Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor, (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) will always be remembered as the grand dame of British cinema.
The former child star who passed away after a long illness recently, was known for both her acting talent and beauty.
She was also frequently in the spotlight because of her Hollywood lifestyle, and many marriages.
Taylor is considered one of the greatest actresses of Hollywood's golden age.
She was born in Hampstead, a wealthy district of North West London, the second child of Francis Lenn Taylor (1897–1968) and Sara Viola Warmbrodt (1895–1994), who were Americans residing in the United Kingdom.
She was of British, Jewish (Israeli), Spanish, Portuguese, Iranian and Native American heritage.
Taylor's family came from Arkansas City, Kansas.
Her father was an art dealer and her mother a former actress.
She was a dual citizen of the UK and the US for life.
At three, Taylor took ballet lessons. Shortly before World War II, her parents returned to the United States.
The Taylors were family friends of Andrea Berens, a wealthy British socialite and the fiancee of Cheever Cowden, chairman of Universal Pictures in Hollywood.
Berens introduced Sara and Elizabeth to Cowden, and he had her signed to Universal as an actress.
Taylor appeared in her first film at nine, There's One Born Every Minute.
Not long after, she joined Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and starred in Lassie Come Home.
This 1943 film featured her lifelong pal Roddy McDowall.
In 1944, she starred in Jane Eyre.
At 12, she played Velvet Brown in National Velvet. Velvet was a young girl who trains her horse to win the Grand National.
The film also rocketed Mickey Rooney and Angela Lansbury to fame.
In 1946, she starred in The Courage Of Lassie.
Other notable films in the 1940s were Life With Father (1947), Cynthia (1947), A Date With Judy (1948) and Julia Misbehaves (1948).
In 1949, she starred in Conspirator which bombed at the box office.
But her portrayal of 21-year-old debutante Melinda Grayton was praised by critics.
Her first major box office success in an adult role was Kay Banks in the romantic comedy Father Of The Bride (1950).
In late 1949, Taylor starred in A Place In The Sun as a spoiled socialite.
The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954) saw her reunited with her Big Hangover co-star Van Johnson.
Following a substantial role opposite Rock Hudson and James Dean in Giant (1956), Taylor was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress. She was also nominated for her roles in Raintree County (1957), Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (1958) and Suddenly Last Summer (1959).
In 1960, she starred in Cleopatra as the title character. Her future husband, British actor Richard Burton played Mark Antony.
Taylor won her first Academy Award for Best Actress for Butterfield 8 (1960), which co-starred then husband Eddie Fisher.
Her second Best Actress award was in Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? (1966), which co-starred Burton.
Burton and Taylor starred in six films during the decade – The VIPs (1963), The Sandpiper (1965), The Taming Of The Shrew (1967), Doctor Faustus (1967), The Comedians {1967} and Boom! (1968).
Taylor appeared in Reflections In A Golden Eye (1967) opposite Marlon Brando and Secret Ceremony (1968) opposite Mia Farrow.
Taylor continued to star in numerous theatrical films throughout the 1970s, such as Zee And Co (1972) with Michael Caine, Ash Wednesday (1973), The Blue Bird (1976) with Jane Fonda and Ava Gardner and A Little Night Music (1977).
With then-husband Burton, she co-starred in the 1972 films Under Milk Wood and Hammersmith Is Out and the 1973 made-for-TV movie Divorce His, Divorce Hers.
Taylor starred in the 1980 mystery film The Mirror Cracked, based on an Agatha Christie novel.
In 1985, she played movie gossip columnist Louella Parsons in the TV film Malice In Wonderland.
Her last theatrical film was 1994's The Flintstones.
In the 2000s she starred in television series such as General Hospital, All My Children and The Simpsons.
Taylor made her Broadway and West End debuts in 1982 in The Little Foxes.
She also starred in Noel Coward's Private Lives (1983) with Burton.
On December 5, 2007, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger inducted Taylor into the California Hall Of Fame, located at The California Museum For History, Women And The Arts.
Taylor devoted much time and energy to AIDS-related charities and fundraising. She helped start the American Foundation for AIDS Research after the death of her former co-star and friend, Rock Hudson.
She also created her own AIDS foundation, the Elizabeth Taylor Aids Foundation (ETAF).
By 1999, she had helped to raise an estimated US$50 million to fight the disease.
She also became a close pal of Michael Jackson, and attended his funeral in 2009.
Taylor was married seven times to Conrad Hilton (1950-51), Michael Wilding (1952-57), Michael Todd (1957-58, he died), Eddie Fisher (1959-64), Richard Burton (1964-74, 1975-76), John Warner (1976-82) and Larry Fortensky (1991-1996).
She is survived by two sons (from Wilding) and two daughters (one each from Todd and Burton).
She has nine grandchildren.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
About Japan
Thanks Wikipedia.
Japan is an island nation in East Asia.
Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south.
The characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why Japan is sometimes referred to as the "Land Of The Rising Sun".
Japan is an archipelago of 6,852 islands.
The four largest islands are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, together accounting for ninety seven percent of Japan's land area.
Japan has the world's tenth largest population, with over 127 million people.
Since adopting its revised constitution in 1947, Japan has maintained a unitary constitutional monarchy with an emperor and an elected parliament called the Diet.
A major economic power, Japan is the world's fourth largest exporter and fifth largest importer.
Although Japan has officially renounced its right to declare war, it maintains an extensive modern military force in self-defense and peacekeeping roles.
Japan has the highest life expectancy of any country in the world.
The English word Japan is an exonym.
The Japanese names for Japan are Nippon and Nihon.
Japanese people refer to themselves as Nihonjin and to their language as Nihongo.
Both Nippon and Nihon mean "sun-origin".
The British coined the name Japan from the Malay word Jepang which is derived from the Shanghai Chinese word for the country, Zepen.
The Japanese are of Chinese and Mon origin.
The Ryukyu Islanders in the south of Japan are the same people as the aboriginals of Taiwan and the people of the Philippines.
They are Austronesians of the Bajau subgroup (Kenyah in Sarawak and Kayan in Indonesian Borneo aka Banjarmasin).
Japan received Buddhism from the Koreans.
During the 16th century, traders and missionaries from Portugal reached Japan, initiating direct commercial and cultural exchange between Japan and the West (Nanban trade).
On March 31, 1854, the United States' representative Matthew Perry inked a business treaty with the Japanese monarch.
Emperor Meiji subsequently introduced a constitution for Japan and modernised the country extensively.
After victories in the First Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895), Japan gained control of Taiwan and Korea.
World War I enabled Japan, which joined the side of the victorious Allies, to widen its influence and territorial holdings.
It occupied Manchuria in 1931, and in 1940, joined Adolf Hitler's Germany fighting the Allies in World War II.
Japan invaded China in 1937, precipitating the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945).
In 1940, it took South East Asia and on December 7, 1941, attacked the United States' naval base at Pearl Harbour.
After the Soviet invasion of Manchuria and the American atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, Japan surrendered to the Allies.
The Allies (led by the United States ) repatriated millions of ethnic Japanese from colonies and military camps throughout Asia.
The Allies also convened the International Military Tribunal For The Far East on May 3, 1946 to prosecute some Japanese leaders for war crimes.
However, the bacteriological research units and members of the imperial family involved in the war were exonerated from criminal prosecutions by the Supreme Allied Commander despite calls for trials for both groups.
In 1947, Japan adopted a new constitution emphasising liberal democratic practices.
The Allied occupation ended with the Treaty Of San Francisco in 1952 and Japan was granted membership in the United Nations in 1956.
Japan later achieved rapid growth to become the second largest economy in the world.
On March 11, 2011, Japan suffered the strongest earthquake in its recorded history.
It had a magnitude of 9.0 and was aggravated by a tsunami, affecting the northeast area of Honshu, including the capital city Tokyo.
About 73 percent of Japan is forested, mountainous and unsuitable for agricultural, industrial, or residential use.
As a result, the habitable zones, mainly located in coastal areas, have extremely high population densities.
The islands of Japan are located in a volcanic zone on the Pacific Ring Of Fire.
The climate of Japan is predominantly temperate, but varies greatly from north to south.
Japan's geographical features divide it into six principal climatic zones: Hokkaido, Sea Of Japan, Central Highlands, Seto Inland Sea, Pacific Ocean, and Ryukyu Islands.
The northernmost zone, Hokkaido, has a temperate climate with long, cold winters and cool summers.
In the Sea Of Japan zone on Honshu's west coast, northwest winter winds bring heavy snowfall.
In the summer, the region is cooler than the Pacific area, though it sometimes experiences extremely hot temperatures.
The Central Highlands has a typical inland climate, with large temperature differences between summer and winter, and between day and night.
The mountains of the Chugoku and Shikoku regions shelter the Seto Inland Sea from seasonal winds, bringing mild weather year-round.
The Pacific coast experiences cold winters with little snowfall and hot, humid summers.
The Ryukyu Islands have a subtropical climate, with warm winters and hot summers.
Japan has nine forest ecoregions which reflect the climate and geography of the islands.
They range from subtropical forests in the Ryukyu Islands, to temperate forests in the mild climate regions of the main islands and the cold northern islands.
Japan has over 90,000 species of wildlife, including the brown bear, the Japanese macaque, the raccoon dog, and the Japanese giant salamander.
Japan is one of the world's leaders in the development of new environment-friendly technologies, and is ranked 20th best in the world in the 2010 Environmental Performance Index.
Japan is a constitutional monarchy where the power of the Emperor is very limited.
As a ceremonial figurehead, he is defined by the constitution as "the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people".
Power is held chiefly by the Prime Minister of Japan and other elected members of the Diet, while sovereignty is vested in the Japanese people.
Japan's legislative organ is the National Diet, a bicameral parliament.
The Diet consists of a House of Representatives with 480 seats, elected by popular vote every four years or when dissolved, and a House of Councillors of 242 seats, whose popularly-elected members serve six-year terms.
There is universal suffrage for adults over 20 years of age.
Japan consists of forty seven prefectures, each overseen by an elected governor, legislature and administrative bureaucracy.
Each prefecture is further divided into cities, towns and villages.
Japan has a large industrial capacity, and is home to some of the largest and most technologically advanced producers of motor vehicles, electronics, machine tools, steel and nonferrous metals, ships, chemical substances, textiles and processed foods.
Agricultural businesses in Japan often utilise a system of terrace farming, and crop yields are high.
Japan is the second largest producer of automobiles in the world.
Its main exports are transportation equipment, motor vehicles, electronics, electrical machinery and chemicals.
Japan is a leading nation in scientific research, particularly technology, machinery and biomedical research.
Some of Japan's more prominent technological contributions are in the fields of electronics, automobiles, machinery, earthquake engineering, industrial robotics, optics, chemicals, semiconductors and metals.
Primary schools, secondary schools and universities were introduced in 1872.
Since 1947, compulsory education in Japan comprises elementary and middle school, which together last for nine years (from ages 6 to 15).
Japanese music is eclectic and diverse.
Many instruments, such as the koto, were introduced in the 9th and 10th centuries.
The accompanied recitative of the Noh drama dates from the 14th century and the popular folk music, with the guitar-like shamisen, from the sixteenth.
Historically, the primary ingredient of Japanese cuisine has been Japanese rice.
In the early modern era ingredients such as red meats that had previously not been widely used in Japan were introduced.
Japanese cuisine offers a vast array of regional specialties.
Traditionally, sumo is considered Japan's national sport.
Japanese martial arts such as judo, karate and kendo are also widely practiced and enjoyed by spectators in the country.
Japan hosted the Summer Olympics in Tokyo in 1964.
The Japanese professional baseball league was established in 1936.
Today baseball is the most popular spectator sport in the country.
One of the most famous Japanese baseball players is Ichiro Suzuki, who plays for the Seattle Mariners.
Since the establishment of the Japan Professional Football League in 1992, association football has also gained a wide following.
Japan was a venue of the Intercontinental Cup from 1981 to 2004 and co-hosted the 2002 FIFA World Cup with South Korea.
Japan has one of the most successful football teams in Asia, winning the Asian Cup four times.
Japan is an island nation in East Asia.
Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south.
The characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why Japan is sometimes referred to as the "Land Of The Rising Sun".
Japan is an archipelago of 6,852 islands.
The four largest islands are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, together accounting for ninety seven percent of Japan's land area.
Japan has the world's tenth largest population, with over 127 million people.
Since adopting its revised constitution in 1947, Japan has maintained a unitary constitutional monarchy with an emperor and an elected parliament called the Diet.
A major economic power, Japan is the world's fourth largest exporter and fifth largest importer.
Although Japan has officially renounced its right to declare war, it maintains an extensive modern military force in self-defense and peacekeeping roles.
Japan has the highest life expectancy of any country in the world.
The English word Japan is an exonym.
The Japanese names for Japan are Nippon and Nihon.
Japanese people refer to themselves as Nihonjin and to their language as Nihongo.
Both Nippon and Nihon mean "sun-origin".
The British coined the name Japan from the Malay word Jepang which is derived from the Shanghai Chinese word for the country, Zepen.
The Japanese are of Chinese and Mon origin.
The Ryukyu Islanders in the south of Japan are the same people as the aboriginals of Taiwan and the people of the Philippines.
They are Austronesians of the Bajau subgroup (Kenyah in Sarawak and Kayan in Indonesian Borneo aka Banjarmasin).
Japan received Buddhism from the Koreans.
During the 16th century, traders and missionaries from Portugal reached Japan, initiating direct commercial and cultural exchange between Japan and the West (Nanban trade).
On March 31, 1854, the United States' representative Matthew Perry inked a business treaty with the Japanese monarch.
Emperor Meiji subsequently introduced a constitution for Japan and modernised the country extensively.
After victories in the First Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895), Japan gained control of Taiwan and Korea.
World War I enabled Japan, which joined the side of the victorious Allies, to widen its influence and territorial holdings.
It occupied Manchuria in 1931, and in 1940, joined Adolf Hitler's Germany fighting the Allies in World War II.
Japan invaded China in 1937, precipitating the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945).
In 1940, it took South East Asia and on December 7, 1941, attacked the United States' naval base at Pearl Harbour.
After the Soviet invasion of Manchuria and the American atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, Japan surrendered to the Allies.
The Allies (led by the United States ) repatriated millions of ethnic Japanese from colonies and military camps throughout Asia.
The Allies also convened the International Military Tribunal For The Far East on May 3, 1946 to prosecute some Japanese leaders for war crimes.
However, the bacteriological research units and members of the imperial family involved in the war were exonerated from criminal prosecutions by the Supreme Allied Commander despite calls for trials for both groups.
In 1947, Japan adopted a new constitution emphasising liberal democratic practices.
The Allied occupation ended with the Treaty Of San Francisco in 1952 and Japan was granted membership in the United Nations in 1956.
Japan later achieved rapid growth to become the second largest economy in the world.
On March 11, 2011, Japan suffered the strongest earthquake in its recorded history.
It had a magnitude of 9.0 and was aggravated by a tsunami, affecting the northeast area of Honshu, including the capital city Tokyo.
About 73 percent of Japan is forested, mountainous and unsuitable for agricultural, industrial, or residential use.
As a result, the habitable zones, mainly located in coastal areas, have extremely high population densities.
The islands of Japan are located in a volcanic zone on the Pacific Ring Of Fire.
The climate of Japan is predominantly temperate, but varies greatly from north to south.
Japan's geographical features divide it into six principal climatic zones: Hokkaido, Sea Of Japan, Central Highlands, Seto Inland Sea, Pacific Ocean, and Ryukyu Islands.
The northernmost zone, Hokkaido, has a temperate climate with long, cold winters and cool summers.
In the Sea Of Japan zone on Honshu's west coast, northwest winter winds bring heavy snowfall.
In the summer, the region is cooler than the Pacific area, though it sometimes experiences extremely hot temperatures.
The Central Highlands has a typical inland climate, with large temperature differences between summer and winter, and between day and night.
The mountains of the Chugoku and Shikoku regions shelter the Seto Inland Sea from seasonal winds, bringing mild weather year-round.
The Pacific coast experiences cold winters with little snowfall and hot, humid summers.
The Ryukyu Islands have a subtropical climate, with warm winters and hot summers.
Japan has nine forest ecoregions which reflect the climate and geography of the islands.
They range from subtropical forests in the Ryukyu Islands, to temperate forests in the mild climate regions of the main islands and the cold northern islands.
Japan has over 90,000 species of wildlife, including the brown bear, the Japanese macaque, the raccoon dog, and the Japanese giant salamander.
Japan is one of the world's leaders in the development of new environment-friendly technologies, and is ranked 20th best in the world in the 2010 Environmental Performance Index.
Japan is a constitutional monarchy where the power of the Emperor is very limited.
As a ceremonial figurehead, he is defined by the constitution as "the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people".
Power is held chiefly by the Prime Minister of Japan and other elected members of the Diet, while sovereignty is vested in the Japanese people.
Japan's legislative organ is the National Diet, a bicameral parliament.
The Diet consists of a House of Representatives with 480 seats, elected by popular vote every four years or when dissolved, and a House of Councillors of 242 seats, whose popularly-elected members serve six-year terms.
There is universal suffrage for adults over 20 years of age.
Japan consists of forty seven prefectures, each overseen by an elected governor, legislature and administrative bureaucracy.
Each prefecture is further divided into cities, towns and villages.
Japan has a large industrial capacity, and is home to some of the largest and most technologically advanced producers of motor vehicles, electronics, machine tools, steel and nonferrous metals, ships, chemical substances, textiles and processed foods.
Agricultural businesses in Japan often utilise a system of terrace farming, and crop yields are high.
Japan is the second largest producer of automobiles in the world.
Its main exports are transportation equipment, motor vehicles, electronics, electrical machinery and chemicals.
Japan is a leading nation in scientific research, particularly technology, machinery and biomedical research.
Some of Japan's more prominent technological contributions are in the fields of electronics, automobiles, machinery, earthquake engineering, industrial robotics, optics, chemicals, semiconductors and metals.
Primary schools, secondary schools and universities were introduced in 1872.
Since 1947, compulsory education in Japan comprises elementary and middle school, which together last for nine years (from ages 6 to 15).
Japanese music is eclectic and diverse.
Many instruments, such as the koto, were introduced in the 9th and 10th centuries.
The accompanied recitative of the Noh drama dates from the 14th century and the popular folk music, with the guitar-like shamisen, from the sixteenth.
Historically, the primary ingredient of Japanese cuisine has been Japanese rice.
In the early modern era ingredients such as red meats that had previously not been widely used in Japan were introduced.
Japanese cuisine offers a vast array of regional specialties.
Traditionally, sumo is considered Japan's national sport.
Japanese martial arts such as judo, karate and kendo are also widely practiced and enjoyed by spectators in the country.
Japan hosted the Summer Olympics in Tokyo in 1964.
The Japanese professional baseball league was established in 1936.
Today baseball is the most popular spectator sport in the country.
One of the most famous Japanese baseball players is Ichiro Suzuki, who plays for the Seattle Mariners.
Since the establishment of the Japan Professional Football League in 1992, association football has also gained a wide following.
Japan was a venue of the Intercontinental Cup from 1981 to 2004 and co-hosted the 2002 FIFA World Cup with South Korea.
Japan has one of the most successful football teams in Asia, winning the Asian Cup four times.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Mutual Acceptance Key To Success - Tuanku Mizan
Thanks, Malaysian National News Agency.
The King of Malaysia Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin says Malaysians should accept each other's cultural and religious differences and not harbour prejudiced thoughts.
Failure to do so, he says, results in a deadly social cancer.
“We must not destroy the unity and harmony that we have built all this while for short-term gains," he said in his recent Maulud message.
The King of Malaysia Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin says Malaysians should accept each other's cultural and religious differences and not harbour prejudiced thoughts.
Failure to do so, he says, results in a deadly social cancer.
“We must not destroy the unity and harmony that we have built all this while for short-term gains," he said in his recent Maulud message.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Gary Moore - Gifted Guitar Man
Thanks, Wikipedia.
The sudden death of British guitarist Gary Moore has robbed the music world of a brilliant genius.
Moore, who died of a heart attack on February 6 at the age of 59, was a versatile guitarist who excelled in rock, pop, jazz, country, blues and folk music.
Born on April 4, 1952 in Belfast, he played with various musicians since his teens, and they included Phil Lynott and Brian Downey, who later inducted him into their group Thin Lizzy, BB King, Albert King, Colosseum II, Greg Lake, Skid Row (not to be confused with the glam metal band of the same name), Jimmy Nail, Jack Bruce, The Beach Boys, Ozzy Osbourne, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber and the Traveling Wilburys.
Moore learnt the guitar at eight and when he was 14, he learnt the play the instrument with his right hand despite being left-handed.
At 16, he moved to Dublin, Ireland, and watched Jimi Hendrix and John Mayall perform. He also joined the group Skid Row, which was formed by Lynott.
Moore's early influences included Elvis, The Beatles and Fleetwood Mac whose guitarist Peter Green became his mentor.
Moore released his first solo album in 1973, Grinding Stone.
In 1978 his collaboration with Lynott, Parisienne Walkways, reached the Top Ten in the UK Singles Chart.
In 1987, he collaborated on the UK charity record Let It Be, a cover of The Beatles' track.
After a series of rock records, Moore returned to blues music with Still Got The Blues in 1990.
He stayed with the blues format until 1997, when he decided to experiment with modern dance beats on Dark Days In Paradise.
With Back To The Blues, Moore return to his tried and tested blues format in 2001.
He continued with this style on Power Of The Blues (2004), Old New Ballads Blues (2006), Close As You Get (2007) and Bad For You Baby (2008).
Moore was twice married and is survived by three children.
The sudden death of British guitarist Gary Moore has robbed the music world of a brilliant genius.
Moore, who died of a heart attack on February 6 at the age of 59, was a versatile guitarist who excelled in rock, pop, jazz, country, blues and folk music.
Born on April 4, 1952 in Belfast, he played with various musicians since his teens, and they included Phil Lynott and Brian Downey, who later inducted him into their group Thin Lizzy, BB King, Albert King, Colosseum II, Greg Lake, Skid Row (not to be confused with the glam metal band of the same name), Jimmy Nail, Jack Bruce, The Beach Boys, Ozzy Osbourne, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber and the Traveling Wilburys.
Moore learnt the guitar at eight and when he was 14, he learnt the play the instrument with his right hand despite being left-handed.
At 16, he moved to Dublin, Ireland, and watched Jimi Hendrix and John Mayall perform. He also joined the group Skid Row, which was formed by Lynott.
Moore's early influences included Elvis, The Beatles and Fleetwood Mac whose guitarist Peter Green became his mentor.
Moore released his first solo album in 1973, Grinding Stone.
In 1978 his collaboration with Lynott, Parisienne Walkways, reached the Top Ten in the UK Singles Chart.
In 1987, he collaborated on the UK charity record Let It Be, a cover of The Beatles' track.
After a series of rock records, Moore returned to blues music with Still Got The Blues in 1990.
He stayed with the blues format until 1997, when he decided to experiment with modern dance beats on Dark Days In Paradise.
With Back To The Blues, Moore return to his tried and tested blues format in 2001.
He continued with this style on Power Of The Blues (2004), Old New Ballads Blues (2006), Close As You Get (2007) and Bad For You Baby (2008).
Moore was twice married and is survived by three children.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
About Muse, Britain's Super Band Of Today
Thanks, Wikipedia.
Muse is a British rock band from Teignmouth, Devon, formed in 1994.
The band consists of Matthew Bellamy (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards) [born June 9, 1978], Christopher Wolstenholme (bass, backing vocals, keyboards, guitar, harmonica) [born December 2, 1978] and Dominic Howard (drums, percussion, synthesisers, backing vocals, sampling) [born December 7, 1977].
Muse is known for its energetic and extravagant live performances, and its fusion of progressive rock, alternative rock, pop, heavy metal and electronica.
Muse has released five studio albums: Showbiz (1999), Origin Of Symmetry (2001), Absolution (2003), Black Holes And Revelations (2006) and The Resistance (2009).
The band has also issued three live albums, Hullabaloo Soundtrack (2002), Absolution Tour (2005) and HAARP (2008).
Muse has also won numerous music awards, including five MTV Europe Music Awards, five Q Awards, eight NME Awards, two BRIT awards an MTV Video Music Award, four Kerrang! Awards and an American Music Award.
Muse had sold over 10 million albums worldwide.
The members of Muse played in separate school bands during their stay at Teignmouth Community College in the early 1990s, but the formation of Muse began when Bellamy successfully auditioned for the part of guitarist in Howard's band.
They asked Wolstenholme – who played the drums – to learn to play bass guitar for the band.
Matt and Dom's first band name was Gothic Plague.
After Gothic Plague came Fixed Penalty and Rocket Baby Dolls.
In 1994, the band adopted Muse as its name.
The name was inspired by Bellamy's art teacher Samuel Theoun who mentioned the word Muse to him.
Muse played its first gigs in London and Manchester.
The band had a significant meeting with Dennis Smith, the owner of Sawmills Studio, situated in a converted water mill in Cornwall.
He had seen the boys grow up as he knew their parents.
This meeting led to their first proper recordings and the release of the Muse EP.
Its second EP, the Muscle Museum, reached number 3 in the indie singles chart.
Smith introduced the band to Safta Jaffery with whom he had recently started the record label Taste Media.
Muse signed with Smith and Jaffery and recorded three albums, Showbiz, Origin Of Symmetry and Absolution with Taste Media.
In 1998, Muse signed a deal with Maverick Records.
Upon their return from America, Taste Media arranged deals for Muse with various record labels in Europe and Australia, allowing them to maintain control over their career in individual countries.
During production of Origin Of Symmetry, the band experimented with instrumentation such as a church organ.
Bellamy cites guitar influences such as Jimi Hendrix and Tom Morello (of Rage Against The Machine and Audioslave) in the band's works.
Absolution (produced by Rich Costey) was released in 2003 and debuted at number one in the UK.
The album yielded its first top ten hit with Time Is Running Out.
The band played at the Glastonbury Festival in June 2004. After the festival, the band described the concert as "the best gig of our lives".
However, Howard's father, William Howard, who was at the festival to watch the band, died from a heart attack shortly after the performance.
The single Butterflies & Hurricanes was dedicated to Dom's father.
Muse won two MTV Europe awards, including Best Alternative Act and a Q Award for Best Live Act that year.
Muse also received an award for Best Live Act at the 2005 BRIT Awards.
In 2006, Muse released Black Holes And Revelations, co-produced by Muse and Rich Costey.
The album's title and themes are the result of the band's fascination with science fiction and political outrage.
The album charted at No. 1 in the UK, much of Europe and Australia.
It was also a success in the United States, reaching number nine on the Billboard 200 album chart.
In 2008, the band members received honorary doctorates of arts from the University of Plymouth for their contributions to music.
In 2010, Muse came up with the song Love Is Forever for the soundtrack of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.
Muse has cited Queen as an influence.
Queen guitarist Brian May has praised Muse's work, calling the band "extraordinary musicians" who "let their madness show through, always a good thing in an artiste."
Muse is a British rock band from Teignmouth, Devon, formed in 1994.
The band consists of Matthew Bellamy (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards) [born June 9, 1978], Christopher Wolstenholme (bass, backing vocals, keyboards, guitar, harmonica) [born December 2, 1978] and Dominic Howard (drums, percussion, synthesisers, backing vocals, sampling) [born December 7, 1977].
Muse is known for its energetic and extravagant live performances, and its fusion of progressive rock, alternative rock, pop, heavy metal and electronica.
Muse has released five studio albums: Showbiz (1999), Origin Of Symmetry (2001), Absolution (2003), Black Holes And Revelations (2006) and The Resistance (2009).
The band has also issued three live albums, Hullabaloo Soundtrack (2002), Absolution Tour (2005) and HAARP (2008).
Muse has also won numerous music awards, including five MTV Europe Music Awards, five Q Awards, eight NME Awards, two BRIT awards an MTV Video Music Award, four Kerrang! Awards and an American Music Award.
Muse had sold over 10 million albums worldwide.
The members of Muse played in separate school bands during their stay at Teignmouth Community College in the early 1990s, but the formation of Muse began when Bellamy successfully auditioned for the part of guitarist in Howard's band.
They asked Wolstenholme – who played the drums – to learn to play bass guitar for the band.
Matt and Dom's first band name was Gothic Plague.
After Gothic Plague came Fixed Penalty and Rocket Baby Dolls.
In 1994, the band adopted Muse as its name.
The name was inspired by Bellamy's art teacher Samuel Theoun who mentioned the word Muse to him.
Muse played its first gigs in London and Manchester.
The band had a significant meeting with Dennis Smith, the owner of Sawmills Studio, situated in a converted water mill in Cornwall.
He had seen the boys grow up as he knew their parents.
This meeting led to their first proper recordings and the release of the Muse EP.
Its second EP, the Muscle Museum, reached number 3 in the indie singles chart.
Smith introduced the band to Safta Jaffery with whom he had recently started the record label Taste Media.
Muse signed with Smith and Jaffery and recorded three albums, Showbiz, Origin Of Symmetry and Absolution with Taste Media.
In 1998, Muse signed a deal with Maverick Records.
Upon their return from America, Taste Media arranged deals for Muse with various record labels in Europe and Australia, allowing them to maintain control over their career in individual countries.
During production of Origin Of Symmetry, the band experimented with instrumentation such as a church organ.
Bellamy cites guitar influences such as Jimi Hendrix and Tom Morello (of Rage Against The Machine and Audioslave) in the band's works.
Absolution (produced by Rich Costey) was released in 2003 and debuted at number one in the UK.
The album yielded its first top ten hit with Time Is Running Out.
The band played at the Glastonbury Festival in June 2004. After the festival, the band described the concert as "the best gig of our lives".
However, Howard's father, William Howard, who was at the festival to watch the band, died from a heart attack shortly after the performance.
The single Butterflies & Hurricanes was dedicated to Dom's father.
Muse won two MTV Europe awards, including Best Alternative Act and a Q Award for Best Live Act that year.
Muse also received an award for Best Live Act at the 2005 BRIT Awards.
In 2006, Muse released Black Holes And Revelations, co-produced by Muse and Rich Costey.
The album's title and themes are the result of the band's fascination with science fiction and political outrage.
The album charted at No. 1 in the UK, much of Europe and Australia.
It was also a success in the United States, reaching number nine on the Billboard 200 album chart.
In 2008, the band members received honorary doctorates of arts from the University of Plymouth for their contributions to music.
In 2010, Muse came up with the song Love Is Forever for the soundtrack of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.
Muse has cited Queen as an influence.
Queen guitarist Brian May has praised Muse's work, calling the band "extraordinary musicians" who "let their madness show through, always a good thing in an artiste."
Monday, January 3, 2011
Pete Postlethwaite - A Fine British Actor
Thanks, Wikipedia.
Pete Postlethwaite, who passed away after a long illness on January 2, 2011, will always be remembered as a fine British actor.
Born on February 7, 1945 in Warrington, Cheshire, the United Kingdom, he taught drama at Loreto College, Manchester before training as an actor at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.
Postlethwaite started his acting career at the Liverpool Everyman Theatre where his colleagues included Bill Nighy (Pirates Of The Caribbean), Jonathan Pryce (Tomorrow Never Dies) and Julie Walters (Mamma Mia).
Postlethwaite, who subsequently joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, and Walters had an intimate relationship during the latter half of the 1970s.
After routine appearances for television programmes such as The Professionals, Postlethwaite starred in the film Distant Voices, Still Lives in 1988.
He received an Academy Award nomination for his role in In The Name Of The Father in 1993.
Other major films he starred in were The Usual Suspects, Alien 3, Amistad, The Constant Gardener, Inception and Baz Luhrmann's Romeo And Juliet (with Leonardo Di Caprio and Claire Danes).
Steven Spielberg called Postlethwaite "the best actor in the world" after working with him in The Lost World.
To this Postlethwaite modestly replied: "I'm sure what Spielberg actually said was, Pete's the best actor in The Lost World."
Postlethwaite co-starred with Sean Bean of The Lord Of The Rings, Don't Say A Word and Goldeneye fame in the British television series Sharpe.
It was his most famous television series.
In 2004, he received the Order Of The British Empire (OBE) from Queen Elizabeth 2 of the United Kingdom.
His most recent film was Clash Of The Titans.
Pete Postlethwaite, who passed away after a long illness on January 2, 2011, will always be remembered as a fine British actor.
Born on February 7, 1945 in Warrington, Cheshire, the United Kingdom, he taught drama at Loreto College, Manchester before training as an actor at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.
Postlethwaite started his acting career at the Liverpool Everyman Theatre where his colleagues included Bill Nighy (Pirates Of The Caribbean), Jonathan Pryce (Tomorrow Never Dies) and Julie Walters (Mamma Mia).
Postlethwaite, who subsequently joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, and Walters had an intimate relationship during the latter half of the 1970s.
After routine appearances for television programmes such as The Professionals, Postlethwaite starred in the film Distant Voices, Still Lives in 1988.
He received an Academy Award nomination for his role in In The Name Of The Father in 1993.
Other major films he starred in were The Usual Suspects, Alien 3, Amistad, The Constant Gardener, Inception and Baz Luhrmann's Romeo And Juliet (with Leonardo Di Caprio and Claire Danes).
Steven Spielberg called Postlethwaite "the best actor in the world" after working with him in The Lost World.
To this Postlethwaite modestly replied: "I'm sure what Spielberg actually said was, Pete's the best actor in The Lost World."
Postlethwaite co-starred with Sean Bean of The Lord Of The Rings, Don't Say A Word and Goldeneye fame in the British television series Sharpe.
It was his most famous television series.
In 2004, he received the Order Of The British Empire (OBE) from Queen Elizabeth 2 of the United Kingdom.
His most recent film was Clash Of The Titans.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Stephen J Cannell - Iconic Creator Of American TV Series
Screenwriter, actor, novelist and producer Stephen Joseph Cannell, who died after a long illness aged 69 on September 30, 2010, will always be remembered as an American television icon.
Born on February 5, 1941 in Los Angeles, he struggled with dyslexia in school, but graduated from the University of Oregon in 1964 with a degree in journalism.
He was quickly hired by the television production branch of Universal Studios and was soon freelance writing for crime shows as Ironside and Columbo.
Not long after, he received his first full-time gig as the story editor of Jack Webb's police series Adam 12.
Cannell created or co-created nearly 40 television series, mostly crime dramas, including The Rockford Files, The Greatest American Hero, The A-Team, Wiseguy, 21 Jump Street, Silk Stalkings and The Commish.
In the process he had, by his own count, scripted more than 450 episodes, and produced or executive produced over 1,500 episodes.
Cannell also acted occasionally in his series Renegade.
He also served as the host of the 1995–1996 documentary series US Customs Classified.
In the 2000s, Cannell turned his attention to novels. He wrote 14 novels.
He discussed his experiences as a dyslexic in Dislecksia: The Movie. Wikipedia.
Born on February 5, 1941 in Los Angeles, he struggled with dyslexia in school, but graduated from the University of Oregon in 1964 with a degree in journalism.
He was quickly hired by the television production branch of Universal Studios and was soon freelance writing for crime shows as Ironside and Columbo.
Not long after, he received his first full-time gig as the story editor of Jack Webb's police series Adam 12.
Cannell created or co-created nearly 40 television series, mostly crime dramas, including The Rockford Files, The Greatest American Hero, The A-Team, Wiseguy, 21 Jump Street, Silk Stalkings and The Commish.
In the process he had, by his own count, scripted more than 450 episodes, and produced or executive produced over 1,500 episodes.
Cannell also acted occasionally in his series Renegade.
He also served as the host of the 1995–1996 documentary series US Customs Classified.
In the 2000s, Cannell turned his attention to novels. He wrote 14 novels.
He discussed his experiences as a dyslexic in Dislecksia: The Movie. Wikipedia.
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