The Righteous Brothers are an American musical duo originally formed by Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield but now comprising Medley and Bucky Heard. Medley formed the group with Hatfield in 1963. They had first performed together in 1962 in the Los Angeles area as part of a five-member group called the Paramours, and adopted the name The Righteous Brothers when they became a duo. Their most active recording period was in the 1960s and '70s, and, after several years inactive as a duo, Hatfield and Medley reunited in 1981 and continued to perform until Hatfield's death in 2003. The music they performed is sometimes dubbed "blue-eyed soul".
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high standing in pop culture, his books have sold more than 350 million copies, and many have been adapted into films, television series, miniseries, and comic books. King has published 64 novels, including seven under the pen name Richard Bachman, and five non-fiction books. He has also written approximately 200 short stories, most of which have been published in book collections.
"The Long and Winding Road" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1970 album Let It Be. It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. When issued as a single in May 1970, a month after the Beatles' break-up, it became the group's 20th and last number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States.
Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO) is an American rock band founded in 1996 by producer, composer, and lyricist Paul O'Neill, who brought together Jon Oliva and Al Pitrelli and keyboardist and co-producer Robert Kinkel to form the core of the creative team. O'Neill died on April 5, 2017. The band gained in popularity when they began touring in 1999 after completing their second album, The Christmas Attic, the year previous. In 2007, the Washington Post referred to them as "an arena-rock juggernaut" and described their music as "Pink Floyd meets Yes and the Who at Radio City Music Hall." TSO has sold more than 10 million concert tickets and over 10 million albums. The band has released a series of rock operas: Christmas Eve and Other Stories, The Christmas Attic, Beethoven's Last Night, The Lost Christmas Eve, their two-disc Night Castle and Letters From the Labyrinth. Trans-Siberian Orchestra is also known for their extensive charity work and elaborate concerts, which include a string section, a light show, lasers, moving trusses, video screens, and effects synchronized to music.
The Bram Stoker Award for Best Non-Fiction is an award presented by the Horror Writers Association (HWA) for "superior achievement" in horror writing for non-fiction.
David Edward Williams, known professionally as David Walliams, is an English comedian, actor, writer, and television personality. He is best known for his work with Matt Lucas on the BBC sketch comedy series Little Britain (2003–2007) and Come Fly With Me (2010–2011). Since 2012, Walliams has been a judge on the television talent show competition Britain's Got Talent on ITV. He is also a writer of children's books, having sold more than 37 million copies worldwide.
Caleb Casey McGuire Affleck-Boldt is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Golden Globe Award and a Satellite Award. He began his career as a child actor, appearing in the PBS television film Lemon Sky (1988) and the miniseries The Kennedys of Massachusetts (1990). He later appeared in three Gus Van Sant films: To Die For (1995), Good Will Hunting (1997), and Gerry (2002), and in Steven Soderbergh's comedy heist trilogy Ocean's Eleven (2001), Ocean's Twelve (2004), and Ocean's Thirteen (2007). His first leading role was in Steve Buscemi's independent comedy-drama Lonesome Jim (2006). He is the younger brother of actor Ben Affleck.
"Instant Karma!" is a song by English rock musician John Lennon, released as a single on Apple Records in February 1970. The lyrics focus on a concept in which the consequences of one's actions are immediate rather than borne out over a lifetime. The single was credited to "Lennon/Ono with the Plastic Ono Band", apart from in the US, where the credit was "John Ono Lennon". The song reached the top five in the British and American singles charts, competing with the Beatles' "Let It Be" in the US, where it became the first solo single by a member of the band to sell a million copies.
Stories of Lost Souls is an anthology film starring Josh Hartnett, Hugh Jackman, Keira Knightley, Cate Blanchett, James Gandolfini, Paul Bettany, Illeana Douglas and directed by eight different directors including Deborra-Lee Furness and Mark Palansky.
Stephen James Mangan is an English actor, comedian, presenter and writer. He has played Guy Secretan in Green Wing, Dan Moody in I'm Alan Partridge, Seán Lincoln in Episodes, Bigwig in Watership Down, Postman Pat in Postman Pat: The Movie, Richard Pitt in Hang Ups, Andrew in Bliss (2018), and Nathan Stern in The Split (2018–2022).
New Year's Eve is December 31 on the Gregorian calendar, the last day of the year and the eve of the next year.
The "Green Wing Special" is the final episode of the British sitcom Green Wing. It was first broadcast in Australia and Belgium on 29 December 2006. It was aired on 4 January 2007 in the United Kingdom. The episode is sometimes billed as a Christmas special, although the episode contains nothing Christmas related. The special is 90 minutes long, around twice the length of a normal episode.
Someone Else is a 2006 British Comedy drama independent film. The film was directed by Col Spector and written by Spector along with Radha Chakraborty. The film had its world premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival on 20 August 2006 and released on 7 September 2007 in the United Kingdom.
An auteur is an artist with a distinctive approach, usually a film director whose filmmaking control is so unbounded but personal that the director is likened to the "author" of the film, which thus manifests the director's unique style or thematic focus. As an unnamed value, auteurism originated in French film criticism of the late 1940s, and derives from the critical approach of André Bazin and Alexandre Astruc, whereas American critic Andrew Sarris in 1962 called it auteur theory. Yet the concept first appeared in French in 1955 when director François Truffaut termed it policy of the authors, and interpreted the films of some directors, like Alfred Hitchcock, as a body revealing recurring themes and preoccupations.
Harvey Phillip Spector was an American record producer, best known for his innovative recording practices and entrepreneurship in the 1960s, followed decades later by his two trials and conviction for murder in the 2000s. Spector developed the Wall of Sound, a production style that is characterized for its diffusion of tone colors and dense orchestral sound, which he described as a "Wagnerian" approach to rock and roll. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in pop music history and one of the most successful producers of the 1960s.
Honeymooner is a 2010 British Comedy drama independent film. The film was written and directed by Col Spector. The film premiered at Edinburgh International Film Festival on 6 June 2010 and released on 20 January 2011 in UK.
Underworld: Awakening is a 2012 American action horror film directed by Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein. It is the fourth installment in the Underworld franchise, with Kate Beckinsale reprising her role as Selene, joined by Theo James, Michael Ealy, and India Eisley. Filming began in March 2011 in Vancouver, British Columbia and the film was released in Digital 3D, IMAX 3D and 2D theaters on January 20, 2012 and grossed $160 million worldwide. It was followed by Underworld: Blood Wars in 2016.
Phil Spector is a 2013 American biographical drama television film written and directed by David Mamet. The film is based on the murder trials of record producer, songwriter and musician Phil Spector and premiered on HBO on March 24, 2013. It stars Al Pacino as Phil Spector, Helen Mirren as defense attorney Linda Kenney Baden, and Jeffrey Tambor as defense attorney Bruce Cutler. It focuses primarily on the relationship between Spector and Linda Kenney Baden, his defense attorney in 2007 during the first of his two murder trials for the 2003 death of Lana Clarkson in his California mansion, and is billed as "an exploration of the client–attorney relationship" between Spector and Kenney Baden.
A Very English Scandal is a British television comedy-drama series. The three-part 2018 serial is based on John Preston's 2016 book of the same name. It is a dramatisation of the 1976–1979 Jeremy Thorpe scandal and more than 15 years of events leading up to it.
Boston Strangler is an upcoming American crime drama film written and directed by Matt Ruskin. It is based on the true story of the Boston Strangler, who in the 1960s killed 13 women in Boston, Massachusetts. The film stars Keira Knightley as Loretta McLaughlin, the reporter who broke the story. Carrie Coon, Alessandro Nivola, Chris Cooper, David Dastmalchian, Robert John Burke, and Morgan Spector co-star. Filming took place in the Boston area from December 2021 to March 2022.
