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Who wrote the 1942 short story Runaround that lists three laws one of which is stated below? 'A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm'
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Robot remembered for his science-fiction stories and especially those about robots, where he placed robots and their interaction with society at the center of many of his works. Asimov carefully considered the problem of the ideal set of instructions robots might be given in order to lower the risk to humans, and arrived at his Three Laws of Robotics: a robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm; a robot must obey orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law; and a robot
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Three Laws of Robotics of the First Law ("A robot may not injure a human being...") advocating strict non-interference in human politics to avoid unwittingly causing harm. Others are based on the second clause ("...or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm") claiming that robots should openly become a dictatorial government to protect humans from all potential conflict or disaster. Daneel also comes into conflict with a robot known as R. Lodovic Trema whose positronic brain was infected by a rogue AI — specifically, a simulation of the long-dead Voltaire — which consequently frees Trema from the Three Laws. Trema comes
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Michel de Montaigne of France is best known for popularizing what kind of writing as a literary genre?
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Michel de Montaigne support". Michel de Montaigne Michel Eyquem de Montaigne, Lord of Montaigne (; ; 28 February 1533 – 13 September 1592) was one of the most significant philosophers of the French Renaissance, known for popularizing the essay as a literary genre. His work is noted for its merging of casual anecdotes and autobiography with serious intellectual insight; his massive volume "Essais" contains some of the most influential essays ever written. Montaigne had a direct influence on Western writers, including Francis Bacon, René Descartes, Blaise Pascal, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Albert Hirschman, William Hazlitt, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Friedrich Nietzsche, Stefan Zweig, Eric Hoffer, Isaac
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Michel de Montaigne He is most famously known for his skeptical remark, ""Que sçay-je"?" ("What do I know?", in Middle French; now rendered as "Que sais-je?" in modern French). Montaigne was born in the Aquitaine region of France, on the family estate Château de Montaigne, in a town now called Saint-Michel-de-Montaigne, close to Bordeaux. The family was very wealthy; his great-grandfather, Ramon Felipe Eyquem, had made a fortune as a herring merchant and had bought the estate in 1477, thus becoming the Lord of Montaigne. His father, Pierre Eyquem, Seigneur of Montaigne, was a French Catholic soldier in Italy for a time and
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In what story of Arthur C. Clarke do Tibetan monks seek to list all the names of God as they believe He will bring the Universe to an end once this is done?
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The Nine Billion Names of God The Nine Billion Names of God "The Nine Billion Names of God" is a 1953 science fiction short story by British writer Arthur C. Clarke. The story was among the stories selected in 1970 by the Science Fiction Writers of America as one of the best science fiction short stories published before the creation of the Nebula Awards. It was reprinted in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume One, 1929–1964". In a Tibetan lamasery, the monks seek to list all of the names of God. They believe the Universe was created for this purpose, and that once this naming
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The Nine Billion Names of God is completed, God will bring the Universe to an end. Three centuries ago, the monks created an alphabet in which they calculated they could encode all the possible names of God, numbering about 9,000,000,000 ("nine billion") and each having no more than nine characters. Writing the names out by hand, as they had been doing, even after eliminating various nonsense combinations, would take another 15,000 years; the monks wish to use modern technology to finish this task more quickly. They rent a computer capable of printing all the possible permutations, and they hire two Westerners to install and program the
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Similar to John Reed's Ten Days that Shook the World, which influential 1930s book by Edgar Snow is an account of the Communist Party of China?
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Edgar Snow book. Edgar Snow Edgar Parks Snow (17 July 1905 – 15 February 1972) was an American journalist known for his books and articles on Communism in China and the Chinese Communist revolution. He was the first western journalist to give a full account of the history of the Chinese Communist Party following the Long March, and he was also the first western journalist to interview many of its leaders, including Mao Zedong. He is best known for his book, "Red Star Over China" (1937), an account of the Chinese Communist movement from its foundation until the late 1930s. Edgar was
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Ten Days That Shook the World (its alternative title is "Ten Days that Shook the World"). At one point in the 1946 film "Blood on the Sun" socialist/communist screenwriter Lester Cole has one of two characters, played by James Cagney and Sylvia Sydney who are planning on spending ten days together, utter the line, ”Ten days that shook the world.” Ten Days That Shook the World Ten Days That Shook the World (1919) is a book by the American journalist and socialist John Reed about the October Revolution in Russia in 1917, which Reed experienced firsthand. Reed followed many of the prominent Bolshevik leaders closely during
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Which 1853 narrative poem of Matthew Arnold set in the orient tells the story of two feuding warrior-generals who, unknown to both, happen to be father and son?
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Sohrab and Rustum Sohrab and Rustum Sohrab and Rustum: An Episode is a narrative poem with strong tragic themes first published in 1853 by Matthew Arnold. The poem retells a famous episode from Ferdowsi's Persian epic "Shahnameh" relating how the great warrior Rustum unknowingly slew his long-lost son Sohrab in single combat. Arnold, who was unable to read the original, relied on summaries of the story in John Malcolm's "History of Persia" and Sainte-Beuve's review of a French prose translation of Ferdowsi. In "Sohrab and Rustum", Arnold attempted to imitate the "grandeur and rapidity" of Homer's style which he was to discuss in
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Story of the Warrior and the Captive one completely alien to her. Story of the Warrior and the Captive "Story of the Warrior and the Captive" (original Spanish "Historia del Guerrero y la cautiva") is a short story by Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges. It first appeared in 1949 in the short story collection El Aleph and later appeared in Labyrinths. The story compares two figures who eschewed their culture in favor of a foreign culture. The narrator first tells the story of Droctulft, a barbarian who, according to the historical writings of Paul the Deacon, abandoned the barbarian Lombards to join the Byzantine Army and defend
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Which 1902 short story by W. W. Jacobs is based on the premise of three wishes coming true but with an enormous price for interfering with fate?
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The Monkey's Paw The Monkey's Paw "The Monkey's Paw" is a supernatural short story by author W. W. Jacobs first published in England in the collection "The Lady of the Barge" in 1902. In the story, three wishes are granted to the owner of the monkey's paw, but the wishes come with an enormous price for interfering with fate. It has been adapted scores of times in other media, including plays, movies, TV shows, operas, stories and comics, as early as 1903 and as recently as 2017. The short story involves Mr. and Mrs. White and their adult son, Herbert. Sergeant-Major Morris, a
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W. W. Jacobs of the short stories, and Jacobs' love for the forest scenery in the area features in his "Land Of Cockaigne". Another blue plaque shows Jacobs' central London residence at 15 Gloucester Gate, Regents Park (later used for the Prince of Wales's Institute of Architecture). Jacobs stated that although he had held left-wing opinions in his youth, in his later years his political position was "Conservative and Individualistic". Jacobs died on 1 September 1943 at Hornsey Lane, Islington, London. W. W. Jacobs William Wymark Jacobs (1863–1943) was an English author of short stories and novels. Although much of his work was
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William Golding's Lord of the Flies was written as a response to which 1857 adventure novel by R. M. Ballantyne because Golding disagreed with the views that the book held?
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The Coral Island a child, Golding strongly disagreed with the views that it espoused, and in contrast "Lord of the Flies" depicts the English boys as savages themselves, who forget more than they learn, unlike Ballantyne's boys. Golding described the relationship between the two books by saying that "The Coral Island" "rotted to compost" in his mind, and in the compost "a new myth put down roots". Neither is the idyllic nature of Ballantyne's coral island to be found on Stevenson's treasure island, which is unsuitable for settlement "but exists merely as a site from which to excavate treasure, a view consistent with
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The Inheritors (Golding novel) The Inheritors (Golding novel) The Inheritors is a work of prehistoric fiction and the second novel, published in 1955, by the British author William Golding, best known for "Lord of the Flies". It concerns the extinction of one of the last remaining tribes of Neanderthals at the hands of the more sophisticated "Homo sapiens". This novel is an imaginative reconstruction of the life of a band of Neanderthals. It is written in such a way that the reader might assume the group to be modern "Homo sapiens" as they gesture and speak simply among themselves, and bury their dead with
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The 1987 nonfiction book And the Band Played On by Randy Shilts chronicles the discovery and spread of what modern horror?
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James W. Curran a pioneer, leader, and expert in the field of HIV/AIDS. From 1981 Dr. Curran led the task force on HIV/AIDS at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and subsequently led the HIV/AIDS Division. While at the CDC, he attained the rank of the assistant surgeon general. He is featured in "And the Band Played On", a non-fiction book by "San Francisco Chronicle" journalist Randy Shilts, which chronicles the discovery and spread of HIV/AIDS. Dr. Curran was a pioneer in the field in that he was one of the first scientists to recognize the infectious nature of HIV/AIDS, and
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And the Band Played On And the Band Played On And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic is a 1987 book by "San Francisco Chronicle" journalist Randy Shilts. The book chronicles the discovery and spread of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) with a special emphasis on government indifference and political infighting—specifically in the United States—to what was then perceived as a specifically gay disease. Shilts' premise is that AIDS was allowed to happen: while the disease is caused by a biological agent, incompetence and apathy toward those initially affected allowed its spread to become much
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The French word 'rastignac' that describes an ambitious social climber is from the name of a character in the La Comédie humaine series of novels by which author?
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La Fausse Maîtresse Adam. It is not quite clear whether Adam had had an affair with Malaga which Paz had to keep quiet. La Fausse Maîtresse La Fausse Maîtresse is an 1843 novel by French novelist and playwright Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850) and included in his series of novels (or "Roman-fleuve") known as "La Comédie humaine" ("The Human Comedy") which parodies and depicts French society in the period of the Restoration and the July Monarchy (1815-1848). The plot is subtle and complex, and the true explanation is carefully hidden until the end of the book. Clementine is a descendent of rich and noble
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Eugène de Rastignac Eugène de Rastignac Eugène de Rastignac is a fictional character from "La Comédie humaine", a series of novels by Honoré de Balzac. He appears as a main character in "Le Père Goriot" (1835), and his social advancement in the post-revolutionary French world depicted by Balzac can be followed through Rastignac's various appearances in other books of the series. Rastignac is initially portrayed as an ambitious young man of noble, albeit poor, extraction who is at times both envious of and naive about high society. Although he is ready to do anything to achieve his goals, he spurns the advice of
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The English novelist Sax Rohmer is best known for creating which prototypical ethnic villain who is now associated with a distinctive mustache?
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Sax Rohmer Sax Rohmer Arthur Henry Sarsfield Ward (15 February 1883 – 1 June 1959), better known as Sax Rohmer, was a prolific English novelist. He is best remembered for his series of novels featuring the master criminal Dr. Fu Manchu. Born in Birmingham to a working-class family, Arthur Ward initially pursued a career as a civil servant before concentrating on writing full-time. He worked as a poet, songwriter and comedy sketch writer for music hall performers before creating the Sax Rohmer persona and pursuing a career writing fiction. Like his contemporaries Algernon Blackwood and Arthur Machen, Rohmer claimed membership to one
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Sax Rohmer 1 ... if it’s the last thing that I do." and found the song reflective in "phrasing and word choice" of "Half Dead" from the 2006 studio album "Get Lonely". "Pitchfork Media"s Zach Baron called "Sax Rohmer #1" (along with "Lovecraft in Brooklyn" and "In the Craters of the Moon") a "seething throwback [...] taut, propulsive, paranoid, furious." "Sputnikmusic"s Ryan Flatley remarked on the "fullness of the sound and words [that] spill out methodically behind a sweet-and-sour story that is almost heart-wrenching." "Stereogum" said they were "totally stoked with the older-school sound." "The Village Voice"s Mike Powell reviewed "Sax Rohmer #1"
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'The world is what it is; men who are nothing, who allow themselves to become nothing, have no place in it.' This unforgettable opening line is from which author's A Bend in the River and lent itself to the title of that authors authorized biography The World Is What It Is by Patrick French?
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The World Is What It Is The World Is What It Is The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of V. S. Naipaul is a biography of the Nobel Prize-winning author V. S. Naipaul by Patrick French. It was published in 2008 (by Picador in the UK and Knopf in the USA). The title is a quotation from Naipaul's book "A Bend in the River". "The world is what it is; men who are nothing, who allow themselves to become nothing, have no place in it." French deals with Naipaul's family background and his life from his birth in 1932 until his second marriage
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Everything Is Alive, Everything Is Breathing, Nothing Is Dead, and Nothing Is Bleeding Everything Is Alive, Everything Is Breathing, Nothing Is Dead, and Nothing Is Bleeding Everything Is Alive, Everything Is Breathing, Nothing Is Dead, and Nothing Is Bleeding is the debut album by Douglasville, GA's The Chariot. It was recorded completely live and overdub-free (as well as never being mastered), giving the album a very raw sound. The song "Someday, in the Event That Mankind Actually Figures Out What it is That This World Revolves Around, Thousands of People are Going to Be Shocked and Perplexed to Find Out it Was Not Them. Sometimes, This Includes Me." (track 2) is currently the
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The most-translated contemporary Italian writer at the time of his death in 1985, whose best known works are the Our Ancestors trilogy and the Cosmicomics collection of short stories?
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Italo Calvino Italo Calvino Italo Calvino (; 15 October 1923 – 19 September 1985) was an Italian journalist and writer of short stories and novels. His best known works include the "Our Ancestors" trilogy (1952–1959), the "Cosmicomics" collection of short stories (1965), and the novels "Invisible Cities" (1972) and "If on a winter's night a traveler" (1979). He was the most-translated contemporary Italian writer at the time of his death. Italo Calvino was born in Santiago de las Vegas, a suburb of Havana, Cuba, in 1923. His father, Mario, was a tropical agronomist and botanist who also taught agriculture and floriculture. Born
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The Doors of His Face, The Lamps of His Mouth, and Other Stories climbing on an asymmetric planet with a mountain tens of kilometers high, extending far beyond any breathable atmosphere. "This Moment of the Storm" is about a constable on a distant colony planet, whose duties include the use of armed drone aircraft. The Doors of His Face, The Lamps of His Mouth, and Other Stories The Doors of His Face, The Lamps of His Mouth is a collection of science fiction short stories by American writer Roger Zelazny, and the title of the first story in the collection. It was published in 1971 by Doubleday. Stories in the original edition: Stories
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What classic short story by the French writer Guy de Maupassant concerns an invisible malevolent spirit that aims to take control over the narrator?
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The Damned Thing (short story) a classic horror trope that may be traced to the invisible supernatural entities in O'Brien's "What Was It?" (1859) and Guy de Maupassant's "The Horla" (1887). Later examples of invisibility in 19th-century fiction include "The Plattner Story" and "The Invisible Man" by H. G. Wells. In his take on the issue of invisibility, Bierce chose to "foreground the limitations of human senses", speculating that in the course of evolution an animal might have arisen whose color is invisible to the human eye. When accused of plagiarizing O'Brien, Bierce retorted that O'Brien's monster was "supernatural and impossible", whereas he described "a
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Guy de Maupassant her mind to a man to whom she has opened other channels of communications." In the script Questor copulates with a woman to obtain information that she is reluctant to impart. Due to complaints from NBC executives, this part of the script was never filmed. Michel Drach directed and co-wrote a 1982 French biographical film: "Guy de Maupassant". Claude Brasseur stars as the titular character. Guy de Maupassant Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant (; ; 5 August 1850 – 6 July 1893) was a French writer, remembered as a master of the short story form, and as a representative
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Which 1961 non-fiction book by US journalist John Howard Griffin describes his six-week experience travelling on buses through racially segregated states while passing as a black man?
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Alien Nation (novel series) truth inside himself. "Alien Nation: Slag Like Me" is an allusion to the book "Black Like Me", a 1961 non-fiction book by Caucasian journalist John Howard Griffin, who travelled throughout the racially segregated states of the American South passing as a black man. This book was written by David Spencer, and was released in 1994. The plot follows Matt who meets a mysterious woman from his past and is thrown into an investigation of a lethal Newcomer drug. He must then ask the woman he loves to risk her life for someone she's never even met. The case causes tension
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John Howard Griffin in 1959 to darken his skin for his race project. Griffin did not have skin cancer. He incurred only temporary and minor symptoms from taking the drug, especially fatigue and nausea. John Howard Griffin John Howard Griffin (June 16, 1920 – September 9, 1980) was an American journalist and author from Texas who wrote about racial equality. He is best known for his project to temporarily pass as a black man and journey through the Deep South of 1959 to see life and segregation from the other side of the color line. He first published a series of articles on
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The title of which classic set in Africa is taken from a line in Yeats' poem The Second Coming and precedes the words 'the centre cannot hold'?
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The Second Coming (poem) Bethlehem/It slouched and then" in the first verse. A 2016 analysis by Factiva showed that lines from the poem were quoted more often in the first seven months of 2016 than in any of the preceding 30 years. In the context of political turmoil after the Brexit referendum and Donald Trump's election, commentators repeatedly invoked its lines: "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold." The Second Coming (poem) "The Second Coming" is a poem written by Irish poet W. B. Yeats in 1919, first printed in "The Dial" in November 1920, and afterwards included in his 1921 collection of verses
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The Second Coming (poem) The Second Coming (poem) "The Second Coming" is a poem written by Irish poet W. B. Yeats in 1919, first printed in "The Dial" in November 1920, and afterwards included in his 1921 collection of verses "Michael Robartes and the Dancer". The poem uses Christian imagery regarding the Apocalypse and Second Coming allegorically to describe the atmosphere of post-war Europe. It is considered a major work of modernist poetry and has been reprinted in several collections, including "The Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry". The poem was written in 1919 in the aftermath of the First World War and the beginning
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Which 1899 book by Thorstein Veblen that originated the phrase 'conspicuous consumption' is considered one of the first detailed critiques of consumerism?
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Thorstein Veblen with the Idle Rich". Thorstein Veblen Thorstein Bunde Veblen (; born Torsten Bunde Veblen; July 30, 1857 – August 3, 1929) was an American economist and sociologist who became famous as a witty critic of capitalism. Veblen is known for the idea of "conspicuous consumption". People engage in conspicuous consumption, along with "conspicuous leisure", to demonstrate wealth or to mark social status - Veblen explains the concept in his best-known book, "The Theory of the Leisure Class" (1899). Historians of economic thought regard Veblen as the leader of the institutional economics movement. Contemporary economists still call Veblen's distinction between "institutions"
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Consumerism even waste creatively". The older term and concept of "conspicuous consumption" originated at the turn of the 20th century in the writings of sociologist and economist, Thorstein Veblen. The term describes an apparently irrational and confounding form of economic behaviour. Veblen's scathing proposal that this unnecessary consumption is a form of status display is made in darkly humorous observations like the following: The term "conspicuous consumption" spread to describe consumerism in the United States in the 1960s, but was soon linked to debates about media theory, culture jamming, and its corollary productivism. Madeline Levine criticized what she saw as a
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What type of utensil that is frequently used in nonsense poetry first appeared in Edward Lear's best-known poem The Owl and the Pussycat?
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The Owl and the Pussycat The Owl and the Pussycat "The Owl and the Pussycat" is a nonsense poem by Edward Lear, first published during 1871 as part of his book "Nonsense Songs, Stories, Botany, and Alphabets". Lear wrote the poem for a three-year-old girl, Janet Symonds, the daughter of Lear's friend poet John Addington Symonds and his wife Catherine Symonds. The term "runcible", used for the phrase "runcible spoon", was invented for the poem. "The Owl and the Pussycat" features four anthropomorphic animals – an owl, a cat, a pig, and a turkey – and tells the story of the love between the title
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Nonsense found in "Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There" by Lewis Carroll (1871), is a nonsense poem written in the English language. The word "jabberwocky" is also occasionally used as a synonym of nonsense. Nonsense verse is the verse form of literary nonsense, a genre that can manifest in many other ways. Its best-known exponent is Edward Lear, author of "The Owl and the Pussycat" and hundreds of limericks. Nonsense verse is part of a long line of tradition predating Lear: the nursery rhyme "Hey Diddle Diddle" could also be termed a nonsense verse. There are also some works
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The 'Younger Memnon' statue of Ramesses II in the British Museum is thought to have inspired which famous poem of P. B. Shelley?
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Ramesses II works." This is paraphrased in Shelley's poem. The life of Ramesses II has inspired many fictional representations, including the historical novels of the French writer Christian Jacq, the "Ramsès" series; the graphic novel "Watchmen", in which the character of Adrian Veidt uses Ramesses II to form part of the inspiration for his alter-ego, Ozymandias; Norman Mailer's novel "Ancient Evenings", which is largely concerned with the life of Ramesses II, though from the perspective of Egyptians living during the reign of Ramesses IX; and the Anne Rice book "The Mummy, or Ramses the Damned" (1989), in which Ramesses was the main
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Younger Memnon a BBC Radio 4 programme by British Museum director Neil MacGregor. Younger Memnon The Younger Memnon is an Ancient Egyptian statue, one of two colossal granite heads from the Ramesseum mortuary temple in Thebes, Upper Egypt. It depicts the Nineteenth Dynasty Pharaoh Ramesses II wearing the Nemes head-dress with a cobra diadem on top. The damaged statue has since lost its body and lower legs. It is one of a pair that originally flanked the Ramesseum's doorway. The head of the other statue is still found at the temple. The Younger Memnon is 2.7 m high by 2 metres wide
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Which Norwegian fairy tale is about three goats who want to cross a bridge under which lurks a fearsome troll?
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The Troll The Troll The Troll by Julia Donaldson and David Roberts is a children's story about a troll and some pirates. The troll in this story is based on the troll from the "Three Billy Goats Gruff" fairy tale. However, in this story, no goats ever cross the troll's bridge and he is forced to survive on fish that he catches from the river. He does encounter, in turn, a spider, a mouse and a rabbit, each of which convinces the troll not to eat them by telling him that he should try a bridge further down the river that is
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Which Bridge to Cross (Which Bridge to Burn) and raises the chill bumps at every turn." "Which Bridge to Cross (Which Bridge to Burn) debuted at number 61 on the U.S. "Billboard" Hot Country Singles & Tracks for the week of February 4, 1995. Which Bridge to Cross (Which Bridge to Burn) "Which Bridge to Cross (Which Bridge to Burn)" is a song co-written and recorded by American country music artist Vince Gill. It was released in January 1995 as the fourth single from the album "When Love Finds You". The song reached number 4 on the "Billboard" Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart. It was written by
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What 1908 satirical work by the Nobel Prize winning French author Anatole France describes a fictitious island of great auks that exists on the northern coast of Europe?
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Penguin Island (novel) Penguin Island (novel) Penguin Island (1908; ) is a satirical fictional history by Nobel Prize-winning French author Anatole France. "Penguin Island" is written in the style of a sprawling 18th- and 19th-century history book, concerned with grand metanarratives, mythologizing heroes, hagiography and romantic nationalism. It is about a fictitious island, inhabited by great auks, that existed off the northern coast of Europe. The history begins when a wayward Christian missionary monk lands on the island and perceives the upright, unafraid auks as a sort of pre-Christian society of noble pagans. Mostly blind and somewhat deaf, having mistaken the animals for
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École Française Anatole France year in 2007-08. The school celebrated its 10th anniversary on 3 June 2017, with the presence of then French Ambassador to Armenia "Jean-François Charpentier", and the Minister of Education and Science of Armenia "Levon Mkrtchyan". On 30 March 2018, the school was renamed after the French poet, novelist and winner of the 1921 Nobel Prize in Literature Anatole France, during a ceremony attended by the French Secretary of State to the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, the Armenian Minister of Education Levon Mkrtchyan, and the French Ambassador to Armenia "Jonathan Lacôte". According to ministers Lemoyne and Mkrtchyan,
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In the US and Canada, what appropriately titled book of Dr. Seuss is a popular gift for students graduating from high school and college?
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Oh, the Places You'll Go! he will discover, the book cheerfully concludes with an open end. Upon its original release in 1990, "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" reached number one on "The New York Times" Best-Selling Fiction Hardcover list. That made Dr. Seuss one of the handful of authors to have number one Hardcover Fiction and Nonfiction books on the list; among them are John Steinbeck, Jimmy Buffett and Mitch Albom; his "You're Only Old Once!" hit number one on the Nonfiction list in 1986. In the United States and Canada, "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" is a popular gift for students graduating from high
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Dr. Seuss Dr. Seuss Theodor Seuss Geisel (; March 2, 1904 – September 24, 1991) was an American children's author, political cartoonist, poet, animator, screenwriter, filmmaker, and artist, best known for his work writing and illustrating more than 60 books under the pen name Doctor Seuss (abbreviated Dr. Seuss) (). His work includes many of the most popular children's books of all time, selling over 600 million copies and being translated into more than 20 languages by the time of his death. Geisel adopted the name "Dr. Seuss" as an undergraduate at Dartmouth College and as a graduate student at the University
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The 1954 publication of the book Seduction of the Innocent which protested the harmful effects of mass media on children led to a U.S. Congressional inquiry into what genre of publishing?
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Seduction of the Innocent Seduction of the Innocent Seduction of the Innocent is a book by American psychiatrist Fredric Wertham, published in 1954, that warned that comic books were a negative form of popular literature and a serious cause of juvenile delinquency. The book was taken seriously at the time, and was a minor bestseller that created alarm in parents and galvanized them to campaign for censorship. At the same time, a U.S. Congressional inquiry was launched into the comic book industry. Subsequent to the publication of "Seduction of the Innocent", the Comics Code Authority was voluntarily established by publishers to self-censor their titles.
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Seduction of the Innocent prohibition of comics. He stated, "These booklets, which contain a series of illustrations with accompanying text, are generally sensational in character, without any other value. It is not possible to act against the printers, publishers or distributors of these novels, nor can anything be achieved by not making paper available to them, as the necessary paper is available on the free market". Exceptions were made for a small number of "healthy" comic productions from the Toonder studio, which included the literary comic strip "Tom Poes". Seduction of the Innocent Seduction of the Innocent is a book by American psychiatrist Fredric
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In 2004, the government of Equatorial Guinea accused which popular English author of being one of the financiers of a failed 2004 coup d'état attempt against it?
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History of Equatorial Guinea also included former members of the South African Army 32 Battalion. Financial backers included Sir Mark Thatcher, son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and possibly the British novelist Jeffrey Archer. Somewhere between $3 million and $20 million was expended on the failed coup, which is said to have had the tacit support of some Western governments and international corporations. In 2011 the government announced it was planning a new capital for the country, named Oyala. History of Equatorial Guinea The History of Equatorial Guinea is marked by centuries of colonial domination by the Portuguese, British and Spanish empires,
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2004 Equatorial Guinea coup d'état attempt attempted coup". However the Spanish foreign minister, Ana Palacio seemed to contradict the spokeswoman's statement; "They weren't on a mission of war, but one of cooperation." 2004 Equatorial Guinea coup d'état attempt The 2004 Equatorial Guinea coup d'état attempt, also known as the Wonga coup, failed to replace President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo with exiled opposition politician Severo Moto. Mercenaries organised by mainly British financiers were arrested in Zimbabwe on 7 March 2004 before they could carry out the plot. Prosecutors alleged that Moto was to be installed as the new president in return for preferential oil rights to corporations
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Because A. A. Milne was critical towards him for pandering to Germans during WWII, which English author created a ridiculous character named Timothy Bobbin to parody some of Milne's poetry?
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A. A. Milne France by the Nazis and imprisoned for a year. Wodehouse made radio broadcasts about his internment, which were broadcast from Berlin. Although the light-hearted broadcasts made fun of the Germans, Milne accused Wodehouse of committing an act of near treason by cooperating with his country's enemy. Wodehouse got some revenge on his former friend (e.g., in "The Mating Season") by creating fatuous parodies of the Christopher Robin poems in some of his later stories, and claiming that Milne "was probably jealous of all other writers... But I loved his stuff." Milne married Dorothy "Daphne" de Sélincourt in 1913 and their
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A. A. Milne has already had more publicity than I want for him. I do not want CR Milne to ever wish that his name were Charles Robert." In his literary home, "Punch", where the "When We Were Very Young" verses had first appeared, Methuen continued to publish whatever Milne wrote, including the long poem "The Norman Church" and an assembly of articles entitled "Year In, Year Out" (which Milne likened to a benefit night for the author). In 1930, Milne adapted Kenneth Grahame's novel "The Wind in the Willows" for the stage as "Toad of Toad Hall". The title was an implicit
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Which 1944 work of Friedrich Hayek is among the most influential expositions of classical liberalism and is stated as the single book that significantly shaped the political ideologies of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan?
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New Right New Right more specifically refers to a strand of Conservatism that the likes of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan influenced. Thatcher's style of New Right ideology, known as Thatcherism, was heavily influenced by the work of Friedrich Hayek (in particular the book "The Road to Serfdom"). They were ideologically committed to economic liberalism as well as being socially conservative. Key policies included deregulation of business, a dismantling of the welfare state, privatization of nationalized industries and restructuring of the national workforce in order to increase industrial and economic flexibility in an increasingly global market. In the United States, New Right
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Social liberalism culture". Trade unions often caused high wages and industrial disruption, while full employment was regarded as unsustainable. Writers such as Milton Friedman and Samuel Brittan, who were influenced by Friedrich Hayek, advocated a reversal of social liberalism. Their policies, which are often called neoliberalism, had a significant influence on Western politics, most notably on the governments of United Kingdom Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and United States President Ronald Reagan, who pursued policies of deregulation of the economy and reduction in spending on social services. Part of the reason for the collapse of the social liberal coalition was a challenge in
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When he was killed in a car crash in 1960, which existentialist became the shortest-lived of any literature Nobel laurate till date?
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Nobel Prize in Literature According to Swedish Academy archives studied by the newspaper "Le Monde" on their opening in 2008, French novelist and intellectual André Malraux was seriously considered for the prize in the 1950s. Malraux was competing with Albert Camus but was rejected several times, especially in 1954 and 1955, "so long as he does not come back to novel". Thus, Camus was awarded the prize in 1957. Some attribute W. H. Auden's not being awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature to errors in his translation of 1961 Peace Prize laureate Dag Hammarskjöld's "Vägmärken" (Markings) and to statements that Auden made during a
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Nobel Prize in Literature de Cervantes Prize include Octavio Paz (1981 Cervantes, 1990 Nobel); Mario Vargas Llosa (1994 Cervantes, 2010 Nobel); and Camilo José Cela (1995 Cervantes, 1989 Nobel). José Saramago is the only author to receive both the Camões Prize (1995) and the Nobel Prize (1998) to date. The Hans Christian Andersen Award is sometimes referred to as "the Little Nobel". The award has earned this appellation since, in a similar manner to the Nobel Prize in Literature, it recognizes the lifetime achievement of writers, though the Andersen Award focuses on a single category of literary works (children's literature). Nobel Prize in Literature
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Which 1975 book by the Australian philosopher Peter Singer is considered to be the founding philosophical statement of the animal rights movement?
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Animal Liberation (book) Animal Liberation (book) Animal Liberation: A New Ethics for Our Treatment of Animals is a 1975 book by Australian philosopher Peter Singer. It is widely considered within the animal liberation movement to be the founding philosophical statement of its ideas. Singer himself rejected the use of the theoretical framework of rights when it comes to human and nonhuman animals. Following Jeremy Bentham, Singer argued that the interests of animals should be considered because of their ability to experience suffering and that the idea of rights was not necessary in order to consider them. He popularized the term "speciesism" in the
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The Case for Animal Rights equality, rather than continuing with any more simple yes-or-no battles about whether animals have them. Regan’s book is certainly important and in many ways admirable – a serious, substantial contribution to giving animals their proper place on the philosophical map. The Case for Animal Rights The Case for Animal Rights is a 1983 book by the American philosopher Tom Regan, in which the author argues that at least some kinds of non-human animals have moral rights because they are the "subjects-of-a-life," and that these rights adhere to them whether or not they are recognized. The work is considered an important
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The Other Side of Me is the autobiography of which popular American author and creator of the TV series I Dream of Jeannie?
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I Dream of Jeannie produced by Sidney Sheldon in response to the great success of rival network ABC's "Bewitched" series, which had debuted in 1964 as the second-most watched program in the United States. Sheldon, inspired by the movie "The Brass Bottle", which had starred Tony Randall, Barbara Eden, and Burl Ives as the jinn Fakrash, conceived of the idea for a beautiful female genie. Both "I Dream of Jeannie" and "Bewitched" were Screen Gems productions. The show debuted at 8 pm, Saturday, September 18, 1965, on NBC. When casting was opened for the role of Jeannie, producer Sidney Sheldon could not find an
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I Still Dream of Jeannie same opening sequence from "I Dream of Jeannie... Fifteen Years Later" with an updated version of the 1985 theme. There are currently no plans from Sony Pictures Choice Collection online program to release the film on DVD yet. I Still Dream of Jeannie I Still Dream of Jeannie is a 1991 American made-for-television fantasy-comedy film produced by Columbia Pictures Television which premiered on NBC on October 20, 1991. It is the second and final reunion film based on the 1965–1970 sitcom "I Dream of Jeannie". It also serves as the series finale to said series. Barbara Eden and Bill Daily
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The American travel writer and novelist Paul Theroux's book Sir Vidia's Shadow provides a caustic portrait of which other famous author?
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Paul Theroux been a Burgess fan for as long as I can remember. In 1980 (the year before the events in the story), I interviewed him for the BBC World Service about his superb novel “Earthly Powers.” I treasure my copy, inscribed “To the Theroux family with fond regards” and signed by the author with several kisses. I would have been delighted to have Burgess to dinner at my house, but, alas, it didn’t happen. <br>- Anne Theroux, London, England ("The New Yorker", August 18, 1995) Theroux's sometimes caustic portrait of Nobel Laureate V. S. Naipaul in his memoir "Sir Vidia's Shadow"
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Paul Theroux Paul Theroux Paul Edward Theroux (born April 10, 1941) is an American travel writer and novelist, whose best-known work is "The Great Railway Bazaar" (1975). He has published numerous works of fiction, some of which were adapted as feature films. He was awarded the 1981 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his novel "The Mosquito Coast," which was adapted for the 1986 movie of the same name. He is the father of British authors and documentary filmmakers Marcel Theroux and Louis Theroux, the brother of authors Alexander Theroux and Peter Theroux, and uncle of the American actor and screenwriter Justin
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Which 1961 book by Frantz Fanon was described by Time magazine as 'this is not so much a book as a rock thrown through the windows of the West. It is the Communist Manifesto or the Mein Kampf of the anticolonial revolution ...'?
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Frantz Fanon Revolution", later republished as "Sociology of a Revolution" and later still as "A Dying Colonialism"). Fanon's original title was "Reality of a Nation"; however, the publisher, François Maspero, refused to accept this title. Fanon is best known for the classic analysis of colonialism and decolonization, "The Wretched of the Earth". "The Wretched of the Earth" was first published in 1961 by Éditions Maspero, with a preface by Jean-Paul Sartre. In it Fanon analyzes the role of class, race, national culture and violence in the struggle for national liberation. The book includes an article which focuses on the ideas of violence
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This is Not a Book This is Not a Book This is Not a Book is a book by Keri Smith that was published in 2009. It is not a normal book, because the book does not exist without the reader. The book is almost completely blank, so the reader creates the content and the final product. The book's purpose is to teach a reader to think creatively and take risks. The main question presented is: if it is not a book, then what exactly is it? The answer is left to the reader to determine. "This Is Not A Book" is much like Wreck
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What genre of literature is generally believed to have been invented by the English author Horace Walpole with his 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto?
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The Castle of Otranto The Castle of Otranto The Castle of Otranto is a 1764 novel by Horace Walpole. It is generally regarded as the first gothic novel. In the second edition, Walpole applied the word 'Gothic' to the novel in the subtitle – "A Gothic Story". The novel merged medievalism and terror in a style that has endured ever since. The aesthetics of the book shaped modern-day gothic books, films, art, music and the goth subculture. The novel initiated a literary genre which would become extremely popular in the later 18th and early 19th century, with authors such as Clara Reeve, Ann Radcliffe,
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The Castle of Otranto William Thomas Beckford, Matthew Lewis, Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Louis Stevenson and George du Maurier. "The Castle of Otranto" was written in 1764 during Horace Walpole's tenure as MP for King's Lynn. Walpole was fascinated with medieval history, building in 1749 a fake gothic castle, Strawberry Hill House. The initial edition was titled in full "The Castle of Otranto, A Story. Translated by William Marshal, Gent. From the Original Italian of Onuphrio Muralto, Canon of the Church of St. Nicholas at Otranto". This first edition purported to be a translation based on a manuscript printed at
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What term from the Spanish for 'rogue/rascal' describes a genre of fiction that depicts in realistic and often humorous detail the adventures of a roguish hero who lives by his or her wits in a corrupt society?
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Picaresque novel of the form in his "The Good Companions" (1929) which won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction. Picaresque novel The picaresque novel (Spanish: "picaresca", from "pícaro", for "rogue" or "rascal") is a genre of prose fiction that depicts the adventures of a roguish, but "appealing hero", of low social class, who lives by his or her wits in a corrupt society. Picaresque novels typically adopt a realistic style, with elements of comedy and satire. This style of novel originated in Spain in 1554 and flourished throughout Europe for more than 200 years, though the term "picaresque novel" was
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In the Reign of Terror: The Adventures of a Westminster Boy the events in sparse detail. The novel focuses primarily on Harry's courage, self-determination, and pluck, and the events of the novel centre on his struggles and daring adventures. Like many of Henty's texts, "In the Reign of Terror" emphasises British nationalism and derides the French nation as weak, frivolous, and lacking in masculine strength and independence. Henty's novels often portray young protagonists who "retain their essential Britishness years after leaving Britain and their families." Harry, as a representative of British culture, is upstanding, courageous, tenacious, and determined in the face of hardship. The novel depicts the French Revolution in highly
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Which 1966 postcolonial parallel novel by Jean Rhys acts as a prequel to Charlotte Brontë's 1847 novel Jane Eyre?
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Jean Rhys Jean Rhys Jean Rhys, (; born Ella Gwendolyn Rees Williams (24 August 1890 – 14 May 1979), was a mid-20th-century novelist who was born and grew up in the Caribbean island of Dominica. From the age of 16, she was mainly resident in England, where she was sent for her education. She is best known for her novel "Wide Sargasso Sea" (1966), written as a prequel to Charlotte Brontë's "Jane Eyre". In 1978 she was awarded the Order of the British Empire for her writing. Rhys was born in Roseau, the capital of Dominica, an island in the British West
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Jane Eyre Jerome Beaty felt that the close first person perspective leaves the reader "too uncritically accepting of her worldview", and often leads reading and conversation about the novel towards supporting Jane, regardless of how irregular her ideas or perspectives are. In 2003, the novel was ranked number 10 in the BBC's survey The Big Read. Jane Eyre Jane Eyre (originally published as Jane Eyre: An Autobiography) is a novel by English writer Charlotte Brontë, published under the pen name "Currer Bell", on 16 October 1847, by Smith, Elder & Co. of London. The first American edition was published the following year
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A mysterious figure paid an annual tribute on Jan 19th during the period of 1949 to 2009 to which American author by visiting the author's original grave marker in Baltimore?
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Poe Toaster Poe Toaster Poe Toaster is a media epithet popularly used to refer to an unidentified person (or more probably two persons in succession, possibly father and son) who, for over seven decades, paid an annual tribute to American author Edgar Allan Poe by visiting the cenotaph marking his original grave in Baltimore, Maryland, in the early hours of January 19, Poe's birthday. The shadowy figure, dressed in black with a wide-brimmed hat and white scarf, would pour himself a glass of cognac and raise a toast to Poe's memory, then vanish into the night, leaving three roses in a distinctive
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Jan Ekström (author) Jan Ekström (author) "Jan" Olof Ekström (2 November 1923 in Falun, Sweden – 17 August 2013) was a Swedish author and adman. Jan Ekström has lived in Gislaved but graduated in Växjö. He studied national economy, Slavic languages, English and statistics in Lund, thereafter he studied at the Handelshögskolan in Stockholm. He was in the beginning of the 80's co-owner of the ad firm "Ekström & Lindmark". He has also lived in Paris, France. As an author Jan Ekström debuted 1961 with "Döden fyller år" "(The Death's Birthday)" and the next year he introduced his problem-solver, the red haired and
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What is observed annually on June 16 in Dublin to celebrate the life of James Joyce and relive the events in his novel Ulysses?
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Bloomsday June. A 2009 episode of the cartoon "The Simpsons", "In the Name of the Grandfather", featured the family's trip to Dublin and Lisa's reference to Bloomsday. U2's 2009 song "Breathe" refers to events taking place on a fictitious 16 June. On Bloomsday 2014, it was announced that the chemist shop Swenys on Lombard Street, at which Bloom called to buy lotion for his wife, might soon close. Bloomsday Bloomsday is a commemoration and celebration of the life of Irish writer James Joyce, observed annually in Dublin and elsewhere on 16 June, the day his novel "Ulysses" takes place in 1904,
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James Joyce Waste Land", 1922 was a key year in the history of English-language literary modernism. In "Ulysses", Joyce employs stream of consciousness, parody, jokes, and virtually every other literary technique to present his characters. The action of the novel, which takes place in a single day, 16 June 1904, sets the characters and incidents of the Odyssey of Homer in modern Dublin and represents Odysseus (Ulysses), Penelope and Telemachus in the characters of Leopold Bloom, his wife Molly Bloom and Stephen Dedalus, parodically contrasted with their lofty models. The book explores various areas of Dublin life, dwelling on its squalor and
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Which influential 19th century work on military strategy by Prussian general Carl von Clausewitz is prescribed at various military academies to this day?
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Carl von Clausewitz see the sixteen essays presented in "Clausewitz in the Twenty-First Century" edited by Hew Strachan and Andreas Herberg-Rothe. In military academies, schools, and universities worldwide, Clausewitz's literature is often mandatory reading. Literature Film Video games August Otto Rühle von Lilienstern – Prussian officer from whom Clausewitz allegedly took, without acknowledgment, several important ideas (including that about war as pursuing political aims) made famous in "On War". However, such ideas as Clausewitz and Lilienstern shared in common derived from a common influence, i.e., Scharnhorst, who was Clausewitz's "second father" and professional mentor. Informational notes Citations Further reading Carl von Clausewitz Carl
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Military strategy Military strategy Military strategy is a set of ideas implemented by military organizations to pursue desired strategic goals. Derived from the Greek word "strategos", the term strategy, when it appeared in use during the 18th century, was seen in its narrow sense as the "art of the general", or "'the art of arrangement" of troops. Military strategy deals with the planning and conduct of campaigns, the movement and disposition of forces, and the deception of the enemy. The father of Western modern strategic studies, Carl von Clausewitz (1780–1831), defined military strategy as "the employment of battles to gain the end
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If the book The Catcher in the Rye is to Mark Chapman-John Lennon, which book is to Yigal Amir-Yitzhak Rabin?
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The Day of the Jackal version of it during his planning for the assassination. A copy of the Hebrew translation to "The Day of the Jackal" was found in possession of Yigal Amir, the Israeli who in 1995 assassinated Yitzhak Rabin, Prime Minister of Israel. Notes References The Day of the Jackal The Day of the Jackal (1971) is a thriller novel by English writer Frederick Forsyth about a professional assassin who is contracted by the OAS, a French dissident paramilitary organisation, to kill Charles de Gaulle, the President of France. The novel received admiring reviews and praise when first published in 1971, and it
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The Catcher in the Rye in popular culture been a discussion of depression as exhibited in Holden Caulfield. The best-known event associated with "The Catcher in the Rye" is arguably Mark David Chapman's shooting of John Lennon. Chapman identified with the novel's narrator to the extent that he wanted to change his name to Holden Caulfield. On the night he shot Lennon, Chapman was found with a copy of the book in which he had written "This is my statement" and signed Holden's name. Later, he read a passage from the novel to address the court during his sentencing. Daniel Stashower speculated that Chapman had wanted Lennon's innocence
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"The title of which book comes from a dialogue within where the character Atticus warns his children that, although they can ""shoot all the blue jays they want,"" they must remember that ""it's a sin to do this""?"
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To Kill a Mockingbird they can "shoot all the bluejays they want", they must remember that "it's a sin to kill a mockingbird". Confused, Scout approaches her neighbor Miss Maudie, who explains that mockingbirds never harm other living creatures. She points out that mockingbirds simply provide pleasure with their songs, saying, "They don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us." Writer Edwin Bruell summarized the symbolism when he wrote in 1964, "'To kill a mockingbird' is to kill that which is innocent and harmless—like Tom Robinson." Scholars have noted that Lee often returns to the mockingbird theme when trying to make
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Your Fathers, Where Are They? And the Prophets, Do They Live Forever? Your Fathers, Where Are They? And the Prophets, Do They Live Forever? Your Fathers, Where Are They? And the Prophets, Do They Live Forever? is a 2014 novel by Dave Eggers. The book's title is a quotation from the Bible (). The book, told entirely in dialogue, follows the story of Thomas, a troubled man in his thirties haunted by the death of his friend Don Banh in a police shooting two years earlier. In an attempt to resolve the questions in his mind, he kidnaps seven people and brings them to a deserted Army base on the California coast,
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Jawaharlal Nehru, the Prime Minister of India spoke with Khrushchev and was partly instrumental in preventing the expulsion of which writer from the Soviet Union after that person won the Nobel Prize for Literature?
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Doctor Zhivago (novel) by birth, by life and work."After ouster from power in 1964, Khrushchev read the novel and felt great regret for having banned the book at all. As a result of this and the intercession of Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Pasternak was not expelled from his homeland. Ultimately, Bill Mauldin produced a political cartoon lampooning the Soviet State's campaign against Boris Pasternak. The cartoon depicts Pasternak and another convict splitting trees in the snow. In the caption, Pasternak says, "I won the Nobel Prize for literature. What was your crime?" The cartoon won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning in
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Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of India the Government of India—was established after independence under the prime ministership of Jawaharlal Nehru, as a successor to the office of the Governor-General of India's secretary. Lal Bahadur Shastri appointed Lakshmi Kant Jha, an Indian Civil Service officer, as his secretary, making Jha the first secretary to the Government of India-ranked officer in the PMS. During Indira Gandhi's tenure as prime minister, the post of Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister was created; retired Indian Foreign Service officer P. N. Haksar became the first PS to the PM. The Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of India acts as the
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If Maugham's The Moon and Sixpence fictionalizes the life of Paul Gauguin, his novel Cakes and Ale contains characterizations of which English author who never lived in Wessex?
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W. Somerset Maugham him endless self-consciousness and embarrassment, echoing Maugham's struggles with his stutter and, as his biographer Ted Morgan notes, his homosexuality. Two of his later novels were based on historical people: "The Moon and Sixpence" is about the life of Paul Gauguin; and "Cakes and Ale" contains what were taken as thinly veiled and unflattering characterisations of the authors Thomas Hardy (who had died two years previously) and Hugh Walpole. Maugham himself denied any intention of doing this in a long letter to Walpole: "I certainly never intended Alroy Kear to be a portrait of you. He is made up of
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The Moon and Sixpence The Moon and Sixpence The Moon and Sixpence is a novel by W. Somerset Maugham first published in 1919. It is told in episodic form by a first-person narrator, in a series of glimpses into the mind and soul of the central character Charles Strickland, a middle-aged English stockbroker, who abandons his wife and children abruptly to pursue his desire to become an artist. The story is in part based on the life of the painter Paul Gauguin. The novel is written largely from the point of view of the narrator, a young, aspiring writer and playwright in London. Certain
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Which well-known short story about time travel by Ray Bradbury is a fictional exploration of the 'butterfly effect' of Chaos theory?
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A Sound of Thunder changes in the future is a representation of the butterfly effect, and used as an example of how to consider chaos theory and the physics of time travel. A Sound of Thunder "A Sound of Thunder" is a science fiction short story by Ray Bradbury, first published in "Collier's" magazine in the June 28, 1952, issue and Bradbury's collection "The Golden Apples of the Sun" in 1953. In the year 2055, time travel has become a practical reality, and the company Time Safari Inc. offers wealthy adventurers the chance to travel back in time to hunt extinct species such as
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Butterfly effect in popular culture miscredited as the origin of the term "butterfly effect". Ray Bradbury's 1952 concept of how the death of a butterfly in the past could have drastic changes in the future is a representation of the butterfly effect, and used as an example of how to consider chaos theory and the physics of time travel. The story was made into a film of the same name, an episode of the television series "Ray Bradbury's Theater", and its influence can be seen in the film "The Terminator", the short story "Kamikaze Butterflies", and an episode of the television series "The Simpsons". The
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The 2000 film Finding Forrester in which Sean Connery plays a reclusive author was loosely based on the life of which person who passed away in 2010?
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Finding Forrester compared the character portrayed by Connery with real life writer J. D. Salinger. Connery later acknowledged that the inspiration for his role was indeed Salinger. Sixteen-year-old Jamal Wallace plays basketball with his friends in New York. A recluse, William Forrester, lives on the top floor of the building across from the court. The kids regularly notice him watching them. One of the boys dares Jamal to sneak into the apartment and retrieve an item. Jamal takes a letter opener only to be surprised by Forrester and inadvertently leaves his backpack behind. Forrester later drops Jamal's backpack onto the street. Jamal
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Finding Forrester Finding Forrester Finding Forrester is a 2000 American drama film written by Mike Rich and directed by Gus Van Sant. In the film, a black teenager, Jamal Wallace (Rob Brown), is invited to attend a prestigious private high school. By chance, Jamal befriends a reclusive writer, William Forrester (Sean Connery), through whom he refines his talent for writing and comes to terms with his identity. Anna Paquin, F. Murray Abraham, Michael Pitt, Glenn Fitzgerald, April Grace, Busta Rhymes and L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poet Charles Bernstein star in supporting roles. Although the film is not based on a true story, film critics have
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Which classic Middle Eastern story of star-crossed lovers is based on the real story of a young man called Qays ibn al-Mullawah and has achieved legendary status in the Islamic world?
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Star-crossed "sleeping woman" in Spanish) which overlook the Valley of Mexico. Layla and Majnun (by the Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi) is a classical Arabian love story . It is based on the real story of a young man called Qays ibn al-Mulawwah from the northern Arabian Peninsula, in the Umayyad era during the 7th century. There were two Arabic versions of the story at the time. In one version, he spent his youth together with Layla, tending their flocks. In the other version, upon seeing Layla he fell passionately in love with her. In both versions, however, he went mad when
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The Story of a Real Man The Story of a Real Man The Story of a Real Man (, "Povest' o nastoyashchem cheloveke") is an opera in four acts by the Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev, his opus 117. It was written from 1947 to 1948, and was his last opera. The libretto, by the composer and Mira Mendelson, is based on the novel of the same name by Boris Polevoy; this in turn was based on the story of pilot Alexey Maresyev. The opera received its premiere on 3 December 1948 at the Kirov Theatre, Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg). The audience was made up of Soviet
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Which 1903 book by Erskine Childers that is still enjoyed for its accurate portrayal of inland sailing was credited by Winston Churchill as a major reason for the establishment of naval bases in the UK?
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Erskine Childers (author) Black Rock Pictures included the arrest and trial of Childers in its six-part television series "Bású na gCarad" ("The Friends' Execution"), broadcast on TG4 in September 2012. Childers was played by Dominic Frisby. Erskine Childers (author) Robert Erskine Childers DSC (25 June 1870 – 24 November 1922), universally known as Erskine Childers (), was an Irish writer, whose works included the influential novel "The Riddle of the Sands", and an Irish nationalist who smuggled guns to Ireland in his sailing yacht "Asgard". He was executed by the authorities of the nascent Irish Free State during the Irish Civil War. He
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The Riddle of the Sands announced in Parliament (5 March 1903) and some time after secret negotiations for the purchase had begun. Although Winston Churchill later credited the book as a major reason why the Admiralty had decided to establish the new naval bases, this seems unlikely. When war was declared he ordered the Director of Naval Intelligence to find Childers, whom he had met when the author was campaigning to represent a naval seat in Parliament, and employ him. At the time Childers was writing "Riddle" he was also contributing to a factual book published by "The Times" in which he warned of outdated
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Mark Twain's ridiculing of chivalry in his story A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is considered as specifically targeting whose books?
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A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court attack on [its] the hereditary and aristocratic institutions". The book pokes fun at contemporary society, but the main thrust is a satire of romanticized ideas of chivalry, and of the idealization of the Middle Ages common in the novels of Sir Walter Scott and other 19th-century literature. Twain had a particular dislike for Scott, blaming his kind of romanticizing of battle for the southern states' deciding to fight the American Civil War. He writes in "Life on the Mississippi": For example, the book portrays the medieval people as being very gullible, as when Merlin makes a "veil of invisibility" which,
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A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is an 1889 novel by American humorist and writer Mark Twain. The book was originally titled A Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Some early editions are titled A Yankee at the Court of King Arthur. In the book, a Yankee engineer from Connecticut named Hank Morgan receives a severe blow to the head and is somehow transported in time and space to England during the reign of King Arthur. After some initial confusion and his capture by one of Arthur's knights, Hank realizes that he is
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In Dante's Divine Comedy, if Hell is divided into 9 circles and Paradise into 9 spheres, what is divided into 7 terraces?
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Divine Comedy divided into three parts: "Inferno", "Purgatorio", and "Paradiso". The narrative describes Dante's travels through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise or Heaven, while allegorically the poem represents the soul's journey towards God. Dante draws on medieval Christian theology and philosophy, especially Thomistic philosophy and the "Summa Theologica" of Thomas Aquinas. Consequently, the "Divine Comedy" has been called "the "Summa" in verse". In Dante's work, Virgil is presented as human reason and Beatrice is presented as divine knowledge. The work was originally simply titled Comedia (; so also in the first printed edition, published in 1472), Tuscan for "Comedy", later adjusted to the
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9 Circles plays win this award two years in a row. 9 Circles 9 Circles is a play by Bill Cain based on the military career and subsequent civilian trial of murderer Steven Dale Green. Cain is a Jesuit priest. The play's title refers to Dante Alighieri's Inferno—in which Dante navigates a descent into the "nine circles of hell". In Cain's play, Green passes through his discharge from the Army and various judicial and administrative procedures, roughly paralleling the nine circles of Dante's "Inferno". Cain structured the play so other cast members would return to play multiple characters, at each different circle.
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"After William Shakespeare, who is the most frequently quoted writer in the English language with phrases like ""Theirs not to reason why,/Theirs but to do and die""?"
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English translations of Asterix who they think are responsible for the kidnapping. In the original, the Goth chief says "Faut pas chercher à comprendre", meaning "We shouldn't try to understand", a common French phrase with no particular pun attached. In the English version, the chief instead comments "Ours is not to reason why", a reference to The Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, which states in its third stanza "Theirs not to reason why/Theirs but to do and die". In earlier translations, such as in "Valiant" and "Ranger"/"Look and Learn" (see below), other versions of names have appeared. An edited-down version
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Theirs Is the Glory 350 images "this book also shows why Hurst was an enigma, but a master of the genre, and at his very best when focusing on the vast canvas of film" (from dust jacket). . Publisher Helion and Company and co-authored by David Truesdale and Allan Esler Smith. Revisiting "'Theirs is the Glory" by Allan Esler Smith, published by Robert Sigmond Publishing for the 68th Commemoration of the Battle of Arnhem Battlefield Walk, 21 September 2012. "Pegasus the Journal of the Parachute Regiment and Airborne Forces". An analysis and review of the making of "Theirs is the Glory" and running to
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Karataka and Damanaka are the names of two jackals that are retainers to a lion king. Their lively adventures as well as the stories they tell one another make up nearly half of which classic ancient Sanskrit work?
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One Thousand and One Nights being a collection of adventures related by Sindbad the Seaman to Sindbad the Landsman. An early example of the "story within a story" technique can be found in the "One Thousand and One Nights", which can be traced back to earlier Persian and Indian storytelling traditions, most notably the "Panchatantra" of ancient Sanskrit literature. The "Nights", however, improved on the "Panchatantra" in several ways, particularly in the way a story is introduced. In the "Panchatantra", stories are introduced as didactic analogies, with the frame story referring to these stories with variants of the phrase "If you're not careful, that which
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Things as They Are; or, The Adventures of Caleb Williams "operatic version" of the story. Things as They Are; or, The Adventures of Caleb Williams Things as They Are; or The Adventures of Caleb Williams (often abbreviated to Caleb Williams) (1794) by William Godwin is a three-volume novel written as a call to end the abuse of power by what Godwin saw as a tyrannical government. Intended as a popularisation of the ideas presented in his 1793 treatise "Political Justice" Godwin uses "Caleb Williams" to show how legal and other institutions can and do destroy individuals, even when the people the justice system touches are innocent of any crime. This
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The name of what genre has its origin in what producers Jerry Kasenetz and Jeff Katz had in their mouths when they discussed music targeting the younger crowd?
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Jerry Kasenetz Jerry Kasenetz Jerry Kasenetz is an American bubblegum pop producer who worked with Jeff Katz, the two working together as the Super K Productions company, to manufacture and produce bands such as Shadows of Knight, Kasenetz-Katz Singing Orchestral Circus, The Music Explosion, 1910 Fruitgum Company, Crazy Elephant, and The Ohio Express. Kasenetz and Katz met at the University of Arizona in the early sixties. Both came from observant Jewish families. One of their first projects in the music business was as concert promoters bringing the British band the Dave Clarke Five to the University of Arizona. Leaving the University of
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Kasenetz-Katz Singing Orchestral Circus came to an end with a final single in 1977. Kasenetz and Katz are releasing their brand new album in 2009, calling themselves Kasenetz and Katz Allstarz Band, featuring Jaymee Lynn Frankel, Lianne Frankel, Lisa Ganz, Kiirstin Marilyn, Donna & Laura Macaluso, Don Chaffin and more. Kasenetz-Katz Singing Orchestral Circus The Kasenetz-Katz Singing Orchestral Circus was a bubblegum "supergroup" created by record producers Jerry Kasenetz and Jeff Katz, consisting of various Super K Production groups. For the first album, the fictitious concept was to take eight Kasenetz-Katz produced groups and bring them together for a "live" performance at Carnegie Hall
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In 1934, a regulation promulgated in a certain country required that when the Horst-Wessel-Lied was sung, what gesture must be performed?
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Horst-Wessel-Lied sung by the SA at the funeral, and was thereafter extensively used at party functions, as well as sung by the SA during street parades. When Adolf Hitler became the Chancellor of Germany in January 1933, the "Horst Wessel Song" became a national symbol by law on 19 May 1933. The following year, a regulation required the right arm be extended and raised in the "Hitler salute" when the (identical) first and fourth verses were sung. Nazi leaders can be seen singing the song at the finale of Leni Riefenstahl's 1935 film "Triumph of the Will." Hitler also mandated the
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Horst-Wessel-Lied Horst-Wessel-Lied "'" (English: "Horst Wessel Song"; ), also known by its opening words, "'" ("Raise the Flag"), was used as the anthem of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) from 1930 to 1945. From 1933 to 1945 the Nazis made it the co-national anthem of Germany, along with the first stanza of the "Deutschlandlied". Since the end of World War II, the anthem has been banned in Germany and Austria. The lyrics to "Horst-Wessel-Lied" were written in 1929 by "Sturmführer" Horst Wessel, the commander of the Nazi paramilitary "Brownshirts" ("Sturmabteilung" or "SA") in the Friedrichshain district of Berlin. Wessel wrote songs for
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"Ships of what cruise line use the tune of ""When You Wish upon a Star"" from Pinnochio as the melody of their horns?"
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When You Wish Upon a Star 1980s. The ships of the Disney Cruise Line use the first seven notes of the song's melody as their horn signals. Additionally, many productions at Disney theme parks – particularly fireworks shows and parades – employ the song. The piece has become a jazz standard. It has been performed by artists including Louis Armstrong, June Christy, Dave Brubeck Quartet, Glenn Miller, Shakatak, Harry James, Joe Pass, the Keith Jarrett Trio, the Manhattan Transfer, Sun Ra, Jason Becker, Leon Redbone, Wynton Marsalis, Gregory Porter, Bill Evans, Bill Frisell, and Shirley Bassey. The owner of the rights to the song, Bourne Co.
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When You Wish Upon a Star said that the melody of the Beach Boys hit song, "Surfer Girl", which has the same AABA form, is loosely based on the Dion and the Belmonts version of "When You Wish Upon a Star". "When You Wish Upon a Star", along with Mickey Mouse, has become an icon of The Walt Disney Company. In the 1950s and 1960s, Walt Disney used the song in the opening sequences of all the editions of the Walt Disney anthology television series. It has also been used to accompany the Walt Disney Pictures opening logos – including the present-day logo – since the
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Whose March 31, 1994 appearance on Late Show with David Letterman resulted in the episode becoming the most censored in American network television talk-show history for obvious reasons?
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Madonna on Late Show with David Letterman in 1994 Madonna on Late Show with David Letterman in 1994 Madonna made an appearance on "Late Show with David Letterman" on March 31, 1994. The appearance was noted for an extremely controversial series of statements and antics by Madonna, which included many expletives. In particular, Madonna said the word "fuck" fourteen times during the course of the interview. This made the episode the most censored in American network television talk-show history while at the same time garnering Letterman some of the best ratings he ever received. Madonna's language and behavior—which was provocative, seemingly spontaneous at times, full of double entendres, and
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Late Show with David Letterman earning the show its highest ratings since following the 1994 Olympics on February 25, 1994 and the show's highest demo numbers (4.1 in adults 25-54 and 3.1 in adults 18-49) since Oprah Winfrey's first "Late Show" appearance following the ending of her feud with Letterman on December 1, 2005. In a rarity for a late-night show, it was also the highest-rated program on network television that night, beating out all prime time shows. In Canada, the final episode was watched by 784,000 viewers, 516,000 more viewers than the show's closest competitor. Late Show with David Letterman Late Show with David
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Who is the American entertainer who shares her name with a West African Empire known for its symbol of Golden Stool?
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War of the Golden Stool turn over to the British the Golden Stool, i.e. the throne and symbol of Asante sovereignty. The war ended with the Ashanti maintaining its "de facto" independence. Even though the Ashanti were annexed into the British Empire, they ruled themselves with little reference to the colonial power. However, when the British colony of the Gold Coast became the first independent sub-Saharan African country in 1957, Ashanti was subsumed into the newly created Ghana. Hodgson advanced toward Kumasi with a small force of British soldiers and local levies, arriving on the 25 March 1900. Hodgson, as representative of a powerful nation
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Golden Stool block of the wood of Alstonia boonei (a tall forest tree with numinous associations) and carved with a crescent-shaped seat, flat base and complex support structure. The many designs and symbolic meanings mean that every stool is unique; each has a different meaning for the person whose soul it seats. Some designs contain animal shapes or images that recall the person who used it. The general shape of Asante stools has been copied by other cultures and sold worldwide. Golden Stool The Golden Stool (Ashanti-; full title, Sika Dwa Kofi "the Golden Stool born on a Friday") is the royal
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"Whose Symphony No. 1 was called ""Beethoven's Tenth"" by conductor Hans von Bülow?"
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Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven) by the Ninth Symphony. An important theme in the finale of Johannes Brahms' Symphony No. 1 in C minor is related to the "Ode to Joy" theme from the last movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. When this was pointed out to Brahms, he is reputed to have retorted "Any fool can see that!" Brahms's first symphony was, at times, both praised and derided as "Beethoven's Tenth". The Ninth Symphony influenced the forms that Anton Bruckner used for the movements of his symphonies. His Symphony No. 3 is in the same D-minor key as Beethoven's 9th and makes substantial use of
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Symphony No. 1 (Brahms) modulation taken in the exposition section, which allows the progression to the coda in the tonic C major, since the symphony must end in C. The value and importance of Brahms's achievements were recognized by Vienna's most powerful critic, the staunchly conservative Eduard Hanslick. The conductor Hans von Bülow was moved in 1877 to call the symphony "Beethoven's Tenth", due to perceived similarities between the work and various compositions of Beethoven. It is often remarked that there is a strong resemblance between the main theme of the finale of Brahms's First Symphony and the main theme of the finale of
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India's national anthem is written in what language that is also the national language of one of its neighbors?
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National language Australians prior to the arrival of Europeans. Only about 70 of these languages have survived and all but 30 of these are now endangered. Azerbaijani language is the national language in Azerbaijan. Bengali (or Bangla) is the sole official language of Bangladesh. Bosnia and Herzegovina's "de facto" sole national language is Serbo-Croatian. It is officially defined under the three names Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian, corresponding to the country's constituent ethnic groups. The Latin and Cyrillic alphabets both have official status. Bulgarian is the national language in Bulgaria. Canada's official languages since the Official Languages Act of 1969 are English (Canadian
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National Anthem of the Dominican Republic twice and its derivative demonym, "quisqueyanos", is used once. However, research later shows that these words does not seem to derive from the original Arawak Taíno language. In public, the national anthem is usually performed through the end of the lyric's fourth paragraph. Also note that, no official translation of the Spanish lyrics into any other language, including English, has been enacted into law. National Anthem of the Dominican Republic The Dominican National Anthem is the national anthem of the Dominican Republic. Its music was composed by José Rufino Reyes Siancas (1835–1905), and its lyrics were authored by Emilio Prud’Homme
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An aversion therapy called the 'Ludovico technique' from the 1971 classic A Clockwork Orange features which composer's music? Kudos if you can name the piece too.
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A Clockwork Orange (novel) Kubrick, starring Malcolm McDowell as Alex. A 1965 film by Andy Warhol entitled "Vinyl" was an adaptation of Burgess's novel. In 1987 Burgess published a stage play titled "A Clockwork Orange: A Play with Music". The play includes songs, written by Burgess, which are inspired by Beethoven and Nadsat slang. In 1988, a German adaptation of "A Clockwork Orange" at the intimate theatre of Bad Godesberg featured a musical score by the German punk rock band Die Toten Hosen which, combined with orchestral clips of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and "other dirty melodies" (so stated by the subtitle), was released on
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A Clockwork Orange (film) his "droogs" (from the Russian word друг, "friend", "buddy"). The film chronicles the horrific crime spree of his gang, his capture, and attempted rehabilitation via an experimental psychological conditioning technique (the "Ludovico Technique") promoted by the Minister of the Interior (Anthony Sharp). Alex narrates most of the film in Nadsat, a fractured adolescent slang composed of Slavic (especially Russian), English, and Cockney rhyming slang. The soundtrack to "A Clockwork Orange" features mostly classical music selections and Moog synthesizer compositions by Wendy Carlos. The artwork for the poster of "A Clockwork Orange" was created by Philip Castle with the layout by
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Composer Philip Glass's 'Portrait Trilogy' of operas consists of Einstein on the Beach, Akhnaten and Satyagraha with the last one focusing on whom?
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Satyagraha (opera) Satyagraha (opera) Satyagraha (; Sanskrit सत्याग्रह, "satyāgraha" "insistence on truth") is a 1979 opera in three acts for orchestra, chorus and soloists, composed by Philip Glass, with a libretto by Glass and Constance DeJong. Loosely based on the life of Mahatma Gandhi, it forms the second part of Glass's "Portrait Trilogy" of operas about men who changed the world, which includes "Einstein on the Beach" and "Akhnaten". Glass's style can broadly be described as minimalist. The work is scored for 2 sopranos, 2 mezzo-sopranos, 2 tenors, a baritone, 2 basses, a large SATB chorus, and an orchestra of strings and
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Einstein on the Beach the Beach". A poem by Christopher Knowles is read over the musical soprano saxophone and bass clarinet line and in the poem's meanderings, it mentions such "TV personalities" as David Cassidy. A shortened version of this piece was chosen along with three other selections from "Einstein on the Beach" to appear on another Philip Glass album "Songs from the Trilogy", which also included selections from Glass's operas "Satyagraha" and "Akhnaten". The section's title is a reference to a Carole King song of the same name, from her album "Tapestry". Two "complete" recordings of the opera have been made: the first
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What is the better known name of Violin Sonata in G minor by Giuseppe Tartini that the composer said was played to him in a dream by Satan himself?
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Violin Sonata in G minor (Tartini) Violin Sonata in G minor (Tartini) The Violin Sonata in G minor, Bg.5, more familiarly known as the Devil's Trill Sonata (Italian: "Il trillo del diavolo"), is a work for solo violin (with figured bass accompaniment) by Giuseppe Tartini (1692–1770). It is the composer's best-known composition, notable for its technically difficult passages. A typical performance lasts 15 minutes. Tartini allegedly told the French astronomer Jérôme Lalande that he had dreamed that the devil had appeared to him and had asked to be Tartini's servant. At the end of the music lesson, Tartini handed the devil his violin to test his
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Violin Sonata in G minor (Tartini) have destroyed my instrument and have said farewell to music forever if it had been possible for me to live without the enjoyment it affords me. Mesmerized by the devil’s brilliant and awe-inspiring playing, Tartini attempted to recreate what he had heard. However, despite having said that the sonata was his favorite, Tartini later wrote that it was "so inferior to what I had heard, that if I could have subsisted on other means, I would have broken my violin and abandoned music forever." While he claimed he composed the sonata in 1713, scholars think it was likely composed as
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In which country did the dictator Rafael Trujillo promote the merengue style of music/dance into the country's national music?
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Merengue music Merengue music Merengue is a type of music and dance originating in the Dominican Republic, which has become a very popular genre throughout Latin America, and also in several major cities in the United States which have Hispanic communities. Merengue was first mentioned around the middle of the 19th century and has locally been very popular since then. The genre was later promoted even more by Rafael Trujillo, the dictator from 1930 to 1961, who turned it into national music and dance style of the Dominican Republic. In the United States it was first popularized by New York-based groups and
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Merengue music that accompanied it, but with little success. Merengue experienced a sudden elevation of status during dictator Rafael Leonidas Trujillo's reign from 1930 to 1961. Although he was from the south rather than the Cibao, he did come from a rural area and from a lower-class family, so he decided that the rural style of perico ripiao should be the Dominican national symbol. He ordered numerous merengues to be composed in his honor. With titles like "Literacy", "Trujillo is great and immortal", and "Trujillo the great architect", these songs describe his virtues and extol his contributions to the country. Trujillo's interest
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"In 1989, rocker Ted Nugent made a multi-million dollar bid to purchase what company to shut it down as he felt it's ubiquitous sounds were representative of everything ""uncool"" about music?"
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Muzak each purchasing individual rights to the music, delivery technology, and brand name for their geographic areas. The company changed hands several times, becoming a division of the Field Corporation in the mid-1980s. Through the 1980s and 1990s, Muzak moved away from the “elevator music” approach, and instead began to offer multiple specialized channels of popular music. Muzak pioneered "audio architecture", a process of designing custom music playlists for specific customers. Even with the changes in format, rocker Ted Nugent used Muzak as an icon of everything "uncool" about music. In 1986, he publicly made a $10 million bid to purchase
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Shut It Down (song) Shut It Down (song) "Shut It Down" is a song by hip-hop artist/rapper Pitbull featuring Senegalese American R&B and hip hop recording artist and vocalist Akon. It was released as the fourth single from Pitbull's album, "Rebelution". A remix of the song features vocals by Clinton Sparks. The music video was first released onto Pitbull's official Vevo channel on November 24, 2009 and was directed by David Rosseau. It has received over 35 million views. The video is about secrecy, intelligence agents and criminal activities, in which there was signed an agreement between the two groups and they agree to
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"Which breakthrough hit for Queen contains the phrase ""Let them eat cake"", a quote often attributed to Marie Antoinette?"
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Killer Queen it has been suggested that he wrote the song about EMI promoter Eric Hall. The song's first verse quotes a phrase falsely attributed to Marie Antoinette: "" 'Let them eat cake,' she says, Just like Marie Antoinette". The song marked a departure from the heavier material of the band's first two albums, as well as the beginning of a more stylistically diverse approach in songwriting. At the same time, "Killer Queen" retained the essence of Queen's trademark sound, particularly in its meticulous vocal harmonies. Unlike the first two Queen albums, this song was partly recorded at Rockfield Studios in Wales.
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Let them eat cake Let them eat cake "Let them eat cake" is the traditional translation of the French phrase ""Qu'ils mangent de la brioche"", supposedly spoken by "a great princess" upon learning that the peasants had no bread. Since brioche was a luxury bread enriched with butter and eggs, the quotation would reflect the princess's disregard for the peasants, or her poor understanding of their situation. While the phrase is commonly attributed to Queen Marie Antoinette, there is no record of her having said it. It appears in book six of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's "Confessions", his autobiography (whose first six books were written in
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What is the term given to a musical that uses previously released popular songs as its musical score, examples of which are Mamma Mia! and Jersey Boys?
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Jukebox musical was led by the success of "Mamma Mia!", built around the music of ABBA. Reception of jukebox musicals has been divided, with the most common criticism being that there is too much focus on how many songs can be fit into the musical. Some jukebox musicals, like "Lennon" and "Good Vibrations" have been critical and financial flops. Others, like "Jersey Boys" and "All Shook Up" have been popular with both fans and critics. The term "jukebox musical" dates at least to 1962, following "Jukebox" (1939), though the general genre—motion pictures consisting largely of hit recordings—dates to the 1940s and 1950s.
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Mamma Mia! (film series) Mamma Mia! (film series) Mamma Mia! and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again are an American musical film series based on the 1999 musical of the same name, based on the songs of successful pop group ABBA, with additional music composed by ABBA member Benny Andersson. An international co-production between Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States, the first two films were directed by Phyllida Lloyd and Ol Parker, respectively, distributed by Universal Pictures in partnership with Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson's Playtone and Littlestar, and the title originates from ABBA's 1975 chart-topper "Mamma Mia". Meryl Streep and Amanda
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Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac avoided black clothing to distance herself from the dark arts associations surrounding her as a result of which of the band's hit song?
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Enchanted (Stevie Nicks album) Enchanted (Stevie Nicks album) Enchanted (or The Enchanted Works of Stevie Nicks) is a three disc box set of material by American singer-songwriter and Fleetwood Mac vocalist Stevie Nicks, which encompasses her solo career from 1981's "Bella Donna" to 1994's "Street Angel". The box set also contains rare B-sides, unreleased live recordings, demos, songs from soundtracks, a track from the 1973 "Buckingham Nicks" album, outtakes from the "Bella Donna" and "Rock a Little" sessions, and a new piano recording of the Nicks-penned Fleetwood Mac song, "Rhiannon". Some previously released tracks are also in noticeably longer versions, or alternative remixes. The
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Timespace: The Best of Stevie Nicks Timespace: The Best of Stevie Nicks Timespace: The Best of Stevie Nicks is a 1991 compilation album featuring songs from the solo career of American singer/songwriter and Fleetwood Mac vocalist Stevie Nicks. The album features many of her hit singles, along with three new songs: "Sometimes It's a Bitch", "Love's a Hard Game to Play", and "Desert Angel" (which Nicks wrote for the men and women serving in the 1991 Gulf War). The CD booklet contains notes written by Nicks herself about the making of each song. The album debuted and peaked at #30 on the "Billboard" 200, Nicks' lowest
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Which 90s concert tour consisting of female artists was named after the first wife of Adam in Jewish myth?
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Verizon Ladies First Tour Verizon Ladies First Tour The Verizon Ladies First Tour was a co-headlining concert tour by American recording artists Beyoncé, Alicia Keys and Missy Elliott. Canadian artist Tamia was featured as a special guest. The tour, dubbed the "urban Lilith Fair" supported Elliott's fifth studio album, "This Is Not a Test!"; Keys' second studio album, "The Diary of Alicia Keys" and Beyoncé's first studio album, "Dangerously in Love". The trek visited the United States performing in over twenty cities in March and April. The outing was the first three-act show to feature three female R&B artist in a headlining role. It
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Concert tour Concert tour A concert tour (or simply tour) is a series of concerts by an artist or group of artists in different cities, countries or locations. Often concert tours are named to differentiate different tours by the same artist and to associate a specific tour with a particular album or product (for example: U2's The Joshua Tree Tour named after the album). Especially in the popular music world, such tours can become large-scale enterprises that last for several months or even years, are seen by hundreds of thousands or millions of people, and bring in millions of dollars (or the
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Due to the large number of languages used in the European Union, its anthem is purely instrumental. Despite this, the German lyrics from what work of Friedrich Schiller, connected to Beethoven, are often sung when the anthem is played?
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Anthem of Europe for its people In a bigger fatherland. Citizens, Europe shall flourish A great task calls on you Golden stars in the sky are The symbols that shall unite us.</poem> Anthem of Europe "Anthem of Europe" is the anthem of the Council of Europe and the European Union. It is based on "Ode to Joy" from the final movement of Beethoven's 9th Symphony composed in 1823, and is played on official occasions by both organisations. Friedrich Schiller wrote the poem "An die Freude" ("To Joy") in 1785 as a "celebration of the brotherhood of man". In later life, the poet was
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Anthem of Europe is purely instrumental, and the German lyrics that Friedrich Schiller wrote and on which Beethoven based the melody have no official status. Despite this, the German lyrics are often sung by choirs or ordinary people when the anthem is played: for example, at the 2004 enlargement on the German-Polish border, the crowd watching the ceremony playing the music sang along with the German lyrics. Aside from this, several translations of the poem used by Beethoven as well as original works have attempted to provide lyrics to the anthem in various languages. Versions of the anthem including lyrics have been sung
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Which overture written by Felix Mendelssohn was inspired by the echoes of a Scottish sea cave that he visited in 1829 and was named for it?
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The Hebrides (overture) The Hebrides (overture) Felix Mendelssohn's concert overture The Hebrides (; ) was composed in 1830, revised in 1832, and published the next year as his Op. 26. Some consider it an early tone poem. It was inspired by one of Mendelssohn's trips to the British Isles, specifically an 1829 excursion to the Scottish island of Staffa, with its basalt sea cave known as Fingal's Cave. It is not known whether Mendelssohn set foot on the island, the cave being best visible from the water, but the composer reported that he immediately jotted down the opening theme for his composition. He
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Felix Mendelssohn took place on 25 June 1840. Mendelssohn wrote the concert overture "The Hebrides" ("Fingal's Cave") in 1830, inspired by visits to Scotland around the end of the 1820s. He visited Fingal's Cave, on the Hebridean isle of Staffa, as part of his Grand Tour of Europe, and was so impressed that he scribbled the opening theme of the overture on the spot, including it in a letter he wrote home the same evening. He wrote other concert overtures, notably "Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage" ("Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt", 1828), inspired by a pair of poems by Goethe and "The Fair
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If the Julliard School is to New York, the Berklee College of Music is to which city?
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Berklee College of Music The Boston Conservatory at Berklee. Berklee College of Music is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). NEASC is the regional accreditation agency for schools and colleges located in the New England region of the United States. In 1945, pianist, composer, arranger and MIT graduate Lawrence Berk founded Schillinger House, the precursor to the Berklee School of Music. Located at 284 Newbury St. in Boston's Back Bay, the school specialized in the Schillinger System of harmony and composition developed by Joseph Schillinger. Berk had studied with Schillinger. Instrumental lessons and a few classes in traditional theory,
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Berklee College of Music Centre). The new building is expected to house additional 450 students, as well as a performing center, in its 24-story tall structure. The third building is planned to be at 161–171 Massachusetts Avenue, which is expected to contain more academic and administrative space for the Berklee College of Music. Berklee València is the college's first international campus, housed in the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia. Queen Sofía Palace of the Arts is the final structure built of a grand City of Arts and Sciences concept designed by the Valencia-born and internationally known architect Santiago Calatrava, which began construction in
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The Italian soprano Renata Tebaldi who is acclaimed as one of the most beloved opera singers of all time was known for her rivalry with which other legendary soprano?
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Renata Tebaldi conducted by Victor de Sabata. During the early 1950s, controversy arose regarding a supposed rivalry between Tebaldi and the great Greek-American soprano Maria Callas. The contrast between Callas's often unconventional vocal qualities and Tebaldi's classically beautiful sound resurrected an argument as old as opera itself, namely, beauty of sound versus the expressive use of sound. In 1951, Tebaldi and Maria Callas were jointly booked for a vocal recital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Although the singers agreed that neither would perform encores, Tebaldi took two, and Callas was reportedly incensed. This incident began the rivalry, which reached a fever pitch
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Renata Tebaldi Renata Tebaldi Renata Ersilia Clotilde Tebaldi (; 1 February 1922 – 19 December 2004) was an Italian lirico-spinto soprano popular in the post-war period. Among the most beloved opera singers, she has been said to have possessed one of the most beautiful voices of the 20th century, a voice that was focused primarily on the verismo roles of the lyric and dramatic repertoires. Born in Pesaro, Tebaldi was the daughter of a cellist, Teobaldo Tebaldi, and Giuseppina Barbieri, a nurse. Her parents separated before her birth and Tebaldi grew up with her mother in the home of her maternal grandparents
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Clang! The Avedis Zildjian Company is best known for producing and popularizing what musical instruments?
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Avedis Zildjian Company in Norwell, Massachusetts. Other than cymbals, the Avedis Zildjian Company produces products such as drum sticks and other drum accessories. In 2012, the Avedis Zildjian Company celebrated their 390th anniversary. In 2016, Avedis Zildjian Company promoted Neil Larrivee to vice president. Avedis Zildjian Company The Avedis Zildjian Company, simply known as Zildjian (), is an American-based cymbal manufacturer. The company was founded in Constantinople (present-day Istanbul, Turkey) by Avedis Zildjian in the 17th century, and is now based in Norwell, Massachusetts. Being nearly 400 years old, Zildjian is one of the oldest companies in the world. Zildjian also sells drum-related
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Fender Musical Instruments Corporation Fender Musical Instruments Corporation Fender Musical Instruments Corporation (FMIC, or simply Fender) is an American manufacturer of stringed instruments and amplifiers. Fender produces acoustic guitars, electric basses, bass amplifiers and public address equipment, but is best known for its solid-body electric guitars and bass guitars, particularly the Stratocaster, Telecaster, Precision bass, and the Jazz bass. The company was founded in Fullerton, California, by Clarence Leonidas "Leo" Fender in 1946. Its headquarters are in Scottsdale, Arizona. FMIC is a privately held corporation, with Andy Mooney serving as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). The company filed for an initial public offering in
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Which 1974 song made famous by the girl group 'Labelle' is most famous for its sexually suggestive chorus of 'voulez-vous coucher avec moi (ce soir)?' that translates as 'Do you want to sleep with me (tonight)?'?
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Lady Marmalade Lady Marmalade "Lady Marmalade" is a song written by Bob Crewe and Kenny Nolan. The song is famous for its sexually suggestive chorus of "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi (ce soir)?", which translates into English as "Do you want to sleep with me (tonight)?". The song first became a popular hit when it was recorded in 1974 by the American girl group Labelle. Labelle held the number-one spot on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart for one week, and also topped the Canadian "RPM" national singles chart. The song has had many cover versions over the years. In 1998, girl group All
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Voulez-vous coucher avec moi? and president of her high school French club among other academic achievements. When she enters Will takes her hand in an attempt to charm and asks; "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir?" And so the scene cuts to the intro. In the show "", Zoe dares Winston to ask Alli "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?". He immediately clarifies that it was a dare. In the show "Brooklyn Nine-Nine", Jake Peralta asks this question not knowing what it means, to Captain Holt before the Captains visit to France to see Kevin. Holt, being fluent in French translates the true meaning to Peralta
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The annual music festival 'Lollapalooza' was conceived and created in 1991 by singer Perry Farrell of which band as a farewell tour for his band?
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Lollapalooza Lollapalooza Lollapalooza is an annual music festival including but not limited to alternative rock, heavy metal, punk rock, hip hop, and electronic music bands and artists, with dance and comedy performances, and craft booths. It has also provided a platform for non-profit and political groups and various visual artists. Conceived and created in 1991 by Jane's Addiction singer Perry Farrell as a farewell tour for his band, Lollapalooza ran annually until 1997, and was revived in 2003. From its inception through 1997 and its revival in 2003, the festival toured North America. In 2004, the festival organizers decided to expand
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Jane's Addiction he had almost no recollection of working on the album due to his addiction to heroin. "Ritual de lo Habitual" was released in 1990. To support it, the band embarked on a lengthy tour. Farrell recalled, "That thirteen-month tour behind "Ritual" was half the reason we wound up unable to stand one another. The other half is that I am an intolerable narcissist who can't get along with anyone." Part of the tour included headlining the first Lollapalooza festival, which traveled across North America in mid-1991. The festival, created by Farrell and Marc Geiger, was to become a farewell for
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"The Queen song ""Radio Ga Ga"" is said to be the main inspiration behind the name of what current day hit singer?"
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Radio Ga Ga tour, yet the song is not available on the CD or DVD versions released 15 June 2009. This performance of "Radio Ga Ga" is only available as a digital download from iTunes. It was again played on the Queen + Adam Lambert Tour with Lambert on lead vocals. American pop singer Lady Gaga credits her stage name to this song. She stated that she "adored" Queen, and that they had a hit called 'Radio Gaga'. "That's why I love the name", she said. Radio Ga Ga "Radio Ga Ga" is a 1984 song performed and recorded by the British rock
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Radio Ga Ga and "" 1985. As heard on bootleg recordings, Deacon can be heard providing backing vocals to the song; it is one of the very few occasions he sang in concert. Queen played a shorter, up-tempo version of "Radio Ga Ga" during the Live Aid concert on 13 July 1985 at Wembley Stadium, where Queen's "show-stealing performance" had 72,000 people clapping in unison. It was the second song the band performed at Live Aid after opening with "Bohemian Rhapsody". "Radio Ga Ga" became a live favourite thanks largely to the audience participation potential of the clapping sequence prompted by the rhythm
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"""Hail to the Chief"", the march primarily associated with the President of the US has verses derived from which narrative poem of Walter Scott?"
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Hail to the Chief after the casket is removed from the hearse. As it originated from the 19th century, the song is in the public domain due to its age. Verses from Sir Walter Scott's "The Lady of the Lake", including "The Boat Song" ("Hail to the Chief") with which the clan welcomes the arrival by boat of their chieftain Roderick Dhu, were set to music around 1812 by the songwriter James Sanderson (c. 1769 – c. 1841); a self-taught English violinist and the conductor of the Surrey Theatre, London, who wrote many songs for local theatrical productions during the 1790s and the early
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Hail to the Chief G. T. Beauregard, Joseph Eggleston Johnston, and Gustavus Woodson Smith at Fairfax Court House (now Fairfax, Virginia) for a Council of War. While at Fairfax, President Davis also conducted a formal Review of the Troops, which numbered some 30,000. At the start of the review, the band of the 1st Virginia Infantry struck up "Hail to the Chief" and concluded with "Dixie". Lyrics that were written by Albert Gamse are set to James Sanderson's music, but they are rarely sung. The original lyrics, written by Sir Walter Scott, read: Hail to the Chief "Hail to the Chief" is the official
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Which American song that remains a fundamental part of a jazz musicians' repertoire has been called 'the jazzman's Hamlet' and has also been used as an NHL team name?
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Saint Louis Blues (song) Saint Louis Blues (song) "Saint Louis Blues" is a popular American song composed by W. C. Handy in the blues style and published in September 1914. It was one of the first blues songs to succeed as a pop song and remains a fundamental part of jazz musicians' repertoire. Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby, Bessie Smith, Count Basie, Glenn Miller, Guy Lombardo, and the Boston Pops Orchestra are among the artists who have recorded it. The song has been called "the jazzman's "Hamlet"." The 1925 version sung by Bessie Smith, with Louis Armstrong on cornet, was inducted into the Grammy Hall
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A Fire Has Been Arranged Studios. The film ends with the song "Where the Arches Used To Be". A Fire Has Been Arranged A Fire Has Been Arranged is a 1935 British comedy film directed by Leslie S. Hiscott and starring Chesney Allen, Bud Flanagan and Alastair Sim. After a spell in prison three criminals return to recover their loot only to find the place where they have stashed it has been turned into a department store. They take jobs at the store in order to locate the whereabouts of their loot. The three discover that the unscrupulous managers of the store, Shuffle and Cutte,
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Which enormously influential classical composer spent much of his career as a court musician for the wealthy Hungarian aristocratic Esterházy family?
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Joseph Haydn Joseph Haydn (Franz) Joseph Haydn (; ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the piano trio. His contributions to musical form have earned him the epithets "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet". Haydn spent much of his career as a court musician for the wealthy Esterházy family at their remote estate. Until the later part of his life, this isolated him from other composers and trends in music so that he was, as he put it, "forced to
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ZYAT ZY ZYAT ZY ZY UAV is a series of Chinese UAV developed by Xi'an Zhan-Yi (meaning Spreading Wing) Aviation Technology Co., Ltd. (ZYAT, 西安展翼航空科技有限公司), and ZY-I has entered service with Chinese authorities and private enterprises. ZY-I is in twin-boom configuration and the propulsion is provided by a two-blade propeller driven by a pusher engine mounted in the rear end of the fuselage. The two rudders of ZY-I is joined near the top, instead of at the root or at the booms, as in most twin boom configuration. Production of ZY-I is not done by ZYAT alone, as some productions are contracted
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Which 1980 supergroup consisting of George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty and Bob Dylan decided to use a word with a single 'L' instead of a double 'L' in their name because the band started in America and consisted of three Americans and only two Britons?
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Roy Orbison discography the supergroup Traveling Wilburys with George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Bob Dylan and Tom Petty. Lynne produced Orbison's final album "Mystery Girl", which was released posthumously in February 1989. This discography shows main official U.S. and U.K. releases. According to Riesco's official Orbison discography, there were numerous international single and album releases of importance (not released in the U.S. or U.K.) like the German "San Fernando" b/w "Mama" (London DL 20 726). There are hundreds of compilations and greatest hits of Roy Orbison released internationally. Below is a selection of all the compilation albums which have achieved global chart peaks. For
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This Is Love (George Harrison song) This Is Love (George Harrison song) "This Is Love" is a song by English rock musician George Harrison that was released on his 1987 album "Cloud Nine". Harrison co-wrote the song with Jeff Lynne, who also co-produced the track. In June 1988, it was issued as the third single from "Cloud Nine", peaking at number 55 on the UK Singles Chart. The original B-side for the single was going to be "Handle with Care", a collaboration between Harrison, Lynne, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty recorded at Bob Dylan's studio in Santa Monica, California. When executives at Harrison's distributor Warner Bros.
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Which city in Germany is famed for hosting the annual Wagner festival?
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International Association of Wagner Societies International Association of Wagner Societies The International Association of Wagner Societies ("Der Richard-Wagner-Verband International e.V.", also known as "Der RWVI") is an affiliation of Wagner societies ("Richard Wagner-Verband") that promotes interest and research into the works of Richard Wagner, raises funds for scholarships for young music students, singers, and instrumentalists, and supports the annual Bayreuth Festival. It also sponsors symposia, holds singing competitions for Wagnerian voices, and issues awards for stage direction and stagings of Wagner's operas. The association is a nonprofit organization. The first Richard Wagner society was launched in Mannheim, Germany in 1871, one year after the premiere
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Annual Ukulele Festival Hawaii. Ten years later the two composed “Come and Join Us” which has become the theme song for Ukulele Festival Hawaii organization. The 2004 Hawaii Music Awards awarded the “Single of the Year" to the composition. Danny Kaleikini has served as the Festival’s official emcee for over 45 years, first appearing in 1973. Kaleikini often serves as emcee at the other ukulele festivals as well. Annual Ukulele Festival The Annual Ukulele Festival is held each July in Hawaii. It was founded in 1971 by Roy Sakuma with the support of the Waikiki Department of Parks. The event draws large crowds
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"According to the Guinness Book of World Records, which song usually sung to congratulate a person is the second-most popular song following ""Happy Birthday to You"" in the English language?"
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Happy Birthday to You Happy Birthday to You "Happy Birthday to You", also known as "Happy Birthday", is a song traditionally sung to celebrate the anniversary of a person's birth. According to the 1998 "Guinness World Records", it is the most recognized song in the English language, followed by "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow". The song's base lyrics have been translated into at least 18 languages. The melody of "Happy Birthday to You" comes from the song "Good Morning to All", which has traditionally been attributed to American sisters Patty and Mildred J. Hill in 1893, although the claim that the sisters composed
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Happy Birthday to You cause the rover to "sing" Happy Birthday on the Martian surface. During the March 6, 2014 episode of the Comedy Central series "The Colbert Report", Stephen Colbert planned to sing the song in honor of the 90th anniversary of its 1924 publication. Due to the copyright issues, Colbert instead performed his new "royalty-free" birthday song, which is set to "The Star-Spangled Banner". Happy Birthday to You "Happy Birthday to You", also known as "Happy Birthday", is a song traditionally sung to celebrate the anniversary of a person's birth. According to the 1998 "Guinness World Records", it is the most recognized
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In vocal jazz, what is the style in which vocal improvisation is made with random syllables or even without words?
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Vocal jazz Vocal jazz Vocal jazz or jazz singing is an instrumental approach to the voice, where the singer can match the instruments in their stylistic approach to the lyrics, improvised or otherwise, or through scat singing; that is, the use of non-morphemic syllables to imitate the sound of instruments. The roots of jazz music were very much vocal, with field hollers and ceremonial chants, but while the blues maintained a strong vocal tradition, with singers such as Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith heavily influencing the progress of American popular music in general, early jazz bands only featured vocalists periodically, albeit those
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Vocal jazz began to learn and perform a wide variety of music, including jazz, rock, pop, funk, and fusion. The idea was looked down upon at first but eventually was adopted by many and is now popular in high schools across the United States. A vocal jazz ensemble usually consists of the choir, normally made up of 8–16 singers, and a Rhythm section most often consisting of a pianist, a bassist, a guitarist, and a drummer. Singers either each hold a microphone or sing with area microphones. Vocal jazz ensembles also often sing a cappella. Vocal jazz Vocal jazz or jazz singing
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Which musical instrument invented by the physicist Torricelli gets its name from a tradition identifying the angel who blows the horn to announce Judgment Day in Christinity?
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Gabriel's Horn Gabriel's Horn Gabriel's horn (also called Torricelli's trumpet) is a geometric figure which has infinite surface area but finite volume. The name refers to the biblical tradition identifying the Archangel Gabriel as the angel who blows the horn to announce Judgment Day, associating the divine, or infinite, with the finite. The properties of this figure were first studied by Italian physicist and mathematician Evangelista Torricelli in the 17th century. Gabriel's horn is formed by taking the graph of with the domain (thus avoiding the asymptote at ) and rotating it in three dimensions about the -axis. The discovery was made
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Horn (instrument) Horn (instrument) A horn is any of a family of musical instruments made of a tube, usually made of metal and often curved in various ways, with one narrow end into which the musician blows, and a wide end from which sound emerges. In horns, unlike some other brass instruments such as the trumpet, the bore gradually increases in width through most of its length—that is to say, it is conical rather than cylindrical. In jazz and popular-music contexts, the word may be used loosely to refer to any wind instrument, and a section of brass or woodwind instruments, or
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Which musical instrument named after its Russian inventor is unique in that it is designed to be played without being touched?
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Musical instrument electronic means (synthesizer), or in some other way. Sometimes, instruments that do not usually have a keyboard, such as the "glockenspiel", are fitted with one. Though they have no moving parts and are struck by mallets held in the player's hands, they have the same physical arrangement of keys and produce soundwaves in a similar manner. The theremin, an electrophone, is played without physical contact by the player. Musical instrument A musical instrument is an instrument created or adapted to make musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that
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To Be Everywhere Is to Be Nowhere becoming confused why they would sting him back, which Kensrue said "seemed a fitting metaphor for much of U.S. foreign policy." The song "Whistleblower" is about Edward Snowden, who famously leaked NSA documents proving that the government was spying on American citizens without warrant. The song "Death from Above" was written from the perspective of an unmanned combat aerial vehicle (or drone) pilot. Kensrue said about half the tracks on "To Be Everywhere Is to Be Nowhere" follow this explicitly political theme, while the rest were described as being more broadly focused and touched on social or cultural concepts. The
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Which song written by the Hungarian pianist and composer Rezső Seress in 1933 was marketed as 'Hungarian suicide song' as it was mistakenly believed to have inspired hundreds of suicides?
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Rezső Seress many songs, including "Fizetek főúr" (Waiter, bring me the bill), "Én úgy szeretek részeg lenni" (I love being drunk), and a song for the Hungarian Communist Party to commemorate the chain bridge crossing the river in Budapest, "Újra a Lánchídon". His most famous composition is "Szomorú Vasárnap" ("Gloomy Sunday"), written in 1933, which gained infamy as it became associated with a spate of suicides. Seress felt a strong loyalty to Hungary, and one reason for his poverty while having a world-famous song was that he never wished to go to the USA to collect his royalties; instead, staying as pianist
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Rezső Seress Rezső Seress Rezső Seress (Hungarian: ; 3 November 1889 – 11 January 1968) was a Hungarian pianist and composer. Some sources give his birth name as Rudolf ("Rudi") Spitzer. Rezső Seress lived most of his life in poverty in Budapest, from where, being Jewish, he was taken to a labor camp by the Nazis during the Second World War. He survived the camp and after employment in the theatre and the circus, where he was a trapeze artist, he concentrated on songwriting and singing after an injury. Seress taught himself to play the piano with only one hand. He composed
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What is the musical term for a playing technique that involves plucking the strings of an instrument?
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String instrument common techniques are plucking, bowing, and striking. An important difference between bowing and plucking is that in the former the phenomenon is periodic so that the overtones are kept in a strictly harmonic relationship to the fundamental. Plucking is a method of playing on instruments such as the veena, banjo, ukulele, guitar, harp, lute, mandolin, oud, and sitar, using either a finger, thumb, or quills (now plastic plectra) to pluck the strings. Instruments normally played by bowing (see below) may also be plucked, a technique referred to by the Italian term "pizzicato". Bowing (Italian: "arco") is a method used in
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Bolon (musical instrument) Bolon (musical instrument) The bolon is a traditional harp played in Mali, as well as Guinea. It was notably played in hunting ceremonies or before a battle, to rouse warriors' valor. It was also used by the Jola in Gambia for accompaniment for men's choruses. Among other string instruments played in Guinea, the bolon is the oldest. The bolon is a three-stringed instrument, constructed from a large calabash covered by unshaven goat skin, and a bow-shaped neck. When playing, it is placed between the legs with the strings facing the musician. In addition to plucking the strings, the musician also
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Which famous Irish traditional song about a highwayman (usually in the Cork and Kerry mountains) was given a rock veneer by the rock band Thin Lizzy?
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Highwayman traditional Irish song "Whiskey in the Jar" tells the story of an Irish highwayman who robs an army captain, and includes the lines "I first produced me pistol, then I drew me rapier. Said 'Stand and deliver, for you are a bold deceiver'." The hit single version recorded in 1973 by Irish rock band Thin Lizzy renders this last line "I said 'Stand-oh and deliver, or the devil he may take ya'." The traditional Irish song "The Newry Highwayman" recounts the deeds and death of a highwayman who robbed "the lords and ladies bright". The traditional Irish song "Brennan on
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Sarah (Thin Lizzy song) by Serbian Irish folk/Celtic rock band Orthodox Celts on their 2007 album "One, Two... Five". Sarah (Thin Lizzy song) "Sarah" is a pop song released in 1979 by Irish rock group Thin Lizzy, included on their album, "". The song was written by the band's frontman Phil Lynott and guitarist Gary Moore about Lynott's newborn daughter. The song was also issued as a single, and appeared on several compilation albums including "". The song was never performed live by Thin Lizzy, but it was adopted as a live favourite by Lynott's post-Thin Lizzy project, Grand Slam, and featured on "Live
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Which 1982 song by the London punk rock group 'The Clash' is about Iran's outlawing of rock music, and also become the unofficial anthem for the Armed Forces during the Gulf War conflicts?
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Rock the Casbah Clash who performed on "Rock El Casbah" and then stayed on stage for the remainder of the show." Will Smith's song "Will 2K" of the "Willennium" album samples "Rock the Casbah" both instrumentally and in some of the lyrics. Rock the Casbah "Rock the Casbah" is a song by the English punk rock band The Clash, released in 1982. The song was released as the third single from their fifth album, "Combat Rock". It reached number eight on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart in the US (their second and last top 40 and only top 10 single in the United
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The Clash The Clash The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 as a key player in the original wave of British punk rock. They have also contributed to the and new wave movements that emerged in the wake of punk and employed elements of a variety of genres including reggae, dub, funk, ska and rockabilly. For most of their recording career, the Clash consisted of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Joe Strummer, lead guitarist and lead vocalist Mick Jones, bassist Paul Simonon, and drummer Nicky "Topper" Headon. Headon left the group in 1982, and internal friction led
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Can you connect the singer Bobby McFerrin with the mystic Meher Baba?
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Meher Baba in her song "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)" with the lyrics "Meher Baba lives again". Bobby McFerrin's 1988 Grammy Award-winning song "Don't Worry, Be Happy" was inspired by a popular quote of Baba seen in numerous Baba posters and inspirational cards. Concepts of Meher Baba's philosophy, as well as a character based on Baba but unnamed, have also frequently appeared in works of comic book writer J. M. DeMatteis, including "Doctor Fate" and "Seekers Into The Mystery". In 2012, the feature film "Nema Aviona za Zagreb" premiered in the Netherlands with an exclusive interview with Meher Baba filmed in
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Mandali (Meher Baba) Mandali (Meher Baba) Mandali from the Sanskrit "mandala" meaning circle, connection, community, is a term that Meher Baba used for his closest disciples. Mandali are considered to include those close disciples that lived permanently or for extended periods with Meher Baba at his ashrams. However, not all of Meher Baba's mandali lived with him. According to Meher Baba the Avatar always has 10 concentric circles of 12 men and/or women each. The inner circle consists of 12 men plus two women, for a total of 122 mandali. But Meher Baba also said, "Those who do my work are my "mandali".
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Which collection of orchestral movements were composed by George Frideric Handel in 1717 at the request of King George I? These are also his best known work.
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George Frideric Handel opera as a coherent structure was slow to capture Handel's imagination and he composed no operas for five years. In July 1717 Handel's "Water Music" was performed more than three times on the River Thames for the King and his guests. It is said the compositions spurred reconciliation between Handel and the King, supposedly annoyed by the composer's abandonment of his Hanover post. In 1717 Handel became house composer at Cannons in Middlesex, where he laid the cornerstone for his future choral compositions in the twelve "Chandos Anthems". Rolland wrote that these anthems (or Psalms) stood in relation to Handel's
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Will of George Frideric Handel Will of George Frideric Handel George Frideric Handel (23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) wrote his will over a number of years and with a number of codicils. Handel created the first version of his will with nine years to live, and completed his will (with the final codicil) three days before his death. Handel's will begins with the following text: The following table documents the dates of the original will and the four codicils, as well as the witness statements at the conclusion of each part of the will. The contents of each part of Handel's will are
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Which controversial 1992 song by the punk band Body Count was co-written by the group's vocalist Ice-T and provoked a national debate about freedom of speech in the US?
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Body Count (band) Body Count (band) Body Count is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1990. The group is fronted by Ice-T, who co-founded the group with lead guitarist Ernie C out of their interest in heavy metal music. Ice-T took on the role of vocalist and writing the lyrics for most of the group's songs. Lead guitarist Ernie C has been responsible for writing the group's music. Their controversial self-titled debut album was released on Sire Records in 1992. The song "Cop Killer" was the subject of much controversy. Although Sire Records' parent company, Warner Bros. Records,
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Body Count (band) guitar and expect it to work. [...] Ice and I, on the other hand, really loved the music we were doing, and it showed." Body Count (band) Body Count is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1990. The group is fronted by Ice-T, who co-founded the group with lead guitarist Ernie C out of their interest in heavy metal music. Ice-T took on the role of vocalist and writing the lyrics for most of the group's songs. Lead guitarist Ernie C has been responsible for writing the group's music. Their controversial self-titled debut album was
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The first album by the rock group Pink Floyd The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967) was named after a chapter in which children's classic?
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The Piper at the Gates of Dawn The Piper at the Gates of Dawn The Piper at the Gates of Dawn is the debut studio album by the English rock band Pink Floyd, and the only one made under founding member Syd Barrett's leadership. The album, named after the title of chapter seven of Kenneth Grahame's "The Wind in the Willows" and featuring a kaleidoscopic cover photo of the band taken by Vic Singh, was recorded from February to May 1967 and released on 4 August 1967. It was produced by Beatles engineer Norman Smith and released in 1967 by EMI Columbia in the United Kingdom and
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The Piper at the Gates of Dawn says that "Piper" became known as a concept album in later years, because listeners wanted to play it all the way through rather than pick out a favourite song. While Beatles biographer Philip Norman agrees that "Piper" is a concept album, other authors contend that Pink Floyd did not start making concept albums until 1973's "The Dark Side of the Moon". Author George Reisch called Pink Floyd the "undisputed" kings of the concept album, but only starting from "Dark Side". In July 2006, "Billboard" described "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn" as "one of the best psychedelic rock albums
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By his own request, which Austrian composer was buried next to Beethoven in 1828?
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Beethoven and his contemporaries Vienna. According to various accounts, Beethoven recognized Rossini and complimented him on "The Barber of Seville", adding that he should never try to write anything other than "opera buffa" (comedy operas) as that would be against his (Rossini's) nature. When Carpani reminded Beethoven that Rossini had already composed several serious operas, Beethoven is reported to have said, "Yes, I looked at them. "Opera seria" (serious opera) is ill-suited to the Italians. You do not know how to deal with real drama." Franz Schubert (1797-1828) lived most of his short life in Vienna, during the height of Beethoven's popularity. He was
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Beethoven in film Beethoven in film The composer Ludwig van Beethoven has been the subject of a number of biographical films. "The Life of Beethoven" (German: "Das Leben des Beethoven") is a 1927 Austrian silent drama film directed by Hans Otto and starring Fritz Kortner as Beethoven. "Un grand amour de Beethoven" was directed in 1937 by Abel Gance; it stars Harry Baur. Albert Bassermann portrayed Beethoven in the 1941 film "The Great Awakening". "Eroica" is a 1949 Austrian film depicting the life and works of Beethoven (Ewald Balser). It was entered into the 1949 Cannes Film Festival. The film is directed by
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Which iconic opera stereotype plays in the background as helicopters swoop in to annihilate a village in one of the opening scenes of the movie Apocalypse Now?
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Apocalypse Now same elements as a glorification of war and the assertion of American supremacy. According to Frank Tomasulo, "the U.S. foisting its culture on Vietnam," including the destruction of a village so that soldiers could surf, affirms the film's pro-war message. Additionally, the author Anthony Swofford recounted how his marine platoon watched "Apocalypse Now" before being sent to Iraq in 1990 in order to get excited for war. Nidesh Lawtoo illustrates the pro-war/anti-war tendencies of the film by focusing on the contradictory responses the movie in general and the "Ride of the Valkyries" scene in particular triggered in a university classroom.
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The Apocalypse Now Sessions by pounding on the beam frame itself to induce a bell-like resonance of all the strings simultaneously. Allmusic said, "Three members of The Grateful Dead (Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, and Phil Lesh) improvise on percussion instruments with several other musicians to provide incidental music for the movie "Apocalypse Now". This is primarily a percussion album... an intense album that artfully conveys the beauty and terror of the jungle in which the movie is set." Smithsonian Folkways, writing about the CD, said, "Director Francis Ford Coppola asked Mickey Hart to provide a percussive underscore for his 1979 film "Apocalypse Now". Combining
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What song was written and performed by Billy Joel to underscore the plight of fishermen on Long Island?
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Billy Joel city of that name during his tour in 1987, and "The Downeaster Alexa", written to underscore the plight of fishermen on Long Island who are barely able to make ends meet. Another well-known single from the album is the ballad "And So It Goes" (#37 in late 1990). The song was originally written in 1983, around the time Joel was writing songs for "An Innocent Man"; but "And So It Goes" did not fit that album's retro theme, so it was held back until "Storm Front". Joel said in a 1996 Masterclass session in Pittsburgh that "Storm Front" was a
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No Man's Land (Billy Joel song) No Man's Land (Billy Joel song) "No Man's Land" is a single by Billy Joel. It was the third single from his 1993 album "River of Dreams". The song is about the growth of suburbia and its negative environmental and social aspects. It presumably refers somewhat specifically to Long Island (the line about "lots more to read about Lolita and suburban lust" is an indirect reference to Amy Fisher). It was the first song performed on "Late Show with David Letterman" in August 1993. All songs written by Billy Joel. Joel often opened concerts on the 1994 "River of Dreams
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"Which punk band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006 but refused to attend the induction calling the museum a ""piss stain""? Maybe they did not find any 'filthy lucre' there!"
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Rock and Roll Hall of Fame not announced and a certain number of inductees (five in 2011) is set before the ballots are shipped. The committee usually nominates a small number of artists (12 in 2010) from an increasing number of different genres. Several voters, including Joel Selvin, himself a former member of the nominating committee, did not submit their ballots in 2007 because they did not feel that any of the candidates were truly worthy. Members of the British punk rock band The Sex Pistols, inducted in 2006, refused to attend the ceremony, calling the museum "a piss stain" and "urine in wine". In BBC
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Rock and Roll Hall of Fame the E Street Band closing the concert with special guests John Fogerty, Darlene Love, Tom Morello, Sam Moore, Jackson Browne, Peter Wolf, and Billy Joel. Artists are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at an annual induction ceremony. Over the years, the majority of the ceremonies have been held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City. However, on January 12, 1993, the ceremony was held in Los Angeles, and was held there again in 2013. On May 6, 1997, about a year and a half after the opening of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
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A famous remark often attributed to Brian Eno is that while only a few thousand people bought a record of this band, almost every single one of the purchasers was inspired to start their own band. Which influential rock band was Eno referring to?
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Art rock when the Velvet Underground first appeared in the mid 1960s, they faced rejection and were commonly dismissed as a "fag" band. In 1982, musician Brian Eno famously stated that while "The Velvet Underground & Nico" initially sold just 30,000 copies, "everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies started a band." The Beatles' Paul McCartney deemed "Pet Sounds" "the record of the time", and in June 1967, the band responded with their own album: "Sgt. Pepper's", which was also influenced by "Freak Out!" AllMusic states that the first wave of art rock musicians were inspired by "Sgt. Pepper's" and believed
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Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall praised the song, stating "Modern rock behemoths Coldplay just previewed the first single off their upcoming Brian Eno-produced fifth studio album, and it's every bit as soaring as we've come to expect from the band." and finished up saying "In any case, "Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall" has major summer smash potential, so teary waterfalls, be gone, Coldplay!" Bill Lamb of About.com gave the song a four stars rating out of five explaining "The overall effect of this song is Coldplay moving forward into new explorations while keeping the elements that endear them to their fans wholly intact. "Every Teardrop
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The Russian scientist Vasili Samarsky-Bykhovets has what pioneering connection with the periodic table of elements?
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Vassili Samarsky-Bykhovets again honoring Samarsky–Bykhovets. Vassili Samarsky-Bykhovets Vasili Evgrafovich Samarsky–Bykhovets (; November 7, 1803 – May 31, 1870) was a Russian mining engineer and the chief of Russian Mining Engineering Corps between 1845 and 1861. The mineral samarskite (samarskite-Y, samarskite-Yb and calciosamarskite), and chemical element samarium are named after him. He was the first person whose name was given to a chemical element. Samarsky–Bykhovets was born in a noble family in the Tomsk Governorate, located in the Asian part of Russia beyond the Ural Mountains. He received military engineer education at the local Mining Cadet Corps, and after graduation in 1823 served
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Vassili Samarsky-Bykhovets Mining Institute and eventually became a member of the scientific council there. He was promoted to Lieutenant General in 1860, and in 1861 became Chairman of the Board of the Corps of Mining Engineers, and also chairman of the Commission on the Revision of the Mining Charter. He took a three-months sabbatical leave in 1862 to attend an international scientific exhibition in London, and died in 1870. Samarsky–Bykhovets was a highly decorated officer with an impeccable career list. Samarsky–Bykhovets himself was not involved in the studies of samarskite and samarium. As a mining official, he merely granted access to mineral
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The rediscovery of what genus of the coniferous tree in Australia in 1994 by David Noble was a celebrated event of 20th century botany?
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David Noble (canyoner) the time of discovering the Wollemi pine, Noble was a field officer with the National Parks and Wildlife Service (New South Wales). After his discovery Noble completed a bachelor of applied science degree and was promoted to a ranger. David Noble (canyoner) David 'Dave' Noble (born 1965) discovered the Wollemi pine on or about 10 September 1994. Thus, the scientific name of this species, "Wollemia nobilis", is named after him. John and Olive Noble, David's parents, emigrated from England to Australia when he was two years old. A modern-day explorer, Noble has visited sites in the Wollemi National Park that
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History of Eastern Orthodox theology in the 20th century History of Eastern Orthodox theology in the 20th century 20th century Eastern Orthodox theology has been dominated by neo-Palamism, the revival of St. Palamas and hesychasm. John Behr characterizes Orthodox theology as having been "reborn in the twentieth century." Norman Russell describes Orthodox theology as having been dominated by an "arid scholasticism" for several centuries after the fall of Constantinople. Russell describes the postwar re-engagement of modern Greek theologians with the Greek Fathers with the help of diaspora theologians and Western patristic scholars. A significant component of this re-engagement with the Greek Fathers has been a rediscovery of Palamas by
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In mathematics, what object commonly seen in video games with secret getaways is used to describe a function that is easy to compute in one direction but very hard to compute the opposite way?
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Trapdoor function Trapdoor function A trapdoor function is a function that is easy to compute in one direction, yet difficult to compute in the opposite direction (finding its inverse) without special information, called the "trapdoor". Trapdoor functions are widely used in cryptography. In mathematical terms, if "f" is a trapdoor function, then there exists some secret information "y", such that given "f"("x") and "y", it is easy to compute "x". Consider a padlock and its key. It is trivial to change the padlock from open to closed without using the key, by pushing the shackle into the lock mechanism. Opening the padlock
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One-way function known as the "universal one-way function". The problem of finding a one way function is thus reduced to proving that one such function exists. One-way function In computer science, a one-way function is a function that is easy to compute on every input, but hard to invert given the image of a random input. Here, "easy" and "hard" are to be understood in the sense of computational complexity theory, specifically the theory of polynomial time problems. Not being one-to-one is not considered sufficient of a function for it to be called one-way (see Theoretical definition, below). The existence of such
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"In a Oct, 2014 interview to The Guardian, Prof. Peter Piot said the following. What's the missing word? ""In 1976 I discovered ... - now I fear an unimaginable tragedy."""
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Peter Piot Peter Piot Peter Karel, Baron Piot, KCMG, FRCP, FMedSci (born 1949) is a Belgian microbiologist known for his research into Ebola and AIDS. After helping discover the Ebola virus in 1976 and leading efforts to contain the first-ever recorded Ebola epidemic that same year, Piot became a pioneering researcher into AIDS. He has held key positions in the United Nations and World Health Organization involving AIDS research and management. He has also served as a professor at several universities worldwide. Piot was born in Leuven, Belgium. He studied medicine at Ghent University, and earned an M.D. in 1974. He then
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What I Miss Most and the streets and everything." Scott calls "What I Miss Most" his nostalgia song. In an interview with "Billboard", Scott said "It's a complete tribute to my hometown. The crest for my city is three golden crowns on top of each other, so when I say, “Under three crowns when I'm far away” I'm trying to basically say I'm proud of Hull, where I'm from." On Twitter, Scott supported the statement saying "[What I miss Most is]..a song about missing my hometown of Hull, but I wrote it in a way that it could be about missing anyone or anything!"
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What striking wildlife form mostly endemic to a large island gets its name from specimens prepared by traders without wings and feet lending to a belief that they are creatures that originated in an other-worldly place?
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Bird-of-paradise destruction due to deforestation is now the predominant threat. Best known are the members of the genus "Paradisaea", including the type species, the greater bird-of-paradise, "Paradisaea apoda". This species was described from specimens brought back to Europe from trading expeditions in the early sixteenth century. These specimens had been prepared by native traders by removing their wings and feet so that they could be used as decorations. This was not known to the explorers, and in the absence of information many beliefs arose about them. They were briefly thought to be the mythical phoenix. The often footless and wingless condition
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Endemic Maltese wildlife Endemic Maltese wildlife An endemic organism is said to be found only in certain areas of the world. This makes the organism in some cases endangered. The Maltese Islands, although small in area (316 km²), host a large number of endemic species, some of which are unique and unusual. These endemic species are important to the Maltese Islands because they form part of Maltese national heritage and are topics of scientific research. Of the 10,000 estimated terrestrial and freshwater specimens in the Maltese archipelago, 78 species are endemic, a very good number considering the country's area. Only 4,500 species have
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The Bortle scale on which areas away from human habitation unsurprisingly receive high ratings and which is of particular interest to amateur astronomers is concerned with what property?
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John E. Bortle John E. Bortle John E. Bortle is an American amateur astronomer. He is best known for creating the Bortle scale to quantify the darkness of the night sky. Bortle has made a special study of comets. He has recorded thousands of observations relating to more than 300 comets. From 1977 until 1994 he authored the monthly '"Comet Digest" in "Sky and Telescope" magazine. He also had a special interest in variable stars, recording more than 200,000 observations. From 1970 until 2000 he edited the monthly AAVSO circular for the American Association of Variable Star Observers. He published his darkness scale
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Bortle scale Bortle scale The Bortle scale is a nine-level numeric scale that measures the night sky's brightness of a particular location. It quantifies the astronomical observability of celestial objects and the interference caused by light pollution. John E. Bortle created the scale and published it in the February 2001 edition of "Sky & Telescope" magazine to help amateur astronomers evaluate the darkness of an observing site, and secondarily, to compare the darkness of observing sites. The scale ranges from Class 1, the darkest skies available on Earth, through Class 9, inner-city skies. It gives several criteria for each level beyond naked-eye
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