title: Fugue

text: Bach's most famous fugues are those for the harpsichord in "The Well-Tempered Clavier", which many composers and theorists look at as the greatest model of fugue. "The Well-Tempered Clavier" comprises two volumes written in different times of Bach's life, each comprising 24 prelude and fugue pairs, one for each major and minor key. Bach is also known for his organ fugues, which are usually preceded by a prelude or toccata. "The Art of Fugue", BWV 1080, is a collection of fugues (and four canons) on a single theme that is gradually transformed as the cycle progresses. Bach also wrote smaller single fugues and put fugal sections or movements into many of his more general works. J.S. Bach's influence extended forward through his son C.P.E. Bach and through the theorist Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg (1718–1795) whose "Abhandlung von der Fuge" ("Treatise on the fugue", 1753) was largely based on J.S. Bach's work.


title: Fugue

text: During the Classical era, the fugue was no longer a central or even fully natural mode of musical composition. Nevertheless, both Haydn and Mozart had periods of their careers in which they in some sense "rediscovered" fugal writing and used it frequently in their work.


title: Fugue

text: Joseph Haydn was the leader of fugal composition and technique in the Classical era. Haydn's most famous fugues can be found in his "Sun" Quartets (op. 20, 1772), of which three have fugal finales. This was a practice that Haydn repeated only once later in his quartet-writing career, with the finale of his String Quartet, Op. 50 No. 4 (1787). Some of the earliest examples of Haydn's use of counterpoint, however, are in three symphonies (No. 3, No. 13, and No. 40) that date from 1762 to 1763. The earliest fugues, in both the symphonies and in the Baryton trios, exhibit the influence of Joseph Fux's treatise on counterpoint, "Gradus ad Parnassum" (1725), which Haydn studied carefully.


title: Fugue

text: Haydn's second fugal period occurred after he heard, and was greatly inspired by, the oratorios of Handel during his visits to London (1791–1793, 1794–1795). Haydn then studied Handel's techniques and incorporated Handelian fugal writing into the choruses of his mature oratorios "The Creation" and "The Seasons," as well as several of his later symphonies, including No. 88, No. 95, and No. 101; and the late string quartets, Opus 71 no. 3 and (especially) Opus 76 no. 6.


title: Fugue

text: The young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart studied counterpoint with Padre Martini in Bologna. Under the employment of Archbishop Colloredo, and the musical influence of his predecessors and colleagues such as Johann Ernst Eberlin, Anton Cajetan Adlgasser, Michael Haydn, and his own father, Leopold Mozart at the Salzburg Cathedral, the young Mozart composed ambitious fugues and contrapuntal passages in Catholic choral works such as Mass in C minor, K. 139 "Waisenhaus" (1768), Mass in C major, K. 66 "Dominicus" (1769), Mass in C major, K. 167 "in honorem Sanctissimae Trinitatis" (1773), Mass in C major, K. 262 "Missa longa" (1775), Mass in C major, K. 337 "Solemnis" (1780), various litanies, and vespers. Leopold admonished his son openly in 1777 that he not forget to make public demonstration of his abilities in "fugue, canon, and contrapunctus". Later in life, the major impetus to fugal writing for Mozart was the influence of Baron Gottfried van Swieten in Vienna around 1782. Van Swieten, during diplomatic service in Berlin, had taken the opportunity to collect as many manuscripts by Bach and Handel as he could, and he invited Mozart to study his collection and encouraged him to transcribe various works for other combinations of instruments. Mozart was evidently fascinated by these works and wrote a set of five transcriptions for string quartet, K. 405 (1782), of fugues from Bach's "Well-Tempered Clavier", introducing them with preludes of his own. In a letter to his sister Nannerl Mozart, dated in Vienna on 20 April 1782, Mozart recognizes that he had not written anything in this form, but moved by his wife's interest he composed one piece, which is sent with the letter. He begs her not to let anybody see the fugue and manifests the hope to write five more and then present them to Baron van Swieten. Regarding the piece, he said "I have taken particular care to write "andante maestoso" upon it, so that it should not be played fast – for if a fugue is not played slowly the ear cannot clearly distinguish the new subject as it is introduced and the effect is missed". Mozart then set to writing fugues on his own, mimicking the Baroque style. These included a fugue in C minor, K. 426, for two pianos (1783). Later, Mozart incorporated fugal writing into his opera "Die Zauberflöte" and the finale of his Symphony No. 41.


title: Fugue

text: The parts of the Requiem he completed also contain several fugues (most notably the Kyrie, and the three fugues in the Domine Jesu; he also left behind a sketch for an Amen fugue which, some believe, would have come at the end of the Sequentia).


title: Fugue

text: Ludwig van Beethoven was familiar with fugal writing from childhood, as an important part of his training was playing from "The Well-Tempered Clavier". During his early career in Vienna, Beethoven attracted notice for his performance of these fugues. There are fugal sections in Beethoven's early piano sonatas, and fugal writing is to be found in the second and fourth movements of the "Eroica Symphony" (1805). Beethoven incorporated fugues in his sonatas, and reshaped the episode's purpose and compositional technique for later generations of composers.


title: Fugue

text: Nevertheless, fugues did not take on a truly central role in Beethoven's work until his late period. The finale of Beethoven's "Hammerklavier" Sonata contains a fugue, which was practically unperformed until the late 19th century, due to its tremendous technical difficulty and length. The last movement of his Cello Sonata, Op. 102 No. 2 is a fugue, and there are fugal passages in the last movements of his Piano Sonatas in A major, Op. 101 and A major Op. 110. According to Charles Rosen, "With the finale of 110, Beethoven re-conceived the significance of the most traditional elements of fugue writing."


title: Fugue

text: Fugal passages are also found in the "Missa Solemnis" and all movements of the Ninth Symphony, except the third. A massive, dissonant fugue forms the finale of his String Quartet, Op. 130 (1825); the latter was later published separately as Op. 133, the "Große Fuge" ("Great Fugue"). However, it is the fugue that opens Beethoven's String Quartet in C minor, Op. 131 that several commentators regard as one of the composer's greatest achievements. Joseph Kerman (1966, p. 330) calls it "this most moving of all fugues". J. W. N. Sullivan (1927, p. 235) hears it as "the most superhuman piece of music that Beethoven has ever written." Philip Radcliffe (1965, p. 149) says "[a] bare description of its formal outline can give but little idea of the extraordinary profundity of this fugue ."]


title: Fugue

text: By the beginning of the Romantic era, fugue writing had become specifically attached to the norms and styles of the Baroque. Felix Mendelssohn wrote many fugues inspired by his study of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach.


title: Fugue

text: Johannes Brahms' "Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel", Op. 24, is a work for solo piano written in 1861. It consists of a set of twenty-five variations and a concluding fugue, all based on a theme from George Frideric Handel's "Harpsichord Suite No. 1 in B♭ major", HWV 434.


title: Fugue

text: Franz Liszt's Piano Sonata in B minor (1853) contains a powerful fugue, demanding incisive virtuosity from its player:


title: Fugue

text: Richard Wagner included several fugues in his opera "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg". Giuseppe Verdi included a whimsical example at the end of his opera "Falstaff" and his setting of the Requiem Mass contained two (originally three) choral fugues. Anton Bruckner and Gustav Mahler also included them in their respective symphonies. The exposition of the finale of Bruckner's Symphony No. 5 begins with a fugal exposition. The exposition ends with a chorale, the melody of which is then used as a second fugal exposition at the beginning of the development. The recapitulation features both fugal subjects concurrently. The finale of Mahler's Symphony No. 5 features a "fugue-like" passage early in the movement, though this is not actually an example of a fugue.


title: Fugue

text: Twentieth-century composers brought fugue back to its position of prominence, realizing its uses in full instrumental works, its importance in development and introductory sections, and the developmental capabilities of fugal composition.


title: Fugue

text: The second movement of Maurice Ravel's piano suite "Le Tombeau de Couperin" (1917) is a fugue that Roy Howat (200, p. 88) describes as having "a subtle glint of jazz". Béla Bartók's "Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta" (1936) opens with a slow fugue that Pierre Boulez (1986, pp. 346–47) regards as "certainly the finest and most characteristic example of Bartók's subtle style... probably the most "timeless" of all Bartók's works – a fugue that unfolds like a fan to a point of maximum intensity and then closes, returning to the mysterious atmosphere of the opening." The second movement of Bartók‘s Sonata for Solo Violin is a fugue, and the first movement of his Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion contains a fugato.


title: Fugue

text: "Schwanda the Bagpiper" (Czech: Švanda dudák), written in 1926, an opera in two acts (five scenes), with music by Jaromír Weinberger, includes a "Polka" followed by a powerful "Fugue" based on the Polka theme.


title: Fugue

text: Igor Stravinsky also incorporated fugues into his works, including the Symphony of Psalms and the Dumbarton Oaks concerto. Stravinsky recognized the compositional techniques of Bach, and in the second movement of his Symphony of Psalms (1930), he lays out a fugue that is much like that of the Baroque era. It employs a double fugue with two distinct subjects, the first beginning in C and the second in E. Techniques such as stretto, sequencing, and the use of subject incipits are frequently heard in the movement. Dmitri Shostakovich's 24 Preludes and Fugues is the composer's homage to Bach's two volumes of The Well-Tempered Clavier. In the first movement of his Fourth Symphony, starting at rehearsal mark 63, is a gigantic fugue in which the 20-bar subject (and tonal answer) consist entirely of semiquavers, played at the speed of quaver = 168.


title: Fugue

text: Olivier Messiaen, writing about his "Vingt regards sur l'enfant-Jésus" (1944) wrote of the sixth piece of that collection, ""Par Lui tout a été fait"" ("By Him were all things made"):


title: Fugue

text: György Ligeti wrote a five-part double fugue for his "Requiem"'s second movement, the Kyrie, in which each part (SMATB) is subdivided in four-voice "bundles" that make a canon. The melodic material in this fugue is totally chromatic, with melismatic (running) parts overlaid onto skipping intervals, and use of polyrhythm (multiple simultaneous subdivisions of the measure), blurring everything both harmonically and rhythmically so as to create an aural aggregate, thus highlighting the theoretical/aesthetic question of the next section as to whether fugue is a form or a texture. According to Tom Service, in this work, Ligeti


title: Fugue

text: Benjamin Britten used a fugue in the final part of "The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra" (1946). The Henry Purcell theme is triumphantly cited at the end, making it a choral fugue.


title: Fugue

text: Canadian pianist and musical thinker Glenn Gould composed "So You Want to Write a Fugue?", a full-scale fugue set to a text that cleverly explicates its own musical form.


title: Fugue

text: Fugues (or fughettas/fugatos) have been incorporated into genres outside Western classical music. Several examples exist within jazz, such as "Bach goes to Town", composed by the Welsh composer Alec Templeton and recorded by Benny Goodman in 1938, and "Concorde" composed by John Lewis and recorded by the Modern Jazz Quartet in 1955.


title: Fugue

text: In "Fugue for Tinhorns" from the Broadway musical Guys and Dolls, written by Frank Loesser, the characters Nicely-Nicely, Benny, and Rusty sing simultaneously about hot tips they each have in an upcoming horse race.


title: Fugue

text: In "West Side Story", the dance sequence following the song "Cool" is structured as a fugue. Interestingly, Leonard Bernstein quotes Beethoven's monumental "Grosse Fugue" for string quartet and employs Arnold Schoenberg's twelve tone technique, all in the context of a jazz infused Broadway show stopper.


title: Fugue

text: A few examples also exist within progressive rock, such as the central movement of "The Endless Enigma" by Emerson, Lake & Palmer and "On Reflection" by Gentle Giant.


title: Fugue

text: On their EP of the same name, Vulfpeck has a composition called "Fugue State", which incorporates a fugue between Theo Katzman (guitar), Joe Dart (bass), and Woody Goss (Wurlitzer keyboard).


title: Fugue

text: The composer Matyas Seiber included an atonal or twelve-tone fugue, for flute trumpet and string quartet, in his score for the 1953 film "Graham Sutherland"


title: Fugue

text: The film composer John Williams includes a fugue in his score for the 1990 film, "Home Alone", at the point where Kevin, accidentally left at home by his family, and realizing he is about to be attacked by a pair of bumbling burglars, begins to plan his elaborate defenses. Another fugue occurs at a similar point in the 1992 sequel film, "".


title: Fugue

text: The jazz composer and film composer, Michel Legrand, includes a fugue as the climax of his score (a classical theme with variations, and fugue) for Joseph Losey's 1972 film "The Go-Between", based on the 1953 novel by British novelist, L.P. Hartley, as well as several times in his score for Jacques Demy's 1970 film "Peau d'âne".


title: Fugue

text: A widespread view of the fugue is that it is not a musical form but rather a technique of composition.


title: Fugue

text: The Austrian musicologist Erwin Ratz argues that the formal organization of a fugue involves not only the arrangement of its theme and episodes, but also its harmonic structure. In particular, the exposition and coda tend to emphasize the tonic key, whereas the episodes usually explore more distant tonalities. Ratz stressed, however, that this is the core, underlying form ("Urform") of the fugue, from which individual fugues may deviate.


title: Fugue

text: Although certain related keys are more commonly explored in fugal development, the overall structure of a fugue does not limit its harmonic structure. For example, a fugue may not even explore the dominant, one of the most closely related keys to the tonic. Bach's Fugue in B major from Book 1 of the "Well Tempered Clavier" explores the relative minor, the supertonic and the subdominant. This is unlike later forms such as the sonata, which clearly prescribes which keys are explored (typically the tonic and dominant in an ABA form). Then, many modern fugues dispense with traditional tonal harmonic scaffolding altogether, and either use serial (pitch-oriented) rules, or (as the Kyrie/Christe in György Ligeti's "Requiem", Witold Lutosławski works), use panchromatic, or even denser, harmonic spectra.


title: Fugue

text: The fugue is the most complex of contrapuntal forms. In Ratz's words, "fugal technique significantly burdens the shaping of musical ideas, and it was given only to the greatest geniuses, such as Bach and Beethoven, to breathe life into such an unwieldy form and make it the bearer of the highest thoughts." In presenting Bach's fugues as among the greatest of contrapuntal works, Peter Kivy points out that "counterpoint itself, since time out of mind, has been associated in the thinking of musicians with the profound and the serious" and argues that "there seems to be some rational justification for their doing so."


title: Fugue

text: This is related to the idea that restrictions create freedom for the composer, by directing their efforts. He also points out that fugal writing has its roots in improvisation, and was, during the Renaissance, practiced as an improvisatory art. Writing in 1555, Nicola Vicentino, for example, suggests that:


title: 76th Academy Awards

text: The 76th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2003 and took place on February 29, 2004, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST. During the ceremony, AMPAS presented Academy Awards (commonly referred to as Oscars) in 24 categories. The ceremony, televised in the United States by ABC, was produced by Joe Roth and was directed by Louis J. Horvitz. Actor Billy Crystal hosted for the eighth time. He first presided over the 62nd ceremony held in 1990 and had last hosted the 72nd ceremony held in 2000. Two weeks earlier in a ceremony at The Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel & Spa in Pasadena, California held on February 14, the Academy Awards for Technical Achievement were presented by host Jennifer Garner.


title: 76th Academy Awards

text: "" won a record-tying eleven awards including Best Director for Peter Jackson and Best Picture. Other winners included "" and "Mystic River" with two awards and "The Barbarian Invasions", "Chernobyl Heart", "Cold Mountain", "Finding Nemo", "The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara", "Harvie Krumpet", "Lost in Translation", "Monster", and "Two Soldiers" with one. The telecast garnered nearly 44 million viewers in North America the United States, making it the most-watched telecast in four years.


title: 76th Academy Awards

text: The nominees for the 76th Academy Awards were announced on Tuesday January 27, 2004, at 5:38 a.m. PST (13:38 UTC) at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, California, by Frank Pierson, president of the Academy, and the actress Sigourney Weaver. "" received the most nominations with eleven; "" came in second with ten.


title: 76th Academy Awards

text: The winners were announced during the awards ceremony on Sunday February 29, 2004. With eleven awards, "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" tied with "Ben-Hur" and "Titanic" as the most awarded films in Oscar history. Moreover, its clean sweep of its eleven nominations surpassed "Gigi" and "The Last Emperor"s nine awards for the largest sweep for a single film in Oscar history. The film was also the tenth film to win Best Picture without any acting nominations. Best Director nominee Sofia Coppola became the first American woman and third woman overall to be nominated in that category. By virtue of her father, Francis Ford Coppola and her grandfather, Carmine's previous wins, her victory in the Original Screenplay category made her the second third-generation Oscar winner in history. At age thirteen, Best Actress nominee Keisha Castle-Hughes became the youngest nominee in that category until being surpassed by Quvenzhané Wallis, who was nine at the time of her nomination, in 2013. With Sean Penn and Tim Robbins's respective wins in the Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor categories, "Mystic River" became the fourth film to win both male acting awards.


title: 76th Academy Awards

text: In light of the record low viewership from the preceding year's ceremony, the Academy sought to make several changes and hire a new producer for the upcoming show. AMPAS announced that unlike previous years where the ceremony typically was held in either late March or early April, the festivities would be held in late February. AMPAS director of communications John Pavlik explained that the purpose of moving the telecast a month earlier was "to bolster the ceremony's sagging television ratings and protect the Oscar's status as the nation's pre-eminent awards event." Despite several Academy officials denying such reasons, some industry insiders speculated that the earlier Oscar date was also implemented to mitigate the intense campaigning and lobbying during Oscar season put forth by film studios. This marked the first time since the 14th ceremony that the awards were held outside the aforementioned time frame.


title: 76th Academy Awards

text: In August 2003, the Academy hired film producer Joe Roth to oversee production of the ceremony. The following month, Roth recruited veteran Oscar host Billy Crystal to emcee the awards gala for the eighth time. To stir interest surrounding the awards, Roth produced three trailers promoting the ceremony that each was set to different pop tunes (Madonna's "Hollywood", OutKast's "Hey Ya!", and Pink's "Get the Party Started"). The trailers contained clips of previous ceremonies with slogans such as "Expected the unexpected" and "It's Oscar night" occasionally flashing between scenes. These promotional spots were shown at movie theaters, on several cable channels, and at participating Blockbuster stores. The Academy also granted talk show host Oprah Winfrey unprecedented access to rehearsals and meetings as part of a month-long series on her eponymous talk show covering behind the scenes preparation of the telecast.


title: 76th Academy Awards

text: In September 2003, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) initially banned distribution of screeners to awards groups, citing fears of piracy. Many independent film studios and prominent film directors objected to this decision charging that this would hurt smaller films for Oscar consideration since they heavily rely on screeners to lure Academy members' attention. The following month, AMPAS and the MPAA reached an agreement in which Academy members would receive the screeners on the condition that they keep them out of reach from people unaffiliated with AMPAS. In December 2003, a federal judge in New York overturned the ban citing that it violated federal antitrust laws.


title: 76th Academy Awards

text: At the time of the nominations announcement on January 27, the combined gross of the five Best Picture nominees was $638 million with an average of $127 million per film. "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" was the highest earner among the Best Picture nominees with $338.3 million in domestic box office receipts. The film was followed by "Seabiscuit" ($120.2 million), "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" ($85.3 million), "Mystic River" ($59.1 million), and finally "Lost in Translation" ($34.8 million).


title: 76th Academy Awards

text: Of the top 50 grossing movies of the year, 45 nominations went to 10 films on the list. Only "Finding Nemo" (1st), "The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King" (2nd), "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" (3rd), "Seabiscuit" (16th), "Something's Gotta Give" (21st), "The Last Samurai" (23rd), "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World" (31st), "Brother Bear" (32nd) "Cold Mountain" (37th), and "Mystic River" (46th) were nominated for Best Picture, Best Animated Feature, or any of the directing, acting, or screenwriting.


title: 76th Academy Awards

text: In light of the controversy surrounding the halftime show during Super Bowl XXXVIII, network ABC implemented a five-second tape delay to ensure that profanity and obscenity were not seen or heard. AMPAS president Frank Pierson protested this decision in a written statement, stating, "Even a very brief tape-delay introduces a form of censorship into the broadcast—not direct governmental control, but it means that a network representative is in effect guessing at what a government might tolerate, which can be even worse." In response, producer Joe Roth reiterated that censorship would only be applied to profanity and not political speeches.


title: 76th Academy Awards

text: The show received a mixed reception from media publications. "Chicago Tribune" television critic Steve Johnson lamented that the show "felt almost numbingly familiar and disappointingly genteel." He also criticized broadcaster ABC's decision to implement the five-second tape delay. Tom Shales of "The Washington Post" quipped that the ceremony "was about as entertaining as watching Jell-O congeal." He also added that the lack of surprises among the awards contributed to the dull atmosphere of the telecast. Columnist Tim Goodman of "San Francisco Chronicle" bemoaned, "The 76th annual Academy Awards dragged on without much drama or comedy, sucking the life out of the event even while it was doing justice to the masterpiece that is "The Lord of the Rings"."


title: 76th Academy Awards

text: Other media outlets received the broadcast more positively. Ken Tucker of "Entertainment Weekly" praised Crystal's hosting performance saying that he "has located the perfect middle ground between Steve Martin's adroit silliness and Whoopi Goldberg's unapologetic hamminess." On the show itself, he said that it "managed to do what Hollywood may not have: convince us that this was a great year for the movies." Film critic Andrew Sarris of "The New York Observer" wrote that the show was "the funniest and least tedious in memory." He also extolled producer Joe Roth by concluding, "As far as this old critic's concerned, Mr. Roth, you did a fine job." "USA Today" critic Robert Bianco commented that despite the lack of suspense due to the "Lord of the Rings" sweep of the awards "Crystal was able to lace funny bits throughout the evening." He further lauded the show as "more glamorous and upbeat than last year's war-muted event, and decently paced."


title: 76th Academy Awards

text: The American telecast on ABC drew in an average of 43.56 million people over its length, which was a 26% increase from the previous year's ceremony. An estimated 73.89 million total viewers watched all or part of the awards. The show also earned higher Nielsen ratings compared to the previous ceremony with 26.68% of households watching over a 41.84 share. In addition, it garnered a higher 1849 demo rating with a 15.48 rating over a 38.79 share among viewers in that demographic. It was the highest viewership for an Academy Award telecast since the 72nd ceremony held in 2000.


title: 76th Academy Awards

text: In July 2004, the ceremony presentation received nine nominations at the 56th Primetime Emmys. Two months later, the ceremony won one of those nominations for Louis J. Horvitz's direction of the telecast.


title: 76th Academy Awards

text: The annual "In Memoriam" tribute was presented by Academy President Frank Pierson. The montage featured an excerpt of "The Love of the Princess" from "The Thief of Bagdad", composed by Miklós Rózsa ("Ben-Hur", "Spellbound", "Quo Vadis", "King of Kings", "El Cid").


title: 76th Academy Awards

text: A separate tribute to comedian, actor, and veteran Oscar host Bob Hope was presented by Tom Hanks. Later, actress Julia Roberts presented one to actress Katharine Hepburn.


title: Hostel: Part III

text: Hostel: Part III is a 2011 American horror film directed by Scott Spiegel and the third and final installment of the "Hostel" trilogy. It was written by Michael D. Weiss. This is the only film in the series to not have Eli Roth involved in the production and is also the only one not to have a theatrical release. The film also relocates the Elite Hunting Club from Slovakia to Las Vegas.


title: Hostel: Part III

text: The plot centers on four men attending a bachelor party in Las Vegas. While there, they are enticed by two prostitutes to join them at a private party way off the Strip. Once there, they are horrified to find themselves the subjects of a perverse game of torture, where members of the Elite Hunting Club are hosting the most sadistic show in town. It was released direct-to-DVD on December 27, 2011.


title: Hostel: Part III

text: A young man named Travis goes into a hotel room where a Ukrainian couple, Victor and Anka, are currently staying. Anka and Victor fall unconscious after being drugged by the beer Travis give them, and it is revealed that Travis is a member of the Elite Hunting Club. Victor later wakes up in a cell in an abandoned building and watches as two guards drag Anka out of her cell.


title: Hostel: Part III

text: Scott leaves his fiancée Amy to go to Las Vegas with his friend Carter for Scott's bachelor party. There, they meet up with their other friends, Mike and Justin. The four go to a nightclub, where they meet Kendra and Nikki, two escorts Carter secretly paid to have sex with Scott. Kendra and Nikki tell the four men about a "freaky" party they could go to on the other end of town, and the four men take a cab to an abandoned building. At the party, Kendra makes a move on Scott, but he declines and tells her about how he previously cheated on Amy and almost lost her, and does not want it to happen again. Scott wakes up the next morning in his hotel room with Carter and Justin. The three wonder where Mike is, as he is not answering his phone.


title: Hostel: Part III

text: Mike wakes in a cell and starts panicking. Two guards strap him to a chair in an empty room, with one wall made of glass, and Mike is on display to be gambled upon by wealthy clients. A middle-aged client dressed as a doctor enters the room; Mike pleads with him, but the man cuts and peels Mike's face off. Worried about Mike, Scott, Carter, and Justin travel to Nikki's trailer, but cannot find her. Kendra arrives and reveals that Nikki is missing as well. Meanwhile, Nikki is brought into the same room as Mike and strapped to a table. Another man who speaks in Hungarian enters the room and releases a jar full of cockroaches onto Nikki, some of which crawl into her mouth and suffocate her.


title: Hostel: Part III

text: Scott, Carter, Justin, and Kendra get a text from Mike's phone, sent by Travis, to meet him and Nikki in a hotel room. When they get there, everyone is kidnapped by Travis and wakes up in individual cells along with Victor. The two guards take Justin away, and Carter calls the guard and informs them that he is also a client. After he shows his Elite Hunting Club tattoo, the guards let him go.


title: Hostel: Part III

text: Justin is strapped into a chair and Carter, Flemming, and Travis watch as a costumed woman shoots him with multiple crossbow bolts. The main event starts and Scott is strapped into a chair. He asks Carter why he is doing this, and Carter reveals he wants Amy for himself, as they were in a relationship before she ended up with Scott. Carter says he was disappointed that Amy stayed with Scott after Carter told her about Scott's infidelity. He says that once Scott dies, he will comfort Amy and she will want to be with him.


title: Hostel: Part III

text: Flemming orders Scott to be let go from the chair, and Scott and Carter fight. Scott ends up stabbing Carter, cuts off Carter's tattoo, and then escapes by using Carter's tattoo on the scanners. Victor kills one of the guards and frees himself, but is killed by another guard. Scott calls the cops and frees Kendra, who is shot dead by Travis. Flemming orders all of the prisoners to be killed. Scott and Travis fight and Scott kills Travis. Flemming sets the building to explode and attempts to drive away, but Carter kills him and takes his car. Carter sees Scott and locks the front gate before Scott can get to him. He then quickly drives off while the building explodes, with Scott still inside the gates.


title: Hostel: Part III

text: Sometime later, Carter is comforting Amy in her house. After inviting him to stay the night, Amy reveals that Scott is still alive and pins Carter's hand to a chair with a corkscrew. A burned Scott appears and the pair strap him to a chair in her garage, where Scott kills him with a lightweight gas-powered tiller.


title: Hostel: Part III

text: In June 2008, it was announced that Scott Spiegel, one of the executive producers of "Hostel" and "", was in talks to direct the third film in the series. In July 2009, Eli Roth confirmed that he would not be directing "Hostel: Part III". "Total Film" later reported that Eli Roth would be involved, albeit as producer only, and that the film will abandon the European locations of the previous films in favor of an American setting, by the release of the film, however, Roth was not credited. A trailer for the film was released in October 2011 confirming the film's Las Vegas setting.


title: Hostel: Part III

text: There were meant to be many viral marketing tools attached to the film including a collection of QR codes that would if scanned, give exclusive content. One can be seen at 1:09:26 in the film. Due to the film's negative reception from test audiences, however, the marketing campaign was dropped. Scanning the code now results in the phrase "top left 8" being displayed.


title: Hostel: Part III

text: "Hostel: Part III" was released on DVD and Video on demand on December 27, 2011, in the United States, and on January 18, 2012, in Europe.


title: Hostel: Part III

text: On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 67% based on six reviews, with an average rating of 6.25/10.


title: Vishnuvardhan (director)

text: Vishnuvardhan is an Indian film director, producer and screenwriter who predominantly works in the Tamil cinema.


title: Vishnuvardhan (director)

text: A one-time associate of Santosh Sivan, he made his directorial debut in 2003 with "Kurumbu", which did not fare well at the box office. However, his subsequent films, "Arinthum Ariyamalum" (2005), "Pattiyal" (2006), "Billa" (2007), "Panjaa" (2011) with Pawan kalyan as main lead and "Arrambam" (2013) went on to become highly successful ventures, turning him into a household name in Tamil Nadu. He made his hindi film directorial debut with "Shershaah" (2021), for which he received positive reviews.


title: Vishnuvardhan (director)

text: Vishnuvardhan was born and raised in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. His father is Kulasekaran, a businessman, who later became a producer of Tamil films. He has a younger brother Krishna Kulasekaran who is an actor in the Tamil film industry. Vishnuvardhan went to St. Bede's Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School, Chennai and studied visual communication at the Loyola College, Chennai.


title: Vishnuvardhan (director)

text: Vishnuvardhan and his brother used to participate in extra-curricular activities like dance and drama in school. When director Mani Ratnam was looking for children to cast in his film "Anjali", his school suggested his name and he shot for a dance sequence in the film with his brother and other children. He later appeared in "Sathriyan" (as the young Vijayakanth) and "Iruvar" by Mani Ratnam again. While in college, Santosh Sivan, cinematographer of Mani Ratnam's films, called Vishnuvardhan to act in his directorial "The Terrorist". Vishnuvardhan said "I was influenced and inspired by the works of Mani Ratnam and Santosh Sivan. Watching them create magic on screen fascinated me and I wanted to learn filmmaking". While working for "The Terrorist", he expressed his desire to Sivan, that he would like to assist him, and Sivan accepted him as an apprentice and later as an associate.He worked for seven years as an assistant director to Sivan in Mumbai besides playing roles in his films "Fiza", "Malli" and "Asoka".


title: Vishnuvardhan (director)

text: After Vishnuvardhan returned from Mumbai, Gemini Color Labs that had produced "The Terrorist" offered him to remake the Telugu comedy film "Allari" in Tamil. Although he did not want his first film to be a remake, he accepted since he felt he shouldn't "ruin the chance". The film, titled "Kurumbu", featuring Allari Naresh, who played the same role in the original, alongside Nikita Thukral and Diya, did not do well at the box office. His next film was "Arinthum Ariyamalum", which was the first script he had written and was supposed to mark his directorial debut. He said that no big hero wanted to star in it and nobody wanted to produce the film. After he had signed the principal cast, he decided to start his own production studio SJ Films with Malaysian radio jockey, Punnagai Poo Geetha, and produce the film on his own. Starring Prakash Raj, alongside then newcomers Arya, Navdeep and Samiksha, the film was better received than his first film, critically as well as commercially. Sify called it "a taut and fairly engrossing entertainer" and the film was termed a "super hit" having collected twice its cost at the box office.


title: Vishnuvardhan (director)

text: Geetha and Vishnu then collaborated once more in the critically acclaimed "Pattiyal" which also proved to be successful. The film, which starred Arya, Bharath, Pooja and Padmapriya, was recognised for its outstanding music by Yuvan Shankar Raja. Vishnu was praised for handling a serious subject while retaining the entertainment factor in the film. Sify stated that Vishnuvardhan "rewrote the rules of Tamil commercial cinema", and went on to compare him with director Mani Ratnam. In an interview, Vishnu stated that he had interacted with real gangsters and studied their lifestyle. Vishnuvardhan's next film "Billa", a remake of the yesteryear classic, starring Ajith Kumar, Nayanthara and Namitha, was a big blockbuster. His "Sarvam" starring Arya and Trisha which received mixed reviews did averagely at the box office whereas his next debut film in Telugu, "Panjaa", was one of the most stylish films of Pawan Kalyan. Vishnuvardhan's next directorial, "Arrambam" starring Ajith Kumar, Nayanthara and Arya was a huge success.


title: Vishnuvardhan (director)

text: Vishnuvardhan is married to costume designer Anu Vardhan, granddaughter of Tamil actor and singer N. S. Krishnan. Anu was a classmate of Vishnuvardhan in college and also worked as an assistant to Santosh Sivan. Vishnuvardhan stated that they got married "just after college" when he had joined the industry as an assistant director. Anu has worked as the costume designer in all of Vishnuvardhan's films.


title: August Rush

text: August Rush is a 2007 musical drama film directed by Kirsten Sheridan and produced by Richard Barton Lewis. The screenplay is by Nick Castle and James V. Hart, with a story by Paul Castro and Castle. A co-production between the United States, the United Kingdom and South Korea, it involves an 11-year-old musical prodigy living in an orphanage who runs away to New York City. He begins to unravel the mystery of who he is, all while his mother is searching for him and his father is searching for her. The many different sounds and rhythms he hears throughout his journey culminate in a major instrumental composition, which concludes the film ("August's Rhapsody").


title: August Rush

text: In 1995, Lyla Novacek is a cellist studying at the Juilliard School and living under the strict rule of her father. Louis Connelly is the lead singer of an Irish rock band. They meet and have a one-night stand, but are unable to maintain contact. Lyla discovers that she is pregnant. Following an argument with her overbearing father over her unborn baby, she is struck by a car, forcing her to give birth prematurely. While Lyla is unconscious, her father secretly puts the baby boy up for adoption, telling Lyla that her son died.


title: August Rush

text: Eleven years later, the baby is living in a boys' orphanage under the name Evan Taylor, where he is assigned to a social worker named Richard Jeffries. Evan is a musical genius and displays savant-like abilities and perfect pitch, which often causes him to be bullied. Convinced that his parents will find him, Evan runs away to New York City, "following the music" in the hope it will lead him to his family. He finds a boy named Arthur busking in Washington Square Park and follows Arthur to his home in a condemned theatre, where Evan is introduced to “Wizard” Wallace, an arrogant and aggressive vagrant and musician who teaches homeless, orphaned, and runaway children to be street performers. Evan tries playing Wizard's prize guitar, Roxanne (a Gibson J150ec). Evan is so good that Wizard gives him his old spot in Washington Square Park, along with the guitar, which was also Arthur's. He gives Evan the stage name "August Rush" and tries to market him to clubs. Seeing the posters that Jeffries has placed for the runaway Evan, Wizard destroys all the ones he finds, hoping to keep Evan for his own gain.


title: August Rush

text: Louis now lives in San Francisco as a talent agent, while Lyla is a music teacher in Chicago. Louis reconnects with his brothers and decides to try to find Lyla. Lyla is called to her father's deathbed, where he confesses that her son is alive, causing Lyla to abandon her dying father and immediately start looking for her son.


title: August Rush

text: On arriving at Lyla's apartment in Chicago, Louis talks to one of her neighbors, who mistakenly tells Louis she is on her honeymoon. Despairing, he ends up in New York, where he gets his band back together. After Jeffries meets Wizard and Arthur on the street and becomes suspicious, the police raid the derelict theatre in which Wizard and his "children" are living. Evan manages to evade the police and remembers Wizard's advice to never reveal his real name to anyone. Evan (now "August") takes refuge in a church, where he befriends a little girl named Hope, who introduces him to the piano and written music. Hope brings August and his abilities to the attention of the parish pastor, who takes August to Juilliard, where he once again impresses the faculty. A rhapsody takes shape from August's notes and homework.


title: August Rush

text: In New York, Lyla goes to Jeffries' office, and Jeffries identifies Evan/August as her son. While looking for him, she takes up the cello again and accepts an offer to perform with the Philharmonic at a series of concerts in Central Park. August is selected to perform the rhapsody he has been composing at the same concert. However, Wizard interrupts the rehearsal and, claiming to be his father, manages to pull August out of the school.


title: August Rush

text: On the day of the concert, August is back in his spot in Washington Square, while Wizard makes plans to smuggle him around the country to play. He meets Louis, and unaware of their blood relationship, they have an impromptu guitar duet. August tells him of his dilemma, and Louis encourages him to go. That evening, with help from Arthur, August escapes from Wizard through the subway and heads for his concert. Louis, after his own performance with his reunited band, sees Lyla's name on one of the banners and also heads for the park. Jeffries finds a misplaced flyer for "August Rush" with a picture, and also heads for the concert.


title: August Rush

text: August arrives in time to conduct his rhapsody, which attracts both Lyla and Louis to the audience, where they are reunited. August finishes his rhapsody and as he turns to discover his parents, he smiles knowing that he has been right all along.


title: August Rush

text: The final number with Lyla and Louis begins with Lyla playing the Adagio-Moderato from Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto in E Minor.


title: August Rush

text: Except for "Dueling Guitars", all of August's guitar pieces were played by American guitarist-composer Kaki King. King's hands are used in close-ups for August Rush.


title: August Rush

text: Composer Mark Mancina spent over a year and a half composing the score of "August Rush". "The heart of the story is how we respond and connect through music. It's about this young boy who believes that he's going to find his parents through his music. That's what drives him." The final theme of the movie was composed first. "That way I could take bits and pieces of the ending piece and relate it to the things that are happening in (August's) life. All of the themes are pieces of the puzzle, so at the end it means something because you've been subliminally hearing it throughout the film." The score was recorded at the Todd-AO Scoring Stage and the Eastwood Scoring Stage at Warner Bros.


title: August Rush

text: "August Rush" received mixed reviews from film critics. , the film holds a 37% approval rating on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on 123 reviews with an average rating of 4.83/10. The site's consensus reads: "Though featuring a talented cast, "August Rush" cannot overcome the flimsy direction and schmaltzy plot." On Metacritic, the film had an average score of 38 out of 100, based on 27 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".


title: August Rush

text: In a review by "USA Today", Claudia Puig commented, ""August Rush" will not be for everyone, but it works if you surrender to its lilting and unabashedly sentimental tale of evocative music and visual poetry." "The Hollywood Reporter" reviewed the film positively, writing "the story is about musicians and how music connects people, so the movie's score and songs, created by composers Mark Mancina and Hans Zimmer, give poetic whimsy to an implausible tale."


title: August Rush

text: Pam Grady of the "San Francisco Chronicle" called the film "an inane musical melodrama." Grady said "the entire story is ridiculous" and "Coincidences pile on, behavior and motivations defy logic, and the characters are so thinly drawn that most of the cast is at a loss." Edward Douglas of comingsoon.net said it "does not take long for the movie to reveal itself as an extremely contrived and predictable movie that tries too hard to tug on the heartstrings."


title: August Rush

text: Roger Ebert gave the movie three stars, calling it "a movie drenched in sentimentality, but it's supposed to be. The movie also came to a very sudden end, leaving it unfinished."


title: August Rush

text: A few critics suggested that the film is essentially a musical adaptation of Dickens' "Oliver Twist".


title: August Rush

text: Despite the mixed reception, "August Rush" was praised for its music. The song "Raise It Up" was nominated for Best Original Song at the 80th Academy Awards, but lost to "Once".


title: August Rush

text: A musical theatre adaptation of "August Rush" premiered on May 3, 2019, at the Paramount Theatre in Aurora, Illinois. The book was written by Glen Berger, the music was composed by Mark Mancina, and the lyrics were written by both Berger and Mancina. The play was directed by John Doyle.


title: Jonathan Richman

text: Jonathan Michael Richman (born May 16, 1951) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. In 1970, he founded the Modern Lovers, an influential proto-punk band. Since the mid-1970s, Richman has worked either solo or with low-key acoustic and electric backing. He now plays only acoustic to protect his hearing. He is known for his wide-eyed, unaffected, and childlike outlook, and music that, while rooted in rock and roll, is influenced by music from around the world.


title: Jonathan Richman

text: Born into a Jewish family in Boston, Massachusetts, and raised in Natick, Massachusetts, Richman began playing music and writing his own songs in the mid-1960s. He became infatuated with the Velvet Underground and, in 1969, he moved to New York City, lived on the couch of their manager, Steve Sesnick, worked odd jobs, and tried to break in as a professional musician. Failing at this, he returned to Boston.


title: Jonathan Richman

text: Richman formed the Modern Lovers, a proto-punk garage rock band, in Boston, Massachusetts. Other notable members of the group were keyboard player Jerry Harrison and drummer David Robinson, who later joined Talking Heads and the Cars, respectively.


title: Jonathan Richman

text: In 1972, they recorded a series of demos with producer John Cale (formerly of the Velvet Underground). Among these songs were the seminal "Roadrunner" and "Pablo Picasso", which were eventually released on the group's post-breakup album, "The Modern Lovers" in August 1976. The album was strange for its time, featuring Velvets-influenced basic three-chord rock ("Roadrunner" – based on just two chords – is an homage to "Sister Ray") at a time when glam and progressive rock were the norm.


title: Jonathan Richman

text: Later in 1972, the group re-recorded some songs, along with other material, with producer Kim Fowley. These demos were eventually released in 1981 as "The Original Modern Lovers" LP. Despite playing live regularly, the Modern Lovers had a difficult time securing a recording contract. By late 1973, Richman wanted to scrap the recorded tracks and start again with a mellower, more lyrical sound, influenced by the laid-back local music he had heard when the band had a residency at the Inverurie Hotel in Bermuda earlier in the year. These stymied efforts to complete a debut album led to the breakup of the original Modern Lovers in February 1974.


title: Jonathan Richman

text: In 1975, Richman moved to California to record as a solo singer/songwriter with the independent Beserkley Records label. His first released recordings appeared on 1975's "Beserkley Chartbusters" compilation, where he was backed by members of Earth Quake and the Rubinoos. The four songs on the compilation also appeared on singles released by Beserkley.


title: Jonathan Richman

text: In January 1976, Richman put together a new version of the Modern Lovers, which included original Modern Lovers drummer David Robinson, former Rubinoos bassist Greg 'Curly' Keranen and Leroy Radcliffe on guitar. The new group, now billed as Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers, found Richman turning away from the harder, Velvet Underground-influenced electric rock of the original Modern Lovers, toward a gentler sound mixing pop with 1950s rock and roll, and including a bigger emphasis on harmony vocals. During this period Richman recorded a mix of original songs and material by other writers, including Chuck Berry's "Back in the USA", the traditional spiritual songs "Amazing Grace" and "Angels Watching Over Me", and older pop songs like "Emaline", "Buzz, Buzz, Buzz", and "Lydia".


title: Jonathan Richman

text: Richman's own songs continued to mix straightforward love themes with more whimsical themes like Martians ("Here Come the Martian Martians"), Leprechauns ("Rockin' Rockin' Leprechauns"), the Abominable Snowman ("Abominable Snowman in the Market"), and mosquitoes ("I'm Nature's Mosquito"). Richman's 1977 recording of the children's music standard "The Wheels on the Bus" made explicit his interest in making music for listeners of all ages.


title: Jonathan Richman

text: The album "Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers" was released in May 1976, three months before the older "The Modern Lovers" sessions were finally released. Drummer David Robinson left the group soon thereafter, due to frustration with Richman's quest for lower volume levels, and joined with Ric Ocasek in forming the band the Cars.


title: Jonathan Richman

text: After several months as a trio, Richman found a new drummer, D. Sharpe, an avant-garde jazz player on the Boston scene, who later went on to become a member of pianist Carla Bley's band.


title: Jonathan Richman

text: "Rock and Roll with the Modern Lovers" was released in 1977 and, just as this record began to climb the charts in Europe, Keranen left the group to attend college. A subsequent live album, "Modern Lovers Live", was released in 1978, with Asa Brebner on bass.


title: Jonathan Richman

text: In the United Kingdom, Richman was recognised as a progenitor of the punk rock scene, and several of his singles became hits. "Roadrunner" reached number 11 in the UK Singles Chart, and its follow-up, the instrumental "Egyptian Reggae", made number 5 in late 1977. "Egyptian Reggae" was a version of Jamaican musician Earl Zero's reggae song "None Shall Escape the Judgment"; Zero was credited as co-writer on Richman's later versions of the track.


title: Jonathan Richman

text: "Back in Your Life" was released in 1979 under the "Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers" moniker, but only about half the disc featured a backup band. The balance of the album was Richman playing solo. Following this version of The Modern Lovers' final breakup, Richman went on sabbatical for a few years, staying in Appleton, Maine, and playing at local bars in Belfast, Maine.


title: Jonathan Richman

text: By 1981, Richman was recording and touring once again with various combinations of musicians under the band name Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers. The touring band was as large as five backup musicians during parts of 1981, when the group had bassist Curly Keranen once again, along with drummer Michael Guardabascio, keyboard player Ken Forfia, vocalist and guitarist Ellie Marshall, and vocalist Beth Harrington for a gig at New York's Bottom Line. This expanded Modern Lovers group would go on to record much of the music on the "Jonathan Sings" (1983), "Rockin' & Romance" (1985), and "It's Time for Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers" (1986) albums.


title: Jonathan Richman

text: From 1981 to 1984, Richman most often played live in a trio with Keranen and Marshall. In 1985, the group was reconfigured, and consisted of bassist Asa Brebner and drummer Andy Paley. From 1986 to 1988, most of Richman's concerts were played with guitarist Brennan Totten and drummer Johnny Avila. Signing with Rounder Records in 1987, Richman recorded his final album using the "Modern Lovers" group name ("Modern Lovers 88"). After this, the "Modern Lovers" moniker was retired.


title: Jonathan Richman

text: From 1988 to 1992, Richman performed mostly as a solo act to support his Rounder albums "Jonathan Richman" (1989), "Jonathan Goes Country" (1990), and "Having a Party with Jonathan Richman" (1991). Around the time of his "I, Jonathan" album (1992), he formed his performance duo with drummer Tommy Larkins (Giant Sand, Yard Trauma, Naked Prey, et al.), who would continue to play and record with Richman for more than 25 years.


title: Jonathan Richman

text: In 1993, he contributed the track "Hot Nights" to the AIDS-benefit album "No Alternative" produced by the Red Hot Organization.


title: Jonathan Richman

text: Always possessing an ardent cult following, Richman became better known in the 1990s thanks to a series of appearances on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien". Another career boost came with the Farrelly Brothers' 1998 film "There's Something About Mary", where Richman and Larkins served as a two-man Greek chorus, commenting on the plot while performing their music within the framed action itself. He also appeared briefly in a bar scene in a previous Farrelly Brothers film, "Kingpin", and performed the song "As We Walk to Fenway Park" for their 2005 comedy, "Fever Pitch".


title: Jonathan Richman

text: Richman continued to release albums throughout the 1990s and 2000s, with the Spanish-language "¡Jonathan, Te Vas a Emocionar!" (1994), followed by "You Must Ask the Heart" (1995), "Surrender to Jonathan" (1996), "I'm So Confused" (1998), "Her Mystery Not of High Heels and Eye Shadow" (2001), and "Not So Much to Be Loved as to Love" (2004). In 1998, a live album of Modern Lovers recordings from the early 1970s was released, "Live at the Long Branch & More". A live filmed performance, "Take Me to the Plaza", was released on DVD in 2002.


title: Jonathan Richman

text: Richman's most recent albums are on the Cleveland, Ohio, based Blue Arrow Records: 2016's "Ishkode! Ishkode!", 2018's "SA" and 2022's "Want to Visit My Inner House?".


title: Jonathan Richman

text: Richman's minimalist songwriting style has been described as whimsical and childlike. He himself has stated, "I don’t write, really. I just make up songs." Richman has played a variety of electric and acoustic guitars throughout his career. In promotional and concert photos from the early 1970s (such as those reproduced in the album "Precise Modern Lovers Order"), Richman is frequently seen using a white Fender Stratocaster. He later wrote a song ("Fender Stratocaster") expressing his affection for the Stratocaster design.


title: Jonathan Richman

text: In the late 1970s, working with his group The Modern Lovers, Richman often played a Fender Jazzmaster. He can be seen playing this guitar in the Dutch TV program "TopPop" filmed on September 16, 1978. A contemporaneous stage photo used on the cover of the "Egyptian Reggae" single shows Richman playing a sunburst Stratocaster.


title: Jonathan Richman

text: Late-1970s studio recordings, such as the "Rock and Roll with the Modern Lovers" album, also featured Richman playing nylon-stringed acoustic guitar. On a 1979 performance on French television, and in the cover photo of "The Best of Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers", Richman plays a late-1970s Ibanez model 2453CW hollow-body electric guitar, a guitar similar in style to the Epiphone he would use extensively a decade later.


title: Jonathan Richman

text: In the early- and mid-1980s, working with The Modern Lovers, Richman was frequently photographed playing a Harmony Hollywood hollow-body electric guitar. This guitar is seen on the back cover of Richman's "It's Time For" album. By the late 1980s, Richman was frequently performing solo concerts using a blonde 1980s Epiphone Regent hollow-body electric guitar. He can be seen holding this guitar on the back cover of the "Having a Party with Jonathan Richman" CD.


title: Jonathan Richman

text: Richman was still using his Epiphone Regent on stage when he began performing as a duo with drummer Tommy Larkins in 1992. After a short stint playing other electric guitars on stage including a Gibson SG, Richman switched to exclusively playing nylon-stringed acoustic guitars (of the classical and flamenco styles) in concert. Richman has played a number of different nylon-stringed guitars since the mid-1990s.


title: Jonathan Richman

text: After switching to nylon-stringed acoustic guitars, Richman initially used a pick and played in a style close to that of his electric guitar playing. Eventually, he stopped using both a guitar pick and a guitar strap in concert, preferring to play only with his fingers, and to move frequently between playing guitar, dancing, and playing percussion instruments.


title: Jonathan Richman

text: Richman has also been photographed playing a Fender Telecaster and other electric and acoustic guitars, and he does not consider any specific instrument to be essential to his sound. In a 2006 interview with musician Chuck Prophet, Richman said "It's not the guitar, it's the player. In fact, my most recent Flamenco guitar isn't even a real Flamenco guitar. It's not made out of the right woods. Made out of walnut. It's twangy. I bought it and I like it."


title: Jonathan Richman

text: During the early- and mid-1980s, Richman frequently played tenor saxophone during his concerts with The Modern Lovers. He can be heard playing the instrument on "California Desert Party", a song on his "Modern Lovers 88" album. The album also shows him holding the instrument in the cover photograph.


title: Jonathan Richman

text: His first marriage was to Gail Clook of Vermont, in 1982, with whom he has a daughter, Jenny Rae, and son, Jason (Gail's son from a previous relationship). This marriage ended in divorce sometime shortly before the release of "Surrender to Jonathan" (1996).


title: Jonathan Richman

text: In 2003, Richman married Nicole Montalbano of Chico, California. She contributed backing vocals to the album "Not So Much to Be Loved as to Love" (2004).


title: Jonathan Richman

text: Richman also runs a business, Arcane Masonry, in Chico, making pizza ovens as well as other projects.


title: Jonathan Richman

text: Richman's work with the first incarnation of Modern Lovers is a major influence on punk rock. One critic called him the "Godfather of Punk". On his second solo album, Brian Eno made mention of Richman's band in his lyrics, and the Sex Pistols and Joan Jett were among the first artists of note to cover the song "Roadrunner" in the 1970s. A version of "Pablo Picasso" performed by Burning Sensations was included in the 1984 cult film, "Repo Man". David Bowie covered "Pablo Picasso" on his album "Reality". Velvet Underground founding member John Cale has a version of the song on his 1975 album, "Helen of Troy", and continues to include the song in his live shows. Iggy Pop has performed "Pablo Picasso" live and wrote an extra verse for it. Echo and the Bunnymen covered "She Cracked" in concert in 1984 and 1985 and Siouxsie and the Banshees have a version of the song on "Downside Up".


title: Jonathan Richman

text: Richman's music has set the tone for many alternative rock bands, such as Violent Femmes, Galaxie 500, They Might Be Giants ("Roadrunner" reportedly inspired John Flansburgh to become a musician), Weezer, Tullycraft, Jens Lekman, singer Frank Black (who composed the tribute song "The Man Who Was Too Loud"), Brandon Flowers, Art Brut, Craig Finn of the Hold Steady & Lifter Puller, Mac DeMarco and Nerf Herder who composed a song about him, titled "Jonathan", which appeared on the band's second album "How To Meet Girls". British country rock band the Rockingbirds released the single "Jonathan, Jonathan" in tribute to Richman in 1992. The Silos also covered the Modern Lovers' "I'm Straight". Boston ska-punk band Big D and the Kids Table also covered Richman's song "New England" for their "Gypsy Hill" EP. A tribute album, "If I Were a Richman: a Tribute to the Music of Jonathan Richman", was released by Wampus Multimedia in 2001.


title: Jonathan Richman

text: The Modern Lovers’ song "Roadrunner" appears on the soundtrack to the film "School of Rock". In the commentary, director Richard Linklater mentions it is often called "the first punk song" and wanted to include it for that reason, along with all the other seminal rock songs in that film. Rapper M.I.A. featured the opening lyrics from "Roadrunner" in the song "Bamboo Banga" on her 2007 album, "Kala".


title: Jonathan Richman

text: As a producer himself, Richman and drummer Tommy Larkins produced Vic Chesnutt's final album "Skitter on Take-Off" in 2009 which appeared on Vapor Records. Chesnutt opened for Richman at concerts many times during his later years.


title: Jonathan Richman

text: (These last three live albums are from the same three 1971–3 performances, but add and subtract a few different songs. The last two, combined, contain all the songs.)


title: Jaylen Waddle

text: Jaylen Waddle (born November 25, 1998) is an American football wide receiver for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Alabama and was drafted sixth overall by the Dolphins in the 2021 NFL Draft.


title: Jaylen Waddle

text: Waddle attended Episcopal High School in Bellaire, Texas. As a senior, he played in the U.S. Army All-American Game. He committed to the University of Alabama to play college football. He made the selection on National Signing Day of 2018 and chose the Crimson Tide over Texas, Texas A&M, Florida State, TCU, and Oregon.


title: Jaylen Waddle

text: As a true freshman at Alabama in 2018, Waddle was named the SEC Freshman of the Year after recording 45 receptions for 848 yards and seven touchdowns. As a punt returner, he also returned 16 punts for 233 yards and a touchdown.


title: Jaylen Waddle

text: Waddle returned to the Crimson Tide for his sophomore season in 2019. He recorded 33 receptions for 560 yards and scored six receiving touchdowns. He also returned a punt 77 yards for a touchdown against LSU and a kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown against Auburn. He was named first-team All-SEC as a return specialist and was named SEC Special Teams Player of the Year.


title: Jaylen Waddle

text: On October 24, 2020, Waddle broke his right ankle when he was tackled while returning the opening kickoff in a game against Tennessee. Waddle returned for the National Championship game against Ohio State. On January 14, 2021, Waddle announced that he would forgo his senior season and enter the 2021 NFL Draft.


title: Jaylen Waddle

text: Waddle was drafted sixth overall in the 2021 NFL Draft by the Miami Dolphins, reuniting him with his college quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. On May 14, 2021, Waddle signed with the Dolphins on a $27.1 million deal.


title: Jaylen Waddle

text: In his first NFL game on September 12, 2021, Waddle faced off against former Alabama teammate QB Mac Jones and the New England Patriots. Waddle caught 4 of his 6 targets for 61 receiving yards, and also caught his first NFL receiving touchdown on a 3-yard pass from Tua Tagovailoa in the 17–16 win against the New England Patriots. His first big breakthrough came in Week 12 against the Carolina Panthers, finishing with 137 receiving yards as the Dolphins won 33–10. Throughout the season, Waddle became known for his waddling celebrations after touchdowns, inspired by his last name.


title: Jaylen Waddle

text: In his 16th game of the season, Waddle set the NFL rookie record for receptions in a season with 104, beating Anquan Boldin's old record of 101. Waddle finished his rookie season with 104 receptions for 1,015 yards and 7 total touchdowns.


title: Women in WWE

text: Throughout its history, women have served in various onscreen roles in the American professional wrestling promotion WWE. In the 1990s, WWE (then known as the World Wrestling Federation) introduced the term Diva to refer to its female performers, including wrestlers, managers or valets, backstage interviewers, or ring announcers.


title: Women in WWE

text: In 2016 at WrestleMania 32, WWE abandoned the "Diva" branding for its female performers, as part of a move to present them in an athletic manner more in line with their male counterparts, rather than in a means based around sex appeal. Concurrently, the promotion began to refer to them using the "Superstar" title it uses for all other performers, established a new WWE Women's Championship to replace the WWE Divas Championship, and began to increasingly book women's matches in its pay-per-views' signature matches. WrestleMania 35 featured a women's match as its main event for the first time in WrestleMania history.


title: Women in WWE

text: In 1983, the Fabulous Moolah, who was the NWA World Women's Champion and legal owner of the title, joined the WWF and sold them the rights to the title after they disaffiliated from the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and recognized her as the first WWF Women's Champion. Additionally, the WWF also recognized Moolah as having been champion ever since first winning the title from Judy Grable in 1956 and disregarded other reigns or title losses that occurred during the title's existence in the NWA. Thus, The Fabulous Moolah's reign was considered to have lasted 27 years by the promotion. WWF also introduced the WWF Women's Tag Team Championship with Velvet McIntyre and Princess Victoria recognized as the first champions after also defecting from the NWA.


title: Women in WWE

text: The following year, music artist Cyndi Lauper began a verbal feud with her manager "Captain" Lou Albano; this brought professional wrestling into mainstream culture in a storyline that became known as the "Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection". When it was finally time for Lauper and Albano to settle their differences in the ring, a match-up was scheduled with Albano's represented wrestler Moolah against the challenge of Lauper's protégé, Wendi Richter. Moolah lost the title at "The Brawl to End It All", broadcast live on MTV. Richter then lost the title to Leilani Kai the following year, but won it back at WrestleMania I on March 31, 1985.


title: Women in WWE

text: In the summer of 1985, the WWF did a storyline where all established managers in the promotion competed to offer their services to Randy Savage. Savage revealed his new manager to be Miss Elizabeth on the August 24, 1985 edition of "WWF Prime Time Wrestling". In real life, Savage and Miss Elizabeth were married, but this was not mentioned on television. Miss Elizabeth's first major angle was during Savage's feud with George "The Animal" Steele in 1986. In the angle, Steele fell in love with Miss Elizabeth, angering Savage and leading to a series of grudge matches between him and Steele. She also figured prominently in Savage's 1986 feuds with Hulk Hogan and Ricky "the Dragon" Steamboat and his 1987–1989 feuds with wrestlers such as The Honky Tonk Man, Andre the Giant, Bad News Brown, Big Boss Man and Akeem. In 1988, Miss Elizabeth was given the title "First Lady of the World Wrestling Federation" due to her being the first woman in World Wrestling Federation history to manage the World Wrestling Federation champion. When Savage—who had formed an alliance with Hogan—turned on Hogan in early 1989, Miss Elizabeth was a major factor, and she eventually sided with Hogan. Meanwhile, Savage became allied with "Sensational" Sherri, who had success as a wrestler from 1987 to 1989 and was phased into a role as an ill-tempered, venomous manager.


title: Women in WWE

text: Sherri initially debuted on July 24, 1987, by defeating The Fabulous Moolah for the WWF Women's Championship. Renaming herself 'Sensational' Sherri, she reigned as champion for fifteen months before losing it to Rockin' Robin; after losing several rematches, Martel took a short leave of absence in early 1989 before being repackaged as Savage's manager. Also in 1987 Mike McGuirk was introduced as the first female ring announcer of the promotion, arriving after Jesse Ventura referred her to the WWF. In the fall of 1987, McGuirk provided color commentary for several arena show tapings in the Houston, Texas area, which aired on "Prime Time Wrestling".


title: Women in WWE

text: The first Survivor Series pay-per-view saw the first female elimination match. In February 1989, the WWF Women's Tag Team Championship was deactivated and The Glamour Girls (Leilani Kai and Judy Martin) were the final title holders. Sapphire debuted in November 1989 on "Saturday Night's Main Event XXV" as a 'fan' cheering on Dusty Rhodes at ringside in his match against Big Boss Man. Sapphire began to manage Rhodes, who adapted Rhodes' gimmick as she adorned black outfits with yellow polka dots. Sapphire and Rhodes later feuded with Randy Savage and Sensational Sherri and wrestled in a tag team match at WrestleMania VI. Rockin' Robin was the last WWF Women's Champion in the late 1980s.


title: Women in WWE

text: In 1990, Sensational Sherri remained with Randy Savage, while Sapphire worked with Dusty Rhodes. Sapphire later departed from the company in mid-1990. Miss Elizabeth worked primarily with Dusty Rhodes and Sapphire between WrestleMania VI and SummerSlam (1990). Miss Elizabeth returned in 1991 and was a key player in Randy Savage's retirement match with The Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania VII; Miss Elizabeth left the company for good in April 1992; shortly after her departure, Savage and Miss Elizabeth divorced in real life. At WrestleMania IX, Luna Vachon debuted and initially aligned herself with Shawn Michaels. Later, she aligned herself with Bam Bam Bigelow to feud with Sherri and Tatanka. Martel left the company in 1993.


title: Women in WWE

text: In 1993, the WWF reinstated its Women's Championship, a title that had been vacant since 1990, and Madusa Miceli was brought in by the company to revive the women's division. She debuted under the ring name Alundra Blayze, because WWF owner Vince McMahon did not want to pay Miceli to use the name Madusa, which she had trademarked. She wrestled in a six-woman tournament to crown a new Women's Champion, and in the finals, she pinned Heidi Lee Morgan on the December 13, 1993 episode of "All American Wrestling" to win the title.


title: Women in WWE

text: After the tournament, Miceli asked WWF management to bring in new women for her to wrestle and WWF brought Leilani Kai, Bull Nakano and Bertha Faye. Later on as part of a short talent exchange with All Japan Women's Pro Wrestling, various Japanese female wrestlers including Aja Kong debuted leading to the second elimination match at the Survivor Series 1995 event. In December, due to financial troubles the WWF was having at the time, Blayze was released from her contract and was stripped of the title following her jump back to rival company World Championship Wrestling, and the WWF Women's Championship remained vacant until 1998.


title: Women in WWE

text: Between 1995 and 1998, several valets debuted in WWF: Sunny, Marlena, Sable and Debra. At first, the characters were a continuation of the WWE female manager, but became more sexualized as time progressed. Although the term "diva" was not used on WWE television until April 1999, these women are considered to be the first divas. In February 1997, Chyna joined WWE as prominent female on-air talent in the promotion. Chyna was offered as an antithesis to the rest of the women, a masculine bodybuilder whose sexual identity was the subject of early storylines. Sunny, Marlena, Sable, and Debra were further marketed as sex symbols through WWF's "Raw Magazine", which featured monthly spreads of the women in suggestive poses either semi-nude or wearing provocative clothing.


title: Women in WWE

text: Sable's eclipsed popularity and her feud with Marc Mero and his new manager, Jacqueline led to the reinstatement of the Women's Championship as well as the promotion's hiring of more female wrestlers. Jacqueline won the title and became the first African-American Women's Champion. Meanwhile, Sable's popularity led her to be a "Playboy" cover girl, although unlike other women, it was written in her contract that she was not allowed to take bumps.


title: Women in WWE

text: Sable became the first WWF female talent to refer to herself as a "Diva" during the April 19 episode of "Raw Is War" in 1999; the term shortly thereafter became the official title for WWF's female performers. During the August 9, 1999 episode of "Raw Is War", Chyna became the first woman to main event a pro-wrestling prime time show when she defeated Triple H and The Undertaker in a triple threat match to become the number one contender for the WWF Championship, the only woman to ever do so. Veteran wrestlers The Fabulous Moolah and Mae Young returned to WWF, mostly used as comedic roles. At No Mercy on October 17, 1999, 76-year-old Moolah defeated Ivory to win the Women's Championship, becoming the oldest WWF Women's Champion ever.


title: Women in WWE

text: In 1999, Chyna became the first women to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship when she defeated Jeff Jarrett. She would win the title one more time in 2000, when she defeated Val Venis and Trish Stratus in a mixed tag team match. She also became the first women to participate in a Royal Rumble match, entering in the 1999 and 2000 editions, as well as participating in the 1999 edition of the King of the Ring tournament. She also was on the cover for "Playboy". According to her manager, Vince McMahon offered Chyna to win the WWF Championship if she rejected the offer.


title: Women in WWE

text: The year of 2000 saw the debuts of Lita, Trish Stratus, and Molly Holly since the start of the month of February. Lita performed higher-risk moves than the divas before her, such as moonsaults and diving hurricanranas. Shortly thereafter, Trish Stratus debuted as an overtly sexualized valet. Also, later that year, Molly Holly was added to the roster. She was a contrast to most of the other Divas as she was given a more wholesome gimmick and more modest ring attire. On the August 21 episode of "Raw Is War" defending champion Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley wrestled Lita in the main event.


title: Women in WWE

text: Finally in the spring of 2001 saw the WWF's purchase of its chief competitors, World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), and the consequent entry of former WCW and ECW female talent, such as Stacy Keibler, Torrie Wilson, Jazz, and Sharmell. WWF Women's Champion Chyna left the WWF towards the end of November due to real-life issues between herself, Triple H, and Stephanie McMahon. In the autumn of 2001, Trish Stratus was trained by Fit Finlay, who was the road agent responsible for the women's matches, and drastically improved her in-ring ability. She worked her way up to the top of the division and eventually won the Women's Championship at Survivor Series. Stratus then entered in a prominent feud with Jazz who debuted at Survivor Series.


title: Women in WWE

text: Much of the year of 2002 centered around Trish Stratus and her feuds with Jazz, Molly Holly, and a re-debuting Victoria including over the Women's Championship. In April, while filming a small acting role for "Dark Angel", Lita suffered a neck injury and was the first female talent to have neck fusion surgery. She was out of action for almost a year and a half. As she rehabilitated, she kept herself visible by co-hosting "Sunday Night Heat" on MTV.


title: Women in WWE

text: Since May 5, 2002, the women's division saw an expansion including a departure and a return of a former talent when the WWF officially changed its name to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) as the company first began to hire more female talents than ever before, including female winners of the reality television show Tough Enough, which featured contestants aspiring to be professional wrestlers (Nidia in 2001, Linda Miles and Jackie Gayda in 2002). Debra departed the company in the month of June along with her then-husband Stone Cold Steve Austin. Sable returned to WWE on the April 3, 2003 episode of "SmackDown!" for the first time since controversially departing from the company in late 1999; her first storyline returning to company for several months was with new "Playboy" covergirl Torrie Wilson. The WWE women's division competed in more match-ups previously contested only by men (including for the Women's Championship), such as street fights and hardcore matches. The debuting Gail Kim would go on to become the first woman of Asian descent to have held the WWE Women's Championship after winning a battle royal. Numerous Divas competed in contests ranging from "Pillow Fights" and "Bra and Panties" match-ups to "Bikini Contests", which were based more on the sexual appeal of the women involved. Women's trainer Fit Finlay said he was embarrassed to explain the women how to strip during bra and panties match. According to him, "It was degrading to them" and tried to teach them how to wrestle, but WWE told him they do not want women to wrestle like men.


title: Women in WWE

text: Victoria and Lita competed in the first Women's steel cage match towards the end of the year on November 24.


title: Women in WWE

text: WWE eventually re-introduced the Diva Search, in which Christy Hemme became the inaugural winner. In December 2004, Lita and Trish Stratus main-evented "Raw" for the Women's Championship, making it the 2nd time in history for female talents to main event one of WWE's main shows. Moreover, Lita became the only female talent to main event "Raw" on three occasions including winning the Women's Championship.


title: Women in WWE

text: Since mid-2004 and through various periods over the years until the year of 2011, most of the original female roster departed from the company, most notably in 2006, when Trish Stratus retired at Unforgiven and Lita retired at Survivor Series.


title: Women in WWE

text: During this period, several women made their debut, like Melina, Mickie James, Beth Phoenix, and Layla.


title: Women in WWE

text: On the March 5, 2007 episode of "Raw", Mickie James and Melina competed in the first Falls Count Anywhere match to be contested between Divas. It was also the first time that the Women's Championship was contested in this type of match. At in 2007, Candice Michelle became the first woman from the WWE Diva Search contest to become the WWE Women's Champion. In December 2007, Trish Stratus, Lita, Molly Holly, and Sunny returned to WWE for a one night special appearance on an episode of "Raw" due to the show's 15-year anniversary. At One Night Stand 2008, Beth Phoenix and Melina competed in the first "I Quit" match to be contested between Divas.


title: Women in WWE

text: In 2008, WWE entered its PG Era and adapted a family-friendly format. WWE distanced itself from the sexual content that was pervasive throughout previous eras. However, the role of women within WWE during this time was criticized because their matches were not as integral to the show as male wrestler's matches were.


title: Women in WWE

text: At The Great American Bash 2008, Michelle McCool defeated Natalya to become the inaugural holder of the WWE Divas Championship, a championship exclusive to the SmackDown brand. During the 2009 WWE draft, the championships switched brands after Women's Champion Melina was drafted to the SmackDown brand and Divas Champion Maryse was drafted to Raw. Beth Phoenix made history by becoming the second woman to compete at the Royal Rumble event that year and managed to eliminate The Great Khali. The Women's Championship was unified with the Divas Championship at Night of Champions 2010, as then Divas Champion Melina faced then-self professed co-Women's Champion Michelle McCool (as part of LayCool with Layla) in a lumberjill match, which McCool won. This also made the Women's Championship defunct after 54 years, making Layla the final holder and only woman of Arab descent to have held the championship. During that year, Alicia Fox became the first and only African-American WWE Divas Champion.


title: Women in WWE

text: "NXT" replaced "ECW" programming in 2010. Originally existing as a seasonal show which was presented as a hybrid between reality television and WWE's scripted live event shows, selected wrestlers from WWE's then-developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) participated in a competition to become WWE's next "breakout star". The third season, which aired in late 2010, featured only female contestants and was won by Kaitlyn.


title: Women in WWE

text: Kharma made her debut at Extreme Rules 2011 by attacking Michelle McCool, and attacked other divas over the next couple weeks on "Raw" and "SmackDown", however this was cut short as she was granted a maternity leave due to her real life pregnancy. 2011 saw the departures of Maryse and Michelle McCool, the latter of whom retired from WWE on May 1, after losing to Layla in a Loser Leaves WWE match; Melina, who was released in early August; and Gail Kim resigned from the company due to frustration with their lack of focus on the women's division.


title: Women in WWE

text: On the April 23, 2012, episode of "Raw", Nikki Bella defeated Beth Phoenix in a lumberjill match for the Divas Championship, ending Phoenix's reign as champion at 204 days. Layla returned from her injury on April 29, 2012, at Extreme Rules and defeated Nikki Bella to become the fifth woman to have held both titles. The Bella Twins' contracts expired the following night, where they were fired by Eve Torres in the storyline.


title: Women in WWE

text: On July 9, 2012, Eve Torres and AJ Lee became the first Divas to main event "Raw" since Trish Stratus and Lita in 2004, in a tag team match alongside CM Punk and Daniel Bryan. During mid-2012, AJ became involved in various relationship storylines with several male wrestlers such as CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Kane, John Cena and Dolph Ziggler, including a stint as the General Manager of "Raw". The later part of 2012 saw the departures of Kharma, Kelly Kelly and Beth Phoenix. A month after Phoenix's October departure, WWE published an article on their website claiming that there was a new era for the Divas division.


title: Women in WWE

text: The 20th anniversary of "Raw" on January 14, 2013, saw Kaitlyn defeat Eve Torres for the Divas Championship. Eve departed the company later that night after her contract expired. The Bella Twins returned to WWE on the March 11, 2013 episode of "Raw". Kaitlyn lost her Divas Championship to her former tag team partner AJ Lee on Payback, ending her reign at 153 days. The first in-ring Divas contract signing took place on the July 12, 2013 episode of "SmackDown" between AJ Lee and Kaitlyn, as part of buildup for a rematch of the Divas Championship at Money In the Bank. AJ defeated Kaitlyn to retain the title at the event.


title: Women in WWE

text: In August 2012, WWE ceased operating FCW, its developmental promotion in Tampa, Florida, deactivating FCW titles, and began running all of its developmental events and operations at Full Sail University under the "WWE NXT" banner. In October 2012, WWE hired Renee Young, and in September 2013, Young made her commentary debut on "NXT", making her the first female on-air commentator in the company in over a decade.


title: Women in WWE

text: In July 2013, the first season of the "Total Divas" reality television show starring WWE Divas premiered. On the August 26 episode of "Raw", AJ Lee cut a worked shoot promo on the cast of "Total Divas", stemming again, but partially from the controversial issue of what makes a "true" WWE Diva and the theme of the show leading towards a feud between Lee and the cast. At the 2013 Slammy Awards show, the Diva of the Year award was won by Brie and Nikki Bella. On January 8, 2014, Kaitlyn decided to depart from WWE to pursue other endeavors, losing her last match against her former friend and rival Divas Champion AJ Lee. Later on towards the end of the month, AJ Lee became the longest reigning Divas Champion in history, surpassing Maryse's reign of 216 days. On the March 12 episode of "Main Event", Lee successfully defended the Divas Championship against Natalya, in a match that lasted fourteen minutes—the longest women's championship match since 1987. On the March 24 episode of "Raw", it was announced by Vickie Guerrero that Lee would defend her Divas Championship against the entire Divas roster at WrestleMania XXX, making it the first time the title was defended at WrestleMania. At the event, AJ Lee retained her championship by forcing Naomi to submit.


title: Women in WWE

text: On the post-WrestleMania episode of "Raw" on April 7, 2014, Paige made her debut on the main roster and defeated AJ Lee for the Divas Championship ending her record reign at 295 days. At the time, Paige was also the reigning (and first) NXT Women's Champion, having won the belt on June 20, 2013, after defeating Emma in the tournament finals to crown the inaugural champion. With her Divas Championship win, Paige became the first wrestler to simultaneously hold both titles, as well as becoming the youngest Divas Champion in WWE history at the age of 21.


title: Women in WWE

text: Brie Bella entered a storyline with Stephanie McMahon at Payback — as part of her husband Daniel Bryan's storyline with McMahon — McMahon threatened to fire Bella if, an injured, Bryan did not relinquish the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, which forced Brie to "quit" before slapping McMahon in the face. In mid-June, Vickie Guerrero departed mutually from WWE, after losing to Stephanie McMahon in a pudding match. AJ Lee returned after a two-month hiatus, defeating Paige in an impromptu match to regain the Divas Championship as both then traded the championship until at SummerSlam, then Night of Champions. At SummerSlam, Stephanie McMahon defeated Brie Bella in her first match in ten years, after Nikki Bella attacked her sister. This led to a match between the twins at Hell in a Cell, where the loser was forced to become the winner's personal assistant for 30 days, where Nikki defeated Brie. AJ Lee won the Divas Championship for a record-tying third time at Night of Champions against Paige and Nikki Bella. With this win, AJ Lee tied with Eve Torres for the most reigns ever at three.


title: Women in WWE

text: Nikki Bella received her title match against AJ Lee on November 23 at Survivor Series, which she won, with Brie's help, to become a two-time Divas Champion. The duo had reconciled at this point.


title: Women in WWE

text: On the February 23, 2015 episode of "Raw", The Bella Twins faced Paige and Emma in a widely criticized match that lasted around 30 seconds. After the match, a hashtag on Twitter trended worldwide for around a day and a half, called #GiveDivasAChance. This hashtag brought attention to various multi-media outlets over the long-tenured controversy over the company's treatment of their women's division, including AJ Lee who publicly criticized Stephanie McMahon over the issue. On April 3, five days after Lee and Paige defeated the Bella Twins at WrestleMania 31, WWE announced that Lee decided to retire from in-ring competition and departed from the company. In June, Paige started serving as a judge on the sixth season of "Tough Enough", while Renee Young appeared as co-host of the show and Lita served as a coach.


title: Women in WWE

text: On the July 13 episode of "Raw", Nikki Bella claimed that there were no challengers for her championship. As a result, Stephanie McMahon proclaimed a revolution in the women's division and introduced Charlotte, Becky Lynch, and the NXT Women's Champion Sasha Banks as the newest additions to the main roster. In the following weeks, a three-way feud began between Team B.A.D. (Naomi, Tamina and Sasha Banks), Team Bella (Alicia Fox and The Bella Twins) and Team PCB (Paige, Charlotte, and Becky Lynch), with the latter team being renamed from Submission Sorority due to links to adult content. The three teams faced off at SummerSlam in a three team elimination match, where Becky pinned Brie to win the match for Team PCB.


title: Women in WWE

text: On July 29, WWE announced that Layla would depart from the company and retire. On the August 31 episode of "Raw", Nikki introduced the Bellatron timer which counted down the remaining time until she surpassed the record for the longest-reigning Divas champion of all time. Charlotte won the first Beat the Clock challenge for a title shot. Her title match with Nikki was initially advertised for Night of Champions, but instead took place the "Raw" preceding the pay-per-view, after Charlotte issued a petition, granted later by The Authority, to face Nikki before she surpassed the record to become the longest-reigning Divas Champion. Charlotte won the match by disqualification when Brie and Nikki switched places and Charlotte pinned Brie. However, since the title could not change hands by disqualification, Nikki retained the championship, and in the process, became the longest-reigning Divas Champion in history, surpassing AJ Lee's previous record of 295 days. Several days later, on September 20 at Night of Champions, Nikki lost the championship to Charlotte, ending her reign at 301 days. Shortly after, Nikki went on a hiatus from television due to a neck injury which would require surgery, but returned for one night on December 21, to accept the Slammy Award for Diva of the Year.


title: Women in WWE

text: At WrestleMania 32 in April 2016, WWE announced a major re-launch of its women's division: the "Divas" moniker was dropped, with the company now promoting its female talent as "Superstars" as with their male counterparts. Lita made an appearance to unveil a new WWE Women's Championship belt; the title, which replaced the WWE Divas Championship, shares its name with the original Women's Championship, but does not share the same title history as the original. WWE acknowledges the original championship as its predecessor. Later in the show, Divas champion Charlotte won the new championship by defeating Lynch and Banks.


title: Women in WWE

text: WWE had faced criticism from critics and performers for having portrayed female wrestlers as a source of sex appeal, rather than showcasing their athletic prowess. Stephanie McMahon explained that the changes were part of a move towards gender equality within the company by dropping the "derogatory" Divas title, and thereby placing its entire roster on a "level playing field" as "Superstars". In the years that followed the relaunch, the increased prominence of the women's division in WWE programming, events, and reality series had helped to, in turn, attract more female viewers to WWE programming; McMahon stated that "Women love action, but I think they also really love the stories. They love the characters, they love the drama. Women need a reason to watch, more so than men I think, so the more you can get your female audience engaged in the character and in the story, then they care. They care about who’s going to win, they care about who’s going to lose."


title: Women in WWE

text: In April 2016 at a show in Dubai, Alicia Fox became the first female performer in WWE history to appear in front of a live crowd in the Middle East. After the second brand split and the 2016 WWE draft on July 19, 2016, the WWE Women's Championship became exclusive to Raw. The SmackDown Women's Championship was subsequently unveiled during the August 23, 2016 episode of "SmackDown," and won by Becky Lynch in a six-way elimination match at Backlash the following month. Throughout 2016, Charlotte Flair (who added her father's ring surname to her own ring name) and Sasha Banks feuded over the Raw Women's Championship. They main-evented "Raw" on two occasions that year, they competed in the first women's Hell in a Cell match in WWE history that same year, marking the first time that a women's match had headlined a WWE pay-per-view event.


title: Women in WWE

text: In 2017 and 2018, WWE also began to promote women's Royal Rumble, Money in the Bank, Tables, Ladders, and Chairs, and Elimination Chamber matches for the first time. The inaugural winners of these events were Asuka, Carmella, Asuka once again and Alexa Bliss. On January 28, 2017, WWE announced that Nikki Bella would serve as an executive producer for "Total Divas" starting in the second half of the sixth season in April. Nikki would become the first female talent within the company to become a producer of a WWE-related show. That year, WWE also held an inaugural women's tournament, the Mae Young Classic, and signed Jessika Carr as the first woman to be a full-time WWE referee.


title: Women in WWE

text: On August 26, 2018, Rhea Ripley defeated Toni Storm in the United Kingdom Championship Tournament to win the inaugural NXT UK Women's Championship, which became the top women's championship of the NXT UK brand. In October 2018, WWE hosted Evolution, its first-ever pay-per-view to consist only of women's matches. Executive vice president of talent, live events and creative Triple H stated that it "was simply the right time for this to happen", countering allegations that the event was a counterbalance for the subsequent Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia (where WWE had not held women's matches due to the country's women's rights policies). In December 2018, a new WWE Women's Tag Team Championship was unveiled; it was contested for the first time at Elimination Chamber in February 2019, and won in a tag team Elimination Chamber match by Sasha Banks and Bayley.


title: Women in WWE

text: Amid a feud with Charlotte Flair after SummerSlam in 2018, Lynch began to refer to herself as "The Man"—adopting a persona of a poorly-treated underdog. The storyline coincided with a major increase in Lynch's popularity, and culminated with Lynch defeating the Raw and SmackDown's women's champions Ronda Rousey and Charlotte Flair in a winner takes all triple threat match at WrestleMania 35 in 2019—marking the first women's main event in WrestleMania history. After 14 years with WWE, veteran wrestler Alicia Fox retired, returning to participate only at Royal Rumble events in the future. At Crown Jewel in 2019, Natalya and Lacey Evans competed in WWE's first women's match in Saudi Arabia. In 2021, Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair became the first black women to jointly headline WrestleMania.


title: Women in WWE

text: While the name "Diva" is largely fell into disuse, the term was then reused in 2022 for NXT wrestler Quincy Eliott's moniker "Super Diva".


title: Women in WWE

text: While Stephanie McMahon credited Triple H and Vince McMahon as the creators of the Women's Revolution, wrestler Gail Kim countered that Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (now Impact Wrestling) was the promotion where the Women's Revolution began. Former WWE wrestler Maria Kanellis complained about how WWE uses women, stating that feels more like a "promotional tactic". After being released in 2021, Mickie James said that one WWE executive told her "Women's wrestling doesn't make money".


title: Women in WWE

text: The popularity of women in WWE has resulted in various cross-promotions with other brands featuring women in WWE. Various women in WWE have posed in "Playboy", and others have appeared in commercials for WWE and non-WWE products as well as men's interest magazines.


title: Women in WWE

text: Women in WWE normally went on an annual photoshoot every year, usually to a different location each time. The photoshoot was followed by a magazine featuring photos from the shoot as well as a television special or video release of highlights from the shoot. The first initial annual photoshoot was in 1999 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, which was promoted through video release by WWE entitled "Come Get Some: The Women of the WWF". Debra, Chyna, Sable, Tori, Jacqueline, Terri Runnels, Ivory, Luna Vachon, and Ryan Shamrock were part of the photoshoot and promotional material.


title: Women in WWE

text: Actual "Playboy" playmates, such as Carmella DeCesare and Karen McDougal have also appeared in the 2004 Diva Search contest. Former WWE female talent Taryn Terrell and current female talent Maryse Ouellet have also posed nude. Past female talents such as Trish Stratus, Lita, Debra, Sharmell, Stacy Keibler, Michelle McCool, and Melina Perez have said that posing for "Playboy" magazine is out of the question for them. Trish Stratus appeared on Canadian sports talk show "Off The Record" and said that she did not pose because she wanted to be known as "multiple time Women's Champion Trish Stratus" rather than "the girl who posed in "Playboy"". Stratus also claims that she refused the shoot because she says she can still be sexy without taking her clothes off. Lita has said that she did not pose because she felt it was wrong for her (she was known as a role model for young girls at the time) to pose for the magazine.


title: Women in WWE

text: Shortly following Maria's pictorial, WWE transitioned to a TV-PG rating and ended its connection to "Playboy" as part of the move.


title: Women in WWE

text: The Diva Search was an annual competition that occurred every summer. The purpose of the "Diva Search" was to find new women to be wrestlers, interviewers, and/or valets for WWE.


title: Women in WWE

text: "Tough Enough" is a professional wrestling reality television series produced by WWE, wherein participants undergo professional wrestling training and compete for a contract with WWE.