Oscar Robertson was born on November 24, 1938.

Oscar Robertson Oscar Palmer Robertson ( born November 24 , 1938 ) , nicknamed `` The Big O '' , is an American former National Basketball Association player who played for the Cincinnati Royals and Milwaukee Bucks . The 6 ft , 205 lb Robertson played point guard and was a 12-time All-Star , 11-time member of the All-NBA Team , and one-time winner of the MVP award in 14 professional seasons . In 1962 , he became the first of only two players in NBA history to average a triple-double for a season . In the 1970 -- 71 NBA season , he was a key player on the team that brought the Bucks their only NBA title . His playing career , especially during high school and college , was plagued by racism .   Robertson is a two-time Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee , having been inducted in 1980 for his individual career , and in 2010 as a member of the 1960 United States men 's Olympic basketball team and president of the National Basketball Players Association . He also was voted one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996 . The United States Basketball Writers Association renamed their College Player of the Year Award the Oscar Robertson Trophy in his honor in 1998 , and he was one of five people chosen to represent the inaugural National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame class in 2006 . He was ranked as the 36th best American athlete of the 20th century by ESPN .   Robertson was also an integral part of Robertson v. National Basketball Ass 'n of 1970 . The landmark NBA antitrust suit , named after the then-president of the NBA Players ' Association , led to an extensive reform of the league 's strict free agency and draft rules and , subsequently , to higher salaries for all players .


The AK-47 has not been used by armed forces.

AK-47 The AK-47 ( -LSB- Автомат Калашникова , translit = Avtomat Kalashnikova , lit = Kalashnikov 's Automatic Rifle -RSB- ) is a selective-fire ( semi-automatic and automatic ) , gas-operated 7.62 × 39 mm assault rifle , developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov . It is the originating firearm of the Kalashnikov rifle ( or `` AK '' ) family .   Design work on the AK-47 began in the last year of World War II ( 1945 ) . In 1946 , the AK-47 was presented for official military trials , and in 1948 , the fixed-stock version was introduced into active service with selected units of the Soviet Army . An early development of the design was the AKS ( S -- Skladnoy or `` folding '' ) , which was equipped with an underfolding metal shoulder stock . In the spring of 1949 , the AK-47 was officially accepted by the Soviet Armed Forces and used by the majority of the member states of the Warsaw Pact .   Even after almost seven decades , the model and its variants remain the most popular and widely used assault rifles in the world because of their substantial reliability under harsh conditions , low production costs compared to contemporary Western weapons , availability in virtually every geographic region and ease of use . The AK-47 has been manufactured in many countries and has seen service with armed forces as well as irregular forces worldwide , and was the basis for developing many other types of individual and crew-served firearms . As of 2004 , `` Of the estimated 500 million firearms worldwide , approximately 100 million belong to the Kalashnikov family , three-quarters of which are AK-47s '' .


Warsaw Pact The Warsaw Pact , formally the Treaty of Friendship , Co-operation , and Mutual Assistance , was a collective defence treaty among the Soviet Union and seven Soviet satellite states in Central and Eastern Europe during the Cold War . The Warsaw Pact was the military complement to the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance ( CoMEcon ) , the regional economic organization for the communist states of Central and Eastern Europe . The Warsaw Pact was created in reaction to the integration of West Germany into NATO in 1955 per the London and Paris Conferences of 1954 , but it is also considered to have been motivated by Soviet desires to maintain control over military forces in Central and Eastern Europe .   While the Warsaw Pact was established as a balance of power or counterweight to NATO , there was no direct confrontation between them . Instead , the conflict was fought on an ideological basis and in proxy wars . Both NATO and the Warsaw Pact led to the expansion of military forces and their integration into the respective blocs . Its largest military engagement was the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968 ( with the participation of all Pact nations except Albania and Romania ) , which , in part , resulted in Albania withdrawing from the pact less than a month later . The Pact began to unravel in its entirety with the spread of the Revolutions of 1989 through the Eastern Bloc , beginning with the Solidarity movement in Poland and its electoral success in June 1989 .   East Germany and Poland withdrew from the Pact in 1990 . On 25 February 1991 , the Pact was declared at an end at a meeting of defence and foreign ministers from the five remaining member states in Hungary . The USSR itself was dissolved in December 1991 , although most of the former Soviet republics formed the Collective Security Treaty Organization shortly thereafter . Throughout the following 20 years , the seven Warsaw Pact countries outside the USSR each joined NATO ( East Germany through its reunification with West Germany ; and the Czech and Slovak republics as separate countries ) .


Miracle on 34th Street Miracle on 34th Street ( initially released in the United Kingdom as The Big Heart ) is a 1947 Christmas comedy-drama film written and directed by George Seaton and based on a story by Valentine Davies . It stars Maureen O'Hara , John Payne , Natalie Wood and Edmund Gwenn . The story takes place between Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day in New York City , and focuses on the impact of a department store Santa Claus who claims to be the real Santa . The film has become a perennial Christmas favorite .   The film won Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Supporting Role ( Edmund Gwenn ) , Best Writing , Original Story ( Valentine Davies ) and Best Writing , Screenplay . It was also nominated for Best Picture , losing to Gentleman 's Agreement . In 2005 , the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being `` culturally , historically or aesthetically significant '' . The Academy Film Archive preserved Miracle on 34th Street in 2009 .   Davies also penned a short novelization of the tale , which was published by Harcourt Brace simultaneously with the film 's release .


Natalie Wood Natalie Wood ( born Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko ; July 20 , 1938 -- November 28 or 29 , 1981 ) was an American film and television actress . She was known for her screen roles in Miracle on 34th Street , Splendor in the Grass , Rebel Without a Cause , The Searchers , and West Side Story . She first worked in films as a child , then became a successful Hollywood star as a young adult , receiving three Academy Award nominations before she was 25 years old .   Wood began acting in movies at the age of four and , at age eight , was given a co-starring role with Maureen O'Hara in the classic Christmas film Miracle on 34th Street . As a teenager , her performance in Rebel Without a Cause ( 1955 ) earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress . She starred in the musical films West Side Story ( 1961 ) and Gypsy ( 1962 ) , and received Academy Award for Best Actress nominations for her performances in Splendor in the Grass ( 1961 ) and Love with the Proper Stranger ( 1963 ) . Her career continued with films such as Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice ( 1969 ) .   After this , she took a break from acting and had two children with different husbands , appearing in only three theatrical films during the 1970s . She was married to actor Robert Wagner twice , and to producer Richard Gregson . She had one daughter with Gregson , actress Natasha Gregson Wagner . Wood gave birth to Courtney Wagner during her second marriage to Wagner . Her younger sister Lana Wood is also an actress .   Wood starred in several television productions , including a remake of the film From Here to Eternity ( 1979 ) for which she won a Golden Globe Award . During her career , her films represented a `` coming of age '' for both her and Hollywood films in general .


Glee (TV series) Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series that aired on the Fox network in the United States from May 19 , 2009 , to March 20 , 2015 . It focuses on the fictitious William McKinley High School glee club , New Directions , which competes on the show choir competition circuit while its disparate members deal with social issues , especially regarding sexuality and race , relationships , and learning to become an effective team . The initial twelve-member cast included club director and Spanish teacher Will Schuester ( Matthew Morrison ) , cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester ( Jane Lynch ) , guidance counselor Emma Pillsbury ( Jayma Mays ) , Will 's wife Terri ( Jessalyn Gilsig ) , and eight club members played by Dianna Agron , Chris Colfer , Kevin McHale , Lea Michele , Cory Monteith , Amber Riley , Mark Salling , and Jenna Ushkowitz . In subsequent seasons , the main cast has expanded to fourteen and fifteen members .   The series was created by Ryan Murphy , Brad Falchuk , and Ian Brennan , the latter of whom first conceived of Glee as a film . The three wrote all of the show 's episodes for the first two seasons , and Murphy and Falchuk initially served as the show 's main directors . The pilot episode was broadcast on May 19 , 2009 , and the first season aired from September 9 , 2009 , to June 8 , 2010 . Subsequent seasons aired in September through May . The sixth and final season aired from January to March 2015 . Glee features on-screen performance-based musical numbers that were selected by Murphy , who aimed to maintain a balance between show tunes and chart hits , and produced by Adam Anders and Peer Åström . Songs covered in the show were released through the iTunes Store during the week of broadcast , and a series of Glee albums have been released by Columbia Records . The music of Glee has been a commercial success , with over thirty-six million digital single sales and eleven million album sales worldwide through October 2011 . The series ' merchandise also includes DVD and Blu-ray releases , an iPad application , and karaoke games for the Wii . There were live concert tours by the show 's cast after the first and second seasons completed shooting ; a concert film based on the 2011 tour , Glee : The 3D Concert Movie , was produced by Murphy and Fox and directed by Kevin Tancharoen .   During its first season , Glee received generally favorable reviews from critics , with Metacritic 's weighted average of 77 out of 100 based on eighteen critical reviews . The season was nominated for nineteen Emmy Awards , four Golden Globe Awards , six Satellite Awards and fifty-seven other awards , with wins including the 2010 Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series -- Musical or Comedy , and Emmy awards for Jane Lynch , guest-star Neil Patrick Harris and Murphy 's direction of the pilot episode . In 2011 , the show once again won the Golden Globe for Best Television Series , and Jane Lynch and Chris Colfer won Golden Globes for Best Supporting Actress and Best Supporting Actor respectively , and Gwyneth Paltrow won the Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series . The show was also chosen by Fox to fill the coveted time slot that followed the network 's coverage of Super Bowl XLV in 2011 .   On October 17 , 2013 , in the wake of the death of Cory Monteith three months prior , and one week after his tribute episode `` The Quarterback '' aired , Murphy announced that the sixth season would be the final one of the series . After 121 episodes and over 728 music performances , Glee came to an end on March 20 , 2015 .


Marie Curie was educated at the Floating University of Warsaw.

Marie Curie Marie Skłodowska Curie ( -LSB- ˈkjʊri , _ kjʊˈriː -RSB- -LSB- kyʁi -RSB- ; -LSB- kʲiˈri -RSB- ; 7 November 18674 July 1934 ) , born Maria Salomea Skłodowska ( -LSB- ˈmarja salɔˈmɛa skwɔˈdɔfska -RSB- ) , was a Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity . She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize , the first person and only woman to win twice , the only person to win a Nobel Prize in two different sciences , and was part of the Curie family legacy of five Nobel Prizes . She was also the first woman to become a professor at the University of Paris , and in 1995 became the first woman to be entombed on her own merits in the Panthéon in Paris .   She was born in Warsaw , in what was then the Kingdom of Poland , part of the Russian Empire . She studied at Warsaw 's clandestine Floating University and began her practical scientific training in Warsaw . In 1891 , aged 24 , she followed her older sister Bronisława to study in Paris , where she earned her higher degrees and conducted her subsequent scientific work . She shared the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics with her husband Pierre Curie and with physicist Henri Becquerel . She won the 1911 Nobel Prize in Chemistry .   Her achievements included the development of the theory of radioactivity ( a term that she coined ) , techniques for isolating radioactive isotopes , and the discovery of two elements , polonium and radium . Under her direction , the world 's first studies were conducted into the treatment of neoplasms , using radioactive isotopes . She founded the Curie Institutes in Paris and in Warsaw , which remain major centres of medical research today . During World War I , she developed mobile radiography units to provide X-ray services to field hospitals .   While a French citizen , Marie Skłodowska Curie ( she used both surnames ) never lost her sense of Polish identity . She taught her daughters the Polish language and took them on visits to Poland . She named the first chemical element that she discoveredpolonium , which she isolated in 1898after her native country .   Curie died in 1934 , aged 66 , at a sanatorium in Sancellemoz ( Haute-Savoie ) , France , due to aplastic anemia brought on by exposure to radiation while carrying test tubes of radium in her pockets during research , and in the course of her work at field hospitals during World War I.


Elisabeth Sladen starred in television roles.

Elisabeth Sladen Elisabeth Clara Heath-Sladen ( 1 February 1946 -- 19 April 2011 ) was an English actress best known for her role as Sarah Jane Smith in the British television series Doctor Who . She was a regular cast member from 1973 to 1976 , alongside both Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker , and reprised the role many times in subsequent decades , both on Doctor Who and its spin-offs , K-9 and Company and The Sarah Jane Adventures .   Sladen was interested in ballet and theatre from childhood , and began to appear on stage in the mid-1960s , although more often as a stage manager at this time . She moved to London in 1970 and an appearance in the police drama Z-Cars led to her being selected for a part in Doctor Who . She stayed as a regular cast member alongside Pertwee and Baker until 1976 . She subsequently starred in other roles on both television and radio , before semi-retiring to bring up a family in the mid-1980s .   She returned to the public eye in the 2000s with more Doctor Who related appearances , which culminated in taking a regular lead role in The Sarah Jane Adventures . The show earned the Royal Television Society 2010 award for Best Children 's Drama . She also made regular guest appearances on the main television series , and provided voice-over commentaries for its releases to DVD .   Sladen died of cancer on 19 April 2011 . Her death made national and international news headlines , and major television stations and newspapers paid her tribute .


Z-Cars Z-Cars or Z Cars -LSB- ˈzɛd_ˌkɑ : rz -RSB- was a British television drama series centred on the work of mobile uniformed police in the fictional town of Newtown , based on Kirkby , Lancashire ( now Merseyside ) . Produced by the BBC , it debuted in January 1962 and ran until September 1978 .   The series differed sharply from earlier police procedurals . With its less-usual Northern setting , it injected a new element of harsh realism into the image of the police , which some found unwelcome .   Z-Cars ran for a total of 801 episodes , of which fewer than half have survived . Regular stars included Stratford Johns ( Detective Inspector Barlow ) , Frank Windsor ( Det. Sgt Watt ) , James Ellis ( Bert Lynch ) and Brian Blessed ( `` Fancy '' Smith ) . Barlow and Watt were later spun into a separate series Softly , Softly .   The name Z-Cars relates to an imaginary `` Z '' Division of the local constabulary . The theme tune was based on a traditional Liverpool folk song , and was adopted by Everton Football Club as its official anthem .


Bernie Mac Bernard Jeffrey `` Bernie '' McCullough ( October 5 , 1957 -- August 9 , 2008 ) better known by his stage name Bernie Mac , was an American comedian , actor and voice artist . Born and raised on Chicago 's south side , Mac gained popularity as a stand-up comedian . He joined fellow comedians Steve Harvey , Cedric the Entertainer , and D. L. Hughley in The Original Kings of Comedy .   After briefly hosting the HBO show Midnight Mac , Mac appeared in several films in smaller roles . His most noted film role was as Frank Catton in the remake Ocean 's Eleven and the title character of Mr. 3000 . He was the star of The Bernie Mac Show , which ran from 2001 through 2006 , earning him two Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series . Mac 's other films included starring roles in Booty Call , Friday , The Players Club , Head of State , Charlie 's Angels : Full Throttle , Bad Santa , Guess Who , Pride , Soul Men , Transformers , Old Dogs , and Madagascar : Escape 2 Africa .


Pablo Fenjves Pablo F. Fenjves ( born 16 August 1953 ) is an American screenwriter and ghostwriter based in Los Angeles , California . His screenwriting credits include the 1995 film The Affair , Man on a Ledge , released in January , 2012 , and a string of television movies .   Born in Caracas , Venezuela to Hungarian survivors of the Holocaust , Fenjves went to college in Illinois . His first journalism job was in Canada . He joined the National Enquirer in Florida in the late 1970s , where he befriended Judith Regan .   Fenjves has ghostwritten more than a dozen books , including two number one New York Times Best-Sellers ( Witness and Blood Brother ) . Fenjves also ghostwrote the autobiographies and memoirs of Bernie Mac , Janice Dickinson , and music producer David Foster . He collaborated with O.J. Simpson to ghostwrite If I Did It , an account of the Simpson murder case . That book was pulled by the publisher just weeks before its release date , but it was subsequently revived by Fred Goldman , father of murder victim Ron Goldman , and spent five weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list . Fenjves had a personal connection to the Simpson case : Fenjves lived a few doors down from the Brentwood murder scene , and had testified against Simpson regarding the time at which he heard Nicole Simpson 's dog barking .   His current film projects include an original action script , Undertow , which is being produced by Michael De Luca ; and an original comedy , Mother , to which Halle Berry is attached .


The United States used nuclear weapons in warfare and is the only country to ever do so.

United States The United States of America ( USA ) , commonly known as the United States ( U.S. ) or America , is a constitutional federal republic composed of 50 states , a federal district , five major self-governing territories , and various possessions .  Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico . The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America , bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west . The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean . The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea . Nine time zones are covered . The geography , climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse .   At 3.8 million square miles ( 9.8 million km2 ) and with over 324 million people , the United States is the world 's third - or fourth-largest country by total area , third-largest by land area , and the third-most populous . It is one of the world 's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations , and is home to the world 's largest immigrant population . The capital is Washington , D.C. , and the largest city is New York City ; nine other major metropolitan areas -- each with at least 4.5 million inhabitants and the largest having more than 13 million people -- are Los Angeles , Chicago , Dallas , Houston , Philadelphia , Miami , Atlanta , Boston , and San Francisco .   Paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago . European colonization began in the 16th century . The United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast . Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the colonies following the Seven Years ' War led to the American Revolution , which began in 1775 . On July 4 , 1776 , during the course of the American Revolutionary War , the colonies unanimously adopted the Declaration of Independence . The war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain , representing the first successful war of independence against a European power . The current constitution was adopted in 1788 , after the Articles of Confederation , adopted in 1781 , were felt to have provided inadequate federal powers . The first ten amendments , collectively named the Bill of Rights , were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties .   The United States embarked on a vigorous expansion across North America throughout the 19th century , displacing Native American tribes , acquiring new territories , and gradually admitting new states until it spanned the continent by 1848 . During the second half of the 19th century , the American Civil War led to the end of legal slavery in the country . By the end of that century , the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean , and its economy , driven in large part by the Industrial Revolution , began to soar . The Spanish -- American War and confirmed the country 's status as a global military power . The United States emerged from as a global superpower , the first country to develop nuclear weapons , the only country to use them in warfare , and a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council . The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the world 's sole superpower . The U.S. is a founding member of the United Nations , World Bank , International Monetary Fund , Organization of American States ( OAS ) , and other international organizations .   The United States is a highly developed country , with the world 's largest economy by nominal GDP and second-largest economy by PPP . Though its population is only 4.3 % of the world total , Americans hold nearly 40 % of the total wealth in the world . The United States ranks among the highest in several measures of socioeconomic performance , including average wage , human development , per capita GDP , and productivity per person . While the U.S. economy is considered post-industrial , characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy , the manufacturing sector remains the second-largest in the world . Accounting for approximately a quarter of global GDP and a third of global military spending , the United States is the world 's foremost economic and military power . The United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally , and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations .


24 (TV series) 24 is an American crime thriller television series produced for the Fox network , created by Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran , and starring Kiefer Sutherland as counter-terrorist agent Jack Bauer . Each season , comprising 24 episodes , covers 24 hours in Bauer 's life using the real time method of narration . Premiering on November 6 , 2001 , the show spanned 192 episodes over eight seasons ; the series finale broadcast on May 24 , 2010 . In addition , a television film , 24 : Redemption , was broadcast between seasons six and seven , on November 23 , 2008 . 24 returned as a 12-episode series titled 24 : Live Another Day , which aired from May 5 to July 14 , 2014 . 24 : Legacy , a spin-off series featuring new characters , premiered on February 5 , 2017 , after Super Bowl LI .   The series begins with Bauer working for the Los Angeles -- based Counter Terrorist Unit , in which he is a highly proficient agent with an `` ends justify the means '' approach , regardless of the perceived morality of some of his actions . Throughout the series most of the main plot elements unfold like a political thriller . A typical plot has Bauer racing against the clock as he attempts to thwart multiple terrorist plots , including presidential assassination attempts , weapons of mass destruction detonations , bioterrorism , cyber attacks , as well as conspiracies that deal with government and corporate corruption .24 garnered critical acclaim , winning numerous awards over its eight seasons , including Best Drama Series at the 2003 Golden Globe Awards and Outstanding Drama Series at the 2006 Primetime Emmy Awards . At the conclusion of its eighth season , 24 became the longest-running U.S. espionage/counterterrorism-themed television drama ever , surpassing both Mission : Impossible and The Avengers '' .


Matt Groening won twelve Primetime Emmy Awards.

Matt Groening Matthew Abraham `` Matt '' Groening ( -LSB- ˈɡreɪnɪŋ -RSB- ; born February 15 , 1954 ) is an American cartoonist , writer , producer , animator , and voice actor . He is the creator of the comic strip Life in Hell ( 1977 -- 2012 ) and the television series The Simpsons ( 1989 -- present ) and Futurama ( 1999 -- 2003 , 2008 -- 2013 ) . The Simpsons has gone on to become the longest-running U.S. primetime-television series in history , as well as the longest-running animated series and sitcom .   Groening made his first professional cartoon sale of Life in Hell to the avant-garde Wet magazine in 1978 . At its peak , the cartoon was carried in 250 weekly newspapers . Life in Hell caught the attention of James L. Brooks . In 1985 , Brooks contacted Groening with the proposition of working in animation for the Fox variety show The Tracey Ullman Show . Originally , Brooks wanted Groening to adapt his Life in Hell characters for the show . Fearing the loss of ownership rights , Groening decided to create something new and came up with a cartoon family , the Simpson family , and named the members after his own parents and sisters -- while Bart was an anagram of the word brat . The shorts would be spun off into their own series The Simpsons , which has since aired episodes . In 1997 , Groening and former Simpsons writer David X. Cohen developed Futurama , an animated series about life in the year 3000 , which premiered in 1999 , running for four years on Fox , then picked up by Comedy Central for additional seasons .   Groening has won 12 Primetime Emmy Awards , ten for The Simpsons and two for Futurama as well as a British Comedy Award for `` outstanding contribution to comedy '' in 2004 . In 2002 , he won the National Cartoonist Society Reuben Award for his work on Life in Hell . He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on February 14 , 2012 .


The Meyerowitz stories stars Emma Thompson.

The Meyerowitz Stories The Meyerowitz Stories ( New and Selected ) is a 2017 American comedy-drama film directed and written by Noah Baumbach . The film stars Adam Sandler , Ben Stiller , Emma Thompson , and Dustin Hoffman .   It was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or in the main competition section at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival .


Buzz Aldrin Buzz Aldrin ( born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr. , January 20 , 1930 ) is an American engineer and former astronaut . As the Lunar Module Pilot on Apollo 11 , he was one of the first two humans to land on the Moon , and the second person to walk on it . He set foot on the Moon at 03:15:16 on July 21 , 1969 ( UTC ) , following mission commander Neil Armstrong . He is a former U.S. Air Force officer with the Command Pilot rating . He also went into orbit on the Gemini 12 mission , finally achieving the goals for EVA ( space-walk work ) that paved the way to the Moon and success for the Gemini program ; he spent over five hours on EVA on that mission .


Pitch Perfect 3 stars Anna Kendrick, Anna Camp, Rebel Wilson, Brittany Snow, Hailee Steinfeld, Alexis Knapp, Ester Dean, Hana Mae Lee, Chrissie Fit, Kelley Jakle.

Pitch Perfect 3 Pitch Perfect 3 is an upcoming American musical comedy film directed by Trish Sie and written by Kay Cannon , Mike White , and Dana Fox . A sequel to 2015 's Pitch Perfect 2 and the third installment in the Pitch Perfect series , the film will star Anna Kendrick , Anna Camp , Rebel Wilson , Brittany Snow , Hailee Steinfeld , Alexis Knapp , Ester Dean , Hana Mae Lee , Chrissie Fit , Kelley Jakle , and Shelley Regner as the Bellas and Elizabeth Banks and John Michael Higgins . The film is scheduled to be released on December 22 , 2017 .


Lady Gaga Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta ( -LSB- ˈstɛfəniː_dʒɜrməˈnɒtə -RSB- ; born March 28 , 1986 ) , known professionally as Lady Gaga , is an American singer , songwriter , and actress . At the beginning of her career , Gaga became known for her unconventionality and provocative work . A popular contemporary recording artist , she is noted for constantly experimenting with new musical ideas and images .   Gaga initially played roles in high school plays , and studied at CAP21 through NYU 's Tisch School of the Arts before dropping out to pursue a musical career . After leaving a rock band , participating in a performance art circuit , and being dropped from a contract with Def Jam Recordings , Gaga worked as a songwriter for Sony/ATV Music Publishing . From there , Akon noticed her vocal abilities and helped her sign a joint deal with Interscope Records and his own KonLive Distribution in 2007 . Gaga rose to prominence with the release of her successful debut album The Fame ( 2008 ) and its international chart-topping singles `` Just Dance '' and `` Poker Face '' . A follow-up EP , The Fame Monster ( 2009 ) , was met with a similar reception and the singles `` Bad Romance '' , `` Telephone '' , and `` Alejandro '' were also successful .   Gaga 's second full-length album Born This Way ( 2011 ) topped the charts in more than 20 countries , including the US , where it sold over one million copies in its first week . The album produced the number-one single `` Born This Way '' . Gaga 's third album Artpop , released in 2013 , topped the US charts and included the successful single `` Applause '' . In 2014 , Gaga released a collaborative jazz album with Tony Bennett titled Cheek to Cheek , her third consecutive number one in the US . For her work in the television series American Horror Story : Hotel , Gaga won a Golden Globe Award in 2016 . With her fifth studio album Joanne ( 2016 ) , she became the first woman to have four US number one albums in the 2010s . In February 2017 , Gaga headlined the Super Bowl LI halftime show , which had over 150 million audience across various platforms worldwide , making it the most viewed musical event in history .   With global album and single sales of 27 million and 146 million respectively , as of January 2016 , she is one of the best-selling musicians of all time . Her achievements include twelve Guinness World Records , three Brit Awards , and six Grammy Awards . She has also received awards from the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Council of Fashion Designers of America . Gaga regularly appears on Billboards Artists of the Year lists and Forbess power and earnings rankings . She was ranked at number four on VH1 's Greatest Women in Music , finished second on Times 2011 readers ' poll of the most influential people of the past ten years , and was named Billboards Woman of the Year ( 2015 ) . She is known for her philanthropic work and social activism , including LGBT rights and her own non-profit organization , the Born This Way Foundation , which focuses on promoting youth empowerment and combating bullying .


Beasts of the Southern Wild was proposed for Best Picture.

Beasts of the Southern Wild Beasts of the Southern Wild is a 2012 American drama film co-written , co-scored and directed by Benh Zeitlin . It was adapted by Zeitlin and Lucy Alibar from Alibar 's one-act play Juicy and Delicious . After playing at film festivals , it was released on June 27 , 2012 , in New York and Los Angeles , and later distribution was expanded .   The film was nominated for four Academy Awards at the 85th Academy Awards , in the categories Best Picture , Best Director ( Benh Zeitlin ) , Best Adapted Screenplay ( Lucy Alibar , Benh Zeitlin ) , and Best Actress ( Quvenzhané Wallis ) . At age 9 , Wallis became the youngest Best Actress nominee in history .


Ceres exists as a body in the Solar System.

Ceres (dwarf planet) Ceres ( -LSB- ˈsɪəriːz -RSB- minor-planet designation : 1 Ceres ) is the largest object in the asteroid belt that lies between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter . Its diameter is approximately 945 km , making it the largest of the minor planets within the orbit of Neptune . The 33rd-largest known body in the Solar System , it is the only dwarf planet within the orbit of Neptune.Due to its eccentric orbit , the dwarf planet Pluto was also within the orbit of Neptune from 1979 to 1999 , and will be again from approximately 2227 to 2247 . Composed of rock and ice , Ceres is estimated to compose approximately one third of the mass of the entire asteroid belt . Ceres is the only object in the asteroid belt known to be rounded by its own gravity ( though detailed analysis was required to exclude 4 Vesta ) . From Earth , the apparent magnitude of Ceres ranges from 6.7 to 9.3 , and hence even at its brightest it is too dim to be seen with the naked eye except under extremely dark skies .   Ceres was the first asteroid to be discovered ( by Giuseppe Piazzi at Palermo on 1 January 1801 ) . It was originally considered a planet , but was reclassified as an asteroid in the 1850s after many other objects in similar orbits were discovered .   Ceres appears to be differentiated into a rocky core and an icy mantle , and may have a remnant internal ocean of liquid water under the layer of ice . The surface is probably a mixture of water ice and various hydrated minerals such as carbonates and clay . In January 2014 , emissions of water vapor were detected from several regions of Ceres . This was unexpected because large bodies in the asteroid belt typically do not emit vapor , a hallmark of comets .   The robotic NASA spacecraft Dawn entered orbit around Ceres on 6 March 2015 . Pictures with a resolution previously unattained were taken during imaging sessions starting in January 2015 as Dawn approached Ceres , showing a cratered surface . Two distinct bright spots ( or high-albedo features ) inside a crater ( different from the bright spots observed in earlier Hubble images ) were seen in a 19 February 2015 image , leading to speculation about a possible cryovolcanic origin or outgassing . On 3 March 2015 , a NASA spokesperson said the spots are consistent with highly reflective materials containing ice or salts , but that cryovolcanism is unlikely . However , on 2 September 2016 , NASA scientists released a paper in Science that claimed that a massive ice volcano called Ahuna Mons is the strongest evidence yet for the existence of these mysterious ice volcanoes . On 11 May 2015 , NASA released a higher-resolution image showing that , instead of one or two spots , there are actually several . On 9 December 2015 , NASA scientists reported that the bright spots on Ceres may be related to a type of salt , particularly a form of brine containing magnesium sulfate hexahydrite ( MgSO4 · 6H2O ) ; the spots were also found to be associated with ammonia-rich clays . In June 2016 , near-infrared spectra of these bright areas were found to be consistent with a large amount of sodium carbonate , implying that recent geologic activity was probably involved in the creation of the bright spots .   In October 2015 , NASA released a true color portrait of Ceres made by Dawn . In February 2017 , organics were reported to have been detected on Ceres in Ernutet crater ( see image ) .


Dennis Hastert John Dennis Hastert ( -LSB- ˈhæstərt -RSB- born January 2 , 1942 ) is an American former congressman who served as the 51st Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1999 to 2007 , representing from 1987 to 2007 . He is the longest-serving Republican Speaker of the House in history , and one of the highest-ranking politicians in U.S. history to have gone to prison .   Hastert grew up in rural Illinois . He graduated from Wheaton College with a degree in economics in 1964 and obtained an education degree from Northern Illinois University three years later . From 1965 to 1981 , Hastert was a high school teacher and coach . He lost a 1980 bid for the Illinois House of Representatives , but tried again and won a seat in 1981 . He was first elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1986 , and re-elected every subsequent election until he retired in 2007 . Hastert rose through the Republican ranks in the House , becoming chief deputy whip and eventually Speaker in 1999 . As Speaker of the House , Hastert supported the George W. Bush administration 's foreign and domestic policies . After Democrats took control of the House in 2007 following the 2006 election , Hastert chose not to seek the position of minority leader , resigned his House seat , and became a lobbyist at the firm of Dickstein Shapiro .   In May 2015 , Hastert was indicted on federal charges of structuring bank withdrawals to evade bank reporting requirements and making false statements to federal investigators . Federal prosecutors said that the money was to compensate for and conceal deliberately-unspecified misconduct by Hastert against an unnamed individual years earlier . Soon afterward , public accusations emerged that Hastert had sexually abused three male students ( including the aforementioned unnamed individual ) when he was a teacher more than three decades earlier .   In October 2015 , Hastert entered into a plea agreement with prosecutors . Under the agreement , Hastert pleaded guilty to the `` structuring '' charge ( a felony ) , and the charge of making false statements was dropped . In court submissions on sentencing considerations filed in April 2016 , federal prosecutors made allegations of sexual misconduct against Hastert , saying that he had molested at least four boys as young as 14 while he worked as a high school wrestling coach decades earlier . At the sentencing hearing later that month , Hastert admitted that he had sexually abused boys whom he coached . The judge in the case referred to Hastert as a `` serial child molester '' and imposed a sentence of fifteen months in prison , two years ' supervised release , and a $ 250,000 fine . He entered the Federal Medical Center prison in Rochester , Minnesota on June 22 , 2016 .


Faith Evans Faith Renée Evans ( born June 10 , 1973 ) is an American singer-songwriter . Born in Florida and raised in New Jersey , Evans relocated to Los Angeles in 1993 for a career in the music business . After working as a backing vocalist for Al B. Sure and Christopher Williams , she became the first female artist to contract with Sean `` Puff Daddy '' Combs ' Bad Boy Entertainment recording company in 1994 , for which she collaborated with several label mates such as Mary J. Blige and Carl Thomas and released three platinum-certified studio albums between 1995 and 2001 , including Faith ( 1995 ) , Keep the Faith ( 1998 ) and Faithfully ( 2001 ) .   In 2003 , she ended her relationship with the company to sign with Capitol Records . Her first album released on the label , The First Lady ( 2005 ) became her highest-charting album at the time , reaching the top of the US Top R&B / Hip-Hop Albums charts , while the holiday album A Faithful Christmas , released the same year , would become her last release before the company was bought in 2007 . Following a longer hiatus , Evans released her fifth album Something About Faith on the independent label Prolific/E1 Music in 2010 .   Other than her recording career , Evans is mostly known as the widow of New York rapper Christopher `` The Notorious B.I.G. '' Wallace , whom she married on August 4 , 1994 , a few weeks after meeting at a Bad Boy photo shoot . The turbulent marriage resulted in Evans ' involvement in the East Coast -- West Coast hip hop rivalry , dominating the rap music news at the time , and ended with Wallace 's murder in an unsolved drive-by shooting in Los Angeles on March 9 , 1997 . A 1997 tribute single featuring Puff Daddy and the band 112 , named `` I 'll Be Missing You '' , won Evans a Grammy Award in 1998 . Also an actress and writer , Evans made her screen debut in the 2000 musical drama Turn It Up by Robert Adetuyi . Her autobiography Keep the Faith : A Memoir was released by Grand Central Publishing in 2008 and won a 2009 African American Literary Award for the Best Biography/Memoir category .


Dennis Wilson Dennis Carl Wilson ( December 4 , 1944 -- December 28 , 1983 ) was an American musician , singer , and songwriter who co-founded the Beach Boys . He is best remembered as their drummer and as the middle brother of bandmates Brian and Carl Wilson . Dennis was the only true surfer in the Beach Boys , and his personal life exemplified the `` California Myth '' that the band 's early songs often celebrated . He was also known for his brief association with then-aspiring songwriter Charles Manson , who was later convicted of murder conspiracy .   Dennis served mainly on drums and backing vocals for the Beach Boys from its formation until his death in 1983 . It is often erroneously stated that Dennis ' drumming in the band 's recordings was filled in exclusively by studio musicians . His drumming is documented on a number of the group 's singles , including `` I Get Around '' ( 1964 ) , `` Fun , Fun , Fun '' ( 1964 ) , and `` Do n't Worry Baby '' ( 1964 ) . While he was allowed few lead vocals in the 1960s , his prominence as a singer-songwriter increased into the 1970s . His original songs for the group included `` Little Bird '' ( 1968 ) , `` Forever '' ( 1970 ) , and `` Slip On Through '' ( 1970 ) . Although uncredited , Wilson helped pen `` You Are So Beautiful '' , a hit for Joe Cocker in 1974 . His music has been characterized for reflecting `` his edginess and exhibited little of his happy charm , setting it apart from Brian 's music . ... By all appearances the happy-go-lucky Beach Boy , Dennis Wilson lived out the proverbial live-fast-die-young motto . ... His wild side masked an underside that was , by turns , brooding , self-loathing , sensitive , and anxious . ''   Wilson 's only solo album , Pacific Ocean Blue ( 1977 ) , was released to warm reviews , but a moderate commercial reception . Written and recorded over a span of several years , the album peaked on US record charts at number 96 during a 12-week stay . Sessions for a follow-up , Bambu , disintegrated before his death in 1983 . Five years later , Wilson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Beach Boys .


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 .


Gemini (2002 Tamil film) received three ITFA Awards.

Gemini (2002 Tamil film) Gemini is a 2002 Indian Tamil-language action film written and directed by Saran and produced by AVM Productions . The film features Vikram in the title role of a small-time criminal and aspiring don who , after falling in love , decides to refrain from crime ; Kiran Rathod plays his love interest . Murali stars as Singaperumal , a police officer who inspires and guides Gemini in his attempts to reform . The cast includes Kalabhavan Mani as the principal antagonist while Vinu Chakravarthy , Manorama and Thennavan portray significant roles . Based on gang wars in Chennai , the film delves into the lives of outlaws and the roles the police and society play in their rehabilitation and acceptance .   In early 2001 , rival gangsters `` Vellai '' Ravi and Chera reformed themselves with the patronage of a police officer . Saran was inspired by this incident and scripted a story based on it . The film was initially entitled Erumugam with Ajith Kumar intended to play the lead role , but the project was shelved after a week 's shoot when Ajith lost interest and left . Saran reworked the script , retitled the production Gemini and cast the new leads . The revived project was announced in August 2001 . Production began shortly afterwards in December the same year and was completed by March 2002 . The film was shot mainly at the AVM Studios in Chennai , while two song sequences were filmed in Switzerland . The film had cinematography by A. Venkatesh and editing by Suresh Urs while the soundtrack was scored by Bharathwaj .   The film 's soundtrack was well received , with the song `` O Podu '' becoming a sensation in Tamil Nadu . Gemini was released two days ahead of the Tamil New Year on 12 April 2002 and received mixed reviews from critics , with praise directed towards the performances of Vikram and Mani but criticism towards Saran 's script . Made at an estimated cost of , the film earned at the box office and became the highest-grossing Tamil film of the year . The film 's success , largely attributed to the popularity of `` O Podu '' , resurrected the Tamil film industry , which was experiencing difficulties after a series of box office failures . The film won three Filmfare Awards , three ITFA Awards and four Cinema Express Awards . Later that same year , Saran remade the film in Telugu as Gemeni .


In Dubious Battle starred Nat Wolff, Josh Hutcherson, Selena Gomez, Vincent D'Onofrio, and Analeigh Tipton.

In Dubious Battle (film) In Dubious Battle is a 2016 drama film directed by and produced by James Franco , based on John Steinbeck 's novel of the same name , with a screenplay by Matt Rager . The film features an ensemble cast , consisting of Franco , Nat Wolff , Josh Hutcherson , Selena Gomez , Vincent D'Onofrio , Analeigh Tipton , Zach Braff , Bryan Cranston , Ed Harris , and Robert Duvall . The film gets caught up in the labor movement for fruit workers in California during the 1930s . The film had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on September 3 , 2016 .


Jim Carrey James Eugene Carrey ( -LSB- ˈkæri -RSB- born January 17 , 1962 ) is a Canadian-American actor , comedian , impressionist , screenwriter , and producer . He is known for his highly energetic slapstick performances .   Carrey first gained recognition in 1990 after landing a recurring role in the sketch comedy television series In Living Color . His first leading roles in major productions came with Ace Ventura : Pet Detective ( 1994 ) , Dumb and Dumber ( 1994 ) , The Mask ( 1994 ) , and Ace Ventura : When Nature Calls ( 1995 ) , as well as a supporting role in Batman Forever ( 1995 ) and a lead role in Liar Liar ( 1997 ) . He then starred in The Truman Show ( 1998 ) and Man on the Moon ( 1999 ) , with each garnering him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor .   In the 2000s , he gained further recognition for his portrayal of the Grinch in How the Grinch Stole Christmas ( 2000 ) , as well as Bruce Almighty ( 2003 ) , Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind ( 2004 ) for which he was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role , Lemony Snicket 's A Series of Unfortunate Events ( 2004 ) , Fun with Dick and Jane ( 2005 ) , Yes Man ( 2008 ) , Horton Hears a Who ! ( 2008 ) and A Christmas Carol ( 2009 ) .   In the 2010s , he has starred in Mr. Popper 's Penguins ( 2011 ) and The Incredible Burt Wonderstone ( 2013 ) . In 2013 , he appeared in Kick-Ass 2 as Colonel Stars and Stripes . He retracted support for the film two months prior to its release . He issued a statement via his Twitter account that , in light of the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary , '' -LSB- N -RSB- ow in all good conscience I can not support that level of violence . '' Carrey reprised his role as Lloyd Christmas in Dumb and Dumber To ( 2014 ) .


The term cult film itself was first used in the 1970s to avoid the discussion of the culture that surrounded underground films and midnight movies.

Cult film A cult film , also commonly referred to as a cult classic , is a film that has acquired a cult following . Cult films are known for their dedicated , passionate fanbase , an elaborate subculture that engage in repeated viewings , quoting dialogue , and audience participation . Inclusive definitions allow for major studio productions , especially box office bombs , while exclusive definitions focus more on obscure , transgressive films shunned by the mainstream . The difficulty in defining the term and subjectivity of what qualifies as a cult film mirror classificatory disputes about art . The term cult film itself was first used in the 1970s to describe the culture that surrounded underground films and midnight movies , though cult was in common use in film analysis for decades prior to that .   Cult films trace their origin back to controversial and suppressed films kept alive by dedicated fans . In some cases , reclaimed or rediscovered films have acquired cult followings decades after their original release , occasionally for their camp value . Other cult films have since become well-respected or reassessed as classics ; there is debate as to whether these popular and accepted films are still cult films . After failing in the cinema , some cult films have become regular fixtures on cable television or profitable sellers on home video . Others have inspired their own film festivals . Cult films can both appeal to specific subcultures and form their own subcultures . Other media that reference cult films can easily identify which demographics they desire to attract and offer savvy fans an opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge .   Cult films frequently break cultural taboos , and many feature excessive displays of violence , gore , sexuality , profanity , or combinations thereof . This can lead to controversy , censorship , and outright bans ; less transgressive films may attract similar amounts of controversy when critics call them frivolous or incompetent . Films that fail to attract requisite amounts of controversy may face resistance when labeled as cult films . Mainstream films and big budget blockbusters have attracted cult followings similar to more underground and lesser known films ; fans of these films often emphasize the films ' niche appeal and reject the more popular aspects . Fans who like the films for the wrong reasons , such as perceived elements that represent mainstream appeal and marketing , will often be ostracized or ridiculed . Likewise , fans who stray from accepted subcultural scripts may experience similar rejection .   Since the late 1970s , cult films have become increasingly popular . Films that once would have been limited to obscure cult followings are now capable of breaking into the mainstream , and showings of cult films have proved to be a profitable business venture . Overbroad usage of the term has resulted in controversy , as purists state it has become a meaningless descriptor applied to any film that is the slightest bit weird or unconventional ; others accuse Hollywood studios of trying to artificially create cult films or use the term as a marketing tactic . Films are frequently stated to be an `` instant cult classic '' now , occasionally before they are released . Fickle fans on the Internet have latched on to unreleased films only to abandon them later on release . At the same time , other films have acquired massive , quick cult followings , thanks to spreading virally through social media . Easy access to cult films via video on demand and peer-to-peer file sharing has led some critics to pronounce the death of cult films .


Elle Fanning Mary Elle Fanning ( born April 9 , 1998 ) is an American actress . She is the younger sister of actress Dakota Fanning . In 2011 , Fanning starred in her breakout role as Alice Dainard in J. J. Abrams ' sci-fi-drama , Super 8 , for which she received a Spotlight Award at the Hollywood Film Festival , and was cited as one of the film 's best aspects by The Telegraph .   Fanning has received multiple nominations , including for a Saturn Award , a Young Artist Award , a Broadcast Film Critics Association Award , a Teen Choice Award , a Scream Award , and an MTV Movie Award .   She is mainly known for her starring roles in Phoebe in Wonderland , Somewhere , We Bought a Zoo , Ginger and Rosa , Maleficent , and The Neon Demon .


Martin Scorsese founded the World Cinema Foundation in 2007.

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( -LSB- skɔːrˈsɛsi -RSB- -LSB- skorˈseːze -RSB- ; born November 17 , 1942 ) is an American director , producer , screenwriter , and film historian , whose career spans more than 50 years . Scorsese 's body of work addresses such themes as Sicilian-American identity , Roman Catholic concepts of guilt and redemption , faith , machismo , modern crime , and gang conflict . Many of his films are also known for their depiction of violence and liberal use of profanity .   Part of the New Hollywood wave of filmmaking , he is widely regarded as one of the most significant and influential filmmakers in cinematic history . In 1990 , he founded The Film Foundation , a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation , and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation . He is a recipient of the AFI Life Achievement Award for his contributions to the cinema , and has won an Academy Award , a Palme d'Or , Cannes Film Festival Best Director Award , Silver Lion , Grammy Award , Emmys , Golden Globes , BAFTAs , and DGA Awards .   He has directed works such as the crime film Mean Streets ( 1973 ) , the vigilante-thriller Taxi Driver ( 1976 ) , the biographical sports drama Raging Bull ( 1980 ) , the black comedy The King of Comedy ( 1983 ) , the religious epic drama The Last Temptation of Christ ( 1988 ) , the crime film Goodfellas ( 1990 ) , the psychological thriller Cape Fear ( 1991 ) and the crime film Casino ( 1995 ) , some of which he collaborated on with actor and close friend Robert De Niro . Scorsese has also been noted for his successful collaborations with actor Leonardo DiCaprio , having directed him in five films , beginning with Gangs of New York ( 2002 ) and most recently The Wolf of Wall Street ( 2013 ) . Their third film together , The Departed , won Scorsese the Academy Award for Best Director in addition to the film winning the award for Best Picture . Their collaborations have resulted in numerous Academy Award nominations for both as well as them winning several other prestigious awards .   Scorsese 's other film work includes the concert film The Last Waltz ( 1978 ) , the black comedy After Hours ( 1985 ) , the biographical drama The Aviator ( 2004 ) , the psychological thriller Shutter Island ( 2010 ) , the historical adventure drama Hugo ( 2011 ) and the religious epic Silence ( 2016 ) . His work in television includes the pilot episode of the HBO series Boardwalk Empire and Vinyl , the latter of which he also co-created . He won the Academy Award for Best Director for the crime drama The Departed ( 2006 ) . With eight Best Director nominations , he is the most nominated living director and is tied with Billy Wilder for the second most nominations overall .


Seth Rogen Seth Aaron Rogen ( -LSB- ˈroʊɡən -RSB- born April 15 , 1982 ) is a Canadian-American actor , filmmaker , and comedian . He began his career performing stand-up comedy during his teenage years , winning the Vancouver Amateur Comedy Contest in 1998 . While still living in his native Vancouver , he landed a supporting role in the series Freaks and Geeks . Shortly after he moved to Portland , Oregon for his role , Freaks and Geeks was officially cancelled after one season due to low viewership . Rogen later got a part on sitcom Undeclared , which also hired him as a staff writer .   After landing his job as a staff writer on the final season of Da Ali G Show , for which he and the other writers received an Emmy Award nomination , he was guided by Judd Apatow toward a film career . Rogen made his first movie appearance in Donnie Darko with a minor role as a rebellious student in Donnie 's high school classes in 2001 . Rogen was cast in a major supporting role and credited as a co-producer in Apatow 's directorial debut , The 40-Year-Old Virgin . After Rogen received critical praise for his performance , Universal Pictures agreed to cast him as the lead in Apatow 's films Knocked Up and Funny People . Rogen co-starred as Steve Wozniak in Universal 's Steve Jobs biopic in 2015 . In 2016 , he developed the AMC television series Preacher with his writing partner Evan Goldberg and Sam Catlin . He also serves as a writer and executive producer , and directed the first two episodes of the series with Goldberg .   Rogen and Goldberg co-wrote the films Superbad , Pineapple Express , The Green Hornet , This Is the End , and directed both This Is the End and The Interview ; all of which Rogen starred in . He has also done voice work for the films Horton Hears a Who ! , the Kung Fu Panda film series , The Spiderwick Chronicles , Monsters vs. Aliens , Paul , and Sausage Party .


Monsters vs. Aliens Monsters vs. Aliens is a 2009 American 3D computer-animated science fiction action-comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures . It was DreamWorks Animation 's first feature film to be directly produced in a stereoscopic 3-D format instead of being converted into 3-D after completion , which added $ 15 million to the film 's budget .   The film was scheduled for a May 2009 release , but the release date was moved to March 27 , 2009 . It was released on DVD and Blu-ray September 29 , 2009 in North America . The film features the voices of Reese Witherspoon , Seth Rogen , Hugh Laurie , Will Arnett , Kiefer Sutherland , Rainn Wilson , Paul Rudd and Stephen Colbert .   It grossed over $ 381 million worldwide on a $ 175 million budget . Although not successful enough to be followed by a sequel , the film started a franchise consisting of a short film , B.O.B. 's Big Break , two television specials , Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space and Night of the Living Carrots , and a television series with the same name .


Taraji P. Henson was nominated for an Academy Award.

Taraji P. Henson Taraji Penda Henson ( -LSB- tə ` rɑːdʒi -RSB- ; born September 11 , 1970 ) is an American actress and author . She studied acting at Howard University and began her Hollywood career in guest-roles on several television shows before making her breakthrough in Baby Boy ( 2001 ) . She received praise for playing a prostitute in Hustle & Flow ( 2005 ) and a single mother in David Fincher 's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ( 2008 ) ; for the latter , she received Academy Award , SAG Award and Critics Choice Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress ; for the former , she received a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture nomination . In 2010 , she appeared in the comedy Date Night and co-starred in the remake of The Karate Kid .   Henson has also had an extensive career in television in series such as The Division , Boston Legal and Eli Stone . In 2011 Henson starred in the Lifetime Television film Taken from Me : The Tiffany Rubin Story , which earned her a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie . From 2011 to 2013 , she co-starred as Detective Jocelyn Carter in the CBS drama Person of Interest , for which she won an NAACP Image Award . Henson went on to star in the ensemble film Think Like a Man ( 2012 ) and its 2014 sequel . In 2015 , she began starring as Cookie Lyon on the Fox drama series Empire , for which she became the first African-American woman to win a Critics ' Choice Television Award for Best Actress in a Drama Series . She also won a Golden Globe Award , and was nominated for two Emmy Awards , in 2015 and 2016 .   In 2016 , Time named Henson one of the 100 most influential people in the world on the annual Time 100 list . That year , Henson also released a New York Times best selling autobiography titled Around the Way Girl . Also that year , she received praise for her starring role as Katherine Johnson in the critically acclaimed drama film Hidden Figures , for which she won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture .


Stockard Channing did not appear in any movies released in 1976.

Stockard Channing Stockard Channing ( born Susan Antonia Williams Stockard ; February 13 , 1944 ) is an American stage , film and television actress . She is known for playing Betty Rizzo in the film Grease ( 1978 ) and First Lady Abbey Bartlet on the NBC television series The West Wing ( 1999 -- 2006 ) . She is also known for originating the role of Ouisa Kittredge in the stage and film versions of Six Degrees of Separation , for which she was nominated for a Tony Award and the Academy Award for Best Actress .   A 13-time Primetime Emmy Award nominee and seven-time Tony Award nominee , she won the 1985 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for the Broadway revival of A Day in the Death of Joe Egg , and won Emmy Awards for The West Wing and The Matthew Shepard Story , both in 2002 . She won a Daytime Emmy Award in 2004 for her role in Jack . Her film appearances include The Fortune ( 1975 ) , The Big Bus ( 1976 ) , The Cheap Detective ( 1978 ) , Heartburn ( 1986 ) , Up Close & Personal ( 1996 ) , Practical Magic ( 1998 ) , and Woody Allen 's Anything Else ( 2003 ) . She also played the recurring role of Veronica Loy on the CBS drama The Good Wife ( 2012 -- 16 ) .


The Nazi regime did not take over Prussia in 1933.

Prussia Prussia was a historical state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg , and centred on the region of Prussia . For centuries , the House of nocat = y ruled Prussia , successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organised and effective army . Prussia , with its capital in Königsberg and from 1701 in Berlin , shaped the history of Germany . In 1871 , German states united to create the German Empire under Prussian leadership . In November 1918 , the monarchies were abolished and the nobility lost its political power during the German Revolution of 1918 -- 19 . The Kingdom of Prussia was thus abolished in favour of a republic -- the Free State of Prussia , a state of Germany from 1918 until 1933 . From 1933 , Prussia lost its independence as a result of the Prussian coup , when the Nazi regime was successfully establishing its Gleichschaltung laws in pursuit of a unitary state . With the end of the Nazi regime , the division of Germany into allied-occupation zones and the separation of its territories east of the -LSB- Oder -- Neisse , nocat = y -RSB- line , which were incorporated into Poland and the Soviet Union , the State of Prussia ceased to exist de facto in 1945 . Prussia existed de jure until its formal liquidation by the Allied Control Council Enactment No. 46 of 25 February 1947 .   The name Prussia derives from the Old Prussians . In the 13th century , the Teutonic Knights -- an organized Catholic medieval military order of German crusaders -- conquered the lands inhabited by them . In 1308 , the Teutonic Knights conquered the region of Pomerelia with Gdańsk ( Danzig ) . Their monastic state was mostly Germanised through immigration from central and western Germany and in the south , it was Polonised by settlers from Masovia . The Second Peace of Thorn ( 1466 ) split Prussia into the western Royal Prussia , a province of Poland , and the eastern part , from 1525 called the Duchy of Prussia , a fief of the Crown of Poland up to 1657 . The union of Brandenburg and the Duchy of Prussia in 1618 led to the proclamation of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701 .   Prussia entered the ranks of the great powers shortly after becoming a kingdom , and exercised most influence in the 18th and 19th centuries . During the 18th century it had a major say in many international affairs under the reign of Frederick the Great . During the 19th century , Chancellor Otto von Bismarck united the German principalities into a `` Lesser Germany '' which excluded the Austrian Empire .   At the Congress of Vienna ( 1814 -- 15 ) , which redrew the map of Europe following Napoleon 's defeat , Prussia acquired a large section of north western Germany , including the coal-rich Ruhr . The country then grew rapidly in influence economically and politically , and became the core of the North German Confederation in 1867 , and then of the German Empire in 1871 . The Kingdom of Prussia was now so large and so dominant in the new Germany that -LSB- Junker ( Prussia ) , Junker -RSB- s and other Prussian élites identified more and more as Germans and less as Prussians .   The Kingdom ended in 1918 . In the Weimar Republic , the state of Prussia lost nearly all of its legal and political importance following the 1932 coup led by Franz von Papen . East Prussia lost all of its German population after 1945 , as Poland and the Soviet Union absorbed its territory and expelled most of its inhabitants .   The term Prussian has often been used , especially outside of Germany , to emphasise the professionalism , aggressiveness , militarism and conservatism of the Junker class of landed aristocrats in the East who dominated first Prussia and then the German Empire .


Free State of Prussia The Free State of Prussia ( Freistaat Preußen ) was a German state formed after the abolition of the Kingdom of Prussia in the aftermath of the First World War . It was the major state of the German Reich during the time of the Weimar Republic , comprising almost ( 62.5 % ) of its territory and population . Free state is another German term for republic that was coined in contrast to the Latin word , which was associated with the enemy France in the minds of many Germans of that time .   The democratic Free State of Prussia was rendered incapacitated when it was taken over by the Preußenschlag ( Prussian coup ) of 1932 -- 33 and Otto Braun was forced from office . His government went to court over this ouster , but in 1933 the Nazi regime seized control of the Prussian government .   From 1933 , the Free State was deprived of parliamentary democracy and ruled exclusively under the leadership of the National Socialist German Workers Party ( Nazi Party ) . Initially , Prussia was administered by high-ranking Nazi Hermann Göring who was appointed Minister-President of Prussia . In 1935 , the Free State 's territory was dismantled into regional -LSB- Reichsgau , Gaue -RSB- , some of which incorporated both Prussian and non-Prussian territory , thus effectively ending Prussia as a single territorial unit of Germany . Although the Free State of Prussia continued to exist in name under the premiership of Hermann Göring throughout the Nazi era , by 1935 the Prussian government had been effectively absorbed by the government of the German Reich and Göring 's position as Minister-President had been relegated to a titular role in comparison to his more prominent duties in the government of the Third Reich .   After the end of World War II Otto Braun approached US officials to reinstate the legal Prussian government . They and the other Allied Occupation forces , who had occupied all of Germany , were opposed to the idea and declared Prussia abolished in 1947 .


Split (2016 American film) is about a man with 23 different personalities.

Split (2016 American film) Split is a 2016 American psychological horror-thriller film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan . The film stars James McAvoy , Anya Taylor-Joy , and Betty Buckley , and follows Kevin Wendell Crumb , a man with 23 different personalities who kidnaps and imprisons three teenage girls in an isolated underground facility .   Principal photography began on November 11 , 2015 , in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . The film premiered at Fantastic Fest on September 26 , 2016 , and was released in the United States on January 20 , 2017 , by Universal Pictures . The film received general acclaim , with some critics labeling it a welcoming return for Shyamalan , and was a massive financial success , grossing $ 276 million worldwide on a budget of $ 9 million .   The film is a sequel to the 2000 movie Unbreakable which was also written , produced and directed by M. Night Shaymalan . A sequel has been confirmed which will be titled Glass .


Jordan Peele Jordan Haworth Peele ( born February 21 , 1979 ) is an American actor , comedian , writer , producer , and director . He is best known for starring in the Comedy Central sketch series Key & Peele and for his five seasons as a cast member on MADtv . In 2014 , he also had a recurring role in the first season of the FX anthology series Fargo . His directorial debut , the horror film Get Out , was released in 2017 to critical acclaim and box-office success .


Avenged Sevenfold have sold 8 million albums.

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 .


Justice (DC Comics) Justice is a twelve-issue American comic book limited series published bimonthly by DC Comics from August 2005 through June 2007 , written by Alex Ross and Jim Krueger , with art also by Ross and Doug Braithwaite . Its story involves the superhero team known as the Justice League of America confronting the supervillain team the Legion of Doom , after every supervillain is motivated by a shared dream that seems to be a vision of the planet 's destruction which they intend to avoid .


Soundgarden was a Seattle contemporary of Nirvana.

Soundgarden Soundgarden is an American rock band formed in Seattle , Washington , in 1984 by singer and rhythm guitarist Chris Cornell , lead guitarist Kim Thayil , and bassist Hiro Yamamoto . Matt Cameron became the band 's full-time drummer in 1986 , while bassist Ben Shepherd became a permanent replacement for Yamamoto in 1990 . Cornell remained in Soundgarden until his death in May 2017 , putting the band 's future in doubt and leaving Thayil as the only remaining original member of the band .   Soundgarden was one of the seminal bands in the creation of grunge , a style of alternative rock that developed in Seattle , and was one of a number of grunge bands signed to the record label Sub Pop . Soundgarden was the first grunge band to sign to a major label ( A&M Records in 1988 ) , though the band did not achieve commercial success until they popularized the genre in the early 1990s with Seattle contemporaries Pearl Jam , Nirvana , and Alice in Chains .   Soundgarden achieved its biggest success with the 1994 album Superunknown , which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and yielded the Grammy Award-winning singles `` Black Hole Sun '' and `` Spoonman '' . In 1997 , the band broke up due to internal strife over its creative direction . After more than a decade of working on projects and other bands , Soundgarden reunited in 2010 and their sixth studio album , King Animal , was released two years later .   As of 2012 , Soundgarden sold more than 10.5 million records in the United States , and an estimated 22.5 million worldwide . VH1 ranked Soundgarden at number 14 in their special 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock .


Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde ( 16 October 185430 November 1900 ) was an Irish playwright , novelist , essayist , and poet . After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s , he became one of London 's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s . He is remembered for his epigrams , his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray , his plays , as well as the circumstances of his imprisonment and early death .   Wilde 's parents were successful Anglo-Irish , Dublin intellectuals . Their son became fluent in French and German early in life . At university , Wilde read Greats ; he proved himself to be an outstanding classicist , first at Dublin , then at Oxford . He became known for his involvement in the rising philosophy of aestheticism , led by two of his tutors , Walter Pater and John Ruskin . After university , Wilde moved to London into fashionable cultural and social circles .   As a spokesman for aestheticism , he tried his hand at various literary activities : he published a book of poems , lectured in the United States and Canada on the new `` English Renaissance in Art '' , and then returned to London where he worked prolifically as a journalist . Known for his biting wit , flamboyant dress and glittering conversation , Wilde became one of the best-known personalities of his day .   At the turn of the 1890s , he refined his ideas about the supremacy of art in a series of dialogues and essays , and incorporated themes of decadence , duplicity , and beauty into his only novel , The Picture of Dorian Gray ( 1890 ) . The opportunity to construct aesthetic details precisely , and combine them with larger social themes , drew Wilde to write drama . He wrote Salome ( 1891 ) in French in Paris but it was refused a licence for England due to the absolute prohibition of Biblical subjects on the English stage . Unperturbed , Wilde produced four society comedies in the early 1890s , which made him one of the most successful playwrights of late Victorian London .   At the height of his fame and success , while The Importance of Being Earnest ( 1895 ) , was still being performed in London , Wilde had the Marquess of Queensberry prosecuted for criminal libel . The Marquess was the father of Wilde 's lover , Lord Alfred Douglas . The libel trial unearthed evidence that caused Wilde to drop his charges and led to his own arrest and trial for gross indecency with men . After two more trials he was convicted and imprisoned for two years ' hard labour , the maximum penalty .   In 1897 , in prison , he wrote De Profundis , which was published in 1905 , a long letter which discusses his spiritual journey through his trials , forming a dark counterpoint to his earlier philosophy of pleasure . Upon his release he left immediately for France , never to return to Ireland or Britain . There he wrote his last work , The Ballad of Reading Gaol ( 1898 ) , a long poem commemorating the harsh rhythms of prison life . He died destitute in Paris at the age of 46 .


Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky ( -LSB- æ ` vrɑːm _ ` noʊm_ˈtʃɒmski -RSB- ; born December 7 , 1928 ) is an American linguist , philosopher , cognitive scientist , historian , social critic , and political activist . Sometimes described as `` the father of modern linguistics '' , Chomsky is also a major figure in analytic philosophy and one of the founders of the field of cognitive science . He is Institute Professor Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ( MIT ) , where he has worked since 1955 , and is the author of over 100 books on topics such as linguistics , war , politics , and mass media . Ideologically , he aligns with anarcho-syndicalism and libertarian socialism .   Born to middle-class Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants in Philadelphia , Chomsky developed an early interest in anarchism from alternative bookstores in New York City . At the age of sixteen he began studies at the University of Pennsylvania , taking courses in linguistics , mathematics , and philosophy . From 1951 to 1955 he was appointed to Harvard University 's Society of Fellows , where he developed the theory of transformational grammar for which he was awarded his doctorate in 1955 . That year he began teaching at MIT , in 1957 emerging as a significant figure in the field of linguistics for his landmark work Syntactic Structures , which remodeled the scientific study of language , while from 1958 to 1959 he was a National Science Foundation fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study . He is credited as the creator or co-creator of the universal grammar theory , the generative grammar theory , the Chomsky hierarchy , and the minimalist program . Chomsky also played a pivotal role in the decline of behaviorism , being particularly critical of the work of B. F. Skinner .   An outspoken opponent of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War , which he saw as an act of American imperialism , in 1967 Chomsky attracted widespread public attention for his anti-war essay `` The Responsibility of Intellectuals '' . Associated with the New Left , he was arrested multiple times for his activism and placed on President Richard Nixon 's Enemies List . While expanding his work in linguistics over subsequent decades , he also became involved in the Linguistics Wars . In collaboration with Edward S. Herman , Chomsky later co-wrote an analysis articulating the propaganda model of media criticism , and worked to expose the Indonesian occupation of East Timor . However , his defense of unconditional freedom of speech -- including for Holocaust deniers -- generated significant controversy in the Faurisson affair of the early 1980s . Following his retirement from active teaching , he has continued his vocal political activism , including opposing the War on Terror and supporting the Occupy movement .   One of the most cited scholars in history , Chomsky has influenced a broad array of academic fields . He is widely recognized as a paradigm shifter who helped spark a major revolution in the human sciences , contributing to the development of a new cognitivistic framework for the study of language and the mind . In addition to his continued scholarly research , he remains a leading critic of U.S. foreign policy , neoliberalism and contemporary state capitalism , the Israeli -- Palestinian conflict , and mainstream news media . His ideas have proved highly significant within the anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist movements , but have also drawn criticism , with some accusing Chomsky of anti-Americanism .


Gerd von Rundstedt died December 12, 1875.

World War I World War I ( WWI or WW1 ) , also known as the First World War , the Great War , or the War to End All Wars , was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918 . More than 70 million military personnel , including 60 million Europeans , were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history . Over nine million combatants and seven million civilians died as a result of the war ( including the victims of a number of genocides ) , a casualty rate exacerbated by the belligerents ' technological and industrial sophistication , and the tactical stalemate caused by gruelling trench warfare . It was one of the deadliest conflicts in history , and paved the way for major political changes , including revolutions in many of the nations involved and to WWII twenty-one years later .   The war drew in all the world 's economic great powers , assembled in two opposing alliances : the Allies ( based on the Triple Entente of the Russian Empire , the French Third Republic , and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland ) versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary . Although Italy was a member of the Triple Alliance alongside Germany and Austria-Hungary , it did not join the Central Powers , as Austria-Hungary had taken the offensive against the terms of the alliance . These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war : Italy , Japan and the United States joined the Allies , while the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers .   The trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria , heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary , by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914 . This set off a diplomatic crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia , and entangled international alliances formed over the previous decades were invoked . Within weeks , the major powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world .   On 25 July Russia began mobilisation and on 28 July , the Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia . Germany presented an ultimatum to Russia to demobilise , and when this was refused , declared war on Russia on 1 August . Being outnumbered on the eastern front , Russia urged its Triple Entente ally France to open up a second front in the west . Back in 1870 , the Franco-Prussian war had ended the Second French Empire and ceded the provinces of Alsace-Lorraine to a unified Germany . Bitterness over their defeat and the determinance to retake Alsace-Lorraine made the acceptance of Russia 's plea for help an easy choice so France began full mobilisation on 1 August and on 3 August , Germany declared war on France . The border between France and Germany was heavily fortified on both sides so according to the Schlieffen Plan , Germany then invaded neutral Belgium and Luxembourg before moving towards France from the north , leading the United Kingdom to declare war on Germany on 4 August due to their violation of Belgian neutrality . After the German march on Paris was halted in the Battle of the Marne , what became known as the Western Front settled into a battle of attrition , with a trench line that changed little until 1917 . On the Eastern Front , the Russian army led a successful campaign against the Austro-Hungarians , but the Germans stopped its invasion of East Prussia in the battles of Tannenberg and the Masurian Lakes . In November 1914 , the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers , opening fronts in the Caucasus , Mesopotamia and the Sinai . In 1915 , Italy joined the Allies and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers ; Romania joined the Allies in 1916 , as did the United States in 1917 .   The Russian government collapsed in March 1917 , and a revolution in November followed by a further military defeat brought the Russians to terms with the Central Powers via the Treaty of Brest Litovsk , which granted the Germans a significant victory . After a stunning German offensive along the Western Front in the spring of 1918 , the Allies rallied and drove back the Germans in a series of successful offensives . On 4 November 1918 , the Austro-Hungarian empire agreed to an armistice , and Germany , which had its own trouble with revolutionaries , agreed to an armistice on 11 November 1918 , ending the war in victory for the Allies .   By the end of the war or soon after , the German Empire , Russian Empire , Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire ceased to exist . National borders were redrawn , with several independent nations restored or created , and Germany 's colonies were parceled out among the victors . During the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 , the Big Four ( Britain , France , the United States and Italy ) imposed their terms in a series of treaties . The League of Nations was formed with the aim of preventing any repetition of such a conflict . This effort failed , and economic depression , renewed nationalism , weakened successor states , and feelings of humiliation ( particularly in Germany ) eventually contributed to the start of World War II .


Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa ( German : Unternehmen Barbarossa ) was the code name for Nazi Germany 's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II , which was launched on Sunday 22 June 1941 . The operation was driven by an ideological desire to conquer the Western Soviet Union so that it could be repopulated by Germans , to use Slavs as a slave labour force for the Axis war-effort , and to seize the oil reserves in the Caucasus and the agricultural resources throughout the Soviet territories .   In the two years leading up to the invasion , the two countries signed political and economic pacts for strategic purposes . Nevertheless , the German High Command began planning an invasion of the Soviet Union in July 1940 ( under the codename Operation Otto ) , which Adolf Hitler authorized on 18 December 1940 . Over the course of the operation , about four million Axis personnel invaded the western Soviet Union along a 2900 km front , the largest invasion force in the history of warfare . In addition to troops , the Wehrmacht employed some 600,000 motor vehicles , and between 600,000 and 700,000 horses for non-combat operations . The offensive marked an escalation of the war , both geographically and in the formation of the Allied coalition .   Operationally , the German forces achieved major victories and occupied some of the most important economic areas of the Soviet Union , mainly in Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic , and inflicted , as well as sustained , heavy casualties . Despite their successes , the German offensive stalled in the Battle of Moscow and was subsequently pushed back by the Soviet winter counteroffensive . The Red Army repelled the Wehrmacht 's strongest blows and forced the unprepared Germans into a war of attrition . The Wehrmacht would never again mount a simultaneous offensive along the entire strategic Soviet -- Axis front . The failure of the operation drove Hitler to demand further operations of increasingly limited scope inside the Soviet Union , such as Case Blue and Operation Citadel -- all of which eventually failed .   The failure of Operation Barbarossa proved a turning point in the fortunes of the Third Reich . Most importantly , the operation opened up the Eastern Front , in which more forces were committed than in any other theater of war in world history . The Eastern Front became the site of some of the largest battles , most horrific atrocities , and highest casualties for Soviet and Axis units alike , all of which influenced the course of both World War II and the subsequent history of the 20th century . The German armies captured 5,000,000 members of the Red Army who were not granted the protection stipulated by the Geneva Conventions . A majority of them never returned alive . The Nazis deliberately starved to death , or otherwise killed , 3.3 million prisoners , as well as a huge number of civilians through the `` Hunger Plan '' that aimed at a vast substitution of the Slav population with German settlers . Over a million Soviet Jews were murdered by Nazi death squads ( Einsatzgruppen ) and gassing as part of the Holocaust .


Gerd von Rundstedt Karl Rudolf Gerd von Rundstedt ( 12 December 1875 -- 24 February 1953 ) was a Field Marshal in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany during World War II .   Born into a Prussian family with a long military tradition , Rundstedt entered the Prussian Army in 1892 . During World War I , he served mainly as a staff officer . In the inter-war years , he continued his military career , reaching the rank of Colonel General ( Generaloberst ) before retiring in 1938 .   He was recalled at the beginning of World War II as commander of Army Group South in the invasion of Poland . He commanded Army Group A during the Battle of France , and was promoted to the rank of Field Marshal in 1940 . In the invasion of the Soviet Union , he commanded Army Group South , responsible for the largest encirclement in history , the Battle of Kiev , as well as the largest mass killing of the Holocaust to that date , at Babi Yar . He was relieved of command in December 1941 , but was recalled in 1942 and appointed Commander-in-Chief in the West .   He was dismissed after the German defeat in Normandy in July 1944 , but was again recalled as Commander-in-Chief in the West in September , holding this post until his final dismissal by Adolf Hitler in March 1945 . Rundstedt was aware of the various plots to depose Hitler , but refused to support them . After the war , he was charged with war crimes , but did not face trial due to his age and poor health . He was released in 1949 , and died in 1953 .


Grammy Legend Award The Grammy Legend Award , or the Grammy Living Legend Award , is a special award of merit given to recording artists by the Grammy Awards , a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards . Honors in several categories are presented at the ceremony annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States for outstanding achievements in the music industry .   The first Grammy Legend Awards were issued in 1990 to Smokey Robinson , Willie Nelson , Andrew Lloyd Webber , and Liza Minnelli . The honor was inaugurated to recognize `` ongoing contributions and influence in the recording field '' . The next year four more musicians ( Aretha Franklin , Billy Joel , Johnny Cash and Quincy Jones ) were acknowledged with Grammy Legend Awards . The award was given to Barbra Streisand in 1992 and Michael Jackson in 1993 .   After 1994 , when the American musicians Curtis Mayfield and Frank Sinatra were both issued Grammy Legend Awards , the honors have been given to recording artists intermittently . Italian operatic tenor Luciano Pavarotti was the 1998 recipient of the award . The following year , British singer-songwriter Elton John was recognized with the honor . The Bee Gees became the first recipients of the award in the 21st century when the brothers were acknowledged by the Grammys in 2003 . Overall , fourteen solo musicians and one band have received the Grammy Legend Award .


Love Never Felt So Good `` Love Never Felt So Good '' is a song performed by American singer Michael Jackson , released posthumously on May 2 , 2014 . The song , reworked from a 1983 demo track originally composed by Jackson and Canadian singer-songwriter Paul Anka , was the first single released from Jackson 's second posthumous album , Xscape . Two versions of the single were developed . The first was a solo version produced by American record producer John McClain and Dutch record producer Giorgio Tuinfort . The second version was a duet featuring American singer Justin Timberlake , produced by American record producers Timbaland and J-Roc , which received positive reviews from music critics . Its accompanying music video premiered on May 14 , 2014 on The Ellen DeGeneres Show . In it , Timberlake appears with a crowd of young dancers , who reference Jackson 's most known dance moves , interspersed with archival footage of the late pop singer 's many short films . The song is the second collaboration between Jackson and Anka to be released since Jackson 's death in 2009 -- the first being `` This Is It '' .   The duet version of `` Love Never Felt So Good '' charted within the top ten in eighteen national charts , reaching the top spot in five . Michael Jackson became the first artist in history to have a top 10 single on the US Billboard Hot 100 in five different decades when `` Love Never Felt So Good '' reached number nine on May 31 , 2014 ( six decades if his Jackson 5 tenure is included ) . It spent eight weeks on top of the US Adult R&B Songs . The song also charted at number eight on the UK Singles Chart .


Man in the Mirror `` Man in the Mirror '' is a song recorded by Michael Jackson , written by Glen Ballard and Siedah Garrett and produced by Jackson and Quincy Jones . It peaked at number 1 in the United States when released in January 1988 as the fourth single from his seventh solo album , Bad . It is one of Jackson 's most critically acclaimed songs and it was nominated for Record of the Year at the Grammy Awards . The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 for 2 weeks . The song peaked at number 21 in the UK Singles Charts in 1988 , but in 2009 , following the news of Jackson 's death , the song peaked at number 2 , having re-entered the chart at 11 the previous week as his top song on the singles chart . It also became the number 1 single in iTunes downloads in the US and the UK , having sold over 1.3 million digital copies in the former alone . The song was remixed for the soundtrack of Jackson 's tribute tour Immortal .