main battery consisted of nine /50 caliber Mark 7 guns, which could fire armor-piercing shells . Her secondary battery consisted of twenty /38 cal guns in twin mounts, which could fire at targets up to away. With the advent of air power and the need to gain and maintain air superiority came a need to protect the growing fleet of Allied aircraft carriers; to this end, "Iowa" was fitted with an array of Oerlikon 20 mm and Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft guns to defend Allied carriers from enemy airstrikes.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: On 24 February 1943, "Iowa" put to sea for a shakedown cruise in the Chesapeake Bay and along the Atlantic coast. She got underway on 27 August for Argentia, Newfoundland, to counter the threat of the German battleship which was reportedly operating in Norwegian waters, before returning to the United States on 25 October for two weeks of maintenance at the Norfolk Navy Yard.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: In November 1943, "Iowa" carried President Roosevelt, Secretary of State Cordell Hull, Roosevelt's Chief of Staff Admiral William D. Leahy, Chief of Staff of the Army General George C. Marshall, Chief of Naval Operations Ernest King, Commanding General of the US Army Air Forces Henry "Hap" Arnold, Harry Hopkins, and other military leaders to Mers El Kébir, Algeria, on the first leg of the journey to the Tehran Conference. Among the vessels escorting "Iowa" on this trip was the destroyer which was involved in several mishaps, the most serious of which involved a torpedo drill which went awry when a torpedo from "William D. Porter" discharged from its tube and headed toward "Iowa." On being warned, "Iowa" turned hard to avoid being hit by the torpedo and the torpedo detonated in the ship's wake. "Iowa" was undamaged and trained her main guns on "William D. Porter", concerned that the smaller ship may have been involved in some sort of assassination plot.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: "Iowa" completed her presidential escort mission on 16 December by returning the President to the United States. Roosevelt addressed the crew of "Iowa" prior to leaving by stating, "... from all I have seen and all I have heard, the "Iowa" is a 'happy ship,' and having served with the Navy for many years, I know—and you know—what that means." He also touched on the progress made at the conference before concluding his address with "... good luck, and remember that I am with you in spirit, each and every one of you."


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: As flagship of Battleship Division 7 (BatDiv 7), "Iowa" departed the United States on 2 January 1944 for the Pacific Ocean, transiting the Panama Canal on 7 January in advance of her combat debut in the campaign for the Marshall Islands. From 29 January to 3 February, she supported carrier air strikes made by Rear Admiral Frederick C. Sherman's Task Group 58.3 (TG 58.3) against Kwajalein and Eniwetok atolls. Her next assignment was to support air strikes against the major Japanese naval and logistics base at Truk, Caroline Islands. "Iowa", in company with other ships, was detached from the support group on 16 February 1944 to conduct an anti-shipping sweep around Truk, with the objective of destroying enemy naval vessels escaping to the north. During this action, "Iowa", along with her sister "New Jersey", sank the Japanese light cruiser , the cruiser having escaped Truk the day before following Operation Hailstone, the US air attack on Truk.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: On 21 February, she was underway with the Fast Carrier Task Force (alternatively designated TF 38 while with 3rd Fleet and TF 58 while with 5th Fleet) while it conducted the first strikes against Saipan, Tinian, Rota, and Guam in the Mariana Islands.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: On 18 March 1944, "Iowa", flying the flag of Vice Admiral Willis A. Lee (Commander, Battleships, Pacific), joined in the bombardment of Mili Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Although struck by two Japanese projectiles, "Iowa" suffered negligible damage. She then rejoined TF 58 on 30 March, and supported air strikes against the Palau Islands and Woleai of the Carolines for several days.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: From 22 to 28 April, "Iowa" supported air raids on Hollandia (now known as Jayapura), Aitape, and Wake Islands to support Army forces on Aitape and at Tanahmerah and Humboldt Bays in New Guinea. She then joined the Task Force's second strike on Truk, on 29 and 30 April, and bombarded Japanese facilities on Ponape in the Carolines on 1 May.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: In the opening phases of the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign, "Iowa" protected the American carriers during air strikes on the islands of Saipan, Tinian, Guam, Rota, and Pagan Island on 12 June. "Iowa" was then detached to bombard enemy installations on Saipan and Tinian on 13–14 June, which resulted in the destruction of a Japanese ammunition dump. On 19 June, in an engagement known as the Battle of the Philippine Sea, "Iowa", as part of the battle line of TF 58, helped repel four massive air raids launched by the Japanese Middle Fleet. This resulted in the almost complete destruction of Japanese carrier-based air-forces, with "Iowa" claiming the destruction of three enemy aircraft. "Iowa" then joined in the pursuit of the fleeing enemy fleet, shooting down one torpedo plane and assisting in splashing another.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: Throughout July, "Iowa" remained off the Marianas supporting air strikes on the Palaus and landings on Guam. After a month's rest, "Iowa" sailed from Eniwetok as part of the Third Fleet, and helped support the landings on Peleliu on 17 September. She then protected the carriers during air strikes against the Central Philippines to neutralize enemy air power for the long-awaited invasion of the Philippines. On 10 October, "Iowa" arrived off Okinawa for a series of air strikes on the Ryukyu Islands and Formosa. She then supported air strikes against Luzon on 18 October and continued this duty during General Douglas MacArthur's landing on Leyte on 20 October.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: In a last-ditch attempt to halt the United States campaign to recapture the Philippines, the Imperial Japanese Navy struck back with "Shō-Gō" 1, a three-pronged attack aimed at the destruction of American amphibious forces in Leyte Gulf. The plan called for Vice-Admiral Jisaburō Ozawa to use the surviving Japanese carriers as bait to draw US carriers of TF 38 away from the Philippine beachheads, allowing Imperial Japanese Admirals Takeo Kurita, Kiyohide Shima, and Shōji Nishimura to take surface task forces through the San Bernardino Strait and Surigao Strait, where they would rendezvous and attack the US beachheads. "Iowa" accompanied TF 38 during attacks against the Japanese Central Force under the command of Admiral Kurita as it steamed through the Sibuyan Sea toward San Bernardino Strait. The reported results of these attacks and the apparent retreat of the Japanese Central Force led Admiral William "Bull" Halsey to believe that this force had been ruined as an effective fighting group; as a result, "Iowa", with TF 38, steamed after the Japanese Northern Force off Cape Engaño, Luzon. On 25 October 1944, when the ships of the Northern Force were almost within range of "Iowa"s guns, word arrived that the Japanese Central Force was attacking a group of American escort carriers off Samar. This threat to the American beachheads forced TF 38 to reverse course and steam to support the vulnerable escort carrier fleet, but fierce resistance by the 7th Fleet in the Battle off Samar had already caused the Japanese to retire and "Iowa" was denied a surface action. Following the Battle of Leyte Gulf, "Iowa" remained in the waters off the Philippines screening carriers during strikes against Luzon and Formosa. She sailed for the West Coast late in December 1944.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: On 18 December, the ships of TF 38 unexpectedly found themselves in a fight for their lives when Typhoon Cobra overtook the force—7 fleet carriers, 6 light carriers, 8 battleships, 15 cruisers, and about 50 destroyers—during their attempt to refuel at sea. At the time, the ships were operating about east of Luzon in the Philippine Sea. The carriers had just completed three days of heavy raids against Japanese airfields, suppressing enemy aircraft during the American amphibious operations against Mindoro in the Philippines. The task force rendezvoused with Captain Jasper T. Acuff and his fueling group on 17 December with the intention of refueling all ships in the task force and replacing lost aircraft.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: Although the sea had been growing rougher all day, the nearby cyclonic disturbance gave relatively little warning of its approach. On 18 December, the small but violent typhoon overtook the task force while many of the ships were attempting to refuel. Many of the vessels were caught near the center of the storm and buffeted by extreme seas and hurricane-force winds. Three destroyers—, , and —capsized and sank with nearly all hands, while a cruiser, five aircraft carriers, and three destroyers suffered serious damage. Approximately 790 officers and men were lost or killed, with another 80 injured. Fires occurred in three carriers when planes broke loose in their hangars, and some 146 planes on various ships were swept overboard or damaged beyond economical repair by fires or impacts. "Iowa" reported zero injured sailors as a result of the typhoon, but suffered a loss of one of her float planes, and damage to one of her shafts. The damaged shaft required "Iowa" to return to the US, and she arrived at San Francisco on 15 January 1945, for repairs. During the course of the overhaul "Iowa" had her bridge area enclosed, and was outfitted with new search radars and fire-control systems.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: "Iowa" sailed on 19 March 1945 for Okinawa, arriving on 15 April to relieve her sister ship . From 24 April, "Iowa" supported carrier operations which aimed to establish and maintain air superiority for ground forces during their struggle for the island. She then supported air strikes off southern Kyūshū from 25 May to 13 June. Afterward, she sailed toward northern Honshū and Hokkaidō, and participated in strikes on the Japanese home islands on 14–15 July by bombarding Muroran, Hokkaidō, destroying steel mills and other targets. The city of Hitachi on Honshū was shelled beginning the night of 17 July and lasting to 18 July. On 29 and 30 July, "Iowa" trained her guns on Kahoolawe for a bombardment and continued to support fast carrier strikes until the cessation of hostilities on 15 August.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: On 27 August, "Iowa" and her sister ship entered Sagami Bay to oversee the surrender of the Yokosuka Naval Arsenal. Two days later, she entered Tokyo Bay with the occupation forces. Here, a number of sailors from "Missouri" were temporarily stationed on "Iowa" for the duration of the surrender ceremony which took place aboard "Missouri". After serving as Admiral Halsey's flagship for the surrender ceremony on 2 September, "Iowa" remained in the bay as part of the occupying force. As part of the ongoing Operation Magic Carpet, she received homeward bound GIs and liberated US prisoners of war before departing Tokyo Bay on 20 September, bound for the United States.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: "Iowa" arrived in Seattle, Washington, on 15 October 1945, then sailed for Long Beach, California, where she engaged in training operations until returning to Japan in 1946 to serve as flagship for the 5th Fleet. She returned to the United States on 25 March 1946 and resumed her role as a training ship. During her usual routine of drills and maneuvers she also embarked Naval Reserve elements and midshipmen for training. In October, "Iowa" underwent a period of overhaul and modernization, which resulted in the addition of the SK-2 Radar and the loss of a number of 20 mm and 40 mm gun mounts. In July, following the Bikini atomic experiments, the old battleship was selected as a target for a live fire exercise to be carried out by "Iowa" and other sea and air assets of the navy. The exercise began with separate shellings from a destroyer, heavy cruiser, and "Iowa", but this did not sink the ship, and so "Nevada" was finished off with one aerial torpedo hit amidships, sinking her from Pearl Harbor on 31 July 1948. In September 1948, as part of the post World War II drawdown of the armed forces, "Iowa" was deactivated at San Francisco, and then formally decommissioned into the United States Navy reserve fleets on 24 March 1949.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: In 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea, prompting the United Nations to authorize military intervention. President Harry S. Truman ordered US forces stationed in Japan to transfer to South Korea. Truman also sent US based troops, tanks, fighter and bomber aircraft, and a strong naval force to the area to support South Korea. As part of the naval mobilization, "Iowa" was reactivated on 14 July 1951, and formally recommissioned on 25 August, with Captain William R. Smedberg III, in command. "Iowa" sailed for Korean waters in March 1952. On 1 April she relieved her sister ship and became the flagship of Vice Admiral Robert P. Briscoe, Commander of the Seventh Fleet. In her first combat operation of the Korean War, "Iowa" fired her main guns near Wonsan–Sŏngjin on 8 April 1952, with the goal of striking North Korean supply lines. In the company of other naval vessels "Iowa" again engaged North Korean forces the following day, this time against enemy troop concentrations, supply areas, and suspected gun positions in and around Suwon Dan and Kojo. In support of South Korea's I Corps, "Iowa" shelled enemy positions on 13 April, killing 100 enemy soldiers, destroying six gun emplacements, and wrecking a division headquarters. The next day she entered Wonsan Harbor and shelled warehouses, observation posts and railroad marshaling yards before moving out to rejoin the UN flotilla aiding ground forces around Kosong. On 20 April, in her first combat action above the 38th parallel, "Iowa" shelled railroad lines at Tanchon, where four railroad tunnels were destroyed, before sailing to Chindong and Kosong for a two-day bombardment of North Korean positions.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: On 25 May "Iowa", following her sister ship "Missouri"s example, arrived in the waters off Chongjin, a North Korean industrial center approximately from the Russian border. Upon arrival, "Iowa" proceeded to shell the industrial and rail transportation centers in Chongjin, after which she moved south to aid the US X Corps. "En route" to US positions, "Iowa" again bombarded Sŏngjin, destroying several railroad tunnels and bridges in the area. On 28 May, "Iowa" rejoined the main body of the US fleet supporting the X Corps, heavily shelling several islands in Wonsan Harbor.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: Throughout June, "Iowa" trained her guns on targets at Mayang-do, Tanchon, Chongjin, Chodo–Sokcho and the ports of Hŭngnam and Wonsan in support of the UN and South Korean forces. On 9 June, a helicopter from "Iowa" rescued a downed pilot from the carrier . At the time, "Princeton" was operating with TF 77, and with other carriers in the task force who were involved in a bombing campaign against North Korean supply lines, troop concentrations, and infrastructure; additionally, the carriers were flying close air support missions for ground forces fighting against the North Korean forces. In July, "Iowa" received a new skipper, Captain Joshua W. Cooper, who assumed command of the battleship for the remainder of her Korean War tour.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: On 20 August, "Iowa" took aboard nine wounded men from the destroyer after "Thompson" was hit by a Chinese artillery battery while shelling enemy positions at Sŏngjin. At the time, "Iowa" was operating south of Sŏngjin, and after receiving the wounded destroyer crewmen, "Iowa" covered "Thompson" as she retreated into safer waters.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: On 23 September, General Mark W. Clark, the Commander-In-Chief of United Nations Forces in Korea, came aboard "Iowa". Clark observed "Iowa" in action as her guns shelled the Wonsan area for a third time, accounting for the destruction of a major enemy ammunition dump. On 25 September, "Iowa" fired her guns at an enemy railroad and 30-car train. The following month, "Iowa" was part of the force involved in Operation Decoy, a feint to draw enemy troops into Kojo and bring them within striking distance of the battleships' big guns. During the operation, "Iowa" provided anti-aircraft support to , an amphibious force command ship.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: In October 1952 "Iowa" was serving as flagship for the Commander, Seventh Fleet, and she engaged in 43 gun strikes on targets in the areas of Wonsan, Songjin, Kojo, Chaho, Toejo, Simpo, Hungnam and northern Inchon North Korea, and in 27 bombline operations. During these operations, 16,689 rounds were fired from her main and secondary batteries on enemy installations. This action established eligibility for the United Nations Service Medal and the Korean Service Medal with one bronze star.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: "Iowa" embarked midshipmen for at-sea training to Northern Europe in July 1953, and shortly afterwards took part in Operation Mariner, a major NATO exercise, serving as flagship of Vice Admiral Edmund T. Wooldridge, commander of the 2nd Fleet. Upon completion of this exercise, "Iowa" operated in the Virginia Capes area. Later, in September 1954, she became the flagship of Rear Admiral R. E. Libby, Commander, Battleship Cruiser Force, United States Atlantic Fleet.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: From January–April 1955, "Iowa" made an extended cruise to the Mediterranean Sea as the flagship of the Commander, 6th Fleet. She departed on a midshipman training cruise on 1 June, and upon her return entered Norfolk for a four-month overhaul. Afterward, "Iowa" continued intermittent training cruises and operational exercises, until 4 January 1957 when she departed Norfolk for duty with the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean. Upon completion, "Iowa" embarked midshipmen for a South American training cruise and joined in the International Naval Review off Hampton Roads, Virginia on 13 June.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: On 3 September, "Iowa" sailed for Scotland for NATO's Exercise Strikeback. She returned to Norfolk on 28 September, and departed Hampton Roads for the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard on 22 October. She was decommissioned on 24 February 1958 and entered the Atlantic Reserve Fleet at Philadelphia.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: As part of President Ronald Reagan's and Secretary of the Navy John F. Lehman's effort to create an expanded 600-ship Navy, "Iowa" was reactivated in 1982 and moved under tow to Avondale Shipyard near New Orleans, Louisiana, for refitting and equipment modernization in advance of her planned recommissioning. During the refit, "Iowa" had all of her remaining Oerlikon 20 mm and Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft guns removed, due to their ineffectiveness against modern fighter jets and anti-ship missiles. Additionally, the two gun mounts located at mid-ship and in the aft on the port and starboard sides of the battleship were removed.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: "Iowa" was then towed to Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Mississippi, where over the next several months the battleship was upgraded with the most advanced weaponry available. Among the new weapons systems installed were four MK 141 quad cell launchers for 16 AGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missiles, eight Armored Box Launcher mounts for 32 BGM-109 Tomahawk missiles, and a quartet of Phalanx Close-in weapon system Gatling guns for defense against enemy anti-ship missiles and enemy aircraft. Sometime after June 1986, "Iowa" was the first battleship to receive the RQ-2 Pioneer Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). She could carry up to eight of the remotely controlled drones, which replaced the helicopters (although helicopters were not carried by battleships) previously used to spot for her nine 16 inch (410 mm)/50 cal Mark 7 guns. Also included in her modernization were upgrades to radar and fire-control systems for her guns and missiles, and improved electronic warfare capabilities. Armed as such, "Iowa" was formally recommissioned on 28 April 1984, ahead of schedule, within her budget at a cost of $500 million, and under the command of Captain Gerald E. Gneckow. In order to expedite the schedule, many necessary repairs to "Iowa" engines and guns were not completed and the mandatory Navy Board of Inspection and Survey (InSurv) inspection was skipped.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: From April to August 1984, "Iowa" underwent refresher training and naval gunfire support qualifications at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and the Puerto Rican Operating area. After a short period in her new home port of Norfolk, Virginia, she spent the two periods of time during the rest of 1984 and early 1985 conduction "presence" operations shakedown in the area around Central America. During this time she transited the Panama Canal to operate off the west coast of Central America while also conducting people-to-people humanitarian operations, including in El Salvador, Costa Rica and Honduras, before returning to the United States in April 1985 for a period of routine maintenance.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: In August 1985, "Iowa" joined 160 other ships for Exercise Ocean Safari, a NATO naval exercise aimed at testing NATO's ability to control sea lanes and maintain free passage of shipping. Owing to bad weather, "Iowa" and the other ships were forced to ride out rough seas, but "Iowa" made use of the time to practice hiding herself from enemy forces. While serving with the exercise force, "Iowa" crossed the Arctic Circle. In October, she took part in Baltic operations, and fired her phalanx guns, guns, and guns in the Baltic Sea on 17 October while operating with US and other allied ships. After these operations during which she visited Le Havre in France, Kiel in Germany, Copenhagen (where the current Crown Prince of Denmark visited the ship as a schoolboy) and Aarhus in Denmark, and Oslo in Norway where the King of Norway was entertained at lunch, she returned to the United States.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: Beginning on 17 March 1986, "Iowa" underwent her overdue InSurv inspection. The inspection, which "Iowa" ultimately failed, was conducted under the supervision of Rear Admiral John D. Bulkeley. Bulkeley found that the ship was unable to achieve her top speed of during a full-power engine run, and recommended to the Chief of Naval Operations and Lehman that "Iowa" be taken out of service immediately. Rejecting this advice, Lehman instead instructed the leaders of the Atlantic Fleet to ensure that "Iowa"s deficiencies were corrected.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: Afterward, "Iowa" returned to the waters around Central America and conducted drills and exercises while providing a military presence to friendly nations. On 4 July, President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan boarded "Iowa" for the International Naval Review, which was held in the Hudson River. On 25 April, Captain Larry Ray Seaquist assumed command of the battleship and her crew during Naval Gunfire Support requalification off Vieques Island near Puerto Rico.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: On 17 August, "Iowa" set sail for the North Atlantic, and in September she participated in Exercise Northern Wedding by ferrying Marines ashore and assisting helicopter gunships. During the exercise "Iowa" fired her main guns at Cape Wrath range in Scotland in support of a simulated amphibious assault on 5–6 September, firing a total of 19 shells and 32 shells during a 10-hour period and operating in rough seas. During the live fire exercise, a small number of "Iowa" marines were put ashore to monitor the fall of shot and advise the battleship of gunnery corrections. Afterward, "Iowa" visited ports, including Portsmouth, in England and Germany before returning to the United States in October.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: In December, the ship became the test bed for the Navy's RQ-2 Pioneer (UAV). The drone was designed to serve as an aerial spotter for the battleship's guns, thereby allowing the guns to be used against an enemy without the need for an airplane or helicopter spotter. Pioneer passed its tests and made its first deployment that same month aboard "Iowa".


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: From January–September 1987 "Iowa" operated in the waters in and around Central America and participated in several exercises until sailing for the Mediterranean Sea on 10 September to join the 6th Fleet based there. She remained in the Mediterranean until 22 October, when she was detached from the 6th Fleet and departed for operations in the North Sea. On 25 November, as part of Operation Earnest Will, "Iowa" transited the Suez Canal and set sail for the Persian Gulf, which at the time was one of the battlefields of the first Gulf War (also referred to as the Iran–Iraq War). The presence of US naval vessels in the gulf was in response to a formal petition from Kuwait, whose ships were being raided by Iranian forces who were attempting to cut off weapons shipments from the United States and Europe to Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq, via Kuwaiti territory. This phase of the war would later be called the "Tanker War" phase of the Iran–Iraq War. "Iowa" and other vessels operating in the gulf were assigned to escort Kuwaiti tankers from Kuwaiti ports to the open sea, but because US law forbade military escorts for civilian ships flying a foreign flag, the tankers escorted by the United States were reflagged as US merchant vessels and assigned American names. For the remainder of the year "Iowa" escorted Kuwaiti gas and oil tankers reflagged as US merchant ships from the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: On 20 February 1988, "Iowa" departed from the Persian Gulf, transited the Suez Canal, and set sail for the United States, arriving at Norfolk on 10 March for routine maintenance. In April, she participated in the annual Fleet Week celebrations before returning to Norfolk for an overhaul. On 26 May, Fred Moosally replaced Larry Seaquist as Captain of "Iowa". After the overhaul, Moosally took "Iowa" on a shakedown cruise around Chesapeake Bay on 25 August. Encountering difficulty in conning the ship through shallow water, Moosally narrowly missed colliding with the frigate , destroyer , and the cruiser before running aground in soft mud outside the bay's main ship channel near the Thimble Shoals. After one hour, "Iowa" was able to extricate herself without damage and return to port. "Iowa" continued with sea trials throughout August and September, then began refresher training in the waters around Florida and Puerto Rico in October, during which the ship passed an Operation Propulsion Program Evaluation.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: On 20 January 1989, during an improperly authorized gunnery experiment off Vieques Island, "Iowa" fired a shell , setting a record for the longest-ranged shell ever fired. In February, the battleship sailed for New Orleans for a port visit before departing for Norfolk. On 10 April, the battleship was visited by the commander of the 2nd Fleet, and on 13 April she sailed to participate in a fleet exercise.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: During a gunnery exercise, at 0955 on 19 April 1989, an explosion ripped through the Number Two gun turret, killing 47 crewmen. A gunner's mate in the powder magazine room quickly flooded the No. 2 powder magazine, likely preventing catastrophic damage to the ship. At first, Naval Investigative Service (NIS, later renamed Naval Criminal Investigative Service or NCIS) investigators theorized that one of the dead crewmen, Clayton Hartwig, had detonated an explosive device in a suicide attempt after the end of an alleged affair with another sailor. To support this claim, naval officials pointed to several different factors, including Hartwig's life insurance policy, which named Kendall Truitt as the sole beneficiary in the event of his death, the presence of unexplained materials inside turret 2, and his mental state, which was alleged to be unstable.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: Although the Navy was satisfied with the investigation and its results, others were unconvinced, and in October 1991, amid increasing criticism, Congress forced the Navy to reopen the investigation. This second investigation, handled by independent investigators, was hampered as most of the original debris from "Iowa" had been cleaned up or otherwise disposed of by the Navy before and after the first investigation, but it did uncover evidence pointing to an accidental powder explosion rather than an intentional act of sabotage.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: While "Iowa" was undergoing modernization in the early 1980s, her sister ship "New Jersey" had been dispatched to Lebanon to provide offshore fire support. At the time, "New Jersey" was the only commissioned battleship anywhere in the world, and it was found that, in an effort to get another battleship commissioned to relieve "New Jersey", the modernization of "Iowa" was stepped up, leaving her in poor condition when she recommissioned in 1984. It was also determined that Captain Fred Moosally was more concerned with the maintenance of the missiles than the training and manning of guns.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: Powder from the same lot as the one under investigation was tested at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division. Spontaneous combustion was achieved with the powder, which had been originally milled in the 1930s and improperly stored in a barge at the Navy's Yorktown, Virginia, Naval Weapons Station during a 1988 dry-docking of "Iowa". As it degrades, gunpowder gives off ether gas, which is highly flammable and could be ignited by a spark. This revelation resulted in a shift in the Navy's position on the incident, and Admiral Frank Kelso, the Chief of Naval Operations at the time, publicly apologized to the Hartwig family, concluding that there was no real evidence to support the claim that he had intentionally killed the other sailors. "Iowa" captain Fred Moosally was severely criticized for his handling of the matter, and as a result of the incident the Navy changed the powder-handling procedures for its battleships. The incident remains one of the surface Navy's worst losses of life during peacetime operations.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: With the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s and the lack of a perceived threat against the United States came drastic cuts to the defense budget and the battleships were deemed uneconomical. As a result, "Iowa" was decommissioned for the last time on 26 October 1990, after a total of 19 years of commissioned service. She was the first of the reactivated battleships to be decommissioned, and this was done earlier than originally planned as a result of the damaged turret. "Iowa" was originally berthed at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard and later at Naval Station Newport in Newport, Rhode Island from 24 September 1998 to 8 March 2001, when she began her journey under tow to California. The ship arrived in Suisun Bay near San Francisco on 21 April 2001 and joined the Reserve Fleet, where she remained in reserve until struck again from the Naval Vessel Register in March 2006. (She and her sister ships had been struck previously in 1995.) She remained at the Suisun Bay anchorage until November 2011.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: Section 1011 of the National Defense Authorization Act of 1996 required the US Navy to reinstate to the Naval Vessel Register two of the "Iowa"-class battleships that had been struck by the Navy in 1995; these ships were to be maintained in the United States Navy reserve fleets (or "mothball fleet"). The Navy was to ensure that both of the reinstated battleships were in good condition and could be reactivated for use in the Marine Corps' amphibious operations. Due to "Iowa"s damaged turret, the Navy selected "New Jersey" for placement into the mothball fleet, even though the training mechanisms on "New Jersey"s guns had been welded down. The cost to fix "New Jersey" was considered less than the cost to fix "Iowa"; as a result, "New Jersey" and "Wisconsin" were reinstated to the Naval Vessel Register and placed back in the reserve fleet.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: "New Jersey" remained there until the Strom Thurmond National Defense Authorization Act of 1999 required the Secretary of the Navy to list and maintain "Iowa" and "Wisconsin" on the Naval Vessel Register. The Act also required the Secretary of the Navy to strike "New Jersey" from the Naval Vessel Register and transfer the battleship to a not-for-profit entity in accordance with section 7306 of Title 10 of the United States Code. It also required the transferee to locate the battleship in the state of New Jersey. The Navy made the switch in January 1999, allowing "New Jersey" to open as a museum ship in her namesake state.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: On 17 March 2006, the Secretary of the Navy struck "Iowa" and "Wisconsin" from the NVR, which cleared the way for both ships to be donated for use as museum ships; but the United States Congress remained "deeply concerned" over the loss of the naval surface gunfire support that the battleships provided, and noted that "navy efforts to improve upon, much less replace, this capability have been highly problematic." As a partial consequence, Congress passed , the National Defense Authorization Act 2006, requiring that the battleships be kept and maintained in a state of readiness should they ever be needed again. Congress ordered that measures be implemented to ensure that, if need be, "Iowa" could be returned to active duty. These measures closely mirrored the original three conditions that the National Defense Authorization Act of 1996 which laid out for the maintenance of "Iowa" while she was in the "mothball fleet".


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: In March 2007, the Historic Ships Memorial at Pacific Square (HSMPS) of Vallejo, site of the former Mare Island Naval Shipyard, and a Stockton group submitted proposals to use the ship as a museum. The HSMPS, which had attempted to place the ship in San Francisco, supported the Mare Island–Vallejo site. In October 2007 the Navy informed HSMPS that they were the only viable candidate to acquire "Iowa", and their application would be further reviewed after evidence was presented that financing was in place, and when the Stockton and San Francisco groups withdrew or failed to submit a final application respectively. On 25 April 2009, Iowa Senate Resolution No. 19 was approved, endorsing HSMPS as USS "Iowa"s custodian and supporting the battleship's placement at Mare Island.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: In February 2010, the Pacific Battleship Center (PBC) supported the efforts to have the ship berthed in San Pedro, Los Angeles, California. In late February the Port of Los Angeles (which includes the San Pedro area) rejected a proposal by the PBC to berth USS "Iowa" at its facilities because the battleship was not yet available. On 12 April 2010, the Governor of Iowa signed into law Bill SJR2007, which officially formed a 10-member committee to raise about $5 million for the group awarded USS "Iowa". The statement supporting the Vallejo group in the original Iowa State Senate's version SR19 was struck in favor of supporting any group actually awarded the battleship.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: On 13 May 2010, the Navy announced it would reopen the bidding process, citing HSMPS's lack of progress as the reason. On 24 May 2010 the Federal Register officially reopened the bidding process for USS "Iowa" to a California-based city or non-profit organization.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: On 18 November 2010, the Port of Los Angeles Harbor Commissioners voted unanimously on a resolution to support Berth 87 as the future home of USS "Iowa", clearing the way for The Pacific Battleship Center to send its completed application to the Navy. On 6 September 2011, USS "Iowa" was awarded to Pacific Battleship Center for placement at the Port of Los Angeles. After rehabilitation at the Port of Richmond, California (beginning in October 2011), she was towed to and eventually berthed in the Port of Los Angeles.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: Starting in December 2011, USS "Iowa" was open for weekend tours. The Battleship Expo at the Port of Richmond included shipboard access and other exhibits such as 16-inch shells, a short film about the battleship, and other exhibits. On 30 April 2012, USS "Iowa" was officially donated to the Pacific Battleship Center in Los Angeles by the United States Navy.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: "Iowa" began her journey to the Port of Los Angeles on 26 May 2012 under tow by four Crowley Maritime tugboats. After being anchored off the Southern California coast to have her hull scrubbed to remove any invasive species or contaminants, on 9 June 2012 she was permanently docked in San Pedro at Berth 87, along the Main Channel, directly south of the World Cruise Center. The museum opened to the public on 7 July, under the direction and control of Pacific Battleship Center.


title: USS Iowa (BB-61)

text: "Iowa" earned nine battle stars for World War II service and two for Korean War service. She has also earned the following awards:


title: The Slim Shady LP

text: The Slim Shady LP is the second studio album and major label debut by American rapper Eminem. It was released on February 23, 1999, by Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records. Recorded in Ferndale, Michigan following Eminem's recruitment by Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine, the album features production from Dr. Dre, the Bass Brothers, and Eminem himself.


title: The Slim Shady LP

text: Featuring West Coast hip hop, G-funk and horrorcore musical styles, the majority of "The Slim Shady LP"s lyrical content is written from the perspective of Eminem's alter ego, named Slim Shady, whom he created on the "Slim Shady EP" (1997). "The Slim Shady LP" contains cartoonish depictions of violence and heavy use of profanity, which Eminem described as horror film-esque, in that it is solely for entertainment value. Although many of the lyrics on the album are considered to be satirical, Eminem also depicts his frustrations of living in poverty.


title: The Slim Shady LP

text: "The Slim Shady LP" debuted at number two on the "Billboard" 200, just below TLC's "FanMail", and number one on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. It received commercial and critical success, with critics praising Eminem for his unique lyrical style, dark humor lyrics, and eccentric personality. The first single, "My Name Is", became Eminem's first entry on the "Billboard" Hot 100. The album won Best Rap Album at the 2000 Grammy Awards, while "My Name Is" won Best Rap Solo Performance. In 2000, "The Slim Shady LP" was certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).


title: The Slim Shady LP

text: While "The Slim Shady LP"s success turned Eminem from an underground rapper into a high-profile celebrity, he became a highly controversial figure due to his lyrical content, which some perceived to be misogynistic and a negative influence on U.S. youth. Despite this, the album has since been included in several publications' lists of the greatest albums of all time.


title: The Slim Shady LP

text: Eminem, born Marshall Bruce Mathers III, began rapping at age fourteen. In 1996, his debut album "Infinite", which was recorded at the Bassmint, a recording studio owned by the Bass Brothers, was released under their independent record label Web Entertainment. "Infinite" achieved very little commercial success and was largely ignored by Detroit radio stations. The disappointment from this experience greatly influenced his lyrical style: "After that record, every rhyme I wrote got angrier and angrier. A lot of it was because of the feedback I got. Motherfuckers was like, 'You're a white boy, what the fuck are you rapping for? Why don't you go into rock & roll?' All that type of shit started pissing me off." After the release of "Infinite", Eminem's personal struggles and abuse of methadone and alcohol culminated in a suicide attempt.


title: The Slim Shady LP

text: The disappointment of "Infinite" inspired Eminem to create the alter ego Slim Shady: "Boom, the name hit me, and right away I thought of all these words to rhyme with it." Slim Shady served as Eminem's vent for his frustration and rage to the world. In the spring of 1997, he recorded the eight-song extended play "Slim Shady EP". During this time, Eminem and his girlfriend Kim Scott lived in a high-crime neighborhood with their newborn daughter Hailie, where their house was burglarized numerous times. After being evicted from his home, Eminem traveled to Los Angeles to participate in the Rap Olympics, an annual nationwide rap battle competition. He placed second, and the staff at Interscope Records who attended the Rap Olympics sent a copy of the "Slim Shady EP" to company CEO Jimmy Iovine. Iovine played the tape for hip hop producer Dr. Dre, founder of Aftermath Entertainment. Dr. Dre recalled, "In my entire career in the music industry, I have never found anything from a demo tape or a CD. When Jimmy played this, I said, 'Find him. Now.'" Some urged Dr. Dre not to take a chance on Eminem because he was white. Dr. Dre responded, "I don't give a fuck if you're purple. If you can kick it, I'm working with you." Eminem and Dr. Dre subsequently began work on Eminem's major-label debut album.


title: The Slim Shady LP

text: "The Slim Shady LP" was recorded at Studio 8 at 430 8 Mile Road in Ferndale, Michigan. Eminem, who had idolized Dr. Dre since listening to his group N.W.A as a teenager, was nervous to work with him on the album: "I didn't want to be starstruck or kiss his ass too much ... I'm just a little white boy from Detroit. I had never seen stars, let alone Dr. Dre." However, Eminem became more comfortable working with Dr. Dre after a series of highly productive recording sessions. The recording process generally began with Dr. Dre creating a beat and Eminem using the tracks as a template for his freestyle raps; "Every beat he would make, I had a rhyme for", Eminem recalled. He later said: "Every time I sat down with a pen, everything was just like: fuck you, fuck this, fuck them, fuck that, fuck the world, fuck what everybody thinks. Fuck them." On the first day of recording, Eminem and Dr. Dre finished "My Name Is" in an hour. Three other songs, including "Role Model", were also recorded that day.


title: The Slim Shady LP

text: "'97 Bonnie & Clyde", which was formerly featured on the "Slim Shady EP" as "Just the Two of Us", was re-recorded for "The Slim Shady LP" to feature his daughter Hailie's vocals. Because the song focuses on disposing of his girlfriend's corpse, Eminem was not comfortable with explaining the situation to Kim, and instead told her that he would be taking Hailie to Chuck E. Cheese's. However, he really took her to the recording studio. He explained, "When she found out I used our daughter to write a song about killing her, she fucking blew. We had just got back together for a couple of weeks. Then I played her the song and she bugged the fuck out." Eminem also said, "When she (Hailie) gets old enough, I'm going to explain it to her. I'll let her know that Mommy and Daddy weren't getting along at the time. None of it was to be taken too literally, although at the time I wanted to fucking do it." Eminem asked Marilyn Manson to guest appear on the song, but the singer declined because he felt that the song was "too misogynistic". The song "Guilty Conscience" contains a humorous reference to an occasion in which Dr. Dre assaulted Dee Barnes. Having only known Dr. Dre for a few days, Eminem was anxious about how he would react to such a line, and to his relief, Dr. Dre "fell out of his chair laughing" upon hearing the lyric.


title: The Slim Shady LP

text: "Ken Kaniff", a skit involving a prank call to Eminem, featured fellow Detroit rapper Aristotle. After a falling out between the two in the wake of Eminem's breakthrough success, Eminem instead played Ken Kaniff on skits on future albums. Ken Kaniff would end up appearing in more Eminem albums over the course of his career and was last heard in "The Marshall Mathers LP 2". Another skit, "Bitch", is an answering machine message in which Zoe Winkler, daughter of actor Henry Winkler, tells a friend that she was disgusted by Eminem's music. He met and had dinner with her in order to get permission to use the recording on the album. During the mixing process of "The Slim Shady LP", at the same time, Kid Rock was recording his fourth studio album, "Devil Without a Cause"; being friends with Kid Rock, Eminem asked Kid Rock to record scratching for Eminem's song "My Fault", which appears on "The Slim Shady LP"; in return, Eminem delivered a guest rap verse on Kid Rock's song "Fuck Off" for "Devil Without a Cause".


title: The Slim Shady LP

text: The album's production was handled primarily by Dr. Dre, the Bass Brothers, and Eminem. The beats have been compared to West Coast hip hop and G-funk musical styles. Kyle Anderson of MTV wrote that "The beats are full of bass-heavy hallucinations and create huge, scary sandboxes that allow Em to play." According to the staff at IGN, "'97 Bonnie & Clyde" is backed by the "lulling serenity of a super silky groove". "Cum on Everybody"; which features guest vocals from American singer Dina Rae contains an upbeat dance rhythm, while "My Name Is", which is built around a sample from British musician Labi Siffre's "I Got The", features a prominent bassline and psychedelic-style keyboards. "I'm Shady" was originally written over a Sade track, but after hearing a sample of Curtis Mayfield's "Pusherman" in Ice-T's song "I'm Your Pusher", Eminem decided it would be more fitting to use "Pusherman".


title: The Slim Shady LP

text: Eminem's vocal inflection on the album has been described as a "nasal whine"; Jon Pareles of "The New York Times" likened his "calmly sarcastic delivery" to "the early Beastie Boys turned cynical". Writing for the "Chicago Tribune", columnist Greg Kot compared the rapper's vocals to "Pee-wee Herman with a nasal Midwestern accent". A skit entitled "Lounge" appears before "My Fault" featuring Eminem and the Bass Brothers imitating rat pack crooners. Jeff Bass came up with the line "I never meant to give you mushrooms" for the skit, which in turn inspired Eminem to write "My Fault".


title: The Slim Shady LP

text: Many of the songs from "The Slim Shady LP" are written from the perspective of Eminem's alter ego, Slim Shady, and contain cartoonish depictions of violence, which he refers to as "made-up tales of trailer-park stuff". The rapper explained that this subject matter is intended for entertainment value, likening his music to the horror film genre: "Why can't people see that records can be like movies? The only difference between some of my raps and movies is that they aren't on a screen." Some of the lyrics have also been considered to be misogynistic by critics and commentators. Eminem acknowledged the accusations, and clarified, "I have a fairly salty relationship with women ... But most of the time, when I'm saying shit about women, when I'm saying 'bitches' and 'hoes', it's so ridiculous that I'm taking the stereotypical rapper to the extreme. I don't hate women in general. They just make me mad sometimes.'" Despite the album's explicit nature, Eminem refused to say the word "nigga" on the album, noting, "It's not in my vocabulary." "The Slim Shady LP" begins with a "Public Service Announcement" introduction performed by producer Jeff Bass of the Bass Brothers, and serves as a sarcastic disclaimer discussing the album's explicit lyrical content. Later in the album, a skit entitled "Paul" features a phone call from Paul Rosenberg to Eminem telling him to "tone down" his lyrics.


title: The Slim Shady LP

text: "Guilty Conscience" is a concept song featuring Dr. Dre. The song focuses on a series of characters who are faced with various situations, while Dr. Dre and Eminem serve as the "angel" and "devil" sides of the characters' conscience, respectively. The song draws inspiration from a scene in the 1978 comedy film "National Lampoon's Animal House", in which a man takes advice from an angel and devil on his shoulder while considering raping an unconscious girl at a party. In the film, he ends up deciding not to go through with the rape, but in "Guilty Conscience", the outcome is unclear. On "My Fault", Eminem tells the story of a girl who overdoses on psychedelic mushrooms at a rave. "'97 Bonnie & Clyde" features Eminem convincing his infant daughter to assist him in disposing of his wife's corpse. It is an epilogue to the song "Kim", although "'97 Bonnie & Clyde" was released first. Eminem wrote the song at a time in which he felt that Kim was stopping him from seeing his daughter. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic explained that "There have been more violent songs in rap, but few more disturbing, and it's not because of what it describes, it's how he describes it -- how the perfectly modulated phrasing enhances the horror and black humor of his words." On the song "Brain Damage", Eminem discusses his childhood experiences with bullies at school, particularly recalling a traumatic incident where he sustained a serious concussion after he was severely beaten by a bully.


title: The Slim Shady LP

text: Although many of the lyrics on the album are intended to be humorous, several songs depict Eminem's frustrations with living in poverty. When discussing "The Slim Shady LP", Anthony Bozza of "Rolling Stone" described Eminem as "probably the only MC in 1999 who boasts low self-esteem. His rhymes are jaw-droppingly perverse, bespeaking a minimum-wage life devoid of hope, flushed with rage and weaned on sci-fi and slasher flicks." Eminem was inspired to write "Rock Bottom" after being fired from his cooking job at a restaurant days before his daughter's birthday. The song bemoans human dependency on money, discussing its ability to brainwash an individual. He illustrates his struggles to provide for his daughter, describing himself as "discouraged, hungry, and malnourished." "If I Had" follows a similar theme, as he describes living on minimum wage and remarks that he is "tired of jobs starting off at $5.50 an hour". In the song, he expresses his irritation with fitting the "white trash" stereotype.


title: The Slim Shady LP

text: The album was met with critical acclaim. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic gave the album five stars out of five, praising the rapper's "expansive vocabulary and vivid imagination", adding that "Years later, as the shock has faded, it's those lyrical skills and the subtle mastery of the music that still resonate, and they're what make "The Slim Shady LP" one of the great debuts in both hip-hop and modern pop music." David Browne of "Entertainment Weekly" described the album's "unapologetic outrageousness" as a reaction to the "soul positivity" of conscious hip hop, noting that ""The Slim Shady LP" marks the return of irreverent, wiseass attitude to the genre, heard throughout the album in its nonstop barrage of crudely funny rhymes ... Even pop fans deadened to graphic lyrics are likely to flinch." Soren Baker of the "Los Angeles Times" gave the album three and a half stars out of four and stated that "He isn't afraid to say anything; his lyrics are so clever that he makes murder sound as if it's a funny act he may indulge in simply to pass the time" but lamented the "sometimes flat production that takes away from the power of Eminem's verbal mayhem."


title: The Slim Shady LP

text: Many reviewers commented on the album's lyrical content. Gilbert Rodman of "Popular Communications" states, "Eminem's music contains more than its fair share of misogynistic and homophobic lyrics, but simply to reduce it to these (as many critics do) doesn't help to explain Eminem. It merely invokes a platitude or a sound bite to explain him away." Rob Sheffield of "Rolling Stone" enjoyed the record's comedic nature, writing "Simply put: Eminem will crack you up", but also felt that the misogynistic lyrics grow tiresome, noting that "the wife-killing jokes of "97 Bonnie and Clyde' aren't any funnier than Garth Brooks', and 'My Fault' belongs on some sorry-ass Bloodhound Gang record." Nathan Rabin of "The A.V. Club" felt that although the album is "sophomoric and uninspired" at times, Eminem's "surreal, ultraviolent, trailer-trash/post-gangsta-rap extremism is at least a breath of fresh air in a rap world that's despairingly low on new ideas." Mike Rubin of "Spin" noted that "his scenarios are so far-fetched the songs almost never sound as ugly as they actually are." Chris Dafoe of "The Globe and Mail" opined that "Abused by fellow students and teachers, cheated on by his girlfriend, despised by society, Shady goes over the top now and then - or rather way over the top - but Dre's lean production, full of strange voice and comic interjections, hold things together." Reviewing for "The Village Voice" in 1999, Robert Christgau called the record a "platinum-bound cause celebre" and, despite succumbing to "dull sensationalism" toward the end, Eminem shows "more comic genius than any pop musician since", possibly, Loudon Wainwright III."


title: The Slim Shady LP

text: At the 42nd Grammy Awards in 2000, the album won Best Rap Album, while "My Name Is" won Best Rap Solo Performance. "Rolling Stone" ranked "The Slim Shady LP" number 275 on its list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and 33 on its list of the "100 Best Albums of the '90s". In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked "The Slim Shady LP" as the 352nd greatest album of all time on their 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. "NME" ranked it number 248 in its list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. "Blender" ranked it number 49 in its list of The 100 Greatest American Albums of All Time. "Ken Kaniff" was listed as number 15 on "Complex"'s "50 Greatest Hip-Hop Skits" list, while the "Public Service Announcement" introduction to the album, along with the "Public Service Announcement 2000" introduction from "The Marshall Mathers LP", was listed as number 50 on the list. "Spin" later included it in their list of "The 300 Best Albums of 1985–2014". It also won Outstanding National Album at the 2000 Detroit Music Awards. In 2015, it was ranked at number 76 by "About.com" in their list of "100 best hip-hop albums of all time". Christgau later named it among his 10 best albums from the 1990s.In 2022, Rolling Stone ranked The Slim Shady LP number 85 in their list of "The 200 Greatest Rap Albums of all time".


title: The Slim Shady LP

text: In the album's first week of release, "The Slim Shady LP" sold 283,000 copies, debuting at number two on the "Billboard" 200 chart behind TLC's "FanMail". The record remained on the "Billboard" 200 for 100 weeks. It also reached number one on the R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart, staying on the chart for 92 weeks. On April 5, 1999, "The Slim Shady LP" was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of over one million copies. On November 15, 2000, the album was certified quadruple platinum by the RIAA. "My Name Is", the album's lead single, peaked at number 36 on the "Billboard" Hot 100, remaining on the chart for ten weeks. The single additionally peaked at number 18 on the magazine's R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, 29 on the Pop Songs chart, and 37 on the Alternative Songs chart. "Guilty Conscience" reached number 56 on the "Billboard" R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, while "Just Don't Give a Fuck" peaked at number 62 on the chart.


title: The Slim Shady LP

text: By November 2013, the album sold 5,437,000 copies in the United States. on the weekly Canadian Albums Chart and remained on the chart for twelve weeks. Additionally, the album was certified triple platinum by the Canadian Recording Industry Association for shipments of over 200,000 units. The album was also certified double platinum in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at number ten on the UK Albums chart and remained on the chart for a total of 114 weeks. In Australia, the album peaked at number 49 on the ARIA Chart, and was eventually certified platinum in the country. The album had also peaked at the number 20 and 23 chart positions in the Netherlands and New Zealand, respectively. It was certified gold in the Netherlands and platinum in New Zealand.


title: The Slim Shady LP

text: After the success of "The Slim Shady LP", Eminem went from an underground rapper into a high-profile celebrity. Interscope Records awarded him with his own record label, Shady Records; the first artist Eminem signed was rapper and his best friend Proof. Eminem, who had previously struggled to provide for his daughter, noted a drastic change in his lifestyle: "This last Christmas, there were so many fucking presents under the tree ... My daughter wasn't born with a silver spoon in her mouth. But she's got one now. I can't stop myself from spoiling her."


title: The Slim Shady LP

text: To promote "The Slim Shady LP", Eminem embarked on an extensive tour schedule. He joined the Vans Warped Tour as a last-minute replacement for Cypress Hill, a schedule that included 31 North American dates from June 25 to July 31, beginning in San Antonio and ending in Miami. He often played a show in the afternoon on the Warped Tour, and then drove to another location to perform at a hip hop club at night. During a performance in Hartford, Connecticut near the end of the Warped Tour, Eminem slipped on a puddle of liquid and fell ten feet down off the stage, cracking several ribs. He recalled that the stress of his newfound fame led him to drink excessively, and reflected, "I knew I had to slow it down. The fall was like a reminder." However, after receiving medical attention, he was well enough to travel to New York the following day for a performance on "Total Request Live".


title: The Slim Shady LP

text: Eminem also became a highly controversial figure due to his lyrical content. He was labeled as "misogynist, a nihilist and an advocate of domestic violence", and in an editorial by "Billboard" editor in chief Timothy White, the writer accused Eminem of "making money by exploiting the world's misery." During a radio interview in San Francisco, Eminem reportedly angered local DJ Sista Tamu due to a freestyle about "slapping a pregnant bitch" to the extent that on air she broke a copy of "The Slim Shady LP". The rapper defended himself by saying, "My album isn't for younger kids to hear. It has an advisory sticker, and you must be eighteen to get it. That doesn't mean younger kids won't get it, but I'm not responsible for every kid out there. I'm not a role model, and I don't claim to be."


title: The Slim Shady LP

text: On September 17, 1999, Eminem's mother, Deborah Nelson, filed a $10 million lawsuit against him for slander based on his claim that she uses drugs in the line "I just found out my mom does more dope than I do" from "My Name Is". After a two-year-long trial, she was awarded $25,000, of which she received $1,600 after legal fees. Eminem was not surprised that his mother had filed the lawsuit against him, referring to her as a "lawsuit queen", and alleging that "That's how she makes money. When I was five, she had a job on the cash register at a store that sold chips and soda. Other than that, I don't remember her working a day in her life." She later filed another lawsuit against him for emotional damages suffered during the first trial, which was later dismissed.


title: The Slim Shady LP

text: In December 2001, DeAngelo Bailey, a janitor living in Roseville, Michigan who was made the subject of the song "Brain Damage" in which he is portrayed as a school bully, filed a $1 million lawsuit against Eminem for slander and invasion of privacy. Bailey's attorney stated "Eminem is a Caucasian male who faced criticism within the music industry that he had not suffered through difficult circumstances growing up and he was therefore a 'pretender' in the industry ... Eminem used Bailey, his African-American childhood schoolmate, as a pawn in his effort to stem the tide of criticism." In 1982, Eminem's mother unsuccessfully sued the Roseville school district for not protecting her son, as she claimed that attacks from bullies caused him headaches, nausea, and antisocial behavior. Additionally, Bailey had previously admitted to bullying Eminem in the April 1999 issue of "Rolling Stone Magazine". The lawsuit was dismissed by judge Deborah Servitto in 2003, who wrote her ruling in the form of rap-like rhyme. She ruled that the lyrics—which include the school principal collaborating with Bailey, and Eminem's entire brain falling out of his head—were too exaggerated for a listener to believe that they were recalling an actual event. The verdict was upheld in 2005, and Bailey's lawyer ruled out any further appeals.


title: The Slim Shady LP

text: In September 2003, 70-year-old widow Harlene Stein filed suit against Eminem and Dr. Dre on the grounds that "Guilty Conscience" contains an unauthorized sample of "Go Home Pigs" composed for the film "Getting Straight" by her husband, Ronald Stein, who died in 1988. Although the album's liner notes state that the song contains an "interpolation" of "Go Home Pigs", Stein is not credited as a composer and his wife was not paid royalties for use of the song. The lawsuit requested for 5 percent of the retail list price of 90 percent of the all copies of the record sold in America, and 2.5 percent of the retail price of 90 percent of the copies of the album sold internationally. The suit was dismissed in June 2004 for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.


title: Downsizing (film)

text: Downsizing is a 2017 American science fiction comedy-drama film directed by Alexander Payne, written by Payne and Jim Taylor, and starring Matt Damon, Christoph Waltz, Hong Chau, and Kristen Wiig. It tells the story of Paul Safrânek, who decides to undergo a recently-invented procedure to shrink his body so he can start a new life in an experimental community, which he ends up doing alone when his wife backs out at the last minute; his journey takes an unexpected turn after he befriends an impoverished activist. Principal photography for the film began in Ontario, Canada, on April 1, 2016.


title: Downsizing (film)

text: The film premiered at the 74th Venice International Film Festival on August 30, 2017, and was theatrically released in the United States by Paramount Pictures on December 22, 2017. It was a box-office bomb, grossing only $55 million against a production budget of $68–76 million, and received mixed reviews from critics. Nevertheless, it was chosen by the National Board of Review as one of the top ten films of 2017, while Chau earned a nomination for Best Supporting Actress at the 75th Golden Globe Awards.


title: Downsizing (film)

text: Searching for a way to address overpopulation and global warming, Norwegian scientist Dr. Jørgen Asbjørnsen develops "downsizing", an irreversible process that shrinks organic material. He becomes part of the first group of human test subjects and is encouraged that the process reduces people to a height of approximately five inches, drastically decreasing their consumption and waste. When the findings are revealed at a conference five years later, there is a global sensation.


title: Downsizing (film)

text: Ten years later, Paul and Audrey Safrânek, a financially-struggling married couple in Omaha, see Dave and Carol Johnson, who have downsized, at Paul's high school reunion. Rather than the touted environmental benefits, Dave argues the real reason to downsize is that one's money goes much further when one is small. Paul and Audrey decide to undergo the procedure and move to Leisureland, New Mexico, one of the fancier communities for small individuals. In a recovery room in Leisureland, Paul receives a call from Audrey, who says she decided to not go through with their plan and, because they are now different sizes, she is leaving him.


title: Downsizing (film)

text: One year later, Paul signs his divorce papers. He has moved into an apartment, since he can no longer afford to live in the mansion Audrey picked, and is working as a customer service representative for Lands' End, since he let his occupational therapy license lapse because he had not expected to have to work after being shrunk, but has started dating someone. They break up, however, and Paul attends a wild party hosted by his shady, but affable, neighbor Dušan.


title: Downsizing (film)

text: The next morning, Paul recognizes one of Dušan's house cleaners as Ngoc Lan Tran, a Vietnamese political activist who was jailed and downsized against her will, escaped in a television box, barely survived being shipped to the United States, and was brought to Leisureland a year ago to have her leg amputated. Wanting to assist Ngoc Lan with her prosthetic leg, Paul goes to her apartment in the slums just outside the walls of Leisureland where the service workers of the community live. Paul had not thought about this part of the small economy, and is shocked by conditions in the slum.


title: Downsizing (film)

text: At her apartment, Ngoc Lan has Paul try to help her dying friend. When she finally lets him work on her prosthetic leg, he breaks it, so, until she can get a new one, he agrees to work for her cleaning service and also help her gather food from around the city to distribute throughout the slums. Dušan, upon learning what Paul is doing, attempts to release Paul from his obligation by taking him to deliver supplies to the original colony for small people, but, unexpectedly, Ngoc Lan decides to tag along, as she has a standing invitation to visit Dr. Asbjørnsen, who had heard about her ordeal.


title: Downsizing (film)

text: In a Norwegian fjord, Dr. Asbjørnsen and his wife board the boat piloted by Dušan's friend Joris Konrad. Dr. Asbjørnsen announces it has just been determined conclusively that, due to the positive feedback of Arctic methane emissions, the human race will soon become extinct. Paul asks if downsizing can save humanity, but Dr. Asbjørnsen says the procedure came too late, as only three percent of the world has so far chosen to downsize. That night, Paul and Ngoc Lan make love.


title: Downsizing (film)

text: At the colony, the travelers discover that, the next day, Dr. Asbjørnsen is enacting a contingency plan: he and the other colonists are going to enter a large underground vault, and their descendants will emerge when the surface environment stabilizes in about eight thousand years. Dušan and Joris are skeptical of the cult-like plan and say the extinction will not happen for hundreds of years, while Paul is excited to enter the vault and help with this effort to ensure the future of humankind. He asks Ngoc Lan to join him, but she refuses, saying the people in need of help will be those left above ground. As the door of the vault is closing, Paul changes his mind and steps outside.


title: Downsizing (film)

text: Back in Leisureland, Paul continues to work with Ngoc Lan to serve the people of the slums, deriving contentment from things like bringing dinner to an old man.


title: Downsizing (film)

text: There are numerous cameos in the film, among them: Joaquim de Almeida as Conference Director Dr. Oswaldo Pereira; James Van Der Beek as Anesthesiologist, a former-classmate of Paul's who he talks to at their high school reunion; Neil Patrick Harris and Laura Dern as Jeff and Laura Lonowski, a small couple who gives a sales presentation for Leisureland; Niecy Nash as Leisureland Salesperson; Margo Martindale as a small woman on a shuttle bus; Donna Lynne Champlin as Leisureland Administrator; Don Lake as Leisureland Guide Matt; and Kerri Kenney-Silver as Single Mom Kristen, who Paul dates after his divorce.


title: Downsizing (film)

text: During the seven-year hiatus between the releases of their collaborations "Sideways" (2004) and "The Descendants" (2011), Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor spent two and a half years working on the script for "Downsizing", which was going to be Payne's next film after "Sideways" until it was superseded by "The Descendants" and then "Nebraska" (2013). On November 5, 2014, it was officially announced that "Downsizing" would be Payne's follow-up to "Nebraska".


title: Downsizing (film)

text: Payne, Taylor, and Mark Johnson produced the film, whose script was co-written by Payne and Taylor. On January 8, 2015, it was announced that Annapurna Pictures would finance and produce the film; Ad Hominem Enterprises, Payne and Taylor's production company, was also involved with the production. 20th Century Fox was originally going to distribute the film, but it was revealed on October 2, 2015, that Paramount Pictures had acquired distribution rights.


title: Downsizing (film)

text: Reese Witherspoon was attached to the project in 2009, at which point Paul Giamatti and Sacha Baron Cohen were also set to star. On November 5, 2014, Matt Damon was officially cast in the film, taking over Giamatti's role. On January 7, 2015, it was confirmed that Witherspoon was still participating in the project, which would have been her first collaboration with Payne since "Election" (1999). The next day, it was announced that Alec Baldwin, Neil Patrick Harris, and Jason Sudeikis had joined the cast, though Baldwin later dropped out. On March 10, 2016, Christoph Waltz and Hong Chau joined the film, and on March 29, it was revealed that Kristen Wiig had replaced Witherspoon as Damon's character's wife. In August 2016, it was announced that Margo Martindale had been cast in a minor role.


title: Downsizing (film)

text: Principal photography for the film began on April 1, 2016, in Mississauga and Toronto, Ontario, Canada, at University of Toronto Mississauga and the Aga Khan Museum. Filming later took place in Markham, Omaha, Los Angeles, and Trollfjorden in Norway. Rolfe Kent composed the score for the film.


title: Downsizing (film)

text: "Downsizing" premiered at the 74th Venice Film Festival on August 30, 2017, and later screened at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival. It was theatrically released in the United States on December 22, 2017, by Paramount Pictures.


title: Downsizing (film)

text: In the United States and Canada, "Downsizing" was released alongside "Father Figures" and "Pitch Perfect 3", as well as the wide expansions of "The Shape of Water" and "Darkest Hour", and was projected to gross $10–12 million from 2,668 theaters over its four-day opening weekend. It made $2.1 million on its first day (including $425,000 from Thursday night previews) and grossed $4.95 million over its three-day opening weekend, finishing 7th at the box office. This marked the third recent domestic financial failure for Paramount Pictures, following "Mother!" and "Suburbicon", the latter of which also starred Matt Damon. The following weekend, the film dropped 5% to $4.7 million, finishing 9th.


title: Downsizing (film)

text: The film grossed $24.4 million in the United States and Canada, and $30.6 million in other territories, for a total of $55 million, against a production budget of around $68 million.


title: Downsizing (film)

text: The film was released on Digital HD on March 6, 2018, and on Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD on March 20.


title: Downsizing (film)

text: On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 47% based on 301 reviews, with an average rating of 5.70/10; the website's critical consensus reads: ""Downsizing" assembles a talented cast in pursuit of some truly interesting ideaswhich may be enough for some audiences to forgive the final product's frustrating shortcomings." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 63 out of 100, based on 48 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Downsizing (film)

text: Todd McCarthy of "The Hollywood Reporter", who eventually named the film his best of 2017, praised it as "big and beautiful", highlighting the direction and the lead performances, and saying "this is a deeply humane film that, like the best Hollywood classics, feels both entirely of its moment and timeless. It was a risky roll of the dice, but one that hits the creative jackpot." Xan Brooks of "The Guardian" gave "Downsizing" five out of five stars, calling the film "Alexander Payne's miniature masterpiece". Writing for "Rolling Stone", Peter Travers gave the film 3.5 out of 4 stars, saying that "with startling performances and special effects, director Alexander Payne's dystopian sci-fi satire brims over with the pleasures of the unexpected."


title: Downsizing (film)

text: Conversely, David Sims of "The Atlantic" gave the film a negative review, writing: "If Payne had landed the mix of genres, "Downsizing" could have been a masterpiece. Spoiler (small print not required): He does not." Keith Uhlich of "Slant Magazine" gave the film 1.5 out of 4 stars and said: "Payne [...] appears to think he's making some kind of grand statement. So you just sit back and marvel at how his reach continually exceeds his grasp." Richard Brody of "The New Yorker" described "Downsizing" as "three movies in onea passable one, a terrific one, and a terrible one. They're unified in the realization of the movie's big idea, but the movie's straining after a big idea is its overarching weakness."


title: Zone of Death (Yellowstone)

text: The Zone of Death is the area in the Idaho section of Yellowstone National Park in which, as a result of a reported loophole in the Constitution of the United States, a person could theoretically avoid conviction for any major crime, up to and including murder.


title: Zone of Death (Yellowstone)

text: The United States District Court for the District of Wyoming is currently the only United States district court to have jurisdiction over parts of multiple states. This is because its jurisdiction includes all of Yellowstone National Park, which extends slightly beyond Wyoming's boundaries into Idaho and Montana. In addition, the federal government has exclusive jurisdiction over the park, so crimes committed in the park cannot be prosecuted under any of the states' laws.


title: Zone of Death (Yellowstone)

text: Trials in the district court are normally held at the federal courthouse in Cheyenne, Wyoming. However, the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution decrees that juries in federal criminal cases must be made up of citizens who are from both the district state where the crime was committed. Because of this, charges for a crime alleged to have been committed in the area of the park in Idaho would have to be tried before a jury consisting entirely of residents of that area, and the trial would also have to take place in that area. As the Idaho portion of the park is uninhabited, a jury of residents of both the state and district could not be empaneled. As the Constitution guarantees the right to a jury trial, specified three separate times (Article III, Section 2; 6th Amendment; 7th Amendment), a defendant facing any felony or misdemeanor charge, being unable to receive a constitutional trial, could not be legally punished regardless of guilt or innocence.


title: Zone of Death (Yellowstone)

text: The constitutional loophole in this area was discovered by Michigan State University law professor Brian C. Kalt while he was planning to write an essay about technicalities of the Sixth Amendment, which entitles criminal defendants to a fair and quick trial. Kalt wondered about a hypothetical place where there were not enough eligible citizens to form a jury and theorized that there could be no trial and therefore no punishment for major crimes in that area. He later realized that there was such a place: the Idaho section of Yellowstone National Park. Horrified by his realization, Kalt shifted his focus to writing an essay about the area to persuade the government to fix the loophole. The essay, which is called "The Perfect Crime", was published in 2005 in "The Georgetown Law Journal". Kalt feared that criminals might read the essay and commit a crime in the Zone before the loophole was fixed.


title: Zone of Death (Yellowstone)

text: After Kalt discovered the loophole, he worked to have Congress close it. He suggested to lawmakers in Wyoming that the Zone of Death be included as part of the federal district court for the District of Idaho instead of the Wyoming district, which would fix the issue. However, Congress ignored Kalt's suggestion. In 2007, author C. J. Box wrote a novel called "Free Fire" that featured the Zone, which Box hoped would increase governmental awareness. The novel did succeed in alerting Wyoming Senator Mike Enzi to the issue. However, Enzi was unable to convince Congress to discuss it.


title: Zone of Death (Yellowstone)

text: No known felonies have been committed in the Zone of Death since Kalt's discovery. However, a poacher named Michael Belderrain illegally shot an elk in the Montana section of Yellowstone. While that section of the park does have enough residents to form a jury, it might be difficult to put together a standing and fair one due to travel or unwillingness of members of the small population there to serve. A federal judge ruled that Belderrain could be tried in the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming, despite the Sixth Amendment problem. Belderrain cited Kalt's paper "The Perfect Crime" to explain why he believed it was illegal to have his trial with a jury from a state other than where the crime was committed. The court dismissed this argument. Belderrain took a plea deal conditioned such that he would not appeal the Zone of Death issue to the 10th Circuit, rendering the issue moot, at least for the time being.


title: Booker Prize

text: The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. The winner of the Booker Prize receives international publicity which usually leads to a sales boost. When the prize was created, only novels written by Commonwealth, Irish, and South African (and later Zimbabwean) citizens were eligible to receive the prize; in 2014 it was widened to any English-language novel—a change that proved controversial.


title: Booker Prize

text: A five-person panel constituted by authors, librarians, literary agents, publishers, and booksellers is appointed by the Booker Prize Foundation each year to choose the winning book.


title: Booker Prize

text: A high-profile literary award in British culture, the Booker Prize is greeted with anticipation and fanfare. Literary critics have noted that it is a mark of distinction for authors to be selected for inclusion in the shortlist or to be nominated for the "longlist".


title: Booker Prize

text: A sister prize, the International Booker Prize, is awarded for a book translated into English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. The £50,000 prize money is split evenly between the author and translator of the winning novel.


title: Booker Prize

text: The prize was established as the Booker Prize for Fiction after the company Booker, McConnell Ltd began sponsoring the event in 1969; it became commonly known as the "Booker Prize" or the "Booker".


title: Booker Prize

text: When administration of the prize was transferred to the Booker Prize Foundation in 2002, the title sponsor became the investment company Man Group, which opted to retain "Booker" as part of the official title of the prize. The foundation is an independent registered charity funded by the entire profits of Booker Prize Trading Ltd, of which it is the sole shareholder. The prize money awarded with the Booker Prize was originally £5,000. It doubled in 1978 to £10,000 and was subsequently raised to £50,000 in 2002 under the sponsorship of the Man Group, making it one of the world's richest literary prizes. Each of the shortlisted authors receives £2,500 and a specially bound edition of their book.


title: Booker Prize

text: The first winner of the Booker Prize was P. H. Newby in 1969 for his novel "Something to Answer For". The inaugural set of five judges included Rebecca West, W.L. Webb, Stephen Spender, Frank Kermode and David Farrer.