H.261 is a ITU-T video coding standard, ratified in November 1988. It is the first member of the H.26x family of video coding standards in the domain of the ITU-T Video Coding Experts Group (VCEG), and was the first video codec that was useful in practical terms.

H.261 was originally designed for transmission over ISDN lines on which data rates are multiples of 64 kbit/s. The coding algorithm was designed to be able to operate at video bit rates between 40 kbit/s and 2 Mbit/s. The standard supports two video frame sizes: CIF (352x288 luma with 176x144 chroma) and QCIF (176x144 with 88x72 chroma) using a 4:2:0 sampling scheme. It also has a backward-compatible trick for sending still picture graphics with 704x576 luma resolution and 352x288 chroma resolution (which was added in a later revision in 1993).

Whilst H.261 was preceded in 1984 by H.120 (which also underwent a revision in 1988 of some historic importance) as a digital video coding standard, H.261 was the first truly practical digital video coding standard (in terms of product support in significant quantities). In fact, all subsequent international video coding standards (MPEG-1 Part 2, H.262/MPEG-2 Part 2, H.263, MPEG-4 Part 2, and H.264/MPEG-4 Part 10) have been based closely on the H.261 design. Additionally, the methods used by the H.261 development committee to collaboratively develop the standard have remained the basic operating process for subsequent standardization work in the field (see S. Okubo, "Reference model methodology-A tool for the collaborative creation of video coding standards", Proceedings of the IEEE, vol. 83, no. 2, Feb. 1995, pp. 139–150). The coding algorithm uses a hybrid of motion compensated inter-picture prediction and spatial transform coding with scalar quantization, zig-zag scanning and entropy encoding.

Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed, born March 2, 1942, is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his solo career, which has spanned several decades. Though the Velvet Underground were a commercial failure in the late 1960s, the group has gained a considerable cult following in the years since its demise and has gone on to become one of the most widely cited and influential bands of the era. As the Velvet Underground's principal songwriter, Reed wrote about subjects of personal experience that rarely had been examined so openly in rock and roll, including sexuality and drug culture.

After his departure from the group, Reed began a solo career in 1971. He had a hit the following year with "Walk on the Wild Side", although he subsequently lacked the mainstream commercial success its chart status seemed to indicate. Reed's work as a solo artist frustrated critics wishing for a return of the Velvet Underground. In 1975, Reed released a double album of feedback loops, Metal Machine Music, upon which he later commented, "No one is supposed to be able to do a thing like that and survive."

Mark William Calaway (born March 24, 1965) is an American professional wrestler better known by his ring name The Undertaker. He is signed to WWE and is the company's most tenured competitor. Calaway began his wrestling career with World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) in 1984. He joined World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as "Mean" Mark Callous in 1989. When WCW did not renew Calaway's contract in 1990, he signed with the World Wrestling Federation in October and, after shortening his name from Kane the Undertaker to simply The Undertaker, has remained with the company since.

The Undertaker has two contrasting personas. The first is the role of The Deadman, an undead, occult-like figure, which has consisted of many different styles. He debuted his original Deadman persona during his own on-camera debut at Survivor Series (1990). At this event, the Undertaker was clad as a Western mortician. Next, in October of 1998, the Undertaker appeared as the leader of the Ministry of Darkness (with similar apparel). Since WrestleMania XX, the Undertaker has appeared as a hybrid version of the Deadman character, using elements of the previous Deadman incarnations.

Paul Michael Levesque (born July 27, 1969) is an American professional wrestler, wrestling executive, and actor better known by his ring name Triple H, an abbreviation of the ring name, Hunter Hearst Helmsley. Currently, Levesque works in the front office of WWE as the Executive Vice President of Talent and Live Events, and as Triple H appears on television as the (storyline) Chief Operating Officer, and part-time wrestler.

Levesque began his wrestling career in the International Wrestling Federation as Terra Ryzing before joining World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1994. After briefly using the Ryzing name, he changed his character to Jean-Paul Lévesque, a French-Canadian aristocrat which would be similar to his character Hunter Hearst Helmsley, that he used in his early years with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from 1995 onward. He later abbreviated his name to Triple H and adopted an alternative image in the D-Generation X (DX) stable. After the dissolution of DX, Triple H was pushed as a main event wrestler, winning several singles championships. As part of a storyline Triple H married Stephanie McMahon, who later became his real-life spouse. In 2003, Triple H formed another stable known as Evolution, and reformed DX with Shawn Michaels in 2006 and 2009. He is heavily involved in the writing process of WWE programming, and holds complete creative control over his television character's storylines, win/loss record, and championship reigns.

Lea Michele Sarfati (born August 29, 1986), known professionally as Lea Michele, is an American actress and singer. Michele began working professionally as a child actress on Broadway in productions such as Ragtime and Les Misérables. She originated the role of Wendla in the musical Spring Awakening and currently plays Rachel Berry in the Fox television series Glee and made her film debut in New Year's Eve starring alongside Ashton Kutcher. Michele performs in the soprano range.

Michele was born in the Bronx, New York City. She is the only daughter of Edith, a nurse, and Marc Sarfati, a delicatessen owner. Her mother is Italian American and Roman Catholic, while her father is a Spanish Sephardic Jew. Michele was raised Catholic, and has stated that her father "gladly" attends church with her and her mother. She grew up in Tenafly, New Jersey. She attended Rockland Country Day School for elementary school in New York and then Tenafly High School. Michele was home schooled one year while working in Toronto, Ontario on Ragtime. She attended Stagedoor Manor in the Catskills, a center for performing arts training. She was then later accepted to the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, but opted instead to continue working professionally on the stage.