Elena (given name)

Elena is a popular female first name in Greek, Slavic, Spanish, Romanian and Italian. It originates in the ancient Greek name Helen/Helene. The variation "Elena" dates back to the 12th century.

Other common variants are Alena (German, Czech, Russian, Belarusian); Alenka (Slovenian); Alyona (Russian); Elene (Georgian); Helen (English); Hélène (French); Helena; Eliana (Portuguese); Ileana (Romanian and Spanish); Ilona (Hungarian, Finnish, and Latvian); Olena (Ukrainian); and Jelena/Yelena (Russian, Serbian).

Notable people

First name

Elena (2011 film)

Elena (Russian: Елена) is a 2011 Russian drama film directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev. It premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival where it won the Special Jury Prize.

Plot

The film depicts the social and cultural distance between the inhabitants of an exclusive apartment in downtown Moscow and a crumbling khrushchevka in Moscow's industrial suburb. Elena is a woman with a proletarian background who connects these disparate worlds. She met Vladimir, an elderly business tycoon, in a hospital when she was his nurse. Their alliance has been described by a critic as "a morganatic marriage nearly a century after the October Revolution".

Elena's son from a previous marriage is poor and wants money from Vladimir to have one of his sons enrolled in a university, keeping him out of the compulsory military service. After Vladimir makes it clear that he is not going to subsidize Elena's relatives, she decides to poison him in order to inherit his fortune. Vladimir plans to leave the apartment to his only daughter from an earlier marriage.

Elena (opera)

Elena is a dramma per musica in a prologue and three acts by Francesco Cavalli, set to a libretto originally by Giovanni Faustini that was completed by Nicolò Minato. The opera was first performed in Venice at the Teatro San Cassiano; the dedication is dated to 26 December 1659.

References

Riff (disambiguation)

Riff, RIFF, The 'Riff, or Riffs may refer to:

Acronyms

Riff (American band)

Riff is a R&B vocal group from Paterson, New Jersey, formed while its members were teenagers attending Paterson's Eastside High School. The ensemble began under the name Playboys in the late 1980s, with a style strongly influenced by doo wop.

After singing in the 1989 film Lean on Me (which is based upon events occurring at Eastside High), the group changed its name to Riff and signed to SBK Records, releasing a self-titled album in 1991. The group scored several respectable hits, including three in the Billboard Hot 100. Their song "Family" appears on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles soundtrack.

Following the success of the album, the group appeared on The Arsenio Hall Show, The Tonight Show and Soul Train, and opened on tour for LL Cool J and Vanilla Ice.

The group's second album, To Whom It May Concern, came out in 1993 to mixed reviews. It had two charting singles on the R&B charts.

Anthony "Chill" Fuller, Dwayne "Stylz" Jones and Michael "Nitty Green" Best went on to join the group Men of Vizion.

Barney & Friends

Barney & Friends is an American children's television series aimed at children from ages 1 to 8, created by Sheryl Leach and produced by HIT Entertainment. It premiered on PBS Kids on April 6, 1992. The series features the title character Barney, a purple anthropomorphic tyrannosaurus rex who conveys educational messages through songs and small dance routines with a friendly, optimistic attitude. Production of new episodes ceased in 2009, although reruns of the series were still shown on several PBS stations in following years. From 2005 until 2015 reruns aired on Sprout. A revival of the series is set for a 2017 launch.

Origin and development

Barney was created in 1987 by Sheryl Leach of Dallas, Texas. She came up with the idea for the program while considering TV shows that she felt would be educational and appeal to her son. Leach then brought together a team who created a series of home videos, Barney and the Backyard Gang, which also starred actress Sandy Duncan in the first three videos. Later, Barney was joined by the characters Baby Bop, B.J., and Riff.