title: Central Vigilance Commission

text: The Directorate General of Vigilance, Income Tax is the apex body under the Central Board of Direct Taxes for the vigilance matters. The Directorate General interfaces with the Central Vigilance Commission, the Central Bureau of Investigation, field formations of CBDT who are also having their Vigilance wings and others in all the matters relating to Vigilance, preliminary investigation of complaints, obtaining CVC/CVO's first stage advice, wherever required, assistance to Ministry in issuance of charge sheets, monitoring the charge sheet issued by the Disciplinary authorities in the field, monitoring of progress in inquiry proceedings, processing of enquiry reports, obtaining CVC/CVO's second stage advice, wherever required and communication thereof to Disciplinary authorities and monitoring compliance/implementation of the advice.


title: Central Vigilance Commission

text: As a result, the CVC has neither resources nor powers to inquire and take action on complaints of corruption that may act as an effective deterrence against corruption.


title: Central Vigilance Commission

text: PJ Thomas was appointed as the Chief Vigilance Commissioner in September 2010, on the recommendation of a High Powered Committee (HPC) headed by the Prime Minister. The selection of the new CVC was marked by controversies, after Sushma Swaraj, who was part of three-member selection committee, objected to the choice of Thomas, citing the pending chargesheet against him. A public interest litigation was filed in the Supreme Court by Centre for Public Interest Litigation and India Rejuvenation Initiative.


title: Central Vigilance Commission

text: On March 3, 2011, the Supreme Court quashed the appointment of Thomas as the Chief Vigilance Commissioner, noting that the HPC did not consider the relevant materials on the pending chargesheet. Subsequently, Thomas resigned.


title: Central Vigilance Commission

text: A few years after the murder of IIT Kanpur alumnus NHAI engineer, the CVC launched an initiative to protect whistleblowers. However, this programme has been criticized by ex-Chief Justice of India R.C. Lahoti as being ineffective. He said that he had on previous occasions through his NGO India Rejuvenation Initiative, tried to draw the attention of high officials in the CVC to the unsatisfactory manner of its functioning, but with no results.


title: Central Vigilance Commission

text: Before K V Chowdary's appointment, Supreme Court lawyer and Rajya Sabha MP Ram Jethmalani as well as lawyer and activist Prashant Bhushan raised a red flag, asking the Prime Minister not to go ahead with his appointment, raising severe objections on Chowdary's tenure as CBDT Chief. After Chowdarywas appointed, Jethmalani expressed disappointment and wrote a letter to Narendra Modi questioning Chowdhary's credentials. NGO Common Cause represented by Prashant Bhushan has filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging K V Chowdary's appointment as CVC and T M Bhasin's appointment as VC on 22 July.


title: Central Vigilance Commission

text: Driven by the Central Vigilance Commission, Vigilance Awareness Week (VAW) is being celebrated every year and coincides with the birthday of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, known to be a man of high integrity. To make a New India by the year 2022, which is the 75th anniversary of Indian independence from the British Raj, the VAW is being celebrated in promoting integrity and eradicating corruption.


title: Central Vigilance Commission

text: In 2019, the CVC observed VAW from 28 October 2019 to 2 November 2019 with the theme "Integrity – A way of life" ("ईमानदारी के साथ आत्म निर्भरता").


title: Central Vigilance Commission

text: The theme for VAW 2020, observed from 27 October to 2 November was "Vigilant India, Prosperous India"


title: The Surreal Life

text: The Surreal Life is an American reality television series that records a group of celebrities as they live together in Glen Campbell's former mansion in the Hollywood Hills for two weeks. The format of the show resembles that of "The Real World" and "Road Rules", in that the cameras not only record the castmates' participation in group activities assigned to them, but also their interpersonal relationships and conflicts. The series is also likened to "The Challenge" in that previously known individuals from separate origins of entertainment are brought together into one cast. The show's first two seasons aired on The WB, and subsequent seasons were shown on VH1.


title: The Surreal Life

text: The first season of "The Surreal Life" began airing on January 9, 2003, and starred Gabrielle Carteris, MC Hammer, Corey Feldman, Emmanuel Lewis, Jerri Manthey, Vince Neil, and Brande Roderick. Throughout the two-week production, the cast participated in a "Survivor"-inspired camping trip, a trip to Las Vegas, and a drama-creating Corey Feldman, who married his girlfriend in the season finale. Mindy Cohn was scheduled to be a cast member, but dropped out before taping began. Robin Givens was also offered a slot on the cast, but declined.


title: The Surreal Life

text: The second season of "The Surreal Life" began airing on January 11, 2004, and starred Traci Bingham, Trishelle Cannatella, Erik Estrada, Tammy Faye Messner, Ron Jeremy, and Vanilla Ice. Some episode plots involved Ron Jeremy's topless porn-star pool party and Tammy Faye's book signing with members of the gay and transgender community. In one episode, the cast works at a local retro diner under the management, Vanilla Ice hoists Gary Coleman above the deep fryer, and insists on having the former child star say his catchphrase, "What'chu talkin' 'bout, Willis?" in public after Coleman's "Strokes" co-star Todd Bridges shows up. These acts led the former sitcom star to "fire" Ice and then quit. The season also introduced "Dirty Laundry," "The" "Surreal Life" talk show hosted by Sally Jessy Raphael. Raphael focused on Cannatella, making several unflattering remarks about her drinking problem, including that she acted "like a slut." Other moments included a surprise stop at the Desert Shadows Inn, a nudist resort (from which Tammy Faye fled in tears), and the production of a children's play.


title: The Surreal Life

text: The third season of "The Surreal Life" began airing on September 5, 2004, and starred Charo, Dave Coulier, Flavor Flav, Jordan Knight, Brigitte Nielsen, and Ryan Starr. Memorable moments included Date Night, an agonizing recording session for the group to produce an original song, and Flavor's insistence that he drive the group's RV despite not having a license. Flavor also caused a brief disconnection with the cast, when it was revealed during "Dirty Laundry" that he had hit "The Surreal Life" puppy. "The Surreal Life" puppy, now age 11, lives in Long Beach, California, after being given to friends of Dave Coulier after the show. The puppy's name is Winger after the Detroit Red Wings. Throughout the two weeks, Nielsen and Flav began a relationship which would have a dramatic influence on VH1's programming over the next five years, as it indirectly spawned 14 spinoffs and sequels to date. The romance first continued in "Strange Love" and snowballed from there, after the success of the "Flavor of Love" series.


title: The Surreal Life

text: The fourth season of "The Surreal Life" began airing on January 9, 2005, and starred Da Brat, Adrianne Curry, Christopher Knight, Chyna, Marcus Schenkenberg, Verne Troyer, and Jane Wiedlin. Notable moments included conflict between Da Brat and Wiedlin that stemmed from comments made by Da Brat about Wiedlin that were shown during "Dirty Laundry," and the strained relationship between Chyna and her now-ex-boyfriend Sean Waltman. More memorable moments included Troyer getting drunk on the first day and urinating in the weight room, and Wiedlin getting upset about the group being asked to brand a cow. Like the season prior, another romance-themed spin-off, "My Fair Brady", was developed around the romantic escapades of Curry and Knight.


title: The Surreal Life

text: The fifth season of "The Surreal Life" began airing on July 10, 2005, and starred Caprice Bourret, Jose Canseco, Sandy "Pepa" Denton, Janice Dickinson, Carey Hart, Omarosa Manigault, and Bronson Pinchot. This season played up on the show's namesake surreality by having the house decorated with a circus/carnival theme and the cast was given circus-style taglines during the introduction. This was enhanced with the introduction of a three-legged dog named Lucky. An ongoing feud between Manigault and Dickinson was a key focus point in the season, which ended with Dickinson leaving the house during the final dinner.


title: The Surreal Life

text: The sixth season of "The Surreal Life" began airing on March 19, 2006, and starred Alexis Arquette, C.C. DeVille, Steve Harwell, Sherman Hemsley, Maven Huffman, Tawny Kitaen, and Andrea Lowell. Florence Henderson ("Dr. Flo") assisted the cast as the house therapist. Throughout the two weeks, the cast shot a music video, produced and broadcast a live news program, booked and hosted their own talk-show pilots, and participated in a "battle of the bands" competition. During the talk-show episode, Marla Gibbs makes a cameo appearance with Hemsley, and the two re-create their retorts and putdowns as Florence and George from "The Jeffersons". Arquette brings the transgender community increased visibility and awareness with her appearance in the series. And, struggling with memory and enunciation problems that grow worse, Kitaen is inexplicably left crawling on the floor of a closet by the final episode.


title: The Surreal Life

text: Announced in July 2021, the seventh season starred August Alsina, CJ Perry, Dennis Rodman, Frankie Muniz, Kim Coles, Manny MUA, Stormy Daniels, and Tamar Braxton living together and competing in a series of challenges.


title: The Surreal Life

text: "The Surreal Life" creators, Cris Abrego, Mark Cronin, and Rick Telles, met with their agents (Cris Coelen and Sara Chazen at UTA) who pitched the idea to them as a possible reality show concept and suggested the title ""Surreal World"" (after MTV's ""The Real World""). The name was later changed to "Surreal Life" to avoid legal issues.


title: The Surreal Life

text: Seasons one, two, and five were released in the U.S., but have since been discontinued. All six seasons have been released on DVD in Australia by Shock Records.


title: The Surreal Life

text: "The Surreal Life" is one of VH1's most spun-off shows, with a complex web of reality series which have had spin-off shows themselves. The first spin-off from "The Surreal Life" was "Strange Love", starring Flavor Flav and Brigitte Nielsen, both of season three. It premiered in January 2005 and ran for 11 episodes. The second spin-off, "My Fair Brady", starred Adrianne Curry and Christopher Knight. It ran its first season in 2005, concluding with the couple's engagement. The second season debuted in the spring 2006, concluding with a wedding. The third season premiered on January 20, 2008, and detailed the newlyweds' lives as they prepared to expand their family.


title: The Surreal Life

text: Pepa received her own two shows stemming from her popularity on VH1. She teamed up with her old partner Cheryl "Salt" James for "The Salt-N-Pepa Show", which showcased the two distinct personalities clash on many issues from their break-up as a group in the 1990s to their current reformation. The series spanned two seasons. In 2010, Pepa also received her own show on VH1 that documented her search for her Mr. Right entitled "Let's Talk About Pep."


title: The Surreal Life

text: "Strange Love" itself produced a spin-off show, titled "Flavor of Love", which lasted for three seasons, ending with Flav's announcement that he had found his one true love. Due to the show's great success, it spawned a successful franchise with "Rock of Love with Bret Michaels."


title: The Surreal Life

text: Some contestants went on to star in their own dating show spinoffs. The first was "Flavor of Love"s Tiffany Pollard, a.k.a. New York, with "I Love New York" (two seasons). Three of her suitors got their own show: Brothers Kamal "Chance" and Ahmad "Real" Givens starred in "Real Chance of Love" (two seasons) and Frank "The Entertainer" Maresca starred in "Frank the Entertainer in a Basement Affair".


title: The Surreal Life

text: Contestants from "Flavor of Love", "Rock of Love with Bret Michaels", and "Real Chance of Love" were offered to participate in "Charm School", which lasted three seasons, with the premise of bettering themselves and a chance at a cash prize.


title: The Surreal Life

text: Contestants from "Flavor of Love", "Rock of Love", "I Love New York", "Real Chance of Love", "For the Love of Ray J", "Rock of Love Bus", "Daisy of Love", and "Megan Wants a Millionaire" were allowed to take part in "I Love Money", a "Survivor" elimination-style show held in a Mexican mansion. Four seasons were produced but the third never aired due to the involvement of Ryan Jenkins.


title: The Surreal Life

text: Contestants New York, Real and Chance later starred in additional unscripted shows. "New York Goes to Hollywood" followed Pollard's attempt at becoming an actress, "New York Goes to Work" saw Tiffany Pollard perform various jobs as voted by the viewers on a weekly basis, and "" followed the Givens brothers in their quest to find legendary monsters such as Bigfoot.


title: Chris Blackwell

text: Christopher Percy Gordon Blackwell (born 22 June 1937) is an English businessman and former record producer, and the founder of Island Records, which has been called "one of Britain's great independent labels". According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, to which Blackwell was inducted in 2001, he is "the single person most responsible for turning the world on to reggae music." Variety describes him as "indisputably one of the greatest record executives in history".


title: Chris Blackwell

text: Having formed Island Records in Jamaica on 22 May 1959 when he was 22, Blackwell was among the first to record the Jamaican popular music that eventually became known as ska. Returning to Britain in 1962, he sold records from the back of his car to the Jamaican community. His label became "a byword for uncompromised artistry and era-shaping acts".


title: Chris Blackwell

text: Backed by Stanley Borden from RKO, Blackwell's business and reach grew substantially, and he went on to forge the careers of Bob Marley, Grace Jones and U2 among many other diverse high-profile acts. He has produced many seminal albums, including Marley's "Catch A Fire" and "Uprising","Free's" "Free" and The B-52's' self-titled debut album in 1979.


title: Chris Blackwell

text: Having sold Island in 1989, Blackwell embarked on ventures in "hotels, real estate, resorts, another record company, rum, and his Island Films released "Kiss of the Spider Woman" and "Stop Making Sense", among others".


title: Chris Blackwell

text: Christopher Percy Gordon Blackwell was born on 22 June 1937 in Westminster, London, England, the son of Joseph Blackwell, a member of the family responsible for the Crosse & Blackwell brand, and Blanche Lindo Blackwell, a Costa-Rican-born Jamaican heiress. The family moved to Jamaica soon after his birth where his father became a major in the Jamaica Regiment.


title: Chris Blackwell

text: Though his mother's family, the Lindos, were of Sephardic Jewish heritage, originally from Spain, the family adopted Christianity and became New Christians. His parents divorced when he was 12 years old.


title: Chris Blackwell

text: Blackwell spent his childhood in Jamaica, and was sent to Britain to continue his education at Harrow. Deciding not to attend university, he returned to Jamaica to become aide-de-camp to Jamaica's Governor, Sir Hugh Foot. After Foot was transferred to Cyprus, Blackwell left King's House to pursue a career in real estate and other businesses, including managing jukeboxes across the country, which brought him into contact with the Jamaican music community.


title: Chris Blackwell

text: In 1958, Blackwell was sailing off Hellshire Beach when his boat ran aground on a coral reef. The twenty-one-year-old swam to the coast and attempted to find help along the shore in searing temperatures. Collapsing on the beach, Blackwell was rescued by Rasta fishermen who tended his wounds and restored him to health with traditional Ital food. The experience gave Blackwell a spiritual introduction to the Rastafarian lifestyle, and was a key to his connection to the culture and its music.


title: Chris Blackwell

text: Only in his early 20s, Blackwell formed Island Records in 1958 with a start-up investment of $10,000 provided by his parents. The business took its name from Alec Waugh's novel "Island in the Sun". Radio personality Graeme Goodall was his initial business partner. Blackwell received an allowance of £2,000 per year from his mother, which enabled him to have his own apartment at a young age and build on the low revenue that the business was bringing in. Island's debut release was a piano and vocal album by Bermudan jazz pianist Lance Hayward. Blackwell began recording Jamaican popular music in 1959, achieving a number one hit there with Laurel Aitken's "Boogie in my Bones/Little Sheila".


title: Chris Blackwell

text: In 1961, Blackwell was a location scout and production assistant for the Bond film "Dr. No" (1962). After the film wrapped, producer Harry Saltzman offered him a full-time position. Conflicted between music and film, Blackwell visited a psychic, who told him that he would be successful if he stayed in the music industry.


title: Chris Blackwell

text: By the following year, the fledgling record producer had released 26 singles and two albums on Island. Blackwell returned to England that year and continued to grow his business. He began having success with the niche market of Jamaican music, and progressed to bringing in licensed master tapes. One of these contained a performance by Jamaican singer Millie Small (1947–2020), who Blackwell brought over to England. In 1964, he produced Small's cover of a 1956 Barbie Gaye song "My Boy Lollipop" which was one of the first songs recorded in the ska style. Small's version was a 1964 smash hit, selling over 7 million copies worldwide. It launched Island Records into mainstream popular music, and is acknowledged as the first ska hit. It also made Small an international star at such a very young age.


title: Chris Blackwell

text: After discovering The Spencer Davis Group, featuring Steve Winwood, at a performance in Birmingham, Blackwell focused on the rock acts that Island had signed. Island became one of the most successful independent labels of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s with an eclectic range of artists, including Traffic, King Crimson, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Jethro Tull, Cat Stevens, John Cale, Free, Fairport Convention, Nico, Heads, Hands and Feet, John Martyn, Sparks, Spooky Tooth, Nick Drake, Roxy Music, Grace Jones, Ultravox, Eddie and the Hot Rods, Robert Palmer, Jess Roden, Marianne Faithfull, The Buggles, Etta James, Melissa Etheridge, Julian Cope, The Cranberries, Womack and Womack, U2, and others.


title: Chris Blackwell

text: Blackwell also signed artists in non-English speaking countries such as French singer Charlélie Couture whose album, "Poèmes rock", was released on Island. "The bigger labels are supermarkets", Blackwell remarked. "I like to think of Island as a very classy delicatessen." Yet Blackwell has admitted to turning down some major names, most notably Elton John, whom he considered too shy to become a successful performer.


title: Chris Blackwell

text: Island and Blackwell himself became renowned for a relaxed, nurturing approach. Blackwell showed skill in spotting and creating trends, as well as a gift for finding talent. He had an imaginative flair for marketing, and Island's releases were often packaged in lovingly designed gatefold sleeves. Blackwell has said: "I really believe that if people see something that looks good, subconsciously they'll think maybe there's something going on inside, on the record. There were times when somebody came out with a cover which was actually better than the record itself, so I'd have to send them back to remake the record."


title: Chris Blackwell

text: Island Records was also the first distribution home for Trojan Records, Chrysalis Records, Bronze Records, Stiff Records, Virgin Records, ZTT, Gee Street Records and the American Labels Shelter Records whose roster included Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, J.J. Cale and Phoebe Snow and also Sue Records, who produced Jimmy McGriff, The Soul Sisters and Ike and Tina Turner.


title: Chris Blackwell

text: Toots and the Maytals introduced the term "reggae" in song with their single "Do the Reggay" (1968). Having signed Bob Marley, Blackwell added Toots and the Maytals to his roster, and had the final word in their lineup. In November 2016, Jackie Jackson described the formation of the group in a radio interview for Kool 97 FM Jamaica. Accompanied by Paul Douglas and Radcliffe "Dougie" Bryan in studio, Jackson explained,


title: Chris Blackwell

text: We were talking about reggae is going international now. We kept on meeting and he (Blackwell) decided that the backing band that back all of the songs, the recording band, should be the Maytals band... And then we hit the road in 1975...we were the opening act for the Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, and Jackson Browne. We were the opening act for The Who for about two weeks.


title: Chris Blackwell

text: The first Toots and the Maytals album released and distributed by Island Records was "Funky Kingston". Music critic Lester Bangs described the album in "Stereo Review" as "perfection, the most exciting and diversified set of reggae tunes by a single artist yet released." As Blackwell says, "Toots and the Maytals were unlike anything else...sensational, raw and dynamic." Blackwell had a strong commitment to the band, describing Toots as "one of the purest human beings I've met in my life, pure almost to a fault". Blackwell appeared in the 2011 BBC documentary "Reggae Got Soul: The Story of Toots and the Maytals" which told the "untold story of one of the most influential artists ever to come out of Jamaica".


title: Chris Blackwell

text: One of Blackwell's achievements was bringing Bob Marley & The Wailers to the attention of international audiences. Without a signed contract, Blackwell advanced money to The Wailers for their first Island album, displaying the trust which stemmed from his 1958 beach rescue by Rastas.


title: Chris Blackwell

text: Chris Blackwell say, 'Yeah, Yeah, Yeah. I give them the money to make this record.' But at that time they was forming the band. Bob (Bob Marley) came to me, figure it was me, Gladdy, Winston Wright, Jackie and Hux to be the band. That was the band that Bob did really want, but those guys didn't want to get involved. You know that the situation around Bob was pretty hectic...They turned it down. So right away, I couldn't get involved, because I didn't want to leave the guys...If I leave, I feel it would be a bad vibes. When Hugh Malcolm joined the group, he couldn't keep up, so they got rid of him. A little later on a drummer came along name Paul Douglas, every so often we would bring him in, because I couldn't play on a session. Paul was about the only guy, that these other guys would trust to really come and play amongst them.


title: Chris Blackwell

text: Blackwell also pioneered reggae to wider audiences the UK and the US beginning in the mid 70's with releases from Burning Spear, Augustus Pablo, Inner Circle, Dillinger, Black Uhuru, Third World, Aswad, Max Romeo, Justin Hines, Sly and Robbie and Lee Perry. He also formed Mango Records, which featured Jamaican and other artists from the Third World. Mango introduced Salif Keita, Baaba Maal, Gibson Brothers, Angélique Kidjo, King Sunny Adé and many others.


title: Chris Blackwell

text: Eventually, Island moved into movies and released "The Harder They Come" (1972) in the UK, which featured Jimmy Cliff. Produced and directed by fellow Jamaican Perry Henzell, the film marked the first time that Jamaican themes appeared in mainstream cinema. In 1977, Blackwell built Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas as a recording home for his acts and other artists.


title: Chris Blackwell

text: Blackwell sold his stake in Island in 1989, eventually resigning from the company in 1997. In 2009, Blackwell was at the centre of celebrations held in London for Island's fiftieth anniversary.


title: Chris Blackwell

text: Each of Blackwell's companies was eventually sold to PolyGram and, in 1998, were part of the Universal Music Group conglomerate, but Blackwell left with a unique reputation for looking after artists as diverse as Bob Marley, U2, Cat Stevens, Grace Jones, Steve Winwood, Melissa Etheridge, Tom Waits, The Cranberries, Richard Thompson and PJ Harvey.


title: Chris Blackwell

text: After selling these companies, Blackwell went on to found Palm Pictures, a media entertainment company with music, film and DVD releases. In the late 1990s, Blackwell merged Palm Pictures with Rykodisc to form RykoPalm, a new operation.


title: Chris Blackwell

text: In 2001 Blackwell was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and bestowed the Ahmet Ertegun Award. During his acceptance speech he made a point of thanking Steve Winwood and acknowledged his importance in the development of Island Records. Blackwell said "Steve Winwood was really the cornerstone of Island Records. He’s a musical genius and because he was with Island all the other talent really wanted to be with Island."


title: Chris Blackwell

text: Blackwell has long-owned Goldeneye in Oracabessa, the previous home of Ian Fleming, where the author wrote all the James Bond books. Until his death, Fleming was the longtime lover of Blackwell's mother, Blanche. Blackwell developed the property into a community of villas and beach cottages, each with its own private access to the sea, and Goldeneye is considered the most exclusive of the Island Outpost resorts.


title: Chris Blackwell

text: Blackwell currently runs Island Outpost, which he set up to operate and market a group of elite resorts in Jamaica, including Strawberry Hill in the Blue Mountains (where Marley recovered after being shot in 1976), The Caves in Negril, and GoldenEye Hotel & Resort in Oracabessa. Island Outpost also owned The Tides and The Marlin in Miami Beach, Florida. The Miami Beach properties including The Tides, The Marlin and The Kent along with several other hotels in Miami Beach and The Bahamas have since been sold.


title: Chris Blackwell

text: Blackwell is involved in a number of philanthropic organizations. Among these are Island ACTS, the Oracabessa Foundation, the Oracabessa Bay Fish Sanctuary, the Mary Vinson Blackwell Foundation (established in honour of his late wife to whom he was married from 1998 till 2009), and the Jamaican Conservation Trust.


title: Chris Blackwell

text: In 2003, Blackwell launched the Goldeneye Film Festival, which ran for three years. In September that year, Blackwell received the Jamaican Musgrave Medal, which is awarded to Jamaicans who excel in the arts, music and public service. In 2004, the Order of Jamaica was bestowed upon Blackwell for philanthropy and outstanding contribution to the entertainment industry.


title: Chris Blackwell

text: Blackwell revisited his family's legacy in Jamaica's banana, coconut, and rum export industries in 2009, when, at the age of 72 years, he introduced his own brand of rum, "Blackwell Black Gold", onto the market. The beverage is made from Jamaican sugar cane, water and yeast, and aged in American oak barrels.


title: Chris Blackwell

text: In April 2009, the UK magazine "Music Week" named Blackwell the most influential figure in the last 50 years of the British music industry.


title: Rocky Carroll

text: Roscoe "Rocky" Carroll (born July 8, 1963) is an American actor and director. He is known for his roles as Joey Emerson on the Fox comedy-drama "Roc" (1991–94), as Dr. Keith Wilkes on the CBS medical drama "Chicago Hope", and as NCIS Director Leon Vance on the CBS drama "NCIS" and its spinoffs "" and "". He also played a supporting role in the 1995 thriller film "Crimson Tide".


title: Rocky Carroll

text: Carroll was born Roscoe Carroll in Cincinnati, Ohio, on July 8, 1963. His acting career is rooted in the theater. In 1981, Carroll graduated from the famed School for Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA) in Cincinnati Ohio, in the Cincinnati Public School District. Determined to further his knowledge of acting, he attended The Conservatory of Theatre Arts at Webster University in St. Louis, where he graduated with a B.F.A. degree. Carroll would later receive an honorary degree from his alma mater in 2009. After graduating, Carroll decided to test the waters by moving to New York City, the heart of the theater community. There, he introduced many young children to the works of William Shakespeare by participating in Joe Papp's "Shakespeare on Broadway" series.


title: Rocky Carroll

text: As part of Joe Papp's acclaimed New York Shakespeare Festival, Carroll helped to open doors for actors of color, by taking on non-traditional roles that were rarely portrayed by Black actors in Shakespeare dramas. In 1987, Carroll was introduced to the works of August Wilson. The up-and-coming and talented young actor was allowed to recreate his role for the Broadway production of Wilson's critically acclaimed story "The Piano Lesson". The play not only earned a Pulitzer Prize for Drama, but Carroll earned a Tony and Drama Desk nomination.


title: Rocky Carroll

text: He is known for portraying ne'er-do-well musician Joey Emerson on the FOX comedy-drama "Roc". He also had a starring role as Dr. Keith Wilkes in the TV series "Chicago Hope." Carroll has guest starred in several other TV programs including "The Agency", "Boston Legal", "Family Law", "The West Wing," "Law & Order," "The Game", "ER" and "Grey's Anatomy". Carroll has had roles in many Hollywood films such as "Born on the Fourth of July", "The Ladies Man", "Crimson Tide", "The Great White Hype", "Prelude to a Kiss", "The Chase", "Best Laid Plans" and "Yes Man".


title: Rocky Carroll

text: In the fifth season of the CBS drama "NCIS", Carroll was featured in a recurring role as Assistant Director Leon Vance. In doing so, he had been reunited with his "Chicago Hope" castmates Mark Harmon and Lauren Holly. After the death of NCIS director Jenny Shepard (played by Holly), his character became the new director of NCIS, and replaced Holly in the main cast. He has also guest-starred as Vance in the NCIS spin-offs "" and "".


title: Rocky Carroll

text: In addition to being a series regular on "NCIS", Carroll has also directed fifteen episodes of "NCIS", making his directorial debut with the Season 12 episode, "We Build, We Fight".


title: Duracell

text: Duracell Inc. is an American manufacturer of alkaline batteries, specialty cells, rechargeables and smart power systems, owned by Berkshire Hathaway. The company has its origins in the 1920s, through the work of Samuel Ruben and Philip Mallory, and the formation of the P. R. Mallory Company.


title: Duracell

text: Through a number of corporate mergers and acquisitions, Duracell came to be owned by the consumer products conglomerate Procter & Gamble (P&G). In November 2014, P&G reached an agreement to sell the company to Berkshire Hathaway through a transfer of shares. Under the deal, Berkshire Hathaway exchanged the shares it held in P&G for ownership of the Duracell business.


title: Duracell

text: Duracell originated via the partnership of scientist Samuel Ruben and businessman Philip Rogers Mallory, who met during the 1920s. The P. R. Mallory Company of Burlington, Massachusetts, United States, relocated its headquarters to Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1924. The company produced mercury batteries for military equipment, trumping the carbon-zinc batteries used then in virtually all applications. In 1956, P. R. Mallory & Co. acquired General Dry Batteries, Inc. (GDB) with headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio. GDB was then the third-largest U. S. manufacturer of zinc-carbon batteries and had made mercury batteries under license from P. R. Mallory during and post World War II until its acquisition in 1956. During the 1950s, Kodak introduced cameras with a bulb flash. The design required a new zinc-carbon cell size; AAA was introduced.


title: Duracell

text: In 1964, the term "Duracell" was introduced as a brand, from "durable cell". Until 1980, the batteries also bore the Mallory brand.


title: Duracell

text: P. R. Mallory was acquired by Dart Industries in 1978, which in turn, merged with Kraft in 1980. Kohlberg Kravis Roberts bought Duracell in 1988 and took the company public in 1989. It was acquired for $7 billion by The Gillette Company in 1996.


title: Duracell

text: In September 2011, Duracell and Powermat Technologies Ltd. started a joint venture, called Duracell Powermat, to make small wireless chargers for mobile phones and small electronics, with P&G owning 55% of the joint venture shares and Powermat 45%.


title: Duracell

text: In March 2012, along with Powermat Technologies, Duracell, under the Procter & Gamble corporate umbrella, founded the Power Matters Alliance (PMA), an alliance of leading industry and governmental organizations that is dedicated to advancing smart and environmentally sound wireless power. AT&T and Starbucks joined the board later that year.


title: Duracell

text: On October 24, 2014, Procter & Gamble announced it would spin off Duracell in 2015 as part of a wider restructuring scheme. On November 14, 2014, Berkshire Hathaway declared its intent to acquire Duracell in an all-stock deal, consisting of $4.7 billion worth of P&G stock then owned by Berkshire Hathaway. The acquisition received regulatory approval from the European Commission in July 2015.


title: Duracell

text: The transfer was completed on February 29, 2016, with P&G investing $1.8 billion in cash into Duracell, and Berkshire Hathaway giving P&G back 52 million shares.


title: Duracell

text: Duracell manufactures alkaline batteries in many common sizes, such as AAA, AA, C, D, and 9V. Lesser-used sizes such as AAAA (primarily for pagers, penlights, and blood glucose meters) and J size batteries (for hospital devices and photographic strobe flash units) are also manufactured and a range of "button cells" using zinc-air, silver-oxide, and lithium chemistries, used in calculators, watches, hearing aids, and other small (mostly medical-related) devices. Duracell entered into a brand licensing agreement with flash memory manufacturer Dane-Elec in 2008 for a line of products including memory cards, hard drives and USB flash drives with the Duracell brand mark and in the brand's trademark "copper top" coloring.


title: Duracell

text: Duracell also manufactures specialty batteries, including NiMH rechargeable batteries and batteries for cameras, watches, hearing aids, etc. Their two main battery brands are "CopperTop (Plus)," marketed as longer-lasting, and "Ultra," directed mainly at users of digital devices and devices that need more power. Duracell also makes some lithium batteries and car batteries.


title: Duracell

text: Duracell manufactures alkaline and lithium batteries in prismatic as well as cylindrical shape. In 2006, Duracell introduced "Power Pix" batteries with NiOx technology, designed to power digital cameras and other high-drain devices for up to twice as long as alkaline batteries.


title: Duracell

text: Duracell's professional batteries have been sold in the United States and Europe under the brand name "Procell" (previously "Industrial by Duracell" and "Duracell Procell"). Two main product lines are currently sold under the Procell brand, "Procell Alkaline" and "Procell Intense Power", intended to provide longer endurance by tailoring the power profile of the batteries to the requirements of the device. "Procell Alkaline" are designed for use in low-drain applications such as clocks, and Procell Intense Power is designed for higher-drain devices.


title: Duracell

text: In the 1980s, the company briefly had a line of flashlights called Durabeam, marketed as being much stronger and brighter than other flashlights.


title: Chef (South Park)

text: Jerome McElroy, often referred to as "The Chef" or simply "Chef", is a recurring fictional character on the Comedy Central series "South Park" who was voiced by Isaac Hayes. A cafeteria worker at the local elementary school in the town of South Park, Colorado, Chef is generally portrayed as more intelligent than the other adult residents of the town, and understanding to the children. His advice is often sought by the show's core group of child protagonists—Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormick—as he is the only adult they completely trust. He frequently gives completely honest advice without considering whether it is appropriate for children, usually in the non sequitur form of a lascivious soul song.


title: Chef (South Park)

text: Chef was inspired by Hayes and other popular soul singers of the 1970s, as well as an actual dining hall worker encountered by series co-creator Trey Parker while he attended the University of Colorado. Chef played a less prominent role as the series progressed beyond its earlier seasons, and the character was retired at the beginning of the tenth season in "The Return of Chef" following the controversial departure of Hayes.


title: Chef (South Park)

text: In tradition with the show's animation style, Chef is composed of simple geometrical shapes, and is animated with use of a computer, though he is given the impression of being a construction paper cutout composition animated through the use of stop motion, which was the technique used to animate the "Spirit of Christmas" shorts and the show's first episode. Chef is an overweight black American with a beard who usually wears blue pants and a red shirt. He frequently dons a traditional chef's hat and white apron on which the word "CHEF" is printed in black, even when he wasn't at work.


title: Chef (South Park)

text: Until Token Black and his family were given a more notable role starting in the show's fourth season, Chef was portrayed as the only black resident in all of South Park. Parker and co-creator Matt Stone initially planned to have one of themselves voice the character, fearing that their ideal candidates of Hayes (Lou Rawls and Barry White) would never agree to voice the character because the duo had admittedly and purposefully created him as a "stereotype" to reflect what they felt was the perception most inhabitants of less-diverse mountainous Colorado towns had of black people. However, Hayes agreed to voice the character due in part to the audacity of some of the show's early scripts. Chef (usually affectionately) referred to most people in town with the pejorative "crackers", including the children.


title: Chef (South Park)

text: Chef, after abandoning his musical aspirations, moved to South Park with plans to open his own restaurant. Before this, he had befriended several famous recording artists in the music industry, including Elton John and Meat Loaf, helping them to launch their successful careers. Despite failing at yet another dream, Chef made his way onto the South Park City Council, representing Public Safety. In addition to dispensing wisdom to the children and a few of the adult townsfolk, Chef speaks out against what he feels are outrageous ideas. For example, he opposes the rampant prescription of Ritalin in the episode "Timmy 2000", and he objects to the town's acceptance of Mr. Garrison committing purposefully flamboyant sadomasochistic acts in front of schoolchildren in "The Death Camp of Tolerance". In "Chef Goes Nanners", he briefly converts to Islam and adopted the name "Abdul Mohammed Jabar Rauf Kareem Ali" when he demanded that South Park change its official flag because it depicted the town's racist past. On several other occasions, Chef helped save South Park (and in a few other instances, the entire world) from potential disasters.


title: Chef (South Park)

text: Chef is also known for frequently engaging in casual sex, a habit he often expresses through song. He drives a 1980s woodie station wagon with a vanity plate that reads "LUV CHEF". He is often seen accompanied by numerous young women when at home or on vacation, and is even revealed to have had a one-night stand with Kathie Lee Gifford. He once resorted to male prostitution in an effort to raise money to pay legal fees, and had sex with nearly every woman in South Park before having to stop due to exhaustion. In "The Succubus", Chef briefly becomes an office worker and took up monogamy after meeting a woman named Veronica. The two were engaged to be married until it was revealed that Veronica was actually a succubus. In the "South Park" video game, the children can seek Chef's advice at one of the many buildings labelled "Chef's Shack O' Love", which is implied to be a brothel, complete with a naked woman in Chef's bed.


title: Chef (South Park)

text: Chef's parents, Nellie and Thomas McElroy, live in Scotland. The couple have made two major appearances in the episodes "The Succubus" and "The Biggest Douche in the Universe", and made a brief cameo in a town Christmas celebration in "Red Sleigh Down". They were not seen at Chef's funeral in "The Return of Chef".


title: Chef (South Park)

text: Chef is known to have run a quiz show called "Chef's Luv Shack", as is apparent in the video game of the same name.


title: Chef (South Park)

text: Chef endearingly calls the boys "the children" or just "children" (even when addressing one individually), and, unless he is preoccupied with a female companion, is usually willing to assist them with whatever help they need. He is consistently the only adult in town who the boys held in high regard, and they view him as their friend. They are also visibly saddened if his presence in their lives is threatened. In addition to being fans of his food (especially his trademark Salisbury steak), the boys often heartily anticipate encountering Chef when waiting in the school lunch line, so that they can explain whatever dilemma is affecting them, usually after their traditional greeting:


title: Chef (South Park)

text: The boys sometimes take it upon themselves to travel to Chef's house individually to seek his guidance on all manners of their problems, specifically relationships. He usually gives advice in the form of a soul song, which usually winds up being about sex, whether or not sex was relevant to the topic at hand. Hearing the songs would often leave the boys even more confused and with no further understanding of what they initially inquire about. In earlier seasons, Chef is often approached by the children when they are unfamiliar with a term that pertains to adult matters, such as "lesbian" or "prostitute". This happens so often that it eventually angers Chef, who pleads with them to stop asking questions he feels are not appropriate for him to answer. Despite this, the children continue asking these questions, much to his chagrin. An absent-minded Chef sometimes answers anyway, not realizing his lapse until the damage had been done. Chef acknowledges that doing this had repeatedly gotten him in trouble with his boss, Principal Victoria.


title: Chef (South Park)

text: In addition to singing in an effort to explain something to the children, Chef also sings about things relevant to what has transpired in the plot. These songs were original compositions written by Parker, and performed by Hayes in the same sexually suggestive R&B style he had utilized during his own music career. Within the show, Chef is the original composer of these songs, including "Stinky Britches", which was depicted as having been covered by Alanis Morissette without proper credit to Chef. When Chef is left with legal debt after losing a court case to have himself credited as the song's original writer, several bands and artists (guest starring as themselves) hold a concert dubbed "Chef Aid", a parody of Live Aid, to raise the funds. The episode inspired a real-life album, "", which featured guest stars from the episode such as Elton John and Ozzy Osbourne. The album includes many of the full-length versions of the songs Chef had performed in the show's first two seasons; "Chocolate Salty Balls" was released as a single, and reached #1 in both the record charts of Ireland and the United Kingdom. As the series progressed and Chef's role became more intermittent, his spontaneous outbursts into song became less of a show standard.


title: Chef (South Park)

text: Parker and Stone originally planned to have Chef sing a song in every single episode but abandoned the idea after finding it too challenging and fearing writing too many songs would make them less funny, similar to their rationale for dispensing with Kenny's episodic deaths.


title: Chef (South Park)

text: On January 4, 2006, Hayes defended "South Park's" style of controversial humor to "The A.V. Club" and XM's "Opie and Anthony" show, going so far as to note that although he was not pleased with the show's depiction of the Church of Scientology, of which he was a member, he "understood what Matt and Trey are doing." However, on March 13, 2006, nearly two months after suffering a stroke, Hayes was reported to have quit "South Park" over objections to the show's attitudes toward and depiction of various religions, claiming that the show had crossed the line from satire into intolerance.


title: Chef (South Park)

text: Despite the content of the official press release, there remains considerable speculation about the motivations behind his departure. Parker and Stone assert that he quit due to the controversial episode "Trapped in the Closet", and its treatment of Scientology. Stone commented in a manner that suggested that Hayes practiced a double standard regarding the treatment of religion on "South Park": "[We] never heard a peep out of Isaac in any way until we [lampooned] Scientology. He wants a different standard for religions other than his own, and to me, that is where intolerance and bigotry begin." Fox News reporter Roger Friedman suggested that, because he was still suffering from the effects of his stroke, Hayes was hospitalized and not in a position to make a rational decision to leave the show. Friedman also reported that Hayes left the show because of the external pressure forced by his fellow Scientologists, the decision was not voluntary, and the original press release announcing his departure was put out by someone who was not authorized to represent him. In a 2016 oral history of "South Park" in "The Hollywood Reporter", Hayes' son Isaac Hayes III confirmed that the decision to leave the show was made by Hayes' entourage while Hayes was unable to make such decisions on his own.


title: Chef (South Park)

text: Nine days after Hayes's departure from production, the controversy was satirized in the show's Season 10 premiere "The Return of Chef". For the episode, voice clips of Chef were taken from previous episodes and linked together to form new dialogue to support the plot, which involves Chef's leaving South Park to join the "Super Adventure Club", which eventually brainwashes Chef until he had the mindset of a child molester. The organization combines outdoor activities with child molestation, an act they perceive as justified because of their beliefs.


title: Chef (South Park)

text: After the boys restore Chef to his original mindset, but are unable to convince him to come back to South Park, a rope bridge Chef is walking across is struck by lightning. He falls to a violent death, culminating with his mutilation at the hands of a grizzly bear and a mountain lion and finally discharged fecal matter (a reference to the episode "Something Wall-Mart This Way Comes", in which Cartman claims that the relaxation of the bowel muscles confirms that a person is really dead).


title: Chef (South Park)

text: South Park holds a memorial service for him (Canadian comedians Terrance and Phillip even attend, despite having never met the man themselves), in which Kyle gives a eulogy stating, "We shouldn't be mad at Chef for leaving us, we should be mad at that fruity little club for scrambling his brains", a deliberate parallel with Hayes' departure from the show in favor of Scientology.


title: Chef (South Park)

text: Mimicking a scene from the finale of "", Chef's body is secretly collected by the Super Adventure Club, who managed to revive him as a cyborg — identified on the show's official website as "Darth Chef" (a parody of" Star Wars' "Darth Vader). He is fitted with a suit and mask like those of Vader, except with the helmet taking on the appearance of Chef's trademark hat, and wields a red, glowing spatula, parodying Vader's red lightsaber. Darth Chef's voice was provided by British comedian and filmmaker Peter Serafinowicz, who voiced Darth Maul in "". Darth Chef has not made an appearance in subsequent episodes, but has appeared with other characters in the background of the "South Park" opening sequence, and is mentioned in the episode "Stunning and Brave", when PC Principal says the kids drove him to kill himself, which is not true.


title: Chef (South Park)

text: Chef is alluded to after his death in the season 10 episode "Hell on Earth 2006" where, during Satan's party, there are multiple scenes in which a Caucasian male dressed as Chef can be seen in the background. He is also referenced in the season 14 episode "Crème Fraiche" when Randy becomes the new chef at school and greets the kids with Chef's trademark lines. Chef's death is also indirectly mentioned in the season 19 episode "Stunning and Brave" when PC Principal talks about all the things he finds offensive (incorrectly assuming that Chef's death was a suicide, before giving Butters detention for correcting him). Isaac Hayes himself died on August 10, 2008, two years after his departure from "South Park". On November 4, 2008, the film "Return to Sleepaway Camp" was released in the United States; filmed in 2003, the film features Hayes in a cameo as a live-action version of Chef, referred to once as Charlie but portrayed/credited as "South Park"s "The Chef".


title: Chef (South Park)

text: Chef makes an appearance in the 2014 video game "" as the reanimated Nazi Zombie penultimate boss later in the game. Once again, voice clips of Isaac Hayes as Chef are recycled from past episodes with the exception of recorded speech clips from Adolf Hitler. During his battle with the player and the other boys, Chef will express remorse by saying things like "I'm sorry, boys" and "what have I done?" While there were vague references to the Super Adventure Club and his death, there were no references to the Darth Chef suit. After being defeated, Chef regains control over his mind and tries to tell the boys, but he is then killed by Clyde and the New Kid.


title: Chef (South Park)

text: In a sketch from the "Robot Chicken" episode "Boogie Bardstown in: No Need, I Have Coupons", Chef is a contestant on "MasterChef Celebrity Showdown", where he has to cook with the thing he fears most: thetans.


title: Don Juan DeMarco

text: Don Juan DeMarco is a 1995 American romantic comedy-drama film starring Johnny Depp as John Arnold DeMarco, a man who believes himself to be Don Juan, the greatest lover in the world. Clad in a cape and domino mask, DeMarco undergoes psychiatric treatment with Marlon Brando's character, Dr. Jack Mickler, to cure him of his apparent delusion. But the psychiatric sessions have an unexpected effect on the psychiatric staff, some of whom find themselves inspired by DeMarco's delusion; the most profoundly affected is Dr. Mickler himself, who rekindles the romance in his complacent marriage.


title: Don Juan DeMarco

text: The movie is based on two different sources; the modern-day story is based on director/screenwriter Jeremy Leven's short story "Don Juan DeMarco and the Centerfold" (the movie's original title before the studio changed it shortly before release), while the flashbacks depicting DeMarco's back-story are based on the more familiar legend of Don Juan, especially as told by Lord Byron in his version of the legend.


title: Don Juan DeMarco

text: Depp received the London Film Critics Circle Award for Actor of the Year, along with his performance in "Ed Wood" while the film's theme song, "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?", co-written and performed by Bryan Adams, was nominated for the Oscar, Grammy, and Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song.


title: Don Juan DeMarco

text: John Arnold DeMarco is a 21-year-old man who dresses like Zorro, with a similar mask, hat and cape and claims to be Don Juan. After a passionate affair, he decides to commit suicide. At the site of the billboard he plans to jump off of, psychiatrist Jack Mickler dissuades him by posing as Don Octavio de Flores. John is then held for a ten-day review in a mental institution.


title: Don Juan DeMarco

text: Mickler, who is about to retire, insists on doing the evaluation and conducts it without medicating the youth. Mickler listens to John's story continuing to pose as Don Octavio: Don Juan was born in Mexico, he has an affair with his school tutor which ultimately leads to the death of his father in a swordfight. Mickler listens to the story while spotting inconsistencies, such as the Castilian nature of John's accent, but continues to humor him.


title: Don Juan DeMarco

text: At home, Mickler is living in a passionless marriage to his wife, Marilyn. As Mickler notices that John's presence at the institution is having an impact on the staff - both distracting the women and dancing with a male attendant on the lawn - he finds himself being influenced, and starts listening to opera in his house and rekindling the passion with his wife.


title: Don Juan DeMarco

text: Eventually Mickler meets with John's grandmother, who tells him that John grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, and that his father died in a car crash. When Mickler returns to the institution and confronts his patient with this information, John dismisses his grandmother as misanthropic and of making the backstory up. In response Mickler recounts the story of an insecure young man who fell in love with a woman in a magazine, who then contacted her and was told she never wanted to speak to him again. When John asks what happened to the young man, Mickler tells him he tried to commit suicide.


title: Don Juan DeMarco

text: As the ten days tick down, and pressure mounts on Mickler to support the youth's indefinite confinement, a decision which he is skeptical of. John has mentioned that his mother became a nun and remains in the convent to this day, and in a subsequent meeting with John, Mickler suggests that John's mother could have possibly had affairs, to which John responds with violent anger.


title: Don Juan DeMarco

text: John concludes his story, about how he was kept two years in a harem as the lover of the sultaness, before finding true love and being rejected on a remote Greek island by his one true love, Doña Ana. Mickler tells him at the story's end that he believes John is Don Juan DeMarco, the greatest lover the world has ever known. When John asks Mickler who he is, he says "I am Don Octavio de Flores" and that John has seen through all of his masks.


title: Don Juan DeMarco

text: At the end of the ten days, Mickler is able to convince John to take his medication, and makes him understand that not everyone believes he is Don Juan. Right before his retirement, Mickler and John meet with the board, with John in street clothes. He speaks with an American accent, and acknowledges that he was born in Queens, his father was killed in an accident, and that his mother was unfaithful to his father. John is released and accompanies Mickler, along with the doctor's wife, to the remote island that Don Juan has described where he met his true love.


title: Don Juan DeMarco

text: Other notable appearances include Al Corley as the woman in the restaurant's date, Nick La Tour as the doorman Nicholas, and Bill Capizzi and Patricia Mauceri as characters in John's story, the sultan and Doña Querida. Selena also makes a brief appearance as a singer.


title: Don Juan DeMarco

text: The film features the original Bryan Adams song, "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?"; the lyrics incorporate quotes from Depp's character, and the melody is used as a musical motif throughout the film. In addition, the song itself is performed three times, once by Selena and a mariachi band serenading the characters in Spanish, once by Jose Hernandez and Nydia, as background music (again in Spanish), and once by Bryan Adams during the closing credits. The song is also available on the soundtrack. The song was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song at the 68th Academy Awards, but lost to "Colors of the Wind" from "Pocahontas".


title: Don Juan DeMarco

text: Selena recorded other songs for the soundtrack, including "El Toro Relajo". The score was composed, orchestrated, and conducted by Michael Kamen and was performed by the London Metropolitan Orchestra.


title: Don Juan DeMarco

text: Tori Amos and Michael Stipe of R.E.M. recorded a duet for the film called "It Might Hurt a Bit" but it remains unreleased.


title: Don Juan DeMarco

text: The film had an estimated budget of $25 million, grossing just $22,150,451 in the U.S. With a total $68,592,731 gross worldwide, it was considered a success for New Line Cinema. Upon its opening weekend, "Don Juan DeMarco" opened at #4 with $4,556,274 behind the openings of "Bad Boys" and "A Goofy Movie", and the second weekend of "Tommy Boy".


title: Don Juan DeMarco

text: On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 72% based on reviews from 39 critics, with an average rating of 6.2/10. The site's consensus was ""Don Juan DeMarco" proves that a slight story can translate to entertaining cinema if it's acted out by a pair of well-matched professionals enjoying their craft." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 63 out of 100 based on reviews from 19 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "A−" on scale of A+ to F.


title: Don Juan DeMarco

text: Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote: "It benefits not only from Mr. Brando's peculiar presence, but also from Johnny Depp, who again proves himself a brilliantly intuitive young actor with strong ties to the Brando legacy. The movie is cheesy, but its stars certainly are not." Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" gave the film 2 out of 4, and wrote "Brando doesn't so much walk through this movie as coast, in a gassy, self-indulgent performance no one else could have gotten away with."


title: Dana DeArmond

text: Dana DeArmond (born June 16, 1979) is an American pornographic actress and director. She entered the industry in 2004 and is a member of the AVN and XRCO Halls of Fame.


title: Dana DeArmond

text: DeArmond grew up in Orlando, Florida. DeArmond had gained popularity before her porn career, as an internet personality with over 300,000 friends on Myspace. After meeting porn director Eon McKai on MySpace, she did her first scene for the film "Neu Wave Hookers". DeArmond is currently the host of a show titled "Dirty/Nerdy" on Vivid Radio for Sirius XM.


title: Dana DeArmond

text: DeArmond has directed two documentary porn movies in which she helps young people whom she meets on the web break into the business, called "Dana DeArmond Does the Internet" and "Dana DeArmond's Role Modeling." She has also guest lectured on the adult industry for classes at University of California, Irvine and University of California, Santa Barbara.


title: Dana DeArmond

text: DeArmond was one of the models featured in Michael Grecco's photo book, "" and Dave Naz's book "L.A. Bondage". After DeArmond's house and belongings were destroyed in a fire in January 2007, the adult industry participated in several fundraising activities to help replace what she lost. DeArmond co-hosted the 2010 Urban X Awards with porn actress Misty Stone.


title: Dana DeArmond

text: In November 2007, DeArmond and her then-boyfriend, male performer Daniel, attended UC-Irvine as guest lecturers for its Sociology of Sexuality class. She got the job through fellow performer Belladonna who lectured there previously. Following a lecture from Kassia Wosick-Correa, DeArmond spoke about her involvement in the adult film industry and the dynamics of her relationships. She also screened video clips and answered questions from the class.


title: Dana DeArmond

text: In January 2014, DeArmond, Asa Akira, Chanel Preston, and Jessie Andrews were featured in a "Cosmopolitan" article titled "4 Porn Stars on How They Stay Fit". The article was inspired by actress Gabrielle Union's comment made on Conan O'Brien's talk show about striving to follow the fitness routines of the porn stars she saw at her gym.


title: Dana DeArmond

text: DeArmond admits to having social anxiety, stating, "I made my life so I don’t have to come into contact with lots of people except for once or twice a year when I sign." She dealt with her social anxiety by spending a lot of time on MySpace and an "Indie Rock" chat room on AOL. Her hobbies include working out, hiking and biking. Her favorite male performers include James Deen, Mr. Pete, Toni Ribas, and Manuel Ferrara. DeArmond identifies as a feminist.


title: Dana DeArmond

text: In 2017, DeArmond accused T.J. Miller and Jordan Vogt-Roberts of sexual harassment on the set of "Mash Up". She also alleged that Vogt-Roberts kissed her without her consent after having drinks with him after they wrapped work.


title: Leonarda Cianciulli

text: Leonarda Cianciulli (18 April 1894 – 15 October 1970) was an Italian serial killer. Better known as the Soap-Maker of Correggio (Italian: "la Saponificatrice di Correggio"), she murdered three women in the town of Correggio, Reggio Emilia, in 1939 and 1940, and turned their bodies into soap (using caustic soda) and teacakes.


title: Leonarda Cianciulli

text: Leonarda Cianciulli was born in Montella, Avellino, in what was then the Kingdom of Italy. She attempted suicide twice in her youth. In 1917, Cianciulli married a registry office clerk, Raffaele Pansardi. Her mother did not approve of the marriage, as she had planned to marry her to another man. Cianciulli later claimed that on this occasion her mother had cursed them. In 1921, the couple moved to Pansardi's native town of Lauria, Potenza, where Cianciulli was sentenced and imprisoned for fraud in 1927. When released, the couple moved to Lacedonia, Avellino. After their home was destroyed in the 1930 Irpinia earthquake, they moved once more to Correggio, Reggio Emilia, where Cianciulli opened a small shop. She was very popular and well-respected within her neighborhood.


title: Leonarda Cianciulli

text: Cianciulli had seventeen pregnancies during her marriage, but lost three of the children to miscarriage. Ten more died in their youth. Consequently, Cianciulli was heavily protective of the four surviving children. Her fears were fueled by a warning she had received some time earlier from a fortune teller, who said that she would marry and have children, but that all of the children would die young. Reportedly, Cianciulli also visited a Romani who practiced palm reading, and who told her, "In your right hand I see prison, in your left a criminal asylum."


title: Leonarda Cianciulli

text: In 1939, Cianciulli learned that her eldest son and favourite child, Giuseppe, was going to join the Royal Italian Army in preparation for the Second World War. She was determined to protect him at all costs, and came to the conclusion that his safety required human sacrifices. Cianciulli found her victims in three middle-aged women, all neighbours.


title: Leonarda Cianciulli

text: The first of Cianciulli's victims, Faustina Setti, was a lifelong spinster who had come to her for help in finding a husband. Cianciulli told her of a suitable partner in Pola, but asked her to tell no one of the news. She also persuaded Setti to write letters and postcards to relatives and friends. They were to be mailed when she reached Pola, to tell them that everything was fine. Preparing for her departure, Setti came to visit Cianciulli one last time. Cianciulli killed her with an axe and dragged the body into a closet, where it was cut into nine parts and its blood was gathered into a basin. Cianciulli described what happened next in her official statement:


title: Leonarda Cianciulli

text: Some sources also record that Cianciulli apparently received Setti's life savings, 30,000 lire, as payment for her services.


title: Leonarda Cianciulli

text: Francesca Soavi was the second victim. Cianciulli claimed to have found her a job at a school for girls in Piacenza. Like Setti, Soavi was persuaded to write postcards to be sent to friends, this time from Correggio, detailing her plans. Also like Setti, Soavi came to visit with Cianciulli before her departure. She too was given drugged wine and then killed with an axe. The murder occurred on 5 September 1940. Soavi's body was given the same treatment as Setti's, and Cianciulli is said to have obtained 3,000 lire from her second victim.


title: Leonarda Cianciulli

text: Cianciulli's third and final victim was the widow Virginia Cacioppo, a former soprano said to have sung at La Scala. For her, Cianciulli claimed to have found work as the secretary for a mysterious impresario in Florence. As with the other two women, she was instructed not to tell a single person where she was going. Cacioppo agreed and, on 30 September 1940, came for a last visit to Cianciulli. The pattern to the murder was the same as the first two. However, unlike the first two victims, Cacioppo's body was melted to make soap. According to Cianciulli's statement:


title: Leonarda Cianciulli

text: She ended up in the pot, like the other two...her flesh was fat and white, when it had melted I added a bottle of cologne, and after a long time on the boil I was able to make some most acceptable creamy soap. I gave bars to neighbours and acquaintances. The cakes, too, were better: that woman was really sweet.


title: Leonarda Cianciulli

text: From Cacioppo, Cianciulli reportedly received 50,000 lire, assorted jewels and public bonds. She even sold all the victims' clothing and shoes.


title: Leonarda Cianciulli

text: Cacioppo's sister-in-law, Albertina Fanti, grew suspicious of her sudden disappearance and had last seen her entering Cianciulli's house. She reported her fears to the superintendent of police in Reggio Emilia, who opened an investigation and soon arrested Cianciulli. Cianciulli did not confess to the murders until they believed that her son, Giuseppe Pansardi, was involved in the crime. She confessed to the murders, providing detailed accounts of what she had done to save her son from any blame.


title: Leonarda Cianciulli

text: Cianciulli was tried for murder in Reggio Emilia in 1946. She remained unrepentant, going so far as to correct the official account while on the stand:


title: Leonarda Cianciulli

text: At her trial in Reggio Emilia last week Poetess Leonarda gripped the witness-stand rail with oddly delicate hands and calmly set the prosecutor right on certain details. Her deep-set dark eyes gleamed with a wild inner pride as she concluded: "I gave the copper ladle, which I used to skim the fat off the kettles, to my country, which was so badly in need of metal during the last days of the war..."


title: Leonarda Cianciulli

text: Cianciulli was found guilty of her crimes and sentenced to thirty years in prison and three years in a criminal asylum. She died of cerebral apoplexy in the women's criminal asylum in Pozzuoli on 15 October 1970.


title: Leonarda Cianciulli

text: A number of artifacts from the case, including the pot in which the victims were boiled, are on display at the Criminological Museum in Rome.


title: Leonarda Cianciulli

text: A darkly comic play about Cianciulli, "Love and Magic in Mama's Kitchen", was first produced by Lina Wertmüller at the Spoleto Festival in 1979. The play began a run on Broadway in 1983.


title: The Geographical Pivot of History

text: "The Geographical Pivot of History" is an article submitted by Halford John Mackinder in 1904 to the Royal Geographical Society that advances his heartland theory. In this article, Mackinder extended the scope of geopolitical analysis to encompass the entire globe.


title: The Geographical Pivot of History

text: The Heartland lay at the centre of the world island, stretching from the Volga to the Yangtze and from the Himalayas to the Arctic. Mackinder's Heartland was the area then ruled by the Russian Empire and after that by the Soviet Union, minus the Kamchatka Peninsula region, which is located in the easternmost part of Russia, near the Aleutian Islands and Kurile islands.


title: The Geographical Pivot of History

text: Any power which controlled the World-Island would control well over 50% of the world's resources. The Heartland's size and central position made it the key to controlling the World-Island.


title: The Geographical Pivot of History

text: The vital question was how to secure control for the Heartland. This question may seem pointless, since in 1904 the Russian Empire had ruled most of the area from the Volga to Eastern Siberia for centuries. But throughout the nineteenth century:


title: The Geographical Pivot of History

text: Mackinder held that effective political domination of the Heartland by a single power had been unattainable in the past because:


title: The Geographical Pivot of History

text: He outlined the following ways in which the Heartland might become a springboard for global domination in the twentieth century (Sempa, 2000):


title: The Geographical Pivot of History

text: The combined empires' large East Asian coastline would also provide the potential for it to become a major sea power. Mackinder's "Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland" does not cover this scenario, probably because the previous two scenarios were seen as the major risks of the nineteenth century and the early 1900s.


title: The Geographical Pivot of History

text: One of Mackinder's personal objectives was to warn Britain that its traditional reliance on sea power would become a weakness as improved land transport opened up the Heartland for invasion and/or industrialisation (Sempa, 2000).


title: The Geographical Pivot of History

text: A more modern development to which the heartland theory can still be attributed to exist is through Russia's oil pipelines scandals. Heartland theory implies that the world island is full of resources to be exploited. "Any initiative by the United States to open the market access in Central Asia implies that this state is targeted for the exploration of multinational energy companies. The efforts for domination of the exploration of natural resources are also apparent in the case of Russia. Study found that Russia wants to have pipelines pass through its own territory. However the Russian energy companies are working on behalf of market interests, they often constrain the behaviour of the state".


title: The Geographical Pivot of History

text: Signs of Mackinder's Heartland Theory can be found in the works of geopolitician Dimitri Kitsikis, particularly in his "Intermediate Region" model. There is a significant geographical overlap between the Heartland or "Pivot Area" and the Intermediate Region, with the exception of Germany-Prussia and north-eastern China, which Kitsikis excludes from the Intermediate Region. Mackinder, on the other hand, excludes North Africa, Eastern Europe and the Middle East from the Heartland. The reason for this difference is that Mackinder's model is primarily geo-strategic, while Kitsikis' model is geo-civilizational. However, the roles of both the Intermediate Region and the Heartland are regarded by their respective authors as being pivotal in the shaping of world history.


title: The Geographical Pivot of History

text: President Barack Obama initiated "Pivot to Asia" meaning US strategic, diplomatic and economic focus on the region. Mackinder's term became a popular buzzword after Obama's Secretary of State Hillary Clinton authored "America's Pacific Century," in "Foreign Policy". Former Chinese State Councilor, Dai Bingguo, suggested to Hillary Clinton: "Why don't you 'pivot out of here?'" Mackinder did not expect how far his pivot concept would go.


title: The Geographical Pivot of History

text: K. S. Gadzhev, in his book "Introduction to Geopolitics" (, ), raises a series of objections to Mackinder's Heartland; to start with that the significance physiography is given there for political strategy is a form of geographical determinism.


title: The Geographical Pivot of History

text: Critics of the theory also argue that in modern day practice, the theory is outdated due to the evolution of technological warfare, as at the time of publication, Mackinder only considered land and sea powers. In modern day time there are possibilities of attacking a rival without the need for a direct invasion via cyber attacks, aircraft or even use of long range missile strikes.


title: The Geographical Pivot of History

text: Other critics of the theory argue that "Mackinderian analysis is not rational because it assumes conflict in a system where there is none".


title: The Geographical Pivot of History

text: Mackinder's theory was also never fully proven as no singular power in history has had control of all three of the regions at the same time. The closest this ever occurred was during the Crimean War (1853–1856) whereby Russia attempted to fight for control over the Crimean Peninsula, ultimately losing to the French and the British.


title: Anita Raj

text: Anita Raj Khurana (born 1962 or 1963) is an Indian actress and daughter of Jagdish Raj, whose notable roles include Films Prem Geet (1981), Ghulami (1985), Kusum in "Zara Si Zindagi" (1983), Anita in "Zameen Aasman" (1984) and Shobha in "Masterji" (1985). She is known for playing Rajmata Devvadan Singh Deo in Ek Tha Raja Ek Thi Rani and Kulwant Kaur Dhillon in Choti Sarrdaarni. She did maximum movies with Dharmendra.


title: Rachel Boston

text: Rachel Elizabeth Boston (born May 9, 1982) is an American actress and producer. Boston has had leading roles in a number of independent films, and was a regular cast member in several television series. She starred in the NBC drama series, "American Dreams" as Beth Mason from 2002 to 2005, in the short-lived CBS sitcom "The Ex List" in 2008, and on the USA Network series "In Plain Sight" from 2008 to 2012. From 2013 to 2014, Boston starred as Ingrid Beauchamp in the Lifetime fantasy-drama series, "Witches of East End".


title: Rachel Boston

text: Was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to William Terry Boston and Brenda Billingsley Boston. Her father was executive vice president of power system operations for the Tennessee Valley Authority. She grew up in Signal Mountain, Tennessee, before moving to New York City at the age of seventeen to attend New York University. She was Miss Tennessee Teen USA in 1999, placing in the Top 10 at the national pageant.


title: Rachel Boston

text: Boston starred in the NBC series "American Dreams", which aired from 2002 to 2005. She portrayed the character Beth Pryor (née Mason), the wife of the oldest son of the Pryor family, around whom the series was centered. She has made guest appearances in other series such as "The Closer", "Las Vegas", "The Daily Show", "Curb Your Enthusiasm", "Grey's Anatomy", "Rules of Engagement", and "Crossing Jordan," and "NCIS".


title: Rachel Boston

text: Boston landed the lead role on ABC's Ric Swartzlander comedy pilot "The News" (2007). The show was set in a chaotic Phoenix television newsroom. Boston played a rising star at the station who had recently been promoted to executive producer of all news programs. Boston also starred with Donal Logue in the Fox pilot "Hackett", directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, and starred with Ed O'Neill and Christine Baranski in the CBS pilot "Inseparable".


title: Rachel Boston

text: Boston starred as Daphne Bloom in the short-lived CBS series "The Ex List". In that same year she also guest starred on NBC's "ER" playing an American soldier. She filmed "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" with Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Garner in February 2008. She has also filmed "500 Days of Summer" with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel in spring 2008.


title: Rachel Boston

text: In early 2011, Boston joined the cast of USA Network's hit series "In Plain Sight", where she played Abigail Chaffee, an Albuquerque Police Detective and the love interest of Marshall Mann (Frederick Weller). For the fifth and final season, Boston continued her role as a series regular.


title: Rachel Boston

text: For her role opposite Noah Bean in the independent feature "The Pill", Boston garnered rave reviews on the festival circuit and earned accolades including the Best Actress Award from the San Diego Film Festival, the Stargazer Award from the Gen Art Film Festival, and the Emerging Artist Award from the Big Apple Film Festival.


title: Rachel Boston

text: Boston was the executive producer for the independent film "Black Marigolds", and also starred in the film, which reunited her with her costar from "The Pill", Noah Bean. The film was shot over a 2-week span in the Palomar Mountain Range of Southern California.


title: Rachel Boston

text: In 2012, Boston starred in the feature film "It's a Disaster" alongside Julia Stiles and America Ferrera. In the fall of 2012, Boston would then be cast as one of the leads in the Lifetime fantasy-drama series "Witches of East End", based on a novel of the same name by Melissa de la Cruz, opposite Julia Ormond, Jenna Dewan and Mädchen Amick. The show debuted on October 6, 2013.


title: Rachel Boston

text: During her tenure on "Witches of East End", she was cast in the original independent romantic comedy "A Ring by Spring", a "Hallmark" original film, directed by Kristoffer Tabori. Shortly thereafter she was cast in Hallmark Movies & Mysteries' original telefilm "A Gift of Miracles", opposite Jesse Moss and Rita Moreno.


title: Rachel Boston

text: Shortly after Lifetime's cancellation of "Witches of East End", Boston signed on to Hallmark Channel's original telefim, "Ice Sculpture Christmas", a part of Hallmark's 2015 Countdown to Christmas event. In April 2016, Boston completed work on "Hallmark Channel"'s original telefilm "Stop the Wedding", co-starring Niall Matter, Alan Thicke, Lini Evans and Teryl Rothery. At the end of 2016, Boston announced a partnership with "Hallmark" and author de la Cruz on a new original movie, "Christmas in Angel Falls", which is about an angel who falls in love during the Christmas season.


title: Rachel Boston

text: Between 2018 and 2019, Rachel would sign on to her first theatrical leading role in 6 years, in the film "I Hate Kids" opposite Tom Everett Scott. In November 2018, Rachel would guest on the ABC drama, the Good Doctor as Claire's college roommate and friend, Kayla, who is seeking treatment for her cancer.


title: Rankings of universities in Pakistan

text: This article presents an overview of university rankings in Pakistan. Within Pakistan, the Higher Education Commission (HEC) provides official rankings of higher education institutions (HEIs) nationally, based on a multitude of criteria. There are also various magazines, newspapers and international agencies/standards which provide rankings and analysis.


title: Rankings of universities in Pakistan

text: According to the 2015 HEI rankings released by the HEC, the top five universities in Pakistan are, in descending order: National University of Sciences and Technology (Pakistan), University of the Punjab (PU), Quaid-i-Azam University, University of Agriculture in Faisalabad (UAF) and Aga Khan University (AKU).


title: Rankings of universities in Pakistan

text: As of 2022, total 6 universities were ranked in top 1000 by QS World University Rankings: NUST (#358), Quaid-i-Azam University (#378), PIEAS (#398), LUMS (#651), UET, Lahore (#801), and University of the Punjab (#801). In rankings for 2023, the number increased to 7, with the addition of University of Peshawar (#801).


title: Rankings of universities in Pakistan

text: Up to date, the HEC has published rankings for the years 2006, 2012, 2013, 2014 and most recently 2015. In addition to the top ten and general rankings, independent rankings are also provided for universities and institutes in the categories of agriculture and veterinary science; arts and design; business; engineering and technology; and medicine. The HEC ranking uses five criteria, all of which have specific weightings and are summed to give an aggregate score out of 100. Institutional rankings are determined based on this aggregate score. Each criterion and its weighting is dependent upon a set of sub-components. The five criteria, along with their weighted score and sub-components are summarised below:


title: Rankings of universities in Pakistan

text: According to the 2016 HEC rankings, the following comprise the overall top ranking higher education institutions in the country.


title: Rankings of universities in Pakistan

text: According to the 2022 HEC rankings, the following comprise the top ranking business schools in the country.


title: Rankings of universities in Pakistan

text: According to the 2022 HEC rankings, the following comprise the top ranking engineering universities in the country.


title: Rankings of universities in Pakistan

text: According to the 2022 HEC rankings, the following comprise the top ranking medical schools in the country.


title: Rankings of universities in Pakistan

text: The QS World University Rankings is one of the most widely referenced international ranking systems. Pakistan is ranked 50th globally in terms of its higher education system's strength. Following is the list of 13 Universities which appeared in 2022 - 2023 edition of QS World University Rankings:


title: Rankings of universities in Pakistan

text: Research Papers in Economics (RePEc) ranks the top 25% institutions and schools/faculties in the field of economics research, using its IDEAS database. The database takes a number of factors into account, such as item citations, journals and working papers, authorship and field-based ranks. The database rankings are updated on a monthly basis. Provided below are the most recent country rankings for Pakistan:


title: Rankings of universities in Pakistan

text: The Round University Ranking, compiled by the RUR Ranking Agency in Russia in partnership with Thomson Reuters, ranks the top 750 universities based on standards of teaching, research, international diversity and financial sustainability. The following Pakistani universities are listed in the 2016 rankings:


title: Rankings of universities in Pakistan

text: The SCImago Institutions Rankings (SIR) are published by the SCImago Research Group, a Spanish academic research organisation. The rankings measure universities using indicators such as research, innovation and web visibility. Included below are the 19 Pakistani universities listed in these rankings and their positions in terms of the latter two indicators (as of 2014).


title: Rankings of universities in Pakistan

text: The Times Higher Education World University Rankings is a prominent publication of university rankings, released by the UK-based "Times Higher Education" magazine. It includes overall, subject and reputation-wise rankings, 150 Under 50 rankings, as well as two regional rankings: Asia, and BRICS and Emerging Economies. In the 2015–2016 edition, the following ranks were applicable to Pakistani universities:


title: Rankings of universities in Pakistan

text: The GreenMetric Ranking of World Universities is published by Universitas Indonesia (UI). It ranks over 400 world universities according to their eco-friendly environment and commitment to sustainability. Three instruments are used as the basis of the ranking criteria: Environment, Economics and Equity. The 2015 edition includes the following overall and indicator-specific world rankings for Pakistani universities:


title: Rankings of universities in Pakistan

text: U-Multirank is an independent ranking system funded by the European Commission under the Erasmus Programme. The ranking is supported by a consortium of academics in Europe. It provides multi-dimensional listings for universities, in terms of academic fields as well as various education-specific indicators. Universities are rated against these indicators using a grading system, ranging from 'A' (very good) to 'E' (weak). The 2016 rankings include the following Pakistani universities along with their grades:


title: Rankings of universities in Pakistan

text: The University Ranking by Academic Performance (URAP), developed at the Middle East Technical University in Turkey, ranks the top 2,000 global institutions with an emphasis on research impact and quality, and scientific productivity. It uses indicators such as articles published, citations, total documents, article and citation impact, and international collaboration. The 2015–2016 edition provides the following national, international and regional rankings along with field-based ranks (as of 2014–2015) for Pakistani universities:


title: Rankings of universities in Pakistan

text: In the 2015 edition of top 500 international rankings, the U.S. News & World Report Best Global University Rankings listed the following Pakistani university:


title: Rankings of universities in Pakistan

text: The Webometrics Ranking of World Universities, published by the Spanish Cybermetrics Lab, provides a listing of national, regional and international rankings of universities in Pakistan based on their web presence. Shown below, as per the 2016 edition, are the top 20 rankings only:


title: Rankings of universities in Pakistan

text: uniRank, formerly 4 International Colleges and Universities (4icu.org), ranks universities and colleges country-wise based on their web popularity and online footprint. It is not an academic ranking. According to its website, uniRank uses an algorithm including web metrics from Moz Domain Authority, Alexa Global Rank, SimilarWeb Global Rank, Majestic Referring Domains and Majestic Trust Flow. The top 10 results in Pakistan include the following universities:


title: Rankings of universities in Pakistan

text: The HEC acknowledges that rankings are "a debatable subject all over the world". It defines its ranking system as a measure to strengthen the quality of higher education, provide a tool for self-assessment, as well as ensure that universities achieve domestic and international competitiveness in education, innovation and research. However, the HEC's rankings have been subject to criticism among educationists and policy-making experts in Pakistan. Some critics claim the rankings give "more weight to quantity than quality" of research, faculty and other key factors.


title: Birdemic: Shock and Terror

text: Birdemic: Shock and Terror (often shortened to Birdemic) is a 2010 American independent romantic thriller-horror film written, directed, and executive produced by James Nguyen, and starring Alan Bagh and Whitney Moore. Inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds", "Birdemic" tells the story of a romance between the two main characters as their small town is attacked by birds. It also was inspired by the environmental documentary "An Inconvenient Truth", which led to the film having an environmental message.


title: Birdemic: Shock and Terror

text: The film was largely self-financed and was produced through Nguyen's Moviehead Pictures company for a budget of less than $10,000. The film has gained notoriety for its poor quality, with many critics citing it as one of the . After a limited theatrical release, the film was picked up for distribution by Severin Films in 2010. A sequel, "", was released in 2013. The sequel received even poorer reviews. A second sequel is in development titled "Birdemic 3: Sea Eagle."


title: Birdemic: Shock and Terror

text: Rod is a young software salesman living a successful life in Silicon Valley. He meets up with old classmate and aspiring fashion model Nathalie and begins dating her. Things go well for the couple, with Rod receiving a large bonus that he uses to start his own business, while Nathalie is chosen as a Victoria's Secret model. As they grow closer, the couple remains oblivious to signs of something going wrong around them, such as unexplained wildfires and the carcasses of diseased birds turning up on beaches.


title: Birdemic: Shock and Terror

text: After having a romantic time and kissing in a motel, Rod and Nathalie wake up to find that their town is under attack from eagles and vultures. The birds spit acid and explode into flames upon striking the ground (having become mutated and toxic due to global warming). Rod and Nathalie escape from the motel by joining up with an ex-Marine named Ramsey and his girlfriend Becky. As they leave town, they rescue two young children, Susan and Tony, whose parents have been killed by the birds.


title: Birdemic: Shock and Terror

text: The group proceeds to drive from one town to the next, fending off more bird attacks along the way and briefly meeting a scientist named Dr. Jones studying the phenomenon. Becky is killed by the birds. Ramsey tries to save a busload of tourists. As they leave the bus, Ramsey and the tourists are killed by acid that is dropped by the birds. Nathalie stops Rod from attempting to rescue Ramsey because she fears the birds will kill him, too.


title: Birdemic: Shock and Terror

text: Rod, Nathalie, and the kids continue to flee from the birds, driving into a forest where they briefly meet a "tree hugger" named Tom Hill, who talks to them about the dangers of global warming. After escaping a forest fire, the quartet ultimately settles on a small beach, where Rod fishes for dinner. As they prepare to eat, they are attacked by the birds, but then doves appear and all the birds leave in peace. The film ends as Rod, Nathalie and the kids watch the birds fly off into the horizon.


title: Birdemic: Shock and Terror

text: Nguyen was inspired to write the script for "Birdemic: Shock and Terror" while spending time relaxing in Half Moon Bay, California. The majority of the film was shot in Half Moon Bay and the area surrounding the community. "Birdemic" began production in 2006 and took four years to produce, partly due to time limitations—filming was done mostly on weekends over the course of seven months—and also due to financial restraints, as it was financed through Nguyen's day job, plus the time it took for Nguyen to find a distributor.


title: Birdemic: Shock and Terror

text: The movie was also inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 film "The Birds." "The Birds" starred actress Tippi Hedren, who appeared in Nguyen's earlier film "Julie and Jack." "Birdemic" includes footage of that appearance, playing on a television.


title: Birdemic: Shock and Terror

text: The movie contains several anti-war statements. On the DVD commentary, the director explained that one early inspiration for the movie was the anti-war movie "Apocalypse Now", and that at the end of the movie the birds stopped their attack because they wanted to have peace and to give humans a second chance to help the environment. He said that as production continued, he became more influenced by Al Gore's movie "An Inconvenient Truth" which is about global warming. The movie was one of several in an uptick of bird horror films inspired by Hitchcock's movie, beginning in 2007 with "Kaw" and continuing with "Flu Bird Horror" in 2008.


title: Birdemic: Shock and Terror

text: During the filming of "Birdemic", Nguyen instructed star Whitney Moore not to socialize with her costar Alan Bagh after filming. On the commentary, Moore said they did not get permits to film at specific locations, instead just showing up, and sometimes getting kicked out. She said that at one point, they were filming on a public jogging trail, and Nguyen started yelling at joggers who were getting in the shot. Moore told him not to yell at people who were not associated with the film, and he responded by refusing to talk to her for three weeks. He gave her direction using her costar Bagh as an intermediary.


title: Birdemic: Shock and Terror

text: In a 2021 interview, Stephen Gustavson, who played the "treehugger" gives credence to the notion that permits were not obtained, mentioning that during the filming of his scene, Nguyen spotted a park ranger nearby and advised the cast and crew to pretend they were having a picnic.


title: Birdemic: Shock and Terror

text: The film was produced with a budget of $10,000, but the distributors have spent more on marketing than it cost to produce the film and purchase the rights. There were not many crew members on the movie, and the actors performed many of the roles that would normally be performed by crew members. They often held their own microphones, sometimes between their knees. Moore was in charge of the makeup after the first two makeup women quit. The film uses fake names for crew members in the credits, in order to appear more legitimate.


title: Birdemic: Shock and Terror

text: In January 2009, Nguyen traveled to the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah to promote the film freelance, handing out flyers to passers-by from his van, adorned with stuffed birds and paper signs that read "BIDEMIC.COM" (spelling Birdemic wrong in his haste) and "WHY DID THE EAGLES AND VULTURES ATTACKED ?", and renting out a local bar to screen the film. Word of mouth eventually gave "Birdemic" attention from horror movie websites Dread Central and Bloody Disgusting, while the trailer was featured on the July 30 episode of G4's "Attack of the Show".


title: Birdemic: Shock and Terror

text: On February 27, 2010, "Birdemic" received its Los Angeles premiere at the Silent Movie Theatre, sponsored by Bloody Disgusting and hosted by Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim, followed by a cast-and-crew attended screening at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, Texas on March 2, with follow-up screenings in Tempe, Arizona and New York City.


title: Birdemic: Shock and Terror

text: Severin Films acquired the film in early 2010 and launched the Birdemic Experience Tour 2010, which showed the film in numerous cities in the United States and Toronto, Canada from April through July 2010. Birdemic premiered in the United Kingdom at The Curzon Soho in London on May 28, 2010.


title: Birdemic: Shock and Terror

text: In early 2010, "Birdemic" was picked up by Severin Films with plans to release the film on home media. "Birdemic" was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on February 22, 2011. The DVD's special features include an audio commentary by James Nguyen as well as one by lead actors Alan Bagh, Whitney Moore, and fan who discovered the film, Bobby Hacker. The Blu-ray also features two deleted scenes, a feature on the Birdemic Experience Tour, and an episode of the public-access San Francisco TV show "Movie Close Up" which features Nguyen and was aired as "Birdemic" was still under production (the host of the show, Bonnie Steiger, later played an extra in the bus rescue scene of "Birdemic"). It is also available on demand at Amazon via Fandor and on the free streaming service Tubi.


title: Birdemic: Shock and Terror

text: "Birdemic" has been noted for its poor quality, with reviewers calling out its wooden acting and dialogue, amateurish sound and editing, nonsensical plot, and its special effects, consisting entirely of poorly rendered CGI eagles and vultures that, in addition to performing physically awkward aerial maneuvers (non-animated bird sprites in the background will simply rotate 360° in mid-air), spit acid and explode with unrealistic smoke upon impact with the ground with a plane dive sound effect. It has also been noted that the birds do not appear until nearly halfway (47 minutes) into the film.


title: Birdemic: Shock and Terror

text: On a 2009 "Best of" list, Bloody Disgusting listed "Birdemic" amongst its honorable mentions, calling it "the best worst film you'll see in 2010". "The Huffington Post" referred to the film as "truly, one of the worst films ever made." "Variety" reported that "'Birdemic' displays all the revered hallmarks of hilariously bad filmmaking: inane dialogue...miscued music, godawful sound...and special effects that simply must be seen to be believed: birds dive-bombing and exploding in red-and-yellow poofs of smoke, and clip-art eagles, crudely pasted on the screen, with only their wing tips mechanically flapping." "The Village Voice" described "Birdemic" as "one more in the pantheon of beloved trash-terpieces." "Salon" commented on the "atrocious CGI" and reported that the film had become "a cult hit among bad-movie fans."


title: Birdemic: Shock and Terror

text: An online review from the Independent Film Channel stated that the film feels "indebted to Wood's "Plan 9 from Outer Space" with its blend of ultra-low budget filmmaking and cuckoo bananas ecological message." "The Guardian" and "The New York Times" reported on the film's cult status, with "The Guardian" writing that ""Birdemic" features acting as wooden as a tree, clunky camera work...and crude special effects that reduce audiences to tears of laughter rather than terror." "Slate" wrote that "aspects of "Birdemic" can seem too bad to be true...The film's artlessness comes to function as its own sort of hallucinatory art...we see the narrative space of the film breaking down and rebuilding itself constantly—bloody stitches on its forehead, bolts in its neck. This breakdown can be profoundly discomfiting and surprisingly infectious." , the film holds an 18% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 17 reviews with a weighted average rating of 2.55/10.


title: Birdemic: Shock and Terror

text: Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim, who hosted the Los Angeles premiere, parodied the movie on their television series "Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!" in the 2009 episode "Crows". On the February 25, 2011 episode of "The Soup", scenes of "Birdemic", especially an elongated scene in which employees clap incessantly at the company's good financial news, was the "Clip of the Week". The Bob Buel Ridicule Theatre podcast featured both "Birdemic" and its sequel on its show, mocking the films extensively. A live show of the podcast "How Did This Get Made?" released on February 28, 2012 and starring cast member Whitney Moore and guest star "Weird Al" Yankovic (who states that he is a fan of the film) is dedicated to discussing "Birdemic".