Association of British Theatre Technicians

The Association of British Theatre Technicians (ABTT) is a British charitable organisation representing technical staff working within theatre.
Overview.
The ABTT was founded in 1961 by group of theatre producers, technicians and architects. The association has played a role in ensuring that regulations are suitably drafted and enforced, publishing a number of recommended Codes of Practice for the theatrical industry and theatrical technicians.
The ABTT’s central aim is to "set out the physical standards for building and their equipment that are necessary to enable to good management of the premises and to provide the safety of the occupants in premises used for entertainment”.
The ABTT is a Charitable Organization under English law, and operates throughout England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. The ABTT also has a number of volunteer technical committees which liaise with government and other organisations.
Membership.
The ABTT employs three members of staff. The ABTT is governed by Memorandum and Articles of Association and is registered as a charitable organisation with the Charity Commission for England and Wales. It has 11 trustees who are appointed due to their expertise in areas including theatre and stage management, architecture, technical theatre, planning law and the performing arts. The Chairman of the Trust is Louise Jeffreys.
The ABTT’s funding is derived from its memberships, donations given by supporters and proceeds from training. The principal source of income is from events including the ABTT Theatre Show which is held annually.
Remit.
The ABTT was established by in 1961 with a central focus of ensuring "the advancement of …the technical subjects connected with theatre and theatrical presentation, fostering knowledge and the appreciation of the art of technical theatre".
The ABTT offers guidance and advice through their Codes of Practice relating to planning, health and safety, architecture regeneration and development, and design which concern theatres and places of entertainment. The ABTT's remit covers a large range of buildings which include both old and new theatres either used, disused or in other uses. Notably, it also includes buildings or structures that have been temporarily converted into theatrical spaces.
Resources.
The ABTT has a number of resources that contribute towards the promotion of health and safety within theatres and their technical equipment:


Halfway Home (TV series)

Halfway Home is an American comedy series that aired on Comedy Central in the spring of 2007. After airing 10 episodes, on June 20, 2007 costar Regan Burns confirmed that the show had ended.
On its official website, "Halfway Home" is described as an "improvised half-hour show featuring the daily exploits of five ex-cons living together in a residential rehab facility" (the fictional Crenshaw Halfway House, in Los Angeles, California).
Episodes.
Episodes are listed in the order of the date they aired, which does not necessarily coincide with the order in which they were produced (as indicated by the production codes listed).


Please excuse my dear aunt Sally


Bye bye miss american pie


The Cabinet of Doctor Larifari

The Cabinet of Doctor Larifari () is a 1930 German comedy film directed by Robert Wohlmuth and starring Max Hansen, Paul Morgan and Carl Jöken. The film is a parody of the German Film industry of the era. Its title is a reference to the 1919 expressionist film "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari".


Grethe Barrett Holby

Grethe Barrett Holby (born April 26, 1948) is an American theatre producer, stage director, choreographer, and dramaturge best known for her work in opera. Holby is noted as the founder of "American Opera Projects", where she served as Artistic Director from 1988 until 2001. She currently serves as Executive Artistic Director of Family Opera Initiative which she founded in 1995, and Ardea Arts, Inc., which she founded in 2006. The Rockefeller Foundation awarded Holby a 2006 Creative Arts Residency The Bellagio Center.
Early life and education.
Holby was born in New Rochelle, New York, and grew up in Larchmont, New York, the daughter of Aase-Grethe (Hall) and Warren Barrett Holby, a founding partner of Merritt & Holby, a housing development firm. Her mother was Norwegian, and fought for the resistance and the Norwegian government-in-exile during World War II, including saving Jews in Norway. Because of these activities, she was imprisoned at a concentration camp. Her father was of German and English descent.
Holby attended Interlochen Arts Camp in 1963 and graduated from Mamaroneck High School in 1966. She then enrolled at Bryn Mawr College. Holby later transferred to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she received a Bachelor of Science degree in art and design in 1971. She subsequently earned a Master of Architecture from MIT with a thesis titled, "The Relationship of Theater and Architecture in the Theatrical Experience." She also cross-registered at Harvard to study set design with Franco Colavecchia.
Career.
Performing.
In 1974, she appeared as a dancer with Laura Dean and Dance Company in New York, Washington, D.C. and Connecticut and two years later as a singer, actor and dancer for the world premiere of Philip Glass and Robert Wilson's "Einstein on the Beach" at the Avignon Festival, touring with the production to Hamburg, Paris, Belgrade, Venice, Brussels, Rotterdam and the Metropolitan Opera House where it was performed in November 1976. Her dance piece, "Beta Hookups" set to Lou Reed's "Metal Machine Music", was performed at Merce Cunningham Studio with Reed himself filming, followed by additional performances of the work at The Kitchen. Her theatre-dance piece titled "Dancers" premiered at the Dance Theater Workshop in 1977, and her four abstracts, "Ode," "String Out," "Steady State Turning" and "Cycles" were performed at The Kitchen in 1979 earning a positive review in the "New York Times", followed by performances of her dance company, Grethe Holby and Dancers, throughout the New York area.
Opera.
In the early seventies, Holby worked as Assistant Designer to Franco Colavecchia for opera productions at Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Wexford Festival and on Broadway, where he was set designer for Scott Joplin's "Treemonisha" in 1975. In 1976, Holby began choreographing for opera companies, first with Michigan Opera Theater ("Summer Snow, Regina"), then with Houston Grand Opera, where she was assistant director and choreographer as well as a member the Opera Studio for the 1982/83 season. While in Houston, she served as choreographer under director Jean-Pierre Ponnelle for "Pagliacci", under Götz Friedrich for "Wozzeck" and as Choreographer/Assistant Director to Nathaniel Merrill for "The Tales of Hoffman" as well as to Peter Mark Shifter for the world premiere of Leonard Berstein's "A Quiet Place" (first presented as a double-bill with "Trouble in Tahiti" and later revised to combine both works). The full version of "A Quiet Place" was presented at La Scala, followed by Washington Opera in 1984 retaining Holby as Assistant Director and Choreographer. She choreographed the 1983 world premiere of Gian Carlo Menotti's "A Bride from Pluto," and was associate director and choreographer for the 1988 premiere of the Michael Kaye version of Offenbach's "Tales of Hoffmann" (directed by Frank Corsaro and starring Plácido Domingo) at the Los Angeles Music Center Opera.
She began directing standard opera repertory for numerous opera companies including productions of "Faust" for Opera Company of Philadelphia (broadcast on National Public Television), Opera Memphis and Indianapolis Opera as well as productions for Anchorage Opera ("Rigoletto", "Hansel & Gretel"), Opera Co. of North Carolina, ("La Traviata"), Toledo Opera ("Daughter of the Regiment"), Wolf Trap Opera Company (with her own edition, translation, and production of Haydn’s "The Apothecary"), the world-premiere of Vincent Persichetti's "The Sibyl" with Pennsylvania Opera Theater, Minnesota Opera's "Animalen," by Lars Johan Werle (US premiere), which opened the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts and Lake George Opera's 1986 production of "Carousel". Recently Holby directed the 2007 U.S. premiere of "The True Last Words of Dutch Schultz" by Eric Salzman and Valeria Vasilevski for the Center for Contemporary Opera at New York's Symphony Space. She directed the 2012 world staged premiere of "Erik Satie's" "Socrate" at The Flea Theater (incorporating John Cage's "Cheap Imitation") presented in a double-bill with Cage's "Europera V".
American Opera Projects.
As Founder and Artistic Director of American Opera Projects, Holby was instrumental in commissioning, developing, and directing more than twenty-five new opera works. She directed the premiere productions of "Memoirs of Uliana Rooney" (1996) by Vivian Fine at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, "Hildegurls: Electric Ordo Virtutum" (1998) by Eve Beglarian, Kitty Brazelton, Lisa Bielawa and Elaine Kaplinsky at the Lincoln Center Festival (released on CD by Innova Recordings in 2009), "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" (2001) by Richard Peaslee (TADA! & Orlando Shakespeare Co.), and "Fireworks!" (2002) by Brazelton and librettist Billy Aronson (Fort Greene Park, Brooklyn, NY).
Family Opera Initiative & Ardea Arts, Inc..
Family Opera Initiative was founded by Holby in 1995 as a program of American Opera Projects to develop opera theater works for multi-generational, family audiences. In 2001, American Opera Projects and Family Opera Initiative separated and Holby left AOP, becoming head of FOI as an independent organization. In 2006, Holby founded Ardea Arts, Inc, a not-for-profit company dedicated to commissioning, developing and producing new American opera and music theater works, at which time Family Opera Initiative became a program under Ardea Arts and a full-company member of Opera America.
Several AOP works were developed by Holby under the Family Opera Initiative umbrella, including "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight," "Fireworks!" and "Flurry Tale". "Animal Tales," a full-length musical-opera in two acts composed by Kitty Brazelton with a libretto by George Plimpton, was developed in workshops at the Atlantic Center for the Arts (Act I, January 2005) and Montclair State University Peak Performances (Act II, July 2006), as well as industry readings/recording at Chelsea Studios/Theatreworks USA (complete work, 2008). Holby originated the work and served as dramaturge and director in workshops. Animal Tales will receive its world concert premiere with the Garden State Philharmonic on March 25, 2017. In 2010 Holby premiered "Cat," a one-act opera-musical by Brazelton and Plimpton (originally part of "Animal Tales") for Family Opera Initiative at the Central Park Zoo in 2010, followed by performances at Infinity Music Hall in CT.
As of 2016, Holby and Ardea Arts are working on "The Three Astronauts", a space opera based on the children's picture book of the same name by Umberto Eco and Eugenio Carmi. Conceived by Holby in 2007, the work is a major international collaboration between writers and composers from Russia, China, and the United States, including Yusef Komunyakaa, Dmitry Glukhovsky, Liu Sola, Ye Xiaogang, Daniel Everett, Alexander Tchaykovskiy and Holby.
Personal life.
Holby lives in New York City with her husband, photographer Arthur Elgort. Their children are photographer Sophie Elgort, filmmaker Warren Elgort, and actor and singer Ansel Elgort.


Disco Step-by-Step

Disco Step-by-Step was a local television show in Buffalo, New York which featured disco music, dance instruction, and hustle dancing. The show was created, written, produced and first hosted by Marty Angelo.
Taped during 1975 and 1976, the show was seen on local Public-access television cable TV channels in Buffalo and western New York State from January 1, 1977 to June 30, 1977; the program was shot in black and white.
On September 23, 1977, the show moved to WBEN-TV (channel 4, now WIVB), where the show saw various technical improvements, including color. The show's host changed with the move, with the duties now passed to Kevin O'Connell, who at the time was also WBEN-TV's weatherman. The program ran in the form of first-run and repeat telecasts on WBEN-TV until January 15, 1980.
Various video clips of the show were featured in 2005 in the Experience Music Project's travelling , a VH1 television disco special, and a DVD disco documentary.


Hoopla Impro

Hoopla Impro is an improvised comedy and drama company that was founded in January 2006 by Steve Roe and Edgar Fernando. It is the UK's first improv theatre. Originally based in Balham southwest London, its shows moved to The Miller in London Bridge in 2010.
During that time it has grown to become the UK's biggest improvisation training school, teaching thousands of people every year at venues around London. It has collaborated with Google, Facebook, Apple, ITV and Imperial College, and the company has been recommended by Time Out, The Evening Standard and The Daily Telegraph.
Annual Hoopla Improv Marathon.
Hoopla runs an annual non-stop show for 29 hours every September, starting from 7pm on the Friday through to midnight on Saturday. It includes over 200 performers - many of whom are present throughout - and over 50 shows.
Hoopla's UK & Ireland Improv Festival.
In 2019 Hoopla launched a Improv Festival in London, bringing together improvised comedy acts from around the United Kingdom and Ireland. Among the performances were The Actor's Nightmare, Music Box and The Committee.
Regular Performers.
The listed teams are Hoopla-produced house teams, and regular weekend show performers.
Diversity.
Hoopla aim to promote diversity in improv and comedy. Hoopla host a monthly night for BAME players, run by Do The Right Scene. After a 'Crash Landing' workshop, they present a performance called 'Special Delivery'. Zeal run an LGBT 'Loud and Queer' night at Hoopla.
The Playground is an all-female monthly night run by Lauren Shearing and Maria Peters's two-person improv show Breaking & Entering. In 2016 it was named by "Time Out" as one of "Six all-female comedy gigs not to miss this spring".
Hoopla offer a number of diversity scholarships to people who are unemployed or on low-income, students, key workers, over 60s, under 23, homeless or in sheltered accommodation or BAME.
Media coverage.
Hoopla Impro's work has featured in several leading publications in the United Kingdom. In April 2014, the Evening Standard of London reported on the rise of tech workers in the city attending improvisation classes at Hoopla. In 2017, the British Comedy Guide reported how The Miller was becoming Hoopla Improv's dedicated venue, starting with a 50-hour improvisation marathon.
In June 2019, author Jessica Pan wrote an article for the Guardian on her experiences from a visit to Hoopla.


Bernard Sahlins

Bernard "Bernie" Sahlins (; August 20, 1922 – June 16, 2013) was an American writer, director and comedian best known as a founder of The Second City improvisational comedy troupe with Paul Sills and Howard Alk in 1959. Sahlins also opened the Second City Theatre in Toronto in 1973.
Biography.
Born in Chicago, Sahlins graduated from University of Chicago in 1943. His brother is anthropologist Marshall Sahlins.
When Sahlins received an honorary doctorate from Columbia College Chicago in 2006, theatre department professor Sheldon Patinkin wrote:
In 1986, Sahlins co-founded both The University of Chicago's Off-Off Campus and The International Theatre Festival of Chicago. Sahlins is the recipient of The Sergel prize for playwriting, The University of Chicago Professional Achievement Award, The Chicago Drama League’s Professional Achievement Award, Joseph Jefferson Awards for directing and professional achievement, The Illinois Arts Alliance "Legend" award, and the Improv Festival Achievement Award.
On June 16, 2013, Sahlins died at his home of pancreatic cancer. Survivors include his wife of 44 years, Jane Nicholl Sahlins, and a brother, Marshall Sahlins, both of Chicago. His first marriage to Fritzi Sager ended in divorce. A daughter from his first marriage, Lee Sherry, died in 2012.


Maurice Hines

Maurice Robert Hines Jr. (born December 13, 1943) is an American actor, director, singer, and choreographer. He is the older brother of dancer Gregory Hines.
Life and career.
Hines was born in 1943 in New York City, the son of Alma Iola (Lawless) and Maurice Robert Hines Sr., a dancer, musician, and actor. Hines began his career at the age of five, studying tap dance at the Henry LeTang Dance Studio in Manhattan. LeTang recognized his talent and began choreographing numbers specifically for him and his younger brother Gregory, patterned on the Nicholas Brothers. Maurice made his Broadway debut in "The Girl in Pink Tights" in 1954.
Shortly after, the brothers began touring as the opening act for such headliners as Lionel Hampton and Gypsy Rose Lee. Their father joined them and "Hines, Hines & Dad" performed on a regular basis in New York, Las Vegas, and throughout Europe and on many television shows, including "The Pearl Bailey Show", "The Hollywood Palace", and "The Tonight Show".
Hines decided to pursue a solo career and was cast as Nathan Detroit in the national tour of "Guys and Dolls", after which he returned to Broadway in "Eubie!" (1978). Additional Broadway credits include "Bring Back Birdie" and "Sophisticated Ladies" (both in 1981) as a performer, "Uptown... It's Hot!" (1986) as a performer (earning a Tony Award nomination as Best Actor in a Musical) and choreographer, and "Hot Feet" (2006), which he conceived, choreographed, and directed.
Hines co-directed and choreographed the national tour of the Louis Armstrong musical biography "Satchmo" and directed, choreographed, and starred in the national tour of "Harlem Suite" with successive leading ladies Jennifer Holliday, Stephanie Mills, and Melba Moore. He directed and choreographed "Havana Night" in Cuba, an all-Latino production of "The Red Shoes" in the Dominican Republic, and created the revue "Broadway Soul Jam" to inaugurate an entertainment complex in the Netherlands.
Hines has directed and choreographed music videos, including one for Quincy Jones. He is the first African American to direct at Radio City Music Hall.
Hines has only appeared in one feature film: Francis Ford Coppola's 1984 film "The Cotton Club", in which Maurice and his brother Gregory portrayed the "Williams Brothers", a tap-dancing duo reminiscent of the real-life Nicholas Brothers. Hines also appeared in "Oops, Ups & Downs: The Murder Mystery of Humpty Dumpty" in 2007. On television, he appeared in "Eubie!", "Love, Sidney", and "Cosby".
Hines played the lead role in Washington, D.C.'s Arena Stage production of the Duke Ellington-inspired musical "Sophisticated Ladies" at the historic Lincoln Theatre in April and May 2010, featuring teenaged tap-dancing brothers John and Leo Manzari. The "Washington Post" review was positive for his role and the show in general.
Hines conceived, directed, and choreographed "Yo Alice", an urban hip-hop fantasy staged for a workshop in 2000 and a reading in 2007 at the Triad Theatre.
In May 2013 he performed a tribute to his late brother Gregory, entitled Tappin' Thru Life: An Evening with Maurice Hines, at the Cutler Majestic Theatre, which was reviewed by the "Boston Globe" as "a class act by a class act". "Tappin' " went on to Boston and the Manhattan club 54 Below, and opened in November 2013 for a six-week run at the Arena Stage, where the Washington Post wrote, "it's a pleasure to be in the company of a shameless, ebullient vaudeville heart."
The production again featured the Manzari Brothers, D.C. seventh-graders, and identical twins Max and Sam Heimowitz, who tap-danced on stage with Hines.
Originally commissioned by Arena Stage in 2004, Hines conceived and directed "Ella, First Lady of Song", a tribute to Ella Fitzgerald, for whom he and his late brother Gregory Hines had opened in Las Vegas. The musical stars Rhythm and Blues/Jazz singer Freda Payne, known best for her 1970 hit, "Band of Gold" and is written by Lee Summers and "Brings The Boys Home". It has had three developmental out-of-town try-outs, which include The Crossroads Theatre and Metro Stage Theatre in Washington, D.C. and most recently, the Delaware Theatre Company in 2018.
In 2019, John Carluccio directed the documentary feature film Maurice Hines: Bring Them Back, an intimate portrait of the charismatic showman from his tap-dancing childhood to today.  The film was awarded the Metropolis Grand Jury Prize at the prestigious DOC NYC film festival in fall 2019. The Hollywood Reporter review says the film, “Digs much deeper than your usual showbiz doc.” Joining Hines, the film includes appearances by Chita Rivera, Mercedes Ellington, Debbie Allen, and they share stories from his seven-decade career, including Broadway shows, a co-starring role in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Cotton Club and about his loving yet complex relationship with his superstar brother, the late Gregory Hines. Ever battling the challenges of being a gay, black man in show biz, Hines shares his story with humor and grace.


Spime

Spime is a neologism for a futuristic object, characteristic to the Internet of Things, that can be tracked through space and time throughout its lifetime. They are essentially virtual master objects that can, at various times, have physical incarnations of themselves. An object can be considered a spime when all of its essential information is stored in the cloud. Bruce Sterling sees spimes as coming through the convergence of six emerging technologies, related to both the manufacturing process for consumer goods, and through identification and location technologies. Depending on context, the term "spime" can refer to both—the archetype, as designed by the developer, or a user-specific instance of it.
Origin.
The term spime was coined for this concept by author Bruce Sterling. It is a contraction of "space" and "time", and was probably first used in a large public forum by Sterling at SIGGRAPH Los Angeles, August 2004. The idea was further expanded upon in his book Shaping Things. Since, the use of the term by researchers and in industry has grown.
Concept.
The six facets of spimes are:
With all six of these, one could track the entire existence of an object, from before it was made (its virtual representation), through its manufacture, its ownership history, its physical location, until its eventual obsolescence and breaking-down back into raw material to be used for new instantiations of objects. If recorded, the lifetime of the object can be archived and queried.
Spimes are not defined merely by these six technologies; rather, if these technologies converge within the manufacturing process then spimes could indeed arise. Due to physical limitations and cost-effectiveness, objects that perform similar functions to a spime but exist in a heterogeneous ecosystem where some of their spime-like functionality is performed by and/or shared with other entities may be precursors to spimes. For example, integrating a GPS receiver into every object is currently impractical because of size, power, and cost, among other reasons, but a base station that provides location services for one or many nearby devices may be more practical.


Jessica (given name)

Jessica (originally Iessica, also Jesica, Jesika, Jessicah, Jessika, or Jessikah) is a female given name.
The oldest written record of the name with its current spelling is found as the name of the Shakespearean character Jessica, from the play "The Merchant of Venice". The name may have been an Anglicisation of the biblical Iscah (from the Hebrew: יִסְכָּה : yisekāh), the name of a daughter of Haran briefly mentioned in the Book of Genesis . Iscah was rendered "Iesca" (Jeska) in the Matthew Bible version available in Shakespeare's day.
"Jessica" was the first- or second-most popular female baby name in the United States from 1981 to 1998 before falling out of the Top 20 in 2004. It also rose to #1 in England and Wales in 2005, dropping to #3 in 2006. Common nicknames of the name Jessica include "Jess" and "Jessie".


The Lobby (improv)

The Lobby is an improvisational comedy group based in Southern California. Unlike many improv groups, which are composed of many members who perform on a rotating basis, The Lobby is a small, close-knit group. The audience gets to know each of the players and feel they are part of the group. The Lobby also irregularly puts up a podcast, which further allows their audience to connect with the players.
History.
The Lobby was formed by Josh Nicols, Matt Thomas, and Chase Hooper in the lobby of the Haugh Performing Arts Center while rehearsing for an adult Christmas show. However, the name, "The Lobby," comes from the 1950s advertisement jingle played in movie theaters, "Let's All Go to the Lobby."
The Lobby first performed on December 23, 2005 at the Renaissance Theatre in Glendora, California. After the Renaissance Theatre closed at the end of 2007, The Lobby moved to The Fontana Community Players' Theatre in Fontana, California and STAGEStheatre in Fullerton, California, where they currently remain.
On April 8, 2009, MyFOX Los Angeles announced that The Lobby was voted "Best Improv Comedy Group" in Orange County for 2009. The Lobby won again in 2010.
The Lobby started the Orange County Improv Cup, an improv tournament with randomly assigned teams of improvisers from all over Southern California, to raise money for the Hole in the Wall Camps. The team of Tony Rey, Staci Pratt, Kristin Sanchez, and Jill Tsai won the first ever Improv Cup title.
Format.
The Lobby usually performs shortform improv, very similar to the styles of "Whose Line is it Anyway?" and ComedySportz. A normal show consists of 10 to 12 short improv games that are each based on a suggestion from the audience.
Every shortform show contains a game in which The Lobby's host, Josh Nicols, interviews an audience member and then the game is played based on that interview. An example of an interview game is Eulogy, in which the players act out the audience member's funeral. The Lobby has also invented several games, such as CSI: Punnsylvania, which is based on the television show . CSI: Punnsylvania was featured in William Hall's book, "The Playbook, Improv Games for Performers".
Occasionally, The Lobby has performed a longform show. The format of the longform show is based on a genre of movie (such as a romantic comedy or comic book movie). The host gets a handful of suggestions from the audience, and then the players act out a twenty-minute movie based on those suggestions.


The Centaur

The Centaur is a novel by John Updike, published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1963. It won the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction. Portions of the novel first appeared in "Esquire" and "The New Yorker".
The French translation of the novel won the "Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger" (Best Foreign Book Prize).
Plot summary.
The story concerns George Caldwell, a school teacher, and his son Peter, outside of Alton (i.e., Reading), Pennsylvania. The novel explores the relationship between the depressive Caldwell and his anxious son. George has largely given up on life; what glory he knew, as a football player and soldier in World War I, has passed. He feels put upon by the school's principal, and he views his students as hapless and uninterested in anything he has to teach them. Peter, meanwhile, is a budding aesthete who idolizes Vermeer and dreams of becoming a painter in a big city, like New York. He has no friends his age, and regularly worries that his peers might detect his psoriasis, which stains his skin and flecks his clothes every season but summer. One thing George and Peter share is the desire to get out, to escape their hometown. This masculine desire for escape appears in Updike's famed "Rabbit" novels. Similarly, the novel's image of Peter's mother alone on an untended farm is one we later see in Updike's 1965 novel "Of the Farm".
Themes.
Like James Joyce in "Ulysses", Updike drew on the myths of antiquity in an attempt to turn a modern and common scene into something more profound, a meditation on life and man's relationship to nature and eternity. George is both the Centaur Chiron and Prometheus (some readers might see George's son Peter as Prometheus), Mr. Hummel, the automobile mechanic, is Hephaestus (AKA Vulcan); and so forth. The novel's structure is unusual; the narrative shifts from present day (late 1940s) to prospective (early 1960s), from describing the characters as George, Vera, and the rest, to the Centaur, Venus, and so forth. It also is punctuated with a feverish dream scene and George's obituary. Near the end of the novel, Updike includes two untranslated Greek sentences. Their translation is as follows:
This quote is from "Bibliotheca" 2.5.4, and describes the death of Chiron.


Jay and Silent Bob Reboot

Jay and Silent Bob Reboot is a 2019 American buddy comedy film written, directed, edited by, and starring Kevin Smith. Referring to his 2001 comedy "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back", Smith has described the film as "literally the same fuсking movie all over again". It is the eighth film in the View Askewniverse. The film also stars Jason Mewes, and features cameos from Brian O'Halloran, Jason Lee, Justin Long, Shannon Elizabeth, Rosario Dawson, Val Kilmer, Melissa Benoist, Craig Robinson, Tommy Chong, Chris Hemsworth, Matt Damon, and Ben Affleck.
It was theatrically released with sessions around North America on October 15 and 17, 2019, and had the second highest per-screen average of 2019 (behind "Parasite"), thanks to its ongoing travelling roadshow. "Jay and Silent Bob Reboot" is the first movie to have per-screen averages over $60,000 four different times in its domestic run.
Plot.
Jay and Silent Bob (Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith) lose a court case to Saban Films, who are making a new "Bluntman and Chronic" film, "Bluntman V Chronic". They also unknowingly gave up naming rights, and can no longer self-identify as "Jay and Silent Bob".
Jay and Bob visit Brodie Bruce (Jason Lee), who tells them about the "Bluntman and Chronic" reboot, directed by Kevin Smith. Largely completed, but a major scene is to be shot at the annual fan convention "Chronic-Con" in Hollywood. The have three days to get to LA to stop film completion and win back their identities.
Departing for California, they first arrive in Chicago, where Jay sees his ex Justice (Shannon Elizabeth) is a local weatherperson. Jay and Bob visit Justice, who tells Jay he left her heartbroken by never visiting her in jail. She has since married Reggie (Rosario Dawson) and given birth to their love child, Millennium "Milly" Faulken (Harley Quinn Smith). Introducing Jay to their daughter and her best friend Sopapilla (Treshelle Edmond), but urges him to never tell her who he is.
Justice leaves for vacation, and Milly forces Jay to take her and Sopapilla to Hollywood with them. Drugging Jay and Bob with a strong edible, they wake up on a highway in New Orleans, where they meet Milly's two other friends, Jihad (Aparna Brielle) and Shan Yu (Alice Wen). Saying they want to go to Chronic-Con as Shan Yu is a huge fan of the first film and it is her dream to attend. Stealing a van, they drive to California. Milly blames her bad behavior on never knowing her dad.
Jay and Bob are abandoned by the group and set off in search of the van. They find it in a vacant area, where the Ku Klux Klan have kidnapped the girls and are having a rally. Bob steals a klan hood and passes himself off as the new Grand Dragon to distract them while Jay rescues the girls. They throw a portable toilet at the Klansmen and flee.
Making it to Chronic-Con, they sneak in. Jay and Bob plan to ruin the shoot, while the girls want to be extras to fulfill Shan Yu's dream. Agreeing to part ways, Jay hugs Milly and lets her know he is proud.
After attempting to sneak past a familiar security guard (Diedrich Bader), Jay and Bob are pursued throughout the con. They hide in an empty panel room where they are met by Holden McNeil (Ben Affleck), who has just finished recording a podcast with Alyssa Jones (Joey Lauren Adams). Holden donated his sperm to Alyssa and her wife (Virginia Smith) so they have a child, whom he helps co-parent. Holden tells Jay that fatherhood gave him a new purpose. This inspires Jay to abort the mission and be a father to Milly. Holden gives them VIP badges, which grants him and the girls access to the panel with Kevin Smith.
Noticing that Bob bears a resemblance to Smith, Milly sneaks backstage and knocks out Smith, giving Smith's clothes to Bob as a disguise. They bring Milly and Shan Yu on stage to film the scene, but Shan Yu realises, knocks Bob unconscious, bringing out the real Kevin Smith. Shan Yu reveals herself to be a Russian spy, bent on destroying American pop culture conventions. Jay tells Milly he is her father. Bob regains consciousness outside and puts on a large metal "Iron Bob" suit that was to be used in the filming of the scene. Controlling the suit, Bob incites a riot at the panel and disarms Shan Yu and her henchmen.
After getting home, Jay shows Milly the Quick Stop and tells her the stories of his and Bob's adventures, including meeting Justice. Dante Hicks (Brian O'Halloran) arrives to open Quick Stop and bemoans the fact that the steel shutters are once again jammed closed.
In a post-credits scene, Jay tells Milly that for the past twenty-five years, he and Bob have been pranking Dante by jamming gum in the locks.
Cast.
A number of Hollywood stars make cameos as themselves, including Jason Biggs and James Van Der Beek, similar to their appearance in "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back", Method Man and Redman in Jay and Silent Bob's hallucination, Chris Hemsworth via a holographic projection at Chronic-Con, Robert Kirkman during the credits, Keith Coogan, and Stan Lee, who makes a posthumous appearance in a mid-credits scene through the use of archive footage of himself and Smith taken from San Diego Comic-Con.
In addition to playing the roles of Dante and Grant Hicks, Brian O'Halloran also appears as himself alongside Marilyn Ghigliotti, Ernie O'Donnell, Scott Schiaffo, and John Willyung for a "Clerks" 25th Anniversary panel at Chronic-Con. Walt Flanagan, Bryan Johnson, Ming Chen, and Mike Zapcic appear as themselves during a "Comic Book Men" reunion panel. Actors Chris Wood, Jesse Rath, Ben Gleib, "Impractical Jokers"’ Brian Quinn and "Fatman Beyond" co-host Marc Bernardin appear as convention attendees.
In a mid-credits scene, Jake Richardson and Nick Fehlinger reprise their roles from "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" as the two young men that used to buy marijuana from Jay and Silent Bob.
Production.
Following "Clerks II," news has appeared often of other titles to be released in the View Askewniverse; these would include "Clerks III" and "Mallrats 2." In 2017, Kevin Smith had confirmed that those projects were cancelled for several reasons, but revealed he had written a new film starring Jay and Silent Bob titled "Jay and Silent Bob Reboot". The script was already finished when it was announced and it was said that Miramax would produce it. It was announced on January 25, 2019, that Saban Films had acquired distribution rights to the film in association with Universal Pictures. It is the first film in the View Askewniverse not to be produced by Scott Mosier, and the first film in the View Askewniverse since "Mallrats" not to be produced by Harvey and Bob Weinstein.
Filming.
Filming was initially set to begin mid-2017, then moved to August 2018, then to November of that same year. After the various delays, filming finally began on February 25, 2019, in New Orleans exactly one year after Smith suffered a massive and near-fatal heart attack.
During the filming of the movie, Smith released a weekly documentary called "Road to Reboot", showing what is being filmed that week. Production wrapped on March 27, 2019, after 21 days of shooting, which was the same number of days it took Smith to film his first movie, "Clerks", 26 years earlier.
Casting.
Mewes and Smith were attached to star as early as the film's announcement.
Comic book writer Stan Lee was initially cast as himself in the film in July 2017, but due to his death on November 12, 2018, was instead given a tribute within the film at Brodie Bruce's comics shop while additionally appearing in the mid-credits through archival footage. The film was also dedicated to his memory. The film's original third act was to revolve around Lee, with an extended performance from him as a main character; however, given principal photography on the film did not commence until three months after Lee's death, the entire third act of the script was rewritten and was based on an unused draft from "Mallrats 2".
Ben Affleck was initially not involved in the film. When Affleck was asked in an interview if he got the call for "Reboot", he said that "Your guess is as good as mine." After hearing about that interview, Smith reached out to Affleck and wrote in a scene for Affleck's character Holden McNeil from his 1997 film "Chasing Amy". Smith became excited that not only did he get Affleck in the film, but that he also got his "... BOYFRIEND BACK!"
Release.
Theatrical.
The film was released on October 15, 2019, as part of two night Fathom Events showings. The first showing on October 15 gave away a limited edition poster of the film, and the second on October 17 was a double feature with "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back."
The movie was released by Universal Pictures in the United Kingdom.
Roadshow.
Following the Fathom showings, Smith embarked on a North American roadshow tour with a presentation of the film, followed by a Q&A session. The roadshow began on October 19 in Asbury Park, New Jersey and continued until February 26, 2020, in New Orleans, Louisiana. The tour expanded internationally near the beginning of 2020.
Home media.
The film became available on Blu-ray, DVD, and streaming on January 21, 2020. The United States home media releases were distributed by Lionsgate Home Entertainment.
Reception.
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 65% based on 39 reviews, with a weighted average of 6.40/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "Fan-focused to a fault, "Jay & Silent Bob Reboot" tries to mock the same audience nostalgia it's mining -- and pulls it off often enough to satisfy the faithful." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 46 out of 100, based on 7 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
JoBlo.com's Paul Shirey gave the film an 8/10 and stated, "As comedy is so exceptionally subjective and this film so clearly tied to a somewhat niche appeal, I can only grade it as a fully biased fan of Smith, even if some of his flicks never worked for me, while others touched my cinematic nerve. As a fully Kevin Smith/Jay and Silent Bob comedy with a hefty amount of laughs and heart, this View Askew flick rates among his better works and cemented my resolve to happily revisit these wacky Jersey boys in another decade or so with pleasure."
Writing for "The A.V. Club", Ignatiy Vishnevetsky called this installment "crude and lazy", giving it a D+ for crass humor and summing up the plot as "a succession of crudely drawn-out puns, painfully winking self-references, and underwhelming, listlessly directed cameos".


AFAIU


The pause that refreshes


His New Job

His New Job is a 1915 American short silent comedy film written by, directed by, and starring Charlie Chaplin. Gloria Swanson appears as an uncredited extra. The title is an inside reference to this being Chaplin's first film after leaving Keystone Studios for Essanay Studios. It was also the only film Chaplin shot at Essanay's Chicago studio. He found the facilities and climate ("His New Job" was shot in mid-winter) not to his liking, and Chaplin soon relocated back to California.
Synopsis.
When one of the actors on a movie set doesn't show up, Charlie gets his chance to be on camera and replaces the actor. While waiting, he plays in a dice game and gets on many people's nerves. When he finally gets to act, he ruins his scene, accidentally destroys the set, and tears the skirt of the star of the movie.
Notes.
The movie's title, His New Job, had a subtle second meaning, as it was Chaplin's first film for Essanay after his contract with Keystone Studios expired at the end of 1914. The use of the name "Lockstone" for the silent film studio was an obvious humorous jab by Chaplin directed at Keystone.
The movie was filmed at Essanay's Chicago studio in the dead of winter in January 1915. Chaplin found the city's frigid weather so objectionable that he quickly relocated his operations to balmy southern California.
This was the first Chaplin film to be photographed by Rollie Totheroh who began a remarkable 40-year working association with Chaplin.
A young Gloria Swanson—she was not quite 16 years old—appears in the background as a stenographer. She received no screen credit for this part.
Review.
A reviewer for the motion picture trade publication Biograph glowingly wrote, "There is probably no film comedian in the world more popular with the average picture theater audience than that famous fun-maker Charles Chaplin, whose services have recently been secured by the Essanay Company. The art of Charles Chaplin defies analysis and disarms the critic. Just why he is so funny, it is almost impossible to say, and very probably he could not tell you himself. He possesses a naturally comic personality and its humor is accentuated by the originality of the innumerable bits of 'business,' with which his work is so profoundly interspersed. Scarcely a moment passes while he is on the screen, but he is up to some wild piece of mischief or committing some ludicrous folly."
Preservation status.
A print of the film is preserved at the George Eastman House and is now in the public domain.


Paran Bandopadhyay

Paran Bandopadhyay (alternate spelling Paran Bandyopadhyay or Paran Banerjee) is an Indian Bengali film, television and stage actor based in Kolkata. He gained popularity with his works with notable Bengali film director Sandip Ray, the son of notable filmmaker and author Satyajit Ray.
Early life.
Bandopadhyay has roots in Jessore, Bangladesh. His mother died when he was young and his father left home. After that, he was brought up by his paternal aunt in Dum Dum, Kolkata. He graduated from the City College at the University of Calcutta. In his childhood, Bandopadhyay participated in one-act plays in their neighborhood. He has also acted in some plays of the Indian People’s Theatre Association. In 1962, he got a job under the Government of West Bengal in the Department of Public Works Roads.
Cinema.
Bandopadhyay took retirement from his Government job in 2000. At that time he was 60 years old. He was discovered by Sandip Ray in the late 90s and his first work was a TV short named "Shadhon Babur Shondeho", based on a story by Satyajit Ray and which was a part of a TV film series named "Satyajiter Gappo" in 1998. The series was made for DD Bangla.
Between 2000 and 2010, Bandopadhyay has acted in more than 35 films. Some of his notable films are "Bombaiyer Bombete" (2003), "Chiradin Chirakal" (2016) "Tintorettor Jishu" (2008), "Gosainbaganer Bhoot" (2011), "Royal Bengal Rahashya" (2011), "Jekhane Bhooter Bhoy" (2012), "Badshahi Angti" (2014), "Cinemawala" (2016) and "Double Feluda" (2016).
Theatre.
In early life, Paran Bandopadhyay was the member of Indian People’s Theatre Association. Later he founded his own theatre group Shrutee Rangam.
Shrutee Rangam has been marked by the acting and direction of Paran Bandopadhyay. Shrutee Rangam started operations in the year 1999.


Mobocracy


YYSSW


The Company (film)

The Company is a 2003 American drama film directed by Robert Altman with a screenplay by Barbara Turner from a story by Turner and star and co-producer Neve Campbell. The film also stars Malcolm McDowell and James Franco, and is set in the company of the Joffrey Ballet.
Plot.
"The Company" is composed of stories gathered from the dancers, choreographers, and staff of the Joffrey Ballet. Most of the roles are played by company members. While a small subplot relates a love story between Campbell's character and a character played by James Franco, most of the movie focuses on the company as a whole, without any real star or linear plot. The many company stories woven together express the dedication and hard work that dancers must put into their art, although they are seldom rewarded with fame or fortune.
Cast.
The part of Alberto Antonelli was reportedly inspired by the real life dancer and choreographer Gerald Arpino.
Production.
Development.
"The Company" was an idea of Campbell's for a long time—she began her career as a ballet dancer, having been a student at Canada's National Ballet School. Altman was initially reluctant to direct the film, reportedly remarking, "Barbara, I read your script and I don't get it. I don't understand. I don't know what it is. I'm just the wrong guy for this." The director eventually relented, however, and "The Company" turned out to be his penultimate film. Neve Campbell and James Franco prepared for their roles as restaurant workers by training under Mickaël Blais, the chef of "Marche", an upscale bistro in Chicago.
Dance lighting.
Dance lighting for the Joffrey Ballet portions was composed by the dance lighting designer Kevin Dreyer.
Pieces in the film.
Excerpts of the following dance pieces are included in the film:
Reception.
Box office.
"The Company" was given a limited release on December 25, 2003, earning $93,776 in eleven theaters over its opening weekend. The film ultimately grossed $2,283,914 in North America and $4,117,776 in foreign markets, bringing its worldwide box office total to $6,401,690—well below its estimated $15 million budget.
Critical response.
"The Company" received a mostly positive response from critics. The film currently holds a 71% positive "Fresh" rating on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, with the consensus, "Its deliberately unfocused narrative may frustrate some viewers, but "The Company" finds Altman gracefully applying his distinctive eye to the world of dance."
Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" praised the film, awarding it stars out of four. Ed Gonzalez of "Slant Magazine" similarly declared it the best movie of 2003. Elvis Mitchell of "The New York Times" called the film "enjoyably lithe and droll" and attributed a "great deal of the film's appeal" to McDowell's performance, while opining that the film "doesn't stick with you as a whole."


The Little Residence

The Little Residence () is a 1942 German comedy film directed by Hans H. Zerlett and starring Winnie Markus, Johannes Riemann, and Lil Dagover.
The film's sets were designed by the art directors Max Seefelder and Hans Sohnle. It was shot at the Bavaria Studios in Munich.


Tartan Curtain

The Tartan Curtain is a term of reference to the change in status of the Scottish border with England in the event that Scotland becomes an independent sovereign state, as supported by the Scottish National Party. It has also been used colloquially to refer to more general differences in policy between Scotland and England due to Scottish devolution.
The term has been used in parliament, the press and in public discussions associated with Scottish Independence. It carries the negative connotations of the Iron Curtain which divided Europe during the Cold War.
The constitutional consequences of a newly independent Scotland joining the EU remain unclear, but if Scotland has to join the EU as a new member state it will not necessarily inherit the vetoes enjoyed by the rest of the United Kingdom. Part of the issue relates to the Schengen treaty, which allows free movement between European Union member states. The United Kingdom exercises an opt out from this treaty in order to maintain complete control over its own border.
The House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee report entitled "The foreign policy implications of and for a separate Scotland" contains the following quote as Written evidence from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office:
"The impact of an independent Scotland joining Schengen, were it to wish or be obliged to do so, would be significant, creating a UK land border with the Schengen area for the first time (the Republic of Ireland is not a member of Schengen)."
The term itself could relate to an Independent Scotland's physical border with the rest of the UK as well as differences in the currency and membership of international organisations such as NATO.


Providence metropolitan area

The Providence metropolitan area is a region extending into eight counties in two states, and is the 38th largest metropolitan area in the United States. Anchored by the city of Providence, Rhode Island, it has an estimated population of 1,622,520, exceeding that of Rhode Island by slightly over 60%. The area covers almost all of Rhode Island. Thirty-eight of the 39 municipalities in the state are included. Only Westerly is not. The Providence Metropolitan Statistical Area also extends into southern Massachusetts with an average population density of 2300 per mi2 (888 per km2). Its Gross Metropolitan Product is the country's 42nd largest at $64.7 billion, just above the Gross State Product of the entire state of Hawaii. Since 2006, the Providence metropolitan area has been officially included in the Greater Boston Combined Statistical Area (CSA), the sixth-largest CSA in the country, with over eight million residents.
Boundaries.
The Providence metropolitan area contains towns and cities from all five counties in Rhode Island and one county in Massachusetts, including:
The New Bedford metro area is not included in the Providence NECTA, but is included in the Combined NECTA and MSA definitions.
Transportation.
Rail.
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) operates a commuter rail connecting the metropolitan area to Boston. There are commuter rail stations in Providence, South Attleboro, and Attleboro. An extension of the commuter rail to T.F. Green airport in Warwick and Wickford Junction in North Kingstown, Rhode Island was completed in 2012. Extensions to Fall River and New Bedford have also been planned. Amtrak provides regional rail service to the Providence and Kingston train stations as well.
Bus transit.
Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA), which has its hub in downtown Providence manages local bus transit for the state, serving 35 out of 39 Rhode Island communities. RIPTA operates 55 bus lines as well as Flex service and paratransit service. Ferry services link Block Island, Prudence Island, and Hog Island to the Rhode Island mainland. Additionally, there is a seasonal ferry service between Providence and Newport from late May to mid-October. Southeastern Regional Transit Authority (SRTA) provides local bus service in the Massachusetts locales of Fall River and New Bedford. The Greater Attleboro Taunton Regional Transit Authority (GATRA) serves from Pawtucket to Middleboro, Bellingham-Medway-Norfolk-Wrentham-Franklin, and from Scituate to Bourne.
Air transport.
The major airport is T. F. Green Airport in Warwick, though Logan International Airport in Boston is also used. The MBTA Providence/Stoughton Line passes through T.F. Green and connects the airport to Providence and Boston, offering additional airport flexibility in the Greater Boston Area.
Roads.
Two interstates connect major population centers in the region: 95, which runs diagonally across Rhode Island, and 195, which runs east from Providence into Massachusetts. The auxiliary interstate 295 provides a bypass around Providence.
Demographics.
Also included are very large concentrations of Lusophone populations across the region with the largest density being from East Providence to New Bedford. The two Bristol counties (RI, and MA) are the only two counties in America where Portuguese-Americans form a plurality of the population.


Bruno Chevillon

Bruno Chevillon (born 23 August 1959) is a French jazz double bassist who is well known in avant-garde jazz as well as in new improvised music.
Life.
Born in Valréas Vaucluse, Chevillon followed a double training since he graduated from the Beaux Arts in 1983 where he studied photography, and at the same time followed Joseph Fabre's classical double bass teaching at the . He made his debut in jazz by following the class of , is a member of the Groupe de recherche et d'improvisation musicales (GRIM), then joined the Lyon collective where he made a decisive encounter: that of Louis Sclavis. Chevillon was then associated with a large part of the clarinettist's projects.
In addition to his long collaboration with Sclavis, the double bassist plays with the main actors of avant-garde jazz and Free improvisation : Marc Ducret, Claude Barthélemy, Stéphan Oliva, François Corneloup, François Raulin, Joey Baron, Elliott Sharp, Franck Vigroux, Benjamin de la Fuente, Samuel Sighicelli, Laurent Dehors, Gerome Nox etc.
Essentially a sideman, Chevillon also flourishes as a soloist, however, notably in his performance on Pier Paolo Pasolini. Contemporary classical music is also part of his work.
In 2007, he recorded his only solo album "Hors-Champ" published on the label d'Autres Cordes, which mixes double bass and electronics. In 2014, he joins the [National Jazz Orchestra] as artistic advisor, alongside Olivier Benoit.


IMHE


ILYM


Internet meme

An Internet meme, more commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, or style (meme) that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms and especially for humorous purposes. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet and is subject to change over time. Traditionally, memes consisted of a combination of image macros and a concept or catchphrase, but the concept has since become broader and more multi-faceted, evolving to include more elaborate structures such as challenges, GIFs, videos, and viral sensations. Internet memes are considered a part of internet culture.
Internet memes can spread from person to person via social networks, blogs, direct email, or news sources. Instant communication on the Internet facilitates word of mouth transmission, resulting in fads and sensations that tend to grow rapidly. An example of such a fad is that of planking (lying down in public places); posting a photo of someone planking online brings attention to the fad and allows it to reach many people in little time. The internet also facilitates the rapid evolution of memes.
One hallmark of Internet memes is the appropriation of a part of broader culture; in particular, many memes utilize popular culture (especially in image macros of other media), which can sometimes lead to issues with copyright. "Dank" memes have emerged as a new form of image-macros, and many modern memes take on inclusion of surreal, nonsensical, and non-sequitur themes. Colloquially, the terms "meme" and "Internet meme" are used more loosely, having become umbrella terms for any piece of quickly-consumed comedic content that may not necessarily be intended to spread or evolve.
Characteristics.
There are two central attributes of Internet memes: creative reproduction of materials and intertextuality. Creative reproduction refers to "parodies, remixes, or mashups," and include notable examples such as ""Hitler's Downfall" Parodies", and "Nyan Cat", among others. Intertextuality may be demonstrated through memes that combine different cultures; for example, a meme may combine United States politician Mitt Romney's assertion of the phrase "binders full of women" from a 2012 US presidential debate with the Korean pop song "Gangnam style" by overlaying the politician's quote onto a frame from Psy's music video where paper blows around him. The intertextuality in the example gives new meaning to the paper blowing around Psy; the meme indexes intertextual practices in political and cultural discourses of two nations.
The spread of Internet memes has been described as occurring via two mechanisms: mimicry and remix. Remix occurs when the original meme is altered in some way, while mimicry occurs when the meme is recreated in a different fashion to the original. The results in the study of "Online Memes, Affinities, and Cultural Production," show that the internet directly adds some longevity in a meme's lifespan.
There is no single format that memes must follow. Photographs of people or animals, especially stock photos, can be turned into memes by superimposing text, such as in Overly Attached Girlfriend. Rage comics are a subcategory of memes which depict a series of human emotions and conclude with a satirical punchline; the sources for these memes often come from webcomics. Other memes are purely viral sensations such as in Keyboard Cat.
Evolution and propagation.
An Internet meme may stay the same or may evolve over time, by chance or through commentary, imitations, parody, or by incorporating news accounts about itself. Internet memes spread online through influences such as popular culture. In addition, memes can be subjected to in-jokes within online communities such as Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, YouTube, Reddit, and 4chan. This refers to the memes in-groupness as it communicates an exclusive cultural knowledge unbeknown to general users. In common internet memes, there is a basis for cultural relevance in certain text and imagery associated with memes. On the macro level, internet memes must be encoded and decoded. Through the spreading process, memes invokes studium and punctum memetrics. Punctum is the aesthetic affiliation to a piece of imagery, thus invoking a reaction. It is the affect of the image. In utilizing affect as a visual vernacular, internet memes create a culture of unspoken referential importance. By using explicit cultural knowledge, internet memes provide affect as the emerging communication. Studium is the entertaining aspect of internet memes. With the combination of studium and punctum memetrics, individuals perceive and spread memes from their cultural significance to types of memes.
Consequently, an internet meme can also rapidly become 'unfashionable', losing its humorous qualities to certain audiences, often even most prevalently by its creator(s). Internet memes usually are formed from some social interaction, pop culture reference, or situations people often find themselves in. Their rapid growth and impact has caught the attention of both researchers and industry. Academically, researchers model how they evolve and predict which memes will survive and spread throughout the Web. The phenomena of viral memes is a users to users experience the represents participatory culture on online platforms.
One empirical approach studied meme characteristics and behavior independently from the networks in which they propagated, and reached a set of conclusions concerning successful meme propagation. For example, the study asserted that Internet memes not only "compete" for viewer attention generally resulting in a shorter life, but also, through user creativity, memes can "collaborate" with each other and achieve greater survival. Also, paradoxically, an individual meme that experiences a popularity peak significantly higher than its average popularity is not generally expected to survive unless it is unique, whereas a meme with no such popularity peak keeps being used together with other memes and thus has greater survivability.
Multiple opposing studies on media psychology and communication have aimed to characterize and analyze the concept and representations in order to make it accessible for the academic research. Thus, Internet memes can be regarded as a unit of information which replicates via the Internet. This unit can replicate or mutate. This mutation instead of being generational follows more a viral pattern, giving the Internet memes generally a short life. Other theoretical problems with the Internet memes are their behavior, their type of change, and their teleology.
Internet memes have been examined by Dancygier and Vandelanotte in 2017 for aspects of cognitive linguistic and construction grammar. The authors analyzed some selective popular image macros like, Said no one ever, One does not simply, But that's none of my business, and Good Girl Gina to draw attention to the constructionally, multimodality, viewpoint and intersubjectivity of these memes. They further argued that with the combination of text and images, the Internet memes can add to the functioning linguistic construction frame as well as create new linguistic constructions.
Writing for "The Washington Post" in 2013, Dominic Basulto asserted that with the growth of the Internet and the practices of the marketing and advertising industries, memes have come to transmit fewer snippets of human culture that could survive for centuries as originally envisioned by Dawkins, and instead transmit banality at the expense of big ideas.
History.
Origins and early memes.
The word "meme" was coined by Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book "The Selfish Gene" as an attempt to explain how ideas replicate, mutate, and evolve (memetics). Emoticons are one of the first resemblances of internet memes. In 1982, Scott E. Fahlman introduced the sideways smiley face formed by punctuation marks, with an intention to create emotion and expressions with the use of digital imagery. The concept of the Internet meme was first proposed by Mike Godwin in the June 1993 issue of "Wired". In 2013, Dawkins characterized an Internet meme as being a meme deliberately altered by human creativity—distinguished from biological genes and his own pre-Internet concept of a meme, which involved mutation by random change and spreading through accurate replication as in Darwinian selection. Dawkins explained that Internet memes are thus a "hijacking of the original idea", the very idea of a meme having mutated and evolved in this new direction. Furthermore, Internet memes carry an additional property that ordinary memes do not: Internet memes leave a footprint in the media through which they propagate (for example, social networks) that renders them traceable and analyzable.
Internet memes grew as a concept in the mid-1990s. At the time, memes were just short clips that were shared between people in Usenet forums. As the Internet evolved, so did memes. When YouTube was released in 2005, video memes became popular. Around this time, rickrolling became popular and the link to this video was sent around via email or other messaging sites. Video sharing also created memes such as "Turn Down for What" and the "Harlem Shake". As social media websites such as Twitter and Facebook started appearing, it was now easy to share GIFs and image macros to a large audience. Meme generator websites were created to let users create their own memes out of existing templates. Memes during this time could remain popular for a long time, from a few months to a decade, which contrasts with the fast lifespan of modern memes. Over the years, many memes have originated on the 4chan website, which have been described as "the cradle of memes, trolling and alterculture"; major memes popularized by that site include lolcats as well as the pedobear.
Early in the Internet's history, memes were primarily spread via email or Usenet discussion communities. Messageboards and newsgroups were also popular because they allowed a simple method for people to share information or memes with a diverse population of Internet users in a short period. They encourage communication between people, and thus between meme sets, that do not normally come in contact. Furthermore, they actively promote meme-sharing within the messageboard or newsgroup population by asking for feedback, comments, opinions, etc. This format is what gave rise to early Internet memes, like the Hampster Dance. Another factor in the increased meme transmission observed over the Internet is its interactive nature. Print matter, radio, and television are all essentially passive experiences requiring the reader, listener, or viewer to perform all necessary cognitive processing; in contrast, the social nature of the Internet allows phenomena to propagate more readily. Many phenomena are also spread via web search engines, Internet forums, social networking services, social news sites, and video hosting services. Much of the Internet's ability to spread information is assisted from results found through search engines, which can allow users to find memes even with obscure information.
The earlier forms of image based memes include the demotivator, image macro, photoshopped image, LOLCats, advice animal, and comic. The Demotivator image includes a black background with white, capitalized text, often in Times New Roman. The objective of using this format was to parodize inspirational and motivational posters, where the name "demotivator" is derived from. Image macro consists of an image with white Impact font within a black border. The text/context of the meme is at the top and bottom of the image itself. The photoshopped image is closely related to the macro image, but often is created without the use of text, mostly edited with another image. Advice animals contain a photoshopped image of an animal's head on top of a rainbow/color wheel background. It includes the image macro of the top and bottom text with Impact font. LOLCats incorporate the design of image macro and advice animals, but instead of just the cat's head, it is the entire picture unedited with top and bottom text, often with the usage of Internet slang. Comics follow a typical newspaper comic strip format; there are a variety of different ways to create one, as multiple images and texts can be used to create the overall meme.
Rage comics such as Trollface were often used to create comic memes.
Modern memes.
Modern memes can generally be described as more visually (rather than contextually) humorous, absurd, niche, diverse and self-referential than earlier forms. As a result, they are less intuitive and are less likely to be fully understood by a wider audience. By the mid-2010s, they began to arise first in the form of "dank" memes, a sub-genre of memes usually involving meme formats in a different way to the image macros that were in large use before. The term "dank", which means "a cold, damp place", was later adapted by marijuana smokers to refer to high-quality marijuana, and then became an ironic term for a type of meme, also becoming synonymous for "cool". This term originally meant a meme that was significantly different from the norm but is now used mainly to differentiate these modern types of memes from other, older types such as image macros. Dank memes can also refer to those which are "exceptionally unique or odd". They have been described as "Internet in-jokes" that are "so played out that they become funny again" or are "so nonsensical that they are hilarious".
The formats are usually from popular television shows, movies, or video games and users then add humorous text and images over it. The culture surrounding memes, especially dank memes, grew to the point of the creation of many subcultures surrounding them. For instance, a "meme market", satirizing on the kind of talks and stocks found normally on Wall Street, was created in September 2016. Originally started on Reddit as r/MemeEconomy, people would only jokingly "buy" or "sell" shares in a meme to indicate how popular a meme was thought to be. The market is seen as a way to show how people assign value to commonplace and otherwise valueless things such as memes.
One example of a dank meme is "Who Killed Hannibal", which is made of two frames from a 2013 episode of "The Eric Andre Show". The meme features the host Andre shooting his co-host Buress in the first frame and then lamenting that his co-host has been shot in the next, with Andre often depicted blaming someone else for the shot. This was then adapted to other situations, such as baby boomers blaming millennials for problems that they allegedly caused.
Dank memes also stem from interesting real-life images that are shared or remixed many times. So-called "moth" memes (often stylized as "möth") came about after a Reddit user posted a close up picture of a moth that they had found outside their window onto the r/creepy subreddit. The image became popular and began to be used in memes; according to Chris Grinter, a lepidopterist from the California Academy of Sciences, moth memes gained recognition because of the inexplicability surrounding moths' attraction to lamps.
Irony and absurdism.
Many modern memes stem from nonsense or otherwise unrelated phrases that are repeated and placed onto other formats. One example of this is "they did surgery on a grape," from a video of a da Vinci Surgical System performing test surgery on a grape. People sharing the post tended to add the same caption to it ("they did surgery on a grape"), and eventually created a satirical image with several layers of captions on it. Memes such as this one continue to propagate as people start to include the phrase in different, otherwise unrelated memes.
The increasing trend towards irony in meme culture has resulted in absurdist memes not unlike postmodern art. Many Internet memes have several layers of meaning built off of other memes, not being understandable unless the viewer has seen all previous memes. "Deep-fried" memes, memes that have been distorted and run through several filters, are often strange to one not familiar with them. An example of these memes is the "E" meme, a picture of Markiplier photoshopped onto Lord Farquaad from the film "Shrek", photoshopped into a scene from Mark Zuckerberg's hearing in Congress. "Surreal" memes are based on the idea of increasing layers of irony so that they are not understandable by popular culture or corporations. This strange irony was discussed in the "Washington Post" article "Why is millennial humor so weird?" to show the disconnect from how millennials and other generations conceive of humor; the article itself also became a meme where people photoshopped examples of deep-fried and surreal memes onto the article to make fun of the point of the article and the abstraction of meme culture.
Short-form video.
 After the success of the application Vine, a format of memes emerged in the form of short videos and scripted sketches. Vine, in spite of its closure in early 2017, has still retained relevance through uploads of viral vines in compilations onto other sharing social media sites such as Twitter and YouTube. Since Vine's shutdown, the service TikTok has been described as a better version of Vine and many comparisons have been made between the two platforms; also based on the upload of short-form videos, TikTok, however, allows videos and memes up to a minute in length rather than six seconds.
The short-form videos created on sites like Vine and TikTok found use in being posted on other social media sites, such as Twitter, as a form of reacting and responding to other posts. These videos become replicated into other contexts and often become part of Internet culture. An example of a TikTok meme is the cosplay by Nyannyancosplay juxtaposed to the musical track "Mia Khalifa" by iLoveFriday. This meme became known as Hit or Miss. Hit or Miss has been referenced multiple times, including PewDiePie's 2018 Rewind as one of the most influential memes of the year alongside numerous other influential memes of the year. PewDiePie's 2018 rewind video has been viewed over 70 million times and has 8.9 million likes as of April 28, 2020. Hit or Miss has been remixed as well, including by other social media influencers such as Belle Delphine. SirKibbs' YouTube has uploaded a video of Belle Delphine and Kat (Nyannyancosplay) side-by-side comparison and has garnered 2.7 million views as of April 28, 2020.
Marketing.
Public relations, advertising, and marketing professionals have embraced Internet memes as a form of viral marketing and guerrilla marketing to create marketing "buzz" for their product or service. The practice of using memes to market products or services is known as memetic marketing. Internet memes are seen as cost-effective, and because they are a (sometimes self-conscious) fad, they are therefore used as a way to create an image of awareness or trendiness. To this end, businesses have taken to attempting two methods of using memes to increase publicity and sales of their company; either creating a meme or attempting to adapt or perpetuate an existing one. Examples of memetic marketing include the FreeCreditReport.com singing ad campaign, the "Nope, Chuck Testa" meme from an advertisement for taxidermist Chuck Testa, Wilford Brimley saying "Diabeetus" from Liberty Medical and the Dumb Ways to Die public announcement ad campaign by Metro Trains Melbourne.
Marketers, for example, use Internet memes to create interest in films that would otherwise not generate positive publicity among critics. The 2006 film "Snakes on a Plane" generated much publicity via this method. Used in the context of public relations, the term would be more of an advertising buzzword than a proper Internet meme, although there is still an implication that the interest in the content is for purposes of trivia, ephemera, or frivolity rather than straightforward advertising and news.
Brands' use of memes has disadvantages when considering people's perception of a brand. While effective use of a meme can lead to increased sales and attention, seemingly forced, unoriginal, or unfunny usage of memes can negatively impact the brand as a whole. For instance, the fast food company Wendy's began a social media approach in 2017 that heavily featured memes and was initially met with success, resulting in an almost 50% profit growth that year; however, the strategy has also backfired when sharing memes that are controversial or otherwise negatively perceived by consumers.
By context.
Politics.
Internet memes are a medium for communicating comical images and or phrases for mass online audiences. As internet memes become a common means of online expression, they become quickly used by those seeking to express political opinions or to actively campaign for (or against) a political entity. In some ways, they can be seen as a modern form of the political cartoon, offering up a way to democratize political commentary.
Elections.
Early examples of political memes can be seen from those resulting from the Dean Scream. Another example can be seen from MyDavidCameron.com, a website that allowed users to change the text of a British Conservative election campaign poster featuring David Cameron from the 2010 general election. This website was often used to produce memes that replaced the original slogan with a series of exaggerated claims or sarcastic fake campaign promises along with derision of David Cameron's airbrushed appearance.
Within each subsequent election, and the growing importance of visual communications due to the Internet and social media, memes have become a more important element within political campaigns as fringe communities have shaped broader discourse through the use of Internet memes. For example, Ted Cruz's 2016 Republican presidential bid was damaged by Internet memes that speculated he was the Zodiac Killer.
Another internet meme was created from the 2012 US presidential debate surrounding United States politician Mitt Romney's usage of the phrase "binders full of women". Internet meme creators quickly created "My Binders Full of Women Exploded", referencing the Korean pop song "Gangnam style" by overlaying the politician's quote onto a frame from Psy's music video where paper blows around him. This internet meme specifically indexes the central attribute of intertextuality by blending together pop culture with politics.
There has further been academic research that provides evidence that the use of memes during elections has a role to play in informing the public. In a study of 378 Internet memes posted across Facebook during the 2017 general election, McLoughlin and Southern found memes were a widely shared conduit for basic political information to audiences who often did not seek it out. Indeed, a fifth of all political memes posted during the election referenced a political policy which was part of a political parties mandate, while messages promoting people to vote were shared more than 160,000 times, suggesting memes have a small role to play in increasing voter turnout. Satirical memes that express political opinions are effective in not only informing others but also driving political debate and engagement with politics by offering an easy and even fun way to talk about important issues.
Some political campaigns have begun to explicitly taken advantage of the increasing influence of memes; as part of the 2020 US presidential campaign, Michael Bloomberg sponsored a number of Instagram accounts with over 60 million collective followers to post memes related to the Bloomberg campaign. Similar to criticisms against corporations who use meme marketing, the campaign was faulted for treating meme culture as an advertisement or something that can be bought.
The 2020 Presidential Campaign of Kanye West quickly became a meme, following its announcement on Twitter, with numerous celebrities and influencers endorsing the rapper out of irony. Other personalities began announcing their own satirical presidential campaigns, parodying West.
Social movements.
Internet memes provide significant contributions toward social issues. Memetric structures have enabled social movements to become spreadable pieces of information.
During the 2010 It Gets Better Project for LGTBQ+ empowerment, memes were continuously used to promote and uplift LGTBQ+ youth. The Human Rights Campaign equal rights symbol became an internet meme in defending the legalization of same sex marriage.
The Ice Bucket Challenge became a viral meme in promoting and raising money and awareness for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
The Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protest movement saw a rise in internet memes after gaining attention on social media. All internet memes that were created and shared during the movement were very important in mediated discussions surrounding the OWS. Typical phrases such as "We Are the 99%" and "This is what democracy looks like", were remixed into memes and subsequently posted in the discussion board of OWS on popular social media sites such as Reddit, Tumblr, and 4chan. Those who actively participated in the movement conversed through these visuals.
Culture.
Gender.
The foundation of internet memes and their humor consist of heteronormative ideologies and stereotypes. Internet memes are interpreted through different cultural lenses that influence the likelihood a users finds a particular media text comical. Viral memes are commonly associated with humor reflecting societal norms and perceptions. Thus, gender in memes are formatted archetypes focusing on stereotypical references to gender. Internet memes depict women as technological and or sexual oblivious. The stark juxtaposition is shown through memes as men being the knowledgeable ones in both technological and sexual endeavors. Other gender specific meme type is the jealous girlfriend. In heteronormative relationship memes, the women is seen as the unreasonable and crazy girlfriend whereas the men are poised and unfazed.
Women create sectors of humorous memes and continue the participatory culture of memes. The memefication of "a binder full of women" created ironic content that re-directed the narrative towards post-feminist content through political commentary.
Internet memes have been used in the context of gender and the LGBT issues on both sides of the issue. For example, the phrase, "I sexually identify as an attack helicopter," is a meme used to mock the concept of non-binary genders. In contrast, memes supporting the LGBT community also exist. Memes about the incel community deal with issues of feminism and toxic masculinity; In this way, they often serve as ways to marginalize or draw attention to social problems depending on the punchline.
Religion.
Internet memes have also been used in the context of religion.
Copyright.
The eligibility of any memes to get copyright protection depends on the copyright law of the country in which such protection is sought. Some of the most popular formats of memes include cinematographic stills, personal or stock photographs, rage comics, and illustrations meant to be a meme, and the copyright implications differ for each of these different formats. There is precedent both for memes to be in violation of copyright and in other memes having copyrights of their own.
If it is found that the meme has made use of a copyrighted work, such as the movie still or photograph without due permission from the original owner, it would amount to copyright infringement. Rage comics and memes created for the sole purpose of becoming memes would normally be original works of the creator and therefore, the question of infringing other copyright work does not arise. In a cinematographic still, part of the entire end product is taken out of context and presented solely for its face value. The still is generally accompanied by a superimposed text of which conveys a distinctive idea or comment, such as the Boromir meme or "Gru's Plan". This does not mean that all memes made from movie still or photographs are infringing copyright. There are defenses available for such use in various jurisdictions which could exempt the meme from attracting liability for the infringement.
United States.
Under United States copyright law, a creation receives copyright protection if it satisfies four conditions under 17 U.S.C. § 102. For a meme to get copyright protection, it would have to satisfy four conditions:
Memes can be considered pictorial, graphical or motion picture, and so are subject to copyright law As such, memes are protected under copyright under the same conditions as these mediums, including concepts such as the low threshold of originality for what constitutes creativity (as demonstrated by Feist Publications, Inc., v. Rural Telephone Service Co). Since a meme is essentially a comment, satire, ridicule or expression of an emotion it constitutes the expression of an idea. Memes are contained in the medium of the Internet and so are fixed expressions by 17 U.S.C. § 101.
Fair use.
Fair use is a defense under US Copyright Law which protects work that has made using other copyrighted works. The section provides that if a copyrighted work is reproduced "for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching [...], scholarship or research", it would not amount to infringement. Notably, for memes, the use of the term "such as" in the section denotes that the list is not exhaustive but merely illustrative. Furthermore, the factors mentioned in the section are subjective in nature and the weight of each factor varies on a case to case basis.
The four factors are:
Many memes are transformative in nature as they have no relation to the original work and the motive behind the communication of the meme is personal, in terms of disseminating humor to the public; such memes, being transformative, would be covered by fair use. However, copying memes that are made for the sole purpose of being memes would not enjoy this protection as there is no transformationthe copying has the same purpose as the original meme which is to communicate humorous or entertaining anecdotes. Purpose and character of use weigh in against memes which have been used for commercial purposes because in those cases, the work has not been created for the communication of humor but for economic gain. For example, Grumpy Cat won $710,001 in a copyright lawsuit against the beverage company Grenade which used the Grumpy Cat image on its roasted coffee line and t-shirts.
The nature of the copyrighted work asks what the differences between the meme and the other material are. This factor applies to many types of memes because the original work is an artistic creation that has been published and thus the latter enjoys protection under copyright which the memes are violating. However, as memes are transformative, this factor does not have much weight.
The amount and substantiality of the portion used tests not only the quantity of the work copied but the quality that is copied as well. Memes copy only a small portion of a complete film, whereas for rage comics and personal photographs, the entire portion has been used to create the meme. Despite this, all categories of memes could fall under fair use because the text that is added to those images adds value, without which it would just be pictures. Moreover, the heart of the work is not affected because the still/picture is taken out of context and portrays something entirely different from what the image originally wanted to depict.
Lastly, the effect on the market offers court analysis on whether the meme would cause harm to the actual market of the original copyright work and also the harm it could cause to the potential market. The target audience for the original work and meme is entirely different as the latter is taken out of the context of the original and created for use and dissemination on social media. Rage comics and memes created for the purpose of being memes are an exception to this because the target audience for both is the same and copied work could infringe on the potential market of the original. Warner Brothers was sued for infringing the Nyan Cat meme by using it in its game Scribblenauts.
NFTs.
Some subjects of memes made money from them through licensing deals. In 2021, in a new version of this concept several subjects of memes sold NFTs through auctions. Ben Lashes, who managed numerous memes, said sales of these as NFTs had made $2 million and established memes as serious art. One example of how this idea works is the case of "Disaster Girl", based on a photo of Zoe Roth at age 4 taken in Mebane, North Carolina in January 2005. The Roth family lived near a fire station and as they watched a house being burned for training, Zoe's father took her picture as she smiled in a way that suggested she had started the fire and was happy about it. The photo became famous in 2008 when it won an Emotion Capture contest in "JPG" magazine. Zoe had given permission to use the image in educational material, but the photo had been used hundreds of times for various purposes without the Roths having control. After receiving an email in February 2021 suggesting she sell the meme as an NFT for as much as "six figures", Roth decided to sell the original copy. On April 17, 2021, Roth sold the photo, now an NFT, for the equivalent of US$486,716 to a collector identified only as @3FMusic. This allowed the family control over the image's distribution and gave them copyright and 10 percent of proceeds when the NFT was sold.
India.
Under Section 2(c) of the Indian Copyright Act, 1957, a meme could be classified as an 'artistic work' which states that an artistic work includes painting, sculpture, drawing (including a diagram, map, chart or plan), an engraving or a photograph, whether or not any such work possesses artistic quality. The section uses the phrase "whether or not possessing artistic quality", the memes that are rage comics or those such as Keyboard Cat would enjoy protection as they are original creations in the form a painting, drawing, photograph or short video clip, despite not having artistic quality. Memes that made from cinematograph still or photographs, the original image in the background for the meme would also be protected as the picture or the still from the series/movie is an 'artistic work'. These memes are a modification of that already existing artistic work with some little amount of creativity and therefore, they would also enjoy copyright protection.
Fair dealing.
India follows a fair dealing approach as an exception to copyright infringement under Section 52(1)(a) for the purposes of private or personal use, criticism or review. The analysis requires three steps: the amount and substantiality of dealing, the purpose of copying, and the effect on potential markets.
The amount of sustainability of dealing asks about how much of the original work is used in the meme, or how the meme transforms the original content. A meme makes use to existing copyright work whether it is a cinematograph still, rage comic, personal photograph or a meme made for the purpose of being a meme. However, since a meme is made for comedic purposes, taken out of context of the original work, they are transforming the work and creating a new work.
The purpose of copying factors in the purpose of the meme compared to the purpose of the original work. Under Section 52(1)(a), the purpose is restricted to criticism or review. A meme, as long as it is a parody or a criticism of the original work would be protected under the exception, but once an element of commercialization comes in, they would no longer be exempted and because the purpose no longer falls under the those mentioned in the section . When the Indian comedic group All India Bakchod (AIB) parodied Game of Thrones through a series of memes, the primary purpose was to advertise products of companies that have endorsed the group and thus was not fair dealing.
Memes generally do not have an effect on the potential market for a work. There must be no intention on part of the infringer to compete with the original owner of the work and derive profits from it. Since memes are generally meant for comedic value and have no intention to supplant the market of the original creator, they fall within the ambit of this section.


Howard Alk

Howard Alk (25 October 1930 – January 1982) was a Chicago, Illinois-based filmmaker, and an original co-founder of The Second City theater troupe. In the 1960s he began to work in film with the Chicago Film Group, filming and directing documentaries, completing "American Revolution 2" (1969) and "The Murder of Fred Hampton" (1971). He also collaborated for years with singer/songwriter Bob Dylan, producing films with him through 1981.
Early life and education.
Born and raised in Chicago, Howard Alk attended local public schools. An advanced student, he enrolled in the University of Chicago at the age of 14; under the presidency and chancellery of Robert Maynard Hutchins, students could enroll in a Great Books-oriented interdisciplinary undergraduate program contingent on the passage of an entrance test and sophomore standing in high school, a requirement that may have been waived for Alk. Many students were placed in advanced classes on the basis of placement tests and could accelerate their studies by taking subject tests at their convenience, often completing the degree in as little as two years. He was a member of the student-run Compass Players cabaret troupe, with Elaine May and Mike Nichols.
Career.
After the troupe disbanded, Alk joined fellow Compass players and University of Chicago graduates Paul Sills and Bernie Sahlins as a co-founder of The Second City. They developed this theater troupe, based on improvisation, from Viola Spolin's theatre games. Alk had previously worked with Spolin's son, Sills, at the Gate of Horn.
According to Sahlins' 2001 autobiography, "Days and Nights at the Second City", Alk coined the troupe's name. He is also credited with coining a definition of a Freudian slip as "meaning to say one thing and saying a mother."
Alk left The Second City in the early 1960s for other projects. He became associated with The Film Group, a Chicago film production company, where he shot and edited several of the group's films, including "American Revolution 2" (1969) and "The Murder of Fred Hampton" (1971), both of which he directed.
Alk was a longtime friend and collaborator of singer/songwriter Bob Dylan. In 1962, Dylan had performed as the first act at Alk's club, the Bear. Alk accompanied Dylan "on tour, shooting footage, editing, taking photographs—and assisting on the classic "Dont Look Back," as well as "Eat the Document", "Hard Rain", and "Renaldo and Clara", all made and released through 1978. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he resided at Dylan's Point Dume estate in Malibu, California. Although "Hard Rain" and "Renaldo and Clara" were released to diffident critical and commercial receptions, Dylan continued to retain Alk as a filmmaker and photographer on various projects (including several filmed concerts on the 1981 World Tour) until his death.
Alk also worked on "Janis", "Festival", "Luxman Baul's Movie" and other films.
Death.
Alk regularly used heroin. On January 1 or 3, 1982, he was found dead at Rundown Studios, Dylan's studio in Santa Monica, California. Although the coroner ruled his death an accidental heroin overdose, other sources report his death as a suicide. Alk's first wife, Jones, and his second wife Joan, both expressed their belief that he had intentionally killed himself. But no evidence either way has ever been found.
Alk was survived by his parents Rozetta and Lou, his wife Joan, and their young son Jesse Alk.


Malucha Solari

María Luisa "Malucha" Solari Mongrio (24 December 1920 – 30 July 2005) was a Nicaraguan-Chilean ballerina and choreographer, winner of the National Prize for Performing and Audiovisual Arts.
Biography.
Malucha Solari was born in the Nicaraguan city of Matagalpa, moving to Chile with her family in 1929. Although at first she took piano lessons at the , she eventually became interested in dance, studying under Andrée Hass. Solari joined the Chilean National Ballet, a group affiliated with the University of Chile and founded by Ernst Uthoff and Lola Botka. Her first performance with the ballet was the work "Coppélia", where she portrayed the character Swanilda.
In 1947, thanks to a scholarship, she traveled to the United Kingdom to perfect her technique. After returning to Chile she premiered the work "El umbral del sueño" (1951), which featured music by composer Juan Orrego. Three years later she premiered "Façade", in which she shared the stage with . In 1966 she created the Ballet de Cámara, a dance group formed under the auspices of the University of Chile's Institute of Musical Extension, with the intent of making tours throughout the country.
In 1967 she traveled to Moscow to study with Eugene Valukin. Upon her return to Chile she helped create the National Choreographic School and the Ministry of Education's Youth Ballet. Years later she formed the Chilean Dance Council and the University ARCIS School of Dance.
Solari won Chile's National Prize for Performing and Audiovisual Arts in August 2001. She died from emphysema on 30 July 2005.
Family.
Solari married economist Aníbal Pinto Santa Cruz. The couple had three children, including the actress Malucha Pinto.


Stefano Arteaga

Stefano Arteaga (born Esteban de Arteaga y López; December 26, 1747 - September 30, 1799) was a Spanish-born writer on theater and music, active in Italy.
A learned Jesuit, on the suppression of the order he went to Italy and became a member of the Academy of Padua. He afterwards resided at Bologna, and there made the acquaintance of Padre Martini, at whose instance he investigated the rise and progress of the Italian stage. His work, entitled "Rivoluzioni del teatro musicale Italiano, dalla suo origine fine al presente", (two vols., 1783), is an important source for the history of music. A second edition, in three vols., appeared at Venice in 1785. He also left behind him a manuscript treatise on the rhythm of the ancients.


Improv Toronto

Improv in Toronto (IT) is an urban pranking group that resides in Toronto. Formed in 2008, Improv Toronto is a group inspired by New York City's Improv Everywhere, and is a member of the Urban Prankster Network.
Based entirely volunteer group headed by Cole Banning, the community has thrived over the past years, holding both large-scale events that are open to public such as No Pants Subway Ride! 2K9 and ones that are executed by Improv in Toronto Agents like Finish Line Marathon.
The group is based on the belief that they're "making people's days", the style is less "flashy" of flash mobs, as their events often last hours on end. They believe that since the city always seems to be on such a routine, they exist to "shake it up".
Improv in Toronto has been covered by various media including the "Toronto Star", the "Toronto Sun", the CBC news network, as well as various blogs such as BlogTO. In 2008, they were listed as one of Torontoist's "Heroes", in their annual "Heroes and Villains" poll. As well, Improv in Toronto posts videos of all their mission to their YouTube channel.