The show takes place in a large hourglass-shaped structure in Midtown Manhattan near the Lincoln Tunnel. Contestants play for 24 hours a day for 1,000,000 seconds, or around eleven and a half days. At any given time, a contestant is sitting in the "Money Chair" and earning money, while defending his/her position in the chair in bouts against another contestant. Contestants earn $10 a second they are in the chair, even when bouts are not being played and during commercial breaks. Only the four contestants with the highest amount of money keep their winnings when the million seconds are up.
Each bout lasts for a set number of seconds. All questions are multiple choice with four possible answers. Contestants use keypads to lock in their answers. The players cannot see each other's answers. They have five seconds to do so when the question is asked.
During the episodes that are seen on television, there are three bouts: the "Challenger" bout (300 seconds, or 5 minutes), the "Line Jumper" bout (300 seconds in the first episode, 400 seconds, or 6 minutes 40 seconds, from the second episode on), and the Winner's Defense" bout (400 seconds in the first through ninth episodes, 500 seconds, or 8 minutes 20 seconds, in the 10th episode). Questions start at one point each. Every 100 seconds, the value of the questions increase by one point.
At any time, a contestant may choose to "double" instead of answering the question. If the contestant does so, the question's value is doubled, and the opponent has to either answer the question or "double back", which quadruples the point value and forces the person who the question was given to to answer. If a doubled or doubled-back contestant answers incorrectly or does not answer in five seconds, the opponent gets the points. Contestants can choose to double as often as they want during a bout.
At the end of a bout, the contestant with the higher score wins and either stays in the "Money Chair" or replaces the current contestant in it. If both contestants have the same number of points at the end of a bout, a question is asked, and the contestant who answers correctly first wins the bout. If both contestants answer incorrectly, the contestant with the higher amount of money wins.
The "Challenger" bout has a contestant who has successfully gone through an on-site tryout process. The "Line Jumper" bout has a contestant who has gotten a high enough score on the "Million Second Quiz" internet application, allowing them to skip the tryout and go on the show.
The four contestants with the most amount of money live in the "Winners' Row". This is a living area that is set up next to the hourglass. They are at risk of being replaced if another contestant gets a higher score than them. During a "Winner's Defense" bout, the current "Power Player" (the contestant who had the highest number of correct answers playing along in "Winners' Row" that day) chooses one of the four "Winners' Row" contestants, who can be him/herself, to play against the contestant who is currently in the "Money Chair". The winner gets all of the loser's winnings in addition to their own winnings, while the loser is out of the game.
Bouts that are not shown on television last for 500 seconds. Every question is worth one point. Contestants cannot double in these bouts. Four bouts are played in an hour; with a five-minute pause after each of the first three. The fourth bout is followed by an 11-minute break. During this time, a contestant may eat, drink, or use the bathroom. Contestants earn money during the five-minute pauses, but not during the 11-minute break.
After 1,000,000 seconds, the four contestants with the most amount of money keep all of the winnings they have earned. They face in a series of three bouts, which are as follows:
The winner of the third bout wins $2,000,000.
The Ice Storm
The Ice Storm is a 1997 American drama movie. The movie is about two families in New Canaan, Connecticut who are dealing with politics and serious social matters in November 1973. These two families do that using adultery, alcohol and sexual experimenting. Christina Ricci, Elijah Wood and Kevin Kline are in the cast. "The Ice Storm" received very positive reviews from the critics. Its performance at the box office, however was terrible: the movie only got back close to half its $18 million budget. This movie was released in the United States in autumn 1997.
Edith Nesbit
Edith Nesbit (1858–1924) was an English writer. She was known for her books for children. Some of her novels, such as "The Railway Children", have been made into films.
Artemisia (movie)
Artemisia is a 1997 French and Italian erotic and biographical movie. It is about Artemisia Gentileschi, a 17th-century Italian painter. She is as talented as her father, who is also a painter. At that time in Italy, women were not allowed to paint humans in the nude. But Artemisia is very much determined.
The movie got very positive reviews. The MPAA originally gave "Artemisia" an NC-17 rating. On appeal, the rating was changed to an R-rating.
C major
C major is a major scale based on C, which is made up of the pitches C,D,E,F,G,A,B. Its key signature has no flats or sharps (see below: Scales and keys).
Its relative minor is A minor, and its parallel minor is C minor. A scale in both C major and A minor can be played on a piano or other keyboard instrument using only the white keys.
Most of the time key signatures were cancelled whenever the new key signature had fewer sharps or flats than the old key signature, in modern popular music, this is only done when C major or A minor replace another key.
Geoffroi de Charny
Geoffroi de Charny ( 1300 – 19 September 1356) was the Lord of Lirey, a French knight and a writer. Sir Geoffroi was born of an important French family. Throughout his life he fought many battles for France. He fought in the Crusades and many times throughout the war with England. He was always loyal to his King, Jean II, King of France and died at the Battle of Poitiers protecting him. Throughout his lifetime he was well known and well respected by both the French and the English kings and nobles. At Poitiers he was chosen to carry the Oriflamme into battle. The Oriflamme was the Kings banner and this was a great honor given to a knight by the King. He was also one of the Knights chosen to fight close to and protect the King. De Charny was said to be a "true and perfect Knight".
Jean de Joinville was de Charny's grandfather's. He was a close friend of King Louis IX and author of his biography. In the same tradition, Sir Geoffroi wrote three books in his time. His most famous book was "A Knight's Own Book of Chivalry". In this book he shared his great skill and knowledge of combat. The second book written by de Charny is entitled, "Requests (or Questions) for jousting tournaments and war". It was written about 1352 to the Knights of the Order of the Star which Sir Geoffroi founded. This book was written in the form of questions. His third book was the book "Charny", describes the life of a knight and lists the qualities a good knight must possess.
Charny fought in Flanders and Tournay. He was taken prisoner but was ransomed because the King considered him so important. He fought in many major battles during the Hundred Years' War such as the battles of Calais, Crecy and Poitiers.