title: Chiptune

text: The practice of SID music composition has continued seamlessly until this day in conjunction with the Commodore 64 demoscene. The High Voltage SID Collection, a comprehensive archive of SID music, contains over 40,000 pieces of SID music.


title: Chiptune

text: The heyday of chiptune music was the 1980s. The earliest commercial chiptune records produced entirely from sampling arcade game sounds have existed since the mid-1980s, an early example being Haruomi Hosono's "Video Game Music" in 1984. Though entirely chiptune records were uncommon at the time, many mainstream musicians in the pop rock,


title: Chiptune

text: genres were sampling arcade game sounds and bleeps during the golden age of video arcade games (late 1970s to mid-1980s), as early as Yellow Magic Orchestra's "Computer Game" in 1978. Buckner & Garcia's "Pac-Man Fever" and the album of the same name were major hits in 1982. Arcade game sounds were one of the foundational elements of the electro music genre, which in turn inspired many other electronic dance music genres such as techno and house music, which were sometimes referred to as "bleep music". "Space Invaders" inspired Player One's "Space Invaders" (1979), which in turn provided the bassline for Jesse Saunders' "On and On" (1984),


title: Chiptune

text: Warp's record "Testone" (1990) by Sweet Exorcist sampled video game sounds from Yellow Magic Orchestra's "Computer Game" and defined Sheffield's bleep techno scene in the early 1990s.


title: Chiptune

text: After the 1980s, however, chiptune music began declining in popularity. Since then, up until the 2000s, chip music was rarely performed live and the songs were nearly exclusively spread as executable programs and other computer file formats. Some of the earliest examples of record label releases of pure chip music can be found in the late 1990s.


title: Chiptune

text: Chiptune music began gaining popularity again towards the end of the 1990s. The first electroclash record, I-F's "Space Invaders Are Smoking Grass" (1997), has been described as "burbling electro in a vocodered homage to Atari-era hi-jinks".


title: Chiptune

text: By the mid-2000s, 8-bit chip music began making a comeback in mainstream pop music, when it was used by acts such as Beck (for example, the 2005 song "Girl"), The Killers (for example, the 2004 song "On Top"), No Doubt with the song "Running", and particularly The Postal Service in many of their songs. The low-quality digital PCM styling of early game music composers such as Hiroshi Kawaguchi also began gaining popularity.


title: Chiptune

text: along with producer Yasutaka Nakata, began producing music combining chiptunes with synthpop and electro house; their breakthrough came in 2007 with "Game", which led to other Japanese female artists using a similar electronic style, including Aira Mitsuki, immi, Mizca, SAWA, Saori@destiny, and Sweet Vacation.


title: Chiptune

text: Electro house producer Deadmau5 started his career in the late 1990s, with a chiptune and demoscene movements-influenced sound. Three self-released compilations, Project 56, deadmau5 Circa 1998–2002 and A Little Oblique, were finished in 2006.


title: Chiptune

text: In 2007, the entirely chiptune album "" was released on major mainstream label Astralwerks/EMI Records, which included several prominent and noted chipmusicians, including Nanoloop


title: Chiptune

text: creator Johan Kotlinski who appears as the artist "Role Model". Kraftwerk founding member Ralf Hütter personally selected the tracks.


title: Chiptune

text: A vinyl 12-inch single version was released on February 24, 2007 as a precursor to the full-length CD, and reached as high as number 17


title: Chiptune

text: on the "Billboard" magazine Hot Dance Singles Sales Chart. In March 2007, the CD release reached as high as number 1 on the "CMJ RPM" (North American college Electronic) charts.


title: Chiptune

text: Edinburgh-born electronic musician Unicorn Kid has helped further popularize chiptune, especially with the song "True Love Fantasy" and other songs from the EP "Tidal Rave" being played on late night radio, including on BBC Radio 1, where he played live on the Festive Festival 2011. In Canada, Eightcubed and Crystal Castles helped the popularity further via the Toronto underground club scene and created a lasting impression with the music video "Heart Invaders" debuting on MuchMusic in 2008


title: Chiptune

text: During the late 2000s, a new wave of chiptune culture took place, boosted by the release of software such as LittleSoundDJ for the Game Boy. This new culture has much more emphasis on live performances and record releases than the demoscene and tracker culture, of which the new artists are often only distantly aware.


title: Chiptune

text: In recent years, 8-bit chiptune sounds, or "video game beats", have been used by a number of mainstream pop artists. Examples include artists such as Kesha


title: Chiptune

text: Eminem (for example, "Hellbound"), Nelly Furtado, and Timbaland (see Timbaland plagiarism controversy). The influence of video game sounds can also be heard in contemporary British electronica music by artists such as Dizzee Rascal and Kieran Hebden,


title: Chiptune

text: as well as in heavy metal bands such as DragonForce. Grime music in particular samples sawtooth wave sounds from video games which were popular in East London.


title: Chiptune

text: Some dubstep producers have also been influenced by video game chiptunes, particularly the work of Yuzo Koshiro.


title: Chiptune

text: In 2010, a BBC article stated that the "sights and sounds of old-school games" (naming "Frogger" and "Donkey Kong" as examples) are "now becoming a part of mainstream music and culture."


title: Chiptune

text: Complextro pioneer Porter Robinson has also cited video game sounds, or chiptunes, as an influence on his style of music along with 1980s analog synth music.


title: Chiptune

text: The Commodore Amiga (1985), with its sample-based sound generation, distanced the concept of microcomputer music away from plain chip-synthesized sounds. Amiga tracker music software, beginning from Karsten Obarski's Ultimate Soundtracker (1987), inspired great numbers of computer enthusiasts to create computer music. As an offshoot of the burgeoning tracker music culture, a type of tracker music reminiscent of Commodore 64 SID music was born, that utilized simple waveforms instead of digitized samples. This type of music came to be called "chiptunes", referring to the sound of early video game console and home computer sound chips.


title: Chiptune

text: Earliest examples of tracker chiptunes date back to 1989 and are attributed to the demoscene musicians 4mat, Baroque, TDK, Turtle and Duz. Tracker chiptunes are based on very short looped waveforms which are modulated by tracker effects such as arpeggio, vibrato, and portamento. A very common loop length is 128 samples, or a power of 2 multiple/fraction of that, which at an approximate sample rate of 17 kHz misses a C note by a few cents. This technique allowed composing complex and imaginary waveforms.


title: Chiptune

text: There is at least one commercial game for the Amiga, Nebulus II, that used chiptune style music, although with some conventional sampled instrument sounds as well as speech. The game apparently was initially planned for release for the C64 but was canceled.


title: Chiptune

text: The small amount of sample data made tracker chiptunes far more space-efficient than most other types of tracker music, which made them appealing to size-limited demoscene demos and crack intros. Tracker chiptunes have also been commonly used in other warez scene executables such as keygens.


title: Chiptune

text: Nowadays, the term "chiptune" is also used to cover chip music using actual chip-based synthesis, but some sources, such as the Amiga Music Preservation project, still define a chiptune specifically as a small tracker module.


title: Chiptune

text: The chip scene has become relevant thanks to "compos" being held, groups releasing music disks and with the cracktro/demo scene. New tracker tools are used for making chip sounds available to less techy musicians. The NES platform has the MidiNES, a cartridge that turns the system into a full blown hardware MIDI controlled synthesizer. Around 2007, the Mssiah was released for the Commodore 64, which is very similar to the MidiNES, but with greater parameter controls, sequencing, analog drum emulation, and limited sample playback. The Commodore PET has the open-source PetSynth software, which uses the PET's 6522 chip for sound, allows the computer to be played like a piano keyboard, and features many effects. On the DOS platform, Fast Tracker is one of the most famous chiptune makers because of the ability to create hand-drawn samples with the mouse. Chiptune artist Pixelh8 has also designed music software such as Music Tech


title: Chiptune

text: There have been a number of television segments featuring chiptunes and chip music artists in the past few years. On April 11, 2005, 8 Bit Weapon played their songs "Bombs Away" and "Gameboy Rocker" on G4's "Attack of the Show" live broadcast Episode #5058. In 2008, as a parody of "Masterpiece Theatre", the first four episodes of "Boing Boing Video"s "SPAMasterpiece Theater" opened with a chiptune remix of Jean-Joseph Mouret's "Rondeau: Fanfare" (1735) by Hamhocks Buttermilk Johnson.


title: Chiptune

text: Another chipmusic feature included little-scale, Dot.AY, Ten Thousand Free Men & Their Families and Jim Cuomo on the Australian ABC2's television series "Good Game" in 2009.


title: Chiptune

text: The Electronic Frontier Foundation in December 2010 used a faux 8-bit game with an 8-bit sound track by crashfaster to demonstrate its notable legal achievements for that year.


title: Chiptune

text: In March 2012, the Smithsonian American Art Museum's "The Art of Video Games" exhibit opened featuring a chipmusic soundtrack at the entrance by artists 8 Bit Weapon & ComputeHer. 8 Bit Weapon also created a track called "The art of Video Games Anthem" for the exhibit. In September 2015, the first music compilation based on Domo (NHK), Domo Loves Chiptune, was released on iTunes, Amazon, and all major music streaming services.


title: Chiptune

text: The compilation features top artists in the Chiptune genre such Anamanaguchi and Disasterpeace. Domo Loves Chiptune also features the first Chiptune remix of the Domo theme song by Mystery Mansion. The New York City chiptune scene was also the subject of a documentary called "Reformat the Planet" by 2 Player Productions. This film was an official selection at the 2008 South by Southwest.


title: Chiptune

text: Chip music has returned to 21st-century gaming, either in full-chip music style or using chip samples in the music. Popular games that feature chiptune elements in their soundtracks include "Shovel Knight" and "Undertale".


title: Chiptune

text: Events take place all around the world that focus around the celebration and recognition of chiptune music. In the United States, during Super MAGFest—a yearly convention that hosts a variety of video game-related events—popular chiptune artists such as goto80 and Chipzel have previously performed on the Concert Hall mainstage. A chiptune-focused mainstage show (aptly named "Chip Rave") typically occurs on the third day of the convention within the concert hall and has featured countless prominent faces in the chiptune community.


title: Chiptune

text: Super MAGFest also holds a continuous venue called Chipspace, a place where participants in the chiptune community go on-stage and perform their music through an open mic system.


title: Chiptune

text: Among these daily performances are showcases, which are curated by chiptune netlabels such as Chiptunes=WIN, geekbeatradio, and more.


title: David Labrava

text: David M. Labrava (born October 19, 1962) is an American actor, writer, tattoo artist, former member of the Hells Angels, and motorcycle enthusiast known for playing Happy Lowman in the FX series "Sons of Anarchy" and its spinoff "Mayans M.C.".


title: David Labrava

text: Labrava was born in Miami, Florida, and spent time in Amsterdam tattooing and working as a bouncer at a club. He grew up riding dirt bikes and got his first Harley Davidson when he was 17. At the age of 14, he was cooking chicharrón with Cubans in Hialeah, Florida.


title: David Labrava

text: Labrava was hired to be the Technical Advisor for "Sons of Anarchy" and then was cast as Happy Lowman; he was with the show from its inception in 2008 to its finale in 2014. He also co-wrote season 4, episode 10, titled "Hands", the only episode in seven seasons that ever won an award, an honorable mention from "Time" magazine.


title: David Labrava

text: Labrava wrote, produced, directed, and starred in his first feature film, entitled "Street Level" (2015), which is available on digital platforms.


title: David Labrava

text: Labrava writes the "Burnin' Rubber with Jimmy Carbone" column in the national hot rod magazine, "Ol' Skool Rodz". He is credited as Dave "D.L." Labrava. Before that he used to write for "The Horse" motorcycle magazine and built a bike that made the cover in March 2001.


title: David Labrava

text: His son Tycho committed suicide on May 5, 2018, at the age of 16. There had previously been no outward signs of depression or any other mental health issues. Labrava wrote on Instagram, "I am broken", and encouraged his followers to communicate with their loved ones, because "there may not be any signs."


title: David Labrava

text: Labrava was arrested in 2008 in Missoula County, Montana, for two felony counts of possession of marijuana and two misdemeanor counts for possession of paraphernalia. A search warrant was obtained for his hotel room after a woman reported he had held her there against her will. After the search warrant was executed, 1.5 grams of hashish was found in the room as well as a pipe.


title: Gerry Beckley

text: Gerald Linford Beckley (born September 12, 1952), better known as Gerry Beckley, is an American singer, songwriter, and musician, and a founding member of the band America.


title: Gerry Beckley

text: Beckley was born to an American father and an English mother. He began playing the piano at the age of three and the guitar a few years later. By 1962, Beckley was playing guitar in The Vanguards, an instrumental surf music band in Virginia. He spent every summer in England and soon discovered British invasion music.


title: Gerry Beckley

text: In 1967, Beckley's father became the commander at the United States Air Force base at West Ruislip, near London. Gerry attended London Central High School in Bushey Hall in north west London, where he played in various school bands and met his soon-to-be bandmates, Dewey Bunnell and Dan Peek. Originally, the group played on Friday nights at the local American teen club, mostly doing acoustic covers of Crosby, Stills, and Nash tunes. The original drummer was a classmate, Dave Atwood.


title: Gerry Beckley

text: America signed a recording contract with the British division of Warner Bros. Records and found success in 1972 with "A Horse with No Name."


title: Gerry Beckley

text: Beckley wrote and sang America's 1972 top-10 hit "I Need You" and its 1975 number-one hit "Sister Golden Hair", as well as its top-20 followup "Daisy Jane". He also sang their '80s top-10 hit "You Can Do Magic".


title: Gerry Beckley

text: Beckley continues to write and record music both as a solo artist and with other musicians. With Bunnell, Beckley continues touring worldwide as "America".


title: Gerry Beckley

text: In the 1990 John Waters film "Cry-Baby", Beckley, Andrew Gold, and Timothy B. Schmit appeared as Baldwin and the Whiffles, performing "Mister Sandman", "The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane", and "Sh-Boom".


title: Gerry Beckley

text: Beckley has worked with a wide variety of musicians on many projects. In the mid-1970s, he collaborated with David Cassidy on Cassidy's critically acclaimed RCA albums, co-writing, singing, and co-producing. From 1992 to 1997 he collaborated with Carl Wilson of The Beach Boys, and Robert Lamm of Chicago, culminating with the 2000 release of "Like a Brother", Wilson's final recordings before his death in 1998.


title: Gerry Beckley

text: In March 2007, Beckley appeared as a guest on the Australian musical quiz TV show "Spicks and Specks". In April 2007, he appeared as a special guest at a Ben Kweller show in Melbourne, Australia. Beckley, Kweller, and the band performed "Sister Golden Hair" together.


title: Gerry Beckley

text: Beckley debuted his 2016 Blue Elan Records solo album "Carousel" on September 7, 2016, with a live performance at the Whisky a Go Go in Hollywood, California.


title: Gerry Beckley

text: Beckley was married to Eleanor Beckley from 1978 to 1982 and then to Kathy Beckley. He has two sons, Matthew (Born July 16, 1983) and Joe (Born February 22, 1992). Matthew is also a musician; he has toured with Katy Perry and has worked with other artists, including Ke$ha and Britney Spears. Joe is an aspiring photographer in the Los Angeles area. Beckley, now married to an Australian, splits his time between homes in California and Australia.


title: Albanian Civil War

text: The Albanian Civil War in 1997 was sparked by pyramid scheme failures in Albania soon after its transition to a market economy. The government was toppled and more than 2,000 people were killed. Various other sources also describe the violence that ensued as a rebellion, or a rebellion that gradually escalated into a civil war.


title: Albanian Civil War

text: By January 1997, Albanian citizens, who had lost a total of $1.2 billion, took their protest to the streets. Beginning in February, thousands of citizens launched daily protests demanding reimbursement by the government, which they believed was profiting from the schemes. On 1 March, Prime Minister Aleksandër Meksi resigned and on 2 March, President Sali Berisha declared a state of emergency.


title: Albanian Civil War

text: On 11 March the Socialist Party of Albania won a major victory when its leader, Bashkim Fino, was appointed prime minister. However, the transfer of power did not halt the unrest, and protests spread to northern Albania. Although the government quelled revolts in the north, the ability of the government and military to maintain order began to collapse, especially in the southern half of Albania, which fell under the control of rebels and criminal gangs.


title: Albanian Civil War

text: All major population centres were engulfed in demonstrations by 13 March and foreign countries began to evacuate their citizens. These evacuations included Operation Libelle, Operation Silver Wake and Operation Kosmas, by the German, American and Greek militaries respectively. The United Nations Security Council, in Resolution 1101, authorised a force of 7,000 troops on 28 March to direct relief efforts and restore order in Albania. The UN feared the unrest would spread beyond Albania's borders and send refugees throughout Europe. On 15 April, a multi-national peacekeeping force launched Operation Alba which helped restore rule of law in the country by late July.


title: Albanian Civil War

text: After the unrest had ended, some of the weapons looted from Albanian army barracks and stockpiles were acquired by the Kosovo Liberation Army, with many making their way to the ensuing Kosovo War (1998–99).


title: Albanian Civil War

text: The period has been asserted as a civil war, brink of civil war, and a near civil war, and anarchy, while others claim that it was not.


title: Albanian Civil War

text: In 1992, the Democratic Party of Albania won the nation's first free elections and Sali Berisha became president. In the mid-1990s Albania was adopting a market economy, after decades of a command economy under the People's Socialist Republic of Albania. The rudimentary financial system soon became dominated by Ponzi schemes, and even government officials endorsed a series of pyramid investment funds.


title: Albanian Civil War

text: By January 1997, the schemes, many of which were fronts for money laundering and arms trafficking, could no longer make payments, which led to their collapse. By then, the number of investors who had been lured by the promise of getting rich quick grew to include two-thirds of Albania's 3 million population. It is estimated that close to $1.5 billion was invested in companies offering monthly interest rates ranging from 10%–25%, while the average monthly income in the country was around $80. A significant number of Albanians had sold their homes to invest, and emigrants working in Greece and Italy transferred additional resources to the schemes.


title: Albanian Civil War

text: On 26 May 1996, general elections were held and the conservative Democratic Party won by a large margin, winning 122 out of 140 seats in Parliament. However, the opposition Socialists (PS) accused the government of election fraud and rejected the results. They proceeded to leave the ballot-counting process and boycott the parliament. Five months later, local elections were held on 20 October. The Democratic Party won again, but the Socialists rejected this result as well.


title: Albanian Civil War

text: The pyramid schemes started operations in 1991. Their activity was based on making payments to old investors using money contributed by new investors. The first scheme was that of Hajdin Sejdisë, who later fled to Switzerland with several million dollars. It was followed by "Sudja" of shoe factory worker Maksude Kadëna in 1993, then the "Populli" foundations run by an opposition politician, and "Xhaferri". By the end of 1996 the schemes peaked. The interest rates they offered were very tempting; Sudja offered 100% interest.


title: Albanian Civil War

text: The schemes were not criticised immediately because of a banking law adopted in 1994 which, on International Monetary Fund (IMF) advice, contained no provision that the National Bank of Albania act as a supervisor of commercial banks. The IMF changed that advice two years later, after the consequences had become visible. Despite IMF advice to shut down these schemes, the government continued to allow them, often participating in them.


title: Albanian Civil War

text: Between 8–16 January 1997 the schemes finally collapsed. On 22 January the government froze the Xhaferri and Populli firms. "Gjallica", another firm, was on the verge of bankruptcy, while "Vefa", which had invested in Albanian hotels, fuel industry and factories, continued as usual.


title: Albanian Civil War

text: The first public protests occurred on 16 January in the south of the country. On 19 January, demonstrators protested in capital Tirana over the Sudja scheme. On 24 January the open rebellion "de facto" began. Thousands of people in the western town of Lushnjë marched on city hall in protest against the government's support of the schemes, and the protest quickly descended into violence. Police forces were subsequently routed and the city hall and the adjoining cinema were burned down.


title: Albanian Civil War

text: One day later, on 25 January, leader of the Democratic Party, Tritan Shehu, was sent to Lushnjë to resolve the situation. On his arrival he was captured by protesters and held hostage for several hours at the City Stadium where he was assaulted as well. Albanian Special Forces units intervened to extract Shehu. By the morning of 26 January every government institution in the city had been looted and destroyed, except for the Interior Ministry building, which was protected by the Director of Communications, seven of his engineers, and a guard who refused to abandon his post.


title: Albanian Civil War

text: On 26–27 January violence erupted in other southern towns, including the major port city of Vlorë. On 30 January the Forum for Democracy was formed by opposition parties to try and lead the protests. Anger was also directed against President Sali Berisha and the government for allowing the schemes to continue despite IMF advice. As allegations grew that Berisha and others in the government had personally profited from the schemes, many became convinced that the Democratic Party had to be removed by force. This was especially true in Vlorë.


title: Albanian Civil War

text: On 4 February the government began distributing reimbursements of some of the lost money at subsidiaries of the state-owned National Commercial Bank. Rather than quelling the protests, the move backfired as it increased the public's suspicions. A check for $550,000 paid by the "Gjallica" firm on 7 January to the Socialist Party accelerated the firm's collapse. On 5 February Gjallica declared bankruptcy and on 6 February violent protests resumed in Vlorë. On 9 February state police were attacked in Vlorë and a day later, also in the south, a group of 50 Special Forces troops attacked and brutally dispersed protesters.


title: Albanian Civil War

text: On 20 February 1997, about 50 students at the University of Vlorë began a hunger strike on campus; they demanded the government's resignation and the full return of invested money. On 22 February, the opposition Forum for Democracy declared its support for the strike. Students from the towns of Gjirokastër and Elbasan also came to give their support. They were then brought by the FRESSH (Youth Wing of Socialist Party) activists from Vlorë to capital Tirana. In contrast, the students of University Luigj Gurakuqi in Shkodër did not take part in the protest, and its Students Union declared that although "the students share the pain of the citizens of Vlorë in losing money in pyramid schemes, on the other hand, they think that freedom and democracy, homeland and nation, have a higher price".


title: Albanian Civil War

text: On 26 February thousands of people surrounded the building of the university in Vlorë to defend it from a rumored attack by SHIK (Shërbimi Informativ Kombëtar), the national intelligence service. The same day a group of strikers requested more medical help, raising doubts about the doctors near them. On 27 February in Shkodër, mayor Bahri Borici of the United Right declared his support for the hunger strike.


title: Albanian Civil War

text: The next day was a decisive moment in Albanian history—after strengthening their perimeter around the building of the university, the rebel forces, without warning, attacked the SHIK building. In fighting between the rebels and government forces, nine people—six officers and three civilians—were killed. This incident marked the start of a ten-day civil war and a year of violence in southern Albania.


title: Albanian Civil War

text: The so-called "opening of the depots" () refers to the opening of army's weapons depots on orders of President Berisha in the northern areas of the country, which he justified by the need to protect the population against the violence from the south.


title: Albanian Civil War

text: When southern Albanian bases were looted, it was estimated that, on average, every male from the age of ten upwards had at least one firearm and ample ammunition. During the rebellion 656,000 weapons of various types and 1.5 billion rounds of ammunition, 3.5 million hand grenades and one million land mines, were looted from army depots according to UNDP.


title: Albanian Civil War

text: At the village of Selitë near Burrel, a town 90 km north of capital Tirana, an explosion occurred at an arms depot on 29 April after a group of villagers broke into the facility. The blast resulted in the deaths of 22 of the 200 village residents, most of the victims coming from the same family.


title: Albanian Civil War

text: The Krrabë Event () was the theft of gold of the Albanian state treasury on 24 April 1997. The treasury, hidden in tunnels near Krrabë outside Tirana, consisted of 340 kg of gold ingots, banknotes, and other items. The perpetrators, who were later tried and received prison sentences, were: Arian Bishqemi (7 years), Blerim Haka (3 years), Pellumb Dalti (6 years), Enver Hyka (8 years) and Ahmet Hyken (4 years).


title: Albanian Civil War

text: The Robbery of the Northern State Treasury () was the theft of approximately $6 million from the Albanian state treasury in Shkodër in March 1997. A group of six people attacked the fortified building of the State Treasury with an antitank weapon. The total amount of money that was inside the building was $8 million, but the robbers only managed to get away with $6 million. The few police still in the city soon arrived at the scene and took control of the remaining assets.


title: Albanian Civil War

text: Later, the thieves were seen by several witnesses meeting at the outskirts of Shkodër, where they divided the money between themselves. After the robbery, the police and investigators began investigations in Shkodër. In the spring of 1998, more than a year later, the investigators closed the file and it was given to the police for further investigation. The perpetrators of this crime are still unknown to this day.


title: Albanian Civil War

text: On 28 March the United Nations adopted Resolution 1101 for humanitarian aid to Albania, and on 15 April Operation Alba forces began to arrive, finally withdrawing on 12 August. About 7,000 soldiers in the multinational Italian-led UN mission came to Albania to restore order and rule of law. The first forces were deployed in Durrës. Normality first returned to Tirana. An element of the Operation Alba forces stayed in place, retraining the military to modern standards; this unit was joined from mid-May by members of WEU's Multinational Albanian Police element, doing the same with the police after restructuring the legislative base which caused the problem.


title: Albanian Civil War

text: As part of peacekeeping operations, Italy sent 7,000 soldiers, France 850, Greece 803 soldiers, Turkey 500, Romania 400, Germany 100 and Austria 100 soldiers.


title: Albanian Civil War

text: Taking advantage of the difficult situations, criminal groups armed themselves and took control of entire cities. Most leaders had been imprisoned in Greece, but suddenly escaped and returned to Albania. The most famous case is that of Zani Caushi, who escaped from the high-security prison of Larissa in February 1997 and, with a group of friends, established the gang of Çole in Vlora.


title: Albanian Civil War

text: In Vlora five gangs were created, but two ruled the city: the gang of Zani and the gang of Gaxhai. Movement in the city started at 10:00, when people gathered in Flag's Square to hear the Committee of Rescue, and ended at 13:00. After that hour the streets were deserted and the only people who moved were gang members. Gangs announced through speakers and flyers that other people were not to go out as there would be fighting.


title: Albanian Civil War

text: Each night brought attacks with explosives and shooting, leaving dozens dead. In Berat Altin Dardha's rule was even more severe. In Lushnje Aldo Bare's gang had control. The worst crime that this gang committed was to behead an opponent. Cities ruled by gangs were Vlora, Berat, Tepelena, Memaliaj, Ballshi, Saranda, Gjirokastra, Lushnja, Pogradec, Cerrik and Tropoja.


title: Albanian Civil War

text: Salvation Committees (also known as People's Committees or the Committee of Public Salvation []) were organizations created during the 1997 Albanian Civil War. They were established in many regions of the country in order to usurp the functions of the Albanian state. They were most influential in the south, where early in the crisis the local Salvation Committees merged to form the National Salvation Committee and demanded the removal of President Sali Berisha.


title: Albanian Civil War

text: Many committees were based on local organisations for the Socialist Party of Albania and saw themselves as protectors of democracy against authoritarian one-man rule. The Albanian government viewed them as similar to Communist-era local party organisations and therefore a potential threat of returning to Communist rule.


title: Albanian Civil War

text: According to Christopher Jarvis, there were 2,000 killed. According to Fred C. Abrahams, between March and May 1997 some 1,600 people were killed, most in shootouts between rival gangs. An UNIDIR document claimed more than 2,000 killed in March alone.


title: Albanian Civil War

text: Damage from the rebellion was estimated at US$200 million dollars and some 3,700 to 5,000 wounded. Lawsuits were filed against the bosses of the rogue firms. Various members of the government, including Safet Zhulali and Agim Shehu, were sentenced in absentia.


title: Albanian Civil War

text: In elections in June and July 1997, Berisha and his party were voted out of power, and the leftist coalition headed by the Socialist Party won. The Socialist party elected Rexhep Meidani as President of the Albanian Republic. All UN forces left Albania by 11 August.


title: Multinomial logistic regression

text: In statistics, multinomial logistic regression is a classification method that generalizes logistic regression to multiclass problems, i.e. with more than two possible discrete outcomes. That is, it is a model that is used to predict the probabilities of the different possible outcomes of a categorically distributed dependent variable, given a set of independent variables (which may be real-valued, binary-valued, categorical-valued, etc.).


title: Multinomial logistic regression

text: Multinomial logistic regression is known by a variety of other names, including polytomous LR, multiclass LR, softmax regression, multinomial logit (mlogit), the maximum entropy (MaxEnt) classifier, and the conditional maximum entropy model.


title: Multinomial logistic regression

text: Multinomial logistic regression is used when the dependent variable in question is nominal (equivalently "categorical", meaning that it falls into any one of a set of categories that cannot be ordered in any meaningful way) and for which there are more than two categories. Some examples would be:


title: Multinomial logistic regression

text: These are all statistical classification problems. They all have in common a dependent variable to be predicted that comes from one of a limited set of items that cannot be meaningfully ordered, as well as a set of independent variables (also known as features, explanators, etc.), which are used to predict the dependent variable. Multinomial logistic regression is a particular solution to classification problems that use a linear combination of the observed features and some problem-specific parameters to estimate the probability of each particular value of the dependent variable. The best values of the parameters for a given problem are usually determined from some training data (e.g. some people for whom both the diagnostic test results and blood types are known, or some examples of known words being spoken).


title: Multinomial logistic regression

text: The multinomial logistic model assumes that data are case-specific; that is, each independent variable has a single value for each case. The multinomial logistic model also assumes that the dependent variable cannot be perfectly predicted from the independent variables for any case. As with other types of regression, there is no need for the independent variables to be statistically independent from each other (unlike, for example, in a naive Bayes classifier); however, collinearity is assumed to be relatively low, as it becomes difficult to differentiate between the impact of several variables if this is not the case.


title: Multinomial logistic regression

text: If the multinomial logit is used to model choices, it relies on the assumption of independence of irrelevant alternatives (IIA), which is not always desirable. This assumption states that the odds of preferring one class over another do not depend on the presence or absence of other "irrelevant" alternatives. For example, the relative probabilities of taking a car or bus to work do not change if a bicycle is added as an additional possibility. This allows the choice of "K" alternatives to be modeled as a set of "K"-1 independent binary choices, in which one alternative is chosen as a "pivot" and the other "K"-1 compared against it, one at a time. The IIA hypothesis is a core hypothesis in rational choice theory; however numerous studies in psychology show that individuals often violate this assumption when making choices. An example of a problem case arises if choices include a car and a blue bus. Suppose the odds ratio between the two is 1 : 1. Now if the option of a red bus is introduced, a person may be indifferent between a red and a blue bus, and hence may exhibit a car : blue bus : red bus odds ratio of 1 : 0.5 : 0.5, thus maintaining a 1 : 1 ratio of car : any bus while adopting a changed car : blue bus ratio of 1 : 0.5. Here the red bus option was not in fact irrelevant, because a red bus was a perfect substitute for a blue bus.


title: Multinomial logistic regression

text: If the multinomial logit is used to model choices, it may in some situations impose too much constraint on the relative preferences between the different alternatives. This point is especially important to take into account if the analysis aims to predict how choices would change if one alternative were to disappear (for instance if one political candidate withdraws from a three candidate race). Other models like the nested logit or the multinomial probit may be used in such cases as they allow for violation of the IIA.


title: Multinomial logistic regression

text: There are multiple equivalent ways to describe the mathematical model underlying multinomial logistic regression. This can make it difficult to compare different treatments of the subject in different texts. The article on logistic regression presents a number of equivalent formulations of simple logistic regression, and many of these have analogues in the multinomial logit model.


title: Multinomial logistic regression

text: The idea behind all of them, as in many other statistical classification techniques, is to construct a linear predictor function that constructs a score from a set of weights that are linearly combined with the explanatory variables (features) of a given observation using a dot product:


title: Multinomial logistic regression

text: where X is the vector of explanatory variables describing observation "i", β is a vector of weights (or regression coefficients) corresponding to outcome "k", and score(X, "k") is the score associated with assigning observation "i" to category "k". In discrete choice theory, where observations represent people and outcomes represent choices, the score is considered the utility associated with person "i" choosing outcome "k". The predicted outcome is the one with the highest score.


title: Multinomial logistic regression

text: The difference between the multinomial logit model and numerous other methods, models, algorithms, etc. with the same basic setup (the perceptron algorithm, support vector machines, linear discriminant analysis, etc.) is the procedure for determining (training) the optimal weights/coefficients and the way that the score is interpreted. In particular, in the multinomial logit model, the score can directly be converted to a probability value, indicating the probability of observation "i" choosing outcome "k" given the measured characteristics of the observation. This provides a principled way of incorporating the prediction of a particular multinomial logit model into a larger procedure that may involve multiple such predictions, each with a possibility of error. Without such means of combining predictions, errors tend to multiply. For example, imagine a large predictive model that is broken down into a series of submodels where the prediction of a given submodel is used as the input of another submodel, and that prediction is in turn used as the input into a third submodel, etc. If each submodel has 90% accuracy in its predictions, and there are five submodels in series, then the overall model has only 0.9 = 59% accuracy. If each submodel has 80% accuracy, then overall accuracy drops to 0.8 = 33% accuracy. This issue is known as error propagation and is a serious problem in real-world predictive models, which are usually composed of numerous parts. Predicting probabilities of each possible outcome, rather than simply making a single optimal prediction, is one means of alleviating this issue.


title: Multinomial logistic regression

text: The basic setup is the same as in logistic regression, the only difference being that the dependent variables are categorical rather than binary, i.e. there are "K" possible outcomes rather than just two. The following description is somewhat shortened; for more details, consult the logistic regression article.


title: Multinomial logistic regression

text: Specifically, it is assumed that we have a series of "N" observed data points. Each data point "i" (ranging from "1" to "N") consists of a set of "M" explanatory variables "x" ... "x" (aka independent variables, predictor variables, features, etc.), and an associated categorical outcome "Y" (aka dependent variable, response variable), which can take on one of "K" possible values. These possible values represent logically separate categories (e.g. different political parties, blood types, etc.), and are often described mathematically by arbitrarily assigning each a number from 1 to "K". The explanatory variables and outcome represent observed properties of the data points, and are often thought of as originating in the observations of "N" "experiments" — although an "experiment" may consist in nothing more than gathering data. The goal of multinomial logistic regression is to construct a model that explains the relationship between the explanatory variables and the outcome, so that the outcome of a new "experiment" can be correctly predicted for a new data point for which the explanatory variables, but not the outcome, are available. In the process, the model attempts to explain the relative effect of differing explanatory variables on the outcome.


title: Multinomial logistic regression

text: As in other forms of linear regression, multinomial logistic regression uses a linear predictor function formula_2 to predict the probability that observation "i" has outcome "k", of the following form:


title: Multinomial logistic regression

text: where formula_4 is a regression coefficient associated with the "m"th explanatory variable and the "k"th outcome. As explained in the logistic regression article, the regression coefficients and explanatory variables are normally grouped into vectors of size "M+1", so that the predictor function can be written more compactly:


title: Multinomial logistic regression

text: where formula_6 is the set of regression coefficients associated with outcome "k", and formula_7 (a row vector) is the set of explanatory variables associated with observation "i".


title: Multinomial logistic regression

text: To arrive at the multinomial logit model, one can imagine, for "K" possible outcomes, running "K"-1 independent binary logistic regression models, in which one outcome is chosen as a "pivot" and then the other "K"-1 outcomes are separately regressed against the pivot outcome. This would proceed as follows, if outcome "K" (the last outcome) is chosen as the pivot:


title: Multinomial logistic regression

text: Note that we have introduced separate sets of regression coefficients, one for each possible outcome.


title: Multinomial logistic regression

text: where formula_15 is defined to be zero. The fact that we run multiple regressions reveals why the model relies on the assumption of independence of irrelevant alternatives described above.


title: Multinomial logistic regression

text: The unknown parameters in each vector "β" are typically jointly estimated by maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimation, which is an extension of maximum likelihood using regularization of the weights to prevent pathological solutions (usually a squared regularizing function, which is equivalent to placing a zero-mean Gaussian prior distribution on the weights, but other distributions are also possible). The solution is typically found using an iterative procedure such as generalized iterative scaling, iteratively reweighted least squares (IRLS), by means of gradient-based optimization algorithms such as L-BFGS, or by specialized coordinate descent algorithms.


title: Multinomial logistic regression

text: The formulation of binary logistic regression as a log-linear model can be directly extended to multi-way regression. That is, we model the logarithm of the probability of seeing a given output using the linear predictor as well as an additional normalization factor, the logarithm of the partition function:


title: Multinomial logistic regression

text: As in the binary case, we need an extra term formula_17 to ensure that the whole set of probabilities forms a probability distribution, i.e. so that they all sum to one:


title: Multinomial logistic regression

text: The reason why we need to add a term to ensure normalization, rather than multiply as is usual, is because we have taken the logarithm of the probabilities. Exponentiating both sides turns the additive term into a multiplicative factor, so that the probability is just the Gibbs measure:


title: Multinomial logistic regression

text: The quantity "Z" is called the partition function for the distribution. We can compute the value of the partition function by applying the above constraint that requires all probabilities to sum to 1:


title: Multinomial logistic regression

text: Note that this factor is "constant" in the sense that it is not a function of "Y", which is the variable over which the probability distribution is defined. However, it is definitely not constant with respect to the explanatory variables, or crucially, with respect to the unknown regression coefficients β, which we will need to determine through some sort of optimization procedure.


title: Multinomial logistic regression

text: is referred to as the softmax function. The reason is that the effect of exponentiating the values formula_25 is to exaggerate the differences between them. As a result, formula_26 will return a value close to 0 whenever "formula_27" is significantly less than the maximum of all the values, and will return a value close to 1 when applied to the maximum value, unless it is extremely close to the next-largest value. Thus, the softmax function can be used to construct a weighted average that behaves as a smooth function (which can be conveniently differentiated, etc.) and which approximates the indicator function


title: Multinomial logistic regression

text: The softmax function thus serves as the equivalent of the logistic function in binary logistic regression.


title: Multinomial logistic regression

text: Note that not all of the formula_30 vectors of coefficients are uniquely identifiable. This is due to the fact that all probabilities must sum to 1, making one of them completely determined once all the rest are known. As a result, there are only formula_31 separately specifiable probabilities, and hence formula_31 separately identifiable vectors of coefficients. One way to see this is to note that if we add a constant vector to all of the coefficient vectors, the equations are identical:


title: Multinomial logistic regression

text: As a result, it is conventional to set formula_34 (or alternatively, one of the other coefficient vectors). Essentially, we set the constant so that one of the vectors becomes 0, and all of the other vectors get transformed into the difference between those vectors and the vector we chose. This is equivalent to "pivoting" around one of the "K" choices, and examining how much better or worse all of the other "K"-1 choices are, relative to the choice we are pivoting around. Mathematically, we transform the coefficients as follows:


title: Multinomial logistic regression

text: Other than the prime symbols on the regression coefficients, this is exactly the same as the form of the model described above, in terms of "K"-1 independent two-way regressions.


title: Multinomial logistic regression

text: It is also possible to formulate multinomial logistic regression as a latent variable model, following the two-way latent variable model described for binary logistic regression. This formulation is common in the theory of discrete choice models, and makes it easier to compare multinomial logistic regression to the related multinomial probit model, as well as to extend it to more complex models.


title: Multinomial logistic regression

text: Imagine that, for each data point "i" and possible outcome "k=1,2...,K", there is a continuous latent variable "Y" (i.e. an unobserved random variable) that is distributed as follows:


title: Multinomial logistic regression

text: This latent variable can be thought of as the utility associated with data point "i" choosing outcome "k", where there is some randomness in the actual amount of utility obtained, which accounts for other unmodeled factors that go into the choice. The value of the actual variable formula_39 is then determined in a non-random fashion from these latent variables (i.e. the randomness has been moved from the observed outcomes into the latent variables), where outcome "k" is chosen if and only if the associated utility (the value of formula_40) is greater than the utilities of all the other choices, i.e. if the utility associated with outcome "k" is the maximum of all the utilities. Since the latent variables are continuous, the probability of two having exactly the same value is 0, so we ignore the scenario. That is:


title: Multinomial logistic regression

text: Actually finding the values of the above probabilities is somewhat difficult, and is a problem of computing a particular order statistic (the first, i.e. maximum) of a set of values. However, it can be shown that the resulting expressions are the same as in above formulations, i.e. the two are equivalent.


title: Multinomial logistic regression

text: When using multinomial logistic regression, one category of the dependent variable is chosen as the reference category. Separate odds ratios are determined for all independent variables for each category of the dependent variable with the exception of the reference category, which is omitted from the analysis. The exponential beta coefficient represents the change in the odds of the dependent variable being in a particular category vis-a-vis the reference category, associated with a one unit change of the corresponding independent variable.


title: Multinomial logistic regression

text: In natural language processing, multinomial LR classifiers are commonly used as an alternative to naive Bayes classifiers because they do not assume statistical independence of the random variables (commonly known as "features") that serve as predictors. However, learning in such a model is slower than for a naive Bayes classifier, and thus may not be appropriate given a very large number of classes to learn. In particular, learning in a Naive Bayes classifier is a simple matter of counting up the number of co-occurrences of features and classes, while in a maximum entropy classifier the weights, which are typically maximized using maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimation, must be learned using an iterative procedure; see #Estimating the coefficients.


title: Anadyr (town)

text: Anadyr (; Chukchi: , "Kagyrgyn", ; Southern Chukchi: Въэӈын, "V"èňyn") is a port town and the administrative center of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Russia, located at the mouth of the Anadyr River at the tip of a peninsula that protrudes into Anadyrsky Liman. Anadyr is the easternmost town in Russia; more easterly settlements, such as Provideniya and Uelen, do not have town status. It was previously known as "Novo–Mariinsk" (until 1923). Population:


title: Anadyr (town)

text: Although the town itself has only been in existence for just over a century, the origins of the name Anadyr are much older. The name initially derives from the Yukaghir word ""any-an"" meaning ""river"". When Semyon Dezhnev met Yukaghir people in the area, the indigenous name was corrupted to form ""Onandyr"", later Anadyrsk, the name of the "ostrog" (fort) upstream of the present-day settlement, from which the current name is derived. The "ostrog" was the only Russian settlement east of the Kolyma River on the Chukotka Peninsula for most of the 18th century, though this original settlement was situated further up the Anadyr River, nearer to Markovo than the site of the current town.


title: Anadyr (town)

text: Pyotr Baranov (brother of Alexander Andreyevich Baranov) established a trading post near the present town site in the early 19th century. The Chukchi settled around it and formed the village of Vyon in 1830.


title: Anadyr (town)

text: The present settlement was founded in 1889 as Novo–Mariinsk by L. F. Grinevetsky, who sailed into the Anadyrsky Liman on July 9, 1889. The town's first building was completed twelve days later and as it was the name-day of Tsaritsa Maria Feodorovna the town was named Mariinsk. Since this was not the first time that a town had been named Mariinsk in Russia, the name was swiftly changed to Novo–Mariinsk.


title: Anadyr (town)

text: The Kamchatka Revkom sent the first Bolsheviks—Mikhail Mandrikov and Avgust Berzin—to Anadyr to set up an underground organization to undermine and eventually overthrow the resident White Army forces stationed in the town. These two, along with a small group of other Russian immigrants and a handful of Chuvans, established the First Revolutionary Committee of Chukotka. Their presence initially went undetected, although it did arouse suspicion. However, just before they were about to be discovered by the resident White Army troops, they launched an attack against them on the night of December 16, 1919. They intended to free the local indigenous people from their debts to the Russian incomers and dismantle the capitalist infrastructure that had been established in the town. Their attempts at seizing the property of the merchant class in Anadyr were successful, but they were unable to seize control of the armory and ammunition supplies within the town. The merchants used this opportunity to reassert themselves, and by January 30, 1920, they surrounded the Revkom's offices and attacked. One of the leaders, Vasily Titov, was killed and a number of others were wounded. Mikhail Mandrikov himself surrendered. Although the survivors were initially imprisoned, the merchants decided to eliminate them permanently. Under the pretense of transferring them to another site, they led them out of the town and executed them out on the tundra. The merchants' and White Army's success had been aided by the fact that a number of the Revkom members had been out the town visiting the village of Markovo. When these people returned, they were ambushed and all survivors eventually killed.


title: Anadyr (town)

text: The merchants set about reestablishing the status quo, all the while pretending to the Kamchatka Revkom that they themselves were socialists when inquiries came as to the whereabouts of their colleagues, going as far as to set up a fake Anadyr branch of the Russian Communist Party of Bolsheviks. Unfortunately for the merchants in Anadyr, members of the first Revkom had already managed to establish branches in Markovo and Ust-Belaya, who were not convinced by the claims coming from Anadyr and, whilst establishing the Second Revolutionary Committee of Chukotka in Markovo pressed the Kamchatka Revkom for assistance. The Kamchatka Revkom responded by sending a party to investigate. A number of those involved in the overthrow of the First Revolutionary Committee either ceased their political activity in the hope of blending into the background, or fled Chukotka for Alaska. However, the merchants fared worse eighteen months later when the Bolsheviks returned and began to reorganize urban life. Struggles continued for some time in the Russian Far East, and it took until early 1923 before communications were sent from Kamchatka by Red Army commanders indicating that all White Army forces in Chukotka had been eliminated.


title: Anadyr (town)

text: Monuments to those members of the First Revolutionary Committee were erected in Anadyr on 5 July 1921. It was only in 1969 that an elderly man said he remembered where the bodies had been buried, having seen them being interred in a cemetery in Tavayvaam. Following this tip, the remains were recovered and then paraded solemnly through Anadyr to the monuments, where they were buried with full honors.


title: Anadyr (town)

text: During World War II, an airfield was built here for the Alaska-Siberian (ALSIB) air route used to ferry American Lend-Lease aircraft to the Eastern Front.


title: Anadyr (town)

text: During the 1960s, Anadyr was home to an R-12 Dvina (SS-4 Sandal) medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) complex, which targeted American military installations in Alaska. The base was located 23 km (14 miles) northeast of Anadyr and was the USSR's only remote missile site.


title: Anadyr (town)

text: It is claimed that the town of Anadyr annexed the neighboring "ethnic village" of Tavayvaam in May 1994, and that this was done by then governor Alexander Nazarov with a view to saving money from the autonomous okrug's budget. If the village had indeed been absorbed into the town of Anadyr then there would have been no obligation for the autonomous okrug to allocate specific funds for the indigenous population there.


title: Anadyr (town)

text: In 2011, Paul Steinhardt led a group of scientists that landed in Anadyr en route to an expedition into the Koryak Mountains to search for naturally occurring quasicrystals. Three quasicrystals have been found to date from the material gathered on that expedition, including icosahedrite, decagonite, a yet unnamed third natural quasicrystal, which (unlike icosahedrite and decagonite) is unlike anything ever previously synthesized in a laboratory. Steinhardt's team established that the natural quasicrystals were embedded in a meteorite that had hit Earth about 15,000 years ago.


title: Anadyr (town)

text: The town of Anadyr is situated at the tip of a large cape, to the north of which is the mouth of the Anadyr River and to the east the estuarine part of that river, the Anadyrsky Liman, which empties into the Gulf of Anadyr. The town itself is situated on a gentle slope rising up from the sea, on the other side of the Anadyr River are mountains, but to the west, beyond the town are large expanses of flat tundra.


title: Anadyr (town)

text: It is on a similar parallel as Fairbanks, Alaska; Skellefteå, Sweden; and Oulu, Finland. Apart from those cities, the population at such northerly parallels is normally sparse.


title: Anadyr (town)

text: Anadyr is the administrative center of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug and, within the framework of administrative divisions, it also serves as the administrative center of Anadyrsky District, even though it is not a part of it. As an administrative division, it is, together with the "selo" Tavayvaam, incorporated separately as the town of okrug significance of Anadyr—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts. As a municipal division, the town of okrug significance of Anadyr is incorporated as Anadyr Urban Okrug.


title: Anadyr (town)

text: Anadyr is an important sea port on the Bering Sea and is connected to almost all major Russian Far Eastern seaports. Anadyr's Ugolny Airport serves major and minor cities in the Russian Far East with connections to Khabarovsk, Vladivostok, and Moscow, while Bering Air provides charter flights to Nome, Alaska in the United States. The airport is on the other side of the Anadyrsky Liman, and from January to May, transportation from the airport to Anadyr is by ice road. In the summer there is a ferry which transports passengers across the Anadyr River to the airport, but during spring and autumn when the river ice is melting and full of drifting ice floes, the only means of transportation to the airport is via helicopter.


title: Anadyr (town)

text: Although there is a network of roads between Anadyr and Tavayvaam, the town is not connected to any other settlement via road. Construction of the Anadyr Highway was started in 2012, to link the town to Magadan, a distance of .


title: Anadyr (town)

text: Anadyr experiences a subarctic climate (Köppen climate classification: "Dfc"). Winters are long and frigid; summers are pleasant and short. January is the coldest month with an average temperature of . July is the warmest month with an average temperature of . Temperatures above are rare. The lowest temperature ever recorded was recorded on January 3, 1913. The highest temperature recorded was on July 7, 1956. The weather changes easily with heavy storms often being brought in from the Anadyrsky Liman and the Bering Sea. This coupled with strong southerly winds in the autumn often brings flooding to the area. May is the driest month while January is the wettest.


title: Abd al-Muttalib

text: Shayba ibn Hāshim (; 497–578), better known as ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, () was the fourth chief of the Quraysh tribal confederation. He was the grandfather of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.


title: Abd al-Muttalib

text: His father was Hashim ibn 'Abd Manaf, the progenitor of the distinguished Banu Hashim, a clan of the Quraysh tribe of Mecca. They claimed descent from Ismā'īl and Ibrāhīm. His mother was Salma bint Amr, from the Banu Najjar, a clan of the Khazraj tribe in Yathrib (later called Madinah). Hashim died while doing business in Gaza, before Abd al-Muttalib was born.


title: Abd al-Muttalib

text: His real name was ""Shaybah"" meaning 'the ancient one' or 'white-haired' because of the streak of white through his jet-black hair, and is sometimes also called "Shaybah al-Ḥamd" ("The white streak of praise"). After his father's death he was raised in Yathrib with his mother and her family until about the age of eight, when his uncle Muttalib ibn Abd Manaf went to see him and asked his mother Salmah to entrust Shaybah to his care. Salmah was unwilling to let her son go and Shaybah refused to leave his mother without her consent. Muṭṭalib then pointed out that the possibilities Yathrib had to offer were incomparable to Mecca. Salmah was impressed with his arguments, so she agreed to let him go. Upon first arriving in Mecca, the people assumed the unknown child was Muttalib's servant, and started calling him "'Abd al-Muttalib" ("servant of Muttalib").


title: Abd al-Muttalib

text: When Muṭṭalib died, Shaybah succeeded him as the chief of the Hāshim clan. Following his uncle Al-Muṭṭalib, he took over the duties of providing the pilgrims with food and water, and carried on the practices of his forefathers with his people. He attained such eminence as none of his forefathers enjoyed; his people loved him and his reputation was great among them.


title: Abd al-Muttalib

text: 'Umar ibn Al-Khaṭṭāb's grandfather Nufayl ibn Abdul Uzza arbitrated in a dispute between 'Abdul-Muṭṭalib and Ḥarb ibn Umayyah, Abu Sufyan's father, over the custodianship of the Kaaba. Nufayl gave his verdict in favour of 'Abdul-Muṭṭalib. Addressing Ḥarb ibn Umayyah, he said:


title: Abd al-Muttalib

text: Why do you pick a quarrel with a person who is taller than you in stature; more imposing than you in appearance; more refined than you in intellect; whose progeny outnumbers yours and whose generosity outshines yours in lustre? Do not, however, construe this into any disparagement of your good qualities which I highly appreciate. You are as gentle as a lamb, you are renowned throughout Arabia for the stentorian tones of your voice, and you are an asset to your tribe.


title: Abd al-Muttalib

text: 'Abdul-Muṭṭalib said that while sleeping in the sacred enclosure, he had dreamed he was ordered to dig at the worship place of the Quraysh between the two deities Isāf and Nā'ila. There he would find the Zamzam Well, which the Jurhum tribe had filled in when they left Mecca. The Quraysh tried to stop him digging in that spot, but his son Al-Ḥārith stood guard until they gave up their protests. After three days of digging, 'Abdul-Muṭṭalib found traces of an ancient religious well and exclaimed, ""Allahuakbar"!" Some of the Quraysh disputed his claim to sole rights over water, then one of them suggested that they go to a female shaman who lived afar. It was said that she could summon jinns and that she could help them decide who was the owner of the well. So, 11 people from the 11 tribes went on the expedition. They had to cross the desert to meet the priestess but then they got lost. There was a lack of food and water and people started to lose hope of ever getting out. One of them suggested that they dig their own graves and if they died, the last person standing would bury the others. So all began digging their own graves and just as Abdul-Muṭṭalib started digging, water spewed out from the hole he dug and everyone became overjoyed. It was then and there decided that Abdul-Muttalib was the owner of the Zam Zam well. Thereafter he supplied pilgrims to the Kaaba with Zam Zam water, which soon eclipsed all the other wells in Mecca because it was considered sacred.


title: Abd al-Muttalib

text: According to Muslim tradition, the Ethiopian governor of Yemen, Abrahah al-Ashram, envied the Kaaba's reverence among the Arabs and, being a Christian, he built a cathedral on Sana'a and ordered pilgrimage be made there. The order was ignored and someone desecrated (some saying in the form of defecation) the cathedral. Abrahah decided to avenge this act by demolishing the Kaaba and he advanced with an army towards Mecca.


title: Abd al-Muttalib

text: There were thirteen elephants in Abrahah's army and the year came to be known as "'Ām al-Fīl" (the Year of the Elephant), beginning a trend for reckoning the years in Arabia which was used until 'Umar ibn Al-Khaṭṭāb replaced it with the Islamic Calendar in 570 AD.


title: Abd al-Muttalib

text: When news of the advance of Abrahah's army came, the Arab tribes of Quraysh, Kinānah, Khuzā'ah and Hudhayl united in defence of the Kaaba. A man from the Ḥimyar tribe was sent by Abrahah to advise them that he only wished to demolish the Kaaba and if they resisted, they would be crushed. "Abdul-Muṭṭalib told the Meccans to seek refuge in the nearest high hills while he, with some leading members of Quraysh, remained within the precincts of the Kaaba. Abrahah sent a dispatch inviting 'Abdul-Muṭṭalib to meet him and discuss matters. When 'Abdul-Muṭṭalib left the meeting he was heard saying, "The Owner of this House is its Defender, and I am sure He will save it from the attack of the adversaries and will not dishonour the servants of His House."


title: Abd al-Muttalib

text: It is recorded that when Abrahah's forces neared the Kaaba, Allah commanded small birds ("abābīl") to destroy Abrahah's army, raining down pebbles on it from their beaks. Abrahah was seriously wounded and retreated towards Yemen but died on the way. This event is referred to in the following Qur'anic chapter:


title: Abd al-Muttalib

text: Most Islamic sources place the event around the year that Muhammad was born, 570 CE, though other scholars place it one or two decades earlier. A tradition attributed to Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri in the musannaf of ʽAbd al-Razzaq al-Sanʽani places it before the birth of Muhammad's father.


title: Abd al-Muttalib

text: Al-Harith was 'Abdul-Muṭṭalib's only son at the time he dug the Zamzam Well. When the Quraysh tried to help him in the digging, he vowed that if he were to have ten sons to protect him, he would sacrifice one of them to Allah at the Kaaba. Later, after nine more sons had been born to him, he told them he must keep the vow. The divination arrows fell upon his favourite son Abdullah. The Quraysh protested 'Abdul-Muṭṭalib's intention to sacrifice his son and demanded that he sacrifice something else instead. 'Abdul-Muṭṭalib agreed to consult a "sorceress with a familiar spirit". She told him to cast lots between Abdullah and ten camels. If Abdullah were chosen, he had to add ten more camels, and keep on doing the same until his Lord accepted the camels in Abdullah's place. When the number of camels reached 100, the lot fell on the camels. 'Abdul-Muṭṭalib confirmed this by repeating the test three times. Then the camels were sacrificed, and Abdullah was spared.


title: Abd al-Muttalib

text: According to Ibn Hisham, ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib had ten sons and six daughters. However, Ibn Sa'd lists twelve sons.


title: Abd al-Muttalib

text: Abdul Muttalib's son 'Abdullāh died four months before Muḥammad's birth, after which Abdul Muttalib took care of his daughter-in-law Āminah. One day Muhammad's mother, Amina, wanted to go to Yathrib, where her husband, Abdullah, died. So, Muhammad, Amina, Abd al-Muttalib and their caretaker, Umm Ayman started their journey to Medina, which is around 500 kilometres away from Makkah. They stayed there for three weeks, then, started their journey back to Mecca. But, when they reached halfway, at Al-Abwa', Amina became very sick and died six years after her husband's death. She was buried over there. From then, Muhammad became an orphan. Abd al-Muttalib became very sad for Muhammad because he loved him so much. Abd al-Muttalib took care of Muhammad. But when Muhammad was eight years old, the very old Abd al-Muttalib became very sick and died at age 81-82 in 578-579 CE.


title: Selhurst Park

text: Selhurst Park is a football stadium in Selhurst in the London Borough of Croydon which is the home ground of Premier League side Crystal Palace. The stadium was designed by Archibald Leitch and opened in 1924. It has hosted international football as well as games for the 1948 Summer Olympics, and was shared by Charlton Athletic from 1985 to 1991 and Wimbledon from 1991 to 2003.


title: Selhurst Park

text: In 1922, a former brickfield site was bought from the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway Company for £2,750 by Crystal Palace F.C. The club had been pursuing a deal for the ground as early as 25 February 1919. The stadium designed by Scottish stadium architect Archibald Leitch, was constructed by Humphreys of Kensington (a firm regularly used by Leitch) for around £30,000, and officially opened by the Lord Mayor of London on 30 August 1924. There was then only one stand, the present Main Stand, but this was unfinished due to industrial action; Crystal Palace played The Wednesday and lost 0–1 in front of 25,000 fans.


title: Selhurst Park

text: Two years later, on St David's Day in 1926, England played Wales in an international at the stadium. England amateur matches and various other finals were also staged there, as were other sports including boxing, bicycle polo (in the late 1940s) and cricket and music concerts (in the 1980s). In addition to this, it hosted two games for the 1948 Summer Olympics.


title: Selhurst Park

text: In 1953, the stadium's first floodlights were installed consisting of numerous poles around the 3 sides of terracing and four roof mounted installations on the Main Stand, but were replaced nine years later by floodlights mounted on pylons in each corner and six installations on the Main Stand roof. Real Madrid marked the occasion by playing under the new set of bulbs – a real footballing coup at the time for third division Palace, as it was Real's first ever match in London.


title: Selhurst Park

text: The ground remained undeveloped until 1969, when Palace were promoted to Division One (then the highest tier of English football) for the first time. The Arthur Wait Stand was built, named after the club's long-serving chairman, who was a builder by trade and was often seen working on the site himself. Arthur Wait was notable for overseeing Palace's rise from the Fourth to the First Division in the 1960s. The Whitehorse Lane end was given a new look when a "second tier" of terracing, brick-built refreshments and toilets were provided along the top.


title: Selhurst Park

text: The Safety of Grounds Act required the Holmesdale Road terrace (the preferred stand for the Crystal Palace supporters) to be split into three sections for safety reasons. The remaining poorer facilities were mainly where opposition supporters were situated. New facilities were subsequently built at the back of the Holmesdale Stand. In the summer of 1981, the Main Stand terraced enclosure was redesigned and refitted with seating. This year also saw Palace sell the back of the Whitehorse Lane terrace and adjacent land to supermarket retailer Sainsbury's for £2m, to help their financial problems. The size of the terrace at this end was effectively halved.


title: Selhurst Park

text: Charlton Athletic moved into the stadium as temporary tenants in 1985, and became with Palace the first league clubs in England to agree such a ground-sharing scheme. The following year, chairman Ron Noades purchased the stadium from the club as a means of raising revenue. In the summer of 1990, the lower half of the Arthur Wait Stand was converted into all-seater with the assistance of Football Trust Grant Aid, following the Taylor Report into the Hillsborough Disaster. Two rows of executive boxes (48 in total) were constructed above the Whitehorse Lane terrace (on the roof of Sainsbury's supermarket) in 1991 and this was subsequently roofed and made all-seater in the summer of 1993.


title: Selhurst Park

text: Charlton moved back to The Valley via West Ham's Boleyn Ground, and Wimbledon F.C. replaced them as tenants in 1991. The Holmesdale terrace was demolished in 1994 and replaced a year later with a two-tiered 8,500 capacity stand. The roof cladding of the main stand was also replaced, the previous one having started to leak. Some 25 years on, this remains the most recent major work to be carried out at Selhurst Park.


title: Selhurst Park

text: When Mark Goldberg bought Crystal Palace, he bought just the club. Former Palace chairman Ron Noades retained ownership of the Selhurst Park ground, having purchased it from the club in 1986. Simon Jordan took out a ten-year lease on the ground upon his purchase of Crystal Palace in 2000, and Noades received rent from the club. When Wimbledon relocated to Milton Keynes in 2003, a section of their fans had already decamped to the newly established AFC Wimbledon in protest, when the old club were given permission by the FA to move in 2002.


title: Selhurst Park

text: Palace chairman Jordan stated that he had completed a purchase of the freehold of Selhurst Park from Altonwood Limited (Ron Noades' company) for £12m in October 2006. However, Jordan never owned the freehold or had any interest in it and his reasons for claiming he had bought it are unknown. Ownership was in fact held by Selhurst Park Limited, a joint venture between HBOS and the Rock property empire owned by Paul Kemsley, a former director of Tottenham Hotspur. In April 2008, a 25-year lease was granted to Crystal Palace at an annual rent of £1.2m.


title: Selhurst Park

text: The Rock Group went into administration in June 2009, the management of the freehold was taken on by PwC acting on behalf of Lloyds Bank, which now own HBOS. PwC expected to sell it within two years. The club and Selhurst Park stadium were purchased by the CPFC 2010 consortium in June 2010, leading to the stadium and Football Club being united in a company for the first time since 1998.


title: Selhurst Park

text: January 2011 saw CPFC 2010 announce plans to redevelop the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre, the club's original home, in five years' time. However, opposition from Crystal Palace residents and Bromley council have seen the plans become increasingly infeasible, resulting in suggestions that Selhurst Park should be redeveloped gradually similar to the Molineux stadium (home to Wolves).


title: Selhurst Park

text: In June 2012, Crystal Palace co-chairman Steve Parish approached Rugby Union team London Welsh about a possible ground-share. London Welsh's promotion to the English Premiership was in doubt, as their plans to play their matches at Kassam Stadium were deemed unsuitable by the RFU.


title: Selhurst Park

text: In 2018, the club announced that a £100m renovation of Selhurst Park was imminent, to bring it closer in terms of quality to modern Premier League grounds. Selhurst Park was used in the Apple TV+ series "Ted Lasso" as Nelson Road, the fictional home stadium of AFC Richmond.


title: Selhurst Park

text: The Holmesdale is a double-tiered stand (Lower tier 5,510, Upper tier 2,819). Built in 1994, this is the newest stand in the stadium, replacing the previous terrace end. It forms the South East end of the stadium.


title: Selhurst Park

text: Part of this stand seats the away supporters (approx. 3,000). It was opened in 1969, and named after the then Palace chairman. It forms the North East side of the stadium.


title: Selhurst Park

text: This original stand opened in 1924 forms the South West side of the stadium. It includes the Directors Box, and new offices/Main Entrance that were built at the rear of the stand during the 1990s. The exterior of the stand has been re-cladded in white replacing the old original blue painted corrugated iron. New seats were also installed during the summer of 2013, including several lounges/Bars and a restaurant situated within the stand. With new investment confirmed, the club put forward plans for this stand to be redeveloped into a three-tier structure, building over, then removing, the current stand. Plans for a new 13,500-seater Main Stand (extending overall stadium capacity to 34,000) were approved at a Croydon Council meeting on 19 April 2018. The new stand will feature an all-glass frontage, inspired by the original Crystal Palace. The club had planned for the work to start in summer 2019 with the new stand to be ready in time for the 2021–22 season, but as of today the work has still to commence.


title: Selhurst Park

text: Originally built as a standing terrace, it was redeveloped in the early 1980s. It is also known as the Family Stand for Crystal Palace supporters.


title: Selhurst Park

text: The record attendance at Selhurst Park was achieved in 1979 when 51,482 people saw Crystal Palace defeat Burnley 2–0 to clinch the Football League Second Division championship title. The ground also holds the record for Division Four (now League Two in the English football pyramid) attendance when Crystal Palace played local rivals Millwall in 1961 after 37,774 people turned out for the game.


title: Selhurst Park

text: Selhurst Park recorded the lowest attendance for a Premier League game – 3,039 for Wimbledon v. Everton on 26 January 1993. The game finished 3–1 to Everton.


title: Glen Bell

text: Glen William Bell Jr. (September 3, 1923 – January 16, 2010) was an American entrepreneur who founded the Taco Bell chain of restaurants.


title: Glen Bell

text: Glen Bell was born in Lynwood, California, to Glen William Bell Sr. and Ruth Elizabeth Bell (née Johnson). His parents were born in the Midwest with his mother having been born in Kandiyohi County, Minnesota and his father in Franklin County, Iowa. Bell's mother Ruth was born to a half Swedish father and a predominantly English mother. His father Glen Sr. was born to a German father and predominantly English mother, Glen also had colonial New England ancestry through both his parents families. Bell graduated from San Bernardino High School in 1941. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps as a cook during World War II. After the Marines he started his first hot dog stand 'Bell's Drive-In', in San Bernardino in 1948. In 1952, he sold the hot dog stand and built a second location selling hot dogs and hamburgers. He soon started selling tacos at a taco stand named Taco-Tia at 19 cents each from a side window. Between 1954 and 1955, he opened three Taco Tias in the San Bernardino area, eventually selling those restaurants and opening four El Tacos with a partner in the Long Beach area.


title: Glen Bell

text: In 1962, he went solo and sold the El Tacos to his partner and opened his first Taco Bell in Downey, California. Bell franchised his restaurant in 1964. His company grew rapidly, and the 868-restaurant chain was later sold to PepsiCo in 1978 for $125 million in stock.


title: Glen Bell

text: In the late 1970s, Bell opened a tourist railroad at Tuolumne, California. This gauge railroad used the lower section of the track and several steam locomotives of the West Side Lumber Company railway. The operation offered boat rides on the old mill pond and RV parking. In the initial plan, there were themed areas of the park with restaurants and stores. Glen Bell was able to locate and purchase old equipment (trains, cars, water towers, etc.) that were used in logging operations and brought to the park. It closed in the early 1980s after falling traffic.


title: Glen Bell

text: The property was eventually sold off to the Tuolumne tribe of the Mi Wuk Indians who have developed the land including event grounds that have hosted big name concerts including Pat Benatar, Melissa Etheridge, Smokey Robinson, Peter Frampton, Bad Company and other touring acts.


title: Glen Bell

text: Bell died from Parkinson's disease on January 16, 2010, at age 86 in Rancho Santa Fe, California, leaving his wife, Martha, two sons, one daughter, four grandchildren, and three sisters.


title: Star Sports (Indian TV network)

text: Star Sports (formerly ESPN Star Sports) is a group of Indian multinational pay television sports channels owned by Disney Star (formerly "Star India"), a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company India. Previously a part of ESPN Star Sports with its operations based in Singapore, Star India took over the Indian business and relaunched channels under the unified Star Sports brand in 2013.


title: Star Sports (Indian TV network)

text: Hong Kong-based Star TV launched Prime Sports (later renamed Star Sports) in partnership with American company TCI, which owned Prime-branded regional sports channels. The channel was broadcast across Asia, including India, as with the footprint of AsiaSat 7. Star TV has since regionalized the channel with several versions. Later, ESPN joined the region as a competitor to Star Sports.


title: Star Sports (Indian TV network)

text: ESPN and Star Sports were competing against each other across Asia. But in October 1996, both channels agreed to combine their operations in the region. As a result, a joint venture named ESPN Star Sports was formed, to be headquartered in Singapore. The joint venture's business in India was managed by its subsidiary, ESPN Software India Private Limited.


title: Star Sports (Indian TV network)

text: In June 2012, it was announced that News Corporation would buy ESPN International's share in ESPN Star Sports. In 2013, Star India acquired ESPN Software India from ESPN Star Sports, but kept ESPN brand for a while. ESPN International later established a partnership with what is now Sony Pictures Networks India in October 2015, and relaunched Sony Kix as Sony ESPN in January 2016. Sony ESPN was shut down in March 2020.


title: Star Sports (Indian TV network)

text: On 11 March 2013, Star Sports 2, a Hindi language sports channel, was launched as a sister channel to Star Sports, Star Cricket and ESPN.


title: Star Sports (Indian TV network)

text: On 6 November 2013, Star India relaunched its sports channels under Star Sports brand: Star Sports became Star Sports 1; Star Cricket became Star Sports 3, a Hindi language channel; ESPN became Star Sports 4, a Tamil language channel; Star Cricket HD and ESPN HD became Star Sports HD1 and HD2 respectively. (Star Sports 3 and 4 were later renamed Star Sports 1 Hindi and 1 Tamil, respectively.) This was in contrast to Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia, where Fox International Channels Asia Pacific relaunched ESPN as Fox Sports on 28 January 2013, and rebranded Star Sports as Fox Sports 2 on 15 August 2014.


title: Star Sports (Indian TV network)

text: Star India planned to replace the troubled Channel V India with Star Sports 1 Kannada on 16 November 2017, but the delay in regulatory approval meant the plan was postponed. Later, Star India replaced Channel V into the current iteration of Star Sports 3 on 15 September 2018, and launched Star Sports 1 Telugu and Star Sports 1 Kannada as new channels on 7 and 29 December 2018, respectively. In the meantime, the Kannada commentary of Star Sports' coverage of Indian Premier League was broadcast on Star Suvarna.


title: The Wizard (1989 film)

text: The Wizard is a 1989 American family film directed by Todd Holland, written by David Chisholm, and starring Fred Savage, Beau Bridges, Christian Slater, and introducing Luke Edwards as Jimmy Woods. It was also Tobey Maguire's uncredited film debut.


title: The Wizard (1989 film)

text: The film follows three children, the youngest of whom is emotionally withdrawn but gifted at playing video games, as they travel to California to compete in a video game tournament. Known for its extensive product placement of Nintendo material, it also officially introduced "Super Mario Bros. 3" to North America. Despite being a critical failure initially, the film has garnered a cult following.


title: The Wizard (1989 film)

text: Jimmy Woods suffers from PTSD after his twin sister, Jennifer, drowned two years earlier. Prone to randomly wandering away from home, he perpetually carries around a lunchbox while frequently repeating the word "California".


title: The Wizard (1989 film)

text: Jennifer's death caused Jimmy's family to split: he lives with his mother Christine and stepfather Mr. Bateman while his older half-brothers Nick and Corey live with their father Sam. Exasperated by Jimmy's behavior, Christine and Mr. Bateman decide to commit Jimmy to an institution. Unwilling to allow it, Corey sneaks Jimmy out and they start traveling on foot for Los Angeles. Nick and Sam resolve to bring the boys back while competing with Mr. Putnam, a greedy bounty hunter hired by Mr. Bateman and Christine to find Jimmy.


title: The Wizard (1989 film)

text: At a bus station, Jimmy and Corey meet Haley Brooks, a teenager on her way home to Reno. When they discover that Jimmy is innately talented at playing video games, Haley informs Corey of "Video Armageddon", a gaming tournament being held in Universal Studios Hollywood, with a grand prize of $50,000. Corey sees the tournament as an opportunity to avert Jimmy's institutionalization by showcasing his talent, and Haley agrees to help take Jimmy there in return for a share of the winnings.


title: The Wizard (1989 film)

text: The trio hitchhike cross-country, using Jimmy’s skills to win bets on games. They eventually meet popular but snobbish gamer Lucas Barton, who demonstrates his ability to play "Rad Racer" with a Power Glove and informs Haley he will also be competing. Corey and Haley learn that Jimmy's lunchbox contains photos and mementos of Jennifer.


title: The Wizard (1989 film)

text: The trio arrive in Reno, gaining more money with help from Haley’s trucker friend Spankey whom Haley coaches to success at a casino’s craps table. Jimmy then begins training on arcade machines with help from the Nintendo Power Line. The children escape from Putnam to Haley's trailer where she reveals she wants her share of the prize money to help her father buy a proper house. Putnam finds Haley's trailer and captures Jimmy, but Haley summons several truckers who barricade Putnam on the road and rescue Jimmy.


title: The Wizard (1989 film)

text: After Spankey drives the children to the tournament, Jimmy enters and becomes a finalist after playing "Ninja Gaiden". In between rounds, Putnam unsuccessfully reattempts to apprehend the children. Jimmy, Lucas, and a third finalist compete in the tournament's final round – they have 10 minutes to score as many points as possible in "Super Mario Bros. 3", a brand-new game not yet released in the United States. Cheered on by his family, Haley, and even Putnam, Jimmy wins at the last second, becoming the tournament champion and earning the cash prize.


title: The Wizard (1989 film)

text: As the entire family heads home, accompanied by Haley, Jimmy suddenly becomes restless upon spotting the Cabazon Dinosaurs, causing them to stop the car. They follow him inside, and Corey finds Jimmy looking at his photos of the family, one of which was taken at the tourist trap. They realize that Jimmy only sought closure where Jennifer was happy. Jimmy leaves his lunchbox at the site and the family resumes the car trip, happily riding off into the sunset.


title: The Wizard (1989 film)

text: In addition, Tobey Maguire has his first film role, an uncredited part as Lucas's Goon at "Video Armageddon".


title: The Wizard (1989 film)

text: During 1988, a shortage of ROM chips and the preparation of a version of "Super Mario Bros. 2" for the west delayed several of Nintendo's game releases in North America. One such product was "Super Mario Bros. 3". The delay presented Nintendo with an opportunity to promote the game in a feature film. In 1989, Tom Pollack of Universal Studios approached Nintendo of America's marketing department about a video game film; inspired by Nintendo video game competitions, Pollack envisioned a video game version of "Tommy" for younger audiences. Nintendo licensed its products for inclusion in the film. During production, the filmmakers were granted approval from Nintendo regarding the script and portrayal of its games. "Super Mario Bros. 3" was one of the products shown in the film and was used in a final scene involving a video game competition. Despite the film touting itself as featuring the first public reveal of "Super Mario Bros. 3", the game had already been released in Japan during the previous year, with U.S. magazines such as "Electronic Gaming Monthly" and "GamePro" having already covered the Japanese version.


title: The Wizard (1989 film)

text: Filming took place between June 5 and July 25, 1989. In a 2008 reunion, as well in an interview in 2014, Todd Holland revealed that the original cut of the film was 2.5 hours long and included an extended backstory for Jimmy and Corey.


title: The Wizard (1989 film)

text: In an interview with "Retro Gamer", director Holland admitted that he had some issues with the final script: "I argued with the studio that we were shooting way too much footage – more than we could ever possibly use [...] I lost the argument and was told flat out by Universal to shoot the entire script". According to Holland, the original cut of the film was over 2.5 hours long and that nearly an hour of footage needed to be deleted in order to make the film a suitable length for family viewing. The deleted material was finally released in 2020 on the collector's edition Blu-ray of the film. Most of the deleted footage comes from the original cut of the opening act which explores Corey's home life in more detail, including deliberately antagonizing his older brother, his mother's emotional issues surrounding Jimmy and her divide from her former family. Nick's alcoholism is also explored in more detail as well as additional clips from the road trip scenes. Trucker Spanky gets more screen time in the deleted scenes also, explaining his role in more detail, and there are more clips from the final Video Game Armageddon contest.


title: The Wizard (1989 film)

text: "The Wizard" debuted at No. 5, earning $2,142,525 in the domestic box office. At the end of its run, the film had grossed $14,278,900. Based on an estimated $6 million budget, the film was a moderate box office success, after which it became a cult film.


title: The Wizard (1989 film)

text: The film received negative reviews from critics. Multiple newspaper critics labeled it a feature-length commercial for Universal Studios Hollywood and Nintendo. Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" called the film "a cynical exploitation film with a lot of commercial plugs" and "insanely overwritten and ineptly filmed". He later called it one of the worst films of 1989. "Washington Post" staff writer Rita Kempley wrote that the movie was "tacky and moribund", plagiarizing heavily from the 1988 film "Rain Man". On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 27% score, based on 22 reviews, with an average rating of 4.5/10. On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 23 out of 100, based on 9 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".


title: The Wizard (1989 film)

text: David Sheff, in the book "Game Over" (1993), called it "less a piece of art than a one-hundred-minute advertisement for Nintendo that millions of families paid to see" especially for "Super Mario Bros. 3". Levi Buchanan of "IGN", in 2012, called it a "90-minute "Super Mario Bros. 3" commercial".


title: The Wizard (1989 film)

text: Despite the negative reviews, the film was still popular enough to achieve cult film status and to receive a reunion screening from Ain't It Cool News at the Alamo Drafthouse Ritz in Austin, Texas, on February 8, 2008. Director Holland and stars Savage and Edwards were in attendance to take questions from fans.


title: The Wizard (1989 film)

text: "The Wizard" was released on VHS and LaserDisc three times, in 1990, in 1992, and in 1997. By 1993, "The Wizard" grossed in video rentals.


title: The Wizard (1989 film)

text: It was first released on DVD in Region 2 on February 2, 2001 and finally in the US and Canada (Region 1) on August 22, 2006. The Blu-ray version was released on May 15, 2018, and a special edition Blu-ray was released by Shout! Factory on March 24, 2020, with a new 4K remaster, audio commentary with director Todd Holland, never-before-seen deleted scenes, and more.


title: The Wizard (1989 film)

text: On September 6, 2016, Pax West 2016 concluded with a replica of the "Super Mario Bros. 3" tournament from the film.


title: XCOM: Enemy Unknown

text: XCOM: Enemy Unknown is a 2012 turn-based tactical video game developed by Firaxis Games and published by 2K Games. The game is a "reimagined" remake of the 1994 cult classic strategy game "" (also known as "UFO: Enemy Unknown") and a reboot of MicroProse's 1990s "X-COM" series. Set in an alternative version of the year 2015, the player controls an elite multinational paramilitary organization called XCOM during an alien invasion of Earth. The player commands troops in the field in a series of turn-based tactical missions; between missions, the player directs the research and development of technologies from recovered alien technology and captured prisoners, expands XCOM's base of operations, manages finances, and monitors and responds to alien activity.


title: XCOM: Enemy Unknown

text: "XCOM: Enemy Unknown" was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 in North America on October 9, 2012, and in Europe and Australia on October 12, 2012. An "Elite Edition", containing all previously released downloadable content, was released for Mac OS X by Feral Interactive in April 2013. A port for iOS was released in June 2013 and an Android conversion was released in April 2014. An expansion pack, titled "", was released in November 2013. In June 2014, Feral released both "XCOM: Enemy Unknown" and its expansion pack "" for Linux. A bundle containing both "Enemy Unknown" and "Enemy Within" was launched on the PlayStation Store for PlayStation Vita in March 2016 under the title "XCOM: Enemy Unknown Plus".


title: XCOM: Enemy Unknown

text: "XCOM: Enemy Unknown" was critically acclaimed, with several reviewers commenting on the game's difficulty, replayability, and addictiveness. A number of publications, including GameSpy, GameTrailers and Giant Bomb, named it Game of the Year, and it went on to be considered one of the greatest games ever made. A sequel to the game, titled "XCOM 2", was released on February 5, 2016 for Microsoft Windows, OS X, and Linux.


title: XCOM: Enemy Unknown

text: Much like its predecessor, "XCOM: Enemy Unknown" casts the player as the commander of an elite military organization. As commander, the player directs their soldiers in turn-based combat missions against alien enemies. Between missions, the player directs the organization's research and engineering divisions in creating new technologies and improving XCOM's base of operations, and manages the organization's finances.


title: XCOM: Enemy Unknown

text: The turn-based ground combat uses a top-down 3D perspective. The player controls a squad of between one and six human soldiers or robotic units as they hunt the aliens on the map and attempt to complete other objectives dependent on the mission. Map layouts are not randomly generated, but enemy placement is. Fog of war hides the aliens and their actions from view until the player's soldiers are in range and have line of sight on them, and enemies normally do not act at all until the squad initially comes within line of sight. Soldiers can carry items and perform special abilities; use of these items and abilities is controlled through a toolbar on the head-up display (HUD). A few examples of abilities include firing on enemies automatically after they emerge, launching explosives, and healing allies.


title: XCOM: Enemy Unknown

text: Soldiers can take cover behind walls and objects in the environment to gain a measure of protection. Units can use suppressive fire to disadvantage enemies, and use active camouflage to maneuver around opponents. Cutscenes and dynamic camera movements emphasise particularly exciting gameplay moments, such as kill sequences and use of special abilities. The game includes some tactical role-playing elements, whereby the player's soldiers can gain abilities as they survive more battles.


title: XCOM: Enemy Unknown

text: The game's strategy element occurs between missions. XCOM's underground headquarters is presented in a view dubbed the "ant farm". From this view, the player manages construction, manufacturing and research projects underway, and directs how the scientists and engineers use resources recovered from missions and received from XCOM's sponsors. A holographic view of the Earth called the "Geoscape" allows the player to keep track of the situation around the world, ordering aircraft to intercept UFOs and dispatching soldiers to engage aliens on the ground.


title: XCOM: Enemy Unknown

text: This influences the panic level of XCOM's member nations. Responding to situations in certain areas decreases panic, and ignoring them results in a rise in panic and potential for the nation to pull out of XCOM. The "ant farm" also allows the player to observe the team of soldiers relaxing or exercising at the base's gym. A memorial wall to soldiers killed in action is also viewable. Passive bonuses are provided depending on which continent the player chooses for a base location. The player can better detect alien activity by launching satellites and positioning them over territories of interest.