title: Zalando

text: In 2015, Zalando acquired a 20% stake in Cheltenham-based software company Anatwine, headed by a former e-commerce director of SuperGroup, for a seven-figure sum. Anatwine's software - which helps online fashion retailers and brands integrate their processes, systems, and stock files - will enable current and future clothing and accessory brand clients to use Anatwine's technology to sell their merchandise through Zalando. Zalando is expected to speedily widen Anatwine's range of brands.


title: Zalando

text: On 2 June 2021 Zalando launched its new online platform in Slovenia, Lithuania, and Slovakia. The company was said to be targeting a bigger stake in the European fashion market.


title: Zalando

text: "For us, the launch of our platform in the three countries is a major step toward being the starting point for Fashion in Europe and opening up the Zalando universe to even more customers", Lisa Miczaika, Zalando's vice president for Central Europe said.


title: Zalando

text: Zalando was accumulating losses ever since it was founded until it started making a profit in 2014. The most important cost factors for Zalando are fulfilment and marketing costs, both taking up 50% of total revenues alone without the costs of sales included, with marketing costs as high as 25% in 2010. Zalando managed to become profitable for the first time in 2014 which was due to cost management and sales in their additional markets. Almost 50% of sales revenues are generated in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland which is defined as one geographic unit under "DACH".


title: Zalando

text: In 2021, the company was said to be targeting a gross merchandise volume (GMV) of over €30bn by 2025, and in the long term wants to take more than 10% of the €450bn European fashion market.


title: Zalando

text: The German newspaper Bild reported on statements of the German Federal Economic Ministry indicating that from 2007 to 2012 Zalando received around 3.3 million euro in subsidies from regional development programs. Zalando also requested subsidies for 2013. The Deutsche Mittelstandsnachrichten reported that the Samwer brothers’ business model is predicated on using foreign capital and cheap labour to quickly build up a company, selling it as fast as possible.


title: Zalando

text: In July 2012, German TV channel ZDF broadcast a report on the packing and distribution centre operated for Zalando by a provider near Berlin. The report showed the appalling working conditions at the company providing logistical services to Zalando. In the logistical center of Großbeeren certain staff, who often commute more than 200 km per day from nearby Poland, are not allowed to sit down during their working day. It was further shown that employees were subject to continuous scrutiny, work space was extremely confined, and for several hundreds of employees there was only one filthy toilet container. The ZDF also criticized the hourly wage of €7,01, which was nonetheless in conformity with the minimum hourly wages for agency workers in Germany. Following the ZDF report, it was revealed that Zalando had also received a 22,5 million euro subsidy from the government of Thüringen to build new headquarters. According to a ZDF reporter who went undercover, around 40 employees are being paid by the taxpayer between seven and nine days every month in the framework of apprenticeship programs, while one-third of the employees are agency workers. Following the report, Zalando announced that it would scrutinize its service providers more strictly.


title: Zalando

text: In April 2014 RTL broadcast the documentary "Unrelenting pressure in the workplace" (Arbeiten unter Dauerdruck), which had been made with the support of undercover journalist Günter Wallraff. The documentary led to renewed criticism on the labour conditions at Zalando. Journalist Caro Lobig worked undercover for three months as an order picker in the logistical center at Erfurt. During an eight-hour shift she had to walk up to . After five weeks she started to suffer from circulation problems. According to an anonymous employee working at the ambulance service, there is hardly a day when they are not called to the logistics center. According to a labour judge interviewed by RTL, Zalando violates German Labour law because of its rules on breaks, by prohibiting its employees from sitting down and by imposing airport-security-type measures on its employees. Through its tight control over its employees, Zalando would also be in violation of privacy rules. RTL requested Zalando to give comments to the allegations but Zalando refused. Instead, Zalando filed a complaint against Lobig for revealing corporate secrets. Lobig in turn filed a complaint against the company regarding her severance pay.


title: Zalando

text: In November 2015 the Centre for Protection against Unfair Competition in Germany filed a suit claiming that Zalando misled consumers on the availability of certain products suggesting that they needed to act fast to buy them. Zalando said that they had already changed their marketing practices, taking the centre's concerns into account. They claimed that they no longer informed consumers that there were "three items available" when more than three were available.


title: MGM Grand Las Vegas

text: The MGM Grand Las Vegas is a hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. The MGM Grand is the largest single hotel in the world with 6,852 rooms. It is also the third-largest hotel complex in the world by number of rooms and second-largest hotel resort complex in the United States behind the combined The Venetian and The Palazzo. When it opened in 1993, the MGM Grand was the largest hotel complex in the world.


title: MGM Grand Las Vegas

text: Owned by Vici Properties and The Blackstone Group and operated by MGM Resorts International, the 30-floor main building is high. The property includes five outdoor pools, rivers, and waterfalls that cover , a convention center, the MGM Grand Garden Arena, and the Grand Spa. It also houses numerous shops, night clubs, restaurants and the largest casino in Clark County, which occupies .


title: MGM Grand Las Vegas

text: Located on the Tropicana – Las Vegas Boulevard intersection, pedestrians are not allowed to cross at street level. Instead, the MGM Grand is linked by overhead pedestrian bridges to its neighboring casinos: to the south across Tropicana Avenue, the Tropicana, and to the west across the Strip, New York-New York.


title: MGM Grand Las Vegas

text: The property was originally the site of the Golf Club Motel during the 1960s. In 1972, Tom Wiesner co-founded Southwest Securities Development Company, and later founded Wiesner Investment Company. In November 1973, Southwest Securities was planning the Airport Marina Hotel, to be built at the site of the 170-room Golf Club Motel, which was located near the Airport. Southwest Securities planned to renovate the motel structure and add a 14-story addition with 518 rooms. Fred Harvey Company would serve as the operator of the hotel, its restaurants, and other areas of the resort. Fred Harvey had previously opened hotels in other parts of the United States under the Airport Marina name. Southwest Securities also planned to construct a casino that would operate separately from Fred Harvey.


title: MGM Grand Las Vegas

text: The 700-room Marina, located at 3805 South Las Vegas Boulevard, was built by Wiesner Investment Company and was opened in 1975. In 1989, Wiesner and his partners sold the Marina to Kirk Kerkorian, who also bought the Tropicana Country Club, located behind the Marina and across Tropicana Avenue from the Tropicana and San Rémo hotels to obtain the site that would become the home of the MGM Grand. Kerkorian saw the Marina as a stable and solidly built resort, and decided not to destroy the hotel, but to build around it. During that time, the Marina was known as the MGM Marina Casino & Hotel.


title: MGM Grand Las Vegas

text: The Marina closed on November 30, 1990, and ground was broken for the new casino hotel complex on October 7, 1991. The Marina hotel building still exists as the west wing of the main hotel building.


title: MGM Grand Las Vegas

text: When the latest MGM Grand opened on December 18, 1993, it was owned by MGM Grand Inc. At that time it had an extensive "Wizard of Oz" theme, including the green "Emerald City" color of the building and the decorative use of "Wizard of Oz" memorabilia. After entering the casino's main entrance, one would find themselves in the Oz Casino facing Emerald City. Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion were seen in front of the city. The Emerald City attraction featured an elaborate yellow brick road walk-through, complete with the cornfield, apple orchard, and haunted forest, as well as audio-animatronic figures of Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion, and the Wicked Witch of the West. It would end at the door of the city, leading inside for a performance of "The Wizard's Secrets". When MGM Grand began its extensive refurbishment in 1996, the Oz Casino was the first to go. The Emerald City was completely demolished, and the Emerald City Gift Shop was moved to a new shopping section of the casino. The store remained open until early 2003.


title: MGM Grand Las Vegas

text: When the MGM Grand opened, the intention was to create a destination hotel in the Las Vegas area by including the MGM Grand Adventures Theme Park behind the casino. The plan was to make the Las Vegas Strip more family-friendly by providing activities for those too young to linger inside the casino. The theme park performed poorly and did not reopen for the 2001 season. The site was redeveloped as a luxury condominium and hotel complex called The Signature at MGM Grand, which opened in 2006.


title: MGM Grand Las Vegas

text: The resort's original entrance consisted of a giant lion head, made of fiberglass and blocky in appearance, with visitors entering through the lion's mouth. The lion was a cartoon-like version of MGM's logo, Leo the Lion. The MGM Grand performed unusually poorly with Asian gamblers in its first years of existence; a study by the management found that many Chinese patrons found it bad luck to walk through the jaws of a lion and avoided the hotel as a result, part of why the entrance was renovated to remove this feature.


title: MGM Grand Las Vegas

text: A monorail was built to connect MGM Grand to Bally's in 1995. The coming-out party for the monorail, on behalf of Bally's, consisted of showgirls and guys from Bally's famed show, "Jubilee!", helping groups to the monorail. Characters from "The Wizard of Oz" greeted the groups on the MGM side. The track was later updated to become the southernmost section of the Las Vegas Monorail. The MGM Grand station was refurbished, the trains were replaced with Bombardier M-VI's, and the track was extended beyond the southern station to provide for track switching for the trains, as well as a starting point for a potential future southern extension to the monorail line.


title: MGM Grand Las Vegas

text: In May 1996, MGM Grand Inc. announced a 30-month, four-phase renovation of the resort that would cost more than $250 million. The project would include replacing the property's lion entrance with a six-story gold lion structure. The first phase was to begin in June 1996 and would focus on the resort's restaurant, food court, and arcade area, with the addition of several new restaurants. The second phase would include the $15 million reconstruction of the lion entrance. Other changes would include a convention center, to be built at a cost of $60 million; a $60 million retail and entertainment complex, including theme restaurants and nightclubs, to be built adjacent to the theme park; a new entrance, to be built along Koval Lane at a cost of $5 million, scheduled to begin in mid-1997; a $30 million renovation of 52 suites on the penthouse level; and $11 million to upgrade parts of the casino. The final phase would incorporate a $17 million entertainment theme at the resort's vehicle entrance on Tropicana Avenue. Other changes would include a $15 million renovation of the resort's Emerald City entertainment area, and an additional 2,000 parking spaces to be added at a cost of $13 million, for a new total of 11,000 spaces. Terrence Lanni, the chairman of MGM Grand Inc., said he wanted customers to "feel like guests coming to a premiere of one of the world's greatest movies. When we're completed, every aspect of this property will bespeak entertainment." The former restaurant, retail and arcade area was redesigned into the Studio Walk, an area resembling a Hollywood sound stage and featuring various restaurants and shops.


title: MGM Grand Las Vegas

text: Demolition of the lion entrance began on May 13, 1997, and was expected to take two weeks, while the $250 million renovation project was expected to be finished by late 1998. The new facade was expected to cost $40 million to construct. In November 1997, the property installed 18 promotional and entertainment LED screens, including 15 outside the resort. Installation of the lion statue was underway in December 1997, with the addition of a 5,000-pound paw. Assembly of the 100,000-pound statue was expected to be finished later that month. The statue weighs 50 tons, and at tall, on a 25-foot pedestal, is the largest bronze statue in the U.S. The new facade also included 11 statues of winged Atlas-like men holding 16-foot diameter bowls. The statues were made of bronze-finished fiberglass and accompanied the lion statue, along with LED screens and water fountains. Work on the statue and accompanying fountains was expected to be finished in February 1998. The resort's conference center opened in April 1998. The conference center, a pool, and a spa were constructed on 15 acres of land previously occupied by a portion of the theme park and a parking lot.


title: MGM Grand Las Vegas

text: In 2000, in an attempt to appeal to a more "mature" clientele, the hotel underwent a major renovation, and almost all traces of the Oz theme were removed. The theme is now more of the Art Deco era of classic Hollywood, and the hotel started billing itself as "The City of Entertainment". More recently, the resort has used the phrase "Maximum Vegas", referring to the vast amount of activities MGM Grand offers its guests.


title: MGM Grand Las Vegas

text: On April 26, 2000, MGM opened a new satellite registration/hotel check-in center at the airport. This was the first of its kind opened by a hotel company at any United States airport. However, this airport check-in center closed in late 2013.


title: MGM Grand Las Vegas

text: In October 2011, MGM began a renovation in which all of its rooms and suites in the main tower were fully renovated, along with the casino floor and other public areas. This has provided the hotel with a more contemporary room design. The work was completed in September 2012. The renovations were also notable for making use of the emerging technology of dye-sensitized solar cells, collecting ambient indoor light to power motorized window blinds.


title: MGM Grand Las Vegas

text: In June 2017, MGM Resorts International held a groundbreaking for a expansion of the resort's convention conference center, for a total of upon completion. The expanded conference center was topped off in January 2018, and was opened in January 2019. It was built at a cost of $130 million. At the time, the hotel had a 90 percent occupancy rate. That month, plans were announced by MGM Resorts to eventually redevelop the resort's entrance on Las Vegas Boulevard to provide easier pedestrian access. The redeveloped area would include restaurants and retail space accessible to pedestrians but was not expected to begin construction during 2019. MGM Resorts also planned to eventually redevelop the hotel's entrance on Tropicana Avenue in the years to come.


title: MGM Grand Las Vegas

text: In January 2020, MGM Resorts announced that it would sell the resort to a joint venture consisting of MGM Growth Properties and The Blackstone Group. MGM Growth would own 50.1 percent of the joint venture, and Blackstone would own the remainder. The MGM Grand would be leased to MGM Resorts, which would continue to operate the resort. The deal was finalized a month later. Vici Properties acquired MGM Growth, including its stake in the MGM Grand, in 2022.


title: MGM Grand Las Vegas

text: On April 3, 2022, the resort hosted the 64th Annual Grammy Awards at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, marking the first time in history the Grammy Awards were held in Las Vegas. The resort also hosted other Grammy week events such as the MusiCares Person of the Year tribute to Joni Mitchell two days prior to the awards.


title: MGM Grand Las Vegas

text: A parody of the MGM Grand was featured in the BMX video game "Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX 2". Leo the Lion was replaced with dragons.


title: MGM Grand Las Vegas

text: The MGM Grand was among many casinos at which the MIT Blackjack Team gambled in the book "Bringing Down The House".


title: MGM Grand Las Vegas

text: The MGM Grand is well known as the prior location of rapper Tupac Shakur before his assassination. He was reported to be watching the Bruce Seldon vs. Mike Tyson boxing match with his collective members including Suge Knight. Shakur and his entourage got into a scuffle with Orlando Anderson, at one time the prime suspect in Shakur's murder.


title: MGM Grand Las Vegas

text: The MGM Grand has one of the largest gaming floors in all of Las Vegas, measuring . There are more than 2,500 machines for gaming as well as 139 poker and table games.


title: MGM Grand Las Vegas

text: The slot machines at the MGM Grand range from 1¢ to $1,000 and include progressive slots, video poker, and multi-game machines. There is a special High Limit Slots area, featuring slot machines with payouts up to $500,000.


title: MGM Grand Las Vegas

text: The race and sports book is a state of-the-art betting area that features thirty-six 60-inch plasma TVs, along with twenty-four 42-inch plasmas. Bets are offered on a range of sports including soccer, football, boxing, MMA and more. They are also the first room to offer what they call "SkyBoxes". These boxes can hold up to ten guests and come with beverage servers and complimentary food.


title: MGM Grand Las Vegas

text: The Signature at MGM Grand is a condo hotel project by MGM Mirage and Turnberry Associates, who teamed up to build the three currently open Signature at the MGM Grand towers. The 38-story, tall structures have 576 all-suite units each and were priced from $450,000 to more than $2.0 million. Signature is located on the property where the MGM Grand Adventures Theme Park once stood. Each tower has its own private pool with cabanas as well as access to MGM Grand pools. Additional guest/owner amenities at The Signature include a Starbucks, meeting rooms, exercise room, bar and restaurant. Each tower is connected with walkways including moving walkways for the connection to the MGM Grand.


The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement to a third country. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, with over 17,300 staff working in 135 countries.


title: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

text: UNHCR was created in 1950 to address the refugee crisis that resulted from World War II. The 1951 Refugee Convention established the scope and legal framework of the agency's work, which initially focused on Europeans uprooted by the war. Beginning in the late 1950s, displacement caused by other conflicts, from the Hungarian Uprising to the decolonization of Africa and Asia, broadened the scope of UNHCR's operations. Commensurate with the 1967 Protocol to the Refugee Convention, which expanded the geographic and temporal scope of refugee assistance, UNHCR operated across the world, with the bulk of its activities in developing countries. By its 65th anniversary in 2015, the agency had assisted more 50 million refugees worldwide.


text: As of June 2020, UNHCR has over 20 million refugees under its mandate. Consequently, its annual budget has grown from US$300,000 in 1951 to US$8.6 billion in 2019, making it one of the largest UN agencies by expenditure. The vast majority of UNHCR's budget comes from voluntary contributions, mostly from member states; the largest donors are the United States, the European Union, and Germany. The agency's work includes providing protection, shelter, healthcare and emergency relief, assisting in resettlement and repatriation, and advocating for national and multilateral policies on behalf of refugees.


text: In recognition of its work, UNHCR has won two Nobel Peace Prizes, in 1954 and 1981 and a Prince of Asturias Awards for International Cooperation in 1991. It is a member of the United Nations Development Group, a consortium of organizations dedicated to sustainable development.


text: Following the demise of the League of Nations and the creation of the United Nations the international community was acutely aware of the refugee crisis following the end of World War II. In 1947, the International Refugee Organization (IRO) was founded by the United Nations. The IRO was the first international agency to deal comprehensively with all aspects of refugees' lives. Preceding this was the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, which was established in 1944 to address the millions of people displaced across Europe as a result of World War II.


text: In the late 1940s, the IRO fell out of favour, but the UN agreed that a body was required to oversee global refugee issues. Despite many heated debates in the General Assembly, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was founded as a subsidiary organ of the General Assembly by Resolution 319 (IV) of the United Nations General Assembly of December 1949. However, the organisation was only intended to operate for 3 years, from January 1951, due to the disagreement of many UN member states over the implications of a permanent body.


text: UNHCR's mandate was originally set out in its statute, annexed to resolution 428 (V) of the United Nations General Assembly of 1950. This mandate has been subsequently broadened by numerous resolutions of the General Assembly and its Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). According to UNHCR, its mandate is to provide, on a non-political and humanitarian basis, international protection to refugees and to seek permanent solutions for them.


text: Soon after the signing of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, it became clear that refugees were not solely restricted to Europe. In 1956, UNHCR was involved in coordinating the response to the uprising in Hungary. Just a year later, UNHCR was tasked with dealing with Chinese refugees in Hong Kong, while also responding to Algerian refugees who had fled to Morocco and Tunisia in the wake of Algeria's war for independence. The responses marked the beginning of a wider, global mandate in refugee protection and humanitarian assistance.


text: Decolonisation in the 1960s triggered large refugee movements in Africa, creating a massive challenge that would transform UNHCR; unlike the refugee crises in Europe, there were no durable solutions in Africa, and many refugees who fled one country only found instability in their new country of refuge. By the end of the decade, two-thirds of UNHCR's budget was focused on operations in Africa and in just one decade, the organization's focus had shifted from an almost exclusive focus on Europe.


text: In 1967, the Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees was ratified to remove the geographical and temporal restrictions of UNHCR under the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. As the Convention was confined to the refugee crisis in the aftermath of World War II in Europe, the Protocol was made to address the “new refugee situations that have arisen since the Convention was adopted and the refugees concerned that may therefore not fall within the scope of the Convention”.<ref>


title: Moro Islamic Liberation Front

text: The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF; "Jabhat Taḥrīr Moro al-ʾIslāmiyyah") is a group based in Mindanao seeking an autonomous region of the Moro people from the central government. The group has a presence in the Bangsamoro region of Mindanao, the Sulu Archipelago, Palawan, Basilan, and other neighbouring islands. The armed wing of the group was the Bangsamoro Islamic Armed Forces (BIAF), although the name of its parent organization, the MILF, was often used to refer to the BIAF. In July, 2018, the Philippine government passed the Bangsamoro Organic Law, giving more autonomy to Muslims. In return, MILF announced that it would disarm its 30,000 fighters.


title: Moro Islamic Liberation Front

text: Following the Jabidah massacre in 1968, the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) was established clandestinely in 1969 by Moro students studying at the University of the Philippines, Egypt, and in the Middle East who sought to create an independent Muslim nation in southern Philippines. The MNLF gained foreign support from Muammar Gadaffi of Libya, which supplied arms and provided training for Moro youths. The MNLF took part in terrorist attacks and assassinations to achieve their goals. The government in Manila sent troops into the southern Philippines to control the insurgency. In 1976, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi brokered a negotiation between the Philippine government and MNLF Leader Nur Misuari which led to the signing of the MNLF-GRPH Tripoli Agreement of 1976 wherein the MNLF accepted the Philippine government's offer of semi-autonomy of the regions in dispute. There where some members based in the small Italian town of Portofino who helped to find the organizations footing during the early stages of their development.


title: Moro Islamic Liberation Front

text: The signing of this agreement brought about a serious rift in MNLF leadership, leading to the formation of a breakaway group in 1977 by Hashim Salamat and 57 MNLF officers. The group was initially known as "The New Leadership". Misuari expelled Salamat in December 1977, after which Salamat moved his new organization first to Cairo, Egypt, and then, in 1980, to Lahore, Pakistan, where it engaged in diplomatic activities. This organization was formally established in 1984 as the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Muammar Gaddafi became a longstanding supporter of the MILF after its emergence.


title: Moro Islamic Liberation Front

text: In January 1987, the MNLF accepted the Philippine government's offer of semi-autonomy of the regions in dispute, subsequently leading to the establishment of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao on November 6, 1990. The MILF, however, refused to accept this offer and continued their insurgency operations. A general cessation of hostilities between the government in Manila and the MILF was signed in July 1997, but this agreement was abolished in 2000 by the Philippine Army under the administration of President Joseph Estrada. In response, the MILF declared a jihad against the government, its citizens and supporters. Under President Gloria Arroyo, the government entered into a cease-fire agreement with the MILF and resumed peace talks.


title: Moro Islamic Liberation Front

text: Despite peace negotiations and the cease-fire agreement, the MILF attacked government troops in Maguindanao, resulting in at least twenty-three deaths in January 2005. The combined armies of the MILF and Abu Sayyaf were involved in days of fighting, which necessitated government troops using heavy artillery to engage rebel forces.


title: Moro Islamic Liberation Front

text: The bombing incident in Davao Airport in 2003, which the Philippine government blamed on MILF members, raised speculation that the peace negotiations would be ineffectual in bringing peace to Mindanao if the MILF was unable to control its operatives. The MILF has denied ties with terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah, although Jemaah Islamiyah is considered to have provided them with training facilities in areas they control. The MILF has also continued to deny connections with Al-Qaeda, though it has admitted to sending around 600 volunteers to Al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan and that Osama Bin Laden sent money to the Philippines, though the group denies directly receiving any payment.


title: Moro Islamic Liberation Front

text: From June 28 to July 6, 2006, conflict between the MILF and armed civilian volunteers under Maguindanao provincial governor Andal Ampatuan who were supported by the Philippine Army had been reported. The fighting began after Ampatuan blamed the MILF for a June 23 bomb attack on his motorcade, which killed five in his entourage. The MILF denied responsibility, but Ampatuan sent police and civilian volunteers to arrest MILF members connected to the attack. Four thousand families were reported displaced by the fighting that followed, which was ended by a cease-fire agreement signed on July 10 and 11.


title: Moro Islamic Liberation Front

text: Talks between the MILF and the government collapsed in 2008 after a Supreme Court decision in Sema vs. COMELEC rejected a preliminary accord that would have expanded the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. In 2011, the MILF withdrew their demands for independence, instead saying that they would pursue substate status, likened to a U.S. state instead of independence from the Philippines.


title: Moro Islamic Liberation Front

text: On August 4, 2008, the Supreme Court of the Philippines issued a temporary restraining order, preventing the government and the MILF from officially signing the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD), which would conclude all dispute and begin formal talks that would lead to the drafting and eventual signing of a Final Comprehensive Compact between the two groups. The court accepted motions by the southern provincial governments that objected to the extended boundaries for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao envisioned in the peace deal. The MOA-AD would have allowed the Moro people to gain control of the region under the concept of human rights with the right to establish a police force and to control natural resources.


title: Moro Islamic Liberation Front

text: The MOA-AD was initialed by former governor and peace panel chair Rodolfo Garcia and Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Hermogenes Esperon and MILF peace panel chair Mohagher Iqbal on July 27, 2008, in Malaysia. It was scheduled for formal signing on August 5, but the Supreme Court issued no negotiation preventing the executive department from signing the agreement. The MOA-AD was the last of several agenda items under the 2001 agreement of the GRP-MILF, after security and relief and rehabilitation, prior to the discussion on the political settlement.


title: Moro Islamic Liberation Front

text: The Young Moro Professionals Network (YMPN) appealed to the public not to be afraid of the MOA-AD and to "open your hearts to the Moro grievance". The YMPN said in a statement dated August 21, 2009:


title: Moro Islamic Liberation Front

text: In these times of hardship, we hold hands as one, with our Christian and Islamic neighbours, in the name of peace, acceptance and justice. We are committed to democratic and peaceful resolution of the conflict. Do not be afraid of the MOA-AD. To the national public, open your hearts to the Moro grievance.


title: Moro Islamic Liberation Front

text: Over the next month, several MILF commanders were tagged by government officials as having initiated an offensive campaign. The Armed Forces of the Philippines responded to the allegation by immediately deploying ten battalions composed of a total of 6,000 soldiers into Mindanao under the command of Lt. Gen. Cardozo Luna. The violence displaced over 600,000 people and left about 300 dead.


title: Moro Islamic Liberation Front

text: On October 14, 2008, the court conducted a series of divided votes declared "contrary to law and the Constitution" the MOA-AD of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and Moro Islamic Liberation Front Tripoli Agreement of Peace on 2001. Conchita Carpio-Morales ruled: "In sum, the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process committed grave abuse of discretion when he failed to carry out the pertinent consultation process. The furtive process by which the MOA-AD was designed and crafted runs contrary to and in excess of the legal authority and amounts to a whimsical, capricious, oppressive, arbitrary and despotic exercise thereof. It illustrates a gross evasion of positive duty and a virtual refusal to perform the duty enjoined."


title: Moro Islamic Liberation Front

text: Civil society organizations such as Consortium of Bangsamoro Civil Society submitted a motion for reconsideration. However, on November 21, 2008, the Supreme Court affirmed its October 14 ruling that declared unconstitutional the MOA-AD between the Philippine government and the MILF.


title: Moro Islamic Liberation Front

text: MILF soldiers offered to help free the Irish priest father Michael Sinott, who was kidnapped in the Philippines on October 14, 2009, and sought permission to deploy about 100 of its soldiers in the area where Sinnott is believed to be held. However, this was turned down by the Philippine government.


title: Moro Islamic Liberation Front

text: On September 23, 2010, Mohagher Iqbal said that the MILF would pursue a substate, likened to a U.S. state, instead of independence from the Philippines. The Muslim substate would not exercise power over national defense, foreign affairs, currency and coinage, and postal services, which the central government would continue to exercise. Iqbal further added that the substate would not have its own armed forces but instead would have troops for internal security.


title: Moro Islamic Liberation Front

text: On October 7, 2012, President Benigno Aquino announced a peace deal with the MILF and that "This framework agreement paves the way for a final and enduring peace in Mindanao". MILF vice-chair Ghazali Jaafar said, "We are very happy. We thank the president for this." The deal was signed on October 15, 2012. Its aim is to pave the way to enduring peace between the two parties by officially envisaging an autonomous region in Mindanao. According to the framework, this semi-independent Muslim area would have a more just share of revenues from the extraction of its own plentiful resources, budgetary autonomy, its own police, and sharia law only for Muslims. In exchange for this, the MILF would be willing to stop armed movements against the government for autonomy and allow the national government to retain its control of national security and foreign policy. The autonomy agreement to be gradually implemented would also rename the region "Bangsamoro", after the Moro people.


title: Moro Islamic Liberation Front

text: Chief peace negotiator Miriam Coronel-Ferrer said that the government was cautiously optimistic for a final agreement soon following six days of talks on July 13, 2013. She said: "This signing indicates that both sides are really committed to finish the peace negotiations. Nobody wants this not to reach its fruition." The agreement would see government allowances for the MILF to have a 75 percent share of earnings from natural resources and metallic minerals in a proposed autonomous region. For other energy resources, earnings would be split equally in accordance with Malaysia-brokered talks.


title: Moro Islamic Liberation Front

text: On January 24, 2014, Philippine government chief negotiator Miriam Coronel Ferrer and MILF chief negotiator Mohagher Iqbal signed a peace agreement in Kuala Lumpur. The agreement would pave the way for the creation of the new Muslim autonomous entity called "Bangsamoro" under a law to be approved by the Philippine Congress. The government aimed to set up the region by 2016. The agreement called for Muslim self-rule in parts of the southern Philippines in exchange for a deactivation of rebel forces by the MILF. MILF forces would turn over their firearms to a third party selected by the MILF and the Philippine government. A regional police force would be established, and the Philippine military would reduce the presence of troops and help disband private armies in the area. President Rodrigo Duterte signed the law, a key step to ending a Muslim rebellion in the south of the mainly Catholic Philippines. In early January 2020, the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process announced progress exceeding its target for the decommissioning of MILF fighters, noting that "8,879 out of the 12,000 MILF combatants were decommissioned from the last quarter of 2019". Some former rebel fighters have joined the police and military to protect certain areas of the Bangsamoro region until an elected government is established in 2022.


title: Prison Break (season 5)

text: The fifth season of "Prison Break" (also known as Prison Break: Resurrection) is a limited event television series and a revival of the original series created by Paul Scheuring that aired on Fox from 2005 to 2009. The season is produced by 20th Century Fox Television in association with Adelstein Productions, Dawn Olmstead Productions, One Light Road Productions and Original Film. Paul Scheuring serves as showrunner, with himself, Marty Adelstein, Neal H. Moritz and Dawn Olmstead, Vaun Wilmott, Michael Horowitz and Nelson McCormick serving as executive producers. McCormick also serves as director. The season premiered on April 4, 2017, and concluded on May 30, 2017, consisting of 9 episodes.


title: Prison Break (season 5)

text: Wentworth Miller and Dominic Purcell reprise their respective roles as Michael Scofield and Lincoln Burrows, while Sarah Wayne Callies, Amaury Nolasco, Paul Adelstein, Robert Knepper and Rockmond Dunbar also return from the original series. New cast additions include Mark Feuerstein, Inbar Lavi, Augustus Prew, Marina Benedict, Rick Yune and Steve Mouzakis. A pilot was ordered in August 2015 and the series was greenlit in January 2016. Production on the series began in April 2016 and filming took place in Vancouver and the Moroccan cities of Rabat, Casablanca, and Ouarzazate.


title: Prison Break (season 5)

text: Seven years after his apparent death, Michael Scofield resurfaces in the notorious Ogygia Prison in Sana'a, Yemen, under the name Kaniel Outis. As the country is engulfed by war, two of Michael's old friends, his brother Lincoln Burrows and fellow Fox River escapee Benjamin "C-Note" Franklin, risk their lives by traveling to Yemen to bring Michael home. Back in the United States, Michael's wife Sara, now remarried, is hunted by agents of an operative known as Poseidon, the one responsible for Michael's disappearance.


title: Prison Break (season 5)

text: On January 12, 2015, at the 2015 Winter TCA Press Tour, Wentworth Miller and Dominic Purcell revealed the possibility that Fox was interested in bringing back "Prison Break", with Miller stating: "We actually floated the idea to Fox very casually and they seemed very not casual about this interest. They seemed to think there was something there." Purcell concluded by adding, "It's something that Fox is, as Wentworth said, potentially excited about."


title: Prison Break (season 5)

text: On January 17, 2015, Fox Television Group chairman and CEO Gary Newman made it clear that they would love to bring "Prison Break" back for another run, although Fox had nothing to report. Newman himself stated, "There's some speculation in the press at "Prison Break" and we've made it clear at the studio that we'd bring "Prison Break" back at the studio [...] It's the perfect event series. But at the moment, we have nothing else to report."


title: Prison Break (season 5)

text: On June 2, 2015, it was reported that a limited series revival of Paul Scheuring's "Prison Break" was in development at Fox.


title: Prison Break (season 5)

text: On August 6, 2015, Fox confirmed a 10-episode order for the revival. The limited series is a sequel to the original series, taking place several years later, and features Miller and Purcell reprising their roles as well as the return of other original characters. Fox Television Group chairman and CEO Dana Walden herself stated that "Prison Break" has performed particularly well internationally and on SVOD platforms such as Netflix. Walden added that: "a logical and believable explanation to why the characters are alive and still moving around the world [...]" Walden said. "The brothers and some of the iconic characters will be back, and it will address some questions that were set up at the end of the series for a new audience."


title: Prison Break (season 5)

text: On January 15, 2016, Fox officially ordered the revival to series, with the episode order revised to nine episodes, though Fox declined to announce how many episodes the series will run. The original producing team of creator Paul Scheuring, Neal Moritz, Marty Adelstein and Dawn Olmstead were all confirmed as to return for the event series as executive producers and Scheuring writing and serving as showrunner and Miller and Purcell being producers of the season. Luca Tranchino served as production designer.


title: Prison Break (season 5)

text: On August 7, 2015, it was announced that creator and executive producer Paul Scheuring would be writing the first episode as well as a style/tone bible for other writers to follow.


title: Prison Break (season 5)

text: On January 15, 2016, stars Wentworth Miller and Dominic Purcell were confirmed to be reprising their roles as brothers Michael Scofield and Lincoln Burrows.


title: Prison Break (season 5)

text: On February 22, 2016, it was reported that Mark Feuerstein would play Scott Ness (later changed to Jacob Ness), the husband of Dr. Sara Tancredi, a Professor of Economics (game theory) at Cornell who has been described as, "dubious of the government but still has a bit of fight in him when it comes to taking them on." Additionally, on February 22, 2016, it was confirmed that Sarah Wayne Callies was in talks to reprise her role in the follow-up along with Robert Knepper, Rockmond Dunbar and Amaury Nolasco, although there were no deals in place with any of them at that time.


title: Prison Break (season 5)

text: On March 9, 2016, Augustus Prew, Rick Yune and Steve Mouzakis were cast for "heavily recurring roles". Prew plays "funny, crazy and pretty damn sharp" Whip; Yune plays Ja, who is described as a "Korean identity thief, who disheveled appearance belies his genius"; and Mouzakis plays Van Gogh, "a bad-ass nut-job". On March 9, 2016, Sarah Wayne Callies was confirmed to be returning as Sara Tancredi. On March 16, 2016, Amin El Gamal was cast in a recurring role, playing Cyclops.


title: Prison Break (season 5)

text: On March 17, 2016, it was announced that original stars Robert Knepper, Amaury Nolasco and Rockmond Dunbar would be reprising their respective roles as T-Bag, Sucre and C-Note, respectively. On March 21, 2016, Paul Adelstein was confirmed to be reprising his role as Paul Kellerman. On March 21, 2016, Inbar Lavi, Marina Benedict and Kunal Sharma were cast in major recurring roles. Lavi plays Sheba, an operator/fixer/activist who becomes involved with Burrows. Benedict is A&W, "a crazed and fearless villainess who is unconcerned about her physical well-being but ruthless and efficient in completing her deadly goals", and Sharma plays Sid, a man in prison. On April 22, 2016, it was announced that Faran Tahir would play Jamil, whom Tahir describes as "a man who has an inner conflict which again is something I love experimenting with."


title: Prison Break (season 5)

text: In July 2016, it was revealed that William Fichtner would not be reprising his role as Alexander Mahone. Robert Knepper told "Digital Spy" that "[writer] Paul Scheuring loves Bill Fichtner and I love Bill Fichtner. He's a brilliant actor – but Paul honestly said to me, 'I don't know what to do with that character'. He didn't want to just bring everybody back, so that the audience go, 'Oh, look, it's Bill Fichtner again!' – he honestly thought, 'I'm not sure where to do that in the plot.' So if someday there's another chapter of this, maybe then Bill will be back. But I think the characters that are there, each of our moments that we have, are key to the storytelling, which is how it should be."


title: Prison Break (season 5)

text: Production on the season began on April 7, 2016, in Vancouver, once Miller and Purcell completed filming for "Legends of Tomorrow". Filming concluded in Vancouver on July 11, 2016. On June 1, 2016, Dominic Purcell was almost killed on set in Morocco, after an iron bar used as a set piece had fallen onto his head, which caused a broken nose and a head injury. Purcell was immediately airlifted from Marrakesh to Casablanca for treatment where he recovered. Filming of the series was not substantially disrupted due to the accident.


title: Prison Break (season 5)

text: Composer Ramin Djawadi stated that he would definitely like to return and work on the new season of "Prison Break", after learning of the news of the possible revival, to which further stated, "I literally just heard it, so it's news for me. It's very exciting because the show was such a good show but nobody has contacted me at this point." Djawadi later added, "Most likely, if my schedule allows - that show was very close to me. I loved all the people involved. I thought it was an incredible show. Absolutely." In June 2016, it was confirmed that Djawadi would return as composer for season five.


title: Prison Break (season 5)

text: The revival season received a mixed response. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the season has an approval rating of 56% based on 34 reviews, with an average score of 6.14/10. The site's critical consensus reads, ""Prison Break" recaptures some of its old urgency in its return, but familiar faces and frenetic action aren't enough to make up for a plot that manages to bore while beggaring belief." On Metacritic, the season has a score of 48 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


title: Prison Break (season 5)

text: The event series was released on Blu-ray and DVD on June 27, 2017. Special features include a behind-the-scenes featurette, "A Return Home: The Making of "Prison Break" Event Series".


title: French kiss

text: A French kiss, also known as cataglottism or a tongue kiss, is an amorous kiss in which the participants' tongues extend to touch each other's lips or tongue. A kiss with the tongue stimulates the partner's lips, tongue and mouth, which are sensitive to the touch and induce sexual arousal. The sensation when two tongues touch—also known as tongue touching—has been proven to stimulate endorphin release and reduce acute stress levels. Extended French kissing may be part of making out. The name term originated at the beginning of the 20th century, in America and Great Britain, as the French had acquired a reputation for more adventurous and passionate sex practices.


title: French kiss

text: A French kiss is an amorous kiss in which the participants' tongues extend to touch each other's lips or tongue. A tongue kiss stimulates the partner's lips, tongue and mouth, which are sensitive to the touch and induce sexual arousal, as the oral zone is one of the principal erogenous zones of the body. The implication is of a slow, passionate kiss which is considered intimate, romantic, erotic or sexual. The sensation when two tongues touch, also known as "tongue touching", has been proven to stimulate endorphin release and reduce acute stress levels. French kissing is often described as "first base", and is used by many as an indicator of what stage a relationship has reached. Extended French kissing may be part of making out.


title: French kiss

text: Open-mouth kissing is alluded to in Sanskrit texts from 1500 BCE, and the "Kama Sutra" from the 3rd century mentions kissing inside of mouths.


title: French kiss

text: A French kiss is so called because at the beginning of the 20th century, in the English-speaking world, the French had acquired a reputation for more adventurous and passionate sex practices. It originated in America and Great Britain. In France, it is referred to as "un baiser amoureux" ("a lover's kiss") or "un baiser avec la langue" ("a kiss with the tongue"), and was previously known as "un baiser Florentin" ("a Florentine kiss"). The Petit Robert 2014 French dictionary, released in 2013, added the French verb "se galocher," slang for kissing with tongues. The informal English term "frenching" also means French kissing, as does the Quebec French term "frencher".


title: French kiss

text: French kissing carries moderate risk of HPV. The possibility of contracting HIV from French kissing is extremely low as transmission would require open wounds. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers transmission of Hepatitis B via French kissing to be an unlikely mode of infection, however deep kissing that involves the exchange of large amounts of saliva might result in infection if there are cuts or abrasions in the mouth of the infected person, especially if they have a high viral load. Occasionally syphilis can be passed through prolonged French kissing, but this usually requires contact with an active lesion. French kissing is an unlikely mode of transmission of infection by gonorrhea.


title: Scaled Composites Stratolaunch

text: The Scaled Composites Model 351 Stratolaunch or Roc is an aircraft built for Stratolaunch Systems by Scaled Composites to carry air-launch-to-orbit (ALTO) rockets. It was announced in December 2011 and rolled out in May 2017. The aircraft features a twin-fuselage design and the longest wingspan ever flown, at , surpassing the Hughes H-4 Hercules flying boat of . The Stratolaunch is intended to carry a payload and has a maximum takeoff weight. It should release its rocket at .


title: Scaled Composites Stratolaunch

text: The aircraft flew for the first time on April 13, 2019, and shortly thereafter, the company announced it would halt development of its air-launched family of launch vehicles following the death of Stratolaunch founder Paul Allen in October 2018. The company ceased operations the next month and placed all company assets, including the aircraft, for sale for by June 2019. Cerberus Capital Management acquired Stratolaunch Systems, including the Stratolaunch aircraft, in October 2019. Stratolaunch announced in December 2019 that it would now be focusing on offering high-speed flight test services.


title: Scaled Composites Stratolaunch

text: In early 2011, Dynetics began studying the project and had approximately 40 employees working on it at the December 2011 public announcement. Stratolaunch originally planned to airlaunch the Falcon 9 Air by SpaceX, whose efforts began shortly before December. Launching medium-sized payloads with the Falcon 9 dictated the aircraft size but SpaceX departed a year later.


title: Scaled Composites Stratolaunch

text: In May 2012, its specially constructed hangar was being built at the Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, California. In October 2012, the first of two manufacturing buildings, a facility for construction of the composite sections of the wing and fuselage, was opened for production.


title: Scaled Composites Stratolaunch

text: In August 2013, the Pegasus II was selected for the air-launch vehicle. In August 2014, all solid-fuel propulsion was selected, rather than liquid-fuel for the Orbital Sciences launcher. In August 2015, of structure was assembled.


title: Scaled Composites Stratolaunch

text: By June 2016, Scaled Composites had 300 people working on the project. Virgin Galactic also plans to launch small satellites with the LauncherOne from a 747. Orbital ATK dropped its Thunderbolt rocket project for medium-class payloads. In October 2016, the Pegasus II was replaced by multiple Pegasus XL mounted underneath the carrier aircraft, developments of the original Pegasus rocket which had been launched 42 times since 1990.


title: Scaled Composites Stratolaunch

text: By May 1, 2017, Stratolaunch had already spent hundreds of millions of dollars on the project. On May 31, 2017, the aircraft was rolled out for fueling tests, and to be prepared for ground testing, engine runs, taxi tests, and ultimately, first flight. The company stated that it was aiming for a 2019 first-launch demonstration. The Register newspaper in 2017 reported that Stratolaunch may have competition from the DARPA XS-1 or from Vector Space Systems by 2019. By September 2017, engine testing was underway as well as testing of "control surfaces and electric, pneumatic and fire detection systems." In December 2017, its first low-speed taxi test took it to on the runway, powered by its six turbofans, to test its steering, braking, and telemetry. Higher-speed taxi tests began in 2018, reaching in February, and in October. On January 9, 2019, Stratolaunch completed a taxi test, and released a photograph of the nose landing gear lifted off the ground during the test.


title: Scaled Composites Stratolaunch

text: In January 2019, three months after the death of Stratolaunch founder and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, Stratolaunch abandoned the development of its PGA rocket engines and dedicated launchers. This left the Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL as the sole launch option for an orbital capability of . Stratolaunch was then reported to be aiming for a first flight within a few weeks and a first launch from the carrier in 2020.


title: Scaled Composites Stratolaunch

text: The aircraft first flew on April 13, 2019, at the Mojave Air and Space Port, reaching and speed of in a 2 hours 29 minutes flight.


title: Scaled Composites Stratolaunch

text: The future of Stratolaunch had been in doubt since the death of company founder Paul Allen in October 2018, with speculation that Stratolaunch Systems could cease operations. Allen had been the source of funds for the capital-intensive development program since the project began in 2010, and the company founding in 2011.


title: Scaled Composites Stratolaunch

text: In January 2019, Stratolaunch announced it was halting development of its air-launched family of launch vehicles.


title: Scaled Composites Stratolaunch

text: On May 31, 2019, the company announced that it would cease operations and that sale of its assets was being explored. An asking price of was reported, which would include the sole aircraft, the company facilities, equipment, the designs and other intellectual property. In June 2019 the Stratolaunch Systems company and assets were put up for sale by Vulcan for $400 million.


title: Scaled Composites Stratolaunch

text: By October 11, Stratolaunch announced it had new ownership and that it would continue regular operations, but did not disclose the identity of the investors. In December, the new owner was revealed to be Cerberus Capital Management, a specialist in the acquisition of distressed companies. After the acquisition, Stratolaunch is now focusing on offering high-speed flight test services.


title: Scaled Composites Stratolaunch

text: By early 2020, Stratolaunch was developing the Talon-A reusable, rocket-powered, hypersonic flight vehicle (the Vulcan Aerospace Hyper-A concept in 2018). It could be carried by the airplane from 2022, up to three at once from 2023, and a larger concept vehicle, the Talon-Z, could carry cargo or people to orbit. The Stratolaunch made its second flight on April 29, 2021. Third flight took place on January 16, 2022, from Mojave Air and Space Port; the flight lasted 4 hours 23 minutes and reached altitude of over and top speed of . On 24 February 2022, the Stratolaunch made its fourth flight.


title: Scaled Composites Stratolaunch

text: Stratolaunch has a twin-fuselage configuration, each long and supported by 12 main landing gear wheels and two nose gear wheels, for a total of 28 wheels. The twin-fuselage configuration is similar to the Scaled Composites White Knight Two. Each fuselage has its own empennage.


title: Scaled Composites Stratolaunch

text: The pilot, co-pilot and flight engineer are accommodated in the right fuselage cockpit. The flight data systems are in the left fuselage. The left fuselage cockpit is unmanned with storage space for up to 2,500lb of mission specific support equipment. Both fuselage cockpits are pressurized and separated by a composite pressure bulkhead from the remainder of the unpressurized vehicle.


title: Scaled Composites Stratolaunch

text: At , it is the largest plane by wingspan, greater than a American football field. The main center section is made up of four primary composite spars supported by four secondary spars. The center section of the high-mounted, high aspect ratio wing is fitted with a Mating and Integration System (MIS), developed by Dynetics and capable of handling a load. The wing houses six main and two auxiliary fuel tanks, with the main tanks located inboard adjacent to an engine. The auxiliary tanks are located in the inboard wing where the load-carrying structure joins the fuselage.


title: Scaled Composites Stratolaunch

text: Stratolaunch is powered by six Pratt & Whitney PW4056 engines positioned on pylons outboard of each fuselage, providing of thrust per engine. Many of the aircraft systems have been adopted from the Boeing 747-400, including the engines, avionics, flight deck, landing gear and other systems, reducing development costs.


title: Scaled Composites Stratolaunch

text: The flight controls include 12 cable-driven ailerons powered by hydraulic actuators, split rudders, and horizontal stabilizers on twin tail units. The wing has 14 electrically signaled, hydraulically actuated trailing-edge split flaps that also act as speed brakes. The hydraulic system and actuators, electrical system, avionics, pilot controls, and flight deck are from donor B747-400s. Approximately 250,000 lb of the aircraft's takeoff weight of 1,300,000 lb is from B747-400 components.


title: Scaled Composites Stratolaunch

text: It will require of runway to lift-off. It should release its rocket at . It will carry a payload. With a Pegasus II, it could deliver up to satellites to LEO or to a 15° GTO. It could launch a Dream Chaser small spaceplane capable of transporting astronauts or payloads within 24 hours. The stated goal is to carry up to three Orbital ATK "Pegasus XL" rockets for high-altitude launches by 2022.


title: Scaled Composites Stratolaunch

text: Within Scaled Composites, its model number is M351. It is nicknamed "Roc" after Sinbad's Roc, the mythical bird so big it could carry an elephant.


title: Aloe Blacc

text: Egbert Nathaniel Dawkins III (born January 7, 1979), known professionally by his stage name Aloe Blacc (), is an American singer, songwriter and rapper. He is best known for his singles "I Need a Dollar", "The Man", which topped the charts in the United Kingdom, and for writing and performing vocals on Avicii's "Wake Me Up", which topped the charts in 22 countries, including Australia and the United Kingdom. Aside from his solo career, Blacc is also a member of hip hop duo Emanon, alongside American record producer Exile.


title: Aloe Blacc

text: Blacc was born Egbert Nathaniel Dawkins III to Panamanian parents in Southern California's Orange County. Growing up in Laguna Hills, he began playing a rented trumpet in third grade. When it made more sense to buy the instrument, Blacc had what he later described as a "very specific moment" in his evolution as a musician. "It forced me to be serious about it. I couldn't just do it to get out of the class room," he said in a 2010 interview. His exposure to LL Cool J in fourth grade was equally significant. "It wasn't too far off from the trumpet moment...I had a hip hop moment and a musician moment."


title: Aloe Blacc

text: A Renaissance and Trustee Scholar at the University of Southern California, Blacc majored in linguistics and psychology and graduated in 2001. He worked briefly in the corporate sector for Ernst & Young.


title: Aloe Blacc

text: In 1995, Blacc teamed with hip hop producer Exile and formed Emanon -- 'no name' backwards—which was inspired by the title of the Dizzy Gillespie song "Emanon". With break-beat loops and jazz samples, Emanon became a mainstay of the indie rap underground, and released their first mixtape in 1996, followed by the EP "Acid 9" in 1999. They subsequently released six projects, the demo album "Imaginary Friends" (1996), a compilation "Steps Through Time" (2001) the albums "The Waiting Room" (2005) and "Dystopia" (2016) and EPs "Acid 9" (1998) and "Anon & On (2002)" respectively. A fourth album, "Bird's Eye View", was recorded but shelved, it is unknown if the material was reworked into their 2016 reunion album "Dystopia". While Emanon was Blacc's primary project during this time period, he additionally toured and recorded with the members of the collective Lootpack and worked with the French jazz group Jazz Liberatorz.


title: Aloe Blacc

text: Blacc launched his career as a solo artist in 2003, releasing two EPs, and signing to Stone's Throw Records in 2006, after label head Chris Manak (known as Peanut Butter Wolf) heard Blacc and immediately offered him a contract for the 2006 full-length "Shine Through". By then, he had become more focused on songwriting, a change inspired in part by his social consciousness. "I was uncomfortable with the state of hip hop being largely about the expression of ego. I wondered how I could be more crafty at writing songs in the form of a rap that actually expressed more than ego, style and finesse," he stated. "I figured I would educate myself to learn more about songwriting and apply that later to hip hop."


title: Aloe Blacc

text: "Shine Through" was Blacc's first full-length album and was released in 2006. It received significant media attention in the U.S. and abroad. "Pitchfork" wrote that "Shine Through" had "flashes of keen musical interpolation" and signaled "some sort of greatness", NPR named the track "Nascimento" as song of the day, and "Absolute Punk" noted that "Shine Through" flows beautifully from one track to the next, infusing old-school funk and soul with a modern essence that makes it incredibly unique


title: Aloe Blacc

text: Also in 2009, while working on his second album, Blacc toured Europe and the United States with Emanon, and collaborated with the Japanese hip hop producer Cradle on a project called Bee.


title: Aloe Blacc

text: In 2010, Blacc released "Good Things" on Stones Throw Records. A commercial success, "Good Things" was certified gold in the UK, France, Germany and Australia, among other countries, and ultimately hit double platinum sales. The single "I Need A Dollar", which was used as the theme song to the HBO series "How To Make It in America", reached 1 million in sales in 2013; two additional singles, "Loving You Is Killing Me" and "Green Lights" became European hits as well. "Good Things" was praised by the media, receiving positive reviews in the "Los Angeles Times", "The New York Times", "Spin", "NME", and "Entertainment Weekly", among others.


title: Aloe Blacc

text: In 2011, Blacc contributed a track to the album "Red Hot + Rio 2", a follow-up to the 1996 "Red Hot + Rio", with all proceeds donated to raise money and awareness to fight AIDS/HIV and related health and social issues. That summer, Blacc performed on the main stages at major festivals such as Glastonbury and The Falls Festival in Australia with his primary touring band The Grand Scheme. In 2012 he appeared at the renowned North Sea Jazz festival in Rotterdam, Lollapalooza (Chicago) and Osheaga (Montreal).


title: Aloe Blacc

text: In 2012, Blacc joined a music project, Roseaux established by Emile Omar. Other musicians include Alex Finkin and Clement Petit. The band released its debut self-titled album "Roseaux", with all eleven tracks featuring the vocals of Aloe Blacc. The album reached #92 in the French Albums Chart. The debut single, "More Than Material", peaked at #80 on the French singles chart.


title: Aloe Blacc

text: Aloe Blacc, was introduced to Swedish DJ Avicii by Linkin Park's co-vocalist Mike Shinoda who was a good friend of Avicii. As a result, in 2013, Blacc co-wrote the song "Wake Me Up" with Avicii. With Blacc on vocals, the song reached #1 in 103 countries and became the fastest selling single in the UK, selling 267,000 copies in its first week. He also collaborated with Avicii on a track called "Liar Liar" that featured Blondfire as well. In September of that year, Blacc signed with Interscope Records and released an EP, titled "Wake Me Up EP". The five-track EP included the songs "Love is the Answer", "Can You Do This", and "Ticking Bomb", as well as an acoustic version of "Wake Me Up". "Ticking Bomb" was used as the background music for the new "Battlefield 4" game TV advert, and "The Man" as background music for the Beats by Dr. Dre commercials featuring Kevin Garnett, Colin Kaepernick, Richard Sherman and Cesc Fàbregas. "Ticking Bomb" is also the theme for the WWE Pay-Per-View Payback.


title: Aloe Blacc

text: In October 2013, Blacc released the music video for the track "Wake Me Up". Blacc collaborated with the immigrant rights group National Day Laborer Organizing Network and the ABC* Foundation's Healing Power of Music Initiative. The director was Alex Rivera. The cast were immigrant activists: Hareth Andrade Ayala (a Virginia leader in the immigrant youth movement working to stop her own father's deportation), Agustin Chiprez Alvarez (a Los Angeles day laborer), and Margarita Reyes who was deported with her mother as a child despite being born in the U.S.


title: Aloe Blacc

text: Blacc's Interscope/XIX debut, "Lift Your Spirit", was released in November 2013, and featured production by Pharrell, DJ Khalil, and songwriter Harold Lilly, among others. In the UK, he helped promote his album by performing tracks from it on "Later... with Jools Holland".


title: Aloe Blacc

text: Released in May 2014, Blacc features on the song "The World is Ours" on the album "One Love, One Rhythm", a compilation album released for the 2014 FIFA World Cup which was held in Brazil in June and July 2014.


title: Aloe Blacc

text: It was announced that Blacc would be the guest advisor for Adam Levine's team on Season 6 of "The Voice".


title: Aloe Blacc

text: On May 5, 2015, a sneak peek of Owl City's single "Verge" featuring Aloe Blacc aired on ESPN's "Draft Academy". The song was released on May 14, 2015.


title: Aloe Blacc

text: In February 2016, Blacc announced his contribution to the film "Race", a song called "Let the Games Begin".


title: Aloe Blacc

text: On June 19, 2016, Blacc sang the national anthem and performed during the halftime show at the NBA finals, in which the Cleveland Cavaliers played the Golden State Warriors.


title: Aloe Blacc

text: In 2016, Exile and Aloe Blacc released their first album as Emanon since 2005, with the release of Dystopia. The album features production by Exile and Aloe, and guest rappers Blu and Cashus King.


title: Aloe Blacc

text: On May 20, 2018, Blacc performed "Wake Me Up" with Tiësto as part of a tribute to Avicii at Electric Daisy Carnival.


title: Aloe Blacc

text: A posthumous song with Avicii, titled "SOS" was released on April 10. The following month on May 16, Blacc was featured on a song with Gryffin titled "Hurt People" and finally on December 5, 2019, Blacc performed Wake Me Up and SOS at the Avicii Tribute Concert, held at Stockholm's Friends Arena.


title: Aloe Blacc

text: In 2020, Blacc competed on season 4 of "The Masked Singer" as the "Mushroom" and finished in second place.


title: Aloe Blacc

text: Blacc is actively involved in Malaria No More. The charity's mission is to end malaria deaths, through "engaging leaders, rallying the public, and delivering life-saving tools and education to families across Africa."


title: Aloe Blacc

text: Aloe Blacc is married to Mexican-Australian rapper Maya Jupiter. In 2013, they had their first child, a daughter, Mandela. In January 2016, they had their second child, a son.


title: Justin Thomas

text: Justin Louis Thomas (born April 29, 1993) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour and is former World Number One. In 2017, Thomas experienced a breakout year, winning five PGA Tour events and the FedEx Cup championship. He has won two major golf championships, winning the PGA Championship in 2017 and 2022. In May 2018, Thomas became the 21st player to top the Official World Golf Ranking.


title: Justin Thomas

text: Thomas was born on April 29, 1993 and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. He attended North Oldham Middle School. Prior to his junior year in high school, he played in the Wyndham Championship on the PGA Tour in August 2009 and became the third-youngest to make the cut in a PGA Tour event, at 16 years, 3 months and 24 days. Thomas graduated from St. Xavier High School in 2011.


title: Justin Thomas

text: Thomas played college golf at the University of Alabama, where he placed first six times for the Crimson Tide. As a freshman in 2012, he won the Haskins Award as the most outstanding collegiate golfer. He was on the national championship team of 2013.


title: Justin Thomas

text: Thomas' father, Mike Thomas, has been the head professional at the Harmony Landing Country Club in Goshen, Kentucky, since 1990. Thomas grew up an avid fan of his hometown Louisville Cardinals.


title: Justin Thomas

text: Thomas turned professional in 2013 and earned his tour card on the Web.com Tour through qualifying school. He won his first professional event at the 2014 Nationwide Children's Hospital Championship. Thomas finished fifth in the 2014 Web.com Tour regular season, and third after the Web.com Tour Finals, and earned his PGA Tour card for the 2015 season. In 2015, Thomas collected seven top-10s and 15 top-25s, with fourth-place finishes at the Quicken Loans National and Sanderson Farms Championship as his best results. He finished 32nd at the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup, losing the Rookie of the Year award to Daniel Berger.


title: Justin Thomas

text: On November 1, 2015, Thomas earned his first victory on the PGA Tour by winning the CIMB Classic in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, by a single stroke over Adam Scott. He overcame a double bogey on the 14th hole during the final round and holed a six-foot (1.8 m) par putt to claim the win by a stroke. Thomas had earlier shot a course-record 61 during the second round to contribute to a 26-under-par winning score.


title: Justin Thomas

text: In the following week's tournament, the Sony Open in Hawaii, Thomas became the seventh player in PGA Tour history to shoot a 59. During the first round, he opened his round with an eagle and needed to make an eagle on the ninth, his last hole of the day, to shoot 59. He became the youngest player to shoot a sub-60 round. Thomas finished with rounds of 64, 65, and 65 to win the tournament by 7 strokes. He set tournament records for 18, 36, 54, and 72 holes (59, 123, 188, and 253, respectively). He set PGA Tour records at 36 and 72 holes and tied the 54-hole record.


title: Justin Thomas

text: During the third round of the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills, Thomas equalled the U.S. Open single-round record of 63. He eagled the last hole by hitting his 3-wood to 8 feet on the par-5 hole to finish at 9-under-par, also a U.S. Open record, passing the previous record held by Johnny Miller at Oakmont Country Club. In the fourth round, he played alongside Brian Harman in the final grouping, the first time he had done that in a major championship. He shot a three-over-par 75 and finished in a tie for ninth place.


title: Justin Thomas

text: At the Dell Technologies Championship, Thomas became just the fourth golfer to win five times, including a major, in a PGA Tour season since 1960 before his 25th birthday, joining Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, and Jordan Spieth.


title: Justin Thomas

text: After finishing runner-up to Xander Schauffele at the Tour Championship, Thomas became the FedEx Cup champion on September 24, 2017.


title: Justin Thomas

text: In October 2017, Thomas won the third event of the 2017–18 season, the CJ Cup in South Korea. He defeated Marc Leishman with a birdie on the second extra hole of a sudden-death playoff. The win was Thomas' seventh on the PGA Tour.


title: Justin Thomas

text: In February 2018, Thomas won for the eighth time on tour, claiming victory at the Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. He birdied the final hole of regulation play to make a playoff with Luke List. Then on the first extra hole, Thomas made birdie again on the same hole, after a 5-wood from the fairway. List could not hole his birdie putt, after the missing the green to the right, resulting in Thomas winning the tournament. The win lifted Thomas to the top of the FedEx Cup standings and number three in world rankings.


title: Justin Thomas

text: The following week, Thomas lost in a sudden-death playoff to Phil Mickelson, at the WGC-Mexico Championship. He had been even par for the tournament after the first two rounds, but then shot 62–64 over the weekend for a total of 16 under par. To finish his final round, Thomas holed his second shot to the 18th for eagle. Thomas lost the playoff to par, after going over the back of the green in the first extra hole and failing to up and down for par. Thomas moved to number two in the world rankings, a career best ranking.


title: Justin Thomas

text: Thomas had another chance to claim the top spot in the world later on in March at the WGC-Match Play, but he was beaten 3 & 2 by Bubba Watson in the semi-finals. He then went on to lose the consolation match 5 & 3 to Alex Norén to finish in fourth place. The result extended his lead at the top of the FedEx Cup standings and reduced the gap on the world number one, Dustin Johnson.


title: Justin Thomas

text: After the 2018 Players Championship, Thomas replaced Johnson as the world number one golfer. He lost that ranking after four weeks when Johnson won the FedEx St. Jude Classic.


title: Justin Thomas

text: In September 2018, Thomas qualified for the U.S. team participating in the 2018 Ryder Cup. Europe defeated the U.S. team 17 1/2 to 10 1/2. Notwithstanding the loss, Thomas played well. He went 4–1–0. He won his singles match against Rory McIlroy.


title: Justin Thomas

text: On February 17, 2019, Thomas led the Genesis Open entering the final round. Gusty conditions led to Thomas shooting 75 and finishing second to champion J. B. Holmes. At one point, Thomas four-putted for a double bogey, the last three putts were inside 8 feet and the final miss was from 2 feet.


title: Justin Thomas

text: On August 18, 2019, Thomas shot 25-under-par and won the BMW Championship at Medinah Country Club outside of Chicago. This was the second leg of the three-tournament 2019 FedEx Cup Playoffs and put Thomas in the lead in the FedEx Cup standings heading into the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club.


title: Justin Thomas

text: On October 20, 2019, Thomas won the CJ Cup in South Korea. This was his second win of the tournament in its three-year existence.


title: Justin Thomas

text: In December 2019, Thomas played on the U.S. team at the 2019 Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Australia. The U.S. team won 16–14. Thomas went 3–1–1 and lost his Sunday singles match against Cameron Smith.


title: Justin Thomas

text: On January 5, 2020, Thomas won the Sentry Tournament of Champions at Kapalua Resort in Maui, Hawaii for the second time. Thomas won in a playoff over Xander Schauffele and Patrick Reed.


title: Justin Thomas

text: On August 2, 2020, Thomas won the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational at TPC Southwind in Tennessee by three strokes over four other players. This was the second time that Thomas had won the event and his 13th career victory on the PGA Tour. He came from four strokes behind overnight leader Brendon Todd to prevail on the final day. The win took Thomas to Number One in the Official World Golf Ranking for the second time in his career.


title: Justin Thomas

text: In March 2021, Thomas shot a final round four-under par 68 to win the 2021 Players Championship by one stroke over Lee Westwood.


title: Justin Thomas

text: In September 2021, Thomas played on the U.S. team in the 2021 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wisconsin. The U.S. team won 19–9 and Thomas went 2–1–1 and won his Sunday singles match against Tyrrell Hatton.


title: Justin Thomas

text: For the 2021–22 season, Thomas employed Jim "Bones" Mackay to replace his previous caddie, Jimmy Johnson. The last round of golf Johnson caddied for Thomas was at the 2021 Ryder Cup. Mackay stepped into the role at the CJ Cup.


title: Justin Thomas

text: On May 22, 2022, Thomas won his second major and second PGA Championship, defeating Will Zalatoris in a playoff, overcoming a PGA Championship record 7-shot deficit entering the day.


title: Justin Thomas

text: Thomas qualified for the U.S. team at the 2022 Presidents Cup; he won all four matches paired with Jordan Spieth but lost in the singles.


title: Justin Thomas

text: On January 9, 2021, during the third round of the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii, Thomas drew criticism for using a homophobic slur to express anger over a missed putt. Despite Thomas expressing contrition over the incident, describing his language as "inexcusable", sponsors Ralph Lauren and Woodford Reserve ended their relationships with him.


title: Ralph Bellamy

text: Ralph Rexford Bellamy (June 17, 1904 – November 29, 1991) was an American actor whose career spanned 65 years on stage, film, and television. During his career, he played leading roles as well as supporting roles, garnering acclaim and awards, including a Tony Award for Best Dramatic Actor in "Sunrise at Campobello" and Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for "The Awful Truth" (1937).


title: Ralph Bellamy

text: Bellamy was born in Chicago. He was the son of Lilla Louise (née Smith), a native of Canada, and Charles Rexford Bellamy. He ran away from home when he was 15 and managed to gain employment in a road show. He toured with road shows before finally landing in New York City. He began acting on stage there and, by 1927, owned his own theater company. In 1931, he made his film debut and worked constantly throughout the decade both as a lead and as a capable supporting actor. He co-starred in five films with Fay Wray.


title: Ralph Bellamy

text: His film career began with "The Secret Six" (1931), starring Wallace Beery and featuring Jean Harlow and Clark Gable. By the end of 1933, he had already appeared in 22 movies, including "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm" (1932) and the second lead in the action film "Picture Snatcher" with James Cagney (1933). He played in seven more films in 1934 alone, including "Woman in the Dark", based on a Dashiell Hammett story, in which Bellamy played the lead, second-billed under Fay Wray. Bellamy kept up the pace through the decade, receiving a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in "The Awful Truth" (1937) with Irene Dunne and Cary Grant, and played a similar part, that of a naive boyfriend competing with Grant's sophisticated character, in "His Girl Friday" (1940). He portrayed detective Ellery Queen in a few films during the 1940s, but as his film career did not progress, he returned to the stage, where he continued to perform throughout the 1950s. Bellamy appeared in other movies during this time, including "Dance, Girl, Dance" (1940) with Maureen O'Hara and Lucille Ball, and the horror classic "The Wolf Man" (1941) with Lon Chaney, Jr. and Evelyn Ankers. He also appeared in "The Ghost of Frankenstein" (1942) with Chaney and Bela Lugosi.


title: Ralph Bellamy

text: In 1949, Bellamy starred in the television noir private eye series "Man Against Crime" (also known as "Follow That Man") on the DuMont Television Network; initially telecast live in its earliest seasons, the program lasted until 1956 and was simulcast for a season on Dumont and NBC, and ran on CBS during a different year. The lead role was taken by Frank Lovejoy in 1956, who subsequently starred in NBC's "Meet McGraw" detective series.


title: Ralph Bellamy

text: Bellamy appeared on television in numerous roles over the following years. He was a regular panelist on the CBS television game show "To Tell the Truth" during its initial run. Bellamy starred as Willard Mitchell, along with Patricia Breslin and Paul Fix, in the 1961 episode "The Haven" of CBS's anthology series "The DuPont Show with June Allyson". About this same time, he also appeared on the NBC anthology series, "The Barbara Stanwyck Show". In December 1961, he portrayed the part of Judge Quince in the episode "Judgement at Hondo Seco" on CBS's "Rawhide".


title: Ralph Bellamy

text: During the 1963–1964 television season, Bellamy co-starred with Jack Ging in the NBC medical drama "The Eleventh Hour", in the role of a psychiatrist in private practice. Wendell Corey had appeared in the first season of the series.


title: Ralph Bellamy

text: Bellamy appeared on Broadway as Franklin Delano Roosevelt in "Sunrise at Campobello", winning a Tony Award for the role in 1957. He reprised the role in the 1960 film version.


title: Ralph Bellamy

text: In the summer of 1961, Bellamy hosted nine original episodes of a CBS Western anthology series called "Frontier Justice", a Dick Powell Four Star Television production. In 1950, Bellamy became a member of The Lambs, an actors club located in New York.


title: Ralph Bellamy

text: Bellamy appeared in the syndicated anthology series, "Death Valley Days" ("The Vintage Years", 1962) as Daniel Quint, a minister. In the storyline, a young woman whom Quint befriends on a stagecoach ride, Lorna Erickson (Merry Anders), sets him up to be robbed by her paramour, Johnny Meadows (William Bryant).


title: Ralph Bellamy

text: Highly regarded within the industry, Bellamy served four terms as the President of Actors' Equity from 1952 to 1964. On film, Bellamy also starred in the Western "The Professionals" (1966) as an oil tycoon married to Claudia Cardinale opposite adventurers Burt Lancaster and Lee Marvin, and in Roman Polanski's "Rosemary's Baby" (1968) as an evil physician, before turning to television during the 1970s. He played many roles in numerous shows, sometimes as a series regular. In 1970 he played the lead role of Ethan Arcane in the ABC TV series "The Most Deadly Game". Bellamy portrayed Adlai Stevenson in the TV-movie "The Missiles of October" (1974), a treatment of the Cuban Missile Crisis. He was a member of the cast of the short-lived CBS espionage drama "Hunter" in 1977.


title: Ralph Bellamy

text: An Emmy Award nomination for the mini-series "The Winds of War" (1983) – in which Bellamy reprised his "Sunrise at Campobello" role of Franklin D. Roosevelt – brought him back into the spotlight. This was quickly followed by his role as Randolph Duke, a conniving millionaire commodities trader in "Trading Places" (1983) alongside Don Ameche. The Eddie Murphy film, "Coming to America" (1988), included a brief cameo by Bellamy and Don Ameche, reprising their roles as the Duke brothers. Around this time, he again portrayed Franklin Roosevelt in the sequel to "The Winds of War", "War and Remembrance" (also 1988).


title: Ralph Bellamy

text: Among his later roles was an appearance as a once-brilliant but increasingly senile lawyer sadly skewered by Jimmy Smits' character on an episode of "L.A. Law". Bellamy continued working regularly and gave his final performance in "Pretty Woman" (1990).


title: Ralph Bellamy

text: Throughout the 1930s and '40s, Bellamy was regularly seen socially with a select circle of friends known affectionately as the "Irish Mafia," although they preferred the less sensational "Boy's Club." This group consisted of a group of Hollywood A-listers who were mainly of Irish descent (despite Bellamy having no Irish family connections himself). Others included James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, Spencer Tracy, Lynne Overman, Frank Morgan and Frank McHugh. Bellamy opened the Palm Springs Racquet Club in Palm Springs, California, with fellow actor Charles Farrell in 1934.


title: Ralph Bellamy

text: Bellamy was married four times: first to Alice Delbridge (1927–1930), then to Catherine Willard (1931–1945). On the occasion of his marriage to organist Ethel Smith (1945–1947), "Time" magazine reported, ""Ralph Bellamy, 41, veteran stage ("Tomorrow the World") and screen ("Guest in the House") actor; and Ethel Smith, 32, thin, Tico-Tico-famed cinema electric organist (Bathing Beauty); he for the third time, she for the second; in Harrison, N.Y." She was in fact 42 years old at the time. Bellamy's fourth wife was Alice Murphy (1949–1991; his death).


title: Ralph Bellamy

text: On November 29, 1991, Bellamy died from a lung ailment at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California. He was 87 years old.


title: Ralph Bellamy

text: In 1984, Bellamy was presented with a Life Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild, and in 1987, he received an Honorary Academy Award "for his unique artistry and his distinguished service to the profession of acting." Bellamy has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6542 Hollywood Boulevard. In 1992, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to him.


title: Ralph Bellamy

text: In a 2007 episode of "Boston Legal", footage of a 1957 episode of "Studio One" was used. The episode featured Bellamy and William Shatner as a father-and-son lawyer duo. This was used in the present day to explain the relationship between Shatner's Denny Crane character and his father in the show.


title: David Lowery (director)

text: His original work "Ain't Them Bodies Saints" (2013), starring Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck, was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. In 2016, he directed the Disney film "Pete's Dragon" (2016), a live-action film which he had co-written. It was a new work loosely based on the same original story as the Disney 1977 musical of the same name. In 2017, he directed the drama film "A Ghost Story" and in 2018, he directed "The Old Man & the Gun". In 2021, he directed the fantasy epic "The Green Knight".


title: David Lowery (director)

text: Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on December 26, 1980, David Lowery is the eldest of nine children born to Madeleine and Mark Lowery. When he was seven, his family moved to Irving, Texas for his father's work. Lowery attended Irving High School.


title: David Lowery (director)

text: Lowery's first feature film, "St. Nick", which follows two runaway children abandoned by their guardians, premiered at the 2009 South by Southwest festival. It won the Texas Filmmaker Award at the 2009 AFI Dallas International Film Festival.


title: David Lowery (director)

text: In 2011, Lowery started his own production company, Sailor Bear. That same year, he wrote and directed the short film entitled "Pioneer", which played at the Sundance Film Festival that year.


title: David Lowery (director)

text: In 2013, Lowery wrote, directed and edited his second feature film, "Ain't Them Bodies Saints", starring Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara. The film was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. It was selected to compete at the International Critics' Week section of the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. Lowery has said that he drew from great directors and their works for this film, citing Claire Denis's "35 Shots of Rum", Robert Altman's "McCabe & Mrs. Miller", and Paul Thomas Anderson and David Fincher as influences.


title: David Lowery (director)

text: In addition to having edited films such as Amy Seimetz's "Sun Don't Shine" and Shane Carruth's "Upstream Color", Lowery co-wrote "Pit Stop" with director Yen Tan. At the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, it was announced that Lowery would write and direct the film adaptation of the novel "The Yellow Birds", written by Iraq War veteran Kevin Powers; it was a 2012 National Book Award finalist. The film was eventually directed by Alexandre Moors and stars Jack Huston, Tye Sheridan, Alden Ehrenreich and Jennifer Aniston.


title: David Lowery (director)

text: In April 2016, Lowery directed a remake of Disney's "Pete's Dragon", which was met with positive reviews. Lowery also co-wrote the screenplay alongside Toby Halbrooks. In July 2016, it was announced Lowery would direct an episode of "Breakthrough" for National Geographic Channel. In November 2016, it was announced Lowery had shot a new film, "A Ghost Story", over the summer with Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck as a secret project.


title: David Lowery (director)

text: Lowery next directed the 2018 drama film "The Old Man & the Gun", starring Robert Redford as bank robber, Forrest Tucker, and Casey Affleck.


title: David Lowery (director)

text: Lowery next directed the medieval fantasy "The Green Knight" which stars Dev Patel, Alicia Vikander, Joel Edgerton, Barry Keoghan, Ralph Ineson and Sean Harris. The film was scheduled to world premiere at South by Southwest in March 2020, and release on May 29, 2020, but the premiere and release were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was released on July 30, 2021.


title: David Lowery (director)

text: Lowery directed a segment of the anthology film "The Year of the Everlasting Storm" which is set to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in July 2021.


title: David Lowery (director)

text: Lowery married filmmaker Augustine Frizzell in 2010. , they live in Dallas. Lowery identifies as an atheist, and has been a vegan since approximately 1996.


title: Pale Rider

text: Pale Rider is a 1985 American Western film produced and directed by Clint Eastwood, who also stars in the lead role. The title is a reference to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, as the pale horse's ghost rider (Eastwood) represents Death. The film, which took in over $41 million at the box office, became the highest-grossing Western of the 1980s.


title: Pale Rider

text: In the Old West, outside LaHood, California in Carbon Valley, mining baron Coy LaHood is waging a war of intimidation against independent prospectors and their families, including Hull Barret who is courting Sarah Wheeler. Sarah's teenaged daughter, Megan, prays for deliverance from LaHood after a gang of his men attack the mining camp and kill her dog. Shortly afterward, a man atop a pale horse rides into Carbon Valley. When Hull heads to town to pick up supplies, four of Lahood's men beat him with axe handles before the stranger fights them off with his own axe handle. Hull then invites his rescuer to dinner and, while the stranger is washing, notices what appears to be six bullet wounds in his back. When the stranger arrives at the dining table, he is wearing a clerical collar and is thereafter referred to as "Preacher". Coy LaHood's son, Joshua, attempts to scare off the Preacher with a gigantic workman named Club. Preacher, however, disables Club with a sledgehammer blow to the groin.


title: Pale Rider

text: Coy returns from Sacramento, learns of the Preacher's arrival, and unsuccessfully attempts to bribe and then threaten him. At Preacher's suggestion, LaHood then offers the miners $1,000 per claim provided they evacuate within 24 hours. LaHood says he plans to hire the services of a corrupt marshal named Stockburn to clear them out if they refuse. The miners ultimately reject LaHood's offer, despite Preacher warning them about Stockburn. Megan expresses her love for Preacher, but he gently rebuffs her. Megan angrily assumes Preacher is really in love with Sarah. LaHood's men dam the creek forcing the miners to mine a dry bed. Megan rides into LaHood's camp, where Joshua shows her the blasting operation before he attempts to rape her. Preacher arrives on horseback, disarms Joshua and shoots him through the hand.


title: Pale Rider

text: Stockburn and his deputies arrive in LaHood. Coy gives him a rough description of the Preacher, which startles Stockburn, because the man Coy is describing is dead. Spider Conway, one of the miners and Coy's former partner, discovers a large gold nugget in the dry creek bed and rides into town with his teenage sons, where he yells drunken abuse at LaHood from the street. Stockburn and his deputies gun him down, and Stockburn sends a message that he wants Preacher to meet him in town the next morning. Sarah begs Preacher not to go, and tells him she will marry Hull, despite her feelings for Preacher.


title: Pale Rider

text: The following day, Preacher and Hull blow up LaHood's mining site with dynamite. To stop Hull from following him, Preacher scares off Hull's horse and rides into town alone. In the gunfight that follows, he kills all but the two of LaHood's men who run away, and then, one by one, all six of Stockburn's deputies. Finally, Preacher kills Stockburn who recognizes him in disbelief before he is shot in the head. LaHood, watching from his office, aims a rifle at the Preacher but is shot dead by Hull.


title: Pale Rider

text: Preacher nods at Hull and rides off toward the snow-capped mountains. Megan arrives and, seeing Preacher riding away, shouts her love and thanks to him.


title: Pale Rider

text: "Pale Rider" was primarily filmed in the Boulder Mountains and the Sawtooth National Recreation Area in central Idaho, just north of Sun Valley in late 1984. The opening credits scene featured the jagged Sawtooth Mountains south of Stanley. Train-station scenes were filmed in Tuolumne County, California, near Jamestown.


title: Pale Rider

text: Scenes of a more established Gold Rush town (in which Eastwood's character picks up his pistol at a Wells Fargo office) were filmed in the real Gold Rush town of Columbia, also in Tuolumne County.


title: Pale Rider

text: In an audio interview, Clint Eastwood said that his character Preacher "is an out-and-out ghost." However, whereas Eastwood's 1973 western, "High Plains Drifter", resolves its storyline by means of a series of unfolding flashback narratives (although ambiguity still remains), "Pale Rider" does not include any such obvious clues to the nature and past of the Preacher other than six bullet wound scars on his back and his relationship with Stockburn, who claims he once knew a man like the Preacher. Viewers are left to draw their own conclusions regarding the overall story line and its meaning.


title: Pale Rider

text: The movie's title is taken from the Book of Revelation, chapter 6, verse 8: "And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him." The reading of the biblical passage describing this character is neatly choreographed to correspond with the sudden appearance of the Preacher, who arrived as a result of a prayer from Megan, in which she quoted Psalm 23. Preacher's comment after beating one of the villains is, "Well, the Lord certainly does work in mysterious ways." After Coy offers to let him establish a lucrative ministry in his town, the Preacher replies, "You can't serve God and Mammon both, Mammon being money." According to Robert Jewett, the film's dialogue parallels Paul the Apostle's teaching on divine retribution (Romans 12:19–21).


title: Pale Rider

text: "Pale Rider" was released in the United States in June 1985 and became one of the highest-grossing Westerns of the 1980s, grossing $41,410,568 against a $6,900,000 budget. It was the first mainstream Hollywood Western to be produced after the massive financial failure of "Heaven's Gate" (1980).


title: Pale Rider

text: On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 93% based on reviews from 29 critics. On Metacritic the film has a score of 61% based on reviews from 13 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: Pale Rider

text: The review in "The New York Times" praised Clint Eastwood's performance: "This veteran movie icon handles both jobs [lead actor and director] with such intelligence and facility I'm just now beginning to realize that, though Mr. Eastwood may have been improving over the years, it's also taken all these years for most of us to recognize his very consistent grace and wit as a film maker," concluding that "it's so evocative of a fabled time and place that it never allows the movie to self-destruct in parody. "Pale Rider" is the first decent western in a very long time."


title: Pale Rider

text: The reviewer in "The Washington Post" dissented, finding that "pretty soon we recollect why westerns lost their appeal. . .[the] movie is real pretty, full of little gold aspens and snow-capped mountains, but it is slow, dark and badly timed." On the other hand, the "Chicago Tribune" commented that, though Westerns were out of fashion, "fresh and challenging westerns with Clint Eastwood always will be in vogue."


title: Pale Rider

text: Roger Ebert also praised the film, giving it four out of four stars. Further, he stated, ""Pale Rider" is, overall, a considerable achievement, a classic Western of style and excitement."


title: Pale Rider

text: Richard Corliss found the film overly derivative, saying "When Eastwood, who also directed the picture (from a Michael Butler-Dennis Shryack script), faces off against Russell's Maleficent Seven, viewers may get an old-fashioned western tingle. But Pale Rider does nothing to disprove the wisdom that this genre is best left to the revival houses. A double feature of "Shane" and Eastwood's "High Plains Drifter" will do just fine, thanks."


title: Pale Rider

text: The film was entered into the 1985 Cannes Film Festival and included in the Western nominations for the American Film Institute's 10 Top 10 lists.


title: Pale Rider

text: The music used in the film's trailer was a stock piece by British composer Alan Hawkshaw known to British viewers for its use as the title theme for "Channel 4 News". Unusually, "Channel 4 News" did not secure permanent exclusivity rights to Hawkshaw's theme, titled "Best Endeavours", resulting in it also being used for the trailer for "Pale Rider".


title: Randall Emmett

text: Randall Emmett (born March 25, 1971) is an American film producer and television personality. He is the chairman and co-founder of production company Emmett/Furla/Oasis Films.


title: Randall Emmett

text: Emmett is best known as the producer of the films "2 Guns", "Silence", "Lone" "Survivor" and "The Irishman". He appeared in eighth and ninth seasons of the Bravo reality television series "Vanderpump Rules".


title: Randall Emmett

text: Emmett was born to a Jewish family in Miami, Florida, according to Emmett, a "distant cousin", through his mother, of Jerry Bruckheimer, and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the School of Visual Arts in New York City.