Meera Menon

Meera Menon is an Indian–American director, writer, and editor. Her feature directorial debut, Farah Goes Bang, screened at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2013 and was awarded the inaugural Nora Ephron Prize by Tribeca and Vogue. She currently resides in Los Angeles.

Early life

Menon cited her father as her earliest inspiration for filmmaking, using his camera to shoot films with her next-door neighbour. Since her father, Viyajan Menon, is a film producer, Menon was exposed to filmmaking from a young age. Her father is also a founder of Tara Arts, an English cultural ambassador for South India, showcasing musicals and films. Menon says while her parents encouraged her to pursue the arts, her father advised her to look at it as a hobby.

Because of this way of thinking about film, Menon did not seriously consider filmmaking as a career until she attended Columbia University, and took classes that were taught by professional filmmakers. Menon she received a BA in English and Art History from Columbia, but while she was there, she began directing films and discovered a passion for the craft. She went on to receive an MFA from the USC School of Cinematic Arts.

Meera

Meera, also known as Mira Bai, was a 16th century Hindu mystic poet and devotee of Krishna. She is celebrated as a poet and has been claimed by the North Indian Hindu tradition of Bhakti saints.

Meera was born into a royal family of Kurki district of Pali, Rajasthan, India. She is mentioned in Bhaktamal, confirming that she was widely known and a cherished figure in the Indian bhakti movement culture by about 1600 CE. Most legends about Meera mention her fearless disregard for social and family conventions, her devotion to god Krishna, her treating Krishna as her lover and husband, and she being persecuted by her in-laws for her religious devotion. She has been the subject of numerous folk tales and hagiographic legends, which are inconsistent or widely different in details.

Thousands of devotional poems in passionate praise of Lord Krishna are attributed to Meera in the Indian tradition, but just a few hundred are believed to be authentic by scholars, and the earliest written records suggest that except for two poems, most were written down only in the 18th century. Many poems attributed to Meera were likely composed later by others who admired Meera. These poems are commonly known as bhajans, and are popular across India. Hindu temples, such as in Chittorgarh fort, are dedicated to Mira Bai's memory. Legends about Meera's life, of contested authenticity, have been the subject of movies, comic strips and other popular literature in modern times.

Alysia Reiner

Alysia Reiner (born July 21, 1970) is an American actress and producer. Reiner has appeared in several Off-Broadway plays and won a Obie Award for her performance in An Oak Tree. On-screen, Reiner is best known for her role as Christine Ergarian in the critically acclaimed comedy-drama film, Sideways (2004), as Wendy Parks in the ABC crime-legal drama TV series, How to Get Away with Murder, and as Natalie "Fig" Figueroa in the Netflix comedy drama series, Orange Is the New Black (2013-15).

Career

Theatre

Reiner has appeared in several Off-Broadway works including two Persian-themed plays directed by Abdolhossein Sepanta, focusing on the struggles of Lesbians in Persian culture. One of her early roles was in the 2005 Drama Desk Award-nominated New York premiere of Pentecost, by Tony Award-winning playwright David Edgar. She recently joined Tim Crouch in the Obie Award-winning An Oak Tree at The Barrow Street, and "Jayson with a Y" with The New Group. At The Beckett, she played roles in Anaïs Nin: One of Her Lives and Wasps in Bed. She has been deemed "Off-Broadway Favorite" by Theatremania and was called "priceless" by the New York Times.

Anna Gunn

Anna Gunn (born August 11, 1968) is an American actress, best known for her role as Skyler White on the AMC drama series Breaking Bad, for which she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2013 and 2014.

Early life

Anna Gunn was born in Santa Fe, New Mexico, to Shana, an interior designer, and Clem, who worked in real estate. She graduated from Santa Fe Preparatory School in 1986. She attended Northwestern University, where she majored in theater and graduated in 1990. During fall of 1988, Gunn spent a semester abroad to study at the British American Drama Academy.

Career

Gunn is known for her role as Skyler White in the AMC drama series Breaking Bad, starring Bryan Cranston. In 2012, 2013 and 2014, she was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her performance in that show, and subsequently won in 2013 and 2014. In August 2013, she wrote an op-ed piece for The New York Times examining the public dislike directed toward her character.

Autograph Collection Hotels

Autograph Collection Hotels is a luxury hotel chain owned by Marriott International. Hotels in the Autograph Collection are independently owned and are operated/maintained under the Autograph Collection name. The brand started in 2010 by "indie hotelier" Richard C. Kessler and has expanded since.

History

The Autograph Collection originally started in Savannah, Georgia. Marriott International in 2010. Mansion Forsyth Park was the first Autograph Collection Hotel.

As of January 2014, the Autograph Collection consisted of 57 hotels from New Mexico to Normandy, with another 20 potential partnerships pending in 2014.

As of October 2015, the Autograph Collection has expanded to 101 hotels and resorts in many different countries worldwide.

Competition

The "Autograph Collection Hotels" is similar to Hilton's "Curio Collection" and Starwood's "Luxury Collection Hotels."

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