title: Sargon of Akkad

text: Sargon shared his name with two later Mesopotamian kings. Sargon I was a king of the Old Assyrian period presumably named after Sargon of Akkad. Sargon II was a Neo-Assyrian king named after Sargon of Akkad; it is this king whose name was rendered "Sargon" () in the Hebrew Bible (Isaiah 20:1).


title: Sargon of Akkad

text: Neo-Babylonian king Nabonidus showed great interest in the history of the Sargonid dynasty and even conducted excavations of Sargon's palaces and those of his successors.


title: Sargon of Akkad

text: Although historically inaccurate and supernatural in nature, "" (2008) features Sargon of Akkad as a murderous army commander who uses black magic. He was the film's main villain and was portrayed by American actor and mixed martial artist Randy Couture. This is one of the few films, if not the only one, to depict Sargon.


title: Sargon of Akkad

text: The twentieth episode of the second season of "", "Return to Tomorrow", features an ancient, telepathic alien named Sargon who once ruled a mighty empire.


title: Sargon of Akkad

text: American Rock Group They Might Be Giants refer to Sargon of Akkad in the track "The Mesopotamians" on their 2007 album The Else, along with Hammurabi, Ashurbanipal and Gilgamesh.


title: Cardiomyopathy

text: Cardiomyopathy is a group of diseases that affect the heart muscle. Early on there may be few or no symptoms. As the disease worsens, shortness of breath, feeling tired, and swelling of the legs may occur, due to the onset of heart failure. An irregular heart beat and fainting may occur. Those affected are at an increased risk of sudden cardiac death.


title: Cardiomyopathy

text: Types of cardiomyopathy include hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, dilated cardiomyopathy, restrictive cardiomyopathy, arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia, and Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (broken heart syndrome). In hypertrophic cardiomyopathy the heart muscle enlarges and thickens. In dilated cardiomyopathy the ventricles enlarge and weaken. In restrictive cardiomyopathy the ventricle stiffens.


title: Cardiomyopathy

text: In many cases, the cause cannot be determined. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is usually inherited, whereas dilated cardiomyopathy is inherited in about one third of cases. Dilated cardiomyopathy may also result from alcohol, heavy metals, coronary artery disease, cocaine use, and viral infections. Restrictive cardiomyopathy may be caused by amyloidosis, hemochromatosis, and some cancer treatments. Broken heart syndrome is caused by extreme emotional or physical stress.


title: Cardiomyopathy

text: Treatment depends on the type of cardiomyopathy and the severity of symptoms. Treatments may include lifestyle changes, medications, or surgery. Surgery may include a ventricular assist device or heart transplant. In 2015 cardiomyopathy and myocarditis affected 2.5 million people. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy affects about 1 in 500 people while dilated cardiomyopathy affects 1 in 2,500. They resulted in 354,000 deaths up from 294,000 in 1990. Arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia is more common in young people.


title: Cardiomyopathy

text: Symptoms of cardiomyopathies may include fatigue, swelling of the lower extremities and shortness of breath after exertion. Additional symptoms of the condition may include arrhythmia, fainting, and dizziness.


title: Cardiomyopathy

text: Cardiomyopathies can be of genetic (familial) or non-genetic (acquired) origin. Genetic cardiomyopathies usually are caused by sarcomere or cytoskeletal diseases, neuromuscular disorders, inborn errors of metabolism, malformation syndromes and sometimes are unidentified. Non-genetic cardiomyopathies can have a definitive causes such as viral infections, myocarditis and others.


title: Cardiomyopathy

text: Cardiomyopathies are either confined to the heart or are part of a generalized systemic disorder, both often leading to cardiovascular death or progressive heart failure-related disability. Other diseases that cause heart muscle dysfunction are excluded, such as coronary artery disease, hypertension, or abnormalities of the heart valves. Often, the underlying cause remains unknown, but in many cases the cause may be identifiable. Alcoholism, for example, has been identified as a cause of dilated cardiomyopathy, as has drug toxicity, and certain infections (including Hepatitis C). Untreated celiac disease can cause cardiomyopathies, which can completely reverse with a timely diagnosis. In addition to acquired causes, molecular biology and genetics have given rise to the recognition of various genetic causes.


title: Cardiomyopathy

text: A more clinical categorization of cardiomyopathy as 'hypertrophied', 'dilated', or 'restrictive', has become difficult to maintain because some of the conditions could fulfill more than one of those three categories at any particular stage of their development.


title: Cardiomyopathy

text: The current American Heart Association (AHA) definition divides cardiomyopathies into primary, which affect the heart alone, and secondary, which are the result of illness affecting other parts of the body. These categories are further broken down into subgroups which incorporate new genetic and molecular biology knowledge.


title: Cardiomyopathy

text: The pathophysiology of cardiomyopathies is better understood at the cellular level with advances in molecular techniques. Mutant proteins can disturb cardiac function in the contractile apparatus (or mechanosensitive complexes). Cardiomyocyte alterations and their persistent responses at the cellular level cause changes that are correlated with sudden cardiac death and other cardiac problems.


title: Cardiomyopathy

text: Cardiomyopathies are generally varied individually. Different factors can cause Cardiomyopathies in adults as well as children. To exemplify, Dilated Cardiomyopathy in adults is associated with Ischemic Cardiomyopathy, Hypertension, Valvular diseases, and Genetics. While in Children, Neuromuscular diseases such as Becker muscular dystrophy, including X-linked genetic disorder, are directly linked with their Cardiomyopathies.


title: Cardiomyopathy

text: Treatment may include suggestion of lifestyle changes to better manage the condition. Treatment depends on the type of cardiomyopathy and condition of disease, but may include medication (conservative treatment) or iatrogenic/implanted pacemakers for slow heart rates, defibrillators for those prone to fatal heart rhythms, ventricular assist devices (VADs) for severe heart failure, or catheter ablation for recurring dysrhythmias that cannot be eliminated by medication or mechanical cardioversion. The goal of treatment is often symptom relief, and some patients may eventually require a heart transplant.


title: NewsNation

text: NewsNation is an American subscription television network owned by the Nexstar Media Group, and is the company's only wholly-owned, national cable-originated television channel. The channel runs a mixture of entertainment programming (consisting of comedy and drama series, and theatrical feature films) for most of the broadcast day and a straight-news format during the evening and overnight hours, and also on weekday mornings. Known for most of its history as Superstation WGN before becoming WGN America in 2014, it relaunched on March 1, 2021 as a cable news network named after its flagship news program. The channel's relaunch came as part of a planned expansion of its news programming.


title: NewsNation

text: In September 2018, the channel, then WGN America, was received by approximately 80 million households that subscribed to a pay television service throughout the United States (or 62.7% of households with at least one television set).


title: NewsNation

text: WGN America was originally established on November 9, 1978, when United Video Inc. began redistributing the signal of WGN-TV (channel 9) in Chicago to cable and satellite subscribers throughout the United States. This expanded the prominent independent station into America's second satellite-distributed national "superstation", after Atlanta-based WTBS became TBS.


title: NewsNation

text: As the national feed of WGN-TV, the channel broadcast a variety of programming seen on the Chicago signal, including sports (mainly Chicago Cubs and White Sox baseball, as well as Chicago Bulls basketball games); locally originated news, children's, religious and public affairs programs; movies; and syndicated series. The WGN local and national feeds originally maintained nearly identical program schedules, aside from some sporting events that were restricted to the Chicago-area signal under league policy restrictions. In the years following the January 1990 re-imposition of federal syndication exclusivity regulations, programming between the two feeds increasingly deviated as the WGN national feed incorporated alternative syndicated programming to replace shows on the WGN-TV schedule that were subjected to market exclusivity claims by individual television stations, and some local programs that the national feed chose not to clear; particularly from the late 2000s onward, as the WGN Chicago signal began expanding its local news programming and added lifestyle programs to its schedule.


title: NewsNation

text: On December 13, 2014, WGN America was converted by Tribune into a conventional basic cable network, at which time it started to be offered on cable providers within the Chicago market alongside its existing local carriage on satellite providers DirecTV and Dish Network. Simulcasts of WGN-TV's Chicago-originated local newscasts, news specials and public affairs programs, special events and sports telecasts – with the exception of a one-hour simulcast of WGN-TV's morning news program that was carried early weekday mornings during the transitional period – immediately ceased being shown on a national basis the day prior, while WGN-TV itself maintained a separate schedule of local and syndicated programs exclusively catering to the Chicago market. The channel began to focus squarely on acquired programming, including shows held over from its superstation era, and by 2015, began to incorporate a limited schedule of original drama and reality series.


title: NewsNation

text: On September 1, 2020, WGN America launched a three-hour-long prime time newscast, "NewsNation", which began development in October 2019, when Nexstar management commissioned research from television subscribers that determined a share of survey participants were dissatisfied with opinion-based programming on cable news channels such as CNN (which had previously offered straight news programming within its evening lineup, before shifting further into liberal-leaning personality-based programming in the mid-2010s), MSNBC (which gravitated toward liberal opinion/talk programs beginning in 2008), and Fox News (developed in 1996 with a conservative-leaning format). The program draws partly from the broadcast and digital resources of Nexstar's television stations (including those acquired by Tribune Media, in addition to WGN America, several months prior).


title: NewsNation

text: During December 2020 and January 2021, Nexstar reached carriage agreements that added WGN America to virtual multichannel television providers YouTube TV (reached on December 1), FuboTV (reached on December 11), Hulu (reached on December 18), Sling TV (reached on December 24, through a broader agreement with Sling parent Dish Network which ended a three-week impasse in which the satellite provider lost access to Nexstar's broadcast stations) and Vidgo (reached on January 14) to expand the channel beyond its existing wireline and satellite distribution footprint, and increase exposure for "NewsNation". (AT&T TV had already carried the channel since October 2019).


title: NewsNation

text: On January 25, 2021, Nexstar Media Group announced it would relaunch WGN America under the "NewsNation" brand on March 1, cutting all ties with the WGN brand after forty-three years. The name change will coincide with a gradual expansion of its news programming: initially expanding to nine hours per day (from six), the revised news schedule will be fronted by a splintered expansion of the flagship "NewsNation" broadcast (adding an hour-long early evening edition, alongside the existing and now reduced two-hour "NewsNation Prime") and two host-centered news and interview programs anchored respectively by Joe Donlon and Ashleigh Banfield. NewsNation will maintain a reduced schedule of entertainment programs acquired by the channel under the WGN America moniker in daytime and select overnight slots initially; beginning with the launch of a morning news program in 2021, the acquired entertainment shows will be replaced with additional news content once syndication contracts expire.


title: NewsNation

text: NewsNation was developed under the management of Sean Compton, who was promoted to executive vice president of WGN America upon completion of the Nexstar purchase, and former WGN-TV news director Jennifer Lyons, who was reassigned by Nexstar to serve as WGN America's vice president of news. However, since its launch, NewsNation was accused of having a rightward tilt due to its guests and for hiring former Fox News Channel chief and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Bill Shine as a consultant. The news director and managing editor quit following disclosure of Shine's role. Lyons announced her resignation in March amid the controversy as well as continued low ratings. Amid dissension from NewsNation staffers, Nexstar's CEO affirmed the schedule to convert NewsNation into an "all-news, talk, and opinion" channel by 2023.


title: NewsNation

text: In May 2021, to replace Lyons Nexstar hired Michael Corn, the senior executive producer of "Good Morning America", as its news director. Corn then named Fox News vice president Cherie Grzech as managing editor. Later that year, NewsNation premiered more opinion programming hosted by cable news veterans Leland Vittert and Dan Abrams, as well as a morning show hosted by former ABC News presenter Adrienne Bankert.


title: NewsNation

text: On October 3, 2022, former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, who was terminated for advising his brother New York Governor Andrew Cuomo about how to deal with various scandals, joined the network with an evening program called "Cuomo" to replace "NewsNation Prime", thus fully converting evening programming to personality-driven opinion and analysis shows.


title: NewsNation

text: Live programming begin at 6 a.m. ET with "Early Morning" with Mitch Carr, followed one hour later by "Morning in America" hosted by Bankert, a three-hour newscast. At 10 a.m. ET, "NewsNation Live", a two-hour straight newscast, airs with Marni Hughes, the only remaining original NewsNation anchor from its 2020 launch. As of 2022, the only non-news program on NewsNation's weekday daytime programming slate is a midday block of "Blue Bloods", as the network has steadily added more news programming to its schedule since adopting its current format. Weekends likewise feature "Blue Bloods" and the sitcom "Last Man Standing".


title: NewsNation

text: On January 15, 2020, NewsNation's predecessor, WGN America, announced it would launch a three-hour-long, nightly prime time newscast titled "NewsNation", which premiered on September 1, 2020. The program, which is produced from the WGN-TV facility in Chicago, offers non-partisan coverage that is based upon the traditional, straight news style of local television newscasts; it primarily uses the journalistic resources of Nexstar Media Group's 110 television news operations, augmenting an in-house staff of anchors, correspondents and meteorologists (almost all of whom exclusively have backgrounds in local television news).


title: NewsNation

text: On March 1, 2021, coinciding with its relaunch under the NewsNation brand, the channel expanded its news programming to include the additions of three programs: "NewsNation Early Edition" (an hour-long early-evening newscast), "The Donlon Report" (an hour-long prime-access newscast anchored by Joe Donlon, who was reassigned from the weeknight "NewsNation" broadcasts) and "Banfield" (an hour-long weeknight news/interview program hosted by Ashleigh Banfield). The flagship evening newscast was retitled "NewsNation Prime", and reduced from three hours to two. News programming began at 6 pm ET and the three programs repeat immediately following the end of "Banfield" at 11 pm. NewsNation's weekend news programming consists of two hours of "NewsNation Prime" and a rebroadcast of an episode of "Banfield" from the previous week.


title: NewsNation

text: On July 19, 2021, NewsNation rebranded "NewsNation Early Edition" to "Rush Hour" (while keeping the same fast-paced straight news format) and introduced an opinion show, "On Balance", hosted by former Fox News correspondent Leland Vittert to replace the first hour of "NewsNation Prime". It also announced on that date that on September 27, Dan Abrams would host a prime time news analysis show and that former ABC News correspondent Adrienne Bankert would host a morning show titled "Morning in America".


title: NewsNation

text: In July 2022, NewsNation announced that Chris Cuomo would host a prime time news analysis show titled "Cuomo" replacing "NewsNation Prime. Rush Hour" was moved to 5 p.m. ET and expanded to two hours, essentially replacing "NewsNation Prime" as the evening newscast of record. "Cuomo, Dan Abrams Live," and "Banfield" repeat at 11 pm.


title: NewsNation

text: NewsNation is available on most multichannel television providers (including cable, satellite, IPTV and fiber-optic-based services) within the United States. However, the channel continues to have somewhat scattershot coverage (outside of satellite distribution) in portions of the Western United States and much of the New England region. Moreover, some multichannel providers in various markets where Tribune Broadcasting had owned a television station prior to the closure of the group's purchase by Nexstar do not carry NewsNation. In the Chicago metropolitan area, NewsNation is carried by the three major cable television providers serving the immediate area (Comcast Xfinity, RCN and WOW!) and streaming providers, in addition to the WGN-TV broadcast signal.


title: NewsNation

text: On September 1, 2020, at the same time "NewsNation" was launched, the NewsNation brand expanded to radio by broadcasting its 2-minute top-of-the-hour news headlines on WGN 720 AM. These audio newscasts are also available to listen nationally on the radio section of the network's website and app.


title: Technicolor

text: Technicolor is a series of color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades.


title: Technicolor

text: Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films running through a special camera (3-strip Technicolor or Process 4) started in the early 1930s and continued through to the mid-1950s when the 3-strip camera was replaced by a standard camera loaded with color negative film. Technicolor Laboratories were still able to produce Technicolor prints by creating three black and white matrices from the Eastmancolor negative (Process 5).


title: Technicolor

text: Process 4 was the second major color process, after Britain's Kinemacolor (used between 1908 and 1914), and the most widely used color process in Hollywood during the Golden Age of Hollywood. Technicolor's became known and celebrated for its highly saturated color, and was initially most commonly used for filming musicals such as "The Wizard of Oz" (1939) and "Down Argentine Way" (1940), costume pictures such as "The Adventures of Robin Hood" (1938) and "Gone with the Wind" (1939), the film "Blue Lagoon" (1949), and animated films such as "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1937), "Gulliver's Travels" (1939), and "Fantasia" (1940). As the technology matured it was also used for less spectacular dramas and comedies. Occasionally, even a film noirsuch as "Leave Her to Heaven" (1945) or "Niagara" (1953)was filmed in Technicolor.


title: Technicolor

text: The "Tech" in the company's name was inspired by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where Herbert Kalmus and Daniel Frost Comstock received their undergraduate degrees in 1904 and were later instructors.


title: Technicolor

text: Both Kalmus and Comstock went to Europe (Switzerland) to earn PhD degrees; Kalmus at University of Zurich, and Comstock at Basel in 1906.


title: Technicolor

text: In 1912, Kalmus, Comstock, and mechanic W. Burton Wescott formed Kalmus, Comstock, and Wescott, an industrial research and development firm. Most of the early patents were taken out by Comstock and Wescott, while Kalmus served primarily as the company's president and chief executive officer.


title: Technicolor

text: When the firm was hired to analyze an inventor's flicker-free motion picture system, they became intrigued with the art and science of filmmaking, particularly color motion picture processes, leading to the founding of Technicolor in Boston in 1914 and incorporation in Maine in 1915.


title: Technicolor

text: Technicolor originally existed in a two-color (red and green) system. In Process 1 (1916), a prism beam-splitter behind the camera lens exposed two consecutive frames of a single strip of black-and-white negative film simultaneously, one behind a red filter, the other behind a green filter. Because two frames were being exposed at the same time, the film had to be photographed and projected at twice the normal speed. Exhibition required a special projector with two apertures (one with a red filter and the other with a green filter), two lenses, and an adjustable prism that aligned the two images on the screen.


title: Technicolor

text: The results were first demonstrated to members of the American Institute of Mining Engineers in New York on February 21, 1917. Technicolor itself produced the only movie made in Process 1, "The Gulf Between", which had a limited tour of Eastern cities, beginning with Boston and New York on September 13, 1917, primarily to interest motion picture producers and exhibitors in color. The near-constant need for a technician to adjust the projection alignment doomed this additive color process. Only a few frames of "The Gulf Between", showing star Grace Darmond, are known to exist today.


title: Technicolor

text: Convinced that there was no future in additive color processes, Comstock, Wescott, and Kalmus focused their attention on subtractive color processes. This culminated in what would eventually be known as Process 2 (1922) (often referred to today by the misnomer "two-strip Technicolor"). As before, the special Technicolor camera used a beam-splitter that simultaneously exposed two consecutive frames of a single strip of black-and-white film, one behind a green filter and one behind a red filter.


title: Technicolor

text: The difference was that the two-component negative was now used to produce a subtractive color print. Because the colors were physically present in the print, no special projection equipment was required and the correct registration of the two images did not depend on the skill of the projectionist.


title: Technicolor

text: The frames exposed behind the green filter were printed on one strip of black-and-white film, and the frames exposed behind the red filter were printed on another strip. After development, each print was toned to a color nearly complementary to that of the filter: orange-red for the green-filtered images, cyan-green for the red-filtered ones. Unlike tinting, which adds a uniform veil of color to the entire image, toning chemically replaces the black-and-white silver image with transparent coloring matter, so that the highlights remain clear (or nearly so), dark areas are strongly colored, and intermediate tones are colored proportionally.


title: Technicolor

text: The two prints, made on film stock half the thickness of regular film, were then cemented together back to back to create a projection print. "The Toll of the Sea", which debuted on November 26, 1922, used Process 2 and was the first general-release film in Technicolor.


title: Technicolor

text: The second all-color feature in Process 2 Technicolor, "Wanderer of the Wasteland", was released in 1924. Process 2 was also used for color sequences in such major motion pictures as "The Ten Commandments" (1923), "The Phantom of the Opera" (1925), and "Ben-Hur" (1925). Douglas Fairbanks' "The Black Pirate" (1926) was the third all-color Process 2 feature.


title: Technicolor

text: Although successful commercially, Process 2 was plagued with technical problems. Because the images on the two sides of the print were not in the same plane, both could not be perfectly in focus at the same time. The significance of this depended on the depth of focus of the projection optics. Much more serious was a problem with cupping. Films in general tended to become somewhat cupped after repeated use: every time a film was projected, each frame in turn was heated by the intense light in the projection gate, causing it to bulge slightly; after it had passed through the gate, it cooled and the bulge subsided, but not quite completely.


title: Technicolor

text: It was found that the cemented prints were not only very prone to cupping, but that the direction of cupping would suddenly and randomly change from back to front or vice versa, so that even the most attentive projectionist could not prevent the image from temporarily popping out of focus whenever the cupping direction changed. Technicolor had to supply new prints so the cupped ones could be shipped to their Boston laboratory for flattening, after which they could be put back into service, at least for a while.


title: Technicolor

text: The presence of image layers on both surfaces made the prints especially vulnerable to scratching, and because the scratches were vividly colored they were very noticeable. Splicing a Process 2 print without special attention to its unusual laminated construction was apt to result in a weak splice that would fail as it passed through the projector. Even before these problems became apparent, Technicolor regarded this cemented print approach as a stopgap and was already at work developing an improved process.


title: Technicolor

text: Based on the same dye-transfer technique first applied to motion pictures in 1916 by Max Handschiegl, Technicolor Process 3 (1928) was developed to eliminate the projection print made of double-cemented prints in favor of a print created by "dye imbibition". The Technicolor camera for Process 3 was identical to that for Process 2, simultaneously photographing two consecutive frames of a black-and-white film behind red and green filters.


title: Technicolor

text: In the lab, skip-frame printing was used to sort the alternating color-record frames on the camera negative into two series of contiguous frames, the red-filtered frames being printed onto one strip of specially prepared "matrix" film and the green-filtered frames onto another. After processing, the gelatin of the matrix film's emulsion was left proportionally hardened, being hardest and least soluble where it had been most strongly exposed to light. The unhardened fraction was then washed away. The result was two strips of relief images consisting of hardened gelatin, thickest in the areas corresponding to the clearest, least-exposed areas of the negative.


title: Technicolor

text: To make each final color print, the matrix films were soaked in dye baths of colors nominally complementary to those of the camera filters: the strip made from red-filtered frames was dyed cyan-green and the strip made from green-filtered frames was dyed orange-red. The thicker the gelatin in each area of a frame, the more dye it absorbed. Each matrix in turn was pressed into contact with a plain gelatin-coated strip of film known as the "blank" and the gelatin "imbibed" the dye from the matrix. A mordant made from deacetylated chitin was applied to the blank before printing, to prevent the dyes from migrating or "bleeding" after they were absorbed.


title: Technicolor

text: Dye imbibition was not suitable for printing optical soundtracks, which required very high resolution, so when making prints for sound-on-film systems the "blank" film was a conventional black-and-white film stock on which the soundtrack, as well as frame lines, had been printed in the ordinary way prior to the dye transfer operation.


title: Technicolor

text: The first feature made entirely in the Technicolor Process 3 was "The Viking" (1928), which had a synchronized score and sound effects. "Redskin" (1929), with a synchronized score, and "The Mysterious Island" (1929), a part-talkie, were photographed almost entirely in this process also but included some sequences in black and white. The following talkies were made entirely – or almost entirely – in Technicolor Process 3: "On with the Show!" (1929) (the first all-talking color feature), "Gold Diggers of Broadway" (1929), "The Show of Shows" (1929), "Sally" (1929), "The Vagabond King" (1930), "Follow Thru" (1930), "Golden Dawn" (1930), "Hold Everything" (1930), "The Rogue Song" (1930), "Song of the Flame" (1930), "Song of the West" (1930), "The Life of the Party" (1930), "Sweet Kitty Bellairs" (1930), "Bride of the Regiment" (1930), "Mamba" (1930), "Whoopee!" (1930), "King of Jazz" (1930), "Under a Texas Moon" (1930), "Bright Lights" (1930), "Viennese Nights" (1930), "Woman Hungry" (1931), "Kiss Me Again" (1931) and "Fifty Million Frenchmen" (1931).


title: Technicolor

text: In addition, scores of features were released with Technicolor sequences. Numerous short subjects were also photographed in Technicolor Process 3, including the first color sound cartoons by producers such as Ub Iwerks and Walter Lantz. "Song of the Flame" became the first color movie to use a widescreen process (using a system known as Vitascope, which used 65mm film).


title: Technicolor

text: In 1931, an improvement of Technicolor Process 3 was developed that removed grain from the Technicolor film, resulting in more vivid and vibrant colors. This process was first used on a Radio Picture entitled "The Runaround" (1931). The new process not only improved the color but also removed specks (that looked like bugs) from the screen, which had previously blurred outlines and lowered visibility. This new improvement along with a reduction in cost (from 8.85 cents to 7 cents per foot) led to a new color revival.


title: Technicolor

text: Warner Bros. took the lead once again by producing three features (out of an announced plan for six features): "Manhattan Parade" (1932), "Doctor X" (1932) and "Mystery of the Wax Museum" (1933). Radio Pictures followed by announcing plans to make four more features in the new process. Only one of these, "Fanny Foley Herself" (1931), was actually produced. Although Paramount Pictures announced plans to make eight features and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer promised two color features, these never materialized. This may have been the result of the lukewarm reception to these new color pictures by the public. Two independently produced features were also made with this improved Technicolor process: "Legong: Dance of the Virgins" (1934) and "Kliou the Tiger" (1935).


title: Technicolor

text: Very few of the original camera negatives of movies made in Technicolor Process 2 or 3 survive. In the late 1940s, most were discarded from storage at Technicolor in a space-clearing move, after the studios declined to reclaim the materials. Original Technicolor prints that survived into the 1950s were often used to make black-and-white prints for television and simply discarded thereafter. This explains why so many early color films exist today solely in black and white.


title: Technicolor

text: Warner Bros., which had vaulted from a minor exhibitor to a major studio with its introduction of the talkies, incorporated Technicolor's printing to enhance its films. Other producers followed Warner Bros.' example by making features in color, with either Technicolor, or one of its competitors, such as Brewster Color and Multicolor (later Cinecolor).


title: Technicolor

text: Consequently, the introduction of color did not increase the number of moviegoers to the point where it was economical. This and the Great Depression severely strained the finances of the movie studios and spelled the end of Technicolor's first financial successes.


title: Technicolor

text: Technicolor envisioned a full-color process as early as 1924, and was actively developing such a process by 1929. Hollywood made so much use of Technicolor in 1929 and 1930 that many believed the feature film industry would soon be turning out color films exclusively. By 1931, however, the Great Depression had taken its toll on the film industry, which began to cut back on expenses. The production of color films had decreased dramatically by 1932, when Burton Wescott and Joseph A. Ball completed work on a new three-color movie camera.


title: Technicolor

text: Technicolor could now promise studios a full range of colors, as opposed to the limited red-green spectrum of previous films. The new camera simultaneously exposed three strips of black-and-white film, each of which recorded a different color of the spectrum. The new process would last until the last Technicolor feature film was produced in 1955.


title: Technicolor

text: Technicolor's advantage over most early natural-color processes was that it was a subtractive synthesis rather than an additive one: unlike the additive Kinemacolor and Chronochrome processes, Technicolor prints did not require any special projection equipment. Unlike the additive Dufaycolor process, the projected image was not dimmed by a light-absorbing and obtrusive mosaic color filter layer. Very importantly, compared to competing subtractive systems, Technicolor offered the best balance between high image quality and speed of printing.


title: Technicolor

text: The Technicolor Process 4 camera, manufactured to Technicolor's detailed specifications by Mitchell Camera Corporation, contained color filters, a beam splitter consisting of a partially reflecting surface inside a split-cube prism, and three separate rolls of black-and-white film (hence the "three-strip" designation). The beam splitter allowed one-third of the light coming through the camera lens to pass through the reflector and a green filter and form an image on one of the strips, which therefore recorded only the green-dominated third of the spectrum.


title: Technicolor

text: The other two-thirds was reflected sideways by the mirror and passed through a magenta filter, which absorbed green light and allowed only the red and blue thirds of the spectrum to pass. Behind this filter were the other two strips of film, their emulsions pressed into contact face to face. The front film was a red-blind orthochromatic type that recorded only the blue light. On the surface of its emulsion was a red-orange coating that prevented blue light from continuing on to the red-sensitive panchromatic emulsion of the film behind it, which therefore recorded only the red-dominated third of the spectrum.


title: Technicolor

text: Each of the three resulting negatives was printed onto a special matrix film. After processing, each matrix was a nearly invisible representation of the series of film frames as gelatin reliefs, thickest (and most absorbent) where each image was darkest and thinnest where it was lightest. Each matrix was soaked in a dye complementary to the color of light recorded by the negative printed on it: cyan for red, magenta for green, and yellow for blue (see also: CMYK color model for a technical discussion of color printing).


title: Technicolor

text: A single clear strip of black-and-white film with the soundtrack and frame lines printed in advance was first treated with a mordant solution and then brought into contact with each of the three dye-loaded matrix films in turn, building up the complete color image. Each dye was absorbed, or imbibed, by the gelatin coating on the receiving strip rather than simply deposited onto its surface, hence the term "dye imbibition". Strictly speaking, this is a mechanical printing process, very loosely comparable to offset printing or lithography, and not a photographic one, as the actual printing does not involve a chemical change caused by exposure to light.


title: Technicolor

text: During the early years of the process, the receiver film was preprinted with a 50% black-and-white image derived from the green strip, the so-called Key, or K, record. This procedure was used largely to cover up fine edges in the picture where colors would mix unrealistically (also known as fringing). This additional black increased the contrast of the final print and concealed any fringing. However, overall colorfulness was compromised as a result. In 1944, Technicolor had improved the process to make up for these shortcomings and the K record was eliminated.


title: Technicolor

text: Kalmus convinced Walt Disney to shoot one of his "Silly Symphony" cartoons, "Flowers and Trees" (1932), in Process 4, the new "three-strip" process. Seeing the potential in full-color Technicolor, Disney negotiated an exclusive contract for the use of the process in animated films that extended to September 1935. Other animation producers, such as the Fleischer Studios and the Ub Iwerks studio, were shut out – they had to settle for either the two-color Technicolor systems or use a competing process such as Cinecolor.


title: Technicolor

text: "Flowers and Trees" was a success with audiences and critics alike, and won the first Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. All subsequent "Silly Symphonies" from 1933 on were shot with the three-strip process. One "Silly Symphony", "Three Little Pigs" (1933), engendered such a positive audience response that it overshadowed the feature films with which it was shown. Hollywood was buzzing about color film again. According to "Fortune" magazine, "Merian C. Cooper, producer for RKO Radio Pictures and director of "King Kong" (1933), saw one of the "Silly Symphonies" and said he never wanted to make a black-and-white picture again."


title: Technicolor

text: Although Disney's first 60 or so Technicolor cartoons used the three-strip camera, an improved "successive exposure" ("SE") process was adopted circa 1937. This variation of the three-strip process was designed primarily for cartoon work: the camera would contain one strip of black-and-white negative film, and each animation cel would be photographed three times, on three sequential frames, behind alternating red, green, and blue filters (the so-called "Technicolor Color Wheel", then an option of the Acme, Producers Service and Photo-Sonics animation cameras). Three separate dye transfer printing matrices would be created from the red, green, and blue records in their respective complementary colors, cyan, magenta and yellow.


title: Technicolor

text: Successive exposure was also employed in Disney's "True Life Adventure" live-action series, wherein the original 16mm low-contrast Kodachrome Commercial live action footage was first duplicated onto a 35mm fine-grain SE negative element in one pass of the 16mm element, thereby reducing wear of the 16mm original, and also eliminating registration errors between colors. The live-action SE negative thereafter entered other Technicolor processes and were incorporated with SE animation and three-strip studio live-action, as required, thereby producing the combined result.


title: Technicolor

text: The studios were willing to adopt three-color Technicolor for live-action feature production, if it could be proved viable. Shooting three-strip Technicolor required very bright lighting, as the film had an extremely slow speed of ASA 5. That, and the bulk of the cameras and a lack of experience with three-color cinematography made for skepticism in the studio boardrooms.


title: Technicolor

text: An October 1934 article in "Fortune" magazine stressed that Technicolor, as a corporation, was rather remarkable in that it kept its investors quite happy despite the fact that it had only been in profit twice in all of the years of its existence, during the early boom at the turn of the decade. A well-managed company, half of whose stock was controlled by a clique loyal to Kalmus, Technicolor never had to cede any control to its bankers or unfriendly stockholders. In the mid-'30s, all the major studios except MGM were in the financial doldrums, and a color process that truly reproduced the visual spectrum was seen as a possible shot-in-the-arm for the ailing industry.


title: Technicolor

text: In November 1933, Technicolor's Herbert Kalmus and RKO announced plans to produce three-strip Technicolor films in 1934, beginning with Ann Harding starring in a projected film "The World Outside".


title: Technicolor

text: Live-action use of three-strip Technicolor was first seen in a musical number of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer feature "The Cat and the Fiddle", released February 16, 1934. On July 1, MGM released "Hollywood Party" with a Technicolor cartoon sequence "Hot Choc-late Soldiers" produced by Walt Disney. On July 28 of that year, Warner Bros. released "Service with a Smile", followed by "Good Morning, Eve!" on September 22, both being comedy short films starring Leon Errol and filmed in three-strip Technicolor. Pioneer Pictures, a movie company formed by Technicolor investors, produced the film usually credited as the first live-action short film shot in the three-strip process, "La Cucaracha" released August 31, 1934.


title: Technicolor

text: "La Cucaracha" is a two-reel musical comedy that cost $65,000, approximately four times what an equivalent black-and-white two-reeler would cost. Released by RKO, the short was a success in introducing the new Technicolor as a viable medium for live-action films. The three-strip process also was used in some short sequences filmed for several movies made during 1934, including the final sequences of "The House of Rothschild" (Twentieth Century Pictures/United Artists) with George Arliss and "Kid Millions" (Samuel Goldwyn Studios) with Eddie Cantor.


title: Technicolor

text: Pioneer/RKO's "Becky Sharp" (1935) became the first feature film photographed entirely in three-strip Technicolor. Initially, three-strip Technicolor was only used indoors. In 1936, "The Trail of the Lonesome Pine" became the first color production to have outdoor sequences, with impressive results. The spectacular success of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1937), which was released in December 1937 and became the top-grossing film of 1938, attracted the attention of the studios.


title: Technicolor

text: One major drawback of Technicolor's three-strip process was that the cameras required a special, bulky, large volume sound blimp. Film studios could not purchase Technicolor cameras, only rent them for their productions, complete with camera technicians and a "color supervisor" to ensure sets, costumes, and makeup didn't push beyond the limitations of the system. Often on many early productions, the supervisor was Natalie Kalmus, ex-wife of Herbert Kalmus and part owner of the company. Directors had great difficulty with her; Vincente Minnelli said, "I couldn't do anything right in Mrs. Kalmus's eyes."


title: Technicolor

text: Kalmus preferred the title "Technicolor Director", although British licensees generally insisted on "Colour Control" so as not to "dilute" the film director's title. She worked with quite a number of "associates", many of whom went uncredited, and after her retirement, these associates were transferred to the licensees, with, for example, Leonard Doss going to Fox where he performed the same function for Fox's DeLuxe Color.


title: Technicolor

text: The process of splitting the image reduced the amount of light reaching the film stock. Since the film speed of the stocks used was fairly slow, early Technicolor productions required a greater amount of lighting than a black-and-white production. It is reported that temperatures from the hot studio lights on the film set of "The Wizard of Oz" frequently exceeded 100 °F (38 °C), and some of the more heavily costumed characters required a large water intake. Some actors and actresses claimed to have suffered permanent eye damage from the high levels of illumination.


title: Technicolor

text: Because of the added lighting, triple amount of film, and the expense of producing dye transfer projection prints, Technicolor demanded high film budgets.


title: Technicolor

text: Color films that recorded the three primary colors in three emulsion layers on one strip of film had been introduced in the mid-1930s by Eastman Kodak in the United States (Kodachrome for 16mm home movies in 1935, then for 8mm home movies and 35mm slides in 1936) and Agfa in Germany (Agfacolor Neu for both home movies and slides later in 1936). Technicolor introduced "Monopack", a single-strip color reversal film (a 35 mm lower-contrast version of Kodachrome) in 1941 for use on location where the bulky three-strip camera was impractical, but the higher grain of the image made it unsuitable for studio work.


title: Technicolor

text: Eastman Kodak introduced its first 35 mm color motion picture negative film in 1950. The first commercial feature film to use Eastmancolor was the National Film Board of Canada documentary "Royal Journey", released in December 1951. In 1952, Eastman Kodak introduced a high-quality color print film, allowing studios to produce prints through standard photographic processes as opposed to having to send them to Technicolor for the expensive dye imbibition process. That same year, the Technicolor lab adapted its dye transfer process (internally known as 'tri-robo' – Italian for three-strip) to derive triple matrices and imbibition prints directly from Eastmancolor negatives, as well as other stocks such as Ansco and DuPont color stocks.


title: Technicolor

text: "Foxfire" (1955), filmed in 1954 by Universal, starring Jane Russell and Jeff Chandler, was the last American-made feature photographed with a Technicolor three-strip camera.


title: Technicolor

text: One of the last British films to be shot in Process 4 by Otto Heller was the popular Ealing comedy from 1955 "The Ladykillers".


title: Technicolor

text: In an attempt to capitalize on the Hollywood 3-D craze, Technicolor unveiled its stereoscopic camera for 3-D films in March 1953. The rig used two three-strip cameras, running a total of six strips of film at once (three for the left eye and three for the right). Only two films were shot with this camera set-up: "Flight to Tangier" (1953) and the Martin and Lewis comedy "Money From Home" (1954). A similar, but different system had been used by a different company, using two three-strip cameras side by side for a British short called "Royal River".


title: Technicolor

text: As the end of the Technicolor process became apparent, the company repurposed its three-color cameras for wide-screen photography, and introduced the Technirama process in 1957. Other formats the company ventured into included VistaVision, Todd-AO, and Ultra Panavision 70. All of them were an improvement over the three-strip negatives, since the negative print-downs generated sharper and finer grain dye transfer copies.


title: Technicolor

text: By the mid-1960s, the dye-transfer process eventually fell out of favor in the United States as being too expensive and too slow in turning out prints. With the growing number of screens in the US, the standard run of 200–250 prints increased. And while dye-transfer printing yielded superior color printing, the number of high speed prints that could be struck in labs all over the country outweighed the fewer, slower number of prints that could only be had in Technicolor's labs. One of the last American films printed by Technicolor was "The Godfather Part II" (1974).


title: Technicolor

text: In 1975, the US dye transfer plant was closed and Technicolor became an Eastman-only processor. In 1977, the final dye-transfer printer left in Rome was used by Dario Argento to make prints for his horror film "Suspiria". In 1980, the Italian Technicolor plant ceased printing dye transfer.


title: Technicolor

text: The British line was shut down in 1978 and sold to Beijing Film and Video Lab which shipped the equipment to China. A great many films from China and Hong Kong were made in the Technicolor dye transfer process, including Zhang Yimou's "Ju Dou" (1990) and even one American film, "Space Avenger" (1989), directed by Richard W. Haines. The Beijing line was shut down in 1993 for a number of reasons, including inferior processing.


title: Technicolor

text: With Deluxe, Majors private technicolor systems, Hollywood managed to have all film productions in technicolor until year 2000 .


title: Technicolor

text: In 1997, Technicolor reintroduced the dye transfer process to general film printing. A refined version of the printing process of the 1960s and 1970s, it was used on a limited basis in the restorations of films such as "The Wizard of Oz", "Gone With the Wind", "Rear Window", "Funny Girl", and "Apocalypse Now Redux".


title: Technicolor

text: After its reintroduction, the dye transfer process was used in several big-budget, modern Hollywood productions. These included "Bulworth", "The Thin Red Line", "Godzilla", "Toy Story 2", and "Pearl Harbor".


title: Technicolor

text: The dye-transfer process was discontinued by Technicolor in 2002 after the company was purchased by Thomson.


title: Technicolor

text: By the late 1990s, the dye transfer process still had its advantages in the film archival community. Because the dye transfer process used stable acid dyes, Technicolor prints are considered of archival quality. A Technicolor print from the dye transfer era will retain its original colors virtually unchanged for decades with proper storage, whereas prints printed on Eastmancolor stocks produced prior to 1983 may suffer color fading after exposure to ultraviolet light and hot, humid conditions as a result of less stable photochemical dyes. Fading on some prints is so rapid that in some cases, after as little as five to ten years, the colors of the print have faded to a brownish red.


title: Technicolor

text: Furthermore, three-strip camera negatives are all on silver-based black-and-white stock, which have stayed unaltered over the course of time with proper handling. This has become of importance in recent years with the large market for films transferred to video formats for home viewing. The best color quality control for video transfer by far is achieved by optically printing from Technicolor negatives, or by recombining the three-strip black and white negatives through digital means and printing, onto low-contrast stock. Director George Lucas had a three-strip archival negative, and one or more imbibition prints made of "Star Wars"; this "protection" copy was consulted for color values in putting together the 1997 Special Edition of "Star Wars".


title: Technicolor

text: One problem that has resulted from Technicolor negatives is the rate of shrinkage from one strip to another. Because three-strip negatives are shot on three rolls, they are subject to different rates of shrinkage depending on storage conditions. Today, digital technology allows for a precise re-alignment of the negatives by resizing shrunken negatives digitally to correspond with the other negatives. The G, or Green, record is usually taken as the reference as it is the record with the highest resolution.


title: Technicolor

text: It is also a record with the correct "wind" (emulsion position with respect to the camera's lens). Shrinkage and re-alignment (resizing) are non-issues with Successive Exposure (single-roll RGB) Technicolor camera negatives. This issue could have been eliminated, for three-strip titles, had the preservation elements (fine-grain positives) been Successive Exposure, but this would have required the preservation elements to be 3,000 feet or 6,000 feet whereas three-strip composited camera and preservation elements are 1,000 feet or 2,000 feet (however, three records of that length are needed).


title: Technicolor

text: One issue that modern reproduction has had to contend with is that the contrast of the three film strips is not the same. This gives the effect on Technicolor prints that (for example) cinematic fades cause the color balance of the image to change as the image is faded. Transfer to digital media has attempted to correct the differing color balances and is largely successful. However, a few odd artifacts remain such that saturated parts of the image may show a false color. Where the image of a flame is included in shot, it will rarely be of the expected orange/yellow color, often being depicted as green.


title: Technicolor

text: The Technicolor company remained a highly successful film processing firm and later became involved in video and audio duplication (CD, VHS and DVD manufacturing) and digital video processes. MacAndrews & Forbes acquired Technicolor, Inc. in 1982 for $100 million, then sold it in 1988 to the British firm Carlton Communications PLC for $780 million. Technicolor, Inc. acquired the film processing company CFI in 2000. Since 2001, Technicolor has been part of the French-headquartered electronics and media conglomerate Thomson Multimedia SA. The name of Thomson group was changed to “Technicolor SA” , re-branding the entire company after its American film technology subsidiary. In May 2021, Technicolor's post-production unit was acquired by Streamland Media. On September 27, 2022, Technicolor SA, which maintains the IoT, broadband and video solution businesses, rebranded as Vantiva, while the VFX, motion graphics and animation businesses now operated by Technicolor Creative Studios; these two were spun-off as the publicly independent companies.


title: Technicolor

text: The visual aesthetic of dye transfer Technicolor continues to be used in Hollywood, usually in films set in the mid-20th century. Parts of "The Aviator" (2004), the biopic of Howard Hughes, were digitally manipulated to imitate color processes that were available during the periods each scene takes place.


title: Technicolor

text: Mostly, during the credits of a film, the text “Color by Technicolor” or “Prints by Technicolor” is shown.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: Maria Gloria Macaraeg Macapagal Arroyo (, born April 5, 1947), often referred to by her initials GMA, is a Filipino academic and politician serving as one of the House Deputy Speakers since 2022, and previously from 2016 to 2017. She previously served as the 14th president of the Philippines from 2001 until 2010. She is the longest serving president of the Philippines since Ferdinand Marcos. Before her accession to the presidency, she served as the 10th vice president of the Philippines from 1998 to 2001 under President Joseph Estrada, making her the country's first female vice president, despite having run on an opposing ticket. She was also a senator from 1992 to 1998. After her presidency, she was elected as the representative of Pampanga's 2nd district in 2010 and later became the speaker of the House of Representatives from 2018 until her retirement in 2019. She later came out of retirement to be elected as representative of the same district in 2022. She is one of the only 2 Filipinos to hold at least three of the four highest offices in the country: vice president, president, and house speaker, alongside former President Sergio Osmeña.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: The daughter of former president Diosdado Macapagal, she studied economics at Georgetown University in the United States, where she began a lasting friendly relationship with her classmate and future U.S. president Bill Clinton. She then became a professor of economics at Ateneo de Manila University, where her eventual successor, President Benigno Aquino III, was one of her students. She entered government in 1987, serving as the assistant secretary and undersecretary of the Department of Trade and Industry upon the invitation of President Corazon Aquino, Benigno's mother.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: After Estrada was accused of corruption, Arroyo resigned her cabinet position as secretary of Department of Social Welfare and Development and joined the growing opposition against the president, who faced impeachment. Estrada was soon forced out from office by the Second EDSA Revolution in 2001, and Arroyo was sworn into the presidency by Chief Justice Hilario Davide, Jr. on January 20 that year. In 2003, the Oakwood mutiny occurred after signs of a martial law declaration were seen under her rule. She was elected to a full six-year term in the controversial 2004 presidential election, and was sworn in on June 30, 2004. Following her presidency, she was elected to the House of Representatives through her home district, making her the second Philippine president—after José P. Laurel—to pursue a lower office after their presidency.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: On November 18, 2011, Arroyo was arrested and held at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City under charges of electoral sabotage but released on bail in July 2012. These charges were later dropped for lack of evidence. She was rearrested in October 2012, on charges of misuse of $8.8 million in state lottery funds. She was given a hospital arrest, allegedly due to "life-threatening health conditions" certified by her doctors. During the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte, the Supreme Court acquitted her by a vote of 11–4. Also, the Supreme Court declared the Department of Justice's 'hold departure orders' unconstitutional. Arroyo's lawyers stated afterward that she no longer needed her medical paraphernalia, releasing her from the hospital.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: Arroyo is a member of the Philippine Academy of the Spanish Language and supported the teaching of Spanish in the country's education system during her presidency.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: On July 23, 2018, Arroyo was elected speaker of the House of Representatives during the Duterte administration, controversially replacing Pantaleon Alvarez. She spearheaded various controversial bills, including a bill that sought to lower the age of criminal liability to 12 years old.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: Arroyo is the first president to succeed the presidency by being the child of a previous or former president; her father was Diosdado Macapagal, who served as the country's ninth president between from 1961 to 1965.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was born as Maria Gloria Macaraeg Macapagal on 5 April 1947 in San Juan, Rizal, Philippines, to politician Diosdado Macapagal and his wife, Evangelina Macaraeg Macapagal. She is the sister of Diosdado "Boboy" Macapagal Jr. She has two older siblings from her father's first marriage, Arturo Macapagal and Cielo Macapagal Salgado. She was raised mostly in Lubao, Pampanga and during summer vacations, she lived with her maternal grandmother in Iligan City. She is a polyglot, fluent in English, Filipino (the standardized variety of Tagalog), Spanish, French and several other Philippine languages, such as Kapampangan and Cebuano (her mother tongues), Ilokano and Pangasinense (her mother’s native languages), Hiligaynon (her husband's native language), and Bicolano.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: She moved with her family into Malacañang Palace in Manila. A municipality was named in her honor, Gloria, Oriental Mindoro. She attended Assumption Convent for her elementary and high school education, graduating valedictorian in 1964. Arroyo then studied for two years at Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service in Washington, D.C. where she was a classmate of future United States president Bill Clinton. She then earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Assumption College San Lorenzo graduating magna cum laude in 1968.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: In 1968, Arroyo married lawyer and businessman Jose Miguel Arroyo of Binalbagan, Negros Occidental, whom she had met while still a teenager. They had three children, Juan Miguel (born 1969), Evangelina Lourdes (born 1972) and Diosdado Ignacio Jose Maria (born in 1974). She pursued a master's degree in economics at the Ateneo de Manila University (1978) and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of the Philippines Diliman (1985). From 1977 to 1987, she held teaching positions in several schools, notably the University of the Philippines and the Ateneo de Manila University. She became chairperson of the Economics Department at Assumption College.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: In 1987, she was invited by President Corazon Aquino to join the government as assistant secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry. She was promoted to undersecretary two years later. In her concurrent position as executive director of the Garments and Textile Export Board, Arroyo oversaw the rapid growth of the garment industry in the late 1980s.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: On July 15, 2022, Arroyo tested positive for COVID-19. She still tested positive for the disease on July 24, making her unable to physically attend President Bongbong Marcos's first State of the Nation Address on the next day.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: Arroyo entered politics in the 1992 election, running for senator. At the first general election under the 1987 Constitution, the top twelve vote-getting senatorial candidates would win a six-year term, and the next twelve candidates would win a three-year term. Arroyo ranked 13th in the elections, earning a three-year term. She was re-elected in 1995, topping the senatorial election with nearly 16 million votes.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: As a legislator, Arroyo filed over 400 bills and authored or sponsored 55 laws during her tenure as senator, including the Anti-Sexual Harassment Law, the Indigenous People's Rights Law, and the Export Development Act. The 1995 Mining Act, which allows 100% foreign ownership of Philippine mines, has come under fire from left-wing political groups. Arroyo was also openly against the implementation of capital punishment in the country, advocating instead for better criminal rehabilitation during her time as Senator.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: Arroyo considered a run for the presidency in the 1998 election, but was persuaded by President Fidel V. Ramos and leaders of the administration party Lakas-NUCD to instead seek the vice-presidency as the running mate of its presidential candidate, House Speaker Jose de Venecia, Jr. Though the latter lost to popular former actor Joseph Estrada, Arroyo won the vice presidency by a large margin, garnering more than twice the votes of her closest opponent, Estrada's running mate Senator Edgardo Angara.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: Arroyo began her term as vice president on June 30, 1998, becoming the first female to hold the post. She was appointed by Estrada to a concurrent position in the cabinet as secretary of social welfare and development.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: Arroyo resigned from the Cabinet in October 2000, distancing herself from Estrada, who was accused of corruption by a former political supporter, Chavit Singson, Governor from Ilocos Sur. She had initially resisted pressure from allies to speak out against Estrada, but eventually joined calls for Estrada's resignation.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: The last quarter of 2000 up to the first week of January 2001 was a period of political and economic uncertainty for the Philippines. On January 16, 2001, the impeachment trial also took a new direction. Private prosecutors walked out of the trial when pro-Estrada senators prevented the opening of an evidence (a brown envelope) containing bank records allegedly owned by President Joseph Estrada. With the walkout, the impeachment trial was not completed and Filipinos eventually took to the streets in masses to continue the clamor for President Estrada's resignation.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: From January 17 to 20, 2001, hundreds of thousands of Filipinos gathered at Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA), the site of the original People Power Revolution. The clamor for a change in the presidency gained momentum as various sectors of Philippine society – professionals, students, artists, politicians, leftist and rightist groups – joined what became known as EDSA II. Officials of the administration, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) also withdrew their support for President Estrada.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: Days after leaving Malacañang Palace, President Estrada's lawyers questioned the legitimacy of Arroyo's presidency before the Supreme Court. He reiterated that he had not resigned as president and that at most, Arroyo was just serving in an acting capacity. The high court, however, voted unanimously to uphold the legitimacy of Arroyo's succession. As a consequence, Estrada no longer enjoys immunity from charges being filed against him.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: In the last week of April 2001, the Sandiganbayan ordered the arrest of Estrada and his son, then mayor Jinggoy Estrada, for plunder charges. A few days later, Estrada supporters protested his arrest, gathered at the EDSA Shrine, and staged what they called, EDSA III – comparing their actions to the People Power revolution of 1986 and January 2001.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: Thousands of protesters demanded the release of Estrada. Eventually, they also called for the ouster of Arroyo and the reinstatement of the former. On May 1, 2001, they marched towards Malacañang to force Arroyo to give in to their demands. Violence erupted when the protesters attempted to storm the presidential palace and the military and police were ordered to use their arms to drive them back. Arroyo declared a state of rebellion because of the violence and prominent political personalities affiliated with Estrada were charged and arrested. The so-called EDSA III was the first serious political challenge to the Arroyo presidency.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: The Oakwood mutiny occurred in the Philippines on July 27, 2003. A group of 321 armed soldiers who called themselves ""Bagong Katipuneros"" led by Army Capt. Gerardo Gambala and Navy Lt. Antonio Trillanes IV took over the Oakwood Premier Ayala Center (now Ascott Makati) serviced apartment tower in Makati to show the Filipino people the alleged corruption of the Gloria Macapagal Arroyo administration, believing that the president was going to declare martial law.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: Article VII Section 4 of the 1987 Constitution explicitly states that the president of the Philippines can only serve for one term. However, the same provision also implicitly states that a president's successor who has not served for more than four years can still seek a full term for the presidency. Although Arroyo fell under this category, she initially announced on December 30, 2002, that she would not seek the presidency in 2004. She emphasized that she would devote her remaining months in office to serving the people and improving the economy of the Philippines.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: In October 2003, Arroyo changed her mind and announced that she would contest the May 2004 presidential elections and seek a direct mandate from the people. She explained, "There is a higher cause to change society...in a way that nourishes our future". With her decision, the initial criticisms hurled against Arroyo centered on her lack of word of honor.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: As predicted by SWS exit polls, Arroyo won the election by a margin of over one million votes against Poe. However, the congressional canvassing was quite contentious as opposition lawmakers in the National Board of Canvassers argued that there were many discrepancies in the election returns and that insinuations of cheating were raised. On June 23, 2004, Congress proclaimed Arroyo and Noli de Castro as president and vice president, respectively.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: On June 30, 2004, in a break with tradition, Arroyo first delivered her inaugural speech at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila. She then departed for Cebu City for her oath taking, the first time that a Philippine president took the oath of office outside of Luzon.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: Allegations of cheating against Arroyo gained momentum one year after the May 2004 elections. In a press conference held on June 10, 2005, Samuel Ong, former deputy director of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) claimed to have audio recordings of wiretapped conversations between Arroyo and an official of the Commission on Elections (COMELEC). Virgilio Garcillano, a former COMELEC commissioner, would later be identified as the official talking to Arroyo. According to Ong, the recordings allegedly proved that Arroyo ordered the rigging of the national elections for her to win by around one million votes against Poe.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: The recordings of Ong became known as the Hello Garci controversy and triggered massive protests against Arroyo. Key members of her cabinet resigned from their respective posts and urged Arroyo to do the same. On June 27, 2005, Arroyo admitted to inappropriately speaking to a COMELEC official, claiming it was a "lapse in judgement". She, however, denied influencing the outcome of the elections and declared that she won the elections fairly. Arroyo did not resign despite the pressures coming from various sectors of society.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: Attempts to impeach Arroyo failed later that year. Another impeachment case was filed against Arroyo in 2006 but was also defeated at the House of Representatives.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: In October 2007, lawyer Alan Paguia filed an impeachment complaint against Arroyo in connection with the issue of bribery. Paguia's complaint was based on the revelation of Pampanga Governor Ed Panlilio that various governors received half a million pesos from Malacañang. The impeachment case, as of the middle of October 2007, has already been referred to the House of Representatives Committee on Justice.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: On February 24, 2006, a plot to take over the government was uncovered by authorities, allegedly headed by Gen. Danilo Lim and other rightist military adventurists. General Lim and some of his men were arrested. To face the threat posed by enemies of the state, Arroyo issued Presidential Proclamation 1017 and used it as basis in declaring a state of emergency throughout the Philippines. According to Arroyo, this declaration was done to quell the military rebellion, stop lawless violence, and promote peace and stability. Presidential Proclamation 1017 also empowered the government to enforce warrantless arrests and take over strategic private utilities companies.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: On February 25, 2006, the police raided the office of the "Daily Tribune", a newspaper known as a critic of the Arroyo administration. The government then issued a journalism guidelines to address the threat posed by critics in the media. Presidential Management Staff chief Michael Defensor said that the guidelines were necessary in order to cope with the emergency situation.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: The state of emergency existed for about one week with the purpose of curbing further violence, illegal rallies, and public disturbance throughout the Philippines. The police and the military dispersed demonstrators and protesters, especially those along EDSA. Aside from General Lim, prominent personalities were also arrested in connection with their alleged participation in the attempt to overthrow the government. Among those arrested were:


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: Presidential Proclamation 1017 was lifted on March 3, 2006, but members of the opposition, private lawyers, and concerned citizens challenged its constitutionality before the Supreme Court. On May 4, the high court declared the proclamation constitutional. However, it also said that it was illegal for the government to implement warrantless arrests and seize private institutions and companies.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: Arroyo currently spearheads a controversial plan for an overhaul of the constitution to transform the present unitary and presidential republic with a bicameral legislature into a federal parliamentary government with a unicameral legislature.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: Arroyo, who earned a master's degree and doctorate in economics, made the Philippine economy the focus of her presidency. Annual economic growth in the Philippines averaged 4.5% during the Arroyo administration, expanding every quarter of her presidency. This is higher than in the administrations of her three immediate predecessors, Corazon Aquino (3.8%), Fidel Ramos (3.7%), and Joseph Estrada (3.7%). The Philippine economy grew at its fastest pace in three decades in 2007, with real GDP growth exceeding 7%. The economy was one of the few to avoid contraction during the 2008 global financial crisis, faring better than its regional peers due to minimal exposure to troubled international securities, lower dependence on exports, relatively resilient domestic consumption, large remittances from four-to five-million overseas Filipino workers, and a growing business process outsourcing industry. Arroyo's handling of the economy has earned praise from former US president Bill Clinton, who cited her "tough decisions" that put the Philippine economy back in shape. Despite this growth, the poverty rate remained stagnant due to a high population growth rate and uneven distribution of income.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: A controversial expanded value added tax (e-VAT) law, considered the centerpiece of the Arroyo administration's economic reform agenda, was implemented in November 2005, aiming to complement revenue-raising efforts that could plug the country's large budget deficit. Her administration originally set a target to balance the national budget by 2010. The tax measure boosted confidence in the government's fiscal capacity and helped to strengthen the Philippine peso, making it East Asia's best performing currency in 2005–06. The peso strengthened by nearly 20% in 2007, making it one of Asia's better performing currencies for that year, a fact attributed to a combination of increased remittances from overseas Filipino workers and a strong domestic economy.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: Early in her presidency, Arroyo implemented a controversial policy of holiday economics, adjusting holidays to form longer weekends with the purpose of boosting domestic tourism and allowing Filipinos more time with their families.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: The Social Weather Stations public opinion group has conducted quarterly surveys tracking the net satisfaction rating ("satisfied" rating minus "dissatisfied" rating") of President Arroyo. She began her presidency in the first quarter of 2001 with a net satisfaction rating of +24. Her rating first dipped into the negative in the first quarter of 2003, making Arroyo the only president to achieve a negative net satisfaction rating in SWS opinion polling. Her rating rebounded well into the positive in 2004, in time for the presidential election where she won election to a new six-year term. However, net satisfaction sunk back into negative territory in the fourth quarter of 2004, and has remained negative since, dipping as low as −38 in the second quarter of 2008. Her net satisfaction rating in the first quarter of 2009 was −32.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: In November 2009, Arroyo formally declared her intention to run for a seat in the House of Representatives representing the 2nd district of Pampanga, making her the second Philippine president – after Jose P. Laurel – to pursue a lower office after the expiration of their presidency. A petition seeking to disqualify Arroyo from the race was dismissed by the COMELEC for lack of merit, a decision which was later affirmed by the Supreme Court. With little serious competition, she was elected to Congress in May 2010 with a landslide victory. After receiving final military honors at the inauguration ceremony of incoming President Benigno Aquino III, she headed straight to San Fernando, Pampanga for her own oath-taking as congresswoman.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: Despite being considered the strongest contender for speaker of the House, Arroyo declined to seek the position, hoping instead to take on a role similar to Sonia Gandhi, who was influential as merely the head of her party. On her first day as a lawmaker, Arroyo and her son Dato filed a resolution calling for Congress to call a constitutional convention to propose amendments to the existing constitution.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: While still confined in the Veterans Memorial Medical Center for hospital arrest, Arroyo successfully earned a second term as congresswoman for Pampanga's second congressional district at the conclusion of the 2013 Philippine mid-term elections on May 13, 2013, defeating the ruling Liberal Party's Vivian Dabu, who was the provincial administrator under former Governor Ed Panlilio. She was re-elected in 2016 for her third consecutive term, running unopposed.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: In early 2011, Arroyo was diagnosed with cervical spondylosis or cervical radiculopathy. She was rushed to the St. Luke's Medical Center in Taguig on July 25, 2011, minutes after the State of the Nation Address by Benigno Aquino III. Doctors performed a five-hour spine surgery on July 29, 2011. Two more surgeries occurred in August 2011, which aggravated her hypoparathyroidism. The House of Representatives, under the leadership of Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Jr., issued a travel permit allowing her to have treatment in Germany despite the Department of Justice hold departure order.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: Arroyo was arrested on November 18, 2011, after a Pasay court issued a warrant of arrest against her, following the filing of a complaint for electoral sabotage by the COMELEC. The arrest warrant was served at the St. Luke's Medical Center in Taguig where Arroyo had been confined. Days earlier, the Supreme Court had issued a resolution enjoining attempts by the Department of Justice to prevent her departure from the Philippines to seek medical treatment overseas.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: She was transferred to the Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City on December 9, 2011. Arroyo was released from hospital arrest on bail on July 25, 2012.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: On October 29, 2012, she refused to enter any plea on charges she misused $8.8 million in state lottery funds during her term in office. As of December 2013, she was still in custody at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center. On July 19, 2016, the Supreme Court dismissed the corruption charges and ordered her release from the hospital where she had been detained since 2011.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: Arroyo was transported to St. Luke's Medical Center for tests and treatment and returned to confinement at the Veteran's Medical Center after medical incidents in May and June 2014. In June, after the second of these incidents, her attorneys renewed application for bail. In September, a third medical incident caused her to be again rushed to St. Luke's for treatment and returned to confinement at the Veteran's Medical Center.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: In a case filed by human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention declared Arroyo's hospital detention arbitrary and violative of the international law on human rights. It recognized that the charges against Arroyo were politically motivated since she was detained as a result of her exercise to take part in government and that the detention was arbitrary and illegal under international law because the Sandiganbayan court failed to take into account her individual circumstances when it repeatedly denied her bail.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: On July 19, 2016, a few weeks after Duterte was sworn in as president, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the dismissal of plunder case against Arroyo, gathering a vote of 11–4 which was read by spokesperson Theodore Te.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: She would later be assigned by Duterte's party, PDP-Laban, as a high-level member of the House of Representatives after winning her third term as congresswoman in the House. She was given committee chairmanships, among many other roles.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: Arroyo was elected as the first female speaker of the House of Representatives of the Philippines. The election pushed through on July 23, 2018, due to a controversial majority manifesto and vote that ousted Pantaleon Alvarez. In August 2018, amid rumors that she was gunning to become prime minister under a proposed federal government, which she was advocating in the House, Arroyo stated that she will retire from politics and would not pursue any position after the May 2019 elections.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: In January 2019, her speakership passed a House bill which lowered the criminal liability to twelve years old. She had a net satisfaction rating of −4 in September 2018, which further dropped to −21 in January 2019, becoming one of the most unpopular House speakers in Philippine history. Her leadership also spearheaded the changing of House rules in relation to Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALNs), requiring a fee for access, which amounts to for the SALNs of all 291 members of the House of Representatives, making it difficult for the poor to monitor corruption in the House.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: In February 2019, Senator Panfilo Lacson accused Arroyo of adding an additional pork barrel of in the national budget.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: Arroyo, although not holding any elective position, has been participating as a member of Lakas–CMD. As of June 2019, she is working on a memoir narrating her experiences as president, which she plans on limiting to 200 pages for consumption by the general public.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: On November 26, 2020, President Rodrigo Duterte appointed Arroyo as presidential adviser on Clark programs and projects.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: Arroyo came out of retirement to seek a comeback to the House of Representatives in 2022, running unopposed for the 2nd district of Pampanga. Her legal counsel, Peter Paul Magalang, filed the certificate of candidacy on her behalf. She has declared support to the candidacies of Bongbong Marcos for president and new Lakas party-mate Sara Duterte for vice president. She also joined the caravans and campaign sorties of their UniTeam Alliance.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: On May 10, 2022, Arroyo was proclaimed as representative of the 2nd district of Pampanga, succeeding her son Mikey for a fourth nonconsecutive term. Although she assumed office on June 30, 2022, she took her oath of office on May 26 in Lubao and on June 13 before outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte at the Malacañang Palace. Arroyo said she will join her fellow representatives in passing the legislative agenda of the administration of President Bongbong Marcos and will continue to push for projects aligned with the Pampanga Megalopolis program.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: On July 25, 2022, Arroyo was named as Senior Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives under the new speakership of Martin Romualdez, her Lakas party-mate whom she endorsed for the position, in the 19th Congress of the Philippines.


title: Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

text: In July 2008, the Social Weather Stations (SWS) said that Arroyo registered a net satisfaction rating of minus 38 in a survey conducted in the last week of June, making her the most unpopular president in the country since democracy was restored in 1986.


title: Romancing the Stone

text: Romancing the Stone is a 1984 action-adventure romantic comedy film directed by Robert Zemeckis, written by Diane Thomas and produced by Michael Douglas, who also starred in the film. The film co-stars Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito. The film follows a romance novelist who must venture beyond her New York City comfort zone to Colombia in order to save her sister from criminals who are holding her for ransom as they search for a priceless treasure.


title: Romancing the Stone

text: Thomas wrote the screenplay in 1979, as the only one in her lifetime. Zemeckis, who at the time was developing "Cocoon", liked Thomas's screenplay and offered to direct but 20th Century Fox initially declined, citing the commercial failure of his first two films "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" and "Used Cars". Zemeckis was eventually dismissed from "Cocoon" after an early screening of "Romancing the Stone" failed to further impress studio executives. Alan Silvestri, who would collaborate with Zemeckis on his later films, composed the score.


title: Romancing the Stone

text: "Romancing the Stone" was released on March 30, 1984, to positive reviews from critics and earned over $115 million worldwide at the box office. A sequel, "The Jewel of the Nile", was released in December 1985.


title: Romancing the Stone

text: Joan Wilder is a successful, but lonely, romance novelist in New York City. After finishing her latest novel, Joan leaves her apartment to meet her editor, Gloria. On the way she is handed a letter that contains a map, sent by her recently murdered brother-in-law, Eduardo. While she is gone, a man tries to break into her apartment and is discovered by her apartment supervisor, whom he kills. Returning to her apartment, Joan finds it ransacked. She then receives a frantic phone call from her sister Elaine, Eduardo's widow. Elaine has been kidnapped by antiquities smugglers, cousins Ira and Ralph, and instructs Joan to go to the Colombian coastal city of Cartagena with the map she received; it is Elaine's ransom.


title: Romancing the Stone

text: Flying to Colombia, Joan is diverted from the rendezvous point by Colonel Zolo—the same man that ransacked her apartment looking for the map—by tricking her into boarding the wrong bus. Instead of heading to Cartagena, this bus goes deep into the interior of the country. Ralph realizes this and begins following Joan. After Joan accidentally distracts the bus driver by asking where they are going, the bus crashes into a Land Rover, wrecking both vehicles. As the rest of the passengers walk away, Joan is menaced by Zolo but is saved by the Land Rover's owner, an American exotic bird smuggler named Jack T. Colton. For getting her out of the jungle and to a telephone, Joan promises to pay Jack $375 in traveler's cheques.


title: Romancing the Stone

text: Jack and Joan travel the jungle while eluding Zolo and his military police. Reaching a small village, they encounter a drug lord named Juan, who is a big fan of Joan's novels and happily helps them escape from Zolo.


title: Romancing the Stone

text: After a night of dancing and passion in a nearby town, Jack suggests to Joan that they find the treasure themselves before handing over the map. Zolo's men enter the town, so Jack and Joan steal a car to escape—but it is Ralph's car, and he is sleeping in the back. They follow the clues and retrieve the treasure, an enormous emerald called "El Corazón" ("The Heart"). Ralph takes the emerald from them at gunpoint, but Zolo's forces appear, distracting Ralph long enough for Jack to steal the jewel back. After being chased into a river and over a waterfall, Jack and Joan are separated on opposite sides of the raging river; Joan has the map, but Jack has the emerald. Jack directs Joan to Cartagena, promising that he will meet her there.


title: Romancing the Stone

text: In Cartagena, Joan meets with Ira, who takes the map and releases Elaine. But Zolo and his men arrive, with a captured Jack and a severely beaten Ralph. As Zolo tortures Joan, Jack tries to throw the emerald into a crocodile pool behind Zolo. Zolo is able to catch the emerald, but then a crocodile jumps up and bites his hand off, swallowing the emerald with it. A shootout ensues between Zolo's soldiers and Ira's gang. Joan and Elaine dash for safety, pursued by the maimed Zolo, as Jack tries to stop the crocodile from escaping. He begrudgingly releases it, to instead try to save Joan.


title: Romancing the Stone

text: A crazed Zolo charges at Joan; she dodges his wild knife slashes and he falls into a crocodile pit. As the authorities arrive, Ira and his men escape, but Ralph is left behind. After a kiss, Jack dives into the water after the crocodile with the emerald, leaving Joan behind with her sister.


title: Romancing the Stone

text: Later, Joan is back in New York City, and has written a new novel based on her adventure. Gloria—Joan's publisher—is moved to tears by the story and tells Joan she has another best-seller on her hands. Returning home, she finds Jack waiting for her in a sailboat named the "Angelina", after the heroine of Joan's novels, and wearing boots made from the crocodile's skin. He jokes that the crocodile got "a fatal case of indigestion" from the emerald, which he sold, using the money to buy the boat of his dreams. They go off together, planning to sail around the world.


title: Romancing the Stone

text: The screenplay was written five years earlier by a Malibu waitress named Diane Thomas in what would end up being her only screenplay made into a movie. She died in a car crash a year and a half after the film's release.


title: Romancing the Stone

text: Sylvester Stallone was originally considered for the role of Jack T. Colton. Other leads considered include Burt Reynolds, Clint Eastwood, Paul Newman, and Christopher Reeve for the part of Jack Colton and Debra Winger as Joan Wilder.


title: Romancing the Stone

text: Filming locations included Veracruz, Mexico (Fort of San Juan de Ulúa), Huasca de Ocampo, Mexico, and Snow Canyon, Utah. The scene where Turner and Douglas get separated on opposite banks on a whitewater river was filmed on the Rio Antigua near the town of Jalcomulco, Veracruz.


title: Romancing the Stone

text: Turner later said of the film's production, "I remember terrible arguments [with Robert Zemeckis] doing "Romancing". He's a film-school grad, fascinated by cameras and effects. I never felt that he knew what I was having to do to adjust my acting to some of his damn cameras – sometimes he puts you in ridiculous postures. I'd say, 'This is not helping me! This is not the way I like to work, thank you!'" Zemeckis would go on to work with Turner again, casting her as the voice of Jessica Rabbit in 1988's "Who Framed Roger Rabbit".


title: Romancing the Stone

text: Studio insiders expected "Romancing the Stone" to flop to the point that, after viewing a rough cut of the film, the producers of the then-under-development "Cocoon" fired Zemeckis as director of that film. However, it became a surprise hit and 20th Century Fox's only big hit of 1984. The film eventually grossed over US$115 million worldwide, becoming the sixth-highest-grossing film of 1984. Zemeckis later stated that the success of "Romancing the Stone" allowed him to make "Back to the Future" (1985).


title: Romancing the Stone

text: "Romancing the Stone" holds an 86% approval rating on the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 56 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, ""Romancing the Stone" reaches back to the classic Saturday morning serials of old with an action-filled adventure enlivened by the sparkling chemistry between its well-matched leads."


title: Romancing the Stone

text: Upon the release of "Romancing the Stone", "Time" magazine called the film "a distaff "Raiders" rip-off". "The Washington Post" remarked that "Though fitfully thrilling and amusing, [Joan Wilder's] adventures degenerate into a muddle. Neither screenwriter Diane Thomas nor director Robert Zemeckis, good-humored as they strive to be, maintains a coherent perception of how the plot should be contrived to trump the heroine's overactive fantasy life." They elaborated that the stone makes an uncompelling MacGuffin, Joan's character development is incongruous and ultimately unsatisfying, and Joan and Jack lack romantic chemistry. By contrast, "Time Out" commented that "The script is sharp and funny, the direction sure-footed on both the comedy and action fronts", and compared the film favorably to its contemporary in the same genre, "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" (1984). Roger Ebert called it "a silly, high-spirited chase picture", saying he greatly enjoyed the film's imaginative perils, colorful cast of villains, and believable relationship between its two lead characters. He likewise compared it favorably to other "Raiders of the Lost Ark" clones.


title: Romancing the Stone

text: Colin Greenland reviewed "Romancing the Stone" for "Imagine" magazine, and stated that "Good-humoured, sparky stuff in the manner of "Raiders of the Lost Ark"."


title: Romancing the Stone

text: Filmsite.org included it as one of the best films of 1984, and "Entertainment Weekly" included it on its list of films that made 1984 one of the best years for Hollywood films.


title: Romancing the Stone

text: The novelization of "Romancing the Stone" was credited to Joan Wilder, although (along with a novelization of the sequel movie, "The Jewel of the Nile") it was actually written by Catherine Lanigan.


title: Romancing the Stone

text: The success of "Romancing the Stone" led to a sequel, "The Jewel of the Nile", without Zemeckis directing but with Douglas, Turner, and DeVito all returning. The film was released in December 1985 and was commercially successful, but received weaker reviews than the first film.


title: Romancing the Stone

text: Since 1985, numerous attempts have been made to produce further sequels to the film. Another sequel, called "The Crimson Eagle", would have had Jack and Joan take their two teenage children to Thailand where they are blackmailed into stealing a priceless statue. Filming was scheduled to begin in 1987, following Michael Douglas's shooting of "Wall Street", but the production was delayed and ultimately never made it past the development stage. DeVito reunited Douglas, Turner, and himself in his 1989 film "The War of the Roses".


title: Romancing the Stone

text: In 2005 and again in 2008, Douglas was developing a second sequel, tentatively titled "Racing the Monsoon".


title: Romancing the Stone

text: Since 2007, 20th Century Fox has considered producing a remake of "Romancing the Stone", with the possibility of a reboot series. The roles of Jack Colton and Joan Wilder would be filled by Taylor Kitsch (or Gerard Butler) and Katherine Heigl, respectively. By 2011, the remake was re-worked as a television series.


title: Halston

text: Roy Halston Frowick (April 23, 1932 – March 26, 1990), known mononymously as Halston, was an American fashion designer who rose to international fame in the 1970s.


title: Halston

text: His minimalist, clean designs, often made of cashmere or ultrasuede, were a new phenomenon in the mid-1970s discotheques and redefined American fashion. Halston was known for creating a relaxed urban lifestyle for American women. He was frequently photographed at Studio 54 with his close friends Liza Minnelli, Bianca Jagger, Joe Eula, and Andy Warhol.


title: Halston

text: In the early 1950s, while attending the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Halston began a business designing and making women's hats. He garnered a well-known clientele and opened a store on Chicago's Magnificent Mile in 1957. He later became the head milliner for high-end New York City department store Bergdorf Goodman. His fame rose when he designed the pillbox hat Jacqueline Kennedy wore to the inauguration of her husband, President John F. Kennedy, in 1961. In the late 1960s, Halston made the transition to women's clothing, opening a boutique on Madison Avenue in New York and started a ready-to-wear line. After several ill-advised business decisions, Halston eventually lost control of his fashion house in the 1980s. He died of AIDS-related cancer in 1990 at the age of 57.


title: Halston

text: Roy Halston Frowick was born on April 23, 1932, in Des Moines, Iowa, the second son of accountant James Edward Frowick who was of Norwegian descent, and his stay-at-home wife Hallie Mae (née Holmes). Halston developed an early interest in sewing from his grandmother and he began creating hats and altering clothes for his mother and sister. He grew up in Des Moines, and moved to Evansville, Indiana, at the age of 14. He graduated from Benjamin Bosse High School in 1950. He briefly attended Indiana University.


title: Halston

text: In 1952, Halston moved to Chicago, where he enrolled in a night course at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and worked as a window dresser. In 1953, he opened his own hat business. His first customer was radio actress and comedian Fran Allison. Halston's hats were also bought by Kim Novak, Gloria Swanson, Deborah Kerr, and Hedda Hopper.


title: Halston

text: Halston's first big break came when the "Chicago Daily News" ran a brief story on his hats. In 1957, he opened his first shop, the Boulevard Salon, on North Michigan Avenue. It was at this point that he began to use his middle name to trade under. During his childhood, he had been referred to as Halston to distinguish between himself and his uncle Roy. Halston moved to New York City in late 1957, first working for milliner Lilly Daché. Within a year, he had been named the co-designer at Daché, became acquainted with several fashion editors and publishers, and left Daché's studio to become head milliner for department store Bergdorf Goodman in their customer milliner salon.