Isabella Rossellini

# Isabella Rossellini

## Abstract

Isabella Fiorella Elettra Giovanna Rossellini (Italian:; born 18 June 1952) is an Italian-American actress and model. The daughter of Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman and Italian film director Roberto Rossellini, she is noted for her successful tenure as a Lancôme model and an established career in American cinema.

She gained recognition as an actress after her breakthrough role in White Nights (1985) and again in David Lynch 's Blue Velvet (1986) for which she received the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead. Other notable films include Cousins (1989), Wild at Heart (1990), Death Becomes Her (1992), Fearless (1993), Wyatt Earp (1994), Big Night (1996), Roger Dodger (2002), Infamous (2006), Two Lovers (2008), Enemy (2013), Joy (2015), and La chimera (2023). She is also known for her voice roles in Incredibles 2 (2018), and Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (2021), and her role as General Malice in Human Resources (2023).

Rossellini received a Golden Globe Award nomination for the HBO film Crime of the Century (1996). She received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series nomination for Chicago Hope (1997). She also has guest starred in the sitcoms Friends and 30 Rock as well as the dramas Alias and The Blacklist. She portrayed Simone Beck in the HBO series Julia (2022).

## Early life

Rossellini was born in Rome, the daughter of Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman, who was of Swedish and German descent, and Italian director Roberto Rossellini, who was born in Rome from a family originally from Pisa, Tuscany. She has three siblings from her mother: her fraternal twin sister Isotta Ingrid Rossellini, who is an adjunct professor of Italian literature; a brother, Robertino Ingmar Rossellini; and a half-sister, Pia Lindström, who formerly worked on television and is from her mother's first marriage with Petter Lindström. She has four other siblings from her father's two other marriages: Romano (who died at age nine), Renzo, Gil, and Raffaella. Growing up, she received "a liberal Catholic education".

Rossellini was raised in Rome, as well as in Santa Marinella and Paris. She underwent an operation for appendicitis at the age of five. At 11, she was diagnosed with scoliosis. In order to correct it, she had to undergo an 18-month ordeal of painful stretchings, body casts and surgery on her spine using pieces of one of her shin bones. Consequently, she has incision scars on her back and shin.

At 19, she went to New York City, where she attended Finch College, while working as a translator and as a television reporter for RAI. She also appeared intermittently on L'altra Domenica (The Other Sunday), a TV show featuring Roberto Benigni. However, she decided not to stay full-time in New York until her marriage to Martin Scorsese (1979–1982), whom she met when she interviewed him for RAI.

## Career

### Modeling

At the age of 28, her modeling career began, when she was photographed by Bruce Weber for British Vogue and by Bill King for American Vogue. During her career, she has also worked with many other renowned photographers, including Richard Avedon, Steven Meisel, Helmut Newton, Peter Lindbergh, Norman Parkinson, Eve Arnold, Francesco Scavullo, Annie Leibovitz, Denis Piel, and Robert Mapplethorpe. Her image has appeared on such magazines as Marie Claire, Harper's Bazaar, Vanity Fair, and Elle. In March 1988, an exhibition dedicated to photographs of her, called Portrait of a Woman, was held at the Musee d'Art Moderne in Paris.

Rossellini's modeling career led her into the world of cosmetics, when she became the exclusive spokesmodel for the French cosmetics brand Lancôme in 1982, replacing Nancy Dutiel in the United States and Carol Alt in Europe. At Lancôme, in 1990, she was involved in product development for the fragrance Trésor. In 1996, when she was 43, she was removed as the face of Lancôme for being "too old". In 2016, at the age of 63, she was rehired by Lancôme's new female CEO, Francoise Lehmann, as a global brand ambassador for the company.

In October 1992, Rossellini modelled for Madonna 's controversial book Sex. Rossellini also appeared in Madonna's music video for her successful Top 5 hit song " Erotica ", released in autumn 1992.

Rossellini was the inaugural brand ambassador for the Italian Silversea Cruises company in 2004, and she appeared in print ads and on their website. Barbara Muckermann, the senior vice-president of worldwide marketing and communications in 2004, said at the time of the announcement, "Isabella is the ideal personification of Silversea's exclusive standard of elegance, glamour and sophistication."

### Film and television

Rossellini made her film debut with a brief appearance as a nun opposite her mother in the 1976 film A Matter of Time. Her first role was the 1979 film Il Prato, and then in 1980 she appeared in Renzo Arbore 's film Il pap'occhio with Martin Scorsese.

Following her mother's death in 1982, Rossellini was cast in her first American film, White Nights (1985). This was followed by her notable role as the tortured nightclub singer Dorothy Vallens in the David Lynch film Blue Velvet, in which she also contributed her own singing. Other significant film roles during this period include her work in Cousins (1989), Death Becomes Her (1992), Fearless (1993), and Immortal Beloved (1994). In 1996, she appeared as herself in an episode of the TV series Friends called " The One with Frank Jr. "

In 2003, Rossellini was a recurring character on the television series Alias. In that same year, she also appeared in the Canadian film The Saddest Music in the World, directed by Guy Maddin. In 2004, she played the High Priestess Thar in the Sci-Fi Channel miniseries Legend of Earthsea, and the director Robert Lieberman stated that Rossellini "brings a very big persona to the screen. She carries a great deal of beauty. We needed someone who had a feeling of authority to be this kind of mother superior type and at the same time not be totally dour and unattractive."

In 2006, Rossellini appeared in several television documentaries. First, she narrated a two-hour television special on Italy for the Discovery Channel 's Discovery Atlas series. Then, alongside Segway PT inventor Dean Kamen, she spoke about her past and current activities on an episode of Iconoclasts, a series that featured on the Sundance Channel (known as SundanceTV from 2014 onwards), an independent film network founded by film industry veteran Robert Redford. The Sundance Channel then purchased the 2006 Guy Maddin-directed short film My Dad Is 100 Years Old, a tribute that Rossellini created for her father. In the film, she played almost every role, including Federico Fellini, Alfred Hitchcock and her mother, Ingrid Bergman. Rossellini's twin sister, Isotta Ingrid, criticized the short film, calling it an "inappropriate" tribute.

In 2007, Rossellini guest starred on two episodes of the television show 30 Rock, playing Alec Baldwin 's character's ex-wife. Around the same time, Rossellini enrolled at Hunter College in New York to study animal behavior, and the Sundance Channel commissioned her to contribute a short-film project to the environmental program The Green. Rossellini explained in a 2013 interview:

They contacted me again when they had allocated some money to experiment in making a web series. At first, I thought I didn't know what to say, I didn't know what to write and then thought it might be really fun to do little short films about animals. This is how the first three episodes of Green Porno came about. When I showed them the pilot, Sundance commissioned eight more. It was a huge hit!

Debuting in 2008, the first series of Green Porno had over 4 million views on YouTube and two further seasons were produced; there are 18 episodes in the series. Rossellini worked with a small budget for Green Porno and she was responsible for the scripts, helped to design the creatures, directed the episodes, and is the primary actor in the series. In each of the episodes, she acts out the mating rituals and reproductive behaviour of various animals while commentary is played.

Green Porno was followed by two other animal-themed television productions: Seduce Me: The Spawn of Green Porno and Mammas. Seduce Me: The Spawn of Green Porno is a five-episode online series that was premiered in mid-2010 and explores the topic of animal courtship. As with Green Porno, Rossellini wrote, directed and acted in the series; she is also a producer of the series. Rossellini explained in 2010, "I always wanted to make films about animals – there's not an enormous audience, but there's an enormous audience for sex."

Mammas debuted in the United States on 12 May 2013, Mother's Day weekend there, and is a celebration of the maternal aspects of the animal world. Rossellini is again the primary actor and plays the maternal versions of animals such as spiders and hamsters. Rossellini explained in a 2013 interview part of the research process for Mammas: "First of all it's about diversity. When talking about motherhood, I would find examples of ten different species that either don't get pregnant in the belly but in the mouth or back. Or species that abandon their children all-together so that I don't tell ten stories that are too similar."

After the completion of her Green Porno productions, Rossellini acted in the film Enemy, with Jake Gyllenhaal, which was shown at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Rossellini praised the film during a TIFF interview: "I love the subtlety of the film. It reminded me of Kafka. It's very metaphysical, but yet it's also a solid thriller. It made me leap up out of my seat at the end." Rossellini also played the silent film actor Rudolph Valentino 's mother in Vlad Kozlov 's Silent Life, a feature-length version of the director's silent, black-and-white short film Daydreams of Rudolph Valentino. Kozlov's film was due for release in 2012, but, as of February 2014, the film has not been officially released.

Rossellini was the president of the jury for the 61st Berlin International Film Festival in 2011. In April 2015, she was announced as the president of the jury for the Un Certain Regard section of the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.

In 2016, Rossellini was cast as Rita Marks, the matriarch of the Marks crime family in the Hulu original series, Shut Eye.

## Stage and live performance

In 2004, Rossellini acted in an Off-Broadway production of Terrence McNally 's The Stendhal Syndrome, with Richard Thomas.

Rossellini's friend, Carole Bouquet, also a model who later became an actress, suggested that Green Porno could be transformed into a lecture format with a longer duration. Bouquet then introduced Rossellini to the French filmmaker and screenwriter, Jean-Claude Carrière, and they created a 70-minute-long monologue that expands upon the Green Porno films. The structure of the performance is in accordance with the types of reproductive systems:

Some animals reproduce with male and female; some animals change sex – they start female and they end male or vice-versa. Some fish do that. Some animals are hermaphrodites – they don't need anybody, they have both vaginas and penises. Then we have animals that don't need sex at all, they just clone themselves.

In the live show, Rossellini explores the topics of homosexuality ("I think society has made the mistake of seeing the act of making love or mating as an act of reproduction, when actually it is used for other things, too. Animals use it for social events, bonding, solving conflict and so on.") and maternal instincts, and has explained that her research has influenced her perspective on societal notions of beauty: "If you look at nature, there is no perfection. Everything is always evolving and adapting according to whatever the environmental pressure. The more diversity there is, the more things are going to survive."

Rossellini debuted the live version of Green Porno at the Adelaide Festival of Arts on 15 March 2014 and was warmly received by the audience. The show was the first of the 2014 program to sell out. Much of the production and backstage documentary footage was shot and directed by her nephew, Tommaso Rossellini.

Rossellini's "smallest circus in the world", a stage play exploring the ability of animals to think, was premiered in May 2018, at the Jerome Robbins Theater of the Baryshnikov Arts Center. The play "addresses the scientific discoveries about animal minds, intelligence, and emotions. Joined onstage by various animals portrayed by Pan, her trained dog, Rossellini transforms herself into Aristotle, Descartes, B.F. Skinner, Charles Darwin, and more, to deliver a vivid monologue about the brilliance of the animal kingdom".

Rossellini performed "Link Link Circus" (as in Ring Ring) as a benefit for The Gateway Performing Arts Center of Suffolk County, in Bellport, New York, the south shore Long Island village where she is a local organic farmer. "Link Link Circus" is performed by Rossellini in a black and red ringmaster's tailcoat, with the assistance of her dog, Peter Pan, who performs a few tricks and is costumed as other animals including a chicken and a dinosaur. In addition to Rossellini and Pan, the production includes puppets, handled by puppeteer Schuyler Beeman, and still photos, home movies, animation and excerpts from her "Green Porno" film series projected on a large screen behind the set decorated with Rossellini's childhood toys, including a marionette stage and a toy upright piano, which Rossellini plays in the show. The set was designed by Andy Byers, who is also the costume designer and composer for the show. In promoting the show, which was performed twice at The Gateway, Rossellini appeared in Long Island's Newsday. Proceeds from The Gateway production of "Link Link Circus" also benefited The Plaza Cinema & Media Arts Center, a non-profit located near Rossellini's Bellport home in Patchogue, New York.

Rossellini has been a frequent guest narrator at Disney's Candlelight Processional at Walt Disney World, most recently appearing in the 2019 and 2022 seasons.

## Activism

Rossellini is involved in conservation efforts. She is the president and director of the Howard Gilman Foundation – a leading institution focused on the preservation of wildlife, arts, photography and dance – and she has been a board member of the Wildlife Conservation Network. She received US$100,000 from Disney to help with her conservation efforts in those two organizations. She has also helped with the Central Park Conservancy, and is a major benefactor of the Bellport-Brookhaven Historical Society in Bellport, Long Island, where she is a part-time resident.

Rossellini is involved in training guide dogs for the blind. She is a former trustee of the George Eastman House and a 1997 George Eastman Award honoree for her support of film preservation. She is also a National Ambassador for the U.S. Fund for UNICEF.

## Personal life

Rossellini holds dual Italian and United States citizenship. She speaks English, French and Italian fluently. She is a naturalized U.S. citizen.

She was married to filmmaker Martin Scorsese from 1979 to 1982. After her marriage to Scorsese ended, she was married to Jon Wiedemann from 1983 to 1986.

She has a daughter, Elettra Rossellini Wiedemann (born 1983) and an adopted son, Roberto Rossellini (born 1993).

Filmmaker David Lynch and Rossellini were a couple from 1986/1987 to 1990/1991. Rossellini was engaged to English actor Gary Oldman from 1994 to 1996.

She has always lived near her fraternal twin sister Isotta Ingrid, while growing up in Rome or residing in New York City.

## Filmography

## Accolades

Also in 1997, Rossellini was awarded The George Eastman Award. In 1998, she received an Honourable Mention at the 48th Berlin International Film Festival for her role in the film Left Luggage. In 2013, she was awarded with the Berlinale Camera at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival. In 2016, she was granted an honorary doctorate by the Université du Québec à Montréal.


The Fourth Protocol (film)

# The Fourth Protocol (film)

## Abstract

The Fourth Protocol is a 1987 British Cold War spy film starring Michael Caine and Pierce Brosnan. Directed by John Mackenzie, it is based on the 1984 novel The Fourth Protocol by Frederick Forsyth.

## Plot

In 1968, an East - West agreement is established to halt nuclear proliferation. One of its clauses, the Fourth Protocol, forbids the non-conventional delivery of a nuclear weapon to a target.

MI5 officer John Preston breaks into the residence of British government official George Berenson on New Year's Eve and finds a number of top secret NATO files that should not have been there. He reports his findings to high-ranking British Secret Service official Sir Nigel Irvine, who deals with the leak. Preston's unauthorised method of retrieving the documents embarrasses the acting Director of MI5, Brian Harcourt-Smith, and as punishment for his insubordination, Preston is relegated to lowly "Airports and Ports".

KGB officer Major Valeri Petrofsky is sent on a mission to the United Kingdom by General Govorshin, the head of the KGB. Govorshin's subordinate, Pavel Borisov, complains to his old friend General Yevgeny Karpov, about his department being stripped of resources and personnel, particularly his star officer Petrofsky. A surprised Karpov quietly investigates and learns about Petrofsky's unsanctioned mission – to violate the Fourth Protocol by assembling and detonating an atomic device as a false flag, to appear to be an American nuclear accident at a nearby military base, intended to strain British-US relations and strengthen the anti-nuclear movement in advance of an election in favour of the Soviet Union.

In Glasgow, a Soviet sailor is struck by a truck while fleeing from a port guard. Among the dead man's possessions, Preston finds a disk of polonium, which could only be useful as a component of a detonator for a bomb. He informs Harcourt-Smith, but is promptly suspended, as Harcourt-Smith believes that Preston is manufacturing a fake incident to work his way back into MI5. Preston, however has the confidence of Sir Bernard Hemmings, the gravely-ill Director of MI5, as well as Irvine, who is happy to sidestep Harcourt-Smith's directives. Preston sets to work and eventually comes across Winkler, a known Czech KGB agent, and tails him from the airport.

Meanwhile, Petrofsky meets KGB agent Irina Vassilievna, a bomb expert who is pretending to be his wife. Under her guidance, they assemble the device from the smuggled items and she sets it on a two-hour delay as they agreed on. Unbeknownst to Petrofsky, Vassilievna follows her own orders, resetting the delay to zero. After having sex with Petrofsky, she finds his own secret order to eliminate her and tries to warn him about the double-cross, but he kills her before she can.

Afterwards, Petrofsky is observed contacting Winkler. Preston tracks him to Ipswich, loses him, then finds him again. Preston eventually realises that Petrofsky's target is RAF Baywaters, and locates Petrofsky's house, which lies right next to the base.

When Petrofsky starts to activate the bomb, on an impulse, he checks the timer first and realises he has been betrayed. At that moment, an SAS team storms the house and during a struggle, Preston subdues and disables Petrofsky. To Preston's outrage, one of the SAS team cold-bloodedly shoots and kills Petrofsky, explaining bluntly afterwards that he had orders to do so.

At Hemmings' funeral, Preston is unsurprised to find Irvine secretly meeting with General Karpov. Preston had become suspicious when known KGB agent Winkler was used as a courier, making it easy to follow him, and also when Petrofsky was killed instead of being captured for questioning. He surmised that discrediting Govorshin would benefit both Irvine and Karpov (sneering to both that keeping hold over their careers is all that matters to them). Preston does not see any point in exposing them and leaves after expressing his contempt for their cynical power play (Irvine secretly assuring Karpov that they have control over Preston, as they covertly observe him reunite with his young son).

## Cast

- Michael Caine as John Preston

- Pierce Brosnan as Major Valeri Alekseyevich Petrofsky / James Edward Ross

- Ned Beatty as General Pavel Petrovich Borisov

- Joanna Cassidy as Irina Vassilievna

- Julian Glover as Brian Harcourt-Smith

- Michael Gough as Sir Bernard Hemmings

- Ray McAnally as General Yevgeny Sergeyevich Karpov

- Ian Richardson as Sir Nigel Irvine

- Anton Rodgers as George Berenson

- Caroline Blakiston as Angela Berenson

- Joseph Brady as Carmichael

- Matt Frewer as Tom McWhirter

- Betsy Brantley as Eileen McWhirter

- Sean Chapman as Captain Lyndhurst

- Alan North as General Govorshin

- Ronald Pickup as Wynne-Evans

- John Horsley as Sir Anthony Plumb

- Michael Bilton as Kim Philby

- Peter Cartwright as Jan Marais

- Aaron Schwartz as Gregoriev

- Mark Rolston as Russian Decoder

- Michael J. Jackson as Major Pavlov

- Matthew Marsh as Barry Banks

- Jerry Harte as Professor Krylov

## Production

Michael Caine read the draft manuscript of the novel and suggested to Forsyth that they produce a film together. They hired George Axelrod to write a script and John Frankenheimer to direct, but were unable to raise finance. Axelrod and Frankenheimer left the project, Forsyth wrote the script himself and they got a new producer and director.

## Locations

Much of the film was shot in the Heelands district of Milton Keynes; the main house featured is on Tranlands Brigg, Heelands, Milton Keynes. Scenes set on the London Underground were shot at Charing Cross, Green Park, and Aldwych stations. Colchester Station was also used in one scene, with star Michael Caine filmed standing on the tracks. For some of the interiors, rooms of King's College London on the Strand were used. The "RAF Baywaters" scenes were filmed at the now defunct RAF Upper Heyford as a take on the real life RAF Bentwaters. Filming also took place in Finland. Towards the end of the film, the car chase in Ipswich is actually shot in Chelmsford on the A1016 Chelmer Valley bypass which at the time was newly built. One shot shows helicopters flying under the Orwell Bridge which is often considered a local landmark.

Eastbourne Mews, W2, was used as the filming location for John Preston's (Michael Caine) house.

## Differences from the novel

- The film opens with the killing of Kim Philby, who has already planned the operation, because he knows too much. In the book, he remains a key figure.

- The film begins with Preston breaking into Berenson's house to expose him as a traitor. In the novel, Jim Rawlings, a professional thief, robs Berenson's flat of jewellery. In the process, he discovers illegal copies of classified documents in a briefcase. As a patriotic citizen, he takes them and sends them anonymously to MI5. The character of Rawlings is omitted from the film and the side plot of the disposal of the stolen jewellery is not pursued. In the film, the jewellery is taken by Preston, and returned to Berenson by Irvine. In the novel, the jewellery is broken down by Rawlings's fence and later taken from the diamond polisher working for the fence after he is tortured and killed. Berenson's contacts have a replica made of the jewellery using zirconium stones and later permanently deposits them with his bank.

- The political plot of the book to enable the Labour Party to win the general election and allow for a communist takeover of the party was left out.

- The film removes a large section of the book in regard to Preston's investigation into Jan Marais in South Africa.

- The character of the assembler in the book is a man, although the surname is the same. He is killed by getting his neck broken in a forest rather than being shot in bed.

- In the novel, the Soviet sailor is attacked by street thugs and later commits suicide by jumping from the top floor of a hospital, while in the movie he is hit by a truck.

- In the book the story about Berenson is linked to the atomic plot because it provides a way for Irvine to send a false message to Karpov suggesting the operation is blown. Karpov, fearful of a scandal then sends Winkler, his worst agent, to help Preston find Petrofsky, hoping that in exchange Irvine will ensure any scandal will be suppressed. The theme is of backchannels between individuals in opposing intelligence services working to counter dangerous opportunism within their governments. The end of the film implies Irvine and Karpov have a much more cynical collaboration simply to help their careers.

- Sir Nigel Irvine is a much more positively-presented character in the book, where he supports Preston because he genuinely respects his abilities, has Petrofsky killed to undercut the KGB without going to war (in the book, Preston accepts this with mild disappointment instead of the sheer anger he shows in the film), and arranges for Preston to get lucrative private-sector work so he can win sole custody of his young son.

- Brian Harcourt-Smith is arrogant in both the film and book, but the film ignores him in its last third. In the book, his mishandling of the situation with Petrofsky leads the senior MI-5 leaders to stop his appointment as Director-General, and he angrily resigns to take a job at a bank.

## Reception

### Box office

The film debuted at no. 4 at the box office with $3.6 million in ticket sales.

In the UK it made £766,413.

### Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes retrospectively gave the film a score of 67% based on reviews from 21 critics.

The Globe and Mail ' s film critic Jay Scott said that "the movie is entertaining on a rudimentary, never-to-be-taken-seriously level. On the rare occasions when it does rise above the material, it's because Pierce Brosnan is chillingly effective as an assassin with the body temperature of a snake. The yarn is otherwise little more than Mission Impossible tightly re-wound for the age of glasnost." Scott praised Michael Caine's excellent performance, but complained that the "role permits him to display only one of the three dimensions he was able to provide in his portrayal of the father in The Whistle Blower (1986)."

Halliwell's Film and Video Guide described it as a "very competent but somehow old hat espionage thriller", awarding it one star from a possible four. Quoted in Halliwell's guide, Daily Variety stated that "there is an uneasy feeling that the whole affair could have been better made into an excellent miniseries". John Ferguson awarded it two stars out of five for Radio Times, stating "what once made for diverting summer reading now appears tired and not particularly relevant".

## Trivia

Michael Caine and Ray McAnally would appear together the following year in the Thames Television and CBS television miniseries Jack the Ripper.


Denis Urubko

# Denis Urubko

## Abstract

Denis Urubko (Russian: Дени́с Ви́кторович Уру́бко; 29 July 1973) is a Russian-Polish climber. In 2009, as a citizen of Kazakhstan he became the 15th person to climb all 14 eight-thousanders and the 8th person to achieve the feat without supplemental oxygen. He had Soviet citizenship, but after the dissolution of the Soviet Union he became a citizen of Kazakhstan, but renounced the citizenship in 2012. In 2013, he received Russian citizenship and on 12 February 2015 he received Polish citizenship.

## Mountaineering career

In 2006, he won the Elbrus Speed Climbing competition which he did by setting a new speed record, climbing from Azau station to the summit in 3 hours, 55 minutes and 58 seconds (record was beaten in 2010 by Andrzej Bargiel). This climb represents a vertical rise of almost 3,250 metres or more than 10,600 feet and thus a speed of more than 800 vertical metres (2,600 vertical feet) an hour. He summited almost 40 minutes ahead of the next finisher. He has also won the Khan Tengri Mountain Festival when he speed climbed the mountain from Base Camp at 4,200 metres to the summit at 7,010 metres and then back to Base Camp in 12 hours and 21 minutes, winning by over 3 hours.

He has climbed two 8,000-metre peaks in winter. Makalu in 2009 together with Simone Moro and Gasherbrum II in 2011 together with Cory Richards and again Simone Moro. He has also opened new routes on Cho Oyu, Manaslu and Broad Peak. All together he has 25 ascents of 8,000-metre peaks. He is also a " Snow Leopard " having summited the five 7,000-metre peaks of the former USSR in only 42 days in 1999. He climbs without additional oxygen.

On 27 January 2018, Urubko along with Adam Bielecki - while taking part in the Krzysztof Wielicki led Polish winter expedition on K2 - led a rescue operation on Nanga Parbat to save climbers Élisabeth Revol and Tomasz Mackiewicz, who were stuck on the mountain. Bielecki and Urubko were brought to the mountain by helicopter and climbed over 1000m through the night to reach Revol. They succeeded in bringing Revol to safety, but, were unable to save Mackiewicz due to the severe weather conditions. Then he resumed the K2 expedition, but due to the unfavorable snow and weather conditions and an accident causing injury to Rafal Fronia, the team canceled the planned approach via Cesen/Basque route and reached up to 7400m on the Abruzzi Spur route. Then in an unauthorized solo attempt, Denis Urubko reported that he probably reached up to 7600m having drawn criticism from his fellow climbers.

In 2019 remarkably, on 18 July, he summited Gasherbrum II by the normal route for acclimatization for his expedition to open a new route on Gasherbrum II. After 14 days, on 1 August 2019 at 8:40 pm, he reached the summit of Gasherbrum II again via a new route without supplemental oxygen.

## Eight-thousander climbs

Urubko completed the following successful ascents of eight-thousanders:

- Everest (8848 m, without oxygen south normal route; 24 May 2000)

- Lhotse (8516 m, without oxygen normal route; 23 May 2001).

- Hidden Peak (Gasherbrum 1; 8068 m, without oxygen Japanese couloir; 13 August 2001)

- Gasherbrum II (8035 m, without oxygen normal route speed ascent: from 5800 to top in 7 hours 30 minutes, and back to 5800 in 4 hours.; 20 August 2001)

- Kangchenjunga (8586 m, classical SW-face route without oxygen; 13 May 2002)

- Shisha Pangma (main 8046 m and Central summits (8012 m) without oxygen; 25 October 2002)

- Nanga Parbat (8125 m, Kinshoffer route, without oxygen; 17 June 2003)

- Broad Peak (8046 m, normal route without oxygen; 18 July 2003)

- Annapurna I (8091 m, night ascent; May 2004)

- Broad Peak (8046 m, SW Face first climb, with Sergey Samoilov, in alpine style; 25 July 2005)

- Manaslu (8163 m, normal route, with Sergey Samoilov; 25 April 2006)

- Manaslu (8163 m, NE face first climb, with Sergey Samoilov; 08 May 2006)

- Dhaulagiri (8167 m, normal route; 5 February 2007)

- K2 (8611 m, WW ridge, Japanese route, with Sergey Samoilov; 10 February 2007)

- Makalu (8463 m; 5 December 2008)

- Makalu (8463 m, first winter climb, with Simone Moro; 2 September 2009)

- Cho Oyu (8201 m, SE Face, first climb, alpine style, with Boris Dedeshko; May 2009)

- Lhotse (8516 m, new route from South Col, solo from C3; 16 May 2010)

- Gasherbrum II (8035 m, first winter ascent, with Simone Moro and Cory Richards; 2 February 2011)

- Kangchenjunga (8586 m, North Face; 19 May 2014)

- Gasherbrum II (8035 m, normal route; 18 July 2019)

- Gasherbrum II (8035 m, new route solo in 24 hours from 6100 meters to summit 1 August 2019)

- Broad Peak (8046 m, solo, normal route without oxygen, 19 July 2022)

- Gasherbrum II (8035 m, solo, normal route without oxygen, 25 July 2022)

- K2 (8611 m, solo, normal route without oxygen, 29 July 2022)


Canachus the Younger

# Canachus the Younger

## Abstract

Canachus the Younger (in Greek; Κάναχος ο Σικυώνιος, 5th/4th century BC) was a sculptor from Sicyon. A known work of his is the bronze statue of the Olympic victor Bycelus of Sicyon during the 95th (400 BC) Olympic Games of antiquity. Additionally, he contributed to the construction of a group of sculptures at Delphi in 404 BC, commissioned by the Spartan general Lysander, which included sculptures of two Spartan soldiers who fought at the Battle of Aegospotami: Epicydidas and Eteonicus. His grandfather is believed to have been Canachus the Elder (6th century BC), also a sculptor by profession.


The G.I. Executioner

# The G.I. Executioner

## Abstract

The G.I. Executioner, originally titled Wit's End, is a 1975 action film directed by Joel M. Reed and written by Keith Lorenz, Ian Ward, and Reed. Shot in Singapore, production finished in 1971, but the film was not released in theatres until 1975. The film was also released under the title Dragon Lady.

## Overview

Tom Keena plays a Vietnam War veteran and millionaire freelance journalist who spends his time operating a discotheque in Singapore. When he receives a mysterious offer to investigate a defecting Chinese scientist, he finds himself mixed up with a dastardly Communist agent and his voluptuous stripper mistress.


Pam Tillis

# Pam Tillis

## Abstract

Pamela Yvonne Tillis (born July 24, 1957) is an American country music singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. She is the eldest child of country singer Mel Tillis. After recording unsuccessful pop material for Elektra and Warner Records in the early 1980s, Tillis shifted to country music. In 1989, she signed with Arista Nashville, entering top-40 on Hot Country Songs for the first time with " Don't Tell Me What to Do " in 1990. This was the first of five singles from her breakthrough album Put Yourself in My Place.

Tillis recorded five more albums for Arista Nashville in the next ten years, including a greatest hits album. She charted twelve top-ten hits on the Billboard country music charts with Arista, including the number-one " Mi Vida Loca (My Crazy Life) " in 1995. Other major hits of hers include her signature song " Maybe It Was Memphis ", along with " Shake the Sugar Tree ", " Spilled Perfume ", a cover of Jackie DeShannon 's " When You Walk in the Room ", and " All the Good Ones Are Gone ". After exiting Arista, Tillis released It's All Relative: Tillis Sings Tillis for Lucky Dog Records in 2002, and RhineStoned and the Christmas album Just in Time for Christmas on her own Stellar Cat label in 2007. Her albums Homeward Looking Angel (1992), Sweetheart's Dance (1994), and Greatest Hits (1997) are all certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, while Put Yourself in My Place and 1995's All of This Love are certified gold.

She has won two major awards: a Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals in 1999 for the multiple-artist collaboration "Same Old Train", and the 1994 Country Music Association award for Female Vocalist of the Year. In 2000, she was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry. In addition to her own work, Tillis has written songs for Barbara Fairchild, Juice Newton, and Highway 101, among others. Tillis's music style is defined by her singing voice, along with her influences of country, pop, and jazz.

## Early life

Pamela Yvonne Tillis was born July 24, 1957, in Plant City, Florida. She is the oldest of five children born to country singer Mel Tillis and his first wife, Doris. Because of her father being a country musician, she spent most of her early life in Nashville, Tennessee. When she was eight, her father invited her to sing " Tom Dooley " onstage at the Grand Ole Opry. She also began taking piano lessons at this age, and taught herself how to play guitar by age 12. At age 16, she was nearly killed in a car accident. She underwent five years of surgery, including facial reconstruction. Pam described her relationship with her father as "strict", and that she often felt "alienated" from him. She also stated that her father disapproved of her musical interests at the time, which included Linda Ronstadt and the Eagles.

Tillis enrolled at the University of Tennessee, where she performed in two different groups - a jug band called the High Country Swing Band, and a folk duo with Ashley Cleveland. She dropped out of college in 1976 and moved to San Francisco, California. There, she founded a band called Freelight, which played jazz and rock. Tillis also sold Avon products for additional income. She briefly worked as a backing vocalist in her father's road band, but later quit this role over creative differences. Despite this, she sang backup on his 1980 hit "Your Body Is an Outlaw". Mel also hired her to work at his publishing company, which led to her writing Barbara Fairchild 's 1978 single "The Other Side of the Morning".

## Music career

### 1983–1990: Above and Beyond the Doll of Cutey and other early work

In 1981, Tillis signed her first recording contract with Elektra Records. The label released her debut single "Every Home Should Have One" that same year. Unlike her later music, "Every Home Should Have One" was a disco song. While this was her only release for Elektra, she remained with its parent company, Warner Records. The latter label released her debut album in 1983 called Above and Beyond the Doll of Cutey. The album was co-produced by Dixie Gamble, then-wife of record producer Jimmy Bowen. Assisting her was the production team Jolly Hills Productions, which included session musicians Josh Leo and Craig Krampf. Above and Beyond the Doll of Cutey featured the singles "Killer Comfort" and "Love Is Sneakin' Up on You". While neither single charted, the former received a music video that aired on MTV. Kevin John Coyne of Country Universe rated the album two stars out of five, stating that "Pam Tillis, even in her early days, is a smart songwriter with cutting insights on the human experience. To try and make her a carefree New Wave pop star is to undermine what makes her special in the first place."

Citing dissatisfaction with the pop music she was recording, Tillis returned to Nashville, while retaining her contract with Warner. She made her first entry on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts in 1984 with "Goodbye Highway", a song she co-wrote with Mary Ann Kennedy and Pam Rose. Her follow-up " One of Those Things " did not chart. Janie Fricke later recorded a version of the song, as well. After this came four other singles that made the lower regions of the charts between 1986 and 1987. One of these, " Those Memories of You ", was later a top-five hit for Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, and Linda Ronstadt. Due to the poor performance of her singles, Tillis was dropped from Warner in 1987. Despite her lack of commercial success, the Academy of Country Music nominated her in 1986 for Top New Female Vocalist. She supported herself in this timespan by performing at various nightclubs and in her own local revues. These included Twang Night (where she sang covers of 1960s country standards) and Women in the Round (where she sang with other female songwriters). The latter featured writers such as Ashley Cleveland, Tricia Walker, and Karen Staley. According to Tillis herself, these revues led to her gaining increased exposure throughout the city. She also supplemented her career by singing advertising jingles for Country Time powdered drink mix, Coca-Cola, and Coors beer.

### 1989–1992: Put Yourself in My Place

In mid-1989, Arista Records' then-president Clive Davis announced the creation of the label's country music division titled Arista Nashville. Tillis was one of the first five acts signed to the label, alongside Alan Jackson, Lee Roy Parnell, Michelle Wright, and Asleep at the Wheel. Prior to releasing any material of her own, Tillis and Kix Brooks (who later signed to Arista Nashville himself as one-half of Brooks & Dunn) co-wrote the promotional single "Tomorrow's World", released on Warner to honor the 20th anniversary of Earth Day. Twenty different country music acts contributed vocals to the project, including Highway 101, Lynn Anderson, Vince Gill, Dan Seals, and Brooks and Tillis. The song entered the Hot Country Songs charts in May 1990, peaking at 74. Tillis also co-wrote Juice Newton 's 1989 single " When Love Comes Around the Bend " (later covered by Dan Seals in 1992) and Highway 101's 1990 single " Someone Else's Trouble Now ".

Tillis made her debut on Arista Nashville in late 1990 with " Don't Tell Me What to Do ". It peaked at number five on the Billboard country charts in early 1991, thus becoming her first successful single release. The song also went to number one on the country music charts of the former Radio & Records. Marty Stuart also recorded the song for Columbia Records in 1988, although his rendition was not released until 1992. The song served as the lead single to her breakthrough album Put Yourself in My Place, which was issued in January 1991. Paul Worley (a producer and guitarist known at the time for his work with Eddy Raven and Highway 101) co-produced the project with Ed Seay. A re-recording of "One of Those Things" was the album's next single, also reaching top 10 on the country charts. After it came the album's title track, which Tillis co-wrote with Carl Jackson. The album's highest-charting single was " Maybe It Was Memphis ", which peaked at number three in early 1992. "Maybe It Was Memphis" has since been described as Tillis's signature song. Tillis had originally recorded the song while on Warner, but did not release this version at the time. According to Billboard, Arista Nashville executives were initially reluctant to release "Maybe It Was Memphis" as a single until Tillis was "firmly established" as an artist, due to the song's more country pop sound. The album's fifth and final single was " Blue Rose Is ", another song which Tillis co-wrote. This song was less successful on the charts. All of the singles from Put Yourself in My Place except "Blue Rose Is" also made top 20 on the Canadian country music charts then published by RPM. Another cut from the album, " Ancient History ", was later a single for the Canadian band Prairie Oyster in 1996.

Alanna Nash of Entertainment Weekly gave Put Yourself in My Place a "B+" rating, saying that it "shows how well she can craft smart and sassy country material...and also sell it with a commanding, big-voiced presence". Kevin John Coyne wrote in a 2007 retrospective of Tillis, "It’s easy to overlook Put Yourself in My Place when discussing Pam’s body of work because of the much stronger albums that would follow...However, that’s more of a tribute to the quality of the music to come than any deficiency of the album itself." Brian Mansfield of AllMusic wrote that "The album that established Pam Tillis as a performer in her own right has a traditional country base cut with bluegrass, folk, and rock." The Country Music Association (CMA) nominated Tillis in both 1991 and 1992 for the Horizon Award (now called the Best New Artist Award). The same association nominated her twice in the category Single of the Year: for "Don't Tell Me What to Do" in 1991 and "Maybe It Was Memphis" one year later. She was also nominated by the Academy of Country Music for Top Female Vocalist five times between 1991 and 1995. "Maybe It Was Memphis" also gave Tillis her first Grammy Award nomination, in the category of Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance, at the 35th Grammy Awards in 1993. Put Yourself in My Place was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in June 1992 for sales of 500,000 copies.

### 1992–1995: Homeward Looking Angel and Sweetheart's Dance

In 1992, Arista Nashville released Tillis's next album, Homeward Looking Angel. The lead single, " Shake the Sugar Tree ", reached the top five on the country charts the same year. Tillis and Worley both enjoyed the sound of Stephanie Bentley 's vocals on the demonstration track and chose to retain them on the final recording. The album charted another top-10 hit with the Gretchen Peters composition " Let That Pony Run ". After it, " Cleopatra, Queen of Denial " and " Do You Know Where Your Man Is " peaked in lower chart positions. Homeward Looking Angel also included a duet with Diamond Rio lead singer Marty Roe titled "Love Is Only Human". Tillis co-wrote half of the album's songs including "Cleopatra, Queen of Denial" with her then-husband, songwriter Bob DiPiero. Worley provided backing vocals on "Do You Know Where Your Man Is". The album was certified platinum in 1995 for sales of one million copies. Alanna Nash rated Homeward Looking Angel "C+", calling Tillis's vocals "irritatingly in-your-face". Roch Parisien of AllMusic called it a "very solid" album, praising the songwriting of the singles in particular.

Tillis contributed to two collaborative singles in 1993: Dolly Parton 's " Romeo " and George Jones 's " I Don't Need Your Rockin' Chair ". The former was nominated that year for Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals, while the latter won Vocal Event of the Year from the Country Music Association (CMA). The CMA organization also nominated her for Female Vocalist of the Year, while "Cleopatra, Queen of Denial" was nominated by both the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association for Video of the Year. In early 1994, several of Tillis's archived recordings for Warner were compiled into an album titled Collection. Included on this were the singles "There Goes My Love" and "Those Memories of You", along with the original Warner recordings of "Maybe It Was Memphis" and "One of Those Things". Also included was her previously unreleased rendition of " Five Minutes ", a single in 1990 for Lorrie Morgan. Mansfield considered the inclusion of the latter three songs "interesting" in a review for AllMusic.

Sweetheart's Dance, Tillis's third Arista album, was released in April 1994. A year later, it became her second platinum album. It was also certified platinum by the Canadian Recording Industry Association (now Music Canada). Tillis intentionally sought more songs by outside writers than on the first two Arista albums, stating that she "wanted to paint a landscape rather than a self-portrait". She also co-produced for the first time, doing so with guitarist and producer Steve Fishell. The album's lead single " Spilled Perfume " (which Tillis co-wrote with Dean Dillon) reached top five on the country charts after its release. Its follow-up was a cover of Jackie DeShannon 's " When You Walk in the Room ", which peaked at number two on Billboard and number one on Radio & Records. This cover featured backing vocals from Mary Chapin Carpenter and Kim Richey. After it came " Mi Vida Loca (My Crazy Life) ", Tillis's only number-one single on both the Billboard and RPM charts. The album's next single, " I Was Blown Away ", made number 16 before Tillis requested that it be withdrawn as a single, as she thought the title would be insensitive to listeners after the Oklahoma City bombing. Its replacement was " In Between Dances ", which became a top five hit by year's end. The album's closing track "'Til All the Lonely's Gone" featured bluegrass musician Bill Monroe on mandolin, plus backing vocals from Mel Tillis along with Pam's siblings Carrie, Cindy, Connie, and Mel Tillis Jr. Brian Mansfield rated the album four-and-a-half stars out of five, writing that it "found the magic blend of Nashville sound, California country rock, and post- Beatles pop." John D. McLaughlin of The Province called Tillis "clear-eyed and confident", while praising the inclusion of her family on the closing track. The CMA awarded her Female Vocalist of the Year in 1994, and she was nominated again in the same category again every year through 1997. "Mi Vida Loca" was nominated for Best Female Country Vocal Performance at the 38th Annual Grammy Awards in early 1996.

### 1995 – 1997: All of This Love and Greatest Hits

During this time, Tillis played a benefit concert for Nashville Cares, a local association dedicated to support of those with HIV/AIDS. In late 1995, Tillis released All of This Love, her fourth disc for Arista and fifth overall. All of This Love produced top-10 hits with " Deep Down " and " The River and the Highway ". Also included on it were the number-14 " It's Lonely Out There " and "Betty's Got a Bass Boat", her first Arista single to miss the top 40. She produced the album by herself. At the time, Tom Roland of The Tennessean noted the rarity of female producers in country music, citing Gail Davies, Rosanne Cash, and Wendy Waldman among the few. Tillis compared her role as producer to that of a film director and noted that all of the musicians involved were supportive. She also considered her role "ironic" because the song "The River and the Highway" contrasts how men and women perceive a relationship. Billboard rated All of This Love favorably, saying that Tillis "continues to mature as a singer". All of This Love became Tillis's second gold album. She supported the album by touring with Lorrie Morgan and Carlene Carter.

A Greatest Hits package followed in 1997, compiling her most successful Arista singles to that point. The album featured two new tracks which were both released as singles. These were " All the Good Ones Are Gone " and " Land of the Living ", which both reached top five on the country charts in 1997. The former was nominated Song of the Year at the 1997 Academy of Country Music awards, Music Video of the Year and Single of the Year at the Country Music Association awards, and Best Female Country Vocal Performance at the 40th Grammy Awards. Greatest Hits became Tillis's third and final platinum album in 2001.

### 1998 – 2001: Every Time and Thunder & Roses

Tillis released Every Time for Arista Nashville in 1998. Unlike her previous albums, Tillis did not co-write any of the songs. She told The Tennessean at the time of the album's release that she thought her then-recent divorce from Bob DiPiero would make any song she co-wrote "dark and depressing". Contributing writers on the album were Beth Nielsen Chapman, Leslie Satcher, and Eagles member Timothy B. Schmit. Tillis co-produced with guitarist and producer Billy Joe Walker Jr., with additional production from Chris Farren on his composition "We Must Be Thinking Alike". One of Satcher's compositions, " I Said a Prayer ", was the album's lead single. This song reached number twelve on the American country charts and number seven on the Canadian country charts. The title track was the album's only other single. Jana Pendragon of Allmusic praised Tillis's voice and song selection, although she criticized the "usual overproduction that characterizes Nashville in the '90s". Joel Bernstein of Country Standard Time was mixed toward the album as well. He thought that "I Said a Prayer" sounded like a "sixties girl group " and said that the rest of the album "lacks her usual playfulness."

Tillis was involved in multiple collaborative efforts after the release of Every Time. One of these was recording the original song "After a Kiss" for the soundtrack to the 1999 film Happy, Texas. This song charted at number 50 on Hot Country Songs that year. She was also one of several artists on the single "Same Old Train" from the 1999 Columbia Records tribute album Tribute to Tradition. This song won the Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals that same year. The Academy of Country Music also nominated this collaboration for Vocal Event of the Year, her last nomination to date from that association. She and Jason Sellers covered George Jones and Tammy Wynette 's 1976 duet " Golden Ring " on Sellers's 1999 album A Matter of Time. Also in 1999, Tillis played several concerts with her father. In 2000, country singer Little Jimmy Dickens invited Tillis to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry. Marty Stuart inducted her on August 26, 2000. Later that year she appeared at a ceremony honoring the Grand Ole Opry's 75th anniversary, which was televised on the former TNN (The Nashville Network). Kenny Chesney 's 2000 single " I Lost It " featured Tillis on background vocals.

Restructuring of Arista Nashville's parent company Sony Music Nashville delayed release of Tillis's last Arista album Thunder & Roses. Originally slated for release in 2000, it was not issued until early 2001. The album included another duet with her father called "Waiting on the Wind". The pair had previously sung the song in concert several years prior. Walker and Worley alternated production duties with Dann Huff and Kenny Greenberg. The only chart entry off Thunder & Roses was " Please ", which peaked at number 22 on the Billboard country chart. Kevin Oliver of Country Standard Time described "Please" as "one of those uplifting slice of life anthems that sounds great on the radio and connects with women on some level that men will never completely understand." He also thought the album as a whole had a "strong yet deft touch". Tillis herself cited the song as one that would appeal to single women.

### 2002–2003: It's All Relative

Tillis exited Arista Nashville in early 2002, citing both the expiration of her contract and her dissatisfaction with Arista executives prioritizing songs that had potential radio success over songs she wanted to record. After exiting the label, she began recording a tribute album to her father, consisting of songs that he recorded or wrote for other artists. Although she originally intended to record the project independently, she signed with Epic Records ' Lucky Dog branch in 2002. Titled It's All Relative: Tillis Sings Tillis, the tribute album was released through Lucky Dog that same year. Ray Benson, frontman of the Western swing band Asleep at the Wheel, produced the album. One of the songs covered was " I Ain't Never ", a number-one single for Mel Tillis in 1972. It also featured covers of Patsy Cline 's " So Wrong " and Bobby Bare 's " Detroit City ". Dolly Parton contributed vocals to a cover of "The Violet and a Rose", Mel Tillis's first chart entry in 1958. Trisha Yearwood and Rhonda Vincent sang backing vocals on a cover of " Honey (Open That Door) ", a number-one single written by Mel Tillis for Ricky Skaggs. Other musicians on the album included Marty Stuart, Delbert McClinton, and The Jordanaires. Country Standard Time writer Eli Messinger praised Pam Tillis's vocal delivery on her father's songs, calling the collection "heartfelt".

In June 2003, Tillis was dropped from Lucky Dog following another label re-structuring. Despite this, she began performing her own shows in Branson, Missouri, at a theater owned by comedian Yakov Smirnoff. These shows included both her and her father's hit singles, as well as stories about her childhood. Her sister Carrie contributed backing vocals to these shows. Smirnoff had offered her the opportunity to perform there, and she accepted because she thought it would allow for a different presentation style than her standard concerts. In particular, the use of a theater allowed her to incorporate costumes into her performance. She continued to perform in Branson in 2004 with Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers. In 2005, she replaced Linda Davis as the lead act of an annual Christmas concert held at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville. She continued to tour at this point, and compiled both a concert DVD and a Christmas album sold exclusively at her shows.

### 2007–present: Founding her own record label

Tillis did not release another album until 2007, when she founded her own label called Stellar Cat. Her first album for her own label was RhineStoned. Co-writers on the album included Leslie Satcher, Lisa Brokop, Matraca Berg, Jon Randall, and Verlon Thompson. John Anderson sang duet vocals on "Life Sure Has Changed Us Around". Tillis thought that being on her own label allowed her more creative freedom than before, including her decisions to market the album to Americana music formats, and to make a music video for the track "Band in the Window" despite not officially promoting it as a single. She co-produced the project with singer-songwriter Gary Nicholson. Kevin Oliver of Country Standard Time found influences of rock music and jazz, stating that the album was "widely varied and enjoyable". The Christmas album previously available only at her concerts was released later in the year as Just in Time for Christmas. It featured a mix of Christmas standards and original content. Also in 2007, the Country Music Hall of Fame opened an exhibition called "It's All Relative", featuring artifacts from Mel and Pam's music careers.

Tillis started a tour in 2008 that included Regina, Saskatchewan dates in January. For this tour, she sang both her and her father's songs, along with album cuts and new material. She recorded no other albums until 2012's Recollection, which comprised re-recordings of her hit singles from Arista Nashville. She chose to do this when noticing how "dated" she thought some of her old songs sounded, and relied on her road band to provide instrumentation. After she booked tour dates with Lorrie Morgan, the two artists decided to record a collaborative album called Dos Divas in 2013. The album included a mix of solo songs from each artist as well as a number of duets. They also toured together to promote this album on a tour called Grits and Glamour. A second collaborative album, Come See Me and Come Lonely, followed in 2017. Also at this point she began performing acoustic concerts with two acoustic guitarists as the Pam Tillis Trio. Tillis, Morgan, and Terri Clark held a benefit concert in 2018 for country singer Anita Cochran after she was diagnosed with cancer. Tillis also revived Women in the Round in 2017 with Ashley Cleveland, Tricia Walker, and Karen Staley.

In 2020, Tillis announced that she had been recording a new album. On February 28, 2020, Tillis released the title track of the album, "Looking for a Feeling". The album itself was released two months later. It features twelve tracks, six of which were co-written by Tillis, as well as a cover of Gillian Welch and David Rawlings 's "Dark Turn of Mind". On June 29, 2022, Tillis had been nominated for induction into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame alongside Kirk Franklin, Brad Paisley, and Shania Twain, though Twain ultimately received the honor.

## Musical styles

Colin Larkin wrote in the Virgin Encyclopedia of Country Music in 1999 that "her powerful vocal styling may not suit everybody". He also wrote at the time that "it still remains to be seen whether she can really establish herself with the hardline country traditionalists." The editors of the Encyclopedia of Country Music described Tillis as a "vocal stylist...pairing contemporary country lyrics with traditional country vocals, paving the way for such singers as Mindy McCready ". Tillis described her own vocal style as "not the twangiest country singer out there", as she thought her voice also contained rhythm and blues and rock phrasings. Roch Parisien of AllMusic described her voice as "pure, full-bodied country" and a "genuinely throaty twang", despite considering it "exaggerated to the point of annoyance" on "Do You Know Where Your Man Is". Steven Wine, reviewing Looking for a Feeling for the Associated Press, said that she "has mastered the art of singing without raising her voice. She swoops and slides, yes, but most of all she smolders, an alto with a blue hue." Alanna Nash of Entertainment Weekly wrote of Sweetheart's Dance that "Moving beyond the attention she gained from her Kewpie doll face and piercing soprano, she’s gone the distance to incorporate all of her musical past into the country framework for an updated, '90s feel." Robert K. Oermann, in the book Behind the Grand Ole Opry Curtain: Tales of Romance and Tragedy, described Tillis as having a "torrid soprano", "vivid songwriting", and "enchanting wit".

Writers have taken notice of Tillis's use of wordplay in her material. Reviewing All of This Love for Country Standard Time, Joel Bernstein noted Tillis's affinity for wordplay in her song titles, such as on that album's "Tequila Mockingbird". Nash criticized the song for similar reasons, and Kevin John Coyne of Country Universe cited "Blue Rose Is" as another example of wordplay. Bernstein also thought of her decision to produce All of This Love by herself that "tastefulness continues to be Tillis' trademark". In an interview with Country Universe in 2020, Tillis stated that her later albums featured fewer songs she wrote than her earlier albums due to her own criticism of her work. She ultimately decided to start co-writing again on Looking for a Feeling because she considered her own writing to be "words out of heart". Nash, reviewing Collection in 1994, thought that because the album contained material recorded earlier in her career, it lacked the "plucky personality and the supercharged vocals that now punch their way out of the radio". Both Nash and Larry Crowley of The Arizona Republic thought that "Spilled Perfume", which is about one woman confronting another over a one-night stand, displayed feminist themes. Coyne thought that Put Yourself in My Place showed an unusual amount of artistic freedom for a new country music act in the 1990s. He considered "Maybe It Was Memphis" to be her signature song, stating that its "fiery performance and the aggressive production still sound fresh today".

Being the daughter of a country musician, she was regularly compared to her father. Because of this, she told the Associated Press in 2017 that she felt the best advice to give to an aspiring musician was "be yourself". She also said that her father exposed her to other musical influences besides himself, such as Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn. Despite this, she also noted that her father was very strict about what music she could listen to and what concerts she could attend as a child; specifically, she stated that her listening to The Beatles "alienated" him. In addition, she stated that differences in musical tastes were what ended her role as his backing vocalist. Of her attempts to establish a musical identity separate from her father, Colin Larkin wrote in 1999 that she "has made a promising start".

## Acting

Tillis holds several acting roles in television, film, and theater. One of her first was the 1993 movie The Thing Called Love, in which she and several other country music singers made guest appearances. She also had cameo appearances in the NBC crime show L.A. Law, along with episodes of Diagnosis: Murder and Promised Land on CBS. Of acting, Tillis said that she did not find it considerably different from singing, because both roles require "taking the raw material of emotion and making something out of it." In 1999, she appeared in the Broadway revue Smokey Joe's Cafe, where she and others performed various show tunes by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Of doing so, Tillis stated at the time that she "wanted to branch out", and took a role in the show when her agent found the position was available. She also appeared as herself on the American Broadcasting Company musical drama Nashville. Drag queen RuPaul, a fan of Tillis's, invited her to appear as a guest judge on an episode of RuPaul's Drag Race.

## Personal life

Pam Tillis' first marriage was to Rick Mason in 1978. The couple had one son named Ben, with whom Tillis was pregnant when the couple divorced that same year. She told Closer Weekly in 2019 that she divorced Mason due to his alcoholism and her concerns that she "was not ready" to be in a relationship. She assumed custody of Ben after the divorce. As of 2019, Ben works as a wilderness guide.

In 1991 Tillis married songwriter and guitarist Bob DiPiero. He occasionally toured as a member of her road band Mystic Biscuit. DiPiero co-wrote "Blue Rose Is", "Cleopatra, Queen of Denial", and "It's Lonely Out There". In 1996, the couple bought a house in Nashville which was previously owned by Rodney Crowell and Rosanne Cash prior to those two singers' divorce. Tillis and DiPiero divorced in 1998. In 2019, she told Closer Weekly that the two divorced because she felt that their musical careers were overtaking their personal lives, although she also stated that she still considered DiPiero an "awesome person". Tillis began dating musician, photographer, and record producer Matt Spicher in 2001. The two married in 2009.

Tillis' brother Mel Tillis Jr., often credited as Sonny Tillis, is also a singer and songwriter. He co-wrote Jamie O'Neal 's number-one single " When I Think About Angels " along with singles by Clinton Gregory, Tammy Cochran, and Ty Herndon. Tillis' dad, Mel Tillis, died at age 85 in 2017, after which Sonny began touring as a tribute act to him. Tillis' mother, Doris, died at age 79 in 2019.

## Discography

Studio albums

- Above and Beyond the Doll of Cutey (1983)

- Put Yourself in My Place (1991)

- Homeward Looking Angel (1992)

- Sweetheart's Dance (1994)

- All of This Love (1995)

- Every Time (1998)

- Thunder & Roses (2001)

- It's All Relative: Tillis Sings Tillis (2002)

- RhineStoned (2007)

- Just in Time for Christmas (2007)

- Recollection (2009)

- Dos Divas with Lorrie Morgan (2013)

- Come See Me and Come Lonely with Lorrie Morgan (2017)

- Looking for a Feeling (2020)


The Gate (1987 film)

# The Gate (1987 film)

## Abstract

The Gate is a 1987 supernatural horror film directed by Tibor Takács and starring Stephen Dorff in his film debut. The film follows two young boys who accidentally release a horde of demons from their backyard through a large hole in the ground.

An international co-production between Canada and the United States, the film was released by the New Century Vista Film Company and grossed around twice its budget. Since its release, it has obtained a cult following and was followed by a sequel in 1990 titled The Gate II: Trespassers.

A 3D-remake directed by Alex Winter was in production; it was initially set for a release in 2011, but no release occurred at that time.

## Plot

Twelve-year-old Glen has a nightmare of finding his home abandoned, then going into his tree-house only for it to be struck by lightning and collapse. When he wakes, he finds that in his backyard, workers have cut down the same tree from his nightmare and unearthed a large geode which is later found by Glen and his older friend Terry. Glen catches a splinter and leaves a small amount of blood behind.

Glen's parents leave town for three days, placing his 15-year-old sister Alexandra ("Al") in charge. While Al throws a party, Terry and Glen break open the geode after discovering it has left strange writing on a notepad, and read the incantations aloud. They go downstairs just as the party-goers are playing a levitation game. Everyone is shocked when they levitate Glen.

That night, Glen sees his bedroom wall stretching, and Terry embraces an apparition of his dead mother that turns out to be Glen's dog Angus, who dies as a result. The next day, Terry brings a heavy metal album to Glen's house with lyrics based on "The Dark Book". He believes that the hole in Glen's backyard is a gateway to a domain of evil gods, and speculates that their actions opened it. He concludes that the only missing element would be to deposit a sacrifice into the hole. Unknown to them, a friend of Al's dumps Angus's body into the hole, completing the summoning. After reading a section from "The Dark Book" that is supposed to close the gateway, the boys find the hole closed and assume that their efforts succeeded.

That night, a swarm of moths shatter Glen's bedroom window, and Angus' corpse is found in Terry's bed. Demonic arms try pulling Al under her bed; Terry and Glen barely save her. They try fleeing the house, but are greeted outside by Glen and Al's parents, actually disguised demons. After returning to the house, Al volunteers to inspect the yard, but the others see it swarming with small demons and call her back. Terry leads everyone to the basement to retrieve "The Dark Book", but it bursts into flames. They then attempt to stop the creatures by reading the Bible. Terry reads from Psalm 59 and the hole begins to close, but he slips and falls into the hole. Terry is attacked by the small demons before Al and Glen pull him out. Terry reads from Genesis, then throws the Bible into the hole, causing an explosion that appears to seal the hole.

That night, a wall breaks open and a construction worker's corpse falls through (Terry had previously lied to Glen that when his house was built, one of the workers died and the other workers had sealed him inside a wall). The worker pulls Terry into the wall, which seals behind him. Upstairs, Al notices a hazy image of the construction worker in her mirror before Glen bursts into her bedroom. Al throws a stereo at the construction worker and he disintegrates into dozens of little demons. Al holds the bedroom door shut while Glen races downstairs to find their father's gun. A demonic version of Terry appears, biting his hand before Al stabs Terry in the eye. Al and Glen hide in a closet, but the construction worker breaks through an interior wall and drags Al away.

Glen realizes that Terry and Al represent the two human sacrifices that would fully open the gate. He also realizes that the rocket he had given to Al for her birthday, a symbol of love, light and purity, may stop the rise of the Old Gods. He makes his way upstairs as the floor collapses, revealing a chasm beneath the house. Glen attempts to launch the rocket, but his matches keep blowing out. The wind sucks Glen onto the foyer, where a giant serpentine demon emerges. The demon pats Glen on the head and touches his hand before returning to the hole. Glen discovers that the demon's touch has placed an eye in the palm of his hand. He stabs the eye, then struggles to descend the staircase, at which point the demon re-emerges. Glen uses a battery-powered launcher to fire his rocket into the demon, causing it to explode.

Angus emerges from the front closet, seemingly restored to life. He is followed by Terry and Al, also unhurt. Later, the kids worry about how to explain the wreckage of the house to their parents.

## Cast

- Stephen Dorff as Glen

- Christa Denton as Alexandra "Al"

- Louis Tripp as Terry Chandler

- Kelly Rowan as Lori Lee

- Jennifer Irwin as Linda Lee

- Deborah Grover as Mom

- Scot Denton as Dad

- Ingrid Veninger as Paula

- Sean Fagan as Eric

- Linda Goranson as Mrs. Chandler

- Carl Kraines as The Workman

- Andrew Gunn as Brad

## Production

The first draft of the script was written by Michael Nankin when he was unemployed and recently divorced, basing it on "the nastiest thoughts from childhood". Glen and Al were depicted as being more mischievous than shown in the final film, and the demons spread to the rest of the town, where they would drag neighbors out into the streets to kill them. The gigantic demon was originally envisioned as being made of bloody entrails.

The house was a real home in Toronto, but an exterior exit had to be constructed for the production, featuring bricks, stairs, and a bug zapper. Beyond the backyard was a new housing development, so the crew erected a fence around the yard to block the construction vehicles and workers from view.

The effects used to create the demons included stop-motion animation as well as forced perspective, wherein actors wearing rubber suits were made to look minuscule by their position relative to the camera and to the human characters. Randall William Cook, the film's special effects supervisor, used his hand and eye to create the scene where an eyeball appears in Glen's palm.

## Release

The Gate opened in the US on May 15, 1987. It ranked second in its opening weekend and grossed $4.3 million. It grossed a total of $13.5 million by the end of its run. Lionsgate released a special edition DVD on October 6, 2009, with audio commentary from the director and interviews. They later released a Blu-ray version via their label Vestron Video on February 28, 2017. It includes commentary from the filmmakers and several featurettes.

### Critical response

Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reports an approval rating of 36% based on 11 reviews and a rating average of 4.90/10. Michael Wilmington of the Los Angeles Times, in comparing it to the works of Steven Spielberg and Stephen King, wrote, "whatever minor triumphs it dredges up, is too hopelessly copycat". In rating it 3/5 stars, TV Guide called it a "surprisingly effective" and refreshingly uncynical horror film that may be too wimpy for some horror fans. Commenting on the film's dreamlike plot, Time Out said it could have been a cult film had the filmmakers abandoned their attempts to tie together the bizarre elements.

In a retrospective review, Odie Henderson of Slant Magazine wrote, "If you can get in touch with your inner 12-year-old, The Gate is a pleasant diversion." Henderson identifies family values as a core theme, though it is subtle enough not to be preachy. Reviewing the DVD for Dread Central, Paul Nicholasi rated it 4.5/5 stars and called it "a MUST HAVE movie for all horror fans" that they can show their kids to introduce them to horror films.

## Sequels

In 1992 a sequel was released entitled The Gate II: Trespassers Louis Tripp reprises his role as Terry, but was the only original cast member to return. It was directed by Tibor Takács and opened in 350 theaters on February 28, 1992, and grossed $2 million. It was released on VHS in 1992 by Columbia Tristar Home Video. In October 2017, Scream Factory released The Gate II on Blu-ray.

In 2009, Actor and Director Alex Winter was in development of a 3rd film entitled The Gate 3D pitched as a remake. However the project has been stuck in development hell since.

In 2020, Louis Tripp worked with Australian musician KidCrusher on a music and video collaboration entitled Sacrifice, reprising his role as Terry for a tribute to The Gate. On KidCrusher's podcast he mentioned The Gate is the scariest movie he has ever seen and working with Tripp was a blessing.


Ironheart (miniseries)

# Ironheart (miniseries)

## Abstract

Ironheart is an upcoming American television miniseries created by Chinaka Hodge for the streaming service Disney+, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. It is intended to be one of the television series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) produced by Marvel Studios, via its Marvel Television label, alongside Proximity Media sharing continuity with the films of the franchise. Hodge serves as head writer.

Dominique Thorne reprises her role as Riri Williams / Ironheart from the film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), starring alongside Anthony Ramos, Lyric Ross, Regan Aliyah, Alden Ehrenreich, Manny Montana, Matthew Elam, and Anji White. The series was announced in December 2020, along with Thorne's casting. Hodge was hired in April 2021, with additional castings revealed in February 2022. Sam Bailey and Angela Barnes joined to direct in April 2022. Filming began at Trilith Studios in Atlanta, Georgia by early June, before moving to Chicago in late October, and concluded by early November.

Ironheart is expected to premiere on Disney+ in 2025, and will consist of six episodes. It will be part of Phase Five of the MCU.

## Premise

Following the events of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), MIT student Riri Williams returns home to Chicago where she discovers secrets that pit technology against magic, setting her on a path of danger and adventure.

## Cast and characters

- Dominique Thorne as Riri Williams / Ironheart: An MIT student and genius inventor from Chicago who created a suit of armor that rivals the one built by Tony Stark / Iron Man. Thorne explained that Ironheart would give a "deeper dive" into Riri after a "preview" of the character was seen in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), saying the series helps explain her background and upbringing that made her the person seen in Wakanda Forever, as well as dealing with the events of that film and how they change her outlook on being Ironheart.

- Anthony Ramos as Parker Robbins / The Hood: An ally of Riri's who dons a hood that allows him to tap into dark arts and magic. Ramos said Robbins was complex and a misfit who "wants to take in other misfits and show the world that you looked at us as outcasts but we're going to end up on top". Robbins is from the Chicago neighborhood Humboldt Park, being raised by his mother who is part of the Puerto Rican street gang-turned activist organization, the Young Lords; in the comics, Robbins is from New York City.

- Lyric Ross as Natalie Washington: Riri's best friend.

- Alden Ehrenreich as Joe McGillicuddy

- Manny Montana as Cousin John

- Matthew Elam as Xavier Washington

- Anji White as Ronnie Williams: Riri's mother.

Additionally, Jim Rash reprises his role as the Dean of MIT from Captain America: Civil War (2016). Shea Couleé stars as Slug. Harper Anthony, Zoe Terakes, Regan Aliyah, Shakira Barrera, Rashida "Sheedz" Olayiwola, Sonia Denis, Paul Calderón, Cree Summer, and Sacha Baron Cohen have been cast in undisclosed roles.

## Production

### Development

A film based on the Marvel Comics character Riri Williams / Ironheart had a script written by Jada Rodriguez by July 2018, when it was listed on The Black List, although this did not materialize. In December 2020, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige announced the Disney+ television series Ironheart. In April 2021, Chinaka Hodge was hired to serve as head writer of the series. In March 2022, series actor Anthony Ramos revealed that Ryan Coogler, the director of Black Panther (2018) and its sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), was involved in the production; star Dominique Thorne first appears as Riri Williams / Ironheart in Wakanda Forever, and Coogler's production company Proximity Media was set to work alongside Marvel Studios on select Disney+ series as part of a television deal with Walt Disney Television. In April, Coogler's Proximity Media was confirmed to be producing the series, when Sam Bailey and Angela Barnes joined to each direct three episodes of the series. Ironheart will consist of six episodes. Executive producers on the series include Marvel Studios' Feige, Louis D'Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Brad Winderbaum, and Zoie Nagelhout; Proximity Media's Coogler, Zinzi Coogler, and Sev Ohanian; and Hodge. Eve Ewing, co-creator of Ironheart in the comics, serves as consulting producer. It is being released under Marvel Studios' " Marvel Television " label.

### Writing

Malarie Howard, Francesca Gailes, Jacqueline J. Gailes, Amir Sulaiman, and Cristian Martinez serve as writers for the series alongside Hodge, with the Gailes both previously writing on She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022). The writers' room for the series was set to begin in May 2021. Feige felt the conflict between Riri's technology and the magic of Parker Robbins / The Hood made the series unique within the MCU. Marvel Studios executive Nate Moore described the series as a direct sequel to Wakanda Forever by exploring "interesting repercussions" of Riri's experiences in that film when she returns to her home. The series sees Riri being expelled from MIT for skipping classes and using too many of the universities resources, which causes her to engage in illegal activities, such as joining the Hood and his gang, to fund her projects. Setting the series in Riri's hometown of Chicago, which Ramos called a character in its own right that is part of the identity of all the characters, gives her and the other characters "options" in trying to get ahead, be it with power, money, or something else. Ramos explained that this affects each of the characters positively and negatively, and that eventually each choice made starts to interweave in other characters' journeys. The writers tried to make complicated characters who were neither entirely good or evil, with star Alden Ehrenreich believing the writers presented "a psychological, emotional portrait" of each character.

### Casting

Dominique Thorne was revealed to have been cast as Riri Williams / Ironheart with the series' announcement, after Marvel Studios offered her the role without auditioning; Thorne had previously auditioned for Black Panther (2018) and was told then by Marvel Studios that they wanted to work with her on a future project after she had more experience. In February 2022, Anthony Ramos joined the series as Parker Robbins / The Hood, described as a "key role" and the series' main villain. Deadline Hollywood reported that his role would expand to other MCU projects, similar to how Jonathan Majors appeared as He Who Remains in the first season of Loki (2021) ahead of his appearance as Kang the Conqueror in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023). Later that month, Lyric Ross was cast as Riri's best friend. Newcomer Harper Anthony joined the cast in an undisclosed role by April, followed by Manny Montana in June. A month later, Alden Ehrenreich joined the cast in a "key role".

From August to October 2022, Shea Couleé, Zoe Terakes, Regan Aliyah, Shakira Barrera, Rashida "Sheedz" Olayiwola, Sonia Denis, Paul Calderón, and Cree Summer joined the cast in undisclosed roles. At the D23 Expo in September, Jim Rash was revealed to be reprising his role as the Dean of MIT from Captain America: Civil War (2016). The following month, Deadline Hollywood reported that Sacha Baron Cohen had joined the MCU, in a role that would see him potentially first appear in the later episodes of Ironheart followed by appearances in other MCU projects. His role was likely to be the character Mephisto, which would be portrayed by Baron Cohen in-person as well as through CGI. In June 2023, Anji White was revealed as a series regular, believed to be portraying Riri's mother Ronnie. A United States Copyright Office filing revealed in October 2023 for the series revealed that Ehrenreich was playing Joe McGillicuddy, Ross playing Natalie Washington, Matthew Elam playing Xavier Washington, White playing Ronnie Williams, Montana playing Cousin John, and Couleé playing Slug, while Cohen would appear in the series.

### Design

Andrew Menzies serves as the production designer for the series.

### Filming

Filming for the series occurred in Chicago in late May 2022, to capture plate shots and exterior establishing shots. Principal photography had begun by June 2, at Trilith Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, under the working title Wise Guy, with Bailey and Barnes directing. Alison Kelly and Ante Cheng serve as cinematographers. Filming occurred in September on Edgewood Avenue in Sweet Auburn, Atlanta, at a building constructed to stand in for a White Castle in Chicago. Filming was scheduled to move to Chicago by October 24, 2022, to run through November 3, in South Side, Near North Side, and Downtown Chicago. Filming had wrapped by early November 2022. In late January 2024, Thorne said that filming had concluded, though additional photography was reported to occur from February to April 2024.

### Post-production

Winderbaum confirmed that the series was being edited by March 2024. Cedric Nairn-Smith and Shannon Baker Davis serve as editors, with Nairn-Smith previously working on the Marvel Studios series Moon Knight (2022) and Daredevil: Born Again (2025).

## Marketing

Footage from the series was shown at the 2022 D23 Expo. Thorne and Ramos promoted the series at Disney's May 2024 upfront presentation, where the release year was announced. The pair again promoted the series that August, at Disney's D23 convention, with Coogler, Ross, Ramos, Ehrenreich, and Aliyah. Footage from the series was shown, which Jacob Hall of /Film described as "a crime show with an Iron Man twist at the center". Following online leaks of the D23 footage, Marvel released an official look at Riri in her Ironheart armor within their video celebrating the company's 85th anniversary.

## Release

Ironheart will be released on Disney+ in 2025, and will consist of six episodes. A filing for the first episode with the United States Copyright Office indicates an approximate release on September 3, 2025. It was originally scheduled to debut in late 2023, however, by February 2023, the series was unlikely to premiere that year as Disney and Marvel Studios were re-evaluating their content output. In May 2023, it was reported to be releasing in 2024, but was removed from Marvel Studios' release schedule in September 2023, with the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes affecting the series' ability to be completed. It will be part of Phase Five of the MCU.


The Girlfriend Experience

# The Girlfriend Experience

## Abstract

The Girlfriend Experience is a 2009 American slice-of-life drama film directed by Steven Soderbergh, written by Brian Koppelman and David Levien, and starring then- pornographic actress Sasha Grey. It was shot in New York City, and a rough cut was screened at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2009. The film was also made available on Amazon Video on Demand as a pre-theatrical rental.

Soderbergh mentioned Michelangelo Antonioni 's Red Desert and Ingmar Bergman 's Cries and Whispers as influences. The film is also notable because it was produced for $1.3 million and was shot with a relatively inexpensive Red One camera.

## Synopsis

In the days leading up to the 2008 presidential election, a high-end Manhattan escort meets the challenges of her boyfriend, her clients, and her work. Chelsea (real name Christine) specializes in offering girlfriend experiences. She finds that lately her clients are spending less and less on her services, and are troubled by the Great Recession, a topic they raise frequently in her company. She is also interviewed by a journalist, who quizzes her about her work and personal life. She goes from client to client performing her services.

## Cast

- Sasha Grey as Christine, alias Chelsea

- Chris Santos as Chris

- Emma Lahana as Adrian

- Philip Eytan as Philip

- Timothy Davis as Tim

- Peter Zizzo as Zizzo

- Glenn Kenny as "The Erotic Connoisseur"

- Vincent Dellacera as Chelsea's Driver

- Kimberly Magness as Happy Hour

- Mark Jacobson as Interviewer

- Kenneth Myers as Craft Steak Maître d’

- Michael Sugar as “Sugar”

- Daniel Algrant as Dan

## Reception

As of June 2020, the film has a 67% approval rating on the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes based on 139 reviews with an average rating of 6.39/10. The website's critics consensus states: "Steven Soderbergh's latest lo-fi production is strikingly crafted but emotionally vague". Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 66 out of 100, based on 26 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

Roger Ebert rated the film four out of four stars, saying "This film is true about human nature. It clearly sees needs and desires. It is not universal, but within its particular focus, it is unrelenting."

On the opposite end of the spectrum, David Edelstein of New York Magazine complained that, "Most of the dialogue is listless, and no matter how much Soderbergh snips and stitches, the movie is a corpse with twitching limbs." Luke Davies, critic for The Monthly, wrote that the film is "disposable and pretentious" and "is shot sombrely and austerely, in a style that might be described as 'vacuous chic'" and concluded that "as a film in which a porn star's presence is a fundamental marketing hook, it is masturbation."

## Television series

In June 2014, Starz committed to a 13-episode order for a new television series, based on the film, with Soderbergh and Philip Fleishman as executive producers. Lodge Kerrigan and Amy Seimetz co-wrote and directed all 13 episodes. Though the main character uses the same name as Sasha Grey’s character in the film, Grey does not appear in the series. Riley Keough starred as the new lead, described by Soderbergh as "a new character on a new trajectory". Season 2 featured new stories focusing on two different sets of characters. Season 3 was announced in July by Starz. The third season, featuring Julia Goldani Telles in the lead, premiered on May 2, 2021.


The GoodTimesKid

# The GoodTimesKid

## Abstract

The GoodTimesKid is a 2005 American minimalist comedy/drama film starring Sara Diaz and Azazel Jacobs. Jacobs also directed the film. The DVD is distributed by Benten Films.

## Plot

The story follows two men, both named Rodolfo Cano, whose lives intersect when one Rodolfo volunteers to join the Army. Complicating the picture is Diaz, played by Sara Diaz, who comes between the two Rodolfos.

## Production

The movie was shot in Echo Park, Los Angeles and filmed entirely on film left over from a larger budget picture.

## Reception

The GoodTimesKid garnered generally positive reviews and currently holds a 78% (positive) rating on rottentomatoes based on 9 reviews.


Jama Mosque, Dharamshala

# Jama Mosque, Dharamshala

## Abstract

Jama Mosque is one of the biggest mosque in Himachal Pradesh located in Kotwali Bazar, Dharamshala, India.

## History

The Jama Masjid in Dharamsala was built by Janab Ghulam Rasool in the year 1719 AD. The 1905 Kangra earthquake damaged the mosque and its dome. At that time, Ahle Islam committee took charge and renovated the damaged part of the mosque and people started offering prayers regularly.

Between 1947 and 1995, there was only one mosque in Yol cantonment where Salat-ul-jumuah (community prayer offered once a week at noon on every Friday) and Salatul Eieden prayers was organized. In 1995, the mosque Aman-e- Awam welfare committee was established and salah (obligatory five times prayer) continued in this mosque. In the same year, Imam Muhammad Kamil Jamie Sb was appointed and he continues to be the Imam of the mosque.


Huangmugang station

# Huangmugang station

## Abstract

Huangmugang station is an interchange station for Line 7 and Line 14 of the Shenzhen Metro. Line 7 platforms opened on 28 October 2016 and Line 14 platforms opened on 28 October 2022.

It will be a massive transfer station of Line 7, Line 14 and Line 24 in the future. Line 24 platforms was reserved during the construction of Huangmugang Comprehensive Transportation Hub Project, built as part of Line 14.

## Exits

Note: Exit 4 - Exit 12, Exit 14 - Exit 17 are not open.


The Greasy Strangler

# The Greasy Strangler

## Abstract

The Greasy Strangler is a 2016 American black comedy horror film directed by Jim Hosking, and written by Hosking and Toby Harvard. The film stars Michael St. Michaels, Sky Elobar, Elizabeth De Razzo, Gil Gex, Abdoulaye NGom and Holland MacFallister. The film was released on October 7, 2016, by FilmRise.

## Plot

Ronnie, a pathological liar who fabricates stories about disco groups like the Bee Gees, runs a disco -themed walking location tour in his town, alongside his son Brayden, who aspires to be a space fantasy author. Ronnie allows Brayden to live with him, seemingly because Brayden prepares excessively greasy food for him. Ronnie asserts that Brayden drove his mother away, though truthfully, she left Ronnie for a fitness expert named Ricky Prickles.

At night, Ronnie completely covers himself in grease and strangles residents of the town, soon becoming dubbed "The Greasy Strangler". After his killings, he cleans himself of the grease by standing in a car wash run by a blind man named Paul. During one of the walking tours, Brayden meets a woman named Janet, and they begin a romantic relationship. One night, Ronnie strangles a hot dog vendor he had gotten in an argument with earlier, causing his eyes to pop out of his head, which Ronnie cooks and eats.

One night, Brayden and Janet have sex. Ronnie attempts to seduce her the next morning before he kills Oinker, Brayden's best friend. He later takes Janet out to a discotheque, threatening to evict Brayden if he does not allow him to. There, Ronnie attempts to kiss Janet, but she resists, saying that she may be in love with Brayden. Despite this, the pair inexplicably have sex. They mock Brayden when he runs from the house in despair. This later leads to a heated argument between Ronnie and Brayden.

Brayden then professes his love to Janet. Ronnie overhears this before going to the car wash to strangle and decapitate Paul. The next morning, Brayden calls a detective named Jody and reports that Ronnie may be the Greasy Strangler. Jody - who is actually Ronnie in disguise - visits the house the next day, and Brayden and Janet show him a spot of oil left behind on the carpet as evidence that Ronnie is the Greasy Strangler. Jody concludes that the oil is meaningless circumstantial evidence, and demands that they end all inquiries about Ronnie having committed the murders.

That night, Janet declares her mutual love for Brayden, and they decide to get married. Ronnie, hiding under the bed, reveals himself, claiming Janet as his lover and evicting Brayden. Janet replies that Brayden can live with her. Ronnie covers himself in grease, slaps Brayden, and drags Janet out of the house with him. Brayden covers himself in grease as well and follows the two to a movie theatre, where Ronnie is strangling Janet. Brayden, upon seeing this, opts to strangle her instead. Her eyes pop out of her head, which both he and Ronnie consume while watching the movie.

The next day, on a beach, Ronnie reveals that he secretly cares for Brayden, despite his annoyance with him. They bond over, in hindsight, their disgust with Janet. They cover themselves in grease and head to a forest where they murder Ricky Prickles. In a surreal turn of events, they then witness themselves being executed by firing squad, watching as confetti and champagne explode from their heads. They venture deeper into the forest, still covered in grease, and primally shake wooden spears at the camera.

## Cast

- Michael St. Michaels as Big Ronnie

- Sky Elobar as Big Brayden

- Elizabeth De Razzo as Janet

- Gil Gex as Big Paul

- Joe David Walters as Oinker

- Sam Dissanayake as Indian Tourist

- Abdoulaye N'Gom as Senegalese Tourist

- Holland MacFallister as Scandinavian Tourist

- Mel Kohl as Hot Dog Vendor

- Carl Solomon as Danny The Crooner

- Sal Koussa as Ricky Prickles

- Dana Haas as Big Heinie

- Jesse Keen as Big Thaddeus

- John Yuan as Hot Dog Mourner

- Matthew Yuan as Hot Dog Mourner

## Release

The Greasy Strangler premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival on January 22, 2016. The film was released on October 7, 2016, by FilmRise.

### Critical reception

The film received mixed reviews from critics. As of June 2020, it has a 63% approval rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 52 reviews, with an average score of 5.59/10. The site's consensus states: " The Greasy Strangler definitely isn't for everyone, but filmgoers in step with its off-kilter stride are in store for a singular cinematic experience." On Metacritic, the film has a 58 out of 100 rating, based on 13 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Jordan Hoffman, film critic of the British newspaper The Guardian, described the film as "the relentless monstrosity of a film is rife with fetishized cellulite, disgusting food and firehose penises. It's not for everyone – but perhaps it should be", in a four-star review that highlighted and praised the film’s bizarreness.

Peter Bradshaw, also of The Guardian, described the film as providing "uncompromising yuckiness" as well as laughs, in a three-star review.

In contrast, Wendy Ide of the Guardian’s sister paper The Observer gave it zero stars, stating “there’s nothing to this relentlessly inane horror comedy once you get past all the genitals”and describing it as “Like an early John Waters movie but without the sophistication”. More than seven years after the original review, in a column of critics reappraising their zero-star reviews, Ide doubled down on her scathing criticism: “I probably could have tolerated all the artless, attention-seeking gross-out antics and the barely veiled contempt for the characters and the audience – if the film wasn’t also so thuddingly tedious.”

James Franco wrote an article about The Greasy Strangler for his 'James Franco's Movie Column' in Indiewire: "Fake Penises Aren't the Only Funny Thing About The Greasy Strangler."

The Greasy Strangler won The Discovery Award at the British Independent Film Awards 2017.

The Greasy Strangler won Best Comedy at The Empire Magazine Film Awards 2017.