Narendra Damodardas Modi

Narendra Damodardas Modi (About this sound pronunciation (help·info), born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who is the Prime Minister designate of India, after leading the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to a decisive victory in the 2014 Indian general elections. Modi is also the 14th and current Chief Minister of Gujarat, though he is expected to resign soon to take up the office of Prime Minister.

Modi was a key strategist for the BJP in the successful 1995 and 1998 Gujarat state election campaigns, and was a major campaign figure in the 2009 general elections, eventually won by the Indian National Congress led United Progressive Alliance (UPA). He first became chief minister of Gujarat in October 2001 after the resignation of his predecessor, Keshubhai Patel, and following the defeat of BJP in the by-elections. In July 2007, he became the longest-serving Chief Minister in Gujarat's history, at which point he had been in power for 2,063 days continuously. He is currently serving his fourth consecutive term as Chief Minister.

Modi is a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and is described as a Hindu nationalist by media, scholars and himself. He is a controversial figure both within India and internationally as his administration has been criticised for the incidents surrounding the 2002 Gujarat riots. He has been praised for his economic policies, which are credited with creating an environment for a high rate of economic growth in Gujarat. However, his administration has also been criticised for failing to make a significant positive impact upon the human development of the state.

Narendra Damodardas Modi

Modi was born on 17 September 1950 to a family of grocers belonging to the backward Ghanchi-Teli (oil-presser) community, in Vadnagar in Mehsana district of what was then Bombay Presidency (present-day Gujarat), India. He was the third of six children born to Damodardas Mulchand Modi and his wife, Heeraben. He helped his father sell tea at Vadnagar railway station when a child and as a teenager he ran a tea stall with his brother near a bus terminus. He completed his schooling in Vadnagar, where a teacher described him as being an average student, but a keen debater who had an interest in theatre. That interest has influenced how he now projects himself in politics.

Modi's parents arranged his marriage as a child, in keeping with the traditions of the Ghanchi caste. He was engaged at the age of 13 to Jashodaben Chimanlal and the couple were married by the time he was 18. They spent very little time together and were soon estranged because Modi decided to pursue an itinerant life. However as per Modi's biographer Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, the marriage was never consummated. Having remained silent on the question of marriage in four previous election campaigns, and having claimed that his status as a single person meant that he had no reason to be corrupt, Modi acknowledged Jashodaben as his legal spouse when filling in his nomination form for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

Little is known of the two years that Modi spent travelling, probably in the Himalayas, and he resumed selling tea upon his return. He then worked in the staff canteen of Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation until he became a full–time pracharak (propagandist) of the RSS in 1970. He had been involved with the RSS as a volunteer from the age of eight and had come into contact with Vasant Gajendragadkar and Nathalal Jaghda, leaders of the Jan Sangh who later founded the BJP's Gujarat state unit. After Modi had received some RSS training in Nagpur, which was a prerequisite for taking up an official position in the Sangh Parivar, he was given charge of Sangh's student wing, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, in Gujarat. Modi organised agitations and covert distribution of Sangh's pamphlets during the Emergency. Modi graduated with an extramural degree through Distance Education in political science from Delhi University. Modi remained a pracharak in the RSS while he completed his Master's degree in political science from Gujarat University.

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Godzilla 2014 Film - The world ends, Godzilla begins

Godzilla (ゴジラ?, Gojira) is a 2014 American science-fiction monster film produced by Legendary Pictures, and the twenty-ninth installment in the Godzilla series, as well as the second American Godzilla film, along with being the first in the Legendary series. The film was released to American theaters on May 16, 2014. Godzilla was awakened in 1954 by a Russian military submarine accident. Throughout the mid-1950s, the United States and Russian militaries used nuclear weapons in attempts to kill Godzilla and covered them up as military tests - thus, his existence was unknown to the public, and Godzilla survived every attempt. Years later, in 1999, Dr. Ichiro Serizawa is called to a mining site in the Philippines and, along with his assistant Dr. Vivienne Graham and a small team, finds two spores in a large underground cave. One of the spores is found already hatched and a tunnel extends to the surface from its location; the other is still unhatched and is taken to Mount Yucca and placed in the nuclear waste repository.

Days later, nuclear physicist Joe Brody and his wife Sandra Brody go to work at a nuclear power plant in the city of Janjira near Tokyo. The power plant is destroyed and breached by an explosion and radiation leak, killing Sandra and leaving Joe and their son Ford alone. 15 years after the incident, Ford is now an explosive disposal officer for the United States Navy, and is living in San Francisco with his wife Elle and son Sam. After returning home, he finds out that Joe was arrested for trespassing in the now-quarantined Janjira while looking for an explanation for the catastrophic event years ago. After Ford travels to Japan and bails him out, Joe convinces him to come with him to another trip to Janjira. They soon discover it is not radioactive and, after recovering Joe's old data and finding their old home, they are caught by security and taken to the power plant. The power plant is now a large laboratory for studying a mysterious and strange object - a chrysalis. It turns out to be the hatchling from the previously-discovered spore and, after breaking out of the chrysalis, the creature wreaks havoc on the lab, killing and injuring many of the personnel. During the chaos, Joe receives heavy wounds. After the monster flies away, the military takes Serizawa to the USS Saratoga, who requests that Joe and Ford accompany him on the way, wanting to know what they knew about the situation. Joe later dies from his injuries in the helicopter while en route to the USS Saratoga.

Godzilla 2014 Film - The world ends, Godzilla begins

On the Saratoga, Serizawa and Dr. Graham explain to Ford how Godzilla came to be, as well as what the monster that attacked the plant, now referred to as a MUTO (Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism), is. Ford is then taken to Honolulu, Hawaii to eventually return to San Francisco. While there, the MUTO arrives on the island, ripping apart a Russian nuclear submarine and feeding on its reactor. After being threatened by the military it sends out an Electronic Magnetic Pulse which shuts down all electronics. Ford (on a train at this time) is almost killed by the MUTO, which bites into the tracks and causes the train to derail and hang. On a different side of the city, Godzilla's arrival creates a tsunami which destroys a small coastal area. The MUTO's actions start a chain reaction that leads to mass destruction at the nearby airport, where Godzilla arrives. After a brief fight, the MUTO flies off with Godzilla pursuing him.

Serizawa reports that Godzilla showed up because he heard an echolocation signal and is hunting the MUTO. They later question why the MUTO would send out a signal. They soon realize that the other spore is still active and later find out that it has hatched. The resulting hatchling is then found to have broken out of the repository and started attacking Las Vegas. They conclude that the MUTOs are male and female and plan on nesting in San Francisco. The military proposes an idea that involves attracting the monsters to a nuclear warhead and detonating it in the ocean. Serizawa disapproves, saying that Godzilla is the only thing that could stop the MUTOs.

Ford, now on the mainland, journeys on a military train with a group of soldiers to get Elle and Sam out of San Francisco. The train had two ICBM's on it, both armed warheads which were hoped to be strong enough to kill all three monsters. The train, however, is destroyed by the female MUTO and he is left as the only survivor. The warhead is then flown by helicopter to San Francisco just as Godzilla arrives. The male MUTO arrives minutes later and steals the warhead immediately after it is armed to go off.

At this time, citizens in San Francisco are being evacuated on school buses. Elle leaves Sam with a trusted friend while she stays behind to help around. The buses then make their way out of the city through the Golden Gate bridge, where it is blocked off and is surrounded by the military. Godzilla resurfaces near the bridge, where the NAVY opens fire in an attempt to prevent him from entering the city, despite the presence of civilians on the bridge. The commotion caused by both the military and Godzilla results in the destruction of the bridge, killing many people and only leaving Sam's bus intact.

The MUTOs meet in downtown San Francisco and start building their nest. The male MUTO is attacked by Godzilla and another conflict ensues. Ford is ordered to go on a HALO drop with a team in order to retrieve the warhead from the MUTO nest and turn it off so it does not detonate in the city's center. After parachuting into the city they quickly locate the nest. The female MUTO goes to assist the male against Godzilla, giving the team the perfect time to locate the warhead. After finding it and getting out of the nest, Ford stays and destroys the nest before the eggs could hatch. This attracts the female MUTO and Ford is nearly killed, however he is saved by Godzilla, knocking her back with two strikes from his atomic breath. Godzilla then kills the male by slamming it into a building using his tail, impaling his neck on the debris. The building then collapses, pinning Godzilla underneath a pile of rubble and dust.

The team gets to the bay and realizes they cannot disarm the warhead, and devise a plan to sail it out into the ocean, far enough to not endanger the population. While loading it onto the boat, the female MUTO attacks and kills all except Ford. Ford starts to drive the boat, but he is confronted by the female. Wounded, he attempts to hold her back with his sidearm. Godzilla returns and grabs the MUTO. After a brief struggle, Godzilla directs a charged atomic ray into her throat, which causes her neck to explode, ultimately decapitating and killing her. Exhausted, Godzilla collapses in the city. Ford is rescued before the warhead detonates and reunites with Sam and Elle. Godzilla is assumed dead until he wakes up the next morning. The media acknowledges Godzilla's actions, dubbing him "King of the Monsters" and debating on his role as being the city's possible "savior". Godzilla lets out a final roar before returning to the ocean to lay dormant once again.

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Godzilla 2014 Film

Godzilla is an American 2014 science fiction monster film featuring the Japanese film monster of the same name in a reboot of the Godzilla film franchise. The film retells the origins of Godzilla in contemporary times as a "terrifying force of nature", depicted in a style faithful to the Toho series of Godzilla films. The film is directed by Gareth Edwards, and stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ken Watanabe, Elizabeth Olsen, Juliette Binoche, Sally Hawkins, David Strathairn, and Bryan Cranston. The screenplay is credited to Max Borenstein but includes contributions from David Callaham, David S. Goyer, Drew Pearce, and Frank Darabont.

The film is a co-production between Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures, with participation by Toho. Warner Bros. will also distribute the film worldwide, except in Japan where it will be distributed by Toho. It is the second Godzilla film to be fully filmed by an American studio, the first being the 1998 film of the same name. This film received wide release worldwide on May 15, 2014, in the United States on May 16, 2014, and is scheduled for release in China on June 13 and Japan on July 25, 2014 in 2D and 3D.

The film begins with film reels showing the preparation and detonation of a nuclear bomb at Bikini Atoll. A huge figure with jagged spikes rises from the water when the bomb is detonated. In 1999, scientists Ishiro Serizawa and Vivienne Graham (Ken Watanabe and Sally Hawkins) are called to a quarry in the Philippines where an enormous skeleton and two egg-shaped pods have been discovered. Shortly after realizing one of the pods has hatched, the Janjira Nuclear Plant near Tokyo, Japan suffers an explosion and radiation leak. Plant supervisor Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston) attempts to save his wife Sandra (Juliette Binoche) and her team, but they fail to escape the containment area in time and Joe is forced to close the containment doors on them. Their son, Ford, observes the total collapse of the plant from his school. The event, attributed to an earthquake, results in the evacuation and quarantine of the Janjira area.

Godzilla 2014 Film

Fifteen years later, Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is an explosive ordinance disposal officer in the United States Navy, living in San Francisco with wife Elle (Elizabeth Olsen) and son Sam (Carson Bolde). When Joe is arrested for trespassing in the quarantined area, Ford travels to Japan to assist him. He is convinced by Joe, who believes the event to be a cover-up, to come with him to Janjira. There they discover no signs of radiation and are soon caught and taken into custody inside a secret complex built within the power plant ruins. The complex houses a massive chrysalis (similar to the one seen in the Philippines fifteen years prior) is being studied, led by Dr. Serizawa and Graham. The chrysalis hatches and unleashes a gigantic winged creature, which flies off after obliterating the facility containing it. Joe is wounded in the chaos and dies shortly after the carnage, while Serizawa, Graham, and Ford joins a US Navy team to track the monster, using the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga as centre of operations.

Aboard the Saratoga, Ford is informed by Serizawa and his team that the creature he saw at Janjira was a MUTO (or Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism), an ancient creature from a much earlier time period which feeds off radiation and radioactive material. As the earth's radiation subsided it moved underground and put itself in a cryptobiotic state. It in turn is being hunted by a much larger animal that was awoken during a deep sea expedition in 1954. Its existence has been continually covered up, following numerous attempts to kill it with nuclear weapons. Ford reveals that his father had tracked a form of echolocation from the Janjira area, which leads the team to believe the MUTO was communicating with something else.

A US Navy search team in Hawaii finds the wreck of a Russian nuclear submarine that has reported an attack and finds the MUTO, feeding on its reactor. The military attacks the MUTO and a battle ensues at Honolulu International Airport. The larger creature, named “Godzilla” by the United States Navy staff, suddenly arrives and fights the MUTO before pursuing it as it leaves the island. The second MUTO pod, which was brought from the Philippines to the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, hatches and breaks free, demolishing Las Vegas as it heads towards the west coast. Serizawa concludes that the second MUTO is a female and that the two are converging on the city of San Francisco to breed.

A plan is approved by Rear Admiral Stenz (David Strathairn) to lure all three monsters into the ocean with an armed nuclear warhead and kill them in the ensuing blast, much to Serizawa's disapproval. Before the plan can be carried out, the MUTOs steal the warhead and construct a nest around it in the middle of downtown San Francisco, threatening the lives of millions. When the Navy attempts to prevent Godzilla from entering the city, Serizawa advises them that Godzilla may be the only thing capable of stopping the MUTOs as all weapons have proven to be useless against the creatures. Godzilla meets the MUTOs a fierce battle takes place, causing widespread destruction.

While the MUTOs are distracted with Godzilla, Ford and a team of soldiers enter the nest and try to disarm the warhead. It is discovered to be badly damaged and cannot be disarmed, and is instead taken to a boat to be driven out as far to sea as possible before it detonates. The nest is destroyed by Ford and Godzilla kills the two MUTOs before collapsing, apparently dead. Ford gets the boat out to sea and is rescued by the Army before the warhead explodes, saving San Francisco from annihilation.

In the aftermath, Ford is reunited with his wife and son. Godzilla, presumed dead, suddenly awakens. Cheered for by the people of the city and touted the "King of Monsters, Saviour of our city" by the media, he returns to the Pacific Ocean.

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LA Lakers - Los Angeles Lakers

The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California. They play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Lakers play their home games at Staples Center. The Lakers are one of the most successful teams in the history of the NBA, and have won 16 NBA championships, their last being in 2010. As of 2013, the Lakers are the second most valuable NBA franchise according to Forbes, having an estimated value of $1 billion.

The franchise began with the 1947 purchase of a disbanded team, the Detroit Gems of the NBL. The new team began playing in Minneapolis, Minnesota, calling themselves the Minneapolis Lakers in honor of the state's nickname, "Land of 10,000 Lakes". Initially a member of the National Basketball League, the Lakers won the 1948 NBL championship before joining the rival Basketball Association of America and winning five of the next six BAA and NBA championships in Minneapolis after the NBA formed in 1949. The team was propelled by center George Mikan, who is described by the NBA's official website as the league's "first superstar". After struggling financially in the late 1950s following Mikan's retirement, they relocated to Los Angeles before the 1960–61 season.

LA Lakers - Los Angeles Lakers

Led by Hall of Famers Elgin Baylor and Jerry West, Los Angeles made the NBA Finals six times in the 1960s, but lost each series to the Boston Celtics, beginning their long and storied rivalry. In 1968, the Lakers acquired four time MVP Wilt Chamberlain to play center, and after losing in the Finals in 1969 and 1970, they won their sixth NBA title—and first in Los Angeles—in 1972, led by new head coach Bill Sharman. After the retirement of West and Chamberlain, the team acquired another center, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who had won multiple MVP awards, but was unable to make the Finals in the late 1970s. The 1980s Lakers were nicknamed "Showtime" due to their Magic Johnson-led fast break-offense, and won five championships in a nine-year span, including their first ever Finals championship against the Celtics in 1985. This team featured Hall of Famers in Johnson, Abdul-Jabbar, and James Worthy, and a Hall of Fame coach, Pat Riley. After Abdul-Jabbar and Johnson's retirement, the team struggled in the early 1990s before acquiring Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant in 1996. Led by O'Neal, Bryant, and another Hall of Fame coach, Phil Jackson, Los Angeles won three consecutive titles between 2000 to 2002, securing the franchise its second "three-peat". After losing both the 2004 and 2008 NBA Finals, the Lakers won two more championships by defeating the Orlando Magic in 2009 and Boston in 2010.

The Lakers hold the record for NBA's longest winning streak, 33 straight games, set during the 1971–72 season. Sixteen Hall of Famers have played for Los Angeles, while four have coached the team. Four Lakers—Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant—have won the NBA Most Valuable Player Awards for a total of eight awards.

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LA Monarchs - Los Angeles Monarchs

The Los Angeles Monarchs were a professional ice hockey team, active from 1944–1950, in the Pacific Coast Hockey League (PCHL). The Monarchs are the first professional ice hockey team to win a league championship for the city of Los Angeles. They played in the southern division of the PCHL, alongside teams from the neighboring cities such as the Pasadena Panthers, the Hollywood Wolves, and the San Diego Skyhawks. The southern division also included the San Francisco Shamrocks, Oakland Oaks and, in 1947, the Fresno Falcons(Woolman, pg.1).

The Monarchs played their home games in the Pan Pacific Auditorium, which was located on Beverly Boulevard, next to the Hollywood Stars baseball field and the nearby Gilmore Stadium where midget races were held. The Stadium was also the home field for the Loyola University football team and several professional football teams including, the Los Angeles Buldogs, Los Angeles Mustangs and the Hollywood Bears, in Los Angeles's Westside. As ice hockey was a new sport in Southern California, the team enjoyed a decent amount of popularity during its tenure in Los Angeles (ibid.).

Early L.A. Monarchs hockey clubs

The first Los Angeles Monarchs team was part of the Pacific Hockey League (PHL) in the 1920s. The PHL was more of an amateur level league made up of young and old players from Canada and the Northeastern United States. The teams were formed by local athletic clubs and league games were more like weekend recreational games, rather than a competition of professional contenders. By 1929, at the dawn of the Great Depression, most of the teams folded. Only a few schools, most notably the University of Southern California, the University of California, Los Angeles and Loyola Marymount University still supported local hockey programs (Dunigan).

Beginning in 1930, after a large ice arena was built in Sacramento, California, attempts were made to re-form the league, but poor economic conditions, and a shortage of ice arenas stymied attempts and forced hockey organizations to compete on an amateur local level. Most clubs still in existence were either from colleges or small athletic associations. Since ice arenas were in short supply, games were played late at night and fan support was small (Woolman).

LA Monarchs - Los Angeles Monarchs

It wasn’t until 1938, with the opening of the Pan Pacific Auditorium, when a new Los Angeles Monarchs team emerged. The Pan Pacific was capable of seating 6200 spectators for ice hockey games. The Monarchs shared the arena with the Hollywood Wolves and Pasadena Panthers. With three viable teams competing in Los Angeles, other teams in San Francisco, Sacramento, and Fresno joined to recreate the PHL. But the league was short-lived and again folded after the 1941 season (Ibid).

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LA Kings - Los Angeles Kings

The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles, California. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). The team was founded on February 9, 1966, when Jack Kent Cooke was awarded an NHL expansion franchise for Los Angeles, becoming one of the six teams that began play as part of the 1967 NHL expansion. The Kings called The Forum in Inglewood, California (a suburb of Los Angeles), their home for thirty-two years until they moved to the Staples Center in Downtown Los Angeles to start the 1999–2000 season.

Historically, the Kings have had more heartaches than triumphs, winning their division only once in 1990–91, and having many years marked by impressive play in the regular season only to be washed out by early playoff exits. Their highlights included the strong goaltending of Rogie Vachon during the mid 1970s, and the thrilling play of the "Triple Crown Line" in the early 80s, which included Charlie Simmer, Dave Taylor and hall of fame player Marcel Dionne, who at one point was third in all time scoring to Gordie Howe and Wayne Gretzky. In 1982, the Kings famously upset the uprising Edmonton Oilers in a playoff game known as the Miracle on Manchester and won the series as well. However, the Kings quickly faded into mediocrity during the mid 1980s while other teams in their division enjoyed success.

LA Kings - Los Angeles Kings

Another hall of fame player, Luc Robitaille, began his 20 year long NHL career with the Kings in 1986, and would go on to become the highest scoring left-winger in the NHL; most of his years being spent in Los Angeles. On August 9, 1988, Wayne Gretzky was traded to the Kings from the Edmonton Oilers and during his eight years in Los Angeles, instantly impacted the Kings to heights they had never seen, both with their play on the ice and their popularity with fans off the ice. They made their first appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals, losing to the Montreal Canadiens in five games. Afterwards the Kings would again hit hard times, testing the loyalties of longtime fans with many disappointing seasons, only winning one playoff series between 1994 and 2011.

Finally, on May 22, 2012, the Kings beat the Phoenix Coyotes 4–3 in overtime in Phoenix to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 1993. On June 11, 2012, the Kings beat the New Jersey Devils 6–1 in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals to win the franchise's first-ever Stanley Cup, becoming the first ever 8th seeded team in either NHL or NBA history to win a championship.

Related Post : LA Monarchs | LA Lakers

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