title: Zatara

text: John Zatara is introduced as a magician in various publications of DC Comics, beginning with 1938's "Action Comics" #1, which also contains the first appearance of Superman. Like the very similar Mandrake the Magician, Zatara had a large East Indian as a friend/bodyguard, called Tong, to share his early adventures.


title: Zatara

text: As well as being an illusionist, Zatara also had genuine magical powers (decades later ascribed to being a descendant of the "Homo magi"), which he focused through speaking backwards: he could do anything so long as he could describe it in ("backwards speech"). This helped distinguish Zatara from the numerous Mandrake the Magician knockoffs that cluttered the comics and pulp magazines of the day, although Merlin the Magician (Quality Comics) also had this attribute, and it was also given to him by Zatara's creator, Fred Guardineer.


title: Zatara

text: According to "Jess Nevins' Encyclopedia of Golden Age Superheroes", "he fights Egyptian wizards, an evil Druid, Zulus, a Mad Lama, Mongol warriors, the Gorilla King, a Saturnian terror, and Moon Men".


title: Zatara

text: His love of magic began early when he was given a magic kit by his uncle, himself a professional illusionist. Although he began learning the craft in childhood, his early attempts at performing professionally were unsuccessful until he realized that he needed to work on his showmanship.


title: Zatara

text: His lessons in magic were bolstered by visits from the Phantom Stranger, and he had a sexual relationship with Madame Xanadu, but she refused to marry him because she saw his future.


title: Zatara

text: To that end, he acquired the old diaries of Leonardo da Vinci, who was a direct ancestor. While reading the diaries, which Da Vinci wrote in backwards spelling as a security precaution, Zatara learned that his family had the command of magic. He discovered this inadvertently when he accidentally gave a command to a mannequin to begin waving an arm wildly. Zatara realized that he could command it to stop by giving the order in backwards spelling.


title: Zatara

text: With this new knowledge, Zatara developed a successful show. During the premiere performance, a fire broke out on stage, forcing Zatara to use his command of real magic to put it out. While the audience mistook the incident as part of the act, Zatara realized that this power could be invaluable in helping people and he resolved to use it as such between shows.


title: Zatara

text: Zatara became good friends with Thomas Wayne. His excursions with Wayne led to Wayne meeting his wife, Martha. After the two were killed, Zatara left Gotham City, blaming himself for being unable to stop the orphaning of young Bruce. Eventually, in Europe, Zatara would meet and wed Sindella, who gave birth to their daughter, Zatanna. Sindella seemingly died after giving birth to Zatanna, prompting Zatara to become a depressed drunk.


title: Zatara

text: Things changed for the better in Zatara's life when a young Bruce Wayne arrived, requesting Zatara to teach him to become an escape artist and illusionist. Bruce's appearance prompted Zatara to address his alcoholism.


title: Zatara

text: Zatanna, Zatara's daughter by Sindella, a fellow "Homo magi", was introduced in a multipart crossover in which she attempted to find her father, and he attempted to stop her at every turn, because he knew that a spell had been placed upon them both that would cause them to both die if they saw one another. This adventure includes Zatara confronting an evil warlock on a world where nothing changes or grows older. Zatara steals his adversary's teleportation crystal in a somewhat-successful attempt to stop the man from invading Earth. Zatara ends up trapped in the land of Kharma by a sorceress called Allura, whom he had trapped in the Sword of Paracelsus. Allura turned out to have a good twin, also called Allura, who forced her to remove the spell.


title: Zatara

text: At the conclusion of Alan Moore's "American Gothic" storyline (which was tied to the events of "Crisis on Infinite Earths"), John Constantine comes to get Zatanna, Mento and Sargon the Sorcerer to come together to help demonic and divine forces in other hellish dimensions battle the entity known as the 'Great Evil Beast'. The séance is held at Wintersgate Manor, the home of Baron Winters in Georgetown, Washington D.C., which is also a temporal threshold to other planes of reality. Because Constantine had previously taken Zatanna to a "tantric studies meeting", Zatara will "not" let Zatanna out of his sight with Constantine present and, by his very presence, is forced to take part in the seance to which he was "not" invited. The Beast, which is so tall that its thumb alone looms over Hell, takes notice of their group twice. The first glimpse dooms Sargon, whom Zatara convinces to 'die like a sorcerer' and not break the holding of hands. Sargon burns to death nobly. The second glimpse starts to literally heat up Zatanna. Zatara willingly takes the effect onto himself, dying (his smoldering hat lands on the table), but sparing his daughter's life.


title: Zatara

text: Since then he has made sporadic appearances in the afterlife, including resurrecting Mason O'Dare in "Starman" (vol. 2) #80, and the "Seven Soldiers: Zatanna" miniseries. In the "Reign in Hell" miniseries, Zatara is part of a general resistance movement operating in Hell. He is caught up in the various conflicts and is slain a second time in Hell by a rampaging Lobo. As with most of the 'dead', he risks becoming fodder for Hell, a torment where the physicality of the damned is used for general resources, such as building material. By manipulating his blood to form words, he asks Zatanna to consign his soul to the 'Abyss', a realm that Hell cannot touch. Zatanna does so, tormented that she must now destroy her father's essence.


title: Zatara

text: His nephew Zachary now uses the Zatara name as a stage magician, going so far, in the alternate future of the "Titans Tomorrow" timeline, to model his physical appearance and heroic getup on the vintage clothing and grooming of his late uncle.


title: Zatara

text: In "Justice League of America" (vol. 2) #39–40, a tie-in to the "Blackest Night" crossover event, Zatara was reanimated as a member of the Black Lantern Corps, ready to attack his daughter, Zatanna, in the Hall of Justice. Zatanna is successful in banishing the Black Lantern, but was left psychologically crushed from having to again kill her father (after watching him die once before).


title: Zatara

text: Another Zatara was featured in a supporting role in the miniseries "Kingdom Come" and its follow-up, "The Kingdom". This Zatara is the son of Zatanna and magician John Constantine, which makes him the grandson of the original. He is described as "a youthful Harry Houdini-like successor to the magician super-hero lineage". Rather than speak backwards just for his spells, however, he does it all the time, which annoys his colleagues no end.


title: Zatara

text: In the alternate timeline of the "Flashpoint" crossover event, Zatara was transformed into a motorcycle; his daughter, Zatanna is his owner.


title: Tugela Falls

text: Tugela Falls is a complex of seasonal waterfalls located in the Drakensberg ("Dragon's Mountains") of Royal Natal National Park in KwaZulu-Natal Province, Republic of South Africa. According to some measurements, it is the world's tallest waterfall. A revisited validation of waterfall measurements is not available, and there's still uncertainty whether Tugela or Venezuela's Angel Falls is the tallest (both measurements were taken at considerable distance from the two waterfalls).


title: Tugela Falls

text: The combined total drop of its five distinct free-leaping falls is officially . In 2016, however, a Czech scientific expedition took new measurements, making the falls tall. The data were sent to the World Waterfall Database for confirmation. The source of the Tugela River (Zulu for 'sudden') is the Mont-Aux-Sources plateau which extends several kilometers beyond The Amphitheatre escarpment from which the falls drop.


title: Tugela Falls

text: There is an argument that Tugela Falls is the tallest waterfall in the world, rather than the more commonly cited Angel Falls. This argument is based on two likely inaccuracies regarding the presumed heights of the respective falls.


title: Tugela Falls

text: Firstly, many now believe that Angel Falls is not as tall as it was initially surveyed by American journalist Ruth Robertson in 1949. The quoted figure of corresponds almost precisely with the difference in altitude between the top of the falls and the confluence of the Rio Gauja and the Río Churún, which is roughly away from the base of the Auyan Tepui escarpment and downstream from the last segment of the Rio Gauja that could possibly be considered a ‘waterfall’.


title: Tugela Falls

text: The starting altitude of Angel Falls is often given as , from which the falls plunge a vertical , then proceed to cascade for approximately with relatively little altitude loss, before a final drop of below the Talus Rapids, near the famous viewpoint known as Mirador Laime. After this the Rio Gauja flows with very little altitude loss, with nothing approaching a waterfall or even cascade before it empties into the Río Churún. However, the altitude of Mirador Laime is usually given as approximately , which would suggest that Angel Falls is only about in total height (roughly the height of the first drop).


title: Tugela Falls

text: Angel Falls, however, is almost universally regarded as having the tallest single uninterrupted drop of any waterfall in the world (the total height of Tugela Falls, even though possibly the tallest on Earth, is divided into five smaller tiers, and its tallest individual tier is ). Even this measurement invites some debate, however, as some botanical sources list the height of Angel Falls' tallest drop as , rather than the usually cited .


title: Tugela Falls

text: At the right time of year, the falls are easily visible from the main road into the park, especially after a heavy rain. There is an undeveloped camp site and mountain hut immediately above the falls.


title: Tugela Falls

text: There are two trails to Tugela Falls. The most spectacular trail is to the top of Mont-Aux-Sources, which starts at "The Sentinel" car park (through Phuthaditjhaba on the R57, approximately two hours drive from Royal Natal National Park via the R74, 90 minutes from Harrismith via the R712, or 80 minutes from Golden Gate Highlands National Park). From here it is a relatively easy climb to the top of the Amphitheatre, however it does take about 4.5 to 8 hours round-trip depending on fitness level. Access to the summit is via two chain ladders. This is the only day hiking trail which leads to the top of the Drakensberg escarpment. Another trail to the foot of Tugela Falls starts at Royal Natal National Park. The easy gradient up the Tugela Gorge winds through indigenous forests. The last part of the hike to Tugela Falls is a boulder hop. A little chain ladder leads over the final stretch for a view of the falls rushing down the amphitheater in a series of five cascades.


title: Victoria Abril

text: Victoria Mérida Rojas (born 4 July 1959), better known as Victoria Abril, is a Spanish film actress and singer based in France. She is possibly best known to international audiences for her performance in the film "Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!" by director Pedro Almodóvar.


title: Victoria Abril

text: Born in Malaga, Abril became widely known in Spain in 1976 when she appeared in the show "Un, dos, tres... responda otra vez" for two years. In addition to working in Spain, she has made films in France, Italy, and Iceland. She has been nominated eight times for Goya Awards in the Lead Actress category and has won once. She also won the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the 41st Berlin International Film Festival for her role in "Amantes". Two years later, she was awarded with the Berlinale Camera at the 43rd Berlin International Film Festival.


title: Victoria Abril

text: Abril is also a singer. In 2005, she made her debut with a bossanova-jazz album called "PutchEros do Brasil". She also tried to represent Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 1979 with "Bang-Bang-Bang", but Betty Missiego was chosen instead.


title: Victoria Abril

text: On 28 July 1977, Victoria Abril married Gustavo Laube, former footballer of the Chile national football team. The couple separated in early 1982.


title: Victoria Abril

text: Victoria Abril has two sons with the French director Gérard de Battista. She lives in France, where she has resided since 1982.


title: Anouk (singer)

text: Anouk Schemmekes (, ; born 8 April 1975), professionally known by the mononym Anouk, is a Dutch singer and songwriter. After her 1997 breakthrough rock single "Nobody's Wife", she had hit records in the Dutch and Belgian charts. Many of her albums topped the Dutch album charts; most of them going Platinum and several debuting in the number 1 position. Her most famous singles include: "R U Kiddin' Me", "Michel", "Girl", "Lost", "Modern World", "Three Days in a Row", "Birds", and "Woman".


title: Anouk (singer)

text: Anouk had released thirteen studio albums by 2022, a mix of anglophonic rock, pop and adult contemporary; one of which was recorded in the U.S., produced by Glen Ballard. In recent years, she has expanded into Dutch, more folky lyrics. Her 2022 album, was called ""Trails of Fails"".


title: Anouk (singer)

text: Anouk represented the Netherlands at the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Malmö, Sweden, with the song "Birds". Her song made it to the final – the first time since 2004 for the Netherlands, finished 9th with 114 points, and scored her another big domestic hit.


title: Anouk (singer)

text: Anouk Teeuwe was born on 8 April 1975, in The Hague, Netherlands. As a teenager, she used drugs and ended up living in several care homes after she ran away from her family at the age of fourteen. Anouk's interest in music was triggered through her mother, who was a blues singer. Anouk gave her first performance at fifteen and sang at weddings and parties with the band Shotgun Wedding. She started attending the Rotterdam Conservatory in 1994, but dropped out two years later. In the same period, her then-husband and manager Edwin Jansen introduced Anouk to Golden Earring frontman Barry Hay. Hay believed her to have talent and offered to write some songs for her. One of those songs was "Mood Indigo"; written in collaboration with fellow Golden Earring member George Kooymans.


title: Anouk (singer)

text: After she met Bart van Veen, her co-writer, the pair wrote a few songs. On 5 September 1997, she released her second single, "Nobody's Wife", which remained at the top of the Dutch music charts for a number of weeks and was a hit in Norway and Sweden. Her debut album "Together Alone" turned out to be a huge success. In 1998, Anouk won two awards from Dutch music channel TMF in addition to an Edison Award. During the summer, she played at various festivals. Her second album "Urban Solitude" was released in November 1999, and included the single "R U Kiddin' Me". This song reached the Dutch Top 100. Shortly afterwards, Anouk went to the United States to pursue a record deal. Negotiations with her American label (Sony) ended badly, causing her to return to the Netherlands without a deal. She released a new song, "Don't", and began touring the Netherlands in February 2001.


title: Anouk (singer)

text: In March 2001, she released, "Lost Tracks", which contained acoustic versions and B-sides from older songs, and various duets with K's Choice singer Sam Bettens and The Anonymous Mis. She was awarded the Popprijs award in 2001. In November 2002, the album "Graduated Fool" was released. This was the heaviest rock album in Anouk's career so far.


title: Anouk (singer)

text: Anouk received a Golden Harp in 2003. The following full-length release is called "Hotel New York" (2004) and yielded a total of four singles: "Girl", "Lost", "Jerusalem" and "One Word". In 2006, she won the 3FM award for best Dutch female singer. In 2007, Anouk released "Who's Your Momma", recorded with producer Glen Ballard. The first single, "Good God" was a success, and became a playable song in the video game "Guitar Hero World Tour" in 2008. In 2009, she released her album "For Bitter or Worse". The song "Three Days in a Row" reached the first place in the Dutch charts.


title: Anouk (singer)

text: Anouk's album "To Get Her Together" was released in the Netherlands in May 2011. On 28 February 2011 Anouk placed one of the new tracks on YouTube named "Killer Bee". The first single of the album is called "Down & Dirty" and came out in April. On 27 June, Anouk released her single "I'm a Cliché". On 17 September 2011 "Save Me" was released as third single from the album. The fourth single is "What Have You Done".


title: Anouk (singer)

text: Anouk performed at the GelreDome in Arnhem for her "To Get Her Together Tour" on 8 and 11 March 2012.


title: Anouk (singer)

text: Anouk first revealed that she would be taking part in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 on 17 October 2012 via a post on Facebook, after negotiations with broadcaster TROS. Her song was officially revealed on 11 March 2013. Anouk performed "Birds" in the first semi-final on 14 May, where she progressed to the final on 18 May and eventually reached 9th place there with her song "Birds". The Dutch broadly perceived her result to be a major achievement, as it was the best Eurovision result for the Netherlands in 14 years and the first time in 9 years that any Dutch entrant had qualified for the final of the contest. Her backing singer, Shirma Rouse, was named best backing singer by "The Eurovision Times." Anouk wrote the 2015 Dutch entry "Walk Along", performed by Trijntje Oosterhuis, along with Swedish songwriter Tobias Karlsson.


title: Anouk (singer)

text: Anouk was a coach on "The Voice of Holland" for seasons 6 and 8 through 12 before resigning in January 2022 as a result of sexual misconduct allegations beleaguering the show.


title: Anouk (singer)

text: In 2016, Anouk released two albums: "Queen for a Day", which included the lead single "Run Away Together", in March and "Fake It Till We Die" in late October.


title: Anouk (singer)

text: Anouk's musical style has been described as a combination of Joan Osborne, Melissa Etheridge and Alanis Morissette. She is known for explosive rock songs like "Nobody's Wife" and "R U kiddin' me", but has also made small and fragile songs like "Lost" and "Michel". In addition to her pop/rock sound she also experiments with soul, funk and hip hop.


title: Anouk (singer)

text: Anouk has six children. She was married to her manager Edwin Jansen until 1998. She married Remon Stotijn (aka The Anonymous Mis), frontman of the reggae/rap band Postmen, on 16 March 2004. Stotijn is the father of three of her children; son Benjahmin Kingsley (b. 18 April 2002), son Elijah Jeramiah (b. 5 December 2003) and daughter Phoenix Ray (b. 3 June 2005). In May 2008, Anouk and Remon announced a "harmonious" mutual separation. In 2010, Anouk gave birth to her fourth child, a son named Jesiah Dox. Her son Sion Jethro was born in June 2014. In June 2016, she gave birth to her sixth child, a baby girl, Jelizah Rose, with mixed martial artist and former basketball player Dominique Schemmekes, whom she married in June 2022.


title: Anouk (singer)

text: In 2006, Dutch singer Marco Borsato joined Anouk in announcing their withdrawal from future TMF Awards-nominations. "Every year the same faces can get boring".


title: Gumpert Apollo

text: The Gumpert Apollo was a sports car produced by German automotive manufacturer Gumpert Sportwagenmanufaktur GmbH in Altenburg. Gumpert filed for bankruptcy in August 2013, thereby ending the production of the Apollo.


title: Gumpert Apollo

text: In 2000, Roland Gumpert proposed a new generation of sports cars. One of the primary criteria for this car was that it be street-legal yet ready for the racetrack. He returned to Germany at the end of 2001, after over three years in China where he was the head of sales and marketing responsible for the development of the dealer network of the Audi-VW joint enterprise there. Subsequently, automobile designer Roland Mayer asked him if he would assist in building a prototype sports car. Audi approved Gumpert's involvement in this project, on the condition that, if they did eventually develop a new sports car, it would not be a prototype, but a series product.


title: Gumpert Apollo

text: The company, located in Altenburg, Germany was founded in 2004 under the name GMG Sportwagenmanufaktur Altenburg GmbH. The technical guidelines were defined and the first designs of the car were drawn by Marco Vanetta. Upon Vanetta's completion of this process, the first 1:4 scale model of Gumpert's car was produced in 2001.


title: Gumpert Apollo

text: Gumpert continued with the development of the Apollo, along with the Technical University of Munich and the Ingolstadt University of Applied Sciences. They assisted him with the constructional work, computer simulations, and wind tunnel tests. This research and development helped forming the blueprint for the first 1:1 scale model. Finally, two prototype cars were constructed. Production of the Apollo started in October 2005.


title: Gumpert Apollo

text: Soon after the first fully functioning road car made its way to Europe, the car became fully road-legal and was sold in various Gumpert dealerships. Very soon after, car reviewers praised the car's speed and cornering. During a review in "Autocar" magazine, chief test driver Matt Prior stated that "the Apollo recalibrates the meaning of pure speed and driving feel." On Series 11 of "Top Gear", the Apollo lapped the Top Gear test track in a time of 1:17.1, setting a record that lasted for 2 years until surpassed by the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport.


title: Gumpert Apollo

text: In April 2005, the Apollo made its racing debut in the Divinol Cup. It was driven by Belgian race car driver Ruben Maes; he finished third on the Hockenheimring race track. Three years later Gumpert announced that they would enter a hybrid version of the Apollo in the 2008 24 Hours Nürburgring, driven by 2004 winner Dirk Müller and ex-Formula One racer Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Three months passed between the first discussions and the finished hybrid Apollo. The Apollo was driven in the 24 Hours Nürburgring in May 2008. The hybrid Apollo delivers up to , powered with a 3.3 litre V8 twin-turbocharged engine coupled with a electric motor. The car has the ability to recharge the battery under braking.


title: Gumpert Apollo

text: The Apollo weighs between and (depending on options), and is fully street-legal. It is a mid-engine, rear wheel drive two-seater constructed on a tubular chromoly frame, with fiberglass or optional carbon fibre body panels. Gumpert claims the design of the Apollo is optimised so that the car could drive upside-down in a tunnel if driven at speeds over , but this has not been tested.


title: Gumpert Apollo

text: The Apollo uses a 4,163 cc bi-turbo intercooled version of the Audi V8 engine. The 90° V8 has a closed-deck light metal crankcase with dry sump lubrication. The light metal cylinder heads have five valves per cylinder, four overhead camshafts, VarioCam Direct variable valve timing on the intakes, and hydraulic valve clearance compensation. The double-flow exhaust system has four oxygen sensors to monitor the gas mixture, and a 3-way catalytic converter. Modern controls include an on-board diagnostic system, eight-coil electronic ignition, sequential multipoint fuel injection, and an electronic (drive by wire) accelerator system.


title: BMX bike

text: A BMX bike is an off-road sport bicycle used for racing or stunt riding. BMX mean"s bicycle" "motocross".


title: BMX bike

text: Though originally denoting a bicycle intended for BMX racing, the term "BMX bike" is now used as a generic term to encompass race bikes ('class' and 'cruiser') and those used for freestyle disciplines (street, vert, park, flatland), and dedicated dirt jumper bicycles. Frames are made of various types of steel, aluminum, or carbon fiber. Cheaper, low-end bikes are usually made of steel. Higher range freestyle bikes are mostly chromoly, such as lightweight 4130 chromoly, or generation 3 chromoly. BMX race bikes extensively use aluminum or carbon fiber.


title: Gerald Friend

text: Gerald Arthur Friend (born November 24, 1937) is an American serial rapist and kidnapper from Lakewood, Washington, currently serving two consecutive 75-year terms at Airway Heights Corrections Center.


title: Gerald Friend

text: Friend was originally jailed for abducting a 12-year-old girl from Sumner, Washington, in July 1960, when he was 22. He picked up the hitchhiking girl and her brother, but forced the boy from the car at gunpoint. He then drove the girl to Mount Rainier National Park where he beat her, raped her, and cut her hair. The victim eventually escaped by jumping into a river, where she was discovered by a passing motorist. Several days later, Friend's father found him hiding in a field near their home; Friend drew a .22 pistol and was wounded in the ensuing struggle. His father took him to the hospital and turned him in to the police. Friend was convicted of rape and torture, and was sentenced to a minimum of 75 years. However, after serving 20 years at Walla Walla, and escaping twice, he was paroled in 1980.


title: Gerald Friend

text: In June 1987, he abducted a 14-year-old girl at knife-point when she accepted a ride after a rock concert. He repeatedly raped and tortured her while she was tied to a pulley suspended from the ceiling of his mobile home. The girl escaped by jumping from his truck at a gas station. Friend was stopped a day later for a traffic violation, and arrested when the deputies recognized him. He was convicted of first-degree kidnapping and rape that August. He was ordered to serve the remainder of his 1960 sentence, in addition to a second 75-year sentence. The following year, his second victim sued the state and the Department of Corrections for prematurely paroling Friend in 1980.


title: Gerald Friend

text: Police in King County suspected Friend in the Green River Killer case, and considered him a suspect in the murder of two girls in Tacoma in 1987. However, police were unable to uncover a connection to those crimes.


title: Gerald Friend

text: The 1987 kidnapping of the 14-year-old victim was the inspiration for the Nirvana song "Polly", released in 1991. Songwriter Kurt Cobain had read about the incident in a newspaper.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: The Manila Light Rail Transit System (), commonly known as the LRT, is an urban rail transit system that primarily serves Metro Manila, Philippines. Although categorized as a light rail system because it originally used light rail vehicles, it presently has characteristics of a rapid transit system, such as high passenger throughput, exclusive right-of-way, and later use of full metro rolling stock. The LRT is jointly-operated by the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA), a government corporation attached to the Department of Transportation (DOTr), and the Light Rail Manila Corporation (LRMC). Along with the Manila Metro Rail Transit System and the Metro Commuter Line of the Philippine National Railways, the system makes up Metro Manila's rail infrastructure.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: The LRT's is mostly elevated and consists of two lines and 33 stations. Line 1, also called the Green Line (formerly known as the Yellow Line), opened in 1984 and travels a north–south route. Line 2, the Blue Line (formerly, the Purple Line), was completed in 2004 and runs east–west. The original Line 1 was built as a no-frills means of public transport and lacks some features and comforts, but the newer Line 2 has been built with additional standards and criteria in mind like barrier-free access. In 2021, Line 1 served 124,940 passengers daily on average while the Line 2 served 33,267 passengers. Security guards at each station conduct inspections and provide assistance. A reusable plastic magnetic ticketing system has replaced the previous token-based system in 2001, and the Flash Pass was introduced as a step towards a more integrated transportation system. In 2015, the plastic magnetic tickets were replaced with the Beep, a contactless smart card, introduced to provide a common ticketing to 3 rail lines and some bus lines.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: Many passengers who ride the system also take various forms of road-based public transport, such as buses and jeepneys, to and from a station to reach their intended destination. Although it aims to reduce traffic congestion and travel times in the metropolis, the transportation system has only been partially successful due to the rising number of motor vehicles and rapid urbanization. The network's expansion is set on tackling this problem.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: The network consists of two lines: the original Line 1 or Green Line, and the more modern Line 2, or Blue Line. Line 1 is aligned in a general north–south direction along over of fully elevated track. From Monumento it runs south above the hustle and bustle of Rizal and Taft Avenues along grade-separated concrete viaducts allowing exclusive right-of-way before ending in Baclaran. A three-station east–west extension along Epifanio de los Santos Avenue that will connect Monumento to the North Avenue station was opened in 2010, although the common station is still under construction. Including the extension's two recently opened stations, Balintawak and Roosevelt, Line 1 has twenty stations. Line 2 consists of thirteen stations in a general east–west direction over of mostly elevated track, with one station lying underground. Commencing in Recto, the line follows a corridor defined by Claro M. Recto and Legarda Avenues, Ramon Magsaysay and Aurora Boulevard, and the Marikina-Infanta Highway before reaching the other end of the line at Antipolo. The system passes through the cities of Caloocan, Manila, Marikina, Pasay, Pasig, Quezon City, and San Juan.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: During peak hours, Line 1 fields 30 trains at most; the time interval between the departure of one and the arrival of another, called "headway", is a minimum of 3–4 minutes. On January 9, 2009, Line 1 fielded 31 trains with a headway of 2 minutes to service devotees in celebration of the Feast of the Black Nazarene. Line 2 on the other hand, runs 10 trains at most with a minimum headway of 5 minutes. With the proper upgrades, the Yellow Line is designed to potentially run with headway as low as 1.5 minutes. Line 2 can run with headway as low as 2 minutes with throughput of up to 60,000 passengers per hour per direction (pphpd).


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: In conjunction with the Line 3—also known as the new Yellow Line, a similar but separate metro rail system operated by the private Metro Rail Transit Corporation (MRTC)—the system provides the platform for the vast majority of rail travel in the Metro Manila area. Together with the PNR, the three constitute the SRTS. Recto and Doroteo Jose serve as the sole interchange between both lines of the LRTA. Araneta Center-Cubao and EDSA stations serve as interchanges between the LRTA and the MRTC networks. To transfer lines, passengers will need to exit from the station they are in then pass through covered walkways connecting the stations. Blumentritt station meanwhile is immediately above its PNR counterpart.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: Baclaran, Central Terminal, and Monumento are Line 1's three terminal stations; Recto, Araneta Center-Cubao, and Antipolo are the terminal stations on Line 2. All of them are located on or near major transport routes where passengers can take other forms of transportation such as privately run buses and jeepneys to reach their ultimate destination both within Metro Manila and in neighboring provinces. The system has two depots: Line 1 uses the Pasay Depot at LRTA headquarters in Pasay, near Baclaran station, while the Line 2 uses the Santolan Depot built by Sumitomo in Pasig.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: Both lines are open every day of the year from 4:30 am PST (UTC+8) until 10:15 pm on weekdays, and from 5:00 am until 9:50 pm on weekends, except when changes have been announced. During Holy Week, a public holiday in the Philippines, the rail system is closed for annual maintenance, owing to fewer commuters and traffic around the metro. Normal operation resumes on Monday. During the Christmas and year-end holidays, the operating hours of the line are modified and shortened, due to the low ridership of the system during the holidays. Notice of special schedules is given through press releases, via the public address system in every station, and on the LRTA website.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: The system's roots date back to 1878 when an official from Spain's Department of Public Works for the Philippines submitted a proposal for a Manila streetcar system. The system proposed was a five-line network emanating from Plaza San Gabriel in Binondo, running to Intramuros, Malate, Malacañan Palace, Sampaloc and Tondo. The project was approved and in 1882, Spanish-German businessman Jacobo Zóbel de Zangroniz, Spanish engineer Luciano M. Bremon, and Spanish banker Adolfo Bayo, founded the "Compañia de los Tranvias de Filipinas" to operate the concession granted by the Spanish colonial government. The Malacañan Palace line was later replaced with a line linking Manila to Malabon, and construction began in 1885. Four German-made steam-operated locomotives and eight coaches for nine passengers each, composed the initial assets of the company. The Manila-Malabon line was the first line of the new system to be finished, opening to the public on October 20, 1888, with the rest of the network opening in 1889. From the beginning it proved to be a very popular line, with services originating from Tondo as early as 5:30 a.m. and ending at 7:30 p.m., while trips from Malabon were from 6:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m., every hour on the hour in the mornings, and every half-hour beginning at 1:30 p.m.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: With the American takeover of the Philippines, the Philippine Commission allowed the Manila Electric Railroad and Light Company (Meralco) to take over the properties of the "Compañia de los Tranvias de Filipinas", with the first of twelve mandated electric "tranvia" (tram) lines operated by MERALCO opening in Manila in 1905. At the end of the first year around of track had been laid. A five-year reconstruction program was initiated in 1920, and by 1924, 170 cars serviced many parts of the city and its outskirts. Although it was an efficient system for the city's 220,000 inhabitants, by the 1930s the streetcar network had stopped expanding.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: The system was closed during World War II. By the war's end, the tram network was damaged beyond repair amid a city that lay in ruins. It was dismantled and jeepneys became the city's primary form of transportation, plying the routes once served by the tram lines. With the return of buses and cars to the streets, traffic congestion became a problem.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: In 1966, the Philippine government granted a franchise to Philippine Monorail Transport Systems (PMTS) for the operation of an inner-city monorail. The monorail's feasibility was still being evaluated when the government asked the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to conduct a separate transport study. Prepared between 1971 and 1973, the JICA study proposed a series of circumferential and radial roads, an inner-city rapid transit system, a commuter railway, and an expressway with three branches. After further examination, many recommendations were adopted; however, none of them involved rapid transit and the monorail was never built. PMTS' franchise subsequently expired in 1974.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: Another study was performed between 1976 and 1977, this time by Freeman Fox and Associates and funded by the World Bank. It originally suggested a street-level railway, but its recommendations were revised by the newly formed Ministry of Transportation and Communications (now the DOTr). The ministry instead called for an elevated system because of the city's many intersections. However, the revisions increased the price of the project from ₱1.5 billion to ₱2 billion. A supplementary study was conducted and completed within three months.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: President Ferdinand Marcos created the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) on July 12, 1980, by virtue of Executive Order No. 603 giving birth to what was then dubbed the "Metrorail". First Lady Imelda Marcos, then governor of Metro Manila and minister of human settlements, became its first chairman. Although responsible for the operations of the system, the LRTA primarily confined itself to setting and regulating fares, planning extensions and determining rules and policies, leaving the day-to-day operations to a sister company of Meralco called the Meralco Transit Organization (METRO Inc.). Initial assistance for the project came in the form of a ₱300 million soft loan from the Belgian government, with an additional ₱700 million coming from a consortium of companies comprising SA Ateliers de Constructions Electriques de Charleroi (ACEC) and BN Constructions Ferroviaires et Métalliques (today both part of Bombardier Transportation), Tractionnel Engineering International (TEI) and Transurb Consult (TC). Although expected to pay for itself from revenues within twenty years of the start of operation, it was initially estimated that the system would lose money until at least 1993. For the first year of operation, despite a projected ₱365 million in gross revenue, losses of ₱216 million were thought likely.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: Construction of Line 1 started in September 1981 with the Construction and Development Corporation of the Philippines (now the Philippine National Construction Corporation) as the contractor with assistance from Losinger & Cie, a Swiss firm (today Losinger Marazzi), and the Philippine subsidiary of the U.S.-based Dravo Corporation. The government appointed Electrowatt Engineering Services of Zürich to oversee construction and eventually became responsible for the extension studies of future expansion projects. The Electrowatt plan—which is still used for planning future metro lines—consisted of a network of rapid transit lines spanning all major corridors within 20 years, including a line on the Radial Road 6 alignment, one of the region's busiest road corridor.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: The line was test-run in March 1984, and the first half of Line 1, from Baclaran to Central Terminal, was opened on December 1, 1984. The second half, from Central Terminal to Monumento, was opened on May 12, 1985. Overcrowding and poor maintenance took its toll a few years after opening. In 1990, the Line 1 fell so far into disrepair due to premature wear and tear that trains headed to Central Terminal station had to slow to a crawl to avoid further damage to the support beams below as cracks reportedly began to appear. The premature aging of Line 1 led to an extensive refurbishing and structural capacity expansion program with a help of Japan's ODA.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: For the next few years Line 1 operations ran smoothly. In 2000, however, employees of METRO Inc. went on strike, paralyzing Line 1 operations from July 25 to August 2, 2000. Consequently, the LRTA did not renew its operating contract with METRO Inc. that expired on July 31, 2000, and assumed all operational responsibility. At around 12:15 pm on December 30, 2000, a bomb—later learned to have been planted by Islamic terrorists—went off in the front coach of a Line 1 train pulling into Blumentritt station, killing 11 and injuring over 60 people in the most devastating of a series of attacks that day, now known as the Rizal Day bombings.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: With Japan's ODA amounting to 75 billion yen in total, the construction of Line 2 began in the 1990s, and the first section of the line, from Santolan to Araneta Center-Cubao, was opened on April 5, 2003. The second section, from Araneta Center-Cubao to Legarda, was opened exactly a year later, with the entire line being fully operational by October 29, 2004. During that time the Line 1 was modernized. Automated fare collection systems using magnetic stripe plastic tickets were installed; air-conditioned trains added; pedestrian walkways between Lines 1, 2, and 3 were completed. In 2005, the LRTA made a profit of ₱68 million, the first time the agency made a profit since the Line 1 became operational in 1984.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: A two-station, extension of Line 2 eastward from Marikina up to Masinag, Antipolo in the province of Rizal opened to the public on July 5, 2021.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: On September 12, 2015, Light Rail Manila Corporation (LRMC), a joint venture company of Metro Pacific's Metro Pacific Light Rail Corporation (MPLRC), Ayala Corporation's AC Infrastructure Holdings Corporation (AC Infra), and the Philippine Investment Alliance for Infrastructure's Macquarie Infrastructure Holdings (Philippines) PTE Ltd. (MIHPL), started a 32-year concession for the operation and maintenance of Line 1 and the construction of a ₱65 billion extension project to Bacoor, Cavite.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: With the exception of Katipunan (which is underground), the LRTA's 33 stations are elevated. They follow one of two different layouts. Most Line 1 stations are composed of only one level, accessible from the street below by stairway, containing the station's concourse and platform areas separated by fare gates. The boarding platforms measure long and wide. Baclaran, Central Terminal, Carriedo, Balintawak, Roosevelt and North Avenue stations on the Line 1, and all Line 2 stations are composed of two levels: a lower concourse level and an upper platform level (reversed in the case of Katipunan). Fare gates separate the concourse level from the stairs and escalators that provide access to the platform level. All stations have side platforms except for Baclaran, which has one side and one island platform, and Santolan, which has an island platform and in 2021, LRT Line 2 introduced new stations adding Marikina and Antipolo.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: The concourse area at LRTA stations typically contain a passenger assistance office (PAO), ticket purchasing areas (ticket counters and/or ticket machines), and at least one stall that sells food and drinks. Terminal stations also have a public relations office. Stores and ATMs are usually found at street level outside the station, although there are instances where they can be found within the concourse. Some stations, such as Monumento, Libertad and Araneta Center-Cubao, are directly connected to shopping malls. Line 2 stations have two restrooms, but Line 1 restrooms have been the subject of criticism not only because of the provisioning of a single washroom at each station expected to serve all passengers (whether male, female, disabled or otherwise), but also because of the impression that the lavatories are poorly maintained and unsanitary.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: As of November 8, 2009, folding bicycles are allowed to be brought onto Line 1 and Line 2 trains to promote bimodal transportation. The LRTA has also designated the last car of each train as "green zones", where folding bicycle users can ride with their bikes, provided that it does not exceed the LRTA's baggage size limitations of .


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: Originally, Line 1 was not built with accessibility in mind. This is reflected in the Line 1's lack of barrier-free facilities such as escalators and elevators. It is also inconvenient in other ways: for one, because of the use of side platforms, passengers wishing to access the other platform for the train bound in the opposite direction at single-level Line 1 stations need to exit the station (and by extension, the system) and pay a new fare. The newer Line 2, unlike its counterpart, is designed to be barrier-free and allows seamless transfer between platforms. Built by a joint venture between Hanjin and Itochu, Line 2 stations have wheelchair ramps, braille markings, and pathfinding embossed flooring leading to and from the boarding platforms in addition to escalators and elevators.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: In cooperation with the "Philippine Daily Inquirer", copies of the "Inquirer Libre"—a free, tabloid-size, Tagalog version of the "Inquirer" broadsheet—are available at selected LRTA stations from 6:00 am until the supply runs out.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: Four types of rolling stock run on the system, with three types used on Line 1 and another used on Line 2. Line 1 railway cars were made either in Belgium by La Bruggeoise et Nivelle, South Korea by Hyundai Precision and Adtranz (La bruggeoise et Nivelle and Adtranz are now part of Bombardier Transportation), or Japan by Kinki Sharyo and Nippon Sharyo. The Line 2, unlike the Line 1, runs heavy rail metro cars made in South Korea by Hyundai Rotem and provided by the Asia-Europe MRT Consortium led by Marubeni Corporation that have higher passenger capacity and maximum speed. All four types of rolling stock are powered by electricity supplied through overhead wires.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: Of the two LRTA lines, the Line 2 prominently employs wrap advertising in its rolling stock. The Line 1 have begun using wrap advertising as well initially for their second-generation trains, followed by their third-generation trains.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: Line 1 at various stages in its history has used two-car, three-car, and four-car trains. The two-car trains are the original first-generation BN trains (railway cars numbered from 1000). Most were transformed into three-car trains, although a lot of two-car trains remain in service. The four-car trains are the more modern second-generation Hyundai Precision and Adtranz (numbered from 1100) and third-generation Kinki Sharyo / Nippon Sharyo (1200) trains. There are 139 railway cars grouped into 40 trains serving the line: 63 of these are first-generation cars, 28 second-generation, and 48 third-generation. One train car (1037) was severely damaged in the Rizal Day bombings and was subsequently decommissioned. The maximum speed of these cars ranges between .


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: As part of the second phase of expansion on the Yellow Line, 12 trains made in Japan by Kinki Sharyo and Nippon Sharyo were shipped in the third quarter of 2006 and went into service in the first quarter of 2007. The air-conditioned trains have boosted the capacity of the line from 27,000 to 40,000 passengers per hour per direction.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: As part of the south extension of the line, 30 new trains built in Spain and Mexico by Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles and Mitsubishi Corporation were procured in 2017. The trains are being delivered in batches since 2021 and in-service operations of the new trains are slated by 2022.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: Line 2 fleet runs eighteen heavy rail four-car trains with lightweight stainless car bodies and alternating current traction motors. They have a top speed of and usually take around forty minutes to journey from one end of the line to the other. Each train measures wide and long allowing a capacity of 1,628 passengers: 232 seated and 1,396 standing. Twenty sliding doors per side facilitate quick entry and exit. The line's trains also feature air conditioning, driverless automatic train operation from the Operations Control Center (OCC) in Santolan, low-noise control, enabled electric and hydraulic braking, and closed-circuit television inside the trains. Special open spaces and seats are designated for wheelchair users and elderly passengers, and automatic next station announcements are made for the convenience of passengers, especially for the blind.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: An additional fourteen four-car trains for the east extension and the future west extension are currently in the process of being procured.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: The system has used various signalling systems throughout its history. The original signalling system used in the LRT Line 1 was based on fixed block and relay type trackside systems. Trains had an automatic train stop system that activates if the train passes by a red signal or over-speeding. In 2007, as part of a capacity expansion project, the signalling system was replaced with a signalling and train control system based on automatic train protection and automatic train supervision using Siemens technology. In 2022, as part of the line's south extension, the existing signalling system used in Line 1 was replaced by the Atlas 100 solution of Alstom, which is based on ETCS Level 1.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: On the other hand, Line 2 uses the automatic train control system, which has three subsystems: automatic train protection (ATP), automatic train operation (ATO), and automatic train supervision (ATS). The ATO subsystem automatically drives the trains, while the opening and closing of doors is controlled by an onboard train attendant. It is a track circuit-based system with equipment supplied by Westinghouse Signals (later Siemens Mobility).


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: The system has always presented itself as a safe system to travel on, and despite some incidents a World Bank paper prepared by Halcrow deemed the running of metro rail transit operations overall as "good". Safety notices in both English and Tagalog are a common sight at the stations and inside the trains. Security guards with megaphones can be seen at boarding areas asking crowds to move back from the warning tiles at the edge of platforms to avoid falling onto the tracks. In the event of emergencies or unexpected events aboard the train, alerts are used to inform passengers about the current state of the operations. The LRTA uses three alerts: Codes Blue, Yellow, and Red.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: Smoking, previously banned only at station platforms and inside trains, has been banned at station concourse areas since June 24, 2008. Hazardous chemicals, such as paint and gasoline, as well as sharp pointed objects that could be used as weapons, are forbidden. Full-sized bicycles and skateboards are also not allowed on board the train, although the ban on folding bicycles was lifted on November 8, 2009. Those under the influence of alcohol may be denied entry into the stations.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: In response to the Rizal Day bombings, a series of attacks on December 30, 2000, that included the bombing of a Line 1 train among other targets, and in the wake of greater awareness of terrorism following the September 11 attacks, security has been stepped up on board the system. The Philippine National Police has a special police force assigned at both lines. and security police provided by private companies are assigned to all stations with each having a designated head guard. Closed-circuit televisions have been installed to monitor stations and keep track of suspicious activities. To better prepare for and improve response to any adverse incidents, drills simulating terror attacks and earthquakes have been conducted. It is standard practice for bags to be inspected upon entry into stations by guards equipped with hand-held metal detectors. Those who refuse to submit to such inspection may be denied entry. Since May 1, 2007, the LRTA has enforced a policy against making false bomb threats, a policy already enforced at airports nationwide. Those who make such threats can face penalties in violation of Presidential Decree No. 1727, as well as face legal action. Posted notices on station walls and inside trains remind passengers to be careful and be wary of criminals who may take advantage of the crowding aboard the trains. To address concerns of inappropriate contact on crowded trains, the first coach of Line 1 and Line 2 trains have been designated for PWDs and females only.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: As a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the system operated at a limited capacity when public transport operations resumed on June 1, 2020 after a three-month lockdown that halted the operations of public transport. The use of face masks (and later, face shields) became mandatory since the resumption of operations in June 2020. The use of face shields later became no longer mandatory in public transport in November 2021, except when an area is under the two highest levels of the alert level system. Social distancing measures were also implemented. Since March 1, 2022, all railway lines are operating at a full capacity due to the de-escalation of Metro Manila to the lowest of the five levels of the alert level system.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: In addition, talking with other passengers and answering phone calls in trains has been prohibited in the system. The policy has also been implemented in all railway lines and forms of public transport.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: The trains are regularly being disinfected when the train arrives at a terminus. It takes three to five minutes for a train to be disinfected.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: The Manila Light Rail Transit System is one of the least expensive rapid transit systems in Southeast Asia, costing significantly less to ride than other systems in the region. Unlike other transportation systems, in which transfer to another line occurs within a station's paid area, passengers have to exit and then pay a new fare for the line they are entering. This is also the case on the Yellow Line when changing boarding platforms to catch trains going in the opposite direction.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: The Line 1 uses two different fare structures: one for single journey cards and another for stored value (Beep) cards. Passengers are charged ₱11 upon entering the paid area. Passengers using single journey cards are charged ₱15 for travelling ; ₱20 for ; or ₱30 for distances more than . Stored value (Beep) cards are also charged depending on the distance travelled in kilometers, but on a more finely graduated basis. Beep card users are charged ₱1 for every kilometer travelled, plus the ₱11 boarding charge. The Line 2 uses the same fare matrix with the Line 1, but passengers are charged ₱25 for travelling a distance more than .


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: Before 2001, passengers on Line 1 would purchase a token to enter the station. Subsequent upgrades in the fare collection system eventually transitioned the Yellow Line from a token-based system to a ticket-based system, with full conversion to a ticket-based system achieved on September 9, 2001. Starting September 2015, the old magnetic tickets were decommissioned and replaced by contactless-based smart card technology. Passengers can enter the system paid areas with either a single journey or stored value Beep Card. The Beep Card can be used on all LRT and MRT lines. Tickets can be sold from ticket booths staffed by station agents or from ticket machines.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: Previously, the system uses two types of tickets: a single journey (one-way) ticket whose cost is dependent on the destination, and a stored value (multiple-use) ticket available for ₱100. Senior citizens and disabled passengers can receive fare discounts as mandated by law. Tickets would normally bear a picture of the incumbent president, though some ticket designs have done away with this practice.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: Single journey tickets are only valid on the day of purchase and will be unusable afterward. They expire if not used to exit the same station after 30 minutes from entry or if not used to exit the system after 120 minutes from entry. If the ticket expires, the passenger will be required to buy a new one.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: Stored value tickets are usable on both lines although a new fare will be charged when transferring from one line to the other. To reduce ticket queues, the LRTA is promoting the use of stored value tickets. Aside from benefitting from a lower fare structure on the Line 1, stored value ticket users can avail of a scheme called the Last Ride Bonus that grants the use of any residual amount in a stored value ticket less than the usual minimum ₱12 fare, or the appropriate fare for the station of arrival from the station of departure, as a full fare. Stored value tickets are not reloadable and are captured by the fare gate after the last use. They expire six months after the date of first use.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: Tickets are used both to enter and exit the paid area of the system. A ticket inserted into a fare gate at the station of origin is processed and then ejected allowing a passenger through the turnstile. The ejected ticket is then retrieved while passing through so that it can be used at the exit turnstile at the destination station to leave the premises. Tickets are captured by the exit turnstiles to be reused by the system if they no longer have any value. If it is a stored value ticket with some value remaining, however, it is once again ejected by the fare gate to be taken by the passenger for future use.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: To better integrate the LRTA and MRTC networks, a unified ticketing system utilizing contactless smart cards, similar to the Octopus card in Hong Kong and the EZ-Link card in Singapore, was made a goal of the SRTS. In a transitional move towards such a unified ticketing system, the Flash Pass was implemented on April 19, 2004, as a stopgap measure. However, plans for a unified ticketing system using smart cards have languished, leaving the Flash Pass to fill the role for the foreseeable future. Originally sold by both the LRTA and the Metro Rail Transit Corporation, the Blue Line operator, the pass was discontinued with the election of Benigno Aquino III as President of the Philippines in 2010.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: The pass consisted of two parts: the Flash Pass card and the Flash Pass coupon. A nontransferable Flash Pass card used for validation had to be acquired before a Flash Pass coupon can be purchased. To obtain a card, a passenger needed to visit a designated station and fill out an application form. Although the card is issued free of charge and contains no expiry date, it is expected to be issued only once. Should it be lost, an affidavit of loss had to be submitted before a replacement can be issued. The Flash Pass coupon, which served as a ticket, was linked to the passenger's Flash Pass card through the card number printed on the coupon. Coupons were sold for ₱250 and were valid for unlimited rides on all three lines of the LRTA and MRTC for one week. The card and coupon were used by showing them to a security guard at an opening along the fare gates, who after checking their validity allowed the holder to pass through.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: Beep is a reloadable contactless smart card aimed to be a replacement for the magnetic card-based system in paying rail based rapid transit transportation fares in and around Metro Manila. Beep is also aimed to be used in lieu of cash in some convenience stores and other businesses. The Beep system is implemented and operated by AF Payments Incorporated, which is primarily owned by Ayala Corporation and Metro Pacific Investments Corporation.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: Plans for expanding the LRTA network have been formulated throughout its history and successive administrations have touted trains as one of the keys to relieving Metro Manila of its long-standing traffic problems. Expansion of the system was one of the main projects mentioned in a ten-point agenda laid out by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in 2005.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: A south extension of Line 1 is under construction. The envisioned line would have 8 stations over ending in Bacoor in the province of Cavite. It will be the third line extending outside the Metro Manila area after the opening of the Line 2 east extension in Antipolo, Rizal and the planned Line 7 that starts in North Avenue, Quezon City and ends in San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan. An unsolicited bid to build and operate this project from Canada's SNC-Lavalin was rejected by the Philippine government in 2005. The government is working with advisers (International Finance Corporation, White & Case, Halcrow, and others) to conduct an open-market invitation to tender for the construction of the extension and a 30-year concession to run it. An additional extension from Bacoor to Imus and from there a further extension to Dasmariñas, both in Cavite, are also being considered. On March 22, 2012, the Line 1 south extension project was approved by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA). In line with this, the operations and maintenance of Line 1 was awarded to the Light Rail Manila Corporation in 2014 and started operating the line on September 12, 2015. The groundbreaking ceremony of the south extension was held on May 4, 2017, with construction beginning on May 7, 2019. Partial operations of the south extension is slated for 2024, with full operations slated by 2027.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: The LRTA is also currently conducting studies on the feasibility of a , four-station Line 1 spur from Baclaran towards Terminal 3 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, with a projected daily capacity of 40,000 passengers. Funding for the project could be sourced from either official development assistance or a public-private partnership.


title: Manila Light Rail Transit System

text: The LRT Line 6 was originally conceived as a continuation of the LRT Line 1 to Dasmariñas, Cavite. In its current form, the "Modified" Line 6 proposal is a elevated railway from Niog station in Bacoor to Governor's Drive station in Dasmariñas via the Molino–Paliparan Road. The line will also be extended further north to Ninoy Aquino International Airport (as Line 6B) in Pasay and further south as Tagaytay (as Line 6A extension). There will also be branch lines passing through Dr. Santos Avenue and Alabang–Zapote Road in southern Metro Manila. The combined length of the proposed line including the extensions and branch lines is at and with a track length .


title: Stretch reflex

text: The stretch reflex (myotatic reflex), or more accurately "muscle stretch reflex", is a muscle contraction in response to stretching within the muscle. The reflex functions to maintain the muscle at a constant length. The term deep tendon reflex is often used by many health workers and students to refer to this reflex. "Tendons have little to do with the response, other than being responsible for mechanically transmitting the sudden stretch from the reflex hammer to the muscle spindle. In addition, some muscles with stretch reflexes have no tendons (e.g., "jaw jerk" of the masseter muscle)".


title: Stretch reflex

text: As an example of a spinal reflex, it results in a fast response that involves an afferent signal into the spinal cord and an efferent signal out to the muscle. The stretch reflex can be a monosynaptic reflex which provides automatic regulation of skeletal muscle length, whereby the signal entering the spinal cord arises from a change in muscle length or velocity. It can also include a polysynaptic component, as in the tonic stretch reflex.


title: Stretch reflex

text: When a muscle lengthens, the muscle spindle is stretched and its nerve activity increases. This increases alpha motor neuron activity, causing the muscle fibers to contract and thus resist the stretching. A secondary set of neurons also causes the opposing muscle to relax.


title: Stretch reflex

text: Gamma motoneurons regulate how sensitive the stretch reflex is by tightening or relaxing the fibers within the spindle. There are several theories as to what may trigger gamma motoneurons to increase the reflex's sensitivity. For example, "alpha-gamma co-activation" might keep the spindles taut when a muscle is contracted, preserving stretch reflex sensitivity even as the muscle fibers become shorter. Otherwise the spindles would become slack and the reflex would cease to function.


title: Stretch reflex

text: This reflex has the shortest latency of all spinal reflexes including the Golgi tendon reflex and reflexes mediated by pain and cutaneous receptors.


title: Stretch reflex

text: The stretch reflex is accomplished through several different structures. In the muscle, there are muscle spindles, whose extrafusal muscle fibers lie parallel to the muscle and sense changes in length and velocity. The afferent sensory neuron is the structure that carries the signal from the muscle to the spinal cord. It carries this action potential to the dorsal root ganglion of the spinal cord. The efferent motor neuron is the structure that carries the signal from the spinal cord back to the muscle. It carries the action potential from the ventral root of the spinal cord to the muscle down the alpha motor neuron. This synapses on the first structure discussed, the extrafusal fibers of the muscle spindle.


title: Stretch reflex

text: A person standing upright begins to lean to one side. The postural muscles that are closely connected to the vertebral column on the opposite side will stretch. The muscle spindles in those muscles will detect this stretching, and the stretched muscles will contract to correct posture.


title: Stretch reflex

text: Other examples (followed by involved spinal nerves) are responses to stretch created by a blow upon a muscle tendon:


title: Stretch reflex

text: Another example is the group of sensory fibers in the calf muscle, which synapse with motor neurons innervating muscle fibers in the same muscle. A sudden stretch, such as tapping the Achilles' tendon, causes a reflex contraction in the muscle as the spindles sense the stretch and send an action potential to the motor neurons which then cause the muscle to contract; this particular reflex causes a contraction in the soleus-gastrocnemius group of muscles. Like the patellar reflex, this reflex can be enhanced by the Jendrassik maneuver.


title: Stretch reflex

text: Spinal control of the stretch reflex means the signal travels between the muscle and spinal cord. The signal returns to the muscle from the same spinal cord segment as where it entered the spinal cord. This is the shortest distance for a reflex signal to travel, thus creating a fast response. These responses are often referred to short latency stretch reflexes.


title: Stretch reflex

text: Supraspinal control of the stretch reflex means the signal travels above the spinal cord before traveling back down to the same segment it entered the spinal cord from. The responses from these pathways are often termed medium or long latency stretch reflexes, because the time course is longer due to distance it needs to travel.


title: Stretch reflex

text: The central nervous system can influence the stretch reflex via the gamma motoneurons, which as described above control the sensitivity of the reflex.


title: Stretch reflex

text: The patellar reflex (knee jerk) is an example of the stretch reflex and it is used to determine the sensitivity of the stretch reflex.


title: Stretch reflex

text: Reflexes can be tested as part of a neurological examination, often if there is an injury to the central nervous system. To test the reflex, the muscle should be in a neutral position. The muscle being tested needs to be flexed for the clinician to locate the tendon. After the muscle is relaxed, the clinician strikes the tendon. The response should be contraction of the muscle. If this is the knee jerk reflex, the clinician should observe a kick. The clinician rates the response.


title: Stretch reflex

text: The clasp-knife response is a stretch reflex with a rapid decrease in resistance when attempting to flex a joint. It is one of the characteristic responses of an upper motor neuron lesion.


title: Fantaisie-Impromptu

text: Frédéric Chopin's Fantaisie-Impromptu () in C minor, Op. posth. 66, WN 46 is a solo piano composition. It was composed in 1834 and published posthumously in 1855 despite Chopin's instruction that none of his unpublished manuscripts be published. The "Fantaisie-Impromptu" is one of Chopin's most frequently performed and popular compositions.


title: Fantaisie-Impromptu

text: The "Fantaisie-Impromptu" was written in 1834, as were the Four Mazurkas (Op. 17) and the Grande valse brillante in E major (Op. 18), but unlike these other works, Chopin never published the "Fantaisie-Impromptu". Instead, Julian Fontana published it posthumously, along with other waltzes Opp. 69 and 70. It is unknown why Chopin did not release the "Fantaisie-Impromptu". James Huneker called parts of it "mawkish" and "without nobility". Ernst Oster conducted a technical examination of the piece which hints at similarities between the "Fantaisie-Impromptu" and Ludwig van Beethoven's "Moonlight" Sonata ("Quasi una fantasia"), which he cites as the reason for Chopin's reluctance to publish the piece. It is also recognized that it resembles the Impromptu in E major, Op. 89 composed by Ignaz Moscheles and published in 1834, the same year Chopin composed his "Fantasie-Impromptu."


title: Fantaisie-Impromptu

text: The mystery may have been solved in 1960 when pianist Arthur Rubinstein acquired the "Album of the Baroness d'Este" which had been sold at auction in Paris. The album contained a manuscript of the "Fantaisie-Impromptu" in Chopin's own hand, dated 1835, stating on the title page in French "Composed for the Baroness d'Este by Frédéric Chopin". The facts of its authenticity having been "guaranteed by the French authorities" and that it shows "a delicate care for detail" and "many improvements in harmony and style" in comparison to the previously published version, Rubinstein considered absolute proof that it is the finished work. In his preface to the "Rubinstein Edition", published by G. Schirmer, Inc. in 1962, Rubinstein surmises that the words "Composed for" in place of a dedication imply that Chopin received a paid commission for the work, so he had actually sold it to the Baroness.


title: Fantaisie-Impromptu

text: Ernst Oster observes that the "Fantaisie-Impromptu" draws many of its harmonic and tonal elements from Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata", which is also in C minor, and from the third movement in particular. Two measures after the melody sets in, an abrupt run features the same notes, only one octave higher, like the cadenza in the sonata's third movement (Presto agitato). The climax on a chord is similar in both pieces. Additionally, the "Fantaisie-Impromptu"s middle part and the second movement of the "Moonlight Sonata" are in D major. The first and third movements are in C minor.


title: Fantaisie-Impromptu

text: For those and other reasons, Ernst Oster writes, "Chopin understood Beethoven to a degree that no one who has written on the C minor Sonata or the "Fantaisie-Impromptu" has ever understood him. ... The "Fantaisie-Impromptu" is perhaps the only instance where one genius discloses to us—if only by means of a composition of his own—what he actually hears in the work of another genius."


title: Fantaisie-Impromptu

text: The piece uses many cross-rhythms (the right hand plays sixteenth notes against the left hand playing triplets) and a ceaselessly moving note figuration, and is in cut time (). The opening tempo is marked "allegro agitato". The tempo changes to "largo" and later "moderato cantabile" when the key changes to D major, the enharmonic equivalent of the more obscure tonic major key of C major, that is, the parallel major of C minor.


title: Fantaisie-Impromptu

text: The piece then changes to "presto" (although some versions of the score incorporate a coda, meaning that the original tempo of "allegro agitato" is repeated) where it continues in C minor as before. It concludes in an ambiguous fantasy-like ending, in a quiet and mysterious way, where the left hand replays the first few notes of the moderato section theme, while the right hand continues playing sixteenth notes (semiquavers). The piece resolves and gently ends on a C major rolled chord (a Picardy third).


title: Fantaisie-Impromptu

text: The melody of the "Fantaisie-Impromptu"s middle section was used in the popular Vaudeville song "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows". That theme was quoted in Variation 10 of Federico Mompou's "Variations on a Theme of Chopin", which is otherwise based on Chopin's Prelude No. 7 in A major. George Crumb's Makrokosmos, Volume 1: 11. Dream Images (Love-Death Music) (Gemini) includes three quotations from the "Fantaisie-Impromptu"s middle section.


title: A Dance to the Music of Time

text: A Dance to the Music of Time is a 12-volume "roman-fleuve" by English writer Anthony Powell, published between 1951 and 1975 to critical acclaim. The story is an often comic examination of movements and manners, power and passivity in English political, cultural and military life in the mid-20th century. The books were inspired by the painting of the same name by French artist Nicolas Poussin.


title: A Dance to the Music of Time

text: The sequence is narrated by Nicholas Jenkins. At the beginning of the first volume, Jenkins falls into a reverie while watching snow descending on a coal brazier. This reminds him of "the ancient world—legionaries ... mountain altars ... centaurs ..." These classical projections introduce the account of his schooldays, which opens "A Question of Upbringing".


title: A Dance to the Music of Time

text: Over the course of the following volumes, he recalls the people he met over the previous half a century and the events, often small, that reveal their characters. Jenkins's personality is unfolded slowly, and often elliptically, over the course of the novels.


title: A Dance to the Music of Time

text: "Time" magazine included the novel in its list of the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to 2005. The editors of Modern Library ranked the work as 43rd-greatest English-language novel of the 20th century. The BBC ranked the novel 36th on its list of the 100 greatest British novels.


title: A Dance to the Music of Time

text: These classical projections, and something from the fire, suddenly suggested Poussin's scene in which the Seasons, hand in hand and facing outward, tread in rhythm to the notes of the lyre that the winged and naked greybeard plays. The image of Time brought thoughts of mortality: of human beings, facing outward like the Seasons, moving hand in hand in intricate measure, stepping slowly, methodically sometimes a trifle awkwardly, in evolutions that take recognisable shape: or breaking into seemingly meaningless gyrations, while partners disappear only to reappear again, once more giving pattern to the spectacle: unable to control the melody, unable, perhaps, to control the steps of the dance.


title: A Dance to the Music of Time

text: Published dates are those of the first UK publication. The narrative is rarely specific about the years in which events take place. Those below are suggested by Hilary Spurling in "Invitation to the Dance – a Handbook to Anthony Powell's A Dance to the Music of Time".


title: A Dance to the Music of Time

text: In order to fit the material in, it was broadcast as four separate serials each based on a set of three books: the first three serials had six episodes, the last eight. The series were broadcast between 1979 and 1982. The cycle was adapted again as a six-part "Classic Serial" on BBC Radio 4 from 6 April to 11 May 2008, directed by John Taylor. The cycle was adapted as a four-part TV series "A Dance to the Music of Time" by Anthony Powell and Hugh Whitemore for Channel 4 in 1997, directed by Christopher Morahan and Alvin Rakoff.


title: German collective guilt

text: German collective guilt (German: ) refers to the notion of a collective guilt attributed to Germany and its people for perpetrating the Holocaust and other atrocities in World War II.


title: German collective guilt

text: Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung wrote an influential essay in 1945 about this concept as a psychological phenomenon, in which he asserted that the German people felt a collective guilt ("Kollektivschuld") for the atrocities committed by their fellow countrymen, and so introduced the term into German intellectual discourse. Jung said collective guilt was "for psychologists a fact, and it will be one of the most important tasks of therapy to bring the Germans to recognize this guilt."


title: German collective guilt

text: After the war, the Allied occupation forces in Allied-occupied Germany promoted shame and guilt with a publicity campaign, which included posters depicting Nazi concentration camps with slogans such as "These Atrocities: Your Fault!" ("Diese Schandtaten: Eure Schuld!").


title: German collective guilt

text: The theologian Martin Niemöller and other churchmen accepted shared guilt in the "Stuttgarter Schuldbekenntnis" (Stuttgart Declaration of Guilt) of 1945. The philosopher and psychologist Karl Jaspers delivered lectures to students in 1946 which were published under the title "The Question of German Guilt". In this published work, Jaspers describes how "an acknowledgment of national guilt was a necessary condition for the moral and political rebirth of Germany". Additionally, Jaspers believed that no one could escape this collective guilt, and taking responsibility for it might enable the German people to transform their society from its state of collapse into a more highly developed and morally responsible democracy. He believed that those who committed war crimes were morally guilty, and those who tolerated them without resistance were politically guilty, leading to collective guilt for all.


title: German collective guilt

text: The German collective guilt for the events of the Holocaust has long been an idea that has been pondered by famous and well-known German politicians and thinkers. In addition to those mentioned previously, German author and philosopher Bernhard Schlink describes how he sometimes feels as if being German is a huge burden, due to the country's past. According to Schlink, "the reason the European crisis is so agonising for Germany is that the country has been able to retreat from itself by hurling itself into the European project". Schlink also believes that "the burden of nationality has very much shaped the way in which Germans view themselves and their responsibilities within Europe", and he describes how Germans see themselves as Atlanticists or Europeans, rather than as Germans. Schlink sees this existing guilt becoming weaker from generation to generation. Thomas Mann also advocated for collective guilt:


title: Lacrimal gland

text: The lacrimal glands are paired exocrine glands, one for each eye, found in most terrestrial vertebrates and some marine mammals, that secrete the aqueous layer of the tear film. In humans, they are situated in the upper lateral region of each orbit, in the lacrimal fossa of the orbit formed by the frontal bone. Inflammation of the lacrimal glands is called dacryoadenitis. The lacrimal gland produces tears which are secreted by the lacrimal ducts, and flow over the ocular surface, and then into canals that connect to the lacrimal sac. From that sac, the tears drain through the lacrimal duct into the nose.


title: Lacrimal gland

text: Anatomists divide the gland into two sections, a palpebral lobe, or portion, and an orbital lobe or portion. The smaller "palpebral lobe" lies close to the eye, along the inner surface of the eyelid; if the upper eyelid is everted, the palpebral portion can be seen.


title: Lacrimal gland

text: The orbital lobe of the gland, contains fine interlobular ducts that connect the orbital lobe and the palpebral lobe. They unite to form three to five main secretory ducts, joining five to seven ducts in the palpebral portion before the secreted fluid may enter on the surface of the eye. Tears secreted collect in the fornix conjunctiva of the upper lid, and pass over the eye surface to the lacrimal puncta, small holes found at the inner corner of the eyelids. These pass the tears through the lacrimal canaliculi on to the lacrimal sac, in turn to the nasolacrimal duct, which dumps them out into the nose.


title: Lacrimal gland

text: The lacrimal gland is a compound tubuloacinar gland, it is made up of many lobules separated by connective tissue, each lobule contains many acini. The acini composed of large serous cells which, produce a watery serous secretion, serous cells are filled with lightly stained secretory granules and surrounded by well-developed myoepithelial cells and a sparse, vascular stroma.


title: Lacrimal gland

text: Each acinus consists of a grape-like mass of "lacrimal gland cells" with their apices pointed to a central lumen.


title: Lacrimal gland

text: The central lumen of many of the units converge to form intralobular ducts, and then they unite to form interlobular ducts. The gland lacks striated ducts.


title: Lacrimal gland

text: The lacrimal gland receives blood from the lacrimal artery, which is a branch of the ophthalmic artery. Blood from the gland drains to the superior ophthalmic vein.


title: Lacrimal gland

text: The lacrimal gland is innervated by the lacrimal nerve, which is the smallest branch of the ophthalmic nerve, itself a branch of the trigeminal nerve (CN V). After the lacrimal nerve branches from the ophthalmic nerve it receives a communicating branch from the zygomatic nerve. This communicating branch carries postganglionic parasympathetic axons from the pterygopalatine ganglion. The lacrimal nerve passes anteriorly in the orbit and through the lacrimal gland providing parasympathetic and sympathetic innervation to it.


title: Lacrimal gland

text: The parasympathetic innervation to the lacrimal gland is a complex pathway which traverses through numerous structures in the head. Ultimately this two-neuron pathway involving both a preganglionic and postganglionic parasympathetic neuron increases the secretion of lacrimal fluid from the lacrimal gland. The preganglionic parasympathetic neurons are located in the superior salivatory nucleus. They project axons which exit the brainstem as part of the facial nerve (CN VII). Within the facial canal at the geniculate ganglion the axons branch from the facial nerve forming the greater petrosal nerve. This nerve exits the facial canal through the hiatus for the greater petrosal nerve in the petrous part of the temporal bone. It emerges to the middle cranial fossa and travels anteromedially to enter the foramen lacerum. Within the foramen lacerum it joins to the deep petrosal nerve to form the nerve of the pterygoid canal and then passes through this canal. It emerges in the pterygopalatine fossa and enters the pterygopalatine ganglion where the preganglionic parasympathetic axons synapse with the postganglionic parasympathetic neurons. The postganglionic neurons then send axons which travel with the zygomatic nerve to enter the inferior orbital fissure. As the zygomatic nerve travels anteriorly in the orbit it sends a communicating branch to the lacrimal nerve which carries the postganglionic parasympathetic axons. The lacrimal nerve completes this long pathway by travelling through the lacrimal gland and sending branches to which it provides parasympathetic innervation to increase the secretion of lacrimal fluid.


title: Lacrimal gland

text: Sympathetic innervation to the lacrimal gland is of less physiologic importance than the parasympathetic innervation, however there are noradrenergic axons found within the lacrimal gland. Their cell bodies are located in the superior cervical ganglion.


title: Lacrimal gland

text: In contrast to the normal moisture of the eyes or even crying, there can be persistent dryness, scratching, itchiness and burning in the eyes, which are signs of dry eye syndrome (DES) or keratoconjunctivitis sicca (KCS). With this syndrome, the lacrimal glands produce less lacrimal fluid, which mainly occurs with ageing or certain medications. The Schirmer test, conducted by placing a thin strip of filter paper at the edge of the eye, can be used to determine the level of dryness of the eye. Many medications or diseases that cause dry eye syndrome can also cause hyposalivation with xerostomia. Treatment varies according to aetiology and includes avoidance of exacerbating factors, tear stimulation and supplementation, increasing tear retention, eyelid cleansing, and treatment of eye inflammation.


title: Gong Hyo-jin filmography

text: Gong Hyo-jin (born April 4, 1980) is a South Korean actress. She is best known for her leading role in the film "Crush and Blush" (2008), as well as for her popular television series "Sang Doo! Let's Go to School" (2003), "Thank You" (2007), "Pasta" (2010), "The Greatest Love" (2011), "Master's Sun" (2013), "It's Okay, That's Love" (2014), "The Producers" (2015), "Don't Dare to Dream" (2016), and "When the Camellia Blooms" (2019). She is considered to be the queen of romantic comedies due to her successful portrayals in her rom-com dramas.


title: Black or White (film)

text: Black or White is a 2014 American drama film written and directed by Mike Binder. The film stars Kevin Costner, Octavia Spencer, Jillian Estell, Bill Burr, Jennifer Ehle, Andre Holland, Gillian Jacobs, and Anthony Mackie. The film premiered at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival and was released in the United States on January 30, 2015.


title: Black or White (film)

text: Elliot Anderson is widowed after a car crash leads to the death of his wife. At the funeral, Rowena, his granddaughter Eloise's paternal grandmother, offers to care for Eloise, but Elliot angrily declines. Elliot raises his granddaughter as he struggles with his grief by binge-drinking. Elliot's world is turned upside-down when Rowena demands that Eloise be brought under the care of her father Reggie, Rowena's son, who is addicted to drugs and whom Elliot blames for the negligence that led to the death of his own daughter. Elliot finds himself deeply entrenched in a custody battle and will stop at nothing to keep his granddaughter from coming under the watch of her reckless father.


title: Black or White (film)

text: On September 25, 2014, Open Road Films was in talks to acquire the US distribution rights to the film. On October 17, Relativity Media acquired the US rights to the film.


title: Black or White (film)

text: Principal photography of the film began on July 15, 2013 in New Orleans with the filming lasting for five weeks.


title: Black or White (film)

text: Relativity planned to release the film in time to qualify for the Oscar race, starting with a limited release on December 3, 2014 then opening wide on January 30, 2015.


title: Black or White (film)

text: In its opening weekend of January 30, 2015, the film made a gross of $2.3 million on Friday, $3 million on Saturday, and $986,312 on Sunday for a weekend total of $6.2 million, playing in 1,823 with a per-theater average of $3,408 and ranking #4.


title: Black or White (film)

text: "Black or White" received mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 39% rating, based on 102 reviews, with an average rating of 5.19/10. The website's consensus reads: ""Black or White" has more on its mind than your average family drama, but the film's approach to its thought-provoking themes too often lives down to its title." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 45 out of 100, based on 30 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Black or White (film)

text: Jordan Mintzer of The Hollywood Reporter wrote: "Black and White never panders too easily to sentiments, creating characters who are riddled with flaws but likeable all the same."


title: Black or White (film)

text: Scott Foundas of Variety praised Costner for his performance calling it "some of the finest, most deeply felt work of his career" but was critical of the film "this well-intentioned family drama never quite shakes free from its didactic, movie-of-the-week dramaturgy and a hand-holding approach to race-relations."


title: Aanum Pennum

text: Aanum Pennum () is a 2021 Indian Malayalam-language anthology film featuring three segments directed by Venu, Aashiq Abu and Jay K.


title: Aanum Pennum

text: The film explores the stories of man-woman relationships in the backdrop of three different timelines with each segment telling a story on romance, betrayal and lust. The anthology features an ensemble cast of Parvathy Thiruvothu, Asif Ali, Joju George, Samyuktha Menon, Roshan Mathew, Darshana Rajendran, Indrajith Sukumaran, Nedumudi Venu, Kaviyoor Ponnamma and Basil Joseph. Bijibal and Dawn Vincent composes the original songs and background score. The film is presented by Rajeev Ravi and produced by C. K. Padma Kumar and M. Dileep Kumar under Prime Production.


title: Aanum Pennum

text: Jay K.'s film has completed filming in 2019 while, other films are in different stages of production. Venu's segment which is set in the backdrop of 1950s was shot in Palakkad. Aashiq Abu's segment was filmed during November 2019.


title: Aanum Pennum

text: The film was released on 26 March 2021. The film is available for online streaming on Amazon Prime Video, Saina Play and Koode.


title: Aanum Pennum

text: Baradwaj Rangan of Film Companion South wrote "Rani, the third film is the real standout. If you take just the form, ignoring the content for a moment, the way the scenes are written with the dialogue and silence, the way the music kicks in on time and goes out, the unexpected twist with an elderly couple and a Biblical confusion that comes to haunt a man...it doesn’t feel like a film about something specific. It feels like snapshots pulled out of people’s lives, which is the toughest thing for a filmmaker to do. Rani, with a breathtaking ending, is the only film that worked in this anthology."


title: Phenix City, Alabama

text: Phenix City is a city in Lee and Russell counties in the U.S. state of Alabama, and the county seat of Russell County. As of the 2020 Census, the population of the city was 38,817.


title: Phenix City, Alabama

text: Phenix City lies immediately west across the Chattahoochee River from Columbus, Georgia and observes Eastern Time on a "de facto" basis (in contrast to the rest of Alabama, which observes Central Time) due to Phenix City's strong economic ties to Columbus. Most of Phenix City is included in the Columbus Metropolitan Statistical Area, and the remainder is in Lee County and therefore included in the Auburn, Alabama Metropolitan Statistical Area. The entire city is part of the Columbus-Auburn-Opelika Combined Statistical Area.


title: Phenix City, Alabama

text: In 2007, "BusinessWeek" named Phenix City the nation's No. 1 Best Affordable Suburb to raise a family. It is home to Chattahoochee Valley Community College, a public, two-year college with an acceptance rate of 100%. Troy University has a satellite campus in Phenix City.


title: Phenix City, Alabama

text: As of 2020, the mayor is Eddie N. Lowe, the city's first black mayor elected by the public. The city manager, who holds the task of organizational matters, is Wallace Hunter.


title: Phenix City, Alabama

text: Phenix City is located at (32.472822, −85.020121). It is the easternmost settlement in the state of Alabama as well as the Central Time Zone, but it and some other nearby areas unofficially observe Eastern Time, as these areas are part of the metropolitan area of the considerably larger city of Columbus, Georgia, which is in the Eastern Time Zone and adjacent to the city across the Chattahoochee River to the east.


title: Phenix City, Alabama

text: Several major highways run through Phenix City, namely U.S. Routes 80, 280, and 431. U.S. Route 80 runs through the northern and western parts of the city, leading west 44 mi (71 km) to Tuskegee and northeast to Columbus, Georgia. U.S. 280 runs through the western part of the city from northwest to southeast, leading northwest 27 mi (43 km) to Opelika and southeast into Columbus. U.S. 431 runs north to south to the west of the city, concurrent with US 280, which it follows to Opelika, and leads south 47 mi (76 km) to Eufaula.


title: Phenix City, Alabama

text: According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and (0.61%) is water.


title: Phenix City, Alabama

text: The climate in this area is characterized by relatively high temperatures and evenly distributed precipitation throughout the year. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Phenix City has a humid subtropical climate, abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps.


title: Phenix City, Alabama

text: What some claim was the last battle of the Civil War, the Battle of Columbus took place on April 16, 1865 in Phenix City, then known as Girard. Union General James Wilson was met with Confederate opposition as he crossed the Chattahoochee River in an attempt to destroy the military industry of Columbus, Georgia.


title: Phenix City, Alabama

text: Today's Phenix City initially began as two towns bordering each other on the North and South. On the south side was Girard, in Russell County, and the town of Brownville, on the north side, which was entirely within Lee County. Because a community in Tuscaloosa County already claimed the name of Brownville, the post office insisted on the name of "Lively". To compound the confusion, the nearby railroad depot was called Knight's Station. Because residents preferred Brownville, on the 1880 U.S. Census, it was listed as both Brownville and Lively. It was formally incorporated by the legislature on February 23, 1883.


title: Phenix City, Alabama

text: Within the decade, the name would be changed to Phenix (or Phenix City), although some misspellings had it as "Phoenix". It was not clear if it was named for Phenix Mills in adjacent Columbus, Georgia, or for the fabled bird. It appeared as Phenix City on the 1890 U.S. Census and was incorporated as such on February 19, 1897, by the state legislature. The City Official website displays the mythical Phoenix. The city's Seal also depicts the Phoenix burning up in its nest. The 'Our Community/History' page confirms the uncertainty behind the name: ""Although no definitive source reveals why" "this name was chosen"."


title: Phenix City, Alabama

text: On August 9, 1923, Russell County's neighboring Girard (which made up most of current downtown Phenix City) and Lee County's Phenix City formally merged, keeping the name of Phenix City. Because the consolidated city still remained divided into two counties, in 1932, the Lee County portion was moved entirely into Russell County (also cited for the redraw was to account for population shifts involved in the Auburn University opening and expansion). Lee County received the rural segment at Marvyn as compensation, which was formerly in Russell County's northwest corner.


title: Phenix City, Alabama

text: In 1926, the Russell County portion of Phenix City was designated the second county seat (the seat from 1868 had been at rural Seale). In 1934/35, Phenix City then became the sole county seat.


title: Phenix City, Alabama

text: Phenix City was notorious during the 1940s and 1950s for being a haven for organized crime, prostitution, and gambling. Many of its customers came from the United States Army training center at Fort Benning, Georgia. The leaders of the crime syndicate in Phenix City were Jimmie Matthews and Hoyt Shepherd. Albert Patterson, from Phenix City, was elected to become attorney general of Alabama on a platform of reforming the city, but was shot and killed in 1954 outside his office on 5th Ave, north of 14th Street. As a result, the city had a negative reputation, and many people still associate this legacy with Phenix City. "The Tragedy and the Triumph of Phenix City, Alabama" by Margaret Ann Barnes chronicles these events, which led the small town to be known as "Sin City, USA". The bordertown was the subject of an acclaimed film, "The Phenix City Story", made in 1955.


title: Phenix City, Alabama

text: Despite the city having been entirely annexed into Russell County in 1932, the growth of the city has spread northward back into Lee County, where it first appeared on 1980 U.S. Census records. , nearly 4,200 residents (out of almost 33,000) reside in the Lee County portion.


title: Phenix City, Alabama

text: As of the census of 2000, there were 28,265 people, 11,517 households, and 7,566 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 13,250 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 52.94% White, 44.97% Black or African American, 0.23% Native American, 0.53% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.56% from other races, and 0.76% from two or more races. 1.49% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.


title: Phenix City, Alabama

text: There were 11,517 households, out of which 31.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 39.4% were married couples living together, 22.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.3% were non-families. 30.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.40 and the average family size was 2.99.


title: Phenix City, Alabama

text: In the city, the population was spread out, with 26.3% under the age of 18, 9.6% from 18 to 24, 28.7% from 25 to 44, 21.2% from 45 to 64, and 14.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 86.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 80.4 males.