Why Is the Sky Doing That?
Weather Explained for Curious Kids
- 8 chapters
- 47m
- Children's Educational
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The chapters cover topics like how clouds form, why storms happen, and what causes different seasons. Each chapter uses everyday observations to explain complex weather phenomena. The book includes stories about real places and people experiencing weather changes.
Young readers will find this helpful whether they're curious about why it's raining or want to understand how meteorologists predict the weather.
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History
The Childcraft series began in 1934 from W. F. Quarrie & Company, the publishers of the World Book encyclopedia, and was titled Childcraft – The How and Why Library. It aimed to make learning fun for young readers with simple texts and illustrations, covering subjects like literature, math, and science. Starting with seven volumes in the late 1930s, it grew to fifteen by the 1950s, with new editions released every few years. An Italian translation called I Quindici, I Libri del Come e del Perché was published between 1964 and the late 1970s. By the 1980s, the series had spread to over 50 countries through a dozen foreign language editions.
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Overview
Marc Tolon Brown, an American illustrator and children's book author, was born on November 25, 1946. He is most widely recognized for the Arthur book series he both wrote and illustrated. That series eventually became an animated television show. The animated version aired on PBS Kids and other channels throughout the country.
Early life and education
Marc Brown grew up in Erie, Pennsylvania, with his three younger sisters, Bonnie, Colleen, and Kim. His grandmother Thora played a big role in his early life, encouraging his love of art and weaving scary stories—some without her false teeth. Many people from his childhood, including Grandma Thora, inspired characters in the Arthur series. For example, Mr. Ratburn was based on his seventh-grade algebra teacher, Gary Rathbun, while his own best friend, Terry Johnson, became the model for Buster. While attending McDowell High School, Brown began using watercolors after his art teacher, Nancy Bryan, suggested it. She later drove him to the Cleveland Institute of Art for an interview, and he returned that fall with a full scholarship offer.
Career
Marc Brown started his career in graphic design after graduating from the Cleveland Institute of Art in 1968. His first book, illustrated in 1970, was What Makes the Sun Shine by Isaac Asimov. Before finding success in children's books, he worked in various jobs—driving trucks, working in television, and teaching art—that didn't last long. After his college job ended and his marriage fell apart, Brown was feeling lost when his son asked for a bedtime story about a strange animal. That led to the character Arthur, an aardvark. His first book with Arthur, Arthur's Nose, came out in 1976 but wasn't immediately popular. Over time, the series grew, and by the 1990s, Brown's work was being adapted into an animated TV show that aired on PBS Kids. The show ran for nearly twenty-five years, ending in 2022. Brown was an executive producer for many seasons and won three Emmy Awards.
Inspiration and reception
Marc Brown sees himself in all his characters, especially Arthur. He says Arthur is most like him, noting that he once looked at a third-grade photo of himself and was startled to see he was wearing a bow tie just like Arthur. Brown credits artists such as Marc Chagall and Maurice Sendak, who created Where the Wild Things Are, as influences on his work. In a 2001 interview, he mentioned receiving around 100,000 letters a year from fans of Arthur. When children called his home asking for Arthur, his wife would tell them that Arthur was “at the library.”
Personal life
Marc Brown tied the knot with Stephanie Marini, a ballet dancer and college teacher, on September 1, 1968. The couple had two sons, Tolon and Tucker, before divorcing in 1977. Brown later married Laurene Krasny, a writer and psychologist at Harvard University, on September 11, 1983. They had a daughter named Eliza. The author's children’s names are subtly placed within the Arthur books’ illustrations. In a 2003 interview, Brown said, “I like to rise early, watch the sun rise over Hingham Harbor, and work.” He often worked late into the night and usually juggled several projects at once.
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Overview
Michael Wayne Rosen is an English children’s author, poet, presenter, political columnist, broadcaster, and academic. He works as a professor in the Department of Educational Studies at Goldsmiths, University of London, and has written more than 200 books for children and adults. Among his most recognized titles are We’re Going on a Bear Hunt and Sad Book. In 2007, he was named Children’s Laureate, and in 2023, he received the PEN Pinter Prize from English PEN for his fearless body of work.
Early life and education
Michael Wayne Rosen was born in Harrow, Middlesex, in 1946, to a Jewish family with roots in Poland, Romania, and Russia. His father, Harold Rosen, was an educationalist who taught English and published widely on children's literacy; his mother, Connie Rosen, worked as a secretary, teacher, and BBC producer, contributing to programs like The Living Language Series and For Schools Far and Near. Both were members of the Young Communist League in their youth, met in 1935, and later left the party in 1957. Rosen attended Harrow Weald County Grammar School and later Watford Grammar School for Boys, spending time as an exchange student at Winchester College. At 11, he began writing, and by age 13, he was experimenting with satirical poems. He once said, "Wouldn't it be wonderful to know all about science, and know all about art, and be funny and urbane and all that?" His mother worked for the BBC and encouraged his early writing, which led him to study English at Oxford and eventually become a freelance writer, broadcaster, and lecturer.
Career
Michael Rosen began his BBC career in 1969 after Oxford graduation, working on children's TV shows like Walrus and scriptwriting for Sam on Boffs' Island. He found the corporation frustrating, feeling its education view was too narrow. In 1972, he was asked to go freelance—though in practice he was sacked—and was among those who failed BBC vetting procedures not revealed until 1985. His first children's poetry book, Mind Your Own Business, appeared in 1974, followed by collections such as Wouldn't You Like to Know and Quick Let's Get Out of Here. He wrote the beloved picture book We're Going on a Bear Hunt, which won a Smarties Prize. In 1993, he gained an MA from the University of Reading and later a PhD from the University of North London, supervised by Margaret Meek Spencer. Rosen has presented BBC Radio 4's Word of Mouth and was the subject of a Desert Island Discs in 2006. He also wrote the memoir Sad Book, illustrated by Quentin Blake, and many other works including his COVID-19 account, Many Different Kinds of Love.
Education policy
Michael Rosen has been a long-time critic of the National Curriculum assessment system, particularly the SATs tests. He believes that English education should focus more on reading and less on testing. Rosen has accused English SATs of "distorting and wrecking poetry", and he's described the grammar taught in primary schools as "a package of outdated, rigid, misleading, prescriptive, disputed terms".
Jeremy Corbyn
In August 2015, Michael Rosen supported Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party leadership campaign and contributed to Poets for Corbyn, a collection of poems by twenty writers. That month, he also signed an open letter alongside other Jewish public figures, criticizing The Jewish Chronicle for its coverage of Corbyn's links to alleged antisemites. The following year, Rosen joined others in touring the UK to back Corbyn's push for Prime Minister. In November 2019, he again signed a public letter with fellow Jewish figures, calling Corbyn "a beacon of hope in the struggle against emergent far-right nationalism, xenophobia and racism" and endorsing him in the general election. Later that December, Rosen co-signed a letter from forty-two cultural leaders backing the Labour Party under Corbyn's leadership, saying its manifesto offered a plan that put people and the planet before profit. In May 2021, after Pete Newbon shared a doctored image of Corbyn reading *We're Going on a Bear Hunt*—with the text replaced by *The Protocols of the Elders of Zion*—Rosen called the tweet "loathsome and antisemitic." Newbon later sued Rosen over the remark but died before the case concluded.
Personal life
Michael Rosen has been married three times and is the parent of five children and two step-children. His second son, Eddie, died at 18 from meningococcal septicaemia, which inspired Rosen's 2004 book Sad Book. He now lives with his third wife, Emma-Louise Williams, and their two children in North London. Rosen uploads poetry videos to his YouTube channel, which have been used in "YouTube poops"—vulgar mashups of his work. In 2012 and again in 2015, he warned that many of these were unsuitable for children. He estimated in 2019 that around 4,000 such videos existed, some of which he tried to have removed due to racism or antisemitism. In April 2020, a distorted version of his Lunchtime poem trended on Twitter before being deleted. A teacher once mistakenly sent students a vulgar YouTube poop of his poem The Car Trip. By March 2021, his channel had 98 million views. As of July 2024, it had 787,000 subscribers and 142 million views. During the pandemic, Rosen was hospitalized with suspected COVID-19, spent time in the ICU for 48 days, and later reported long-term effects including vision and hearing loss.
Awards and honours
Michael Rosen was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2006 and appointed the sixth British Children's Laureate in June 2007, holding the role until June 2009. He concluded his tenure with an article in The Guardian, where he said, "Sometimes when I sit with children when they have the space to talk and write about things, I have the feeling that I am privileged to be the kind of person who is asked to be part of it." In 2007, he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Exeter. The following year, he was honored by the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust and the University of East London, and later that year also became a Chevalier de l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres at the French ambassador's residence in London. In 2010, Rosen won the Fred and Anne Jarvis Award from the National Union of Teachers, and was awarded an honorary doctorate by Nottingham Trent University in July. Further honorary degrees followed in 2011 from the Institute of Education, University of London, and the University of the West of England. In 2021, he received the J.M. Barrie Lifetime Achievement Award from Action for Children's Arts. A year later, he was given an honorary fellowship of the Royal College of Nursing. In 2023, Rosen won the PEN Pinter Prize, and in February 2026, he was announced as the winner of the Hans Christian Andersen Award in the Author category.
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Overview
Bangladesh is a South Asian country with nearly 178 million people across 148,000 square kilometers, sharing borders with India and Myanmar and coastlines along the Bay of Bengal. Dhaka is the capital and largest city, while Chittagong is the busiest port. The region was part of the Mughal Empire and later came under British rule after the Battle of Plassey in 1757. After the Partition of India in 1947, it became East Pakistan, gaining sovereignty on December 16, 1971. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman led the country until his assassination in 1975, followed by Ziaur Rahman, who was also killed in 1981. The 1980s were marked by dictatorship under Hussain Muhammad Ershad, who was overthrown in 1990. Since then, politics have alternated between the Awami League and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, with Sheikh Hasina leading the former and Khaleda Zia the latter. In August 2024, Hasina was ousted in a mass uprising.
Etymology
Bangladesh derives from Bangla, referring to both the Bengal region and Bengali language, with uncertain origins possibly linked to a Bronze Age proto-Dravidian tribe or Iron Age Vanga Kingdom. The term appears in writing as early as 805 AD on the Nesari plate, and by the 11th century in South Indian records as Vangala Desa. Under the Sultanate of Bengal in the 14th century, it became officially recognized when Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah declared himself the first "Shah of Bangala" in 1342. The suffix "al" came from ancient rulers who built earth mounds called "al," noted by 16th-century historian Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak and later Ghulam Husain Salim. In 1905, Rabindranath Tagore used the phrase in his song Aaji Bangladesher Hridoy, and again in 1932, Kazi Nazrul Islam included it in Namo Namo Namo Bangladesh Momo. By the 1950s, Bengali nationalists began using the term during rallies in East Pakistan. The Sanskrit word deśha, meaning "land" or "country," gave rise to the Indo-Aryan suffix Desh, so Bangladesh literally means "Land of Bengal" or "Country of Bengal."
Early history
The Maurya Empire was the first major indigenous power to rule the area that is now Bangladesh, existing from around 320 to 185 B.C. After its fall, a kingdom called Samatata came into being and became a tributary of the Gupta Empire, which lasted from roughly 319 to 540 A.D. Under Harsha, who ruled from 606 to 647 A.D., Samatata was incorporated into his loose political system. Later, the Buddhist Pala Empire took control of the region between 750 and 1150 A.D. The Sena dynasty, a Hindu rule, replaced the Palas and governed until the early 13th century, when Muslim forces led by Muhammad Bakhtiyar Khalji of the Ghurid dynasty conquered the area in 1204.
Medieval period
Bengal became part of the Delhi Sultanate from 1206 to 1526, and in 1341, Fakhruddin Mubarak Shah founded the independent Bengal Sultanate. That sultanate was ruled by two dynasties, the Hussain Shahi and then the Ilyas Shahi, with a short break under the House of Ganesha. During this time, it grew wealthy and was known as the "richest country to trade with" by visitors from Europe and China. The Mughal Empire took over in 1576, and by the 18th century, Bengal Subah was considered the "Paradise of Countries" and the "breadbasket of India." It was a major exporter of cotton textiles, silk, and ships. After the Mughal decline in the early 1700s, the region was ruled by Nawabs, starting with Murshid Quli Khan in 1717.
British colonial rule
In 1757, the British East India Company defeated the state led by Siraj-ud-Daulah at the Battle of Plassey. That victory paved the way for colonial rule over Bengal and the broader Indian subcontinent. The region’s economy became tied to the Industrial Revolution, but this came at a heavy price. Colonial extraction triggered massive capital flight and the collapse of local industries, especially the textile sector. By 1770, the Great Bengal famine had claimed between one and ten million lives, wiping out as much as one-third of the population in the Bengal Presidency.
As a part of Pakistan
After two centuries under direct British rule, the area that is now Bangladesh was part of the new nation of Pakistan following the 1947 partition of India. At that time, it became East Bengal, one of the two wings of the Dominion of Pakistan, separated from West Pakistan by more than a thousand miles. Khawaja Nazimuddin served as the first chief minister of East Bengal, with Frederick Chalmers Bourne as governor. The All Pakistan Awami Muslim League was formed in 1949 and later renamed the Awami League in 1953. In 1966, Awami League leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman launched a six-point movement for federal democracy. He was arrested in the Agartala Conspiracy Case. Following the devastating 1970 Bhola Cyclone, Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani declared independence of East Pakistan in a public rally on 23 November 1970. The Awami League won 167 of 169 seats in East Pakistan during the December 1970 elections but faced strong opposition from the military and the Pakistan Peoples Party. On 25 March 1971, Operation Searchlight began, sparking a nine-month liberation war. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was arrested on 26 March, while Major Ziaur Rahman publicly declared Bangladesh's independence. The conflict ended with Pakistan's surrender on 16 December 1971.
Independent Bangladesh
Bangladesh gained independence in 1971, enacting its first constitution on 4 November 1972. Early years were marked by corruption and economic hardship. Sheikh Mujib's government faced criticism and was assassinated in 1975. Ziaur Rahman restored order, founded the Bangladesh Nationalist Party on September 1, 1978, then was assassinated in 1981. Military regime under Hussain Muhammad Ershad ruled until 1991. Democracy returned that year, with power alternating between Khaleda Zia of the BNP and Sheikh Hasina of the Awami League, known as the Battle of Begums. In 2024, Hasina resigned and fled to India after widespread protests. Interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus was formed. In 2026, BNP returned to power under Tarique Rahman as Prime Minister. Since the 1990s, Bangladesh has seen rapid economic growth driven by textile industry, becoming second-largest economy in South Asia. Poverty rates dropped significantly, and country made strides in human development. It became leader in green manufacturing and hosted over a million Rohingya refugees since 2017.
Geography
Bangladesh sits in South Asia along the Bay of Bengal, nearly completely enclosed by India, with a small border to Myanmar and close proximity to Nepal, Bhutan, and China. The country has three main regions: the vast, fertile Ganges Delta—the largest river delta in the world—dominates most of the land. To the northwest and center are the Madhupur and Barind plateaus, while the northeast and southeast feature evergreen hill ranges. The Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna rivers and their tributaries form this delta, and Bangladesh is known as the "Land of Rivers," hosting over 57 trans-boundary rivers, making water politics complex with India. Most of the country lies less than twelve meters above sea level, and if sea levels rose one meter, about ten percent of the land would flood. Twelve percent is covered by hills, and the highest point is Saka Haphong at 1,064 meters. Forests cover around fourteen percent of the land, with 1,883,400 hectares in 2020, down from 1,920,330 hectares in 1990. Naturally regenerating forests made up most of that area in 2020, and about thirty-three percent was within protected areas. In 2015, all forest land was reported to be under public ownership.
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Overview
Vanilla Sky is a 2001 film by Cameron Crowe, starring Tom Cruise as a man who starts to doubt what’s real after a car crash changes his face. It's an English-language remake of the 1997 Spanish film Open Your Eyes, written by Alejandro Amenábar and Mateo Gil. Penélope Cruz reprises her role from the original, joined by Kurt Russell, Jason Lee, Noah Taylor, and Cameron Diaz. The movie was released by Paramount Pictures on December 14, 2001, and made $203 million worldwide. Critics gave it mixed reviews at first, but it later gained a cult following. Cameron Diaz was nominated for Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards, and Paul McCartney’s song "Vanilla Sky" was nominated for an Academy Award.
Plot
David Aames Jr., who inherited a publishing company from his father, is now in prison, telling his story to psychologist Dr. Curtis McCabe while wearing a prosthetic mask. Flashbacks reveal that he left his duties to his father's associates and lived as a playboy in Manhattan. At a party, he met Sofia Serrano, and they fell in love, unaware that his current girlfriend Julie Gianni had followed them. After David left, Julie, jealous, crashed the car, killing herself and disfiguring him. Doctors couldn't repair his face, so he wore a mask and became withdrawn. Later, after a fight at a club with Sofia and Brian, David passed out. The next day, Sofia returned, apologized, and they reconnected. When surgeons found a way to fix his face, David began having strange visions—like seeing himself in bed with Julie, whose face had replaced Sofia's in photos. He suffocated her. He was arrested, imprisoned, and his face mysteriously restored. McCabe helped David recall the name "Life Extension," leading him to a company that used cryonic suspension. David realized he'd been in a lucid dream, a nightmare caused by a glitch in his subconscious. He chose to leap from a rooftop, waking up in a world where he could finally be free.
Development
After the American release of Alejandro Amenábar’s 1997 Spanish film Abre los ojos at the 1998 Sundance Festival, Tom Cruise and his producing partner Paula Wagner acquired the rights to remake it. Cruise wanted to bring in director Cameron Crowe, who had worked with him on Jerry Maguire, so he invited Crowe to his house to watch the film. Cruise said he had turned down many international films he’d been offered to remake, but this one felt different—it was a universal story that still seemed open-ended, like it needed another chapter. The title refers to skies in paintings by Claude Monet. The film’s mood also came from the acoustic song “By Way of Sorrow” by Julie Miller and a quote from an early Elvis Presley interview where he said, “I feel lonely, even in a crowded room.”
Filming
Shooting for Vanilla Sky started late in 2000 and wrapped after six weeks, with one early morning scene filmed in Times Square on November 12 of that year. A large area around the square was closed off, and Steadicam operator Larry McConkey described how they had to work around fixed elements like a mockup guardrail during rehearsals. The production moved through several parts of New York City including Central Park, the Upper West Side, SoHo, and Brooklyn, with the Condé Nast Building used as Aames Publishing and David's office. Once filming wrapped in New York, the team headed to Los Angeles to complete interior shots at Paramount Studios. Cinematographer John Toll said the visual style stayed grounded to match the main character's confusion between reality, dreams, or nightmares, letting viewers experience the story alongside him. American Cinematographer magazine later highlighted lighting designer Lee Rose's work on the film.
Alternate ending
The 2015 Blu-ray includes an alternate ending expanding final scenes. After Rebecca describes the lucid dream, David leaves the room but doesn't immediately head for the elevator. He encounters McCabe in the restroom, who insists the events are a hoax and that his case is going to trial. David says he's only in his imagination. The Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations" plays, but in this version, it's clear David hears it and chose it—while McCabe denies there is any music. He then runs toward the elevator like in the theatrical cut, but the lobby scene is extended: David shoots a police officer and is surrounded by a SWAT team. They black out and wake up in an empty lobby where McCabe applauds what he thinks is a performance, while David gets into the elevator with Ventura. Once they reach the roof, McCabe reenters, pleading desperately with David not to believe Ventura, until he collapses. David's interaction with Sofia is longer—he tells her he loves her but "can't settle for a dream." He jumps off the building screaming, "I want to wake up!" as images from his life flash before his eyes. He wakes up in bed, and a voice says, "Open your eyes. You're going to be fine."
Music
The music for Vanilla Sky was composed by Nancy Wilson, who was married to director Cameron Crowe at the time. She dedicated nine months to creating the score, working with sound collages that mixed pop influences with the film’s darker tone. Wilson experimented with unusual recording methods, using hoses, corners, and even cello bows on guitars. She collaborated closely with music editor Carl Kaller, trying out odd techniques together. The soundtrack included Paul McCartney’s eponymous song, which was nominated for an Academy Award. Additional tracks featured Radiohead’s “Everything in Its Right Place” and “Svefn-g-englar” by Sigur Rós. The original score was issued exclusively for the Academy Awards and never sold publicly.
Box office
On December 14, 2001, Vanilla Sky claimed the top spot at the U.S. box office. Its opening weekend generated $25,015,518, or 24.9% of its total revenue. The film earned $100 million within the United States and brought in slightly more from international markets, where it made $103 million. In total, the movie raked in $203 million worldwide.
Critical response
Vanilla Sky received mixed reviews from critics, with only 41% of 173 Rotten Tomatoes reviews being positive and an average score of 6/10. The site's consensus said the film collapses into confusion, with Cruise's performance lacking depth and his character failing to evoke sympathy. Metacritic gave it a weighted average of 45 out of 100, indicating "mixed or average reviews," while CinemaScore audiences rated it a D−. Roger Ebert awarded the film three stars, calling it a "scrupulously moral picture" that explores themes of conscience and life's unpredictability. Other critics found the ending ambiguous rather than clear, with Stephen Holden noting that while the film is entertaining, it becomes abstract and loose as it ventures into surreal territory. Critics like Kenneth Turan praised Cameron Diaz's performance, which earned her multiple award nominations, though Penélope Cruz was mocked in a Razzie nomination for Worst Actress. Some reviewers compared it unfavorably to Open Your Eyes, calling Vanilla Sky a narcissistic vanity project.
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Overview
The Midnight Sky is a 2020 film directed by George Clooney, based on the novel Good Morning, Midnight by Lily Brooks-Dalton. Clooney stars as an aging scientist who travels to the Arctic to warn off a returning spaceship after a global disaster. The movie features Felicity Jones, David Oyelowo, and others in key roles. It had a limited release December 11, 2020, then went on Netflix December 23. Critics gave it mixed reviews, though it was named one of the ten best films of 2020 by the National Board of Review. At the Academy Awards, it was nominated for Best Visual Effects but lost to Tenet.
Plot
In 2049, Augustine Lofthouse lives alone in an Arctic base after Earth's surface contamination, searching for ways to warn interplanetary craft Aether returning from Jupiter's moon K-23— a world he discovered. Finding only this mission, he tries to reach them but his antenna is too weak. As his health fails, he meets a mute girl he calls Iris, taking her to another base hoping to contact Aether, yet an asteroid field damages the ship's systems. Mission specialist Sully, who is pregnant, and Commander Adewole repair the damage, but flight engineer Maya dies in a second asteroid field. Sully contacts Lofthouse telling her to go to K-23 instead of returning to Earth. Pilot Tom Mitchell initially refuses but changes his mind after seeing his wife's final message. Sanchez accompanies him to bury Maya on Earth. In her last message, Sully reveals her full name is Iris Sullivan and that her mother Jean gave her a moon rock from Lofthouse. Lofthouse says he already knew her name, implying the girl was not real. He tells her he is proud to have finally met her, then falls out of radio contact as she describes K-23 to him.
Development and pre-production
The film was announced in June 2019, with George Clooney set to direct and star. Netflix would handle distribution, with filming scheduled to begin in October. Felicity Jones joined the cast in July, though she became pregnant after being cast. Clooney decided to rewrite her character to reflect that pregnancy rather than use a body double. Kyle Chandler and David Oyelowo were added in August. Tiffany Boone and Caoilinn Springall came on board in October. In November 2019, Demián Bichir joined the cast. Sophie Rundle, Ethan Peck, Tim Russ and Miriam Shor were announced in January 2020.
Filming
Filming for the movie started in England on October 21, 2019, and wrapped up in Iceland on February 7, 2020. Some of the blizzard scenes were filmed in winds reaching 50 miles per hour, with temperatures as low as minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Additional scenes were shot at La Palma in the Canary Islands. George Clooney lost 25 pounds for his role in the film. Earth-bound scenes were captured before the end of 2019, while space sequences were filmed after the production’s Christmas break. The movie was shot using Arri Alexa 65 cameras, the digital equivalent of 65mm film, with plans to release it in IMAX theaters, which did not happen because of the pandemic. Industrial Light & Magic contributed StageCraft virtual production technology, similar to what was used on The Mandalorian, including LED walls built around the observatory set and backgrounds rendered using Unreal Engine 4.
Release
The film had its limited theatrical release on December 11, 2020, and then went digital on December 23. It became the most-watched movie on Netflix during its first five days. The film stayed in the top ten for twelve straight days after that. Netflix later shared that 72 million homes had watched it within the first week. By March 2021, Variety said it was the most-watched among Netflix’s Oscar-nominated films and gave it an audience appeal score of 98 out of 100.
Reception
The Midnight Sky received mixed reviews from critics, with Rotten Tomatoes giving it a 49% positive rating based on 252 reviews, and an average score of 5.7 out of 10. The site's consensus said the film doesn't quite match its ambitious scope, but praises George Clooney's performance and thoughtful themes. Metacritic gave it a 58 out of 100, also indicating mixed reactions. Alonso Duralde of TheWrap called it frustrating, noting it borrows heavily from other films and suffers from pacing issues, though he said its flaws are mostly forgivable thanks to a few redeeming moments. Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly gave it a "B" and described it as a dystopian drama with a tone that feels familiar, if a bit heavy-handed for 2020. Joe Morganstern of The Wall Street Journal offered a warmer review but noted the film isn't perfect, criticizing its rapid succession of crises and slow pace. Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com was more critical, saying the movie lacks heart and feels weightless, like space itself.
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Overview
In Greek mythology, the Titanomachy was a ten-year war fought in ancient Thessaly between the older generation of gods known as the Titans and the younger Olympian gods, who would eventually rule from Mount Olympus. The conflict began on Mount Othrys, where most of the Titans were based, and centered on who would have dominion over the universe. The dominant poem about this battle, called Theogony, was written by Hesiod and is the only one that has survived from ancient times.
Background
The Titanomachy began when Cronus overthrew his father Uranus with help from their mother Gaia, who was angered by Uranus locking away six of her children—the Hecatoncheires and Cyclopes—inside her body. Gaia crafted a sickle from adamantine and hid it on Mount Othrys, then urged twelve of her Titan children to act against Uranus. Only Cronus agreed, so she gave him the weapon and positioned him in the crevice where the sickle had been hidden. When Uranus came to lie with Gaia, Cronus attacked, cutting off his father's genitals and casting them into the Mediterranean. He freed the imprisoned giants and then imprisoned them himself, along with Uranus, taking control of the cosmos. Uranus warned that Cronus's own children would rise against him, just as he had risen against his father. From Uranus's spilled blood, new beings arose—Gigantes, Erinyes, and Meliae—and from the mixture of blood and semen, Aphrodite was born in Cyprus. Fearing the same fate, Cronus swallowed each of his children as they were born, but Rhea hid Zeus by tricking him into swallowing a stone instead. Zeus grew up in a cave on Crete, tended by Amalthea and the Kouretes, who protected him from his father. Once adult, Metis gave Cronus an emetic that caused him to vomit out his children, freeing them to join Zeus in battle against the Titans.
War
Zeus led a ten-year war against his father Cronus, joining forces with siblings Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon, along with the released Hecatoncheires and Cyclopes who forged his thunderbolts. With Mount Olympus as base, Zeus called gods to choose sides, promising honors. Styx was first to pledge, bringing her children Nike, Zelus, Kratos, and Bia as gods of victory, effort, strength, and force. Fighting for Cronus were most Titans except Themis and Prometheus, while Atlas and Arke initially sided with Olympians but later betrayed them. The war ended in Olympian victory: defeated Titans imprisoned in Tartarus, Hecatoncheires as guards, Atlas forced to hold sky. Zeus gave domains to brothers: himself sky and air, Poseidon sea, Hades Underworld. In some versions, Zeus later freed Titans. Hyginus recounts how Hera incited Titans to overthrow Zeus, but he defeated them with help from Athena, Apollo, and Artemis, casting them into Tartarus and assigning Atlas the task of holding the sky.
Lost Titanomachy
There was a version of the Titanomachy story, different from the one in Hesiod’s Theogony, that came from a now-lost poem also called Titanomachy. It was written in the late seventh-century BC at the earliest and is traditionally ascribed to Eumelus of Corinth, a semi-legendary poet from the eighth century BC. Even in ancient times, many authors quoted it without naming the author, so the name Eumelos was attached to the work as the only one available. The poem was divided into two books, and before the battle between Olympians and Titans, there was a theogony.
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Overview
Founded by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger in 2001, Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia maintained by volunteers called Wikipedians through open collaboration using MediaWiki software. Since 2003, it has been hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation, a nonprofit organization largely funded by reader donations. Originally available only in English, it now exists in over 300 languages and ranks among the world’s most visited websites as of 2026. The English edition alone contains more than 7 million articles and draws over 1.5 billion unique device visits monthly, with roughly five edits per second on average as of April 2024. By December 2025, the United States accounted for over 25% of its traffic, while Japan represented nearly 7%, and the UK, Germany, and Russia each contributed around 5%.
Nupedia
On March 9, 2000, Nupedia began as a free, online English encyclopedia project under Bomis, a web portal company. Jimmy Wales was CEO and Larry Sanger served as editor-in-chief. Articles were written by experts and went through a formal review process. Before Wikipedia launched, the project moved to the GNU Free Documentation License after pressure from Richard Stallman. On January 10, 2001, Larry Sanger suggested creating a wiki as a "feeder" project for Nupedia on the Nupedia mailing list. While Wales is often said to have defined the vision of a publicly editable encyclopedia, Sanger is noted for proposing the use of wiki technology to achieve it.
Launch and growth
Wikipedia launched January 15, 2001, with domain www.wikipedia.com, combining "wiki" and "encyclopedia" to avoid confusion with Nupedia. Wales said Friedrich Hayek's ideas shaped project management, especially "The Use of Knowledge in Society." Initially few rules governed it independently from Nupedia; Bomis hoped profit-driven model. Early contributors came from Nupedia, Slashdot posts, and search engine indexing. By 2004, 161 language editions existed. English Wikipedia passed two million articles in 2007, surpassing Yongle Encyclopedia. In 2002, Spanish users created Enciclopedia Libre due to ads fears; Wales responded by removing advertisements and changing domain to wikipedia.org. Growth slowed after 2007, with fewer new editors and articles added daily. A 2009 study claimed editor drop, which Wales initially denied but later acknowledged slightly. By 2013, some suggested Wikipedia's decline was natural as easy topics filled. In 2014, page views dropped, with experts pointing to Google's Knowledge Graphs as cause. By end of 2016, ranked fifth globally. As of January 2023, 55,791 English articles cited 92,300 times in scholarly journals, with cloud computing being most cited page.
Sister projects
The project that started as Wikipedia grew into a collection of related wikis run by the same group, the Wikimedia Foundation. Wiktionary, a dictionary, began in December 2002. A week after that, Wikiquote launched, gathering famous sayings. Wikibooks followed soon after, offering free textbooks written together. Wikimedia Commons holds multimedia files for everyone to use. Wikinews was set up for shared news reporting but closed in 2026. Wikiversity aimed at creating learning tools and online courses. Another sister site, Wikispecies, lists all living things but doesn’t let anyone edit it. In 2012, Wikivoyage opened as a travel guide anyone could help build, and Wikidata launched as a database for facts that people could add to and change.
Milestones
In January 2007, Wikipedia ranked ninth among the most popular websites in the United States, with 42.9 million unique visitors, surpassing The New York Times and Apple. By 2014, it was receiving 8 billion page views monthly, later rising to 18 billion with nearly 500 million unique visitors, according to comScore. As of March 2023, it ranked sixth in popularity. In January 2012, the English Wikipedia joined a major blackout protest against SOPA and PIPA, drawing over 162 million people to its explanation page. An asteroid was named 274301 Wikipedia in 2013, followed by the erection of the Wikipedia Monument in 2014, and the release of 106 of 7,473 volumes as Print Wikipedia in 2015. In 2019, a lunar lander carried a copy of nearly all of the English Wikipedia engraved on nickel plates, and scientists also encoded its full 16 GB of text into synthetic DNA. A new website redesign called "Vector 2022" debuted in January 2023, prompting backlash, especially from Swahili Wikipedia editors who unanimously voted to revert it. In late 2025, both Wales and Sanger gave public interviews reflecting on Wikipedia's 25-year history, with Wales' book The Seven Rules of Trust published in October 2025 by Penguin Random House.
Impacts of generative AI on Wikipedia views
Since January 2024, there's been a roughly 50 percent jump in bandwidth use from downloads of multimedia content across Wikimedia projects, according to the foundation. They say this growth is mostly due to automated programs, or "scraper" bots, gathering huge amounts of data from those sites to train large language models and related tools. Then in October 2025, the Wikimedia Foundation reported an estimated 8 percent drop in traffic compared to the same time last year, in human page views. The foundation guessed that reflects more people turning to generative AI and social media for information instead of visiting the sites directly.
Restrictions
Some Wikipedia editions, including the English version, now require users to have made at least ten edits and have an account that is four days old before they can create a new article. Particularly sensitive topics like the Israeli–Palestinian conflict are protected, with some pages locked so only administrators can edit them. In 2008, restrictions were introduced that limit how many edits a user can make to related articles and ban them from editing those topics if they exceed one revert per day. A 2021 article in the Columbia Journalism Review called these page-protection policies "perhaps the most important" way to regulate the flow of ideas. In January 2025, the Arbitration Committee added a new rule requiring sanctioned users to spend no more than a third of their edits on Israeli–Palestinian articles, even without breaking any rules.
Review of changes
In 2003, economics PhD student Andrea Ciffolilli observed that the low cost of joining in made wikis a powerful tool for collaboration. She noted that features allowing easy access to previous versions of pages encouraged "creative construction" rather than "creative destruction." Every article has a history page where people can see recent edits and, if they choose, reverse someone else’s changes. Registered users may also keep track of articles they’re interested in by adding them to a watchlist, which alerts them when updates occur. Additionally, there are various kinds of reviews, including a "New pages patrol" that scans newly created content for serious issues.
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