title: Firefall

text: On the evening of August 4, 1986, Chuck Kirkpatrick was leaving from a local club gig in the area of Florida where he resided. After breaking down on the road home, he was shot and wounded in the arm in a drive-by shooting; the shooter then fled the scene. The wound was serious enough to almost require amputation of Kirkpatrick's left arm, but doctors were able to save it and Chuck was able to play again after a difficult rehab period. Many Miami musicians, including Jon Secada and members of the Miami Sound Machine, came to Chuck's aid, playing a series of shows to help defray the cost of his medical care and rehab. Firefall brought in Colorado musician Mark Oblinger to sit in for Chuck until he was able to return to the band in November 1986. But Kirkpatrick's tenure in the band was coming to an end. In late 1987, Gaffney left and Eddie Gleason came on in the interim. Then Chuck left at the tail end of 1987 after differences with Jock Bartley. Oblinger (who had subbed for both Chuck and Gaffney in 1986) returned as Kirkpatrick's permanent replacement in December 1987 and Bil Hopkins was the new bassist. Dan Clawson (ex-Pure Prairie League) came in as well to take the place of Hadjoupolos in early 1988.


title: Firefall

text: In 1989, after seven years in Firefall, Sambataro decided it was also time to say goodbye. He moved on to join Dion DiMucci's band. This paved the way for the return of Rick Roberts and in September 1992, Rhino Records responded to the demand to put out Firefall music on CD by releasing "Firefall: The Greatest Hits", which featured all of the singles and AOR favorites and one new song, "Run Run Away", about adult victims of earlier child abuse.


title: Firefall

text: In the early/mid 1990s, the personnel shuffles continued. Roberts, who was suffering from health troubles, left again in the spring of 1992 to be replaced by Bruce Crichton, who turned it over to Steve Manshel in June 1993. Mark Oblinger departed as well and Steven Weinmeister came on board in May 1993. And after Dan Clawson left that same year, there were several people to occupy the woodwind–keyboards chair, including Bray Ghiglia (1993–1994), the returning David Muse (1994–1995; 2000–2003; 2011–present), Jim Waddell (1993; 1995–96; 1998–2000; 2003; 2022), Bob Fisher (1996–1998; 2007) and Chris Ball (2003–2011).


title: Firefall

text: While touring in 1993, Firefall encountered the Flood of 1993. One of their gigs was canceled and a few had to be moved to higher ground. In response Jock wrote "When The River Rises", a song with an upbeat message of finding strength in adversity. The band recorded the song in Colorado Springs at Startsong Recording Studio, with engineer–programmer Tom Gregor co-producing with Bartley. "When The River Rises" was then brought back to St. Louis and played on the radio for the first time. At that point, the flood waters had still not crested. Vowing to donate a large portion of the publishing to flood relief, the song was sent to other radio stations in the flooded areas. It received heavy regional airplay and was also used by CNN and other TV stations behind coverage of the disaster.


title: Firefall

text: With the band's profile raised, the search for a new record deal began. Some smaller companies showed interest. They decided to go with an independent Colorado based label, Redstone Records, who had had some successes in the smooth jazz genre. "Messenger" was recorded in Denver and Boulder and was released in September 1994. Bartley had been stockpiling songs for ten years for just this opportunity. Bil Hopkins' song "Say It's Over" (written with Mark Oblinger) and Steve Manshel's "Innocent Victim" also appeared on the CD. Mark Andes and Richie Furay made guest appearances on the album and Jim Mason returned to the producer's chair. "Messenger" was much more diverse than anything the band had released to date with the usual love songs and ballads, but there were also songs about child abuse, environmental catastrophe and even sexual abuse/rape in the chilling "No Means No". The first single, "Love Find A Way", received some minor play on some stations, but Redstone did not have the distribution clout to get the CD into all stores, so overall sales were disappointing.


title: Firefall

text: Manshel, who had begun to take time off from the group to work on a solo album, left altogether in September 1999 to pursue his own career and the band reverted to a five-piece. Other than short-term fill-ins (Steve Jenks subbed for Hopkins in the spring and summer of 1998 and Gary Jones sat in for Weinmeister for a Firefall gig on November 12, 1999, opening for Journey at the Warfield Theatre in San Francisco and one for Hopkins in June 2002), Bartley, Weinmeister, Hopkins and Sandy Ficca continued on as Firefall from late 1999 until Hopkins left in 2014.


title: Firefall

text: From 2005 on, Firefall would sometimes play a handful of shows annually as "Acoustic Firefall" in various combinations, with the most common being the trio of Jock, Steve and Bil. And on April 9, 2008, at Boulder Theater in Boulder, Colorado, there was a Firefall reunion concert that featured the current lineup joined by Mark Andes, David Muse, Larry Burnett and original Firefall studio percussionist Joe Lala. Rick Roberts attended the show as well but was unable to perform with the others due to health issues. As previously mentioned, Michael Clarke had died in 1993. The reunion appeared as the CD "Firefall Reunion Live" in February 2009. Since 2008, Jock's son, Jamey Crow Bartley, sometimes guests with the band on drums and will fill in for Sandy Ficca on occasion. During the summer of 2011, David Muse, who just survived a bout with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, returned to play shows with Firefall once again, alternating with Chris Ball before rejoining permanently.


title: Firefall

text: Apart from Firefall, in 2012 original and then current Firefall members Jock Bartley and David Muse reunited with Rick Roberts and studio percussionist Joe Lala in the supergroup Boulder County Conspiracy. Other members of this band included Bobby Caldwell (Captain Beyond, Johnny Winter, Rick Derringer), Max Combs, Allen Carman and Billy Sandlin. They toured throughout 2012 performing songs by Firefall, Captain Beyond, The Marshall Tucker Band and Spirit as well as other originals and covers. They disbanded at the end of 2012.


title: Firefall

text: In February 2014 founding member and bassist Mark Andes rejoined the band. In June 2014, Jace Hill (guitar and vocals) joined the band for a short spell to sub for Steven Weinmeister, who was back by early July. In November 2014, the Colorado Music Hall of Fame announced that Firefall would be among the 2014 inductees at a January 2015 event at the Paramount Theater in Denver. In late 2014, Steven Weinmeister departed Firefall after almost twenty two years but did return in January 2015 for the Colorado Music Hall of Fame induction and to sub for an ill Bartley later that same year, in August. He was succeeded by singer/guitarist Gary Jones (who had previously subbed for Weinmeister for the one aforementioned gig back in November 1999 and for a few other shows in September 2014).


title: Firefall

text: By late 2014, Firefall's lineup was Jock Bartley, David Muse, Sandy Ficca, Mark Andes and Gary Jones.


title: Firefall

text: On January 9, 2015, Firefall was inducted into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame with Poco, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Stephen Stills, and Manassas at the Paramount Theater in Denver.


title: Firefall

text: In August 2019 after Mark Andes was sidelined after a hip replacement. Lance Hoppen (of Orleans), John Trujillo (a bassist friend of Sandy Ficca's) and former Firefall member Steven Weinmeister filled in for him.


title: Firefall

text: The band released "Comet", their first new album in nearly 20 years, and first with Sunset Blvd Records, on December 11, 2020. The album featured a lineup of Jock Bartley, Mark Andes, David Muse, Sandy Ficca and Gary Jones.


title: Firefall

text: In 2021 Firefall again did some shows as a trio, this time with Bartley, Jones and a returning Steve Weinmeister, who ended up returning to the group to replace Jones going forward.


title: Firefall

text: In 2022 David Muse was sidelined from touring after having once again fallen ill with cancer, that this time took his life on August 6, 2022. Jim Waddell, who had first played with Firefall in 1993, returned to cover for Muse.


title: Firefall

text: As of July 2022 after Mark Andes retired from the road, current Babys singer/bassist John Bisaha has joined the lineup.


title: Firefall

text: "*Note: Current and former official band members who have served as a live substitute have the time of their substitution shown above."


title: Disorderly conduct

text: Disorderly conduct is a crime in most jurisdictions in the United States, the People's Republic of China, and Taiwan. Typically, "disorderly conduct" makes it a crime to be drunk in public, to "disturb the peace", or to loiter in certain areas. Many types of unruly conduct may fit the definition of disorderly conduct, as such statutes are often used as "catch-all" crimes. Police may use a disorderly conduct charge to keep the peace when people are behaving in a disruptive manner to themselves or others, but otherwise present no danger.


title: Disorderly conduct

text: Disorderly conduct is typically classified as an infraction or misdemeanor in the United States. However, in certain circumstances (e.g., when committed in an airport, a park, a government office building, or near a funeral) it may be a felony in some US states.


title: Disorderly conduct

text: Indiana's definition of "disorderly conduct" is modeled after the Model Penal Code's definition, and is typical, but not identical, to similar laws on the statute books of other U.S. states. It covers a large variety of potential acts in its prohibition. "Fighting" is perhaps the clearest act within the scope of its prohibition, and "tumultuous conduct" is "conduct [...] likely to result in serious bodily injury to a person or substantial damage to property." But exactly what constitutes "tumultuous conduct", "unreasonable noise", or "disrupt[ing] a lawful assembly" are matters that are far harder to decide, and as such disorderly conduct statutes give police officers and other authorities fairly broad discretion to arrest people whose activities they find undesirable for a wide variety of reasons. Potential punishments include a jail term, fine, probation, restraining orders, or community service.


title: Disorderly conduct

text: U.S. courts confronted with cases stemming from disorderly conduct arrests have from time to time had occasion to restrict the broad and vague definitions of the statute to make certain that freedom of speech and assembly and other forms of protected expression under the First Amendment were not affected. Common law jurisdictions have accumulated precedents that refine interpretation of vague statutes. Courts have had occasion to curb its scope to make certain that people were (or could have been) aware that their conduct was, in fact, within the prohibition of the statute, as required by the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. However, no court has struck down a disorderly conduct statute as being "per se" unconstitutionally vague or overbroad. Courts have been willing to strike down vagrancy ordinances which are nearly as vague and do not give adequate warning.


title: Disorderly conduct

text: California Penal Code § 415 which is similar to the Model Penal Code reiteration above actually concerns disturbing the peace. However, in California disorderly conduct (California Penal Code § 647) lists what acts constitute disorderly conduct.


title: Disorderly conduct

text: Articles 277 to 304 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, revised and promulgated on 14 March 1997 and effective as of 1 October 1997, criminalize many kinds of disorderly conducts in the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China.


title: Disorderly conduct

text: Articles 23 to 29 of the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Penalties for Administration of Public Security, adopted and promulgated on 28 August 2005 and effective as of 1 March 2006, administratively penalize non-criminal disorderly conducts in Mainland China.


title: Disorderly conduct

text: Effective on 1 July 1935, Articles 149 to 160 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of China criminalize many kinds of disorderly conducts in the jurisdiction of the Republic of China, which has shifted to Taiwan since 1949.


title: Disorderly conduct

text: Promulgated on 29 June 1991, Articles 63 to 79 of the Social Order Maintenance Act administratively penalize non-criminal disorderly conducts in Taiwan.


title: Battle for Hill 3234

text: The battle for Hill 3234 (Russian: Бой у высоты 3234) was a successful defensive battle fought by the 345th Independent Guards Airborne Regiment, Soviet Airborne Troops, in Afghanistan against a force of some 250 Mujahideen rebels who were supported by several Pakistani mercenaries in early January 1988. Two of the soldiers killed, Vyacheslav Alexandrovich Alexandrov and Andrey Alexandrovich Melnikov, were posthumously awarded the Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union. All of the paratroopers in this battle were given the Order of the Red Banner and Order of the Red Star.


title: Battle for Hill 3234

text: In November 1987, the Soviet 40th Army under General Boris Gromov began Operation Magistral to open the road from Gardez to Khost near the Pakistani border. Khost had been cut off for months by mujahideen led by Jalaluddin Haqqani and had to be resupplied by air. Negotiations were undertaken with the local Jadran tribe as well as with Haqqani. These talks did not succeed, mostly due to the unshakable resolution of Haqqani who wanted to control the city as the core of his independent Afghan state and as a base for future incursions deeper into the country. Before the operation, there was also a widespread propaganda campaign, with a special radio station set up, calling on the Jadran people to cease supporting the mujahideen and leave the combat areas.


title: Battle for Hill 3234

text: Even during the negotiations, a detailed operation plan was formed and the required forces put on alert. After talks finally collapsed, the offensive was set in motion. The operation involved the 108th and 201st Motor Rifle Divisions, as well as the 103rd Guards Airborne Division, the 345th Independent Guards Airborne Regiment, and the 56th Separate Air Assault Brigade. They were supported by five infantry divisions and a tank division of the Afghan government. Prior intelligence and aerial reconnaissance had identified a number of important fortified rebel held sites on the road between Kabul and Khost. Fortifications included a minefield with mines about 3 km deep, 10 BM-21 rocket launchers, numerous anti-aircraft guns and DShK heavy machine gun positions, recoilless guns, mortars, and RPGs. The rebels were well prepared for defense and made the main pass and the surrounding hills impenetrable. The Soviet command was aware that a direct attack would be suicidal and therefore decided to trick the rebels into revealing their positions. On 28 October 1987, a feint landing was made in the areas controlled by the mujahideen, throwing dressed up mannequins from the air. Due to this, a reconnaissance aircraft was able to transmit the coordinates of rebel positions to the air force and after several air strikes and a four-hour-long artillery barrage, Operation Magistral began.


title: Battle for Hill 3234

text: As the operation went on, Soviet commanders wanted to secure the entire section of the road from Gardez to Khost. One of the most important points was the nameless hill designated by its height of , which was assigned to the 9th company of the 345th Independent Guards Airborne Regiment led by Colonel Valery Vostrotin. The 39 man company landed on the hilltop on 7 January 1988, tasked with creating and holding a hilltop strong point from which to observe and control a long section of the road beneath and thus secure it for the safe passage of convoys.


title: Battle for Hill 3234

text: Shortly after landing, the airborne troopers, who were well trained and experienced in Afghan conditions, started to take up positions which covered both the road and the uphill passages. Just as they had dug in, the mujahideen began their attack at 3:30 PM local time. The first wave included the use of recoilless guns and RPGs. After which, Soviet artillery replied, directed by the commander of the first platoon, Lt. Viktor Gagarin, via a radio. When rebel fire decreased, it was reasoned that it was the beginning of an infantry assault.


title: Battle for Hill 3234

text: The airborne troopers were attacked by a coordinated and well-armed force of between 200 and 250 mujahideen from two directions, indicating that the assailants may have been assisted by rebels trained in Pakistan. During the ensuing battle, the Soviet unit remained in communication with headquarters and received support from the command of the of 40th Army in terms of artillery support, ammunition, reinforcements, and the eventual helicopter evacuation of the wounded.


title: Battle for Hill 3234

text: The first attack on 7 January was followed by eleven more attacks until just before dawn on 8 January when the mujahideen retreated after suffering severe casualties, leaving Hill 3234 in the hands of the Soviet paratroopers. The exhausted and mostly wounded Soviets were nearly out of ammunition but continued to occupy the hill until the last convoy passed through the road below. These attacks continued until the following morning, at which point the Soviets were almost out of ammunition, had lost six paratroopers, and had another 28 wounded, 9 of them gravely.


title: Battle for Hill 3234

text: The Soviet forces lost (KIA) 6 men out of 39. The vast majority of the unit became casualties, with 28 of the remaining 33 being wounded in action. Two of the soldiers killed, Vyacheslav Alexandrovich Alexandrov and Andrey Alexandrovich Melnikov, were posthumously awarded the golden star of the Hero of the Soviet Union. All of the paratroopers in this battle were given the Order of the Red Banner and Order of the Red Star.


title: Battle for Hill 3234

text: According to the Soviet estimates, the mujahideen lost over 200 men. The Mujahideen wore black uniforms with rectangular black-yellow-red stripes. It was alleged by several sources that there were some mercenaries from Pakistan who were coordinating the attack.


title: Tera Mera Saath Rahe

text: Tera Mera Saath Rahe () is an Indian television drama series under Shoonya Square Productions. It premiered from 16 August 2021 to 17 June 2022 on Star Bharat and streams digitally on Disney+ Hotstar. This series is a reboot version of the StarPlus series "Saath Nibhaana Saathiya" under the tagline "Jodi Wahi Kahaani Nayi". It stars Giaa Manek, Mohammad Nazim, Rupal Patel, Vandana Vithlani, Sumati Singh and Varun Jain, Radhika Chhabra, Rupesh kataria. This show is also referred as "one the greatest TV shows ever made" by the audience, with an average rating of 4.5 stars (out of 5) on Google reviews.


title: Tera Mera Saath Rahe

text: The story is based in Bhuj, Gujarat. Gopika is a sweet and talented girl who lives with her uncle and aunt. Being an orphan, she was raised by her uncle, but her aunt, Ramila always had issues with her. She treated her as a mere servant and made her do all household chores. Ramila's daughter Aashi is manipulative and wants to marry Saksham Modi for his wealth. Saksham's mother, Mithila is in search for a suitable bride for her son, who can take care of her husband and family matter properly. To find suitable brides, Mithila has hosted a jewelry competition. Aashi and Ramila manipulatively take away Gopika's sketches and register them under their name.


title: Tera Mera Saath Rahe

text: Gopika, who meets Mithila at the temple, visits Modi Mansion to return her belongings, which she left at the temple. Elsewhere, Mithila tests Aashi to determine her worthiness to become Saksham's wife. Meanwhile, a fire breaks out there, trapping Mithila. Gopika saves Mithila's life and in this commotion, leaves her slipper at their house. Mithila thinks that such a girl, who prioritizes others over herself, should become the Modi family's daughter-in-law. She seeks the slipper's owner to fix her alliance with Saksham. Ramila misleads Mithila into believing that the slipper belongs to Aashi. Later Modis finalize Aashi and Saksham's marriage. Elsewhere, Ramila forces Gopika to marry Jignesh, a gully boy. Jignesh attacks the Modis in search of Gopika and is arrested. During the commotion, Gopika's bravery leads Mithila to decide to make Gopika, not Aashi, her daughter-in-law, surprising everyone. Soon, Gopika marries Saksham and Aashi marries Chirag.


title: Tera Mera Saath Rahe

text: After marriage Gopika despite being the elder daughter-in-law always takes orders from younger daughter-in-law Aashi which leads Mithila to doubt her decision of choosing Gopika for Saksham. When Mithila learns the reality through Baa, She ousts Gopika from the Modi Bhavan. However, Baa stops her and requests Mithila to let Gopika stay as a guest till Diwali. Later, Baa learns the truth that Gopika is the jewelry designer and not Aashi. So, she makes a plan to give a turnover to Gopika and naming her as Radhika. Few days later, according to the headlines, Saksham died in the plane crash, but he didn't go to that flight. Later Priya, Saksham's ex-lover comes and creates trouble for Gopika and Mithila. However Gopika struggles and wins over Priya and reunites with Saksham.


title: Tera Mera Saath Rahe

text: Later, it is revealed that Mr. Modi and his wife kept Gopika's mother as a hostage in their house by giving her the wrong pills and making her mentally ill so that the woman doesn't reveal or remember that Saksham's father Mr. Modi had murdered Gopika's father twenty years ago. In the eyes of media, Gopika's mother was a murderer. Gopika learns of this and is heartbroken, she vows to avenge her mother's kidnapping and to find her escaped brother, Munna, who ran away in childhood after getting embarrassed. However, Mr. Modi has a deeper secret which he doesn't wish to reveal to his family members, so it is evident that he is not the murderer either. He is arrested. Munna returns with his family and decides to annoy the Modis for which he somehow manages to get control over their mansion and business, thus the Modis are ousted from their own house. Later, it is revealed that a 8 years old Saksham has killed Gopika's father accidentally while playing with the gun and this is the truth Mr. Modi was hiding. Saksham is arrested. Gopika is heartbroken. However, eventually things are settled correctly, Mr. Modi and Saksham both are bailed out of the prison. Munna forgives the Modis and is united with them.


title: Tera Mera Saath Rahe

text: After that, a strange girl named Keshari is sent to the Modi house. Initially thought to be Saksham and Shradhha's daughter, she is revealed to be the illegitimate daughter of Chirag. Ashi is heartbroken and decides to terminate her marriage with Chirag and leaves the Modi House. Shraddha is adamant to marry Chirag. Aashi decides to divorce Chirag but Meethila gets the issues sorted out; Chirag reveals to Keshari that he is her biological father, not Saksham. The Modis allow Shraddha to stay at their end. The Modi family lives happily ever after.


title: Tera Mera Saath Rahe

text: The production house in May 2021 declared that the third installment of the Saathiya franchise shall be made for Star Bharat, featuring Gia Manek. It was initially thought to be a prequel to the famous show, Saath Nibhaana Saathiya. But, later it was declared that it would be an independent show. While most of the components of the show have been borrowed from Saath Nibhaana Saathiya, few new additions are also seen in the series. Gia Manek and Mohammad Nazim was roped in for the lead role Gopika and Saksham, while Vandana Vithlani, Nitin Vakharia, Raj Kumar and Minal Karpe also joined the cast. Finally, Rupal Patel was also cast as Mithila. Sumati Singh was also roped in to play a prominent role in the show, Aashi. In November 2021 Rajkumar (who essayed the role of Chirag Modi) quit the show since he barely had any screen time and he thought that he had nothing else to explore in his character. He was replaced with Diya Aur Baati Hum fame Varun Jain


title: Tera Mera Saath Rahe

text: The production of the series began in July 2021 and the makers and cast began their journey with a puja and havan on the sets.


title: Lords of the Fallen

text: Lords of the Fallen is an action role-playing video game developed by Deck13 and CI Games. It was released in October 2014 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows. A mobile version of the game, which features one-to-one swipe combat controls, was released on 9 February 2017 for iOS and Android, as a paid game with in-app purchases.


title: Lords of the Fallen

text: Players journey through mysterious, large interconnected environments, battling beastly, disfigured enemies, including bosses, using melee weapons, such as axes and hammers. Players control Harkyn as he is sent on a mission to stop a powerful god's mysterious demonic forces as they invade the world to reclaim it after being dethroned.


title: Lords of the Fallen

text: "Lords of the Fallen" is a third-person action role-playing game containing a slow tactical approach to close-quarters combat gameplay, with difficult enemies and locations to overcome, while learning from their encounters. The player takes the role of Harkyn, who, from the beginning, can be tailored towards the player's preferred combat styles from a range of different classes, each with their own specializations in certain weapons, armors, spells, and abilities. A class is determined based on two major choices of three kinds of magic; brawling, deception, and solace, followed by the second choice of three different armor sets; warrior, rogue, and cleric. Different combinations of both choices allow the player to choose how to play Harkyn from the start. With sets, the warrior uses heavy yet strong armor and weapons, the rogue is much lighter and quicker, and the cleric utilizes staffs and armour that supports spell use. Magic adds to the variability of each class. For example, a warrior set combined with brawling magic creates a pure warrior with high strength and vitality, while a warrior set can also be combined with solace magic to create a paladin class that is not as strong but can specialize in spell usage early in the game. As the player progresses through the game and defeats enemies, experience can be gained and spent to upgrade Harkyn's skills and unlock new spells to use in combat.


title: Lords of the Fallen

text: The game is divided into acts with hubs and nonlinear gameplay progression through a main central story, with new areas continuously opened as the player progresses while also being allowed to return to previously completed areas. However, each new area has multiple paths, hidden locations, and potential shortcuts and secrets to uncover. Along the way, the player will also encounter non-player characters who offer further information, lore, and in many cases, grant additional tasks to the player for more rewards. In dialogue, the player can also make choices with certain characters and their quests. The game utilizes a checkpoints system that the player must locate and can choose to use to save, replenish consumable items, such as healing potions, and upgrade their character.


title: Lords of the Fallen

text: "Lords of the Fallen" uses a "risk and reward" system when it comes to upgrading Harkyn. The amount of experience the player can gain for use can be increased through a multiplier that builds up the longer the player mixes up combo attacks or avoids using checkpoints and spending their experiences. If a checkpoint is used, the multiplier will reset. If a player dies during combat, they will appear at the last checkpoint they used but with previously defeated non-boss enemies respawning back in the original location across the in-game world and losing any unspent experience they have gained since they last spent any. At this point a timer will begin, requiring the player to return to the spot they last died in order to regain what they previously lost. However, if the timer runs out or if the player dies again before reaching this point, the unspent experience they had lost before will be lost for good.


title: Lords of the Fallen

text: The game is set in a world long after the defeat of a god named Adyr that formerly ruled humanity with an iron fist, by three heroes, a rogue, cleric, and warrior, who later became known as the Judges and were elevated to the status of demigods. Unusually, all sins are punished, even small and petty ones. Players take on the role of Harkyn, a convicted criminal whose sins are visible on his face, in the form of runes.


title: Lords of the Fallen

text: Harkyn is released from prison by a monk named Kaslo in order to stop a mysterious invasion of Adyr's demonic forces, the Rhogar, into a monastery near the Hand of God mountains (literally the hand of the fallen god). He comes across a number of powerful beings called Rhogar Lords who are invading from an unknown place into the human realm. With the help of an explorer named Yetka, he is able to discover the location of the Pathway, a portal to the Rhogar Realm, a former temple of Adyr that was banished to another dimension by the Judges and sealed in the monastery.


title: Lords of the Fallen

text: Harkyn travels to the Rhogar Realm where he meets the Crafter, an immortal, extra-dimensional being whose Crystal of Travels was stolen by the Rhogar. He fights through the realm and takes back the Crystal, stopping the invasion. When he returns to the monastery, he is tasked by Antanas, the leader of the human forces, to slay Adyr, who has revived once again. However, he discovers signs that Antanas is up to no good and fights a monster of unknown origins.


title: Lords of the Fallen

text: Harkyn enters the Chamber of Lies in the Rhogar Realm and unlocks the path to an unusual demon that Yetka says is linked to her family. He can choose to kill it, or let Yetka leave with it. Finally, he defeats the final Lord and speaks to Adyr, who tells him that humanity needs a god to preserve order, showing Antanas imbibing a potion and turning into a hideous monster, as an example of human failings. Adyr gives Harkyn a special rune that can be used to restore Adyr's power. When he returns to the monastery, he is faced by several monsters, confirming that Antanas experimented on monks in order to make mutants that could fight the Rhogar.


title: Lords of the Fallen

text: Antanas' forces believe Harkyn has turned traitor, since he did not kill Adyr, and attack him. He fights his way to Antanas, and realizes that the mutated Antanas killed Kaslo when he tried to stop him from transforming. Harkyn fights and kills Antanas, and he has the option of using the Rune of Adyr in his weapon to revive Adyr, in his armor to kill Adyr, or giving it to the Crafter for a neutral ending where Adyr remains dormant.


title: Lords of the Fallen

text: "Lords of the Fallen" received mixed or average reviews. Aggregating review website Metacritic gave the Xbox One version 71/100 based on 13 reviews, the Microsoft Windows version 73/100 based on 36 reviews, and the PlayStation 4 version 68/100 based on 45 reviews respectively.


title: Lords of the Fallen

text: Giving a positive review for "Game Informer", Daniel Tack called the game a "surprising sleeper" and scored it an 8.5 out of 10. He stated: ""Lords of the Fallen" is a surprisingly solid title that wasn't even on my radar. While it borrows heavily from the "Dark Souls" franchise, it's done well and with its own signature flair. I highly recommend this game to anyone that enjoys that series, and if you haven't gone down that road before, it might be a more forgiving entry point into the action RPG."


title: Lords of the Fallen

text: "GameSpot" Kevin VanOrd gave the game a positive review; he scored it an 8/10 and stated: "Superficially, you could call "Lords of the Fallen" a "Souls" game for the meek and the uninitiated. But it earns more respect than such a flippant description. "Lords of the Fallen" isn't about the game that it isn't, but the game that it is. It's about the ghoulish blacksmith, his glowing eyes, and the long tufts of stiff hair that rise from his scalp. It's about the crunches of iron against bone when your hammer finds its mark. It's about taking in new sights and sounds, and about finding new ways to travel to old ones. It's about that suspended bridge, the monuments that guard it, and the creatures waiting within. Harkyn may have no use for these places, but there are riches inside nonetheless."


title: Lords of the Fallen

text: Giving a more mixed review was "IGN" Leif Johnson. Johnson scored the game a 7.4 out of 10 and stated: ""Lords of the Fallen" delivers entertaining hack-and-slash combat centered on combos and spells, but its risk-based reward system seems slightly out of place in a world where its hero so easily achieves great power and defense and makes risk obsolete. It achieves its goal of creating a more accessible "Dark Souls"-style experience, but unfortunately it goes a step or two too far."


title: Lords of the Fallen

text: Philip Kollar of "Polygon" scored "Lords of the Fallen" a 7.5 out of 10. In his review, Kollar thought the game's story, concept, and characters were "commendable", liked the slow weapons-based combat, saying that's where the game "shines the brightest", and thought the game had a strong variation on the "Souls" formula, saying this could be "sign[s] of much brighter things to come". Kollar did however criticize the game's technical issues, calling them "near-game-ending", disliked the game's easier difficulty level, saying he would beat certain areas "on the first or second try", and thought the boss battles, and the boss designs, weren't as strong as they should be.


title: Lords of the Fallen

text: Ben Griffin of "GamesRadar" praised the game's visuals, long length, and combat, but criticized the technical issues, boss fights, and lack of co-op. Griffin scored the game a 3/5 and stated: "Taken on its own this is a sophisticated fantasy RPG executed with consideration and thought, but "Lords of the Fallen" never really escapes the spectre of "Souls", and it can only blame itself."


title: Lords of the Fallen

text: A sequel, "Lords of the Fallen 2", was announced on 18 December 2014, and was originally set to be released in 2017; as of December 2020 the game remains in development. CI Games will take on development duties for the sequel. In 2018, it entered a partnership with independent Defiant Studios. In April 2020, CI Games announced it had removed Defiant and replaced them with Hexworks, a newly-created subsidiary of CI Games, located in Barcelona and Bucharest, whose first project will be "Lords of the Fallen 2". The game was announced at Gamescom 2022 under the title "The Lords of the Fallen", and is scheduled to release for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S in 2023.


title: Lords of the Fallen

text: Meanwhile, original developer Deck13 Interactive went on to develop "The Surge", which is considered a spiritual successor to "Lords of the Fallen" because of its many gameplay similarities.


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: The Conservative People's Party of Estonia (, EKRE) is a national-conservative and right-wing populist political party in Estonia. It is currently led by Martin Helme. It was founded in March 2012, with the merger of People's Union of Estonia and Estonian Patriotic Movement. Its first leader, Margo Miljand, served as the chairman until 2013, when he was succeeded by Mart Helme. Its popularity remained low until late 2014, when they managed to draw supporters from the right; further, in the 2015 Estonian parliamentary election, they managed to cross the threshold. Over the years, it managed to position itself as one of the largest parties in Estonia. In the 2019 Estonian parliamentary election, they placed third, winning 19 seats in total. Mart was succeeded by his son, Martin Helme, in July 2020.


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: Since its inception, it has been a part of the ethno-nationalist camp of parties in Estonia. Ideologically, it has been described as a right-wing, radical right; or far-right party, the party leadership rejects the left–right political spectrum. Widely described as an Estonian nationalism, ultranationalist, and national-conservative party, it opposes immigration, supports the transition of public schools of Estonia's Russian-speaking minority from the current Russian language to Estonian language education, and wishes to implement Swiss-style direct democracy, e.g. popular initiatives. On social issues, it is traditionalist and promotes preservation of Estonian nation and its culture, while their foreign views are orientated towards Euroscepticism. Due to its right-wing populist rhetoric, it has been described by critics as xenophobic and racist.


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: The party is a descendant of the Estonian ethno-nationalism camp. The Estonian Patriotic Movement was founded in 2006. From 2008, the movement was led by Martin Helme, son of Mart Helme. Mart Helme had formerly been a member of the People's Union of Estonia but was forced to leave the party in 2004 because of his opposition to the relocation of Monument of Lihula and the suppression of protests.


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: The party was founded in March 2012 when the agrarian centrist party People's Union of Estonia and the nationalist pressure group Estonian Patriotic Movement merged. In 2010, the People's Union of Estonia started to look for a possible merging partner. Talks with the Social Democratic Party were concluded and a special congress was convened to approve the merger agreement. However, at the party congress, only 172 delegates out of 412 supported the deal. Following the failed merger attempt, many leading members (MPs) left the party and joined the Social Democrats. In the 2011 parliamentary election, the People's Union did not pass the 5% threshold.


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: Mart Helme and several members of his nationalist circle ran at the election as independent candidates, none of whom passed the threshold necessary for an independent to enter the parliament. After the election, the leader of the People's Union, Margo Miljand, met with Helme. To save the party, Helme advised him to change the party name and alter the program. With links to the nationalist Estonian Patriotic Movement, Helme advised a deal between the two. The movement promised it would help redo the party program and elect new leaders.


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: In March 2012, the Estonian Patriotic Movement merged into the People's Union and the latter changed its name to the Conservative People's Party of Estonia. At the assembly in Põltsamaa, where the party was founded, EKRE made its first political statement: "No political party in the Riigikogu represents the Estonian people, our national interest or traditional values. The government acts on right- and left liberal, also socialist ideas that our countrymen are simply statistical units or taxpayers, consumers at best. It is not far right or far left, just ultra-liberalism. The Conservative People's Party gives a solution to the voters who are sick of forced choice between Ansip and Savisaar, East and West, left and right." For the first three months, EKRE's support according to the polls was zero, then it began to gradually rise.


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: EKRE takes part of yearly gatherings of the veterans of the Estonian Legion at the Sinimäed Hills. In 2013, the attendance of Mart Helme was praised in Estonian media while the abstention of other parties' leaders was frown upon and seen as a result of Russian anti-fascist propaganda.


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: During the local elections in October 2013, the party gained representation in several smaller municipalities, such as the parishes of Tudulinna and Häädemeeste. A member of the party also became mayor of the town of Saue, however he was set up independently of EKRE in a local party's list.


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: The first party since the 1990s to politically organize Estonian diaspora, EKRE founded its Finland branch in October 2014.


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: In the run-up to the 2015 parliamentary election, EKRE managed to draw supporters from the mainstream right, including defectors mainly from the IRL, but also from the liberal Reform Party and the Free Party's initiative group. In the election, EKRE won 8.1% of the vote and 7 seats in the Riigikogu. Soon after, the winning Reform Party excluded EKRE from the coalition talks, citing as a reason a blog post by EKRE's MP Jaak Madison, written in January 2012. In the post, Madison commended the economic policies of the Nazi Party and wrote: "There is unfortunately no perfect form of government (not even democracy) but I see fascism as being an ideology that consists of many positive nuances necessary for preserving the nation-state."


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: The former president of Estonia Arnold Rüütel voiced his support for Mart Helme in the 2016 Estonian presidential election.


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: As of 2018, EKRE was the only political party in Estonia with growing membership numbers. While all other parties were losing members, EKRE was gaining a few hundred members on a yearly basis.


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: In March 2019 Mart Helme said to the press that he wishes that one day his party would be the sole ruling party of Estonia.


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: After gaining 17.8% of the votes in the 2019 parliamentary election, EKRE joined Jüri Ratas' second cabinet with five out of fifteen cabinet positions. In 2021, Jüri Ratas resigned and the new government was formed without EKRE.


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: In 2021, pundits noticed that since 2019 EKRE support grew in the Russian community (notably in Ida-Viru County) This might be attributed to party's social conservative stance on social policy matters (e. g. opposition to the same-sex marriage).


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: EKRE describes itself as "a principled and bravely patriotic Estonian party with an unshakable mission to protect Estonian national values and interests".


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: The Estonian Conservative People's Party program states that it is founded on the continuity of the Republic of Estonia and its Constitution, and it unites people who fight for the nation state, social cohesion and democratic principles.


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: It has also been labelled "far-right" by Kari Käsper, the Executive Director of Estonian Human Rights Centre, and in foreign media by BBC News and the Christian Science Monitor. According to Fox News Channel, EKRE is a far-right party, "considered by some to have Fascist-Neo-Nazi sympathies similar to many other flourishing nationalist parties in the Baltics and Eastern Europe". The Simon Wiesenthal Center has called EKRE youth organization's annual torchlight procession an "extreme right march".


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: Martin Helme, the party leader, has said that the accusations of extremism simply reflect the unfamiliarity and discomfort of the ruling class and media with the new political rhetoric of EKRE: "The mainstream has become so orthodox, so narrow, that whatever is not immaculately, diligently, fervently more-catholic-than-pope mainstream is immediately labelled extremism."


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: The programme of EKRE states that the citizens must actively guard against the external as well as the internal enemy in order to secure the Estonian nation, the survival of its independence and its status as an ethno-state. It also states as its objectives the creation of the environment needed for the survival of the Estonian language and culture. The party calls for implementation of direct democracy, balanced state budget, and strict control over immigration to Estonia. Mart Helme has also expressed wishes for EKRE to gain the parliamentary majority and become the sole governing party (in contrast with Estonia's usual coalition governments).


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: The EKRE claims to strongly oppose the widespread closure of schools in the countryside. Its program requires the teachers to speak high-level Estonian and be loyal to the Estonian state. To raise the quality of education, EKRE desires to raise the wages of teachers.


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: According to the program of the party, the importance of health care is linked to the preservation of the Estonian nation. The party stands for free dental treatment, wants to limit the availability of tobacco, alcohol and narcotics, and opposes abortion.


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: According to EKRE, demography is one of the most crucial aspects in the survival of the Estonian state. According to Mart Helme, Estonia is in a "demographic crisis", characterized by low birth rate and emigration of more than 100,000 Estonians in recent years. To counter the falling birth rate, the party has proposed family welfare programs such as paying back a quarter of a married couple's mortgage loan with every child's birth and lowering a parent's income tax by 5% rate for every child being raised in the family.


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: EKRE has actively stood against immigration from the Middle East and Africa, especially regarding the quota system proposed by EU Commission in 2015 to resettle the immigrants to all EU member states. Citing a large number of Russians already imported during the Soviet occupation, the party has repeatedly ruled out supporting any further mass immigration into Estonia. The party upholds that the Estonian migration policies must advance the aim of "expanding the amount and percentage of Estonians in Estonia" and if the liberal government allows immigration to "alter the ethnic makeup of Estonia", it is "scandalous and undemocratic".


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: Commenting on riots in socially segregated suburbs in Sweden, Martin Helme, then board member and the party leader's son said in a TV talk show in May 2013: "Estonia shouldn't allow things to go as far as in England, France and Sweden. Our immigration policy should have one simple rule: if you're black, go back. As simple as that. We shouldn't allow this problem to emerge in the first place."


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: According to the political scientist Tõnis Saarts, the will to show the Russian minority "their proper place" by making the language and citizenship laws more strict seems to be the "ancient urge of this party".


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: In response to the arrest of Estonian Defence Forces Major Deniss Metsavas, who has ethnic Russian background, for giving classified information to the GRU, Blue Awakening has proposed ethnic profiling when giving non-ethnic Estonian officers access to government secrets. EKRE representative Ruuben Kaalep reasoned: "The only logical explanation for his actions is that blood is thicker than water. Loyalty is not guaranteed by Estonian citizenship or even a soldier's oath given to the Estonian state. Loyalty is based on a feeling of ethnic belonging and a bond with one's ancestors."


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: Prior to the 2019 Estonian parliamentary election, the party attempted to appeal to Russian minority voters, with Mart Helme describing an "overlap" between the party's "very conservative" attitudes towards immigration and "homosexual propaganda" and those of Russians in Estonia. Mart Helme has criticized Ukrainian immigration to Estonia, on the basis that both Estonian and Russian residents would "lose their jobs" to lower-wage Ukrainian migrants.


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: The party strictly opposed the civil partnership law on registered partnership for same-sex couples that was adopted by Riigikogu in October 2014. Arguing the law grants adoption rights to homosexual couples, the party claimed it essentially establishes same-sex marriage. Instead, the party proposes laws that would help to raise the birth rate and strengthen the societal attitudes towards having children, including the need to strengthen the traditional family model.


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: EKRE also claims that pushing through the law while opinion polls showed that the majority of Estonian people opposed it was undemocratic. The party platform proposes a referendum on the civil partnership law.


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: The party's chairman Mart Helme has characterized the Baltic Pride as "some kind of a parade of perverts".


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: EKRE views Estonia's form of government as heavily biased towards representative democracy, without means for the people to have an influence on politics other than elections. To change that, the party wants to return to more traditional ways of direct democracy, such as provided by the earlier Estonian constitutions of 1920 and 1934.


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: The party program includes support of the right of citizens to create initiatives if at least 25,000 registered voters sign a petition to put a bill on referendum. EKRE supports public presidential elections, recall elections and public elections of judges, prosecutors and local police prefects. The party wants to abolish D'Hondt method from the parliamentary elections.


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: The party program states that the development of the market must serve the national interest. The party calls for creation of a national public bank. It has also supported cooperative banking in Tartu, including in its program the establishment of an alternative interest-free currency.


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: EKRE has voiced criticism over the execution of the Rail Baltica project. According to the party, Rail Baltica could potentially bring great benefit to the economy of Estonia, but the current project has a questionable impact on the environment and local communities, as well as a doubtful economic viability. In 2016, both Mart Helme and Henn Põlluaas proposed that the current project should be replaced with a vactrain or Hyperloop connecting Estonia to Central Europe. The party has supported limiting the sale of land to foreigners.


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: According to EKRE, the "untouched natural beauty" of Estonia must be preserved more effectively. Therefore, the party supports alternative and environment-friendly sources of energy. EKRE wants to intensify the fight against littering and says the offenders must be punished at least with a sum necessary to compensate for the harm created to nature. The party's program includes a ban on all genetically modified foods and their import. EKRE has been described as being skeptical of climate change.


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: The Conservative People's Party of Estonia often calls to protect Estonia's independence and sovereignty from supranational unions. They claim that the European Union is moving towards a federal state and Estonia should veto any legislation that centralises more power to the hands of EU. On 30 August 2012, EKRE organised a protest at Toompea against the ratification of European Stability Mechanism treaty.


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: While the party does not advocate Estonia's exit from the EU, it believes that the union has to overgo a drastic change. According to EKRE, the EU has to become a military alliance that would defend all European ethnicities based on the concept of ethnopluralism. EKRE wants to strongly limit the amount of bureaucracy in the EU.


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: EKRE strongly opposes a proposed border treaty between Estonia and Russia, which, according to the party, would cede 5.2% of Estonia's territory to the occupier once and for all without any compromise or compensation on its side. The party has called the possible signing of the treaty "treason" and the Estonian politicians who would sign it "traitors to the state". However, EKRE more recently has expressed support for the eventual normalisation of relations with Russia, urging a similar policy towards Russia as that of Finland, and to "not parlay up every minor incident into a drama". Although Mart Helme supports existing sanctions imposed against Russia, he has criticized American and EU sanctions policies towards Russia, warning that tougher sanctions would not "make Russia become a democracy", and believes "diplomatic negotiations" are the only way to resolve Estonia's disputes with Russia. He has also rejected suggestions that Russian President Vladimir Putin is an enemy of Estonia, describing Putin as a "pragmatist" who is "pretty neutral" towards Estonia. These mildly pro-Russian positions were abruptly reversed after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine: after the invasion started, the EKRE proposed a ban on the ownership of weapons by Russians in Estonia and supported the proposal of stopping gas importations from Russia in the country;


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: The party opposes the accession of Turkey to the European Union and has called for reconsidering Turkey's membership in NATO. After the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt, EKRE expressed regret over its defeat and called Turkey "no more democratic country than Russia".


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: The EKRE proposes a national defence policy based on self-reliance of Estonia. The security of the country would be safeguarded by the existence of initial defence, compulsory military service, total defence, international cooperation and the membership of NATO. The platform of the party includes formation of two tank battalions and acquisition of medium-range anti-aircraft systems.


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: Martin Helme has expressed sympathy for American presidential candidate Donald Trump. According to Helme, Trump is right to point out that the Baltic countries need to make a financial contribution in exchange for the military alliance with the United States. "He can see no reason why the United States should make the national defense of other countries its duty. And I believe this question is completely justified. It's namely our party that has been saying for a long time that making initial independent defense capability strong is the most important thing, allies being the next component," said Helme.


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: One of the party's members, Georg Kirsberg, running for election in 2017, supported "a correct teaching of the history of the Third Reich." However, party leader Martin Helme stated that was not the policy of the party, and only "the thought of one person."


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: The party is supportive of Israel and was the first party to support Estonian recognition of Jerusalem as its capital. During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Martin Helme proposed a weapon deal between Estonia and Israel to defend the country from Russia.


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: On 23 August 2013, EKRE signed the Declaration of Bauska together with political parties National Alliance and Lithuanian Nationalist Union. The declaration calls for a new national awakening of the Baltic states and warns about threats posed by international globalism, multiculturalism and Russian imperial ambitions.


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: In 2014, the party's congress in Tallinn was visited by a delegation from the UK Independence Party. The delegation was led by Roger Helmer who gave a speech in support of Euroscepticism in Estonia.


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: Organizations with whom EKRE cooperates take regularly part of the annual torchlight march in Tallinn. They include all signatories of the Declaration of Bauska and the Scandinavian nationalist youth movement Nordisk Ungdom.


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: The party also has contacts among Ukrainian nationalists. During Euromaidan, Mart Helme sent an address to the protestors in Kiev, urging the Ukrainian patriots not to succumb to Russian demands.


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: In July 2019, Mart Helme met with Hungarian Prime Minister and Fidesz leader Viktor Orbán, and stressed that "Fidesz and EKRE are political parties based on Christian traditions and a desire to create a political Christian alliance-based alignment, in order to resist the liberal worldview throughout Europe".


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: In December 2021, the party participated in the Warsaw summit with Fidesz, Law and Justice, the Finns Party, the Christian Democratic National Peasants' Party, Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania – Christian Families Alliance, Vox, National Rally, JA21 and Vlaams Belang.


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: The party's affiliated nationalist youth movement is named Blue Awakening. With links to the pan-European Identitarian movement and the alt-right in North America, Blue Awakening states "a new national awakening of the Estonians" as its principal aim. This would come as a continuation to the 19th century Estonian national awakening and the Singing Revolution, leading the way to the establishment of "an eternal Estonian ethno-state".


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: Blue Awakening was founded on 30 November 2012 by Ruuben Kaalep and other youth from the Estonian Patriotic Movement. The young activists have been behind many of the party's protest marches. In addition to politics, the youth of Blue Awakening focus on art, music and right-wing philosophy such as the Traditionalist School of Julius Evola and René Guénon. The movement is disciplined and its activists have formed several squads. Kaalep also organizes firearms training with pistols and assault rifles to youths from the Blue Awakening. Their activities include rituals shaped after Finno-Ugric shamanism, including celebrations of sunrise on ancient tumuli.


title: Conservative People's Party of Estonia

text: Blue Awakening is the main organizer of the annual torchlight march through Tallinn on 24 February, Independence Day of Estonia. The first Independence Day torchlight march was held in 2014. According to Blue Awakening, the torchlight march is meant to honor those who have fallen for the nation of Estonia and to signify that Estonian youth have not abandoned the nationalist principles. The event has been harshly criticized by the Simon Wiesenthal Center that described it as "Nuremberg-esque" and likened the ideology of the participants to that of the Estonian nazi collaborators.


title: Reading and Leeds Festivals

text: The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Festival is held at Little John's Farm on Richfield Avenue in central Reading, near Caversham Bridge. The Leeds event is held in Bramham Park, near Wetherby, the grounds of a historic house. Headliners and most supporting acts typically play at both sites, with Reading's Friday line up becoming Leeds' Saturday line-up, Reading's Saturday line-up playing at Leeds on Sunday, and Leeds' Friday line-up attending Reading on Sunday. Campsites are available at both sites and weekend tickets include camping. Day tickets are also sold.


title: Reading and Leeds Festivals

text: The Reading Festival, the older of the two festivals, is the world's oldest popular music festival still in existence. Many of the biggest bands in the UK and internationally have played at the festival over five decades. The festival has had various musical phases over the years, but since the current two-site format was adopted in 1999, rock, alternative, indie, punk, and metal have been the main genres featured in the line-up. More recently hip hop has comprised an increasing proportion of the lineup, including headline sets by artists such as Kendrick Lamar and Post Malone.


title: Reading and Leeds Festivals

text: The festivals are run by Festival Republic, which was divested from Mean Fiddler Music Group. From 1998 to 2007, the festivals were known as the "Carling Weekend: Reading" and the "Carling Weekend: Leeds" for promotional purposes. In November 2007, the sponsored title was abolished after nine years and the Reading Festival reclaimed its original name.


title: Reading and Leeds Festivals

text: In 2011, the capacity of the Reading site was 87,000, and the Leeds site was 75,000, an increase of several thousand on previous years.


title: Reading and Leeds Festivals

text: The Reading Festival was originally known as the National Jazz Festival, which was conceived by Harold Pendleton (founder of the Marquee Club in London in 1958) and first held at Richmond Athletic Ground in 1961. Throughout the 1960s, the festival moved between several London and Home Counties sites, being held at Windsor Racecourse, Kempton Park, Sunbury and Plumpton, before reaching its permanent home at Reading in 1971. Since 1964, when the festival added a Friday evening session to the original Saturday and Sunday format, it has been staged over three days, with the sole exception of 1970 when a fourth day was added, running from Thursday 6 to Sunday 9 August.


title: Reading and Leeds Festivals

text: The National Jazz Federation (NJF) Festival was established at the height of the trad jazz boom, as a successor to the Beaulieu Jazz Festival, initially as a two-day event held at Richmond Athletic Ground. The line-up for the first two years was made up exclusively of jazz performers, but in 1963, several rhythm & blues acts were added to the bill, including the Rolling Stones, Georgie Fame, and Long John Baldry, and by 1965, such acts were in the majority, with jazz sessions reduced to Saturday and Sunday afternoons only. This format continued until 1967 when jazz was limited to just the Saturday afternoon session. By 1969, jazz had disappeared entirely from the line-up.


title: Reading and Leeds Festivals

text: In 1964, a Friday evening session was added to the existing weekend format. In 1966, the NJF Festival moved to the larger Windsor Racecourse. The following year a second stage (the Marquee Stage) was added, but when the festival was moved to Sunbury in 1968 it reverted to a single-stage format. The festival was held at Plumpton Racecourse in 1969 and 1970.


title: Reading and Leeds Festivals

text: After moving to Reading, the festival's line-up became primarily composed of progressive rock, blues, and hard rock during the early and mid 1970s, and then became the first music festival to incorporate punk rock and new wave in the late 1970s, when The Jam, Sham 69, and The Stranglers were among the headline acts. The festival's attempts to cater for both traditional rock acts and punk and new wave bands occasionally led to clashes between the two sets of fans at the end of the 1970s, though the festival gradually became known for focusing on heavy metal and rock acts.


title: Reading and Leeds Festivals

text: During the 1980s, the festival followed a similar format to that established in the late 1970s, with leading rock and heavy metal acts performing on the last two days, and a more varied line-up including punk and new wave bands on the opening day.


title: Reading and Leeds Festivals

text: In 1984 and 1985, the Conservative-run local council effectively banned the festival by designating the festival site for development and refusing to grant licences for any alternative sites in the Reading area.


title: Reading and Leeds Festivals

text: In 1984, many acts were already booked and tickets were on sale, with Marillion due to headline. The promoters tried in vain to find a new site but a proposed move to Lilford Hall in Northamptonshire failed. The proposed line-up was published in "Soundcheck" free music paper issue 12 as: Friday 24 August – Hawkwind, Boomtown Rats, Snowy White, The Playn Jayn, Dumpy's Rusty Nuts, Wildfire, Chelsea Eloy, Tracy Lamb, New Torpedoes; Saturday 25th – Jethro Tull, Hanoi Rocks, Steve Hackett, Club Karlsson, Nazareth, Twelfth Night, Thor, Silent Running, New Model Army, IQ, The Roaring Boys, She; Sunday 26th – Marillion, Grand Slam, The Bluebells, Helix, Clannad, The Opposition, The Enid, Young Blood, Scorched Earth, and Terraplane).


title: Reading and Leeds Festivals

text: After Labour regained control of the council in 1986, permission was given for fields adjacent to the original festival site to be used, and a line-up was put together at short notice.


title: Reading and Leeds Festivals

text: 1988 saw an attempt to take the festival in a mainstream commercial pop direction, featuring acts including Starship, Squeeze, Hothouse Flowers, Bonnie Tyler and Meat Loaf (who was bottled off stage), and the subsequent disputes led to the ousting of original festival promoter Harold Pendleton by the Mean Fiddler Music Group organisation.


title: Reading and Leeds Festivals

text: Pendleton attempted to relocate the festival to a new site near Newbury using the name "Redding Festival", but threats of legal action by the new promoters of the original festival, as well as a reluctance by Newbury District Council to issue a licence for the proposed Newbury Showground venue blocked Pendleton's plans. Meanwhile, the official Reading Festival, now managed by Mean Fiddler, continued at the Thames-side site in Reading, with a predominantly goth and indie music policy that alienated much of the traditional fan base and saw attendances plummet.


title: Reading and Leeds Festivals

text: Attendances continued to fall between 1989 and 1991, but began to recover from 1992, when new organisers took over from the Mean Fiddler group, broadening the festival's musical policy.


title: Reading and Leeds Festivals

text: In 1991, Nirvana made the first of their two appearances at Reading, midway down the bill. The following year, in 1992, they played what would be their last UK concert, which was released as a live album/DVD "Live at Reading" in November 2009. The band's singer Kurt Cobain came onstage in a wheelchair pushed by music journalist Everett True and wearing a medical gown, parodying speculations about his mental health. The 1992 festival was hit by extreme weather, with a thunderstorm on the Saturday drenching the site, leaving it ankle-deep in mud, and blowing away the Comedy Tent.


title: Reading and Leeds Festivals

text: By the mid-1990s, the festival had begun to regain its former status as the popularity of UK outdoor festivals increased. Britpop and indie began to appear on the bill alongside the traditional rock and metal acts, and rap acts such as Ice Cube began to appear regularly on the main stage, to mixed receptions. Public Enemy headlined the second day of the 1992 festival. Beastie Boys were about halfway down the bill for day three.


title: Reading and Leeds Festivals

text: In 1998, the Reading Festival absorbed the failed Phoenix Festival, resulting in an on-stage dispute between Beastie Boys and The Prodigy over the song "Smack My Bitch Up".


title: Reading and Leeds Festivals

text: In 1999, the festival added a second venue at Temple Newsam in Leeds, the site of V Festival in 1997 and 1998, due to increasing demand. In the first year, all bands performed at the Leeds site the day after they played Reading, with the Reading Festival running from Friday to Sunday and the Leeds Festival running from Saturday to Monday. However, in 2001, the festival moved to the current format, wherein the Reading line-up plays at Leeds the following day, with the opening day line-up from Leeds playing the final day in Reading (with the exceptions of 2009 and 2010 when the bands playing Leeds played Reading the following day, and the bands on the opening day of Reading closed Leeds).


title: Reading and Leeds Festivals

text: After a successful first year in Leeds, the increasing popularity of outdoor music festivals led to the Reading Festival selling out quicker every year. However, the Leeds Festival was plagued by riots and violence, which led to problems in retaining its licence. The worst incidents occurred in 2002, following which the festival was moved to Bramham Park north-east of Leeds. Since then, security at both sites has increased and problems have been reduced.


title: Reading and Leeds Festivals

text: The early 2000s saw a varied but predominantly rock line-up, though as the decade progressed the Main Stage and Radio 1 Stage featured many indie bands.


title: Reading and Leeds Festivals

text: Despite being predominantly a rock festival, several hip-hop artists have appeared at the festival over the years, including Cypress Hill, Ice Cube, Beastie Boys, Eminem, Xzibit, Jay-Z, 50 Cent, Dizzee Rascal, and The Streets.


title: Reading and Leeds Festivals

text: In 2005, the main stages at both Reading and Leeds were made larger, featuring cantilevered video screens. The same year the Reading Fringe Festival was established in Reading, with venues in the town hosting acts hoping to draw crowds and industry figures from the larger festival. The Reading Fringe has run annually since then.


title: Reading and Leeds Festivals

text: Flags were banned from both festival sites in 2009, with the organisers citing health and safety concerns. Flags and banners had been a traditional part of the Reading Festival since the early 1970s, originally used to enable motorcycle groups and others to identify themselves and find each other inside the main arena.


title: Reading and Leeds Festivals

text: Reading Festival continued to expand through the early 2010s, with a new record capacity of 105,000 recorded in 2019. In the same year, 200 artists played at both festivals.


title: Reading and Leeds Festivals

text: On 12 May 2020 it was announced that the year's festivals were cancelled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The festivals were due to host Rage Against the Machine's first UK show in 10 years, along with Stormzy and Liam Gallagher's first appearances as headliners. The 2021 festival included two main stages with six headliners, among them Stormzy and Liam Gallagher from the previous year's line up.


title: Reading and Leeds Festivals

text: In 2022, Festival Republic came under fire following multiple incidents at both festival sites. At Reading, multiple fires were reported as well as mugs, chairs, cups and other objects being thrown. Stabbings were also reported. At Leeds, 16-year-old David Celino died after it was suspected he had taken ecstasy.


title: Reading and Leeds Festivals

text: Bottling acts off stage (being forced off stage by a barrage of audience-thrown bottles and cans) is a frequent occurrence at the festival. During the 1970s and 1980s, there were often mass-participation can and bottle fights, and unpopular bands have been bottled offstage throughout the festival's history since the first large-scale "cannings" of 1973 and 1974. Examples include:


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: Throughout history, spiders have been depicted in popular culture, mythology and in symbolism. From Greek mythology to African folklore, the spider has been used to represent a variety of things, and endures into the present day with characters such as Shelob from "The Lord of the Rings" and Spider-Man from the eponymous comic series. It is also a symbol of mischief and malice for its toxic venom and the slow death it causes, which is often seen as a curse. In addition, the spider has inspired creations from an ancient geoglyph to a modern steampunk spectacle. Spiders have been the focus of fears, stories and mythologies of various cultures for centuries.


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: The spider has symbolized patience and persistence due to its hunting technique of setting webs and waiting for its prey to become ensnared. Numerous cultures attribute the spider's ability to spin webs with the origin of spinning, textile weaving, basket weaving, knotwork and net making. Spiders are associated with creation myths because they seem to weave their own artistic worlds. Philosophers often use the spider's web as a metaphor or analogy, and today terms such as the "Internet" or "World Wide Web" evoke the inter-connectivity of a spider web.


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: The spider, along with its web, is featured in mythological fables, cosmology, artistic spiritual depictions, and in oral traditions throughout the world since ancient times. The spider was syncretically associated with the goddess Neith of Ancient Egypt in her aspect as spinner and weaver of destiny, this link continuing later through the Babylonian Ishtar and the Greek Arachne, who was later equated as the Roman goddess Minerva.


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: Uttu, the ancient Sumerian goddess of weaving, was envisioned as a spider spinning her web. According to the myth of "Enki and Ninsikila", she was the daughter of the water god Enki. After being warned by Enki's wife Ninhursag that he would attempt to seduce her, Uttu ensconced herself inside her web, but agreed to let Enki in after he promised to marry her and give her fresh produce as a marriage gift. After giving Uttu the produce, Enki intoxicated her with beer and raped her. Ninhursag heard Uttu's screams and rescued her, removing Enki's semen from her vagina and planting it in the ground to produce eight previously nonexistent plants.


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: An Islamic oral tradition holds that during the Hijra, the journey from Mecca to Medina, Muhammad and his companion Abu Bakr were being pursued by Quraysh soldiers, and they decided to take refuge in the Cave of Thawr. The tale goes on to say that Allah commanded a spider to weave a web across the opening of the cave. After seeing the spider's web, the Quraysh passed the cave by, since Muhammad's entry to the cave would have broken the web. Since then, it has been held in many Muslim traditions that a spider, if not holy, is at least to be respected. A similar story occurs in the Jewish tradition, where it is David who is being chased by King Saul. David hides in a cave, and Saul and his men do not bother to search the cave because, while David was hiding inside, a spider had spun a web over the mouth of the cave.


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: A notable ancient legend from the Western canon that explains the origin of the spider comes from the Greek story of the weaving competition between Athena the goddess, and Arachne, sometimes described as a princess. This story may have originated in Lydian mythology; but the myth, briefly mentioned by Virgil in 29 BC, is known from the later Greek mythos after Ovid wrote the poem "Metamorphoses" between the years AD 2 and 8. The Greek "arachne" (αράχνη) means "spider", and is the origin of Arachnida, the spiders' taxonomic class.


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: This myth tells of Arachne, the daughter of a famous Tyrian purple wool dyer in Hypaepa of Lydia. Due to her father's skill with cloth dyeing, Arachne became adept in the art of weaving. Eventually she began to consider herself to be a greater weaver than the goddess Athena herself, and challenged the goddess to a weaving contest to prove her superior skill. Athena wove the scene of her victory over Poseidon that had earned her the patronage of Athens, while Arachne wove a tapestry featuring many episodes of infidelity among the Gods of Olympus, which angered Athena. The goddess conceded that Arachne's weaving was flawless, but she was infuriated by the mortal's pride. In a final moment of anger, Athena destroyed Arachne's tapestry and loom with her shuttle and cursed Arachne to live with extreme guilt. Out of sadness, Arachne soon hanged herself. Taking pity on her, Athena brought her back to life transformed as a spider, using the poison aconite; "—"and ever since, Arachne, as a spider, weaves her web"."


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: The scholar Robert Graves proposed Ovid's tale may have its roots in the commercial rivalry between the Athenian citizenry of Greece and that of Miletus in Asia Minor, which flourished around 2000 BC. In Miletus, the spider may have been an important figure; seals with spider emblems have been recovered there.


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: In African mythology, the spider is personified as a trickster character in African traditional folklore. The most popular version of the West African spider trickster is Kwaku Ananse of the Ashanti, anglicized as Aunt Nancy (or Sister Nancy) in the West Indies and some other parts of the Americas, to name a few of many incarnations.


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: Stories of Ananse became such a prominent and familiar part of Ashanti oral culture that the word Anansesem—"spider tales"—came to embrace all kinds of fables. This fed into the "Anansi toree" or "spider tales"; stories that were brought over from Africa and told to children of Maroon people and other Africans in the diaspora. These tales are allegorical stories that often also teach a moral lesson. Major A.J.N. Tremearne observed that the Hausa also view the spider with high esteem as the most cunning of all animals and the king of all stories, even employing similar narrative storytelling devices of the Akan-Ashanti by attributing each of them to the spider, identified as Gizzo or Gizo in their indigenous language. Author Neil Gaiman also popularised the spider god Anansi in his book, Anansi Boys, where the protagonist learns that the trickster god was his father.


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: North American cultures have traditionally depicted spiders. The Native American Lakota people's oral tradition also includes a spider-trickster figure, which is known by several names. As chronicled in the legend of "The "Wasna" (Pemmican) Man and the Unktomi (Spider)", a man encounters a hungry spider family, and the hero Stone Boy is tricked out of his fancy clothes by Unktomi, a trickster spider figure. In some Native American myths, the spider is also seen in the legend about the origin of the constellation Ursa Major. The constellation was seen as seven men transformed into stars and climbing to paradise by unrolling a spider's web. The Hopi have the creation myth of Spider Grandmother. In this story, Spider Grandmother thought the world into existence through the conscious weaving of her webs. Spider Grandmother also plays an important role in the creation mythology of the Navajo, and there are stories relating to Spider Woman in the heritage of many Southwestern native cultures as a powerful helper and teacher. In Mesoamerica, the Great Goddess of Teotihuacan may represent a similar figure.


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: The South American Moche people of ancient Peru worshiped nature; they placed emphasis on animals and often depicted spiders in their art. The people of the Nazca culture created expansive geoglyphs, including a large depiction of a spider on the Nazca plain in southern Peru. The purpose or meaning of the so-called "Nazca lines" is still uncertain. An adobe spider-god temple of the Cupisnique culture was discovered in the Lambayeque Region of Peru. It is part of the Ventarron temple complex and is known as Collud. The Cupisnique spider deity was associated with hunting nets, textiles, war, and power. One image depicts spider deities holding nets filled with decapitated human heads.


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: Spiders are depicted in Indigenous Australian art, in rock and bark paintings, and for clan totems. Spiders in their webs are associated with a sacred rock in central Arnhem Land on the Burnungku clan estate of the Rembarrnga/Kyne people. Their totem design is connected with a major regional ceremony, providing a connection with neighboring clans that also have spider totems in their rituals. "Nareau", the Lord Spider, created the universe, according to the traditional Cosmology of Oceania's Kiribati islanders of the Tungaru archipelago (Gilbert Islands); similarly, "Areop-Enap" ("Old Spider") plays an important part in the creation myth of the traditional Nauru islanders of Micronesia.


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: The "Tsuchigumo" (translated as "Earth spiders") of Japan, is a mythical, supernatural creature faced by the legendary Minamoto no Raiko. Depending on the version of the story, the "Tsuchigumo" was able to take the visage of either a boy or a woman. In one version, while on a search for a mythical giant skull, Raiko is lured to a dilapidated house using an illusion of a floating skull. Raiko and his companion Watanabe no Tsuna killed the "Tsuchigumo" at the end of the story, releasing spiders the size of children from its belly.


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: Another Japanese mythological spider figure is the "Jorōgumo" ("prostitute spider") which is portrayed as being able to transform into a seductive woman. In some instances, the "Jorōgumo" attempts to seduce and perhaps marry passing samurai. In other instances she is venerated as a goddess dwelling in the Jōren Falls who saves people from drowning. Her name also refers to a golden orb-spider species "Trichonephila clavata" ("Jorō-gumo", which translates to "binding bride" or "whore spider").


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: In the Philippines, there is a Visayan folk tale version of "The Spider and the Fly" which explains why the spider hates the fly.


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: The 10th-century Saint Conrad of Constance is sometimes represented as a bishop holding a chalice with a spider. According to this story, while he was celebrating Easter Mass, a spider fell into the chalice. Ignoring the commonly held belief of the time that all or most spiders were poisonous, as a token of faith, Conrad nevertheless drank the wine with the spider in it.


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: For King Robert the Bruce of Scotland, the spider is depicted as an inspirational symbol, according to an early 14th-century legend. The legend tells of Robert the Bruce's encounter with a spider during the time of a series of military failures against the English. One version tells that while taking refuge in a cave on Rathlin Island, he witnesses a spider continuously failing to climb its silken thread to its web. However, due to perseverance the spider eventually succeeds, demonstrating that "if at first you don't succeed, try, try and try again". Taking this as being symbolic of hope and perseverance, Bruce came out of hiding and eventually won Scotland's independence.


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: In Polish folklore and literature, Pan Twardowski - a sorcerer who made a deal with the Devil - is depicted as having escaped from the Devil who was taking him to Hell, and ending up living on the Moon, his only companion being a spider; from time to time Twardowski lets the spider descend to Earth on a thread and bring him news and gossip from the world below.


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: In the Vedic philosophy of India, the spider is depicted as hiding the ultimate reality with the veils of illusion. Indra's net is used as a metaphor for the Buddhist concept of interpenetration, which holds that all phenomena are intimately connected. Indra's net has a multifaceted jewel at each vertex, and each jewel is reflected in all of the other jewels.


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: The epic poem "Metamorphoses", written by Ovid two millennia ago, includes the metamorphosis of Arachne. This was retold in Dante Alighieri's depiction as the half-spider Arachne in the second book of his "Divine Comedy", "Purgatorio".


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: Considered as the earliest known work of science fiction in Western literature, the 2nd-century satirical novel "A True Story" by Lucian of Samosata includes a battle between the People of the Moon and the People of the Earth featuring giant spiders that are bigger than the islands of Cyclades.


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: In the 15th century, the French king Louis XI acquired the nickname "the universal spider" ("l'universelle aragne"), from Georges Chastellain, a chronicler of the dukes of Burgundy, referring to the king's tendency to implement schemes and plans during his contention with Burgundy and the following conflicts with Charles the Bold who compared the king to a spider.


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: In the 16th-century Chinese folk novel, Wu Cheng'en's "Journey to the West", the Buddhist monk Tang Sanzang's odyssey includes being trapped in a spider's cave and bound by beautiful women and many children, who are transformations of spiders.


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: The spider gained an evil reputation from the 1842 Biedermeier novella by Jeremias Gotthelf, "The Black Spider". In this allegorical tale that was adapted to various media, the spider symbolizes evil works and represents the moral consequences of making a pact with the devil.


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: Atlach-Nacha is the creation of Clark Ashton Smith and first appeared in his short story "The Seven Geases" (1934). Atlach-Nacha resembles a huge spider with an almost-human face. In the story, Atlach-Nacha is the reluctant recipient of a human sacrifice given to it by the toad-god Tsathoggua.


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: Spiders serve as a recurring motif in the works of J. R. R. Tolkien. Tolkien included giant spiders in his 1937 book "The Hobbit" where they roamed Mirkwood, attacking and sometimes capturing the main characters. The character of Ungoliant is featured as a spiderlike entity, and as a personification of Night from his earliest writings. In "The Lord of the Rings", the creature's final surviving daughter Shelob is encountered as Frodo and Sam move through the mountain pass of Cirith Ungol. Shelob was featured in the film adaption of the last book of the "Lord of the Rings" series. Although described as giant spiders, Tolkien gave them fictional attributes such as compound eyes, beaks and the spinning of black webs. He also resurrected the Old English words "cob" and "lob" for "spider".


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: A key element of Richard Matheson's novel "The Shrinking Man" and the film based on it "The Incredible Shrinking Man" is the struggle of the protagonist, shrunken to the size of an insect, with a voracious spider - ending with his waging an epic battle and killing the spider.


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: The 1952 children's novel "Charlotte's Web" by E. B. White is notable in its portrayal of the spider in a positive manner as a heroine rather than an object of fear or horror.


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: More recently, giant spiders have featured in books such as the 1998 fantasy novel "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" by J. K. Rowling. This book was later followed by a motion picture of the same name, using the giant spider Aragog from the novel as a supporting character and friend of groundskeeper, Hagrid. In "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them", a book about many of the creatures within the Wizarding World, these giant spiders are also known as Acromantulas.


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: The spider is also found in modern children's tales. The nursery rhymes "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "Little Miss Muffet" have spiders as focal characters. The poem "The Spider and the Fly" (1829) by Mary Howitt is a cautionary tale of seduction and betrayal which later inspired a 1949 film and a 1965 Rolling Stones song, each sharing the same title, as well as a 1923 cartoon by Aesop Fables Studio.


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: In graphic novels, spiders are often adapted by superheroes or villains as their symbols or alter egos due to the arachnid's strengths and weaknesses. One of the most notable characters in comic book history has taken his identity from the spider, the Marvel comic book hero Spider-Man. Peter Parker was accidentally bitten by a radioactive spider and then, as Spider-Man, was able to scale tall buildings and shoot web fluid from a device attached to his wrist. Along with these abilities came super senses and instant reflexes. Writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko originated this franchise. Due to the character's popularity, Spider-Man appeared in movies and various other media. In addition to Spider-Man, the Marvel Universe includes several subsequent characters using the spider as their patron; including Silk, Spider-Woman, Spider-Girl, the Scarlet Spider, Venom, Araña, the Black Widow, and the Tarantula. The DC Comics universe also include characters named Spider Girl and the Tarantula.


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: Many other comic book, manga and anime characters have taken the guise of a spider, such as the Black Spider from the Batman universe; in the Pokémon franchise, Spinarak and Ariados, Joltik and Galvantula, and Dewpider and Araquanid, are all variously based on spiders. In the "Static Shock" series, the titular character meets another superhero called Anansi the Spider in Africa. He takes his name from the African trickster god.


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: The light novel and manga series "So I'm a Spider, So What?", the protagonist is turned into a spider at the beginning of the story. Trapped in a world based around Japanese role-playing game tropes, she makes use of webs, various types of traps and poison attacks, and her intellect to survive.


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: Spiders have been present for many decades both in film and on television, predominantly in the horror genre. Those who suffer from arachnophobia, an acute fear of spiders, become particularly horrified. The spider web is used as a motif to adorn dark passageways, depicting the recesses of the unknown.


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: Spider themes are featured in early film history. In Fritz Lang's 1919 and 1920 "The Spiders" adventure series, a spider is the calling card for "The Spiders" criminal organization. "Pan Si Dong" (1927), 盘丝洞, ("The Cave of the Silken Web") is a film adaptation of the classic tale of Xuánzàng's encounter from a chapter of the 16th-century Great Classical Novel, "Journey to the West", and was remade as a 1967 Hong Kong cinema production.


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: Many horror films have featured the spider, including 1955's "Tarantula!", exploiting America's fear of atomic radiation during the nuclear arms race, the 1975 low-budget cult film "The Giant Spider Invasion", and "Kingdom of the Spiders", a 1977 film starring William Shatner as a veterinarian who found himself facing a horde of spiders hiding in Verde Valley, Arizona.


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: The fear of spiders culminates in "Arachnophobia", a 1990 movie in which spiders multiply in large numbers. On the other hand, a person who admires spiders is referred to as an "arachnophile"; such as Virginia, a demented orphan who likes to play deadly spider games in the black comedy horror B movie, "Spider Baby".


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: The Godzilla franchise includes a giant spiderlike kaiju named Kumonga ("Spiga" in the English versions), first appearing in 1967's "Son of Godzilla". The 1999 film "Wild Wild West" features a giant mechanical spider. Experiments with spiders in space tend to go horribly wrong, as with a DNA experiment on board a NASA space shuttle in the 2000 film "Spiders", or mutant spiders from a derelict Soviet space station in the 2013 film "Spiders 3D". Before there were "Snakes on a Plane" (2006), there were spiders on a plane in "" (1977). Radiation and spiders once again combine to wreak havoc in the 2002 film spoof "Eight Legged Freaks", this time due to nuclear waste.


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: Several books featuring spiders have been adapted to film, including "" featuring Shelob and "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" with Aragog the Acromantula. Charlotte A. Cavatica's positive portrayal of a spider character can be seen in two full-length feature versions of "Charlotte's Web". The first "Charlotte's Web" was a Hanna-Barbera musical animated film released in 1973, followed by a live-action 2006 film version of the original story. Walt Disney Pictures produced the 1996 film "James and the Giant Peach" based on the 1961 novel of the same name by Roald Dahl, in which the abused orphan James, who is only friends with a spider, finds more insect friends such as Spider and Centipede after entering a magical peach.


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: In Ingmar Bergman's 1961 Swedish film adaptation "Through a Glass Darkly", the psychotic Karin believes she has an encounter with God as a spider. Surreal spider imagery symbolism and themes are featured prominently in the 2013 psychological thriller "Enemy"; director Denis Villeneuve's film adaptation of the novel "The Double" by José Saramago.


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: On television, the 1990 miniseries "Stephen King's It" is based on his novel "It", where the now adult members of the Losers' club confront the giant spider form of Pennywise the Dancing Clown. The plot of the 2018 "Doctor Who" episode "Arachnids in the UK" revolves around an infestation of giant spiders that has occurred as the result of a scientific experiment.


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: The Rolling Stones adapted themes from Mary Howitt's poem in their 1965 song "The Spider and the Fly". Released in 1966, "Boris the Spider" was the first song written by John Entwistle for The Who, and became a staple of their live concerts. "Spiderwebs" became a hit for No Doubt in 1995. Alice Cooper's 2008 concept album, "Along Came a Spider" is about a fictitious serial killer known as 'Spider', who wraps his victims in silk and cuts off one of their legs in order to create his own eight-legged arachnoid.


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: Information technology terms such as the "web spider" (or "web crawler") and the World Wide Web imply the spiderlike connection of information accessed on the Internet.


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: A dance, the tarantella, refers to the purported victims of a bite from the spider "Lycosa tarantula" which were allegedly compelled to dance until they were exhausted.


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: Giant spider sculptures (11 feet tall and 22 feet across) described as "looming and powerful protectresses, yet are nurturing, delicate, and vulnerable" and a "favorite with children" have been found in Washington DC, Denver CO, and elsewhere. Even larger sculptures are found in places like Ottawa and Zürich. These sculptures, two series of six by Louise Bourgeois, can be seen at the National Gallery of Art, Denver Art Museum, London's Tate Modern and in a few other select sculpture gardens. The larger series is titled "Maman" and the other simply titled "Spider". One "Spider" was sold at a Christie's auction house for over $10 million.


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: A four-day performance art spectacle in Liverpool (September 2008) featured "La Princesse" by the French performance art company La Machine. This giant steampunk spider climbed walls, stalked the streets and sprayed unwary citizens while in search of a nest.


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: Giant spiders appear in several role-playing games, such as Lolth, the Spider Queen of "Dungeons & Dragons", and the first edition of "", where spiders are described as being "of staggering size—perhaps 15 feet around—with great furred body." In video games, spiders or spider-shaped foes are common, such as the "Metroid" series where the trilogy's antagonist, Metroid Prime, has a spiderlike Metroid as her primary physical form. This trilogy also includes the Ing, antagonists of "," whose warrior forms resemble five-legged spiders. "Atlach-Nacha" is an H-game centered on a spiderlike demoness disguising herself as a human. In "The Legend of Zelda" series, giant spiders are a frequent foe. In particular, "Ocarina of Time" features large spiders named Skulltulas, and "Twilight Princess" has an enormous spider boss. Monster Hunter 4 introduced monster a called the Nerscylla, described in game as a "Temnoceran," based on the Chelicerate subphylum of arthropods, along with its subspecies, the Shrouded Nerscylla. An anthropomorphic spiderlike creature based on Little Miss Muffet named Muffet is featured in the 2015 video game Undertale. Giant spiders appear as hostile enemies in which were quickly modded into bears by the players.


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: In the Lego toyline Bionicle series, the Visorak horde is a species consisting of six spiderlike breeds. They are created by the Brotherhood of Makuta to conquer islands; they possess mutagenic venom and spin sticky green webs. In the Transformers franchise, Tarantulas and Blackarachnia are both Predacons that turn into giant spiders.


title: Cultural depictions of spiders

text: Notable athletes with spider nicknames include Olympic skier Spider Sabich, so named by his father due to his long, thin arms and legs as a baby,