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 .


Brooklyn Nets The Brooklyn Nets are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn . The Nets compete in the National Basketball Association ( NBA ) as a member club of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference . The team plays its home games at Barclays Center . They are one of two NBA teams located in New York City ; the other are the New York Knicks . The team was established in 1967 as a charter franchise of the NBA 's rival league , the American Basketball Association ( ABA ) . They played in New Jersey as the New Jersey Americans during their first season , before moving to Long Island in 1968 and changing their name to the New York Nets . During this time , the Nets won two ABA championships ( in 1974 and 1976 ) . In 1976 , the ABA merged with the NBA , and the Nets were absorbed into the NBA along with three other ABA teams ( the San Antonio Spurs , Indiana Pacers and Denver Nuggets , all of whom remain in the league today ) .   In 1977 , the team returned to New Jersey and played as the New Jersey Nets from 1977 to 2012 . During this time , the Nets won two consecutive Eastern Conference championships ( in the 2001 -- 02 and 2002 -- 03 seasons ) , but failed to win a league title . In the summer of 2012 , the team moved to Barclays Center , and took its current geographic name .


Los Angeles Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers , often abbreviated as the LA Clippers , are an American men 's professional basketball team based in Los Angeles . The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association ( NBA ) as a member of the league 's Western Conference Pacific Division . The Clippers play their home games at Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles , an arena shared with the Los Angeles Lakers of the NBA , the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women 's National Basketball Association ( WNBA ) , and the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League ( NHL ) .   The franchise was founded in 1970 as the Buffalo Braves , one of three expansion teams to join the NBA that year . The Braves moved from Buffalo , New York to San Diego , California in 1978 and became known as the San Diego Clippers . In 1984 , the Clippers moved to Los Angeles . Through much of its history , the franchise failed to see significant regular season or playoff success . The Clippers were frequently seen as an example of a perennial loser in American professional sports , drawing unfavorable comparisons to the historically successful Lakers , with whom they have shared a market since 1984 and an arena since 1999 .   The Clippers ' fortunes turned in the early 2010s with the acquisition of core players Blake Griffin , DeAndre Jordan , and Chris Paul . In 2013 , the franchise won its first division title , as the team made the playoffs for the ninth time in franchise history and the third time in the previous eight seasons . They also added to their budding rivalry with the Lakers , as they finished with a better record than the Lakers for the fifth time and won the season series for the second time since moving to Los Angeles in 1984 , this time in a sweep . They repeated as division champions in 2014 .


1998 NCAA Men's Basketball All-Americans The Consensus 1998 College Basketball All-American team , as determined by aggregating the results of four major All-American teams . To earn `` consensus '' status , a player must win honors from a majority of the following teams : the Associated Press , the USBWA , The Sporting News and the National Association of Basketball Coaches .   In 1998 , the Sporting News was added as a contributing source to the consensus teams , belatedly replacing the UPI All-American team , which ceased to exist after 1996 .


2007–08 NBA season The 2007 -- 08 NBA season was the 62nd season of the National Basketball Association . The 1,230-game regular season ( 82 games for each of the 30 teams ) began on Tuesday , October 30 , 2007 , and ended on Wednesday , April 16 , 2008 . The 2008 NBA Playoffs started on Saturday , April 19 , 2008 and ran until Tuesday , June 17 when the Boston Celtics defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 131 -- 92 to win the 2008 NBA Finals , four games to two . The 2007 NBA draft was held on June 28 , 2007 and Greg Oden was selected first overall by the Portland Trail Blazers . However , he missed the entire season due to knee surgery .   This season was notable for being one of the most competitive Western Conference playoff races in NBA history . Up until April 4 , 2008 , not a single Western Conference team had secured a playoff spot , and the 8th-seeded team was a mere 6.5 games behind the 1st seed . Additionally , the quality of the teams ensured that the Golden State Warriors finished with the highest winning percentage of any non-playoff team in NBA history since the switch to the eight-team playoff format , beating out the 2000 -- 2001 Houston Rockets . The all-time record is held by the 1971 -- 1972 Phoenix Suns ( 49 -- 33 ) , which was during the four-team playoff era .


Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( -LSB- ˈsɛltɪks -RSB- ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston , Massachusetts . The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association ( NBA ) as a member of the league 's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division . Founded in 1946 and one of eight NBA teams ( out of 23 total teams ) to survive the league 's first decade , the team is owned by Boston Basketball Partners LLC . The Celtics play their home games at the TD Garden , which they share with the National Hockey League ( NHL ) 's Boston Bruins . The franchise 's 17 championships are the most of any NBA team , and account for 24.3 percent of all NBA championships since the league 's founding in 1946 . As a percentage of championships won , the Celtics are the most successful franchise to date in the major four traditional North American professional sports leagues .   The Celtics have played the Lakers a record 12 times in the finals , including their most recent appearances in 2008 and 2010 , where the Celtics have won nine meetings ( but only two since 1980 ) . Four Celtics players ( Bob Cousy , Bill Russell , Dave Cowens and Larry Bird ) have won the NBA Most Valuable Player Award for an NBA record total of 10 MVP awards . Their mascot ` Lucky the Leprechaun ' is a nod to the team 's Irish heritage and to Boston 's historically large Irish population .   The Celtics rose again after struggling through the 1990s to win a championship in 2008 with the help of Kevin Garnett , Paul Pierce , and Ray Allen in what was known as the new `` Big Three '' era , following the original `` Big Three '' era of the 1980s that featured Larry Bird , Kevin McHale , and Robert Parish .   After the end of the second `` Big Three '' era , general manager Danny Ainge began a rebuilding process with the help of new head coach Brad Stevens , who led the Celtics to a return to the playoffs in 2015 , 2016 , and 2017 . During the 2016 -- 17 season , the Celtics clinched the top seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs .


2009–10 NBA season The 2009 -- 10 NBA season was the 64th season of the National Basketball Association ( NBA ) . The 1,230-game regular season ( 82 games for each of the 30 teams ) began on Tuesday , October 27 , 2009 , and ended on Wednesday , April 14 , 2010 .   The 2009 NBA draft was held on June 25 , 2009 , and Blake Griffin was selected first overall by the Los Angeles Clippers . The Dallas Mavericks hosted the 59th Annual All-Star Game at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington , Texas , on February 14 , 2010 .   For the second time in NBA history , all eight Western Conference playoff teams won at least 50 games , and only 7 wins separated the Western Conference # 1 seed from # 8 seed . Both of these events first occurred in 2008 .   Cleveland 's league-leading 61 wins was the lowest win total to lead the league since the Indiana Pacers won 61 games in 2003 -- 04 .   The New Jersey Nets  ( Now the Brooklyn Nets ) became the fifth team in NBA history to lose 70 games in a season


Paul Pierce Paul Anthony Pierce ( born October 13 , 1977 ) is an American former professional basketball player who played 19 seasons in the National Basketball Association ( NBA ) . Pierce was a high school McDonald 's All-American and earned All-America first team honors in his junior year at Kansas .   Pierce spent the first fifteen years of his career with the Boston Celtics , who drafted him with the 10th overall pick in the 1998 NBA draft . He became a bone fide star as captain of the Celtics , earning ten All-Star nods and becoming a four-time All-NBA team member . After nine seasons of leading the Celtics as their sole star player , Pierce combined with Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen in 2007 to form a `` Big Three '' that together led Boston to the NBA Finals in 2008 and 2010 , winning the 2008 NBA Championship . Pierce was instrumental to the Celtics ' 2008 championship run , as he was awarded the Finals MVP after averaging 22 points per game . Pierce is one of only three players , alongside Larry Bird and John Havlicek , to score over 20,000 points in their career with the Celtics alone . He holds the Celtics ' record for most three-point field goals made and also ranks third in team history in games played , second in points scored , seventh in total rebounds , fifth in total assists , and first in total steals . He has also made the fourth most three-point field goals in NBA history , behind only Jason Terry , Reggie Miller and Ray Allen . His nickname , `` The Truth '' , was given to him by Shaquille O'Neal in March 2001 .   In July 2013 , Pierce was included in a deal that sent him to the Brooklyn Nets , along with teammates Kevin Garnett and Jason Terry . He signed with the Washington Wizards the following offseason , but after just one season with the Wizards , he moved back home to Los Angeles and reunited with his former Celtics coach Doc Rivers at the Clippers . He spent two seasons with the Clippers before retiring following the 2016 -- 17 season .


All-NBA Team The All-NBA Team is an annual National Basketball Association ( NBA ) honor bestowed on the best players in the league following every NBA season . The voting is conducted by a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada . The team has been selected in every season of the league 's existence , dating back to its inaugural season in 1946 . The All-NBA Team originally had two teams , but since 1988 it is composed of three five-man lineups -- a first , second , and third team , typically comprising a total of 15 roster spots .   Players receive five points for a first team vote , three points for a second team vote , and one point for a third team vote . The five players with the highest point totals make the first team , with the next five making the second team and so forth . In the case of a tie at the fifth position of any team , the roster is expanded . If the first team consists of six players due to a tie , the second team will still consist of five players with the potential for more expansion in the event of additional ties . A tie has occurred only once , in 1952 , when Bob Davies and Dolph Schayes tied in votes received . From 1946 to 1955 , players were selected without regard to position ; however , since 1956 , each team has consisted of two guards , two forwards , and one center .   Kareem Abdul-Jabbar , Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan hold the record for the most total selections with fifteen . Karl Malone and Shaquille O'Neal follow with fourteen total honors , , LeBron James has thirteen selections , while Schayes , Bob Cousy , Jerry West , Hakeem Olajuwon , Dirk Nowitzki have twelve selections . Malone , Bryant and James are tied for the most All-NBA first team honors with eleven , while Cousy , Bob Pettit , Elgin Baylor , West , Abdul-Jabbar , Tim Duncan , and Michael Jordan are all tied for second-most with ten .


Washington Wizards The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington , D.C. . The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association ( NBA ) , as a member of the league 's Eastern Conference Southeast Division . The team plays its home games at the Verizon Center , in the Chinatown neighborhood of Washington , D.C.   The franchise was established in 1961 as the Chicago Packers based in Chicago , Illinois , and were renamed to Chicago Zephyrs the following season . In 1963 , they relocated to Baltimore , Maryland and became the Baltimore Bullets , taking the name from previous team of the same name . In 1973 , the team changed its moniker to Capital Bullets to reflect their move to Washington metropolitan area , and then changed their name to Washington Bullets in the following season . In 1997 , they rebranded themselves to the Wizards .   The Wizards have appeared in four NBA Finals , and won in 1978 . They have won four conference titles ( 1971 , 1975 , 1978 , 1979 ) , and seven division titles ( 1971 , 1972 , 1973 , 1974 , 1975 , 1979 , 2017 ) . Wes Unseld is the only player in franchise history to become the MVP ( 1969 ) , and win the Finals MVP award ( 1978 ) . Four players ( Walt Bellamy , Terry Dischinger , Earl Monroe and Wes Unseld ) have won the Rookie of the Year award .


Apple was founded by Steve Jobs and two other people.

Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino , California that designs , develops , and sells consumer electronics , computer software , and online services . The company 's hardware products include the iPhone smartphone , the iPad tablet computer , the Mac personal computer , the iPod portable media player , the Apple Watch smartwatch , and the Apple TV digital media player . Apple 's consumer software includes the macOS and iOS operating systems , the iTunes media player , the Safari web browser , and the iLife and iWork creativity and productivity suites . Its online services include the iTunes Store , the iOS App Store and Mac App Store , Apple Music , and iCloud .   Apple was founded by Steve Jobs , Steve Wozniak , and Ronald Wayne in April 1976 to develop and sell personal computers . It was incorporated as Apple Computer , Inc. in January 1977 , and sales of its computers saw significant momentum and revenue growth for the company . Within a few years , they had hired a staff of computer designers and had a production line . Apple went public in 1980 to instant financial success . Over the next few years , Apple shipped new computers featuring innovative graphical user interfaces , and Apple 's marketing commercials for its products received widespread critical acclaim . However , the high price tag of its products and limited software titles caused problems , as did power struggles between executives at the company . Jobs resigned from Apple and created his own company . As the market for personal computers increased , Apple 's computers saw diminishing sales due to lower-priced products from competitors , in particular those offered with the Microsoft Windows operating system . More executive job shuffles happened at Apple until then-CEO Gil Amelio in 1997 decided to buy Jobs ' company to bring him back . Jobs regained position as CEO , and began a process to rebuild Apple 's status , which included opening Apple 's own retail stores in 2001 , making numerous acquisitions of software companies to create a portfolio of software titles , and changed some of the hardware technology used in its computers . It again saw success and returned to profitability . In January 2007 , Jobs announced that Apple Computer , Inc. would be renamed Apple Inc. to reflect its shifted focus toward consumer electronics , and announced the iPhone , which saw critical acclaim and significant financial success . In August 2011 , Jobs resigned as CEO due to health complications , and Tim Cook became the new CEO . Two months later , Jobs died , marking the end of an era for the company .   Apple is the world 's largest information technology company by revenue , and the world 's second-largest mobile phone manufacturer after Samsung . In February 2015 , Apple became the first U.S. company to be valued at over US$ 700billion . The company employs 116,000 full-time employees and maintains 496 retail stores in 21 countries . It operates the iTunes Store , which is the world 's largest music retailer . , more than one billion Apple products are actively in use worldwide .   Apple 's worldwide annual revenue totaled $ 215billion for the 2016 fiscal year . The company enjoys a high level of brand loyalty and has been repeatedly ranked as the world 's most valuable brand . However , it receives significant criticism regarding the labor practices of its contractors and its environmental and business practices , including the origins of source materials .


The soap opera Another World featured Lindsay Lohan.

Lindsay Lohan Lindsay Dee Lohan ( born July 2 , 1986 ) is an American actress and singer . Lohan began her career as a child fashion model when she was three , and was later featured on the soap opera Another World for a year when she was 10 . At age 11 , Lohan made her motion picture debut in Disney 's commercially and critically successful 1998 remake of The Parent Trap . Her next major motion picture , Disney 's 2003 remake of Freaky Friday , was also a critical and commercial success . With the release of Mean Girls ( 2004 ) , another critical and commercial success , and Disney 's Herbie : Fully Loaded ( 2005 ) , another commercial success , Lohan became a teen idol sensation , a household name and a frequent focus of paparazzi and tabloids . However , Lohan 's next starring role in the romantic comedy Just My Luck ( 2006 ) , received poor reviews and was only a modest commercial success . Following Just My Luck , Lohan focused on smaller , more mature roles in independent movies , receiving positive comments on her work , including A Prairie Home Companion ( 2006 ) , Bobby ( 2006 ) and Chapter 27 ( 2007 ) .   After recording several songs for her movie soundtracks , Lohan signed with Casablanca Records . Lohan 's debut studio album , titled Speak , was released in December 2004 and became the first high-seller from Casablanca in several years , selling 1 million copies in the United States alone and peaking at number four on the Billboard 200 . Though the album received mostly lukewarm reviews , it was certified platinum and sold over 4 million copies worldwide . Lohan 's second album , titled A Little More Personal ( Raw ) , was released in December 2005 and featured darker material than her debut had . That album received mixed reviews , and it was certified gold .   In 2007 , two driving under the influence incidents led to Lohan being put on probation , and together with three visits to rehabilitation facilities caused the loss of several movie deals . In 2008 and 2009 , Lohan worked as a fashion model and launched the clothing line 6126 . She resumed her acting career with TV work in 2008 , and starred in the TV film Labor Pains ( 2009 ) . She appeared in Robert Rodriguez 's feature film Machete ( 2010 ) . Between 2010 and 2013 , Lohan went into rehabilitation three times , and spent much of her time entangled in legal problems stemming from misdemeanors and probation violations . In 2012 and 2013 , she did further television work , including starring as Elizabeth Taylor in the biographical TV film Liz & Dick ( 2012 ) . In 2013 , she starred in Paul Schrader 's independent film The Canyons . In 2014 , the docu-series Lindsay aired on the Oprah Winfrey Network , and Lohan made her stage debut in the London West End production of Speed-the-Plow .


Amaze Entertainment developed video games.

Amaze Entertainment Amaze Entertainment was a video game developer from the United States that developed over 100 games in its ten-year history ( selling nearly 40 million units ) , for several video game platforms , with headquarters located in Kirkland , Washington . Amaze was founded by serial entrepreneur Dan Elenbaas and his business partners Todd Gilbertsen and David Mann . Amaze 's primary focus was licensed games based on movie franchises , comic series , and original titles for established video game franchises . Amaze grew to become one of the world 's largest independent video game developers , with nearly 300 employees in four studios . Amaze was acquired by Foundation 9 Entertainment on November 14 , 2006 .   In July 2009 , Foundation 9 abandoned the Amaze Entertainment brand and renamed the Kirkland location after the former subsidiary , Griptonite Games . On August 2 , 2011 , Glu Mobile acquired Griptonite Games . Its staff of 200 `` approximately doubles '' Glu 's internal development capacity .


Video game developer A video game developer is a software developer that specializes in video game development -- the process and related disciplines of creating video games . A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large business with employee responsibilities split between individual disciplines , such as programming , design , art , testing , etc. . Most game development companies have video game publisher financial and usually marketing support . Self-funded developers are known as independent or indie developers and usually make indie games .   A developer may specialize in a certain video game console ( such as Nintendo 's Wii U , Microsoft 's Xbox One , Sony 's PlayStation 4 ) , or may develop for a number of systems ( including personal computers and mobile devices ) . Video-game developers specialize in certain types of games ( such as role-playing video games or first-person shooters ) . Some focus on porting games from one system to another , or translating games from one language to another . Less commonly , some do other kinds of software-development work in addition to games .   Most video game publishers maintain development studios ( such as Electronic Arts 's EA Canada , Square Enix 's studios , Activision 's Radical Entertainment , Nintendo EAD and Sony 's Polyphony Digital and Naughty Dog ) . However , since publishing is still their primary activity they are generally described as `` publishers '' rather than `` developers '' . Developers may be private as well ( such as how Bungie was , the company which developed the Halo series exclusive to Microsoft 's Xbox ) .


British Columbia British Columbia ( BC ) is the westernmost province of Canada , with a population of more than four million people located between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains .  British Columbia is also a component of the Pacific Northwest and the Cascadia bioregion , along with the U.S. states of Idaho , Oregon , Washington , Alaska , and western Montana .   The first British settlement in the area was Fort Victoria , established in 1843 , which gave rise to the city of Victoria , at first the capital of the separate Colony of Vancouver Island . Subsequently , on the mainland , the Colony of British Columbia ( 1858 -- 66 ) was founded by Richard Clement Moody and the Royal Engineers , Columbia Detachment , in response to the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush . Moody was Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works for the Colony and the first Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia : he was hand-picked by the Colonial Office in London to transform British Columbia into the British Empire 's `` bulwark in the farthest west '' , and `` to found a second England on the shores of the Pacific '' . Moody selected the site for and founded the original capital of British Columbia , New Westminster , established the Cariboo Road and Stanley Park , and designed the first version of the Coat of arms of British Columbia . Port Moody is named after him .   In 1866 , Vancouver Island became part of the colony of British Columbia , and Victoria became the united colony 's capital . In 1871 , British Columbia became the sixth province of Canada . Its Latin motto is Splendor sine occasu ( `` Splendour without Diminishment '' ) .   The capital of British Columbia remains Victoria , the fifteenth-largest metropolitan region in Canada , named for the Queen who created the original European colonies . The largest city is Vancouver , the third-largest metropolitan area in Canada , the largest in Western Canada , and the third-largest in the Pacific Northwest . In October 2013 , British Columbia had an estimated population of 4,606,371 ( about 2.5 million of whom were in Greater Vancouver ) . The province is currently governed by the BC Liberal Party , led by Premier Christy Clark , who became leader as a result of a leadership convention vote on February 26 , 2011 , and who led her party to an election victory on May 14 , 2013 .   British Columbia evolved from British possessions that were established in what is now British Columbia by 1871 . First Nations , the original inhabitants of the land , have a history of at least 10,000 years in the area . Today there are few treaties and the question of Aboriginal Title , long ignored , has become a legal and political question of frequent debate as a result of recent court actions . Notably , the Tsilhqot ` in Nation has established Aboriginal title to a portion of their territory , as a result of the recent Supreme Court of Canada decision ( William -LSB- Tsilhqot ` in Nation -RSB- v. British Columbia ) .   BC 's economy is diverse , with service producing industries accounting for the largest portion of the province 's GDP . It is the endpoint of transcontinental railways , and the site of major Pacific ports that enable international trade . Though less than 5 % of its vast 944735 km2 land is arable , the province is agriculturally rich ( particularly in the Fraser and Okanagan valleys ) , because of milder weather near the coast and in certain sheltered southern valleys . Its climate encourages outdoor recreation and tourism , though its economic mainstay has long been resource extraction , principally logging , farming , and mining . Vancouver , the province 's largest city and metropolitan area , also serves as the headquarters of many western-based natural resource companies . It also benefits from a strong housing market and a per capita income well above the national average . While the coast of British Columbia and certain valleys in the south-central part of the province have mild weather , the majority of its land mass experiences a cold-winter-temperate climate similar to that of the rest of Canada . The Northern Interior region has a subarctic climate with very cold winters . The climate of Vancouver is by far the mildest winter climate of the major Canadian cities , with nighttime January temperatures averaging above the freezing point .


Super Street Fighter II Turbo is a game.

Super Street Fighter II Turbo Super Street Fighter II Turbo , released in Japan as , is a competitive fighting game released for the arcades by Capcom in . It is the fifth installment in the Street Fighter II sub-series of Street Fighter games , following Super Street Fighter II : The New Challengers . Like its predecessor , it ran on the CP System II hardware . It is commonly referred to as just Super Turbo , or ST for short .   Super Turbo introduced several new gameplay mechanics not present in previous versions of Street Fighter II , including the addition of Super Combos and air combos . It also introduced the secret character Akuma , who would go on to become a recurring character in later Street Fighter installments and other Capcom fighting games .   Super Turbo was originally ported to the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer , followed by the PlayStation and Sega Saturn ( under the title of Super Street Fighter II Turbo : The Ultimate Championship ) as part of the Street Fighter Collection , and for the Dreamcast in Japan under the title of Super Street Fighter II X for Matching Service . A remake of the game was released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 titled Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix .   While not as much of a commercial success as previous iterations of the game , the game was a critical darling and has had a huge impact on the competitive fighting game `` e-sport '' circuit . Super Street Fighter II Turbo is still played competitively over 20 years after its original release , and is the oldest fighting game that still has an active competitive tournament scene throughout the world .


Muhammad was raised by his paternal uncle.

Muhammad Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd AllāhFull name : Abū al-Qāsim Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib ibn Hāshim ( ابو القاسم محمد ابن عبد الله ابن عبد المطلب ابن هاشم , lit : Father of Qasim Muhammad son of Abd Allah son of Abdul-Muttalib son of Hashim ) ( محمد -LSB- muħammad -RSB- ; Classical Arabic pronunciation c. 570 CE -- 8 June 632 CE ) is the prophet of Islam and widely identified as its founder by non-Muslims . According to Islamic doctrine , he was God 's Messenger ( rasūl Allāh ) sent to confirm the essential teachings of monotheism preached previously by Adam , Abraham , Moses , Jesus , and other prophets . He is viewed as the final prophet of God in primary branches of Islam , though some modern denominations diverge from this belief.The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community considers Muhammad to be the `` Seal of the Prophets '' ( Khātam an-Nabiyyīn ) and the last law-bearing Prophet but not the last Prophet . See :   There are also smaller sects which believe Muhammad to be not the last Prophet :  The Nation of Islam considers Elijah Muhammad to be a prophet ( source : African American Religious Leaders -- p. 76 , Jim Haskins , Kathleen Benson -- 2008 ) .  United Submitters International consider Rashad Khalifa to be a prophet . ( Source : Daniel Pipes , Miniatures : Views of Islamic and Middle Eastern Politics , p. 98 ( 2004 ) ) Muhammad united Arabia into a single Muslim polity and ensured that his teachings , practices , and the Quran , formed the basis of Islamic religious belief .   Born approximately 570CE ( Year of the Elephant ) in the Arabian city of Mecca , Muhammad was orphaned at an early age ; he was raised under the care of his paternal uncle Abu Talib . Periodically , he would seclude himself in a mountain cave named Hira for several nights of prayer ; later , at age 40 , he reported being visited by Gabriel in the cave , where he stated he received his first revelation from God . Three years later , in 610 , Muhammad started preaching these revelations publicly , proclaiming that `` God is One '' , that complete `` surrender '' ( lit . islām ) to him is the right course of action ( dīn ) , and that he was a prophet and messenger of God , similar to the other prophets in Islam .   Muhammad gained few early followers , and met hostility from some Meccan tribes . To escape persecution , Muhammad sent some followers to Abyssinia before he and his followers migrated from Mecca to Medina ( then known as Yathrib ) in the year 622 . This event , the Hijra , marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar , also known as the Hijri Calendar . In Medina , Muhammad united the tribes under the Constitution of Medina . In December 629 , after eight years of intermittent conflict with Meccan tribes , Muhammad gathered an army of 10,000 Muslim converts and marched on the city of Mecca . The attack went largely uncontested and Muhammad seized the city with little bloodshed . In 632 , a few months after returning from the Farewell Pilgrimage , he fell ill and died . Before his death , most of the Arabian Peninsula had converted to Islam .   The revelations ( each known as Ayah , lit . `` Sign -LSB- of God -RSB- '' ) , which Muhammad reported receiving until his death , form the verses of the Quran , regarded by Muslims as the `` Word of God '' and around which the religion is based . Besides the Quran , Muhammad 's teachings and practices ( sunnah ) , found in the Hadith and sira literature , are also upheld by Muslims and used as sources of Islamic law ( see Sharia ) .


Zambia is bordered by the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Zambia Zambia ( -LSB- ˈzæmbiə -RSB- ) , officially the Republic of Zambia , is a landlocked country in Southern Africa , neighbouring the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north , Tanzania to the north-east , Malawi to the east , Mozambique , Zimbabwe , Botswana and Namibia to the south , and Angola to the west . The capital city is Lusaka , in the south-central part of Zambia . The population is concentrated mainly around Lusaka in the south and the Copperbelt Province to the northwest , the core economic hubs of the country .   Originally inhabited by Khoisan peoples , the region was affected by the Bantu expansion of the thirteenth century . After visits by European explorers in the eighteenth century , Zambia became the British protectorate of Northern Rhodesia towards the end of the nineteenth century . For most of the colonial period , Zambia was governed by an administration appointed from London with the advice of the British South Africa Company .   On 24 October 1964 , Zambia became independent of the United Kingdom and prime minister Kenneth Kaunda became the inaugural president . Kaunda 's socialist United National Independence Party ( UNIP ) maintained power from 1964 until 1991 . Kaunda played a key role in regional diplomacy , cooperating closely with the United States in search of solutions to conflicts in Rhodesia ( Zimbabwe ) , Angola , and Namibia . From 1972 to 1991 Zambia was a one-party state with the UNIP as the sole legal political party under the motto `` One Zambia , One Nation '' . Kaunda was succeeded by Frederick Chiluba of the social-democratic Movement for Multi-Party Democracy in 1991 , beginning a period of social-economic growth and government decentralisation . Levy Mwanawasa , Chiluba 's chosen successor , presided over Zambia from January 2002 until his death in August 2008 , and is credited with campaigns to reduce corruption and increase the standard of living . After Mwanawasa 's death , Rupiah Banda presided as Acting President before being elected President in 2008 . Holding office for only three years , Banda stepped down after his defeat in the 2011 elections by Patriotic Front party leader Michael Sata . Sata died on 28 October 2014 , the second Zambian president to die in office . Guy Scott served briefly as interim president until new elections were held on 20 January 2015 , in which Edgar Lungu was elected as the sixth President .   In 2010 , the World Bank named Zambia one of the world 's fastest economically reformed countries . The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa ( COMESA ) is headquartered in Lusaka .


Overwatch's playable characters are divided into four in-game factions.

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 .


Michael Fassbender Michael Fassbender ( born 2 April 1977 ) is a German-born Irish actor . His feature film debut was in the fantasy war epic 300 ( 2007 ) as a Spartan warrior ; his earlier roles included various stage productions , as well as starring roles on television such as in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers ( 2001 ) and the Sky One fantasy drama Hex ( 2004 -- 05 ) . He first came to prominence for his role as IRA activist Bobby Sands in Hunger ( 2008 ) , for which he won a British Independent Film Award . Subsequent roles include in the independent film Fish Tank ( 2009 ) , as a Royal Marines lieutenant in Inglourious Basterds ( 2009 ) , as Edward Rochester in the 2011 film adaptation of Jane Eyre , as Carl Jung in A Dangerous Method ( 2011 ) , as a sentient android in Prometheus ( 2012 ) and its sequel , Alien : Covenant ( 2017 ) , and in the musical comedy-drama Frank ( 2014 ) as an eccentric musician loosely inspired by Frank Sidebottom .   In 2011 , Fassbender debuted as the Marvel Comics antihero Magneto in X-Men : First Class , and went on to share the role with Ian McKellen in X-Men : Days of Future Past ( 2014 ) , and reprise it again in X-Men : Apocalypse ( 2016 ) . Also in 2011 , Fassbender 's performance as a sex addict in Shame earned him the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival and was nominated for Golden Globe and BAFTA Awards . In 2013 , his role as slave owner Edwin Epps in the slavery epic 12 Years a Slave was similarly praised , earning him his first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor . In 2013 , Fassbender appeared in another Ridley Scott film , The Counselor . In 2015 , he portrayed the title role in the Danny Boyle-directed biopic Steve Jobs ( 2015 ) , and played Macbeth in Justin Kurzel 's adaptation of William Shakespeare 's play . For the former , he has received Academy Award , BAFTA , Golden Globe and SAG nominations . In 2015 , he produced the western Slow West , in which he also starred .


Jackie Robinson won the National League Most Valuable Player Award.

Jackie Robinson Jack Roosevelt Robinson ( January 31 , 1919 -- October 24 , 1972 ) was an American professional baseball second baseman who became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball ( MLB ) in the modern era . Robinson broke the baseball color line when the Brooklyn Dodgers started him at first base on April 15 , 1947 . The Dodgers , by signing Robinson , heralded the end of racial segregation in professional baseball that had relegated black players to the Negro leagues since the 1880s . Robinson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962 .   Robinson had an exceptional 10-year baseball career . He was the recipient of the inaugural MLB Rookie of the Year Award in 1947 , was an All-Star for six consecutive seasons from 1949 through 1954 , and won the National League Most Valuable Player Award in 1949 -- the first black player so honored . Robinson played in six World Series and contributed to the Dodgers ' 1955 World Series championship .   In 1997 , MLB `` universally '' retired his uniform number , 42 , across all major league teams ; he was the first pro athlete in any sport to be so honored . MLB also adopted a new annual tradition , `` Jackie Robinson Day '' , for the first time on April 15 , 2004 , on which every player on every team wears No. 42 .   Robinson 's character , his use of nonviolence , and his unquestionable talent challenged the traditional basis of segregation which then marked many other aspects of American life . He influenced the culture of and contributed significantly to the Civil Rights Movement . Robinson also was the first black television analyst in MLB , and the first black vice president of a major American corporation , Chock full o'Nuts . In the 1960s , he helped establish the Freedom National Bank , an African-American-owned financial institution based in Harlem , New York . After his death in 1972 , in recognition of his achievements on and off the field , Robinson was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal and Presidential Medal of Freedom .


Naver Naver ( Hangul : 네이버 ) is a popular Web portal in South Korea , owned by Naver Corporation . Naver was launched in June 1999 by ex-Samsung employees , and it debuted as the first Web portal in Japan that used its own proprietary search engine . Among Naver 's features is `` Comprehensive Search '' , launched in 2000 , which provides results from multiple categories on a single page . It has since added new services such as `` Knowledge Search '' , launched in 2002 . It also provides Internet services including a news service , an e-mail service , an academic thesis search service , and a children 's portal . In 2005 , Naver launched Happybean , the world 's first online donation portal , which allows users to find information and make donations to over 20,000 civil society and social welfare organizations .   According to pitchone , Naver handled only 48 % of websearches in South Korea in 2016 . ( According to techforkorea , Naver handled 77 % of all web searches in South Korea in July 2014 ) Naver is the fifth most used search engine in the world , following Google search , Yahoo! , Baidu and Bing . More than 25 million Koreans have Naver as the default browser start page .  Naver launched its service in Japan in 2009 , marking their first expansion out of Korea .   In 2013 , Lee Hae-jin , the chairman and chief strategy of Naver , saw his stake value hover above 1 trillion won ( US$ 939.4 million ) on the back of its messenger service LINE .


The Night Of' had a screenwriter that is also an American novelist.

Richard Price (writer) Richard Price ( born October 12 , 1949 ) is an American novelist and screenwriter , known for the books The Wanderers ( 1974 ) , Clockers ( 1992 ) and Lush Life ( 2008 ) . Price 's novels explore late-20th century urban America in a gritty , realistic manner that has brought him considerable literary acclaim . Several of his novels are set in a fictional northern New Jersey city called Dempsy . In addition to writing literature , he writes for television , including The Wire and The Night Of .


The Night Of The Night Of is an American eight-part crime drama television miniseries based on Criminal Justice , a 2008 -- 09 British television series . The miniseries was written by Richard Price and Steven Zaillian and directed by Zaillian and James Marsh . Broadcast on HBO , The Night Of premiered on July 10 , 2016 to critical acclaim . The first episode premiered on June 24 , 2016 , via HBO on-demand .


Penny Dreadful does not have the character Dorian Gray.

Penny Dreadful (TV series) Penny Dreadful is a British-American horror drama television series created for Showtime and Sky by John Logan , who also acts as executive producer alongside Sam Mendes . The show was originally pitched to several US and UK channels , and eventually landed with Showtime , with Sky Atlantic as co-producer . It premiered at the South by Southwest film festival on March 9 and began airing on television on April 28 , 2014 , on Showtime on Demand . The series premiered on Showtime on May 11 , 2014 , the first in an eight-episode season . After the third-season finale on June 19 , 2016 , series creator John Logan announced that Penny Dreadful had ended as the main story had reached its conclusion .   The title refers to the penny dreadfuls , a type of 19th-century British fiction publication with lurid and sensational subject matter . The series draws upon many public domain characters from 19th-century British and Irish fiction , including Dorian Gray from Oscar Wilde 's The Picture of Dorian Gray ; Mina Harker , Abraham Van Helsing , Dr. Seward , Renfield , and Count Dracula from Bram Stoker 's Dracula ; Victor Frankenstein and his monster from Mary Shelley 's Frankenstein ; and Dr. Henry Jekyll from Robert Louis Stevenson 's Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde .


Michael Keaton plays a Marvel Comic super villain.

Michael Keaton Michael John Douglas ( born September 5 , 1951 ) , known professionally as Michael Keaton , is an American actor , producer and director . He first rose to fame for his comedic film roles in Night Shift ( 1982 ) , Mr. Mom ( 1983 ) , Johnny Dangerously ( 1984 ) and Beetlejuice ( 1988 ) , and he earned further acclaim for his dramatic portrayal of the title character in Tim Burton 's Batman ( 1989 ) and Batman Returns ( 1992 ) .   Since then , he has appeared in a variety of films ranging from dramas and romantic comedies to thriller and action films ; such as Clean and Sober ( 1988 ) , The Dream Team ( 1989 ) , Pacific Heights ( 1990 ) , Much Ado About Nothing ( 1993 ) , My Life ( 1993 ) , The Paper ( 1994 ) , Multiplicity ( 1996 ) , Jackie Brown ( 1997 ) , Herbie : Fully Loaded ( 2005 ) , The Other Guys ( 2010 ) , Need for Speed ( 2014 ) , RoboCop ( 2014 ) , Spotlight ( 2015 ) and The Founder ( 2016 ) , and he has also provided voices for characters in animated films such as Cars ( 2006 ) , Toy Story 3 ( 2010 ) and Minions ( 2015 ) . In 2017 , Keaton will play the role of Marvel Comics supervillain the Vulture in Spider-Man : Homecoming .   Keaton 's lead performance in Birdman or ( The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance ) ( 2014 ) earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy , the Critics ' Choice Award for Best Actor and Best Actor in a Comedy , and nominations for the Screen Actors Guild Award , British Academy Film Award , and Academy Award for Best Actor . He previously received a Golden Globe Award nomination for his performance in Live from Baghdad ( 2002 ) and a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for The Company ( 2007 ) . Keaton was awarded a Career Achievement Award from both the Hollywood Film Festival and Zurich Film Festivals .   On January 18 , 2016 , he was named Officer of Order of Arts and Letters in France . He is also a visiting scholar at Carnegie Mellon University . </span>


Kazakhstan Kazakhstan ( -LSB- USkæzækˈstæn , _ ˌkɑːzɑːkˈstɑːn -RSB- , -LSB- ˌkæzəkˈstɑːn , _ - ˈstæn -RSB- Қазақстан , tr . Qazaqstan , -LSB- qɑzɑqˈstɑn -RSB- ; Казахстан , tr . Kazakhstan ) , officially the Republic of Kazakhstan ( Қазақстан Республикасы , tr . Qazaqstan Respwblïkası ; Республика Казахстан , tr . Respublika Kazakhstan ) , is a transcontinental country in northern Central Asia and Eastern Europe . Kazakhstan is the world 's largest landlocked country , and the ninth largest in the world , with an area of 2,724,900 km ² . Kazakhstan is the dominant nation of Central Asia economically , generating 60 % of the region 's GDP , primarily through its oil/gas industry . It also has vast mineral resources .   Kazakhstan is officially a democratic , secular , unitary , constitutional republic with a diverse cultural heritage . Kazakhstan shares borders with Russia , China , Kyrgyzstan , Uzbekistan , and Turkmenistan , and also adjoins a large part of the Caspian Sea . The terrain of Kazakhstan includes flatlands , steppe , taiga , rock canyons , hills , deltas , snow-capped mountains , and deserts . Kazakhstan has an estimated 18 million people , Given its large land area , its population density is among the lowest , at less than 6 people per square kilometre ( 15 people per sq. mi . ) . The capital is Astana , where it was moved in 1997 from Almaty , the country 's largest city .   The territory of Kazakhstan has historically been inhabited by nomadic tribes . This changed in the 13th century , when Genghis Khan occupied the country as part of the Mongolian Empire . Following internal struggles among the conquerors , power eventually reverted to the nomads . By the 16th century , the Kazakh emerged as a distinct group , divided into three jüz ( ancestor branches occupying specific territories ) . The Russians began advancing into the Kazakh steppe in the 18th century , and by the mid-19th century , they nominally ruled all of Kazakhstan as part of the Russian Empire . Following the 1917 Russian Revolution , and subsequent civil war , the territory of Kazakhstan was reorganised several times . In 1936 , it was made the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic , part of the Soviet Union .   Kazakhstan was the last of the Soviet republics to declare independence during the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 . The current President , Nursultan Nazarbayev , has been leader of the country since then , and is characterised as authoritarian , with a government history of human rights abuses and suppression of political opposition . Kazakhstan has worked to develop its economy , especially its dominant hydrocarbon industry . Human Rights Watch says that `` Kazakhstan heavily restricts freedom of assembly , speech , and religion , '' and other human rights organisations regularly describe Kazakhstan 's human rights situation as poor .   Kazakhstan 's 131 ethnicities include Kazakhs ( 63 % of the population ) , Russians , Uzbeks , Ukrainians , Germans , Tatars , and Uyghurs . Islam is the religion of about 70 % of the population , with Christianity practised by 26 % ; Kazakhstan officially allows freedom of religion , but religious leaders who oppose the government are suppressed . The Kazakh language is the state language , and Russian has equal official status for all levels of administrative and institutional purposes .


John II of Portugal was the king of Portugal.

John II of Portugal John II ( Portuguese : João II , -LSB- ʒuˈɐ̃w̃ -RSB- ; 3 March 1455 -- 25 October 1495 ) , the Perfect Prince ( o Príncipe Perfeito ) , was the king of Portugal and the Algarves in 1477/1481 -- 1495 .   He is known for re-establishing the power of the Portuguese throne , reinvigorating the Portuguese economy , and renewing his country 's exploration of Africa and the Orient .


Walt Whitman Walter `` Walt '' Whitman ( -LSB- ˈhwɪtmən -RSB- May 31 , 1819 -- March 26 , 1892 ) was an American poet , essayist , and journalist . A humanist , he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism , incorporating both views in his works . Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon , often called the father of free verse . His work was very controversial in its time , particularly his poetry collection Leaves of Grass , which was described as obscene for its overt sexuality .   Born in Huntington on Long Island , Whitman worked as a journalist , a teacher , a government clerk , and -- in addition to publishing his poetry -- was a volunteer nurse during the American Civil War . Early in his career , he also produced a temperance novel , Franklin Evans ( 1842 ) . Whitman 's major work , Leaves of Grass , was first published in 1855 with his own money . The work was an attempt at reaching out to the common person with an American epic . He continued expanding and revising it until his death in 1892 . After a stroke towards the end of his life , he moved to Camden , New Jersey , where his health further declined . When he died at age 72 , his funeral became a public spectacle .


The Beach Boys was a solely Japanese rock band.

The Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American rock band formed in Hawthorne , California , in 1961 . The group 's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian , Dennis , and Carl Wilson ; their cousin Mike Love ; and their friend Al Jardine . Distinguished by their vocal harmonies and early surf songs , they are one of the most influential acts of the rock era . The group , led by their principal songwriter and producer Brian , pioneered novel approaches to popular music form and production , combining their affinities for jazz-based vocal groups , 1950s rock and roll , and black R&B to create their unique sound . He later arranged his compositions for studio orchestras and explored a variety of other styles , often incorporating classical or jazz elements and unconventional recording techniques in innovative ways .   The Beach Boys began as a garage band managed by the Wilsons ' father Murry , with Brian 's increasingly sophisticated songwriting and recording abilities dominating their creative direction . Emerging at the vanguard of the `` California Sound '' , they performed original material that reflected a southern California youth culture of surfing , cars , and romance . After 1964 , they abandoned the surfing aesthetic for more personal lyrics and multi-layered sounds . In 1966 , the Pet Sounds album and `` Good Vibrations '' single vaulted the group to the top level of rock innovators and established the band as symbols of the nascent counterculture era . Following the dissolution of the group 's Smile project in 1967 , Brian gradually ceded production and songwriting duties to the rest of the band , reducing his input because of mental health and substance abuse issues . The group 's public image subsequently faltered , and despite efforts to continue their psychedelic/avant-garde ventures and reclaim their hippie audiences , they were dismissed as an embodiment of the values and outlooks shared by early 1960s white , suburban teenagers .   The continued success of their greatest hits albums during the mid 1970s precipitated the band 's transition into an oldies act , a move that was denigrated by critics and many fans . Since the 1980s , much-publicized legal wrangling over royalties , songwriting credits and use of the band 's name transpired . Dennis drowned in 1983 and Carl died of lung cancer in 1998 . After Carl 's death , many live configurations of the band fronted by Mike Love and Bruce Johnston continued to tour into the 2000s while other members pursued solo projects . Even though Wilson and Jardine have not performed with Love and Johnston 's band since their one-off 2012 reunion tour , they remain a part of the Beach Boys ' corporation , Brother Records Inc. .   The Beach Boys are one of the most critically acclaimed , commercially successful , and widely influential bands of all time . The group had over eighty songs chart worldwide , thirty-six of them US Top 40 hits ( the most by an American rock band ) , four reaching number-one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart . The Beach Boys have sold in excess of 100 million records worldwide , making them one of the world 's best-selling bands of all time and are listed at No. 12 on Rolling Stone magazine 's 2004 list of the `` 100 Greatest Artists of All Time '' . The core quintet of the three Wilsons , Love and Jardine were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 .


Roman Atwood Roman Bernard Atwood ( born May 28 , 1983 ) is an American YouTube personality , comedian , vlogger and pranker . He is best known for his vlogs , where he posts updates about his life on a daily basis . His vlogging channel , `` RomanAtwoodVlogs '' , has a total of 3.3 billion views and 11.9 million subscribers . He also has another YouTube channel called `` RomanAtwood '' , where he posts pranks . His prank videos have gained over 1.4 billion views and 10.3 million subscribers . Both of these channels are in the top 100 most subscribed on YouTube , and he became the second YouTuber after Germán Garmendia to receive two Diamond Play Buttons for his two channels .


Adele Adele Laurie Blue Adkins ( -LSB- əˈdɛl -RSB- born 5 May 1988 ) is an English singer-songwriter . After graduating from the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology in 2006 , Adele was given a recording contract by XL Recordings after a friend posted her demo on Myspace the same year . In 2007 , she received the Brit Awards `` Critics ' Choice '' award and won the BBC Sound of 2008 poll . Her debut album , 19 , was released in 2008 to commercial and critical success . It is certified seven times platinum in the UK , and three times platinum in the US . The album contains her first song , `` Hometown Glory '' , written when she was 16 , which is based on her home suburb of West Norwood in London . An appearance she made on Saturday Night Live in late 2008 boosted her career in the US . At the 51st Grammy Awards in 2009 , Adele received the awards for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance .   She released her second studio album , 21 , in early 2011 . The album was critically well received and surpassed the success of her debut , earning the singer numerous awards in 2012 , among them a record-tying six Grammy Awards , including Album of the Year ; two Brit Awards , including British Album of the Year , and three American Music Awards . The album has been certified 16 times platinum in the UK , and is the fourth best-selling album in the UK of all time . In the US , it has held the top position longer than any album since 1985 , and is certified diamond . The album has sold over 31 million copies worldwide . The success of 21 earned Adele numerous mentions in the Guinness Book of World Records . She is the first woman in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 to have three simultaneous top 10 singles as a lead artist , and the first female artist to simultaneously have two albums in the top five of the Billboard 200 and two singles in the top five of the Billboard Hot 100 . 21 is the longest-running number one album by a female solo artist in the history of the UK and US Album Charts .   In 2012 , Adele released `` Skyfall '' , which she co-wrote and recorded for the James Bond film of the same name . The song won an Academy Award , a Grammy Award , and a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song , as well as the Brit Award for British Single of the Year . After taking a three-year break , Adele released her third studio album , 25 , in 2015 . It became the year 's best-selling album and broke first week sales records in the UK and US . 25 was her second album to be certified diamond in the US and earned her five Grammy Awards , including her second Grammy Award for Album of the Year , and four Brit Awards . The lead single , `` Hello '' , became the first song in the US to sell over one million digital copies within a week of its release . Her third concert tour , Adele Live 2016 , visited Europe , North America and Oceania , and will conclude with four finale concerts at Wembley Stadium in mid-2017 .   In 2011 , 2012 and 2016 , Billboard named Adele Artist of the Year . In 2012 , she was listed at number five on VH1 's 100 Greatest Women in Music . Time magazine named her one of the most influential people in the world in 2012 and 2016 . With sales of more than 100 million records , Adele is one of the best-selling recording artists in the world .


The Fifth Element The Fifth Element ( Le Cinquième Élément ) is a 1997 English-language French science-fiction action film directed and co-written by Luc Besson . It stars Bruce Willis , Gary Oldman and Milla Jovovich . Primarily set in the 23rd century , the film 's central plot involves the survival of planet Earth , which becomes the responsibility of Korben Dallas ( Willis ) , a taxicab driver and former special forces major , after a young woman ( Jovovich ) falls into his cab . Dallas joins forces with her to recover four mystical stones essential for the defence of Earth against an impending attack .   Besson started writing the story that became The Fifth Element when he was 16 years old ; he was 38 when the film opened in cinemas . Besson wanted to shoot the film in France , but suitable locations could not be found ; filming took place instead in London and Mauritania . Comics writers Jean `` Moebius '' Giraud and Jean-Claude Mézières , whose comics provided inspiration for parts of the film , were hired for production design . Costume design was by Jean Paul Gaultier .   The Fifth Element received mainly positive reviews , although it tended to polarize critics . It has been called both the best and worst summer blockbuster of all time . The film was a financial success , earning more than $ 263 million at the box office on a $ 90 million budget . At the time of its release it was the most expensive European film ever made , and it remained the highest-grossing French film at the international box office until the release of The Intouchables in 2011 .


The Night Train to Kathmandu The Night Train to Kathmandu is a 1988 television film starring Milla Jovovich , Eddie Castrodad and Pernell Roberts . It was directed by Robert Wiemer .


Milla Jovovich Milica Bogdanovna `` Milla '' JovovichSerbian Cyrillic : Милица Јововић ; Милица Йовович Милиця Йовович ( -LSB- ˈjoʊvəvɪtʃ -RSB- ; born December 17 , 1975 ) is an American actress , model , musician , and fashion designer . She has appeared in numerous science fiction and action films , leading the music channel VH1 to deem her the `` reigning queen of kick-butt '' in 2006 . In 2004 , she was the highest-paid model in the world according to Forbes .   Born in Kiev , Jovovich emigrated with her parents to the United States when she was five . In 1987 , she began modeling at the age of 12 when Herb Ritts photographed her for the cover of the Italian magazine Lei . Richard Avedon featured her in Revlon 's `` Most Unforgettable Women in the World '' advertisements . In 1988 , Jovovich had her first acting role in the television film The Night Train to Kathmandu , and that year also appeared in her first feature film , Two Moon Junction .   Jovovich gained attention for her role in the explicit 1991 romance film Return to the Blue Lagoon , as she was then only 15 . She was considered to have a breakthrough with her role in the 1997 French science-fiction film The Fifth Element written and directed by Luc Besson . She and Besson married that year , but soon divorced . She starred as the heroine and martyr in Besson 's The Messenger : The Story of Joan of Arc ( 1999 ) .   In 2002 , Jovovich starred in the science fiction horror film Resident Evil , adapted from the video game series of the same name . It received negative reviews from critics , but was commercially successful . She reprised her role in five sequels , all in the apocalyptic fiction action horror genre , made between 2004 and 2016 .   Jovovich released an album , The Divine Comedy , in 1994 . She continues to release demos for other songs on her official website and contributes to film soundtracks . In 2003 , she and model Carmen Hawk created the clothing line Jovovich-Hawk . Jovovich has her own production company , Creature Entertainment .


Return to the Blue Lagoon Return to the Blue Lagoon is a 1991 American romance and adventure film starring Milla Jovovich and Brian Krause , produced and directed by William A. Graham . The film is a sequel to The Blue Lagoon ( 1980 ) . The screenplay by Leslie Stevens was based on the novel The Garden of God by Henry De Vere Stacpoole . The original music score was composed by Basil Poledouris . The film 's closing theme song `` A World of Our Own '' is performed by Surface featuring Bernard Jackson . The music was written by Barry Mann , and the lyrics were written by Cynthia Weil .   The film tells the story of two young children marooned on a tropical island paradise in the South Pacific . Their life together is blissful , but not without physical and emotional changes , as they grow to maturity and fall in love .


Blonde (Frank Ocean album) Blonde ( stylized as blond ) is the second studio album by American singer Frank Ocean . It was released on August 20 , 2016 , as a timed exclusive on the iTunes Store and Apple Music , and followed the August 19 release of Ocean 's visual album Endless . Initially known as Boys Do n't Cry and teased for a July 2015 release , the album suffered several delays and was the subject of widespread media anticipation leading up to its release .   The album features an abstract and experimental sound in comparison to Ocean 's previous releases , and includes guest vocals from André 3000 , Beyoncé , Yung Lean , and Kim Burrell , among others . Production is handled by Ocean himself , alongside a variety of high-profile record producers , including Malay and Om ` Mas Keith , who collaborated with Ocean on Channel Orange , as well as James Blake , Jon Brion , Buddy Ross , Pharrell Williams and Rostam Batmanglij , among others .   Blonde debuted at number one in several countries , including the United States and the United Kingdom , and in its first week recorded sales of 232,000 copies ( 275,000 with album-equivalent units ) . Its physical release was accompanied by a magazine entitled Boys Do n't Cry . The album was supported by lead single `` Nikes '' . It received widespread acclaim from critics and appeared on the year-end lists of 2016 of many publications .


Frank Ocean Christopher Francis `` Frank '' Ocean ( born Christopher Edwin Breaux ; October 28 , 1987 ) , is an American singer , songwriter , and rapper . Known for his idiosyncratic musical style , Ocean first embarked on a career as a ghostwriter , and in 2010 he became a member of hip hop collective Odd Future . He released his breakout mixtape , Nostalgia , Ultra , to critical acclaim in 2011 . It generated his first charting single `` Novacane '' . In 2012 , Ocean finished in second place in BBC 's Sound of 2012 poll .   His debut studio album , Channel Orange , was released in July 2012 to critical acclaim and reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200 . It was promoted with three singles : `` Thinkin Bout You '' , `` Pyramids '' and `` Sweet Life '' . In 2016 , Ocean released the visual album Endless alongside his second studio album Blonde , following several years of delays . Blonde was acclaimed by critics , and debuted at number one in the United States and the United Kingdom .


Beastie Boys was originally a punk band when they formed in 1978.

Beastie Boys The Beastie Boys were an American hip hop group from New York City , formed in 1981 . For the majority of their career , the group consisted of Michael `` Mike D '' Diamond ( vocals , drums ) , Adam `` MCA '' Yauch ( vocals , bass ) and Adam `` Ad-Rock '' Horovitz ( vocals , guitar ) .   Originally formed as a four-piece hardcore punk band , the Young Aborigines , in 1978 by Diamond ( vocals ) , John Berry ( guitar ) , Yauch ( bass ) and Kate Schellenbach ( drums ) , the band appeared on the compilation cassette New York Thrash , before recording their first EP , Polly Wog Stew , in 1982 . Berry left shortly thereafter , and was replaced by Horovitz . After achieving moderate local success with the 1983 experimental hip hop 12-inch `` Cooky Puss '' , Schellenbach dropped out and the Beastie Boys made a full transition to hip hop , releasing a string of successful singles . They toured with Madonna in 1985 and a year later released their debut album Licensed to Ill. . The group sold 26 million albums in the United States and 50 million albums worldwide , making them , according to Billboard , the biggest-selling rap group since the magazine began recording sales data in 1991 .   With seven platinum or better albums from 1986 to 2004 , the Beastie Boys were one of the longest-lived hip hop acts worldwide . In 2009 , they released digitally remastered deluxe editions of their albums Paul 's Boutique , Check Your Head , Ill Communication and Hello Nasty . Their eighth studio album , Hot Sauce Committee Part Two , was released in 2011 , and received positive reviews . They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 2012 , `` just the third rap group to enter the Hall , after Run -- D.M.C. ( 2009 ) and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five ( 2007 ) . '' The following month , MCA died of cancer of the parotid salivary gland . In June 2014 , Mike D confirmed that he and Ad-Rock would not continue the Beastie Boys , out of respect to MCA .


Master of None Master of None is an American comedy-drama web television series , which was released for streaming on November 6 , 2015 on Netflix . The series was created by Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang , and stars Ansari in the lead role of Dev , a 30-year-old actor who attempts to make his way through life . The first season was set in New York City , and consisted of ten episodes . The show was well received by critics , appeared on multiple year-end top ten lists , and received multiple awards and nominations . The second season consists of ten episodes and was released on May 12 , 2017 .


Beastie Boys did not appear on a compilation album.


Gopi Sunder has yet to receive a Filmfare Award.

Gopi Sunder Gopi Sunder is a National Award-winning Indian musician , film score composer , programmer and singer . He has composed music for more than 5000 advertisements , programmed music for many major composers and composed the music for nearly 50 Indian films to date .   He has composed the background score and songs for films like Flash ( 2007 ) , Sagar Alias Jacky Reloaded ( 2009 ) , Anwar ( 2010 ) , Ustad Hotel ( 2012 ) , 1983 ( 2014 ) , Bangalore Days ( 2014 ) , Charlie ( 2015 ) , Thozha ( 2016 ) , Pulimurugan ( 2016 ) . He has also done the background score for Notebook ( 2006 ) , Big B ( 2007 ) , Mission 90 Days ( 2007 ) , Poi Solla Porom ( 2008 ) , Evidam Swargamanu ( 2009 ) , 1983 ( 2014 ) , Bangalore Days ( 2014 ) , Ennu Ninte Moideen ( 2015 ) , Charlie ( 2015 ) , Thozha ( 2016 ) , Devi ( 2016 ) , Pulimurugan '' ( 2016 ) .   He got his first Filmfare Award for Best Music Director in the 58th Filmfare Awards South for Anwar ( 2010 ) .


Nikita (TV series) Nikita is an American television series that aired on The CW from September 9 , 2010 to December 27 , 2013 in the United States . The series is a reboot of the popular 1997 TV series La Femme Nikita ( itself based on the 1990 Luc Besson film Nikita ) .   The series focuses on Nikita ( Maggie Q ) , a woman who escaped from a secret government-funded organization known as `` Division '' and , after a three-year hiding period , is back to bring down the organization . The main cast in various seasons features Maggie Q , Lyndsy Fonseca , Shane West , Aaron Stanford , Melinda Clarke , Xander Berkeley , Noah Bean , Tiffany Hines , Ashton Holmes , Dillon Casey , and Devon Sawa .


Grant Gustin Thomas Grant Gustin ( born January 14 , 1990 ) is an American actor , singer , and dancer . He is known for his role as Barry Allen / the Flash ( based on the DC Comics character of the same name ) on the CW series The Flash and Arrow , both in the Arrowverse television franchise , and his role as Sebastian Smythe on the Fox series Glee .


The blue whale's mind is long and slender.

Blue whale The blue whale ( Balaenoptera musculus ) is a marine mammal belonging to the baleen whales ( Mysticeti ) . At up to 29.9 m in length and with a maximum recorded weight of 173 tonne and probably reaching over 181 tonnes ( 200 short tons ) , it is the largest animal known to have ever existed .   Long and slender , the blue whale 's body can be various shades of bluish-grey dorsally and somewhat lighter underneath . There are at least three distinct subspecies : B. m. musculus of the North Atlantic and North Pacific , B. m. intermedia of the Southern Ocean and B. m. brevicauda ( also known as the pygmy blue whale ) found in the Indian Ocean and South Pacific Ocean . B. m. indica , found in the Indian Ocean , may be another subspecies . As with other baleen whales , its diet consists almost exclusively of small crustaceans known as krill .   Blue whales were abundant in nearly all the oceans on Earth until the beginning of the twentieth century . For over a century , they were hunted almost to extinction by whalers until protected by the international community in 1966 . A 2002 report estimated there were 5,000 to 12,000 blue whales worldwide , in at least five groups . The IUCN estimates that there are probably between 10,000 and 25,000 blue whales worldwide today . Before whaling , the largest population was in the Antarctic , numbering approximately 239,000 ( range 202,000 to 311,000 ) . There remain only much smaller ( around 2,000 ) concentrations in each of the eastern North Pacific , Antarctic , and Indian Ocean groups . There are two more groups in the North Atlantic , and at least two in the Southern Hemisphere . As of 2014 , the Eastern North Pacific blue whale population had rebounded to nearly its pre-hunting population .


Miyu Irino voices Sora in a video game series.

Miyu Irino is a Japanese voice actor and actor born in Tokyo .  He voices the lead character Sora in the Kingdom Hearts video game series . His major anime voice roles include Todomatsu Matsuno in Osomatsu-san , Haku in Spirited Away , Daisuke Niwa in D.N.Angel , Syaoran Li in Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle , Sena Kobayakawa in Eyeshield 21 , Astral in Yu-Gi-Oh ! Zexal , Jinta in Anohana : The Flower We Saw That Day , Yuichiro Hyakuya in Seraph of the End and Ishida Shouya in A Silent Voice . On June 26 , 2009 , he released his debut mini-album called Soleil , and in August 2009 , Irino played a leading role in the movie Monochrome Girl . His first single album , Faith , was released on November 25 , 2009 .


Ronda Rousey has been in at least one country.

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympic Games , officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad and commonly known as Beijing 2008 , was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing , China , from 7 to 24 August 2008 . A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees ( NOCs ) competed in 28 sports and 302 events ( a total of one event more than the schedule of the 2004 Games ) . China became the 22nd nation to host the Olympic Games and the 18th to hold a Summer Olympic Games . It was the third time that the Summer Olympic Games were held in East Asia and Asia , after Tokyo , Japan , in 1964 and Seoul , South Korea , in 1988 .   The equestrian events were held in Hong Kong , making it the third time the events of the same Olympics were held under the jurisdiction of two different NOCs , while sailing was contested in Qingdao , and football events took place in several different cities .   Beijing was awarded the Games over four competitors on 13 July 2001 , having won a majority of votes from members of the International Olympic Committee ( IOC ) after two rounds of voting . The Government of the People 's Republic of China promoted the Games and invested heavily in new facilities and transportation systems . A total of 37 venues were used to host the events , including 12 constructed specifically for use at the Games . The official logo of these Olympic Games , titled `` Dancing Beijing '' , refers to the host city by featuring a stylized calligraphic character jīng ( , meaning capital ) . The Games were the second most watched Olympics in history , attracting 4.7 billion viewers worldwide . Some politicians and non-governmental organizations criticized the choice of China as Olympic host because of the country 's human rights record , and protests by critics of China 's human rights record , with particular focus on Tibet , marred the international portion of the Olympic torch relay .   There were 43 world records and 132 Olympic records set at the 2008 Summer Olympics . An unprecedented 86 countries won at least one medal during the Games . Chinese athletes won the most gold medals with 51 , and with 100 medals in total became only the 7th different Olympic team to top an overall medal tally . The United States won the most total medals with 110 , and placed second in the medal tally followed by Russia . The games were deemed highly successful with the rising standard of competition among nations across the world . On April 2017 after near 9 years , the Olympics has had the most ( 50 ) Olympic medals stripped for doping violations .


Ronda Rousey Ronda Jean Rousey ( -LSB- ˈraʊzi -RSB- born February 1 , 1987 ) is an American mixed martial artist , judoka , and actress .   Rousey was the first American woman to earn an Olympic medal in judo ( bronze ) , which she won at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing . She is the former UFC Women 's Bantamweight Champion , as well as the last Strikeforce Women 's Bantamweight Champion . She won 12 consecutive MMA fights , six in the Ultimate Fighting Championship ( UFC ) , before suffering her first loss to Holly Holm in November 2015 ; she won 11 of those fights in the first round , nine of them by armbar submission . Rousey trains under Gokor Chivichyan of the Hayastan MMA Academy , and Edmond Tarverdyan of the Glendale Fighting Club .   In May 2015 , two magazines ranked Rousey as the most `` dominant '' active athlete . In September 2015 , voters in an online ESPN poll selected Rousey as the Best Female Athlete Ever . Later that month , she claimed to be the UFC 's highest paid fighter , male or female . In 2015 , she was the third most searched person on Google . As of January 2017 , Rousey is ranked the # 4 female bantamweight fighter in the world according to the UFC , and # 9 by Sherdog .   Rousey 's first feature film role was the 2014 film The Expendables 3 . In 2015 , she had roles in the films Furious 7 and Entourage .


One Direction made Up All Night (2011), Take Me Home (2012), Midnight Memories (2013), Four (2014), and Made in the A.M. (2015), ``What Makes You Beautiful'', ``Live While We 're Young'', ``Best Song Ever'', ``Story of My Life'', and ``Drag Me Down''.

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 .


Avenged Sevenfold released eighteen singles.

Avenged Sevenfold Avenged Sevenfold ( sometimes abbreviated as A7X ) is an American heavy metal band from Huntington Beach , California , formed in 1999 . The band 's current lineup consists of lead vocalist M. Shadows , rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist Zacky Vengeance , lead guitarist and backing vocalist Synyster Gates , bassist and backing vocalist Johnny Christ , and drummer Brooks Wackerman .   Avenged Sevenfold is known for its diverse rock sound and dramatic imagery in album covers and merchandise . Avenged Sevenfold emerged with a metalcore sound on the band 's debut Sounding the Seventh Trumpet . However , Avenged Sevenfold 's style had evolved by the band 's third album and first major label release , City of Evil , into a heavy metal and hard rock style . The band continued to explore new sounds with its self-titled release and enjoyed continued mainstream success before their drummer , James `` The Rev '' Sullivan , died in 2009 . Despite his death , Avenged Sevenfold continued on with the help of now-former Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy and released and toured in support of its fifth album Nightmare in 2010 , which debuted on the top spot of the Billboard 200 , Avenged Sevenfold 's first number one debut . In 2011 drummer Arin Ilejay joined the band on tours and recording . Avenged Sevenfold 's sixth studio album Hail to the King , which was released in 2013 , marked the only Avenged Sevenfold album featuring Arin Ilejay . Hail to the King charted as number 1 on the Billboard 200 , the UK Albums chart , as well as the Finnish , Brazilian , Canadian , and Irish charts . In late 2014 Ilejay left the band , and was replaced by former Bad Religion drummer Brooks Wackerman , but was n't revealed as his replacement until in 2015 the band announced Ilejay 's departure . The band surprise released their seventh studio album titled The Stage on October 28 , 2016 , which debuted as number 4 on the Billboard 200 chart in the US . The Stage is their first conceptual album and it marked another stylistic change for the band , moving towards the progressive metal sound .   To date , Avenged Sevenfold has released seven studio albums , one live album/DVD , two compilation albums and eighteen singles and have sold over 8 million albums worldwide . Avenged Sevenfold was ranked # 47 on Loudwire 's list of Top 50 Metal Bands of All Time .


Tequila is made from the blue agave plant.

Tequila Tequila ( Spanish ) is a regionally specific name for a distilled beverage made from the blue agave plant , primarily in the area surrounding the city of Tequila , 65 km northwest of Guadalajara , and in the highlands ( Los Altos ) of the central western Mexican state of Jalisco . Although tequila is similar to mezcal , modern tequila differs somewhat in the method of its production , in the use of only blue agave plants , as well as in its regional specificity . Tequila is commonly served neat in Mexico and as a shot with salt and lime across the rest of the world .   The red volcanic soil in the surrounding region is particularly well suited to the growing of the blue agave , and more than 300 million of the plants are harvested there each year . Agave grows differently depending on the region . Blue agaves grown in the highlands Los Altos region are larger in size and sweeter in aroma and taste . Agaves harvested in the lowlands , on the other hand , have a more herbaceous fragrance and flavor .   Mexican laws state that tequila can only be produced in the state of Jalisco and limited municipalities in the states of Guanajuato , Michoacán , Nayarit , and Tamaulipas . Tequila is recognized as a Mexican designation of origin product in more than 40 countries . It is protected through NAFTA in Canada and the United States , through bilateral agreements with individual countries such as Japan and Israel , and has been a protected designation of origin product in the constituent countries of the European Union since 1997 .   Tequila is most often made at a 38 % alcohol content ( 76 U.S. proof ) for domestic consumption , but can be produced between 31 and 55 % alcohol content ( 62 and 110 U.S. proof ) . Per U.S law , tequila must contain at least 40 % alcohol ( 80 U.S. proof ) to be sold in the United States .


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 .


The Host starred actors and actresses exclusively from Slovenia.

The Host (2013 film) The Host is a 2013 American romantic science fiction thriller film adapted from Stephenie Meyer 's novel of the same name . It tells the story of a young woman , Melanie , who is captured after the human race has been taken over by parasitic aliens called `` Souls '' . After Melanie is infused with a soul called `` Wanderer '' , Melanie and the alien `` Soul '' vie for control of her body . Written and directed by Andrew Niccol , the film stars Saoirse Ronan , Max Irons , Jake Abel , William Hurt , and Diane Kruger . Released in theaters on March 29 , 2013 , the film was poorly received by critics .


Diane Kruger Diane Kruger ( -LSB- diˈa : nə ˈkru : ɡɐ -RSB- ; born Diane Heidkrüger ; 15 July 1976 ) is a German-American actress and former fashion model .   She is known for roles such as Helen in the epic war film Troy ( 2004 ) , Dr. Abigail Chase in the adventure/heist film National Treasure ( 2004 ) and its sequel ( 2007 ) , Bridget von Hammersmark in Quentin Tarantino 's war film Inglourious Basterds ( 2009 ) , Anna in the sci-fi drama Mr. Nobody ( 2009 ) , Gina in the psychological thriller film Unknown ( 2011 ) , Marie Antoinette in the French-language film Farewell , My Queen ( 2012 ) and Jessie in the drama-thriller Disorder ( 2015 ) . She also starred as Detective Sonya Cross in the FX crime drama series The Bridge .   In 2017 , she made her German-language debut in Fatih Akin 's In the Fade , for which she won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress .


Jennifer Aniston was married to Brad Pitt for five years.

Jennifer Aniston Jennifer Joanna Aniston ( born February 11 , 1969 ) is an American actress , producer , and businesswoman . She is the daughter of Greek-born actor John Aniston and American actress Nancy Dow . Aniston gained worldwide recognition for portraying Rachel Green on the popular television sitcom Friends ( 1994 -- 2004 ) , a role which earned her a Primetime Emmy Award , a Golden Globe Award , and a Screen Actors Guild Award . The character was widely popular during the airing of the series and was later recognized as one of the 100 greatest female characters in United States television .   Aniston has played the female protagonist in a number of comedies and romantic comedies . Her box office hits include Bruce Almighty ( 2003 ) , The Break-Up ( 2006 ) , Marley & Me ( 2008 ) , Just Go with It ( 2011 ) , Horrible Bosses ( 2011 ) , and We 're the Millers ( 2013 ) , each of which have grossed over 200 million in worldwide receipts . Her most critically acclaimed roles included the role of Olivia in Friends with Money ( 2006 ) , The Good Girl ( 2002 ) , for which she was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead , and the drama Cake ( 2014 ) , for which she received nominations for the Golden Globe Award and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress . Her other films include Along Came Polly ( 2004 ) and He 's Just Not That Into You ( 2009 ) . In 2008 , she co-founded the production company Echo Films .   In 2012 , Aniston received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame . She is one of the highest paid actresses in Hollywood , and as of 2014 , her net worth is estimated to be 150 million . She has also been included in magazines ' lists of the world 's most beautiful women . People magazine named Aniston `` The Most Beautiful Woman '' in 2004 and 2016 , and Men 's Health magazine voted her the `` Sexiest Woman of All Time '' in 2011 . Divorced from actor Brad Pitt , to whom she was married for five years , she has been married to actor Justin Theroux since 2015 .


Transformers (film) Transformers is a 2007 American science fiction action film based on the toy line of the same name created by Hasbro . The film , which combines computer animation with live-action filming , was directed by Michael Bay , with Steven Spielberg serving as executive producer . It was produced by Don Murphy and Tom DeSanto , and is the first installment in the live-action Transformers film series . The film stars Shia LaBeouf as Sam Witwicky , a teenager who gets caught up in a war between the heroic Autobots and the villainous Decepticons , two factions of alien robots who can disguise themselves by transforming into everyday machinery , primarily vehicles . The Autobots intend to use the AllSpark , the object that created their robotic race , to rebuild their home planet Cybertron and end the war , while the Decepticons have the intention of using it to build an army by giving life to the machines of Earth . Tyrese Gibson , Josh Duhamel , Anthony Anderson , Megan Fox , Rachael Taylor , John Turturro , and Jon Voight also star , while voice actors Peter Cullen and Hugo Weaving voice Optimus Prime and Megatron respectively .   Murphy and DeSanto developed the project in 2003 , and DeSanto wrote a treatment . Steven Spielberg came on board the following year , hiring Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman to write the screenplay . The U.S. Armed Forces and General Motors ( GM ) loaned vehicles and aircraft during filming , which saved money for the production and added realism to the battle scenes . Hasbro 's promotional campaign for the film included deals with various companies ; advertising included a viral marketing campaign , coordinated releases of prequel comic books , toys , and books , as well as product placement deals with companies such as GM , Burger King , and eBay .   Transformers received mixed to positive reviews from critics and fans , and is the 87th highest-grossing film of all-time and was the fifth highest-grossing film of 2007 , grossing $ 709 million worldwide , with an estimated 46 million tickets sold in the US . The film won four awards from the Visual Effects Society and was nominated for three Academy Awards , for Best Sound Editing , Best Sound Mixing , and Best Visual Effects . LaBeouf 's performance was praised by Empire , and Cullen 's reprisal of Optimus Prime from the 1980s television series was well received by fans . It was soon followed by four sequels : Revenge of the Fallen ( 2009 ) , Dark of the Moon ( 2011 ) , and Age of Extinction ( 2014 ) , the later two of which grossed $ 1 billion . A fifth installment , titled The Last Knight , is scheduled for release on June 23 , 2017 .


The Girl on the Train is a Broadway adaptation of a film.

The Girl on the Train (2016 film) The Girl on the Train is a 2016 American mystery thriller drama film directed by Tate Taylor and written by Erin Cressida Wilson , based on Paula Hawkins ' 2015 debut novel of the same name . The film stars Emily Blunt , Rebecca Ferguson , Haley Bennett , Justin Theroux , Luke Evans , Allison Janney , Édgar Ramírez , and Lisa Kudrow , and follows an alcoholic divorcée who becomes involved in a missing persons investigation .   Principal photography began on November 4 , 2015 in New York City . Produced by Marc Platt and DreamWorks Pictures , The Girl on the Train was the first DreamWorks Pictures film to be distributed by Universal Pictures , as part of DreamWorks ' new distribution deal via Amblin Partners . It premiered in London on September 20 , 2016 and was theatrically released in the United States on October 7 , 2016 . The film grossed $ 173 million worldwide , and received mixed reviews , although Blunt 's performance received praise and gained a nomination at the 23rd Screen Actors Guild Awards , as well as a nomination for BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role at the 70th British Academy Film Awards .


Clarence Thomas Clarence Thomas ( born June 23 , 1948 ) is an American judge , lawyer , and government official who currently serves as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States . Thomas succeeded Thurgood Marshall and is the second African American to serve on the court .   Thomas grew up in Savannah , Georgia , and was educated at the College of the Holy Cross and at Yale Law School . In 1974 , he was appointed an Assistant Attorney General in Missouri and subsequently practiced law there in the private sector . In 1979 , he became a legislative assistant to Senator John Danforth ( R-MO ) and in 1981 was appointed Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education . In 1982 , President Ronald Reagan appointed Thomas Chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ( EEOC ) .   In 1990 , President George H. W. Bush nominated Thomas for a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit . He served in that role for 16 months and on July 1 , 1991 , was nominated by Bush to fill Marshall 's seat on the United States Supreme Court . Thomas 's confirmation hearings were bitter and intensely fought , centering on an accusation that he had sexually harassed attorney Anita Hill , a subordinate at the Department of Education and subsequently at the EEOC . The U.S. Senate ultimately confirmed Thomas by a vote of 52 -- 48 .   Since joining the court , Thomas has taken a textualist approach , seeking to uphold the original meaning of the United States Constitution and statutes . He is generally viewed as the most conservative member of the court . Thomas is also known for his practice of rarely speaking during oral arguments .