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Specimen Days
''Specimen Days'' is a 2005 novel by American writer Michael Cunningham. It contains three stories: one that takes place in the past, one in the present, and one in the future. Each of the three stories depicts three central, semi-consistent character-types: a young boy, a man, and a woman. Walt Whitman's poetry is also a common thread in each of the three stories, and the title is from Whitman's own prose works. The film rights to the book have been optioned by American movie producer Scott Rudin, who has turned Cunningham's previous novel ''The Hours'' into an Academy Award-winning movie. Premise The novel is divided into what are essentially three discrete short stories, unified by common threads such as character names and types, story location (New York City), story themes (such as shared humanity), and the presence of Walt Whitman (whether through actual physical presence, quotation of his works via narrator or character, or the spirit of his ideas expressed through narra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
WikiProject Novels
A WikiProject, or Wikiproject, is a Wikimedia movement affinity group for contributors with shared goals. WikiProjects are prevalent within the largest wiki, Wikipedia, and exist to varying degrees within sister projects such as Wiktionary, Wikiquote, Wikidata, and Wikisource. They also exist in different languages, and translation of articles is a form of their collaboration. During the COVID-19 pandemic, CBS News noted the role of Wikipedia's WikiProject Medicine in maintaining the accuracy of articles related to the disease. Another WikiProject that has drawn attention is WikiProject Women Scientists, which was profiled by '' Smithsonian'' for its efforts to improve coverage of women scientists which the profile noted had "helped increase the number of female scientists on Wikipedia from around 1,600 to over 5,000". On Wikipedia Some Wikipedia WikiProjects are substantial enough to engage in cooperative activities with outside organizations relevant to the field at issue. For e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ghost Story
A ghost story is any piece of fiction, or drama, that includes a ghost, or simply takes as a premise the possibility of ghosts or characters' belief in them."Ghost Stories" in Margaret Drabble (ed.), ''Oxford Companion to English Literature''. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2006. (p. 404-5). The "ghost" may appear of its own accord or be summoned by magic. Linked to the ghost is the idea of a "haunting", where a supernatural entity is tied to a place, object or person. Ghost stories are commonly examples of ghostlore. Colloquially, the term "ghost story" can refer to any kind of scary story. In a narrower sense, the ghost story has been developed as a short story format, within genre fiction. It is a form of supernatural fiction and specifically of weird fiction, and is often a horror story. While ghost stories are often explicitly meant to scare, they have been written to serve all sorts of purposes, from comedy to morality tales. Ghosts often appear in the narrative as s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hanya Yanagihara
Hanya Yanagihara (born 1974) is an American novelist, editor, and travel writer. She grew up in Hawaii. She is best known for her bestselling novel ''A Little Life'', which was shortlisted for the 2015 Booker Prize, and for being the editor-in-chief of ''T Magazine''. Early life Hanya Yanagihara was born in 1974 in Los Angeles. Her father, hematologist/oncologist Ronald Yanagihara, is from Hawaii, and her mother was born in Seoul. Yanagihara is partly of Japanese descent through her father. As a child, Yanagihara moved frequently with her family, living in Hawaii, New York, Maryland, California and Texas. She attended Punahou High School in Hawaii. She attended Smith College and graduated in 1995. Yanagihara has said that her father introduced her as a girl to the work of Philip Roth and to "British writers of a certain age", such as Anita Brookner, Iris Murdoch, and Barbara Pym. Of Pym and Brookner, she says, "there is a suspicion of the craft that the male writers of their ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jake Shears
Jake Shears (born October 3, 1978) is an American singer and songwriter. He is best known as the male lead singer of pop-rock band Scissor Sisters. Early life Shears was born in Mesa, Arizona, the son of an entrepreneur father and a Baptist mother (Freida Sellards). He grew up on San Juan Island, San Juan Island, Washington, where he attended school at Friday Harbor High School and was bullied. His "first real concert was Siouxsie and the Banshees". At the age of 18, he moved into a dorm at the Northwest School, Seattle, Northwest School in Seattle, Washington, to finish high school. Shears later attended Occidental College in Los Angeles, California. At the age of 19, he traveled to Lexington, Kentucky, to visit a classmate, who introduced him to Babydaddy, Scott Hoffman. Shears and Hoffman hit it off immediately and moved to New York a year later. Career Early work Shears attended New York's Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts, where he studied fiction writing and was a classm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ta-Dah
''Ta-Dah'' is the second studio album by American alternative band Scissor Sisters, released on September 15, 2006. It was produced by the band and includes collaborations with Elton John, Carlos Alomar, and Paul Williams. The album debuted at number 19 on the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart, selling 42,000 copies in its first week. Upon its release, ''Ta-Dah'' received positive reviews from most music critics. Release and promotion The album's release in the United Kingdom, on September 18, 2006, was preceded by the release of the single, "I Don't Feel Like Dancin'". The song reached number one on both the UK Singles and Download charts in September 2006. "Land of a Thousand Words" was released as the second single from the album, peaking at number 19 in the UK. "She's My Man" was the third single released in early March 2007 and managed to chart at number 29. The next single that was released was "Kiss You Off" on May 28. This was the poorest charting of the singles of ''Ta-Dah' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scissor Sisters
Scissor Sisters were an American pop rock band formed in 2001. Its members include Jake Shears and Ana Matronic as vocalists, Babydaddy as multi-instrumentalist, Del Marquis as lead guitar/bassist, and Randy Real (who replaced Paddy Boom) as drummer. Scissor Sisters incorporates diverse and eclectic styles in their music, but tends to sway towards pop rock, glam rock, nu-disco, and electroclash. Forged in the "LGBT culture in New York City, gay nightlife scene of New York", the band took its name from the female same-sex sexual activity tribadism.Hannaford, Alex (2005). ''Scissor Sisters''. London: Artnik. Page 29. The band came to prominence following the release of their Grammy Award, Grammy-nominated and chart-topping disco version of "Comfortably Numb#Cover versions, Comfortably Numb" and subsequent debut album ''Scissor Sisters (album), Scissor Sisters'' (2004). The album was a success, particularly in the UK where it reached number one, was the best-selling album of 2004, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leaves Of Grass
''Leaves of Grass'' is a poetry collection by American poet Walt Whitman. Though it was first published in 1855, Whitman spent most of his professional life writing and rewriting ''Leaves of Grass'', revising it multiple times until his death. There have been held to be either six or nine individual editions of ''Leaves of Grass'', the count varying depending on how they are distinguished. This resulted in vastly different editions over four decades—the first edition being a small book of twelve poems, and the last, a compilation of over 400. The collection of loosely connected poems represents the celebration of his philosophy of life and humanity and praises nature and the individual human's role in it. Rather than focusing on religious or spiritual matters, ''Leaves of Grass'' focuses primarily on the body and the material world. With one exception, its poems do not rhyme or follow standard rules for meter and line length. ''Leaves of Grass'' is regarded by many scholars ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wake (ceremony)
A wake is a social gathering associated with death, held before or after a funeral. Traditionally, a wake involves family and friends keeping watch over the body of the dead person, usually in the home of the deceased. Some wakes are held at a funeral home or another convenient location. The wake or the viewing of the body is a part of death rituals in many cultures. It allows one last interaction with the dead, providing a time for the living to express their thoughts and feelings with the deceased. It highlights the idea that the loss is borne by the whole community and is a way of honoring the deceased member. The emotional tone of a wake is sometimes seen as more positive than a funeral due to the socially supportive atmosphere and the focus on the life rather than the death of the deceased. __NOTOC__ Origin The term originally referred to a late-night prayer vigil but is now mostly used for the social interactions accompanying a funeral. While the modern usage of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cyborg
A cyborg ()—a portmanteau of ''cybernetic'' and ''organism''—is a being with both organic and biomechatronic body parts. The term was coined in 1960 by Manfred Clynes and Nathan S. Kline.Cyborgs and Space in ''Astronautics'' (September 1960), by Manfred E. Clynes and American scientist and researcher Nathan S. Kline. Description and definition "Cyborg" is not the same thing as bionics, , or ; it applies to an organism that has restored function ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Science Fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universes, extraterrestrial life, sentient artificial intelligence, cybernetics, certain forms of immortality (like mind uploading), and the singularity. Science fiction predicted several existing inventions, such as the atomic bomb, robots, and borazon, whose names entirely match their fictional predecessors. In addition, science fiction might serve as an outlet to facilitate future scientific and technological innovations. Science fiction can trace its roots to ancient mythology. It is also related to fantasy, horror, and superhero fiction and contains many subgenres. Its exact definition has long been disputed among authors, critics, scholars, and readers. Science fiction, in literature, film, television, and other media, has beco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
African-American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of Slavery in the United States, enslaved Africans who are from the United States. While some Black immigrants or their children may also come to identify as African-American, the majority of first generation immigrants do not, preferring to identify with their nation of origin. African Americans constitute the second largest racial group in the U.S. after White Americans, as well as the third largest ethnic group after Hispanic and Latino Americans. Most African Americans are descendants of enslaved people within the boundaries of the present United States. On average, African Americans are of West Africa, West/Central Africa, Central African with some European descent; some also have Native Americans in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Terrorist
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war against non-combatants (mostly civilians and neutral military personnel). The terms "terrorist" and "terrorism" originated during the French Revolution of the late 18th century but became widely used internationally and gained worldwide attention in the 1970s during the Troubles in Northern Ireland, the Basque conflict, and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The increased use of suicide attacks from the 1980s onwards was typified by the 2001 September 11 attacks in the United States. There are various different definitions of terrorism, with no universal agreement about it. Terrorism is a charged term. It is often used with the connotation of something that is "morally wrong". Governments a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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