title: Zoom (software)

text: On September 7, 2020, cryptography researcher Nadim Kobeissi accused Zoom's security team of failing to credit his open-source protocol analysis research software, Verifpal, with being instrumental during the design phase of Zoom's new encryption protocol, as described in their whitepaper published in June 2020. Kobeissi published a week's worth of conversations with Zoom's security leadership in support of his claim, including Max Krohn, which included eight Verifpal models that Zoom's team asked for feedback on, promises of a citation to credit Kobeissi for his contributions and an admission that the Verifpal citation was pulled from the whitepaper at the last moment for unspecified reasons. Kobeissi also linked to a tweet by Zoom security consultant Lea Kissner which he described as a public character assassination attempt issued in response to his repeated requests to have his work cited in the research paper published by Zoom.


title: Zoom (software)

text: Zoom admitted that some calls in early April 2020 and prior were mistakenly routed through servers in mainland China, prompting some governments and businesses to cease their usage of Zoom. The company later announced that data of free users outside of China would "never be routed through China" and that paid subscribers will be able to customize which data center regions they want to use. The company has data centers in Europe, Asia, North America, and Latin America.


title: Zoom (software)

text: An April 2020 Citizen Lab report warned that having much of Zoom's research and development in China could "open up Zoom to pressure from Chinese authorities". Lee Cheuk Yan's (Chairman of Hong Kong Labour Party) account was also closed in early May 2020, and human rights activist Zhou Fengsuo's was closed in June after he held an event discussing the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre. In June 2020, Zoom acknowledged that it had terminated two accounts belonging to U.S. users and one of a user from Hong Kong connected to meetings discussing the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, the accounts were later re-opened, with the company stating that in the future it "will have a new process for handling similar situations". Zoom also announced upcoming technology that could prevent participants from specific countries from joining calls that were deemed illegal in those areas.


title: Zoom (software)

text: In September 2020, Zoom blocked San Francisco State University from using its video conferencing software to host Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) militant and hijacker Leila Khaled in response to vigorous lobbying by the Jewish coalition group "End Jewish Hatred". In justifying its decision, Zoom cited the PFLP's designation as a terrorist organization by the United States Government and its efforts to comply with U.S. export control, sanctions, and anti-terrorism laws. Facebook and YouTube also joined Zoom in denying their platforms to the conference organizers. Professor Rabab Ibrahim Abdulhadi, one of the conference organizers, criticized Zoom, Facebook, and Google for allegedly censoring Palestinian voices.


title: Zoom (software)

text: On December 18, 2020, Zoom announced it would be issuing its first transparency report. These reports will be published twice a year beginning in 2021. These reports are supposed to show how Zoom responds when user data is requested by law enforcement or government officials. Zoom states that it "only produces user data to governments in response to valid and lawful requests in accordance with our Government Requests Guide and relevant legal policies". The first report covers from May 1, 2020, to December 12, 2020.


title: Zoom (software)

text: In August 2021, the Data Protection regulatory body in Hamburg, Germany, ruled that Zoom is operating in the European Union in breach of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This is due to the fact that, as per the "Schrems II" ruling, data that is being transferred out of the EU must be given the same protections that provided by the GDPR. The data gathered by Zoom is being sent to the United States.


title: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

text: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is the fifth studio album by American rapper and producer Kanye West. It was released by Def Jam Recordings and Roc-A-Fella Records on November 22, 2010, following a period of public controversy for West. Retreating to a self-imposed exile in Hawaii after a period of controversy in 2009, he recorded the album at Honolulu's Avex Recording Studio in a communal environment involving numerous musicians. Additional recording sessions took place at Glenwood Place Studios in Burbank, California, and at the New York City studios Electric Lady and Platinum Sound.


title: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

text: "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" was mainly produced by West, alongside a variety of high-profile producers such as Mike Dean, No I.D., Jeff Bhasker, RZA, Bink, and DJ Frank E. Critics noted the music's maximalist aesthetic and opulent production style that utilizes various elements from West's previous work, including soul, pop, baroque, electro, and symphonic sounds, as well as progressive rock influences. The album's lyrics explore themes such as West's celebrity status, consumer culture, self-aggrandizement, and the idealism of the American Dream. Guest vocalists include Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, Pusha T, Rick Ross, Kid Cudi, John Legend, Bon Iver, and Elton John.


title: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

text: During the album's marketing, West released free songs through his weekly GOOD Fridays series, as well as four singles, including "Power" and "All of the Lights", with all of them becoming top 40 hits on the "Billboard" Hot 100. West also released an accompanying musical short film, "Runaway" (2010). The album was an immediate and widespread critical success and was listed as the best album of 2010 in many publications' year-end lists. It was awarded Best Rap Album at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards, alongside winning CD of the Year at the 2011 BET Hip Hop Awards.


title: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

text: "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" debuted at number one on the US "Billboard" 200, while reaching the top 10 in five other countries, including also topping the Canadian Albums Chart. It eventually registered a triple platinum certification in the United States from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), alongside sales certifications in a few other territories. The album has been played at least a billion times through the music streaming service Spotify. Widely considered West's best album, it is ranked in several curated lists as the best album of the 2010s and among the greatest of all time.


title: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

text: "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" was conceived during Kanye West's self-imposed exile in Oahu, Hawaii, at Avex Recording Studio in 2009, following a period of public-image controversy. Around a year previously, he had held recording sessions at the studio for his previous album "808s & Heartbreak" (2008). West said that fatigue from overworking led to his controversial outburst after Taylor Swift was awarded Best Female Video at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. He was disgusted with the ensuing media response, which led to a brief hiatus from recording.


title: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

text: In response to the backlash to West's behaviour, his scheduled tour with recording artist Lady Gaga to promote "808s & Heartbreak" was cancelled on October 1, 2009, without an official explanation. In 2013, West explained that the album served as an apology of sorts after his MTV VMAs outburst, detailing that he used the music to become accepted again. He elaborated that a minimum of 80 percent was what he wanted to deliver, with the remainder "fulfilling a perception". West also insisted that he was not "dissing 'Dark Fantasy'", stating he failed to become satisfied, with him openly admitting "and saying the truth".


title: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

text: "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" was recorded at Avex in Honolulu, Hawaii. Additional recording took place at Glenwood Place Studios in Burbank, California, and at Electric Lady Studios and Platinum Sound Recording Studios in New York City. It was reported that West spent over $3 million provided by his record label Def Jam to record the album, making it one of the most expensive albums ever made. He later explained the initial recording process to Noah Callahan-Bever, "Complex" editor-in-chief and West's then-confidant, telling him he had resided in Hawaii, and was importing his favorite producers and artists to work on the album, as well as for inspiration. Various contributors engaged in sessions with West for "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy", including Kid Cudi, Elton John, Rick Ross, Pusha T, and Justin Vernon. Other artists recorded vocals for the album, such as M.I.A., Mos Def, Santigold, and Seal. Record producers who contributed in the sessions include: Q-Tip, RZA, Pete Rock, Madlib, Statik Selektah, and DJ Premier. Madlib said he made five beats for the album, while DJ Premier said his beats were ultimately discarded.


title: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

text: West block-booked the three session rooms of Avex simultaneously for 24 hours a day to work on "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy", until he felt it was complete. According to Callahan-Bever, "when [West] hits a creative wall ... he heads to another studio room to make progress on another song". Sheets of paper were posted on one side of the studio including what were dubbed as "Kanye Commandments", such as "No Tweeting" and "No Pictures". West never slept a full night at the location, opting instead to take power naps in a studio chair or couch in 90-minute intervals when working during the night. Engineers worked a similar schedule to West, remaining active 24 hours a day. This heavy work ethic led to West and his crew having a multi-course breakfast at his Diamond Head residence, cooked by the rapper's in-house chefs. Later in the morning after breakfast, West and most of the crew played games of 21 against locals at the Honolulu YMCA for leisure. Kid Cudi smoked marijuana in preparation and worked out on a treadmill, while RZA exercised in the weight room.


title: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

text: Throughout the album's development, West solicited other producers and musicians to weigh in on its music with conversations and contributions at the studio. Observing discussions among them during his visit, Callahan-Bever noted: "Despite the heavyweights assembled, the egos rarely clash; talks are sprawling, enlightening, and productive ... we are here to contribute, challenge, and inspire". In an interview with Callahan-Bever, Q-Tip described the process as "music by committee" and elaborated on its significance to the sessions and West's work ethic:


title: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

text: Rapper Pusha T characterized "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" as "a collage of sounds" and found West's recording methods unorthodox, saying that: "We could easily be working on one song, thinking we're in a mode, and he'll hear a sound from someone like [producer] Jeff Bhasker and immediately turn his whole attention to that sound and go through his mental Rolodex to where that sound belongs on his album, and then it goes straight to that song, immediately." Expressing a similar sentiment, fellow rapper Malik Yusef spoke about the collaborators from genres outside hip hop, specifying, "People laughed at me when I brought Elton John in [...] They're like, 'Elton John ain't hip-hop, Malik.' I'm like, 'Y'all, this is music, motherfuckers.'" DJ Premier recalled that West told him during the production "no electro Preem, I swear no electro". The DJ further stated, "'Ye is still that crazy dude he's always been. He's really focused on making this album raw. So I gave him a banger and he said he wanted two more on top of that one. I'm giving him two more this week."


title: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

text: West ensured that the album's recording sessions were secretive, placing sheets of paper in the studio reading "no tweeting, no talking, no e-mailing", and also prohibiting talking to anyone outside of the location. Pusha T recalled West's attitude in an interview for "Rolling Stone", saying that "there happened to be a leak, and I remember Kanye ranting and raving, like, 'Fuck this! We're not going to ever work there again! We're going to work in hotel rooms!" In October 2010, West tweeted that the recording of "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" had been finished. West subsequently recorded in hotel rooms for "Watch the Throne", his 2011 collaborative album with Jay-Z.


title: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

text: The music was described as maximalist by Jon Caramanica of "The New York Times", who further noted East Coast hip hop elements, and "Rolling Stone"s Rob Sheffield, who observed "hip-hop epics, R&B ballads, alien electronics, [and] prog-rock samples". Various writers also noticed elements from West's previous four albums. Simon Vozick-Levinson of "Entertainment Weekly" (EW) believed these elements "recur at various points", like the lush soul of 2004's "The College Dropout", "the symphonic pomp of [2005's] "Late Registration", the gloss of 2007's "Graduation"", and the "emotionally exhausted" electro of "808s & Heartbreak". "The Village Voice"s Sean Fennessey wrote that West had adopted "the gifts of his handpicked collaborators" from the five years before "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" and utilizes them, sometimes to a heightened degree, "arranging orchestral majesty" as Jon Brion did for "Late Registration", "adapt[ing] DJ Toomp's oozing menace" from "Graduation", and deploying "Kid Cudi's moaning melodies" that "became elemental" on "808s & Heartbreak".


title: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

text: Numerous critics have made comparison between the album's style and West's earlier records. "Pitchfork"s Ryan Dombal wrote that it is mostly a continuation of "Graduation" "in its maximalist hip-hop bent, with flashes of "The College Dropout"s comfort-food sampling and "Late Registration"s baroque instrumentation" incorporated seamlessly. AllMusic's Andy Kellman echoed this sentiment, but added "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" "does not merely draw characteristics" from all the albums, noting the tracks "sometimes fuse them together simultaneously"; he found the result to be that "the sonic and emotional layers are often difficult to pry apart and enumerate". Kellman felt "All of the Lights" denotes the album's "contrasting elements and maniacal extravagance". David Amidon of "PopMatters" compared the "underscore as ambitious as the beats upfront" on the songs to West's previous work with Brion, while noting "the pop bombast" of "Graduation" and "808s & Heartbreak". Conversely, veteran critic Robert Christgau commented that the music abandons the "grace" of West's first two studio albums in favor of "grandiosity" and "sonic luxuries".


title: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

text: The album was described as "the world's first" prog-rap album by Carl Williott of Idolatore. "Rolling Stone"s Christopher R. Weingarten called "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" "a Pink Floyd–sized, King Crimson–sampling 68-minute prog-rap behemoth in the age of shrinking budgets". Ann Powers of the "Los Angeles Times" observed that the album draws elements from genres "as disparate as progressive rock, obscure soul and old-school rap", resulting in a continuous shift towards a new sound, while "Time"s David Browne felt reassured that not many acts have West's ability to combine different genres. On a similar note, Al Horner from "NME" called it a rap opera.


title: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

text: Throughout the album, West's lyrics explore themes of excess, celebrity, grandiosity, self-aggrandizement, self-doubt, romance, escapism, decadence, and sex. "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" also features more open references to drinking and drug usage than West's previous albums. Nathan Rabin of "The A.V. Club" described it as "darkly funny, boldly introspective, and characteristically fame-obsessed", noting "manic highs and depressive lows" from an emotional standpoint. Christgau finds the album's themes of insecurity and uncertainty to be West's heart and "his message, the reason he's so major", noting the tracks "Hell of a Life" and "Runaway" as examples. Greg Kot, writing in the "Chicago Tribune", said West displays a transparency and "almost pathological allegiance" to expressing his raw emotions.


title: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

text: According to Dombal, "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" is "a hedonistic exploration into a rich and famous American id". Chris Martins of "Spin" said it is an eloquent and largely grandiose production that "owes as much to the artist's self-aggrandizing ego as to the voracious id that would destroy it publicly". Powers interpreted the predominant theme on "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" to be "the crisis of the jet-lagged cosmopolitan ... the exhausted cry of one who's always new in town", going after any goal or girl "in the room, fueled by consumer culture's relentless buzz", though ultimately being unsatisfied. He depicted the songs as "pornographic boasts, romantic disaster stories, devil-haunted dark nights of the soul" and perceived West as being unsure about his own place in the world due to the subject of race, stating that the rootlessness displayed by him "belongs to someone who feels unwelcome everywhere". Powers elaborated that rather than a problem only West has, this is "the curse of what [American author] Michael Eric Dyson has called 'the exceptional black man', embraced for his talents but singled out for the color of his skin". According to Sheffield, the album serves as "a rock-star manifesto for a downsizing world".


title: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

text: The album begins with "Dark Fantasy", opened by rapper Nicki Minaj narrating a rework of Roald Dahl's 1982 poem "Cinderella". The song introduces the themes of decadence and hedonism, with West musing how it had been planned "to drink until the pain was over/But what's worse, the pain or the hangover?" The track's lyrics contain musical and popular culture references, including fellow rapper Nas, the 1820 short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", and British singer Leona Lewis and her song "Sex on Fire" (2008). "Gorgeous" is an uplifting blues-styled track, which sees West tackling racial injustices. "Power" features a dark production that relies on a sample of King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man" (1969), which Fennessey found to be "apocalyptic". West delves into escapism on the song, mentioning his struggles with the public and narrating his vision of a career suicide.


title: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

text: "All of the Lights" incorporates drum 'n' bass breaks, energetic percussion, and horn instruments. The opening lines mention the death of Michael Jackson and present the narrative of a man who goes through multiple issues including abusing his lover and serving prison time. West enlisted 11 guest vocalists for the song, including Alicia Keys, John Legend, Tony Williams, and Elly Jackson; Rihanna sings the hook. In an interview with MTV, Jackson said of the vocal arrangement, "He got me to layer up all these vocals with other people, and he just basically wanted to use his favorite vocalists from around the world to create this really unique vocal texture on his record, but it's not the kind of thing where you can pick it out". "Monster" is a posse cut that features staccato strings, which invoke paranoia. West raps about using inappropriate methods to drown his pain and Nicki Minaj asserts her queen status on the song. The fellow posse cut "So Appalled" is built around piano and strings, with the performers affirming that "this shit is/fucking ridiculous".


title: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

text: "Devil in a New Dress" is built on a sample of Smokey Robinson's "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" (1960). Its lyrics ranges from lust to heartache, with its sexual and religious imagery described by one critic as "part bedroom allure, part angelic prayer". It is the only track without production by West, yet features his characteristic style of manipulating the pitch and tempo of classic soul samples. "Runaway" contains a piano-based motif comprising a series of uninterrupted descending half and whole notes, with a coda that incorporates cello at first, before a violin section and West's vocoder-singing. West uses the song's lyrics to address public opinion and his character issues, proclaiming a toast to all with those flaws. Fennessey cited "Runaway" as the point in "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" where "self-laceration overtakes chest-beating".


title: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

text: Inspired by West's two-year relationship with model Amber Rose, "Hell of a Life" samples the Mojo Men's "She's My Baby" (1966) and follows a narrative of marrying a porn star. According to Dombal, the song "attempts to bend its central credo—'no more drugs for me, pussy and religion is all I need'—into a noble pursuit ... The song blurs the line between fantasy and reality, sex and romance, love and religion, until no lines exist at all." "Blame Game" is a low-key track that is built around a sample of Richard D. James's piano composition "Avril 14th" (2001), and features additional vocals from Legend. The song focuses on a painful domestic dispute and contains a profane skit by comedian Chris Rock.


title: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

text: "Lost in the World" features tribal drums and prominent samples from the indie folk band Bon Iver's "Woods" (2009), with West applying the sample "as the centerpiece of a catchy, communal reverie". It features several musical changes, beginning with the band's frontman Vernon's faint vocals, followed by 4/4 drums, a gospel chorus, and increased tempo, and a final measured tempo. "Lost in the World" transitions into the closing track "Who Will Survive in America". It serves as the album's coda and samples jazz poet Gil Scott-Heron's "Comment No. 1" (1970), a surrealist piece delivered by him in spoken word about the African-American experience and the fated idealism of the American dream. Scott-Heron's original speech is edited to an excerpt that, according to Kot, "retains its essence, that of an African-American male who feels cut off from his country and culture". By contrast, Fennessey wrote, "It's a too-serious denouement for an album that is more about the self's little nightmares than some aching societal rejection."


title: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

text: "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" was once titled "Good Ass Job" and then as "Dark Twisted Fantasy". On July 28, 2010, West announced on his newly registered Twitter account that the former title had been scrapped, "I'm bouncing a couple of titles around now." He later expressed uncertainty about the title in September, tweeting: "I can't decide on my album title [...] uuuugh!!!!" The official title, "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy", was announced by West on October 5, 2010; "Good Ass Job" was eventually planned as the title of a collaborative album with Chance the Rapper, which never materialized.


title: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

text: The album's artwork, designed by George Condo, shows West being straddled on a couch by an armless winged female, who has fearsome features and a long, spotted tail. Both are nude, with West shown holding a beer. According to "Vulture" writer Dan Kois, the mythological figure straddling West is "a kind of fragment, between a sphinx, a phoenix, a haunting ghost, a harpy". The artwork was done at Condo's studio, after West visited for several hours and they listened to tapes of the rapper's music. Over the next few days, the painter designed eight or nine paintings for the album. Two of them were portraits of West: an extreme closeup, with mismatched eyes and four sets of teeth; a portrait showing his head, crowned and decapitated, placed sideways on a white slab, pierced by a sword. Condo also came up with a painting of a dyspeptic ballerina in a black tutu and a painting of only the crown and the sword in a grassy landscape. He made five covers, which were all included with the purchase of "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy". A second cover containing painting of a ballerina was posted on the Amazon.com pre-order page. The image was originally intended to be the cover art for "Runaway", but West used a photograph of a ballerina instead. Another painting, "The Priest", was completed for the album by Condo, who described it as an attempt to bring depictions of religious figures into the modern world.


title: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

text: West told Condo that he wanted a phoenix painting and after he came up with the artwork, the rapper expressed his admiration for how they both "express ourselves with our truest vision". According to Condo, West requested the original cover image to be provocative enough to be banned by retailers, as a publicity stunt. In October 2010, a month before the album's release, West tweeted: "Yoooo they banned my album cover!!!!! Banned in the USA!!! They don't want me chilling on the couch with my Phoenix!" He also suggested Walmart had rejected the cover and cited the case of rock band Nirvana's 1991 album "Nevermind", which featured a photo of a naked baby. West questioned why the band are allowed to have someone nude on their cover, but he "can't have a PAINTING of a monster with no arms and a polka dot tail and wings". In response, Walmart denied West's suggestion in a statement declaring the company's excitement about "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" and its arrival in stores: "We did not reject the cover artwork and it was not presented to us." Certain retailers would not carry the original cover, with West substituting it with Condo's ballerina artwork, while some shipped copies used a pixelated version of the original.


title: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

text: In 2015, "Billboard" named the album's artwork as the 30th best of all time. The magazine wrote that West "matched the widescreen brilliance of the album's music with boundary-cracking art, including a controversial image of a demonic West being straddled by a nude angel". In 2017, "NME" listed the cover as the seventh best album artwork of the 21st century so far.


title: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

text: Before the album's release, West initiated the free music program GOOD Fridays through his website beginning August 20, 2010, offering a free download of a new song for each Friday. West tweeted that he was aware "y'all need the music so I'm dropping 1 new song every weekend until Xmas", explaining a release could be a song by him, Jay-Z, or another artist. Titled after his imprint label GOOD Music, the program generated considerable publicity ahead of the release of "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy". Young Money Entertainment online marketing coordinator Karen Civil retrospectively called the program genius, detailing: "He did something no one had ever done before, and at a point when he was the most hated person in music, he brought excitement back with his Friday releases." GOOD Fridays was originally intended to run until December 2010, but West extended it through to January 2011.


title: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

text: On September 12, 2010, West premiered "Runaway" with a live performance at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards. Three weeks later, on October 2, he performed the song a second time on "Saturday Night Live", along with "Power". On October 4, 2010, West announced the album's release date of November 22, after he had previously tweeted that he was "contemplating my album date". The rapper also announced that certain songs from GOOD Fridays would be included on it. "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" was released by Def Jam and Roc-A-Fella on November 22, 2010, being made available for digital download on Amazon at a list price of $3.99, in a partnership between the former label and the company. This coincided with the site's $3 discount promotional offer on MP3 purchases, validated with a code. Four singles were released from the album and became top 40 hits on the US "Billboard" Hot 100, with the lead single "Power" released on July 1, 2010, charting at number 22. "Runaway" was released on October 4, and reached number 12, while "Monster" and "All of the Lights" were released on October 23, 2010 and January 18, 2011, respectively; they both charted at number 18.


title: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

text: A 35-minute film entitled "Runaway", featuring the titular song's official music video, was directed by West and released on October 23, 2010. Filmed in Prague over a period of four days in the summer of 2010, the film stars West and model Selita Ebanks, with the script penned by Hype Williams and the story written by West. West described the video as an "overall representation of what I dream" and a reflection of his feelings throughout life, including a parallel of his situation from 2009 to 2010. West explained that it is "the story of a phoenix fallen to Earth", who he makes his girlfriend, though she faces discrimination and eventually "has to burn herself alive and go back to her world". West elaborated that he had been deeply considering the idea of a phoenix for a while, regarding the possibility of it being parallel to his career: "I threw a Molotov cocktail on my career last year, in a way, and I had to come back as a better person." At one of his screenings for "Runaway" in Paris, he broke down into tears. Later after another screening in Los Angeles, West said how his music and "art" affects people is his inspiration to continue in his career. The film was included on a bonus DVD for the deluxe edition of "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy".


title: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

text: For initial promotion of "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy", West performed at Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in late November 2010. Following the release of the album, West performed headlining sets at several large festivals in 2011, including SXSW, Lollapalooza, "Austin City Limits", and Coachella; the latter was viewed by "The Hollywood Reporter" as "one of the great hip-hop sets of all time".


title: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

text: In its first week of release, "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" debuted at number one on the US "Billboard" 200, selling 496,000 copies. The entry blocked Nicki Minaj's debut album "Pink Friday" from the top spot with 375,000 sales; the week marked the first time in two years that the chart had two albums bow with over 300,000 units. It also gave West his fourth consecutive US number-one album and surpassed the 450,000 first-week sales of "808s & Heartbreak", with the debut becoming the fourth-best sales week of 2010. The album's first-week digital sales of 224,000 units accounted for 45% of the total and stood as the fourth-highest digital copies for an album in a week.


title: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

text: In its second week on the "Billboard" 200, "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" descended six places to number seven with 108,000 copies sold, marking a 78% sales decline, while remaining above "Pink Friday" by one place. The album lasted for 115 weeks on the "Billboard" 200, and as of July 2013, it has sold 1,300,000 copies in the United States, as reported by Nielsen SoundScan. By June 2011, the album had sold 483,000 digital copies, ranking as the second best-selling digital rap album ever. On November 23, 2020, "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for pushing 3,000,000 certified units in the US. According to "Billboard", as of 2022, "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" is one of the 15 best-performing 21st-century albums without any of its singles being number-one hits on the Hot 100.


title: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

text: "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" became West's fourth number one album on the Canadian Albums Chart. It reached number four on the Danish Albums chart, and in March 2021, was certified double platinum by IFPI Danmark for shipments of 40,000. "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" opened at number six on the ARIA Albums chart and on September 10, 2021, it was awarded a double platinum certification from the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for over 140,000 copies shipped in Australia. The album charted within the top 10 in Norway, South Korea, New Zealand, and Switzerland. In 2018, it was reported that "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" had been streamed a billion times on Spotify.


title: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

text: "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" was met with widespread critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an average score of 94, based on 45 reviews. Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave it 8.8 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus.


title: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

text: In a November 2010 review, Andy Gill of "The Independent" praised the album as "one of pop's gaudiest, most grandiose efforts of recent years, a no holds-barred musical extravaganza" that abandons "any notion of good taste" from the beginning. Ann Powers, writing for the "Los Angeles Times", found the music comparable to Pablo Picasso, meeting "the Cubist mandate of rearranging form, texture, color and space" for suggesting new viewpoints. The album was also called West's most lavish record in a review by "Time" magazine's David Browne, who said it proved again that few other artists shared his ability to adeptly mix diverse elements. Dan Vidal of "Urb" highlighted the rapper's ability to bring the best out of his collaborators, drawing a comparison to the work of Miles Davis.


title: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

text: "Rolling Stone" chief critic Rob Sheffield called "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" West's best and most wildly inspired album upon its release, asserting that no other act was recording music as dark or uncanny; he added the rapper transgresses the very conventions he had established for rap and pop music in the past five years. Steve Jones of "USA Today" echoed this sentiment, declaring that West "unleashes an array of sonic flavors — old school hip-hop, progressive rock, R&B, classical music — and deftly mixes and matches them", concluding his only predictability is a consistent drive to make every project his best. "The Village Voice"s Sean Fennessey found the album skillfully engineered and sequenced because of the way each song transitions over "like some long night out into the hazy morning after". Esteemed reviewer Robert Christgau, in "MSN Music", hailed the album as a "world-beating return to form" for West. "Pitchfork" awarded the album a 10/10, the first perfect score the publication had given to a new release since Wilco's "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" in 2002.


title: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

text: Some reviewers were more qualified in their praise. For "The Guardian", Kitty Empire was critical of West's lyrics calling women "ruthless money-grabbers" on an otherwise "herculean" and "flawed near-masterpiece". AllMusic writer Andy Kellman found West's rapping inconsistent on "a deeply fascinating accomplishment" in his catalogue and one of complicated merit: "As fatiguing as it is invigorating, as cold-blooded as it is heart-rending, as haphazardly splattered as it is meticulously sculpted, [the album] is an extraordinarily complex 70-minute set of songs." "Spin" journalist Chris Martins felt that a number of songs could benefit from a shorter length, yet called "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" "a sinister, orchestral, hugely grandiose affair" and the music "dark, twisted, and beautiful".


title: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

text: At the end of 2010, numerous critics and publications included "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" on their year-end top albums lists. Many named it the best album of 2010, including "Billboard", "Time", "Slant Magazine", "Pitchfork", "Rolling Stone", and "Spin". "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" was voted best album in "The Village Voice"s Pazz & Jop critics' poll for 2010, winning by the largest margin in the poll's history with 3,250 points. "Power", "Runaway", and "Monster" were voted in the top-10 of the Pazz & Jop singles list. Metacritic, which collates reviews of music albums, identified it as the best-reviewed album of 2010. The album stood as the first rap release to achieve this since Outkast's 2000 album "Stankonia" and the sixth-highest ranking of albums released in the 2010s to have at least 15 professional reviews.


title: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

text: "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" later appeared on decade-end best albums lists. In 2012, "Complex" included it on their list of "25 Rap Albums From the Past Decade That Deserve Classic Status". In October 2013, the magazine ranked the album as the best hip hop album of the last five years. In 2014 "Pitchfork" named it the best album of the 2010s so far, with Ian Cohen writing, "West broke the ground upon which the new decade's most brilliant architects built their masterworks; "Bon Iver", "Take Care", "Channel Orange", and "Good Kid, M.A.A.D City" don't exist without the blueprint of "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy"." It was later ranked as the top album of the 2010s by "The A.V. Club", "Billboard", and "Rolling Stone". Christgau named "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" as the decade's eighth-best album, saying it remains "perversely superb".


title: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

text: In 2014 "Spin" named "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" as the eighth best album of the past 30 years; Dan Weiss wrote that it is a world combining samples, interpolations, and vocalists, admitting West does not believe "one man should have all that power" of God, yet he "lives one hell of a life". Six years later, Marc Hogan from "Pitchfork" considered it among the great art pop albums of the last 20 years to "have filled the void of full-length statements with both artistic seriousness and mass appeal that was formerly largely occupied by [rock] guitar bands". In 2017, the staff of "HipHopDX" wrote the album is "widely considered [West's] magnum opus" and the release that made the public's perception of him positive again. "EW" picked "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" as the eighth greatest album of all time in 2016, while it was ranked 21st and 17th on the lists by "NME" and "Rolling Stone" in 2013 and 2020, respectively. The album was also included in the book "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".


title: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

text: "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" won awards for both Album of the Year and Reader's Choice: Best Album at the 2010 "HipHopDX" Awards, receiving over 50 percent of the vote for the latter. The album was awarded CD of the Year at the next year's BET Hip Hop Awards, while it was nominated for Outstanding Album at the 2011 NAACP Image Awards. The album received a nomination for Top Rap Album at the 2011 "Billboard" Music Awards, though ultimately lost to fellow rapper Eminem's "Recovery".


title: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

text: For the 54th Annual Grammy Awards in 2012, "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" was awarded Best Rap Album, while "All of the Lights" was nominated for Song of the Year, Best Rap Song, and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration, winning in the latter two categories. However, The Recording Academy's decision not to nominate "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" for Album of the Year was viewed by many media outlets as a snub, along with the rejection of "Watch the Throne" in the category. Writing for the "Los Angeles Times", Randall Roberts pinpointed the exclusion of "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" – "the most critically acclaimed album of the year, a career-defining record" – as a snub in favor of nominating less substantial albums. "Time" journalist Touré deemed West's nominations in minor Grammy categories as "booby prizes" and stated that the album was "by far the best reviewed album in many years", being lauded by critics "like nothing since Radiohead's zenith", while achieving success with over 1,200,000 sales. The journalist questioned what happened, "How is it Grammy overlooked Kanye's magnum opus and gave noms to four sonic widgets and Adele's "21"?" Touré explored possible reasons for the Academy to snub West, including split votes between "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" and "Watch the Throne", concerns over his past controversies, and more commercially appealing nominees, but ultimately perceived "a lack of respect for hip hop and its complexity" from those who are into music, yet lack knowledge of the genre. He concluded that despite West releasing "his most mature work, he's being ignored".


title: My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

text: Having been vocal about snubs for major categories of award shows in the past, West responded to the Grammy nominees onstage during a concert on the Watch the Throne Tour, saying he realized it was "my fault for dropping "Watch the Throne" and "Dark Fantasy" the same year. I should've just spaced it out, just a little bit more." Writing for "NME" on the 10th anniversary of "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy", Will Lavin recalled that despite winning Best Rap Album, "it was snubbed for Best Album without so much as a nomination". Two years later, "Vibe" listed the record as one of 10 rap albums snubbed of Album of the Year, with Preezy Brown mentioning this was "a Grammy snub that's one of the more egregious in recent memory".


title: Taken (film)

text: Taken (also titled 96 Hours and The Hostage) is a 2008 French English-language action-thriller film written by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen, and directed by Pierre Morel. It stars Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Katie Cassidy, Leland Orser, and Holly Valance. Neeson plays Bryan Mills, an ex-CIA officer who sets about tracking down his teenage daughter Kim (Grace) and her best friend Amanda (Cassidy) after the two girls are kidnapped by Albanian human traffickers while traveling in France during a vacation.


title: Taken (film)

text: "Taken" was released in France on 27 February 2008 by EuropaCorp, and later in the United States on 30 January 2009 by 20th Century Fox. The movie grossed more than $226 million. Despite mixed reviews from critics, numerous media outlets cited the film as a turning point in Neeson's career that redefined and transformed him to an action film star. It is the first film in the "Taken" franchise and was followed by two sequels—"Taken 2" and "Taken 3"—released in 2012 and 2014, respectively. A television series premiered in 2017 on NBC, with Clive Standen portraying a younger Bryan Mills.


title: Taken (film)

text: Ex-Green Beret and ex-CIA Agent Bryan Mills attempts to build a closer relationship with his 17-year-old daughter, Kim, who lives with her mother (his ex-wife) Lenore, and her wealthy stepfather, Stuart. While overseeing security at a concert for pop star Sheerah, Bryan saves her from a knife-wielding attacker. Out of gratitude, Sheerah offers to have a vocal coach assess Kim as a singer. Before Bryan can tell her about the offer, Kim asks him for permission to travel to Paris with her best friend, Amanda. He initially refuses, concerned about her safety, but eventually gives in. At the airport, Bryan learns that Kim lied; the girls are actually planning to follow U2 during their European tour.


title: Taken (film)

text: Upon arriving at Charles de Gaulle Airport, Kim and Amanda meet Peter, a handsome young stranger who offers to share a taxi. Kim and Amanda go to Amanda's cousins' apartment, where Kim learns that the cousins are in Spain. After answering a call from Bryan, Kim sees men enter the apartment and abduct Amanda. When Kim is dragged out from hiding, she yells a description of her abductor, following her father's instructions. Bryan hears someone breathing on the phone and tells the listener that he will not pursue the kidnappers if they release his daughter, but warns them that refusing to accept his offer will result in their deaths. The listener only replies "good luck" and terminates the call.


title: Taken (film)

text: Sam, an old friend and former colleague of Bryan, deduces that the kidnappers are part of an Albanian sex trafficking ring and identifies the listener as mob boss Marko Hoxha. Based on previous abductions, Kim must be found within 96 hours or she will likely be lost forever. Bryan flies to Paris, breaks into the apartment, and finds Peter's reflection in a picture on Kim's phone. He finds Peter at the airport, trying to charm a female traveler. Bryan gives chase in a stolen taxi. While fleeing, Peter is struck and killed by an oncoming truck. With his only lead dead, Bryan turns to an old contact, ex-DGSE Agent turned National Police officer Jean-Claude Pitrel, who now has a desk job. Jean-Claude warns him not to get involved, but informs him of the local red-light district where Bryan plants a listening device on an Albanian pimp. Bryan searches a makeshift brothel in a construction yard and rescues a drugged young woman who has Kim's denim jacket. After a gunfight and high-speed chase with the brothel's operators, Bryan takes the woman to a hotel, where he improvises her detoxification.


title: Taken (film)

text: The next morning, the woman tells Bryan of a house where she and Kim were kept. Posing as Jean-Claude, Bryan enters the house under the pretense of renegotiating the police protection rate. When he identifies Marko by tricking him into saying "good luck," the meeting erupts into a fight which results in the deaths of several gangsters. Searching the house, Bryan finds several heavily drugged girls, including Amanda who died of an overdose. Bryan then tortures Marko with electricity, forcing him to confess that virgins like Kim are quickly sold on the black market. Marko identifies the buyer as crime syndicate leader Patrice Saint-Clair before Bryan leaves him to die from continuous electrocution.


title: Taken (film)

text: At Jean-Claude's apartment, Bryan confronts the police official over his corruption and shoots his wife, wounding her, to coerce him into disclosing Saint-Clair's location, before knocking him out. Bryan infiltrates a secret sex-slave auction taking place beneath Saint-Clair's mansion, where Kim is the subject of the last sale. Bryan forces Ali, one of the bidders, to purchase her, but is subsequently caught and knocked out. When Saint-Clair learns who he is, he orders his henchmen to kill Bryan, but Bryan breaks loose and kills them all. Saint-Clair reveals that Kim was taken to a yacht owned by a sheikh named Raman before Bryan murders him.


title: Taken (film)

text: Bryan pursues the yacht and eliminates the bodyguards, including Ali, before he finds Raman holding Kim at knifepoint. When Raman attempts to negotiate, Bryan kills him with a headshot. Back in the United States, Bryan surprises Kim by taking her to visit Sheerah.


title: Taken (film)

text: The film was produced by Luc Besson's EuropaCorp. Pierre Morel had previously worked as a director of photography for Besson, and they had also collaborated on Morel's directorial debut, "District 13". Besson pitched the idea of "Taken" one night over dinner and Morel immediately became attached to the idea of a father fighting to protect his daughter. Jeff Bridges was first cast as Bryan Mills, but after he dropped out of the project, Liam Neeson accepted the part, desiring to play a more physically demanding role than he was used to. Neeson at first thought the film to be no more than a "little side road" for his career, expecting it to be released directly to video. Instead, the film went on to define Neeson's career and establish him as a big time actor.


title: Taken (film)

text: A trailer of "Taken" was released on 20 June 2008. The film saw its release on 27 February in France, 9 April in China and 26 September in UK in the year of 2008. It was released on 30 January in United States and 22 August in Japan in the year of 2009. The film was released under the title of "96 Hours" in Germany, "Io vi troverò" ("I Will Find You") in Italy and "Заложница" ("Hostage") in Russia.


title: Taken (film)

text: "Taken" grossed $145 million in North America and $81.8 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $226.8 million, against a production budget of $25 million.


title: Taken (film)

text: On its opening day in North America, the film grossed $9.4 million, scoring the best opening day ever for Super Bowl weekend. It went on to make $24.7 million during its opening weekend playing in 3,183 theaters, with a $7,765 per-theatre average and ranking #1, which was the second highest Super Bowl opening weekend, at the time, behind "" ($31.1 million). The film is also the highest grossing among the "Taken" films in North America.


title: Taken (film)

text: The biggest markets in other territories were South Korea, UK, France, Australia and Spain: the film grossed $15.47 million, $11.27 million, $9.43 million, $6.28 million, and $5.46 million respectively.


title: Taken (film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 59%, based on 177 reviews, with an average rating of 5.80/10. The site's critical consensus reads, ""Taken" is undeniably fun with slick action, but is largely a brainless exercise." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 50 out of 100, based on 32 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


title: Taken (film)

text: Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" gave the film two and a half stars out of four, writing, "It's always a puzzle to review a movie like this. On the one hand, it's preposterous. But who expects a "Bourne"-type city-wrecking operative to be plausible? On the other hand, it's very well-made. Liam Neeson brings the character a hard-edged, mercilessly focused anger, and director Pierre Morel hurtles through action sequences at a breathless velocity." Richard Corliss of "Time" said the film "has nothing more on its mind than dozens of bad guys getting beat up and another one turned into instant roadkill." "The Washington Post" described the film as "a satisfying little thriller as grimly professional as its efficient hero" and likened the action to the "Bourne" film series. Derek Elley of "Variety" described the film as a "kick ass, pedal-to-the-metal actioner [...] that wisely doesn't give the viewer any time to ponder the string of unlikely coincidences [...] the film has the forward, devil-may-care momentum of a Bond film on steroids."


title: Taken (film)

text: Kenneth Turan of the "Los Angeles Times" described the film's premise as "unintentionally silly at times [...] Obviously, 'Taken' is not the kind of action film to spend much time worrying about its pedestrian script or largely indifferent acting, so it's fortunate to have Neeson in the starring role." Bryan Mills is characterized as "relentless attack machine who is impervious to fists, bullets and fast-moving cars, he uses a variety of martial arts skills to knock out more opponents than Mike Tyson and casually kill those he doesn't KO".


title: Taken (film)

text: In 2011, a self-proclaimed counter-terrorism expert was convicted of wire fraud after claiming the film was based on a real-life incident in which his daughter was killed. William G. Hillar, who pretended to be a retired Green Beret colonel, claimed to have spent more than 12 years lecturing US government agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation on security issues. However, records revealed he had actually been a radar operator in the Coast Guard Reserve between 1962 and 1970, and had never been in the US Army. Nevertheless, his website claimed "Taken" was based on events involving him and his family. Hillar, who admitted the charges, was sentenced to 500 hours of community service at Maryland State Veteran Cemeteries. He also agreed to repay $171,000 in speaking fees that he had received from various organizations to which he had presented himself as an expert in terrorism and human trafficking.


title: Taken (film)

text: In 2019, in an attempt to promote tourism and counter the negative perception of Albanians in the Western media, the Albanian government, together with foreign donors, produced a tourism advertisement entitled "Be Taken by Albania", where Liam Neeson is asked to visit Albania and explore the country's cultural, culinary and tourism hotspots.


title: Taken (film)

text: "Taken" was released as "Taken (Single-Disc Extended Edition)" on DVDs on 12 May 2009 and on Blu-ray on 9 December 2014. The film also saw release of "Taken (Two-Disc Extended Edition)" on DVDs and Blu-ray Discs on 12 May 2009. , the film has sold 5,388,963 DVDs and 607,073 Blu-ray Discs and grossing $79,798,171 and $10,069,116 respectively totaling $89,867,287 in North America.


title: Taken (film)

text: In November 2010, Fox announced that EuropaCorp would produce a sequel directed by Olivier Megaton. "Taken 2" was subsequently released in France on 3 October 2012, with Neeson, Janssen, Grace, Gries, Rabourdin and Orser reprising their roles from the first film. A third "Taken" film was released 16 December 2014.


title: Taken (film)

text: In September 2015, NBC ordered a TV series depicting a younger Bryan Mills with Clive Standen portraying Mills, Gaius Charles, Monique Gabriela Curnen, James Landry Hebert, Michael Irby, Jose Pablo Cantillo, Jennifer Marsala and Simu Liu are cast as John, Vlasik, Casey, Scott, Dave, Riley and Faaron, members of OPCON. Brooklyn Sudano is cast as Asha, an attractive, well-educated young student from an upper-middle-class family who is furthering her education when she first meets Bryan, and Jennifer Beals is cast as Christina Hart, the Special Deputy Director of National Intelligence who has taken Mills under her wing. Alexander Cary is a writer, executive producer and showrunner for the series and Alex Graves directed the pilot. The show lasted two seasons, beginning in February 2017 and ending in June the following year.


title: Scott Peterson

text: Scott Lee Peterson (born October 24, 1972) is an American convicted murderer. In 2004, he was convicted of the first-degree murder of his wife, Laci, who was pregnant at the time, and the second-degree murder of their unborn son, Conner, in Modesto, California.


title: Scott Peterson

text: In 2005, Peterson was sentenced to death by lethal injection. His case was put on automatic appeal to the Supreme Court of California. On August 24, 2020, the death penalty for Peterson was overturned, though his conviction was upheld. He was re-sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on December 8, 2021.


title: Scott Peterson

text: Scott Lee Peterson was born October 24, 1972, at Sharp Coronado Hospital in San Diego, California, to Lee Arthur Peterson, a businessman who owned a crate-packaging company, and Jacqueline "Jackie" Helen Latham, who owned a boutique in La Jolla called The Put On. Though Lee and Jackie had six children from previous relationships, Scott was their only child together. As a child, Peterson shared a bedroom with his half-brother John in the family's two-bedroom apartment in La Jolla.


title: Scott Peterson

text: Peterson began playing golf at an early age, a result of time he spent with his father. By age 14, he could beat his father at the game. For a time, he had dreams of becoming a professional golfer like Phil Mickelson, his teammate at the University of San Diego High School. By the end of high school, he was one of the top junior golfers in San Diego.


title: Scott Peterson

text: In 1990, Peterson enrolled at Arizona State University (where Mickelson had also enrolled) on a partial golf scholarship. Mickelson would go on to become a highly successful PGA golfer, and Peterson's father, Lee, later testified that the considerable competition that Mickelson presented while they were at Arizona State discouraged Peterson. Randall Mell of the Broward County, Florida "Sun-Sentinel" reported that Chip Couch, the father of another young golfer, Chris Couch, who was visiting Arizona State on a recruiting trip, told Mell that he got Peterson kicked off the golf team. Couch stated that Peterson had taken Chris out drinking and to meet girls, resulting in a hangover for Chris. Because Chris was the No. 1 junior in the country, Chip did not want Peterson to threaten his son's future, and he complained to the golf coach, who kicked Peterson off the team. Peterson transferred to Cuesta College, in San Luis Obispo, and later to California Polytechnic State University. He initially planned to major in international business, but changed his major to agricultural business. Professors who taught Peterson described him as a model student. His agribusiness professor Jim Ahern commented, "I wouldn't mind having a class full of Scott Petersons."


title: Scott Peterson

text: While at California Polytechnic, Peterson worked at a restaurant in Morro Bay called the Pacific Café. One of his co-workers would receive visits from a neighbor named Laci Denise Rocha, who also attended Cal Poly as an ornamental horticulture major. When Peterson and his future wife first met at the restaurant in mid-1994, Laci made the first move, sending him her phone number. Immediately after meeting Peterson, Laci told her mother that she had met the man that she would marry. Peterson later called Laci and they began dating, their first date being a deep-sea fishing trip on which Laci got seasick. As Peterson's relationship with Laci grew more serious, he put aside his dreams of professional golf in order to focus on a business career. The couple dated for two years and eventually moved in together. In 1997, after Laci graduated, they married at Sycamore Mineral Springs Resort, in San Luis Obispo County's Avila Valley. While Peterson finished his senior year, Laci took a job in nearby Prunedale. Prosecutors have stated that around this time, Peterson engaged in the first of at least two extramarital affairs, though they did not reveal names or details of these relationships. Peterson graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in agricultural business in June 1998.


title: Scott Peterson

text: After their graduations, the Petersons opened a sports bar in San Luis Obispo called The Shack. Contrary to a "Los Angeles Times" story that reported that Peterson's parents loaned him money to open the establishment, his parents emphatically told the "San Francisco Chronicle" that they did not, believing that it was a bad investment. When the couple had difficulty finding a technician to install a needed vent in the restaurant, Peterson took the necessary certification course in Los Angeles in order to install it himself. Business was initially slow, but eventually improved, especially on weekends. The Petersons decided to put The Shack up for sale when they moved to Laci's hometown of Modesto, California to start a family. In October 2000, they purchased a three-bedroom, two-bath bungalow house for $177,000 on Covena Avenue in an upscale neighborhood near East La Loma Park. They sold the Shack in April 2001.


title: Scott Peterson

text: Laci soon took a part-time job as a substitute teacher, and Peterson got a job with Tradecorp U.S.A., a newly founded subsidiary of a European fertilizer company. According to Lee Peterson, the Spanish company was trying to establish a customer base in the United States, and they hired Peterson as their West Coast representative. Working on salary plus commission, he sold irrigation systems, fertilizer, chemical nutrients, and related products to big farms and flower growers, primarily in California, Arizona, and New Mexico. Peterson was earning a salary of $5,000 a month before taxes. Laci's loved ones, including her mother and younger sister, stated that she worked enthusiastically at being the perfect housewife, enjoying cooking and entertaining, and that she and her family welcomed the news in 2002 that she was pregnant. In November 2002, when Laci was seven months pregnant, Peterson was introduced by a friend to a Fresno massage therapist named Amber Frey. In later public statements, Frey said Peterson told her he was single, and the two began a romantic relationship. The last time Peterson's parents saw Laci was during a three-day weekend they spent together in Carmel, California, the week before Christmas.


title: Scott Peterson

text: On December 23, 2002, at 5:45 pm, Peterson and Laci went to Salon—the workplace of Laci's sister Amy Rocha—for a monthly scheduled haircut. As they spoke, Rocha said Peterson offered to pick up a fruit basket that she had ordered for her grandfather as a Christmas gift the next day because he would be playing golf at a course nearby. Prosecutors say Peterson also told other people he would be playing golf on the day of Christmas Eve. Later that evening, Sharon Rocha, Laci's mother, spoke with Laci on the telephone around 8:30 pm.


title: Scott Peterson

text: Peterson later told police that he last saw his wife about 9:30a.m. on December 24, 2002, when he left to go fishing at the Berkeley Marina. He said that she was mopping the floor, and was planning to walk the family dog, McKenzie, at a nearby park, and bake gingerbread cookies. Peterson had also said that she had been watching a Martha Stewart cooking show that morning. Later that morning Karen Servas, a neighbor of the Petersons, stated that around 10:30am she found the Petersons' dog, a golden retriever named McKenzie, alone outside the home and returned him to the Petersons' backyard. Another neighbor named Mike Chiavetta said he saw McKenzie at about 10:45am as he played catch with his own dog. "The Modesto Bee" also reported an unnamed female neighbor who found the dog with muddy leash, wandering in the neighborhood, and who returned the dog to the Petersons' yard, not observing that anything was out of place. Peterson said he returned home that afternoon to find it empty. Peterson said Laci's 1996 Land Rover Discovery SE was in the driveway. Peterson also stated that he found McKenzie in their back yard, and that he related this to Laci's mother, Sharon, though she later denied this in her book. He showered and washed his clothes because he got wet during his fishing trip "from the bay and being rained on", as police detective Allen Brocchini later testified. He then ate some pizza with milk.


title: Scott Peterson

text: According to ABC News, Peterson called his mother-in-law, Sharon Rocha, to ask if Laci was with her, which was the first time Sharon learned that Laci was missing. Later that evening Ron Grantski called the police to report Laci missing. Laci was seven-and-a-half months pregnant with a due date of February 10, 2003. The couple had planned to name the baby boy Conner. Laci was reported missing on Christmas Eve, and the story attracted nationwide media interest.


title: Scott Peterson

text: Modesto police detectives Allen Brocchini and Jon Buehler, the lead investigators on the case, responded to the call. When they arrived at the Peterson home, Laci's keys, wallet and sunglasses were found in her purse in a closet.


title: Scott Peterson

text: When the detectives questioned Peterson that evening, Buehler told ABC News in 2017, "I suspected Scott when I first met him. Didn't mean he did it, but I was a little bit thrown off by his calm, cool demeanor and his lack of questioning...he wasn't, 'Will you call me back? Can I have one of your cards? What are you guys doing now?'" Buehler further described Scott's behavior as "a strange combination of polite and arrogant, disaffectedly distant and impatiently irritable. He just didn't seem like a man who was crushed or even greatly disturbed by his wife's disappearance and possible death."


title: Scott Peterson

text: Although Peterson initially said he had spent the day golfing, he later told the police that he had gone to fish for sturgeon at the Berkeley Marina. At 2:15 p.m., he left a message for Laci, stating, "Hey, Beautiful. It's 2:15. I'm leaving Berkeley." Peterson stated that he went fishing about 90 miles from the couple's Modesto home. Detectives immediately launched a search. Sharon Rocha immediately hurried to the park to search for her daughter. She stated that when she saw Scott about 20–30 feet away she repeatedly called him by name, but he did not acknowledge her, and was distant when she approached him back at his house, angling away from her when she attempted to hug him.


title: Scott Peterson

text: Although inconsistencies in Peterson's statements led police to suspect foul play almost immediately, they did not treat the case as suspicious within the first few hours after the missing persons report was filed. During this initial period, Peterson's in-laws defended him and portrayed him and Laci as the ideal couple, and public perception of Peterson reflected this. As police continued to investigate, they grew more suspicious of Peterson.


title: Scott Peterson

text: On January 17, 2003, it became known that Peterson had engaged in two other extramarital affairs prior to an affair with a woman named Amber Frey. Frey informed police of their relationship on December 30, 2002, shortly after discovering he was a person of interest in Peterson's disappearance, She told detectives that she met Peterson on November 20, and that he had initially told her he was single. She also informed police that Scott had told her on December 9, two weeks before Peterson's disappearance, he was a widower, and it would be the first Christmas without his wife. Police considered whether this was an indication that Peterson had already decided to kill Laci, which Sharon Rocha agreed was a possibility.


title: Scott Peterson

text: She agreed to phone him while police recorded her subsequent phone conversations with Peterson in the hopes of getting him to confess. During the trial, the audio recordings of the couple's telephone conversations were played, and the transcripts were publicized. The recordings revealed that in the days after Laci went missing, Peterson told Frey that he had traveled to Paris to celebrate the holidays, in part with his new companions Pasqual and François. In reality, he had made one of these phone calls minutes before attending the New Year's Eve candlelight vigil for Laci in Modesto.


title: Scott Peterson

text: At a January 24, 2003, press conference, the Rocha family publicly withdrew their support of Peterson, explaining that they did this upon learning of his affair with Frey, in particular upon seeing photos of Peterson and Frey together. A month after Laci's disappearance, her brother, Brent Rocha, stated at a press conference that although Peterson had admitted to him during a January 16, 2003, phone conversation that he had been having an affair with a woman from Fresno at the time, Peterson was now no longer communicating with the Rocha family.


title: Scott Peterson

text: On April 13, 2003, a couple walking their dog found the decomposing body of a small baby, in a marshy area of the San Francisco Bay shore in Richmond's Point Isabel Regional Shoreline park, north of Berkeley. Although a judge sealed autopsy results, an anonymous Associated Press source revealed that 1.5 loops of nylon tape were found around the fetus's neck and a significant cut was on the fetus's body.


title: Scott Peterson

text: One day later, a passerby found the torso of a recently pregnant woman, wearing beige pants and a maternity bra, on the eastern shore of the bay, along a rocky shoreline of the same park, one mile away from where the baby's body was found. The corpse was decomposed to the point of being almost unrecognizable as a human body since the head, arms, most of the legs and all the internal organs except for the uterus were missing.


title: Scott Peterson

text: On April 18, 2003, the results of DNA tests verified that the bodies were Laci Peterson and her son, who was to be named Conner. The autopsy on both bodies was performed by forensic pathologist Dr. Brian Peterson (no relation). Conner's skin was not decomposed at all, though the right side of his body was mutilated. An April 24 ABC News report stated his umbilical cord was still attached, and the "San Francisco Chronicle" reported that it appeared torn, rather than cut or clamped, as is the normal practice following birth. However, ABC News later reported on May 30 that according to the autopsy, the placenta and umbilical cord were "not" found with the body.


title: Scott Peterson

text: The exact date and cause of Laci's death were never determined. Her cervix was intact. She had suffered two cracked ribs, but Dr. Peterson could not determine if this occurred before or after her death. Laci's upper torso had been emptied of internal organs except for the uterus, which protected the fetus, explaining the lower level of decomposition it experienced. Dr. Peterson concluded that the fetus had died in utero, and determined he had been expelled from Laci's decaying body, though when cross-examined in court the following year, he conceded that he could not determine whether he had been born alive when this occurred. Dr. Peterson also found meconium in the fetus's bowels, which is the first stool passed after birth.


title: Scott Peterson

text: The discovery of the bodies created a greater sense of urgency for Brocchini and Buehler, who had put a tracker on Peterson's car. Knowing that he was in San Diego at the time, they feared he would escape across the border to Mexico. Brocchini commented in 2017, "I just thought, 'We've got to find Scott right now. He told me he was there and that's where the bodies come up? I mean, I believe it was premeditated, he planned it ... San Diego was pretty darn close to the Mexican border. Scott knew the area pretty well. That's where his parents lived. That's where he lived. So it wasn't like he was going to have to get on MapQuest to try and figure out a way to get to Tijuana."


title: Scott Peterson

text: The FBI and Modesto Police Department performed forensic searches of Peterson's home. The FBI also conducted mitochondrial DNA testing on a hair from pliers found in Peterson's fishing boat that linked them with hairs recovered from Laci's hairbrush. The authorities also searched Peterson's pickup truck, toolbox, warehouse, and boat. After Peterson was arrested, police conducted further searches in the bay in an attempt to locate hand-made concrete anchors they believe weighed down Laci's body while it was under water. Nothing was found.


title: Scott Peterson

text: Peterson was arrested on April 18, 2003, near a La Jolla golf course. He told police that he was meeting his father and brother for a game of golf. His naturally dark brown hair had been dyed blonde, and he had grown a mustache and goatee. His Mercedes-Benz was "overstuffed" with miscellaneous items, including nearly $15,000 in cash, twelve Viagra tablets, survival gear, camping equipment, several changes of clothes, four cell phones, and his brother's driver's license, in addition to his own. Peterson's father explained that he used his brother's license the day before to get a San Diego resident discount at the golf course and that Peterson had been living out of his car because of the media attention. However, police suspected these items were an indication that Peterson planned to flee to Mexico, an idea prosecutors would later concur with.


title: Scott Peterson

text: On April 21, 2003, Peterson was arraigned before Judge Nancy Ashley in Stanislaus County Superior Court. He was charged with two felony counts of murder with premeditation and special circumstances: the first-degree murder of Laci and the second-degree murder of Conner. He pleaded not guilty, and was held without bail.


title: Scott Peterson

text: Before his arraignment, Peterson had been represented by Kirk McAllister, a veteran criminal defense attorney from Modesto. Chief Deputy Public Defender Kent Faulkner was also assigned to the case. Peterson later indicated that he could afford a private attorney, namely Mark Geragos, who had done other high-profile criminal defense work. On January 20, 2004, a judge changed the venue of the trial from Modesto to Redwood City, because Peterson was the victim of increasing hostility in the Modesto area.


title: Scott Peterson

text: Peterson's trial began on June 1, 2004, and was followed closely by the news media. The lead prosecutor was Rick Distaso while Geragos led Peterson's defense. In opening statements, Geragos claimed Peterson was "a cad" for cheating on Laci but was not a murderer.


title: Scott Peterson

text: Prosecution witness Frey hired her own attorney, Gloria Allred, to represent her. Allred was not bound by the gag order imposed on those involved in the trial. Although she maintained that her client had no opinion about whether Peterson was guilty, Allred was openly sympathetic to the prosecution. She appeared frequently on television news programs during the trial.


title: Scott Peterson

text: While prosecutors claimed Peterson made cement anchors to weigh down his wife's body in San Francisco Bay, none were found when the Bay was searched, despite modern sonar technology permitting the detection of small objects on the sea floor. The defense questioned whether the investigation was thorough since Modesto police Detective Mike Hermos admitted he did not check the alibi of a prostitute who was accused of stealing checks from Peterson's mailbox, but Hermos did not indicate that the woman was ever a suspect and prosecutor Dave Harris noted that the checks were stolen after Laci vanished, precluding the woman from involvement in her disappearance. A police community service officer testified that an interview with Peterson had no sound because no batteries had been placed in the tape recorder that was used to record it. Other detectives were called to testify about the extensive search for evidence.


title: Scott Peterson

text: Peterson's defense lawyers based their case on the lack of direct evidence and played down the significance of circumstantial evidence. They suggested the fetal remains were of a full-term infant and theorized that someone kidnapped Laci, held her until she gave birth and then dumped both bodies in the bay. The prosecution's medical experts contended that the baby was not full-term and died at the same time as his mother.


title: Scott Peterson

text: Juror Fran Gorman was removed and replaced during deliberations due to misconduct, after she conducted independent research on the case. Jury foreman and attorney Gregory Jackson then requested his own removal, most likely because his fellow jurors wanted to replace him as foreman. Geragos told reporters that Jackson had mentioned threats he received when he requested to be removed from the jury. Jackson was replaced by an alternate.


title: Scott Peterson

text: Among the considerable circumstantial evidence that prosecutors presented was the fact that Peterson changed his appearance and purchased a vehicle using his mother's name in order to avoid recognition by the press. He added two pornographic television channels to his cable service only days after his wife's disappearance. The prosecution stated this meant he knew she would not be returning home. Peterson expressed interest in selling the house he had shared with Laci, and traded in her Land Rover for a Dodge pick-up truck.


title: Scott Peterson

text: The only forensic evidence that was offered as a direct connection between Peterson and the homicide was from a single hair, matched through DNA comparison to hair from Laci's hairbrush, that was stuck to pliers found on Peterson's boat.


title: Scott Peterson

text: Rick Cheng, a hydrologist with the United States Geological Survey and an expert witness on tides of the San Francisco Bay, testified as a witness for the prosecution. During cross-examination, Cheng admitted that his findings were "probable, not precise." Tidal systems are sufficiently chaotic, and he was unable to develop an exact model of the bodies' disposal and travel. As the trial progressed, the prosecution opened discussion of Peterson's affair with Frey and the contents of their secretly recorded telephone calls.


title: Scott Peterson

text: Charles March, a fertility specialist, was expected to be a crucial witness for the defense, one who, according to the "San Francisco Chronicle", could single-handedly exonerate Peterson by showing that Laci's fetus died a week after prosecutors claimed. Under cross-examination, March admitted basing his findings on an anecdote from one of Laci's friends that she had taken a home pregnancy test on June 9, 2002. When prosecutors pointed out that no medical records relied on the June 9 date, March became flustered and confused on the stand and asked a prosecutor to cut him "some slack", undermining his credibility. Summing up this key defense witness, Stan Goldman, a criminal law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles said, "There were moments today that reminded me of Chernobyl." According to one newspaper account about March's testimony, "By the end of his testimony Thursday, legal analysts and jurors closed their notebooks, rolled their eyes and snickered when they thought no one was looking".


title: Scott Peterson

text: The prosecution presented Peterson's affair with Frey, financial problems, and impending fatherhood as motives for the murder, surmising that he killed Laci due to increasing debt and a desire to be single again.


title: Scott Peterson

text: On November 12, 2004, the jury convicted Peterson of two counts of murder: first-degree murder with special circumstances for killing Laci, and second-degree murder for killing the fetus she carried. The penalty phase of the trial began on November 30, and concluded December 13, when the jury rendered a sentence of death. On March 16, Judge Alfred A. Delucchi followed the jury verdict, sentencing Peterson to death by lethal injection and ordering him to pay $10,000 toward the cost of Laci's funeral, calling the murder of Laci "cruel, uncaring, heartless, and callous".


title: Scott Peterson

text: In later press appearances, members of the jury stated that they believed Peterson's demeanor—specifically his lack of emotion and the phone calls to Frey in the days following Laci's disappearance—indicated his guilt. Juror No. 1, Greg Beratlis, and two other jurors, said they based their verdict on "hundreds of small 'puzzle pieces' of circumstantial evidence that came out during the trial, from the location of Laci Peterson's body to the myriad lies her husband told after her disappearance.


title: Scott Peterson

text: On October 21, 2005, a judge ruled that proceeds from a $250,000 life insurance policy Peterson took out on Laci would go to Laci's mother, which was reaffirmed by the Fifth District Court of Appeal on October 21, 2005. Peterson's automatic appeal was filed in the Supreme Court of California on July 5, 2012.


title: Scott Peterson

text: Peterson arrived at San Quentin State Prison in the early morning hours of Wednesday, March 17, 2005. He was reported not to have slept the night before, being too "jazzed" to sleep. He joined the more than 700 other inmates in California's sole death row facility during the appeals process.


title: Scott Peterson

text: In September 2006, former congressman William E. Dannemeyer sent a letter to the California Attorney General and other officials arguing that Laci Peterson had been killed by members of a Satanic cult, not by Peterson.


title: Scott Peterson

text: On July 6, 2012, Peterson's attorney, Cliff Gardner, filed a 423-page appeal of Peterson's sentence, stated that the publicity surrounding the trial, incorrect evidentiary rulings, and other mistakes deprived Peterson of a fair trial. The State Attorney General's office filed their response brief on January 26, 2015. The defense filed a response to the State's brief in July 2015, claiming that a certified dog that detected Laci's scent at Berkeley Marina had failed two-thirds of tests with similar conditions.


title: Scott Peterson

text: In November 2015, the defense filed a "habeas corpus" petition, claiming that a juror lied on her jury application, and that there was evidence that neighbors saw Laci alive after Scott left home. On August 10, 2017, the State Attorney General responded to the appeal by filing a 150-page document contesting the notion disputing the claims put forward in the appeal, stating that the appeal ignored "overwhelming evidence" that Peterson murdered Laci. Supervising Deputy Attorney General Donna Provenzano stated that the timeline of the crime was established by the neighbor who found the Petersons' Golden Retriever, McKenzie, wandering in the street with its leash still attached, before the sightings of Laci and her dog. Provenzano also indicated, "Purported sightings of Laci were legion," noting 74 reported sightings in 26 states and overseas, most of which she stated, were neither viable nor corroborated.


title: Scott Peterson

text: In August 2018, the defense filed a reply, the sixth brief filed. The brief included six claims of "deficient performance" by trial attorney Mark Geragos, such as failing to call experts in fetal growth, dog scent, how bodies move in water, stating that he would call witnesses but failing to follow through on this, and failing to properly address burglary evidence.


title: Scott Peterson

text: In March 2019, California Governor Gavin Newsom issued a moratorium for all 737 prisoners on death row in California, including Peterson. The order postponed all executions for the duration of Newsom's tenure as governor. California had not executed a prisoner since 2006 due to legal challenges to the state's execution protocol. Newsom's order spares the approximately 25 prisoners on death row who had exhausted their legal appeals and could have had their executions move forward once the legal challenge was resolved. Peterson's sister-in-law Janey Peterson welcomed Newsom's decision but noted that his case was likely to be unaffected by it, and did not believe Peterson would exhaust all of his legal challenges by January 2027, when Newsom would be leaving office, assuming his re-election in 2022.


title: Scott Peterson

text: On June 2, 2020, the California Supreme Court heard argument on Scott Peterson's appeal. The defense argued that prospective jurors were improperly excused; that the trial judge improperly allowed two jurors onto Peterson's boat; that the judge erred in insisting the prosecution be present during defense testing of the boat; and that the motion to move the trial to another county should have been granted due to juror questionnaire results showing almost half of the prospective jurors had already concluded Peterson was guilty prior to the trial. The prosecution countered that the California Supreme Court should overturn the verdict only if it were to find that a prospective juror was improperly dismissed, and that "there was 'no credible claim' that any of the 12 jurors who decided Peterson's fate were unfair or partial."


title: Scott Peterson

text: On August 24, 2020, in a 7–0 decision, the Supreme Court of California upheld Peterson's conviction, but overturned his death sentence, because Peterson's trial judge, Alfred Delucchi, who had died on February 26, 2008, had dismissed jurors who opposed capital punishment without asking them whether they could put their views aside. Justice Leondra Kruger explained that per Supreme Court rulings since 1968, "Jurors may not be excused merely for opposition to the death penalty, but only for views rendering them unable to fairly consider imposing that penalty in accordance with their oath. This is the meaning of the guarantee of an impartial jury." Prosecutors initially stated that they would retry the penalty phase, but subsequently reversed that decision in June 2021.


title: Scott Peterson

text: On September 22, 2021, California Superior Court Judge Anne-Christine Massullo ruled that Peterson would be re-sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The following month, Massullo scheduled a hearing on that matter for December 8. On December 8, Massullo re-sentenced Peterson to life in prison without the possibility of parole, for the first-degree murder of Laci, and a concurrent sentence of 15 years to life for the second-degree murder of Conner.


title: Scott Peterson

text: In October 2022, Peterson was moved off San Quentin's death row, and transferred to Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, California.


title: Toronto Raptors

text: The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. They play their home games at Scotiabank Arena, which they share with the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League (NHL). The team was founded in 1995 as part of the NBA's expansion into Canada, along with the Vancouver Grizzlies. Since the 2001–02 season, the Raptors have been the only Canadian-based team in the league, as the Grizzlies relocated from Vancouver to Memphis, Tennessee.


title: Toronto Raptors

text: As with most expansion teams, the Raptors struggled in their early years, but after the acquisition of Vince Carter through a draft-day trade in 1998, the franchise set league-attendance records and made the NBA playoffs in 2000, 2001, and 2002. Carter was instrumental in leading the team to their first playoff series win in 2001, where they advanced to the Eastern Conference semifinals. During the 2002–03 and 2003–04 seasons, they failed to make significant progress, and Carter was traded in 2004 to the New Jersey Nets.


title: Toronto Raptors

text: After Carter left, Chris Bosh emerged as the team leader. For the 2006–07 season, Bryan Colangelo was appointed as general manager, and through a combination of Bosh, 2006 first overall draft pick Andrea Bargnani, and a revamp of the roster, the Raptors qualified for their first playoff berth in five years, capturing the Atlantic Division title. In the 2007–08 season, they also advanced to the playoffs but failed to reach the postseason in each of the next five seasons. Colangelo overhauled the team's roster for the 2009–10 season in a bid to persuade pending free agent Bosh to stay, but Bosh departed to sign with the Miami Heat in July 2010, ushering in yet another era of rebuilding for the Raptors.


title: Toronto Raptors

text: Masai Ujiri replaced Colangelo in 2013 and helped herald a new era of success, led by a backcourt duo of DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry. The Raptors returned to the playoffs the following year and became a consistent playoff team in every year of Ujiri's tenure. Under Ujiri, the team also won five Division titles and registered their most successful regular season in 2018. However, the team's failure to reach the NBA Finals prompted Ujiri to fire head coach Dwane Casey after the 2018 playoffs concluded and to trade DeRozan for Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green later that summer, as well as to acquire Marc Gasol before the trade deadline. Toronto also saw the breakout of Pascal Siakam, the 27th overall pick in the 2016 NBA draft, who won the NBA Most Improved Player that year. In the 2019 playoffs, the Raptors won their first Eastern Conference title and advanced to their first NBA Finals, where they won their first NBA championship.


title: Toronto Raptors

text: On November 1, 1946, the Toronto Huskies hosted the New York Knickerbockers at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, in what was the first game played in NBA history (as the Basketball Association of America). However, the Huskies folded after the initial 1946–47 season. Toronto did not host another NBA game until the 1970s, when the Buffalo Braves (predecessor to the Los Angeles Clippers) played a total of 16 regular season games at Maple Leaf Gardens from 1971 to 1975.


title: Toronto Raptors

text: Interest to move or expand an NBA franchise to Toronto grew during the late-1980s; with former NBA commissioner David Stern later describing the expansion to Toronto as a "safe step," given the market size and the likelihood of success in the city. The NBA organized two exhibition games in 1989 and 1992 with an attendance of over 25,000 people each, both in the newly built SkyDome.


title: Toronto Raptors

text: The NBA began to seriously considers expansion into Toronto after they received an unsolicited application fee from the Palestra Group, headed by Larry Tanenbaum. The Palestra Group was one of several seeking an NBA franchise, with Professional Basketball Franchise (Canada) Inc. (PBF) formally submitting an application for a Toronto-based team on April 23, 1993. Later that year, in July, the NBA Expansion Committee visited various existing and proposed stadium sites along with the bid contenders. On September 30, 1993, the committee recommended conditionally awarding PBF the franchise.


title: Toronto Raptors

text: The team was formalized on November 4, 1993, when the NBA Board of Governors endorsed the decision of Expansion Committee and awarded its 28th franchise to a group headed by Toronto businessman John Bitove for a then-record expansion fee of US$125 million. Bitove and Allan Slaight of Slaight Communications each owned 44 per cent, with the Bank of Nova Scotia (10 per cent), David Peterson (1 per cent), and Phil Granovsky (1 per cent) being minority partners. Wagering on NBA games in Ontario nearly cost Toronto the expansion franchise, due to strict league rules at the time that prohibited gambling. However, an agreement was reached whereby the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG), which is the provincial lottery corporation that regulates gambling in Ontario, agreed to stop offering wagering on all NBA games in exchange for a donation by the Raptors of $5 million in its first three years and $1 million annually afterwards to its charitable foundation to compensate OLG for its loss of revenue. The Raptors, along with the Vancouver Grizzlies, played their first game on November 3, 1995.


title: Toronto Raptors

text: Initial sentiment was in favour of reviving the Huskies nickname, but team management realized it would be nearly impossible to design a logo that did not substantially resemble that of the Minnesota Timberwolves. As a result, a nationwide contest was held to help name the team and develop their colours and logo. Over 2,000 entries were narrowed down to eleven prospects: Beavers, Bobcats, Dragons, Grizzlies, Hogs, Raptors, Scorpions, T-Rex, Tarantulas, Terriers and Towers (the eventual runner-up). The final selection—"Toronto Raptors"—was unveiled on Canadian national television on May 15, 1994: the choice was influenced by the popularity of the 1993 film adaption of the 1990 science fiction novel "Jurassic Park" by Michael Crichton; The name "Raptor" is a common informal name for the "Velociraptor", a species of dinosaur featured in the film. On May 24, 1994, the team's logo and first general manager, Isiah Thomas, were revealed at a press conference. As part of the deal, Thomas received an option to purchase part of the team, reportedly for under market value. He would purchase 4.5 per cent in May 1995 and a further 4.5 per cent in December 1995, half each from Bitove and Slaight, decreasing their share to 39.5 per cent. The team's colours of bright red, purple, black, and silver were also revealed; "Naismith" silver was chosen to honour Canadian James Naismith, the inventor of basketball. The team originally competed in the Central Division, and before the inaugural season began, sales of Raptors merchandise ranked seventh in the league, marking a successful return of professional basketball to Canada.


title: Toronto Raptors

text: As general manager, Isiah Thomas quickly staffed the management positions with his own personnel, naming long-time Detroit Pistons assistant Brendan Malone as the Raptors' head coach. The team's roster was then filled as a result of an expansion draft in 1995. Following a coin flip, Toronto was given first choice and selected Chicago Bulls point guard and three-point specialist B. J. Armstrong. Armstrong refused to report to the club, and Thomas promptly traded him to the Golden State Warriors for power forwards Carlos Rogers and Victor Alexander. Thomas then selected a wide range of players in the expansion draft, including veterans Jerome Kersey, Willie Anderson and his former Pistons teammate John Salley.


title: Toronto Raptors

text: Subsequent to the expansion draft, the Raptors landed the seventh pick in the NBA draft lottery, behind their fellow 1995 expansion club, the Vancouver Grizzlies. Thomas selected Damon Stoudamire, a point guard out of Arizona, around whom the franchise would seek to construct its near future. However, the selection of Stoudamire was met with boos from fans at the 1995 NBA draft at the SkyDome in Toronto, many of whom wanted Ed O'Bannon of UCLA, an NCAA Final Four Most Valuable Player.


title: Toronto Raptors

text: In the team's first official NBA game, Alvin Robertson scored the first NBA points in Raptors history, while Stoudamire recorded 10 points and 10 assists in a 94–79 victory over the New Jersey Nets. The Raptors concluded their inaugural season with a 21–61 win–loss record, although they were one of the few teams to defeat the Chicago Bulls, who set a then all-time NBA best 72–10 win–loss regular season record. With averages of 19.0 points and 9.3 assists per game, Stoudamire also won the 1995–96 Rookie of the Year Award.


title: Toronto Raptors

text: In November of the 1996–97 season, Bitove sold his ownership interest in the team to Slaight for $65 million after Slaight had activated a shotgun clause in their partnership agreement, giving Slaight 79 per cent control of the team, and remaining minority partner of the Bank of Nova Scotia (10 per cent), Thomas (9 per cent) Peterson (1 per cent) and Granovsky (1 per cent). Slaight subsequently acquired the 1 per cent, which had been owned by both Peterson and Granovsky, who had died a year earlier. In their second season the team put up a 30–52 record and selected centre Marcus Camby with the second overall pick in the 1996 NBA draft. By the end of the season, Camby earned a berth on the NBA's All-Rookie Team, while Stoudamire continued to play well, averaging 20.2 points and 8.8 assists per game. As in the previous season, the Raptors were one of only 11 teams to topple the eventual 1997 Champions, the Chicago Bulls. The Raptors also defeated the Houston Rockets, Utah Jazz and Miami Heat, all of which were eventual Conference finalists. However, the Raptors struggled against teams who were not of championship calibre, including three losses to the 15–67 Boston Celtics.


title: Toronto Raptors

text: In the 1997–98 season, the team suffered numerous injuries and slid into a 17-game losing streak. After Thomas' attempts to execute a letter of intent with Slaight to purchase the team failed, he resigned his position with the team in November and sold his 9 per cent stake in the team to Slaight. This left Slaight with 90 per cent and the Bank of Nova Scotia with 10 per cent. Thomas was replaced by Glen Grunwald as general manager. With Thomas gone, Stoudamire immediately sought a trade. On February 13, 1998, he was shipped to the Portland Trail Blazers along with Walt Williams and Carlos Rogers for Kenny Anderson, Alvin Williams, Gary Trent, two first-round draft choices, a second-round draft choice and cash. Anderson refused to report to Toronto and was traded to the Celtics with Žan Tabak and Popeye Jones for Chauncey Billups, Dee Brown, Roy Rogers and John Thomas. When the trading deadline was over, the Raptors became the youngest team in the league with an average age of 24.6 years. They had five rookies on their roster, including the 18-year-old Tracy McGrady, who at the time was the youngest player in the NBA. The inexperienced Raptors struggled throughout the season and their regular season record regressed to 16–66.


title: Toronto Raptors

text: On February 12, 1998, Maple Leaf Gardens Ltd., the owners of the Toronto Maple Leafs, purchased 100 per cent of the Raptors and the arena the team was building, Air Canada Centre, from Slaight and the Bank of Nova Scotia; Maple Leaf Gardens Ltd. later renamed itself Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE). MLSE paid a reported $467 million, made up of $179 million for the team and $288 million for the arena. During the 1998 NBA draft, in what became a defining move for the franchise, Grunwald traded the team's 4th overall pick Antawn Jamison to the Golden State Warriors for Vince Carter, who was selected 5th overall. To bring further credibility to the Raptors, Grunwald traded Marcus Camby to the New York Knicks for Charles Oakley, a veteran with playoff experience. Kevin Willis, another veteran acquired from the trade, solidified the centre position, while the coaching staff temporarily rotated Brown, Williams and Doug Christie to play point guard. Both Christie and Williams became talented players in their own right; Christie developed into one of the elite defenders in the NBA, while Williams improved his play on the offensive end. New coach Butch Carter was also credited with much of the team's turnaround during the lockout-shortened 1998–99 season. Although the team did not make the playoffs, many were optimistic with the impressive performances of Rookie of the Year Carter and a much improved McGrady.