title: The Damned (band)

text: The Damned are an English punk rock band formed in London in 1976 by lead vocalist Dave Vanian, guitarist Brian James, bassist (and later guitarist) Captain Sensible, and drummer Rat Scabies. They were the first punk band from the United Kingdom to release a single, "New Rose" (1976), release a studio album, "Damned Damned Damned" (1977), and tour the United States. They have nine singles that charted on the UK Singles Chart Top 40.


title: The Damned (band)

text: The band briefly broke up after "Music for Pleasure" (1977), the follow-up to their debut studio album, was critically dismissed. They quickly reformed without Brian James, and released "Machine Gun Etiquette" (1979). In the 1980s they released four studio albums, "The Black Album" (1980), "Strawberries" (1982), "Phantasmagoria" (1985), and "Anything" (1986), which saw the band moving towards a gothic rock style. The latter two albums did not feature Captain Sensible, who had left the band in 1984. In 1988, James and Sensible rejoined to play a series of reunion gigs, one of which was released the next year as the live album "Final Damnation" (1989). Their fast-driven punk rock has been cited for influencing and shaping the emergence of hardcore punk in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the United Kingdom and the United States.


title: The Damned (band)

text: The Damned again reformed for a tour in 1991. In 1995, they released a new studio album, "Not of This Earth", which was Scabies's last with the band. This was followed by "Grave Disorder" (2001), "So, Who's Paranoid?" (2008), and "Evil Spirits" (2018) their first studio album in the United Kingdom's Official Charts' top 10 list, landing at No. 7. Despite going through numerous line-up changes, the formation of Vanian, Sensible, keyboardist Monty Oxymoron, drummer Pinch and bassist Stu West had been together from 2004 until 2017, when West left the band and former bassist Paul Gray rejoined. In 2019 drummer Pinch left the band and in February 2022 was replaced by new drummer Will Taylor.


title: The Damned (band)

text: As one of the first gothic rock bands, the Damned, featuring lead singer Vanian's baritone singing, dark lyrics and vampire-themed costume, were a major influence on the goth subculture.


title: The Damned (band)

text: Dave Vanian (David Lett), Captain Sensible (Raymond Burns) and Rat Scabies (Chris Millar) had been members of the band Masters of the Backside, which also included future Pretenders frontwoman Chrissie Hynde. Brian James (Brian Robertson) had been a member of London SS, who never played live, but in addition to James included musicians who later found fame in the Clash and Generation X. Scabies knew James through a failed audition as drummer for London SS. When the two decided to start their own band, with James on guitar and Scabies on drums, they invited Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols and Dave Vanian to audition to be the singer. Only Vanian showed up, and got the part. Sensible became the band's bassist, and the four called themselves the Damned. Chrissie Hynde would later write that "Without me, they were probably the most musically accomplished punk outfit in town".


title: The Damned (band)

text: The Damned played their first show on 6 July 1976, supporting the Sex Pistols at the 100 Club. A lo-fi recording of the show was later released as "Live at the 100 Club" (2007). As part of London's burgeoning punk scene, the Damned again played the club on 20 September, for the 100 Club Punk Festival.


title: The Damned (band)

text: On 22 October, five weeks before the release of the Sex Pistols' "Anarchy in the U.K.", Stiff Records put out the Damned's first single, "New Rose", thus making them the first UK punk band to release a single. The single's B-side was a fast-paced cover of the Beatles' "Help!". "New Rose" was described by critic Ned Raggett as a "deathless anthem of nuclear-strength romantic angst".


title: The Damned (band)

text: When the Sex Pistols released their single, they took the Damned, along with the Clash and Johnny Thunders' Heartbreakers, as openers for their December "Anarchy Tour of the UK". Many of the tour dates were cancelled by organizers or local authorities, with only seven of approximately twenty scheduled shows taking place. The Damned were kicked off the tour before it ended by Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren.


title: The Damned (band)

text: The Damned released their debut studio album, "Damned Damned Damned", on 18 February 1977. Produced by Nick Lowe, it was the first studio album released by a British punk band, and included a new single, "Neat Neat Neat". The band went on tour to promote the album, in March opening for T. Rex on their final tour before Marc Bolan's death that September. Later that spring, they became the first British punk band to tour the United States. According to Brendan Mullen, founder of the Los Angeles club The Masque, their first tour of the U.S. found them favouring very fast tempos, helping to inspire the first wave of west coast hardcore punk.


title: The Damned (band)

text: That August, Lu Edmonds was added as a second guitarist. This expanded line-up unsuccessfully tried to recruit the reclusive Syd Barrett to produce their second studio album. Unable to get Barrett, they settled for his former Pink Floyd bandmate, Nick Mason. In November, this album was released as "Music for Pleasure" (1977), and was quickly dismissed by critics. Its failure led to the band being dropped from Stiff Records. Scabies was also displeased with the album, and quit the band after the recording. He was replaced by future Culture Club drummer Jon Moss, who played with the Damned until they decided to break up in February 1978.


title: The Damned (band)

text: The former members of the band worked on a series of brief side projects and solo recordings, all making little commercial impact. Scabies formed a one-off band called "Les Punks" for a late 1978 gig: Les Punks was a quasi-reunion of the Damned (without Brian James or Lu) that featured Scabies, Vanian, Sensible and bassist Lemmy of Hawkwind and Motörhead. The Damned tentatively reformed with the "Les Punks" line-up in early 1979, but originally performed as "the Doomed" to avoid potential trademark problems. Captain Sensible switched to guitar and keyboards, and after a brief period with Lemmy on bass for studio demos and a handful of live appearances, and a slightly longer period with Henry Badowski on bass, the bassist position was filled by Algy Ward, formerly of the Saints. During a December 1978 tour of Scotland, Gary Holton filled in for Vanian.


title: The Damned (band)

text: The band officially went by the Damned again, playing their first gig under that name in April 1979, and signing a recording contract with Chiswick Records. They went back to the studio and released the charting singles, "Love Song" and "Smash It Up", followed by 1979's "Machine Gun Etiquette", and then a cover version of Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit". Vanian's vocals had by now expanded from the high-baritone of the early records to a smoother crooning style.


title: The Damned (band)

text: "Machine Gun Etiquette" (1979) featured a strong 1960s garage rock influence, with Farfisa organ on several songs. Recording at London's Wessex Studios at the same time as the Clash were there to record "London Calling" (1979), Joe Strummer and Mick Jones made an uncredited vocal appearance on the title track. Fans and critics were pleasantly surprised, and "Machine Gun Etiquette" (1979) received largely positive reviews; Ira Robbins and Jay Pattyn of "Trouser Press" described it as "a great record by a band many had already counted out".


title: The Damned (band)

text: Ward left the band in 1980, to be replaced by Paul Gray, formerly of Eddie and the Hot Rods. "The Black Album" was released later that year, produced by the band themselves apart from one track produced by Hans Zimmer, with three sides of the double album consisting of studio tracks, including the theatrical 17-minute song "Curtain Call". Side 4 featured a selection of live tracks recorded at Shepperton Studios. It was their last album for Chiswick.


title: The Damned (band)

text: In 1981, the Damned released "Friday 13th", a four-song EP on which featured original tracks "Disco Man", "Billy Bad Breaks", "Limit Club", and a cover version of the Rolling Stones song "Citadel".


title: The Damned (band)

text: In 1982, the Damned released their only studio album for Bronze Records, "Strawberries". The band had now expanded to a quintet, with the addition of new full-time keyboardist Roman Jugg. At this time, Sensible was splitting his time between the Damned and his own solo career, which had seen success in the UK with the number one hit "Happy Talk" in 1982. Consequently, the band's next album was a one-off side project recorded without the unavailable Sensible: a soundtrack to an imaginary 1960s movie called "Give Daddy the Knife, Cindy". This limited-run album of 1960s cover songs had the band billed as Naz Nomad and the Nightmares.


title: The Damned (band)

text: In 1984, the Damned made a live performance on the BBC Two sitcom "The Young Ones" performing their song "Nasty", featuring new bassist Bryn Merrick (replacing Gray) and both Jugg and Sensible on guitar. Sensible played a last concert with the band at Brockwell Park, before leaving to pursue his solo career.


title: The Damned (band)

text: From the beginnings of the band, Vanian had adopted a vampire-like appearance onstage, with chalk-white makeup and formal dress. With Sensible gone, Vanian's image became more characteristic of the band as a whole. The Damned signed a recording contract with major label MCA Records, and the "Phantasmagoria" album followed in July 1985, preceded by the UK No. 21 single "Grimly Fiendish". Other hits from the same album were "The Shadow of Love" with its gloomy gothic sound, and the lighter "Is It A Dream?".


title: The Damned (band)

text: In January 1986, the non-album single "Eloise", a cover version of the 1968 hit by Barry Ryan, was a No. 3 chart success in the UK, the band's highest chart placing to date.


title: The Damned (band)

text: However, "Phantasmagoria"'s December 1986 follow-up, "Anything", was a commercial failure, although MCA did include one of its tracks ("In Dulce Decorum") on the "Miami Vice II" soundtrack release. The cover of Love's "Alone Again Or" was also released as a single.


title: The Damned (band)

text: Late in 1987, the Damned began to work on a new studio album for MCA, but the result of these sessions remain unreleased as the record contract was dissolved. Two of the new songs ("Gunning for Love" and "The Loveless and the Damned") were later re-recorded by the Dave Vanian and the Phantom Chords side project.


title: The Damned (band)

text: In June 1988, James and Sensible rejoined the group temporarily for three live appearances, including a concert at the London Town and Country Club which was released the following year as the album "Final Damnation".


title: The Damned (band)

text: In June 1989, James and Sensible again rejoined the group for two UK appearances billed as "The Final Curtain". In July this line-up performed a farewell tour of the US and in December they performed a further five UK gigs advertised as the "We Really Must Be Going Now" tour.


title: The Damned (band)

text: Although officially on hiatus, the band issued two singles in 1990. The first, "Fun Factory", was a song recorded in 1982 by the Sensible/Vanian/Scabies/Gray line-up; intended for single release at the time, the bankruptcy of their record company prevented the issue of the record for 9 years. The year's second single, "Prokofiev", was recorded by Scabies, Vanian and Brian James, and was sold on a 1991 reunion tour of the US.


title: The Damned (band)

text: In 1993 the band reformed again with a new line-up featuring Scabies, Vanian, guitarists Kris Dollimore (formerly of the Godfathers), Alan Lee Shaw, and bassist Moose Harris (formerly of New Model Army). Around this time, two prominent modern rock groups each covered a Damned song: Guns N' Roses recorded "New Rose" for their ""The Spaghetti Incident?"" (1993), while the Offspring covered "Smash It Up" for the "Batman Forever" soundtrack (1995). Both cover versions enjoyed major label distribution and created more exposure to the Damned sound, sometimes to a younger audience unfamiliar with the group.


title: The Damned (band)

text: The reformed Damned toured regularly for about two years and released a new studio album, "Not of This Earth" in November 1995. Promoted with a series of long tours prior to its release, by the time the album was released the Damned had yet again split, partly as the result of legal battles: Vanian and Sensible accused Scabies of releasing "Not of This Earth" (1995) without proper authorization.


title: The Damned (band)

text: Sensible rejoined Vanian in 1996 and yet another formation of the Damned appeared. This initially featured bassist Paul Gray, who was later replaced by Patricia Morrison, previously of Bags, the Gun Club and the Sisters of Mercy.


title: The Damned (band)

text: By February 1999, the Damned consisted of Vanian, Sensible, Morrison and new recruits Monty Oxymoron on keyboards and Spike T. Smith on drums. Spike would later that year go on to join Morrissey's live band and on Spike's recommendation the band recruited Andy (Pinch) Pinching, a founding member of English Dogs, to replace him on drums. Garrie Dreadful, another recruit from Sensible's solo band, played drums from 1997 to 1999 then gave way to Spike. In 2001, the band released the album "Grave Disorder", on Dexter Holland's Nitro Records label and promoted it with continual touring. A spring tour of the United States was planned in 2002 supporting Rob Zombie. However, the band dropped off after a few shows with Captain Sensible saying, "gothic punk was completely lost on the predominantly metal crowds". In the summer they played the Vans Warped Tour in the US.


title: The Damned (band)

text: Morrison and Vanian married and had a daughter, Emily, born on 9 February 2004. Around this time, Morrison 'retired' from performing with the band, though she remained involved with the Damned as the band's manager. Her replacement on bass was Stu West.


title: The Damned (band)

text: In 2006, the Damned released the single "Little Miss Disaster", and a live DVD "MGE25" documenting a 2004 Manchester concert celebrating the 25th anniversary of "Machine Gun Etiquette" (1979). On 21 October 2006, BBC Radio 2 broadcast an hour-long documentary titled "Is She Really Going Out with Him?" concerning the recording of the Damned's first single "New Rose" and the group's place in the 1976 London punk scene. Featuring interviews with James, Sensible, Scabies, Glen Matlock, Don Letts and Chrissie Hynde, the programme discussed the bands and personalities around the scene, particularly the Anarchy in the U.K. tour.


title: The Damned (band)

text: On 28 October 2008, the Damned released for download their tenth studio album, "So, Who's Paranoid?", followed by a physical release on the English Channel label on 10 November (UK) and 9 December (US). To promote the album, the band made back-to-back appearances performing on the CBS network TV broadcasts in the US on Halloween eve and Halloween on "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson". The band undertook a 23-date UK tour to promote their new studio album, supported by Devilish Presley and Slicks Kitchen. The band then played a set and conducted a short interview on the Cherry Blossom Clinic on WFMU on 16 May 2009.


title: The Damned (band)

text: Continual touring occurred throughout the UK and Europe over the next few years. In 2012, they played South America for the first time, with dates in São Paulo (Brazil) and Buenos Aires (Argentina). They returned to the Rhythm Festival, one of only four headline acts to return over the festival's seven-year history. In 2012, the Damned announced that they would return for 2013's Rebellion Festival alongside the Exploited, the Casualties and others.


title: The Damned (band)

text: In 2015, the Damned were featured in a documentary by director Wes Orshoski called "". The documentary charts the history of the band against a backdrop of archival footage, new interviews and tour footage from 2011 to 2014.


title: The Damned (band)

text: After the release of the film, on 12 September 2015, former bassist Bryn Merrick died of throat cancer. Merrick had played on "Phantasmagoria" (1985) and "Anything" (1986). At the time of his death he had been playing in a Ramones tribute band, the Shamones.


title: The Damned (band)

text: In the summer of 2017 "Neat Neat Neat" was prominently featured in the action film "Baby Driver" and its soundtrack. On 11 September 2017, the band announced that Stu West was leaving the band and former bassist Paul Gray would be returning for the new studio album. "Evil Spirits", the band's eleventh album and first in ten years, was released on 13 April 2018. It peaked at No. 7 on the UK Albums Chart, their highest ever chart position, topping their previous high of No. 11 in 1985 ("Phantasmagoria"). The album was recorded in November 2017 in New York City and produced by Tony Visconti who is best known for his work with David Bowie. To get the album made, it was largely crowdfunded through PledgeMusic. The album was preceded by the first single, "Standing on the Edge of Tomorrow" in January 2018 along with the singles "Devil in Disguise" and "Look Left" in March 2018 and "Procrastination" in April 2018.


title: The Damned (band)

text: On 23 May 2019, the Damned started a tour performing their third studio album, "Machine Gun Etiquette" (1979), which they hadn't played in full since its release. The tour included such venues as the House of Blues, Punk Rock Bowling and Music Festival, and Rebellion Festival.


title: The Damned (band)

text: On 25 October 2019, Pinch announced that he would be departing the band after 20 years. His last gig was the Damned's show at the London Palladium on 27 October 2019.


title: The Damned (band)

text: On 21 October 2020, the Damned announced that in 2021 the original line up of Dave Vanian, Captain Sensible, Brian James and Rat Scabies would play a series of shows. This would mark the first time in over two decades that James and Scabies have played with Vanian and Sensible. Due to COVID concerns, it was later announced that the tour, while still featuring the same line-up, was postponed until 2022.


title: The Book of Life (2014 film)

text: The Book of Life is a 2014 American 3D computer-animated musical fantasy comedy film produced by 20th Century Fox Animation, Reel FX Animation Studios, and Chatrone, and distributed by 20th Century Fox. Co-written and directed by Jorge R. Gutierrez, it was produced by Guillermo del Toro, Brad Booker, Aaron D. Berger, and Carina Schulze. It features the voices of Diego Luna, Zoe Saldana, and Channing Tatum with supporting roles by Christina Applegate, Ice Cube, Ron Perlman, and Kate del Castillo. Based on an original idea by Gutierrez, the story follows a bullfighter who, on the Day of the Dead, embarks on an afterlife adventure to fulfill the expectations of his family and friends.


title: The Book of Life (2014 film)

text: "The Book of Life" premiered in Los Angeles on October 12, 2014, and was released theatrically in the United States on October 17, 2014. It received mostly positive reviews from critics and a Golden Globe nomination for Best Animated Feature Film. The film grossed $100 million on a $50 million budget.


title: The Book of Life (2014 film)

text: Mary Beth, a museum tour guide, takes a group of school detention students on a secret museum tour, telling them, with wooden figures, the story of a Mexican town called San Angel from the "Book of Life", holding every story in the world.


title: The Book of Life (2014 film)

text: On the Day of the Dead, La Muerte, ruler of the Land of the Remembered, and Xibalba, ruler of the Land of the Forgotten, see young Manolo Sánchez and Joaquín Mondragon competing for the love of young María Posada. They strike a wager: if María marries Manolo, Xibalba will no longer interfere in mortal affairs, but if she marries Joaquín, La Muerte and Xibalba will swap realms. However, Xibalba cheats by giving Joaquín his Medal of Everlasting Life, which grants the wearer invincibility.


title: The Book of Life (2014 film)

text: The story begins with scenes of young Maria, Manolo, and Joaquin playing together as childhood friends. María is sent to Spain to become a "lady" after freeing pigs destined for slaughter. Years later, the day María returns to San Angel, Joaquín has become a military hero with the Medal's aid, but Manolo's musical aspirations are suppressed by his father Carlos, who trains him to be a bullfighter in their family tradition.


title: The Book of Life (2014 film)

text: At Manolo's first bullfight he defeats the bull but refuses to kill it, angering Carlos and the crowd but impressing María. That night, María is pressured by her father and San Angel's mayor, General Ramiro Posada, to marry Joaquín for his protection from the Bandit King Chakal. María and Manolo profess their mutual love before dawn but are interrupted when Xibalba sends his dual-headed snake staff, which bites her and sends her into a coma. When Manolo brought Maria's body to the town, Joaquín and Ramiro angrily blamed him for her death,


title: The Book of Life (2014 film)

text: Manolo even blamed himself for Maria. Devastated by María's apparent death, Manolo allows Xibalba to kill him, believed by the loss that she will be reunited with María in death.


title: The Book of Life (2014 film)

text: In the Land of the Remembered, Manolo reunites with his mother and his ancestral family. They travel to La Muerte's castle, discovering Xibalba, now the ruler of the realm, who explains the bet and smugly reveals that María didn't die because she was only bitten once and therefore survived. However, Manolo was bitten twice and died. Furious but determined to return to María, Manolo travels to the Cave of Souls to reach La Muerte.


title: The Book of Life (2014 film)

text: Inside, he meets the Candle Maker, the overseer of mortal lives and keeper of the Book of Life. The Candle Maker sees that Manolo's story in the Book of Life is blank and can be rewritten by himself, so he takes them to the Land of the Forgotten. They find La Muerte at Xibalba's castle and expose his cheating. Furious, La Muerte lectures Xibalba before offering a new wager at Manolo's request: Manolo's life will be returned if he completes a challenge of Xibalba's choosing, but if he fails, he will be forgotten and Xibalba will keep both realms. Xibalba sets Manolo against a giant bull skeleton made from the skeletons of every bull slain by the Sanchez family, believing that to be his greatest fear.


title: The Book of Life (2014 film)

text: Meanwhile, María has been awakened from her coma, learns of Manolo's death, and reluctantly accepts Joaquín's proposal. Their wedding is interrupted by Chakal, who leads his army to San Angel to find the Medal, which had once been in his possession. Chakal kills Carlos, who arrives in the Land of the Remembered in time to see Manolo's fight. Manolo, realizing his fear is actually of "being himself", refuses to fight and instead sings an apology to the bull, appeasing it and touching the hearts of everyone present (including Xibalba and Carlos).


title: The Book of Life (2014 film)

text: Impressed, the deities resurrect Manolo and send him and his family to San Angel to protect the town. Manolo is knocked unconscious when Chakal destructs himself, but he is protected by the Medal, which Joaquín had slipped him earlier. Joaquín returns it to Xibalba and resolves to be a true hero, while Manolo and María are happily married as Xibalba and La Muerte reconcile.


title: The Book of Life (2014 film)

text: In the present, Mary Beth finishes the story, and the amazed children leave the museum. Mary Beth and a security guard reveal themselves to be La Muerte and Xibalba in disguise. The Candle Maker appears and encourages the audience to write their own story.


title: The Book of Life (2014 film)

text: Jorge R. Gutierrez first began developing "The Book of Life" fourteen years before its release. Several of the film's story ideas originated in Gutierrez's 2000 student film "Carmelo." The opportunity to have "The Book of Life" produced as a feature film arrived after Gutierrez and his wife, Sandra Equihua, created the Nickelodeon animated series "".


title: The Book of Life (2014 film)

text: "The Book of Life" was originally optioned by DreamWorks Animation in 2007, but never went beyond development because of "creative differences". From there the film went to 20th Century Fox Animation and Reel FX, with 20th Century Fox handling distribution rights. Guillermo del Toro joined as a producer. The film was initially given a release date of October 10, 2014; however, this was eventually moved back by a week. On October 16, 2013, it was announced that Channing Tatum, Zoe Saldana, Diego Luna and Christina Applegate would star as voice actors in the film.


title: The Book of Life (2014 film)

text: Gutierrez wanted to make the final animation look like the concept artwork saying: "I saw every single one that comes out and my biggest heartbreak is that I see all this glorious art, and then the movie doesn't look like that! The mandate of this movie was: Our 'Art of' book is going to look exactly like the movie. And every artist poured their heart and soul into that idea." Gutierrez did not permit his animation team to go on any research trips to Mexico, feeling that such trips often only covered very touristy aspects of the culture. Instead he had the team address any questions they had about the region to him. He also stated that research trips would not be necessary to portray the film's "magic version of Mexico". Explaining that the tone of the film as initially conceived was going to be much darker, Gutierrez said, "I always felt, much like the design, I need to push the envelope so that when I pull back, I end up with something I love."


title: The Book of Life (2014 film)

text: "The Book of Life" made its world premiere in Los Angeles on October 12, 2014. It was released on October 17, 2014 in North America.


title: The Book of Life (2014 film)

text: "The Book of Life" was released on DVD, Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D on January 27, 2015 by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. The special features included a 3-minute short animated film, titled "The Adventures of Chuy". The film currently streams on Disney+ as of February 2021.


title: The Book of Life (2014 film)

text: In April 2013, it was announced Gustavo Santaolalla and Paul Williams would be adapting pop songs for the film. The soundtrack was released on September 26, 2014, while the score was released on October 24, 2014.


title: The Book of Life (2014 film)

text: "The Book of Life" grossed $50.2 million in North America and $49.8 million in other countries for a worldwide total of $100 million, against a production budget of $50 million.


title: The Book of Life (2014 film)

text: "The Book of Life" was released in the United States and Canada on October 17, 2014. The film earned $300,000 from Thursday late night showings from 2,150 theatres and $4.9 million on its opening day. The film debuted at number three in its opening weekend earning $17 million at an average of $5,537 per theatre behind "Fury" ($23.5 million) and "Gone Girl" ($17.8 million). The film played 57% female and 54% under the age of 25 years. It played 59% under 10-years old while 31% of tickets sold were in 3D.


title: The Book of Life (2014 film)

text: In other territories, "The Book of Life" earned $8.58 million from 3,654 screens in 19 markets. The highest debuts came from Mexico ($3.84 million) and Brazil ($1.98 million). In Mexico, the film was number two behind the local film "Perfect Dictatorship".


title: The Book of Life (2014 film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 83% based on 127 reviews and an average rating of 6.90/10. The site's critical consensus reads ""The Book of Life"s gorgeous animation is a treat, but it's a pity that its story lacks the same level of craft and detail that its thrilling visuals provide." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 67 out of 100 based on reviews from 27 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.


title: The Book of Life (2014 film)

text: Geoff Berkshire of "Variety" wrote, "Repping a major step forward for Dallas-based Reel FX Animation Studios (after their anemic feature bow on last year's "Free Birds"), the beautifully rendered CG animation brings an unusually warm and heartfelt quality to the high-tech medium and emerges as the film's true calling card." Frank Scheck of "The Hollywood Reporter" wrote, ""The Book of Life" is a visually stunning effort that makes up for its formulaic storyline with an enchanting atmosphere that sweeps you into its fantastical world, or in this case, three worlds." Simon Abrams of "The Village Voice" wrote that the film's "hackneyed stock plot preaches tolerance while lamely reinforcing the status quo". Marc Snetiker of "Entertainment Weekly" gave the film an A−, saying "Overflowing with hyperactive charm and a spectacular sea of colors, it showcases some of the most breathtaking animation we've seen this decade." Claudia Puig of "USA Today" gave the film two and a half stars out of four, saying "The dizzying, intricate imagery is so beautiful, and the Latin-inspired songs catchy enough that the overall effect is often enchanting." Sara Stewart of "The New York Post" gave the film two out of four stars, saying "Just in time for Mexico's Day of the Dead holiday comes this gloriously colorful animated musical, which almost (but not quite) makes up in visuals what it lacks in snappy dialogue." Katie Rife of "The A.V. Club" gave the film a B−, saying "Ultimately, what drags "The Book Of Life" down is its insistence on trying to update an (original) folkloric story for a contemporary audience. In practice, this means adding some pop-cultural touches that only serve to take the viewer out of the fantastic setting."


title: The Book of Life (2014 film)

text: Michael Ordoña of the "San Francisco Chronicle" gave the film three out of five stars, saying "The vibrant animated feature "The Book of Life" is a cheeky celebration of Mexican folklore with a solid cast, an irreverent sensibility and gorgeous visuals." Michael O'Sullivan of "The Washington Post" gave the film three out of five stars, saying ""The Book of Life" may use state-of-the-art animation, but it derives its strength from the wisdom of antiquity. It only looks new, but it's as old as life (and death) itself. Bill Goodykoontz of "The Arizona Republic" gave the film four out of five stars, saying "A visually stunning, funny movie that trusts children to deal with subject matter that many films don't: specifically, death." Frank Lovece of "Newsday" gave the film three out of four stars, saying "Funny without being frantic, seamlessly switching from dry humor to slapstick, it shows death as a part of life -- and, judging from a preview audience of very young tykes, does so in a gentle, delightful way." Manohla Dargis of "The New York Times" gave the film a negative review, saying "This often beautiful and too-often moribund, if exhaustingly frenetic, feature tends to be less energetic than the dead people waltzing through it." Conversely, Charles Solomon of the "Los Angeles Times" gave wrote, ""The Book of Life" juxtaposes overwrought visual imagery with an undernourished, familiar story - regrettable flaws in one of the few animated films to focus on Latino characters and the rich heritage of Mexican folk culture." Marjorie Baumgarten of "The Austin Chronicle" gave the film two and a half stars out of five, saying "Visually arresting but dramatically rote, "The Book of Life" at least introduces American kids to the Mexican holiday of Día de los Muertos and should score points with families looking for kid-friendly movies that reflect aspects of their Mexican cultural heritage."


title: The Book of Life (2014 film)

text: Calvin Wilson of the "St. Louis Post-Dispatch" gave the film two and a half stars out of five, saying ""The Book of Life" is a flawed but intriguing new chapter in animation." James Berardinelli of "ReelViews" gave the film three out of four stars, saying ""The Book of Life" moves breezily from one scene to the next, keeping the pace brisk and rarely skipping a beat." Laura Emerick of the "Chicago Sun-Times" gave the film three out of four stars, saying "Whether en ingles o en espanol, "The Book of Life" is a delight. In an animated universe cluttered with kung-fu pandas, ice princesses and video-game heroes, Gutierrez and del Toro have conjured up an original vision." Tasha Robinson of "The Dissolve" gave the film three and a half stars out of five, saying "It's all flawed, and distracted, and conceptually messy, prioritizing color over common sense and energy over consistency. But as an afternoon's diversion for a handful of misbehaving kids—both within the movie, and within the movie theater—it's authentically winning." Michael Ordona of the "San Francisco Chronicle" wrote, "There are no great surprises, no shocking reveals (except to the characters themselves). But there's so much to appreciate along the way that it's a real page-turner." Kenji Fujishima of Slant Magazine gave the film two out of four stars, saying "Jorge R. Gutierrez subsumes the film's darker themes in a relentlessly busy farrago of predictable kids'-movie tropes and annoying attempts at hipness." Ben Sachs of the "Chicago Reader" called it ""more imaginative than most" but said it is "undone by a surfeit of glib one-liners and pop culture references".


title: The Book of Life (2014 film)

text: Director Jorge Gutierrez revealed in an interview that one of the ideas for the next chapter in the story involves Joaquin and his relationship with his father. "I had always imagined the first movie to be about Manolo, the second to be about Joaquín and the third one to be about Maria...I've always conceived it as a trilogy." In June 2017, Gutierrez and Reel FX Animation announced that development on the sequel had begun; however, as of June 2019, Gutierrez clarified on Twitter that there are currently no plans for a sequel.


title: Jimmy Dean

text: Jimmy Ray Dean (August 10, 1928 – June 13, 2010) was an American country music singer, television host, actor and businessman. He was the creator of the Jimmy Dean sausage brand as well as the spokesman for its TV commercials.


title: Jimmy Dean

text: He became a national television personality starting on CBS in 1957. He rose to fame for his 1961 country music crossover hit into rock and roll with "Big Bad John" and his 1963 television series "The Jimmy Dean Show", gave puppeteer Jim Henson his first national exposure with his character, Rowlf.


title: Jimmy Dean

text: His acting career included appearing in the early seasons in the "Daniel Boone" TV series as the sidekick of the famous frontiersman played by star Fess Parker. Later he was on the big screen in a supporting role as billionaire Willard Whyte in the James Bond film "Diamonds Are Forever" (1971), starring Sean Connery.


title: Jimmy Dean

text: He lived near Richmond, Virginia, and was nominated for the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2010, but died before his induction that year at the age of 81.


title: Jimmy Dean

text: Dean was born on August 10, 1928 in Seth Ward, Texas and raised in nearby Plainview, the son of George Otto Dean and his second wife, the former Ruth Taylor. Ruth taught Jimmy how to play piano at the age of 10. He attributed his interest in music to the Seth Ward Baptist Church. He dropped out of high school and became a professional entertainer after serving in the United States Air Force in the late 1940s. Dean was 22 and just starting in show business when he married his first wife, Mary Sue, in 1950.


title: Jimmy Dean

text: Dean had his first hit, "Bumming Around", in 1953 on the 4 Star label (written by Pete Graves, credited to "C. Graves" on the Quality label). Dean signed with Columbia Records in 1957.


title: Jimmy Dean

text: He had minor pop hits, such as "Little Sandy Sleighfoot" (a Christmas novelty song) and "Sing Along", later used as the theme for TV's "Sing Along with Mitch", hosted by chorus leader Mitch Miller.


title: Jimmy Dean

text: In 1954, Dean hosted the popular Washington, D.C., radio program "Town and Country Time" on WARL-AM, and with his Texas Wildcats became popular in the Mid-Atlantic region. Patsy Cline and Roy Clark got their starts on the show. Although Cline and Dean became good friends, Clark (Dean's lead guitarist) was fired by the singer for what was explained as his chronic tardiness. Dean replaced Clark with Billy Grammer. In 1955, "Town and Country Time" moved to WMAL-TV (now WJLA-TV) on weekday afternoons. Dean and the Texas Wildcats also appeared during 1957 on "Town and Country Jamboree" on WMAL-TV on Saturdays, which was also carried by TV stations in neighboring Maryland and Virginia on a regional network.


title: Jimmy Dean

text: Also during 1957, while he lived in Arlington, Virginia, Dean hosted "Country Style" on WTOP-TV (now WUSA-TV). CBS picked up the show nationally from Washington for eight months in 1957 under the name "The Morning Show". Then from September 14, 1958, to June 1959, CBS carried "The Jimmy Dean Show" on weekday and Saturday afternoons.


title: Jimmy Dean

text: Dean became best known for "Big Bad John", his 1961 recitation song about a heroic miner. Recorded in Nashville, the record went to number one on the "Billboard" pop chart and inspired many imitations and parodies. It sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc. The track peaked at number two in the UK Singles Chart. The song won Dean the 1962 Grammy Award for Best Country & Western Recording. He had several more top 40 songs, including a top 10 in 1962 with "PT-109", a song in honor of President John F. Kennedy's bravery in World War II, with the sinking of his PT-boat in the South Pacific Ocean by the Japanese.


title: Jimmy Dean

text: In the early 1960s, he hosted "The Tonight Show" on occasion (he was the first guest host during Johnny Carson's tenure, hosting for the first time on January 14, 1963) and one night introduced country singer Roy Clark, with whom he had remained friendly. In the mid-1960s, Dean helped bring country music into the mainstream with his 1963–66 variety series "The Jimmy Dean Show". It presented country music entertainers including Roger Miller, George Jones, Charlie Rich, Buck Owens, and some (such as Joe Maphis) who seldom received network exposure. In 1964, he hosted Hank Williams Jr. in Williams' first television appearance at the age of 14. He sang several songs associated with his father, Hank Williams. The program also featured comedy and a variety of popular music artists, and Dean's sketches with Rowlf the Dog, one of Jim Henson's Muppets. Henson was so grateful for this break that he offered Dean a 40% interest in his production company, but Dean declined on the basis that he had done nothing to truly earn it and Henson deserved all the rewards for his own work. For the rest of his life, Dean made it clear that he never regretted this decision.


title: Jimmy Dean

text: Dean appeared on several TV talk shows and game shows in the 1960s and performed on variety programs, including "The Ed Sullivan Show", "The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom" and "The Hollywood Palace". Dean turned to acting after his television series ended in 1966. His best-known role was as a reclusive Las Vegas billionaire Willard Whyte, inspired by Howard Hughes, in the James Bond movie "Diamonds Are Forever" (1971) with Sean Connery as Bond. He also appeared in 14 episodes of "Daniel Boone" (1967–70) in three different roles (one episode as "Delo Jones," two as "Jeremiah," and 11 as "Josh Clements"); as Charlie Rowlands in two "Fantasy Island" episodes (1981–82); and on other television shows including a semi-regular role as Charlie Bullets on "J.J. Starbuck" starring Dale Robertson (1987–1988).


title: Jimmy Dean

text: Dean's singing career remained strong into the mid-1960s; in 1965, he achieved a second number one country hit with the ballad "The First Thing Ev'ry Morning (And the Last Thing Ev'ry Night)", and he had a top 40 hit that year with "Harvest of Sunshine". In 1966, Dean signed with RCA Victor and immediately had a top 10 hit with "Stand Beside Me". His other major hits during this time included "Sweet Misery" (1967) and "A Thing Called Love" (1968). He continued charting into the early 1970s with his major hits, including "Slowly" (1971), a duet with Dottie West, and a solo hit with "The One You Say Good Morning To" (1972).


title: Jimmy Dean

text: In 1976, Dean achieved a million-seller with another recitation song called "I.O.U.", a tribute to his mother and mothers everywhere. The song was released a few weeks before Mother's Day and quickly became a top 10 country hit, his first in 10 years, and a top 40 pop hit, his first in 14 years. The song was re-released in 1977, 1983, and 1984, but with minor success each time.


title: Jimmy Dean

text: In January 1978, Dean hosted an all-star tribute to Elvis Presley titled "Nashville Remembers Elvis on His Birthday", during which he reminisced about his friendship with the recently deceased singer and performed his own hit "Big Bad John" and "Peace in the Valley".


title: Jimmy Dean

text: In 1969, he founded the Jimmy Dean Sausage Company with his brother Don. The company did well in part because of Dean's own extemporized, humorous commercials.


title: Jimmy Dean

text: The success of the company led to its acquisition in 1984 by Consolidated Foods, later renamed the Sara Lee Corporation. Dean remained involved as spokesman for the company, but the new corporate parent immediately began phasing him out of any management duties. In January 2004, Dean said that Sara Lee had dropped him as the spokesman for the sausage brand because he was too old. In March 2004, Dean revealed that he had sold all but one of his shares in Sara Lee stock. In 2018, several years after his death, the sausage company began re-airing some classic commercials featuring the voice of Dean introducing himself and praising the product.


title: Jimmy Dean

text: A Virginia resident from 1990, Dean was inducted into the Virginia Country Music Hall of Fame in 1997. Former Virginia governor Jim Gilmore appointed Dean to the Virginia Board of Game and Inland Fisheries, which oversees the state's wildlife efforts and boating laws. Dean owned a 110-foot yacht, "Big Bad John", on which he hosted President George Bush on numerous occasions. The two had originally met on Dean's cable show in Nashville, where Bush did an impression of Dean selling sausage.


title: Jimmy Dean

text: In the fall of 2004, he released his blunt, straight-talking autobiography "30 Years of Sausage, 50 Years of Ham". Dean lived in semi-retirement with his second wife, Donna Meade Dean, a singer, songwriter, and recording artist he married in 1991, who helped him write his book. The couple lived on their property at Chaffin's Bluff overlooking the James River in Henrico County, on the outskirts of Richmond, Virginia. On April 20, 2009, the main house was largely gutted by a fire, although the Deans escaped injury. The Deans rebuilt their home on the same foundation and returned early in 2010.


title: Jimmy Dean

text: Dean, who dropped out of high school in 1946 to work and help his mother, announced on May 20, 2008, a donation of $1 million to Wayland Baptist University in Plainview, the largest gift ever from one individual to the institution. Dean said: "I've been so blessed, and it makes me proud to give back, especially to my hometown."


title: Jimmy Dean

text: On February 23, 2010, Dean was nominated for the Country Music Hall of Fame; he was scheduled to be inducted in October 2010, but this occurred after his death.


title: Jimmy Dean

text: Dean had three children, Garry, Connie and Robert, with his first wife Mary Sue (Sue) (née Wittauer) Dean, and two granddaughters, Caroline Taylor (Connie's daughter) and Brianna Dean (Robert's daughter). He married his first wife in 1950; she divorced him in 1990 because of his affair with country-singer Donna Meade who became his second wife. Donna Dean married her childhood sweetheart Jason Stevens two years after Dean's death.


title: Jimmy Dean

text: Dean died on June 13, 2010, at the age of 81 at his home in Varina, Virginia. He was survived by his second wife Donna. She told the Associated Press that he was doing well health-wise, so his death came unexpectedly. She recollects that he was eating while watching television, she left the room, and when she came back in he was unresponsive. He was declared dead at 7:54 pm. His estate was estimated to be worth over $50 million.


title: Jimmy Dean

text: He was entombed in a piano-shaped mausoleum overlooking the James River on the grounds of his estate. His epitaph reads "Here Lies One Hell of a Man", which is a paraphrased lyric from the uncensored version of his song "Big Bad John".


title: Jimmy Dean

text: On June 24, 2014, a groundbreaking was held for the Jimmy Dean Museum, which opened two years later on the grounds of Wayland Baptist University in his hometown of Plainview, Texas. Dean's widow, Donna Dean Stevens, was present for the ceremony. The museum houses much of Jimmy Dean's memorabilia as well as a larger-than-life-size bronze created by Richmond sculptor Paul DiPasquale and funded by Hillshire Brands, owner of the Jimmy Dean sausage brand. The museum is funded by a gift from the Dean Family Foundation.


title: Vimeo

text: Vimeo, Inc. () is an American video hosting, sharing, and services platform provider headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices. Vimeo's business model is through software as a service (SaaS). They derive revenue by providing subscription plans for businesses and video content producers. Vimeo provides its subscribers with tools for video creation, editing, and broadcasting, enterprise software solutions, as well as the means for video professionals to connect with clients and other professionals. , the site has 260 million users, with around 1.6 million subscribers to its services.


title: Vimeo

text: The site was initially built by Jake Lodwick and Zach Klein in 2004 as a spin-off of CollegeHumor to share humor videos among colleagues, though put to the side to support the growing popularity of CollegeHumor. IAC acquired CollegeHumor and Vimeo in 2006, and after Google had acquired YouTube for over , IAC directed more effort into Vimeo to compete against YouTube, focusing on providing curated content and high-definition video to distinguish itself from other video sharing sites. Lodwick and Klein eventually left by 2009, and IAC implemented a more corporate-focused structure to build out Vimeo's services, with current CEO Anjali Sud having been in place since July 2017. IAC spun off Vimeo as a standalone public company in May 2021.


title: Vimeo

text: Vimeo was founded in November 2004 by Connected Ventures, the parent company of the humor-based website CollegeHumor, as a side project of web developers Jake Lodwick and Zach Klein to share and tag short videos with their friends. The idea for a video-sharing site was inspired after CollegeHumor received a large number of views from a posted video clip of the October 2004 "Saturday Night Live" show that included Ashlee Simpson's infamous lip-syncing incident. The name Vimeo was created by Lodwick as a play on the words "video" and "me". As CollegeHumor was drawing in audiences, Vimeo was put to the side while Lodwick and Klein focused on supporting the main CollegeHumor site. Vimeo's user base grew only by a small amount during the next few years principally by word-of-mouth.


title: Vimeo

text: IAC, owned by Barry Diller, acquired a majority ownership of Connected Ventures in August 2006, as they were drawn by the success of CollegeHumor which was bringing around 6 million visitors a month at the time. In reviewing the assets of Connected Ventures, IAC discovered the Vimeo property; this came at the same time that Google had purchased YouTube for in October 2006. By the start of 2007, IAC had directed Lodwick, Klein, and Andrew Pile to work on Vimeo full time and expand its capabilities. To differentiate themselves from YouTube and other video sharing sites that had appeared since Google's purchase, Vimeo was focused on the content creator with better upload tools, and better curation of content on the site rather than on popularity. By October 2007, Vimeo was the first video sharing site to offer high-definition content to users via Flash-based high-definition video playback. While IAC's acquisition of Connected Ventures helped to target Vimeo's direction, the corporate nature of IAC created issues with many of the original staff of CollegeHumor and Vimeo. Lodwick was planning to leave the company near the end of 2007, as he said that IAC's incorporation of business processes hampered their creativity, but was fired a few weeks before that point. Klein left in early 2008.


title: Vimeo

text: Vimeo began rolling out a major redesign of its site in 2009 aimed to put the user's focus on the video, which ultimately was completed by January 2012. The new version was aimed to feature the video playback as the central focus of the design, contrasting with the numerous user interface elements that YouTube had within its layout at the time. From 2008 to 2014, Vimeo had blocked the hosting of video game-related videos as they typically were longer than their normal content and took much of the site's resources. Vimeo did allow machinima videos with a narrative structure. The ban was lifted by October 2014.


title: Vimeo

text: In December 2014, Vimeo introduced 4K support, though it would only allow downloading due to the low market penetration of 4K displays at the time. Streaming of 4K content launched the following year, along with adaptive bitrate streaming support. In March 2017, Vimeo introduced 360-degree video support, including support for virtual reality platforms and smartphones, stereoscopic video, and an online video series providing guidance on filming and producing 360-degree videos.


title: Vimeo

text: Vimeo acquired VHX, a platform for premium over-the-top subscription video channels, in May 2016, subsequently offering this as a service to its sites customers. Vimeo acquired the existing service Livestream in September 2017 to bolster its associated staff and technology, eventually integrated its streaming technology as Vimeo Live, another service offering for its service subscribers as Vimeo OTT.


title: Vimeo

text: Around 2016, Vimeo had expressed its intentions to enter into the subscription video-on-demand market with its own original programming, with the intent of spending "tens of millions" on content to populate the service as to compete with services like Netflix. According to IAC CEO Joey Levin, some of the original programming would have been from content creators already on Vimeo, paid for their material to be used on the service, thus reducing their own costs in producing content in comparison to Netflix. However, by June 2017, Vimeo had scrapped this plan, recognizing that not only that they were far behind Netflix and others in this area but that they also had generally had far fewer potential viewers and that their ultimate goal, converting those viewers into customers of the site, would be difficult. To support this change of approach, Vimeo named Anjali Sud, a general manager and senior vice president who joined Vimeo in 2014, as its new CEO in July 2017. Sud they knew they did not have the financial resources to compete with Netflix in terms of creating original content.


title: Vimeo

text: On this move, Vimeo decided to focus more heavily on supporting its content creators and customers, transitioning itself away from being simply a content-hosting or video-sharing website and move into the software as a service model. According to Sud, Vimeo saw that the demand for online video services had shifted away from Hollywood productions and media producers and was gaining more traction by large businesses, and just as Vimeo had originally drawn attention from indie filmmakers at its start, they saw an opportunity to help with smaller businesses needed video sharing capabilities but lacking the resources to develop those internally. The company introduced a number of tiers and services aimed for business use atop their existing services. Vimeo no longer considered itself a competitor to YouTube or other video-sharing sites, and instead called itself "the Switzerland for creators", according to Sud. Creators were allowed to copy and share their videos to any other video-sharing site as long as they continued to use Vimeo's video editing tools for preparing their creations. In early 2017, Vimeo released collaborative review tools for its users, allowing them to privately share to other users to get feedback tied to individual frames of the video, thus keeping the video creation workflow entirely within the Vimeo service.


title: Vimeo

text: Vimeo acquired Magisto, an artificial intelligence (AI)-backed video creation service with over 100 million users, in April 2019. While the deal's terms were not disclosed, the purchase was reportedly valued at $200 million. Through the acquisition, Magisto's staff were brought into Vimeo, and their existing userbase gained access to Vimeo's toolset. For Vimeo, they saw Magisto's technology helpful for smaller businesses that may not have the funds or skills to product professional videos and could be aided by Magisto's technology. By February 2020, Vimeo launched Vimeo Create, the integration of Magisto's tools into the Vimeo platform to let its users easy create videos guided by AI agents from stock video footage offered by Vimeo and the users' own sources.


title: Vimeo

text: In November 2020, spurred by growth in Vimeo's services due to the COVID-19 pandemic, IAC raised for Vimeo in anticipation of spinning off the subsidiary as its own company, giving Vimeo a valuation. IAC formally announced plans to spin off Vimeo as a public-owned company in December 2020, with the process expected to close by the second quarter of 2021. Vimeo would become the 11th company spun-out from IAC following this.


title: Vimeo

text: Another round of investment in January 2021 brought an additional , raising its total valuation to an estimated . Vimeo's shareholders agreed to going public on May 14, 2021. The company was fully spun out as its own entity on May 25, 2021, and started trading on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol VMEO.


title: Vimeo

text: In November 2021, Vimeo acquired Wirewax, a suite of interactive video tools, and Wibbitz, an AI-based video creation platform. Vimeo demonstrated the incorporation of Wirewax's interactive tools through a new monthly "Video Matters" video series showing the best videos on the platform. That same November, the company also brought Vimeo Events which allowed users to schedule webinar-type experiences alongside other video content.


title: Vimeo

text: In March 2022, Vimeo announced that it would begin limiting bandwidth to all users to 2 terabytes per month, a rate they estimate would affect only 1% of all its users. Just prior to this change, users of Vimeo had reported they had been approached to purchase higher tier accounts, but Vimeo apologized for this approach, and felt it was better to set the flat bandwidth rate. Going over this rate would not affect any videos the user had on the service, and they would work with users to offer tiered options or to help transition off Vimeo to other services if that was their choice. In 2020 Vimeo also launched video chapters.


title: Vimeo

text: After the departures of Lodwick and Klein, IAC brought in a more corporate structure to the company. By January 2009, Dae Mellencamp joined IAC as general manager of Vimeo. She served as CEO until March 19, 2012, when Kerry Trainor joined Vimeo as CEO.


title: Vimeo

text: Around 2016, several high-level executives announced their departure from Vimeo, including Trainor. IAC's CEO Joey Levin was named as interim CEO for Vimeo during its search for a new CEO. After a year-long search, IAC promoted then general manager Anjali Sud as the CEO.


title: Vimeo

text: In contrast with other video-sharing sites, Vimeo does not use any advertising either on its pages or embedded in videos. Instead, Vimeo sells its services and products to content creators for revenue as a software as a service (SaaS) model. The site offers a free tier of services, limiting uploads to 500 megabytes a week and with a cap on total data, while paid subscriber tiers, first introduced in 2008, give the user higher weekly upload allowances and greater storage capacity.


title: Vimeo

text: Starting around 2016, Vimeo has also shifted towards supporting businesses through its offerings. In September 2016 it introduced a Business tier plan to allow for intra-business collaboration as well as for businesses to host informational videos for their customers. With the acquisition of Livestream in 2017, Vimeo added another tier for Premium subscribers, offering unlimited uploads and streaming events through Vimeo Live. Vimeo launched Vimeo Enterprise, a set of tools designed for large organizations that allow users to manage and share live and on-demand video across workspaces, in August 2019. Vimeo established partnerships with Mailchimp, HubSpot, and Constant Contact marketing platforms to allow their clients to easily integrate Vimeo videos into mail and other promotional campaigns. Vimeo also partnered with TikTok to give TikTok commercial users access to Vimeo's editing tools for video content.


title: Vimeo

text: In addition to subscriptions, Vimeo has other revenue streams through additional services to its customers. Creators could sell access to individual videos since 2013, and later could offer subscription-based access in 2015, with Vimeo taking a 10% cut of the sales. Vimeo has offered a video on demand service since 2015, allowing its partners to sell Vimeo videos through their websites to their customers. Via its VHX acquisition, Vimeo offers an over-the-top media service (OTT), Vimeo OTT, which Vimeo subscribers can use to create custom mobile apps to provide on-demand video to the app's subscribers, with Vimeo handling the subscriptions, billing, and content delivery. In 2018, the site launched Vimeo Stock to allow content creators to offer videos as stock footage to be used by others. Vimeo Create was introduced in 2020 to allow users to create videos with the help of artificial intelligence.


title: Vimeo

text: To further promote Vimeo as a home for professional video support, Vimeo opened a "For Hire" job marketplace in September 2019, allowing companies seeking professional video services to freely post job requests for the site's users to browse and respond to. Vimeo Record was launched in October 2020 to allow businesses to use recorded video messaging within their company or with their clients to aid in communications.


title: Vimeo

text: By December 2013, Vimeo had attracted more than 100 million unique visitors per month, and more than 22 million registered users. At this time, fifteen percent of Vimeo's traffic came from mobile devices. As of February 2013, Vimeo accounted for 0.11% of all Internet bandwidth, following far behind its larger competitors, video sharing sites YouTube and Facebook. The community of Vimeo includes indie filmmakers and their fans. The Vimeo community has adopted the name "Vimeans," which references active members of the Vimeo community who engage with other users on a regular basis.


title: Vimeo

text: In 2019, enterprise customers were Vimeo's fastest-growing segment in terms of revenue according to Glenn Schiffman, IAC's Chief Financial Officer. CTO Mark Kornfilt said they had nearly 1 million subscribers as of April 2019, making up a majority of the firm's annual revenue. This had grown to over 1.2 million by March 2020, and over in annual revenue, The site had also obtained 175 million registered users by April 2020. and over 200 million by November 2020 attributed to increased use of Vimeo due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Vimeo

text: Vimeo launched its Vimeo Festival and Awards program in 2010, and held subsequent events every eighteen months. The Festival allows video creators to submit their films for a small fee for consideration across multiple categories. Typically more than 5,000 videos are submitted, and these are narrowed to a field of 1,000 for select judge-panel to vote for winners across multiple categories. This culminates with a live awards presentation showing thewinning films in each category. Each category winner carries a cash prize and an overall best-in-show prize. Vimeo had established the Festival and Awards to help give video and filmmakers an opportunity to highlight their work on Vimeo's pages and gain potential work from clients.


title: Vimeo

text: In 2008, Vimeo launched its Staff Picks, highlighting videos in a special channel as picked by the company's employees as some of the best work by its users. This feature was expanded in 2016 to give special laurels to videos that the staff felt were "Best of the Month" and "Best of the Year", as well as adding Staff Pick Premiere for newly added videos to the Staff Picks channel. In 2020, Vimeo invited previous Staff Picks recipients to create videos about their favorite small business owners and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as part of its Stories in Place program.


title: Vimeo

text: Starting May 4, 2012, the site was blocked in India by some ISPs under orders from the Department of Telecommunications, without any stated reasons. Vimeo was blocked in India in December 2014, due to fears that the website was spreading ISIS propaganda through some of its user-made videos. However, on December 31, the site was unblocked in India.


title: Vimeo

text: In May 2014, Tifatul Sembiring, Indonesia's then-Communications Minister, said on his personal Twitter account that video sharing site Vimeo would be banned. Citing Indonesia's anti-pornography law, passed in 2008, the minister said the site included displays of "nudity or nudity-like features".


title: Vimeo

text: In January 2019, the Commercial Court of Rome determined that Vimeo's video-hosting platform played an “active role” in copyright infringement and the posting of Italian television programs owned by media conglomerate Mediaset. After Vimeo declined to remove over 2,000 copyrighted videos at the request of Mediaset, the company was forced to pay $9,700,000 in penalties.


title: Vimeo

text: In 2009, Capitol Records/EMI sued Vimeo for copyright infringement based on user-uploaded videos, which Vimeo defended on the basis of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) safe harbor provisions under . Two rulings at the Southern District of New York in 2013 ruled primarily in favor of Vimeo, and the Second Circuit issued a Vimeo-favorable ruling in 2016. Back at the district court, Vimeo won another favorable ruling in May 2021.


title: Vimeo

text: In June 2019, California pastor James Domen, founder of the "ex-gay" ministry Church United, sued Vimeo after the website, in 2018, removed 89 of his videos for violating its content guidelines. The videos expressed opposition to homosexuality and advocated so-called "conversion therapy". A federal court dismissed Domen's suit in 2020, and the Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal in 2021.


title: Vimeo

text: After its acquisition of Magisto, Vimeo was sued by the state of Illinois in September 2019 for violations of the state's Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). The class-action suit alleged that Vimeo, via Magisto's software, had automatically scanned and tracked specific individuals in the videos uploaded through the service, identifying their gender, age, and race, without prior consent as required by BIPA. Vimeo asserted that the technology only used machine learning to identify areas in videos that equated to human faces, and that "Determining whether an area represents a human face or a volleyball does not equate to 'facial recognition'." Vimeo also affirmed that they, via Magisto, "neither collects nor retains any facial information capable of recognizing an individual". Currently, the case remains pending in federal district court after Vimeo lost a bid to attempt to settle the suit.


title: Seven Psychopaths

text: Seven Psychopaths is a 2012 satirical black comedy crime film written and directed by Martin McDonagh. It stars Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson, and Christopher Walken, with Tom Waits, Abbie Cornish, Olga Kurylenko, and Željko Ivanek in supporting roles. The film marks the second collaboration among McDonagh, Farrell, and Ivanek, following the director's "In Bruges" (2008). It is a co-production of the United States and the United Kingdom.


title: Seven Psychopaths

text: "Seven Psychopaths" had its world premiere on 7 September 2012 at the Toronto International Film Festival, and was theatrically released in the United States and Canada on 12 October 2012, and in the United Kingdom on 5 December 2012. The film received positive reviews from critics.


title: Seven Psychopaths

text: Marty is an alcoholic writer in Los Angeles stuck on his new screenplay, "Seven Psychopaths"—he has the title, but he can't imagine the seven titular characters. His best friend, Billy, is a struggling actor who makes a living kidnapping dogs and collecting rewards for their safe return. His partner-in-crime is Hans, a religious man, whose wife Myra is in hospital for cancer treatment.


title: Seven Psychopaths

text: Billy shows Marty a story in the paper about the "Jack of Diamonds" killer—who only kills "mid-to-high-ranking members of the Italian-American mafia", leaving jack of diamonds playing cards on his victims as a signature—and suggests he be used as one of the seven. Marty agrees. Later that day, Marty comes up with his second psychopath: the "Quaker", who stalks his daughter's killer for decades to drive him to suicide. When Marty tells the story at his girlfriend's party that evening, Billy gets frustrated—he heard the story from "a friend" and retold it to Marty, who was so drunk he forgot it wasn't his own idea. He wants to collaborate with Marty as a screenwriting duo, but is too embarrassed to ask directly.


title: Seven Psychopaths

text: Billy puts an ad in the paper inviting psychopaths to share their stories with Marty for the script. Zachariah Rigby approaches them, sharing his story of having been a part of a serial killer duo (with Maggie, his now-ex-lover) who killed other serial killers: the Texarkana Moonlight Murderer, the Cleveland Torso Killer, and the Zodiac killer. However, as a condition of allowing his story to be used, Zachariah wants Marty to include his phone number in the credits in the hope that Maggie will see the movie and seek him out again. Marty agrees. He also adds another psycopath to the script: a former Viet Cong fighter who travels to the U.S., dressed as a priest, to enact revenge on the soldiers responsible for the Mỹ Lai massacre.


title: Seven Psychopaths

text: One of the many dogs stolen by Billy and Hans is Bonny, a Shih Tzu, the beloved pet of Charlie Costello, an unpredictable and violent gangster. His thugs discover Hans' connection to the kidnapping. They threaten to kill Marty and Hans, but the Jack of Diamonds killer arrives and kills the thugs, then leaves without saying anything. Hans and Marty flee the scene, but Charlie traces Myra to the cancer ward and kills her when she refuses to tell him anything.


title: Seven Psychopaths

text: Billy goes to meet his girlfriend, Angela, who is also Charlie's girlfriend. After telling her he kidnapped Bonny, she snitches to Charlie. Billy receives a call from Hans to tell him that Charlie killed Myra, so Billy shoots Angela in retaliation and leaves a playing card in her hand. Charlie arrives at Billy's and discovers many packs of playing cards with the jack of diamonds missing, realizing he is the Jack of Diamonds killer.


title: Seven Psychopaths

text: Marty, Billy, and Hans leave for the desert with Bonny. After Marty retells "his" Quaker story during dinner at a bar, Hans reveals that he is the real-life Quaker. When the trio arrive to the desert, they set up camp. Hans is impressed with Marty's screenplay draft, especially the character of the Viet Cong fake-priest, but Marty admits that he's increasingly uninterested in violence and plans to leave that story line unfinished rather than resort to cliché. They pass the time discussing their different endings for the screenplay, with Billy suggesting a shootout between all of the psychopaths where the Jack of Diamonds killer dies a tragic hero.


title: Seven Psychopaths

text: While at a store to buy food, Marty and Hans see a headline saying that Billy is wanted in connection with the Jack of Diamonds killings. They return to the camp shaken. Marty gets drunk while Billy and Hans take peyote. When confronted, Billy reveals that he assumed the Jack of Diamonds persona to inspire Marty, but Marty angrily declares he will never write with Billy and they must go home.


title: Seven Psychopaths

text: Meanwhile, Hans has a vision of Myra in a "grey place," leading him to doubt his belief in the afterlife. He ignores Marty's reassurances that his vision was a peyote-induced hallucination. Billy sets the car on fire, stranding the trio, then calls Charlie to give him their location and force his dramatic shootout ending. To alleviate Hans' doubts about heaven so he'll participate in the shootout, Billy claims to have impersonated Myra; but, not able to describe precisely what Myra had said in the vision, Hans walks away into the desert.


title: Seven Psychopaths

text: Charlie arrives alone and unarmed, apart from a flare gun. An enraged Billy shoots him, feeling cheated. Hans stumbles across Charlie's thugs waiting nearby, led by Paolo, but the police show up at the same time. Marty drives away with Charlie, intending to take him to a hospital, when Billy realizes the flare gun's purpose and fires it. Paolo starts to lead his men to the flare, but Hans pretends to draw a weapon, causing Paulo to shoot him in front of the police. Before dying, he says, "It isn't grey at all."


title: Seven Psychopaths

text: The thugs head towards the signal with police in pursuit and intercept Marty and Charlie, who reveals that he only suffered a flesh wound. With backup, Charlie returns to Billy for a stand-off, holding Marty and Bonny hostage respectively. Charlie releases Marty and shoots Billy just as the police arrive. Charlie and Paulo are arrested, but Bonny stays at the dying Billy's side. Marty catches up with Hans' body, finding a tape recorder with a suggestion for how to end the Viet Cong fighter's story with hope: his revenge is revealed as a fantasy, the dying thoughts of the first Buddhist monk to self-immolate in peaceful protest of the Vietnam War.


title: Seven Psychopaths

text: Marty, having adopted Bonny, finishes the screenplay. Sometime later, after "Seven Psychopaths" is shown in theaters, Zachariah calls and threatens to kill Marty for not leaving a message to Maggie as promised. On hearing Marty's weary and resigned acceptance of his fate, Zachariah realizes his experiences have left him a changed man and decides to spare him.


title: Seven Psychopaths

text: The first casting announcements were made on 12 May 2011. Mickey Rourke left "The Expendables 2" to co-star in the film. He later dropped out of "Seven Psychopaths" after disagreements with McDonagh, calling him a "jerk-off." He was replaced by Woody Harrelson. Of the incident, McDonagh said "I was fine with it. Mickey's a great actor [...] I've known Woody [Harrelson] for years and years, and he was a perfect choice for this too. He's got those great dramatic elements which he's shown in "Rampart" recently, and he's always been a fantastic comedian. You need that in this – someone who can be out-and-out funny, but also turn sinister on a dime."


title: Seven Psychopaths

text: The film was shot in Los Angeles and Joshua Tree National Park, Twentynine Palms, California. Filming was completed late 2011.


title: Seven Psychopaths

text: The film's score was composed by Carter Burwell, who previously composed the score to McDonagh's "In Bruges". Lakeshore Records released the soundtrack digitally on 23 October 2012, with a physical release date of 20 November 2012.


title: Seven Psychopaths

text: "Seven Psychopaths" was released in North America on 12 October 2012 and opened in 1,480 theaters in the United States. It grossed $1,360,000 on its opening day and $4,275,000 in its opening weekend, ranking #9 with a per theater average of $2,889. During its second weekend, it dropped down to #11 and grossed $3,273,480, with a per theater average of $2,212. By its third weekend, it dropped to #15 and made $1,498,350, with a per theater average of $1,494. It was released 5 December 2012 in the United Kingdom.


title: Seven Psychopaths

text: "Seven Psychopaths" received positive reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 83%, based on 219 reviews, with an average rating of 7.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads, ""Seven Psychopaths" delivers sly cinematic commentary while serving up a heaping helping of sharp dialogue and gleeful violence." At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film holds a score of 66 out of 100, based on 43 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews."


title: Seven Psychopaths

text: Eric Kohn of "IndieWire" gave the film a positive review and an "A−" grade, praising McDonagh's writing, and stating that it "hits a unique pitch between dark, bloody satire and interpersonal conflicts that makes his finest work play like a combination of Quentin Tarantino and Aaron Sorkin." About the film itself, he wrote, "A less controlled and slapdash character piece than "In Bruges", McDonagh's new movie benefits greatly from a plethora of one-liners that toy with crime movie clichés in the unlikely context of writerly obsessions." Claudia Puig of "USA Today" also gave the film a positive review, writing that "men in movies are often just overgrown boys, and "Seven Psychopaths" is out to prove it – in the most twisted, hilarious way possible." Roger Ebert of "Chicago Sun-Times" gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of four. He praised the performances of main cast members and McDonagh's writing, stating that "Walken sometimes leans toward self-parody, but here his performance has a delicate, contained strangeness. All of the actors are good, and Farrell wisely allows the showier performances to circle around him. Like any screenwriter – like Tarantino, for example, who is possibly McDonagh's inspiration here – he brings these people into being and stands back in amazement." About the film, he added, "This is a delightfully goofy, self-aware movie that knows it is a movie." Lisa Schwarzbaum of "Entertainment Weekly" gave the film a "B+" grade, stating, "An energetically demented psycho-killer comedy set in faux-noir L.A., "Seven Psychopaths" rollicks along to the unique narrative beat and language stylings of Anglo-Irish writer-director Martin McDonagh ("In Bruges"), channeling Quentin Tarantino."


title: Seven Psychopaths

text: David Rooney of "The Hollywood Reporter" praised the performances of the main cast members, stating, "As creatively bankrupt Marty, Farrell is in subdued mode here, his performance largely defined by the endless expressivity of his eyebrows. He serves as an excellent foil for Rockwell, whose line readings continually dance between knowingness and idiocy, and Walken, who ventures as far into deadpan as you can go while remaining conscious. And Harrelson has fun contrasting his devotion to Bonny with his contempt for humanity." He wrote about the film that "while it's way behind the "Pulp Fiction" curve, "Seven Psychopaths" can be terrifically entertaining." Catherine Shoard of "The Guardian" gave the film four stars out of five, and wrote, "There are scenes of complete brilliance, Walken is better than he's been in years, cute plot loops and grace notes." Peter Travers of "Rolling Stone" gave the film three stars out of four, stating, "Blood splatters, heads explode, and McDonagh takes sassy, self-mocking shots at the very notion of being literary in Hollywood. It's crazy-killer fun." Ty Burr of "Boston Globe" also gave the film three stars out of four, stating that the film is "absurdly entertaining even after it disappears up its own hindquarters in the last act, and it gives some of our weirder actors ample room to play."


title: Seven Psychopaths

text: Michael Phillips of "Chicago Tribune" gave the film three stars out of four, writing that "the result is a clever, violent daydream. But McDonagh's skill behind the camera has grown considerably since "In Bruges". And the way he writes, he's able to attract the ideal actors into his garden of psychopathology." Dana Stevens of "Slate" magazine gave the film a positive review, stating, "It's at once a gangster movie, a buddy comedy, and a meta-fictional exploration of the limits of both genres - and if that sounds impossible to pull off, well, McDonagh doesn't, quite. But the pure sick brio of "Seven Psychopaths" takes it a long way." Richard Corliss of "Time" magazine also gave the film a positive review, writing that "small in stature but consistently entertaining, "Seven Psychopaths" is a vacation from consequence for the Tony- and Oscar-winning author, and an unsupervised play date for his cast of screw-loose stars." James Berardinelli of "ReelViews" gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four, stating, "On balance, one could argue that "Seven Psychopaths" warrants a better rating than a mediocre **1/2, but the aftertaste is so bitter that it diminishes the sweetness that started off the meal."


title: Seven Psychopaths

text: Peter Debruge of "Variety" magazine gave the film a mixed review, writing that "the film's overall tone is so cartoony, it's easy to imagine someone spinning off a macabre animated series of the same name..." and that "compared to McDonagh's best work for stage ("The Lieutenant of Inishmore") and screen ("In Bruges"), "Seven Psychopaths" feels like either an older script knocking around the bottom of a drawer or a new one hastily tossed off between more ambitious projects." Kevin Jagernauth of "The Playlist" also gave the film a mixed review, stating, "somewhat spastic and overcooked, "Seven Psychopaths" might have a few too many."


title: Arthdal Chronicles

text: Arthdal Chronicles () is a 2019 South Korean television series written by Kim Young-hyun and Park Sang-yeon and directed by Kim Won-seok, under the production banner of Studio Dragon and KPJ, starring Jang Dong-gun, Song Joong-ki, Kim Ji-won, and Kim Ok-vin. Regarded as the first Korean ancient fantasy drama, the story takes place during the Bronze Age and is loosely based on the story of Dangun, the founder of the first Korean Kingdom of Gojoseon. The series aired on tvN from June 1 to September 22, 2019, on Saturdays and Sundays at 21:00 (KST) for 18 episodes. It premiered internationally on Netflix.


title: Arthdal Chronicles

text: In spite of the generally mixed to negative reception from critics, the series was the sixth most preferred Korean drama among viewers in the United States market in 2019 as per Consumer Research Report by the Korea Creative Content Agency.


title: Arthdal Chronicles

text: In a mythical land called Arth, the inhabitants of the ancient city of Arthdal contend with power struggles, while some encounter love along the way. Eun-seom goes through hardships to bring his tribe back to life and learns of his true origins in the process.


title: Arthdal Chronicles

text: The cast and crew attended a workshop in Yangju, Gyeonggi-do, on August 21, 2018. The first script reading was held on August 26, 2018. Filming officially started on December 5, 2018 with the opening ceremony of the set in Osan, whose construction took place for eight months. The drama was also filmed overseas in Brunei, with Song Joong-ki departing first on February 24, 2019.


title: Arthdal Chronicles

text: The drama serves as a reunion project for Song Joong-ki and Kim Ji-won who both starred in the 2016 hit drama "Descendants of the Sun".


title: Arthdal Chronicles

text: On February 12, 2020, it was announced that the drama was renewed for a second season. On June 11, 2020, it was announced that the production schedule was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and has been excluded from the 2021 lineup.


title: Arthdal Chronicles

text: In February 2022, it was announced that the second season was expected to be released in early 2023 along with a webtoon and an MMORPG. Writers Kim Young-hyun and Park Sang-yeon will be in charge of the script again, while it will be directed by Kim Kwang-sik. Set more than a decade later, Lee Joon-gi and Shin Se-kyung will replace Song Joong-ki and Kim Ji-won as the adult versions of Eun-seom and Tan-ya, while Jang Dong-gun and Kim Ok-vin will reprise their roles. Filming began on August 23, 2022.


title: Arthdal Chronicles

text: The drama received mixed reviews. It was criticized by "Game of Thrones" fans for sharing similarities with that series, while critics felt that it employs poor use of CGI, has a formulaic plot, is similar to other foreign fantasy dramas and films centered on ancient times, and has a slow-paced storyline, which can make viewers lose interest. Viewers were also bewildered by the historical setting, as the drama is set in the Bronze Age but cast members are seen wearing armors and weapons that do not belong to that era.


title: Arthdal Chronicles

text: Conversely, the drama was praised for its intriguing storyline and unique setting, touching on subjects like the meaning of a tribe, an alliance and a nation, as well as religion. Writer Park Sang-yeon said, "I wouldn't even think of comparing our series to ["Game of Thrones"] and I don't think our goal is to create something similar... I wouldn't try to claim to do anything similar to the show and I don't think it's an appropriate comparison." He added, "We tried to create a great series by building a fictitious world of our own with our imagination and I hope you see our series as it is."


title: Arthdal Chronicles

text: Although John Serba of Decider.com gave the series a "Skip It" rating, he said, "Arthdal occurs in a more primitive time than ["Game of Thrones"], and appears to be set up to explore different ideas about the human creature and its thirst for power and possessions." He said that the show further differentiates itself from "Game of Thrones" by its absence of nudity and sex scenes. "Forbes" contributor Joan MacDonald said, "Stunning camera work makes "The Arthdal Chronicles" a visual pleasure to watch, capturing sweeping panoramas that place fledgeling humans in the context of a wide world waiting to be explored—and possibly conquered."


title: Arthdal Chronicles

text: The series received lower-than-expected viewership ratings, in comparison to its massive budget, but the first episode received ratings of 6.7 percent and peaked at 8 percent, placing it first for all dramas in its time slot, including non-cable broadcasting stations. It achieved a ratings high on June 9, with its fourth episode, scoring an average rating of 7.7 percent nationwide, which was an increase of 1.3 percent from the night before. The episode peaked at 8.9 percent nationwide.


title: Arthdal Chronicles

text: The production team was criticized for mistreatment of its production staff. The production team was accused of violating labor laws from local civic groups, including the Seoul-based Hanbit Media Labor Rights Center and Hope Solidarity Labor Union, as the drama crew had been subject to a "murderous" working environment that made them work up to 150 hours a week. The organizations reported Studio Dragon to the Seoul Employment and Labor Administration. The standards were agreed upon and announced by the studio last September to enhance the labor environment of its staff.


title: Arthdal Chronicles

text: Studio Dragon responded to the allegations, saying they abided by its own labor rules, but admitted that they had filmed for 113 hours during the week they went to Brunei in order to make the most out of their time shooting overseas. The studio denied reports that an injured staff member was ignored and told to continue working.


title: Arthdal Chronicles

text: "Arthdal Chronicles" aired on tvN, a cable channel/pay TV, which normally has a relatively smaller audience compared to free-to-air TV/public broadcasters (KBS, SBS, MBC and EBS). The first episode recorded average ratings of 6.7% and peaked at 8%, taking first place for all dramas in its time slot, including non-cable broadcasting stations. The drama's personal record of 7.7% was on its fourth episode. Its finale scored an average rating of 7.4% nationwide. The series entered the list of highest-rated Korean dramas in cable television.


title: Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love

text: Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love is a 1996 Indian historical erotic romance film co-written, co-produced, and directed by Mira Nair. The first portion of the film is based on "Utran" ("Hand Me Downs"), a short story in Urdu by the Indian writer Wajida Tabassum. The film takes its title from the ancient Indian text, the "Kama Sutra". It stars Naveen Andrews, Sarita Choudhury, Ramon Tikaram, Rekha, and Indira Varma. The English-language film was produced by Indian, British, German and Japanese studios.


title: Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love

text: Declan Quinn won the 1998 Independent Spirit Award for Best Cinematography for his work in the film. "Kama Sutra" was nominated for the Golden Seashell award at the 1996 San Sebastián International Film Festival and was screened at the Cannes Film Festival. The film generated controversy at the time of its release and was banned in India due to its erotic theme and sexual content.


title: Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love

text: In 16th-century India, Tara is a princess while Maya is her beautiful servant. They are best friends, but there is an undercurrent of jealousy and resentment, symbolised by the fact that Maya is given Tara's hand-me-down clothes and never anything new to wear. As the girls approach marriageable age, Tara resents that Maya is a better classical dancer than she is and that her parents and hunchback brother, Prince Bikram (a.k.a "Biki") show affection for her servant.


title: Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love

text: Tara is prepared to marry Prince Raj Singh, but when the prince comes to view his future wife, he is instantly infatuated with Maya instead. Noticing this, Tara spits in Maya's face and sends her from the wedding in tears. Maya takes revenge by seeking out Raj and having sex with him, before he has completed the marriage rites with Tara; Biki, hiding, watches the two of them.


title: Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love

text: As Tara is leaving home as a newlywed, Maya tells her that just as Maya wore the princess's used clothes all her life, Tara will now have something Maya has used. During her wedding night, Tara is hesitant to consummate their relationship. An angry Raj rapes his horrified bride, even calling her Maya, setting a tone of violence and humiliation for the marriage. Despite this, Tara still yearns for a loving relationship with her indifferent husband.


title: Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love

text: To save Maya's honour, Biki sends her a marriage proposal. When she refuses, he publicly brands her as a whore, and she is forced to leave her home. Wandering on her own, she meets a young stone sculptor, Jai Kumar, who works for Raj. He reveals that Maya has been the inspiration for his beautiful and highly erotic statues. Jai takes her to an older woman named Rasa Devi, who is a teacher of the Kama Sutra. Maya begins an intense romantic and sexual relationship with Jai that is abruptly halted when he fears he might not be able to work properly with Maya consuming his thoughts. Maya finds comfort with Rasa Devi and decides to learn the courtesan's art.


title: Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love

text: Raj, now the king, recognises Maya in one of Jai's sculptures. He dispatches his attendants to find Maya; she is delivered to the king as his new courtesan. Soon after, Raj and Jai have a wrestling competition, which Jai wins. Jai receives the king's favour but is warned that there will be dire consequences if he defeats the king again. Jai then learns of Maya's new status as the favoured concubine. Jai understands that his king is a dangerous man and he must keep his former relationship with Maya a secret.


title: Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love

text: In the meantime, the threat of an invading shah inches closer. Raj becomes increasingly irresponsible, descending into opium addiction and sexual debauchery. After he insults Biki, Biki writes a letter to the shah to rid the kingdom of Raj, who now taxes the poor for his own perverted pleasure. Jai and Maya rekindle their passion and the two begin meeting in secret. As tensions between Jai and Raj grow, Maya and Jai exchange wedding vows in private. Raj later catches the two lovers together and sentences Jai to death.


title: Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love

text: After finding Tara in the midst of a suicide attempt, Maya reconciles with her childhood friend. Maya then teaches Tara how to seduce the king, while Tara promises to help Maya escape to visit Jai. However, when Tara goes to her husband, he recognises Maya's style of seduction and again tries to humiliate his wife. Tara tells Raj that she doesn't even love him enough to hate him and leaves. Maya visits Jai one last time. Telling Jai she is his forever, Maya hacks off her long hair, symbolising that she will be his widow. Maya then tries her best to persuade Raj to free Jai by promising him her total surrender, but Raj rejects her plea.


title: Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love

text: Just before the execution, a box arrives from the shah, holding the severed head of Raj's brother, the grand vizier. Jai is executed by elephant while Maya watches from the crowd. As soldiers of the invading Shah take the king's palace, Maya walks away into the distance.


title: Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love

text: Mira Nair had approached A. R. Rahman to compose the score and soundtrack for the film, but he turned down the opportunity citing he was uncomfortable with the film's title. He noted that he did not want international audiences to brand him as "the composer of "Kama Sutra" fame."


title: Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love

text: Indira Varma said she did not realize when she read the script there would be explicit scenes in the film. "It wasn't called Kama Sutra when we were filming it," she said. "It was untitled. And then it says in the script, they make love. When you're young and naive and stupid you don't process the idea that it will take one day with your kit off to shoot that sentence."


title: Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love

text: On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film received 40% positive reviews from 20 professional critics. The website's critical consensus reads, "Kama Sutra refreshingly approaches sensuality from a female perspective, but audiences will be turned off by this romance's silly plotting."


title: Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love

text: Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it 2 out of 4 and wrote: "The film is lush and voluptuous to regard, but I expected more from Mira Nair, and I was disappointed. She is better than this work."


title: Suzuka Nakamoto

text: , known by her stage names Suzuka and Su-metal (both stylized in all caps), is a Japanese musician, singer, songwriter and model. She is best known as a member of the kawaii metal band Babymetal. She is represented by the talent agency Amuse, Inc. and has been a member of three musical groups formed by the company: Karen Girl's, Sakura Gakuin, and Babymetal.


title: Suzuka Nakamoto

text: In 2002, Nakamoto won the Grand Prix in the Image Girl contest for Jewel Drop, a line of toy cosmetics produced by Bandai, subsequently starring in several Jewel Drop commercials.


title: Suzuka Nakamoto

text: In 2006, Nakamoto was admitted to Actor's School Hiroshima (ASH). She studied with another future Sakura Gakuin member, , with whom she had been acquainted before attending the school. She also had a rivalry with Riho Sayashi, future Morning Musume member and Babymetal support dancer, as they were considered the school's top two students at the time.


title: Suzuka Nakamoto

text: In 2007, she was signed to the talent agency Amuse, Inc. after becoming a runner-up in the "2nd Star Kids Audition" held by the company.


title: Suzuka Nakamoto

text: In 2008, her agency formed a trio called Karen Girl's, and Suzuka was selected to be in it. The group was introduced as a little sister of the girl trio Perfume and sang several theme songs for the anime "Zettai Karen Children", disbanding on March 31, 2009, after the anime ended its run.


title: Suzuka Nakamoto

text: In April 2010, Nakamoto became a founding member of Sakura Gakuin, an idol group created by her agency. The group members also formed sub-units called “clubs”, each of which released their own songs as a unit. Suzuka became a member of the , which released songs under the name Babymetal, which also included fellow Sakura Gakuin members Yui Mizuno and Moa Kikuchi.


title: Suzuka Nakamoto

text: In the spring of 2013, Nakamoto graduated from junior high school and therefore had to "graduate" from Sakura Gakuin (which limits girls up to the junior high age). Her graduation concert was held on March 31 at the Tokyo International Forum. Suzuka now performs with Babymetal, which had been spun off from Sakura Gakuin following her graduation, under the stage name Su-metal. Babymetal's self-titled debut album was released in February 2014.


title: Suzuka Nakamoto

text: Nakamoto ranked ninth place on the Oricon News ranking for “2018 Rankings for Anticipation of New Adults”, commenting on her "overwhelming singing ability".


title: Suzuka Nakamoto

text: Suzuka is the youngest of three sisters. Her second sister, Himeka Nakamoto, is a former member of the idol group Nogizaka46. They studied together at the Actor's School Hiroshima (ASH) and sang together in a duo known as Tween.


title: Suzuka Nakamoto

text: Her mother works with gemstones and occasionally gives gemstone accessories to the Babymetal members as a gift.


title: Christianity in India

text: Christianity is India's third-largest religion with about 27.8 million adherents, making up 2.3 percent of the population as of the 2011 census. The written records of the Saint Thomas Christians state that Christianity was introduced to the Indian subcontinent by Thomas the Apostle, who sailed to the Malabar region in the present-day Kerala state in 52 AD.


title: Christianity in India

text: The Acts of Thomas mentions that the first converts were Malabarese Jews, who had settled in India before the birth of Christ. Thomas who was a Jew by birth came in search of Indian Jews. Following years of evangelising, Thomas was martyred and his remains were buried at St. Thomas Mount in Mylapore. A scholarly consensus exists that Christian communities had firmly established in the Malabar by 600 AD at the latest. These communities were composed mainly of the Oriental Orthodox Eastern Christians, belonging to the Church of the East in India, that used Syriac as their liturgical language.


title: Christianity in India

text: Following the discovery of a sea route to India by the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama in the 15th century AD, Western Christianity was established in the European colonies of Goa, Tranquebar, Bombay, Madras, and Pondicherry in the form of Catholicism and Protestantism. Christian missionaries introduced western educational system to the Indian subcontinent and campaigned for social reform through the abolition of practicies such as sati, female infanticide, and untouchability.


title: Christianity in India

text: The Anglican province of the Church of India, Burma and Ceylon was established in 1813 AD with the expansion of the British Empire in the subcontinent. This church further split into the Church of South India, Church of North India, and the Church of Pakistan following Indian Independence and the subsequent Partition of India. Christians were active in the Indian National Congress and the Indian independence movement. The All India Conference of Indian Christians advocated for "swaraj" (self rule) and opposed the partition of India. Other Protestant denominations including Baptists, Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Evangelicals, and Pentecostals were also established starting in the early nineteenth century as a result of missionary activity by American, British, and German missionaries.


title: Christianity in India

text: Along with native Christians, small Eurasian Christian communities such as Anglo-Indians, Luso-Indians, Armenian Indians, and others have also existed in the subcontinent. There are also reports of a sizable number of crypto-Christians of Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Jain background living in India in recent years, due to fear of religious persecution.


title: Christianity in India

text: Eusebius of Caesarea's Ecclesiastical History (5:10) states that Bartholomew, a disciple of Jesus, went on a missionary tour to India, where he left behind a copy of the Gospel of Matthew. One tradition holds that he preached the Gospel in India, prior to his travels to Armenia, while others hold that Bartholomew travelled as a missionary in Ethiopia, Mesopotamia, Parthia, and Lycaonia.