Belle

Belle may refer to:

People

Places

Businesses

Belle (Disney)

Belle is a fictional character who appears in Walt Disney Pictures' 30th animated feature film Beauty and the Beast (1991), as well as its sequels and spin-offs. The character was originally voiced by actress and singer Paige O'Hara until Disney eventually replaced her with voice actress Julie Nathanson in 2011 due to the former's maturing voice. The book-loving daughter of an eccentric inventor, Belle is regarded as an outcast by her peers because of the character's nonconformity, and longs to abandon her provincial village life in exchange for adventure. When her father is imprisoned by the Beast, Belle sacrifices her own freedom in return for his, and eventually learns to love the Beast despite his outward appearance.

Disney chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg commissioned Beauty and the Beast as an animated musical with a strong heroine, and hired first-time screenwriter Linda Woolverton to write it. Loosely based on the heroine in Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont's fairy tale "Beauty and the Beast", Belle was developed by Woolverton into a stronger and braver character for the film. Directly inspired by the women's rights movement, Woolverton wanted Belle to be as different as possible from The Little Mermaid's popular Ariel, deliberately conceiving the character as a feminist in response to the negative reception Disney had been receiving for the studio's depiction of women. Belle's fearlessness and love of reading were inspired by actress Katharine Hepburn's portrayal of Jo March in the film Little Women (1933), while the writers developed the character by giving her aspirations beyond simply marriage and romance. Animated by James Baxter and Mark Henn, the former of whom based the character's graceful mannerisms on artist Edgar Degas' paintings of ballerinas, Belle's European facial features were inspired by British actresses Vivien Leigh and Audrey Hepburn.

Snoopy's siblings

In Charles M. Schulz's comic strip Peanuts, Snoopy was often stated to have seven siblings. Five appeared at various times in the strip: four brothers, Andy, Marbles, Olaf, and Spike; and one sister, Belle. The two others were never mentioned by name in the comic strip. According to the 1991 TV special Snoopy's Reunion, their names are Molly and Rover; however, their appearance is not considered canonical in the comic strip. In the June 6, 1959 comic strip, following the birth of Charlie Brown's sister Sally, Snoopy remarks that he has no brothers or sisters, and is an "only dog." However, in a March 18, 1971 strip, Snoopy writes in his autobiography: "I was born one bright Spring morning at the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm. I was one of eight puppies."

Their mother is called Missy, but has appeared only once in Peanuts, on July 26, 1996. A t-shirt that was sold for several years at Target and other stores shows Spike, Andy, Snoopy, Marbles and Olaf in a parody of the famous dogs playing poker print, despite much advertising copy which misidentified the characters.

Muscle car

Muscle car is an American term used to refer to a variety of high-performance automobiles. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines muscle cars as "any of a group of American-made 2-door sports coupes with powerful engines designed for high-performance driving." A large V8 engine is fitted in a 2-door, rear wheel drive, family-style mid-size or full-size car designed for four or more passengers. Sold at an affordable price, muscle cars are intended for street use and occasional drag racing. They are distinct from two-seat sports cars and expensive 2+2 GTs intended for high-speed touring and road racing. Developed to meet specific market requirements, muscle cars also emerged from manufacturers in Australia, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere.

Definition

According to Muscle Cars, a book written by Peter Henshaw, a "muscle car" is "exactly what the name implies. It is a product of the American car industry adhering to the hot rodder's philosophy of taking a small car and putting a large-displacement engine in it. The Muscle Car is Charles Atlas kicking sand in the face of the 98 horsepower weakling." Henshaw further asserts that the muscle car was designed for straight-line speed, and did not have the "sophisticated chassis", "engineering integrity", or "lithe appearance" of European high-performance cars.

MuscleCar

MuscleCar is a television program whose hosts demonstrate how to rebuild muscle cars while sharing information about these cars and their history. It became a part of a group of shows called the Powerblock, currently shown on Spike TV, on January 7, 2006.

The original co-hosts of the show were Lou Santiago and Jared Zimmerman, however midway through the first season, Zimmerman quit to return to Rad Rides by Troy, the custom car shop he had been employed with prior to joining the MuscleCar team. After Zimmerman's departure, Santiago remained the show's only host and relied on various shop assistants and fabricators to help with tasks when they required more than one person. As of the October 1st, 2007 taping, Rick Bacon (AKA The Arsonist) was added as the new co-host with Santiago.

Santiago remained co-host of the series until his last taping of the show on Friday, October 26, 2007. The final show with him as host aired on February 17, 2008 with his on air official announcement of his departure. However, he made his first announcement while being interviewed the week following October 26, 2007 by Kevin Oeste of V8TV, at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas. After Lou left Muscle Car, Rick became host along with Brent Buttrey. Brent has since been replaced as co-host by Tommy Boshers.