title: Desert Hearts

text: Deitch raised the $1.5 million needed for the production budget with a $20,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and sales of $15,000 shares to stock brokers and individual investors. The largest group of investors were lesbian and feminist women in several cities of the U.S., and the largest single investor was a gay man. She gave fundraising parties and published a regular newsletter to keep investors informed about the project's development. Raising funds took almost four years. She eventually sold her house to cover completion costs. In a 1991 interview with "The Guardian", Deitch said that: "In San Francisco I sold it as politics. In New York as Art. In LA I convinced them it would be a box office hit." It took nearly six years for Deitch to bring "Desert Hearts" to theater screens.


title: Desert Hearts

text: Deitch encountered difficulty finding actresses who would portray lesbians without reserve with many refusing to audition for the film. Patricia Charbonneau was the first actress to be cast and went to Los Angeles with Deitch so she could audition with those reading for the role of Vivian Bell. Deitch noticed the chemistry between Charbonneau and Helen Shaver immediately. She persuaded actors to work for scale, and after casting completed, the film was shot on location in Reno in 31 days. Limited funds often necessitated filming two scenes in one day, with little room for retakes. Renting space in a real casino was out of the question and a dressed set in a room of an abandoned hotel served as the gambling casino in the film.


title: Desert Hearts

text: "Desert Hearts" was Patricia Charbonneau's film debut. The contract with Charbonneau and Shaver obligated them to perform the sex scene in the hotel room without body doubles and to be nude on camera from the waist up. The scene was shot on the second-to-last day of filming, with cinematographer Robert Elswit and a boom operator as the only crew members present. The Samuel Goldwyn Company insisted in having the scene cut down but Deitch refused. In a 1986 "Los Angeles Times" interview, Helen Shaver described it as being "profoundly intimate".


title: Desert Hearts

text: Deitch became the first lesbian director to have a sex scene between women seen by general movie theater audiences. She was surprised to learn 20 years after the film's release that Helen Shaver and Patricia Charbonneau were told by their friends and agents that the film would ruin their careers.


title: Desert Hearts

text: In a 1986 "Globe and Mail" interview, Shaver said that she was being considered for a role in "Joshua Then and Now", which would have promoted her career much farther than "Desert Hearts". Donna Deitch assured her over the phone that she was right for her movie and told her she refused to hang up the phone until she got an answer. After five minutes, Shaver accepted the role. Shaver explained her feelings about the film. "I was scared, not about the lesbianism — the script said, 'The passion builds' in the love scene, so once I knew how the passion built and where the camera would be, that was fine — but because someone wanted me to do what I'd wanted to do all along, and here it was, and all I had to do was say yes. I had always wanted to carry a movie. Now, if I never make another one, I've done this. For the first time, I feel I've done a complete work on film."


title: Desert Hearts

text: An original 35 mm print of "Desert Hearts" was donated to the Outfest UCLA Legacy Project for LGBT Film Preservation at the UCLA Film & Television Archive. In celebration of its 30th anniversary, Deitch's personal 35 mm print was screened at The Museum of Modern Art in December 2016.


title: Desert Hearts

text: "Desert Hearts" was digitally restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Criterion Collection/Janus Films in conjunction with the Outfest UCLA Legacy Project and the Sundance Institute.


title: Desert Hearts

text: In April 2016, Donna Deitch announced that she was fundraising to produce a sequel to "Desert Hearts", to be set in New York City during the women's liberation movement.


title: Desert Hearts

text: "Desert Hearts" made its North American debut at the 1985 Telluride Film Festival in September 1985. It had its world premiere at the 1985 Toronto International Film Festival in September 1985. The film screened at the 1985 Chicago International Film Festival on November 15, 1985, and the 1986 Sundance Film Festival in January 1986. "Desert Hearts" was the only lesbian film out of nine films selected for screening at the first in 1986.


title: Desert Hearts

text: It was wide released in the U.S. by The Samuel Goldwyn Company on March 7, 1986, and in the U.K. by Mainline Pictures Ltd. on June 6, 1986.


title: Desert Hearts

text: The 4K restoration made its debut at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival on January 24, 2017 (followed by a Q&A with director Donna Deitch, cinematographer Robert Elswit, and production designer Jeannine Oppewall). It was screened in Los Angeles by the UCLA Film & Television Archive on February 4, 2017; and in San Francisco at the Frameline Film Festival on June 18, 2017. The new digital version was released in theaters by Janus Films in July 2017.


title: Desert Hearts

text: The reaction by film critics was mixed. In his scathing review for "The New York Times", Vincent Canby criticized the screenplay as "unimaginative", described its characters as having "so little life", and the film as lacking a "voice or style of its own", but did add that it "is so earnest and sincere that it deserves an "A" for deportment". In comparison, Gene Siskel of the "Chicago Tribune" gave the film 3-1/2 stars out of 4 and wrote that it was "elegant, traditional story-telling" with "complete characterizations and performances, a genuinely tender and erotic love scene and a sweetly satisfying finale"; adding "the filmmaking and performances are so seamless that ""Desert Hearts"" may accomplish on film what hasn't been achieved in society—the de-sensationalizing of lesbianism."


title: Desert Hearts

text: In the review for "The Body Politic", Ed Jackson said the screenplay was "spiked with hilarious one-liners", described the love scene as "a luminous study in gentle eroticism, almost painfully intimate", and the film as "a treat that is both soft-centred and sugar-coated", "handsome, well-constructed", and "much more dense than the simple propaganda that it might at first resemble." Michael Musto wrote in the "Saturday Review" that "Lesbianism isn't exploited for angst a la "Children's Hour", or touched upon then summarily dropped as in "Personal Best"; it's handled tenderly and optimistically, if not with a lot of levity and wit." Paul Attanasio of "The Washington Post" praised the film highly, calling it "astonishingly polished and nuanced"; and although some aspects of the cinematography were criticized, remarked "Donna Deitch's first feature, touches something about love that few movies even hint at — not the tremulousness, or the hiding and jousting (although there is that), but the way the attraction of two lovers warps the world around them, throws it out of whack." In the "Los Angeles Times", Sheila Benson wrote that although it was not "easy to sympathize with her character", Charbonneau was a "magnetic presence" and both she and Audra Lindley gave "crackerjack performances"; stating "although you can feel the budget limitations with every truncated scene, it's clear that Deitch is adept with actors and with the camera". In the "Chicago Sun-Times", Roger Ebert gave "Desert Hearts" two and a half stars for the simplicity and directness of the film, but noted the surprising power of the romantic scenes. In "City Limits", Amanda Lipman wrote that it was "a passionate, lovingly shot romance" and that "one of the most important differences between ["Desert Hearts"] and most heterosexual romances is the equality with which it treats each of its central characters." Geoff Brown in "The Times" praised the film wholeheartedly, including both actors in the leading roles, writing "Fuelled by vibrant performances and an expert script that articulates feelings without ascending into wordy clouds, "Desert Hearts" rises far above such pigeon-hole categories as the nostalgic period drama or the lesbian love-story. Deitch's film is a passionate, beautifully controlled drama about making choices and exercising the heart: in a word, about living."


title: Desert Hearts

text: In his critical study about homosexuality in the movies, "The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies", film historian Vito Russo wrote: ""Desert Hearts" is a love story that recreates with perceptiveness and tenderness what it might have been like for two women of different generations and backgrounds to fall in love in the Fifties...Deitch's refusal to feature the straight world's reaction to lesbianism as the focus of her film made all the difference in the way the relationship between the women was perceived by audiences." He remarked about Vincent Canby's review of the film: "In the "New York Times", Vincent Canby complained that we are not given enough information about the quality of Vivian's broken marriage, asking if perhaps her lesbianism was a hysterical reaction to her divorce. This is the point at which many heterosexual critics disqualify themselves from perceptively reviewing gay films."


title: Desert Hearts

text: On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, "Desert Hearts" has an 89% approval rating based on 28 reviews, with an average score of 7.5 out of 10. On Metacritic, the film holds a score of 67 out of 100, based on 12 film critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: Desert Hearts

text: With the passage of time, "Desert Hearts" has gained recognition for its quality and impact on lesbian cinema. In 1996, "The Sydney Morning Herald" declared, "Donna Deitch's 1985 "Desert Hearts" is widely regarded as one of the best and most significant mainstream fiction films about lesbians." "The Globe and Mail" referred to it as "one of the first and most highly regarded works in which a lesbian relationship is depicted favourably."


title: Desert Hearts

text: The "Lesbian Film Guide" states: "It is no exaggeration to say that in 1985 "Desert Hearts" was the film many lesbians had waited for all their lives. For the first time in cinema history here was a movie which was an unashamedly romantic lesbian love story, aimed primarily at a lesbian audience."


title: Desert Hearts

text: "PlanetOut" defined it as "One of the seminal lesbian/gay films of the 1980s, and arguably the most romantic lesbian film of all time"; and "historically important because it was the first lesbian-themed feature film written and directed by a woman." In 2002, "Desert Hearts" was a nominee in the American Film Institute list of greatest love stories in film in 100 years. In 2013, "The Guardian" named "Desert Hearts" one of the ten most romantic films and characterized the final scene of Vivian and Cay at the train station as "a subversive take on hollywood endings". "Curve" described "Desert Hearts" as "possibly the first feature film with fully-rounded female characters who are attracted to each other without that attraction being contested by a male."


title: Desert Hearts

text: In 2007, Outfest named "Desert Hearts" one of the "25 Films That Changed Our Lives". It was one of "The 25 Most Important LGBT Films" in a 2014 IndieWire reader's poll. In 2017, Autostraddle ranked it at 25 of the best 102 lesbian movies of all time. In 2020, "The A.V. Club" named "Desert Hearts" one of the 50 most important American independent films.


title: Desert Hearts

text: Lesbian literary critic Camille Paglia praised the film for its "riveting performances", having seen it 11 times in theaters. She claimed that Patricia Charbonneau's "magic" came from hormonal glow, as she had found out she was pregnant before shooting began. In her landmark work "Sexual Personae" (1990), Paglia wrote: "The closest thing I have ever seen to Shakespeare's Rosalind is Patricia Charbonneau's spirited performance as a coltish Reno cowgirl in Donna Deitch's film "Desert Hearts"."


title: Desert Hearts

text: Actress Jane Lynch said she had never "seen in celluloid such real passion and desire between two women" and had watched the video "over 50 times". C.J. Prince, author and executive director of North Jersey Pride, wrote in 2014 that "Desert Hearts" "was refreshingly different, not only because the characters weren't psychotic, but also because it didn't end in depressing, unrequited love...or death", adding "the film holds up as a bold, beautifully rendered story about the search for authenticity and love, and the sacrifices one has to make to find them...For a coming-out movie, it's as good as it gets."


title: Desert Hearts

text: In an assessment of lesbian genre films since the 1980s, "Slate" said the film was "immensely popular with lesbian audiences" and earned "cult classic status...years after it was released".


title: Desert Hearts

text: By the fall of 1986, "Desert Hearts" had grossed $2.5 million in the United States and Canada. The revenue from its rental by independent distribution companies was $1.1 million.


title: Desert Hearts

text: The VHS of "Desert Hearts" was released by Vestron Video in the United States in December 1986, and in the United Kingdom by Vestron Video International on April 3, 1987. The DVD was released by MGM Home Entertainment in Region 1 on January 23, 2001.


title: Desert Hearts

text: A 2-Disc "Vintage Collection" special edition DVD for Region 1 was released by Wolfe Video on June 5, 2007. The DVD's extra features included original theatrical trailer, previously unseen footage of the love scene, slide show of production photographs, a commentary by Donna Deitch and interviews she conducted with Helen Shaver and Patricia Charbonneau.


title: Desert Hearts

text: The digitally restored version was released in Blu-ray and DVD by The Criterion Collection on November 14, 2017; featuring new interviews with Helen Shaver and Patricia Charbonneau, an excerpt from a 1995 documentary about Jane Rule, an essay by film critic B. Ruby Rich, conversations between Donna Deitch and film crew plus Jane Lynch, and the audio commentary by Deitch included in the 2007 release by Wolfe Video.


title: Desert Hearts

text: In the director's commentary bonus feature of the special edition DVD released by Wolfe Video, Donna Deitch said that approximately 20% of her budget went to obtaining the rights to the original music in the film. Deitch asked the Goldwyn Company to extend the rights to the music to release a soundtrack on album or compact cassette, but the studio declined.


title: Stadio Luigi Ferraris

text: The Stadio comunale Luigi Ferraris, also known as the Marassi from the name of the neighbourhood where it is located, is a multi-use stadium in Genoa, Italy. The home of Genoa C.F.C. and U.C. Sampdoria football clubs, it opened in 1911 and is the oldest stadium still in use for football and other sports in Italy. Aside from football, the stadium has hosted meetings of rugby in the Italian national team and, more rarely, some concerts.


title: Stadio Luigi Ferraris

text: The stadium is named after Luigi Ferraris (1887–1915), an Italian footballer, engineer and soldier who died during WWI.


title: Stadio Luigi Ferraris

text: The stadium was inaugurated on 22 January 1911 with a football match between Genoa and Internazionale, and had a capacity of 20,000. On 22 December 1912, it hosted its first international, in which Italy lost 3–1 to Austria in a friendly.


title: Stadio Luigi Ferraris

text: It also hosted the 1934 World Cup round-of-16 match between Spain and Brazil, and by then its capacity had been expanded to 30,000.


title: Stadio Luigi Ferraris

text: The stadium was dismantled and rebuilt before the 1990 FIFA World Cup, for which it hosted three Group C matches (between Costa Rica, Scotland and Sweden) and a round-of-16 match between the Republic of Ireland and Romania.


title: Stadio Luigi Ferraris

text: The highest attendance at the Luigi Ferraris was 60,000 on 27 February 1949, for a match between Italy and Portugal.


title: Stadio Luigi Ferraris

text: On 12 October 2010, a Euro 2012 qualifier between Italy and Serbia was abandoned after Serbia fans continued to throw flares onto the pitch and light fireworks. When the game finally began, more flares and fireworks were thrown onto the field and the referee stopped the match after only six minutes of play.


title: Stadio Luigi Ferraris

text: On 29 February 2012, the United States defeated Italy 1–0 in a friendly played at the stadium. It was the first time in almost 100 years that Italy had been defeated in Genoa after 22 December 1912 defeat against Austria, and the first time that the US had ever defeated Italy.


title: Stadio Luigi Ferraris

text: On 14 November 2014, it hosted Italy's end-of-year rugby union international against Argentina who won 20–18.


title: Danny Goffey

text: Daniel Robert Goffey (born 7 February 1974) is an English musician and singer-songwriter. He is best known as the drummer and backing vocalist for Supergrass. He briefly toured with Babyshambles in 2010, following their drummer's departure.


title: Danny Goffey

text: Goffey was born on 7 February 1974 in Eton, Berkshire, and started his music career as a child when he formed his first band, The Jubbly Spufflewubs, which consisted of his brother on guitar and friend David Mackay. He had no drums so had to accompany the others by hitting chopsticks on lunch boxes. At age 10 he received a high hat and snare from his parents, prompting him to start his other band, The Fallopian Tubes. They made songs such as "My Wife Shut My Gonads in the Door", Goffey saying: "That one was about sexual frustration I seem to recall. So were all the others [songs]...". At Wheatley Park School, east of Oxford, he became drummer for the four-piece The Jennifers, which featured a 16-year-old Gaz Coombes on vocals. The Jennifers began building a reputation in the Oxford indie music scene and released one single in 1992 on Nude Records before they disbanded.


title: Danny Goffey

text: Allegedly, before the split, Goffey and Coombes had agreed to continue to work together in the future.


title: Danny Goffey

text: In 1993, Coombes introduced Goffey to his co-worker Mick Quinn, who at the time was working at a local Harvester; "I imposed on Mick's life. I imposed on him greatly," said Goffey. "He had a house, and I used to take people back and sleep with them on his sofa. That's how he built his foundation in this band. That's how I met him. I shagged too often on his sofa. But when we played together... we've still never been able to describe it in interviews. When we're in that room, we're all really similar. We know. We all have the same ideas. We're really quick. It just... happens."


title: Danny Goffey

text: The three of them soon started playing together and shortly after Theodore Supergrass, later just Supergrass, were formed. The band enjoyed a good start to their musical career with the release of their debut album "I Should Coco" (1995) which reached number one in the UK Albums Chart. This good start continued with the release of the single "Alright", which peaked at number two in the UK Singles Chart. Several albums later and Supergrass were still together, recording their next album, tentatively titled "Release the Drones", slated for release in May 2010. It remained unreleased and unfinished as, on 12 April 2010, the band announced that it was splitting up due to musical and creative differences. The group disbanded after four farewell gigs, the final one at La Cigale, Paris on 11 June 2010.


title: Danny Goffey

text: Danny's brother, Nic Goffey, who was also a part of The Jennifers, has directed most of Supergrass' music videos, along with his friend Dom. They work under the name Dom and Nic. They have joked on the "Supergrass Is 10" DVD about nearly killing the band on several occasions while filming music videos.


title: Danny Goffey

text: Goffey embarked on a solo project in 2006 using the pseudonym "Van Goffey", a name based on the artist Vincent van Gogh. He released tracks via MySpace in August 2006, the first three being "Crack House Blues", "I Feel so Gaye" and "Natalie Loves the F". He was also a drummer for the collective of musicians called Twisted X who released a charity football song called "Born in England" which charted at number 8 in the UK Singles Charts in 2004.


title: Danny Goffey

text: In 2004, he joined other musicians including Paul McCartney to record a Christmas charity single called "Do They Know It's Christmas?" which reached number one in the UK Singles Chart.


title: Danny Goffey

text: Goffey appeared with Supergrass on a 'Top Gear of the Pops' special programme for Comic Relief 2007. The band played "Richard III" with Ade Edmondson on second guitar.


title: Danny Goffey

text: In 2007 and 2008, while Supergrass bandmate Mick Quinn was suffering from broken heel and vertebrae, Danny and Gaz Coombes went on a short tour of the country playing at small venues as the Diamond Hoo Ha Men. The tour was captured on film for a Rockumentary called Glange Fever, released in 2008.


title: Danny Goffey

text: Goffey and Gaz Coombes joined other musicians including Paul Weller to record a charity single called "Consequences" for the charity Crisis. The idea for the song came from Danny and his girlfriend, Pearl Lowe, who is an ambassador for the Crisis charity. Their idea was to record a song in the same way that a person would play the game Consequences. A live event took place at the Roundhouse in London on 2 March 2008.


title: Danny Goffey

text: On 7 March 2008, Goffey accompanied politician Boris Johnson in a bid to try to save the post office near where he had grown up in Forest Hill, at Stanton St. John, Oxfordshire. Goffey commented; "I used to buy sweets and cigarettes there and I want my family to be able to continue that tradition."


title: Danny Goffey

text: On 19 March 2008, the Diamond Hoo Ha Men played a gig on London's South Bank (having to change from the originally planned River Thames due to crowd control problems) to raise money for Crisis, offering a free ticket to their London Astoria show to whoever donated the most money. They were watched by around 75 spectators, having previously announced the busking session on radio station Xfm London. This was filmed for the BBC 2 programme, The Culture Show.


title: Danny Goffey

text: Goffey appeared as a contestant in the sixth series of "Celebrity Masterchef" on BBC One, in which he reached the semi-finals.


title: Danny Goffey

text: As "Vangoffey", he released solo albums "Take Your Jacket Off & Get into It" in 2015 and "Schtick" 2018.


title: Danny Goffey

text: Goffey is the son of Chris Goffey, motoring journalist and ex-presenter of "Top Gear", and his mother is an ex-Labour Party councillor. His brother is Nic Goffey, of the directing partnership Dom and Nic.


title: Danny Goffey

text: Goffey lived in Berkshire up until the age of 13, at which point his family relocated to the Oxfordshire village of Forest Hill, approximately 4.5 miles east of Oxford. He began to attend nearby Wheatley Park School, where he met Gaz Coombes, two years his junior, on the playing fields of Wheatley School and asked him to form a band with him (The Jennifers). In 1993 (after The Jennifers had separated), he and Coombes began to share a house on Cowley Road in east Oxford, and Goffey later managed to complete his A-levels at Henley College in Henley-upon-Thames. Goffey also worked as a catering assistant in a school at this time.


title: Danny Goffey

text: During the recording of "In It for the Money", Goffey moved out of his and Coombes's house to live in London with his partner, and singer in the band Powder, Pearl Lowe. This introduced Goffey to Lowe's social circle of celebrities such as Liam Gallagher and Kate Moss, and led to a surge of appearances of him in the tabloids. During this time, tensions within Supergrass began to increase, with Goffey often stalling recording of the album in Sawmills Studio, Cornwall by returning to London to record with his second band, Lodger, of which Lowe was also a member. The lyrics for "Going Out" were also causing arguments, as Goffey presumed that Coombes had written them about the column inches he and Lowe had been achieving.


title: Danny Goffey

text: After being together for over thirteen years, Goffey and Lowe married on 4 December 2008, in a small chapel at Babington House, near their home in Frome, Somerset, where they live with their two sons, Alfie Lennon and Frankie, and daughter, Betty. They spent their honeymoon on the island of Tobago. Lowe was expecting another baby, due in autumn 2010, however it was announced by Goffey in May 2010 that Lowe had suffered a miscarriage.


The 2012 United States Senate election in Ohio took place on November 6, 2012, concurrently with the 2012 U.S. presidential election as well as other elections to the United States Senate and House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown won re-election to a second term, defeating Republican Josh Mandel, the Ohio State Treasurer. He was unopposed in the Democratic primary and Mandel won the Republican primary with 63% of the vote.


title: 2012 United States Senate election in Ohio

text: Josh Mandel was endorsed by Rob Portman, U.S. Senator (R-OH); Jim DeMint, U.S. Senator (R-SC); Jim Jordan, U.S. Congressman (R-OH); Club for Growth; National Rifle Association; Tea Party Express; Jeb Bush, Former Governor of Florida; John McCain, U.S. Senator (R-AZ); Marco Rubio, U.S. Senator (R-FL); Chris Christie, Governor of New Jersey; Afghanistan & Iraq Veterans for Congress (AIVC); Buckeye Firearms Association National Right to Life Committee; Ohio Right to Life; and National Federation of Independent Business


text: In 2006, U.S. Representative Sherrod Brown defeated two-term incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Mike DeWine 56%-44% 2006 election. Over the next six years, he established a very liberal, progressive, and populist record. The "National Journal" named Brown the most liberal U.S. Senator in the past two years. "The Washington Post" called him a "modern-day Paul Wellstone." One article said "Brown is way to the left of Ohio in general, but probably the only person who could outwork Brown is Portman." Brown is the only candidate the 60 Plus Association targeted in the 2012 election cycle.


text: Mandel, 34, was elected state treasurer in 2010. Before that, he was a Lyndhurst City Councilman and Ohio State Representative. He was criticized as Ohio Treasurer for not fulfilling his pledge to serve a four-year term and for not attending any of the Board of Deposit monthly meetings. However, Mandel raised a lot of money. He was called a rising star in the Republican Party and was called "the rock star of the party." He was also compared to Marco Rubio.


text: Mandel's campaign was singled out by the independent fact-checking group Politifact for its "casual relationship with the truth" and its tendency to "double down" after inaccuracies were pointed out. The fact-checking group wrote: "For all the gifts Mandel has, from his compelling personal narrative as an Iraq war veteran to a well-oiled fundraising machine, whoppers are fast becoming a calling card of his candidacy."


text: Mandel raised $7.2 million through the first quarter of 2012. He had $5.3 million cash on hand, trailing Brown's $6.3 million. However, Mandel benefited from massive support from conservative out-of-state superPACs, which raise unlimited amounts of money from anonymous donors. These outside groups, including Crossroads GPS, aired over $60 million in TV advertising supporting Mandel and attacking Brown, outspending Democratically aligned outside groups by more than five-to-one. Mandel's campaign was aided by over $1 million spent primarily on attack ads by a 501(c)(4) organization called the Government Integrity Fund. The group was funded by anonymous donors and run by lobbyist Tom Norris of Columbus, Ohio-based Cap Square Solutions.


text: Brown was endorsed by the "Cleveland Plain Dealer", the "Columbus Dispatch", the "Toledo Blade", the "Youngstown Vindicator", "The Cincinnati Enquirer", and the "Akron Beacon-Journal".


text: Brown won 6 of 16 congressional districts, including the 10th and 14th districts, which elected Republicans to the House.


title: Vincent Thomas Bridge

text: The Vincent Thomas Bridge is a suspension bridge, crossing Los Angeles Harbor in Los Angeles, California, linking San Pedro with Terminal Island. It is the only suspension bridge in the Greater Los Angeles area. The bridge is part of State Route 47, which is also known as the Seaside Freeway. The bridge opened in 1963 and is named for California Assemblyman Vincent Thomas of San Pedro, who championed its construction. It was the first welded suspension bridge in the United States and is now the fourth-longest suspension bridge in California and the 76th-longest span in the world. The clear height of the navigation channel is approximately ; it is the only suspension bridge in the world supported entirely on piles.


title: Vincent Thomas Bridge

text: Assemblyman Thomas, who represented San Pedro, spent 19 years beginning in 1940 arguing for the 16 different pieces of legislation that were necessary for its construction. During that time and in the years right after it was built, it was ridiculed as "The bridge to nowhere".


title: Vincent Thomas Bridge

text: Other bridges to the island included the 1948 Commodore Heim lift bridge connecting SR 47 north and a WWII pontoon bridge from Ocean Blvd. to Long Beach (replaced in 1968 by the Gerald Desmond arch bridge). Until the new bridge's 1963 construction, ferry service from San Pedro was important to cannery and shipyard workers on Terminal Island; private ferries had begun in 1870, and municipal ferry service had begun in 1941. Some residents, including many women who worked at the canneries, tried unsuccessfully to keep one of the smaller pedestrian-only ferries operating after the new bridge's opening because the ferry was available at any time including night-shift hours but the new bus service involved long waits.


title: Vincent Thomas Bridge

text: In 1968 the bridge was connected through SR 47 directly into the Harbor Freeway; having the bridge and connection available was cited by port officials as crucial to the port's success in the era of containerized cargo. The cargo from the San Pedro side of the Port of Los Angeles travels over the Vincent Thomas bridge, onto the Terminal Island Freeway, to the southern end of the Long Beach Freeway, and then up to the rail yards of East Los Angeles.


title: Vincent Thomas Bridge

text: At the 25th anniversary of its opening in 1988, events were held to raise money for $170,000 of permanent decorative lights for the bridge's main cables. In January 2005, after seventeen years of planning and fundraising, the decorative illumination was changed to 160 blue LED lamps, powered by solar panels, with a project cost of $1 million.


title: Vincent Thomas Bridge

text: When the bridge opened in 1963, Vincent Thomas was the longest-serving assemblyman. In 1961, the legislature passed a special Concurrent Resolution 131 in order to name it after him while he was still serving.


title: Vincent Thomas Bridge

text: When the bridge opened in 1963, the toll was 25 cents in each direction, with the toll plaza on the Terminal Island side. In 1983, the toll increased to 50 cents for westbound traffic but became free for eastbound traffic. In 2000, tolls were eliminated on the Vincent Thomas Bridge, leaving the San Diego–Coronado Bridge as the only remaining toll bridge in Southern California. After the San Diego-Coronado Bridge stopped collecting tolls in 2002, the California Department of Transportation was able to devolve authority over toll bridges to the Bay Area Toll Authority in June 2005.


title: Vincent Thomas Bridge

text: The bridge has featured in numerous movies such as the original 1974 "Gone in 60 Seconds" and the 2000 "Gone in 60 Seconds" remake, "Lethal Weapon 2", "To Live and Die in L.A.", "City of Angels", "Charlie's Angels", "Inception", and "Den of Thieves".


title: Vincent Thomas Bridge

text: In the 1995 film "Heat", the bridge is mentioned by Robert De Niro's character when he points to the location and mistakenly refers to it as the "St. Vincent Thomas Bridge."


title: Vincent Thomas Bridge

text: The bridge's toll plaza is featured in a 1960s episode of the original series of "" where Mr. Phelps, played by Peter Graves, receives his instructions.


title: Vincent Thomas Bridge

text: The bridge was also featured extensively in season 1/episode 7 of NBC's crime series, "CHiPs", airing November 3, 1977, titled, "Taking Its Toll." The old tollbooths were the center of the action, where bandits mugged drivers to steal contents from their cars.


title: Vincent Thomas Bridge

text: The 1978 episode of NBC's "Columbo" entitled "The Conspirators" had a scene where Peter Falk's title character Lt. Columbo tries unsuccessfully to speed across the bridge in his iconic 1959 Peugeot convertible.


title: Vincent Thomas Bridge

text: In August 2012, for the season three premiere of the History Channel's show "Top Gear", the bridge was used as a finishing line for a closed course race. The race was between professional driver Tanner Foust, who drove a 2009 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 police car, and professional stunt driver Ernie Vigil, who drove a Triumph 1050 Speed Triple motorcycle.


title: Vincent Thomas Bridge

text: The bridge was featured in the 2004 video game "" as the Ocean Docks Bridge, and the 2013 video game "Grand Theft Auto V" as the Miriam Turner Overpass. The bridge is also featured in "" as "Heflin Drive" and in The Crew 2 in a copy.


title: Vincent Thomas Bridge

text: On October 26, 1990, 1964 Olympic diving bronze medalist Larry Andreasen was killed jumping from the west tower of the bridge in an attempt to set a diving record.


title: 1936 Winter Olympics

text: The 1936 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936 (), were a winter multi-sport event held from 6 to 16 February 1936 in the market town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. The country also hosted the 1936 Summer Olympics, which were held in Berlin. It was the last year in which the Summer and Winter Games both took place in the same country (the cancelled 1940 Olympics would have been held in Japan, with Tokyo hosting the Summer Games and Sapporo hosting the Winter Games).


title: 1936 Winter Olympics

text: The 1936 Winter Games were organized on behalf of the German League of the Reich for Physical Exercise (DRL) by Karl Ritter von Halt, who had been named president of the committee for the organization of the Fourth Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen by "Reichssportführer" Hans von Tschammer und Osten.


title: 1936 Winter Olympics

text: 28 nations sent athletes to compete in Germany. Australia, Bulgaria, Greece, Liechtenstein, Spain, and Turkey all made their Winter Olympic debut in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and Estonia, Latvia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Yugoslavia all returned to the Games after having missed the 1932 Winter Olympics.


title: Namak Halaal

text: Namak Halaal () is a 30 April 1982 Indian masala film, directed by Prakash Mehra and written by Kader Khan. The film stars Shashi Kapoor, Amitabh Bachchan, Smita Patil, Parveen Babi, Waheeda Rehman, Om Prakash, Ranjeet, Satyen Kappu in pivotal roles. It features music composed by Bappi Lahiri, with lyrics written by Anjaan.


title: Namak Halaal

text: The film went on to be the third highest-grossing Indian film of 1982, grossing . It is the biggest comedy blockbuster of all time in India, where it sold more than tickets, with an inflation-adjusted net income equivalent to nearly . It was remade in Telugu as "Bhale Ramudu" (1984) and in Tamil as "Velaikaran" (1987). The song "Raat Baaki" has been recreated by Tanishk Bagchi for the movie "Ittefaq". The movie is most famous for the dialogue 'I can talk English, I can walk English, I can laugh English because English is a very phunny language.'


title: Namak Halaal

text: Bhim Singh (Suresh Oberoi) works as a manager and personal bodyguard to Seth Raja Singh (Kamal Kapoor) and saves him from many murder attempts planned by Raja's step brother, Girdhar Singh (Satyen Kappu). One day Raja Singh appoints Savitri (Waheeda Rehman), Bhim Singh's wife as trustee to their property and guardian to his toddler son Raja Kumar. On the same day, he and Bhim Singh die at the hands of Girdhar Singh. Savitri promises her husband that she would take care of Raja Kumar at any rate. Everyone including Bhim Singh's father Dashrath Singh (Om Prakash) blames Savitri thinking that she killed her husband and employer for money. Savitri hands over young Arjun to Dashrath Singh and settles herself as Raja Kumar's mother to protect him.


title: Namak Halaal

text: Later Arjun (Amitabh Bachchan) grows up to be a naive youngster under the care of Dashrath Singh. He moves to the city to build his life on his own and joins as a bellboy in a five star restaurant. There he meets Poonam (Smita Patil) and they both fall in love. That hotel is owned by Raja Kumar (Shashi Kapoor) and run by Savitri. Hotel manager Ranjit Singh (Ranjeet) is the son of Girdhar Singh and plans to kill Raja. They manage to show Savitri as a culprit and Raja believes that and suspects Savitri.


title: Namak Halaal

text: Gradually Arjun learns that Savitri is actually his, not Raja's mother and swears that he would protect Raja at any rate, just like his father did. Meanwhile, Raja meets a beautiful young dancer Nisha (Parveen Babi) and gets attracted to her. She is actually hired by Ranjit Singh to kill Raja, but Nisha falls in love with Raja and couldn't kill him. Finally she arranges a party on a boat to execute her plan, but Arjun foils it.


title: Namak Halaal

text: Finally goons kidnap Arjun's and Raja's family members and blackmail them to transfer all his property to Ranjit's name. Arjun and Raja beat all bad guys and save their loved ones. Raja marries Nisha and Arjun marries Poonam at the end and they reconcile with their mother Savitri.


title: Namak Halaal

text: Raj Babbar was Prakash Mehra's original choice for the role of "Raja Singh", a role which eventually went to Shashi Kapoor.


title: Namak Halaal

text: Amitabh Bachchan portrays the protagonist Arjun Singh, who was influenced by the character Hrundi Bakshi, the protagonist of the 1968 Hollywood film "The Party"; Hrundi Bakshi is an Indian character who was portrayed by British comedian Peter Sellers.


title: Namak Halaal

text: Bappi Lahiri scored music for the first time for a Prakash Mehra film, after blockbusters like "Muqaddar Ka Sikandar" & "Laawaris", by Kalyanji-Anandji association with Prakash Mehra.


title: Namak Halaal

text: The movie's soundtrack, which consisted of five songs, became a huge hit. Singer Kishore Kumar bagged his 5th Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer for the song 'Pag Ghungroo Bandh'.


title: Namak Halaal

text: "Jawaani Jaan-E-Man Haseen Dilruba" went on to become a major hit. The intro to the song is similar to Sammy Davis Jr's Candyman melody. The main part of the song has similarities to Donna Summer's The Wanderer. "Raat Baaki, Baat Baaki", another song picturized on Parveen Babi, also became a big hit.


title: Dave Greenfield

text: David Paul Greenfield (29 March 1949 – 3 May 2020) was an English keyboardist, singer and songwriter who was a member of rock band The Stranglers. He joined the band in 1975, within a year of its formation, and played with them for 45 years until his death.


title: Dave Greenfield

text: Greenfield was born on 29 March 1949 in the south coast seaside resort of Brighton. He learned guitar from an older schoolmate and, after leaving school, played for a year in bands at American bases in Germany.


title: Dave Greenfield

text: Greenfield tried to develop a music career in Germany, and played in bands in Britain as well as Germany while also working in his father's printing business and as a piano tuner. In Britain, his bands included The Initials, The Blue Maxi (on the single "Here Comes Summer", released by Major Minor Records in 1970), and progressive rock bands Rusty Butler and Credo.


title: Dave Greenfield

text: He joined The Stranglers after auditioning in 1975, replacing Hans Wärmling. and played with them until his death in 2020.


title: Dave Greenfield

text: In 1981, Greenfield produced the single "Back to France" by the band Boys in Darkness. Greenfield and Jean-Jacques Burnel released an album together in 1983, "Fire & Water (Ecoutez Vos Murs)", which was used as the soundtrack for the film "Ecoutez vos murs", directed by Vincent Coudanne.


title: Dave Greenfield

text: He was a musical perfectionist and could be awkward in social situations; observations consistent with his diagnosis, never made public during his lifetime, as a very high-functioning autistic.


title: Dave Greenfield

text: Greenfield's sound and style of playing, particularly on The Stranglers' debut album "Rattus Norvegicus", has been compared to that of Ray Manzarek of the Doors. The comparison was even made at the Stranglers' inception by Jean-Jacques Burnel, who said Greenfield had not heard of the Doors at the time. Greenfield admitted that he knew a few Doors tracks, those being "Light My Fire" and "Riders on the Storm". However, he cited the works of Rick Wakeman of Yes and Jon Lord of Deep Purple as his early influences. He was also noted for his trademark style of playing rapid arpeggios. His distinctive sound on the early Stranglers recordings involved the use of Hohner Cembalet (model N), Hammond L-100 electric organ, a Minimoog synthesizer, and later an Oberheim OB-Xa.


title: Dave Greenfield

text: Greenfield wrote a piece of waltz-time harpsichord music during recording for "The Meninblack", which was discarded by other members of The Stranglers, but was later adapted into their biggest hit "Golden Brown", with lyrics from Hugh Cornwell and music from Greenfield and Jet Black, although the band themselves did not initially see this as a potential single. In addition to its chart success, the song also won an Ivor Novello award.


title: Dave Greenfield

text: On the albums "The Raven", "The Gospel According to the Meninblack" and "Aural Sculpture", Greenfield used a Korg VC-10 vocoder. Notable instances of this include in "Genetix" when it accompanies his own vocal and during the "Gene Regulation" section underneath Hugh Cornwell's monologue, and on "Baroque Bordello" towards the end of the song.


title: Dave Greenfield

text: He also frequently contributed harmony backing vocals to the band's songs, and sang the lead vocals on a few of their early tracks, as mentioned in Hugh Cornwell's book "The Stranglers, Song By Song". These tracks are:


title: Dave Greenfield

text: Greenfield died on 3 May 2020, aged 71. He had been diagnosed with COVID-19 infection during the COVID-19 pandemic in England on 26 April 2020, a week before his death, during an extended hospital stay for heart-related problems. Upon news of his death, several current and former members of the Stranglers eulogized him on social media. Hugh Cornwell tweeted, "He was the difference between the Stranglers and every other punk band. His musical skill and gentle nature gave an interesting twist to the band. He should be remembered as the man who gave the world the music of 'Golden Brown.'" Other artists also expressed their appreciation. Greenfield's last concert with the band was on 15 February 2020 at the Auckland Town Hall in Auckland, New Zealand.


title: Shura

text: Shura () can for example take the form of a council or a referendum. The Quran encourages Muslims to decide their affairs in consultation with each other.


title: Shura

text: Shura is mentioned as a praiseworthy activity often used in organizing the affairs of a mosque, Islamic organizations, and is a common term involved in naming parliaments. In the 21st century, some emerging scholars are now advocating the infusion of Shura with digital technology as a means to enhance participatory governance or E-Governance among Muslims for state- and community-building purposes.


title: Shura

text: Sunni Muslims believe that Islam requires decisions made by the Muslim societies to be made by shura of the Muslim community. Traditionally however, the amir, sultan or caliph would consult with his wazirs (ministers) and make a decision, after taking into consideration their opinions.


title: Shura

text: Shia Muslims say that Islam requires submission to existing rulers if they are correctly appointed, so long as they govern according to Sharia or Islamic law. This is a more traditional approach, characteristic of many centuries of Islamic history.


title: Shura

text: The difference between the two appears more semantic than actual—the latter accept that the rulers must be accounted in all aspects of ruling, to ensure affairs are managed in the best possible way whether decisions were taken through consultation or not.


title: Shura

text: "Those who hearken to their Lord, and establish regular Prayer; who (conduct) their affairs by mutual consultation among themselves; who spend out of what We bestow on them for Sustenance" [are praised]


title: Shura

text: Thus it is due to mercy from God that you deal with them gently, and had you been rough, hard hearted, they would certainly have dispersed from around you; pardon them therefore and ask pardon for them, and take counsel with them in the affair; so when you have decided, then place your trust in God; surely God loves those who trust.


title: Shura

text: During and after Ali's tenure as caliph, the Muslim community fell into civil war. Power was eventually grasped by the Umayyad caliphs and then by the Abbasid caliphs. There were also rival caliphates in Egypt and Al-Andalus (today's Spain and Portugal), and in the Indian subcontinent. The Ottoman Caliphate was officially dissolved by the newly founded Grand National Assembly of Turkey in 1924.


title: Shura

text: Few of the later caliphs had anything but nominal control over the many Islamic states, and none were chosen by shura; all reached power by inheritance. The Muslim clergy counseled submission to rulers but also stressed the duty of the ruler to rule by shura. They based this recommendation on the passages from the Qur'an mentioned above. The verses indicate that shura is praiseworthy but do not indicate who should be consulted, what they should be consulted about, or whether the ruler or the shura should prevail in the event the two do not agree.


title: Shura

text: In some Muslim nations, shuras play a role in the constitution or governance. Some Muslim nations, such as Turkey, are secular republics, and Morocco is a constitutional monarchy. They could thus be said to be ruled by one version of shura. For instance, the bicameral Parliament of Pakistan is officially called the Majlis-i-Shura, although the Constitution uses various spellings of the term. In Egypt, the Upper House of Parliament is known as the Shura Council. The People's Consultative Assembly in Indonesia is called "Majlis Permusyawaratan Rakyat" in Indonesian language. The word "musyawarat" is derived from shura/syawara.


title: Shura

text: In some monarchies and clerical regimes, there is a shura with an advisory or consultative role. Saudi Arabia, a monarchy, was given a shura council, the Consultative Assembly of Saudi Arabia, in 1993; there are now 150 members. All real power is held by the King, who is elected by family members. Oman, also a monarchy, has a shura council; all members are elected except the president, who is appointed by the sultan. The council can only offer advice, which may be refused by the sultan.


title: Shura

text: In Iran, a council called the assembly of experts has the ability to impeach the supreme leader. In addition to that, a general shura wields legislative powers, equivalent to a modern-day Western parliament.


title: Shura

text: Shuras have also been a feature of revolutions in Islamic societies, such as in the Iranian revolution of 1979, where they were formed by workers and held considerable power over parts of the economy for a year before being dismantled. Shuras were similarly a feature of the uprisings in Iraq in 1991, where they functioned as a form of participatory democracy.


title: Shura

text: Many traditional Sunni Islamic lawyers agree that to be in keeping with Islam, a government should have some form of council of consultation or "majlis al-shura", although it must recognize that God and not the people are sovereign. Al-Mawardi has written that members of the majlis should satisfy three conditions: they must be just, have enough knowledge to distinguish a good caliph from a bad one, and have sufficient wisdom and judgment to select the best caliph. Al-Mawardi also said that in emergencies when there is no caliphate and no majlis, the people themselves should create a majlis, select a list of candidates for caliph, and then the majlis should select a caliph from the list of candidates.


title: Shura

text: Many contemporary Muslims have compared the concept of Shura to the principles of western parliamentary democracy. For example:


title: Shura

text: What is the shura principle in Islam? ... It is predicated on three basic precepts. First, that all persons in any given society are equal in human and civil rights. Second, that public issues are best decided by majority view. And third, that the three other principles of justice, equality and human dignity, which constitute Islam's moral core, ... are best realized, in personal as well as public life, under shura governance.


title: Shura

text: Other modern Muslim thinkers distance themselves from democracy. Taqiuddin al-Nabhani, the founder of the modern transnational Islamist party Hizb ut-Tahrir, writes that shura is important and part of "the ruling structure" of the Islamic caliphate, "but not one of its pillars." If the caliph "neglects it," by not paying much or any attention, as happened after the first four caliphs, "he would be negligent, but the ruling system would remain Islamic."


title: Shura

text: This is because the shura (consultation) in Islam is for seeking the opinion and not for ruling. This is contrary to the parliamentary system in democracy.


title: Shura

text: The democratic parliamentary system being distinct from and inferior to the true Islamic caliphate system according to Taqiuddin an-Nabhani.


title: Shura

text: Under the Hizb ut-Tahrir constitution, non-Muslims may not serve a caliph or any other ruling official, nor vote for these officials, but may be part of the majlis and voice "complaints in respect to unjust acts performed by the rulers or the misapplication of Islam upon them."


title: Shura

text: Still others, such as the Muslim author Sayyid Qutb, go further, arguing that an Islamic shura should advise the caliph but not elect or supervise him. In an analysis of the shura chapter of the Qur'an, Qutb noted that Islam requires only that the ruler consult with at least some of the ruled (usually the elite), within the general context of God-made laws that the ruler must execute. In 1950 Qutb denounced democracy in favor of dictatorship, saying it was already bankrupt in the West and asking why it should be imported to the Middle East.


title: Shura

text: The practice of a consultative, but not bill-passing, caliph-electing or popularly elected shura, was adopted by the self-described strict Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. While the Kandahar Shura of the Taliban debated issues, in the end its spokesman declared, "we abide by the Amir's view even if he alone takes this view."


title: Shura

text: In Persian language and Dari in Afghanistan, the term , "shuravi" is used for 'Soviet' (the etymology being related to "council"). In Tajik language it is written .


title: Moiety (chemistry)

text: In organic chemistry, a moiety ( ) is a part of a molecule that is given a name because it is identified as a part of other molecules as well.


title: Moiety (chemistry)

text: Typically, the term is used to describe the larger and characteristic parts of organic molecules, and it should not be used to describe or name smaller functional groups of atoms that chemically react in similar ways in most molecules that contain them. Occasionally, a moiety may contain smaller moieties and functional groups.


title: Moiety (chemistry)

text: A moiety that acts as a branch extending from the backbone of a hydrocarbon molecule is called a substituent or side chain, which typically can be removed from the molecule and substituted with others.


title: Moiety (chemistry)

text: In pharmacology, an active moiety is the part of a molecule or ion – excluding appended inactive portions – that is responsible for the physiological or pharmacological action of a drug substance. Inactive appended portions of the drug substance may include either the alcohol or acid moiety of an ester, a salt (including a salt with hydrogen or coordination bonds), or other noncovalent derivative (such as a complex, chelate, or clathrate). The parent drug may itself be an inactive prodrug and only after the active moiety is released from the parent in free form does it become active.


title: 2023 Copa Libertadores

text: The 2023 Copa CONMEBOL Libertadores will be the 64th edition of the CONMEBOL Libertadores (also referred to as the "Copa Libertadores"), South America's premier club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL.


title: 2023 Copa Libertadores

text: The winners of the 2023 Copa Libertadores will earn the right to play against the winners of the 2023 Copa Sudamericana in the 2024 Recopa Sudamericana. They will also automatically qualify for the 2024 Copa Libertadores group stage.


title: 2023 Copa Libertadores

text: The draw for the group stage will be held on 22 March 2023. Teams will also be seeded by their "CONMEBOL Clubs ranking" as of 9 December 2022 (shown in parentheses), taking into account the same three factors. For the group stage, the 32 qualified teams will be drawn into eight groups (Groups A–H) of four containing a team from each of the four pots.


title: 2023 Copa Libertadores

text: The following 32 teams will be involved in the group stage ("CONMEBOL Clubs ranking" as of 9 December 2022 shown in parentheses):


title: Tha Crossroads

text: "Tha Crossroads" is a song written and performed by hip hop group Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, released as a single in April 1996. The song is dedicated to the group's mentor, the late gangsta rap icon Eazy-E, and other family members. The song was the highest-debuting rap single when it debuted at number two on the US "Billboard" Hot 100, reaching number one the following week and staying there for eight consecutive weeks. It also reached number one in New Zealand, where it was the most successful single of 1996. In 1997, the song won a Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group.


title: Tha Crossroads

text: "Crossroad" originally debuted in 1995 on the "E. 1999 Eternal" album. It was dedicated to Bone's dead friend Wallace (Wally) Laird III, but after the death of Eazy-E they decided to remake it as "Tha Crossroads". The original song appears on the edited version of the album, though the European release has the original as track number 8 and the remix as track 18. The song is performed by four of the group's members, (Krayzie Bone, Layzie Bone, Bizzy Bone and Wish Bone). After receiving high praise for their song the group decided to make it their third single for their already released album, "E. 1999 Eternal".


title: Tha Crossroads

text: In 2019, a version including other group member Flesh-n-Bone was released with the Bone Thugs-n-Harmony compilation album Lost Archives Vol 1. (After receiving their publishing rights from Ruthless Records.)


title: Tha Crossroads

text: The song was a hit worldwide and reached the top of the US "Billboard" Hot 100 and the New Zealand Singles Chart; on the latter chart, it was the most successful song of 1996. It has been certified double platinum in the United States and platinum in New Zealand. In 2008, "Tha Crossroads" was ranked number 33 on VH1's "100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop".


title: Tha Crossroads

text: The music video was filmed on February 27–28, 1996. It opens with the female vocal group Tre' (Kimberly Cromartie, Rebecca Forsha and Maniko Williams) singing the traditional spiritual "Mary Don't You Weep" in a church funeral setting, followed by the members of Bone Thugs-n-Harmony singing the main song in several settings, such as a church and a mountain top.


title: Tha Crossroads

text: The main focus of the video is an imposing man with sunglasses and a trench coat, akin to a Reaper. Bone are among the few who can see the man, and watch him as he gathers souls of various individuals who are marked for death, such as a young man who leaves his distraught mother behind (presumably having died after entering life as a gang member), Bone's friend Wally, Wish Bone's Uncle Charles, Eazy-E, and a newborn baby (possibly to have died from a childbirth complication).


title: Tha Crossroads

text: The Reaper then leads the souls, with the baby in his arms, up a mountain where he reveals himself to be an angel, then takes the dead to Heaven.


title: Tha Crossroads

text: "Tha Crossroads" was nominated for the Best Rap Video at the MTV Video Music Awards in 1996, although it lost to Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise".


title: Tha Crossroads

text: "Crossroads", a retitled and reworked version of "Tha Crossroads", was released by British ten-piece hip-hop group Blazin' Squad as their first single in August 2002. It topped the UK Singles Chart on the week of August 25, 2002.


title: Tha Crossroads

text: The group's cover version of "Crossroads" was recorded for inclusion on their first studio album, "In the Beginning". The decision to record and release "Crossroads" came about during the final stages of the album production: until June 2002, the song "Standard Flow" was planned for release as the group's first single, with a promotional version of the "Standard Flow" even made available on August 5. Despite being labelled as a cover version, only the chorus from the original version remains, with the verses replaced by new lyrics written by the band. Despite being the only 'cover version' the group ever recorded, it became the band's only number one single, staying at the top of the UK Singles Chart for one week in August 2002. Two versions of the song exist: the main version, which features in the music video and on "In the Beginning", and the full version, which contains two extra verses, which appears on the second physical release of the single.


title: Tha Crossroads

text: The music video for "Crossroads" directed by Vaughan Arnell was premiered in July 2002. The video runs for a total length of three minutes and forty-eight seconds and shows the band performing the song on top of an unfinished flyover in the centre of Cape Town. The video also shows scenes of an underpass where a number of homeless people are living, and individual shots of each band member. The video was filmed with the phantom effect, which provides a 'shadow' type movement for each member of the band.


title: Margaret of France, Queen of England

text: Margaret of France ( – 14 February 1318) was Queen of England as the second wife of King Edward I. She was a daughter of Philip III of France and Maria of Brabant.


title: Margaret of France, Queen of England

text: Margaret was the daughter of King Philip III of France and his second wife, Maria of Brabant. King Philip died when Margaret was six years old and she grew up under guidance of her mother and Queen Joan I of Navarre, the wife of her half-brother King Philip IV.


title: Margaret of France, Queen of England

text: The death of his beloved first wife, Eleanor of Castile, in 1290, left King Edward I of England reeling in grief. He was at the time at war with France and Scotland. He and Eleanor had only one surviving son, Edward, and so the king was anxious to have more sons. In summer of 1291, Edward betrothed his son to Blanche, half-sister to Margaret and Philip IV, in order to achieve peace with France. However, hearing of her renowned beauty, Edward decided to have his son's bride for his own and sent emissaries to France. Philip agreed to have Blanche marry Edward on the conditions that a truce would be concluded between the two countries, and that Edward would give up the province of Gascony.


title: Margaret of France, Queen of England

text: Edward agreed, and sent his brother Edmund Crouchback, Earl of Lancaster, to fetch the new bride. Edward had been deceived, for Blanche was to be married to Rudolph, the eldest son of King Albert I of Germany. Instead, Philip offered her younger sister Margaret to marry Edward (then 55). Upon hearing this, Edward declared war on France, refusing to marry Margaret. After five years, a truce was agreed upon under the influence of Pope Boniface VIII. A series of treaties in the first half of 1299 provided terms for a double marriage: Edward I would marry Margaret and his son would marry Isabella, Philip's only surviving daughter. Additionally, the English monarchy would regain the key territory of Guyenne and receive £15,000 owed to Margaret as well as the return of Eleanor of Castile's lands in Ponthieu and Montreuil as a dower first for Margaret and then Isabella.


title: Margaret of France, Queen of England

text: Edward was then 60 years old, at least 40 years older than his bride. The wedding took place at Canterbury on 10 September 1299. Margaret was never crowned due to financial constraints, being the first uncrowned queen since the Conquest. This in no way lessened her dignity as the king's wife, however, for she used the royal title in her letters and documents, and appeared publicly wearing a crown even though she had not received one during a formal rite of investiture.


title: Margaret of France, Queen of England

text: Edward soon returned to the Scottish border to continue his campaigns and left Margaret in London, but she had become pregnant quickly after the wedding. After several months, bored and lonely, the young queen decided to join her husband. Nothing could have pleased the king more, for Margaret's actions reminded him of his first wife Eleanor, who had had two of her sixteen children abroad. In less than a year Margaret gave birth to a son, Thomas who was named after Thomas Becket, since she had prayed to him during her pregnancy. The next year she gave birth to another son, Edmund.


title: Margaret of France, Queen of England

text: Many who fell under the king's wrath were saved from too stern a punishment by the queen's influence over her husband, and the statement, "Pardoned solely on the intercession of our dearest consort, queen Margaret of England", appears. In 1305, the young queen acted as a mediator between her step-son and husband, reconciling the heir apparent to his aging father, and calming her husband's wrath. She and her stepson, who was only two years younger than she, also became fond of each other: he once made her a gift of an expensive ruby and gold ring, and she on one occasion rescued many of the prince's friends from the wrath of the king.


title: Margaret of France, Queen of England

text: Margaret favored the Franciscan order and was a benefactress of a new foundation at Newgate. She employed the minstrel Guy de Psaltery and both she and her husband liked to play chess. The mismatched couple were blissfully happy. When her sister Blanche died in 1305, Edward ordered all the court to go into mourning to please his wife. He had realised the wife he had gained was "a pearl of great price" as Margaret was respected for her beauty, virtue, and piety. The same year Margaret gave birth to a girl, Eleanor, named in honour of Edward's first wife, a choice which surprised many, and showed Margaret's unjealous nature.


title: Margaret of France, Queen of England

text: In 1307, Edward went on summer campaign to Scotland. Margaret accompanied him. Edward died in Burgh by Sands.


title: Margaret of France, Queen of England

text: Margaret never remarried after Edward's death in 1307, despite being only 26 when widowed. She was alleged to have stated that "when Edward died, all men died for me".


title: Margaret of France, Queen of England

text: Margaret was not pleased when Edward II elevated Piers Gaveston to become Earl of Cornwall upon his father's death, since the title had been meant for one of her own sons. She attended the new king's wedding to her half-niece Isabella, and a silver casket was made with both their arms. After Isabella's coronation, Margaret retired to Marlborough Castle (which was by this time a dower house), but she stayed in touch with the new queen and with her half-brother Philip IV by letter during the confusing times leading up to Gaveston's death in 1312. Margaret, too, was a victim of Gaveston's influence over her stepson. Edward II gave several of her dower lands to the favourite, including Berkhamsted Castle. In May 1308, an anonymous informer reported that Margaret had provided £40,000 along with Philip IV to support the English barons against Gaveston. Due to this action, Gaveston was briefly exiled and Margaret remained fairly unmolested by the upstart until his death in June 1312.


title: Margaret of France, Queen of England

text: On 14 February 1318 she died in her castle at Marlborough. Dressed in a Franciscan habit, she was buried at Christ Church Greyfriars in London, a church she had generously endowed. Her tomb was destroyed during the Reformation.


title: Zalmoxis

text: Zalmoxis () also known as Salmoxis (Σάλμοξις), Zalmoxes (Ζάλμοξες), Zamolxis (Ζάμολξις), Samolxis (Σάμολξις), Zamolxes (Ζάμολξες), or Zamolxe (Ζάμολξε) is a divinity of the Getae and Dacians (a people of the lower Danube), mentioned by Herodotus in his "Histories" Book IV, 93–96, written before 425 BC.


title: Zalmoxis

text: According to Jordanes' "Getica", he was a learned philosopher, before whom two other learned men existed, by the names of Zeuta and Deceneus.


title: Zalmoxis

text: In modern times, theories and debate on Zalmoxis's religion by such scholars as Mircea Eliade are influenced by considerations of Romanian nationalism as well by pure historical interest.


title: Zalmoxis

text: 94. They believe they are immortal forever living in the following sense: they think they do not die and that the one who dies joins Zalmoxis, a divine being; some call this same divine being Gebeleizis. Every four years, they send a messenger to Zalmoxis, who is chosen by chance. They ask him to tell Zalmoxis what they want on that occasion. The mission is performed in the following way: men standing there for that purpose hold three spears; other people take the one who is sent to Zalmoxis by his hands and feet and fling him in the air on the spears. If he dies pierced, they think that the divinity is going to help them; if he does not die, it is he who is accused and they declare that he is a bad person. And, after he has been charged, they send another one. The messenger is told the requests while he is still alive. The same Thracians, on other occasions, when he thunders and lightens, shoot with arrows up in the air against the sky and menace the divinity because they think there is no god other than their own.


title: Zalmoxis

text: Herodotus asserts that Zalmoxis was originally a human being, a slave who converted the Thracians to his beliefs. The Greeks of the Hellespont and the Black Sea tell that Zalmoxis was a slave of Pythagoras, son of Mnesarchos, on the island of Samos. After being liberated, he gathered huge wealth and, once rich, went back to his homeland. Thracians lived simple hard lives. Zalmoxis had lived among the wisest of Greeks, such as Pythagoras, and had been initiated into Ionian life and the Eleusinian Mysteries. He built a banquet hall, and received the chiefs and his fellow countrymen at a banquet. He taught that neither his guests nor their descendants would ever die, but instead would go to a place where they would live forever in complete happiness. He then dug an underground residence. When it was finished, he disappeared from Thrace, living for three years in his underground residence. The Thracians missed him and wept fearing him dead. The fourth year, he came back among them and thus they believed what Zalmoxis had told them.


title: Zalmoxis

text: Zalmoxis may have lived much earlier than Pythagoras and was rumored either to be a divine being or from the country of the Getae.


title: Zalmoxis

text: "Now I neither disbelieve nor entirely believe the tale about Salmoxis and his underground chamber; but I think that he lived many years before Pythagoras; [2] and as to whether there was a man called Salmoxis or this is some deity native to the Getae, let the question be dismissed." — Herodotus


title: Zalmoxis

text: Scholars have several different theories about this account by Herodotus the disappearance and return of Zalmoxis:


title: Zalmoxis

text: This last theory precisely parallels the legend of the universal king Frode, given in both "Ynglingsaga" and "Gesta Danorum" of Saxo Grammaticus, particularly "Ynglingsaga" 12 and "Gesta Danorum", in which Frode disappears into the earth for three years after his death.


title: Zalmoxis

text: It is difficult to define the time when a cult to Zalmoxis may have existed. It is only certain that it antecedes Herodotus. Some scholars have suggested that the archaic doctrine of Zalmoxis points to a heritage from before the times of Indo-Europeans, but this is difficult, if not impossible, to demonstrate.


title: Zalmoxis

text: Plato claims that Zalmoxis was also a great physician who took a holistic approach to healing body and soul (psyche), being thus used by Plato for his own philosophical conceptions.


title: Zalmoxis

text: Strabo in his "Geography" mentions a certain Deceneus (Dékainéos) whom he calls a "magician". According to Strabo, king Burebista (82–44 BC) hired Deceneus, who had been in Egypt, to "tame" his people. As a sign of the people's obedience, they consented to destroy all their wines as ordered by Deceneus. The "reform of Deceneus" is the interpretation by the 6th-century bishop and historian Jordanes, who includes the Getae in his history of the Goths (as assumed ancestors of the Goths). Jordanes describes how Deceneus taught the Getae philosophy and physics. Even if it is more probable that Jordanes interjected his own philosophical knowledge into the text, many modern Romanian authors consider that Deceneus was a priest who reformed the religion of the Getae, changing the worship of Zalmoxis into a popular religion and imposing strict religious rules, such as the restriction of wine consumption. Jean Coman deems this prohibition as the origin of the dietary restrictions followed by the modern Orthodox Church during Lent.


title: Zalmoxis

text: According to Iamblichus (280-333 AD), "for instructing the Getae in these things, and for having written laws for them, Zalmoxis was by them considered as the greatest of the gods."


title: Zalmoxis

text: Aristotle is said, in the brief epitome of his "Magicus" given by Diogenes Laertes, to have compared Zalmoxis with the Phoenician Okhon and Libyan Atlas. Some authors assume Zalmoxis was another name of Sabazius, the Thracian Dionysus, or Zeus. Sabazius appears in Jordanes as Gebelezis. Leaving aside the suffixes "-zius/-zis", the root "Saba-" = "Gebele-", suggesting a relationship of the name of the goddess Cybele, as "Cybele's Zeus". Mnaseas of Patrae identified Zalmoxis with Cronos, as does Hesychius, who has "".


title: Zalmoxis

text: In Plato's writings, Zalmoxis is mentioned as skilled in the arts of incantation. Zalmoxis gave his name to a particular type of singing and dancing (Hesych). His realm as a god is not very clear, as some considered him to be a sky-god, a god of the dead, or a god of the Mysteries.


title: Zalmoxis

text: Lactantius (an early Christian author, c. 240–320 AD), referring to the religion of the Getae, provides an approximate translation of Julian the Apostate's purported quotation of Trajan:


title: Zalmoxis

text: "We have conquered even these Getai (Dacians), the most warlike of all people that have ever existed, not only because of the strength in their bodies, but, also due to the teachings of Zalmoxis who is among their most hailed. He has told them that in their hearts they do not die, but change their location and, due to this, they go to their deaths happier than on any other journey."


title: Zalmoxis

text: The "Zalmoxian religion" is the subject of a scholarly debate that has continued since the beginning of the 20th century. According to some scholars, such as Vasile Pârvan, Jean Coman, R. Pettazzon, E. Rohde and Sorin Paliga, since ancient sources do not mention any god of the Getae other than Zalmoxis, the Getae were monotheistic. However, Herodotus is the only ancient author who explicitly states that the Getae had only one divinity. The sending of a messenger to Zalmoxis and the fact that Getae shot arrows towards the sky have prompted some authors to believe Zalmoxis was a sky god, but his journey into a cavern has led others to suggest that he was a chthonic divinity.


title: Zalmoxis

text: A third group of scholars believe that the Getae, like other Indo-European peoples, were polytheistic. They draw on ancient authors such as Diodorus Siculus, who states that the Getae worshipped Hestia as well as Zalmoxis.


title: Zalmoxis

text: A number of etymologies have been given for the name. In his "Vita Pythagorae", Porphyrius (3rd century) says that he was so named because he had been wrapped in a bearskin at birth, and "zalmon" is the Thracian word for "hide" (). Hesychius (ca. 5th century) has () as a Phrygian word for "foreign slave".


title: Zalmoxis

text: The correct spelling of the name is also uncertain. Manuscripts of Herodotus' "Historiae" have all four spellings, viz. "Zalmoxis", "Salmoxis", "Zamolxis", "Samolxis", with a majority of manuscripts favouring "Salmoxis". Later authors show a preference for "Zamolxis". Hesychius quotes Herodotus, using "Zalmoxis".


title: Zalmoxis

text: The "-m-l-" variant ("Zamolxis") is favoured by those wishing to derive the name from a conjectured Thracian word for "earth", . Comparisons have also been made with the name of Zemelo and Žemelė, the Phrygian and Lithuanian goddess of the earth, and with the Lithuanian chthonic god Žemeliūkštis. The Lithuanian word "Žalmuo" means "corn shoot" or "fresh grass". "Žalmokšnis" is another possible form of it.


title: Zalmoxis

text: The "-l-m-" variant is admitted to be the older form and the correct form by the majority of Thracologists, as this is the form found in the older Herodotus manuscripts and other ancient sources. The "-l-m-" form is further attested in Daco-Thracian in "Zalmodegikos", the name of a Getic King; and in Thracian , 'hide', and , 'hide' (PIE "*kel-", 'to cover'; cf. English "helm").


title: Zalmoxis

text: The other name for Zalmoxis, Gebeleizis, is also spelled Belaizis and Belaixis in Herodotus manuscripts.


title: Zalmoxis

text: The Romanian rock band Sfinx worked from around 1975 through 1978 on "Zalmoxe", a progressive rock LP, with lyrics by poet Alexandru Basarab (actually a pen name for Adrian Hoajă), which retold the story of Zalmoxis.


title: Ben Linus

text: Benjamin Linus is a fictional character portrayed by Michael Emerson on the ABC television series "Lost". Ben was the leader of a group of island natives called the Others and was initially known as Henry Gale to the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815. He began as the main antagonist during the second and third seasons, but in subsequent seasons, becomes a morally ambiguous ally to the main characters. Other characters frequently describe him as loyal only to himself, though it is also often hinted that he may be driven by some higher purpose.


title: Ben Linus

text: As with most characters on "Lost", Ben's history is revealed through flashbacks and episodes set in other time periods which are revealed slowly as the series progresses. Sterling Beaumon first portrayed a young Ben late in season three, in the character's first centric episode, "The Man Behind the Curtain". Ben's childhood is further explored in the fifth season of the series, partially set in 1977. Fifth season episode "Dead Is Dead" explores Ben's fragile state following the events of the fourth season, in which his loyalty to the island led to the death of his adoptive daughter Alex Rousseau (Tania Raymonde), and flashbacks show the audience Ben's original acquisition of Alex and his rise to leadership of the Others, after exiling his rival Charles Widmore (Alan Dale). Originally cast for three guest appearances in the second season, Emerson's role was expanded. As leader of the Others, Ben became a regular cast member from the third season onward. Reviews of the show would often focus on Ben's mysterious motives. Emerson's portrayal garnered many positive reviews, resulting in nominations for the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor year-on-year from 2007 to 2010, winning in 2009.


title: Ben Linus

text: In 2010, Ben Linus was ranked #24 on the TV Guide Network special "25 Greatest TV Characters of All Time". In 2016, "Rolling Stone" ranked him #1 of their "40 Greatest TV Villains of All Time".


title: Ben Linus

text: Flashbacks during "The Man Behind the Curtain" show Benjamin Linus being born in the woods outside of Portland, Oregon, to Roger (Jon Gries) and Emily Linus (Carrie Preston). Emily dies after giving birth to Ben. When Ben is young, he and his father move to the Island, after Roger is offered a job working for the Dharma Initiative. On the Island, Ben begins to see visions of his mother, while Roger starts drinking heavily and physically and verbally abusing him. Ben develops a hatred for the Dharma Initiative and one day runs away from the Barracks. He comes across Richard Alpert (Nestor Carbonell), one of the Island natives known to the Initiative as the "Hostiles", in the jungle, who grants Ben's request to join his group but tells him he needs to be very patient.


title: Ben Linus

text: Season five's "Namaste" shows a young Ben coming into contact with a captured Sayid Jarrah (Naveen Andrews), who along with several other Oceanic Flight 815 survivors has been brought back in time from 2007. In the following episode, "He's Our You", he helps free Sayid under the impression Sayid was sent by the Others to bring him to Richard. Sayid instead shoots Ben and leaves him for dead. Fellow crash survivor Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox) refuses to help the boy, so Kate Austen (Evangeline Lilly) and James "Sawyer" Ford (Josh Holloway) take Ben to Richard, who informs them Ben will henceforth lose his innocence and always be one of the Others. In 1987 (or possibly 1992) he assists the hostiles in using poisonous gas to kill the Dharma Initiative, including his father. In 1988, Charles Widmore, leader of the Others, sends Ben to kill French scientist Danielle Rousseau (Melissa Farman), who was marooned on the island. However, when Ben learns Rousseau has a child, he kidnaps the baby Alex Rousseau, warning Rousseau to never come looking for the baby if she wants either of them to live. He banishes Charles Widmore from the island and assumes his leadership role, as he is the only one who can allegedly interact with their real leader, Jacob, and communicate his will to the group.


title: Ben Linus

text: Two days before the crash of Oceanic Flight 815, Ben discovers he has a spinal tumor. After witnessing the crash, he sends Ethan Rom (William Mapother) and Goodwin Stanhope (Brett Cullen) to investigate. He chooses Goodwin in order to remove Ben's competition for the affections of Juliet Burke (Elizabeth Mitchell), a woman recruited to the island three years previously in order to help the Others with their fertility problems.


title: Ben Linus

text: Ben makes his first appearance in the season two episode "One of Them", where he is caught in a trap set by Danielle Rousseau (Mira Furlan). He pretends to be Henry Gale, a man from Minnesota who crashed on the island while traveling via hot air balloon. Rousseau turns him over to Sayid, who takes him to the , where he is held captive and interrogated. Ben is exposed as a fraud when the body of the real Henry Gale is found, but he is set free by Michael Dawson (Harold Perrineau), a crash survivor whose son has been kidnapped by the Others. When Michael successfully brings Jack, Kate, and Sawyer to the pier, Ben gives him a boat so he can leave the Island with his son. Ben then takes Jack, Kate, and Sawyer to a smaller island nearby.


title: Ben Linus

text: In the beginning of season three, Ben gives Juliet the task of interrogating Jack, while Kate and Sawyer are kept in cages. In the season 3 episode "Exposé", Ben and Juliet enter a Dharma station, the , and watch Jack on a monitor. Ben tells Juliet he will convince Jack to perform surgery on him. After Goodwin dies, Ben shows Juliet the corpse, so she knows she is Ben's and will be on the Island forever. He admits to Jack about having a tumor on his spine, and asks him to remove it in order for him to leave the Island. During the surgery he wakes up, where Jack refuses to finish until Kate and Sawyer are safely away from the Others. After they escape, Ben's operation is finished. He returns to the Barracks with the rest of the Others, and Jack in tow. When John Locke (Terry O'Quinn) comes to rescue Jack, he and Ben have a confrontation. Ben tells Locke of a "magic box" which can produce whatever someone wishes for and shows him his father, Anthony Cooper (Kevin Tighe), who they are holding captive and was brought to the Island because of the box. Ben offers Locke the opportunity to join the Others, but only if he kills Cooper; Ben knows he won't kill in cold blood, and so makes the offer as a way to humiliate Locke. Locke returns a few days later with Cooper's corpse, having used Sawyer to do the deed for him, so Ben takes him to meet Jacob. When Ben discovers Locke can hear Jacob, he shoots Locke and leaves him for dead. He returns to the Others' camp, and tells Richard, now his second-in-command, to lead the remaining Others to the Temple. Ben takes Alex with him as he attempts to prevent Jack from sending a radio message to a nearby freighter. He reunites Alex with her mother, and claims if Jack contacts the freighter, every single person on the Island will die. Ben is beaten and taken hostage, and forced to watch as the freighter is contacted.


title: Ben Linus

text: In the first episode of season four, "The Beginning of the End", the survivors divide into two groups. Those who believe the people from the freighter to be dangerous, Ben among them, join Locke and head to the Barracks. After Ben confesses the freighter crew has come to capture him, Miles Straume (Ken Leung), a medium from the freighter, makes a deal with Ben, asking for $3.2 million in exchange for reporting Ben as dead to Charles Widmore (Alan Dale), the man who sent the freighter. Ben agrees after Miles rebuffs his claims such a small fortune is beyond him. Ben eventually gets his freedom when he tells Locke who sent the freighter. Once free, Ben urges Alex, and her boyfriend and mother, to travel to the Temple, for protection from the people on the freighter. However, they are ambushed en route by mercenaries from the freighter and all but Alex are killed. Alex is taken hostage after revealing herself to be Ben's daughter. In "The Shape of Things to Come", Martin Keamy (Kevin Durand), the leader of the mercenaries, threatens to shoot Alex if Ben does not come forward; Ben staunchly denies any attachment to her, which results in her execution. Ben claims Widmore has "changed the rules", then summons the smoke monster to attack the mercenaries. He then leaves with Locke and Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Jorge Garcia) to communicate with Jacob. Locke enters Jacob's cabin alone, and returns stating they need to move the Island. They go to the , a Dharma station which allows them to do this. Ben sends Locke to become the new leader of the Others, then enters a secret level of the Orchid. He turns a large frozen wheel in the wall, which teleports the Island to a new location. Ben himself is transported to the Sahara Desert, specifically, Tunisia, which was formerly the ancient country of Carthage.


title: Ben Linus

text: The flashforwards in "The Shape of Things to Come" show Ben arrives in the Sahara Desert ten months ahead of when he left the Island. Ben finds Sayid at the funeral of his wife Nadia (Andrea Gabriel), and recruits Sayid as his personal assassin, telling him Widmore ordered the assassination of his wife. Ben provides Sayid with a list of targets, all of which he successfully kills over the next three years. At one point, Ben infiltrates Widmore's penthouse apartment in London to inform him of his intention to kill his daughter, Penelope (Sonya Walger), as retribution for the death of Alex.


title: Ben Linus

text: When Locke leaves the island to bring the survivors back to the island, Ben tracks him down. He gets Locke to reveal what he knows about returning to the island, then kills him and stages it as a suicide. Ben visits Jack in the funeral home housing Locke's body, telling Jack he will help him return to the island, but the only way to get back is to bring everyone who had left it, including Locke's corpse. Ben boards Ajira Airways Flight 316 with the rest of survivors, which then crashes on the island. Jack, Kate, Hurley, and Sayid are transported to 1977, while Sun and Ben remain in 2007 with a resurrected Locke. The plane crash lands on the Hydra Island, so Ben attempts to take a boat to the main island. Sun strikes him in the back of the head and takes the boat with Frank, so Ben is left in the care of the other survivors, including Locke. After Ben regains consciousness and finds Locke to be alive, he convinces Locke he knew bringing him to the island would resurrect him, and he stopped Locke's suicide attempt merely to gain information. Locke travels with Ben, who is to be judged by the Monster. After they fail to find the Monster at the Barracks, they head to the Temple. As Ben and Locke travel through a series of tunnels beneath the Temple, Ben falls through the floor, so Locke leaves to get something that he can pull him up with. The Monster flows out of a grate below and surrounds Ben, showing flashes of decisions he made in his life involving Alex. The Monster takes the form of Alex and pushes Ben against a wall. She says she knows Ben is planning to kill Locke again, and if he does she will hunt him down and destroy him. She orders him to follow Locke and do whatever he asks, then disappears. They return to the Others' camp, where Locke gathers the group together and announces he is taking them to see Jacob. As they are walking, Ben relates his experience with the Monster and his promise to do whatever Locke asks, so Locke convinces Ben to kill Jacob. Richard leads them to the base of the statue, where Jacob lives. Within, they are met by Jacob (Mark Pellegrino). Jacob greets Locke and observes Locke has found a loophole. It is revealed that Locke was not resurrected, and is instead the Monster taking the form of Locke. Ben confronts Jacob about why he never revealed himself at any time during Ben's tenure as leader, but when Jacob is dismissive towards him, he stabs Jacob twice, killing him – and in doing so, binds his destiny to the island, sealing his own fate.


title: Ben Linus

text: After Jacob's death, the Monster tells Ben to fetch Richard, as he wants to speak to him. However, when Ben exits the statue, Richard throws him down beside the corpse of the real John Locke, which has been brought to the statue by survivors of the Ajira flight, led by Ilana Verdansky (Zuleikha Robinson). Ben is forced by Ilana's group to bring them to the imposter Locke. They start shooting at the Monster, but he disappears, then returns in its black smoke form, killing Ilana's group. The Monster returns to Locke's form and mockingly informs Ben of the real Locke's last thoughts, while being strangled by Ben. Afterwards, Ben comforts Ilana when he finds her crying in Jacob's chamber and sets off with her, Sun, and Frank Lapidus (Jeff Fahey) to bury Locke before going to the Temple, where they believe they will be safe from the Monster. At Locke's funeral, Ben provides the eulogy, and expresses his sincere apologies for killing Locke. When they arrive at the Temple, the Monster is destroying the place. They return to the beach as a temporary shelter, and Ben attempts to make amends with everyone for killing Jacob. Ilana then forces him to dig a grave and explains she will kill Ben for murdering her father figure. Later, the Monster visits Ben, telling him to join him and then magically frees Ben. After Ben escapes, Ilana chases after him, and the two come face-to-face at the jungle when Ben points a rifle at her. Ben explains to her why he really killed Jacob, particularly grieving his daughter. Ilana understands and allows him to rejoin their group, which he does. Hurley, Jack, and Richard show up and join their group, then have a meeting, deciding what to do next. Richard suggests they should stop the Monster escaping by blowing up the Ajira plane. After Hurley destroys the available dynamite from the shipwrecked "Black Rock", Richard insists he will find other explosives. Ben and Miles join Richard, while the rest decide to go talk to the Monster. When Ben, Richard and Miles arrive at the Barracks, Widmore is there, and is soon joined by the Monster. Ben murders Widmore before he is able to make a deal with the Monster to spare his daughter. The Monster and Ben find Desmond and the Monster forces him to go destroy the Island. They run into Jack's group and they both go to the heart of the Island, where Desmond removes the cork of the Island, causing the Island to begin collapsing. After Jack kills the Monster, Ben and Hurley volunteer to stay behind on the Island with Jack to assist him relighting the Island. Jack tells them he will die doing this and Jack gives Hurley the new position of being protector of the Island. Ben advises him to approach his Island duties with his kindness and helpful attitude. Hurley asks Ben to become his advisor, to which he is honored. After an undisclosed period of time, Ben, on orders from Hurley, arrives at the Dharma Logistics Warehouse in Guam. He speaks to the two workers there and instructs them that the facility is being shut down. Afterward, Ben arrives at the Santa Rosa Mental Hospital and visits Walt. Ben tells him that he is still special and that he can help his father, Michael, even though he is dead, and offers Walt a job to return to the island.


title: Ben Linus

text: The afterlife experienced by the survivors is shown during season six. In "The Substitute", Ben Linus is shown as a teacher of European History. In "Dr. Linus", Ben laments his life in general, frustrated with the school bureaucracy and particularly due to Reynolds, the principal who does not care for the school. He is living with his father, Roger (Jon Gries), who is on life support. At school, he is shown to have a close relationship with his star pupil, Alex, and befriends a substitute teacher, John Locke. While studying together, Alex tells Ben that Principal Reynolds is having a sexual affair with one of the school nurses on campus. Ben attempts to blackmail Reynolds, threatening to reveal his affair and citing his position as principal as the demand. However, Reynolds swiftly retaliates by saying if he makes good on his threats, Alex's chances of going to Yale University will decrease substantially, as he is requested to write her a recommendation letter. Wanting to save Alex's educational future, Ben backs down. Days later, Ben notices Desmond Hume waiting outside the school in his car for an extended amount of time. Desmond runs over Locke, and swiftly drives off. As soon as the ambulance arrives, Ben gets in and sits next to the critically injured Locke, assuring him everything will be all right. When Locke returns to the school, Desmond does as well, and Ben catches him. Desmond beats Ben severely saying he was only trying to help Locke let go. Ben has a vision from his previous life during Desmond's beating. Ben believes him and relays Locke this information. When Alex sees how badly Ben was beaten, she invites him to her house where her mother, Danielle, fixes him supper. Danielle tells Ben that Alex views him as a father, and Ben begins to cry. Ben waits outside the chapel where the Oceanic survivors plan to move on together, and he sees Locke for the last time. Ben sincerely apologizes to Locke for killing him, and Locke forgives him. Hurley later comes out of the chapel and invites Ben in, but Ben politely declines saying he is not ready to move on, saying he "has a few things to work out". Hurley accepts this, and tells Ben that he was a "real good number two", thanking him for his help in protecting the island. Ben, touched by this, responds "And you were a great number one, Hugo."


title: Ben Linus

text: Ben, although extremely well-mannered, has an impeccable ability to lie and manipulate the people around him, even when he is at a physical disadvantage. He often speaks in a low, emotionless monotone when at his most unreadable, frequently sprinkling his speech with sarcasm or dry, mirthless jokes. He can also be petty and vindictive, even to the point of murder, when he does not get what he wants. He unsuccessfully tries to convince the survivors he is Henry Gale, although he succeeds in manipulating Locke to turn against Jack while held prisoner under this guise. While he claims he will not sacrifice innocent lives in order to accomplish his goals, he has been shown to do quite the opposite. In the third-season finale, Ben is informed by Tom Friendly (M. C. Gainey), an Other, that they have captured three of the crash survivors: Sayid Jarrah, Bernard Nadler (Sam Anderson), and Jin-Soo Kwon (Daniel Dae Kim). When Tom tells Ben they are unwilling to reveal any information about the rest of the survivors, Ben quickly replies "Shoot Kwon... You want them to answer questions, kill Kwon – do it now". Conversely, Ben refuses to allow his spy on the freighter to destroy it long before it reaches the Island, as he would not kill anyone who "did not deserve to die". Furthermore, when Locke confronts Ben about causing the freighter to explode, Ben coldly replies, "So?"


title: Ben Linus

text: Ben's unclear motives have led to speculation about his possible status as a villain. Ben Rawson-Jones from Digital Spy describes Ben as a "supposed villain", pondering "Could he really have been the good guy all along" following the fourth-season episode "The Shape of Things to Come". Actor Michael Emerson suspects where Ben's loyalties lie will always be ambiguous, making this a "wonderful role". He is rarely shown losing control of his emotions, but when he does, it is done in a big and childish way. Emerson explains "He's cold because any trace of warmth makes him vulnerable to his enemies". Ben is also known for his commitment to the island and doing whatever is necessary to protect it. He has no qualms with Locke attempting to kill Naomi (Marsha Thomason) and even Jack after the survivors begin to call the freighter. He undertakes the risky and unpredictable step of moving the Island to prevent the freighter crew, and thus Charles Widmore, from finding it. He always has a plan and is described by Kevin Thompson from "The Palm Beach Post" as a "know-it-all", which another reviewer thinks is because "[Ben] talks quietly, in a menacingly measured drawl... with lots of pauses and emphases".


title: Ben Linus

text: In 2001, Michael Emerson won a Primetime Emmy Award for his guest appearance as serial killer William Hinks on "The Practice". The "Lost" producers liked his work on "The Practice", so they were keen to cast Emerson in the role of Ben, then known as "Henry Gale", as they thought he would fit the character well. He was originally contracted to appear in just three episodes of "Lost", making his first appearance midway through the second season, in episode "One of Them". The producers were so impressed by him that they contracted him for a further five episodes, citing the scene at the end of "The Whole Truth" where Ben asks for milk as the moment they knew he was a "keeper". He was then made a part of the regular cast from the third season. Had Emerson not worked out during his initial appearances a different actor would have been cast for the leader of the Others, but it was always intended the survivors would have the leader right under their noses and not realize it. During one episode of the Official Lost Podcast, the producers state they always knew Ben would be the "Big Bad". Emerson had no idea of his character's importance during his second season recurring role. He was told nothing about Ben's backstory and would only receive scripts at the last minute. He enjoyed how the ambiguity of Ben's motives allowed him to "paint it the way [he] please[s]". Sterling Beaumon was cast to play Ben in the flashbacks of episode "The Man Behind the Curtain". Emerson's wife Carrie Preston was cast as Ben's mother following Emerson telling people at parties she was desperate for a part on the show.