Albany, New York Albany ( -LSB- ˈɔːlbəni -RSB- ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York and the seat of Albany County . Roughly 150 mi north of New York City , Albany developed on the west bank of the Hudson River , about 10 mi south of its confluence with the Mohawk River . The population of the City of Albany was 97,856 according to the 2010 census . Albany constitutes the economic and cultural core of the Capital District of New York State , which comprises the Albany-Schenectady-Troy , NY Metropolitan Statistical Area , including the nearby cities and suburbs of Troy , Schenectady , and Saratoga Springs . With a 2013 Census-estimated population of 1.1 million the Capital District is the third-most populous metropolitan region in the state and 38th in the United States .   Fortune 500 companies with offices in Albany include American Express , J.P. Morgan and Chase , Merrill Lynch , General Electric , Verizon , Goldman Sachs , International Paper , and Key Bank . In the 21st century , the Capital District has emerged as a major anchor of Tech Valley , the moniker describing the technologically-focused region of eastern New York State .   This was the first European settlement in the state . It was settled by Dutch colonists who in 1614 , built Fort Nassau for fur trading and Fort Orange in 1624 . They formed successful relations with both the Mahican and the Mohawk peoples , two major Native American nations in the region . The fur trade attracted settlers who founded a village called Beverwijck near Fort Orange . In 1664 the English took over the Dutch settlements , renaming the city as Albany , in honor of the then Duke of Albany , the future James II of England and James VII of Scotland . The city was officially chartered in 1686 under English rule . It became the capital of New York State in 1797 , following the United States gaining independence in the American Revolutionary War . Albany is one of the oldest surviving settlements of the original British thirteen colonies , and the longest continuously chartered city in the United States . Its charter is possibly the longest-running instrument of municipal government in the Western Hemisphere .   During the late 18th century and throughout most of the 19th , Albany was a center of trade and transportation . It is on the north end of the navigable Hudson River , was the original eastern terminus of the Erie Canal connecting to the Great Lakes , and was home to some of the earliest railroad systems in the world . Albany 's main exports at the time were beer , lumber , published works , and ironworks . Beginning in 1810 , Albany was one of the ten most populous cities in the United States , a distinction it held until the 1860 census .   Albany is one of the first cities in the world to have installed public water mains , sewer lines , natural gas lines and electricity , infrastructure and utilities that attracted and supported substantial new industry to the city and surrounding area during the 19th century .   In the 20th century , the city opened one of the first commercial airports in the world , the precursor of today 's Albany International Airport . During the 1920s a powerful political machine controlled by the Democratic Party arose in the state capital , connected to politics in New York City as well . It marshalled the power of immigrants and their descendants in both cities .   The city 's skyline changed in the 1960s and 1970s with the construction of office towers around the Empire State Plaza and at the uptown campus of SUNY Albany , mainly under the direction of Governor Nelson Rockefeller . While Albany experienced a decline in its population due to urban sprawl and suburbanization , many of its historic neighborhoods were saved from destruction through the policies of Mayor Erastus Corning 2nd , the longest-serving mayor of any city in the United States . In the early 21st century , Albany has experienced growth in the high-technology industry , with great strides in the nanotechnology sector .   Albany has been a center of higher education for over a century , with much of the remainder of its economy dependent on state government and health care services . The city has rebounded from the urban decline of the 1970s and 1980s , with noticeable development taking place in the city 's downtown and midtown neighborhoods . Albany is known for its rich history , commerce , culture , architecture , and institutions of higher education . Albany won the All-America City Award in both 1991 and 2009 .


Gabon Gabon ( -LSB- ɡəˈbɒn -RSB- -LSB- ɡabɔ̃ -RSB- ) , officially the Gabonese Republic ( République gabonaise ) , is a sovereign state on the west coast of Central Africa . Located on the equator , Gabon is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest , Cameroon to the north , the Republic of the Congo on the east and south , and the Gulf of Guinea to the west . It has an area of nearly 270000 sqkm and its population is estimated at 1.5 million people . Its capital and largest city is Libreville .   Since its independence from France in 1960 , Gabon has had three presidents . In the early 1990s , Gabon introduced a multi-party system and a new democratic constitution that allowed for a more transparent electoral process and reformed many governmental institutions . Gabon was also a temporary member of the United Nations Security Council for the 2010 -- 2011 term .   Abundant petroleum and foreign private investment have helped make Gabon one of the most prosperous countries in Sub-Saharan Africa , with the 4th highest HDI and the third highest GDP per capita ( PPP ) ( after Equatorial Guinea and Botswana ) in the region . GDP grew by more than 6 % per year from 2010 to 2012 . However , because of inequality in income distribution , a significant proportion of the population remains poor .


Cameroon Cameroon ( -LSB- ˌkæməˈruː n -RSB- Cameroun ) , officially the Republic of Cameroon ( République du Cameroun ) , is a country in West Africa . It is bordered by Nigeria to the west ; Chad to the northeast ; the Central African Republic to the east ; and Equatorial Guinea , Gabon , and the Republic of the Congo to the south . Cameroon 's coastline lies on the Bight of Biafra , part of the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean .   French and English are the official languages of Cameroon . The country is often referred to as `` Africa in miniature '' for its geological and cultural diversity . Natural features include beaches , deserts , mountains , rainforests , and savannas . The highest point at almost 4100 m is Mount Cameroon in the Southwest Region of the country , and the largest cities in population-terms are Douala on the Wouri river , its economic capital and main seaport , Yaoundé , its political capital , and Garoua . After independence , the newly united nation joined the Commonwealth of Nations , although the vast majority of its territories had previously been a German colony and , after World War I , a French mandate . The country is well known for its native styles of music , particularly makossa and bikutsi , and for its successful national football team .   Early inhabitants of the territory included the Sao civilisation around Lake Chad and the Baka hunter-gatherers in the southeastern rainforest . Portuguese explorers reached the coast in the 15th century and named the area Rio dos Camarões ( Shrimp River ) , which became Cameroon in English . Fulani soldiers founded the Adamawa Emirate in the north in the 19th century , and various ethnic groups of the west and northwest established powerful chiefdoms and fondoms . Cameroon became a German colony in 1884 known as Kamerun .   After World War I , the territory was divided between France and the United Kingdom as League of Nations mandates . In 1960 , the French-administered part of Cameroon became independent as the Republic of Cameroun under President Ahmadou Ahidjo . The southern part of British Cameroons federated with it in 1961 to form the Federal Republic of Cameroon . The federation was abandoned in 1972 . The country was renamed the United Republic of Cameroon in 1972 and the Republic of Cameroon in 1984 .   Cameroon enjoys relatively high political and social stability . This has permitted the development of agriculture , roads , railways , and large petroleum and timber industries . Nevertheless , large numbers of Cameroonians live in poverty as subsistence farmers . Power lies firmly in the hands of the authoritarian president since 1982 , Paul Biya , and his Cameroon People 's Democratic Movement party . The English-speaking territories of Cameroon have grown increasingly alienated from the government . Politicians and civil society in English-speaking regions have called for greater decentralization and even complete separation or independence ( for example : the Southern Cameroons National Council ) from the former French-governed territories .


Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea ( Guinea Ecuatorial , Guinée équatoriale , Guiné Equatorial ) , officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea ( República de Guinea Ecuatorial , République de Guinée équatoriale , República da Guiné Equatorial ) , is a country located in Central Africa , with an area of 28000 km2 . Formerly the colony of Spanish Guinea , its post-independence name evokes its location near both the Equator and the Gulf of Guinea . Equatorial Guinea is the only sovereign African state in which Spanish is an official language . , the country had an estimated population of 1,222,245 .   Equatorial Guinea consists of two parts , an insular and a mainland region . The insular region consists of the islands of Bioko ( formerly Fernando Pó ) in the Gulf of Guinea and Annobón , a small volcanic island south of the equator . Bioko Island is the northernmost part of Equatorial Guinea and is the site of the country 's capital , Malabo . The island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe is located between Bioko and Annobón . The mainland region , Río Muni , is bordered by Cameroon on the north and Gabon on the south and east . It is the location of Bata , Equatorial Guinea 's largest city , and Oyala , the country 's planned future capital . Rio Muni also includes several small offshore islands , such as Corisco , Elobey Grande , and Elobey Chico . The country is a member of the African Union , Francophonie , OPEC and the CPLP .   Since the mid-1990s , Equatorial Guinea has become one of sub-Saharan Africa 's largest oil producers . It is the richest country per capita in Africa , and its gross domestic product ( GDP ) adjusted for purchasing power parity ( PPP ) per capita ranks 43rd in the world ; However , the wealth is distributed very unevenly and few people have benefited from the oil riches . The country ranks 144th on the UN 's 2014 Human Development Index . The UN says that less than half of the population has access to clean drinking water and that 20 % of children die before reaching the age of five .   The country 's authoritarian government has one of the worst human rights records in the world , consistently ranking among the `` worst of the worst '' in Freedom House 's annual survey of political and civil rights . Reporters Without Borders ranks President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo among its `` predators '' of press freedom . Human trafficking is a significant problem , with the U.S.Trafficking in Persons Report , 2012 , stating that `` Equatorial Guinea is a source and destination for women and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking . '' The report rates Equatorial Guinea as a `` Tier 3 '' country , the lowest ( worst ) ranking : `` Countries whose governments do not fully comply with the minimum standards and are not making significant efforts to do so . ''


Western Romance languages Western Romance languages are one of the two subdivisions of a proposed subdivision of the Romance languages based on the La Spezia -- Rimini line . They include the Gallo-Romance and Iberian-Romance branches as well as northern Italian . The subdivision is based solely on the use of the `` s '' for pluralization and the weakening of some consonants , but that makes the categorization highly problematic because there is much higher lexical similarity between all dialects of Italian and French than between French and Spanish . There is also much higher morphological similarity between Spanish and Italian dialects than between Italian and French .   Based on mutual intelligibility , Dalby counts a dozen languages : Portuguese , Spanish , Asturian-Leonese , Aragonese , Catalan , Gascon , Provençal , Gallo-Wallon , French , Franco-Provençal , Romansh , and Ladin . This classification criterion is however problematic , due to the much higher levels of mutual intelligibility between Italic and Iberian languages than between either of these with Gallo-Romance languages .   Some classifications include Italo-Dalmatian ; the resulting clade is generally called Italo-Western Romance . Other classifications place Italo-Dalmatian with Eastern Romance .   Sardinian does not fit into either Western or Eastern Romance , and may have split off before either .   Today the four most-widely spoken standardized Western Romance languages are Spanish ( c. 410 million native ) , Portuguese ( c. 220 million native , another 45 million or so second-language speakers , mainly in Lusophone Africa ) , French ( c. 75 million native speakers , another 70 million or so second-language speakers , mostly in Francophone Africa ) , and Catalan ( c. 7.2 million native ) . Many of these languages have large numbers of non-native speakers ; this is especially the case for French , in widespread use throughout West Africa as a lingua franca .


Davis Guggenheim Philip Davis Guggenheim ( born November 3 , 1963 ) is an American film and television director and producer . His credits include NYPD Blue , ER , 24 , Alias , The Shield , Deadwood , and the documentaries An Inconvenient Truth , The Road We 've Traveled , Waiting for ` Superman ' and He Named Me Malala . Since 2006 , Guggenheim is the only filmmaker to release three different documentaries that were ranked within the top 100 highest-grossing documentaries of all time ( An Inconvenient Truth , It Might Get Loud , and Waiting for ′ Superman ′ ) .


Loki In Norse mythology , Loki ( Anglicized ( -LSB- ˈloʊki -RSB- ) ) , Loptr , or Hveðrungr is a god or jötunn ( or both ) . Loki is the son of Fárbauti and Laufey , and the brother of Helblindi and Býleistr . By the jötunn Angrboða , Loki is the father of Hel , the wolf Fenrir , and the world serpent Jörmungandr . By his wife Sigyn , Loki is the father of Narfi and/or Nari . By the stallion Svaðilfari , Loki is the mother -- giving birth in the form of a mare -- to the eight-legged horse Sleipnir . In addition , Loki is referred to as the father of Váli in Prose Edda , though this source also refers to Odin as the father of Váli twice , and Váli is found mentioned as a Son of Loki only once .   Loki 's relation with the gods varies by source ; Loki sometimes assists the gods and sometimes behaves in a malicious manner towards them . Loki is a shape shifter and in separate incidents he appears in the form of a salmon , a mare , a fly , and possibly an elderly woman named Þökk ( Old Norse ` thanks ' ) . Loki 's positive relations with the gods end with his role in engineering the death of the god Baldr and Loki is eventually bound by Váli with the entrails of one of his sons . In both the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda , the goddess Skaði is responsible for placing a serpent above him while he is bound . The serpent drips venom from above him that Sigyn collects into a bowl ; however , she must empty the bowl when it is full , and the venom that drips in the meantime causes Loki to writhe in pain , thereby causing earthquakes . With the onset of Ragnarök , Loki is foretold to slip free from his bonds and to fight against the gods among the forces of the jötnar , at which time he will encounter the god Heimdallr and the two will slay each other .   Loki is referred to in the Poetic Edda , compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources ; the Prose Edda and Heimskringla , written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson ; the Norwegian Rune Poems , in the poetry of skalds , and in Scandinavian folklore . Loki may be depicted on the Snaptun Stone , the Kirkby Stephen Stone , and the Gosforth Cross . Loki 's origins and role in Norse mythology , which some scholars have described as that of a trickster god , have been much debated by scholars . Loki has been depicted in or is referenced in a variety of media in modern popular culture .


Texas Longhorns men's basketball participates in things.

Texas Longhorns men's basketball The Texas Longhorns men 's basketball team '' ' represents The University of Texas at Austin in NCAA Division I intercollegiate men 's basketball competition . The Longhorns currently compete in the Big 12 Conference .   The University of Texas began varsity intercollegiate competition in men 's basketball in 1906 . The Longhorns rank 17th in total victories among all NCAA Division I college basketball programs and 25th in all-time win percentage among programs with at least 50 years in Division I , with an all-time win-loss record of 1750 -- 1054 . Among Big 12 Conference men 's basketball programs , Texas is second only to Kansas in both all-time wins and all-time win percentage .   The Longhorns have won 27 total conference championships in men 's basketball and have made 33 total appearances in the NCAA Tournament ( 11th-most appearances all time , with a 35 -- 36 overall record ) , reaching the NCAA Final Four three times ( 1943 , 1947 , 2003 ) and the NCAA Regional Finals ( Elite Eight ) seven times . As of March 21 , 2017 , Texas ranks fifth among all Division I men 's basketball programs for total NCAA Tournament games won without having won the national championship ( 35 ) , trailing Purdue ( 36 ) , Notre Dame ( 38 ) , Illinois ( 40 ) , and Oklahoma ( 41 ) .   The Texas basketball program experienced substantial success during the early decades of its existence , but its success in the modern era is of relatively recent vintage . After two losing seasons during the program 's first five years , Texas suffered only one losing season from 1912 to 1950 , achieving a winning percentage of .703 during that span , reaching two Final Fours and one Elite Eight during the first decade of the NCAA Tournament , and receiving retroactive recognition as the 1933 national champion from the Premo-Porretta Power Poll ; from 1951 to 1988 , the Longhorns finished with losing records 14 times , recorded a winning percentage of .522 , and participated in the expanded Tournament only five times . Texas achieved some measures of national recognition during the tenures of head coaches Abe Lemons ( 1976 -- 82 ) and Tom Penders ( 1988 -- 98 ) , but the program rose to its highest level of prominence under the direction of former head coach Rick Barnes ( 1998 -- 2015 ) . Barnes guided Texas to 16 NCAA Tournament appearances in his 17 seasons with the program , including a school-record fourteen consecutive appearances ( 1999 -- 2012 ) , as well as fifteen 20-win seasons overall and a school-best thirteen consecutive 20-win seasons ( 2000 -- 12 ) .   Since 1977 , the team has played its home games in the Frank Erwin Special Events Center , where it has compiled a record of 487 -- 119 as of March 7 , 2017 . The team is currently led by second-year head coach Shaka Smart .


Trolls is solely an American 2D computer-animated film.

Trolls (film) Trolls is a 2016 American 3D computer-animated musical romantic comedy adventure film based on the Troll dolls created by Thomas Dam . The film was directed by Mike Mitchell and co-directed by Walt Dohrn , written by Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger and based on a story by Erica Rivinoja . The film features the voices of Anna Kendrick , Justin Timberlake , Zooey Deschanel , Russell Brand , James Corden and Gwen Stefani . The film revolves around two trolls on a quest to save their village from destruction by the Bergens , creatures who eat trolls .   The 33rd animated feature film produced by DreamWorks Animation , the film premiered on October 8 , 2016 , at the BFI London Film Festival and was theatrically released in the United States on November 4 , 2016 , by 20th Century Fox . The film received generally positive reviews from critics , grossed $ 345 million worldwide against its $ 125 million budget and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song for `` Ca n't Stop the Feeling ! '' .   A sequel , titled Trolls 2 , is scheduled to be released on April 10 , 2020 with Kendrick and Timberlake reprising their roles as Poppy and Branch respectively .


Shawn Mendes Shawn Peter Raul Mendes ( -LSB- ˈmɛndɛz -RSB- , -LSB- ˈmẽdɨʃ -RSB- ; born August 8 , 1998 ) is a Canadian singer and songwriter . He attracted a following in 2013 , when he began posting song covers on the video sharing application Vine . The following year , he caught the attention of artist managers Andrew Gertler and Island Records A&R Ziggy Chareton , which led to him signing a deal with the record label . Mendes went on to release an EP and his debut studio album Handwritten , whose single `` Stitches '' reached the top 10 in the US and Canada , and number one in the UK . His sophomore album , Illuminate ( 2016 ) , was preceded by the single `` Treat You Better '' . Both albums debuted atop the US Billboard 200 .


Lenny Abrahamson is the director of Room.

Room (2015 film) Room is a 2015 independent drama film directed by Lenny Abrahamson and written by Emma Donoghue , based on her novel of the same name . It stars Brie Larson as a woman who has been held captive for seven years , and whose 5-year-old son ( Jacob Tremblay ) was born in captivity . Their escape allows the boy to experience the outside world for the first time . The film also stars Joan Allen , Sean Bridgers , and William H. Macy .   A co-production of Canada and Ireland , Room was shot in Toronto , with the eponymous Room set built at Pinewood Toronto Studios . The crew designed each part of the Room set to be removable to fit the crew . Larson researched trauma and nutrition for her part , while numerous children were considered for the role of Jack .   Room premiered at the Telluride Film Festival on 4 September 2015 and had a limited release in the United States on 16 October 2015 , to acclaim from critics . Larson won multiple awards for her performance , including the Academy Award for Best Actress , the BAFTA Award , Golden Globe Award , and the Screen Actors Guild Award . Room also received three other Academy Award nominations , including Best Picture and Best Director .


Doug Jones and a Mexican film director collaborate.

Guillermo del Toro Guillermo del Toro Gómez ( -LSB- ɡiˈʝeɾmo ðel ˈtoɾo -RSB- ; born October 9 , 1964 ) is a Mexican film director , screenwriter , producer , and novelist . In his filmmaking career , del Toro has alternated between Spanish-language dark fantasy pieces , such as the gothic horror film The Devil 's Backbone ( 2001 ) , and Pan 's Labyrinth ( 2006 ) , and more mainstream American action movies , such as the vampire superhero action film Blade II ( 2002 ) , the supernatural superhero film Hellboy ( 2004 ) , its sequel Hellboy II : The Golden Army ( 2008 ) , and the science fiction monster film Pacific Rim ( 2013 ) .   In addition to his directing works , del Toro is a prolific producer , his producing works including acclaimed and successful films such as The Orphanage ( 2007 ) , Julia 's Eyes ( 2010 ) , Biutiful ( 2010 ) , Kung Fu Panda 2 ( 2011 ) , Puss in Boots ( 2011 ) , and Mama ( 2013 ) . He was originally chosen by Peter Jackson to direct The Hobbit films ; he left the project due to production problems but was still credited as co-writer for his numerous contributions to the script .   Del Toro 's work is characterised by a strong connection to fairy tales and horror , with an effort to infuse visual or poetic beauty . He has a lifelong fascination with monsters , which he considers symbols of great power . Del Toro is known for his use of insectile and religious imagery , the themes of Catholicism and celebrating imperfection , underworld and clockwork motifs , practical special effects , dominant amber lighting , and his frequent collaborations with actors Ron Perlman , Doug Jones and Federico Luppi . He is also friends with fellow Mexican directors Alfonso Cuarón and Alejandro González Iñárritu , collectively known as `` The Three Amigos of Cinema . ''


Doug Jones (actor) Doug Jones ( born May 24 , 1960 ) is an American actor and former contortionist known for roles in the science fiction , fantasy , and horror genres , often wearing heavy makeup to play nonhuman characters . He is perhaps best known for his collaborations with filmmaker Guillermo del Toro , starring in Mimic , as Abe Sapien in Hellboy and Hellboy II : The Golden Army , the Faun and the Pale Man in Pan 's Labyrinth , Crimson Peak and The Shape of Water . He has appeared in films such as Tank Girl , Hocus Pocus and The Bye Bye Man . He also portrayed the titular Silver Surfer in the superhero film Fantastic Four : Rise of the Silver Surfer , as well as appearing in the TV series Falling Skies , Buffy the Vampire Slayer and del Toro 's The Strain . He is currently a series regular in Star Trek : Discovery , as Lt. Saru .


Furious 7 is not an installment in a franchise.

Furious 7 Furious 7 ( alternatively known as Fast & Furious 7 and Fast 7 ) is a 2015 American action film directed by James Wan and written by Chris Morgan . It is the seventh installment in The Fast and the Furious franchise . The film stars Vin Diesel , Paul Walker , Dwayne Johnson , Michelle Rodriguez , Tyrese Gibson , Chris ` Ludacris ' Bridges , Jordana Brewster , Djimon Hounsou , Kurt Russell , and Jason Statham . Furious 7 follows Dominic Toretto ( Diesel ) , Brian O'Conner ( Walker ) , and the rest of their team , who have returned to the United States to live normal lives after securing amnesty for their past crimes in Fast & Furious 6 ( 2013 ) , until Deckard Shaw ( Statham ) , a rogue special forces assassin seeking to avenge his comatose younger brother , puts the team in danger once again .   With the previous three installments set between 2 Fast 2 Furious ( 2003 ) and The Fast and the Furious : Tokyo Drift ( 2006 ) , Furious 7 is the first installment in the franchise to take place after Tokyo Drift . The film also marks the final film appearance of Walker , who died in a single-vehicle crash on November 30 , 2013 with filming only half-completed . Following Walker 's death , filming was delayed for script rewrites , and his brothers , Caleb and Cody , were used as stand-ins to complete his remaining scenes . These script rewrites completed the story arcs for both Walker and Brewster 's characters ( Brian O'Conner and Mia Toretto , respectively ) , causing both to be retired . As a result , it is also the final installment in the franchise to star Brewster .   Plans for a seventh installment were first announced in February 2012 when Johnson stated that production on the film would begin after the completion of Fast & Furious 6 . In April 2013 , Wan , predominantly known for horror films , was announced to direct the film in place of Justin Lin , who left the franchise after directing the previous four installments . Casting began in the same month with the re-signing of Diesel and Walker , and an initial release date was set . Principal photography began in Atlanta , Georgia , in September 2013 , resumed in April 2014 and ended in July 2014 , with other filming locations including Los Angeles , Colorado , Abu Dhabi , and Tokyo .   Furious 7 premiered in Los Angeles on April 1 , 2015 , and was theatrically released in the United States on April 3 , 2015 , playing in 3D , IMAX 3D , and 4DX internationally . Upon release , the film became a critical and commercial success , with praise being aimed at the film 's action sequences and its tribute to Walker . The film grossed $ 397.6 million worldwide during its opening weekend , which is the sixth highest-grossing opening of all time . The film has grossed over $ 1.5 billion worldwide -- more than the franchise 's first five installments combined -- making it the highest-grossing film of the franchise after just twelve days , the third highest-grossing film of 2015 and the sixth highest-grossing film of all time . A sequel , The Fate of the Furious , was released on April 14 , 2017 .


Bedazzled (2000 film) stars a Canadian-American chicken.

Bedazzled (2000 film) Bedazzled is a 2000 fantasy-comedy film remake of the 1967 film of the same name , originally written by Peter Cook and Dudley Moore , which was itself a comic retelling of the Faust legend . The film was directed by Harold Ramis and stars Brendan Fraser and Elizabeth Hurley .


A song from Collision Course won an award.

Collision Course (album) Collision Course is a collaborative EP from American rapper Jay-Z and nu metal band Linkin Park , released on November 30 , 2004 by Roc-A-Fella , Machine Shop , Warner Bros. and Def Jam records . Before the album , Jay-Z had released collaborations with The Roots and R. Kelly , and Linkin Park had collaborated with various artists on their remix album Reanimation . The album was inspired by The Grey Album by Danger Mouse , which was a mash-up album between Jay-Z and The Beatles . MTV had originally planned on mashing up only one or two songs , but the project was eventually expanded to a six song EP . The album was mostly produced by Mike Shinoda and Jay-Z , and was recorded between July 16 and July 19 .   Upon release , Collision Course reached # 1 on the Billboard 200 . As of June 2014 , it has sold 2 million copies in the United States alone . The album spawned one single , Numb/Encore which eventually won Best Rap/Sung Collaboration at the 2006 Grammy Awards .


The first season of Game of Thrones had a cast.

Game of Thrones (season 1) The first season of the fantasy drama television series Game of Thrones premiered on HBO on April 17 , 2011 , at 9.00 pm in the U.S. , and concluded on June 19 , 2011 . It consists of ten episodes , each of approximately 55 minutes . The series is based on A Game of Thrones , the first novel in the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin , adapted for television by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss . HBO had ordered a television pilot in November 2008 ; filming began the following year . However , it was deemed unsatisfactory and later reshot with some roles being recast . In March 2010 , HBO ordered the first season , which began filming in July 2010 , primarily in Belfast , Northern Ireland , with additional filming in Malta .   The story takes place in a fictional world , primarily upon a continent called Westeros , with one storyline occurring on another continent to the east known as Essos . Like the novel , the season initially focuses on the family of nobleman Eddard Stark , who is asked to become chief advisor to his king and longtime friend , Robert Baratheon . Ned must find out who killed the previous Hand of the King , Jon Arryn , while trying to protect his family from their rivals the Lannisters . He uncovers the dark secrets about the Lannisters that his predecessor died trying to expose . Meanwhile , in Essos , the exiled Viserys Targaryen , son of the former king , believes he still has the rightful claim to the throne .   Game of Thrones features a large ensemble cast , including Bean , Addy , Peter Dinklage , Lena Headey , Nikolaj Coster-Waldau , Michelle Fairley and Iain Glen . Newer actors were cast as the younger generation of characters , such as Kit Harington , Sophie Turner and Maisie Williams .   Critics praised the show 's production values and cast , with specific accolades for Dinklage 's portrayal of Tyrion Lannister . The first season won two of the thirteen Emmy Awards for which it was nominated , for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series ( Dinklage ) and Outstanding Main Title Design . It also received a nomination for Outstanding Drama Series . Bean and Emilia Clarke also received individual accolades , as did Ramin Djawadi for music . U.S. viewership rose by approximately 33 % over the course of the season , from 2.2 million to over 3 million by the finale .


The Illusionist (2006 film) The Illusionist is a 2006 American romantic mystery film written and directed by Neil Burger and starring Edward Norton , Paul Giamatti , and Jessica Biel . It is based loosely on Steven Millhauser 's short story , `` Eisenheim the Illusionist '' . The film tells the story of Eisenheim , a magician in turn-of-the-century Vienna , who reunites with his childhood love , a woman far above his social standing . The film also depicts a fictionalized version of the Mayerling Incident .   The film premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and opened the 2006 Seattle International Film Festival ; it was distributed in limited release to theaters on August 18 , 2006 , and expanded nationwide on September 1 . The film was a commercial and critical success .


Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III ( born October 17 , 1972 ) , known professionally as Eminem ( often stylized as EMINƎM ) , is an American rapper , record producer , and actor . Eminem is the best-selling artist of the 2000s in the United States . Throughout his career , he has had 10 number-one albums on the Billboard 200 and five number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 . With US sales of 45.1 million albums and 42 million tracks as of June 2014 , Eminem is the second best-selling male artist of the Nielsen SoundScan era , the sixth best-selling artist in the United States and the best-selling hip-hop artist . Globally , he has sold more than 172 million albums , thus being one of the world 's best-selling artists . Rolling Stone ranked him 83rd on its list of 100 Greatest Artists of All Time , calling him the King of Hip Hop .   After his debut album Infinite ( 1996 ) and the Slim Shady EP ( 1997 ) , Eminem signed with Dr. Dre 's Aftermath Entertainment and subsequently achieved mainstream popularity in 1999 with The Slim Shady LP , which earned him his first Grammy Award for Best Rap Album . His next two releases , 2000 's The Marshall Mathers LP and 2002 's The Eminem Show , were worldwide successes , with each being certified diamond in U.S. sales , and both winning Best Rap Album Grammy Awards -- making Eminem the first artist to win the award for three consecutive LPs . They were followed by Encore in 2004 , another critical and commercial success . Eminem went on hiatus after touring in 2005 , releasing Relapse in 2009 and Recovery in 2010 . Both won Grammy Awards and Recovery was the best-selling album of 2010 worldwide , the second time he had the international best-selling album of the year ( after The Eminem Show ) . Eminem 's eighth album , 2013 's The Marshall Mathers LP 2 , won two Grammy Awards , including Best Rap Album ; it expanded his record for the most wins in that category and his Grammy total to 15 .   In addition to his solo career , Eminem is an original member of the Midwest hip hop groups Soul Intent and D12 . He is also known for his collaborations with fellow Detroit-based rapper Royce da 5 ' 9 '' ; the two are collectively known as Bad Meets Evil . Eminem has developed other ventures , including Shady Records , with manager Paul Rosenberg , which helped launch the careers of artists such as 50 Cent . Eminem has also established his own channel , Shade 45 , on Sirius XM Radio . In November 2002 , he starred in the hip hop film 8 Mile , which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song , for `` Lose Yourself '' , becoming the first rap artist to win the award . Eminem has made cameo appearances in the films The Wash ( 2001 ) , Funny People ( 2009 ) , The Interview ( 2014 ) and the television series Entourage ( 2010 ) .


Jenna Dewan Jenna Dewan Tatum ( -LSB- də ` wɑːn _ ` teɪtəm -RSB- born Jenna Lee Dewan ; December 3 , 1980 ) is an American actress and dancer . She began her career as a backup dancer for Janet Jackson , and later worked with artists including Pink , Missy Elliott , and Christina Aguilera . She is known for her role as Nora in the 2006 film Step Up . She has also starred on the short-lived NBC series The Playboy Club and had a recurring role on the FX series American Horror Story : Asylum . She was Freya Beauchamp on the Lifetime series Witches of East End and as of 2016 was playing the recurring role of Lucy Lane in Supergirl .


The Lion King was only produced by Dreamworks.

The Lion King The Lion King is a 1994 American animated epic musical film , produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures . It is the 32nd Disney animated feature film . The story takes place in a kingdom of lions in Africa and was influenced by William Shakespeare 's Hamlet . The film was produced during a period known as the Disney Renaissance . The Lion King was directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff , produced by Don Hahn , and has a screenplay credited to Irene Mecchi , Jonathan Roberts , and Linda Woolverton . Its original songs were written by composer Elton John and lyricist Tim Rice , and original scores were written by Hans Zimmer . The film features an ensemble voice cast that includes Matthew Broderick , James Earl Jones , Jeremy Irons , Jonathan Taylor Thomas , Moira Kelly , Nathan Lane , Ernie Sabella , Rowan Atkinson , Robert Guillaume , Madge Sinclair , Whoopi Goldberg , Cheech Marin , and Jim Cummings .   The Lion King tells the story of Simba , a young lion who is to succeed his father , Mufasa , as King of the Pride Lands ; however , after Simba 's uncle Scar murders Mufasa , Simba is manipulated into thinking he was responsible and flees into exile . Upon maturation living with two wastrels , Simba is given some valuable perspective from his childhood friend , Nala , and his shaman , Rafiki , before returning to challenge Scar to end his tyranny and take his place in the Circle of Life as the rightful King .   Development of The Lion King began in 1988 during a meeting between Jeffrey Katzenberg , Roy E. Disney , and Peter Schneider while promoting Oliver & Company in Europe . Thomas Disch wrote a film treatment , and Woolverton developed the first scripts while George Scribner was signed on as director , being later joined by Allers . Production began in 1991 concurrently with Pocahontas , which wound up attracting most of Disney 's top animators . Some time after the staff traveled to Hell 's Gate National Park in Kenya to research on the film 's setting and animals , Scribner left production disagreeing with the decision to turn the film into a musical and was replaced by Minkoff . When Hahn joined the project , he was dissatisfied with the script and the story was promptly rewritten . Nearly 20 minutes of animation sequences were produced at Disney-MGM Studios in Florida . Computer animation was also used in several scenes , most notably in the wildebeest stampede sequence .   The Lion King was released on June 15 , 1994 , to a positive reaction from critics , who praised the film for its music , story , and animation ; it finished its theatrical run as the highest-grossing release of 1994 and the second highest-grossing film of all time . The Lion King garnered two Academy Awards for its achievement in music and the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture -- Musical or Comedy . The film has led to many derived works , such as a Broadway adaptation ; two direct-to-video follow-ups -- the sequel , The Lion King II : Simba 's Pride ( 1998 ) , and the prequel/parallel , The Lion King 1 1/2 ( 2004 ) -- ; two television series , Timon and Pumbaa and The Lion Guard ; and a 3D re-release , in 2011 .   In 2016 , the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being `` culturally , historically , or aesthetically significant '' .   A CGI live-action remake of the film is scheduled for a July 19 , 2019 release in the United States .


XXx: Return of Xander Cage is an American film.

XXx: Return of Xander Cage xXx : Return of Xander Cage ( released as xXx : Reactivated in some countries ) is a 2017 American action film directed by D. J. Caruso and written by F. Scott Frazier . The film stars Vin Diesel , Donnie Yen , Deepika Padukone , Kris Wu , Ruby Rose , Tony Jaa , Nina Dobrev , Toni Collette , and Samuel L. Jackson . It is the third installment in the xXx franchise and a sequel to both xXx ( 2002 ) and xXx : State of the Union ( 2005 ) .   Unlike the previous films , which were distributed by Columbia Pictures , the film was released by Paramount Pictures on January 20 , 2017 , in 2D , RealD 3D and IMAX 3D . This also marks the first film produced by Revolution Studios in ten years since 2007 's The Water Horse : Legend of the Deep . The film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed over $ 346 million worldwide against a production budget of $ 85 million , making it the eighth highest-grossing film of 2017 , the highest-grossing film of Revolution Studios and in the franchise .


Jesse Eisenberg worked with Justin Bartha.

Jesse Eisenberg Jesse Adam Eisenberg ( born October 5 , 1983 ) is an American actor , author and playwright . Born and raised in New York City , Eisenberg began acting in plays at an early age , and made his television debut with the short-lived comedy-drama series Get Real ( 1999 -- 2000 ) . Following his first leading role in the comedy-drama film Roger Dodger ( 2002 ) , he appeared in the drama film The Emperor 's Club ( 2002 ) , the psychological thriller film The Village ( 2004 ) , the comedy-drama film The Squid and the Whale ( 2005 ) and the drama film The Education of Charlie Banks ( 2007 ) . In 2006 , Eisenberg was the recipient of the Vail Film Festival Rising Star Award for his role in The Living Wake .   In 2009 , he starred in the comedy-drama film Adventureland with Kristen Stewart and the horror comedy Zombieland with Emma Stone , Abigail Breslin , and Woody Harrelson . He then played Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in the 2010 film The Social Network , for which he received nominations for various awards , including the BAFTA , Golden Globe , and Academy Award . He also starred in Holy Rollers ( 2010 ) , which was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival .   Since , he has gone on to voice the main character , Blu , a male Spix 's macaw , in the animated films Rio ( 2011 ) and Rio 2 ( 2014 ) ; starred in the 2011 action-comedy film 30 Minutes or Less ; starred in two films by Woody Allen , To Rome with Love ( 2012 ) and Café Society . He played a magician in the heist film Now You See Me ( 2013 ) and its 2016 sequel ; re-teamed with Kristen Stewart for the action-comedy film American Ultra ( 2015 ) ; and portrayed supervillain Lex Luthor opposite Ben Affleck , Henry Cavill , and Gal Gadot in Batman v Superman : Dawn of Justice , which was released in March 2016 .   Eisenberg has contributed pieces to The New Yorker and McSweeney 's websites . He has written and starred in three plays for the New York stage : Asuncion , The Revisionist , and The Spoils . Eisenberg 's first book , Bream Gives Me Hiccups : and Other Stories , a short story collection , was released in September 2015 .


Saratoga is a film from the United States..

Saratoga (film) Saratoga is a 1937 American romantic comedy film written by Anita Loos and directed by Jack Conway . The film stars Clark Gable and Jean Harlow in their sixth and final film collaboration , and features Lionel Barrymore , Frank Morgan , Walter Pidgeon , Hattie McDaniel , and Margaret Hamilton .   Jean Harlow died before filming was finished , and it was completed using stand-ins . Saratoga was MGM 's biggest moneymaker of 1937 .


Escape from Planet Earth was produced by a company.

Escape from Planet Earth Escape from Planet Earth is a 2013 Canadian-American 3D computer animated science fiction-comedy film produced by Rainmaker Entertainment and distributed by The Weinstein Company in the United States and Alliance Films in Canada , directed by Cal Brunker which he co-wrote with Bob Barlen , and starring the voices of Rob Corddry , Brendan Fraser , Sarah Jessica Parker , William Shatner , Jessica Alba , Craig Robinson , George Lopez , Jane Lynch and Sofía Vergara . The film was released on February 15 , 2013 . This was the first Rainmaker Entertainment film released in theaters . It was also Jessica Alba 's voice debut in an animated feature . The film earned $ 74.6 million on a $ 40 million budget .


The Republican Party was strongly committed to tariffs.

Republican Party (United States) The Republican Party , commonly referred to as the GOP ( abbreviation for Grand Old Party ) , is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States , the other being its historic rival , the Democratic Party . The party is named after republicanism , the dominant value during the American Revolution . Founded by anti-slavery activists , modernists , ex-Whigs , and ex-Free Soilers in 1854 , the Republicans dominated politics nationally and in the majority of northern States for most of the period between 1860 and 1932 .   There have been 19 Republican presidents , the most from any one party . The first was 16th president Abraham Lincoln , who served from 1861 to 1865 , when he was assassinated , and the most recent being 45th and current president Donald Trump , who took office on January 20 , 2017 .   The Republican Party 's current ideology is American conservatism , which contrasts with the Democrats ' more progressive platform ( also called modern liberalism ) . Further , its platform involves support for free market capitalism , free enterprise , fiscal conservatism , a strong national defense , deregulation , and restrictions on labor unions . In addition to advocating for conservative economic policies , the Republican Party is socially conservative , and seeks to uphold traditional values based largely on Judeo-Christian ethics . The GOP was strongly committed to protectionism and tariffs from its founding until the 1930s , when it was based in the industrial Northeast and Midwest . Since 1952 there has been a reversal against protectionism and the party 's core support since the 1990s comes chiefly from the South , the Great Plains , the Mountain States and rural districts in the North . as well as from conservative Catholics , Mormons , and Evangelicals nationwide .   As of 2017 , the Republican Party is documented as being at its strongest position politically since 1928 . In addition to holding the Presidency ( via Trump and Vice President Mike Pence ) , the Republicans control the 115th United States Congress , having majorities in both the House of Representatives and the Senate . The party also holds a majority of governorships ( 33/50 ) and state legislatures ( full control of 32/50 , split control of six others ) .


One Direction One Direction ( commonly abbreviated as 1D ) are an English-Irish pop boy band based in London , composed of Niall Horan , Liam Payne , Harry Styles , Louis Tomlinson , and previously , Zayn Malik until his departure from the band on 25 March 2015 . The group signed with Simon Cowell 's record label Syco Records after forming and finishing third in the seventh series of the British televised singing competition The X Factor in 2010 . Propelled to international success by social media , One Direction 's five albums , Up All Night ( 2011 ) , Take Me Home ( 2012 ) , Midnight Memories ( 2013 ) , Four ( 2014 ) , and Made in the A.M. ( 2015 ) , topped charts in most major markets , and generated hit singles including `` What Makes You Beautiful '' , `` Live While We 're Young '' , `` Best Song Ever '' , `` Story of My Life '' , and `` Drag Me Down '' .   Their awards include six Brit Awards , four MTV Video Music Awards , eleven MTV Europe Music Awards , seven American Music Awards ( including Artist of the Year in 2014 and 2015 ) , and 27 Teen Choice Awards , among many others . According to Nick Gatfield , the chairman and chief executive of Sony Music Entertainment UK , One Direction represented a $ 50 million business empire by June 2012 . They were proclaimed 2012 's `` Top New Artist '' by Billboard . According to the Sunday Times Rich List , by April 2013 , they had an estimated personal combined wealth of # 25 million ( $ 41.2 m ) making them the second-wealthiest musicians in the UK under 30 years of age . In 2014 , Forbes listed them the second-highest earning celebrities under 30 , with the group earning an estimated $ 75 million from June 2013 to June 2014 . In June 2015 , Forbes listed their earnings at $ 130 million for the previous twelve months , and ranked them the fourth highest earning celebrities in the world . In 2016 Forbes ranked them the world 's second highest earning celebrities .   After the release of Four , One Direction became the first band in the US Billboard 200 history to have their first four albums debut at number one . Their third album , Midnight Memories , was the biggest-selling album worldwide of 2013 despite being released in late November . The band 's Where We Are Tour in support of Midnight Memories and Four , was the highest-grossing concert tour in 2014 , and the highest-grossing tour ever by a vocal group , generating $ 282 million . In 2014 , Billboard named One Direction Artist of the Year . The band is currently on a hiatus that began in January 2016 , allowing all members to pursue other projects .


Felicity Huffman was born November 9, 1962.

Felicity Huffman Felicity Kendall Huffman ( born December 9 , 1962 ) is an American film , stage , and television actress .   Huffman began her acting career in theatre and in the 1990s also had many supporting roles in film and television . She starred as executive producer Dana Whitaker in the critically acclaimed ABC comedy-drama Sports Night from 1998 to 2000 , which earned her a Golden Globe Award nomination . She is best known for her role as Lynette Scavo in the long-running ABC comedy-drama Desperate Housewives ( 2004 -- 2012 ) , for which she earned a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for the debut season of the series and three Screen Actors Guild Awards overall .   Huffman drew critical praise for her performance as a transgender woman in the independent film Transamerica ( 2005 ) . The role earned her a Golden Globe Award , Independent Spirit Award , National Board of Review , and an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress . Huffman has also starred in such films as Reversal of Fortune ( 1990 ) , The Spanish Prisoner ( 1997 ) , Magnolia ( 1999 ) , Path to War ( 2002 ) , Georgia Rule ( 2007 ) , Phoebe in Wonderland ( 2008 ) , Rudderless ( 2014 ) and Cake ( 2014 ) . Since 2015 , she has started in a third ABC series , the anthology crime drama American Crime , for which she has received critical acclaim including a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie nomination . Additionally , she has been nominated on three more occasions for a Golden Globe Award , and has also won an Obie .


Winona Ryder Winona Ryder ( born Winona Laura Horowitz ; October 29 , 1971 ) is an American actress . One of the most profitable and iconic actresses of the 1990s , she made her film debut in the 1986 film Lucas . As Lydia Deetz , a goth teenager in Tim Burton 's Beetlejuice ( 1988 ) , she won critical acclaim and widespread recognition . After appearances in film and on television , Ryder continued her acting career with the cult film Heathers ( 1988 ) , a controversial satire of teenage suicide and high school life that has since become a landmark teen film . She later appeared in the coming of age drama Mermaids ( 1990 ) , earning a Golden Globe nomination , and in the same year appeared alongside Johnny Depp in Burton 's dark fairy-tale Edward Scissorhands ( 1990 ) , and shortly thereafter with Keanu Reeves in Francis Ford Coppola 's gothic romance Bram Stoker 's Dracula ( 1992 ) .   Having played diverse roles in many well-received films in the mid to late 1980s and early 1990s , Ryder won a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress and an Academy Award nomination in the same category for her role in The Age of Innocence in 1993 , as well as another Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for her role in the literary adaptation of Little Women the following year . She later appeared in the Generation X hit Reality Bites ( 1994 ) , Alien : Resurrection ( 1997 ) , the Woody Allen comedy Celebrity ( 1998 ) , and Girl , Interrupted ( 1999 ) , which she also executive-produced . In 2000 , Ryder received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame , honoring her legacy in the film industry .   Ryder 's personal life has attracted significant media attention . Her relationship with Johnny Depp in the early 1990s and a 2001 arrest for shoplifting were constant subjects of tabloid journalism . She has been open about her personal struggles with anxiety and depression .   In 2002 , she appeared in the box office hit Mr. Deeds alongside Adam Sandler . In 2006 , Ryder returned to the screen after a brief hiatus , appearing in high-profile films such as Star Trek . In 2010 , she was nominated for two Screen Actors Guild Awards : as the lead actress in When Love Is Not Enough : The Lois Wilson Story and as part of the cast of Black Swan . She also reunited with Burton for Frankenweenie ( 2012 ) . Since 2016 , she has starred as Joyce Byers in the Netflix supernatural-horror series Stranger Things , for which she has garnered Golden Globe and SAG nominations .


The Portuguese Empire was one of the most advanced empires in world history.

Portuguese Empire The Portuguese Empire ( Império Português ) , also known as the Portuguese Overseas ( Ultramar Português ) , was one of the largest and longest-lived empires in world history and the first colonial empire of the Renaissance . It existed for almost six centuries from the capture of Ceuta in 1415 to the grant of sovereignty to East Timor in 2002 .   The first era of the Portuguese empire originated at the beginning of the Age of Discovery . Initiated by the Kingdom of Portugal , it would eventually expand across the globe . Portuguese sailors began exploring the coast of Africa and the Atlantic archipelagos in 1418 -- 19 , using recent developments in navigation , cartography and maritime technology such as the caravel , in order that they might find a sea route to the source of the lucrative spice trade . In 1488 , Bartolomeu Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope , and in 1498 , Vasco da Gama reached India . In 1500 , either by an accidental landfall or by the crown 's secret design , Pedro Álvares Cabral discovered Brazil on the South American coast .   Over the following decades , Portuguese sailors continued to explore the coasts and islands of East Asia , establishing forts and factories as they went . By 1571 , a string of naval outposts connected Lisbon to Nagasaki along the coasts of Africa , the Middle East , India and South Asia . This commercial network and the colonial trade had a substantial positive impact on Portuguese economic growth ( 1500-1800 ) , when it accounted for about a fifth of Portugal 's per capita income .   When Philip II of Spain , I of Portugal , inherited the Portuguese crown in 1580 , this began a 60-year union between Spain and Portugal that has since been given the historiographic term of the Iberian Union . Though the realms continued to be administered separately , the Council of Portugal ruled the country and its empire from Madrid . As the King of Spain was also King of Portugal , Portuguese colonies became the subject of attacks by three rival European powers hostile to Spain : the Dutch Republic , England , and France . With its smaller population , Portugal was unable to effectively defend its overstretched network of trading posts , and the empire began a long and gradual decline . Eventually , Brazil became the most valuable colony of the second era until , as part of the wave of independence movements that swept the Americas during the early 19th century , it broke away in 1822 .   The third era represents the final stage of Portuguese colonialism after the decolonization of the Americas of the 1820s . The colonial possessions had been reduced to the African coastline ( expanded inland during the Scramble for Africa in the late 19th century ) , Portuguese Timor , and enclaves in India ( Goa ) and China ( Macau ) . The disastrous 1890 British Ultimatum led to the contraction of Portuguese ambitions in Africa .   Under António Salazar , the Second Portuguese Republic made some ill-fated attempts to hold on to its last remaining colonies and overseas provinces after the 1961 Indian annexation of Goa , embarking on the Portuguese Colonial War in Africa which lasted until the final overthrow of the regime in the Carnation Revolution of 1974 . Macau was returned to China in 1999 .


Colonial empire The colonial empires began with a race of exploration between the then most advanced maritime powers , Portugal and Spain , during the 15th century . The initial impulse behind these dispersed maritime empires and those that followed was trade , driven by the new ideas and the capitalism that grew out of the European Renaissance . Agreements were also made to divide the world up between them in 1479 , 1493 , and 1494 . European imperialism was born out of competition between European Christians and Ottoman Muslims , the latter of which rose up quickly in the 14th century and forced the Spanish and Portuguese to seek new trade routes to China .


Chris Terrio Chris Terrio ( born December 31 , 1976 ) is an American screenwriter and film director . He is best known for writing the screenplay for the 2012 film Argo , for which he won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay . Terrio also won the Writers Guild Award for Best Adapted Screenplay of 2012 and was nominated for Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay , a BAFTA and the 2013 Los Angeles Film Critics Award for Best Adapted Screenplay .   Terrio wrote the screenplay for Batman v Superman : Dawn of Justice , the follow-up to Zack Snyder 's Man of Steel , based on an earlier draft by David S. Goyer . He has also recently completed a screenplay entitled A Foreigner , based on an article by the journalist David Grann , and Justice League for Warner Bros .


Slovakia Slovakia ( listen ) , is a landlocked country in Central Europe . It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west , Poland to the north , Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south . Slovakia 's territory spans about 49000 km2 and is mostly mountainous . The population is over 5 million and comprises mostly ethnic Slovaks . The capital and largest city is Bratislava . The official language is Slovak .   The Slavs arrived in the territory of present-day Slovakia in the 5th and 6th centuries . In the 7th century , they played a significant role in the creation of Samo 's Empire and in the 9th century established the Principality of Nitra . In the 10th century , the territory was integrated into the Kingdom of Hungary , which itself became part of the Ottoman Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire . After World War I and the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire , the Slovaks and Czechs established Czechoslovakia . A separate ( First ) Slovak Republic ( 1939 -- 1945 ) existed in World War II as a client state of Nazi Germany . In 1945 , Czechoslovakia was re-established under Communist rule as a Soviet satellite . In 1989 the Velvet Revolution ended authoritarian Communist rule in Czechoslovakia . Slovakia became an independent state on 1 January 1993 after the peaceful dissolution of Czechoslovakia , sometimes known as the Velvet Divorce .   Slovakia is a high-income advanced economy with a very high Human Development Index , a very high standard of living and performs favourably in measurements of civil liberties , press freedom , internet freedom , democratic governance and peacefulness . The country maintains a combination of market economy with a comprehensive social security system . Citizens of Slovakia are provided with universal health care , free education and one of the longest paid maternity leave in the OECD . The country joined the European Union in 2004 and the Eurozone on 1 January 2009 . Slovakia is also a member of the Schengen Area , NATO , the United Nations , the OECD , the WTO , CERN , the OSCE , the Council of Europe and the Visegrád Group . The Slovak economy is one of the fastest growing economies in Europe and 3rd fastest in eurozone . Its legal tender , the Euro , is the world 's 2nd most traded currency . Although regional income inequality is high , 90 % of citizens own their homes . In 2016 , Slovak citizens had visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 165 countries and territories , ranking the Slovak passport 11th in the world . Slovakia is the world 's largest per-capita car producer with a total of 1,040,000 cars manufactured in the country in 2016 alone and the 7th largest car producer in the European Union . The car industry represents 43 % of Slovakia 's industrial output , and a quarter of its exports .


Gregor Clegane is a character from a book by George R. R. Martin.

Gregor Clegane Ser Gregor Clegane , nicknamed The Mountain , is a fictional character in the A Song of Ice and Fire series of fantasy novels by American author George R. R. Martin , and its television adaptation Game of Thrones . He is a retainer to House Lannister . An enormous man , he is well known for his size , prowess in battle and cruelty .   Introduced in 1996 's A Game of Thrones , Gregor is the older brother of Sandor Clegane , from the fictional kingdom of Westeros . He subsequently appeared in Martin 's A Clash of Kings ( 1998 ) , A Storm of Swords ( 2000 ) and in A Dance with Dragons ( 2011 ) as Ser Robert Strong .   Ser Gregor Clegane is a huge knight and the elder brother of Sandor Clegane . Called `` The Mountain That Rides '' , he is known for his incredibly cruel nature and uncontrollable temper . His size and strength make him a fearsome warrior , and he has earned a reputation for cruelty and brutality . He is able to wield a two-handed sword one handed . When they were children , Gregor shoved Sandor 's face into a brazier , gruesomely scarring him .   Gregor Clegane is portrayed by Conan Stevens in season one , by Ian Whyte in season two , and by Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson in seasons four , five , and six in the HBO television adaptation .


David Simon David Judah Simon ( born February 9 , 1960 ) is an American author , journalist , writer , and producer . He worked for the Baltimore Sun City Desk for twelve years ( 1982 -- 95 ) and wrote Homicide : A Year on the Killing Streets ( 1991 ) and co-wrote The Corner : A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood ( 1997 ) with Ed Burns . The former book was the basis for the NBC series Homicide : Life on the Street ( 1993 -- 99 ) , on which Simon served as a writer and producer . Simon adapted the latter book into the HBO mini-series The Corner ( 2000 ) .   He was the creator , executive producer , head writer , and show runner for all five seasons of the HBO television series The Wire ( 2002 -- 2008 ) . He adapted the non-fiction book Generation Kill into a television mini-series , and served as the show runner for the project . He was selected as one of the 2010 MacArthur Fellows and named an Utne Reader visionary in 2011 . Simon also created the HBO series Treme with Eric Overmyer , which aired for four seasons . Following Treme , Simon wrote the HBO mini-series Show Me a Hero with journalist William F. Zorzi , a colleague at The Baltimore Sun , and on The Wire .   In August 2015 , HBO commissioned two pilots from Simon 's company Blown Deadline Productions . The first drama , The Deuce , about the New York porn industry in the 1970s and 1980s , would star Maggie Gyllenhaal and co-producer James Franco with shooting in New York in the fall of 2015 . The second drama is an untitled program exploring a `` detailed examination of partisanship '' and money in Washington politics , to be co-produced with Carl Bernstein .


Rick and Morty was created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon.

Rick and Morty Rick and Morty is an American adult animated science-fiction sitcom created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon for Cartoon Network 's late night programming block Adult Swim . The series follows the misadventures of cynical mad scientist Rick and his fretful , easily influenced grandson Morty , who split their time between domestic family life and interdimensional adventures . Roiland voices the series ' eponymous characters , with the voice talent of Chris Parnell , Spencer Grammer , and Sarah Chalke providing the rest of the family . It premiered on December 2 , 2013 .   The series originated from an animated short parody film of Back to the Future created by Roiland for film festival Channel 101 . Adult Swim approached Harmon for television show ideas , and he and Roiland developed the program based on the short , replacing the characters of Doc with Rick and Marty with Morty . In January 2014 , the series was renewed for a second season which premiered on July 26 , 2015 . In August 2015 , Adult Swim renewed the series for a 14-episode third season , which premiered unannounced on April 1 , 2017 , with the rest of the season scheduled to air during the summer . The show has received universal critical acclaim for its originality , creativity , and humor .


Collision Course had Linkin Park and Jay-Z on it.

Collision Course (album) Collision Course is a collaborative EP from American rapper Jay-Z and nu metal band Linkin Park , released on November 30 , 2004 by Roc-A-Fella , Machine Shop , Warner Bros. and Def Jam records . Before the album , Jay-Z had released collaborations with The Roots and R. Kelly , and Linkin Park had collaborated with various artists on their remix album Reanimation . The album was inspired by The Grey Album by Danger Mouse , which was a mash-up album between Jay-Z and The Beatles . MTV had originally planned on mashing up only one or two songs , but the project was eventually expanded to a six song EP . The album was mostly produced by Mike Shinoda and Jay-Z , and was recorded between July 16 and July 19 .   Upon release , Collision Course reached # 1 on the Billboard 200 . As of June 2014 , it has sold 2 million copies in the United States alone . The album spawned one single , Numb/Encore which eventually won Best Rap/Sung Collaboration at the 2006 Grammy Awards .


Kingdom Hearts is a series of crossover action role-playing games owned by Disney Interactive Studios and developed and published by Square Enix ( originally by Square ) . It is a collaboration between Disney Interactive and Square Enix , and is under the direction of Tetsuya Nomura , a longtime Square Enix character designer .   Kingdom Hearts is a crossover of various Disney settings based in a universe made specifically for the series . The series primarily centers on the main character Sora and his journey and experiences with various Disney , Final Fantasy and The World Ends with You characters , whilst stopping the various incarnations of the primary antagonist Xehanort throughout the series . All characters original to the Kingdom Hearts franchise are owned by The Walt Disney Company .   The series consists of eight games across multiple video game consoles , and future titles are planned . Most of the games in the series have been both critically acclaimed and commercially successful . As of October 2013 , the Kingdom Hearts series has sold over 25 million copies worldwide . A wide variety of related merchandise has been released along with the games , including soundtracks , figurines , companion books , novels and manga series .


Hugh Hefner Hugh Marston Hefner ( born April 9 , 1926 ) is an American men 's lifestyle magazine publisher , businessman , and a well-known playboy . Hefner is a native of Chicago , Illinois and a former journalist for Esquire . He is best known for being the founder and chief creative officer of Playboy Enterprises . A self-made multi-millionaire , his net worth is over $ 43 million due to his success as the founder of Playboy magazine . Hefner is also a political activist and philanthropist active in several causes and public issues . He is a World War II veteran .


Odin In Germanic mythology , Odin ( from Old Norse Óðinn ) is a widely revered god . In Norse mythology , from which stems most of the information about the god , Odin is associated with healing , death , royalty , the gallows , knowledge , battle , sorcery , poetry , frenzy , and the runic alphabet , and is the husband of the goddess Frigg . In wider Germanic mythology and paganism , Odin was known in Old English as Wōden , in Old Saxon as Wōdan , and in Old High German as Wuotan or Wōtan , all stemming from the reconstructed Proto-Germanic theonym wōđanaz .   Odin is a prominently mentioned god throughout the recorded history of the Germanic peoples , from the Roman occupation of regions of Germania through the tribal expansions of the Migration Period and the Viking Age . In the modern period , Odin continued to be acknowledged in the rural folklore of Germanic Europe . References to Odin appear in place names throughout regions historically inhabited by the ancient Germanic peoples , and the day of the week Wednesday bears his name in many Germanic languages , including English .   In Anglo-Saxon England , Odin held a particular place as a euhemerized ancestral figure among royalty , and he is frequently referred to as a founding figure among various other Germanic peoples , including the Langobards . Forms of his name appear frequently throughout the Germanic record , though narratives regarding Odin are mainly found in Old Norse works recorded in Iceland , primarily around the 13th century . These texts make up the bulk of modern understanding of Norse mythology .   In Old Norse texts , Odin is depicted as one-eyed and long-bearded , frequently wielding a spear named Gungnir , and wearing a cloak and a broad hat . He is often accompanied by his animal companions -- the wolves Geri and Freki and the ravens Huginn and Muninn , who bring him information from all over Midgard -- and rides the flying , eight-legged steed Sleipnir across the sky and into the underworld . Odin is attested as having many sons , most famously the gods Thor ( with Jörð ) and Baldr ( with Frigg ) , and is known by hundreds of names . In these texts , he frequently seeks greater knowledge , at times in disguise ( most famously by obtaining the Mead of Poetry ) , makes wagers with his wife Frigg over the outcome of exploits , and takes part in both the creation of the world by way of slaying the primordial being Ymir and the gift of life to the first two humans Ask and Embla . Odin has a particular association with Yule , and mankind 's knowledge of both the runes and poetry is also attributed to him .   In Old Norse texts , Odin is given primacy over female beings associated with the battlefield -- the valkyries -- and oversees Valhalla , where he receives half of those who die in battle , the einherjar . The other half are chosen by the goddess Freyja for her afterlife location , Fólkvangr . Odin consults the disembodied , herb-embalmed head of the wise being Mímir for advice , and during the foretold events of Ragnarök , Odin is told to lead the einherjar into battle before being consumed by the monstrous wolf Fenrir . In later folklore , Odin appears as a leader of the Wild Hunt , a ghostly procession of the dead through the winter sky . He has also been associated with charms and other forms of magic , particularly in Old English and Old Norse texts .   Odin has been a frequent subject of study in Germanic studies , and numerous theories have been put forward regarding his development . Some of these focus on Odin 's particular relation to other figures ; for example , the fact that Freyja 's husband Óðr appears to be something of an etymological doublet of the god , whereas Odin 's wife Frigg is in many ways similar to Freyja , and that Odin has a particular relation to the figure of Loki . Other approaches focus on Odin 's place in the historical record , a frequent question being whether the figure of Odin derives from Proto-Indo-European religion , or whether he developed later in Germanic society . In the modern period , Odin has inspired numerous works of poetry , music , and other forms of media . He is venerated in most forms of the new religious movement Heathenry , together with other gods venerated by the ancient Germanic peoples ; some branches focus particularly on him .


Nikola Tesla worked in the new electric power industry.

Nikola Tesla Nikola Tesla ( Никола Тесла 10 July 1856 -- 7 January 1943 ) was a Serbian-American inventor , electrical engineer , mechanical engineer , physicist , and futurist who is best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current ( AC ) electricity supply system .   Born and raised in the Austrian Empire , Tesla received an advanced education in engineering and physics in the 1870s and gained practical experience in the early 1880s working in telephony and at Continental Edison in the new electric power industry . He emigrated to the United States in 1884 , where he would become a naturalized citizen . He worked for a short time at the Edison Machine Works in New York City before he struck out on his own . With the help of partners to finance and market his ideas , Tesla set up laboratories and companies in New York to develop a range of electrical and mechanical devices . His alternating current ( AC ) induction motor and related polyphase AC patents , licensed by Westinghouse Electric in 1888 , earned him a considerable amount of money and became the cornerstone of the polyphase system which that company would eventually market .   Attempting to develop inventions he could patent and market , Tesla conducted a range of experiments with mechanical oscillators/generators , electrical discharge tubes , and early X-ray imaging . He also built a wireless-controlled boat , one of the first ever exhibited . Tesla became well known as an inventor and would demonstrate his achievements to celebrities and wealthy patrons at his lab , and was noted for his showmanship at public lectures .   Throughout the 1890s , Tesla would pursue his ideas for wireless lighting and worldwide wireless electric power distribution in his high-voltage , high-frequency power experiments in New York and Colorado Springs . In 1893 , he made pronouncements on the possibility of wireless communication with his devices . Tesla tried to put these ideas to practical use in his unfinished Wardenclyffe Tower project , an intercontinental wireless communication and power transmitter , but ran out of funding before he could complete it .   After Wardenclyffe , Tesla went on to try and develop a series of inventions in the 1910s and 1920s with varying degrees of success . Having spent most of his money , he lived in a series of New York hotels , leaving behind unpaid bills . The nature of his earlier work and the pronouncements he made to the press later in life earned him the reputation of an archetypal `` mad scientist '' in American popular culture . Tesla died in New York City in January 1943 . His work fell into relative obscurity following his death , but in 1960 , the General Conference on Weights and Measures named the SI unit of magnetic flux density the tesla in his honor . There has been a resurgence in popular interest in Tesla since the 1990s .


The Capital District of New York includes Albany, New York.

Albany, New York Albany ( -LSB- ˈɔːlbəni -RSB- ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York and the seat of Albany County . Roughly 150 mi north of New York City , Albany developed on the west bank of the Hudson River , about 10 mi south of its confluence with the Mohawk River . The population of the City of Albany was 97,856 according to the 2010 census . Albany constitutes the economic and cultural core of the Capital District of New York State , which comprises the Albany-Schenectady-Troy , NY Metropolitan Statistical Area , including the nearby cities and suburbs of Troy , Schenectady , and Saratoga Springs . With a 2013 Census-estimated population of 1.1 million the Capital District is the third-most populous metropolitan region in the state and 38th in the United States .   Fortune 500 companies with offices in Albany include American Express , J.P. Morgan and Chase , Merrill Lynch , General Electric , Verizon , Goldman Sachs , International Paper , and Key Bank . In the 21st century , the Capital District has emerged as a major anchor of Tech Valley , the moniker describing the technologically-focused region of eastern New York State .   This was the first European settlement in the state . It was settled by Dutch colonists who in 1614 , built Fort Nassau for fur trading and Fort Orange in 1624 . They formed successful relations with both the Mahican and the Mohawk peoples , two major Native American nations in the region . The fur trade attracted settlers who founded a village called Beverwijck near Fort Orange . In 1664 the English took over the Dutch settlements , renaming the city as Albany , in honor of the then Duke of Albany , the future James II of England and James VII of Scotland . The city was officially chartered in 1686 under English rule . It became the capital of New York State in 1797 , following the United States gaining independence in the American Revolutionary War . Albany is one of the oldest surviving settlements of the original British thirteen colonies , and the longest continuously chartered city in the United States . Its charter is possibly the longest-running instrument of municipal government in the Western Hemisphere .   During the late 18th century and throughout most of the 19th , Albany was a center of trade and transportation . It is on the north end of the navigable Hudson River , was the original eastern terminus of the Erie Canal connecting to the Great Lakes , and was home to some of the earliest railroad systems in the world . Albany 's main exports at the time were beer , lumber , published works , and ironworks . Beginning in 1810 , Albany was one of the ten most populous cities in the United States , a distinction it held until the 1860 census .   Albany is one of the first cities in the world to have installed public water mains , sewer lines , natural gas lines and electricity , infrastructure and utilities that attracted and supported substantial new industry to the city and surrounding area during the 19th century .   In the 20th century , the city opened one of the first commercial airports in the world , the precursor of today 's Albany International Airport . During the 1920s a powerful political machine controlled by the Democratic Party arose in the state capital , connected to politics in New York City as well . It marshalled the power of immigrants and their descendants in both cities .   The city 's skyline changed in the 1960s and 1970s with the construction of office towers around the Empire State Plaza and at the uptown campus of SUNY Albany , mainly under the direction of Governor Nelson Rockefeller . While Albany experienced a decline in its population due to urban sprawl and suburbanization , many of its historic neighborhoods were saved from destruction through the policies of Mayor Erastus Corning 2nd , the longest-serving mayor of any city in the United States . In the early 21st century , Albany has experienced growth in the high-technology industry , with great strides in the nanotechnology sector .   Albany has been a center of higher education for over a century , with much of the remainder of its economy dependent on state government and health care services . The city has rebounded from the urban decline of the 1970s and 1980s , with noticeable development taking place in the city 's downtown and midtown neighborhoods . Albany is known for its rich history , commerce , culture , architecture , and institutions of higher education . Albany won the All-America City Award in both 1991 and 2009 .


Moses Malone Moses Eugene Malone ( March 23 , 1955 -- September 13 , 2015 ) was an American basketball player who played in both the American Basketball Association ( ABA ) and the National Basketball Association ( NBA ) from 1974 through 1995 . The center was named the NBA Most Valuable Player ( MVP ) three times and was a 12-time NBA All-Star and an eight-time All-NBA selection . Malone won his only NBA championship in 1983 , when he was both the league and Finals MVP with the Philadelphia 76ers . He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 2001 .   Malone began his pro career out of high school after he was selected in the third round of the 1974 ABA Draft by the Utah Stars . He was named an ABA All-Star as a rookie and played two seasons in the league until it merged with the NBA in 1976 . He landed in the NBA with the Buffalo Braves , who traded him after two games to the Houston Rockets . Malone became a five-time All-Star in six seasons with the Rockets . After leading the NBA in rebounding in 1979 , he was named league MVP for the first time . He led the Rockets to the NBA Finals in 1981 , and won his second MVP award in 1982 . Malone was traded to Philadelphia the following season , when he repeated as MVP and led the 76ers to a championship in his first year . In his first of two stints with Philadelphia , he was an All-Star in each of his four seasons . Following another trade , Malone was an All-Star in his only two seasons with the Washington Bullets ( known later as the Wizards ) . He signed as a free agent with the Atlanta Hawks , earning his 12th straight and final All-Star selection in his first season . In his later years , he played with the Milwaukee Bucks before returning to the 76ers and completing his career with the San Antonio Spurs .   Malone led the NBA in rebounding six times , including a then-record five straight seasons ( 1981 -- 1985 ) . He finished his career as the all-time leader in offensive rebounds after leading both the ABA and NBA in the category a combined nine times . Malone was nicknamed `` Chairman of the Boards '' for his rebounding prowess . Combining his ABA and NBA statistics , he ranks seventh all-time in career points ( 29,580 ) and third in total rebounds ( 17,834 ) . He was named to both the ABA All-Time Team and the NBA 's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team .


Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award The Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award ( formerly known as the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award ) is an annual National Basketball Association ( NBA ) award given since the 1969 NBA Finals . The award is decided by a panel of nine media members , who cast votes after the conclusion of the Finals . The person with the highest votes wins the award . In at least one NBA Finals , fans balloting on NBA.com accounted for the tenth vote . The award was originally a black trophy with a gold basketball-shaped sphere at the top , similar to the Larry O'Brien Trophy , until a new trophy was introduced in 2005 .   Since its inception , the award has been given to 30 different players . Michael Jordan is a record six-time award winner . Magic Johnson , Shaquille O'Neal , Tim Duncan and LeBron James won the award three times in their careers . Jordan and O'Neal are the only players to win the award in three consecutive seasons ( Jordan accomplished the feat on two separate occasions ) . Johnson is the only rookie ever to win the award , as well as the youngest at 20 years old . Andre Iguodala is the only winner to have not started every game in the series . Jerry West , the first ever awardee , is the only person to win the award while being on the losing team in the NBA Finals . Willis Reed , Kareem Abdul-Jabbar , Larry Bird , Hakeem Olajuwon and Kobe Bryant won the award twice . Olajuwon , Bryant , and James have won the award in two consecutive seasons . Abdul-Jabbar and James are the only players to win the award for two different teams . Olajuwon of Nigeria , who became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1993 , Tony Parker of France , and Dirk Nowitzki of Germany are the only international players to win the award . Duncan is an American citizen , but is considered an `` international '' player by the NBA because he was not born in one of the fifty states or Washington , D.C. Parker and Nowitzki are the only winners to have been trained totally outside the U.S. ; Olajuwon played college basketball at Houston and Duncan at Wake Forest . Cedric Maxwell is the only Finals MVP winner eligible for the Hall of Fame who has not been voted in .   On February 14 , 2009 , during the 2009 NBA All-Star Weekend in Phoenix , then-NBA Commissioner David Stern announced that the award would be renamed the `` Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award '' in honor of 11-time NBA champion Bill Russell .


Eddie Vedder is best recognized as a portion of Pearl Jam.

Eddie Vedder Eddie Vedder ( born Edward Louis Severson ; December 23 , 1964 ) is an American musician , singer and songwriter best known as a member of the rock band Pearl Jam , with whom he performs lead vocals and is one of three guitarists . He is known for his powerful baritone vocals .   He is also involved in making music and contributes to albums by other artists . In 2007 , Vedder released his first solo album as a soundtrack for the film Into the Wild ( 2007 ) . His second album Ukulele Songs and a live DVD titled Water on the Road were released in 2011 .   Vedder was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Pearl Jam on April 7 , 2017 .


Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is a prequel to Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is a 2014 American science fiction film directed by Matt Reeves and written by Mark Bomback , Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver . It stars Andy Serkis , Jason Clarke , Gary Oldman , Keri Russell , Toby Kebbell , and Kodi Smit-McPhee . It is the sequel to the 2011 film Rise of the Planet of the Apes , which began 20th Century Fox 's reboot of the original Planet of the Apes series . Dawn is set ten years after the events of Rise , and follows a group of people in San Francisco who struggle to stay alive in the aftermath of a plague that is wiping out humanity , while Caesar tries to maintain dominance over his community of intelligent apes .   Dawn of the Planet of the Apes was released in the United States and Canada on July 11 , 2014 and was met with critical acclaim , with critics praising its visual effects , story , direction , acting , musical score , action , and emotional depth . It was also a box office success , having grossed over $ 710 million worldwide , and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Visual Effects . A third installment , titled War for the Planet of the Apes , is set to be released on July 14 , 2017 .


Overwatch's playable characters are divided into five categories.

Overwatch (video game) Overwatch is a team-based online multiplayer first-person shooter video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment . It was released in May 2016 for Windows , PlayStation 4 , and Xbox One .   Overwatch assigns players into two teams of six , with each player selecting one of 24 pre-defined characters , called heroes , each with unique movement , attributes , and abilities , whose roles are divided into four categories : Offense , Defense , Tank , and Support . Players on a team work together to secure and defend control points on a map or escort a payload across the map in a limited amount of time . Players gain cosmetic rewards that do not affect gameplay , such as character skins and victory poses , as they play the game . The game was initially launched with casual play , with a competitive ranked mode , various ` arcade ' game modes , and a player-customizable server browser subsequently included following its release . Additionally , Blizzard has developed and added new characters , maps , and game modes post-release , while stating that all Overwatch updates will remain free , with the only additional cost to players being microtransactions to earn additional cosmetic rewards .   Overwatch is Blizzard 's fourth major franchise and came about following the 2014 cancellation of the ambitious massively multiplayer online role-playing game Titan . A portion of the Titan team came up with the concept of Overwatch , based on the success of team-based first-person shooters like Team Fortress 2 and the growing popularity of multiplayer online battle arenas , creating a hero-based shooter that emphasized teamwork . Some elements of Overwatch borrow assets and concepts from the canceled Titan project . After establishing the narrative of an optimistic near-future Earth setting after a global crisis , the developers aimed to create a diverse cast of heroes that spanned genders and ethnicities as part of this setting . Significant time was spent adjusting the balance of the characters , making sure that new players would still be able to have fun while skilled players would present each other with a challenge .   Overwatch was unveiled at BlizzCon 2014 in a fully playable state and was in a closed beta from late 2015 through early 2016 . An open beta in May 2016 drew in more than 9.7 million players . The release of the game was promoted with short animated videos to introduce the game 's narrative and each of the characters . Upon official release , Overwatch received universal acclaim from critics , who praised the game for its accessibility , diverse appeal of its hero characters , bright cartoonish art style , and enjoyable gameplay . Considered one of the best games released in 2016 , the game received numerous accolades , including being awarded Game of the Year at The Game Awards , D.I.C.E. Awards , and Game Developers Choice Awards , as well as from numerous publications . Since its release , Overwatch has become recognized as an eSport , where in addition to sponsoring tournaments , Blizzard has announced plans to help support professional league play starting in 2017 .


Raccoons are thought of by homeowners to be pests.

Raccoon The raccoon ( -LSB- rəˈkuːn -RSB- or -LSB- USræˈkuːn -RSB- , Procyon lotor ) , sometimes spelled racoon , also known as the common raccoon , North American raccoon , northern raccoon and colloquially as coon , is a medium-sized mammal native to North America . The raccoon is the largest of the procyonid family , having a body length of 40 to and a body weight of 3.5 to . Its grayish coat mostly consists of dense underfur which insulates it against cold weather . Two of the raccoon 's most distinctive features are its extremely dexterous front paws and its facial mask , which are themes in the mythology of several Native American ethnic groups . Raccoons are noted for their intelligence , with studies showing that they are able to remember the solution to tasks for up to three years . The diet of the omnivorous raccoon , which is usually nocturnal , consists of about 40 % invertebrates , 33 % plant foods , and 27 % vertebrates .   The original habitats of the raccoon are deciduous and mixed forests , but due to their adaptability they have extended their range to mountainous areas , coastal marshes , and urban areas , where some homeowners consider them to be pests . As a result of escapes and deliberate introductions in the mid-20th century , raccoons are now also distributed across mainland Europe , Caucasia , and Japan .   Though previously thought to be solitary , there is now evidence that raccoons engage in gender-specific social behavior . Related females often share a common area , while unrelated males live together in groups of up to four animals to maintain their positions against foreign males during the mating season , and other potential invaders . Home range sizes vary anywhere from 3 ha for females in cities to 5000 ha for males in prairies . After a gestation period of about 65 days , two to five young , known as `` kits '' , are born in spring . The kits are subsequently raised by their mother until dispersal in late fall . Although captive raccoons have been known to live over 20 years , their life expectancy in the wild is only 1.8 to 3.1 years . In many areas , hunting and vehicular injury are the two most common causes of death .


Glenn Close began her professional acting career in 1988.

Glenn Close Glenn Close ( born March 19 , 1947 ) is an American actress , singer and film producer . With an acting career spanning over 40 years , she has been consistently acclaimed for her versatility and is widely regarded as one of the finest actresses of her generation . She has won three Emmy Awards , three Tony Awards , four Golden Globe Awards , and has received six Academy Award nominations .   Close began her professional stage career in 1974 in Love for Love , and was mostly a New York stage actress through the rest of the 1970s and early 1980s , appearing in both plays and musicals , including the Broadway productions of Barnum in 1980 and The Real Thing in 1983 , for which she won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play . Her film debut was in The World According to Garp ( 1982 ) , which she followed up with supporting roles in The Big Chill ( 1983 ) and The Natural ( 1984 ) ; all three earned her nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress . She would later receive nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performances in Fatal Attraction ( 1987 ) , Dangerous Liaisons ( 1988 ) and Albert Nobbs ( 2011 ) . She won two more Tony Awards in the 1990s , for Death and the Maiden in 1992 and Sunset Boulevard in 1995 , while she won her first Emmy Award for the 1995 TV film Serving in Silence : The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story .   She starred as Eleanor of Aquitaine in the 2003 TV film The Lion in Winter , winning a Golden Globe Award . In 2005 , she starred in the drama series The Shield . Then , from 2007 to 2012 , she starred as Patty Hewes in the FX drama series Damages , a role that won her a Golden Globe and two Emmys . She has voiced the character of Mona Simpson in the animated sitcom The Simpsons since 1995 . She returned to Broadway in November 2014 , in a revival of Edward Albee 's A Delicate Balance . Her other films include Jagged Edge ( 1985 ) , Hamlet ( 1990 ) , Reversal of Fortune ( 1990 ) , 101 Dalmatians ( 1996 ) , Paradise Road ( 1997 ) , Air Force One ( 1997 ) , Cookie 's Fortune ( 1999 ) , Heights ( 2005 ) , Guardians of the Galaxy ( 2014 ) and The Girl With All The Gifts ( 2016 ) .   Close is a six-time Academy Award nominee , tying the record for being the actress with the most nominations never to have won ( along with Deborah Kerr and Thelma Ritter ) . As of 2016 , Close has more Oscar nominations without a win than any other living actor . In addition , she has been nominated for four Tonys ( three wins ) , fourteen Emmys ( three wins ) , thirteen Golden Globes ( two wins ) , two Drama Desk Awards ( one win ) and eight Screen Actors Guild Awards ( one win ) . She has also won an Obie award and has been nominated for three Grammy Awards and a BAFTA . Close has received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and has been inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame .


50 Cent released only two studio albums.

50 Cent Curtis James Jackson III ( born July 6 , 1975 ) , known professionally as 50 Cent , is an American rapper , actor , businessman , and investor . Born in the South Jamaica neighborhood of the borough of Queens , Jackson began selling drugs at age twelve during the 1980s crack epidemic . Although he left drug-dealing to pursue a musical career , in 2000 he was shot nine times . After Jackson released the compilation album Guess Who 's Back ? in 2002 , he was discovered by Eminem and signed by Shady Records , Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records .   With the aid of Eminem and Dr. Dre ( who produced his first major-label album , Get Rich or Die Tryin ' ) , Jackson became one of the world 's best selling rappers and rose to prominence with East Coast hip hop group G-Unit ( which he leads de facto ) . In 2003 , he founded G-Unit Records , signing his G-Unit associates Young Buck , Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo . Jackson had similar commercial and critical success with his second album , The Massacre , which was released in 2005 . He released his fifth studio album , Animal Ambition , in 2014 and is working on his sixth studio album , Street King Immortal . He executive produces the show Power , which airs on Starz .   During his career Jackson has sold over 30 million albums worldwide and won several awards , including a Grammy Award , thirteen Billboard Music Awards , six World Music Awards , three American Music Awards and four BET Awards . He has pursued an acting career , appearing in the semi-autobiographical film Get Rich or Die Tryin ' ( 2005 ) , the Iraq War film Home of the Brave ( 2006 ) and Righteous Kill ( 2008 ) . 50 Cent was ranked the sixth-best artist of the 2000s and the third-best rapper ( behind Eminem and Nelly ) by Billboard . Rolling Stone consider Get Rich or Die Tryin ' and `` In Da Club '' to be in their lists of `` 100 Best albums of the 2000s '' and `` 100 Best songs of the 2000s '' at numbers 37 and 13 .


Borussia Dortmund's nickname is die Schwarzgelben.

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e.V. Dortmund , commonly known as Borussia Dortmund -LSB- boˈʁʊsi̯aː ˈdɔʁtmʊnt -RSB- , BVB , or simply Dortmund , is a German sports club based in Dortmund , North Rhine-Westphalia ( Borussia is the Latin equivalent of Prussia ) . The football team is part of a large membership-based sports club with more than 145,000 members , making BVB the second largest sports club by membership in Germany . Dortmund plays in the Bundesliga , the top tier of the German football league system . Dortmund is one of the most successful clubs in German football history .   Borussia Dortmund was founded in 1909 by eighteen football players from Dortmund . Borussia Dortmund have won eight German championships , four DFB-Pokals , five DFL-Supercups , one UEFA Champions League , one UEFA Cup Winners ' Cup , and one Intercontinental Cup . Their Cup Winners ' Cup win in 1966 made them the first German club to win a European title .   Since 1974 , Dortmund have played their home games at Westfalenstadion , named after its home region of Westphalia . The stadium is the largest in Germany and Dortmund has the highest average attendance of any association football club in the world . Borussia Dortmund 's colours are black and yellow , giving the club its nickname die Schwarzgelben . Dortmund holds a long-standing rivalry with Ruhr neighbours Schalke 04 , known as the Revierderby . In terms of Deloitte 's annual Football Money League , Dortmund is the second biggest sports club in Germany and the 11th biggest football team in the world .