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Kira-Kira is a young adult novel by Cynthia Kadohata. It won the Newbery Medal for children's literature in 2004. The book's plot is about a Japanese-American family living in Georgia. The main character and narrator of the story is a girl named Katie, a member of the Japanese-American family. "Kira-kira" (きら きら in hiragana) means sparkling, glittering, or shiny.

Plot summary[link]

At the beginning of the story, it is the 1950s, and Lynn taught Katie the word Kira-kira and she uses it to describe everything meaning "glittering". Her older sister Lynn, and their parents are living in Iowa and own a unique Asian supermarket. When the store goes out of business, the family moves to an apartment home in Georgia where Katie's parents can work at a hatchery with other Japanese families. Lynn is Katie's best friend. Known for being remarkably intelligent, she can beat her Uncle Katsuhisa, a self-proclaimed chess grand master, at his own game.

As the plot progresses, Katie enters school, having difficulty being the only Japanese-American in her class. Her grades are solid, average C's, in comparison to Lynn's consistent A's. Lynn becomes friends with a popular girl, Amber, whom Katie dislikes immensely, and starts becoming interested in boys, often dropping Katie to go hang out with people her age. Katie eventually becomes friends with a girl named Silly Kilgore, whom she meets while waiting in the car at her mother's job. Silly's mother backs having a union at the plant to fight for higher wages and better working conditions, though Katie's mother opposes it.

In between, Lynn becomes sick with Lymphoma. Amber (whom Katie thought was phony anyway) dumps her as a friend, and Lynn becomes even sicker. Her parents buy her a house that Lynn gets to choose to make her feel better. The house seems to be curing Lynnie, until their little brother Sammy gets caught in a metal animal trap on Mr. Lyndon's (owner of the hatchery) vast property during a picnic one day, distressing her.

Lynn slowly progresses to become blank and irritable. Eventually her parents told Katie that Lynn has lymphoma. When Katie looks lymphoma up in the encyclopedia, she discovers that Lynn could die.

Before Lynn's death, she and Katie had gotten into an argument. Katie fell asleep outside and her father woke her and told her Lynn had died. After her death, Katie realizes why Lynn had taught her the word kira-kira; she wanted to remind her to always look at the world as a shining place and to never lose hope though there might be harsh hurdles in life.  Katie keeps Lynn's belongings on her desk as an altar.  The family feels that Lynn's spirit will stay around as long as they have her belongings around. Katie thinks that Lynn's spirit will only stay around 49 days after she dies (because that's what her uncle told her).

The same day Lynn dies, Katie's usually calm and restrained father breaks into an angry rage after seeing Sammy struggle with his limp. He takes Katie and goes and wrecks Mr. Lyndon's car, an act which shocks her. Later on, he goes to Mr. Lyndon and owns up to what he did, resulting in him getting fired. Katie is appalled that her father is now unemployed, but he tells her that there is another hatchery opening up in Missouri, where he will probably work next, even though it will be a longer drive.

Katie is left with Lynn's diary, and upon reading it, she realizes that Lynn knew she was going to die (as her will is dated several days before her death). Soon after, Katie's mother attends a pro-union meeting at the Kilgore house. One of the things that the union wanted to achieve was having a three-day grief leave for families handling adversities. Though Katie's mother knows it's a little late for their family, if she voted for the union, it wouldn't be too late for the next family suffering grief.

Later, a little bit after the holidays, Katie's parents attempt to cheer everyone up by taking them all on a wonderful, beautiful vacation. Katie recommends California because that is where Lynn would have wanted to go; California is where the sea she loved is and it is where Lynn wanted to live when she got older. The family arrives, and while Katie walks on the beach, she can hear Lynn's voice in the waves: "Kira-kira, kira-kira."

References[link]

www.kira-kira.us/ website on the author and the book(s) also:http://www.carolhurst.com/titles/kirakira.html it talks about the book kira-kira

Mamoru Miyano (宮野 真守, Miyano Mamoru^?, born June 8, 1983) is a Japanese voice actor, actor, and singer from Saitama Prefecture.^[1] He is best known for his roles on Ouran High School Host Club, Death Note, Mobile Suit Gundam 00, Kōtetsu Sangokushi and Steins;Gate. At the 2007 Seiyu Awards he was nominated for two awards for his role as Light Yagami in Death Note, and in 2008, he won the "Best Voice Actor" award at the 2008 Tokyo International Anime Fair. At the 2008 Seiyu Awards, Miyano won "Best Lead Actor Award" for his role as Setsuna F Seiei in Mobile Suit Gundam 00, and as Hakugen Rikuson in Kōtetsu Sangokushi.

Miyano began his career as a musician in 2007. He released his debut single, "Kuon" (久遠^?, lit. Eternity), in May on the King Records label.^{[fn 1]} In March 2009, his debut album Break was released. Miyano married in late 2008. He and his wife have a son together.^[3]

Acting career[link]

Miyano started his voice acting career in 2002, providing the voice of Riku in the Japanese version of the PlayStation 2 video game Kingdom Hearts.^[4] He then voiced Kiba, the main character of anime series Wolf's Rain. He returned as the voice for Riku in the 2004 Game Boy Advance game Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories,^[4] and in Kingdom Hearts II in 2005, and in Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories in 2007.^[5][6]

In 2006, Miyano voiced Light Yagami for the anime version of the manga Death Note.^[7] In 2007, for his role as Light Yagami, he was nominated for two awards at the first Seiyu Awards: "Best Lead Actor Award" and "Best New Actor Awards".^[8][9] Also in 2007, Miyano went on to provide the voice of Setsuna F Seiei, the main character of Mobile Suit Gundam 00. He won his first award, "Best Voice Actor", at the 2008 Tokyo International Anime Fair for his portrayal of Light Yagami and Setsuna F Seiei.^[10] In 2008, Miyano took on the role as Setsuna F Seiei again, for the second season of Mobile Suit Gundam 00. He won his first Seiyu award for the roles of Setsuna F Seiei and of Hakugen Rikuson in Kōtetsu Sangokushi.^[11] He has also voiced Zero from the popular series Vampire Knight and Vampire Knight Guilty, and Death The Kid in the anime Soul Eater . He also provided the voice of Tamaki Suoh in the anime version of the manga Ouran High School Host Club.

In addition to voice acting, Miyano has also appeared on camera. His first acting job was in 1992 in Tokusou Exceedraft, where he appeared in a flashback as a child in a Yakuza member's past.^[4] In 2003, Miyano joined the cast of The Prince of Tennis Musical playing Tetsu Ishida (石田 鉄, Ishida Tetsu^?). He made his film debut in 2006's The Prince of Tennis.^[4] In 2009, he has voiced Ultraman Zero from the new movie, Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy Legend The Movie.

In 2010, he starred with fashion model and actress Ayumi Uehara and fellow voice actors, Tomokazu Sugita, Tomokazu Seki, Rikiya Koyama, Yuka Hirata, Showtaro Morikubo and Yūko Kaida in the film, Wonderful World, directed by Daisuke Namikawa.^[12] Later, he reprise back as voicing Ultraman Zero again in the movie, Ultraman Zero: The Revenge of Belial. In 2012, he continues to reprise back as voicing Ultraman Zero again in the new movie, Ultraman Saga.

Musical career[link]

On May 28, 2007 on the King Records label, Miyano debuted as a singer with the single "Kuon" (久遠^?, Eternity). "Kuon" debuted at number 47 on the Oricon charts and was used as the ending theme song for anime series Kōtetsu Sangokushi.^[13] On June 13, 2007, with fellow seiyū Romi Park the duo released a collaboration single entitled "Fight", which debuted on the Oricon at number 73.^[14] On June 4, 2008 he released his second single, "Discovery", which was the intro song for PlayStation 2 video game Fushigi Yūgi: Suzaku Ibun.^[15] The song debuted at number 24 on the chart.^[16]

In August Miyano released the character single "Soup/Hakosora", under the name Mamoru Miyano comes across Setsuna F Seiei (宮野真守　ｃｏｍｅ　ａｃｒｏｓｓ　刹那・Ｆ・セイエイ^?); it debuted at number 18.^[17] In December he released his third single, "...Kimi e" (…君へ^?, ...To You), which also debuted at number 18.^[18] On March 11, 2009 Miyano released his debut album, Break, which debuted at numb er 20.^[19] On April 11, 2009, a month after the release of his album, Miyano went on his first tour, 1st Live Tour 2009: Breaking.^[2]

Filmography[link]

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• 2009: Break
• 2010: Wonder
• 2012: Fantasista

Singles[link]

Character singles[link]

Footnote[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website (Japanese)
• Official blog (Japanese)
• Official music site (Japanese)
• Mamoru Miyano at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
• Mamoru Miyano at the Internet Movie Database
• The-O Network Online's Interview with Mamoru Miyano (English)
• Mamoru Miyano discography at MusicBrainz

İzzet Günay (born 21 August 1934 in Üsküdar, İstanbul) is Turkish film and theatre/stage actor. He is one of the most experienced and well known Turkish actors with appearances in more than 100 films across six decades.

Biography[link]

Günay studied at Haydarpaşa High School and Deniz High School. He worked at the İstanbul Municipal Public Works department and then in the lignite business. Günay answered a casting call in a newspaper and ended up being cast in Haldun Dormen's play Kara Ağaçlar Altında. He then appeared in several other plays such as Sokak Kızı İrma, and Pasifik Şarkısı Zafer Madalyası.

In 1958 Günay made his film debut in the Kemal Film production Kırık Plak as Zeki Müren's driver. After a number of small roles, he landed the main role in Varan Bir. For a short time, he had a musical career in classical music. He won the Best Actor award at the Antalya Golden Orange Festival for his role in Ağaçlar Ayakta Ölür in 1964.^[1]

External links[link]

• Izzet Günay at the Internet Movie Database

References[link]

This article about a Turkish actor or actress is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

The Rat Pack was a group of actors originally centered on Humphrey Bogart. In the mid-1960s it was the name used by the press and the general public to refer to a later variation of the group, after Bogart's death, that called itself "the summit" or "the clan," featuring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop, who appeared together on stage and in films in the early-1960s, including the movie Ocean's 11.^[1] Sinatra, Martin and Davis were regarded as the group's lead members.^[2][3]

1950s[link]

Humphrey Bogart, original leader

The name "The Rat Pack" was first used to refer to a group of friends in New York.^[4][5] Several explanations have been offered for the famous name over the years. According to one version, the group's original "Den Mother," Lauren Bacall, after seeing her husband (Bogart) and his friends return from a night in Las Vegas, said words to the effect of "You look like a goddamn rat pack."^[4] "Rat Pack" may also be a shortened version of "Holmby Hills Rat Pack", a reference to the home of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall^[4][5] which served as a regular hangout.

Visiting members included Errol Flynn, Nat King Cole, Mickey Rooney and Cesar Romero.

According to Stephen Bogart, the original members of the Holmby Hills Rat Pack were:Frank Sinatra (pack master), Judy Garland (first vice-president), Bacall (den mother), Sid Luft (cage master), Bogart (rat in charge of public relations), Swifty Lazar (recording secretary and treasurer), Nathaniel Benchley (historian), David Niven, Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, George Cukor, Cary Grant, Rex Harrison, and Jimmy Van Heusen.^[4][5] In his autobiography The Moon's a Balloon, David Niven confirms that the Rat Pack originally included him but not Sammy Davis, Jr. or Dean Martin.

1960s[link]

The 1960s version of the group included Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Joey Bishop, Peter Lawford, and for a brief stint, Norman Fell.^{[citation needed]} Marilyn Monroe, Angie Dickinson, Juliet Prowse, and Shirley MacLaine were often referred to as the "Rat Pack Mascots"^{[citation needed]}. The post-Bogart version of the group (Bogart died in 1957) was reportedly never called that name by any of its members — they called it the Summit or the Clan. "The Rat Pack" was a term used by journalists and outsiders, although it remains the lasting name for the group.

Often, when one of the members was scheduled to give a performance, the rest of the Pack would show up for an impromptu show, causing much excitement among audiences, resulting in return visits. They sold out almost all of their appearances, and people would come pouring into Las Vegas, sometimes sleeping in cars and hotel lobbies when they could not find rooms, just to be part of the Rat Pack entertainment experience. The Rat Pack's appearances were unprecedentedly valuable because the city would always become flooded with high rollers, wealthy gamblers who would routinely leave substantial fortunes in the casinos' coffers. The marquees of the hotels at which they were performing as individuals would read, for example, "DEAN MARTIN - MAYBE FRANK - MAYBE SAMMY" as seen on a Sands Hotel sign.

Jack Paar and John F. Kennedy on The Tonight Show in 1960

Peter Lawford was a brother-in-law of President John F. Kennedy (dubbed "Brother-in-Lawford" by Sinatra),^[6] and the group played a role in campaigning for him and the Democrats, appearing at the July 11, 1960 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles.^[7] Lawford had asked Sinatra if he would have Kennedy as a guest at his Palm Springs house in March 1963, and Sinatra went to great lengths (including the construction of a helipad) to accommodate the President.^[8] When Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy advised his brother to sever his ties to Sinatra because of the entertainer's association with Mafia figures such as Sam Giancana, the stay was cancelled.^[9] Kennedy instead chose to stay at rival Bing Crosby's estate, which further infuriated Sinatra.^[10] Lawford was blamed for this, and Sinatra "never again had a good word for (him)" from that point onwards.^[11] Lawford's role in the upcoming 4 for Texas was written out, and his part in Robin and the 7 Hoods was given to Bing Crosby.^[10]

On June 20, 1965, Sinatra, Martin, and Davis, with Johnny Carson as the emcee (substituting for Bishop, who was out with a bad back), performed their only televised concert together during the heyday of the Pack at the Kiel Opera House in St. Louis, a closed-circuit broadcast done as a fundraiser for Dismas House (the first halfway house for ex-convicts) and fed live to movie theatres across the country. Thirty years later Paul Brownstein tracked down a print of the "lost" show in a St. Louis closet after someone noticed mysterious cameras onstage during a CBS documentary on Sinatra which filmed part of the show. It has since been broadcast on Nick at Night (in 1998) as part of The Museum of Television & Radio Showcase series^[12] and released on DVD as part of the Ultimate Rat Pack Collection: Live & Swingin.

Later years[link]

In 1981, Martin and Davis appeared together in the film Cannonball Run, and were joined by Sinatra in the sequel Cannonball Run II. This would be the last time that the three would appear in a movie together. (Shirley MacLaine also appears in the latter film).

Revival[link]

In December 1987, at Chasen's restaurant in Los Angeles, Sinatra, Davis, and Martin announced a 29 date tour, called Together Again, sponsored by HBO and American Express. At the press conference to announce the tour, Martin joked about calling the tour off, and Sinatra rebuked a reporter for using the term "Rat Pack," referring to it as "that stupid phrase".^[13]

Dean Martin's son, Dean Paul Martin, had died in a plane crash in March 1987 on the San Gorgonio Mountain in California, the same mountain where Sinatra's mother, Dolly, had been killed in a plane crash ten years earlier. Martin had since become increasingly dependent on alcohol and prescription drugs. Davis had had hip replacement surgery two years previously, and been estranged from Sinatra because of [Davis'] use of cocaine.^[14] Davis was also experiencing severe financial difficulties, and was promised by Sinatra's people that he could earn between six and eight million dollars from the tour.^[15]

Martin had not made a film or recorded since 1984, and Sinatra felt that the tour would be good for Martin, telling Davis, "I think it would be great for Dean. Get him out. For that alone it would be worth doing".^[16] Sinatra and Davis still performed regularly, yet had not recorded for several years. Both Sinatra and Martin had made their last film appearances together, in 1984's Cannonball Run II, a film which also starred Davis. This marked the trio's first feature film appearance since 1964's Robin and the 7 Hoods. Martin expressed reservations about the tour, wondering whether they could draw as many people as they had in the past. After private rehearsals, at one of which Sinatra and Davis had complained about the lack of black musicians in the orchestra,^[15] the tour began at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on March 13, 1988.

Sammy Davis, Jr.

To a sold-out crowd of 14,500,^[16] Davis opened the show, followed by Martin and then Sinatra; after an interval, the three performed a medley of songs. During the show, Martin threw a lighted cigarette at the audience;^[17] this, coupled with his increasingly blasé attitude to the tour and his frustration with Sinatra's anger over hotel accommodations in Chicago, led to his leaving the tour after only four performances. Martin cited 'kidney problems' as the reason for his departure. Eliot Weisman, Sinatra's representative, suggested replacing Martin with his client, Liza Minnelli. With Minnelli, the tour was called The Ultimate Event, and continued internationally to great success.

Davis's associate recalled Sinatra's people skimming the top of the revenues from the concerts, as well as stuffing envelopes full of cash into suitcases after the performances.^[18] Eliot Weisman had already been convicted of skimming, the act of taking money before it has been accounted for taxation purposes, after a series of Sinatra performances at the Westchester Premier Theatre in 1976, eventually being sentenced to six years in prison for the offence.^[19] In August 1989, after Davis experienced throat pain, he was diagnosed with throat cancer; he would die of the disease in May 1990. Davis was buried with a gold watch that Sinatra had given him at the conclusion of The Ultimate Event Tour.^[20]

A 1989 performance of The Ultimate Event in Detroit was recorded and shown on Showtime the following year as a tribute to the recently deceased Davis. A review in The New York Times praised Davis's performance, describing him as "pure, ebullient, unapologetic show business."^[21]

Deaths[link]

Peter Lawford

Concerning the group's reputation for womanizing and heavy drinking, Joey Bishop stated in a 1998 interview: "I never saw Frank, Dean, Sammy, or Peter drunk during performances. That was only a gag! And do you believe these guys had to chase broads? They had to chase 'em away!^[22] "

• Peter Lawford died on December 24, 1984, of cardiac arrest complicated by kidney and liver failure at the age of 61.^[23]
• Sammy Davis, Jr. died at the age of 64 on May 16, 1990, of complications from throat cancer.
• Dean Martin died at home on Christmas morning, December 25, 1995, aged 78.
• Frank Sinatra died on May 14, 1998, at the age of 82.
• Joey Bishop, the last surviving and longest-lived (89) Rat Pack member, died on October 17, 2007.

Films[link]

Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra (1958)

• It Happened in Brooklyn (1947) (Sinatra, Lawford)
• Some Came Running (1958) (Sinatra, Martin, and MacLaine)
• Never So Few (1959) (Sinatra, Lawford, and initially Davis, who was replaced by Steve McQueen)
• Ocean's 11 (1960) (Sinatra, Martin, Davis, Lawford, and Bishop)
• Sergeants 3 (1962) (Sinatra, Martin, Davis, Lawford, and Bishop)
• 4 for Texas (1963) (Sinatra and Martin)
• Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964) (Sinatra, Martin, Davis, and initially Lawford, who was replaced by Bing Crosby)
• Marriage on the Rocks (1965) (Sinatra and Martin)
• Texas Across the River (1966) (Martin and Bishop)
• Salt and Pepper (1968) (Davis and Lawford)
• One More Time (1970) (Davis and Lawford)
• The Cannonball Run (1981) (Martin and Davis)
• Cannonball Run II (1984) (Sinatra, Martin, Davis, and MacLaine)

MacLaine also had a major role (and Sinatra a cameo) in the 1956 Oscar-winning film Around the World in Eighty Days. MacLaine played a Hindu princess who is rescued by, and falls in love with, original Rat Pack member David Niven, and Sinatra had a non-speaking, non-singing role as a piano player in a saloon, whose identity is concealed from the viewer until he turns his face toward the camera during a scene featuring Marlene Dietrich and George Raft. MacLaine also briefly appears in Ocean's Eleven as a drunken woman. The 1984 film Cannonball Run II marked the final time members of the Rat Pack shared theatrical screen time together.

In popular culture[link]

• There is a reference to the Rat Pack in the film Bye Bye Birdie, in a scene in which Ed Sullivan says: "And now: Frank Dean and Sammy. Frank, Dean and Sammy McWilliams."
• The film poster of the film Advance to the Rear says: "You've met the Rat Pack, now... meet the mouse pack!!!"
• There are several references to Frank Sinatra in the film Ocean's Thirteen, which is a reference to the fact that the original Ocean's Eleven is a Rat Pack film.
• In Family Guy episode Brian Sings and Swings, the group formed by Brian, Stewie and Frank is called The New Rat Pack.

See also[link]

• Brat pack
• Brit Pack – 1980s
• Child actor
• Frat Pack – 1990s & 2000s (decade)
• Splat Pack – 2000s (decade) & 2010s
• Typecasting
• ..The Rat Pack.. is a 1998 HBO TV movie about the Rat Pack of the 1960s
• The Wack Pack (from The Howard Stern Show)

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Gehman, Richard (1961). Sinatra and His Rat Pack. Belmont. 
• Levy, S. (1998). Rat Pack Confidential. London: Fourth Estate. ISBN 1-84115-001-0. 
• Spada, James (1991). Peter Lawford: The Man Who Kept the Secrets. New York: Bantam Books. ISBN 0-553-07185-8. 

External links[link]

• The Rat Pack: 25 Never-Seen Photos - slideshow by Life magazine