Midnight Express is a 1978 prison drama film directed by Alan Parker and adapted by Oliver Stone from Billy Hayes's 1977 memoir of the same name. The film centers on Hayes, a young American student, who is sent to a Turkish prison for trying to smuggle hashish out of the country. The film's title is prison slang for his escape attempt. The cast also features Irene Miracle, John Hurt, Bo Hopkins, Paul L. Smith and Randy Quaid.
Simon John Pegg is an English actor, comedian and screenwriter. He came to prominence in the UK as the co-creator of the Channel 4 sitcom Spaced (1999–2001), directed by Edgar Wright. He and Wright co-wrote the films Shaun of the Dead (2004), Hot Fuzz (2007), and The World's End (2013), known collectively as the Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy, all of which saw Wright directing and Pegg starring alongside Nick Frost. Pegg and Frost also wrote and starred in the sci-fi comedy film Paul (2011).
A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclists as well as other object manipulation and stunt-oriented artists. The term circus also describes the field of performance, training and community which has followed various formats through its 250-year modern history. Although not the inventor of the medium, Newcastle-under-Lyme born Philip Astley is credited as the father of the modern circus.
Anthony Kiedis is an American musician, singer, songwriter and rapper, best known as a founding member and lead vocalist of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers. Kiedis and his fellow band members were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012.
The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, also known as the Ringling Bros. Circus, Ringling Bros., the Barnum & Bailey Circus, Barnum & Bailey, or simply Ringling, is an American traveling circus company billed as The Greatest Show on Earth. It and its predecessor have run shows from 1871, with a hiatus from 2017 to 2023. They operate as Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey. The circus started in 1919 when the Barnum & Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth, a circus created by P. T. Barnum and James Anthony Bailey, was merged with the Ringling Bros. World's Greatest Shows. The Ringling brothers purchased Barnum & Bailey Ltd. in 1907 following Bailey's death in 1906, but ran the circuses separately until they were merged in 1919.
Liquid Sky is a 1982 American independent science fiction film directed by Slava Tsukerman and starring Anne Carlisle and Paula E. Sheppard. It debuted at the Montreal Film festival in August 1982 and was well received at several film festivals thereafter. It was produced with a budget of $500,000. It became the most successful independent film of 1983, grossing $1.7 million worldwide.
Santa Sangre is a 1989 avant-garde surrealistic psychological horror film directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky and written by Jodorowsky along with Claudio Argento and Roberto Leoni. It stars Axel Jodorowsky, Adán Jodorowsky, Teo Jodorowsky, Blanca Guerra, Thelma Tixou, and Guy Stockwell. An international co-production of Mexico and Italy, the film is set in Mexico, and tells the story of Fenix, a boy who grew up in a circus and his struggle with childhood trauma. It is signed on Empire magazine's 2008 list of the 500 Greatest Movies of All Time.
Jumbo is a musical produced by Billy Rose, with music and lyrics by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart and book by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur.
"The Needle and the Damage Done" is a 1972 song by Canadian-American singer-songwriter Neil Young. The lyrics describe the effects of heroin addiction on musicians Young knew, including his friend and Crazy Horse bandmate Danny Whitten, who would die of an overdose the same year the song was released. The song would preview the theme of Young's 1975 album Tonight's the Night, which would reflect on the fatal heroin overdoses of Whitten and Bruce Berry, a roadie for Young and Crazy Horse.
Station to Station is the tenth studio album by the English musician David Bowie, released on 23 January 1976 through RCA Records. Regarded as one of his most significant works, the album was the vehicle for Bowie's performance persona the Thin White Duke. Co-produced by Bowie and Harry Maslin, Station to Station was mainly recorded at Cherokee Studios in Los Angeles, California, in late 1975, after Bowie completed shooting the film The Man Who Fell to Earth; the cover art featured a still from the film. During the sessions, Bowie was dependent on drugs, especially cocaine, and later said that he recalled almost nothing of the production.
"I'm Waiting for the Man" is a song by American rock band the Velvet Underground. Written by Lou Reed, it was first released on their 1967 debut album, The Velvet Underground & Nico. The lyrics describe a man's efforts to obtain heroin in Harlem.
Billy Rose's Jumbo is a 1962 American musical film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and starring Doris Day, Stephen Boyd, Jimmy Durante, and Martha Raye. An adaptation of the stage musical Jumbo produced by Billy Rose, the film was directed by Charles Walters, written by Sidney Sheldon, and featured Busby Berkeley's choreography. It was nominated for an Academy Award for the adaptation of its Rodgers and Hart score.
"Fearful Symmetry" is the eighteenth episode of the second season of the American science fiction television series The X-Files. It premiered on the Fox network on February 24, 1995. It was written by Steve De Jarnatt and directed by James Whitmore Jr. The episode is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, only loosely connected to the series' wider mythology. "Fearful Symmetry" received a Nielsen rating of 10.1 and was watched by 9.6 million households. The episode received mixed reviews from critics but later won an EMA Award.
The Rhythm Festival was an outdoor music festival held in Bedfordshire. From 2006 until 2010 it was held at Twinwood Arena, near the village of Clapham In 2011 the festival moved to Shuttleworth House, Biggleswade. The 2012 Festival was due to take place over the August Bank Holiday weekend but was cancelled and the festival has not taken place since then.
Michael Peter Balzary, known professionally as Flea, is an American musician and actor. He is a founding member and bassist of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers and, along with vocalist Anthony Kiedis, one of the only two members to appear on every one of the band's albums.
Giovanni "John" Gambino was an Italian-born American mobster. Born in Palermo, Sicily, he became a made member of the Gambino crime family in 1975 and a capodecina or captain, and head of the crime family's Sicilian faction, appointed by family boss John Gotti in 1986, according to Mafia turncoat Sammy Gravano.
Water for Elephants is a 2011 American romantic drama film directed by Francis Lawrence from a screenplay by Richard LaGravenese, based on the 2006 novel of the same name by Sara Gruen. The film stars Reese Witherspoon, Robert Pattinson, Christoph Waltz, and Hal Holbrook.
Lilyhammer is a crime comedy-drama television series starring Steven Van Zandt about a former New York–based gangster named Frank "The Fixer" Tagliano trying to start a new life in isolated Lillehammer, Norway. The first season premiered on Norwegian NRK1 on 25 January 2012 with a record audience of 998,000 viewers, and premiered on Netflix in North America on 6 February 2012, with all eight episodes available in full for streaming on the service. Lilyhammer was promoted as "the first time Netflix offered exclusive content".
An Apology to Elephants is a 2013 documentary that explores abuse and brutal treatment of elephants. It showcases elephant training and the psychological trauma and physical damage done by living conditions in some zoos and circuses. It was premiered on HBO on April 22, 2013, also celebrated as an Earth Day. The documentary includes interviews with environmental activists and biologists, including Performing Animal Welfare Society co-founders Ed Stewart and Pat Derby. The film was dedicated to Derby, also known as an "elephant lady", who died on February 15, 2013.
Dumbo is a 2019 American fantasy period adventure film directed by Tim Burton from a screenplay written by Ehren Kruger. It is a live-action adaptation and reimagining of Walt Disney's 1941 animated feature film of the same name, which is based on the novel by Helen Aberson and Harold Pearl, the film stars Colin Farrell, Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito, Eva Green and Alan Arkin, and follows a family that works at a failing traveling circus as they encounter a baby elephant with extremely large ears who is capable of flying.
