title: Carl Linnaeus

text: Daniel Solander was living in Linnaeus's house during his time as a student in Uppsala. Linnaeus was very fond of him, promising Solander his eldest daughter's hand in marriage. On Linnaeus's recommendation, Solander travelled to England in 1760, where he met the English botanist Joseph Banks. With Banks, Solander joined James Cook on his expedition to Oceania on the "Endeavour" in 1768–71. Solander was not the only apostle to journey with James Cook; Anders Sparrman followed on the "Resolution" in 1772–75 bound for, among other places, Oceania and South America. Sparrman made many other expeditions, one of them to South Africa.


title: Carl Linnaeus

text: Perhaps the most famous and successful apostle was Carl Peter Thunberg, who embarked on a nine-year expedition in 1770. He stayed in South Africa for three years, then travelled to Japan. All foreigners in Japan were forced to stay on the island of Dejima outside Nagasaki, so it was thus hard for Thunberg to study the flora. He did, however, manage to persuade some of the translators to bring him different plants, and he also found plants in the gardens of Dejima. He returned to Sweden in 1779, one year after Linnaeus's death.


title: Carl Linnaeus

text: The first edition of "" was printed in the Netherlands in 1735. It was a twelve-page work. By the time it reached its 10th edition in 1758, it classified 4,400 species of animals and 7,700 species of plants. People from all over the world sent their specimens to Linnaeus to be included. By the time he started work on the 12th edition, Linnaeus needed a new invention—the index card—to track classifications.


title: Carl Linnaeus

text: In "Systema Naturae", the unwieldy names mostly used at the time, such as """", were supplemented with concise and now familiar "binomials", composed of the generic name, followed by a specific epithet—in the case given, "Physalis angulata". These binomials could serve as a label to refer to the species. Higher taxa were constructed and arranged in a simple and orderly manner. Although the system, now known as binomial nomenclature, was partially developed by the Bauhin brothers (see Gaspard Bauhin and Johann Bauhin) almost 200 years earlier, Linnaeus was the first to use it consistently throughout the work, including in monospecific genera, and may be said to have popularised it within the scientific community.


title: Carl Linnaeus

text: After the decline in Linnaeus's health in the early 1770s, publication of editions of "Systema Naturae" went in two different directions. Another Swedish scientist, Johan Andreas Murray issued the "Regnum Vegetabile" section separately in 1774 as the "Systema Vegetabilium", rather confusingly labelled the 13th edition. Meanwhile, a 13th edition of the entire "Systema" appeared in parts between 1788 and 1793 under the editorship of Johann Friedrich Gmelin. It was through the "Systema Vegetabilium" that Linnaeus's work became widely known in England, following its translation from the Latin by the Lichfield Botanical Society as "A System of Vegetables" (1783–1785).


title: Carl Linnaeus

text: ('Opinion of the learned world on the writings of Carl Linnaeus, Doctor') Published in 1740, this small octavo-sized pamphlet was presented to the State Library of New South Wales by the Linnean Society of NSW in 2018. This is considered among the rarest of all the writings of Linnaeus, and crucial to his career, securing him his appointment to a professorship of medicine at Uppsala University. From this position he laid the groundwork for his radical new theory of classifying and naming organisms for which he was considered the founder of modern taxonomy.


title: Carl Linnaeus

text: ' (or, more fully, ') was first published in 1753, as a two-volume work. Its prime importance is perhaps that it is the primary starting point of plant nomenclature as it exists today.


title: Carl Linnaeus

text: "" was first published in 1737, delineating plant genera. Around 10 editions were published, not all of them by Linnaeus himself; the most important is the 1754 fifth edition. In it Linnaeus divided the plant Kingdom into 24 classes. One, Cryptogamia, included all the plants with concealed reproductive parts (algae, fungi, mosses and liverworts and ferns).


title: Carl Linnaeus

text: ' (1751) was a summary of Linnaeus's thinking on plant classification and nomenclature, and an elaboration of the work he had previously published in ' (1736) and ' (1737). Other publications forming part of his plan to reform the foundations of botany include his ' and ': all were printed in Holland (as were ' (1737) and " (1735)), the "Philosophia" being simultaneously released in Stockholm.


title: Carl Linnaeus

text: At the end of his lifetime the Linnean collection in Uppsala was considered one of the finest collections of natural history objects in Sweden. Next to his own collection he had also built up a museum for the university of Uppsala, which was supplied by material donated by Carl Gyllenborg (in 1744–1745), crown-prince Adolf Fredrik (in 1745), Erik Petreus (in 1746), Claes Grill (in 1746), Magnus Lagerström (in 1748 and 1750) and Jonas Alströmer (in 1749). The relation between the museum and the private collection was not formalised and the steady flow of material from Linnean pupils were incorporated to the private collection rather than to the museum. Linnaeus felt his work was reflecting the harmony of nature and he said in 1754 "the earth is then nothing else but a museum of the all-wise creator's masterpieces, divided into three chambers". He had turned his own estate into a microcosm of that 'world museum'.


title: Carl Linnaeus

text: In April 1766 parts of the town were destroyed by a fire and the Linnean private collection was subsequently moved to a barn outside the town, and shortly afterwards to a single-room stone building close to his country house at Hammarby near Uppsala. This resulted in a physical separation between the two collections; the museum collection remained in the botanical garden of the university. Some material which needed special care (alcohol specimens) or ample storage space was moved from the private collection to the museum.


title: Carl Linnaeus

text: In Hammarby the Linnean private collections suffered seriously from damp and the depredations by mice and insects. Carl von Linné's son (Carl Linnaeus) inherited the collections in 1778 and retained them until his own death in 1783. Shortly after Carl von Linné's death his son confirmed that mice had caused "horrible damage" to the plants and that also moths and mould had caused considerable damage. He tried to rescue them from the neglect they had suffered during his father's later years, and also added further specimens. This last activity however reduced rather than augmented the scientific value of the original material.


title: Carl Linnaeus

text: In 1784 the young medical student James Edward Smith purchased the entire specimen collection, library, manuscripts, and correspondence of Carl Linnaeus from his widow and daughter and transferred the collections to London. Not all material in Linné's private collection was transported to England. Thirty-three fish specimens preserved in alcohol were not sent and were later lost.


title: Carl Linnaeus

text: In London Smith tended to neglect the zoological parts of the collection; he added some specimens and also gave some specimens away. Over the following centuries the Linnean collection in London suffered enormously at the hands of scientists who studied the collection, and in the process disturbed the original arrangement and labels, added specimens that did not belong to the original series and withdrew precious original type material.


title: Carl Linnaeus

text: Much material which had been intensively studied by Linné in his scientific career belonged to the collection of Queen Lovisa Ulrika (1720–1782) (in the Linnean publications referred to as "Museum Ludovicae Ulricae" or "M. L. U."). This collection was donated by her grandson King Gustav IV Adolf (1778–1837) to the museum in Uppsala in 1804. Another important collection in this respect was that of her husband King Adolf Fredrik (1710–1771) (in the Linnean sources known as "Museum Adolphi Friderici" or "Mus. Ad. Fr."), the wet parts (alcohol collection) of which were later donated to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and is today housed in the Swedish Museum of Natural History at Stockholm. The dry material was transferred to Uppsala.


title: Carl Linnaeus

text: The establishment of universally accepted conventions for the naming of organisms was Linnaeus's main contribution to taxonomy—his work marks the starting point of consistent use of binomial nomenclature. During the 18th century expansion of natural history knowledge, Linnaeus also developed what became known as the "Linnaean taxonomy"; the system of scientific classification now widely used in the biological sciences. A previous zoologist Rumphius (1627–1702) had more or less approximated the Linnaean system and his material contributed to the later development of the binomial scientific classification by Linnaeus.


title: Carl Linnaeus

text: The Linnaean system classified nature within a nested hierarchy, starting with three kingdoms. Kingdoms were divided into classes and they, in turn, into orders, and thence into genera ("singular:" genus), which were divided into species ("singular:" species). Below the rank of species he sometimes recognised taxa of a lower (unnamed) rank; these have since acquired standardised names such as "variety" in botany and "subspecies" in zoology. Modern taxonomy includes a rank of family between order and genus and a rank of phylum between kingdom and class that were not present in Linnaeus's original system.


title: Carl Linnaeus

text: Linnaeus's groupings were based upon shared physical characteristics, and not based upon differences. Of his higher groupings, only those for animals are still in use, and the groupings themselves have been significantly changed since their conception, as have the principles behind them. Nevertheless, Linnaeus is credited with establishing the idea of a hierarchical structure of classification which is based upon observable characteristics and intended to reflect natural relationships. While the underlying details concerning what are considered to be scientifically valid "observable characteristics" have changed with expanding knowledge (for example, DNA sequencing, unavailable in Linnaeus's time, has proven to be a tool of considerable utility for classifying living organisms and establishing their evolutionary relationships), the fundamental principle remains sound.


title: Carl Linnaeus

text: Linnaeus's system of taxonomy was especially noted as the first to include humans ("Homo") taxonomically grouped with apes ("Simia"), under the header of "Anthropomorpha".


title: Carl Linnaeus

text: German biologist Ernst Haeckel speaking in 1907 noted this as the "most important sign of Linnaeus's genius".


title: Carl Linnaeus

text: Linnaeus classified humans among the primates beginning with the first edition of "". During his time at Hartekamp, he had the opportunity to examine several monkeys and noted similarities between them and man. He pointed out both species basically have the same anatomy; except for speech, he found no other differences. Thus he placed man and monkeys under the same category, "Anthropomorpha", meaning "manlike." This classification received criticism from other biologists such as Johan Gottschalk Wallerius, Jacob Theodor Klein and Johann Georg Gmelin on the ground that it is illogical to describe man as human-like. In a letter to Gmelin from 1747, Linnaeus replied:


title: Carl Linnaeus

text: The theological concerns were twofold: first, putting man at the same level as monkeys or apes would lower the spiritually higher position that man was assumed to have in the great chain of being, and second, because the Bible says man was created in the image of God (theomorphism), if monkeys/apes and humans were not distinctly and separately designed, that would mean monkeys and apes were created in the image of God as well. This was something many could not accept. The conflict between world views that was caused by asserting man was a type of animal would simmer for a century until the much greater, and still ongoing, creation–evolution controversy began in earnest with the publication of "On the Origin of Species" by Charles Darwin in 1859.


title: Carl Linnaeus

text: After such criticism, Linnaeus felt he needed to explain himself more clearly. The 10th edition of ' introduced new terms, including "Mammalia" and "Primates", the latter of which would replace "Anthropomorpha" as well as giving humans the full binomial "Homo sapiens". The new classification received less criticism, but many natural historians still believed he had demoted humans from their former place of ruling over nature and not being a part of it. Linnaeus believed that man biologically belongs to the animal kingdom and had to be included in it. In his book ', he said, "One should not vent one's wrath on animals, Theology decree that man has a soul and that the animals are mere 'aoutomata mechanica,' but I believe they would be better advised that animals have a soul and that the difference is of nobility."


title: Carl Linnaeus

text: Linnaeus added a second species to the genus "Homo" in "" based on a figure and description by Jacobus Bontius from a 1658 publication: "Homo troglodytes" ("caveman") and published a third in 1771: "Homo lar". Swedish historian Gunnar Broberg states that the new human species Linnaeus described were actually simians or native people clad in skins to frighten colonial settlers, whose appearance had been exaggerated in accounts to Linnaeus. For "Homo troglodytes" Linnaeus asked the Swedish East India Company to search for one, but they did not find any signs of its existence. "Homo lar" has since been reclassified as "Hylobates lar", the lar gibbon.


title: Carl Linnaeus

text: In the first edition of "", Linnaeus subdivided the human species into four varieties: "Europæus albesc[ens]" (whitish European), "Americanus rubesc[ens]" (reddish American), "Asiaticus fuscus" (tawny Asian) and "Africanus nigr[iculus]" (blackish African).


title: Carl Linnaeus

text: In the tenth edition of Systema Naturae he further detailed phenotypical characteristics for each variety, based on the concept of the four temperaments from classical antiquity, and changed the description of Asians' skin tone to "luridus" (yellow). Additionally, Linnaeus created a wastebasket taxon "monstrosus" for "wild and monstrous humans, unknown groups, and more or less abnormal people".


title: Carl Linnaeus

text: Linnaeus's applied science was inspired not only by the instrumental utilitarianism general to the early Enlightenment, but also by his adherence to the older economic doctrine of Cameralism. Additionally, Linnaeus was a state interventionist. He supported tariffs, levies, export bounties, quotas, embargoes, navigation acts, subsidised investment capital, ceilings on wages, cash grants, state-licensed producer monopolies, and cartels.


title: Carl Linnaeus

text: Anniversaries of Linnaeus's birth, especially in centennial years, have been marked by major celebrations. Linnaeus has appeared on numerous Swedish postage stamps and banknotes. There are numerous statues of Linnaeus in countries around the world. The Linnean Society of London has awarded the Linnean Medal for excellence in botany or zoology since 1888. Following approval by the Riksdag of Sweden, Växjö University and Kalmar College merged on 1 January 2010 to become Linnaeus University. Other things named after Linnaeus include the twinflower genus "Linnaea", "Linnaeosicyos" (a monotypic genus in the family Cucurbitaceae), the crater Linné on the Earth's moon, a street in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the cobalt sulfide mineral Linnaeite.


title: Carl Linnaeus

text: Andrew Dickson White wrote in "A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom" (1896):


title: Carl Linnaeus

text: The mathematical PageRank algorithm, applied to 24 multilingual Wikipedia editions in 2014, published in "PLOS ONE" in 2015, placed Carl Linnaeus at the top historical figure, above Jesus, Aristotle, Napoleon, and Adolf Hitler (in that order).


title: Carl Linnaeus

text: In the 21st century, Linnæus's taxonomy of human "races" has been problematised and discussed. Some critics claim that Linnæus was one of the forebears of the modern pseudoscientific notion of scientific racism, while others hold the view that while his classification was stereotyped, it did not imply that certain human "races" were superior to others.


title: Morfydd Clark

text: Morfydd Clark (born ) is a Welsh actress. She is best known for her role as Galadriel in the Amazon Prime fantasy series "" (2022–). She received a number of accolades for her performance in the film "Saint Maud" (2019), including a BAFTA Cymru as well as BIFA and BAFTA Rising Star Award nominations.


title: Morfydd Clark

text: Clark's other films include "Love & Friendship" (2016) and "The Personal History of David Copperfield" (2019). Also on television, she played Mina Harker in "Dracula" (2020) and Sister Clara in "His Dark Materials" (2019).


title: Morfydd Clark

text: Clark was born in Sweden and moved with her family to Penarth, Wales, when she was two years old. She described her father as a "Northern Irish Glaswegian", and her maternal side is from North Wales. Her parents spoke English together, but her maternal grandparents were Welsh speakers, which led to her attending a Welsh language school. She is bi-lingual in English and Welsh. Her first taste of acting was playing Mrs Dai Bread in a school production of "Under Milk Wood". After struggling with dyslexia and ADHD, she left school at 16. In 2009, she was accepted to British Youth Music Theatre's production of "According to Brian Haw" and to the National Youth Theatre of Wales, before training at the Drama Centre London.


title: Morfydd Clark

text: Clark left Drama Centre in her final term to star in Saunders Lewis' play "Blodeuwedd" with Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru. She has appeared in "Violence and Son" at the Royal Court, as Juliet in "Romeo and Juliet" at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, and in "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" at the Donmar Warehouse. She played Frederica Vernon in Whit Stillman's film "Love & Friendship". In 2016, Clark was named as one of the Screen International "Stars of Tomorrow" for her early work in television and theatre. She appeared in the film "The Call Up" and as Cordelia in "King Lear" at The Old Vic. In 2017, she starred in "Interlude In Prague", and portrayed Catherine Dickens in "The Man Who Invented Christmas".


title: Morfydd Clark

text: In 2019, she appeared in the films "Crawl", "The Personal History of David Copperfield", and "Eternal Beauty". Also that year, Clark starred as Maud in the psychological horror film "Saint Maud", for which, she was nominated for Best Actress of the 2020 British Independent Film Awards. For her performance as Maud, she won the BAFTA Cymru best actress award, and the 2021 BAFTA Rising Star Award.


title: Morfydd Clark

text: In December 2019, it was reported (and in early 2020, confirmed) that Clark would portray a younger version of the character Galadriel in "" on Amazon Prime.


title: Morfydd Clark

text: Morfydd has cited that she is "proud" that being a Welsh speaker influenced her portrayal of her bilingual character, Galadriel. The actor stated, “I feel I can be much more romantic and deep in Welsh. So that was really useful for me, because I was thinking, ‘[What’s the] language of her heart? What language does she think in?'" In another interview, the actor discussed her education in Welsh: “Well, I went to a Welsh language school and everything is taught in Welsh. Welsh is phonetic, so it’s great for people with dyslexia. I started learning English in the third year. What my Tolkien-obsessed mother was really proud of and passed on to us was that Tolkien was inspired by the Welsh. Oddly enough, his work was a badge of honour for me, because the Welsh are Welsh and obsessed with anything Welsh." She also mentioned enjoying speaking in Welsh on-set with co-stars Owain Arthur and Trystan Gravelle.


title: SoundCloud

text: SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming services in the world and is available in 190 countries and territories. The service has more than 76 million active monthly users as of November 2021. SoundCloud offers both free and paid memberships on the platform, available for mobile, desktop and Xbox devices. SoundCloud has evolved from a traditional online streaming platform to an entertainment company.


title: SoundCloud

text: SoundCloud was established in Berlin on August 27, 2007, by Swedish sound designer Alexander Ljung and Swedish electronic musician Eric Wahlforss, and the website was launched on October 17, 2008. It was originally intended to allow musicians to collaborate by facilitating the sharing and discussion of recordings, but later transformed into a publishing tool for music distribution. According to "Wired" magazine, soon after its inception, SoundCloud began to challenge the dominance of Myspace as a platform for musicians to distribute their music.


title: SoundCloud

text: In April 2009, SoundCloud received €2.5 million Series A funding from Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures. In May 2010, SoundCloud announced it had one million users. In January 2011, it was reported that SoundCloud had raised US$10 million Series B funding from Union Square Ventures and Index Ventures. On 15 June 2011, SoundCloud reported five million registered users and investments from Ashton Kutcher and Guy Oseary's A-Grade Fund, and on 23 January 2012, it reported 10 million registered users. In May 2012, it was announced that SoundCloud had 15 million users, and site usage was increasing by 1.5 million users per month.


title: SoundCloud

text: In March 2014, Twitter announced it would partner with SoundCloud in developing its first integrated music app. However, the project never moved forward because SoundCloud was unable to accommodate licensed music due to a lack of necessary arrangements with music labels. In July 2013, SoundCloud had 40 million registered users and new users were joining at 20 million per month.


title: SoundCloud

text: SoundCloud announced in January 2014 that it had commenced licensing negotiations with major music companies to address the matter of unauthorized, copyrighted material regularly appearing on the platform. The announcement followed a round of funding in which US$60 million was raised, resulting in a $700 million valuation. According to media sources, the negotiations were initiated in an attempt to avoid similar problems faced by Google, which had been forced to handle a large number of take down notices on its YouTube video-sharing platform.


title: SoundCloud

text: In May 2015, it was reported that Twitter was considering the acquisition of SoundCloud for approximately US$2 billion. However, the prospect of acquisition was discounted by the media, with one report stating that "the numbers didn't add up", and Bobby Owsinski hypothesizing on the "Forbes" website in July that SoundCloud's ongoing inability to secure deals with the major music labels was the foremost culprit.


title: SoundCloud

text: On 28 September 2016, Spotify announced that it was in talks to buy SoundCloud, but on 8 December 2016, Spotify was reported to have abandoned its acquisition plans.


title: SoundCloud

text: In Spring 2017, SoundCloud initially faced being sold after not raising the $100 million needed to support the platform. The initial evaluation of SoundCloud at $700 million did not hold as strong to investors after their financial shortages.


title: SoundCloud

text: In July 2017, SoundCloud announced layoffs and the closure of two of its five offices in San Francisco and London in an effort to manage costs. In August 2017, SoundCloud announced it reached an agreement on a $169.5 million investment from The Raine Group and Temasek. In connection with the investment, veteran digital media operators Kerry Trainor and Michael Weissman joined the SoundCloud team respectively as chief executive officer and Chief Operating Officer. Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss remained with the company—Ljung as chairman of the board, and Wahlforss as Chief Product Officer until 2019, when Wahlforss transitioned into an advisory role.


title: SoundCloud

text: On 2 March 2021, SoundCloud announced a new pay model for artists, entitled "fan-powered royalties", which went into effect on 1 April 2021. Under this new model, royalties come directly from the subscription and advertising revenue that listeners earn for SoundCloud, instead of allotting a certain portion of the total "pool" of revenue earned by SoundCloud to each artist based on streams. This means that a fan who listens to more advertisements or pays for a SoundCloud Go subscription will be more valuable to an artist, supposedly benefiting smaller independent artists with fans who listen to their music frequently. Little is known about how beneficial fan-powered royalties have been for artists, beyond SoundCloud's claims, over the traditional pooled royalties model, which most competing services such as Spotify continue to use.


title: SoundCloud

text: In December 2021, SoundCloud Chief Financial Officer, Drew Wilson, said the company is "at the doorsteps of break-even" and said the company expects to generate a net profit by 2023.


title: SoundCloud

text: In August 2014, SoundCloud announced a new program known as "On SoundCloud", which would allow "Premier" partners to monetize their content through pre-roll audio ads, channel sponsorships, mobile display ads, and native content. The company announced deals with a number of content partners (including Comedy Central and Funny or Die), independent labels, and YouTube multi-channel networks, and that it was in "active and ongoing, advanced discussions" with major record labels.


title: SoundCloud

text: In December 2014, it was reported that SoundCloud could potentially raise approximately US$150 million in new financing, resulting in a valuation surpassing one billion dollars. The major label issue became prominent again when the new financing information was released, as the lack of monetization was presented as an issue—SoundCloud signed an agreement with Warner Music Group as part of the new Premier program that allows both Warner Music, which also has a minor stake in the company, and its publishing division to collect royalties for songs they have chosen to monetize on the site; meanwhile, the other labels remained skeptical of the company's business model. By December 2014, SoundCloud had shared ad revenue with about 60 other Premier Partners. Concerns over the amount of revenue from the program led Sony Music Entertainment to pull its content from the service entirely in May 2015. In June 2015, SoundCloud announced that it had reached a deal with the Merlin Network, a group representing 20,000 independent record labels, to monetize their content through the Premier partner program.


title: SoundCloud

text: In January and March 2016, SoundCloud reached respective deals with Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment. A UMG spokesperson told "The New York Times" that the deal would give the company an option to require certain content to be restricted to paid subscribers, a statement suggesting that SoundCloud was preparing to launch its own subscription streaming service.


title: SoundCloud

text: In February 2017, SoundCloud launched a mid-range subscription tier named SoundCloud Go, that allows users to remove ads and listen offline for $US5 per month through the site. The original version, which was renamed to SoundCloud Go+, allows access to (at the time) over 150 million songs, offline playback, no ads, no previews, and premium music tracks for $US10 per month through the site. Both subscriptions were categorized for listeners, with separate subscription services provided specifically for creators.


title: SoundCloud

text: In May 2022, SoundCloud announced the company had acquired the Singapore based music AI company Musiio, with the aims of increase features on the site such as discovery features.


title: SoundCloud

text: A new APN was released in December 2012 which improved mobile device support and added features such as concurrent listening, site navigation, and the ability to create personal collections. At this time, SoundCloud was reported to be "reaching 180 million people per month", with 10 hours of content being uploaded per minute.


title: SoundCloud

text: SoundCloud offers two mobile app; the main SoundCloud app is oriented towards streaming, with music discovery, playlist, and sharing features. In November 2015, its separate app known as SoundCloud Pulse was released for Android and iOS; it is primarily oriented towards content creators, allowing users to upload and manage their uploads, reply to comments, and view statistics. By the end of 2016, SoundCloud Pulse had over 100 million downloads. In July 2020, SoundCloud introduced "Insights" into its mobile app, discontinuing SoundCloud Pulse. Through the new "Insights" portal all users can see their top listener, top city, top country and top 50 tracks, while Pro Unlimited subscribers have access to their top 50 everything (listeners, cities, countries, and tracks).


title: SoundCloud

text: On 29 March 2016, SoundCloud unveiled SoundCloud Go, a subscription-based music streaming service; the service provides an ad-free experience, offline playback, and integrates licensed music from major labels into the existing, user-uploaded content of the service. Co-founder Eric Wahlforss stated that this aspect would help to differentiate SoundCloud Go from other music streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music, as it technically provides a larger total library of songs than competing services, with a higher degree of diversity in its content. "The Verge" found that, excluding existing content uploaded by users, the service's initial library of songs is smaller than those of its closest competitors.


title: SoundCloud

text: The service was initially priced at US$10 per month. On 28 February 2017, SoundCloud renamed its main Go plan "SoundCloud Go+", adding a secondary tier titled "SoundCloud Go" at a US$5 price point, which does not include the licensed music library but still offers ad-free and offline playback. SoundCloud Go+ offers mix tracks for certain DJ apps, has a complete catalogue, and has 256 kbit/s streaming.


title: SoundCloud

text: SoundCloud offers premium services for musicians under the banner SoundCloud Pro. The SoundCloud Pro service allows users to upload up to six hours of audio, and adds additional features such as enhanced analytics, and the ability to disable comments on tracks. The Pro Unlimited tier allows unlimited uploads.


title: SoundCloud

text: As SoundCloud evolved and expanded beyond its initial user base, consisting primarily of grassroots musicians, many users complained that it had sacrificed its usefulness to independent artists in an attempt to appeal to the masses, perhaps in preparation for public sale. Such criticism particularly followed the launching of a revamped website in 2013 which, according to former CEO Alexander Ljung, was implemented for the purpose of increasing SoundCloud usage.


title: SoundCloud

text: On 3 July 2014, TorrentFreak reported that SoundCloud offered unlimited removal powers to certain copyright holders, allowing those copyright holders to unilaterally remove paid subscribers' content without recourse.


title: SoundCloud

text: In April 2015, SoundCloud announced a new partnership with Zefr, a content tracking company that works with YouTube to help identify songs on the platform and facilitate either takedowns or ads being run against it.


title: SoundCloud

text: In July 2016, SoundCloud notified registered users via email that it would be "phasing out" groups because they "were not a strong driver to help users share their new tracks to the most users effectively". This announcement was met with alarm and concerned responses from numerous artists, who deemed the change unacceptable because it would eliminate their only effective means of sharing music on SoundCloud.


title: SoundCloud

text: SoundCloud has a continuous play feature on non-mobile platforms which relates to the listener's stream and likes. Unlike YouTube's autoplay feature which is on by default but can be turned off, users cannot turn off the continuous play feature on SoundCloud.


title: SoundCloud

text: SoundCloud has also been criticized for changes in service. The new update of the website and application made the feed and interface more difficult to use for some users. Also, the anti-piracy algorithm — which was put into place to combat the number of illegal music downloads — has often been criticized for taking down music that was not illegally submitted or downloaded. Also, Universal Music Group has the right to take down any files on SoundCloud. Uploads can be taken down directly by Universal Music Group outside of SoundCloud's anti-piracy policy. Other than uploads, Universal Music Group has the ability to take down accounts, both premium and free. Customers of the company have claimed this to be "bogus," arguing that the right to manage and delete accounts should be reserved to SoundCloud itself, not to an outside company.


title: SoundCloud

text: SoundCloud first entered the music streaming industry as a new way for artists to share and promote their music. As an online platform, artists can release music without a record label or distributor. SoundCloud users are both listeners and artists, using the platform together, creating a community focused space. Features that enable users to comment, like, and share songs allows the platform to operate as a social media site rather than a streaming service. In 2018, the Grammys began to recognize artists and their music on SoundCloud. The shift from The Recording Academy was thanks to the popularity of the platform and their artists. Chance the Rapper is an example of a SoundCloud artist who broke the mould of the industry; he released his debut mixtape, "10 Day", on SoundCloud. In a Vanity Fair interview Chance explained how he decided against signing to a major label and felt it was better for him to give his music "without any limit on it".


title: SoundCloud

text: Through SoundCloud, a sub-genre of rap was created. As artists such as XXXTentacion, Juice Wrld, Smokepurpp, Lil Uzi Vert, Lil Peep, Ski Mask the Slump God, and Lil Pump originated from SoundCloud and rose to the Billboard top charts. The sound created was different from the mainstream, with a grittier and darker sound that results from a lack of production. SoundCloud rap is a lo-fi, melody driven, distorted sound with lyrics that usually focus on repetition and less on content. The SoundCloud artists themselves are known to have exaggerated appearances that include bright colored hair and face tattoos. These SoundCloud rappers are in the late teens to early twenties age range with a strong youth following. Smokepurpp, a SoundCloud artist, explained in a Rolling Stone article how the first songs he created and put on the platform were not recorded using a real microphone. The DIY nature of SoundCloud made it so millions of artists were able to put out their work without any studio equipment usually needed to make music. The freedom to upload on the platform allows for many SoundCloud rappers to post tracks impulsively or post many tracks at a time. The imperfect sound created by these SoundCloud rappers has contributed to their growing popularity and the creation of a rap sub-genre.


title: SoundCloud

text: SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming services in the world and is available in 190 countries and territories. While it's widely available, not all users are eligible for monetization through SoundCloud Premier. Consumer subscription and advertising is established in 19 countries, including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.


title: Tia Carrere

text: Althea Rae Duhinio Janairo (born January 2, 1967), known professionally as Tia Carrere (), is an American actress, singer and former model who got her first big break as a regular on the daytime soap opera "General Hospital".


title: Tia Carrere

text: Carrere played Cassandra Wong in the feature films "Wayne's World" and "Wayne's World 2"; Juno Skinner in "True Lies"; Nani Pelekai in the "Lilo & Stitch" films and TV series; Queen Tyr'ahnee in "Duck Dodgers"; Richard Lewis's girlfriend, Cha Cha, in "Curb Your Enthusiasm"; and starred as Sydney Fox in the television series "Relic Hunter", as well as Lady Danger opposite RuPaul in Netflix's "AJ and the Queen". Carrere also appeared as a contestant in the second season of "Dancing with the Stars" and the fifth season of "The Celebrity Apprentice". In addition to acting, Carrere has won two Grammy Awards for her music.


title: Tia Carrere

text: Carrere was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. She is the daughter of Audrey Lee Janairo, a computer supervisor and Alexander Janairo, a banker. She is of Filipino, Chinese and some Spanish descent.


title: Tia Carrere

text: Carrere attended Sacred Hearts Academy, an all-girls school. She longed to be a singer as a child. Though she was eliminated during the first round of her 1985 "Star Search" appearance at the age of 18, she was spotted by a local producer while shopping at a Waikiki grocery store and was cast in the movie "Aloha Summer". At around this time, she adopted her stage name by using her sister's nickname for her, "Tia" and using a variation of the last name "Carrera" in tribute to actress Barbara Carrera.


title: Tia Carrere

text: Following this success, Carrere returned to Los Angeles, and after working several months as a model, landed her first role in the American television series "Airwolf" in early 1985. Her first major breakthrough was in the daytime soap opera "General Hospital". She played the role of Jade Soong Chung from 1985 to 1987. She also had a guest appearance on "Tour of Duty" and "The A-Team", which was supposed to lead to her joining the cast; her "General Hospital" obligations, however, prevented her from joining the team. Her character was dropped after one episode, and was never mentioned again. She also made guest appearances on "MacGyver" as a karate instructor in the episode "The Wish Child" and later as an assassin in the episode "Murderer's Sky". She also appeared on "Anything but Love" as the adopted daughter of Marty Gold (Richard Lewis), and on an episode of "Married... with Children" as Piper Bauman, a modelling rival of Kelly Bundy.


title: Tia Carrere

text: After appearing in the 1991 action films "Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man" and "Showdown in Little Tokyo", she emerged into the public spotlight when cast as Cassandra, a rock singer and love interest of Mike Myers's character, Wayne Campbell, in "Wayne's World" (1992), a role she reprised the next year in "Wayne's World 2." A trained singer, Carrere performed all of her own songs in the first film, and the "Wayne's World" soundtrack features her vocals. She turned down a role in "Baywatch" to audition for "Wayne's World." In 1992, "People" named her to its annual "50 most beautiful people" list.


title: Tia Carrere

text: Other roles in prominent films include the parts of wealthy smuggler Juno Skinner in "True Lies," a 1994 Arnold Schwarzenegger action film; a mixed African-Japanese computer expert in "Rising Sun," a thriller co-written for the screen by Michael Crichton and based on his novel, starring Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes; robber Gina Walker in "The Immortals" in 1995; and secretary Victoria Chappell in "High School High," a 1996 parody. She also starred as Ari, a space marine turned pirate, in the 1995 adventure/puzzle game "The Daedalus Encounter." She also starred as the evil witch/queen in the 1997 Universal Films picture "Kull the Conqueror," co-starring versus Kevin Sorbo, and starred in late-'90s M&M's commercials as herself. At the end of the decade, she was cast as Ana Ishikawa in the motion picture of the comic book character "Shi", but the film wasn't concreted.


title: Tia Carrere

text: From 1999 to 2002, Carrere starred as archeology professor Sydney Fox in "Relic Hunter," a syndicated action-adventure series strongly reminiscent of the Indiana Jones and "Tomb Raider" films and video games. At this time, Carrere was featured in the men's magazine "Maxim." "Relic Hunter" lasted for a total of three contracted television seasons. Carrere then provided the voice of Lilo's sister Nani in the animated film "Lilo & Stitch" (2002) and its spinoffs, as well as the voice of Queen Tyr'ahnee from the 2003 "Duck Dodgers" animated series. She also provided the voice of Snookie in the 2005 animated film "Aloha, Scooby-Doo!"


title: Tia Carrere

text: She participated as a contestant on the popular reality show "Dancing with the Stars", and eventually placed sixth overall. Carrere later participated in the fifth season of "The Celebrity Apprentice," but her "apprenticeship" to Donald Trump, the "boss" of the show, was terminated in that season's fifth week.


title: Tia Carrere

text: Carrere posed nude for the January 2003 issue of "Playboy". The photos were republished in the German December 2006 issue of the magazine. She has appeared as a guest star on a number of television shows, including "Back to You", "Nip/Tuck", and "Warehouse 13". She has also appeared in several episodes of season six of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" as Richard Lewis's girlfriend. In 2020, Carrere played Lady Danger in all ten episodes of the Netflix series "AJ and the Queen."


title: Tia Carrere

text: Carrere also maintains a singing career. In 1993, her first solo album, "Dream", produced by Matt Prinz, was released and went platinum in the Philippines. That same year, she was featured on the soundtrack of "", performing the ending theme, "I Never Even Told You". Carrere then focused on Hawaiian music starting with her second album, "Hawaiiana", which was released in June 2007 and featured Grammy Award-winning record producer Daniel Ho accompanying her on slack-key guitar and ukulele. The album was nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award under the category Best Hawaiian Music Album.


title: Tia Carrere

text: In 2009, Carrere served as co-host for the pre-Grammy Awards telecast online event alongside Wayne Brady. She won a Grammy Award in 2009 for her third album "Ikena", and her 2010 album "He Nani" was also nominated for a Grammy. In 2011, she won her second Grammy Award for her album "Huana Ke Aloha".


title: Tia Carrere

text: Carrere married film producer Elie Samaha in 1992. Samaha and Carrere divorced in February 2000. On November 30, 2002, she married photojournalist Simon Wakelin. They have a daughter. On April 2, 2010, Carrere filed for divorce in person at Los Angeles County Superior Court. According to court documents she cited irreconcilable differences as the reason for the divorce and asked for sole physical custody of their daughter. Their divorce was finalized in August 2010, with the two of them reportedly sharing custody of their daughter. She lives in Los Angeles.


title: Freddie Prinze

text: Frederick James Prinze Sr. (born Frederick Karl Pruetzel; June 22, 1954 – January 29, 1977) was an American stand-up comedian and actor. Prinze was the star of the NBC-TV sitcom "Chico and the Man" from 1974 until his suicide in 1977. Prinze is the father of actor Freddie Prinze Jr.


title: Freddie Prinze

text: Prinze was born Frederick Karl Pruetzel (German spelling: Prützel) at Saint Clare's Hospital in Manhattan, New York City, the son of Edward Karl Pruetzel and Maria de Gracia Pruetzel (née Graniela y Ramirez). His mother was a Puerto Rican Catholic and his father was a German Lutheran immigrant who had arrived in the U.S. as a youth in 1934. Prinze was raised in a mixed neighborhood in Washington Heights, New York City. When Prinze was a small child, his mother enrolled him in ballet classes to deal with a weight problem. Without telling his parents, Prinze successfully auditioned for the LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts, where he was introduced to drama and continued ballet—and where he discovered his gift for comedy while entertaining crowds in the boys' restroom. He dropped out of school in his senior year to become a stand-up comedian.


title: Freddie Prinze

text: Prinze worked at several comedy clubs in New York City, including The Improv and Catch a Rising Star, where he introduced himself to audiences as a "Hunga-rican" (part Hungarian, part Puerto Rican). Although his mother was in fact Puerto Rican, his father was a German immigrant with no Hungarian ancestry. Prinze's son, Freddie Prinze Jr., has stated that his father was half German/half Puerto Rican many times. This is also verified by census records as well as Prützel/Pruetzel family accounts. For the sake of his budding comedic career, he legally changed his surname to "Prinze". He chose this name because, according to his friend David Brenner, Prinze originally wanted to be known as the king of comedy, but since Alan King already had that last name and sobriquet, he would be the prince of comedy instead. During 1973, Prinze made his first television appearance on one of the last episodes of "Jack Paar Tonite". In December 1973, his biggest break came with an appearance on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson". Prinze was the first young comedian to be asked to have a sit-down chat with Carson on his first appearance. Prinze appeared on and guest-hosted "The Tonight Show" on several other occasions. He also appeared on" The Midnight Special" to perform his comic routine.


title: Freddie Prinze

text: From September 1974 until his death in January 1977, Prinze starred as Francisco "Chico" Rodriguez in the NBC TV series "Chico and the Man" with Jack Albertson. The show was an instant hit. Prinze made several appearances on "The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts", most notably the roasts for Sammy Davis Jr. and Muhammad Ali. In 1975, he released a comedy album that was taped live at Mister Kelly's in Chicago titled "Looking Good"—his catch phrase from "Chico and the Man". In 1976, he starred in a made-for-TV movie, "The Million Dollar Rip-Off". Prinze had a little-known talent for singing, examples of which could be heard in the background of the title song of the Tony Orlando and Dawn album "To Be With You", in his appearances on their variety show, and on rare occasions on his own sitcom. About four months before his death, Prinze had signed a five-year deal with NBC worth $6 million.


title: Freddie Prinze

text: On October 13, 1975, Prinze married Katherine (Kathy) Elaine (Barber) Cochran, with whom he had one child, son Freddie Prinze Jr., who was born March 8, 1976. Prinze was arrested for driving under the influence of Quaaludes on November 16, 1976. A few weeks later his wife filed for divorce. Prinze had been romantically linked to actresses Raquel Welch and Pam Grier, whom he met in 1973. Grier recalls their relationship in chapter nineteen of her memoir, "My Life in Three Acts". After his break-up with Grier, Prinze dated actress Lonette McKee for a time during 1976. Prinze was very close friends with singer Tony Orlando; Orlando appeared on "Chico and the Man", and Prinze appeared on Orlando's variety show. As he started to make more money, Prinze took martial arts lessons from Robert Wall, a student of Bruce Lee, who appeared in "Enter the Dragon" and "Return of the Dragon". Soon after, Wall became godfather to Prinze's newborn son.


title: Freddie Prinze

text: Prinze suffered from depression, which deepened in the weeks after his wife filed for divorce. On the night of January 28, 1977, after talking on the telephone with his estranged wife, Prinze received a visit from his business manager, Marvin "Dusty" Snyder. While Snyder was visiting him, Prinze put a gun to his head and shot himself. He had purchased this gun in the presence of Jimmie "JJ" Walker and Alan Bursky, although it was long rumored that Bursky gave him the gun. Prinze was rushed to the UCLA Medical Center and placed on life support following emergency surgery. His family removed him from life support, and he died at 1 p.m. on January 29.


title: Freddie Prinze

text: Prinze had a history of playing Russian roulette to frighten his friends for his amusement, though he made farewell phone calls to numerous family members and friends on the night of his death and left a note stating that he had decided to take his life. In 1977, the death was ruled a suicide. However, in a 1983 civil case brought by his mother, wife, and son against Crown Life Insurance Company, the jury found that his death was medication-induced and accidental, which enabled the family to collect $200,000 in life insurance. This followed a $1,000,000 out-of-court settlement with his psychiatrist and doctor to end their malpractice suit for allowing him access to a gun and over-prescribing him Quaaludes (as a tranquilizer).


title: Freddie Prinze

text: Prinze is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles, near his father, Edward Karl Pruetzel. His son, Freddie Prinze Jr., who was less than one year old when his father died, did not speak publicly about his father's death until he discussed it in the documentary "Misery Loves Comedy" (2015), directed by Kevin Pollak.


title: Renminbi

text: The renminbi (; symbol: ¥; ISO code: CNY; abbreviation: RMB) is the official currency of the People's Republic of China and one of the world's most traded currencies, ranking as the fifth as of April 2022.


title: Renminbi

text: The yuan ( or ) is the basic unit of the renminbi, but the word is also used to refer to the Chinese currency generally, especially in international contexts. One yuan is divided into 10 jiao (), and the jiao is further subdivided into 10 fen (). The renminbi is issued by the People's Bank of China, the monetary authority of China.


title: Renminbi

text: Until 2005, the value of the renminbi was pegged to the US dollar. As China pursued its transition from central planning to a market economy and increased its participation in foreign trade, the renminbi was devalued to increase the competitiveness of Chinese industry. It has previously been claimed that the renminbi's official exchange rate was undervalued by as much as 37.5% against its purchasing power parity. However, more recently, appreciation actions by the Chinese government, as well as quantitative easing measures taken by the American Federal Reserve and other major central banks, have caused the renminbi to be within as little as 8% of its equilibrium value by the second half of 2012. Since 2006, the renminbi exchange rate has been allowed to float in a narrow margin around a fixed base rate determined with reference to a basket of world currencies. The Chinese government has announced that it will gradually increase the flexibility of the exchange rate. As a result of the rapid internationalization of the renminbi, it became the world's 8th most traded currency in 2013, 5th by 2015, but 6th in 2019.


title: Renminbi

text: On 1 October 2016, the renminbi became the first emerging market currency to be included in the IMF's special drawing rights basket, the basket of currencies used by the IMF as a reserve currency.


title: Renminbi

text: The ISO code for the renminbi is "CNY", the PRC's country code (CN) plus "Y" from "yuan". Hong Kong markets that trade renminbi at free-floating rates use the unofficial code CNH. This is to distinguish the rates from those fixed by Chinese central banks on the mainland. The abbreviation "RMB" is not an ISO code but is sometimes used like one by banks and financial institutions.


title: Renminbi

text: The currency symbol for the yuan unit is ¥, but when distinction from the Japanese yen is required "RMB" (e.g. RMB 10,000) or "¥ RMB" (e.g. ¥10,000 RMB) is used. However, in written Chinese contexts, the Chinese character for yuan () or, in formal contexts , usually follows the number in lieu of a currency symbol.


title: Renminbi

text: "Renminbi" is the name of the currency while "yuan" is the name of the primary unit of the renminbi. This is analogous to the distinction between "sterling" and "pound" when discussing the official currency of the United Kingdom. "Jiao" and "fen" are also units of renminbi.


title: Renminbi

text: In everyday Mandarin, kuai () is usually used when discussing money and "renminbi" or "yuan" are rarely heard. Similarly, Mandarin speakers typically use mao () instead of jiao.


title: Renminbi

text: Renminbi is sometimes referred to as the "redback", a play on "greenback", a slang term for the US dollar.


title: Renminbi

text: The various currencies called yuan or dollar issued in mainland China as well as Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore were all derived from the Spanish American silver dollar, which China imported in large quantities from Spanish America from the 16th to 20th centuries. The first locally minted silver dollar or yuan accepted all over Qing dynasty China (1644–1912) was the silver dragon dollar introduced in 1889. Various banknotes denominated in dollars or yuan were also introduced, which were convertible to silver dollars until 1935 when the silver standard was discontinued and the Chinese yuan was made "fabi" (法币; legal tender fiat currency).


title: Renminbi

text: The renminbi was introduced by the People's Bank of China in December 1948, about a year before the establishment of the People's Republic of China. It was issued only in paper form at first, and replaced the various currencies circulating in the areas controlled by the Communists. One of the first tasks of the new government was to end the hyperinflation that had plagued China in the final years of the Kuomintang (KMT) era. That achieved, a revaluation occurred in 1955 at the rate of 1 new yuan = 10,000 old yuan.


title: Renminbi

text: As the Chinese Communist Party took control of ever larger territories in the latter part of the Chinese Civil War, its People's Bank of China began to issue a unified currency in 1948 for use in Communist-controlled territories. Also denominated in "yuan", this currency was identified by different names, including "People's Bank of China banknotes" (; from November 1948), "New Currency" (; from December 1948), "People's Bank of China notes" (; from January 1949), "People's Notes" (人民券, as an abbreviation of the last name), and finally "People's Currency", or ""renminbi"", from June 1949.


title: Renminbi

text: From 1949 until the late 1970s, the state fixed China's exchange rate at a highly overvalued level as part of the country's import-substitution strategy. During this time frame, the focus of the state's central planning was to accelerate industrial development and reduce China's dependence on imported manufactured goods. The overvaluation allowed the government to provide imported machinery and equipment to priority industries at a relatively lower domestic currency cost than otherwise would have been possible.


title: Renminbi

text: China's transition by the mid-1990s to a system in which the value of its currency was determined by supply and demand in a foreign exchange market was a gradual process spanning 15 years that involved changes in the official exchange rate, the use of a dual exchange rate system, and the introduction and gradual expansion of markets for foreign exchange.


title: Renminbi

text: The most important move to a market-oriented exchange rate was an easing of controls on trade and other current account transactions, as occurred in several very early steps. In 1979, the State Council approved a system allowing exporters and their provincial and local government owners to retain a share of their foreign exchange earnings, referred to as foreign exchange quotas. At the same time, the government introduced measures to allow retention of part of the foreign exchange earnings from non-trade sources, such as overseas remittances, port fees paid by foreign vessels, and tourism.


title: Renminbi

text: As early as October 1980, exporting firms that retained foreign exchange above their own import needs were allowed to sell the excess through the state agency responsible for the management of China's exchange controls and its foreign exchange reserves, the State Administration of Exchange Control. Beginning in the mid-1980s, the government sanctioned foreign exchange markets, known as swap centres, eventually in most large cities.


title: Renminbi

text: The government also gradually allowed market forces to take the dominant role by introducing an "internal settlement rate" of ¥2.8 to 1 US dollar which was a devaluation of almost 100%.


title: Renminbi

text: In the process of opening up China to external trade and tourism, transactions with foreign visitors between 1980 and 1994 were done primarily using Foreign exchange certificates (外汇券, "waihuiquan") issued by the Bank of China.


title: Renminbi

text: Foreign currencies were exchangeable for FECs and vice versa at the renminbi's prevailing official rate which ranged from US$1 = ¥2.8 FEC to ¥5.5 FEC. The FEC was issued as banknotes from ¥0.1 to ¥100, and was officially at par with the renminbi. Tourists used FECs to pay for accommodation as well as tourist and luxury goods sold in Friendship Stores. However, given the non-availability of foreign exchange and Friendship Store goods to the general public, as well as the inability of tourists to use FECs at local businesses, an illegal black market developed for FECs where touts approached tourists outside hotels and offered over ¥1.50 RMB in exchange for ¥1 FEC. In 1994, as a result of foreign exchange management reforms approved by the 14th CPC Central Committee, the renminbi was officially devalued from US$1 = ¥5.5 to over ¥8, and the FEC was retired at ¥1 FEC = ¥1 RMB in favour of tourists directly using the renminbi.


title: Renminbi

text: In November 1993, the Third Plenum of the Fourteenth CPC Central Committee approved a comprehensive reform strategy in which foreign exchange management reforms were highlighted as a key element for a market-oriented economy. A floating exchange rate regime and convertibility for renminbi were seen as the ultimate goal of the reform. Conditional convertibility under current account was achieved by allowing firms to surrender their foreign exchange earning from current account transactions and purchase foreign exchange as needed. Restrictions on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) was also loosened and capital inflows to China surged.


title: Renminbi

text: During the era of the command economy, the value of the renminbi was set to unrealistic values in exchange with Western currency and severe currency exchange rules were put in place, hence the dual-track currency system from 1980 to 1994 with the renminbi usable only domestically, and with Foreign Exchange Certificates (FECs) used by foreign visitors.


title: Renminbi

text: In the late 1980s and early 1990s, China worked to make the renminbi more convertible. Through the use of swap centres, the exchange rate was eventually brought to more realistic levels of above ¥8/US$1 in 1994 and the FEC was discontinued. It stayed above ¥8/$1 until 2005 when the renminbi's peg to the dollar was loosened and it was allowed to appreciate.


title: Renminbi

text: As of 2013, the renminbi is convertible on current accounts but not capital accounts. The ultimate goal has been to make the renminbi fully convertible. However, partly in response to the Asian financial crisis in 1998, China has been concerned that the Chinese financial system would not be able to handle the potential rapid cross-border movements of hot money, and as a result, as of 2012, the currency trades within a narrow band specified by the Chinese central government.


title: Renminbi

text: Following the internationalization of the renminbi, on 30 November 2015, the IMF voted to designate the renminbi as one of several main world currencies, thus including it in the basket of special drawing rights. The renminbi became the first emerging market currency to be included in the IMF's SDR basket on 1 October 2016. The other main world currencies are the dollar, the euro, sterling, and the yen.


title: Renminbi

text: In October 2019, China's central bank, PBOC, announced that a digital reminbi is going to be released after years of preparation. This version of the currency, also called DCEP (Digital Currency Electronic Payment), can be “decoupled” from the banking system to give visiting tourists a taste of the nation's burgeoning cashless society. However, it is not based on cryptocurrency. The announcement received a variety of responses: some believe it is more about domestic control and surveillance. Some argue that the real barriers to internationalisation of the renminbi are China's capital controls, which it has no plans to remove. Maximilian Kärnfelt, an expert at the Mercator Institute for China Studies, said that a digital renminbi "would not banish many of the problems holding the renminbi back from more use globally". He went on to say, "Much of China's financial market is still not open to foreigners and property rights remain fragile."


title: Renminbi

text: The PBOC has filed more than 80 patents surrounding the integration of a digital currency system, choosing to embrace the blockchain technology. The patents reveal the extent of China's digital currency plans. The patents, seen and verified by the "Financial Times", include proposals related to the issuance and supply of a central bank digital currency, a system for interbank settlements that uses the currency, and the integration of digital currency wallets into existing retail bank accounts. Several of the 84 patents reviewed by the "Financial Times" indicate that China may plan to algorithmically adjust the supply of a central bank digital currency based on certain triggers, such as loan interest rates. Other patents are focused on building digital currency chip cards or digital currency wallets that banking consumers could potentially use, which would be linked directly to their bank accounts. The patent filings also point to the proposed ‘tokenomics’ being considered by the DCEP working group. Some patents show plans towards programmed inflation control mechanisms. While the majority of the patents are attributed to the PBOC's Digital Currency Research Institute, some are attributed to state-owned corporations or subsidiaries of the Chinese central government.


title: Renminbi

text: Uncovered by the Chamber of Digital Commerce (an American non-profit advocacy group), their contents shed light on Beijing's mounting efforts to digitise the renminbi, which has sparked alarm in the West and spurred central bankers around the world to begin exploring similar projects. Some commentators have said that the U.S., which has no current plans to issue a government-backed digital currency, risks falling behind China and risking its dominance in the global financial system. Victor Shih, a China expert and professor at the University of California San Diego, said that merely introducing a digital currency "doesn't solve the problem that some people holding renminbi offshore will want to sell that renminbi and exchange it for the dollar", as the dollar is considered to be a safer asset. Eswar Prasad, an economics professor at Cornell University, said that the digital renminbi "will hardly put a dent in the dollar's status as the dominant global reserve currency" due to the United States' "economic dominance, deep and liquid capital markets, and still-robust institutional framework". The U.S. dollar's share as a reserve currency is above 60%, while that of the renminbi is about 2%.


title: Renminbi

text: In April 2020, "The Guardian" reported that the digital currency e-RMB had been adopted into multiple cities' monetary systems and "some government employees and public servants [will] receive their salaries in the digital currency from May. "The Guardian" quoted a "China Daily" report which stated "A sovereign digital currency provides a functional alternative to the dollar settlement system and blunts the impact of any sanctions or threats of exclusion both at a country and company level ... It may also facilitate integration into globally traded currency markets with a reduced risk of politically inspired disruption." There are talks of testing out the digital renminbi in the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022, but China's overall timetable for rolling out the digital currency is unclear.


title: Renminbi

text: As of 2019, renminbi banknotes are available in denominations from ¥0.1, ¥0.5 (1 and 5 jiao), ¥1, ¥5, ¥10, ¥20, ¥50 and ¥100. These denominations have been available since 1955, except for the ¥20 notes (added in 1999 with the fifth series) ¥50 and ¥100 notes (added in 1987 with the fourth series). Coins are available in denominations from ¥0.01 to ¥1 (¥0.01–1). Thus some denominations exist in both coins and banknotes. On rare occasions, larger yuan coin denominations such as ¥5 have been issued to commemorate events but use of these outside of collecting has never been widespread.


title: Renminbi

text: The denomination of each banknote is printed in simplified written Chinese. The numbers themselves are printed in financial Chinese numeral characters, as well as Arabic numerals. The denomination and the words "People's Bank of China" are also printed in Mongolian, Tibetan, Uyghur and Zhuang on the back of each banknote, in addition to the boldface Hanyu Pinyin "Zhongguo Renmin Yinhang" (without tones). The right front of the note has a tactile representation of the denomination in Chinese Braille starting from the fourth series. See corresponding section for detailed information.


title: Renminbi

text: The "fen" and "jiao" denominations have become increasingly unnecessary as prices have increased. Coins under ¥0.1 are used infrequently. Chinese retailers tend to avoid fractional values (such as ¥9.99), opting instead to round to the nearest yuan (such as ¥9 or ¥10).


title: Renminbi

text: In 1953, aluminium ¥0.01, ¥0.02, and ¥0.05 coins began being struck for circulation, and were first introduced in 1955. These depict the national emblem on the obverse (front) and the name and denomination framed by wheat stalks on the reverse (back). In 1980, brass ¥0.1, ¥0.2, and ¥0.5 and cupro-nickel ¥1 coins were added, although the ¥0.1 and ¥0.2 were only produced until 1981, with the last ¥0.5 and ¥1 issued in 1985. All jiǎo coins depicted similar designs to the fēn coins while the yuán depicted the Great Wall of China.


title: Renminbi

text: In 1991, a new coinage was introduced, consisting of an aluminium ¥0.1, brass ¥0.5 and nickel-clad steel ¥1. These were smaller than the previous jiǎo and yuán coins and depicted flowers on the obverse and the national emblem on the reverse. Issuance of the aluminium ¥0.01 and ¥0.02 coins ceased in 1991, with that of the ¥0.05 halting in 1994. The small coins were still struck for annual uncirculated mint sets in limited quantities, and from the beginning of 2005, the ¥0.01 coin got a new lease on life by being issued again every year since then up to present.


title: Renminbi

text: New designs of the ¥0.1, ¥0.5 (now brass-plated steel), and ¥1 (nickel-plated steel) were again introduced in between 1999 and 2002. The ¥0.1 was significantly reduced in size, and in 2005 its composition was changed from aluminium to more durable nickel-plated steel. An updated version of these coins was announced in 2019. While the overall design is unchanged, all coins including the ¥0.5 are now of nickel-plated steel, and the ¥1 coin was reduced in size.


title: Renminbi

text: The frequency of usage of coins varies between different parts of China, with coins typically being more popular in urban areas (with ¥0.5 and ¥1 coins used in vending machines), and small notes being more popular in rural areas. Older fēn and large jiǎo coins are uncommonly still seen in circulation, but are still valid in exchange.


title: Renminbi

text: As of 2020, there have been five series of renminbi banknotes issued by the People's Republic of China:


title: Renminbi

text: In 1999, a commemorative red ¥50 note was issued in honour of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the People's Republic of China. This note features Chinese Communist Party chairman Mao Zedong on the front and various animals on the back.


title: Renminbi

text: An orange polymer note, commemorating the new millennium was issued in 2000 with a face value of ¥100. This features a dragon on the obverse and the reverse features the China Millennium monument (at the Center for Cultural and Scientific Fairs).


title: Renminbi

text: For the 2008 Beijing Olympics, a green ¥10 note was issued featuring the Bird's Nest Stadium on the front with the back showing a classical Olympic discus thrower and various other athletes.


title: Renminbi

text: On 26 November 2015, the People's Bank of China issued a blue ¥100 commemorative note to commemorate aerospace science and technology.


title: Renminbi

text: In commemoration of the 70th Anniversary of the issuance of the Renminbi, the People's Bank of China issued 120 million ¥50 banknotes on 28 December 2018.


title: Renminbi

text: In commemoration of the 2022 Winter Olympics, the People's Bank of China issued ¥20 commemorative banknotes in both paper and polymer in December 2021.


title: Renminbi

text: Renminbi currency production is carried out by a state owned corporation, China Banknote Printing and Minting Corporation (CBPMC; ) headquartered in Beijing. CBPMC uses several printing, engraving and minting facilities around the country to produce banknotes and coins for subsequent distribution. Banknote printing facilities are based in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Xi'an, Shijiazhuang, and Nanchang. Mints are located in Nanjing, Shanghai, and Shenyang. Also, high grade paper for the banknotes is produced at two facilities in Baoding and Kunshan. The Baoding facility is the largest facility in the world dedicated to developing banknote material according to its website. In addition, the People's Bank of China has its own printing technology research division that researches new techniques for creating banknotes and making counterfeiting more difficult.


title: Renminbi

text: On 13 March 2006, some delegates to an advisory body at the National People's Congress proposed to include Sun Yat-sen and Deng Xiaoping on the renminbi banknotes. However, the proposal was not adopted.


title: Renminbi

text: For most of its early history, the renminbi was pegged to the U.S. dollar at ¥2.46 per dollar. During the 1970s, it was revalued until it reached ¥1.50 per dollar in 1980. When China's economy gradually opened in the 1980s, the renminbi was devalued in order to improve the competitiveness of Chinese exports. Thus, the official exchange rate increased from ¥1.50 in 1980 to ¥8.62 by 1994 (the lowest rate on record). Improving current account balance during the latter half of the 1990s enabled the Chinese government to maintain a peg of ¥8.27 per US$1 from 1997 to 2005.


title: Renminbi

text: The renminbi reached a record high exchange value of ¥6.0395 to the US dollar on 14 January 2014. Chinese leadership have been raising the yuan to tame inflation, a step U.S. officials have pushed for years to lower the massive trade deficit with China. Strengthening the value of the renminbi also fits with the Chinese transition to a more consumer-led economic growth model.


title: Renminbi

text: In 2015 the People's Bank of China again devalued their country's currency. , the exchange rate for US$1 is ¥6.38.


title: Renminbi

text: On 21 July 2005, the peg was finally lifted, which saw an immediate one-time renminbi revaluation to ¥8.11 per dollar. The exchange rate against the euro stood at ¥10.07060 per euro.


title: Renminbi

text: However, the peg was reinstituted unofficially when the financial crisis hit: "Under intense pressure from Washington, China took small steps to allow its currency to strengthen for three years starting in July 2005. But China 're-pegged' its currency to the dollar as the financial crisis intensified in July 2008."


title: Renminbi

text: On 19 June 2010, the People's Bank of China released a statement simultaneously in Chinese and English claiming that they would "proceed further with reform of the renminbi exchange rate regime and increase the renminbi exchange rate flexibility". The news was greeted with praise by world leaders including Barack Obama, Nicolas Sarkozy and Stephen Harper. The PBoC maintained there would be no "large swings" in the currency. The renminbi rose to its highest level in five years and markets worldwide surged on Monday, 21 June following China's announcement.


title: Renminbi

text: In August 2015, Joseph Adinolfi, a reporter for MarketWatch, reported that China had re-pegged the renminbi. In his article, he narrated that "Weak trade data out of China, released over the weekend, weighed on the currencies of Australia and New Zealand on Monday. But the yuan didn't budge. Indeed, the Chinese currency, also known as the renminbi, has been remarkably steady over the past month despite the huge selloff in China's stock market and a spate of disappointing economic data. Market strategists, including Simon Derrick, chief currency strategist at BNY Mellon, and Marc Chandler, head currency strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman, said that is because China's policy makers have effectively re-pegged the yuan. “When I look at the dollar-renminbi right now, that looks like a fixed exchange rate again. They’ve re-pegged it,” Chandler said."


title: Renminbi

text: The renminbi has now moved to a managed floating exchange rate based on market supply and demand with reference to a basket of foreign currencies. In July 2005, the daily trading price of the US dollar against the renminbi in the inter-bank foreign exchange market was allowed to float within a narrow band of 0.3% around the central parity published by the People's Bank of China; in a later announcement published on 18 May 2007, the band was extended to 0.5%. On 14 April 2012, the band was extended to 1.0%. On 17 March 2014, the band was extended to 2%. China has stated that the basket is dominated by the United States dollar, euro, Japanese yen and South Korean won, with a smaller proportion made up of sterling, Thai baht, roubles, Australian dollars, Canadian dollars and Singaporean dollars.


title: Renminbi

text: On 10 April 2008, it traded at ¥6.9920 per US dollar, which was the first time in more than a decade that a dollar had bought less than ¥7, and at ¥11.03630 per euro.


title: Renminbi

text: Beginning in January 2010, Chinese and non-Chinese citizens have an annual exchange limit of a maximum of US$50,000. Currency exchange will only proceed if the applicant appears in person at the relevant bank and presents their passport or Chinese ID. Currency exchange transactions are centrally registered. The maximum dollar withdrawal is $10,000 per day, the maximum purchase limit of US dollars is $500 per day. This stringent management of the currency leads to a bottled-up demand for exchange in both directions. It is viewed as a major tool to keep the currency peg, preventing inflows of "hot money".


title: Renminbi

text: A shift of Chinese reserves into the currencies of their other trading partners has caused these nations to shift more of their reserves into dollars, leading to no great change in the value of the renminbi against the dollar.


title: Renminbi

text: Renminbi futures are traded at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The futures are cash-settled at the exchange rate published by the People's Bank of China.


title: Renminbi

text: Scholarly studies suggest that the yuan is undervalued on the basis of purchasing power parity analysis. One 2011 study suggests a 37.5% undervaluation.


title: Renminbi

text: The People's Bank of China lowered the renminbi's daily fix to the US dollar by 1.9 per cent to ¥6.2298 on 11 August 2015. The People's Bank of China again lowered the renminbi's daily fix to the US dollar from ¥6.620 to ¥6.6375 after Brexit on 27 June 2016. It had not been this low since December 2010.


title: Renminbi

text: Before 2009, the renminbi had little to no exposure in the international markets because of strict government controls by the central Chinese government that prohibited almost all export of the currency, or use of it in international transactions. Transactions between Chinese companies and a foreign entity were generally denominated in US dollars. With Chinese companies unable to hold US dollars and foreign companies unable to hold Chinese yuan, all transactions would go through the People's Bank of China. Once the sum was paid by the foreign party in dollars, the central bank would pass the settlement in renminbi to the Chinese company at the state-controlled exchange rate.


title: Renminbi

text: In June 2009 the Chinese officials announced a pilot scheme where business and trade transactions were allowed between limited businesses in Guangdong province and Shanghai, and only counterparties in Hong Kong, Macau, and select ASEAN nations. Proving a success, the program was further extended to 20 Chinese provinces and counterparties internationally in July 2010, and in September 2011 it was announced that the remaining 11 Chinese provinces would be included.


title: Renminbi

text: In steps intended to establish the renminbi as an international reserve currency, China has agreements with Russia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Japan, allowing trade with those countries to be settled directly in renminbi instead of requiring conversion to US dollars, with Australia and South Africa to follow soon.


title: Renminbi

text: Currency restrictions regarding renminbi-denominated bank deposits and financial products were greatly liberalised in July 2010. In 2010 renminbi-denominated bonds were reported to have been purchased by Malaysia's central bank and that McDonald's had issued renminbi denominated corporate bonds through Standard Chartered Bank of Hong Kong. Such liberalisation allows the yuan to look more attractive as it can be held with higher return on investment yields, whereas previously that yield was virtually none. Nevertheless, some national banks such as Bank of Thailand (BOT) have expressed a serious concern about renminbi since BOT cannot substitute the deprecated US dollars in its US$200 billion foreign exchange reserves for renminbi as much as it wishes because:


title: Renminbi

text: Countries that are left-leaning in the political spectrum had already begun to use the renminbi as an alternative reserve currency to the United States dollar; the Central Bank of Chile reported in 2011 to have US$91 million worth of renminbi in reserves, and the president of the Central Bank of Venezuela, Nelson Merentes, made statements in favour of the renminbi following the announcement of reserve withdrawals from Europe and the United States.


title: Renminbi

text: In Africa, the central banks of Ghana, Nigeria, and South Africa either hold renminbi as a reserve currency or have taken steps to purchase bonds denominated in renminbi. The "Report on the Internationalization of RMB in 2020", which was released by the People's Bank of China in August 2020, said that renminbi's function as international reserve currency has gradually emerged. In the first quarter 2020, the share of renminbi in global foreign exchange reserves rose to 2.02%, a record high. As of the end of 2019, the People's Bank of China has set up renminbi clearing banks in 25 countries and regions outside of Mainland China, which has made the use of renminbi more secure and transaction costs have decreased.


title: Renminbi

text: The two special administrative regions, Hong Kong and Macau, have their own respective currencies, according to the "one country, two systems" principle and the basic laws of the two territories. Therefore, the Hong Kong dollar and the Macanese pataca remain the legal tenders in the two territories, and the renminbi, although sometimes accepted, is not legal tender. Banks in Hong Kong allow people to maintain accounts in RMB. Because of changes in legislation in July 2010, many banks around the world are now slowly offering individuals the chance to hold deposits in Chinese renminbi.


title: Renminbi

text: The renminbi had a presence in Macau even before the 1999 return to the People's Republic of China from Portugal. Banks in Macau can issue credit cards based on the renminbi, but not loans. Renminbi-based credit cards cannot be used in Macau's casinos.


title: Renminbi

text: The Republic of China, which governs Taiwan, believes wide usage of the renminbi would create an underground economy and undermine its sovereignty. Tourists are allowed to bring in up to ¥20,000 when visiting Taiwan. These renminbi must be converted to Taiwanese currency at trial exchange sites in Matsu and Kinmen. The Chen Shui-bian administration insisted that it would not allow full convertibility until the mainland signs a bilateral foreign exchange settlement agreement, though president Ma Ying-jeou, who served from 2008 to 2016, sought to allow full convertibility as soon as possible.


title: Renminbi

text: The renminbi circulates in some of China's neighbors, such as Pakistan, Mongolia and northern Thailand. Cambodia welcomes the renminbi as an official currency and Laos and Myanmar allow it in border provinces such as Wa and Kokang and economic zones like Mandalay. Though unofficial, Vietnam recognizes the exchange of the renminbi to the đồng. In 2017 ¥215 billion was circulating in Indonesia. In 2018 a Bilateral Currency Swap Agreement was made by the Bank of Indonesia and the Bank of China which simplified business transactions, and in 2020 about 10% of Indonesia's global trade was in renminbi.


title: Renminbi

text: Since 2007, renminbi-nominated bonds have been issued outside mainland China; these are colloquially called "dim sum bonds". In April 2011, the first initial public offering denominated in renminbi occurred in Hong Kong, when the Chinese property investment trust Hui Xian REIT raised ¥10.48 billion ($1.6 billion) in its IPO. Beijing has allowed renminbi-denominated financial markets to develop in Hong Kong as part of the effort to internationalise the renminbi. There is limited (under 1%) issuing of renminbi bonds in Indonesia.


title: Renminbi

text: Since currency flows in and out of mainland China are still restricted, renminbi traded in off-shore markets, such as the Hong Kong market, can have a different value to renminbi traded on the mainland. The offshore RMB market is usually denoted as CNH, but there is another renminbi interbank and spot market in Taiwan for domestic trading known as CNT.


title: Renminbi

text: Other renminbi markets include the dollar-settled non-deliverable forward (NDF), and the trade-settlement exchange rate (CNT).


title: Vanilla Sky

text: Vanilla Sky is a 2001 American science fiction thriller film directed, written, and co-produced by Cameron Crowe. It is an English-language adaptation of Alejandro Amenábar's 1997 Spanish film "Open Your Eyes", which was written by Amenábar and Mateo Gil. Penélope Cruz reprises her role from the original film.


title: Vanilla Sky

text: The film has been described as "an odd mixture of science fiction, romance and reality warp". It stars Tom Cruise, Penélope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Jason Lee and Kurt Russell. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song, and Diaz was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe Award.


title: Vanilla Sky

text: David Aames, the owner of a large publishing company he inherited from his father, is in prison. Wearing a prosthetic mask, David tells his life story to court psychologist Dr. Curtis McCabe.


title: Vanilla Sky

text: In flashbacks, David leaves the duties of the publisher to his father's trusted associates while living as a playboy in Manhattan. He is introduced to Sofia Serrano by his best friend, Brian Shelby, during a party. David and Sofia spend the night together at Sofia's apartment and fall in love, unaware that David's current lover, Julie Gianni, has followed them there. As David leaves, Julie offers him a ride, and soon reveals her jealousy of Sofia. She purposely crashes the car, killing herself and disfiguring David.


title: Vanilla Sky

text: Doctors cannot repair David's face using plastic surgery, forcing him to wear a prosthetic mask, but the mental and physical scarring from the accident causes him to become withdrawn and depressed. Brian convinces David to join him and Sofia at a club. They leave him in the street outside the club after he becomes drunk and insults them.


title: Vanilla Sky

text: The next morning, Sofia returns and apologizes to David. She takes him home, the two form a relationship and he slowly begins to recover. Doctors find a way to repair David's face despite their prior prognosis. Later, he is plagued by bizarre experiences, such as brief flashbacks of his disfigurement and an encounter with a mysterious man at a bar who informs him that David is omnipotent, demonstrated by the entire bar falling silent at David's command. One day, while at Sofia's, David awakens to find himself in bed with Julie, whose face has replaced Sofia's in their photographs. In shock, he suffocates Julie. David is arrested and imprisoned and his facial disfigurement is mysteriously restored.


title: Vanilla Sky

text: Dr. McCabe conducts several more interviews, which serve to help David to recall the name "Life Extension". Seeing a company with that name nearby, McCabe arranges to take David there under guard. Rebecca, a company representative, explains how Life Extension uses cryonic suspension to save those with terminal illnesses until a cure can be found, keeping them in a lucid dream state to otherwise exercise their mind. David realizes that he is in cryonic suspension and the world he inhabits is his own lucid dream, which has become a nightmare. He escapes McCabe and the guards while calling for "tech support", and rushes for the building's lobby, which is suddenly empty. An elevator opens, revealing the strange man from the bar.


title: Vanilla Sky

text: As the elevator climbs to the top of an impossibly tall building, the man explains that he is Tech Support and that David has been in suspension for 150 years. Unable to face the twin traumas of the loss of his love, Sofia, and his facial injuries, he had opted for Life Extension to be woken when technology could repair his face, and left the publishing company in the hands of his father's associates. As part of the program, David had chosen to experience a lucid dream, in which his life would resume the morning after Sofia left him. However, a glitch in the software had caused other elements of his subconscious to distort his dream.


title: Vanilla Sky

text: They emerge on the rooftop, high above the clouds. Tech Support tells David that while they have corrected the flaw, he now has a choice of either being returned to the dream or being restored to life, requiring a literal leap of faith off the roof that will wake him from his sleep. David chooses the latter, despite McCabe warning him against it. Before jumping, David envisions Brian and Sofia to say his goodbyes. He leaps from the edge of the building, and his life flashes before him.


title: Vanilla Sky

text: After the American debut of Alejandro Amenábar's 1997 Spanish film "Abre los ojos" ("Open Your Eyes") at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival, Tom Cruise and his producing partner Paula Wagner optioned the remake rights. Hoping to entice director Cameron Crowe, who collaborated with Cruise on "Jerry Maguire", Cruise invited Crowe over to his house to view the film. Cruise has stated:


title: Vanilla Sky

text: I've been offered a lot of films to buy and remake, and I never have because I felt it was too connected with the culture of that place, whatever country it was from. But this was a universal story that was still open-ended, that still felt like it needed another chapter to be told.


title: Vanilla Sky

text: The title of the film is a reference to depictions of skies in certain paintings by Claude Monet. In addition to Monet's impressionistic artwork, the film's tone was derived from the acoustic ballad "By Way of Sorrow" by Julie Miller and a line from an early interview of Elvis Presley in which he said, "I feel lonely, even in a crowded room."


title: Vanilla Sky

text: Principal photography for "Vanilla Sky" began in late 2000 and lasted six weeks. On November 12, 2000, shooting for the scene of the deserted Times Square in New York took place in the early hours of the day. A large section of traffic was blocked off around Times Square while the scene was shot. "There was a limit on how long the city would let us lock everything up even on an early Sunday morning when much of NYC would be slow getting up," said Steadicam operator Larry McConkey. "Several times we rehearsed with Steadicam and Crane including a mockup of an unmovable guardrail that we had to work the crane arm around. [Cruise] participated in these rehearsals as well so we shared a clear understanding of what my limitations and requirements would be."


title: Vanilla Sky

text: Filming lasted for six weeks around the New York City area, which included scenes in Central Park, the Upper West Side, SoHo, and Brooklyn. One prominent location in the area was the Condé Nast Building that served as Aames Publishing and David's office. After filming finished in New York, production moved to Los Angeles, where the remaining interior shots were completed at Paramount Studios. Crowe intentionally left in shots of the World Trade Center after the September 11 attacks as a tribute.


title: Vanilla Sky

text: Despite the film's distorted aspects of reality, the style of cinematography remains grounded for much of the film. "I didn't do anything that was overtly obvious, because the story revolves around the main character not knowing whether he's in a state of reality, a dream or a nightmare, so we want it to feel a little ambiguous," said cinematographer John Toll. "We want the audience to make discoveries as [Cruise]'s character does, rather than ahead of him." "American Cinematographer" magazine wrote a feature story on the lighting designer Lee Rose's work on the film.


title: Vanilla Sky

text: The 2015 Blu-ray release offers the option to watch the film with an alternative ending. This ending expands on the details at the end of the film. While it all leads to the same conclusion, there are additional scenes, alternative takes, and alternative dialogue.


title: Vanilla Sky

text: After Rebecca describes the lucid dream, David rushes out of the room but does not immediately dash towards the elevator. He meets McCabe in the restroom who tries to convince him that this is all a hoax and a con and that his case is going to trial. David tells him that he's only in his imagination. Much like in the theatrical cut, the Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations" plays, but this version makes it clear that David hears the music and that he chose it; meanwhile McCabe tries to convince him there is no music.


title: Vanilla Sky

text: At this point, David dashes out of the restroom for the elevator the way he does in the theatrical cut, but the scene in the lobby is expanded: David shoots the police officer who is firing at him and is then surrounded by a SWAT team whom McCabe tries to talk down, but the SWAT team fires at both of them. They black out and wake up in the emptied lobby where McCabe continues to applaud what he believes is a performance while David gets into the elevator with Ventura, who tells him what happened at the end of his real life.


title: Vanilla Sky

text: Once they reach the roof, McCabe reenters again and his pleas to David not to believe Ventura become more and more desperate until he collapses onto the ground in despair. David's interaction with Sofia is extended as he tells her he loves her but "can't settle for a dream". He then jumps off the building, screaming "I want to wake up!" as images from his life flash before his eyes. He wakes up in bed and a voice tells him "Open your eyes. You're going to be fine."


title: Vanilla Sky

text: "Vanilla Sky"'s score was by Crowe's then wife, Nancy Wilson, who also scored "Jerry Maguire" and "Almost Famous". Wilson spent nine months on the film's music, which was done through experimentation of sound collages. "We were trying to balance out the heaviness of the story with sugary pop-culture music," she said. "We made sound collages of all kinds. We were channeling Brian Wilson to a large extent. I was recording things through hoses, around corners, playing guitars with cello bows, and with [music editor] Carl Kaller, we tried all kinds of wacky stuff. In the murder–sex scene sound collage, Cameron even used Brian Wilson's speaking voice from a "Pet Sounds" mix session."


title: Vanilla Sky

text: The eponymous song from the soundtrack, written and recorded by Paul McCartney, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song. Additional songs featured included Radiohead's song "Everything in Its Right Place", and "Svefn-g-englar" by the Icelandic group Sigur Rós.


title: Vanilla Sky

text: Crowe notes that the presence of a "Vanilla Sky" during the morning reunion after the nightclub scene marks the first lucid dream scene, and that everything that follows is a dream.


title: Vanilla Sky

text: "Vanilla Sky" opened at #1 at the box office in the United States when it was first presented on December 14, 2001. The opening weekend took in a gross income of $25,015,518 (24.9%). The final domestic gross income was $100.61 million while the international gross income was slightly higher at $102.76m for a total worldwide gross income of $203,388,341.


title: Vanilla Sky

text: On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 43% based on reviews from 174 critics and an average rating of 5.30/10. The site's consensus states: "An ambitious mix of genres, "Vanilla Sky" collapses into an incoherent jumble. Cruise's performance lacks depth, and it's hard to feel sympathy for his narcissistic character." On Metacritic it has a score of 45 out of 100 based on 33 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "D−" on a scale from A to F.


title: Vanilla Sky

text: Roger Ebert's printed review of "Vanilla Sky" awarded the film three out of four stars: Ebert interpreted the ending as an explanation for "the mechanism of our confusion", rather than a device that tells "us for sure what actually happened." Film critic Richard Roeper ranked the film the second best of 2001.


title: Vanilla Sky

text: Stephen Holden of "The New York Times" calls "Vanilla Sky" a "highly entertaining, erotic science-fiction thriller that takes Mr. Crowe into Steven Spielberg territory", but then says: "As it leaves behind the real world and begins exploring life as a waking dream (this year's most popular theme in Hollywood movies with lofty ideas), "Vanilla Sky" loosens its emotional grip and becomes a disorganised and abstract if still-intriguing meditation on parallel themes. One is the quest for eternal life and eternal youth; another is guilt and the ungovernable power of the unconscious mind to undermine science's utopian discoveries. David's redemption ultimately consists of his coming to grips with his own mortality, but that redemption lacks conviction."


title: Vanilla Sky

text: Salon.com called "Vanilla Sky" an "aggressively plotted puzzle picture, which clutches many allegedly deep themes to its heaving bosom without uncovering even an onion-skin layer of insight into any of them." The review rhetorically asks: "Who would have thought that Cameron Crowe had a movie as bad as "Vanilla Sky" in him? It's a punishing picture, a betrayal of everything that Crowe has proved he knows how to do right. ... But the disheartening truth is that we can see Crowe taking all the right steps, the most Crowe-like steps, as he mounts a spectacle that overshoots boldness and ambition and idiosyncrasy and heads right for arrogance and pretension—and those last two are traits I never would have thought we'd have to ascribe to Crowe." Edward Guthmann of the San Francisco Chronicle gave the film 2/4 and wrote: "The film's aim—to dazzle and inspire—is sapped by Cruise's vein-popping, running-the-marathon performance."


title: Vanilla Sky

text: Peter Bradshaw of "The Guardian" and Gareth Von Kallenbach of the publication "Film Threat" compared "Vanilla Sky" unfavorably to "Open Your Eyes". Bradshaw says "Open Your Eyes" is "certainly more distinctive than" "Vanilla Sky", which he describes as an "extraordinarily narcissistic high-concept vanity project for producer-star Tom Cruise." Other reviewers extrapolate from the knowledge that Cruise had bought the rights to do a version of Amenábar's film. A "Village Voice" reviewer characterized "Vanilla Sky" as "hauntingly frank about being a manifestation of its star's cosmic narcissism".


title: Vanilla Sky

text: Kenneth Turan of the "Los Angeles Times" called Cameron Diaz "compelling as the embodiment of crazed sensuality" and "The New York Times" reviewer said she gives a "ferociously emotional" performance. Edward Guthmann of the "San Francisco Chronicle" similarly says of the film, "most impressive is Cameron Diaz, whose fatal-attraction stalker is both heartbreaking and terrifying." For her performance, Diaz won multiple critics' groups awards, as well as being nominated for the Golden Globe Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, Critics' Choice Movie Award, Saturn Award, and AFI Award. Penélope Cruz's performance, however, earned her a Razzie Award nomination for Worst Actress (in addition to her roles in "Blow" and "Captain Corelli's Mandolin").


title: 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONMEBOL)

text: The South American section of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification acted as qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, to be held in Qatar, for national teams which are members of the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL). A total of 4.5 slots (4 direct slots and 1 inter-confederation play-off slot) in the final tournament were available for CONMEBOL teams.