title: Carmen Sandiego (character)

text: In the "Earth" animated series, Carmen Sandiego also had a much larger role and was voiced by actress Rita Moreno. Moreno would later voice Carmen for the game "Junior Detective" and the planetarium film "Universe". In the games "Word Detective" and "Math Detective", Mari Devon took on the title role. More recently, her voice was provided by Christiane Crawford for "Treasures of Knowledge" and "". On "Time", Carmen Sandiego also had little personality and was generally portrayed as a straight villain. Furthermore, her face was never fully visible and all images of her were posterized, giving her a stylized, unreal look. Although the actress portraying Carmen in the show was not directly credited, it has been confirmed that she was played by Janine LaManna in the first season, and later Brenda Burke until the show's cancellation. LaManna and Burke also portrayed minor characters, such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Eleanor Roosevelt.


title: Carmen Sandiego (character)

text: Efforts were made at least once, in 2006, to produce a film featuring the character, possibly starring Sandra Bullock as the titular thief. In 2011 and 2012, there was talk that Jennifer Lopez would play the titular thief.


title: Carmen Sandiego (character)

text: In 2019, a Netflix animated series presents an intimate look into Carmen Sandiego's past where viewers not only follow her escapades but also learn her origins. Her backstory was that she was an orphan from Buenos Aires taken in and raised by V.I.L.E. at their secret Canary Islands headquarters. When she learns the truth, she turns on them and seeks to undo their thievery. Gina Rodriguez is the voice of the character for the series.


title: Carmen Sandiego (character)

text: Despite being loosely based on the Brazilian singer and actress Carmen Miranda, Carmen Sandiego is commonly considered to be of Hispanic descent. Carmen Sandiego is cited as having a major "cultural impact [on] Latin American girls" in particular. Martel states that "Sandiego has a particular impact on girls...because she was a symbol of cultural rebellion. She is the first major American pop culture example of a mischievous yet beloved hero who also happens to be both a woman and a [Hispanic] American." Julie M. Rodriguez of Care2 said: "There are so few examples of what a competent, successful Latina woman looks like in the media – and it’s wonderful to realize that, even in the infancy of the video game industry, there was at least one game working to remedy that problem". Animaniacs made a reference to Carmen Sandiego in an episode.


title: Carmen Sandiego (character)

text: Carmen Sandiego is almost always portrayed as a woman who often wears a red ("carmine") trench coat, a matching fedora (though often portrayed similar to a sombrero cordobés), and long brown hair, although her hair color was given to be "auburn" or "black" in some of the earlier games of the franchise. Her hat is often shown leaving her face in shadow and obscuring her eyes. When her eyes are visible, they are usually brown, although they were blue in the "Earth" animated series and in the "Math Detective" game. In many appearances, she also wears gray or black leather gloves.


title: Carmen Sandiego (character)

text: In the original Broderbund games, Carmen Sandiego wore a yellow or orange dress under her trench coat, with a matching stripe on her fedora, and red high-heeled shoes (best recognized in this outfit). She also seemed to have a flair for elegance, being described in the classic 1985 video game as having "jewelry" as a feature and in its accompanying manual as wearing a famous necklace known as the "Moon of Moldavia". In the later games developed under The Learning Company and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, the character's appearance was rebooted so that she wore a grayish black catsuit under her trench coat, with the stripe on her fedora changed to match, and more practical footwear.


title: Carmen Sandiego (character)

text: In the canon depicted in the "Earth" animated television series, her hair is black, rather than the usual brown, as are her normally gray gloves. Her hat band on "Earth" is orange, matching a turtle neck and skirt she wears under her trench coat in this series. Frances Martel of The Mary Sue described her as having a "keen but conservative fashion sense". In the Netflix animated series, she wears a black jumpsuit under her trench coat and a black stripe on her hat, as well as a choker with a triangle pendant, although she briefly wore the classic design in the second episode. She has olive skin, auburn hair, and grey eyes.


title: Carmen Sandiego (character)

text: The character has had mostly positive reception. "St. Cloud Times" described her as "glamorous", "shifty", "smart", and "great fun to chase". Heather Alexandra of "Kotaku" described her as "mysterious", "clever", "dashing", a "mastermind", "cunning", "sly", "sneaky", "smart", and fashionable, summing her up as the "perfect childhood villain". Brittany Vincent of "SyFy Wire" stated that what drew her most to Sandiego was her "grandiose attitude and infallible confidence". Robert Workman of "GameDaily" elected Sandiego as the 21st most "evil mastermind" in video games of all time, and the website also included her among "the smartest video game babes". In 2011, "Complex" ranked her as third on the list of "most diabolical video game she-villains", and in 2012, they ranked her as the 27th coolest video game villain of all time as well as the tenth on their "The Most Evil Women In Video Games" list. In 2013, they placed Sandiego eleventh in a list of "12 Old School Video Game Characters Who Were Style Icons". Hugh Sterbakov of "GamePro" also included the character on its list of "The 47 Most Diabolical Video-Game Villains of All Time", placing her 44th. She was included in "GameSpot"s 2010 "All Time Greatest Video Game Villain" contest and lost to Sweet Tooth in "Round 1b". The same site included her in their "The Ten Best Female Characters". "IGN" placed Carmen Sandiego 62nd on their 2010 list of "The Top 100 Videogame Villains", saying she "is one tricky end boss". In 2012, "GamesRadar+" included her on their "Mediocre Game Babes" article and in 2013 they ranked her as the 71st best villain in their "Top 100" list.


title: Volkswagen Group MLB platform

text: The Volkswagen Group MLB platform is the company's platform strategy, announced in 2012, for shared modular construction of its longitudinal, front-engined automobiles.


title: Volkswagen Group MLB platform

text: It was developed by Audi and first introduced in 2007 on the Audi A5 then, chronologically, on the Audi A4, Audi Q5, Audi A8, Audi A7, Audi A6, Porsche Macan and the second generation Audi Q7 (MLB Evo). Until 2015, only Audi and Porsche were using the MLB platform. In February 2016 Volkswagen introduced the MLB based Phideon luxury sedan built and sold uniquely in the Chinese market.


title: Volkswagen Group MLB platform

text: Volkswagen Group markets the strategy under the code name MLB, which stands for "Modularer Längsbaukasten", translating from German to "Modular Longitudinal Matrix". MLB is one strategy within VW's overall MB (Modulare Baukasten or modular matrix) program which also includes the similar MQB strategy for its vehicles with transverse engine orientation.


title: Volkswagen Group MLB platform

text: While a model may be said to use an MLB platform, it is not so much a platform "per se", but rather a system for introducing rationality across disparate platforms that share engine orientation — regardless of model, vehicle size or brand. Thus, MLB uses a core "matrix" of components across a wide variety of platforms — for example, sharing a common engine-mounting core for "all" drivetrains (e.g., gasoline, diesel, natural gas, hybrid and purely electric). The only things that are non-variable are the pedal box, firewall, and front wheel placement, as well as the windscreen angle; other than this, the vehicle can be stretched and shaped to fit any body style, size range, or drivetrain required. As well as reducing weight, the concept allows diverse models, including those from the company's various brands, to be manufactured at the same plant, further saving cost. , former chief of Volkswagen’s Research and Development, called MB a "strategic weapon."


title: Volkswagen Group MLB platform

text: Jalopnik said "the biggest feature is the uniform position of all motors and transmissions" and that "by fitting all motors into the same place (the company) hope(s) to cut down on engineering costs and weight/complexity when porting the car over to other models." The British magazine, "Car", said "the idea heralds a return to basic principles of mass production in an industry where over the last 100 years, complexity has spiralled out of control. By creating a standardised, interchangeable set of parts from which to build a variety of cars, (the company) plans to cut the time taken to build a car by 30%."


title: Maximilian, Duke of Hohenberg

text: Maximilian, Duke von Hohenberg ("Maximilian Karl Franz Michael Hubert Anton Ignatius Joseph Maria"; 29 September 1902 – 8 January 1962), was the elder son of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary and his wife Countess Sophie Chotek von Chotkowa und Wognin, Duchess von Hohenberg. Because his parents' marriage was morganatic, he was excluded from succession to the Austro-Hungarian throne, to which his father was heir presumptive, and to inheritance of any of his father's dynastic titles, income, and properties, although not from the archduke's personal estate nor from his mother's property.


title: Maximilian, Duke of Hohenberg

text: Maximilian was born on 29 September 1902 and baptized in Vienna two days later with Archduke Charles Stephen of Austria as sponsor. From birth he had the lesser princely title and the nobiliary particle "von Hohenberg" accorded his mother as a predicate at the time of her marriage, and in 1905 he shared with his siblings her receipt of the style "Serene Highness". Although Sophie had been raised from Princess ("Fürstin") to Duchess ("Herzogin") in 1909 by Emperor Franz Joseph, because that title was accorded "ad personam", Maximilian did not inherit it upon her death in 1914. On 31 August 1917, however, Emperor Charles I granted him the dukedom on a hereditary basis, simultaneously raising his treatment from "Serene Highness" ("Durchlaucht") to "Highness" ("Hoheit").


title: Maximilian, Duke of Hohenberg

text: In 1911, it was rumored among French circles that Germany planned to install Maximilian as Imperial Governor of Alsace-Lorraine.


title: Maximilian, Duke of Hohenberg

text: Following the assassination of his parents in Sarajevo in 1914, which resulted in the outbreak of World War I, Maximilian, his sister, Princess Sophie and their brother, Prince Ernst, were initially taken in by their maternal aunt and uncle Marie and Jaroslav, Prince and Princess von Thun und Hohenstein, subsequently being raised in the care of their step-grandmother, Archduchess Maria-Theresa of Austria.


title: Maximilian, Duke of Hohenberg

text: In 1919, following the defeat of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and collapse of the Habsburg monarchy, the new republic of Czechoslovakia expropriated Konopiště Castle, Maximilian's chief residence, and other family properties in the former Kingdom of Bohemia, and expelled the brothers to Austria. Subsequently, they lived in Vienna and at Artstetten Castle in Lower Austria. Maximilian obtained a law degree from the University of Graz in 1926. He managed the family properties and worked as a lawyer.


title: Maximilian, Duke of Hohenberg

text: Because he had never been a dynast of the Austrian Imperial Family, he was neither banished nor had his properties expropriated under Austria's law of exile of 3 April 1919. Remaining in Vienna, by the 1930s the Duke became the leader within Austria of a significant movement for restoration of the monarchy and of his kinsman Otto von Habsburg to the former Imperial throne.


title: Maximilian, Duke of Hohenberg

text: In March 1938, Austria became part of the German Reich as a result of the "Anschluss". Having spoken out for the independence of Austria and against the "Anschluss", Maximilian and his brother were arrested by the "Reich" authorities and interned in Dachau concentration camp, where they were chiefly employed in cleaning the latrines. According to Leopold Figl (who served as Chancellor of Austria after World War II), they did so cheerfully and maintained comradely relations with fellow prisoners. Maximilian was released after six months (Ernst was transferred to other concentration camps and released only in 1943) and was then compelled to stay at Artstetten Castle; the "Reich" authorities also expropriated the family's other properties in Austria.


title: Maximilian, Duke of Hohenberg

text: After the liberation of Austria in 1945, the residents of Artstetten elected Maximilian as mayor, with the concurrence of the Soviet occupation authorities. He served two five-year terms as mayor.


title: Maximilian, Duke of Hohenberg

text: Maximilian died on 8 January 1962 at the age of 59. He is buried in the crypt of the Hohenberg family's Artstetten Castle. His wife's remains are in a sarcophagus to his left. His eldest son, Franz, took the ducal title.


title: Maximilian, Duke of Hohenberg

text: Maximilian married on 16 November 1926 in Wolfegg, Countess Maria Elisabeth Bona von Waldburg zu Wolfegg und Waldsee (10 August 1904 in Bad Waldsee – 13 March 1993 in Salzburg). They had six sons:


title: Toots and the Maytals

text: The Maytals, known from 1972 to 2020 as Toots and the Maytals, are a Jamaican musical group, one of the best known ska and rocksteady vocal groups. The Maytals were formed in the early 1960s and were key figures in popularizing reggae music.


title: Toots and the Maytals

text: Frontman Toots Hibbert, who died in 2020, was considered a reggae pioneer on par with Bob Marley. His soulful vocal style was compared to Otis Redding, and led him to be named by "Rolling Stone" as one of the 100 Greatest Singers. After Hibbert's death, the Maytals indicated that they would continue as a working group.


title: Toots and the Maytals

text: Their 1968 single "Do the Reggay" was the first song to use the word "reggae", coining the name of the genre and introducing it to a global audience. The "Oxford English Dictionary" credits Toots and the Maytals in the etymology of the word "Reggae". According to Island Records founder Chris Blackwell "The Maytals were unlike anything else ... sensational, raw and dynamic."


title: Toots and the Maytals

text: Frederick "Toots" Hibbert, the frontman of the group, was born in May Pen, Clarendon, Jamaica, in 1942, the youngest of seven children. He grew up singing gospel music in a church choir and moved to Kingston in the late 1950s.


title: Toots and the Maytals

text: Hibbert met Henry "Raleigh" Gordon and Nathaniel "Jerry" Mathias in Kingston in 1962 and formed The Maytals as a vocal trio, a group whose early recordings were incorrectly attributed to The Flames and The Vikings in the UK by Island Records. The first instrumentalist members added to the group included Jackie Jackson, Hux Brown, Rad Bryan, and Paul Douglas. In 1972, the group changed its name from The Maytals to Toots and the Maytals, with "Toots" referring to frontman Toots Hibbert, and "the Maytals" referring to the group's instrumentalists and background vocalists. In November 2016, Jackie Jackson described the formation of the group in a radio interview for Kool 97 FM Jamaica. Accompanied by Paul Douglas and Radcliffe "Dougie" Bryan in studio, Jackson explained, We're all original members of Toots and the Maytals band. First it was Toots and the Maytals, three guys: Toots, Raleigh, and Jerry…And then they were signed to Island Records, Chris Blackwell. And we were their recording band...[Blackwell] decided that the backing band that back all of the songs, the recording band, should be the Maytals band. So everything came under Toots and the Maytals. And then we hit the road in 1975.


title: Toots and the Maytals

text: The Maytals first had chart success when recording for producer Clement "Coxsone" Dodd at Studio One. With musical backing from Dodd's house band, the Skatalites, the Maytals' close-harmony gospel singing ensured success, overshadowing Dodd's other up-and-coming vocal group, the Wailers. After staying at Studio One for about two years, the group moved on to do sessions for Prince Buster before recording with Byron Lee in 1966. With Lee, the Maytals won the first-ever Jamaican Independence Festival Popular Song Competition in 1966 with their original song "Bam Bam". "Bam Bam" was later covered in a Dancehall style by Sister Nancy and also by Yellowman in 1982, but Toots and the Maytals were not credited or issued royalties for use of the song by either artist. They went on to win that contest two additional times. The group's musical career was interrupted in late 1966 when Hibbert was jailed for 18 months for possession of marijuana. He stated that he was not arrested for marijuana, but while bailing out a friend. Hibbert reportedly wrote "54-46 That's My Number" about his time in jail.


title: Toots and the Maytals

text: Following Hibbert's release in 1967, the Maytals began working with the Chinese Jamaican producer Leslie Kong, a collaboration which yielded a string of hits throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s. These included "Do the Reggay", released in 1968, which was the first song to first use the word "reggae" and gave the developing genre its name.


title: Toots and the Maytals

text: The Maytals are responsible for some of the biggest hits in reggae history, including "Pressure Drop," "Sweet and Dandy" and "54-46 That's My Number".


title: Toots and the Maytals

text: In 1970 "Monkey Man" became the group's first international hit. By 1971, they signed a recording contract with Chris Blackwell's Island Records, become the biggest act in Jamaica, and had become international stars. Blackwell initially concentrated on the UK market, where previous Jamaican acts had had success. The band's albums with Island Records were released through its Dragon Records imprint.


title: Toots and the Maytals

text: In 1972 the group won the Jamaican Independence Festival Popular Song Competition for a third time with "Pomp and Pride". That year, the group contributed two songs to the soundtrack for "The Harder They Come", the 1972 film starring Jimmy Cliff, named as one of "Vanity Fair"s top 10 soundtracks of all time. The film introduced Jamaican music to American audiences, and the band appears in one of the scenes.


title: Toots and the Maytals

text: After Kong's death in 1971, the group continued to record with Kong's former sound engineer, Warrick Lyn. Their re-instated producer Byron Lee renamed them Toots & the Maytals. The group released three best-selling albums produced by Lyn and Blackwell of Island Records, and enjoyed international hits with "Funky Kingston" in 1973 and "Reggae Got Soul" in 1975. Music critic Lester Bangs described the album "Funky Kingston" in "Stereo Review" as "perfection, the most exciting and diversified set of reggae tunes by a single artist yet released". Chris Blackwell had a strong commitment to Toots and the Maytals, saying "I've known Toots longer than anybody – much longer than Bob (Bob Marley). Toots is one of the purest human beings I've met in my life, pure almost to a fault." To promote these albums, the band toured with the Who, Jackson Browne, the Eagles, and Linda Ronstadt.


title: Toots and the Maytals

text: On 1 October 1975, Toots and the Maytals were broadcast live on KMET-FM as they performed at The Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles. This broadcast was re-mastered and released as the "Sailin' On" album via Klondike Records.


title: Toots and the Maytals

text: Following the release of "Reggae Got Soul", Toots & the Maytals were invited to tour as the opening act for the Who during their 1975–76 North American tour.


title: Toots and the Maytals

text: Toots and the Maytals' compositions experienced a resurgence of popularity in 1978–80 during the reggae punk and ska revival period in the UK, when the Specials covered "Monkey Man" on their 1979 debut album and the Clash covered the group's hit "Pressure Drop". During this period Toots and the Maytals were also included in the lyrics to Bob Marley & the Wailers' song, "Punky Reggae Party": "The Wailers will be there, the Damned, the Jam, the Clash, the Maytals will be there, Dr. Feelgood too".


title: Toots and the Maytals

text: On 29 September 1980, the band recorded, pressed and distributed a new album, "Toots Live", to the record shops all in the space of 24 hours in an attempt to make the "Guinness Book of World Records". A live concert was recorded on reels of two-inch, 24-track analog tape, then rushed by van to sound engineers. After a running order was determined, the record label was quickly designed and sent to the printers. The album masters, labels and the outer covers were then separately sped to the Gedmel factory near Leicester, and the finished product was assembled and delivered to Coventry, where the band was playing the next day, successfully meeting the 24-hour deadline. Due to record label oversight, the achievement was not successfully registered with the "Guinness Book of World Records". Island Records' Rob Bell was quoted as saying, "Unfortunately, the record was "not" included in the Guinness book, because they required prior notification that the event was going to take place, and no one at Island had informed them of the project!" The record for "fastest album release" was not officially held in the "Guinness Book of World Records" until 28 years later when Vollgas Kompanie claimed the honour in 2008 for recording and releasing their album "Live" in 24 hours – matching the time interval in which Toots and the Maytals recorded, pressed and distributed "Toots Live" in 1980.


title: Toots and the Maytals

text: The group split up after releasing the 1981 album "Knockout". In 1982, Toots & the Maytals' "Beautiful Woman" reached number one in New Zealand.


title: Toots and the Maytals

text: In the early 1990s a new lineup of the Maytals was formed. In February 1990 Toots and the Maytals performed on VH1's "New Visions World Beat", guest-hosted by Nile Rodgers. The group continued touring and recording successfully, with two appearances at Reggae Sunsplash in the mid-1990s.


title: Toots and the Maytals

text: In a 2003 review on NPR's Fresh Air broadcast, critic Milo Miles described the song Pressure Drop as, "utterly irresistible but utterly mysterious like Louie Louie or Tutti Frutti. It gets over on pure passion, and it seems all you need to know is when it drops you're gonna feel it."


title: Toots and the Maytals

text: In 2004, the group released "True Love", an album of re-recorded versions of their earlier hits in collaboration with fellow musicians including Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Trey Anastasio, No Doubt, Ben Harper, the Roots, and Shaggy. The album received critical acclaim from outlets including NPR and Rolling Stone. The "True Love" album won the Grammy Award that year for best reggae album.


title: Toots and the Maytals

text: Donald Trump was quoted as appreciating the reggae music of Toots and the Maytals in 2004 when he said, "I heard the guest band, Toots & The Maytals, practising out on the set of "Saturday Night Live"" (Trump was the guest host on an episode in April 2004). "They sounded terrific, and I went out to listen to them for a while. My daughter Ivanka had told me how great they were, and she was right. The music relaxed me, and surprisingly, I was not nervous."


title: Toots and the Maytals

text: In 2006, they recorded a reggae/ska version of Radiohead's "Let Down" for the tribute album, "Radiodread". The album was a song for song makeover of the British rock band's album "OK Computer" into reggae, dub and ska. In August 2007 Toots & the Maytals released "Light Your Light", which featured re-workings of older songs such as "Johnny Cool Man", as well as new material. The album was nominated in 2008 for a Grammy in the best reggae album category.


title: Toots and the Maytals

text: Toots & the Maytals hold the current record of number one hits in Jamaica, with a total of thirty-one.


title: Toots and the Maytals

text: In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the record label Island Records Toots & the Maytals and Amy Winehouse, both signed up to the label, were billed to perform together at the Shepherd's Bush Empire in London on 31 May 2009. Winehouse had covered the band's "Monkey Man". However, Winehouse's performance was cancelled, and Toots & the Maytals instead played at the more intimate Bush Hall to a sell-out crowd.


title: Toots and the Maytals

text: In 2011, director George Scott and producer Nick De Grunwald released the documentary "Reggae Got Soul: The Story of Toots and the Maytals", which was featured on BBC. Described as "The untold story of one of the most influential artists ever to come out of Jamaica", it features appearances by Marcia Griffiths, Jimmy Cliff, Bonnie Raitt, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Willie Nelson, Anthony DeCurtis, Ziggy Marley, Chris Blackwell, Paolo Nutini, Sly Dunbar, and Robbie Shakespeare.


title: Toots and the Maytals

text: In May 2013, Hibbert was struck in the head with a 1.75-litre vodka bottle while performing onstage at a Richmond, Virginia, festival. His injuries resulted in a concussion and treatment required six staples in his head. The man who threw the bottle was arrested, and despite Hibbert's pleas for clemency to the judge, was given a six-month sentence. Hibbert's letter to the judge also detailed the extent of his injury: "I continue to suffer from extreme anxiety, memory loss, headaches, dizziness and most sadly of all, a fear of crowds and performing. I am not able to write songs as I did before or remember the lyrics of songs that I wrote and have performed for decades." After his injury, Hibbert canceled all subsequent performances, and the group did not perform live again until 2016.


title: Toots and the Maytals

text: In 2015, Vogue listed the song "54-46 Was My Number" by Toots and the Maytals as one of their "15 Roots Reggae Songs You Should Know"; and in an interview with Patricia Chin of VP Records, "Vogue" listed the group as part of an abbreviated list of early "reggae royalty" that recorded at Studio 17 in Kingston, Jamaica which included Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Gregory Isaacs, Dennis Brown, Burning Spear, Toots and the Maytals, The Heptones, and Bunny Wailer.


title: Toots and the Maytals

text: In 2016 Toots and the Maytals announced a return to the stage with their first tour in 3 years, and on 15 June at The Observatory North Park in San Diego the group returned to the stage for the first time since 2013.


title: Toots and the Maytals

text: In 2017 Toots and the Maytals played Coachella Fest 16 and 23 April at 4:20 pm. They became the second reggae-based group to perform at the Coachella festival, after Chronixx in 2016.


title: Toots and the Maytals

text: Toots and the Maytals have been cited as an inspiration for other music artists when it comes to career longevity. Jamaican artist Sean Paul explains this by saying, "I've seen some great people in my industry, you know, people like Toots … Toots and the Maytals. Toots he's a great reggae artist and he's still doing it … He's up there in years and he's doing it. Those kind of artists inspire me. I know I’m just going to keep on doing music as long as I can."


title: Toots and the Maytals

text: On 24 June 2017 at the Glastonbury Festival, Toots and the Maytals were slotted for 17:30 with BBC Four scheduled to show highlights from their set. When they did not appear it was suspected they missed their time slot, and BBC broadcaster Mark Radcliffe apologised on their behalf stating, "If you were expecting Toots and the Maytals – and, frankly, we all were – it seems like they were on Jamaican time or something because they didn't make it to the site on time." The group was subsequently rescheduled by the Glastonbury Festival organizers giving them the midnight slot, with all other acts being shifted by one hour. On 29 July 2017 Toots and The Maytals headlined the 35th anniversary of the WOMAD UK festival with a performance that was reported as "easily one of the true highlights of WOMAD 2017".


title: Toots and the Maytals

text: In 2018, Toots and the Maytals launched a 50th anniversary tour with concert appearances in North America from April to August, moving to dates in the UK starting in October.


title: Toots and the Maytals

text: On 25 July 2018 Toots and the Maytals debuted an original song entitled "Marley" live on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon", and also played the classic "Funky Kingston".


title: Toots and the Maytals

text: On 24 August 2018 Toots and the Maytals performed at Lockn' Festival in Arrington, Virginia, where guest Taj Mahal accompanied them on the song "Monkey Man".


title: Toots and the Maytals

text: In July 2019 Coors Brewing Company used the Toots and the Maytals song "Pressure Drop" in a television advertisement for Coors Light.


title: Toots and the Maytals

text: Following Hibberts' death in 2020, there was uncertainty as to if the Maytals would return. In November 2020, Paul Douglas and Jackie Jackson confirmed that the band would carry on, as a tribute to Hibbert.


title: Toots and the Maytals

text: On 14 March 2021 at the 63rd annual Grammy Awards, Toots and The Maytals won Best Reggae Album for the album "Got to be Tough".


title: Toots and the Maytals

text: In July 2021 the family of Toots Hibbert issued a cease and desist letter to the members of The Maytals Band. The letter sought to prohibit the remaining band members from performing under the name "The Maytals" (the name the band has been performing under for over 50 years). Subsequently a Toots Hibbert tribute concert where multiple artists were scheduled to perform in London on 4 September 2021 was cancelled as a result of the cease and desist letter.


title: Toots and the Maytals

text: Toots and the Maytals were included in "Exposition Jamaica Jamaica!", which ran April to August 2017 at the Philharmonie de Paris in France, to highlight their importance in the development of reggae music.


title: Toots and the Maytals

text: On Season 41 Episode 4 of "Saturday Night Live", hosted by Donald Trump, actors Kenan Thompson and Jay Pharoah played Toots and The Maytals in a sketch with Trump as he introduced musical guest Sia. Toots and The Maytals were the musical guest on the first episode of "SNL" that Trump hosted on 3 April 2004.


title: Pastel

text: A pastel () is an art medium in a variety of forms including a stick, a square a pebble or a pan of color; though other forms are possible; they consist of powdered pigment and a binder. The pigments used in pastels are similar to those used to produce some other colored visual arts media, such as oil paints; the binder is of a neutral hue and low saturation. The color effect of pastels is closer to the natural dry pigments than that of any other process.


title: Pastel

text: Pastels have been used by artists since the Renaissance, and gained considerable popularity in the 18th century, when a number of notable artists made pastel their primary medium.


title: Pastel

text: An artwork made using pastels is called a pastel (or a pastel drawing or pastel painting). "Pastel" used as a verb means to produce an artwork with pastels; as an adjective it means pale in color.


title: Pastel

text: Pastel sticks or crayons consist of powdered pigment combined with a binder. The exact composition and characteristics of an individual pastel stick depend on the type of pastel and the type and amount of binder used. It also varies by individual manufacturer.


title: Pastel

text: Dry pastels have historically used binders such as gum arabic and gum tragacanth. Methyl cellulose was introduced as a binder in the twentieth century. Often a chalk or gypsum component is present. They are available in varying degrees of hardness, the softer varieties being wrapped in paper. Some pastel brands use pumice in the binder to abrade the paper and create more tooth.


title: Pastel

text: There has been some debate within art societies as to what exactly counts as a pastel. The Pastel Society within the UK (the oldest pastel society) states the following are acceptable media for its exhibitions: "Pastels, including Oil pastel, Charcoal, Pencil, Conté, Sanguine, or any dry media". The emphasis appears to be on "dry media" but the debate continues.


title: Pastel

text: In order to create hard and soft pastels, pigments are ground into a paste with water and a gum binder and then rolled, pressed or extruded into sticks. The name "pastel" is derived from Medieval Latin "woad paste," from Late Latin "paste." The French word "pastel" first appeared in 1662.


title: Pastel

text: Most brands produce gradations of a color, the original pigment of which tends to be dark, from pure pigment to near-white by mixing in differing quantities of chalk. This mixing of pigments with chalks is the origin of the word "pastel" in reference to "pale color" as it is commonly used in cosmetic and fashion venues.


title: Pastel

text: A pastel is made by letting the sticks move over an abrasive ground, leaving color on the grain of the painting surface. When fully covered with pastel, the work is called a pastel "painting"; when not, a pastel "sketch" or "drawing". Pastel paintings, being made with a medium that has the highest pigment concentration of all, reflect light without darkening refraction, allowing for very saturated colors.


title: Pastel

text: Pastel supports need to provide a "tooth" for the pastel to adhere and hold the pigment in place. Supports include:


title: Pastel

text: Pastels can be used to produce a permanent painting if the artist meets appropriate archival considerations. This means:


title: Pastel

text: For these reasons, some pastelists avoid the use of a fixative except in cases where the pastel has been overworked so much that the surface will no longer hold any more pastel. The fixative will restore the "tooth" and more pastel can be applied on top. It is the tooth of the painting surface that holds the pastels, not a fixative. Abrasive supports avoid or minimize the need to apply further fixative in this way. SpectraFix, a modern casein fixative available premixed in a pump misting bottle or as concentrate to be mixed with alcohol, is not toxic and does not darken or dull pastel colors. However, SpectraFix takes some practice to use because it's applied with a pump misting bottle instead of an aerosol spray can. It is easy to use too much SpectraFix and leave puddles of liquid that may dissolve passages of color; also it takes a little longer to dry than conventional spray fixatives between light layers.


title: Pastel

text: Glassine (paper) is used by artists to protect artwork which is being stored or transported. Some good quality books of pastel papers also include glassine to separate pages.


title: Pastel

text: Pastel techniques can be challenging since the medium is mixed and blended directly on the working surface, and unlike paint, colors cannot be tested on a palette before applying to the surface. Pastel errors cannot be covered the way a paint error can be painted out. Experimentation with the pastel medium on a small scale in order to learn various techniques gives the user a better command over a larger composition.


title: Pastel

text: Pastels have some techniques in common with painting, such as blending, masking, building up layers of color, adding accents and highlighting, and shading. Some techniques are characteristic of both pastels and sketching mediums such as charcoal and lead, for example, hatching and crosshatching, and gradation. Other techniques are particular to the pastel medium.


title: Pastel

text: Pastels are a dry medium and produce a great deal of dust, which can cause respiratory irritation. More seriously, pastels use the same pigments as artists' paints, many of which are toxic. For example, exposure to cadmium pigments, which are common and popular bright yellows, oranges, and reds, can lead to cadmium poisoning. Pastel artists, who use the pigments without a strong painting binder, are especially susceptible to such poisoning. For this reason, many modern pastels are made using substitutions for cadmium, chromium, and other toxic pigments, while retaining the traditional pigment names.


title: Pastel

text: The manufacture of pastels originated in the 15th century. The pastel medium was mentioned by Leonardo da Vinci, who learned of it from the French artist Jean Perréal after that artist's arrival in Milan in 1499. Pastel was sometimes used as a medium for preparatory studies by 16th-century artists, notably Federico Barocci. The first French artist to specialize in pastel portraits was Joseph Vivien.


title: Pastel

text: During the 18th century the medium became fashionable for portrait painting, sometimes in a mixed technique with gouache. Pastel was an important medium for artists such as Jean-Baptiste Perronneau, Maurice Quentin de La Tour (who never painted in oils), and Rosalba Carriera. The pastel still life paintings and portraits of Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin are much admired, as are the works of the Swiss-French artist Jean-Étienne Liotard. In 18th-century England the outstanding practitioner was John Russell. In Colonial America, John Singleton Copley used pastel occasionally for portraits.


title: Pastel

text: In France, pastel briefly became unpopular during and after the Revolution, as the medium was identified with the frivolity of the Ancien Régime. By the mid-19th century, French artists such as Eugène Delacroix and especially Jean-François Millet were again making significant use of pastel. Their countryman Édouard Manet painted a number of portraits in pastel on canvas, an unconventional ground for the medium. Edgar Degas was an innovator in pastel technique, and used it with an almost expressionist vigor after about 1885, when it became his primary medium. Odilon Redon produced a large body of works in pastel.


title: Pastel

text: James Abbott McNeill Whistler produced a quantity of pastels around 1880, including a body of work relating to Venice, and this probably contributed to a growing enthusiasm for the medium in the United States. In particular, he demonstrated how few strokes were required to evoke a place or an atmosphere. Mary Cassatt, an American artist active in France, introduced the Impressionists and pastel to her friends in Philadelphia and Washington.


title: Pastel

text: According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art's "Time Line of Art History: Nineteenth Century American Drawings":


title: Pastel

text: On the East Coast of the United States, the Society of Painters in Pastel was founded in 1883 by William Merritt Chase, Robert Blum, and others. The Pastellists, led by Leon Dabo, was organized in New York in late 1910 and included among its ranks Everett Shinn and Arthur Bowen Davies. On the American West Coast the influential artist and teacher Pedro Joseph de Lemos, who served as Chief Administrator of the San Francisco Art Institute and Director of the Stanford University Museum and Art Gallery, popularized pastels in regional exhibitions. Beginning in 1919 de Lemos published a series of articles on "painting" with pastels, which included such notable innovations as allowing the intensity of light on the subject to determine the distinct color of laid paper and the use of special optics for making "night sketches" in both urban and rural settings. His night scenes, which were often called "dreamscapes" in the press, were influenced by French Symbolism, and especially Odilon Redon.


title: Pastel

text: Pastels have been favored by many modern artists because of the medium's broad range of bright colors. Modern notable artists who have worked extensively in pastels include Fernando Botero, Francesco Clemente, Daniel Greene, Wolf Kahn, and R. B. Kitaj.


title: Gerry (2002 film)

text: Gerry is a 2002 American drama film written and directed by Gus Van Sant and starring and co-written by Matt Damon and Casey Affleck. It is the first film of Van Sant's "Death Trilogy," three films based on deaths that occurred in real life and is succeeded by "Elephant" (2003) and "Last Days" (2005).


title: Gerry (2002 film)

text: "Gerry" follows two hiking companions who both go by the name "Gerry." "Gerry" is also a slang term, used by both protagonists throughout the misadventure, meaning "to screw up." Van Sant revealed in interviews that Damon, Affleck and his brother Ben had already coined the term before the movie had been named.


title: Gerry (2002 film)

text: The film's plot shares some commonalities with the events surrounding the death of David Coughlin, who was killed after he and a friend became lost in Rattlesnake Canyon in New Mexico. The film's style was largely inspired by the work of Hungarian director Béla Tarr, namely its use of extended scenes playing out in uncut master shots. There are a few direct visual quotations from Tarr's "Sátántangó" such as a shot following the two protagonists while tumbleweeds blow around them that mimics a shot in Tarr's film where two men walk through a town as a windstorm blows around leaves and trash.


title: Gerry (2002 film)

text: Besides the work of Béla Tarr, the video game "Tomb Raider" was cited as an influence on the style of the film. Van Sant had mentioned that he hadn't had much experience with video games and was struck by the fact that the lack of the ability to cut away from the action in video games meant having to stay with the characters during travel that would normally be glossed over in films. In an interview with "Filmmaker Magazine" Van Sant stated "In some ways, Gerry is Béla Tarr fused with "Tomb Raider"!"


title: Gerry (2002 film)

text: The characters drive to a remote location to hike at a site marked "Wilderness Trail". As they start, they see some other hikers passing by. In order to not be bothered by these hikers, they decide to go off-trail. After some walking, talking, and an impromptu foot race, they decide to head back. Before long, they realize that they are lost. That night, they build a campfire.


title: Gerry (2002 film)

text: Over the next couple of days, the two hikers wander through the wilderness without food or water. They try to split up for a while, retrace their steps and follow some animal tracks, all to no avail. They grow increasingly irritated with each other as the situation becomes dire.


title: Gerry (2002 film)

text: They eventually find themselves slowly walking mostly in silence through a desert. They finally collapse due to fatigue and dehydration. The weaker of the two (Affleck) proclaims that he is "leaving" and reaches towards Damon's character. Damon's character rolls on top of Affleck and wordlessly strangles him before collapsing again.


title: Gerry (2002 film)

text: After some time, Damon's character awakens and realizes that a highway is not far away. In the final sequence, he is badly sunburned but watches the passing landscape from the car of the father and son who have seemingly rescued him.


title: Gerry (2002 film)

text: The inspiration for the film was the real-life murder of David Coughlin, which Damon related to Van Sant, in which Coughlin and his best friend got lost in the desert, with the latter eventually killing Coughlin. Van Sant deliberately chose not to look up more information on the event because "we didn't want to do their story," instead deciding it would be "an inspirational aside."


title: Gerry (2002 film)

text: Besides the news item, other influences include Van Sant's own experience getting lost as well as Chantal Akerman's "Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles" (1975). Initially Van Sant planned to shoot the film with digital video, which he said would have resembled "a John Cassavetes film in the desert." Casey Affleck eventually convinced him to use 35 mm film instead, with Van Sant noting, "once we did that, everything changed". From this decision he began incorporating influences from the film work of Béla Tarr, specifically his use of long takes.


title: Gerry (2002 film)

text: The film is notable for its lack of dialogue. Initially Van Sant "thought we were definitely going to have a lot of long bits of soul-searching dialogue." During shooting this never came to pass, and Van Sant asserted that the long silences were "our version" of such dialogue. Van Sant wanted the spare dialogue not to cover things for the audience's sake; he explained, "When [Matt and Casey] are talking, they’re just talking and not pointing out stuff that we’re supposed to know. If they’re talking about something, and we don’t know what they’re talking about, then that’s okay. So long as they know what they’re talking about."


title: Gerry (2002 film)

text: Van Sant hoped to shoot the film in Argentina to avoid a possible Actors Guild strike, but the location proved colder than anticipated. He then looked to Wadi Rum in Jordan, but he was dissuaded from going there because a travel advisory was in effect due to potential terrorist activities. The team finally settled on Death Valley, California. Although the film had a script, it was used as more of an outline, and the team regularly disregarded it. They were unsure of how the film would end if the film was shot in sequence.


title: Gerry (2002 film)

text: The film received generally mixed critical reviews. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, it has an approval rating of 61%, based on 100 reviews, with an average rating of 6.20/10. The consensus states that "Gerry" is "The type of uncompromising film that divides filmgoers over whether it is profound or pretentious." Metacritic, using a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 54 out of 100 based on 31 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews."


title: Pearl Thusi

text: Sithembile Xola Pearl Thusi (born 13 May 1988) is a South African actress, model, and presenter. She is known for her roles as Patricia Kopong in the BBC/HBO comedy-drama series "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency", Dayana Mampasi in the ABC thriller "Quantico" and Samkelo in the romance film "Catching Feelings". In 2020, she starred in the titular role of Netflix's first African original series, "Queen Sono".


title: Pearl Thusi

text: Thusi is from the Durban township of KwaNdengezi and Hammarsdale. She has two sisters. She attended Pinetown Girls' High School. She began her studies at the University of the Witwatersrand, but pulled out to make time for her career. In 2020, she resumed studies at the University of South Africa.


title: Pearl Thusi

text: Thusi is the host of "Lip Sync Battle Africa" on MTV and e.tv, as well as the talk show "Moments", on EbonyLife TV. She has starred on the SABC 3 soap opera "Isidingo", as Palesa Motaung, co-hosted "Live Amp" with DJ Warras and "Luthando Shosha", and the SABC 1 celebrity gossip magazine show "Real Goboza".


title: Pearl Thusi

text: In 2009, Thusi starred as Patricia Kopong on the BBC/HBO comedy-drama "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency".


title: Pearl Thusi

text: In 2015, Thusi co-starred as Dr. Nandi Montabu in "". She also appeared in a music video entitled "Pearl Thusi" by rapper Emtee.


title: Pearl Thusi

text: In 2016, Thusi was cast as a series regular in the role of Dayana Mampasi on the second season of the ABC thriller series "Quantico," opposite Priyanka Chopra. In the same year, Thusi was cast as Samkelo in the romantic drama film "Catching Feelings". The film was released in theaters on 9 March 2018.


title: Pearl Thusi

text: In 2018, Thusi became the new host of the third season of MTV Base's "Behind the Story". In the same year, Thusi was cast in the lead role of Queen Sono on the Netflix crime drama series "Queen Sono". The series premiered on 28 February 2020 and was widely acclaimed by critics, and Thusi's performance in particular was singled out for praise. In April 2020, the series was renewed by Netflix for a second season. However, on 26 November 2020, it was reported that Netflix has cancelled the series because of the production challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Pearl Thusi

text: On 15 December 2020, She became a co-host of "1st KZN Entertainment Awards" alongside Somizi Mhlongo.


title: Pearl Thusi

text: In February 2021, Thusi was cast as Zama Zulu in the Netflix film "Fistful of Vengeance". It was released on 17 February 2022.


title: Gingerbread

text: Gingerbread refers to a broad category of baked goods, typically flavored with ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon and sweetened with honey, sugar, or molasses. Gingerbread foods vary, ranging from a moist loaf cake to forms nearly as crisp as a ginger snap.


title: Gingerbread

text: Originally, the term "gingerbread" (from Latin "zingiber" via Old French "gingebras") referred to preserved ginger. It then referred to a confection made with honey and spices. "Gingerbread" is often used to translate the French term "pain d'épices" (literally "spice bread") or the German terms "Pfefferkuchen" (lit. "pepper cake," because it used to contain pepper) or "Lebkuchen" (of unclear etymology; either Latin "libum", meaning "sacrifice" or "sacrificial bread," or German "Laib" for loaf or German for life, "leben"). Pepper is also referenced in regional names like Norwegian "pepperkaker" or Czech "perník" (originally "peprník").


title: Gingerbread

text: The meaning of "gingerbread" has evolved over time. For centuries the term referred to a traditional European pastry, very like a modern cookie, traditionally used to make gingerbread men. In the United States the first known recipe for "Soft gingerbread to be baked in pans" is found in Amelia Simmons' 1796 cookbook, "American Cookery".


title: Gingerbread

text: Gingerbread is claimed to have been brought to Europe in 992 AD by the Armenian monk Gregory of Nicopolis (also called Gregory Makar and Grégoire de Nicopolis). He left Nicopolis (in modern-day western Greece) to live in Bondaroy (north-central France), near the town of Pithiviers. He stayed there for seven years until he died in 999 and taught gingerbread baking to French Christians. It may have been brought to Western Europe from the eastern Mediterranean in the 11th century.


title: Gingerbread

text: Since the 13th century, Toruń gingerbread was made in Toruń, then State of the Teutonic Order (now Poland). It gained fame in the realm and abroad when it was brought to Sweden by German immigrants. In 15th-century Germany, a gingerbread guild controlled production. Early references from the Vadstena Abbey show that the Swedish nuns baked gingerbread to ease indigestion in 1444. It was the custom to bake white biscuits and paint them as window decorations. In England, gingerbread was also thought to have medicinal properties. 16th-century writer John Baret described gingerbread as "a kinde of cake or paste made to comfort the stomacke."


title: Gingerbread

text: Gingerbread was a popular treat at medieval European festivals and fairs, and there were even dedicated gingerbread fairs.


title: Gingerbread

text: The first documented trade of gingerbread biscuits in England dates to the 17th century, where they were sold in monasteries, pharmacies, and town square farmers' markets. One hundred years later, the town of Market Drayton in Shropshire became known for its gingerbread, as is displayed on their town's welcome sign, stating that it is the "home of gingerbread". The first recorded mention of gingerbread being baked in the town dates to 1793, although it was probably made earlier, as ginger had been stocked in high street businesses since the 1640s. Gingerbread became widely available in the 18th century.


title: Gingerbread

text: Gingerbread came to the Americas with settlers from Europe. Molasses, less expensive than sugar, soon became a common ingredient and produced a softer cake. The first printed American cookbook, "American Cookery" by Amelia Simmons, contained seven different recipes for gingerbread. Her recipe for "Soft gingerbread to be baked in pans" is the first written recipe for the cakey old-fashioned American gingerbread.


title: Gingerbread

text: In England, gingerbread may refer to a cake, or type of cookie or biscuit made with ginger. In the biscuit form, it commonly takes the form of a gingerbread man. Gingerbread men were first attributed to the court of Queen Elizabeth I, who served the figurines to foreign dignitaries. Today, however, they are generally served around Christmas. Gingerbread was a traditional confectionery sold at popular fairs, often given as a treat or token of affection to children and lovers "sweethearts" and known as a "fairing" of gingerbread - the name retained now only by Cornish fairings. This crisp brittle type of gingerbread is now represented by the very popular commercial version called the ginger nut biscuit.


title: Gingerbread

text: "Parliament cake" or "Parlies", a very spicy ginger shortbread, were eaten (in the same way as salty snacks with beer), with whisky, rum or brandy, during midday breaks, by the members of the original (pre-1707) Scottish Parliament, in a secret backroom ("ben the hoose"), at a tavern and shop in Bristo Street in Edinburgh's Potterrow, behind the University, run by a Mrs Flockhart, AKA "Luckie Fykie", the landlady who is thought to be the inspiration for Mrs Flockhart in Walter Scott's "Waverley". The recipe is mentioned in Christian Isobel Johnstone's "The Cook and Housewife's Manual" (also known as Meg Dod's Cookery) (1826) published under the pseudonym of "Mrs. Margaret Dods, of the Cleikum Inn, Saint Ronan's", evoking the character of Margaret Dods, the hostess of the Cleikum Inn in Walter Scott's novel "Saint Ronan's Well" (1823).It was immensely popular, and in which, she used characters Scott's to give commentary on preparing national specialties.


title: Gingerbread

text: Parkin is a form of soft gingerbread cake made with oatmeal and treacle which is popular in northern England, originating in Yorkshire.


title: Gingerbread

text: In the United States, this form of gingerbread is sometimes called "gingerbread cake" or "ginger cake" to distinguish it from the harder forms. French pain d'épices is somewhat similar, though generally slightly drier, and involves honey rather than treacle and uses less spice than other breads in this category.


title: Gingerbread

text: In the Netherlands and Belgium, a soft and crumbly gingerbread called "peperkoek", "kruidkoek" or "ontbijtkoek" is popularly served at breakfast time or during the day, thickly sliced and often topped with butter.


title: Gingerbread

text: In Germany gingerbread is made in two forms: a soft form called Lebkuchen and a harder form, particularly associated with carnivals and street markets such as the Christmas markets that occur in many German towns. The hard gingerbread is made in decorative shapes, which are then further decorated with sweets and icing. The tradition of cutting gingerbread into shapes takes many other forms and exists in many countries, a well-known example being the gingerbread man. Traditionally, these were dunked in port wine.


title: Gingerbread

text: At Oktoberfest in Munich, it's customary for men to buy large gingerbread cookies in the shape of a heart, with a ribbon for their sweetheart to wear around their neck. The cookies are iced with romantic phrases like ""Ich liebe dich"" (I love you).


title: Gingerbread

text: In Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine, the honey cake eaten at Rosh Hashanah (New Year) closely resembles the Dutch "peperkoek" or the German "Lebkuchen", though it has wide regional variations.


title: Gingerbread

text: In the Nordic and Baltic countries, the most popular form of ginger confection is the "pepperkaker" (Norwegian), "pepparkakor" (Swedish), "peberkager" (Danish), "piparkökur" (Icelandic), "piparkakut" (Finnish), "piparkūkas" (Latvian) or "piparkoogid" (Estonian). They are thin, brittle biscuits that are particularly associated with the extended Christmas period. In Norway and Sweden, pepperkaker/pepparkakor are also used as window decorations (the pepperkaker/pepparkakor are a little thicker than usual and are decorated with glaze and candy). Many families bake pepperkaker/pepparkakor/brunkager as a tradition.


title: Gingerbread

text: In Switzerland, a gingerbread confection known as "biber" is typically a two-centimeter (approximately ¾ of an inch) thick rectangular gingerbread cake with a marzipan filling. The cantons of Appenzell and St. Gallen is famous for biber, which are artfully adorned with images of the Appenzell bear or the St. Gallen cathedral respectively by engraving or icing.


title: Gingerbread

text: In Russia, a gingerbread maker was first mentioned in Kazan cadastres in 1568. Gingerbread confections are called "pryaniki" (sg. "pryanik"), derived from the Russian term for 'spices'. Historically three main centers of gingerbread production have developed in the cities of Vyazma, Gorodets, and Tula. Gingerbreads from Tver, Saint Petersburg, and Moscow were also well known in the Russian Empire. A classic Russian gingerbread is made with rye flour, honey, sugar, butter, eggs and various spices; it has an embossed ornament and/or text on the front side with royal icing. A Russian gingerbread can also be shaped in various forms and stuffed with varenje and other sweet fillings.


title: Gingerbread

text: In Poland, gingerbreads are known as "pierniki" (singular: piernik). Some cities have traditional regional styles. Toruń gingerbread ("piernik toruński") is a traditional Polish gingerbread that has been produced since the Middle Ages in the city of Toruń. It was a favorite delicacy of Chopin when he visited his godfather, Fryderyk Florian Skarbek, in Toruń during school vacation. Kraków gingerbread is the traditional style of the former Polish capital.


title: Gingerbread

text: In Czech Republic, gingerbread is called "perník" and it is a popular Christmas biscuit and a decoration. Common shapes include hearts, stars and animals and gingerbread houses are also popular. Towns associated with "perník" include Pardubice and Miletín.


title: Gingerbread

text: A variety of gingerbread in Bulgaria is known as "меденка" ("made of honey"). Traditionally the cookie is as big as the palm of a hand, round and flat, and with a thin layer of chocolate. Other common ingredients include honey, cinnamon, ginger, and dried clove.


title: Gingerbread

text: In Panama, a confection named "yiyinbre" is a gingerbread cake made with ginger and molasses; it is typical of the region of Chiriquí. Another popular confection is "quequi" or "queque", a chewy biscuit made with ginger, molasses, and coconut.


title: 3001: The Final Odyssey

text: 3001: The Final Odyssey is a 1997 science fiction novel by British writer Arthur C. Clarke. It is the fourth and final book in Clarke's "Space Odyssey" series.


title: 3001: The Final Odyssey

text: The novel begins with a brief prologue describing the bioforms – dubbed the First-Born – who created the black monoliths. They evolved from "primordial soup", and over the course of millions of years, became a space-faring species. Perceiving that nothing was more precious than "mind," they catalysed the evolution of intelligent species wherever they went, by increasing the intelligent species' chance of survival. After visiting Earth, the First-Born found a way to impress themselves into the fabric of space and time, becoming effectively immortal. Meanwhile, the monoliths—implied to have been forgotten by their creators when they ascended to a higher state of being—continued to watch over their subjects.


title: 3001: The Final Odyssey

text: "3001" follows the adventures of Frank Poole, the astronaut killed by the HAL 9000 computer in "". One millennium later, Poole's freeze-dried body is discovered in the Kuiper belt by a comet-collecting space tug named the "Goliath", and revived. Poole is taken home to learn about the Earth in the year 3001. Some of its notable features include the BrainCap, a brain–computer interface technology; genetically engineered dinosaur servants; and four gigantic space elevators located evenly around the Equator. Humans have also colonised the Jovian moons Ganymede and Callisto. "TMA-1", the black monolith found on the Moon in 1999, has been brought to Earth in 2006 and installed in front of the United Nations Building in New York City.


title: 3001: The Final Odyssey

text: Poole integrates into the society of 3001, but is prompted by a friend to revisit Europa, a cradle of nascent life from which the monolith had banned humanity almost a thousand years earlier. It is believed he might be the first person allowed to visit there. On Europa he is greeted by the voice of David Bowman and computer HAL 9000, who have now become a single entity—"Halman"—residing as digitized lifeforms in the monolith's computational matrix. In subsequent conversations he learns that the monoliths themselves are mechanisms, answerable to an unknown superior monolith, or perhaps lifeforms, almost 450 light-years away.


title: 3001: The Final Odyssey

text: Thirty years later, Poole is married, and a member of a small team responsible for monitoring Europa. Halman contacts him to warn that following the events of "" and "", the Jovian monolith had sent a report to its superior monolith, containing details about the human species after first contact. Since this report took place shortly after the wars of the 20th century, Halman believes the response just received after the 900-year round trip contains instructions to destroy humanity, due to its failure as a species.


title: 3001: The Final Odyssey

text: Unsure whether they can physically harm the Monolith, the Europa team decide instead to infect it – as a computational mechanism – with a computer virus. Poole requests Halman to act as a Trojan Horse and place the virus inside the monolith, where it will be executed. Suitable computer and biological viruses already exist in the Pico Vault, an ultrasecure storage on the Moon, used for the most dangerous agents of these kinds. The Europa team also agree to leave a petabyte-capacity holographic 3D storage medium on Europa to allow Halman and other lifeforms in the monolith to upload themselves and escape the monolith's failure.


title: 3001: The Final Odyssey

text: The monolith does receive orders to exterminate humanity, and starts a duplication, whereupon millions of monoliths form two cascade screens to prevent Solar light and heat from reaching Earth and its colonies, but the monoliths all quickly disintegrate as a result of the virus. The monoliths' makers' response to its destruction will occur in another 900 years as the earliest possibility.


title: 3001: The Final Odyssey

text: The petabyte storage device, containing Halman and other lifeforms, but also infected with the virus, is subsequently sealed by scientists in the Pico Vault. At the close of the story, Poole and other humans land on Europa to start peaceful relations with the primitive native Europans. A statement is made that the monolith's makers will not determine humanity's fate until "the Last Days".


title: 3001: The Final Odyssey

text: In 2000, "Yahoo!" reported that MGM and actor/director Tom Hanks were in discussions regarding adapting both "2061: Odyssey Three" and "3001: The Final Odyssey" into movies, with Hanks reportedly to play Frank Poole in the "3001" film. An update in 2001 stated that there was no further development on the project.


title: 3001: The Final Odyssey

text: On 3 November 2014, it was reported that the US TV channel Syfy had ordered a miniseries adaptation of "3001: The Final Odyssey" into production, planned for broadcast in 2015. The miniseries would be executive-produced by Ridley Scott, David W. Zucker and Stuart Beattie; the latter would also be the primary script-writer. The estates of both Clarke and "" director Stanley Kubrick were reported as having "offered their full support", but the extent of their involvement was not known at the time. In February 2016, within Syfy's press release for its television pilot "Prototype", other series including the "Final Odyssey" series were mentioned as being in development.


title: Dungeon crawl

text: A dungeon crawl is a type of scenario in fantasy role-playing games in which heroes navigate a labyrinth environment (a "dungeon"), battling various monsters, avoiding traps, solving puzzles, and looting any treasure they may find. Video games and board games which predominantly feature dungeon crawl elements are considered to be a genre.


title: Dungeon crawl

text: Dungeon crawling in board games dates to 1975 when Gary Gygax introduced "Solo Dungeon Adventures". That year also saw the release of "Dungeon!". Over the years, many games build on that concept. One of the most acclaimed board games of the late 2010s, "Gloomhaven", is a dungeon crawler.


title: Dungeon crawl

text: The first computer-based dungeon crawl was "pedit5", developed in 1975 by Rusty Rutherford on the PLATO interactive education system based in Urbana, Illinois. Although this game was quickly deleted from the system, several more like it appeared, including "dnd" and "Moria".


title: Dungeon crawl

text: Computer games and series from the 1980s, such as "The Bard's Tale", "Cosmic Soldier", "Dungeon Master", "Gauntlet", "Madō Monogatari", "Megami Tensei", "Might and Magic", "Phantasy Star", "Ultima", and "Wizardry", helped set the genre's standards, while the primitive graphics were actually conducive to this style, due to the need for repetitive tiles or similar-looking graphics to create effective mazes. "Gamasutra"s Matt Barton described "Telengard" (1982) as a "pure dungeon crawler" for its lack of diversions, and noted its expansive dungeons as a "key selling point".


title: Dungeon crawl

text: Some dungeon crawlers from this era also employed action role-playing game combat, such as "Dragon Slayer", and "The Tower of Druaga". Growing out of these type of games are games considered to be of the genre "dungeon crawlers", in which the player is limited to the confines of the walls of the dungeon but allowing for complex systems around combat, enemy behavior, and loot systems, as well as the potential for multiplayer and online play. "Gauntlet", "Diablo", "The Binding of Isaac" and "Enter the Gungeon" are examples of these dungeon crawlers.


title: Dungeon crawl

text: Variations on the dungeon crawl trope can be found in other genres. In the early 2010s there was a modest resurgence in their popularity, particularly in Japan, largely due to the success of the "Etrian Odyssey" series by Atlus.


title: Dungeon crawl

text: In massively multiplayer online games, an instance is a special area, typically a dungeon, that generates a new copy of the location for each group, or for a certain number of players, that enters the area. Instancing, the general term for the use of this technique, addresses several problems encountered by players in the shared spaces of virtual worlds, but also sacrifices the social element of shared spaces, and the feeling of realistic immersion in that virtual world. They also tend to be a lot smaller and more linear.


title: Dungeon crawl

text: This subgenre consists of RPGs where the player leads a party of adventurers in first-person perspective, typically in a grid-based environment. Examples include the aforementioned "Wizardry", "Might and Magic" and "Bard's Tale" series; as well as the "Etrian Odyssey" and "Elminage" series. Games of this type are also known as "blobbers", since the player moves the entire party around the playing field as a single unit, or "blob".


title: Dungeon crawl

text: Many "blobbers" are turn-based, such as the play-by-mail game "Heroic Fantasy", but some games such as "Dungeon Master", "Legend of Grimrock" and "Eye of the Beholder" series are played in real-time. Early games in this genre lack an automap feature, forcing players to draw their own maps in order to keep track of their progress. Spatial puzzles are common, and players may have to, for instance, move a stone in one part of the level in order to open a gate in another part of the level.


title: In the Valley of Elah

text: In the Valley of Elah is a 2007 American crime drama film written and directed by Paul Haggis. The film stars Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron, and Susan Sarandon. Its title refers to the Biblical valley where the battle between David and Goliath took place.


title: In the Valley of Elah

text: Paul Haggis's "In The Valley of Elah" is based on actual events, although the characters' names and locations have been changed. The screenplay was inspired by journalist Mark Boal's "Death and Dishonor", an article about the murder case published in "Playboy" magazine in 2004.


title: In the Valley of Elah

text: It portrays a military father's search for his son and, after his body is found, subsequent hunt for his son's killers. The film explores themes including the Iraq War, abuse of prisoners, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).


title: In the Valley of Elah

text: On November 1, 2004, Hank Deerfield – a gravel trucker and retired military police sergeant living in Tennessee with his wife Joan – is notified that his son Mike, a soldier recently returned from Iraq, has gone missing. Hank drives to Mike’s base in New Mexico to look for him; leaving home, he helps a school custodian raise the American flag correctly. At Fort Rudd, Hank meets his son’s squad, and secretly takes Mike’s cell phone from his belongings. Watching videos recovered from the phone, he attempts to report Mike’s disappearance to police detective Emily Sanders, after she finished talking to a woman whose dog has been murdered, regrettably unable to help out, and reaches out to a friend formerly at Army CID, without success.


title: In the Valley of Elah

text: Mike’s burned and dismembered body is discovered. Fort Rudd claims jurisdiction, believing that a pipe found under Mike’s mattress and the recent arrest of other soldiers for smuggling heroin indicate his murder was drug-related. Hank persuades Sanders to show him the crime scene, and realizes that a green car spotted at the scene was actually blue. Belittled by her male colleagues, Sanders convinces the local sheriff to pursue the investigation, and Mike’s squadmate SPC Gordon Bonner reaches out to Hank.


title: In the Valley of Elah

text: After viewing her son’s remains, Joan returns home and receives a package Mike mailed to himself, which Hank urges her not to open. Mike’s credit card history leads Sanders and Hank to a restaurant, where Hank deduces Mike ate with at least two other people shortly before his death. Sanders is given sworn statements from Mike’s squad by Army investigators, preventing her from interviewing them herself. She invites Hank over for dinner, and he tells her young son the story of the Biblical David’s battle with Goliath in the Valley of Elah.


title: In the Valley of Elah

text: Eve, a topless bartender Hank previously questioned, recognizes Mike’s squadmate CPL Steve Penning from a photograph, leading Hank to learn that Mike and Penning were kicked out of a strip club the night Mike was killed. Sanders interviews Penning, Bonner, and SPC Ennis Long, who admit to lying in their statements: after Mike got the four of them kicked out of the club, he and Bonner fought in the parking lot; Mike then paid for their food at the restaurant, and they visited a prostitute before leaving Mike, who was looking to buy drugs. Hank refuses to believe Mike’s fellow soldiers could be involved in his death.


title: In the Valley of Elah

text: Hank and the police determine that another member of Mike’s squad, PVT Robert Ortiz, is AWOL, with a history of drug smuggling and a blue car. Following the police as they raid Ortiz’s address, Hank subdues the fleeing Ortiz and beats him until detectives intervene. Ortiz is arrested, but Bonner is found hanged with Mike’s grandfather’s watch in his pocket. Sanders concludes that Bonner, who also owned a blue car, killed Mike. She learns that Angie, a soldier’s wife who came to her for help, has been murdered by her husband.


title: In the Valley of Elah

text: Hank has his son’s remains sent home, and Penning helps jump-start his truck, reminiscing about Mike. Sanders matches Penning's handwriting to the signature on Mike’s last credit card statement, and realizes Penning, Bonner, and Long killed Mike, then used his credit card at the restaurant. Penning has already come forward and received a plea deal, but at Sanders’ insistence, she and Hank hear his confession in person: he admits to stabbing Mike after a seemingly insignificant quarrel. Hank asks him about a video of Mike torturing a captive insurgent, and the emotionally distant Penning explains, “We all do stupid things”. He also states that anyone could have died in that quarrel or a similar one, and that Mike "was the smart one [and that] he could see", thereby implying Mike may have brought the aggression upon himself out of nihilistic despondency and the realization of the group's inability to readjust to civilian life.


title: In the Valley of Elah

text: Collecting Mike’s belongings, Hank apologizes to Ortiz, who has been honorably discharged. Haunted by his last conversation with his son, after Mike drove over an Iraqi child playing in the road, Hank thanks Sanders and returns home. He finds Joan opened Mike’s package, which contains a picture of his squad and a folded flag. Returning to the local school’s flagpole, Hank flies his son’s flag upside down.


title: In the Valley of Elah

text: Although the film story is fictional, with the names and locations changed, it is based on the facts of the murder case of Richard T. Davis of Baker Company, 1-15 IN. Davis was an Iraq War veteran who was murdered soon after his return home in 2003. Richard Davis's father, Lanny Davis, was a former military police officer. He mounted his own investigation into the crime, as did the character played by Jones in the film. Davis commented, "It's a strong movie and a good movie. And it's going to make a lot of people think."


title: In the Valley of Elah

text: In 2004, freelance journalist Mark Boal wrote an article about Richard Davis's murder, entitled "Death and Dishonor," published in "Playboy". This inspired Haggis, who adapted the account for his screenplay.


title: In the Valley of Elah

text: Davis's story was told in a 2006 episode, "Duty, Death and Dishonor," of the CBS News program "48 Hours Mystery".


title: In the Valley of Elah

text: A non-fiction book about the murder case, by author Cilla McCain, titled "Murder in Baker Company: How Four American Soldiers Killed One Of Their Own" was published in 2009 by Chicago Review Press.


title: In the Valley of Elah

text: Haggis initially approached Clint Eastwood to play the part of Hank Deerfield, which Haggis had written for him. Eastwood declined the opportunity because he was involved with other projects.


title: In the Valley of Elah

text: The film premiered September 1, 2007, at the Venice Film Festival and was later shown at the Toronto International Film Festival. It opened in a somewhat limited release in the United States on September 14, 2007, eventually grossing $6.5 million domestically in theatrical rentals, making it a box office disappointment. It cost a reported $23 million to make. It opened in the United Kingdom on January 18, 2008.


title: In the Valley of Elah

text: , review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports a 74% approval rating based on 164 reviews, with an average score of 7.00/10. The site's consensus reads: "Though some of Paul Haggis's themes are heavy-handed, "In the Valley of Elah" is otherwise an engrossing murder mystery and antiwar statement, featuring a mesmerizing performance from Tommy Lee Jones". On Metacritic, the film has an average score of 65 out of 100, based on 37 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: In the Valley of Elah

text: "Time" magazine's Richard Corliss named the film one of the Top 10 Movies of 2007, ranking it at #8. In his review, Corliss praised the film as an improvement on Paul Haggis's Oscar-winning" Crash", calling it "strong in the sleuthing, sobering in its political conclusions." Corliss singled out Tommy Lee Jones's performance, saying his "drained humanity anchors this excellent drama." "Time" critic Richard Schickel also ranked the film #8 on his own Top 10 list, saying that the film "is a spare, taciturn, devastating account of what happens to the souls of soldiers forced to fight wars for which not even phony or temporary justifications are offered them."


title: In the Valley of Elah

text: The film was criticized by some as having a heavy-handed approach. Stephen Hunter of "The Washington Post" wrote, "Haggis also appears to have no respect for his audience. At its crudest, the film settles for agitprop." Kenneth Turan of the "Los Angeles Times" said that "the characters in this sombre film have the glum look of individuals delivering a Very Important Message to the world. And though this film in fact does have something crucial to convey, this is not the way to go about it." Conversely, Stephanie Zacharek of "Salon" was critical of the film for not going far enough, saying that it "chickens out."


title: In the Valley of Elah

text: Haggis won an award given by the SIGNIS at the 2007 Venice Film Festival, where the film was in contention for the Golden Lion. Tommy Lee Jones was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor.


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2008

text: The Eurovision Song Contest 2008 was the 53rd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Belgrade, Serbia, following the country's victory at the with the song "Molitva" by Marija Šerifović. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS), the contest was held at the Belgrade Arena, and (for the first time) consisted of two semi-finals on 20 and 22 May, and a final on 24 May 2008. The three live shows were presented by Serbian television presenter Jovana Janković and musician Željko Joksimović.


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2008

text: Forty-three countries participated in the contest, the highest ever number of participants in the contest beating the record of forty-two set the year before. Azerbaijan and San Marino participated for the first time, while Austria did not participate, mainly due to questions on the semi-final organisation as well as the politicization of the contest.


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2008

text: The winner was Russia with the song "Believe", performed by Dima Bilan who wrote it with Jim Beanz. Ukraine, Greece, Armenia and Norway rounded out the top five. Armenia achieved their best result to date this year. Of the "Big Four" countries Spain placed the highest, finishing sixteenth, while the United Kingdom ended up in last place for the second time in their Eurovision history, after .


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2008

text: The official website, eurovision.tv, streamed national finals for this year's contest live on ESCTV for the first time. Furthermore, for the first time the winner has been awarded the perpetual glass microphone trophy of the Eurovision Song Contest. The trophy is a handmade piece of sandblasted glass in the shape of a 1950s microphone.


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2008

text: Serbia gained the right to host the contest after Marija Šerifović won the 2007 contest in Helsinki, Finland. Since Serbia was the winner of the preceding contest, the 2008 contest was subsequently held there. The Belgrade Arena in Belgrade was chosen as the venue for the contest, and is among the largest indoor arenas in Europe, with a total capacity of 25,000 seats.


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2008

text: On 14 September 2007, the Mayor of Helsinki handed over the "Eurovision keys" to the Deputy of Belgrade. This ceremony is meant to be a tradition from the 2008 contest and onward, and the ring contains a key from every city that has ever hosted the competition.


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2008

text: Following the unilateral Kosovo declaration of independence from Serbia on 17 February 2008, which has resulted in protests and unrest across the country, the location of the event was considered to be changed. Ukraine was considered an option since they came second in Eurovision Song Contest 2007. YLE were another option, as they hosted the previous year's competition in Helsinki, Finland. Greece's Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi (ERT) also offered the EBU to host the contest in Athens, Greece again. It was later decided that the contest would stay in Belgrade, with the EBU giving support. RTS would gain a guarantee of safety and security from the government of Serbia for all visitors and participants of the contest. The delegations of Albania, Croatia and Israel had special security. In the end, the contest was held without any incidents.


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2008

text: RTS ran a competition that led to the creation of the 2008 contest's branding, logo and the stage. The theme of the contest was based around the "confluence of sound". This was symbolic as Belgrade lies on the confluence of two European rivers, the Sava and Danube. The logo chosen, a treble clef, formed the graphical basis of the design created by Boris Miljković.


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2008

text: The postcards in the first and second semi-final were based around the creation of the flag of the nation that was to perform next. Each post card had a short story related to each country and its people. During each postcard a short letter was displayed. All were in the national language of the artist's country, with the exception of the Serbian postcard, which consisted of "Welcome to Belgrade" and "Welcome to Serbia" in various languages and the Belgian postcard which was written in the constructed language the Belgian group performed in. The postcards were brought to an end by a stamp with this year's Eurovision logo.


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2008

text: According to RTS the stage represented native identities, history and modern themes, symbols and universally recognised messages. The "confluence"-themed stage also contained a large number of television and LCD display screens. The stage had settings for all new electronic possibilities including some movable parts of the stage. It was designed by Chicago-based David Cushing.


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2008

text: The first semi-final was created around a city theme. The contest opened with a panorama of the city of Belgrade forming in the stage's background with two waves sliding down the stage to meet in the centre – at the confluence, the overall theme of the contest.


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2008

text: The second semi-final was based around the theme of water, which was enhanced by the look of the stage during the interval act where the water formed the main colours of the stage.


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2008

text: The grand final was based on the theme of the confluence. Construction of the stage lasted several days and was carried out by various teams from across Europe. Pyrotechnics were heavily used for the entries from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Finland, Germany, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Switzerland. The stage received positive feedback from the media and fans describing it as "one of the best looking stages in the history of the competition".


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2008

text: At a press conference in Helsinki in May 2007, Svante Stockselius, executive supervisor of the contest for the EBU, announced that the competition's format may be expanded to two semi-finals in 2008 or 2009. On 28 September 2007 it was announced that the EBU had approved the plan of hosting two semi-finals in 2008.


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2008

text: Based on research conducted by the EBU's tele-voting partner Digame, the semi-finalists were sorted into the two heats through the drawing of lots, which was seeded to keep countries that have a significant history of voting for each other apart. Each broadcaster had to broadcast the semi-final in which they took part, with the broadcasting of the other semi-final being optional. The draw for the semi-final allocation occurred in the City Assembly of Belgrade on Monday 28 January 2008 at 13:00 CET and was conducted by the hosts of the contest Jovana Janković and Željko Joksimović.


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2008

text: First, two envelopes with 'Semi-Final 1' and 'Semi-Final 2' were drawn. Then, three countries from each pot were chosen randomly to take part in the first semi-final and the other three in the second one. The country left in Pot 5 took part in the first envelope that is drawn. While, the country left in Pot 6 in the second one.


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2008

text: The automatic grand finalist countries chose whether they would broadcast both semi-finals or just one, but viewers from these countries could only vote in one. From the draw conducted, it was decided which of the five grand finalist countries would broadcast and have voting rights in either of the events. The semi-finals were webcast live through Eurovision.tv. The top nine songs from the televoting qualified for the grand final, and a tenth was determined by the back-up juries. Twenty-five songs competed in the grand final.


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2008

text: On 24 January 2008, all 38 countries in the semi-finals were separated into the following pots based on voting history and geographical location:


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2008

text: The draw to decide the running order of the songs in each semi-final and the grand final was conducted at the Heads of Delegation meeting on 17 March 2008.


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2008

text: On 21 December 2007, the EBU confirmed that 43 countries would be present in Belgrade. San Marino, as well as the newest EBU member, Azerbaijan, made its debut at the 2008 contest. Austria did not compete; its broadcaster, ORF, said "we've already seen in 2007 that it's not the quality of the song, but the country of origin that determines the decision."


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2008

text: Automatic grand finalists Germany and Spain exercised voting rights at the first semi-final. France, the United Kingdom and Serbia exercised voting rights at the second semi-final. Spain and France each broadcast only the semi-final in which they participated; Germany, Serbia and the UK screened both semi-finals (with Germany broadcasting on a delay).


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2008

text: The second semi-final was held on 22 May 2008. The United Kingdom, France and Serbia voted in this semi-final.


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2008

text: Most countries sent commentators to Belgrade or commentated from their own country, in order to add insight to the participants and, if necessary, provide voting information.


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2008

text: As stated above, a country only has to broadcast the grand final and the semi-final when it is one of the competitors or voters. The United Kingdom, San Marino, Greece, Croatia, Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Malta, Serbia, Finland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark, Portugal, Cyprus, Israel, Estonia, Turkey, Latvia, Slovenia, Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Andorra, Albania, Bulgaria, Iceland, Sweden, Romania and Australia confirmed they would broadcast both semi-finals (some in delay and some live).


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2008

text: RTS broadcast the event in 1080i high-definition (HD) and 5.1 surround sound. The new high-definition television system was in place at the Belgrade Arena by April 2008. This is the second year that the event was broadcast live in HD. BBC HD broadcast the contest in High Definition in the United Kingdom. Swedish broadcaster SVT broadcast both the semi-final and the grand final on SVT HD. Lithuanian broadcaster LRT broadcast both the semi-final and the grand final in 1080i high-definition (HD) on their channel LTV. The same occurred on Swiss HD channel HD suisse; on this channel viewers were able to choose the language of the commentary while viewing a semi-final or grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest. However, all other countries broadcast the show only in standard definition, and the event will only be available to buy on a standard-definition DVD; it will not be released on HD-DVD or Blu-ray.


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2008

text: A live broadcast of the Eurovision Song Contest was available worldwide via satellite through European streams such as TVRi, ERT World, ARMTV, TVE Internacional, TRT International, TVP Polonia, RTP Internacional, RTS Sat and SVT Europa. The official Eurovision Song Contest website also provided a live stream without commentary via the peer-to-peer medium Octoshape.


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2008

text: In addition to the main winner's trophy, the Marcel Bezençon Awards and the Barbara Dex Award were contested during the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest. The OGAE, "General Organisation of Eurovision Fans" voting poll also took place before the contest.


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2008

text: The Marcel Bezençon Awards, organised since 2002 by Sweden's then-Head of Delegation and 1992 representative Christer Björkman, and 1984 winner Richard Herrey, honours songs in the contest's final. For the only time, the awards were divided into four categories: Artistic Award which was voted by previous winners of the contest, Composers Award, Poplight Fan Award which was voted by fans on the Swedish website poplight.se, and Press Award.


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2008

text: OGAE, an organisation of over forty Eurovision Song Contest fan clubs across Europe and beyond, conducts an annual voting poll first held in 2002 as the Marcel Bezençon Fan Award. After all votes were cast, the top-ranked entry in the 2008 poll was Sweden's "Hero" performed by Charlotte Perrelli; the top five results are shown below.


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2008

text: The Barbara Dex Award is a humorous fan award given to the worst dressed artist each year. Named after Belgium's representative who came last in the 1993 contest, wearing her self-designed dress, the award was handed by the fansite House of Eurovision from 1997 to 2016 and is being carried out by the fansite songfestival.be since 2017.


title: Eurovision Song Contest 2008

text: Eurovision Song Contest: Belgrade 2008 was the official compilation album of the 2008 contest, put together by the European Broadcasting Union and released by EMI Records and CMC International on 12 May 2008.The album featured all 43 songs that entered in the 2008 contest, including the semi-finalists that failed to qualify into the grand final.


title: Voiceless palatal fricative

text: The voiceless palatal fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is codice_1. It is the non-sibilant equivalent of the voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative.


title: Voiceless palatal fricative

text: The symbol "ç" is the letter "c" with a cedilla (Ç), as used to spell French and Portuguese words such as "façade" and "ação". However, the sound represented by the letter "ç" in French and Portuguese orthography is not a voiceless palatal fricative but , the voiceless alveolar fricative.


title: Voiceless palatal fricative

text: Palatal fricatives are relatively rare phonemes, and only 5% of the world's languages have as a phoneme. The sound further occurs as an allophone of (e.g. in German or Greek), or, in other languages, of in the vicinity of front vowels.


title: Voiceless palatal fricative

text: There is also the voiceless post-palatal fricative in some languages, which is articulated slightly farther back compared with the place of articulation of the prototypical voiceless palatal fricative, though not as back as the prototypical voiceless velar fricative. The International Phonetic Alphabet does not have a separate symbol for that sound, though it can be transcribed as , (both symbols denote a retracted ) or (advanced ). The equivalent X-SAMPA symbols are codice_2 and codice_3, respectively.


title: Voiceless palatal fricative

text: Especially in broad transcription, the voiceless post-palatal fricative may be transcribed as a palatalized voiceless velar fricative ( in the IPA, codice_4 or codice_5 in X-SAMPA).


title: Voiceless palatal fricative

text: Some scholars also posit the voiceless palatal approximant distinct from the fricative. The approximant may be represented in the IPA as .


title: Gilead (novel)

text: Gilead is a novel written by Marilynne Robinson published in 2004. It won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Critics Circle Award. It is Robinson's second novel, following "Housekeeping" (1980). "Gilead" is an epistolary novel, as the entire narrative is a single, continuing, albeit episodic, document, written on several occasions in a form combining a journal and a memoir. It comprises the fictional autobiography of the Reverend John Ames, an elderly, white Congregationalist pastor in the small, secluded town of Gilead, Iowa (also fictional), who knows that he is dying of a heart condition. At the beginning of the book, the date is established as 1956, and Ames explains that he is writing an account of his life for his seven-year-old son, who will have few memories of him. Ames indicates he was born in 1880 and that, at the time of writing, he is seventy-six years old.


title: Gilead (novel)

text: The book is an account of the memories and legacy of John Ames as he remembers his experiences of his father and grandfather to share with his son. All three men share a vocational lifestyle and profession as Congregationalist ministers in Gilead, Iowa. John Ames describes his vocation as "giving you a good basic sense of what is being asked of you and also what you might as well ignore", explaining that your vocation is something both hard to fulfill and hard to obtain. He writes that this is one of the most important pieces of wisdom he can bestow upon his son. Ames's father was a Christian pacifist, but his grandfather was a radical abolitionist who carried out guerrilla actions with John Brown before the American Civil War, served as a chaplain with the Union forces in that war, and incited his congregation to join up and serve in it; as Ames remarks, his grandfather "preached his people into the war." The grandfather returned from the war maimed with the loss of his right eye. Thereafter he was given the distinction that his right side was holy or sacred in some way, that it was his link to commune with God, and he was notorious for a piercing stare with the one eye he had left.


title: Gilead (novel)

text: The grandfather's other eccentricities are recalled in his youth: the practice of giving all and any of the family's possessions to others and preaching with a gun in a bloodied shirt. The true character and intimate details of the father are revealed in context with anecdotes regarding the grandfather, and mainly in the search for the grave of the grandfather. One event that is prevalent in the narrator's orations is the memory of receiving 'communion' from his father at the remains of a Baptist church, burned by lightning (Ames recalls this as an invented memory adapted from his father breaking and sharing an ashy biscuit for lunch). In the course of the novel, it quickly emerges that Ames's first wife, Louisa, died while giving birth to their daughter, Rebecca (a.k.a. Angeline) who also died soon after. Ames reflects on the death of his family as the source of great sorrow for many years, in contrast and with special reference to the growing family of the Rev. Boughton, local Presbyterian minister and Ames's dear and lifelong friend.


title: Gilead (novel)

text: Many years later Ames meets his second wife, Lila, a less-educated woman who appears in church one Pentecost Sunday. Eventually Ames baptizes Lila and their relationship develops, culminating in her proposal to him. As Ames writes his memoirs, Boughton's son, John Ames Boughton (Jack), reappears in the town after leaving it in disgrace twenty years earlier, following his seduction and abandonment of a girl from a poverty-stricken family near his university. The daughter of this relationship died poor and uncared-for at the age of three, despite the Boughton family's well-intended but unwelcome efforts to look after the child. Young Boughton, the apple of his parents' eye but deeply disliked by Ames, seeks Ames out; much of the tension in the novel results from Ames's mistrust of Jack Boughton and particularly of his relationship with Lila and their son. In the dénouement, however, it turns out that Jack Boughton is himself suffering from his forced separation from his own common-law wife, an African American from Tennessee, and their son; the family are not allowed to live together because of segregationist laws, and her family utterly rejects Jack Boughton. It is implied that Jack's understanding with Lila lies in their common sense of tragedy as she prepares for the death of Ames, who has given her a security and stability she has never known before.


title: Gilead (novel)

text: Although there is action in the story, its mainspring lies in Ames's theological struggles on a whole series of fronts: with his grandfather's engagement in the Civil War, with his own loneliness through much of his life, with his brother's clear and his father's apparent loss of belief, with his father's desertion of the town, with the hardships of people's lives, and above all with his feelings of hostility and jealousy towards young Boughton, whom he knows at some level he has to forgive. Ames's struggles are illustrated by numerous quotations from the Bible, from theologians (especially Calvin's "Institutes of the Christian Religion"), and from philosophers, especially the atheist Feuerbach, whom Ames greatly respects.