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Spencer Breslin (born May 18, 1992) is an American actor and musician.

Early life[link]

Breslin was born in New York City, the son of Kim, a personal manager, and Michael Breslin, a telecommunications expert.^[1] Spencer is the older brother of actress Abigail Breslin (born April 14, 1996) and younger brother of Ryan Breslin (born 1985).

Acting career[link]

He has appeared in films such as Disney's The Kid, The Santa Clause 2, The Cat in the Hat, You Wish!, and Zoom. He has also been involved in the world of animation by lending his voice to the television cartoon Teamo Supremo, and Return to Neverland. He reprised his role of Curtis in The Santa Clause 3, which opened on November 3, 2006, taking the tally of movies in which he co-starred with Tim Allen up to four. In 2004, when Dr. Seuss won his Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Breslin was asked to read alongside Alyson Stoner, Dylan and Cole Sprouse, and Hailey Anne Nelson. Breslin then went on to star in 2007's Harold, which failed to succeed in the box-office.^{[citation needed]}

In 2004, he and his real life younger sister Abigail Breslin played on-screen siblings in Raising Helen and in Princess Diaries 2, in which Spencer played a prince and Abigail made a cameo as a girl at an orphanage. Abigail was also in The Santa Clause 3, in which Spencer played Curtis, the head elf of the North Pole.

Music[link]

In the summer of 2007 he helped form alternative rock trio The Red Agenda with Harold co-star Evan Daves and musician Paul DeMasi. He is finished recording his debut album, Labor Day as of October, 2009 and it is due for release soon. It was recorded by Ladybug Transistor's Gary Olson, and produced by James William Hindle. Breslin founded his own record label Acadian Recording Company and is currently working with the hard rock group Damus on their debut album.

Personal life[link]

He lives in New York City with his family, and travels to Los Angeles for film auditions.

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Archive of an instance of Breslin's official website (His official website's domain name is no longer controlled by him.)
• Spencer Breslin at the Internet Movie Database
• Spencer Breslin at AllRovi
• Spencer Breslin's Filmography
• 2008 video of Spencer Breslin thanking the US Armed Forces for their service

Dave Harold

Born	(1966-12-09) 9 December 1966 (age 45) Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England
Sport country	England
Nickname	The Stoke Potter
Professional	1991 – Present
Highest ranking	11 (1996–1997)
Current ranking	48
Career winnings	UK£952,100[1]
Highest break	143 (2007 Grand Prix)
Century breaks	123
Tournament wins
Ranking	1

David 'Dave' Harold (born 9 December 1966) is an English professional snooker player from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. He is known by the nicknames of "the Hard Man" and "the Stoke Potter" (conflating his home city's past pottery industry and his profession of potting snooker balls). He is also the first player on the television circuit to sport a plaster on his chin as a guide for his cue, which is a practise now adopted by Graeme Dott. As an amateur he played as David Harold, but since turning professional in 1991 he has been registered as Dave Harold. He has three children.^[2]

He has won one ranking title, reached two further finals and several semi-finals, and spent four seasons ranked among the top 16. Harold is renowned for both his very strong defensive play and his unusual cue-action, with which he is able to unleash a great deal of power on a shot without using backswing on the cue. Despite safety play ultimately being considered his strong point, he has compiled 112 century breaks, putting him 22nd on the all time list.^[3] Steve Davis has commented that he is not the most naturally gifted player, but makes up for this with strong tactical play.^[4] His technique and grinding play has been compared to that of Cliff Thorburn.

Career[link]

Early career[link]

Soon after turning professional, Harold was the surprise winner of the 1993 Asian Open, beating Darren Morgan 9–3 in the final. Ranked 93rd in the world at the time, he became the lowest-ranked player ever to win a ranking tournament. He never repeated this achievement, although he reached his second ranking final in the 1994 Grand Prix, losing 6–9 to John Higgins.

Top 16 (1996–2002)[link]

After 1994 Harold did not reach a third ranking final until 2008, although he has career reached a total of ten semi-finals in ranking tournaments to date, and was a Top-16 player for four seasons between 1995/1996 and 2001/2002, reaching a career-best position of no. 11 in the world rankings in the 1996/97 season. In the 1996 Welsh Open, he lost in the semi-finals, 1–6, to eventual winner Mark Williams.

He contended in his first (and so far only) World Championship quarter-final in the 1996 event, where he lost 7–13 to Nigel Bond. He also lost 5–6 to Bond in his 1996 British Open semi-final less than two weeks earlier.

In the 1998 Grand Prix, he knocked out Stephen Hendry and John Higgins en route to the semi-finals, but lost narrowly to eventual champion Stephen Lee. 1998 also saw him reach his first semi-final in the UK Championship, where he was defeated 9–7 by Matthew Stevens.

In the 1999 Grand Prix Harold led Mark Williams 5–3 in the semi-finals but lost 5–6 to the Welshman. This was Harold's last ranking semi-final until 2008, although he also reached the semis in the non-ranking 2001 Masters, defeating John Higgins and John Parrott, but losing his semi-final 5–6 to eventual runner-up Fergal O'Brien after having led 5–1.

2003–present[link]

Following a poor season in 2001–2002, Harold dropped out of the Top 16, down to number 29 in the World Rankings. A broken wrist sustained on New Year's Eve 2003 saw him drop further down the rankings, out of the top 32, although he had a better 2005/2006 season. Another consistent season in 2006/2007 helped Harold back up to #30 in the world rankings for 2007/2008.

2007/2008 was Harold's most successful season since 2002, starting with a quarter-final appearance in the Shanghai Masters, losing to eventual winner Dominic Dale. Harold did not get past the round robin phase of the Grand Prix, finishing fifth in his group of six players; but in the 2007 UK Championship, Harold's resurgence continued as he eliminated World Number 2 Graeme Dott 9–7 in the first round to achieve a place in the last 16 of the tournament for the first time since 1999. However, he lost 2–9 in the second round to Mark Selby. He qualified for the final stages of the World Championship with a 10–4 win over Mike Dunn, but lost 10–3 at the Crucible in the first round proper to Shaun Murphy.

During a preliminary round match against local wildcard Jin Long in the 2008 China Open, Harold, tiring rapidly after the long journey and gruelling battle locked at 4–4, took time out before the deciding frame to leave the playing arena and consume a couple of bananas, returning replenished to finish the job with a clearance on the colours. This gave rise to the affectionate nickname "Bananaman" on the Betfair snooker forum, referring to a children's TV character – an ordinary child who gained superhuman powers upon eating a banana. Harold also put up a determined battle against in-form Shaun Murphy in the next round, but eventually lost 5–3 in a match which featured the longest ever frame in snooker history, lasting 93 minutes and 12 seconds.

Harold retained his Top 32 ranking, and started the 2008/2009 season ranked at #28, his highest ranking since 2003. In the first ranking event of the new season, the 2008 Northern Ireland Trophy, he got off to an excellent start, beating Ricky Walden 5–2, Graeme Dott 5–3, Stephen Lee 5–4 – despite Lee recording three century breaks – and defending champion Stephen Maguire to reach the semi-finals, his first appearance at that stage of a ranking event for five years. He then shocked John Higgins by moving into a 5–1 lead, and fended off a fightback to win 6–4, to reach his first final since 1994, which he lost 9–3 to Ronnie O'Sullivan.^[5] Harold's performance in this tournament moved him up to 14th in the provisional world rankings. Harold remarked after the final that, aside from claiming the World Championship, his one other remaining ambition in the game is to score a victory over O'Sullivan, who he has never beaten in a ranking tournament. The 2008 Northern Ireland Trophy marked his tenth consecutive failure to do so.[2]

Harold subsequently qualified for the 2008 Shanghai Masters and Grand Prix. In the former, he defeated home favourite Ding Junhui in the last 32, before losing 4–5 (from 3–0 and 4–1 up) against Steve Davis; however, in the latter he was eliminated in the first round by Ali Carter. A less successful run of results in the second half of the season saw him fall out of the Top 16 in the provisional rankings, largely due to his failure to qualify for the 2009 World Championship, although he will start the 2009/2010 season ranked at #19, an improvement of nine places on the previous season. Harold appeared in the Welsh Open in January 2010 but lost in the first round 5–1 to Stephen Hendry. A return to form in September saw him whitewash Shaun Murphy 3-0 in the newly formed World Open in Glasgow but failed to capitalise on that win and subsequently lost in the next round to Jamie Cope 3-2.

In the 2012 Welsh Open, Harold advanced to the fourth and final qualifying round where he lost 1–4 to Mark King.

Career finals[link]

Ranking event finals: 3 (1 title, 2 runner-ups)[link]

Legend World Championship (0–0) UK Championship (0–0) Other (1–2) Outcome No. Year Championship Opponent in the final Score Winner 1. 1993 Asian Open Morgan, DarrenDarren Morgan 9–3 Runner-up 1. 1994 Grand Prix Higgins, JohnJohn Higgins 6–9 Runner-up 2. 2008 Northern Ireland Trophy O'Sullivan, RonnieRonnie O'Sullivan 3–9 References[link] ^ Yahoo! Sport. 2009. Dave Harold. [Online] Yahoo! UK (Updated 2010) Available at: http://uk.yahoo.eurosport.com/snooker/person_prs50350.shtml [Accessed 16 February 2010]. ^ [1] ^ "Chris Turner's Snooker Archive – Top Century Makers". 2008. http://www.cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Centuries.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-30.  ^ "15. Dave Harold". BBC News. 11 April 2002. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/snooker/world_champs_2002/player_profiles/1919235.stm. Retrieved 1 May 2010.  ^ "Classy O'Sullivan wins NI Trophy", BBC Sport, 31 August 2008. Retrieved on 1 September 2008. External links[link] "Dave Harold". WorldSnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 2007–2010 [copyright date]. "Players Alphabetical" section. http://www.worldsnooker.com/page/PlayersAlphabeticalArticle/0,,13165~2234496,00.html.  Official WPBSA player profile. Dave Harold at CueTracker.net: Snooker Results and Statistic Database Profile on the Global Snooker Profile on Pro Snooker Blog Persondata Name Harold, Dave Alternative names Short description snooker player Date of birth 9 December 1966 Place of birth Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England Date of death Place of death

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Harold Hunter
in Times Square, New York City (1989) photo by Charlie Samuels
Born	Harold Atkins Hunter (1974-04-02)April 2, 1974 New York City, New York, , U.S.
Died	February 17, 2006(2006-02-17) (aged 31) New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Professional skateboarder, actor

Harold Atkins Hunter (April 2, 1974 – February 17, 2006) was an American professional skateboarder and actor. He was best known on screen for his part in Larry Clark's 1995 film Kids, playing the role of Harold.

Hunter was born in New York City and grew up in the East Village. He became associated with a local skate crew that hung out near Tompkins Square Park and was first sponsored by local skate shop "Skate NYC". Hunter first came to public attention in 1989 in a Thrasher magazine photo essay photographed by Charlie Samuels about the New York City skateboard scene. A goofy-footed skateboarder, Hunter was sponsored most notably by Zoo York.^[1] Later on he started Rock Star Bearings Co.

Hunter also appeared on an episode of the popular TV series "Miami Ink". In the episode he received a tattoo from Chris Garver which commemorated his New York roots and his connections from his youth with the World Trade Centre. The tattoo was on his upper arm and depicted the towers with a skateboarder jumping in front of them, with the words "New York City" above, and "Sk-8 or Die" below. This tattoo is also revisited in another episode of Miami Ink that focuses of Chris Garver's tattoos.

On February 17, 2006, Hunter was found dead from a cocaine-induced heart attack in his Lower East Side apartment.^[2][3] The Harold Hunter Foundation was founded in his memory to support city kids interested in skateboarding.

Filmography[link]

• Kids (1995)
• Mind Games (1996)
• Hand on the Pump (1998)
• Kung Faux (2003)
• Man Under Wire (2005)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Harold Hunter Foundation website
• Harold Hunter at the Internet Movie Database
• Harold Hunter on Myspace
• Threeayedee Art Gallery created by Roya Butler in memory of Harold Hunter

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Harold Budd
Harold Budd in Japan Photo: Masao Nakagami
Background information
Born	(1936-05-24) May 24, 1936 (age 76) Los Angeles, CaliforniaUnited States
Genres	Ambient, drone
Occupations	Musician, composer, poet, professor
Instruments	Piano, guitar
Years active	1962–present
Labels	Opal Records, Land Records, Darla Records, Samadhi Sound, New World Records, All Saints Records, E.G. Records, 4AD

Harold Budd (born May 24, 1936) is an American ambient/avant-garde composer and poet. Born in Los Angeles, he was raised in the Mojave Desert, and was inspired at an early age by the humming tone caused by wind blown across telephone wires.^{[citation needed]}

Education and academic career[link]

Budd's career as a composer began in 1962. In the following years, he gained a notable reputation in the local avant-garde community.^{[citation needed]} In 1966 he graduated from the University of Southern California (having studied under Ingolf Dahl) with a degree in musical composition. As he progressed, his compositions became increasingly minimal. Among his more experimental works were two drone music pieces, "Coeur d'Orr" and "The Oak of the Golden Dreams". After composing a long-form gong solo titled "Lirio", he felt he had reached the limits of his experiments in minimalism and the avant-garde. He retired temporarily from composition in 1970 and began a teaching career at the California Institute of the Arts.^{[citation needed]}

"The road from my first colored graph piece in 1962 to my renunciation of composing in 1970 to my resurfacing as a composer in 1972 was a process of trying out an idea and when it was obviously successful abandoning it. The early graph piece was followed by the Rothko orchestra work, the pieces for Source Magazine, the Feldman-derived chamber works, the pieces typed out or written in longhand, the out-and-out conceptual works among other things, and the model drone works (which include the sax and organ "Coeur d'Orr" and "The Oak of the Golden Dreams", the latter based on the Balinese "Slendro" scale which scale I used again 18 years later on "The Real Dream of Sails").^{[1][citation needed]}

"In 1970 with the "Candy-Apple Revision" (unspecified D-flat major) and "Lirio" (solo gong "for a long duration") I realized I had minimalized myself out of a career. It had taken ten years to reduce my language to zero but I loved the process of seeing it occur and not knowing when the end would come. By then I had opted out of avant-garde music generally; it seemed self-congratulatory and risk-free and my solution as to what to do next was to do nothing, to stop completely."

"I resurfaced as an artist in 1972 with "Madrigals of the Rose Angel", the first of what would be a cycle of works under the collective title The Pavilion of Dreams. Madrigals refused to accommodate or even acknowledge any issues in new music. The entire aesthetic was an existential prettiness; not the Platonic "to Kalon", but simply pretty: mindless, shallow and utterly devastating. Female chorus, harp and percussion seemed like a beautiful start. Its first performance was at a Franciscan church in California conducted by Daniel Lentz." ^{[2][citation needed]}

Composer and recording artist[link]

Two years later, while still retaining his teaching career, he resurfaced as a composer. Spanning from 1972-1975 he created four individual works under the collective title "The Pavilion of Dreams". The style of these works was an unusual blend of popular jazz and the avant-garde. In 1976 he resigned from the institute and began recording his new compositions, produced by British ambient pioneer Brian Eno.^{[citation needed]} Two years later, Harold Budd's debut album The Pavilion of Dreams was released.

Since then he has developed a style of ambient music. His two collaborations with Brian Eno, The Plateaux of Mirror and The Pearl, established his trademark atmospheric piano style. On Lovely Thunder he introduced subtle electronic textures. His thematic 2000 release The Room saw a return to a more minimalist approach. In 2003, Daniel Lanois, the renowned producer of U2 and Bob Dylan, and occasional collaborator of Brian Eno, recorded an impromptu performance of Harold playing the piano in his Los Angeles living room, unaware, and thus realized the album La Bella Vista.

His album Avalon Sutra from 2004 was billed as "Harold Budd's Last Recorded Work" by the record label Samadhi Sound. Their press release continued: "Avalon Sutra brings to a conclusion thirty years of sustained musical activity. Asked for his reasons, Budd says only that he feels that he has said what he has to say. With characteristic humility, he concludes, "I don’t mind disappearing!"^{[citation needed]} A special celebration concert featuring Budd and guest-starring many of the musicians he had worked with throughout his career was presented at Brighton Dome in May 2005, also billed as being Budd's last public performance. In spite of this, Budd's soundtrack to the film Mysterious Skin (a collaboration with Robin Guthrie) and Music for 'Fragments from the Inside' (with Eraldo Bernocchi) were both released in 2005.

David Sylvian's independent record label Samadhisound released Perhaps in February 2007, a live recording of Budd's improvised performance in tribute to his late friend (and associate teacher at the then newly formed California Institute of Arts) James Tenney. Recorded at CalArts on December 6, the album is only available as a digital download.

Samadhisound released a podcast of Harold Budd in conversation with Akira Rabelais in April 2007. In this (Samadhisound Podcast #2), Harold said although he had believed at the time of recording Avalon Sutra that it would be his last album, he no longer felt that way. "It was a time in my life when things weren't just falling together for me, and I thought that I was just going to let it all slide ... and I was sincere about it but if I had been more conscious of my real feelings and had explored my inner sanctum more I would've seen that it was a preposterous thing to do ... I was dreadfully lonely; I was living alone in the desert and had been for too long, really, and I felt that isolation very severely after a while, and it's probably a version of self-pity, I'm sorry to say, to have publicly said something like that, but there it is, I said it, turns out I wasn't telling the truth - I didn't know it at the time."

Darla Records released two CDs by Robin Guthrie and Harold Budd in June 2007, After the Night Falls and Before the Day Breaks. Recorded in Spring 2006, each features nine tracks with linked titles, e.g. "How Distant Your Heart"/"How Close Your Soul" and "I Returned Her Glance"/"And Then I Turned Away".

In October 2008, a collaboration with Clive Wright entitled Song for Lost Blossoms was released by Darla Records. It includes recordings that were done live and in-studio at different locations, including both artists' homes. The album features some of their work done together between 2004 and 2006. A second collaborative effort with Wright, Candylion followed in 2009, again on Darla Records.

It was announced that Harold Budd will appear as one of the featured composer/performers at San Francisco's Other Minds festival in March, 2012.^[3]

Discography[link]

Studio albums

• The Oak of the Golden Dreams / Coeur D'Orr (1971), Advance Recordings
• The Pavilion of Dreams (1978), E.G. - Produced by Brian Eno
• Abandoned Cities (1984), Cantil
• Lovely Thunder (1986), E.G. - Produced by Michael Hoenig
• The White Arcades (1988), Opal - Produced by Brian Eno
• By the Dawn's Early Light (1991), Opal - With Bill Nelson
• She is a Phantom (1994), New Albion - With Zeitgeist
• Luxa (1996), All Saints
• The Room (2000), Atlantic
• La Bella Vista (2003), Shout Factory
• Avalon Sutra / As Long as I Can Hold My Breath (2005), Samadhi Sound - Produced by Harold Budd
• Perhaps (2007), Samadhi Sound
• In The Mist (2011), Darla

See also[link]

• Electronic music
• Ambient music
• Brian Eno

References[link]

External links[link]

• Harold Budd Home page
• New Albion Records Harold Budd page
• Samadhisound Harold Budd page
• Ambience for the Masses Harold Budd page
• Harold Budd: American Vision article from Sound On Sound magazine
• soundNET Concert Archives A rare live performance of works by Harold Budd (September 18, 2004) [streaming Quicktime audio]
• Somnambule Review of Harold Budd "Farewell Concert" at Brighton Dome (May 21, 2005)
• Harold Budd: Harold in May article from The Independent (May 8, 2005)

Harold & Kumar is the common name for a series of stoner comedy films starring John Cho (Harold) and Kal Penn (Kumar). The first film, Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, was released on July 30, 2004 by New Line Cinema and spawned a sequel titled Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, released four years later. A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas, the third installment of the series, opened nationwide in the U.S. on 4 November 2011.

The film series has become a critical and financial success. The first two films, produced on a total budget of US$21 million, grossed $73 million worldwide. In addition to their box office grosses, the first two films were extremely successful on home video. The series has been released on both Blu-ray and DVD.

Series[link]

[edit] Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004)

Harold Lee and Kumar Patel are two Asian-American (Korean and Indian) stoners who get the munchies and embark on a quest throughout New Jersey for White Castle burgers after seeing them advertised on TV. On their way they encounter many obstacles, including a gang of extreme sports punks, a raccoon with an attitude, a group of Asian nerds, a racist police department, a cheetah that has escaped from a zoo, and an out-of-control Neil Patrick Harris.

[edit] Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (2008)

Following the events of Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, Harold Lee and Kumar Patel fly to Amsterdam so Harold can pursue a budding romance with his vacationing neighbor. After arrival at the airport, Kumar creates trouble while going through security in order to get weed on the plane. The pair run into Vanessa, Kumar's ex-girlfriend, and her fiancé Colton, another old college buddy who helped Harold with getting a job at Brewster-Keagan, at the airport. Harold and Kumar board the plane, and mid-flight, an elderly woman sees Kumar lighting a smokeless bong. She thinks that it is a bomb, and screams "Terrorist!", causing the passengers to be alerted when Kumar is holding the bong. After a confusion of the words "bong" and "bomb", two undercover air marshals tackle Kumar; he drops the bong on the floor, which breaks and emits a pleasant-smelling, though visible, gas, causing another passenger to scream "Poison gas!". Air marshals tackle them and order the plane to return to the United States where Ron Fox, a neurotic Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, in Washington, D.C. sends them to the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. Just as they are "forced to suck Big Bob's fat dick" or perform fellatio, they escape and enter the United States through Miami, Florida with the help of some Cuban refugees. They go to see a friend of theirs, Raza, who is hosting a bottomless party and he encourages them to travel to Texas in search of Colton, with hopes that he will be able to help them through his father, who is connected with several high political officials.

[edit] A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas (2011)

In April 2009, Kal Penn accepted the position of Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Liaison in the Obama administration; when asked if his new job would mean no more Harold and Kumar films, he said, "That's probably true for now." ^[1]

A new film entitled A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas was announced on May 7, 2009, for release on December 5, 2010 at the earliest and possibly deferred to the 2011 holiday season.^[2] Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg returned to write the film while Todd Strauss-Schulson directed. Greg Shapiro returned as producer with Kal Penn and John Cho reprising their title roles.^[3][4] Penn left his job with the White House on June 1, 2010 to reprise his role as Kumar in the third Harold & Kumar installment.^[5] After filming was completed, Penn returned to the White House. ^[6]

David Krumholtz, answering the last question of a Live Q&A Chat on TV.com that took place on March 12, 2010, mentioned that he and Eddie Kaye Thomas would probably be in the third Harold & Kumar film.

I do believe we will be in H&K3

—David Krumholtz, "Live Q&A Chat with David Krumholtz from CBS's Numb3rs! - TV.com". http://www.tv.com/live-qa-chat-with-david-krumholtz-from-cbs-numb3rs/story/21306.html. 

Neil Patrick Harris also returned for the film (which he confirmed on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson). He went as far as saying that he finished filming and that the film would be released in 3D (filmed with 3D cameras). Patton Oswalt has been confirmed to also star in the film.^[7] Amir Blumenfeld, of CollegeHumor fame, also appeared in the film.

Characters[link]

Harold Lee[link]

Harold Lee is a Korean American investment banker residing in New Jersey. The character was created by Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, and is portrayed by John Cho in all three films.

In Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, Harold is a hard-working stoner from the northern part of New Jersey. Harold's lazy best friend and roommate, free spirit Kumar Patel, is not afraid to let go of his inhibitions, making Harold the symbolic personification of the suppressed Asian-American employee and student in the United States. Harold, at times, lets go of his inhibitions, but only during moments of extreme duress, to the point where he amazes even the free-spirited Kumar. Harold is the yin to Kumar's yang, with the both of them being united through their enjoyment of cannabis smoking after a long day's work and or leisurely fun (such as aboard an airplane in the sequel, and an after work "Friday night special" in the first film).

Harold's romantic life centers around John Hughes-like fancies (as is evidenced by his infatuation with film classics such as Sixteen Candles). Harold thinks that he'll wind up with a similarly repressed Korean-American young woman—Cindy Kim—who isn't as repressed as he thinks. The true object of Harold's desire, however, is Maria Perez (played by Paula Garces), who lives down the hall from him in his building.

In Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, when embarking on their trip to Amsterdam they are arrested on the flight there because of Kumar testing out his "smokeless bong" in the airplane lavatory, followed up by being sent to Guantanamo Bay—only to be followed by another series of comedic events. In one of the flashbacks Kumar has, it is revealed that Harold used to be an emo kid back in college.

Kumar Patel[link]

Kumar Patel is an Indian American student residing in New Jersey. His family includes his father and brother, Saikat Patel. The character was created by Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, and is portrayed by Kal Penn in all three films.

In Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, Kumar Patel is a 22-year-old college graduate. He shares an apartment with best friend, Harold Lee. Unlike Harold, Kumar is a free spirited and outgoing rebel, not afraid to do what he wants. Kumar is the yang to Harold's yin, with the both of them being united through their enjoyment of cannabis smoking after a long day's work and or leisurely fun (such as aboard an airplane in the sequel, and an after work "Friday night special" in the first film). Both his father and brother are successful doctors, and expect him to follow in their footsteps. Though not interested in school, Kumar is remarkably intelligent and knows how to perform complex surgical procedures, as shown in the film while looking for medicinal marijuana at the hospital.

In Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, it is revealed that he had a girlfriend Vanessa in college, who introduced him to marijuana and transformed him from an uptight geek into the laid-back stoner he is today. She is about to get married to sleazy, deceptive frat boy Colton Graham (who disapproves of her marijuana habit), but Kumar interrupts the wedding and wins her back by reciting "Square Root of 3," a math themed love poem that he was afraid to show her in college. Harold, Kumar and Vanessa then go to Amsterdam to find Harold's love interest, Maria.

Neil Patrick Harris[link]

All three films feature Neil Patrick Harris playing a fictionalized version of himself. In the films, Harris is portrayed as a heavy drug user and womanizer, despite being openly gay in real life. In the third film, the fictional version of Harris is revealed to be pretending to be gay to draw attention away from his womanizing and appeared with his real-life partner David Burtka.

In an interview with Ain't It Cool News, Neil Patrick Harris revealed that the series' writers were discussing the possibility of a spin-off movie based on his fictional persona. ^[8]

Rosenberg and Goldstein[link]

Rosenberg and Goldstein are two Jewish friends and counterparts of Harold and Kumar portrayed by Eddie Kaye Thomas and David Krumholtz. They live in the same apartment building as Harold and Kumar. In the third movie, Goldstein stated he had converted to Christianity after marrying his wife.

There has been discussion of them getting their own spin-off movie, which would follow the characters during the events of the original film (theoretically titled Rosenberg & Goldstein Go to Hot Dog Heaven).^[9] The duo is based on the characters Rosencrantz and Guildenstern from the Shakespeare play, Hamlet.

Reception[link]

Box-office performance[link]

Critical reception[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle at the Internet Movie Database
• Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay at the Internet Movie Database
• A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas at the Internet Movie Database