The Last Samurai

The Last Samurai is a 2003 American epic war film directed and co-produced by Edward Zwick, who also co-wrote the screenplay with John Logan. The film stars Tom Cruise, who also co-produced, as well as Ken Watanabe, Shin Koyamada, Tony Goldwyn, Hiroyuki Sanada, Timothy Spall, and Billy Connolly. Inspired by a project by Vincent Ward, it interested Zwick, with Ward later serving as executive producer. The film production went ahead with Zwick and was shot in Ward’s native New Zealand.

Tom Cruise portrays a formerly retired officer of the United States 7th Cavalry Regiment, whose personal and emotional conflicts bring him into contact with samurai warriors in the wake of the Meiji Restoration in 19th Century Japan. The film's plot was inspired by the 1877 Satsuma Rebellion led by Saigō Takamori, and the westernization of Japan by foreign powers, though in the film the United States is portrayed as the primary force behind the push for westernization. To a lesser extent it is also influenced by the stories of Jules Brunet, a French army captain who fought alongside Enomoto Takeaki in the earlier Boshin War and Frederick Townsend Ward, an American mercenary who helped Westernize the Chinese army by forming the Ever Victorious Army.

The Last Samurai (novel)

The Last Samurai (2000) was the first novel by American writer Helen DeWitt.

Plot introduction

The Last Samurai is about the relationship between a young boy, Ludo, and his mother, Sibylla. Sibylla, a single mother, brings Ludo up somewhat unusually; he starts reading at two, reading Homer in the original Greek at three, and goes on to Hebrew, Japanese, Old Norse, Inuit, and advanced mathematics. To stand in for a male influence in his upbringing, Sibylla plays him Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, which he comes to know by heart. Ludo is a child prodigy, whose combination of genius and naïveté guide him in a search for his missing father, whose identity Sibylla refuses to disclose — a search that has some peculiar byways and unexpected consequences.

The novel starts with a prologue which outlines the early life of Sibylla, the main character's mother. It brings up the theme of the importance of education, a theme which runs throughout the entirety of the novel.

The beginning of the novel is told in the perspective of Sibylla, as she gives the reader background as to her relations with Ludo's father. The novel then progresses to see Ludo at ages three and then six. During these scenes the reader watches Sibylla teach her son a variety of languages, including Greek, Hebrew, then Japanese and even Inuit. The young single mother also teaches her son complicated mathematics, which he masters with ease.

The Last

The Last may refer to:

See also

The Last (band)

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The Last is an American, Los Angeles-based power pop band, formed in the 1970s around three brothers: Joe (guitar, vocals), Mike (vocals), and David Nolte (bass guitar). They released several albums on SST Records and Bomp! Records.

History

The Nolte brothers formed the band in 1976, and the band's sound was influenced by garage rock, surf rock, folk rock and psychedelic rock. The first settled line-up also included Vitus Mataré (keyboards, flute) and Jack Reynolds (drums). After three self-financed singles, the band was signed by Bomp! Records, who issued the debut album L.A. Explosion! in 1979 (described by Trouser Press as "a near-perfect debut"). It was also issued in the UK by London Records. They reverted to their own Backlash label for second album Look Again (1980), and split up in the mid-1980s with David Nolte joining Wednesday Week and later Lucky, and Mataré forming Trotsky Icepick. The band were considered a major influence on the psychedelia-influenced LA bands of the mid-1980s, including The Bangles and The Three O'Clock.

Wiz Khalifa

Cameron Jibril Thomaz (born September 8, 1987), better known by his stage name Wiz Khalifa, is an American recording artist, songwriter and actor. He released his debut album, Show and Prove, in 2006, and signed to Warner Bros. Records in 2007. His Eurodance-influenced single, "Say Yeah", received urban radio airplay, charting on the Rhythmic Top 40 and Hot Rap Tracks charts in 2008.

Khalifa parted with Warner Bros. and released his second album, Deal or No Deal, in November 2009. He released the mixtape Kush and Orange Juice as a free download in April 2010; he then signed with Atlantic Records. He is also well known for his debut single for Atlantic, "Black and Yellow", which peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. His debut album for the label, Rolling Papers, was released on March 29, 2011. He followed that album with O.N.I.F.C. on December 4, 2012, which was backed by the singles "Work Hard, Play Hard" and "Remember You". Wiz released his fourth album Blacc Hollywood on August 18, 2014, backed by the lead single We Dem Boyz. In March 2015, he released "See You Again" for the soundtrack of the film Furious 7 and the song peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100.