Kim Kardashian

Kimberly "Kim" Kardashian West (born Kimberly Noel Kardashian; October 21, 1980) is an American television and social media personality, actress, socialite, and model. Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, Kardashian first gained media attention through her friendship with Paris Hilton, but she received wider notice after a 2003 sex tape with her former boyfriend Ray J was leaked in 2007. Later that year, she and her family began to appear in the reality television series Keeping Up with the Kardashians. Its success has led to the creation of spin-offs including Kourtney and Kim Take New York and Kourtney and Kim Take Miami. In 2010, Kardashian was reported to be the highest-paid reality television personality, with estimated earnings of US$6 million. In 2015, it was reported her total earnings were US$53 million.

Life and career

1980–2007: Early life

Kardashian was born on October 21, 1980 in Los Angeles, California, to parents Robert and Kris (née Houghton). She has an older sister Kourtney, a younger sister Khloé, and a younger brother Rob. Their mother is of Dutch, English, Irish and Scottish ancestry, while their father was a third-generation Armenian American. After their parents divorced in 1991, her mother married again that year, to Caitlyn Jenner (then Bruce), the 1976 Summer Olympics decathlon winner. Through their marriage, Kardashian gained step-brothers Burton "Burt", Brandon, and Brody; step-sister Casey; and half-sisters Kendall and Kylie Jenner.

Keeping Up with the Kardashians

Keeping Up with the Kardashians (abbreviated KUWTK) is an American reality television series that airs on the E! cable network and focuses on the personal and professional lives of the Kardashian–Jenner blended family. Its premise originated with Ryan Seacrest, who also serves as an executive producer. The series debuted on October 14, 2007 and has subsequently become one of the longest-running reality television series in the country; the eleventh season of the show premiered on November 15, 2015.

The series mainly focuses on sisters Kim, Kourtney, and Khloé Kardashian. It additionally places emphasis on their parents Kris and Caitlyn Jenner (previously known as Bruce Jenner), their half-sisters Kendall and Kylie Jenner, and brother Rob Kardashian. The significant others of the Kardashian sisters have also been featured on the show, including Kourtney's boyfriend Scott Disick and Khloé's husband Lamar Odom. Caitlyn's son Brody has made cameo appearances in the early seasons before joining the show to appear regularly, along with his brother Brandon, and Brandon's wife, Leah. Kim's best friend Jonathan Cheban and Khloé's best friend Malika Haqq have also been a part of the show.

Popular culture

Popular culture or pop culture is the entirety of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, images, and other phenomena that are within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the late 20th and early 21st century. Heavily influenced by mass media, this collection of ideas permeates the everyday lives of the society. The most common pop culture categories are: entertainment (movies, music, TV), sports, news (as in people/places in news), politics, fashion/clothes, technology, and slang.

Popular culture is often viewed as being trivial and "dumbed down" in order to find consensual acceptance throughout the mainstream. As a result, it comes under heavy criticism from various non-mainstream sources (most notably religious groups and countercultural groups) which deem it superficial, consumerist, sensationalist, or corrupt.

History and definitions

The term "popular culture" was coined in the 19th century or earlier. Traditionally, popular culture was associated with poor education and the lower classes, as opposed to the "official culture" and higher education of the upper classes.

E!

E! Entertainment Television, LLC (more commonly known as E! and formerly E!: Entertainment Television) is an American basic cable and satellite television channel that is owned by the NBCUniversal Cable division of NBCUniversal. It features entertainment-related programming, reality television, feature films and occasionally series and specials unrelated to the entertainment industry. As of February 2015, E! has an audience reach of approximately 94,296,000 American households (81.0% of households). The channel is also available in Canada, which broadcasts original programming at the same as the United States and localized versions across Europe, Asia and Australia.

History

Movietime

E! was originally launched on July 31, 1987 as Movietime, a service that aired movie trailers, entertainment news, event and awards coverage, and interviews as an early example of a national barker channel. The channel was founded by Larry Namer and Alan Mruvka. Early Movietime hosts included Greg Kinnear, Paula Abdul, Katie Wagner, Julie Moran, Suzanne Kay (daughter of Diahann Carroll), Mark DeCarlo, Sam Rubin and Richard Blade.

Paris

Paris (UK: /ˈpærɪs/ PARR-iss; US: ⁱ/ˈpɛərɪs/ PAIR-iss; French: [paʁi]) is the capital and most populous city of France. Situated on the Seine River, in the north of the country, it is in the centre of the Île-de-France region, also known as the région parisienne, "Paris Region". The City of Paris has an area of 105 km² (41 mi²) and a population of 2,241,346 (2014 estimate) within its administrative borders essentially unchanged since 1860.

Since the 19th century, the built-up area of Paris has grown far beyond its administrative borders; together with its suburbs, the whole agglomeration has a population of 10,550,350 (Jan. 2012 census).Paris' metropolitan area spans most of the Paris region and has a population of 12,341,418 (Jan. 2012 census), or one-fifth of the population of France. The administrative region covers 12,012 km² (4,638 mi²), with approximately 12 million inhabitants as of 2014, and has its own regional council and president.

Paris was founded in the 3rd century BC by a Celtic people called the Parisii, who gave the city its name. By the 12th century, Paris was the largest city in the western world, a prosperous trading centre, and the home of the University of Paris, one of the first in Europe. In the 18th century, it was the centre stage for the French Revolution, and became an important centre of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts, a position it still retains today.