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Michelle Pfeiffer

Pfeiffer was born in Santa Ana, California, the second of four children of Richard Pfeiffer, an air-conditioning contractor, and Donna (nee Taverna), a housewife. She has one elder brother, Rick (born 1955), and two younger sisters, Dedee Pfeiffer (born 1964), a television and film actress, and Lori Pfeiffer (born 1965). Her parents were both originally from North Dakota. Her paternal grandfather was of German ancestry and her paternal grandmother was of English, Welsh, French, Irish, and Dutch descent, while her maternal grandfather was of Swiss-German descent and her maternal grandmother of Swedish ancestry.

1994-1999: Period of successes and failures

Pfeiffer's subsequent career choices have met with varying degrees of success. After The Age of Innocence, she played the role of Laura Alden opposite Jack Nicholson in Wolf (1994), a horror film that garnered a mixed critical reception. The New York Times wrote: "Ms. Pfeiffer's role is underwritten, but her performance is expert enough to make even diffidence compelling". The movie grossed US$65 million (equivalent to $107.3 million) at the domestic box office and US$131 million worldwide (equivalent to $216.3 million). Her next role was that of high school teacher and former US Marine LouAnne Johnson in the surprise box office hit Dangerous Minds (1995), which was co-produced under Pfeiffer's film production company Via Rosa Productions. She appeared as her character in the music video for the soundtrack's lead single, "Gangsta's Paradise" by Coolio (featuring L.V.), which was used by the producer Jerry Bruckheimer for television advertising. A 60-second version was aired on music channels, while a 30-second cut was aired in the rest of the networks. The song won the 1996 Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance, and the video won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Rap Video. In 1996, she turned down the Golden Globe Award-winning role of Eva Peron in the biopic Evita, which went to Madonna. Pfeiffer then portrayed Sally Atwater in the romantic drama Up Close & Personal (1996) opposite Robert Redford. The film's screenplay, co-written by husband and wife team John Gregory Dunne and Joan Didion, was intended to be a biographical account of the career of news anchor Jessica Savitch, but the final version had almost nothing to do with Savitch's life, leading Dunne to write an expose of his eight-year battle with the Hollywood producers, Monster: Living Off the Big Screen. She took the role of Gillian Lewis in To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday (1996), which was adapted by her husband David Kelley from Michael Brady's play of the same name. Pfeiffer and her producing partner Guinzburg were on a winning streak of producing three back to back films next under their Via Rosa Productions header that included, One Fine Day (1996), A Thousand Acres (1997) and The Deep End of the Ocean (1998). She served as an executive producer and starred as the divorced single mother architect Melanie Parker in the romantic comedy One Fine Day (1996) opposite George Clooney, Subsequent performances included Rose Cook Lewis in the film adaptation of Jane Smiley's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel A Thousand Acres (1997) with Jessica Lange and Jennifer Jason Leigh; Beth Cappadora in The Deep End of the Ocean (1998) about a married couple who found their son who was kidnapped nine years ago; Titania the Queen of the Fairies in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999) with Kevin Kline, Rupert Everett and Stanley Tucci; and Katie Jordan in Rob Reiner's comedy-drama The Story of Us (1999) opposite Bruce Willis. CANNOTANSWER

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H. G. Wells

Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 - 13 August 1946), usually referred to as H. G. Wells, was an English writer. He was prolific in many genres, writing dozens of novels, short stories, and works of social commentary, satire, biography, and autobiography, including even two books on war games. He is now best remembered for his science fiction novels and is often called a "father of science fiction", along with Jules Verne and Hugo Gernsback. During his own lifetime, however, he was most prominent as a forward-looking, even prophetic social critic who devoted his literary talents to the development of a progressive vision on a global scale.

Life

Herbert George Wells was born at Atlas House, 162 High Street in Bromley, Kent, on 21 September 1866. Called "Bertie" in the family, he was the fourth and last child of Joseph Wells (a former domestic gardener, and at the time a shopkeeper and professional cricketer) and his wife, Sarah Neal (a former domestic servant). An inheritance had allowed the family to acquire a shop in which they sold china and sporting goods, although it failed to prosper: the stock was old and worn out, and the location was poor. Joseph Wells managed to earn a meagre income, but little of it came from the shop and he received an unsteady amount of money from playing professional cricket for the Kent county team. Payment for skilled bowlers and batsmen came from voluntary donations afterwards, or from small payments from the clubs where matches were played. A defining incident of young Wells's life was an accident in 1874 that left him bedridden with a broken leg. To pass the time he started reading books from the local library, brought to him by his father. He soon became devoted to the other worlds and lives to which books gave him access; they also stimulated his desire to write. Later that year he entered Thomas Morley's Commercial Academy, a private school founded in 1849 following the bankruptcy of Morley's earlier school. The teaching was erratic, the curriculum mostly focused, Wells later said, on producing copperplate handwriting and doing the sort of sums useful to tradesmen. Wells continued at Morley's Academy until 1880. In 1877, his father, Joseph Wells, fractured his thigh. The accident effectively put an end to Joseph's career as a cricketer, and his subsequent earnings as a shopkeeper were not enough to compensate for the loss of the primary source of family income. No longer able to support themselves financially, the family instead sought to place their sons as apprentices in various occupations. From 1880 to 1883, Wells had an unhappy apprenticeship as a draper at the Southsea Drapery Emporium, Hyde's. His experiences at Hyde's, where he worked a thirteen-hour day and slept in a dormitory with other apprentices, later inspired his novels The Wheels of Chance and Kipps, which portray the life of a draper's apprentice as well as providing a critique of society's distribution of wealth. Wells's parents had a turbulent marriage, owing primarily to his mother being a Protestant and his father a freethinker. When his mother returned to work as a lady's maid (at Uppark, a country house in Sussex), one of the conditions of work was that she would not be permitted to have living space for her husband and children. Thereafter, she and Joseph lived separate lives, though they never divorced and remained faithful to each other. As a consequence, Herbert's personal troubles increased as he subsequently failed as a draper and also, later, as a chemist's assistant. Fortunately for Herbert, Uppark had a magnificent library in which he immersed himself, reading many classic works, including Plato's Republic, Thomas More's Utopia, and the works of Daniel Defoe. This would be the beginning of Herbert George Wells's venture into literature. CANNOTANSWER

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Spitting Image

Spitting Image is a British satirical puppet show, created by Peter Fluck, Roger Law and Martin Lambie-Nairn. The series was produced by 'Spitting Image Productions' for Central Independent Television over 18 series which aired on the ITV network. The series was nominated and won numerous awards during its run including 10 BAFTA Television Awards, including one for editing in 1989 and two Emmy Awards in 1985 and 1986 in the Popular Arts Category. The series featured puppet caricatures of celebrities prominent during the 1980s and 1990s, including British Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and John Major and other politicians, US president Ronald Reagan, and the British Royal Family; the series was the first to caricature Queen Elizabeth

Video and DVD releases

The programme was first released on video in 1986 in a series of three collections, each a compilation of material from the first two series: Spit - With Polish!, A Floppy Mass Of Blubber & Rubber Thingies. All carried a 15 certificate and were reissued in 1988, also as a box set. 1989 saw the release by Central Video of two complete specials, Bumbledown: The Life & Times Of Ronald Reagan and The Sound Of Maggie. Next was a video containing a collection of the music videos from the programme, titled "The Klassik Music Video Vol 1", released in 1991 by Central Video under The Video Collection Ltd (VCI or 2entertain); there was never a Volume 2. "Is Nothing Sacred?" was released in 1992 by Surprise Video, compiling material from 1990-1991. The free booklet was written by Stewart Lee and Richard Herring. Havin' It Off: The Bonker's Guide was released in 1993. In 1996 FA to Fairplay was released on VHS, later reissued on DVD in 2005. Made specially for video, it provided an alternative look at the 1996 European football championship held in England. The Ronald Reagan song "Da Do Run Ron" featured in a straight to video release called Rockin' Ronnie (1986), an otherwise unrelated compilation of movie clips released by ATI Video. The first twelve series including An 11-disc set (containing the first 7 series broadcast 1984-89) have been released by Network Distributing under licence by ITV Studios, so far. Series 1-7 individual releases are now deleted . DVD releases do not include any of the specials made. CANNOTANSWER

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Spitting Image

Spitting Image is a British satirical puppet show, created by Peter Fluck, Roger Law and Martin Lambie-Nairn. The series was produced by 'Spitting Image Productions' for Central Independent Television over 18 series which aired on the ITV network. The series was nominated and won numerous awards during its run including 10 BAFTA Television Awards, including one for editing in 1989 and two Emmy Awards in 1985 and 1986 in the Popular Arts Category. The series featured puppet caricatures of celebrities prominent during the 1980s and 1990s, including British Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and John Major and other politicians, US president Ronald Reagan, and the British Royal Family; the series was the first to caricature Queen Elizabeth

United States version

In an attempt to crack the American market, there were some attempts to produce a US version of the show. A 45-minute 'made for market' show by the original Spitting Image team, titled Spitting Image: Down and Out in the White House was produced in 1986 by Central for the NBC network. Introduced by David Frost, it departed from the sketch-based format in favour of an overall storyline involving the upcoming (at that time) Presidential election. The plot involved a conspiracy to replace Ronald Reagan with a double (actually actor Dustin Hoffman in disguise). This plan was hatched by the Famous Corporation, a cabal of the ultra-rich headed by Johnny Carson's foil Ed McMahon (in the show, Carson was his ineffectual left-hand man) who met in a secret cavern hollowed out behind the facade of Mount Rushmore. Eventually, their plot foiled, the famous corporation activated their escape pod - Abraham Lincoln's nose - and left Earth for another planet, but (in a homage to the beginning of the Star Wars movies) were destroyed during a collision with 'a nonsensical prologue in gigantic lettering'. The show was not very successful with its target audience, possibly because its humour was still very British and it was so irreverent about Ronald Reagan at a time when he was enormously popular with the American public. It did, however, receive great praise from critics and it was followed by several more television specials: The Ronnie & Nancy Show (also satirising the Reagans), The 1987 Movie Awards (sending up the Academy Awards), Bumbledown: The Life and Times of Ronald Reagan (a quasi-documentary about the President), and The Sound of Maggie (satirising Thatcher and parodying several musicals such as Oliver!, West Side Story and many others). CANNOTANSWER

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Cable (comics)

Cable (Nathan Summers) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, commonly in association with X-Force and the X-Men. The character first appeared as a newborn infant in Uncanny X-Men #201 (Jan. 1986) created by writer Chris Claremont, while Cable's adult identity was created by writer Louise Simonson and artist/co-writer Rob Liefeld, and first appeared in The New Mutants #87 (March 1990). Nathan Summers is the biological son of the X-Men member Cyclops (Scott Summers) and Madelyne Pryor (Jean Grey's clone), the "half" brother of Rachel Summers and Nate Grey, and the genetic template for Stryfe. He is from a possible future timeline, having been transported as an infant to the future, where he grew into a warrior, before returning to the present.

New Mutants and X-Force

In his first adult appearance, Cable is seen in conflict with Stryfe's Mutant Liberation Front, the United States government, and Freedom Force. The New Mutants intervened and he asked for their help against the Mutant Liberation Front. Cable saw them as potential soldiers in his war against Stryfe. He became their new teacher and leader, and outfitted them. He came into conflict with Wolverine, noting that the two had an old feud between them. Cable and the New Mutants teamed up with Wolverine and Sunfire against the MLF. Cable also led the New Mutants against the Genoshans. With the aid of Domino, Cable reorganized the New Mutants into X-Force. The New Mutants ended with issue #100, with Cable and other characters then appearing the following month in X-Force #1. The X-Force series provided further detail for the character's back story revealing that he was from the future and that he had traveled to the past with the aim of stopping Stryfe's plans as well as preventing Apocalypse's rise to power. Cable traveled between the 1990s and his future with his ship Graymalkin, which contained a sentient computer program called Professor, the future version of the program built into X-Factor's Ship. In 1992, the character had a two issue miniseries, titled Cable: Blood and Metal, written by Fabian Nicieza, pencilled by John Romita, Jr., and inked by Dan Green, published in October and November of that year. The series explored Cable and the villain Stryfe's ongoing battle with one another, and its effect on the people that surround Cable. CANNOTANSWER

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Cable (comics)

Cable (Nathan Summers) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, commonly in association with X-Force and the X-Men. The character first appeared as a newborn infant in Uncanny X-Men #201 (Jan. 1986) created by writer Chris Claremont, while Cable's adult identity was created by writer Louise Simonson and artist/co-writer Rob Liefeld, and first appeared in The New Mutants #87 (March 1990). Nathan Summers is the biological son of the X-Men member Cyclops (Scott Summers) and Madelyne Pryor (Jean Grey's clone), the "half" brother of Rachel Summers and Nate Grey, and the genetic template for Stryfe. He is from a possible future timeline, having been transported as an infant to the future, where he grew into a warrior, before returning to the present.

Creation

Nathan Christopher Charles Summers is the son of Scott Summers (aka Cyclops), and Madeline Pryor (who was later revealed to be a clone of Jean Grey). Writer Chris Claremont, who had written the series since issue #94 (August 1975), revealed Madeline to be pregnant in X-Men/Alpha Flight #1 (December 1985). The next depiction of her pregnancy was in The Uncanny X-Men #200, when she goes into premature labor. In the following issue, #201 (January 1986), Nathan first appears as a newborn infant. The character's first appearance as the adult warrior Cable was at the end of The New Mutants #86 (Feb. 1990). He does not appear anywhere in the issue's story, but the "next issue" teaser. This was followed by a full appearance in The New Mutants #87 (March 1990). At first, Cable was not intended to be the adult version of Nathan Summers, but was created as a result of unrelated editorial concerns. Editor Bob Harras wanted to "shake things up" for the book, and felt a new leader was needed, one distinct from the perennial X-Men leader and the New Mutants' first mentor, Professor X. The book's writer, Louise Simonson, thought a military leader would be a good idea, and Harras tasked the book's artist, Rob Liefeld, to conceptualize the character. Harras may also have suggested the character's bionic eye. Both Simonson and Liefeld each separately conceived of the leader being a time traveler from the future. Liefeld chose the name Cable for the character. Liefeld explains the creation of the character: I was given a directive to create a new leader for the New Mutants. There was no name, no description besides a 'man of action', the opposite of Xavier. I created the look, the name, much of the history of the character. After I named him Cable, Bob suggested Quinn and Louise had Commander X. Harras and writer/artists Jim Lee and Whilce Portacio, who were writing the X-Men spinoff X-Factor that starred Cyclops and the other four original X-Men, decided that Nathan would be sent into the future and grow up to become Cable. Liefeld, who conceived of Cable and his archenemy Stryfe were one and the same, disliked this idea. (Eventually Stryfe was revealed to be a clone of Cable.) In the 1991 X-Factor storyline, Nathan is infected by the villain Apocalypse with a techno-organic virus. Because he can only be saved by the technology of the far-future, Scott reluctantly allows Sister Askani, a member of a clan of warriors dedicated to opposing Apocalypse, to take Nathan into the future so that he can be cured, a one-way trip from which she tells him she and Nathan will be unable to return. CANNOTANSWER

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Duncan Hunter

Duncan Lee Hunter (born May 31, 1948) is an American politician. He was a Republican member of the House of Representatives from California's 52nd, 45th and 42nd districts from 1981 to 2009. Hunter was the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee during the 108th and 109th Congress. Hunter sought the Republican Party nomination for President of the United States for 2008, but his campaign failed to attract significant voters or delegates in early primary and caucus states, and he dropped out after the Nevada Republican caucuses.

Initial election and re-elections

In 1980, Hunter was recruited to run for Congress in what was then the 42nd District against 18-year incumbent Democrat Lionel Van Deerlin. Hunter was initially an underdog in a district where Democrats outnumbered Republicans by almost 2 to 1. However, his attacks on Van Deerlin's record on national defense gained traction in a district dominated by military bases and personnel. Van Deerlin did not respond quickly enough, and Hunter narrowly defeated him. He was one of many Republicans swept into office from historically Democratic districts as a result of the "Reagan revolution"; Van Deerlin had been the district's only congressman since its creation in 1963. After the 1980 census, many of the more Democratic areas were cut out of Hunter's district, and he was reelected 13 more times with no substantive opposition. His district was renumbered as the 45th District in 1983 and the 52nd in 1993. In the 2006 general election, he defeated Navy veteran/minister John Rinaldi, a Democrat, and Michael Benoit, a Libertarian. Hunter was re-elected with 65 percent of the vote, a 33-point margin over Rinaldi. On March 20, 2007, Hunter announced that, as part of his presidential bid, he would not seek re-election to the House of Representatives in 2008. After his son, Duncan D. Hunter, announced his candidacy for his father's seat, the younger Hunter was recalled by the United States Marine Corps to serve in the Operation Enduring Freedom - Afghanistan. During Duncan D. Hunter's active service, his wife, Margaret Hunter, campaigned on his behalf. On June 3, 2008 Duncan D. Hunter won 72% of the Republican Primary vote and became the Republican nominee to replace his father representing the 52nd District. CANNOTANSWER

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Dr. Seuss

Theodor Seuss Geisel ( ( listen); March 2, 1904 - September 24, 1991) was an American author, political cartoonist, poet, animator, book publisher, and artist, best known for authoring more than 60 children's books under the pen name Doctor Seuss (abbreviated Dr. Seuss) (). His work includes several of the most popular children's books of all time, selling over 600 million copies and being translated into more than 20 languages by the time of his death. Geisel adopted the name "Dr. Seuss" as an undergraduate at Dartmouth College and a graduate student at the University of Oxford. He left Oxford in 1927 to begin his career as an illustrator and cartoonist for Vanity Fair, Life, and various other publications.

Early years

Geisel was born and raised in Springfield, Massachusetts, the son of Henrietta (nee Seuss) and Theodor Robert Geisel. His father managed the family brewery and was later appointed to supervise Springfield's public park system by Mayor John A. Denison after the brewery closed because of Prohibition. Mulberry Street in Springfield, made famous in Dr. Seuss' first children's book And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, is less than a mile southwest of his boyhood home on Fairfield Street. Geisel was raised a Lutheran. He enrolled at Springfield Central High School in 1917 and graduated in 1921. He took an art class as a freshman and later became manager of the school soccer team. Geisel attended Dartmouth College, graduating in 1925. At Dartmouth, he joined the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity and the humor magazine Dartmouth Jack-O-Lantern, eventually rising to the rank of editor-in-chief. While at Dartmouth, he was caught drinking gin with nine friends in his room. At the time, the possession and consumption of alcohol was illegal under Prohibition laws, which remained in place between 1920 and 1933. As a result of this infraction, Dean Craven Laycock insisted that Geisel resign from all extracurricular activities, including the college humor magazine. To continue work on the Jack-O-Lantern without the administration's knowledge, Geisel began signing his work with the pen name "Seuss". He was encouraged in his writing by professor of rhetoric W. Benfield Pressey, whom he described as his "big inspiration for writing" at Dartmouth. Upon graduating from Dartmouth, he entered Lincoln College, Oxford, intending to earn a PhD in English literature. At Oxford, he met Helen Palmer, who encouraged him to give up becoming an English teacher in favor of pursuing drawing as a career. CANNOTANSWER

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Dr. Seuss

Theodor Seuss Geisel ( ( listen); March 2, 1904 - September 24, 1991) was an American author, political cartoonist, poet, animator, book publisher, and artist, best known for authoring more than 60 children's books under the pen name Doctor Seuss (abbreviated Dr. Seuss) (). His work includes several of the most popular children's books of all time, selling over 600 million copies and being translated into more than 20 languages by the time of his death. Geisel adopted the name "Dr. Seuss" as an undergraduate at Dartmouth College and a graduate student at the University of Oxford. He left Oxford in 1927 to begin his career as an illustrator and cartoonist for Vanity Fair, Life, and various other publications.

Artwork

Geisel's early artwork often employed the shaded texture of pencil drawings or watercolors, but in his children's books of the postwar period, he generally made use of a starker medium--pen and ink--normally using just black, white, and one or two colors. His later books, such as The Lorax, used more colors. Geisel's style was unique - his figures are often "rounded" and somewhat droopy. This is true, for instance, of the faces of the Grinch and the Cat in the Hat. Almost all his buildings and machinery were devoid of straight lines when they were drawn, even when he was representing real objects. For example, If I Ran the Circus shows a droopy hoisting crane and a droopy steam calliope. Geisel evidently enjoyed drawing architecturally elaborate objects. His endlessly varied but never rectilinear palaces, ramps, platforms, and free-standing stairways are among his most evocative creations. Geisel also drew complex imaginary machines, such as the Audio-Telly-O-Tally-O-Count, from Dr. Seuss's Sleep Book, or the "most peculiar machine" of Sylvester McMonkey McBean in The Sneetches. Geisel also liked drawing outlandish arrangements of feathers or fur: for example, the 500th hat of Bartholomew Cubbins, the tail of Gertrude McFuzz, and the pet for girls who like to brush and comb, in One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. Geisel's illustrations often convey motion vividly. He was fond of a sort of "voila" gesture in which the hand flips outward and the fingers spread slightly backward with the thumb up. This motion is done by Ish in One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish when he creates fish (who perform the gesture with their fins), in the introduction of the various acts of If I Ran the Circus, and in the introduction of the "Little Cats" in The Cat in the Hat Comes Back. He was also fond of drawing hands with interlocked fingers, making it look as though his characters were twiddling their thumbs. Geisel also follows the cartoon tradition of showing motion with lines, like in the sweeping lines that accompany Sneelock's final dive in If I Ran the Circus. Cartoon lines are also used to illustrate the action of the senses--sight, smell, and hearing--in The Big Brag, and lines even illustrate "thought", as in the moment when the Grinch conceives his awful plan to ruin Christmas. CANNOTANSWER

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Władysław Gomułka

Wladyslaw Gomulka (Polish: [vwa'diswaf go'muwka]; 6 February 1905 - 1 September 1982) was a Polish communist politician. He was the de facto leader of post-war Poland until 1948. Following the Polish October he became leader again from 1956 to 1970. Gomulka was initially very popular for his reforms; his seeking a "Polish way to socialism"; and giving rise to the period known as "Gomulka's thaw".

State National Council, Polish Committee of National Liberation

In the fall of 1943, the PPR leadership began discussing the creation of a Polish quasi-parliamentary, communist-led body, to be named the State National Council (Krajowa Rada Narodowa, KRN). After the Battle of Kursk the expectation was of a Soviet victory and liberation of Poland and the PPR wanted to be ready to assume power. Gomulka came up with the idea of a national council and imposed his point of view on the rest of the leadership. The PPR intended to obtain consent from the Cominterm leader and their Soviet contact Georgi Dimitrov. However, in November the Gestapo arrested Finder and Malgorzata Fornalska, who possessed the secret codes for communication with Moscow and the Soviet response remained unknown. In the absence of Finder, on 23 November Gomulka was elected general secretary (chief) of the PPR and Bierut joined the three-person inner leadership. The founding meeting of the State National Council took place in the late evening of 31 December 1943. The new body's chairman Bierut was becoming Gomulka's main rival. In mid-January 1944 Dimitrov was finally informed of the KRN's existence, which surprised both him and the Polish communist leaders in Moscow, increasingly led by Jakub Berman, who had other, competing ideas concerning the establishment of a Polish communist ruling party and government. Gomulka felt that the Polish communists in occupied Poland had a better understanding of Polish realities than their brethren in Moscow and that the State National Council should determine the shape of the future executive government of Poland. Nevertheless, to gain a Soviet approval and to clear any misunderstandings a KRN delegation left Warsaw in mid-March heading for Moscow, where it arrived two months later. By that time Stalin concluded that the existence of the KRN was a positive development and the Poles arriving from Warsaw were received and greeted by him and other Soviet dignitaries. The Union of Polish Patriots and the Central Bureau of Polish Communists in Moscow were now under pressure to recognize the primacy of the PPR, the KRN and Wladyslaw Gomulka, which they ultimately did only in mid-July. On 20 July, the Soviet forces under Marshal Konstantin Rokossovsky forced their way across the Bug River and on that same day the combined meeting of Polish communists from the Moscow and Warsaw factions finalized the arrangements regarding the establishment (on 21 July) of the Polish Committee of National Liberation (PKWN), a temporary government headed by Edward Osobka-Morawski, a socialist allied with the communists. Gomulka and other PPR leaders left Warsaw and headed for the Soviet-controlled territory, arriving in Lublin on 1 August, the day the Warsaw Uprising erupted in the Polish capital. CANNOTANSWER

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Władysław Gomułka

Wladyslaw Gomulka (Polish: [vwa'diswaf go'muwka]; 6 February 1905 - 1 September 1982) was a Polish communist politician. He was the de facto leader of post-war Poland until 1948. Following the Polish October he became leader again from 1956 to 1970. Gomulka was initially very popular for his reforms; his seeking a "Polish way to socialism"; and giving rise to the period known as "Gomulka's thaw".

Early life and activities

Wladyslaw Gomulka was born on 6 February 1905 in Bialobrzegi Franciszkanskie village on the outskirts of Krosno, into a worker's family living in the Austrian Partition (the Galicia region). His parents had met and married in the United States, where each had emigrated in search of work in the late 19th century, but returned to occupied Poland in the early 20th century because Wladyslaw's father Jan was unable to find gainful employment in America. Jan Gomulka then worked as a laborer in the Subcarpathian oil industry. Wladyslaw's older sister Jozefa, born in the US, returned there upon turning eighteen to join her extended family, most of whom had emigrated, and to preserve her US citizenship. Wladyslaw and his two other siblings experienced a childhood of the proverbial Galician poverty: they lived in a dilapidated hut and ate mostly potatoes. Wladyslaw received only rudimentary education before being employed in the oil industry of the region. Gomulka attended schools in Krosno for six or seven years, until the age of thirteen, when he had to start an apprenticeship in a metalworks shop. Throughout his life Gomulka was an avid reader and accomplished a great deal of self-education, but remained a subject of jokes because of his lack of formal education and demeanor. In 1922, Gomulka passed his apprenticeship exams and began working at a local refinery. The re-established Polish state of Gomulka's teen years was a scene of growing political polarization and radicalization. The young worker developed connections with the radical Left, joining the Sila (Power) youth organization in 1922 and the Independent Peasant Party in 1925. Gomulka was known for his activism in the metal workers and, from 1922, chemical industry unions. He was involved in union-organized strikes and in 1924, during a protest gathering in Krosno, participated in a polemical debate with Herman Lieberman. He published radical texts in leftist newspapers. In May 1926 the young Gomulka was for the first time arrested, but soon released because of worker demands. The incident was the subject of a parliamentary intervention by the Peasant Party. In October 1926, Gomulka became a secretary of the managing council in the Chemical Industry Workers Union for the Drohobych District and remained involved with that communist-dominated union until 1930. He around this time learned on his own basic Ukrainian. CANNOTANSWER

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Dafydd Williams

Dafydd Rhys "Dave" Williams OC (born May 16, 1954) is a Canadian physician, public speaker and a retired CSA astronaut. Williams was a mission specialist on two space shuttle missions. His first spaceflight, STS-90 in 1998, was a 16-day mission aboard Space Shuttle Columbia dedicated to neuroscience research. His second flight, STS-118 in August 2007, was flown by Space Shuttle Endeavour to the International Space Station.

Awards and honours

He is a member of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, the Ontario Medical Association, the College of Family Physicians of Canada, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians, the Aerospace Medical Association, the Canadian Society for Aerospace Medicine, and the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute. Past affiliations include the Society for Neuroscience, the New York Academy of Science, and the Montreal Physiological Society. Williams was awarded the Commonwealth Certificate of Thanks in 1973 and the Commonwealth Recognition Award (1975) for his contribution to the Royal Life Saving Society of Canada. Academic awards include the A.S. Hill Bursary, McGill University, in 1980; the Walter Hoare Bursary, McGill University, in 1981; and the J.W. McConnell Award, McGill University, from 1981 to 1983. He was named Faculty Scholar in 1982 and University Scholar in 1983 by the faculty of medicine at McGill University. In 1983, he also received the psychiatry prize and the Wood Gold Medal from the Faculty of Medicine and was named on the dean's honor list by the physiology department, at McGill University, for his postgraduate research. He was twice awarded the second prize for his participation in the University of Toronto Emergency Medicine Research Papers Program, in 1986, and 1988, and received top honors in that competition in 1987. in 2011, Williams was inducted into the Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame. The following year, Williams was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2013 for his work in space exploration. CANNOTANSWER

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Dafydd Williams

Dafydd Rhys "Dave" Williams OC (born May 16, 1954) is a Canadian physician, public speaker and a retired CSA astronaut. Williams was a mission specialist on two space shuttle missions. His first spaceflight, STS-90 in 1998, was a 16-day mission aboard Space Shuttle Columbia dedicated to neuroscience research. His second flight, STS-118 in August 2007, was flown by Space Shuttle Endeavour to the International Space Station.

NASA experience

In January 1995, Williams was selected to join the 1995 international class of NASA mission specialist astronaut candidates. He reported to the Johnson Space Center in March 1995 and completed training and evaluation in May 1996. On completing basic training, he was assigned to work technical issues for the payloads/habitability branch of the astronaut office. From July 1998 to November 2002, Williams served as Director of the Space and Life Sciences directorate with responsibility for research in both physical and biomedical space sciences at the Johnson Space Center (JSC). With this appointment, he became the first non-American to hold a senior management position within NASA. Overall crew medical safety was one of his principal concerns, in addition to flight medical operations and JSC occupational and environmental health. His programs were directed toward protecting astronauts from the hazards of the space environment, including space radiation and microgravity, in addition to maintaining their medical, physical, and psychological well-being while aloft and on return to Earth. His other oversight responsibilities were in the fields of telemedicine, 3-D tissue culture/regeneration in microgravity, the curatorial management of extraterrestrial materials, and of qualifying humans for very long space journeys and ensuring their safe return to Earth. Williams served as an aquanaut on the first NEEMO (NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations) crew aboard the Aquarius underwater laboratory in October 2001. During this mission, he was thrilled to shake hands underwater with Canadian underwater explorer Joe MacInnis. Williams was originally scheduled to command NEEMO 7 in October 2004, but was replaced by back-up crewmember and fellow CSA astronaut Robert Thirsk due to Williams undergoing review of a temporary medical issue. In April 2006, Williams commanded the NEEMO 9 mission. During this eighteen-day mission, the six-person crew developed lunar surface exploration procedures and telemedical technology applications. CANNOTANSWER

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Ivan the Terrible

Ivan IV Vasilyevich (Russian: Ivan Vasil'evich, tr. Ivan Vasilyevich; 25 August 1530 - 28 March [O.S. 18 March] 1584), commonly known as Ivan the Terrible or Ivan the Fearsome (Russian: Ivan Groznyi , Ivan Grozny; a better translation into modern English

Sobriquet

Ivan was the first son of Vasili III and his second wife, Elena Glinskaya, who was of half Serbian and half Lipka Tatar descent, the Glinski clan (nobles based in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania) claiming descent from the Mongol ruler Mamai (1335-1380.) When Ivan was three years old, his father died from an abscess and inflammation on his leg that developed into blood poisoning. Ivan was proclaimed the Grand Prince of Moscow at the request of his father. His mother Elena Glinskaya initially acted as regent, but she died of what many believe to be assassination by poison, in 1538 when Ivan was only eight years old. The regency then alternated between several feuding boyar families fighting for control. According to his own letters, Ivan, along with his younger brother Yuri, often felt neglected and offended by the mighty boyars from the Shuisky and Belsky families. In a letter to Prince Kurbski Ivan remembers, "My brother Iurii, of blessed memory, and me they brought up like vagrants and children of the poorest. What have I suffered for want of garments and food!!" It should be noted, however, that the historian Edward L Keenan has presented compelling reasons to doubt the authenticity of the source in which these quotes are found. On 16 January 1547, at age sixteen, Ivan was crowned with Monomakh's Cap at the Cathedral of the Dormition. He was the first to be crowned as "Tsar of All the Russias", hence claiming the ancestry of Kievan Rus'. Prior to that, rulers of Muscovy were crowned as Grand Princes, although Ivan III the Great, his grandfather, styled himself "tsar" in his correspondence. Two weeks after his coronation, Ivan married his first wife Anastasia Romanovna, a member of the Romanov family, who became the first Russian tsaritsa. By being crowned Tsar, Ivan was sending a message to the world and to Russia: he was now the only supreme ruler of the country, and his will was not to be questioned. "The new title symbolized an assumption of powers equivalent and parallel to those held by former Byzantine Emperor and the Tatar Khan, both known in Russian sources as Tsar. The political effect was to elevate Ivan's position." The new title not only secured the throne, but it also granted Ivan a new dimension of power, one intimately tied to religion. He was now a "divine" leader appointed to enact God's will, as "church texts described Old Testament kings as 'Tsars' and Christ as the Heavenly Tsar." The newly appointed title was then passed on from generation to generation: "succeeding Muscovite rulers ... benefited from the divine nature of the power of the Russian monarch ... crystallized during Ivan's reign." CANNOTANSWER

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Ivan the Terrible

Ivan IV Vasilyevich (Russian: Ivan Vasil'evich, tr. Ivan Vasilyevich; 25 August 1530 - 28 March [O.S. 18 March] 1584), commonly known as Ivan the Terrible or Ivan the Fearsome (Russian: Ivan Groznyi , Ivan Grozny; a better translation into modern English

Domestic policy

Despite calamities triggered by the Great Fire of 1547, the early part of Ivan's reign was one of peaceful reforms and modernization. Ivan revised the law code, creating the Sudebnik of 1550, founded a standing army (the streltsy), established the Zemsky Sobor (the first Russian parliament of the feudal Estates type) and the council of the nobles (known as the Chosen Council), and confirmed the position of the Church with the Council of the Hundred Chapters (Stoglavy Synod), which unified the rituals and ecclesiastical regulations of the whole country. He introduced local self-government to rural regions, mainly in the northeast of Russia, populated by the state peasantry. By Ivan's order in 1553 the Moscow Print Yard was established and the first printing press was introduced to Russia. Several religious books in Russian were printed during the 1550s and 1560s. The new technology provoked discontent among traditional scribes, leading to the Print Yard being burned in an arson attack. The first Russian printers, Ivan Fedorov and Pyotr Mstislavets, were forced to flee from Moscow to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Nevertheless, printing of books resumed from 1568 onwards, with Andronik Timofeevich Nevezha and his son Ivan now heading the Print Yard. Ivan had St. Basil's Cathedral constructed in Moscow to commemorate the seizure of Kazan. There is a false legend that he was so impressed with the structure that he had the architect, Postnik Yakovlev, blinded so that he could never design anything as beautiful again. In reality, Postnik Yakovlev went on to design more churches for Ivan and the walls of the Kazan Kremlin in the early 1560s, as well as the chapel over St. Basil's grave that was added to St. Basil's Cathedral in 1588, several years after Ivan's death. Although more than one architect was associated with this name and constructions, it is believed that the principal architect is one and the same person. Other events of this period include the introduction of the first laws restricting the mobility of the peasants, which would eventually lead to serfdom, instituted during the rule of future tsar Boris Godunov in 1597. (See also Serfdom in Russia.) CANNOTANSWER

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PJ Harvey

Polly Jean Harvey was born on 9 October 1969 in Bridport, Dorset, the second child of Ray and Eva Harvey, who owned a stone quarrying business, and grew up on the family's farm in Corscombe. During her childhood, she attended school in nearby Beaminster, where she received guitar lessons from folk singer-songwriter Steve Knightley, and her parents introduced her to music that would later influence her work, including blues music, Captain Beefheart and Bob Dylan. Her parents were avid music fans and regularly arranged get-togethers and small gigs; among their oldest friends was Ian Stewart. As a teenager, Harvey began learning saxophone and joined an eight-piece instrumental group Bologne, based in Dorset.

Other ventures

Outside her better-known music career, Harvey is also an occasional artist and actress. In 1998 she appeared in Hal Hartley's film The Book of Life as Magdalena -- a modern-day character based on the Biblical Mary Magdalene -- and had a cameo role as a Playboy Bunny in A Bunny Girl's Tale, a short film directed by Sarah Miles, in which she also performs "Nina in Ecstasy", an outtake from Is This Desire? (1998). Harvey also collaborated with Miles on another film, Amaeru Fallout 1972, which includes Harvey performing a cover of "When Will I See You Again." Harvey is also an accomplished sculptor who has had several pieces exhibited at the Lamont Gallery and the Bridport Arts Centre. In 2010, she was invited to be the guest designer for the summer issue of Francis Ford Coppola's literary magazine Zoetrope: All-Story. The issue featured Harvey's paintings and drawings alongside short stories by Woody Allen. Speaking of her artistic contributions to the magazine in 2011, Harvey said: "the first opportunity I ever had to show any work was in this magazine. They were drawn while I was writing and recording the record (Let England Shake). It does relate to the record in the way the cycle keeps happening." In December 2013, Harvey gave her debut public poetry reading at the British Library. On 2 January 2014 PJ Harvey guest-edited BBC Radio 4's Today programme. In October 2015, PJ Harvey published her first collection of poetry, a collaboration with photographer Seamus Murphy, entitled The Hollow of The Hand. To create the book, PJ Harvey and Seamus Murphy made several journeys to Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Washington DC. Seamus Murphy had previously worked with PJ Harvey to create 12 Short Films for Let England Shake. CANNOTANSWER

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Nolan Ryan

Ryan was born in Refugio, south of Victoria in south Texas, the youngest of six children, to Lynn Nolan Ryan Sr. (1907-1970), and the former Martha Lee Hancock (1913-1990). The senior Ryan operated a newspaper delivery service for the Houston Post that required him to rise in the early morning hours to prepare 1,500 newspapers for delivery over a 55-mile route. The children were expected to help with the daily tasks.

Later activity

Nolan Ryan's post-retirement business interests include ownership of two minor league teams: the Corpus Christi Hooks, which play in the Class AA Texas League, and the Round Rock Express, a Class AAA team in the Pacific Coast League. Both teams were affiliates of the Houston Astros, for whom Ryan also served as a special assistant to the general manager until selling his interest in the team in the off-season between 2004 and 2005. He became the president of the Texas Rangers in 2008. The Express became the Rangers' AAA affiliate beginning in 2010; the Hooks are still the Astros' AA affiliate and were purchased by the Astros in 2013 when Nolan's son, Reid Ryan, took office as President of the Houston Astros. Ryan threw out the ceremonial first pitch before Game 3 of the 2005 World Series between the Astros and the White Sox, the first World Series game ever played in Texas. That game went 14 innings, equaling the longest in innings in World Series history (at 5:41, it was the longest in time). ESPN wryly suggested the Astros might have needed to pull the 58-year-old Ryan out of retirement if the game had gone much longer. Ryan has co-written six books: autobiographies Miracle Man (with Jerry Jenkins, 1992), Throwing Heat (with Harvey Frommer, 1988) and The Road to Cooperstown (with Mickey Herskowitz and T.R. Sullivan, 1999); Kings of the Hill (with Mickey Herskowitz, 1992), about contemporary pitchers; and instructional books Pitching and Hitting (with Joe Torre and Joel Cohen, 1977), and Nolan Ryan's Pitcher's Bible (with Tom House, 1991). In addition to his baseball activities, Ryan was majority owner and chairman of Express Bank of Alvin but sold his interest in 2005. He also owned a restaurant in Three Rivers, Texas. He served on the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission from 1995 to 2001. He appeared as a TV spokesman for Advil for several years, promoting the pain medication he recommended for his own arm. He also has appeared in various television commercials shown in the Texas market. After retiring from baseball, Ryan teamed up with the federal government to promote physical fitness. His likeness was used in the "Nolan Ryan Fitness Guide", published by The President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports in 1994. Ryan suffered a heart attack on April 25, 2000, and had to receive a double coronary bypass. CANNOTANSWER

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Nolan Ryan

Ryan was born in Refugio, south of Victoria in south Texas, the youngest of six children, to Lynn Nolan Ryan Sr. (1907-1970), and the former Martha Lee Hancock (1913-1990). The senior Ryan operated a newspaper delivery service for the Houston Post that required him to rise in the early morning hours to prepare 1,500 newspapers for delivery over a 55-mile route. The children were expected to help with the daily tasks.

New York Mets (1966, 1968-1971)

In 1965, after graduating from Alvin High School, Ryan was drafted by the New York Mets in the 12th round of the 1965 Major League Baseball draft. He was assigned the minor league Marion Mets in the Appalachian League. When Ryan was called up to the New York club the following year, he was the second-youngest player in the league. His first strikeout was Pat Jarvis, and he gave up his first major league home run to Joe Torre, a future NL MVP and Hall of Fame big-league manager. Ryan missed much of the 1967 season due to illness, an arm injury, and service with the Army Reserve; he pitched only 7 innings for the Mets' minor league affiliate in Jacksonville. Ryan returned to the major leagues to stay starting with the 1968 season. Ryan was unable to crack the Mets' pitching rotation, led by Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman. Ryan was used more as a reliever and spot starter by the 1969 Mets. To deal with frequent blisters on his throwing hand he often soaked his fingers in pickle brine, although the technique's effectiveness was questioned by Ryan's teammates and coaches. Ryan pitched well for the Miracle Mets in the 1969 postseason. Against the Braves in the NLCS, Ryan completed a Mets sweep by throwing seven innings of relief in Game 3, getting his first playoff win (it would take him 12 years to get another). Then in the 1969 World Series, Ryan saved Game 3, pitching 2 1/3 shutout innings against the Baltimore Orioles. The Game 3 victory gave the Mets a 2-1 lead in the Series, which they went on to win in five games. It would be Ryan's only World Series appearance in his career. On April 18, 1970, Ryan tied a Mets record by striking out 15 batters in one game. Four days later, Ryan's teammate, Tom Seaver, topped it with a then MLB record 19 against the San Diego Padres (though Ryan would tie this record four years later). Ryan has credited his time with Seaver and the Mets with turning him from just a flamethrower to a pitcher. Contrary to popular belief, Ryan never wanted to be traded from the Mets and felt betrayed by the team that drafted him. His views on this only calmed once he started running the Rangers and gained a better understanding of the business side of baseball. CANNOTANSWER

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Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Ayaan Hirsi Ali (; Dutch: [a:'ja:n 'hi:rsi 'a:li] ( listen); born Ayaan Hirsi Magan, 13 November 1969) is a Somali-born Dutch-American activist, feminist, author, scholar and former politician.

Early life in the Netherlands

Hirsi Ali arrived in the Netherlands in 1992. That year she had travelled from Kenya to visit her family in Dusseldorf and Bonn, Germany and gone to the Netherlands to escape an alleged arranged marriage. Once there, she requested political asylum and obtained a residence permit. She used her paternal grandfather's early surname on her application and has since been known in the West as Ayaan Hirsi Ali. She received a residence permit within three or four weeks of arriving in the Netherlands. At first she held various short-term jobs, ranging from cleaning to sorting post. She worked as a translator at a Rotterdam refugee center which, according to a friend interviewed in 2006 by The Observer newspaper, marked her deeply. As an avid reader, in the Netherlands she found new books and ways of thought that both stretched her imagination and frightened her. Sigmund Freud's work introduced her to an alternative moral system that was not based on religion. During this time she took courses in Dutch and a one-year introductory course in social work at the De Horst Institute for Social Work in Driebergen. She has said that she was impressed with how well Dutch society seemed to function. To better understand its development, she studied at Leiden University, obtaining an MSc degree in political science in 2000. Between 1995 and 2001, Hirsi Ali also worked as an independent Somali-Dutch interpreter and translator, frequently working with Somali women in asylum centers, hostels for abused women, and at the Dutch immigration and naturalization service (IND, Immigratie en Naturalisatiedienst). While working for the IND, she became critical of the way it handled asylum seekers. As a result of her education and experiences, Hirsi Ali speaks six languages: English, Somali, Arabic, Swahili, Amharic, and Dutch. CANNOTANSWER

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Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Ayaan Hirsi Ali (; Dutch: [a:'ja:n 'hi:rsi 'a:li] ( listen); born Ayaan Hirsi Magan, 13 November 1969) is a Somali-born Dutch-American activist, feminist, author, scholar and former politician.

Early life and education

Ayaan was born in 1969 in Mogadishu, Somalia. Her father, Hirsi Magan Isse, was a prominent member of the Somali Salvation Democratic Front and a leading figure in the Somalian Revolution. Shortly after she was born, her father was imprisoned due to his opposition to the Siad Barre government. Hirsi Ali's father had studied abroad and was opposed to female genital mutilation, but while he was imprisoned, Hirsi Ali's grandmother had a man perform the procedure on her, when Hirsi Ali was five years old. According to Hirsi Ali, she was fortunate that her grandmother could not find a woman to do the procedure, as the mutilation was "much milder" when performed by men. After her father escaped from prison, he and the family left Somalia in 1977, going to Saudi Arabia and then to Ethiopia, before settling in Nairobi, Kenya by 1980. There he established a comfortable upper-class life for them. Hirsi Ali attended the English-language Muslim Girls' Secondary School. By the time she reached her teens, Saudi Arabia was funding religious education in numerous countries and its religious views were becoming influential among many Muslims. A charismatic religious teacher, trained under this aegis, joined Hirsi Ali's school. She inspired the teenaged Ayaan, as well as some fellow students, to adopt the more rigorous Saudi Arabian interpretations of Islam, as opposed to the more relaxed versions then current in Somalia and Kenya. Hirsi Ali said later that she had long been impressed by the Qur'an and had lived "by the Book, for the Book" throughout her childhood. She sympathised with the views of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, and wore a hijab with her school uniform. This was unusual at the time but has become more common among some young Muslim women. At the time, she agreed with the fatwa proclaimed against British Indian writer Salman Rushdie in reaction to the portrayal of the Islamic prophet Muhammad in his novel The Satanic Verses. After completing secondary school, Hirsi Ali attended a secretarial course at Valley Secretarial College in Nairobi for one year. As she was growing up, she also read English-language adventure stories, such as the Nancy Drew series, with modern heroine archetypes who pushed the limits of society. Also, remembering her grandmother refusing soldiers entry into her house, Hirsi Ali associated with Somalia "the picture of strong women: the one who smuggles in the food, and the one who stands there with a knife against the army and says, 'You cannot come into the house.' And I became like that. And my parents and my grandmother don't appreciate that now - because of what I've said about the Qur'an. I have become them, just in a different way." CANNOTANSWER

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Aimee Semple McPherson

Aimee Semple McPherson (Aimee, in the original French; October 9, 1890 - September 27, 1944), also known as Sister Aimee or simply Sister, was a Canadian-American Pentecostal evangelist and media celebrity in the 1920s and 1930s, famous for founding the Foursquare Church. McPherson has been noted as a pioneer in the use of modern media, because she used radio to draw on the growing appeal of popular entertainment in North America and incorporated other forms into her weekly sermons at Angelus Temple, one of the first megachurches. In her time she was the most publicized Christian evangelist, surpassing Billy Sunday and her other predecessors. She conducted public faith healing demonstrations before large crowds; testimonies conveyed tens of thousands of people healed.

Media relations

By early 1926, McPherson had become one of the most charismatic and influential women and ministers of her time. Her fame equaled, to name a few, Charles Lindbergh, Johnny Weissmuller, Jack Dempsey, Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Knute Rockne, Bobby Jones, Louise Brooks, and Rudolph Valentino. She was a major American phenomenon, who along with some other high-profile preachers of the time, unlike Hollywood celebrities, could be admired by their adoring public, "without apparently compromising their souls." According to Carey McWilliams, she had become "more than just a household word: she was a folk hero and a civic institution; an honorary member of the fire and police departments; a patron saint of the service clubs; an official spokesman for the community on problems grave and frivolous." She was influential in many social, educational and political areas. McPherson made personal crusades against anything that she felt threatened her Christian ideals, including the drinking of alcohol and teaching evolution in schools. McPherson became a strong supporter of William Jennings Bryan during the 1925 Scopes trial, in which John Scopes was tried for illegally teaching evolution at a Dayton, Tennessee, school. Bryan and McPherson had worked together in the Angelus Temple and they believed Darwinism had undermined students' morality. According to The New Yorker, McPherson said, evolution "is the greatest triumph of Satanic intelligence in 5,931 years of devilish warfare, against the Hosts of Heaven. It is poisoning the minds of the children of the nation." She sent Bryan a telegram saying, "Ten thousand members of Angelus Temple with her millions of radio church membership send grateful appreciation of your lion-hearted championship of the Bible against evolution and throw our hats in the ring with you." She organized "an all-night prayer service, a massive church meeting preceded by a Bible parade through Los Angeles." CANNOTANSWER

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Aimee Semple McPherson

Aimee Semple McPherson (Aimee, in the original French; October 9, 1890 - September 27, 1944), also known as Sister Aimee or simply Sister, was a Canadian-American Pentecostal evangelist and media celebrity in the 1920s and 1930s, famous for founding the Foursquare Church. McPherson has been noted as a pioneer in the use of modern media, because she used radio to draw on the growing appeal of popular entertainment in North America and incorporated other forms into her weekly sermons at Angelus Temple, one of the first megachurches. In her time she was the most publicized Christian evangelist, surpassing Billy Sunday and her other predecessors. She conducted public faith healing demonstrations before large crowds; testimonies conveyed tens of thousands of people healed.

Faith healing ministry

McPherson's ability to draw crowds was also greatly assisted by her apparently successful faith healing presentations. According to Nancy Barr Mavity, an early McPherson biographer, almost by accident, the evangelist discovered when she laid hands on sick or injured persons, they got well. Mavity further wrote, describing the healing power "beyond her conscience [sic] control" and "profoundly troubling" however a phenomenon familiar to the psychiatrist although "none the less [sic] mysterious." During a 1916 revival meeting in Corona, Long Island, New York, a young woman in the advanced stages of rheumatoid arthritis was brought to the altar by friends. McPherson would have preferred to pray with her privately. However, the woman insisted upon immediate prayer. McPherson laid hands on her and prayed. Before the gathered parishioners, the woman walked out of the church without crutches. McPherson's reputation as a faith healer rapidly became known and the sick and injured people came to her by the tens of thousands. The Faith Healing Ministry of Aimee Semple McPherson was extensively written about in the news media and was a large part of her early career legacy. No one has ever been credited by secular witnesses with anywhere near the numbers of faith healings attributed to McPherson, especially during the years 1919 to 1922. Over time, though, she almost withdrew from the faith-healing aspect of her services, since it was overwhelming other areas of her ministry. Scheduled weekly and monthly healing sessions nevertheless remained highly popular with the public until her death in 1944. CANNOTANSWER

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Edmund Hillary

Hillary was born to Percival Augustus and Gertrude (nee Clark) Hillary in Auckland, New Zealand, on 20 July 1919. His family moved to Tuakau, south of Auckland, in 1920, after his father, who served at Gallipoli with the 15th (North Auckland) Regiment, was allocated land there. His grandparents had emigrated from Yorkshire to northern Wairoa in the mid-19th century.

After Everest

Hillary climbed ten other peaks in the Himalayas on further visits in 1956, 1960-1961, and 1963-1965. He also reached the South Pole as part of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition, for which he led the New Zealand section, on 4 January 1958. His party was the first to reach the Pole overland since Amundsen in 1911 and Scott in 1912, and the first ever to do so using motor vehicles. In 1960 Hillary organized an expedition to search for the fabled abominable snowman. Hillary was with the expedition for five months, although it lasted for ten. No evidence of Yetis was found, instead footprints and tracks were proven to be from other causes. During the expedition, Hillary travelled to remote temples which contained "Yeti scalps"; however after bringing back three relics, two were shown to be from bears and one from a goat antelope. Hillary said after the expedition: "The yeti is not a strange, superhuman creature as has been imagined. We have found rational explanations for most yeti phenomena". In 1962 he was a guest on the television game show What's My Line?; he stumped the panel, comprising Dorothy Kilgallen, Arlene Francis, Bennett Cerf, and Merv Griffin. In 1977, he led a jetboat expedition, titled "Ocean to Sky", from the mouth of the Ganges River to its source. From 1977 to 1979 he commentated aboard Antarctic sightseeing flights operated by Air New Zealand. In 1985, he accompanied Neil Armstrong in a small twin-engined ski plane over the Arctic Ocean and landed at the North Pole. Hillary thus became the first man to stand at both poles and on the summit of Everest. This accomplishment inspired generations of explorers to compete over what later was defined as Three Poles Challenge. In January 2007, Hillary travelled to Antarctica as part of a delegation commemorating the 50th anniversary of the founding of Scott Base. CANNOTANSWER

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Chris Farley

Farley was born on February 15, 1964, in Madison, Wisconsin. His father, Thomas John Farley, Sr. (1936-1999), owned an oil company, and his mother, Mary Anne (nee Crosby), was a housewife. He had four siblings: Tom Jr., Kevin, John, and Barbara. His cousin, Jim, is the CEO and Chairman at Ford Motor Company Europe.

Film career

During his time on SNL, Farley appeared in the comedy films Wayne's World, Coneheads, Airheads, and uncredited in Billy Madison. He also appeared in the Red Hot Chili Peppers music video for "Soul to Squeeze", which was a song featured on the Coneheads soundtrack. After Farley and most of his fellow cast members were released from their contracts at Saturday Night Live following the 1994-1995 season, Farley began focusing on his film career. His first two major films co starred his fellow SNL colleague and close friend David Spade. Together, the duo made the films Tommy Boy and Black Sheep. These were a success at the domestic box office, earning around $32 million each and gaining a large cult following on home video. The two films established Farley as a relatively bankable star and he was given the title role of Beverly Hills Ninja, which finished in first place at the box office on its opening weekend. Drug and alcohol abuse related problems interfered with Farley's film work at this time. Production of his final film, Almost Heroes, was held up several times so Farley could enter rehab. He was known among comedic contemporaries and friends to be sensitive about how his comedy was perceived ("fatty falls down, everybody goes home happy"), and was particularly hurt by harsh critical reactions to Tommy Boy, a film he enjoyed making. He was particularly dissatisfied with Black Sheep, an attempt by the studio to recapture the chemistry on Tommy Boy and was only 60 pages into the script when the project was green lit. As a result, he relapsed on the night of the premiere, which required further rehab before he could begin work on Beverly Hills Ninja. After his death on December 18, 1997, his final completed films, Almost Heroes and Dirty Work, were released posthumously. CANNOTANSWER

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Morten Olsen

Morten Per Olsen (born 14 August 1949) is a Danish football manager and former football player. He was the head coach of the Danish national team for 15 years from 2000 until 2015, guiding Denmark to the 2002 FIFA World Cup, 2004 European Championship, 2010 FIFA World Cup and 2012 European Championship. He has also managed Brondby IF to two Danish Superliga championships and Ajax to the Double of the 1998 Dutch Eredivisie championship and Dutch Cup trophy.

Club career

Born in Vordingborg, Morten Olsen started playing youth football at the local club in 1957. He started his career playing as a right winger. In 1970, at 20 years of age, he was brought to B 1901 in the top-flight Danish 1st Division championship by coach Kurt "Nikkelaj" Nielsen. At B 1901, Olsen was moved from right winger to central midfielder, in order to accommodate another right winger in the squad. Olsen played three seasons at B 1901, before he moved abroad to play professionally with Belgian club Cercle Brugge K.S.V. in 1972, who had been promoted to the top-flight Belgian First Division championship one year earlier. At Brugge, Olsen played alongside fellow Danish international Benny Nielsen, who had recommended Olsen to Brugge manager Urbain Braems. In Olsen's first year with the club, Cercle Brugge finished in 11th place in the 1972-73 Belgian First Division and went on to establish itself in the mid-table. While at Brugge, Olsen was used as a multi-purpose player, playing every position except from goalkeeper. In 1976, Olsen moved to league rivals R.W.D. Molenbeek, who had won the 1974-75 Belgian First Division. Olsen joined Danish internationals Benny Nielsen and Kresten Bjerre at Molenbeek. His time at Molenbeek featured even better league results, and consistent finishes in the top third of the league. In 1980, Olsen moved to 16-time Belgian champions R.S.C. Anderlecht, to play alongside Danish internationals Benny Nielsen and Kenneth Brylle. At Anderlecht, Olsen won his first trophy of his senior career. In his first year at Anderlecht, the club won the 1979-80 Belgian First Division, conceding only 24 goals in 34 games. Olsen played six years at Anderlecht, winning three Belgian championships with the club, and he was eventually named Anderlecht team captain. During most of 1982, Olsen suffered from a severe shin injury, which prompted Anderlecht manager Tomislav Ivic to move him back from the midfield into the libero position. As the libero at Anderlecht, Olsen controlled an aggressive form of off-side trap, which had 3-4 players converge towards the ball-possessing player as the off-side trap was sprung, in order to prevent the ball-possessing player from countering the off-side by dribbling on his own. Olsen was a part of the Anderlecht team which beat Portuguese team FC Porto and Spanish team Valencia CF, among others, to reach the final game of the international 1982-83 UEFA Cup tournament. Anderlecht faced Portuguese team S.L. Benfica in the final, and won 2-1 on aggregate score. Olsen was subsequently named 1983 Danish Player of the Year. Anderlecht also reached the 1983-84 UEFA Cup final against Tottenham Hotspur from England. Olsen scored a goal in the first leg, but missed his shot in the deciding penalty shoot-out which Tottenham won. 36 years old, Olsen left Anderlecht following the 1986 World Cup. He moved to Germany, to play for 1. FC Koln in the Bundesliga. While at Koln, Olsen was moved back to his previous defensive midfield position. He helped Koln reach third and second-place finishes in the 1987-88 and 1988-89 Bundesliga seasons respectively. Olsen played 80 games and scored two goals for Koln in the Bundesliga, before retiring from his active career in June 1989, 39 years of age. CANNOTANSWER

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Morten Olsen

Morten Per Olsen (born 14 August 1949) is a Danish football manager and former football player. He was the head coach of the Danish national team for 15 years from 2000 until 2015, guiding Denmark to the 2002 FIFA World Cup, 2004 European Championship, 2010 FIFA World Cup and 2012 European Championship. He has also managed Brondby IF to two Danish Superliga championships and Ajax to the Double of the 1998 Dutch Eredivisie championship and Dutch Cup trophy.

International career

Olsen made his debut for the Denmark under-21 national team in September 1970, scoring a single goal in a 2-2 friendly match draw with the Poland U21s. Three weeks later, he was called up for the senior Danish national team under the Austrian national team manager Rudi Strittich, and Olsen made his national team debut in September 1970 against Norway. He played his first national team game as a right winger, but eventually settled as a defensive midfielder. He helped Denmark qualify for the 1972 Summer Olympics, but could not participate at the tournament, as he had signed a professional contract with Cercle Brugge beforehand. While at Anderlecht, Olsen became the seventh Dane to play 50 games for the national team, in June 1981. For Olsen's 53rd national team game in April 1983, the German national team manager of Denmark, Sepp Piontek, named Olsen permanent national team captain, as Olsen replaced the retiring Per Rontved as both libero and team captain. Olsen played as an attacking libero, and had defensive midfielder Jens Jorn Bertelsen cover for him when he was on the attack. Olsen, alongside defender Soren Busk, persuaded Piontek to implement the aggressive off-side trap they practiced at Anderlecht. Olsen captained the Danish team that qualified for the 1984 European Championship; Denmark's first international tournament participation since the 1972 Olympics. Denmark reached the semi-finals, before being eliminated by Spain on penalty shootout. In October 1985, Olsen became the second Dane, after Per Rontved, to play 75 national team matches. He captained Denmark at the 1986 World Cup, Denmark's first World Cup participation, which ended in a second round defeat to Spain. Olsen's most noticeable effort at the tournament came in the 2-0 group stage win against West Germany. He took the ball from his own half and made an irresistible dribbling run that was only stopped by a foul in the West German penalty area, with Jesper Olsen scoring the 1-0 goal on the resulting penalty kick. Olsen was identified as one of the overall top performers at the World Cup, and he was subsequently named 1986 Danish Player of the Year. While he was moved to a midfielder position at Koln, Olsen continued to play as a libero for Denmark. He captained Denmark at the 1988 European Championship, which ended in the preliminary group stage. During the tournament, Olsen proved too slow for the libero position, and was moved up as defensive midfielder, leaving the libero position for Lars Olsen. Morten Olsen ended his international career following the 1988 European Championship, having played 99 national team games, but was called up again 10 months later. Olsen became the first Dane to play 100 games for the national team in April 1989, before ending his national team career in June 1989. Olsen played a record 102 games and scored four goals for the national team, and set a record of 50 games as Danish national team captain. His team captain record was broken by Lars Olsen in 1992, while his game tally was bested by Peter Schmeichel in 1998. In his entire international career, Morten Olsen only got one yellow card. CANNOTANSWER

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Stephen Hillenburg

Stephen McDannell Hillenburg (born August 21, 1961) is an American cartoonist, animator, writer, producer, director, and former marine biologist. He is the creator of the Nickelodeon television series SpongeBob SquarePants (1999-present) which he has also directed, produced, and written. It has gone on to become one of the longest-running American television series as well as the highest-rated show ever to air on Nickelodeon. Born in Lawton, Oklahoma and raised in Anaheim, California, Hillenburg became fascinated with the ocean as a child and also developed an interest in art.

Personal life

Hillenburg's wife, Karen, is a chef who teaches at the New School of Cooking in Culver City, California. Hillenburg deems her to be the funniest person that he knows. The couple have a son named Clay (born c. 1998). Hillenburg formerly resided in Hollywood and in Pasadena, and now lives with his family in San Marino, California. His hobbies include surfing, snorkeling, scuba diving, and performing "noisy rock music" on his guitar. He would jam with his son who is a drummer which, according to Hillenburg, is "a great way to bond with each other." He also enjoys birdwatching at home, but says that he was always "an ocean freak". According to his colleagues, Hillenburg is "a perfectionist workaholic". He is also known for his private nature. Julia Pistor, co-producer of The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, noted that Hillenburg is "very shy". She went on to say, "He doesn't want people to know about his life or family. He's just a really funny, down-to-earth guy with a dry sense of humor who puts his family first and keeps us on our toes in keeping our corporate integrity." Hillenburg said about himself, "I make animation because I like to draw and create things. I have no real interest to be on camera or to be a celebrity. It's not that I don't like people, but I like having my privacy." In March 2017, Hillenburg disclosed that he was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a terminal illness that affects and causes the death of neurons that control the brain and the spinal cord. He released a statement to the Variety magazine after his diagnosis, in which he affirmed that he would continue to work on SpongeBob SquarePants "for as long as [he is] able." He stated further, "My family and I are grateful for the outpouring of love and support. We ask that our sincere request for privacy be honored during this time." Hillenburg is currently in the early stages of the disease, according to a source close to him. CANNOTANSWER

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Stephen Hillenburg

Stephen McDannell Hillenburg (born August 21, 1961) is an American cartoonist, animator, writer, producer, director, and former marine biologist. He is the creator of the Nickelodeon television series SpongeBob SquarePants (1999-present) which he has also directed, produced, and written. It has gone on to become one of the longest-running American television series as well as the highest-rated show ever to air on Nickelodeon. Born in Lawton, Oklahoma and raised in Anaheim, California, Hillenburg became fascinated with the ocean as a child and also developed an interest in art.

Early career

After graduating from college, Hillenburg held various jobs in 1984, including as a park service attendant in Utah and an art director in San Francisco, before landing the job he wanted: teaching children. He hoped to work in a national park on the coast, and eventually found a job at the Orange County Marine Institute (now known as the Ocean Institute), an organization in Dana Point, California that is dedicated to educating the public about marine science and maritime history. Hillenburg was a marine-biology teacher there for three years: "We taught tide-pool ecology, nautical history, diversity and adaptation. Working there, I saw how enamored kids are with undersea life, especially with tide-pool creatures." He stayed at the Dana Point Marina and was also a staff artist. Although "[i]t was a great experience" for him, during this period, Hillenburg realized he was more interested in art than his chosen profession. While working there, he was asked by one of the educational directors if he would be interested in creating an educational comic book about the animal life of tidal pools. He created a comic called The Intertidal Zone, which he used to teach his students. It featured anthropomorphic forms of sea life, many of which would evolve into SpongeBob SquarePants characters--including "Bob the Sponge", the comic's co-host, who resembled an actual sea sponge, as opposed to his later SpongeBob SquarePants character, who resembles a kitchen sponge. He tried to get the comic published, but was turned down by the publishers that he approached. At one point during his tenure with the Orange County Marine Institute, Hillenburg started going to animation festivals such as the International Tournee of Animation and Spike and Mike's Festival of Animation where, at one of those, films made by California Institute of the Arts (colloquially called CalArts) students were shown. He determined that he wanted to pursue a career in that field. Hillenburg had planned to take a master's degree in art, but instead of "going back to school for painting", he left his job in 1987 to become an animator. In 1989, Hillenburg enrolled in the Experimental Animation Program at CalArts. About this decision, he said: "Changing careers like that is scary, but the irony is that animation is a pretty healthy career right now and science education is more of a struggle." He studied under Jules Engel, the founding director of the program, whom he considers his "Art Dad" and mentor. Engel accepted him into the program impressed by The Intertidal Zone. Hillenburg said, "[Engel] also was a painter, so I think he saw my paintings and could easily say, 'Oh, this guy could fit in to this program.' I don't have any [prior experience in] animation really." Hillenburg graduated in 1992, earning a Master of Fine Arts in experimental animation. CANNOTANSWER

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Styx (band)

Styx is an American rock band from Chicago that formed in 1972 and became famous for its albums released in the late 1970s and early 1980s. They are best known for melding hard rock guitar balanced with acoustic guitar, synthesizers mixed with acoustic piano, upbeat tracks with power ballads, and incorporating elements of international musical theatre. The band established itself with a progressive rock sound in the 1970s, and began to incorporate pop rock and soft rock elements in the 1980s. Styx is best known for the hit songs "Lady",

Kilroy Was Here (1983) and breakup

The band followed DeYoung's lead with their next project, Kilroy Was Here (1983), another more fully realized concept album, embracing the rock opera form. It is set in a future where performing and playing rock music has been outlawed due to the efforts of a charismatic evangelist, Dr. Everett Righteous played by James Young. Kilroy Was Here featured Dennis DeYoung in the part of Kilroy, an unjustly imprisoned rock star. Tommy Shaw played the part of Jonathan Chance, a younger rocker who fights for Kilroy's freedom and the lifting of the ban on rock music. This future society is served by robots. Called Robotos, these automatons perform many jobs, and several serve as Kilroy's prison guards. Part of the impetus for the Kilroy story was the band's reaction to the backward masking accusation. The album included James Young's song "Heavy Metal Poisoning", which includes lyrics sarcastically mocking the allegations against the group. Its introduction intentionally included a backward message, the Latin phrases, "annuit coeptis" and "novus ordo seclorum", from the reverse side of the Great Seal of the United States. Referring to the United States Declaration of Independence in 1776, these are translated, "Annuit coeptis - He (God) favors our undertakings, and Novus ordo seclorum - A new order of the ages." Both choices also served the Kilroy story, because the villain is an evangelist that seeks to expand his Vision of Morality movement via mass demonstrations. The album Kilroy Was Here went Platinum in 1983, boasting two Top Ten hits, the synthesizer-based "Mr. Roboto" (#3 US) and power ballad "Don't Let It End" (#6 US). The album earned a nomination as Best Engineered Recording for engineer and long-time friend Gary Loizzo and fellow engineers on the album Will Rascati and Rob Kingsland, for the 26th Grammy Awards (1983). In 1983, the band mounted an ambitious stage show in support of Kilroy Was Here featuring theatrical presentations of three songs utilizing instrumental backing tracks, including "Mr. Roboto", which featured DeYoung singing live while disguised as a Roboto, "Heavy Metal Poisoning" with James Young as the evangelist Dr. Righteous singing while the Panozzo brothers acted as his henchmen on stage, and "Haven't We Been Here Before" with Tommy Shaw as Jonathan Chance and DeYoung (as Kilroy in Roboto costume) duetting. The elaborate show was expensive to produce and was not as profitable as previous tours. Kilroy Was Here brought the creative and competitive tensions within the band beyond the breaking point. Guitarist Tommy Shaw departed the band for a solo career at the conclusion of the tour. In 1984, the band released its first live album, Caught in the Act. The project featured one studio track, "Music Time", which became a Top 40 hit. The concert was also filmed and released on VHS under the same title (and on DVD in 2007). By the time of the album's release, the band had already parted ways. CANNOTANSWER

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Styx (band)

Styx is an American rock band from Chicago that formed in 1972 and became famous for its albums released in the late 1970s and early 1980s. They are best known for melding hard rock guitar balanced with acoustic guitar, synthesizers mixed with acoustic piano, upbeat tracks with power ballads, and incorporating elements of international musical theatre. The band established itself with a progressive rock sound in the 1970s, and began to incorporate pop rock and soft rock elements in the 1980s. Styx is best known for the hit songs "Lady",

Solo careers

Dennis DeYoung and Tommy Shaw released a string of solo albums, beginning with DeYoung's Desert Moon and Shaw's Girls with Guns in 1984. Both Shaw and DeYoung generated a moderate amount of interest with their first solo albums. DeYoung scored a Top 10 hit with the title track, "Desert Moon", which was also heavily featured on MTV. Shaw also cracked the Top Forty with "Girls with Guns" and he made a cameo appearance on the NBC television series Miami Vice. DeYoung's follow up single "Don't Wait for Heroes" also featured a video that was heavily featured on MTV, but it failed to generate significant radio airplay, only peaking at No. 83. During the filming of the video, DeYoung injured his back, causing him to back out of opening a North American concert tour for Huey Lewis and the News. Shaw, however, did tour in the fall of 1984 as an opening act for the Kinks. Shaw's 1985 album What If and DeYoung's 1986 album Back to the World also charted, along with singles from film soundtracks. Shaw's "What If (Remo's Theme)" from Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins entered the Billboard Hot 100, while DeYoung's "This Is the Time" from The Karate Kid, Part II soundtrack was featured for a short while on MTV. The first single from DeYoung's Back to the World album, "Call Me", peaked at No. 6 on the Adult Contemporary chart and was a modest pop hit, peaking at No. 54 on the Billboard Hot 100. However, by the late 1980s, both Styx members' solo careers gradually simmered down to a modest but loyal fan base. Neither Shaw's Ambition (1987) nor DeYoung's Boomchild (1989) achieved nearly the same levels of earlier albums, although Shaw's cover of Jim Peterik's "Ever Since the World Began" charted briefly. Shaw also recorded sessions with Peterik's group, Survivor, on 1986's When Seconds Count, and Shaw's solo band opened the majority of the US shows for Rush's 1987-88 Hold Your Fire Tour. Meanwhile, James Young recorded his own solo albums: City Slicker (1985 with Jan Hammer) and Out on a Day Pass (1988), both attracting only minimal attention. In 1995 James Young partnered with other Chicago musicians and released an album under name James Young Group titled "Raised by Wolves". In 1989, Tommy Shaw formed Damn Yankees with Ted Nugent, Jack Blades and Michael Cartellone. Meanwhile, the remaining members of Styx made plans for a comeback in the new decade. CANNOTANSWER

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Memoirs of a Geisha (film)

Memoirs of a Geisha is a 2005 American epic drama film based on the novel Memoirs of a Geisha, produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment and Spyglass Entertainment and by Douglas Wick's Red Wagon Productions. Directed by Rob Marshall, the film was released in the United States on December 9, 2005 by Columbia Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures; the latter was given studio credit only. It stars Zhang Ziyi, Ken Watanabe, Gong Li, Michelle Yeoh, Youki Kudoh, Suzuka Ohgo, and Samantha Futerman. Production took place in southern and northern California and in several locations in Kyoto, including the Kiyomizu temple and the Fushimi Inari shrine.

Chinese responses

The film received some hostile responses in Mainland China, including its banning by the People's Republic of China. Relations between Japan and Mainland China were particularly tense due to two main factors: Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi made a number of visits to Yasukuni Shrine, which honors all Japan's war dead, including some who were convicted war criminals, which was denounced by China's foreign ministry as honoring them; and China helped to ensure Japan did not receive a seat on the UN Security Council. Writer Hong Ying argued that "Art should be above national politics". Nevertheless, the release of Memoirs of a Geisha into this politically charged situation added to cultural conflict within and between China and Japan. The film was originally scheduled to be shown in cinemas in the People's Republic of China on February 9, 2006. The Chinese State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television decided to ban the film on February 1, 2006, considering the film as "too sensitive". In doing so, it overturned a November decision to approve the film for screening. The film is set in Japan during World War II, when the Second Sino-Japanese War was taking place. During this time, Japan captured and forced Chinese women to serve as "comfort women" for their military personnel. Controversy arose in China from an apparent confusion of equating geisha with prostitution, and thus the connection with, and reminder of, comfort women being used in Japan at that time. Newspaper sources, such as the Shanghai-based Oriental Morning Post and the Shanghai Youth Daily, quoted the fears that the film might be banned by censors; there were concerns that the casting of Chinese actresses as geishas could rouse anti-Japan sentiment and stir up feelings over Japanese wartime actions in China, especially the use of Chinese women as forced sex workers. CANNOTANSWER

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Memoirs of a Geisha (film)

Memoirs of a Geisha is a 2005 American epic drama film based on the novel Memoirs of a Geisha, produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment and Spyglass Entertainment and by Douglas Wick's Red Wagon Productions. Directed by Rob Marshall, the film was released in the United States on December 9, 2005 by Columbia Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures; the latter was given studio credit only. It stars Zhang Ziyi, Ken Watanabe, Gong Li, Michelle Yeoh, Youki Kudoh, Suzuka Ohgo, and Samantha Futerman. Production took place in southern and northern California and in several locations in Kyoto, including the Kiyomizu temple and the Fushimi Inari shrine.

Western box office and reviews

Memoirs of a Geisha received mixed reviews from western critics. Illinois' Daily Herald said that the "[s]trong acting, meticulously created sets, beautiful visuals, and a compelling story of a celebrity who can't have the one thing she really wants make Geisha memorable". The Washington Times called the film "a sumptuously faithful and evocative adaption" while adding that "[c]ontrasting dialects may remain a minor nuisance for some spectators, but the movie can presumably count on the pictorial curiosity of readers who enjoyed Mr. Golden's sense of immersion, both harrowing and [a]esthetic, in the culture of a geisha upbringing in the years that culminated in World War II". The film scored a 35% "Rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes; the consensus stated "Less nuanced than its source material, Memoirs of a Geisha may be a lavish production, but it still carries the simplistic air of a soap opera." On Metacritic, the film was given a 54/100 meaning "mixed or average review." In the United States, the film managed $57 million during its box office run. The film peaked at 1,654 screens, facing off against King Kong, The Chronicles of Narnia, and Fun with Dick and Jane. During its first week in limited release, the film screening in only eight theaters tallied up an $85,313 per theater average which made it second in highest per theater averages behind Brokeback Mountain for 2005. International gross reached $158 million. The New Statesman criticized Memoirs of a Geisha's plot, saying that after Hatsumomo leaves, "the plot loses what little momentum it had and breaks down into one pretty visual after another" and says that the film version "abandons the original's scholarly mien to reveal the soap opera bubbling below". The Journal praised Zhang Ziyi, saying that she "exudes a heartbreaking innocence and vulnerablity" but said "too much of the character's yearning and despair is concealed behind the mask of white powder and rouge". London's The Evening Standard compared Memoirs of a Geisha to Cinderella and praised Gong Li, saying that "Li may be playing the loser of the piece but she saves this film" and Gong "endows Hatsumomo with genuine mystery". Eighteen days later, The Evening Standard put Memoirs of a Geisha on its Top Ten Films list. Glasgow's Daily Record praised the film, saying the "geisha world is drawn with such intimate detail that it seems timeless until the war, and with it the modern world comes crashing in". CANNOTANSWER

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Frasier Crane

Frasier Winslow Crane is a fictional character on the American television sitcoms Cheers and Frasier, portrayed by Kelsey Grammer. Grammer received award recognitions for portraying this character in these two shows, in addition to a 1992 one-time appearance in Wings. The character debuts in the Cheers third-season premiere, "Rebound (Part 1)" (1984), as Diane Chambers's love interest, part of the Sam and Diane story arc. Intended to appear for only a few episodes, Grammer's performance for the role was praised by producers, prompting them to expand his role and to increase his prominence.

Life with Martin and Niles

During the course of the spin-off's run, especially in scenes at Frasier's apartment, Frasier and Martin regularly argue over the living arrangements and each other's personalities: Frasier is sophisticated, intellectual, and erudite, while Martin is a rugged man of simple tastes who speaks (according to Frasier) in words that no "sophisticated, educated" person could understand. While Frasier has many common interests with Niles and shares adventures (or misadventures) with him, he has little in common with his father, Martin. In "Dinner at Eight" (1993), Martin takes Frasier and Niles to a themed steakhouse, where health-conscious, snobby Frasier and Niles criticize the food, the restaurant's customs, and the clientele. Martin becomes frustrated and angry before leaving, remarking upon departing that their mother, Hester, would be disappointed with their behavior. Frasier and Niles try to prove that they are not "snobs" by finishing their meal, although it takes them until after closing time. Ironically, in the Cheers season seven episode, "I Kid You Not" (1988), Frasier invites Carla and her son Ludlow to the upper class, expensive restaurant, but Carla and Ludlow criticize and mock it, enraging Frasier. In "Chess Pains", Frasier teaches Martin how to play chess, but is horrified when Martin becomes a better player than him, due to Martin's seasoned insight as a police detective. Frasier becomes obsessed with winning against his father until Frasier wins one match and Martin does not want to play with Frasier anymore. One late night, Frasier wakes Martin up and asks him whether he lost the chess match on purpose. Martin responds that Frasier "won, fair and square" and nothing more. In an episode of the seventh season "A Tsar Is Born" (1999), Martin takes an old family clock, which Frasier and Niles consider hideous, to exhibit on the television show Antiques Roadshow. As the boys soon discover, the clock is related to their ancestors and royalty, and may be worth a fortune, and heightens their expectations of being descended from royalty. Unfortunately, when they try to sell the clock later, the brothers learn from an antique specialist that it was stolen from the daughter of Tsar Alexander II. Moreover, their great-great-grandmother was discovered to have been the clock thief and the daughter's scullery maid, and is discovered to have later been a prostitute in New York City. Therefore, the brothers are left without a fortune, a clock, and their royal dreams are crushed, as Frasier puts it, they are descended from "thieves and whores". Much to their anger, Martin buys a Winnebago RV with money Frasier claimed were the proceeds from selling the clock. CANNOTANSWER

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Cathy Rush

Rush was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey on April 7, 1947 to John and Alice Cowan. She grew up in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey, a township with over 40,000 residents in 2010, but approximately 5,000 when she was in elementary school. Her elementary school consisted of two rooms, with a single teacher for each room. One room housed the first through third grades, while the other room was for the fourth through sixth grades.

Repeat and three-peat

Rene Muth, later to become Rene Portland, the long-time Penn State women's basketball coach, was on each of the championship teams. Her father owned a hardware store, and provided some buckets which some of the parents and the nuns, banged on with wooden dowels to make noise. This was the beginning of the Bucket Brigade. The team still wore pleated tunics and Chuck Taylor Converse sneakers. Some teams wore tunics, while others wore shorts. The Immaculata team wore tunics until the end of the 1973 season, then switched to a two piece blouse and skirt. The Immaculata team again won all their regular season games in the 72-73 season, and earned a spot in the National Tournament. This year, the tournament was hosted by Queens College in New York, making travel easier. The first round game was against Florida State, which Immaculata won 59-48. The quarter-finals match was against Western Washington, which they won 66-53. They moved on to play their third game in two days in the semi-final against Southern Connecticut, one of the premier teams of that era. Southern Connecticut had a twelve-point lead with three minutes to go in the game. The Macs fought back and took the lead, only to have Southern Connecticut tie the game with 26 seconds remaining. Marianne Crawford, the freshman guard for Immaculata, put up a shot, but it was coming off the rim. Theresa Shank saw it, and tipped it in as the buzzer sounded for the two point win, 47-45. The win set up the championship between Immaculata and Queens, playing on the Queens home court. The venue had a seating capacity of 3,000, Some thought the 1972 run had been a fluke, but the repeat performance was convincing fans the Immaculata team was very good. In the championship game, the final score of 59-52 is consistent with a reasonably close game, but the score was 59-37 in the fourth quarter when Rush pulled her starters and the bench players allowed the Queens team to score 15 consecutive points. The win completed the first undefeated season in US college women's basketball history, and the second consecutive National Championship for Immaculata. The Immaculata team went on to win an unprecedented third consecutive championship in the 1974 tournament. After winning a ten-point victory over Kansas State, Immaculata had two close games, winning by four points over Indiana, and by two points over William Penn. In the final, Immaculata faced Mississippi State College for Women, but won by 15 points 68-53. CANNOTANSWER

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Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor

Frederick II (26 December 1194 - 13 December 1250; Sicilian: Fidiricu, Italian: Federico, German: Friedrich) was King of Sicily from 1198, King of Germany from 1212, King of Italy and Holy Roman Emperor from 1220 and King of Jerusalem from 1225. His mother Constance was Queen of Sicily and his father was Henry VI of the Hohenstaufen dynasty. Frederick's reign saw the Holy Roman Empire reaching its all time territorial peak.

Evaluation

Historians rate Frederick II as a highly significant European monarch of the Middle Ages. This reputation was present even in Frederick's era. Lansing and English, two British historians, argue that medieval Palermo has been overlooked in favor of Paris and London: One effect of this approach has been to privilege historical winners, [and] aspects of medieval Europe that became important in later centuries, above all the nation state.... Arguably the liveliest cultural innovation in the 13th century was Mediterranean, centered on Frederick II's polyglot court and administration in Palermo.... Sicily and the Italian South in later centuries suffered a long slide into overtaxed poverty and marginality. Textbook narratives therefore focus not on medieval Palermo, with its Muslim and Jewish bureaucracies and Arabic-speaking monarch, but on the historical winners, Paris and London. Modern medievalists no longer accept the notion, sponsored by the popes, of Frederick as an anti-Christian. They argue that Frederick understood himself as a Christian monarch in the sense of a Byzantine emperor, thus as God's "viceroy" on earth. Whatever his personal feelings toward religion, certainly submission to the pope did not enter into the matter in the slightest. This was in line with the Hohenstaufen Kaiser-Idee, the ideology claiming the Holy Roman Emperor to be the legitimate successor to the Roman Emperors. 20th century treatments of Frederick vary from the sober (Wolfgang Sturner) to the dramatic (Ernst Kantorowicz). However, all agree on Frederick II's significance as Holy Roman Emperor. In the judgment of British historian Geoffrey Barraclough, Frederick's extensive concessions to German princes--which he made in the hopes of securing his base for his Italian projects--undid the political power of his predecessors and postponed German unity for centuries. However, the modern approach to Frederick II tends to be focused on the continuity between Frederick and his predecessors as Kings of Sicily and Holy Roman Emperors, and the similarities between him and other thirteenth-century monarchs. David Abulafia, in a biography subtitled "A Medieval Emperor," argues that Frederick's reputation as an enlightened figure ahead of his time is undeserved, and that Frederick was mostly a conventionally Christian monarch who sought to rule in a conventional medieval manner. CANNOTANSWER

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Queens of the Stone Age

Queens of the Stone Age are an American rock band formed in 1996 in Palm Desert, California. The band's line-up includes founder Josh Homme (lead vocals, guitar, piano), alongside band members Troy Van Leeuwen (guitar, lap steel, keyboard, percussion, backing vocals), Michael Shuman (bass guitar, keyboard, backing vocals), Dean Fertita (keyboards, guitar, percussion, backing vocals), and Jon Theodore (drums, percussion). Formed after the dissolution of Homme's previous band, Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age developed a style of riff-oriented, heavy rock music. Their sound has since evolved to incorporate a variety of different styles and influences, including working with ZZ Top member Billy Gibbons, Nirvana drummer and Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, and Screaming Trees frontman Mark Lanegan who has been a steady contributor to the band.

Formation and debut album (1996-1999)

After the breakup of his previous band, Kyuss, in 1995, Josh Homme briefly joined Screaming Trees as a touring guitarist, before deciding to form a new band, Gamma Ray. In 1996 they released the eponymous Gamma Ray EP, featuring "Born to Hula" and "If Only Everything" (which would later appear on their self-titled debut as 'If Only'). The EP featured Matt Cameron of Soundgarden and Pearl Jam, Van Conner from Screaming Trees, and percussionist Victor Indrizzo. Gamma Ray changed their name in 1997 after the German power metal band Gamma Ray threatened to sue. The name "Queens of the Stone Age" came from a nickname given to Kyuss by their producer Chris Goss. Homme said of the name: "Kings would be too macho. The Kings of the Stone Age wear armor and have axes and wrestle. The Queens of the Stone Age hang out with the Kings of the Stone Age's girlfriends when they wrestle ... Rock should be heavy enough for the boys and sweet enough for the girls. That way everyone's happy and it's more of a party. Kings of the Stone Age is too lopsided." The first release under the Queens of the Stone Age name was the song "18 A.D.," released on the compilation album Burn One Up! Music for Stoners which featured members of the Dutch stoner rock band Beaver. The band's first live appearance was on November 20, 1997, at OK Hotel in Seattle, Washington, with Cameron on drums, Mike Johnson of Dinosaur Jr. on bass and John McBain of Monster Magnet on guitar. In December that year, the band released a split EP, Kyuss/Queens of the Stone Age, which featured three tracks from the Gamma Ray sessions as well as three Kyuss tracks recorded in 1995 prior to their breakup. Queens of the Stone Age released their self-titled debut in 1998 on Stone Gossard's and Regan Hagar's label Loosegroove Records, and on vinyl by Man's Ruin Records. Homme played guitar and bass on the album (the latter credited to Homme's alter-ego Carlo Von Sexron), Alfredo Hernandez on the drums, and several other contributions by Chris Goss and Hutch. Homme reportedly asked Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan to appear on the record, but he was unable due to other commitments. Soon after the recording sessions were finished for the album, former Kyuss bassist Nick Oliveri joined the group, and touring commenced with a band consisting entirely of ex-Kyuss members. Guitarist Dave Catching joined shortly after. From this point forward, the band's line-up would change frequently; by the time their second album was being recorded, Hernandez had left the group to play in other bands. CANNOTANSWER

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Rakim

Rakim is the nephew of the late American R&B singer and actress Ruth Brown. He grew up in Wyandanch, New York, and became involved in the New York hip hop scene when he was eighteen years old. Eric B. brought him to Marley Marl's house to record "Eric B. Is President" in 1986. Rakim, then known as Kid Wizard in 1985, made his first recordings live at Wyandanch High School.

2007-09: The Seventh Seal

Rakim retreated to his Connecticut estate to work leisurely on music. Not having released an album since 1999, he eschewed touring in favor of infrequent gigs. Rakim was able to retain the tracks he had made with Dr. Dre and, in 2006, announced that he would release a new studio album, The Seventh Seal. The album was delayed into 2009; instead, he followed up with a live album, The Archive: Live, Lost & Found, in 2008. In an interview with Billboard in 2007, when asked about story behind The Seventh Seal's title, Rakim said, The number 7 has a lot of significance. The seventh letter of the [Supreme] alphabet is G--that stands for God. There are seven continents, seven seas. The Seventh Seal deals with that and also some revelations in the Bible. Some call it the end of the world, but for me it's the end of the old and the beginning of the new. By me naming my album that, I'm using it metaphorically in hip hop. I'm hoping to kill the old state of hip hop and start with the new. In another interview with Billboard in 2009, he stated, The seals are from the Bible--Revelations and the coming of the Apocalypse. But Islam, Judaism, Christianity--all have a version of the same events. The Lion of Judah breaks the seven seals one by one, each imparting knowledge and inflicting catastrophe, ending with seven trumpets announcing the end of Times. After the Apocalypse, God rises from the ashes to recreate the Kingdom, taking only the greatest elements from the past with them. When you look at Hip-Hop, I want to do that: to spit fire and take our best from the ashes to build our kingdom; to recognize all the regional styles, conscious lyrics, the tracks, underground, mainstream, the way we treat each other. Lose the garbage and rebuild our scene. I've always tried to insert consciousness and spirituality in my records, interpreting the writings of all cultures and religions and how they apply to life in modern times. The Seventh Seal was released on November 17, 2009, after several delays on Rakim's own Ra Records, TVM, and SMC Recordings and distributed through Fontana and Universal Music Group. Considered a comeback album after a ten-year gap between releases, the album features the two singles: "Holy Are You", which was released on July 14, 2009, and "Walk These Streets" which was released on October 7, 2009. It features production from several renowned hip hop artists, including Nottz, J. Wells, Needlz, Jake One, and Nick Wiz The album sold 12,000 copies in the United States by November 22, 2009, according to SoundScan. Upon its release, The Seventh Seal received generally mixed or average reviews from most music critics; it holds an aggregate score of 59/100 at Metacritic. CANNOTANSWER

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Rakim

Rakim is the nephew of the late American R&B singer and actress Ruth Brown. He grew up in Wyandanch, New York, and became involved in the New York hip hop scene when he was eighteen years old. Eric B. brought him to Marley Marl's house to record "Eric B. Is President" in 1986. Rakim, then known as Kid Wizard in 1985, made his first recordings live at Wyandanch High School.

2011-present: Fourth studio album

In 2011, Rakim performed Paid in Full in its entirety at the Blue Note Jazz Club in New York City, in honor of the album's 25th anniversary. He was backed by The Roots. In 2012, Rakim announced that he and Eric B. will release a 25th anniversary edition of their 1987 album Paid in Full, which will contain new tracks recorded by Eric B. & Rakim, by the end of 2012; Rakim announced he would release a new solo album by the end of 2012. He performed at the annual Roots' Picnic in Philadelphia in June. In an interview with The Detroit Free Press he announced he was in the studio with Pharrell Williams working on a new album set to be released in 2013, saying the first single will be released before the end of the year. On September 24, 2013, he released a collaborative single with DMX entitled "Don't Call Me". In 2014, Rakim is featured on the collaborative single with American rock band Linkin Park, titled "Guilty All the Same". The song was released on March 6, 2014 under Warner Bros. Records, as the first single from their sixth studio album, titled The Hunting Party. He contributed his rap vocals during the bridge for the main version of the song; however, he is not featured on a radio edit of the song. The song was officially released on March 7, 2014, for digital download. On April 27, 2015, Rakim announced he was working on a new album and planned to release it in the middle or end of 2015. He said "This is one of those albums where I can have fun. My last album, The Seventh Seal, was somewhat of a conscious album. I wanted to make a statement on that album." CANNOTANSWER

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Miyavi

Miyavi was born in the Nishikujo district in Konohana-ku ward, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, to a Korean Japanese father and a Japanese mother. After the first grade, he moved to Kawanishi. His father's family, surnamed Lee, came from Jeju Island. Miyavi says that as a child he was a good student and enjoyed playing football.

2009-2011: Founding J-Glam Inc.

In 2004, he starred as himself in the film Oresama. In February he went on his first solo tour, Tokyo Dassou, and in July additional dates were added in Korea and Taiwan. In June his seventh single, "Ashita, Genki Ni Naare", was released, which charted twenty-second, and number one on the indies chart. In August a small, free, fan-club-only event was organized in Tokyo Dome, and on the 31st he held his last indie concert at the Nippon Budokan. In October, he signed a major contract with Universal Music Group, but was still co-managed by PS Company. This was followed by the release of his first major (double) single, "Rock no Gyakushuu/21sekikei Koushinkyoku", which entered the top ten on the charts. During May 2005 another single, "Freedom Fighters -Icecream wo Motta Hadashi no Megami to, Kikanjuu wo Motta Hadaka no Ousama-", was released, which charted tenth, and on June 1, his first major album, Miyavizm, was released. It was his first album to enter the top ten in the charts. It was followed by the third major single, "Kekkon Shiki Uta/Are you ready to Rock?", which is his best charting single, along with "Dear My Friend"/"Itoshii Hito", released in 2006; both reached number six. In December he performed at the first Peace & Smile Carnival organized by PS Company. In late 2005 and for most of 2006, Miyavi shifted to an acoustic/pop sound reflected in his second and third major albums, MYV Pops and Miyaviuta -Dokusou-, released on August 2 and September 13 respectively. They charted at fifteenth and twenty-fifth. The first album singles, "Senor Senora Senorita/Gigpig Boogie" and "Kimi ni Negai Wo", are not different in style. They charted as tenth and twenty-sixth respectively. Miyavi showcased his new acoustic style for the first time in the 25 Shunen Kinen Koen concert series held at Tokyo Geijutsu Gekijo for five days in September around his 25th birthday. Miyavi left for America for the next six months to study the English language and take dance classes, and, on the weekends, went to Venice Beach and gave street performances. On February 17, Miyavi, having been invited by the break dancer Mr. Freeze, performed with the local DJ and percussionist at his first solo concert in the United States, at the Tabu Ultra Lounge in the MGM Grand, Las Vegas. On May 25, at the JRock Revolution concert organized by Yoshiki Hayashi at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles, it was officially announced that Miyavi would be a member of a band named S.K.I.N.. On June 29, the band held their debut and their only concert yet at the anime expo in Long Beach, California. In June, Miyavi's seventh major single (and 14th overall), "Sakihokoru Hana no you ni -Neo Visualizm-/Kabuki Danshi", was released in Japan, which charted as twelfth. In July, a remixed extended play, 7 Samurai Sessions -We're Kavki Boiz-, was released, which includes re-arrangements of his past songs. It charted as forty-fourth. It was followed by Miyavi's nationwide tour, which started on July 16. He also performed at Animagic in Bonn, Germany, and in Seoul, South Korea. In November his tenth major single was released, "Subarashikikana, Kono Sekai - What A Wonderful World", which charted as thirteenth. On January 16, 2008, his ninth major single was released, "Hi no Hikari Sae Todokanai Kono Basho De", on which he collaborated with fellow Skin guitarist Sugizo. It is his third single to enter the top ten. On March 19, his fourth major studio album was released, titled, This Iz the Japanese Kabuki Rock, which charted as twenty-fifth. In May, it was followed by his very first worldwide tour, This Iz The Japanese Kabuki Rock Tour 2008, with 33 concerts in the United States, Chile, Brazil, Germany, England, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Finland, France, Taiwan, South Korea, China and Japan. The tour covered a distance of approximately 48,385 miles, equivalent to almost two trips around the world, and the majority of the concerts were sold out and covered extensively by media organizations. It was the most successful international tour undertaken by a Japanese artist in history. On June 27, a compilation album, Azn Pride -This Iz the Japanese Kabuki Rock-, was released in Korea and Taiwan, later also in Japan, which charted as forty-fourth. In September he performed in Beijing, China. On December 24, a remix album was released, Room No. 382, which failed to enter the top hundred. In 2009, on January 3, Miyavi performed at the 10th Anniversary Commemorative concert by PS Company at the Nippon Budokan. On April 5, Miyavi left the PS Company because their ten-year contract expired, and on April 8 launched his own company, J-Glam inc., of which he is the president. On April 22, a compilation album was released, Victory Road to the King of Neo Visual Rock, which includes all his major singles with Universal Group. On June 1, "Super Hero," a new song, was released through his official Myspace, and in September his International Fanclub was opened. On September 19, Miyavi started his second worldwide tour, Neo Tokyo Samurai Black 2009/2010, in Moscow, Russia. He held 17 concerts in Europe, visiting Austria, Hungary and Italy for the first time. The tour immediately continued in South America, with concerts in Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Mexico. The United States leg was canceled due to illness and an injury, but Miyavi managed to perform in November at Anime Matsuri, Texas. On December 31, he signed a new contract with EMI Music Japan. On March 10, 2010, his first single with EMI was released, "Survive", via iTunes. The worldwide tour was continued on March 28, with the concert at Human Stage, Okinawa, and nationwide. In June and early July he toured throughout the United States and Canada, and in October for the first time in Australia. On September 15, his eleventh major single was released, "Torture". On October 13, his fifth studio album was released, What's My Name?, which charted as twenty-sixth. On November 6, he performed at the EMI Rocks 50th anniversary event at the Saitama Super Arena. In March 2011, a new world tour, titled What's My Name?, began in Europe, with his first visit to Belgium. In April the tour continued in Japan, while in July Miyavi performed in France, and in September at the Mount Taishan MAO Rock Festival in China. In May 2011, a live album, Live in London 2011, was released, which was recorded during the London concert in March. On October 5, his twelfth major single, "Strong", was released, in collaboration with Japanese rapper Kreva. It was followed by the North American leg of the tour. Miyavi performed in South America at the Maquinaria festival in Chile, and visited Venezuela, Peru and Colombia for the first time. CANNOTANSWER

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Miyavi

Miyavi was born in the Nishikujo district in Konohana-ku ward, Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, to a Korean Japanese father and a Japanese mother. After the first grade, he moved to Kawanishi. His father's family, surnamed Lee, came from Jeju Island. Miyavi says that as a child he was a good student and enjoyed playing football.

2012-2014: Miyavi and international acting career

In 2012, Miyavi performed on February 19 at the second EMI Rocks event in Saitama Super Arena. On June 29, he performed at the EHZ Festival in Helette, while on June 30, he was the only Asian representative at the Main Square Festival in Arras, France. On July 11, his thirteenth major single, "Day 1," was released in collaboration with the French electronic producer and DJ, Yuksek. In August, he performed at the Kubana Festival in Russia. On September 8, Miyavi performed at the 908 Festival, organized by Kreva, in Saitama Super Arena. In October two concerts were held in Indonesia. On November 14, Samurai Sessions vol.1, his second EP, was released, which featured collaboration with various artists, and it was followed by a short nationwide tour. It reached 21 on the Oricon charts. On February 28, 2013, "Ahead of the Light", Miyavi's fourteenth single, was released; a promotional tour of the same name followed. On June 19, his seventh studio album, Miyavi, was released in Japan. It is his best-selling album so far, reaching number eight on the Oricon charts. On October 12, 2013, it was announced that Miyavi would venture into professional acting with his international debut in the film Unbroken. He played the role of Imperial Japanese Army sergeant Mutsuhiro Watanabe, nicknamed "The Bird", in what was Angelina Jolie's second feature film as director. It was released in December 2014. Miyavi commented that as the movie was somewhat sensitive to the Japanese people, he had hesitated as to whether he should take this role. However, after meeting with Jolie, and given that the underlying theme of this story is forgiveness, he wholeheartedly decided to accept it. Miyavi was featured in the same month's edition of Vogue Italia. In 2013 Miyavi was nominated for the MTV Europe Music Award for Best Japanese Act, and at the MTV Video Music Awards Japan he won the Best Collaboration category with Yuksek. In 2014, the music video of "Horizon" was nominated for the Best Male Video at the MTV Video Music Awards Japan. In 2014, Miyavi went on his fourth world tour, "Slap the World", which started on February 22 in Malaysia. He continued throughout Europe, followed by the European release of his latest studio album, and visited Mexico City and Los Angeles, with United States release of the album, before returning to Japan for his longest nationwide tour so far. Miyavi composed the music for the single "Top Of The World" by SMAP, which topped the Oricon singles charts. On August 25, he performed for the first time at Fuji Rock Festival. On September 9, his new single "Real?" was released, on which Miyavi collaborated with Jam and Lewis and Jeff Blue, and also the live video recording from the world tour. CANNOTANSWER

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Queens of the Stone Age

Queens of the Stone Age are an American rock band formed in 1996 in Palm Desert, California. The band's line-up includes founder Josh Homme (lead vocals, guitar, piano), alongside band members Troy Van Leeuwen (guitar, lap steel, keyboard, percussion, backing vocals), Michael Shuman (bass guitar, keyboard, backing vocals), Dean Fertita (keyboards, guitar, percussion, backing vocals), and Jon Theodore (drums, percussion). Formed after the dissolution of Homme's previous band, Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age developed a style of riff-oriented, heavy rock music. Their sound has since evolved to incorporate a variety of different styles and influences, including working with ZZ Top member Billy Gibbons, Nirvana drummer and Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, and Screaming Trees frontman Mark Lanegan who has been a steady contributor to the band.

Songs for the Deaf, mainstream exposure and Oliveri's departure (2001-2004)

Foo Fighters frontman and former Nirvana drummer, Dave Grohl, joined in late 2001 to record drums for their third album. Songs for the Deaf was released in August 2002, again featuring Lanegan, along with former A Perfect Circle guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen to the touring line-up following the album's release. Also featured on Songs for the Deaf for the final track "Mosquito Song" were former A Perfect Circle bassist Paz Lenchantin on viola and piano, and Dean Ween on guitar. This record was supposed to sound bizarre--like lightning in a bottle. We also were extremely fucked up. It even sounds that way to me, like a crazy person. The radio interludes are supposed to be like the drive from L.A. to Joshua Tree, a drive that makes you feel like you're letting go--more David Lynch with every mile. Songs for the Deaf was a critical hit and was certified gold in 2003, with sales of over 900,000. The singles "No One Knows" and "Go with the Flow" became hits on radio and MTV, with the former just outside the Billboard Top 40. "No One Knows" and "Go with the Flow" were also featured on the first iterations of the popular video games Guitar Hero and Rock Band (respectively). The Songs for the Deaf tour culminated in a string of headline dates in Australia in January 2004. Grohl returned to his other projects and was replaced on the European leg of the tour by former Danzig drummer Joey Castillo, who joined the band full-time. After the tour, Homme fired Oliveri, as he was convinced that Oliveri had been physically abusive to his girlfriend: "A couple years ago, I spoke to Nick about a rumor I heard. I said, 'If I ever find out that this is true, I can't know you, man.'" Homme considered breaking up the band after firing Oliveri, but found a new determination to continue. Oliveri countered in the press that the band had been "poisoned by hunger for power" and that without him, they were "Queens Lite." He later softened his opinion and said: "My relationship with Josh is good. The new Queens record kicks ass." The two reportedly are still friends and as of October 2006, Oliveri was interested in rejoining the band. Oliveri later contributed to a Queens of the Stone Age for the first time in nine years, contributing backing vocals to the band's sixth album, ...Like Clockwork. CANNOTANSWER

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Rudolf Friml

Born in Prague, Czech Republic (then part of the Austro Hungarian empire) Friml showed aptitude for music at an early age. He entered the Prague Conservatory in 1895, where he studied the piano and composition with Antonin Dvorak. Friml was expelled from the conservatory in 1901 for performing without permission.

The Firefly and early operettas

One of the most popular theatrical forms in the early decades of the 20th century in America was the operetta, and its most famous composer was Irish-born Victor Herbert. It was announced in 1912 that operetta diva Emma Trentini would be starring in a new operetta on Broadway by Herbert with lyricist Otto Harbach entitled The Firefly. Shortly before the writing of the operetta, Trentini appeared in a special performance of Herbert's Naughty Marietta conducted by Herbert himself. When Trentini refused to sing "Italian Street Song" for the encore, an enraged Herbert stormed out of the orchestra pit refusing any further work with Trentini. Arthur Hammerstein, the operetta's sponsor, frantically began to search for another composer. Not finding any other theatre composer who could compose as well as Herbert, Hammerstein settled on the almost unknown Friml because of his classical training. After a month of work, Friml produced the score for what would be his first theatrical success. After tryouts in Syracuse, New York, The Firefly opened at the Lyric Theatre on December 2, 1912 to a warm reception by both the audience and the critics. The production moved to the Casino Theatre after Christmas, where it ran until March 15, 1913, for a total of 120 performances. After The Firefly, Friml produced three more operettas that each had longer runs than The Firefly, although they are not as enduringly successful. These were High Jinks (1913), Katinka (1915) and You're in Love (1917). He also contributed songs to a musical in 1915 entitled The Peasant Girl. Trentini was named as a co-respondent in Friml's divorce from his first wife in 1915, and evidence was introduced that they were having an affair. Another show, Sometime, written with Rida Johnson Young and starring Ed Wynn and Mae West, ran well on Broadway in 1918-1919. CANNOTANSWER

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Rudolf Friml

Born in Prague, Czech Republic (then part of the Austro Hungarian empire) Friml showed aptitude for music at an early age. He entered the Prague Conservatory in 1895, where he studied the piano and composition with Antonin Dvorak. Friml was expelled from the conservatory in 1901 for performing without permission.

Friml's greatest successes

Friml wrote his most famous operettas in the 1920s. In 1924, he wrote Rose-Marie. This operetta, on which Friml collaborated with lyricists Oscar Hammerstein II and Otto Harbach and co-composer Herbert Stothart, was a hit worldwide, and a few of the songs from it also became hits including "The Mounties" and "Indian Love Call". The use of murder as part of the plot was ground-breaking among operettas and musical theatre pieces at the time. After Rose-Marie's success came two other hit operettas, The Vagabond King in 1925, with lyrics by Brian Hooker and William H. Post, and The Three Musketeers in 1928, with lyrics by P. G. Wodehouse and Clifford Grey, based on Alexandre Dumas's famous swashbuckling novel. In addition, Friml contributed to the Ziegfeld Follies of 1921 and 1923. Friml wrote music for many films during the 1930s, often songs adapted from previous work. The Vagabond King, Rose-Marie and The Firefly were all made into films and included at least some of Friml's music. Oddly enough, his operetta version of The Three Musketeers was never filmed, despite the fact that the novel itself has been filmed many times. In 1930, he wrote a new operetta score for film, The Lottery Bride. Like his contemporary, Ivor Novello, Friml was sometimes ridiculed for the sentimental and insubstantial nature of his compositions and was often called trite. Friml was also criticized for the old-fashioned, Old World sentiments found in his works. Friml's last stage musical was Music Hath Charms in 1934. During the 1930s, Friml's music fell out of fashion on Broadway and in Hollywood. CANNOTANSWER

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Florence Lawrence

Born Florence Annie Bridgwood in Hamilton, Ontario, she was youngest of three children of George Bridgwood, an English-born carriage builder and Charlotte "Lotta" Bridgwood (nee Dunn), a vaudeville actress. Charlotte Bridgwood had emigrated to Canada from Ireland after the Great Famine with her family as a child. She was known professionally as Lotta Lawrence and was the leading lady and director of the Lawrence Dramatic Company. At the age of three, Lawrence made her debut onstage with her mother in a song and dance routine.

Biograph Studios

Also at Vitagraph was a young actor, Harry Solter, who was looking for "a young, beautiful equestrian girl" to star in a film to be produced by the Biograph Studios under the direction of D.W. Griffith. Griffith, the most prominent producer-director at Biograph Studios, had noticed the beautiful blonde-haired woman in one of Vitagraph's films. Because the film's actors received no mention, Griffith had to make discreet inquiries to learn she was Florence Lawrence and to arrange a meeting. Griffith had intended to give the part to Biograph's leading lady, Florence Turner, but Lawrence managed to convince Solter and Griffith that she was the best suited for the starring role in The Girl and the Outlaw. With the Vitagraph Company, she had been earning $20 a week, working also as a costume seamstress over and above acting. Griffith offered her a job, acting only, for $25 a week. After her success in this role, she appeared as a society belle in Betrayed by a Handprint and as an Indian in The Red Girl. In total, she had parts in most of the 60 films directed by Griffith in 1908. Toward the end of 1908 Lawrence married Harry Solter. Lawrence gained much popularity, but because her name was never publicized, fans began writing the studio asking for it. Even after she had gained wide recognition, particularly after starring in the highly successful Resurrection, Biograph Studios refused to publicly announce her name and fans simply called her "The Biograph Girl". During cinema's formative years, silent screen actors were not named, because studio owners feared that fame might lead to demands for higher wages. She continued to work for Biograph in 1909. Her demand to be paid by the week rather than daily was met, and she received double the normal rate. She achieved great popularity in the "Jones" series, filmdom's first comedy series, in which she played Mrs. Jones in around a dozen films. More popular still were the dramatic love stories in which she co-starred with John R. Cumpson, as Mr. Jones, and Arthur Johnson. The two played husband and wife in The Ingrate, and the adulterous lovers in Resurrection. Lawrence and Solter began to look elsewhere for work, writing to the Essanay Company to offer their services as leading lady and director. Rather than accepting this offer, however, Essanay reported the offer to Biograph's head office, and they were promptly fired. CANNOTANSWER

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Florence Lawrence

Born Florence Annie Bridgwood in Hamilton, Ontario, she was youngest of three children of George Bridgwood, an English-born carriage builder and Charlotte "Lotta" Bridgwood (nee Dunn), a vaudeville actress. Charlotte Bridgwood had emigrated to Canada from Ireland after the Great Famine with her family as a child. She was known professionally as Lotta Lawrence and was the leading lady and director of the Lawrence Dramatic Company. At the age of three, Lawrence made her debut onstage with her mother in a song and dance routine.

Independent Moving Pictures Company

Finding themselves "at liberty," Lawrence and Solter in 1909 were able to join the Independent Moving Pictures Company of America (IMP). The company, founded by Carl Laemmle, the owner of a film exchange (who later absorbed IMP into Universal Pictures, which he also founded and also the president), was looking for experienced filmmakers and actors. Needing a star, he lured Lawrence away from Biograph by promising to give her a marquee. First, Laemmle organized a publicity stunt by starting a rumor that Lawrence had been killed by a street car in New York City. Then, after gaining much media attention, he placed ads in the newspapers that announced, "We nail a lie", and included a photo of Lawrence. The ad declared she is alive and well and making The Broken Oath, a new movie for his IMP Film Company to be directed by Solter. Laemmle had Lawrence make a personal appearance in St. Louis, Missouri in March 1910 with her leading man to show her fans that she was very much alive, making her one of the first performers not already famous in another medium to be identified by name by her studio. Laemmle generated attention by falsely claiming that Lawrence's St. Louis fans were so excited to learn that she had not died that they rushed her in a frenzy and tore her clothes off. Partially due to Laemmle's ingenuity, the "star system" was born and before long, Florence Lawrence became a household name. However, her fame also proved that the studio executives who had concerns over wage demands soon had their fears proved correct. Laemmle managed to lure William Ranous, one of Vitagraph's best directors, over to IMP. Ranous introduced Laemmle to Lawrence and Solter, and they began to work together. Lawrence and Solter worked for IMP for eleven months, making fifty films. After this, they went on vacation in Europe. When they returned to the United States, they joined a film company headed by Siegmund Lubin, described as the "wisest and most democratic film producer in history". She once again teamed with Arthur Johnson, and the pair made 48 films together under Lubin's direction. At the time, the film industry was controlled by the Motion Picture Patents Company (MPPC), a trust formed by the major film companies. IMP was not a member of the MPPC, and hence operated outside its distribution system. Theaters found showing IMP films lost the right to screen MPPC films. IMP, therefore, had powerful enemies in the film industry. It managed to survive largely due to Lawrence's popularity. CANNOTANSWER

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Amílcar Cabral

Amilcar Lopes da Costa Cabral (Portuguese: [a'milkar 'lopiS ka'bral]; (1924-09-12)12 September 1924 - (1973-01-20)20 January 1973) was a Bissau-Guinean and Cape Verdean agricultural engineer, intellectual, poet, theoretician, revolutionary, political organizer, nationalist and diplomat. He was one of Africa's foremost anti-colonial leaders.

War for independence

From 1963 to his assassination in 1973, Cabral led the PAIGC's guerrilla movement (in Portuguese Guinea) against the Portuguese government, which evolved into one of the most successful wars of independence in modern African history. The goal of the conflict was to attain independence for both Portuguese Guinea and Cape Verde. Over the course of the conflict, as the movement captured territory from the Portuguese, Cabral became the de facto leader of a large portion of what became Guinea-Bissau. In preparation for the independence war, Cabral set up training camps in Ghana with the permission of Kwame Nkrumah. Cabral trained his lieutenants through various techniques, including mock conversations to provide them with effective communication skills that would aid their efforts to mobilize Guinean tribal chiefs to support the PAIGC. Cabral realized the war effort could be sustained only if his troops could be fed and taught to live off the land alongside the larger populace. Being an agronomist, he taught his troops to teach local crop growers better farming techniques, so that they could increase productivity and be able to feed their own family and tribe, as well as the soldiers enlisted in the PAIGC's military wing. When not fighting, PAIGC soldiers would till and plow the fields alongside the local population. Cabral and the PAIGC also set up a trade-and-barter bazaar system that moved around the country and made staple goods available to the countryside at prices lower than that of colonial store owners. During the war, Cabral also set up a roving hospital and triage station to give medical care to wounded PAIGC soldiers and quality-of-life care to the larger populace, relying on medical supplies garnered from the USSR and Sweden. The bazaars and triage stations were at first stationary, until they came under frequent attack from Portuguese regime forces. CANNOTANSWER

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Skinny Puppy

Skinny Puppy is a Canadian industrial music group formed in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1982. The group is widely considered to be one of the founders of the electro-industrial genre. Initially envisioned as an experimental side project by cEvin Key (Kevin Crompton) while he was in the new wave band Images in Vogue, Skinny Puppy evolved into a full-time project with the addition of vocalist Nivek Ogre (Kevin Ogilvie). Over the course of a dozen studio albums and many live tours, Key and Ogre have been the only constant members.

Live performances

Skinny Puppy is noted for theatrical and controversial live performances which blend performance art with music, especially in an ambitious period that spanned their Head Trauma (1987-1988), VIVIsectVI (1988), Too Dark Park (1990), and Last Rights (1992) tours. Ogre has been critical of the bands early performances, telling Spin magazine in 1992 that "I would do things on stage that would blow-they just wouldn't work". Live performances involved periods of musical improvisation, film projections, and elaborate stage props and machines, many of which are designed and built by Ogre himself. While discussing Skinny Puppy's performances, Ogre once remarked that "our shows combine images with theater. It works better than just coming out and doing a horror magic routine". On-stage theatrics included Ogre being suspended from racks and cables, play with a hangman's noose, Key cutting steel with an angle grinder, and mock executions of Ogre and George H.W. Bush. Following the 2004 Presidential Election in the United States, promoters began to ask the band to refrain from using fake blood during their performances. This reaction was prompted by the performance of a mock execution on stage, during which Ogre was decapitated by actors dressed as then U.S. President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. The band was also asked by Samsung (who had been asked by Ogre to sponsor the band with a large flat screen) to "not insult the president" while performing on stage. In a 1987 television interview with Kim Clarke Champniss, Key explained that while Ogre follows a "rough guideline" during a live performance, a majority of his on-stage theatrics are thought up of spontaneously. Key told Champniss that Ogre's demeanor on stage could "range from just a sort of laid back kind of lurking to a rampant psycho". Ogre once remarked that touring was, for himself, like "dating hydrogen peroxide", referencing the numerous injuries which he would acquire over the course of touring. Though Ogre and Key have remained the only constant members of Skinny Puppy's live act since the death of Dwayne Goettel, several other musicians have been hired to accompany the pair since 2004. They include drummer Justin Bennett, guitarist William Morrison, and guitarist Matthew Setzer. CANNOTANSWER

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Skinny Puppy

Skinny Puppy is a Canadian industrial music group formed in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1982. The group is widely considered to be one of the founders of the electro-industrial genre. Initially envisioned as an experimental side project by cEvin Key (Kevin Crompton) while he was in the new wave band Images in Vogue, Skinny Puppy evolved into a full-time project with the addition of vocalist Nivek Ogre (Kevin Ogilvie). Over the course of a dozen studio albums and many live tours, Key and Ogre have been the only constant members.

Influence and legacy

Despite little mainstream airplay, several Skinny Puppy releases have charted in North America and Europe, and their influence on industrial and electronic music is considerable. Widely considered originators of a unique sound and live performance style, Skinny Puppy are also known as pioneers of industrial rock and electro-industrial, genres in which they may be seen to have spawned "a litter of like-minded bands". Their influence extends from independent acts like Tin Omen, to industrial rock stars Nine Inch Nails, who opened for Skinny Puppy for a short time on their 1988 North American tour. Trent Reznor also acknowledged that Skinny Puppy's "Dig It" inspired the very first Nine Inch Nails track written, "Down in It". Canadian synthpop artist Grimes includes Skinny Puppy as an influence on her music, having grown up in Vancouver's industrial music scene. Sara Taylor of the EBM group Youth Code has said that the song "Worlock" was "one of the most influential songs" she had ever heard. Other artists that have been impacted by Skinny Puppy's music include Marilyn Manson, Chester Bennington, 3Teeth, Foals vocalist Yannis Philippakis, Al Jourgensen, X Marks the Pedwalk, Wumpscut, Haujobb, Orgy, Filter, Front Line Assembly, Orphx, Crystal Castles, and Mayhem vocalist Attila Csihar. The band inspired a tribute album, Hymns of the Worlock: A Tribute to Skinny Puppy published by Cleopatra Records, which features groups such as Crocodile Shop and The Electric Hellfire Club. Skinny Puppy's remix album Remix Dystemper, published by Nettwerk Productions, includes contributions from a wide array of musicians such as electronic music DJ Josh Wink, Guru, KMFDM, Deftones, and former Nine Inch Nails drummer Chris Vrenna. Vrenna's solo project, Tweaker, opened for Skinny Puppy during their 2004 North American tour. Danny Carey from Tool and Wayne Static of Static-X provided drums and backup vocals, respectively, for the song "Use Less" from The Greater Wrong of the Right. Ogre worked with KMFDM on several occasions, touring with them in 1997 and providing vocals on the song "Torture" from their album Symbols (the song also features production from Dave Ogilvie) as well as for the songs "That's All" and "Full Worm Garden" from 1999's Adios. Skinny Puppy also provided a remix for the Motley Crue song "Hooligan's Holiday"; Nikki Sixx reported that the band "just dumped the whole song in the computer and went off". Skinny Puppy's music has been included in the soundtracks of films such as Bad Influence, An American Werewolf in Paris, The Blair Witch Project, Underworld, and Saw II, among others. The group was given a brief role as the "gang of goons" in the 1995 dark comedy film The Doom Generation. The 1996 Video Game Descent II included original music from Ogre and Mark Walk, while the 2014 PlayStation exclusive LittleBigPlanet 3 featured the song "Rodent" from the album Rabies. While discussing the possibility of Nine Inch Nails being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Richard Patrick of the band Filter remarked "what about Skinny Puppy?", going on to say that while Nine Inch Nails is the more famous of the two, Skinny Puppy were one of the first groups to craft "scary and mean" industrial music. CANNOTANSWER

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Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music

Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music is a studio album by American R&B singer-songwriter and musician Ray Charles. It was recorded by Charles in February 1962 at Capitol Studios in New York City and at United Recording Studios in Hollywood, then released in April of that year by ABC-Paramount Records. The album departed stylistically from the singer's previous rhythm and blues music. It featured country, folk, and Western music standards reworked by Charles in popular song forms of the time, including R&B, pop, and jazz.

Conception

Following his blues fusion with gospel and jazz influences on his earlier Atlantic material, which had brought him much fame and controversy, Charles sought to experiment with country music. As noted by himself in the liner notes for What'd I Say (1959), Charles was influenced by the genre in his youth, stating that he "used to play piano in a hillbilly band" and that he believed that he "could do a good job with the right hillbilly song today." At Atlantic, he attempted to incorporate this style and influence with his cover of country singer Hank Snow's "I'm Movin' On". Charles later said about the song, "When I heard Hank Snow sing 'Moving On', I loved it. And the lyrics. Keep in mind, I'm a singer, so I like lyrics. Those lyrics are great, so that's what made me want to do it." The "I'm Movin' On" sessions were his last for Atlantic. Charles's recording of his acclaimed studio effort The Genius of Ray Charles (1959) brought him closer to expressing his jazz and pop crossover ambitions. Described by one music critic as "the most important of his albums for Atlantic", the record was the first to introduce Charles's musical approach of blending his brassy R&B sound with the more middle of the road, pop-oriented style, while performing in the presence of a big band ensemble. Recording of the album, as well his ABC-Paramount debut, The Genius Hits the Road (1960), a collection of place-name songs devoted to parts of the United States, expanded on Charles's thematic and conceptually-organized approach to albums rather than commercially successful singles production. Inspired by this approach and his recording of "I'm Movin' On", Charles originally made plans for a single-less concept album. When Charles had announced that he wanted to work on an album of country music in 1961, during a period of racial segregation and tension in the United States, he received generally negative commentary and feedback from his peers, including fellow R&B musicians and ABC-Paramount executives. The country album concept, however, meant more to Charles as a test of his record label's faith in him and respect for his artistic freedom than as a test of social tolerance among listeners amid racial distinctions of country and R&B. Fueled by his esteem for creative control, Charles pitched the idea of a country album to ABC representatives. Following the successful lobby of the concept and a contract renewal in early 1962, which was linked to the launching of his own Tangerine label, Charles prepared his band for the recording sessions that produced Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music. CANNOTANSWER

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Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music

Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music is a studio album by American R&B singer-songwriter and musician Ray Charles. It was recorded by Charles in February 1962 at Capitol Studios in New York City and at United Recording Studios in Hollywood, then released in April of that year by ABC-Paramount Records. The album departed stylistically from the singer's previous rhythm and blues music. It featured country, folk, and Western music standards reworked by Charles in popular song forms of the time, including R&B, pop, and jazz.

Recording

Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music was the 18th overall LP Charles had recorded. According to him, the title of the album was conceived by producer Sid Feller and ABC-Paramount's executives and management people. The recording sessions for the album took place at three sessions in mid-February 1962. The first two sessions were set on February 5 and 7 at Capitol Studios in New York, New York, at which one half of the album was recorded and produced. The other half was recorded on February 15 of that same year at United Recording Studios in Hollywood, California. Instead of drawing what he should record from memory and his knowledge of country music, Charles asked Feller, his newly appointed A&R (Artists and Repertoire) man, to research top country standards through major country music publishers. By canvassing premier country publishing companies, such as Acuff-Rose Publishing (which featured the Hank Williams catalog) and Hill & Range Songs (most of which were located in Nashville, Tennessee), Feller amassed around 250 songs on tape for Charles to consider recording for Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music. From New York City, Feller sent the recordings to Charles, who was living in California at the time, for him to choose. According to music essayist Daniel Cooper: While his selections provided the album's country and western foundation, the musical arrangements represented its contemporary influence. Eager to display his big band ensemble in studio, Charles enlisted premier jazz arrangers Gerald Wilson and Gil Fuller, while Marty Paich, who was active in the West Coast jazz scene, was hired to arrange the lush strings and chorus numbers. Despite enlisting a roster of professional arrangers and musicians, Charles intended to control the artistic direction of the recordings. To indicate specific licks he wanted emphasized for certain songs, Charles would put together voice-and-piano demos and pass them along to the arrangers, informing them of what he wanted to do with specific sounds. According to Feller, at one point during recording, Charles rewrote an entire botched arrangement and dictated the parts to each of the 18 backing musicians. CANNOTANSWER

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King's X

King's X is an American rock band that combines progressive metal, funk and soul with vocal arrangements influenced by gospel, blues, and British Invasion rock groups. The band's lyrics are largely based on the members' struggles with religion and self-acceptance. King's X was ranked No. 83 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock.

Megaforce era (1988-1991)

The group released its debut album as King's X, entitled Out of the Silent Planet, in 1988. Despite being hailed by music critics, the album did not fare well commercially, peaking at No. 144 on the Billboard album charts. The songs "King" and "Shot of Love" were released as singles, but failed to garner much attention. The album derives its name from the C. S. Lewis novel Out of the Silent Planet. This appears to be the band's first of multiple references to the British author. In 1989, the band released Gretchen Goes to Nebraska. Considered by many fans to be their landmark album and most creative period, the album fared only slightly better from a commercial standpoint than Out of the Silent Planet. The band played with a wide variety of acts while touring in support of it, including Anthrax, Suicidal Tendencies, M.O.D., Living Colour, Billy Squier and Blue Murder. The album contains many fan favorites such as "Summerland", "Mission", and "The Burning Down". The song "The Difference (In the Garden of St. Anne's-on-the-Hill)" appears to be another C.S. Lewis reference, this time to a scene in the book That Hideous Strength, third and final installment of the "science-fiction" trilogy begun by Out of the Silent Planet. The song "Pleiades" is credited by Ty Tabor as being the genesis of the King's X sound when he presented the demo to the other band members a few years earlier. Significantly, the song "Over My Head" received moderate airplay on MTV and radio. The increase in exposure would prove beneficial when the band released their third album, Faith Hope Love, in late 1990. It was the group's first album to crack the U.S. Top 100, with the help of the successful single "It's Love". Another track, the funk-rock "We Were Born to Be Loved", enjoyed a long life on Late Show with David Letterman as a commercial bumper instrumental favorite of Paul Shaffer's CBS Orchestra. King's X was featured in the February 1991 issue of Rolling Stone (RS598). Still, with major mainstream success continuously eluding them, King's X began questioning Sam Taylor's management vision for the group. The band landed the opening slot for Iron Maiden in Europe on their No Prayer for the Dying tour in late 1990, and AC/DC in the U.S. and Europe for the first half of 1991. They also toured with Living Colour, themselves near the peak of their popularity. In the middle of that year, their song "Junior's Gone Wild" appeared on the soundtrack to the movie Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey. CANNOTANSWER

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King's X

King's X is an American rock band that combines progressive metal, funk and soul with vocal arrangements influenced by gospel, blues, and British Invasion rock groups. The band's lyrics are largely based on the members' struggles with religion and self-acceptance. King's X was ranked No. 83 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock.

Atlantic era (1992-1997)

The band was moved up to Megaforce's parent label Atlantic Records for the release of their fourth album, King's X, in early 1992. However, rising tensions with Taylor led the band to eschew the upbeat approach of previous albums and turn out a darker, more introspective effort. Unfortunately, despite critical praise, their new style did not translate well among the record-buying public, thus garnering fewer sales than Faith, Hope, Love. "Black Flag", the album's lone single, received only moderate airplay on MTV and radio. Not long after the release of King's X, the band parted ways with Taylor. The details of the split were not made public, but it was believed to be rather bitter. Taylor would admit in 1996 that his company Wilde Silas MusicWorks was growing and, as a result, he was no longer giving King's X, whom he considered "the top dogs," the attention they deserved. In the aftermath, King's X took over a year off to consider their collective future together. The band members followed other, non-musical pursuits; most notably, guitarist Ty Tabor took up semi-professional motocross motorcycle racing. With grunge at the peak of its popularity, and Pearl Jam's bassist Jeff Ament declaring that "King's X invented grunge" (despite the group's trademark sound being very different from that of the commercially successful grunge acts), the band went looking for a new sound upon their return. They enlisted veteran producer Brendan O'Brien, who had recently produced albums for Stone Temple Pilots and Pearl Jam. The resulting album, 1994's Dogman, showcased a much more muscular and heavy sound from the group, along with less abstract and spiritual lyrics. The record received a heavier promotional push from Atlantic including a compilation promotional CD entitled: Building Blox, as King's X enjoyed a successful tour, capped by an appearance at the Woodstock '94 festival in August. They also toured in support of such bands as the Scorpions, Pearl Jam, Motley Crue and Type O Negative, but despite a return to the Top 100 for the group, the album failed to sell as well as Atlantic had hoped, and the label's support for the group quickly faded. The band's third release under Atlantic, 1996's Ear Candy, would also be their last for the label (not including a subsequent Best of King's X compilation). Although it sold to the band's sizeable core following, it lacked the relative mainstream success of previous efforts. The record was soon out of print, and it seemed that the group's chance for commercial success had come and gone. CANNOTANSWER

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Tom Petty

Petty was born October 20, 1950, in Gainesville, Florida, the first of two sons of Kitty (nee Avery), a local tax office worker, and Earl Petty, who worked in a grocery store. He had a brother, Bruce, who was seven years younger. His interest in rock and roll music began at age ten when he met Elvis Presley. In the summer of 1961, his uncle was working on the set of Presley's film Follow That Dream, in nearby Ocala, and invited Petty to watch the shoot.

1988-1991: Traveling Wilburys and solo career

In 1988, Petty joined George Harrison's group, the Traveling Wilburys, which also included Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, and Jeff Lynne. The band's first song, "Handle with Care", was intended as a B-side of one of Harrison's singles, but was judged too good for that purpose and the group decided to record a full album, Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1. A second Wilburys album, mischievously titled Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3 and recorded without the recently deceased Orbison, followed in 1990. The album was named Vol. 3 as a response to a series of bootlegged studio sessions being sold as Travelling Wilburys Vol. 2. Petty incorporated Traveling Wilburys songs into his live shows, consistently playing "Handle with Care" in shows from 2003 to 2006, and for his 2008 tour adding "surprises" such as "End of the Line" to the set list. In 1989, Petty released Full Moon Fever, which featured hits "I Won't Back Down", "Free Fallin'" and "Runnin' Down a Dream". It was nominally his first solo album, although several Heartbreakers and other well-known musicians participated: Mike Campbell co-produced the album with Petty and Jeff Lynne of Electric Light Orchestra, and backing musicians included Campbell, Lynne, and fellow Wilburys Roy Orbison and George Harrison (Ringo Starr appears on drums in the video for "I Won't Back Down", but they were actually performed by Phil Jones). Petty and the Heartbreakers reformed in 1991 and released Into the Great Wide Open, which was co-produced by Lynne and included the hit singles "Learning To Fly" and "Into the Great Wide Open", the latter featuring Johnny Depp and Faye Dunaway in the music video. Before leaving MCA Records, Petty and the Heartbreakers got together to record, live in the studio, two new songs for a Greatest Hits package: "Mary Jane's Last Dance" and Thunderclap Newman's "Something in the Air". This was Stan Lynch's last recorded performance with the Heartbreakers. Petty commented "He left right after the session without really saying goodbye." The package went on to sell over ten million copies, therefore receiving diamond certification by the RIAA. CANNOTANSWER

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Rosie O'Donnell

O'Donnell, the third of five children, was born and raised in Commack, Long Island, New York. She is the daughter of homemaker Roseann Teresa (nee Murtha) and Edward Joseph O'Donnell, an electrical engineer who worked in the defense industry. O'Donnell's father had immigrated from County Donegal, Ireland, during his childhood, and her mother was Irish American; O'Donnell was raised Roman Catholic. Her older brother is Daniel J. O'Donnell, now a member of the New York State Assembly.

2007-2009: Jahero, America, Love, Loss, and What I Wore & Rosie Radio

In March 2007, O'Donnell started a video blog, Jahero, on her website Rosie.com answering fans questions, giving behind the scenes information and serving as a video diary. Originally featuring only O'Donnell and her hair and make-up artist Helene Macaulay they were soon joined by her writer from The Rosie O'Donnell Show, Janette Barber. Called Jahero, a name composed of the first two letters of each of their first names, they occasionally had short cameo appearances by View co-hosts Joy Behar, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, and Barbara Walters. Jenny McCarthy appeared once briefly, as has Hasselbeck's mother-in-law and O'Donnell's mother-in-law, her (now) ex-wife Kelli's mother. Kathy Griffin also appeared, where she read some of the questions. It became so popular that O'Donnell and her creative team considered an "on the road" version of the video blog utilizing fan-submitted suggestions. O'Donnell was the front runner for the "best celebrity blogger" category in the 2007 Blogger's Choice Awards which she won. O'Donnell expressed interest in replacing long-time host Bob Barker when he retired from CBS's game show The Price Is Right. Barker was a frequent guest on her talk show and told reporters that she "would make a fine host." Although it was reported he had "endorsed" her as a "possible successor", Barker said that he had no role in choosing his replacement. In June 2007, she announced on her blog it was not going to happen and noted she was reluctant to uproot her family to move to California. In 2008, O'Donnell starred in and executive produced America, a Lifetime channel original movie in which she plays the therapist of the title character, a 16-year-old boy aging out of the foster care system. The film is based on the E.R. Frank book of the same name. In October 2009, she appeared in the original cast of Love, Loss, and What I Wore. In November 2009 ,"Rosie Radio", a daily two-hour show with O'Donnell discussing news and events on Sirius XM Radio, premiered. O'Donnell said she was approached by the company after she appeared on Howard Stern's Sirius XM show. The radio show ended in June 2011. CANNOTANSWER

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Rosie O'Donnell

O'Donnell, the third of five children, was born and raised in Commack, Long Island, New York. She is the daughter of homemaker Roseann Teresa (nee Murtha) and Edward Joseph O'Donnell, an electrical engineer who worked in the defense industry. O'Donnell's father had immigrated from County Donegal, Ireland, during his childhood, and her mother was Irish American; O'Donnell was raised Roman Catholic. Her older brother is Daniel J. O'Donnell, now a member of the New York State Assembly.

Early work

O'Donnell toured as a stand-up comedian in clubs from 1979 to 1984. She got her first big break on Star Search, explaining on Larry King Live: I was 20 years old, and I was at a comedy club in Long Island. This woman came over to me and she said, I think you're funny. Can you give me your number? My dad is Ed McMahon. I was like, yeah, right. I gave her my father's phone number. I was living at home, I'm like, whatever. And about three days later, the talent booker from Star Search called and said, we're going to fly you out to L.A. [...] I won, like, five weeks in a row. And it gave me national exposure. After this success, she moved on to television sitcoms, making her series debut as Nell Carter's neighbor on Gimme a Break! in 1986. In 1988, she joined music video station VH1's lineup of veejays. She started hosting a series for VH1, Stand-up Spotlight, a showcase for up-and-coming comedians. In 1992, she starred in Stand By Your Man, a Fox Network sitcom co-starring Melissa Gilbert. The show bombed, just as O'Donnell's movie career took off. O'Donnell made her feature film debut in A League of Their Own (1992) alongside Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, and Madonna. She was originally considered for the role of Mary Sanderson in Disney's Hocus Pocus, but it was ultimately given to Kathy Najimy. O'Donnell claimed on her blog that she turned down the offer to work with Bette Midler because she refused to portray a frightening evil witch. Throughout her career, she has taken on an eclectic range of roles: she appeared in Sleepless in Seattle as Meg Ryan's character's best friend; as Betty Rubble in the live-action film adaptation of The Flintstones with John Goodman, Elizabeth Perkins and Rick Moranis; as one of Timothy Hutton's co-stars in Beautiful Girls; as a federal agent comedically paired with Dan Aykroyd in Exit to Eden; as the voice of a tomboyish female gorilla named Terk in Disney's Tarzan; and as a baseball-loving nun in M. Night Shyamalan's Wide Awake. CANNOTANSWER

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The Colbert Report

The Colbert Report () is an American late-night talk and news satire television program hosted by Stephen Colbert that aired four days a week on Comedy Central from October 17, 2005 to December 18, 2014 for 1,447 episodes. The show focused on a fictional anchorman character named Stephen Colbert, played by his real-life namesake. The character, described by Colbert as a "well-intentioned, poorly informed, high-status idiot", is a caricature of televised political pundits. Furthermore, the show satirized conservative personality-driven political talk programs, particularly Fox News's The O'Reilly Factor.

Set

The Colbert Report satirized conservative personality-driven political pundit programs, and focused on a fictional anchorman character named Stephen Colbert, played by his real-life namesake. The character first made appearances on the short-lived sketch comedy series The Dana Carvey Show in 1996, described as "a self-important, trench-coated reporter who does on-location stories in a way that suggests his own presence is the real scoop." Colbert joined Comedy Central's The Daily Show in 1997, a year following its launch, then hosted by Craig Kilborn. When Jon Stewart became the program's host in 1999, The Daily Show developed a markedly different style, bringing a sharper political focus to the humor than the show previously exhibited. Colbert recalled that Stewart specifically asked him to have a political viewpoint, and to allow his passion for issues to carry through into his comedy. Colbert became a fixture on The Daily Show, occasionally hosting in Stewart's absence. In 2003, the program began running advertisements for a fictional program titled The Colbert Report, starring Colbert as a parody of cable news pundits. When fellow Daily Show star Steve Carell left to pursue a film and television career, Comedy Central made attempts to keep Colbert at the network. He pitched The Colbert Report to the channel in 2004. Stewart pushed Comedy Central to pick up the show, and Colbert was given an eight-week tryout. Following the show's immediate success, the show "quickly became a fixture in the late-night lineup." At its peak, the show averaged 1.5 million viewers each evening. The fictional Colbert anchorman character became gradually toned down over the course of the show's run, as the host believed he would eventually need to move beyond it. He began to regard it as an act of discipline to perform as the character; he later remarked, "to model behavior, you have to consume that behavior on a regular basis. It became very hard to watch punditry of any kind, of whatever political stripe." With his contract set to end in December 2014, he had already decided to leave the show when he was contacted by CBS to replace David Letterman as the host of its Late Show franchise. The show's ending was announced concurrently with Colbert's jump to CBS in April 2014. The last episode aired on December 18, 2014. The show was replaced on Comedy Central's late-night lineup by The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, another spinoff of The Daily Show. The character first made appearances on the short-lived sketch comedy series The Dana Carvey Show in 1996, described as "a self-important, trench-coated reporter who does on-location stories in a way that suggests his own presence is the real scoop." When The Daily Show ran short on time, a short piece starring Colbert, advertising a fictional program titled The Colbert Report, was added into the program. In these sketches, Colbert began to amplify his character to parody news pundits. Colbert anchored many sketches in his persona, including "Even Stepvhen", in which he debated current issues with fellow correspondent Steve Carell, often devolving into petty name-calling and insults. Colbert and Carell were viewed as potential breakout stars by staff, and when Carell left the series in 2004 to start a US version of The Office, Comedy Central made attempts to keep Colbert at the network. Stewart and Karlin were already looking to expand the Daily Show franchise and their production company, Busboy. The duo supposedly came up with the idea for The Colbert Report after watching coverage of the sexual harassment lawsuit filed against Bill O'Reilly. Colbert met with network president Doug Herzog the day following the 2004 Emmy Awards to first discuss the concept. The one-line pitch Colbert, Karlin and Stewart developed was "Our version of the O'Reilly Factor with Stephen Colbert." Herzog committed to an eight-week tryout period without a pilot. By the time of the 2004 election, the character was fully developed. In creating the character, which is designed to be repellant but entertaining, Colbert conferred with Stewart and Karlin. In expressing his hope that his character not be "an asshole," Stewart remarked, "You're not an asshole. You're an idiot. There's a difference." Head writer Allison Silverman reiterated this trait in a later interview, commenting, "There is an essential innocence to his character." Colbert initially felt the character might not be sustainable in a longer format. Despite this, The Colbert Report was designed as an extension of the satiric goals of The Daily Show, combining it with general silliness and character-driven humor. To make sure there was no overlap in subject matter with The Daily Show, Karlin made trips between the studios during the show's early days to supervise scripts. For the first several years of the program, Colbert made an appearance at the end of each Daily Show in split-screen, having a short discussion with Stewart preceding his show. The Colbert Report was taped and broadcast four nights a week, Monday-Thursday. The show's taping studio, at 513 W. 54th Street in New York City's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood, was used for The Daily Show until July 2005, and has a capacity of 150. NEP Studio 54 on 54th Street is owned by NEP Broadcasting which is New York City's largest production facility and also owns The Daily Show set at NEP Studio 52 two blocks south on 52nd Street. Aside from the set, the show's production offices have been described as "loft-like" and "all overhead pipes and exposed brick." Following the show's conclusion, the building was used for The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore. The set for The Colbert Report was called "The Eagle's Nest" and reflects and facilitates Colbert's self-aggrandizing style. It was designed by Jim Fenhagen, and was intended to both capture the character's ego and be "hyper-American." Elements incorporated into the set included architectural lines converged to Colbert's desk, and radial beams coming out from behind his chair. Colbert's main influence for the set was Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper, with the Colbert character as Jesus Christ. In the set, "virtually every inch emblazoned with Colbert's name or the initial C"; his name, initials and the name of the show appear on the desk's plasma screen, on the rafters above the desk, and the desk itself is shaped like a giant "C". The background includes faux artifacts from the character's backstory, which are seldom seen by viewers. "I kept saying, 'People might not really notice this.' But when you're working with a comedy team, they really get into it. They couldn't help themselves," said Fenhagen. Among these touches are the United States Constitution, a miniature Ten Commandments, and a CliffNotes guide to American government. The set was described as "part Riefenstahlesque homage to the star, part symbologic gallery -- where alert viewers are rewarded with snarky jokes at every turn." Above a fireplace is a portrait of Colbert; it originally showed Colbert standing in front of the same mantel with another portrait of himself. On the show's first anniversary, the portrait was replaced by one of Colbert standing in front of the mantel with the first portrait above it, and with each successive year, it became Colbert standing in front of the previous year's painting. The graphics used throughout the show and the studio itself are saturated with American flags, bald eagles, Captain America's shield, and other patriotic imagery. CANNOTANSWER

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The Colbert Report

The Colbert Report () is an American late-night talk and news satire television program hosted by Stephen Colbert that aired four days a week on Comedy Central from October 17, 2005 to December 18, 2014 for 1,447 episodes. The show focused on a fictional anchorman character named Stephen Colbert, played by his real-life namesake. The character, described by Colbert as a "well-intentioned, poorly informed, high-status idiot", is a caricature of televised political pundits. Furthermore, the show satirized conservative personality-driven political talk programs, particularly Fox News's The O'Reilly Factor.

Later years

In 2010, while in character, Colbert appeared before judiciary subcommittee hearing on the issue of farm workers and immigration. The New Yorker used Colbert's testimony before Congress as an example of the "third" Colbert: "Colbert was thoughtful and sincere--and had ruined the whole thing. By speaking honestly, he had become the very thing he was mocking, a celebrity testifying before Congress." Beginning in June 2011, the show created a long-running gag that involved Colbert starting his own actual super PAC, Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow, described by the character as "100 percent legal and at least 10 percent ethical." In 2012, Colbert interviewed illustrator/author Maurice Sendak, who managed to get him to break character; show staff and Colbert himself retrospectively labeled the segment one of the show's more memorable moments. The Los Angeles Times called the September 2013 interview with intelligence official Philip Mudd his "most awkward interview", stating Mudd "could barely disguise his contempt" for Colbert. President Barack Obama guested during the show's final month, in a show taped from George Washington University in Washington, D.C.; Obama sat in Colbert's seat and presided over "The Word" segment. The final episode aired on December 18, 2014. In the episode Stephen becomes immortal after accidentally killing "Grimmy" during the opening of the segment of "Cheating Death with Dr. Stephen T. Colbert, D.F.A.". This leads to Stephen singing "We'll Meet Again" in its entirety along with a large crowd of several recognizable figures, before meeting with Santa Claus, Abraham Lincoln, and Alex Trebek on the roof of the studio. As they ride off together in Santa's sleigh, Stephen bids a final farewell to his viewers and tosses back to Jon Stewart at the desk of The Daily Show, who thanks Stephen for his report. CANNOTANSWER

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Abu Zubaydah

Abu Zubaydah ( ( listen) AH-boo zuu-BAY-d@; Arabic: bw zbyd@, Abu Zubaydah; born March 12, 1971, as Zayn al-Abidin Muhammad Husayn) is a Saudi Arabian citizen currently held by the U.S. in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba.

August 2002 memo

In early July 2002 the Associate General Council CTC/Legal Group started drafting a memo to the Attorney General requesting the approval of "aggressive" interrogation methods, which otherwise would be prohibited under the provisions of Section 2340-2340B, Title 18, United States Code, on Abu Zubaydah. This memo, drafted by Office of Legal Counsel, Jay Bybee and his assistant John Yoo, is also referred to as the first Torture Memo. Addressed to CIA acting General Counsel John A. Rizzo at his request, the purpose of the memo was to describe and authorize specific enhanced interrogation techniques to be used on Zubaydah. On July 26, 2002 Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo informed the CIA that Attorney General John Ashcroft had approved waterboarding of Abu Zubaydah. Journalists including Jane Mayer, Joby Warrick and Peter Finn, and Alex Koppelman have reported the CIA was already using these harsh tactics before the memo authorizing their use was written, and that it was used to provide after-the-fact legal support for harsh interrogation techniques. A Department of Justice 2009 report regarding prisoner abuses reportedly stated the memos were prepared one month after Zubaydah had already been subjected to the specific techniques authorized in August 1, 2002, memo. John Kiriakou stated in July 2009 that Zubaydah was waterboarded in the early summer of 2002, months before August 1, 2002, memo was written. The memo described ten techniques which the interrogators wanted to use: "(1) attention grasp, (2) walling, (3) facial hold, (4) facial slap (insult slap), (5) cramped confinement, (6) wall standing, (7) stress positions, (8) sleep deprivation, (9) insects placed in a confinement box, and (10) the waterboard." Many of the techniques were, until then, generally considered illegal. Many other techniques developed by the CIA were held to constitute inhumane and degrading treatment and torture under the United Nations Convention against Torture and Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. As reported later, many of these interrogation techniques were previously considered illegal under U.S. and international law and treaties at the time of Zubaydah's capture. For instance, the United States had prosecuted Japanese military officials after World War II and American soldiers after the Vietnam War for waterboarding. Since 1930, the United States had defined sleep deprivation as an illegal form of torture. Many other techniques developed by the CIA constitute inhuman and degrading treatment and torture under the United Nations Convention against Torture, and Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. CANNOTANSWER

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Abu Zubaydah

Abu Zubaydah ( ( listen) AH-boo zuu-BAY-d@; Arabic: bw zbyd@, Abu Zubaydah; born March 12, 1971, as Zayn al-Abidin Muhammad Husayn) is a Saudi Arabian citizen currently held by the U.S. in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba.

May 30, 2005, memo

The final memo mentioned Zubaydah several times. It claimed that due to the enhanced interrogation techniques, Zubaydah "provided significant information on two operatives, [including] Jose Padilla[,] who planned to build and detonate a 'dirty bomb' in the Washington DC area." This claim is strongly disputed by Ali Soufan, the FBI interrogator who first interrogated Zubaydah following his capture, by traditional means. He said the most valuable information was gained before torture was used. Other intelligence officers have also disputed that claim. Soufan, when asked in 2009 by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse during a Congressional hearing if the memo was incorrect, testified that it was. The memo noted that not all of the waterboarding sessions were necessary for Zubaydah, since the on-scene interrogation team determined he had stopped producing actionable intelligence. The memo reads: This is not to say that the interrogation program has worked perfectly. According to the IG Report, the CIA, at least initially, could not always distinguish detainees who had information but were successfully resisting interrogation from those who did not actually have the information. See IG Report at 83-85. On at least one occasion, this may have resulted in what might be deemed in retrospect to have been the unnecessary use of enhanced techniques. On that occasion, although the on-scene interrogation team judged Zubaydah to be compliant, elements within CIA Headquarters still believed he was withholding information. See id at 84. At the direction of CIA Headquarters, interrogators therefore used the waterboard one more time on Zubaydah. John McLaughlin, former acting CIA director, stated in 2006, "I totally disagree with the view that the capture of Zubaydah was unimportant. Zubaydah was woven through all of the intelligence prior to 9/11 that signaled a major attack was coming, and his capture yielded a great deal of important information." In his 2007 memoir, former CIA Director George Tenet writes: A published report in 2006 contended that Zubaydah was mentally unstable and that the administration had overstated his importance. Baloney. Zubaydah had been at the crossroads of many al-Qa'ida operations and was in position to - and did - share critical information with his interrogators. Apparently, the source of the rumor that Zubaydah was unbalanced was his personal diary, in which he adopted various personas. From that shaky perch, some junior Freudians leapt to the conclusion that Zubaydah had multiple personalities. In fact, Agency psychiatrists eventually determined that in his diary he was using a sophisticated literary device to express himself. And, boy, did he express himself. CANNOTANSWER

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Stanley Donen

Stanley Donen ( DAWN-@n; born April 13, 1924) is an American film director and choreographer whose most celebrated works are Singin' in the Rain and On the Town, both of which he co-directed with actor and dancer Gene Kelly. Other noteworthy films include Royal Wedding, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Funny Face, Indiscreet, Damn Yankees!, Charade, and Two for the Road. He began his career in the chorus line on Broadway for director George Abbott, where he befriended Kelly.

Early life and stage career

Stanley Donen was born in Columbia, South Carolina to Mordecai Moses Donen, a dress-shop manager, and Helen (Cohen), the daughter of a jewelry salesman. His younger sister Carla Donen Davis was born in August 1937. Although born to Jewish parents, he became an atheist in his youth. Donen described his childhood as lonely and unhappy as one of the few Jews in Columbia, and he was occasionally bullied by anti-semitic classmates at school. To help cope with his isolation, he spent much of his youth in local movie theaters and was especially fond of Westerns, comedies and thrillers. The film that had the strongest impact on him was the 1933 Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musical Flying Down to Rio. Donen said that he "must have seen the picture thirty or forty times. I was transported into some sort of fantasy world where everything seemed to be happy, comfortable, easy and supported. A sense of well-being filled me." He shot and screened home movies with an 8 mm camera and projector that his father bought for him. Inspired by Astaire, Donen took dance lessons in Columbia and performed at the local Town Theater. His family often traveled to New York City during summer vacations where he saw Broadway musicals and took further dance lessons. One of his early instructors in New York was Ned Wayburn, who had taught eleven-year-old Astaire in 1910. After graduating from high school at sixteen, Donen attended the University of South Carolina for one summer semester, studying psychology. Encouraged by his mother, he moved to New York City to pursue dancing on stage in the fall of 1940. After two auditions he was cast as a chorus dancer in the original Broadway production of Rodgers and Hart's Pal Joey, directed by the legendary George Abbott. The titular Pal Joey was played by the young up-and-comer Gene Kelly, who became a Broadway star in the role. Abbott cast Donen in the chorus of his next Broadway show Best Foot Forward. He became the show's assistant stage manager, and Kelly asked him to be his assistant choreographer. Eventually Donen was fired from Best Foot Forward, but in 1942 was the stage manager and assistant choreographer for Abbott's next show Beat the Band. In 1946, Donen briefly returned to Broadway to help choreograph dance numbers for Call Me Mister. CANNOTANSWER

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James Randi

Randi was born on August 7, 1928 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the son of Marie Alice (nee Paradis) and George Randall Zwinge. He has a younger brother and sister. He took up magic after seeing Harry Blackstone Sr. and reading conjuring books while spending 13 months in a body cast following a bicycle accident. He confounded doctors who expected he would never walk again.

Author

Randi is the author of ten books, among them Conjuring (1992), a biographical history of noted magicians. The book is subtitled Being a Definitive History of the Venerable Arts of Sorcery, Prestidigitation, Wizardry, Deception, & Chicanery and of the Mountebanks & Scoundrels Who have Perpetrated these Subterfuges on a Bewildered Public, in short, MAGIC! The book's cover says that it is by "James Randi, Esq., A Contrite Rascal Once Dedicated to these Wicked Practices but Now Almost Totally Reformed". The book selects the most influential magicians and tells some of their history, often in the context of strange deaths and careers on the road. This work expanded on Randi's second book titled Houdini, His Life and Art. This illustrated work was published in 1976 and was co-authored with Bert Sugar. It focuses on the professional and private life of Houdini. Randi also wrote a children's book in 1989 titled The Magic World of the Amazing Randi, which introduced children to magic tricks. In addition to his magic books, he has written several educational works about paranormal and pseudoscientific claims. These include biographies of Uri Geller and Nostradamus as well as reference material on other major paranormal figures. He is currently working on A Magician in the Laboratory, which recounts his application of skepticism to science. He was a member of the all-male literary banqueting club the Trap Door Spiders, which served as the basis of his good friend Isaac Asimov's fictional group of mystery solvers, the Black Widowers. Other books are Flim-Flam! (1982), The Faith Healers (1987), James Randi, Psychic Investigator (1991), Test Your ESP Potential (1982) and An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural (1995). Randi was a regular contributor to Skeptic magazine, penning the "'Twas Brillig..." column, and also served on its editorial board. He is also a frequent contributor to Skeptical Inquirer magazine, which is published by CSI, of which he is also a Fellow. CANNOTANSWER

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James Randi

Randi was born on August 7, 1928 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the son of Marie Alice (nee Paradis) and George Randall Zwinge. He has a younger brother and sister. He took up magic after seeing Harry Blackstone Sr. and reading conjuring books while spending 13 months in a body cast following a bicycle accident. He confounded doctors who expected he would never walk again.

James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF)

In 1996, Randi established the James Randi Educational Foundation. Randi and his colleagues publish in JREF's blog, Swift. Topics have included the interesting mathematics of the one-seventh area triangle, a classic geometric puzzle. In his weekly commentary, Randi often gives examples of what he considers the nonsense that he deals with every day. Beginning in 2003, the JREF annually hosted The Amaz!ng Meeting, a gathering of scientists, skeptics, and atheists. The last meeting was in 2015, coinciding with Randi's retirement from the JREF. James Randi began a series of conferences known as "The Amazing Meeting" - TAM - which quickly became the largest gathering of skeptics in the world, drawing audiences from Asia, Europe, South America, and the UK. It also attracted large percentage of younger folks. Randi has been regularly featured on many podcasts, including The Skeptics Society's official podcast Skepticality and the Center for Inquiry's official podcast Point of Inquiry. From September 2006 onwards, he has occasionally contributed to The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe podcast with a column titled "Randi Speaks." In addition, The Amazing Show is a podcast in which Randi shares various anecdotes in an interview format. In 2014 Part2Filmworks released An Honest Liar, a feature film documentary, written by Tyler Measom and Greg O'Toole, and directed and produced by Measom and Justin Weinstein. The film, which was funded through Kickstarter, focuses on Randi's life, his investigations, and his relationship with longtime partner Jose Alvarez, a.k.a. Deyvi Pena. The film was screened at the Tribeca Film Festival, at Toronto's Hot Docs film festival, and at the June 2014 AFI Docs Festival in Silver Spring, Maryland and Washington, D.C., where it won the Audience Award for Best Feature. It has since been captioned in ten different languages, shown worldwide, and was also positively received by critics. The film was featured on the PBS Independent Lens series, shown in the U.S. and Canada, on March 28, 2016. In 2017, he appeared in animated form on Holy Koolaid, in which he discussed the challenge of finding the balance between connecting sincerely with his audience and at the same time tricking/fooling them with an artful ruse and indicated that this is a balance many magicians struggle with. CANNOTANSWER

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André the Giant

Andre Roussimoff was born in Moliens, the son of Boris and Mariann Roussimoff. His parents were of Bulgarian and Polish descent. His nickname growing up was "Dede". As a child, he displayed symptoms of his gigantism very early, reaching a height of 191 cm (6 ft 3 in) and a weight of 94 kg (208 lb) by the age of 12.

Early career

At the age of 17, Roussimoff moved to Paris and was taught professional wrestling by a local promoter who recognised the earning potential of Roussimoff's size. He trained at night and worked as a mover during the day to pay living expenses. Roussimoff was billed as "Geant Ferre", a name based on the French folk hero Grand Ferre, and began wrestling in Paris and nearby areas. Canadian promoter and wrestler Frank Valois met Roussimoff in 1966, becoming his business manager and adviser. Roussimoff began making a name for himself wrestling in the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, and Africa. He made his Japanese debut in 1970, billed as "Monster Roussimoff", wrestling for the International Wrestling Enterprise. Wrestling as both a singles and tag-team competitor, he quickly was made the company's tag-team champion alongside Michael Nador. During his time in Japan, doctors first informed Roussimoff that he suffered from acromegaly. Roussimoff next moved to Montreal, Canada, where he became an immediate success, regularly selling out the Montreal Forum. However, promoters eventually ran out of plausible opponents for him and, as the novelty of his size wore off, the gate receipts dwindled. Roussimoff was defeated by Adnan Al-Kaissie in Baghdad in 1971, and wrestled numerous times in 1972 for Verne Gagne's American Wrestling Association (AWA) as a special attraction until Valois appealed to Vince McMahon Sr., founder of the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), for advice. McMahon suggested several changes. He felt Roussimoff should be portrayed as a large, immovable monster, and to enhance the perception of his size, McMahon discouraged Roussimoff from performing maneuvers such as dropkicks (although he was capable of performing such agile maneuvers before his health deteriorated in later life). He also began billing Roussimoff as "Andre the Giant" and set up a travel-intensive schedule, lending him to wrestling associations around the world, to keep him from becoming overexposed in any area. Promoters had to guarantee Roussimoff a certain amount of money as well as pay McMahon's WWWF booking fee. CANNOTANSWER

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André the Giant

Andre Roussimoff was born in Moliens, the son of Boris and Mariann Roussimoff. His parents were of Bulgarian and Polish descent. His nickname growing up was "Dede". As a child, he displayed symptoms of his gigantism very early, reaching a height of 191 cm (6 ft 3 in) and a weight of 94 kg (208 lb) by the age of 12.

Sporadic appearances (1990-1992)

Andre returned in the winter of 1990, but it was not to the World Wrestling Federation. Instead, Andre made an interview appearance for Herb Abrams' fledgling Universal Wrestling Federation on October 11th in Reseda, California. (the segment aired in 1991). He appeared in an interview segment with Captain Lou Albano and put over the UWF. The following month, on November 30th at a house show in Miami, Florida the World Wrestling Federation announced Andre's return as a participant in the 1991 Royal Rumble (to be held in Miami, FL two months later). Andre was also mentioned as a participant on television but would ultimately back out due to a leg injury. His on-air return finally came at WrestleMania VII, when he came to the aid of The Big Boss Man in his match against Mr. Perfect. Andre finally returned to action on April 26, 1991, in a six-man tag-team matchup when he teamed with the Rockers in a winning effort against Mr. Fuji and the Orient Express at a house show in Belfast, Northern Ireland. On May 10th he participated in a 17-man battle-royal at a house show in Detroit. (won by Kerry Von Erich). His last major WWF storyline following WrestleMania VII had the major heel managers (Bobby Heenan, Sensational Sherri, Slick, and Mr. Fuji) trying to recruit Andre one-by-one, only to be turned down in various humiliating ways (e.g. Heenan had his hand crushed, Sherri received a spanking, Slick got locked in the trunk of the car he was offering to Andre and Mr. Fuji got a pie in his face). Finally, Jimmy Hart appeared live on WWF Superstars to announce that he had successfully signed Andre to tag-team with Earthquake. However, when asked to confirm this by Gene Okerlund, Andre denied the claims. This led to Earthquake's attacking Andre from behind (injuring his knee). Jimmy Hart would later get revenge for the humiliation by secretly signing Tugboat and forming the Natural Disasters. This led to Andre's final major WWF appearance at SummerSlam '91, where he seconded the Bushwhackers in their match against the Disasters. Andre was on crutches at ringside, and after the Disasters won the match, they set out to attack Andre, but the Legion of Doom made their way to ringside and got in between them and the Giant, who was preparing to defend himself with one of his crutches. The Disasters left the ringside area as they were outnumbered by the Legion of Doom, the Bushwhackers and Andre, who struck both Earthquake and Typhoon (the former Tugboat) with the crutch as they left. His final WWF appearance came at a house show in Paris, France, on October 9. He was in Davey Boy Smith's corner as the Bulldog faced Earthquake. Davey Boy hit Earthquake with Andre's crutch, allowing Smith to win. His last U.S. television appearance was in a brief interview on World Championship Wrestling's (WCW) Clash of the Champions XX special that aired on TBS on 2 September 1992. CANNOTANSWER

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Affirmed

Affirmed (February 21, 1975 - January 12, 2001) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who was the eleventh winner of the United States Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing. Affirmed was also known for his famous rivalry with Alydar, whom he met ten times, including in all three Triple Crown races. Affirmed was the last horse to win the Triple Crown for a 37-year period, which was ended in 2015 by American Pharoah. Affirmed won fourteen Grade

The Triple Crown

Alydar was made the 6-5 favorite for Kentucky Derby, with Affirmed the second choice at 9-5 and undefeated Sensitive Prince the third choice at 9-2. At the start of the Kentucky Derby, Sensitive Prince took the early lead as Affirmed ran in third through the early stages, while Alydar stayed far back. Affirmed made a strong move for the lead on the far turn, put away a challenge by Wood Memorial winner Believe It, and held off Alydar's fast-closing charge to win by 1 1/2 lengths. Affirmed now had a 5-2 edge in the series. In the Preakness Stakes, Affirmed set the pace. Alydar made his big move on the far turn, at the same point in the race where Affirmed made his winning move in the Derby. Affirmed held a short lead entering the stretch and held it to defeat Alydar by a neck. Alydar's partisans assumed that the 1 1/2 mile distance of the Belmont, two furlongs longer than the Derby and 5/16 of a mile longer than the Preakness Stakes, would favor Alydar with his finishing style and staying pedigree, and he would deny Affirmed the Triple Crown. Trainer Veitch removed Alydar's blinkers for the Belmont, saying that if Alydar got a better look at Affirmed, maybe he would get by him. In the Belmont, Affirmed led and set a very slow pace, going the first quarter mile in 25 seconds and the half in 50 seconds. Alydar's jockey, Jorge Velasquez, put Alydar close to the pace, and moved alongside Affirmed with more than seven furlongs to go. For more than six furlongs (half the distance of the race), the colts raced neck and neck, pulling away from the rest of the field. Alydar got his nose in front at mid-stretch, but just as Affirmed appeared to tire, Cauthen went to a left-handed whip, something he had never done before in his eight rides on Affirmed. Affirmed won by a nose to become racing's 11th (and last winner for 37 years until American Pharoah won in 2015), Triple Crown winner. After the third slowest start in Belmont Stakes history, they raced the fastest last mile in Belmont Stakes history, 3/4 in 1:14, the mile in 1:37 2/5 and finished in 2:26 4/5. It was, at the time, the third fastest Belmont ever, behind Secretariat and Gallant Man. His Triple Crown win set two records: the shortest and longest gaps between the previous and next Triple Crown winners. Affirmed's win in 1978 was the first time the Triple Crown had been won in consecutive years (Seattle Slew won in 1977). Affirmed's win also marked the start of the longest gap until the next Triple Crown winner, with American Pharoah's win on June 6, 2015 occurring 37 years later. CANNOTANSWER

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Sonata Arctica

Sonata Arctica is a Finnish power metal band from the town of Kemi, Finland. Created as a hard rock band named Tricky Beans, they later changed to Tricky Means and finally to Sonata Arctica, when they shifted to power metal. The current line-up consists of singer, keyboardist and songwriter Tony Kakko, guitarist Elias Viljanen, bass guitarist Pasi Kauppinen, keyboardist and keytarist Henrik Klingenberg, and drummer Tommy Portimo. All the musicians of the band's history except Portimo also acted as backing vocalists.

Unia and The Days of Grays (2007-2011)

On May 25, 2007, Unia was released. The album's first single, "Paid In Full", was released on April 27, 2007. On August 6, 2007, the band announced on their website that guitarist Jani Liimatainen had been asked to leave the band due to problems related to his conscription. He was replaced by Elias Viljanen who had already filled in for him in the band's Finnish and Japanese shows during the spring and summer. In October 2007 Sonata Arctica headlined the ProgPower USA VIII. Later the band supported Nightwish across their 2008 tour of United States and Canada and headlined at the shows that Nightwish cancelled due to Anette Olzon's sudden severe sickness. It was announced on September 4, 2008 that the band's first two albums would be re-released with bonus tracks by Spinefarm UK on October 6. The Days of Grays was released on September 16, 2009 in Finland and September 22 in the USA. Henrik stated that the new album would be in the same vein as Unia, but not as complex and darker. Singles from this album include "Flag in the Ground" and "The Last Amazing Grays". On August 28, 2009, the music video of "Flag In The Ground" was released to the web. The limited 2CD European edition of the album featured many of the album tracks with all instruments performed by a symphony orchestra. The band also toured with DragonForce for the third U.S. leg of the Ultra Beatdown. In early 2010 they engaged on an Australian tour with Ensiferum and Melbourne band Vanishing Point. In April 2010, Sonata Arctica embarked on their USA and Canada Headlining tour for The Days of Grays. In October they headlined in Chile in support of the same album. CANNOTANSWER

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Sonata Arctica

Sonata Arctica is a Finnish power metal band from the town of Kemi, Finland. Created as a hard rock band named Tricky Beans, they later changed to Tricky Means and finally to Sonata Arctica, when they shifted to power metal. The current line-up consists of singer, keyboardist and songwriter Tony Kakko, guitarist Elias Viljanen, bass guitarist Pasi Kauppinen, keyboardist and keytarist Henrik Klingenberg, and drummer Tommy Portimo. All the musicians of the band's history except Portimo also acted as backing vocalists.

Formation and early years (1996-1999)

The band was founded by Marko Paasikoski (guitar), Jani Liimatainen (guitar) and Tommy Portimo (drums) in Kemi at the end of 1995 (Tony Kakko (vocals) and Pentti Peura (bass) joined in early 1996). Originally named Tricky Beans, they played hard rock rather than the power metal with which they grew to fame. Kakko explained that when he was invited to join the band, Paasikoski said the band was going to play "a mixture of Megadeth and Spin Doctors". During their early career, they recorded three demos which were never sent to a recording label -- Friend 'til the End, Agre Pamppers and PeaceMaker. According to Kakko, the band's first name was based on one of their early songs, which was "about a lady who was tricky and I didn't really know what I was talking about (laughs)". Their first show was about to take place but they were still unnamed, so they had to come up with something. In 1997 the band changed their name to Tricky Means, and from that point until 1999 their style was thoroughly worked upon and ultimately was drastically changed, acquiring a strong emphasis on the keyboard melodies and relying on an easily distinguishable rhythm line maintained both by the bass and the guitar. Vocalist Tony Kakko developed a clean singing style which relies both on falsetto and tenor voices. Kakko has stated that the change of sound was influenced by fellow Finnish power metal band Stratovarius. At that time, Pentti Peura was fired and Marko Paasikoski left due to a lack of gigging. Two months later the band got signed to a three-album deal with Spinefarm, which left Marko displeased. The band finally changed their name to Sonata Arctica, because they thought they wouldn't be able to sell metal albums with the previous name and also because Spinefarm asked them to do so. "Sonata Arctica" was suggested by a friend of the band: "sonata" for the music and "arctica" for their home (Kemi, in Northern Finland). In 1997, they recorded a demo entitled FullMoon in Kemi's Tico Tico Studios, which was their first real metal recording. The line-up consisted of vocalist and keyboardist Tony Kakko, guitarist Jani Liimatainen, new bassist Janne Kivilahti (who started first as second guitarist) and drummer Tommy Portimo. The demo was sent to Spinefarm Records by a friend of the band and a recording deal soon followed. CANNOTANSWER