Iron man

***Iron Man***

Iron Man is a 2008 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. Directed by Jon Favreau, the film stars Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark, an industrialist and master engineer who builds a powered exoskeleton and becomes the technologically advanced superhero, Iron Man. Gwyneth Paltrow plays his personal assistant Pepper Potts, Terrence Howard plays military liaison James Rhodes and Jeff Bridges plays Stark Industries executive Obadiah Stane.

The film was in development since 1990 at Universal Studios, 20th Century Fox, and New Line Cinema, before Marvel Studios reacquired the rights in 2006. Marvel put the project in production as its first self-financed film. Favreau signed on as director, aiming for a naturalistic feel, and he chose to shoot the film primarily in California, rejecting the East Coast setting of the comics to differentiate the film from numerous superhero films set in New York City-esque environments. During filming, the actors were free to create their own dialogue because pre-production was focused on the story and action. Rubber and metal versions of the armors, created by Stan Winston's company, were mixed with computer-generated imagery to create the title character. Hasbro and Sega sold merchandise, and product placement deals were made with Audi, Burger King, LG and 7-Eleven.

 

Reviews were very positive, particularly praising Downey's performance. The American Film Institute selected the film as one of the ten best of the year. Downey, Favreau and Paltrow returned in the sequel Iron Man 2, released on May 7, 2010. Downey also made a cameo appearance as Stark in The Incredible Hulk and is scheduled to appear in the upcoming film The Avengers. The film is the first installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Plot

Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) is the head of Stark Industries, a major military contracting company he inherited from his father. Even though Stark is an inventive genius and wunderkind, he is also a playboy. One day, while his father's old partner, Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges), takes care of day-to-day operations, Stark flies to war-torn Afghanistan with his friend and military liaison, Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes (Terrence Howard), for a demonstration of Stark's new weapon, the "Jericho" missile. However, Stark is critically wounded in an assault and finds himself the prisoner of an Afghan terrorist group known as the Ten Rings. An electromagnet has been embedded in his chest by fellow captive Dr. Yinsen (Shaun Toub) to keep shrapnel from killing him. The Ten Rings leader, Raza (Faran Tahir), offers Stark his freedom in exchange for building a Jericho missile for the group. Yinsen later confirms Stark's suspicion that Raza will not keep his word.

During his three months of captivity, Stark and Yinsen secretly build a suit of armor powered by a miniature arc reactor which Stark builds to power his electromagnet. The terrorists give Stark 24 hours to finish, but expires before the suit is fully activated. Yinsen distracts the guards while Stark powers up the suit. The now-armored Stark battles his way out of the caves and finds the dying Yinsen, who tells him not to waste his life. Stark burns the terrorists' munitions and flies away, only to crash in the desert. Stark survives the crash, but the prototype suit is destroyed. After being rescued by Rhodes, Stark announces that his company will no longer manufacture weapons. Stane advises Stark that this may ruin Stark Industries and his father's legacy.

Stark builds an improved version of his suit as well as a more powerful arc reactor for his chest. Later, during Stark's first public appearance after his return, reporter Christine Everhart (Leslie Bibb) informs him that Stark Industries weapons, including the "Jericho", were recently delivered to the Ten Rings and are being used to attack Yinsen's home village. He also learns that Stane is trying to succeed Stark. Enraged, Stark dons his new armor and flies to Afghanistan where he dispatches the Ten Rings. While flying home, Stark is shot at by two F-22 Raptor fighter jets. He tells Rhodes his secret identity in an attempt to get the attack called off, but flies off on his own.

Stark sends his assistant Virginia "Pepper" Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) to hack into the company computer system. She discovers Stane has been supplying terrorists with Stark weaponry and hired the Ten Rings to kill Stark, but the group reneged on the deal upon discovering who the target was. Potts later meets with agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) of the "Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division", a counter-terrorism agency, to inform him of Stane's activities.

Stane visits the Ten Rings and, after obtaining the pieces of the destroyed prototype suit, has the group eliminated. He then reverse engineers his own suit from Stark's first. However, his scientists can't duplicate Stark's arc reactor. Undeterred, Stane ambushes Stark in his house, uses a sonic device to paralyze him, and removes Stark's arc reactor. However, Stark manages to reinstall his original reactor. Meanwhile, Potts and several S.H.I.E.L.D. agents attempt to arrest Stane, but are attacked by him in his now functional suit.

Stark races to the rescue and fights Stane, but is quickly overpowered. He lures Stane atop the Stark Industries building and instructs Potts to overload the full-sized arc reactor in the building. This unleashes a massive electrical surge that knocks Stane unconscious and falls to his apparent death in the reactor. The next day, the press has dubbed Stark in his armor as "Iron Man". Since it was Stark fighting with Stane, Agent Coulson gives him a cover story. At a press conference, Stark starts to tell the cover story given to him by S.H.I.E.L.D., but then announces that he is Iron Man.

In a post-credits scene, S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) visits Stark at home, and, noting that Iron Man is not "the only superhero in the world", says he wants to discuss the "Avenger Initiative".

the matrix

***The Matrix***

The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction-action film written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano, and Hugo Weaving. It was first released in North America on March 31, 1999, and in Australia on April 8, 1999, and is the first installment in the Matrix series of films, comic books, video games, and animation.

The film depicts a future in which reality as perceived by most humans is actually a simulated reality created by sentient machines to pacify and subdue the human population, while their bodies' heat and electrical activity are used as an energy source. Upon learning this, computer programmer "Neo" is drawn into a rebellion against the machines, involving other people who have been freed from the "dream world" and into reality.

The film contains many references to the cyberpunk and hacker subcultures; philosophical and religious ideas such as René Descartes' evil genius, the Allegory of the Cave, the brain in a vat thought experiment; and homages to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Hong Kong action cinema, spaghetti westerns, dystopian fiction, and Japanese animation.

Plot

Computer programmer Thomas A. Anderson (Keanu Reeves) is secretly a hacker known by the alias "Neo." He is restless, and driven to learn the meaning of cryptic references to "the Matrix" appearing on his computer. An infamous female hacker called Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) confirms that a man named Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) knows the answers he seeks; however, three sinister Agents, led by Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving), arrest Neo and attempt to discourage him from contacting Morpheus. Undeterred, Neo attends a secret meeting with Morpheus, who offers him a choice of two pills: A blue one that would allow him to continue ordinary life in the Matrix, and a red pill that would allow him to learn the truth about the Matrix. Neo swallows the red pill, and he abruptly finds himself in a liquid-filled pod, his body connected by tubes and cables to a vast mechanical tower covered with identical pods. The connections are severed, and he is rescued by Morpheus and taken aboard his ship, the Nebuchadnezzar. Neo's atrophied physical body is restored, and Morpheus explains the situation.

Morpheus tells Neo that it is not 1999, but closer to 2199, and that humanity is fighting a war against intelligent machines created in the early 21st century. The sky is covered by thick black clouds created by the humans in an attempt to cut off the machines' supply of solar power. The machines responded by using human beings as their energy source in conjunction with nuclear fusion, later growing countless people in pods and harvesting their bioelectrical energy and body heat. The world in which Neo grew up was actually the Matrix, a simulated reality of the world set in 1999, developed by the machines in order to keep the human captives docile. Morpheus and his crew belong to a group of free humans who "unplug" others from the Matrix and recruit them to their resistance against the machines. They are able to use their understanding of the Matrix's nature to bend the simulation's laws of physics, giving them superhuman abilities within the virtual world. Morpheus believes that Neo is "the One," a man prophesied to end the war through his limitless control over the Matrix.

Neo is trained as a member of the rebellion. A socket in Neo's skull, formerly used by the machines to connect him to the Matrix, allows knowledge to be uploaded directly into his mind. In this way, he is able to quickly learn numerous martial arts styles, and impresses the crew with his speed when sparring in the rebels' virtual reality "construct" environment. Further training introduces Neo to the key dangers in the Matrix itself. He learns that fatal injuries suffered within the simulation will also kill one's physical body in the real world. He is warned that the Agents he previously met are powerful sentient computer programs with the ability to possess the virtual body of anyone still directly connected to the Matrix, whose purpose is to seek out and eliminate any threats to the simulation. Morpheus is confident that once Neo fully understands his own abilities as "the One", the Agents will be no match for him.

The group enters the Matrix and takes Neo to meet the Oracle (Gloria Foster), the woman who has predicted the eventual emergence of the One. From her comments, Neo assumes that he is not the One. The Oracle adds that Morpheus believes in Neo so blindly that he will sacrifice his life to save him.

Returning to the hacked telephone line which serves as a safe "exit" from the Matrix, the group is surrounded by Agents and SWAT teams. One of the members of the group, Mouse (Matt Doran), is killed in the initial ambush. Morpheus allows himself to be captured so that Neo and the others can escape. They learn that they were betrayed by their fellow crew-member Cypher (Joe Pantoliano), who preferred his old life in the Matrix over the real world, and who had made a deal to have himself reinserted into the Matrix in exchange for giving them Morpheus. Cypher is killed, but his betrayal leads to the deaths of all crew-members except Neo, Trinity, Tank (Marcus Chong), and Morpheus.

Morpheus is held in a government building in the Matrix. The Agents try to coerce him into revealing the access codes to the mainframe of Zion, the humans' subterranean refuge in the real world. Neo and Trinity storm the building to rescue their leader. Neo becomes more confident in his ability to manipulate the Matrix, ultimately dodging bullets fired at him. Escaping to a subway station, Morpheus and Trinity use a payphone to exit the Matrix, but before Neo can leave he is ambushed by Agent Smith. Neo stands his ground and eventually causes Smith to be run over by a subway train, but flees when the Agent possesses another body.

As Neo runs through the city toward another telephone exit, he is pursued by the Agents while "sentinel" machines converge on the Nebuchadnezzar in the real world. Neo reaches an exit, but Agent Smith is already waiting and shoots him. In the real world, Trinity whispers to Neo what the Oracle had told her: that she would fall in love with "the One." She refuses to accept his death and kisses him. Neo's heart beats again, and within the Matrix, he revives; the Agents shoot at him, but he raises his palm and the bullets stop in mid-air. Neo is now able to perceive the streaming lines of green computer code that constitute the Matrix. Agent Smith makes a final attempt to kill him, but his punches are effortlessly blocked, and Neo destroys him. The other two Agents flee, and Neo returns to the real world in time for the ship's EMP weapon to destroy the sentinels that had already breached the craft's hull.

A short epilogue shows Neo back in the Matrix, making a telephone call promising that he will demonstrate to the people imprisoned in the Matrix that "anything is possible." He hangs up the phone and then flies into the sky.

Jet Li

***Jet Li***

Li Lianjie (pronounced [lì li̯ɛ̌ntɕi̯ɛ̌]; born April 26, 1963), better known by his stage name Jet Li, is a Chinese martial artist, actor, film producer, wushu champion, and international film star who was born in Beijing, and has taken up Singaporean citizenship in 2009.

After three years of intensive training with Wu Bin, Li won his first national championship for the Beijing Wushu Team. After retiring from wushu at age 17, he went on to win great acclaim in China as an actor making his debut with the film Shaolin Temple (1982). He went on to star in many critically acclaimed martial arts epic films, most notably the Once Upon A Time In China series, in which he portrayed folk hero Wong Fei-hung.

Li's first role in a Hollywood film was as a villain in Lethal Weapon 4 (1998), but his first Hollywood film leading role was in Romeo Must Die (2000). He has gone on to star in many Hollywood action films, most recently co-starring in The Expendables (2010) with Sylvester Stallone, in The Forbidden Kingdom (2008) with Jackie Chan, and as the title character villain in The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor (2008) opposite Brendan Fraser. He also appeared in the Hong Kong film Ocean Heaven (2010), directed and written by Xue Xiaolu.

Early life and martial arts career

Li Lianjie was born in Beijing, People's Republic of China, the youngest of two boys and two girls. His father died when he was two years old, leaving the family struggling.

Li was eight when his talent for wushu was noticed at a summer course at school, and he began his practice there. Li participated in the sport of wushu in the non-sparring event. He began his wushu on the Beijing Wushu Team, an athletic group organized to perform martial arts forms during the All China Games. He was coached by renowned wushu coaches Li Junfeng and Wu Bin, who made extra efforts to help the talented boy develop. Wu Bin even bought food for Li's family because they could not afford to buy meat, which was essential for the good physical condition of an athlete. As a member of the team, he received wushu training and went on to win fifteen gold medals and one silver medal in Chinese wushu championships, where, despite his young age, he competed against adults. According to Li, once, as a child, when the Chinese National Wushu Team went to perform for President Richard Nixon in the United States, he was asked by Nixon to be his personal bodyguard. Li replied, "I don't want to protect any individual. When I grow up, I want to defend my one billion Chinese countrymen!" which earned him much respect in his homeland.

Li is a master of several styles of wushu, especially Changquan (Northern Longfist Style) and Fanziquan (Tumbling fist). He has also studied other arts including Baguazhang (Eight trigram palm), Taijiquan (Supreme ultimate fist), Xingyiquan (Shape intent fist), Zuiquan (Drunken fist), Yingzhaoquan (Eagle claw fist) and Tanglangquan (Praying mantis fist). He did not learn Nanquan (Southern fist), because his training focused only in the Northern Shaolin Styles. He has also studied some of wushu's main weapons, such Sanjiegun (Three section staff), Gun (staff), Dao (Broadsword), Jian (Straight sword) and many more.

Acting career

Chinese films:
Jet Li's hand print and autograph at the Avenue of Stars in Hong Kong.

The fame gained by his sports winnings led to a career as a martial arts film star, beginning in mainland China and then continuing into Hong Kong. Li acquired his screen name in 1982 in the Philippines when a publicity company thought his real name was too hard to pronounce. They likened his career to an aircraft, which likewise "takes-off" as quickly, so they placed the name Jet Li on the movie posters. Soon everybody was calling him by this new name, which was also based on the nickname, "Jet," given to him as a young student, due to his speed and grace when training with the Beijing Wushu team. He made his debut with the 1982 film Shaolin Temple. Some of his more famous Chinese films include:

American films:

In 1998, he made his American film debut in Lethal Weapon 4 which also marked the first time he had ever played a villain in a film. He agreed to do Lethal Weapon 4 after the producer Joel Silver promised to give him the leading role in his next film, Romeo Must Die (2000) alongside late singer Aaliyah. The film became a box office hit.

Li turned down Chow Yun-fat's role in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) because he promised his wife that he would not make any films during her pregnancy. He also turned down the role of Seraph in The Matrix trilogy, based on his belief that the role was not one which required his skills and that the films were iconic and stunning enough without adding his name to the cast list.

In 2001, he appeared in two more Hollywood films: The One which was the first of his films with Jason Statham and Kiss of the Dragon opposite Bridget Fonda which did moderately well at the box office. In July 2001, Li agreed to produce and star in an action film with Jackie Chan which was to be released in 2002 or 2003, but no further news of their collaboration surfaced until 2006. In 2002, the period martial arts epic film Hero was released in the Chinese market. This film was both a commercial and critical success and became the highest-grossing motion picture in Chinese film history at the time. In 2003 he reunited with producer Joel Silver for the action thriller film Cradle 2 The Grave where he starred alongside rapper DMX and fellow martial artist Mark Dacascos. In 2004, Li lent his likeness, voice and provided motion capture work for the video game Jet Li: Rise to Honor.

Li took on a more serious role in the 2005 film, Unleashed (a.k.a. Danny the Dog), where he portrayed an adult with the mentality of a child who has been raised like an animal. Although his martial arts skills were utilized extensively, it was a somber film with more depth than had been previously seen in Li's films, and co-starred dramatic actors Bob Hoskins and Morgan Freeman.

In 2006, the martial arts film epic Fearless, was released worldwide. Although he will continue to make martial arts films, Fearless is his last wushu epic. In Fearless, he played Huo Yuanjia, the real-life founder of Chin Woo Athletic Association, who reportedly defeated foreign boxers and Japanese martial artists in publicized events at a time when China's power was seen as eroding. Together with the film Fist of Legend, Li has portrayed both Chen Jun, the student and avenger of Huo Yuanjia (aka Fok Yun Gap), as well as Huo Yuanjia himself. Fearless was released on January 26, 2006 in Hong Kong, followed by a September 22, 2006 release in the United States where it reached second place in its first weekend.

I stepped into the martial arts movie market when I was only 16. I think I have proved my ability in this field and it won't make sense for me to continue for another five or 10 years. Huo Yuanjia is a conclusion to my life as a martial arts star

boys before flowers

***Boys Before Flowers***

Boys Bevorer Flowers (꽃보다 남자) is a South Korean television drama series starring Koo Hye Sun, Lee Min Ho, Kim Hyun Joong of SS501, Kim Bum, Kim Joon of T-Max and Kim So Eun. It premiered on January 5, 2009 on KBS2 and ended on March 31, 2009 after 25 episodes.

It is based on Japanese shōjo manga series, Boys Over Flowers (花より男子 Hana Yori Dango?), written by Yoko Kamio. The series is the fifth television adaptation of the manga following the Taiwanese Meteor Garden and its sequel Meteor Garden II and the Japanese Hana Yori Dango and its sequel Hana Yori Dango Returns.

Plot

Shin Hwa School is a school for rich people, attended by Goo Jun-pyo, the heir of the global corporation Shin Hwa Group, Yun Ji-hu, So Yi-jeong, and Song Woo-bin which form a gang called F4. Jun-pyo who is the leader of F4 is also the main ruffian.

Geum Jan-di, who is not from rich family, comes to Shin Hwa School and accidentally gets into troubles with Jun-pyo after rescuing a victim of Jun-pyo's bullying, Lee Min-ha. Almost every time Jan-di is bullied, she is helped by Ji-hu, who appears to be innocent but never stops his best friend Jun-pyo from bad actions.
Getting impatient with Jun-pyo's annoying deeds, Jan-di kicks Jun-pyo in front of his friends. Suddenly, Jun-pyo falls in love with Jan-di who dares to fight him.

Synopsis

Due to public demand, KBS added after stories about the F4 members 5 years after the series. The F4 members receive a text message saying to meet up. Yi Jeong, Woo Bin, and Jun Pyo have gathered in the F4 private classroom. Their desks have since been covered with white cloths.

Episode 1 is So Yi Jeong's Story entitled Love Me... Violet Nostalgia (내게 사랑은... 보랏빛 그리움) In this episode Yi Jeong discovers a basket of flowers outside on a bench. He begins to have flashbacks to times he spent with Ga Eul. In the classroom, he wraps some of them up into a bouquet, snaps some polaroids with them and attaches the photos to the bouquet. More flashbacks of Ga Eul come to mind as he heads outside. Yi Jeong arrives at a door. It seems as if no one answers and he's a little disappointed. A female voice calls out to him, "Sunbae, I'm a little late, right?" He smiles, holds out the flower bouquet and asks, "Ga Eul, will you be my flower forever?" The background song is "I'm Going to Meet Her Now" by the actor himself, Kim Bum.

Episode 2 is Song Woo Bin's Story entitled Love... Friendship... (사랑도... 우정도...) In this episode we see a frustrated Woo Bin confronting a girl. He asks her for a reason, and she responds that she's tired. He throws the flowers to the ground. In the classroom, as Yi Jeong and Jun Pyo are playing a game of Jenga, he knocks down the tower and leaves angrily. Outside, he reminisces about the great times he's had with the rest of F4. Later he goes back inside and sits at his desk looking at a picture of F4 when they were little kids. Jun Pyo and Yi Jeong surprise him with a birthday cake. The background song is "To Empty Out" by the actor himself, Kim Joon.

Episode 3 is Yoon Ji Hoo's Story entitled I, Sometimes (사랑, 때때로) In this episode there are flashback scenes of Ji Hoo's love of Jan Di, revolving around the scene where he confesses his love for her and she falls asleep. Ji Hoo is missing when the F4 had the meeting in their classroom, but was in the introduction scene where they receive the text message to meet up. The background song is "Sometime" by the actor himself, Kim Hyun Joong.

Episode 4 is Gu Jun Pyo's Story entitled Love. So Long As It's That (사랑. 그후로도 오랫동안) In this episode Jun Pyo sneaks inside the ShinHwa University kitchen, where, after remembering the cookies that Jan Di made with his face on them, decides to bake cookies with Jan Di faces for her. Woo Bin spots him in the middle of the process, and Jun Pyo, wearing a frilly apron, shoos Woo Bin out. The background song is "My Everything" by the actor himself, Lee Min Ho.

Cast

Goo Hye Sun as Geum Jan Di:

Jan Di is the headstrong daughter of a dry cleaner. While on a delivery run to Shinhwa High School, she saves a bullied student from committing suicide. Jan Di is offered a scholarship to attend the prestigious school, and ends up getting on the bad side of Gu Jun Pyo.

Lee Min Ho as Gu Jun Pyo:

Jun Pyo is the leader of F4 (the most popular guy at Shinhwa High) and heir to the Shinhwa conglomerate. He torments Jan Di after she stands up to his bullying ways, but ends up falling for her instead.

Kim Joon as Song Woo Bin:

Woo Bin is F4's other playboy. His family runs a large construction company and has important connections to an underground organization, hinted to be the mafia.

Kim So Eun as Chu Ga Eul:

Jan Di's best friend and works with her at the porridge shop. She eventually falls for So Yi Jung.

Kim Bum as So Yi Jung:

Yi Jeong is known as F4's Casanova. He is a skilled potter and his family owns the country's biggest art museum. He eventually changed his Casanova ways as he realized that he is in love with Chu Ga Eul ( Kim So Eun , Jan Di's best friend )

Kim Hyun Joong as Yoon Ji Hoo:

Ji Hoo is a member of F4 and grandson of the Korean ex-president. His musical talent catches Jan Di's attention and she begins to develop feelings for him.

boys before flowers movie

 

conan the barbarian

***Conan The Barbarian***

Conan the Barbarian (also known as Conan the Cimmerian, from the name of the character's homeland, Cimmeria) is a fictional character. He is a hero, a well known and iconic figure in American fantasy, and the most famous barbarian in fiction.

Conan is often associated with the fantasy subgenre of sword and sorcery and heroic fantasy. He was created by writer Robert E. Howard in 1932 via a series of fantasy stories sold to Weird Tales magazine. The character has since appeared in licensed books, comics, films, television programs, video games, roleplaying games, and even a board game, all of which contribute to the hero's long-standing popularity.Conan the

Barbarian is also the title of a Gnome Press collection of stories published in 1954, a comic published by Marvel Comics beginning in 1970, and a film and its novelization in 1982.

Publication history

Conan the Barbarian was created by Robert E. Howard and was the spiritual successor to an earlier character, Kull of Atlantis. For months, Howard had been in search of a new character to market to the burgeoning pulp outlets of the early 1930s. In October 1931, Howard submitted a short story titled "People of the Dark" to Clayton Publications' new magazine, Strange Tales of Mystery and Terror (June 1932). "People of the Dark" is a remembrance story of "past lives", and in its first-person narrative the protagonist describes one of his previous incarnations: Conan, a black-haired barbarian hero who swears by a deity called Crom. Some Howard scholars believe this Conan to be a forerunner of the more famous character.

In February 1932, Howard vacationed at a border town on the lower Rio Grande to enjoy the local culture. During this trip, he further conceived the character of Conan and also wrote the poem "Cimmeria", much of which echoes specific passages in Plutarch's Lives. According to some scholars, there is a strong likelihood that Howard's conception of Conan and the Hyborian Age originated in Thomas Bulfinch's The Outline of Mythology (1913) which inspired Howard to "coalesce into a coherent whole his literary aspirations and the strong physical, autobiographical elements underlying the creation of Conan."

Having digested these prior influences after he returned from his trip, Howard rewrote the rejected Kull story "By This Axe I Rule!" (May 1929) with his new hero in mind, re-titling it "The Phoenix on the Sword". Howard also wrote "The Frost Giant's Daughter", inspired by the Greek myth of Daphne, and submitted both stories to Weird Tales magazine. Although "The Frost-Giant's Daughter" was rejected, the magazine accepted "The Phoenix on the Sword" after it received the requested polishing.

"The Phoenix on the Sword" appeared in Weird Tales in December 1932, thus marking Conan's first appearance in print. Weird Tales would become famous for its unique stable of notable authors, including H. P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, Tennessee Williams, Robert Bloch, Seabury Quinn and others. The acceptance of "The Phoenix on the Sword" by editor Farnsworth Wright prompted Howard to write an 8,000 word essay for personal use detailing "the Hyborian Age," the fictional setting for Conan. Using this essay as his guideline, Howard began plotting "The Tower of the Elephant", a new Conan story that would be the first to truly integrate his new conception of the Hyborian world, and thus to introduce the setting to the reader.

The publication and success of "The Tower of the Elephant" would spur Howard to write many more Conan stories for Weird Tales. By the time of Howard's suicide in 1936, he had written twenty-one complete tales, seventeen of which had been published, as well as a number of unfinished fragments.

Following Howard's death, the copyright of the Conan stories passed through several hands. Eventually, under the guidance of L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter, the stories were expurgated, revised and sometimes rewritten. For roughly forty years, the original versions of Howard's Conan stories remained out of print. Only with the Berkley editions in 1977 was an attempt made to return to the earliest published (Weird Tales) form of the texts, but these failed to displace the edited versions. In the 1980s and 1990s, the copyright holders of the Conan franchise permitted Howard's stories to go out of print entirely, while continuing to sell Conan works by other authors.

In 2000, the British publisher Gollancz Science Fiction issued a two-volume, complete edition of Howard's Conan stories as part of their Fantasy Masterworks imprint, including several stories which had never seen print in their original form. The Gollancz edition mostly used the versions of the stories as published in Weird Tales.

conan the barbarian movie

SELENA GOMEZ

***Selena Gomez***

Selena Marie Gomez (born July 22, 1992) is an American actress, singer, and entrepreneur, best known for portraying Alex Russo in the Emmy Award-winning Disney Channel television series Wizards of Waverly Place. She subsequently ventured into feature films and has starred in the television movies Another Cinderella Story, Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie, and Princess Protection Program. She made her starring theatrical film debut in Ramona and Beezus.

Her career has expanded into the music industry; Gomez is the lead singer and founder of the pop band Selena Gomez & the Scene, which has released two RIAA Gold certified studio albums, Kiss & Tell and A Year Without Rain and spawned two RIAA Platinum certified singles, "Naturally" and "Who Says". As of April 2011, The band has sold 1,354,000 albums in the United States. Gomez has also contributed to the soundtracks of Tinker Bell, Another Cinderella Story and Wizards of Waverly Place after signing a record deal with Hollywood Records. In 2008, Gomez was designated a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.

Early life

Gomez was born in Grand Prairie, Texas. She is the daughter of former stage actress Mandy Teefey (née Cornett) and Ricardo Joel Gomez. Her father is Mexican American and her mother is of Italian descent. Regarding her Hispanic heritage, Gomez said: "My family does have Quinceañeras, and we go to the communion church. We do everything that's Catholic, but we don't really have anything traditional except [that we] go to the park and have barbeques on Sundays after church." Her birth parents divorced when she was five years old, and she was raised as an only child by her working mother. In 2006, Mandy remarried Brian Teefey. She is named after Tejano singer Selena. In a 2009 interview with People, Gomez mentioned that she developed an early interest in acting from watching her mother prepare for and act in theater productions. She earned a high school diploma through homeschooling in May 2010.

Acting career

2002–06: Barney & Friends and early work:

Gomez began her acting career at age seven, playing Gianna on Barney & Friends. She later had minor roles in Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over and the TV film Walker, Texas Ranger: Trial By Fire. Gomez also starred in the television movie Brain Zapped.

In 2004, Gomez was discovered by the Disney Channel in a nationwide scouting. Gomez appeared as a guest star on The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and had a guest appearance – that later turned into a recurring role – on Hannah Montana from seasons two to three. Gomez previously taped two different pilots that were spin-offs to two previous Disney series. The first one, What's Stevie Thinking?, was the spin-off to Lizzie McGuire. Gomez played Stevie Sanchez, Miranda Sanchez's little sister. The other show was titled Arwin!, the spin-off to The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, in which she played Alexa. Neither series was picked up.

2007–09: Wizards of Waverly Place and rise to fame:

In early 2007 Gomez was cast in the Disney Channel series Wizards of Waverly Place as one of the three main characters, Alex Russo. The show premiered to an audience of 5.9 million, becoming a hit. Many news outlets began dubbing Gomez the next 'Miley Cyrus' causing some controversy and a reported 'feud'. Gomez clarified that there was no feud and that she was flattered by the comparison, saying: "It's a little overwhelming, but I think really, it's a compliment. She's obviously extremely successful, and I think she's a wonderful performer ... So being compared to her, I was very, very flattered."

In 2008, Gomez appeared in Another Cinderella Story, the direct-to-DVD sequel to the 2004 Hilary Duff film, opposite Drew Seeley. She also had a minor voiceover role as one the Mayor's ninety-six daughters in Horton Hears a Who! which released in March of that year. In April, Lacey Rose, of Forbes ranked Gomez as being fifth on their "Eight Hot Kid Stars To Watch" list; and Rose described Gomez as having been "a multitalented teen".

In June 2009, Gomez did a guest appearance as herself in one episode of best friend Demi Lovato's Disney Channel television show, Sonny with a Chance, entitled "Battle of The Network Stars". That same month Gomez appeared alongside Lovato in the made-for-television Disney Channel movie, Princess Protection Program. The telecast garnered 8.5 million viewers becoming, at the time, the third most watched Disney Channel Original Movie. One month later, Gomez, along with two cast members of Wizards of Waverly Place appeared in a television three-way cross-over episode with Hannah Montana and The Suite Life on Deck, entitled Wizards on Deck with Hannah Montana. On August 28, two month after appearing in Princess Protection Program, Gomez appeared in Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie, a made-for-television film based on the show. The film premiered to an audience of 11.4 million viewers becoming cable's No. 1 scripted telecast of 2009 and Disney Channel's second most-viewed film premiere after High School Musical 2. In February 2009, Gomez signed on to star as one of the two female leads in Ramona and Beezus, a film adaption of the children's novel series by Beverly Cleary. Gomez stated that she felt no pressure in taking more adult roles: "I think I’m fully aware of my audience and I’m still just a kid myself. I wouldn’t do a role I don’t feel comfortable doing or that my audience wouldn’t feel comfortable seeing."

2010–present: Focus on film:

Gomez's first theatrical film Ramona & Beezus premiered on July 23, 2010 and met with generally positive reviews. In March 2010, Variety reported that Gomez was set to star as one of the three lead roles in Monte Carlo, alongside Leighton Meester and Katie Cassidy. In the film Gomez plays Grace, a girl who’s “mistaken for a socialite while on a trip to Paris.” To prepare for the role Gomez learned how to play polo and also took two weeks of vocal training to learn two different British accents. The same year Gomez confirmed that the fourth season of her hit Disney Channel show, Wizards of Waverly Place, would be its last.

In February 2011, Deadline.com reported that Universal Pictures and Strike Entertainment had acquired the novel Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher with Gomez attached to the lead. That same month TV Guide reported that Gomez would make a cameo in the upcoming Muppets film. Production for the final season of Wizards of Waverly Place came to a wrap on May 14, 2011. Gomez co-hosted the 2011 MuchMusic Video Awards on June 19.