History.

Formation and "All Wound Up" (1995–1997).

In February 1995, Sully Erna decided to start a new band as the lead singer after playing the drums for more than 23 years, including more than two years in the now-defunct band Strip Mind. His new band, The Scam, formed with Erna on vocals, Robbie Merrill on bass, local guitarist and friend Lee Richards on guitar, and Tommy Stewart on drums. The Scam quickly changed its name to Godsmack, after recording one demo. The newly formed band started playing small bars in their hometown of Boston. Locally popular songs such as "Keep Away" and "Whatever" soon brought them to the top of the hit charts in the Boston/New England area.  Many people think the band's name stemmed from Alice in Chains song, but according to Erna, the band's name came from a small and personal incident. "I was making fun of somebody who had a cold sore on his lip and the next day I had one myself and somebody said, 'It's a godsmack.' The name stuck. We were aware of the Alice In Chains song but didn't really think much about it." In 1996, Tony Rombola and Joe D'Arco joined Godsmack as the guitarist and drummer, after Richards left upon learning he had a six-year-old child and Stewart left due to personal differences. In the same year, the band entered the studio for the first time, recording its first CD titled "All Wound Up". The CD was recorded in just three days for $2,600.  For the next two years, the band played throughout the Boston area. Eventually Godsmack's CD landed in the hands of Rocko, the night-time DJ for Boston radio station WAAF (FM). The radio station put "Keep Away" into heavy rotation and the song rose to the number one spot at the station very quickly. Newbury Comics, a New England record store chain, agreed to sell the CD on consignment. Shortly after the success of "Keep Away," Godsmack went back into the studio and recorded a single titled "Whatever," which became the new local favorite on WAAF (FM). In an interview Sully Erna stated, "We had been selling maybe 50 copies a month at the time WAAF picked up the album. All of a sudden we started moving over a thousand records a week. (...) I was doing all this from my bedroom. After years of grinding away, things finally started taking off."

"Godsmack" (1998–1999).

In mid-1998, Universal/Republic Records signed the band to their label. Joe D'Arco was dismissed from the band. He was replaced by former drummer Tommy Stewart, who returned after expressing a desire to be in the band again. The band's first studio recording "All Wound Up" was re-mastered, and the finished self-titled debut CD album "Godsmack" was released to the public six weeks later. This led to the band's first headlining tour, "The Godsmack Tour" with Jim Rose Circus as the opening act. After the album's release the band went on the road playing club shows as well as playing at Ozzfest and Woodstock '99. This was followed by a tour in Europe supporting Black Sabbath. Roxanne Blanford from Allmusic gave the album three out of five stars, stating, "Godsmack confidently brought metal into the technological age". The album entered the "Billboard" 200 at number twenty-two, and was certified 4x platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America in 2001 after being initially certified gold in 1999.  The album sold well despite being initially pulled from the shelves in some stores due to concerns over some of its lyrical content. The band and its record label later added a Parental Advisory sticker to the album, and some stores ordered amended copies of the album. Erna commented in "Rolling Stone" magazine stating, "Our record has been in the marketplace for more than a year now without a parental advisory sticker and this is the one and only complaint... Stickers and lyrics are by nature subjective... We have decided to put a sticker on the record." This controversy did not appear to adversely affect album sales but, according to Erna, helped; "It's almost taunting kids to go out and get the record to see what we're saying on it." The album also had four successful singles which were "Whatever," "Keep Away," "Voodoo" and "Bad Religion."

"Awake" (2000–2001).

In 2000, Godsmack returned to the studio after the multi-platinum success of "Godsmack" to start recording "Awake". The album was released on, 2000. The album debuted at number five on the "Billboard" 200, and has been certified 2x platinum by the RIAA. "Vampires", a song on the album, also earned the band a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Instrumental Performance in 2002. With the release of "Awake", Godsmack toured Europe supporting Limp Bizkit. Erna said at the time, "We've been touring nonstop since August 1998, So most of "Awake" was written on tour while we were ping-ponging between America and Europe, building up the band. "Ozzfest" was actually the only big tour where we rode under someone else's wings; we did a lot of work on our own." The band played Ozzfest in 2000 again as they had in 1999.  Two of the songs on the album were used in United States Navy commercials ("Sick of Life" and "Awake") as background music. Erna stated, "Someone in the military is a fan, and they asked if they could use the music, and we accepted". However, Erna insisted in an interview that Godsmack does not support any war.

"The Scorpion King", "Faceless" and "The Other Side" (2002–2005).

In 2002, Erna was asked to write and perform a song for the soundtrack to "The Scorpion King". The song Godsmack wrote and performed was titled "I Stand Alone" and the song became the number 1 single at Rock Radio and the most played Active Rock song in 2002 for 14 weeks straight. It was also used in the game "".  With Shannon Larkin (ex Ugly Kid Joe, Souls at Zero, Wrathchild America, MF Pitbulls) replacing Tommy Stewart, who left due to personal differences for the second time, Godsmack went back into the studio to record a new album that was released in 2003. "Faceless" debuted at number one on the "Billboard" 200, selling 269,000 copies in its first week, and the album would go on to sell over one million copies in the United States. "Faceless" also debuted at number nine on the Top Canadian Albums and at number one on the Top Internet Albums and remained at that position for two weeks. A massive Tour of America and Europe supporting Metallica followed.  The lead single "Straight Out of Line" received a Grammy Award nomination for "Best Hard Rock Performance". The award went to Evanescence's single "Bring Me to Life". The album got its name after a swimming-pool incident. However, in a later interview Merrill stated otherwise, making it unclear of how the album's title came to be, "It came from the band's feeling that, despite our radio and sales success, we still flew a bit under the radar".  On March 16, 2004 "The Other Side", an acoustic EP, was released. The album debuted at number five on the "Billboard" 200; this is a relatively high position for an acoustic EP. It included several previously released songs re-recorded as acoustic versions, as well as three new acoustic tracks. One new song, "Touché", featured Godsmack's first guitar player, Lee Richards, as well as John Kosco, who were at that time in the now defunct band Dropbox, The other two new acoustic tracks were "Running Blind" and "Voices". The song "Asleep" is actually an acoustic version of "Awake" from the band's second album "Awake". Godsmack shifted from its "heavy" sound to a more mellow acoustic sound on this EP in the same manner Alice in Chains did in the "Sap" and "Jar of Flies" EPs, one of many similarities to Alice in Chains for which the band has been criticized. In 2004, Godsmack opened for Metallica's "Madly in Anger with the World tour", and headlined the tour along with Dropbox. Afterwards, in autumn 2004, the band played several acoustic shows to promote "The Other Side", while at the same time continuing to open for Metallica.

"IV" and "Ten Years of Godsmack" (2006–2007).

On April 25, 2006, Godsmack released its fourth studio album simply titled "IV", followed by a tour that would continue until August 2007, titled "The IV tour". The album was produced by Erna and engineered by the well known producer and engineer Andy Johns, known for engineering Led Zeppelin's "Led Zeppelin IV". The first single from the album, "Speak" was released on, 2006. The album debuted at number one on the "Billboard" 200, selling 211,000 copies in its first week.  "IV" has since been certified gold. The band had written over forty songs for the album, but the final track listing had eleven tracks, Larkin commented, "it's Sully's band and his vision.[...]When it comes time to pick the songs it's all Sully". The album's minimalist name "IV" derives not only from its being the band's fourth studio album, but also from a running piece of backstage humor, as related by Larkin and Erna in an interview.  To celebrate ten years as a band, Godsmack released a greatest hits album entitled "Good Times, Bad Times... Ten Years of Godsmack" on, 2007. The album debuted at number thirty-five on the "Billboard" 200, selling 40,000 copies in the first week of release. It includes a cover of the Led Zeppelin song "Good Times Bad Times", as well as a DVD of Godsmack's acoustic performance in Las Vegas at House of Blues. The album was originally intended to be a boxed set, but the band scrapped the plans so they could release a best of album. Godsmack will follow the release of the album with an acoustic tour. Despite rumors of the band going on hiatus as a result of releasing a greatest hits album, Erna was quoted as saying, "we're not going away, we are just gonna take a break and enjoy our 10th year anniversary and kind of recharge our batteries. And then Godsmack will be back, and we will come back bigger and badder than ever."

"The Oracle" and break (2008–2013).

In November 2008, Larkin announced that the band would be reforming and recording a new album. The following summer, the band toured as support to Mötley Crüe's Crüe Fest 2 tour and released a non-album single, "Whiskey Hangover". After the tour, Godsmack started production for their new album. The album, titled "The Oracle" was released on, 2010. Arriving to popular reception, "The Oracle" was Godsmack's third straight full-length studio album to debut at No. 1 with 117,000 sold in the first week of release. Erna had this to say about the early sound album, "It's gonna be really heavy. I mean, it's very aggressive. I'm not really sure; it's very premature right now. Right now we just finished one track for the Crüe Fest this Summer. But as far as the whole record goes, I think it's going to be a lot more in your face. I don't think there's going to be any 'Voodoo's or 'Serenity's on this one. We decided to go balls out!".  Godsmack headlined the fourth annual Mayhem Festival alongside Disturbed. The band entered the studio in January 2012 to mix a live album plus record several covers for an upcoming release. The band then went on tour in the spring with Staind. Godsmack has completed work on an EP of cover songs. Godsmack released their new live album "Live & Inspired" on May 15, 2012. The set included a bonus EP of cover tracks. In January 2013, Erna announced a short solo tour through America. In February, Sully said in an interview that Godsmack would take a break during 2013. "We are going to take some time away now because we just ran for two years" he said in an interview with Loudwire.

"1000hp" (2014–2016).

In February 2014, Erna tweeted that the band had made progress in the songwriting process for its next studio album, tentatively scheduled for a late 2014 release. He also mentioned that the band finished 11 songs for the new record in two weeks. In April, the band announced that they had recorded 15 songs, ten of which would make the final cut. In May, Erna announced that the album would be titled "1000hp" (1000 Horsepower). The album's title track was released as a single the following month. The album was released on August 5, 2014 and sold around 58,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 3 on The Billboard 200 chart. Since release the disc has spawned the singles "Something Different" and "What's Next". The band have unified a campaign to aid military veterans with their latest single "What’s Next".  Godsmack also headlined the 2014 Uproar Festival. They were announced on August 20, 2014, to be part of the Soundwave Festival in Australia. It expanded to a 2-day festival for the first time, in February/March 2015, and was followed by a series of shows and tours around Europe. In July 2015, the band revealed dates for an upcoming North American fall headline tour. The run included dates with Sevendust. Also in August 2015 Godsmack announced a new leg of North American dates that would keep the band busy through mid-November.  On October 14, 2015, Godsmack released a digital single called "Inside Yourself" available for a limited free download. The song was released on iTunes on November 20, 2015.  On September 9, 2016, Erna confirmed that the band had officially left Universal/Republic, and signed a deal with BMG.

"When Legends Rise" (2017–present).

The band began work on a seventh studio album in 2017. The album, "When Legends Rise", was released on April 27, 2018. The album's first single, "Bulletproof", was released ahead of the album on February 28, 2018. Godsmack toured across North America from May through October 2018. They played at several festivals before embarking on a co-headlining summer tour with Shinedown. Godsmack then toured Europe in October and November 2018 in support of their new album. However, On October 17, 2018, it was announced that the band postponed their fall 2018 Europe tour, following death of Tony Rombola's son and plan to reschedule in early 2019.  On July 25, 2019 the song "Unforgettable" hit number 1 for three weeks for the first time on the Billboard top ten.  April 08, 2020 Godsmack’s released an uplifting music video for the "When Legends Rise" album featuring the track "Unforgettable" that sees the band team up with 400+ aspiring young musicians from across New England the video, directed by Noah Berlow, again sent the song to the top of the charts for 5 weeks setting a new record most constitutive at number 1 in its category.

Musical style and influences.

Godsmack has been described as nu metal, heavy metal,,, and. The band's primary influences include Aerosmith, Alice in Chains, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Metallica, Pantera and Rush according to Erna, Larkin, and Rombola. Erna has cited Layne Staley as his primary influence.  The overall sound of the band's first two albums sound similar to the sound of the Alice in Chains album "Dirt". However, Godsmack has attempted to distance themselves from the Alice in Chains comparison with Erna stating in an interview with Matt Ashare, "I've just never really heard that in our music."  The band's music is often compared to Alice in Chains which the band cites as an influence. Adrien Begrand of "PopMatters" states, "Erna perfectly mimics the late Layne Staley's low, guttural, sinister singing and snarly, metal-inspired growls" -Erna's vocals also seem to be reminiscent of Metallica's James Hetfield- and, "The band's music is a faithful retread of Jerry Cantrell's churning, tuned-down hard rock". Katherine Turman of Amazon.com states the band has "dark, swirling, commanding music". She also commented on the band's third album "Faceless", which "mixes arena rock in the vein of an Alice in Chains", "riff-heavy, layered tunes and sharp, confident bridge-burning lyrics".  Erna's singing style has been stated as "the snarl of James Hetfield", and "composed of dark harmony that sounds a lot like Alice in Chains". Merrill's bass style has been described as "bulldozer bottom with occasional slap-bass reverb". Larkin's drumming is thought to "worship at the twin altars of Neil Peart and John Bonham". And Rombola's guitar playing style has been praised as "guitars that sound like percussion instruments".

Godsmack is an American rock band from Lawrence, Massachusetts, formed in 1995. The band is composed of founder, frontman and songwriter Sully Erna, guitarist Tony Rombola, bassist Robbie Merrill, and drummer Shannon Larkin. Since its formation, Godsmack has released seven studio albums, one EP ("The Other Side"), four DVDs, one compilation album ("Good Times, Bad Times... Ten Years of Godsmack"), and one live album ("Live & Inspired").

Godsmack est un groupe de heavy metal américain, originaire de Lawrence, dans le Massachusetts. Le groupe, formé en 1995, se compose du chanteur et auteur-interprète Sully Erna, du guitariste Tony Rombola, du bassiste Robbie Merrill, et du batteur Shannon Larkin. Depuis sa formation, Godsmack dénombre six albums studio, un EP ('), quatre DVD, une compilation ('), et un album live (").


Conception and themes.

After a tour supporting his album "Cuts Like a Knife", Adams immediately started the recording sessions for the new album, "Reckless". "Summer of '69" was finished on January 25, 1984, co-written with Jim Vallance in his basement studio. The song went through a number of changes because neither Adams nor Vallance was convinced it was a strong enough song to be featured on the album. In their first draft, the lyric "summer of '69" appeared only once. At that time the two were planning to title it "Best Days of My Life" instead. While the lyric "Best days of my life" appeared seven times in the first draft, on the final draft it had been replaced by "summer of '69" and appeared only two times throughout the song.  When writing the lyrics "Jimmy quit, Jody got married", Vallance suggested using "Woody quit and Gordy got married", referring to members of his high school band, but Adams liked his version better. Adams mentioned once in an interview that "Jimmy" was one of his early drummers. "Jody" is a reference to Adams' sound manager, Jody Perpick, who got married during the album's recording session.  On the song's very first demo, it started with a 12-string riff, just like the breakdown section in the middle of the song, but they replaced it with a chunky 6-string intro on the second demo. The song was recorded three to four times, in different ways, with both Adams and Vallance still not convinced that it was finished.  When Adams appeared on "The Early Show" in 2008, he was asked about "Summer of '69" and its lyrical meaning. Adams said the song was about sex and making love in the summertime. "69" is a reference to the sexual position, 69. Vallance however has gone for the more conventional interpretation of the title being a reference to a year. He notes Jackson Browne's "Running on Empty", which contains references to 1965 and 1969, as his own influence, and recalls Adams citing the film "Summer of '42" as his. "That song is 25 years old now so it's had that many years to incubate. A lot of songs, like that one, hit big in America but really not anywhere else. It didn't chart anywhere in Europe until at least 10 years after it was released. [...] I think songs can have a life of their own regardless of the promotion." In 1985 the song won the BMI (Broadcast Music Inc.) Citation of Achievement for US radio airplay, the following year 1986 – Procan Award (Performing Rights Organization of Canada) for Canadian radio airplay and in 2000 it won a Socan Classics Award for more than 100,000 Canadian radio performances. In a poll conducted by Decima Research in 2006, "Summer of '69" was voted the best driving song among Canadians who sing in their cars. The song topped the survey with both sexes, and with French and English-speaking Canadians. In 2010, the song was voted the "hottest summer song" in Germany. In another poll, this time by Canadian magazine "Chart", "Summer of '69" was voted the fourth best song of all-time in 2000; four years earlier it had been voted the twenty-fourth best song of all-time. The song was ranked #17 on CBC Radio's "". In 2008, the song was voted the 87th best-song of all-time by radio listeners in Norway, becoming the second highest Adams song ranked, the highest being "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" from 1991. It was voted the fourth best-song ever on Radio 2, a Belgian radio station, in 2008.  "Summer of '69" remains popular to this day in many countries around the world. Adams sang "Summer of '69" during the 2011 Cricket World Cup opening ceremony in Bangladesh. More recently Adams performed a duet version of "Summer of '69" with Taylor Swift during her Reputation Tour in Toronto, Canada.

Critical reception.

In its 2005 list "The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born", "Blender" ranked the song 70th and commented that the song "made people who hadn't yet had either a first love or a first band nostalgic for the experience."  "Summer of '69" has found itself in several "best of" lists compiled by various music publications and critics, including the following:

Chart performance.

Upon the release of the album "Reckless" in November 1984, "Summer of '69" received some airplay on album-oriented rock radio stations but was mostly overshadowed by the tracks "Run to You" and "It's Only Love", only managing to reach number 40 on "Billboard"'s Top Rock Tracks chart. After it was released as a single in June 1985, "Summer of '69" climbed to number 5 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and helped push "Reckless" to the number one position on the "Billboard" 200 album chart in August 1985. Like the previous single released from "Reckless", "Heaven", "Summer of '69" was a commercial success worldwide. On the UK Singles Chart, "Summer of '69" debuted at number fifty-nine, and managed to climb up the chart, and two weeks later reached its peak position of 42, on August 24, 1985. The single remained on the country's chart for four consecutive weeks from August to September 1985, before falling out of the top 100. The track debuted at number twenty-two on September 22, and peaked at number seven in the fifth week on the New Zealand Singles Chart. The song debuted at 95 on the Canadian "RPM" Singles Chart on June 29, 1985, jumping to fifty in its second week and peaking at eleven on September 14, 1985 after spending seven weeks on the chart.  The song debuted at its peak position, number 9, on August 10, on the Norwegian Singles Chart and stayed there for another four weeks before falling off the charts. "Summer of '69" charted on the Swedish Singles Chart for five consecutive weeks. Having debuted at number twenty on December 13, and peaked at number thirteen two weeks later. The single spent another three weeks on the chart before falling off. The track peaked at number seventeen on the Austrian Singles Chart, and remained on the country's chart for five weeks. The single's most commercially successful charting territory was the Netherlands, where it peaked at number 4 on September 22, 1990. The single's least successful chart territory was Germany. Having peaked on the country's singles chart at number sixty-two, the single spent the next five weeks fluctuating down the chart.

Music video.

The music video, released in 1985, was directed by Irish director Steve Barron. In 1985 the music video was nominated for an MTV Video Music Award in the category for Best Male Video. While the song did not win the award, it was one of the four nominated songs from Adams' fourth studio album "Reckless". The video includes appearances by Lysette Anthony and Garwin Sanford.

"Summer of '69" is a song recorded by the Canadian musician Bryan Adams, from his fourth album, "Reckless". The song is about a dilemma between settling down or trying to become a rock star. The song was written by Adams and Jim Vallance, a long-time writing partner of Adams. "Summer of '69" was produced by Adams and Bob Clearmountain. It was released in June 1985 under A&M Records as the fourth single from "Reckless". "Summer of '69" is an up-tempo rock song.

Summer of '69 est un des plus grands succès du chanteur canadien Bryan Adams. Écrit par Adams et Jim Vallance, la chanson est sortie sur son album "Reckless" en 1985.


History.

The construction of the stadium started on 12 June 1963 by a Soviet-Malian cooperation under the order of the president Modibo Keïta. It was opened on 2 December 1967. The stadium change the name to Modibo Keïta Stadium on 4 July 1987.

2002 African Cup of Nations.

The stadium played host to a total of seven matches during the 2002 African Cup of Nations. It was the primary venue for Group D, hosting five of the six matches from the group, as well as one quarterfinal game and one semifinal game.  Senegal, Egypt, Tunisia, and Zambia made up Group D and Stade Modibo Keïta saw a variety of attendance for the matches between these sides. Only 3,000 were on hand for the Egypt - Tunisia match on January 25, half as many as the January 21 encounter between Zambia and Tunisia which saw 6,000 in attendance. However, fans flocked to the stadium when neighbors Senegal played. 20,000 turned up for the opening match of the group on January 20 between Senegal and Egypt and attendance hit 20,000 again for the Senegal - Zambia match on January 26. 10,000 witnessed the final group game between Egypt and Zambia on January 31.  In the quarterfinals, the stadium was filled to capacity as 25,000 watched Senegal defeat Congo DR. Three days later, Senegal returned in the semifinals to defeat Nigeria 2–1 in extra time in front of 20,000.

February 2011 Stampede.

On 21 February 2011, 36 people were killed and more than 60 were injured in a stampede at the stadium, as people attempted to receive a blessing from the imam Osman Madani Haidara during the festival of Maouloud.

Stade Modibo Keïta is a multi-purpose stadium in Bamako, Mali. It is currently used mostly for football matches, serving as a home ground for AS Real Bamako and, occasionally, the national team. The stadium holds 35,000 people and is named after President Modibo Keïta.

Le stade omnisports Modibo-Keïta a été construit à Bamako au Mali, en 1967. Il porte le nom du premier président du Mali indépendant. Il a été rénové en 2002 pour la Coupe d'Afrique des nations de football 2002. Sa capacité est de places. On organise des concerts, des prêches et plein d'autres.


Technology.

The first version of RealVideo was announced in 1997 and was based on the H.263 format. At the time, RealNetworks issued a press release saying they had licensed Iterated Systems' ClearVideo technology and were including it as the RealVideo Fractal Codec. However, support for ClearVideo quietly disappeared in the next version of RealVideo.  RealVideo continued to use H.263 until RealVideo 8, when the company switched to a proprietary video format. RealVideo codecs are identified by four-character codes. RV10 and RV20 are the H.263-based codecs. RV30 and RV40 are RealNetworks' proprietary H.264-based codecs. These identifiers have been the source of some confusion, as people may assume that RV10 is RealVideo version 10, when it is actually the first version of RealVideo. RealVideo 10 uses RV40.  RealVideo can be played from a RealMedia file or streamed over the network using the Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), a standard protocol for streaming media developed by the IETF. However, RealNetworks uses RTSP only to set up and manage the connection. The actual video data is sent with their own proprietary Real Data Transport (RDT) protocol. This tactic has drawn criticism because it made it difficult to use RealVideo with other player and server software. However, the open source MPlayer project has now developed software capable of playing the RDT streams.  To facilitate real-time streaming, RealVideo (and RealAudio) normally uses constant bit rate encoding, so that the same amount of data is sent over the network each second. Recently, RealNetworks has introduced a variable bit rate form called RealMedia Variable Bitrate (RMVB). This allows for better video quality, however this format is less suited for streaming because it is difficult to predict how much network capacity a certain video stream will need. Video with fast motion or rapidly changing scenes will require a higher bit rate. If the bit rate of a video stream increases significantly, it may exceed the speed at which data can be transmitted over the network, leading to an interruption in the video.  RealNetworks says that the RealVideo and RealAudio codecs are not available in source code under the RPSL license. Source code is available only under RCSL license for commercial porting to non-supported processors and operating systems. While RealNetworks owns most of the intellectual property for RealVideo and RealAudio, RealNetworks has licensed third party technology for certain aspects of those codecs. RealNetworks claims that it does not have the rights to license that technology under an open source license.

RealVideo Players.

The official player for RealVideo is RealNetworks RealPlayer SP, currently at version 15, and is available for various platforms including Windows, Macintosh, and Linux. Several other players exist, including MPlayer and Media Player Classic. Many of these rely on the dynamically linked libraries (DLLs) from the official RealPlayer to play the video, and thus require RealPlayer to be installed (or at least its DLLs, if not the actual player). However, the open source ffmpeg library (and its DirectShow counterpart ffdshow) can play RealVideo and does not require RealPlayer or any parts thereof.  The latest version of RealPlayer that can run on Windows 9x is RealPlayer 8; but this version can be easily modified to play RealPlayer 9 and 10 files, by the manual addition of just three.dll files (codecs and plugins), from Microsoft's free distribution of RealPlayer 10, that aren't included in RealPlayer 8 Basic.  RealNetworks has also developed the open source Helix player, however support for RealVideo in the Helix Project is limited because RealNetworks is still keeping the codecs proprietary.  RealPlayer does not record RealVideo streams, and RealNetworks has advertised this feature to content owners such as broadcasters, film studios, and music labels, as a means of discouraging users from copying video. However, other software exists which can save the streams to files for later viewing. Such copying, known as time-shifting, is legal in most countries.

Video compression formats and codecs versions.

RealVideo files are compressed using several different video compression formats. Each video compression format is identified by a four character code. Below is a list of the video compression formats and the version in which each was introduced:

RV60.

The newest version of RealPlayer can play any RealVideo file, as can programs using FFmpeg. Other programs may not support all video compression formats. In addition to decoder code for up to RV50, FFmpeg also contains open-source code for RV10 and RV20 encoders.

RealVideo is a suite of proprietary video compression formats developed by RealNetworks – the specific format changes with the version. It was first released in 1997 and was at version 10. RealVideo is supported on many platforms, including Windows, Mac, Linux, Solaris, and several mobile phones.

Le RealVideo est un codec vidéo propriétaire développé par RealNetworks. La première version est sortie en 1997 avec RealPlayer 5 et la dernière en 2004 avec RealPlayer 10.


History.

In December 1958, MCA, Inc. purchased the Universal City Studio Lot in California. After MCA and Universal merged in 1962, MCA-Universal expanded into recreation. In 1964, MCA-Universal officially opened Universal Studios Hollywood. As the park grew, Universal Creative was founded in 1968 under the name MCA Planning and Development as part of MCA-Universal’s recreation division.  Universal Creative continued to operate through 1996 as MCA Planning and Development, opening Universal Studios Florida in 1990 and creating attractions such as Jaws and E.T. Adventure. In 1996, MCA was sold to Seagram, which changed the company name to Universal Studios, Inc. In 1997, MCA Planning and Development was renamed to Universal Creative. Two years later, Universal Creative opened Islands of Adventure at Universal Orlando Resort.  The company moved to Universal Orlando Resort in 2001, the same year it opened Universal Studios Japan. In 2011, Comcast purchased NBCUniversal, incorporating Universal Parks & Resorts and Universal Creative into its portfolio. Universal Studios Singapore, a joint venture with Resort World Sentosa on Sentosa Island, was opened by Universal Creative in the same year. Its next major park projects are Universal Beijing Resort and Universal Orlando’s Epic Universe. Universal Creative currently has offices in Hollywood, Orlando, Osaka, and Beijing.

Patents.

Universal Creative files numerous patents for new technologies with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. In 2019, Universal Creative filed 43 patents. Some notable patents include the SCOOP ride vehicle designed for The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man in Universal Orlando Resort, interactive wand technology for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and moving portraits for the queue of Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. “We actually had to create the technology which was used to make those portraits look like moving paintings,” said Thierry Coup, Senior Vice President of Universal Creative’s Creative Studio. “There’s a whole portfolio of patents that Universal filed just with the creation of this attraction.”

Projects.

Universal Creative designs, develops, and delivers attractions, resorts, and restaurants for Universal Parks & Resorts globally.

Attractions.

Universal Creative attractions are known for their use of classic and popular culture intellectual properties, in addition to their incorporation of new technology.

Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure.

Universal Creative’s Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure is considered to be the world’s first “story coaster”. The Creative team’s coaster broke multiple records by being the first coaster in the U.S. to have a free-fall vertical drop (17 feet), catapulting guests 65 feet in the air at more than a 70 degree angle then immediately dropping them back down in one movement, having the most launches of any coaster in the world (7 total), and containing the longest coaster track in Florida, measuring approximately a mile in length. The construction of this attraction also included planting a forest of 1,200 trees.  Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure won the Thea Award from the Themed Entertainment Association for outstanding achievement, the Best New Roller Coaster Award from Theme Park Insider, and was named “best new attraction installation of 2019” from the 2019 Golden Ticket Awards.

Transformers: The Ride - 3D.

Universal Creative, in partnership with Oceaneering International and Industrial Light & Magic, created to be featured at Universal Studios Singapore, Universal Studios Hollywood, and Universal Orlando Resort. In this dark ride, riders board a 12-person vehicle designed to look like a Transformer and go on a chase from the top-secret NEST agency. The attraction blends computer-generated action with reality through the use of 14 screens and a variety of physical props. Universal Creative first opened this attraction in Singapore in 2011 and Hollywood in 2012, followed by Orlando in 2013. Its biggest challenge was real-estate space, which prompted it to be designed as a vertical, two-story experience. Transformers: The Ride - 3D has won numerous awards, including the Thea Award for outstanding achievement, the International 3D Society Lumiere Award, and was named “best new attraction” from Theme Park Insider.

The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man.

Universal Creative's The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man is a dark ride using advanced audio, with the sound accurate to 1⁄5 of a video frame. “All of your visceral, aural and visual input has to be in perfect sync,” says Steve Blum, Senior Vice President of Ride Safety and Engineering. “Humans are very sensitive to anomalies in their environment: If you don’t give them the right input, they detect right away that it’s not real.” Universal Creative partnered with Oceaneering International to create a 12-passenger motion-base simulator pod capable of six degrees of freedom (heave, sway, surge, yaw, pitch, and roll) and 360-degree rotation (achieved with a ring and pinion gear system), all contained in an angled shell to direct riders' view. Universal Creative's Phil Hettema and William Mason received inventor credits on the ride system patent, known as the SCOOP.  Universal Creative employees Scott Trowbridge and Thierry Coup storyboarded a scene-by-scene breakdown of the ride that would be projected onto thirteen 30-foot tall projection screens integrated with physical sets. Because guests would be moving toward, away from, or past these 3D screens, animators had to consider the perspective shift that viewers would actually encounter if these really. They developed a new process they called “squinching”, used to account for a viewer's moving sightline and distorting the animation to match.  Created for the Islands of Adventure theme park that opened on May 28, 1999, The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man won "Amusement Today"s Golden Ticket Award for Best Dark Ride for twelve consecutive years from 1999 through to 2010. It has since placed second in that category, after fellow Islands of Adventure attraction, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, took the top spot in 2011. In 2000, the ride won a Thea Award from the Themed Entertainment Association for outstanding themed entertainment and experience design. It has also won numerous public-voted Theme Park Insider Awards and Screamscape Ultimate Awards. The ride has been duplicated at Universal Studios Japan, which opened in January 2004.

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey opened in June 2010 as part of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Hogsmeade at Islands of Adventure. It features robotic arms as a ride vehicle which are mounted on a track, to travel through the attraction while performing their movements in synchronization with the ride's show elements (animated props, projection surfaces, and so on). In "Amusement Today"'s annual Golden Ticket Awards, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey debuted as the best new ride of 2010. It won the Best Dark Ride category for five consecutive years from 2011 to 2015. Due to the massive popularity of the ride, it was duplicated at Universal Studios Japan (which opened on July 18, 2014) and Universal Studios Hollywood (which opened on April 7, 2016).

Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts.

Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts is a steel roller coaster that opened on July 8, 2014 in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Diagon Alley at Universal Studios Florida. The attraction was a part of Universal Creative’s goal to “create Diagon Alley exactly how people might have imagined it in the books.” It encompasses motion-based vehicles, detailed sets, physical effects, and 3D projection screens similar to those found on "" and "The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man". The ride takes guests through the vaults of Gringotts, where they meet several characters from the "Harry Potter" films and have a face-to-face encounter with Lord Voldemort and Bellatrix Lestrange In "Amusement Today"'s annual Golden Ticket Awards, Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts has made it into the Top Five Dark Rides since it opened in 2014.

Resorts.

The Universal Creative Resort Development team designs and develops resort, hotel, restaurant, and retail experiences for Universal Parks & Resorts. Universal Orlando Resort’s long-standing partnership with Loews Hotels led to the development of Loews Portofino Bay Hotel, Hard Rock Hotel, Loews Royal Pacific Resort, Cabana Bay Beach Resort, Loews Sapphire Falls Resort, Universal’s Aventura Hotel, Universal’s Endless Summer Resort – Surfside, and Universal’s Endless Summer Resort – Dockside. Future Universal Creative resorts include The Universal Studios Grand Hotel and the NUO Resort Hotel – Universal Beijing Resort at Universal Beijing Resort.

Restaurants.

Universal Creative designs and develops the restaurants within Universal Parks & Resorts. Award-winning restaurants within the parks include Mythos Restaurant, The Leaky Cauldron, and The Three Broomsticks at Universal Orlando Resort. Award-winning restaurants in Universal CityWalk Orlando include The Cowfish and Vivo Italian Kitchen. Toothsome Chocolate Emporium and Savory Feast Kitchen, currently located only in Universal CityWalk Orlando, is expected to replace the Hard Rock Café In Universal CityWalk Hollywood in 2021. This is the latest addition to Universal Studios Hollywood to align with Universal Orlando Resort’s CityWalk dining options. Other shared restaurants are Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville, Bubba Gump, and Voodoo Doughnut.

Theme park and resort projects.

Current projects.

Universal Creative is in the process of developing two new parks—Universal Beijing Resort and Epic Universe. Universal Beijing Resort is expected to open in 2021 with seven highly themed lands. These lands include: Kung Fu Panda Land of Awesomeness, Transformers: Metrobase, Minion Land, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Jurassic World Isla Nublar, Hollywood, and WaterWorld.  Epic Universe, the fourth park to be added to the Universal Orlando Resort portfolio, was announced in August 2019. It will feature an entertainment center, hotels, shops, restaurants and more. It is expected to be located within a larger 750-acre site that will nearly double Universal’s total available acreage in Central Florida. No opening date has been announced. Brian Roberts, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Comcast Corporation, said the following regarding Epic Universe:

Universal Creative designs, develops, and delivers themed attractions, rides, resorts, and parks globally for Universal Parks & Resorts, a division of NBCUniversal, whose parent company is Comcast. Its divisions include master planning, creative development, design, engineering, project management, and research and development. The Universal Creative team is composed of artists, architects, engineers, designers, producers, builders, writers and more who conceive, design and build all of the themed entertainment experiences for Universal Orlando Resort, Universal Studios Hollywood, Universal Studios Japan, Universal Studios Singapore, and Universal Beijing Resort.

Universal Creative est une société de recherche et développement qui conçoit des attractions pour les parcs d'attractions Universal Studios. C'est l'équivalent Universal de Walt Disney Imagineering. De 1968 à 1997, Universal Creative s'appelait MCA Planning and Development. En 1997, quand MCA a été vendu à Seagram, qui a repris le nom MCA, la société a été renommée Universal Creative.


Biography.

Born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, Henry "Hank" Jones moved to Pontiac, Michigan, where his father, Henry Jones Sr. a Baptist deacon and lumber inspector, bought a three-story brick home. One of seven children, Jones was raised in a musical family. His mother Olivia Jones sang; his two older sisters studied piano; and his two younger brothers—Thad, a trumpeter, and Elvin, a drummer—also became prominent jazz musicians. He studied piano at an early age and came under the influence of Earl Hines, Fats Waller, Teddy Wilson, and Art Tatum. By the age of 13 Jones was performing locally in Michigan and Ohio. While playing with territory bands in Grand Rapids and Lansing in 1944 he met Lucky Thompson, who invited Jones to work in New York City at the Onyx Club with Hot Lips Page.  In New York City, Jones regularly listened to leading bop musicians, and was inspired to master the new style. While practicing and studying the music he worked with John Kirby, Howard McGhee, Coleman Hawkins, Andy Kirk, and Billy Eckstine. In autumn 1947, he began touring in Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic package, and from 1948 to 1953 he was accompanist for Ella Fitzgerald, and accompanying her in England in the fall of 1948, developed a harmonic facility of extraordinary taste and sophistication. During this period he also made several historically important recordings with Charlie Parker, which included "The Song Is You", from the "Now's the Time" album, recorded in December 1952, with Teddy Kotick on bass and Max Roach on drums.  Engagements with Artie Shaw and Benny Goodman followed, and recordings with artists such as Lester Young, Cannonball Adderley, and Wes Montgomery, in addition to being for a time, 'house pianist' on the Savoy label. From 1959 through 1975 Jones was staff pianist for CBS studios. This included backing guests such as Frank Sinatra on "The Ed Sullivan Show". He played the piano accompaniment to Marilyn Monroe as she sang "Happy Birthday Mr. President" to John F. Kennedy on May 19, 1962. By the late 1970s, his involvement as pianist and conductor with the Broadway musical "Ain't Misbehavin'" (based on the music of Fats Waller) had informed a wider audience of his unique qualities as a musician.  During the late 1970s and the 1980s, Jones continued to record prolifically, as an unaccompanied soloist, in duos with other pianists (including John Lewis and Tommy Flanagan), and with various small ensembles, most notably the Great Jazz Trio. The group took this name in 1976, by which time Jones had already begun working at the Village Vanguard with its original members, Ron Carter and Tony Williams (it was Buster Williams rather than Carter, however, who took part in the trio's first recording session in 1976); by 1980 Jones' sidemen were Eddie Gómez and Al Foster, and in 1982 Jimmy Cobb replaced Foster. The trio also recorded with other all-star personnel, such as Art Farmer, Benny Golson, and Nancy Wilson. In the early 1980s Jones held a residency as a solo pianist at the Cafe Ziegfeld and made a tour of Japan, where he performed and recorded with George Duvivier and Sonny Stitt. Jones' versatility was more in evidence with the passage of time. He collaborated on recordings of Afro-pop with an ensemble from Mali and on an album of spirituals, hymns and folksongs with Charlie Haden called "Steal Away" (1995).  Some of his later recordings are "For My Father" (2005) with bassist George Mraz and drummer Dennis Mackrel, a solo piano recording issued in Japan under the title "Round Midnight" (2006), and as a side man on Joe Lovano's "Joyous Encounter" (2005). Jones made his debut on Lineage Records, recording with Frank Wess and with the guitarist Eddie Diehl, but also appeared on "West of 5th" (2006) with Jimmy Cobb and Christian McBride on Chesky Records. He also accompanied Diana Krall for "Dream a Little Dream of Me" on the album compilation, "We all Love Ella" (Verve 2007). He is one of the musicians who test and talk about the piano in the documentary "", released in November 2007.  In early 2000, the Hank Jones Quartet accompanied jazz singer Salena Jones at the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival in Idaho, and in 2006 at the Monterey Jazz Festival with both jazz singer Roberta Gambarini and the Oscar Peterson Trio.  In June 2005, Jones was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music at 20th anniversary of jazz education at the Umbria Jazz Festival, in Perugia, Italy.  Hank Jones lived in Cresskill NJ, upstate New York and in Manhattan. He died at a Calvary Hospital Hospice in The Bronx, New York, on May 16, 2010, survived by his wife Theodosia.  On June 25, 2019, "The New York Times Magazine" listed Hank Jones among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.

Henry Jones Jr. (July 31, 1918 – May 16, 2010), best known as Hank Jones, was an American jazz pianist, bandleader, arranger, and composer. Critics and musicians described Jones as eloquent, lyrical, and impeccable. In 1989, The National Endowment for the Arts honored him with the NEA Jazz Masters Award. He was also honored in 2003 with the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) Jazz Living Legend Award. In 2008, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts. On April 13, 2009, the University of Hartford presented Jones with an honorary Doctorate of Music for his musical accomplishments.

Hank Jones (de son vrai nom "Henry « Hank » Jones") est un pianiste de jazz américain, né le à Vicksburg (Mississippi) et mort le à "Calvary Hospital Hospice" dans le quartier du Bronx de New York des suites d'une brève maladie.


Plot.

Morris Buttermaker (Billy Bob Thornton) is a washed-up alcoholic baseball player who was a pitcher for the Seattle Mariners before getting kicked out of professional baseball for attacking an umpire. He works as an exterminator and is a crude womanizer. He is hired by Liz Whitewood to coach the Bears, a children's baseball team with poor playing skills. They play their first game and do not even make an out before he forfeits the game. The entire team decides to quit after but Buttermaker forces them out of quitting and promises to be a better coach.  Amanda Whurlitzer (Sammi Kane Kraft), a skilled pitcher, is the 12-year-old daughter of one of his ex-girlfriends. After a couple requests, she decides to join the team. Kelly Leak, a local troublemaker but solid hitter, also joins the team, and the Bears start winning games. Before the championship game Liz congratulates Buttermaker on his success and then they have sex. The Bears eventually make it to the championship game. In the middle of that game, the Bears and Yankees fight after Amanda is shoved during a play at the plate. A few innings later the Yankees coach Roy Bullock (Greg Kinnear) orders his son Joey to intentionally walk Mike Engleberg, one of the Bears' best hitters. Instead of walking him, he almost hits Engleberg, causing Roy to push Joey to the ground in anger. As revenge, Joey throws Engleberg an easy pitch which he smacks for a home run and leaves the game with his mother. Later, Buttermaker changes the lineup, putting the benchwarmers in and taking out some of the good players which causes the Bears to fall behind heading into the last half of the inning. With two outs, one of the Bears players, Garo, drives in two runs and tries to score to tie the game but is thrown out at the plate on a close call, causing the Bears to lose the championship 8–7.  After the game, Buttermaker gives them non-alcoholic beer, and they spray it all over each other. Although they did not win the championship, they have the satisfaction of trying, knowing that winning is not so important.

Release.

"Bad News Bears" opened on July 22, 2005 and ranked #5 at the North American domestic box office with $11,382,472. The film ultimately earned $32,868,349 in North America and $1,384,498 internationally for a worldwide total of $34,252,847, becoming a box office bomb.

Critical response.

"Bad News Bears" received mixed reviews from critics. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 48% based on 161 reviews, with an average rating of 5.64/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "This too-faithful remake aims low for laughs, turning off the easily offendable; despite another lovably irascible contribution by Thornton, it lacks the ensemble strength and originality of the 1976 version." Metacritic gives the film a score of 65 out of 100, based on 35 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". On CinemaScore, audiences gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.  Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" gave the film three stars out of four, praising Thornton's performance in particular, saying: "The movie is like a merger of [Thornton's] ugly drunk in "Bad Santa" and his football coach in "Friday Night Lights", yet [he] doesn't recycle from either movie; he modulates the manic anger of the Santa and the intensity of the coach and produces a morose loser who we like better than he likes himself." James Berardinelli of ReelViews also gave "Bad News Bears" three stars out of four, calling it "an entertaining motion picture" that "won't make fans forget the original, but it's not so feeble that it disappears into the earlier movie's shadow."  Giving the film two stars out of five, Don R. Lewis of Film Threat said that it has "a few laughs" but that it "just trudges on, going through the motions of the original with no spark" and that it "suffer[s] from the unbearable, crushing weight of political correctness." Paula Nechak of the "Seattle Post-Intelligencer" called the film "simply another in a long line of utterly unnecessary remakes that, having nothing new to say, clutch at crassness and dumbness," while Mick LaSalle of the "San Francisco Chronicle" said that while "the screenplay [...] makes the most of Thornton's dry, skewed humor, [...] nothing happens here that would distinguish this film from other sports movies."

Legacy.

In a case of life imitating art, in 2012, a Los Angeles-area little league in financial difficulty received a donation from the owner of a local strip club in order to continue operating. Comparisons were immediately made to a scene in "Bad News Bears" in which the team received a donation from "Bo-Peeps Gentlemen's Club" and is required to put the logo of the strip club on their uniforms. The real-life club did not require similar stipulations, preferring to donate anonymously. However, local civic leaders encouraged that the club in question be made public so that they could get the proper recognition they deserved.  Jeffrey Davies the young actor who portrayed the main character Kelly Leak was involved in a hit and run motorcycle accident in May 2019. He suffered multiple injuries including a traumatic brain injury. He is currently wheelchair bound and is working to regain mobility and speech function.

Bad News Bears is an 2005 American sports comedy film directed by Richard Linklater, written by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa and starring Billy Bob Thornton, Greg Kinnear, Marcia Gay Harden, Sammi Kane Kraft and Jeffrey Tedmori. It is a reboot of the 1976 sports film "The Bad News Bears", produced by Paramount Pictures. It received mixed reviews and grossed just $34 million against its $35 million budget.

Bad News Bears ou Une équipe d'enfer au Québec est un film américain réalisé par Richard Linklater, sorti en 2005.


Early life.

Maidalchini was born in Viterbo, the eldest of three daughters of Sforza Maidalchini, a condottiere, and Vittoria Gualterio, patrician of Orvieto and Rome. Vittoria was a noble of Viterbo, the daughter of Giulio Gualterio (who was the son of Sebastiano Gualterio, Bishop of Viterbo, and Papal Nuncio to France and the Council of Trent).  Her family was only moderately wealthy. In order to conserve the family property for his only son, Sforza Maidalchini decided that his daughters should enter religious life, where the dowry to enter a convent was less than that required for a suitable marriage. Olimpia refused, and in 1608 married Paolo Nini, one of the wealthiest men in Viterbo. Their two children both died in infancy and Nini himself died in 1611 at the age of twenty-three.  Her second marriage was to Pamphilio Pamphili, elder brother of Cardinal Giambattista Pamphili, the future Pope Innocent X. The Cardinal had been appointed nuncio to the Kingdom of Naples, and Pamphilio and his wife joined him, living in a home adjacent to the nunciature. Their son, Camillo Francesco Maria Pamphili was born in Naples on 21 February 1622.  Upon their return from Naples, the brothers shared the ancestral family palace between Piazza Navona and Piazza Pasquino, constructed around the original nucleus of the building purchased by the first Paphiljs when they arrived from Gubbio. The separate wings of the palace accommodated both the cardinal's court and the residence for the eldest's family.

Cardinal-nephews.

After Pamphilio died in 1639, Olimpia and Cardinal Pamphilj deliberated the prospect of a marriage for her son, Camillo, to perpetuate the lineage, preferably a marriage that would also be politically advantageous. In September 1644 Cardinal Pamphilj was elected pope, taking the name Innocent X. As a pope generally found the curial bureaucracy occupied by entrenched appointees of his predecessor, it was common practice to appoint a trusted relative to oversee the administration. Soon after his election, Innocent elevated his late brother's son, Camillo to the office of Cardinal-nephew. At the same time he redistributed some of the responsibilities of the office to the Cardinal Secretary of State, Giovanni Giacomo Panciroli, with the military duties assigned to Andrea Giustiniani and Niccolò Ludovisi who had married Innocent's nieces, Maria Flaminia and Costanza.  According to Theodoro Ameyden, by 1646 the pope was again thinking of arranging a marriage for his nephew, the only male heir of the Roman Pamphilj, and at this point there reappeared on the horizon the possibility of a marriage alliance with the influential Barberini family. However, on 21 January 1647, Camillo renounced the cardinalate to marry Olimpia Aldobrandini, the grand-niece of Pope Clement VIII and widow of Paolo Borghese, on 10 February.

Influence.

Innocent then appointed seventeen year old Francesco Maidalchini to the now reduced office of Cardinal-nephew. Francesco was the son of Andrea Maidalchini, Olimpia's brother. Olimpia apparently attempted to influence her nephew's decisions, however, he proved so incompetent that in 1650 Innocent X sought a replacement.  Camillo Astalli belonged to a noble but relatively poor family from Sambuci. He is often mentioned as a cousin of Olimpia Maidalchini. The connection is through the marriage of his brother to Olimpia's niece, Catherine Maidalchini Tiberius. Asalli studied at the Roman College and in 1640 graduated from the Sapienza with a doctorate in civil and ecclesiastical law. He then began a career as a consistorial lawyer. Olimpia was apparently instrumental in obtaining an appointment for Astalli as secretary to the Secretary of State, Cardinal Giovanni Giacomo Panciroli. Panciroli then became Astalli's mentor.  When Francesco Maidalchini proved to be a failure as Cardinal-nephew, Innocent sought the advice of his Cardinal Secretary of State, and Cardinal Panciroli suggested Astalli. Astalli was elevated to Cardinal on 19 September 1650 by the Pope, who simultaneously adopted him into the Pamphili family (as Camillo Astalli-Pamphili) and appointed him Cardinal-Nephew. Innocent also presented him with a substantial income, the Palazzo Pamphili in Piazza Navona and the villa outside the Porta San Pancrazio.  The pope's generosity, however, provoked the ire of the Pamphilj family, especially Donna Olimpia. Panciroli and Astalli incurred their unrelenting hostility. Plagued with constant attacks and ill health, Panciroli died 3 September 1651. Faced with the hostility of Donna Olimpia and the Pamphiljs Astalli sought a new patron in King Philip IV of Spain.  Cardinal Decio Azzolino was assistant to Panciroli; Olimpia Maidalchini acted as his patron. Azzolino managed the Secretariat until the return from Germany of Bishop Fabio Chigi, who was named Secretary of State in December. Azzolino was also a skilled cryptographer and investigator. When the Kingdom of Naples was made aware of invasion plans by Henry II, Duke of Guise, Azzolino concluded in February 1654, that the breach must have come from the Cardinal-nephew Astalli. Astalli was dismissed and sent away from Rome.

Titles.

Like other Popes of the same era, Pope Innocent X, as Monarch of the Papal States, bestowed royal titles on some of his closest confidants and family. On 7 October 1645, Maidalchini received the honorific title, Princess of San Martino, effectively turning the small enclave of San Martino al Cimino into her personal principality. The title came with no more power or responsibility than that which she already held as Pamphili matriarch.

Decline.

Maidalchini's influence waned after Innocent X recalled Fabio Chigi from Germany, made him secretary of state and subsequently a cardinal on 10 February 1652. Chigi succeeded Innocent X as Pope Alexander VII. After the death of Pope innocent X in January 1655, Olimpia Maidalchini retired to San Martino al Cimino in Viterbo, where she died in 1657.  According to papal historian Ludwig von Pastor, "the misfortune of Pope Pamphili was that the only person in his family who would have had the qualities necessary to fill such a position was a woman."

Legacy.

As the widow of Paolo Nini, Olimpia Maidalchini brought considerable wealth to the house of Pamphilj, and as the Pamphilj matron she managed much of the family's possessions. Innocent respected the fact that she chose not to remarry after the death of his brother. In 1645 the Venetian ambassador reported, "She is a lady of great prudence and worth; she understands the position she holds as sister-in-law to the pope; she enjoys the esteem and affection of his holiness; and has great influence with him."  The eighty-year-old pontiff's health began to decline in August 1654. Master of Ceremonies, Fulvio Servantio, who was in constant attendance during the last days of Pope Innocent, recorded in the "Ceremonial Diary" an account of the death, funeral, and burial of the pope, which accorded with the standard practice concerning any other seventeenth century pope.  By the evening of 26 December his condition had deteriorated to the extent that the family was summoned. In anticipation of the Pope's expected death many of the cardinals had already gathered in Rome in advance of a subsequent conclave. Innocent X received the last rites on 28 December, and expressing a wish to take leave of the cardinals, thirty-nine gathered at his bedside at the Quirinal Palace. Secretary of State Chigi, who had been in attendance during the last twelve days, Prefect of the Sacred Palace Bishop Scotti, and Sacristan Monsignor Altini, as well as, various attendants were present when the Pope died on the night of 6 January 1655.  The Swiss Guard escorted Papal Camerlengo Cardinal Antonio Barberini to the Quirinal to perform the requisite rituals and Cardinal de Medici visited with the Pope's three nephews, who were in another room. After an autopsy, the body was embalmed and the next day taken to the Vatican where it was placed on a catafalque in the Sistine Chapel. On 8 January it was transferred to St. Peter's Basilica, where the sealing of the coffin was witnessed by Cardinals Ludovisi, Chigi, Omodeo, Ottoboni, Santacroce, Aldobrandini, Vidman, Raggi, Pio and Gualtieri, Princes Pamphili, Ludovisi and Giustiniani, and the Master of Ceremonies Fulvio Servantio. A funeral held on 17 January. Innocent's tomb is located in the Church of Sant'Agnese in Agone which he had built in 1652 adjacent to the family palace, the Palazzo Pamphili, in Rome.

Legends.

The anti-Catholic publicist Gregorio Leti wrote that During the last year of the pope's life, Olimpia Maidalchini scarcely ever left his side, completely controlling access to the Pope and to the money she could make and power she could wield through him. In the last weeks of his life, it was said, she would lock him in his room once a week while she removed money and other valuables from the Papal Palace to her own palace. Even with his death she did not flee the inevitable retribution, believing that she could produce a friendly result in the conclave through the exercise of influence and money....The dead pope she left to his own fate, not even providing him a proper coffin for his lying-in-state.  Archbishop Austin Dowling characterizes Leti's "anti-papal histories of conclaves" as "mendacious and inexact". Nonetheless, Leti's account was subsequently repeated and widely disseminated by later historians and writers such as T.A. Trollope who recognized that Leti's "...inexactitude as an historian is notorious," yet reported that the body of the pope was completely abandoned for three days. A story repeated by Eleanor Herman.  Leopold von Ranke, who took pride in drawing on primary sources, used Leti's works. Ranke's work was very popular in the 19th century, but his approach was later challenged as naïve.  Maidalchini's reputation can be seen in her unflattering bust by Alessandro Algardi (circa 1650), currently in the Doria Pamphili Gallery. Maidalchini was notorious for guarding access to Innocent X, and utilizing it to her own financial benefit. Her wired widow's hood in the bust was interpreted by Ann Sutherland as a jab at the fact that neither Maidalchini nor her family provided for the burial of Innocent X after his death in 1655, which was paid for by Innocent X's former butler.  Eleanor Herman says that Olimpia locked the Pope alone in his chamber on the night from 26 to 27 December and she went to her palace in fear that the Pope died that night and that her palace was sacked and burned. The morning of the 27th, she was barred access to Innocent X's chamber, much to her chagrin since she was expecting to steal the two chests full of gold that were hidden under Innocent's bed. Right after Innocent's body was removed on 29 December, she entered the chamber, removed the chests, and then ran to her palace to lock herself in fear of what angry mobs could do to her. Olimpia allowed the pontiff's body to stay unburied for three days, and to be buried in "the simplest of forms imaginable". claiming that she was a poor widow that couldn't arrange a proper burial.  Some historians describe Innocent X as "entirely under the control" of Maidalchini. This legacy is tied up in the accounts of the Roman Pasquinade as well as French (Innocent X had shunned France in favor of Spain and Protestant sources. The "Catholic Encyclopedia" refers to Maidalchini as the "great blemish" on the pontificate of the "blameless" Innocent X, whom it styles a "lover of justice." Maidalchini is sometimes referred to as "the papessa" ("lady pope"), a variant of a title also applied to Pasqualina Lehnert (confidant of Pope Pius XII), and (the legendary) Pope Joan. Some sources even allege that Maidalchini was Innocent X's lover, an accusation which goes back to Gregorio Leti's "Vita di Donna Olimpia Maidalchini" (1666), written under the pseudonym Gualdus, and that she poisoned cardinals (with the help of her pharmacist, Exili) to open up additional vacancies for simony. German historian Leopold von Ranke concluded that she was not Innocent X's lover.

Olimpia Maidalchini Pamphilj (26 May 1591 – 27 September 1657), (also spelled Pamphili and known as Olimpia Pamphili), was the sister-in-law of Pope Innocent X (Pamphili). She was perceived by her contemporaries as having influence regarding papal appointments.

Olimpia Maidalchini, surnommée la "Papesse Olimpia", est née en 1594 à Viterbe dans une famille sans fortune. Mariée en secondes noces dans la riche famille des Pamphili, elle devint très influente à la cour pontificale de Innocent X. Elle meurt en 1657.


History.

Origins.

There is evidence that the area around Kumasi has been kept cleared since the Neolithic age and that the first human settlement was at Lake Bosomtwe.

Etymology.

The name derives from the Twi language, meaning "Under the Kum tree." The word "ase" or "asi" means "under, down, or below" and is used in many place names in Ghana, such as Obuasi, Daboase, and Kenyase.  Around the end of the 17th century, the Asante Kingdom chief fetish Priest Anokye Komfuo planted three "KUM" trees at different places: one at Kwaaman ruled by the Nananom Ayokofuo, a second one at Apemso-Bankofo ruled by Nananom Aduanafuo, and a third at a village near Fomena and Amoafo called Oboani, which was ruled by Nananom Ɛkoɔnafuo. He wanted to see which of these would become a great city for the kingdom, as he was directed by the oracles. The Kum tree at Kwaaman flourished and became a very big tree under which the King and his people often sat, and so Kwaaman became Kum-ase meaning under Kum.  The tree at Oboani was, however, very tiny and for no apparent reason was relatively short. According to oral tradition this small tree however produced a couple of other trees which were all small in size. The name of the village was changed to Kuma meaning small KUM.  The Kum tree at Apemso-Bankofo did not grow at all. After some few weeks the leaves got rotten and the tree fell down. So it was said that the Kum tree was dead and the village became Kum-awu and this later changed to become Kumawu.

Asanteman.

The city rose to prominence in 1695 when it became capital of the Ashanti Confederacy due to the activities of its ruler Osei Tutu. The ruler of Kumasi, known as the Asantehene, also served as ruler of the Confederacy, with their 1701 victory over Denkyira the Asante confederacy became the primary state among the Ashantis. Parts of the city, including the then royal residence, were destroyed by British troops in the Third Anglo-Ashanti War of 1874.  Lady Mary Alice Hodgson, the first English lady to visit Ashanti, wrote "The Siege of Kumasi" an account of the siege of the fort by the nationals of Ashanti and of the subsequent march to the coast. (She was the daughter of Hon. W. A. G. Young, C.M.G., former governor of the Gold Coast (region), and the wife of Sir Frederick Mitchell Hodgson, K.C.M.G., the governor of the Gold Coast in 1900.)  In 1926, following the return of the Ashanti King Prempeh I, after a 30-year exile, Kumasi was restored as the ceremonial control over the Ashanti sub-states.The full role of king was restored by the colonial administration in 1935. The city holds an important place in the history of the Ashanti people, as legend claims that it was here Okomfo Anokye received the golden stool, an embodiment of the soul of the Ashanti nation Ashanti. Yaa Asantewaa, also a very renowned Ashanti warrior and leader, was taken to Seychelles Island and never returned.

Geography.

The city features a tropical wet and dry climate, with relatively constant temperatures throughout the course of the year. Kumasi averages around 1400 mm (55") of rain per year.  The city almost features two rainy seasons: a longer season from March through July and a shorter rainy season from September to November.  The months of February through to November is one long wet season, with a relative lull in precipitation in August. Similar to the rest of West Africa, Kumasi experiences the harmattan during the "low sun" months. Lasting from December to February, the harmattan is the primary source of the city's dry season.

Culture.

Features of the city include Fort Kumasi (built by in 1896 to replace an Asante fort and now a museum) and the Kumasi Hat Museum.  Royal Asante attractions include the Kumasi National Cultural Centre (including the Prempeh II Jubilee Museum with Asante regalia with a reproduction of the golden stool), the Okomfo Anokye Sword, the Asantehene's Palace (built in 1972), and the Manhyia Palace, dating from 1925, now a museum.

Places of worship.

Among the places of worship, they are predominantly Christian churches and temples : Methodist Church, Church of the Province of West Africa (Anglican Communion), Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana (World Communion of Reformed Churches), Christ Apostolic Church International(which was the first pentecostal church in Ghana) Ghana Baptist Convention (Baptist World Alliance), Lighthouse Chapel International, Church of Pentecost, Assemblies of God, Catholic Church Archdiocese of Kumasi (Catholic Church). There are also Muslim mosques.

Economy.

The main occupations in Kumasi are professional such as services and manufacturing.

Manufacturing.

Kumasi has 50% of the timber industry of Ghana, and the Kaasi Industrial Area plays an important role in the local industry. The Guinness Ghana Breweries is based in Kumasi.

Energy.

Solar panels are prevalent in Kumasi and Ashanti. Solar energy technology is a major energy source and contributor of electricity generation in Ashanti.

Commerce.

Much of the shopping and trading activity in the city takes place at Kumasi's shopping streets, in and around Kejetia Market and Adum. These two areas – Kejetia and Adum – have a common boundary. There is also heavy economic activities at Bantama and Asafo. Asafo in particular is the printing hub of Kumasi. Most of the printing done in Kumasi and Ashanti Region as a whole is done in Kumasi.

Education.

Primary school.

There are both government-assisted primary schools in Kumasi and also private primary schools in Kumasi which educate boys and girls between the ages from 6 to 15.

Secondary education.

The elite all-boys senior high schools in Kumasi are Prempeh College and Opoku Ware School. And the elite all-girls schools in Kumasi are Yaa Asantewaa Girls Senior High School and St. Louis Senior High School. There are many other good secondary schools in Kumasi.

Tertiary institutions.

The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi (formerly the Kumasi College of Technology) is the biggest university in the Ashanti Region and the second biggest in Ghana after the University of Ghana. Former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan attended this institution. A number of other public and private universities and tertiary institutions have since been founded in Kumasi, some of which are listed below.

Transportation.

Air.

Kumasi is served by the Kumasi Airport. As of May 2020 two airlines offered regularly scheduled flights to Accra. Airlines servicing the airport included Africa World Airlines and Passion Air. The airport has undergone construction to allow for night operations.

Bus and taxicab.

Public transport in the city is provided by transit buses, a mix of privately owned mini-buses known as "tro tros", taxicabs and buses. Tro tros are usually converted mini-buses that run regular, well-known routes. Some taxis also run regular routes, which cost more but provide for a more comfortable ride.  In 2002, the city introduced the metro bus services a rapid transit system for public road transport in Kumasi (MetroMass). This was to reduce congestion on roads and to make a larger and more organised bus routine system in the city.  In 2017, Uber introduced services in Kumasi, a year after a successful introduction in Accra. Yenko Taxi offers similar service.

Rail.

Kumasi is served by the railway lines to Sekondi-Takoradi and Accra. The train service has been suspended for several years because of damaged track, bridges and locomotives. Currently, no train is running from and to Kumasi due to the collapse of the railway corporation some years back. A $6 billion project to upgrade the railways was due to get underway in 2011.

Port.

, construction of the Boankra Inland Port, about away, has come to a halt.

Sports.

The local football (soccer) team, the Kumasi Asante Kotoko has won several national and continental trophies and awards, and serves as a rival to the Accra based Hearts of Oak. Their Kumasi Sports Stadium, also known as Baba Yara Stadium, was built in 1959, renovated in 1978, and again in 2007 with a seating capacity of 40,000. It is also the home of King Faisal Football Club, a premier division side.  There is the Royal Golf Club which has the Asantehene as president. Former Leeds United and Ghana national football team footballer Tony Yeboah was born in Kumasi. Professional wrestler Kofi Kingston was born in Kumasi.

Healthcare.

Kumasi has the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital to support medical training at the university, the West End Hospital, several other private hospitals, public clinics and small hospitals. Recommended private medical facilities include Kumasi Rabito Clinic located at Ahondwo-Daban Kumasi behind the Unity Oil Filling Station.There is also the KNUST hospital that serves people in the University and surrounding communities.

Recreational parks and gardens.

Kumasi has four recreational parks which are opened to the public. The list of recreational parks are Abbey's Park which is located some few meters away from Kejetia, Jackson's Park, Hero's Park located on the same premises as the Baba Yara Sports Stadium, and finally the Rattray Park which was commissioned in 2015

International relations.

Twin towns and sister cities.

Kumasi is twinned with:

Kumasi (historically spelled Comassie or Coomassie and usually spelled Kumase in Twi) is a city in Ashanti Region, and is among the largest metropolitan areas in Ghana. Kumasi is near Lake Bosomtwe, in a rain forest region, and is the commercial, industrial and cultural capital of the historical Ashanti Empire. Kumasi is approximately north of the Equator and north of the Gulf of Guinea. Kumasi is alternatively known as "The Garden City" because of its many beautiful species of flowers and plants. It is also called Oseikrom (Osei Tutu's town). The second largest city in Ghana after the capital Accra, Kumasi known as Ghana's second city.

Kumasi (ou Coumassie en français) est l'une des principales villes du Ghana, capitale de la région Ashanti et capitale historique de l'Empire ashanti. Sa population en 2012 est de. La ville est populairement connue comme "The Garden City" ("La ville jardin") ou "Heart Beat" ("Pulsation") au Ghana en raison de ses nombreuses espèces de fleurs et de plantes.


Background.

Battus was born in an unknown village on the Greek island of Thera. What is known of Battus’ family background is from the Greek historian Herodotus. His father, Polymnestus, was a Therean nobleman and his mother was named Phronima. She was a princess of Oaxus (a city on the Greek island of Crete). Her father, Etearchus or Eteachos, was King of Oaxus.  When Phronima’s mother, then Queen of Oaxus (whose name is unknown) died, Etearchus remarried. Phronima’s stepmother (whose name is also unknown) became Queen. She did everything to torment Phronima, most notably by falsely accusing her of fornication. When Etearchus heard of this, he befriended a Therean merchant living in Oaxus called Themiston and convinced him to swear an oath that he would perform any task the king asked him to do. Etearchus fetched Phronima, had her put in Themiston’s charge, and asked him to throw her into the sea.  Themiston, in order to clear himself of the obligation, took Phronima on his ship, lowered her into water with a rope, and hauled her back in the ship (i.e. he did not kill her as ordered). Themiston then sailed with Phronima back to his home island of Thera. There, Phronima became the mistress of a distinguished nobleman called Polymnestus, who was a member of the Minyan family of the Euphemidae.  Phronima bore Polymnestus a son, Battus. Herodotus does not give his real name, but according to Pindar, his birth name was Aristotle. Justin gives him the name of Aristaeus and states after his death in Cyrene he was worshipped by the name of Aristaeus. In any case, Battus in ancient Greek means "stammer" (because he had a speech impediment as a child), while in the Libyan language battus means "king". Herodotus opines that he was not known as Battus until he left for Libya.

Delphic consultations.

In "ca." 639 BC the king of Thera, Grinnus, travelled from the island to visit the oracle of Delphi, to seek advice on various matters. At that time, Thera had a severe drought and there was no rainfall for seven years. The population was also increasing and could no longer support its residents. One of the men that accompanied the king was Battus. When Grinnus asked for the priestess' advice, she gave him a seemingly irrelevant response. She told him that he must go to Libya and found a city there, on advice from the God Apollo. The king was too old for this journey and commissioned Battus to complete the task. The only problem was that neither of them knew where Libya was.  When Grinnus and Battus returned to Thera, the drought had worsened and the people were in great distress. The king sent some Thereans to once again seek the advice of the Oracle. The priestess repeated the same message, that they must found a colony in Libya for their fortunes to mend.  Grinnus then sent a group of men from the island to travel to Crete to inquire about the natives of Libya or anyone who had been to Libya. The group of men landed in Itanus and met a fisherman called Corobius, who explained to the men that he had once been blown out of course and ended up on Platea, an island off the Libyan coast.

Initial efforts.

The Thereans paid Corobius to come with them to Thera and shortly after, with a small party and Corobius as pilot, they set sail for Libya. The men landed on Platea and left Corobius there with enough supplies for a short while and then returned to their island bringing good news about finding the new colony. Corobius agreed to wait on Platea for a length of time, however his supplies began to run out. Luckily, a Samian vessel bound for Egypt under command of Colaeus was re-routed to Platea due to poor weather conditions. The crew gave Corobius enough food to last one year. Colaeus and his crew were anxious to reach their destination as easterly winds prevented them from travelling to Egypt and they were driven as west as the Pillar of Hercules (modern Strait of Gibraltar). By their luck they landed at the wealthy trading post of Tartessus.  When the group of Thereans returned to their island and had told everyone of the new settlement, they decided then to send a new party of people representing the seven villages of the island (drawn by lot). The King and the people picked Battus as the leader for the journey to Platea. Battus and the others sailed in two penteconters. When the two ships had reached the coast, Battus could not decide what next to do and ordered that they sail back home. When they returned to Thera, however, the locals refused to allow them back on the shore and threw things at them from the harbour, shouting for Battus and his crew to go back.

Founding of Cyrene.

Battus and the two ships journeyed once more to Platea, where they lived for two years, unable to establish themselves properly there. Leaving one man on the island, they returned to Delphi and consulted the Oracle again about Libya and their current poor conditions. She advised them to settle on the mainland. So, they sailed back to Platea, and established a settlement, a town called Aziris (south of Platea near a river and many valleys). The Thereans lived there for six years on friendly terms with the Libyans. After a treaty with the locals, the Libyans persuaded them to leave Aziris and took them west through fine agricultural country called Irasa to Apollo's Fountain. The Libyan guides told Battus and his group of men ‘this is the place for you settle in, for here there is a hole in the sky’. This may refer to amount of great rainfall in the area, which is rare in Africa.  Battus named this new settlement (founded in "ca." 630 BC) Cyrene. The name comes from a fountain called "Cyre", which was believed to have been consecrated to Apollo. In addition to naming the settlement, Battus made all the colonists swear an oath. There is an inscription dated from the 4th century BC, which claims to contain the original oath.  Although little is known of Battus' reign, he appeared to govern with mildness and moderation. He was also apparently a vigorous ruler, successful in cementing a colony and taking advantages of the natural surrounding environment.

Death.

Battus died in 600 BC and was worshipped as a heroic figure by his subjects. His grave is near the marketplace which joins the road whose construction he ordered, leading to the temple of Apollo. A statue of Battus was dedicated at Delphi, by the subjects of Cyrene. He is represented riding in a chariot driven by the nymph of Cyrene, with a figure symbolising Libya in the act of crowning him King.  His dynasty is known as the Battiad dynasty after him. He was succeeded by his son Arcesilaus I.

Battus I of Cyrene (), also known as Battius the Lacedaemonian and Battus Aristotle (Βάττος Ἀριστοτέλης) and Aristaeus (Ἀρισταῖος) was the founder of the Ancient Greek colony of Cyrene. He was its first king, the first Greek king in Africa and the founder of the Battiad dynasty. The butterfly "Battus philenor" is named after him.

Battos est le fondateur et premier roi de Cyrène (actuelle Libye), vers Fils de Polymnestos, il passait pour le dix-septième descendant de l'Argonaute Euphémos, qui avait colonisé Théra avec des habitants de Sparte. Parti de Théra après avoir consulté l'oracle de Delphes, il va alors fonder la colonie de Cyrène.


History.

On October 1, 1982, "Magic Journeys" premiered as one of the opening-day attractions at the Journey Into Imagination pavilion in Walt Disney World's EPCOT Center. It was directed by Murray Lerner and featured a song composed by Robert and Richard Sherman. A preshow presentation, anchored by another Sherman Brothers song, "Makin' Memories", played before the film during its EPCOT Center run.  Starting on June 16, 1984, it began a two-year run at Disneyland, first on the outdoor Space Stage and then inside the newly constructed Magic Eye Theater in Tomorrowland. In early 1986, the film was removed from Disneyland and EPCOT Center in order to make way for a new 3-D film, "Captain EO".  In December 1987, "Magic Journeys" returned to Walt Disney World at the Fantasyland Theater inside the Magic Kingdom, where it was paired with the 1953 3-D short "Working for Peanuts". The film played in this venue for six years until it closed in December 1993 in order to make room for Legend of the Lion King.

Plot.

"Magic Journeys" looked at the world through the eyes of a child. The film started with children running through a meadow and looking at clouds. Someone blew on a dandelion and the seeds then flew away, turning into stars and then turned into the sun. Next the kids were seen flying a kite at the beach. The kite then turned into a bird, a fish, a school of fish, a flock of birds, bird wings, a Pegasus, a horse and then finally into a merry-go-round. While the children rode the carousel, they began reaching for a brass ring spinning next to the carousel; the carousel spins around the moon and bats fly out past the riders. The moon becomes a witch, a mask, an Olmec head, and more until turning into a cat. A boy reaches out to the cat and it turns into the Sphinx, which turns into a lion jumping through a hoop in the circus. Trapeze artists and acrobats fly through the air and several clowns amuse the children.

Soundtrack.

The film's preshow song, "Makin' Memories" and the film's theme song, "Magic Journeys," can be found on the 1991 CD "The Official Album of Disneyland and Walt Disney World". Both songs also appear on the album "The Sherman Brothers Songbook".

Magic Journeys was a 3D film created by WED Enterprises for presentation at Disney theme parks. It was featured at four different parks over the course of its 11-year run.

Magic Journeys fut le premier film en relief créé par Walt Disney Imagineering pour un parc Disney : il date du début des années 1980.


Playing career.

Big, quick and powerfully built, he was a stand out school boy performer, being selected for the Queensland Reds for the inaugural season of the Super 12 in 1996, aged 21. He made his international test debut at the age of 23, coming of the bench against South Africa on 23 August during the 1997 Tri Nations Series. He made his first start on his second cap almost a year later. He took over the position of number 8 from fellow Tongan Willie Ofahengaue in 1998 in Australia's record 76–0 win over England. After helping Australia qualify for the 1999 Rugby World Cup in September 1998, he played a vital role in winning the Webb Ellis Cup for Australia's second time. He played in 4 of their matches, scoring against Romania in the opening game, and playing the full 80 minutes in the final.  He helped Australia to their first ever Tri-nations title in 2000, which saw the Wallabies win their third consecutive Bledisloe Cup title, the first ever time they had done this. In 2001, he helped Australia to their first series win over the British and Irish Lions in over 70 years, playing in all three tests. Later that year he scored the try which beat the All Blacks to retain the Bledisloe Cup, giving his Skipper, John Eales, a perfect send off, as this was his last game for the Wallabies.  After failing to make the 2003 Rugby World Cup squad, Kefu signed with Kubota Spears in the Top League in Japan, leaving the Queensland Reds after earning 103 caps for his state. In the six season Kefu was with the Japanese club, Kubota Spears failed to move from the midsection of the table, only getting as high as fifth in the 2009–10 Top League season. Following the 2009–10 season, Kefu retired from playing rugby.  In 2006, Kefu represented the Barbarians, playing against England at Twickenham Stadium, with England winning 46–19.

Coaching career.

In 2010 Kefu became head coach of the Sunshine Coast Stingrays, a team in the Queensland Premier League. In his first season in charge, he led the Stingrays to the Senior Championship title, defeating Gold Coast 37–12 in the final. Kefu continued on to coach the Stingrays, but temporarily left the side in 2011 to take up the role of assistant coach for the Tongan national team in preparation for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. He helped Tonga to second in the 2011 IRB Pacific Nations Cup, their best positioning since the tournament was formed in 2006. It saw Tonga earn their first victory over Fiji since 2008, winning 45–21, their largest winning margin over the Flying Fijians. In addition to this, they beat Samoa 29–19, which was their first victory over Manu Samoa since 2007. Their only loss came to Japan going down narrowly 28–27. During the World Cup, Tonga earned two victories, beating Japan 31–18 and beating France 19–14 for the first time since 1999. However, the two wins was not enough to progress Tonga further in the tournament.  In 2012, following Isitolo Maka resignation as Tongan head coach, Kefu acted as interim head coach for the 2012 IRB Pacific Nations Cup. He guided Tonga to a sole victory, beating Japan in Tokyo 24–20. In September 2012, Mana Otai was named the full coach.  Following his leave from the Tongan national team, Kefu became the head coach of his former club Kubota Spears in Japan. They had dropped to the Eastern A League. He had recruited high-profile players including Kurt Morath and Hoani Matenga, and brought in young Japanese players. Kefu led the team to promotion for the 2013–14 Top League season, and in his second year in charge, he led his side to top of Group 2, though failed to make it past the Wildcard play-offs, after losing to NEC Green Rockets 47–10. Unfortunately, in the 2014–15 Top League season, Kubota Spears finished fifth in their group which meant they played in the Promotion and relegation play-offs. They played Kamaishi Seawaves on 14 February 2015, where they secured a 34–5 victory to remain in the Top League for the 2015–16 Top League season. Following another poor season in 2015/16, Kefu left the club at the end of the season.  In August 2016, just three months after being appointed head coach of Tonga, Kefu was named the head coach of Queensland Country for the 2016 National Rugby Championship in Australia. Kefu was only able to lead his side to a single victory during their campaign, coming against finalist and table leaders New South Wales Country Eagles 40–38. This meant Queensland Country finished bottom of the table on 7 points.

Head coach of Tonga.

On 6 May 2016, Kefu was announced as the Tongan national team's head coach, replacing Mana Otai after Tonga failed to automatically qualify for the 2019 Rugby World Cup due to finishing fourth in their pool at the 2015 Rugby World Cup. Kefu started his reign as Tongan head coach with a 23–18 loss to Fiji, though Tonga did lead the Fijians 15–0 at half time. A week later, he led his side to a 23–20 loss to Georgia, before going down to Samoa 30–10. Tonga finished last in the 2016 World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup, placing them bottom of the table - putting them in a disadvantage ahead of the 2017 tournament, where they will need to win both matches to qualify for the 2019 Rugby World Cup. Kefu gained his first win against Spain during the 2016 2016 end-of-year internationals, where they won 28–13 in the first ever meeting between the two nations. A week later, Tonga defeated the United States 20–17 before going on to win against Tier 1 side Italy 19–17. This was Tonga's first win over Italy since 1999 and their first win over a Tier 1 nation since beating Scotland in 2012. This was the first ever time Tonga had won all of their games in a single campaign.  In June 2017, Kefu named a squad that included 15 uncapped players in an attempt to increase depth in the national team of players playing in elite rugby in various countries. On 16 June, 7 players earned their debut in Tonga's 24–6 loss to Wales at Eden Park. Two weeks late, Kefu led Tonga into their first home game since 2009 - against Samoa in the first round of the 2017 World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup. Despite a late come back from Samoa, Tonga earned their first victory over Samoa (30–26) since 2011, in a game that included 2 further debutantes. The following week saw Fiji down Tonga for s sixth consecutive time, losing 14–10. Tonga had a promising starts to the End-of-year tour, narrowly losing to invitational side Barbarians, 27–24, in the first ever match between the two sides. Unfortunately, they were unable to continue their form from that match in to their second match on tour, losing to Japan 39–6, a record defeat for the Tongan's against Japan. Tonga's third match on tour ended in a victory, defeating Romania 25–20.  The 2018 World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup saw Tonga maintain their position as the second ranked Pacific Nation behind Fiji. In the opening round of the PNC, Tonga lost to newly invited Georgia 16–15, but went onto to defeat Samoa 28–18 in round 2. Despite there only being two rounds of the PNC, Tonga later went onto to beat Fiji in Lautoka 27–19, in a one-off test match - it was the first time since 2011 that Tonga had defeated Fiji in Fiji. The start of the World Cup year saw Tonga finished in fifth place during the 2019 World Rugby Pacific Nations Cup, winning just once, beating Canada 33–23.

Toutai Kefu (born 8 April 1974) is a Tonga-born rugby coach, who earned 60 caps playing at number eight for the Australian national team (the Wallabies). Kefu is currently the head coach of the Tongan national team having previously coached them as a caretaker in 2012. He is also the Assistant Coach of the First 15 at Brisbane Boys College. He is additionally the head coach of the Australian side Queensland Country in the National Rugby Championship, while there is a break between international windows.

Rodger Siaosi Toutai Kefu, né le, est né Tongien mais a joué au rugby à XV avec l'équipe d'Australie. Il jouait troisième ligne centre (, ).