Interstellar (film)

# Interstellar (film)

## Abstract

Interstellar is a 2014 epic science fiction drama film directed by Christopher Nolan, who co-wrote the screenplay with his brother Jonathan. It stars Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Bill Irwin, Ellen Burstyn, Matt Damon, and Michael Caine. Set in a dystopian future where Earth is suffering from catastrophic blight and famine, the film follows a group of astronauts who travel through a wormhole near Saturn in search of a new home for mankind.

The screenplay had its origins in a script Jonathan developed in 2007 and was originally set to be directed by Steven Spielberg. Theoretical physicist Kip Thorne was an executive producer and scientific consultant on the film, and wrote the tie-in book The Science of Interstellar. Cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema shot it on 35 mm movie film in the Panavision anamorphic format and IMAX 70 mm. Filming began in late 2013 and took place in Alberta, Klaustur, and Los Angeles. Interstellar uses extensive practical and miniature effects, and the company DNEG created additional digital effects.

Interstellar premiered in Los Angeles on October 26, 2014. In the United States, it was first released on film stock, expanding to venues using digital projectors. The film received positive reviews from critics and grossed over $681 million worldwide ($705 million after subsequent re-releases), making it the tenth-highest-grossing film of 2014. Thorne's computer-generated depiction of a black hole in the film has also received commendation from astronomers and physicists. Interstellar was nominated for five awards at the 87th Academy Awards, winning Best Visual Effects, and received numerous other accolades.

## Plot

In 2067, humanity faces extinction due to a global blight. Joseph Cooper, a former NASA test pilot, along with his son and daughter, Tom and Murph, and father-in-law Donald, toil as farmers. One evening during a dust storm, Cooper and Murph discover mysterious patterns in falling particles. Decoding the patterns using binary code leads them to a secret NASA facility run by scientist Dr. John Brand. Cooper is enlisted to pilot the spaceship Endurance through a newly-discovered wormhole near Saturn, searching for habitable planets. Cooper struggles with leaving his children behind but decides to do it in the hope of saving Tom and Murph's generation from extinction. He promises Murph he will return, but she is distraught. Cooper joins the Endurance team, consisting of Romilly, Doyle, Brand's daughter Amelia, and the robots TARS and CASE.

After years of travel, the Endurance crew transits the wormhole, arriving in a distant planetary system circling a supermassive black hole named Gargantua. Cooper, Amelia Brand, and Doyle take a small lander to the first candidate planet, orbiting deep in the black hole's gravity well, only to find that it is an inhospitable ocean world ravaged by colossal waves. In the ensuing evacuation, Doyle is swept away and killed by a wave, but Cooper and Brand narrowly manage to escape. Due to severe time dilation in which one hour spent on the planet equals seven years on Earth, 23 years have passed upon their return to the Endurance. Romilly's efforts to keep the Endurance in orbit around the planet for so long drastically depleted the fuel reserves of the spacecraft.

On Earth in 2092, an adult Murph helps John Brand with his perennially unsolved gravity manipulation equation, which is supposed to help transport humanity en masse to potentially habitable worlds. On his deathbed, he confesses that the crew was never supposed to return and that the equation was a charade meant to keep humans from dissolving into anarchy out of panic for their eventual doom. Murph is frustrated and wonders if Cooper knowingly abandoned her. She continues Brand's work and returns to her childhood home to search for clues.

The Endurance travels to the second candidate planet, a frigid ice world. They awaken Mann, the surviving NASA explorer in cryostasis, who landed decades ago. Mann and Cooper go on a scouting trip, but once alone, Mann confesses that the planet is uninhabitable and that he falsified data to attract rescuers. Mann assaults Cooper and leaves him to die, but Amelia rescues him. Romilly is killed in a booby trap set by Mann, and Mann hijacks a lander left by the Endurance crew and takes off for the orbiting spacecraft. Mann intends to commandeer the Endurance, but a failed docking kills Mann and severely damages the Endurance. After a turbulent docking sequence, Cooper, TARS and Brand regain control of the crippled spaceship.

Charting a gravity-assist path around Gargantua due to how little fuel they have left, Cooper propels the Endurance towards the third and final planet, losing another 51 years to time dilation. Cooper and TARS secretly agree to sacrifice themselves and detach their spacecraft from the Endurance during the gravity assist, such that the now-lightened Endurance will be capable of reaching the third planet with the fuel remaining, much to the protest of Amelia.

Cooper falls into the black hole and finds himself in a four-dimensional tesseract (a hypercube); the tesseract is made up of infinitely repeated copies of Murph's childhood bedroom but with each copy located in a different moment in time. Cooper finds that he can fly by these copies of Murph's bedroom as an outside observer, essentially travelling through time as if it were a physical dimension. Within this tesseract he finds himself able to manipulate the falling dust particles in his home during the dust storm, allowing him to send the NASA site coordinates to his past self and make his past self start his mission. He also deduces that the tesseract itself and the wormhole near Saturn were constructed by a future generation of humankind to similarly guide their predecessors. This meant that all the events that happened thus far were part of a Bootstrap paradox. Cooper travels through the tesseract and visits adult Murph, sitting in her bedroom, and by manipulating the hands of Murph's wristwatch, he and TARS transmit information from within the black hole. In the real world, Murph sees the hands of her watch move. Using the information, Murph solves the gravity manipulation problem and enables humanity to escape extinction and build colonies in outer space.

The moment Murph realizes the answer, the tesseract collapses and ejects Cooper and TARS out of the wormhole near Saturn, where the year is 2156 and they are rescued and brought to an O'Neill cylinder colony around the planet. Cooper reunites with Murph, now on her deathbed in her advanced age. She tells him not to wait for her to die and to seek out Amelia instead. Cooper takes a spacecraft and sets off on another mission with TARS. Meanwhile, on the final candidate planet, Amelia removes her helmet, breathing in the air of the new habitable world.

## Cast

- Matthew McConaughey as Joseph Cooper, a widower NASA pilot who reluctantly becomes a farmer after the agency was closed by the government, and eventually joins the Endurance mission as the lead pilot

- Anne Hathaway as Dr. Amelia Brand, Professor Brand's daughter and NASA scientist who, aboard the Endurance mission, is responsible for conducting planet colonization

- Jessica Chastain as Murphy "Murph" Cooper, Joseph's daughter, who eventually becomes a NASA scientist working under Professor Brand Ellen Burstyn as elderly Murph Mackenzie Foy as 10 year-old Murph

- Ellen Burstyn as elderly Murph

- Mackenzie Foy as 10 year-old Murph

- John Lithgow as Donald, Cooper's elderly father-in-law

- Michael Caine as Professor John Brand, a high-ranking NASA scientist, father of Amelia, former mentor of Cooper, and director of the Lazarus and Endurance missions

- Casey Affleck as Tom Cooper, Joseph's son, who eventually takes charge of his father's farm Timothée Chalamet as 15 year-old Tom

- Timothée Chalamet as 15 year-old Tom

- Wes Bentley as Doyle, a high-ranking NASA member, and Endurance crew member

- Bill Irwin as TARS (voice and puppetry) and CASE (puppetry), robots assigned to assist the crew of the Endurance

- Topher Grace as Getty, Murph's colleague and love interest

- David Gyasi as Professor Romilly, a high-ranking NASA member, and Endurance crew member

- Matt Damon as Dr. Mann, a NASA astronaut sent to an icy planet during the Lazarus program

Also appearing are Josh Stewart as the voice of CASE; Leah Cairns as Lois, Tom's wife; David Oyelowo and Collette Wolfe respectively as school principal and teacher Ms. Hanley; Francis X. McCarthy as farmer "Boots"; William Devane as Williams, another NASA member; Elyes Gabel as Cooper Station Administrator; and Jeff Hephner as Cooper Station Doctor.

## Production

### Crew

- Christopher Nolan – Director, producer, writer

- Jonathan Nolan – Writer

- Emma Thomas – Producer

- Lynda Obst – Producer

- Hoyte van Hoytema – Cinematographer

- Nathan Crowley – Production designer

- Mary Zophres – Costume designer

- Lee Smith – Editor

- Hans Zimmer – Music composer

- Paul Franklin – Visual effects supervisor

- Kip Thorne – Consultant, executive producer

- Sivamani &nabs;-ISRO scientist

### Development and financing

The premise for Interstellar was conceived by the producer Lynda Obst and the theoretical physicist Kip Thorne, who collaborated on the film Contact (1997), and had known each other since Carl Sagan set them up on a blind date. The two conceived a scenario, based on Thorne's work, about "the most exotic events in the universe suddenly becoming accessible to humans", and attracted Steven Spielberg 's interest in directing. The film began development in June 2006, when Spielberg and Paramount Pictures announced plans for a science-fiction film based on an eight-page treatment written by Obst and Thorne. Obst was attached to produce. By March 2007, Jonathan Nolan was hired to write a screenplay.

After Spielberg moved his production studio, DreamWorks, from Paramount to Walt Disney Studios in 2009, Paramount needed a new director for Interstellar. Jonathan Nolan recommended his brother Christopher, who joined the project in 2012. Christopher Nolan met with Thorne, then attached as executive producer, to discuss the use of spacetime in the story. In January 2013, Paramount and Warner Bros. announced that Christopher Nolan was in negotiations to direct Interstellar. Nolan said he wanted to encourage the goal of human spaceflight, and intended to merge his brother's screenplay with his own. By the following March, Nolan was confirmed to direct Interstellar, which would be produced under his label Syncopy and Lynda Obst Productions. The Hollywood Reporter said Nolan would earn a salary of $20 million against 20% of the total gross. To research for the film, Nolan visited NASA and the private space program at SpaceX.

Warner Bros. sought a stake in Nolan's production of Interstellar from Paramount, despite their traditional rivalry, and agreed to give Paramount its rights to co-finance the next film in the Friday the 13th horror franchise, with a stake in a future film based on the television series South Park. Warner Bros. also agreed to let Paramount co-finance an indeterminate "A-list" property. In August 2013, Legendary Pictures finalized an agreement with Warner Bros. to finance approximately 25% of the film's production. Although it failed to renew its eight-year production partnership with Warner Bros., Legendary reportedly agreed to forgo financing Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) in exchange for the stake in Interstellar.

### Writing and casting

Jonathan Nolan worked on the script for four years. To learn the scientific aspects, he studied relativity at the California Institute of Technology. He was pessimistic about the Space Shuttle program ending and how NASA lacked financing for a human mission to Mars, drawing inspiration from science-fiction films with apocalyptic themes, such as WALL-E (2008) and Avatar (2009). Jeff Jensen of Entertainment Weekly said: "He set the story in a dystopian future ravaged by blight, but populated with hardy folk who refuse to bow to despair." His brother Christopher had worked on other science fiction scripts but decided to take the Interstellar script and choose among the vast array of ideas presented by Jonathan and Thorne. He picked what he felt, as director, he could get "across to the audience and hopefully not lose them," before he merged it with a script he had worked on for years on his own. Christopher kept in place Jonathan's conception of the first hour, which is set on a resource depleted Earth in the near future. The setting was inspired by the Dust Bowl that took place in the United States during the Great Depression in the 1930s. He revised the rest of the script, where a team travels into space, instead. After watching the 2012 documentary The Dust Bowl for inspiration, Christopher contacted the director, Ken Burns, and the producer, Dayton Duncan. They granted him permission to use some of their featured interviews in Interstellar.

Christopher Nolan wanted an actor who could bring to life his vision of the main character as an everyman with whom "the audience could experience the story." He became interested in casting Matthew McConaughey after watching him in an early cut of the 2012 film Mud, which he had seen as a friend of one of its producers, Aaron Ryder. Nolan went to visit McConaughey while he was filming for the TV series True Detective. Anne Hathaway was invited to Nolan's home, where she read the script for Interstellar. In early 2013, both actors were cast in the starring roles. Jessica Chastain was contacted while she was working on Miss Julie (2014) in Northern Ireland, and a script was delivered to her. Originally, Irrfan Khan was offered the role of Dr. Mann but rejected it due to scheduling conflicts. Matt Damon was cast as Mann in late August 2013 and completed filming his scenes in Iceland.

### Principal photography

Nolan shot Interstellar on 35 mm film in the Panavision anamorphic format and IMAX 70 mm photography. Cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema was hired for Interstellar, as Wally Pfister, Nolan's cinematographer on all of his previous films, was making his directorial debut working on Transcendence (2014); Pfister would later retire as a cinematographer for films. More IMAX cameras were used for Interstellar than for any of Nolan's previous films. To minimize the use of computer-generated imagery (CGI), Nolan had practical locations built, such as the interior of a space shuttle. Van Hoytema retooled an IMAX camera to be hand-held for shooting interior scenes. Some of the film's sequences were shot with an IMAX camera installed in the nose cone of a Learjet. Nolan, who is known for keeping details of his productions secret, strove to ensure secrecy for Interstellar. Writing for The Wall Street Journal, Ben Fritz stated, "The famously secretive filmmaker has gone to extreme lengths to guard the script to... Interstellar, just as he did with the blockbuster Dark Knight trilogy." As one security measure, Interstellar was filmed under the name Flora's Letter, Flora being one of Nolan's four children with producer Emma Thomas.

The film's principal photography was scheduled to last four months. It began on August 6, 2013, in the province of Alberta, Canada. Towns in Alberta where shooting took place included Nanton, Longview, Lethbridge, Fort Macleod, and Okotoks. In Okotoks, filming took place at the Seaman Stadium and the Olde Town Plaza. For a cornfield scene, production designer Nathan Crowley planted 500 acres (200 ha) of corn that would be destroyed in an apocalyptic dust storm scene, intended to be similar to storms experienced during the Dust Bowl in 1930s America. Additional scenes involving the dust storm and McConaughey's character were also shot in Fort Macleod, where the giant dust clouds were created on location using large fans to blow cellulose-based synthetic dust through the air. Filming in the province lasted until September 9, 2013, and involved hundreds of extras in addition to 130 crew members, most of whom were local.

Shooting also took place in Iceland, where Nolan had previously filmed scenes for Batman Begins (2005). It was chosen to represent two extraterrestrial planets: one covered in ice, and the other in water. The crew transported mock spaceships weighing about 10,000 pounds (4,500 kg). They spent two weeks shooting there, during which a crew of about 350 people, including 130 locals, worked on the film. Locations included the Svínafellsjökull glacier and the town of Klaustur. While filming a water scene in Iceland, Hathaway almost suffered from hypothermia because her dry suit had not been properly secured.

After the schedule in Iceland was completed, the crew shot in Los Angeles for 54 days. Filming locations included the Westin Bonaventure Hotel and Suites, the Los Angeles Convention Center, a Sony Pictures soundstage in Culver City, and a private residence in Altadena, California. Principal photography concluded in December 2013. Production had a budget of $165 million, $10 million less than was allotted by Paramount, Warner Bros., and Legendary Pictures.

### Production design

Interstellar features three spacecraft— the Endurance, a ranger, and a lander. The Endurance, the crew's mother ship, is a circular structure consisting of 12 capsules, laid flat to mimic a clock: Four capsules with planetary settling equipment, four with engines, and four with the permanent functions of cockpit, medical labs, and habitation. Production designer Nathan Crowley said the Endurance was based on the International Space Station: "It's a real mish-mash of different kinds of technology. You need analogue stuff, as well as digital stuff, you need backup systems and tangible switches. It's really like a submarine in space. Every inch of space is used, everything has a purpose." The ranger's function is similar to the Space Shuttle 's, being able to enter and exit planetary atmospheres. Lastly, the lander transports the capsules with settling equipment to planetary surfaces. Crowley compared it to "a heavy Russian helicopter."

The film features two robots, CASE and TARS, as well as a dismantled third robot, KIPP. Nolan wanted to avoid making the robots anthropomorphic and chose a 1.5 m (4.9 ft) quadrilateral design. He said: "It has a very complicated design philosophy. It's based on mathematics. You've got four main blocks and they can be joined in three ways. So, you have three combinations you follow. But then within that, it subdivides into a further three joints. And all the places we see lines—those can subdivide further. So you can unfold a finger, essentially, but it's all proportional." Bill Irwin voiced and physically controlled both robots, with his image digitally removed, and Josh Stewart replaced his voicing for CASE. The human space habitats resemble O'Neill cylinders, a theoretical space habitat model proposed by physicist Gerard K. O'Neill in 1976.

### Sound design

Gregg Landaker and Gary Rizzo were the film's audio engineers tasked with audio mixing, while sound editor Richard King supervised the process. Christopher Nolan sought to mix the sound to take maximum advantage of theater equipment and paid close attention to designing the sound mix, like focusing on the sound of buttons being pressed with astronaut suit gloves. The studio's website stated that the film was "mixed to maximize the power of the low-end frequencies in the main channels, as well as in the subwoofer channel." Nolan deliberately intended some dialogue to seem drowned out by ambient noise or music, causing some theaters to post notices emphasizing that this effect was intentional and not a fault in their equipment.

### Music

Hans Zimmer, who scored Nolan's The Dark Knight Trilogy and Inception (2010), returned to score Interstellar. Nolan chose not to provide Zimmer with a script or any plot details but instead gave him a single page that told the story of a father leaving his child for work. It was through this connection that Zimmer created the early stages of the Interstellar soundtrack. Zimmer and Nolan later decided the 1926 four-manual Harrison & Harrison organ of the Temple Church, London, would be the primary instrument for the score. Zimmer conducted 45 scoring sessions for Interstellar, three times more than for Inception. The soundtrack was released on November 18, 2014.

### Visual effects

The visual effects company Double Negative, which worked on Inception, was brought back for Interstellar. According to visual effects supervisor Paul Franklin, the number of effects in the film was not much greater than in Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises (2012) or Inception. However, for Interstellar, they created the effects first, allowing digital projectors to display them behind the actors, rather than having the actors perform in front of green screens. The film contained 850 visual-effect shots at a resolution of 5600 × 4000 lines: 150 shots that were created in-camera using digital projectors, and another 700 were created in post-production. Of those, 620 were presented in IMAX, while the rest were anamorphic.

The ranger, Endurance, and lander spacecraft were created using miniature effects by Nathan Crowley in collaboration with effects company New Deal Studios, as opposed to using computer-generated imagery, as Nolan felt they offered the best way to give the ships a tangible presence in space. 3D-printed and hand-sculpted, the scale models earned the nickname "maxatures" by the crew due to their immense size; the 1/15th-scale miniature of the Endurance module spanned over 7.6 m (25 ft), while a pyrotechnic model of part of the craft was built at 1/5th scale. The Ranger and Lander miniatures spanned 14 m (46 ft) and over 15 m (49 ft), respectively, and were large enough for van Hoytema to mount IMAX cameras directly onto the spacecraft, thus mimicking the look of NASA IMAX documentaries. The models were then attached to a six-axis gimbal on a motion control system that allowed an operator to manipulate their movements, which were filmed against background plates of space using VistaVision cameras on a smaller motion control rig. New Deal Studio's miniatures were used in 150 special effects shots.

## Influences

Nolan was influenced by what he called "key touchstones" of science fiction cinema, including Metropolis (1927), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Blade Runner (1982), Star Wars (1977), and Alien (1979). Andrei Tarkovsky 's The Mirror (1975) influenced "elemental things in the story to do with wind and dust and water", according to Nolan, who also compared Interstellar to The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) as a film about human nature. He sought to emulate films like Steven Spielberg 's Jaws (1975) and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) for being family-friendly but also "as edgy and incisive and challenging as anything else on the blockbuster spectrum". He screened The Right Stuff (1983) for the crew before production, following in its example by capturing reflections on the Interstellar astronauts' visors. For further inspiration, Nolan invited former astronaut Marsha Ivins to the set. Nolan and his crew studied the IMAX NASA documentaries of filmmaker Toni Myers for visual reference of spacefaring missions, and strove to imitate their use of IMAX cameras in the enclosed spaces of spacecraft interiors. Clark Kent 's upbringing in Man of Steel (2013) was the inspiration for the farm setting in the Midwest. Apart from the films, Nolan drew inspiration from the architecture of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.

## Scientific accuracy

Regarding the concepts of wormholes and black holes, Kip Thorne said he "worked on the equations that would enable tracing of light rays as they traveled through a wormhole or around a black hole—so what you see is based on Einstein 's general relativity equations ". Early in the process, Thorne laid down two guidelines: "First, that nothing would violate established physical laws. Second, that all the wild speculations... would spring from science and not from the fertile mind of a screenwriter." Nolan accepted these terms as long as they did not get in the way of making the film. At one point, Thorne spent two weeks arguing Nolan out of having a character traveling faster than light before Nolan finally gave up. According to Thorne, the element that has the highest degree of artistic freedom is the clouds of ice on one of the planets they visit, which are structures that would go beyond the material strength that ice could support.

The astrobiologist David Grinspoon criticized the dire "blight" situation on Earth portrayed in the early scenes, pointing out that even with a voracious blight it would have taken millions of years to reduce the atmosphere's oxygen content. He also notes that gravity should have pulled down the ice clouds. Neil deGrasse Tyson, an astrophysicist, explored the science behind the ending of Interstellar, concluding that it is theoretically possible to interact with the past, and that "we don't really know what's in a black hole, so take it and run with it". The theoretical physicist Michio Kaku praised the film for its scientific accuracy and said Interstellar "could set the gold standard for science fiction movies for years to come". Timothy Reyes, a former NASA software engineer, said "Thorne's and Nolan's accounting of black holes and wormholes and the use of gravity is excellent".

Mathematical Physicist Ikjyot Singh Kohli first published an article on his blog defending the physics used in the film. In particular, he provided calculations in which he showed that the time dilation effect caused by the spinning black hole in the movie was indeed accurate. The article was written shortly after the film's release in response to a number of scientific blogs that criticized the film's physics for not being accurate, which were shown by Kohli to be due to several misunderstandings by the authors of the blogs in question.

### Wormholes and black holes

To create the visual effects for the wormhole and a rotating, supermassive black hole (possessing an ergosphere, as opposed to a non-rotating black hole), Thorne collaborated with Franklin and a team of 30 people at Double Negative, providing pages of deeply sourced theoretical equations to the engineers, who then wrote new CGI rendering software based on these equations to create accurate simulations of the gravitational lensing caused by these phenomena. Some individual frames took up to 100 hours to render, totaling 800 terabytes of data. Thorne described the accretion disk of the black hole as "anemic and at low temperature —about the temperature of the surface of the sun," allowing it to emit appreciable light, but not enough gamma radiation and X-rays to threaten nearby astronauts and planets. The resulting visual effects provided Thorne with new insight into the gravitational lensing and accretion disks surrounding black holes, resulting in the publication of three scientific papers.

Nolan was initially concerned that a scientifically accurate depiction of a black hole would not be visually comprehensible to an audience, and would require the effects team to unrealistically alter its appearance. The visual representation of the black hole in the film does not account for the Doppler effect which, when added by the visual effects team, resulted in an asymmetrically lit black and blue-black hole, the purpose of which Nolan thought the audience would not understand. As a result, it was omitted in the finished product. Nolan found the finished effect to be understandable, as long as he maintained consistent camera perspectives.

As a reference, the asymmetric brightness of the accretion disk is very well visible in the first image of the event horizon of a black hole obtained by the Event Horizon Telescope team in 2019. Futura-Sciences praised the correct depiction of the Penrose process.

According to Space.com, the portrayal of what a wormhole would look like is scientifically correct. Rather than a two-dimensional hole in space, it is depicted as a sphere, showing a distorted view of the target galaxy.

## Marketing

The teaser trailer for Interstellar debuted December 13, 2013, and featured clips related to space exploration, accompanied by a voiceover by Matthew McConaughey's character, Cooper. The theatrical trailer debuted May 5, 2014, at the Lockheed Martin IMAX Theater in Washington, D.C., and was made available online later that month. For the week ending on May 19, it was the most-viewed film trailer, with over 19.5 million views on YouTube.

Christopher Nolan and McConaughey made their first appearances at San Diego Comic-Con in July 2014 to promote Interstellar. That same month, Paramount Pictures launched an interactive website, on which users uncovered a star chart related to the Apollo 11 Moon landing.

In October 2014, Paramount partnered with Google to promote Interstellar across multiple platforms. The film's website was relaunched as a digital hub hosted on a Google domain, which collected feedback from film audiences, and linked to a mobile app. It featured a game in which players could build Solar System models and use a flight simulator for space travel. The Paramount–Google partnership also included a virtual time capsule compiled with user-generated content, made available in 2015. The initiative Google for Education used the film as a basis for promoting math and science lesson plans in schools.

Paramount provided a virtual reality walkthrough of the Endurance spacecraft using Oculus Rift technology. It hosted the walkthrough sequentially in New York City, Houston, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C., from October 6 through November 19, 2014. The publisher Running Press released Interstellar: Beyond Time and Space, a book by Mark Cotta Vaz about the making of the film, on November 11. W. W. Norton & Company released The Science of Interstellar, a book by Thorne; Titan Books released the official novelization, written by Greg Keyes; and Wired magazine released a tie-in online comic, Absolute Zero, written by Christopher Nolan and drawn by Sean Gordon Murphy. The comic is a prequel to the film, with Mann as the protagonist.

## Release

### Theatrical

Before Interstellar ' s public release, Paramount CEO Brad Grey hosted a private screening on October 19, 2014, at the AMC Lincoln Square 13 IMAX theater in Manhattan, New York. Paramount then showed Interstellar to some of the industry's filmmakers and actors in a first-look screening at the California Science Center on October 22. On the following day, the film was screened at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, California for over 900 members of the Screen Actors Guild. The film premiered on October 26 at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, and in Europe on October 29 at the Odeon Leicester Square in London.

Interstellar was released early on November 4 in various 70 mm IMAX film, 70 mm film and 35 mm film theaters, and had a limited release in North America on November 5, with a wide release on November 7. The film was released in Belgium, France, and Switzerland on November 5, the UK on November 7 and in additional territories in the following days. For the limited North American release, Interstellar was projected from 70 mm and 35 mm film in 249 theaters that still supported those formats, including at least forty-one 70 mm IMAX theaters. A 70 mm IMAX projector was installed at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles to display the format. The film's wide release expanded to theaters that showed it digitally. Paramount Pictures distributed the film in North America, and Warner Bros. distributed it in the remaining territories. The film was released in over 770 IMAX screens worldwide, which was the largest global release in IMAX cinemas, until surpassed by Universal Pictures ' Furious 7 (2015) with 810 IMAX theaters.

Interstellar was an exception to Paramount Pictures' goal to stop releasing films on film stock and to distribute them only in digital format. According to Pamela McClintock of The Hollywood Reporter, the initiative to project Interstellar on film stock would help preserve an endangered format, which was supported by Christopher Nolan, J. J. Abrams, Quentin Tarantino, Judd Apatow, Paul Thomas Anderson, and other filmmakers. McClintock reported that theatre owners saw this as "backward," as nearly all theatres in the US had been converted to digital projection.

Interstellar will be re-released in theaters on December 6, 2024 for its 10th anniversary, showing in 70 mm IMAX and digital formats.

### Home media

Interstellar was released on home video on March 31, 2015, in both the United Kingdom and United States. It topped the home video sales chart for a total of two weeks. It was reported that Interstellar was the most pirated film of 2015, with an estimated 46.7 million downloads on BitTorrent. It was released in the Ultra HD Blu-ray format on December 19, 2017.

## Reception

### Box office

Interstellar grossed $188 million in the US and Canada, and $493 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $681 million on original release, against a production budget of $165 million. Deadline Hollywood calculated net profit to be $47 million, accounting for production budgets, marketing, talent participations, and other costs, with box office grosses, and ancillary revenues from home media, placing it 20th on their list of 2014's "Most Valuable Blockbusters". It sold an estimated 22 million tickets domestically.

The film set an IMAX opening record worldwide with $20.5 million from 574 IMAX theaters, surpassing the $17 million record held by The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013), and is the best opening for an IMAX 2D, non-sequel, and November IMAX release. It had a worldwide opening of $133 million, which was the tenth-largest opening of 2014, and became the tenth-highest-grossing film of 2014. Interstellar is the fourth film to gross over $100 million worldwide from IMAX ticket sales. It was released in the UK, Ireland and Malta on November 6, 2014, and debuted at number one earning £5.5 million ($8.6 million) in its opening weekend, which was lower than the openings of The Dark Knight Rises (£14.4 million), Gravity (£6.2 million), and Inception (£5.9 million). The film was released in 35 markets on the same day, including major markets like Germany, Russia, Australia, and Brazil earning $8.7 million in total. Through Sunday, it earned an opening weekend total of $83 million from 11.1 million admissions from over 14,800 screens in 62 markets. It earned $7.3 million from 206 IMAX screens, at an average of 35,400 viewers per theater. It went to number one in South Korea ($14.4 million), Russia ($8.9 million), and France ($5.3 million). Other strong openings occurred in Germany ($4.6 million), India ($4.3 million), Italy ($3.7 million), Australia ($3.7 million), Spain ($2.7 million), Mexico ($3.1 million), and Brazil ($1.9 million). Interstellar was released in China on November 12 and earned $5.4 million on its opening day on Wednesday, which is Nolan's biggest opening in China after surpassing the $4.61 million opening record of The Dark Knight Rises. It went on to earn $41.7 million in its opening weekend, accounting for 55% of the market share. It is Nolan's biggest opening in China, Warner Bros.' biggest 2D opening, and the studio's third-biggest opening of all time, behind 2014's The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies ($49.5 million) and 2013's Pacific Rim ($45 million).

It topped the box office outside North America for two consecutive weekends before being overtaken by The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 (2014) in its third weekend. Just 31 days after its release, the film became the 13th-most-successful film and 3rd-most-successful foreign film in South Korea with 9.1 million admissions trailing only Avatar (13.3 million admissions), and 2013's Frozen (10.3 million admissions). The film closed down its theatrical run in China on December 12, with total revenue of $122.6 million. In total earnings, its largest markets outside North America and China were South Korea ($73.4 million), the UK, Ireland and Malta ($31.3 million), and Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) ($19 million). Interstellar and Big Hero 6 opened the same weekend (November 7–9, 2014) in the US and Canada. Both were forecast to earn between $55 million and $60 million. In North America, the film is the seventh-highest-grossing film to not hit No. 1, with a top rank of No. 2 on its opening weekend. Interstellar had an early limited release in the US and Canada in selected theaters on November 4 at 8:00 pm, coinciding with the 2014 US midterm elections. It topped the box office the following day, earning $1.35 million from 249 theaters (42 of which were IMAX screens); IMAX accounted for 62% of its total gross. Two hundred and forty of those theaters played in 35 mm, 70 mm, and IMAX 70 mm film formats. It earned $3.6 million from late-night shows for a previews total of $4.9 million. The film was widely released on November 7 and topped the box office on its opening day, earning $17 million ahead of Big Hero 6 ($15.8 million). On its opening weekend, the film earned $47.5 million from 3,561 theaters, debuting in second place after a neck-and-neck competition with Disney 's Big Hero 6 ($56.2 million). IMAX comprised $13.2 million (28%) of its opening weekend gross, while other premium large-format screens comprised $5.3 million (10.5%) of the gross. In its second weekend, the film fell to No. 3 behind Big Hero 6 and newcomer Dumb and Dumber To (2014), and dropped 39% earning $29 million for a two-weekend total of $98 million. It earned $7.4 million from IMAX theaters from 368 screens in its second weekend. In its third week, the film earned $15 million and remained at No. 3, below newcomer The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 and Big Hero 6.

### Critical response

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 73% of 378 critic reviews are positive, with an average of 7.1/10. The site's critics consensus reads, " Interstellar represents more of the thrilling, thought-provoking, and visually resplendent filmmaking moviegoers have come to expect from writer-director Christopher Nolan, even if its intellectual reach somewhat exceeds its grasp." Metacritic assigned the film a score of 74 out of 100 based on 46 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave it an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.

Scott Foundas, chief film critic at Variety, said that Interstellar is "as visually and conceptually audacious as anything Nolan has yet done" and considered the film "more personal" than Nolan's previous films. Claudia Puig of USA Today praised the visual spectacle and powerful themes, while criticizing the "dull" dialogue and "tedious patches inside the space vessel." David Stratton of At the Movies rated the film four-and-a-half stars out of five, commending its ambition, effects, and 70 mm IMAX presentation, though criticizing the sound for "being so loud" as to make some of the dialogue "inaudible". Conversely, co-host Margaret Pomeranz rated the film three out of five, as she felt the human drama got lost among the film's scientific concepts. Henry Barnes of The Guardian scored the film three out of five stars, calling it "a glorious spectacle, but a slight drama, with few characters and too-rare flashes of humour." James Berardinelli called Interstellar "an amazing achievement" and "simultaneously a big-budget science fiction endeavor and a very simple tale of love and sacrifice. It is by turns edgy, breathtaking, hopeful, and heartbreaking." He named it the best film of 2014, and the second-best movie of the decade, deeming it a " real science fiction rather than the crowd-pleasing, watered-down version Hollywood typically offers".

"It's been a while since somebody has come out with such a big vision to things... Even the elements, the fact that dust is everywhere, and they're living in this dust bowl that is just completely enveloping this area of the world. That's almost something you expect from Tarkovsky or Malick, not a science fiction adventure movie.

— Quentin Tarantino on Interstellar.

Oliver Gettell of the Los Angeles Times reported that "film critics largely agree that Interstellar is an entertaining, emotional, and thought-provoking sci-fi saga, even if it can also be clunky and sentimental at times." James Dyer of Empire awarded the film a full five stars, describing it as "brainy, barmy, and beautiful to behold... a mind-bending opera of space and time with a soul wrapped up in all the science." Dave Calhoun of Time Out London also granted the film a maximum score of five stars, stating that it is "a bold, beautiful cosmic adventure story with a touch of the surreal and the dreamlike." Richard Roeper of Chicago Sun-Times awarded the film a full four stars and wrote, "This is one of the most beautiful films I have ever seen—in terms of its visuals, and its overriding message about the powerful forces of the one thing we all know but can't measure in scientific terms. Love."

Describing Nolan as a "merchant of awe," Tim Robey of The Telegraph thought that Interstellar was "agonisingly" close to a masterpiece, highlighting the conceptual boldness and "deep-digging intelligence" of the film. Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "This grandly conceived and executed epic tries to give equal weight to intimate human emotions and speculation about the cosmos, with mixed results, but is never less than engrossing, and sometimes more than that." In his review for the Associated Press, Jake Coyle praised the film for its "big-screen grandeur," while finding some of the dialogue "clunky." He described it further as "an absurd endeavor" and "one of the most sublime movies of the decade." Scott Mendelson of Forbes listed Interstellar as one of the most disappointing films of 2014, stating that the film "has a lack of flow, loss of momentum following the climax, clumsy sound mixing," and "thin characters" despite seeing the film twice in order to "give it a second chance." He wrote that Interstellar "ends up as a stripped-down and somewhat muted variation on any number of 'go into space to save the world' movies." Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbert.com gave the film three-and-a-half out of four stars, saying that despite his usual quibbles regarding Nolan's excessive dialogue and its lack of a sense of composition, " is still an impressive, at times astonishing movie that overwhelmed me to the point where my usual objections to Nolan's work melted away... At times, the movie's one-stop-shopping storytelling evokes the tough-tender spirit of a John Ford picture... a movie that would rather try to be eight or nine things than just one."

New York Times columnist David Brooks concludes that Interstellar explores the relationships among "science and faith and science and the humanities" and "illustrates the real symbiosis between these realms." Mark Steyn commented on the technological future and the focus on the father-daughter relationship. Wai Chee Dimock, in the Los Angeles Review of Books, wrote that Nolan's films are "rotatable at 90, 180, and 360 degrees," and that "although there is considerable magical thinking here, making it almost an anti-sci-fi film, holding out hope that the end of the planet is not the end of everything, it reverses itself, however, when that magic falls short when the poetic license is naked and plain for all to see." Author George R. R. Martin called Interstellar "the most ambitious and challenging science fiction film since Kubrick 's 2001." In 2020, Empire magazine ranked it as one of the best films of the 21st century.

### Accolades

At the 87th Academy Awards, Interstellar received nominations for Best Original Score, Best Production Design, Best Sound Editing, and Best Sound Mixing, and won Best Visual Effects.


Olusola Teniola

# Olusola Teniola

## Abstract

Olusola Teniola (born 10 July 1966) in London, is a technology enthusiast based in Lagos, Nigeria. Olusola Teniola is now engaged in various new projects in West Africa. He has been Nigeria National Coordinator for the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI.org) since Nov 2019. He is the Immediate Past President of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON). Previously he was a Client Partner with Detecon International, a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom, Germany; responsible for Nigeria and West Africa. He was also CEO/MD and a board member of IS Internet Solutions (a Dimension Data company) in Lagos, Nigeria, from March 2013 to June 2016. In between Jan 2010 to Mar 2013, he was the COO and Director of Engineering at Phase 3 Telecom, Abuja.

Olusola is now involved in various new projects. He was briefly Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Phase3 Telecom.

He served in executive management positions at British Telecom, Alcatel-Lucent Technologies and Vodafone.

Olusola obtained an HND in Electrical & Electronic Engineering and a B.Eng with honors in Computer and Information Engineering from London South Bank University. He also holds an MBA from the University of Bath School of Management awarded in 2003. He is also a member of the Institute of Directors (MIoD) London and Nigeria


Shabazz Napier

# Shabazz Napier

## Abstract

Shabazz Bozie Napier (born July 14, 1991) is a Puerto Rican professional basketball player for Bayern Munich of the German Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) and the EuroLeague. He was drafted 24th overall by the Charlotte Hornets in the 2014 NBA draft and immediately traded to the Miami Heat. He played college basketball for the Connecticut Huskies, and won two national championships in 2011 and 2014. Napier was a key player for the Huskies' 2010–11 NCAA championship team, as he made the Big East All Rookie team. Following his junior season, Napier was selected to the All-Big East first team.

In the 2013–14 season, Napier was unanimously selected for the All-AAC first team, and was named the inaugural American Athletic Conference Player of the Year. He was again one of UConn's key players when they won the NCAA tournament for a second time in four years in 2014 and was named as the tournament's most outstanding player.

## Early life

Napier was born in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston to Carmen Velásquez, a native of Puerto Rico, and Alex Napier, who is African American. He has an older sister Titania and an older brother Timmie. He grew up in Boston's Mission Hill neighborhood, and took a liking to basketball during that period.

## High school career

Napier attended his first two years of high school at Charlestown High School in Boston's Charlestown neighborhood before transferring to Lawrence Academy in Groton, Massachusetts and reclassifying as a junior. As a senior, Napier led Lawrence Academy to an undefeated season going 29–0 in 2010, as they won the New England Prep Class C title after defeating St. Mark's finishing with 23 points, 8 steals, and 8 assists as he was named Tournament MVP.

Considered a four-star recruit by Rivals.com, Napier was listed as the No. 25 point guard and the No. 98 player in the nation in 2010.

In January 2014, Charlestown High School retired Napier's jersey.

## College career

### Freshman season

Following his prep career, Napier chose to play at the University of Connecticut under coach Jim Calhoun. He had a solid freshman year in 2010–11 backing up Kemba Walker. He appeared in all 41 games for the Huskies, coming off the bench averaging 7.8 points, 3.0 assists and 1.8 steals per game for the season. At the end of the regular season, Napier was named to the Big East All-Rookie team along with teammate Jeremy Lamb.

Napier hit two game clinching free throws to secure a win in the Final Four against Kentucky. Napier's contribution to the team was significant, as Connecticut finished the season 32–9 (9–9 in conference play) and won both the Big East Conference Championship and National Championship in 2011.

### Sophomore season

During the summer after his freshman year, Napier was invited to the trials for the 2011 World University Games team. Moving into the starting lineup as a sophomore for Connecticut, Napier was a preseason honorable mention All-Big East pick and a Bob Cousy Award candidate. His numbers improved, as Napier averaged 13.0 points, 5.8 assists, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.6 steals per game.

Napier notched his first career triple-double (the ninth in Connecticut men's basketball history) as he tallied 22 points, 12 rebounds and 13 assists against Coppin State on November 20, 2011. Connecticut earned a 9 seed in the NCAA Tournament, but fell short to Iowa State as the Huskies finished the season going 20–14 (8–10 in conference play). Before his junior season started, Napier considered transferring after Jim Calhoun's retirement and the team's postseason ban next season, but chose to return. Connecticut hired assistant coach Kevin Ollie to replace Calhoun as head coach.

### Junior season

Following his return, Napier along with backcourt teammate Ryan Boatright both rose to the national spotlight as they were highlighted as one of the nation's best backcourts, as the two averaged a combined 33 points and 9 assists per game, outplaying nearly every opponents' backcourt they played. He also scored his 1000th career point in a game against DePaul. Napier excelled in overtime play, scoring 55 points in 45 minutes of overtime play, as he led them to a school record 5 overtime wins. Napier averaged 17.1 points, 4.6 assists, 4.4 rebounds, and 2.0 steals a game.

Following the end of the regular season, Napier made the All-USBWA District 1 team, and was the USBWA District I Player of the Year. Napier was then chosen to the Big East All First Team, was an honorable mention for Big East Player of the Year. He led the Huskies under first year coach Kevin Ollie to a 20–10 record (10–8 in conference play) despite having no postseason eligibility.

### Senior season

On April 26, 2013, Napier opted to return to the team for his senior year along with teammates Ryan Boatright and DeAndre Daniels. Napier said the reason he and his teammates returned is because Napier wanted to get his degree and for him and his teammates to return to the NCAA Tournament. Napier was named as a candidate for the Wooden Award, Bob Cousy Award, Naismith Award, Senior Class Award, and Oscar Robertson Trophy. Napier recorded his 2nd career triple-double (10th in UConn history) with 14 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists on November 11, 2013. Napier led the team to win the 2K Sports Classic Title and was named Tournament MVP. In a game against Florida, Napier hit the game winning shot as time expired. Following the end of the regular season, Napier was named a unanimous selection for the AAC All-First team, and was awarded the inaugural AAC Player of the Year. He was named the USBWA District I Player of the Year for the second straight season, and was named a first team All-American on the Wooden team, Associated Press team, USBWA and NABC, and a second team member for Sporting News. In the AAC Tournament, Napier was named to the All-Tournament team after leading the Huskies to the championship game before falling to Louisville.

In the NCAA Tournament, Connecticut earned a 7 seed as Napier led them under second year coach Kevin Ollie past St. Joseph's, Villanova, Iowa State, and won the East Regional final defeating Michigan State as Napier was named the East Regional Most Outstanding Player. Napier continued to lead the Huskies through the Final Four defeating Florida before reaching the National Championship game. On April 6, Napier was named the Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year award winner. On April 7, Napier and the Huskies defeated Kentucky 60–54 in the National Championship game and Napier was named Most Outstanding Player. Connecticut finished the season 32–8 overall (12–6 in conference play), and Napier averaged 18.0 points, 5.9 rebounds, 4.9 assists, and 1.8 steals per game. Napier was later inducted into the Huskies of Honor.

Napier, along with UConn teammates Niels Giffey and Tyler Olander, are the only Division I men's players in history to have won national championships as both freshmen and seniors. He is the only player in UConn history with 1,500 points, 500 rebounds, 500 assists, and 250 steals in his career. He finished his career in fourth place on the UConn scoring list with 1,959 points, second all-time with 260 made three-point field goals and steals with 251, first in 143 games played and free throws made with 509, and third in school history with 646 assists.

## Professional career

### Miami Heat (2014–2015)

On June 26, 2014, Napier was selected with the 24th overall pick in the 2014 NBA draft by the Charlotte Hornets. He was later traded to the Miami Heat on draft night. On July 18, 2014, he signed with the Heat after averaging 10.2 points in four Summer League games for the team. On December 13, 2014, he was assigned to the Sioux Falls Skyforce of the NBA Development League. He was recalled on December 15, reassigned on December 30, and recalled again on January 7. On February 20, he had a season-best game with 18 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists in a 111–87 win over the New York Knicks.

On April 1, 2015, Napier was ruled out for the rest of the season after undergoing successful surgery to repair a sports hernia. He recovered in time to join the Heat's summer league team in July to compete in Orlando and Las Vegas.

### Orlando Magic (2015–2016)

On July 27, 2015, Napier was traded to the Orlando Magic, along with cash considerations, in exchange for a conditional 2016 second-round draft pick. On November 11, 2015, he scored a career-high 22 points in a 101–99 win over the Los Angeles Lakers.

### Portland Trail Blazers (2016–2018)

On July 7, 2016, Napier was traded to the Portland Trail Blazers in exchange for cash considerations. On April 10, 2017, he scored a career-high 32 points in a 99–98 win over the San Antonio Spurs.

On December 28, 2017, Napier, who started for the injured Damian Lillard, scored 15 of his season-high 23 points in the fourth quarter to help the Trail Blazers rally for a 114–110 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers.

### Brooklyn Nets (2018–2019)

On July 17, 2018, Napier signed with the Brooklyn Nets. On December 29, he tied his career high with 32 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the field and 10 of 12 from the foul line in a 129–115 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. On January 11 against the Toronto Raptors, he extended his streak of games with at least 10 points to a career-high eight. On February 6, he recorded his first career double-double with 10 points and 11 assists in a 135–130 win over the Denver Nuggets. He ended the season with averages of 9.4 points, 1.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 17.6 minutes.

### Minnesota Timberwolves (2019–2020)

On July 7, 2019, Napier, Treveon Graham, and D'Angelo Russell were sent to the Golden State Warriors as part of a trade package for Kevin Durant. The following day, Napier and Graham were traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for the draft rights to Lior Eliyahu.

### Washington Wizards (2020)

On February 5, 2020, the Timberwolves traded Napier to the Denver Nuggets in a four-team trade.

Napier was traded to the Washington Wizards the following day, in exchange for Jordan McRae.

### Zenit Saint Petersburg (2021–2022)

On July 19, 2021, Napier agreed on a one-year deal with Russian club Zenit Saint Petersburg. On February 27, 2022, he unilaterally terminated contract with Zenit, citing Russia's aggression on Ukraine as the reason.

### Mexico City Capitanes (2022–2023)

On November 4, 2022, Napier was named to the opening night roster for the Mexico City Capitanes.

### Olimpia Milano (2023)

On January 28, 2023, he signed with Olimpia Milano of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A (LBA).

### Crvena zvezda (2023)

On July 16, 2023, Napier signed a two-year deal with Serbian powerhouse Crvena zvezda. In December of the same year, he had a public fallout with new head coach Ioannis Sfairopoulos and fell out of the rotation. Eventually he was released from his contract on the condition that he signs only with his former club Olimpia Milano.

### Return to Olimpia Milano (2023–present)

On December 21, 2023, Napier signed back with Olimpia Milano under coach Ettore Messina.

## National team career

Napier's mother and manager, Carmen Velásquez, is Puerto Rican, which made him directly eligible to represent Puerto Rico under FIBA regulations.

On February 19, 2012, it was announced that following formal meetings with personnel of the Puerto Rican Basketball Federation, he had presented the required documentation and agreed to join the Puerto Rico national basketball team 's practice for its next tournament, the 2012 Centrobasket.

This tournament served as qualifier for the 2013 FIBA Americas Tournament. He did not participate in the 2012 Centrobasket due to injury.

In December 2013, the then Puerto Rico men's national basketball team coach Paco Olmos held a meeting with Napier and Velásquez, where his program was explained. The coach referred to this meeting as "constructive" and later noted that both sides kept good communication.

When questioned about the possibility of joining Puerto Rico in 2014, Napier responded by saying "I would love to go and have that experience. It would be something unique and that will definitely help my game for the goals I have set. It will be an honor. Everything I am today as a player, I owe to. And as a person, to the education of my mother, who would be proud if I play for Puerto Rico."

## Career statistics

### NBA


Shawn McCarthy

# Shawn McCarthy

## Abstract

Shawn Michael McCarthy (born February 22, 1968) is a former American football punter in the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons in the 12th round of the 1990 NFL draft and later played for the New England Patriots. McCarthy played college football at Purdue, where he was also a quarterback. He attended Fremont Ross High School and was the football teams' starting quarterback, punter and placekicker.

On November 3, 1991, McCarthy placed a 93-yard punt versus the Buffalo Bills that was downed inside Buffalo's 1-yard line. The punt, which set a Patriots franchise record, was the third longest in NFL history and the longest since the AFL-NFL merger. In Week 13 of the 1991 season, McCarthy threw a complete pass on a fake punt to Ben Coates for an 11-yard gain. It was the only pass attempt of his NFL career.


Lil Bibby

# Lil Bibby

## Abstract

Brandon George Dickinson (born July 18, 1994), better known by his stage name Lil Bibby, is an American rapper and record executive from Chicago, Illinois. Beginning his career in 2011, Bibby released his debut mixtape, Free Crack in 2013. The project was followed by Free Crack 2 (2014) and Free Crack 3 (2015) before he signed with Dr. Luke 's Kemosabe Records, an imprint of RCA Records. However, he released no studio albums under the label. He then shifted focus onto expanding his record label— Grade A Productions —in 2017, through which he has signed commercially successful acts including fellow Chicago native, rapper and singer Juice Wrld, as well as Australian rapper and singer the Kid Laroi.

## Career

### 2011–2013: Career beginnings and debut mixtape

In 2013, Lil Bibby released his debut mixtape, Free Crack. He cited Drake and Jadakiss as two of his favorite rappers. Vice stated that the mixtape was apparent in both rappers' influences. The mixtape features guest appearances from fellow Chicagoans Lil Herb and King L, while production was handled by Hit-Boy, Young Chop and The Olympicks, among others. DJ Scream hosted this mixtape. The tape combines his distinctive gruff and imposing voice, along with a solid delivery and flow. Music videos were released for the songs "How We Move" (featuring King L), "Change", "Water" and "Tired of Talkin'".

### 2013–2015: 2014's Freshman Class, Free Crack 2 and Free Crack 3

In December 2013, in an interview with XXL, Bibby hinted that the next step for his career could be an EP. In 2014, it was also stated, that the rapper Drake was a huge fan of Bibby and that they'd spoken in 2013, before the release of Bibby's debut mixtape. Bibby said it pushed him onto improve his debut release, adding the tracks "Water" and "Whole Crew".

In January 2014, Bibby appeared on Sway 's radio show Sway in the Morning. On the show he spoke about the success of his debut mixtape, and also dropped a live freestyle. During the same month, Bibby also featured on New York 's radio station, Hot 97. During the same month, Bibby stated in his interview with Billboard, that he was working on material for an EP, but was waiting on a couple of features. Bibby also appeared on the list of 2014's XXL Freshman Class. He was the last person selected to the list, due to Young Thug 's last minute cancellation.

In August 2014, he guest featured alongside Young Thug and Nicki Minaj on Juicy J 's single " Low," and was later featured on the remix of Kid Ink 's " Main Chick." After a few delays, Bibby's sophomore mixtape, Free Crack 2, was released on August 29, 2014. Hosted by DJ Drama, includes guest appearances from Lil Herb, Wiz Khalifa, Juicy J, Kevin Gates, Jadakiss and Anthony Hamilton, among others. The mixtape has production from Juicy J, Honorable C.N.O.T.E., Sonny Digital and DJ Pain 1, among others. It was released for free digital download and rapidly accumulated over 120,000 downloads.

Free Crack 2 was received with critical acclaim. XXL magazine awarded the mixtape an XL, praising the mixtape's authenticity, catchy hooks and production, while also commenting that the mixtape showcases Bibby's "growth as an artist." RedEye awarded the mixtape three stars out of four, commenting on the tape's maturity and versatility and praising the ability of the song 'Dead or in Prison' to let Bibby's "emotion and natural charisma do the heavy lifting." BET gave the mixtape a positive review, awarding it five stars while commenting on its "new level of depth and introspection, detailing the difficult balance of fame and authenticity and how that effects everyday life in some of America's urban war zones."

In 2015, Lil Bibby received his high school diploma. Initially, he had opted for a GED and after completing the necessary coursework (with straight A's), he decided to re-enroll in high school. His alma mater was from Chicago's Liberty High School. A year later, after several universities had offered him scholarships, Bibby considered studying Computer Engineering at a university, although he ultimately decided against this.

### 2015–2016: FC3 the Epilogue & Free Crack 4

In 2015, Bibby released two singles "Ridah" and "Aww Man" (featuring Future) for an upcoming album, supposedly the fourth installment in his Free Crack series. Both singles failed to reach any domestic charts. In late 2016, Bibby released "Thought It Was A Drought", which was produced by DJ L Beats and Roberto Mario. After a long period without any releases, in early 2018, Bibby began using the hashtag "Free Bibby" on social media, protesting his label's refusal to allow him to release the project.

### 2017–present: Grade A Productions, Juice Wrld, and The Kid Laroi

Bibby, with the help of his brother George "G-Money", launched their own record label known as Grade A Productions. In an interview with XXL, Bibby discussed his transition from being a rapper to starting a record label:

"I really don't know. I like to make people a lot of money. I got enough knowledge and I've studied this rap stuff and I got enough relationships to help an artist, help his family I get a kick out of it 'cause I see how the label does it and my situation. I feel like just helping people."

In 2017, they discovered then upcoming American rapper Juice Wrld after hearing his song " Lucid Dreams ". Under the label, Juice Wrld released his debut studio album Goodbye and Good Riddance on May 23, 2018, which was followed by three singles " All Girls Are the Same ", the aforementioned "Lucid Dreams", and " Lean Wit Me ". In March 2019, Juice WRLD released his second studio album Death Race for Love which was followed by two singles " Robbery ", and "Hear Me Calling".

In 2019, Bibby later discovered upcoming Australian rapper and singer The Kid Laroi after hearing his song "Blessings" from his debut EP 14 With A Dream. In March of that year, Bibby signed Laroi to Grade A. Under the label, Laroi released his debut mixtape F*CK LOVE in July 2020, spawning two singles: " Go " featuring labelmate Juice Wrld (a posthumous verse due to his death in December 2019), and "TELL ME WHY". On November 6, Laroi released a deluxe edition of F*ck Love titled F*ck Love (Savage) which was followed by the single "SO DONE".

On December 8, 2019, Juice Wrld suffered from an overdose at an airport in Chicago which led to his unexpected death. On January 22, 2020, Grade A announced that posthumous projects from Juice Wrld will be released to honor his legacy. His first posthumous album Legends Never Die was released in July of that year, which contained three singles "Righteous", "Tell Me U Luv Me" featuring Trippie Redd, and "Life's A Mess" featuring Halsey. In December 2021, it was followed up with his second posthumous album Fighting Demons. Throughout 2020, other posthumous releases from the artist included "Smile" with The Weeknd, "Real Shit" with Benny Blanco, "Reminds Me Of You" and "Bad Boy" with Young Thug in 2021.

On May 27 2021, Bibby announced Juice Wrld's third and final posthumous album, The Party Never Ends. While Bibby has "confirmed" the release date for the album several times,its official release slate remains unclear. Its supposed lead single, " Lace It " (with Benny Blanco and Eminem) was released in December 2023.

## Grade A Productions

Grade A Productions is a record label founded by Lil Bibby in 2017.

## Personal life

In December 2022, Dickinson acquired an ultra-modern home in Los Angeles for US $7.9 million.

## Discography

### Singles


Daymare: 1998

# Daymare: 1998

## Abstract

Daymare: 1998 is a third-person survival horror game developed by Invader Studios and published by Destructive Creations and All In! Games on September 17, 2019, for Microsoft Windows, and on April 28, 2020, for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

A prequel, Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle, was released in August 2023.

## Plot

The events of the game begin on August 20, 1998, at Aegis Laboratory, a secret government facility built on the island of North Blue Two, which is part of the Northfall Island archipelago located just off the coast of Washington. Subsequently, the action moves to Keen Sight, a small and peaceful town in Idaho surrounded by an endless forest. The game presents three different, unique perspectives on how the story unfolds: that of the operative code named Liev, an elite soldier of the special unit H.A.D.E.S. (Hexacore Advanced Division for Extraction and Search), the helicopter pilot Cpt. David "Raven" Hale and Samuel Walker, a forest ranger from the Vermilion Forest that surrounds the Redcrest Mountains of Keen Sight.

A few hours after the latest emergency transmission from Aegis regarding the leak of an extremely lethal experimental BC weapon, the Department of Defense sends two teams of H.A.D.E.S. operatives, who depart from Hexacore Biogenetics' Keen Sight HQ, to investigate the cause of the accident, recover top-secret research and samples, and erase all evidence of what had happened before the automatic security system cleanses the entire compound.

## Development

The project was born as a result of work on Resident Evil 2 Reborn, a fan-made remake. Given the attention it garnered, the team received a call directly from Capcom who officially invited them to their Osaka HQ in 2015. They asked Invader Studios to cease the development of the game, which resulted in its cancellation. After the meeting, and at the suggestion from the producers of Capcom themselves, the team therefore decided to create an original IP later called Daymare: 1998.

The director of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis agreed to join the project as Associate Producer and Resident Evil artist Satoshi Nakai joined the team. It was officially announced on September 12, 2016. To finance the project, a campaign via Kickstarter and a special PC demo called Daymare Challenge was announced on February 15, 2017, in which one of the game's creatures (Melting Man) was closed off in an area, a later part of the final game. Although financing was not secured, the campaign helped make Daymare: 1998 a project even more well-known to the public.

After a production of two years and four months, the title would officially release on Steam and GOG.com on September 17, 2019, in Japan on the PlayStation 4 and PC on February 20, 2020, and in the rest of the world on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on April 28, 2020.

In Japan, the game was published by DMM games. Destructive Creations published the game for the rest of the world on consoles and by All in! Games via Steam.

## Downloadable content

A free update exclusive to the PC version was released on November 22, 2019. The extra mode, H.A.D.E.S. Dead End, allows you to resume the role of H.A.D.E.S. operative Liev for a mercenaries-style action game experience. The aim of the mission is to complete three random objectives in each area, taking the shortest time possible and surviving hordes of relentless enemies that when killed, decrease the mission time.

Four scenarios are currently available: Sacred Heart Hospital, The Sewers, Downtown Keen Sight and Lair Dam. There are four classes, characterized by different starting equipment: Scout, Heavy, Assault, and Medic. In addition, it is also possible to activate some random game changers, such as hallucinations or limited resources that affect the experience making it more or less difficult.

## Prequel

A prequel, Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle, was announced in May 2021 and released on August 30, 2023, for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Microsoft Windows.

## Reception

Daymare: 1998 received "mixed or average reviews" from critics. IGN Italy gave it a 6.8, finding it to be a difficult game, which tried to live up to the hype and ambition of its developers while at the same time presenting very good ideas that deserved greater attention. The experience was mentioned as the one with flaws that often outweighed the strengths, with the possibility that a sequel would find its rightful place.

Multiplayer.it noted that Daymare: 1998 is a well-made survival horror game that, although suffering from limitations imposed by production resources, would certainly attract fans of the genre, tracing it back to the golden days of survival horror. The reviewer focused on the bosses, finding them not exactly memorable, and the style of normal enemies not overly remarkable.

Eurogamer Italy awarded it a 7 out of 10, stating that the title was focused more on hardcore fans of the horror pursued by Resident Evil and less to the more nostalgic of the more reasoned and less action-focused approach, revealing in its own way a rewarding experience, but not recommended for beginners. Bloody Disgusting saw it as a tribute to the horror games of the past, however showing a short longevity and some technical defects, which according to the reviewer, however, did not significantly impact his judgment, considering also that it was the product of a small studio; he concluded by advising anyone looking for a 90s-style survival horror to give it a try.


List of tallest buildings in Dubai

# List of tallest buildings in Dubai

## Abstract

Dubai, the largest city in the United Arab Emirates, is home to many extremely tall modern high-rises, 108 of which stand taller than 180 metres (591 ft). The tallest building in Dubai is the Burj Khalifa, which rises 828 metres (2,717 ft) and contains 163 floors. The tower has stood as both the tallest building in the world and the tallest human-made structure of any kind in the world since its completion in January 2010. The second-tallest building in Dubai is the 425-metre (1,394 ft) Marina 101, which also stands as the world's fourth tallest residential skyscraper. The skyscrapers of Dubai are, for the most part, clustered in three different locations. The land along E 11 Road was the first to develop, followed by the Dubai Marina neighborhood and the Business Bay district.

Overall, Dubai has 18 completed and topped-out buildings that rise at least 300 metres (984 ft) in height, which is more than any other city in the world. Dubai has 73 completed and topped-out buildings that rise at least 200 metres (656 ft) in height. Based on the average height of the ten tallest completed buildings, Dubai has the tallest skyline in the Middle East and the world. As of 2012, the skyline of Dubai is ranked eighth in the world with 248 buildings rising at least 100 metres (330 ft) in height.

The history of skyscrapers in Dubai began with the construction of Dubai World Trade Centre in 1979, which is usually regarded as the first high-rise in the city. At the time of its completion, it also stood as the tallest building in the Middle East. Since 1999, and especially from 2005 onwards, Dubai has been the site of an extremely large skyscraper building boom, with all 73 of its buildings over 200 metres (656 ft) tall completed after 1999. In less than ten years, the city has amassed one of the largest skylines in the world; it is now home to the world's tallest building, the world's tallest residence, and the world's second tallest hotel. As of 2019, 49 new skyscrapers are under construction in Dubai; additionally, there are over 127 active high-rise developments that have been proposed for construction in the city.

## Tallest buildings

This list ranks completed and topped out Dubai skyscrapers that stand at least 200 metres (656 ft) tall, based on standard height measurement. This includes spires and architectural details but does not include antenna masts. An equal sign (=) following a rank indicates the same height between two or more buildings. The "Year" column indicates the year in which a building was completed.

* indicates the building is still under construction but has been topped out

## Tallest under construction, on-hold, approved and proposed

### Under construction

This is the list of buildings that are currently under construction in Dubai and are expected to rise to a height of at least 150 metres (492 ft). Buildings under construction that have already been topped out are also included, as are those whose construction has been suspended.

### Other districts

* Table entries with dashes (—) indicate that information regarding building dates of completion has not yet been released.

### On hold

This table lists buildings that were at one time under construction in Dubai and were expected to rise at least 180 metres (591 ft) in height, but are now on hold. While not officially cancelled, construction has been suspended on each development.

### Approved

This table lists buildings that are approved for construction in Dubai and are expected to rise at least 180 metres (591 ft) in height.

* Table entries with dashes (—) indicate that information regarding building dates of completion has not yet been released.

### Proposed

This table lists buildings that are proposed for construction in Dubai and are expected to rise at least 180 metres (591 ft) in height.

* Table entries with dashes (—) indicate that information regarding building heights and/or dates of completion has not yet been released.

## Timeline of tallest buildings

This is a list of the buildings that once were the tallest in Dubai. Despite Dubai's recent major skyscraper boom, there are only seven buildings on the list.


Eugene Chassaignac

# Eugene Chassaignac

## Abstract

Eugène Chassaignac (1820 – January 25, 1878) was a French-American musician, professor, composer and music critic. Eugene was a prominent member of the New Orleans community and is known for desegregating Scottish Rite Freemasonic lodges in New Orleans in 1867 for which he won a gold medal. Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldipersonally sent Eugene a letter of praise for his courageous act of kindness towards people of color. His son Charles Louis Chassaignac became a prominent doctor in New Orleans and worked for Charity Hospital and was a humanitarian. His daughter Marie Chassaignac married Baron Randolph Natili. Natili's parents were involved in an interracial marriage and he was a member of the prominent Creole Dimitry Family. Natili became closely associated with Italian American composer Giuseppe Ferrata because of the marriage of his first cousin's daughter Alice. Natili's relationship with his father-in-law Eugene benefited Ferrata because of Natili's knowledge and appreciation for musical composition.

Eugène was born in Nantes, France in 1820. He studied music with French author and playwright Ludovic Halévy in Paris, France. Eugène eventually settled in New Orleans, Louisiana where he wrote about theater and music for the French-language newspapers Le Moniteur du Sud, La Chronique, Le Meschacébé, and Le Louisianais. He taught music in New Orleans and created a significant number of musical compositions including a comic opera entitled La Nuit aux echelles, which was performed in 1850 at the Théâtre de St. Martinville. Most of his music manuscripts were destroyed in a fire in Morgan City at his wife's home after his death. Some of his compositions survived and are part of the collection of Duke University and the Library of Congress.

## History

Eugene was born in Nantes, France. His brother was famous French physician Edouard Chassaignac. Eugene decided to study music with composer Ludovic Halévy in Paris. Eugene migrated to New Orleans in the 1840s where he wrote theatre and music columns for Le Meschacébé, Le Moniteur du Sud, La Chronique, and Le Louisianais. He married Elvire Porche in 1842, she was from a family of well-to-do planters. Her parents were Severin Porche (1798–1840) and Helene Porche (1800–1842), they were first cousins and their aunt was a Creole woman named Marie Louise Porche (1736–1802). Marie was the child of an unknown slave woman with rights within the wealthy Porche family. The family was from Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana where Eugene and Elvire lived during the 1850s, he taught music at the Collège de la Mobile while also presenting a comic opera, La Nuit aux echelles at the Théatre de St. Martinville. By 1857, he taught music history in New Orleans and two years later along with his friend Adolphe Elie he opened a music store called Elie et Chassaignac. The two men eventually had a disagreement which almost led to a duel which was stopped by local police. Eugéne was a captain during the American Civil War for the Confederacy.

In 1861, he was a partner in the New Orleans music publishing company Sourdes and Chassaignac. Eugene partnered with Lieutenant H.H. Strawbridge to produce Confederate Land and Lieutenant Col. A Garard to create War to the Yankees both were southern patriotic songs published in three languages. By 1864, Eugene collaborated in creating a song in New Orleans entitled Bride du Sud the text was by Louis Placide Canonge, and the music was by Eugène.

Eugene was a Freemason and the supreme grand commander of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry in Louisiana and on May 2, 1867, he ordered that white lodges under his jurisdiction welcome all without distinction as to race or color. Eugene wanted masonry to march in the forefront of the struggle against prejudice. Around this period Louisiana was emersed in racial violence and segregation Louisiana rejoined the Union on July 9, 1868, and the Opelousas massacre occurred two months later. By late 1868, Eugene was given a gold Medal for desegregating the lodges. Three years later his daughter Maria married Alexander Dimitry 's nephew Randolph Natili. Natili was a part of the Dimitry family and Marianne Celeste Dragon 's grandson. Eugene's son Charles Louis Chassaignac was an important doctor in New Orleans. He was the medical examiner for the New York Life Insurance Company and district surgeon for the Illinois Central Railroad Company in New Orleans. Most of Eugene's compositions that were in the possession of his wife after his death were lost in a fire. Some of his works can be found in the collection of Duke University and the Library of Congress.


Elastocaloric materials

# Elastocaloric materials

## Abstract

Elastocaloric materials are a class of advanced materials. These materials show a big change in temperature when mechanical stress is applied and then removed.

## Description

This phenomenon, known as the elastocaloric effect. The elastocaloric effect is the reversible thermal response of the material to mechanical loading and unloading. The effect is often caused by changes in entropy within the material's structure. This can be due to phase transformations or reorientation of crystalline domains. Unlike conventional materials, elastocaloric materials can experience substantial temperature changes under mechanical stress. This makes them promising for solid-state refrigeration and heating applications.

The relevance of elastocaloric materials lies in their potential to revolutionize the cooling and heating systems that are integral to modern life. Traditional cooling technologies, such as vapor-compression refrigeration, rely on harmful refrigerants that contribute to global warming and have significant energy consumption. In contrast, elastocaloric materials offer an environmentally friendly and energy-efficient alternative. They can convert mechanical energy to thermal energy. These materials can potentially replace conventional systems, leading to reduced greenhouse gas emissions and lower energy usage. The development and commercialization of elastocaloric cooling systems could play a crucial role in addressing the global energy crisis and mitigating climate change.

## Elastocaloric Effect

The elastocaloric effect is a complex thermomechanical phenomenon in which a material experiences a temperature change as a result of mechanical stress. When mechanical stress is applied to an elastocaloric material—through stretching, compressing, or bending—the material can either absorb heat from its surroundings (resulting in cooling) or release heat (resulting in heating). This effect arises primarily due to a change in the material's entropy. The change in entropy is often linked to a phase transition or the reorientation of the material's crystalline structure.

Shape memory alloys (SMAs) have the elastocaloric effect. This effect is closely connected to the reversible phase transition between different crystal structures. For example, the transition from austenite to martensite. During this transition, the entropy of the system changes. This is due to the rearrangement of atoms and changes in internal energy. The transformation from a high-symmetry austenitic phase to a low-symmetry martensitic phase can either absorb or release latent heat. This depends on whether the process is endothermic or exothermic. The temperature change (ΔT) depends on several factors: material composition - the specific elements and their concentrations in the alloy can significantly influence the phase transition temperature and the associated entropy change; microstructure - the size, distribution, and orientation of grains within the material can affect the mechanical properties and the efficiency of the phase transition; mechanical load - the type and magnitude of the applied stress determine the extent of the phase transition and, consequently, the temperature change. By controlling these factors, the elastocaloric effect can be finely tuned. This allows for the design of materials with tailored thermal responses for specific applications.

## Materials

Elastocaloric materials are diverse and include a range of shape memory alloys (SMAs), which are among the most widely studied due to their pronounced phase transition properties. Notable examples include:

- Nickel-Titanium (NiTi) Alloys: Known for their excellent mechanical properties and significant temperature changes during the austenite-martensite phase transformation, NiTi alloys are highly efficient elastocaloric materials.

- Copper-Based Alloys: Alloys such as Cu-Zn-Al and Cu-Al-Ni have also shown promising elastocaloric properties, with the added benefit of being less expensive than NiTi.

- Iron-Based Alloys: These materials, including Fe-Pd and Fe-Ni, offer potential for elastocaloric applications, especially at lower temperatures.

- Elastomers and Ceramics: Some polymer-based materials and ceramics exhibit elastocaloric effects due to entropy changes associated with stretching or bending. These materials can provide unique advantages, such as flexibility and lower weight.

The choice of material for elastocaloric applications depends on several criteria, including the desired operating temperature range, the required mechanical strength, the material's durability under cyclic loading (fatigue resistance), and cost considerations.

## Comparison with Other Caloric Effects

The elastocaloric effect is part of a broader category of caloric effects that can be utilized for solid-state cooling technologies. Other notable caloric effects include:

- Magnetocaloric effect (MCE): This effect involves a temperature change in a material due to a change in magnetic field. It is based on the magnetocaloric materials' ability to undergo an entropy change when subjected to a magnetic field, which aligns magnetic domains and reduces entropy, leading to heating or cooling.

- Electrocaloric effect (ECE): Involves temperature changes due to the application or removal of an electric field. Electrocaloric materials experience a change in polarization and entropy when an electric field is applied, causing the material to either absorb or release heat.

Compared to the magnetocaloric and electrocaloric effects, the elastocaloric effect offers several distinct advantages:

- No Need for External Fields: Elastocaloric materials do not need external magnetic or electric fields. These fields can be energy-intensive to generate and control. This makes elastocaloric systems potentially simpler and more cost-effective.

- Higher Temperature Changes: Elastocaloric materials can show larger temperature changes when a mechanical stress is applied. The temperature changes are bigger compared to the changes from magnetocaloric or electrocaloric effects. This can lead to higher cooling efficiencies.

- Material Diversity: A wide range of materials can exhibit elastocaloric properties, offering more options for specific applications and potentially lower material costs.

These unique attributes make elastocaloric materials a promising avenue for developing next-generation cooling technologies that are more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly than current systems.


Sirena Huang

# Sirena Huang

## Abstract

Sirena Huang (born May 18, 1994) is an American concert violinist. She has received numerous awards, including First Prize at the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis, First Prize at the Elmar Oliveira International Violin Competition, First Place at the International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians, and Third Place at the Singapore International Violin Competition and the Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition. She has performed with orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, and the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. Huang was appointed as the first Artist-in-Residence of the Hartford Symphony Orchestra in 2011.

## Biography

Huang started her violin lessons at the age of four with Linda Fiore at the Hartt School. Later, she also studied violin with Ian Pang at his home in Avon, Connecticut. She was also a scholarship student studying with Stephen Clapp and Sylvia Rosenberg at Juilliard School Pre-College division. In the summers of 2003 through 2007, Huang attended the Encore School for Strings and studied under David Cerone at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Huang went to The Loomis Chaffee School in Windsor, Connecticut for her high school education and was a member of the Class of 2012. She graduated from Juilliard School with a Bachelor of Music in 2016. There, she studied with Sylvia Rosenberg and Itzhak Perlman. She received her Artist Diploma at Yale University in 2019, where she studied with Hyo Kang.

Huang made her orchestra solo debut with the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra at age nine. Three weeks later, she played with the Staatskapelle Weimar in Germany. Other orchestras with which she has played solo performances include New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Russian Symphony Orchestra, Hartford Symphony Orchestra, New Haven Symphony Orchestra, Lehigh Valley Chamber Orchestra, Greenwich Symphony Orchestra, Park Avenue Chamber Symphony Aspen Sinfonia, Long Island Philharmonic, Roanoke Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra in New Jersey, the Juilliard Pre-College Orchestra, Ensemble Blaeu Amsterdam, and Modus Chamber Ensemble in New York City.

She has performed at the Marlboro Music Festival, Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute, Aspen Music Festival, Newport Music Festival, and at the Eastern Music Festival. She has appeared regularly in the “Great Music for a Great City” series in New York City. Her concerts have been held at venues such as Berlin Philharmonie Hall, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, Tilles Center, Kimmel Center, Severance Hall, Esplanade Concert Hall, National Concert Hall (Taiwan), among many others. In March 2005, she played her solo recital at Bushnell Center to benefit Fund for Access, a scholarship program for the Hartt School of Music. In 2006, she appeared on TED.

## Awards and recognition

Since 2003, Huang has been selected three times as one of ten "Exceptional Young Artists" worldwide at the “Starling-DeLay Symposium for Violin Study” at Juilliard School. Huang performed during the ceremony in which the annual Humanitarian Award was presented to President Sarkozy of France. Huang was also the highlight performer at the inaugural Wealth & Giving Forum gathering in October 2004 at the Greenbrier resort, an event attended by philanthropists Kenneth Behring and Vartan Gregorian, Elie Wiesel, and Fareed Zakaria. In June 2006, she performed before His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan and thirty other Nobel Prize Laureates—including Elie Wiesel —at the World Peace Conference held in Petra. In October 2007, under the invitation of former Czech Republic President Havel, she played in the Opening Ceremony of “Forum 2000 World Conference” in Prague.

In December 2003, she was First Prize winner in the junior division of the “Remember Enescu” International Violin Competition in Romania. At age 10, she was second place in the triennial International Louis Spohr Competition for Young Violinists held in Germany, and in addition was awarded the Special Prize of "Best Bach Interpretation". In the United States, she won The Juilliard School Pre-College Concerto Competition at age of nine as well as a Grand Prize of the New Haven Symphony Young Artist Competition in Connecticut. In September 2006, she received Third Prize in the Wieniawski International Competition for Young Violinists held in Lublin, Poland. In the summer of 2008, she won First Prize at the Aspen Music Festival Violin Competition.

In 2009, Huang was awarded the First Prize Gold Medal and title of Laureate of the International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians. In 2011 she received First Prize and the Audience Award at the 2011 Thomas & Evon Cooper International Competition. In the summer of 2011, she was also awarded the Bernard and Mania Hahnloser Prize for Violin at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland.

In 2015, she won third prize at the Singapore International Violin Competition. In 2016, she also won third prize at the Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition.

In February 2017, Sirena was awarded First Prize at the Inaugural Elmar Oliveira International Violin Competition. Subsequently, she won First Prize of the New York Concert Artist (NYCA) Worldwide Debut Audition in 2017 and received a Berlin Philharmonie Hall debut recital.

In 2022, Huang won the First Prize at the 11th International Violin Competition of Indianapolis. In addition to the gold medal, she was also awarded the special prizes for: the best performance of a Bach work, the best performance of a Mozart Sonata, the best performance of an encore work, the best performance of a Beethoven Sonata, the best performance of the newly commissioned work, the best performance of a sonata other than Beethoven, the best performance of a Kreisler work and the best performance of a major violin concerto.

## Praise

Huang has appeared and been interviewed in newspapers, on TV, and on radio programs including WQXR McGraw-Hill Young Artists Showcase, WNPR, Hartford Courant, Greenwich Time, Journal Inquirer, CNBC, WTNH, WTIC, WB20, and Beethoven Radio, and gave a performance on the “ From the Top ” radio program.

- The Hartford Courant reported, "Seldom have Hartford Symphony Orchestra concert-goers been so transfixed by a soloist as they were Thursday by 14-year-old Sirena Huang... Her musicality is solid, professional and mature. Huang played with effortless technical command and projected fresh ideas in concentrated but flowing gracefulness."

- The Baltimore Sun wrote: "Huang... a remarkable amount of deeply expressive phrasing. Despite her youth, she sounded like someone who has lived quite a while with the score, long enough to feel confident putting her own stamp on it."

- In November 2007, the New York Times described her performance in a concert to honor Holocaust survivor Alice Herz-Sommer, as: "A Mendelssohn concerto exquisitely performed by a 13-year-old violinist, Sirena Huang, brought down the house."

- In February 2006, she was invited to be a guest speaker at the TED Conference, an annual gathering of over 1000 of the finest minds in technology, entertainment, and design of America. TED called Huang a player with "a musician’s soul that transcends her years."


IJsselmonde (island)

# IJsselmonde (island)

## Abstract

IJsselmonde (pronounced) is a river island in the Netherlands, between the Nieuwe Maas, Noord and Oude Maas branches rivers of the Rhine-Meuse delta in the province of South Holland. The city of Rotterdam now occupies most of the northern part of the island and includes the eponymous former village of IJsselmonde, once a separate community. The island was once a rich agricultural region but is mostly suburbs today. Only the mid-south parts of the island have retained their agricultural character.

## Boundaries

IJsselmonde is separated by these waterways:

- from the mainland on the north by the Nieuwe Maas

- from the island of Putten on the west by the Oude Maas

- from Hoeksche Waard on the south by the Oude Maas

- from the island of Dordrecht on the southeast by the Oude Maas

- from the Alblasserwaard mainland on the east by river Noord

## Municipalities and regions

IJsselmonde consists of the following six municipalities:

- Albrandswaard

- Barendrecht

- Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht

- Ridderkerk

- Rotterdam (southern part)

- Zwijndrecht

Albrandswaard, Barendrecht, Ridderkerk and Rotterdam belong to the region of Rijnmond, Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht and Zwijndrecht belong to the region of Zuid-Holland Zuid.

## Zwijndrechtse Waard

Originally the Zwijndrechtse Waard, on which the municipalities of Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht and Zwijndrecht and the village of Rijsoord (partially) lie, was a separate river island, the western branch of river Waal separating the two. However, as the Waal stretch has been closed off at both ends, the Waard is now generally considered to be part of IJsselmonde. The dammed western end of the Waal river is now commonly referred to as Waaltje ("little Waal").