Heidi Montag

Heidi Blair Pratt (née Montag; born September 15, 1986) is an American reality television personality, singer and actress. Born and raised in Crested Butte, Colorado, she befriended Lauren Conrad in 2005. In 2006, Montag came to prominence after being cast in the MTV reality television series "The Hills", which chronicled the personal and professional lives of Conrad, Montag, and friends Audrina Patridge and Whitney Port. During its production, she briefly attended the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising and was employed by event planning company Bolthouse Productions. As the series progressed, Montag began dating fellow cast member Spencer Pratt, which ultimately ended her friendship with Conrad. Their ensuing feud became the central focus of the series, and was carried through each subsequent season.
The couple, jointly nicknamed "Speidi", married in April 2009. Later that year, they made controversial appearances on the second season of the American version of "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!" In January 2010, Montag released her debut studio album "Superficial"; it was critically panned and commercially unsuccessful, failing to earn back the money she spent making it. She also received widespread criticism after undergoing ten cosmetic surgery procedures in one day. In 2011, Montag was featured on the television series "Famous Food", where she and several celebrities competed for a restaurant partnership. Two years later, she and Pratt competed as a single entity on the eleventh series of the British version of "Celebrity Big Brother", and returned to the series with Pratt as an All-Star for "Celebrity Big Brother 19".
Life and career.
1986–2005: Early life.
Heidi Blair Montag was born September 15, 1986, in Crested Butte, Colorado, to parents Darlene and Bill Montag. After divorcing, her mother Darlene married Tim Egelhoff; they owned The Timberline restaurant for 21 years until its closing in 2010. Montag has an older sister Holly, also a reality television personality, and a younger brother Sky. Their father Bill later married Terri O'Hara; their step-brother Eric O'Hara died in 2008 after an accidental fall from an icy roof.
After graduating from high school, Montag moved to California and attended the Academy of Art University in San Francisco for one semester. During freshman orientation, she befriended Lauren Conrad, who at the time was a primary cast member of the MTV reality television series "". After both transferred to the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Los Angeles, California, Montag was subsequently featured in four episodes during the series' second season. However, after failing to find the school "challenging", she dropped out and received employment from Bolthouse Productions as an assistant. Within two years, she was promoted as an event planner.
2006–2010: "The Hills" and "Superficial".
After moving to Los Angeles in 2006, the "Laguna Beach" spin-off series "The Hills" was developed to chronicle the lives of then-housemates Conrad and Montag and friends Audrina Patridge and Whitney Port. That year, she began a short-lived relationship with Jordan Eubanks; she described its end as "the best decision of [her] life". By the second season, Montag and Conrad's friendship had deteriorated after the former began dating and later moved in with Spencer Pratt. During the third season, Conrad ended her friendship with Montag after she suspected that Pratt was responsible for rumors of a sex tape involving her and her former boyfriend Jason Wahler; the ensuing feud carried through each subsequent season.
In August, she entered the music industry and began recording her debut studio album. Later that month, the song "Body Language" was leaked on the internet, and featured an uncredited rap verse from Pratt. The following month, she confirmed to "Us Weekly" that she had undergone a breast augmentation and rhinoplasty five months prior. Montag's first promotional single and its accompanying music video "Higher" were released in February 2008.
Later that same month, she appeared on the cover of "Maxim". Montag collaborated with Anchor Blue to launch her first clothing line "Heidiwood" in April. Her contract was not renewed the following year after the company decided against featuring celebrity endorsements in future advertising.
After several additional unauthorized leaks, Montag enlisted songwriter Cathy Dennis to continue work on her album. She released her first two extended plays "Wherever I Am" and "Here She Is..." in 2009. The former included the song "More Is More"; debuting at number 50 on the US "Billboard" Hot Dance Club Songs chart, it became her first and only song to chart in the country. Later that year, she and Pratt appeared on the second season of the American version of "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!" in support of the "Feed the Children" foundation. They quit after Montag was hospitalized with a gastric ulcer and later created controversy after alleging that they were subject to torture during production. After leaving the series, Montag and Pratt became notorious for their antics and antagonistic roles, notably during an interview with Al Roker of "Today", and were described as "everything that's wrong with America". In August, she performed her first official single, the finished version of "Body Language", at the Miss Universe 2009; her appearance was met with a negative critical response, who criticized its overall production. The following month, she appeared on the cover of "Playboy". In November, Montag and Pratt released the book "How to Be Famous: Our Guide to Looking the Part, Playing the Press, and Becoming a Tabloid Fixture".
In January 2010, Montag revealed to "People" that she had undergone ten cosmetic surgery procedures in a single day two months prior, performed by Frank Ryan. Among the procedures were brow-lifts, ear-pinnings, a chin reduction, as well as a second rhinoplasty and second breast augmentation. She commented that she almost died from too much Demerol, reducing her heart rate to five beats per minute. Her debut studio album "Superficial" was digitally released later that month to an overwhelmingly negative critical response from critics. The self-funded record cost nearly $2 million and sold approximately 1,000 copies in first-week downloads, failing to earn back the money spent making it. In May, she and Pratt made their final appearance on "The Hills" halfway through the sixth and final season.
2010–2018: Later career.
After her exit from "The Hills", Montag auditioned for the replacement of Megan Fox in the third installment of the "Transformers" series, but was ultimately not featured in the film. In June 2010, she and producer Steve Morales commenced work on her unreleased second studio album. The following month, Montag filed for divorce from Pratt, citing irreconcilable differences in the petition. However, they called it off in September after confessing that the action was intended to boost Montag's ailing career. In November, they renewed their vows in Carpinteria, California. In February 2011, Montag made her feature film debut as Kimberly in "Just Go with It". Later that year, she appeared on the VH1 reality television series "Famous Food", where she competed against other celebrities for a partnership stake in a restaurant in which they worked to open. In October, Montag began writing a memoir. The following year, she released her third extended play "Dreams Come True".
In January 2013, Montag and Pratt as a single entity competed as housemates on the eleventh series of the British version of "Celebrity Big Brother", where they notably developed a minor feud with singer and television personality Rylan Clark. They were named the runners-up, losing to Clark. On February 18, Channel 5 aired a one-off television special discussing Montag and Pratt's rise to prominence, titled "Speidi: Scandal, Secrets & Surgery!". Later that year, they launched the "Speidi Show", which was initially assumed to be a web series in which the couple used a different reality television format for each installment. However, the project was later revealed to be an example of networked improv narrative, where Montag and Pratt collaborated with Mark Marino and Rob Wittig to create a Twitter game in which players Live Tweet an imaginary show. In October 2013, Montag revealed that her original F-cup breast implants resulted in severe health issues, and underwent a breast reduction surgery to replace them with D-cup implants. In December 2013, Montag stated that she and Conrad have "talked a few times" since the series' conclusion, elaborating that "it's unfortunate things happened the way that it did, but we're both different people now, older and more mature."
However, in 2015, Montag angrily excoriated Conrad when she appeared on "Marriage Boot Camp", during a sequence where the contestants were asked to forgive someone who had hurt them in the past; Montag told a stand-in for Conrad that Conrad had "ruined my life with her lies", said that Conrad DID have a sex tape and had falsely blamed it on her, and that she "forgave" Conrad for being terrible and trying to ruin her life. Montag was universally lambasted for bringing up the sex tape lies anew, parroting the views of Pratt (who Conrad actually blamed for spreading the false rumors; Conrad felt Montag knew he was lying but took Pratt's side because she loved him) and trying to use Conrad's name to get publicity for herself. She and Pratt appeared in the television special "After Shock: Heidi & Spencer", which premiered on December 9, 2013, on E!, during which they admitted that many of the situations they were involved with in the various reality series they starred on were in fact made up by the shows producers. Montag and Pratt later appeared on an episode of "Celebrity Wife Swap" in June 2014, for which they swapped with Olympic athlete Amanda Beard and her husband Sacha Brown. In October 2015, Montag and her husband made several media appearances that were largely devoted to two subjects: claiming that their image as terrible people stemming from "The Hills" was not factual and, somewhat divergently, their intense dislike of Lauren Conrad, which included Montag's husband admitting he spread rumors (which Montag said were true but have never been proven) that Conrad made a sex tape with a former boyfriend. Montag also claimed she had been paid to remain Conrad's friend during her time on the show, while also adding she had reconciled with her family to her husband's displeasure.
In 2017, Montag re-entered the "Celebrity Big Brother" with her husband. On day 18 the couple were eternally nominated by James Cosmo, which they did not have a good reaction to. They were saved in an 8-person eviction on day 22 however, they were evicted on day 25 against Kim Woodburn, Jessica Cunningham, Bianca Gascoigne and Jedward. Montag and Pratt were reunited with their rival, Rylan Clark-Neal, on "Big Brother's Bit on the Side" that night.
2019: "The Hills: New Beginnings" and return to music.
At the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards, MTV announced a reboot of "The Hills" entitled "", slated to premiere in 2019. Montag was announced as part of the cast of the new series. The series premiered on June 24 and later got renewed for a second season. While filming, Montag started working on new music and released a Christian pop single titled "Glitter and Glory".
Personal life.
During the fourth season of "The Hills", Montag and Pratt eloped to Mexico, where they married on November 20, 2008. A wedding ceremony was held on April 25, 2009, in Pasadena, California. Their son Gunner Stone was born on October 1, 2017.


Jack Maxsted

Albert John Maxsted (30 April 1916 – September 2001) better known by his stage name Jack Maxsted was an English art director. He won an Academy Award in the category Best Art Direction for the film "Nicholas and Alexandra".
Personal life.
Maxsted married Edna M Barton in 1939.


Clarence Ashley

Clarence "Tom" Ashley (September 29, 1895 – June 2, 1967) was an American musician and singer, who played the clawhammer banjo and the guitar. He began performing at medicine shows in the Southern Appalachian region as early as 1911, and gained initial fame during the late 1920s as both a solo recording artist and as a member of various string bands. After his "rediscovery" during the folk revival of the 1960s, Ashley spent the last years of his life playing at folk music concerts, including appearances at Carnegie Hall in New York and at the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island.
Biography.
Early life.
Ashley was born Clarence Earl McCurry in Bristol, Tennessee in 1895, the only child of George McCurry and Rose-Belle Ashley. Those who knew George McCurry described him variously as a "one-eyed fiddler, hell-raiser, and big talker." Shortly before Clarence was born, Rose-Belle's father, Enoch Ashley, discovered that his son-in-law George was an adulterer. George was forced to leave town. Rose-Belle moved back in with her father, and around 1900, the family relocated to Shouns, Tennessee, a crossroads just south of Mountain City, where Enoch ran a boarding house. When Clarence was very young, he was nicknamed "Tommy Tiddy Waddy" (after a nursery rhyme) by his grandfather Enoch, and thus became known to friends and acquaintances as 'Tom'. As he was raised by the parents of his mother, the name "McCurry" was dropped in favor of "Ashley".
From infancy, Tom was acquainted with musicians. His grandfather bought him a banjo when he was eight years old, and his mother and aunts taught him to play traditional Appalachian folk songs and ballads. He learned a number of songs and techniques from itinerant lumberjacks and railroad workers lodging at his grandfather's boarding house. In 1911, Tom joined a medicine show that happened to be passing through Mountain City. He played banjo and guitar, and performed blackface comedy. Tom would play with medicine shows every summer until the early 1940s. During winters, he organized local concerts at rural schools. He would also play for money at coal camps and rayon mills, often accompanied by influential Johnson County fiddler G. B. Grayson.
Recording career and the Great Depression.
Tom made his first recordings for Gennett Records during February 1928 with the Blue Ridge Mountain Entertainers, which then consisted of Ashley on banjo or guitar, Garley Foster on harmonica, and Clarence Horton Greene on fiddle. Later that year, with the help of Victor producer Ralph Peer, Ashley made several recordings with The Carolina Tar Heels, which consisted of Tom on guitar and vocals, his friend Dock Walsh on banjo, and Gwen or Garley Foster on harmonica. In 1929, Frank Walker of Columbia Records auditioned Ashley to make his first solo recordings, as well as to record with a trio called "Byrd Moore and His Hot Shots" at the Johnson City Sessions. During the early 1930s, Ashley again recorded with the Blue Ridge Entertainers, this time for the American Record Corporation. The final recordings from his early era were a series of duets with harmonica player Gwen Foster in 1933.
The effects of the Great Depression made money scarce throughout the early 1930s. Not only was Ashley no longer recruited to make records, it was virtually impossible to earn money playing at coal camps or on street corners. The Depression (along with government regulations) also greatly reduced the crowds that attended medicine shows. Ashley worked briefly as a coal miner in West Virginia, and did odd jobs back in Shouns to support his wife, Hettie, and their two children. In 1937, he established a trucking business in Mountain City that hauled furniture and crops to various cities around the region. Throughout the following decade, Ashley performed as a comedian with the Stanley Brothers. He formed a local string band, the Tennessee Merrymakers.
Rediscovery.
During the folk music revival of the late 1950s and early 1960s, urban ethnomusicologists rediscovered Ashley's music. By this time, Ashley was well known among folk music enthusiasts due in large part to Harry Smith's "Anthology of American Folk Music" (1951), which included some of Ashley's early recordings. In 1960, Ralph Rinzler met Ashley at the Old Time Fiddler's Convention in Union Grove, North Carolina. He eventually persuaded him to start playing banjo again and to record his repertoire of songs. Over the next few years Ashley and his friends Doc Watson, Clint Howard, and Fred Price played at numerous urban folk festivals, including the Chicago Folk Festival in 1962 and the Newport Folk Festival in 1963.
Ashley continued touring the folk circuit throughout the mid-1960s.
He appeared at Carnegie Hall in New York and played at dozens of venues in California. In 1966, Ashley and Reidsville, North Carolina guitarist Tex Isley toured England. A second tour of England was planned for 1967, but Ashley grew ill and discovered he had cancer before he departed. He died in 1967 at Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
In March 2013, the Library of Congress announced that the album, "Old Time Music at Clarence Ashley's", would be added to the National Recording Registry. The album consists of a series of early-1960s recordings by Ralph Rinzler of folk songs performed by Ashley and bandmates Doc Watson, Clint Howard, Fred Price, Gaither Carlton and Tommy Moore.
Repertoire and influence.
Ashley learned much of his repertoire from his grandfather and aunts and itinerant musicians lodging at his grandfather's boarding house in the early 1900s. His unusual G-modal banjo tuning style, which he called "sawmill" (gDGCD from fifth string to the first), was likely taught to him by family members. He recorded several songs derived from English or Irish ballads that were passed down through generations in Appalachia, the best-known of which included "Coo Coo Bird" (which he learned from his mother), "House Carpenter", and "Rude and Rambling Man". Other recordings included the murder ballads "Naomi Wise", "Little Sadie", and "John Hardy", and the folk songs "Frankie Silvers" and "Greenback Dollar". An African-American influence can be heard on Ashley's renderings of "Dark Holler", "Haunted Road Blues", and "Corrina, Corrina". In 1933, Ashley made the first known recording of "The House of the Rising Sun", which he claimed he learned from his maternal grandfather. During the folk revival years of the 1960s, Ashley and his band helped to popularize the 18th century English, Southern hymn, "Amazing Grace."
Several notable musicians cite Ashley as an important influence. Roy Acuff once worked medicine shows with Ashley, and Ashley probably taught him "House of the Rising Sun" (which Acuff recorded during 1938) and "Greenback Dollar." Folk musician Doc Watson began his recording career with Ashley in 1960 and played in Ashley's band throughout much of the decade. Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia once said in an interview that he learned clawhammer picking from "listening to Clarence Ashley". Other folk musicians influenced by Ashley include Joan Baez, Judy Collins, and Jean Ritchie.


Sylvia Goaman

Sylvia Nancy Goaman ( Priestley; 30 April 1924 – 3 August 2006) was a British graphic designer, specialising in textile, postage stamp, and stained glass window design. In collaboration with her husband, Michael Goaman, she is known for designing a range of commemorative postage stamps: her husband was often given sole credit for what were mainly her design.


Terry Stickels

Terry Stickels (born May 14, 1948) is the author of numerous puzzle books, calendars, card decks and posters featuring critical thinking skills. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, he is the oldest of three children. Stickels is a lifelong member of Mensa, One In A Thousand Society (now known as Termite) and The International High IQ Society and the Epimetheus Society. He currently resides in Fort Worth, Texas.
Terry Stickels is a graduate of University of Nebraska at Omaha with a BS in Geography and Natural Sciences. He attended on a football scholarship where he played quarterback. While a student, he tutored in math and physics using puzzles as a non-intimidating approach to teaching concepts. After years of creating puzzles, Stickels began his publishing career in 1991 with a Rochester, NY weekly newspaper puzzle column.
Today Stickels is popular with business leaders, teachers and students for his presentations on having fun and success using an individual's mental flexibility. Stickels also pens three nationally syndicated columns. He currently works at KD College Prep in Colleyville.


George Gomez

George Gomez is an industrial designer, video game designer, and pinball designer who has worked for Bally, Williams, and Stern Pinball, among other companies. He worked on the team that created the "Tron" video game, and headed the team that created "Spy Hunter". In 1984 after the 1983 video game crash, he left Midway to invent toys at the consulting firm Marvin Glass & Associates. He is the inventor of numerous toys, including Tonka's "Splash Darts" and Galoob's "Crash-N-Bash". After Glass, he worked on numerous projects through the contract manufacturer Grand products, including the Battletech Centers and several Sega, Jaleco and Taito coin op video games of the late 80's. In '93 he became a designer at Williams Electronics and designed several notable pinball machines including "Monster Bash" and was one of the lead developers of the Pinball 2000 system. After Williams closed the pinball division, he re-joined Midway Games and was one of key designers of the street basketball video game series "NBA Ballers" . While at Midway he became a consultant designer to Stern Pinball; during this time he designed several games, including "The Lord of the Rings", "Batman the Dark Knight", "Playboy" and "The Sopranos". Since July 11, 2011 he has been the Chief Creative Officer for Stern Pinball, responsible for all of the company's product development efforts.


Hum Award for Best Designer Womenswear

The Hum Award for Best Designer Womenswear is one of the Hum Awards presented annually by the Hum Television Network and Entertainment Channel (HTNEC) to Luxury Prêt Fashion designers of Womenswear who has achieved outstanding recognition within the fashion industry. Since its inception, however, the award has commonly been referred to as the hum for Best Designer Womenswear . Nominations are made by Hum members who are designers, while winners are selected by hum membership as a whole.
History.
Hum Television Network and Entertainment Channel presented this award to one of the most promising Designer of Womenswear of fashion Industry of Pakistan. As of first ceremony [Nomi Ansari] was honored at 1st Hum Awards ceremony 2012 for his spectacular fashion achievements of outlet & symbol DNA-Diffusion By Nomi Ansari.
Winners and nominees.
In the list below, winners are listed first in the colored row, followed by the other nominees. As of the first ceremony, six Designer Womenswear were nominated for their achievements for this award.
Date and the award ceremony shows that the 2010 is the period from 2010-2020 (10 years-decade), while the year above winners and nominees shows their fashion achievements year, and the figure in bracket shows the ceremony number, for example; an award ceremony is held for their achievements of its previous year.


Ace Combat Advance

Ace Combat Advance is a 2005 air combat video game in the "Ace Combat" series. Developed by Hungarian studio Humansoft, it is the first in the series for a handheld gaming system and, unlike the usual flight simulation games in the "Ace Combat" series, it is a top-down shooter similar to "Strike", but using fighter jets rather than helicopters. It has been criticized for awkward controls, lack of appeal, difficulty and very poor graphics. Unlike other "Ace Combat" games, a Japanese release for the title was absent.
Gameplay.
The player becomes a key pilot in the UAD, and is sent on 12 missions to stop GR's destruction. These missions are very similar to those that one encounters in the rest of the Ace Combat series, but there are a few unique missions that require new tactics.
Plot.
In the year 2032, globalization has blurred the borders between countries, and multinational corporations have become worldwide economic superpowers. General Resources Ltd., one of these superpowers, uses state of the art military equipment and their Air Strike Force (A.S.F.) to destroy anybody who could potentially pose a threat to their superiority.
A new international military is created to fight back, spearheaded by an elite fighter squadron called the United Air Defense (U.A.D.). As the newest pilot, you must help your squadron destroy the ASF and bring General Resources Ltd. to their knees.


Dan Forden

Daniel Warner Forden (born September 28, 1963) is an American sound programmer and music composer. He has worked on video games developed by Midway and its successor NetherRealm Studios since 1989. Forden achieved recognition for his audio work on the "Mortal Kombat" fighting game series where he was part of the original design team. He is also recognized for his Easter egg appearances in the series. Outside of video games, Forden played bass guitar in the progressive rock the band Cheer-Accident from 1992 to 1993.
Biography and working style.
Forden was born in Chicago, Illinois. He is the youngest of their four children to Sara Forden (née Mazza) and Michael Forden.
Forden is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in the TIMARA program (or Technology in Music and Related Arts). He graduated in 1985 from the Conservatory and has since produced sounds for many Williams Electronics games. Forden's musical style, particularly for the "Mortal Kombat" series, is often a mixture of synthetic and organic sounds. A typical composition usually incorporates ethnic drumming with synthetic basses, synthetic leads and/or pads, and sometimes exotic instruments.
In the "Mortal Kombat" series, he is credited as Dan "Toasty" Forden. The nickname derives from an Easter egg that first appeared in "Mortal Kombat II", where Forden's head would appear in the bottom-right corner of the screen and shout "Toasty!" in a falsetto when an uppercut was performed. After being retained for "Mortal Kombat 3", the Easter egg would not be used again until the 2011 reboot. It also appears in the "Tournament" stage of "Mortal Kombat 11", using the "Mortal Kombat 3" graphic of Forden. The "Toasty!" sound effect would be featured frequently in the series after its introduction, often in reference to fatalities performed by Scorpion.
Two additional Easter eggs were created featuring Forden in "Mortal Kombat 3" and "Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3"; freezing an opponent in "danger mode" with Sub-Zero would make him shout "Frosty!" and both players holding down the "High Punch" button after a Stage Fatality in Scorpion's Lair would make him shout "Crispy!"
Forden also included the "toasty" quote in the pinball machine Medieval Madness. When the player hits the right ramp, one of the quotes that is played is "toasty!".
The "Toasty!" Easter egg is attributed in the dance simulator "StepMania": whenever a player gets 250 consecutive Perfects or better (Excellents or better in the 4.0 CVS version), a "toasty" appears. The PopCap game "Peggle" also features a tribute, as does the Aerosmith-themed rail shooter "Revolution X", where singer Steven Tyler shouts "Toasty!" in reaction to explosions.
Several songs that he composed for the "Mortal Kombat 3" soundtrack were used in the precursor to "South Park", "Jesus vs. Santa".


Samantha Bumgarner

"Aunt" Samantha Bumgarner (October 31, 1878 - December 24, 1960) was an American acclaimed early country and folk music performer and singer from Dillsboro, North Carolina. She won much praise for her work with the fiddle and banjo. In 1924, accompanied by guitarist Eva Davis, she traveled to New York City and recorded about a dozen songs for Columbia Records. The recordings are also notable for being the first use of a 5-string banjo on a recording. She was a yearly staple at Bascom Lamar Lunsford's Mountain Dance and Folk Festival from 1928 until shortly before her death.
Folksinger Pete Seeger attended Lunsford's festival in 1935 at the age of 16 in the company of his father, musicologist and composer Charles Seeger, then working for the music division of the WPA, and his stepmother, noted modernist composer Ruth Crawford Seeger, and would have heard Bumgarner perform there. Seeger has credited Bumgarner as his inspiration for wanting to learn the five-string banjo. "He learned (he says) to play the banjo after first hearing one played by a mountain girl named Samantha Bumgarten [sic]—came from the Great Smokies"
Royal command performance.
Bumgarner was also among the artists Lunsford assembled to play before George VI and Queen Elizabeth of England in June 1939 at the invitation of President and Mrs. Roosevelt at a White House concert of American music arranged by Charles Seeger and Adrian Dornbush (of the WPA) for the benefit of the first visit by a reigning British monarch and his consort on American soil. Among the other (racially integrated) performers were American concert artists Marian Anderson, Lawrence Tibbett, and Kate Smith, singing classical and light popular music; and folk performers Lily May Ledford and the Coon Creek Girls; Josh White; the Golden Gate Quartet; Sam Queen and the Soco Gap Square Dance Team, who demonstrated clog dancing; and Alan Lomax, singing cowboy songs. According to Judith Tick, Professor of Music at Northeastern University, "It was a singular moment of glory for the Washington WPA folklorists."
First female Country recording artist.
Bumgarner and her friend, Eva Davis, recorded the same year as another female country singer, Roba Stanley. Stanley, whose recordings were made in July, 1924, is believed by many to have been the first female to record country music, but Bumgarner and Davis' recordings were made three months earlier, in April. The pair recorded both in duet and as singer and accompanist and thus qualify for the distinction of having been the first female country solo recording artists.


Lucky People Center

Lucky People Center was a Swedish artistic collective, best known for their electronic music, which falls roughly in the ambient house/trance/sound collage genres.
The collective started as an underground illegal nightclub in the city of Gothenburg. It moved its base to Stockholm in the early 1990s, forming a multimedia and musical collective. Lucky People Center were sporadically on tour from 1994 to 1997 and were playing some major events around Europe during this time. The collective also produced the documentary/collage films Information is free and Lucky People Center International.
Members.
Lucky People Center is supposed to be more of a loose constellation than a group, and the projects done under the name has various members. The member list is in the sleeve-notes of the album "Interspecies Communication" listed as David Österberg, Jean-Louis Huhta, Johan Söderberg and Skander Chand, while the film "Lucky People Center International" is credited to Söderberg and Erik Pauser.


Sonakshi Sinha

Sonakshi Sinha (; born 2 June 1987) is an Indian film actress and singer who works in Hindi films. After working as a costume designer in her early career, Sinha made her acting debut in the action-drama film "Dabangg" (2010), which won her the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut.
Sinha has played the romantic interest of the male protagonists in several top-grossing action-dramas, including "Rowdy Rathore" (2012), "Son of Sardaar" (2012), "Dabangg 2" (2012) and "" (2014), though she was criticized for taking up roles that offered her limited scope. She gained critical acclaim for her portrayal of a woman suffering from tuberculosis in the romantic drama "Lootera" (2013), for which she received a nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actress. She followed this initial success by starring in a series of commercial failures, with the exception of "Mission Mangal" (2019), in which she had a supporting role.
In addition to acting in films, Sinha has sung a small part in the Imran Khan song "Let's Celebrate" in her film "Tevar" (2015). She has also sung the single "Aaj Mood Isqholic Hai" and sung in a total of four of her films.
Early life.
Sinha was born on 2 June 1987 in Patna, Bihar, to film actors Shatrughan Sinha and Poonam Sinha (née Chandiramani). Her father belongs to a Bihari Kayastha family while her mother hails from a Sindhi Hindu family. Her father served as a Member of Parliament of the Bharatiya Janata Party, before he switched to the Indian National Congress in 2019. Sinha is the youngest of three children she has two (twin) brothers, Luv Sinha and Kush Sinha. She did her schooling at Arya Vidya Mandir and later graduated in fashion designing from Premlila Vithaldas Polytechnic of Shreemati Nathibai Damodar Thackersey Women's University.
Career.
Debut and breakthrough (2010–14).
Sinha started her career as a costume designer, designing the costumes for films such as "Mera Dil Leke Dekho" in 2005.
She made her acting debut in the 2010 film "Dabangg", in which she starred opposite Salman Khan. It went on to become the highest-grossing film of 2010 and ultimately emerged as an all-time blockbuster. Sinha had to lose 3 kg in preparation for the role as a village girl. Her performance was well received, with noted critic Taran Adarsh noting that "Sonakshi Sinha looks fresh, acts confidently and pairs off very well with Salman. Most importantly, she delivers the right expressions and is not overpowered by the galaxy of stars in the cast." Although Sinha had no film releases in 2011, she won awards for her debut. This included the Filmfare Award as well as the IIFA Awards among many others.
Sinha had four releases in 2012, her first being Prabhu Deva's "Rowdy Rathore", opposite Akshay Kumar. The film opened to mixed reviews from critics, although it had a strong opening at the box office, collecting approx. on the first day and eventually became a blockbuster. Despite this, critic Rajeev Masand criticized her ornamental role and wrote that Sinha "seems to exist in this film only to have her midriff repeatedly pinched by Akshay Kumar." Her next film, Shirish Kunder's "Joker", also opposite Akshay Kumar, proved to be a commercial disaster at the box office and received overwhelmingly negative reviews. Her third film, Ashwni Dhir's "Son of Sardar", opposite Ajay Devgn, was poorly received by the critics, but proved to be an economic success. Critic Saibal Chatterjee from NDTV noted that Sinha "endeavours to be pretty and dainty amid all the madness." Arbaaz Khan's "Dabangg 2", the sequel to her immensely successful debut garnered little praise from critics, though it proved to be a major financial success. Sinha also dubbed for the voice of Tooth in the Hindi version of "Rise of the Guardians".
Sinha's first film of 2013 was Vikramaditya Motwane's period romance-drama "Lootera", placing her opposite Ranveer Singh. Despite receiving a lukewarm response at the box office, the film and Sinha gathered praise, with Sinha's portrayal of Pakhi, a Bengali girl who is dying of tuberculosis, receiving universal acclaim from critics. Sarita Tanwar notes that "the star of the film is undoubtedly Sonakshi Sinha [who gives] a mature and refined performance. She lives the character body and soul." Raja Sen agrees, saying that "Sonakshi Sinha plays Pakhi beautifully, creating a character who is immaculately wide-eyed and possesses casual, yet unmistakable, grace. It is a performance that starts off dreamily soft and turns harder, and she does well-etched dialogue justice like few actresses can. There's a discernible vulnerability to Pakhi throughout the film, and Sinha brings out this fragility perfectly without ever overplaying it."
Sinha appeared in Milan Luthria's crime romance film "Once Upon a Time in Mumbai Dobaara!", the sequel to "Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai", in which she was paired with Akshay Kumar again, as well as Imran Khan. The movie was a commercial disappointment and critic Mohar Basu labeled her "a chatterbox replete with idioticity which the director frames as naiveness." She then appeared in Tigmanshu Dhulia's "Bullett Raja" opposite Saif Ali Khan, a box office flop. Her final release of the year was Prabhu Deva's "R... Rajkumar" opposite Shahid Kapoor. A moderate commercial success, the film and her performance received negative reviews. Taran Adarsh labeled her "repetitive" and noted that she needed to "reinvent herself."
In 2014, after providing her voice for the voice of Jewel in the Hindi-dubbed "Rio 2", Sinha was seen in A.R. Murugadoss's action thriller "", a remake of the director's Tamil film "Thuppakki". Starring opposite Akshay Kumar, Sinha appeared as a boxer. It received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics and emerged as a box office hit. Jyoti Sharma Bawa said of Sinha's portrayal: "Sonakshi has nothing to do much in the film and overacts in places. For an actor who has already proved her mettle in the acting department, this definitely is a downer." Sinha appeared in a music video with Yo Yo Honey Singh titled "Superstar". In July, Sinha jointly bought a team in the World Kabaddi League. Her second release of 2014 was Prabhu Deva's "Action Jackson", with Ajay Devgn and Yami Gautam. She made her Tamil cinema debut opposite Rajinikanth in KS Ravikumar's "Lingaa", which was her final release in 2014.
Career fluctuations (2015–present).
In 2015, she appeared in Boney Kapoor's remake of "Okkadu", titled "Tevar", opposite Arjun Kapoor. In his review, Rajeev Masand wrote: "Sonakshi Sinha, playing another simpering damsel in another South remake, once again has nothing to do. She appears content showing up for a few dance numbers, and waiting around for a man to save her." "Tevar" underperformed at the box office and was one of the biggest flops of the year.
Sonakshi released her debut single "Aaj Mood Ishqholic Hai", in collaboration with Meet Bros on 23 December 2015.
In 2016, Sinha starred in the remake of the 2011 Tamil film "Mouna Guru", entitled "Akira", an action-drama from director AR Murugadoss, in which she played an aggressive college student. "Akira" had taken the best start at the box office amongst all female-centric releases of 2016. The film had initial recovery of 15.5 crore, and the film made over 33+ crore on box office, becoming an average grosser. Then, she appeared in Abhinay Deo's action-thriller "Force 2", opposite John Abraham. The film made on a low budget, grossed over 58.75 crore and was declared an average grosser. Though Sinha's character was labeled as a unformed agent, her performance received some acclaim. "Bollywood Life" reviewed her performance as "Sonakshi Sinha is believable in action scenes she got and ably supports John."
In 2017, she was seen in Sunhil Sippy's comedy film "Noor" based on Saba Imtiaz's novel "Karachi, You're Killing Me!". She featured in the titular role of Noor alongside Kanan Gill, Shibani Dandekar and Purab Kohli. Her performance received major acclaim, with one reviewer writing that "Sonakshi Sinha pulls off her character without appearing to try too hard." "Hindustan Times" wrote that "Sonakshi looks quite convincing with the grimaces, pouts, eye rolls, scowls and goofy grins - displaying an amusing dorkiness. Even when her character turns serious, Sonakshi displays her prowess and aces the grim looks." Commercially, the film flopped. Her last film release in the year was Abhay Chopra's "Ittefaq", a remake of the 1969 murder mystery "Ittefaq", opposite Sidharth Malhotra, and Akshay Khanna. The film was a moderate box-office success. It was a commercial failure.
In March 2017, Sinha announced that she was working on a new single. Despite speculation she might perform as the opening act for Canadian singer Justin Bieber's Purpose World Tour concert at the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai on 10 May, her performance did not occur.
In 2018, she was seen in comedy spoof film "Welcome to New York", with an ensemble cast including Diljit Dosanjh, Karan Johar, and others. The film was shot in IIFA Awards 2017 and was the first film to be based on an award show. The film received overwhelming negative reviews and Sinha's appearance in the film was particularly criticized, with Rajeev Masand of News 18 saying that "Not very funny, unfortunately, is Sonakshi Sinha, who comes off exaggerated and out-of-step even in a film of such ridiculously low standards. She spends the bulk of her time on screen contorting her face like Jim Carrey, but with none of the same results." The film was also a box-office bomb, earning only Rs. 75 lakh on its first day. The same year, Sinha appeared in female-oriented comedy film "Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi" along with Diana Penty in the eponymous character. The film was released on 24 August 2018. As with her previous release, "Happy Phirr Bhag Jayegi" was a commercial disappointment. Then, she made a special appearance in a song of "Yamla Pagla Deewana Phir Se".
In 2019, she performed in a song "Mungda" in comedy film "Total Dhamaal." She next starred in the period romance film "Kalank" with an ensemble cast including Aditya Roy Kapur, Sanjay Dutt, Madhuri Dixit, Alia Bhatt and Varun Dhawan. The film failed to perform well commercially.
In 2019, Sinha was cast in drama film "Mission Mangal", which featured an ensemble cast, including Akshay Kumar, Vidya Balan and Taapsee Pannu. The project began filming in 2018, and was directed by Jagan Shakti. The film was a massive commercial success at the box-office, grossing over 200 crore on a budget of 30 crore, and received positive reviews from critics. She is appearing alongside Ajay Devgn, Sanjay Dutt and Parineeti Chopra in war drama film "." After that, she will reprise her role in "Dabangg 3" opposite Salman Khan, which will be directed by Prabhu Deva.
KBC Controversy.
On 21 September 2019, after failing to answer a question in show Kaun Banega Crorepati 11, she was promptly trolled on Twitter. During the 25th episode of KBC 11, the show’s actor-host Amitabh Bachchan asked Sonakshi, who shared the hot-seat with Rajasthani artisan Ruma Devi, the question "According to Ramayana, Hanuman fetched the Sanjeevani herb for whom?" Sonakshi failed to answer the question, which led to widespread trolling of her on the micro-blogging site Twitter. #YoSonakshiSoDumb was trending on the Twitter during the time, as well as Amitabh Bachchan also made fun of her because of lack of general knowledge. In the response, she sarcastically accepted that she doesn't have knowledge of Phythagoras Theorem, Mughal Chronological order and concluded with her love for memes in the response to trolling.
Philanthropy.
Sinha is a professed animal lover, and she had posed for a PETA campaign advocating the adoption and sterilization of dogs and cats. She has starred in a one-minute video PSA, urging everyone to adopt animals and have them sterilised. She has been quoted saying: "Breeders, pet stores and people who don't sterilize their animals are responsible for all the animals who end up homeless. Every time someone buys a dog or cat from a breeder or pet store, a homeless animal roaming the streets or waiting in an animal shelter loses a chance at a home and a good life." She also promotes breaking the steroptypes of typical body size.


Rodney Thompson

Rodney Thompson is a game designer whose writing credits include numerous books for the "Star Wars Roleplaying Game" and the "Dungeons & Dragons" fantasy role-playing game. He was the lead developer for the 4th edition version of the Dark Sun campaign setting.
Media Mentions.
Rodney Thompson has appeared in the following newspaper and magazine articles, websites and podcasts.


The Kung-Fu Master Jackie Chan

 is a 1995 fighting arcade game developed and published by Kaneko. It features the Hong Kong celebrity, Jackie Chan, who was also the producer of it, while it also features other actors from some of his films.
During the same year, the game was later updated and retitled as .
Gameplay.
The controls of the game are similar to that of SNK's earlier installments in their "Fatal Fury" series (particularly "Fatal Fury 2", "Special" and "3"), as well as "The King of Fighters" franchise. The special actions are also similar to other fighting games from the same era. The presentation and death moves were most likely influenced by that of the success of Midway's "Mortal Kombat" franchise, though not the first in the genre.
The player's character fights against his or her opponent in a standard one-on-one best two-of-three format like most fighting games, but a match can last up to five rounds if there is no clear-cut winner in previous rounds (the game will end if both fighters lose the fifth round and no bonus points will be awarded if one wins the fifth round). Players have a character roster of six characters to choose from at the start, each with their own fighting style and special techniques. In one-player mode, after selecting a character, the arcade randomly selects an opponent. After two opponents are knocked out, one out of three versions of Jackie Chan becomes the next opponent. Unlike the "Mortal Kombat" series, some powerful finishing moves lack blood and gore, and some do not destroy the opponents. The fast-paced action and zooming view are similar to that of numerous Neo-Geo fighting games.
"Jackie Chan in Fists of Fire: Jackie Chan Densetsu".
"Jackie Chan in Fists of Fire: Jackie Chan Densetsu" is an updated version of "The Kung-Fu Master Jackie Chan" that was also released the same year exclusively for the arcades, and was the very last fighting game Kaneko released before their bankruptcy in 2006. It adds a desperation move system, an improved combo system with a special combo counter above the life bars that records the highest number of combos during a match, and an "escaping" feature where players can struggle out of combos or stand up as fast as possible by rapidly moving the control stick and tapping the buttons simultaneously. "Fists of Fire" also makes all three versions of Jackie Chan into playable characters expanding the roster up to nine playable characters, and makes adjustments to the character balance by strengthening and weakening the statistics of certain playable characters from the first game, while adding and removing a few moves to some of them. The palettes of Lau, Yeung and Thorston were heavily modified as well. The opening intro is a modified version of the first game's intro, but the rest of the game's graphics are not that different.
Characters.
There are six playable characters to choose from in "The Kung-Fu Master Jackie Chan", and nine in "Jackie Chan in Fists of Fire".
Bosses.
After two opponents have been knocked out, players face Jackie Chan as he uses three different fighting styles in order of appearance. He is unplayable in the original version, but playable in the "Fists of Fire" update. Known to be very protective of his image, the three variations of Chan cannot be defeated with a finishing move and give the player a thumbs up if he loses a round.
Development.
While Jackie Chan started the production of his then-newest film "Thunderbolt" in late 1994, Golden Harvest decided to film in Japan for its several racing and fight scenes. As the film crew traveled to Japan they began a search for sponsors to fund the film, and as they were searching, the video game developer Kaneko was found. While Kaneko agreed to sponsor the film, they penned a mutual deal to create a Jackie Chan-based fighting game. The deal was negotiated by Chan's longtime friend and accomplice Frankie Chan, who also co-produced the game. Due to the timing and relationship between filming "Thunderbolt" in Japan and signing the fighting game deal, Kaneko brought Jackie Chan and some of his actors and stuntmen of "Thunderbolt" such as Sam Wong and Thorsten Nickel to the offices in Tokyo in order to start the motion capture work in order to convert them into playable characters. Most of the capturing work took place in Hong Kong during "Thunderbolt"'s production period there. Kaneko's company logo is prominently displayed throughout "Thunderbolt".
In an interview with journalist Audun Sorlie, actor Thorsten Nickel shed light on the production and launch of the game, which was given a press conference in Sendai where Nickel and Chan were on-hand to give interviews to speak about the experiences of working with motion capture, and to perform a short fight scene demonstration which they hastily choreographed the day prior. During the conference they also revealed details about the then-upcoming "Thunderbolt" movie.
Reception.
In Japan, "Game Machine" listed "The Kung-Fu Master Jackie Chan" on their July 15, 1995 issue as being the fourteenth most-successful arcade game of the year.
Computer and Video Games criticized the graphics in "Fists of Fire" calling them "unclean" and "grain-laden" and that the game seemed like a "waste of a good license."
The re-release was widely regarded as bizarre and obsessed with Jackie Chan, noting the fact that three different versions of Jackie Chan were playable and Jackie Chan could not be defeated or killed in a fight, only knocked down for a few seconds.


Amina Al Jassim

Amina Al Jassim or Amina Al-Jassim, is a Saudi Arabian fashion designer of haute couture and jellabiyas.


Ralph White

Ralph E. White III (born July 9, 1952) is a musician from Austin, Texas who has drawn inspiration from traditional blues, old-time country, rock, African and Cajun music, among other traditions. He principally plays banjo, fiddle, accordion, guitar, kalimba and mbira. He was a founding member of the innovative and influential Austin trio the Bad Livers, formed in 1990 with banjoist and singer/songwriter Danny Barnes and bass and tuba player Mark Rubin. During the early 1990s, "White's sizzling dexterity on fiddle and accordion" was a "cornerstone of their buzz." After leaving the Bad Livers in late 1996, White embarked on a solo career. Since then, he has become a legendary Austin musician, and was chosen by Kevin Curtin of the "Austin Chronicle" as the best strings player of 2015. While the style of music he plays is difficult to categorize, "No Depression" concluded that "White has invented a type of music that sounds traditional while also being refreshingly new."
Career.
Bad Livers: 1990-1996.
White met Danny Barnes at a Cajun jam session in South Austin in 1990, after which they began playing with Mark Rubin as The Danny Barnes Trio. The trio adopted the name Bad Livers in the summer of 1990.
The Bad Livers began playing frequently in Austin, including a weekly set at the Saxon Pub. Due to the frequency of their gigs and the length of their sets, the Bad Livers performed many covers, including songs by bands such as Motörhead and the Misfits. As a result, critics often described their music with terms such as "thrash-grass," "acoustic bluegrass with a punk death wish," "something called 'contemporary bluegrass,'" and "acoustic-metal-bluegrass." Rejecting these generic labels, Don McLeese of the "Austin American-Statesman" wrote: "Rather than reviving anything or attempting to accommodate contemporary music trends, the trio seems to inhabit a musical dimension all its own, a Twilight Zone of Bad Liverdom." Barnes denied that the Bad Livers played bluegrass at all. Rather, he said, they had created an original sound: "This isn't bluegrass and it isn’t this or that. It's Bad Liver music. We end up making our own thing." During this time, White expressed appreciation for music "the way it was before pop culture put it into the radio, before it was homogenized and put out on a grand scale," as well as for postpunk, saying: "To me, a lot of the postpunk music seems as direct and honest as that was, not built up in pop arrangements, but full steam ahead." The varied musical interests of the band members resulted in a sound that was "as hard to pin down as a buttered-up hog," and Austin country legend Don Walser once remarked that the only question he couldn't answer was what kind of music the Bad Livers played.
Though their style was difficult to describe, McLeese wrote that "the Bad Livers represent one of the healthiest impulses on the Austin music scene, a determination to employ traditional elements within a radically fresh dynamic." McLeese wrote of one live show in 1995: "The uncommon telepathy enjoyed by Danny Barnes, Mark Rubin and Ralph White makes the band's frenetic acoustic interplay sound like the work of a six-armed, multistringed monster." The Bad Livers were voted "Best None of the Above" for four consecutive years from 1991 to 1994. The Bad Livers' music was admired far beyond Austin: the "Chicago Tribune" observed that the "Texas trio throws itself into bluegrass-hillbilly music with high-brow virtuosity and a low-brow sense of fun," while "Rolling Stone" found that their music displayed "a striking blend of virtuoso flash and poignant simplicity." The "Old Time Herald" wrote that the music of the Bad Livers "sounds right at home in the briar patch," describing White's fiddling as "the thrashing of a Georgia-bent bow applied to a dark cross-tuned Ozark melody" which struck "a novel and fetching chord" with young people who were previously unfamiliar with country music.
The Bad Livers' first album, "Delusions of Banjer," was released in 1992 on Quarterstick Records and produced by Paul Leary of the Butthole Surfers. The album was praised for "Barnes's strong material, as well as the group's tight musical interaction." The band's second album, "Horses in the Mines", was produced by Barnes and released on Quarterstick in 1994. In his review, McLeese admired them as "a band drawing from the wellspring of tradition to create something fresh, vital and original." "Süddeutsche Zeitung" found that the record "sounded quite authentic—almost as if it had long held a place in the Library of Congress." The Bad Livers spent 1995 and 1996 touring and working on side projects as well as looking for a new label to release their next album. By the end of 1996, after playing about 1,500 live shows with the Bad Livers, White grew weary of touring and decided to leave the band.
Solo: 1999-present.
After leaving the Bad Livers, White took an extended bicycle trip through Africa before returning to Austin.
Since 1999, he has regularly played live shows in Austin. His first solo recording, "Trash Fish," was released on Terminus records in 2002. White used overdubbing to record himself singing and playing all of the instruments. Sing Out! found the "mixture of White's failed, fretless banjo with the kalimba" on the album to be "eerie, yet almost hypnotic," while "No Depression" observed that the way "White melds banjo with kalimba and mbira… then adds accordion, fiddle and assorted percussion" was "ethereal and intoxicating." White's former Bad Livers bandmate Danny Barnes reviewed the album, which he described as "a fantastic record [that] literally drips with all the things you don't hear anymore," adding: "There's a wide range of emotions and feelings stirred in the central nervous system. Ralph's record is a complete musical statement."
White's next recording, "Navasota River Devil Squirrel," was released in 2006. The title song, composed by White during his tenure with the Bad Livers, was written about a squirrel hunting trip that White and Barnes had taken together: "I saw this squirrel and took a shot at him, and he, like, attacked me." In early 2007, "The Austin American-Statesman"'s Joe Gross wrote that the "mind-altering" album was "one of the most unfortunately slept-on local albums of the year." Darcie Stevens of "The Austin Chronicle" wrote that the album combined "five-string fretless banjos and African kalimbas… with accordion and fiddle to create an Eastern Appalachian sound, but it's much more complicated than that," and that the resulting sound was "mind-boggling and vast."
White's next recording, "The Atavistic Waltz," was self-released in 2008. Like his previous recordings, it featured arrangements of banjo, kalimba, and fiddle that "bask in an authentic herky-jerky loveliness." This was followed by "The Mongrel's Hoard" in 2010, a vinyl EP released by Monotonous Press. The EP proved "yet again [that] you can stretch the limits of Americana if you're resourceful enough." Also in 2010, he released the LP "Boundless" on Feeding Tube Records. White self-released three more CDs in 2011: "Stovepipe Blues," "Trash Fish Sushi," and "The Hanged Man." In 2013, he released a split 12" record with Sun Arrow with Monotonous Press, and Austin PBS station KLRU aired a documentary about him as part of the series "Hard Sound. "</ref>
In 2014, he released the LP "Waltz Don’t Run" on Feeding Tube Records. In 2015, he released the EP "Ralph White Is Ralph White" on Alto Recordings. In the fall of that year, he toured with Stevie Tombstone, and embarked on a solo tour in spring 2016. In January 2016, he collaborated with Thor Harris on the album "Tossing Pebbles on the Sleeping Beast", released on Self Sabotage Records. In July 2016, he released "Farewell to Texas", an EP of tunes recorded on a Five string violin five-string fiddle, also on Alto Recordings.
As was the case with the Bad Livers, the music White creates resists categorization. Michael Corcoran of the Austin American-Statesman coined the word "Afrolachian" to describe White's music, while Joe Gross has referred to him as "Folk/noise/Avant-whatever genius Ralph White" and said that he "embodies neo-folk oddness."
Darcie Stevens posited the possible labels "Non-traditional traditional? Indo-African mountain songs? Rocking-chair string ephemera?" As White himself has observed: "For some reason the music I play is kind of crooked… I like the idea of learning something wrong and letting it evolve into something different. A lot of my music is just me playing a melody I couldn't figure out."
But ultimately, he says, "I don't try to do anything else but play the music that's in my soul."


Tajemnica Statuetki

Tajemnica Statuetki is a Polish-language adventure game developed and published by Metropolis Software House for DOS-based computers in 1993. While it was never released in English, it is known in the English-speaking world as The Mystery of the Statuette. The game was conceived by a team led by Adrian Chmielarz, who used photographs taken in France as static screens within the game. The first title in the adventure game genre that was produced in Poland, its plot revolves around a fictional Interpol agent named John Pollack trying to solve a mystery associated with the thefts of ancient artifacts around the world.
At the time of the game's release, software piracy was rampant in Poland; the game, however, sold between 4,000 and 6,000 copies, becoming very popular there. "Tajemnica Statuetki" was praised for its plot and for being a cultural milestone that helped advance and legitimise the Polish gaming industry despite attracting minor criticism for its game mechanics and audiovisual design. The game found warm reception from both the gaming community and from industry magazines which tended to focus on the title's positives.
Gameplay.
"Tajemnica Statuetki" is shown from a first person perspective. It is a point-and-click adventure game that consists of a series of photographic images, although most information is communicated with text. The game is divided into three chapters, each of which takes place in a different location.
Players solve puzzles and interact with characters to progress through the story. The menu offers six different actions, equipment, and a map. The player uses the action commands in a manner similar to LucasArts adventures. The player completes actions by clicking a command button then either an inventory item or a part of the room screen.
Often, progression through the game requires the player to locate objects the size of a single pixel on the monitor; this is known as pixel hunting. The game's puzzles call on the player's knowledge of varying fields, such as cocktail recipes; the player is, for example, tasked with ordering a drink of the correct composition for a tourist.
Plot.
When religious artifacts from around the world, often with insignificant market value, start to disappear, Interpol realises it is not the work of a dishonest collector. Clues lead suspicion to fall upon commando and former CIA agent Joachim Wadner, who appears unhelpful but intelligent. To catch the thief, Interpol chooses their best trainee, protagonist and playable character John Pollack, a young American of Polish descent. Pollack has unlimited funds at his disposal, complete a Rubik's Cube in under three minutes, and can kill with his bare hands. He takes his gadget briefcase, boards a submarine, and sails to the Pacific Ocean.
Pollack follows Wadner to San Ambrosio, an island off the coast of Chile. He completes a reconnaissance mission at a cafe by working there for weeks to complete trained movements like placing a napkin on a counter. During this time, the cafe changes ownership but there is no progress on the case. Pollack interrogates a bartender, who says Wadner has recently been there. Players can choose to mix a range of cocktails for Pollack. Wadner visits a beach and watches three young girls, none of whom pay any attention to him. At one point, the player is captured and tasked with escaping from a cell, a task that requires the splitting of doors, their frames and handles, the use of electricity to paralyse a guard, and to counteract throat dryness caused by drinking from a puddle. From this point on, the quest continues through cities and tourist centers, and the crime eventually takes on a satanic, occult feel.
Development.
"Tajemnica Statuetki" was conceived by Adrian Chmielarz. Sometime during the 1990s, he figured out that the time was right for him to create the first Polish adventure game. He "and a few friends hatched a plan to take photographs from his vacation to France and turn them into a video game". The group realised they could service the untapped Polish software market, where many people had PCs but were unable to become immersed in adventure games because they did not understand English. Chmielarz was not worried about the Polish gaming market being small because the market had already been tapped by developer X-Land and realised the market had potential, noting the number of people who attended conventions. This project evolved into "Tajemnica Statuetki".
The game was conceived by Chmielarz after he visited Côte d'Azur, photographing the area and building a plot around his experiences. He and his high school friends, Grzegorz Miechowski and Andrzej Michalak, collaborated on the game. Chmielarz took on a directing-scriptwriting role and set the creative tone.
According to Miechowski, until March 1993, Chmielarz wrote sixteen hours daily for the game. Miechowski dealt with business stakeholders and marketing while Michalak applied physiognomy to the production. Miechowski and his brother were responsible for sales and logistics; they collaborated with computer companies Optimus and JTT. Miechowski and Michalak financed the project by selling computers. Marcin M. Drews, who took some of the photographs for the game, is often mistaken for the game's creator.
Design.
While "Tajemnica Statuetki" was initially supposed to have hand-drawn graphics, during development the game was altered to instead use digitised photographs as static screen backgrounds. Up until that point, graphic designers had spent many hours on concept art and storyboards. This was atypical for the industry at the time, where it was the norm to see moving protagonists and diverse locations on the screen. The choice resulted in a game consisting entirely of photographic material, which had to be properly rendered so the game could fit onto no more than two floppy disks. This was necessary to minimise its cost to consumers to the point at which they would be willing to legally buy it. The developers also cut costs by opting to include photos instead of having animated video sequences. According to Chmielarz, "we were indie before it was cool, so to speak". According to Antyweb, the game's development was successful despite a shoestring budget, noting Chmielarz' "initiative" of using "home-made methods" when he did not have access to multiple Elwro and IMB XT computers. During development, he was living in Wroclaw.
The game was written entirely in Assembler, had a one megabyte source text, and contained 2,000 loops, altogether around 30,000 commands. The title, typical of point-and-click adventures, requires the player to control the main character with a mouse. Photographs in the game were taken at the Côte d'Azur, Saint Tropez, Monte Carlo, Nice and the abandoned Calvinist church and cemetery in Jędrzychowice, Strzelin. The team went to these locations specifically for the game, where they took as many photographs as possible.
The game's soundscape includes effects such as closing doors and glasses being wiped. Chmielarz inserted references to mass culture, for instance James Bond. To make the game more appealing, the developers added a skill-based section that players could skip if they wanted to. The final segment of "Tajemnica Statuetki" has a sense of fun that emulates the lighter sides of the game's production; it is a "mix of horror and thriller" according to OnlySP, and mix of sensation, humour, and occultism according to Chmielarz. A "youthful fantasy" can be observed during a meeting with the main opponent, performing a magical ritual in a fiery circle made of birthday candles. According to Miechowski, the game was made with the motto "Teach with fun, play with learning", and this educational slant was acknowledged by "Nie tylko Wiedźmin", which said the game is responsible for its players, decades later, knowing how to make good cocktails as the result of its in-game puzzle.
Chmielarz's design philosophy was to create a game similar to those released in the West; according to "Komputers Wait", at the time of the game's development, the Polish computer industry was five years behind that of the West, and Polish titles were generally clones of then-popular Western video games. "Tajemnica Statuetki" is comparable to late 1980s adventure games. "Secret Service" agreed, saying the game visually resembles point-and-click adventure "Countdown" (1990) and interactive fiction adventure "Amazon" (1984) due to their similar menu systems and use of digitized images. Many critics acknowledged the limitations of the game in terms of the size of the country's video gaming industry at the time. One magazine reminded its readers not to make comparisons between the game and the latest titles from adventure gaming giants like Sierra On-Line, LucasArts, Infogrames, and Delphine, due to the "tremendous" gaps in "experience, financial and technological resources, infrastructure, and legal protection" that would gradually close.
Release.
Development of "Tajemnica Statuetki" was finished by February 12, 1993; at the end of that year the game was released onto the market at a price of 231,000 Polish zlotys. During the game's development, the team approached publishers Atlantis Software and Avalon Interactive (then called Virgin Interactive) but were turned down. Chmielarz got IPS Computer Group to distribute and market it but the company agreed to take only 100 copies rather than the 2,000 the creators had offered; as a result, Chmielarz founded his own company to sell the rest of the stock. The name of his publishing company, Metropolis Software, was chosen because "it sounded nice". Founded in 1992 in preparation for the game's release the following year, it became one of the first Polish video game companies after contemporaries such as Computer Adventure, Studio, and X-Land.
Chmielarz boxed the games in packaging he had designed himself. Each box contained two HD floppy disks with the program and extra material. The latter included a copy of the fictional newspaper "Dziennik Metropolis" dated October 1; the articles presented the game's plot and contained anti-piracy safeguard information, self-referential humour and an advertisement for future release "Teenagent", a tiny crossword puzzle, and secret codes for use in the game.
"Tajemnica Statuetki" became the company's premiere title. Metropolis Software posted advertisements throughout industry magazines. One issue of "Secret Service" contained a review that included an interview with the authors, a competition, and an advertisement. Competition entrants could win computer equipment and books. The team also advertised in the press. Geezmo thought the game's commercial success was largely due to a "deliberate, well-thought-out media campaign" that included the sale of CDs attached to a popular magazine.
Sales of the game exceeded the estimates of IPS and the creators' expectations. Chmielarz sold between 4,000 and 6,000 copies by mail at a time when moving just 1,000 or 2,000 units was considered a major achievement.
With the profits of the initial sales, Chmielarz was able to run Metropolis Software for two years without financial difficulty.
Western hits had rarely achieved such level of sales. The market was also still dominated by rampant piracy. At a time where democracy and capitalism were being introduced to Poland, and in which The Software Protection Act was coming into effect in 1994, players were not used to paying high amounts for original games. Polish developers had become accustomed to players pirating their games and continued to spend months on titles despite little return. According to Chmielarz, the main reason for this cultural landscape was the commodity exchange he himself came from; he was very critical about pirates, particularly those who had tried to hack his game. Despite being frequently pirated, a sizable number of units were sold legally. "SS-NG" ("Secret Service - Next Generation") puts "Tajemnica Statuetki" success in a piracy-prone market to it being reasonably cheap and comparable in quality to English-language adventure games.
Reception.
Writing and plot.
"Tajemnica Statuetki"'s plot and writing were highly praised; according to "Video Games Around the World", its overall positive reception was mostly due to the strength of its script. "Gry" Online praised the "greatly realized scenario" that held up the narrative while Gra.pl said the best element of the game was its plot and MiastoGier said the game's engaging story outweighs its negatives. GameDot said the title "still surprises with its brilliance in the description of the surroundings and the structure of dialogues (very modeled on LucasArts productions) that bring to mind solid literary material".
"SS-NG" wrote that the Polish language was "professionally implemented" without spelling and stylistic errors and thought the game struck a balance between humour and bleak, horror-filled scenarios. "SS-NG" also said the narrative and gameplay were well thought-out and hold up, and added that the clever mix of humour and drama effectively break the suspense with laugh-out-loud moments. "Secret Service" said the game's strongest asset is use of Polish language, including idiosyncrasies such as noun declensions and references to Polish jokes, stereotypes and culture. According to "Benchmark", the "professional, tense thriller" is highly original and owes much of its success to the period in which it was released, when technological imperfections were compensated for by strong concepts.
According to Orange, players appreciated the intriguing scenario and attention to detail and the game would attract new fans as of 2014. Polygamia said players appreciated the game's engaging scenario, high-class criminal intrigue, and thoughtful production. According to "Dawno temu w grach", the game did not delight but its strength was the execution of its well-constructed and -written scenario, which hold the player in suspense until the end. Bastion Magazynów wrote despite its status as the only Polish-language adventure game, its only draw was its well-constructed plot. According to "Geezmo", the "well-thought-out and moderately addictive storyline" was considered atypical at the time and both a curiosity and a novelty.
Neskazmlekiem said the convoluted description of escaping from the cell, including the passage "spit so long until it dries in your throat", justified the description of Chimielarz as "the greatest Polish sadist in the gaming market". While noting its lack of a complicated plot and well-constructed characters, Polskie Gry Wideo wrote that the game offers hours of entertainment. Valhalla wrote that the plot of 2002's photographic adventure game "A Quiet Weekend in Capri" sounded "even worse" than that of "Tajemnica Statuetki." While noting that the interesting, occult-inspired plot was well received, even outside Poland, the reviewer at Gameplay questioned the point of the titular statuette in the story. "SS-NG" wrote that the game has a great atmosphere.
"Gambler" wrote that the game was a "very successful program" that was somewhat modelled on Sierra's "Quest" series. Gry.impo said the game was twisted, commenting that it burst with atmosphere and cult-oriented puzzles.
Gameplay.
"Tajemnica Statuetki"'s gameplay had a mixed reception from reviewers. Gry Online opined the game is demanding and requires players to have patience and an open mind to find absurd solutions to puzzles. Despite its difficulty, "SS-NG" urged players to stick with it, noting that even today it will provide hours of entertainment. Polygamia wrote that while the game is not technically proficient, it was appreciated by players for its engaging scenario, high-class criminal intrigue, and careful performance. "SS-NG" noted that in a pre-walkthrough age, the game was particularly difficult with aspects such as copy protection revealed in the middle of the game, playing in a games room, and a useful item disguised as part of a building interior. "Secret Service" described the gameplay as being reminiscent of Infocom products, in particular "The Hitchhikers Guide To the Galaxy", noting that players are required to be sharp and perceptive when interacting with found objects, which often must be used in ways contradictory to their original purposes. The reviewer criticised the challenge of locating certain items and learning of the existence of others. Citing examples such as a coin on a beach, a hairpin on a sofa, and a hook on an anchor, "Secret Service" noted that such items were one-pixel size and are not visible on the screen, necessitating pixel hunting with the mouse, "creating unnecessary downtime". Due to this difficulty, the magazine said the developers should have tested the game with regular players before publishing it.
"Polskie Gry Wideo" wrote that the game's interface, which required pixel hunting, does not confirm correct solutions to puzzles, provide hints or a clear purpose of what to do in the world, putting it at odds with other adventure games of the time. They deemed it "a bit frustrating" and less enjoyable as a result. Benchmark noted that looking for details and objects relevant to advancing through the plot requires players to strain their eyes, a sentiment echoed by Orange. "Nie tylko Wiedźmin" noted that even by the standards of the time, the game was considered difficult. Geezmo said the way the game is designed requires players to smack the screen with their mice. While "Secret Service" said "Tajemnica Statuetki" is more modestly constructed that its Western counterparts, it concluded that it was solidly made without lags or having game-breaking bugs. Gry Online argued that the game was less fun and interesting than its successor "Teenagent". "Polskie Gry Wideo" noted the game's "undeveloped game design and numerous unintuitive solutions."
Audiovisual design.
Critics had a mixed response to "Tajemnica Statuetki" audiovisual design. Gry Online said that when the game appeared on the market, "the mere use of digitized photographs was the pinnacle of the achievements of Polish programmers". Michael Zacharzewski of Imperium Gier said that by 1999 standards, the game should be considered an embarrassment in terms of technical quality. MiastoGier wrote that the game had impressive graphics despite its simple design. PB.pl said the game looks "clumsy" today while Interaktywnie noted that it appealed despite its "amateur character". According to Radio Szczecin, by 2014 standards, the game is "unkempt" due to its static photographs, lack of animation and music, and expository subtitles, all of which might "scare off the younger players". It noted, however, that older players should play the game to remind them of what adventure games used to be like.
"SS-NG" said the game's audiovisual content would have seemed lacking compared to Western games even at the time of release, particularly its sound effects and use of digitised photographs. Gry Online noted that while the game was lacking graphically, the use of digitised photographs was considered a milestone in the Polish video game industry at the time. Describing the game as a "strong textbook with pretty images", "Secret Service" expressed disappointment that it did not include music in the introduction or a line-by-line voiceover. "Video Games Around the World" deemed the production values "Spartan" because of the use of digitised photographs, lack of animations and music, and minimal sound effects. "Polskie Gry Wideo" wrote that the game's graphics contrasted with those of its western contemporaries such as "Mystery House" (1980), "Maniac Mansion" (1987), "The Secret of Monkey Island" (1990), and "Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis" (1992).
"SS-NG" said the game's photographic material added an air of authenticity. Bastion Magazynów noted that even at the time of its release, the game did not delight with sound or graphics. Geezmo said the lack of animation and the inaudible soundtrack came across as technical weaknesses. "MiastoGier" noted that the unprecedented use of incredibly photo-realistic graphics caused players astonishment. Chmielarz agreed that the game "technically did not delight". "Secret Service" wrote that they wished the game's creators had made a version that would be compatible with inferior graphics cards. "SS-NG" thought that the game "did not impress with graphics". Exec lamented that the sound was limited to just a few samples and some "very annoying squeaks".
Polishness.
"Video Games Around the World" wrote that reviewers were willing to overlook the shortcomings of "Tajemnica Statuetki" as it was the first Polish adventure for the PC. "SS-NG" noted that because it was only released in Polish, English-speakers were unable to fully enjoy it and that despite its shortcomings it "won the hearts of Polish [and non-Polish] adventure lovers". The site also said it should be played by everyone so they will appreciate one of the first Polish video games. Despite the magazine's reservations, "Secret Service" deemed "Tajemnica Statuetki"a good game, recommending it because of its affordability and accessibility; it also said, "the patriotic duty of all players should be to buy it from the producer and finish it". "SS-NG" called the game a source of national pride, commenting that "anyone who knew our beautiful Slavic language could play it". To the reviewer, the game has a replay-ability unlike other adventure games because it is a piece of their childhood; the writers felt gratitude to the developers for the many hours they used to spend playing it. Aleksy Uchański wrote in "Gambler" that at the time the Polish gaming industry had "2.5 good games of native production (and about ten times more rubbish)", most of which were not influential in the industry's development, calling Metropolis and its early games the worthy exception.
While "Tajemnica Statuetki" was unable to compete with Sierra or LucasArts products, "SS-NG" said it was quite good by Polish standards of the time, writing that the best aspect of the title is that "above all, it was Polish". Despite writing that in the modern age it is difficult to understand how such an average product could have been praised one day, Gameplay wrote that playing "Tajemnica Statuetki" was worthwhile to see what the "global hit of Polish production" once looked like. Polskie Gry Wideo said arguably the most important thing about the game was that information is provided in Polish, deeming it "revolutionary". "SS-NG" said while the game may have been "a bit forgotten" by 2004, that did not detract from its "contribution to the development of the entire domestic industry". In 2014, Radio Szczecin commented that the game had not aged well but was unforgettable because it is a fully Polish production from its artists to its subtitles, with international action. Radio Szczecin also said the title is unforgettable due to its cultural relevance, in the sense that a game with Polish artists and subtitles made a dent on the world stage.
Legacy.
"Tajemnica Statuetki" was followed by the critically acclaimed point-and-click adventure "Teenagent" (1995), which the company eagerly advertised thus: "The creators of "Tajemnica Statuetki" have been silent for over a year. See for yourself why". InnPoland attributes this marketing campaign to the game becoming a "breakthrough". PB.pl said this slogan "grabbed" the public.
As "Teenagent" was the first Polish game to be professionally marketed, Polygamia said, "none of the Polish producers has ever preceded their game with such great marketing efforts", and that this created a media buzz around the game. According to Eurogamer, "the studio was flush with the early successes" of these two games. Among the studio's later work was the satirical adventure game "The Prince and the Coward" (1998), created with the help of the fantasy writer Jacek Piekara. "The Prince and the Coward" completed the trilogy of adventure games that Chmielarz started his game designer career with. Chmielarz thought the title, one of his first three commercially released games, was more convincing than his first ZX Spectrum games. A continuation of the "Tajemnica Statuetki" story, which was to be released on a CD-ROM, was announced. Photographic material for the game was collected but work was suspended and Metropolis Software worked on other projects. As of December 1994, "Secret Service" still expected "Tajemnica Statuetki 2" would be released, most likely in 1995. "Bajty Polskie" noted that even in 2015, players still anticipated a sequel to the game, with a story in which Pollack goes on holiday with a friend to a Polish castle near Masurian Lake and an ambulance takes away his friend.
A personal conflict between Chmielarz and Miechowski led to the former leaving the company around 2002 to form People Can Fly. Metropolis Software was acquired by CD Projekt in 2008 as a subsidiary and became defunct the following year. Miechowski later founded 11 Bit Studios. Metropolis kept the rights to "Tajemnica Statuetki"; these became the property of CD Projekt when they bought the company and they may still own them.
The use of holiday photographs as part of the game's visual language partly inspired People Can Fly developer Wojciech Pazdur to use photogrammetry to help build levels for the first-person shooter "Painkiller". The 2004 adventure game "Ramon's Spell", according to "SS-NG", was modeled on this game. "Tajemnica Statuetki" was Metropolis' first use of special service agents, a trope that would reappear in many of their later games including 2007's "Infernal". Chmielarz, the "Polish Sid Meier" said his 2014 game "The Vanishing of Ethan Carter" saw him return to his adventure gaming roots of the "Tajemnica Statuetki" era, while Gamezilla said the latter title would not have existed without the former.
Adam Juszczak's text "Polski Rynek Gier Wideo – Sytuacja Obecna Oraz Perspektywy Na Przyszłość" noted the "breakthrough" nature of "Tajemnica Statuetki" in a wider context; the Polish gaming market had been delayed because of the socialist system and the lack of widespread access to computers and consoles; as a result it had only begun to develop in the 1980s. The first Polish computer magazine, "Bajtek", was launched in 1985. Around this time, the first Polish games also began to emerge, placing "Tajemnica Statuetki" in the history of Polish entertainment.
Chmielarz's game had a wide impact on the domestic market. InnPoland wrote that it was one of the first Polish games to "enjoy hit status". It became an "undoubted success" and a "loud hit of the AT-era". It stood out significantly against the background of similar adventure games from Mirage, LK Avalon, and ASF, and it was difficult to confuse it with other titles. "Nie tylko Wiedźmin" wrote that IPS' behaviour as a publisher was a "funny ... anecdote" due to the unprecedented success of the game. MiastoGier said Metropolis Software's early work was part of the golden age of adventure games after the age of animation sprites and connected frames; the site deemed it an important piece of cultural history for adventure gamers that shows the beginnings of Polish game development and the start of Adrian Chmielarz's career, and describing the game as "legendary."
Onet called "Tajemnica Statuetki" "one of the most important games in the history of virtual entertainment". The game "allowed Metropolis Software" to "gain recognition in the Polish PC world of adventure games admirers". In addition, Onet said the game revolutionised game development in the country and that "for years it marked the direction of the industry". While "Tajemnica Statuetki" is virtually unheard of in the Western world, it was a "great success for the fast-paced Polish audience". "SS-NG" wrote that so much had been written about it that certain points of analysis had become hackneyed.
According to Polygon, "thanks to piracy just about every gamer of a certain age in Poland has played "Mystery of the Statuette"." Part of the reason was a Metropolis Pack containing "Tajemnica Statuetki", "Teenagent", and "Katharsis" put together by pirates and released as shareware. "SS-NG" said the unprofitability in the industry due to piracy necessitated a leap of faith on Chmielarz's part. Polish YouTuber Krzysztof “NRGeek” Micielski asserted that the game's original release marked the first title he ever bought rather than pirated. , Chmielarz is considered a "living legend" in the Polish video gaming industry and "one of the most important computer game developers" in the country. Polskie Gry Wideo shrugged off the title's underwhelming aspects as the "first, clumsy steps" at the beginning of Chmielarz's influential career, calling it a "step in the right direction". The history of early Polish video game development, and specifically the creation of "Tajemnica Statuetki", was addressed in the Polish-language book "Nie tylko Wiedźmin: Historia polskich gier komputerowych".
In 2014, "Orange" listed the game as the sixth best Polish game of the 1990s. Logo 24 listed "Tajemnica Statuetki" as one of the "Top 10 ... most important Polish games", deeming Chmielarz "probably the most known and respected Polish game developer". In 2016, the game was exhibited as part of the Digital Dreamers exhibition at the Palace of Culture and Science Sciences in Warsaw and was listed by Benchmark in their article "Najlepsze polskie gry" ("The best Polish games"). Marcin N. Drews and Chmielarz reunited for a panel at the 2017 Pixel Connect convention, where they spoke about the game. Chmielarz had previously spoken about it on a 2013 panel with other early Polish game developers. The game can be legally played at GOG.com.


Arno Steinwender

Arno Steinwender (born November 16, 1976) is an Austrian board game designer and teacher. In his free time he develops board games, for which he has won several awards.
Career.
After graduating from the University of Vienna Steinwender began working as a teacher of mathematics and physics. He created the database "get.to/spiele", which later grew into the website spieletest.at., which is now one of the largest information portals about games in the German speaking world. His first game, "Venga-Venga!," was released by the publishing house Selecta Spielzeug. Steinwender creates about twenty game prototypes a year and is one of the most popular Austrian board game designers. He has interviews in newspapers and television broadcasts. He accepts contract work and one of his clients is the Austrian public transport organisation Wiener Linien.


Barbara Hulanicki

Barbara Hulanicki (b. 1936) is a fashion designer, born in Warsaw, Poland, to Polish parents and best known as the founder of clothes store Biba.
Career.
Her father, Witold Hulanicki, was assassinated by the Stern Gang in Jerusalem in 1948, and the family moved to Brighton, England. While studying from 1954 to 1956 at the Brighton School of Art, now the University of Brighton Faculty of Arts, Hulanicki won a London "Evening Standard"-newspaper competition in 1955 for beachwear. She began her career in fashion as a freelance fashion illustrator for various magazines, including "Vogue", "Tatler" and "Women's Wear Daily".
Hulanicki sold her first designs through a small mail-order business that was featured in the fashion columns of newspapers such as the London "Daily Mirror".
In 1964, she opened her Biba shop in the Kensington district of London with the help of her late husband, Stephen Fitz-Simon. The shop soon became known for its "stylishly decadent atmosphere" and decor inspired by Art Nouveau and Art Deco. It became a hangout for artists, film stars and rock musicians, including Mick Jagger and The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Marianne Faithfull and Cathy McGowan, presenter of British pop/rock TV programme "Ready Steady Go!". In the shop, a young clientele bought affordable mini-skirts, floppy felt hats, feather boas, velvet trouser suits and unisex tee-shirts dyed in rich, muted colours. Anna Wintour started in fashion at age 15 as a Biba employee.
After the shop's 1975 closure, Hulanicki moved to Brazil, where she opened several other stores. She kept designing for labels such as Fiorucci and Cacharel and from 1980 to 1992 designed a line of children's wear, Minirock, licensed to the Japanese market. In 1981 she opened a new shop in UK.
In 1987 she moved to Miami, Florida, where she opened an interior design business, designing hotels for Chris Blackwell in Jamaica and the Bahamas. She has designed wallpaper for the Habitat store chain in Europe and launched a fashion and home range in India and also wallpaper in her widely recognised Art Deco style for Graham & Brown.
British retailer Topshop opened a New York City store in April 2009 and later that month launched a collection featuring Hulanicki's designs. She produced a collection for Topshop featuring billowing chiffon dresses and blouses reminiscent of her original Biba style along with several jersey pieces printed with her original illustrations, bikinis and a cropped suede jacket. In the same month, a handbag in her Art Deco style was made by the Italian label Coccinelle.
About the design scene in 2009, Hulanicki has said: "There is very little difference today as opposed to the '70s; although, there is much more choice now. Both periods share the same enthusiasm, if you press the right buttons."
In December 2013, she was the guest on BBC Radio 4's "Desert Island Discs", where her top choice was "Walk on the Wild Side" by Lou Reed. In September 2015, she was interviewed on the BBC TV's "HARDtalk". She has said: "Now whenever I finish something I take some photographs and say 'goodbye'. When you lose everything, you realise that the only thing you have is what's in your head."
In 2009, the British department store group House of Fraser bought the rights to the Biba label. In 2014, Hulanicki agreed to serve as a consultant for Biba, the first time since 1975 that she had been involved with her created brand.
Awards.
Hulanicki received an Honorary Doctorate from Heriot-Watt University in 2010
Hulanicki was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2012 New Year Honours for services to the fashion industry.


The Sims Stories


Anju Modi

Anju Modi is an Indian costume designer who designed for Bajirao Mastani (2015) and Ram Leela (2013). She earned Filmfare Award for Best Costume Design in 2016.
She has been an integral part of the Indian Fashion Industry since the year 1990. Over the years, the Indian fashion industry has witnessed the founder member of the Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) successfully straddle the roles of an artisan and a designer. Modi is committed to stimulate the growth of Indian textile and craftsmen.
Brand Philosophy.
Anju Modi's endeavor muses on the philosophy that Design has no language. The designer whose expertise with weaves and crafts is well known, considers weavers and craftsmen her mentors. The concept and inspirations behind Modi's couture metamorphose on account of her state of mind at a particular moment. The core of her collections is the couture and the craftsmanship behind it. Inspired by the charm that reflects in the history of India, Modi has always been enthusiastic about working with film makers who focus on historical characters, rooted in history or mythologies.
She has been collaborating with artisans across the country for a long period of time. She has created an extensive library in areas like weaving, vegetable dyeing, block printing and old traditional embroidery. The driving force behind each of her collections is the Indian heritage, through which she brings out the contemporary charm. Actors like Madhuri Dixit, Kangana Ranaut, Sonam Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Kriti Sanon and Jacqueline Fernandes have been seen wearing Modi's ensembles at various occasions.
One of her collection video that depicts a coming-of-age story of a young girl becoming a bride, seems to further reinstate. “The movie starts with a girl playing around in a waterbody with blooming lotuses surrounding her. The vibe is all about innocence and mischievousness. She then gets ready for the union in a red outfit to depict passion and positive energy," she elaborates. The models can be seen dressed in pieces from her latest collection that are as classic as they are breezy and versatile.