Once
Once is a 2007 Irish romantic musical drama film written and directed by John Carney.[1] The story centers on an unnamed Irish street musician and vacuum repairman, portrayed by Glen Hansard, who encounters a Czech immigrant piano player and flower seller, played by Markéta Irglová, in Dublin; over the course of a week, they collaborate on songwriting and recording, exploring themes of unrequited love, artistic aspiration, and personal resilience without consummating a traditional romance.[2] Produced on a modest budget of approximately $150,000, the film eschews conventional narrative tropes in favor of naturalistic dialogue and integrated musical performances, many featuring original songs performed by the leads, who were musicians prior to acting.[3] The film's critical acclaim stemmed from its authentic portrayal of creative collaboration and emotional subtlety, earning a 97% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 159 reviews and widespread praise for its soundtrack.[4] It achieved commercial success relative to its scale, grossing over $20 million worldwide after a limited release, and inspired a stage musical adaptation that premiered on Broadway in 2012.[4] Among its notable accolades, Once won the World Cinema Audience Award for drama at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and secured the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Falling Slowly," performed by Hansard and Irglová.[5][6] No major controversies marred its reception, though its indie ethos highlighted tensions between grassroots artistry and mainstream expectations in the film industry.[7]Arts and entertainment
Film and television
Once is a 2007 Irish romantic musical drama film written and directed by John Carney.[1] The story follows an unnamed Dublin busker and vacuum cleaner repairman, played by Glen Hansard, who encounters a Czech immigrant pianist and florist, portrayed by Markéta Irglová, leading to a week of musical collaboration amid personal struggles.[4] Shot on a budget of approximately €130,000 in Dublin over three weeks, the production emphasized naturalistic performances by non-professional actors in musical sequences.[1] The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 23, 2007, where it won the World Cinema Audience Award for Drama.[5] Critics praised the film's authentic depiction of aspiring musicians and its integration of original songs into the narrative, earning a 97% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes from 159 reviews, with a consensus highlighting its charm and innovation in the musical genre.[4] It grossed over $20 million worldwide on its limited release, demonstrating strong audience appeal despite its indie origins.[1] The soundtrack, featuring compositions by Hansard and Irglová, topped Irish charts and contributed to the film's cultural impact.[4] At the 80th Academy Awards on February 24, 2008, "Falling Slowly," performed by Hansard and Irglová, won the Oscar for Best Original Song, marking a rare achievement for an independent film.[8] The victory underscored the song's emotional resonance, co-written during production to reflect the characters' evolving relationship.[1] No major television series or adaptations titled Once have achieved comparable prominence, though the film has been streamed on platforms like Netflix.[9]Theatre
"Once" is a musical with book by Enda Walsh, music and lyrics by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, adapted from the 2007 Irish film of the same name directed by John Carney.[10] The story centers on an unnamed Irish street musician, known as Guy, who encounters a Czech immigrant pianist, referred to as Girl, in Dublin; their brief collaboration on songwriting explores themes of lost dreams, fleeting connection, and personal reinvention without resolving into a conventional romance.[11] Premiering Off-Broadway at New York Theatre Workshop on March 9, 2011, the production featured an ensemble of actor-musicians performing live, emphasizing raw intimacy over elaborate staging.[12] The show transferred to Broadway at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, opening on March 18, 2012, with Steve Kazee as Guy and Cristin Milioti as Girl, running for 1,168 performances until closing on January 4, 2015.[13] It garnered eight Tony Awards in 2012, including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Best Original Score, Best Leading Actor in a Musical (Kazee), Best Scenic Design, Best Lighting Design, Best Sound Design, and Best Orchestrations.[13] The cast album won the 2013 Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album, marking the first such win for a Broadway show since 2001.[14] Internationally, productions include a West End run at the Phoenix Theatre opening in April 2013, which won four Olivier Awards including Best New Musical.[10] Critics lauded the musical's unconventional structure, authentic folk-rock score drawn from the film's Oscar-winning song "Falling Slowly," and the ensemble's versatility, with Ben Brantley of The New York Times praising its emotional directness in the Off-Broadway version as a "pure, moving" translation from screen to stage.[15] Michael Billington in The Guardian highlighted its focus on "pure emotion" and informality, distinguishing it from spectacle-driven musicals, though some reviewers noted the plot's predictability and subdued pacing as limitations.[15] The production's emphasis on actor-musicianship has influenced subsequent intimate musicals, prioritizing narrative through music over dance or grand sets.[10] Licensing through Music Theatre International has enabled regional and international stagings, maintaining the original's low-tech aesthetic to preserve its Dublin street authenticity.[10]Music
"Once" is a song by the American rock band Pearl Jam, released as the opening track on their debut studio album Ten on August 27, 1991.[16] Composed by guitarist Stone Gossard with lyrics by vocalist Eddie Vedder, the track runs 3:51 in length and exemplifies the band's early grunge style through its aggressive riffs, driving rhythm, and themes of personal turmoil and defiance.[16][17] Other notable recordings titled "Once" include the 2020 single by English musician Liam Gallagher from his album Why Me? Why Not., which features a promotional video starring former footballer Éric Cantona and blends rock elements with introspective lyrics.[18] Similarly, American country artist Ronnie Dunn released "Once" in 2020 as part of his solo album Re-Dunn, co-written by Jamie Floyd, Phillip LaRue, and Peter Sallis, evoking themes of fleeting romance.[19] In folk music, "Once" refers to the self-titled debut album by the Canadian trio The Once, formed in St. John's, Newfoundland, and released in 2010, featuring original harmonies and traditional influences from vocalists Geraldine Hollett, Phil Hall, and Andrew Dale.[20]Organizations and businesses
Non-profits and associations
The Organización Nacional de Ciegos Españoles (ONCE), a Spanish non-profit foundation established on December 13, 1938, supports blind and visually impaired individuals through a comprehensive system of social services, including employment assistance, education, rehabilitation, and welfare benefits, unmatched globally in scope.[21][22] Funded primarily by sales of its lottery tickets, such as the Cupón Diario, ONCE generated resources to aid over 72,000 members as of December 31, 2019, with 87% classified as severely visually impaired and 13% totally blind.[23] The organization employs thousands of disabled individuals and extends services beyond Spain via international partnerships, emphasizing self-sufficiency and integration.[24] In 1988, ONCE established the Fundación ONCE para la Cooperación e Inclusión Social de las Personas con Discapacidad, which allocates 3% of ONCE's gaming revenues to broader disability initiatives, collaborating with associations, federations, and confederations representing people with disabilities across Spain and Europe.[25] This foundation supports projects in employment, accessibility, and social inclusion, funding non-profits and public-private partnerships to transition individuals from social services to the labor market.[26] By 2013, ONCE's overall aid package reached over 71,000 beneficiaries, predominantly free services tailored to visual impairments.[27] Smaller entities include Once A Soldier, a U.S.-based non-profit aiding families of veterans who died by suicide with financial grants and mental health resources, operational since at least 2020.[28] These organizations collectively demonstrate varied applications of "Once" in charitable contexts, though ONCE remains the most prominent due to its scale and historical impact.[29]Commercial entities
Once is a software product line launched by 37signals in September 2023, offering applications for one-time purchase with perpetual ownership, self-hosting capabilities, and access to open-source code.[30] The lineup emphasizes simplicity over subscription models, positioning itself as an alternative to SaaS dominance.[31] Initial releases include Campfire, a lightweight group chat system designed as a less complex alternative to tools like Slack, and Writebook, a platform for straightforward online book publishing.[30] 37signals, the parent company known for products like Basecamp, plans further expansions under the Once umbrella into 2024.[32] Once is a lighting brand owned by Signify, focusing on specialized illumination for animal husbandry to improve welfare, productivity, and health in farming environments.[33] Signify, the world's largest lighting manufacturer formerly part of Philips, markets Once products for applications in poultry, swine, and dairy operations, backed by scientific research on light's biological effects.[33] The brand targets agricultural businesses seeking energy-efficient, tailored solutions over generic lighting.[34] Once Again Brands manufactures organic nut butters, snacks, and nut-based foods without hydrogenated oils or preservatives, distributed through retailers like Whole Foods and Kroger.[35] Operating as a worker-owned cooperative, the company prioritizes non-GMO, kosher-certified products sourced from fair-trade suppliers.Other uses
Language and literature
In English, once functions primarily as an adverb denoting "one time" or "at a former time," with additional uses as a conjunction in phrases like "once... then" to indicate a sequence of events. The term originates around 1200 from Middle English ones, derived from Old English ānes, the genitive form of ān ("one"), literally signifying "on one occasion."[36][37] Notable literary works titled Once include Alice Walker's debut poetry collection Once (1968), comprising verses composed during her student years and initial travels to Africa, noted for their emotional depth on themes of civil rights and personal awakening.[38][39] Morris Gleitzman's historical novel Once (2005), the opening volume of a series, follows ten-year-old Jewish protagonist Felix Salinger escaping a Polish orphanage amid Nazi occupation, blending naive optimism with Holocaust realities through 192 pages aimed at readers aged 10 and up.[40][41] James Herbert's adult fantasy-horror novel Once (2001) explores eroticism, faerie lore, and supernatural terror in a modern setting, characterized by its blend of nostalgic fairy-tale elements and graphic horror sequences.[42]Places and geography
Once is an urban neighborhood within the Balvanera district of Buenos Aires, Argentina, centered on the intersection of Avenues Corrientes and Pueyrredón in Comuna 3.[43] The area's name originates from the adjacent Retiro Mitre Line railway terminus, historically designated Estación Once de Septiembre, reflecting its role as a key commuter node connecting the city center to western suburbs.[43] Geographically, Once features a flat, low-lying terrain consistent with the surrounding Pampas plain, overlaid by dense mid-20th-century urban fabric including multi-story residential blocks, commercial galleries, and narrow streets adapted for high pedestrian volumes. More than 250,000 individuals traverse the neighborhood daily, underscoring its centrality in the city's transport and retail geography.[44] The locale's layout emphasizes east-west corridors like Avenida Rivadavia, facilitating rapid transit and informal vending that has periodically strained spatial organization and public thoroughfares.[45] As a hub for immigrant settlement, particularly Jewish and other Middle Eastern communities since the early 20th century, Once's geography reflects layered multicultural influences through specialized markets and synagogues clustered around transport axes.[46] Urban interventions, such as pedestrian enhancements and green space additions like Manzana 66 plaza at Avenues Belgrano and Jujuy, aim to mitigate density-related pressures while preserving its commercial vitality.[47]Science, technology, and miscellaneous
In computing, sync.Once is a synchronization primitive provided by thesync package in the Go programming language, designed to execute a given function exactly once even amid concurrent calls from multiple goroutines. This mechanism relies on atomic operations to track whether the function has run, preventing redundant execution while avoiding race conditions in shared initialization logic, such as establishing database connections or loading configuration data. Introduced as part of Go's core concurrency toolkit with the language's initial public release on November 10, 2009, sync.Once has been enhanced over time, including the addition of OnceFunc in Go 1.21 (released August 8, 2023) to return a function that encapsulates the one-time execution.[48][49]
Write once, read many (WORM) denotes a storage medium or policy where data can be recorded a single time but accessed repeatedly without modification, promoting immutability for compliance, auditing, and archival needs in enterprise environments. Exemplified by CD-R optical discs, which Philips and Sony jointly developed and commercialized starting in 1988 with the first recordable CDs available by 1989, WORM technology enforces hardware-level write protection to mitigate tampering risks. Modern implementations extend to specialized flash memory and cloud storage services adhering to standards like ISO/IEC 15489 for records management.[50]