title: Michael Flatley

text: Immediately after the Riverdance split, Flatley decided to create his own show, "Lord of the Dance", which was capable of playing in arenas and stadiums aside from traditional theaters. It premiered in June 1996 at the Point Theatre (now 3Arena) in Dublin then made its U.K. premiere at the London Coliseum. The music for the show was composed by Ronan Hardiman. In 1997, Flatley earned £36 million, ranking him 25th among the world's highest earning entertainers.


title: Michael Flatley

text: In 1998, Flatley created an expanded version of the show called "Feet of Flames" which served as its one-off performance and his final performance in Lord of the Dance. It was performed outdoors in the Rotten Row/Route of Kings area of Hyde Park, London on a gigantic 4-tier hydraulic stage, with a live band, and over 100 dancers performing on all four levels of the stage during the finale. Ronan Hardiman's music from the original Lord of the Dance was used again along with new compositions, also by Hardiman himself. The show featured six new numbers; one of which is Flatley's solo.


title: Michael Flatley

text: Following the success of the 1998 Hyde Park show, Flatley produced another version of Feet of Flames in 1999, which included half of the original show and half new material. Titled "Feet of Flames: The Victory World Tour", the show was performed also on a multi-level stage and toured Europe in 2000 and the U.S. in 2001.


title: Michael Flatley

text: Flatley's next show, "Celtic Tiger Live", opened in July 2005. The show explores the history of the Irish people and Irish emigration to the U.S., fusing a wide range of dance styles, including jazz. The show also includes popular elements from his previous shows, such as Flatley's flute solos and the line of dancers in the finale.


title: Michael Flatley

text: On November 15, 2006, prior to the fall and winter tours of the show, Flatley was admitted to a private London hospital with a viral infection. He was discharged two weeks later and cancelled said tour.


title: Michael Flatley

text: In November 2007, Flatley and a troupe of male dancers performed on "Dancing with the Stars" in the U.S. In October 2008, he appeared as a guest judge on an episode of the show, filling in for Len Goodman. He performed the solo "Capone" from "Celtic Tiger" on the show. Flatley was also the host of "Superstars of Dance", an NBC series that ran for 5 episodes in early 2009. He also performed on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, during the 1997 Academy Awards ceremony, and was interviewed on Piers Morgan's Life Stories in 2011.


title: Michael Flatley

text: In December 2009, Flatley returned to the stage for a limited run of the "Hyde Park" version of "Feet of Flames" in Taiwan. The run of shows had to be extended to meet the demand for tickets.


title: Michael Flatley

text: In 2010, he returned to headline the "Lord of the Dance" show, with performances in arenas in England, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. However, unlike the original show, the stage for the 2010 Return Tour was redesigned; it featured new sets, new costumes, state-of-the-art lighting, pyrotechnics, and projections.


title: Michael Flatley

text: "Lord of the Dance 3D", the 3D film of the return tour, debuted in theaters worldwide in 2011. The 3D film was later released on DVD and Blu-ray under the title, "Michael Flatley Returns as Lord of the Dance", and shows performances from the O2 Arenas of London, Dublin, and Berlin.


title: Michael Flatley

text: In 2011, Flatley released "On A Different Note", a flute album. The 25 tracks include airs and tunes he has played in his shows, other traditional tunes, and new compositions.


title: Michael Flatley

text: On May 18, 2014, Flatley recorded a one-off 60 minute ITV Music Specials episode titled "Michael Flatley: A Night to Remember" celebrating his long career. The show aired on June 1, 2014, and was presented by Christine Bleakley.


title: Michael Flatley

text: Also in the same year, Flatley created a revised spin-off of Lord of the Dance, entitled "Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games", which featured a similar storyline with new numbers, as well as new music by Gerard Fahy, who previously served as a bandleader and musical director in Flatley's shows.


title: Michael Flatley

text: In May 2015, Flatley revealed that much of his vertebral column was irreparably damaged and that he had a damaged left knee, a torn right calf/triceps surae muscle, two ruptured Achilles tendons, a fractured rib, and a recurring broken bone in his foot. That year, a caricature of him was hung in the Sardi's restaurant on Broadway.


title: Michael Flatley

text: In November 2015, Flatley's show "Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games" premiered at the Lyric Theatre, a Broadway theatre. Due to his injuries, Flatley was only able to perform in the final two numbers of the performance. After shows in New York, Flatley went on a final tour in the United States. What was then thought to be Flatley's last show was in Las Vegas on St. Patrick's Day 2016.


title: Michael Flatley

text: In January 2017, Flatley introduced his troupe for a performance at the inauguration of Donald Trump.


title: Michael Flatley

text: In 2018, Flatley wrote, directed, financed and starred in "Blackbird", a spy film set in Barbados, Ireland and the UK. The film co-stars Patrick Bergin and Eric Roberts. "Blackbird" was scheduled to receive its world premiere in a private showing at the Raindance Film Festival in London, where Flatley was also a member of the Festival Jury. As of November 2018 pre-production work had already begun on Flatley's second film, titled "Dreamdance", set in Hollywood at the outbreak of World War II. "Blackbird" premiered August 2022 in the Light House Cinema in Dublin.


title: Michael Flatley

text: Starting in the early 2010s, Flatley has used his choreographer dance moves to create artwork with his feet, by dancing upon paint splattered canvas. A series of paintings he created in the mid-2010s was based upon the Great Irish Famine. As of 2015, Flatley was second only to Jack Butler Yeats in terms of the auction price of paintings by Irish painters.


title: Michael Flatley

text: Around this time he also founded the food and beverage company Castlehyde, named for his residential estate. His net worth was reportedly €301 million in 2019.


title: Michael Flatley

text: In 1988, Flatley received a National Heritage Fellowship, the highest folk-related honor awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts.


title: Michael Flatley

text: In December 2001, Flatley became the first recipient of the Irish Dancing Commission Fellowship award (an honorary degree in Irish dance) and was also made a Fellow of the American Irish Dance Teachers' Association. In 2003 Flatley received a special award from Prince Rainier of Monaco for his charity work, and in March 2003 "Irish America" magazine named Flatley Irish American of the Year. In 2004, Flatley received an honorary doctorate degree from University College Dublin, and that same year received the prestigious Ellis Island Medal of Honor in New York. In 2016 he received an honorary degree from the University of Limerick.


title: Michael Flatley

text: In 2007, the "Freedom of the City of Cork" was conferred on Flatley at a ceremony in Cork's City Hall. In 2008, he was conferred with the Freedom of the Borough of Sligo at a ceremony in Sligo City Hall. Also in 2008, The Variety Club of Ireland presented Flatley with their Entertainer of the Decade Award.


title: Michael Flatley

text: On October 24, 2013, Flatley received the Lifetime Achievement Award at "The Irish Post" Awards on Park Lane. In 2015, a section of 42nd Street and Broadway in New York City was name "Flatley Way" for the artist. The honour corresponded with his opening of his show Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games at the nearby Lyric Theatre. In July 2021, Michael received the award for Best Actor at the Monaco Streaming Film Festival for his role in "Blackbird." He also received the Freedom of the City of London honour from London, UK, which names a number of specific actions those who receive the honor can take that others cannot—such as the ability to "drive a herd of sheep over London Bridge".


title: Michael Flatley

text: Flatley met Beata Dziaba in London's Royal Albert Hall. The couple married in 1986 in a Danish registry office; they divorced in 1997 after his dancing successes led to multiple affairs with other women.


title: Michael Flatley

text: In June 2006, Flatley began dating Niamh O'Brien, a longtime dancer from several of his shows. According to Canon Law, his first marriage as a Catholic in a civil wedding was not recognized by the Church, so the 48 year old Flatley and Niamh, 32, were able to have a Roman Catholic ceremony. On October 14, 2006 the couple married at the heritage landmark St. Patrick's Church in Fermoy, County Cork, with a lavish reception hosted in Flatley's historic Castlehyde House, also located in Cork, Ireland.


title: Michael Flatley

text: He and his wife have a son, Michael St. James, born in 2007. They divide their time between a home in Monte Carlo and Castlehyde House in Ireland.


title: Michael Flatley

text: In 2001, Flatley purchased Castlehyde, the house originally owned by Douglas Hyde, the first president of Ireland, near Fermoy in north-east Cork, then in a derelict condition, for €3 million. Flatley spent €27 million renovating the mansion and another €20 million furnishing it with artwork and antiques. In 2015, Flatley purchased a mansion in Belgravia, just off Eaton Square, for €28 million and listed Castlehyde for sale for €20 million.


title: Michael Flatley

text: In addition to Castlehyde and his London mansion, Flatley owns valuable properties in the Caribbean, New York, Beverly Hills, and Villefranche-sur-Mer. He has invested a significant portion of his wealth in Berkshire Hathaway.


title: Michael Flatley

text: In 2003, courts ruled that Flatley was extorted and defamed by real estate agent Tyna Marie Robertson, who falsely accused Flatley of sexual assault Robertson was ordered to pay $11 million compensation.


title: Michael Flatley

text: In 2006, Flatley released "Lord of the Dance: My Story", his autobiography. In 2006, he also addressed issues about his facial skin cancer.


title: Michael Flatley

text: In 2010, Flatley dedicated the Garden of Memory and Music in Culfadda, County Sligo, the village his father left to seek a new life in America. The ceremony included a speech and an impromptu performance of one of his father's favorite tunes.


title: Michael Flatley

text: Flatley has raised over €1 million for his charitable foundation by selling paintings made using his feet. He has hosted annual Christmas fundraisers for vulnerable children at his estate. In 2010, Flatley participated in the fundraising JP McManus Pro-Am in Adare, County Limerick, Ireland. In 2020 he created the "Flatley'sTapForTen challenge" in order to raise money for people found homeless due to the COVID-19 pandemic, benefiting the charities Depaul in Ireland and Centrepoint in the UK. He is also a supporter of the Irish Fund for Great Britain that provides social support for Irish citizens living in the UK.


title: Michael Flatley

text: He has also spent time as an advocate for cancer research. In 2021, Flatley was named an Ambassador of Culture for Co Saolfada, a cancer research advocacy program. Flatley himself was diagnosed with malignant melanoma in 2003 and has since recovered. Flatley has also advocated an anti-war sentiment - in 2003 he performed the anti-war piece "Warlord" before an audience of national leaders meeting in St. Petersburgh. In 2022 he began fundraising for the humanitarian effort during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, providing revenue from his company's dance performances to the cause.


title: Michael Flatley

text: Flatley has been parodied in several US television series, including "Friends", where Chandler Bing expresses his fear of Flatley due to the fact his "legs flail about as if independent from his body". He also appeared in a 2005 episode of "The Simpsons", entitled "The Father, the Son, and the Holy Guest Star", in which Marge Simpson dreams of a group of Flatley look-alikes welcoming her into Catholic heaven. And in 3rd Rock from the Sun, 90’s sitcom with Jane Curtain and John Lithgow.


title: AM (Arctic Monkeys album)

text: AM is the fifth studio album by English rock band Arctic Monkeys. It was produced by James Ford and co-produced by Ross Orton at Sage & Sound Recording in Los Angeles and Rancho De La Luna in Joshua Tree, California, and released in September 2013 through Domino. The album was promoted by the singles "R U Mine?", "Do I Wanna Know?", "Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?", "One for the Road", "Arabella", and "Snap Out of It". It features guest appearances by Josh Homme, Bill Ryder-Jones, and Pete Thomas.


title: AM (Arctic Monkeys album)

text: Drawing inspiration from a wide range of genres, including psychedelic rock, blues rock, hard rock, heavy metal, desert rock, R&B, and soul, "AM" notably marks Arctic Monkeys' first venture into hip hop. The band took a different approach to recording the album in comparison to their previous album, "Suck It and See", with more emphasis into creating a "studio album" according to frontman Alex Turner. The band incorporated new instruments on the album, including the piano, organ, Hohner Guitaret, and vintage drum machine. Thematically, the album concerns frustration surrounding tainted romance, sex and loneliness.


title: AM (Arctic Monkeys album)

text: Commercially, the album has become one of Arctic Monkeys' most successful albums to date, topping charts in several countries, and reaching top ten positions in many more. Topping the UK Albums Chart, it sold over 157,000 copies in its first week and also went on to be one of the UK's best-selling vinyl albums of the decade, selling 73,000 units. In addition, the album became the band's most successful in the United States, with the single "Do I Wanna Know?" being the first song by the band to enter the "Billboard" Hot 100 and the album topping four "Billboard" charts and being certified platinum in the US in 2017.


title: AM (Arctic Monkeys album)

text: The album received critical acclaim, with critics praising its darker and groovier sound in comparison to the band's previous records. It featured in many year-end lists as one of the best albums of 2013, including the BBC who named it the best of 2013. At the 2014 BRIT Awards, Arctic Monkeys won British Album of the Year for "AM". It was also nominated for the 2013 Mercury Prize and received a Best Rock Performance nomination for "Do I Wanna Know?" at the 57th Grammy Awards in 2015. "NME" hailed it the best album of the decade and, just a month after its release, ranked it 449 on their list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. "Rolling Stone" ranked it 346 in their 2020 edition of their 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.


title: AM (Arctic Monkeys album)

text: In an interview with Zane Lowe on BBC Radio 1, Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner said that the album title was inspired by the Velvet Underground's 1985 compilation album "VU": "I actually stole it from the Velvet Underground, I'll just confess that now and get it out of the way. The 'VU' record, obviously." He went on to say: "Did we cop out? Yeah! Summat about it feels like this record is exactly where we should be right now. So it felt right to just initial it."


title: AM (Arctic Monkeys album)

text: Turner later revealed that the band had nearly titled the album "The New Black", after a guitar amp they used in the recording process: "I got this old Rickenbacker thing that we recorded a lot through. There's no knobs, just two holes. And this little black amp that became known as The New Black. Crossed me mind to call the album that."


title: AM (Arctic Monkeys album)

text: Speaking about Josh Homme's contribution to "AM" with Zane Lowe, Turner said: "The Josh thing was very much a case of one of us returning a back scratch to the other", referring to his appearance as a guest vocalist on the Queens of the Stone Age album "...Like Clockwork" earlier in 2013. Turner continued: "He came down and sort of got us out of a little rut. It's just fun, it's friends, extended family now – [they] came round, had a fun night. His contribution to our record is really exciting, it's probably my favourite. The 30 seconds that he's in there is just, I dunno, it's like something that I've never heard before. Not to blow my own trumpet or anything, but you know what I'm saying." In an interview with "24sata", Turner mentioned that Homme would appear in the song "Knee Socks".


title: AM (Arctic Monkeys album)

text: On 4 July 2013, Homme mentioned "AM" at the Rock for People festival in the Czech Republic: "I sang on the new Arctic Monkeys record. It's a really cool, sexy after-midnight record. It's called "AM", so I guess that's really obvious. And it's really good. It's really good. It's not disco [as such], but it's like a modern, dancefloor sexy record. It's really good."


title: AM (Arctic Monkeys album)

text: The album draws inspiration from various musical genres, including indie rock, psychedelic rock, blues rock, hard rock, heavy metal, desert rock, R&B, soul, and hip hop. In the first interview of the AM press campaign, Alex Turner told journalist Matt Wilkinson of NME that the album sounded "like a Dr. Dre beat, but we've given it an Ike Turner bowl-cut and sent it galloping across the desert on a Stratocaster", adding that it "sounds less like four lads playing in a room this time. Essentially, that's what it is, but if you can find a way to manipulate the instruments or the sounds to the point where it sounds a bit like a hip-hop beat that'd be boss in your car, then I think there's something quite cool about that." Turner also cited Outkast, Aaliyah, Black Sabbath, Captain Beyond and The Groundhogs as influences. Guitarist Jamie Cook also cited "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars" as an inspiration for the album, saying that it was one of the only albums they listened to while recording "AM".


title: AM (Arctic Monkeys album)

text: Arctic Monkeys took a different approach to recording "AM" in comparison to their previous album, "Suck It and See", with Alex Turner stating that it is much more a "studio album". The band incorporated new instruments to record the album; they used keyboards such as piano, organ, and celeste, a Hohner Guitaret, and a vintage drum machine. Recording was done differently as well; producer James Ford stated that, instead of the "live" recording technique of the previous album, this album was recorded mainly with bass guitar and drums laid down first with emphasis on groove. Helder's drum kit was often set up in unconventional ways to achieve different sounds. Guest musicians Josh Homme, Bill Ryder-Jones, and Pete Thomas were featured on the album. Thematically, the album concerns frustration surrounding tainted romance, sex and loneliness.


title: AM (Arctic Monkeys album)

text: The AM Tour—with over 150 concert dates in Europe, North America, Australia, and New Zealand—was held to promote the album. It started on 22 May 2013 in Ventura, California. The next year, the band shared a short documentary film via their YouTube channel to mark the end of the tour in its South American leg, featuring a performance of "R U Mine?" at its final date on 15 November 2014, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.


title: AM (Arctic Monkeys album)

text: On 15 July 2013, the album cover artwork was revealed. On 2 September 2013, Arctic Monkeys revealed a track titled "I Want It All" during a XFM radio show, and exclusively played "One for the Road" on Zane Lowe's BBC Radio 1 show.


title: AM (Arctic Monkeys album)

text: The waveform depicted is characteristic of an amplitude modulated (AM) signal, and shows "AM" in the centre, depicting the album's name.


title: AM (Arctic Monkeys album)

text: Arctic Monkeys were scheduled to perform on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" on 9 October 2013, but had to cancel as Kimmel's guest, rapper Kanye West, talked for too long. The band performed "Do I Wanna Know?" and "R U Mine?" on the show's outdoor stage a week later, on 16 October 2013.


title: AM (Arctic Monkeys album)

text: The first single from the album, "R U Mine?", was released digitally on 27 February 2012. On 21 April 2012, it was released physically for the Record Store Day as a limited edition double A-side purple 7" vinyl. "R U Mine?" was released as a single on 2 March 2012.


title: AM (Arctic Monkeys album)

text: "Do I Wanna Know?", the second single from the album, was released on 19 June 2013. The song received significant airplay, including joining BBC Radio 1's "B List", and later moving to the "A List". It was certified Silver in the UK, indicating an excess of 200,000 sales (becoming the fourth Arctic Monkeys single to do so), and has also been successful internationally.


title: AM (Arctic Monkeys album)

text: The third single from "AM", "Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?", was released on 11 August 2013 as a single, together with an accompanying music video. The song was leaked online on 29 July 2013, but quickly taken down. The song debuted at number eight in the UK Singles Chart, becoming Arctic Monkeys' first top 10 single since "Fluorescent Adolescent" (2007).


title: AM (Arctic Monkeys album)

text: The fourth single to promote the album, "One for the Road", was released as a digital download and 7" vinyl on 9 December 2013.


title: AM (Arctic Monkeys album)

text: On 28 January 2014, "Arabella" was released to radio in Italy; the same month, the band confirmed that it would be released as the fifth single on 10 March 2014 in the United Kingdom. It impacted contemporary hit radio on the scheduled date, though a planned 7" vinyl release was cancelled.


title: AM (Arctic Monkeys album)

text: "Snap Out of It" impacted contemporary hit radio in the United Kingdom on 9 June 2014 as the album's sixth single.


title: AM (Arctic Monkeys album)

text: "AM" has received critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 81, based on 36 reviews.


title: AM (Arctic Monkeys album)

text: Simon Harper of "Clash" magazine states: "Welding inspiration from hip-hop greats with rock's titans, "AM" is built upon portentous beats that are dark and intimidating, yet wickedly thrilling." Ray Rahman of "Entertainment Weekly" gave it an 'A−', and opined that ""AM" mixes Velvet Underground melodies, Black Sabbath riffs, and playful grooves, and has fun doing it." "Time Out" said of the album: "One of Britain's greatest bands just got greater in an unexpected but hugely welcome way. Single men, I urge you: put down "FHM" and pick up "AM"." In their 10/10 review, "NME" wrote that "AM" is "absolutely and unarguably the greatest record of their career." In his 8/10 review, J.C. Maçek III of "PopMatters" praised Turner for being "at his most poetic to date", and called the album "a wonderfully cohesive and diverse album that fits together incredibly well." Tim Jonze of "The Guardian" noted that the album "manages to connect those different directions – the muscular riffs of "Humbug" and the wistful pop of "Suck It and See" – with the bristling energy and sense of fun that propelled their initial recordings." Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic agreed, stating, "Neatly splitting the difference between the band's two personalities -- the devotees of barbed British pop and disciples of curdled heavy rock -- AM consolidates Arctic Monkeys strengths, a tricky task in and of itself, but the band pushes further, incorporating unapologetic glam stomps, fuzzy guitars, and a decidedly strong rhythmic undercurrent." "Pitchfork"s Ryan Dombal called "AM" "paranoid and haunted." In his review of the album, Matt Mason of "Q" gave it 4 out of 5 stars and wrote:


title: AM (Arctic Monkeys album)

text: Not afraid to explore but never radical for the sake of it, the Arctic Monkeys have delivered another triumph. Some of their iridescent energy has been tempered by age, but it's been replaced by the craft and confidence that made their [2013's] Glastonbury set so compelling. Not for the first time, they sound like the best band in Britain.In retrospect, "NME" classified "AM"s songs as "the tales of wasted phone calls, drunken lunges and late-night confessions." By the end of the decade, according to "NME", the album "became the soundtrack for countless nights out, hook-ups and comedowns in every town and city of this country".


title: AM (Arctic Monkeys album)

text: At the 2013 NME Awards, Arctic Monkeys were nominated for Best British Band. "R U Mine?" was also nominated for Best Track, and won the award for Best Music Video. "AM" was nominated for the 2013 Mercury Prize for best album, becoming the third Arctic Monkeys album to receive the nomination, after their debut album "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not", and its follow-up, "Favourite Worst Nightmare". The album's second single, "Do I Wanna Know?", won the Best Track award at the 2013 Q Awards. "Do I Wanna Know" was also nominated as the "Best Rock Performance" at the 2015 Grammy Awards. At the 2014 BRIT Awards, Arctic Monkeys won in the British Album of the Year and British Group categories, becoming the first band to ever "do the double" (that is, win in both categories) three times (Coldplay and Manic Street Preachers did it twice).


title: AM (Arctic Monkeys album)

text: "NME" ranked "AM" number 449 on their list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, after it only being out for a month. The magazine also announced its list of 50 Best Albums of 2013, with "AM" taking the top spot: ""AM" felt like a genuine evolution for the Monkeys, and one that wasn't without risk. Its success, however, rested on the two things that had always made them special: Alex Turner's wry way with words, and his way with a tune." In 2019, the album was ranked number 1 on "NME"s list of Greatest Albums of the Decade. In 2020, the album was ranked at number 346 in the third edition of "Rolling Stone"s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.


title: AM (Arctic Monkeys album)

text: "AM" boasted a great amount of riches on both counts, with "NME" writing ""AM" is the album against which everything else will now be measured." 17 music journalists of the Polish media company Agora SA ("Gazeta Wyborcza", Gazeta.pl, TOK FM) placed "AM" at number two in their ranking of 10 Best Foreign Albums of 2013, behind Arcade Fire's "Reflektor".


title: AM (Arctic Monkeys album)

text: The album has been recognised as one of the bestselling vinyl albums of the decade, selling 27,000 units as of July 2015.


title: AM (Arctic Monkeys album)

text: On 15 September 2013, the album charted at number one on the UK Albums Chart, having sold 157,329 copies, thus becoming the second fastest-selling album of the year, behind Daft Punk's "Random Access Memories". With the debut of "AM" on the chart, Arctic Monkeys also broke a record, becoming the first independent-label band to debut at number one in the UK with their first five albums. Following the band's win at the 2014 BRIT Awards, the album charted at number two on the chart, behind "Bad Blood" by Bastille, who also experienced the "BRITs effect". As of June 2019, "AM" has spent 300 weeks in the top 100 of the UK Albums Chart.


title: AM (Arctic Monkeys album)

text: "AM" peaked at number one in Australia, Belgium (Flanders), Croatia, Slovenia, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Portugal, and reached top ten positions in several other countries. In the United States, the album sold 42,000 copies in its first week, and debuted at number six on the "Billboard" 200 chart, becoming the band's highest-charting album in the United States. In August 2017, "AM" was certified platinum by the RIAA for combined sales and album-equivalent units over of a million units in the United States.


title: Westminster system

text: The Westminster system or Westminster model is a type of parliamentary government that incorporates a series of procedures for operating a legislature. This concept was first developed in England.


title: Westminster system

text: Key aspects of the system include an executive branch made up of members of the legislature, and that is responsible to the legislature; the presence of parliamentary opposition parties; and a ceremonial head of state who is different from the head of government. The term comes from the Palace of Westminster, the current seat of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Westminster system is often contrasted with the presidential system that originated in the United States, or with the semi-presidential system, based on the government of France.


title: Westminster system

text: The Westminster system is used, or was once used, in the national and subnational legislatures of most former colonies of the British Empire upon gaining self-government (with the exception of the United States and Cyprus), beginning with the first of the Canadian provinces in 1848 and the six Australian colonies between 1855 and 1890. It is the form of government bequeathed to New Zealand, and former British Hong Kong. The State of Israel adopted a largely Westminster-inspired system of government upon declaring independence from the British Mandate of Palestine. However, some former colonies have since adopted either the presidential system (Indonesia or Nigeria for example) or a hybrid system (like South Africa) as their form of government.


title: Westminster system

text: Most of the procedures of the Westminster system originated with the conventions, practices, and precedents of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which form a part of what is known as the Constitution of the United Kingdom. Unlike the uncodified British constitution, most countries that use the Westminster system have codified the system, at least in part, in a written constitution.


title: Westminster system

text: However, uncodified conventions, practices, and precedents continue to play a significant role in most countries, as many constitutions do not specify important elements of procedure. For example, some older constitutions using the Westminster system do not mention the existence of the cabinet or the prime minister, because these offices were taken for granted by the authors of these constitutions. Sometimes these conventions, reserve powers, and other influences collide in times of crisis and in such times the weaknesses of the unwritten aspects of the Westminster system, as well as the strengths of the Westminster system's flexibility, are put to the test. As an illustrative example, in the Australian constitutional crisis of 1975 the Governor-General of Australia, Sir John Kerr, dismissed Prime Minister Gough Whitlam and replaced him with opposition leader Malcolm Fraser.


title: Westminster system

text: The pattern of executive functions within a Westminster system is quite complex. In essence, the head of state, usually a monarch or president, is a ceremonial figurehead who is the theoretical, nominal or source of executive power within the system. In practice, such a figure does not actively exercise executive powers, even though executive authority is nominally exercised in their name.


title: Westminster system

text: The head of government, usually called the prime minister or premier, will ideally have the support of a majority in the responsible house, and must, in any case, be able to ensure the existence of no absolute majority against the government. If the parliament passes a motion of no confidence, or refuses to pass an important bill such as the budget, then the government must either resign so that a different government can be appointed or seek a parliamentary dissolution so that new general elections may be held in order to re-confirm or deny the government's mandate.


title: Westminster system

text: Executive authority within a Westminster system is de jure exercised by the cabinet as a whole, along with more junior ministers, however, in effect, the head of government dominates the executive as the head of government is ultimately the person from whom the head of state will take advice (by constitutional convention) on the exercise of executive power, including the appointment and dismissal of cabinet members. This results in the situation where individual cabinet members in effect serve at the pleasure of the prime minister. Thus the cabinet is strongly subordinate to the prime minister as they can be replaced at any time, or can be moved ("demoted") to a different portfolio in a cabinet reshuffle for "underperforming".


title: Westminster system

text: In the United Kingdom, the sovereign theoretically holds executive authority, even though the prime minister and the cabinet effectively implement executive powers. In a parliamentary republic like India, the president is the executive, even though executive powers are essentially instituted by the prime minister and the Council of Ministers. In Israel, however, executive power is vested and in the cabinet and the president is and a ceremonial figurehead.


title: Westminster system

text: As an example, the prime minister and cabinet (as the "de facto" executive body in the system) generally must seek the permission of the head of state when carrying out executive functions. If, for instance the British prime minister wished to dissolve Parliament in order for a general election to take place, the prime minister is constitutionally bound to request permission from the sovereign in order to attain such a wish. However, the sovereign in modern times has virtually always followed the advice of their prime minister without their own agency, this owes to the fact that the British sovereign is a constitutional monarch; he or she abides by the advice of his or her ministers, except when executing reserve powers in times of crisis. The sovereign's power to appoint and dismiss governments, appoint cabinet ministers to serve in the government, appoint diplomats, declare war, and to sign treaties (among other powers de jure held by the sovereign) is known as the royal prerogative, which in modern times is exercised by the sovereign solely on the advice of the Prime Minister.


title: Westminster system

text: This custom also occurs in other countries are regions around the world using the Westminster System, as a legacy of British colonial rule. In Commonwealth realms such as Canada, Australia and New Zealand, the day-to-day functions that would be exercised by the sovereign personally in the United Kingdom are instead exercised by the governor-general. In such nations, the prime minister is obligated to formally seek permission from the governor-general when implementing executive decisions, in a manner similar to the British system.


title: Westminster system

text: An analogous scenario also exists in republics in the Commonwealth of Nations, such as India or Trinidad and Tobago, where there is a president who functions similarly to a governor-general.


title: Westminster system

text: An unusual case lies in Israel and Japan, where the respective prime ministers have the full legal power to implement executive decisions, and presidential (in Israel) or imperial (in Japan) approval is not required; the prime ministers of these nations are fully the "de jure" source of executive authority, and not the head of state.


title: Westminster system

text: The head of state will often hold meetings with the head of government and cabinet, as a means of keeping abreast of governmental policy and as a means of advising, consulting and warning ministers in their actions. Such a practice takes place in the United Kingdom and India. In the UK, the sovereign holds confidential weekly meetings with the prime minister to discuss governmental policy and to offer his or her opinions and advice on issues of the day. In India, the prime minister is constitutionally bound to hold regular sessions with the president, in a similar manner to the aforementioned British practice. In essence, the head of state, as the theoretical executive authority, "reigns but does not rule". This phrase means that the head of state's role in government is generally ceremonial and as a result does not directly institute executive powers. The reserve powers of the head of state are sufficient to ensure compliance with some of their wishes. However, the extent of such powers varies from one country to another and is often a matter of controversy.


title: Westminster system

text: Such an executive arrangement first emerged in the United Kingdom. Historically, the British sovereign held and directly exercised all executive authority. George I of Great Britain (reigned 1714 to 1727) was the first British monarch to delegate some executive powers to a prime minister and a cabinet of the ministers, largely because he was also the monarch of Hanover in Germany and did not speak English fluently. Over time, further arrangements continued to allow the execution of executive authority on the sovereign's behalf and more and more de facto power ended up lying in the Prime Minister's hands. Such a concept was reinforced in "The English Constitution" (1876) by Walter Bagehot, who distinguished between the separate "dignified" and "efficient" functions of government. The sovereign should be a focal point for the nation ("dignified"), while the PM and cabinet actually undertook executive decisions ("efficient").


title: Westminster system

text: The electoral system is often set out in a Representation of the People Act. Common ministerial titles include parliamentary secretary and under-secretary. Ministers are supported by private secretaries and government departments are run by permanent secretaries, principal secretaries or chief secretaries.


title: Westminster system

text: The head of state or their representative (such as a governor-general) formally appoints as the head of government whoever commands the confidence of the lower or sole house of the legislature and invites him or her to form a government. In the UK, this is known as kissing hands. Although the dissolution of the legislature and the call for new elections is formally performed by the head of state, the head of state, by convention, acts according to the wishes of the head of government.


title: Westminster system

text: A president, monarch, or governor-general might possess clearly significant reserve powers. Examples of the use of such powers include the Australian constitutional crisis of 1975 and the Canadian King–Byng affair in 1926. The Lascelles Principles were an attempt to create a convention to cover similar situations, but have not been tested in practice. Because of differences in their written constitutions, the formal powers of monarchs, governors-general, and presidents vary greatly from one country to another. However, as sovereigns and governors-general are not elected, and some presidents may not be directly elected by the people, they are often shielded from any public disapproval stemming from unilateral or controversial use of their powers.


title: Westminster system

text: In many Commonwealth realms a governor-general formally represents the monarch, who is usually absent from the realm. In such countries, the identity of the "head of state" may be unclear.


title: Westminster system

text: In the book "The English Constitution", Walter Bagehot emphasised the divide of the constitution into two components, the Dignified (that part which is symbolic) and the Efficient (the way things actually work and get done), and called the Efficient "Cabinet Government".


title: Westminster system

text: Members of the Cabinet are collectively seen as responsible for government policy, a policy termed cabinet collective responsibility. All Cabinet decisions are made by consensus, a vote is rarely taken in a Cabinet meeting. All ministers, whether senior and in the Cabinet, or junior ministers, must support the policy of the government publicly regardless of any private reservations. When a Cabinet reshuffle is imminent, a lot of time is taken up in the conversations of politicians and in the news media, speculating on who will, or will not, be moved in and out of the Cabinet by the Prime Minister, because the appointment of ministers to the Cabinet, and threat of dismissal from the Cabinet, is the single most powerful constitutional power which a Prime Minister has in the political control of the Government in the Westminster system.


title: Westminster system

text: The Official Opposition and other major political parties not in the Government, will mirror the governmental organisation with their own Shadow Cabinet made up of Shadow Ministers.


title: Westminster system

text: In a Westminster system, some members of parliament are elected by popular vote, while others are appointed. Nearly all Westminster-based parliaments have a lower house with powers based on those of the House of Commons (under various names), comprising local, elected representatives of the people (with the only exception being elected entirely by nationwide Proportional Representation). Most also have a smaller upper house, which is made up of members chosen by various methods:


title: Westminster system

text: In the UK, the lower house is the legislative body, while the upper house practices restraint in exercising its constitutional powers and serves as a consultative body. In other Westminster countries, however, the upper house can sometimes exercise considerable power, as is the case for the Australian Senate.


title: Westminster system

text: Hong Kong, a former British crown colony and currently a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China, has a unicameral Legislative Council. While the Legislative Councils in British Australasian and North American colonies were unelected upper houses and some of them had since abolished themselves, the Legislative Council of Hong Kong has remained the sole chamber and had in 1995 evolved into a fully elected house, yet only part of the seats are returned by universal suffrage. Responsible government was never granted during British colonial rule, and the Governor remained the head of government until the transfer of sovereignty in 1997, when the role was replaced by the Chief Executive. Secretaries had remained to be chosen by the Chief Executive not from the Legislative Council, and their appointments need not be approved by the Legislative Council. Although essentially more presidential than parliamentary, the Legislative Council had inherited many elements of the Westminster system, including parliamentary powers, privileges and immunity, and the right to conduct inquiries, amongst others. Minutes are known as Hansards, and the theme colour of the meeting chamber is red as in other upper houses. Government secretaries and other officials are seated on the right hand side of the President in the chamber. The Chief Executive may dissolve the Legislative Council under certain conditions, and is obliged to resign, e.g., when a re-elected Legislative Council passes again a bill that he or she had refused to sign.


title: Westminster system

text: Australian constitutional law is, in many respects, a unique hybrid with influences from the United States Constitution as well as from the traditions and conventions of the Westminster system and some indigenous features. Australia is exceptional because the government faces a fully elected upper house, the Senate, which must be willing to pass all its legislation. Although government is formed in the lower house, the House of Representatives, the support of the Senate is necessary in order to govern.


title: Westminster system

text: The Australian Senate is unusual in that it maintains an ability to withhold supply from the government of the day – a power similar to that held in the UK until 1911 by the House of Lords, which has since then been impossible, in the Westminster system. A government that has lost supply is severely restricted in its abilities to act; unless a solution can be negotiated and supply can be restored, such an occurrence would normally trigger a federal election. Since the governor-general, technically speaking, can dismiss a federal government at any time, loss of supply is sometimes, controversially, considered a suitable trigger for a dismissal. This is controversial because it conflicts with the Westminster tradition of government by a party with the confidence of the lower house (not an upper house like the Senate). Some political scientists have held that the Australian system of government was consciously devised as a blend or hybrid of the Westminster and the United States systems of government, especially since the Australian Senate is a powerful upper house like the US Senate; this notion is expressed in the nickname "the Washminster mutation". The ability of upper houses to block supply also features in the parliaments of most Australian states.


title: Westminster system

text: The Westminster system has a very distinct appearance when functioning, with many British customs incorporated into day-to-day government function. A Westminster-style parliament is usually a long, rectangular room, with two rows of seats and desks on either side. Many chambers connect the opposing rows, either with a perpendicular row of seats and desks at the furthermost point from the Speaker's Chair at the opposite end of the chamber (e.g. UK House of Lords or Israel Knesset) or the rows of chairs and desks are rounded at the end, opposite to the Speaker's Chair (e.g. Australian chambers, Ireland, South Africa, India). The chairs in which both the government and opposition sit, are positioned so that the two rows are facing each other. This arrangement is said to have derived from an early Parliament which was held in a church choir. Traditionally, the opposition parties will sit in one row of seats, and the government party will sit in the other. Of course, sometimes a majority government is so large that it must use the "opposition" seats as well. In the lower house at Westminster (the House of Commons) there are lines on the floor in front of the government and opposition benches that members may cross only when exiting the chamber.


title: Westminster system

text: At one end of the room sits a large chair, for the Speaker of the House. The speaker usually wears black robes, and in some countries, a wig. Robed parliamentary clerks often sit at narrow tables between the two rows of seats, as well. These narrow tables in the centre of the chamber, is usually where ministers or members of the house come to speak.


title: Westminster system

text: Other ceremonies sometimes associated with the Westminster system include an annual Speech from the Throne (or equivalent) in which the head of state gives a special address (written by the government) to parliament about what kind of policies to expect in the coming year, and lengthy State Opening of Parliament ceremonies that often involve the presentation of a large ceremonial mace. Some legislatures retain Westminster's colour-coded chambers, with the upper houses associated with the colour red (after the House of Lords) and the lower with green (after the House of Commons). This is the case in India, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Barbados.


title: Westminster system

text: Countries that use variations on the theme of the Westminster system, as of 2022, include the following:


title: Westminster system

text: The Westminster system was adopted by a number of countries which subsequently evolved or reformed their system of government departing from the original model. In some cases, certain aspects of the Westminster system were retained or codified in their constitutions. For instance South Africa and Botswana, unlike Commonwealth realms or parliamentary republics such as India, have a combined head of state and head of government but the President remains responsible to the lower house of parliament; it elects the President at the beginning of a new Parliament, or when there is a vacancy in the office, or when the sitting President is defeated on a vote of confidence. If the Parliament cannot elect a new President within a short period of time (a week to a month) the lower house is dissolved and new elections are called.


title: Teabagging

text: Teabagging is a slang term for the sexual act involving someone placing their scrotum in the mouth of their sexual partner for sexual pleasure, or onto the face or head of another person, sometimes as a comedic device.


title: Teabagging

text: The name of the practice, when it is done in a repeated in-and-out motion, is derived from its passing resemblance to the dipping of a tea bag into a cup of hot water as a method of brewing tea. As a form of non-penetrative sex, it can be done for its own enjoyment or as foreplay.


title: Teabagging

text: Along with the penis, the scrotum is sensitive and considered to be an erogenous zone. This makes varying degrees of stimulation an integral part of oral sex. And while some may enjoy the stimulation, not everyone responds to it. Sex experts have suggested various techniques that the performer can use during fellatio to increase their partner's pleasure. These include gently sucking and tugging on the scrotum and use of lips to ensure minimal contact with their teeth. It has also been recommended as a form of foreplay or safer sex. It presents a low risk of transmission for many diseases, including HIV.


title: Teabagging

text: Its gain in prominence has been attributed to its depiction in the 1998 film "Pecker", directed by John Waters. It has since become popular enough with couples to be discussed during an episode of the television series "Sex and the City".


title: Teabagging

text: Sex and relationship experts have varying definitions on how the act is performed. According to columnist Dan Savage, the person whose scrotum is being stimulated is known as "the teabagger" and the one giving the stimulation is "the teabaggee": "A teabagger dips sack; a teabaggee receives dipped sack." Some consider the act to be as simple as fellatio involving the scrotum. Others consider the position to involve the man squatting over his reclined partner, while the testicles are repeatedly raised and lowered into the mouth. Whether or not licking and fondling is considered tea bagging was once debated on "The Howard Stern Show".


title: Teabagging

text: Teabagging in video games involves a player character rapidly and repeatedly crouching over the corpse of another player-controlled character as a form of humiliation or to provoke the other player. The practice likely originated from multiplayer communities in games such as "Quake" or "Counter-Strike", and it became more prominent in later first-person shooter games like "". The use of teabagging is now widespread in video game culture, although some gamers consider it to be an act of bad sportsmanship or harassment.


title: Teabagging

text: The act courted much controversy across June and July 2022 when two professional female "Valorant" players received suspensions by Riot Games for criticizing people who had compared the act to sexual assault. In addition to the suspensions, the players were also doxxed and faced real-world consequences. The suspensions caused outrage in much of the "Valorant" and wider internet community, with various commentators calling the comparison to real-world sexual violence as “out of control” and “absurd”.


title: Teabagging

text: The player known as Dawn, who received a three-month suspension for voicing her opinion, said of the situation: "I have watched [sexual assault] happen in broad daylight. It is not something you can compare to crouching in a video game. I was visibly upset by this, as were hundreds of thousands of people, and replied under her thread expressing my frustrations and concerns."


title: Teabagging

text: Teabagging is not always carried out consensually, such as when it is done as a practical joke, which, in some jurisdictions, is legally considered sexual assault or sexual battery. It has been practiced during hazing or bullying incidents, with reports including groups holding down victims while the perpetrator "shoved his testicles in [the victim's] face" or puts his "crotch to his head".


title: The Last Dance (miniseries)

text: The Last Dance is a 2020 American sports documentary miniseries co-produced by ESPN Films and Netflix. Directed by Jason Hehir, the series revolves around the career of Michael Jordan, with particular focus on the 1997–98 season, his final season with the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The series features exclusive footage from a film crew that had an all-access pass to the Bulls, as well as interviews of many NBA personalities, including Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, Steve Kerr, and Phil Jackson.


title: The Last Dance (miniseries)

text: The series aired on ESPN from April 19 to May 17, 2020, in the United States, while its episodes were released on Netflix internationally the day after their US airings; beginning on May 23, two episodes were aired back-to-back on ESPN's corporate partner ABC. ESPN2 aired an alternate version of the series intended for family viewing, which removed most of the profanity heard in the episodes. It received critical acclaim, with praise for its directing and editing. It won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series at the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards.


title: The Last Dance (miniseries)

text: The docuseries gives an account of Michael Jordan's career and the Chicago Bulls, using never-before aired footage from the 1997–98 Bulls season, his final season with the team.


title: The Last Dance (miniseries)

text: The series features both interviews and never-released footage from the 1997–98 Chicago Bulls season. Over 500 hours of all-access footage was filmed and used to create the 10 part documentary series. According to Adam Silver (now NBA Commissioner, but then the head of NBA Entertainment), Jordan allowed the filming with the agreement that the footage would only be used with his direct permission. After many years, and many refusals from Jordan, he agreed in 2016 to a documentary proposal from Mike Tollin.


title: The Last Dance (miniseries)

text: ESPN and Netflix announced their joint production of the 10-part documentary series in May 2018, with the first official trailer being released on December 25, 2018. The release date was pushed back to June 2020 after another trailer was released in December 2019. However, because of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, ESPN published the final trailer on March 31, 2020 and expedited the premiere to April 19, 2020, releasing the following statement:


title: The Last Dance (miniseries)

text: The series was released weekly from April 19, 2020 to May 17, 2020, with two episodes airing each Sunday. Outside of the United States, the episodes were released on Netflix the day after their ESPN airing. ESPN2 aired a censored version of the documentary alongside the ESPN broadcast. The censored version was also aired on ABC.


title: The Last Dance (miniseries)

text: According to Hehir, Jordan refused to film interviews in his home to maintain privacy. The interviews were filmed in three houses, one rented by the production and two others which were homes of friends of the production. The fifth episode is dedicated to Kobe Bryant, who died in a helicopter crash on January 26, 2020. Bryant's interview was featured in the episode's opening.


title: The Last Dance (miniseries)

text: On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 97% based on 62 reviews, with an average rating of 8.85/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "A compelling and comprehensive portrait of one of basketball's great teams, "The Last Dance"s blend of archival footage and candid interviews confirms there's nobody quite like Mike or the team he led to victory." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the series a score of 91 out of 100 based on 12 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".


title: The Last Dance (miniseries)

text: Writing for "Consequence of Sound", Robert Daniels gave "The Last Dance" a perfect score, calling the series "beautifully composed and edited together" and a "pulsating celebration of greatness." Similarly, Alex Pattle of "The Independent" praised director Jason Hehir, writing that "Hehir's fear of being formulaic fosters a compelling freshness, and his ability to subtly segue between tones ensures Jordan's auras of magnetism and intensity are highlighted at the appropriate moments", while Brian Lowry of CNN gave the series five stars out of five, saying that "it's a very, very deep dive, but for fans who will eat this stuff up, it hits all the right notes."


title: The Last Dance (miniseries)

text: "Chicago Sun-Times"s Richard Roeper gave the series three and a half stars out of four, writing that "while some might question whether even one of the great team sports dynasties of all time merits such a lengthy treatment, if anything each episode left me wanting more. Not only were the Bulls a team for the ages, they also gave us a sports soap opera for the ages." Daniel Fienberg of "The Hollywood Reporter" gave the series a positive review, writing that "it's a tremendously engaging, ridiculously fun assemblage of spectacular basketball footage and reasonably introspective interviews with almost everybody you'd hope to hear from on the subject." Writing for "The New York Times", Wesley Morris wrote that "Hehir has this trick where any time someone says something debatable or controversial or simply worthy of running by [Michael] Jordan, he hands him an iPad and makes him watch what was said. And every time Hehir does it, Jordan turns the reaction into gold. He's an incredulous Zeus in these moments, lightning bolts falling from his toga as he laughs, zapping lesser gods."


title: The Last Dance (miniseries)

text: Conversely, filmmaker Ken Burns criticized Michael Jordan's involvement in the production of the series, saying that "if you are there influencing the very fact of it getting made, it means that certain aspects that you don't necessarily want in aren't going to be in [...] and that's not the way you do good journalism." Specifically, Burns pointed to Jordan's production company, Jump 23, being listed as a partner in the series. Hehir would respond to such speculations stating "I ran into zero stop signs in the editorial process. Michael was involved, but in a distant satellite-level while making it. He never came close to the editing room and only received cuts as they were about to go on air. I think Michael is above the fray when it comes to what he wants in and out.”


title: The Last Dance (miniseries)

text: While the series drew positive reactions from many current NBA players, several players featured in the documentary were critical of how they were portrayed. Scottie Pippen was reportedly "wounded and disappointed" by his characterization, though he did not make any public remarks during the documentary's airing. Pippen later denied any rift between himself and Jordan over the documentary, however, he told Jordan he was not pleased with the docuseries and considered it to be "about Michael trying to uplift himself and to be glorified". Jordan accepted Pippen's opinion, saying "hey, you’re right".


title: The Last Dance (miniseries)

text: Horace Grant expressed a belief that the documentary was edited to favor Jordan, remarking that the series was "entertaining, but we know [...] that about 90% of it [was] BS in terms of the realness of it"; he also denied Jordan's accusation that Grant was the source for "The Jordan Rules" and agreed that Pippen was portrayed unfairly. Craig Hodges, who was not interviewed for the documentary, was "bothered" by Jordan's comments about the team's use of cocaine during the 1980s, remarking, "I was thinking about the brothers who [were on the team] with you who have to explain [what happened] to their families".


title: The Last Dance (miniseries)

text: Some expressed disappointment over the omission of starting center Luc Longley in the series, and a 2021 episode of "Australian Story" was released with Longley's response, including interviews with ex-teammates such as Pippen and Jordan.


title: The Last Dance (miniseries)

text: For the 2019–20 television season, the show tied for fifth among adults 18–49 in the Nielsen ratings with "This Is Us", averaging a 2.9 rating and 15 share. It also placed 55th in total viewership, averaging 6.71 million viewers. "Variety" dubbed the show's performance a "consolation prize" for ESPN given the network's struggle to find live sports. The series also became ESPN's most-watched documentary.


title: Point Break (2015 film)

text: Point Break is a 2015 action-thriller film directed and shot by Ericson Core and written by Kurt Wimmer which he co-produced with John Baldecchi, Broderick Johnson, Andrew A. Kosove, Christopher Taylor and David Valdes. An American-German-Chinese co-production, the film is a remake of the 1991 film of the same name.


title: Point Break (2015 film)

text: The film stars Édgar Ramírez, Luke Bracey, Teresa Palmer, Delroy Lindo and Ray Winstone, and was released in China on December 4, 2015, by China Film Group and in the United States on December 25, 2015, by Warner Bros. in 3D and RealD 3D. The film received negative reviews from critics, and grossed $133 million from a $105 million budget.


title: Point Break (2015 film)

text: Extreme sport athlete Johnny Utah (Luke Bracey), and his friend Jeff (Max Thieriot), are traversing a steep ridgeline on motorbikes. The run ends with a jump onto a lone stone column, where Jeff overshoots the landing and falls to his death.


title: Point Break (2015 film)

text: Seven years later, Utah is an FBI agent candidate. He attends a briefing on a skyscraper heist, in which the criminals stole diamonds, escaping by parachute, in Mumbai. A similar heist happens over Mexico where the criminals unload millions of dollars in bills, then disappear into the Cave of Swallows. Utah's research concludes that they were done by the same men, who are attempting to complete the Ozaki 8, a list of eight extreme ordeals to honor the forces of nature. They have already completed three, and Utah predicts they'll attempt the fourth on a rare sea wave phenomenon in France. After presenting his analysis, Utah is sent undercover to France under a field agent named Pappas (Ray Winstone). They reach France and Utah gets help from others to surf the tall tube wave.


title: Point Break (2015 film)

text: As he goes in, there is already another surfer riding the wave, leaving Utah unstable. Utah gets sucked into the wave and faints, but the other surfer bails and rescues Utah. He wakes aboard a yacht with the surfer, Bodhi (Édgar Ramírez), and his team Roach (Clemens Schick), Chowder (Tobias Santelmann), and Grommet (Matias Varela). They leave him to enjoy the party and he gets acquainted with a girl, Samsara (Teresa Palmer). The next day, Utah finds the men in an abandoned Paris train station after he overhears them talking about the location. Bodhi gives him an initiation fight and soon he is accepted into the circle. They travel to the Alps for the next ordeal: wingsuit flying through "The Life of Wind" cliffs. The four succeed in their attempt and spend some time together with Samsara. The next day, they climb the snow peaks for the sixth ordeal, snowboarding down a steep mountain of snow. They reach their spot, but Utah decides to extend his line, so the others follow him. Chowder slips and falls to his death, and Utah becomes depressed about it.


title: Point Break (2015 film)

text: After a party, Samsara explains that she and Bodhi both knew Ono Ozaki when they were young, that her parents died in an avalanche accident and Ozaki gave her a home after. She explains further that Ozaki actually completed his third ordeal, despite what was widely believed. He did not die attempting the ordeal, but was actually killed by a whaling ship crashing into his boat while he was trying to save humpback whales. On his boat, a young boy, Bodhi, decided not to tell the truth of his story but to finish what Ozaki started.


title: Point Break (2015 film)

text: Next they travel to a gold mine where Bodhi detonates explosives Grommet and Roach planted. After blowing his cover, Utah chases Bodhi, managing to trip his bike. Bodhi escapes because Utah cannot stand up after the crash. The FBI freezes Bodhi's sponsors' assets; Bodhi plans to rob a nearby Italian bank on a mountain top. Utah and the police intercept the group, resulting in a crossfire that kills Roach. As the group flees, Utah chases and shoots one of them to death, who is revealed to be Samsara and not Bodhi.


title: Point Break (2015 film)

text: Utah finds the location of the next ordeal: free solo climbing with no safety beside Angel Falls in Venezuela. He finds Bodhi and Grommet and chases them on the climb, but Grommet falters, falling to his death. Utah catches up to Bodhi, but he falls backward down the waterfall, completing what should have been the last ordeal. Bodhi, however, has to redo the fourth ordeal, because he bailed out on the wave when he chose to save Johnny. Seventeen months later, Utah finds him in the Pacific facing another giant wave. As Utah tries to get Bodhi to come back with him and pay for his crimes, he eventually lets Bodhi attempt to surf it, both knowing that he will not come back. The wave engulfs Bodhi, killing him. Utah begins going through his own ordeals, unclear whether he is still an FBI agent.


title: Point Break (2015 film)

text: "Point Break" is an American-German-Chinese co-production. Studio Babelsberg co-produced and oversaw production services for the film. A script for the remake had been lying around for years, but it was not until Ericson Core pitched his idea to Warner Bros. that the film actually got off the ground. However, Core's idea for the film was significantly different than the script. His concept was much more of a big tentpole movie, with scenes that defy the laws of physics.


title: Point Break (2015 film)

text: In 2011, it was announced that a remake of "Point Break" was being developed by Alcon Entertainment and Warner Bros. The screenplay was being written by Kurt Wimmer, screenwriter of the 2012 "Total Recall" remake. Wimmer co-produced with Broderick Johnson, Andrew Kosove, John Baldecchi, and Chris Taylor. Ericson Core, cinematographer of "The Fast and the Furious" (2001), directed. The film received funds of €3.6 million, from the German Federal Film Fund (DFFF).


title: Point Break (2015 film)

text: Luke Bracey portrayed the role previously played by Keanu Reeves. Ray Winstone took on the role played by Gary Busey in the original. Gerard Butler was initially in negotiations to play Bodhi, the role Patrick Swayze created, but negotiations fell through. By mid-May 2014, Édgar Ramírez was in talks to play Bodhi, and was later cast.


title: Point Break (2015 film)

text: James LeGros and BoJesse Christopher, two of the actors who played Ex-Presidents in the 1991 film, were cast as FBI directors.


title: Point Break (2015 film)

text: Principal photography commenced on June 26, 2014, in Berlin. Shortly before production began in Berlin, Core got the cast and crew together to watch the original "Point Break". Shooting took place in a total of 11 countries across four continents, using actual extreme sports stars and stuntmen. Locations include Berlin/Germany, Hall in Tirol, Lienz and Carinthia/Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Hawaii, Tahiti, Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Venezuela, France, India, and the United Kingdom. While the original film focused on just a few sports – primarily surfing – and used cranes and other Hollywood trickery to portray them, the new movie eschewed all of that, including green screens, and relied on real life practical stunts. For the numerous stunts performed in the film, Core gathered a group of the best snowboarders, free rock climbers, big wave surfers, high-speed motocross riders and wingsuit pilots in the world and filmed them, essentially, as actors.


title: Point Break (2015 film)

text: Since surfing was central to the first movie, the filmmakers wanted to include it again, but at a higher level. Core and his team looked all over the world to try to find out where waves were going to hit, and when, before finally settling on Teahupoo in Tahiti. However, shooting the scene proved to be challenging since enormous, surfable waves are rare and unpredictable. A set of crew first went to Jaws, a surf break in Maui, months before principal photography began on the film. The team had to wait several days in Teahupoo for the waves to swell. Luckily, enormous swells arrived. The crew ran nine cameras in the water, on cliffs and on helicopters to capture the action in January 2014. Laird Hamilton, a pioneering big-wave surfer, who also played a minor role in the film, contributed his skills to the shoot. Additionally, Ian Walsh, a surfer from Maui, Billy Kemper, Makua Rothman, and Ahani Tsondru, served as stunt doubles.


title: Point Break (2015 film)

text: Australian surfer Laurie Towner, who was hired as the stunt double for lead character Johnny Utah, broke his jaw and suffered other injuries during stunt surfing in Teahupoo for the film, in mid-September 2014.


title: Point Break (2015 film)

text: The wingsuit flying sequence which is notably the most dangerous stunt in the film was filmed in Walenstadt, Switzerland and required five stuntmen (including the cameraman) flying in formation, while all weaved through narrow mountain passes, one of which is called "The Crack", all at a speed of over . The production canceled planned flights on a number of days because of poor weather conditions, eventually completing it only after two weeks in August 2014. Core brought in Jeb Corliss, a professional sky diver, to help coordinate the scene and handpick wingsuit athletes to perform the stunt. Corliss and his team picked the best wingsuit pilots in the world, who have all made over 17,000 sky dives and have had 20 years of experience, including one thousand BASE jumps and thousands of wingsuit jumps each, to perform the jump. Corliss himself was going to be one of the fliers, but was not able to be, because he was recovering from a knee surgery after he tore his anterior cruciate ligament prior to the filming, while testing a suit. The five fliers includes two times World Wingsuit League champion and four times Guinness World Records holder Jhonathan Florez (cameraman, who died in July 2015), Red Bull Air Force former manager Jon DeVore (portrayed Utah), who previously worked on the wingsuit sequence for "", and served as the aerial coordinator, Mike Swanson (Bodhi), Julian Boulle (Grommet), Noah Bahnson (Roach), and James Boole. DeVore knew that the sequence was going to be difficult to enact, especially in supertight, choreographed formations. Corliss himself was familiar with the place since he made a jump in 2011 from a peak just outside the Swiss town. A video of the jump titled "Grinding the Crack" uploaded to YouTube has been watched over 30 million times.


title: Point Break (2015 film)

text: However, performing such a sequence proved to be very dangerous. If one person crashes with the other, it could lead to the disproportion of the flight pattern and subsequently could result in death. Due to this, safety became a top priority for Core. Prior to shooting, the stuntmen went to the location, and to other locations which were similar, to start training in groups. In order to get comfortable with the wingtip-to-wingtip flights necessary to pull the scene off, the wingsuiters initially jumped from planes, racking up more than 500 jumps over the course of the year leading up to filming. They would fly in tight formations over and over again, simply as a way of getting accustomed to the idea of having someone nearby at all times. The production team also went to Switzerland 12 days prior to shooting to practice. During the shoot, there were ground-based cameras with long lenses, and a helicopter with a gyro-stabilized camera as well. Since Core needed a series of shots to create the sequence, from point of view shots to profile shots of the wingsuiters cruising past the mountain to close-ups – unlike filming GoPro cameras – one of the wingsuiters needed to wear a cinema-quality camera on his head, rather than a GoPro. The task went to Florez and Boole, who had never done camera work before. The Red camera used in the flights weighed 15 pounds (6,8 kg), enough to significantly alter the way pilots normally flew. The wingsuiters made over 60 jumps in the course of two weeks to get all the shots. Corliss called it the most dangerous stunt that has ever been filmed for a movie.


title: Point Break (2015 film)

text: For the snowboarding scene, which was shot in the Italian side of Aiguille de la Grande Sassière in Aosta Valley, professional snowboarders Xavier de Le Rue and Jeremy Jones, along with Ralph Backstrom and Mike Basich, were hired to play stunt doubles. There were daily avalanche checks during the shoot, and a significant amount of time was spent sitting and waiting for the right conditions to film. For this scene, Core and members of his crew roped down cliffs to record the snowboarders from the best possible angles. At some point, Core had to give Xavier the camera and he had to shoot other people. He admitted that because Rue and Jones were so fast, few could keep up with them. During filming a particular sequence, a Class 4 avalanche was triggered.


title: Point Break (2015 film)

text: For the rock climbing sequence, the cast and crew travelled to Angel Falls in Venezuela, where they set up three camps; one base was below the falls; one was on the rim; and one was high on the tepui. The film crew had to land on a small island at the head of the Churún River that had no vehicles, then move the equipment by motorized canoes to the falls by negotiating with a local general for a helicopter to get them and several tons of equipment out. Core hired Linh Nguyen, a longtime Southern California climber and former climbing consultant to a TV sports series, who Core described as his "oldest friend", as the Climbing Unit Supervisor. That site was near an overhanging 100-foot boulder that the longtime climber-rigger Dave Schultz had picked out during scouting, as an ideal site for close-up "studio" climbing shots. Filming also took place on the wall beside the waterfall. Chris Sharma served as a stunt double for Johnny Utah, whereas Teresa Palmer was filmed in a climbing scene separately in the Alps. Dani Andrada of Spain played the stunt double for Bodhi, and climber-filmmaker Mike Call was second-unit cameraman. Peter Croft, a well-known Canadian climber and soloist, was hired as a backup climber and a stunt rigger, and to help lend credibility to the free-soloing scenes. He and Nguyen read the script together, taking notes and suggesting changes in dialogue. Others in the unit were Schultz (head rigger), Aaron Walters, Brooke Sandahl, Alexander Magerl and Ralf Haeger of Germany, Emiliyan Kolevski of Bulgaria, and Alberto Roha and other climbers from Venezuela. For soloing shots, the climbers were tied into thin Spectra line that could be digitized out. All bolts used in the filming were removed afterwards.


title: Point Break (2015 film)

text: On several European jumping scenes, Core, who also previously trained as a mountain ranger, would hike up with a small crew and wait hours for safe conditions. Kosove said the movie "was more of an expedition than a production."


title: Point Break (2015 film)

text: The film was initially slated for an August 7, 2015 release, but on August 12, 2014, Warner Bros. brought the date forward to July 31, 2015. On February 3, 2015, the release date was moved back to December 25, 2015. Warner Bros. is distributing the film in the US, Canada, UK, Russia, Brazil, Japan and Latin America, and Lionsgate is distributing the film in other territories. DMG Entertainment, which collaborated with Alcon Entertainment to finance and develop the remake, distributes the film in China, where it was released on December 4, 2015.


title: Point Break (2015 film)

text: "Point Break" has grossed $28.8 million in North America and $104.9 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $133.7 million, against a budget of $105 million. In the United States and Canada, the film opened on the same day as "Daddy's Home", "Joy" and "Concussion", and earned $4.1 million on its opening day. In its opening weekend, it earned $9.8 million from 2,910 theaters, finishing 8th at the box office, and last among new releases.


title: Point Break (2015 film)

text: "Point Break" was released across 3,700 screens in China, its first market, on December 4, three weeks prior to its U.S. release. It earned $12.1 million in its opening weekend and $22.7 million in its first full week, fending off local newcomer "Fall in Love Like a Star", but debuted behind "The Martian", which was on its second weekend of play. Alcon Entertainment's Andrew Kosove said they were happy with the results given the lack of brand equity associated with the film there. Including revenues from five other Asian markets, the total opening was $14.1 million. Buoyed by good word of mouth, the film fell only 14% in its second weekend to $10.2 million ($18.8 million in its full second week), which is the lowest second weekend drop of any film in China of 2015. It was finally overtaken by Chinese films "" and "Surprise" in its third weekend. As of December 2015, it has grossed a total of $39.4 million in China.


title: Point Break (2015 film)

text: In other markets worldwide, it opened with $1.8 million in Russia and the CIS, $1.6 million in France, $1.5 million in Australia, $1.5 million from 421 screens in Italy where it debuted at No. 3 behind Universal's local film "L'Abbiamo Fatta Grossa" and Fox's "The Revenant", and $1.3 million in Japan. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, it posted an opening weekend of just £421,818 ($610,421) from 364 screens debuted at third place among newly releases, behind "Goosebumps" and "Dad's Army" and in ninth place overall. In comparison, the original "Point Break" debuted with £777,000 ($1.12 million) from 273 screens back in November 1991, eventually reaching just over £4 million ($5.78 million). Warner Bros. portion of the total is $21.4 million in 11 markets while Lionsgate total is $74.5 million.


title: Point Break (2015 film)

text: On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 11% based on 109 reviews, and an average rating of 3.64/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Loaded with dazzling action but bereft of purpose, the "Point Break" remake will be remembered as the first film to make audiences pine for the simultaneous presences of Keanu Reeves and Gary Busey." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 34 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Point Break (2015 film)

text: Maggie Lee of "Variety" called the film "a visual dazzler and a dramatic non-starter." Elizabeth Kerr of "The Hollywood Reporter" called the film "a thrill ride in need of a few more thrills." Norl Murray of the "Los Angeles Times" remarked that "while Bigelow's version featured charismatic lead performances and ample pop, Core's cast mumbles slowly and sparingly at one another until it's time to jump off something." "The A.V. Club"s Ignatiy Vishnevetsky said: "Boldly reimagining Kathryn Bigelow's cult favorite as a movie where absolutely nobody seems to be having any fun, the new "Point Break" drops the original's Zen-like balance of macho mysticism and camp in favor of dour humorlessness."


title: University of Alabama

text: The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the public universities in Alabama as well as the University of Alabama System. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity".


title: University of Alabama

text: The university offers programs of study in 13 academic divisions leading to bachelor's, master's, education specialist, and doctoral degrees. The only publicly supported law school in the state is at UA. Other academic programs unavailable elsewhere in Alabama include doctoral programs in anthropology, communication and information sciences, metallurgical engineering, music, Romance languages, and social work.


title: University of Alabama

text: As one of the first public universities established in the early 19th century southwestern frontier of the United States, the University of Alabama has left a cultural imprint on the state, region, and nation over the past two centuries. The school was a center of activity during the American Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement. The University of Alabama varsity football program (nicknamed the "Crimson Tide"), which was inaugurated in 1892, ranks as one of the ten winningest programs in US history. In a 1913 speech then-president George H. Denny extolled the university as the "capstone of the public school system in the state [of Alabama]", lending the university its current nickname, "The Capstone". In addition, university alumni and faculty include 59 Goldwater Scholars, 15 Rhodes Scholars, 16 Truman Scholars, 36 Hollings Scholars, and 16 Boren Scholars.


title: University of Alabama

text: In 1818, the United States Congress authorized the newly created Alabama Territory to set aside a township for the establishment of a "seminary of learning". When Alabama was admitted to the Union on December 14, 1819, a second township was added to the land grant, bringing it to a total of 46,000 acres (186 km). The General Assembly of Alabama established the seminary on December 18, 1820, named it "The University of the State of Alabama", and created a board of trustees to manage the construction and operation of the university. The board selected a construction site and an architect to design the campus. The site the board chose was, at the time, outside the city limits of the erstwhile state capital, Tuscaloosa. William Nichols, the architect of the Alabama State Capitol building and Christ Episcopal Church in Tuscaloosa, was chosen to design the campus. Influenced by Thomas Jefferson's plan at the University of Virginia, the Nichols-designed campus featured a wide, high domed Rotunda that served as the library and nucleus of the campus. The university's charter was presented to the first university president in the nave of Christ Episcopal Church. UA opened its doors to students on April 18, 1831, with the Reverend Alva Woods as president.


title: University of Alabama

text: An academy-style institution during the Antebellum period, the university emphasized the classics and the social and natural sciences. There were around 100 students per year at UA in the 1830s.


title: University of Alabama

text: As the state and university matured, an active literary culture evolved on campus and in Tuscaloosa. UA had one of the largest libraries in the country on the eve of the Civil War with more than 7,000 volumes. There were several thriving literary societies, including the Erosophic and the Phi Beta Kappa societies, which often had lectures by such distinguished politicians and literary figures as United States Supreme Court justice John Archibald Campbell, novelist William Gilmore Simms, and professor Frederick Barnard. The addresses to those societies reveal a vibrant intellectual culture in Tuscaloosa; they also illustrate the proslavery ideas that were so central to the university and the state.


title: University of Alabama

text: Discipline and student behavior were a major issue at the university almost from the day it opened. Early presidents attempted to enforce strict rules regarding conduct. Students were prohibited from drinking, swearing, making unauthorized visits off-campus, or playing musical instruments outside a one-hour time frame. Yet riots and gunfights were not uncommon. To combat the severe discipline problem, president Landon Garland lobbied and received approval from the legislature in 1860 to transform the university into a military school.


title: University of Alabama

text: Many of the cadets who graduated from the school served as officers in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. As a consequence of that role, Union troops burned down the campus on April 4, 1865, only 5 days before Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House. Despite a call to arms and defense by the student cadet corps, only four buildings survived the burning: the President's Mansion (1841), Gorgas House (1829), Little Round House (1860), and Old Observatory (1844). The university reopened in 1871 and in 1880, Congress granted the university 40,000 acres (162 km) of coal land in partial compensation for $250,000 in war damages.


title: University of Alabama

text: The University of Alabama allowed female students beginning in 1892. The Board of Trustees allowed female students largely due to Julia S. Tutwiler, with the condition that they be over eighteen, and would be allowed to enter the sophomore class after completing their first year at another school and passing an exam. Ten women from Tutwiler's Livingston school enrolled for the 1893 fall semester. By 1897, women were allowed to enroll as freshmen.


title: University of Alabama

text: During World War II, UA was one of 131 colleges and universities nationally that took part in the V-12 Navy College Training Program, which offered students a path to a Navy commission. During this time the University of Alabama had extensions in other cities including Mobile; the University of South Alabama was opened in 1963 to replace that program.


title: University of Alabama

text: Until the 1960s, the university admitted only white students. The practice of racial segregation was common in the American South at this time and the university barred all students of color from attending. The first attempt to integrate the university occurred in 1956 when Autherine Lucy successfully enrolled on February 3 as a graduate student in library sciences after she secured a court order preventing the university from rejecting her application on the basis of race. In the face of violent protests against her attendance, Lucy was suspended (and later outright expelled) three days later by the board of trustees on the basis of being unable to provide a safe learning environment for her. The university was not integrated until 1963 when Vivian Malone and James Hood registered for classes on June 11.


title: University of Alabama

text: Governor George Wallace made his infamous "Stand in the Schoolhouse Door", standing in the front entrance of Foster Auditorium in a symbolic attempt to stop Malone and Hood's enrollment. When confronted by U.S. deputy attorney general Nicholas Katzenbach and federal marshals sent in by Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, Wallace stepped aside. President John F. Kennedy had called for the integration of the University of Alabama as well. Although Hood dropped out of school after two months, he returned and, in 1997, received his PhD in philosophy. Malone persisted in her studies and became the first African American to graduate from the university. In 2000, the university granted her a doctorate of humane letters. Autherine Lucy's expulsion was rescinded in 1980, and she re-enrolled and graduated with a master's degree in 1992. Later in his life, Wallace apologized for his opposition at that time to racial integration. In 2010, the university formally honored Lucy, Hood and Malone by rechristening the plaza in front of Foster Auditorium as Malone-Hood Plaza and erecting a clock tower – Autherine Lucy Clock Tower – in the plaza.


title: University of Alabama

text: On April 27, 2011, Tuscaloosa was hit by a tornado rated EF4 on the Enhanced Fujita scale, which left a large path of complete destruction but spared the campus. Six students who lived on off-campus premises were confirmed dead by the university. Due to the infrastructural damage of the city (approx. 12% of the city) and the loss of life, the university canceled the rest of the spring semester and postponed graduation.


title: University of Alabama

text: From a small campus of seven buildings in the wilderness on the main road between Tuscaloosa and Huntsville (now University Boulevard) in the 1830s, UA has grown to a massive campus in the heart of Tuscaloosa. There are 297 buildings on campus containing some of space. In 2010, the school added 168 acres to its campus by purchasing the land formerly belonging to Bryce Hospital. It also plans to acquire more land to accommodate the continuing growth of the enrollment.


title: University of Alabama

text: The university maintains the University of Alabama Arboretum in eastern Tuscaloosa and the Dauphin Island Sea Lab on Dauphin Island, just off the Alabama Gulf Coast. In 2011, the Sustainable Endowments Institute gave the university a College Sustainability Report Card grade of "B+".


title: University of Alabama

text: The Alabama Museum of Natural History at Smith Hall exhibits Alabama's rich natural history. The oddest artifact there could be the Sylacauga meteorite, the largest known extraterrestrial object to strike a human being who survived. The Paul W. Bryant Museum houses memorabilia and exhibits on the history of UA athletic programs, most notably the tenure of football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant. Athletic trophies and awards are displayed at the Mal Moore Athletic Facility, named for the university's former athletic director, near the Bryant Museum. The Sarah Moody Gallery of Art at Garland Hall hosts revolving exhibitions of contemporary art, including from the university's own permanent collection. The Ferguson Art Gallery at the University of Alabama Student Center also hosts revolving art exhibitions. The Jones Archaeological Museum at Moundville exhibits the history of Mississippian culture in Alabama.


title: University of Alabama

text: Numerous historical landmarks dot the campus, including the President's Mansion, Denny Chimes, Foster Auditorium (a National Historical Landmark), the Gorgas–Manly Historic District, and Maxwell Observatory.


title: University of Alabama

text: A cemetery next to the Biology building includes the graves of two slaves who were owned by faculty members before the Civil War. Both men died in the 1840s, and their graves went unmarked until 2004.


title: University of Alabama

text: Campus culture facilities include the Allen Bales Theatre, the Marion Gallaway Theatre, Morgan Auditorium, and the Frank M. Moody Music Building, which houses the Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra and the UA Opera Theatre, as well as three resident choirs.


title: University of Alabama

text: The University of Alabama is an autonomous institution within the University of Alabama System, which is governed by the Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama and headed by the chancellor of the University of Alabama. The state legislature created the board to govern the university's operations. Its responsibilities include setting policy for the university, determining the university's mission and scope, and assuming responsibility for the university to the public and the legislature. The board is self-perpetuating and composed of 15 members and two ex officio members. The Constitution of the State of Alabama dictates the board's makeup and requires the board to include three members from the congressional district that contains the Tuscaloosa campus and two members from every other congressional district in Alabama. Board members are elected by the board and are confirmed by the Alabama State Senate. Board members may serve three consecutive six-year terms.


title: University of Alabama

text: The president of the University of Alabama is the principal executive officer of the university and is appointed by the chancellor with approval of the board of trustees. The president reports directly to the chancellor and is responsible for the university's daily operations. The president's office is on the third floor of the Rose Administration Building, and the president has the privilege of living in the President's Mansion on campus. Stuart R. Bell became the 29th university president on July 15, 2015.


title: University of Alabama

text: In fall 2020, UA employed 6,947 staff, including 1,986 instructional staff (faculty) and 2,375 professional staff. 18.2% of the faculty was non-white and 48% were women. 72% of faculty held a doctorate or the highest degree in their field. 50.4% of faculty were tenured or tenure-tracked. 23.6% of faculty were adjunct, clinical, or otherwise part-time.


title: University of Alabama

text: The College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) is the university's college for the liberal arts, fine arts, and sciences. It is the largest of the university's 13 colleges, with approximately 9,800 undergraduate students and 1,000 graduate students. Most core curriculum classes and majors and minors are part of the college.


title: University of Alabama

text: There are 12 other academic divisions at the University of Alabama (see the table above). Eight divisions (CAS, C&BA, C&IS, Education, Engineering, HES, Nursing, and Social Work) grant undergraduate degrees. Degrees in those eight divisions at the master's, specialist, and doctoral level are awarded through the Graduate School. The law school offers JD and LL.M. degree programs. CHS provides advanced studies in medicine and related disciplines and operates a family medicine residency program. Medical students are also trained in association with the University of Alabama School of Medicine, from which they receive their degree.


title: University of Alabama

text: The College of Continuing Studies provides correspondence courses and other types of distance education opportunities for non-traditional students. It operates a distance education facility in Gadsden.


title: University of Alabama

text: Founded in 1971 and merged into the College of Arts and Sciences in 1996, the New College's stated objectives were to "create an opportunity for a highly individualized education that enables students to draw from the resources of all University classes and faculty" and to "serve as an experimental unit with the expectation of exporting successful innovations to other sectors of the University." The college allows undergraduate students flexibility in choosing their curriculum while completing a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree in interdisciplinary studies. The "New College Review", a non-fiction cultural journal, is written, edited, designed, and published by students.


title: University of Alabama

text: The Honors College is a non-degree granting division that encompasses all the university's selective undergraduate honors programs.


title: University of Alabama

text: The University of Alabama System's financial endowment was valued at $1.520 billion in the National Association of College and University Business Officers' (NACUBO) 2019 listings. UA's portion of the system's endowment was valued at $885.7 million in September 2015.


title: University of Alabama

text: In fall 2021, Alabama received 42,421 applications for first-time freshman enrollment, from which 33,472 applications were accepted (78.9%) and 7,593 freshmen enrolled, a yield rate (the percentage of accepted students who choose to attend the university) of 22.7%. Alabama's freshman retention rate is 88.6%, with 72.1% going on to graduate within six years.


title: University of Alabama

text: The university started test-optional admissions with the Fall 2021 incoming class and has extended this through Fall 2024. Of the 63% of enrolled freshmen in 2021 who submitted ACT scores; the middle 50 percent Composite score was between 21 and 31. Of the 17% of the incoming freshman class who submitted SAT scores; the middle 50 percent Composite scores were 1080-1370.


title: University of Alabama

text: The University of Alabama is a college-sponsor of the National Merit Scholarship Program and sponsored 189 Merit Scholarship awards in 2020. In the 2020–2021 academic year, 223 freshman students were National Merit Scholars.


title: University of Alabama

text: The University of Alabama is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". It is a large, four-year primarily residential university accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Full-time, four-year undergraduates comprise a large amount of the university enrollment. The undergraduate instructional program emphasizes professional programs of study as well as the liberal arts, and there is a high level of co-existence between the graduate and undergraduate program. The university has a very high level of research activity and has a "comprehensive doctoral" graduate instructional program in the liberal arts, humanities, social sciences. health sciences (medical school), and STEM fields.


title: University of Alabama

text: UA began offering engineering classes in 1837. It was one of the first universities in the nation to offer an engineering degree. Over the last decade, UA has greatly expanded its science and engineering programs, in terms of numbers of students, faculty hired, and number and size of new academic/research facilities (almost 1 million in new square footage). UA's College of Engineering enrolls more students than any other engineering program in the state as of 2016. UA's freshman engineering classes have also had the highest average ACT score among all state of Alabama engineering programs for the last several years.


title: University of Alabama

text: Ten of the university's thirteen academic units (see above) offer degree programs in at total of 117 areas of study. Two areas, economics and health care management, are offered jointly by separate units (Commerce and Business Administration and Arts & Sciences for both), and one area (material science) is offered jointly by the other universities in the UA system.


title: University of Alabama

text: UA conferred 7,905 degrees in the 2020-21 academic year, including 7,367 bachelor's degrees (3,579 with Latin honors), 1,859 master's degrees, 245 doctorates and 119 professional degrees.