title: Vampire: The Masquerade

text: A vampire's vitae can inspire false feelings of love and foster dependency if drunk by others. This addiction to vampiric blood is called the Blood Bond. The vampire performing the bond is called a Regnant and the one being bound is called a Thrall. In most cases, a victim must drink three times from the same vampire on three separate nights to become bonded. Once bonded, the victim feels something akin to a very twisted sort of love for the vampire and they become the most important person in their life. They also become more susceptible to mind control by that vampire and are willing to do anything, even risk their own life, to aid their regnant. Mortals, animals, and even other vampires and other supernatural creatures may be bound. The Sabbat practice a different form of group blood bonding by incorporating ancient Tzimisce Blood Magic called the Vaulderie that inspires loyalty and sodality among the sect. It will also instantly break conventional blood bonds if performed correctly by a trained vampire, typically a Pack Priest. They can also be negated by extended amounts of time depending on how far the Bond has gone (steps one, two or three), willpower and the extended absence of the regnant in order to do so.


title: Vampire: The Masquerade

text: Vampires may create more of themselves by draining a human to the point of death and then feeding the victim some of their blood. The creator vampire is known as a "sire", the newly created vampire a "childe" and the creation process is referred to as the "embrace". Very little vitae is required to trigger the metamorphosis but the victim must be freshly dead. It does not work on corpses that are more than a few minutes old.


title: Vampire: The Masquerade

text: A vampire's relative power is limited by something called their Generation, which is set at the time of their embrace. Generation is the vampire's distance from the race's mythical founder, Cain, who is alleged to be the first vampire. For example, a ninth generation is nine generations from Cain. Should this ninth generation vampire embrace someone their progeny would be a tenth generation regardless of how many times they do this. Generation is largely a fixed trait but characters can lower their generation by committing "diablerie"—the consumption of the soul of a vampire of lower generation. Attitudes towards diablerie range from criminalization to an act of liberation. Regardless, diablerie is a serious act not to be taken lightly.


title: Vampire: The Masquerade

text: Motivations and more surrounding the embrace differ from clan and sect. In some sects, such as the Camarilla, the creation of new vampires is tightly controlled. Among the Sabbat or the Anarchs the norms are much looser. Individual clans, especially the Independent Clans, have different norms, rituals and restrictions surrounding the creation of new vampires. Some only embrace a certain ethnic group, such as the Romani with the Ravnos or within certain mortal families as with the Giovanni. Others simply look for certain qualities such as the ability to survive, use intelligence, curiosity or artistic talent. Some create other vampires for power, others for companionship and some are created as fodder for the endless, ancient conflicts, known as the Jyhad, that are central to gameplay.


title: Vampire: The Masquerade

text: Vampires in the World of Darkness believe that their race originates from the Biblical figure of Cain. Cain was said to have been cursed by God with a vampiric state for murdering his brother. The vampires of this canon believe themselves to be descended from this Biblical progenitor.


title: Vampire: The Masquerade

text: It is said that Cain was able to pass on his cursed state to others, thereby, making them like himself only somewhat weaker. These first childer, known as the second generation, were said to have been made to keep him company, and they in turn made the third generation. The third were supposedly numbered thirteen and are the semi-legendary founders of the thirteen original clans. According to in-game legend, all of these vampires lived in peace under Cain's rule in the legendary city known as Enoch, or the First City. When God caused the Great Flood, however, the city was destroyed and Cain disappeared, leaving his Children to fend for themselves. The third generation eventually rose up and slew their sires. Cain, upon discovering this, cursed them. Cain's curse is supposedly the reason each clan now has its own weakness. These myths are collected in an in-game document of dubious reliability known as the "Book of Nod". Those who study the mythical vampire origins are called Noddists. According to Noddist mythology there are claims that Cain will return at the end of time to judge his descendants: the Antediluvians and all vampires descended from them. This event is known as Gehenna, the end of all vampiric races. Others claim that Gehenna is simply the wakening of the Antediluvians who have returned to feed on the blood of their descendants.


title: Vampire: The Masquerade

text: Differing interpretations of the myths divide vampire society. The Sabbat, for example, take the myths quite literally and believe that it is their purpose to defend vampires from the depredations of the ancients. The Camarilla is more dismissive, either claiming that Cain is nothing more than a myth or metaphor or outright suppressing the myths and their study. Contentions between the different societies surrounding the origins of vampires and Gehenna are important in-game motivations for the Jyhad that color the character's understanding of their world. Regardless as to whether or not the myths are true in the context of the game the myth of Cain represents important themes presented in the metaplot such as sins of the father coming back upon his children, the threat of apocalypse, questions of faith, conspiracies, and war of ages.


title: Vampire: The Masquerade

text: Golconda is a fabled state of enlightenment that offers vampires a release from their struggle with the Beast. Different editions have gone into different level of detail as to what Golconda is but all agree that it is an elusive and mysterious state and there is very little information in-game or out as to how to achieve it.


title: Vampire: The Masquerade

text: In "Vampire: The Masquerade", the Masquerade refers to an organized conspiracy primarily orchestrated by the Camarilla to convince the general public that vampires do not exist. The Camarilla believes the Masquerade is the cornerstone survival strategy for Kindred and fear that without it the kine would rise up and exterminate all the undead.


title: Vampire: The Masquerade

text: Prohibitions against exposing the existence of Kindred existed prior to the 15th century in a set of ancient laws known as the Traditions. The First Tradition reads:


title: Vampire: The Masquerade

text: ""Thou shall not reveal thy true nature to those not of the Blood. Doing such shall renounce thy claims of Blood.""


title: Vampire: The Masquerade

text: This stricture was not consistently nor as strictly enforced until the Inquisition of the 15th century required it. During this period vampires were destroyed in large numbers by vampire hunters which largely prompted the formation of a sect known as the Camarilla whose primary purpose was to promote and enforce the Masquerade as a means of survival.


title: Vampire: The Masquerade

text: The Masquerade is largely enforced through self-policing, but it is primarily the job of the Prince in Camarilla controlled cities to enforce it. Princes may use any means at their disposal to ensure vampire society stays hidden and that those who break the Masquerade are duly punished. Punishments for breaches have a range but are usually draconian in nature due to the seriousness of the Masquerade. Final Death, often by means of a ritualized "Blood Hunt" by other vampires, is not uncommon. When breaches do occur, the Camarilla takes great pains to repair them. This could include anything from erasing a mortal's memories using supernatural powers to manipulating mortal pawns in order to keep events out of the media.


title: Vampire: The Masquerade

text: The Masquerade is one of the main in-game points of contention between the two major factions of vampires in the World of Darkness. While many vampires see the pragmatism in the Masquerade some do not agree with it. For example, the Sabbat do not uphold the Tradition that justifies the enforcement of the Masquerade but behind closed doors even they take some steps to contain breaches.


title: Vampire: The Masquerade

text: In-game around the early 2000s, after the intelligence agencies of the world discovered the SchreckNET's existence, they in response formed what is known as the Second Inquisition. Utilizing the knowledge of the Society of St. Leopold, which had been canonized under the Vatican, they killed hundreds of thousands of vampires the world over. In reaction, this forced a secondary level of masquerade measures in the game world. Vampires now use everything from burner phones and disposable email, to use of carrier pigeon and information dead drops, sometimes using hypnotized or ghouled humans to pass information. The Camarilla Sect have also become more of a closed off society, only accepting notable kindred, leaving most recently embraced to be slaughtered or adopted by the Anarch Sect, who have adopted tenets of the Camarilla's masquerade to protect themselves.


title: Vampire: The Masquerade

text: Vampires in the World of Darkness have a rich, complex, and diverse secret society with a range of ideologies, goals, and backgrounds. Sects largely divide along ideological disputes surrounding the distribution of power among vampires, the role of vampires in the human world, and the ancient myths that allegedly explain the origins and purpose of vampires.


title: Vampire: The Masquerade

text: An important means of social distinction among vampires in this setting is through age. Younger vampires wanting respect and power must prove themselves to their elders. While ambition can provide a degree of upward mobility among immortals, oftentimes respect comes to those who can prove they can survive. Characters are loosely divided into several age groups. Ages are not titles or jobs but rather loose descriptions to describe a vampire's development and the social expectations that come with aging.


title: Vampire: The Masquerade

text: Vampires organize and divide themselves politically and ideologically into sects which form a governing structure for undead societies. Laws and norms concerning the place of vampires within the mortal world, feeding, the treatment of vessels, vampiric morality, secrecy, feeding grounds, Gehenna and the distribution of power form the basis of these divisions. The two major sects are the Camarilla and the Sabbat, but there are other sects as well, such as the Inconnu or the Anarchs. A sect is something a character may choose in-game, though this decision is often chosen for them by their Sire. Defection to one side or the other is possible, but comes with a great risk, as much of what motivates the Jyhad are the ideological differences between the Camarilla and the Sabbat.


title: Vampire: The Masquerade

text: "Vampire: The Masquerade" offers the players the opportunity to play in a politically diverse world in which sects rule over all of vampire society. While many factions and sub-sects exist in the game, the main focus is the conflict between the Camarilla, the Sabbat and the Anarchs.


title: Vampire: The Masquerade

text: A vampire who rejects all associations with any sect and clan is known as "Autarkis". The Laibon, called Kindred of the Ebony Kingdom by Western Kindred, are not so much a sect as a cultural group bound together loosely by a powerful spiritual bond to the land and the people of Africa. The Kindred of the East, while sharing some superficial similarity to the western Kindred, are actually an entirely different variety of supernatural being.


title: Vampire: The Masquerade

text: A clan is the character's vampire family. All members of a clan allegedly descend from the clan's Antediluvian founder. It is widely accepted that there are thirteen clans with thirteen founders, though not all of them are technically Antediluvian. Some clan founders, such as Giovanni or Tremere, usurped their position via Diablerie. Clans may have a social or political component to them, but a clan is not something a character chooses; it is something they are Embraced into. Those without a clan are known as Caitiff, and are considered outsiders.


title: Vampire: The Masquerade

text: "Vampire: The Masquerade" introduces the use of 13 clans (or major bloodlines) in the game. Each accepted clan can trace its origins to one of 13 elder vampires known as an Antediluvian, for they survived God's biblical flood. Each Antediluvian is a “grandchilde” of Cain, who killed Abel and was cursed by God and His archangels into becoming the first vampire. Through the back story of the game, Antediluvians started a war among themselves, called the Jyhad, and use their clansmen to fight this war for them.


title: Vampire: The Masquerade

text: Each Clan and Bloodline has a unique set of powers called Disciplines, and their own set of weaknesses, also unique to that particular branch of vampire.


title: Vampire: The Masquerade

text: Most Sabbat vampires consider themselves to be the “anti-Clans” or "antitribu" in rebellion against their parent clans' values, goals, or loyalties. For example, Toreador within the Sabbat consider themselves Toreador "antitribu". Some rebel or twist the expectations of their clans, while others take a more radical view of their lineage's core ideas. Some are so different that they are considered different bloodlines manifesting different Disciplines, weaknesses or even a different name. The Lasombra and Tzimisce do not consider themselves "antitribu" as most of their members are within the Sabbat. Lasombra outside the Sabbat are considered "antitribu" while the Tzimisce outside the Sabbat are referred to as Old Clan. A Sabbat offshoot of the Followers of Set is known as the Serpents of the Light, and have rejected both the clan founder and his Egyptian origin, in favor of the cultural trappings of Caribbean voodoo.


title: Vampire: The Masquerade

text: Bloodlines, on the other hand, either cannot trace their lineage to an Antediluvian founder or are too little in number to be considered a major player in the Jyhad. Some Bloodlines are considered to be offshoots of existing clans. All bloodlines are treated as exceptionally rare in the game, leaving most of the interactions and story lines centered around the clans.


title: Vampire: The Masquerade

text: In the November 1991 edition of "Dragon" (Issue 175), Allen Varney did not like unprofessional production values of the gamebook, pointing to "amateurish" artwork and poor copy-editing. Varney also found the rules remarkably lacking in detail. However, he applauded the wide-ranging campaign advice. "There are whole chapters on how to plot stories, maintain suspense, handle players, and so on." He concluded, "If you're up for a potent and even passionate role-playing experience, look for this game."


title: Vampire: The Masquerade

text: In a 1996 reader poll by "Arcane" magazine to determine the 50 most popular roleplaying games of all time, "Vampire: The Masquerade" was ranked 6th. Editor Paul Pettengale commented: ""Vampire" has always proved the most popular of the World of Darkness games, a testament both to the continuing appeal of the vampire itself, and to the structure and design of the game. Like all of the "Storyteller" range, it's not an easy game to get right, and it relies heavily on both the players and the referee putting a lot of effort and imagination into their roles. With a good group, though, it can be an immensely interesting and thought-provoking game, and one of the most effective horror RPGs around. Despite its tendency to take itself a little seriously, "Vampire: The Masquerade" has a great deal to offer the more mature and serious gamer."


title: Vampire: The Masquerade

text: In 1991, "Vampire: The Masquerade" was one of the top ten best selling tabletop role-playing games of the year in the United States.


title: Vampire: The Masquerade

text: "" (first published 1994), formerly known as "Jyhad", a traditional collectible card game based on "Vampire", was produced by Wizards of the Coast and later by White Wolf. It is currently produced by Black Chantry, a company founded solely for this purpose, under license by Paradox Interactive, who now own the White Wolf brand, by republishing old cards and making minor balancing adjustments to the rules or card texts, with a fifth edition scheduled for October 2020. The relaunch by Black Chantry changes the mode of distribution by scrapping booster packs in favor of non-randomized precompiled card sets.


title: Vampire: The Masquerade

text: In 2020, Paradox licensed the setting to several game production companies, leading to multiple Kickstarter campaigns.


title: Sienna Guillory

text: Sienna Tiggy Guillory (; born 16 March 1975) is an English actress and former model. She portrayed Jill Valentine in several entries of the "Resident Evil" action-horror film series. Other prominent roles include elf princess Arya Dröttningu in the fantasy-adventure film "Eragon", and the title role in the TV miniseries "Helen of Troy". She has appeared in TV shows including "Fortitude", "Stan Lee's Lucky Man", and "Luther".


title: Sienna Guillory

text: Born in Kettering, Northamptonshire, Guillory is the daughter of American folk guitarist Isaac Guillory and his first wife, English model Tina Thompson, whom he married in 1973. Her father was the son of American and Turkish-Jewish parents and born at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.


title: Sienna Guillory

text: Her parents moved to Fulham, London, when Guillory was two, then later to Norfolk when she was 11. At the age of ten, she went to stay with cousins in Mexico to learn Spanish.


title: Sienna Guillory

text: She has a half-brother named Jace, who has the same mother. Her father adopted him. Her parents divorced in 1990 when Sienna was 14. In 1993, her father married Vickie McMillan, and had two children with her, Ellie and Jacob.


title: Sienna Guillory

text: Guillory attended Gresham's School in Holt, Norfolk, where she took part in numerous school productions. She started horseback riding at the age of two. At 14, she was given a horse, which she named The Night Porter, or "Porty", after the film "The Night Porter"; Guillory was a fan of its leading actress Charlotte Rampling.


title: Sienna Guillory

text: In 1997, Guillory accompanied a ballerina friend to the London modelling agency Select Model Management and was soon signed. She modelled to support her acting career. As a model, she worked in campaigns for Armani, Dolce & Gabbana, Burberry, and Paul Smith and appeared on the covers of several fashion magazines. In 1999, she became the face of the Hugo Boss fragrance campaign, succeeding model Karen Ferrari and continuing the campaign for three years. After modelling for a few years, Guillory returned her focus to acting in 2000. She is signed to Independent Models in London.


title: Sienna Guillory

text: Guillory explained that she "became an actor because I wanted to know what it was like to be other people. Because possibly I don't like myself", and later said "I hate acting, really hate it. I kind of fell into it sideways ... I started acting because I got offered a job when I was 16, and they wanted to pay me £8,000, and we'd always lived on Family Support". She went on to say that her frustration with later film roles left her bitter, but after seeing Helen Mirren on stage she was inspired again.


title: Sienna Guillory

text: In 1993, Guillory made her screen debut in "Riders", a TV adaptation of Jilly Cooper's novel of the same name, for which the casting directors needed a young actress who was able to ride a horse. Her performance landed her another small role in the miniseries "The Buccaneers", opposite Mira Sorvino.


title: Sienna Guillory

text: Before becoming a model to support her acting career, Guillory waited tables at a club. In an interview in 2000, she said about the experience "Supporting my acting habit with waitressing was probably the most useful thing I've done." During her time as a model, she studied acting at the New World School of the Arts and the Paris Conservatoire, also taking small television and film roles in "The Future Lasts a Long Time" (1996), "The Rules of Engagement" (1999), "Star! Star!" (1999), "Kiss Kiss (Bang Bang)" (2000), "The 3 Kings" (2000), and "Two Days, Nine Lives" (2000). During this time, Guillory decided to go on with her acting career because "I was so scared of going to university and being with people my own age again, having been with that tiny little sect of girls in Norfolk whose daddies were farmers and politicians, who didn't trust me and didn't know where I was coming from".


title: Sienna Guillory

text: She returned to film with a more substantial role in the thriller "Sorted" (2000). Guillory went on to appear in the BBC production "Take a Girl Like You", a television adaptation of Kingsley Amis's novel of the same name. She portrayed Jenny Bunn, the story's virginal heroine, and gained critical attention for her part in the period piece. Guillory was pleased to have played a more innocent character, saying "I've played floozies, psychopaths, assassins, crackheads... It's nice to do something with a lighter touch." The production did not fare well in the ratings.


title: Sienna Guillory

text: In 2001, Guillory continued with other roles in predominantly British films, including "Oblivious", "Late Night Shopping" (with husband Enzo Cilenti), "The Last Minute", and "". 2002 saw Guillory appear in "The Time Machine", alongside Guy Pearce and Jeremy Irons. She was pleased to take on a larger scale film, after having worked on low-budget independent films, and compared the experience with "finding an unicorn in your sock drawer". She played Emma, the fiancée of Pearce's character, who was killed early in the film and whose death set off its main events.


title: Sienna Guillory

text: In 2003, after a friend had received a script for "The Principles of Lust", Guillory claims she "read it and couldn't put it down, and begged to read for the part". She was impressed by director Penny Woolcock's unconventional style of shooting, without rehearsing the actors, using raw takes and improvisational performances. For the role of Juliette, Guillory performed nude in the film's sex scenes which were filmed during the first week of filming, making her somewhat nervous. She later went on to say that it was one of her favorite acting experiences. Afterwards, Guillory had a small role in the romantic comedy "Love Actually" before taking the starring role in the television miniseries "Helen of Troy". The series was mostly based on Homer's epic poem "Iliad" and focuses on the mythological life of Helen. "Helen of Troy" was nominated for best miniseries at the Satellite Awards.


title: Sienna Guillory

text: In May 2004, Guillory starred in a new stage production of "The Shape of Things" at the New Ambassadors Theatre in London, with husband Cilenti. That year she also played her first big Hollywood role. She was cast as Jill Valentine, one of the lead characters in the video game adaptation sequel "". The film makers had searched widely for an actress to portray the video game character and found her in Guillory, who had to "please not only the movie-going audience but also the gamers." She was "a dead ringer for Jill Valentine". Guillory studied the original character's movements by watching playthroughs of the video game "". Before getting the script for the film, she had not been familiar with the video games or seen "Resident Evil" (2002).


title: Sienna Guillory

text: After the success of "Resident Evil: Apocalypse", Guillory appeared in other film and television roles, including "Beauty" (2004), "" (2005), "In the Bathroom" (2005), "The Virgin Queen" (2005), "Silence Becomes You" (2005), and "Rabbit Fever" (2006).


title: Sienna Guillory

text: In 2006, Guillory was a lead in the ensemble cast of the fantasy "Eragon," the film adaptation of the novel by Christopher Paolini; the role reunited her with "The Time Machine" co-star Jeremy Irons. She portrayed Arya Dröttningu, an elf princess. She had not read the novels before filming, but after accepting the role she became a fan of Paolini's work. Although Arya is a key character in the film, Guillory had little screen time and went on to say jokingly: "I've been trying to explain to friends who've seen the trailer [...] I'm like, "[...] but that's my whole part!"" "Eragon" was not well received by the critics, but was nominated as Best Fantasy Film at the 2006 Saturn Awards. The film grossed approximately $75 million in the US and $173.9 million elsewhere, totaling $249 million worldwide. Guillory was invited to reprise her role as Jill Valentine in "", the sequel to "Resident Evil: Apocalypse," but could not accept due to scheduling conflicts with "Eragon".


title: Sienna Guillory

text: In 2007, she starred in the Spanish production "El Corazón de la tierra", or "The Heart of the Earth", and later in the year finished filming the horror/thriller "Victims" and the fantasy novel adaptation "Inkheart". In "Inkheart", she plays Resa, the wife of Brendan Fraser's character and the mother of Eliza Bennett's. Guillory acted alongside Helen Mirren, a friend of the Guillory family who was a role model when she first had aspirations towards acting.


title: Sienna Guillory

text: Guillory was to be a lead in the television series "The Oaks", expected to begin airing in 2008. She joined Bahar Soomekh, Matt Lanter, Romy Rosemont, Jeremy Renner, Michael Rispoli and Shannon Lucio in the series, which follows the intertwining stories of three families—a young couple in 1968 who have lost a child, a family of four in 1998, and a pregnant couple in 2008—who are haunted by the same spirit in their house. The television series began filming on 5 November 2007 on location in Pasadena, California. Guillory will play Jessica, the 2008 couple's neighbour, a woman who has Asperger syndrome who went to school with the husband (and father-to-be) and shares a secret with him.


title: Sienna Guillory

text: In May 2010, "Shock Till You Drop.com" confirmed the return of Jill Valentine in the "Resident Evil" film franchise's fourth installment, "", with Guillory reprising the role. On 31 May, Jovovich also confirmed that Guillory would return as Jill. Guillory reappears in the film in a mid-end credit scene. She returned to a starring role in the following film, "", as the main antagonist of the film.


title: Sienna Guillory

text: In 2015, she joined the main cast as scientist Natalie Yelburton in the new thriller series "Fortitude", commissioned by Sky Atlantic and set in the fictional Arctic oil settlement of the same name. She returned to the role for the show's second series in 2016, and appeared in the third season in 2018.


title: Sienna Guillory

text: In January 2016 she also joined the cast of Sky One's new series, "Stan Lee's Lucky Man", playing the character Eve. She subsequently returned for both the second and third seasons.


title: Sienna Guillory

text: In May 2018, she appeared as the only actor, yet playing multiple roles, in the music video for Liam Gallagher's "Paper Crown".


title: Sienna Guillory

text: In 2001, readers of "Esquire" UK voted Guillory "Britain's Most Eligible Woman" and featured her in a pictorial in the magazine. Guillory was photographed for the cover and shoot by photographer Jonathan Glynn Smith. In 2002, she was number 89 on "Maxim"s "Hot 100 List" of the "world's 100 most beautiful women", and in 2007 Guillory was voted number 54 at Askmen.com's Top 99 Countdown.


title: Sienna Guillory

text: Guillory has been quoted as disliking the Hollywood culture, saying she does not wish to be part of it:


title: Sienna Guillory

text: In 2000, Guillory began dating English actor Enzo Cilenti, and they married in 2002. The couple appeared in the 2001 film "Late Night Shopping", and have continued to appear together in various works. In August 2004, Guillory and Cilenti cycled five stages of the Tour de France to raise money for charity. On 1 February 2011, Guillory gave birth to twin daughters, Valentina and Lucia Cilenti, named after her grandmother and great aunt who were also twin sisters.


title: Pilaf

text: Pilaf (US spelling) or pilau (UK spelling) is a rice dish, or in some regions, a wheat dish, whose recipe usually involves cooking in stock or broth, adding spices, and other ingredients such as vegetables or meat, and employing some technique for achieving cooked grains that do not adhere to each other.


title: Pilaf

text: At the time of the Abbasid Caliphate, such methods of cooking rice at first spread through a vast territory from South Asia to Spain, and eventually to a wider world. The Spanish "paella", and the South Asian "pilau" or "pulao", and "biryani", evolved from such dishes.


title: Pilaf

text: Pilaf and similar dishes are common to Balkan, Caribbean, South Caucasian, Central Asian, East African, Eastern European, Latin American, Middle Eastern, and South Asian cuisines. It is a staple food and a popular dish in Afghanistan, Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, China (notably in Xinjiang), Cyprus, Georgia, Greece (notably in Crete), India, Iraq (notably in Kurdistan), Iran, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Tanzania (notably in Zanzibar), Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, and Uzbekistan.


title: Pilaf

text: According to the "Oxford English Dictionary", Third Edition (2006) the English word "pilaf", which is the later and North American English form, is a borrowing from Turkish, its etymon, or linguistic ancestor, the Turkish "pilav", whose etymon is the Persian pilāv; "pilaf" is found more commonly in North American dictionaries than "pilau".


title: Pilaf

text: The British and Commonwealth English spelling, "pilau", has etymon Persian "pulaw" (in form palāv, pilāv, or pulāv in the 16th century), whose line of descent is: Hindi "pulāv" (dish of rice and meat), Sanskrit "pulāka" (ball of rice), which in turn is probably of Dravidian descent.


title: Pilaf

text: Although the cultivation of rice had spread much earlier from South Asia to Central and West Asia, it was at the time of the Abbasid Caliphate that methods of cooking rice which approximate modern styles of cooking pilaf at first spread through a vast territory from Spain to Afghanistan, and eventually to a wider world. The Spanish "paella", and the South Asian "pilau" or "pulao", and "biryani", evolved from such dishes.


title: Pilaf

text: According to author K. T. Achaya, the Indian epic "Mahabharata" mentions an instance of rice and meat cooked together. Also, according to Achaya, "pulao" or "pallao" is used to refer to a rice dish in ancient Sanskrit works such as the "Yājñavalkya Smṛti". However, according to food writers Colleen Taylor Sen and Charles Perry, and social theorist Ashis Nandy, these references do not substantially correlate to the commonly used meaning and history implied in pilafs, which appear in Indian accounts after the medieval Central Asian conquests.


title: Pilaf

text: Similarly Alexander the Great and his army, many centuries earlier, in the 4th century BCE, have been reported to be so impressed with Bactrian and Sogdian "pilavs" that his soldiers brought the recipes back to Macedonia when they returned. Similar stories exist of Alexander introducing pilaf to Samarkand; however, they are considered apocryphal by art historian John Boardman.


title: Pilaf

text: The earliest documented recipe for pilaf comes from the tenth-century Persian scholar Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā), who in his books on medical sciences dedicated a whole section to preparing various dishes, including several types of pilaf. In doing so, he described the advantages and disadvantages of every item used for preparing the dish. Accordingly, Persians consider Ibn Sina to be the "father" of modern pilaf. Thirteenth-century Arab texts describe the consistency of pilaf that the grains should be plump and somewhat firm to resemble peppercorns with no mushiness, and each grain should be separate with no clumping.


title: Pilaf

text: Pilau became standard fare in the Middle East and Transcaucasia over the years with variations and innovations by the Persians, Arabs, Turks, and Armenians.


title: Pilaf

text: During the period of the Soviet Union, the Central Asian versions of the dish spread throughout all Soviet republics, becoming a part of the common Soviet cuisine.


title: Pilaf

text: Some cooks prefer to use basmati rice because it is easier to prepare a pilaf where the grains stay "light, fluffy and separate" with this type of rice. However, other types of long-grain rice are also used. The rice is rinsed thoroughly before use to remove the starch. Pilaf can be cooked in water or stock. Common additions include fried onions and fragrant spices like cardamom, bay leaves and cinnamon. Pilaf is usually made with meat or vegetables, but it can also be made plain which is called "sade pilav" in Turkish, "chelo" in Persian and "ruzz mufalfal" in Arabic. On special occasions saffron may be used to give the rice a yellow color. Pilaf is often made by adding the rice to hot fat and stirring briefly before adding the cooking liquid. The fat used varies from recipe to recipe. Cooking methods vary with respect to details such as pre-soaking the rice and steaming after boiling.


title: Pilaf

text: There are thousands of variations of pilaf made with rice or other grains like bulgur. In Central Asia there are "plov", "pilau" on the Indian subcontinent, and variations from Turkmenistan and Turkey. Some include different combinations of meats, fruits or vegetables, while others are simple and served plain. In the present day, Central Asian, Indian, Turkish cuisine, Iranian and Caribbean cuisine are considered the five major schools of pilaf.


title: Pilaf

text: In Afghan cuisine, "Kabuli palaw" or "Qabili pulao" (Persian : قابلی پلو) is made by cooking basmati with mutton, lamb, beef or chicken, and oil. Kabuli palaw is cooked in large shallow and thick dishes. Fried sliced carrots and raisins are added. Chopped nuts like pistachios, walnuts, or almonds may be added as well. The meat is covered by the rice or buried in the middle of the dish. Kabuli palaw rice with carrots and raisins is very popular in Saudi Arabia, where it is known as "roz Bukhari" (Arabic: رز بخاري), meaning 'Bukharan rice'.


title: Pilaf

text: Armenians use a lot of "bulgur" (cracked wheat) in their pilaf dishes. Armenian recipes may combine vermicelli or orzo with rice cooked in stock seasoned with mint, parsley and allspice. One traditional Armenian pilaf is made with the same noodle rice mixture cooked in stock with raisins, almonds and allspice.


title: Pilaf

text: Armenian kinds of rice are discussed by Rose Baboian in her cookbook from 1964 which includes recipes for different pilafs, most rooted in her birthplace of Antep in Turkey. Baboian recommends that the noodles be stir-fried first in chicken fat before being added to the pilaf. Another Armenian cookbook written by Vağinag Pürad recommends to render poultry fat in the oven with red pepper until the fat mixture turns a red color before using the strained fat to prepare pilaf.


title: Pilaf

text: "Lapa" is an Armenian word with several meanings one of which is a "watery boiled rice, thick rice soup, mush" and "lepe" which refers to various rice dishes differing by region. Antranig Azhderian describes Armenian pilaf as "dish resembling porridge".


title: Pilaf

text: Azerbaijani cuisine includes more than 40 different plov recipes. One of the most reputed dishes is plov from saffron-covered rice, served with various herbs and greens, a combination distinctive from Uzbek plovs. Traditional Azerbaijani plov consists of three distinct components, served simultaneously but on separate platters: rice (warm, never hot), "gara" (fried beef or chicken pieces with onion, chestnut and dried fruits prepared as an accompaniment to rice), and aromatic herbs. Gara is put on the rice when eating plov, but it is never mixed with rice and the other components. Pilaf is usually called aş in Azerbaijani cuisine.


title: Pilaf

text: In Bangladesh, "pulao" (), "fulao", or "holao", is a popular ceremonial dish cooked only with aromatic rice. Bangladesh cultivates many varieties of aromatic rice which can be found only in this country and some surrounding Indian states with predominantly Bengali populations. Historically, there were many varieties of aromatic rice. These included short grained rice with buttery and other fragrances depending on the variety. Over a long span of time many recipes were lost and then reinvented.


title: Pilaf

text: Since the 1970s in Bangladesh "pulao" has referred to aromatic rice first fried either in oil or clarified butter with onions, fresh ginger and whole aromatic spices such as cardamom, cinnamon, black pepper and more depending on each household and region. This is then cooked in stock or water, first boiled and then steamed. It is finished off with a bit more clarified butter, and fragrant essences such as rose water or kewra water. For presentation, beresta (fried onions) are sprinkled on top. Chicken "pulao", ("morog pulao"), is a traditional ceremonial dish among the Bangladeshi Muslim community. There are several different types of "morog pulao" found only in particular regions or communities.


title: Pilaf

text: In Sylhet and Chittagong, a popular ceremonial dish called "akhni pulao", similar to the "yakhni pulao" of Northern India, "yakhni" or "aqni" being the rich stock in which mutton is cooked and then used to cook the rice. Another very spicy "biryani" dish very popular and unique to Bangladesh is called "tehari". It is very different in taste to the "teharis" found in some parts of neighboring India. They are most popularly eaten with beef and "chevon" (goat meat) but are also paired with chicken. Young small potatoes, mustard oil (which is alternated with clarified butter or oil depending on individual taste), and a unique spice blend found in "teharis" distinguish them from other meat "pulaos". The most famous "tehari" in the capital city of Dhaka is called "hajir biryani". Although here the name "biryani" is a misnomer, in usage among the urban young population it differentiates the popular dish mutton "biryanis" (goat meat).


title: Pilaf

text: A significantly modified version of the recipe, often seen as influenced by what is called there, is known in Brazil as or (, "shredded chicken rice"; , "chicken risotto"). Rice lightly fried (and optionally seasoned), salted and cooked until soft (but neither soupy nor sticky) in either water or chicken stock is added to chicken stock, onions and sometimes cubed bell peppers (cooked in the stock), shredded chicken breast, green peas, tomato sauce, shoyu, and optionally vegetables (e.g. canned sweet corn, cooked carrot cubes, courgette cubes, broccolini flowers, chopped broccoli or broccolini stalks or leaves fried in garlic seasoning) or herbs (e.g., mint, like in ) to form a distantly risotto-like dish – but it is generally fluffy (depending on the texture of the rice being added), as generally, once all ingredients are mixed, it is not left to cook longer than five minutes. In the case shredded chicken breast is not added, with the rice being instead served alongside chicken and , it is known as (, "chicken supreme rice").


title: Pilaf

text: In the Eastern Caribbean and other Caribbean territories there are variations of "pelau" which include a wide range of ingredients such as pigeon peas, green peas, green beans, corn, carrots, pumpkin, and meat such as beef or chicken, or cured pig tail. The seasoned meat is usually cooked in a stew, with the rice and other vegetables added afterwards. Coconut milk and spices are also key additions in some islands.


title: Pilaf

text: Trinidad is recognized for its "pelau", a layered rice with meats and vegetables. It is a mix of traditional African cuisine and "New World" ingredients like ketchup. The process of browning the meat (usually chicken, but also stew beef or lamb) in sugar is an African technique.


title: Pilaf

text: Central Asian, e.g. Uzbek and Tajik (, ) or "osh" differs from other preparations in that rice is not steamed, but instead simmered in a rich stew of meat and vegetables called "zirvak" (зирвак), until all the liquid is absorbed into the rice. A limited degree of steaming is commonly achieved by covering the pot. It is usually cooked in a "kazon" (or "deghi") over an open fire. The cooking tradition includes many regional and occasional variations. Commonly, it is prepared with lamb, browned in lamb fat or oil, and then stewed with fried onions, garlic and carrots. Chicken palov is rare but found in traditional recipes originating in Bukhara. Palov is usually spiced with whole black cumin, coriander, barberries, red pepper, marigold, and pepper. Heads of garlic and chickpeas are buried into the rice during cooking. Sweet variations with dried apricots, cranberries and raisins are prepared on special occasions.


title: Pilaf

text: Although often prepared at home, palov is made on special occasions by an "oshpaz" (osh master chef), who cooks it over an open flame, sometimes serving up to 1,000 people from a single cauldron on holidays or occasions such as weddings. "Oshi nahor", or "morning palov", is served in the early morning (between 6 and 9 am) to large gatherings of guests, typically as part of an ongoing wedding celebration.


title: Pilaf

text: Uzbek-style palov is found in the post-Soviet countries and Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China. In Xinjiang, where the dish is known as polu, it is often served with pickled vegetables, including carrots, onion and tomato.


title: Pilaf

text: In Greek cuisine, "piláfi" (πιλάφι) is fluffy and soft, but neither soupy nor sticky, rice that has been boiled in a meat stock or bouillon broth. In Northern Greece, it is considered improper to prepare "piláfi" on a stovetop; the pot is properly placed in the oven. "Gamopílafo" ("wedding pilaf") is the prized pilaf served traditionally at weddings and major celebrations in Crete: rice is boiled in lamb or goat broth, then finished with lemon juice. Although it bears the name, "Gamopílafo" is not a pilaf but rather a kind of risotto, with creamy and not fluffy texture.


title: Pilaf

text: "Pulao" is usually a mixture of either lentils or vegetables, mainly including peas, potatoes, french beans, carrots or meat, mainly chicken, fish, lamb, pork or prawn with rice. A typical Bengali style pulao is prepared using vegetarian ingredients like Long grain rice or aromatic rice, cashewnut, raisin, saffron, ghee and various spices like nutmeg, bay leaf, cinnamon, cardamom, cumin, clove and mace. There are also few very elaborate "pulaos" with Persianized names like "hazar pasand" ("a thousand delights"). It is usually served on special occasions and weddings, though it is not uncommon to eat it for a regular lunch or dinner meal. It is considered very high in food energy and fat. A pulao is often complemented with either spiced yogurt or "raita".


title: Pilaf

text: Persian culinary terms referring to rice preparation are numerous and have found their way into the neighbouring languages: "polow" (rice cooked in broth while the grains remain separate, straining the half cooked rice before adding the broth and then "brewing"), "chelow" (white rice with separate grains), "kateh" (sticky rice) and "tahchin" (slow cooked rice, vegetables, and meat cooked in a specially designed dish). There are also varieties of different rice dishes with vegetables and herbs which are very popular among Iranians.


title: Pilaf

text: In Pakistan, "Pulao" () is a popular dish cooked with basmati rice and meat, usually either mutton or beef. Pulao is a rice dish, cooked in seasoned broth with rice, meat, and an array of spices including: coriander seeds, cumin, cardamom, cloves and others. As with Afghan cuisine, "Kabuli palaw" is a staple dish in the western part of the Pakistan, and this style of Pulao is often embellished with sliced carrots, almonds and raisins, fried in a sweet syrup.


title: Pilaf

text: Pulao is famous in all parts of Pakistan, but the cooking style can vary slightly in other parts of the country. It is prepared by Sindhi people of Pakistan in their marriage ceremonies, condolence meetings, and other occasions.


title: Pilaf

text: Traditional Levantine cooking includes a variety of Pilaf known as "Maqlubeh", known across the countries of the Eastern Mediterranean. The rice pilaf which is traditionally cooked with meats, eggplants, tomatoes, potatoes, and cauliflower also has a fish variety known as "Sayyadiyeh", or the Fishermen's Dish.


title: Pilaf

text: Historically, mutton stock was the most common cooking liquid for Turkish pilafs, which according to 19th century American sources was called "pirinç".


title: Pilaf

text: Turkish cuisine contains many different pilaf types. Some of these variations are "pirinc" (rice) pilaf, "bulgur" pilaf, and "arpa şehriye" (orzo) pilaf. Using mainly these three types, Turkish people make many dishes such as "perdeli pilav", and "etli pilav" (rice cooked with cubed beef). Unlike Chinese rice, if Turkish rice is sticky, it is considered unsuccessful. To make the best rice according to Turkish people, one must rinse the rice, cook in butter, then add the water and let it sit until it soaks all the water. This results in a pilaf that is not sticky and every single rice grain falls off of the spoon separately.


title: Pilaf

text: Lithuanian pilaf is often referred to as plov or plova, it tends to consist of rice and vegetables, depending on the region the vegetables can be tomatoes, carrots, cabbage and or mushroom, it tends to consist of chicken pieces or cut up pieces of pig, usually the meat around the neck or around the stomach, seasonings can be heavy or light and some plova can consist of rice that is really soft unlike some variants.


title: Pilaf

text: Latvian pilaf is often referred to as plovs or plow, it tends to contain the same ingredients as the Lithuanian plova and can vary from county to county.


title: Pilaf

text: The Greek Orthodox Pontian minority had their own methods of preparing pilav. Pontians along the Black Sea coast might make pilav with anchovies (called ) or mussels (called ). Other varieties of Pontian pilav could include chicken, lamb, and vegetables. Typical seasonings are anise, dill, parsley, salt, pepper, and saffron. Some Pontians cooked pine nuts, peanuts, or almonds into their pilav. While pilav was usually made from rice, it could also be made with buckwheat.


title: Again My Life

text: Again My Life () is a 2022 South Korean television series starring Lee Joon-gi, Lee Geung-young, Kim Ji-eun and Jung Sang-hoon. It is based on a web novel of the same title published on KakaoPage, which was also released as a webtoon. It aired from April 8 to May 28, 2022, on SBS TV's Fridays and Saturdays at 22:00 (KST) time slot. It is also available for streaming on Viu in selected regions.


title: Again My Life

text: A young prosecutor, who gets killed while trying to take down a powerful politician, is given a chance to start a new life for justice.


title: Again My Life

text: On November 5, 2021, it was announced that actor Lee Kyu-han decided to leave the series due to personal reasons. Later on November 10, it was confirmed that Jung Sang-hoon would replace Lee Kyu-han.


title: Again My Life

text: On December 31, 2021, it was reported that on December 25, one of the supporting actors tested positive for COVID-19. Filming was halted on that day, and all cast members and production staff were immediately tested for the contagion. As there were no additional confirmed cases, "Again My Life" resumed filming the next day.


title: Again My Life

text: On March 4, 2022, Kim Ji-eun's agency confirmed that the actress was diagnosed with COVID-19 on February 27. She was an asymptomatic case, and was scheduled to be released from self-quarantine on March 6.


title: Again My Life

text: On April 18, 2022, it was confirmed that actor Lee Joon-gi had contracted COVID-19, and filming was suspended. Filming resumed on April 25 after his recovery.


title: Mark Addy

text: Mark Ian Addy (born 14 January 1964) is an English actor. His roles in British television include Detective Constable Gary Boyle in the sitcom "The Thin Blue Line" (1995–1996) and Hercules in the fantasy drama series "Atlantis" (2013–2015).


title: Mark Addy

text: He made his film debut as Dave Horsefall in "The Full Monty" (1997), earning a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. Other notable roles include Fred Flintstone in "The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas" (2000), Bill Miller in the CBS sitcom "Still Standing" (2002–2006) and King Robert Baratheon in the HBO fantasy series "Game of Thrones" (2011).


title: Mark Addy

text: Addy was born in York, where his family has lived since at least 1910 when his paternal great-grandfather was recorded there. His father, Ian, spent his working life as a glazier at York Minster. Addy was educated at Joseph Rowntree School, and from 1982 to 1984 attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.


title: Mark Addy

text: Addy made his first television appearance in 1987 in "The Ritz", followed in 1988 by "A Very Peculiar Practice", followed by television performances in shows such as "Heartbeat", "Band of Gold", "Married... with Children", "Peak Practice", "The Thin Blue Line", "Too Much Sun", "Sunnyside Farm", "Trollied" and "The Syndicate".


title: Mark Addy

text: He portrayed Bill Miller (using an improvised American accent) in "Still Standing" and portrayed Detective Boyle in the second series of the British sitcom "The Thin Blue Line". He also appeared on ITV1's comedy drama series "Bonkers", and another ITV comedy drama, "Bike Squad", in early 2008 as Sergeant John Rook.


title: Mark Addy

text: For a period from 2009, Addy starred with Fay Ripley in a series of adverts for the relaunched Tesco Clubcard. He portrayed Robert Baratheon in the HBO series "Game of Thrones": Addy's audition for the role was, according to showrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, the best they saw, he being the easiest actor to cast for the show. He portrayed Hercules, one of the main characters in the BBC One fantasy drama series "Atlantis", which started airing on 28 September 2013 in the UK. In the BBC television drama "New Blood" (2016), featuring young detectives from the Serious Fraud Office and the London Police Service, Addy played D.S. Derek Sands.


title: Mark Addy

text: In film, Addy had a leading role in "The Full Monty" (1997), and portrayed Fred Flintstone in the 2000 film "The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas". He portrayed Mac McArthur in the 1998 film "Jack Frost". In 2001, he portrayed Roland in "A Knight's Tale" and a butler to Chris Rock's character in the film "Down to Earth". In "Down to Earth", his character was an American who was pretending to be British.


title: Mark Addy

text: Addy portrayed David Philby in "The Time Machine" and made an appearance as the Ship Captain in "Around the World in 80 Days" with Jackie Chan and Steve Coogan, and made an appearance as Friar Tuck in Ridley Scott's 2010 film "Robin Hood".


title: Mark Addy

text: In 2019, he appeared in the "Downton Abbey" movie as Mr. Bakewell, who owns the shop from which Mrs. Patmore buys her supplies; a character who was mentioned in the television series but hadn't yet appeared onscreen.


title: Mark Addy

text: Addy portrayed Kevin Snell in the 2006 revival of "Donkeys' Years" at the Comedy Theatre in London, and in 2007–08 he has appeared at the National Theatre as Dogberry in "Much Ado About Nothing" and as Hjalmar Johansen in "Fram". In 2011, he portrayed Vladimir, an NKVD officer, in "Collaborators" at the National Theatre, which also featured in the National Theatre Live programme, where live performances are broadcast to cinemas around the world. In 2016, Addy appeared in Richard Bean's "The Nap" at Sheffield Crucible with Jack O'Connell and Ralf Little, directed by Richard Wilson.


title: Mark Addy

text: On 20 July 2019, Addy was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of York, having given a speech at the Roses Varsity opening ceremony a few months prior.


title: Rocky V

text: Rocky V is a 1990 American sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen (the first time since the first film of the franchise), written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the sequel to "Rocky IV" (1985) and is the fifth installment in the "Rocky" franchise. It also stars Talia Shire, Burt Young, Sage Stallone, Tommy Morrison and Burgess Meredith. In the film, a financially struggling Rocky Balboa (Stallone) agrees to train protégé Tommy Gunn (Morrison) at the gym once owned by Balboa's trainer, Mickey Goldmill (Meredith).


title: Rocky V

text: Development for the film began in 1989, after Stallone completed the screenplay. Avildsen, who directed the first installment, was soon confirmed to return and principal photography began in January 1990, being largely filmed on location around Philadelphia. The filmmakers encountered creative differences with MGM/UA and were disallowed to include darker elements of Stallone's original screenplay, who had envisioned "Rocky V" as the final film in the franchise. The film also marks the final appearances of Shire and Meredith in the franchise.


title: Rocky V

text: "Rocky V" was theatrically released in the United States by MGM/UA on November 16, 1990. The film received negative reviews, with criticism for its screenplay, characterization, continuity errors and medical inaccuracies; Stallone later expressed regret over the outcome of the film. It is usually considered the worst movie of the "Rocky" franchise. "Rocky V" also underperformed expectations at the box office, grossing $120 million worldwide, making it the lowest grossing film in the franchise. A sequel, "Rocky Balboa", was released in 2006.


title: Rocky V

text: In the aftermath of his victory over Ivan Drago in Moscow, Rocky finds himself experiencing physical complications from the fight. Rocky, his wife Adrian, his brother-in-law Paulie, and his trainer Tony "Duke" Evers return to the United States where they are greeted by Rocky's son, Robert Jr. At a press conference, boxing promoter George Washington Duke attempts to goad Rocky into fighting his boxer, Union Cane, who is the top-rated challenger, but Rocky declines.


title: Rocky V

text: After returning home, Rocky and Adrian discover they are bankrupt after Paulie was fooled into signing a "power of attorney" over to Rocky's accountant, who squandered all of his money on real estate deals gone sour and failed to pay Rocky's taxes over the previous six years. His mansion has been mortgaged by $400,000, but his attorney tells Rocky that it is fixable with a few more fights. Rocky initially accepts the fight with Cane, but Adrian urges him to see a doctor, and he is diagnosed with cavum septum pellucidum.


title: Rocky V

text: Reluctantly, Rocky retires from boxing. His home and belongings are sold to pay the debt and the Balboas move back to their old working-class neighborhood in Philadelphia. Rocky visits Mighty Mick's Gym (willed to his son by his old trainer Mickey Goldmill), which has fallen into disrepair. Seeing a vision of himself and Mickey from years past, Rocky draws inspiration to become a trainer himself and reopens the gym.


title: Rocky V

text: Rocky and Paulie meet a young fighter from Oklahoma named Tommy Gunn. Rocky agrees to become his manager. Training him gives Rocky a sense of purpose, and Tommy rises to become a top contender. Distracted with Tommy's training, Rocky neglects Robert, who is being bullied at school. After learning to defend himself, Robert falls in with the wrong crowd and becomes withdrawn from his family.


title: Rocky V

text: Union Cane wins the vacant world heavyweight title. Still wanting to do business with Rocky, Washington showers Tommy with luxuries and promises him that he is the only path to a shot at the title. Rocky insists dealing with Washington will end badly, causing Tommy to desert him. Adrian attempts to comfort Rocky but Rocky vents his frustrations by telling her his life had a new meaning by training Tommy. Adrian tells Rocky that Tommy never had his heart and that was something he could never learn. Realizing that his family is his top priority, Rocky apologizes to Adrian and the two embrace. Rocky then apologizes to Robert and they mend their relationship.


title: Rocky V

text: Tommy defeats Cane for the heavyweight title with a first-round knockout, but is jeered by spectators for leaving Rocky and hounded by reporters after the fight. Tommy gives all the credit for his success to George Washington Duke, which only fans the flames of contempt for Tommy by the fans and media. They insist that Cane was nothing but a "paper champion", because Cane did not win the title from Balboa.


title: Rocky V

text: Washington convinces Tommy that he needs to secure a fight with Rocky to refute the notion that he is not the real champion. Washington and Tommy show up at the local bar with a live television crew to goad Rocky into accepting a title fight. Rocky declines and tries to reason with him, but Tommy calls him weak, prompting Paulie to stand up for Rocky. When Tommy punches Paulie, Rocky challenges Tommy to a street fight on the spot; despite Duke's objections, Tommy accepts.


title: Rocky V

text: Rocky initially knocks Tommy to the ground with a flurry of punches, but Tommy gets up and attacks Rocky from behind. Rocky is beaten down by Tommy, seeing nightmarish visions of Drago, before a vision of Mickey urges him to get up and continue the fight. When Robert and Adrian see the brawl being televised, they rush to the back alley to cheer for Rocky. With Robert, Paulie, Adrian and the neighborhood crowd cheering him on, Rocky makes use of his street-fighting skills and defeats Tommy.


title: Rocky V

text: While Tommy is escorted away by the police, Washington threatens to sue Rocky if he touches him. After a brief hesitation, Rocky knocks him onto the hood of a car, defiantly replying "Sue me for what?"


title: Rocky V

text: Months later, Rocky and Robert climb up the Rocky Steps, see his statue, and are about to go inside and explore the Philadelphia Museum of Art when Rocky gives his son Rocky Marciano's cufflink, given to him years earlier as a gift from Mickey.


title: Rocky V

text: The film has cameos by sportswriters and boxing analysts, including Al Bernstein, Stan Hochman and Al Meltzer, and sportscaster Stu Nahan, who was the ringside announcer in every "Rocky" movie, save the sixth and seventh. Dolph Lundgren and Carl Weathers appear as Ivan Drago and Apollo Creed in archival footage, uncredited. Mr. T appears as his "Rocky III" character Clubber Lang in archival footage, uncredited. Hulk Hogan, from his "Rocky III" role as Thunderlips, appears in a still shot during the film's end credits sequence taken from the staredown the two engaged in during said film, also uncredited.


title: Rocky V

text: Jodi Letizia, who played street kid Marie in the original "Rocky" (1976), was supposed to reprise her role. Her character was shown to have ended up as Rocky predicted she would: a prostitute, but the scene ended up on the cutting room floor. She can briefly be seen during the street fight at the end. The character reappears in "Rocky Balboa" (2006) as a bartender and confidante to the aging Rocky. Actress Geraldine Hughes took over the role.


title: Rocky V

text: Kevin Connolly, who gained success as Eric Murphy on HBO's "Entourage", was in his first acting role as neighborhood bully Chickie.


title: Rocky V

text: Filming began in mid-January 1990. Some of the fight sequences were filmed at The Blue Horizon in Philadelphia, a venue which was a mecca for boxing in the city during the 1970s.


title: Rocky V

text: The Rocky statue, which was commissioned for "Rocky III", had since been gifted to the city of Philadelphia and moved to the entrance of the Spectrum, and so had to be moved back to the Philadelphia Museum of Art for the filming.


title: Rocky V

text: Scenes with Mickey, played by Burgess Meredith, were trimmed in the final film when Rocky fights Tommy. Mickey appeared in ghost form on top of the railway bridge, giving words of encouragement. In the final film, this was made into flashbacks. The speech Mickey gives to Rocky in the flashback sequence is based on an interview with Cus D'Amato given in 1985, shortly after Mike Tyson's first professional bout.


title: Rocky V

text: As a promotional gimmick, replicas of the golden glove necklace featured so prominently in the film were distributed to moviegoers at the Hollywood premiere of "Rocky V" at Grauman's Chinese Theatre.


title: Rocky V

text: Professional wrestling veteran Terry Funk helped choreograph much of the street fight between Rocky and Tommy Gunn.


title: Rocky V

text: In the original script, Rocky is killed during the final fight with Tommy, dying in Adrian's arms in the street. According to Stallone, the director and the studio had second thoughts. Eventually, Stallone rewrote the ending, saying that he decided to change it because Rocky was supposed to be about perseverance and redemption, and having him die in a street brawl would be against the roots of the series.


title: Rocky V

text: In the years following the film's release, Stallone acknowledged that the injury which forces Rocky to retire, referenced in the film as a potentially lethal form of 'brain damage', was inaccurate. Stallone stated that having discussed the story with many boxing medical professionals, the injury Rocky suffered was a milder form of brain damage, similar to that of a long term concussion that many boxers suffer from and by modern-day standards are still able to gain licenses to box. It would not have prevented Rocky from gaining a license to box nor killed him.


title: Rocky V

text: Tony Burton briefly reprises his role as Duke at the beginning of the film. However, during his scenes, Rocky refers to him as "Tony". In the credits, Burton is credited as playing "Tony", as opposed to "Duke" (possibly to avoid confusion with the George Washington Duke character). "Rocky V" is the third time in the series to do so, with the first being "Rocky II" as Apollo asked "What are you afraid of, Tony?", and the second time during "Rocky IV" after receiving a pep talk in the former Soviet Union, "Thanks, Tony." "Rocky Balboa" names Burton's character "Duke Evers".


title: Rocky V

text: Sage Stallone, Sylvester's real-life son, portrays his character's son in the film. In "Rocky IV", he was portrayed as a nine-year-old child whereas Sage was 14 at the time of filming, making him a teenager in "Rocky V", despite it taking place just days after the events of "Rocky IV".


title: Rocky V

text: The soundtrack album is not the original motion picture score, but rather has music from and inspired by the film. This soundtrack features Joey B. Ellis, MC Hammer, 7A3, MC Tab, Rob Base, and Bill Conti. Most of the soundtrack album contains rap music, rather than the Bill Conti score. Also, two of the scores from "Rocky IV" were featured in this film's trailer, but were not present in the actual film or soundtrack. "The Measure of a Man" was written by Alan Menken, Elton John, Tim Rice and performed by John.


title: Rocky V

text: Like "Rocky IV", a full version of "Gonna Fly Now" with lyrics is not heard in the film. However an instrumental horn version is played during the early scene where Rocky gets off the airplane, and at the end of the movie after Rocky defeats Tommy, another instrumental version is heard. In addition, a solo piano version is heard during several scenes including where Balboa speaks with his son upon his return from Russia, and during the scenes where his property is being auctioned.


title: Rocky V

text: Anticipated to be one of the big hits of the 1990 holiday season, "Rocky V" finished third in its opening weekend, trailing "Dances with Wolves" and "Home Alone", and never recovered. The film earned US$14 million on its opening weekend and $41 million in total in the US and Canada, about one-third of its predecessor's take. "Rocky V" however made almost twice as much overseas with a gross of $79 million, for a total of $120 million worldwide.


title: Rocky V

text: "Rocky V" has a 31% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes from 39 reviews, with the site consensus, ""Rocky V"s attempts to recapture the original's working-class grit are as transparently phony as each of the thuddingly obvious plot developments in a misguided installment that sent the franchise flailing into longterm limbo." It also has a score of 55 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on 16 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Rocky V

text: It was nominated for seven Golden Raspberry Awards in 1990 including Worst Picture, Worst Actor and Worst Screenplay for Stallone, Worst Actress for Shire, Worst Supporting Actor for Young, Worst Director for Avildsen and Worst Original Song for "The Measure of a Man".


title: Rocky V

text: Sixteen years later, Stallone wrote, directed and starred in the film "Rocky Balboa". Stallone suggested that advances in medical science during the period between the films had shown that the injuries mentioned in "Rocky V" were less debilitating than once thought, and that he would receive a "clean bill of health" by the time of "Rocky Balboa", allowing him to box again. The film grossed over $70 million at the US box office, and $85 million abroad, and received largely positive reviews.


title: Rocky V

text: In 2002, a video game called "Rocky", based on the first five "Rocky" films, was released by Rage Software.


title: Rocky V

text: A sequel was released by in 2004 by Venom Games called "Rocky Legends", which further expanded on the story of the first four films.


title: Half-life

text: Half-life (symbol ) is the time required for a quantity (of substance) to reduce to half of its initial value. The term is commonly used in nuclear physics to describe how quickly unstable atoms undergo radioactive decay or how long stable atoms survive. The term is also used more generally to characterize any type of exponential (or, rarely, non-exponential) decay. For example, the medical sciences refer to the biological half-life of drugs and other chemicals in the human body. The converse of half-life (in exponential growth) is doubling time.


title: Half-life

text: The original term, "half-life period", dating to Ernest Rutherford's discovery of the principle in 1907, was shortened to "half-life" in the early 1950s. Rutherford applied the principle of a radioactive element's half-life in studies of age determination of rocks by measuring the decay period of radium to lead-206.


title: Half-life

text: Half-life is constant over the lifetime of an exponentially decaying quantity, and it is a characteristic unit for the exponential decay equation. The accompanying table shows the reduction of a quantity as a function of the number of half-lives elapsed.


title: Half-life

text: A half-life often describes the decay of discrete entities, such as radioactive atoms. In that case, it does not work to use the definition that states "half-life is the time required for exactly half of the entities to decay". For example, if there is just one radioactive atom, and its half-life is one second, there will "not" be "half of an atom" left after one second.


title: Half-life

text: Instead, the half-life is defined in terms of probability: "Half-life is the time required for exactly half of the entities to decay "on average"". In other words, the "probability" of a radioactive atom decaying within its half-life is 50%.


title: Half-life

text: For example, the image on the right is a simulation of many identical atoms undergoing radioactive decay. Note that after one half-life there are not "exactly" one-half of the atoms remaining, only "approximately", because of the random variation in the process. Nevertheless, when there are many identical atoms decaying (right boxes), the law of large numbers suggests that it is a "very good approximation" to say that half of the atoms remain after one half-life.


title: Half-life

text: Various simple exercises can demonstrate probabilistic decay, for example involving flipping coins or running a statistical computer program.


title: Half-life

text: The three parameters , , and are directly related in the following way:formula_2where is the natural logarithm of 2 (approximately 0.693).


title: Half-life

text: Some quantities decay by two exponential-decay processes simultaneously. In this case, the actual half-life can be related to the half-lives and that the quantity would have if each of the decay processes acted in isolation:


title: Half-life

text: The term "half-life" is almost exclusively used for decay processes that are exponential (such as radioactive decay or the other examples above), or approximately exponential (such as biological half-life discussed below). In a decay process that is not even close to exponential, the half-life will change dramatically while the decay is happening. In this situation it is generally uncommon to talk about half-life in the first place, but sometimes people will describe the decay in terms of its "first half-life", "second half-life", etc., where the first half-life is defined as the time required for decay from the initial value to 50%, the second half-life is from 50% to 25%, and so on.


title: Half-life

text: A biological half-life or elimination half-life is the time it takes for a substance (drug, radioactive nuclide, or other) to lose one-half of its pharmacologic, physiologic, or radiological activity. In a medical context, the half-life may also describe the time that it takes for the concentration of a substance in blood plasma to reach one-half of its steady-state value (the "plasma half-life").


title: Half-life

text: The relationship between the biological and plasma half-lives of a substance can be complex, due to factors including accumulation in tissues, active metabolites, and receptor interactions.


title: Half-life

text: While a radioactive isotope decays almost perfectly according to so-called "first order kinetics" where the rate constant is a fixed number, the elimination of a substance from a living organism usually follows more complex chemical kinetics.


title: Half-life

text: For example, the biological half-life of water in a human being is about 9 to 10 days, though this can be altered by behavior and other conditions. The biological half-life of caesium in human beings is between one and four months.


title: Half-life

text: The concept of a half-life has also been utilized for pesticides in plants, and certain authors maintain that pesticide risk and impact assessment models rely on and are sensitive to information describing dissipation from plants.


title: Half-life

text: In epidemiology, the concept of half-life can refer to the length of time for the number of incident cases in a disease outbreak to drop by half, particularly if the dynamics of the outbreak can be modeled exponentially.


title: Émile Zola

text: Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, , ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism, and an important contributor to the development of theatrical naturalism. He was a major figure in the political liberalization of France and in the exoneration of the falsely accused and convicted army officer Alfred Dreyfus, which is encapsulated in his renowned newspaper opinion headlined "J'Accuse…!" Zola was nominated for the first and second Nobel Prize in Literature in 1901 and 1902.


title: Émile Zola

text: Zola was born in Paris in 1840 to François Zola (originally Francesco Zolla) and Émilie Aubert. His father was an Italian engineer with some Greek ancestry, who was born in Venice in 1795, and engineered the Zola Dam in Aix-en-Provence; his mother was French. The family moved to Aix-en-Provence in the southeast when Émile was three years old. Four years later, in 1847, his father died, leaving his mother on a meager pension. In 1858, the Zolas moved to Paris, where Émile's childhood friend Paul Cézanne soon joined him. Zola started to write in the romantic style. His widowed mother had planned a law career for Émile, but he failed his baccalauréat examination twice.


title: Émile Zola

text: Before his breakthrough as a writer, Zola worked for minimal pay as a clerk in a shipping firm and then in the sales department for the publisher Hachette. He also wrote literary and art reviews for newspapers. As a political journalist, Zola did not hide his dislike of Napoleon III, who had successfully run for the office of president under the constitution of the French Second Republic, only to use this position as a springboard for the coup d'état that made him emperor.


title: Émile Zola

text: In 1862 Zola was naturalized as a French citizen. In 1865, he met Éléonore-Alexandrine Meley, who called herself Gabrielle, a seamstress, who became his mistress. They married on 31 May 1870. Together they cared for Zola's mother. She stayed with him all his life and was instrumental in promoting his work. The marriage remained childless. Alexandrine Zola had a child before she met Zola that she had given up, because she was unable to take care of it. When she confessed this to Zola after their marriage, they went looking for the girl, but she had died a short time after birth.


title: Émile Zola

text: In 1888, he was given a camera, but he only began to use it in 1895 and attained a near professional level of expertise. Also in 1888, Alexandrine hired Jeanne Rozerot, a 21-year-old seamstress who was to live with them in their home in Médan. The 48-year-old Zola fell in love with Jeanne and fathered two children with her: Denise in 1889 and Jacques in 1891. After Jeanne left Médan for Paris, Zola continued to support and visit her and their children. In November 1891 Alexandrine discovered the affair, which brought the marriage to the brink of divorce. The discord was partially healed, which allowed Zola to take an increasingly active role in the lives of the children. After Zola's death, the children were given his name as their lawful surname.


title: Émile Zola

text: During his early years, Zola wrote numerous short stories and essays, four plays, and three novels. Among his early books was "Contes à Ninon", published in 1864. With the publication of his sordid autobiographical novel "La Confession de Claude" (1865) attracting police attention, Hachette fired Zola. His novel "Les Mystères de Marseille" appeared as a serial in 1867. He was also an aggressive critic, his articles on literature and art appearing in Villemessant's journal "L'Événement". After his first major novel, "Thérèse Raquin" (1867), Zola started the series called Les Rougon-Macquart.


title: Émile Zola

text: In Paris, Zola maintained his friendship with Cézanne, who painted a portrait of him with another friend from Aix-en-Provence, writer Paul Alexis, entitled "Paul Alexis Reading to Zola".


title: Émile Zola

text: More than half of Zola's novels were part of the twenty-volume Les Rougon-Macquart cycle, which details the history of a single family under the reign of Napoléon III. Unlike Balzac, who in the midst of his literary career resynthesized his work into "La Comédie Humaine", Zola from the start, at the age of 28, had thought of the complete layout of the series. Set in France's Second Empire, in the context of Baron Haussmann's changing Paris, the series traces the environmental and hereditary influences of violence, alcohol, and prostitution which became more prevalent during the second wave of the Industrial Revolution. The series examines two branches of the family—the respectable (that is, legitimate) Rougons and the disreputable (illegitimate) Macquarts—over five generations.


title: Émile Zola

text: In the preface to the first novel of the series, Zola states, "I want to explain how a family, a small group of regular people, behaves in society, while expanding through the birth of ten, twenty individuals, who seem at first glance profoundly dissimilar, but who are shown through analysis to be intimately linked to one another. Heredity has its own laws, just like gravity. I will attempt to find and to follow, by resolving the double question of temperaments and environments, the thread that leads mathematically from one man to another."


title: Émile Zola

text: Although Zola and Cézanne were friends from childhood, they experienced a falling out later in life over Zola's fictionalised depiction of Cézanne and the Bohemian life of painters in Zola's novel "L'Œuvre" ("The Masterpiece", 1886).


title: Émile Zola

text: From 1877, with the publication of "L'Assommoir", Émile Zola became wealthy; he was better paid than Victor Hugo, for example. Because "L'Assommoir" was such a success, Zola was able to renegotiate his contract with his publisher Georges Charpentier to receive more than 14% royalties and the exclusive rights to serial publication in the press. Subsequently, sales of "L'Assommoir" were even exceeded by those of "Nana" (1880) and "La Débâcle" (1892). He became a figurehead among the literary bourgeoisie and organised cultural dinners with Guy de Maupassant, Joris-Karl Huysmans, and other writers at his luxurious villa (worth 300,000 francs) in Médan, near Paris, after 1880. Despite being nominated several times, Zola was never elected to the .


title: Émile Zola

text: Zola's output also included novels on population ("Fécondité") and work ("Travail"), a number of plays, and several volumes of criticism. He wrote every day for around 30 years, and took as his motto ("not a day without a line").


title: Émile Zola

text: The self-proclaimed leader of French naturalism, Zola's works inspired operas such as those of Gustave Charpentier, notably "Louise" in the 1890s. His works were inspired by the concept of heredity and milieu (Claude Bernard and Hippolyte Taine) and by the realism of Balzac and Flaubert. He also provided the libretto for several operas by Alfred Bruneau, including "Messidor" (1897) and "L'Ouragan" (1901); several of Bruneau's other operas are adapted from Zola's writing. These provided a French alternative to Italian verismo.


title: Émile Zola

text: He is considered to be a significant influence on those writers that are credited with the creation of the so-called new journalism: Wolfe, Capote, Thompson, Mailer, Didion, Talese and others.


title: Émile Zola

text: Tom Wolfe wrote that his goal in writing fiction was to document contemporary society in the tradition of John Steinbeck, Charles Dickens, and Émile Zola.


title: Émile Zola

text: Captain Alfred Dreyfus was a French-Jewish artillery officer in the French army. In September 1894, French intelligence discovered someone had been passing military secrets to the German Embassy. Senior officers began to suspect Dreyfus, though there was no direct evidence of any wrongdoing. Dreyfus was court-martialed, convicted of treason, and sent to Devil's Island in French Guiana.


title: Émile Zola

text: Lt. Col. Georges Picquart came across evidence that implicated another officer, Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy, and informed his superiors. Rather than move to clear Dreyfus, the decision was made to protect Esterhazy and ensure the original verdict was not overturned. Major Hubert-Joseph Henry forged documents that made it seem as if Dreyfus were guilty, while Picquart was reassigned to duty in Africa. However, Picquart's findings were communicated by his lawyer to the Senator Auguste Scheurer-Kestner, who took up the case, at first discreetly and then increasingly publicly. Meanwhile, further evidence was brought forward by Dreyfus's family and Esterhazy's estranged family and creditors. Under pressure, the general staff arranged for a closed court-martial to be held on 10–11 January 1898, at which Esterhazy was tried "in camera" and acquitted. Picquart was detained on charges of violation of professional secrecy.


title: Émile Zola

text: In response Zola risked his career and more, and on 13 January 1898 published "J'Accuse…!" on the front page of the Paris daily "L'Aurore". The newspaper was run by Ernest Vaughan and Georges Clemenceau, who decided that the controversial story would be in the form of an open letter to the President, Félix Faure. Zola's "J'Accuse...!" accused the highest levels of the French Army of obstruction of justice and antisemitism by having wrongfully convicted Alfred Dreyfus to life imprisonment on Devil's Island. Zola's intention was that he be prosecuted for libel so that the new evidence in support of Dreyfus would be made public. The case, known as the Dreyfus affair, deeply divided France between the reactionary army and Catholic church on one hand, and the more liberal commercial society on the other. The ramifications continued for many years; on the 100th anniversary of Zola's article, France's Roman Catholic daily paper, "La Croix", apologised for its antisemitic editorials during the Dreyfus affair. As Zola was a leading French thinker and public figure, his letter formed a major turning point in the affair.


title: Émile Zola

text: Zola was brought to trial for criminal libel on 7 February 1898, and was convicted on 23 February and removed from the Legion of Honour. The first judgment was overturned in April on a technicality, but a new suit was pressed against Zola, which opened on 18 July. At his lawyer's advice, Zola fled to England rather than wait for the end of the trial (at which he was again convicted). Without even having had the time to pack a few clothes, he arrived at Victoria Station on 19 July, the start of a brief and unhappy residence in the UK. Zola visited historic locations including a Church of England service at Westminster Abbey. After initially staying at the Grosvenor Hotel, Victoria, Zola went to the Oatlands Park Hotel in Weybridge and shortly afterwards rented a house locally called Penn where he was joined by his family for the summer. At the end of August, they moved to another house in Addlestone called Summerfield. In early October the family moved to London and then his wife and children went back to France so the children could resume their schooling. Thereafter Zola lived alone in the Queen's Hotel, Norwood. He stayed in Upper Norwood from October 1898 to June 1899.


title: Émile Zola

text: In France, the furious divisions over the Dreyfus affair continued. The fact of Major Henry's forgery was discovered and admitted to in August 1898, and the Government referred Dreyfus's original court-martial to the Supreme Court for review the following month, over the objections of the General Staff. Eight months later, on 3 June 1899, the Supreme Court annulled the original verdict and ordered a new military court-martial. The same month Zola returned from his exile in England. Still the anti-Dreyfusards would not give up, and on 9 September 1899 Dreyfus was again convicted. Dreyfus applied for a retrial, but the government countered by offering Dreyfus a pardon (rather than exoneration), which would allow him to go free, provided that he admit to being guilty. Although he was clearly not guilty, he chose to accept the pardon. Later the same month, despite Zola's condemnation, an amnesty bill was passed, covering "all criminal acts or misdemeanours related to the Dreyfus affair or that have been included in a prosecution for one of these acts", indemnifying Zola and Picquart, but also all those who had concocted evidence against Dreyfus. Dreyfus was finally completely exonerated by the Supreme Court in 1906.


title: Émile Zola

text: Zola said of the affair, "The truth is on the march, and nothing shall stop it." Zola's 1898 article is widely viewed in France as the most prominent manifestation of the new power of the intellectuals (writers, artists, academicians) in shaping public opinion, the media and the state.


title: Émile Zola

text: On August 18, 1887, the French daily newspaper "Le Figaro" published "The Manifesto of the Five" shortly after "La Terre" was released. The signatories included Paul Bonnetain, J. H. Rosny, Lucien Descaves, Paul Margueritte and Gustave Guiches, who strongly disapproved of the lack of balance of both morals and aesthetics throughout the book's depiction of the revolution. The manifesto accused Zola of having "lowered the standard of Naturalism, of catering to large sales by deliberate obscenities, of being a morbid and impotent hypochondriac, incapable of taking a sane and healthy view of mankind. They freely referred to Zola's physiological weaknesses and expressed the utmost horror at the crudeness of La Terre."


title: Émile Zola

text: Zola died on 29 September 1902 of carbon monoxide poisoning caused by an improperly ventilated chimney. His funeral on 5 October was attended by thousands. Alfred Dreyfus initially had promised not to attend the funeral, but was given permission by Zola's widow and attended. At the time of his death Zola had just completed a novel, , about the Dreyfus trial. A sequel, , had been planned, but was not completed.


title: Émile Zola

text: His enemies were blamed for his death because of previous attempts on his life, but nothing could be proved at the time. Expressions of sympathy arrived from everywhere in France; for a week the vestibule of his house was crowded with notable writers, scientists, artists, and politicians who came to inscribe their names in the registers. On the other hand, Zola's enemies used the opportunity to celebrate in malicious glee. Writing in "L'Intransigeant", Henri Rochefort claimed Zola had committed suicide, having discovered Dreyfus to be guilty.


title: Émile Zola

text: Zola was initially buried in the Cimetière de Montmartre in Paris, but on 4 June 1908, just five years and nine months after his death, his remains were relocated to the Panthéon, where he shares a crypt with Victor Hugo and Alexandre Dumas. The ceremony was disrupted by an assassination attempt by , a disgruntled journalist and admirer of Edouard Drumont, on Alfred Dreyfus, who was wounded in the arm by the gunshot. Grégori was acquitted by the Parisian court which accepted his defense that he had not meant to kill Dreyfus, meaning merely to graze him.


title: Émile Zola

text: A 1953 investigation by journalist Jean Bedel published in the newspaper "Libération" under the headline "Was Zola assassinated?" raised the idea that Zola's death might have been a murder rather than an accident. It is based on the revelation by Norman pharmacist Pierre Hacquin, who was told by chimney-sweep Henri Buronfosse that he intentionally blocked the chimney of Zola's apartment in Paris.


title: Émile Zola

text: Literary historian Alain Pagès believes that is likely true and Zola's great-granddaughters, Brigitte Émile-Zola and Martine Le Blond-Zola, corroborate this explanation of Zola's poisoning by carbon monoxide. As reported in "L'Orient-Le Jour", Brigitte Émile-Zola recounts that her grandfather Jacques Émile-Zola, son of Émile Zola, told her at the age of eight that, in 1952, a man came to his house to give him information about his father's death. The man had been with a dying friend, who had confessed to taking money to plug Emile Zola's chimney.


title: Émile Zola

text: Zola's Rougon-Macquart novels are a panoramic account of the Second French Empire. They tell the story of a family approximately between the years 1851 and 1871. These twenty novels contain over 300 characters, who descend from the two family lines of the Rougons and Macquarts. In Zola's words, which are the subtitle of the Rougon-Macquart series, they are ""L'Histoire naturelle et sociale d'une famille sous le Second Empire" ("The natural and social history of a family under the Second Empire")."


title: Émile Zola

text: Most of the Rougon-Macquart novels were written during the French Third Republic. To an extent, attitudes and value judgments may have been superimposed on that picture with the wisdom of hindsight. Some critics classify Zola's work, and naturalism more broadly, as a particular strain of decadent literature, which emphasized the fallen, corrupted state of modern civilization. Nowhere is the doom-laden image of the Second Empire so clearly seen as in "Nana", which culminates in echoes of the Franco-Prussian War (and hence by implication of the French defeat). Even in novels dealing with earlier periods of Napoleon III's reign the picture of the Second Empire is sometimes overlaid with the imagery of catastrophe.


title: Émile Zola

text: In the Rougon-Macquart novels, provincial life can seem to be overshadowed by Zola's preoccupation with the capital. However, the following novels (see the individual titles in the Livre de poche series) scarcely touch on life in Paris: "La Terre" (peasant life in Beauce), "Le Rêve" (an unnamed cathedral city), "Germinal" (collieries in the northeast of France), "La Joie de vivre" (the Atlantic coast), and the four novels set in and around Plassans (modelled on his childhood home, Aix-en-Provence), ("La Fortune des Rougon", "La Conquête de Plassans", "La Faute de l'Abbé Mouret" and "Le Docteur Pascal"). "La Débâcle", the military novel is set for the most part in country districts of eastern France; its dénouement takes place in the capital during the civil war leading to the suppression of the Paris Commune. Though Paris has its role in "La Bête humaine" the most striking incidents (notably the train crash) take place elsewhere. Even the Paris-centred novels tend to set some scenes outside, if not very far from, the capital. In the political novel "Son Excellence Eugène Rougon", the eponymous minister's interventions on behalf of his so-called friends, have their consequences elsewhere, and the reader is witness to some of them. Even Nana, one of Zola's characters most strongly associated with Paris, makes a brief and typically disastrous trip to the country.


title: Émile Zola

text: In "Le Roman expérimental" and "Les Romanciers naturalistes," Zola expounded the purposes of the "naturalist" novel. The experimental novel was to serve as a vehicle for scientific experiment, analogous to the experiments conducted by Claude Bernard and expounded by him in "Introduction à la médecine expérimentale". Claude Bernard's experiments were in the field of clinical physiology, those of the Naturalist writers (Zola being their leader) would be in the realm of psychology influenced by the natural environment. Balzac, Zola claimed, had already investigated the psychology of lechery in an experimental manner, in the figure of Hector Hulot in "La Cousine Bette". Essential to Zola's concept of the experimental novel was dispassionate observation of the world, with all that it involved by way of meticulous documentation. To him, each novel should be based upon a dossier. With this aim, he visited the colliery of Anzin in northern France, in February 1884 when a strike was on; he visited La Beauce (for "La Terre"), Sedan, Ardennes (for "La Débâcle") and travelled on the railway line between Paris and Le Havre (when researching "La Bête humaine").


title: Émile Zola

text: Zola strongly claimed that Naturalist literature is an experimental analysis of human psychology. Considering this claim, many critics, such as György Lukács, find Zola strangely poor at creating lifelike and memorable characters in the manner of Honoré de Balzac or Charles Dickens, despite his ability to evoke powerful crowd scenes. It was important to Zola that no character should appear "larger than" life; but the criticism that his characters are "cardboard" is substantially more damaging. Zola, by refusing to make any of his characters larger than life (if that is what he has indeed done), did not inhibit himself from also achieving verisimilitude.


title: Émile Zola

text: Although Zola found it scientifically and artistically unjustifiable to create larger-than-life characters, his work presents some larger-than-life symbols which, like the mine Le Voreux in "Germinal", take on the nature of a surrogate human life. The mine, the still in "L'Assommoir" and the locomotive La Lison in "La Bête humaine" impress the reader with the vivid reality of human beings. The great natural processes of seedtime and harvest, death and renewal in "La Terre" are instinct with a vitality which is not human but is the elemental energy of life. Human life is raised to the level of the mythical as the hammerblows of Titans are seemingly heard underground at Le Voreux or in "La Faute de l'Abbé Mouret", the walled park of Le Paradou encloses a re-enactment—and restatement—of the Book of Genesis.


title: Émile Zola

text: In Zola there is the theorist and the writer, the poet, the scientist and the optimist – features that are basically joined in his own confession of positivism; later in his life, when he saw his own position turning into an anachronism, he would still style himself with irony and sadness over the lost cause as "an old and rugged Positivist".


title: Émile Zola

text: The poet is the artist in words whose writing, as in the racecourse scene in "Nana" or in the descriptions of the laundry in "L'Assommoir" or in many passages of "La Faute de l'Abbé Mouret", "Le Ventre de Paris" and "La Curée", vies with the colourful impressionistic techniques of Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir. The scientist is a believer in some measure of scientific determinism – not that this, despite his own words "devoid of free will" (""dépourvus de libre arbitre""), need always amount to a philosophical denial of free will. The creator of ""la littérature putride"", a term of abuse invented by an early critic of "Thérèse Raquin" (a novel which predates Les Rougon-Macquart series), emphasizes the squalid aspects of the human environment and upon the seamy side of human nature.


title: Émile Zola

text: The optimist is that other face of the scientific experimenter, the man with an unshakable belief in human progress. Zola bases his optimism on "innéité" and on the supposed capacity of the human race to make progress in a moral sense. "Innéité" is defined by Zola as that process in which ""se confondent les caractères physiques et moraux des parents, sans que rien d'eux semble s'y retrouver""; it is the term used in biology to describe the process whereby the moral and temperamental dispositions of some individuals are unaffected by the hereditary transmission of genetic characteristics. Jean Macquart and Pascal Rougon are two instances of individuals liberated from the blemishes of their ancestors by the operation of the process of "innéité".


title: Badshah (rapper)

text: Aditya Prateek Singh Sisodia, (born 19 November 1985), known by his stage name Badshah, is an Indian rapper, singer, film producer and businessman known for his Hindi, Haryanvi, and Punjabi music. He started his career in 2006 alongside Yo Yo Honey Singh in his Hip Hop group Mafia Mundeer. He split from Honey in 2012 and released his independent Haryanvi song "Kar Gayi Chull", which was later adopted into the 2016 Bollywood movie, "Kapoor & Sons". His music has been featured in Bollywood soundtracks for films such as 2014 films "Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania" and "Khoobsurat". He is also considered one of the highest-paid artists and also a controversial rapper of India, for his songs like "Genda Phool" and "Pagal".


title: Badshah (rapper)

text: His debut single, ""DJ Waley Babu"" featuring Aastha Gill, was ranked number one on the Indian iTunes charts within 24 hours of the release. The song crossed a million views on YouTube within 30 hours. In 2016, he collaborated with Navv Inder on ""Wakhra Swag"" which won the 2016 Punjabi Music Awards for best duo/group and most popular song of the year award. He has appeared in "Forbes India" Celebrity 100 in 2017, 2018 and 2019 as one of the highest-paid celebrities in India and as the only rapper in the list.


title: Badshah (rapper)

text: Ever since 2016, roughly each of his commercial works have been topping charts including the YouTube Music Video Charts, BBC Asian Network Charts, other several Indian radio and Indian streaming charts as well. As of 2020, four of his songs peaked on World Digital Song Sales chart by "Billboard". His work, ""Genda Phool"" came out to be commercially one of the most successful yet controversial number in the Indian history.


title: Badshah (rapper)

text: Badshah was born in Delhi, to a father from Haryana and a mother from Punjab. He is married to Jasmine. They have a daughter Jessemy Grace Masih Singh (born January 11, 2017).


title: Badshah (rapper)

text: He completed his schooling from Bal Bharti Public School, Pitampura, Delhi where he performed with his school choir. Prior to becoming a full-time musician he enrolled as a math student at the prestigious Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi before moving to civil engineer at PEC, Chandigarh, where he was exposed to new Punjabi music which promoted him to take on "rap" writing. He has stated that if he had not become a rapper, he may have become an IAS officer.


title: Badshah (rapper)

text: He started his career in the music industry with the name "Cool Equal", but then changed his name to Badshah. He further is known for his catchphrase "it's your boy Badshah", often stylized as "Ish yo boy Baad-uh-sh-aa-ah".


title: Badshah (rapper)

text: On 7 August 2020, the rapper released a classic pop and hip-hop album namely, 'The Power of Dreams of a Kid' which had 8 tracks and includes features from the artists namely Lisa Mishra, Sikander Kahlon, Fotty Seven, Bali and Music Producer Andy Grewal. The entire mastering and mixings of the album was done by Aditya Dev.