title: Terence Hill and Bud Spencer

text: "Even Angels Eat Beans" (1973) was originally intended to star Spencer and Hill, but Hill dropped out of the project and was replaced by Giuliano Gemma. The film produced a sequel in 1974, "Charleston" ("Anche gli angeli tirano di destro"). Spencer refused to reprise his role, and was replaced with Ricky Bruch. "Speaking of the Devil" (1991) was originally intended to star Hill alongside Spencer, but Hill had to refuse as still being engaged on the set of the "Lucky Luke" TV series.


title: Terence Hill and Bud Spencer

text: Because of the duo's huge popularity, many producers wanted to exploit their likeness with visually similar duos. Most notable were Paul L. Smith (adopted name Adam Eden in later years, sometimes credited Anam Eden) and Michael Coby (real name Antonio Cantafora) with at least 6 movies in "Bud & Terence"-fashion from 1973 to 1977. One of these films, "Convoy Buddies", was selected for American release by Film Ventures International, and producer Edward L. Montoro changed Smith's name to Bob Spencer and Cantafora's name to Terrance Hall. Smith sued, successfully arguing that an actor's name recognition is vital to his career. The judicial system agreed and ruled against FVI, which paid Smith damages and court costs. In the early 1980s István Bujtor became known as the Hungarian voice of Bud Spencer. Based on his real life similarity with Spencer, later a series of Hungarian comedies were created in the Bud Spencer-Terence Hill genre, in which Bujtor played hard-hitting detective Csöpi Ötvös, partnered with fellow Hungarian actor András Kern.


title: Sable Island

text: Sable Island (, literally "island of sand") is a small Canadian island situated southeast of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and about southeast of the closest point of mainland Nova Scotia in the North Atlantic Ocean. The island is staffed year round by three federal government staff, rising during summer months when research projects and tourism increase. Notable for its role in early Canadian history and the Sable Island horse, the island is protected and managed by Parks Canada, which must grant permission prior to any visit. Sable Island is part of District 7 of the Halifax Regional Municipality in Nova Scotia. The island is also a protected National Park Reserve and an Important Bird Area.


title: Sable Island

text: The expedition of Portuguese explorer João Álvares Fagundes explored this region in 1520–1521 and they were among the first Europeans to encounter the island. It is likely that he named the island "Fagunda" after himself. An island called "Fagunda" appears on later Portuguese maps placed to the southeast of Cape Breton, fairly near its present location; however, the identification of Sable Island with Fagunda is not certain. On the other hand, 16th-century Portuguese sources describe a fishing colony founded by the navigator in Cape Breton Island, further north. It is also possible that Fagundes sighted the island while heading southwest, reaching the Bay of Fundy, as the 1558 map of Diogo Homem and later Samuel de Champlain suggested, but this is unclear. The island was inhabited sporadically by sealers, shipwreck survivors, and salvagers known as "wreckers."


title: Sable Island

text: Troilus de La Roche de Mesgouez attempted to colonize the new world with convicts in 1598. When the convicts mutinied, they were left on the tree-less and stone-less Sable Island. Most of the settlers died, but a few managed to survive in mud dwellings for 5 years before being returned to France in 1603.


title: Sable Island

text: Sable Island is famous for its large number of shipwrecks. An estimated 350 vessels are believed to have fallen victim to the island's sand bars. Thick fogs, treacherous currents, and the island's location in the middle of a major transatlantic shipping route and rich fishing grounds account for the large number of wrecks. The first recorded wreck was the English ship in 1583, part of Humphrey Gilbert's Newfoundland expedition. There were at least three incidents of ship-wrecks in the 1700s. In 1736, a well-known Presbyterian preacher, the Irish-born Rev. Robert Dunlap (1715–1776), wrecked on the island on his way to America. Decades later, there were two major shipwrecks: In November 1760, Major Robert Elliot (1715–after 1765) of the 43rd regiment was shipwrecked on Sable Island; he was rescued in January 1761. En route to Prince Edward Island under the command of Major Timothy Hierlihy, Lieutenant Anthony Kennedy and 25 men wrecked on the island in November 1778. The crew was stranded on the island for the winter. Two died, and the remainder were rescued and transported to Halifax the following April. It is likely that the construction of lighthouses on each end of the island in 1873 contributed to the decrease in shipwrecks.


title: Sable Island

text: The last major shipwreck was the steamship "Manhasset" in 1947. Her crew were all saved, the last significant rescue of the Sable lifesaving station. After the 1991 Perfect Storm, the commercial fishing vessel "Andrea Gail"s emergency position-indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) was discovered on the shore of Sable Island on November 6, 1991, nine days after the last transmission from the crew. Other items found were fuel drums, a fuel tank, an empty life raft, and some other flotsam. All crew members perished and were never found. No further wrecks occurred until 1999, when the three crew members of the yacht "Merrimac" survived after their sloop ran aground due to a navigational error. Few of the wrecks surrounding the island are visible, as they are usually crushed and buried by the sand.


title: Sable Island

text: A series of life-saving stations were established on Sable Island by the governor of Nova Scotia, John Wentworth, in 1801. The rescue station began the continuous human presence on the island which continues today. Wentworth appointed James Morris, a Nova Scotian veteran of the British Royal Navy as the first superintendent of the island. Morris settled on the island in October 1801 with his family. By the time Morris died on the island in 1809, he had built up the humanitarian settlement to include a central station, two rescue boat stations, several lookout posts and survivor shelters. The station's rescue equipment was upgraded in 1854 with the latest generation of self-bailing lifeboats and life cars through the fundraising efforts of social reformer Dorothea Dix who had visited the island in the previous year.


title: Sable Island

text: The Island became property of the federal government during Canadian Confederation in 1867, with the Island being specifically referenced in an appendix to the British North America Act. The federal government later added two lighthouses in 1872, Sable Island East End Light (cylindrical skeletal tower built 1980s, replacing earlier iterations from 1873, 1888, 1917 and 1951) the eastern tip and Sable Island West End Light (pyramidal skeletal tower built 1979 replacing earlier towers from 1873, 1903 and 1935) on the western end. Until the advent of modern ship navigation, Sable Island was home to the families of the life-saving crews and the lighthouse keepers. In the early 20th century, the Marconi Company established a wireless station on the island and the Canadian government similarly established a weather station. Several generations of island staff were born and raised families of their own on the island, although a decline in shipwrecks gradually reduced the size of the lifesaving community. Only two people have been born on Sable Island since 1920.


title: Sable Island

text: Improvements in navigation led to a dramatic drop in shipwrecks by the mid 20th century. As such, the rescue station on Sable was reduced and eventually closed in 1958. The Canadian Coast Guard (CCG) first automated in the 1960s and eventually decommissioned the West light station in 2004 leaving only the East lighthouse active. However, during this period, the island's role in science grew, first in weather research. The Canadian government expanded the collection of weather data originally started by the rescue station into a full meteorological station operated by Environment Canada and Department of Fisheries and Oceans. The station conducted routine atmospheric and meteorological studies from a permanently occupied station on Sable Island until August 20, 2019. In addition to weather studies, research on the island expanded to a range of ecological and wildlife studies due to its unique position in the Atlantic.


title: Sable Island

text: Sable Island is specifically mentioned in the British North America Act 1867, Part 4, Section 91 as being the special responsibility of the federal government ("...the exclusive Legislative Authority of the Parliament of Canada extends to [...] 9. Beacons, Buoys, Lighthouses, and Sable Island."). For this reason it is considered a separate amateur radio "entity" (equivalent to a country for award credit), and with visiting operations using the special callsign prefix CY0. Because it is a separate radio entity, Sable Island is a popular Dxpedition destination.


title: Sable Island

text: Out of concern for preserving the island's frail ecology, all visitors to the island, including recreational boaters, require specific permission from Parks Canada. Sable Island's heliport contains emergency aviation fuel for search and rescue helicopters, which use the island to stage further offshore into the Atlantic. When the Sable Offshore Energy Project was active, the island was designated as an emergency evacuation point for crews aboard nearby drilling rigs. In 2017, Exxon Mobil began the plugging and abandonment of the production wells in the Thebaud field (the Sable Offshore Energy Project wells closest to Sable Island); all facilities were removed by November 2020.


title: Sable Island

text: On October 17, 2011, the Nova Scotia government entered into an agreement with the federal government to eventually protect the Island as a national park. The news followed an announcement made by the federal government in May 2010, increasing the level of protection the island receives by transferring control from the Canadian Coast Guard to Parks Canada, which manages the island under the Canada National Parks Act. The establishment of the park reserve means that the island, and the surrounding area within , cannot be drilled for oil or natural gas.


title: Sable Island

text: Sable Island became a National Park Reserve on June 20, 2013 with approval of Mi'kmaq stakeholders. Full national park status has yet to be achieved, pending settlement of native land claims. The park is home to hundreds of species of flora and fauna including a breed of the unique Sable Island horse. The park is also a breeding ground for marine life.


title: Sable Island

text: In July 2016, a hike across Sable Island was added to Google Streetview. Google worked with Parks Canada to add the interactive views of Sable and five other Canadian National Parks. The imagery was collected in September 2015 by a Parks Canada employee who carried a backpack version of the Street View car camera around an area on the centre of the island, part of Google's Trekker program which explores off-road scenic locations. The route follows a hiking route that Parks Canada staff uses to escort adventure tourists who visit the island.


title: Sable Island

text: Sable Island is a narrow, crescent-shaped sandbar with a surface area estimated around . Despite being approximately long, it is only across at its widest point. The maximum elevation is about . The long crescent-shaped island rises gently from the shallows of the continental shelf approximately east of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Its location, in tandem with the area's frequent fog and sudden strong storms e.g. hurricanes and nor'easters, have resulted in over 350 recorded shipwrecks. It is often referred to as "the Graveyard of the Atlantic", as it sits astride the great circle route from North America's east coast to Europe. The nearest landfall is to the northwest near Canso, Nova Scotia.


title: Sable Island

text: Sable Island is believed to have formed from a terminal moraine deposited on the continental shelf near the end of the last Ice Age. It is slowly moving as waves erode the western shore and new sand is added on the eastern shore, and continually changing shape through the effects of strong winds and violent ocean storms.


title: Sable Island

text: The island has several freshwater ponds on the south side between the station and west light; however, in recent years their protecting dune-line has been eroded to such an extent that they are changing from one year to the next. In prior years, a brackish lake named Lake Wallace existed in the centre of the south beach. At its largest, it extended for many miles; indeed, during World War II, amphibious aircraft landed on it. Over the years, the lake shrank with an infilling of sand, until in late 2011, it filled in entirely and disappeared. Since the south beach is subject to flooding during fall storms, photos often show water in the area around the former location of Lake Wallace; however, this flooded area is relatively shallow (only a few feet at most) and is not a remnant of the lake. The original lake was of a significant enough depth that even during times when the area was flooded, the lake could be seen in aerial photographs as a darker (deeper) patch in the middle of the flooded area.


title: Sable Island

text: The island is a part of the Halifax Regional Municipality, the federal electoral district of Halifax, and the provincial electoral district of Halifax Citadel, although the urban area of Halifax proper is some away on the Nova Scotian mainland.


title: Sable Island

text: Sable Island has a oceanic climate (Köppen "Cfb") using the -3 °C isotherm, with its climate being strongly influenced by the sea. As such, winter temperatures average near freezing while during the summer months, daily maximum temperatures average around . The average annual temperature range in Sable Island is only owing to the influence from the sea compared to at Halifax and in Winnipeg. Generally, February is the coldest month while August is the warmest month.


title: Sable Island

text: Sable Island averages of precipitation a year, which is fairly evenly distributed throughout the year, though October through January are the wettest months due to frequent and intense fall and winter storms. Being located in the path of major frontal storms and tropical cyclones year-round, most of the precipitation comes from these storms. Thunderstorms are rare, with only 11 days with thunderstorms per year. There are frequent heavy fogs in the area due to the contrasting effects of the cold Labrador Current and the warm Gulf Stream: on average there are 127 days out of the year that have at least 1 hour of fog. This makes Sable Island the foggiest place in the Maritimes. The foggiest season is during the summer months where July averages 22 fog days.


title: Sable Island

text: During the winter, Sable Island has the warmest temperatures in Canada apart from the Pacific coast, and can have the warmest temperatures in the country on some occasions due to the influence of the Gulf Stream. Summers are among the coolest in southern Canada though. It is also the most hurricane-prone part of Canada, also due to the Gulf Stream, and is the only place where Category 3 hurricane-force winds are likely in all of Canada. The highest temperature recorded was on August 27, 1951 while the lowest temperature recorded was on January 31, 1920.


title: Sable Island

text: Being a large low-lying sandbar, Sable Island is vulnerable to sea level rise. This is further exacerbated by an ongoing increase in storm frequency and intensity caused by climate change, further eroding the island. These factors point toward Sable Island disappearing by the end of the century.


title: Sable Island

text: Sable Island derived its name from the French word for "sand." It lacks natural trees, being covered instead with marram grass and other low-growing vegetation. In 1901, the federal government planted over 80,000 trees in an attempt to stabilize the soil; all died. Subsequent plantings resulted in the survival of a single Scots pine. Although planted in the 1960s, it is only a few feet tall. It is decorated yearly as a Christmas tree in December as part of a tradition among the station staff.


title: Sable Island

text: The island is home to over 550 free-roaming horses according to a 2016 report, protected by law from human interference. During a 2017–2018 study, the estimated population was 500 horses, up from the roughly 300 recorded in the 1970s. Because of the harsh spring of 2017, the mortality rate was about 10% but the normal rate is about 1% annually, primarily due to starvation and hypothermia.


title: Sable Island

text: This feral horse population is likely descended from horses confiscated from Acadians during the Great Expulsion and left on the island by Thomas Hancock, Boston merchant and uncle of John Hancock. In the early 1800s, many of the horses were used by men patrolling the island, searching for ships in distress, and the animals also moved lifeboats and equipment to sites of shipwrecks.


title: Sable Island

text: In 1879, 500 horses and cattle were estimated to live on the island, and the island vegetation was described as covered with grass and wild peas. In the past, excess horses were rounded up, shipped off the island, and sold, many used in coal mines on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. In 1960, the Canadian Government, under the Canada Shipping Act, gave the horse population full protection from human interference. This was partly motivated by a plan in the 1950s, eventually aborted due to public pressure, to remove the horses from the island, after some biologists reported that they were damaging the ecology of the land. Nonetheless, some continued to view the horses as an invasive species which is not suitable in a protected region where ecological integrity should be preserved according to the National Parks Act.


title: Sable Island

text: Harbour and grey seals breed on the island's shores. Seal counts from the 1960s for the grey seal population estimated 200–300 pups born at that time on the island, but surveys from as recent as 2003–2004 estimated the number of pups born in that season at 50,000. The seals are occasionally preyed upon by the various shark species that inhabit the waters nearby. Unusual corkscrew bite wounds on dead seals suggest that the Greenland shark is probably responsible for most attacks here.


title: Sable Island

text: Several large bird colonies are resident, including the Arctic tern and Ipswich sparrow, a subspecies of the Savannah sparrow which breeds only on the island. Many other species are resident, migratory, or transient, blown out to sea in storms and returned to land out of their natural range.


title: Sable Island

text: It was formerly believed the freshwater sponge "Heteromeyenia macouni" was found only in ponds on the island. However, it is now considered to be the same species as "Racekiela ryderi", found elsewhere.


title: Sable Island

text: At one point, there was a walrus population on the island, until hunters drove the population to extinction.


title: Sable Island

text: The Sable Island Station, managed and staffed by Parks Canada, is the only permanently staffed facility on the island. Climatological record-keeping on Sable Island began in 1871 with the establishment of the Meteorological Service of Canada, and ran continuously from 1891 until Aug 20, 2019.


title: Sable Island

text: Sable Island has been the subject of extensive scientific research over the years. The Meteorological Service of Canada operated a wide range of manual and automated instruments, including the Automated Weather Observing System, an aerology program measuring conditions in the upper atmosphere using a radiosonde carried aloft by a hydrogen-filled weather balloon to altitudes beyond , and a program collecting data on background levels of carbon dioxide, which began there in 1974. Research was done to monitor the long-range transport of pollution aerosols. Fog chemistry has also been studied, examining the transport and composition of atmospheric toxins it carries. Tropospheric ozone was measured and analyzed by researchers in Canada and the United States along with 20 other North American sites. The upper-air aerology program ended on August 20, 2019.


title: Sable Island

text: The installation of the BGS Magnetic Observatory on Sable Island was funded as a joint venture between the British Geological Survey, Sperry-Sun Drilling Services, and Sable Offshore Energy. The data it collects aid scientific research into rates of change of the Earth's magnetic field and increase the accuracy of the BGS Global Geomagnetic Model. Data from the geomagnetic observatory is used by the offshore energy industry for precise positioning activities such as directional drilling.


title: Sable Island

text: Supplies are delivered to the Sable Island Station approximately twice a month by Sable Aviation using a Britten-Norman Islander. Although the island has a heliport (CST5), there is no permanent runway for fixed wing aircraft, which land instead on south beach in an area designated as the Sable Island Aerodrome (CSB2). Prior permission is required to land, as the area is often unusable due to changing sand conditions.


title: Sable Island

text: The unique landscape, history of shipwrecks, and wildlife, especially horses, have made Sable Island an iconic place in Atlantic Canada and attracted considerable international following.


title: Sable Island

text: Shipwreck survivors published early survival narratives about their experiences at Sable Island, beginning with the sinking of the "Delight" in 1583. The first formal history of the island, "Sable Island: its History and Phenomena", was written in 1894 by George Patterson. Many other histories of the island and its shipwrecks have been published since, such as Lyall Campbell's two books – "Sable Island, Fatal and Fertile Crescent" in 1974 and "Sable Island Shipwrecks: Disaster and Survival at the North Atlantic Graveyard" in 1994 – and more recently, "A Dune Adrift: The Strange Origins and Curious History of Sable Island", written in 2004 by Marq de Villiers. In his 1997 book, "The Perfect Storm", Sebastian Junger briefly describes the geography and history of the island. Joshua Slocum describes Sable Island in "Sailing Alone Around the World" during his 1895 solo circumnavigation.


title: Sable Island

text: The island has also inspired works of fiction beginning in 1802 when Nova Scotia author Thomas Chandler Haliburton published "The Sable Island Ghost," a story about a ghostly woman inspired by the loss of the brig "Francis" in 1798. His story helped raise support for the establishment of a rescue station on the island. Canadian writer James MacDonald Oxley wrote a youth novel "The Wreckers of Sable Island" in 1897. Frank Parker Day's 1928 novel "Rockbound" features a vivid depiction of the sinking of the schooner "Sylvia Mosher" during the 1926 August Gales at Sable Island. One of the island's most notable temporary residents was Nova Scotian author Thomas H. Raddall, whose early experiences working at the wireless post there served as the inspiration for his 1950 novel "The Nymph and the Lamp". In his novel "The Templar Throne," published in June 2010, author Paul Christopher mentions the island as the final location of the True Ark of the Christian Old Testament.


title: Sable Island

text: The dunes and horses of Sable Island have drawn many photographers. Among the first was Arthur Williams McCurdy who photographed the island, its horses and shipwrecks in 1898 for "National Geographic" during a visit with Alexander Graham Bell. A further "National Geographic" visit in the summer of 1964 yielded an article entitled "Sable Island; Graveyard of the Atlantic". In more recent times, Roberto Dutesco, a fashion photographer, began taking photos of Sable horses in 1994 and features this work in a permanent photo exhibition entitled "Wild Horses of Sable Island" at his gallery in New York. Nova Scotian photographer Paul Illsley's photographs of Sable Island horses inspired both a Canadian stamp and coin in 2005.


title: Sable Island

text: In 1970 Stompin' Tom Connors published his song "Sable Island" in 1970's "Stompin' Tom Meets Big Joe Mufferaw". Canadian folk singer Catherine McKinnon recorded a song arranged by Don Gillis also entitled "Sable Island" for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in 1975. The first line of the Buck 65 song "Blood of a Young Wolf" is "Ten thousand horses, Sable Island, endless summer."


title: Sable Island

text: The island has been the subject of many Canadian documentaries by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the National Film Board of Canada, beginning with the 1956 NFB film "Sable Island" by Allan Wargon, the 2003 NFB documentary "Moving Sands" by Phillipe Baylaucq, and more recently, an episode of "Land and Sea". In 2002 a documentary was released called "Catching a Killer: The Mystery of Sable Island" which investigated the possibility that Greenland sharks were to blame for the corkscrew lacerations on dead seals found washed up on the island. The most recent work about Sable Island is the 2015 Canadian-produced film, "S(t)able Island: The Beauty of the Free," created by Rae-Anne LaPlante. The film explores in-depth the wild horse population that has called Sable Island its home for over 250 years. A number of international documentaries have also explored the island, including the 2007 film "Ile de sable" made by Jean-François Ducrocq and Malek Sahraoui for France 3, French public television. In 2007, Matt Trecartin of Halifax directed "Chasing Wild Horses", a documentary about photographer Roberto Dutesco and his photography of the Sable Island horses.


title: Sable Island

text: In the 1937 film "Captains Courageous", the fishing boat passes Sable Island on the way to the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. Spencer Tracy's character Manuel later says his father died off Cape Sable. Sable Island is briefly featured in the 2000 feature film "The Perfect Storm", which depicts the sinking of the fishing vessel "Andrea Gail" near Sable, although the island is erroneously portrayed with trees and a giant stone lighthouse. Sable Island is the setting for the 2002 film "Touching Wild Horses" starring Jane Seymour; however, little attempt was made to mimic the natural landscape of Sable, with trees and rocks abounding in the background of most every scene. Instead, Sandbanks Provincial Park in Ontario stood in for the island in the film.


title: Sable Island

text: A permanent exhibit about Sable Island is featured at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax, which includes two rescue boats from Sable and numerous name boards and figureheads from Sable Island wrecks. Another permanent exhibit about Sable Island, exploring its ecology and the on-island researchers' work, is found at the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History. The horses were featured in a 1994 exhibit at the Equine Museum of Japan in Yokohama.


title: Sable Island

text: On September 11, 2014 Don Connolly of CBC Radio's Information Morning broadcast part of the daily current affairs program from Sable Island. It was the first ever live public radio broadcast from the island.


title: Bhumihar

text: Bhumihars, also called Babhan, are a Hindu caste mainly found in Bihar (including the Mithila region), the Purvanchal region of Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, the Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh, and Nepal.


title: Bhumihar

text: The Bhumihars claim Brahmin status, and are also referred to as 'Bhumihar Brahmin'. In Bihar, they are also known as 'Babhan' and they have also been called 'Bhuinhar'.


title: Bhumihar

text: The Bhumihars were a prominent land-owning group of eastern India until the 20th century, and controlled some small princely states and zamindari estates in the region. The Bhumihar community played an important role in the peasant movements of India, and was highly influential in politics of Bihar in the 20th century.


title: Bhumihar

text: The word "bhūmihār" is of relatively recent origin, first used in the records of United Provinces of Agra and Oudh in 1865. It derives from the words "bhūmi" ("land") and "hāra" ("one who seizes or confiscates"), referring to the caste's landowner status. The term "Bhumihar Brahmin" was adopted by the community in the late 19th century to emphasise their claim of belonging to the priestly Brahmin class. The alternate name "Babhan" has been described as an apabhramsha for "brāhmaṇ" (Brahmin).


title: Bhumihar

text: As with many castes in India, there are numerous myths regarding the origins of the Bhumihar community. One legend claims that their ancestors were Brahmins who were set up to take the place of the Kshatriyas slain by Parashurama but some non-Bhumihars have implied that they are the mixed-race offspring of Brahmin men and Kshatriya women. Other legends state that they are the offspring of a union between Rajput men and Brahmin women, or that they derive from Brahman-Buddhists who lost their high position in Hindu society. The Bhumihars themselves dislike these narratives involving "hybridity" or "fallen status", and claim to be pure Brahmins.


title: Bhumihar

text: By the 16th century, the Bhumihars controlled vast stretches of land in eastern India, particularly in north Bihar. By the late eighteenth century, along with Bihari Rajputs, they had established themselves as the most prominent landholders of the region. Oral legends suggest that along with Muslims and Rajputs, they displaced the Bhar and Chero natives of the region. The weakening of the Mughal suzerainty over the region gave rise to several small Bhumihar states. For example, the revenue contractors for the Mughal province of Awadh declared themselves the Maharaja of Benares. They successfully defended their independence against the Nawab of Awadh in the 1750s and 1760s, before becoming a British dependency. Other princely states and fiefdoms ruled by Bhumihars included Bettia, Tekari, Hathwa, Tamukhi, Sheohar, Mahishadal, Pakur and Maheshpur.


title: Bhumihar

text: The distinctive Bhumihar caste identity was largely created through military service. During early days of British expansion in India, Bhumihars under Raja of Banaras, Cheyt singh participated in revolts against the East India Company. After his defeat, the Company started recruiting Bhumihar sepoys in large numbers until the Indian Rebellion of 1857.


title: Bhumihar

text: Bhumihars claim to be descendants of Brahmins who held land grants. However, Jogendra Nath Bhattacharya promoted a more popular narrative according to which they were a "low caste" group who were promoted to the status of Brahmin on the order of a ruler who wanted presence of a large number of Brahmins to celebrate his religious festivals. The other popular narratives about their origin is that they belonged to a low caste tribe called "Bhuyans" who gained land and proverted themselves as Brahmins when faced unequal treatment at the hands of sacerdotal authorities. Other communities also do not give them the ritual status of priestly Brahmins, as most of them were cultivators during the British Raj. Some of the early censuses of British India categorised Bhumihars of Bihar as Shudras, the lowest of the four varnas. This was considered insulting, especially since several zamindars (land-owning aristocrats) were Bhumihars. Unlike the Brahmans or Rajputs, the Bhumihars did not participate in the rebellion against British rule in India in 1857, and to their dismay, they were consequently placed in the third-lowest varna in the ad-hoc census of 1865 and the regular census of 1881.


title: Bhumihar

text: Like many other castes, the Bhumihars followed the process of sanskritisation to achieve their end. The Bhumihar zamindars and princely state rulers established caste-based associations ("sabha"s) to form a community network and to advance their claims to Brahmin status. The "Pradhan Bhumihar Brahman Sabha" ("Chief Assembly of Bhumihar Brahmins") was established in Patna in 1889. Its objective was "to improve moral, social and educational reforms of the community and to represent the wants of the community to the government". The Bhumihar Brahmin Mahasabha ("great assembly") was established in 1896. The local "Bhumihar Brahmin Sabha"s included the ones at Muzaffarpur (1899), Patna (1899), Gaya (1900) and Saran (1908).


title: Bhumihar

text: These associations made numerous petitions to be classified as Brahmins in the 1901 census report. Persistent pressure from the Mahasabha, who glorified the history of the community, led to official recognition of the Bhumihars as Brahmins in the later Raj censuses. According to Ashwani Kumar, the Bhumihar claim to Brahmin status means that today "unlike other upper castes, [they] guard the local caste hierarchy more zealously for they perpetually feel the pressure of being dislocated and discredited in the topsy-turvy world of caste."


title: Bhumihar

text: Besides campaigning for the Brahmin status, the caste associations also played an important role in general welfare of the community. In 1899, the Bhumihar Brahmin Mahasabha, with financial aid from a zamindar, established a college at Muzaffarpur. This was accredited to award degrees in the following year and it was a significant development because education in the area was improving rapidly but students desirous of furthering it had to travel to Bhagalpur, Calcutta or Patna. By 1920, 10 per cent of Bhumihars in Bihar were literate, making them one of the few literate castes; in this achievement, however, they were well behind the Kayasthas (33 per cent) and some other groups. In the first half of the 20th century, the Bhumihars suffered increasing economic hardships due to the steady fragmentation of land rights among heirs and the decline in agricultural prices during the Great Depression. During this period, the Bhumihar associations served as community networks that facilitated access to English education and urban employment. As with the Rajputs, Kayasthas and other high castes of Bihar – and as opposed to the methods used by most lower castes – neither the Mahasabha nor any other formal body exercised power to make and enforce caste rules.


title: Bhumihar

text: The Bhumihar Brahmin Mahasabha held annual sessions in different parts of present-day Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Among its prominent leaders was Sahajanand Saraswati, a leader of the Bhumihar Brahmin Sabha of Patna. During the Balia session of 1914, Sahajanand defended the Brahmin status of the Bhumihars, using quotes from Hindu scriptures to argue that priestly functions do not alone define Brahmins. In 1916, he published a book titled "Bhumihar Brahmin Parichay" ("Introduction to Bhumihar Brahmins"), which outlined these arguments. He classified Brahmins into two categories – begging ("yachak") and non-begging ("ayachak") – and stated that the Bhumihars were among the non-begging Brahmins. The Bhumihars of Uttar Pradesh attempted to popularise the term "Bhumihar Brahmin", while discarding the term "Babhan". However, the term "Babhan" remained popular in Bihar. The recognised Brahmins did not favour the Bhumihar attempts to claim an equal status, and even stopped going to Bhumihar homes to perform ceremonies.


title: Bhumihar

text: Being traditional landlords and one of the early literate castes, the Bhumihars have been influential in the politics of Bihar since the British days. Noted Bhumihar princely state rulers included Harendra Kishore Singh (Raja of Bettiah) and Vibhuti Narayan Singh (Raja of the Benares).


title: Bhumihar

text: The Bhumihars played a pioneering role in organising peasant, leftist and independence movements since the 1910s. In 1914 and 1916, the Bhumihars of Pipra and Turkaulia revolted against indigo cultivation. When Mahatma Gandhi launched a satyagraha against indigo cultivation in Motihari in 1917, a number of Bhumihar intellectuals joined the protest. These included Shri Krishna Singh (or Sinha), Ram Dayalu Singh, Ramnandan Mishra, Shilbhadra Yaji, Karyanand Sharma and Sahajanand Saraswati.


title: Bhumihar

text: While a section of Bhumihars were landowners, the vast majority belonged to tenantry. Starting in 1914, two factions emerged in the Bhumihar Mahasabha: the landowner-dominated faction led by Ganesh Dutt, and the tenant-dominated faction led by Sahajanand Saraswati. Sahajanand came from a zamindar family, which had been reduced to tenant status. He attracted a large number of followers who, as tenants, were exploited by the rich landlords. His support for the non-cooperation movement also alarmed the landlords, who were loyal to the British colonial administration. The growing differences between the two factions resulted in a split in the Mahasabha, in 1925-26. Sahajanand established an ashram at Bihta, which started attracting tenants and peasants from other castes as well. When the rich Bhumihar landlords stopped supporting Sahajanand's activities, he declared that caste associations were a means to continue their supremacy. He established a caste-agnostic peasants movement, which later evolved into All India Kisan Sabha. In Bihar, Kisan Sabha, as well as the Communist Party of India (which was heavily inspired by Kisan Sabha), were identified as Bhumihar-dominated organisations for years.


title: Bhumihar

text: After Sahajanand gave up caste politics, Ganesh Dutt emerged as the leader of Bhumihar Mahasabha. He later entered the Bihar Legislative Council, and distributed patronage to other members of his caste. This patronage was extended further, when Shri Krishna Singh became the Premier and Chief Minister of Bihar. His tenure saw the rise of a number of influential Bhumihar leaders including Mahesh Prasad Sinha, Krishnakant Singh, L. P. Shahi, Basawan Sinha, and Kailashpati Mishra. Singh also worked for the welfare of the lower castes. He was the first chief minister in India to abolish the zamindari system. He also led Dalits' entry into Baidyanath Temple.


title: Bhumihar

text: After Shri Krishna Singh's death in 1961, the Bhumihar political hegemony gradually declined. A small number of Bhumihar leaders continued to play a significant role in the state unit of the Indian National Congress. These included Ramashray Prasad Singh, Rajo Singh, Ramjatan Sinha, Shyam Sunder Singh Dhiraj and Maha Chandra Singh. The Congress parliamentarians Ganga Sharan Singh (Sinha) and Shyam Nandan Prasad Mishra also belonged to the Bhumihar community.


title: Bhumihar

text: The Bhumihar influence in Bihar politics declined considerably after electoral defeat of Congress in the 1990 Bihar Legislative Assembly election. The backward OBC castes like Yadav, led by Lalu Prasad Yadav, replaced them in the political circles. In the 1999 Indian general election, only three Bhumihars were elected: C. P. Thakur (BJP), Kailashpati Mishra (BJP) and Rajo Singh (Congress). A few Bhumihar leaders also emerged in the political parties dominated by the OBCs. These included Akhilesh Prasad Singh (RJD) and Arun Kumar (Samata Dal; now Rashtriya Lok Samata Party).


title: Bhumihar

text: As their power in the electoral politics declined, a number of Bhumihars were attracted to Ranvir Sena, a private militia established in 1994. The group has carried out armed operations against the Naxals in the region, and has been involved in atrocities against the lower castes, such as the Laxmanpur Bathe massacre. The Ranvir Sena which employed Bhumihar youths emerged as the most dreaded caste army in Bihar. It was named after the 19th century chieftain, Ranvir Chaudhary, who became a cult figure among Bhumihars after taking on powerful Rajput Zamindars.


title: Bhumihar

text: Being one of the early literate groups of British India, the Bhumihar community produced several prominent literary figures. These include Ramdhari Singh Dinkar, Rahul Sankrityayan, Rambriksh Benipuri and Gopal Singh Nepali.


title: Bhumihar

text: Some Bhumihars in Muzaffarpur trace their lineage to Husseini Brahmins, and participate in the Muharram processions. The Bhumihars outside Purvanchal-Bihar region may follow the respective local customs and traditions. For example, in Chandipur village of Murshidabad district (West Bengal), a section of Bhumihars became the landlords after death of the British indigo plantation owners. They are now "thoroughly Bengali": they worship Kali as their primary deity, and are regarded as Brahmins by others in the village.


title: Bhumihar

text: In Bihar, the Bhumihars started using the surname Sharma and the title Pandit in the 20th century. Other common traditional Brahmin surnames used by the Bhumihars include Mishra, Chaudhary, Dikshit, Tivan, Pathak, Pande and Upadhyaya. It is also common for Bhumihars to affix Singh (usually identified with Kshatriyas, especially Rajputs) to their name.


title: Outer Manchuria

text: Outer Manchuria (; ), or Outer Northeast China (), refers to a territory in Northeast Asia that is now part of Russia but used to belong to a series of Chinese dynasties, including the Tang, Liao, Jin, Eastern Xia, Yuan, Northern Yuan, Ming, Later Jin, and Qing dynasties. The Russian Empire annexed this territory through a series of unequal treaties forced upon Qing China, most notably the Treaty of Aigun in 1858 and the Treaty of Peking in 1860. It is a part of the larger region of Manchuria, with the term "Outer Manchuria" only arising because of the Russian annexation.


title: Outer Manchuria

text: Outer Manchuria comprises the modern-day Russian areas of Primorsky Krai, southern Khabarovsk Krai, the Jewish Autonomous Oblast, the Amur Oblast and the island of Sakhalin.


title: Outer Manchuria

text: The northern part of the area was disputed by Qing China and the Russian Empire, in the midst of the Russia's Far East expansion, between 1643 and 1689. The Treaty of Nerchinsk signed in 1689 after a series of conflicts, defined the Sino–Russian border as the Stanovoy Mountains and the Argun River, affirming Qing China's sovereignty over the region now known as Outer Manchuria. However, after losing the Opium Wars, Qing China was forced to sign a series of treaties that gave away territories and ports to various Western powers as well as to Russia and Japan; these were collectively known as the Unequal Treaties. Starting with the Treaty of Aigun in 1858 and the Treaty of Peking in 1860, the Sino–Russian border was realigned in Russia's favour along the Amur and Ussuri rivers. As a result, China lost the region now known as Outer Manchuria (an area of more than 1 million km) and access to the Sea of Japan.


title: Outer Manchuria

text: "Manchuria" was coined in the 19th century to refer to the northeastern part of the Qing empire, the traditional homeland of the Manchu people. The terms "Outer Manchuria" and "Inner Manchuria", modeled on Inner and Outer Mongolia, were coined after the loss of the "Outer" region by the Qing dynasty in 1860. After that event, "Manchuria" became an accepted term for "Inner" or "Chinese" Manchuria, being the area that remained within China. In the 1930s, the terms "Northern" and "Southern" Manchuria came into wider use, to refer to the northern and southern parts of Chinese Manchuria respectively.


title: Outer Manchuria

text: Critics of the analogy with Inner and Outer Mongolia, however, suggest that while Mongols under the Qing dynasty were a recognized ethnic group, "Manchus" were a group constructed by the chieftain Nurhaci in the early 17th century, mainly for the purposes of conquering the Ming dynasty. According to this view, there were no Manchus north of the Nen River and the Songhua River, so that region cannot properly be called "Outer Manchuria". However, the native population of Outer Manchuria were southern Tungusics, closely related to the Manchu and no more different from them than the differences found among various Mongol groups. The only exception was the Nivkh people inhabiting the lowest reaches of the Amur River and the island of Sakhalin.


title: Outer Manchuria

text: Today, there are reminders of the ancient Manchu domination in English-language toponyms: for example, the Sikhote-Alin, the great coastal range; the Khanka Lake; the Amur and Ussuri rivers; the Greater Khingan, Lesser Khingan and other small mountain ranges; and the Shantar Islands. Evenks, who speak a closely related Tungusic language, make up a significant part of the indigenous population.


title: Outer Manchuria

text: The original inhabitants of the region were apparently the Mohe people and other Tungusic tribes. Other entities that once ruled parts of Outer Manchuria included Goguryeo and Balhae, whose territories extended from the northern Korean Peninsula to the southern and central parts of Inner and Outer Manchuria. According to the Treaty of Nerchinsk in 1689, the Chinese-Russian border was the Argun River and the Stanovoy Mountains until the Pacific coast. The eastern end of the boundary was generally held to be the Uda River, leaving Outer Manchuria to China. However, the Qing dynasty of China ceded Outer Manchuria to Russia in the Treaty of Aigun in 1858 and the Treaty of Peking in 1860, both of which are considered unequal treaties by China. A small region to the north of the Amur, known as the Sixty-Four Villages East of the (Heilongjiang) River, was kept by the Qing dynasty under the Treaty of Aigun, but was invaded and annexed by Russia in 1900. Outer Manchuria formed part of the far eastern provinces of the Soviet Union and was used as the launch-pad for the Soviet assault on Japanese-occupied Inner Manchuria in 1945. During the Chinese Civil War, Chinese communist forces began the war with large amounts of Inner Manchuria already in their hands; in 1949, the victorious communists established the present-day People's Republic of China.


title: Outer Manchuria

text: In 2004, Russia agreed to transfer Yinlong Island and half of Heixiazi Island to China, ending a longstanding border dispute between Russia and China. Both islands are found at the confluence of the Amur and Ussuri rivers, and were until then administered by Russia and claimed by China. The transfer was meant to foster reconciliation and cooperation between the two countries, but it has also sparked different degrees of discontent on both sides. Russians, especially Cossack farmers in Khabarovsk who had plowlands on the islands, were unhappy about the loss of territory. The transfer has been ratified by both the Chinese National People's Congress and the Russian State Duma. The official transfer ceremony was held on-site on 14 October 2008.


title: Outer Manchuria

text: Outstanding boundary issues between China and Russia were officially settled in the 1991 Sino-Soviet Border Agreement. Article 6 of the 2001 Sino-Russian Treaty of Friendship provides that the contracting parties—the People's Republic of China and the Russian Federation—have no territorial claims.


title: Outer Manchuria

text: As the Republic of China, now based in Taiwan, has never recognized the People's Republic of China nor its border treaties with other countries, some maps published in Taiwan still show the entire Heixiazi Island and the Sixty-Four Villages East of the River as Chinese territories. However, these maps show Outer Manchuria, sometimes called "lost territories in the Northeast" (), to be Russian territory.


title: Outer Manchuria

text: Some Manchu and Han Chinese regard Outer Manchuria as territory that was unfairly taken away, as in Mao's comments leading up to the Sino-Soviet border conflict.


title: Louis Cole (musician)

text: Louis Cole is an American multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter, best known as the co-founder of the electronic/avant-pop/jazz-funk duo Knower. He is also a solo artist and has released six solo albums: "Louis Cole" (2010), "Album 2" (2011), "Time" (2018), "Live Sesh" (2019), "LIVE 2019" (2020), and "Quality Over Opinion" (2022). It is speculated that he is a member of the avant-garde musical duo Clown Core.


title: Louis Cole (musician)

text: Louis Cole was born in Los Angeles to a family with musical roots. His father plays jazz piano, while his mother played bass. Cole started drumming when he was 8. He graduated in Jazz Studies at USC Thornton School of Music in 2009.


title: Louis Cole (musician)

text: After graduating from USC in 2009, Cole was encouraged by his friend Jack Conte to put music videos on YouTube, including one called "Bank Account", which showcased a split-screen of him playing keyboards, drums, and singing. This video catapulted him into the public awareness, as it was posted on social media by various celebrities and musicians such as John Mayer, Charlie Day, and Björk.


title: Louis Cole (musician)

text: After doing several other short songs and uploading them to YouTube, Cole wanted to focus more on writing longer material. He co-founded Knower with another Jazz Studies graduate, Genevieve Artadi. In 2010, he released both his self-titled solo album and the debut album for Knower. After releasing his second solo album, he focused more on Knower, producing three other albums. In the meantime, Cole co-wrote "Padded Cell" for Seal's 2015 album "7", and together with Artadi, got featured on Snarky Puppy's "Family Dinner – Volume 2". In 2017, he co-wrote two songs for Thundercat's album "Drunk". This led to signing a contract with Flying Lotus' label Brainfeeder and releasing his third solo album through the label in 2018. The album featured appearances by Artadi, Thundercat, Dennis Hamm and Brad Mehldau. Cole also appeared on Thundercat's 2020 Grammy Award winning album "It Is What It Is", performing on a song called "I Love Louis Cole", which was dedicated to him.


title: Louis Cole (musician)

text: In 2020, Cole wrote an exclusive song for "Grand Theft Auto Online" called "Planet X", which was added to the "FlyLo FM" radio station through "The Cayo Perico Heist" update. Knower's song "Fuck the Makeup, Skip the Shower" was previously featured on the same radio station. "Planet X" was later included in Cole's fourth studio album "Quality Over Opinion", which was released on October 14, 2022 via Brainfeeder. Another song in the album, "Let it Happen", was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Arrangement, Instrumental and Vocals.


title: Louis Cole (musician)

text: It is speculated that Cole and saxophonist Sam Gendel are behind Clown Core, a surrealist musical duo of two anonymous clowns who blend grindcore, jazz, and electronic music.


title: Louis Cole (musician)

text: Cole is a classically-trained jazz musician and multi-instrumentalist who plays drums, keyboards, guitar and bass, sings, and produces his material. His work contains elements from a diverse range of music genres such as jazz, funk, pop, avant-garde, electronic, lo-fi (early) and grindcore (with Clown Core). Cole is a "bedroom" musician who doesn't like working in a professional recording studio. He practices drums for four hours a day, and writes music for seven hours a day. Cole feels his mission is to write his own favorite music, and he "never [tries] to make [his] music accessible to anyone." He is known for using strange and counterintuitive chord progressions. His lyrics often include humor and vulgarity, and his music features home-made videos. Cole is more creative during the early hours of the day, and documents this phenomenon on his song, "The Weird Part of the Night".


title: Louis Cole (musician)

text: Cole's influences include his father, Stevie Wonder, James Brown, Aretha Franklin, The Beach Boys, Boards of Canada, Nate Wood, The Beatles, and Skrillex, among others. Cole is also influenced by science fiction and video game sounds and visuals, and notes that the music of classic Nintendo games and "Tron" shaped Knower's aesthetic:


title: Louis Cole (musician)

text: Cole is best friends with Thundercat, who has called him "one of Los Angeles's greatest musicians". Flying Lotus has also expressed admiration for Cole on Twitter, calling him "super inspirational" during the writing of his album "Flamagra". Bob Mintzer has described Cole as "the paradigm for today's musician". Will Schube of Passion of the Weiss has compared Cole's "auteur approach" to that of another Los Angeles musician, Ariel Pink. Emma Roller of The Brick House Cooperative has described Cole as "a dopey yet cerebral jazz composer and percussionist who whaps out brain-meltingly complex beats with Terminator-like precision".


title: Aladin (film)

text: Aladin is a 2009 Indian Hindi-language fantasy action comedy film directed by Sujoy Ghosh. The film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt, Riteish Deshmukh and Jacqueline Fernandez (in her film debut).


title: Aladin (film)

text: The film opens with the family of archeologist Arun Chatterjee, who lives with his wife, Riya, and their baby son, Aladin. When out on a holiday, Arun is attacked by a gang searching for a magic lamp, which Chatterjee has found, but has hidden somewhere. Arun and Riya Chatterjee are murdered; Aladin is raised by his grandfather. After his granddad's death, a now grown-up Aladin Chatterjee (Ritesh Deshmukh) lives in the fictional city of Khwaish (wish). He is lonely, and Kasim (Sahil Khan) and his gang members have bullied Aladin since his childhood. His life changes when Jasmine (Jacqueline Fernandez) enters the city, and Aladin immediately falls for her.


title: Aladin (film)

text: Jasmine arranges a birthday party for Aladin, and as a present, Kasim gives Aladin a magic lamp for his birthday to embarrass him in front of Jasmine. However, this lamp turns out to be the magic lamp that the murderers of Aladin's parents were trying to find. Aladin rubs the lamp and releases the genie, Genius (Amitabh Bachchan). Desperate to grant him three wishes so that his contract with the magic lamp can end, the rock-star Genius suddenly makes Aladin's life very interesting but chaotic. Aladin does not want to make any wish, but Genius enters Aladin's dreams and finds out what he wants, getting his sleeping mind to make a wish: to make Jasmine fall in love with him. When he wakes up, he does not like what Genius has done and uses his second wish to turn Jasmine into normal. His third wish is for Genius to help him woo Jasmine without using magic to make it happen. Genius does his best, but magic is really his strong suit. Still, as a result of Genius's help/interference, Aladin stands up to Kasim and starts a relationship with Jasmine, and Genius teaches Kasim a lesson. Aladin's future looks perfect, until the real threat looms on the horizon - the ex-genie, Ringmaster (Sanjay Dutt).


title: Aladin (film)

text: Ringmaster is searching for the magic lamp and kidnaps Jasmine with the help of his circus gang. Shortly after Genius and Aladin realize that she has been kidnapped, an informer (really Ringmaster in disguise) tells Aladin that it was Genius who murdered his parents. Aladin insults Genius and tells him to leave. Heartbroken, Genius goes to rescue Jasmine alone. As he arrives, it is revealed that Ringmaster is the one who actually killed Aladin's parents, as he has been searching for the magic lamp for a long time; Aladin's parents found it first, and Ringmaster punished them for it. Ringmaster steals the magic lamp and wishes for Genius to kill Aladin, but Genius refuses to do it, and loses his magical powers because he did not grant the wish, just as Ringmaster had planned. Aladin learns that Genius is innocent and arrives to help him, and they succeed in rescuing Jasmine. Ringmaster's plan is then completely revealed: he plans to perform a ritual to steal the reflection of an approaching comet, getting back his genie powers as a result. Genius, Aladdin and Jasmine intervene, and Aladdin steals the comet's reflection, giving genie powers back to Genius instead of Ringmaster. Genius seals Ringmaster inside a mirror and then shatters it, defeating him. The Ringmaster's gang is also defeated.


title: Aladin (film)

text: In the end, the trio happily gets back to the city, Aladin and Jasmine are a couple, and after earning special superpowers from the comet, Aladin gives Kasim yet another lesson.


title: Aladin (film)

text: The music of the film is composed by Vishal–Shekhar, lyrics penned by Vishal Dadlani and Anvita Dutt Guptan (Bachke O Bachke).


title: Aladin (film)

text: Taran Adarsh's one star review for Bollywood Hungama stated "On the whole, ALADIN is a terrible waste of a terrific opportunity. Hugely disappointing!." Mayank Shekhar of Hindustan Times stated "At 65, Amitabh Bachchan's on-screen presence is likely to get scarcer with age. Audiences are still interested in his work. If only he wouldn’t green-light unbelievable, hollow, expensive rubbish that’d be pelted on us merely because, he said yes. Kaveree Bamzai writing for India Today said "Despite the Rs 80 crore of special effects wasted on the film, Aladin has neither magic nor is it magical."


title: The Far Side

text: The Far Side is a single-panel comic created by Gary Larson and syndicated by Chronicle Features and then Universal Press Syndicate, which ran from December 31, 1979, to January 1, 1995 (when Larson retired as a cartoonist). Its surrealistic humor is often based on uncomfortable social situations, improbable events, an anthropomorphic view of the world, logical fallacies, impending bizarre disasters, (often twisted) references to proverbs, or the search for meaning in life. Larson's frequent use of animals and nature in the comic is popularly attributed to his background in biology. "The Far Side" was ultimately carried by more than 1,900 daily newspapers, translated into 17 languages, and collected into calendars, greeting cards, and 23 compilation books, and reruns are still carried in many newspapers. After a 25-year hiatus, in July 2020 Larson began drawing new "Far Side" strips offered through the comic's official website.


title: The Far Side

text: Larson was recognized for his work on the strip with the National Cartoonist Society Newspaper Panel Cartoon Award for 1985 and 1988, and with their Reuben Award for 1990 and 1994. "The Far Side" won the 2020 Webby People's Voice Award for Humor in the category Web.


title: The Far Side

text: "The Far Side" was created by Gary Larson, a cartoonist based in Seattle, Washington. Larson enjoyed drawing as a child but never thought he would become a cartoonist; thus, he never studied art in school outside of required classes. Larson had been inspired to draw comics when he was younger from the strip "Alley Oop", and later drew further inspiration from "MAD Magazine" and the work of Don Martin. He also enjoys comics from Gahan Wilson, B. Kliban and George Booth where humor was derived more from the comics' composition than dialogue, which Larson considered "something almost organic going on between the humor and the art that conveyed it".


title: The Far Side

text: In 1976, Larson was working as a cashier at a retail music store when he realized how much he hated his job. Two days into this "career crisis", Larson sat down at his kitchen table and drew six cartoons. The next day, he showed the cartoons to an editor at the local magazine "Pacific Search". The editor was impressed and paid him 90, so Larson quit his job to start cartooning and created "Nature's Way", a single-panel comic strip that served as the basis for "The Far Side". Larson showed "Nature's Way" to the editor of the weekly newspaper "Summer News Review", who began to publish it on a regular basis.


title: The Far Side

text: Although Larson was initially excited to be published, he was only paid 3 a cartoon. Eventually, he stopped and became an investigator for the local humane society. In 1979, a reporter for the "Seattle Times" who had met Larson while investigating "pony abuse" showed "Nature's Way" to her editor. It was revived and began appearing in the Saturday edition of the paper. Larson was paid 15 a cartoon. After about a year, Larson took a vacation from his humane society work to drive to San Francisco at the encouragement of his girlfriend. In what he called a "daring plan to expand this 'publication empire'", Larson left a portfolio with his work at the headquarters of the "San Francisco Chronicle". After several days, Larson was informed that editor Stan Arnold wanted to speak with him. Arnold was impressed by his work and mentioned that, should the "Chronicle" be interested in Larson's work, it could become syndicated.


title: The Far Side

text: When Larson returned to Seattle, he received a letter informing him "Nature's Way" had been canceled because it generated too many complaints; he attributes this to the fact it ran next to a crossword puzzle aimed at children. Larson believes had this happened a week before, he would not have gone to San Francisco. The next day, Arnold called Larson and told him the syndicate affiliate of the "Chronicle" decided to syndicate his work. The affiliate, Chronicle Features, coined the name "The Far Side"; Larson joked Chronicle "could have called it "Revenge of the Zucchini People" for all I cared." Larson's initial contract for "The Far Side" called for it to have a cast of recurring characters (like how "Peanuts" had Charlie Brown), because Chronicle believed newspaper comics needed familiar characters to be successful. However, Larson disagreed, feeling it would be limiting and diminish the humor of the strip. In his first month of syndication, Larson made about 100. The contract with Chronicle lasted four years. After it expired, Universal Press Syndicate picked up the syndication rights.


title: The Far Side

text: "The Far Side" made its debut in the January 1, 1980, edition of the "Chronicle", and a few months later, Chronicle Features began to offer it to other papers. While it was only in four papers by 1982, by 1983 that number had increased to eighty, and by 1985 it had reached two hundred. Initially, Larson drew six cartoons a week, which were sent to papers a few weeks in advance. By 1987, he was drawing seven cartoons a week. From October 1988 to January 1990, Larson took a hiatus from "The Far Side" to travel abroad and study jazz guitar with Jim Hall. When he resumed working on "The Far Side" in 1990, he negotiated an agreement in which he would only have to draw five cartoons a week. The final "Far Side" comic was run in newspapers on January 1, 1995. Larson wrote a letter to his followers in October 1994 that explained he was ending the series due to "simple fatigue" and avoid having "The Far Side" fall into the "Graveyard of Mediocre Cartoons" if he continued. Larson also later stated he wanted to pursue a career as a jazz guitarist.


title: The Far Side

text: During its 15-year run, Larson produced a total of 4,337 "Far Side" cartoons. By the time of its conclusion, the series was carried in more than 1,900 papers and translated into 17 languages. Universal briefly re-syndicated "The Far Side" for a three-month period in late 2003 to promote the release of the anthology "The Complete Far Side: 1980–1994", and many newspapers still publish reprints.


title: The Far Side

text: Larson has expressed disapproval of the distribution of his cartoons on the internet and has requested that fans do not do so; he wrote in a letter that his work is too personal and important to him to have others "take control of it". For this reason, Universal's online service GoComics does not offer "Far Side" cartoons. In at least one case, he had sent out a cease and desist letter to a comics-aggregation site for reproducing "The Far Side" online. While an official "Far Side" site existed, it only offered information related to the comic and published books, but did not offer any of the strips.


title: The Far Side

text: In 2003, Gary Larson drew a cover for the November 17 edition of "The New Yorker" magazine (the Cartoon Issue), a prestigious offer he said he could not refuse.


title: The Far Side

text: On September 13, 2019, the official "Far Side" site was updated with a major redesign, teasing that "[a] new online era of "The Far Side"" would be forthcoming. The full site was launched on December 17, 2019. It features a "daily dose" of several randomly selected "Far Side" comics, a weekly themed collection, and additional material including art from Larson's sketchbooks. Larson wrote in an open letter announcing the site that he hoped that the official online presence of "The Far Side" would encourage sites presently hosting his comics to take them down and direct readers to the official site. Larson said that while he does not plan to draw regular "Far Side" comics, he may include new material every once in a while when updating the site.


title: The Far Side

text: On July 7, 2020, Larson released new "Far Side" strips for the first time in 25 years on the website. Unlike his previous work with pen and paper, Larson transitioned to using a graphics tablet for the comic. In an accompanying post, Larson explained that frustration with his pens clogging from disuse on the rare occasions when he drew following his retirement (primarily for his annual Christmas card) led him to try working on a digital tablet. The new freedom and possibilities offered by the digital medium meant that he soon found he "was having fun drawing again". Larson made it clear that he was not resuming production of a daily cartoon, but was "exploring, experimenting and trying stuff."


title: The Far Side

text: "The Far Side" is primarily told through the use of a single, vertical, rectangular panel, occasionally split into small sections of four, six, or eight for storytelling purposes. A caption or dialogue usually appears under the panel as typed text, although speech balloons are sometimes used for conversations. Certain strips, mostly those published on Sundays, are double-sized, colored, and have handwritten captions. When Larson drew panels they were ; he penciled until the image "closely approximate[d]" his vision, and then he would ink it. The caption was handwritten in pencil underneath the cartoon. When Universal received a cartoon, it would set the caption to the usual typeface and add copyright and publication dates.


title: The Far Side

text: The series is characterized by its unconventional, often surrealistic, style of humor. Brigham Young University professor Kerry Soper described it as "an anomaly" among other newspaper cartoons and "ComicsAlliance" wrote it was "surreal, random, and occasionally very dark". Larson was influenced by his family's "morbid" sense of humor. His older brother Dan, who would often play pranks on him that took advantage of his fears, was a particular influence. He also drew inspiration from personal experience, "Mad", and his favorite childhood book, "Mr. Bear Squash-You-All-Flat".<ref name="20/20"></ref> Larson sought to mock the human condition, often by placing animals in human positions. Fear is also recurring in the strip; "The Far Side" was produced in a time when horror comedy was becoming popular.


title: The Far Side

text: Recurring themes in "The Far Side" include people stranded on desert islands, aliens, Heaven, Hell, the life of cavemen, and medieval dungeons. Animals—especially cows—are also common. Larson focused on subjects he considered taboo because he wanted his cartoons to be personal statements. Larson's editors refused to publish strips they found indecent, offensive, or hard to understand. Examples include cowboys roasting a horse over a fire because they are "hungry enough to eat one" and a bird eating scrambled babies. Generally, they also avoided publishing cartoons with scatological humor; Larson recalled that during the strip's first few years he was not even allowed to draw an outhouse. Larson often disagreed with his editors' decisions and was sometimes successful in getting rejected cartoons published, although he does admit most of their decisions likely saved his career. Larson also says he never tried to intentionally offend readers.


title: The Far Side

text: While Larson frequently used the same stereotypical characters such as a woman with a beehive hairdo, he purposely did not name his characters nor imply they were the same characters from cartoon to cartoon. He did not want to have a character-based series, as the characters were there to help serve the humor of the comic.


title: The Far Side

text: "Cow Tools" is the name of a 1982 "Far Side" cartoon. It shows a cow standing behind a table with strange objects, with the cartoon's caption "Cow tools". While most of the displayed tools had no apparent function, one was similar to a saw. The cartoon has become one of the most loathed cartoons in the series, with Reddit posters calling it the series' "notoriously confusing cartoon". Larson was frequently asked about the meaning of the cartoon by the media, and received numerous letters, some angry and questioning where the humor was in the comic. Larson said in "Prehistory of the Far Side" that he had so much mail from this strip he had to issue a press release to explain that there was nothing to explain about the "Cow Tools" comic.


title: The Far Side

text: One "The Far Side" cartoon shows two chimpanzees grooming. One finds a blonde human hair on the other and inquires, "Conducting a little more 'research' with that Jane Goodall tramp?" Goodall herself was in Africa at the time, and the Jane Goodall Institute thought this was in bad taste, and had their lawyers draft a letter to Larson and his distribution syndicate, in which they described the cartoon as an "atrocity." They were stymied by Goodall herself when she returned and saw the cartoon, as she stated that she found the cartoon amusing, stating "It all helps to put us humans in our place, and we desperately need putting in our place." Since then, all profits from sales of a shirt featuring this cartoon go to the Jane Goodall Institute. Goodall wrote a preface to "The Far Side Gallery 5", detailing her version of the controversy, and the institute's letter was included next to the cartoon in the complete "Far Side" collection. She praised Larson's creative ideas, which often compare and contrast the behavior of humans and animals.


title: The Far Side

text: In 1982, Larson published a comic in which a prehistoric lecturer refers to the then previously unnamed tail spikes of the "Stegosaurus" as the "thagomizer". The arrangement of spikes originally had no distinct name, but Larson's neologism was adopted gradually by paleontologists, albeit only in a casual context.


title: The Far Side

text: "" and "The Prehistory of The Far Side" include letters from angry readers alongside the comics that inspired them. The letters were written to newspaper publishers and often demanded the removal of "The Far Side". Despite these protests, "The Far Side" remained popular and continued to run in many newspapers. Larson often laughs at the controversies as evidenced in "The Prehistory of The Far Side", in which he writes that the people complaining have usually misunderstood the cartoon.


title: The Far Side

text: There are 23 collected editions of "The Far Side", which combined have sold over 45 million copies and have generated 70 million in revenue. The books are published by Andrews McMeel Publishing, an affiliate of Universal. Andrews McMeel acquired the rights to publish collected editions of the series in 1982, the year the first "Far Side" book was released. It was surprisingly successful, which influenced Larson's decision to sign on with Universal after his contract with Chronicle expired. In January 1985, the four "Far Side" books out at the time—"The Far Side", "The Far Side Gallery", "Beyond the Far Side" and "In Search of the Far Side"—were simultaneous bestsellers; Jim Davis's "Garfield" was the only newspaper comic that had previously accomplished this feat. New "Far Side" books continued to be published after the series concluded and remain in print and popular today.


title: The Far Side

text: During his 14-month hiatus, Larson produced "The PreHistory of The Far Side: A 10th Anniversary Exhibit", a "Far Side" anthology that commemorates the series' 10th anniversary. It contains commentary on individual strips, letters from angry readers, unpublished cartoons, and some of Larson's personal favorite "Far Side"s. In 2003, Andrews McMeel released the two-volume, twenty-pound anthology "The Complete Far Side: 1980—1994". "The Complete Far Side" contains every "Far Side" cartoon syndicated and, when it was initially published, retailed for 135. Larson spent three years working on it; the majority of work went into redrawing characters' eyeballs because he was unhappy how they looked when transferred digitally. It sold 350,000 copies and at the time was the most expensive "New York Times" bestseller. A new, lighter edition of "The Complete Far Side" was released in 2014.


title: The Far Side

text: A large amount of "Far Side" merchandise was produced, ranging from greeting cards, posters, t-shirts, and mugs. For many years, Larson produced a yearly calendar that contained a "Far Side" cartoon for each day of the year. He stopped making them annually in 2002, but created another edition in 2006; all proceeds from this edition went to Conservation International. In the years they were available, "Far Side" greeting cards and calendars sold 110 million and 45 million copies, respectively. Larson stated in 1987 he was personally embarrassed by how much money he made from "Far Side" merchandise.


title: The Far Side

text: In 1994, Larson produced an animated special, "Tales from the Far Side", featuring his art style and gags from the strips. He produced a sequel in 1997.


title: The Far Side

text: In 1987, a special exhibit of 527 black and white "Far Side" panels was shown in the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. 127 of the panels were originals, displayed in the rotunda on boards that held 50 panels each. Later the display became a traveling exhibit that was shown in San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Orlando, Chicago, Toronto, New York City, Denver, and Los Angeles.


title: The Far Side

text: There was a "Far Side" gallery at the California Academy of Science that featured some of Larson's panels. The exhibit included a giant microscope under which visitors could stand, based on one of Larson's cartoons. Looking up through the objective lens revealed a giant blinking eyeball. The building was torn down and replaced and the exhibit is no longer in the new facility.


title: The Far Side

text: As described by Sarah Larson for "The New Yorker", "The Far Side"s initial run came at a time where newspaper comics were generally more grounded, such as "Peanuts", "Garfield", "For Better or For Worse" and "Doonesbury", and helped to introduce more modern and surreal humor into the comic pages that influence other strips such as "Calvin and Hobbes" and "Bloom County" as well as brought nerd humor to the forefront, reflected in series like "The Simpsons".


title: Lucy Pinder

text: Lucy Katherine Pinder (born 20 December 1983) is a British actress, television personality, and former glamour model. Her career began in 2003 after being discovered by a freelance photographer on Bournemouth beach and has appeared in such publications as the "Daily Star" tabloid newspaper and magazines "FHM", "Loaded" and "Nuts".


title: Lucy Pinder

text: Pinder first appeared topless in "Nuts" in 2007. With vital statistics of 32GG-24-34, the Australian magazine "Ralph" declared that she had the "Best Breasts in the World" in 2007.


title: Lucy Pinder

text: Pinder has appeared on "FHM" list of the "100 Sexiest Women in the World" 2007 (No. 92), 2006 (No. 35), and 2005 (No. 16), and, in 2010, she was head of the Bennetts Babe Squad.


title: Lucy Pinder

text: In 2004, Pinder appeared on Living TV's series "I'm Famous and Frightened!", spending the weekend at Bolsover Castle in Derbyshire investigating ghosts and spirits. She appeared in the music video for the 4-4-2 song "Come On England" in 2004.


title: Lucy Pinder

text: On 31 December 2005, Pinder appeared on Sky Sports as a celebrity soccerette on "Soccer AM", during which she wore a Southampton F.C. jersey. She also sat on the sofa answering questions on topics such as modelling and football.


title: Lucy Pinder

text: In September 2007, Pinder appeared as a contestant on a special edition of the "Weakest Link", entitled "Wags and Glamour Girls".


title: Lucy Pinder

text: On 15 January 2008, Pinder made her presenter debut for Nuts TV. She presented the Nuts TV live show on six further occasions in February and March 2008 and also presented "Overexposed", which was a series on Nuts TV giving hints and tips to the aspiring amateur glamour photographer. Subsequently, she has appeared on the MTV channel's TMF, presenting, in conjunction with Kayleigh Pearson, "Pinder and Pearson's Late-Night Love-in" – a "countdown of saucy music videos."


title: Lucy Pinder

text: In February 2008, Pinder made a cameo appearance, along with Michelle Marsh, in "Hotel Babylon" on BBC One.


title: Lucy Pinder

text: In February 2010, Pinder appeared on BBC Three's "The Real Hustle Undercover", in which she pulled a switch on an unsuspecting punter.


title: Lucy Pinder

text: In addition, Pinder has appeared on the cover of several DVDs and in photo shoots for magazines, such as "Loaded" and "Maxim".


title: Lucy Pinder

text: From 2 January 2009, Pinder appeared in the sixth series of "Celebrity Big Brother". She revealed that "thick" people irritate her. She was the first housemate to be voted out, on 9 January (Day 8) with 57% of the public vote. Pinder declared her wish to leave the Big Brother house after being driven to distraction by the constant rapping of housemate Coolio.


title: Lucy Pinder

text: Pinder has worked closely with a number of wildlife charities, getting involved in fund raising for TigerTime, the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation, and International Animal Rescue. She was also an ambassador for Kick 4 Life, a charity that uses football to fight poverty and disease in developing countries. She has also produced original works of art for sale in charity auctions for Keech Hospice Care and Sports for All.


title: Lucy Pinder

text: Pinder has also volunteered her time at Cats Protection as part of the charity's campaign "I'm A Celebrity... Let Me Volunteer!", and she was a judge for National Cat Awards in the "Hero Cat" category in 2012.


title: Lucy Pinder

text: Pinder has worked with Help for Heroes, a British charity launched in 2007 to help provide better facilities for British servicemen and women who have been wounded or injured in the line of duty, and she has appeared in the 2011 and 2014 "Hot Shots Calendar".


title: Lucy Pinder

text: Pinder and Rhian Sugden continue to support the MCAC (Male Cancer Awareness Campaign), and they took part in the five-mile "London Strut" awareness initiative in December 2013.


title: Lucy Pinder

text: Pinder supported the "Stars & Stripes 2014 Celebrity Auction" by donating an original drawing of hers that was auctioned off, with the proceeds going to TigerTime.


title: Jake Sinclair (musician)

text: Jacob S. Sinclair (born March 7, 1985) is an American record producer, musician, singer, and songwriter. His production and songwriting credits include Weezer, Fall Out Boy, Panic! at the Disco, 5 Seconds of Summer, Pink, New Politics, Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness, Gin Wigmore, and Train.


title: Jake Sinclair (musician)

text: Born in Idaho, Sinclair started playing music at age 7, where he discovered a love for learning and playing songs by The Beatles. He started his first band at age 11 by convincing his friends to buy instruments, and furthered his skills playing with his father in their local church band. During Sinclair's time as a member of the band The Films, Jake met Butch Walker who became a mentor for him, leading Sinclair to move from New York to Los Angeles where he began engineering for Walker, working with artists such as Taylor Swift, P!nk, Avril Lavigne, Keith Urban, Panic! at the Disco, Fall Out Boy, Weezer and Train.


title: Jake Sinclair (musician)

text: After writing and producing his first RIAA Gold single with New Politics ("Harlem"), followed by his first RIAA Platinum single with 5 Seconds Of Summer ("She Looks So Perfect"), Jake moved into his own studio in Echo Park. It was here that he produced Panic! At the Disco's #1 album Death of a Bachelor and Weezer's White Album. He is currently performing on tour with Beck.


title: Jake Sinclair (musician)

text: Sinclair co-wrote and produced Panic! at the Disco's "Pray For The Wicked" and "Death of a Bachelor" albums (which debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200) and produced Weezer's 2016 "Weezer (White Album)". Both were nominated for Best Rock Album at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards. He co-wrote and produced "Uma Thurman" by Fall Out Boy, which debuted at number one on the U.S. iTunes Chart, reached number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100, and was certified 2× Platinum by the RIAA in December 2015. Sinclair received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year for his work as engineer and bassist on Taylor Swift's "Everything Has Changed" alongside producer Butch Walker. He co-wrote and produced the debut single, "She Looks So Perfect" by 5 Seconds of Summer that peaked at number one in over five countries and won "Song of the Year" at the 2014 ARIA Awards. Sinclair is the former bassist of the indie/pop rock band The Films and the lead singer and producer of the indie pop duo Alohaha. In November 2018 Sinclair won the Spotify Secret Genius Award for best rock producer.


title: Jake Sinclair (musician)

text: Sinclair is married to actress Kate Micucci. They welcomed a baby in January 2020. They live in Los Angeles and New York with their dog Claire.


title: Forever My Girl

text: Forever My Girl is a 2018 American romantic drama film written and directed by Bethany Ashton Wolf based on the novel by Heidi McLaughlin. It follows a country musician (Alex Roe) who sets out to win over the girl he left at the altar eight years before (Jessica Rothe). Abby Ryder Fortson, Travis Tritt, and John Benjamin Hickey also star.


title: Forever My Girl

text: The film was released in the United States on January 19, 2018. It received negative reviews from critics, who denounced the writing and chemistry between the actors, and compared it negatively to Nicholas Sparks films. However, audience reception was more positive, and the film was a modest box office success grossing $16 million on a $3.5 million budget.


title: Forever My Girl

text: In Saint Augustine, Louisiana, Josie is left at the altar by her fiancé Liam to pursue fame and fortune. Eight years later, Liam is a successful country singer. The day after a concert in New Orleans, Liam, after a one night stand wakes up to discover the girl he slept with jumping excitedly, unaware she is on his beat up cell phone. Panicked, Liam takes the phone to a store where the manager fixes the phone for Liam. Afterwards, his manager questions why he still has the phone, Liam revealing it has a very important message on it. While watching TV, Liam learns that Mason, one of his groomsmen from the wedding and his best friend from childhood, has been killed in a car accident.


title: Forever My Girl

text: Liam returns to St. Augustine and attends Mason's funeral. Although Liam attempts to be discreet, Josie recognizes him. After Mason's burial, Josie approaches Liam and punches him in the stomach.


title: Forever My Girl

text: Liam stays with his father, Pastor Brian, although his father is bitter that Liam never kept in contact after becoming famous. While becoming reacquainted with the town, Liam encounters Josie at a flower shop she owns. Liam learns that Josie has a seven-year old daughter, Billy, and that he is the father. Josie confesses that she found out she was pregnant two weeks after he left her at the altar. Although Josie tried to contact him, Liam never returned her call, and Josie decided that if Liam didn't care enough to call her back to find out what was so important, then she wasn't going to contact him again because she and Billy deserve better. He is also surprised to learn that his father also tried to tell him that Josie was pregnant with their daughter at one of his concerts seven years ago, but Liam was so absorbed in his fame that he rudely dismissed his father and didn’t listen to him. Liam eventually persuades Josie to let him spend time with Billy, albeit on Josie's terms. Billy quickly realizes Liam is her father, much to Josie's surprise, and supports Liam's idea.


title: Forever My Girl

text: Liam and Billy bond, with Billy displaying her father's musical ability. Josie even agrees to let Billy stay the night with Liam. As Liam tucks her in, Billy asks him why he left Josie, and Liam admits he was young and confused, although he regrets his decision, Josie and Brian overhear the conversation. After Billy falls asleep, Josie asks Liam on a date. Liam flies Josie to New Orleans for their date, although they are stopped by the press. Liam publicly announces his love for Josie, calling her "The One".


title: Forever My Girl

text: After returning to Saint Augustine, Liam and Billy continue to bond. Billy chokes on her lunch, but Liam is frozen after having a flashback to his mother’s death. Jake, Josie’s brother, saves Billy. Distraught at his inability to act, Liam gets drunk at a bar. Jake visits Liam and tells him that Josie and Billy would be better off without him. While bandaging Liam’s wound that night from punching a mirror, Brian reveals to Liam that when his mother died, he was so absorbed in his own grief that he overlooked Liam’s and apologizes to him for it. He tells Liam that he thinks being famous and never contacting him was a way for him to deal with the grief of his mother’s death, to which Liam agrees. Liam leaves the next morning without telling Josie or Billy, leaving a note for his Dad telling him that Billy and Josie are better off without him.


title: Forever My Girl

text: Liam returns to his tour and performs in London. However, his manager Sam inspires him to return to his family. At the airport, Liam responds to the message on the answering machine that Josie left for him 8 years earlier, explaining that losing his mother caused him to fear losing her, causing him to flee. Liam returns to Saint Augustine and meets with Josie. Liam and Josie get married and Liam plays a song on stage with Billy, first at the child's school talent show, and then during his musical tour in Berlin.


title: Forever My Girl

text: Author Heidi McLaughlin was inspired to write " Forever My Girl " after seeing a picture of a man on Facebook who looked like he was trying to apologize to a girl. To choose the name of Liam Page it took her a total of 10 or 15 minutes, and that same night she wrote the first 5,000 words. After her book was published, she received an offer from LD Entertainment for a film based on the book. On adapting the book for film, Roe said, "It was difficult to accommodate everything in an hour and a half obviously and there were also other changes that Bethany [Wolf] thought were important."


title: Forever My Girl

text: McLaughlin said that writing for Liam and Josie was easy because she has friends who are in bands. For the role of Liam, Roe had to learn to sing and play the guitar. Brett Boyett, the film's musical supervisor, helped him practice every day for almost three months. To research his accent Roe watched interviews of country music singers. He was nervous about acting on stage and talked to country group Little Big Town about performing in front of 50,000 people. Roe formed a band in Los Angeles and held several performances for close friends to practice. McLaughlin positively compared Roe to actor Stephen Amell, stating that, "Alex Roe looks like Amell but younger, so for me it's a perfect choice."


title: Forever My Girl

text: Rothe said she was attracted to the role of Josie for her strength and female empowerment. McLaughlin originally pictured the Australian supermodel Miranda Kerr for the role, and remarked that Rothe resembled a blonde version of Kerr.


title: Forever My Girl

text: Rothe and Roe did not know each other beforehand but had several friends in common, and hung out several times before filming in Atlanta to feel comfortable around each other.


title: Forever My Girl

text: "Forever My Girl" opened on January 19, 2018, and grossed $4.7 million from 1,115 theaters in its opening weekend, finishing 10th. It held well in its second weekend, dropping just 12% to $3.7 million. The film went on to make a total of $16.4 million, against a production budget of $3.5 million.


title: Forever My Girl

text: on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critical consensus reads, ""Forever My Girl" offers a suitably picturesque placeholder for romance fans between Nicholas Sparks films, but other viewers may end up crying for the wrong reasons." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 36 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Henry Cuellar

text: Enrique Roberto Cuellar (born September 19, 1955) is an American attorney and politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 2005. A member of the Democratic Party, he is considered one of the most conservative representatives in the Democratic caucus. His district extends from the Rio Grande to San Antonio's suburbs. , he was also the last Democrat to have held a statewide office in Texas.


title: Henry Cuellar

text: Cuellar served 14 years in the Texas House of Representatives before a brief stint as Texas secretary of state in 2001. He was first elected to Congress in 2004, after defeating the more liberal 28th district incumbent, Ciro Rodriguez, in the primary, and after a failed run for Congress in the neighboring 23rd district in 2002. Cuellar has survived multiple competitive primary races in recent years, most notably in 2020 and 2022.


title: Henry Cuellar

text: Cuellar was born in Laredo, the county seat of Webb County in South Texas, where he has resided most of his life. His Mexican-American parents, Martin Siller Cuellar Sr. (1926–2019), and the former Odilia Perez (1928–2015), a native of Zapata, Texas, traveled as far north as Idaho each year doing migrant labor until Martin found work as a gardener and ranch manager. With eight children, the Cuellar family lived on Reynolds Street in the Las Lomas neighborhood of "The Heights" area of Laredo. His parents knew no English. They instilled a strong work ethic in their children.


title: Henry Cuellar

text: Cuellar is the oldest of his parents' children. His brother, Martin Jr., is the sheriff of Webb County, first elected in 2008 over the incumbent, Rick Flores. A sister, Rosie Cuellar-Castillo, is the Laredo municipal judge, having won a nonpartisan runoff election on December 11, 2010.


title: Henry Cuellar

text: Cuellar attended Buenos Aires Elementary School, where he became an avid reader and graduated in 1973 from J. W. Nixon High School. He received an associate of arts degree from Laredo Community College, then known as Laredo Junior College, where he later taught courses in government. He then attended the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and graduated "cum laude" with a bachelor of science in foreign service. He also earned a master of arts in international trade from Texas A&M International University, a juris doctor from the University of Texas School of Law and a PhD from the University of Texas at Austin.


title: Henry Cuellar

text: Cuellar opened his own law firm in Laredo in 1981, and became a licensed customs broker in 1983. From 1984 to 1986 he taught at Texas A&M International University as an adjunct professor of international commercial law.


title: Henry Cuellar

text: Cuellar was a member of the Texas House of Representatives from 1987 to 2001, representing most of Laredo. During his 14 years as a state representative, he served in leadership positions on the House Appropriations, Higher Education, and Calendar committees. He also served on several national legislative committees dealing with state budgets, the U.S.–Mexico border and international trade.


title: Henry Cuellar

text: In 2001, Governor Rick Perry appointed Cuellar to be secretary of state of Texas. He served in the office for just over nine months until his resignation, after which Geoff Connor held the position in an acting capacity. , Cuellar is the last Democrat to have served in the role.


title: Henry Cuellar

text: In 2002, Cuellar was the Democratic nominee for the House of Representatives in Texas's 23rd congressional district. He lost to five-term incumbent Republican Henry Bonilla 52%–47% in the closest race Bonilla had faced to that date. Bonilla was unseated in 2006 in the revised 23rd district by Democrat Ciro Rodriguez.


title: Henry Cuellar

text: Cuellar spent much of early 2003 preparing for a rematch against Bonilla. The 2003 Texas redistricting, however, shifted most of Laredo, which had been the heart of the 23rd since its creation in 1966, into the 28th district, represented by Rodriguez. Cuellar challenged Rodriguez, a former friend, for the nomination and won it by 58 votes. "The Washington Post" described the campaign as "nasty ... with Cuellar claiming Rodriguez was an AWOL congressman, while Rodriguez called Cuellar a political opportunist". The initial count gave Rodriguez a 145-vote lead, but after a recount Cuellar led by 58 votes. "Rodriguez filed a lawsuit questioning the eligibility of hundreds of votes. A state appeals court ruling against Rodriguez guaranteed Cuellar the nomination." Cuellar's victory was one of only two primary upsets of incumbents from either party in the entire country.


title: Henry Cuellar

text: The 28th district leans far more Democratic than the 23rd, and Cuellar's victory in the general election was a foregone conclusion. In November, he defeated Republican Jim Hopson of Seguin by a 20-point margin, becoming the first Laredoan in over 20 years elected to represent the 28th district. Cuellar's election to the House in 2004 was a standout for Democrats in a year in which Republicans otherwise gained seats in Texas's House delegation.


title: Henry Cuellar

text: On March 7, 2006, Cuellar again defeated Rodriguez in the Democratic primary with 52% of the vote in a three-way race. No Republican filed, ostensibly assuring him of reelection in November.


title: Henry Cuellar

text: On June 29, the U.S. Supreme Court declared that the Texas legislature had violated Latino voters' rights when it shifted most of Laredo out of the 23rd and replaced it with several heavily Republican San Antonio suburbs. As a result, nearly every congressional district from El Paso to San Antonio had to be redrawn, and the primary results for these districts were invalidated. A court drew a new map in which all of Laredo was moved into the 28th district while the south San Antonio area was moved to the 23rd. An election open to all candidates with a runoff if no candidate won 50% was scheduled for the date of the general election, November 7, 2006.


title: Henry Cuellar

text: In the general election on November 7, 2006, Cuellar had no Republican opposition but handily defeated Ron Avery of McQueeney, the chairman of the conservative Constitution Party in Guadalupe County, and trial attorney and Democrat Frank Enriquez of McAllen, with nearly 68% of the vote.


title: Henry Cuellar

text: Cuellar's two main political rivals, Bonilla and Rodriguez, ran against each other in the 23rd, and Rodriguez won the election in the runoff. Bonilla was hence out of Congress for the first time since his upset election in 1992.


title: Henry Cuellar

text: In the November 4 general election, Cuellar easily defeated Republican James Taylor Fish. Jim Fish, as he is known, was a health-care administrator for 17 years while serving in the United States Air Force. He also taught finance at the Army-Baylor University Graduate School of Health Care Administration. An ordained Southern Baptist deacon, Fish opposed same-sex marriage. He said he had decided to oppose Cuellar after watching Cuellar's exchange with Sheriff Rick Flores over border security issues on a 2007 broadcast of the Glenn Beck television program, then on CNN.


title: Henry Cuellar

text: Cuellar received 123,310 votes (69%) to Fish's 52,394 (29%) and 3,715 (2%) for Libertarian Ross Lynn Leone. In Webb County, Cuellar polled 41,567 votes (90%) to Fish's 4,089 (9%).


title: Henry Cuellar

text: Cuellar was unopposed for the Democratic nomination in 2010. Motivated by Cuellar's votes on cap and trade and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, two Republicans, Daniel Chavez, a utility company employee from Mission in Hidalgo County, and Bryan Keith Underwood, a carpenter from Seguin in Guadalupe County, filed for their party's nomination. Underwood polled 13,599 votes (74%) to Chavez's 4,794 (26%).


title: Henry Cuellar

text: Underwood raised more funds than Cuellar's previous Republican opponents, but questions were raised in his hometown newspaper, the "Seguin Gazette", about his criminal record, which included a guilty plea for a felony criminal mischief charge, which is normally a misdemeanor. Underwood had also refused on one occasion to present his identification to a law enforcement officer.


title: Henry Cuellar

text: Cuellar prevailed, as expected, with 62,055 votes (56%) to Underwood's 46,417 (42%). The remaining 1,880 votes (2%) went to Libertarian Party candidate Stephen Kaat. While Underwood won Guadalupe, Wilson, McMullen, and Atascosa counties, Cuellar's margin in Webb County (25,415 to 3,569) was more than enough assure him a seat in the incoming Republican-majority House.


title: Henry Cuellar

text: Cuellar was opposed in the November 6 general election by Republican William R. Hayward and Libertarian Patrick Hisel. Hisel ran unsuccessfully as a Libertarian in 2010 against Republican U.S. Representative Kay Granger from the Tarrant County-based 12th district.


title: Henry Cuellar

text: Guadalupe County, a Republican stronghold that usually opposed Cuellar for reelection, was removed from the reconfigured 28th district.


title: Henry Cuellar

text: Cuellar defeated Hayward, 112,262 (68%) to 49,095 (30%). Hisel took 2% of the vote, and a Green Party candidate received the remaining 1%.