Mike shinoda

Michael Kenji "Mike" Shinoda (born February 11, 1977) is a Japanese American musician, record producer, and artist. He is best known as the rapper, principal songwriter,keyboardist, vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the rock band Linkin Park. Shinoda is also noted as a solo rapper in his side-project, Fort Minor. He also provides artwork, production, and mixing for both projects. 

Early life

As per his mother's wishes, Shinoda began his classical piano training with lessons around the age of six. His enthusiasm grew eventually and at the age of thirteen, he expressed the desire to move toward playing jazz, blues, and even hip-hop.During his middle school and high school years, he added the guitar and, eventually, rap-style vocals to his repertoire.

After his teens, Mike Shinoda's rap interests found a source of encouragement in Brad Delson, with whom he started to write and record songs in a makeshift studio set up in his bedroom. Shinoda attended Agoura High School with Linkin Park bandmates Brad Delson and Rob Bourdon as well as with members of the band Hoobastank. By the end of high school, Bourdon had become involved in their musical ventures. The trio formed the band Xero, and began to make a more serious attempt to pursue a career in the music industry.

After high school, Shinoda enrolled in the Art Center College of Design to study graphic design and illustration. It was here that he made the acquaintance of DJ and turntablist Joseph Hahn, who, along with Delson's college-mate Dave "Phoenix" Farrell, was soon added to Xero's line-up. It was also here that he experienced a form of identity crisis. Years later, in an interview he said:

"I think it was probably in college that I realized that there was a difference between Japanese and Japanese-American. That's important to realize. It's not the same thing and then eventually with Linkin Park, I toured in Japan. I've been there now I think four times. I remember the first time I went, how familiar it seemed, just getting out of the plane, it smelled like my aunt's house, in the airport, it smelled like Japan. I don't know if anybody else even noticed it but I walked out of the plane and thought this is definitely familiar to me, didn't even see anything yet. And then going to Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto,Nagoya, you just recognize things about the way people act, the small things that people do such as how you'll grab a piece of paper. There are things that are more obvious like taking somebody's business card with two hands. You don't do that in the States. When I saw somebody do that I went, "Oh yeah, my uncle always does that," you know. There are little things that culturally come from Japan but they also exist in Japanese American culture and it made me feel like the connection was there and I kind of hadn't realized how much of it was there."

Shinoda managed to graduate from college with a bachelor's degree in illustration a year in advance, securing himself a job as a graphic designer instantly.With his background as a graphic artist, Shinoda has taken it upon himself in designing all of Linkin Park's artwork with Hahn, and has even designed the album cover for Styles of Beyond's debut album, 2000 Fold. In later years he would go on to showcase his art skills;[citation needed] he had his debut art showcase (Diamonds Spades Hearts & Clubs) at Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles in the time leading up to Linkin Park's album Minutes to Midnight.

Shinoda managed to graduate from college with a bachelor's degree in illustration a year in advance, securing himself a job as a graphic designer instantly.With his background as a graphic artist, Shinoda has taken it upon himself in designing all of Linkin Park's artwork with Hahn, and has even designed the album cover for Styles of Beyond's debut album, 2000 Fold. In later years he would go on to showcase his art skills;[citation needed] he had his debut art showcase (Diamonds Spades Hearts & Clubs) at Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles in the time leading up to Linkin Park's album Minutes to Midnight.

Shinoda was born and raised in the Los Angeles suburb of Agoura Hills. His father is Japanese American and his mother is Caucasian.He also has a younger brother, Jason. Shinoda attended Parkman Elementary and Lindero Canyon Middle School.

Linkin Park

Shinoda's band brought in second vocalist Chester Bennington, replacing Mark Wakefield. From the onset, Shinoda was closely involved in the technical aspects of the band's recordings, and over the subsequent releases that role continued to expand. Shinoda, with guitarist Brad Delson, engineered and produced the band's Hybrid Theory EP, and performed similar roles in the recording of the Hybrid Theory album. Mike executively organized and oversaw the band's remix album Reanimation (2002), contributing his own production remixes that he made in his home studio for "Crawling" and "Pushing Me Away." In his spare time, he produced and performed on a song by The X-Ecutioners entitled "It's Goin' Down."

On the second Linkin Park Warner Bros. studio release Meteora (2003) Shinoda continued to expand upon his duties as a musician and studio technician/engineer. Additionally, for the backbone of the album artwork, Shinoda collaborated with graffiti artist DELTA, graphic designer Frank Maddocks, and band-mate Joe Hahn.

By the release of the Linkin Park and Jay-Z 'mash-up' album Collision Course in 2004, Shinoda's involvement in the creation of the albums continued to grow. He produced and mixed the album, which won a Grammy Award for "best rap / song collaboration" in 2006.

The band released their next album, Minutes To Midnight, on May 14, 2007. On this album, Shinoda shared a production credit with producer Rick Rubin, overseeing the musical evolution of the band's sound. This album was also the first time that Shinoda, best known for his rapping, sang a featured vocal. Mike sang in the songs "In Between" and the b-side song, "No Roads Left," as well as rapping and singing in the songs "Bleed It Out" and "Hands Held High." Despite the rarity of Shinoda-fronted singing tracks, music magazine Hit Parader ranked Mike at number 72 of the Top 100 Metal Vocalists of All Time. Mike and Rick Rubin again shared a production credit for Linkin Park's next album, A Thousand Suns, released on September 14, 2010, and Linkin Park's upcoming album, Living Things due for release on June 26, 2012.

Fort Minor

Shinoda formed a side project named "Fort Minor" between 2003 and 2004 because he could not demonstrate as much of his hip-hop background in Linkin Park. He explained the name of his project in an interview:

“ 'Fort' represents the more aggressive side of the music. 'Minor' can mean a few things: if you're talking about music theory, the minor key is darker. I wanted to name the album rather than having my name on the cover, because I want people to focus on the music, not me ”

The debut album from Fort Minor, titled The Rising Tied, was released on November 13, 2005, and includes guest appearances from Styles of Beyond, Lupe Fiasco, Common, Black Thought of The Roots, John Legend, Holly Brook, Jonah Matranga, Celph Titled, and features Jay-Z (Shawn Carter) as an executive producer.

A single was put out by the X-Ecutioners featuring Mike Shinoda, and it was called 'It's Goin Down'.

For the NBA 2006–2007 season, "Remember the Name", the second single from The Rising Tied, became the soundtrack for NBA Overtime on TNT. It was an NBA remix version, and remains the staple song for NBA on TNT to this day.Furthermore the Big East used "Remember the Name" as its theme song for the Big East Basketball Tournament in 2006.

He also scored a Top 10 smash with the surprise hit single "Where'd You Go", which peaked at #4 on Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Shinoda provided several original score selections to the 2005 MTV VMAs. Lil Jon also provided original music, but not on any of the same tracks

Fort Minor won an MTV VMA for "Best Ringtone" in 2006, and was featured in the following films and TV programs (2005–2006 and 2010): Entourage, Boston Legal, Gridiron Gang, Freedom Writers, Friday Night Lights (TV), The Karate Kid, and Numbers.

Shinoda has also continued his Fort Minor musical style in an executive producer role on the upcoming Styles Of Beyond album, "Reseda Beach" He is contributing music and vocals to the album, which was slated for release sometime in 2009. However, Styles of Beyond went under hiatus, and the album is only now being released in 2012.

Art and painting

Mike was the youngest of his graduating class from Art Center College of Design of Pasadena in 1998, with a Bachelor of Arts in Illustration. He has had a hand in most artistic facets of Linkin Park's imagery, including album artwork, band merchandise, web design, and on-stage production art.

During time off in 2003, he did a collaborative "remix" shoe for DC Shoes, remixing the "Clientele." He reworked the colors and materials for the shoe, and additionally designed all the packaging and print advertisements.The following year, he also designed a customizable Kid Robot "Munny" doll for a charity auction.

In 2004, Shinoda created a series of ten paintings which became the basis of the Fort Minor album The Rising Tied. That series became the backbone for the packaging of the album, and was featured in Shinoda's first public art show "Diamonds Spades Hearts & Clubs."[15] In addition to the ten Fort Minor pieces, the show also featured thirteen more original works and five collaborative pieces. “Diamonds Spades Hearts & Clubs” opened at Gallery 1988 on Sunday, November 19, 2006.

Additionally in 2004, Shinoda started a college scholarship at Art Center College of Design to benefit future illustration and graphic design students. Named the Michael K. Shinoda Endowed Scholarship, it is awarded based on financial need and merit. The scholarship was awarded for the first time in 2006.The scholarship fund is made possible through the sale of his original artwork on his website, art shows and his DC Shoes projects.

2008 has proved to be a busy year thus far artistically for Mike. On July 11, Shinoda’s second public art show “Glorious Excess (BORN)” premiered at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles. The show included nine new pieces, with an exclusive signing on opening night. The show served as part one of the “Glorious Excess” two-part series, with the second installment “Glorious Excess (DIES)” due at JANM at August 22, 2009.

Concerning the inspiration behind the Glorious Excess series, Mike stated that it:

"Got to a point where the pervasiveness of “celebrity news” concerned me. It seemed like it has jumped out of its niche into places where it doesn’t belong. I would be watching the news, and thinking, “of all the things going on in the world right now, why are they covering so-and-so’s breakup?” It didn’t make sense to me. Add to that the fact that I’m supposed to somehow “belong” to that celebrity group—and I really don’t feel like I do in a lot of ways—and you can see how the topic started to become really interesting to me. The Glorious Excess (BORN) show was my way of diving into those topics, trying to find answers. It follows a central “celebrity” character, who is filthy rich, slightly violent, and famous without any particular skill or talent."

Also in 2008, Mike partnered up with DC Shoes again on a second DC Remix Series project. The project would feature a "great juxtaposition of Mike's unique influences: accomplished artist versus recording-breaking musician, American upbringing versus Japanese heritage." The MS/DC limited edition remix has two different versions – Xander and Pride. Roughly 2000 pairs of the limited edition shoes were made available for purchase when the sneaker was released on August 1, 2008.

In an interview with Sneaker Freaker Magazine, Shinoda had this to say about the latest DC Shoe project:

"This remix is a little slimmer than most of DC’s skate shoes; the Xander feels almost like the skate shoes I grew up wearing in the late 80s. But the art brings it up to date—my work is laser-etched into the panels on the side of the shoe, and the sole is a clear gum sole with a koi fish pattern, and four-color artwork beneath. That way, when you’re walking, and your foot lifts up, it’s a little surprise under there. We also took the time to add extra padding and a satin inner lining to make it as comfortable as possible. They come with three pairs of lightly waxed laces instead of two, because I like to flip up the look sometimes. Each pair also comes with a booklet of my art."

Production

Shinoda produced The Rising Tied, the debut album by his side-project Fort Minor. He has also produced tracks for albums by Lupe Fiasco and Styles of Beyond, as well as producing or co-producing all of Linkin Park's non-studio albums, including Reanimation,Hybrid Theory EP, the collaborative EP with Jay-Z, Collision Course, and for the first time producing a studio album in 2007, the group's third studio release Minutes to Midnight. In 2004 Shinoda, with drumming assistance by band mate Rob Bourdon, remixed "Enjoy the Silence" by Depeche Mode. Shinoda and Bourdon again teamed up in 2008 to create an instrumental piece entitled "Lockjaw" while previewing Digidesign's Pro Tools 8 software. Some other notable production credits include:

• Styles of Beyond – "Marco Polo" (from the album 2000 Fold)
• The X-Ecutioners – "It's Goin' Down" (from the album Built from Scratch)
• Depeche Mode – "Enjoy the Silence 04" (remixed and produced)
• Lupe Fiasco – "The Instrumental" (from the album Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor)
• Styles of Beyond featuring Celph Titled – "You Cannot Fuck With This" (from the Razor Tag mixtape)
• Styles of Beyond – "Hard [MS Remix]" (from the Razor Tag mixtape)
• Styles of Beyond – "Second To None" (from the upcoming album Reseda Beach)
• "My December" – Linkin Park
• "High Voltage" – Linkin Park
• Reanimation – Linkin Park
• "What I've Done (Distorted Remix)" – Linkin Park
• Scored the 2005 MTV VMAs (contributed all original music)
• "Fort Minor: We Major" Mixtape – including S.C.O.M., Bloc Party, Dolla, 100 Degrees, Spraypaint & Inkpens (feat. Lupe Fiasco and Ghostface Killah)
• Busta Rhymes feat. Linkin Park – "We Made It" (co-produced with Cool & Dre)
• "L.O.A.T.R." (M. Shinoda Remix) – Linkin Park
• "Lockjaw" – Linkin Park
• "Death to Analog" (Mike Shinoda Remix) – Julien-K (from the album Death To Digital)
• "New Divide" – Linkin Park
• "Gold Guns Girls" (Mike Shinoda remix) – Metric
• "Shoot First" – Apathy
• "Resurrection" – Lupe Fiasco & Kenna
• "Never Let Me Down" – Kenna
• "Not Alone" – Linkin Park (From Download to Donate for Haiti, an initiative by Music For Relief)
• Cypress Hill – "Carry Me Away" (from the album Rise Up)
• "Linkin Park: 8-Bit Rebellion!" – composed 8-bit soundtrack
• "Issho Ni" for Download To Donate for Japan, a charity contribution for the 2011 Japan earthquake
• "Razors.Out" (with Joe Trapanese and Chino Moreno) from the movie The Raid: Redemption.
• "Suicide Music" (with Joe Trapanese and Get Busy Committee) from the movie The Raid: Redemption - also composed the score for the film with Joe Trapanese

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Other musical activities

In 2004, Mike Shinoda remixed Depeche Mode's Enjoy the Silence. The remix was the only single from Depeche Mode's albumRemixes 81-04. He added Linkin Park's nu metal sound to the original song. A music video was made for the remix. In 2005, Mike hosted the Rock Phenomenon Mixtape CD with DJ Vlad and Roc Raida. The CD is the first (and to date, only) in DJ Vlad's Rock Phenomenon series (which itself is a spin-off of Vlad's Rap Phenomenon Mixtape series), and features a Mash-Up of Linkin Park's Papercut, and David Banner's Like a Pimp (Remix). The Mixtape was re-released on July 10, 2007, with new artwork.

In October 2008 Mike and Mark Wakefield, former vocalist of Linkin Park back when they were named Xero, recorded and released the song "Barack Your World" under the name White Pegacorn. For the 2006 Grammy awards, Mike and Brad Delson assembled the mashup track of Numb/Encore and "Yesterday" by The Beatles to be performed live by Jay-Z, Linkin Park and Paul McCartney.

Mike scored the MTV VMAs in 2005. Lil’ Jon also contributed, but they did not collaborate; The tracks were separate. Mike was an honorary parade marshall in Los Angeles Nisei Week, 2005. Mike was awarded the Japanese American National Museum’s Award of Excellence in 2006. Mike and Joseph Trapanese worked together to create a new score for the American release of the 2011 film The Raid.

Influencens

Shinoda's musical influences and favorites include Deuce (of Hollywood Undead), U2, The Police, Eminem, Rio, Boogie Down Productions, Led Zeppelin, Nine Inch Nails, Dr. Dre, and Owen Coughlan. As a visual artist his influences include Mark Ryden, Corey Sandelius and Banksy.

Personal life

Mike Shinoda has been married to children's author Anna Hillinger since May 10, 2003. The couple have one child, a son named Otis Akio Shinoda. According to Shinoda, the Fort Minor song "Where'd You Go" was written about Hillinger. In an interview talking about his song "Kenji" from the Rising Tied album, he revealed that his father was born during the Second World War. Shinoda is a third generation Japanese American. His father was born in the United States and was interned during World War II. In 2009, Shinoda received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters (H.D.L) from Art Center College Of Design. EWP honored Shinoda with a Visionary Award and dinner in 2010.

Iron Man

Iron Man is a 2008 American science fiction superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. Directed by Jon Favreau, the film stars Robert Downey, Jr.as Tony Stark, an industrialist and master engineer who builds a powered exoskeleton and becomes the technologically advanced superhero, Iron Man. Gwyneth Paltrow plays his personal assistant Pepper Potts, Terrence Howard plays military liaison James Rhodes and Jeff Bridges plays Stark Industries executive Obadiah Stane.

The film was in development since 1990 at Universal Pictures, 20th Century Fox, and New Line Cinema, before Marvel Studios reacquired the rights in 2006. Marvel put the project in production as its first self-financed film, with Paramount Pictures as its distributor. Favreau signed on as director, aiming for a naturalistic feel, and he chose to shoot the film primarily in California, rejecting the East Coast setting of the comics to differentiate the film from numerous superhero films set in New York City-esque environments. During filming, the actors were free to create their own dialogue because pre-production was focused on the story and action. Rubber and metal versions of the armors, created by Stan Winston's company, were mixed with computer-generated imagery to create the title character. Hasbro and Sega sold merchandise, and product placement deals were made with Audi, Burger King, LG and 7-Eleven.

Reviews were very positive, particularly praising Downey's performance.The American Film Institute selected the film as one of the ten best of the year. Downey, Favreau and Paltrow returned in the sequel Iron Man 2, released on May 7, 2010. Downey also made a cameo appearance as Stark in The Incredible Hulk and appeared in the 2012 crossover film The Avengers. Another sequel, Iron Man 3 is set for a 2013 release, with Downey reprising his role. The film is the first installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Plot

Playboy and wunderkind genius Tony Stark, who has inherited the defense contractor Stark Industries from his father, is in war-torn Afghanistan with his friend and military liaison, Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes (Terrence Howard) to demonstrate the new "Jericho" missile. Stark is critically wounded in an ambush and imprisoned in a cave by the terrorist group the Ten Rings. An electromagnet built by fellow captive Dr. Yinsen(Shaun Toub) keeps the shrapnel in Stark's chest from reaching his heart and killing him. Ten Rings leader Raza (Faran Tahir) offers Stark freedom in exchange for building a Jericho missile for the group, but Tony and Yinsen agree Raza will not keep his word.

Stark and Yinsen secretly build a powerful electric generator called an arc reactor, to power Stark's electromagnet, and then begin to build a suit of armor to escape. The Ten Rings attack the workshop when they discover what Stark is doing. Yinsen sacrifices himself to divert them while Stark's suit powers up. The armored Stark battles his way out of the cave to find the dying Yinsen, then an enraged Stark burns the terrorists' munitions and flies away, only to crash in the desert, destroying the suit. After being rescued by Rhodes, Stark returns home and announces that his company will no longer manufacture weapons. Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges), his father's old partner and the company's manager, advises Stark that this may ruin Stark Industries and his father's legacy. In his home workshop, Stark builds an improved version of his suit, as well as a more powerful arc reactor for his chest.

At Stark's first public appearance after his return, reporter Christine Everhart (Leslie Bibb) informs him that Stark Industries weapons, including the Jericho, were recently delivered to the Ten Rings and are being used to attack Yinsen's home village. Stark also learns that Stane is trying to replace him as head of the company. Enraged, Stark dons his new armor and flies to Afghanistan, where he saves Yinsen's village. While flying home, Stark is shot at by two F-22 Raptor fighter jets. He phones Rhodes and reveals his secret identity in an attempt to end the attack. Meanwhile, the Ten Rings gathers the pieces of Stark's prototype suit and meet with Stane, who has the group eliminated. He has a new suit reverse engineered from the wreckage. Seeking to find any other weapons delivered to the Ten Rings, Stark sends assistant Virginia "Pepper" Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) to hack into the company computer system from Stane's office. She discovers Stane has been supplying the terrorists and hired the Ten Rings to kill Stark, but the group reneged. Potts later meets with agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) of the "Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division", acounter-terrorism agency, to inform him of Stane's activities.

Stane's scientists cannot duplicate Stark's arc reactor, so Stane ambushes Stark at home, using a sonic device to paralyze him and take his arc reactor. Left to die, Stark manages to crawl to his lab and plug in his original reactor. Potts and several S.H.I.E.L.D. agents attempt to arrest Stane, but he dons his suit and attacks them. Stark fights Stane, but is overmatched without his new reactor to run his suit at full capacity. Stark lures Stane atop the Stark Industries building and instructs Potts to overload the large arc reactor there. This unleashes a massive electrical surge that knocks Stane unconscious, causing him and his armor to fall into the exploding reactor, killing him.

The next day, the press has dubbed the armored hero "Iron Man". Agent Coulson gives Stark a cover story to explain the events of the night and Stane's death. At a press conference, Stark begins giving the cover story, but then announces that he is Iron Man as the crowd cheers for him.

In a post-credits scene, S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) visits Stark at home, and, noting that Iron Man is not "the only superhero in the world", says he wants to discuss the "Avengers Initiative".

 

source: wikipedia

Night at The Museum

Night at the Museum is a 2006 fantasy adventure-comedy film based on the 1993 children's book The Night at the Museum by Milan Trenc. It follows a divorced  father trying to settle down, impress his son, and find his destiny. He applies for a job as a night watchman at New York City's American Museum of Natural History and subsequently discovers that the exhibits, animated by a magical Egyptian artifact, come to life at night.

Released on December 22, 2006 by 20th Century Fox, which presented the 1492 Pictures/21 Laps Entertainment Production in association with Ingenious Film Partners, the film was written by Robert Ben Garant and Thomas Lennon of Comedy Central's Reno 911! and MTV's The State and produced and directed by Shawn Levy. Also producing for 1492 Pictures were Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan. The cast includes Ben Stiller, Carla Gugino, Dick Van Dyke, Mickey Rooney, Bill Cobbs, Jake Cherry, Ricky Gervais, Owen Wilson, Steve Coogan, and Robin Williams. A new novelization of the screenplay by Leslie Goldman was published as a film tie-in.

A sequel titled Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian was released on May 22, 2009.

Plot

Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) is divorced, unable to keep a stable job, and has failed at many business ventures. His ex-wife (Kim Raver) believes that he is a bad example to their ten year-old son Nick (Jake Cherry), and Larry fears that Nick respects his future stepfather,bond trader Don (Paul Rudd), more than him.

Cecil (Dick Van Dyke), an elderly night security guard about to retire from the American Museum of Natural History, hires Larry despite his unpromising résumé. Because of recent financial troubles, the museum plans to replace Cecil and his two colleagues Gus (Mickey Rooney) and Reginald (Bill Cobbs) with one guard. They advise Larry to leave some of the lights on and warn him not to let anything "in...or out".

Once night comes, Larry discovers that the exhibits come to life, including a living Tyrannosaurus skeleton nicknamed "Rexy" who behaves like a dog (who fetches one of his ribs); a mischievous capuchin monkey named Dexter (Crystal), which always steals Larry's keys (and also urinates on him and tears up his instruction manual); rival miniature civilizations led by Old West cowboy Jedediah (Owen Wilson) and Roman general Octavius (Steve Coogan); an Easter Island Moai (Brad Garrett), who calls Larry dum-dum and loves gum-gum; and wax models of the likes of Theodore Roosevelt (Robin Williams), and Atilla the Hun (Patrick Gallagher), who makes a habit of chasing Larry wildly through the museum with his Huns.

Roosevelt explains that since an Egyptian artifact—the Golden Tablet of Pharaoh Akhmenrah—came to the museum in 1952, all of the exhibits come to life each night. If the exhibits are outside of the museum during sunrise, however, they turn to dust. Roosevelt helps Larry by restoring order, and he decides to remain as a guard.

On Cecil's advice, Larry studies history to prepare himself better. He also learns from a museum docent, Rebecca Hutman (Carla Gugino), who is writing a dissertation on Sacagawea (Mizuo Peck) but does not feel she knows enough about her subject.

The next night, Larry uses what he has learned to better control the exhibits (helping solve the Neanderthals' quest for fire by tossing them a cigarette lighter; giving the Easter Island head a wad of chewing gum (which causes him to blow up a big bubble that pops); tricking Dexter with a set of toy keys; and making a truce between the dioramas). However, things go awry when his attempt at winning over Atilla with cheap magic tricks fails, the dioramas continue fighting despite their agreement with Larry and Dexter is able to steal Larry's keys again and let out all of the animal exhibits. The Neanderthals then set fire to a display and one turns to dust when he leaves the museum at dawn (his ashes are promptly swept up by a street sweeper), so museum director Dr. McPhee (Ricky Gervais) almost fires Larry. He offers Rebecca a meeting with Sacagawea, but she believes that he is mocking her and the museum, and leaves him.

Larry brings Nick to the museum to show him the exhibits, but none is alive. They investigate and catch Cecil, Gus, and Reginald in the act of stealing the tablet and other valuable objects. Like the exhibits, the guards receive enhanced vitality from the artifact; wishing to retain their health and fund their retirements, the three plan to frame Larry for the thefts, and disabled the tablet to stop the exhibits from interfering. Nick reactivates the tablet, but Cecil locks him and his father in the Egyptian room and flees with the tablet.

Larry releases the Akhmenrah's (Rami Malek) mummy from his sarcophagus. The pharaoh speaks English from many years as an exhibit at Cambridge, and helps Larry and Nick escape. The three find the other exhibits fighting all over the lobby, and Larry convinces them to work together. Although some of the exhibits capture Gus and Reginald without difficulty, Cecil escapes by stagecoach with Larry, Nick, Akmenrah, Jedediah, Octavius, and Atilla the Hun in pursuit in Central Park, where they stop him and regain the tablet. While in a taxicab, Rebecca sees the exhibits return to the museum before sunrise and realizes that Larry was telling the truth; so he enters the museum, and he introduces her to Sacagawea.

Dr. McPhee fires Larry due to the chaos during the night, but rehires him when news reports of the strange events around the museum—such as cave paintings in the museum's subway station, dinosaur footprints in Central Park, and cavemen sightings—raise attendance. Larry, Nick, and the exhibits celebrate, while Cecil, Gus, and Reginald are forced to become museum janitors to evade being sent to jail.

Production

The building featured in the film, which was constructed on a sound stage in Burnaby, British Columbia, is based on the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, external shots of which were used in the movie.

Trainers spent several weeks training Crystal, who plays the troublemaking monkey Dexter, to slap and bite Stiller in the film.

Director Shawn Levy credited Ben Stiller for the ensemble cast: "When actors hear that Ben Stiller is in a movie they want to work with him. It's a high-water mark and it absolutely draws actors in and I'm convinced that's a big part of why we got this cast."

source: wikipedia

Dark Shadow

Dark Shadows is a 2012 American horror comedy-drama film based on the 1966–1971 gothic horror soap opera of the same name. The film is directed by Tim Burton and stars Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins, a 200-year-old vampire, and Michelle Pfeiffer as his cousin Elizabeth Collins Stoddard, a reclusive matriarch of the Collins family. It was released on the evening of May 10, 2012,opening fully the following day in the United States.

Plot

In 1760, Joshua and Naomi Collins sail from Liverpool to the New World, North America. They set up a fishing port in Maine called Collinsport, and also build Collinwood Manor. Their son, Barnabas, grows up to be a wealthy playboy in the town. He breaks the heart of one of their servants, Angelique Bouchard, who is a witch and kills his parents in revenge and curses his family. He then studies dark magic to prove Angelique is in fact a witch, falling in love with Josette du Pres in the meantime. Angelique, in an act of jealousy, puts a spell on Josette, which forces her to leap to her death from a nearby cliff called Widow's Peak. Barnabas runs after Josette but he arrives too late. He jumps over the cliff to kill himself, but Angelique has already turned Barnabas into a vampire before he reaches the bottom. Soon after, Angelique convinces the townspeople that Barnabas is a vampire, having them capture him and bury him alive in a chained coffin in the woods.

In 1972, a woman named Maggie Evans travels by train to Collinsport, responding to an advertisement to be the governess to a young boy, David Collins. While on the train, she decides to change her name to Victoria Winters, practicing asking the family to call her "Vicky". She hitches a ride with hippies to Collinwood Manor, where she meets Elizabeth Collins Stoddard, the matriarch of the family, her troubled nephew David, and the families' servants, Willie Loomis and old Mrs. Johnson. It is explained that David's mother died at sea and he believes his mother speaks to him. Elizabeth takes Victoria on a tour of Collinwood Manor, which is falling into disrepair. While on the tour, Victoria meets Elizabeth's 15-year-old rebellious and provocative daughter Carolyn. At dinner, Victoria meets the rest of the dysfunctional family; Roger, Elizabeth's brother and indifferent father of David, and Dr. Julia Hoffman, an alcoholic psychiatrist who had been hired to help David overcome his belief that he can speak to his dead mother, but thus far has been unsuccessful. David appears in a sheet to look like a ghost, trying to frighten Victoria. David talks of his mother speaking to him, and Carolyn calls him crazy, but Victoria states she believes in ghosts. After dinner, Victoria is in her room and believes she sees David again appearing under the same sheet. She removes the sheet, but sees the ghost of Josette instead, who remarks "He's coming", before hovering to the large chandelier in the foyer and falling as she did from the cliff.

That night, Barnabas is accidentally freed from his coffin by a group of construction workers. He feeds on them and makes his way back to Collinwood Manor, finding his once-magnificent mansion in a sad state. Barnabas convinces Elizabeth that he really is who he says he is, and asks her of the family curse and the story of how he died. She answers that nobody knows how he died so he explains that is because he didn't. Barnabas then shows her a secret room full of treasures as a proof of his identity. She says he may stay with them under two conditions: that he keeps the secret of the riches in the room and of his vampirism from everyone else in the house, to which Barnabas agrees. Barnabas is introduced to the family at breakfast. Elizabeth explains that he is a distant relative from England and Barnabas explains he has come to help the family revitalize their business. Barnabas decides to restore his family name.

Angelique, now a respected and successful resident of Collinsport, soon discovers that he has escaped his shallow grave. She wants to win him back so she visits the mansion and tells him to join her or he will regret it. He tells her he has no feelings for her and she leaves. He discovers that his family's fishing company is in ruins because of Angelique's business, Angel Bay Fishery, and takes steps to revitalize and rebuild the company (and the mansion), gaining the trust of the family in the process. As the Collins fishery begins to pick up, Angelique calls Barnabas to her office for a meeting, again offering that he either join and love her or she will destroy him and everything he loves. She manages to seduce him and they make love, wrecking her office in doing so. But when they are finished, he says can never love her as he has fallen in love with Victoria, again leaving. Barnabas turns to Carolyn for help as he tries to win over the heart of Victoria but doesn't know how. Carolyn explains he needs to be less "weird" and tells him he should get some normal friends. Later that night Barnabas goes out into the woods with the same hippies that drove Victoria to the mansion. They discuss love before Barnabas regretfully feeds on them.

The next day, Dr. Hoffman hypnotizes Barnabas in a therapy session and he confesses to being a vampire, as well as to the murders of the construction workers and the hippies. She is shocked and fascinated by him and runs to Elizabeth to ask why she keeps such a secret to herself. Elizabeth tells her not to tell anyone else of his secret. Dr. Hoffman offers to help turn Barnabas into a human via blood transfusions. At dinner, Barnabas decides to restore their name by having a ball. Carolyn retorts that they need to instead have a party, suggesting Alice Cooper as entertainment. Barnabas agrees and they throw a party for the entire town at their mansion, at which Alice Cooper indeed performs. On a balcony outside of the party, Barnabas finds Victoria, to whom he expresses his love. She explains her past to him though. It is then revealed through flashbacks that Victoria was sent to a mental hospital by her parents for talking to the ghost of Barnabas' love, Josette, who she strongly resembles. She is seen getting electroshock treatment as a child, then escaping through the window with sheets years later. They passionately kiss after she says she feels like she has always known him. Angelique crashes the party and sees Barnabas and Victoria kissing, becoming enraged. The next day, Barnabas discovers Dr. Hoffman is not giving him human blood, but taking several pints of his blood instead to turn herself into a vampire to avoid growing old. Enraged, Barnabas presumably kills her by draining her dry and dumps her body in the ocean with Willie's help. He then discovers David's sleazy father Roger snooping around the study, trying to find the secret room. Barnabas gives him a choice: stay and be a father or leave; Roger chooses the latter. Right after Roger leaves, Barnabas accidentally stands in a beam of sunlight after saving David from a falling disco ball and his skin burns. His secret is revealed to the children and Victoria and they are horrified.

Barnabas meets with Angelique that night and refuses her offer once more to cooperate with her to run the town, also refusing to return her love. While leaving her office, he is forced into a coffin waiting for him right outside her door, and Angelique then binds him with chains and drives him to the cemetery, leaving the coffin in a crypt and telling Barnabas she will destroy everything he loves. Just before driving to the cemetery, she blows up the rebuilt Collins canning factory by reciting a spell. While the fire is still raging, David learns from his mother that Barnabas has been locked up and where to find him. David goes to the crypt and frees Barnabas from the coffin. While the police and firefighters try to put out the fire, Angelique plays a cassette recording she recorded during her last meeting with Barnabas in which he confesses to being a vampire and killing the construction workers, the hippies, and Dr. Hoffman, revealing that the Collins family is harboring a murderer. This turns the townspeople against the family once more, leading them to the mansion. At the mansion, Angelique is shocked to see that Barnabas has escaped. Barnabas offers to be arrested in place of the family, but then grabs Angelique, prompting a policeman to shoot him several times. Revealed as immortal, he then shows the townspeople Angelique is a witch: as he squeezes her, her skin cracks like porcelain. The townspeople run away from the mansion in horror. Angelique starts a fight and sets fire to the mansion, bringing the wooden statues and portraits to life and making blood run down the walls from them, as well as splintering the walls of the building. Carolyn, who is revealed as being a werewolf (because Angelique had sent a werewolf to bite her as a baby), fights her, but is beaten back. Elizabeth, armed with a shotgun, stands up to Angelique, and David summons the ghost of his mother Laura (whom Angelique admits killing), who throws her into the chandelier. Angelique, her porcelain skin fracturing, literally offers her heart to Barnabas, insisting she did in fact love him, but he refuses, telling her she isn't capable of love and only wanted to control him. Upon being rejected by Barnabas, her heart literally breaks and she dies. Barnabas looks for Victoria, who hasn't been seen since it was revealed that he was a vampire. David tells him that his mother said she is headed for Widow's Peak. Barnabas catches up with her there, but Victoria tells him that they can never be together as she lives in the light and he lives in the dark shadows. Angelique's spell makes Victoria jump over the cliff. Barnabas jumps off after her and bites her on the way down, turning her into a vampire to save her life. Afterward, Victoria tells Barnabas to call her Josette, and Barnabas narrates that his curse has ended. The film then ends underwater, with a school of fish swimming away from the body of Dr. Hoffman, who opens her eyes, revealing that she too is now a vampire.


source: wikipedia

Stefan Bradl

Stefan Bradl in Losail,, Qatar

Stefan Bradl

Stefan Bradl (born 29 November 1989 in Augsburg, West Germany) is a Grand Prix motorcycle racer who currently is a rider in the MotoGP Class. He is the 2011 Moto2 World Champion, and the son of former racer Helmut Bradl.

He started his 125cc World Championship career in 2005 as a wild card for three races, competing in the 125cc German Championship with KTM. He took another three wild card races in 2006, still with KTM. He had a terrible fracture when he was hit by another rider during practice for the 2006 Malaysian GP. Later that year he was competing again at the Red Bull MotoGP Academy.

Bradl was offered by Alberto Puig to ride his Repsol Honda factory 250cc team for 2007; he withdrew after a couple of tests due to personal problems, but didn't stop racing. Later, he joined the 125cc Spanish Championship with Blusens Aprilia. winning the title just five points ahead of his team mate Scott Redding. Later he took a couple of wild card World Championshipraces with the same team. Additionally, from the 2007 Portuguese GP onwards Blusens Aprilia Team principal Raul Romero placed him in a second bike with veteran Pablo Nieto, replacing Dutchman Hugo van den Berg.

For 2008, rather than stay with Blusens Aprilia, he decided to ride for the German Grizzly Gas Kiefer Racing, on an official factory Aprilia RSA 125. He took his first win at Brno, fittingly a track his father won at in 1991.

After moving up to the Moto2 class of Grand Prix racing in 2010, he went on to claim ninth in the championship, with one victory in Estoril. 2011 saw Bradl win four of the first six races, and maintained a healthy lead in the championship until Marc Márquez found significant speed halfway through the season. The championship seemed to be going down to the wire, with both Bradl and Márquez having a fair shot at the title with two rounds remaining. Márquez, however, suffered a heavy fall during free practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix, and was unable to race for the remainder of the season, due to eyesight problems. Bradl was therefore crowned the World Champion at the final race of the season in Valencia, Spain. After a successful test on an 800cc Honda for the LCR team he was signed to ride a 1000cc LCR Honda in 2012.

Career statistics
By season

Season	Class	Motorcycle	Race	Win	Pod	Pole	FLap	Pts	Pos
2005	125cc	KTM	3	0	0	0	0	1	35th
2006	125cc	KTM	9	0	0	0	0	4	26th
2007	125cc	Aprilia	9	0	0	0	0	39	18th
2008	125cc	Aprilia	17	2	6	0	2	187	4th
2009	125cc	Aprilia	16	0	0	0	0	85	10th
2010	Moto2	Suter	16	1	1	0	0	97	9th
2011	Moto2	Kalex	17	4	11	7	3	274	1st
2012	MotoGP	Honda	3	0	0	0	0	24*	7th*
Total			90	7	18	7	5	711

By Class

Class	Seasons	1st GP	1st Pod	1st Win	Race	Win	Pod	Pole	FLap	Pts	WChmp
125 cc	2005–2009	2005 Catalunya	2008 Qatar	2008 Czech Republic	54	2	6	0	2	316	0
Moto2	2010–2011	2010 Qatar	2010 Portugal	2010 Portugal	33	5	12	7	3	371	1
MotoGP	2012–	2012 Qatar			3	0	0	0	0	24	0
Total	2005–Present				90	7	18	7	5	711	1

[edit]
Races by year
(Races in bold indicate pole position, races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Yr	Class	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	Final Pos	Pts
2005	125cc	KTM	SPA	POR	CHN	FRA	ITA	CAT Ret	NED	GBR	GER 16	CZE 15	JPN	MAL	QAT	AUS	TUR	VAL			35th	1
2006	125cc	KTM	SPA	QAT 26	TUR 19	CHN 20	FRA 18	ITA 16	CAT	NED 31	GBR Ret	GER 18	CZE 12	MAL DNS	AUS	JPN	POR	VAL			26th	4
2007	125cc	Aprilia	QAT	SPA	TUR	CHN	FRA	ITA	CAT 9	GBR	NED 10	GER 13	CZE	RSM 7	POR 6	JPN 15	AUS Ret	MAL 13	VAL Ret		18th	39
2008	125cc	Aprilia	QAT 3	SPA 4	POR 8	CHN 5	FRA 6	ITA 10	CAT 4	GBR Ret	NED 12	GER 2	CZE 1	RSM Ret	IND 3	JPN 1	AUS 2	MAL Ret	VAL Ret		4th	187
2009	125cc	Aprilia	QAT 8	JPN 4	SPA Ret	FRA Ret	ITA 8	CAT 7	NED 6	GER Ret	GBR Ret	CZE 7	IND 7	RSM 6	POR 4	AUS Ret	MAL Ret	VAL Ret			10th	85
2010	Moto2	Suter	QAT Ret	SPA 14	FRA 9	ITA 14	GBR Ret	NED 19	CAT	GER 9	CZE 9	IND Ret	RSM 5	ARA 9	JPN 7	MAL 7	AUS 5	POR 1	VAL Ret		9th	97
2011	Moto2	Kalex	QAT 1	SPA 5	POR 1	FRA 3	CAT 1	GBR 1	NED Ret	ITA 2	GER 2	CZE 3	IND 6	RSM 2	ARA 8	JPN 4	AUS 2	MAL 2	VAL Ret		1st	274
2012	MotoGP	Honda	QAT 8	SPA 7	POR 9	FRA	CAT	GBR	NED	GER	ITA	USA	IND	CZE	RSM	ARA	JPN	MAL	AUS	VAL	7th*	24*

* Season in progress.
source:wikipedia