A viral video is one that becomes popular through the process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites, social media and email. Viral videos often contain humorous content and include televised comedy sketches, such as ''The Lonely Island'''s Lazy Sunday and Dick in a Box, amateur video clips like Star Wars Kid the Numa Numa videos, The Evolution of Dance, Chocolate Rain on YouTube; and web-only productions such as I Got a Crush... on Obama. Some eyewitness events have also been caught on video and have "gone viral" such as the Battle at Kruger.

With the proliferation of camera phones, many videos are being shot by amateurs on these devices. The availability of inexpensive video editing and publishing tools allows video shot on mobile phones to be edited and distributed virally, by email or website, and between phones by Bluetooth or MMS. These consumer-shot videos are typically non-commercial, intended for viewing by friends or family. A video becoming viral is often unexpected, and an accident, and therefore a video cannot be called viral purely in the creator's intention at the time of recording.

History

The behaviors behind viral videos, where ideas and news spread between individuals through dialogue, have been present in society since prehistoric times and form part of the foundation of culture. These behaviors are studied by the sociological fields of memetics and semiotics. Word of mouth marketing has long exploited the credibility of personal recommendations, and viral videos also benefit from this effect.

Viral videos began circulating before the major video sharing sites such as YouTube, FunnyorDie and CollegeHumor, by email sharing. One of these early videos was "The Spirit of Christmas" which surfaced in 1995. In 1996 "Dancing Baby" appeared. This video was released as samples of 3D character animation software. Ron Lussier, the animator who cleaned up the raw animation, began passing the video around LucasArts, his workplace at the time. A particularly well-known early example was "All your base are belong to us," based on a poorly-translated video game, which was first distributed as a GIF animation and became popular in the year 2000.

Viral videos staying power relies on hooks, which draw the audience to watch them. The hooks are able to become a part of the viral video culture after being shown repeatedly. The hooks, or key signifiers, are not able to be predicted before the videos become viral.

More recently, there has been a recent surge in viral videos due to the advent of sites designated for video sharing, such as YouTube, and the availability of affordable digital cameras. Due to these sites, many of the traditionally shared videos have been phased out, though some early examples have been added to the mainstream sites.

Social impact

Internet celebrities

Video websites such as YouTube often create Internet celebrities, individuals who have attracted significant publicity in their home countries from their videos. These memes have come from many different backgrounds.

Geriatric1927, one of the most subscribed YouTube members, is an 80-year-old pensioner from England who gained widespread recognition within a week of making his debut on the site. For these users, Internet fame has had various unexpected effects. YouTube user and former receptionist Brooke Brodack has been signed by NBC's Carson Daly for an 18-month development contract.

Band and music promotion

YouTube has become a means of promoting bands and their music. Many independent musicians, as well as large companies such as Universal Music Group, use YouTube to promote videos.

A video broadcasting the Free Hugs Campaign, with accompanying music by the Sick Puppies, led to instant fame for both the band and the campaign, with more campaigns taking place in different parts of the world. The main character of the video, Juan Mann, achieved recognition after being interviewed on Australian news programs and appearing on ''The Oprah Winfrey Show''.

Education

Viral videos continue to increase in popularity as teaching and instructive aids. In March 2007, an elementary school teacher, Jason Smith, created TeacherTube, a website for sharing educational videos with other teachers. The site now features over 54,000 videos. Some college curricula are now using viral videos in the classroom as well. Northwestern University offers a course called "YouTubing 101". The course invites students to produce their own viral videos, focusing on marketing techniques and advertising strategies.

Customer complaints

"United Breaks Guitars", by the Canadian folk rock music group Sons of Maxwell, is an example of how viral videos can be used by consumers to pressure companies to settle complaints. Another example is Brian Finkelstein's video complaint to Comcast, 2006. Finkelstein recorded a video of a Comcast technician sleeping on his couch. The technician had come to repair Brian's modem but had to call Comcast's central office and then the technician fell asleep after being placed on hold waiting for Comcast.

Cyberbullying

The Canadian high school student known as Star Wars Kid was subjected to significant harassment and ostracizing after the viral success of his video. His family accepted a financial settlement after suing the individuals responsible for posting the video online.

In July 2010, an 11-year-old girl was subjected to a campaign of harassment and cyberbullying following the viral nature of videos she had uploaded to Stickam and YouTube. As a result of the case, the potential for cyberbullying as a result of viral videos was widely discussed in the media.

Legal implications

Viral videos that do not feature original content often violate copyright laws. Users frequently upload television, movie and music clips onto popular viral websites like YouTube. The use of copyrighted material has caused several problems in the entertainment industry. The most notable incident occurred following the release of "Lazy Sunday", the popular digital short that appeared on NBC's Saturday Night Live. Within hours fans posted the video onto YouTube, where it received a substantial number of hits. NBC then released an order to remove all reproductions of Lazy Sunday from YouTube and other websites, claiming that the postings constituted copyright infringement under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. In some cases, copyrighted material in viral videos may be used legally, either with a license or under the doctrine of fair use or fair dealing; for example, many videos featuring only brief clips are likely to fall under these legal exceptions.

As viral videos have increased in popularity, the entertainment industry has begun researching ways to profit from the phenomenon. Recently a couple posted a video of their wedding procession to Chris Brown's song "Forever", on YouTube. Sony, which owns the copyright to the song, was able to capitalize on the success of the video by offering a one-click buying option, which allows users to purchase the song by clicking on a black bar that appears during the video. According to YouTube, although the song was a year old, the video renewed the song's popularity and it reached #4 on iTunes and #3 on Amazon's bestseller list. The recent success of the one-click buying method allows companies to profit from the success of viral videos. Other media companies have formed partnerships with video sharing sites in the hope that increased traffic will lead users to their sites. MTV2 provided clips of ''The Andy Milonakis Show'' with links to the original content. Advertisers, such as Nike, seed YouTube with clips of their products, hoping to attract consumers.

Political implications

The 2008 United States presidential election showcased the impact of political viral videos. For the first time, YouTube hosted the CNN-YouTube presidential debates, calling on YouTube users to pose questions. In this debate, the opinions of viral video creators and users were taken seriously. There were several memorable viral videos that appeared during the campaign. In June 2007, "I Got a Crush...on Obama", a music video featuring a girl claiming to have a crush on presidential candidate Barack Obama, appeared. Unlike previously popular political videos, it did not feature any celebrities and was purely user-generated. The video garnered many viewers and gained attention in the mainstream media.

YouTube became a powerful source of campaigning for the 2008 Presidential Election. Every major party candidate had their own YouTube channel in order to communicate with the voters, with John McCain posting over 300 videos and Barack Obama posting over 1,800 videos. The music video, “Yes We Can,” by will.i.am demonstrates user-generated publicity for the 2008 Presidential Campaign. The video depicts many celebrities as well as black and white clips of Barack Obama. This music video inspired many parodies and won an Emmy for Best New Approaches in Daytime Entertainment.

The proliferation of viral videos in the 2008 campaign highlights the fact that people increasingly turn to the internet to receive their news. In a study for the Pew Research Center in 2008, approximately 2% of the participants said that they received their news from non-traditional sources such as MySpace or YouTube. The campaign was widely seen as an example of the growing influence of the internet on United States politics; further evidenced by the founding of viral video producers like Brave New Films.

Notable viral video sites

Barely Political

Break.com

Collegehumor.com

eBaum's World

Fail Blog

Funny or Die

Google Video

JibJab

LiveLeak

Metacafe

Newgrounds.com

Nico Nico Douga

Veoh.com

YouTube

See also

Internet meme

List of Internet phenomena

Positive feedback

Shock site

Viral marketing

References

External links

Viral Video Chart Guardian News, UK.

Photos Gone Viral! — slideshow by ''Life magazine''

Category:Internet memes Category:Viral marketing * Category:Buzzwords

ca:Vídeo viral de:Viral es:Video viral fr:Vidéo virale mr:व्हायरल व्हिडियो ja:バイラルCM pt:Vídeo viral th:ไวรอลวิดีโอ

Coordinates	7°18′48″N72°24′40″N
Name	Stalking Cat
Birth name	Dennis Avner
Birth date	August 27, 1958
Birth place	Flint, Michigan
Nationality	American
Known for	extensive body modifications to look like a tiger
Home town	Tonopah, Nevada
Footnotes	}}

Dennis Avner (born in Flint, Michigan August 27, 1958) of Tonopah, Nevada, United States, is widely known as "Cat Man," though he prefers his Native American name, Stalking Cat. Avner has spent considerable resources to surgically modify his body to resemble that of a tiger. He holds the world record for the most body modifications.

Description of modifications

extensive tattooing, including facial tattooing

hairline modification

facial transdermal implants to allow the wearing of whiskers

facial subdermal implants to change the shape of the brow, forehead and the bridge of the nose (a planned future implant on the top of his head for mounting tiger-like ears)

filing and capping of his teeth to have a more feline appearance

wearing green contact lenses with slit irises

having his ears surgically pointed and the earlobes elongated

silicone injection in the lips, cheeks, chin and other parts of his face

bifurcated upper lip

Avner himself claims not to keep track of the money he has spent on body modification, although some sources do state a total. Avner, whose parents were of Huron and Lakota heritage, states that altering oneself to resemble one's own totem is an ancient Huron tradition. The former Navy sonar technician who currently works as a computer programmer took on the name Stalking Cat and began his modifications after a discussion with a Native chief who reportedly inspired him to 'follow the ways of the tiger'.

As a result of his unusual appearance, Stalking Cat has attained local celebrity status and frequently travels to attend interviews and photo sessions. He has appeared and been interviewed on such television and radio shows as ''Ripley's Believe It or Not!'', ''Larry King Live'', VH1's ''Totally Obsessed'', Kerrang! Radio's ''The Night Before'', BBC Choice's ''Anna in Wonderland'' (Episode 6), and Animal Planet's ''Weird, True & Freaky'' (2008 episode "Humanimals").

Many of Stalking Cat's body modifications have been performed by Arizona based artist Steve Haworth.

The first artist to begin the extensive tattoo work on Dennis's face was Larry Hanks of San Diego in 1985. He also tattooed scales on him and at this time Stalking Cat was referred to as "Cat Fish" although not by choice.

Medical ethics concerns

Glenn McGee, director of the Center for Bioethics at Albany Medical College in New York, says of Avner, "Cosmetic surgery is a practice based on informed consent that needs to balance the risks with the benefits. It is possible to have a coherent view that is nonetheless detrimental to one's well-being. This is a patient who's being harmed by medicine in the interest of his tradition."

See also

The Lizardman

Katzen

The Enigma

Lucky Diamond Rich

Body modification

References

External links

Dennis Avner's LiveJournal

Cat Man - the human 'tiger' who enjoys climbing trees and eats raw meat every day - an article dated 2008-09-06 from The Daily Mail, which features a photograph of Stalking Cat

Category:1958 births Category:Living people Category:Body modification Category:Lakota people Category:Wyandot people

de:Stalking Cat es:Stalking Cat ja:ストーキング・キャット pt:Stalking Cat sv:Stalking Cat

Coordinates	7°18′48″N72°24′40″N
Name	Patrick Amama Mbabazi
Office	Prime Minister of Uganda
President	Yoweri Museveni
Term start	24 May 2011
Predecessor	Apolo Nsibambi
Deputy	Eriya Kategaya
Office2	Minister for Security
President2	Yoweri Museveni
Term start2	24 February 2009
Term end2	24 May 2011
Primeminister2	Apolo Nsibambi
Predecessor2	Kabakumba Masiko
Successor2	Muruli Mukasa
Office3	Attorney General of Uganda
President3	Yoweri Museveni
Term start3	1 May 2004
Term end3	9 March 2006
Primeminister3	Apolo Nsibambi
Predecessor3	Francis Ayume
Successor3	Khiddu Makubuya
Office4	Member of Parliament from Kanungu District
Term start4	11 February 2003
Predecessor4	Constituency estabilished
Birth date	January 16, 1949
Birth place	Kabale, Uganda
Party	National Resistance Movement
Religion	Protestant
Alma mater	Makerere UniversityLaw Development Centre }}

Patrick Amama Mbabazi is a senior Ugandan lawyer and politician. He is the current Prime Minister of Uganda, a position he has held since 24 May 2011. Prior to his current position, he served as the Minister for Security in the Ugandan Cabinet, from February 2009 until May 2011. He also served as the Secretary General of the National Resistance Movement political party from June 2010 until June 2011. Amama Mbabazi also serves as the Member of Parliament for Kinkiizi West constituency in Kanungu District, a position he has held since 2003.

Background

He was born on 16 January 1949 in Mparo village, Rukiga County, in present-day Kabale District.

Education

Mbabazi holds a law degree, Bachelor of Laws (LLB), from Makerere University, obtained in 1975. He also holds the postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice obtained from the Law Development Center in Kampala. He is an Advocate of the Courts of Judicature of Uganda and a member of the Uganda Law Society since 1977.

Professional career

Prior to joining politics, he worked as State Attorney in the Attorney General's Chambers, rising to the position of Secretary of the Uganda Law Council. Between 1986 and 1991 he served as Director General of the External Security Organization (ESO), being the first person to serve in that position. In 1994, he served as a delegate to the Constituent Assembly that drew up the 1995 Ugandan Constitution. He became the Chairman of the National Resistance Movement Delegates Caucus.

He has also served as Minister of State in the President's office, in-charge of Political Affairs. Between 1986 and 1992 he was Minister of State for Defence. Subsequently, he served as Minister of State for Foreign Affairs in charge of Regional Cooperation. In 2004, he was appointed as Attorney General and Minister of Justice. He held that portfolio until he was appointed Minister of Defence in 2006, a position he held until he was appointed Security Minister. He served as Security Minister from February 2009 until May 2011, when he was appointed Prime Minister. He is the tenth Prime Minister in Uganda's history.

Diplomacy

Over the years, Amama Mbabazi has represented Uganda in International fora, including the United Nations Security Council, where he argued for the International Community to allow the Uganda People's Defense Force (UPDF) to pursue the Lord's Resistance Army fighters beyond Uganda's borders. He also represented Uganda at the signing of the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement that resulted in the resolution of the Second Congo War.

External links

04 November 2008 NRM Caucus Exonerates Mbabazi ''UGPulse.com''

Fallout From Temangalo Scandal

See also

Cabinet of Uganda

Parliament of Uganda

Kanungu District

References

Category:1949 births Category:Current national leaders Category:Living people Category:Government ministers of Uganda Category:Members of the Parliament of Uganda Category:National Resistance Movement politicians Category:People from Kanungu District Category:Prime Ministers of Uganda Category:Ugandan lawyers

de:Amama Mbabazi el:Αμάμα Μπαμπάζι et:Amama Mbabazi fr:Amama Mbabazi ku:Amama Mbabazi nds:Amama Mbabazi pl:Amama Mbabazi ru:Мбабази, Амама tr:Amama Mbabazi yo:Amama Mbabazi

Coordinates	7°18′48″N72°24′40″N
name	Ridley Scott
birth date	November 30, 1937
birth place	South Shields, Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom
death date
occupation	Film director, film producer
years active	1965–present
spouse	Felicity Heywood,(m. 1964–1975, divorced)Sandy Watson(m. 1979–1989, divorced)
children	''With Felicity Heywood''Jake (born 1965)Luke (born 1968)''With Sandy Watson''Jordan (born 1978) }}

Sir Ridley Scott (born 30 November 1937) is an English film director and producer. His films include ''The Duellists'' (1977), ''Alien'' (1979), ''Blade Runner'' (1982), ''Legend'' (1985), ''Thelma & Louise'' (1991), ''G. I. Jane'' (1997), ''Gladiator'' (2000), ''Black Hawk Down'' (2001), ''Hannibal'' (2001), ''Kingdom of Heaven'' (2005), ''American Gangster'' (2007), ''Body of Lies'' (2008), and ''Robin Hood'' (2010).

Scott has been nominated for three Academy Awards for Directing, as well as Golden Globe and Emmy Awards. He was knighted in the 2003 New Year honours. In 2011, Scott is set to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He is the older brother of film director Tony Scott.

Background

Scott was born in South Shields, Tyne and Wear, England, the son of Elizabeth and Colonel Francis Percy Scott. He was raised in an Army family, meaning that for most of his early life, his father — an officer in the Royal Engineers — was absent. Ridley's older brother, Frank, joined the Merchant Navy when he was still young and the pair had little contact. During this time the family moved around, living in (among other areas) Cumbria, Wales and Germany. He has a younger brother, Tony, also a film director. After the Second World War, the Scott family moved back to their native north-east England, eventually settling in Teesside (whose industrial landscape would later inspire similar scenes in ''Blade Runner''). He enjoyed watching films, and his favourites include ''Lawrence of Arabia'', ''Citizen Kane'' and ''Seven Samurai''. Scott studied in Teesside from 1954 to 1958, at Grangefield Grammar School and later in West Hartlepool College of Art, graduating with a Diploma in Design.

He went on to study at the Royal College of Art, contributing to the college magazine, ''ARK'', and helping to establish its film department. For his final show, he made a black and white short film, ''Boy and Bicycle'', starring his younger brother, Tony Scott, and his father. The film's main visual elements would become features of Scott's later work; it was issued on the 'Extras' section of ''The Duellists'' DVD. After graduation in 1963, he secured a job as a trainee set designer with the BBC, leading to work on the popular television police series ''Z-Cars'' and the science fiction series ''Out of the Unknown''. Scott was an admirer of Stanley Kubrick early in his development as a director.

He was assigned to design the second ''Doctor Who'' serial, ''The Daleks'', which would have entailed realising the famous alien creatures. However, shortly before Scott was due to start work, a schedule conflict meant that he was replaced on the serial by Raymond Cusick.

In 1968, Ridley and Tony Scott founded Ridley Scott Associates (RSA), a film and commercial production company. Five members of the Scott family are directors, all working for RSA. Brother Tony has been a successful film director for more than two decades; sons, Jake and Luke are both acclaimed commercials directors as is his daughter, Jordan Scott. Jake and Jordan both work from Los Angeles and Luke is based in London.

In 1995, Shepperton Studios was purchased by a consortium headed by Ridley and Tony Scott, which extensively renovated the studios while also expanding and improving its grounds.

Early career

Working with Alan Parker, Hugh Hudson, Hugh Johnson at RSA during the 1970s, Scott made television commercials in the UK including most notably the 1974 Hovis advert, "Bike Round" (New World Symphony), which was filmed in Shaftesbury, Dorset.

Early films

''The Duellists''

''The Duellists'' of 1977 was Ridley Scott's first feature film. It was produced in Europe and won a Best Debut Film medal at the Cannes Film Festival but made limited commercial impact in the US. Set during the Napoleonic Wars, it featured two French Hussar officers, D'Hubert and Feraud (played by Keith Carradine and Harvey Keitel). Their quarrel over an initially minor incident turns into a bitter, long-drawn out feud over the following fifteen years, interwoven with the larger conflict that provides its backdrop. The film is lauded for its historically authentic portrayal of Napoleonic uniforms and military conduct, as well as its accurate early-19th-century fencing techniques recreated by fight choreographer William Hobbs.

''Alien''

Scott's box office disappointment with ''The Duellists'' was compounded by the success received by Alan Parker with American-backed films — Scott admitted he was "ill for a week" with envy. Scott had originally planned to next adapt a version of ''Tristan and Iseult'', but after seeing ''Star Wars'', he became convinced of the potential of large scale, effects-driven films. He therefore accepted the job of directing ''Alien'', the ground-breaking 1979 horror/science-fiction film that would give him international recognition.

While Scott would not direct the three ''Alien'' sequels, the female action hero Ellen Ripley (played by Sigourney Weaver), introduced in the first film, would become a cinematic icon. Scott was involved in the 2003 restoration and re-release of the film including media interviews for its promotion. At this time Scott indicated that he had been in discussions to make the fifth and final film in the ''Alien'' franchise. However, in a 2006 interview, the director remarked that he had been unhappy about ''Alien: The Director's Cut'', feeling that the original was "pretty flawless" and that the additions were merely a marketing tool.

''Blade Runner''

After a year working on the film adaptation of ''Dune'', and following the sudden death of his brother Frank, Scott signed to direct the film version of Philip K. Dick's novel ''Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?''. Starring Harrison Ford and featuring an acclaimed soundtrack by Vangelis, ''Blade Runner'' was a disappointment in theatres in 1982 and was pulled shortly thereafter. Scott's notes were used by Warner Brothers to create a rushed director's cut in 1991 which removed the voiceovers and modified the ending. Scott personally supervised a digital restoration of ''Blade Runner'' and approved the ''Final Cut''. This version was released in Los Angeles, New York, and Toronto cinemas on 5 October 2007, and as an elaborate DVD release on 18 December 2007. Today ''Blade Runner'' is often ranked by critics as one of the most important science fiction films of the 20th century and is usually discussed along with William Gibson's novel ''Neuromancer'' as initiating the cyberpunk genre. Scott regards ''Blade Runner'' as his "most complete and personal film".

"1984" Apple Macintosh commercial

In 1984 Scott directed the television commercial ''1984'', written by Steve Hayden and Lee Clow, produced by Chiat/Day, and starring Anya Major as the unnamed heroine and David Graham as "Big Brother". It was released for a single airing in the United States on 22 January 1984 during the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII. It introduced the Macintosh for the first time and is now considered a "watershed event" and a "masterpiece".

''1984'' used the unnamed heroine to represent the coming of the Macintosh (indicated by her white tank top with a Picasso-style picture of Apple’s Macintosh computer on it) as a means of saving humanity from "conformity" (Big Brother).

These images were an allusion to George Orwell's noted novel, ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'', which described a dystopian future ruled by a fictional "Big Brother".

''Legend''

In 1985 Scott directed ''Legend'', a fantasy film produced by Arnon Milchan. Having not tackled the fairy tale genre, Scott decided to create a "once upon a time" film set in a world of fairies, princesses, and goblins. Scott cast Tom Cruise as the film's hero, Jack, Mia Sara as Princess Lily, and Tim Curry as the Satan-Horned Lord of Darkness. A series of problems with both principal photography, including the destruction of the forest set by fire, and post-production (including heavy editing and substitution of Jerry Goldsmith's original score with a score by Tangerine Dream) hampered the film's release. ''Legend'' received scathing reviews.

1987–92

Scott made ''Someone to Watch Over Me'', a romantic police drama starring Tom Berenger, Lorraine Bracco and Mimi Rogers in 1987, and ''Black Rain'', a 1989 cop drama starring Michael Douglas and Andy García, shot partially in Tokyo and Osaka, Japan. Both achieved mild success at the box office.

''Thelma & Louise'' (1991) starring Geena Davis as Thelma, and Susan Sarandon as Louise, was successful, and revived Scott's reputation. However, his next project—an independent movie, ''1492: Conquest of Paradise''—was less successful. It is a visually striking film telling the story of Christopher Columbus. However, it was a box office failure, and Scott did not release another film for four years.

Recent career

In 1995, with his brother Tony, Scott formed the film and television production company, Scott Free Productions in Los Angeles. All his subsequent feature films, starting with ''White Squall'' and ''G.I. Jane'', starring Demi Moore and Viggo Mortensen, were produced under the Scott Free banner. Also in 1995 the two brothers purchased controlling interest in Shepperton Studios, which later merged with Pinewood Studios. Scott and his brother have produced the CBS series ''Numb3rs'' (2005–2010), a crime drama about a genius mathematician who helps the FBI solve crimes, and ''The Good Wife'' (2009–), a legal drama concerning an attorney continuing her law practice while coping with her husband, a former state attorney trying to rebuild his political career after a major scandal.

''Gladiator'' 2000–2005

The huge success of Scott's film ''Gladiator'' (2000) has been credited with reviving the nearly defunct "sword and sandal" historical genre. Scott then turned to ''Hannibal'', the sequel to Jonathan Demme's ''The Silence of the Lambs''. In 2001, Scott released the war film, ''Black Hawk Down'', which further established his position as a critically and financially successful film maker. The film won two Oscars.

In 2003 Scott directed ''Matchstick Men'', adapted from the novel by Eric Garcia and starring Nicolas Cage, Sam Rockwell and Alison Lohman. It received mostly positive reviews and performed moderately at the box office. In 2005 he made the modestly successful ''Kingdom of Heaven'', a movie about the Crusades which consciously sought to connect history to current events. The Moroccan government sent the Moroccan cavalry as extras in the epic battle scenes.

Unhappy with the theatrical version of the film (which he blamed on paying too much attention to the opinions of preview audiences), Scott supervised a director's cut of ''Kingdom of Heaven'', which was released on DVD in 2006. In an interview to promote the latter, when asked if he was against previewing in general, Scott stated: "It depends who's in the driving seat. If you've got a lunatic doing my job, then you need to preview. But a good director should be experienced enough to judge what he thinks is the correct version to go out into the cinema."

2006–present

Scott teamed up again with ''Gladiator'' star Russell Crowe, directing the movie ''A Good Year'', based on the best-selling book. The film was released on 10 November 2006, with a score by Marc Streitenfeld. Rupert Murdoch, chairman of News Corp and Subsidiary studio 20th Century Fox (who backed the film) dismissed ''A Good Year'' as "a flop" at a shareholders' meeting only a few days after the film's release.

Scott's next directorial work was on ''American Gangster'', the story of real-life drug kingpin Frank Lucas. He was the third director to attempt the project after Antoine Fuqua and Terry George. Denzel Washington and Benicio del Toro had been cast in the initial Steven Zaillian-scripted project under the working title ''Tru Blu'', both actors having been paid salaries of $20 m and $15 m respectively without doing any production on the film. Following George's departure, Scott took over the project in early 2006. He had Zaillian rewrite the script to focus on the dynamic between Frank Lucas and Richie Roberts. Washington signed back on to the project as Lucas, and Crowe signed on to play Roberts. The film finally premiered in November 2007 to positive reviews and good box office. In late 2008 Scott released the espionage thriller ''Body of Lies'' starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Crowe once again which opened to luke-warm ticket-sales and mixed reviews.

Scott directed an adaptation of Robin Hood titled ''Robin Hood'', which starred Russell Crowe as Robin Hood and Cate Blanchett as Maid Marian, and which was released on 13 May 2010 in Australia and 14 May 2010 in America. The film also starred Max von Sydow and Mark Strong.

Scott and his brother Tony produced the film adaptation of the 1980s TV cult classic ''The A-Team'', which was directed by Joe Carnahan and released on 11 June 2010.

Scott's most recent film is ''Prometheus'', and is due for release in July 2012.

Planned projects

In October 2007, it was announced that Scott would be directing ''Blood Meridian'', a movie adaptation of the novel of the same name by Cormac McCarthy. It was later announced in 2008 that Todd Field had taken over the position.

In April 2008, Scott announced his new project, ''The Kind One'', a period drama set for release in 2012. The film will star recent Academy Award nominee Casey Affleck. It is based on the novel of the same name by screenwriter Tom Epperson.

On 12 October 2008, Scott confirmed that after a 25 year wait for the rights to become available, he is making a return to science fiction with a film adaptation of the book ''The Forever War'' by Joe Haldeman. He was looking for a script writer. In March 2009, Scott confirmed that the film would be in 3D citing James Cameron's ''Avatar'' as an inspiration for doing so. "I'm filming a book by Joe Haldeman called ''Forever War''. I've got a good writer doing it. I've seen some of James Cameron's work, and I've got to go 3D. It's going to be phenomenal."

Another science fiction project to which Scott has been attached is an adaptation of Aldous Huxley's ''Brave New World'', with Leonardo DiCaprio also attached.

On 31 July 2009, news of a two part prequel to ''Alien'' surfaced, with Ridley attached to direct. The film is being developed by 20th Century Fox.. In August 2011, information leaked about production of a new installment by Alcon Entertainment, with Alcon partners Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove.

Scott announced on 15 October 2009 that he will direct a film adaptation of the ''Red Riding'' trilogy.

On 6 July 2010, YouTube announced the launch of ''Life In A Day'', an experimental documentary that will be executive produced by Scott. It will incorporate footage shot on 24 July 2010 that is submitted by YouTube users from around the world.

Personal life

Ridley Scott was married to Felicity Heywood from 1964 to 1975. The couple had two sons, Jake and Luke, both of whom work as directors on Scott's production company Ridley Scott Associates. Scott later married advertising executive Sandy Watson in 1979, with whom he had a daughter, Jordan Scott, and divorced in 1989.

His current partner is the actress Giannina Facio, whom he has cast in all his movies since ''White Squall'' except ''American Gangster''. He divides his time between homes in London, France, and Los Angeles.

Approach and style

Scott was not initially considered an actors' director , but has become more receptive to ideas from his cast as his career has developed. Examples include Susan Sarandon's suggestions that the character of Louise pack shoes in plastic bags in one scene of ''Thelma & Louise'', and another where her character exchanges jewelry for a hat and other items— and Tim Robbins' collaboration with Scott and Susan Sarandon to rework the final scene with a more upbeat ending. Russell Crowe commented, "I like being on Ridley's set because actors can perform [...] and the focus is on the performers." Paul M. Sammon, in his book ''Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner'', commented in an interview with Brmovie.com that Scott's relationship with his actors has improved considerably over the years.

On the other hand, he can be a demanding and difficult director to work for. He was nicknamed "Guvnor" in the ''Blade Runner'' production. Several crew members wore protest t-shirts with slogans such as "Yes Guvnor, my ass" and "Will Rogers never met Ridley Scott" in reference to Will Rogers' most famous quotation, "I never met a man I didn't like". This was mainly in response to the way that Scott directed his first American crew, which some considered too harsh.

His striking visual style, incorporating a detailed approach to production design and innovative, atmospheric lighting, has been influential on a subsequent generation of filmmakers — many of whom have imitated his style. Scott commonly uses slow pacing until the action sequences. Examples include ''Alien'' and ''Blade Runner''; the ''LA Times'' critic Sheila Benson, for example, would call the latter "Blade Crawler" "because it's so damn slow". Another technique he employs is use of sound or music to build tension, as heard in ''Alien'', with hissing steam, beeping computers and the noise of the machinery in the space ship.

Scott has developed a method for filming intricate shots as swiftly as possible:

"I like working, always, with a minimum of three cameras. [...] So those 50 set-ups [a day] might only be 25 set-ups except I'm covering in the set-up. So you're finished. I mean, if you take a little bit more time to prep on three cameras, or if it's a big stunt, eleven cameras, and — whilst it may take 45 minutes to set up — then when you're ready you say 'Action!', and you do three takes, two takes and is everybody happy? You say, 'Yeah, that's it.' So you move on."

Although Scott is often known for his painterly directorial style, other techniques and elements include: Strong female characters.

Some of his movies feature strong conflicts between father and son that usually end with the latter killing the former (''Blade Runner'', ''Gladiator'') or witnessing the event (''Kingdom of Heaven'', ''Robin Hood''). The Lord of Darkness in ''Legend'' also mentions his "father" on a few occasions. As part of the conflict between father and son there are some repetitive scenes: in ''Gladiator'', the son hugs the father seemingly as an expression of love but this embrace turns into the suffocation and death of the father. There is a similar sequence in ''Blade Runner''.

Scott utilises cityscapes as an emphasis to his storytelling (i.e., a futuristic Los Angeles in ''Blade Runner'', Tokyo in ''Black Rain'', Jerusalem in ''Kingdom of Heaven'').

In ''Gladiator'', ''Blade Runner'' and ''Kingdom of Heaven'', a son gets to know his father when he is grown up. Other common elements are that the mother is not seen, and that the son or father is seen performing his last actions. For example, Roy Batty is dying when he saves Deckard, Maximus dies after killing Commodus and Godfrey of Ibelin kills some enemies after he has been mortally wounded by an arrow. In addition, the hero is saved from death before attaining his greatest deeds: Deckard is saved by Rachel, Maximus is saved by a slave and Balian is saved by a Muslim enemy. Similar situations can be seen in Tony Scott's ''Man on Fire''.

Military and officer classes as characters reflecting his father's career, such as in ''G.I. Jane'' and ''Black Hawk Down'' and ''Kingdom of Heaven''.

Storyboarding his films extensively. These illustrations, when made by himself, have been referred to as "Ridleygrams" in DVD releases.

Like Stanley Kubrick, Scott was once known for requesting a great many takes. This was evident on ''Blade Runner'': the crew nicknamed the movie "Blood Runner" because of this.

He often makes use of classical music (the Hovis advertisements, ''Someone to Watch Over Me'').

Extensive use of smoke and other atmospheres (in ''Alien'', ''Blade Runner'' and ''Black Rain''), plus fans and fan-like objects (''Blade Runner'', ''Black Rain'' and the large Boeing jet engines in the ''1984'' TV advertisement). Fans are also used in ''Hannibal'', for symbolic purposes.

Consistency in his choice of composers, using Jerry Goldsmith (''Alien'' and ''Legend''), Vangelis (''Blade Runner'' and ''1492: Conquest of Paradise'') or Hans Zimmer (''Black Rain'', ''Thelma & Louise'', ''Gladiator'', ''Hannibal'', ''Black Hawk Down'' and ''Matchstick Men''). Scott has also twice used songs by Sting during the film credits ("Valparaiso" for ''White Squall'' and "Someone to Watch Over Me" for the movie of the same title).

DVD format and director's cut

Scott is known for his enthusiasm for the DVD format, providing audio commentaries and interviews for all his films where possible. In the July 2006 issue of ''Total Film'' magazine, he stated: "After all the work we go through, to have it run in the cinema and then disappear forever is a great pity. To give the film added life is really cool for both those who missed it and those who really loved it."

Running alongside his enthusiasm for DVD, Scott is sometimes considered the "father" of the director's cut, a description which is somewhat ironic considering that the impetus to produce such versions has sometimes begun with other parties. The positive reaction to the ''Blade Runner'' Director's Cut encouraged Scott to re-cut several movies that were a disappointment at the time of their release (including ''Legend'' and ''Kingdom of Heaven''). Today the practice of alternative cuts is more commonplace, though often as a way to make a film stand out in the DVD marketplace by adding new material.

Awards

Scott has been nominated for three Academy Awards for Directing: for ''Thelma & Louise'', ''Gladiator'' and ''Black Hawk Down'', as well as a Golden Globe, BAFTA and Emmy Award. He has won 3 British Academy Awards for the film ''Blade Runner''. He was knighted in the 2003 New Year honours.

Awards and important nominations

Awards

Cannes

* 1977: ''The Duellists''

Saturn Awards

* 1979: ''Alien''

Important nominations

Academy Awards

* 1991: ''Thelma & Louise''

* 2000: ''Gladiator''

* 2001: ''Black Hawk Down''

Golden Globe

* 2000: ''Gladiator''

* 2006: ''American Gangster''

BAFTA

* 1991: ''Thelma & Louise'' (Best Film)

* 1991: ''Thelma & Louise'' (Best Director)

* 2000: ''Gladiator'' (Best Director)

* 2006: ''American Gangster'' (Best Film)

Box office performance

! Date	! Movie	! Studio	! United States gross	! Worldwide gross	! Theatres	! Opening weekend	! Opening theatres	! Budget
1977	''The Duellists''	Par.						$900,000
1979		Fox	$80,931,801	$104,931,801	757	$3,527,881	91	$11,000,000
1982	''Blade Runner''	WB	$32,768,670	$33,139,618	1,325	$6,150,002	1,295	$28,000,000
1985		Uni.	$15,502,112		1,187	$4,261,154	1,187	$30,000,000
1987		Col.	$10,278,549		894	$2,908,796	892	$17,000,000
1989		Par.	$46,212,055	$134,212,055	1,760	$9,677,102	1,610	$30,000,000
1991	''Thelma & Louise''	MGM	$45,360,915		1,180	$6,101,297	1,179	$16,500,000
1992	''1492: Conquest of Paradise''	Par.	$7,191,399		1,008	$3,002,680	1,008	$47,000,000
1996		BV	$10,292,300		1,524	$3,908,514	1,524	$38,000,000
1997	''G.I. Jane''	BV	$48,169,156		2,043	$11,094,241	1,945	$50,000,000
2000		DW	$187,705,427	$457,640,427	3,188	$34,819,017	2,938	$103,000,000
2001		MGM	$165,092,268	$351,692,268	3,292	$58,003,121	3,230	$87,000,000
2001		Sony	$108,638,745	$172,989,651	3,143	$179,823	4	$92,000,000
2003	''Matchstick Men''	WB	$36,906,460	$65,565,672	2,711	$13,087,307	2,711	N/A
2005		Fox	$47,398,413	$211,652,051	3,219	$19,635,996	3,216	$130,000,000
2006	''A Good Year''	Fox	$7,459,300	$42,056,466	2,067	$3,721,526	2,066	$35,000,000
2007		Uni.	$130,164,645	$265,697,825	3,110	$43,565,115	3,054	$100,000,000
2008		WB	$39,394,666	$115,321,950	2,714	$12,884,416	2,710	$70,000,000
2010		Uni.	$105,269,730	$321,669,730	3,505	$36,063,385	3,503	$155,000,000
2012		Fox

Filmography

''Alien (film) ''Blade Runner'' ''Legend (film) ''Someone to Watch Over Me (film) ''Black Rain (American film) ''Thelma & Louise'' ''1492: Conquest of Paradise'' ''White Squall (film) ''G.I. Jane'' ''Gladiator (2000 film) ''Hannibal (film) style="text-align:center;" ''Matchstick Men (film) ''Kingdom of Heaven (film) ''A Good Year'' ''American Gangster (film) ''Body of Lies (film) ''Robin Hood (2010 film) ''Prometheus (film)

rowspan=2	Year	Film	! colspan=2
Nominations	Wins
1977	''The Duellists''
1979	Alien'' ||	2	1
1982	|	2
1985	Legend'' ||	1
1987	Someone to Watch Over Me'' ||
1989	Black Rain'' ||	2
1991	|	6	1
1992	|
1996	White Squall'' ||
1997	|
2000	Gladiator'' ||	12	5
rowspan="2">2001	Hannibal'' ||
''Black Hawk Down (film)	Black Hawk Down''	4 || style="text-align:center;"|2
2003	Matchstick Men'' ||
2005	Kingdom of Heaven'' ||
2006	|
2007	American Gangster'' ||	2
2008	Body of Lies'' ||
2010	Robin Hood'' ||
2012	Prometheus'' ||

Commercials

''Bike Round'' for Hovis (1973)

''Chanel... Share the fantasy.'' for Chanel (1979)

''1984'' for Apple Computer (1984)

''Deficit Trials'' for W.R. Grace (1986)

''The Choice of a New Generation'' for Pepsi (1986) (Starred Don Johnson and Glenn Frey)

''Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbo Super Bowl commercial (1992)

TV shows

''Numb3rs'' (Producer, 2005–2010)

''The Good Wife'' (Executive producer, 2009–present)

''The Pillars of the Earth'' (Executive producer, 2010–present)

References

External links

Ridley Scott at Rotten Tomatoes Celebrity Profile

Ridley Scott Associates (RSA)

They Shoot Pictures, Don't They?

Video interview with STV's Grant Lauchlan, discussing ''Kingdom of Heaven'' and ''Blade Runner''

Times Interview with Ridley Scott 5 October 2006

Total Film: Interview with Ridley Scott, 15 July 2007

RSA Films (Ridley and Tony Scott's advertising production company), 30 November 2007

Category:1937 births Category:Alumni of the Royal College of Art Category:Apple Inc. advertising Category:English film directors Category:English film producers Category:Knights Bachelor Category:Living people Category:People from South Shields Category:Science Fiction Hall of Fame inductees

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Coordinates	7°18′48″N72°24′40″N
name	Steve Jobs
birth name	Steven Paul Jobs
birth date	February 24, 1955
birth place
death date	October 05, 2011
death place	Palo Alto, California, U.S.
nationality	American
occupation	Co-founder, Chairman and CEO, Apple Inc., Co-founder and CEO, Pixar, Co-founder and CEO, NeXT Inc.
alma mater	Reed College (dropped out)
years active	1974–2011
boards	The Walt Disney Company, Apple Inc.
religion	Zen Buddhism
spouse	Laurene Powell(1991–2011, his death)
children	4 – Lisa Brennan-Jobs, Reed, Erin, Eve
relatives	Mona Simpson (sister)
signature	Steve Jobs signature.svg
signature size	120px }}

Steven Paul Jobs (; February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American businessman, designer and inventor. He is best known as the co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Apple Inc. Through Apple, he was widely recognized as a charismatic pioneer of the personal computer revolution and for his influential career in the computer and consumer electronics fields. Jobs also co-founded and served as chief executive of Pixar Animation Studios; he became a member of the board of directors of The Walt Disney Company in 2006, when Disney acquired Pixar.

In the late 1970s, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak engineered one of the first commercially successful lines of personal computers, the Apple II series. Jobs was among the first to see the commercial potential of Xerox PARC's mouse-driven graphical user interface, which led to the creation of the Apple Lisa and, one year later, the Macintosh. During this period he also led efforts that would begin the desktop publishing revolution, notably through the introduction of the LaserWriter and the associated PageMaker software.

After losing a power struggle with the board of directors in 1985, Jobs left Apple and founded NeXT, a computer platform development company specializing in the higher-education and business markets. In 1986, he acquired the computer graphics division of Lucasfilm, which was spun off as Pixar. He was credited in ''Toy Story'' (1995) as an executive producer. He remained CEO and majority shareholder at 50.1 percent until its acquisition by The Walt Disney Company in 2006, making Jobs Disney's largest individual shareholder at seven percent and a member of Disney's Board of Directors.

After difficulties developing a new Mac OS, Apple purchased NeXT in 1996 in order to use NeXTSTEP as the basis for what became Mac OS X. As part of the deal Jobs was named Apple advisor. As Apple floundered, Jobs took control of the company and was named "interim CEO" in 1997, or as he jokingly referred to it, "iCEO". Facing near bankruptcy at the time of his return, Jobs quickly improved the company's fortunes and returned it to profitability in 1998. Over the next decade, Jobs oversaw the development of the iMac, iTunes, iPod, iPhone, and iPad and on the services side, the company's Apple Retail Stores, iTunes Store and the App Store. The enormous success of these products and services, providing years of stable financial returns, propelled Apple to become the world's most valuable company in 2011. The reinvigoration of the company is regarded as one of the greatest business turnaround stories in history.

In 2003, Jobs was diagnosed with a pancreas neuroendocrine tumor. Though it was initially treated, he reported a hormone imbalance, underwent a liver transplant in 2009, and appeared progressively thinner as his health declined. On medical leave for most of 2011, Jobs resigned as Apple CEO in August that year and was elected Chairman of the Board. He died of respiratory arrest related to his metastatic tumor on October 5, 2011. He continues to receive honors and public recognition for his influence in the technology and music industries.

Early life and education

Steven Paul Jobs was born in San Francisco on 24 February 1955, to two university students, Joanne Carole Schieble and Syrian born Abdulfattah "John" Jandali (), who were both unmarried at the time. Jandali who was teaching in Wisconsin when Steve was born in 1955, said he had no choice but to put the baby up for adoption because his girlfriend's family objected to their relationship. He was adopted at birth by Paul Reinhold Jobs (1922–1993) and Clara Jobs (1924–1986). Clara's maiden name was Hagopian. When asked about his "adoptive parents," Jobs replied emphatically that Paul and Clara Jobs "were my parents." He later stated in his authorized biography that they "were my parents 1,000%." His biological parents subsequently married (December 1955), had a second child Mona Simpson in 1957, and divorced in 1962.

The Jobs family moved from San Francisco to Mountain View, California when Steve was five years old. Paul and Clara later adopted a daughter, Patti. Paul Jobs, a machinist for a company that made lasers, taught his son rudimentary electronics and how to work with his hands. Clara was an accountant who taught him to read before he went to school. Clara Jobs had been a payroll clerk for Varian Associates, one of the first high-tech firms in what became known as Silicon Valley.

Jobs attended Monta Loma Elementary, Mountain View, Cupertino Junior High and Homestead High School in Cupertino, California. He frequented after-school lectures at the Hewlett-Packard Company in Palo Alto, California, and was later hired there, working with Steve Wozniak as a summer employee. Following high school graduation in 1972, Jobs enrolled at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. Although he dropped out after only one semester, he continued auditing classes at Reed, while sleeping on the floor in friends' rooms, returning Coke bottles for food money, and getting weekly free meals at the local Hare Krishna temple. Jobs later said, "If I had never dropped in on that single calligraphy course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts."

Early career

In 1974, Jobs took a job as a technician at Atari, Inc. in Los Gatos, California. He traveled to India in mid-1974 to visit Neem Karoli Baba at his Kainchi Ashram with a Reed College friend (and, later, an early Apple employee), Daniel Kottke, in search of spiritual enlightenment. When they got to the Neem Karoli ashram, it was almost deserted as Neem Karoli Baba had died in September 1973. Then they made a long trek up a dry riverbed to an ashram of Hariakhan Baba. In India, they spent a lot of time on bus rides from Delhi to Uttar Pradesh and back, then up to Himachal Pradesh and back.

Jobs left India after staying for seven months and returned to the US ahead of Daniel Kottke, with his head shaved and wearing traditional Indian clothing. During this time, Jobs experimented with psychedelics, calling his LSD experiences "one of the two or three most important things [he had] done in [his] life". He also became a serious practitioner of Zen Buddhism, engaged in lengthy meditation retreats at the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, the oldest Sōtō Zen monastery in the US, considered taking up monastic residence, and maintained a lifelong appreciation for Zen. He later said that people around him who did not share his countercultural roots could not fully relate to his thinking.

Jobs returned to Atari and was assigned to create a circuit board for the game ''Breakout''. According to Atari co-founder Nolan Bushnell, Atari offered $100 for each chip that was eliminated in the machine. Jobs had little interest in or knowledge of circuit board design and made a deal with Wozniak to split the fee evenly between them if Wozniak could minimize the number of chips. Much to the amazement of Atari, Wozniak reduced the number of chips by 50, a design so tight that it was impossible to reproduce on an assembly line. According to Wozniak, Jobs told Wozniak that Atari gave them only $700 (instead of the offered $5,000) and that Wozniak's share was thus $350. Wozniak did not learn about the bonus until ten years later, but said that had Jobs told him about it and said he needed the money, Wozniak would have given it to him.

Jobs began attending meetings of the Homebrew Computer Club with Wozniak in 1975. He greatly admired Edwin H. Land, the inventor of instant photography and founder of Polaroid Corporation, and explicitly modeled his own career after that of Land's.

The revised, second-generation NeXTcube was released in 1990, also. Jobs touted it as the first "interpersonal" computer that would replace the personal computer. With its innovative NeXTMail multimedia email system, NeXTcube could share voice, image, graphics, and video in email for the first time. "Interpersonal computing is going to revolutionize human communications and groupwork", Jobs told reporters. Jobs ran NeXT with an obsession for aesthetic perfection, as evidenced by the development of and attention to NeXTcube's magnesium case. This put considerable strain on NeXT's hardware division, and in 1993, after having sold only 50,000 machines, NeXT transitioned fully to software development with the release of NeXTSTEP/Intel. The company reported its first profit of $1.03 million in 1994. In 1996, NeXT Software, Inc. released WebObjects, a framework for Web application development. After NeXT was acquired by Apple Inc. in 1997, WebObjects was used to build and run the Apple Store, MobileMe services, and the iTunes Store.

Pixar and Disney

In 1986, Jobs bought The Graphics Group (later renamed Pixar) from Lucasfilm's computer graphics division for the price of $10 million, $5 million of which was given to the company as capital.

The first film produced by the partnership, ''Toy Story'', with Jobs credited as executive producer, brought fame and critical acclaim to the studio when it was released in 1995. Over the next 15 years, under Pixar's creative chief John Lasseter, the company produced box-office hits ''A Bug's Life'' (1998); ''Toy Story 2'' (1999); ''Monsters, Inc.'' (2001); ''Finding Nemo'' (2003); ''The Incredibles'' (2004); ''Cars'' (2006); ''Ratatouille'' (2007); ''WALL-E'' (2008); ''Up'' (2009); and ''Toy Story 3'' (2010). ''Finding Nemo'', ''The Incredibles'', ''Ratatouille'', ''WALL-E'', ''Up'' and ''Toy Story 3'' each received the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, an award introduced in 2001.

In the years 2003 and 2004, as Pixar's contract with Disney was running out, Jobs and Disney chief executive Michael Eisner tried but failed to negotiate a new partnership, and in early 2004, Jobs announced that Pixar would seek a new partner to distribute its films after its contract with Disney expired.

In October 2005, Bob Iger replaced Eisner at Disney, and Iger quickly worked to patch up relations with Jobs and Pixar. On January 24, 2006, Jobs and Iger announced that Disney had agreed to purchase Pixar in an all-stock transaction worth $7.4 billion. When the deal closed, Jobs became The Walt Disney Company's largest single shareholder with approximately seven percent of the company's stock. Jobs's holdings in Disney far exceeded those of Eisner, who holds 1.7 percent, and of Disney family member Roy E. Disney, who until his 2009 death held about one percent of the company's stock and whose criticisms of Eisner — especially that he soured Disney's relationship with Pixar — accelerated Eisner's ousting. Jobs joined the company's board of directors upon completion of the merger and also helped oversee Disney and Pixar's combined animation businesses from a seat on a special six-person steering committee. Upon Jobs's death his shares in Disney were transferred to the Steven P. Jobs Trust led by Laurene Jobs.

Return to Apple

In 1996, Apple announced that it would buy NeXT for $427 million. The deal was finalized in late 1996, bringing Jobs back to the company he co-founded. Jobs became ''de facto'' chief after then-CEO Gil Amelio was ousted in July 1997. He was formally named interim chief executive in September. In March 1998, to concentrate Apple's efforts on returning to profitability, Jobs terminated a number of projects, such as Newton, Cyberdog, and OpenDoc. In the coming months, many employees developed a fear of encountering Jobs while riding in the elevator, "afraid that they might not have a job when the doors opened. The reality was that Jobs's summary executions were rare, but a handful of victims was enough to terrorize a whole company." Jobs also changed the licensing program for Macintosh clones, making it too costly for the manufacturers to continue making machines.

With the purchase of NeXT, much of the company's technology found its way into Apple products, most notably NeXTSTEP, which evolved into Mac OS X. Under Jobs's guidance, the company increased sales significantly with the introduction of the iMac and other new products; since then, appealing designs and powerful branding have worked well for Apple. At the 2000 Macworld Expo, Jobs officially dropped the "interim" modifier from his title at Apple and became permanent CEO. Jobs quipped at the time that he would be using the title "iCEO".

Inventions and designs

His design sense was greatly influenced by the Buddhism which he experienced in India while on a seven-month spiritual journey. His sense of intuition was also influenced by the spiritual people with whom he studied.

, Jobs is listed as either primary inventor or co-inventor in 342 United States patents or patent applications related to a range of technologies from actual computer and portable devices to user interfaces (including touch-based), speakers, keyboards, power adapters, staircases, clasps, sleeves, lanyards and packages. Most of these are design patents (specific product designs) as opposed to utility patents (inventions). He has 43 issued US patents on inventions. The patent on the Mac OS X Dock user interface with "magnification" feature was issued the day before he died.

Philanthropy

Arik Hesseldahl of ''BusinessWeek'' magazine stated that "Jobs isn't widely known for his association with philanthropic causes", compared to Bill Gates's efforts. Jobs said (in 1985) that he does charitable acts privately. After resuming control of Apple in 1997, Jobs eliminated all corporate philanthropy programs initially. Later, under Jobs, Apple signed to participate in Product Red program, producing red versions of devices to give profits from sales to charity. Apple has gone on to become the single largest contributor to the charity since its initial involvement with it. The chief of the Product Red project, singer Bono cited Jobs saying there was "nothing better than the chance to save lives," when he initially approached Apple with the invitation to participate in the program.

Personal life

Jobs's birth parents met at the University of Wisconsin. Abdulfattah "John" Jandali, a Syrian Muslim, taught there. Joanne Carole Schieble was his student; they were the same age because Jandali had "gotten his PhD really young." In December 1955, ten months after giving up their baby boy, Schieble and Jandali married. In 1957, they had a daughter Mona together. They divorced in 1962, and Jandali lost touch with his daughter. Her mother remarried and had Mona take the surname of her stepfather, so she became known as Mona Simpson.

In the 1980s, Jobs found his birth mother, Joanne Schieble Simpson, who told him he had a biological sister, Mona Simpson. They met for the first time in 1985 and became close friends. The siblings kept their relationship secret until 1986, when Mona introduced him at a party for her first book.

After deciding to search for their father, Simpson found Jandali managing a coffee shop. Without knowing who his son had become, Jandali told Mona that he had previously managed a popular restaurant in the Silicon Valley where "Even Steve Jobs used to eat there. Yeah, he was a great tipper." In a taped interview with his biographer Walter Isaacson, aired on ''60 Minutes'', Jobs said: "When I was looking for my biological mother, obviously, you know, I was looking for my biological father at the same time, and I learned a little bit about him and I didn't like what I learned. I asked her to not tell him that we ever met...not tell him anything about me." Jobs was in occasional touch with his mother Joanne Simpson, who lives in a nursing home in Los Angeles. When speaking about his biological parents, Jobs stated: "They were my sperm and egg bank. That's not harsh, it's just the way it was, a sperm bank thing, nothing more." Jandali stated in an interview with the ''The Sun'' in August 2011, that his efforts to contact Jobs were unsuccessful. Jandali mailed in his medical history after Jobs's pancreatic disorder was made public that year.

In her eulogy to Jobs at his memorial service, Mona Simpson stated: :I grew up as an only child, with a single mother. Because we were poor and because I knew my father had emigrated from Syria, I imagined he looked like Omar Sharif. I hoped he would be rich and kind and would come into our lives (and our not yet furnished apartment) and help us. Later, after I'd met my father, I tried to believe he'd changed his number and left no forwarding address because he was an idealistic revolutionary, plotting a new world for the Arab people. Even as a feminist, my whole life I'd been waiting for a man to love, who could love me. For decades, I'd thought that man would be my father. When I was 25, I met that man and he was my brother.

Jobs's first child, Lisa Brennan-Jobs, was born in 1978, the daughter of his longtime partner Chris Ann Brennan, a Bay Area painter. For two years, she raised their daughter on welfare while Jobs denied paternity by claiming he was sterile; he later acknowledged Lisa as his daughter. Jobs later married Laurene Powell on March 18, 1991, in a ceremony at the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite National Park. Presiding over the wedding was Kobun Chino Otogawa, a Zen Buddhist monk. Their son, Reed, was born September 1991, followed by daughters Erin in August 1995, and Eve in 1998. The family lives in Palo Alto, California.

In the unauthorized biography, ''The Second Coming of Steve Jobs,'' author Alan Deutschman reports that Jobs once dated Joan Baez. Deutschman quotes Elizabeth Holmes, a friend of Jobs from his time at Reed College, as saying she "believed that Steve became the lover of Joan Baez in large measure because Baez had been the lover of Bob Dylan" (Dylan was the Apple icon's favorite musician). In another unauthorized biography, ''iCon: Steve Jobs'' by Jeffrey S. Young & William L. Simon, the authors suggest that Jobs might have married Baez, but her age at the time (41) meant it was unlikely the couple could have children.

Jobs was also a fan of The Beatles. He referred to them on multiple occasions at Keynotes and also was interviewed on a showing of a Paul McCartney concert. When asked about his business model on ''60 Minutes'', he replied:

My model for business is The Beatles: They were four guys that kept each other's negative tendencies in check; they balanced each other. And the total was greater than the sum of the parts. Great things in business are never done by one person, they are done by a team of people. Jobs told Walter Isaacson "...he came to like the idea of having a uniform for himself, both because of its daily convenience (the rationale he claimed) and its ability to convey a signature style." He was a pescetarian.

Jobs's car was a silver 2008 Mercedes-Benz SL 55 AMG, which does not display its license plates, as he took advantage of a California law which gives a maximum of six months for new vehicles to receive plates; Jobs leased a new identical SL every six months.

In a 2011 interview with biographer Walter Isaacson, Jobs revealed at one point he met with U.S. President Barack Obama, complained of the nation's shortage of software engineers, and told Mr. Obama that he was "headed for a one-term presidency." Jobs proposed that any foreign student who got an engineering degree at a U.S. university should automatically be offered a green card. After the meeting, Jobs commented, "The president is very smart, but he kept explaining to us reasons why things can't get done.... It infuriates me."

Jobs contributed to a number of political candidates and causes during his life, giving $209,000 to Democrats, $19,000 to associated special interests and $1,000 to a Republican.

Health issues

In October 2003, Jobs was diagnosed with cancer, and in mid-2004, he announced to his employees that he had a cancerous tumor in his pancreas. The prognosis for pancreatic cancer is usually very poor; Jobs stated that he had a rare, far less aggressive type known as islet cell neuroendocrine tumor. Despite his diagnosis, Jobs resisted his doctors' recommendations for mainstream medical intervention for nine months, instead consuming a special alternative medicine diet in an attempt to thwart the disease. According to Harvard researcher Dr. Ramzi Amir, his choice of alternative treatment "led to an unnecessarily early death". According to Jobs's biographer, Walter Isaacson, "for nine months he refused to undergo surgery for his pancreatic cancer – a decision he later regretted as his health declined." "Instead, he tried a vegan diet, acupuncture, herbal remedies and other treatments he found online, and even consulted a psychic. He also was influenced by a doctor who ran a clinic that advised juice fasts, bowel cleansings and other unproven approaches, before finally having surgery in July 2004." He eventually underwent a pancreaticoduodenectomy (or "Whipple procedure") in July 2004, that appeared to successfully remove the tumor.

Death

Jobs died at his California home around 3 p.m. on October 5, 2011, due to complications from a relapse of his previously treated islet-cell neuroendocrine pancreatic cancer, He had lost consciousness the day before, and died with his wife, children and sister at his side.

His death was announced by Apple in a statement which read:

Jobs is survived by Laurene, his wife of 20 years, their three children, and Lisa Brennan-Jobs, his daughter from a previous relationship. His family released a statement saying that he "died peacefully".

For two weeks following his death, Apple's corporate Web site displayed a simple page, showing Jobs's name and lifespan next to his grayscale portrait. Clicking on the image led to an obituary, which read:

Also dedicating its homepage to Jobs was Pixar, with a photo of Jobs, John Lasseter and Edwin Catmull, and the eulogy they wrote:

An email address was also posted for the public to share their memories, condolences, and thoughts. Over a million tributes were sent, which are now displayed on the Steve Jobs memorial page.

Shortly after his death was announced, ABC, CBS, and NBC interrupted scheduled programming to broadcast this news. Numerous newspapers around the world carried news of his death on their front pages the next day. Several notable people, including US President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, and The Walt Disney Company's Bob Iger commented on the death of Jobs. ''Wired News'' collected reactions and posted them in tribute on their homepage.

A small private funeral was held on October 7, 2011, of which details were not revealed out of respect to Jobs's family. Apple announced on the same day that they had no plans for a public service, but were encouraging "well-wishers" to send their remembrance messages to an email address created to receive such messages. Sunday, October 16, 2011, was declared "Steve Jobs Day" by Governor Jerry Brown of California. On that day, an invitation-only memorial was held at Stanford University. Those in attendance include Apple and other tech company executives, members of the media, celebrities, close friends of Jobs, and politicians, along with Jobs's family. Bono, Yo Yo Ma, and Joan Baez performed at the service, which lasted longer than an hour. The service was highly secured, with guards at all of the university's gates, and a helicopter flying overhead from an area news station.

Both Apple and Microsoft flew their flags at half-staff throughout their respective headquarters and campuses. Bob Iger ordered all Disney properties, including Walt Disney World and Disneyland, to fly their flags at half-staff, from October 6 to 12, 2011.

A private memorial service for Apple employees was held on October 19, 2011, on the Apple Campus in Cupertino. Present were Cook, Bill Campbell, Norah Jones, Al Gore, and Coldplay, and Jobs's widow, Laurene, was in attendance. Some of Apple's retail stores closed briefly so employees could attend the memorial. A video of the service is available on Apple's website.

Jobs is buried at Alta Mesa Memorial Park, the only non-denominational cemetery in Palo Alto.

Major media published commemorative works. ''Time'' published a commemorative issue for Jobs on October 8, 2011. The issues cover featured a portrait of Jobs, taken by Norman Seeff, in which he is sitting in the lotus position holding the original Macintosh computer, first published in ''Rolling Stone'' in January 1984. The issue marked the eighth time Jobs has been featured on the cover of ''Time''. The issue included a photographic essay by Diana Walker, a retrospective on Apple by Harry McCracken and Lev Grossman, and a six-page essay by Walter Isaacson. Isaacson's essay served as a preview of his biography, ''Steve Jobs''.

''Bloomberg Businessweek'' also published a commemorative issue. The cover of the magazine features Apple-style simplicity, with a black-and-white, up-close photo of Jobs and his years of birth and death. The issue was published without advertisements. It featured extensive essays by Steve Jurvetson, John Sculley, Sean Wisely, William Gibson, and Walter Isaacson.

Free software pioneer Richard Stallman dissented from the prevailing hagiographic views of Jobs to draw attention to the tight corporate control Apple exercised over consumer computers and handheld devices, how Apple restricted news reporters, and persistently violated privacy: "Steve Jobs, the pioneer of the computer as a jail made cool, designed to sever fools from their freedom, has died". Malcolm Gladwell in The New Yorker asserted that "Jobs's sensibility was editorial, not inventive. His gift lay in taking what was in front of him ... and ruthlessly refining it."

Although reporters wrote glowing elegies after Jobs died, ''Los Angeles Times'' media critic James Rainey reported that they "came courtesy of reporters who—after deadline and off the record—would tell stories about a company obsessed with secrecy to the point of paranoia. They remind us how Apple shut down a youthful fanboy blogger, punished a publisher that dared to print an unauthorized Jobs biography and repeatedly ran afoul of the most basic tenets of a free press."

Apple "has taken stances that, in my opinion, are outright hostile to the practice of journalism," said longtime Silicon Valley reporter Dan Gillmor. Under Jobs, Apple sued three "small fry" bloggers who reported tips about the company and its unreleased products and tried to use the courts to force them to reveal their sources. Under Jobs, Apple even sued a teenager, Nicholas Ciarelli, who wrote enthusiastic speculation about Apple products beginning at age 13. His popular blog, ThinkSecret, was a play on Apple's slogan "Think Different." Rainey wrote that Apple wanted to kill ThinkSecret as "It thought any leaks, even favorable ones, diluted the punch of its highly choreographed product launches with Jobs, in his iconic jeans and mock turtleneck outfit, as the star."

Honors and public recognition

After Apple's founding, Jobs became a symbol of his company and industry. When ''Time'' named the computer as the 1982 "Machine of the Year", the magazine published a long profile of Jobs as "the most famous maestro of the micro".

Jobs was awarded the National Medal of Technology by President Ronald Reagan in 1985, with Steve Wozniak (among the first people to ever receive the honor), and a Jefferson Award for Public Service in the category "Greatest Public Service by an Individual 35 Years or Under" (also known as the ''Samuel S. Beard Award'') in 1987. On November 27, 2007, Jobs was named the most powerful person in business by ''Fortune'' magazine. On December 5, 2007, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver inducted Jobs into the California Hall of Fame, located at The California Museum for History, Women and the Arts.

In August 2009, Jobs was selected as the most admired entrepreneur among teenagers in a survey by Junior Achievement, having previously been named Entrepreneur of the Decade 20 years earlier in 1989, by ''Inc. magazine''. On November 5, 2009, Jobs was named the CEO of the decade by ''Fortune'' magazine.

In November 2010, Jobs was ranked No.17 on ''Forbes'': The World's Most Powerful People. In December 2010, the ''Financial Times'' named Jobs its person of the year for 2010, ending its essay by stating, "In his autobiography, John Sculley, the former PepsiCo executive who once ran Apple, said this of the ambitions of the man he had pushed out: 'Apple was supposed to become a wonderful consumer products company. This was a lunatic plan. High-tech could not be designed and sold as a consumer product.'". The Financial Times closed by rhetorically asking of this quote, "How wrong can you be."

At the time of his resignation, and again after his death, Jobs was widely described as a visionary, pioneer and genius

Reality distortion field

Apple's Bud Tribble coined the term "reality distortion field" in 1981, to describe Jobs' charisma and its effects on the developers working on the Macintosh project. Tribble claimed that the term came from ''Star Trek''. Since then the term has also been used to refer to perceptions of Jobs' keynote speeches.

The RDF was said by Andy Hertzfeld to be Steve Jobs' ability to convince himself and others to believe almost anything, using a mix of charm, charisma, bravado, hyperbole, marketing, appeasement, and persistence. Although the subject of criticism, Jobs' so-called reality distortion field was also recognized as creating a sense that the impossible was possible. Once the term became widely known, it was often used in the technology press to describe Jobs' sway over the public, particuarly regarding new product announcements.

Portrayals and coverage in books, film, and theater

Books

''The Little Kingdom'' (1984) by Michael Moritz, documenting the founding of (then) Apple Computer.

''The Second Coming of Steve Jobs'' (2001), by Alan Deutschman

''iCon: Steve Jobs'' (2005), by Jeffrey S. Young & William L. Simon

''Steve Jobs'' (2011), an authorized biography written by Walter Isaacson.

''Inside Apple'' (2012), a book by Adam Lashinsky that reveals the secret systems, tactics, and leadership strategies that allowed Steve Jobs and his company to work.

Documentaries

''The Machine That Changed the World'' Part 3 of this 1992 five-part documentary, called ''The Paperback Computer'', prominently featured Jobs and his role in the early days of Apple. ''Triumph of the Nerds'' a 1996 three-part documentary for PBS, about the rise of the home computer/personal computer. ''Nerds 2.0.1'' a 1998 three-part documentary for PBS, (and sequel to ''Triumph of the Nerds'') which chronicles the development of the Internet. ''iGenius: How Steve Jobs Changed the World'' a 2011 Discovery Channel documentary hosted by Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman. ''Steve Jobs: One Last Thing'' a 2011 PBS documentary produced by Pioneer Productions. A slightly shortened and localized version of the show was broadcast in the United Kingdom the following day titled, ''Steve Jobs: iChanged the World'' on Channel 4. In February 2012, the Federal Bureau of Investigation released a 191-page file on Steve Jobs. The report was compiled during a 1991 background investigation of Jobs by the FBI after former president George H. W. Bush recommended his appointment to the President's Export Council. It consists of interviews with co-workers, friends, family members and even neighbors of Jobs.

Films

''Pirates of Silicon Valley'' a 1999 TNT film which chronicles the rise of Apple and Microsoft from the early 1970s to 1997. Jobs is portrayed by Noah Wyle.

Theater

''The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs'' - The Public Theater, New York City, 2012, starring Mike Daisey.

References

Further reading

Bantam Doubleday Dell. ISBN 0-385-48684-7. Chapter 28

External links

"Thoughts on Flash" by Steve Jobs, April, 2010.

Bloomberg Game Changers: Steve Jobs A 48 minute video on Steve Jobs by Bloomberg

Steve Jobs Profile at ''Forbes''

Steve Jobs remembrance notes from the community. The only remaining tribute on the Apple website..

Federal Bureau of Investigation dossier on Steven Paul Jobs.

Articles

Interviews

Steve Jobs in 1994: The Rolling Stone Interview, ''Rolling Stone'' 1994, republished January 17, 2011. Archived URL April 20, 1995. The Seed of Apple's Innovation, ''BusinessWeek'' October 12, 2004. How Big Can Apple Get?, ''Fortune'' February 21, 2005. ''Newsweek'', October 15, 2006.

Bill Gates and Steve Jobs (video and transcript of on stage interview), AllThingsD, May 30, 2007.

Videotaped Deposition of Steven P. Jobs in front of the Securities and Exchange Commission, March 18, 2008

Interview with Abdulfattah "John" Jandali, Jobs's biological father, by Mohannad Al-Haj Ali, published in ''Al Hayat'' and reprinted by Ya Libnan, February 28, 2011

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