Most viewed Wikipedia articles on December 21 , 2018
The winter solstice, hiemal solstice or hibernal solstice occurs when one of the Earth's poles has its maximum tilt away from the Sun. It happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere. For that hemisphere, the winter solstice is the day with the shortest period of daylight and longest night of the year, when the Sun is at its lowest daily maximum elevation in the sky. At the pole, there is continuous darkness or twilight around the winter solstice. Its opposite is the summer solstice. Also the Tropic of Cancer or Tropic of Capricorn depending on the hemispheres winter solstice the sun goes 90 degrees below the horizon at solar midnight to the nadir.
Zero is a 2018 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy-drama film written by Himanshu Sharma, directed by Aanand L. Rai and produced by Colour Yellow Productions in collaboration with Red Chillies Entertainment. Starring Shah Rukh Khan, Anushka Sharma and Katrina Kaif in leading roles, Zero revolves around the most prominent character Bauua Singh, a short man from Meerut who after having difficulty finding a marriage partner, finds a companion in Aafia Bhinder, a NSAR scientist with cerebral palsy. However, film superstar Babita also gets close with him, testing his first relationship, before this love triangle takes them to far-off cities, thrusting Bauua into an adventure to discover both his true love and completeness in a life lived to the fullest.
James Norman Mattis is a retired United States Marine Corps four-star general who served as the 26th US secretary of defense from January 2017 to January 2019. During his 44 years in the Marine Corps, he commanded forces in the Persian Gulf War, the War in Afghanistan, and the Iraq War.
Aquaman is a 2018 American superhero film based on the DC Comics character of the same name. Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, it is the sixth film in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). The film was directed by James Wan, from a screenplay by David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick and Will Beall. It stars Jason Momoa as Aquaman, who sets out to lead the underwater kingdom of Atlantis and stop his half-brother, King Orm from uniting the seven underwater kingdoms against the surface world. Amber Heard, Willem Dafoe, Patrick Wilson, Dolph Lundgren, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Ludi Lin, Temuera Morrison, and Nicole Kidman appear in supporting roles.
Joseph Jason Namakaeha Momoa is an American actor. He is widely known for portraying Arthur Curry / Aquaman in the DC Extended Universe films Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), Justice League (2017), and Aquaman (2018).
Bird Box is a 2018 American post-apocalyptic horror thriller film directed by Susanne Bier, following a screenplay written by Eric Heisserer, and based on the 2014 novel of the same name by Josh Malerman. The film follows the character Malorie Hayes, played by Sandra Bullock, as she tries to protect herself and two children from entities which push people who look at them to suicide.
Ole Gunnar Solskjær KSO is a Norwegian professional football manager and former player who is the manager of Premier League club Manchester United.
xHamster is a Cypriot pornographic media and social networking site headquartered in Limassol. xHamster serves user-submitted pornographic videos, webcam models, pornographic photographs, and erotic literature, and incorporates social networking features. xHamster was founded in 2007. With more than 10 million members, it is the fourth most popular pornography website on the Internet after XVideos, XNXX and Pornhub. As of July 2020, xHamster was the 20th most trafficked website in the world.
Macaulay Macaulay Culkin Culkin is an American actor, musician, and podcaster. Regarded as one of the most successful child actors of the 1990s, he was placed on VH1's list of the "100 Greatest Kid-Stars" and on E!'s list of the "50 Greatest Child Stars".
This is a list of notable deaths, organized by year. New deaths articles are added to their respective month, and then linked here.
Robert James Fischer was an American chess grandmaster and the eleventh World Chess Champion.
2.0 is a 2018 Indian Tamil-language science fiction action film written and directed by S. Shankar, and co-written by B. Jeyamohan. Produced by Subaskaran under the banner of Lyca Productions. As the second instalment in the Enthiran franchise, 2.0 is a standalone sequel to Enthiran (2010), featuring Rajinikanth reprising the roles of Vaseegaran and Chitti, alongside Akshay Kumar and Amy Jackson. Sudhanshu Pandey, Adil Hussain, Kalabhavan Shajohn, and K. Ganesh appear in supporting roles. The film follows the conflict between Chitti, the once dismantled humanoid robot, and Pakshi Rajan, a former ornithologist who seeks vengeance upon cell phone users to prevent avian population decline. The soundtrack is composed by A. R. Rahman, with lyrics written by Madhan Karky and Na. Muthukumar.
Government shutdowns in the United States occur when there is a failure to pass funding legislation to finance the government for its next fiscal year or a temporary funding measure. Ever since a 1980 interpretation of the 1884 Antideficiency Act, a "lapse of appropriation" due to a political impasse on proposed appropriation bills requires that the US federal government curtail agency activities and services, close down non-essential operations, furlough non-essential workers, and only retain essential employees in departments covering the safety of human life or protection of property. Voluntary services may only be accepted when required for the safety of life or property. Shutdowns can also occur within and disrupt state, territorial, and local levels of government.
Bumblebee is a 2018 American science fiction action film centered on the Transformers character of the same name. It is the sixth installment of the live-action Transformers film series. Developed as a spin-off and prequel, it was later declared a reboot of the franchise. Directed by Travis Knight and written by Christina Hodson, the film stars Hailee Steinfeld, John Cena, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., John Ortiz, Jason Drucker, and Pamela Adlon and stars Dylan O'Brien, Angela Bassett, Justin Theroux, and Peter Cullen in voice roles. It was Knight's first live-action film, as well as the first live-action Transformers film not to be directed by Michael Bay, who instead acts as a producer. Principal photography on the film began on July 31, 2017, in Los Angeles and San Francisco, California.
Carole Penny Marshall was an American actress, director, and producer. She came to notice in the 1970s for her role as Laverne DeFazio on the television sitcom Laverne & Shirley (1976–1983), receiving three nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy for her portrayal.
Ellen Lee DeGeneres is an American comedian, television host, actress, writer, and producer. She starred in the sitcom Ellen from 1994 to 1998 and has hosted her syndicated TV talk show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, since 2003.
The Battle of Fort Sumter was the bombardment of Fort Sumter near Charleston, South Carolina by the South Carolina militia, and the return gunfire and subsequent surrender by the United States Army, that started the American Civil War.
Pan Am Flight 103 was a regularly scheduled Pan Am transatlantic flight from Frankfurt to Detroit via London and New York City. On 21 December 1988, N739PA, the aircraft operating the transatlantic leg of the route, was destroyed by a bomb, killing all 243 passengers and 16 crew, in what became known as the Lockerbie bombing. Large sections of the aircraft crashed onto a residential street in Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 11 people on the ground. With a total of 270 fatalities, it is the deadliest terrorist attack in the history of the United Kingdom.
Lilakoi Moon, known professionally as Lisa Bonet, is an American actor and activist. As an actor, Bonet is perhaps best known for work with American actor and comedian Bill Cosby, starring in two of his productions on NBC, The Cosby Show (1984–1992) and A Different World (1987–1993), as the unorthodox, free-spirited Denise Huxtable. After The Cosby Show ended in 1992, Bonet entered a state of semi-retirement from acting, only sporadically appearing in films and on television.
The Year 2038 problem relates to representing time in many digital systems as the number of seconds passed since 00:00:00 UTC on 1 January 1970 and storing it as a signed 32-bit integer. Such implementations cannot encode times after 03:14:07 UTC on 19 January 2038. Similar to the Y2K problem, the Year 2038 problem is caused by insufficient capacity used to represent time.
Joan Ruth Bader Ginsburg was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1993 until her death in September 2020. She was nominated by President Bill Clinton, replacing retiring justice Byron White, and at the time was generally viewed as a moderate consensus-builder. She eventually became part of the liberal wing of the Court as the Court shifted to the right over time. Ginsburg was the first Jewish woman and the second woman to serve on the Court, after Sandra Day O'Connor. During her tenure, Ginsburg wrote notable majority opinions, including United States v. Virginia (1996), Olmstead v. L.C. (1999), Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Environmental Services, Inc. (2000), and City of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation of New York (2005).
A bird box is a man-made enclosure, also called a birdhouse or a nest box, provided for birds or other animals to nest in.
Emily Olivia Leah Blunt is a British actress. Her accolades include a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award, in addition to nominations for two British Academy Film Awards.
Constance Winifred Mark, MBE, BEM was a Jamaican-born community organiser and activist. She served as a medical secretary in the Auxiliary Territorial Service in World War II. After moving to England in the early 1950s, she became an activist for West Indians in London, after being denied her British Empire Medal. She worked to gain recognition for Black service personnel who were overlooked for their services and co-founded the Mary Seacole Memorial Association to bring recognition to the accomplishments of the noted Jamaican nurse.
Andrew Joseph Cohen is an American radio and television talk show host, producer, and writer. He is the host and executive producer of Bravo's late night talk show, Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen. Cohen also has a pop culture channel on SiriusXM Radio named Radio Andy. He hosts a two-hour live show with co-host John Hill twice a week. Cohen served as Bravo's executive vice president of Development and Talent until 2013. He was responsible for creating original content, developing innovative formats, and identifying new talent. Cohen also served as executive producer on Emmy and James Beard award–winning reality cooking competition television show, Top Chef. He continues to serve as an executive producer of the Real Housewives franchise, host of Watch What Happens Live on Bravo, host of Andy Cohen Live on SiriusXM channel 102, and hosted the revival of the television dating show Love Connection.
Mary Poppins Returns is a 2018 musical fantasy film directed by Rob Marshall, with a screenplay written by David Magee and a story by Magee, Marshall, and John DeLuca. Loosely based on the book series Mary Poppins by P. L. Travers, the film is a sequel to the 1964 film Mary Poppins, and stars Emily Blunt as Mary Poppins, with Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ben Whishaw, Emily Mortimer, Julie Walters, Dick Van Dyke, Angela Lansbury, Colin Firth, and Meryl Streep in supporting roles. Set in London during the Great Depression, some twenty-five years after the events of the original film, the film sees Mary Poppins, the former nanny of Jane and Michael Banks, return to them in the wake of the death of Michael's wife.
Freddie Mercury was a British singer, songwriter, record producer, and lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. Regarded as one of the greatest singers in the history of rock music, he was known for his flamboyant stage persona and four-octave vocal range. Mercury defied the conventions of a rock frontman, with his highly theatrical style influencing the artistic direction of Queen.
Welcome to Marwen is a 2018 American drama film directed by Robert Zemeckis, who co-wrote the script with Caroline Thompson. It is inspired by Jeff Malmberg's 2010 documentary Marwencol. The film stars Steve Carell, Leslie Mann, Diane Kruger, Merritt Wever, Janelle Monáe, Eiza González, Gwendoline Christie, Leslie Zemeckis, Siobhan Williams and Neil Jackson, and follows the true story of Mark Hogancamp, a man struggling with PTSD who, after being physically assaulted, creates a fictional village to ease his trauma.
Fourteen Words, 14, or 14/88, is a reference to the 14-word slogan "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children", followed by the less commonly used "Because the beauty of the White Aryan woman must not perish from the earth." The 8s represent the eighth letter of the alphabet (H), and "HH" stands for "Heil Hitler". The slogans were originally coined by American white supremacist David Lane, a founding member of terrorist organization The Order, and serve as a rallying cry for militant white nationalists across the globe.
Go, Dog. Go! is a 1961 children's book written and illustrated by P. D. Eastman. It describes the actions and interactions of a group of highly mobile dogs, who operate cars and other conveyances in pursuit of work, play, and a final mysterious goal: a dog party.
Mary, Queen of Scots, also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, reigned over Scotland from 14 December 1542 to 24 July 1567.
Sandra Annette Bullock is an American actress and producer. She was the world's highest-paid actress in 2010 and 2014. In 2015, she was named People's Most Beautiful Woman and was included in Time's 100 most influential people in the world in 2010. She is the recipient of several awards, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award.
Srinivasa Ramanujan was an Indian mathematician who lived during the British Rule in India. Though he had almost no formal training in pure mathematics, he made substantial contributions to mathematical analysis, number theory, infinite series, and continued fractions, including solutions to mathematical problems then considered unsolvable. Ramanujan initially developed his own mathematical research in isolation: according to Hans Eysenck: "He tried to interest the leading professional mathematicians in his work, but failed for the most part. What he had to show them was too novel, too unfamiliar, and additionally presented in unusual ways; they could not be bothered". Seeking mathematicians who could better understand his work, in 1913 he began a postal partnership with the English mathematician G. H. Hardy at the University of Cambridge, England. Recognizing Ramanujan's work as extraordinary, Hardy arranged for him to travel to Cambridge. In his notes, Hardy commented that Ramanujan had produced groundbreaking new theorems, including some that "defeated me completely; I had never seen anything in the least like them before", and some recently proven but highly advanced results.
This is a ranking of the highest grossing Indian films which includes films from various languages based on the conservative global box office estimates as reported by reputable sources. There is no official tracking of domestic box office figures within India, and Indian sites publishing data are frequently pressured to increase their domestic box office estimates.
The 2018 FIFA World Cup was an international football tournament contested by men's national teams and took place between 14 June and 15 July 2018 in Russia. It was the 21st FIFA World Cup, a worldwide football tournament held once every four years. It was the eleventh time the championships had been held in Europe, and the first time they were held in Eastern Europe. At an estimated cost of over $14.2 billion, it was the most expensive World Cup to date.
Yule or Yuletide is a festival historically observed by the Germanic peoples. Scholars have connected the original celebrations of Yule to the Wild Hunt, the god Odin, and the pagan Anglo-Saxon Mōdraniht.
Hailee Steinfeld is an American actress, singer and model. She earned many accolades for her breakthrough role as Mattie Ross in the drama western film True Grit (2010), for which she was nominated for BAFTA Award for Best Actress as well as Screen Actors Guild Award and Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, making her the ninth youngest nominee in category.
Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar, known professionally as Cardi B, is an American rapper, songwriter, and actress. Born in Manhattan and raised in the Bronx, New York City, she became an Internet celebrity by achieving popularity on Vine and Instagram. From 2015 to 2017, she appeared as a regular cast member on the VH1 reality television series Love & Hip Hop: New York, which depicted her pursuit of her music aspirations. She released two mixtapes—Gangsta Bitch Music, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, before signing with label Atlantic Records in early 2017.
Shéyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, better known by his stage name 21 Savage, is a rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Born in London, he was brought to Atlanta by his mother at the age of seven. He became known for the 2015 mixtape The Slaughter Tape before attaining nationwide attention following an EP collaboration with producer Metro Boomin called Savage Mode (2016), and its popular singles "X" and "No Heart", as well as guest features on the 2016 Drake single "Sneakin'" and the 2017 Post Malone single "Rockstar".
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, it is preceded by the season of Advent or the Nativity Fast and initiates the season of Christmastide, which historically in the West lasts twelve days and culminates on Twelfth Night. Christmas Day is a public holiday in many of the world's nations, is celebrated religiously by a majority of Christians, as well as culturally by many non-Christians, and forms an integral part of the holiday season centered around it.
The Soviet and later Russian Mil Mi-24 helicopter has been produced in many variants, as described below.
The 2019 William Hill World Darts Championship was the 26th World Championship organised by the Professional Darts Corporation since it separated from the British Darts Organisation. The event took place at Alexandra Palace in London from 13 December 2018 to 1 January 2019.
Naveen Kumar Gowda, better known by the stage name Yash, is an Indian film actor who works in Kannada cinema.
Titans is an American superhero television series created by Akiva Goldsman, Geoff Johns, and Greg Berlanti. Based on the DC Comics team Teen Titans, the series depicts a group of young heroes who join forces in their fight against evil. Featured as members of the Titans are Dick Grayson, Kory Anders, Rachel Roth, Gar Logan, Jason Todd, Donna Troy, Hank Hall, Dawn Granger, Rose Wilson, and Conner.
Lin-Manuel Miranda (; is an American actor, singer, rapper, composer, producer, and playwright. He created and starred in the Broadway musicals In the Heights and Hamilton. His awards include a Pulitzer Prize, three Tony Awards, three Grammy Awards, an Emmy Award, a MacArthur Fellowship, and a Kennedy Center Honor in 2018.
Donald John Trump is an American politician who was the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Before entering politics, he was a businessman and television personality.
The summer solstice, also known as estival solstice or midsummer, occurs when one of the Earth's poles has its maximum tilt toward the Sun. It happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere. For that hemisphere, the summer solstice is when the Sun reaches its highest position in the sky and is the day with the longest period of daylight. Within the Arctic circle or Antarctic circle, there is continuous daylight around the summer solstice. On the summer solstice, Earth's maximum axial tilt toward the Sun is 23.44°. Likewise, the Sun's declination from the celestial equator is 23.44°.
The nuclear option is a parliamentary procedure that allows the United States Senate to override a standing rule of the Senate, such as the 60-vote rule to close debate, by a simple majority of 51 votes, rather than the two-thirds supermajority normally required to amend the rules. The option is invoked when the majority leader raises a point of order that contravenes a standing rule, such as that only a simple majority is needed to close debate on certain matters. The presiding officer denies the point of order based on Senate rules, but the ruling of the chair is then appealed and overturned by majority vote, establishing new precedent.
Google Earth is a computer program, formerly known as Keyhole EarthViewer, that renders a 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposing satellite images, aerial photography, and GIS data onto a 3D globe, allowing users to see cities and landscapes from various angles. Users can explore the globe by entering addresses and coordinates, or by using a keyboard or mouse. The program can also be downloaded on a smartphone or tablet, using a touch screen or stylus to navigate. Users may use the program to add their own data using Keyhole Markup Language and upload them through various sources, such as forums or blogs. Google Earth is able to show various kinds of images overlaid on the surface of the earth and is also a Web Map Service client. Recently Google has revealed that Google Earth now covers more than 98 percent of the world, and has captured 10 million miles of Street View imagery, a distance that could circle the globe more than 400 times.
I Am > I Was is the second studio album by rapper 21 Savage, released on December 21, 2018. I Am > I Was features vocals by J. Cole, City Girls, Offset, Post Malone, Gunna, Lil Baby, Schoolboy Q, Project Pat, Childish Gambino, and Savage's cousin Young Nudy. The deluxe edition was released three days later, featuring one more song, which features an additional guest appearance from Travis Scott.
Tessa Lynne Thompson is an American actress. She began her professional acting career with the Los Angeles Women's Shakespeare Company while studying at Santa Monica College. She appeared in productions of The Tempest and Romeo and Juliet, the latter of which earned her a NAACP Theatre Award nomination. Her breakthrough came with leading roles in Tina Mabry's independent drama film Mississippi Damned (2009) and Tyler Perry's drama film For Colored Girls (2010).
Roma is a 2018 Mexican drama film written and directed by Alfonso Cuarón, who also produced, shot, and co-edited it. Set in 1970 and 1971, Roma follows the life of a live-in housekeeper of a middle-class family, as a semi-autobiographical take on Cuarón's upbringing in the Colonia Roma neighborhood of Mexico City. The film stars Yalitza Aparicio and Marina de Tavira.
Meg Johnson is an American poet and lecturer. Her poems have appeared in numerous literary magazines, including Midwestern Gothic, Slipstream Magazine, Word Riot, Hobart, and many others. Her first collection of poems, Inappropriate Sleepover, was released in 2014, her second collection, The Crimes of Clara Turlington, was released in December 2015., and her third book, Without: Body, Name, Country is due to release in September 2020. She is also the current editor of the Dressing Room Poetry Journal.
Orlando Brown is an American actor, rapper, and singer, who is best known for his work as a child actor in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Brown's television roles include portraying 3J in Family Matters (1996–1998), Max in Two of a Kind (1998–1999), Sticky Webb in The Proud Family (2001–2005), and Eddie Thomas in That's So Raven (2003–2007). In film, he has appeared in Major Payne (1995), Max Keeble's Big Move (2001) and Straight Outta Compton (2015).
Priyanka Chopra Jonas is an Indian actress, singer, and film producer. The winner of the Miss World 2000 pageant, Chopra is one of India's highest-paid and most popular entertainers. She has received numerous accolades, including a National Film Award and five Filmfare Awards. In 2016, the Government of India honoured her with the Padma Shri and Time named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world, and in the next two years Forbes listed her among the World's 100 Most Powerful Women.
Hellboy is a 2019 American superhero film based on the Dark Horse Comics character of the same name. Directed by Neil Marshall, the film stars David Harbour in the title role, alongside Milla Jovovich, Ian McShane, Sasha Lane, Daniel Dae Kim, and Thomas Haden Church. It is a reboot of the Hellboy film series, and the third live-action film in the franchise. The film draws inspiration from the comic books Darkness Calls, The Wild Hunt, The Storm and the Fury, and Hellboy in Mexico. In the film, Hellboy struggles with his own existential crisis while preventing a resurrected sorceress from conquering the world.
"The Twelve Days of Christmas" is an English Christmas carol that enumerates in the manner of a cumulative song a series of increasingly numerous gifts given on each of the twelve days of Christmas. The song, published in England in 1780 without music as a chant or rhyme, is thought to be French in origin. "The Twelve Days of Christmas" has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 68. The tunes of collected versions vary. The standard tune now associated with it is derived from a 1909 arrangement of a traditional folk melody by English composer Frederic Austin, who introduced the familiar prolongation of the verse "five gold rings".
Portia Lee James DeGeneres, known professionally as Portia de Rossi, is an Australian-American businesswoman, philanthropist, and former model and actress. She is best known for starring as Nelle Porter on the American drama series Ally McBeal (1998–2002), for which she won a Screen Actors Guild Award, as Lindsay Bluth Fünke on the American television sitcom Arrested Development, and as Elizabeth North on the American political thriller series Scandal (2014–2017). She is currently founder and CEO of the art company General Public.
David Kenneth Harbour is an American actor. He gained recognition for his portrayal of Jim Hopper in the Netflix science fiction drama series Stranger Things (2016–present), for which he earned a Critics' Choice Television Award in 2018. For the role, he also received Primetime Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations.
Fahrenheit 451 is a dystopian novel by American writer Ray Bradbury, first published in 1953. Often regarded as one of his best works, the novel presents a future American society where books are outlawed and "firemen" burn any that are found. The book's tagline explains the title as "'the temperature at which book paper catches fire, and burns": the autoignition temperature of paper. The lead character, Guy Montag, is a fireman who becomes disillusioned with his role of censoring literature and destroying knowledge, eventually quitting his job and committing himself to the preservation of literary and cultural writings.
YouTube is an American online video-sharing platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. The service, created in February 2005 by three former PayPal employees—Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim—was bought by Google in November 2006 for US$1.65 billion and now operates as one of the company's subsidiaries. YouTube is the second most-visited website in the world after Google Search, according to Alexa Internet rankings.
Donald Moffat was an English–American actor with a decades-long career in film and stage in the United States. He began his acting career on- and off-Broadway, which included appearances in The Wild Duck and Right You Are If You Think You Are, earning a Tony Award nomination for both, as well as Painting Churches, for which he received an Obie Award. Moffat also appeared in several feature films, including The Thing and The Right Stuff, along with his guest appearances in the television series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman and The West Wing.
Sara Ali Khan is an Indian actress who works in Hindi-language films. Born into the Pataudi family, she is the daughter of actors Amrita Singh and Saif Ali Khan and the paternal granddaughter of Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi and Sharmila Tagore.
Andhadhun is a 2018 Indian Hindi-language black comedy crime thriller film co-written and directed by Sriram Raghavan, produced by Matchbox Pictures, and distributed by Viacom18 Motion Pictures. The film stars Tabu, Ayushmann Khurrana, and Radhika Apte, and tells the story of a blind piano player who unwittingly becomes embroiled in the murder of a former film actor.
Venom is a 2018 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name, produced by Columbia Pictures in association with Marvel and Tencent Pictures. Distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing, it is the first film in the Sony Pictures Universe of Marvel Characters. Directed by Ruben Fleischer from a screenplay by Jeff Pinkner, Scott Rosenberg, and Kelly Marcel, it stars Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock / Venom, alongside Michelle Williams, Riz Ahmed, Scott Haze, and Reid Scott. In Venom, journalist Brock gains superpowers after being bound to an alien symbiote whose species plans to invade Earth.
Ariana Grande-Butera is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Born in Boca Raton, Florida, Grande began her career at age 15 in the 2008 Broadway musical 13. She rose to fame for her role as Cat Valentine in the Nickelodeon television series Victorious (2010–2013) and Sam & Cat (2013–2014). She subsequently signed with Republic Records in 2011 after the label's executives discovered YouTube videos of her covering songs. Her 1950s doo-wop-influenced pop and R&B debut album, Yours Truly (2013), topped the US Billboard 200 chart, while its lead single, "The Way", charted in the top ten of the US Billboard Hot 100. Upon release, critics compared Grande to Mariah Carey for her wide vocal range and whistle register.
Benjamin John Whishaw is an English film, television and theatre actor. After winning a British Independent Film Award for his performance in My Brother Tom (2001), Whishaw was nominated for an Olivier Award for his portrayal of the title role in a 2004 production of Hamlet. This was followed by television roles in Nathan Barley (2005), Criminal Justice (2008) and The Hour (2011–12) and film roles in Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006), I'm Not There (2007), Brideshead Revisited (2008) and Bright Star (2009). For Criminal Justice, Whishaw received an International Emmy Award and received his first BAFTA Award nomination.
Elon Reeve Musk is a business magnate, industrial designer and engineer. He is the founder, CEO, CTO and chief designer of SpaceX; early investor, CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc.; founder of The Boring Company; co-founder of Neuralink; and co-founder and initial co-chairman of OpenAI. In 2018, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) and ranked 25th on the Forbes list of The World's Most Powerful People, and was ranked joint-first on the Forbes list of the Most Innovative Leaders of 2019. A centi-billionaire, Musk became the richest person in the world in January 2021, surpassing Jeff Bezos.
Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, commonly referred to by his alias El Jefe de Jefes, is a convicted Mexican drug lord. He was one of the founders of the Guadalajara Cartel in the 1970s. Throughout the 1980s, the cartel controlled much of the drug trafficking in Mexico and the corridors along the Mexico–United States border.
Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao, popularly known as NTR, was an Indian actor, producer, director, film editor and politician who served as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh for seven years over three terms. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of Indian cinema and one of the two legends of Telugu cinema, along with Akkineni Nageswara Rao. NTR received three National Film Awards for co-producing Thodu Dongalu (1954) and Seetharama Kalyanam (1960) under National Art Theater, Madras, and for directing Varakatnam (1970). NTR has received the erstwhile Rashtrapati Awards for his performance(s) in the Raju Peda (1954) and the Lava Kusa (1963). He garnered the Nandi Award for Best Actor for Kodalu Diddina Kapuram in 1970, and the Inaugural Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Telugu in 1972 for Badi Panthulu.
Timeless is an American science fiction television series that premiered on NBC on October 3, 2016. It stars Abigail Spencer, Matt Lanter, and Malcolm Barrett as a team that attempts to stop a mysterious organization from changing the course of history through time travel. The series was created by Shawn Ryan and Eric Kripke, and also stars Sakina Jaffrey, Paterson Joseph, Claudia Doumit, and Goran Višnjić. The executive producers include John Davis and John Fox of The Blacklist.
This is a list of Bollywood films that have been released in 2018.
Darth Vader is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise. The character is a primary antagonist in the original trilogy and a primary protagonist in the prequel trilogy. Star Wars creator George Lucas has collectively referred to the first six episodic films of the franchise as "the tragedy of Darth Vader".
Joshua Caleb Gordon, is an American football wide receiver for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL). He has also been a member of the Cleveland Browns and the New England Patriots. Gordon played college football at Baylor and was selected by the Browns in the second round of the 2012 NFL Supplemental Draft. Throughout his career, Gordon has been lauded for his on-field production, but has also faced several suspensions for violating the NFL's substance abuse policy.
Catriona Elisa Magnayon Gray is a Filipino-Australian model, singer, and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Universe 2018. She is the fourth Filipina to win the Miss Universe competition. Previously, Gray was crowned Miss Universe Philippines 2018 and Miss World Philippines 2016.
Jacob Benjamin Gyllenhaal is an American actor and producer. Born into the Gyllenhaal family, he is the son of director Stephen Gyllenhaal and screenwriter Naomi Foner. He began acting as a child, making his acting debut in City Slickers (1991), followed by roles in his father's films A Dangerous Woman (1993) and Homegrown (1998). His breakthrough roles were as Homer Hickam in October Sky (1999) and as a psychologically troubled teenager in Donnie Darko (2001). His most widely seen film to that point came with the disaster film The Day After Tomorrow (2004).
Men in Black: International is a 2019 American science fiction action comedy film directed by F. Gary Gray and written by Art Marcum and Matt Holloway. It is a spin-off of the Men in Black film series, which is loosely based on the Malibu/Marvel comic book series of the same name by Lowell Cunningham. The film stars Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson, Kumail Nanjiani, Rebecca Ferguson, Rafe Spall, Laurent and Larry Bourgeois, and Liam Neeson. Emma Thompson reprises her role from the third film, while Tim Blaney returns to voice Frank the Pug from the first two installments.
Yaldā Night or Chelleh Night is an Iranian Northern Hemisphere's winter solstice festival celebrated on the "longest and darkest night of the year." According to the calendar, this corresponds to the night of December 20/21 (±1) in the Gregorian calendar, and to the night between the last day of the ninth month (Azar) and the first day of the tenth month (Dey) of the Iranian civil calendar. The longest and darkest night of the year is a time when friends and family gather together to eat, drink and read poetry and Shahnameh until well after midnight. Fruits and nuts are eaten and pomegranates and watermelons are particularly significant. The red color in these fruits symbolizes the crimson hues of dawn and glow of life. The poems of Divan-e Hafez, which can be found in the bookcases of most Iranian families, are read or recited on various occasions such as this festival and Nowruz. Shab-e Yalda was officially added to Iran's List of National Treasures in a special ceremony in 2008.
The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States, or America, is a country primarily located in North America, consisting of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, it is the world's third- or fourth-largest country by total area. With a population of more than 328 million people, it is the third most populous country in the world. The national capital is Washington, D.C., and the most populous city is New York City.
December 21 is the 355th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. 10 days remain until the end of the year.
Home Alone is a 1990 American comedy film written and produced by John Hughes and directed by Chris Columbus. It stars Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, John Heard, and Catherine O'Hara. Culkin stars as eight-year-old Kevin, who defends his home from burglars Harry and Marv after his family accidentally leaves him behind on their vacation.
The following is a list of government agencies and operations affected by the United States federal government shutdown of 2013.
Clinton Eastwood Jr. is an American actor, film director, composer, and producer. After achieving success in the Western TV series Rawhide, he rose to international fame with his role as the "Man with No Name" in Italian filmmaker Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy of Spaghetti Westerns during the mid-1960s, and as antihero cop Harry Callahan in the five Dirty Harry films throughout the 1970s and 1980s. These roles, among others, have made Eastwood an enduring cultural icon of masculinity. His accolades include four Academy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, three César Awards, and an AFI Life Achievement Award.
Brenda Song is an American actress. She began her career in show business as a child fashion model, and her early acting work included roles in the television series Fudge (1995) and 100 Deeds for Eddie McDowd (1999). After many commercials and television roles in the late 1990s, Song appeared in The Ultimate Christmas Present (2000) and won a Young Artist Award for her performance. In 2002, she signed a contract with Disney Channel and starred in the Disney Channel Original Movie Get a Clue (2002). She went on to make significant contributions to the network, including starring in films such as Stuck in the Suburbs (2004), Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior (2006), and many other productions. Song went on to portray the lead female role of London Tipton in the comedy series The Suite Life of Zack & Cody (2005–2008), and later reprised the role on the spinoff series The Suite Life on Deck (2008–2011).
The secretary of defense (SecDef) is the leader and chief executive officer of the United States Department of Defense, the executive department of the U.S. Armed Forces. The secretary of defense's position of command and authority over the military is second only to that of the president of the United States, who is the commander-in-chief. This position corresponds to what is generally known as a defense minister in many other countries. The secretary of defense is appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate, and is by custom a member of the Cabinet and by law a member of the National Security Council.
A Simple Favor is a 2018 American black comedy crime thriller film directed by Paul Feig from a screenplay by Jessica Sharzer, based on the 2017 novel of the same name by Darcey Bell. The film stars Anna Kendrick, Blake Lively, Henry Golding, Andrew Rannells, Linda Cardellini, Rupert Friend, and Jean Smart and follows a small town vlogger who tries to solve the disappearance of her mysterious and elegant friend.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films are a series of American superhero films produced by Marvel Studios based on characters that appear in publications by Marvel Comics. The MCU is the shared universe in which all of the films are set. The films have been in production since 2007, and in that time Marvel Studios has produced and released 23 films, with at least 14 more in various stages of development. It is the highest-grossing film franchise of all time, having grossed over $22.5 billion at the global box office. This includes Avengers: Endgame, which is the highest-grossing film of all time.
Thursday Night Football is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games that broadcast primarily on Thursday nights. Most of the games kick off at 8:20 p.m. Eastern Time, but games in the package also air occasionally on Saturdays in the later portion of the season, as well as a single Sunday morning game from London in the NFL International Series.
F5, Inc. is an American company that specializes in application services and application delivery networking (ADN). F5 is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, with additional development, manufacturing, and administrative offices worldwide.
Christopher Hemsworth is an Australian actor. He first rose to prominence in Australia playing Kim Hyde in the Australian television series Home and Away (2004–07) before beginning a film career in Hollywood. Hemsworth is best known for playing Thor in eight Marvel Cinematic Universe films, beginning with Thor (2011) and appearing most recently in Avengers: Endgame (2019), which established him as one of the leading and highest-paid actors in the world.
Jacques Bermon Webster II, known professionally as Travis Scott, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. Scott's musical style has been described as a fusion of traditional rap, hip hop, lo-fi and ambient. His stage name is the namesake of a favorite uncle combined with the first name of one of his inspirations, Kid Cudi.
Nicholas Jerry Jonas is an American singer, songwriter and actor. Jonas began acting in theater at the age of seven, and released his debut single in 2002 which caught the attention of Columbia Records where Jonas formed a band with his older brothers, Joe and Kevin, known as the Jonas Brothers. The group released their debut studio album It's About Time through the Columbia label in 2006. After leaving Columbia Records and signing with Hollywood Records, the group released their self-titled second studio album in 2007, which became their breakthrough record. The band became prominent figures on the Disney Channel during this time, gaining a large following through the network and they appeared in the widely successful musical television film Camp Rock (2008) and its sequel Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam (2010) as well as two of their own series, Jonas Brothers: Living the Dream (2008–2010) and Jonas (2009–2010).
Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a legendary character originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts on Christmas Eve of toys and candy to well-behaved children, and either coal or nothing to naughty children. He is said to accomplish this with the aid of Christmas elves, who make the toys in his workshop at the North Pole, and flying reindeer who pull his sleigh through the air.
Apollo 8 was the first crewed spacecraft to leave low Earth orbit, and also the first human spaceflight to reach another astronomical object, namely the Moon, which the crew orbited without landing, and then departed safely back to Earth. These three astronauts — Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders — were the first humans to witness and photograph an Earthrise.
Emily Kathleen Anne Mortimer is a British-American actress and screenwriter. She began acting in stage productions and has since appeared in several film and television roles. In 2003, she won an Independent Spirit Award for her performance in Lovely and Amazing. She is also known for playing the role of Mackenzie McHale in the HBO series The Newsroom, and as the voice actress of Sophie in the English-language version of Howl's Moving Castle (2004). Mortimer also stars in Scream 3 (2000), Match Point (2005), the Pink Panther series, Lars and the Real Girl (2007), Chaos Theory (2008), Harry Brown (2009), Shutter Island (2010), Hugo (2011), and Mary Poppins Returns (2018).
Stephen William Hawking was an English theoretical physicist, cosmologist, and author who was director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge at the time of his death. He was the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge between 1979 and 2009.
Hellboy is a fictional superhero created by writer-artist Mike Mignola. The character first appeared in San Diego Comic-Con Comics #2, and has since appeared in various eponymous miniseries, one-shots and intercompany crossovers. The character has been adapted into three live-action feature films. Two starring Ron Perlman in 2004 and 2008 in the title role, and one in 2019 which starred David Harbour, as well as two straight-to-DVD animated films, and three video games – Asylum Seeker, The Science of Evil, and as a playable character in Injustice 2.
John Burke Krasinski is an American actor and director. He has had four Primetime Emmy Award nominations and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. He was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2018.