[Wikipedia] June 9: Jurassic Park (film)

   Jurassic Park is a 1993 science fiction film directed by Steven
   Spielberg, based on the novel of the same name by Michael Crichton.
   The film centers on the fictional island of Isla Nublar, where
   scientists have created an amusement park of cloned dinosaurs.  John
   Hammond (Richard Attenborough) invites a group of scientists, played
   by Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum and Laura Dern, to visit the park.
   Sabotage sets the dinosaurs on the loose, and technicians and visitors
   attempt to escape the island.  Spielberg acquired the rights to the
   novel before its publication in 1990, and Crichton was hired to adapt
   his novel.  David Koepp wrote the final draft, which left out much of
   the novel's exposition and violence, and also made numerous changes to
   the characters.  Spielberg hired Stan Winston Studios to create
   animatronics to portray the dinosaurs, shots of which were mixed with
   newly developed computer-generated imagery by Industrial Light and
   Magic.  Jurassic Park is regarded as a landmark in the usage of CGI
   effects and received positive reviews from critics, who praised the
   effects (though reaction to other elements of the picture, such as
   character development, was mixed).  Jurassic Park spawned a franchise
   of films and other media, and was followed by The Lost World: Jurassic
   Park in 1997 and by Jurassic Park III in 2001, with Jurassic Park IV
   currently in development.

Read the rest of this article:
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurassic_Park_%28film%29

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Today's selected anniversaries:

68:
   Roman Emperor Nero committed suicide after he was deposed by the
   Senate.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nero)

1310:
   Italian artist Duccio's Maestà with Twenty Angels and Nineteen
   Saints, a seminal artwork of the early Italian Renaissance, was
   unveiled and installed in Siena Cathedral in Siena, Italy.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maest%C3%A0_%28Duccio%29)

1772:
   In an act of defiance against the Navigation Acts, American patriots
   led by Abraham Whipple attacked and burned the British schooner HMS
   Gaspée.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasp%C3%A9e_Affair)

1856:
   Mormon pioneers began leaving Iowa City, Iowa and headed west for
   Salt Lake City, Utah, carrying all their possessions in two-wheeled
   handcarts.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormon_handcart_pioneers)

1928:
   Australian aviator Charles Kingsford Smith and his crew landed their
   Southern Cross aircraft in Brisbane, completing the first ever
   trans-Pacific flight from the United States mainland to Australia.
   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Kingsford_Smith)

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Wiktionary's Word of the day:

   perforce: By force; of necessity; at any rate.
   (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/perforce)

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Wikiquote of the day:

   Be a clown, be a clown, All the world loves a clown.  Act the fool,
   play the calf, And you'll always have the last laugh.
   -- Cole Porter
   (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Cole_Porter)