title: The Band

text: In 2012, Jim Weider launched the Weight Band, performing covers of the Band's music, alongside former members of the Levon Helm Band and Rick Danko Group. The Weight Band performed in a nationally broadcast PBS special, Infinity Hall Live, featuring new music. Following the show, the band announced a self-titled album of new music. The Weight Band also hosts Camp Cripple Creek, which celebrates the legacy of the Woodstock Sound. Past guests have included Jackie Greene, "Music from Big Pink" producer John Simon and John Sebastian.


title: The Band

text: Manuel had few projects outside the Band; he and the rest of the Band contributed to Eric Clapton's 1976 album "No Reason to Cry". It included an original composition by Manuel and featured his vocals and drumming on several tracks. Manuel later worked on several film scores with Hudson and Robertson, including "Raging Bull" and "The Color of Money". "" was released in 2002.


title: The Band

text: The Band's music fused many elements: primarily old country music and early rock and roll, though the rhythm section often was reminiscent of Stax- or Motown-style rhythm and blues, and Robertson cites Curtis Mayfield and the Staple Singers as major influences, resulting in a synthesis of many musical genres. Singers Manuel, Danko, and Helm each brought a distinctive voice to the Band: Helm's Southern accent was prevalent in his raw and powerful vocals, Danko sang tenor with a distinctively choppy enunciation, and Manuel alternated between falsetto and a soulful baritone. The singers regularly blended in harmonies. Though the singing was more or less evenly shared among the three, both Danko and Helm have stated that they saw Manuel as the Band's "lead" singer.


title: The Band

text: Every member was a multi-instrumentalist. There was little instrument-switching when they played live, but when recording, the musicians could make up different configurations in service of the songs. Hudson in particular was able to coax a wide range of timbres from his Lowrey organ. Helm's drumming was often praised: critic Jon Carroll declared that Helm was "the only drummer who can make you cry," while prolific session drummer Jim Keltner admits to appropriating several of Helm's techniques. Producer John Simon is often cited as a "sixth member" of the Band for producing and playing on "Music from Big Pink", co-producing and playing on "The Band", and playing on other songs up through the Band's 1993 reunion album "Jericho".


title: The Band

text: Robertson is credited as writer or co-writer of the majority of the Band's songs and, as a result, has received most of the songwriting royalties generated from the music. This would become a point of contention, especially for Helm. In his 1993 autobiography, "", Helm disputed the validity of the songwriting credits as listed on the albums and explained that the Band's songs were developed in collaboration with all members. Danko concurred with Helm: "I think Levon's book hits the nail on the head about where Robbie and Albert Grossman and some of those people went wrong and when The Band stopped being The Band ... I'm truly friends with everybody but, hey—it could happen to Levon, too. When people take themselves too seriously and believe too much in their own bullshit, they usually get in trouble." Robertson denied that Helm had written any of the songs attributed to Robertson. The studio albums recorded by Levon Helm as a solo artist—"Levon Helm" (1978), "American Son", "Levon Helm" (1982), "Dirt Farmer", and "Electric Dirt"—contain only one song crediting him as songwriter ("Growin' Trade", co-written with Larry Campbell).


title: The Band

text: The Band has influenced numerous bands, songwriters and performers, including the Grateful Dead; Eric Clapton; George Harrison; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; Led Zeppelin; Elvis Costello; Elton John; Phish; and Pink Floyd.


title: The Band

text: The album "Music from Big Pink", in particular, is credited with contributing to Clapton's decision to leave the supergroup Cream. In his introduction of the Band during the Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary Concert, Clapton announced that in 1968 he had heard the album, "and it changed my life." The band Nazareth took their name from a line in "The Weight". Guitarist Richard Thompson has acknowledged the album's influence on Fairport Convention's "Liege and Lief", and journalist John Harris has suggested that the Band's debut also influenced the spirit of the Beatles' back-to-basics album "Let It Be" as well as the Rolling Stones' string of roots-infused albums that began with "Beggars Banquet". George Harrison said that his song "All Things Must Pass" was heavily influenced by the Band and that, while writing the song, he imagined Levon Helm singing it. Meanwhile, the "Music from Big Pink" song "The Weight" has been covered numerous times, and in various musical styles. In a 1969 interview, Robbie Robertson remarked on the group's influence, "We certainly didn't want everybody to go out and get a banjo and a fiddle player. We were trying to calm things down a bit though. What we're going to do now is go to Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and record four sides, four psychedelic songs. Total freak-me songs. Just to show that we have no hard feelings. Just pretty good rock and roll."


title: The Band

text: In the 1990s, a new generation of bands influenced by the Band began to gain popularity, including Counting Crows, the Wallflowers, and the Black Crowes. Counting Crows indicated this influence with their tribute to the late Richard Manuel, "If I Could Give All My Love (Richard Manuel Is Dead)", from their album "Hard Candy". The Black Crowes frequently cover songs by the Band during live performances, such as "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down", which appears on their DVD/CD "Freak 'n' Roll into the Fog". They have also recorded at Helm's studio in Woodstock.


title: The Band

text: The inspiration for the classic rock-influenced band the Hold Steady came while members Craig Finn and Tad Kubler were watching "The Last Waltz". Rick Danko and Robbie Robertson are name-checked in the lyrics of "The Swish" from the Hold Steady's 2004 debut album "Almost Killed Me". Also that year, southern rock-revivalists Drive-By Truckers released the Jason Isbell penned track "Danko/Manuel" on the album "The Dirty South".


title: The Band

text: The Band also inspired Grace Potter, of Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, to form the band in 2002. In an interview with the Montreal Gazette, Potter said, "The Band blew my mind. I thought if this is what Matt [Burr] meant when he said 'Let's start a rock 'n' roll band,' ... that was the kind of rock 'n' roll band I could believe in."


title: The Band

text: A tribute album, entitled "", released in January 2007, included contributions from My Morning Jacket, Death Cab for Cutie, Gomez, Guster, Bruce Hornsby, Jack Johnson and ALO, Lee Ann Womack, the Allman Brothers Band, Blues Traveler, Jakob Dylan, Rosanne Cash, and others.


title: The Band

text: Members of Wilco, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, the Shins, Dr Dog, Yellowbirds, Ween, Furthur, and other bands staged The Complete Last Waltz in 2012 and 2013. Their performances included all 41 songs from the original 1976 concert in sequence, even those edited out of the film. Musical director Sam Cohen of Yellowbirds claims "the movie is pretty ingrained in me. I've watched it probably 100 times."


title: The Band

text: An incarnation of the Band's legacy, The Weight Band, originated inside the barn of Levon Helm in 2012 when Jim Weider and Randy Ciarlante, both former members of the Band, were performing "Songs of the Band" with Garth Hudson, Jimmy Vivino and Byron Isaacs. In July 2017, PBS's Infinity Hall Live program began airing a televised performance by the Weight Band, featuring Band covers and new music by the band.


title: The Band

text: Every year on the Wednesday before and the Friday after Thanksgiving, Dayton, Ohio NPR affiliate WYSO and The Dayton Art Institute host a tribute to "The Last Waltz". Frequently selling out, the show features more than 30 local musicians. A similar event takes place annually in Madison, Wisconsin, on the Saturday night after Thanksgiving.


title: The Band

text: The Band are the subjects of the 2019 documentary film "", which premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival.


title: The Band

text: The Band is the subject of an extensive historical podcast, "The Band: A History", currently covering the entire history of the group.


title: Dot-com bubble

text: The dot-com bubble (dot-com boom, tech bubble, or the Internet bubble) was a stock market bubble in the late 1990s, a period of massive growth in the use and adoption of the Internet.


title: Dot-com bubble

text: Between 1995 and its peak in March 2000, the Nasdaq Composite stock market index rose 400%, only to fall 78% from its peak by October 2002, giving up all its gains during the bubble. During the dot-com crash, many online shopping companies, such as Pets.com, Webvan, and Boo.com, as well as several communication companies, such as Worldcom, NorthPoint Communications, and Global Crossing, failed and shut down. Some companies that survived, such as Amazon, lost large portions of their market capitalization, with Cisco Systems alone losing 80% of its stock value.


title: Dot-com bubble

text: Historically, the dot-com boom can be seen as similar to a number of other technology-inspired booms of the past including railroads in the 1840s, automobiles in the early 20th century, radio in the 1920s, television in the 1940s, transistor electronics in the 1950s, computer time-sharing in the 1960s, and home computers and biotechnology in the 1980s.


title: Dot-com bubble

text: Low interest rates in 1998–99 facilitated an increase in start-up companies. Although a number of these new entrepreneurs had realistic plans and administrative ability, most of them lacked these characteristics but were able to sell their ideas to investors because of the novelty of the dot-com concept.


title: Dot-com bubble

text: In 2000, the dot-com bubble burst, and many dot-com startups went out of business after burning through their venture capital and failing to become profitable. Many others, however, did survive and thrive in the early 21st century. Many companies which began as online retailers blossomed and became highly profitable. More conventional retailers found online merchandising to be a profitable additional source of revenue. While some online entertainment and news outlets failed when their seed capital ran out, others persisted and eventually became economically self-sufficient. Traditional media outlets (newspaper publishers, broadcasters and cablecasters in particular) also found the Web to be a useful and profitable additional channel for content distribution, and an additional means to generate advertising revenue. The sites that survived and eventually prospered after the bubble burst had two things in common: a sound business plan, and a niche in the marketplace that was, if not unique, particularly well-defined and well-served.


title: Dot-com bubble

text: In the aftermath of the dot-com bubble, telecommunications companies had a great deal of overcapacity as many Internet business clients went bust. That, plus ongoing investment in local cell infrastructure kept connectivity charges low, and helped to make high-speed Internet connectivity more affordable. During this time, a handful of companies found success developing business models that helped make the World Wide Web a more compelling experience. These include airline booking sites, Google's search engine and its profitable approach to keyword-based advertising, as well as eBay's auction site and Amazon.com's online department store. The low price of reaching millions worldwide, and the possibility of selling to or hearing from those people at the same moment when they were reached, promised to overturn established business dogma in advertising, mail-order sales, customer relationship management, and many more areas. The web was a new killer app—it could bring together unrelated buyers and sellers in seamless and low-cost ways. Entrepreneurs around the world developed new business models, and ran to their nearest venture capitalist. While some of the new entrepreneurs had experience in business and economics, the majority were simply people with ideas, and did not manage the capital influx prudently. Additionally, many dot-com business plans were predicated on the assumption that by using the Internet, they would bypass the distribution channels of existing businesses and therefore not have to compete with them; when the established businesses with strong existing brands developed their own Internet presence, these hopes were shattered, and the newcomers were left attempting to break into markets dominated by larger, more established businesses. Many did not have the ability to do so.


title: Dot-com bubble

text: The dot-com bubble burst in March 2000, with the technology heavy NASDAQ Composite index peaking at 5,048.62 on March 10 (5,132.52 intraday), more than double its value just a year before. By 2001, the bubble's deflation was running full speed. A majority of the dot-coms had ceased trading, after having burnt through their venture capital and IPO capital, often without ever making a profit. But despite this, the Internet continues to grow, driven by commerce, ever greater amounts of online information, knowledge, social networking and access by mobile devices.


title: Dot-com bubble

text: The 1993 release of Mosaic and subsequent web browsers during the following years gave computer users access to the World Wide Web, popularizing use of the Internet. Internet use increased as a result of the reduction of the "digital divide" and advances in connectivity, uses of the Internet, and computer education. Between 1990 and 1997, the percentage of households in the United States owning computers increased from 15% to 35% as computer ownership progressed from a luxury to a necessity. This marked the shift to the Information Age, an economy based on information technology, and many new companies were founded.


title: Dot-com bubble

text: At the same time, a decline in interest rates increased the availability of capital. The Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997, which lowered the top marginal capital gains tax in the United States, also made people more willing to make more speculative investments. Alan Greenspan, then-Chair of the Federal Reserve, allegedly fueled investments in the stock market by putting a positive spin on stock valuations. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was expected to result in many new technologies from which many people wanted to profit.


title: Dot-com bubble

text: As a result of these factors, many investors were eager to invest, at any valuation, in any dot-com company, especially if it had one of the Internet-related prefixes or a ".com" suffix in its name. Venture capital was easy to raise. Investment banks, which profited significantly from initial public offerings (IPO), fueled speculation and encouraged investment in technology. A combination of rapidly increasing stock prices in the quaternary sector of the economy and confidence that the companies would turn future profits created an environment in which many investors were willing to overlook traditional metrics, such as the price–earnings ratio, and base confidence on technological advancements, leading to a stock market bubble. Between 1995 and 2000, the Nasdaq Composite stock market index rose 400%. It reached a price–earnings ratio of 200, dwarfing the peak price–earnings ratio of 80 for the Japanese Nikkei 225 during the Japanese asset price bubble of 1991. In 1999, shares of Qualcomm rose in value by 2,619%, 12 other large-cap stocks each rose over 1,000% in value, and seven additional large-cap stocks each rose over 900% in value. Even though the Nasdaq Composite rose 85.6% and the S&P 500 rose 19.5% in 1999, more stocks fell in value than rose in value as investors sold stocks in slower growing companies to invest in Internet stocks.


title: Dot-com bubble

text: An unprecedented amount of personal investing occurred during the boom and stories of people quitting their jobs to trade on the financial market were common. The news media took advantage of the public's desire to invest in the stock market; an article in "The Wall Street Journal" suggested that investors "re-think" the "quaint idea" of profits, and CNBC reported on the stock market with the same level of suspense as many networks provided to the broadcasting of sports events.


title: Dot-com bubble

text: At the height of the boom, it was possible for a promising dot-com company to become a public company via an IPO and raise a substantial amount of money even if it had never made a profit—or, in some cases, realized any material revenue. People who received employee stock options became instant paper millionaires when their companies executed IPOs; however, most employees were barred from selling shares immediately due to lock-up periods. The most successful entrepreneurs, such as Mark Cuban, sold their shares or entered into hedges to protect their gains. Sir John Templeton successfully shorted many dot-com stocks at the peak of the bubble during what he called "temporary insanity" and a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity". He shorting stocks just before the expiration of lockup periods ending 6 months after initial public offerings, correctly anticipating many dot-com company executives would sell shares as soon as possible, and that large-scale selling would force down share prices.


title: Dot-com bubble

text: Most dot-com companies incurred net operating losses as they spent heavily on advertising and promotions to harness network effects to build market share or mind share as fast as possible, using the mottos "get big fast" and "get large or get lost". These companies offered their services or products for free or at a discount with the expectation that they could build enough brand awareness to charge profitable rates for their services in the future.


title: Dot-com bubble

text: The "growth over profits" mentality and the aura of "new economy" invincibility led some companies to engage in lavish spending on elaborate business facilities and luxury vacations for employees. Upon the launch of a new product or website, a company would organize an expensive event called a dot-com party.


title: Dot-com bubble

text: Partially a result of greed and excessive optimism, especially about the growth of data traffic fueled by the rise of the Internet, in the five years after the American Telecommunications Act of 1996 went into effect, telecommunications equipment companies invested more than $500 billion, mostly financed with debt, into laying fiber optic cable, adding new switches, and building wireless networks. In many areas, such as the Dulles Technology Corridor in Virginia, governments funded technology infrastructure and created favorable business and tax law to encourage companies to expand. The growth in capacity vastly outstripped the growth in demand. Spectrum auctions for 3G in the United Kingdom in April 2000, led by Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, raised £22.5 billion. In Germany, in August 2000, the auctions raised £30 billion. A 3G spectrum auction in the United States in 1999 had to be re-run when the winners defaulted on their bids of $4 billion. The re-auction netted 10% of the original sales prices. When financing became hard to find as the bubble burst, the high debt ratios of these companies led to bankruptcy. Bond investors recovered just over 20% of their investments. However, several telecom executives sold stock before the crash including Philip Anschutz, who reaped $1.9 billion, Joseph Nacchio, who reaped $248 million, and Gary Winnick, who sold $748 million worth of shares.


title: Dot-com bubble

text: Nearing the turn of the millennium, spending on technology was volatile as companies prepared for the Year 2000 problem. There were concerns that computer systems would have trouble changing their clock and calendar systems from 1999 to 2000 which might trigger wider social or economic problems, but there was virtually no impact or disruption due to adequate preparation. Spending on marketing also reached new heights for the sector: Two dot-com companies purchased ad spots for Super Bowl XXXIII, and 17 dot-com companies bought ad spots the following year for Super Bowl XXXIV.


title: Dot-com bubble

text: On January 10, 2000, America Online, led by Steve Case and Ted Leonsis, announced a merger with Time Warner, led by Gerald M. Levin. The merger was the largest to date and was questioned by many analysts. Then, on January 30, 2000, 12 ads of the 61 ads for Super Bowl XXXIV were purchased by dot-coms (sources state ranges from 12 up to 19 companies depending on the definition of "dot-com company"). At that time, the cost for a 30-second commercial was between $1.9 million and $2.2 million.


title: Dot-com bubble

text: Meanwhile, Alan Greenspan, then Chair of the Federal Reserve, raised interest rates several times; these actions were believed by many to have caused the bursting of the dot-com bubble. According to Paul Krugman, however, "he didn't raise interest rates to curb the market's enthusiasm; he didn't even seek to impose margin requirements on stock market investors. Instead, [it is alleged] he waited until the bubble burst, as it did in 2000, then tried to clean up the mess afterward". Finance author and commentator E. Ray Canterbery agreed with Krugman's criticism.


title: Dot-com bubble

text: On Friday March 10, 2000, the NASDAQ Composite stock market index peaked at 5,048.62. However, on March 13, 2000, news that Japan had once again entered a recession triggered a global sell off that disproportionately affected technology stocks. Soon after, Yahoo! and eBay ended merger talks and the Nasdaq fell 2.6%, but the S&P 500 rose 2.4% as investors shifted from strong performing technology stocks to poor performing established stocks.


title: Dot-com bubble

text: On March 20, 2000, "Barron's" featured a cover article titled "Burning Up; Warning: Internet companies are running out of cash—fast", which predicted the imminent bankruptcy of many Internet companies. This led many people to rethink their investments. That same day, MicroStrategy announced a revenue restatement due to aggressive accounting practices. Its stock price, which had risen from $7 per share to as high as $333 per share in a year, fell $140 per share, or 62%, in a day. The next day, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates, leading to an inverted yield curve, although stocks rallied temporarily.


title: Dot-com bubble

text: Tangentially to all of speculation, Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson issued his conclusions of law in the case of "United States v. Microsoft Corp." (2001) and ruled that Microsoft was guilty of monopolization and tying in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. This led to a one-day 15% decline in the value of shares in Microsoft and a 350-point, or 8%, drop in the value of the Nasdaq. Many people saw the legal actions as bad for technology in general. That same day, Bloomberg News published a widely read article that stated: "It's time, at last, to pay attention to the numbers".


title: Dot-com bubble

text: On Friday, April 14, 2000, the Nasdaq Composite index fell 9%, ending a week in which it fell 25%. Investors were forced to sell stocks ahead of Tax Day, the due date to pay taxes on gains realized in the previous year. By June 2000, dot-com companies were forced to reevaluate their spending on advertising campaigns. On November 9, 2000, Pets.com, a much-hyped company that had backing from Amazon.com, went out of business only nine months after completing its IPO. By that time, most Internet stocks had declined in value by 75% from their highs, wiping out $1.755 trillion in value. In January 2001, just three dot-com companies bought advertising spots during Super Bowl XXXV. Without question September 11 attacks later accelerated the stock-market drop. Investor confidence was further eroded by several accounting scandals and the resulting bankruptcies, including the Enron scandal in October 2001, the WorldCom scandal in June 2002, and the Adelphia Communications Corporation scandal in July 2002.


title: Dot-com bubble

text: By the end of the stock market downturn of 2002, stocks had lost $5 trillion in market capitalization since the peak. At its trough on October 9, 2002, the NASDAQ-100 had dropped to 1,114, down 78% from its peak.


title: Dot-com bubble

text: After venture capital was no longer available, the operational mentality of executives and investors completely changed. A dot-com company's lifespan was measured by its burn rate, the rate at which it spent its existing capital. Many dot-com companies ran out of capital and went through liquidation. Supporting industries, such as advertising and shipping, scaled back their operations as demand for services fell. However, many companies were able to endure the crash; 48% of dot-com companies survived through 2004, albeit at lower valuations.


title: Dot-com bubble

text: Several companies and their executives, including Bernard Ebbers, Jeffrey Skilling, and Kenneth Lay, were accused or convicted of fraud for misusing shareholders' money, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission levied large fines against investment firms including Citigroup and Merrill Lynch for misleading investors.


title: Dot-com bubble

text: After suffering losses, retail investors transitioned their investment portfolios to more cautious positions. Popular Internet forums that focused on high tech stocks, such as Silicon Investor, Yahoo! Finance, and The Motley Fool declined in use significantly.


title: Dot-com bubble

text: Layoffs of programmers resulted in a general glut in the job market. University enrollment for computer-related degrees dropped noticeably. Aeron chairs, which retailed for $1,100 each, were liquidated en masse.


title: Dot-com bubble

text: As growth in the technology sector stabilized, companies consolidated; some, such as Amazon.com, eBay, and Google gained market share and came to dominate their respective fields. The most valuable public companies are now generally in the technology sector.


title: Dot-com bubble

text: In a 2015 book, venture capitalist Fred Wilson, who funded many dot-com companies and lost 90% of his net worth when the bubble burst, said about the dot-com bubble:


title: Anderson .Paak

text: Brandon Paak Anderson (born February 8, 1986), better known by his stage name Anderson .Paak (), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and drummer. He released his debut mixtape, "O.B.E. Vol. 1," in 2012 and went on to release "Venice" in 2014. In 2016 he followed up with "Malibu", which received a nomination for Best Urban Contemporary Album at the Grammy Awards, followed by "Oxnard", in 2018. At the 61st Grammy Awards, Paak won his first Grammy award for Best Rap Performance with the song "Bubblin". He won two more Grammy awards in 2020 for Best R&B Album with "Ventura" and for Best R&B Performance for "Come Home" (featuring André 3000).


title: Anderson .Paak

text: Apart from his solo career, Anderson formed the duo NxWorries in 2015 with record producer Knxwledge. He is frequently accompanied by the band Free Nationals, who play a variety of instruments, such as electric guitar, bass, piano, keyboards and drums, and also serve as backing vocalists. In 2021, he formed the duo Silk Sonic with fellow singer-songwriter Bruno Mars. The duo's debut single, "Leave the Door Open", became Anderson's first single to reach number one on the "Billboard" Hot 100, and was the recipient of four awards at the 64th Grammy Awards, including Song of the Year and Record of the Year.


title: Anderson .Paak

text: Brandon Paak Anderson was born on February 8, 1986, at St. John's Regional Medical Center in Oxnard, California. He is of mixed African American and Korean heritage. Anderson's mother was born in South Korea during the Korean War to an African American man who is presumed to have been a soldier. She was abandoned in a Korean orphanage and adopted by an African-American family in Compton, CA.


title: Anderson .Paak

text: At age seven, Anderson saw his estranged father attack his mother: "My little sister and I went out front and my pops was on top of my mom. There was blood in the street. He was arrested and that was the last time I saw him. I think he did 14 years."


title: Anderson .Paak

text: Shortly after he started his senior year of high school, his mother was criminally convicted of major fraud. "I got a call in class: 'They arrested your mom today.'" Anderson's mother pleaded guilty to defrauding investors of millions using her produce distribution company. She received a seven-year prison sentence.


title: Anderson .Paak

text: Anderson began producing music from his bedroom as a teenager, while attending Foothill Technology High School. His first experiences performing were as a drummer at his family's church. In 2011, prior to being a successful working musician, Anderson became homeless with his wife and infant son after he was dismissed from his job at a marijuana farm in Santa Barbara. Early in his career, Anderson used the stage name Breezy Lovejoy.


title: Anderson .Paak

text: In 2011, Anderson had started earning acceptance in the Los Angeles music world as he worked on his debut album. Shafiq Husayn of Sa-Ra and Los Angeles based rapper Dumbfoundead helped Anderson recover financially from losing his job in Santa Barbara by employing him as an assistant, videographer, editor, writer and producer. He completed "O.B.E. Vol.1" and released the album on June 30, 2012. He became the drummer for former "American Idol" semi-finalist Haley Reinhart. After the release of "O.B.E. Vol.1", Anderson changed his stage name to Anderson .Paak; he claims that the dot stands for "detail," the need to pay attention to detail.


title: Anderson .Paak

text: On November 27, 2013, Paak produced and recorded "Cover Art", an all-covers EP. Paak was inspired by the white artists of the 1950s who achieved commercial success by remaking songs written by Black blues and R&B singers, while hardly ever compensating the original artists. "Cover Art" reversed the process and transformed folk and rock classics from white musicians into a mold of soul, funk, jazz, left-field pop, hip-hop, and R&B. The album was released by the independent Hellfyre Club and OBE labels. Paak was the lead producer for Watsky's 2014 album "All You Can Do" and is featured on three of its sixteen tracks.


title: Anderson .Paak

text: On October 28, 2014, Paak released "Venice", his debut album as Anderson .Paak, on OBE and Steel Wool. Paak performed on six songs on Dr. Dre's 2015 album "Compton" and two on The Game's "The Documentary 2.5". In 2014, Paak also joined Jhené Aiko on her 'Enter The Void' tour. In October 2015, he announced that he had recorded material with Schoolboy Q and 9th Wonder. Paak released his second album, "Malibu", on January 15, 2016, to critical acclaim, featuring contributions from 9th Wonder, Rapsody, and Kaytranada.


title: Anderson .Paak

text: In January 2016, he indicated that he had been recording with Flying Lotus. On January 30, 2016, Paak spoke with Scott Simon of NPR's "Weekend Edition Saturday" about his tumultuous background as a child of mixed-race parents, that the "." in his name stands for "detail", his apprenticeship with Dr. Dre and how all of these influences shaped his music. On January 30, Paak announced via Twitter he has signed to Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment. He said he always sends his ideas to Dr. Dre and the two work very fast. In 2016, Paak was named one of the XXL Freshmen, along with Lil Dicky, Desiigner, Dave East, Denzel Curry, Lil Yachty, G Herbo, Lil Uzi Vert, 21 Savage, & Kodak Black.


title: Anderson .Paak

text: In August 2016, Paak performed on NPR Music's Tiny Desk Concert series with his backing band the Free Nationals. The concert became one of "the most popular in the history of the series," according to NPR.


title: Anderson .Paak

text: In 2018, Paak's new single "Til It's Over" featured in a new TV commercial released by Apple Inc. The advertisement was directed by Spike Jonze, featuring FKA Twigs in the video, promoting the Apple HomePod smart speaker. Along with collaborations with Apple, "Til It's Over" was used in a playlist in the 2018 video game, Forza Horizon 4. His song Bubblin was in the playlist of Madden NFL 19. In an interview with "Complex" magazine posted on October 10, 2018, Paak revealed that his forthcoming album "Oxnard" would be released on November 16, 2018. Paak released his third studio album "Oxnard" on November 16. The album is executive produced by Dr. Dre and is an homage to Paak's hometown in California. The album has a heavy funk theme throughout the project and features artists such as Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg, Pusha T, and J. Cole. The album features the song "Cheers", a Q-Tip featured track paying homage to his late friend Mac Miller. He also co-wrote 2 songs on the sixth album from Christina Aguilera, "Liberation" in 2018. On December 3, 2018, Paak announced a world tour in support of "Oxnard". The tour is titled "Andy's Beach Club" and began in the U.S. on February 11, 2019, before heading over to Europe.


title: Anderson .Paak

text: Paak released his fourth studio album, "Ventura", on April 12, 2019, featuring artists such as André 3000, Smokey Robinson, Brandy, and the late Nate Dogg, among others. "Ventura" was executive produced by Dr. Dre and was released by Dre's record label, Aftermath Entertainment. The title follows the theme of his previous albums, making his way up the California coast. Whereas "Oxnard" covered various snippets of Paak's life in vivid detail, "Ventura" homes in on more personal details of the artist himself, returning to the mine of slick R&B and funk rap of his acclaimed debut "Malibu." "Growing up in Oxnard gave me the grit and the church to find this voice of mine. One town over, I went further and found my depth," Paak said in a press statement. He also announced a new tour, titled "The Best Teef In the Game Tour" with Free Nationals, which began on May 17, 2019. The tour was supported by Thundercat, Mac DeMarco, Earl Sweatshirt, Noname, and Jessie Reyez. Paak<nowiki>'s music video "Bubblin"</nowiki> was nominated for Best Director at the Berlin Music Video Awards in 2019.


title: Anderson .Paak

text: On January 20, 2020, Paak was a guest showcase model on the television game show "The Price Is Right". Also in January 2020, Paak was featured on Eminem's eleventh studio album release titled "Music to be Murdered By" on the track "Lock It Up."


title: Anderson .Paak

text: Paak released the non-album single "Lockdown" in June 2020, coinciding with the commemoration of Juneteenth in the United States. The music video, directed by Dave Meyers featured appearances from Jay Rock, Dumbfoundead, SiR, Syd (of The Internet) and other musicians. In August 2020, Paak was featured on the soundtrack to the "Madden NFL 21" game, on the song "Cut Em In", featuring Rick Ross, which was also played during the end credits of "Tom & Jerry".


title: Anderson .Paak

text: On February 26, 2021, Paak and fellow American singer-songwriter Bruno Mars announced they formed a band together called Silk Sonic. Their debut studio album "An Evening with Silk Sonic" was released on November 12, 2021, and includes a collaboration with Thundercat and Bootsy Collins.


title: Anderson .Paak

text: On April 21, 2021, Anderson .Paak signed a worldwide administrative deal with Warner Chappell Music in partnership with Dr. Dre's Hard Workin' Black Folks publishing company. The agreement includes Paak's and Bruno Mars' Silk Sonic single, "Leave the Door Open" and both Paak's music catalog and future releases. The mentioned single topped the US "Billboard" Hot 100, becoming .Paak's first song to do so. "Smokin Out the Window" also reached the top 10 on the Hot 100. For the 2022 Grammy Awards, Silk Sonic received four Grammy nominations for Leave the Door Open.


title: Anderson .Paak

text: In November 2021, Paak partnered with Universal Music Group to form a new record label called Apeshit Inc.


title: Anderson .Paak

text: On February 13, 2022, Paak was a special guest (on drums) alongside fellow American rapper 50 Cent at the Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show, which featured performances from fellow American rappers Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, and Mary J. Blige.


title: Anderson .Paak

text: Paak met his wife, Jaylyn, a music student from South Korea, while she was in college. In 2011, prior to being a successful working musician, Paak was working at a marijuana farm in Santa Barbara. He was dismissed without warning and became homeless with his wife and infant son. The couple had a second son in 2017.


title: Anderson .Paak

text: Paak confirmed during an interview with The Breakfast Club that this is his second marriage, but that "Jaylyn is the one that matters."


title: Anderson .Paak

text: Paak has a tattoo on his chest, depicting Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Prince, and Miles Davis, and a tattoo on his arm with the text, ""When I’m gone please don’t release any posthumous albums or songs with my name attached. Those were just demos and never intended to be heard by the public".”


title: Anderson .Paak

text: In 2016, Paak founded The Brandon Anderson Foundation, a nonprofit organisation which aims to "Support and create initiatives that uplift, engage and support the community through access to the arts, supplemental education and unique experiences to expand the imagination". In December 2017, he launched .Paak House, an annual benefit concert which helps raise funds for the organisation. Past performers at the concert include The Game, Jay Rock, Kali Uchis, Jhené Aiko, Ty Dollar $ign, Cordae, Freddie Gibbs, Masego, Thundercat and Schoolboy Q. As of 2021, the organisation has raised more than half a million dollars and provided over 3,000 families in the Greater Los Angeles area with basic necessities. In 2021 .Paak House was hosted at College Park in Oxnard, CA.


title: Anderson .Paak

text: 60. Jeremy Childs (December 19, 2021)https://amp.vcstar.com/amp/8899466002. Ventura county star. Retrieved April 27, 2022.


title: Ponniyin Selvan

text: Ponniyin Selvan () is a historical fiction novel by Indian author Kalki Krishnamurthy, written in Tamil. It was first serialized in the weekly editions of "Kalki", a Tamil magazine, from 29 October 1950 to 16 May 1954 and later integrated into five volumes in 1955. In about 2,210 pages, it tells the story of early days of Chola prince Arulmozhivarman. Kalki visited Sri Lanka three times to gather information and for inspiration.


title: Ponniyin Selvan

text: "Ponniyin Selvan" is regarded as one of the greatest novels of Tamil literature. The fan-following for the series, which was published weekly in "Kalki", was such that it elevated the magazine circulation to reach a figure of 71,366 copies –a vast readership in a newly independent India. The book continued to be admired in the modern era, developing a cult following and fanbase among people of all generations. "Ponniyin Selvan" has garnered critical acclaim for its tightly woven plot, vivid narration, wit of the dialogue, and portrayal of the intrigues and power struggle of the Chola empire in the 10th-century.


title: Ponniyin Selvan

text: A film adaptation of the novel, directed by Indian filmmaker Mani Ratnam, is underway. The first part, "" (PS1), was released on 30 September 2022. The second part, "Ponniyin Selvan: II" (PS2), is expected to release in 2023, six to nine months after the theatrical release of PS1.


title: Ponniyin Selvan

text: The story revolves around Vandiyathevan, a charming, brave and courageous young man who sets out across the Chola land to deliver a message from the Crowned Prince, Aditya Karikalan, to the King and the Princess. The story shuttles between Vandiyathevan's travels in Chola country and the young Prince Arulmozhivarman's (later known as Raja Raja Chola) travels in Sri-Lanka. The narrative deals with attempts by his sister Kundavai to bring back Arulmozhivarman to establish political peace in a land seemingly beset with unrest and civil war plotted by vassals and petty chieftains.


title: Ponniyin Selvan

text: Parantaka Chola was succeeded by his second son Gandaraditya as the eldest son Rajaditya had died in a battle. At the time of Gandaraditya's death, his son Maduranthaka was a two-year-old child and hence Gandaraditya’s brother Arinjaya ascended the throne. After Arinjaya’s death, his son Parantaka II (Sundara Chola) was crowned. He had two sons, Adithya Karikalan, Arulmozhivarman, and a daughter named Kundavai.


title: Ponniyin Selvan

text: The story begins as the emperor Sundara Chola is ill and bedridden. His son Aditya Karikalan is the general of the Northern Command and lives in Kanchi. The younger son Arulmozhivarman is in Sri Lanka on a military campaign. Their sister Kundavai lives in the Chola royal household at Pazhayarai.


title: Ponniyin Selvan

text: The story advances when rumors abound that there is a conspiracy against Sundara Chola and his sons. Vallavarayan Vandiyathevan confirms these suspicions by eavesdropping on a secret meeting at the palace of his friend Kandhamaaran.


title: Ponniyin Selvan

text: In his youth, Aditya Karikalan had fallen in love with Nandhini, but she turned vengeful and vowed to destroy the Chola dynasty after Aditya Karikalan killed Veerapandiyan. We also meet Kundavai Piratti,


title: Ponniyin Selvan

text: who after hearing the news of the conspiracy sends Vandiyathevan to Sri Lanka to give a message to Arulmozhivarman to come back immediately.


title: Ponniyin Selvan

text: Besides these, there are other characters like Maduranthaka Thevar (the man whom the conspirators want to crown king), the son of Gandaraditya and Aniruddha Brahmarayar, Sundara Cholar’s Prime Minister and the man who has eyes and ears everywhere. He also meets Brahmarayar’s spy Azhwarkadiyan Nambi, a man who roams around the country challenging for debates. He collects information for the Prime Minister and is always around Vandiyathevan, rescuing him during trouble.


title: Ponniyin Selvan

text: Other characters include Vanathi, a Kodumbalur princess (the woman who becomes Arulmozhi's wife later) who is in love with Arulmozhi; Poonkuzhali, the boat woman who rows the future king to Lanka; Mandakini, the deaf and mute mother of the original Maduranthaka Chola and the aunt of Poonkuzhali. Most memorable among the female characters is Nandhini, whose beauty is said to have the power to influence any man. Manimegalai, the sister of Kandhamaran (the Kadamboor prince) who helps Nandhini without any knowledge that she herself is the conspirator and also he turns against Vandhiyathevan, his best friend.


title: Ponniyin Selvan

text: Meanwhile, with Poonkuzhali's help, Vandiyathevan reaches Sri-Lanka, meets Arulmozhivarman, and becomes his close friend. In Sri-Lanka, Arulmozhivarman realizes that his father had spent some time in an island near Sri-Lanka and had been with a girl born deaf and mute. He meets her and realizes from her drawing that she and his father have had two children. Who are those children and do they have the right to the throne? Later one day in Thirupurambayam forest Vandiyathevan sees Nandhini and the Pandya conspirators place a small boy on a throne and take a vow in front of him. Who is this boy and what right does he have to the throne?


title: Ponniyin Selvan

text: While coming back from Sri-Lanka, Arulmozhivarman is caught in a cyclone and goes missing. Rumor spreads that he is dead, but he survives and stays at Choodamani Viharam, a Buddhist monastery in. Then slowly the dispersed family starts assembling. The conspirators meanwhile choose one day in which both the king and both of his sons would be assassinated.


title: Ponniyin Selvan

text: Nandhini in the meantime calls Aditya Karikalan to Kadambur Palace to discuss about the future of kingdom. Though Karikalan knows that his life is in utter danger, he travels to Kadambur palace to meet with Nandhini. Aditya Karikalan is then assassinated at Kadambur palace.


title: Ponniyin Selvan

text: Meanwhile, Arulmozhivarman recovers and returns to Tanjore, where he was forced initially to accept being crowned. Later, he tricks everyone and crowns his uncle Uthama Chola. Thus the fifth part of the book is named as Tyaga Sigaram, pinnacle of sacrifice.


title: Ponniyin Selvan

text: The novel was first serialised in the weekly editions of Kalki during period from 29 October 1950 to 16 May 1954 resulting the total period of development of work be 3 years, 6 months, and 18 days. The following year, Managala Noolagam released the novel in book form.


title: Ponniyin Selvan

text: There have been several attempts to create film adaptations of "Ponniyin Selvan", beginning with an attempt in 1958 by M. G. Ramachandran. He bought the film rights to the novel for , and announced that he would produce, direct and star in the adaptation which would feature an ensemble cast including Gemini Ganesan, Vyjayanthimala Bali, Savitri, and Padmini. Before shooting could begin, Ramachandran met with an accident, and the wound took six months to heal, Ramachandran was unable to continue with the film despite renewing the rights four years later.


title: Ponniyin Selvan

text: In the late 1980s, actor Kamal Haasan and Mani Ratnam worked together on adopting the novel into a film. Ratnam revealed that he worked on a first draft of the film alongside Kamal Haasan, who had bought the rights of the novel from Ramachandran, but the pair shelved their plan as the project did not make financial sense at the time. Kamal Haasan then attempted to make the story into a forty-part television series during the early 1990s, and worked with writer Ra. Ki. Rangarajan on the screenplay, but the project was later stalled.


title: Ponniyin Selvan

text: In the 2000s, there were further attempts to make the book into television series by Makkal TV and by Kalaignar TV, through a project directed by Naga. A 32-hour animation film was planned by Rewinda Movie Toons, a Chennai-based animation studio, in 2008 and took seven years to complete. The film was set to be released by April 2015, but remains unreleased as of October 2022. In late 2010, Ratnam renewed his interest in his film project and worked alongside writer Jeyamohan to finalise the script for the film adaptation of "Ponniyin Selvan". The film was later shelved before the start of the filming stage, as the expected cost of production escalated. Jeyamohan stated that the film did not materialise as the team struggled to find available locations to shoot the film. He revealed that temple officials in Tamil Nadu refused to allow the team to film scenes on the premises and that the expensive cost of producing replica sets meant that it would not be a viable solution.


title: Ponniyin Selvan

text: In 2016, Eros International engaged Jeyamohan and Soundarya Rajinikanth, as a creative producer, to make the book into a web-series but the project did not develop into production. In early 2019, Soundarya Rajinikanth associated with another production house, May 6 Entertainment, and director Sooriyaprathap to make a web-series of the novel for MX Player. After years of little promotion, Soundarya announced that the project was still under the planning phase during September 2021. In January 2021, a further adapted web series produced by Eternitee Motion Krafte and directed by Ajay Pratheeb titled "Chiranjeevi Ponniyin Selvan" was announced. The makers announced that the series would have 125 episodes, with technicians such as Ilaiyaraaja and Sabu Cyril joining the team.


title: Ponniyin Selvan

text: In early 2019, Mani Ratnam officially restarted production on his film project. His two-film adaptation featured an ensemble cast consisting of Vikram, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Jayam Ravi, Karthi and Trisha. In September 2021, the filming for both the parts got completed. The film was released on 30 September 2022 in five Indian languages.


title: Ponniyin Selvan

text: Avvai Shanmugam was the first to organise a conference on Tamil drama in Erode, and the first to organise a drama contest, in 1945.


title: Ponniyin Selvan

text: One of the prize winning scripts was 'Raja Raja Chozhan,’ which was staged in 1955 with Shanmugam as prince Rajendra.


title: Ponniyin Selvan

text: 'Raja Raja Chozhan' was also presented at the Motilal Nehru Centenary celebrations in Delhi in 1961, earning compliments from Nehru for the splendid acting.


title: Ponniyin Selvan

text: Avvai Shanmugam played the role of Maamallan in Kalki's 'Sivakamiyin Sabatham' and the sets were grand, befitting the story. For the scene in which Paranjothi tames an elephant that runs amok, two men inside a specially made elephant, operated levers as they walked in unison.


title: Ponniyin Selvan

text: In 1999 the book was adapted into a stage play by E. Kumaravel and was staged by Magic Lantern Theater in Buck's Theatre inside YMCA Nandanam, Chennai. The script's length was originally over nine hours long, but was shortened into a performance time of four hours and 20 minutes and featured 72 actors on a multi-level setting.


title: Ponniyin Selvan

text: Again, the book was adapted into a stage play in a very grand scale by SS International Live along with Magic Lantern theatre group in Chennai, in June 2014. The crew includes Kumaravel, who penned the screenplay & dialogues, Thotta Tharani as art director, Preethi Athreya as costume designer and Bhanu leading the make-up and hair styling department. Pravin directed the play.


title: Ponniyin Selvan

text: In 2017, Nila comics started releasing series of comic books where every comic book is an adaptation of two chapters from the novel. It is available in Tamil and English. As of January 2019, There have been 18 comic books released in Tamil and 10 in English.


title: Ponniyin Selvan

text: There are at least five different translations of Ponniyin Selvan available in English by Indra Neelamegam, Pavithra Srinivasan, CV Karthik Narayanan, Varalotti Rengasamy and Sumeetha Manikandan. On 21 February 2015, a Sanskrit translation by Rajalakshmi Srinivasan was released at a public function in Chennai.


title: Life of Pi (film)

text: Life of Pi is a 2012 adventure-drama film directed and produced by Ang Lee and written by David Magee. Based on Yann Martel's 2001 novel of the same name, it stars Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Rafe Spall, Tabu and Adil Hussain in lead roles. The storyline revolves around two survivors of a shipwreck. One is a sixteen-year-old Indian boy named Pi Patel (Suraj Sharma) and the other is a ferocious Bengal tiger named Richard Parker that are on a lifeboat stranded in the Pacific Ocean for 227 days.


title: Life of Pi (film)

text: The film began development shortly after the release of the book and would see directors M. Night Shyamalan, Alfonso Cuarón and Jean-Pierre Jeunet involved at various stages before the hiring of Lee. Filming was split between India, Taiwan and Montreal in 2011, with Rhythm & Hues Studios (R&H) handling the visual effects work.


title: Life of Pi (film)

text: The film had its worldwide premiere as the opening film of the 50th New York Film Festival at both the Walter Reade Theater and Alice Tully Hall in New York City on September 28, 2012. It was theatrically released in the U.S. that same day by 20th Century Fox. "Life of Pi" became a critical and commercial success, having grossed over $609 million. It was nominated for three Golden Globe Awards, including Best Picture – Drama and Best Director, and won for Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score. At the 85th Academy Awards it had eleven nominations, including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay, and won four, including Best Director for Ang Lee.


title: Life of Pi (film)

text: In Canada, a young writer meets middle-aged Pi Patel. The writer has been told that Pi's life story would be a good subject for a book. Pi tells the writer the following story about his life:


title: Life of Pi (film)

text: Pi's father names him Piscine Molitor Patel after Piscine Molitor, a famous swimming pool in France. In secondary school in Pondicherry, he adopts the Greek letter "Pi" as his nickname to avoid bullying. He is raised in a Hindu family, but at 12 years old, he is introduced to Christianity and then Islam, and decides to follow all three religions as he "just wants to love God". His mother supports his desire to grow, but his rationalist father tries to secularize him. Pi's family owns a zoo, and Pi takes interest in the animals, especially a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. After Pi gets dangerously close to Richard Parker, his father forces him to witness the tiger killing a goat.


title: Life of Pi (film)

text: When Pi is 16, his father announces that due to "The Emergency" they must move to Canada, where he intends to settle and sell the animals. The family books passage with the animals on a Japanese freighter. During a storm, the ship founders while Pi is on deck. He struggles to find his family, but a crewman throws him into a lifeboat. A freed zebra jumps onto the boat with him, breaking its leg. The ship sinks into the Mariana Trench, drowning his family. Pi briefly sees what appears to be a survivor, but it turns out to be Richard Parker.


title: Life of Pi (film)

text: After the storm, Pi awakens in the lifeboat with the zebra and is joined by an orangutan. A spotted hyena emerges from under a tarpaulin, forcing Pi to retreat to the end of the boat. The hyena kills the zebra and later the orangutan. Richard Parker comes out from under the tarpaulin, killing the hyena before retreating back to cover for several days.


title: Life of Pi (film)

text: Pi fashions a small raft from flotation vests which he tethers to the lifeboat to be safe from Richard Parker. Despite his moral code against killing, he begins fishing, enabling him to sustain the tiger. When the tiger jumps into the sea to hunt for fish and then swims toward Pi, Pi considers letting him drown, but ultimately helps him back into the boat. One night, a humpback whale destroys the raft and its supplies. Pi trains Richard Parker to accept him in the boat, and realizes that caring for the tiger is helping to keep himself alive.


title: Life of Pi (film)

text: Weeks later, they encounter a floating island. It is a lush jungle of edible plants, freshwater pools and a large population of meerkats, enabling Pi and Richard Parker to eat and drink and regain strength. At night, the island transforms into a hostile environment. Richard Parker retreats to the lifeboat while Pi and the meerkats sleep in the trees; the water pools turn acidic. Pi deduces that the island is carnivorous after finding a human tooth embedded in a flower.


title: Life of Pi (film)

text: Pi and Richard Parker leave the island, eventually reaching Mexico after over 200 days at sea. Pi is heartbroken that Richard Parker does not acknowledge him before disappearing into the jungle. Pi is rescued and brought to a hospital. Insurance agents for the Japanese freighter company interview him, but do not believe his story and ask what really happened. He tells a different story, in which the animals are replaced by humans: his mother for the orangutan, an amiable sailor for the zebra, and the ship's brutish cook for the hyena. The cook kills the sailor and feeds on his flesh. He then kills Pi's mother, after which Pi kills him and uses his remains as food and fish bait. The insurance agents are dissatisfied with this story, but leave without questioning Pi further.


title: Life of Pi (film)

text: When the writer recognizes the parallels between the two stories, Pi says that it does not matter which story is true because his family died either way. He asks which story the author prefers, and the author chooses the first, to which Pi replies, "and so it goes with God". Glancing at a copy of the insurance report, the writer reads that Pi survived his adventure "in the company of an adult Bengal tiger."


title: Life of Pi (film)

text: The project had numerous directors and writers attached, and the "Los Angeles Times" credited Fox 2000 Pictures executive Elizabeth Gabler with keeping the project active. In February 2003 Gabler acquired the project to adapt "Life of Pi" into a film. She hired screenwriter Dean Georgaris to write a screenplay.


title: Life of Pi (film)

text: The following October, Fox 2000 announced a partnership with M. Night Shyamalan to direct the film. Shyamalan was attracted to the novel particularly because its main character also comes from Pondicherry in India. The partners anticipated for Shyamalan to direct the film adaptation after completing "The Village". He also replaced Georgaris as the screenwriter, writing a new screenplay for the film. Ultimately, Shyamalan chose to film "Lady in the Water" after "The Village"; he said later, "I was hesitant [to direct] because the book has kind of a twist ending. And I was concerned that as soon as you put my name on it, everybody would have a different experience."


title: Life of Pi (film)

text: In March 2005, Fox 2000 entered talks with Alfonso Cuarón to direct. Cuarón decided to direct "Children of Men" instead, and in October 2005, Fox 2000 hired Jean-Pierre Jeunet to direct the film. Jeunet began writing the screenplay with Guillaume Laurant, and filming was scheduled to begin in mid-2006, partially in India. Jeunet eventually left the project.


title: Life of Pi (film)

text: In February 2009, Fox 2000 Pictures hired Ang Lee to direct the film. In May 2010, Lee and the producer Gil Netter proposed a reported budget of US$120 million, at which the studio balked, placing the project's development on hold for a short time. David Magee was hired to write the screenplay, as Lee began to spend several months looking for someone to cast as Pi. Lee stated that water was a major inspiration behind making the film in 3-D: "I thought this was a pretty impossible movie to make technically. It's so expensive for what it is. You sort of have to disguise a philosophical book as an adventure story. I thought of 3-D half a year before 'Avatar' was on the screen. I thought water, with its transparency and reflection, the way it comes out to you in 3-D, would create a new theatrical experience and maybe the audience or the studio would open up their minds a little bit to accept something different." Following the premiere of the film, Lee stated that his desire to take risks and chances helped with his direction, saying "In a strange way it did feel like we're the vessels, we have to surrender to movie god. We have to let things happen. I just had this feeling, I'll follow this kid to wherever this movie takes me. I saw the movie start to unravel in front of me."


title: Life of Pi (film)

text: After 3,000 young men auditioned for the film's lead, in October 2010 Lee cast Suraj Sharma, a 17-year-old student and an acting newcomer. Upon receiving the role, Sharma underwent extensive training in ocean survival, as well as in yoga and meditation practices to prepare for the part. Two months after Sharma was cast, it was announced that Gérard Depardieu would play the role of the Cook, Irrfan Khan would play the adult Pi, and Adil Hussain would play Pi's father, while Tabu was in talks to play the role of Pi's mother.


title: Life of Pi (film)

text: Canadian actor Rajiv Surendra, who had played a small part in "Mean Girls", was one of the auditioners for the role of Pi. In 2016, he published "The Elephants in My Backyard", a memoir of his failed campaign to win the part. In an interview with Deccan Chronicle in 2017, American actor Naren Weiss revealed that he too unsuccessfully auditioned for the role of Pi.


title: Life of Pi (film)

text: In April 2011, it was announced that Tobey Maguire would be joining the film in the role originally referred to as "a reporter." However, in September 2012, it was announced that Lee had cut Maguire from the film. He justified the cut by stating that he did it "to be consistent with the other casting choices made for the film, I decided to go with an entirely international cast." Like Shahrukh Khan, Lee described Maguire's presence also as "too jarringly recognizable." He reshot the scenes with Rafe Spall in the role of the book's actual author.


title: Life of Pi (film)

text: Principal photography for the film began on January 18, 2011, in Puducherry at the Holy Rosary Church in Muthialpet. Filming continued in Puducherry until January 31 and moved to other parts of India, including Munnar in Kerala, as well as Taiwan. The crew filmed in Taiwan for five and a half months in Taipei Zoo, an airport in Taichung, and Kenting National Park, located in Pingtung County where Lee was born. The ocean scenes of the film were shot at a giant wave tank built by the crew in an abandoned airport. The tank is known as the world's largest self-generating wave tank, with a capacity of 1.7 million gallons. With production scheduled to last two and a half months at the tank, cinematographer Claudio Miranda assisted in the tank's design in order to get the most out of it for lighting, explaining, "We knew we were going to be inside there shooting for 2.5 months, so it was worth it to be able to do anything we want. On all these kind of scenes, we had an idea of what the weather would be like. In that tank, I can create storm clouds, nightfall. We had curtains that I can block out [light], doors to open and let in real sunlight," Miranda says. "So lighting-wise, [the movie] had a big ebb and flow." After photography was completed in Taiwan, production moved back to India and concluded in Montreal into early 2012.


title: Life of Pi (film)

text: The lead visual effects company for "Life of Pi" was Rhythm & Hues Studios (R&H). 3D effects for the film were created by a team of R&H artists in Los Angeles, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kuala Lumpur, Vancouver and Kaohsiung.


title: Life of Pi (film)

text: The R&H VFX supervisor Bill Westenhofer said that discussions of the project began with Ang Lee in August 2009. Westenhofer noted that Lee "knew we had done the lion in the first . He asked, 'Does a digital character look more or less real in 3D?' We looked at each other and thought that was a pretty good question." He also stated that during these meetings, Lee said, "'I look forward to making art with you.' This was really for me one of the most rewarding things I've worked on and the first chance to really combine art with VFX. Every shot was artistic exploration, to make the ocean a character and make it interesting we had to strive to make it as visually stunning as possible." Rhythm & Hues spent a year on research and development, " building upon its already vast knowledge of CG animation" to develop the tiger. The British Film Institute's "Sight & Sound" magazine suggested that, ""Life of Pi" can be seen as the film Rhythm & Hues has been building up to all these years, by taking things they learned from each production from "Cats & Dogs" to "Yogi Bear", integrating their animals in different situations and environments, pushing them to do more, and understanding how all of this can succeed both visually and dramatically."


title: Life of Pi (film)

text: Artist Abdul Rahman in the Malaysian branch underscored the global nature of the effects process, saying that "the special thing about "Life of Pi" is that it was the first time we did something called remote rendering, where we engaged our cloud infrastructure in Taiwan called CAVE (Cloud Animation and Visual Effects)."


title: Life of Pi (film)

text: Additional visual effects studios that worked on the film include MPC, yU+co, Buf, Crazy Horse Effects, Look Effects, Christov Effects, Lola VFX, Reliance Mediaworks, and Stereo D.


title: Life of Pi (film)

text: The film's musical score was composed by Mychael Danna, who previously wrote the music to Lee's films "The Ice Storm" and "Ride with the Devil". A soundtrack album of the music was released by Sony Classical Records on 16 November 2012. The album features the track "Pi's Lullaby", which was co-written by Danna and Bombay Jayashri, who performs the song in Tamil.


title: Life of Pi (film)

text: Due to the film's holiday release, "Life of Pi"s financial success was uncertain. Dorothy Pomerantz of "Forbes" said, "It looks like chances are very slim that the film will earn back its production and marketing costs let alone turn a profit." Pomerantz attributed this to the fact that film was not led by a big name star and faced other winter blockbusters. John Horn and Ben Fritz of the "Los Angeles Times" compared the film to Martin Scorsese's "Hugo", a large-budget 3D film that opened during the 2011 Thanksgiving week. They said that "Life of Pi" could have ended up like "Hugo" by "failing to connect with moviegoers" and become a "financial failure." Similar speculation had been made by other news sources.


title: Life of Pi (film)

text: Whether or not Hurricane Sandy would affect the film's publicity was also a question. Because the film includes a massive storm, it was speculated that the recent storm might result in lower box office revenue due to the unintentional overtones of Sandy's devastation. A Fox spokesperson made note that there were no plans to change the film's marketing approach.


title: Life of Pi (film)

text: During the marketing campaign for "Life of Pi", the film was promoted as "the next "Avatar"" in trailers and TV spots. James Cameron, the director of "Avatar", later became the subject of two featurettes that focus on the film's 3D and computer-generated imagery. In addition, the original novel was re-released in a movie tie-in edition. This was later followed by the release of "The Making of Life of Pi: A Film, a Journey", a book by Jean-Christophe Castelli that details how "Life of Pi" was brought to the big screen.


title: Life of Pi (film)

text: "Life of Pi" had a wide release in the United States on November 21, 2012, in both traditional and 3D viewing formats. It was originally scheduled to be released on December 14, 2012, but when "" was announced for the same release date, "Life of Pi" was postponed a week. It was then shifted a month in advance.


title: Life of Pi (film)

text: "Life of Pi" was released on DVD, Blu-ray, and Blu-ray 3D in North America, on March 12, 2013. The film's 2D Blu-ray release contains many special features, including a one-hour making-of special entitled "A Filmmaker's Epic Journey" and two featurettes focusing on the film's visual effects, as well as two behind-the-scene looks at storyboarding and pre-production artwork. In addition, the film's 3D Blu-ray release contains five deleted scenes and a featurette entitled "VFX Progressions" that takes a look at what was shot and how it evolved to be what was rendered on screen. The film was later released on 4K Blu-ray and digital copy on March 8, 2016.


title: Life of Pi (film)

text: , "Life of Pi" had grossed US$124,772,844 in North America, and US$484,029,542 in other countries, for a worldwide total of US$609,006,177. During its opening on the extended Thanksgiving weekend, the film debuted in 2,902 theaters throughout the United States and Canada and grossed US$30,573,101. On the Chinese mainland, from November 22 to December 24, the film topped the box office for three weeks, and grossed over US$91 million. , it had also topped the box office for three weeks in Australia and Chile, and four weeks in Mexico and Peru. The film became the highest-grossing Hollywood film of the year in India, and was the tenth highest-grossing Hollywood release in the country. "Life of Pi" has earned HK$45,058,653 (US$5.8 million) at the Hong Kong box office, making it the highest grossing Ang Lee film in Hong Kong. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, it grossed () by February 2013. At the annual 2012 UK and Ireland box office, it was the year's eighth highest-grossing film, third highest-grossing 3D film, highest-grossing adventure film, and highest-grossing PG-rated film.


title: Life of Pi (film)

text: "Life of Pi" has an 86% approval rating on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes based on 253 reviews with an average rating of 7.90/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "A 3D adaptation of a supposedly "unfilmable" book, Ang Lee's "Life of Pi" achieves the near impossible – it's an astonishing technical achievement that's also emotionally rewarding." On Metacritic, the film has an average score of 79 out of 100, based on 44 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Life of Pi (film)

text: Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" gave "Life of Pi" four stars out of four, referring to it as "a miraculous achievement of storytelling and a landmark of visual mastery" as well as "one of the best films of the year". He particularly praised the film's use of 3D that he described as "deepen[ing] the film's sense of places and events". Similarly, Peter Travers of "Rolling Stone" highlighted the use of 3D in the film suggesting that "like "Hugo", from Martin Scorsese, "Life of Pi" puts 3D in the hands of a worldclass film artist. (Ang) Lee uses 3D with the delicacy and lyricism of a poet. You don't just watch this movie, you live it." Parmita Borah of "Eastern Fare" says, "There is this one scene in particular where the entire ocean is covered with jelly fish which makes you feel like 'this is what heaven must look like'."


title: Life of Pi (film)

text: There is always a poetic aesthetic that Lee brings to his best work – the brutal martial arts ballet of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" or the homophobic hatred against the backcountry grandeur of "Brokeback Mountain," which would win him an Oscar for directing in 2006. In "Life of Pi," certainly given its technological achievements, the filmmaker has raised the bar. Not since James Cameron's breathtaking blue "Avatar" in 2009 has 3-D had such impact.


title: Life of Pi (film)

text: In an interview with the "Los Angeles Times", Cameron himself highlighted the film's use of 3D, noting that


title: Life of Pi (film)

text: "Life of Pi" breaks the paradigm that 3-D has to be some big, action fantasy spectacle, superhero movie ... The movie is visually amazing, inventive, and it works on you in ways you're not really aware of. It takes you on a journey, and unless you've read the book – which I hadn't – you have no idea where that journey is going. It does what good 3-D is supposed to do, which is, it allows you to forget you're watching a 3-D movie.


title: Life of Pi (film)

text: According to French journalist Marjolaine Gout, the film is "a philosophical tale where Noah's Ark metamorphoses into "The Raft of the Medusa"". She adds that it is "a visual masterpiece" in which "Ang Lee proves, once again, his talent as a universal storyteller". She also writes about the visual poetry of the movie reminding viewers of the works of classical painters and the symbolism of kolams. The film got 8 out of 10 stars, the readers gave 7 stars.


title: Life of Pi (film)

text: I'm happy it works so well as a film. Even if the ending is not as ambiguous as the book's, the possibility that there might be another version of Pi's story comes at you unexpectedly and raises the same important questions about truth, perception and belief.


title: Life of Pi (film)

text: A. O. Scott of "The New York Times" was critical of the film's narrative frame, arguing that "the movie invites you to believe in all kinds of marvelous things, but it also may cause you to doubt what you see with your own eyes – or even to wonder if, in the end, you have seen anything at all". Scott further criticized the film for repressing the darker themes of the tale. Nick Schager of "The Village Voice" also panned the film, stating: "A stacked-deck theological inquiry filtered through a "Titanic"-by-way-of–"Slumdog Millionaire" narrative, "Life of Pi" manages occasional spiritual wonder through its 3-D visuals but otherwise sinks like a stone". Peter Bradshaw of "The Guardian" gave the film 2 out of 5 stars, and states "despite some lovely images and those eyepopping effects, it is a shallow and self-important shaggy-dog story – or shaggy-tiger story ... It deserves every technical prize going."


title: Life of Pi (film)

text: Richard Corliss of "Time" selected the film as the third-best movie of 2012, as well as calling it the next "Avatar."


title: Life of Pi (film)

text: The film was noted for containing a "subtle, artistic warning" about the dangers of increased anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions and ocean acidification. The scene of the acidic island Pi and Richard Parker encounter saw comparison to Castello Aragonese in the Tyrrhenian Sea near Naples and Richard Parker's final dismissive departure representing the "not too pleasant face of Gaia."


title: Life of Pi (film)

text: "Life of Pi" was nominated for eleven Academy Awards and won four (more than any other film from 2012): Best Director (Ang Lee), Best Cinematography (Claudio Miranda), Best Visual Effects (Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan de Boer and Donald R. Elliott) and Best Original Score (Mychael Danna). It was nominated for three Golden Globe Awards and won for Best Original Score.


title: Life of Pi (film)

text: Despite winning the Oscar for Best Visual Effects at the 2013 Academy Awards, Rhythm & Hues Studios (who provided most of the visual effects for the film) was forced to file for bankruptcy on February 11, 2013, citing unfair competition from subsidized and tax exempt foreign studios. This sparked a demonstration of nearly 500 VFX artists who protested outside the 2013 Academy Awards. Inside, during the Oscars, when R&H visual effects supervisor Bill Westenhofer brought up R&H during his acceptance speech for "Life of Pi," the microphone was cut off. This started an uproar among many visual effects industry professionals, changing profile pictures on social media such as Facebook and Twitter to show the green key color, in order to raise awareness for the issues the industry was facing. In addition, director Ang Lee was criticized by the protest leader for his failure to thank the effect industry, "Ang thanked the crew, the actors, his agent, his lawyer and the entire population of Taiwan right down to the team that built the wave-pool on the soundstage where Pi was shot, but failed to mention hundreds of artists who made not only the main character of the tiger, but replaced that pool, making it look like a real ocean for 80% of his movie." He was also criticized for earlier complaining about the costs of visual effects. In February 2014, Christina Lee Storm and Scott Leberecht released the documentary "Life After Pi" to YouTube. The documentary details the role Rhythm & Hues played in "Life of Pi" as well as the consequent bankruptcy. Bill Westenhofer also discusses his experience at the Oscars as he accepted a Visual Effects award for Rhythm & Hues' work on "Life of Pi".


title: Life of Pi (film)

text: A trust named after Carnatic musician Irayimman Thampi has accused Bombay Jayashri's Oscar-nominated song "Pi's Lullaby" of not being an original composition. The trust has alleged that the first eight lines of the song is a word-by-word translation of composer Thampi's renowned lullaby in Malayalam "Omanathinkal Kidavo". Jayashri has denied the allegation.


title: Life of Pi (film)

text: A 2013 investigation by the Hollywood Reporter brought to light leaked emails suggesting that animals involved in the filming of "Life of Pi" had been mistreated during the filming despite the American Humane Association's "No Animals Were Harmed" certification on the film. In an April 7, 2011, AHA monitor, Gina Johnson, wrote that "last week we almost killed King", in reference to a tiger used for filming. The email goes on to suggest that the incident, in which the tiger apparently nearly drowned while filming a scene, would be "downplayed" in the official report to the AHA. Additionally, the exposé alleges that Johnson was involved in a romantic relationship with one of the film's producers, possibly representing a conflict of interest. "Life of Pi" director Ang Lee has described the animal abuse allegations as "an accident" in interviews. Following the publication of the Hollywood Reporter investigation, Gina Johnson resigned from her position with the AHA.


title: Life of Pi (film)

text: New animal welfare concerns were raised in 2015 when PETA released a video that showed "Life of Pi" animal trainer Michael Hackenberger swearing at and whipping a young tiger 19 times. In April 2016, the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals filed animal cruelty charges against Hackenberger based on the video evidence.


title: Nelson Rockefeller

text: Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (July 8, 1908 – January 26, 1979), sometimes referred to by his nickname Rocky, was an American businessman and politician who served as the 41st vice president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. A member of the Republican Party and wealthy Rockefeller family, he previously served as the 49th governor of New York from 1959 to 1973. He also served as assistant secretary of State for American Republic Affairs for Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman (1944–1945) as well as under secretary of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW) under Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 to 1954. In 1980, HEW split into 2 cabinet level agencies: Health & Human Services (HHS) & Department of Education. A grandson of Standard Oil founder John D. Rockefeller, he was a noted art collector and served as administrator of Rockefeller Center in Manhattan, New York City.


title: Nelson Rockefeller

text: Rockefeller was often considered to be liberal, progressive, or moderate. In an agreement that was termed the Treaty of Fifth Avenue, Rockefeller persuaded Richard Nixon to alter the Republican Party platform just before the 1960 Republican Convention. In his time, liberals in the Republican Party were called "Rockefeller Republicans". As Governor of New York from 1959 to 1973, Rockefeller's achievements included the expansion of the State University of New York, efforts to protect the environment, the construction of the Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza in Albany, increased facilities and personnel for medical care, and the creation of the New York State Council on the Arts.


title: Nelson Rockefeller

text: After unsuccessfully seeking the Republican presidential nomination in 1960, 1964, and 1968, Rockefeller was appointed vice president of the United States under President Gerald Ford, who ascended to the presidency following the August 1974 resignation of Richard Nixon. Rockefeller was the second vice president appointed to the position under the 25th Amendment, following Ford himself. Rockefeller declined to be placed on the 1976 Republican ticket with Ford. He retired from politics in 1977 and died two years later.


title: Nelson Rockefeller

text: As a businessman, Rockefeller was president and later chair of Rockefeller Center, Inc., and he formed the International Basic Economy Corporation in 1947. Rockefeller assembled a significant art collection and promoted public access to the arts. He served as trustee, treasurer, and president of the Museum of Modern Art, and founded the Museum of Primitive Art in 1954. In the area of philanthropy, he founded the Rockefeller Brothers Fund in 1940 with his four brothers and established the American International Association for Economic and Social Development in 1946.


title: Nelson Rockefeller

text: Rockefeller was born on July 8, 1908 at 12:10 pm, in Bar Harbor, Maine. Named Nelson Aldrich after his maternal grandfather Nelson W. Aldrich, he was the second son and third child of financier and philanthropist John Davison Rockefeller Jr. and philanthropist and socialite Abigail "Abby" Aldrich. He had two older siblings—Abby and John III—as well as three younger brothers: Laurance, Winthrop, and David. Their father, John Jr., was the only son of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller and schoolteacher Laura Spelman. Their mother, Abby, was a daughter of Senator Nelson Wilmarth Aldrich and Abigail P. Greene.


title: Nelson Rockefeller

text: Rockefeller grew up in his family's homes in New York City (mainly at 10 West 54th Street), a country home in Pocantico Hills, New York, and a summer home in Seal Harbor, Maine. The family also travelled widely. He received his elementary, middle, and high school education at the Lincoln School in New York City, an experimental school administered by Teachers College of Columbia University and funded by the Rockefeller family. Nelson was known to disappear on the way to school, and was once found exploring the city's sewer system. As a child, he was the "indisputable leader" of his brothers, becoming particularly close to Laurance.


title: Nelson Rockefeller

text: Although his parents saw potential for Nelson to succeed in life, he was a poor student. Generally in the lower third of his class, he almost failed ninth grade and had undiagnosed dyslexia. Nelson's biographer Joseph E. Persico wrote that as a child he "demonstrated a discipline that throughout life would serve him in lieu of brilliance." Although Nelson wasn't accepted into Princeton University, he got into Dartmouth College, arriving on campus in 1926. While in college, he met Mary Todhunter Clark at the summer home in Maine, and the two fell in love. They were engaged in autumn 1929. In 1930, he graduated "cum laude" with an A.B. degree in economics from Dartmouth College, where he was a member of Casque and Gauntlet (a senior society), Phi Beta Kappa, and Psi Upsilon. Rockefeller and Mary were married after he graduated, on June 23, 1930, at Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.


title: Nelson Rockefeller

text: Following his graduation, Rockefeller worked in a number of family-related businesses, including Chase National Bank; Rockefeller Center, Inc., joining the board of directors in 1931, serving as president, 1938–1945 and 1948–1951, and as chairman, 1945–1953 and 1956–1958; and Creole Petroleum Corporation, the Venezuelan subsidiary of Standard Oil of New Jersey, 1935–1940.


title: Nelson Rockefeller

text: Rockefeller served as a member of the Westchester County Board of Health from 1933 to 1953. His service with Creole Petroleum led to his deep, lifelong interest in Latin America and he became fluent in the Spanish language.


title: Nelson Rockefeller

text: In 1940, after he expressed his concern to President Franklin D. Roosevelt over Nazi influence in Latin America, the President appointed Rockfeller to the new position of Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs (CIAA) in the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs (OCIAA). Rockefeller was charged with overseeing a program of U.S. cooperation with the nations of Latin America to help raise the standard of living, to achieve better relations among the nations of the western hemisphere, and to counter rising Nazi influence in the region. He facilitated this form of cultural diplomacy by collaborating with the Director of Latin American Relations at the CBS radio network Edmund A. Chester.


title: Nelson Rockefeller

text: The Roosevelt administration encouraged Hollywood to produce films to encourage positive relations with Latin America. Rockefeller required changes in the movie "Down Argentine Way" (1940) because it was considered offensive to Argentines. It was much more popular in the United States than in Latin America. Charlie Chaplin's satirical "The Great Dictator" (1940) was banned in several countries.


title: Nelson Rockefeller

text: In the spring of 1943, Rockefeller supported extensive negotiations and mission of North American members of the Junior Chamber of Commerce to Latin America as Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs of the US State Department, establishing the Junior Chamber International after its first Inter-American Congress in December 1944 at Mexico City. After coming back from the Inter-American Congress, Rockefeller convinced his father, John D. Rockefeller Jr., to donate the land to the city of New York to build the foundations of what would later become the United Nations Headquarters.


title: Nelson Rockefeller

text: In 1944, President Roosevelt appointed Rockefeller Assistant Secretary of State for American Republic Affairs. As Assistant Secretary of State, he initiated the Inter-American Conference on Problems of War and Peace in 1945. The conference produced the Act of Chapultepec, which provided the framework for economic, social and defense cooperation among the nations of the Americas, and set the principle that an attack on one of these nations would be regarded as an attack on all and jointly resisted. Rockefeller signed the Act on behalf of the United States.


title: Nelson Rockefeller

text: Rockefeller was a member of the U.S. delegation at the United Nations Conference on International Organization at San Francisco in 1945; this gathering marked the UN's founding. At the Conference there was considerable opposition to the idea of permitting, within the UN charter, the formation of regional pacts such as the Act of Chapultepec. Rockefeller, who believed that the inclusion was essential, especially to U.S. policy in Latin America, successfully urged the need for regional pacts within the framework of the UN. Rockefeller was also instrumental in persuading the UN to establish its headquarters in New York City.


title: Nelson Rockefeller

text: President Truman fired Rockefeller, reversed his policies, and shut down the OCIAA. Reich says that in official Washington, Rockefeller had become "a discredited figure, a pariah." He returned to New York.


title: Nelson Rockefeller

text: Rockefeller formed the International Basic Economy Corporation (IBEC) in 1947 to jointly continue the work he had begun as Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs. He intermittently served as president through 1958. IBEC was a for-profit business that established companies that would stimulate underdeveloped economies of certain countries. It was hoped that the success of these companies would encourage investors in those countries to set up competing or supporting businesses and further stimulate the local economy. Rockefeller established model farms in Venezuela, Ecuador, and Brazil. He maintained a home at Monte Sacro, the farm in Venezuela.


title: Nelson Rockefeller

text: Rockefeller returned to public service in 1950 when President Harry S. Truman appointed him Chairman of the International Development Advisory Board. The Board was charged with developing a plan for implementing the President's Point IV program of providing foreign technical assistance. In 1952 President-Elect Dwight D. Eisenhower asked Rockefeller to Chair the President's Advisory Committee on Government Organization to recommend ways of improving efficiency and effectiveness of the executive branch of the federal government. Rockefeller recommended thirteen reorganization plans, all of which were implemented. The plans implemented organizational changes in the Department of Defense, the Office of Defense Mobilization and the Department of Agriculture. His recommendations also led to the creation of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Rockefeller was appointed Under-Secretary of this new department in 1953. Rockefeller was active in HEW's legislative program and implemented measures that added ten million people under the Social Security program.


title: Nelson Rockefeller

text: In 1954, he was appointed Special Assistant to the President for Foreign Affairs (sometimes referred to as Special Assistant to the President for Psychological Warfare). He was tasked with providing the President with advice and assistance in developing programs by which the various departments of the government could counter Soviet foreign policy challenges. As part of this responsibility he was named as the President's representative on the Operations Coordinating Board, a committee of the National Security Council. The other members were the Undersecretary of State, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, the director of the Foreign Operations Administration, and the Central Intelligence Agency director. The OCB's purpose was to oversee coordinated execution of security policy and plans, including clandestine operations.


title: Nelson Rockefeller

text: Rockefeller broadly interpreted his directive and became an advocate for foreign economic aid as indispensable to national security. Most of Rockefeller's initiatives were blocked by Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and his Under Secretary, Herbert Hoover Jr., both traditionalists who resented what they perceived as outside interference from Rockefeller, and by Treasury Secretary George M. Humphrey for financial reasons. However, in June 1955 Rockefeller convened a week-long meeting of experts from various disciplines to assess the U.S. position in the psychological aspects of the Cold War and develop proposals that could give the U.S. the initiative at the upcoming Summit Conference in Geneva. The meeting was held at the Marine Corps school at Quantico, Virginia, and became known as the Quantico Study. The Quantico panel developed a proposal called "open skies" wherein the U.S. and the Soviet Union would exchange blueprints of military installations and agree to mutual aerial reconnaissance. Thus military buildups would be revealed and the danger of surprise attacks minimized. It was a counter proposal to the Soviet proposal of universal disarmament. The feeling was that the Soviets could not refuse the proposal if they were serious about disarmament.


title: Nelson Rockefeller

text: In March 1955, Rockefeller proposed the creation of the Planning Coordination Group, a small high level group that would plan and develop national security operations, both overt and covert. The group consisted of the Undersecretary of State, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, the director the CIA, and Special Assistant Rockefeller as chairman. The group's purpose was to oversee CIA operation and other anti-communist actions. However, State Department officials and CIA Director Allen Dulles refused to cooperate with the group and its initiatives were stymied or ignored. In September Rockefeller recommended the abolishment of the PCG, and in December he resigned as Special Assistant to the President.


title: Nelson Rockefeller

text: In 1956, he created the Special Studies Project, a major seven-panel planning group directed by Henry Kissinger and funded by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, of which he was then president. It was an ambitious study created to define the central problems and opportunities facing the U.S. in the future, and to clarify national purposes and objectives. The reports were published individually as they were released and were republished together in 1961 as "Prospect for America: The Rockefeller Panel Reports".


title: Nelson Rockefeller

text: The Special Studies Project came into national prominence with the early release of its military subpanel's report, whose principal recommendation was a massive military buildup to counter a then-perceived military superiority threat posed by the USSR. The report was released two months after the October 1957 launch of Sputnik, and its recommendations were fully endorsed by Eisenhower in his January 1958 State of the Union address.


title: Nelson Rockefeller

text: This initial contact with Kissinger was to develop into a lifelong relationship; Kissinger was later to be described as his closest intellectual associate. From this period Rockefeller employed Kissinger as a personally funded part-time consultant, principally on foreign policy issues, until the appointment to his staff became full-time in late 1968. In 1969, when Kissinger entered Richard Nixon's administration, Rockefeller paid him $50,000 as a severance payment.


title: Nelson Rockefeller

text: Rockefeller resigned from the federal government in 1956 to focus on New York State and on national politics. From September 1956 to April 1958, he chaired the Temporary State Commission on the Constitutional Convention. That was followed by his chairmanship of the Special Legislative Committee on the Revision and Simplification of the Constitution. In the state election of 1958, he was elected governor of New York by over 570,000 votes, defeating incumbent W. Averell Harriman, even though 1958 was a banner year for Democrats elsewhere in the nation. Rockefeller was re-elected in the three subsequent elections in 1962, 1966 and 1970, increasing the state's role in education, environmental protection, transportation, housing, welfare, medical aid, civil rights, and the arts. To pay for the increased government spending, Rockefeller increased taxation - for example, a sales tax was introduced in New York in 1965. He resigned three years into his fourth term and began to work at the Commission on Critical Choices for Americans.


title: Nelson Rockefeller

text: Rockefeller supported reform of New York's abortion laws beginning around 1968. The proposals supported by his administration would not have repealed the long-standing prohibition, but would have expanded the exceptions allowed for the protection of the mother's health, or in circumstances of fetal abnormality. The reform bills did not pass. However, when an outright repeal of the prohibition managed to pass in 1970, Rockefeller signed it. In 1972, he vetoed another bill that would have restored the abortion ban. He said in his 1972 veto message, "I do not believe it right for one group to impose its vision of morality on an entire society."


title: Nelson Rockefeller

text: Rockefeller created the first State Council on the Arts in the country, which became a model for the National Endowment for the Arts. He also oversaw the construction of the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Spa State Park. He supported the bill, enacted in June 1966, which acquired Olana, home of Hudson River School artist Frederic Edwin Church, as a state historic site.


title: Nelson Rockefeller

text: Rockefeller engaged in massive building projects that left a profound mark on the state of New York. (Some of his detractors claimed that he had an "Edifice Complex.") He was personally interested in the planning, design, and construction of the many projects initiated during his administration, consistent with his interest in architecture. In addition, Rockefeller's construction programs included the US$2 billion South Mall in Albany, later renamed the Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza by Gov. Hugh Carey in 1978. It is a campus of skyscrapers housing state offices and public plazas punctuated by an egg-shaped arts center. Along with the Empire State Plaza, in 1966 Rockefeller proposed the construction of the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building in Harlem. The building was ultimately completed in 1973. While in office he supported the construction of the World Trade Center.


title: Nelson Rockefeller

text: Rockefeller achieved virtual total prohibition of discrimination in housing and places of public accommodation. He outlawed job discrimination based on sex or age; increased by nearly 50% the number of African Americans and Hispanics holding state jobs; appointed women to head the largest number of state agencies in state history; prohibited discrimination against women in education, employment, housing and credit applications; admitted the first women to the State Police; initiated affirmative action programs for women in state government; and backed New York's ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. He outlawed "block-busting" as a means of artificially depressing housing values and banned discrimination in the sale of all forms of insurance.


title: Nelson Rockefeller

text: In 1973, Rockefeller worked with former Delaware Governor Russell W. Peterson to establish the Commission on Critical Choices for Americans. The Commission was a private study project on national and international policy similar to the Special Studies Project he led 15 years earlier. It was made up of a nationally representative, bipartisan group of 42 prominent Americans drawn from far-ranging fields of interest who served on a voluntary basis. Members included the majority and minority leaders of both houses of Congress. The Commission gathered information and insights to better understand the problems facing America, and to present to the American public the "critical choices" to be made in facing those problems.


title: Nelson Rockefeller

text: Rockefeller resigned as New York's governor in December 1973 in order to devote himself full-time to the commission's work as its chairman. He continued in that position after being sworn in as vice president, serving until February 28, 1975.


title: Nelson Rockefeller

text: Consistent with his personal interest in design and planning, Rockefeller began expansion of the New York State Parks system and improvement of park facilities. He persuaded voters to approve three major bond acts to raise more than $300 million for acquisition of park and forest preserve land and he built or started 55 new state parks. Rockefeller initiated studies of environmental issues, such as loss of agricultural land through development—an issue now characterized as "sprawl." In September 1968, Rockefeller appointed the Temporary Study Commission on the Future of the Adirondacks. This led to his introduction to the Legislature in 1971 of a bill to create the controversial Adirondack Park Agency, which was designed to protect the Adirondack State Park from encroaching development. Also, he launched the Pure Waters Program, the first state bond issue to end water pollution; created the Department of Environmental Conservation; banned DDT and other pesticides; and established the Office of Parks and Recreation.


title: Nelson Rockefeller

text: During his 15 years as governor, Rockefeller doubled the size of the state police, established the New York State Police Academy, adopted the "stop and frisk" and "no-knock" laws to strengthen police powers, and authorized 228 additional state judgeships to reduce court congestion.