stars box pics: August 2011

Saturday, August 27, 2011

m.bean British comedy television series

Mr. Bean is a British comedy television series of 14 half-hour episodes written by and starring Rowan Atkinson as the title character. Different episodes were also written by Robin Driscoll, Richard Curtis and one by Ben Elton. The pilot episode was broadcast on ITV on 1 January 1990 at 8 pm, with the final television episode, "Goodnight Mr. Bean" broadcast on 31 October 1995 .
Based on a character originally developed by Atkinson at university, the series follows the exploits of Mr. Bean, described by Atkinson as "a child in a grown man's body", in solving various problems presented by everyday tasks and often causing disruption in the process. Bean rarely speaks, and the largely physical humour of the series is derived from his interactions with other people and his unusual solutions to situations. The series was influenced by physical performers such as Jacques Tati and comic actors from silent films.
During its five-year run, the series gained large UK audience figures, including 18.74 million for the 1991 episode "The Trouble With Mr. Bean". The series has been the recipient of a number of international awards, including the Rose d'Or. The show has been sold in 245 territories worldwide, and has inspired an animated cartoon spin-off and two feature films.
Contents
* 1 Origins and influences
* 2 Characters and recurring props
o 2.1 Mr. Bean
o 2.2 Teddy
o 2.3 Mr. Bean's car
o 2.4 Irma Gobb
o 2.5 Other characters
* 3 Production and broadcast
* 4 Episode guide
* 5 Music
* 6 Awards
* 7 Spin-offs
o 7.1 The animated series
o 7.2 Film adaptations
o 7.3 Books
* 8 Video and DVD releases
o 8.1 DVD format
o 8.2 VHS format
* 9 Mr. Bean in popular culture
* 10 See also
* 11 References
* 12 External links
Origins and influences
The character of Mr. Bean was developed while Atkinson was studying for his MSc at Oxford University. A sketch featuring the character was performed at the Edinburgh Fringe in the early 1980s.[5] A similar character called Robert Box, played by Atkinson, appeared in the one-off 1979 ITV sitcom Canned Laughter, which also featured routines used in the 1997 film Bean.In 1987, one of Mr. Bean's earliest appearances occurred at the "Just For Laughs" comedy festival in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. When programme co-ordinators were scheduling Atkinson into the festival programme, Atkinson insisted that he perform on the French-speaking bill rather than the English-speaking program. Having no French dialogue in his act at all, program co-ordinators could not understand why Atkinson wanted to perform on the French bill. As it turned out, Atkinson's act at the festival was a test platform for the Mr. Bean character and Atkinson wanted to see how the silent character's physical comedy would fare on an international stage with a non-English speaking audience.
The name of the character was not decided until after the first programme had been produced, with a number of other vegetable-influenced names, such as "Mr. Cauliflower", being explored. Atkinson cited the earlier comedy character Monsieur Hulot, created by French comedian and director Jacques Tati, as an influence on the character. Stylistically, Mr. Bean is also very similar to early silent films, relying purely upon physical comedy, with Mr. Bean speaking very little dialogue (although like other live-action TV series of the time, it features a laugh track). This has allowed the series to be sold worldwide without any significant changes to dialogue.

m.bean

Leonardo DiCaprio actor and film producer

Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio pronounced /dɨˈkæpri.oʊ/; born November 11, 1974 is an American actor and film producer. He has received many awards, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for his performance in The Aviator (2004). In addition, he has won a Silver Bear, a Chlotrudis Award and a Satellite Award among others, and has been nominated by the Academy Awards, Screen Actors Guild and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, DiCaprio started his career by appearing in television commercials prior to landing recurring roles in TV series such as the soap opera Santa Barbara and the sitcom Growing Pains in the early 1990s. He made his film debut in the comedic sci-fi horror film Critters 3 (1991) and received first notable critical praise for his performance in This Boy's Life (1993). DiCaprio obtained recognition for his subsequent work in supporting roles in What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993) and Marvin's Room (1996), as well as leading roles in The Basketball Diaries (1995) and Romeo + Juliet (1996), before achieving international fame in James Cameron's Titanic (1997).
Since the 2000s, DiCaprio has been nominated for awards for his work in such films as Catch Me If You Can (2002), Gangs of New York (2002), The Aviator (2004), Blood Diamond (2006), The Departed (2006), and Revolutionary Road (2008). His latest films Shutter Island (2010) and Inception (2010) rank among the biggest commercial successes of his career. DiCaprio owns a production company named Appian Way Productions, whose productions include the films Gardener of Eden (2007) and Orphan (2009).
A committed environmentalist, DiCaprio has received praise from environmental groups for his activism.
Contents
* 1 Early life and family
* 2 Career
o 2.1 Early career
o 2.2 1991–1995
o 2.3 1996–2001
o 2.4 2002–2007
o 2.5 2008–present
* 3 Personal life
o 3.1 Environmental activism and philanthropy
* 4 Filmography
o 4.1 Acting
o 4.2 As producer
* 5 Other accolades
* 6 References
* 7 External links
Early life and family
DiCaprio, an only child, was born in Los Angeles, California. His German-born mother, Irmelin (née Indenbirken), is a former legal secretary, and his father, George DiCaprio, is an underground comic artist and producer/distributor of comic books.DiCaprio's mother moved from Oer-Erkenschwick at the Ruhr, Germany, to the U.S. during the 1950s, while DiCaprio's father is a fourth-generation American of half south-Italian (from the Naples region) and half German descent (from Bavaria in southern Germany). DiCaprio's maternal grandmother, Helene Indenbirken (1915–2008), who was born Yelena Smirnova, was a Russian immigrant to Germany. In a 2010 conversation with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, DiCaprio stated that two of his grandparents were Russian.
DiCaprio's parents met while attending college and subsequently moved to Los Angeles. He was named Leonardo because his pregnant mother was looking at a Leonardo da Vinci painting in a museum in Italy when DiCaprio first kicked. DiCaprio was raised Catholi His parents divorced when he was a year old and he lived mostly with his mother.
DiCaprio and his mother lived in several Los Angeles neighborhoods, such as Echo Park, and at 1874 Hillhurst Avenue, Los Feliz district (which was later converted into a local public library), while his mother worked several jobs to support them. He attended Seeds Elementary School and graduated from John Marshall High School a few blocks away, after attending the Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies for four years.

Leonardo DiCaprio

michaels craft stores arts and crafts retail chain

Michaels is an arts and crafts retail chain. It currently operates more than 1040 Michaels Arts and Crafts Stores located in 49 U.S. states and in Canada. The company owns and operates the Aaron Brothers retail chain which consists of more than 140 stores. Michaels also produces 10 exclusive private brands including Recollections, Studio Decor, Bead Landing, Creatology, Ashland, Celebrate It, Art Minds, Artist's Loft, Craft Smart and Loops & Threads. The corporate headquarters are located in Irving, Texas. The company employs 12,500 people.
The average Michaels store now contains 40,000 different products in 18,200 square feet (1,700 m²) of selling space. The stores sell a selection of arts, crafts, framing, floral, wall décor, bakeware,beads, scrapbooking and seasonal merchandise for hobbyists and do-it-yourself (DIY) home decorators.
Michaels is the largest such chain in the United States. Competitors include Hobby Lobby, Ben Franklin Stores, Jo-Ann Stores, AC Moore and several smaller chains. Canadian competitors include DeSerres.
Contents
* 1 History
* 2 Products
* 3 Data compromise
* 4 Notes
* 5 External links
History
A location in Halifax, Canada
In 1976, Dallas businessman Michael J. Dupey opened Michael's in the former Northtown Mall in Dallas, Texas. The location closed in the 1990s and is now a technology building.[unreliable source?]
In 1982, Illinois businessman Samuel Wyly bought controlling interest in Michaels; the company's annual revenues were around $10 million at the time of purchase
After the sale, Dupey founded MJ Designs which was later bought out by Michaels.
In 1984, the Michaels chain was first publicly traded. At the time it had 16 stores.
In 1994, Michaels acquired the Treasure House Crafts chain in the Northwest United States.
In 1995, Michaels acquired Aaron's Brothers Holdings, Inc., a specialty framing and art supply store.
In 1996, sales were $1.24 billion and the company opened its 450 store.[4] By 2003, the company's annual sales were in excess of 3 billion dollars.
In 2006, two private equity groups, Bain Capital and the Blackstone Group, purchased the company for $6 billion. The two own equal shares.
Michaels opened its 1000th store in Texas in Fall of 2008.
In 2010, Michaels Arts and Crafts started bringing back a revised class program. These classes include beading, knitting, crocheting, scrapbooking, painting, and cake decorating. In addition, Michaels introduced two monthly do it yourself craft nights allowing customers to bring their projects into the store where Michaels provides tools, supplies, and a workspace for crafting. Bead Night for jewelry makers and Crop Night for the scrapbooker both launched in 2010.

michaels craft stores

Michael Jackson recording artist, dancer, singer

Michael Joseph Jackson August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009 was an American recording artist, dancer, singer-songwriter, musician, and philanthropist. Referred to as the King of Pop, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records. His contribution to music, dance, and fashion, along with a much-publicized personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades. The seventh child of the Jackson family, he debuted on the professional music scene along with his brothers as a member of The Jackson 5, then the Jacksons in 1964, and began his solo career in 1971.
In the early 1980s, Jackson became a dominant figure in popular music. The music videos for his songs, including those of "Beat It", "Billie Jean", and "Thriller", were credited with transforming the medium into an art form and a promotional tool, and the popularity of these videos helped to bring the relatively new television channel MTV to fame. Videos such as "Black or White" and "Scream" made him a staple on MTV in the 1990s. Through stage performances and music videos, Jackson popularized a number of dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk, to which he gave the name. His distinctive musical sound and vocal style have influenced numerous hip hop, pop, contemporary R&B, and rock artists.

Jackson's 1982 album Thriller is the best-selling album of all time. His other records, including Off the Wall (1979), Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991), and HIStory (1995), also rank among the world's best-selling. Jackson is one of the few artists to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. He was also inducted into the Dance Hall of Fame as the first (and currently only) dancer from the world of pop and rock 'n' roll. Some of his other achievements include multiple Guinness World Records; 13 Grammy Awards (as well as the Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award); 26 American Music Awards (more than any other artist, including the "Artist of the Century"); 13 number-one singles in the United States in his solo career (more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era); and the estimated sale of over 750 million records worldwide. Jackson won hundreds of awards, which have made him the most-awarded recording artist in the history of popular music.

Jackson was a notable humanitarian and philanthropist, donating and raising hundreds of millions of dollars for beneficial causes and supporting more than 39 charities. According to David Winters, Jackson also donated tens of millions of dollars to many children’s charities anonymously, and spent a lot of his time visiting seriously ill children tirelessly going from hospital to hospital meeting these children just to brighten up their lives. When Jackson finished the visits he would ask the hospital nurses and the doctors what was needed at the hospital in terms of equipment for the children and would then make anonymous donations to the hospital to purchase expensive equipment or whatever else was needed.
Aspects of Jackson's personal life, including his changing appearance, personal relationships, and behavior, have generated controversy. In 1993, he was accused of child sexual abuse, but the case was settled out of court and no formal charges were brought. In 2005, he was tried and acquitted of further sexual abuse allegations and several other charges after the jury ruled him not guilty on all counts. While preparing for his concert series This Is It, Jackson died of acute propofol intoxication on June 25, 2009, after suffering from cardiac arrest. Before his death, Jackson had been administered drugs including propofol and lorazepam. The Los Angeles County Coroner declared his death a homicide, and his personal physician pleaded not guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter. Jackson's death triggered a global outpouring of grief, and as many as one billion people around the world reportedly watched his public memorial service on live television. In March 2010, Sony Music Entertainment signed a $250 million deal with Jackson's estate to retain distribution rights to his recordings until 2017, and to release seven posthumous albums over the decade following his death.

Michael Jackson

Thursday, August 25, 2011

steve perry American singer and songwriter best

Stephen Ray "Steve" Perryborn January 22, 1949 is an American singer and songwriter best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Journey from 1977–1987 and 1995–1998. Perry had a successful solo career throughout the late 1980s and early '90s
Perry was named the 76th greatest singer of all-time by Rolling Stone on its list of "The 100 Greatest Singers of All-Time". Allmusic said of Perry: "If only one singer could be selected as the most identifiable with '80s arena rock, it would have to be Journey's Steve Perry."
Perry resides in Del Mar, California.
Contents
* 1 Early years
* 2 Journey years
* 3 Leaving Journey
* 4 Post-Journey
* 5 Singing voice
* 6 Discography
o 6.1 Albums
o 6.2 Singles
* 7 References
* 8 External links
Early years
Born in Hanford, California, Perry is of Portuguese descent. Perry grew up interested in music, as his father, Ray Pereira (who later changed his last name to Perry), was a vocalist. On his twelfth birthday (January 22, 1961), Mary presented her son with a gold eighth note necklace, which he still wears for good luck. When Perry was ten years old, he heard Sam Cooke's song "Cupid" on his mother's car radio. This inspired Perry to become a singer.
The family moved to Lemoore, California during Perry's teen years. He attended high school there, drumming in the marching band as well as in extracurricular bands. He attended College of the Sequoias, in Visalia, California for a short time after graduation, where he took first tenor in the choir there. Perry's mother encouraged his musical growth during this time.
Perry moved to Banta, California outside of Tracy, California, where he fronted the band Alien Project in his mid-twenties. He nearly gave up music when the bassist of that band, Richard Michaels, was killed in an automobile accident. Perry returned to Lemoore and decided not to continue his singing career, but at the urging of his mother, Perry answered a call from Walter "Herbie" Herbert, manager of the struggling San Francisco-based band, Journey.
Journey years
This biographical section of an article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (November 2009)
Main article: Journey (band)
Herbert had been given a demo of an Alien Project song, "If You Need Me, Call Me," and was told that the young singer would be a great replacement for current frontman, Robert Fleischman. Fleischman had never moved under Herbert's management, preferring to maintain his previous manager and had never in fact integrated well with the band's then progressive rock style. Perry was brought on tour and to avoid alarming Fleischman was introduced clandestinely as roadie John Villanueva's Portuguese cousin and surreptitiously performed a song with Journey during a sound check in Long Beach while Fleischman was away from the stage and Herbert informed the band of the line-up change.
Perry brought a completely new pop sound to the band's music, despite grumblings from his new bandmates and fans of Journey's former progressive rock sound. He made his public debut on October 28, 1977 in San Francisco, and received a mixed reception. Perry determinedly proved the critics wrong, and won over new audiences on his first album with the group, Infinity, which included a song of his own composition called "Lights." The band's style had changed dramatically, but as Journey began to garner radio airplay and media buzz over Infinity, Perry's arrival was accepted.
He provided lead vocals on nine of Journey's albums: Infinity (1978), Evolution (1979), Departure (1980), Dream, After Dream (1980, a Japanese movie soundtrack), Captured (1980, a live album), Escape (1981, which went to #1 on the Billboard charts), Frontiers (1983), Raised on Radio (1986), and Trial By Fire (1996). The single "Open Arms," from Escape, was their biggest hit single, residing for six weeks at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. Perry had become the unmistakable voice of Journey throughout his time with the band.

steve perry

steve jobs He is co-founder, chairman of the board

Steven Paul "Steve" Jobs born February 24, 1955 is an American business magnate and inventor. He is co-founder, chairman of the board, and former chief executive officer of Apple Inc.Jobs also previously served as chief executive of Pixar Animation Studios; he became a member of the board of directors of The Walt Disney Company in 2006, following the acquisition of Pixar by Disney. He was credited in the 1995 movie Toy Story as an executive producer.
In the late 1970s, Jobs, with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Mike Markkula, and others, designed, developed, and marketed one of the first commercially successful lines of personal computers, the Apple II series. In the early 1980s, Jobs was among the first to see the commercial potential of the mouse-driven graphical user interface which led to the creation of the Macintosh. After losing a power struggle with the board of directors in 1984,Jobs resigned from Apple and founded NeXT, a computer platform development company specializing in the higher education and business markets. Apple's subsequent 1996 buyout of NeXT brought Jobs back to the company he co-founded, and he served as its CEO from 1997 until 2011. In 1986, he acquired the computer graphics division of Lucasfilm Ltd which was spun off as Pixar Animation Studios. He remained CEO and majority shareholder at 50.1% until its acquisition by The Walt Disney company in 2006. Consequently Jobs became Disney's largest individual shareholder at 7% and a member of Disney's Board of Directors.
Jobs' history in business has contributed much to the symbolic image of the idiosyncratic, individualistic Silicon Valley entrepreneur, emphasizing the importance of design and understanding the crucial role aesthetics play in public appeal. His work driving forward the development of products that are both functional and elegant has earned him a devoted following.
On August 24, 2011, Jobs announced his resignation from his role as Apple's CEO. In his letter of resignation, Jobs strongly recommended that Tim Cook be named as his successor. Per his request, Jobs was appointed chairman of Apple's board of directors.
Contents
* 1 Early years
* 2 Career
o 2.1 Beginnings of Apple Computer
o 2.2 NeXT Computer
o 2.3 Pixar and Disney
o 2.4 Return to Apple
o 2.5 Resignation
* 3 Business life
o 3.1 Wealth
o 3.2 Stock options backdating issue
o 3.3 Management style
o 3.4 Inventions
* 4 Personal life
o 4.1 Health
* 5 Honors
* 6 In popular culture
* 7 See also
* 8 Notes
* 9 References
* 10 External links
o 10.1 Articles
o 10.2 Interviews

steve jobs