title: Pashtuns

text: The earliest describes Sheikh Mali's conquest of Swat. Pir Roshan is believed to have written a number of Pashto books while fighting with the Mughals. Pashtun scholars such as Abdul Hai Habibi and others believe that the earliest Pashto work dates back to Amir Kror Suri, and they use the writings found in Pata Khazana as proof. Amir Kror Suri, son of "Amir Polad Suri", was an 8th-century folk hero and king from the Ghor region in Afghanistan. However, this is disputed by several European experts due to lack of strong evidence.


title: Pashtuns

text: The advent of poetry helped transition Pashto to the modern period. Pashto literature gained significant prominence in the 20th century, with poetry by Ameer Hamza Shinwari who developed "Pashto Ghazals". In 1919, during the expanding of mass media, Mahmud Tarzi published Seraj-al-Akhbar, which became the first Pashto newspaper in Afghanistan. In 1977, Khan Roshan Khan wrote "Tawarikh-e-Hafiz Rehmatkhani" which contains the family trees and Pashtun tribal names. Some notable poets include Khushal Khan Khattak, Afzal Khan Khattak, Ajmal Khattak, Pareshan Khattak, Rahman Baba, Nazo Anaa, Hamza Shinwari, Ahmad Shah Durrani, Timur Shah Durrani, Shuja Shah Durrani, Ghulam Muhammad Tarzi, and Ghani Khan.


title: Pashtuns

text: Recently, Pashto literature has received increased patronage, but many Pashtuns continue to rely on oral tradition due to relatively low literacy rates and education. Pashtun society is also marked by some matriarchal tendencies. Folktales involving reverence for Pashtun mothers and matriarchs are common and are passed down from parent to child, as is most Pashtun heritage, through a rich oral tradition that has survived the ravages of time.


title: Pashtuns

text: Pashto media has expanded in the last decade, with a number of Pashto TV channels becoming available. Two of the popular ones are the Pakistan-based AVT Khyber and Pashto One. Pashtuns around the world, particularly those in Arab countries, watch these for entertainment purposes and to get latest news about their native areas. Others are Afghanistan-based Shamshad TV, Radio Television Afghanistan, and Lemar TV, which has a special children's show called "Baghch-e-Simsim". International news sources that provide Pashto programs include BBC Pashto and Voice of America.


title: Pashtuns

text: Pashtun performers remain avid participants in various physical forms of expression including dance, sword fighting, and other physical feats. Perhaps the most common form of artistic expression can be seen in the various forms of Pashtun dances. One of the most prominent dances is "Attan", which has ancient roots. A rigorous exercise, Attan is performed as musicians play various native instruments including the "dhol" (drums), "tablas" (percussions), "rubab" (a bowed string instrument), and "toola" (wooden flute). With a rapid circular motion, dancers perform until no one is left dancing, similar to Sufi whirling dervishes. Numerous other dances are affiliated with various tribes notably from Pakistan including the "Khattak Wal Atanrh" (eponymously named after the Khattak tribe), "Mahsood Wal Atanrh" (which, in modern times, involves the juggling of loaded rifles), and "Waziro Atanrh" among others. A sub-type of the "Khattak Wal Atanrh" known as the "Braghoni" involves the use of up to three swords and requires great skill. Young women and girls often entertain at weddings with the "Tumbal" (Dayereh) which is an instrument.


title: Pashtuns

text: Both the Afghanistan national cricket team and the Pakistan national cricket team have Pashtun players. One of the most popular sports among Pashtuns is cricket, which was introduced to South Asia during the early 18th century with the arrival of the British. Many Pashtuns have become prominent international cricketers, including Imran Khan, Shahid Afridi, Majid Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Younis Khan, Umar Gul, Junaid Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Rizwan, Usman Shinwari and Yasir Shah. Australian cricketer Fawad Ahmed is of Pakistani Pashtun origin who has played for the Australian national team.


title: Pashtuns

text: Football (soccer) is also one of the most popular sports among Pashtuns. The Former captain and now the current assistant coach of Pakistan national football team, Muhammad Essa, is an ethnic Pashtun. Other sports popular among Pashtuns may include polo, field hockey, volleyball, handball, basketball, golf, track and field, bodybuilding, weightlifting, wrestling, kayaking, horse racing, martial arts, boxing, taekwondo, kick boxing , skateboarding, bowling and chess.


title: Pashtuns

text: Jahangir Khan and Jansher Khan became professional squash players. Although now retired, they are engaged in promoting the sport through the "Pakistan Squash Federation". Maria Toorpakai Wazir is the first female Pashtun squash player. Pakistan also produced other world champions of Pashtun origin: Hashim Khan, Roshan Khan, Azam Khan, Mo Khan and Qamar Zaman.In recent decades Hayatullah Khan Durrani, Pride of Performance legendary caver from Quetta, has been promoting mountaineering, rock climbing and Caving in Balochistan, Pakistan. Mohammad Abubakar Durrani International Canoeing shining star of Pakistan.


title: Pashtuns

text: Snooker and billiards are played by young Pashtun men, mainly in urban areas where snooker clubs are found. Several prominent international recognized snooker players are from the Pashtun area, including Saleh Mohammed. Although traditionally very less involved in sports than boys, Pashtun girls sometimes play volleyball, basketball, football, and cricket, especially in urban areas.


title: Pashtuns

text: Makha is a traditional archery sport in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, played with a long arrow ("gheshai") having a saucer shaped metallic plate at its distal end, and a long bow. In Afghanistan, some Pashtuns still participate in the ancient sport of buzkashi in which horse riders attempt to place a goat or calf carcass in a goal circle.


title: Pashtuns

text: Before the Islamization of their territory, the region used to be home to various beliefs and cults such as Zoroastrianism, ancient Iranian religions, Hinduism and Buddhism. The region of Arachosia, around Kandahar and Quetta in modern-day southern Afghanistan and western Pakistan, used to be primarily Zoroastrian and played a key role in the transfer of the Avesta to Persia and is thus considered by some to be the "second homeland of Zoroastrianism". The Khalaj of Kabul, supposed ancestors of the modern Ghilji Pashtuns, used to worship various local ancient Iranian gods such as the fire God Atar. The historic region of Gandhara used to be dominantly Hindu and Buddhist. Buddhism, in its own unique syncretic form, was also common throughout the whole region, people would be patrons of Buddhism but still worship local Iranian gods such as Ahura Mazda, Lady Nana, Anahita or Mihr (Mithra).


title: Pashtuns

text: In folklore, it is believed that most Pashtuns are descendants of Qais Abdur Rashid, who is purported to have been an early convert to Islam and thus bequeathed the faith to the early Pashtun population. The legend says that after Qais heard of the new religion of Islam, he travelled to meet Muhammad in Medina and returned to Afghanistan as a Muslim. He purportedly had four children: Sarban, Batan, Ghourghusht and Karlan. This theory has been criticised, for not being substantiated by historical evidence and based on post-Arabic influence.


title: Pashtuns

text: The Muslim conquest of Afghanistan was not completed until the 10th century under Ghaznavid and Ghurid dynasty's rule who patronized Muslim religious institutions. The Caliph Al-Ma'mun (r. 813–833 A.D.) conducted raids against non-Muslim rulers of a Kabul and Zabul. Al-Utbi in Tarikh Yamini states that the Afghans and Khaljis, living between Laghman and Peshawar, took the oath of allegiance to Sabuktigin and were recruited into his army.


title: Pashtuns

text: The overwhelming majority of Pashtuns adhere to Sunni Islam and belong to the Hanafi school of thought. Small Shia communities exist in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Paktia. The Shias belong to the Turi tribe while the Bangash tribe is approximately 50% Shia and the rest Sunni, who are mainly found in and around Parachinar, Kurram, Hangu, Kohat and Orakzai.


title: Pashtuns

text: A legacy of Sufi activity may be found in some Pashtun regions, especially in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as evident in songs and dances. Many Pashtuns are prominent Ulema, Islamic scholars, such as Maulana Aazam an author of more than five hundred books including Tafasee of the Quran as Naqeeb Ut Tafaseer, Tafseer Ul Aazamain, Tafseer e Naqeebi and Noor Ut Tafaseer etc., as well as Muhammad Muhsin Khan who has helped translate the Noble Quran, Sahih Al-Bukhari and many other books to the English language. A number of Pashtuns are involved in Dawah activities in the United States. One of them is Sheikh Uthman Ibn Farooq, who belongs to the Yusufzai Pashtun tribe. Jamal-al-Din al-Afghani was a 19th-century Islamic ideologist and one of the founders of Islamic modernism. Although his ethnicity is disputed by some, he is widely accepted in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region as well as in the Arab world, as a Pashtun from the Kunar Province of Afghanistan. Like other non Arabic-speaking Muslims, many Pashtuns are able to read the Quran but not understand the Arabic language implicit in the holy text itself. Translations, especially in English, are scarcely far and in between understood or distributed. This paradox has contributed to the spread of different versions of religious practices and Wahabism, as well as political Islamism (including movements such as the Taliban) having a key presence in Pashtun society. In order to counter radicalization, the United States began spreading its influence in Pashtun areas. Many Pashtuns want to reclaim their identity from being lumped in with the Taliban and international terrorism, which is not directly linked with Pashtun culture and history.


title: Pashtuns

text: Lastly, little information is available on non-Muslim as there is limited data regarding irreligious groups and minorities, especially since many of the Hindu and Sikh Pashtuns migrated from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after the partition of India and later, after the rise of the Taliban.


title: Pashtuns

text: A small Pashtun Hindu community, known as the "Sheen Khalai" meaning 'blue skinned' (referring to the color of Pashtun women's facial tattoos), migrated to Unniara, Rajasthan, India after partition. Prior to 1947, the community resided in the Quetta, Loralai and Maikhter regions of the British Indian province of Baluchistan. They are mainly members of the Pashtun Kakar tribe. Today, they continue to speak Pashto and celebrate Pashtun culture through the Attan dance.


title: Pashtuns

text: There is also a minority of Pashtun Sikhs in Tirah, Orakzai, Kurram, Malakand, and Swat. Due to the ongoing insurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, some Pashtun Sikhs were internally displaced from their ancestral villages to settle in cities like Peshawar and Nankana Sahib.


title: Pashtuns

text: In Pashtun society there are three levels of women's leadership and legislative authority: the national level, the village level, and the family level. The national level includes women such as Nazo Tokhi, Zarghona Anaa and Malalai of Maiwand. Tokhi was a 17th century Pashto poet who eventually became the "Mother of Afghan Nationalism" after gaining authority through her poetry and adhering to Pashtunwali. She used the Pashtunwali law to unite Pashtun tribes against the Safavids. Her cause was picked up in the early 18th century by Zarghona Anaa, the mother of Ahmad Shah Durrani.


title: Pashtuns

text: The lives of Pashtun women vary from those who reside in the ultra-conservative rural areas to those found in urban centres. At the village level, the female village leader is called "qaryadar". Her duties may include witnessing women's ceremonies, mobilising women to practice religious festivals, preparing the female dead for burial, and performing services for deceased women. She also arranges marriages for her own family and arbitrates conflicts for men and women. Though many Pashtun women remain tribal and illiterate, some have completed universities and joined the regular employment world.


title: Pashtuns

text: The decades of war and the rise of the Taliban caused considerable hardship among Pashtun women, as many of their rights have been curtailed by a rigid interpretation of Islamic law. The difficult lives of Afghan female refugees gained considerable notoriety with the iconic image "Afghan Girl" (Sharbat Gula) depicted on the June 1985 cover of "National Geographic" magazine.


title: Pashtuns

text: Modern social reform for Pashtun women began in the early 20th century, when Queen Soraya Tarzi of Afghanistan made rapid reforms to improve women's lives and their position in the family. She was the only woman to appear on the list of rulers in Afghanistan. Credited with having been one of the first and most powerful Afghan and Muslim female activists. Her advocacy of social reforms for women led to a protest and contributed to the ultimate demise of King Amanullah's reign in 1929. In 1942, Madhubala (Mumtaz Jehan), the Marilyn Monroe of India, entered the Bollywood film industry. Bollywood blockbusters of the 1970s and 1980s starred Parveen Babi, who hailed from the lineage of Gujarat's historical Pathan community: the royal Babi Dynasty. Other Indian actresses and models, such as Zarine Khan, continue to work in the industry. Civil rights remained an important issue during the 1970s, as feminist leader Meena Keshwar Kamal campaigned for women's rights and founded the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) in the 1977.


title: Pashtuns

text: Pashtun women these days vary from the traditional housewives who live in seclusion to urban workers, some of whom seek or have attained parity with men. But due to numerous social hurdles, the literacy rate remains considerably lower for them than for males. Abuse against women is present and increasingly being challenged by women's rights organisations which find themselves struggling with conservative religious groups as well as government officials in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. According to a 1992 book, "a powerful ethic of forbearance severely limits the ability of traditional Pashtun women to mitigate the suffering they acknowledge in their lives."


title: Pashtuns

text: Despite obstacles, many Pashtun women have begun a process of slow change. A rich oral tradition and resurgence of poetry has inspired many Pashtun women seeking to learn to read and write. Further challenging the status quo, Vida Samadzai was selected as Miss Afghanistan in 2003, a feat that was received with a mixture of support from those who back the individual rights of women and those who view such displays as anti-traditionalist and un-Islamic. Some have attained political office in Afghanistan and Pakistan. A number of Pashtun women are found as TV hosts, journalists and actors. Nigar Johar is a three-star general in the Pakistan Army. Khatol Mohammadzai served as brigadier general in the Afghan Army, another Pashtun female became a fighter pilot in the Pakistan Air Force. Some other notable Pashtun women include Aisha Uqbah Malik, Armeena Khan, Fauzia Gailani, Ghazala Javed, Gulalai Ismail, Gul Panra, Humaira Begum, Laila Khan, Malala Yousafzai, Naghma, Najiba Faiz, Nilofar Bakhtiar, Sana Safi, Shinkai Karokhail, Shukria Barakzai, Suhaila Seddiqi, Tabassum Adnan, Zartaj Gul and Zeenat Karzai.


title: Pashtuns

text: Pashtun women often have their legal rights curtailed in favour of their husbands or male relatives. For example, though women are officially allowed to vote in Afghanistan and Pakistan, some have been kept away from ballot boxes by males. Another tradition that persists is swara (a form of child marriage), which was declared illegal in Pakistan in 2000 but continues in some parts. Substantial work remains for Pashtun women to gain equal rights with men, who remain disproportionately dominant in most aspects of Pashtun society. Human rights organisations continue to struggle for greater women's rights, such as the Afghan Women's Network and the Aurat Foundation in Pakistan which aims to protect women from domestic violence.


title: Randall Park

text: Randall Park (born March 23, 1974) is an American actor, comedian, and writer, who is best known for his role as Louis Huang in the ABC sitcom "Fresh Off the Boat" (2015-2020), for which he was nominated for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actor in a Comedy Series award in 2016.


title: Randall Park

text: Before these major roles, Park gained popularity by playing Steve, a prank replacement of Jim Halpert (dubbed "Asian Jim") in an episode of the NBC sitcom "The Office" and starring in the recurring role of Governor Danny Chung in the HBO comedy series "Veep". He also co-starred in and co-wrote the Netflix romantic comedy film "Always Be My Maybe" (2019), alongside Ali Wong.


title: Randall Park

text: He has appeared in numerous web series on Channel 101, including "Dr. Miracles" and "IKEA Heights." He has also appeared in a few short films by Wong Fu Productions.


title: Randall Park

text: Park also appears in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Agent Jimmy Woo in the 2018 film "Ant-Man and the Wasp," 2021 miniseries "WandaVision" and in the upcoming "," as a future version of himself in the 2021 Dwayne Johnson autobiographical comedy series "Young Rock", and in the DC Extended Universe film "Aquaman" (2018) as Dr. Stephen Shin.


title: Randall Park

text: Park was born to Korean immigrants in Los Angeles, California and grew up in Castle Heights, Los Angeles. His mother was an accountant at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and his father owned a one-hour photo store. Park graduated from Hamilton High School's humanities magnet program.


title: Randall Park

text: Park began attending UCLA in winter quarter of 1993. As a student, he co-founded "Lapu, the Coyote that Cares," the largest and longest-running on-campus Asian American theater company, now known as the LCC Theatre Company, in 1995. He credits his experiences with LCC for sparking his desire to pursue acting professionally and would go on to collaborate with many of its alumni. Their first performance was of "Treehouse Bachelor Society," a full-length play Park had written, and it was performed at the Northwest Auditorium. Park was also a student volunteer for UCLA's official charity, UCLA UniCamp, and went by the camp name "CareMoose."


title: Randall Park

text: He graduated with a bachelor's degree in English, with a concentration in creative writing, and minor in Asian American studies from UCLA in 1997. He remained at UCLA, partly to continue acting with LCC, and later completed his master's degree in Asian American studies in 1999. After graduation, Park worked at the weekly newspaper "New Times LA" as a graphic/print designer for a few years. When he left the job, he considered pursuing architecture school but failed the pre-requisite courses and realized he did not want to attend any more schooling.


title: Randall Park

text: Park has made guest appearances on television shows including "Community," "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "New Girl," "The Office," "ER", "", "Four Kings", "Las Vegas", "House", "iCarly," "Cold Case", "The Mindy Project", and "Reno 911!".


title: Randall Park

text: He co-founded the Propergander theater group with a few LCC alumni. Their first production was of "The Achievers" by LCC co-founder Michael Golamco in 2001. Around this time, Park began doing stand-up comedy recreationally in his backyard during Propergander shows. He cited Mike Birbiglia and Mitch Hedberg as early influences and would later perform alongside comedian Ali Wong. Other notable alumni include Vivian Bang, Tim Chiou, Samantha Quan, and Eddie Shin. Park, Shin, and LCC co-founder Naoya Imanishi were also a part of the short lived improv group, "The Legendary Stage Ninjaz," along with comedian Ali Wong.


title: Randall Park

text: Park made his screen debut as the lead in the 2003 short film "Dragon of Love", which won Best Short Film at the 2003 Hawaii International Film Festival.


title: Randall Park

text: Park co-wrote and starred in the feature film "American Fusion," directed by UCLA alumnus Frank Lin, which won the Audience Award at the 2005 Hawaii International Film Festival. It was actor Pat Morita's last role before his death in November of that year. The script was a quarter-finalist for the 2009 Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting.


title: Randall Park

text: Early in his career, when Park did not have a talent agent, he would book roles through diversity showcases at different television networks. In 2006, he was featured in the CBS Diversity Showcase. At 32, while a cast member on MTV's "Wild 'n Out", he worked at Starbucks to supplement his income.


title: Randall Park

text: Park found work to be scarce in 2009 due to the Great Recession in the United States in 2008 and a potential SAG-AFTRA strike at the beginning of 2009, so he began to focus on his own projects during this period. He wrote the short film "Blueberry", which won an award for Best Actor at the NBC Shortcuts Film Festival For Short Films in 2010.


title: Randall Park

text: Park has collaborated on several projects with Wong Fu Productions. Previously, he has appeared as Brandon in the comedy skit "Too Fast" (2010) and the stepfather in the web series "Home Is Where the Hans Are" (2012). More recently, Park played a D.E.I. agent in the feature film "Everything Before Us" (2015) and its accompanying short film, Asian Santa in the comedy skit "Why is Santa Asian?", and a brief cameo as himself in "Asian Bachelorette 2".


title: Randall Park

text: He created, directed, wrote, and starred in several short internet series for Channel 101, including "Dr. Miracles", "The Food", "IKEA Heights", and "Dumb Professor". In 2013 he wrote and starred in a series for Channel 101 featuring his baby daughter entitled "Baby Mentalist". In Channel 101's bracket competition format for web-series, "Baby Mentalist" was voted number one the most times of any show at the time, ending with six episodes in 2013.


title: Randall Park

text: In 2014, Park played a company rep trying to recruit college students in "Neighbors." He had previously worked with the director, Nicholas Stoller, on "The Five-Year Engagement" (2012). Stoller later recommended Park for the role of "a vague North Korean dictator," who later turned out to be North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, in the controversial film, "The Interview", directed by Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen. Impressed by his audition, Goldberg and Rogen offered Park the role after one audition. Park gained over 20 pounds for the role. For reference material on the role, he used Forest Whitaker's performance in "The Last King of Scotland" and the Vice documentary on North Korea.


title: Randall Park

text: In 2015, he appeared as Jeff in the prequel 2015 series for Netflix, "". He also appeared in Wong Fu Productions' first feature film, "Everything Before Us". Park appeared with John Malkovich in the music video for Eminem's single "Phenomenal". He also appeared as a co-worker of Amy Schumer's character in "Trainwreck." He also had roles in the films "Southpaw" (as Jed Wang) and "The Night Before" as Ethan's Boss.


title: Randall Park

text: From 2015 to 2020, Park starred as Louis Huang, patriarch of a Taiwanese American family, alongside Constance Wu, in ABC's television show "Fresh Off The Boat" (based on Eddie Huang's memoir, ""), written and produced by Nahnatchka Khan and executive produced by Jake Kasdan. He was the first actor cast on the show, with the producers having approached him before the pilot was ordered. Park initially felt uneasy about portraying a Taiwanese father as somebody of Korean heritage. However, Huang reassured Park that he was Huang's first choice to play his father. When they were staffing the writer's room, Park recommended Ali Wong for the position. The show ran for six seasons and was concluded on February 21, 2020.


title: Randall Park

text: In 2017 appeared in the comedies "The House" as the Wall Street Guy and "The Disaster Artist". He also lent his voice talents to the CGI animated film "The Lego Ninjago Movie" as Chen the Cheerleader.


title: Randall Park

text: In 2018, Park had minor roles in both the Marvel Cinematic Universe and DC Extended Universe (DCEU). He played FBI Agent Jimmy Woo in the Marvel Studios film "Ant-Man and the Wasp." Park returned as Woo in the Disney+ series, "WandaVision" (2021). In the DCEU, he played Dr. Stephen Shin in the film "Aquaman".


title: Randall Park

text: Park produced and starred in the Netflix original film "Always Be My Maybe", directed by "Fresh of the Boat" creator Nahnatchka Khan, with Ali Wong. The film was written by Park, Wong, and Michael Golamco. The in-film hip hop band, Hello Peril, is inspired by Park's 90s hip hop band, Ill Again. The film was released in select theaters on May 29, 2019, and digitally on May 31, 2019, on Netflix.


title: Randall Park

text: Park, Golamco, and Hieu Ho launched the Asian American focused production company, Imminent Collision, and signed a first look deal with 20th Century Fox Television in October 2019. The name is derived from a play they worked on while members of the LCC theater group at UCLA.


title: Randall Park

text: In 2021, Park was announced as starring in the upcoming Netflix comedy series "Blockbuster". In January 2023, Park's directorial debut, "Shortcomings", will premiere at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.


title: Randall Park

text: Park was a front man for the Bay Area hip-hop/jazz/rock fusion band, Ill Again. The band served as the inspiration for his character's band, Hello Peril, in the film "Always Be My Maybe" (2019). He later formed the rap group Novelists with former Ill Again emcee Andrew Johnson. In this group, Park went by the rap name, "Randruff." They released the album "Bookends" in 2008.


title: Randall Park

text: Park has been featured in ads for HBO Go, Ally Financial, and the 2011 Father's Day Verizon Droid commercial. He plays a "doggie daycare owner" in a print and online campaign for Chase Bank, which aired in early 2015.


title: Randall Park

text: Park is married to actress Jae Suh Park. They worked together on "The Mindy Project" and the short film "Love, NY." They live with their daughter Ruby in the San Fernando Valley.


title: Randall Park

text: Park returned to UCLA as a keynote speaker for the Asian American Studies department commencement ceremony in 2015 and for English department commencement ceremony in 2017.


title: Randall Park

text: Park and Jae Suh's daughter, Ruby Louise Park, was born in 2012. Ruby Louise starred, alongside her parents, as a crime-fighting baby superhero in "Baby Mentalist", a comedy web series developed by her father in 2013. Ruby Louise is autistic, as discussed by Park on Mike Birbiglia's podcast "Working it Out". Park supports the non-profit KultureCity that focuses on "sensory accessibility and acceptance for those with invisible disabilities." Park is on KultureCity's board of Directors.


title: Randall Park

text: Park is an active supporter of East West Players theater group in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles. He has publicly voiced his support of the theatre during EWP's donation campaign in 2018.


title: Randall Park

text: Park has an older brother. In the beginning, Park's parents were not supportive of his acting ambitions. However, in hindsight, Park has acknowledged that they have supported him tacitly by continuing to house him throughout the years. When Park received the script for "The Interview", his parents encouraged him to pursue the role.


title: Heartland (Canadian TV series)

text: Heartland is a Canadian family comedy-drama television series which debuted in Canada on CBC on October 14, 2007.


title: Heartland (Canadian TV series)

text: The series is based on the "Heartland" book series by Lauren Brooke and follows Amy Fleming and her older sister Louise "Lou" Fleming on their Alberta-based family ranch, 'Heartland', where they live with their widowed grandfather Jack Bartlett, their father Tim Fleming and hired farmhand Ty Borden. While experiencing the highs and lows of life on the ranch, the family bonds and grows closer.


title: Heartland (Canadian TV series)

text: With the airing of its 139th episode on March 29, 2015, "Heartland" surpassed "Street Legal" as the longest-running one-hour scripted drama in Canadian television history.


title: Heartland (Canadian TV series)

text: On June 2, 2021, CBC renewed the series for a fifteenth ten-episode season. The show has been picked up for a Season 16 of 15 episodes on June 1, 2022 and started production on the same day, and it premiered on October 2, 2022 in Canada.


title: Heartland (Canadian TV series)

text: In the United States, the series has wide distribution through broadcast syndication on weekends, including as part of the default national schedule for Up TV and The CW Plus. Reruns of older episodes air on Hulu, Pluto TV, Crackle, Tubi, BYUtv, Retro TV, COZI TV, and Heartland (which is not named for the series). It was also a part of the schedule on the now-defunct Light TV until it was rebranded as TheGrio TV on January 15, 2021. The show is also available on Netflix and various other streaming platforms in the US.


title: Heartland (Canadian TV series)

text: The protagonist of the series, Amy, practices natural horsemanship, the intuitive training and healing method used by her late mother, Marion. When Amy was fifteen, she was seriously injured in a car crash that killed Marion. They were living with Marion's father (Amy's grandfather), Jack, on his ranch, Heartland. While Amy recuperated, her estranged father, Tim, returned. Jack had banished Tim years earlier due to Tim's alcohol and drug use. Amy adjusts to her father re-entering her life, while older sister, Lou, who works in New York City, returns to Heartland after Marion's death. Jack begrudgingly accepts Tim, who tries to make amends for the past. Over time, Amy develops a close relationship with Ty Borden, a ranch hand working at Heartland as part of his probation. They fall in love, though the relationship is occasionally rocky. In the last episode of season 5, Ty plans to propose to Amy, but decides against it after overhearing her say she does not want to be tied down. They eventually marry, and, at the end of season 9, Amy is pregnant. At the end of Season 10, Amy gives birth to a girl, Lyndy Marion. In season 13, Amy and Ty become foster parents to Luke. Season 14 sees Amy dealing with Ty's accidental death and coping with being a single mother.


title: Heartland (Canadian TV series)

text: As the series opens, Lou returns home to help run Heartland, leaving behind her boyfriend and a lucrative business job in New York City. Upon discovering Heartland's poor financial situation, she crafts a financial plan to make the ranch profitable. After securing a bank loan, Lou takes over the business-end of Heartland, and later proposes creating the "Heartland Equestrian Connection" as a corporate retreat center. Family members derisively consider it as a "Dude Ranch". Lou rekindles a romance with local vet, Scott Cardinal. That relationship dissolves in season 2. She then meets Peter Morris, but their relationship is complicated by Peter's job in the oil industry. Lou and Peter marry at the end of season 3 and move to Dubai. Lou misses Heartland and her family and they move back. She gives birth to daughter Catherine Marion Minnie Fleming-Morris (“Katie”). Lou and Peter eventually buy Mr. Hanley's ranch. However, a fire demolishes the buildings and forces them to remain at Heartland. In Season 6, Lou and Peter adopt Georgina Crawley. In season 8, Peter's frequent long work absences stresses their marriage, and the couple separate. Lou is attracted to new stable hand, Mitch. Peter regularly visits his daughters, complicating Lou and Mitch's budding romance. In season 7, Lou buys "Maggie's Diner" and runs it with Tim, her supposedly "silent" business partner. Lou works on bringing "Maggie's" to New York City and spends much time commuting back and forth. Season 14 sees Lou become the Mayor of the town Hudson and the introduction of her side-kick and Chief Administrative Office Rick Adderly. Rick is the shows first openly gay character in the shows history and played by British actor Aidan Moreno.


title: Heartland (Canadian TV series)

text: Jack, the family patriarch, was Marion's father and is Amy and Lou's grandfather. A former rodeo star, he owns Heartland. When Marion took over Heartland, it became a horse ranch. After her death, Jack helps Amy and Ty maintain Heartland and its horses and also repairs broken equipment, fences, and the like. Early in the series, he has a strained relationship with ex-son-in-law Tim, stemming from Tim's troubled past with alcohol and prescription drug abuse, his acrimonious divorce from Marion, and neglecting Amy and Lou when they were younger. Jack barely tolerate Tim at times, and they frequently argue over the running of the ranch. Jack was initially judgmental towards the new ranch hand, Ty, but gradually considers him like a son. Jack gives his blessing to Ty and Amy marrying. Jack's stubbornness and resistance to change sometimes causes friction between him and others, particularly with his romantic interest, Lisa Stillman, and granddaughter, Lou. Jack and Lisa elope in the season 7 finale. Jack suffers a heart attack and collapses in the field. Tim finds and saves him. Jack dotes on his three great-granddaughters, Katie, Georgie, and Lyndy.


title: Heartland (Canadian TV series)

text: Tim is Amy's and Lou's father who left the family after he and Marion separated (Lou was fourteen, and Amy was five). After a rodeo accident, he struggled with prescription drug (painkiller) abuse and alcoholism. As a result, Jack kicked Tim out. After Amy and Lou's mother dies, he returns, moving to Big River Ranch, near Heartland. Tim has a relationship with the previous owner's daughter, who inherited the ranch. He later dates a jockey named Janice and nearly moves to California with her. However, in Season 4 Episode 18 ("Burning Down the House"), it is discovered that Tim has an 11-year-old son named Shane with Miranda Grenier, his ex-girlfriend. When he reveals this to Janice, she leaves for California without him. Shane stays with Tim at Heartland for a short period. After a brief custody battle, Shane returns to live with his mother, who later remarries. Tim starts a rodeo school, a horse-selling business, and begins a new relationship. After moving on, he has a long-term relationship with Casey. His star rodeo pupils are Jade Virani and Clay McMurtry, teenage bronc riders.


title: Heartland (Canadian TV series)

text: Georgie is Lou and Peter's adopted daughter who was orphaned at age 3. After the foster care system separated her and her brother, Jeff, Georgie developed serious behavioral problems, though her behavior gradually improves. Georgie, a natural equestrian and a tomboy, is fearless, talented, strong-minded, and clever. This initially makes Mallory, a young family friend, jealous. Georgie grows close to the family but occasionally misbehaves, even running away once. In later seasons, Georgie joins the Extreme Team, a trick riding group, replacing show jumping as Georgie's main equestrian activity. She develops romantic feelings for Adam Parker, her tutor. Georgie and Adam briefly date but break up when Adam thinks she has feelings for Clay McMurtry. By seasons 14 and 15, she is in a relationship with newcomer Quinn. He encourages Georgie to revive her dream of competing in the Olympics. She begins training at his family's Florida ranch. Although billed as "main cast" during this time, Georgie later becomes more of a "recurring character" due to her infrequent visits back to Heartland. She was absent for all of season 15 and much of 16 after Newton left the main cast for nearly two seasons to pursue other acting opportunities. However, Georgie is still broadly in the storyline training for the next Olympic Games, so she may be set to return during or after season 16. The CBC hasn't announced yet if Newton as Georgie will be restored to the main full-time cast as a lead player or brought back on her current part-time basis that would allow her to work on other projects without leaving Heartland or giving up her role as Georgie.


title: Heartland (Canadian TV series)

text: Much of the series is filmed on location in and around High River, Alberta, with additional filming in studio and on location in nearby Calgary. A June 2013 flood in High River swamped the standing set for Maggie's Diner. The main "Heartland" sets escaped damage, and seventh season scripts were rewritten to move shooting locations for the fictional town of Hudson to Inglewood, a historic neighborhood in downtown Calgary. A month after the flood, the show's Calgary studios offered behind-the-scenes tours to paying fans for a one-day "Heartlanders for High River" fundraiser, providing $80,000 to help the town recover.


title: Heartland (Canadian TV series)

text: Entertainment One has released the first seven seasons of "Heartland" on DVD in Region 1 (Canada only). The standalone TV movie "A Heartland Christmas" was released on DVD in Canada on November 1, 2011 and in the United States on October 29, 2013. Season 8 was released in Canada on October 6, 2015.


title: Heartland (Canadian TV series)

text: In its series premiere, "Heartland" beat Global's comedy "Da Kink in My Hair" with 513,000 viewers in a battle of two new series. After four episodes, "Heartland" had an average viewership of 464,000. In its first-season finale, "Heartland" attracted 625,000 viewers. The third-season premiere brought in over one million viewers, a new record for the show. The 100th episode "After All We've Been Through" was watched by 945,000 viewers.


title: Heartland (Canadian TV series)

text: A six-part spin-off web series titled "Hudson" with Jade Verani as the protagonist was released on CBC Gem on March 31, 2019. It won the Best Web Series award at the Calgary Society of Independent Filmmakers's second annual Stinger Awards.


title: Post-punk

text: Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-rock influences. Inspired by punk's energy and DIY ethic but determined to break from rock cliches, artists experimented with styles like funk, electronic music, jazz, and dance music; the production techniques of dub and disco; and ideas from art and politics, including critical theory, modernist art, cinema and literature. These communities produced independent record labels, visual art, multimedia performances and fanzines.


title: Post-punk

text: The early post-punk vanguard was represented by groups including Siouxsie and the Banshees, Wire, Public Image Ltd, the Pop Group, Cabaret Voltaire, Magazine, Pere Ubu, Joy Division, Talking Heads, Devo, Gang of Four, the Slits, the Cure, and the Fall. The movement was closely related to the development of ancillary genres such as gothic rock, neo-psychedelia, no wave, and industrial music. By the mid-1980s, post-punk had dissipated, but it provided a foundation for the New Pop movement and the later alternative and independent genres.


title: Post-punk

text: Post-punk is a diverse genre that emerged from the cultural milieu of punk rock in the late 1970s. Originally called "new musick", the terms were first used by various writers in the late 1970s to describe groups moving beyond punk's garage rock template and into disparate areas. "Sounds" writer Jon Savage already used "post-punk" in early 1978. "NME" writer Paul Morley also stated that he had "possibly" invented the term himself. At the time, there was a feeling of renewed excitement regarding what the word would entail, with "Sounds" publishing numerous preemptive editorials on new musick. Towards the end of the decade, some journalists used "art punk" as a pejorative for garage rock-derived acts deemed too sophisticated and out of step with punk's dogma. Before the early 1980s, many groups now categorized as "post-punk" were subsumed under the broad umbrella of "new wave", with the terms being deployed interchangeably. "Post-punk" became differentiated from "new wave" after their styles perceptibly narrowed.


title: Post-punk

text: The writer Nicholas Lezard described the term "post-punk" as "so multifarious that only the broadest use ... is possible". Subsequent discourse has failed to clarify whether contemporary music journals and fanzines conventionally understood "post-punk" the way that it was discussed in later years. Music historian Clinton Heylin places the ""true" starting-point for English post-punk" somewhere between August 1977 and May 1978, with the arrival of guitarist John McKay in Siouxsie and the Banshees in July 1977, Magazine's first album, Wire's new musical direction in 1978 and the formation of Public Image Ltd. Music historian Simon Goddard wrote that the debut albums of those bands layered the foundations of post-punk.


title: Post-punk

text: Simon Reynolds' 2005 book "Rip It Up and Start Again" is widely referenced as post-punk doctrine, although he has stated that the book only covers aspects of post-punk that he had a personal inclination toward. Wilkinson characterized Reynolds' readings as "apparent revisionism and 'rebranding. Author/musician Alex Ogg criticized: "The problem is not with what Reynolds left out of "Rip It Up" ..., but, paradoxically, that too much was left in". Ogg suggested that post-punk pertains to a set of artistic sensibilities and approaches rather than any unifying style, and disputed the accuracy of the term's chronological prefix "post", as various groups commonly labeled "post-punk" predate the punk rock movement. Reynolds defined the post-punk era as occurring roughly between 1978 and 1984. He advocated that post-punk be conceived as "less a genre of music than a space of possibility", suggesting that "what unites all this activity is a set of open-ended imperatives: innovation; willful oddness; the willful jettisoning of all things precedented or 'rock'n'roll. AllMusic employs "post-punk" to denote "a more adventurous and arty form of punk".


title: Post-punk

text: Reynolds asserted that the post-punk period produced significant innovations and music on its own. Reynolds described the period as "a fair match for the sixties in terms of the sheer amount of great music created, the spirit of adventure and idealism that infused it, and the way that the music seemed inextricably connected to the political and social turbulence of its era". Nicholas Lezard wrote that the music of the period "was avant-garde, open to any musical possibilities that suggested themselves, united only in the sense that it was very often cerebral, concocted by brainy young men and women interested as much in disturbing the audience, or making them think, as in making a pop song".


title: Post-punk

text: Many post-punk artists were initially inspired by punk's DIY ethic and energy, but ultimately became disillusioned with the style and movement, feeling that it had fallen into a commercial formula, rock convention, and self-parody. They repudiated its populist claims to accessibility and raw simplicity, instead of seeing an opportunity to break with musical tradition, subvert commonplaces and challenge audiences. Artists moved beyond punk's focus on the concerns of a largely white, male, working-class population and abandoned its continued reliance on established rock and roll tropes, such as three-chord progressions and Chuck Berry-based guitar riffs. These artists instead defined punk as "an imperative to constant change", believing that "radical content demands radical form".


title: Post-punk

text: Though the music varied widely between regions and artists, the post-punk movement has been characterized by its "conceptual assault" on rock conventions and rejection of aesthetics perceived of as traditionalist, hegemonic or rockist in favor of experimentation with production techniques and non-rock musical styles such as dub, funk, electronic music, disco, noise, world music, and the avant-garde. Some previous musical styles also served as touchstones for the movement, including particular brands of krautrock, glam, art rock, art pop and other music from the 1960s. Artists once again approached the studio as an instrument, using new recording methods and pursuing novel sonic territories. Author Matthew Bannister wrote that post-punk artists rejected the high cultural references of 1960s rock artists like the Beatles and Bob Dylan as well as paradigms that defined "rock as progressive, as art, as 'sterile' studio perfectionism ... by adopting an avant-garde aesthetic". According to musicologist Pete Dale, while groups wanted to "rip up history and start again", the music was still "inevitably tied to traces they could never fully escape".


title: Post-punk

text: Nicholas Lezard described post-punk as "a fusion of art and music". The era saw the robust appropriation of ideas from literature, art, cinema, philosophy, politics and critical theory into musical and pop cultural contexts. Artists sought to refuse the common distinction between high and low culture and returned to the art school tradition found in the work of artists such as Roxy Music and David Bowie. Reynolds noted a preoccupation among some post-punk artists with issues such as alienation, repression, and technocracy of Western modernity. Among major influences on a variety of post-punk artists were writers William S. Burroughs and J. G. Ballard, avant-garde political scenes such as Situationism and Dada, and intellectual movements such as postmodernism. Many artists viewed their work in explicitly political terms. Additionally, in some locations, the creation of post-punk music was closely linked to the development of efficacious subcultures, which played important roles in the production of art, multimedia performances, fanzines and independent labels related to the music. Many post-punk artists maintained an anti-corporatist approach to recording and instead seized on alternate means of producing and releasing music. Journalists also became an important element of the culture, and popular music magazines and critics became immersed in the movement.


title: Post-punk

text: During the punk era, a variety of entrepreneurs interested in local punk-influenced music scenes began founding independent record labels, including Rough Trade (founded by record shop owner Geoff Travis), Factory (founded by Manchester-based television personality Tony Wilson), and Fast Product (co-founded by Bob Last and Hilary Morrison). By 1977, groups began pointedly pursuing methods of releasing music independently, an idea disseminated in particular by Buzzcocks' release of their "Spiral Scratch" EP on their own label as well as the self-released 1977 singles of Desperate Bicycles. These DIY imperatives would help form the production and distribution infrastructure of post-punk and the indie music scene that later blossomed in the mid-1980s.


title: Post-punk

text: As the initial punk movement dwindled, vibrant new scenes began to coalesce out of a variety of bands pursuing experimental sounds and wider conceptual territory in their work. By late 1977, British acts like Siouxsie and the Banshees and Wire were experimenting with sounds, lyrics, and aesthetics that differed significantly from their punk contemporaries. Savage described some of these early developments as exploring "harsh urban scrapings", "controlled white noise" and "massively accented drumming". "Mojo" editor Pat Gilbert said, "The first truly post-punk band were Siouxsie and the Banshees", noting the influence of the band's use of repetition on Joy Division. John Robb similarly argued that the very first Banshees gig was "proto post-punk" due to the hypnotic rhythm section. In January 1978, singer John Lydon (then known as Johnny Rotten) announced the break-up of his pioneering punk band the Sex Pistols, citing his disillusionment with punk's musical predictability and cooption by commercial interests, as well as his desire to explore more diverse territory. In May, Lydon formed the group Public Image Ltd with guitarist Keith Levene and bassist Jah Wobble, the latter who declared "rock is obsolete" after citing reggae as a "natural influence". However, Lydon described his new sound as "total pop with deep meanings. But I don't want to be categorised in any other term but punk! That's where I come from and that's where I'm staying."


title: Post-punk

text: Around this time, acts such as Public Image Ltd, The Pop Group and The Slits had begun experimenting with dance music, dub production techniques and the avant-garde, while punk-indebted Manchester acts such as Joy Division, The Fall, The Durutti Column and A Certain Ratio developed unique styles that drew on a similarly disparate range of influences across music and modernist art. Bands such as Scritti Politti, Gang of Four, Essential Logic and This Heat incorporated Leftist political philosophy and their own art school studies in their work. The unorthodox studio production techniques devised by producers such as Steve Lillywhite, Martin Hannett, and Dennis Bovell became important element of the emerging music. Labels such as Rough Trade and Factory would become important hubs for these groups and help facilitate releases, artwork, performances, and promotion.


title: Post-punk

text: Credit for the first post-punk record is disputed, but strong contenders include the debuts of Magazine ("Shot by Both Sides", January 1978), Siouxsie and the Banshees ("Hong Kong Garden", August 1978), Public Image Ltd ("Public Image", October 1978), Cabaret Voltaire ("Extended Play", November 1978) and Gang of Four ("Damaged Goods", December 1978).


title: Post-punk

text: A variety of groups that predated punk, such as Cabaret Voltaire and Throbbing Gristle, experimented with tape machines and electronic instruments in tandem with performance art methods and influence from transgressive literature, ultimately helping to pioneer industrial music. Throbbing Gristle's independent label Industrial Records would become a hub for this scene and provide it with its namesake. A pioneering punk scene in Australia during the mid-1970s also fostered influential post-punk acts like The Birthday Party, who eventually relocated to the UK to join its burgeoning music scene.


title: Post-punk

text: As these scenes began to develop, British music publications such as "NME" and "Sounds " developed an influential part in the nascent post-punk culture, with writers like Savage, Paul Morley and Ian Penman developing a dense (and often playful) style of criticism that drew on philosophy, radical politics and an eclectic variety of other sources. In 1978, UK magazine "Sounds" celebrated albums such as Siouxsie and the Banshees' "The Scream", Wire's "Chairs Missing", and American band Pere Ubu's "Dub Housing". In 1979, "NME" championed records such as PiL's "Metal Box", Joy Division's "Unknown Pleasures", Gang of Four's "Entertainment!", Wire's "154", the Raincoats' self-titled debut, and American group Talking Heads' album "Fear of Music".


title: Post-punk

text: Siouxsie and the Banshees, Joy Division, Bauhaus and The Cure were the main post-punk bands who shifted to dark overtones in their music, which would later spawn the gothic rock scene in the early 1980s. Members of Siouxsie and the Banshees and the Cure worked on records and toured together regularly until 1984. Neo-psychedelia grew out of the British post-punk scene in the late 1970s. The genre later flourished into a more widespread and international movement of artists who applied the spirit of psychedelic rock to new sounds and techniques. Other styles such as avant-funk and industrial dub also emerged around 1979.


title: Post-punk

text: In the mid-1970s, various American groups (some with ties to Downtown Manhattan's punk scene, including Television and Suicide) had begun expanding on the vocabulary of punk music. Midwestern groups such as Pere Ubu and Devo drew inspiration from the region's derelict industrial environments, employing conceptual art techniques, and unconventional verbal styles that would presage the post-punk movement by several years. A variety of subsequent groups, including the Boston-based Mission of Burma and the New York-based Talking Heads, combined elements of punk with art school sensibilities. In 1978, the latter band began with British ambient pioneer and ex-Roxy Music member Brian Eno, experimenting with Dadaist lyrical techniques, electronic sounds, and African polyrhythms. San Francisco's vibrant post-punk scene was centered on such groups as Chrome, the Residents, Tuxedomoon and MX-80, whose influences extended to multimedia experimentation, cabaret and the dramatic theory of Antonin Artaud's Theater of Cruelty.


title: Post-punk

text: Also emerging during this period was downtown New York's no wave movement, a short-lived art, and music scene that began in part as a reaction against punk's recycling of traditionalist rock tropes and often reflected an abrasive, confrontational and nihilistic worldview. No wave musicians such as The Contortions, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, Mars, DNA, Theoretical Girls, and Rhys Chatham instead experimented with noise, dissonance and atonality in addition to non-rock styles. The former four groups were included on the Eno-produced "No New York" compilation (1978), often considered the quintessential testament to the scene. The decadent parties and art installations of venues such as Club 57 and the Mudd Club would become cultural hubs for musicians and visual artists alike, with figures such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring and Michael Holman frequenting the scene. According to "Village Voice" writer Steve Anderson, the scene pursued an abrasive reductionism that "undermined the power and mystique of a rock vanguard by depriving it of a tradition to react against". Anderson claimed that the no wave scene represented "New York's last stylistically cohesive avant-rock movement".


title: Post-punk

text: British post-punk entered the 1980s with support from members of the critical community—American critic Greil Marcus characterised "Britain's postpunk pop avant-garde" in a 1980 "Rolling Stone" article as "sparked by a tension, humour and sense of paradox plainly unique in present-day pop music"—as well as media figures such as BBC DJ John Peel, while several groups, such as PiL and Joy Division, achieved some success in the popular charts. The network of supportive record labels that included Y Records, Industrial, Fast, E.G., Mute, Axis/4AD, and Glass continued to facilitate a large output of music. By 1980–1981, many British acts, including Maximum Joy, Magazine, Essential Logic, Killing Joke, The Sound, 23 Skidoo, Alternative TV, the Teardrop Explodes, The Psychedelic Furs, Echo & the Bunnymen and The Membranes also became part of these fledgling post-punk scenes, which centered on cities such as London and Manchester.


title: Post-punk

text: However, during this period, major figures and artists in the scene began leaning away from underground aesthetics. In the music press, the increasingly esoteric writing of post-punk publications soon began to alienate their readerships; it is estimated that within several years, "NME" suffered the loss of half its circulation. Writers like Morley began advocating "overground brightness" instead of the experimental sensibilities promoted in the early years. Morley's own musical collaboration with engineer Gary Langan and programmer J. J. Jeczalik, the Art of Noise, would attempt to bring sampled and electronic sounds to the pop mainstream. Post-punk artists such as Scritti Politti's Green Gartside and Josef K's Paul Haig, previously engaged in avant-garde practices, turned away from these approaches and pursued mainstream styles and commercial success. These new developments, in which post-punk artists attempted to bring subversive ideas into the pop mainstream, began to be categorized under the marketing term New Pop.


title: Post-punk

text: Several more pop-oriented groups, including ABC, the Associates, Adam and the Ants and Bow Wow Wow (the latter two managed by former Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren) emerged in tandem with the development of the New Romantic subcultural scene. Emphasizing glamour, fashion and escapism in distinction to the experimental seriousness of earlier post-punk groups, the club-oriented scene drew some suspicion from denizens of the movement but also achieved commercial success. Artists such as Gary Numan, Depeche Mode, the Human League, Soft Cell, John Foxx and Visage helped pioneer a new synthpop style that drew more heavily from electronic and synthesizer music and benefited from the rise of MTV.


title: Post-punk

text: In the early 1980s, Downtown Manhattan's no wave scene transitioned from its abrasive origins into a more dance-oriented sound, with compilations such as ZE Records' "Mutant Disco" (1981) highlighting a newly playful sensibility borne out of the city's clash of hip hop, disco and punk styles, as well as dub reggae and world music influences. Artists such as ESG, Liquid Liquid, The B-52s, Cristina, Arthur Russell, James White and the Blacks, and Lizzy Mercier Descloux pursued a formula described by Lucy Sante as "anything at all + disco bottom". Other no wave-indebted artists such as Swans, Glenn Branca, Lydia Lunch, the Lounge Lizards, Bush Tetras, and Sonic Youth instead continued exploring the early scene's forays into noise and more abrasive territory.


title: Post-punk

text: The original post-punk movement ended as the bands associated with the movement turned away from its aesthetics, often in favor of more commercial sounds (such as new wave). Many of these groups would continue recording as part of the new pop movement, with entryism becoming a popular concept. In the United States, driven by MTV and modern rock radio stations, a number of post-punk acts had an influence on or became part of the Second British Invasion of "New Music" there. Some shifted to a more commercial new wave sound (such as Gang of Four), while others were fixtures on American college radio and became early examples of alternative rock, such as Athens, Georgia band R.E.M. One band to emerge from post-punk was U2, which infused elements of religious imagery and political commentary into its often anthemic music.


title: Post-punk

text: Online database AllMusic stated scattered [late-80s] bands like Big Flame, World Domination Enterprises, and Minimal Compact, all seem like natural extensions of post-punk.


title: Post-punk

text: Some notable bands that recalled the original era during the 1990's included Six Finger Satellite, Brainiac, and Elastica.


title: Post-punk

text: In the early 2000s, a new group of bands that played a stripped down and back-to-basics version of guitar rock emerged into the mainstream, these bands included Interpol, Franz Ferdinand, The Strokes, and The Rapture. They were variously characterized as part of a post-punk revival, alongside a garage rock revival and a new wave revival. The music ranged from the atonal tracks of bands like Liars to the melodic pop songs of groups like The Sounds, popularising distorted guitar sounds. They shared an emphasis on energetic live performance and used aesthetics (in hair and clothes) closely aligned with their fans, often drawing on fashion of the 1950s and 1960s, with "skinny ties, white belts [and] shag haircuts". There was an emphasis on "rock authenticity" that was seen as a reaction to the commercialism of MTV-oriented nu metal, hip hop and "bland" post-Britpop groups. Because the bands came from countries around the world, cited diverse influences and adopted differing styles of dress, their unity as a genre has been disputed. By the end of the decade, many of the bands of the movement had broken up, were on hiatus, or had moved into other musical areas, and very few were making significant impact on the charts.


title: Post-punk

text: During the late 2010s and early 2020s a new wave of UK and Irish post-punks bands hit the mainstream such as Squid, Black Country, New Road, Dry Cleaning, Shame, Sleaford Mods, Fontaines D.C., Idles and Yard Act, all of whom had top 10 album in the UK album charts. The band Wet Leg had their debut reach number 1 on the UK album charts, as well as within the top 20 spot for multiple other countries including the US.


title: Post-punk

text: In the US, the post-punk revival has had less of an impact on the pop charts but has flourished in local underground music scenes in many cities. Some of the North American bands involved in the revival include Protomartyr, Ought, cumgirl8, and Deeper. Substance, a post-punk and dark wave music festival founded in 2019, embodies some of the trends seen on the US side of the post-punk revival. A news website, Post-punk.com, dedicated to reporting on post-punk musical acts also emerged during this period.


title: Alan Ruck

text: Alan Douglas Ruck (born July 1, 1956) is an American actor. He is best known for portraying Cameron Frye, Ferris Bueller's best friend, in John Hughes's film "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" (1986); Stuart Bondek, a lecherous, power-hungry member of the mayor's staff in the ABC sitcom "Spin City"; and Connor Roy, the eldest son of a media magnate, in the HBO series "Succession". His other notable parts include those in "Bad Boys" (1983), "Three Fugitives" (1989), "Young Guns II" (1990), "Speed" (1994), and "Twister" (1996). In 2016, he co-starred with Geena Davis in an updated Fox TV adaptation of William Peter Blatty's best-selling novel "The Exorcist."


title: Alan Ruck

text: Ruck was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to a schoolteacher mother and a father who worked for a pharmaceutical company. He attended Parma Senior High School in Parma, Ohio, and graduated from the University of Illinois with a B.F.A. in drama in 1979. He recalled:


title: Alan Ruck

text: Ruck made his Broadway debut in 1985 in Neil Simon's "Biloxi Blues" with Matthew Broderick. He was soon a stage actor at theaters around the US, including the Wisdom Bridge Theatre in Chicago. In his initial foray into film, Ruck appeared in "Class" and "Hard Knocks" as well as some television films.


title: Alan Ruck

text: Ruck's first film role was in the 1983 drama film "Bad Boys", in which he played Carl Brennan, Sean Penn's friend in the film. The same year he played Roger Jackson in "Class". Three years later, Ruck was cast as Cameron Frye, Ferris Bueller's hypochondriac best friend in John Hughes' "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" after Broderick encouraged him to audition for the role -- their real-life friendship was reportedly a factor in Ruck's being cast. One of his other film roles was in the 1987 film "Three for the Road".


title: Alan Ruck

text: Ruck later appeared in the 1989 comedy film "Three Fugitives". Following that, he played a significant role as Hendry William French in "Young Guns II", the 1990 sequel to "Young Guns". He also played Captain John Harriman of the USS "Enterprise"-B in the 1994 film "Star Trek Generations", a role that he has reprised along with "Generations" co-star Walter Koenig and other "Trek" alumni in the fan film "". Alan also played an annoying tourist named Doug Stephens on an ill-fated bus in the blockbuster "Speed". Another supporting role was of the eccentric storm chaser Robert 'Rabbit' Nurick in the 1996 disaster film "Twister".


title: Alan Ruck

text: From 1990 to 1991, Ruck starred as Chicago ad man Charlie Davis, in the ABC series "Going Places". ABC canceled the series after one season (22 episodes). He appeared in the series "Daddy's Girls" in 1994, which was canceled after three episodes. From 1996 to 2002, Alan played Stuart Bondek in the sitcom "Spin City" alongside Michael J. Fox and later, Charlie Sheen. In 2005, he played Leo Bloom in the Broadway version of Mel Brooks' "The Producers", a role also played by his "Ferris Bueller" co-star, Matthew Broderick.


title: Alan Ruck

text: Ruck was then cast in the pilot of the Tim Minear-created Fox Network series "Drive", but did not appear in the actual series. He also starred in one episode of the Comedy Central sitcom "Stella" as Richard, a man looking for work. He later starred in the season two "Scrubs" episode "My Lucky Day" as a patient, and played reporter Steve Jacobson on the ESPN miniseries "The Bronx Is Burning".


title: Alan Ruck

text: In 1998, Ruck guest starred in the fifth episode of the HBO miniseries "From the Earth to the Moon" as the NASA engineer Tom Dolan.


title: Alan Ruck

text: In 2006, Ruck guest starred in a single episode of "Stargate Atlantis" called "The Real World" and, in 2007, as unscrupulous property developer Albert Bunford in an episode of "Medium".


title: Alan Ruck

text: In the 2007 comedy "Kickin' It Old Skool", he appears as Dr. Frye, a possible connection to Cameron Frye; he even mentions still trying to pay off an old Ferrari, a reference to Cameron totaling his dad's Ferrari in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off".


title: Alan Ruck

text: Ruck played the part of a ghost of a family man in the 2008 film "Ghost Town" starring Ricky Gervais. In 2009, he had a minor role as a married man named Frank in an episode of "Cougar Town". In his role, he has problems with his marriage due to a crush he had long ago on Jules, played by Courteney Cox.


title: Alan Ruck

text: Ruck also has a small role in the 2008 M. Night Shyamalan film "The Happening". He played the role of Dean Bowman in the college fraternity drama "Greek". He appeared in a guest role as a manic geologist in an episode of "Eureka". Additionally, he plays Mr. Cooverman in the film "I Love You, Beth Cooper". In 2009, Ruck filmed the medical drama "Extraordinary Measures" in Portland, Oregon, with star Harrison Ford.


title: Alan Ruck

text: Ruck then appeared as a bank robber in a season three episode of the USA Network series "Psych", and as a lawyer in season five of the ABC series "Boston Legal". He guest starred as Martin, a magazine reporter, on an episode of "Ruby & the Rockits" entitled "We Are Family?".


title: Alan Ruck

text: In 2010, Ruck was cast as a lead character in the NBC mystery-drama, "Persons Unknown". He also guest-starred on the television show "Fringe" as a scientist turned criminal, in the "" season two episode "Borderline", and guest-starred as ex-money laundering accountant turned dentist on an episode of "Justified" entitled "Long in the Tooth". He also appeared in the "Grey's Anatomy" season five episode "In The Midnight Hour".


title: Alan Ruck

text: In 2012, Ruck was cast in the ABC Family series "Bunheads" as the husband to Sutton Foster's character, Michelle. In 2013, he appeared in "NCIS", guest-starring in the season 11 episode, "Gut Check".


title: Alan Ruck

text: In autumn 2016, Ruck began a 10-episode run on "The Exorcist" as Henry Rance, the husband (who has suffered mild brain damage in a vaguely explained accident) of Angela Rance (Geena Davis), better known as the adult Regan MacNeil, the tortured girl (played by Linda Blair) who is possessed by a demon in the 1973 hit film "The Exorcist". This Fox TV adaptation is "inspired by" the 1971 William Peter Blatty best-selling novel. In this update, the demon that tortured Regan/Angela as a girl did not die as it did at the end of the feature film, and it now inhabits one of Angela and Henry's daughters. Once again, they must turn to exorcism-practicing priests (Alfonso Herrera and Ben Daniels) for help. Regan/Angela's mother, Chris MacNeil (played by recurring guest star Sharon Gless and Ellen Burstyn in the feature film), is welcomed by the rest of the family but utterly scorned by her own daughter.


title: Alan Ruck

text: Ruck married Claudia Stefany in 1984. They have two children: a daughter, Emma, and a son, Sam. They divorced in 2005. On January 4, 2008, he married actress Mireille Enos, whom he met in 2005 while co-starring in the Broadway revival of "Absurd Person Singular". Mireille gave birth to their daughter Vesper in 2010. Their son Larkin was born in July 2014.


title: Detective Pikachu (film)

text: Detective Pikachu (also known as Pokémon: Detective Pikachu and released as in Japan after the original game) is a 2019 comedy film directed by Rob Letterman. Based on the "Pokémon" franchise, the film is a loose adaptation of the 2016 video game of the same name. It was written by Letterman, Dan Hernandez, Benji Samit and Derek Connolly, from a story by Hernandez, Samit and Nicole Perlman, and produced by Legendary Pictures and Toho. It was the first live-action "Pokémon" film and the first live-action film based on a Nintendo game property since "Super Mario Bros." (1993).


title: Detective Pikachu (film)

text: Ryan Reynolds stars as the voice and facial motion capture of Pikachu, with Justice Smith, Kathryn Newton, Suki Waterhouse, Omar Chaparro, Chris Geere, Ken Watanabe and Bill Nighy in live-action roles. The plot follows a former Pokémon trainer Tim Goodman and the titular Pokemon as they attempt to solve the mysterious disappearance of Tim's father, Harry.


title: Detective Pikachu (film)

text: Filming took place from January to May 2018 in Colorado, England and Scotland. "Detective Pikachu" was released in Japan on May 3, 2019 and in the United States on May 10, 2019, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures in RealD 3D, Dolby Cinema, IMAX, 4DX, and ScreenX formats. It is the first "Pokémon" film distributed theatrically in the United States since "Pokémon Heroes" (2003) and the first distributed by Warner Bros. since "Pokémon 3" (2001). The film received praise for the visual effects and Reynolds' performance, but criticism towards the story. It made a worldwide gross of $433 million. It is the second highest-grossing video game film adaptation behind "Warcraft", also produced by Legendary Pictures.


title: Detective Pikachu (film)

text: Tim Goodman gave up his dream of being a Pokémon trainer following the death of his mother and his estrangement from his father Harry, a police detective. He is contacted by the police of Ryme City, a city where humans and Pokémon live together in harmony and Pokémon battles are illegal. He is informed by Harry's friend, Detective Hideo Yoshida, that Harry was killed in a car accident. Tim goes to Harry's apartment to sort things out and meets Harry's police partner, a deerstalker-clad amnesiac Pikachu, whom only Tim can understand. Tim accidentally releases a mysterious purple gas known as "R" from a vial he finds in Harry's office; they are then attacked by a party of Aipom who became rabid under the gas's influence.


title: Detective Pikachu (film)

text: Pikachu believes that Harry survived the crash as the police never found his body. They meet an informant of Harry's, a Mr. Mime who directs them to an illegal underground Pokémon battle arena. The arena is raided by police and Tim is brought to Yoshida, who reveals footage of Harry's crash, explaining that it is impossible that Harry would have survived.


title: Detective Pikachu (film)

text: Tim and Pikachu are contacted by Howard Clifford, the founder of Clifford Industries and creator of Ryme City. Clifford reveals that Harry was abducted by a genetically engineered Pokémon called Mewtwo, who erased Pikachu's memory of the incident. He warns Tim that his son Roger is behind the creation of the R gas. Tim and Pikachu recruit aspiring journalist Lucy Stevens and her Psyduck and travel to the abandoned genetics lab Harry was investigating, where they are attacked by genetically enhanced Greninja. They manage to escape but Pikachu is injured in the attack. A Bulbasaur leads them to Mewtwo and despite Tim's objections, Mewtwo heals Pikachu. This causes Pikachu to remember that he helped Mewtwo escape from the lab and believes he was responsible for betraying Harry. Not trusting himself, he leaves Tim.


title: Detective Pikachu (film)

text: Pikachu discovers the scene of the crash and finds evidence that it was the Greninja, not Mewtwo, who were responsible for the crash. Back in Ryme City, Clifford exposes himself as the mastermind behind the "R" gas and the Mewtwo experiments. He explains that Mewtwo can fuse humans with their Pokémon, but only if the Pokémon is in a crazed state, thus the need for R. Clifford uses a device to transfer his consciousness into Mewtwo, unleashes the gas on the city from giant balloons and starts fusing humans with Pokémon including Lucy and Yoshida. Pikachu arrives and fights Mewtwo while Tim discovers that Roger is a Ditto and the real Roger was tied up and gagged by his father. They eventually defeat Clifford by removing the headset on his head, freeing Mewtwo from his control. Mewtwo separates the people and their Pokemon, Howard is arrested, and Roger vows to fix his father's mistakes.


title: Detective Pikachu (film)

text: Mewtwo explains that Harry had tried to save him from Howard and helped him escape, but was attacked by the Greninja. Mewtwo had decided to heal Harry's wounded body while Pikachu had volunteered to have himself fuse his consciousness with Harry's to continue their investigation, the experience erasing both their memories. Mewtwo separates the two and Tim reunites with Harry in his human body. Tim decides to stay in Ryme City to become a detective and spend more time with his father and Pikachu.


title: Detective Pikachu (film)

text: Additionally, Diplo appears as the DJ who performs at Sebastian's Pokémon arena. Ryoma Takeuchi, who provides the Japanese dubbed voice of Tim, has a cameo as a Pokémon trainer in a video Tim watches. In a deleted scene, Rob Delaney appears as a co-worker of Tim at the insurance company. Ralph Foody and Michael Guido respectively appear as Johnny and Snakes, characters from the "Home Alone" film within a film "Angels with Filthy Souls", via archive footage from the former film.


title: Detective Pikachu (film)

text: The film was officially announced in July 2016, although Legendary Pictures were reported to be in talks as early as April of that year. The Pokémon Company and Letterman wanted to adapt "Detective Pikachu" because of their interest in making a film that focused on another character besides Ash Ketchum, the protagonist of the "Pokémon" animated TV series. On the premise, Letterman stated, "The Pokémon Company, they've already made many, many movies of Ash, and they came to Legendary with this idea of using a new character. So when I came onboard, I was pitched this character of Detective Pikachu, and I fell in love with the story behind it." The idea of talking Pokémon originated from an early concept for the 1990s TV series, but was scrapped when the original game developer, Game Freak, was unsatisfied with the concept. The idea was revived for the 2016 "Detective Pikachu" spin-off game. Letterman said that they "spent a year designing all the characters ahead of shooting so that we could get it all right".


title: Detective Pikachu (film)

text: On November 30, 2016, Rob Letterman was hired to direct the film, and the studio fast-tracked production to start in 2017. On August 16, 2016, Nicole Perlman and "Gravity Falls" creator Alex Hirsch were in negotiations with Legendary to write the screenplay. Later revisions were provided by Eric Pearson, Thomas McCarthy, Derek Connolly, Dan Hernandez, Benji Samit and Letterman. Ultimately, Hernandez, Samit, Letterman, and Connolly received screenplay credit, and with Hernandez, Samit and Perlman receiving "story by" billing.


title: Detective Pikachu (film)

text: In November 2017, Justice Smith was cast in the lead human role, with Kathryn Newton added to costar after an intense session of reading and testing actresses opposite Smith. Newton beat out Natalia Dyer, Haley Lu Richardson, and Katherine Langford for the role. In December 2017, Ryan Reynolds was cast in the title role, portrayed via motion-capture and voice over. Other actors considered for the role of Pikachu were Danny DeVito, Dwayne Johnson, Mark Wahlberg and Hugh Jackman. In January 2018, with production commencing, Ken Watanabe, Bill Nighy and Chris Geere joined the cast, followed by Suki Waterhouse and Rita Ora in February and Omar Chaparro in April. In January 2019, Rob Delaney had previously stated that he had a role, but he does not appear in the final cut of the film.


title: Detective Pikachu (film)

text: Principal production began on January 15, 2018, in London, England and Denver, Colorado. Nine days later, Legendary announced that principal photography had officially begun. Much of the on set interaction and vocal reference for Pikachu was filled in by Jon Bailey. However, all of his dialogue was dubbed over by Ryan Reynolds. Principal photography concluded on May 1, 2018. Some filming took place at Shepperton Studios, Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden, and Minley Woods in Hampshire, rural areas of Colorado, just outside Denver and Colorado Springs; and Scotland. Filming also took place on Anchor Wharf at the Chatham Historic Dockyard in Kent.


title: Detective Pikachu (film)

text: The film's cinematographer, John Mathieson, noted that, like his other films, "Detective Pikachu" was shot on traditional film, in contrast to most other contemporary films which are shot digitally. He said the use of traditional film helps make it "look more realistic".


title: Detective Pikachu (film)

text: The film's visual effects were provided by the Moving Picture Company (MPC), Framestore, Image Engine, Rodeo FX, and Instinctual VFX. Much of the visual effects were provided by the same team behind "The Jungle Book", "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them", and "The Lion King". Letterman compared the visual effects to the character of Rocket Raccoon from "Guardians of the Galaxy": "They're technically, some of the most high-end visual effects in the world... It's completely photo-realistic, like they are alive and in the movie." Additional audio recording of a fight between Detective Pikachu and Charizard was recorded during the 2018 Pokémon World Championships.


title: Detective Pikachu (film)

text: Henry Jackman, who previously worked with Letterman on "Monsters vs. Aliens" (2009) and "Gulliver's Travels" (2010), provided the score for the film and arranged Junichi Masuda's "Red & Blue Theme" for the film's end credits.


title: Detective Pikachu (film)

text: Kygo and Rita Ora released a standalone single for the film, titled "Carry On". The song and the music video were released on April 19, 2019. Honest Boyz also collaborated with Lil Uzi Vert to make another song for the film, titled "Electricity" and produced by Pharrell Williams, which also plays over the end credits.


title: Detective Pikachu (film)

text: In early November 2018, with the film in the post-production phase, a screen test was held for an incomplete version of the film, which drew positive reactions from the test audience.


title: Detective Pikachu (film)

text: The film's first official trailer was released on November 12, 2018. Warner Bros. revealed versions of the trailer in English along with dubbed versions in Spanish, French, Italian and German. It soon became the top trending video on YouTube, and a top trending topic on Twitter, while inspiring numerous internet memes and reaction videos. Within 24 hours, the high-concept trailer amassed more than 100 million views across multiple online and social media platforms. On YouTube, the English-language trailer garnered over 1million likes within two days, and 1.22 million likes within five days. On Twitter, it set a new record of over 400,000 mentions on the day of the trailer reveal. The film was supported by a $100 million marketing budget.


title: Detective Pikachu (film)

text: On November 30, 2018, Letterman, Smith, and Newton appeared on stage during the Tokyo Comic-Con event.


title: Detective Pikachu (film)

text: On May 7, 2019, a Warner Bros. YouTube channel named "Inspector Pikachu" uploaded a video purporting to be a bootleg recording of the film. Spanning nearly 1.75 hours in length, the opening minute shows the production logo sequences followed by a scene from the film featuring Tim Goodman, before spending the remainder of its runtime depicting Pikachu performing aerobics to an upbeat, 1980s-inspired synthwave tune. Reynolds aided in the prank, posting on Twitter as if he was alerting Warner Bros. and the film's official accounts about the alleged bootleg. The video, which Paul Tassi of "Forbes" described as "brilliant", received 4.2 million views in less than a day.


title: Detective Pikachu (film)

text: Niantic Labs promoted the film through the "Pokémon Go" app, by featuring, among other things, select Pokémon from the movie appear in the game, including a limited edition "detective" version of Pikachu. The Pokémon Company released a series of trading cards featuring images from the film, including a limited edition Detective Pikachu card only available the first weekend of the film's release. Along with TCG booster pack sets, they produced a limited edition Detective Pikachu Cafe Figure Collection bundle. A set of 6 Detective Pikachu toys were also sold at Burger King. Wicked Cool Toys, the current toy partner for the franchise, released figures and plush toys for retail as well.


title: Detective Pikachu (film)

text: Initially, Universal Pictures was due to handle distribution outside Japan, while Toho would handle the Japanese distribution. On July 25, 2018, Warner Bros. announced they had taken over worldwide distribution duties (except in Japan and China) from Universal, with the release date unchanged. Warner Bros. also got the film rights for the Pokémon franchise for 30 years. The film received a PG rating from the MPAA, it is the first "Pokémon" film released in the United States not to receive a G rating.


title: Detective Pikachu (film)

text: When the film's Japanese release was announced on November 29, 2018, Ryoma Takeuchi was confirmed to voice Tim Goodman in the Japanese version. Takeuchi also has a brief cameo appearance in the film itself as a Pokémon trainer. On March 20, 2019, it was confirmed that Marie Iitoyo would voice Lucy Stevens and Ken Watanabe would reprise his role as Detective Yoshida, in the Japanese dub. When the film premiered in Japan on May 3, 2019, Hidetoshi Nishijima was confirmed to have voiced Detective Pikachu in the Japanese dub.


title: Detective Pikachu (film)

text: Detective Pikachu released shortly after on May 8, 2019, in Europe May 9, 2019, in South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, and Australia, and May 10, 2019, in China, UK, Ireland, Canada, and the US, in RealD 3D, Dolby Cinema, 4DX, and ScreenX formats.


title: Detective Pikachu (film)

text: "Detective Pikachu" was released on Digital HD on July 23, 2019, and was released on Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD on August 6, 2019.


title: Detective Pikachu (film)

text: The film debuted at the DVD and Blu-ray charts upon the week of its release, and was the second top-selling home video title in August 2019 (after ""). , the DVD and Blu-ray releases of "Detective Pikachu" have earned more than in the United States.


title: Detective Pikachu (film)

text: "Detective Pikachu" grossed $144.1 million in the United States and Canada, and $289.8 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $433.9 million, against a production budget of $150 million.


title: Detective Pikachu (film)

text: In the United States and Canada, the film was released alongside "Tolkien", "Poms" and "The Hustle", and was projected to gross $50–70 million from 4,202 theaters. The film made on its first day, including from Thursday night previews, both records for a film based on a video game. "Detective Pikachu" went on to debut to $54.4 million, finishing second at the weekend box office behind holdover "", though it did top the Friday box office on its opening day. At the time, it was the best-ever opening for a video game film, (the record was broken the following year by "Sonic the Hedgehog" with $58 million) and was also the sixth-highest total for a film that did not debut number one at the box office. In its second weekend, the film made $24.8 million, finishing third behind "" and "Avengers: Endgame", and then made $13.3 million in its third weekend, finishing fourth.


title: Detective Pikachu (film)

text: In other territories, the film was projected to debut to $90–120 million from 62 countries, including $40–60 million in China. Prior to its worldwide release, the film grossed from openings and previews in several international markets, including Japan, through Thursday. The film had an international opening weekend debut of $103 million (and a five-day debut of $112.4 million), dethroning "Avengers: Endgame" at the top of the international box office. "Detective Pikachu" topped the international box office again in its second weekend. Despite breaking records, the film fell below expectations due to the high budget.


title: Detective Pikachu (film)

text: In Japan, the film opened at number three (behind "" and "Avengers: Endgame"), grossing ($8.6 million) in its opening weekend, before topping the box office in its second weekend, with a cumulative ($13,327,837). In China, "Detective Pikachu" had an opening day gross of , and topped the box office with a weekend debut of $40.8 million. It topped the Chinese box office again in its second week, with a cumulative . In the United Kingdom, it topped the box office with a £4.9 million ($6.6 million) debut. , the film's largest international markets are China (), Japan (), the United Kingdom (), Mexico (), and Germany ().


title: Detective Pikachu (film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critical consensus reads, ""Pokémon Detective Pikachu" may not take its wonderfully bizarre premise as far as it could have, but this offbeat adaptation should catch most – if not all – of the franchise's fans." It was the first international theatrical live-action video game adaptation to maintain a "fresh" rating and it was the highest rated video game adaptation on the site, until it was surpassed by "The Angry Birds Movie 2". On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 53 out of 100, based on reviews from 48 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale, while general audiences polled by PostTrak gave it 4 out of 5 stars.


title: Detective Pikachu (film)

text: Scott Mendelson of "Forbes" called the film "the best video game movie ever" and wrote, ""Detective Pikachu" works because it's a good movie first and a promising franchise-starter or a brand cash-in second. It's a real film, rooted in character arcs and narrative twists with just enough raw emotion and personal stakes to make the significant special effects moments matter beyond spectacle." CNET's Sean Keane called it the best film ever based on a video game, saying it achieves the balance of appealing to existing fans as well as potential new audiences. Keane praised Reynolds performance and called the film "an entertaining romp with plenty of heart". Clarisse Loughrey of "The Independent" gave the film 3/5 stars, noting the film's similarities to "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and that it did not attempt to familiarize viewers with the franchise, but stated that it "feels more intriguing than it does derivative, and it’s a delight for fans to see how immersive this world actually feels." Simran Hans of "The Observer" gave the film 4/5 stars, writing: "What’s clever is the way this live-action spinoff exploits nostalgia for the family-friendly blockbusters of the late 1980s and the 1990s... rather than the Japanese “Pocket Monsters” themselves."


title: Detective Pikachu (film)

text: Writing for "The Hollywood Reporter", Michael Rechtshaffen said, "Although the script... tends to compartmentalize the comedy, action and emotional bits rather than organically blending them all together, Letterman's energetic direction manages to hold everything aloft." Alonso Duralde's mixed review for "TheWrap" describes the film as feeling "both ambitious and lazy, frenzied and sluggish". Peter Debruge of "Variety" was critical of the plot and the special effects: "Though consistent with the games... the story of "Detective Pikachu" doesn't allow nearly enough Pokémon-related action, while the quality of the computer animation... falls far short of the basic level of competency audiences have come to expect from effects movies." Debruge was also critical of the central pairing of Pikachu and Tim Goodman, saying the relationship lacks chemistry. Kate Erbland of Indiewire gave the film a mixed review, praising the "awe-inspiring" visuals but criticizing the messy plot, saying that "no amount of technical polish can detract from a thin narrative that confuses far more than it amuses", and complaining that many of the best jokes were in the trailer.


title: Detective Pikachu (film)

text: In January 2019, months ahead of the release of "Detective Pikachu", Legendary Entertainment announced that a sequel was already in development, with Oren Uziel signed on as screenwriter. However, on May 3, 2021, Smith said on a sequel: "I think we have to just kind of bury our hopes. I don't think it's going to happen. I really hope so though." In October 2022, during an Instagram live feed, Kathryn Newton had also expressed interest in a sequel, but is unsure about its future.


title: Akira Toriyama

text: He earned the 1981 Shogakukan Manga Award for best "shōnen" or "shōjo" manga with "Dr. Slump", and it went on to sell over 35 million copies in Japan. It was adapted into a successful anime series, with a second anime created in 1997, 13 years after the manga ended. His next series, "Dragon Ball", would become one of the most popular and successful manga in the world. Having sold 300 million copies worldwide, it is one of the best-selling manga series of all time and is considered to be one of the main reasons for the period when manga circulation was at its highest in the mid-1980s and mid-1990s. Overseas, "Dragon Ball"s anime adaptations have been more successful than the manga and are credited with boosting anime's popularity in the Western world. In 2019, Toriyama was decorated a "Chevalier" of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for his contributions to the arts.


title: Akira Toriyama

text: Akira Toriyama was born in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan. He drew pictures from a young age, mainly of the animals and vehicles that he was also fond of. He related being blown away after seeing "One Hundred and One Dalmatians" (1961), and said he was drawn deeper into the world of illustration by hoping to draw pictures that good. He was shocked again in elementary school when he saw the manga collection of a classmate's older brother, and again when he saw a television set for the first time at a neighbor's house. He cited Osamu Tezuka's "Astro Boy" (1952–1968) as the original source for his interest in manga. Toriyama has recalled that when he was in elementary school all of his classmates drew imitating anime and manga, as a result of not having many forms of entertainment. He believes that he began to advance above everyone else when he started drawing pictures of his friends. Despite being engrossed with manga in elementary school, Toriyama said he took a break from it in middle school, probably because he became more interested in films and TV shows. When asked if he had any formative experiences with "tokusatsu" entertainment, Toriyama said he enjoyed the "Ultraman" TV show and "Gamera" series of "kaiju" films.


title: Akira Toriyama

text: Toriyama said it was a "no-brainer" that he would attend a high school focused on creative design, but admitted he was more interested in having fun with friends. Although he still did not read much manga, he would draw one himself every once in a while. Despite his parents' strong opposition to it, Toriyama was confident about going into the work force upon graduation instead of continuing his education. He worked at an advertising agency in Nagoya designing posters for three years. Although Toriyama said he adapted to the job quickly, he admitted that he was often late because he is not a morning person and often got reprimanded for dressing casually, until he got sick of the environment and quit.


title: Akira Toriyama

text: Needing money after quitting his job at the age of 23, Toriyama entered the manga industry by submitting a work to an amateur contest in Kodansha's "Weekly Shōnen Magazine", which he had randomly picked up in a coffee shop. The timing did not line up for that contest, but another shōnen magazine, "Weekly Shōnen Jump", accepted submissions for their Newcomer Award every month. Kazuhiko Torishima, who would become his editor, read and enjoyed Toriyama's manga, but it was not eligible to compete because it was a parody of "Star Wars" instead of an original work. Torishima sent the artist a telegram and encouraged him to keep drawing and sending him manga. This resulted in "Wonder Island", which became Toriyama's first published work when it was published in "Weekly Shōnen Jump" in 1978. However, it came in last place in the readers survey. Toriyama later said that he had planned to quit manga after getting paid, but because "Wonder Island 2" (1978) was also a "flop," his stubbornness would not let him and he continued to draw failed stories for a year; claiming around 500, including the published "Today's Highlight Island" (1979). He said he learned a lot during this year and even had some fun. When Torishima told him to draw a female lead character, Toriyama hesitantly created 1979's "Tomato the Cutesy Gumshoe", which had some success. Feeling encouraged, he decided to draw another female lead and created "Dr. Slump".


title: Akira Toriyama

text: "Dr. Slump", which was serialized in "Weekly Shōnen Jump" from 1980 to 1984, was a huge success and made Toriyama a household name. It follows the adventures of a perverted professor and his small but super-strong robot Arale. In 1981, "Dr. Slump" earned Toriyama the Shogakukan Manga Award for best "shōnen" or "shōjo" manga series of the year. An anime adaptation began airing that same year, during the prime time Wednesday 19:00 slot on Fuji TV. Adaptations of Toriyama's work would occupy this time slot continuously for 18 years—through "Dr. Slump"s original run, "Dragon Ball" and its two sequels, and finally a rebooted "Dr. Slump" concluding in 1999. By 2008, the "Dr. Slump" manga had sold over 35 million copies in Japan.


title: Akira Toriyama

text: Although "Dr. Slump" was popular, Toriyama wanted to end the series within roughly six months of creating it, but Shueisha would only allow him to do so if he agreed to start another serial for them shortly after. So he worked with Torishima on several one-shots for "Weekly Shōnen Jump" and the monthly "Fresh Jump". In 1981, Toriyama was one of ten artists selected to create a 45-page work for "Weekly Shōnen Jump"s Reader's Choice contest. His manga "Pola & Roid" took first place. Toriyama was selected to participate in the contest again in 1982 and submitted "Mad Matic". His one-shot "Pink" was published in the December issue of "Fresh Jump". Selected to participate in "Weekly Shōnen Jump"s Reader's Choice contest for a third time, Toriyama had the bad luck of drawing the first slot and had to work over New Year's on 1983's "Chobit". Angry that it was unpopular, he decided to try again and created "Chobit 2" (1983).


title: Akira Toriyama

text: An official Toriyama fan club, , was established in 1982. Its newsletters were called "Bird Land Press" and were sent to members until the club closed in 1987. Toriyama's founded Bird Studio in the early 1980s, which is a play on his name; meaning "bird". He began employing an assistant, mostly to work on backgrounds.


title: Akira Toriyama

text: Torishima suggested that, as Toriyama enjoyed kung fu films, he should create a kung fu "shōnen" manga. This led to the two-part "Dragon Boy", published in the August and October 1983 issues of "Fresh Jump". It follows a boy, adept at martial arts, who escorts a princess on a journey back to her home country. "Dragon Boy" was well-received and evolved to become the serial "Dragon Ball" in 1984. But before that, "The Adventure of Tongpoo" was published in "Weekly Shōnen Jump"s 52nd issue of 1983 and also contained elements that would be included in "Dragon Ball".


title: Akira Toriyama

text: Serialized in "Weekly Shōnen Jump" from 1984 to 1995 and having sold 159.5million "tankōbon" copies in Japan alone, "Dragon Ball" is Shueisha's second best-selling manga of all time. It began as an adventure/gag manga but later turned into a martial arts fighting series, considered by many to be the "most influential "shōnen" manga." "Dragon Ball" was one of the main reasons for the magazine's circulation hitting a record high of 6.53 million copies (1995). At the series' end, Toriyama said that he asked everyone involved to let him end the manga, so he could "take some new steps in life." During that near-11-year period, he produced 519 chapters that were collected into 42 volumes. Moreover, the success of the manga led to five anime adaptations, several animated movies, numerous video games, and mega-merchandising. Aside from its popularity in Japan, "Dragon Ball" was successful internationally as well, including Asia, Europe, and the Americas, with 250–300million copies of the manga sold worldwide.


title: Akira Toriyama

text: While Toriyama was serializing "Dragon Ball" weekly, he continued to create the occasional one-shot manga. In 1986, "Mr. Ho" was published in the 49th issue of "Weekly Shōnen Jump". The following year saw publication of "Young Master Ken'nosuke", which had a Japanese "jidaigeki" setting. Toriyama published two "Weekly Shōnen Jump" one-shots in 1988; "The Elder" and "Little Mamejiro". "Karamaru and the Perfect Day" followed in issue #13 of 1989.