The Room
Tommy Wiseau directs, produces, writes, and stars what is later deemed ‘the worst film ever made’. The film follows Lisa, played by Julliette Danielle, a young woman trying to find love through manipulating her fiancee, Johnny (Wiseau) and his best friend Mark, played by Greg Sestero. Over time, the film becomes acult classic. Audiences chant jokes and throw spoons at the movie screen wherever the film is played live. Wiseau played along with audiences calling his drama a comedy, proclaiming it was meant to be that way. An anonymous cast member says otherwise.
I don’t have anything to say about Tommy [Wiseau] as a person. He is a nice guy. But he is full of shit. He was trying to put together a drama. It was basically his stage to show off his acting ability.
Joins My Mother’s Fleabag Improv Troupe
While attending Boston College, Poehler joins
the improv comedy troupe, My Mothers Fleabag. Her parents believed it would distract her from her studies, but Poehler continued in it regardless.
To do improv, you have to somewhat fearless or crazy or have a death wish, but I think it attracts some certain people and I think that [My Mother’s Fleabag] is a great organization. And in great organizations there is a spirit that is very hard to capture an people borrow it and leave some of themselves behind. It’s a thing thats bigger than ourselves and it’s calming.
Born in Johnstone, Scotland
Gordon James Ramsay, Jr. is born in Johnstone, Scotland to Gordon James Sr., a shopkeeper, and Helen Ramsay, a nurse. Ramsay has describes his childhood as one filled with neglect and abuse from his “hard-drinking womanizer” father and later moved out at the age of sixteen. Ramsay’s father did not approve of his passion for cooking and often used gay slurs while talking to him about it.
He taught me how to swim and I think that’s important. His method involved holding my head underwater for minutes on end.
Hiatus
After an extensive tour for Folie à Deux, the members of Fall Out Boy each have their own reasons to take a break. Patrick Stump, lead vocals, is at the heaviest weight he has been and hates the “emo” titling Fall Out Boy had be associated with. Andy Hurley, drummer, fallsl into a deep state of depression after coming off tour to an empty schedule. Pete Wentz, bassist, has been abusing Xanax and is divorced by his wife, Ashlee Simpson, and is on a rigorous therapy schedule. Patrick Stump:
It’s been about ten years and for a better part of that we were working constantly. We were tired of the grind. We would play 500 shows in a two-year period, you know? And the other thing — the fact that we weren’t all into the same kind of music made the band kind of cool, but it’s very strange when it’s expected that you be monogamous with that band for the rest of your life. Andy Hurley is a metal drummer, first and foremost, and it was really awkward for him to think that he’d never play metal again. It was awkward for me to never sing R&B music again or to never play drums myself. Everybody had their own reasoning. It’s not creative difference. It’s just, like, creative wanderlust.
Slaughterhouse-Five
Slaughterhouse-Five or The Children’s Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death is considered Vonnegut’s most influential work. Centering around the firebombing of Dresden, the work is partly autobiographical and follows Billy Pilgrim through World War II and time.
My books are being thrown out of school libraries all over the country—because they’re supposedly obscene. I’ve seen letters to small-town newspapers that put Slaughterhouse Five in the same class with Deep Throat and Hustler magazine. How could anybody masturbate to Slaughterhouse Five? […] They find me disrespectful towards their idea of God Almighty. They think it’s the proper business of government to protect the reputation of God. All I can say is, “Good luck to them, and good luck to the government, and good luck to God.”
Folie à Deux
Fall Out Boy releases Folie à Deux (French for “A Madness Shared by Two” ), the bands fourth studio album. Unlike it’s predecessors, Folie à Deux debutes at number eight on the Billboard Top 100 chart, making it the third top ten album from the band. This album is the first Fall Out Boy album to feature lyrics that are not autobiographical. The album features Lil Wayne and Pharrell, along with Blondie’s Deborah Harry. Joe Trohman:
We mix the influences in a way that sounds new and complete. But they all can’t work. For instance, I love heavy metal. But for me to insert Randy Rhoads licks into Fall Out Boy’s music, it’d sound crazy. So I hold back, which creates a cool kind of tension. I think casual listeners can pick up on that, even if they’re not sure why it’s happening.
Captured at the Battle of the Bulge
While a Battalion Scout private in the 423rd Infantry Regiment, 106th Infantry Division, Vonnegut is captured by the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge.
We were in this gully about as deep as a World War I trench. There was snow all around. Somebody said we were probably in Luxembourg. We were out of food. The Germans could see us, because they were talking to us through a loudspeaker. They told us our situation was hopeless, and so on. That was when we fixed bayonets. It was nice there for a few minutes. Then the Germans started firing eighty-eight millimeter shells. The shells burst in the treetops right over us. Those were very loud bangs right over our heads. We were showered with splintered steel. Some people got hit. Then the Germans told us again to come out. We didn’t yell ‘nuts’ or anything like that. We said, ‘Okay,’ and ‘Take it easy,’ and so on. When the Germans finally showed themselves, we saw they were wearing white camouflage suits. We didn’t have anything like that. We were olive drab. No matter what season it was, we were olive drab.
They said the war was all over for us, that we were lucky, that we could now be sure we would live through the war, which was more than they could be sure of. As a matter of fact, they were probably killed or captured by Patton’s Third Army within the next few days. I tried a few words I knew on our captors, and they asked me if I was of German ancestry, and I said, “Yes.” They wanted to know why I was making war against my brothers. I honestly found the question ignorant and comical. My parents had separated me so thoroughly from my Germanic past that my captors might as well have been Bolivians or Tibetans, for all they meant to me.
Kurt Vonnegut born in Indianapolis
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., is born to Kurt Vonnegut, Sr., and Edith Vonnegut in Indianapolis, Indiana. His father and grandfather were both architects at Vonnegut & Bohn and were expecting Vonnegut, Jr., to continue the family business, but Vonnegut failed to fulfill their expectations.
Attends Cornell University
Vonnegut attends Cornell University, majoring in chemistry. While attending, he becomes editor of the school newspaper, The Cornell Daily Sun, and joins the fraternity Delta Upsilon.
Infinity on High
Moving away from their signature style, Fall Out Boy introduces funk and R&B into their third studio album, Infinity on High. The album includes sinlges This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race and Thnks Fr Th Mmrs. The record also includes collaborations with producers Jay-Z and Babyface.
Pete Wentz:
The new album is called Infinity on High. It’s taken from a quote by Vincent van Gogh. And as for what that means in relation to the record, we’ll just let it will unfold when people hear it.
Good Will Hunting memorial
Several residents of Boston gather to create a memorial from the famous bench in the Boston Public Garden Williams and co-star Matt Damon appeared on during an emotional scene in the film Good Will Hunting.
Memorial for Robin Williams continues to grow at the Good Will Hunting bench in the Boston Garden. (pic @shdonovan19) pic.twitter.com/3oRxwIN5Bs
— BostonTweet (@BostonTweet) August 12, 2014
Appears on the Late Late Show
Williams appears on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and the two giggle like school girls over a plethora of inappropriate topics and William’s recent trip to England.
Live in Phoenix
Following the success of Infinity on High and a sold out U.S. arena tour, Fall Out Boy releases their first live album **** Live in Phoenix. A DVD of an entire performance is released as well as a behind the scenes short film of tour shenanigans the band mates endure. The two-disc package debuted at number one on Billboard’s Music Video Sales chart.
Orange is the New Black
Netflix creates and distributes it’s third original show, Orange is the New Black. Ten years after carrying a briefcase filled with drug money, Piper Chapman, played by Taylor Schilling, is sentenced to 18 months in federal prison. Leaving behind her fiance, she finds herself in the middle of a group of outcasts in New York’s Lichfield Prison for Women. Based on the novel Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Woman’s Prison by Piper Kerman, the show has been nominated for 12 Primetime Emmy Awards and has a strong fan following.
Lilyhammer
Steven Van Zandt stars in Netflix’s first original series, Lilyhammer, about a New York gangster relocating to Norway. When the pilot episode premiers, 998,000 viewers (one fifth of the population of Norway) tune in. After the sucess of the first season, a second was planned, but Van Zandt’s conflicting schedule with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s Wrecking Ball Tour delayed production.
House of Cards
Starring Kevin Spacey as a southern Democrat plotting to become Secretary of State, House of Cards premieres on Netflix as one of the site’s first pieces of original content. The show, created by Beau Willimon, is renewed for a second and third season after a large fan following demanded more episodes.
Sweeney Todd
Combining classic Burton horror and gore with Broadway showtunes, Burton releases Sweeney Todd: Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Starring Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Sasha Baren Cohen, the film depicts a barber who kills his customers and puts their bodies into meat pies. Time magazine rates the film an A-minus.
Loses Starz Entertainment partnership
After a significant dip in Netflix stock, Starz Entertainment announces that they would not be renewing their deal with Netflix. The agreement was strictly for streaming movies, so Netflix DVD rentals were not affected. Starz’s decision means Netflix customers will no longer have access to movie titles from Disney or Sony Pictures, as Starz was the sole distributor of the films.
Partners with Starz Entertainment
Netflix partners with Starz Entertainment to bring more than 2,500 titles available to watch instantly on the Netflix site, a feature called Starz Play.
The coupling of Starz Play with our growing library of streaming content is an important step forward for both companies and for consumer choice
Batman Forever
Burton co-produces the third Warner Brothers reprise of the Batman trilogy, Batman Forever. Starring Val Kilmer as Batman, Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Faced Harvy Dent and Jim Carrey as the Riddler, the film grossed $336 million with a combination of darkness and comedy. When interviewed about making another Batman movie:
It’s easy in retrospect to think why something worked, but I try not to. On this, giving it a different energy, working with different people, you can’t do that. It’s a different animal in a way. There’s some good parts to it, and stuff.
