title: Wes Edens

text: In 2007, Edens and Fortress paid $3.5 billion to acquire the South Florida rail line founded by the 19th-century industrialist Henry Flagler. Inspired by Les Standiford’s "Last Train to Paradise: Henry Flagler and the Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Railroad that Crossed an Ocean", Brightline’s first line was an inter-city 67-mile route between Miami and West Palm Beach, Florida. The company is currently building a 170-mile track extension to the Orlando International Airport, which is expected to enter service in 2022. The trains are expected to travel up to 125 miles an hour and commute from Orlando’s airport to Miami in approximately three hours. The ridership target is 6.6 million passengers within its first full year of service.


title: Wes Edens

text: By 2023, Fortress plans on constructing a second line on the West Coast, called Brightline West, connecting Las Vegas to Rancho Cucamonga, California with a stop in Apple Valley, California via a 260-mile long track. This 135-minute commute aims to carry passengers at speeds of up to 200 miles per hour. Trains on this line will be fully electric and run alongside Interstate 15. Brightline’s service is modeled on Eurostar’s Paris-to-London commute. Its coach design includes white-and-blue interiors, roomy seating, and free Wi-Fi.


title: Wes Edens

text: Edens was the catalyst at Fortress behind the purchase of subprime lender Springleaf Financial Services. By 2015 the value of Springleaf Holdings Inc. had ballooned to "$3.5 billion — putting the firm's gain at more than 27 times Fortress's original investment of $124 million in 2010." Edens was heralded as the "new king of subprime lending" by "The Wall Street Journal". Fortress acquired 80% of Springleaf in August 2010 for $125 million and used Springleaf and Nationstar to "build out a financial-services business within its private-equity unit, which manages $14.3 billion in assets."


title: Wes Edens

text: Edens is chairman of Nationstar Mortgage, formerly known as Centex Home Equity Company, LLC, a subprime home equity mortgage lender, which was acquired by Fortress for $575 million in 2006. In 2005 Centex was "operating in major U.S. markets in 25 states and delivered more than 33,000 homes in the United States." In 2014 Edens' connection to Nationstar Mortgage was cited by opponents of a proposed public-financing deal for the construction of a new arena the Wisconsin Entertainment and Sports Center. They advocated for more public resources to rehabilitate foreclosed homes managed by Nationstar.


title: Wes Edens

text: In 2016, Edens co-founded Cincoro Tequila, along with Michael Jordan, Wyc Grousbeck, Jeanie Buss, and Emilia Fazzalari. “Cincoro” is a portmanteau of the Spanish words for five and gold. Its parent company, Cinco Spirits Group, is named in honor of the five founders who aimed to distill a tequila with a smooth, long finish similar to a fine cognac or whiskey.


title: Wes Edens

text: Cincoro produces four tequilas: a blanco, a reposado (aged 8 to 10 months), an añejo (aged 24 to 28 months), and an extra añejo (aged up to 44 months). The agave used to produce Cincoro's tequila is hand-selected from two regions in Jalisco. These two regions include the highlands, which is famous for its soils that are high in iron oxide, and the lowlands, which is composed of mostly volcanic rock. After being harvested, the agave is cooked for 35 hours. Cincoro's tequila is aged in American whiskey barrels for 10 to 14 months in addition to the regulatory minimum of 14 months. Its extra añejo blend is a combination of tequilas that are aged between 40 and 44 months.


title: Wes Edens

text: FlyQuest's brand emphasizes environmental issues through its jersey design and ikebana displays at competitions. Each time FlyQuest wins a game, the team plants 100 trees. Its initiatives also include fundraising for marine wildlife conservation.


title: Wes Edens

text: Edens has invested heavily in the ownership of sports teams: being co-owner of both NBA franchise Milwaukee Bucks and English Premier League football club Aston Villa.


title: Wes Edens

text: In 2014, Edens and Marc Lasry purchased the Bucks from Herb Kohl for $550 million, promising to keep the team in Wisconsin and build a new arena to replace the BMO Harris Bradley Center. During the first season of Edens and Lasry's co-ownership, the Milwaukee Bucks ended the Golden State Warriors' 24-game winning streak.


title: Wes Edens

text: On June 18, 2016, groundbreaking and construction began on the Fiserv Forum. Edens envisioned the arena's design to hold a capacity of 16,500 and to host concerts and basketball games. The arena received its certificate of occupancy on June 5, 2018, and opened on August 26, 2018. Within its first year, Fiserv Forum averaged more fans than the usual sellout capacity due to standing-room tickets. In 2017, Jon Horst, who was later named NBA Executive of the Year in 2019, was appointed as general manager under Edens' recommendation. , the NBA franchise was valued at $1.075 billion. During the 2019 NBA Eastern Conference playoffs, the Bucks defeated the Detroit Pistons, which ended its playoff losing streak. Before the 2020 NBA Bubble restart, the team had won 57 percent of its games overall and had the best winning projection for the 2019–2020 season. In 2020, Forbes stated that the Milwaukee Bucks saw the seventh-highest increase in year-over-year value compared to all NBA teams. It was reported to be worth about $1.58 billion, and ranked as first in value for the Eastern Conference in the 2019–2020 season.


title: Wes Edens

text: In summer 2020, owners Edens, Lasry and Jamie Dinan stated "The only way to bring about change is to shine a light on the racial injustices in front of us. Our players have done that and we will continue to stand by them." in support of the Bucks' decision to cancel their scheduled playoff game against Orlando Magic to bring attention to Jacob Blake's shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin, a suburb of Milwaukee.


title: Wes Edens

text: In July 2018, a consortium consisting of Wes Edens and Nassef Sawiris, referring to themselves as NSWE, purchased a 55% controlling stake worth £30m in English Championship club Aston Villa. The club had previously faced significant cash flow issues. Heavy and irresponsible spending from owner Tony Xia, followed by political difficulties preventing Xia from injecting further funds, had led to a poor financial outlook. Villa eventually faced a potential winding-up order by HMRC, following an unpaid £4m tax bill. Following the NSWE takeover, however, NSWE paid and addressed said financial issues.


title: Wes Edens

text: A complete overhaul ensued at Aston Villa, with former Liverpool executive Christian Purslow appointed as CEO, followed by a significant turnover of playing staff. The club would subsequently be promoted back to the Premier League, following the sacking of Steve Bruce and appointment of Dean Smith. This included a period of Villa's longest ever winning streak of 10 games. Following promotion, NSWE bought out the remainder of Xia's shares to become sole owners in August 2019. This was done by taking on an unpaid £30m debt owed by Xia to former owner Randy Lerner upon promotion.


title: Wes Edens

text: NSWE's ownership of Villa has consisted of heavy investment. As of August 2022, over £360m worth of debt-free shares were injected into the club since the initial purchase. Plans to expand Villa Park from 42,682 seats to over 50,000, including the demolition of the North Stand and the creation of a major retail venue, are at an advanced stage. The project is set to cost over £100m, and will be entirely funded by NSWE.


title: Brown hair

text: Brown hair, also referred to as brunet (male) or brunette (female), is the second most common human hair color, after black hair. It varies from light brown to a medium dark hair. It is characterized by higher levels of the dark pigment eumelanin and lower levels of the pale pigment pheomelanin.


title: Brown hair

text: Brown hair is common among populations in the Western world, especially among those from Northwestern Europe, Central Europe, Southeastern Europe, Eastern Europe, Southern Europe, Southern Cone,Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico and the United States, and also some populations in the Middle East where it transitions smoothly into black hair. Additionally, brown hair is common among Australian Aboriginals and Melanesians.


title: Brown hair

text: The term "brunette" is the feminine form of the French word "brunet", which is a diminutive form of "brun" meaning "brown/brown-haired", the feminine of which is "brune". All of these terms ultimately derive from the Proto-Indo-European root *"bhrūn-" "brown, grey". The form "brun" (pronounced ) is still commonly used in Scotland, particularly in rural areas, and is also the word for "brown" in the Scandinavian languages. In modern English usage, however, it has lost the diminutive meaning and usually refers to any brown-haired girl or woman, or the associated hair color. "Merriam-Webster" defines "brunet" as "a person having brown hair"—with which they may have "a relatively dark complexion—spelled brunet when used of a boy or man and usually brunette when used of a girl or woman". Although "brunet" is the masculine version of the popular diminutive form used to describe a little boy or young man with brown hair, the use of "brunet" is uncommon in English. One is more likely to say about a man or boy, "He has brown hair" or "He is brown-haired" than to say, "He is a brunette" (or brunet).


title: Brown hair

text: Lighter or darker shades of brown hair may be referred to as "light brunette" or "dark brunette", though in such cases one is generally referring only to the hair color, not using the term as a descriptor for the person; one would be unlikely to say, "She is a light brunette." Rather, one would say, "She has light-brown hair."


title: Brown hair

text: Brown-haired individuals predominate in most parts of Europe. In northern and central Europe medium to light brown shades are the most common, while darker shades prevail in the rest of the continent. Brown hair, mostly medium to light brown shades, are also dominant in Australia, Canada, South Africa among White South Africans and the United States among European Americans from the Northern, Central and Eastern European (British, Scandinavian, Baltic, Dutch/Flemish, German (including Swiss-German and Austrian), Slovenian, Polish, Ukrainian and Russian) as well as Southern (Italian, Spanish, Greek, Portuguese) and Southeastern European (Bulgarian, Croatian, Serbian).


title: Brown hair

text: Similarly to blond hair, brown hair occurs commonly among Australian Aboriginal and Melanesian populations.


title: Brown hair

text: Dark brown hair is predominant in the Mediterranean parts of Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia, and South Asia. Very dark brown hair, easily mistaken for black hair, can be found occasionally in parts of East Asia. This is also true of Southern Cone of South America (Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, central-southern Brazil), Colombia, Andean Region of Venezuela, Costa Rican Central Valley and Puerto Rico.


title: Brown hair

text: Dark brown hair also may occasionally be found among Indigenous Siberians and Americans;(formerly) especially for mostly populations in Southeast Asia due to pigment changes (such as the Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam) for example particularly when they are young, as well as in many other groups


title: Brown hair

text: The pigment eumelanin gives brown hair its distinctive color. Brown hair has more eumelanin than blond hair but also has far less than black. There are two different types of eumelanin, which are distinguished from each other by their pattern of polymer bonds. The two types are black eumelanin and brown eumelanin. Black eumelanin is the darkest; brown eumelanin is much lighter than black. A small amount of black eumelanin in the absence of other pigments causes grey hair. A small amount of brown eumelanin without any other pigments causes yellow (blond) color hair. Often, natural blond or red hair will darken to a brown color over time. Brown-haired people have medium-thick strands of hair.


title: Brown hair

text: Brown-haired people are thought to produce more skin-protecting eumelanin and are associated with having a more even skin tone. The range of skin colors associated with brown hair is vast, ranging from the palest of skin tones to a dark olive complexion.


title: Brown hair

text: Brown hair comes in a wide variety of shades from the very darkest of brown (almost black) to lightest brown (almost blond) showing small signs of blondism. Shades of brown hair include:


title: Brown hair

text: In Western popular culture, a common stereotype is that brunettes are stable, serious, smart and sophisticated. According to "Allure" magazine, in 2005, 76 percent of American women believed that the first female president of the United States will have brown hair.


title: Brown hair

text: Anita Loos, the author of the novel and play "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes", wrote a sequel entitled "But Gentlemen Marry Brunettes". A film of this was made, "Gentlemen Marry Brunettes", starring Jane Russell and Jeanne Crain.


title: Brown hair

text: The Lady of Shalott from Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem is depicted as a brunette in most paintings. The woman portrayed in Leonardo da Vinci's most well-known painting, "Mona Lisa", is brunette. In the French folk song "Au Clair de la Lune", the likable Lubin visits his brunette neighbor at Pierrot's suggestion. In the Irish song "The Star of the County Down" the narrator falls in love with a woman with "nut-brown" hair, called Rose McCann.


title: Brown hair

text: In popular culture, brunettes may be portrayed as being in a rivalry or competition with blonde women. The rivalry may take the form of competitive sports or as part of a love triangle in which a blonde and a brunette woman compete for the affections of a man.


title: Black (2005 film)

text: Black is a 2005 Indian English- and Hindi-language drama film co-written, directed, and co-produced by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. It stars Amitabh Bachchan and Rani Mukerji in lead roles, with Ayesha Kapur, Shernaz Patel and Dhritiman Chatterjee in supporting roles. The film narrates the story of Michelle (Mukerji), a deaf-and-blind woman, and her relationship with her teacher Debraj (Bachchan), an elderly alcoholic teacher who himself later develops Alzheimer's disease.


title: Black (2005 film)

text: In 2003, Bhansali announced the production of his new project, "Black". Its idea first came up when he met several physically disabled children while shooting "" in the 1990s. The story was inspired by the activist Helen Keller's life and her 1903 autobiography, "The Story of My Life". Principal photography was done by Ravi K. Chandran in 100 days from mid-January to April 2004, taking place in Shimla and Film City. Omung Kumar was the production designer, while Sham Kaushal was the action director. After filming, it was edited by Bela Sehgal. The soundtrack and score were composed by Monty Sharma and Mychael Danna, respectively.


title: Black (2005 film)

text: "Black" released worldwide on 4 February 2005, and proved to a commercial success at the box office with a total gross of , thus becoming the second-highest grossing Bollywood film of 2005. It received widespread critical acclaim upon release, with praise for its direction, story, screenplay, dialogues, cinematography, production design, costumes, and the performances of the cast, with major praise directed towards Bachchan and Mukherji's performances.


title: Black (2005 film)

text: A recipient of several accolades, "Black" won 3 awards at the 53rd National Film Awards, including Best Feature Film in Hindi and Best Actor (Bachchan). At the 51st Filmfare Awards, the film won all its 11 nominations, including Best Film, Best Film (Critics), Best Director (Bhansali), Best Actor, Best Actor (Critics) (both for Bachchan), Best Actress and Best Actress (Critics) (both for Mukerji), thus becoming the most-awarded film at the Filmfare Awards at that time. Its record was later broken by "Gully Boy" (2019) at the 65th Filmfare Awards with 13 wins. It also became the fifth film to win all 4 major awards at the Filmfare Awards (Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress), after "Guide" (1965), "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge" (1995), "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai" (1998) and "Devdas" (2002).


title: Black (2005 film)

text: Michelle lost her eyesight and hearing after recovering from an illness at age two, and grows up as a violent, uncontrollable child. Her parents, Paul and Catherine, are at their wits' end trying to control her until Debraj, an elderly alcoholic teacher, enters their lives. Debraj takes it upon himself to build Michelle into someone who can express and communicate. He uses harsh methods initially disapproved by Michelle's father, who asks him to leave. Debraj stays while her father is away on a business trip, teaching Michelle a few words and better manners. He packs his bags when Michelle's father returns. Right before he leaves, Debraj gets frustrated seeing Michelle back to being insolent. He throws her into a fountain of water. It causes her to take to Debraj's lessons; she finally understands what water is, and can recognise her parents and vocalise the first syllables of small words. It convinces her parents to keep Debraj.


title: Black (2005 film)

text: Many years later, Michelle has grown into an expressive woman who is even able to dance and expertly sign. She gets admission to pursue a bachelor's degree with Debraj's help, moving away from home and lives with Debraj and one of her maids. Over the next two years, she struggles to gain her degree, failing year after year, but maintains her spirit. One reason is that she must rely on Debraj for interpretation of the material but the principal helps by preparing the first-year course of study in braille. Debraj begins to succumb to Alzheimer's disease, at one point forgetting Michelle and leaving her stranded during a celebration. Therefore, Debraj decides to leave her.


title: Black (2005 film)

text: Twelve years later, Michelle manages to gain her degree and with her proud parents looking on, gives a speech at graduation. She does not wear her graduation robe, insisting she wants Debraj to be the first one to see her in it. Debraj is now in a mental hospital due to his near-inability to remember his past and even how to speak. Michelle visits him wearing her robe; this causes glimmers of memory to return as Debraj realizes she has graduated. As the window opens to the rain, Michelle reaches out to it with Debraj's hand in hers, and the pair say the first syllable of "water", reminiscent of the first time Michelle understood the meaning of words when Debraj threw her into the fountain. The film ends with a scene of Michelle among a crowd of people dressed in black carrying candles toward a church.


title: Black (2005 film)

text: The production of "Black" started when Sanjay Leela Bhansali came up with the idea for the film while the shooting of his directorial debut, the musical "", between 1993 and 1994 when he interacted with physically disabled children. After the successes of the romance "Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam" (1999) and the historical epic "Devdas" (2002)—one of the most expensive Hindi films ever made at the time—he had made a plan to make another film in the romantic genre. Still, the actress Jaya Bachchan criticized his work from "Devdas" and encouraged him to "attempt something different"; in later years, he would say that it motivated him to make "Black". Bhansali chose to address a subject that no other directors had done before: "I didn't want to stop making a film straight from my heart because of the fear of losing my audiences." He described it as "a step towards a more complex kind of film than what we get in mainstream cinema", adding, "It is an uplifting tale on the triumph of the human spirit." He announced the film in July 2003, along with his other project, "Bajirao Mastani", which would be released in 2015. The media declared it as his "most personal film".


title: Black (2005 film)

text: Bhansali revealed that he was inspired by American activist Helen Keller's life story. However, he stated that he only used it as a reference and the film was "a completely original piece of work". Additionally, Bhansali also read Keller's autobiography "The Story of My Life" and other related books, including Geraldine Lawhorn's "On the Crossroads" (about a deaf-and-blind musician). In an interview with "The Hindu", he said, "I was fascinated by the ways in which teachers and parents struggled to reach out to the hearing-impaired children. How do you start the communication? How do you keep it going? What takes other children a year to learn takes 10 years for them to absorb." In addition, some sources claimed that it served as a remake for Arthur Penn's "The Miracle Worker" (1962), but Bhansali denied the reports. Others claimed that the film was based on Prakash Kapadia's Gujarati play "Aatam Vinjhe Paankh", which was inspired by "The Miracle Worker".


title: Black (2005 film)

text: Bhansali chose the word "black" for the film's title; according to him, black is his favorite color and he felt it has a "universal resonance". He explained how the color's monotones and shades were "very attractive if used intelligently", and it was "the best element ... that ... doesn't overshadow the characters or narrative". He added that it was "a powerful striking colour which describes the film's sensitivities", and defined his mood and temperament. "I wear black clothes most of the time. The colour calms me. When I decided to make a film about the world of the sightless, "Black" was the title that came to mind immediately", he said when interviewed by Sify. The same title had been registered by the actor Kumar Gaurav before, and Bhansali asked him to relinquish and gave the title for his next project. According to an article published by "Screen" in November 2005, Gaurav saw that the film was "bold and path-breaking"; consequently, he finally gave up the title. As gratitude, Bhansali credited Gaurav's name in the opening credits of "Black".


title: Black (2005 film)

text: Bhansali told "The Telegraph" that Keller's life was an "exemplary to all of us", believing that he had "personally learned so much from her"; he stated that he learned "the value of a teacher in any student's life". Journalists asserted that his involvement in both "Black" and "Bajirao Mastani" (a period film about the "Peshwa" Baji Rao I and his second wife Mastani) proved his ability in two opposite film genres; he expressed: "It is a conscious process of rejuvenation as a filmmaker. I have to reinvent myself as a creative person." He then described the former film as "an uplifting tale on the triumph of the human spirit", and it was "about feeling, not speaking". Furthermore, he added, ""Black" is about the love between a girl and her teacher. They teach each other the dignity of living. To call "Black" a love story is a true compliment. "Black" is a pure love story."


title: Black (2005 film)

text: On the same day of the film's announcement, Amitabh Bachchan and Rani Mukerji were officially cast in the lead roles. Bachchan featured as Debraj Sahai, a role which he described as a "brilliant teacher but an alcoholic", and he took it as an attempt to avoid typecasting. Bhansali, who is a "diehard fan" of him, said that he actually wanted to cast him (and his wife Jaya) in "Khamoshi: The Musical". However, that was the time when Bachchan took a hiatus from his acting career. Bhansali eventually cast Bachchan in "Black", after the actor watch his previous work, "Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam" (1999). Bachchan had big expectations with "Black", as he said in an interview to the "Deccan Herald", "I feel the Indian audience should like this film." He praised the "fascinating" and "unusual" screenplay of the film, stating, "To be very frank, I would have said 'Yes' even without listening to the script."


title: Black (2005 film)

text: To prepare for his part, Bachchan underwent special training before the shooting. He visited schools for physically disabled children and learned haptic communication, which he found to be "very weird because we can not see, hear or talk", from them for six to seven months; he read some books related on it. Also, he did extensive research about Alzheimer's disease and what happens after a person being affected by it. He thought that it "was the most-challenging role... It is a first-time experience because there is not even a single scene in this film that I felt I have done before."


title: Black (2005 film)

text: Meanwhile, Mukerji got the role of Michelle McNally (which Bhansali wrote specifically for her) and confirmed her involvement in the film in July 2003. She spoke positively of her rapport with Bachchan, and stated that she felt "humbled" with the actor, describing him as "a very modest person, very sweet, a father figure". Same as Bachchan, she accepted it to avoid the typecasting in romantic roles. Mukerji revealed that she was initially reluctant to play the part, when Bhansali read the story "Black" to her in June that year, because of the "challenging" subject and she had no reference to do it. She confessed, "I was scared when I heard the script. I wondered how I will play this character." In preparation, she also met children with physical disabilities, this time, at the Helen Keller Institute in Mumbai and practiced sign language there for six months. According to Mukerji, her interaction with them helped her to "gain sensitivity towards their reactions, aspirations and hopes". Moreover, she had to learn braille and found the experience was "like speaking with my hands and my fingers." In spite of that, she said that the film "has made me realize that those who are physically or mentally challenged are actually much stronger than normal, successful human beings."


title: Black (2005 film)

text: The child artist Ayesha Kapur made her debut with "Black", playing the version of Michelle. She learned sign language for prepared her brief role as well as Mukerji. Media reports stated that it was "the most difficult character ever written for a child", but Kapur refused that by saying, "I don't know how I played Michelle. I just did it. It wasn't that difficult, really." Shernaz Patel, who had only one film experience in Mahesh Bhatt's drama "Janam" (1985), portrayed Michelle's mother Catherine "Kathy"; she was cast by casting director Amita Sehgal on the basis of her work as a theatre actress. Nandana Sen played Michelle's younger sister Sarah, a role she described as "an emotional experience". She observed of her part, "... she's a typical 16 year old ... You see her evolving in the film, from this oversensitive, moody teenager who is constantly hungry for more affection to a nurturing, loving, caregiver who deals with her sister's circumstances with a lot of love and understanding." She found "Black" to be "a pathbreaking film, both in terms of content and style", and called her role "a breakthrough" in her acting career. For it, she learned how to communicate with sign language, four months before the shooting.


title: Black (2005 film)

text: Bhansali—with his production company SLB Films—produced, financed, and distributed the film alongside Anshuman Swami of Applause Entertainment; another company, Yash Raj Films, also served as a distributor. Bhansali wrote the screenplay in three months, and the story with Bhavani Iyer and Kapadia; the latter two also wrote the dialogues in English and Hindi, respectively. When asked by Rediff.com's Subhash K. Jha, Bhansali found the English dialogues to be "too lucid to be left behind in translation". Omung Kumar was the art director for "Black". In a party sequence featuring all of the lead cast from the film, he used 200 lamps on the ceiling. According to "India Today", Bhansali was not sure about it, but he allowed Kumar to do that as an "experiment". He used black as the main color to be in tune with the film's themes.


title: Black (2005 film)

text: Clothes for all actors from "Black" were done by the costume designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee for eight months. He spoke of excitement involved in the project: ""Black" was a brilliant experience, literally a once in a lifetime experience." He added that "the film is about you and me and, therefore, it called for serious clothes." In preparation, Mukherjee saw many black-and-white photographs. He used a lot of monochromatic colors—including beige, black, brown, gray, khaki, and indigo—for the film, as it is set between the 1950s and 1960s. For her role, Mukerji (who has green eyes) was required to use dark-tinted contact lenses. She did not use make-up, and she would only take fifteen minutes to prepared before filming. After the release of "Black", Sabyasachi Mukherjee talked about his experiment with the film's two leads; he found working with Bachchan to be "amazing", as the latter "is so down-to-earth", and similarly to Mukerji, saying that she was the "girl-next-door" and "effortlessly brilliant".


title: Black (2005 film)

text: Ranbir Kapoor and Sonam K Ahuja were chosen as assistant directors for Bhansali; the newcomers confessed that their motives were to get Bhansali to offer them acting jobs. They later made their debut as actors in Bhansali's next directorial venture, "Saawariya" (2007), an adaptation of Fyodor Dostoevsky's 1848 short story "White Nights", which was commercially and critically failed. Kapoor would go on to become one of the highest-paid actors in Bollywood while establishing himself as a leading actor of Indian cinema. Ahuja has a good career in Bollywood as well.


title: Black (2005 film)

text: "Black" was filmed in 100 days by Ravi K. Chandran. In an interview with Rediff.com, Chandran called it one of the most "important" films in his career and considered it as his favorite project; this also marked the first time he shot a film without songs. He revealed that he had previously rejected Bhansali's offers to shoots "Devdas" as he had busy schedules at that time. However, Chandran promised to collaborate with Bhansali in his next venture, which would be "Black". When Bhansali narrated the film's story to him, Chandran decided to use the cinematography style same with that of Guru Dutt's 1959 drama "Kaagaz Ke Phool". Sham Kaushal was the action director. Kapoor served as a body-double for Bachchan in several scenes.


title: Black (2005 film)

text: In mid-January 2004, the entire cast and crew of "Black" went to Shimla to begin the first schedule. The first sequence filmed was the film's opening scene, featuring Mukerji stretching out her hand when snow begins to fall. Shimla was very cold at the time, but it did not show any signs that snow would fall. Therefore, the crew bought kilos of salt and snow-making machines from Mumbai's local markets. The media reported that the shooting would end at 04:00.


title: Black (2005 film)

text: Filming moved to the film studio complex Film City the next month and "India Today" said that seventy percent of "Black" was shot there. The studio, which has a area, was rented by Bhansali in January 2004 for 45 days, but on 18 February, a fire burned most of the set, resulting in a shooting delay. Bhansali recalled, "It was a torturous exercise and I couldn't sleep, but we needed continuity. I would not shoot if the cottage looked different." In June 2005, the Maharashtra Film, Stage and Cultural Development Corporation fined Bhansali , with for its reconstruction and for its rental cost. A month later, the art dealer Farida Hoosenwally also accused him for not return 390 artifacts she lent, and she sent a complaint letter to the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra R. R. Patil. According to the media reports, the incidents made the initial budget of the film—estimated —increased to more than . The schedule was continued on 28 February 2004. The filming was done two months later, and Bhansali's sister Bela Sehgal edited it. Canadian composer Mychael Danna completed its background score.


title: Black (2005 film)

text: In October 2003, an article written by Savita Gautham of "The Hindu" reported that A. R. Rahman would work as the composer for "Black". However, Monty Sharma (who previously collaborated with Bhansali in "Devdas") replaced him for an unknown reason. Unlike Bhansali's previous ventures, it has only one lyrics-contained song, titled "Haan Maine Chukar Dekha Hai", written by Prasoon Joshi and performed by Gayatri Iyer. The entire soundtrack album, which has thirty-three songs, was released on iTunes on 10 February 2005 by Yash Raj Films' subsidiary YRF Music.


title: Black (2005 film)

text: According to Sharma, he followed his grandfather Ram Prasad Sharma's teachings "to first recognise the known emotions within a situation and then try to see how those emotions can be taken into a different sphere through the music." For Mukerji's sequences, Monty Sharma used the low-octave sound from strings and pianos to create uplifting auras. While for Bachchan's, he used the Armenian instrument duduk. Iyer confessed that she loved every moment of recording the song, and added that: "It is not often that one gets to work in such a relaxed environment with so much focus on the artistic integrity of the piece. The focus was on feeling the emotional truth of the song."


title: Black (2005 film)

text: The soundtrack album was positively reviewed by several critics. Joginder Tuteja of Bollywood Hungama, who gave a three-out-of-five-stars rating, was impressed by "Haan Maine Chukar Dekha Hai", writing, "The song is one of the best soft tracks in recent times and it's a pity that neither has it been publicized nor has been placed in the movie." Planet Bollywood's reviewer Shruti Bhasin also praised the song, and took note of the lyrics, saying that Joshi "works his magic" in it. "Screen" asserted, "In the film, the music merged so seamlessly with the narrative that it went unnoticed amidst the solid content. Luckily, we get to enjoy it unalloyed here." For his work, Monty Sharma won the Best Background Score trophy at the 51st Filmfare Awards. Additionally, he also won IIFA Award, Screen Award, and Zee Cine Award in the same category.


title: Black (2005 film)

text: "Black" garnered attention before its release. In "The Hindu" Internet poll of "The Most Awaited Movie of 2005", the film peaked the first position with 66 percent. The trade analyst Amod Mehra felt that the film had good word-of-mouth publicity, though he believed that it would attract a restricted audience: "It might be difficult for such a subject to click in the B and C centres. One thing which could go against the film is that 60 percent of the film is in English." A similar sentiment was shared by the exhibitor Manoj Desai, saying that the film's subject was "very sensitive" and its first show would "decide the final outcome". The critic and journalist Taran Adarsh, however, stated: "It will be a great film. I am eagerly awaiting the premiere. Considering the technical brilliance of Bhansali, I pray that "Black" breaks the 2005 jinx. No film has succeeded this year so far."


title: Black (2005 film)

text: On 24 January 2005, Bhansali organized a special screening of "Black" to Bachchan's and Mukerji's family, his mother and himself, and his close friends. Bachchan's wife Jaya was amazed with the film. She stated that it was "something we've never experience before. "Black" just ends all discussion", describing it as "the kind of movie experience that raises the scale of our cinema so high that you cannot classify its merits". The film's theatrical release was originally scheduled on 10 December 2004, but Bhansali decided to postpone it, as the date coincided with the new moon week, which he considered to be "inauspicious". It was opened in 170 different towns in India on 4 February 2005, the same day as the release of Leena Yadav's "Shabd" and Irfan Khan's "". The film was released in South Korea on 28 August 2009 on 180 screens, a big number for a non-Korean film, with its distribution handled by Yash Raj Films. It clashed with two other Korean films, including "Take Off" and "Tidal Wave".


title: Black (2005 film)

text: "Black" has been screened at a number of events. On 21 January 2005, the film and a retrospective of Mukerji's films—"Saathiya" (2002), "Chalte Chalte" (2003), "Hum Tum" (2004) and "Veer-Zaara" (2004)—were screened with Arabic subtitles at the Casablanca Film Festival. It was showcased at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles on 20 April. The next month, the film was screened in the section of Marché du Film at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival. It was selected for the Indian Panorama section of the 36th International Film Festival of India in November. In 2012, the film was screened at the London Asian Film Festival. The latest was at the Seoul International Film Festival in 2017.


title: Black (2005 film)

text: The world television premiere of the film took place on 25 September 2005 on Star Gold. Distributed by Dancing Dolphin, it was released on DVD on 20 November 2007 in all regions in a single-disc pack. A VCD version was released at the same time. The film was available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video in May 2017.


title: Black (2005 film)

text: "Black" received positive reviews, with most critics praising its story, Bhansali's direction, and the performances—mostly that from Bachchan and Mukerji. It received a rating of 87 percent on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes based on six reviews, with an average rating of 8.5 out of 10.


title: Black (2005 film)

text: The entertainment portal Bollywood Hungama gave the film two stars, finding it to be "relies heavily on performances". The critic observed of Mukerji, "With no dialogues in her lap, the actress conveys through expressions solely and what a terrific impact she makes! Here's a performance that should act as a reference guide for all aspiring actors. And yes, she's bound to walk away with all major awards next year as well!" Baradwaj Rangan of "The New Sunday Express" felt that the actress was "outstanding" in the part, which Rediff.com's Sita Menon described as "a pure, performance-driven role". Ziya Us Salam hailed her for "[pleasing] the [audience] eyes" despite her "minimal make-up". Khalid Mohammed of "Mid-Day" added, "Rani Mukherjee is a revelation, belting out a multi-nuanced performance which compels you to reach out for that hyperbolic adjective, awesome. Lock up all the awards already, they're hers." Devesh Sharma from "Screen" said that Bachchan and Mukerji have given "the performance of a lifetime", noting that with the film, "Bhansali has proved that we don't lack raw materials or the talent—all it takes is guts and a determined belief in oneself to make a world class film."


title: Black (2005 film)

text: Jaspreet Pandohar of BBC opined that "Bhansali proves that neither he, nor the never better Bachchan, need a Hollywood film to produce an Oscar-worthy film [with "Black"]." She also took note of its production aspects; she lauded that the screenplay and cinematography were "carefully crafted" and "beautiful", respectively. In "The Hindu", Gautaman Bhaskaran claimed that the film was the best among Bhansali's other directorial ventures. Namrata Joshi of "Outlook" wrote of how it "provides a redefining moment in commercial Hindi cinema, pushing its frontiers of narration and style". Sunny Dua of "The Telegraph" said, ""Black" is beautiful, for it is real. What is unreal is the way multicoloured, multilateral mainstream Hindi cinema has been suddenly rendered colourless. It will be hard to rate staple Bollywood fare from now, for the bar has been set way too bright by a stark, dark colour." "Hindustan Times" reviewer Vinayak Chakravorty rated "Black" three out of five stars, appreciating Kapur's portrayal of young Michelle and described her as "the anchor of the film's first half". Similar thoughts was given by Nikhat Kazmi, who felt that Kapur was "absolutely brilliant".


title: Black (2005 film)

text: "India Today" called the film "a world-class Hindi film" and "a landmark", and found both Bachchan and Mukerji to be "brutally unattractive but always heart wrenching"; Shruti Gupta of NDTV added that they "score yet again with their performance". Writing for another "Telegraph" review, Anil Grover complimented the "fantastic" chemistry between the two actors. Shubhra Gupta of "The Indian Express", also positively reviewed the chemistry, hailing it was "mesmeric". Gupta, however, believed that Mukerji "who really lights up" the film, concluding, "The tilt of the head, the face, alternating between animation and vacuousness, the slightly open mouth, the bewildered lost look, the jerky gait—any or all of it could have turned Michelle into a caricature. But Rani overcomes the handicap of being 'normal', and nails all of it down with an unsparing, unsentimental starkness." "The Times of India" critic Jhoomur Bose Malik praised Mukerji's costume, elaborating that "she did cut a diminutive yet striking picture with the cap, the structured black outfits and of course the no make-up look." Reviewing Bachchan's role, Subhash K. Jha saw that it resembled "Shakespearean tragic-hero" character.


title: Black (2005 film)

text: Sushma Mohan of the "Deccan Herald" compared the film's story with "Khamoshi: The Musical", and argued that it was "more complex and sensitive" but "better and finer" than the latter. The director and critic Raja Sen from Rediff.com also did a comparative review of "Black" with "Paheli" (2005), also starring Bachchan (in a guest appearance) and Mukerji (in a lead role opposite Shah Rukh Khan). He termed the former "a half-baked, often derivative and crucially flawed film", while called the latter "leads to a languorously unhurried fairytale, a unique love story told without fuss". In "Black", Sen felt that its script "keeps [Mukerji's performance] from being an immortal [one]". Conversely, in "Paheli", he believed that she had delivered "a powerful, sensuous, emotive performance". Derek Elley of "Variety" called Mukerji "seems to be hitting her stride as a serious actress". A reviewer of "Empire" said that Bhansali "expertly draws engaging, convincing [p]erformances" from the leads of "Black" despite his "unsentimental" direction. Pakistani magazine "Newsline" concluded, "[It] is an inspirational film and a must-see, even if only for its beautiful direction and acting."


title: Black (2005 film)

text: "Black" was successful at the box office in India and overseas, with trade analysts believed that it was influenced by its positive critical reviews. In India, the film had a theatrical run of nine weeks. It earned on its opening day. It collected on its first weekend and at the end of its first week. The film earned in India, making it the year's ninth highest-grossing film in the country. In North America, "Black" grossed $560,000 in four weeks. In the United Kingdom, it grossed $600,000 in four weeks. The film-trade website Box Office India estimated the Hindi language version's total collections to be , concluding its commercial performance to be "average".


title: Black (2005 film)

text: In South Korea, the Korean language version was a major success upon release there in 2009. The newspaper "Kyunghyang Shinmun" reported that it sold 560,000 tickets and collected () within two weeks of its release. It went on to sell 877,408 tickets and gross , equivalent to (). It became the highest-grossing 2005 Indian film in overseas markets with (), and the second highest-grossing 2005 Indian film worldwide with .


title: Black (2005 film)

text: "Black" was the fifth film to win all 4 major awards (Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Actress) at the Filmfare Awards, after "Guide" (1965), "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge" (1995), "Kuch Kuch Hota Hai" (1998) and "Devdas". The film won a total of 11 awards at the ceremony, setting a record at the time for the most trophies for a single film. However, when the 65th Filmfare Awards was held in 2019, "Gully Boy" broke the record with 13 awards. "Black" won 3 awards at the 53rd National Film Awards, including those for Best Feature Film in Hindi and Best Actor (Bachchan). It also received 2 Anandalok Puraskar, 5 Bollywood Movie Awards, 9 International Indian Film Academy Awards, 11 Producers Guild Film Awards, 10 Screen Awards, 6 Stardust Awards, and 10 Zee Cine Awards.


title: Black (2005 film)

text: "Black" has featured in several listings. In 2005, Richard Corliss of "Time" included it in "Best Movies of 2005", peaking at #5. He wrote, "In so many Indian films the deepest searches are for romantic ecstasy and for reconciliation with the father figure. By addressing both these needs, "Black" is more than a noble weepie; it is the ultimate Bollywood love story." The same year, it ranked #1 in Rachna Kanwar of "The Times of India" "25 Must See Bollywood Movies", stating that it was "made with astounding sensitivity and enthralling quest for perfection". In 2017, cultural professor Rachel Dwyer featured it in "70 Iconic Movies of Independent India", and in 2018, Lata Jha of "Mint" featured it in "10 Unusual Indian Film Takes on Disability".


title: Black (2005 film)

text: Mukerji's performance has been noted as one of her notable works, and it was referenced in several films. In "", a 2006 comedy by Rohit Shetty, actor Arshad Warsi dressed up as Mukerji's character. In 2010, "Filmfare" included her work in their listing of Indian cinema's "80 Iconic Performances", and wrote, "... Mukerji sure filled the silences with her stupendous presence and how. Mukerji has left an indelible mark with this role that usually comes once in a lifetime for most." In its March 2016 issue, "New Woman" magazine asserted: "It is hard to forget Mukerji ... essaying the role of a speech-impaired, deaf and blind girl with little or no make-up ... This was once when her action spoke louder than words."


title: Black (2005 film)

text: "Black" was remade in Turkish as "Benim Dünyam" (2013), which generated controversies in the media. On 5 September, when TMC Films released its trailer, Bhansali sent some e-mails to the company as no remake rights had been purchased, but they did not make any replies. The remake was opened on 25 October 2013 to positive reviews from critics.


title: Kenny Kramer

text: Kenny Kramer (born May 1943) is an American former stand-up comedian, who was the inspiration for the character of Cosmo Kramer from the television sitcom "Seinfeld".


title: Kenny Kramer

text: Kramer grew up in New York City, in the Tremont section of the Bronx, and dropped out of high school at age 17. He sold magazines, played drums in a Catskills resort band, and had a spotty career as a stand-up comedian that lasted until 1981, when he gave up comedy to sell light-up "electronic disco jewelry" in nightclubs for a couple of years.


title: Kenny Kramer

text: Kramer sought to manage Bill Beason, a New York point karate champion, with the hopes that the karate tournament scene would develop along the same lines as wrestling had, since corporate sponsors such as Budweiser and Paul Mitchell were emerging.


title: Kenny Kramer

text: "Seinfeld" co-creator Larry David lived across the hall from Kenny for six years, just as the character of Jerry Seinfeld did from Cosmo Kramer in the show. The two lived in Manhattan Plaza, a federally assisted apartment complex for performing artists in Hell's Kitchen, New York City. David said that Kramer was a little bit eccentric and would be a good character to have on the show. Many of the traits of Kenny Kramer, such as the obsessions with golf, fruit, hot tubs, taking things out of the refrigerator and coming up with strange ideas and inventions, were featured in the show.


title: Kenny Kramer

text: Michael Richards did not want to meet with Kenny to study the character and wanted to create the character himself. This situation was later parodied in the "Seinfeld" fourth season episode "The Pilot". The character was originally named "Kessler" (an in-universe explanation for the name change is provided in "The Betrayal"), due to Larry David's fear that using the name would spur the real Kramer to exploit his association with the character. However, Jerry Seinfeld thought that the name was too good not to use. Kenny Kramer then contacted Castle Rock Entertainment with a list of demands, many of which were financial, for the use of his name. One demand not met was that Kenny would get to play Kramer, which is also parodied in "The Pilot".


title: Kenny Kramer

text: Kenny has been the host of "Kramer's Reality Tour" and "Kramer's Reality Road Show" since "Seinfeld" was on the air. He tells behind-the-scenes stories to his audience and gives a bus tour of sites made famous by the show. A DVD version of his reality tour has also been produced. The "Reality Tours" were later parodied on "Seinfeld" in the episode "The Muffin Tops", when catalog sales company owner J. Peterman uses Kramer's various stories in Peterman's autobiography. Kramer develops a reality bus tour and touts himself as "The Real J. Peterman." The relationship between Cosmo Kramer and Kenny Kramer is explored in the featurette "", on the 3rd season "Seinfeld" DVD.


title: Kenny Kramer

text: After achieving some attention as the inspiration for the character Kramer from "Seinfeld", Kramer worked as a correspondent for "Hard Copy", created and hosted "Kramer's New York" segments for the Fox New York City affiliate WNYW's "Good Day New York", and appeared in the original New York company of "Tony n' Tina's Wedding", playing himself. He has made appearances on the bonus features of the "Seinfeld" DVD series.


title: Kenny Kramer

text: In 1997, Kramer attempted to gain the Democratic Party nomination for New York mayor; he claimed that his candidacy was "quite serious," saying that he wanted to represent "a lot of disfranchised Democrats out there." He did not get the nomination. In 2001, Kramer was asked by a television reporter about running again, and he replied that "if Jesse Ventura can be governor, why can't I be mayor?" The next day, the Libertarian Party contacted him to run on its ticket, and he accepted. He cited his agreement with the Libertarian Party on, among other issues, the decriminalization of marijuana. During his run, he claimed that the previous run was "a publicity stunt"; his campaign slogan was "Kramer for mayor... this time I'm not kidding!" He finished seventh in the election, with 1,408 votes.


title: Kenny Kramer

text: On June 6, 2013, Kramer became an ordained non-denominational minister with the Universal Life Church World Headquarters and was registered with the City Clerk in New York City. While officiating at weddings, he prefers to be called the "Irreverent Kramer" rather than Rev. Kramer, and offers a "customized lifetime warranty" of providing pro bono weddings if the couple divorces.


title: Smolensk

text: Smolensk () is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow. First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest cities in Russia. Population:


title: Smolensk

text: The city has been destroyed several times throughout its long history because it was on the invasion routes of various empires. Smolensk is known for its electronics, textiles, food processing, and diamond faceting industries.


title: Smolensk

text: The name of the city is derived from the name of the Smolnya River. Smolnya river flows through Karelian and Murmansk areas of north-western Russia. The origin of the river's name is less clear. One possibility is the old Slavic word () for black soil, which might have colored the waters of the Smolnya. An alternative origin could be the Russian word (), which means resin, tar, or pitch. Pine trees grow in the area, and the city was once a center of resin processing and trade. The Byzantine emperor Constantine VII (r. 913–959) recorded its name as ().


title: Smolensk

text: The city is located in European Russia on the banks of the upper Dnieper River, which crosses the city within the Smolensk Upland, which is the western part of the Smolensk–Moscow Upland. The Dnieper River flows through the city from east to west and divides it into two parts: the northern (Zadneprove) and southern (center). Within the city and its surroundings the river takes in several small tributaries.


title: Smolensk

text: In the valleys are stretched streets, high ridges, hills, and headlands form the mountain. Smolensk is situated on seven hills (mountains). The old part of the city occupies the high, rugged left (south) bank of the Dnieper River. The area features undulating terrain, with a large number of tributaries, creeks and ravines.


title: Smolensk

text: Smolensk is among the oldest Russian cities of the known Rus' era. The first recorded mention of the city was 863 AD, two years after the founding of Kievan Rus'. According to Russian Primary Chronicle, Smolensk (probably located slightly downstream, at the archaeological site of Gnezdovo) was located on the area settled by the East Slavic Radimichs tribe in 882 when Oleg of Novgorod took it in passing from Novgorod to Kiev. The town was first attested two decades earlier, when the Varangian chieftains Askold and Dir, while on their way to Kiev, decided against challenging Smolensk on account of its large size and population.


title: Smolensk

text: The first foreign writer to mention the city was the Byzantine Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus. In "De Administrando Imperio" (c. 950) he described Smolensk as a key station on the trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks. The Rus' people sailed from the Baltic region up the Western Dvina (Daugava) River as far as they could then they portaged their boats to the upper Dnieper. It was in Smolensk that they supposedly mended any leaks and small holes that might have appeared in their boats from being dragged on the ground and they used tar to do that, hence the city name.


title: Smolensk

text: The Principality of Smolensk was founded in 1054. Due to its central position in Kievan Rus', the city developed rapidly. By the end of the 12th century, the princedom was one of the strongest in Eastern Europe, so that Smolensk princes frequently controlled the Kievan throne. Numerous churches were built in the city at that time, including the church of Sts. Peter and Paul (1146, reconstructed to its presumed original appearance after World War II) and the church of St. John the Baptist (1180, also partly rebuilt). The most remarkable church in the city is called Svirskaya (1197, still standing); it was admired by contemporaries as the most beautiful structure east of Kiev.


title: Smolensk

text: Smolensk had its own veche since the very beginning of its history. Its power increased after the disintegration of Kievan Rus', and although it was not as strong as the veche in Novgorod, the princes had to take its opinion into consideration; several times in 12th and 13th centuries there was an open conflict between them.


title: Smolensk

text: Although spared by the Mongol armies in 1240, Smolensk paid tribute to the Golden Horde, gradually becoming a pawn in the long struggle between Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Grand Duchy of Moscow. The last sovereign monarch of Smolensk was Yury of Smolensk; during his reign the city was taken by Vytautas the Great of Lithuania on three occasions: in 1395, 1404, and 1408. After the city's incorporation into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, some of Smolensk's boyars (e.g., the Sapiehas) moved to Vilnius; descendants of the ruling princes (e.g., the Tatishchevs, Kropotkins, Mussorgskys, Vyazemskys) fled to Moscow.


title: Smolensk

text: Three Lithuanian Smolensk regiments took part in the 1410 Battle of Grunwald (Tannenberg) against the Teutonic Knights. It was a severe blow to Lithuania when the city was taken by Vasily III of Russia in 1514. To commemorate this event, the Tsar founded the Novodevichy Convent in Moscow and dedicated it to the icon of Our Lady of Smolensk.


title: Smolensk

text: In order to repel future Polish–Lithuanian attacks, Boris Godunov made it his priority to heavily fortify the city. The stone kremlin constructed in 1597–1602 is the largest in Russia. It features thick walls and numerous watchtowers. Heavy fortifications did not prevent the fortress from being taken by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1611 after a long twenty-month siege, during the Time of Troubles and Dimitriads. Weakened Muscovy temporarily ceded Smolensk land to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the Truce of Deulino. The city was granted Magdeburg rights in 1611 and was the seat of Smolensk Voivodeship for the next forty-three years.


title: Smolensk

text: To recapture the city, the Tsardom of Russia launched the so-called "Smolensk War" against the Commonwealth in 1632. After a defeat at the hands of king Wladislaw IV, the city remained in Polish–Lithuanian hands. In 1632, the Uniate bishop Lew Kreuza built his apartments in Smolensk; they were later converted into the Eastern Orthodox Church of Saint Barbara. The hostilities resumed in 1654 when the Commonwealth was being affected by the Khmelnytsky Uprising and the Swedish deluge. After another siege, on September 23, 1654, Smolensk was recaptured by Russia. In the 1667 Truce of Andrusovo, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth renounced its claims to Smolensk.


title: Smolensk

text: Smolensk has been a special place to Russians for many reasons, not least for the fact that the local cathedral housed one of the most venerated Orthodox icons, attributed to St. Luke. Building the new Cathedral of the Assumption was a great project which took more than a century to complete. Despite slowly sinking into an economic backwater, Smolensk was still valued by the Tsars as a key fortress defending the route to Moscow. It was made the seat of Smolensk Governorate in 1708.


title: Smolensk

text: In August 1812, two of the largest armies ever assembled clashed in Smolensk. During the hard-fought battle, described by Leo Tolstoy in "War and Peace" (Book Three Part Two Chapter 4), Napoleon entered the city. Total losses were estimated at 30,000 men. Apart from other military monuments, central Smolensk features the Eagles monument, unveiled in 1912 to mark the centenary of Napoleon's Russian campaign.


title: Smolensk

text: At the beginning of World War I, the 56th Smolensk Infantry Division was first assigned to the First Army of the Imperial Russian Army. They fought at the Battle of Tannenberg. It was subsequently transferred to the 10th Army and fought at the Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes. In March 1918, the Belarusian People's Republic, proclaimed in Minsk under the German occupation, declared Smolensk part of it. In February–December 1918, Smolensk was home to the headquarters of the Western Front, North-West Oblast Bolshevik Committee and Western Oblast Executive Committee. On January 1, 1919, the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed in Smolensk, but its government moved to Minsk as soon as the German forces had been driven out of the city several days later.


title: Smolensk

text: After the revolution, there was debate on whether to include Smolensk in the Byelorussian SSR. In 1920 a provincial census was held, according to which the Russian population prevailed over the Belarusian one, meaning Smolensk had to be transferred to the Russian SFSR. In 1940, from Smolensk, the Katyn Massacre occurred, in which some 22,000 Polish POWs were murdered by the NKVD. At this time Boris Menshagin was mayor of Smolensk, with his deputy Boris Bazilevsky. Both of them would be key witnesses in the Nuremberg Trials over the massacre.


title: Smolensk

text: During World War II, Smolensk once again saw wide-scale fighting during the first Battle of Smolensk when the city was captured by the Germans on July 16, 1941. The first Soviet counteroffensive against the German army was launched in August but failed. However, the limited Soviet victories outside the city halted the German advance for a crucial two months, granting time to Moscow's defenders to prepare in earnest. Over 93% of the city was destroyed during the fighting; the ancient icon of Our Lady of Smolensk was lost. Nevertheless, it escaped total destruction. In late 1943, Hermann Göring had ordered Gotthard Heinrici to destroy Smolensk in accordance with the Nazi "scorched earth" policy. He refused and was punished for it. The city was finally liberated on September 25, 1943, during the second Battle of Smolensk. The rare title of Hero City was bestowed on Smolensk after the war.


title: Smolensk

text: After the Germans captured the city in 1941, they found the intact archives of the Smolensk Oblast Committee of the Communist Party, the so-called Smolensk Archive. The archive was moved to Germany, and a significant part of it eventually ended up in the United States, providing Western scholars and intelligence specialists with unique information during the Cold War on the local workings of the Soviet government during its first two decades. The archives were returned to Russia by the United States in 2002.


title: Smolensk

text: On April 10, 2010, a Tu-154 military jet carrying Polish president Lech Kaczyński, his wife, and many notable political and military figures crashed in a wooded area near Smolensk while approaching the local military airport. All ninety-six passengers died immediately on impact. The purpose of the visit was to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre.


title: Smolensk

text: In June 2013, archaeologists of the Russian Academy of Sciences discovered and unearthed ancient temples in Smolensk dated to the middle to second half of the 12th century, built on the left bank of the Dnieper River. At the time the city was the capital of Smolensk principality.


title: Smolensk

text: In September 2013, Smolensk widely celebrated its 1,150th anniversary with funds spent on different construction and renovation projects in the city. In celebration the Central Bank of Russia issued commemorative coins made of precious metals.


title: Smolensk

text: Owing to its long and rich history, Smolensk is home to many examples of Russian architecture ranging from the Kievan Rus period to post-WWII Stalinist style. Although the city was destroyed several times over, many historically and culturally significant buildings remain, including a large number of churches and cathedrals. The most famous of these are the Cathedral of the Assumption, the Immaculate Conception Church, and the Church of St. Michael the Archangel, which is one of the few structures from before the Mongol invasion remaining in Russia.


title: Smolensk

text: The Smolensk Kremlin, built at the end of the 16th century during the reign of Tsars Fyodor I Ioannovich and Boris Godunov, under the supervision of the architect Fyodor Kon, is one of the greatest achievement of Russian medieval architecture and military engineering.


title: Smolensk

text: Being the site of many great battles in Russian history, Smolensk is home to many monuments commemorating its rich military history.


title: Smolensk

text: Smolensk serves as the administrative center of the "oblast" and, within the framework of administrative divisions, it also serves as the administrative center of Smolensky District, even though it is not a part of it. As an administrative division, it is incorporated separately as Smolensk Urban Okrug—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts. As a municipal division, this administrative unit also has urban okrug status.


title: Smolensk

text: Smolensk has a warm-summer humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification "Dfb"). By European standards, the climate is quite cold for its latitude on 54°N. The far inland position warms springs up relatively quickly, with May being quite a bit milder than September.


title: Smolensk

text: Smolensk has several factories including the Smolensk Aviation Plant and several electronics and agricultural machinery factories.


title: Smolensk

text: Smolensk is located on the M1 main highway and Moscow–Brest Railway. Since 1870, there is a railway connection between Smolensk and Moscow. Local public transport includes buses and trolleybuses.


title: Smolensk

text: There are two airports located in the outskirts of the city; Smolensk South (civilian) and Smolensk North (military); however, there are no regular flights scheduled to Smolensk South Airport.


title: Smolensk

text: Smolensk is home to the Smolensk State University (SMOLGU) and the Smolensk State Medical University (affiliated as university in 2015) (SSMU); together with colleges of further education and other educational institutes.


title: Smolensk

text: Smolensk Strait between Livingston Island and Deception Island in the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica is named after the city.


title: Smolensk

text: A Soviet post World War II project planned the creation of a light cruiser vessel named Smolensk. It was never constructed.


title: Woo Do-hwan

text: He is best known for his roles in the television dramas "Save Me" (2017), "Mad Dog" (2017), "Tempted" (2018), "" (2019), and "" (2020). He also appeared in the film "The Divine Fury" (2019).


title: Woo Do-hwan

text: Woo was born on July 12, 1992 in Anyang, Gyeonggi Province. He graduated from Dankook University, majoring in performance and film.


title: Woo Do-hwan

text: Woo began his mandatory military service on July 6, 2020. By attending six weeks of training as a company commander intern in the recruit training course. Graduated as a student leader at the 1st Department of Transportation Training. Woo was discharged from military service on January 5, 2022, not returning to the unit after his final vacation in accordance with the rules of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Korea.


title: CrowdStrike

text: CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. is an American cybersecurity technology company based in Austin, Texas. It provides cloud workload and endpoint security, threat intelligence, and cyberattack response services. The company has been involved in investigations of several high-profile cyberattacks, including the 2014 Sony Pictures hack, the 2015–16 cyber attacks on the Democratic National Committee (DNC), and the 2016 email leak involving the DNC.


title: CrowdStrike

text: CrowdStrike was co-founded by George Kurtz (CEO), Dmitri Alperovitch (former CTO), and Gregg Marston (CFO, retired) in 2011. In 2012, Shawn Henry, a former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) official, was hired to lead the subsidiary CrowdStrike Services, Inc., which focused on proactive and incident response services. In June 2013, the company launched its first product, CrowdStrike Falcon, which provided endpoint protection, threat intelligence and attribution.


title: CrowdStrike

text: In May 2014, CrowdStrike's reports assisted the United States Department of Justice in charging five Chinese military hackers for economic cyber espionage against United States corporations. CrowdStrike also uncovered the activities of Energetic Bear, a group connected to the Russian Federation that conducted intelligence operations against global targets, primarily in the energy sector.


title: CrowdStrike

text: After the Sony Pictures hack, CrowdStrike uncovered evidence implicating the government of North Korea and demonstrated how the attack was carried out. In 2014, CrowdStrike played a major role in identifying members of Putter Panda, the state-sponsored Chinese group of hackers also known as PLA Unit 61486.


title: CrowdStrike

text: In May 2015, the company released information about VENOM, a critical flaw in an open-source hypervisor called Quick Emulator (QEMU), that allowed attackers to access sensitive personal information. In October 2015, CrowdStrike announced that it had identified Chinese hackers attacking technology and pharmaceutical companies around the time that US President Barack Obama and China's Paramount leader Xi Jinping publicly agreed not to conduct economic espionage against each other. The alleged hacking would have been in violation of that agreement.


title: CrowdStrike

text: CrowdStrike released research in 2017 showing that 66 percent of the attacks the company responded to that year were fileless or malware-free. The company also compiled data on the average time needed to detect an attack and the percentage of attacks detected by organizations.


title: CrowdStrike

text: In February 2018, CrowdStrike reported that, in November and December 2017, it had observed a credential harvesting operation in the international sporting sector, with possible links to the cyberattack on the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. That same month, CrowdStrike released research showing that 39 percent of all attacks observed by the company were malware-free intrusions. The company also named which industries attackers most frequently targeted. That March, the company released a version of Falcon for mobile devices and launched the CrowdStrike store.


title: CrowdStrike

text: In January 2019, CrowdStrike published research reporting that Ryuk ransomware had accumulated more than $3.7 million in cryptocurrency payments since it first appeared in August.


title: CrowdStrike

text: According to CrowdStrike's 2018 Global Threat Report, Russia has the fastest cybercriminals in the world. The company also claimed that, of 81 named state-sponsored actors it tracked in 2018, at least 28 conducted active operations throughout the year, with China being responsible for more than 25 percent of sophisticated attacks.


title: CrowdStrike

text: In September 2020, CrowdStrike acquired zero trust and conditional access technology provider Preempt Security for $96 million.


title: CrowdStrike

text: In March 2021, CrowdStrike acquired Danish log management platform Humio for $400 million. Official CrowdStrike releases noted that the acquisition is to further their XDR capability.


title: CrowdStrike

text: In November 2021, CrowdStrike acquired SecureCircle for $61 million, a SaaS-based cybersecurity service that extends Zero Trust security to data on, from and to the endpoint.


title: CrowdStrike

text: In December 2021, CrowdStrike moved its headquarters location from Sunnyvale, California to Austin, Texas.


title: CrowdStrike

text: In July 2015, Google invested in the company's Series C funding round, which was followed by Series D and Series E, raising a total of $480 million as of May 2019. In 2017, the company reached a valuation of more than $1 billion with an estimated annual revenue of $100 million. In June 2018, the company said it was valued at more than $3 billion. Investors include Telstra, March Capital Partners, Rackspace, Accel Partners and Warburg Pincus.


title: CrowdStrike

text: CrowdStrike helped investigate the Democratic National Committee cyber attacks and alleged a connection to Russian intelligence services, but did not provide FBI access to the DNC servers. On March 20, 2017, James Comey testified before congress stating, "CrowdStrike, Mandiant, and ThreatConnect review[ed] the evidence of the hack and conclude[d] with high certainty that it was the work of APT 28 and APT 29 who are known to be Russian intelligence services."


title: CrowdStrike

text: In December 2016, CrowdStrike released a report stating that Russian government-affiliated group Fancy Bear had hacked a Ukrainian artillery app. They concluded that Russia had used the hack to cause large losses to Ukrainian artillery units. The app (called ArtOS) is installed on tablet PCs and used for fire-control. CrowdStrike also found a hacked variation of POPR-D30 being distributed on Ukrainian military forums that utilized an X-Agent implant.


title: CrowdStrike

text: The International Institute for Strategic Studies rejected CrowdStrike's assessment that claimed hacking caused losses to Ukrainian artillery units, saying that their data on Ukrainian D30 howitzer losses was misused in CrowdStrike's report. The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense also rejected the CrowdStrike report, stating that actual artillery losses were much smaller than what was reported by CrowdStrike and were not associated with Russian hacking.


title: CrowdStrike

text: Cybersecurity firm SecureWorks discovered a list of email addresses targeted by Fancy Bear in phishing attacks. The list included the email address of Yaroslav Sherstyuk, the developer of ArtOS. Additional Associated Press research supports CrowdStrike's conclusions about Fancy Bear. Radio Free Europe notes that the AP report "lends some credence to the original CrowdStrike report, showing that the app had, in fact, been targeted."


title: CrowdStrike

text: In the Trump–Ukraine scandal, a transcript of a conversation between Donald Trump, the former president of the United States, and Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, had Trump asking Zelensky to look into CrowdStrike.


title: Ailanthus altissima

text: Ailanthus altissima , commonly known as tree of heaven, ailanthus, varnish tree, or in Chinese as chouchun (), is a deciduous tree in the family Simaroubaceae. It is native to northeast and central China, and Taiwan. Unlike other members of the genus "Ailanthus", it is found in temperate climates rather than the tropics.


title: Ailanthus altissima

text: The tree grows rapidly, and is capable of reaching heights of in 25 years. While the species rarely lives more than 50 years, some specimens exceed 100 years of age. Its suckering ability allows this tree to clone itself indefinitely. It is considered a noxious weed and vigorous invasive species, and one of the worst invasive plant species in Europe and North America. In 21st-century North America, the invasiveness of the species has been compounded by its harboring of the also destructive and invasive spotted lanternfly.


title: Ailanthus altissima

text: "A. altissima" is a medium-sized tree that reaches heights between with a diameter at breast height of about . The bark is smooth and light grey, often becoming somewhat rougher with light tan fissures as the tree ages. The twigs are stout, smooth to lightly pubescent, and reddish or chestnut in color. They have lenticels and heart-shaped leaf scars (i.e., a scar left on the twig after a leaf falls) with many bundle scars (i.e., small marks where the veins of the leaf once connected to the tree) around the edges. The buds are finely pubescent, dome-shaped, and partially hidden behind the petiole, though they are completely visible in the dormant season at the sinuses of the leaf scars. The branches are light to dark gray in color, smooth, lustrous, and contain raised lenticels that become fissures with age. The ends of the branches become pendulous. All parts of the plant have a distinguishing strong odor that is often likened to peanuts, cashews, or rotting cashews.


title: Ailanthus altissima

text: The leaves are large, odd- or even-pinnately compound on the stem. They range in size from in length and contain 10–41 leaflets organised in pairs, with the largest leaves found on vigorous young sprouts. When they emerge in the spring, the leaves are bronze, then quickly turn from medium to dark green as they grow. The rachis is light to reddish-green with a swollen base. The leaflets are ovate-lanceolate with entire margins, somewhat asymmetric and occasionally not directly opposite to each other. Each leaflet is long and wide. They have a long, tapering end, while the bases have two to four teeth, each containing one or more glands at the tip. The leaflets' upper sides are dark green in color with light green veins, while the undersides are a more whitish green. The petioles are long. The lobed bases and glands distinguish it from similar sumac species.


title: Ailanthus altissima

text: The flowers are small and appear in large panicles up to in length at the end of new shoots. The individual flowers are yellowish green to reddish in color, each with five petals and sepals. The sepals are cup-shaped, lobed and united while the petals are valvate (i.e., they meet at the edges without overlapping), white and hairy towards the inside. They appear from mid-April in the south of its range to July in the north. "A. altissima" is dioecious, with male and female flowers being borne on different individuals. Male trees produce three to four times as many flowers as the females, making the male flowers more conspicuous. Furthermore, the male plants emit a foul-smelling odor while flowering to attract pollinating insects. Female flowers contain 10 (or rarely five through abortion) sterile stamens (stamenoids) with heart-shaped anthers. The pistil is made up of five free carpels (i.e., they are not fused), each containing a single ovule. Their styles are united and slender with star-shaped stigmata. The male flowers are similar in appearance, but they lack a pistil and the stamens do function, each being topped with a globular anther and a glandular green disc. The fruits grow in clusters; similar to the ash tree ("Fraxinus excelsior)," the fruits ripen to a bright reddish-brown color in September. A fruit cluster may contain hundreds of seeds. The seeds borne on the female trees are in diameter and each is encapsulated in a samara that is long and broad, appearing July through August, but can persist on the tree until the next spring. The samara is large and twisted at the tips, making it spin as it falls, assisting wind dispersal, and aiding buoyancy for long-distance dispersal through hydrochory. Primary wind dispersal and secondary water dispersal are usually positively correlated in "A. altissima", since most morphological characteristics of samaras affect both dispersal modes in the same way – except for the width of the samaras, which in contrast affects both types of dispersal in opposing ways, allowing differentiation in the dispersal strategies of this tree. The females can produce huge numbers of seeds, normally around 30,000 per kg, and fecundity can be estimated nondestructively through measurements of diameter at chest height.


title: Ailanthus altissima

text: In China, the tree of heaven has a long and rich history. It was mentioned in the oldest extant Chinese dictionary and listed in many Chinese medical texts for its purported curative ability. The roots, leaves, and bark are used in traditional Chinese medicine, primarily as an astringent. The tree has been grown extensively both in China and abroad as a host plant for the ailanthus silkmoth, a moth involved in silk production. Ailanthus has become a part of Western culture, as well, with the tree serving as the central metaphor and subject matter of the best-selling American novel "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith.


title: Ailanthus altissima

text: The tree was first brought from China to Europe in the 1740s and to the United States in 1784. It was one of the first trees brought west during a time when "chinoiserie" was dominating European arts and was initially hailed as a beautiful garden specimen. However, enthusiasm soon waned after gardeners became familiar with its suckering habits and its foul odor. Despite this, it was used extensively as a street tree during much of the 19th century. Outside Europe and the United States, the plant has been spread to many other areas beyond its native range, and is considered internationally as a noxious weed. In many countries, it is an invasive species due to its ability both to colonize disturbed areas quickly and to suppress competition with allelopathic chemicals. The tree also resprouts vigorously when cut, making its eradication difficult and time-consuming. This has led to the tree being called "tree of hell" among gardeners and conservationists.


title: Ailanthus altissima

text: The first scientific descriptions of the tree of heaven were made shortly after it was introduced to Europe by French Jesuit Pierre Nicholas d'Incarville, who had sent seeds from Peking via Siberia to his botanist friend Bernard de Jussieu in the 1740s. The seeds sent by d'Incarville were thought to be from the economically important and similar looking Chinese varnish tree ("Toxicodendron vernicifluum"), which he had observed in the lower Yangtze region, rather than the tree of heaven. D'Incarville attached a note indicating this, which caused much taxonomic confusion over the next few decades. In 1751, Jussieu planted a few seeds in France and sent others on to Philip Miller, the superintendent at the Chelsea Physic Garden, and to Philip C. Webb, the owner of an exotic plant garden in Busbridge, England.


title: Ailanthus altissima

text: Confusion in naming began when the tree was described by all three men with three different names. In Paris, Linnaeus gave the plant the name "Rhus succedanea", while it was known commonly as "grand vernis du Japon". In London, the specimens were named by Miller as "Toxicodendron altissima", and in Busbridge, it was dubbed in the old classification system as "Rhus Sinese foliis alatis". Records exist from the 1750s of disputes over the proper name between Philip Miller and John Ellis, curator of Webb's garden in Busbridge. Rather than the issue being resolved, more names soon appeared for the plant: Jakob Friedrich Ehrhart observed a specimen in Utrecht in 1782 and named it "Rhus cacodendron".


title: Ailanthus altissima

text: Light was shed on the taxonomic status of "Ailanthus" in 1788 when René Louiche Desfontaines observed the samaras of the Paris specimens, which were still labelled "Rhus succedanea", and came to the conclusion that the plant was not a sumac. He published an article with an illustrated description and gave it the name "Ailanthus glandulosa", placing it in the same genus as the tropical species then known as "A. integrifolia" (white siris, now "A. triphysa"). The name is derived from the Ambonese word "ailanto", meaning "heaven-tree" or "tree reaching for the sky". The specific "glandulosa", referring to the glands on the leaves, persisted until as late as 1957, but it was ultimately made invalid as a later homonym at the species level. The current species name comes from Walter T. Swingle, who was employed by the United States Department of Plant Industry. He decided to transfer Miller's older specific name into the genus of Desfontaines, resulting in the accepted name "Ailanthus altissima". "Altissima" is Latin for "tallest", and refers to the sizes the tree can reach. The plant is sometimes incorrectly cited with the specific epithet in the masculine ("glandulosus" or "altissimus"), which is incorrect since botanical, like Classical Latin, treats most tree names as feminine.


title: Ailanthus altissima

text: "Ailanthus altissima" is native to northern and central China, Taiwan and northern Korea. It was historically widely distributed, and the fossil record indicates clearly that it was present in North America as recently as the middle Miocene. In Taiwan it is present as var. "takanai". In China it is native to every province except Gansu, Heilongjiang, Hainan, Jilin, Ningxia, Qinghai, Xinjiang. It is also not found in Tibet. It has been introduced in many regions across the world, and is now found on every continent except Antarctica.


title: Ailanthus altissima

text: The tree prefers moist and loamy soils but is adaptable to a very wide range of soil conditions and pH values. It is drought-hardy, but not tolerant of flooding. It also does not tolerate deep shade. In China, it is often found in limestone-rich areas. The tree of heaven is found within a wide range of climatic conditions. In its native range, it is found at high altitudes in Taiwan and lower ones in mainland China. These are virtually found anywhere in the U.S., but especially in arid regions bordering the Great Plains, very wet regions in the southern Appalachians, cold areas of the lower Rocky Mountains, and throughout much of the California Central Valley, forming dense thickets that displace native plants. Prolonged cold and snow cover cause dieback, although the trees resprout from the roots.


title: Ailanthus altissima

text: The earliest introductions of "A. altissima" to countries outside of its native range were to the southern areas of Korea and to Japan. The tree may be native to these areas, but the tree is generally agreed to be a very early introduction. Within China, it has also been naturalized beyond its native range in areas such as Qinghai, Ningxia, and Xinjiang.


title: Ailanthus altissima

text: In 1784, not long after Jussieu had sent seeds to England, some were forwarded to the United States by William Hamilton, a gardener in Philadelphia. In both Europe and America, it quickly became a favoured ornamental, especially as a street tree, and by 1840, it was available in most nurseries. The tree was separately brought to California in the 1890s by Chinese immigrants who came during the California Gold Rush. It has escaped cultivation in all areas where it was introduced, but most extensively in the United States. It has naturalized across much of Europe, including Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, the Pannonian region (i.e. southeastern Central Europe around the Danube River basin from Austria, Slovakia, and Hungary south to the Balkan ranges) and most countries of the Mediterranean Basin. In Montenegro and Albania "A. altissima" is widespread in both rural and urban areas, and while in the first it was introduced as an ornamental plant, it very soon invaded native ecosystems with disastrous results and became an invasive species. Ailanthus has also been introduced to Argentina, Australia (where it is a declared weed in New South Wales and Victoria), New Zealand (where it is listed under the National Pest Plant Accord and is classed an "unwanted organism"), the Middle East, and in some countries in South Asia such as Pakistan. In South Africa, it is listed as an invasive species that must be controlled, or removed and destroyed.


title: Ailanthus altissima

text: In North America, "A. altissima" is present from Massachusetts in the east, west to southern Ontario, southwest to Iowa, south to Texas, and east to the north of Florida. In the west, it is found from New Mexico west to California and north to Washington. In the east of its range, it grows most extensively in disturbed areas of cities, where it was long ago present as a planted street tree. It also grows along roads and railways. For example, a 2003 study in North Carolina found the tree of heaven was present on 1.7% of all highway and railroad edges in the state, and had been expanding its range at the rate of 4.76% counties per year. Similarly, another study conducted in southwestern Virginia determined that the tree of heaven is thriving along roughly 30% of the state's interstate highway system length or mileage. It sometimes enters undisturbed areas, as well, and competes with native plants. In western North America, it is most common in mountainous areas around old dwellings and abandoned mining operations. It is classified as a noxious or invasive plant on National Forest System lands and in many states because its prolific seed production, high germination rate, and capacity to regrow from roots and root fragments enable "A. altissima" to out-compete native species. For this reason, control measures on public lands and private property are advised where "A. altissima" has naturalized.


title: Ailanthus altissima

text: The tree of heaven is an opportunistic plant that thrives in full sun and disturbed areas. It spreads aggressively both by seeds and vegetatively by root sprouts, re-sprouting rapidly after being cut. It is considered a shade-intolerant tree and cannot compete in low-light situations, though it is sometimes found competing with hardwoods, but such competition rather indicates it was present at the time the stand was established. On the other hand, a study in an old-growth hemlock-hardwood forest in New York found that Ailanthus was capable of competing successfully with native trees in canopy gaps where only 2-15% of full sun was available. The same study characterised the tree as using a "gap-obligate" strategy to reach the forest canopy, meaning it grows rapidly during a very short period rather than growing slowly over a long period. It is a short lived tree in any location and rarely lives more than 50 years. Ailanthus is among the most pollution-tolerant of tree species, including sulfur dioxide, which it absorbs in its leaves. It can withstand cement dust and fumes from coal tar operations, as well as resist ozone exposure relatively well. Furthermore, high concentrations of mercury have been found built up in tissues of the plant.


title: Ailanthus altissima

text: Ailanthus has been used to re-vegetate areas where acid mine drainage has occurred and it has been shown to tolerate pH levels as low as 4.1 (approximately that of tomato juice). It can withstand very low phosphorus levels and high salinity levels. The drought-tolerance of the tree is strong due to its ability to effectively store water in its root system. It is frequently found in areas where few trees can survive. The roots are also aggressive enough to cause damage to subterranean sewers and pipes. Along highways, it often forms dense thickets in which few other tree species are present, largely due to the toxins it produces to prevent competition. The roots are poisonous to people.


title: Ailanthus altissima

text: Ailanthus produces an allelopathic chemical called ailanthone, which inhibits the growth of other plants. The inhibitors are strongest in the bark and roots, but are also present in the leaves, wood and seeds of the plant. One study showed that a crude extract of the root bark inhibited 50% of a sample of garden cress ("Lepidium sativum") seeds from germinating. The same study tested the extract as an herbicide on garden cress, redroot pigweed ("Amaranthus retroflexus"), velvetleaf ("Abutilon theophrasti"), yellow bristlegrass ("Setaria pumila"), barnyard grass ("Echinochloa crusgalli"), pea ("Pisum sativum" cv. Sugar Snap), and maize ("Zea mays" cv. Silver Queen). It proved able to kill nearly 100% of seedlings with the exception of velvetleaf, which showed some resistance. Another experiment showed a water extract of the chemical was either lethal or highly damaging to 11 North American hardwoods and 34 conifers, with the white ash ("Fraxinus americana") being the only plant not adversely affected. The chemical does not, however, affect the tree of heaven's own seedlings, indicating that "A. altissima" has a defence mechanism to prevent autotoxicity. Resistance in various plant species has been shown to increase with exposure. Populations without prior exposure to the chemicals are most susceptible to them. Seeds produced from exposed plants have also been shown to be more resistant than their unexposed counterparts.


title: Ailanthus altissima

text: The tree of heaven is a very rapidly growing tree, possibly the fastest growing tree in North America. Growth of per year for the first four years is considered normal. Shade considerably hampers growth rates. Older trees, while growing much slower, still do so faster than other trees. Studies found that Californian trees grew faster than their East Coast counterparts, and American trees in general grew faster than Chinese ones.


title: Ailanthus altissima

text: In northern Europe the tree of heaven was not considered naturalised in cities until after the Second World War. This has been attributed to the tree's ability to colonize areas of rubble of destroyed buildings where most other plants would not grow. In addition, the warmer microclimate in cities offers a more suitable habitat than the surrounding rural areas; it is thought that the tree requires a mean annual temperature of to grow well, which limits its spread in more northern and higher altitude areas. For example, one study in Germany found the tree of heaven growing in 92% of densely populated areas of Berlin, 25% of its suburbs and only 3% of areas outside the city altogether. In other areas of Europe this is not the case as climates are mild enough for the tree to flourish. It has colonized natural areas in Hungary, for example, and is considered a threat to biodiversity at that country's Aggtelek National Park.


title: Ailanthus altissima

text: Several species of Lepidoptera use the leaves of "Ailanthus" as food, including the Indian moon moth ("Actias selene") and the common grass yellow ("Eurema hecabe"). In North America the tree is the host plant for the ailanthus webworm ("Atteva aurea"), though this ermine moth is native to Central and South America and originally used other members of the mostly tropical Simaroubaceae as its hosts. In the US, it has been found to host the brown marmorated stink bug and the Asiatic shot-hole borer. The spotted lanternfly ("L. delicatula)," relies on the metabolites of "A. altissima" for the completion of its life cycle and the pervasiveness of "A. altissima" is seen as a driving factor in "L. delicatula's" invasive spread outside of China."" In its native range "A. altissima" is associated with at least 32 species of arthropods and 13 species of fungi.


title: Ailanthus altissima

text: In North America, the leaves of ailanthus are sometimes attacked by "Aculops ailanthii", a mite in the family Eriophyidae. Leaves infested by the mite begin to curl and become glossy, reducing their ability to function. Therefore, this species has been proposed as a possible biocontrol for ailanthus in the Americas. Research from September 2020 indicates a verticillium wilt, caused by "Verticillium nonalfalfae", may function as a biological control for "A. altissima", with the weevil "Eucryptorrhynchus brandti" serving as a vector.


title: Ailanthus altissima

text: Due to the tree of heaven's weedy habit, landowners and other organisations often resort to various methods of control to keep its populations in check. For example, the city of Basel in Switzerland has an eradication program for the tree. It can be very difficult to eradicate, however. Means of eradication can be physical, thermal, managerial, biological or chemical. A combination of several of these can be most effective, though they must of course be compatible. All have some positive and negative aspects, but the most effective regimen is generally a mixture of chemical and physical control. It involves the application of foliar or basal herbicides to kill existing trees, while either hand pulling or mowing seedlings to prevent new growth.


title: Ailanthus altissima

text: In addition to its use as an ornamental plant, the tree of heaven is also used for its wood and as a host plant to feed silkworms of the moth "Samia cynthia", which produces silk that is stronger and cheaper than mulberry silk, although with inferior gloss and texture. It is also unable to take dye. This type of silk is known under various names: "pongee", "eri silk", and "Shantung silk", the last name being derived from Shandong in China where this silk is often produced. Its production is particularly well known in the Yantai region of that province. The moth has also been introduced in the United States.


title: Ailanthus altissima

text: The pale yellow, close-grained, and satiny wood of ailanthus has been used in cabinet work. It is flexible and well-suited to the manufacture of kitchen steamers, which are important in Chinese cuisine for cooking mantou, pastries, and rice. Zhejiang in eastern China is most famous for producing these steamers. The plant is also considered a good source of firewood across much of its range, as it is moderately hard and heavy, yet readily available. The wood is also used to make charcoal for culinary purposes. However, there are problems with using the wood as lumber; because the trees exhibit rapid growth for the first few years, the trunk has uneven texture between the inner and outer wood, which can cause the wood to twist or crack during drying. Techniques have been developed for drying the wood so as to prevent this cracking, allowing it to be commercially harvested. Although the live tree tends to have very flexible wood, the wood is quite hard once properly dried.


title: Ailanthus altissima

text: Tree of heaven is a popular ornamental tree in China and valued for its tolerance of difficult growing conditions. It was once very popular in cultivation in both Europe and North America, but this popularity dropped, especially in the United States, due to the disagreeable odor of its blossoms and the weediness of its habit. The problem of odor was previously avoided by only selling pistillate plants since only males produce the smell, but a higher seed production also results. Michael Dirr, a noted American horticulturalist and professor at the University of Georgia, reported meeting, in 1982, a grower who could not find any buyers. He further writes (his emphasis):


title: Ailanthus altissima

text: In Europe, however, the tree is still used in the garden to some degree as its habit is generally not as invasive as it is in America. In the United Kingdom it is especially common in London squares, streets, and parks, though it is also frequently found in gardens of southern England and East Anglia. It becomes rare in the north, occurring only infrequently in southern Scotland. It is also rare in Ireland. In Germany the tree is commonly planted in gardens. The tree has furthermore become unpopular in cultivation in the west because it is short-lived and that the trunk soon becomes hollow, making trees more than two feet in diameter unstable in high winds.


title: Ailanthus altissima

text: A few cultivars exist, but they are not often sold outside of China and probably not at all in North America:


title: Ailanthus altissima

text: Nearly every part of "A. altissima" has had various uses in Chinese traditional medicine, although there is no high-quality clinical evidence that it has an effect on any disease.


title: Ailanthus altissima

text: A tincture of the root bark was thought useful by American herbalists in the 19th century. It contains phytochemicals, such as quassin and saponin, and ailanthone. The plant may be mildly toxic. The noxious odours have been associated with nausea and headaches, and with contact dermatitis reported in both humans and sheep, which developed weakness and paralysis. It contains a quinone irritant, 2,6-dimethoxybenzoquinone, as well as quassinoids.