title: National Security Agency

text: On April 25, 2013, the NSA obtained a court order requiring Verizon's Business Network Services to provide metadata on all calls in its system to the NSA "on an ongoing daily basis" for a three-month period, as reported by "The Guardian" on June 6, 2013. This information includes "the numbers of both parties on a call ... location data, call duration, unique identifiers, and the time and duration of all calls" but not "[t]he contents of the conversation itself". The order relies on the so-called "business records" provision of the Patriot Act.


title: National Security Agency

text: In August 2013, following the Snowden leaks, new details about the NSA's data mining activity were revealed. Reportedly, the majority of emails into or out of the United States are captured at "selected communications links" and automatically analyzed for keywords or other "selectors". Emails that do not match are deleted.


title: National Security Agency

text: The utility of such a massive metadata collection in preventing terrorist attacks is disputed. Many studies reveal the dragnet like system to be ineffective. One such report, released by the New America Foundation concluded that after an analysis of 225 terrorism cases, the NSA "had no discernible impact on preventing acts of terrorism."


title: National Security Agency

text: Defenders of the program said that while metadata alone cannot provide all the information necessary to prevent an attack, it assures the ability to "connect the dots" between suspect foreign numbers and domestic numbers with a speed only the NSA's software is capable of. One benefit of this is quickly being able to determine the difference between suspicious activity and real threats. As an example, NSA director General Keith B. Alexander mentioned at the annual Cybersecurity Summit in 2013, that metadata analysis of domestic phone call records after the Boston Marathon bombing helped determine that rumors of a follow-up attack in New York were baseless.


title: National Security Agency

text: In addition to doubts about its effectiveness, many people argue that the collection of metadata is an unconstitutional invasion of privacy. , the collection process remained legal and grounded in the ruling from "Smith v. Maryland" (1979). A prominent opponent of the data collection and its legality is U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon, who issued a report in 2013 in which he stated: "I cannot imagine a more 'indiscriminate' and 'arbitrary invasion' than this systematic and high tech collection and retention of personal data on virtually every single citizen for purposes of querying and analyzing it without prior judicial approval...Surely, such a program infringes on 'that degree of privacy' that the founders enshrined in the Fourth Amendment".


title: National Security Agency

text: As of May 7, 2015, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled that the interpretation of Section 215 of the Patriot Act was wrong and that the NSA program that has been collecting Americans' phone records in bulk is illegal. It stated that Section 215 cannot be clearly interpreted to allow government to collect national phone data and, as a result, expired on June 1, 2015. This ruling "is the first time a higher-level court in the regular judicial system has reviewed the NSA phone records program." The replacement law known as the USA Freedom Act, which will enable the NSA to continue to have bulk access to citizens' metadata but with the stipulation that the data will now be stored by the companies themselves. This change will not have any effect on other Agency procedures – outside of metadata collection – which have purportedly challenged Americans' Fourth Amendment rights, including Upstream collection, a mass of techniques used by the Agency to collect and store American's data/communications directly from the Internet backbone.


title: National Security Agency

text: Under the Upstream collection program, the NSA paid telecommunications companies hundreds of millions of dollars in order to collect data from them. While companies such as Google and Yahoo! claim that they do not provide "direct access" from their servers to the NSA unless under a court order, the NSA had access to emails, phone calls, and cellular data users. Under this new ruling, telecommunications companies maintain bulk user metadata on their servers for at least 18 months, to be provided upon request to the NSA. This ruling made the mass storage of specific phone records at NSA datacenters illegal, but it did not rule on Section 215's constitutionality.


title: National Security Agency

text: In a declassified document it was revealed that 17,835 phone lines were on an improperly permitted "alert list" from 2006 to 2009 in breach of compliance, which tagged these phone lines for daily monitoring. Eleven percent of these monitored phone lines met the agency's legal standard for "reasonably articulable suspicion" (RAS).


title: National Security Agency

text: The NSA tracks the locations of hundreds of millions of cellphones per day, allowing it to map people's movements and relationships in detail. The NSA has been reported to have access to all communications made via Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Yahoo, YouTube, AOL, Skype, Apple and Paltalk, and collects hundreds of millions of contact lists from personal email and instant messaging accounts each year. It has also managed to weaken much of the encryption used on the Internet (by collaborating with, coercing or otherwise infiltrating numerous technology companies to leave "backdoors" into their systems), so that the majority of encryption is inadvertently vulnerable to different forms of attack.


title: National Security Agency

text: Domestically, the NSA has been proven to collect and store metadata records of phone calls, including over 120 million US Verizon subscribers, as well as intercept vast amounts of communications via the internet (Upstream). The government's legal standing had been to rely on a secret interpretation of the Patriot Act whereby the entirety of US communications may be considered "relevant" to a terrorism investigation if it is expected that even a tiny minority may relate to terrorism. The NSA also supplies foreign intercepts to the DEA, IRS and other law enforcement agencies, who use these to initiate criminal investigations. Federal agents are then instructed to "recreate" the investigative trail via parallel construction.


title: National Security Agency

text: The NSA also spies on influential Muslims to obtain information that could be used to discredit them, such as their use of pornography. The targets, both domestic and abroad, are not suspected of any crime but hold religious or political views deemed "radical" by the NSA.


title: National Security Agency

text: According to a report in "The Washington Post" in July 2014, relying on information provided by Snowden, 90% of those placed under surveillance in the U.S. are ordinary Americans and are not the intended targets. The newspaper said it had examined documents including emails, text messages, and online accounts that support the claim.


title: National Security Agency

text: The Intelligence Committees of US House and Senate exercise primary oversight over the NSA; other members of congress have been denied access to materials and information regarding the agency and its activities. The United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the secret court charged with regulating the NSA's activities is, according to its chief judge, incapable of investigating or verifying how often the NSA breaks even its own secret rules. It has since been reported that the NSA violated its own rules on data access thousands of times a year, many of these violations involving large-scale data interceptions. NSA officers have even used data intercepts to spy on love interests; "most of the NSA violations were self-reported, and each instance resulted in administrative action of termination."


title: National Security Agency

text: The NSA has "generally disregarded the special rules for disseminating United States person information" by illegally sharing its intercepts with other law enforcement agencies. A March 2009 FISA Court opinion, which the court released, states that protocols restricting data queries had been "so frequently and systemically violated that it can be fairly said that this critical element of the overall ... regime has never functioned effectively." In 2011 the same court noted that the "volume and nature" of the NSA's bulk foreign Internet intercepts was "fundamentally different from what the court had been led to believe". Email contact lists (including those of US citizens) are collected at numerous foreign locations to work around the illegality of doing so on US soil.


title: National Security Agency

text: Legal opinions on the NSA's bulk collection program have differed. In mid-December 2013, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ruled that the "almost-Orwellian" program likely violates the Constitution, and wrote, "I cannot imagine a more 'indiscriminate' and 'arbitrary invasion' than this systematic and high-tech collection and retention of personal data on virtually every single citizen for purposes of querying and analyzing it without prior judicial approval. Surely, such a program infringes on 'that degree of privacy' that the Founders enshrined in the Fourth Amendment. Indeed, I have little doubt that the author of our Constitution, James Madison, who cautioned us to beware 'the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power,' would be aghast."


title: National Security Agency

text: Later that month, U.S. District Judge William Pauley ruled that the NSA's collection of telephone records is legal and valuable in the fight against terrorism. In his opinion, he wrote, "a bulk telephony metadata collection program [is] a wide net that could find and isolate gossamer contacts among suspected terrorists in an ocean of seemingly disconnected data" and noted that a similar collection of data prior to 9/11 might have prevented the attack.


title: National Security Agency

text: At a March 2013 Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, Senator Ron Wyden asked Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, "does the NSA collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans?" Clapper replied "No, sir. ... Not wittingly. There are cases where they could inadvertently perhaps collect, but not wittingly." This statement came under scrutiny months later, in June 2013, when details of the PRISM surveillance program were published, showing that "the NSA apparently can gain access to the servers of nine Internet companies for a wide range of digital data." Wyden said that Clapper had failed to give a "straight answer" in his testimony. Clapper, in response to criticism, said, "I responded in what I thought was the most truthful, or least untruthful manner." Clapper added, "There are honest differences on the semantics of what – when someone says 'collection' to me, that has a specific meaning, which may have a different meaning to him."


title: National Security Agency

text: NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden additionally revealed the existence of XKeyscore, a top secret NSA program that allows the agency to search vast databases of "the metadata as well as the content of emails and other internet activity, such as browser history," with capability to search by "name, telephone number, IP address, keywords, the language in which the internet activity was conducted or the type of browser used." XKeyscore "provides the technological capability, if not the legal authority, to target even US persons for extensive electronic surveillance without a warrant provided that some identifying information, such as their email or IP address, is known to the analyst."


title: National Security Agency

text: Regarding the necessity of these NSA programs, Alexander stated on June 27, 2013, that the NSA's bulk phone and Internet intercepts had been instrumental in preventing 54 terrorist "events", including 13 in the US, and in all but one of these cases had provided the initial tip to "unravel the threat stream". On July 31 NSA Deputy Director John Inglis conceded to the Senate that these intercepts had not been vital in stopping any terrorist attacks, but were "close" to vital in identifying and convicting four San Diego men for sending US$8,930 to Al-Shabaab, a militia that conducts terrorism in Somalia.


title: National Security Agency

text: The U.S. government has aggressively sought to dismiss and challenge Fourth Amendment cases raised against it, and has granted retroactive immunity to ISPs and telecoms participating in domestic surveillance.


title: National Security Agency

text: The U.S. military has acknowledged blocking access to parts of "The Guardian" website for thousands of defense personnel across the country, and blocking the entire "Guardian" website for personnel stationed throughout Afghanistan, the Middle East, and South Asia.


title: National Security Agency

text: An October 2014 United Nations report condemned mass surveillance by the United States and other countries as violating multiple international treaties and conventions that guarantee core privacy rights.


title: National Security Agency

text: An exploit dubbed EternalBlue, created by the NSA, was used in the unprecedented worldwide WannaCry ransomware attack in May 2017. The exploit had been leaked online by a hacking group, The Shadow Brokers, nearly a month prior to the attack. A number of experts have pointed the finger at the NSA's non-disclosure of the underlying vulnerability, and their loss of control over the EternalBlue attack tool that exploited it. Edward Snowden said that if the NSA had "privately disclosed the flaw used to attack hospitals when they found it, not when they lost it, [the attack] might not have happened". Wikipedia co-founder, Jimmy Wales, stated that he joined "with Microsoft and the other leaders of the industry in saying this is a huge screw-up by the government ... the moment the NSA found it, they should have notified Microsoft so they could quietly issue a patch and really chivvy people along, long before it became a huge problem."


title: National Security Agency

text: Former employee David Evenden, who had left the NSA to work for US defense contractor Cyperpoint at a position in the United Arab Emirates, was tasked with hacking UAE neighbor Qatar in 2015 to determine if they were funding terrorist group Muslim Brotherhood. He quit the company after learning his team had hacked Qatari Sheikha Moza bint Nasser's email exchanges with Michelle Obama, just prior to her visit to Doha. Upon Evenden's return to the US, he reported his experiences to the FBI. The incident highlights a growing trend of former NSA employees and contractors leaving the agency to start up their own firms, and then hiring out to countries like Turkey, Sudan and even Russia, a country involved in numerous cyberattacks against the US.


title: National Security Agency

text: In May 2021, it was reported that Danish Defence Intelligence Service collaborated with NSA to wiretap on fellow EU members and leaders, leading to wide backlash among EU countries and demands for explanation from Danish and American governments.


title: William Faulkner

text: William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based on Lafayette County, Mississippi, where Faulkner spent most of his life. A Nobel Prize laureate, Faulkner is one of the most celebrated writers of American literature and is considered the greatest writer of Southern literature.


title: William Faulkner

text: Born in New Albany, Mississippi, Faulkner's family moved to Oxford, Mississippi when he was a young child. With the outbreak of World War I, he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force but did not serve in combat. Returning to Oxford, he attended the University of Mississippi for three semesters before dropping out. He moved to New Orleans, where he wrote his first novel "Soldiers' Pay" (1925). He went back to Oxford and wrote "Sartoris" (1927), his first work set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County. In 1929, he published "The Sound and the Fury". The following year, he wrote "As I Lay Dying". Seeking greater economic success, he went to Hollywood to work as a screenwriter.


title: William Faulkner

text: Faulkner's renown reached its peak upon the publication of Malcolm Cowley's "The Portable Faulkner" and his being awarded the 1949 Nobel Prize in Literature. He is the only Mississippi-born Nobel laureate. Two of his works, "A Fable" (1954) and his last novel "The Reivers" (1962), won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Faulkner died from a heart attack on July 6, 1962, following a fall from his horse the prior month.


title: William Faulkner

text: William Cuthbert Faulkner was born on September 25, 1897 in New Albany, Mississippi, the first of four sons of Murry Cuthbert Faulkner (1870–1932) and Maud Butler (1871–1960). His family was upper middle-class, but "not quite of the old feudal cotton aristocracy". After Maud rejected Murry's plan to become a rancher in Texas, the family moved to Oxford, Mississippi in 1902, where Faulkner's father established a livery stable and hardware store before becoming the University of Mississippi's business manager. Except for short periods elsewhere, Faulkner lived in Oxford for the rest of his life.


title: William Faulkner

text: His family, particularly his mother Maud, his maternal grandmother Lelia Butler, and Caroline "Callie" Barr (the African American nanny who raised him from infancy) influenced the development of Faulkner’s artistic imagination. Both his mother and his grandmother were avid readers as well as painters and photographers, educating him in visual language. While Murry enjoyed the outdoors and encouraged his sons to hunt, track, and fish, Maud valued education and took pleasure in reading and going to church. She taught her sons to read before she sent them to public school and she also exposed them to literary classics such as the works of Charles Dickens and the Grimms' Fairy Tales.


title: William Faulkner

text: Faulkner spent his boyhood listening to stories which were told to him by his elders including stories which were about the Civil War, slavery, the Ku Klux Klan, and the Faulkner family. Young William was greatly influenced by the history of his family and the region in which he lived. Mississippi marked his sense of humor, his sense of the tragic position of "black and white" Americans, his characterization of Southern characters, and his timeless themes, including fiercely intelligent people who are dwelling behind the façades of good ol' boys and simpletons. He was particularly influenced by stories of his great-grandfather William Clark Falkner, who had become a near legendary figure in North Mississippi. Born into poverty, he was a strict disciplinarian and was a Confederate colonel. Tried and acquited twice on charges of murder, he became a member of the Mississippi House and became a part-owner of a railroad before being murdered by his co-owner. Many aspects of his biography were incorporated into his later works.


title: William Faulkner

text: Faulkner initially excelled in school and skipped the second grade. However, beginning somewhere in the fourth and fifth grades of his schooling, Faulkner became a much quieter and more withdrawn child. He occasionally played hooky and became indifferent about schoolwork. Instead, he took an interest in studying the history of Mississippi. The decline of his performance in school continued, and Faulkner wound up repeating the eleventh and twelfth grades, never graduating from high school. As a teenager in Oxford, Faulkner dated Estelle Oldham (1897–1972), the popular daughter of Major Lemuel and Lida Oldham, and he also believed he would marry her. However, Estelle dated other boys during their romance, and, in 1918, Cornell Franklin (five years Faulkner's senior) proposed marriage to her before Faulkner did. She accepted.


title: William Faulkner

text: When he was 17, Faulkner met Phil Stone, who became an important early influence on his writing. Stone was four years his senior and came from one of Oxford's older families; he was passionate about literature and had bachelor's degrees from Yale and the University of Mississippi. Stone read and was impressed by some of Faulkner's early poetry, becoming one of the first to recognize and encourage Faulkner's talent. Stone mentored the young Faulkner, introducing him to the works of writers like James Joyce, who influenced Faulkner's own writing. In his early 20s, Faulkner gave poems and short stories he had written to Stone in hopes of their being published. Stone sent these to publishers, but they were uniformly rejected. In spring 1918, Faulkner traveled to live with Stone at Yale, his first trip to the North. Through Stone, Faulkner met writers like Sherwood Anderson, Robert Frost, and Ezra Pound.


title: William Faulkner

text: Faulkner attempted to join the US Army, but was rejected for being under weight and his short stature of 5'5. Although he initially planned to join the British Army in hopes of being commissioned as an officer, Faulkner then joined the Canadian RAF with a forged letter of reference and left Yale to receive training in Toronto. Accounts of Faulkner being rejected from the United States Army Air Service due to his short stature, despite wide publication, are false. Despite his claims, records indicate that Faulkner was never actually a member of the British Royal Flying Corps and never saw active service during the First World War. Despite claiming so in his letters, Faulkner did not receive cockpit training or even fly. Faulkner returned to Oxford in December 1918, where he told acquaintances false war-stories and even faked a war wound.


title: William Faulkner

text: In 1918, Faulkner's surname changed from "Falkner" to "Faulkner". According to one story, a careless typesetter made an error. When the misprint appeared on the title page of his first book, Faulkner was asked whether he wanted the change. He supposedly replied, "Either way suits me." In adolescence, Faulkner began writing poetry almost exclusively. He did not write his first novel until 1925. His literary influences are deep and wide. He once stated that he modeled his early writing on the Romantic era in late 18th- and early 19th-century England.


title: William Faulkner

text: He attended the University of Mississippi, enrolling in 1919, studying for three semesters before dropping out in November 1920. Faulkner joined the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, and pursued his dream to become a writer. He skipped classes often and received a "D" grade in English. However, some of his poems were published in campus publications. In 1922, his poem "Portrait" was published in the New Orleans literary magazine "Double Dealer". The magazine published his "New Orleans" short story collection three years later. After dropping out, he took a series of odd jobs: at a New York City bookstore, a carpenter in Oxford, and as the Ole Miss postmaster. He resigned from the post office with the declaration: "I will be damned if I propose to be at the beck and call of every itinerant scoundrel who has two cents to invest in a postage stamp."


title: William Faulkner

text: While most writers of Faulkner's generation travelled to and lived in Europe, Faulkner remained writing in the United States. Faulkner spent the first half of 1925 in New Orleans, Louisiana, where many bohemian artists and writers lived, specifically in the French Quarter where Faulkner lived beginning in March. During his time in New Orleans, Faulkner's focus drifted from poetry to prose and his literary style made a marked transition from Victorian to modernist. "The Times-Picayune" published several of his short works of prose. After being directly influenced by Sherwood Anderson, he made his first attempt at fiction writing. Anderson assisted in the publication of "Soldiers' Pay" and "Mosquitoes", Faulkner's second novel, set in New Orleans, by recommending them to his publisher. The miniature house at 624 Pirate's Alley, just around the corner from St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans, is now the site of Faulkner House Books, where it also serves as the headquarters of the Pirate's Alley Faulkner Society.


title: William Faulkner

text: Also in New Orleans, Faulkner wrote his first novel, "Soldiers' Pay." "Soldiers' Pay" and his other early works were written in a style similar to contemporaries Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald, at times nearly exactly appropriating phrases.


title: William Faulkner

text: During the summer of 1927, Faulkner wrote his first novel set in his fictional Yoknapatawpha County, titled "Flags in the Dust." This novel drew heavily from the traditions and history of the South, in which Faulkner had been engrossed in his youth. He was extremely proud of the novel upon its completion and he believed it a significant step up from his previous two novels—however, when submitted for publication to Boni & Liveright, it was rejected. Faulkner was devastated by this rejection but he eventually allowed his literary agent, Ben Wasson, to edit the text, and the novel was published in 1929 as "Sartoris." The work was notable in that it was his first novel that dealt with the Civil War rather than the contemporary emphasis on World War I and its legacy.


title: William Faulkner

text: In autumn 1928, just after his 31st birthday, Faulkner began working on "The Sound and the Fury". He started by writing three short stories about a group of children with the last name Compson, but soon began to feel that the characters he had created might be better suited for a full-length novel. Perhaps as a result of disappointment in the initial rejection of "Flags in the Dust", Faulkner had now become indifferent to his publishers and wrote this novel in a much more experimental style. In describing the writing process for this work, Faulkner later said, "One day I seemed to shut the door between me and all publisher's addresses and book lists. I said to myself, 'Now I can write.'" After its completion, Faulkner insisted that Wasson not do any editing or add any punctuation for clarity.


title: William Faulkner

text: In 1929, Faulkner married Estelle Oldham, with Andrew Kuhn serving as best man at the wedding. Estelle brought with her two children from her previous marriage to Cornell Franklin and Faulkner hoped to support his new family as a writer. Faulkner and Estelle later had a daughter, Jill, in 1933. He began writing "As I Lay Dying" in 1929 while working night shifts at the University of Mississippi Power House. The novel was published in 1930.


title: William Faulkner

text: Beginning in 1930, Faulkner sent some of his short stories to various national magazines. Several of these were published and brought him enough income to buy a house in Oxford for his family, which he named Rowan Oak. He made money on his 1931 novel, "Sanctuary", which was widely reviewed and read (but widely disliked for its perceived criticism of the South). With the onset of the Great Depression, Faulkner was not satisfied with his economic situation. With limited royalties from his work, he published short stories in magazines such as "The Saturday Evening Post" to supplement his income.


title: William Faulkner

text: By 1932, Faulkner was in need of money. He asked Wasson to sell the serialization rights for his newly completed novel, "Light in August", to a magazine for $5,000, but none accepted the offer. Then MGM Studios offered Faulkner work as a screenwriter in Hollywood. Faulkner was not an avid movie goer and had reservations about working in the movie industry. As André Bleikasten comments, he “was in dire need of money and had no idea how to get it…So he went to Hollywood.” It has been noted that authors like Faulkner were not always hired for their writing prowess but "to enhance the prestige of the …writers who hired them." He arrived in Culver City, California, in May 1932. The job began a sporadic relationship with moviemaking and with California, which was difficult but he endured in order to earn "a consistent salary that supported his family back home."


title: William Faulkner

text: Initially, he declared a desire to work on Mickey Mouse cartoons, not realizing that they were produced by Walt Disney Productions and not MGM. His first screenplay was for "Today We Live", an adaptation of his short story "Turnabout", which received a mixed response. He then wrote a screen adaptation of "Sartoris" that was never produced. From 1932 to 1954, Faulkner worked on around 50 films. In early 1944, Faulkner wrote a screenplay adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's novel "To Have and Have Not". The film, which starred Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart, was released later that year and remains the only film with contributions from two Nobel Prize Laureates.


title: William Faulkner

text: Faulkner was highly critical of what he found in Hollywood, and he wrote letters that were "scathing in tone, painting a miserable portrait of a literary artist imprisoned in a cultural Babylon." Many scholars have brought attention to the dilemma he experienced and that the predicament had caused him serious unhappiness. In Hollywood he worked with director Howard Hawks, with whom he quickly developed a friendship, as they both enjoyed drinking and hunting. Howard Hawks' brother, William Hawks, became Faulkner's Hollywood agent. Faulkner continued to find reliable work as a screenwriter from the 1930s to the 1950s. While staying in Hollywood, Faulkner adopted a "vagrant" lifestyle, living in brief stints in hotels like the Garden of Allah Hotel and frequenting the bar at the Roosevelt Hotel at the Musso & Frank Grill where he was said to have regularly gone behind the bar to mix his own Mint Julips. He had an extramarital affair with Hawks' secretary and script girl, Meta Carpenter.


title: William Faulkner

text: With the onset of World War II, in 1942, Faulkner tried to join the United States Air Force but was rejected. He instead worked on local civil defense. The war drained Faulkner of his enthusiasm. He described the war as "bad for writing". Amid this creative slowdown, in 1943, Faulkner began work on a new novel that merged World War I's Unknown Soldier with the Passion of Christ. Published over a decade later as "A Fable", it won the 1954 Pulitzer Prize. The award for "A Fable" was a controversial political choice. The jury had selected Milton Lott's "The Last Hunt" for the prize, but Pulitzer Prize Administrator Professor John Hohenberg convinced the Pulitzer board that Faulkner was long overdue for the award, despite "A Fable" being a lesser work of his, and the board overrode the jury's selection, much to the disgust of its members.


title: William Faulkner

text: Faulkner was awarded the 1949 Nobel Prize in Literature for "his powerful and artistically unique contribution to the modern American novel". It was awarded at the following year's banquet along with the 1950 Prize to Bertrand Russell.


title: William Faulkner

text: When Faulkner visited Stockholm in December 1950 to receive the Nobel Prize, he met Else Jonsson (1912–1996), who was the widow of journalist Thorsten Jonsson (1910–1950). Jonsson was a reporter for "Dagens Nyheter" from 1943 to 1946, who had interviewed Faulkner in 1946 and introduced his works to Swedish readers. Faulkner and Else had an affair that lasted until the end of 1953. At the banquet where they met in 1950, publisher Tor Bonnier introduced Else as the widow of the man responsible for Faulkner winning the Nobel prize.


title: William Faulkner

text: Faulkner's Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech on the immortality of the artists, although brief, contained a number of allusions and references to other literary works. However, Faulkner detested the fame and glory that resulted from his recognition. His aversion was so great that his 17-year-old daughter learned of the Nobel Prize only when she was called to the principal's office during the school day. He donated part of his Nobel money "to establish a fund to support and encourage new fiction writers", eventually resulting in the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, and donated another part to a local Oxford bank, establishing a scholarship fund to help educate African-American teachers at Rust College in nearby Holly Springs, Mississippi.


title: William Faulkner

text: Faulkner served as the first Writer-in-Residence at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville from February to June 1957 and again in 1958.


title: William Faulkner

text: In 1961, Faulkner began writing his nineteenth and final novel, "The Reivers". The novel is a nostalgic reminiscence, in which an elderly grandfather relates a humorous episode in which he and two boys stole a car to drive to a Memphis bordello. In summer 1961, he finished the first draft. During this time, he injured himself in a series of falls.


title: William Faulkner

text: On June 17, 1962, Faulkner suffered a serious injury in a fall from his horse, which led to thrombosis. He suffered a fatal heart attack on July 6, 1962, at the age of 64, at Wright's Sanatorium in Byhalia, Mississippi. Faulkner is buried with his family in St. Peter's Cemetery in Oxford.


title: William Faulkner

text: From the early 1920s to the outbreak of World War II, Faulkner published 13 novels and many short stories. This body of work formed the basis of his reputation and earned him the Nobel Prize at age 52. Faulkner's prodigious output include celebrated novels such as "The Sound and the Fury" (1929), "As I Lay Dying" (1930), "Light in August" (1932), and "Absalom, Absalom!" (1936). He was also a prolific writer of short stories.


title: William Faulkner

text: Faulkner's first short story collection, "These 13" (1931), includes many of his most acclaimed (and most frequently anthologized) stories, including "A Rose for Emily", "Red Leaves", "That Evening Sun", and "Dry September". He set many of his short stories and novels in Yoknapatawpha County—which was based on and nearly geographically identical to Lafayette County (of which his hometown of Oxford, Mississippi, is the county seat). Yoknapatawpha was Faulkner's "postage stamp", and the bulk of work that it represents is widely considered by critics to amount to one of the most monumental fictional creations in the history of literature. Three of his novels, "The Hamlet", "The Town" and "The Mansion", known collectively as the Snopes Trilogy, document the town of Jefferson and its environs, as an extended family headed by Flem Snopes insinuates itself into the lives and psyches of the general populace. Yoknapatawpha County has been described as a mental landscape.


title: William Faulkner

text: His short story "A Rose for Emily" was his first story published in a major magazine, the "Forum", but received little attention from the public. After revisions and reissues, it gained popularity and is now considered one of his best.


title: William Faulkner

text: Faulkner wrote two volumes of poetry which were published in small printings, "The Marble Faun" (1924), and "A Green Bough" (1933), and a collection of mystery stories, "Knight's Gambit" (1949).


title: William Faulkner

text: Faulkner was known for his experimental style with meticulous attention to diction and cadence. In contrast to the minimalist understatement of his contemporary Ernest Hemingway, Faulkner made frequent use of "stream of consciousness" in his writing, and wrote often highly emotional, subtle, cerebral, complex, and sometimes Gothic or grotesque stories of a wide variety of characters including former slaves or descendants of slaves, poor white, agrarian, or working-class Southerners, and Southern aristocrats.


title: William Faulkner

text: In an interview with "The Paris Review" in 1956, Faulkner remarked: Let the writer take up surgery or bricklaying if he is interested in technique. There is no mechanical way to get the writing done, no shortcut. The young writer would be a fool to follow a theory. Teach yourself by your own mistakes; people learn only by error. The good artist believes that nobody is good enough to give him advice. He has supreme vanity. No matter how much he admires the old writer, he wants to beat him. Writer Flannery O'Connor stated that "the presence alone of Faulkner in our midst makes a great difference in what the writer can and cannot permit himself to do. Nobody wants his mule and wagon stalled on the same track the "Dixie Limited" is roaring down".


title: William Faulkner

text: Faulkner's contemporary critical reception was mixed, with "The New York Times" noting that many critics regarded his work as "raw slabs of pseudorealism that had relatively little merit as serious writing". His style has been described as "impenetrably convoluted".


title: William Faulkner

text: Faulkner's work has been examined by many critics from a wide variety of critical perspectives, including his position on slavery in the South and his view that desegregation was not an idea to be forced, arguing desegregation should "go slow" so as not to upend the southern way of life. The essayist and novelist James Baldwin was highly critical of his views around integration.


title: William Faulkner

text: The New Critics became interested in Faulkner's work, with Cleanth Brooks writing "The Yoknapatawpha Country" and Michael Millgate writing "The Achievement of William Faulkner". Since then, critics have looked at Faulkner's work using other approaches, such as feminist and psychoanalytic methods. Faulkner's works have been placed within the literary traditions of modernism and the Southern Renaissance.


title: William Faulkner

text: According to critic and translator Valerie Miles, Faulkner's influence on Latin American fiction is considerable, with fictional worlds created by Gabriel García Márquez (Macondo) and Juan Carlos Onetti (Santa Maria) being "very much in the vein of" Yoknapatawpha: "Carlos Fuentes's "The Death of Artemio Cruz" wouldn't exist if not for "As I Lay Dying"". Fuentes himself cited Faulkner as one of the writers most important to him. Faulkner also had great influence on Mario Vargas Llosa, particularly on the early novels "The Time of the Hero", "The Green House" and "Conversation in the Cathedral". Vargas Llosa has claimed that during his student years he learned more from Yoknapatawpha than from classes.


title: William Faulkner

text: The works of William Faulkner are a clear influence on the French novelist Claude Simon, and the Portuguese novelist António Lobo Antunes. Cormac McCarthy has been described as a "disciple of Faulkner".


title: William Faulkner

text: After his death, Estelle and their daughter, Jill, lived at Rowan Oak until Estelle's death in 1972. The property was sold to the University of Mississippi that same year. The house and furnishings are maintained much as they were in Faulkner's day. Faulkner's scribblings are preserved on the wall, including the day-by-day outline covering a week he wrote on the walls of his small study to help him keep track of the plot twists in his novel, "A Fable".


title: William Faulkner

text: Some of Faulkner's works have been adapted into films such as James Franco's "As I Lay Dying" (2013). They have received a polarized response, with many critics contending that Faulkner's works are "unfilmable". Faulkner's final work, "The Reivers", was adapted into a 1969 film starring Steve McQueen.


title: William Faulkner

text: Faulkner remains especially popular in France, where a 2009 poll found him the second most popular writer (after only Marcel Proust). Contemporary Jean-Paul Sartre stated that "for young people in France, Faulkner is a god", and Albert Camus made a stage adaptation of Faulkner's "Requiem for a Nun".


title: William Faulkner

text: He also won the U.S. National Book Award twice, for "Collected Stories" in 1951 and "A Fable" in 1955.


title: William Faulkner

text: The United States Postal Service issued a 22-cent postage stamp in his honor on August 3, 1987. Faulkner had once served as Postmaster at the University of Mississippi, and in his letter of resignation in 1923 wrote:


title: William Faulkner

text: As long as I live under the capitalistic system, I expect to have my life influenced by the demands of moneyed people. But I will be damned if I propose to be at the beck and call of every itinerant scoundrel who has two cents to invest in a postage stamp.


title: William Faulkner

text: On October 10, 2019, a Mississippi Writers Trail historical marker was installed at Rowan Oak in Oxford, Mississippi honoring the contributions of William Faulkner to the American literary landscape.


title: William Faulkner

text: The manuscripts of most of Faulkner's works, correspondence, personal papers, and over 300 books from his working library reside at the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia, where he spent much of his time in his final years. The library also houses some of the writer's personal effects and the papers of major Faulkner associates and scholars, such as his biographer Joseph Blotner, bibliographer Linton Massey, and Random House editor Albert Erskine.


title: William Faulkner

text: Southeast Missouri State University, where the Center for Faulkner Studies is located, also owns a generous collection of Faulkner materials, including first editions, manuscripts, letters, photographs, artwork, and many materials pertaining to Faulkner's time in Hollywood. The university possesses many personal files and letters kept by Joseph Blotner, along with books and letters that once belonged to Malcolm Cowley. The university achieved the collection due to a generous donation by Louis Daniel Brodsky, a collector of Faulkner materials, in 1989.


title: William Faulkner

text: Further significant Faulkner materials reside at the University of Mississippi, the Harry Ransom Center, and the New York Public Library.


title: Camila Alves

text: Camila Alves McConaughey ( Alves; born 28 January 1982) is a Brazilian model and designer. She is married to American actor Matthew McConaughey.


title: Camila Alves

text: Camila Alves was born in Itambacuri, Minas Gerais, Brazil, about 250 miles east of the provincial capital of Belo Horizonte and raised there until the age of 15. Her mother is an artist and designer, and her father, a ranch owner. At 15, Alves traveled to Los Angeles to visit her aunt and decided to stay. After working for four years as a house-cleaner and waitress, she became fluent in English and decided to make the United States her home.


title: Camila Alves

text: At the age of 19, Alves moved to New York City to pursue a career as a fashion model. Alves and her mother design the Muxo line of handbags, developing their design after experimenting for three years with styles and designs. In 2010, Alves hosted the third season of the Bravo network reality television series "Shear Genius."


title: Camila Alves

text: In April 2012, Alves was signed on as the new face for Macy's clothing line I.N.C. International Concepts.


title: Camila Alves

text: In January 2016, Alves launched a lifestyle website, Women of Today"," that serves as a hub for her social media; livestream video program, "Camila's Code"; and blog posts on food, health, crafts & décor, style, family, and work life. Alves is also the co-owner of the organic food company, Yummy Spoonfuls, which launched its product line for babies and toddlers in Target's frozen food section in 2016.


title: Camila Alves

text: She co-hosted, with Eddie Jackson, the first season of the Food Network competition show "Kids BBQ Championship", which aired in summer 2016.


title: Camila Alves

text: Alves met American actor Matthew McConaughey in 2006. The couple became engaged on Christmas Day in 2011 and were married in a private Catholic wedding ceremony on June 13, 2012, in Austin, Texas, where they reside. They have three children: a son born in July 2008, a daughter born in January 2010, and a second son born in December 2012. In 2021, McConaughey stated that meeting Alves inspired him to stop acting in rom-com movies.


title: Camila Alves

text: On August 4, 2015, she became a U.S. citizen in the same naturalization ceremony as British actress Emily Blunt.


title: Camila Alves

text: Alves and McConaughey founded the Just Keep Livin' Foundation in 2010. The foundation was the focus of a partnership with fashion brand Veronica Beard in 2019.


title: Camila Alves

text: In May 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic, McConaughey and Alves distributed over 100,000 face masks to hospitals in Texas.


title: Regions of Italy

text: The regions of Italy () are the first-level administrative divisions of the Italian Republic, constituting its second NUTS administrative level. There are twenty regions, five of which have higher autonomy than the rest. Under the Italian Constitution, each region is an autonomous entity with defined powers. With the exception of the Aosta Valley (since 1945) and Friuli-Venezia Giulia (since 2018), each region is divided into a number of provinces ("province").


title: Regions of Italy

text: During the Kingdom of Italy, regions were mere statistical districts of the central state. Under the Republic, they were granted a measure of political autonomy by the 1948 Italian Constitution. The original draft list comprised the Salento region (which was eventually included in Apulia); "Friuli" and "Venezia Giulia" were separate regions, and Basilicata was named "Lucania". Abruzzo and Molise were identified as separate regions in the first draft, but were later merged into "Abruzzi e Molise" in the final constitution of 1948, before being separated in 1963.


title: Regions of Italy

text: Implementation of regional autonomy was postponed until the first Regional elections of 1970. The ruling Christian Democracy party did not want the opposition Italian Communist Party to gain power in the regions where it was historically rooted (the "red belt" of Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany, Umbria and the Marches).


title: Regions of Italy

text: Regions acquired a significant level of autonomy following a constitutional reform in 2001 (brought about by a centre-left government and confirmed by popular referendum), which granted them residual policy competence. A further federalist reform was proposed by the regionalist party Lega Nord and in 2005, the centre-right government led by Silvio Berlusconi proposed a new reform that would have greatly increased the power of regions.


title: Regions of Italy

text: The proposals, which had been particularly associated with Lega Nord, and seen by some as leading the way to a federal state, were rejected in the 2006 Italian constitutional referendum by 61.7% to 38.3%. The results varied considerably among the regions, ranging from 55.3% in favour in Veneto to 82% against in Calabria.


title: Regions of Italy

text: Every region has a statute that serves as a regional constitution, determining the form of government and the fundamental principles of the organization and the functioning of the region, as prescribed by the "Constitution of Italy" (). Although all the regions except Tuscany define themselves in various ways as an "autonomous Region" in the first article of their Statutes, fifteen regions have ordinary statutes and five have special statutes, granting them extended autonomy.


title: Regions of Italy

text: These regions, whose statutes are approved by their regional councils, were created in 1970, even though the Italian Constitution dates back to 1948. Since the constitutional reform of 2001 they have had residual legislative powers: "the regions have exclusive legislative power with respect to any matters not expressly reserved to state law" (). Yet their financial autonomy is quite modest: they keep just 20% of all levied taxes, mostly used to finance the region-based healthcare system.


title: Regions of Italy

text: of the Italian Constitution grants home rule to five regions, namely Aosta Valley, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Sardinia, Sicily, and Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, allowing them some legislative, administrative and financial power to a varying extent, depending on their specific statute. These regions became autonomous in order to take into account cultural differences and protect linguistic minorities. Moreover, the government wanted to prevent them from potentially seceding or being taken away from Italy after the defeat in World War II.


title: Regions of Italy

text: Each region has an elected parliament, called "Consiglio Regionale" (regional council), or "Assemblea Regionale" (regional assembly) in Sicily, and a government called "Giunta Regionale" (regional committee), headed by a governor called "Presidente della Giunta Regionale" (president of the regional committee) or "Presidente della Regione" (regional president). The latter is directly elected by the citizens of each region, with the exceptions of Aosta Valley and Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol regions where the president is chosen by the regional council.


title: Regions of Italy

text: Under the 1995 electoral law, the winning coalition receives an absolute majority of seats on the council. The president chairs the "giunta", and nominates or dismisses its members, called "assessori". If the directly elected president resigns, new elections are called immediately.


title: Regions of Italy

text: In the Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol region, the regional council is made up of the joint session of the two provincial councils of Trentino and of South Tyrol. The regional president is one of the two provincial commissioners.


title: Regions of Italy

text: Article 57 of the Constitution of Italy originally established that the Senate of the Republic was to be elected on a regional basis by Italian citizens aged 25 or older (unlike the Chamber of the Deputies, which was elected on a national basis and by all Italian citizens aged 18 or older). No region could have less than 7 senators, except for the two smallest regions: Aosta Valley (1 senator) and Molise (2 senators). From 2006 to 2020, 6 out of 315 senators (and 12 out of 630 deputies) were elected by Italians residing abroad.


title: Regions of Italy

text: After two constitutional amendments were passed respectively in 2020 (by constitutional referendum) and 2021, however, there have been changes. The Senate is still elected on a regional basis, but the number of senators was reduced from 315 to 200, who are now elected by all citizens aged 18 or older, just like deputies (themselves being reduced from 630 to 400). Italians residing abroad now elect 4 senators (and 8 deputies).


title: Regions of Italy

text: The remaining 196 senators are assigned to each region proportionally according to their population. The amended Article 57 of the Constitution provides that no region can have fewer than 3 senators representing it, barring Aosta Valley and Molise, which retained 1 and 2 senators respectively.


title: Max Baer Jr.

text: Maximilian Adalbert Baer Jr. (December 4, 1937) is an American actor, producer, comedian, and director widely known for his role as Jethro Bodine, the dim-witted relative of Jed Clampett (played by Buddy Ebsen) on "The Beverly Hillbillies".


title: Max Baer Jr.

text: Baer was born Maximilian Adalbert Baer Jr. in Oakland, California, on December 4, 1937, the son of boxing champion Max Baer and his wife Mary Ellen Sullivan. His paternal grandfather was of German Jewish descent, and his mother and paternal grandmother were both of Scots-Irish descent. His brother and sister are James Manny Baer (1941–2009) and Maude Baer (b. 1943). His uncle was boxer and actor Buddy Baer.


title: Max Baer Jr.

text: He attended Christian Brothers High School in Sacramento, where he earned letters in four sports and twice won the junior title at the Sacramento Open golf tournament. (Playing with Charlie Sifford, he later won the pro–am tournament at the 1968 Andy Williams - San Diego Open.)


title: Max Baer Jr.

text: Baer earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from Santa Clara University, with a minor in philosophy.


title: Max Baer Jr.

text: Baer's first acting role was in "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" at the Blackpool Pavilion in England in 1949. He began acting professionally in 1960 at Warner Bros., where he made appearances on television programs such as "Maverick", "Surfside 6", "Hawaiian Eye", "Cheyenne", "The Roaring 20's", and "77 Sunset Strip". His career took off two years later, when he joined the cast of "The Beverly Hillbillies".


title: Max Baer Jr.

text: In 1962, Baer was cast in the role of the naïve but well-meaning Jethro Bodine, Jed Clampett's cousin Pearl's son.


title: Max Baer Jr.

text: He continued to take other parts during the nine-year run of "The Beverly Hillbilles" and appeared on the television programs "Vacation Playhouse" and "Love, American Style," as well as in the Western "A Time for Killing."


title: Max Baer Jr.

text: He declined to appear in the 1981 TV movie "Return of the Beverly Hillbillies" and his character was recast as a result.


title: Max Baer Jr.

text: Following the cancellation of "The Beverly Hillbillies" in 1971, Baer made numerous guest appearances on television, but he found his TV acting career hampered by typecasting. He concentrated on feature motion pictures, especially behind the camera, writing, producing, and directing. Baer wrote and produced the drama "Macon County Line" (1974), in which he played Deputy Reed Morgan, the highest-grossing movie per dollar invested at the time. Made for US$110,000, it earned almost US$25 million at the box office, a record that lasted until "The Blair Witch Project" surpassed it in 1999. Baer also wrote, produced, and directed the drama "The Wild McCullochs" (1975), and played the role of Culver Robinson.


title: Max Baer Jr.

text: Baer is credited with being one of the first to use the title of a popular song as the title and plot anchor of a film, acquiring the rights to Bobbie Gentry's hit song and producing the 1976 film "Ode to Billy Joe", which he also directed. Made for US$1.1 million, the film grossed $27 million at the box office, and earned over US$2.65 million outside the US, US$4.75 million from television, and US$2.5 million from video. The film starred Robby Benson and Glynnis O'Connor.


title: Max Baer Jr.

text: Since the success of "Ode to Billy Joe", the motion picture industry has produced more than 100 song-title movies. Baer pursued the rights to the hit song "Like a Virgin", recorded by the singer Madonna in 1984. When ABC tried to prevent him from making the film, he sued and won a judgment of more than US$2 million.


title: Max Baer Jr.

text: He directed the 1979 comedy "Hometown U.S.A." before retiring to his home at Lake Tahoe, Nevada. He continues to make occasional guest appearances on television.


title: Max Baer Jr.

text: In 1985, Baer began investigating the gambling industry. He noted that tourists paid a US$5 to $6 admission to tour the "Ponderosa Ranch", in Incline Village, Nevada, which was the location for filming exterior scenes for episodes of TV's popular program "Bonanza". The Ponderosa was a cattle ranch with horses, barns, Bonanza displays, restaurants, hay rides, and a wedding chapel, and tourists enjoyed the Ponderosa because of the "Bonanza" connection. Baer decided that tourists would also pay for something dealing with "The Beverly Hillbillies". He began using his Jethro Bodine role as a marketing opportunity toward the gambling and hotel industry. Baer obtained the sublicensing rights, including food and beverage rights, to "The Beverly Hillbillies" from CBS in 1991. His business partner estimates the cost of obtaining the rights and developing the ideas at US$1 million. Sixty-five "Beverly Hillbillies" slot machines were built in 1999 and placed in 10 casinos.


title: Max Baer Jr.

text: In late 2003, Baer attempted the redevelopment of a former Walmart location in Carson City into a "Beverly Hillbillies"-themed hotel and casino, but was unsuccessful due to building code conflicts and other developers on the neighboring properties. On May 4, 2007, he announced the sale of the property and the purchase of another parcel just outside Carson City, in neighboring Douglas County, where he expected less resistance to his plans. Baer purchased a parcel in north Douglas County for US$1.2 million, and would purchase an additional once he obtained the required zoning variances. The plans were for a gambling area with 800 slot machines and 16 tables, flanked by various eateries, including "Jethro's All You Ken Et Buffet". The project would feature a showroom, cinema complex and a 240-room, five-story hotel.


title: Max Baer Jr.

text: As of July 2012, development of Jethro's Casino had been suspended. Ongoing litigation involving Baer, the developer and Douglas County has delayed the development of the project indefinitely.


title: Max Baer Jr.

text: In 2014, Baer sued CBS after claiming a secret deal with a Des Moines-based Jethro's BBQ was interfering with his opportunity to cash in on his role from the iconic television show. The lawsuit claims that Baer negotiated a deal with CBS for the rights to use the fictional character and other motifs from the show to create a chain of restaurants, hotels, and casinos.


title: Max Baer Jr.

text: He remained close friends with Buddy Ebsen until Ebsen's death from pneumonia on July 6, 2003. Just before his acting mentor's death, Donna Douglas and he both had visited Ebsen in the hospital.


title: Max Baer Jr.

text: In January 2008, Baer’s live-in girlfriend, 30-year-old Penthouse model Chere Rhodes, committed suicide in the 70-year-old's Lake Tahoe home. Her suicide note mentioned "relationship problems".


title: Max Baer Jr.

text: The 2015 death of co-star Donna Douglas left Baer as the only surviving regular cast member of "The Beverly Hillbillies".


title: OneRepublic

text: OneRepublic is an American pop rock band formed in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 2002. It consists of lead vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Ryan Tedder, lead guitarist and violist Zach Filkins, rhythm guitarist Drew Brown, bassist and cellist Brent Kutzle, drummer Eddie Fisher and keyboardist and violinist Brian Willett.


title: OneRepublic

text: The band achieved its first commercial success on Myspace as an unsigned act. In late 2002, after OneRepublic played shows throughout the Los Angeles area, several record labels approached the band with interest, but the band signed with Velvet Hammer, an imprint of Columbia Records. They made their first album with producer Greg Wells during the summer and fall of 2005 at his studio, Rocket Carousel, in Culver City, California. The album was scheduled for release on June 6, 2006, but the group was dropped by Columbia two months before the album was released. The lead single of that album, "Apologize", was released on April 30, 2006, on Myspace, eventually reaching number one on the Myspace charts.


title: OneRepublic

text: In 2007, OneRepublic released their debut album, "Dreaming Out Loud". Its lead single, "Apologize", was remixed by Timbaland, becoming a huge international success, reaching number one in sixteen countries and subsequently earning them a Grammy Award nomination. The second single, "Stop and Stare", mirrored its predecessor's success. The album was later certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The band's second album, "Waking Up" (2009), produced the singles "All the Right Moves", "Secrets", "Marchin On", and "Good Life", with the last reaching the top ten of the US "Billboard" Hot 100.


title: OneRepublic

text: OneRepublic's third album, "Native" (2013), became the band's first top ten album on the "Billboard" 200, and highest-charting album to date, charting at number four. The lead single, "If I Lose Myself", charted within the top ten in several countries, while the album's third single, "Counting Stars", became the band's most successful single in recent years, obtaining top-five placements in Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, the US, and the UK. This marks their highest-charting single in the United Kingdom to date. It also peaked at number 2 on the US "Billboard" Hot 100, matching their highest peak of "Apologize" in 2007.


title: OneRepublic

text: On October 7, 2016, OneRepublic released "Oh My My", their fourth studio album, which featured a number of collaborators, including Cassius, Peter Gabriel, and Santigold. Preceded by the singles "Wherever I Go", released on May 13, 2016, and "Kids", released on August 12, 2016, it was recognized as a change in their sound from previous albums by critics and by the band. In 2017, the band released the singles "No Vacancy", "Truth to Power", "Stranger Things" with Kygo and "Rich Love" with Seeb. Their fifth studio album, "Human", was released in 2021. The band has sold approximately over 16 million records worldwide.


title: OneRepublic

text: The first incarnation of what evolved into "OneRepublic" formed in 1996 after Ryan Tedder and Zach Filkins befriended each other during their senior year at Colorado Springs Christian High School in Colorado Springs, Colorado. During a drive home, as Filkins and Tedder discussed favorite musicians including Fiona Apple, Peter Gabriel, and U2, they decided to assemble a band. They enlisted a few musical friends and named their rock act "This Beautiful Mess"—a phrase which first attained cult prominence a year earlier when Sixpence None the Richer released its award-winning second album, "This Beautiful Mess". Tedder, Filkins & Co. had a few small gigs at Pikes Perk Coffee & Tea House, attended by friends and family. Senior year ended, and Tedder and Filkins parted ways, each attending different colleges.


title: OneRepublic

text: Reuniting in Los Angeles in 2002, Tedder and Filkins formed their second band under the moniker "Republic". Tedder, by then an established songwriter and record producer, had convinced Filkins to relocate from Chicago. Nine months later, the band signed with Columbia Records. After a few lineup changes, the group finally settled with Tedder on vocals, Filkins on lead guitar and backing vocals, Eddie Fisher on drums, Brent Kutzle on bass and cello, and Drew Brown on guitar. The band's name was changed to "OneRepublic" after the record company mentioned that the name "Republic" might result in legal action from other, similarly named bands.


title: OneRepublic

text: The band worked in the studio for two and a half years and recorded its first full-length album. Two months before the album was due to be released, (with "Sleep" as its debut single), OneRepublic was dropped by Columbia Records. The band was beginning to gain prominence on MySpace; Tedder said it was the number-one unsigned act on MySpace, and credits the website for keeping the band together. The band caught the attention of a number of labels, including Timbaland's Mosley Music Group. The band soon signed onto the label, becoming the first rock band to do so.


title: OneRepublic

text: OneRepublic's debut album, "Dreaming Out Loud", was released on November 20, 2007, and debuted at number 14 in the US with first week sales of 75,000. Critical reception to the album ranged from negative to mixed. Allmusic gave the album a modest review, stating the "album sounds derivative" but also "sounds cohesive and smoothly pleasant". Robert Christgau gave the album a negative review, and termed it a "dud". "Rolling Stone" gave the album 2 out of 5 stars, but placed the band in its "Artists to Watch" list, which featured ten artists that, according to the magazine, "...are bringing the future of music, today."


title: OneRepublic

text: Their lead single, "Apologize", was released in its original version from "Dreaming Out Loud". Timbaland, who at the time was one of the most highly visible artists/producers, approached the band to be featured on a compilation album he was working on, "Shock Value". Timbaland rearranged the song slightly to give it more of an R&B feel adding backing vocals, guitar bass line, a new drum section, and autotune to the lead vocals. This along with the strong backing of the Timbaland name made it a major hit both in the United States and internationally. It peaked a number one globally, including eight consecutive weeks on the " Billboard" Pop 100 chart, subsequently reaching the top three of the "Billboard" Hot 100. The song sold five million copies in the United States alone, receiving a five-times Platinum certification from the RIAA. The song was a massive hit internationally, reaching number one in sixteen countries, including Australia, Austria, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, and Sweden. It also spent thirteen weeks at number one in Canada. It has since been certified over 2× Platinum in 6 countries worldwide, including 4× Platinum in Australia. The song earned the band their first Grammy nomination for best pop performance in a group or duo. The second single from the album, "Stop and Stare", released in March 2008, reached the top ten in eight countries worldwide, including charting at number four in the United Kingdom, and topping the UK Rock Chart. It also reached number twelve on the "Billboard" Hot 100, and number nine on the Pop 100. Additional singles included "Say (All I Need)" and "Mercy". The album was later certified Platinum in the United States and Germany, as well as Gold in Australia, Austria, and Canada.


title: OneRepublic

text: OneRepublic's second studio album, "Waking Up", was released on November 17, 2009, charting at number 21 on the "Billboard" 200, and ultimately selling over 500,000 copies in the US and over 1 million worldwide. The lead single, "All the Right Moves", was released on September 9, 2009, peaking at number 18 on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 and being certified 2× Platinum. "Secrets", the second single from the album, reached the top five in Austria, Germany, Luxembourg, Poland, and on the US Adult Pop Songs and Adult Contemporary charts. It has sold almost 4 million copies in the US as of August 2014. Furthermore, it reached number 21 on the Hot 100. The song was used in television shows such as "Gossip Girl", "Lost", "Nikita" and "", as well as in the sci-fi fantasy movie, "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" and the promos for ABC Family's series "Pretty Little Liars". "Marchin On", the album's third single made top ten appearances in Austria, Germany, and Israel, however it was the fourth single "Good Life" that became the band's most successful song from the album, particularly in the US. Released on November 19, 2010, it became their second top-ten single on the "Billboard" Hot 100 at the time, peaking at number 8 and selling over 4 million copies in the US alone, earning a 4× Platinum certification. Rolling Stone put the song on its list of the best 15 whistling songs of all time. "Waking Up "was later certified Gold in Austria, Germany, and the US for sales of over 500,000, and has since sold over 1 million copies worldwide.


title: OneRepublic

text: In 2009, OneRepublic were featured on Leona Lewis's second studio album "Echo" on the track "Lost Then Found". On June 5, 2010, the band supported Pink on her Funhouse Summer Carnival Tour at Innsbruck. OneRepublic supported Bon Jovi at The O2 Arena for three dates in June 2010. The band supported Maroon 5 for their Palm Trees & Power Lines Tour in fall 2010. In November 2011, OneRepublic released their first Christmas single, titled "Christmas Without You".


title: OneRepublic

text: OneRepublic released their third studio album, "Native", on March 22, 2013, marking the end of the band's three-and-a-half-year hiatus. The album debuted at number 4 on the "Billboard" 200 becoming their first top 10 album in the US, with first week sales of 60,000. It was also their best opening sales week since their debut album "Dreaming Out Loud" which sold 75,000 copies in its first week.


title: OneRepublic

text: "Feel Again" was released as the lead single on August 27, 2012, however after the album being delayed it was re-branded as a "promotional single". The song was released as a part of "Save the Children's Every Beat Matters" campaign, where a portion of the proceeds from the single's sales would be donated. It peaked at number 36 on the US "Billboard" Hot 100, additionally marking the top ten positions in Germany and on the US Adult Pop Songs chart. The single was later certified Platinum in the US. The song was used in an official trailer for "The Spectacular Now". The album's first global single, "If I Lose Myself" was released on January 8, 2013. It reached the top ten in Austria, Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden, and Switzerland, yet only managed to peak at number 74 on the "Billboard" Hot 100. The song has since been certified Gold in both Italy and Australia.


title: OneRepublic

text: The album's third single, "Counting Stars", has become their most successful single from the album thus far and the band's biggest hit. The song achieved significant international success, charting within the top five in Australia, Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Luxembourg, Poland, New Zealand, Scotland, Slovakia, and Spain. It reached number 1 in the UK, marking the band's highest-charting song ever in that country, while also peaking at number 2 on the US "Billboard" Hot 100, their first song to crack the top 5 since Apologize. The song has since peaked at number 1 in 5 countries worldwide and has gone 5× platinum in Australia, 2× Platinum in New Zealand, Platinum in the UK, Gold in Switzerland and Germany, as well as currently holding a Diamond certification in the US. On October 29, 2015, the video for "Counting Stars" became the first video by a band to reach 1 billion views on YouTube. As of April 2022, the music video has over 3.5 billion views and over 15 million likes.


title: OneRepublic

text: On April 2, 2013, the band embarked on their headlining concert tour "Native Tour" in promotion for the album, beginning in Europe. This ran throughout 2013/14 and saw the band perform shows across Europe, North America, Asia and Australia, and New Zealand. The 2013 North American tour was a co-headlining tour with singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles, while the 2014 "Native Summer Tour" was a co-headlining tour with The Script and American Authors. The tour finished in Russia on November 9, 2014, marking a total of 169 shows and the band's largest tour to date.


title: OneRepublic

text: The album's fourth single, "Something I Need", was released on August 25, 2013. Despite little promotion of the song upon its release due to the late and unexpected success of "Counting Stars", the song has still managed to be certified 2× Platinum in Australia and Platinum in New Zealand as of December 2013.


title: OneRepublic

text: On April 8, 2014, OneRepublic confirmed via Twitter that their new song, "Love Runs Out", recorded at Studio Faust Records in Prague, would be released. Tedder said that the band had intended the song to be the first single on "Native", but that he could not think of a chorus for the song, so the song's release was delayed. The song was added as the second track on the album's re-release on April 14. It was also an internationally successful track, breaking the top 5 in Austria, Germany, Canada, Switzerland, and the UK; and reaching the top 15 on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 chart. It is used as the promotional song for the show "How to Get Away with Murder".


title: OneRepublic

text: In September 2014, OneRepublic released the music video for "I Lived", the sixth single off their "Native" album. Tedder noted that he wrote the song for his 4-year-old son. The related video raises awareness of cystic fibrosis by featuring a 15-year-old named Bryan Warnecke who lives with the condition. A remix was released for the Coca-Cola [RED] campaign to fight AIDS.


title: OneRepublic

text: In November 2014, the group tweeted photos captioned: "Hotel recording, Poland. Album 4". and "Mid-afternoon, working on new album, and this is the view ... LP 4 is fun already" In April 2015, Ryan Tedder stated in an interview that OneRepublic was going in a whole new direction and they are yet to recycle the same sound once on any song that they have ever put out. Rhythm guitarist Drew Brown says that they are excited about it and they think that it is the best thing they have ever done. In June 2015, Tedder said that they were working on a song called 'Colors', which he said is one of his favorite songs going on the album. In that same month, they showed a video with them working on new melodies for the album.


title: OneRepublic

text: In September 2015, it was confirmed that the band's fourth upcoming studio album would be released in early 2016. On September 9, at one of Apple's media events, held at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, Apple CEO Tim Cook concluded the event by introducing the band for a surprise performance, a 3-song set. In November, OneRepublic said on Twitter, "Yes, We are looking at a window for 1st single now, can't say what it is yet, but it's coming in the new year. Gotta narrow down songs now!"


title: OneRepublic

text: On April 18, 2016, the band posted a handwritten letter on their website and they set a countdown to May 12 at 9 PM. They started sending postcards to fans all over the world saying that the lead single from the 4th album is called "Wherever I Go". On May 9, OneRepublic announced that they would release their new song on May 13. They will perform the single at the finale of The Voice of Italy on May 25, 2016. They played at MTV Music Evolution Manila 2016 on June 24 and at BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend in Exeter on Sunday, May 29.


title: OneRepublic

text: On May 13, 2016, the first single "Wherever I Go" of the upcoming album was released. On August 3, the album's second single, "Kids", was announced. The song was released on August 12. On August 25, OneRepublic posted that the album would be called "Oh My My", with a release date of October 7, 2016. The following week, the album's artwork was revealed. "Oh My My" became the band's highest-charting debut to date, landing at No. 3 on the Billboard 200.


title: OneRepublic

text: On October 11, 2016, OneRepublic announced on their Twitter account that they would be releasing singles through 2018.


title: OneRepublic

text: On November 27, 2016, OneRepublic performed at halftime of the 104th Grey Cup at BMO Field in Toronto (the championship game of the Canadian Football League).


title: OneRepublic

text: On December 6, 2016, the band released their third single, "Let's Hurt Tonight", along with its music video, making it the soundtrack of the movie "Collateral Beauty".


title: OneRepublic

text: On February 16, 2017, the band were headlined at the 2017 Honda Civic Tour, which began on July 7, 2017.


title: OneRepublic

text: The song "Lift Me Up", from the "Oh My My" album, was released as a promotional single on June 9, 2017, in the form of a remix by Michael Brun.


title: OneRepublic

text: On April 27, 2017, OneRepublic lead vocalist and principal songwriter Ryan Tedder published a Facebook post revealing the band's future in releasing new material. In the post, he stated that he dealt with "crippling anxiety" and became ill due to constant touring, recording, and promoting the band's releases. He clarified that OneRepublic would release "new music as often as humanly possible... monthly, weekly sometimes", departing from the typical album cycle system. Singles they released in 2017 included "No Vacancy", "Truth to Power", "Rich Love", and "Born to Race".


title: OneRepublic

text: In September 2017, Tedder stated at a concert that the band had started work on their fifth studio album that was due to be released sometime in 2018. He estimated that there would be 7–8 songs on the album. Also, they featured on Kygo's song "Stranger Things" for his second studio album "Kids in Love", released in 2017.


title: OneRepublic

text: The band opened up for the Zac Brown Band on select dates of their Down the Rabbit Hole Live tour in summer 2018.


title: OneRepublic

text: On May 16, 2018, "Start Again", a single featuring Logic, was released on YouTube and other various platforms. The single is part of the Season 2 soundtrack for the Netflix series, "13 Reasons Why".


title: OneRepublic

text: On June 26, 2018, OneRepublic released the single "Connection". On November 9, 2018, OneRepublic released a cover of the song "White Christmas" for a Jeep commercial.


title: OneRepublic

text: On January 3, 2019, Ryan Tedder announced via their official Twitter that a new album was coming sometime in 2019. It had been scheduled to be released in 2018. On January 31, 2019, OneRepublic and Galantis released their song "Bones".


title: OneRepublic

text: On May 17, 2019, OneRepublic released the lead single "Rescue Me" of their then-untitled fifth studio album. On August 27, 2019, OneRepublic announced their next single "Wanted", which was released on September 6, 2019. A promotional single, "Somebody to Love", was released on September 11, the day of the season finale of "Songland". On September 15, 2019, Tedder announced that their fifth studio album would be called "Human", and would be released in November 2019. He also confirmed that "Rescue Me" and "Wanted" would be included on the album. However, on November 19, 2019, Tedder said that the album was planned to be released in spring 2020. On October 6, 2019, the band were the headline performance at the 2019 NRL Grand Final (National Rugby League) at ANZ Stadium.


title: OneRepublic

text: On January 22, 2020, Tedder announced over Instagram that the new album would be wrapped by March. On March 10, 2020, the band announced their next single "Didn't I", which was released on March 13, 2020. "Human" was announced on the same day to be set for release on May 8, 2020. "Better Days" was released as the fourth single from "Human" on March 25, 2020, with all proceeds donated to MusiCares. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic "requiring [the band] to distance [themselves] from each other and [fans]," in a statement to social media on April 8, 2020, the band announced the release of "Human" to have been postponed. It was "delayed indefinitely until fall." It was then delayed until 2021. On May 15, 2020, the band released a new single with Kygo titled "Lose Somebody", which appears on Kygo's third studio album "Golden Hour". On September 25, 2020, the band released "Wild Life" from the Disney+ movie "Clouds".


title: OneRepublic

text: OneRepublic performed a livestreamed concert, One Night in Malibu, on October 27 and 28 through online platform Moment House in support of the release of "Human". The concert took place at sunset in Malibu, California. On November 4, the band covered "We Are the Champions" as part of "The Queen Family Singalong" on ABC"." The band became the first major U.S. artist to accept cryptocurrency as payment for a live concert after they accepted payments through the bitcoin app Strike for their November 16 concert in Haydn Hall in Vienna.


title: OneRepublic

text: On November 1, 2021, OneRepublic released the song "Sunshine". The song is used as the theme song to the 2021 film "Clifford the Big Red Dog".


title: OneRepublic

text: In February 2022, OneRepublic released the song "West Coast". The song is the lead single from OneRepublic’s upcoming sixth studio album. The song is an ode to the American state of California and evokes classic 1960s California sounds, stemming from groups such as The Beach Boys and The Mamas and the Papas, along with inspiration from Gorillaz. It has been both a band-favorite and a fan-favorite for a long time, and it ultimately became a tone-setter for their sixth studio effort. They first started working on “West Coast” during the production process of their 2016 album, "Oh My My", but ended up shelving it for later. An earlier version of the song was used for U2’s 2017 hit, “Summer of Love,” which actually turned the original demo into an anti-war track.


title: OneRepublic

text: In the end, after years of anticipation and re-tooling, the final version of “West Coast” was officially made public on February 25, 2022.


title: OneRepublic

text: On April 1, OneRepublic released "You Were Loved" as a single with DJ and producer Gryffin. On May 13, 2022, the band released "I Ain't Worried", the second single from the soundtrack for the film "". It will also be featured on their upcoming sixth studio album which is rumored to be released by the end of the summer.


title: OneRepublic

text: OneRepublic's varied style of music has been described by Ryan Tedder: "We're no respecter of genre. If it's a good song or a good artist whether rock, pop, indie or hip hop, they've probably influenced us on some level... nothing's new under the sun, we're a sum of a bunch of parts." Specific artists whom OneRepublic have cited as influences include Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the Beatles, U2, M83, and Prince.


title: OneRepublic

text: OneRepublic have won several music awards and landed many nominations, including ones for American Music Awards, Billboard Music Awards, World Music Awards, and Grammy Awards. Separately, lead singer Ryan Tedder has won three Grammy Awards due to his songwriting credits for Adele and Taylor Swift.


title: Boyz n the Hood

text: Boyz n the Hood is a 1991 American coming-of-age hood drama film written and directed by John Singleton in his feature directorial debut. It stars Cuba Gooding Jr., Morris Chestnut, Ice Cube, Laurence Fishburne, Nia Long, Regina King, and Angela Bassett. "Boyz n the Hood" follows Tre Styles (Gooding Jr.), who is sent to live with his father Furious Styles (Fishburne) in South Central Los Angeles, surrounded by the neighborhood's booming gang culture. The film's title is a double entendre: a play on the term boyhood and a reference to the 1987 Eazy-E rap song of the same name, written by Ice Cube.


title: Boyz n the Hood

text: Singleton initially developed the film as a requirement for application to film school in 1986 and sold the script to Columbia Pictures upon graduation in 1990. During writing, he drew inspiration from his own life and from the lives of people he knew and insisted he direct the project. Principal photography began in September 1990 and was filmed on location from October to November 1990. The film is notable for featuring breakout roles for Ice Cube, Gooding Jr., Chestnut, and Long.


title: Boyz n the Hood

text: "Boyz n the Hood" premiered in Los Angeles on July 2, 1991 and was theatrically released in the United States ten days later. The film became a critical and commercial success, praised for its emotional weight, acting, and writing. It grossed $57.5 million in North America and was nominated for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay at the 64th Academy Awards, making Singleton the youngest person and the first African American to be nominated for Best Director.


title: Boyz n the Hood

text: The film was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival. In 2002, the United States Library of Congress deemed it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.


title: Boyz n the Hood

text: In 1984, ten-year-old Tre Styles lives with his single mother, Reva Devereaux, in Inglewood, California. After Tre gets into a fight at school, his teacher calls Reva and says that although Tre is intelligent, he is immature and lacks respect. Frightened about Tre's future, Reva sends him to live in the Crenshaw neighborhood of South Central with his father, Furious Styles, from whom she hopes Tre will learn life lessons. In Crenshaw, Tre reunites with his childhood friends Darrin "Doughboy" Baker, Doughboy's half-brother Ricky, and their friend Chris. That night, Tre hears Furious shooting at a burglar. Furious calls the LAPD, and two officers arrive an hour later. The white officer is civil, while the black one treats Furious with contempt. The next day, Tre and Furious return to see Doughboy and Chris being arrested for stealing.


title: Boyz n the Hood

text: Seven years later, a welcome home party is held for Doughboy, now a Crips member, following his release from prison. At the party are Chris, now in a wheelchair from a gunshot wound, "Dookie", and "Monster". Ricky, now a star running back at Crenshaw High School, lives with his mother Brenda, girlfriend Shanice, and their toddler son. Meanwhile, Tre has grown into a responsible teenager who hopes to attend college with his girlfriend, Brandi. Their relationship is troubled over Tre's desire to have sex, while Brandi wants to wait until marriage.


title: Boyz n the Hood

text: Later, during a street racing gathering, Ricky is provoked by Ferris, a Bloods member. In Ricky's defense, Doughboy brandishes his handgun, leading to an argument between the gangs. After they leave, Tre and Ricky are pulled over by an LAPD patrol; the lead officer, Coffey, is the black officer who responded to the burglary years earlier. Coffey holds his gun at Tre's throat, threatening him. Distraught, Tre goes to Brandi's house, where he has a breakdown. After she comforts him, they have sex.


title: Boyz n the Hood

text: The next afternoon, Ricky has a fight with Doughboy, with Brenda taking Ricky's side. Afterward, Brenda asks Ricky to run an errand and Tre accompanies him to a nearby drugstore. After they depart, a letter is delivered with Ricky's SAT results. After leaving the store, Ricky and Tre see Ferris and the Bloods driving around and cut through back alleys to avoid them before splitting up. As they walk in separate directions, the Bloods drive close to Ricky and one of them fatally guns him down. Doughboy, who realized Tre and Ricky were in trouble when he saw the car circling the block, is distraught over Ricky's death and helps Tre carry Ricky's corpse home. Devastated, Brenda and Shanice blame Doughboy, who unsuccessfully tries to comfort them. Later, Brenda sobs over Ricky's test results, discovering he scored 710, enough to qualify for the USC scholarship.


title: Boyz n the Hood

text: Angered, the remaining boys vow vengeance on the Bloods. Furious finds Tre preparing to take his gun but convinces him to abandon his plans for revenge. However, Brandi and Furious catch Tre sneaking out to join Doughboy. Later, as the gang drive around the city, Tre asks to be let out of the car and returns home, realizing that his father was right. Doughboy finds the Bloods at a fast-food restaurant, and Monster shoots at them through the parking lot, killing one and wounding the other two. Doughboy gets out of his car and kills Ferris and the other wounded gang member, avenging Ricky's death. Later that evening, after coming home, Furious confronts Tre about avenging Ricky's death as they walk into their bedrooms with no words exchanged.


title: Boyz n the Hood

text: The next morning, Doughboy visits Tre, understanding Tre's reasons for abandoning the gang. Doughboy knows he will face retaliation for killing Ferris, and accepts the consequences of his crime-ridden life. He questions why American media "don't know, don't show, or don't care about what's going on in the hood." He says that he has no brothers after Ricky's death, but Tre embraces him, saying he "still got one brother left." Doughboy then walks away, pouring out his liquor.


title: Boyz n the Hood

text: The epilogue text reveals that Ricky was buried the next day, Doughboy was murdered two weeks later, and Tre later goes to college with Brandi in Atlanta.


title: Boyz n the Hood

text: Singleton wrote the film based on his own life and that of people he knew. When applying for film school, one of the questions on the application form was to describe "three ideas for films". One of the ideas Singleton composed was titled "Summer of 84", which later evolved into "Boyz n the Hood". During writing, Singleton was influenced by the 1986 film "Stand by Me", which inspired both an early scene where four young boys take a trip to see a dead body and the closing fade-out of main character Doughboy.


title: Boyz n the Hood

text: Upon completion, Singleton was protective of his script, insisting that he be the one to direct the project, later explaining at a retrospective screening of the film "I wasn't going to have somebody from Idaho or Encino direct this movie." He sold the script to Columbia Pictures in 1990, who greenlit the film immediately out of interest in making a film similar to the comedy-drama film "Do the Right Thing" (1989).


title: Boyz n the Hood

text: The role of Doughboy was written specially for Ice Cube, whom Singleton met while working as an intern at "The Arsenio Hall Show". Singleton also noted the studio was unaware of Ice Cube's standing as a member of rap group N.W.A. Singleton claims Gooding and Chestnut were cast because they were the first ones who showed up to auditions, while Fishburne was cast after Singleton met him on the set of "Pee-wee's Playhouse", where Singleton worked as a production assistant and security guard.


title: Boyz n the Hood

text: Long grew up in the area the film depicts and has said, “It was important as a young actor to me that this feels real because I knew what it was like go home from school and hear gunshots at night.” Bassett referred to the filmmaker as her “little brother” on set. “I'd been in LA for about three years and I was trying, trying, trying to do films,” she said. “We talked, I auditioned and he gave me a shot. I’ve been waiting to work with him ever since.”


title: Boyz n the Hood

text: The film was shot in sequence, with Singleton later noting that, as the film goes on, the camera work gets better as Singleton was finding his foothold as a director. He has a cameo in the film, appearing as a mailman handing over mail to Brenda as Doughboy and Ricky are having a scuffle in the front yard.


title: Boyz n the Hood

text: Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 96% based on 69 reviews and an average score of 8.40/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Well-acted and thematically rich, "Boyz n the Hood" observes urban America with far more depth and compassion than many of the like-minded films its success inspired." At Metacritic, the film received an average score of 76 out of 100 based on 20 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".


title: Boyz n the Hood

text: "Boyz n the Hood" kickstarted the acting careers of Gooding, Chestnut, and Long, who were relatively unknown before it. It also launched Ice Cube's career as a Hollywood actor and was Angela Bassett's and Regina King's first significant film role.


title: Boyz n the Hood

text: Australian alternative rock band TISM released a live VHS called "Boyz n the Hoods" in 1992, whose cover artwork is presented as a parody of the film's original VHS box, albeit with a fake disclaimer printed on the cover stating that due to a manufacturing error, the non-existent film was replaced with TISM's concert.


title: Boyz n the Hood

text: Characters and scenes from Boyz n the Hood are parodied in the 1996 crime comedy parody film, "Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood."


title: Boyz n the Hood

text: In the 2015 comedy film "Get Hard", Kevin Hart's character Darnell is asked to talk about the reason for his fabricated incarceration years earlier. Fumbling for a story, he describes the final scene of "Boyz n the Hood", passing it off as his own experience to Will Ferrell's character.


title: The Chicks

text: The Chicks (previously known as Dixie Chicks) are an American country music band from Dallas, Texas. Since 1995, the band has consisted of Natalie Maines (lead vocals, guitar) and sisters Martie Maguire (vocals, fiddle, mandolin, guitar) and Emily Strayer (vocals, guitar, banjo, Dobro). Maguire and Strayer, both née Erwin, founded the band in 1989 in Dallas, Texas, with bassist Laura Lynch and vocalist and guitarist Robin Lynn Macy. They performed bluegrass and country music, busking and touring the bluegrass festival circuits and small venues for six years without attracting a major label. In 1992, Macy left and Lynch became the lead vocalist.


title: The Chicks

text: Upon signing with Monument Records Nashville in 1997 and replacing Lynch with Maines, the Chicks achieved success with their albums "Wide Open Spaces" (1998) and "Fly" (1999). After Monument closed its Nashville branch, the Chicks moved to Columbia Records for "Home" (2002). These albums achieved multi-platinum sales in the United States, Canada, and Australia, along with several charting singles on the American "Billboard" Hot Country Songs charts. "There's Your Trouble", "Wide Open Spaces", "You Were Mine", "Cowboy Take Me Away", "Without You", and a cover of Bruce Robison's "Travelin' Soldier" reached number one. The Chicks also reached number one on the Adult Contemporary chart with their 2002 cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide".


title: The Chicks

text: Days before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Maines told a London audience that the Chicks did not endorse the war and were ashamed of US President George W. Bush being from Texas. The remarks triggered boycotts in the US and a backlash from fans. After a hiatus, the Chicks released "Taking the Long Way" in 2006, an album informed by the backlash. "Not Ready to Make Nice" became their biggest crossover single, reaching number four on the "Billboard" Hot 100. After another hiatus, Maguire and Strayer released an album in 2009 as the Court Yard Hounds. The Chicks reunited to tour in the 2010s. In 2020, they removed "Dixie" from their name, citing negative connotations, and released their first album in 14 years, "Gaslighter."


title: The Chicks

text: The Chicks have won 13 Grammy Awards, including five in 2007 for "Taking the Long Way," which received the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, and its single "Not Ready to Make Nice", which received the Grammy Award for Record of the Year and the Grammy Award for Song of the Year. By July 2020, with 33 million certified albums sold and sales of 27.9 million albums in the US, the Chicks had become the best-selling all-woman band and best-selling country group in the US during the Nielsen SoundScan era (1991–present).


title: The Chicks

text: The Dixie Chicks were founded by Laura Lynch on upright bass, Robin Lynn Macy on guitar and the multi-instrumentalist sisters Martie and Emily Erwin in 1989. The Erwin sisters later married and both changed their names twice (Martie to Martie Seidel, then Martie Maguire; Emily to Emily Robison, then Emily Strayer). The band's name was taken from the album "Dixie Chicken" by Lowell George of Little Feat. They initially played predominantly bluegrass and a mix of country standards. All four women played and sang, though Maguire and Strayer provided most of the instrumental accompaniment for the band while Lynch and Macy shared lead vocals. Maguire primarily played fiddle, mandolin, and viola, while Strayer's specialties included five-stringed banjo and dobro.


title: The Chicks

text: In 1990, Penny Cook, daughter of then Senator John Tower, gave the group $10,000 to record an album. Their first studio album, "Thank Heavens for Dale Evans", was named after the pioneering performer Dale Evans. They paid $5,000 for the 14-track album. The album included two instrumental tunes. In 1987, Maguire (still known then as Martie Erwin) had won second place, and in 1989, third place in the national fiddle championships held at the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas. A Christmas single was released at the end of the year – a 45 RPM vinyl record titled "Home on the Radar Range" with "Christmas Swing" on one side and the song on the flip side named "The Flip Side". The record titles were significant; during that period of time, the bandmates dressed up as "cowgirls", and publicity photos reflected this image. However, even with an appearance at the Grand Ole Opry, and Garrison Keillor's radio show "A Prairie Home Companion", they did not get much national airplay.


title: The Chicks

text: The Dixie Chicks began building a fan base, winning the prize for "best band" at the 1990 Telluride Bluegrass Festival and opening for established country music artists, including such names as Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire, and George Strait.


title: The Chicks

text: In 1992, a second independent album, "Little Ol' Cowgirl", moved towards a more contemporary country sound, as the band enlisted the help of more session musicians, and developed a richer sound with larger and more modern arrangements. Robin Lynn Macy was not pleased with the change in sound. She left in late 1992 to devote herself to a "purer" bluegrass sound, remaining active in the Dallas and Austin music scenes. It was during this period that professional steel guitarist Lloyd Maines (who had played on both albums) introduced them to his daughter, Natalie, an aspiring singer. Lloyd Maines thought his daughter would be a good match to replace the departed Macy, and had passed along Natalie's audition demo tape, which had won her a full scholarship to the Berklee College of Music, to both Maguire and Strayer. Her distinctive voice was a match for Maguire's soprano and Strayer's alto harmonies. As Maguire and Strayer considered their options and the major record labels waffled over whether they should take a risk on an all-woman band, a few reviewers took note of their talents:


title: The Chicks

text: Lynch, thrust into the role of sole lead singer on their third independent album, "Shouldn't a Told You That" in 1993, was unable to attract support from a major record label, and the band struggled to expand their fan base beyond Texas and Nashville.


title: The Chicks

text: New manager Simon Renshaw approached music executive Scott Siman and he signed them to a developmental deal with Sony Music Entertainment's Nashville division. The deal was finalized with Sony over mid-1995. The Chicks then replaced Lynch with singer Maines. Accounts of the departure have varied. At the time, the sisters stated that Lynch had been considering leaving the band for over a year, weary of touring, and hoping to spend more time with her daughter at home. She offered to stay for the first cuts on the new album for Sony, but the sisters thought it would send the wrong message to the label; they all agreed she would leave before the new album. In a later interview, Lynch said, "It can't really be characterized as a resignation. There are three Dixie Chicks, and I'm only one." By her own account Lynch noted that she had no regrets about leaving.