Billy Bob Thornton is an American actor, filmmaker, and musician. He had his first break when he co-wrote and starred in the 1992 thriller One False Move, and received international attention after writing, directing, and starring in the independent drama film Sling Blade (1996), for which he won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. He appeared in several major film roles in the 1990s following Sling Blade, including Oliver Stone's neo-noir U Turn (1997), political drama Primary Colors (1998), science fiction disaster film Armageddon (1998), the highest-grossing film of that year, and the crime drama A Simple Plan (1998), which earned him his third Oscar nomination.
Michael Kelland John Hutchence was an Australian musician, singer-songwriter and actor. Hutchence co-founded the rock band INXS, which sold over 60 million records worldwide and was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2001. He was the lead singer and lyricist of INXS from 1977 until his death.
Billy Elliot is a 2000 British dance drama film directed by Stephen Daldry and written by Lee Hall. Set in County Durham, England during the 1984–85 miners' strike, the film is about a working-class boy who discovers his passion for ballet, despite his father's objection and the negative stereotype associated with being a male ballet dancer. The film stars Jamie Bell as 11-year-old Billy, Gary Lewis as his father, Jamie Draven as Billy's older brother, and Julie Walters as his ballet teacher.
Nicholas Peter John Hornby is an English writer and lyricist. He is best known for his memoir Fever Pitch and novels High Fidelity and About a Boy, all of which were adapted into feature films. Hornby's work frequently touches upon music, sport, and the aimless and obsessive natures of his protagonists. His books have sold more than 5 million copies worldwide as of 2018. In a 2004 poll for the BBC, Hornby was named the 29th most influential person in British culture.
Europe is a Swedish rock band formed in Upplands Väsby, Sweden in 1979, by frontman Joey Tempest, guitarist John Norum, bassist Peter Olsson, and drummer Tony Reno. They obtained a major breakthrough in Sweden in 1982 by winning the televised competition "Rock-SM" : it was the first time this competition was held, and Europe became a larger success than the competition itself.
James Jonah Cummings is an American voice actor, who has appeared in almost 400 roles, including Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Pete and the Tasmanian Devil.
Sweet and Sour was an Australian television series that screened on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) in 1984. It was created by Tim Gooding and Johanna Pigott and was produced internally for the ABC by Jan Chapman.
Stephen Donald Cummings is an Australian rock singer-songwriter and writer. He was the lead singer of Melbourne-based rock band the Sports from 1976 to 1981, followed by a solo career which has met with critical acclaim but has had limited commercial success. He has written two novels, Wonderboy (1996) and Stay Away from Lightning Girl (1999), and a memoir, Will It Be Funny Tomorrow, Billy (2009). In 2014 a documentary film, Don't Throw Stones, based on his memoir premiered as part of the Melbourne International Film Festival.
The Sports were an Australian rock group which performed and recorded between 1976 and 1981. Mainstay members were Stephen Cummings on lead vocals and Robert Glover on bass guitar, with long-term members such as Paul Hitchins on drums, Andrew Pendlebury on lead guitar and vocals, and Martin Armiger on guitar. Their style was similar to both 1970s British pub rock bands and British new wave. The Sports' top forty singles are "Who Listens to the Radio", "Don't Throw Stones", "Strangers on a Train" and "How Come". Their top 20 releases on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart are Don't Throw Stones, Suddenly and Sondra.
Ronald Wycherley, better known as Billy Fury, was an English singer, musician, songwriter, and actor. An early star of both rock and roll and films, he equalled the Beatles' record of 24 hits in the 1960s and spent 332 weeks on the UK chart, though he never had a chart-topping single or album.
The Final Countdown is the third studio album by the Swedish rock band Europe. Released on 26 May 1986 through Epic Records, the album was a huge commercial success peaking at number 8 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart and reaching high positions in charts worldwide. It was recorded at Powerplay Studios in Zürich, Soundtrade Studios in Stockholm, Mastersound Studios in Atlanta and Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. The Final Countdown is the first album to feature keyboardist Mic Michaeli and drummer Ian Haugland and the last to feature guitarist John Norum until 2004's Start from the Dark.
Todd Phillips is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. Phillips began his career in 1993 and directed films in the 2000s such as Road Trip, Old School, Starsky & Hutch, and School for Scoundrels. He came to prominence in the early 2010s for directing The Hangover film series. In 2019, he co-wrote and directed the psychological thriller film Joker, which premiered at the 76th Venice International Film Festival where it received the top prize, the Golden Lion. Joker went on to earn Phillips three Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay, with his co-writer Scott Silver.
Mogwai are a Scottish post-rock band, formed in 1995 in Glasgow. The band consists of Stuart Braithwaite, Barry Burns, Dominic Aitchison, and Martin Bulloch (drums). Mogwai typically compose lengthy guitar-based instrumental pieces that feature dynamic contrast, melodic bass guitar lines, and heavy use of distortion and effects.
"American Woman" is a song released by the Canadian rock band The Guess Who in January 1970, from their sixth studio album of the same name. It was later released in March 1970 as a single backed with "No Sugar Tonight", and it reached number one for three weeks commencing May 9 on both the United States' Billboard Hot 100 and the Canadian RPM magazine singles chart. Billboard magazine placed the single at number three on the Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1970 list, and it was listed as number five for 1970 on the RPM Year-End Chart. On May 22, 1970, the single was certified as gold by the RIAA. It also reached the top ten in the Netherlands, Switzerland and Austria, and the top twenty in the United Kingdom and New Zealand.
John Martin Armiger was an Australian musician, record producer and composer. He was one of the singer-songwriters and guitarists with Melbourne-based rock band the Sports from August 1978 to late 1981, which had Top 30 hits on the Kent Music Report Singles Chart with, "Don't Throw Stones" (1979), "Strangers on a Train" (1980) and "How Come" (1981); and Top 20 albums with Don't Throw Stones, Suddenly and Sondra (1981).
Alan Zweibel is an American television writer, author, playwright, and screenwriter who was one of the original Saturday Night Live writers, a co-creator of It's Garry Shandling's Show, and consulting producer on Curb Your Enthusiasm. For the Broadway stage he collaborated with Billy Crystal on the Tony Award-winning play 700 Sundays, won the Thurber Prize for American Humor for his novel The Other Shulman: A Novel, and, most recently, co-wrote a film with Crystal titled Here Today that stars Crystal and Tiffany Haddish.
Funny or Die is a comedy video website and film/television production company founded by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Mark Kvamme, and Chris Henchy. The website Funny Or Die contains exclusive material from a regular staff of in-house writers, producers, and directors, and occasionally from a number of famous contributors including Judd Apatow, James Franco, and Norm Macdonald. The production company makes TV shows including truTV's Billy on the Street, Comedy Central's @midnight, and Zach Galifianakis' Emmy-winning web series Between Two Ferns.
"Burn for You" is a song by Australian rock band INXS that features on the band's fourth album The Swing. It was the third single to be released from the album and peaked at #3 on the Australian chart in August 1984, remaining there for two weeks.
Pure Flix is an evangelical Christian film production and distribution studio founded by David A. R. White and Russell Wolfe, inspired by Netflix. Pure Flix produces Christian films, including God's Not Dead (2014), Do You Believe? (2015), Woodlawn (2015), The Case for Christ (2017), and Unplanned (2019). Since 2014, films produced and distributed by Pure Flix have collectively grossed over $195 million at the worldwide box office. The company has headquarters in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Countdown is an album by pianist Steve Kuhn which was recorded in 1998 and released on the Reservoir label.
