title: Jean Seberg

text: Her paternal grandfather, Edward Carlson, arrived in the U.S. in 1882 and observed, "there are too many Carlsons in the New World." He changed the family surname to Seberg in memory of the water and mountains of Sweden. Seberg had a sister, Mary-Ann, and two brothers, Kurt and David, the younger of whom was killed in a car accident at the age of 18 in 1968.


title: Jean Seberg

text: In Marshalltown, Seberg babysat Mary Supinger, some eight years her junior, who became stage and film actress Mary Beth Hurt. After high school, Seberg enrolled at the University of Iowa to study dramatic arts, but took up filmmaking instead.


title: Jean Seberg

text: Seberg made her film debut in the title role of Joan of Arc in "Saint Joan" (1957), based on the George Bernard Shaw play, having been chosen from among 18,000 hopefuls by director Otto Preminger in a $150,000 talent search. Her name was entered by a neighbor.


title: Jean Seberg

text: When she was cast on October 21, 1956, Seberg's only acting experience had been a single season of summer stock performances. The film generated a great deal of publicity, but Seberg commented that she was "embarrassed by all the attention." Despite great hype, called in the press a ""Pygmalion" experiment", both the film and Seberg received poor reviews. On the failure, she later told the press:I am the greatest example of a very real fact, that all the publicity in the world will not make you a movie star if you are not also an actress.She also recounted:


title: Jean Seberg

text: I have two memories of "Saint Joan". The first was being burned at the stake in the picture. The second was being burned at the stake by the critics. The latter hurt more. I was scared like a rabbit and it showed on the screen. It was not a good experience at all. I started where most actresses end up.


title: Jean Seberg

text: Preminger promised her a second chance, and he cast Seberg in his next film, "Bonjour Tristesse" (1958), which was filmed in France. Preminger told the press: "It's quite true that, if I had chosen Audrey Hepburn instead of Jean Seberg, it would have been less of a risk, but I prefer to take the risk. [..] I have faith in her. Sure, she still has things to learn about acting, but so did Kim Novak when she started." Seberg again received negative reviews and the film nearly ended her career.


title: Jean Seberg

text: Seberg renegotiated her contract with Preminger and signed a long-term contract with Columbia Pictures. Preminger had an option to use her on another film, but they never again worked together. Her first Columbia film was the successful comedy "The Mouse That Roared" (1959), starring Peter Sellers.


title: Jean Seberg

text: Mylène Demongeot recalled in a 2015 filmed interview in Paris: "Otto had high hopes in Jean and "Saint Joan"'s failure took a toll on him also because there was a 5-films-contract from what I recall. She was extremely sad too about it and when we all arrived on the set of "Bonjour Tristesse" she carried on her shoulders the weight of guilt, she was scared. And with that type of man, of character [Preminger] she shouldn't have shown fear, that's why I got along with him. I was a supporting role, I didn't have the weight of the expected success of the film on my shoulders. I had no apprehension regarding him. When he screamed, I would turn and tell him [sarcastically] "you know, you shouldn't screech like that, you gonna get yourself a stroke". Such words would defuse him. On the contrary, Jean was scared of him so he would take advantage and eventually became very mean to her."


title: Jean Seberg

text: During the filming of "Bonjour Tristesse", Seberg met François Moreuil, the man who was to become her first husband, and she then based herself in France, finally achieving success as the free-love heroine of French New Wave films.


title: Jean Seberg

text: She appeared as the female lead in Jean-Luc Godard's "Breathless" (French title: "À bout de souffle", 1960) as Patricia, co-starring with Jean-Paul Belmondo. The film became an international success and critics praised Seberg's performance; film critic and director François Truffaut even hailed her as "the best actress in Europe." Despite her achievements, Seberg did not identify with her characters or the film plots, saying that she was "making films in France about people [I'm] not really interested in." Back in the U.S., she made another film for Columbia, the crime drama "Let No Man Write My Epitaph" (1960).


title: Jean Seberg

text: In France, after appearing in "Time Out for Love" ("", 1961), Seberg took the lead role in Moreuil's directorial debut, "Love Play" ("", also 1961). By that time, Seberg had become estranged from Moreuil, and she recollected that production was "pure hell" and that he "would scream at [her]." She followed with "Five Day Lover" ("", 1962), "Congo vivo" (1962) and "In the French Style" (1963), a French-American film featuring Stanley Baker released through Columbia. She also appeared in the anthology film "The World's Most Beautiful Swindlers" ("Les plus belles escroqueries du monde", 1963) and "Backfire" ("", 1964), which reunited her with Jean-Paul Belmondo.


title: Jean Seberg

text: Seberg starred with Warren Beatty in the American film "Lilith" (1964) for Columbia, which prompted the critics to acknowledge Seberg as a serious actress. She returned to France to make romantic crime drama "Diamonds Are Brittle" ("", 1965).


title: Jean Seberg

text: In the late 1960s, Seberg was increasingly based in Hollywood. "Moment to Moment" (1965) was mostly filmed in Los Angeles; only a small part of the film was shot on the French Cote d'Azur. In New York City, she acted in the comedy "A Fine Madness" (1966) with Sean Connery and under the direction of Irvin Kershner.


title: Jean Seberg

text: In 1966 and 1967, Seberg played the leading roles in two French films directed by Claude Chabrol and co-starring Maurice Ronet. In February and March 1966, she starred in "Line of Demarcation", filmed around Dole, Jura, and in May and June 1967, she played the lead role in the French-Italian Eurospy film "The Road to Corinth", shot in Greece.


title: Jean Seberg

text: After making the crime drama "Pendulum" with George Peppard (1969), Seberg appeared in her only musical film, "Paint Your Wagon" (also 1969), based on Lerner and Loewe's stage musical and co-starring Lee Marvin and Clint Eastwood. Her singing voice was dubbed by Anita Gordon. The film was a critical and box office disaster. Seberg also starred in the ensemble disaster film "Airport" (1970), which drew mixed reviews but was a huge success at the box office.


title: Jean Seberg

text: Seberg acted in the western "Macho Callahan" (1970) and the violent crime drama "Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!" (1971), but both films were failures. In 1972, she appeared in "Gang War in Naples", which was successful in Europe but not in the United States.


title: Jean Seberg

text: Seberg was François Truffaut's first choice for the central role of Julie in "Day for Night" ("", 1973), but after several fruitless attempts to contact her, he gave up and cast British actress Jacqueline Bisset instead.


title: Jean Seberg

text: Seberg's last American film appearance was in the TV movie "Mousey" (1974). She remained active during the 1970s in European films, appearing in "Bianchi cavalli d'Agosto" (White Horses of Summer) (1975), "" ("The Big Delirium", 1975, with husband ) and "" (1976, based on Ibsen's "The Wild Duck").


title: Jean Seberg

text: At the time of Seberg's death, she was working on the French film "Operation Leopard" ("La Légion saute sur Kolwezi", 1980), which was based upon the book by . She had filmed scenes in French Guiana and returned to Paris for additional work in September. After her death, the scenes were reshot with actress Mimsy Farmer.


title: Jean Seberg

text: During the late 1960s, Seberg provided financial support to groups supporting civil rights, such as the NAACP as well as Native American school groups such as the Meskwaki Bucks at the Tama settlement near her hometown of Marshalltown, for whom she purchased $500 worth of basketball uniforms.


title: Jean Seberg

text: As part of its "dirty tricks" aimed at black liberation and anti-war groups, which began in 1968, the FBI became aware of several gifts Seberg had made to the Black Panther Party, totaling an estimated $10,500 in contributions; these were noted among a list of other celebrities in FBI internal documents later declassified and released to the public under FOIA requests.


title: Jean Seberg

text: The FBI operation against Seberg, directly overseen by J. Edgar Hoover, used COINTELPRO program techniques to harass, intimidate, defame, and discredit her. The FBI's stated goal was an unspecified "neutralization" of Seberg with a subsidiary objective to "cause her embarrassment and serve to cheapen her image with the public", while taking the "usual precautions to avoid identification of the Bureau." The FBI's strategy and modalities can be found in its interoffice memos.


title: Jean Seberg

text: In 1970, the FBI created a false story from a San Francisco-based informant that the child whom Seberg was carrying was not fathered by her husband, Romain Gary, but by Raymond Hewitt, a member of the Black Panther Party. The story was reported by gossip columnist Joyce Haber of the "Los Angeles Times", with Seberg thinly disguised. It was also printed by "Newsweek" magazine, in which Seberg was directly named. Seberg went into premature labor and, on August 23, 1970, gave birth to a baby girl. The child died two days later. Seberg held a funeral in her hometown with an open casket that allowed reporters to see the infant's white skin in order to disprove the rumors.


title: Jean Seberg

text: Seberg and Gary later sued "Newsweek" for libel and defamation, asking for $200,000 in damages. She contended that she had become so upset after reading the story that she went into premature labor, which resulted in the death of her daughter. A Paris court ordered "Newsweek" to pay the couple $10,800 in damages, and it ordered "Newsweek" to print the judgment in its publication and eight other newspapers.


title: Jean Seberg

text: The Seberg investigation went far beyond the publishing of defamatory articles. According to friends interviewed after her death, she experienced years of aggressive in-person surveillance, amounting to constant stalking, as well as break-ins and other means of intimidation. These newspaper reports make clear that Seberg was well aware of the surveillance. FBI files show that she was wiretapped, and in 1980, the "Los Angeles Times" published logs of her Swiss wiretapped phone calls. U.S. surveillance was deployed while she was residing in France and while traveling in Switzerland and Italy. The FBI files reveal that the agency contacted the FBI legal attachés in American embassies in Paris and Rome and provided files on Seberg to the CIA, Secret Service and military intelligence to assist in monitoring Seberg while she was abroad.


title: Jean Seberg

text: Two weeks after Seberg's death in 1979, the FBI admitted what it had done in 1970. FBI records show that Hoover kept President Richard Nixon informed of FBI activities related to the Seberg case through Nixon's domestic affairs chief John Ehrlichman. Attorney General John Mitchell and Deputy Attorney General Richard Kleindienst were also kept informed of FBI activities related to Seberg. At the time of the FBI's admission of its activities, Haber was no longer writing a column, having been fired in 1975 for often using unattributed information in her column. Following the FBI's admission, Haber said she could not disclose the source of the information from her column and said, "If I were used by the FBI, I didn't know it. ... I am certainly shocked to learn that the FBI engaged in planting stories with news people."


title: Jean Seberg

text: At the peak of her career, Seberg suddenly stopped acting in Hollywood films. Reportedly, she was not pleased with the roles that she had been offered, some of which, she claimed, bordered on pornography. She was not offered any great Hollywood roles, regardless of their size. Experts on the FBI's actions in the COINTELPRO project suggest that Seberg was "effectively blacklisted" from Hollywood films.


title: Jean Seberg

text: Seberg's father reacted strongly to the story of FBI abuses, stating that "if this is true, why in the dickens didn't they just shoot her, instead of having all this travail that's gone on. I have this flag in the corner, that I used to put out every morning, and I haven't put it out since."


title: Jean Seberg

text: On September 5, 1958, at the age of 19, Seberg married François Moreuil, a French lawyer (aged 23) in her native Marshalltown, having met him in France 15 months earlier. They divorced in 1960. Moreuil had ambitions to work in film and directed his estranged wife in "Love Play". He said that the marriage was "violent" and that Seberg "got married for all the wrong reasons."


title: Jean Seberg

text: I'm enjoying it to the fullest extent. I've been tremendously lucky to have gone through this experience at an age where I can still learn. That doesn't mean that I will stay here. I'm in Paris because my work has been here. I'm not an expatriate. I will go where the work is. The French life has its drawbacks. One of them is the formality. The system seems to be based on saving the maximum of yourself for those nearest you. Perhaps that is better than the other extreme in Hollywood, where people give so much of themselves in public life that they have nothing left over for their families. Still, it is hard for an American to get used to. Often I will get excited over a luncheon table only to have the hostess say discreetly that coffee will be served in the other room. ... I miss that casualness and friendliness of Americans, the kind that makes people smile. I also miss blue jeans, milk shakes, thick steaks and supermarkets.


title: Jean Seberg

text: Despite extended stays in the United States, Seberg remained in Paris for the rest of her life. In 1961 she met French aviator, resistance member, novelist and diplomat Romain Gary, who was 24 years her senior and married to author Lesley Blanch. Seberg gave birth to their son, Alexandre Diego Gary, in Barcelona on July 17, 1962. The child's birth and first year of life were hidden, even from close friends and relatives. Gary's divorce from Blanch took place on September 5, 1962, and he married Seberg secretly on October 6, 1962, in Corsica.


title: Jean Seberg

text: During her marriage to Gary, Seberg lived in Paris, Greece, Southern France and Majorca. She filed for divorce in September 1968, and the divorce was finalized on July 1, 1970. As of 2009, their son resides in Spain, where he runs a bookstore and oversees his father's literary and real-estate holdings.


title: Jean Seberg

text: Seberg reportedly had affairs with co-stars Warren Beatty ("Lilith"), Clint Eastwood ("Paint Your Wagon"), Fabio Testi ("Gang War in Naples"), and with filmmaker Ricardo Franco. Novelist Carlos Fuentes also claimed to have had an affair with her.


title: Jean Seberg

text: While filming "Macho Callahan" in Durango, Mexico, in the winter of 1969–70, Seberg became romantically involved with a student revolutionary named Carlos Ornelas Navarra. She gave birth to their daughter, Nina Hart Gary, on August 23, 1970. The baby died two days later on August 25, 1970, as a result of complications sustained when Seberg overdosed on sleeping pills during her pregnancy. Ex-husband Gary assumed responsibility for the pregnancy, but Seberg acknowledged that Ornelas was the father. Nina is buried at Riverside Cemetery in Marshalltown.


title: Jean Seberg

text: On March 12, 1972, Seberg married director Dennis Berry. The couple separated in May 1976, but never divorced. Seberg subsequently dated aspiring French filmmaker Jean-Claude Messager, who later spoke to CBS's Mike Wallace for a 1981 profile of the actress.


title: Jean Seberg

text: In 1979, while still legally married to her estranged husband Berry, Seberg went through "a form of marriage" to Algerian Ahmed Hasni. Hasni persuaded her to sell her second apartment on the Rue du Bac, and he kept the proceeds (reportedly 11 million francs in cash), announcing that he would use the money to open a Barcelona restaurant. The couple departed for Spain, but she was soon back in Paris alone, and went into hiding from Hasni, who she claimed had grievously abused her.


title: Jean Seberg

text: On August 30, 1979, Seberg disappeared from her Paris apartment. Hasni told police that the couple had gone to a movie and when he awoke the next morning, Seberg was gone. After Seberg went missing, Hasni told police that he had known that she was suicidal for some time. He claimed that she had attempted suicide in July 1979 by jumping in front of a Paris subway train.


title: Jean Seberg

text: On September 8, nine days after her disappearance, Seberg's decomposing body was found wrapped in a blanket in the back seat of her Renault, parked close to her apartment in the 16th arrondissement. Police found a bottle of barbiturates, an empty mineral water bottle, and a note written in French by Seberg addressed to her son. It read in part, "Forgive me. I can no longer live with my nerves." In 1979, her death was ruled a probable suicide by Paris police, but the following year additional charges were filed against persons unknown for "non-assistance of a person in danger."


title: Jean Seberg

text: Romain Gary, Seberg's second husband, called a press conference shortly after her death at which he blamed the FBI's campaign against Seberg for her deteriorating mental health. Gary claimed that Seberg "became psychotic" after the media had reported the false story — planted by the FBI — that she was pregnant with a Black Panther's child in 1970. Gary stated that Seberg had repeatedly attempted suicide on the anniversary of the child's death, August 25.


title: Jean Seberg

text: According to FBI documents obtained via the Freedom of Information Act, six days after the discovery of Seberg's body, the FBI released documents admitting its defamation of Seberg, while making statements attempting to distance the agency from the practices of the Hoover era. The FBI's campaign against Seberg was further explored by "Time" magazine in a front-page article titled "The FBI vs. Jean Seberg."


title: Jean Seberg

text: Media attention surrounding the FBI's abuse of Seberg led to an examination of the case by the Church Committee of the U.S. Senate, which noted that despite the FBI's claims of reform, "COINTELPRO activities may continue today under the rubric of investigation."


title: Jean Seberg

text: In his autobiography, "Los Angeles Times" editor Jim Bellows describes events leading up to the Seberg articles, expressing regret that he had not vetted the articles sufficiently. He echoed this sentiment in subsequent interviews.


title: Jean Seberg

text: In June 1980, Paris police filed charges against "persons unknown" in connection with Seberg's death. Police stated that Seberg had such a high amount of alcohol in her system at the time of her death that it would have rendered her comatose and unable to enter her car without assistance, and no alcohol was found in the car. Police theorized that someone was present at the time of Seberg's death and failed to seek medical care.


title: Jean Seberg

text: In December 1980, Seberg's former husband Romain Gary committed suicide. His suicide note, addressed to his publisher, indicated that he had not killed himself over the loss of Seberg, but because he could no longer produce literary works.


title: Jean Seberg

text: In 1983, a musical based on Seberg's life called "Jean Seberg," by librettist Julian Barry, composer Marvin Hamlisch and lyricist Christopher Adler, was presented at the National Theatre in London.


title: Jean Seberg

text: In 1986, pop singer Madonna recreated Seberg's iconic "Breathless" look in her music video for "Papa Don't Preach," sporting a pixie blonde haircut, French striped jersey shirt and black capri pants in the style of Seberg's character in "Breathless".


title: Jean Seberg

text: In 1991, actress Jodie Foster, a fan of Seberg's performance in "Breathless", purchased the film rights to "Played Out: The Jean Seberg Story", David Richards' biography of Seberg. Foster was set to produce and star in the film, but the project was canceled two years later.


title: Jean Seberg

text: In 1995, Mark Rappaport created a documentary about Seberg, "From the Journals of Jean Seberg". Mary Beth Hurt played Seberg in a voiceover. Hurt was born in Marshalltown, Iowa in 1948, attended the same high school as Seberg and was babysat by Seberg.


title: Jean Seberg

text: The plot of the 1998 film "Black Tears", starring Ariadna Gil, is reportedly inspired by Seberg's reported affair with Ricardo Franco.


title: Jean Seberg

text: The 2000 short film "Je t'aime John Wayne" is a tribute parody of "Breathless", with Seberg played by Camilla Rutherford.


title: Jean Seberg

text: In 2004, French author Alain Absire published "Jean S.", a fictionalized biography. Seberg's son Alexandre Diego Gary brought a lawsuit, unsuccessfully attempting to stop publication.


title: Jean Seberg

text: Also from 2004, Seberg is recalled in the Divine Comedy song "Absent Friends": Little Jean Seberg seemed / So full of life / But in those eyes such troubled dreams / Poor little Jean".


title: Jean Seberg

text: Since 2011, Seberg's hometown of Marshalltown, Iowa, has held an annual Jean Seberg International Film Festival.


title: Jean Seberg

text: In 2019, Amazon released an original film based on Seberg's life called "Seberg" that focuses on her battle against the FBI, with the title role played by Kristen Stewart.


title: Jean Seberg

text: The character of Anny Vikland in William Boyd’s 2020 novel ‘Trio’ strongly resembles Seberg’s in details of her life and death.


title: Jean Seberg

text: In 2022, Kacey Rohl portrayed Seberg in "White Dog (Chien blanc)", a film adaptation by Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette of Gary's 1970 book.


title: Ishaan Khatter

text: Ishaan Khatter (born 1 November 1995) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi films. The son of actors Rajesh Khattar and Neelima Azeem, he made his first screen appearance as a child in the 2005 film "Vaah! Life Ho Toh Aisi!", which starred his half-brother Shahid Kapoor.


title: Ishaan Khatter

text: Khatter had his first leading role in Majid Majidi's drama "Beyond the Clouds" (2017), in which his performance as a drug dealer won him the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut. His first commercial success came with the romantic drama "Dhadak" (2018), and he has since starred in the British miniseries "A Suitable Boy" (2020).


title: Ishaan Khatter

text: Khatter is the son of actors Neelima Azeem and Rajesh Khattar. His half-brother, Shahid Kapoor, is Azeem's son from her first marriage to actor Pankaj Kapur. Khatter describes himself as someone who is proud of his middle class values. He explains that he grew up in a household rich in culture, cinema, and the performing arts, and that he worked towards developing himself as an artiste. Khatter was educated at Jamnabai Narsee School and Billabong High International School, Juhu in Mumbai. He also studied dance at Shiamak Davar's academy.


title: Ishaan Khatter

text: After making his first screen appearance as a child in the 2005 film "Vaah! Life Ho Toh Aisi!", starring Kapoor, Khatter worked as an assistant director to Abhishek Chaubey on his film "Udta Punjab" (2016) and Danish Renzu on the independent film "Half Widow "(2017).


title: Ishaan Khatter

text: Khatter's first acting role as an adult came with "Beyond the Clouds" (2017), directed by Majid Majidi, in which he played Amir, a drug dealer. It premiered at the BFI London Film Festival and was released theatrically in 2018. Reviewing the film for "The Hollywood Reporter", Deborah Young wrote that Khatter's "noteworthy screen charisma promises well for his future career". He won the Best Actor award at the 5th International Bosphorous Film Festival and the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut.


title: Ishaan Khatter

text: Khatter next played the lead role in Shashank Khaitan's romantic drama "Dhadak" (2018), a remake of the Marathi film "Sairat" (2016), co-starring newcomer Janhvi Kapoor. It tells the story of two young lovers in rural Rajasthan who face political opposition to their relationship due to caste discrimination. Uday Bhatia of "Mint" criticized "Dhadak" for lacking the depth of the original film, but found "a soulfulness to [Khatter] that's at odds with Hindi cinema's current penchant for bratty, hyperactive onscreen male personas". Shubhra Gupta of "The Indian Express" too disliked the film, but labelled Khatter a "natural" performer and took note of his "mobile, expressive face". With worldwide earnings of over , "Dhadak" emerged as a commercial success.


title: Ishaan Khatter

text: In 2020, Khatter starred in the British miniseries "A Suitable Boy", Mira Nair's adaptation of Vikram Seth's novel of the same name, in which he was paired opposite Tabu. It aired in six parts on BBC One. He was drawn to the project due to its depiction of an older woman-young man romance, which he hoped would challenge social stigma of such relationships. Hugo Rifkind of "The Times" found Khatter to be "suitably charismatic and dangerous" in his part. That same year, he starred alongside Ananya Panday in the action film "Khaali Peeli", which due to COVID-19 pandemic was released digitally on Zee Plex.


title: Ishaan Khatter

text: In 2022, Khatter featured alongside Katrina Kaif and Siddhant Chaturvedi in the comedy horror film "Phone Bhoot". Reviewers were generally unimpressed with the picture, but Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV thought that the "charm and spunk" that Khatter brought to his comic role enabled him to "[walk] away with the film". Khatter will next star as an army tank commander in the war film "Pippa", about the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.


title: Ishaan Khatter

text: Khatter was ranked in The Times Most Desirable Men at No. 27 in 2018, at No. 32 in 2019, at No. 25 in 2020.


title: Farrah Abraham

text: Farrah Abraham (born May 31, 1991) is an American reality television personality, singer, pornographic actress, and writer. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, and raised in Council Bluffs, Iowa, she received public attention after being cast in the reality television series "16 and Pregnant" in 2009, which documented the pregnancies and first months of motherhood for several young women. Later that year, she was cast in the spin-off series "Teen Mom", and appeared in each of its four seasons until its conclusion in 2012. That August, she released her debut studio album and first memoir, both of which were titled "My Teenage Dream Ended". The book made it onto "The New York Times" bestseller list.


title: Farrah Abraham

text: Farrah Abraham was born in Omaha, Nebraska, and raised in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Her father, Michael Abraham, is of Syrian and Italian descent. Her mother, Debra Danielsen, is of Danish and Sicilian ancestry. She grew up with her half-sister, Ashley Danielson. Her parents divorced in 2010 and in 2017, her mother married David Merz.


title: Farrah Abraham

text: In 2008, Abraham, then 17, was selected to appear on the MTV show, "16 and Pregnant", a reality series that aimed to document the lives of pregnant teenagers across the United States. News of her pregnancy caused issues between her and her mother, Debra Danielsen, with Danielsen calling her daughter a whore and preventing her from obtaining an abortion; being pregnant, Abraham was forced to discontinue her cheerleading. Furthermore, during filming, Derek Underwood, the father of her child, died in a car accident. Abraham gave birth to the couple's daughter, Sophia Laurent Abraham, on February 23, 2009. Abraham's episode of "16 and Pregnant" aired in 2009.


title: Farrah Abraham

text: Later that year she was cast in the spin-off series "Teen Mom"; it followed Abraham, in addition to Maci Bookout, Catelynn Lowell and Amber Portwood, who also appeared on episodes of "16 and Pregnant", during their first years of motherhood. The series premiere was broadcast on December 8, 2009. Abraham and her mother are seen to have a rocky relationship throughout Teen Mom, with Danielson being charged with assault in an Iowa court for hitting her in January 2010. Abraham started seeing a therapist to discuss the rocky relationship with her family, because she couldn't cope with her mother's actions as well as dealing with her emotions regarding Sophia's father, Derek Underwood and his death. Farrah eventually proved to Derek's family through a paternity test that Derek was in fact Sophia's father and then was faced with a lawsuit filed by Derek's mother for grandparents' visitation rights, despite no previous contact with Sophia.


title: Farrah Abraham

text: In 2011, she began attending the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale in Florida, where she got an associate degree in culinary arts and management. She later launched the "Mom & Me" pasta sauce line.


title: Farrah Abraham

text: On August 1, 2012, Abraham ventured into the music industry with the release of her debut studio album "My Teenage Dream Ended". It received overwhelmingly negative reviews from contemporary music critics, but has since been reappraised as avant-garde outsider art. Abraham released a memoir by the same title on August 14. After airing four seasons, the series finale of "Teen Mom" aired on August 29, 2012.


title: Farrah Abraham

text: In January 2014, Abraham was cast for the fourth season of "Couples Therapy". However, Brian Dawe claimed that he was hired by Abraham to appear as her on-screen boyfriend and ultimately did not appear on the program alongside her. Abraham consequently became the only cast member in series history to continue therapy without a partner, and was refocused on repairing her relationship with her mother.


title: Farrah Abraham

text: With her previous allegations of rape placing a strain on her partnership with Vivid Entertainment, a press release announcing her second sex tape "Farrah 2: Backdoor and More" in February stated: "it's no 'fake' 'leak'—it's the real, raw, ridiculous deal, and it suits Farrah's underhanded personality herself." Farrah reportedly earned $1 million selling her sex tape with James Deen. Later that month, Abraham appeared in the TV special "Being Farrah", a continuation of "Teen Mom"; Bookout, Lowell, and Portwood were featured in the specials "Being Maci", "Being Catelynn", and "Being Amber", respectively. Their successes prompted MTV to consider reviving the series without Abraham, who the other women were concerned was an inappropriate influence on their children.


title: Farrah Abraham

text: In March 2014, Abraham returned to the music industry with the release of the song "Blowin'" and the simultaneous premiere of its accompanying music video. She stated that she treats music as a "hobby, not my career move." In August 2014, she signed a contract with Palazio's Gentleman's Club in Austin, Texas, for $544,000 for a residency until New Year's Eve.


title: Farrah Abraham

text: In October 2017, Farrah was fired from the show by producer Morgan J. Freeman because of her work in the adult entertainment industry. She was later replaced by Bristol Palin and Cheyenne Floyd.


title: Farrah Abraham

text: In 2015, Abraham appeared on the 16th series of the British television series "Celebrity Big Brother", representing the United States. On September 18, she became the fifth housemate to be evicted. She was not in the top four highest-voted housemates, and her fellow housemate, Austin Armacost, chose to evict her. She had spent 23 days in the house.


title: Farrah Abraham

text: On 22 September 2015, she appeared as a panelist on the" Celebrity Big Brother's Bit on the Side" after-show and got into a heated argument with fellow panelist, Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace. The show was taken off air 10 minutes early after a "clash" between panelists. Abraham and Janice Dickinson were given police cautions by Hertfordshire Police.


title: Farrah Abraham

text: In April 2021, Abraham filed a report to the Palm Beach Police Department accusing then Windsor, California mayor Dominic Foppoli of sexually assaulting her. The filing included photographs, video and audio provided by Abraham. The case is under criminal investigation as of May 2021. She is one of nine women to accuse Foppoli of sex crimes. Foppoli resigned within three hours of reporters asking him about her allegations.


title: Farrah Abraham

text: In January 2022, Abraham was arrested after it was reported that she assaulted a nightclub security guard.


title: The Heirs

text: The Heirs (Korean: ), also known as The Inheritors, is a South Korean television series starring Lee Min-ho, Park Shin-hye, and Kim Woo-bin. Written by Kim Eun-sook, the drama is set in a high school populated by the privileged and uber-rich. It aired on SBS from October 9 to December 12, 2013.


title: The Heirs

text: This was the first Korean drama co-produced by American digital distribution platform DramaFever and Korean production company Hwa&Dam Pictures.


title: The Heirs

text: Due to its star-studded cast and writer Kim Eun-sook (who previously wrote "Lovers in Paris", "Secret Garden" and "A Gentleman's Dignity"), international broadcasting rights were sold to 13 countries. It had the highest selling price in Japan among all the 2013 Korean dramas at US$30,000 for each episode. As of January 26, 2014, the series has garnered more than one billion views on Youku, China's biggest video streaming site.


title: The Heirs

text: The series follows a group of wealthy, privileged high school students as they are about to take over their families' business empires, overcoming difficulties and growing every step of the way.


title: The Heirs

text: Kim Tan (Lee Min-ho) is a wealthy heir to a large Korean conglomerate called Jeguk Group. He was exiled to the U.S. by his half-brother Kim Won (Choi Jin-hyuk), who tries to take control of the family business. While in the States, he meets Cha Eun-sang (Park Shin-hye), who went there to look for her sister. Despite being engaged to Yoo Rachel (Kim Ji-won), a fellow heiress, Kim Tan, soon falls in love with Eun-sang. When Kim Tan returns to Korea, his former best friend turned enemy Choi Young-do (Kim Woo-bin) begins picking on Eun-sang to irritate Tan. Tension ensues when Young-do also falls in love with Eun-sang, and Kim Tan is forced to choose between his responsibility of pursuing the family business or love.


title: The Heirs

text: A 2014 Chinese television drama titled "Billion Dollar Heir" (亿万继承人) starring Yu Xiao Tong, Kan Qing Zi and Korean singer-actor Choi Si-won was originally reported to be a remake of "The Heirs", but this was later denied by Choi and director Li Shao Hong, citing the completely different story and characters. In 2016, it was announced that a Korea-Chinese film based on "The Heirs" is in the works.


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: Cosmo Kramer, usually referred to as simply "Kramer", is a fictional character in the American television sitcom "Seinfeld" (1989–1998) played by Michael Richards.


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: The character is loosely based on comedian Kenny Kramer, Larry David's ex-neighbor across the hall. Kramer is the neighbor of the series' main character, Jerry Seinfeld, and is friends with George Costanza and Elaine Benes. Of the series' four central characters, only Kramer has no visible means of support; what few jobs he holds seem to be nothing more than larks.


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: A lovable rogue, his trademarks include his upright hairstyle and vintage wardrobe, whose combination led Elaine to characterize him as a "hipster doofus"; his taste in fresh fruit; love of occasional smoking, Cuban cigars in particular; bursts through Jerry's apartment door without knocking; frequent pratfalls and penchant for nonsensical, percussive outbursts of noise to indicate skepticism, agreement, irritation and a variety of other feelings. He has been described as "an extraordinary cross between Eraserhead and Herman Munster".


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: Kramer appeared in all but two episodes: "The Chinese Restaurant" and "The Pen", in the second and third seasons, respectively. In the pilot episode, Kramer was called "Kessler" to prevent legal issues; Kenny Kramer later permitted the use of his name.


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: In "The Trip", Kramer says a man in a park exposed himself to him when he was a young boy. In "The Big Salad" Kramer reveals to Jerry that he grew up in a strict household where he had to be in bed every night by 9:00PM.


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: Kramer was estranged for a long period from his mother, Babs Kramer, who works as a restroom matron at an upscale restaurant. Unlike George and Jerry, Kramer's character does not have a well-developed network of family members shown in the sitcom. He is the only main character on the show whose father never makes an appearance; in "The Chinese Woman", Kramer mentions that he is the last male member of his family, implying that his father had died. He also mentions in "The Lip Reader" that he has or had a deaf cousin, from whom he learned fluent American Sign Language. He also has no children.


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: In "The Strong Box", it is revealed that Kramer spent a brief time in the Army, although info about this time is "classified". In "The Robbery", he says he lived in Los Angeles for three months.


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: Though eccentric, Kramer is generally caring, friendly and kind-hearted; he often goes out of his way to help total strangers, and tries to get his friends to also help others and to do the right thing even when they do not want to. He is confident in his own unique way of doing things, yet he can be neurotic and highly-strung. His quirkiness, strange body movements and frequent gibberish mutterings have become his trademark. He is also well liked by Jerry's parents, who he calls once a week, as if he was their own son.


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: Kramer was originally envisioned as a recluse who never left his apartment except to visit Jerry. This was the original reason behind why Kramer helps himself to Jerry's possessions and food without any pushback and also why he is absent from the season two episode "The Chinese Restaurant," which takes place entirely outside of the building. However, in season three Kramer starts to join Jerry, Elaine, and George in various scenes outside of the building. As the series progresses, Kramer completely loses any hints of reclusiveness and becomes one of the most extroverted characters on the show.


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: Kramer also gets his friends directly into trouble by talking them into unwise or even illegal actions such as parking in a disabled parking space ("The Handicap Spot"), urinating in a parking garage ("The Parking Garage"), committing mail fraud ("The Package") or even hiring an assassin to get rid of a dog ("The Engagement"). Kramer is also known to mooch off his friends, especially Jerry. Kramer regularly enters and uses Jerry's apartment without knocking, and often helps himself to Jerry's food. Kramer also uses tools/appliances of Jerry's, only occasionally with permission, and often returning them in a state of disrepair.


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: Kramer is known for his extreme honesty and lack of tact; in "The Nose Job", he tells George's insecure girlfriend that she needs a nose job. In "The Kiss Hello" Elaine tries to take advantage of this personality quirk by inviting Kramer to meet her friend, Wendy, whose hairstyle she feels is outdated. Kramer rarely gets into trouble for his candor, but his friends often do; in "The Cartoon", Kramer makes comments to Sally Weaver, who then blames Jerry for "ruining her life" as a result.


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: In general, Kramer excels at persuading Jerry into doing things against his better judgment. Kramer has displayed an almost unbending loyalty toward Jerry, such as in "The Millennium" and "The Bottle Deposit.", risking the failure of his own plans for Jerry's benefit. Kramer also thought nothing of giving Jerry a large amount of his banked blood in The Blood. In the same respect, Jerry has helped Kramer out of good will and always seems to forgive and ultimately accept Kramer's mooching tendencies. At times, Jerry is entertained by Kramer's antics, which may also be a factor in the friendship's endurance. However, Kramer is also quick to assume the worst of Jerry, believing him guilty of everything from sabotaging a Miss America contestant (in "The Chaperone") to having a double life as a Nazi leader (in "The Limo"), and is often oblivious to his sentiments. In "The Serenity Now", an emotional Jerry declares a near-brotherly love for Kramer, and Kramer is not even prompted to look away from his current activity, merely responding in a rote tone, "I love you, too, buddy."


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: He is close friends with Newman, though like the main characters they frequently get into conflict with each other, most notably in "The Butter Shave", in which Newman attempts to eat Kramer alive. Their get-rich-quick schemes appear in "The Old Man" and "The Bottle Deposit".


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: One of Kramer's friends, Bob Sacamano, is referred to by Kramer on several occasions, yet never makes an onscreen appearance. Sacamano is used as a source for several weird anecdotes, nutty ideas, or inaccurate information. Lomez is another good friend of Kramer's who is mentioned, yet never makes an appearance.


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: Kramer's apartment is the subject of numerous radical experiments in interior design. Oftentimes, the "experiments" never happen due to Kramer's inherent short-attention span, including his plan to eliminate all furniture and build "levels... like ancient Egypt" in "The Pony Remark". He reconstructed the set of "The Merv Griffin Show" in "The Merv Griffin Show". Inside views of Kramer's apartment are seldom seen, but it's known that he installed hardwood flooring and woodgrain-like wallpaper to, as he explains to Jerry, "give it the feel of a ski lodge." The apartment is centered around a large hot tub and couch styled after a 1957 Chevy. The apartment is decorated with many small statues of people, all made entirely out of pasta. Kramer has also experimented with his apartment entrance, including reversing his peephole "to prevent an ambush" in "The Reverse Peephole" and installing a screen door in "The Serenity Now."


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: Kramer enjoys smoking Cuban cigars. In "The Abstinence" he sets up a smoking club in his apartment, which included a regularly-scheduled "pipe night" for those who preferred pipe tobacco to cigars and/or cigarettes. His face gets ruined after so much smoking and he hires Jackie Chiles to sue the cigarette company, but instead gets his image as the Marlboro Man on the Marlboro billboard in Times Square. He hires Cuban cigar rollers in an attempt to make his own Cuban cigars in "The English Patient".


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: Richards's portrayal of the Kramer character closely resembles that of Stanley Spadowski, a janitor-turned-children's-TV-host he played in the 1989 comedy "UHF", starring "Weird Al" Yankovic.


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: Kramer's conversation sometimes contains onomatopoeia or nonsensical sounds in order to stress an emotional point or describe earlier actions. He sometimes expresses his agreement with a sentiment or suggestion via the word "giddyup". He indicates pleasure with "Oh, Mama!" and frustration or disgust with "Oh... yeah!"


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: Of the four main characters, Kramer has the fewest on-screen romantic relationships. He has no trouble attracting women, but interactions with them usually begin and end with purely carnal encounters. What few relationships he has are short-lived.


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: The character of Kramer was originally based on the real-life Kenny Kramer, a neighbor of co-creator Larry David from New York. However, Michael Richards did not in any way base his performance on the real Kramer, to the point of refusing to meet him. This was later parodied in "The Pilot" when the actor that is cast to play him in Jerry and George's sitcom refuses to base the character on the real Cosmo Kramer. At the time of the shooting of the original "Seinfeld" pilot, "The Seinfeld Chronicles," Kenny Kramer had not yet given consent to use his name, and so Kramer's character was originally known as "Kessler."


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: Larry David was hesitant to use Kenny Kramer's real name because he suspected that Kramer would take advantage of this. David's suspicion turned out to be correct; Kenny Kramer created the "Kramer Reality Tour", a New York City bus tour that points out actual locations of events or places featured in "Seinfeld". The "Kramer Reality Tour" is itself spoofed on "Seinfeld" in "The Muffin Tops." In the episode, when Kramer's real-life stories are used by Elaine to pad the biography of J. Peterman she was ghostwriting, Kramer develops a reality bus tour called "The Peterman Reality Tour" and touts himself as "The Real J. Peterman".


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: Richards' physicality can be seen in his early 1980s appearances on "The Tonight Show", the early 1980s ABC sketch comedy show "Fridays", and his appearance in the film "Young Doctors in Love" where he plays a hit man; a nod to this appears in the "Air Conditioner" episode.


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: Kramer was known only as "Kramer" during the show's first five seasons (from 1990 to 1994). In "The Seinfeld Chronicles", Jerry referred to him as "Kessler", which was his original name for the show, until it was changed to "Kramer". However, in the first draft of the script, he was named "Hoffman". In a flashback in "The Betrayal", Kramer says that his name is incorrectly listed as "Kessler" in the apartment building. This retcons the pilot's use of "Kessler" as the character's name.


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: George finds out his first name of "Cosmo" through an encounter with Kramer's long estranged mom, Babs, in "The Switch". For the most part, characters continued to call him Kramer for the remainder of the show's run. The name "Cosmo" was suggested by Larry David; he took the name from a boy who lived in the same apartment building as him and Kenny Kramer.


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: The episode titled "The Bet" would have revealed Kramer's first name as "Conrad", not "Cosmo", but it was never filmed.


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: Despite the failure of the majority of his schemes and his unwillingness to even apply for a normal job, Kramer always seems to have money when he needs it. In the episode "The Shoes", Jerry remarks that Kramer received a "ton of money" at some earlier point in his life (presumably via inheritance). In "The Visa", George makes a comment about Kramer going to a fantasy camp, and how Kramer's "whole life is a fantasy camp. People should plunk down two thousand dollars to live like him for a week. Do nothing, fall ass-backwards into money, mooch food off your neighbors, and have sex without dating. That's a fantasy camp."


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: As a younger man, Kramer had several jobs. In the episode "The Strong Box", Kramer says he was briefly in the army, and claims the reason for his discharge is classified. In the episode "The Muffin Tops", Kramer mentions shaving his chest when he was a lifeguard. His long term unemployed status is explained in "The Strike", when he goes back to work at H&H Bagels after being on strike since 1985. He is fired by the end of the episode.


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: In the episode "The Bizarro Jerry" Kramer accidentally begins working for a company called Brandt-Leland. He is fired later in the episode because he has "no business training at all."


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: He is a compulsive gambler who successfully avoids gambling for several years until "The Diplomat's Club", in which he bets with a wealthy Texan on the arrival and departure times of flights going into New York's LaGuardia Airport.


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: A struggling (and terrible) actor, Kramer's first gig was a one-line part in a Woody Allen movie in "The Alternate Side" (his line, "These pretzels are making me thirsty", becomes the show's first catchphrase). Although he is fired before completing his scene, he says he "caught the bug" because of it, and briefly moves to Los Angeles to pursue a career in Hollywood. After returning to New York, Kramer auditions for the role of "Kramer" in the pilot of a new sitcom called "Jerry", using his stage name of Martin van Nostrand ("The Pilot"). He is unable to complete the audition due to an intestinal problem. Kramer later works as a stand-in on a soap opera with his friend Mickey Abbott in "The Stand In" and various other low-paying or non-paying theater projects, such as acting out illnesses at a medical school in "The Burning".


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: Kramer shows an entrepreneurial bent with "Kramerica Industries," for which he devises plans for a pizza place where customers make their own pie ("Male Unbonding"), a bladder system for tankers that will "put an end to maritime oil spills" ("The Voice"), and a product that will put ketchup and mustard in the same bottle.


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: In "The Friar's Club", he creates a concept restaurant that only serves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, which he calls P.B. & Js.


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: He also comes up with the idea of a beach-scented cologne in "The Pez Dispenser", but a marketing executive for Calvin Klein tells him the idea is ridiculous. Despite this, it is revealed in the episode "The Pick" that Calvin Klein began making an ocean-scented cologne. Calvin Klein offers to allow Kramer to be an underwear model, which Kramer accepts.


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: In "The Doorman", Kramer and Frank Costanza co-develop a prototype for a bra for men called the "bro" or the "manssiere".


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: In "The Muffin Tops", Kramer initiates The Peterman Reality Bus Tour, charging customers $37.50 for a tour of his life.


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: Kramer also hatches a scheme to smuggle Cubans to the United States to make Cuban cigars, only to learn the "Cubans" are actually Dominicans ("The English Patient").


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: He participates in lawsuits against various people and companies and considers himself "very litigious". He is always represented in these lawsuits by Jackie Chiles. In "The Maestro," he settles one such suit (though receiving no monetary compensation) against a coffee company whose beverages are too hot (a reference to the McDonald's coffee case). In "The Abstinence," Kramer sues a tobacco company for the damage its products cause to his appearance, and in "The Caddy," he sues Sue Ellen Mischke for causing a traffic accident.


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: A storyline running throughout the fifth season is the development of one of Kramer's few successful ideas. Kramer first thinks of the book in "The Cigar Store Indian", although he later claims that he first had the idea when skiing. Throughout the season, his quest to get the book published becomes a running gag. Pendant Publishing (where Elaine and Kramer's then-girlfriend work) decides to publish it in "The Fire".


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: In "The Opposite", Kramer starts his "book tour" with an appearance on "Regis and Kathie Lee". By accidentally spitting his coffee over Kathie Lee Gifford ("All over my Kathie Lee Casuals!"), his book tour goes down in flames. Elaine inadvertently causes the end of Pendant Publishing and therefore the end of Kramer's book. In the episode "The Wizard" it is revealed that the book is being made into a movie. The money Kramer makes allows him to briefly retire to Florida and run for president of the condo board at Del Boca Vista, Phase 3.


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: The book itself is full of pictures of celebrities' coffee tables, and even had a pair of foldable wooden legs so that it could itself be turned into a coffee table. He also says that he has plans for a coaster to be built into the cover.


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: Tom Gammill and Max Pross, writers of "The Cigar Store Indian", came up with the idea of the coffee table book about coffee tables, and Larry David added on the idea of the foldout legs to turn it into a coffee table.


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: Kramer's physical eccentricities are a frequent source of humor. His entrance is a recurring gag. He frequently 'slides' into Jerry's apartment, often resulting in applause, as in "The Virgin". In "The Revenge", Kramer clumsily carries a dry sack of cement powder to the washing machine. In "The Foundation", he takes on a group of kids at a karate school, and in "The Van Buren Boys", after giving his stories to Elaine to write, he slips up on the golf balls and lands on the floor. In "The Subway", Kramer fights to get a seat with several people on a Subway. He falls a couple times and ends up not getting a seat. Kramer and Newman had been playing the game "Risk" for a while. When they were done, Kramer drops the game off at Jerry's apartment. Before he puts it onto the table, he clears the table with his leg with papers flying off. When Kramer and Jerry were going to see a movie, Kramer hid his coffee under his shirt due to him not being allowed to bring it in. Kramer then spills the coffee on himself when he was about to sit down, burning himself in the process. Kramer became a model for Calvin Klein when he went to their office. He showed off his buttocks in white underwear in front of a few Calvin Klein executives. Just before they wanted to take him in to their studio, Kramer has a pratfall in the underwear.


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: Under the name H.E. Pennypacker in "The Puerto Rican Day", Kramer poses as a prospective buyer interested in an elegant apartment in order to use its bathroom. Kramer also appears as Pennypacker to help Elaine get revenge on a Mayan clothing store, "Putumayo", by repricing all the merchandise in the store with a pricing gun in "The Millennium", though due to a mishap with the pricing gun, Pennypacker instead removes the desiccants from clothes in the store in order to render them "noticeably musty in five years". In this latter capacity, he claims Pennypacker is "a wealthy American industrialist."


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: As Dr. Martin van Nostrand, Kramer tries to get hold of Elaine's medical chart to erase the negative comments her doctor has made in "The Package". He also uses the Van Nostrand alias in the episode "The Slicer", posing as a "Juilliard-trained dermatologist" for a cancer screening at George's company, Kruger Industrial Smoothing. Mr. Kruger later recognizes him as Dr. Van Nostrand in "The Strike". Kramer uses the name Martin van Nostrand (without the "doctor" prefix) while auditioning for the role of himself on the show "Jerry" in "The Pilot, Part 1". Kramer poses as Professor Peter van Nostrand in "The Nose Job" in order to retrieve a favorite jacket from another man's apartment; Kramer's jacket, to which he attributes at least some of his amorous success, is a minor plot point in other episodes until, in "The Cheever Letters", he trades it to a Cuban embassy official for several boxes of authentic Cuban cigars.


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: Kramer is also occasionally called "the K-Man" ("The Barber", "The Bizarro Jerry", "The Busboy", "The Note", "The Hamptons", "The Scofflaw" and "The Soup Nazi").


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: A derogatory designation for Kramer has been "hipster doofus", a moniker assigned to him by a woman in a wheelchair he once dated in the episode "The Handicap Spot", and occasionally directed at him by Elaine, as in "The Glasses". The nickname was first used in The Atlantic Monthly review of "Seinfeld".


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: Ken Tucker wrote in a 1992 review in "Entertainment Weekly" that Kramer is "the most cartoonish, least-defined person in "Seinfeld". Kramer is an earnest dope whose long, gangly body always seems to surprise his mind — he's always running, stumbling, bumping into things; he doesn't enter Jerry's apartment so much as he explodes into it." In 1999, "TV Guide" ranked him number 36 on its '50 Greatest TV Characters of All Time' list.


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: It is shown that Kramer is subletting his apartment from Paul Buchman, one of the main characters in NBC's "Mad About You". Paul and Kramer have a conversation about Paul giving Kramer the apartment in "Mad About You" episode "The Apartment" (Season 1, Episode 8).


title: Cosmo Kramer

text: Alternative hip hop group Das Racist indirectly reference Kramer by referring to the show "Seinfeld" and the actor Michael Richards who portrays him in the song "Rapping 2 U".


title: Psychological thriller

text: Psychological thriller is a genre combining the thriller and psychological fiction genres. It is commonly used to describe literature or films that deal with psychological narratives in a thriller or thrilling setting.


title: Psychological thriller

text: In terms of context and convention, it is a subgenre of the broader ranging thriller narrative structure, with similarities to Gothic and detective fiction in the sense of sometimes having a "dissolving sense of reality". It is often told through the viewpoint of psychologically stressed characters, revealing their distorted mental perceptions and focusing on the complex and often tortured relationships between obsessive and pathological characters. Psychological thrillers often incorporate elements of mystery, drama, action, and paranoia. The genre is closely related to and sometimes overlaps with the psychological drama and psychological horror genres, the latter generally involving more horror and terror elements and themes and more disturbing or frightening scenarios.


title: Psychological thriller

text: Peter Hutchings states varied films have been labeled psychological thrillers, but it usually refers to "narratives with domesticated settings in which action is suppressed and where thrills are provided instead via investigations of the psychologies of the principal characters." A distinguishing characteristic of a psychological thriller is it emphasizes the mental states of its characters: their perceptions, thoughts, distortions, and general struggle to grasp reality.


title: Psychological thriller

text: According to director John Madden, psychological thrillers focus on story, character development, choice, and moral conflict; fear and anxiety drive the psychological tension in unpredictable ways. Madden stated their lack of spectacle and strong emphasis on character led to their decline in Hollywood popularity. Psychological thrillers are suspenseful by exploiting uncertainty over characters' motives, honesty, and how they see the world. Films can also cause discomfort in audiences by privileging them with information they wish to share with the characters; guilty characters may suffer similar distress by virtue of their knowledge.


title: Psychological thriller

text: However, James N. Frey defines psychological thrillers as a style, rather than a subgenre; Frey states good thrillers focus on the psychology of their antagonists and build suspense slowly through ambiguity. Creators and/or film distributors or publishers who seek to distance themselves from the negative connotations of horror often categorize their work as a psychological thriller. The same situation can occur when critics label a work to be a psychological thriller in order to elevate its perceived literary value.


title: Psychological thriller

text: Many psychological thrillers have emerged over the past years, all in various media (film, literature, radio, etc.). Despite these very different forms of representation, general trends have appeared throughout the narratives. Some of these consistent themes include:


title: Psychological thriller

text: In psychological thrillers, characters often have to battle an inner struggle. Amnesia is a common plot device used to explore these questions. Character may be threatened with death, be forced to deal with the deaths of others, or fake their own deaths. Psychological thrillers can be complex, and reviewers may recommend a second or third viewing to "decipher its secrets." Common elements may include stock characters, such as a hardboiled detective and serial killer, involved in a cat and mouse game. Sensation novels, examples of early psychological thrillers, were considered to be socially irresponsible due to their themes of sex and violence. These novels, among others, were inspired by the exploits of real-life detective Jack Whicher. Water, especially floods, is frequently used to represent the unconscious mind, such as in "What Lies Beneath" and "In Dreams". Psychological thrillers may not always be concerned with plausibility. Peter Hutchings defines the giallo, an Italian subgenre of psychological thrillers, as violent murder mysteries that focus on style and spectacle over rationality. According to Peter B. Flint of "The New York Times", detractors of Alfred Hitchcock accused him of "relying on slick tricks, illogical story lines and wild coincidences".


title: Scuderia AlphaTauri

text: Scuderia AlphaTauri, or simply AlphaTauri, is an Italian Formula One racing team and constructor. It is one of two Formula One constructors owned by Austrian beverage company Red Bull, the other being Red Bull Racing. The constructor was rebranded for the 2020 Formula One World Championship from "Toro Rosso" to "AlphaTauri" in order to promote the AlphaTauri fashion brand. According to Franz Tost and Helmut Marko, Scuderia AlphaTauri is no longer the junior team but the sister team to Red Bull Racing.


title: Scuderia AlphaTauri

text: In September 2019, Toro Rosso announced their intention to change their naming rights for the 2020 championship. It was announced on 1 December 2019 that the team had selected "AlphaTauri" as their new moniker to promote parent company Red Bull's fashion label of the same name by purchasing Toro Rosso's naming rights. Thus, they became "Scuderia AlphaTauri" and retired the "Scuderia Toro Rosso" moniker after fourteen years. The team's involvement in Formula One can be traced back to the 1985 season when they first competed as Minardi. The team has been owned by Red Bull GmbH since the 2006 season.


title: Scuderia AlphaTauri

text: AlphaTauri had Daniil Kvyat and Pierre Gasly drive for them in their debut season. The team remained with the Honda engine, being the team's engine partner since the season. Sérgio Sette Câmara, Sébastien Buemi, and Jüri Vips were signed as the team's test drivers. The team achieved its first podium finish and race victory under the AlphaTauri name at the 2020 Italian Grand Prix, which also marked Pierre Gasly's first race victory and the first win for a French Formula One driver since Olivier Panis won the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix 24 years prior. AlphaTauri ended the year in 7th place on 107 points, 75 for Gasly and 32 for Kvyat.


title: Scuderia AlphaTauri

text: For the 2021 season, AlphaTauri retained Gasly and signed Yuki Tsunoda to replace Kvyat. Gasly scored the team's first podium of the year by finishing in third place at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Gasly also consolidated this by finishing 4th at the Dutch and Mexico City Grands Prix. Tsunoda's best finish was 4th place at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.


title: Scuderia AlphaTauri

text: Both drivers have been retained for the 2022 season. AlphaTauri will be using the Red Bull-branded Honda engines due to the former's subsequent takeover of the Honda engine programme due to Honda exiting Formula One at the conclusion of the 2021 season.


title: Scuderia AlphaTauri

text: Nyck de Vries and Yuki Tsunoda are due to be the team's drivers for the 2023 season, with Gasly moving to Alpine.


title: Passerine

text: A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by the arrangement of their toes (three pointing forward and one back), which facilitates perching.


title: Passerine

text: With more than 140 families and some 6,500 identified species, Passeriformes is the largest clade of birds and among the most diverse clades of terrestrial vertebrates, representing 60% of birds. Passerines are divided into three clades: Acanthisitti (New Zealand wrens), Tyranni (suboscines), and Passeri (oscines or songbirds). The passerines contain several groups of brood parasites such as the viduas, cuckoo-finches, and the cowbirds. Most passerines are omnivorous, while the shrikes are carnivorous.


title: Passerine

text: The terms "passerine" and "Passeriformes" are derived from the scientific name of the house sparrow, "Passer domesticus", and ultimately from the Latin term "passer", which refers to sparrows and similar small birds.


title: Passerine

text: The order is divided into three suborders, Tyranni (suboscines), Passeri (oscines or songbirds), and the basal Acanthisitti. Oscines have the best control of their syrinx muscles among birds, producing a wide range of songs and other vocalizations, though some of them, such as the crows, do not sound musical to human beings. Some, such as the lyrebird, are accomplished mimics. The New Zealand wrens are tiny birds restricted to New Zealand, at least in modern times; they were long placed in Passeri.


title: Passerine

text: Most passerines are smaller than typical members of other avian orders. The heaviest and altogether largest passerines are the thick-billed raven and the larger races of common raven, each exceeding and . The superb lyrebird and some birds-of-paradise, due to very long tails or tail coverts, are longer overall. The smallest passerine is the short-tailed pygmy tyrant, at and .


title: Passerine

text: The foot of a passerine has three toes directed forward and one toe directed backward, called anisodactyl arrangement, and the hind toe (hallux) joins the leg at approximately the same level as the front toes. This arrangement enables passerine birds to easily perch upright on branches. The toes have no webbing or joining, but in some cotingas, the second and third toes are united at their basal third.


title: Passerine

text: The leg of passerine birds contains an additional special adaptation for perching. A tendon in the rear of the leg running from the underside of the toes to the muscle behind the tibiotarsus will automatically be pulled and tighten when the leg bends, causing the foot to curl and become stiff when the bird lands on a branch. This enables passerines to sleep while perching without falling off.


title: Passerine

text: Most passerine birds have 12 tail feathers but the superb lyrebird has 16, and several spinetails in the family Furnariidae have 10, 8, or even 6, as is the case of Des Murs's wiretail. Species adapted to tree trunk climbing such as woodcreeper and treecreepers have stiff tail feathers that are used as props during climbing. Extremely long tails used as sexual ornaments are shown by species in different families. A well-known example is the long-tailed widowbird.


title: Passerine

text: The chicks of passerines are altricial: blind, featherless, and helpless when hatched from their eggs. Hence, the chicks require extensive parental care. Most passerines lay colored eggs, in contrast with nonpasserines, most of whose eggs are white except in some ground-nesting groups such as Charadriiformes and nightjars, where camouflage is necessary, and in some parasitic cuckoos, which match the passerine host's egg. The vinous-throated parrotbill has two egg colors, white and blue, to deter the brood parasitic common cuckoo.


title: Passerine

text: Clutches vary considerably in size: some larger passerines of Australia such as lyrebirds and scrub-robins lay only a single egg, most smaller passerines in warmer climates lay between two and five, while in the higher latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, hole-nesting species like tits can lay up to a dozen and other species around five or six.


title: Passerine

text: The evolutionary history of the passerine families and the relationships among them remained rather mysterious until the late 20th century. In many cases, passerine families were grouped together on the basis of morphological similarities that, it is now believed, are the result of convergent evolution, not a close genetic relationship. For example, the wrens of the Americas and Eurasia, those of Australia, and those of New Zealand, look superficially similar and behave in similar ways, yet belong to three far-flung branches of the passerine family tree; they are as unrelated as it is possible to be while remaining Passeriformes.


title: Passerine

text: Advances in molecular biology and improved paleobiogeographical data gradually are revealing a clearer picture of passerine origins and evolution that reconciles molecular affinities, the constraints of morphology and the specifics of the fossil record. The first passerines are now thought to have evolved in Gondwana (in the Southern Hemisphere) in the late Paleocene or early Eocene, around 50 million years ago.


title: Passerine

text: The initial split was between the New Zealand wrens (Acanthisittidae) and all other passerines (Eupasserine), and the second split involved the Tyranni (suboscines) and the Passeri (oscines or songbirds). A rupture of the Gondwanan continent caused the core split of the Eupasseres, which were divided into these groups, one in Western Gondwana (Tyranni) and the other in Eastern Gondwana (Passeri). Passeri experienced a great radiation of forms out of the Australian continent. A major branch of the Passeri, parvorder Passerida, expanded deep into Eurasia and Africa, where a further explosive radiation of new lineages occurred. This eventually led to three major Passerida lineages comprising about 4,000 species, which in addition to the Corvida and numerous minor lineages make up songbird diversity today. Extensive biogeographical mixing happens, with northern forms returning to the south, southern forms moving north, and so on.


title: Passerine

text: Perching bird osteology, especially of the limb bones, is rather diagnostic. However, the early fossil record is poor because the first Passeriformes were relatively small, and their delicate bones did not preserve well. Queensland Museum specimens F20688 (carpometacarpus) and F24685 (tibiotarsus) from Murgon, Queensland, are fossil bone fragments initially assigned to Passeriformes. However, the material is too fragmentary and their affinities have been questioned. Several more recent fossils from the Oligocene of Europe, such as "Wieslochia", "Jamna", "Resoviaornis" and "Crosnoornis", are more complete and definitely represent early passeriforms, although their exact position in the evolutionary tree is not known.


title: Passerine

text: From the Bathans Formation at the Manuherikia River in Otago, New Zealand, MNZ S42815 (a distal right tarsometatarsus of a tui-sized bird) and several bones of at least one species of saddleback-sized bird have recently been described. These date from the Early to Middle Miocene (Awamoan to Lillburnian, 19–16 mya).


title: Passerine

text: In Europe, perching birds are not too uncommon in the fossil record from the Oligocene onward, but most are too fragmentary for a more definite placement:


title: Passerine

text: That suboscines expanded much beyond their region of origin is proven by several fossil from Germany such as a broadbill (Eurylaimidae) humerus fragment from the Early Miocene (roughly 20 mya) of , Germany, the Late Oligocene carpometacarpus from France listed above, and "Wieslochia", among others. Extant Passeri super-families were quite distinct by that time and are known since about 12–13 mya when modern genera were present in the corvoidean and basal songbirds. The modern diversity of Passerida genera is known mostly from the Late Miocene onwards and into the Pliocene (about 10–2 mya). Pleistocene and early Holocene lagerstätten (<1.8 mya) yield numerous extant species, and many yield almost nothing but extant species or their chronospecies and paleosubspecies.


title: Passerine

text: In the Americas, the fossil record is more scant before the Pleistocene, from which several still-existing suboscine families are documented. Apart from the indeterminable MACN-SC-1411 (Pinturas Early/Middle Miocene of Santa Cruz Province, Argentina), an extinct lineage of perching birds has been described from the Late Miocene of California, United States: the Palaeoscinidae with the single genus "Palaeoscinis". ""Palaeostruthus" eurius" (Pliocene of Florida) probably belongs to an extant family, most likely passeroidean.


title: Passerine

text: The Passeriformes is currently divided into three suborders: Acanthisitti (New Zealand wrens), Tyranni (suboscines) and Passeri (oscines or songbirds). The Passeri is now subdivided into two major groups recognized now as Corvides and Passerida respectively containing the large superfamilies Corvoidea and Meliphagoidea, as well as minor lineages, and the superfamilies Sylvioidea, Muscicapoidea, and Passeroidea but this arrangement has been found to be oversimplified. Since the mid-2000s, literally, dozens of studies have investigated the phylogeny of the Passeriformes and found that many families from Australasia traditionally included in the Corvoidea actually represent more basal lineages within oscines. Likewise, the traditional three-superfamily arrangement within the Passeri has turned out to be far more complex and will require changes in classification.


title: Passerine

text: Major "wastebin" families such as the Old World warblers and Old World babblers have turned out to be paraphyletic and are being rearranged. Several taxa turned out to represent highly distinct lineages, so new families had to be established, some of them – like the stitchbird of New Zealand and the Eurasian bearded reedling – monotypic with only one living species. In the Passeri alone, a number of minor lineages will eventually be recognized as distinct superfamilies. For example, the kinglets constitute a single genus with less than 10 species today but seem to have been among the first perching bird lineages to diverge as the group spread across Eurasia. No particularly close relatives of them have been found among comprehensive studies of the living Passeri, though they might be fairly close to some little-studied tropical Asian groups. Nuthatches, wrens, and their closest relatives are currently grouped in a distinct super-family Certhioidea.


title: Passerine

text: This list is in taxonomic order, placing related families next to one another. The families listed are those recognised by the International Ornithologists' Union (IOC). The order and the division into infraorders, parvorders and superfamilies follows the phylogenetic analysis published by Carl Oliveros and colleagues in 2019. The relationships between the families in the suborder Tyranni (suboscines) were all well determined but some of the nodes in Passeri (oscines or songbirds) were unclear owing to the rapid splitting of the lineages.


title: Passerine

text: Relationships between living Passeriformes families based on the phylogenetic analysis of Oliveros et al (2019). Some terminals have been renamed to reflect families recognised by the IOC but not in that study. The IOC families Alcippeidae and Teretistridae were not sampled in this study.


title: Albanians

text: The Albanians (; ) are an ethnic group and nation native to the Balkan Peninsula who share a common Albanian ancestry, culture, history and language. They primarily live in Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia as well as in Croatia, Greece, Italy and Turkey. They also constitute a large diaspora with several communities established across Europe, the Americas and Oceania.


title: Albanians

text: Albanians have Paleo-Balkanic origins. Exclusively attributing these origins to the Illyrians, Thracians or other Paleo-Balkan people is still a matter of debate among historians and ethnologists. The first certain reference to Albanians as an ethnic group comes from 11th century chronicler Michael Attaleiates who describes them as living in the theme of Dyrrhachium.


title: Albanians

text: The Shkumbin River roughly demarcates the Albanian language between Gheg and Tosk dialects. Christianity in Albania was under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome until the 8th century AD. Then, dioceses in Albania were transferred to the patriarchate of Constantinople. In 1054, after the Great Schism, the north gradually became identified with Roman Catholicism and the south with Eastern Orthodoxy. Inhabiting the west of Lake Ochrida and the upper valley of the Shkumbin River, the Albanians established the Principality of Arbanon in 1190 with the capital in Krujë.


title: Albanians

text: The Albanian diaspora has its roots in migration from the Middle Ages initially across Southern Europe and eventually across wider Europe and the New World. Between the 13th and 18th centuries, sizeable numbers migrated to escape various social, economic or political difficulties. One population, the Arvanites, settled Southern Greece between the 13th and 16th centuries. Another population, the Arbëreshë, settled across Sicily and Southern Italy between the 11th and 16th centuries. Smaller populations such as the Arbanasi settled Southern Croatia and pockets of Southern Ukraine in the 18th century.


title: Albanians

text: By the 15th century, the expanding Ottoman Empire overpowered the Balkan Peninsula, but faced successful rebellion and resistance by the League of Lezhë, a union of Albanian principalities led by Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg. By the 17th and 18th centuries, a substantial number of Albanians converted to Islam, which offered them equal opportunities and advancement within the Ottoman Empire. Thereafter, Albanians attained significant positions and culturally contributed to the broader Muslim world. Innumerable officials and soldiers of the Ottoman State were of Albanian origin, including more than 40 Grand Viziers, and under the Köprülü, in particular, the Ottoman Empire reached its greatest territorial extension. Between the second half of the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century Albanian Pashaliks were established by Kara Mahmud pasha of Scutari, Ali pasha of Yanina, and Ahmet Kurt pasha of Berat, while the Albanian wālī Muhammad Ali established a dynasty that ruled over Egypt and Sudan until the middle of the 20th century, a period in which Albanians formed a substantial community in Egypt.


title: Albanians

text: During the 19th century, cultural developments, widely attributed to Albanians having gathered both spiritual and intellectual strength, conclusively led to the Albanian Renaissance. In 1912 during the Balkan Wars, Albanians declared the independence of their country. The demarcation of the new Albanian state was established following the Treaty of Bucharest and left about half of the ethnic Albanian population outside of its borders, partitioned between Greece, Montenegro and Serbia. After the Second World War up until the Revolutions of 1991, Albania was governed by a communist government under Enver Hoxha where Albania became largely isolated from the rest of Europe. In neighbouring Yugoslavia, Albanians underwent periods of discrimination and systematic oppression that concluded with the War of Kosovo and eventually with Kosovar independence.


title: Albanians

text: The Albanians () and their country Albania () have been identified by many ethnonyms. The most common native ethnonym is "Shqiptar", plural "Shqiptarë"; the name "Albanians" (Byzantine Greek: "Albanoi/Arbanitai/Arbanites"; Latin: "Albanenses/Arbanenses") was used in medieval documents and gradually entered European Languages from which other similar derivative names emerged, many of which were or still are in use, such as English "Albanians"; Italian "Albanesi"; German "Albaner"; Greek "Arvanites", "Alvanitis" (Αλβανίτης) plural: "Alvanites" (Αλβανίτες), "Alvanos" (Αλβανός) plural: "Alvanoi" (Αλβανοί); Turkish "Arnaut", "Arnavut"; South Slavic languages "Arbanasi" (Арбанаси), "Albanci" (Албанци); Aromanian "Arbinesh" and so on.


title: Albanians

text: The term "Albanoi" (Αλβανοί) is first encountered twice in the works of Byzantine historian Michael Attaliates, and the term "Arvanitai" (Αρβανίται) is used once by the same author. He referred to the "Albanoi" as having taken part in a revolt against the Byzantine Empire in 1043, and to the "Arbanitai" as subjects of the Duke of Dyrrachium (modern Durrës). These references have been disputed as to whether they refer to the people of Albania. Historian E. Vranoussi believes that these "Albanoi" were Normans from Sicily. She also notes that the same term (as "Albani") in medieval Latin meant "foreigners".


title: Albanians

text: The reference to "Arvanitai" from Attaliates regarding the participation of Albanians in a rebellion around 1078 is undisputed. In later Byzantine usage, the terms "Arbanitai" and "Albanoi" with a range of variants were used interchangeably, while sometimes the same groups were also called by the classicising name Illyrians. The first reference to the Albanian language dates to the latter 13th century (around 1285).


title: Albanians

text: The ethnonym "Albanian" has been hypothesized to be connected to and stem from the "Albanoi", an Illyrian tribe mentioned by Ptolemy with their centre at the city of Albanopolis. Linguists believe that the "alb" part in the root word originates from an Indo-European term for a type of mountainous topography, from which other words such as "alps" are derived. Through the root word "alban" and its rhotacized equivalents "arban", "albar", and "arbar", the term in Albanian became rendered as "Arbëneshë/Arbëreshë" for the people and "Arbënia/Arbëria" for the country. The Albanian language was referred to as "Arbnisht" and "Arbërisht". While the exonym Albania for the general region inhabited by the Albanians does have connotations to Classical Antiquity, the Albanian language employs a different ethnonym, with modern Albanians referring to themselves as "Shqip(ë)tarë" and to their country as "Shqipëria". Two etymologies have been proposed for this ethnonym: one, derived from the etymology from the Albanian word for eagle (shqipe, var., shqiponjë). In Albanian folk etymology, this word denotes a bird totem, dating from the times of Skanderbeg as displayed on the Albanian flag. The other is within scholarship that connects it to the verb 'to speak' ("me shqiptue") from the Latin ""excipere"". In this instance the Albanian endonym like "Slav" and others would originally have been a term connoting "those who speak [intelligibly, the same language]". The words "Shqipëri" and "Shqiptar" are attested from 14th century onward, but it was only at the end of 17th and beginning of the early 18th centuries that the placename "Shqipëria" and the ethnic demonym "Shqiptarë" gradually replaced "Arbëria" and "Arbëreshë" amongst Albanian speakers. That era brought about religious and other sociopolitical changes. As such a new and generalised response by Albanians based on ethnic and linguistic consciousness to this new and different Ottoman world emerging around them was a change in ethnonym.


title: Albanians

text: Little is known about the Albanian people prior to the 11th century, though a text compiled around the beginning of the 11th century in the Bulgarian language contains a possible reference to them. It is preserved in a manuscript written in the Serbo-Croatian Language traced back to the 17th century but published in the 20th century by Radoslav Grujic. It is a fragment of a once longer text that endeavours to explain the origins of peoples and languages in a question-and-answer form similar to a catechism.


title: Albanians

text: The fragmented manuscript differentiated the world into 72 languages and three religious categories including Christians, half-believers and non-believers. Grujic dated it to the early 11th century and, if this and the identification of the "Arbanasi" as Albanians are correct, it would be the earliest written document referring to the Balkan Albanians as a people or language group.


title: Albanians

text: It can be seen that there are various languages on earth. Of them, there are five Orthodox languages: Bulgarian, Greek, Syrian, Iberian (Georgian) and Russian. Three of these have Orthodox alphabets: Greek, Bulgarian and Iberian (Georgian). There are twelve languages of half-believers: Alamanians, Franks, Magyars (Hungarians), Indians, Jacobites, Armenians, Saxons, Lechs (Poles), Arbanasi (Albanians), Croatians, Hizi and Germans.


title: Albanians

text: Michael Attaleiates (1022–1080) mentions the term "Albanoi" twice and the term "Arbanitai" once. The term "Albanoi" is used first to describe the groups which rebelled in southern Italy and Sicily against the Byzantines in 1038–40. The second use of the term "Albanoi" is related to groups which supported the revolt of George Maniakes in 1042 and marched with him throughout the Balkans against the Byzantine capital, Constantinople. The term "Arvanitai" is used to describe a revolt of Bulgarians (Boulgaroi) and "Arbanitai" in the theme of Dyrrhachium in 1078–79. It is generally accepted that "Arbanitai" refers to the ethnonym of medieval Albanians. As such, it is considered to be the first attestation of Albanians as an ethnic group in Byzantine historiography. The use of the term "Albanoi" in 1038–49 and 1042 as an ethnonym related to Albanians have been a subject of debate. In what has been termed the "Vranoussi-Ducellier debate", Alain Ducellier proposed that both uses of the term referred to medieval Albanians. Era Vranoussi counter-suggested that the first use referred to Normans, while the second didn't have an ethnic connotation necessarily and could be a reference to the Normans as "foreigners" (aubain) in Epirus which Maniakes and his army traversed. This debate has never been resolved. A newer synthesis about the second use of the term "Albanoi" by Pëllumb Xhufi suggests that the term "Albanoi" may have referred to Albanians of the specific district of Arbanon, while "Arbanitai" to Albanians in general regardless of the specific region they inhabited.


title: Albanians

text: The majority of the Albanian people speak the Albanian language which is an independent branch within the Indo-European family of languages. It is a language isolate to any other known living language in Europe and indeed no other language in the world has been conclusively associated to its branch. Its origin remains conclusively unknown but it is believed it has descended from an ancient Paleo-Balkan language.


title: Albanians

text: The Albanian language is spoken by approximately 5 million people throughout the Balkan Peninsula as well as by a more substantial number by communities around the Americas, Europe and Oceania. Numerous variants and dialects of Albanian are used as an official language in Albania, Kosovo and North Macedonia. The language is also spoken in other countries whence it is officially recognised as a minority language in such countries as Croatia, Italy, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia.


title: Albanians

text: There are two principal dialects of the Albanian language traditionally represented by Gheg and Tosk. The ethnogeographical dividing line is traditionally considered to be the Shkumbin with Gheg spoken in the north of it and Tosk in the south. Dialects spoken in Croatia (Arbanasi and Istrian), Kosovo, Montenegro and Northwestern North Macedonia are Gheg dialects, while those dialects spoken in Greece (Arvanites and Çam), Southwestern North Macedonia and Italy (Arbëreshë) are Tosk dialects.


title: Albanians

text: The Arbëreshë and Arvanitika languages represent varieties of the Albanian language spoken by the Arbëreshës and Arvanites in Southern Italy and Southern Greece respectively. They retain elements of medieval Albanian vocabulary and pronunciation that are no longer used in modern Albanian language however both varieties are classified as endangered languages in the UNESCO Red Book of Endangered Languages.


title: Albanians

text: Most of the Albanians in Albania and the Former Yugoslavia are polyglot and have the ability to understand, speak, read, or write a foreign language. As defined by the Institute of Statistics of Albania, 39.9% of the 25 to 64 years old Albanians in Albania are able to use at least one foreign language including English (40%), Italian (27.8%) and Greek (22.9%).


title: Albanians

text: The origin of the Albanian language remains a contentious subject that has given rise to numerous hypotheses. The hypothesis of Albanian being one of the descendant of the Illyrian languages (Messapic language) is based on geography where the languages were spoken however not enough archaeological evidence is left behind to come therefore to a definite conclusion. Another hypothesis associates the Albanian language with the Thracian language. This theory takes exception to the territory, since the language was spoken in an area distinct from Albania, and no significant population movements have been recorded in the period when the shift from one language to the other is supposed to have occurred.


title: Albanians

text: The Komani-Kruja culture is an archaeological culture attested from late antiquity to the Middle Ages in central and northern Albania, southern Montenegro and similar sites in the western parts of North Macedonia. It consists of settlements usually built below hillforts along the Lezhë (Praevalitana)-Dardania and Via Egnatia road networks which connected the Adriatic coastline with the central Balkan Roman provinces. Its type site is Komani and its fort on the nearby Dalmace hill in the Drin river valley. Kruja and Lezha represent significant sites of the culture. The population of Komani-Kruja represents a local, western Balkan people which was linked to the Roman Justinianic military system of forts. The development of Komani-Kruja is significant for the study of the transition between the classical antiquity population of Albania to the medieval Albanians who were attested in historical records in the 11th century. Winnifrith (2020) recently described this population as the survival of a "Latin-Illyrian" culture which emerged later in historical records as Albanians and Vlachs (Eastern Romance-speaking people). In Winnifrith's narrative, the geographical conditions of northern Albania favored the continuation of the Albanian language in hilly and mountainous areas as opposed to lowland valleys.


title: Albanians

text: The Albanian people maintain a very chequered and tumultuous history behind them, a fact explained by their geographical position in the Southeast of Europe at the cultural and political crossroad between the east and west. The issue surrounding the origin of the Albanian people has long been debated by historians and linguists for centuries. Many scholars consider the Albanians, in terms of linguistic evidences, the descendants of ancient populations of the Balkan Peninsula, either the Illyrians, Thracians or another Paleo-Balkan group. There are insufficient evidences to derive an accurate conclusion and therefore Albanian origins still remain a mystery.


title: Albanians

text: The first certain attestation of medieval Albanians as an ethnic group is in Byzantine historiography in the work of Michael Attaleiates (1022–1080). Attaleiates mentions the term "Albanoi" twice and the term "Arbanitai" once. The term "Albanoi" is used first to describe the groups which rebelled in southern Italy and Sicily against the Byzantines in 1038–40. The second use of the term "Albanoi" is related to groups which supported the revolt of George Maniakes in 1042 and marched with him throughout the Balkans against the Byzantine capital, Constantinople. The term "Arvanitai" is used to describe a revolt of Bulgarians (Boulgaroi) and "Arbanitai" in the theme of Dyrrhachium in 1078–79. It is generally accepted that "Arbanitai" refers to the ethnonym of medieval Albanians. The use of the term "Albanoi" in 1038–49 and 1042 as an ethnonym related to Albanians have been a subject of debate. In what has been termed the "Ducellier-Vrannousi" debate, Alain Ducellier proposed that both uses of the term referred to medieval Albanians. Era Vrannousi counter-suggested that the first use referred to Normans, while the second didn't have an ethnic connotation necessarily and could be a reference to the Normans as "foreigners" (aubain) in Epirus which Maniakes and his army traversed. The debate has never been resolved. A newer synthesis about the second use of the term "Albanoi" by Pëllumb Xhufi suggests that the term "Albanoi" may have referred to Albanians of the specific district of Arbanon, while "Arbanitai" to Albanians in general regardless of the specific region they inhabited. The name reflects the Albanian endonym Arbër/n + esh which itself derives from the same root as the name of the Albanoi


title: Albanians

text: Historically known as the "Arbër" or "Arbën" by the 11th century and onwards, they traditionally inhabited the mountainous area to the west of Lake Ochrida and the upper valley of the River Shkumbin. Though it was in 1190 when they established their first independent entity, the Principality of Arbër (Arbanon), with its seat based in Krujë. Immediately after the decline of the Progon dynasty in 1216, the principality came under Gregorios Kamonas and next his son-in-law Golem. Finally, the Principality was dissolved in ca. 1255 by the Empire of Nicea followed by an unsuccessful rebellion between 1257 and 1259 supported by the Despotate of Epirus. In the meantime Manfred, King of Sicily profited from the situation and launched an invasion into Albania. His forces, led by Philippe Chinard, captured Durrës, Berat, Vlorë, Spinarizza, their surroundings and the southern coastline of Albania from Vlorë to Butrint. In 1266 after defeating Manfred's forces and killing him, the Treaty of Viterbo of 1267 was signed, with Charles I, King of Sicily acquiring rights on Manfred's dominions in Albania. Local noblemen such as Andrea Vrana refused to surrender Manfred's former domains, and in 1271 negotiations were initiated.


title: Albanians

text: In 1272 the Kingdom of Albania was created after a delegation of Albanian noblemen from Durrës signed a treaty declaring union with the Kingdom of Sicily under Charles. Charles soon imposed military rule, new taxes, took sons of Albanian noblemen hostage to ensure loyalty, and confiscated lands for Angevin nobles. This led to discontent among Albanian noblemen, several of whom turned to Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII. In late 1274, Byzantine forces helped by local Albanian noblemen capture Berat and Butrint. Charles' attempt to advance towards Constantinople failed at the Siege of Berat (1280–1281). A Byzantine counteroffensive ensued, which drove the Angevins out of the interior by 1281. The Sicilian Vespers rebellion further weakened the position of Charles, who died in 1285. By the end of the 13th century, most of Albania was under Byzantine Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos. In 1296 Serbian king Stephen Milutin captured Durrës. In 1299 Andronikos II married his daughter Simonis to Milutin and the lands he had conquered were considered as dowry. In 1302, Philip I, Prince of Taranto, grandson of Charles, claimed his rights on the Albanian kingdom and gained the support of local Albanian Catholics who preferred him over the Orthodox Serbs and Greeks, as well as the support of Pope Benedict XI. In the summer of 1304, the Serbs were expelled from the city of Durrës by the locals who submitted themselves to Angevin rule.


title: Albanians

text: Prominent Albanian leaders during this time were the Thopia family, ruling in an area between the Mat and Shkumbin rivers, and the Muzaka family in the territory between the Shkumbin and Vlorë. In 1279, Gjon I Muzaka, who remained loyal to the Byzantines and resisted Angevin conquest of Albania, was captured by the forces of Charles but later released following pressure from Albanian nobles. The Muzaka family continued to remain loyal to the Byzantines and resisted the expansion of the Serbian Kingdom. In 1335 the head of the family, Andrea II Muzaka, gained the title of Despot and other Muzakas pursued careers in the Byzantine government in Constantinople. Andrea II soon endorsed an anti-Byzantine revolt in his domains between 1335–1341 and formed an alliance with Robert, Prince of Taranto in 1336. In 1336, Serbian king Stefan Dušan captured Durrës, including the territory under the control of the Muzaka family. Although Angevins managed to recapture Durazzo, Dušan continued his expansion, and in the period of 1337–45 he had captured Kanina and Valona in southern Albania. Around 1340 forces of Andrea II defeated the Serbian army at the Pelister mountain. After the death of Stefan Dušan in 1355 the Serbian Empire disintegrated, and Karl Thopia captured Durrës while the Muzaka family of Berat regained control over parts of southeastern Albania and over Kastoria that Andrea II captured from Prince Marko after the Battle of Marica in 1371.


title: Albanians

text: The kingdom reinforced the influence of Catholicism and the conversion to its rite, not only in the region of Durrës but in other parts of the country. A new wave of Catholic dioceses, churches and monasteries were founded, papal missionaries and a number of different religious orders began spreading into the country. Those who were not Catholic in central and northern Albania converted and a great number of Albanian clerics and monks were present in the Dalmatian Catholic institutions.


title: Albanians

text: Around 1230 the two main centers of Albanian settlements were around Devoll river in what is now central Albania and the other around the region known as Arbanon. Albanian presence in Croatia can be traced back to the beginning of the Late Middle Ages. In this period, there was a significant Albanian community in Ragusa with a number of families of Albanian origin inclusively the Sorgo family who came from the Cape of Rodon in central Albania, across Kotor in eastern Montenegro, to Dalmatia. By the 13th century, Albanian merchants were trading directly with the peoples of the Republic of Ragusa in Dalmatia which increased familiarity between Albanians and Ragusans. The upcoming invasion of Albania by the Ottoman Empire and the death of Skanderbeg caused many Christian Albanians to flee to Dalmatia and surrounding countries.