title: Tabernacle

text: The subsequent history of the structure is separate from that of the Ark of the Covenant. After the Ark was captured by the Philistines, King Saul moved the tabernacle to Nob, near his home town of Gibeah, but after he massacred the priests there (), it was moved to Gibeon, a Yahwist hill-shrine (; ; , 13). Just prior to David's moving the ark to Jerusalem, the ark was located in Kiriath-Jearim ().


title: Tabernacle

text: The Ark was eventually brought to Jerusalem, where it was placed "inside the tent David had pitched for it" (; ), not in the tabernacle, which remained at Gibeon. The altar of the tabernacle at Gibeon was used for sacrificial worship (; ; ), until Solomon finally brought the structure and its furnishings to Jerusalem to furnish and dedicate the Temple. ()


title: Tabernacle

text: There is no mention of the tabernacle in the Tanakh after the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Babylonians in c. 587 BCE.


title: Tabernacle

text: Some rabbis have commented on the proximity of the narrative of the tabernacle with that of the episode known as the sin of the golden calf recounted in . Maimonides asserts that the tabernacle and its accoutrements, such as the golden Ark of the Covenant and the golden Menorah were meant as "alternates" to the human weakness and needs for physical idols as seen in the golden calf episode. Other scholars, such as Nachmanides disagree and maintain that the tabernacle's meaning is not tied in with the golden calf, but instead symbolizes higher mystical lessons that symbolize God's constant closeness to the Children of Israel.


title: Tabernacle

text: Synagogue construction over the last two thousand years has followed the outlines of the original tabernacle. Every synagogue has at its front an ark, "aron kodesh", containing the Torah scrolls, comparable to the Ark of the Covenant which contained the tablets with Ten Commandments. This is the holiest spot in a synagogue, equivalent to the Holy of Holies.


title: Tabernacle

text: There is also usually a constantly lighted lamp, "Ner tamid", or a candelabrum, lighted during services, near a spot similar to the position of the original Menorah. At the center of the synagogue is a large elevated area, known as the "bimah", where the Torah is read. This is equivalent to the tabernacle's altars upon which incense and animal sacrifices were offered. On the main holidays the priests gather at the front of the synagogue to bless the congregation as did their priestly ancestors in the tabernacle from Aaron onwards ().


title: Tabernacle

text: Some Christian churches are built like a tent, to symbolize the tent of God with men, including St. Matthew Cathedral, São Mateus, Brazil, Zu den heiligen Engeln (To the Holy Angels), Hanover, Germany and the Cardboard Cathedral, Christchurch, New Zealand.


title: Tabernacle

text: The tabernacle is mentioned several times in the Epistle to the Hebrews in the New Testament. For example, according to and Jesus serves as the true climactic high priest in heaven, the true tabernacle, to which its counterpart on earth was a symbol and foreshadow of what was to come ().


title: Tabernacle

text: A "Mashkhanna" (hebrew cognate ); "Beth Manda"; "Beit Manda"; "Mandi" ('house of knowledge'), is a cultic hut and place of worship for followers of Mandaeism. A "Mashkhanna" must be built beside a river in order to perform maṣbuta (baptism) and other ceremonies because "Living Water" is an essential element in the Mandaean faith.


title: Michael Cimino

text: Michael Antonio Cimino ( ; February 3, 1939 – July 2, 2016) was an American filmmaker. One of the "New Hollywood" directors, Cimino achieved fame with "The Deer Hunter" (1978), which won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.


title: Michael Cimino

text: Born in New York City, Cimino began his career filming commercials and moved to Los Angeles to take up screenwriting in 1971. After co-writing the scripts of "Silent Running" (1972) and "Magnum Force" (1973), he wrote the preliminary script for "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot" (1974), which became his directorial debut, and one of the highest-grossing films of its year.


title: Michael Cimino

text: The critical accolades for co-writing, directing, and producing "The Deer Hunter" in 1978 led to Cimino receiving creative control for "Heaven's Gate" (1980). The film became a critical failure and a legendary box-office bomb, which lost production studio United Artists an estimated $37 million. Its failure was widely credited with Hollywood studios shifting focus from director-driven films towards high-concept, crowd-pleasing blockbusters. In recent decades, "Heaven's Gate" has been dramatically reappraised, being named by BBC Culture as one of the greatest American films of all-time, and by critic Robin Wood as "among the supreme achievements of the Hollywood cinema." His final feature film was "The Sunchaser", released in 1996. Up until his death, he continued to work on films that were ultimately never made.


title: Michael Cimino

text: Cimino was born in New York City on February 3, 1939. Cimino gave various dates for his birth, but his real birthdate was most likely February 3, 1939. In reference to Cimino's interview with Leticia Kent on December 10, 1978, Bach said, "Cimino wasn't thirty-five but a few months shy of forty." A third-generation Italian-American, Cimino and his brothers grew up with their parents in the town of Westbury, on Long Island, New York. He was regarded as a prodigy at the private schools to which his parents sent him, but rebelled as an adolescent by consorting with delinquents, getting into fights, and coming home drunk. Of this time, Cimino described himself as


title: Michael Cimino

text: "always hanging around with kids my parents didn't approve of. Those guys were so alive. When I was fifteen I spent three weeks driving all over Brooklyn with a guy who was following his girlfriend. He was convinced she was cheating on him, and he had a gun, he was going to kill her. There was such passion and intensity about their lives. When the rich kids got together, the most we ever did was cross against a red light."


title: Michael Cimino

text: His father was a music publisher. Cimino says his father was responsible for marching bands and organs playing pop music at football games.


title: Michael Cimino

text: "When my father found out I went into the movie business, he didn't talk to me for a year," Cimino said. "He was very tall and thin ... His weight never changed his whole life and he didn't have a gray hair on his head. He was a bit like a Vanderbilt or a Whitney, one of those guys. He was the life of the party, women loved him, a real womanizer. He smoked like a fiend. He loved his martinis. He died really young. He was away a lot, but he was fun. I was just a tiny kid."His mother was a costume designer. After he made "The Deer Hunter," she said that she knew he had become famous because his name was in "The New York Times" crossword puzzle.


title: Michael Cimino

text: Cimino graduated from Westbury High School in 1956. He entered Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan. At Michigan State, Cimino majored in graphic arts, was a member of a weightlifting club, and participated in a group to welcome incoming students. He graduated in 1959 with honors and won the Harry Suffrin Advertising Award. He was described in the 1959 "Red Cedar Log" yearbook as having tastes that included blondes, Thelonious Monk, Chico Hamilton, Mort Sahl, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright, and "drinking, preferably vodka."


title: Michael Cimino

text: In Cimino's final year at Michigan State, he became art director, and later managing editor, of the school's humor magazine "Spartan". Steven Bach wrote of Cimino's early magazine work:


title: Michael Cimino

text: "It is here that one can see what are perhaps the first public manifestations of the Cimino visual sensibility, and they are impressive. He thoroughly restyled the "Spartan"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s derivative "Punch" look, designing a number of its strikingly handsome covers himself. The Cimino-designed covers are bold and strong, with a sure sense of space and design. They compare favorably to professional work honored in, say, any of the "Modern Publicity" annuals of the late fifties and are far better than the routine work turned out on Madison Avenue. The impact and quality of his work no doubt contributed to his winning the Harry Suffrin Advertising Award at MSU and perhaps to his acceptance at Yale."


title: Michael Cimino

text: At Yale, Cimino continued to study painting as well as architecture and art history and became involved in school dramatics. In 1962, while still at Yale, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve. He trained for five months at Fort Dix, New Jersey and had a month of medical training in Fort Sam Houston, Texas. Cimino graduated from Yale University, receiving his Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1961 and his Master of Fine Arts in 1963, both in painting.


title: Michael Cimino

text: After graduating from Yale, Cimino moved to Manhattan to work in Madison Avenue advertising and became a star director of television commercials. He shot ads for L'eggs hosiery, Kool cigarettes, Eastman Kodak, United Airlines, and Pepsi, among others. "I met some people who were doing fashion stuffcommercials and stills. And there were all these incredibly beautiful girls," Cimino said. "And then, zoomthe next thing I know, overnight, I was directing commercials." For example, Cimino directed the 1967 United Airlines commercial "Take Me Along," a musical extravaganza in which a group of ladies sing "Take Me Along" (adapted from a short-lived Broadway musical) to a group of men, presumably their husbands, to take them on a flight.


title: Michael Cimino

text: The commercial is filled with the dynamic visuals, American symbolism and elaborate set design that became Cimino's trademark. "The clients of the agencies liked Cimino," remarked Charles Okun, his production manager from 1964 to 1978. "His visuals were fabulous, but the amount of time it took was just astronomical. Because he was so meticulous and took so long. Nothing was easy with Michael." Through his commercial work, Cimino met Joann Carelli, then a commercial director representative. They began a 30-year on-again-off-again relationship.


title: Michael Cimino

text: In 1971, Cimino moved to Los Angeles to start a career as a screenwriter. According to Cimino, it was Carelli that got him into screenwriting: "[Joann] actually talked me into it. I'd never really written anything ever before. I still don't regard myself as a writer. I've probably written thirteen to fourteen screenplays by [1978] and I still don't think of myself that way. Yet, that's how I make a living." Cimino added, "I started writing screenplays principally because I didn't have the money to buy books or to option properties. At that time you only had a chance to direct if you owned a screenplay which some star wanted to do, and that's precisely what happened with "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot"."


title: Michael Cimino

text: Cimino gained representation from Stan Kamen of William Morris Agency. The spec script "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot" was shown to Clint Eastwood, who bought it for his production company, Malpaso and allowed Cimino a chance to direct the film. Cimino co-wrote two scripts (the science fiction film "Silent Running" and Eastwood's second Dirty Harry film, "Magnum Force") before moving to directing. Cimino's work on "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot" impressed Eastwood enough to ask him to work on the script for "Magnum Force" before "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot" began production.


title: Michael Cimino

text: Cimino moved up to directing on the feature "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot". The film stars Clint Eastwood as a Korean War veteran named "Thunderbolt" who takes a young drifter named "Lightfoot", played by Jeff Bridges, under his wing. When Thunderbolt's old partners try to find him, he and Lightfoot make a pact with them to pull one last big heist. Eastwood was originally slated to direct it himself, but Cimino impressed Eastwood enough to change his mind. The film became a solid box office success at the time, making $25,000,000 at the box office with a budget of $4,000,000 and earned Bridges an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.


title: Michael Cimino

text: Cimino later said that if it were not for Clint Eastwood, he would not have been in the movies: "I owe everything to Clint."


title: Michael Cimino

text: With the success of "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot", Cimino said that he "got a lot of offers, but decided to take a gamble. I would only get involved with projects I really wanted to do." He rejected several offers before pitching an ambitious Vietnam War film to EMI executives in November 1976. To Cimino's surprise, EMI accepted the film. Cimino went on to co-write, co-produce, and direct "The Deer Hunter". The film stars Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, and John Savage as three buddies in a Pennsylvania steel mill town who fight in the Vietnam War and rebuild their lives in the aftermath. The film went over-schedule and over-budget, but it became a massive critical and commercial success, and won five Oscars, including Best Director and Best Picture for Cimino.


title: Michael Cimino

text: On the basis of his previous success, Cimino was given free rein by United Artists for his next film, "Heaven's Gate". The film came in several times over budget. After its release, it proved to be a financial disaster that nearly bankrupted the studio. "Heaven's Gate" became the lightning rod for the industry perception of the loosely controlled situation in Hollywood at that time. The film's failure marked the end of the New Hollywood era. Transamerica Corporation sold United Artists, having lost confidence in the company and its management.


title: Michael Cimino

text: "Heaven's Gate" was such a devastating critical and commercial bomb that public perception of Cimino's work was tainted in its wake; the majority of his subsequent films achieved neither popular nor critical success. Many critics who had originally praised "The Deer Hunter" became far more reserved about the picture and Cimino after "Heaven's Gate". The story of the making of the movie, and UA's subsequent downfall, was documented in Steven Bach's book "Final Cut". Cimino's film was somewhat rehabilitated by an unlikely source: the Z Channel, a cable pay TV channel that at its peak in the mid-1980s served 100,000 of Los Angeles's most influential film professionals. After the unsuccessful release of the re-edited and shortened "Heaven's Gate", Jerry Harvey, the channel's programmer, decided to play Cimino's original 219-minute cut on Christmas Eve 1982. The reassembled movie received admiring reviews. The full-length, director-approved version was released on LaserDisc by MGM/UA and later reissued on DVD and Blu-ray by the Criterion Collection.


title: Michael Cimino

text: Cimino directed a 1985 crime drama, "Year of the Dragon", which he and Oliver Stone adapted from Robert Daley's novel. "Year of the Dragon" was nominated for five Razzie awards, including Worst Director and Worst Screenplay. The film was sharply criticized for what many saw as offensively stereotypical depictions of Chinese Americans.


title: Michael Cimino

text: Cimino directed "The Sicilian" from a Mario Puzo novel in 1987. The film bombed at the box office, costing an estimated $16 million, grossing $5 million domestically.


title: Michael Cimino

text: In 1990, Cimino directed a remake of the film "The Desperate Hours" starring Anthony Hopkins and Mickey Rourke. The film was another box-office disappointment, grossing less than $3 million. According to some official sources, Michael Cimino's original cut of "Desperate Hours" was mutilated by the film's producers, resulting in a very badly edited film filled with plot holes. The only known proof of any deleted scenes are some stills which seemingly show a few of them.


title: Michael Cimino

text: His last feature-length film was 1996's "The Sunchaser" with Woody Harrelson and Jon Seda. While nominated for the Palme d'Or at that year's Cannes Film Festival, the film was released straight to video.


title: Michael Cimino

text: In 2001, Cimino published his first novel, "Big Jane". Later that year, the French Minister of Culture decorated him Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres and the Prix Littéraire Deauville 2001, an award that previously went to Norman Mailer and Gore Vidal. "Oh, I'm the happiest, I think, I've ever been!" he said in response. Cimino also wrote a book called "Conversations en miroir" with Francesca Pollock in 2003.


title: Michael Cimino

text: In 2007, Cimino returned to directing briefly to contribute a 3-minute short segment for the anthology film "To Each His Own Cinema". The filmmakers were invited to express "their state of mind of the moment as inspired by the motion picture theatre".


title: Michael Cimino

text: In 2012, Cimino attended the premiere of a new edit of "Heaven's Gate" at the Venice Film Festival, which was met with a standing ovation. The film was re-assessed by film critics, and re-edited versions were met with critical acclaim.


title: Michael Cimino

text: Cimino died July 2, 2016, at age 77 at his home in Beverly Hills, California. No cause of death has been disclosed to the public. Since his death, many directors, actors, and other public figures paid tribute to him, including Edgar Wright, William Friedkin, Paul Rust, Christopher McQuarrie, Kelly Lynch, Jason Reitman, Mark Romanek and Jay Baruchel. Film critic F. X. Feeney (a close friend of Cimino's) wrote:


title: Michael Cimino

text: "A few weeks before his death, Michael consulted a physician about a mild respiratory complaint but otherwise suffered no signs of ill health. When I last had lunch with him on June 19th, he was full of energy and plans. Nevertheless, because he was an intuitive man, I feel certain looking back that he had an inkling his life was drawing to a close. He took deliberate care to mend fences with as many people as he could in the last year of his life, and with me that last day he was more reflective than I’d ever known him to be about his early life. He was full of amused memories centered on his dad’s fierce perfectionism. Friends and loved ones found him impossible to reach after the 28th of June, and – when the police entered his house after several days – the officer who found him tucked in his bed described him as “peacefully deceased.” His heart had apparently stopped without trauma, in sleep. There was no funeral or public memorial thereafter, and he needs none. His monuments are onscreen."


title: Michael Cimino

text: His work has been lauded by such filmmakers as Stanley Kubrick, Agnès Varda, David Gordon Green, James Gray and Quentin Tarantino. Oliver Stone, a long time collaborator of Cimino's, said of him: "I have to admit I liked working with Michael Cimino, and I learned a lot from him."


title: Michael Cimino

text: From the beginning of his film career, Cimino was attached to many projects that either fell apart in pre-production or were jettisoned due to his reputation following "Heaven's Gate". Steven Bach wrote that despite setbacks in Cimino's career, "he may yet deliver a film that will make his career larger than the cautionary tale it often seems to be or, conversely, the story of genius thwarted by the system that is still popular in certain circles." Film historian David Thomson added to this sentiment: "The flimsy nastiness of his last four pictures is no reason to think we have seen the last of Cimino. ... If he ever emerges at full budgetary throttle, his own career should be his subject." In March 2002, Cimino claimed he had written at least 50 scripts overall.


title: Michael Cimino

text: Cimino's dream project was an adaptation of Ayn Rand's "The Fountainhead". Taking its cue from more than the novel, it was largely modeled on architect Jørn Utzon's troubled building of the Sydney Opera House, as well as the construction of the Empire State Plaza in Albany, New York. He wrote the script in between "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot" and "The Deer Hunter", and hoped to have Clint Eastwood play Howard Roark. Cimino continued to hope to film the script until his death in 2016.


title: Michael Cimino

text: Cimino has shown great admiration for Luchino Visconti, John Ford and Akira Kurosawa, dubbing them "The Holy Trinity of movies." He has also praised the films of Sam Peckinpah. Cimino also named his literary influences as Vladimir Nabokov, Alexander Pushkin, Leo Tolstoy, Gore Vidal, Raymond Carver, Cormac McCarthy, the classics of Islamic literature, Frank Norris and Steven Pinker.


title: Michael Cimino

text: In 1992, Cimino participated in the "Sight & Sound" film polls. Held every ten years to select the greatest films of all time, directors were asked to select ten films of their choice. Cimino's choices were:


title: Michael Cimino

text: Cimino's films are often marked by their controversial subject matter and striking visual style. Elements of Cimino's visual sensibility include shooting in Widescreen (in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio), painterly compositions, jittery tracking shots and wide vista establishing shots that emphasize the Earth's landscape and nature. Cimino's films are also slowly paced, focusing less on story and more on characters, allowing the viewer to observe their nuances and the setting. The subject matter in Cimino's films frequently focuses on aspects of U.S. history and culture, notably disillusionment over the American Dream. Other trademarks include love triangles between central characters, sudden bursts of violence in seemingly tranquil or naturalistic settings and the casting of non-professional actors in supporting roles.


title: Michael Cimino

text: Cimino worked with Mickey Rourke on several films, "Heaven's Gate", "Year of the Dragon" and "Desperate Hours", as well as a planned adaptation of William Kennedy's novel "Legs" with Rourke playing gangster Legs Diamond. Cimino also did the pre-production work for "The Pope of Greenwich Village".


title: Michael Cimino

text: Christopher Walken also worked with Cimino on many projects with "The Deer Hunter" and "Heaven's Gate" being the only ones that were ever made. Later, in the 2010s, Walken was attached to star in "Cream Rises" with Taylor Swift. Cimino also did uncredited contributions for the film adaptation of "The Dogs of War" which Walken starred in.


title: Michael Cimino

text: Cimino rewrote John Milius's screenplay for "Magnum Force" as a favor to Clint Eastwood. A year later, Cimino directed him in "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot". After that, in the mid-70s, Cimino wanted him to play Howard Rourk in his adaptation of Ayn Rand's "The Fountainhead". Eastwood turned it down but enlisted Cimino to assist Philip Kaufman in rewriting the screenplay for "The Outlaw Josey Wales", although he remains uncredited for his work. Cimino was also set to direct Eastwood in his adaptation of Frederick Forsyth's "The Dogs of War" but dropped out to work on "Heaven's Gate". The film was ultimately made without Eastwood. It was later reported in the early '90s that Cimino was adapting the novel "Paradise Junction" with Eastwood attached to star. It was unclear if he planned to direct it.


title: Michael Cimino

text: Jeff Bridges co-starred in "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot" alongside Clint Eastwood and as a supporting character in "Heaven's Gate". Bridges was also briefly considered for the role of Stanley White in "Year of the Dragon".


title: Michael Cimino

text: In the mid-70s, Cimino and James Toback wrote a biopic about gangster Frank Costello. Later, after working with Cimino on "The Deer Hunter", Robert De Niro signed on for the Costello role. The film was never made.


title: Michael Cimino

text: After Cimino's success with "The Deer Hunter", he was considered a "second coming" among critics. In 1985, author Michael Bliss described Michael Cimino as a unique American filmmaker after only three films: "Cimino occupies an important position in today's cinema ... a man whose cinematic obsession it is to extract, represent, and investigate those essential elements in the American psyche ..." Frequent collaborator Mickey Rourke has often praised Cimino for his creativity and dedication to work. On "Heaven's Gate", Rourke has said, "I remember thinking this little guy [Cimino] was so well organized. He had this huge production going on all around him yet he could devote his absolute concentration on the smallest of details."


title: Michael Cimino

text: In writing about his experience working on "The Sicilian", producer Bruce McNall described Cimino as "one part artistic genius and one part infantile egomaniac." In his book, "Blade Runners, Deer Hunters and Blowing the Bloody Doors Off", producer Michael Deeley described his experience with Cimino on "Deer Hunter" as a "travail", adding "the only flaw I find in my Oscar [for "The Deer Hunter"] is that Cimino's name is also engraved on it." Deeley criticized Cimino for lack of professional respect and standards: "Cimino was selfish. ... Selfishness, in itself, is not necessarily a flaw in a director, unless it swells into ruthless self-indulgence combined with a total disregard for the terms in which the production has been set." Cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond reported that Cimino was hard to work with but extremely talented visually.


title: Michael Cimino

text: Movie critics Pauline Kael and John Simon criticized Cimino's abilities as a filmmaker and storyteller. After his failure with "Heaven<nowiki>'</nowiki>s Gate," some commentators joked and/or suggested that he should give back his Oscars for "The Deer Hunter." Pauline Kael in "The New Yorker" described Cimino's storytelling abilities in her review of "Year of the Dragon":


title: Michael Cimino

text: As I see it, Michael Cimino doesn't think in terms of dramatic values: he doesn't know how to develop characters, or how to get any interaction among them. He transposes an art-school student's approach from paintings to movies, and makes visual choices: this is a New York movie, so he wants a lot of blue and harsh light and a realistic surface. He works completely derivatively, from earlier movies, and his only idea of how to dramatize things is to churn up this surface and get it roiling. The whole thing is just material for Cimino the visual artist to impose his personality on. He doesn't actually dramatize himself—it isn't as if he tore his psyche apart and animated the pieces of it (the way a Griffith or a Peckinpah did). He doesn't animate anything.


title: Michael Cimino

text: John Foote questioned whether or not Cimino deserved his Oscars for "The Deer Hunter": "It seemed in the spring of 1979, following the Oscar ceremony, there was a sense in the industry that if the Academy could have taken back their votes — which saw "The Deer Hunter" and director Michael Cimino winning for Best Picture and Best Director — they would have done so."


title: Michael Cimino

text: Peter Biskind described Cimino in relation to "The Deer Hunter" as "our first, home-grown fascist director, our own Leni Riefenstahl".


title: Michael Cimino

text: Cimino was known for giving exaggerated, misleading, and conflicting (or simply tongue-in-cheek) stories about himself, his background, and his filmmaking experiences. "When I'm kidding, I'm serious, and when I'm serious, I'm kidding," responded Cimino. "I am not who I am, and I am who I am not."


title: Michael Cimino

text: Cimino gave various dates for his birth, usually shaving a couple of years off to seem younger, including February 3, 1943; November 16, 1943; and February 3, 1952. Many biographies about Cimino, such as the "Michael Cimino" entries in David Thomson's "The New Biographical Dictionary of Film" and Ephraim Katz's "Film Encyclopedia", list his year of birth as 1943. In reference to Cimino's interview with Leticia Kent on December 10, 1978, Steven Bach said, "Cimino wasn't thirty-five but a few months shy of forty."


title: Michael Cimino

text: Cimino claimed he got his start in documentary films following his work in academia and nearly completed a doctorate at Yale. Some of these details are repeated in reviews of Cimino's films and his official summary biographies. Steven Bach refuted those claims in his book "Final Cut": "[Cimino] had done no work toward a doctorate and he had become known in New York as a maker not of documentaries but of sophisticated television commercials."


title: Michael Cimino

text: During the production of "The Deer Hunter", Cimino had given co-workers (such as cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond and associate producer Joann Carelli) the impression that much of the story was autobiographical, somehow related to the director's own experience and based on the lives of men he had known during his service in Vietnam. Just as the film was about to open, Cimino gave an interview to "The New York Times" in which he claimed that he had been "attached to a Green Beret medical unit" at the time of the Tet Offensive of 1968. When the "Times" reporter, who had not been able to corroborate this, questioned the studio about it, studio executives panicked and fabricated "evidence" to support the story. Universal Studios president Thom Mount commented at the time, "I know this guy. He was no more a medic in the Green Berets than I'm a rutabaga." Tom Buckley, a veteran Vietnam correspondent for the "Times," corroborated that Cimino had done a stint as an Army medic, but that the director had never been attached to the Green Berets. Cimino's active service – six months while a student at Yale in 1962 – had been as a reservist who was never posted to Vietnam. Cimino's publicist reportedly said that the filmmaker intended to sue Buckley, but Cimino never did.


title: Criss Angel

text: Christopher Nicholas Sarantakos (; born December 19, 1967), known professionally as Criss Angel, is an American magician, illusionist and musician. Angel began his career in New York City, before moving his base of operations to the Las Vegas Valley. He is known for starring in the television and stage show "Criss Angel Mindfreak" and his previous live performance illusion show "Criss Angel Believe" in collaboration with "Cirque du Soleil" at the Luxor casino in Las Vegas. The show generated $150 million in tourist revenue to Las Vegas in 2010, but has since been replaced by "Mindfreak LIVE!" in 2016 (the show is partly produced by Cirque du Soleil; however, the directive rights are entirely with Criss Angel). He also starred in the television series "Criss Angel BeLIEve" on Spike TV, the reality-competition television show "Phenomenon" on NBC, and the 2014 stage show "Criss Angel Magicjam".


title: Criss Angel

text: He also holds multiple world records made during his magic performances, and was named Magician of the Decade in 2009 and Magician of the Century in 2010 by the International Magicians Society. In addition to his career as an illusionist, Angel was the lead singer for his industrial band Angeldust, which released five albums. He also authored the book "Mindfreak: Secret Revelations".


title: Criss Angel

text: Criss Angel was born on December 19, 1967, at Hempstead General Hospital in Hempstead, on Long Island, New York. He is of Greek descent. Angel was raised in Elmont until fourth grade, when his family moved to East Meadow, New York. His father, John Sarantakos, owned a restaurant and doughnut shop. He developed an interest in magic at age seven and performed his first show at age 12, for which he was paid $10. His main early influence was Harry Houdini. By age 14, Angel was performing throughout high school at restaurants in East Meadow, including the Wine Gallery. Angel's first major illusion was making his mother float in their family den. Early in his career he was helped by animal breeder and reality-television host Marc Morrone, who helped Angel find and train a set of doves for his act.


title: Criss Angel

text: By the time he graduated from East Meadow High School, he had decided to pursue a career as a professional magician instead of attending college as his parents wanted. According to the "Biography Channel", "Angel hit the road and began touring with other traveling performance acts. Between traveling and performing, he attempted to further his education in his own by studying the history of magic in public libraries. He also studied the art of mysticism, music, martial arts and even dance."


title: Criss Angel

text: Angel has said that, "I stayed away from magicians when I was younger because I didn't want to think like them and wanted to create my own style." His first television appearance was in 1994, where he performed as a part of a one-hour ABC primetime special entitled "Secrets". One of the early supporters of Angel was horror director Clive Barker. In 1995, Barker asked Angel to work with him on his film "Lord of Illusions". He also later recorded the intro to Angel's album "World of Illusion: System One". Barker said of Angel in the mid-1990s that, "Criss Angel is extraordinary, a spectacular mix of visionary magic. This is the future, and it can't come quickly enough." During that year, he collaborated with musician Klayton to form Angeldust, a show that combined magic with music. They released their first album "Musical Conjurings from the World of Illusions" in 1998. Also that year, Angel performed a 10-minute show over the course of the "World of Illusion" conference in Madison Square Garden, performing 60 shows per day. However, by 2000, Klayton's name was removed from Angel's website.


title: Criss Angel

text: Angel also starred in the 1997 television movie "The Science of Magic" and its 2003 sequel "The Science of Magic II". "Criss Angel Mindfreak", which would later become Angel's first television series, was originally an off-Broadway show by Angel, which in 2001 was picked up by the World Underground Theatre. When not performing the show, Angel worked the streets promoting the show to pedestrians. "Criss Angel Mindfreak" ran for more than 600 performances between 2001 and 2003 at the World Underground Theater in Times Square. His 24 hours in a tank of water set a world record for the longest amount of time for a human to be completely submerged under water. This performance would also become a part of his first television special.


title: Criss Angel

text: Angel has also been known to actively discourage a belief in mediumship, stating that there is no way for mediums to speak with people beyond the dead. He has said, "If somebody's doing that for entertainment purposes, that's one thing. But if they claim to be communicating with the dead, I don't care if they're from my hometown, I don't care if they're my family members: I'll expose them and tell them what they really are."


title: Criss Angel

text: In August 2002, Angel spent 24 hours shackled underwater in a phone booth-sized water torture cell near the WWE entertainment store in New York's Times Square, WWE corporation being the owners of the World Underground Theatre where Angel had been performing his stage show. To prepare for the trick, he practiced in a neighbor's backyard swimming pool next to his mother's house in East Meadow, New York. Prior to the performance he had only managed to spend 12 consecutive hours in the water. He fasted for 24 hours before the performance to make it through the period without need to exit and use the bathroom. During the trick, he went through 16 oxygen tanks. After the trick, he was required to remove his own shackles and chains before exiting the water. Within an hour, his skin began to react substantially to the water.


title: Criss Angel

text: At the end of the performance, according to Ted Shaffrey, "Before he emerged from the phone-booth sized contraption of clear plastic and steel, Angel yanked out the air hose that allowed him to breathe. Then assistants pulled a black curtain over the 220-gallon (832-liter) chamber to block the view of television cameras and about 100 people gathered outside the window in which he was displayed. Under cover, Angel apparently escaped from the shackles that bound his arms, legs and neck, before pulling himself from the watery chamber with a celebratory scream." Upon successfully completing the trick, he was described as having "skin crinkled and his eyes bloodshot", and upon emerging from the tank he was taken to St. Clare's Hospital and treated for severe dehydration. He reported afterwards that he had suffered from overheating, jaw fatigue, and semi-consciousness while in the tank.


title: Criss Angel

text: On October 20, 2002, Angel performed in the ABC Family television special named "Criss Angel Mindfreak: Postmodern illusionist", an hour-long performance and tribute to Harry Houdini. The special aired again on December 24, 2002, on Channel 4 in the U.K. The "Birmingham Evening Mail" reviewed the show, writing, "Criss Angel is currently making a name for himself as a more provocative, darker alternative to [other illusionists]. He walks the streets of New York, hypnotising passers-by, turning cups of take-away coffee into cockroaches and suspending himself from the ceiling by inserting hooks into his back. The piece de resistance of all these mind games is an update of the Houdini underwater trick - an attempt to stay in a (cell) tank of water for 24 hours, padlocked and restrained. All seems to be going well, until the filter system breaks down and the water begins to heat up."


title: Criss Angel

text: On October 31, 2003, the SciFi Channel aired the one-hour special "Supernatural" starring Angel. Kate O'Hare said of the special that, "Filmed in part at Universal Theme Park in Orlando, Fla., "Supernatural" finds Angel crawling up buildings, passing a quarter through his skin, spontaneously combusting and having otherworldly creatures burst from his chest." When asked about his process in creating television specials, Angel said that, "I like to have my hand in everything on my TV specials. I'm the executive producer; I direct it; I create it. I write all the music for my TV specials and my live performances. It's on my label. I write it; I produce it." During the special Angel performed stunts, including lighting himself on fire and making a tarantula emerge from a pedestrian's soda can. In 2003, Angel was also featured in the two-hour TBS special "Made in Japan".


title: Criss Angel

text: In early 2003, Angel performed at the release of the new branding for Miller Lite beer in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on the 80th anniversary of Houdini's last performance in that city. For the performance, he was suspended ten stories in the air and bound in a straitjacket, from which he escaped. He also performed an illusion at Ozzfest in 2005. During this period Angel also earned money selling signed merchandise, making up to $50,000 a day.


title: Criss Angel

text: In 2005, Angel became the creator, director, and executive producer of the A&E Network show "Criss Angel Mindfreak", and had entered production in January. Seasons 1 and 2 were filmed at The Aladdin in Las Vegas, with Season 3 at the Luxor Las Vegas. Premiering on July 20, 2005, the show's illusions included walking on water, levitating, walking up the side of Luxor Hotel (in the light of 39 focused lamps that can be seen from space), floating between two buildings, causing a Lamborghini to disappear, surviving in an exploding C4 Crate, cutting himself in half in full view of an audience and getting run over by a steamroller while lying on a bed of broken glass.


title: Criss Angel

text: The first season of the show was released on DVD after it completed its on-screen run. The show also released its Halloween special, along with two special episodes, on an additional one-disc DVD offering. The show returned for a second season in May 2006, and was named one of the best shows of the summer by the "Tulsa World" newspaper. The show was renewed for a third season in July 2006; as of that third season the show was A&E's number one rated show, with more than 1.5 million viewers. That year he promoted the show with a performance where he was suspended within a cube encased in concrete above Times Square, escaping from the block before it was set to crash to the ground. Magic effects creator Sean Field stated of Angel this year that, "Criss Angel is the biggest name in magic since Houdini ... No other magician has invaded pop culture to the degree that Criss Angel has. He has changed the image of magic and made it cool." The show became one of the most popular foreign television shows in parts of Asia, including China.


title: Criss Angel

text: The television show was noted as a part of the mid-2000s films, television, and books that drove a resurgence of the public popularity of magic. "Criss Angel Mindfreak" was the first weekly magic television show to air in 40 years. "Daily Variety" reviewed the premiere writing, "The stunts alone are impressive. But what makes the show fascinating are the down-home touches in which we see the kid from New York, who first honed his magic skills at the age of 6. Keenly aware of the camera at all times, Angel manages to offer some personality, especially where family is involved. Viewers follow the illusionist as he contemplates new and more dangerous stunts, while his crew, including his often-fretful brothers, offer insight as to what, other than ego, drives someone in this profession."


title: Criss Angel

text: The show ran from 2005 until 2010, at which point he had been featured for more hours on prime time television than any other magician in history. Other tricks performed in the show included the performance of séances, as well as other tricks in order to teach his audience about con men and how to avoid scams intended to manipulate money out of people.


title: Criss Angel

text: In July 2008, Angel escaped from a beachside hotel before its demolition in front of a crowd of about 50,000 people, an illusion that also aired on the television program. After the illusion, Angel showed the audience step by step how he achieved the escape. He first picked open a set of handcuffs that had him shackled to a balcony railing. He then smashed the window of the room in order to enter the hotel, and picked padlocks on both the room's internal door and the door to the stairwell. The escape was initially supposed to occur via a ladder that dangled above the hotel's roof 30 seconds before collapse, after picking through five locks on the roof's door. Instead, Angel emerged from the rubble after the collapse, claiming that the initial plan was always to escape via the helicopter. The total time allotted for the entire illusion was four minutes, with dynamite located on the first, second, and fourth floors of the building.


title: Criss Angel

text: In 2006, Angel partnered with Cirque du Soleil to produce the stage show "Criss Angel Believe" (stylized as ""Criss Angel BeLIEve""), premiering the show at the Luxor Las Vegas on September 26, 2008. It became the bestselling live magic show in the world. The name of the show was taken from Harry Houdini, for the mythology of Houdini choosing the word "believe" as the codeword for communicating with Houdini after his death. Luxor's parent company, MGM Mirage, financed the show with $100 million.


title: Criss Angel

text: After several delays, the show was set for a gala opening on October 31, 2008, with preview shows in late September on the 82nd anniversary of Harry Houdini's death. The initial preview received mixed reactions and reviews. Reporters for the "Las Vegas Sun", "Los Angeles Times", and "Las Vegas Review-Journal" cited a lack of the magic Angel is known for, as well as a confusing and uninteresting theme. They also opined that neither Angel nor Cirque du Soleil were able to perform to their capabilities during these initial performances. On the positive side, the "Las Vegas Sun" later quoted Star Pulse, stating, "He has created a live show that is everything a perfect magic performance should be — and then some. It's not just remarkable magic — it's transcendent art that won't just blow your mind; it will quite possibly change your life."


title: Criss Angel

text: In April 2009, Angel ended a performance of "Believe" by "hurling obscene insults" at blogger Perez Hilton, an audience member. Hilton reportedly had texted to his fans during the performance that the show was "unbelievably BAD" and that he'd "rather be getting a root canal", and word had gotten back to Angel by the end of the performance. Cirque du Soleil later apologized to Hilton for Angel's remarks.


title: Criss Angel

text: In 2010, the "Las Vegas Sun" critic John Katsilometes, after being unimpressed by the initial show, said "Believe" had improved by reducing the narrative elements and focusing on the magic. In 2011, the "Toronto Star" wrote: "The show is easily the most exciting thing now on stage in Vegas!" That year the show attracted an estimated $150 million in ticket sales. The show ran through 2019, and was the best selling magic show in Las Vegas as of 2013.


title: Criss Angel

text: In 2019, he began his new show "Mindfreak Live" at Planet Hollywood, where he currently performs 5 nights a week.


title: Criss Angel

text: The stage show celebrated its fifth anniversary of appearing on stage in October 2013. That month a cable television series based upon the show entitled "Criss Angel BeLIEve" was broadcast on Spike TV. The first season included 11 one-hour episodes, including 118 different illusions. Guests on the show include Ludacris, Ice-T, Randy Couture and Shaquille O'Neal. When asked about the three years between the last episode of "Mindfreak" and his return to television, Angel stated that, "I didn't take long at all to go back to television. It was my choice to work on the live Cirque show and to get that where I wanted it to be.


title: Criss Angel

text: "Now that that show is just humming and doing amazing business — it's the #1 bestselling magic show in the world as far as ticket sales and the perception that people are experiencing and coming back to see it multiple times — I felt it was in a great place and I could think about television again. Obviously, "Believe" will continue to evolve until its last performance because I always want to add new magic, I'm always tweaking and transforming it. I missed being on television, I had something new creatively to say, and Spike became the perfect home to do it." Endemol purchased the foreign distribution rights for the show, and was the "most-watched new original series [on Spike TV] in more than 18 months" according to "The Hollywood Reporter".


title: Criss Angel

text: In the episode "Lord of Illusions — Death Premonition", Angel paid homage to Clive Barker, the director of the horror movie of the same name. In the episode, Angel performed the closing stunt from the film, in which he laid beneath a circle of suspended swords, and predicted the correct order of six falling swords to avoid becoming stabbed through his body after their release. The swords were selected by the audience with the help of a randomly bouncing ball. According to the "Las Vegas Sun", "Criss is the only, and first, magician in the world granted permission from the inventor and filmmaker to re-create the film's death-defying stunt."


title: Criss Angel

text: For another episode for the series filmed in New York City he was asked by the NYPD not to pre-announce the performance, as crowd control for some Angel performances had become a concern for the police. This trick saw Angel hanging his feet, while bound with two straitjackets and a noose around his neck which were attached to metal weights. While he was successful in the trick, Angel tore his shoulder muscles and this required surgery in January 2014. This resulted in the temporary closing of the "Believe" stage show between January and April 2014, while he was recovering from the surgery and returning to performance shape. He did however host a new stage show featuring other magicians between February and March 2014 in lieu of performing in his own show. Clips from the show also became the most watched YouTube magic clips in the history of the site, with more than 15 million views.


title: Criss Angel

text: In the show, Angel revealed the secrets behind some of his illusions to the audience. This included the "Lord of Illusions" trick, where he revealed that he had the swords in a preset order so that he could avoid them. The episode featuring this illusion also includes a meeting between Angel and his team discussing a problem with the trick and how to ensure it does not happen again.


title: Criss Angel

text: Starting in October 2007, he appeared as a judge on "Phenomenon" with Uri Geller. In a CNN interview about the show, he told Larry King "no one has the ability, that I'm aware of, to do anything supernatural, psychic, talk to the dead. And that was what I said I was going to do with "Phenomenon". If somebody goes on that show and claims to have supernatural psychic ability, I'm going to bust [him] live and on television."


title: Criss Angel

text: On the October 31, 2007 episode of the reality show "Phenomenon", paranormalist Jim Callahan performed a summoning, purportedly of deceased author Raymond Hill, to help discover the contents of a locked box. Although fellow judge Uri Geller praised the performance, Angel called it "comical" and subsequently challenged both Callahan and Geller to guess the contents of two envelopes he pulled out of his pocket, offering a million dollars of his own money to whoever could do so. This led to an argument between Callahan and Angel, during which Callahan walked toward Angel and called him an "ideological bigot", with the two pulled apart as the show promptly went to a commercial break. Angel has since revealed the contents of one envelope and at the unveiling he challenged Geller one more time. Geller responded, "Although we were born one day apart - I was born on the 20th of December and you on the 19th - a lot of years between us - 40 years, you were one year old when I came out with my spoon bending..." Criss Angel cut him off at this point, saying, "I guess this is a 'no,'" and proceeded to open the envelope. The envelope contained an index card with the numbers "911" printed on it for September 11, 2001. Angel's explanation was this: "If on 9-10 somebody could have predicted that 9-11 was going to happen, they could have saved thousands of lives". The other envelope's contents were scheduled to be revealed on the first episode of Season 4 of "Criss Angel: Mindfreak".


title: Criss Angel

text: The temporary replacement show for "Believe" was entitled "Criss Angel Magicjam", which was performed in the same Luxor theatre. According to the "Las Vegas Sun", the show included, "Longtime Las Vegas comedy-illusionist Nathan Burton; Banachek, the world's premiere mentalist; and new female magician Krystyn Lambert, who has been prominently featured in the Spike series ... joined by grandmaster manipulators Jason Byrne and Tony Clarke, supreme close-up artist Armando Vera and the magic comedy of Russ Merlin." The production was written and directed by Criss Angel. In January 2014, Angel announced that he planned on taking "Criss Angel Magicjam" on a North American tour during the summer of 2014. The show also featured Angel's own illusions, which he performed for about 40 minutes of the show. Robin Leach said of the show that, ""Magicjam" is great fun and a high-energy show packed with mind-blowing magic."


title: Criss Angel

text: In 2014, Angel premiered the stage show "Mindfreak LIVE!" The touring show features illusions from Angel himself, which received positive reviews. The demonstrations used in the show were developed in Angel's illusion laboratory in Las Vegas, located in a 60,000 square foot warehouse. His international touring with the show marked the first time that Angel had traveled with his show in about six years. The premiere show of the performance occurred at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut during November 2014.


title: Criss Angel

text: "The Supernaturalists" premiered in June 2015 at the Foxwoods Resort Casino's The Fox Theater, with Angel serving as creator, director and executive producer. Performers for the show include illusionist Landon Swank, magician Krystyn Lambert, escape artist Spencer Horsman, mentalist Banachek, dog conjuror Johnny Dominguez, magician Stefan, and close up magician Adrian Vega. Robin Leach reviewed the show as having "overwhelming positive reactions" and wrote that it contained "the most mind-blowing magic spectacle that's playing anywhere". Angel has stated that the show is a culmination of ten years of development, which he began in 2005, and is intended as a global touring show and as a premiering venue for several new illusions from each magician.


title: Criss Angel

text: Angel has made numerous special television guest appearances on "WWE Raw", including acting as guest star on March 8, 2010. He also appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show", including the premiere episode of its 24th season. During a 2007 episode of the show, he successfully guessed the number between 1 and 100 he asked Winfrey to think of without telling him. Angel has appeared on other talk shows including "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson", "Jimmy Kimmel Live!", "The Megan Mullally Show", "The Ellen DeGeneres Show", "AVN Awards Show 2007" and "Larry King Live" on CNN. He was also a guest on "The Tonight Show", "Late Show with David Letterman", "America's Got Talent", and "The Rosie O'Donnell Show". He also made a guest acting appearance on the hit television shows "", "Las Vegas" and "Rules of Engagement". In 2011, Angel also appeared in an Orville Redenbacher Pop-Up Bowl popcorn commercial.


title: Criss Angel

text: In May 2005, Angel introduced honoree Ozzy Osbourne at the VH1 Rock Honors awards, biting the head off a bat as a part of the introduction in homage to Osbourne's early career onstage antics. At the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards, Angel performed an illusion as a part of the musical performance by Britney Spears and helped to plan her stage show, which opened the television broadcast. He was also hired as the illusionist for the planned 2009 Michael Jackson O2 arena concerts before Jackson's death. In 2013, Angel had a cameo in the feature film "The Incredible Burt Wonderstone", and Jim Carrey's character in the movie "Steve Gray" has been said to be modeled after Angel. There is a wax statue of Angel in the Madame Tussauds wax museum in Las Vegas.


title: Criss Angel

text: Angel has a passion for music and claims to have been a musician longer than a magician. In 1989 he fronted the short-lived heavy metal band Angel and produced a promotional music video for the song "Don't You Want My Love", incorporating several magic tricks. Angel later went on to collaborate with industrial rock musician Klay Scott for a new band titled Angeldust in 1995. Angeldust released its debut album "Musical Conjurings from the World of Illusion" in 1998. He later released the albums "System 1", "System 2", and "System 3". In 2003, he released the album "Supernatural". His musical style continues to be in the heavy metal style, though when describing his musical style he has said, "There are elements where it's more electronic, and there are orchestrated sections. I decided to take it in different places because I'm inspired by emotion and by giving people a connection, a sense of a feeling — whether it's excitement or crying or being happy." He also produced soundtracks for his television series "Mindfreak", including collaborations with members of Korn and Godsmack.


title: Criss Angel

text: Angel is the author of the book "Mindfreak: Secret Revelations", published by HarperEntertainment in 2007. "Mindfreak: Secret Revelations" appeared on the "Los Angeles Times" bestseller list that year. According to the "Las Vegas Sun", "The 295-page book details the early beginnings of his career, memorable demonstrations from his TV show and personal reflections. "Secret Revelations" also contains several pictures and provides step-by-step instructions for 40 of his basic Mindfreaks. Laura Morton helped the magician write the book." "California Bookwatch" wrote that it "tells of Criss Angel's evolution as a performance artist, magician and musician, charting his rise to fame beginning at age 6 and adding details of his life and his artistic philosophy and influences ... His survey covers the 'Mindfreaks' which allow him to push for excellence in very different worlds".


title: Criss Angel

text: Criss Angel is the most watched magician in Internet history since the late 2000s. His clip "Walk on Water" had received more than 39 million views by 2010, and more than 46 million by 2013. By early 2013, his videos had achieved more than 200 million views. Another highly watched clip is "Rip Bodies Apart", taken from the premiere episode of "BeLIEve", which had more than twelve million views within a month.


title: Criss Angel

text: In 2010, Angel partnered with IdeaVillage to release the Criss Angel Magic Collection, which contained six Mindfreak Magic Tricks instructions, 250 tricks, and a magic kit for children. The product was backed by $50 million in marketing.


title: Criss Angel

text: Angel won the International Magician Society's Magician of the Year award in 2001, 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2008, in addition to its "Magician of the Decade" title in 2009 and "Magician of the Century" title in 2010. He was the 22nd recipient of the Louie Award for outstanding achievement in the art of magic. He has also appeared on the covers of "Magic" and "Genii" magazines. In 2008, Angel was one of the inaugural nominees for the Harry Houdini Award, awarded by the Harry Houdini Museum. Angel is the youngest magician to ever be inducted into the International Magician Society's Magic Hall of Fame. He is also the only man to have won the Merlin Magician of the Year award on two occasions, in 2001 and 2004. In 2011, he was awarded the World Magic Legacy Awards' Living Legend award. On July 20, 2017, Angel received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, which is located next to The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.


title: Criss Angel

text: Angel is the holder of several world records, the longest body suspension at five hours 42 minutes, and the fastest time to perform the "Metamorphosis" illusion at less than one second. He is also the holder of the Guinness world record for "The most people to disappear in an illusion", for making 100 people disappear on May 26, 2010, during a performance of "Believe" at the Luxor.


title: Criss Angel

text: In 2002, Angel married his longtime girlfriend JoAnn Winkhart. The couple filed for divorce four years later. Although Angel was seen with his wife in the buried alive illusion (season 1, episode 6, 2005) and the body suspension illusion (season 1, episode 5, 2005), she was not credited as his wife; rather, she was listed as "Criss's Girl". In November 2008, Angel began dating Holly Madison, former girlfriend of Hugh Hefner. The relationship ended in February 2009. He proposed to Sandra Gonzalez on September 7, 2011, in Cabo San Lucas during a sunset dinner. They broke up shortly after. Since 2012, Angel has been dating Australian singer Shaunyl Benson. The couple have two sons together, born in 2014 and 2019, and a daughter born in 2021.


title: Criss Angel

text: As of 2010, Big Bear Choppers had produced seven custom-made motorcycles for Angel, who featured the motorcycle designers on his show "Criss Angel Mindfreak". He also had a Harley Davidson motorcycle built by Orange County Choppers, which he rode in the intro filmed for "Criss Angel Mindfreak". As a philanthropist, Angel created the Believe Foundation 'Believe Anything is Possible', and was awarded the Make-A-Wish Foundation award for most supportive celebrity on May 19, 2010. He was also awarded the foundation's Chris Greicius Celebrity Award in 2007. As of 2016, Angel's business interests made about $70 million in revenues annually.


title: Utopia (2020 TV series)

text: Utopia is an American science fiction drama television series adapted by Gillian Flynn from the 2013 British original series of the same name. It was released on September 25, 2020, on the Amazon Prime Video streaming service.


title: Utopia (2020 TV series)

text: A group of young adults and a boy get ahold of "Utopia", a cult underground comic book, which not only pins them as the target of a shadowy organization, but also burdens them with the dangerous task of saving the world. The titular comic is the conclusion of "Dystopia", of which the group members are fans and believe it to contain clairvoyant information about diseases that have already struck the world.


title: Utopia (2020 TV series)

text: Synopsis: The comic book fans discover a global conspiracy. The comic book contains clues of future events because it is written by one of the architects of a plan designed to prevent ecological disaster as the Earth's population rises and resources are depleted. The plan consists of: (1) Convincing the world's population that there is an outbreak of a deadly new virus, (2) Once convinced of the narrative of the faux-pandemic, announce to the public the creation of a new vaccine, (3) Through the coordination between global elites and non-governmental organizations, governments move quickly to inject the world's population with this "vaccine". (4) Once the population is injected, it turns out that the vaccine is designed to sterilize almost all of those people that take it, causing the global population to drop from 7.8 billion to about 500 million, and ushering in a new era of plenty.


title: Utopia (2020 TV series)

text: "Utopia" was ordered direct-to-series on April 19, 2018, with an order of nine episodes. It had originally been set up at HBO with David Fincher to direct, but was never produced after a financial dispute. On April 19, 2018, "Utopia" was ordered to series by Amazon. On July 23, 2020, during the San Diego Comic-Con@Home, the first teaser for the series was released and was confirmed to be released in the fourth quarter of 2020. On August 6, 2020, at the TCA virtual panel, showrunner Gillian Flynn announced that there would be less violence than in the British original. The series was released on September 25, 2020. On November 27, 2020, Amazon canceled the series after one season.


title: Utopia (2020 TV series)

text: In June 2018, it was announced the series would start filming by the fourth quarter of 2018. On August 8, 2018, it was announced the series would consist of nine episodes, and probably have three different directors at work, one every three episodes, although it was later confirmed that there would be eight episodes in the first season. Flynn stated, "It won’t have a single director the entire way through. I think we’ll probably have multiple directors. It’s nine episodes, so I think we’ll do it in blocks of three, three and three, and not one director, the whole time through."


title: Utopia (2020 TV series)

text: On October 16, 2019, the creator of the show, Gillian Flynn, announced that the series' filming was completed.


title: Utopia (2020 TV series)

text: During its initial development in 2015, the cast included Rooney Mara, Colm Feore, Eric McCormack, Dallas Roberts, Jason Ritter, Brandon Scott and Agyness Deyn.


title: Utopia (2020 TV series)

text: In January 2019, Sasha Lane joined the cast of the series. In February 2019, Rainn Wilson, Dan Byrd, Cory Michael Smith, Ashleigh LaThrop, Desmin Borges, Farrah Mackenzie, and Christopher Denham joined the cast of the series. In April 2019, John Cusack and Jeanine Serralles joined the cast of the series. In May 2019, Jessica Rothe, Felisha Terrell and Dustin Ingram joined the cast in recurring roles.


title: Utopia (2020 TV series)

text: Many reviews from critics and audiences were critical of the poor timing of the release of the show with the COVID-19 pandemic, its level of violence, and negative comparisons to the original. Positive marks were given to the pacing and twists in the plot. On Rotten Tomatoes, , the series holds an approval rating of 51% based on 47 reviews, with an average rating of 6.20/10, with the 16 top critics giving it a 5.40 (out of 10) and an approval rating of 36%. The site's critical consensus reads, ""Utopia"'s cast and mystery at times transcend its overtly cynical and overly violent tendencies, but even those willing to look past the torture may find the whole thing too timely — in a bad way." On Metacritic, the series has a weighted average score of 56 out of 100 based on 19 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


title: Medulla oblongata

text: The medulla oblongata or simply medulla is a long stem-like structure which makes up the lower part of the brainstem. It is anterior and partially inferior to the cerebellum. It is a cone-shaped neuronal mass responsible for autonomic (involuntary) functions, ranging from vomiting to sneezing. The medulla contains the cardiac, respiratory, vomiting and vasomotor centers, and therefore deals with the autonomic functions of breathing, heart rate and blood pressure as well as the sleep–wake cycle.


title: Medulla oblongata

text: During embryonic development, the medulla oblongata develops from the myelencephalon. The myelencephalon is a secondary vesicle which forms during the maturation of the rhombencephalon, also referred to as the hindbrain.


title: Medulla oblongata

text: The bulb is an archaic term for the medulla oblongata. In modern clinical usage, the word bulbar (as in bulbar palsy) is retained for terms that relate to the medulla oblongata, particularly in reference to medical conditions. The word bulbar can refer to the nerves and tracts connected to the medulla, and also by association to those muscles innervated, such as those of the tongue, pharynx and larynx.


title: Medulla oblongata

text: The anterior median fissure contains a fold of pia mater, and extends along the length of the medulla oblongata. It ends at the lower border of the pons in a small triangular area, termed the foramen cecum. On either side of this fissure are raised areas termed the medullary pyramids. The pyramids house the pyramidal tracts–the corticospinal and the corticobulbar tracts of the nervous system. At the caudal part of the medulla these tracts cross over in the decussation of the pyramids obscuring the fissure at this point. Some other fibers that originate from the anterior median fissure above the decussation of the pyramids and run laterally across the surface of the pons are known as the anterior external arcuate fibers.


title: Medulla oblongata

text: The region between the anterolateral and posterolateral sulcus in the upper part of the medulla is marked by a pair of swellings known as olivary bodies (also called "olives"). They are caused by the largest nuclei of the olivary bodies, the inferior olivary nuclei.


title: Medulla oblongata

text: The posterior part of the medulla between the posterior median sulcus and the posterolateral sulcus contains tracts that enter it from the posterior funiculus of the spinal cord. These are the gracile fasciculus, lying medially next to the midline, and the cuneate fasciculus, lying laterally. These fasciculi end in rounded elevations known as the gracile and the cuneate tubercles. They are caused by masses of gray matter known as the gracile nucleus and the cuneate nucleus. The soma (cell bodies) in these nuclei are the second-order neurons of the posterior column-medial lemniscus pathway, and their axons, called the internal arcuate fibers or fasciculi, decussate from one side of the medulla to the other to form the medial lemniscus.


title: Medulla oblongata

text: Just above the tubercles, the posterior aspect of the medulla is occupied by a triangular fossa, which forms the lower part of the floor of the fourth ventricle. The fossa is bounded on either side by the inferior cerebellar peduncle, which connects the medulla to the cerebellum.


title: Medulla oblongata

text: The lower part of the medulla, immediately lateral to the cuneate fasciculus, is marked by another longitudinal elevation known as the tuberculum cinereum. It is caused by an underlying collection of gray matter known as the spinal trigeminal nucleus. The gray matter of this nucleus is covered by a layer of nerve fibers that form the spinal tract of the trigeminal nerve.


title: Medulla oblongata

text: The base of the medulla is defined by the commissural fibers, crossing over from the ipsilateral side in the spinal cord to the contralateral side in the brain stem; below this is the spinal cord.


title: Medulla oblongata

text: The medulla oblongata forms in fetal development from the myelencephalon. The final differentiation of the medulla is seen at week 20 gestation.


title: Medulla oblongata

text: Neuroblasts from the alar plate of the neural tube at this level will produce the sensory nuclei of the medulla. The basal plate neuroblasts will give rise to the motor nuclei.


title: Medulla oblongata

text: The medulla oblongata connects the higher levels of the brain to the spinal cord, and is responsible for several functions of the autonomous nervous system which include:


title: Medulla oblongata

text: A blood vessel blockage (such as in a stroke) will injure the pyramidal tract, medial lemniscus, and the hypoglossal nucleus. This causes a syndrome called medial medullary syndrome.


title: Medulla oblongata

text: Lateral medullary syndrome can be caused by the blockage of either the posterior inferior cerebellar artery or of the vertebral arteries.


title: Medulla oblongata

text: Progressive bulbar palsy (PBP) is a disease that attacks the nerves supplying the bulbar muscles. Infantile progressive bulbar palsy is progressive bulbar palsy in children.


title: Medulla oblongata

text: Both lampreys and hagfish possess a fully developed medulla oblongata. Since these are both very similar to early agnathans, it has been suggested that the medulla evolved in these early fish, approximately 505 million years ago. The status of the medulla as part of the primordial reptilian brain is confirmed by its disproportionate size in modern reptiles such as the crocodile, alligator, and monitor lizard.


title: Theta

text: Theta (, ; uppercase: Θ or ; lowercase: θ or ; "thē̂ta" ; Modern: "thī́ta" ) is the eighth letter of the Greek alphabet, derived from the Phoenician letter Teth . In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 9.


title: Theta

text: In Ancient Greek, θ represented the aspirated voiceless dental plosive , but in Modern Greek it represents the voiceless dental fricative .


title: Theta

text: In its archaic form, θ was written as a cross within a circle (as in the Etruscan or ), and later, as a line or point in circle ( or ).


title: Theta

text: The cursive form was retained by Unicode as , separate from . (There is also ). For the purpose of writing Greek text, the two can be font variants of a single character, but are also used as distinct symbols in technical and mathematical contexts. Extensive lists of examples follow below at Mathematics and Science. is also common in biblical and theological usage e.g. instead of πρόθεσις (means placing in public or laying out a corpse).


title: Theta

text: In Latin script used for the Gaulish language, theta inspired the "tau gallicum" (). The phonetic value of the "tau gallicum" is thought to have been . Theta itself is used alongside Latin letters in Halkomelem, an indigenous North American language.


title: Theta

text: The early Cyrillic letter "fita" (Ѳ, ѳ) developed from θ. This letter existed in the Russian alphabet until the 1918 Russian orthography reform.


title: Theta

text: In the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), represents the voiceless dental fricative, as in thick" or thin". It does not represent the consonant in "the", which is the voiced dental fricative. A similar-looking symbol, [ɵ], which is described as a lowercase barred o, indicates in the IPA a close-mid central rounded vowel.


title: Theta

text: In ancient times, Tau was used as a symbol for life or resurrection, whereas the eighth letter of the Greek alphabet, theta, was considered the symbol of death.


title: Theta

text: According to Porphyry of Tyros, the Egyptians used an X within a circle as a symbol of the soul; having a value of nine, it was used as a symbol for Ennead. Johannes Lydus says that the Egyptians used a symbol for Kosmos in the form of theta, with a fiery circle representing the world, and a snake spanning the middle representing "Agathos Daimon" (literally: "good spirit").


title: Theta

text: The Egyptians also used the symbol of a point within a circle (, the "sun disc") to represent the sun, which might be a possible origin of its use as the Sun's astrological glyph. It is worthwhile to note that ("theta") has the same numerical value in isopsephy as Ηλιος ("Helios"): 318.


title: Theta

text: In classical Athens, it was used as an abbreviation for the Greek θάνατος ("Thanatos", "death") and as it vaguely resembles a human skull, theta was used as a warning symbol of death, in the same way, that skull and crossbones are used in modern times. It survives on potsherds used by Athenians when voting for the death penalty. Petrus de Dacia in a document from 1291 relates the idea that theta was used to brand criminals as empty ciphers, and the branding rod was affixed to the crossbar spanning the circle. For this reason, the use of the number 9 was sometimes avoided where the connotation was felt to be unlucky—the mint marks of some Late Imperial Roman coins famously have the sum ΔΕ or ΕΔ (delta and epsilon, that is 4 and 5) substituted as a euphemism where a Θ (9) would otherwise be expected.


title: Theta

text: The names of many American fraternities and sororities are named with Greek letters, including Theta.


title: Theta

text: These characters are used only as mathematical symbols. Stylized Greek text should be encoded using normal Greek letters, with markup and formatting to indicate text style.


title: BB gun

text: A BB gun is a type of air gun designed to shoot metallic spherical projectiles called BBs (not to be confused with similar-looking bearing balls), which are approximately the same size as BB-size lead birdshot used on shotguns ( in diameter). Modern BB guns usually have a smoothbore barrel with a caliber, and use steel balls that measure in diameter and in weight, usually zinc- or copper-plated for corrosion resistance. Some manufacturers still make the slightly larger traditional lead balls that weigh around , which are generally intended for use in rifled barrels (due to lead having better malleability and exerting less wear on riflings).


title: BB gun

text: The term "BB gun" is frequently used incorrectly to describe airsoft guns, which shoot plastic pellets (also often referred to as "BBs") that are larger (usually in diameter) but much less dense than metal BBs, and have significantly lower ballistic performance. The term is also sometimes used to describe a pellet gun, which shoots diabolo-shaped (not spherical) lead projectiles at higher power and velocity. Although some BB guns can also shoot pellets, the reverse situation is not true: steel BB balls have greater stiffness and are not meant to be shot from pellet guns, whose barrels are typically rifled and thus can get stuck (similar to a squib load in firearms) and lead to a damage or mechanical failure within the pellet gun.


title: BB gun

text: The term "BB" originated from the nomenclature of the size of lead shots used in a smoothbore shotgun. Size "BB" shots were normally , but tended to vary considerably in size due to the loose tolerances in shotshells. The highest size shotgun pellet commonly used was named "00" or "double ought" and was used for hunting deer and thus called "buckshot", while the smaller BB-sized shot was typically used to shoot small/medium-sized game birds and therefore was a "birdshot".


title: BB gun

text: In 1886, the Markham Air Rifle Company in Plymouth, Michigan produced the first wooden-construct spring-piston air rifle design as a youth training gun, and used the BB-size birdshot as the chosen ammunition. Two years later, the neighbouring Plymouth Air Rifle Company (later renamed Daisy Manufacturing Company in 1895) introduced the first full-metal airgun that also fired BB shots – the Daisy BB Gun, which became a very popular household name due to its successful marketing. Around 1900, Daisy changed their BB-size bore diameter to , and began to market precision-made lead shot specifically for their BB guns. They called these "round shots", but the "BB" name was already well established, and consequently most users continued calling their guns "BB guns", and the projectiles as "BB shots" or just "BBs".


title: BB gun

text: Subsequently, the term "BB" became generic, and is used loosely referring to any small spherical projectiles of various calibers and materials. This includes bearing balls often utilized by anti-personnel mines, .177 caliber lead/steel shots used by air guns, plastic round balls (such as the pellets used by airsoft guns), small marbles and many others. It has become ubiquitous to refer to any steel ball, such as a BB, as a ""ball bearing"". However, BBs should not be confused with a ball bearing, which is a mechanical component using small internal rolling balls to reduce friction between moving parts of machines.


title: BB gun

text: BB guns can use any of the operating mechanisms used for air guns. However, due to the inherent limited accuracy and short effective range of the projectile, only the simpler and less expensive mechanisms are generally used for guns designed to fire only BBs.


title: BB gun

text: Because the strength of the steel BB does not allow it to be swaged with the low propelling force used to accelerate it through the barrel, BBs are slightly smaller () than the internal diameter of the barrel (). This limits accuracy because little spin is imparted on the BB. It also limits range, because some of the pressurized gas used to accelerate the BB leaks around it and reduces the overall efficiency. Since a BB will easily roll unhindered down the barrel, it is common to find guns that use a magnet in the loading mechanism to hold the BB at the rear of the barrel until it is fired.


title: BB gun

text: The traditional and still most common powerplant for BB guns is the spring-piston pump, usually patterned after a lever-action rifle or a pump-action shotgun. The lever-action rifle was the first type of BB gun, and still dominates the inexpensive youth BB gun market. The Daisy Model 25, modeled after a pump-action shotgun with a trombone pump-action mechanism, dominated the low-price, higher-performance market for over 50 years (19141978). Lever-action models generally have very low velocities, around , a result of the weak springs used to keep cocking efforts low for use by youths. The Daisy Model 25 typically achieved the highest velocities of its day, ranging from .


title: BB gun

text: Multiple-pump pneumatic guns are also common. Many pneumatic pellet guns provide the ability to use BBs as a cheaper alternative to lead shot. Some of these guns have rifled barrels, but the slightly undersized BBs do not swage in the barrel, so the rifling does not impart a significant spin. These are the types of guns that will benefit most from using precision lead BB shot. The pneumatic BB gun can attain much higher velocities than the traditional spring piston types.


title: BB gun

text: The last common type of power for BB guns is compressed gas, most commonly the Powerlet cartridges. The powerlet is a disposable metal gas cylinder containing of compressed carbon dioxide, with a self-contained valve to release the CO which expands to propel the BB. These are primarily used in BB pistols, and are capable of rapid firing unlike spring-piston or pneumatic types. A typical CO BB pistol uses a spring-loaded magazine to feed BBs, and a double-action trigger mechanism to chamber a BB and cock the hammer. However some guns (either to stay true to the original gun or to make the trigger pull easier) do have a single-action trigger. Either type of gun may also have blowback action, where CO will push the slide back in addition to firing a BB. When firing, the hammer strikes an internal valve linked to the CO source, which releases a measured amount of CO gas to fire the BB; this also gives it realistic recoil and muzzle report features. Many CO BB guns are patterned after popular firearms such as the Colt M1911, and can be used for training as well as recreation.


title: BB gun

text: Some gas-powered BB guns use a larger source of gas, and provide machine gun-like fire. These types, most notably the Shooting Star Tommy Gun (originally known as the Feltman) are commonly found at carnivals. The MacGlashan BB Gun was used to train antiaircraft gunners in the United States Army Air Corps and United States Navy during World War II. A popular commercial model was the Larc M-19, which used 1 pound (454 g) canisters of Freon-12 refrigerant. These types have very simple operating mechanisms, based on a venturi pump. The gas is released in a constant stream, and this is used to suck the BBs up into the barrel at rates as high as 3600 rounds per minute.


title: BB gun

text: BB guns can shoot faster than , but are often less powerful than a conventional pellet airgun. Pellet airguns have the ability to fire considerably faster, even beyond . Although claims are often exaggerated, a few airguns can actually fire a standard 0.177 caliber lead pellet faster than , but these are generally not BB-firing guns.


title: BB gun

text: A BB with a velocity of has skin-piercing capability, and a velocity reaching can fracture bone. This is potentially lethal, and this potential increases with velocity, but also rapidly decreases with distance. The effective penetrating range of a BB gun with a muzzle velocity of is approximately . A person wearing jeans at this distance would not sustain serious injury. However, even at this distance a BB still might penetrate bare skin, and even if not, could leave a severe and painful bruise. The maximum range of a BB gun in the range is 100–200 metres approximately (https://www.earmi.it/balistica/balest.htm), provided the muzzle is elevated to the optimum angle.


title: BB gun

text: Steel BBs are prone to ricochet off hard surfaces such as brick, concrete, metal, or wood end grain. Eye protection is essential when shooting BBs at these materials, more so than when shooting lead pellets, since a BB bouncing off a hard surface can retain a large portion of its initial energy (pellets usually flatten and absorb energy), and could easily cause serious eye damage.


title: BB gun

text: The U.S. Army trained recruits in Quick Kill techniques using Daisy Model 99 BB guns to improve soldiers using their weapons in the Vietnam War from 1967 to 1973. The technique was developed for the Army by Bobby Lamar "Lucky" McDaniel and Mike Jennings.


title: The Mortal Instruments

text: The Mortal Instruments is a series of six young adult fantasy novels written by American author Cassandra Clare, the last of which was published on May 27, 2014. "The Mortal Instruments" is chronologically the third series of a planned five in "The Shadowhunter Chronicles" but was the first one published. It follows Clarissa Fray, who interacts with a group of Nephilim known as Shadowhunters while also discovering her own heritage and her family history. The Shadowhunters protect the world of mundane/human people, who are also called mundanes or "mundies", from dark forces beyond their world. The book series falls under the young adult genre, specifically that of the paranormal romance/urban fantasy and supernatural genres.


title: The Mortal Instruments

text: "City of Bones" was popular at the time of release, reaching #8 on the "New York Times" Best Seller list (Children's books) in April 2007. "City of Ashes" was one of the YALSA's top ten teen books for 2009.


title: The Mortal Instruments

text: "Publishers Weekly" commented that it "is a sprawling urban fantasy packed with just about every type of creature known to the genre". "Locus" praised the book as "a highly readable first novel". "Booklist" said that there was "plenty of romance, loss, honor, and betrayal to make the journey worthwhile. An experienced storyteller, Clare moves the plot quickly to a satisfying end." School Library Journal said "Though the story is hampered by predictability and overblown writing, Clare continues her talent for mixing hip, modern humor with traditional fantasy, and fans eagerly awaiting the series conclusion should come away more than satisfied." A review in the "School Library Journal" noted that the book contained a variety of narrative flaws including characters that were "sporadically characterized" and whose behavior was predictable. In spite of this they noted that the book was entertaining and would leave readers anticipating the next installment.


title: The Mortal Instruments

text: The series has been in the New York Times Best Sellers List for 102 consecutive weeks as of September 5, 2013, and No. 1 for 9 weeks straight, knocking series such as "The Hunger Games" and "Percy Jackson and The Olympians" off the top spot. The last time "The Mortal Instruments" spent 100 consecutive weeks on the best sellers list was in May 2012.


title: The Mortal Instruments

text: On August 29, 2013, "City of Bones" topped the USA Today's Best Sellers List, which made it the Best Seller Book of the country at the time. Four other "Mortal Instruments" books also made the list. "City of Ashes" was No. 8, "City of Glass" was No. 20, "City of Fallen Angels" was 35 and "City of Lost Souls" was No. 46.


title: The Mortal Instruments

text: In "City of Ashes", the "Faerie Realm" and its inhabitants are characters from Holly Black's faerie series, beginning with "". Also, the characters Val and Luis from "" appear in another scene in that book. Within Holly Black's third book, "", there is a reference to the Mortal Cup mentioned in "The Mortal Instruments" series.


title: The Mortal Instruments

text: Clare delved deeply into world mythology in order to build the Shadowhunter world featured in "The Mortal Instruments", "The Infernal Devices", and all other offshoots of the series. There are strong influences from "Paradise Lost" and "The Inferno"; while there are many references to Western religious mythology, Clare also studied world mythology deeply, specifically demonic myth featured in Japanese, Tibetan, and other Eastern cultural texts. Her references to angels and nephilim throughout the series also come from this study of world religions and folklore. These myths were then adapted to fit into her stories.


title: The Mortal Instruments

text: Cassandra Clare has written a series of prequels called "The Infernal Devices" set in the same universe as "The Mortal Instruments", but in Victorian London. This series consists of three books: "Clockwork Angel", published on August 31, 2010, "Clockwork Prince", published December 6, 2011, and "Clockwork Princess", published March 19, 2013. The main characters in this series are Will Herondale, Tessa Gray, and Jem Carstairs, who reside in the London Institute.


title: The Mortal Instruments

text: There is a sequel series to "The Infernal Devices" called "The Last Hours" set in the same universe detailing the adventures of the next generation of Shadowhunters almost two decades after the events of "Clockwork Princess". The series consists of three books: "Chain of Gold," "Chain of Iron", and "Chain of Thorns."


title: The Mortal Instruments

text: "The Dark Artifices" is a sequel trilogy set in the same universe as "The Mortal Instruments", but five years in the future. The first book, "Lady Midnight", was published on March 8, 2016. The second book, "Lord of Shadows" was released on May 23, 2017. The third and final book, "Queen of Air and Darkness" was published on December 4, 2018.


title: The Mortal Instruments

text: Cassandra Clare, Sarah Rees Brennan and Maureen Johnson have written a complementary series of ten short stories called "The Bane Chronicles" that recount the experiences of the Warlock Magnus Bane character from "The Mortal Instruments" series. This series has been published over the course of 2013 and 2014 and consists of "What Really Happened in Peru", "The Runaway Queen", "Vampires, Scones, and Edmund Herondale", "The Midnight Heir", "The Rise of the Hotel Dumort", "Saving Raphael Santiago", "The Fall of The Hotel Dumort", "What to Buy the Shadowhunter Who Has Everything (And Who You're Not Officially Dating Anyway)", "The Last Stand of the New York Institute", and "The Course of True Love (and First Dates)".


title: The Mortal Instruments

text: Cassandra Clare and Sarah Rees Brennan also wrote a series of books called "Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy" that are focused on the character of Simon Lewis, Clary's best friend and Isabelle's boyfriend as he journeys to become a Shadowhunter. The series consists of ten books that have been released over the course of 2015. The books and release dates are: "Welcome to Shadowhunter Academy", February 17; "The Lost Herondale", March 17; "The Whitechapel Fiend", April 21; "Nothing but Shadows", May 19; "The Evil We Love", June 16; "Pale Kings and Princes", July 21; "Bitter of Tongue", August 18; "The Fiery Trial", September 15; "Born to Endless Night", October 20; and "Angels Twice Descending", November 17.


title: The Mortal Instruments

text: In addition, Cassandra Clare and Sarah Rees Brennan edited a side book titled "Ghosts of the Shadow Market". The book contains 10 stories of the Mortal Instrument characters, "The Infernal Devices" characters, "The Dark Artifices" characters, and "The Last Hours" characters. The titles of the stories are "Son of Dawn", "Cast Long Shadows", "Every Exquisite Thing", "Learn About Loss", "A Deeper Love", "The Wicked Ones", "The Land I Lost", "Through Blood", "Through Fire", "The Lost World", Forever Fallen.


title: The Mortal Instruments

text: "The City of Bones", "The Clockwork Angel", "The Clockwork Prince", and "The Clockwork Princess" have all been released in graphic novel form by Th3rd World Publishing.


title: The Mortal Instruments

text: In 2010, Screen Gems announced that they would produce on the of "City of Bones", the first book in "The Mortal Instruments" series, with hopes of starting a successful film franchise. The film premiered on August 12, 2013, at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood. Production on a film adaptation of the second book, "City of Ashes", was due to start in September 2013, but was delayed to 2014, and eventually cancelled, after the first film failed to recoup its budget.


title: The Mortal Instruments

text: Constantin Film announced on October 12, 2014 that "The Mortal Instruments" would be reintroduced as a television series. The show ran for three seasons, with a total of 55 episodes, beginning on January 12, 2016 and ending on May 6, 2019.


title: The Mortal Instruments

text: On October 12, 2014, at Mipcom, Constantin confirmed that "The Mortal Instruments" would return as a television series with Ed Decter as showrunner. Constantin Film and TV head Martin Moszkowicz told "The Hollywood Reporter" that, "It actually makes sense to do [the novels] as a TV series. There was so much from the book that we had to leave out of the "Mortal Instruments" film. In the series we'll be able to go deeper and explore this world in greater detail and depth." The producers hoped to adapt the entire book series. In February 2015, book series author Cassandra Clare announced via Twitter that the television series would be called "Shadowhunters" rather than "The Mortal Instruments". In March 2015, ABC Family picked up "Shadowhunters" straight-to-series. The series was renewed for a second season in March 2016, consisting of 20 episodes, which premiered on January 2, 2017. In April 2017, it was announced that the series was renewed for a third season of 20 episodes. The first half of ten episodes premiered on March 20, 2018, while the second aired in mid-2018. The two-part series finale aired on May 6, 2019.


title: Government of China

text: The Government of the People's Republic of China () is an authoritarian political system in the People's Republic of China under the exclusive political leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It consists of legislative, executive, military, supervisory, judicial, and procuratorial branches. The constitutional head of government is premier, while the "de facto" top leader of government is General Secretary of the Communist Party.


title: Government of China

text: The National People's Congress (NPC) is the highest state organ, with control over the constitution and basic laws, as well as over the election and supervision of officials of other government organs. The congress meets annually for about two weeks in March to review and approve major new policy directions, laws, the budget, and major personnel changes. The NPC's Standing Committee (NPCSC) is the permanent legislative organ that adopts most national legislation, interprets the constitution and laws, and conducts constitutional reviews. The President acts as a head of state in compliance with decisions made by the NPCSC, but exercises an independent power to nominate the Premier. Elected separately by the NPC, the Vice-president has no power themselves, but assists the President.


title: Government of China

text: The State Council, also referred to as the Central People's Government, is China's executive organ headed by the Premier of China. Besides the Premier, the State Council has a variable number of Vice Premiers, five State Councilors (protocol equal of vice premiers but with narrower portfolios), the Secretary-General, and 26 ministers and other cabinet-level department heads. It consists of ministries and agencies with specific portfolios. The State Council presents most initiatives to the NPCSC for consideration after previous endorsement by the CCP's Politburo Standing Committee, which is headed by the CCP General Secretary. The NPC generally approves State Council policy, although will occasionally force revisions in proposed laws.


title: Government of China

text: China's judicial organs perform prosecutorial and court functions. China's courts are supervised by the Supreme People's Court (SPC), which is headed by the Chief Justice. The Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) is responsible for prosecutions and supervises procuracies at the provincial, prefecture, and county levels. At the same administrative ranking as the SPC and SPP, the National Supervisory Commission (NSC) was established in 2018 to investigate corruption within the CCP and state organs.


title: Government of China

text: During the 1980s there was an attempt made to separate party and state functions, with the former deciding general policy and the latter carrying it out. The attempt was abandoned in the 1990s with the result that the political leadership within the state are also the leaders of the CCP. This dual structure thereby creates a single centralized government. At the same time there has been a move to separate party and state offices at levels other than the central government, as it is not unheard of for a sub-national executive to also be party secretary. This frequently causes conflict between the chief executive and the party secretary, and such is widely seen as intentional to prevent either from becoming too powerful. Some special cases include: the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau, where, according to constitution and respective basic law, most national laws do not apply; and the autonomous regions, where, following Soviet practice, the chief executive is typically a member of the local ethnic group while the CCP General Secretary is non-local and historically always Han Chinese.


title: Government of China

text: The Chinese Constitution was first created on 20 September 1954, before which an interim constitution-like document created by the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference was in force. The second promulgation in 1975 shortened the Constitution to just about 30 articles, containing Communist slogans and revolutionary language throughout. The role of courts was slashed, and the Presidency was gone. The 3rd promulgation in 1978 expanded the number of articles, but was still under the influence of the very-recent Cultural Revolution.


title: Government of China

text: The current constitution is the PRC's fourth promulgation, declared on 4 December 1982, and has served as a stable constitution for 30 years. Under the constitution, the roles of the presidency and the courts were normalized, and all citizens were declared equal. Amendments in 1988, 1993, 1999, 2004, and 2018 recognized private property, safeguarded human rights, and further promoted the non-public sector of the economy.


title: Government of China

text: The legal power of the CCP is guaranteed by the PRC Constitution and its position as the supreme political authority in the People's Republic of China is realised through its comprehensive control of the state, military, and media.


title: Government of China

text: The National People's Congress (NPC) is the national legislature of the People's Republic of China. With 2,924 members in 2017, it is the largest parliamentary body in the world. Under China's current Constitution, the NPC is structured as a unicameral legislature, with the power to legislate, to oversee the operations of the government, and to elect the major officials of state. Its delegates are elected for a five-year term through a multi-tiered electoral system. The NPC and the National Committee of the People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), a consultative body whose members represent various social groups, are the main deliberative bodies of China, and are often referred to as the "Lianghui" ('Two Sessions').


title: Government of China

text: The NPC, elected for a term of five years, holds annual sessions every spring, usually lasting from 10 to 14 days, in the Great Hall of the People on the west side of Tiananmen Square, Beijing. These annual meetings are usually timed to occur with the meetings of the CPPCC, providing an opportunity for the officers of state to review past policies and present future plans to the nation. The fourth session of the 12th NPC was held from 5 to 16 March 2016.


title: Government of China

text: The NPC generally has a reputation of approving the work of the State Council and not engaging in overmuch drafting of laws itself. However, it and its Standing Committee do occasionally assert themselves. For example, the State Council and the CCP were unable to secure passage of a fuel tax in 2009 to finance the construction of expressways.