Spoiler alert if you haven't read "The Martian."

As Elton John once said, it's lonely out in space.

And it's even lonelier being stranded on a planet millions of miles from Earth, without communication, adequate food, or much hope of getting back home. That's the grim prospect Matt Damon's character faces in "The Martian," the upcoming film based on the novel by Andy Weir.

Damon plays NASA astronaut Mark Watney, a botanist on a fictional mission to Mars. Watney gets stranded on the Red Planet when a massive dust storm gravely injures him and forces his crewmates to escape, leaving him for dead. But Watney survives, and faces the daunting task of figuring out how to stay alive on an alien wasteland until he can be rescued.

Watney's technical prowess enables him to tackle the practical problems of getting enough water, oxygen, and food.

But perhaps the greatest hurdle he faces is psychological.

We talked to a NASA psychologist to find out if someone stranded on Mars could really make it without losing his or her mind.

"People have been able to keep it together mentally before" under extreme circumstances, such as being prisoners of war, Al Holland, a senior operational psychologist at NASA, told Business Insider. "We know that humans can be very resilient. One thing humans do very well is adapt."

One thing that's important for staying sane on journeys to space is real-time communication, which helps astronauts feel connected to friends and family. Thankfully for most of today's astronauts — including NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, who's spending a year on the International Space Station — communication is delayed by only a fraction of a second.

But on Mars, there would be a lag of about 20 minutes each way, which means a single exchange would take 40 minutes. In "The Martian," Watney faces the added difficulty of having to communicate with NASA using the camera on an old rover, which NASA can only use by pointing at letters and spelling out words. Talk about frustrating.

In the movie and book, Watney copes with the prospect of almost certain death using humor. At one point in the film when he's figuring out how he's going to survive, he says, "I'm gonna have to science the shit out of this."

A sense of humor is a huge asset for anyone, particularly for an astronaut, because it allows him or her to remain positive. Studies have shown that people use humor to cope with everything from losing their vision to having cancer.

Holland says it's also completely healthy for someone who is completely isolated to start having relationships with inanimate objects (think Wilson the volleyball in the film "Cast Away"). As for Watney, he develops a kind of relationship with the camera he uses to log his captivity on Mars.

Keeping focused on actively doing things is also important for avoiding depression like the kind that Mark Watney might have experienced (psychologists call this behavioral activation). For example, people who are kept in solitary confinement will do things like construct a house in their mind, brick by brick, Holland says. In Watney's case, he throws himself into solving each problem that presents itself on Mars, MacGuiver-style.

But when it comes to training astronauts in the real world, NASA prepares them to work in teams, not on their own. "It would be a very rare situation to have somebody left by themselves," says Holland, but "we also plan for the worst-case scenarios."

Although NASA trains its astronauts to deal with solitude, American astronauts still felt isolated when they flew to the Russian space station Mir in the 1990s, according to Holland. The predominant language was Russian, and communication with family on Earth wasn't reliable.

Astronauts have different strategies for keeping busy in space. Some read, some make things, and others focus more on their work. But astronauts going to Mars will likely have to be even more independent, more focused, and more resilient than those of today are.

The Martian premiers on Oct. 2.

SEE ALSO: Here's how the first humans will live on Mars — and why traveling the 140 million miles to get there will be the easy part

CHECK OUT: Stunning images reveal SpaceX's revolutionary approach to landing on Mars

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Twenty years ago today, many Americans were shocked when a jury acquitted O.J. Simpson of the murder of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman.

Despite two decades having passed, many people still obsess over the case and whether Simpson, a former NFL player, was guilty of stabbing his ex and her friend to death.

The drama of the televised trial unfolded in Americans' living rooms — including the scene where Simpson tried on a glove that supposedly belonged to the killer. Of course, it didn't fit.

Many of the star players in the Simpson trial are still trotted out to weigh in on current court cases, including the trial of Olympic runner Oscar Pistorius, who was convicted of "culpable homicide" for killing his girlfriend.

Other lawyers involved in the Simpson case have taken strikingly different routes, devoting their lives to helping to exonerate innocent people.

You might not have heard some of these names in a while. Here's what the stars of the O.J. Simpson trial are up to today.

SEE ALSO: Where are they now: the stars of the Clinton impeachment scandal

Los Angeles District Attorney Gil Garcetti has found a new calling — photography.

As the district attorney in Los Angeles in 1994, Gil Garcetti captured national attention when his office decided not to pursue the death penalty while prosecuting O.J. Simpson.

When Simpson was acquitted in 1995, people began writing Garcetti's "political obituaries," The New York Times noted. But he redeemed himself the next year when his office secured a conviction of Lyle and Erik Menendez, who killed their parents. 

These days, Garcetti has pursued a different career: photography. Last year, CNN reported that he had completed eight books of photographic essays and become an opponent of the death penalty.

"My focus is on photography and other things not related to the criminal-justice system or even to the law. I made that career decision when I left, after the voters told me to leave," he told CNN.

Garcetti does keep some crime drama in his life, though. He has served as a consultant for the TV show "The Closer" and, more recently, "Major Crimes."

Former LAPD detective Mark Fuhrman went on to write true-crime books and serve as a forensic and crime-scene expert for Fox News.

One of the first investigators on the crime scene, Mark Fuhrman later testified that he found the notorious bloody glove, The New York Times reported back in 1995.

Fuhrman made national headlines when he was accused of being a racist and even of using the "n" word. He pleaded "no contest" to a perjury charge that he lied in court about using the slur.

These days, Fuhrman serves as a forensic and crime-scene expert for Fox News Channel.

He's written a number of books, including "Murder in Greenwich," which chronicles an unsolved murder that has gotten national attention.

Former prosecutor Marcia Clark now writes legal thrillers.

Lead prosecutor Marcia Clark became a household name during the 1994-1995 trial, which was broadcast into the living rooms of everyday Americans.

By October 1994, a "roving band of reporters" surrounded Clark as she left the courthouse one day, The New York Times reported at the time. 

The Times noted that Clark made efforts to change her appearance in an apparent effort to seem more sympathetic to the jury. During the trial, she started sporting "shorter, better-kempt hair that framed her face, warmer and lighter-colored dresses with softer fabrics, more jewelry," according to The Times.

Clark scored a $4.2 million book deal by the end of the trial. These days, Clark describes herself on her Facebook page as the author of the Rachel Knight series about a district attorney in Los Angeles.

"Writing novels and being in the courtroom — it's a storytelling job, no matter how you look at it," Clark told Oprah Winfrey in 2013. "It's the same thing."

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J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" series takes place in an expansive and storied land called Middle Earth.

However, in Peter Jackson's films, Middle Earth is actually composed of dozens of incredible locations around New Zealand.

While they might not be full of elves and hobbits, the natural beauty of New Zealand's lush countryside and icy blue rivers is almost as magical as Tolkien's fictional world.

Tourists regularly flock to these sites, but if a trip to New Zealand isn't in the cards, you're in luck. Thanks to Instagram's location filter, it's easy to see photos from other LOTR fans. 

Check out some of the real-life places from "The Lord of the Rings" series.

In the opening scenes of "The Fellowship of the Ring," we see Samwise Gamgee gardening in front of his circular, yellow front door in the Shire.

On Instagram, you can find pictures of Sam's house, complete with yellow door, under the "Hobbiton" location filter. The set is in Matamata, New Zealand.

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The most famous home in the Shire belongs to Bilbo and Frodo Baggins.

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Nightmares Fear Factory, in Niagara Falls, Canada, is situated in what seems to be the perfect location for a haunted house: a former coffin factory.

It's known not only for supposedly being one of the world's scariest haunted house experiences, but also for the scared reactions they capture on three cameras hidden inside. 

It's completely dark inside the haunted house, but the flash of the camera illuminates some pretty hilarious faces. 

Nightmares has been kind enough to share those images with the public. 

SEE ALSO: America's 12 scariest real-life haunted houses

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According to Nightmares, the legend behind the haunted house is a classic ghost story.

Abraham Mortimer owned the Cataract Coffin Factory and was routinely tormented by local kids who said he was "eccentric."

It was all in good fun until one fateful night, when during a struggle between Mortimer and more "hooligans," Mortimer was supposedly crushed to death by empty coffins.

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Power comes in many forms, but it boils down to having influence: over people, resources, and the global conversation.

Major corporations often wield more power than individuals, so we decided to break down which ones command the most. 

To determine how powerful each company is, we factored together fiscal 2014 revenue, number of employees, press mentions on Google News over the past year, and social media influence, as ranked on a scale of 1 to 100 by Klout, a site that analyzes social-media influence of companies and individuals across all platforms.

You can read our full methodology here.

Walmart, with its army of workers and massive sales, ranks as the most powerful company in America. It's followed by competitor Target (No. 2) and General Electric (No. 3).

Scroll down to see the full list.

SEE ALSO: The 50 best companies to work for in America

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50. Prudential

2014 revenue:$54.1 billion

Number of employees: 48,000

More than just providing life insurance, Newark, New Jersey-based Prudential helps clients save for retirement and manage their money at every stage of life. Fortune predicts that good things are ahead for the insurance company, noting that "the aging of the wealthy world will increase demand for insurance products."

Despite its 63,000 Twitter followers and 338,706 likes on Facebook, no Klout score is available for Prudential.

49. Procter and Gamble

2014 revenue: $83 billion

Number of employees: 118,000

P&G dropped nearly 100 of its brands in 2014 to streamline the company and focus on its biggest profit-makers.

According to Fortune, which ranks the Cincinnati-based company as the 17th most admired company in the world, P&G is the global leader in consumer goods with an unparalleled production scale and international reach.

With a slimmer brand portfolio, P&G reported 5% lower sales in fiscal 2015. The company isn't engaging on social media, earning it a low Klout score of 68 out of 100.

48. Uber

2014 revenue:N/A

Number of employees: ~2,000

Uber is changing the way we think about transportation, and despite numerous controversies and setbacks, it continues to grow.

Even though Uber doesn't release revenue data, the Silicon Valley-based ride-hailing service raised close to $1 billion in July, valuing it at $50 billion. Not to mention, it has a Klout score of 85.

Plus, with phrases like "it's the Uber of [insert activity here]" permeating our vernacular, it's impossible to deny the company's influence.

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Cinematographer Roger Deakins feels every movie has its own set of challenges, whether it be the budget or time to pull off shots. However, for his latest film “Sicario,” the legendary DP told Business Insider there was a part of the movie in particular that was one of the hardest he’s had to pull off.

The movie follows FBI agent Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) as she’s thrust into the intense drug war on the Mexico/US border.

In one scene Macer and “consultant” Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro) are part of a convoy that goes into Mexico to pick up a major player in the Mexican drug trade and transport him back across the US border for questioning.

With beautiful aerial shots mixed with tight shots of the black SUVs driving close together as they speed through the narrow streets of Juarez to pick up its prisoner, the sequence is filled with tension as the convoy is on the lookout for anyone that might take them out.

Things get serious after the convoy picks up their man from a Mexican prison and try to cross the border back to the US. Stuck in gridlock at the border, the team spot numerous cars planning to ambush the convoy and reclaim the prisoner.

With Alejandro at the lead, the teams leave their vehicles and take out the targets, to the shock of Macer.

Deakins told Business Insider that it was unknown if they’d get permission to shoot in Mexico City (which doubled for Juarez), but finally towards the end of production they got the okay, leading them to scramble to get the shots they needed.

“That was such a jigsaw of how the hell we were going to shoot it,” said Deakins, noting the complexity or aerial shots of the real Mexican border and the convoy on the streets of Mexico City that had to match the scenes they did on set, like the shootout at the border.

Shot over five days, the shooting locations constantly changed. Deakins recalls how difficult it was to shoot the exterior of the Mexican jail where the convoy picks up their prisoner.

“[Director] Denis [Villeneuve] and I fell in love with this location and the night before we were going to shoot we were told, ‘We think you can shoot there,’” Deakins recalled. “So we all showed up that morning and it was all negations but we got permission about five minutes before we shot it.”

He added, “It was quite an amazing experience. But it was particularly tight to do this one.”

“Sicario” is currently playing in limited release and opens everywhere October 2.

Watch the trailer:

SEE ALSO: The cinematographer behind some of the most beautiful movies of all time gives his 3 favorites

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Following a screening of Michael Moore's new documentary, "Where To Invade Next," at the New York Film Festival on Friday, the always-opinionated filmmaker had a few thoughts about the current presidential election.

When a question came to Moore at the press conference about the Republican candidates, he couldn't help but give his thoughts.

"Oh, don't worry about them," Moore told the audience. "Seventy-nine percent of the United States are either women, people of color, or people between the ages of 18 and 30. That's the blocks you have to win to get elected. Donald Trump, he has none of those blocks. He can't win the majority of any of those."

Moore believes what people should be worried about is the turnout by the Democrats.

"We don't show up," Moore said of the party. "We're the slacker side of politics. Our side didn't show up at the congressional elections, that's why they have the house and the senate. That's how the Republicans win, that's the only way they can win."

Moore's "Where To Invade Next" follows the filmmaker as he travels to other countries to show how many of them are better than the US in matters such as medical coverage, school systems, and workers' benefits.

SEE ALSO: Michael Moore says women in US politics have 'fake power'

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The Hollywood Reporter just released its list of "The 25 Most Powerful Business Managers" of 2015. It's full of people who are trusted with the money and assets of the biggest names in Hollywood, and they divulged how reckless their clients could be with their cash.

Here are six of the most shocking examples.

1. Paying for pets to fly on private jets ... by themselves

Jeff Bacon of Savitsky Satin & Bacon represents some of the biggest film producers, actors, and studio executives working today. And with those kind of power players come some interesting invoices. Bacon told THR that the oddest thing a client had spent money on was "transporting pets on a private jet … by themselves."

2. $50,000 on an investment in water that claims to be 'anti-stressful'

Barry Greenfield of Altman Greenfield & Selvaggi works with the likes of Sarah Jessica Parker, Kevin Spacey, Steve Martin, and Jimmy Fallon. All are amazing talents, but sometimes their investments are risky. "A client put maybe 50 grand into anti-stress water two years ago," he said. "I'm still waiting for it to hit the shelves at Whole Foods."

3. A diaper-wearing capuchin monkey and farm animals

Michael Kaplan of Miller Kaplan Arase, who prides himself on helping entertainers with their branding, can't forget the oddest purchase by a client: a capuchin monkey. "I was at their house," he said. "The monkey was wearing a diaper."

He's not the only one. Steves Rodriguez of Freemark Financial recalls purchases of unusual pets by clients. "A cow, a few goats, and a bunch of chickens," he said. "Nothing like receiving an invoice for a bunch of farm animals."

4. Investing in a Hard Rock Cafe

Chuck Shapiro of Shapiro & Co. has iconic figures like Tom Ford on his roster, but he still has to give them one basic piece of advice: Never invest in a restaurant. "Clients have stood in line to invest in restaurants, including Hard Rock Cafes," he told THR. "All of which, after thorough analysis, were discouraged."

5. Dog-massage-therapy school and $200,000 teeth

Lou Taylor of Tri Star Sports and Entertainment has helped Britney Spears get a two-year extension on her lucrative Las Vegas show and Gwen Stefani return as a judge on "The Voice." And she's not shy to say no to her clients.

She told THR she had gotten clients to reconsider investing in a school for dog-massage therapy to train people to soothe dogs; an Aston Martin (because the client already had six cars); and a "full grill of diamonds" for teeth, which would have cost $200,000. Of the dental work, she added: "It was the dumbest thing I ever heard. Sometimes this can be exhausting."

6. $50,000 to walk on hot coals for 30 minutes at a retreat

David Weise of David Weise & Associates calls himself an "outsourced chief financial officer" for artists including The Weeknd, Usher, and Coldplay. And like all great artists, they have unusual interests that Weise sometimes has to question.

"A client wanted $50,000 in cash to go to a retreat to walk on hot coals for 30 minutes," he said. "I told him that for $100 I'd burn some coals in the office and save him $49,900. He almost fired me."

SEE ALSO: Taylor Swift reportedly dropped $25 million on this legendary Beverly Hills estate

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NOW WATCH: How Gisele Bündchen became the highest-paid supermodel in the world

Entrepreneurs crying on "Shark Tank" is nothing new. And whether the tears are spilled over the heightened emotion of being in such a high-stakes environment or the retelling of a moving story, they make for great television — but not for great deal-making.

In the latest episode of the seventh season, investor Barbara Corcoran told Mikki Bey Eyelash Extensions founder and CEO Mikki Bey that her crying was going to get her in trouble as a woman. In making her case for how passionate she was about her company, Bey started sobbing.

"I love the emotion, but you've got to give up this crying stuff," Corcoran told her. "The minute a woman cries, you're giving away your power. You have to cry privately."

Bey countered by saying she thinks it takes "a type of strength to show this vulnerability."

"No, no, no," Corcoran said. "Not in business. I'm sorry — not in business. I have hired men, women my whole life. When I get a woman who's crying, I refile her in my head in terms of potential because I don't trust her in terms of keeping a cap on her emotion."

The only other female Shark, Lori Greiner, defended Bey, saying that Bey was caught in the moment and being genuine, which she appreciated. After Bey left the Tank, Kevin O'Leary added, "Don't cry for money. It never cries for you."

Last season, Corcoran invested in the founders of Scratch & Grain Baking Co., who she said cried for 30 minutes on the set after one of the founders told the story of her difficult childhood. Corcoran insisted that it was an anomaly, however, and that she made an exception because the business interested her enough.

Corcoran told us that as she built the Corcoran Group into one of New York's premier real-estate firms earlier in her career, she learned how to stand out in a male-dominated industry.

"I could usually manipulate a man much more easily than I could a woman, because they're more vulnerable to manipulation from a female," she said. "They're not expecting it."

It's why she told Bey that, even though she doesn't want to see anyone cry in a pitch because she finds it embarrassing, she thinks that women need to be especially careful due to lingering gender biases.

After the pitch, Bey said she disagreed with Corcoran because she was being her true self when she cried. "I left it all out there," she said.

SEE ALSO: 'Shark Tank' investor Barbara Corcoran reveals the productivity trick every entrepreneur should use

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YouTube might seem like an obvious idea now, but back in 2004 it was just the smallest wisp of a proto-idea floating around the brains of cofounders Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim.

The trio reportedly started workshopping the idea at a dinner party in San Francisco in 2004, and after that, it didn’t take long for YouTube to spread like wildfire through the world.

Scarcely a year after they registered the domain name in early 2005, YouTube had been acquired by Google for a whopping $1.65 billion.

But you might be surprised where the first spark of the YouTube idea actually came from.

According to Jawed Karim, he was the one who initially came up with it. And he told USA Today it grew from two (very) different events: Janet Jackson’s “nipplegate” at the 2004 Super Bowl and the tsunami in Asia that same year.

While these events are about as different as you can get, what linked them for Karim was that, for both, it was hard to find video online.

USA Today writes, hilariously, “Karim recalled the difficulty involved in finding and watching videos online of Jackson accidentally baring her breast during the Super Bowl show.” The horror!

With that event as a partial inspiration, you might not be shocked that YouTube was also initially conceived of as a dating site called "Tune In Hook Up" — a name which is mostly likely a reference to psychedelic pioneer Timothy Leary’s counterculture slogan: "Turn on, tune in, drop out.”

According to Karim, that iteration drew “little interest.”

But luckily for everyone, the cofounders pivoted, and instead of another mediocre dating site, we got the most popular video website in the world.

If you want to read more about the history of YouTube, check out our timeline of its rapid rise to global domination.

SEE ALSO: Here's how Uber got its start and grew to become the most valuable startup in the world

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CNN anchor Don Lemon held an extensive interview with Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump on Wednesday during which Lemon asked Trump whether he was prejudiced against any of several different minority groups.

"I hear Hispanics talking about you. I hear gay people talking about you. And they say, 'I like what he has to say, but I'm just concerned,'" Lemon said.

"If I ask you this question, will you answer directly? Do you think that you are homophobic?"

Trump directly said "no," and he started listing all of the people whom he said he loved and who loved him back.

"You know who loves me?" he said. "The Tea Party. The evangelicals. You know I'm leading with evangelicals? I love them. They love me. I'm Presbyterian — I'm Protestant — and they like me. But you know who else likes me? Democrats like me. Liberals like me. It's straight across the board, and people are amazed."

Lemon then asked Trump whether he was biased against African-Americans.

"You think you appeal to African-Americans," he said. "Some people may perceive you as racist. Answer that."

Trump responded by touting his recent speech at an African-American Chamber of Commerce event in South Carolina. But he said the media, including CNN, had unfairly showed all of the empty seats in the back of the room.

"I did it as a favor to a couple of friends of mine who happen to be African-American who asked me to go," Trump said. "The dais was packed with people — packed with people! They were all up front. I could hardly get into the room. It was a great event. And CNN in particular made me look bad."

Those questions followed a segment discussing whether Trump was biased against Muslims. The business mogul stirred another campaign-trail controversy last month when he declined to correct a supporter who declared that Muslims were a "problem" for the country and that President Barack Obama was a Muslim foreigner.

"Do you think Muslims are a problem?" Lemon asked Wednesday.

"Well, I think a certain segment are certainly a problem," Trump said, "and unless you want to be so politically correct where you want me to say, 'Oh, absolutely not.' I mean, you have ISIS. You have the migration. You have all of this stuff," he added, describing his many Muslim friends.

"You know, a lot of people think you're going to end up with World War III over the Middle East. I've heard that for 25 years."

Click here to watch the full exchange at Mediaite >

Or watch the segment on Muslims below:

SEE ALSO: MITT ROMNEY: Donald Trump won't win the GOP nomination

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Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak joined comedians Jimmy Fallon and Seth Rogen on Friday for a little game of "True Confessions." Each contestant had to read a statement and then get interrogated by the other two to determine if it's real. 

No, Seth Rogen did not do mushroom with Wolf Blitzer, but Wozniak and Steve Jobs did get robbed at gunpoint outside a pizza store.

In the game, Fallon and Rogen were questioning Wozniak's claim that "Steve Jobs and I were once robbed at gun point outside a pizza parlor."

The first fact that made Fallon and Rogen disbelieve Wozniak's story was his pizza order: pepperoni.

"Steve ate pepperoni?" Fallon asked, given the Apple CEO's strict vegan eating habits.

"In those days," Wozniak responded with a laugh. 'This is Steve Zero. Before Apple."

Wozniak continues that he was in the car with Steve Jobs — a Dodge Dart, he remembers after much questioning — when the robber approached with a gun. 

Rogen didn't believe the tale, but Wozniak continued to elaborate.

The robber wanted to steal a Blue Box phone that Wozniak had, but didn't know how to use it so he left Wozniak his name and phone number.

It sounds like a wild lie, but Wozniak has told the story before. In an interview with Dan Lyons in 2011, Wozniak told a longer version of the gun point robbery:

"This was in a pizza parlor in Sunnyvale. Two guys looked like they might be interested [in buying a blue box]. We took them back to a pay phone and made a call to Chicago for them. They were enamored and wanted the blue box, but they had no money. We got out to the car and they show up with a gun and stick it in Steve’s face. We gave them the blue box. But they didn’t know how to use it. They gave us a phone number to call so we could tell them how to use it. I came up with this idea of telling them a method that would get them caught by the police, or one that would get them billed. We didn’t do it. But, boy, it would have been funny."

Wozniak's retelling of the story, and the humorous interrogation that goes with it, begins at 6:25 in the video:

SEE ALSO: This is why the iPhone's snooze setting last 9 minutes

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NOW WATCH: Aaron Sorkin and Tim Cook went head-to-head over Jobs biopic

Ryan Serhant was a rising star in the New York City real-estate industry when he got an offer to be a founding member of Bravo's reality series "Million Dollar Listing New York" in 2010.

When we spoke with Serhant last month at the LinkedIn Next Wave party, where he was being honored as an industry leader under the age of 35, we asked him to name the worst advice he ever received as a professional.

He answered without hesitation: It was to not join "Million Dollar Listing."

"Which was what everybody told me — except for my boss," he said. His boss, Nest Seekers International CEO Eddie Shapiro, told him, "I will hunt you down if you dont do this and take advantage of the opportunity."

Serhant's friends, family, and colleagues told him that not only was a show about New York real-estate agent destined to fail and be a waste of his time, but it would also ruin his reputation.

Shapiro told Serhant that was nonsense. It would be a beautiful marketing opportunity, Shapiro said.

"In sales, the more exposure the better," Serhant explained. "You're always looking for different ways to brand yourself and market yourself and tell people, 'Hello, hey! I'm the real-estate broker you should use when you think about real estate!'"

And when "Million Dollar Listing" launched in 2012, it gave him an audience of 1 million more people who recognized his name, face, and business.

Since then, Serhant's career has taken off. As an associate broker of Nest Seekers International, he's essentially the CEO of his own independent team, and today The Serhant Team is the No. 1 real-estate team by sales volume in New York and No. 6 in the country, according to REAL Trends.

He said he's still grateful to Shapiro for convincing him to ignore everyone else's advice.

"The show is a big marketing device, and I'm just incredibly lucky and very fortunate to have gotten the opportunity and to still be doing it," Serhant said. "It's insane to me every day."

SEE ALSO: Meet the 3 men who make a killing selling multimillion-dollar homes to Silicon Valley's elite

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Exactly 58 years ago, the former Soviet Union shocked the world by launching the first artificial satellite into Earth orbit.

Awe-struck American officials listened in fear as Sputnik barreled through space at 18,000 mph while transmitting beeping signals, which were broadcast on radios across the globe.

For what it was — a glorified radio transmitter — Sputnik 1 is a testament to the heated competition that was already boiling between the US and the Soviet Union at that time.

One year before Sputnik's launch, both the US and USSR had established plans to launch a far more sophisticated spacecraft into orbit, capable of measuring magnetic fields, solar wind, and cosmic rays.

But the USSR soon discovered that building the scientific instruments for this spacecraft, dubbed "Object D," proved more difficult than anticipated.

Instead of waiting to finish Object D, Russia's Ministry of Defense agency proposed a lighter, simpler spacecraft that could launch sooner and beat the US, who had planned to launch their first orbital spacecraft some time in 1957 or '58.

Sputnik 1 was whipped up and ready to go in just a few months and launched on Oct. 4, 1957. Object D was later launched as "Sputnik 3," in May 1958.

A merry life but a short one

After completion, Sputnik 1 consisted of four radio antennae attached to a 23-inch-diameter metal sphere, which is about the size of a beach ball. The entire configuration weighed 184.3 pounds.

Sputnik's iconic beeping signal continued to transmit for 21 days upon achieving orbit. After that, its transmitter batteries died and the spacecraft continued its silent journey around Earth for a few more months. But without any rocket thrusters to keep it in orbit, it slowly fell back to Earth.

Sputnik also lacked a heat shield, so when it finally re-entered Earth's atmosphere on January 4, 1958, the friction against it and molecules in the air incinerated the tiny spacecraft. In total, Sputnik traveled 43.5 million miles, which could have taken it to about half way between Earth and the sun.

A little revolution now and then

The success of Sputnik 1 was not just history in the making but a revolution for space exploration as we know it.

"Artificial Earth satellites will pave the way for space travel," the Russian News Agency TASS promised in their 1957 announcement of Sputnik's success. "And it seems that the present generation will witness how the freed conscious labor of the people of the new socialist society turn even the most daring of man's dreams into a reality."

Indeed, the news agency's prediction for future manned space travel would come true. But for Russia, their position as a world leader in space exploration would be short lived.

After launching the first human into space in April 1961, the Soviet Union's goals for farther, loftier targets fell short. Today, the US space agency — NASA — has sent 12 astronauts to the moon and back while the Russian Federal Space Agency has sent zero.

We have the great minds at NASA and the unparalleled funding that the government poured into the agency throughout the '60s to thank for this stupendous achievement. But it is Sputnik's first flight that historians say sparked the US into action.

Without that element of shock and fear that Sputnik 1 instilled in the American people, we might have never reached the moon — a feat that only the US has achieved.

A taste for space

As of September of this year, 25 nations worldwide have sent at least one citizen to space. Those nations are colored blue in the map below:

Yet, only three nations — Russia, the US, and China— have launched their own manned spacecraft. The other 22 nation's astronauts have hitched rides from one of these three.

Today's astronauts travel no farther than low-earth orbit, where the International Space Station floats about 250 miles above Earth's surface. That could change, however, in the near future with help from an ever-growing presence of commercial aerospace companies like Boeing, Blue Origin, Orbital, and SpaceX.

NASA is openly collaborating with some of these commercial companies while also designing spacecraft of their own, namely their Orion spacecraft, that can achieve greater heights and farther targets, specifically Mars.

Both NASA and SpaceX have announced plans to land the first humans on Mars by the 2030s while the European Space Agency is scheduling to start building habitats on the moon by 2024 — that could eventually house astronauts for long-duration lunar missions.

After more than 30 years confined to low-earth orbit, our taste for deep space is finally returning.

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Jamie Friend is the new CFO of Turner Broadcasting System Europe, Middle East, Africa (EMEA). His new role starts on November 1.

Friend currently serves as vice president of corporate strategy and insights for Turner EMEA. 

In his new role, Friend will be responsible for a diverse portfolio that includes Cartoon Network, Boomerang, CNN International, TNT, TruTV and TCM, and others.  

Friend will be based in London. He will report directly to Aksel van der Wal, CFO of Turner International.

"Jamie's wealth of industry knowledge, M&A experience, and strategic insight make him the perfect fit for this role," Aksel van der Wal told Broadband TV News.

"His astute business expertise and innovative thinking are a powerful combination in the fast-changing media landscape," he adds. 

Prior to his current role at Turner EMEA, Friend worked at Arqiva where he was head of strategy for digital platforms. He also worked at The Walt Disney Company and other companies in senior strategy and business development roles.

SEE ALSO: CFOs are increasingly outsourcing these jobs to consultants

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The classic look of a tech CEO has evolved over the years, from Steve Jobs' black turtleneck to Mark Zuckerberg's hoodie to ... Evan Spiegel's corduroy suit?

The Snapchat CEO is the cover star of this month's Vogue Italy, L'Uomo Vogue, and he looks nothing like the tech titans before him.

Spiegel appears in a fur coat, holding a puppy. Another shot has him in a suit, leaning against a parking lot wall. Spiegel dons a plaid suit to cross the street. It's an entirely different, and entirely unforgettable, look than the traditional picture of a tech CEO in jeans and a hoodie.

While he may have won the title for most fashionable tech CEO, Spiegel's photos have already gone viral on their own. And unfortunately for the Snapchat CEO, this photo shoot appears in print so there's no way these photos will ever disappear.

SEE ALSO: Here’s what people are saying about what it’s like to work with Snapchat right now

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Robert Redford has never been shy about speaking his mind, whether the topic is politics, the environment, or the state of the movie industry.

Although the actor still shows up occasionally in the big-budget Hollywood movie — most recently "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" — for the most part he has been dedicated to helping filmmakers tell important stories that the Hollywood system won't touch.

Redford created the Sundance Film Festival, which has become the preeminent American film festival for independent filmmakers. He also stars in works by burgeoning talents.

His latest role in the movie "Truth" is a perfect example. In it, Redford plays Dan Rather during his controversial "60 Minutes" report on President George W. Bush's military record, which led to Rather stepping down as the anchor of "CBS Evening News."

Directed by first-time filmmaker James Vanderbilt — known best for his screenplays "Zodiac" and "The Amazing Spider-Man" — the independently financed movie, which also stars Cate Blanchett, is one that a studio would have nothing to do with now.

But in the 1970s, studios weren't shy to do button-pushing dramas. Redford starred in a few of them, like "Three Days of the Condor" and "All the President's Men."

What happened?

"Through the '60s and '70s, I enjoyed being able to do a large film and also at the same banner do a small film that I wanted to make," Redford told Business Insider during a press day for "Truth."

"I was very happy to do a larger film — either it was something that I liked or the larger films were good. But something changed in 1980. Hollywood became centralized and [the studios] were going to follow the youth market because that's where the money was. They weren't going to make these films that were more humanistic in nature and that's what made me want to start Sundance, to keep that alive."

Movies like "Jaws" and "Star Wars" made Hollywood completely change how it looked at the business. With "The Empire Strikes Back," and "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" on the horizon, the modestly budgeted drama would no longer have a place at the studio level.

Today, dramas at studios are mostly extinct — outside of a story that has awards-bait and a major star attached — with the focus firmly on big-budget blockbusters and, most recently, comic-book adaptations.

To Redford, it's simple.

"They're following the money," he said.

"Truth" opens in select theaters Friday.

SEE ALSO: Aaron Sorkin and Danny Boyle reveal how they made 'Steve Jobs'

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You might have heard of these HBO original shows "Games of Thrones," "True Blood," and "Sex and the City." HBO is just one of the many Time Warner operating subsidiaries producing content that people love.

But, with cord-cutting and cost-friendly online services like Netflix, where does Time Warner stand? 

One thing's for sure, Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes has a lot to say about competing in the digital age. Luckily, we've secured him as a speaker for IGNITION 2015. 

Taking up the challenge of cord-cutting, Time Warner offers skinny bundles, allowing customers to select packages personalized for their viewing taste. Also, online streaming service HBO Now is "performing well against expectations." Through flexibility on how viewers watch and when they watch, Bewkes believes Time Warner can combat the threat from Netflix and soon-to-come Apple TV.

Come watch Bewkes take on the stage with Business Insider's own CEO Henry Blodget, and get the scoop on what Time Warner is doing in the face of disruption.

Along with Bewkes we've lined up an explosive speaker list of some of the best and brightest minds in media today. Get your ticket to IGNITION 2015 now before it sells out. 

Follow @BI_Events on Twitter or join the IGNITION group on LinkedIn to find out who will be speaking at IGNITION 2015. 

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Quentin Tarantino's next movie "The Hateful Eight" is already being touted as a movie lover's ultimate experience as it will be shown in lush 70mm photography. 

But it also sounds like you'll get the chance to see a longer version.

Speaking to Variety, Tarantino divulged that audiences who go to the limited roadshow engagement of the film, which will feature an overture and intermission, will watch a cut of the movie with six extra minutes of material. 

"It will be three hours, two minutes," the Oscar-winner told Variety. "The multiplex version is about six minutes shorter, not counting the intermission time, which is about 12 minutes."

Tarantino described the sequence that gets the added six minutes as being "big, long, cool, unblinking takes," in the 70mm version.

The film will be doing its two-week roadshow starting on Christmas Day, will all those theaters showing it in 70mm. Dates/locations have yet to be announced.

It will then play nationwide on all screens starting January 8.

Here's the trailer:

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Oprah Winfrey is one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in the world. She's also one of the busiest.

Between running the Oprah Winfrey Network, publishing the Oprah Winfrey Magazine, and producing new TV series, she does not have time to waste in meetings. 

"[I] really, really, really try to avoid meetings," Winfrey told J.J. McCorvey in an interview for Fast Company. She prefers that her staff instead send her detailed emails.

To make her point, the 61-year-old mogul shared a funny story about how she persuaded Coretta Scott King not to set up a meeting with her. The late wife of Martin Luther King, Jr. called about flying from LA to meet with Winfrey to ask for help with a project. Fast Company reports:

"And I go, 'Mrs. King, you should just tell me whatever it is on the phone and save yourself the flight,' " Winfrey says.

" 'Whatever it is, I'm going to be more inclined to do it if you just ask me on the phone. Because if you come all the way here, if I don't want to do it, I'm still not gonna do it. And then you would have wasted your time, and I'm going to feel bad, and you're going to feel bad.'

I spent 20 minutes trying to convince her not to come."

Ultimately, King did not fly out to meet her, and Winfrey did help her out.

Other executives have developed their own brutally efficient meeting strategies. The late Apple cofounder Steve Jobs kept meetings as small as possible, throwing people out of the room if necessary. Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg brings a notebook with discussion points and action items to each meeting, crossing them off one by one; when all are met, the meeting is over.

On the other end of the spectrum, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella values communication among his top executives so highly that they meet for four hours every Friday and for eight hours once a month.

Whether in or out of meetings, Winfrey is mindful of how she spends her time.

"There is a finite amount of time and energy in every day," she told McCorvey. "So what is really important? What do you really want to do?"

Read the full story on Fast Company.

SEE ALSO: 11 Tricks Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, And Other Famous Execs Use To Run Meetings

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