Problem: Found the following article online, use it to answer the question: What is the last name of the person who claimed in an interview that "I like writing sad songs, it's a good bag to get into because you can actually acknowledge some deeper feelings of your own and put them in it"?  Paul McCartney said he came up with the title "The Long and Winding Road" during one of his first visits to his property High Park Farm, near Campbeltown in Scotland, which he purchased in June 1966. The phrase was inspired by the sight of a road "stretching up into the hills" in the remote Highlands surroundings of lochs and distant mountains. He wrote the song at his farm in 1968, inspired by the growing tension among the Beatles. Based on other comments McCartney has made, author Howard Sounes writes, the lyrics can be seen as McCartney expressing his anguish at the direction of his personal life, as well as a nostalgic look back at the Beatles' history. McCartney recalled: "I just sat down at my piano in Scotland, started playing and came up with that song, imagining it was going to be done by someone like Ray Charles. I have always found inspiration in the calm beauty of Scotland and again it proved the place where I found inspiration."Once back in London, McCartney recorded a demo version of "The Long and Winding Road" during one of the recording sessions for The Beatles. Later, he offered the song to Tom Jones on the condition that the singer release it as his next single. In Jones' recollection, he was forced to turn it down since his record company were about to issue "Without Love" as a single.The song takes the form of a piano-based ballad, with conventional chord changes. McCartney described the chords as "slightly jazzy" and in keeping with Charles' style. The song's home key is E-flat major but it also uses the relative C minor. Lyrically, it is a sad and melancholic song, with an evocation of an as-yet unrequited, though apparently inevitable, love. In an interview in 1994, McCartney described the lyric more obliquely: "It's rather a sad song. I like writing sad songs, it's a good bag to get into because you can actually acknowledge some deeper feelings of your own and put them in it. It's a good vehicle, it saves having to go to a psychiatrist."The opening theme is repeated throughout. The...

A: McCartney


Problem: Found the following article online, use it to answer the question: What is the name of the person who uses karate at the poetry contest?  The film is set in the early 1980s in small town Virginia. Aurelie is the new girl in town, having recently relocated from Washington D.C. with her parents Jim (a former steward for Air Force One) and Jeanne. Jim is attending college on a scholarship to become a physician while Jeanne, now the breadwinner, works at the local chicken shack. Aurelie asks her parents if she can have a permanent to fit in with the "Farrah Fawcett" types in town. Her parents finally relent and take her to a local beauty school to get her hair processed at a discount. The result is disastrous, making Aurelie look more like orphan Annie than Farrah. She starts school and is immediately teased by everyone. She tries to befriend the only black girl in school, Lydia, but is rebuffed. Aurelie furthers her unpopularity by overly participating in class and is frequently bullied by a group of popular girls. Aurelie reluctantly takes a karate class in order to defend herself. She sees a sign on another beauty shop in town that advertises permanent fixes for $60 and resolves to make the money. Eventually the school holds a poetry reading contest, with a top prize of $75. Aurelie signs up herself and Lydia. Lydia initially does not want to participate. During the poetry contest she panics and recites the lyrics to "Feeling Good" instead of her assigned poem. Meanwhile, Aurelie is confronted by the popular girls. She uses her karate training to defeat the girls and returns to the contest to see that Lydia has been announced the winner. Lydia offers Aurelie the money to fix her hair, and Aurelie declines saying that she no longer cares.

A: Aurelie


Problem: Found the following article online, use it to answer the question: What was the name of the person who failed to win Robert and Clara Schumann's approval for their work?  By the time Smetana completed his schooling, his father's fortunes had declined. Although František now agreed that his son should follow a musical career, he could not provide financial support. In August 1843 Smetana departed for Prague with twenty gulden, and no immediate prospects. Lacking any formal musical training, he needed a teacher, and was introduced by Kateřina Kolářová's mother to Josef Proksch, head of the Prague Music Institute—where Kateřina was now studying. Proksch used the most modern teaching methods, drawing on Beethoven, Chopin, Berlioz and the Leipzig circle of Liszt. In January 1844 Proksch agreed to take Smetana as a pupil, and at the same time the young musician's financial difficulties were eased when he secured an appointment as music teacher to the family of a nobleman, Count Thun.For the next three years, besides teaching piano to the Thun children, Smetana studied theory and composition under Proksch. The works he composed in these years include songs, dances, bagatelles, impromptus and the G minor Piano Sonata. In 1846 Smetana attended concerts given in Prague by Berlioz, and in all likelihood met the French composer at a reception arranged by Proksch. At the home of Count Thun he met Robert and Clara Schumann, and showed them his G minor sonata, but failed to win their approval for this work—they detected too much of Berlioz in it. Meanwhile, his friendship with Kateřina blossomed. In June 1847, on resigning his position in the Thun household, Smetana recommended her as his replacement. He then set out on a tour of Western Bohemia, hoping to establish a reputation as a concert pianist.

A: Smetana


Problem: Found the following article online, use it to answer the question: Why did Deena slap her mother?  Deena Marten is a 15-year-old who has become a rebel since dating Garret Lexau, another rebellious teen who was suspended from school for hitting a teacher. Deena no longer keeps any of her promises, skips school and leaves the family home whenever she pleases. Her newfound harsh attitude upsets her mother, Cynthia, who once enjoyed a close relationship with her daughter. Cynthia is frustrated because the lines of communication have broken down between mother and daughter. Cynthia's relationship with her own mother is not entirely pleasant. Although Cynthia's alcoholic mother advises her daughter to be stricter with Deena, Cynthia does not  heed the advice. For example, she tidies Deena's bedroom, a chore which Cynthia has consistently and politely reminded her daughter to do. When Deena discovers what Cynthia has done, she is less than grateful and reacts violently and ends up pushing her mother. Adam, Deena's younger brother notices the impact that Deena's behavior has upon his mother and drinks alcohol in order to forget about the family problems. At one point, Cynthia and Deena's relationship seems to improve, until Cynthia finds out that she has been skipping school. Her confrontation leads to an argument, during which Deena slaps her. Although she admits to Garret that she liked hitting her, Deena later apologizes to her mother, only to ask her to cover for her absence at school.

A:
Cynthia finds out that she has been skipping school