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L.A. Confidential
''L.A. Confidential'' (1990) is a neo-noir novel by American writer James Ellroy, the third of his L.A. Quartet series. It is dedicated to Mary Doherty Ellroy. The epigraph is "A glory that costs everything and means nothing"— Steve Erickson. Plot The story follows several Los Angeles Police Department officers in the 1950s who become embroiled in a mix of sex, corruption, and murder following a massacre at the Nite Owl coffee shop. The story eventually encompasses organized crime, political corruption, heroin trafficking, pornography, prostitution, and Hollywood. The title refers to the scandal magazine '' Confidential'', which is fictionalized as ''Hush-Hush''. It also deals with the real " Bloody Christmas" scandal. The three protagonists are LAPD officers. Edmund Exley, the son of prestigious detective Preston Exley, is a "straight arrow" who informs on other officers in a police brutality scandal. He is first and foremost a politician and a ladder climber, trying to be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Ellroy
Lee Earle "James" Ellroy (born March 4, 1948) is an American crime fiction writer and essayist. Ellroy has become known for a telegrammatic prose style in his most recent work, wherein he frequently omits connecting words and uses only short, staccato sentences, and in particular for the novels '' The Black Dahlia'' (1987) and '' L.A. Confidential'' (1990). Life Early life Lee Earle "James" Ellroy was born in Los Angeles. His mother, Geneva Odelia (née Hilliker), was a nurse. His father, Armand, was an accountant and a onetime business manager of Rita Hayworth. His parents divorced in 1954, after which Ellroy and his mother moved to El Monte, California. At the age of seven, Ellroy saw his mother naked and began to sexually fantasize about her. He struggled in youth with this obsession, as he held a psycho-sexual relationship with her, and tried to catch glimpses of her nude. Ellroy stated that "I lived for naked glimpses. I hated her and lusted for her..." On June 22, 1958, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bloody Christmas (1951)
Bloody Christmas was the severe beating of seven civilians by members of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) on December 25, 1951. The attacks, which left five Mexican American and two white young men with broken bones and ruptured organs, were only properly investigated after lobbying from the Mexican American community. The internal inquiry by Los Angeles Chief of Police William H. Parker resulted in eight police officers being indicted for the assaults, 54 being transferred, and 39 suspended. The event was fictionalized in the 1990 novel '' L.A. Confidential'' by James Ellroy, which was made into a film of the same name in 1997. Background In 1938, reforms of the LAPD were started by Mayor Frank Shaw. Throughout the 1940s, this led to the firing of corrupt officers, the raising of entrance standards, the creation of rigorous training programs, and better pay for officers. Police autonomy was already guaranteed in Section 202 of the Los Angeles city charter since ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kevin Spacey
Kevin Spacey Fowler (born July 26, 1959) is an American actor. Known for Kevin Spacey on screen and stage, his work on stage and screen, he List of awards and nominations received by Kevin Spacey, has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, a Tony Award, and two Laurence Olivier Awards as well as nominations for 12 Emmy Awards. Spacey was named an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2015. Spacey began his film career with small roles in Mike Nichols's comedy-drama films ''Heartburn (film), Heartburn'' (1986) and ''Working Girl'' (1988). He won two Academy Awards: Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actor for playing a con man in ''The Usual Suspects'' (1995) and Academy Award for Best Actor, Best Actor for playing a suburban husband and father going through a midlife crisis in ''American Beauty (1999 film), American Beauty'' (1999). His other films include ''Glengarry Glen Ro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mark Webber (actor)
Mark Allen Webber (born July 19, 1980) is an American actor. He is known for his roles in the films ''Snow Day (2000 film), Snow Day'' (2000), ''The Laramie Project (film), The Laramie Project'' (2002), ''Weapons (2007 film), Weapons'' (2007), and as Stephen Stills (Scott Pilgrim character), Stephen Stills in ''Scott Pilgrim vs. the World'' (2010) and ''Scott Pilgrim Takes Off'' (2023). Early life Webber was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he spent the first nine years of his life. His mother, Cheri Honkala, Cheri Lynn Honkala, is a noted advocate for the homeless in Philadelphia, and was the vice-presidential nominee of the Green Party of the United States, Green Party in the 2012 presidential election. He is of Cheyenne descent through his maternal grandmother and of Finnish Americans, Finnish descent through his maternal grandfather. In 1989, he and his single mother moved to Philadelphia, where they spent time homeless, living in cars and abandoned buildings, and strugg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Josh Hopkins
William Joshua Hopkins (born September 12, 1970) is an American actor. His best known roles include Raymond Millbury on '' Ally McBeal'' (2001–2002), Grayson Ellis on '' Cougar Town'' (2009–2015), and Liam O'Connor on '' Quantico'' (2015–2016). Early life He was born to Larry J. Hopkins and Carolyn Pennebaker on September 12, 1970. He has two sisters. Hopkins attended The Lexington School and was a member of the JV basketball team. Career Hopkins joined the fourth and last season of '' New York Undercover'' in 1998. In 1999, Hopkins appeared in Alanis Morissette's " Unsent" music video. He portrayed Paul Allen in the 1999 film '' Pirates of Silicon Valley'' and Raymond Milbury on the television series '' Ally McBeal'' from 2001 to 2002. In 2005, Hopkins guest starred on Fox's show '' Bones'' as Temperance Brennan's former professor and lover, Michael Stires, in the episode " The Girl in the Fridge". Hopkins has also guest starred in '' CSI: Miami''. In season 1 of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Russell Crowe
Russell Ira Crowe (born 7 April 1964) is an actor and film director. Russell Crowe filmography, His work on screen has earned him List of awards and nominations received by Russell Crowe, various accolades, including an Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and a British Academy Film Awards, British Academy Film Award. Known for his intense performances, his films have grossed over $5.3 billion worldwide. Crowe was born in New Zealand, spending ten years of his childhood in Australia and residing there permanently by the age of 21. He began acting in Australia and had his break-out role in ''Romper Stomper'' (1992). He gained international recognition in the late 1990s for his starring roles in ''L.A. Confidential (film), L.A. Confidential'' (1997) and ''The Insider (film), The Insider'' (1999). Crowe gained wider stardom for playing the title role of ''Gladiator (2000 film), Gladiator'' (2000), which earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor. Further acclaim came for portr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brian J
Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish and Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world. It is possible that the name is derived from an Old Celtic word meaning "high" or "noble". For example, the element ''bre'' means "hill"; which could be transferred to mean "eminence" or "exalted one". The name is quite popular in Ireland, on account of Brian Boru, a 10th-century High King of Ireland. The name was also quite popular in East Anglia during the Middle Ages. This is because the name was introduced to England by Bretons following the Norman Conquest. Bretons also settled in Ireland along with the Normans in the 12th century, and 'their' name was mingled with the 'Irish' version. Also, in the north-west of England, the 'Irish' name was introduced by Scandinavian settlers from Ireland. Within the Gaelic-speaking areas of Scotland, the name was at first only used by professional families of Iri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Conrad
David Conrad is an American actor. From 2005 to 2010, he starred in the television series ''Ghost Whisperer'' alongside Jennifer Love Hewitt. Early life Conrad is the youngest of three sons born to James Watson Conrad, an engineer, and Margaret Clement Conrad, a librarian. He is a great-grandson of electrical engineer Frank Conrad, a grand-nephew of Martin Withington Clement, who was president of the Pennsylvania Railroad from 1935 to 1948, and a grand-nephew of Maj. General Charles M. Clement, commander of the 28th Division. Conrad is a native of Swissvale, Pennsylvania, and grew up on the border of Edgewood, both suburbs of Pittsburgh. In the early 1980s, he transferred as a sophomore from Swissvale High School to The Kiski School, an all-boys preparatory school in Saltsburg, Pennsylvania, on a scholarship. Conrad graduated from The Kiski School in 1985. He studied history at Brown University, and began acting while he was there. He left Brown in 1990 and worked as a carpe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guy Pearce
Guy Edward Pearce (born 5 October 1967) is an Australian actor. List of awards and nominations received by Guy Pearce, His accolades include a Primetime Emmy Award, and nominations for an Academy Awards, Academy Award, a British Academy Film Awards, BAFTA Award, and two Golden Globe Awards. Born in Cambridgeshire and raised in Geelong, Pearce started his career portraying Mike Young (Neighbours), Mike Young in the Australian television series ''Neighbours'' (1986–1989). Pearce received international attention for his break-out roles in ''The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert'' (1994), ''L.A. Confidential (film), L.A. Confidential'' (1997), ''Ravenous (1999 film), Ravenous'' (1999), and ''Memento (film), Memento'' (2000). His subsequent roles were in ''The Time Machine (2002 film), The Time Machine'' (2002), ''The Count of Monte Cristo (2002 film), The Count of Monte Cristo'' (2002), ''Bedtime Stories (film), Bedtime Stories'' (2008), ''The Road (2009 film), The Roa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of the longest-running newspapers in the United States, the ''Times'' serves as one of the country's Newspaper of record, newspapers of record. , ''The New York Times'' had 9.13 million total and 8.83 million online subscribers, both by significant margins the List of newspapers in the United States, highest numbers for any newspaper in the United States; the total also included 296,330 print subscribers, making the ''Times'' the second-largest newspaper by print circulation in the United States, following ''The Wall Street Journal'', also based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' is published by the New York Times Company; since 1896, the company has been chaired by the Ochs-Sulzberger family, whose current chairman and the paper's publ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kirkus Reviews
''Kirkus Reviews'' is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus. The magazine's publisher, Kirkus Media, is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fiction, nonfiction, and young readers' literature. ''Kirkus Reviews'', published on the first and 15th of each month, previews books before their publication. ''Kirkus'' reviews over 10,000 titles per year. History Virginia Kirkus was hired by Harper & Brothers to establish a children's book department in 1926. In 1932, the department was eliminated as an economic measure. However, within a year, Louise Raymond, the secretary Kirkus hired, had the department running again. Kirkus, however, had left and soon established her own book review service. Initially, she arranged to get galley proofs of "20 or so" books in advance of their publication; almost 80 years later, the service was receiving hundreds of books weekly and reviewing about 100. Ini ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper in the U.S. and the largest in the Western United States with a print circulation of 118,760. It has 500,000 online subscribers, the fifth-largest among U.S. newspapers. Owned by Patrick Soon-Shiong and published by California Times, the paper has won over 40 Pulitzer Prizes since its founding. In the 19th century, the paper developed a reputation for civic boosterism and opposition to labor unions, the latter of which led to the bombing of its headquarters in 1910. The paper's profile grew substantially in the 1960s under publisher Otis Chandler, who adopted a more national focus. As with other regional newspapers in California and the United States, the paper's readership has declined since 2010. It has also been beset by a series of ownership changes, staff ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
