title: Cerebral cortex

text: Brain damage from disease or trauma, can involve damage to a specific lobe such as in frontal lobe disorder, and associated functions will be affected. The blood–brain barrier that serves to protect the brain from infection can become compromised allowing entry to pathogens.


title: Cerebral cortex

text: The developing fetus is susceptible to a range of environmental factors that can cause birth defects and problems in later development. Maternal alcohol consumption for example can cause fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. Other factors that can cause neurodevelopment disorders are toxicants such as drugs, and exposure to radiation as from X-rays. Infections can also affect the development of the cortex. A viral infection is one of the causes of lissencephaly, which results in a smooth cortex without gyrification.


title: Cerebral cortex

text: A type of electrocorticography called cortical stimulation mapping is an invasive procedure that involves placing electrodes directly onto the exposed brain in order to localise the functions of specific areas of the cortex. It is used in clinical and therapeutic applications including pre-surgical mapping.


title: Cerebral cortex

text: There are a number of genetic mutations that can cause a wide range of genetic disorders of the cerebral cortex, including microcephaly, schizencephaly and types of lissencephaly. Chromosome abnormalities can also result causing a number of neurodevelopmental disorders such as fragile X syndrome and Rett syndrome.


title: Cerebral cortex

text: MCPH1 codes for microcephalin, and disorders in this and in ASPM are associated with microcephaly. Mutations in the gene NBS1 that codes for nibrin can cause Nijmegen breakage syndrome, characterised by microcephaly.


title: Cerebral cortex

text: Mutations in EMX2, and COL4A1 are associated with schizencephaly, a condition marked by the absence of large parts of the cerebral hemispheres.


title: Cerebral cortex

text: In 1909, Korbinian Brodmann distinguished different areas of the neocortex based on cytoarchitectural difference and divided the cerebral cortex into 52 regions.


title: Cerebral cortex

text: Rafael Lorente de Nó, a student of Santiago Ramon y Cajal identified more than 40 different types of cortical neurons based on the distribution of their dendrites and axons.


title: Cerebral cortex

text: The cerebral cortex is derived from the pallium, a layered structure found in the forebrain of all vertebrates. The basic form of the pallium is a cylindrical layer enclosing fluid-filled ventricles. Around the circumference of the cylinder are four zones, the dorsal pallium, medial pallium, ventral pallium, and lateral pallium, which are thought to be homologous to the neocortex, hippocampus, amygdala, and olfactory cortex, respectively.


title: Cerebral cortex

text: Until recently no counterpart to the cerebral cortex had been recognized in invertebrates. However, a study published in the journal "Cell" in 2010, based on gene expression profiles, reported strong affinities between the cerebral cortex and the mushroom bodies of the ragworm "Platynereis dumerilii". Mushroom bodies are structures in the brains of many types of worms and arthropods that are known to play important roles in learning and memory; the genetic evidence indicates a common evolutionary origin, and therefore indicates that the origins of the earliest precursors of the cerebral cortex date back to the Precambrian era.


title: Nazar (amulet)

text: A nazar (from Arabic , word deriving from Arabic, meaning "sight", "surveillance", "attention", and other related concepts) is an eye-shaped amulet believed to protect against the evil eye. The term is also used in Azerbaijani, Bengali, Hebrew, Hindi, Kurdish, Pashto, Persian, Punjabi, Turkish, Urdu and other languages. In Turkey, it is known by the name nazar boncuğu (the latter word being a derivative of boncuk, "bead" in Turkic, and the former borrowed from Arabic), in Greece is known as mati (the evil eye). In Persian and Afghan folklore, it is called a cheshm nazar () or nazar qurbāni (). In India and Pakistan, the Hindi-Urdu slogan "Chashm-e-Baddoor" is used to ward off the evil eye. In the Indian subcontinent, the phrase "Nazar lag gai" is used to indicate that one has been affected by the evil eye.


title: Nazar (amulet)

text: It is commonly believed that the evil eye can be given in the guise of a compliment, signifying its connection to the destructive power of envy (for one’s wealth, beauty etc.). Amulets such as the Nazar are used in accordance with common sayings such as "an eye for an eye", where another eye can be used to protect the recipient of the malefic gaze. The evil eye causes its victim to become unwell the next day, unless a protective phrase such as "With the will of God" ("Masha'llah" in Arabic) is recited. Among adherents of Hinduism and Islam in South Asia, when a mother observes that her child is being excessively complimented, it is common for them to attempt to neutralize the effects of the evil eye ("nazar utarna") by "holding red chilies in one hand and circling the child's head a few times, then burning the chilies."


title: Nazar (amulet)

text: A typical nazar is made of handmade glass featuring concentric circles or teardrop shapes in dark blue, white, light blue and black, occasionally with a yellow/gold edge.


title: Nazar (amulet)

text: The Turkish "boncuk" (sometimes called a "göz boncuğu" or eye bead) is a glass bead characterized by a blue glass field with a blue or black dot superimposed on a white or yellow center. Historically old, the blue bead has gained importance as an item of popular culture in Modern Turkey. The bead probably originated in the Mediterranean and is associated with the development of glass making. Written documents and extant beads date as early as the 16th century BC. Glass beads were made and widely used throughout the ancient world: from Mesopotamia to Egypt, from Carthage and Phoenicia to Persia, and throughout the Roman imperial period.


title: The Wedding Singer

text: The Wedding Singer is a 1998 American romantic comedy film directed by Frank Coraci, written by Tim Herlihy, and produced by Robert Simonds and Jack Giarraputo. The film stars Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore, and Christine Taylor, and tells the story of a wedding singer in 1985 who falls in love with a waitress. The film was released on February 13, 1998. Produced on a budget of million, it grossed $123million worldwide and received generally positive reviews from critics. It is often ranked as one of Sandler's best comedies.


title: The Wedding Singer

text: The film was later adapted into a stage musical of the same name, debuting on Broadway in April 2006 and closing on New Year's Eve of that same year. Jon Lovitz would reprise his role as Jimmie Moore in the episode of the same name of "The Goldbergs", set during the events of "The Wedding Singer", with Sandler, Barrymore and Billy Idol appearing through the use of archival footage.


title: The Wedding Singer

text: Robbie Hart is a wedding singer in Ridgefield, New Jersey in 1985, whose own wedding to his fiancée Linda is approaching. He meets and befriends Julia Sullivan, a new waitress at the reception hall where he works, and promises to sing at her wedding, though her fiancé, businessman and bond investor Glenn Gulia, has yet to set a date.


title: The Wedding Singer

text: On Robbie's wedding day, his sister Kate informs him as he waits at the altar that Linda has changed her mind about the wedding, leaving him humiliated and emotionally devastated. Later that day, Linda visits Robbie and reveals that she fell in love with him for his ambitions of being a rock star, and hates the idea of being married to just a wedding singer. Robbie sinks into depression, causing his friends and family to be concerned. His best friend Sammy convinces him to return to work, but he gives a depressed performance that is panned, and decides to give up wedding gigs and reneges on his promise to sing for Julia when Glenn finally sets a date. However, Julia convinces him to help her with the planning and their friendship blossoms. During a double date with Julia, Glenn, and Julia's cousin Holly, Robbie learns from Glenn that he cheats on Julia frequently and plans to continue after they are married.


title: The Wedding Singer

text: Julia and Robbie are increasingly confused by their deepening feelings for each other. When Holly tells Robbie that Julia is marrying Glenn for his money, he unsuccessfully pursues a job at a bank. Julia is dismayed at his materialism, and when he accuses her of the same, she becomes angry with him. Depressed, he decides to follow Sammy's example of only having shallow relationships with women, in response to which Sammy confides that he is unhappy, and encourages Robbie to tell Julia how he feels. Meanwhile, Julia confides in her mother that she has fallen out of love with Glenn and has developed feelings for Robbie, and bursts into tears thinking about becoming "Mrs. Julia Gulia". Robbie arrives to declare his feelings, and sees her through her bedroom window in her wedding dress, where she is happily looking in a mirror pretending she has just married Robbie, but Robbie assumes she is thinking of Glenn.


title: The Wedding Singer

text: Heartbroken, Robbie leaves to get drunk and finds Glenn in the midst of his pre-wedding bachelor party, arm in arm with another woman. After a heated exchange, Glenn punches Robbie and mocks him. Robbie stumbles home to find Linda waiting for him wanting to reconcile, and passes out. The following morning, she answers the door and introduces herself as his fiancée to a crestfallen Julia. She runs to Glenn, who is sleeping off the events of the previous night, and tells him she wants to be married immediately. He half-heartedly offers to take her to Las Vegas.


title: The Wedding Singer

text: Robbie awakens and, after shaking off his hangover from the previous night, rejects Linda's reconciliation, having realized how shallow she is during his time with Julia, and kicks her out. At the 50th wedding anniversary party of his neighbor Rosie, to whom he has been giving singing lessons, he realizes he wants to grow old with Julia and, with Rosie's encouragement, he decides to pursue her. Just then, Holly arrives and informs him of Julia's encounter with Linda, so Robbie rushes to the airport and gets a first class ticket to Las Vegas.


title: The Wedding Singer

text: After telling his story to his empathetic fellow passengers, which include Billy Idol, he learns that Glenn and Julia are on the same flight. With the help of Billy and the flight crew, over the loudspeaker, he sings a song he has written called "Grow Old With You", dedicated to Julia. As Robbie enters the main cabin singing, Glenn tries to assault him only to be thwarted and shoved into a lavatory by the flight attendants with assistance from Billy and a large fan. Robbie and Julia admit their love for each other, and share a kiss. Billy, impressed by Robbie's song, offers to tell his record company executives about him. Later, Robbie and Julia are married, and Robbie's bandmates perform at their wedding.


title: The Wedding Singer

text: Other notable appearances include future-Queens of the Stone Age musician Michael Shuman as The Bar Mitzvah boy, screenwriter Steven Brill as Glenn's buddy, the film's own writer Timothy P. Herlihy as Rudy, a Bartender, and Al Burke played the Large Billy Idol Fan. Also appearing uncredited were Steve Buscemi as David Veltri, Jon Lovitz as Jimmie Moore, and Brian Posehn as Man at Dining Table #9. and Chauntal Lewis as Stuck-Up girl at Bar Mitzvah.


title: The Wedding Singer

text: Adam Sandler had an idea for a comedy about a wedding singer who gets left at the altar, and suggested it to Tim Herlihy. Inspired by the radio show "Lost in the '80s" Herlihy decided to set the film in that decade. Herlihy had not set out to do anything different and thought the script was similar to his previous collaborations with Sandler. The changes came naturally, and he attributed the differences to his recently having gotten married, as well as the chemistry between Sandler and Barrymore. Herlihy was aware that Sandler's previous films had lacked a female perspective, and emphasized the importance of Barrymore. He explained that she was so great in her scenes that test audiences did not complain about Sandler not being in every scene as they had done for his previous films, and as a result more of her scenes survived and were included in the final film. Carrie Fisher, a frequent script doctor, was brought on to make the female part more balanced. Judd Apatow and Sandler also performed uncredited rewrites of the script.


title: The Wedding Singer

text: Director Frank Coraci was friends with Sandler since they went to college at NYU and could hardly believe that he and his friends had the opportunity to make films together. Coraci had also gotten over his own experiences of romantic heartbreak a few years earlier and was able to look back on it differently and instead allow it to be funny. Coraci was a fan of director John Hughes and mentioned his films as an important influence.


title: The Wedding Singer

text: Barrymore approached Sandler about working together on a film, saying they were "cinematic soulmates" before they had even worked together. Barrymore had a great relationship with Coraci, and praised him for balancing the broad comedy with the important moments of emotion and intimacy. Sandler would often make Barrymore laugh out of context, so that even after a long day, her laughs on camera would be real. In addition, she would not read or hear the songs until the first shoot so that her reactions would be more spontaneous.


title: The Wedding Singer

text: The film had a budget of $18million and made $123.3 million worldwide in ticket sales. It opened in second in the US with $18.8 million, behind holdover "Titanic".


title: The Wedding Singer

text: On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 69% based on 64 reviews, with an average rating of 6.2/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "It's decidedly uneven -- and surprisingly sappy for an early Adam Sandler comedy -- but "The Wedding Singer" is also sweet, funny, and beguiling." On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 59 out of 100 based on 21 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.


title: The Wedding Singer

text: Leonard Klady of "Variety" wrote: "Director Frank Coraci and scripter Tim Herlihy work in concert to maintain a quality of farce rooted in human comedy." Roger Ebert gave the film a negative review and wrote: "The screenplay reads like a collaboration between Jekyll and Hyde."


title: The Wedding Singer

text: Boy George responded to the film, saying that when he saw Alexis Arquette doing an impersonation of him and singing "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me" he thought it was hilarious.


title: The Wedding Singer

text: Two soundtrack albums for the film, called "The Wedding Singer" and "The Wedding Singer Volume 2", were released in 1998. While the film had the actors performing many of the songs, the soundtrack albums, for the most part, contained the original versions of the songs instead, as well as the songs that were in the background during the film and original songs and dialogue from it. Only for "Rapper's Delight" was its rendition (by Ellen Dow) used, in combination with the original recording.


title: The Wedding Singer

text: Songs and renditions that appeared in the movie, but were not included in the soundtrack albums, were:


title: The Wedding Singer

text: In 2006, a musical adaption of the same name was released on Broadway starring Stephen Lynch as Robbie and Laura Benanti as Julia. The show has had two national tours in 2007-2008 and 2009-2010 respectively. It was nominated for five Tony Awards and eight Drama Desk Awards and received generally good reviews. In this show, the airplane scene with Billy Idol was replaced with a scene in Las Vegas where Robbie meets a Billy Idol impersonator, and they and a group of other impersonators including Ronald Reagan, Cyndi Lauper and Imelda Marcos come to convince Julia to give up Glenn. In addition, Robbie's neighbor Rosie is changed to be his grandma with whom he lives and who asks him to write a song out of a poem she wrote for the 50th anniversary party. Also Robbie's friend, Sammy, was changed from being a limousine driver to being a part of Robbie's band. The show only ran on Broadway for 284 performances but has become a popular show among community theaters and high schools.


title: Line (software)

text: Line is a freeware app for instant communications on electronic devices such as smartphones, tablet computers and personal computers. Line users exchange: texts, images, video and audio and conduct free VoIP conversations and video conferences. In addition, Line is a platform providing various services including: digital wallet as Line Pay, news stream as LINE Today, video on demand as Line TV and digital comic distribution as Line Manga and Line Webtoon. The service is operated by Line Corporation, a Tokyo-based subsidiary of Z Holdings.


title: Line (software)

text: Line was launched in Japan in June 2011 by NHN Japan, a subsidiary of Naver Corporation. Because it was tailored to Japanese consumers' tastes and offered free smartphone calls as well as texting, with the help of a massive marketing campaign it quickly outpaced its existing rival KakaoTalk for the Japanese market. It reached 100 million users within 18 months and 200 million users six months later. Line became Japan's largest social network in 2013, with more than 300 million users. By February 2015 it had 600 million users.


title: Line (software)

text: In March 2021, SoftBank Group affiliate and Yahoo! Japan operator Z Holdings completed a merger with Line Corporation. Under the new structure, A Holdings, a subsidiary of SoftBank Corporation and Naver Corporation, will own 65.3% of Z Holdings, which will operate Line and Yahoo! Japan. Line is the most popular messaging application in Japan, Taiwan and Thailand.


title: Line (software)

text: In South Korea, the home of NHN Japan's parent company Naver Corporation, Naver had launched a messaging app called Naver Talk for the South Korean market in February 2011. However, rival Korean company Kakao had first-mover advantage with its KakaoTalk app launched in March 2010 and easily dominated the Korean market by March 2012.


title: Line (software)

text: Naver/NHN co-founder and chairman Lee Hae-Jin and a team of engineers were in Japan when the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami struck in March 2011. Naver/NHN had been in Japan for ten years, trying to build a Japanese search and portal business, since NHN's other international ventures had stagnated. The earthquake and tsunami left millions without power and phone lines and SMS networks were overwhelmed. Since Wi-Fi and some 3G remained largely usable, many people turned to KakaoTalk, which was just beginning to gain a foothold in Japan. Lee was inspired to launch a messaging and chat app in the wake of the disaster and his NHN Japan team was testing a beta version of an app accessible on smartphones, tablet and PC, which would work on data network and provide continuous and free instant messaging and calling service, within two months. The app was launched as Line in June 2011.


title: Line (software)

text: Because Naver/NHN had a far superior cultural knowledge of what Japanese users wanted, and a much larger corporate marketing budget, Line quickly surpassed KakaoTalk in Japan. Line also offers free voice calls and, since Japan's telecoms make customers pay for both SMSs and smartphone calls, this feature, which KakaoTalk did not have, was a major selling point.


title: Line (software)

text: The app proved hugely popular, and by late October 2011, Line experienced an unexpected server overload. To improve scalability to accommodate its exponential rise in new users, NHN Japan chose HBase as the primary storage for user profiles, contacts and groups. In December 2011, Naver announced that Naver Talk would be merged into Line, effective early 2012.


title: Line (software)

text: In July 2012, NHN Japan announced the new Line features "Home" and "Timeline". The features allowed users to share recent personal developments to a community of contacts in real-time, similar to the status updates in social networking services such as Facebook. On April 1, 2013, Naver's Japanese branch name was changed from NHN Japan to Line Corporation.


title: Line (software)

text: Line became Japan's largest social network by the end of 2013, with more than 300 million registrants worldwide, of which more than 50 million users were within Japan. In October 2014, Line announced that it had attracted 560 million users worldwide with 170 million active user accounts. In February 2015, it announced the 600 million users mark had been passed and 700 million were expected by the end of the year.


title: Line (software)

text: Line was originally developed as a mobile application for Android and IOS smartphones. The service has since expanded to: BlackBerry OS (August 2012), Nokia Asha (Asia and Oceania, March 2013), Windows Phone (July 2013), Firefox OS (February 2014), IPadOS (October 2014) and as a Chrome Browser Application (via the Chrome Web Store). The application also exists in versions for laptop and desktop computers using the Microsoft Windows and MacOS platforms..


title: Line (software)

text: In July 2016, Line Corporation held IPOs on both the New York Stock Exchange and the Tokyo Stock Exchange.


title: Line (software)

text: In late December 2020, Line Corporation delisted from both the New York Stock Exchange and the Tokyo Stock Exchange, in advance of its absorption-type merger agreement with Z Holdings.


title: Line (software)

text: On March 1, 2021, Line Corporation merged with Yahoo! Japan, which has been operated by Z Holdings, a SoftBank Group subsidiary. Under the new structure, Naver Corporation (Line's former parent company) and SoftBank Corp (the wireless carrier unit of SoftBank Group). Each one hold 50% stakes in a new company named A Holdings Corp., which holds a majority stake in Z Holdings, which now operates Line and Yahoo! Japan. Upon integrating the two businesses and creating further platforms, the merged company aims to compete with the U.S. tech giants: Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple and the Chinese tech giants Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent, as well as the Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten. The merger also gives Z Holdings three additional Asian markets where Line is popular: Taiwan, Thailand and Indonesia.


title: Line (software)

text: Line began in Spring 2011 as a communication system for NHN Japan employees. It then saw explosive growth when released to the public in June of that year. By 18 January 2013, Line had been downloaded 100 million times worldwide. The number expanded to 140 million by early July 2013 and to 200 million by July 21. As of June 2016, Japan claimed 68 million users while Thailand had 33 million. As of February 2014, Indonesia had 20 million users, Taiwan 17 million, while India and Spain had 16 million each. NHN representatives announced plans to reach 300 million by further expansion in East Asia, Spain and Chile. In April 2014, Naver announced that Line had reached 400 million worldwide users and by 2017 this had grown to 700 million.


title: Line (software)

text: Line is an application that works on multiple platforms and has access via multiple personal computers (Microsoft Windows or MacOS). The application will also give an option of address book syncing. This application also has a feature to add friends through the use of QR codes by Line ID and by shaking phones simultaneously. The application has a direct pop-out message box for reading and replying to make it easy for users to communicate. It also can share photos, videos and music with other users, send the current or any specific: locations, voice audios, emojis, stickers and emoticons to friends. Users can see a real-time confirmation when messages are sent and received or use a hidden chat feature, which can hide and delete a chat history (from both involved devices and Line servers) after a time set by the user.


title: Line (software)

text: The application also makes free voice and video calls. Users can also chat and share media in a group by creating and joining groups that have up to 500 people. Chats also provide bulletin boards on which users can post, like and comment. This application also has timeline and homepage features that allow users to post pictures, text and stickers on their homepages. Users can also change their Line theme to the theme Line provides in the theme shop for free or users can buy other famous cartoon characters they like. Line also has a feature, called a Snap movie, that users can use to record a stop-motion video and add in provided background music.


title: Line (software)

text: In January 2015, "Line Taxi" was released in Tokyo as a competitor to Uber. Line launched a new android app called "Popcorn buzz" in June 2015. The app facilitates group calls with up to 200 members. In June a new Emoji keyboard was also released for IOS devices, which provides a Line-like experience with the possibility to add stickers. In September 2015 a new Android launcher was released on the Google Play Store, helping the company to promote its own services through the new user interface.


title: Line (software)

text: Line includes a feature known as "official channels" which allows companies, especially news media outlets, publications and other mass media companies to offer an official channel which users can join and thereby receive regular updates, published articles or news updates from companies or news outlets.


title: Line (software)

text: Line features a Sticker Shop where users are able to purchase virtual stickers depicting original and well-known characters. The stickers are used during chat sessions between users and act as large emoji. Users can purchase stickers as gifts, with many stickers available as free downloads, depending on country availability. Purchased stickers are attached to an account and can be used on other platforms. New sticker sets are released weekly. Line's message stickers feature original characters as well as a number of popular manga, anime and gaming characters, movie tie-ins and characters from Disney properties such as Pixar. Some sticker sets, such as those that celebrate special events like the 2012 Summer Olympics, are released for only a limited time.


title: Line (software)

text: The original default characters and stickers, known as Line Friends, were created by Kang Byeongmok, also known as "Mogi", in 2011.


title: Line (software)

text: There are over 1 billion stickers sent by worldwide users on a daily basis. The popular characters Milk & Mocha began as stickers on Line in Indonesia.


title: Line (software)

text: NHN Japan created Line Games in 2011. Only those with a Line application account can install and play the games. Players can connect with friends, send and accept items and earn friend points. The game range includes: puzzles, match-three, side-scroller, musical performance, simulation, battle and spot-the-difference games. In September 2013, Line Corporation announced its games had been downloaded 200 million times worldwide.


title: Line (software)

text: On July 10, 2017, Line Games acquired NextFloor Corporation, developers of Dragon Flight and Destiny Child. On January 5, 2017, LINE Games was announced as the publisher for Hundred Soul (formerly known as Project 100) by Hound 13.


title: Line (software)

text: On December 12, 2018, Line Games held a media event called LPG (Line Games-Play-Game) to introduce its games for 2019. Mobile games announced include: Exos Heroes (by OOZOO), Ravenix: The Card Master (also by OOZOO), Dark Summoners (by SkeinGlobe), Project PK (by Rock Square) and Super String (by Factorial Games). Project NM by Space Dive was also announced for PC. Games to be released on mobile and PC include: Project NL (by MeerKat Games) and Uncharted Waters Origins (by Line Games and Koei Tecmo).


title: Line (software)

text: On 10 Jul 2019, Nintendo released Dr. Mario World co-developed by Line Games. On July 18, 2019, First Summoner developed by SkeinGlobe was released.


title: Line (software)

text: Line introduced Line Pay worldwide on December 16, 2014. The service allows users to request and send money from users in their contact list and make mobile payments in store. The service has since expanded to allow other features such as offline wire transfers when making purchases and ATM transactions like depositing and withdrawing money. Unlike other Line services, Line Pay is offered worldwide through the Line app.


title: Line (software)

text: Line Taxi was launched in January 2015 in partnership with Nihon Kotsu, a local taxi service in Japan. Just like Line Pay, Line Taxi is not offered as a separate app but rather through the Line app where users can request a taxi and automatically pay for it when they connect their account to Line Pay.


title: Line (software)

text: Announced alongside Line Pay and Line Taxi, a service that allows users to instantly access delivery services for registered food or products and services.


title: Line (software)

text: A referral program for online shopping. Customers get extra discount or earn Line Points by purchasing through the Line Shopping service.


title: Line (software)

text: In 2015, a lower-overhead Android app was released for emerging markets called Line Lite. This supports messages and calls but not themes or timeline.


title: Line (software)

text: In January 2022 Line announced the discontinuation of Line Lite, taking effect on the 28th February 2022.


title: Line (software)

text: Line accounts can be accessed on only one mobile device (running the app version) or one personal computer (running the version for these). Additional mobile devices can install the app but require different mobile numbers or e-mail addresses for the Line account.


title: Line (software)

text: If "Line Lite" for Android was installed and activated, the user was told they will be "logged out of the normal Line". This message did not make clear that it was impossible to log back in to the normal Line, which would delete all history data when next launched. Line Lite has now been discontinued.


title: Line (software)

text: In August 2013, it was possible to intercept a Line chat session at the network level using packet capture software and to reconstruct it on a PC. Messages were sent in clear text to Line's server when on cellular data but encrypted when using Wi-Fi most of the time.


title: Line (software)

text: Until February 2016, it was also possible to "clone" an iPhone from a backup and then use the "cloned" iPhone to access the same Line account as used by the original iPhone. This loophole was widely rumored (but never proven) to have been used to intercept Line messages between the popular Japanese television personality Becky and her married romantic partner Enon Kawatani; the intercepted messages were published in the magazine "Shukan Bunshun" and led to the temporary suspension of Becky's television career.


title: Line (software)

text: In July 2016, Line Corporation turned on end-to-end encryption by default for all Line users. It had earlier been available as an opt-in feature since October 2015. The app uses the ECDH protocol for client-to-client encryption. In August 2016, Line expanded its end-to-end encryption to also encompass its group chats, voice calls and video calls.


title: Line (software)

text: In March 2021, the Japanese government announced that it would investigate Line after reports that it let Chinese system-maintenance engineers in Shanghai access Japanese users' data without informing them, beginning in August 2018. Four Chinese engineers in a Shanghai-based affiliate that Line subcontracted to develop AI accessed the messages stored in the Japanese computer system and personal information of Line users, such as: name, phone number, email address and Line ID. Photos and video footage posted by Japanese users were also stored on a server in South Korea. Line stated in March 2021 that it had since blocked access to user data at the Chinese affiliate and that it would revise its privacy policy and make it more explicit. Line had been used by the Japanese government and local governments to notify residents about developments in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. In response to the reports of security issues, the national government and many local governments halted their usage of Line in late March 2021. In April 2021 the government ordered Line to take measures to properly protect customers' information and to report improvement measures within a month. Line also relocated image and other data stored in South Korea to Japan. As of November 2021, the Tokyo metropolitan government offers proof of COVID-19 vaccinations through the Line app, with expansion planned for other prefectures.


title: Line (software)

text: On 12 April 2021, Line suffered a large-scale crash in Taiwan. Unconfirmed reports suggest that Roman Matovsky hacked the company's servers because of a personal conflict with the company. He wrote about it on his personal blog shortly after the platform's services resumed, asserting why and what he claimed happened and additionally left comments consistent with this in his social network profiles, which he subsequently removed the next day.


title: Line (software)

text: More than 70,000 LINE Pay users in Taiwan have been affected by a leak of transaction information during the period from December 26, 2020, to April 2, 2021.


title: Line (software)

text: Line suppressed content in China to conform with government censorship. Analysis by Citizen Lab showed that accounts registered with Chinese phone numbers download a list of banned words that cannot be sent or received through Line.


title: Line (software)

text: Line publicly confirmed the practice in December 2013. However, by 2014, access to Line chat servers has been entirely blocked by the Great Firewall, while the company still makes revenue in China from brick-and-mortar stores.


title: Line (software)

text: In Indonesia, Line has responded to pressure from the Indonesian Communication and Information Ministry to remove emojis and stickers it believes make reference to homosexuality, for example the emoji "two men holding hands". Line issued a public statement on the issue:"Line regrets the incidents of some stickers which are considered sensitive by many people. We ask for your understanding because at the moment we are working on this issue to remove the stickers".


title: Line (software)

text: In Thailand, Line is suspected of responding to pressure from the Thai government and, after previously approving 'Red Buffalo' stickers, which had been used to refer to the Red Shirts political faction, including by the Red Shirts themselves, removed the stickers.


title: Line (software)

text: In Russia, on 28 April 2017, Russia's Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media, placed LINE on a banned list. Telecommunications companies appear to have taken steps in May to progressively block access to LINE and other services using smartphones. The Russian Internet Regulation Law obliges social network operators to store personal information of their Russian customers in the country and submit it if requested by the authorities; LINE is believed to have been found to be in breach of this provision. According to reports, BBM, Imo.im and Vchat have been newly added to the list of banned services, in addition to LINE. On 3 May 2017 access to Line chat servers was entirely blocked by the Roskomnadzor and the Line servers were added to the , after which Russian users began to experience problems receiving and sending messages.


title: Line (software)

text: On November 20, 2012, Line was shown in Far East Movement's music video, featuring Sidney Samson, for the song "Change Your Life". DJ Virman is seen chatting with Sidney Samson at the middle of the music video.


title: Line (software)

text: On December 16, 2012, the Line application was shown in American rap artist Big Sean's music video for the song "Guap".


title: Line (software)

text: On May 16, 2014, Warner Music Italy released the music video for Italian singer Annalisa's "Sento solo il presente", in which the recording artist is seen using the Line application at the beginning of the video.


title: Line (software)

text: Since Line has become ubiquitous in Japan, its usage is depicted with relative frequency in anime, dramas, and other pop culture. For example, in the 2017 anime "Tsuki ga Kirei", the Line app is the protagonists' main way of communication.


title: Line (software)

text: Line Friends are featured characters that are shown in stickers of the application. They include Brown, Cony, Sally, James, Moon, Boss, Jessica, Edward, Leonard, Choco, Pangyo and Rangers. Two anime series, "Line Offline" and "Line Town", were produced in 2013, picturing the Line Friends as employees for the fictional Line Corporation.


title: Line (software)

text: There are physical stores in Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, U.S. and a Korean online store to purchase Line Friends merchandise. Occasionally, Line will have pop-up or temporary stores globally.


title: August

text: August is the eighth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars, and the fifth of seven months to have a length of 31 days. Its zodiac sign is Leo and was originally named "Sextilis" in Latin because it was the 6th month in the original ten-month Roman calendar under Romulus in 753 BC, with March being the first month of the year. About 700 BC, it became the eighth month when January and February were added to the year before March by King Numa Pompilius, who also gave it 29 days. Julius Caesar added two days when he created the Julian calendar in 46 BC (708 AUC), giving it its modern length of 31 days. In 8 BC, it was renamed in honor of Emperor Augustus. According to a Senatus consultum quoted by Macrobius, he chose this month because it was the time of several of his great triumphs, including the conquest of Egypt. Commonly repeated lore has it that August has 31 days because Augustus wanted his month to match the length of Julius Caesar's July, but this is an invention of the 13th century scholar Johannes de Sacrobosco. Sextilis in fact had 31 days before it was renamed, and it was not chosen for its length.


title: August

text: In the Southern Hemisphere, August is the seasonal equivalent of February in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Northern Hemisphere, August falls in the season of summer. In the Southern Hemisphere, the month falls during the season of winter. In many European countries, August is the holiday month for most workers. Numerous religious holidays occurred during August in ancient Rome.


title: August

text: Certain meteor showers take place in August. The Kappa Cygnids take place in August, with the dates varying each year. The Alpha Capricornids meteor shower takes place as early as July 10 and ends at around August 10, and the Southern Delta Aquariids take place from mid-July to mid-August, with the peak usually around July 28–29. The Perseids, a major meteor shower, typically takes place between July 17 and August 24, with the days of the peak varying yearly. The star cluster of Messier 30 is best observed around August.


title: August

text: Among the aborigines of the Canary Islands, especially among the Guanches of Tenerife, the month of August received in the name of Beñesmer or Beñesmen, which was also the harvest festival held this month.


title: Amber Riley

text: Amber Patrice Riley (born February 15, 1986), sometimes known mononymously as RILEY, is an American actress and singer. She is best known for her portrayal of Mercedes Jones on the Fox comedy-drama series "Glee" (2009–2015). For her performance on the series, she and the rest of the cast won a Screen Actors Guild Award, and have been nominated for three Teen Choice Awards, three NAACP Image Awards, and a Grammy Award.


title: Amber Riley

text: In 2016, Riley originated the lead role of Effie White in the West End debut of "Dreamgirls". She won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical and Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Musical Performance in 2017 for her work.


title: Amber Riley

text: Riley won season 17 of "Dancing with the Stars" in 2013. In 2017, Riley appeared as a judge on BBC One musical theatre talent show "Let It Shine" and formed a musical theatre supergroup with Beverley Knight and Cassidy Janson, known collectively as Leading Ladies and signed to East West Records/Warner. Her debut album, "Songs from the Stage", was released on November 17, 2017. In 2022, Riley won season 8 of "The Masked Singer".


title: Amber Riley

text: Riley was born in Los Angeles County, California, with a mother of the maiden name Hightower. She has two older sisters, Toiya and Ashley. Riley auditioned for "American Idol" when she was 17 years old, during the show's second season, but was turned down by the producers. She graduated from La Mirada High School in La Mirada, California in 2004.


title: Amber Riley

text: In 2008, Riley was cast in the role of Mercedes Jones on the comedy-drama television series "Glee", and appeared as a main cast member for all but one of the six seasons—she received guest star credit during season 5. Riley performed numerous solos throughout the series' run, including "Respect", "Bust Your Windows", "Hate on Me", "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going", "Beautiful", "Bridge over Troubled Water", "I Look to You", "Ain't No Way", "Try a Little Tenderness", "Spotlight", "All I Want for Christmas Is You" and, three days after Whitney Houston's death, performed a tribute version of "I Will Always Love You". She also played Dr. Frank-N-Furter in the episode "The Rocky Horror Glee Show", singing the lead on the song "Sweet Transvestite" to generally positive reviews from critics. For her role as Mercedes Jones, Riley won a Screen Actors Guild Award and received nominations for three NAACP Image Awards and three Teen Choice Awards.


title: Amber Riley

text: Riley appeared at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards and later sang the national anthem at the 2012 Democratic National Convention. She also co-wrote a track titled "Leave a Light On" for British group The Saturdays, which is featured on their album "Living for the Weekend". In January 2014, Riley and her sister Ashley launched a plus size online clothing boutique, Rileyland Fashions. She also models the garments. Riley's debut single, "Colorblind", premiered live on April 3, 2014, on "The Queen Latifah Show". The song was written by Emeli Sandé, Claude Kelly and Steve Mac, and was released as a digital download on April 8, 2014. It was expected to be the lead single off her debut album. The song was also performed by Riley on "Glee". In 2015, it was reported that Riley would star in a Christmas television film, her first movie role, and her first acting role, since "Glee". In December 2015, she portrayed Addaperle, the Good Witch of the North, in NBC's live performance of "The Wiz". In February 2016, it was announced that Riley would portray the lead role of Effie White in "Dreamgirls", at the Savoy Theatre in London's West End, beginning performances in November 2016. Riley recorded a number of tracks for Todrick Hall's visual album "Straight Outta Oz". Also in 2016 she performed the national anthem at the second game of the 2016 NHL Stadium Series featuring the Detroit Red Wings and Colorado Avalanche at Coors Field.


title: Amber Riley

text: In 2017, Riley teamed up with British singers Beverley Knight and Cassidy Janson to form a musical theatre supergroup, known collectively as the Leading Ladies. Their debut album, "Songs from the Stage", was released on November 17, 2017 and features covers songs from "Cats", "" and "Rent" among others.


title: Amber Riley

text: In 2019, she took on the role of Audrey II, the carnivorous singing plant, in "Little Shop of Horrors" at Pasadena Playhouse.


title: Amber Riley

text: In 2013, Riley won the seventeenth season of ABC's dancing competition "Dancing with the Stars". She was partnered with the show's one and only six-time champion, Derek Hough. Riley and Hough tied the record for highest first-week score of 27, received 5 perfect scores of 30, and only received a score lower than 8 one time. Riley is the first African-American woman to win "Dancing With the Stars".


title: Amber Riley

text: On February 28, 2020, Riley confirmed she finished recording songs for her debut extended play. Following her "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" performance on August 28 it was announced her EP would be released on October 2. She later confirmed she would be performing under the name "Riley" (stylized in all caps as "RILEY") and released the single "A Moment" on September 4. "BGE" (initialism for "big girl energy") was released as the second single from the EP on September 18, alongside its music video. The EP was released on October 2, 2020, featuring a total of six tracks. On October 8, 2020 she released a music video for the track "Creepin'".


title: Lavell Crawford

text: Lavell Crawford (born November 11, 1968) is an American comedian and actor. He is best known for playing Huell Babineaux in "Breaking Bad" (2011–2013) and its spin-off "Better Call Saul" (2017–2022). He also played the role of Gus Patch in the Netflix original movie "The Ridiculous 6" (2015). The album version of his 2021 "Comedy Vaccine" special was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards.


title: Lavell Crawford

text: Crawford grew up in St. Louis County, Missouri, eventually settling in Pagedale. He has two sisters, Elonda and Erica. He struggled with his weight in childhood and experienced a near-drowning at age ten. Crawford graduated from Pattonville High School in 1986 before attending Missouri Western State College, where he studied computer science.


title: Lavell Crawford

text: Crawford began performing standup comedy professionally in 1990. He frequently performed on BET's "ComicView" during the 1990s. He was a contestant on NBC's "Last Comic Standing" in 2007, where in the two-hour season finale he lost to Jon Reep. In 2011 at the Roberts Orpheum Theatre in St. Louis, he recorded "Lavell Crawford: Can a Brother Get Some Love."


title: Lavell Crawford

text: Crawford portrayed Saul Goodman's laconic bodyguard Huell Babineaux in the crime drama series "Breaking Bad" and its spinoff, "Better Call Saul", from from 2011 to 2022. He also played Babineaux in


title: Lavell Crawford

text: "Huell's Rules", a comedy short set after the events of "Breaking Bad". Crawford has also appeared comedic roles in "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia", "Tosh.0", "The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore", and "Aqua TV Show Show".


title: Lavell Crawford

text: Crawford's weight peaked in March 2016 at approximately . After gastric sleeve surgery, his weight dropped to by August 2017.


title: Money for Nothing (song)

text: "Money for Nothing" is a song by British rock band Dire Straits, the second track on their fifth studio album, "Brothers in Arms" (1985). It was released as the album's second single on 28 June 1985 through Vertigo Records. The song's lyrics are written from the point of view of two working-class men watching music videos and commenting on what they see. The song features a guest appearance by Sting singing background vocals, providing both the signature falsetto introduction and backing chorus of "I want my MTV." The groundbreaking video was the first to be aired on MTV Europe when the network launched on 1 August 1987.


title: Money for Nothing (song)

text: It was Dire Straits' most commercially successful single, peaking at number 1 for three weeks on both the US "Billboard" Hot 100 and Top Rock Tracks chart and number 4 in the band's native UK. In July 1985, the month following its release, Dire Straits and Sting performed the song at Live Aid. At the 28th Annual Grammy Awards in 1986, "Money for Nothing" won Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and was nominated for Record of the Year and Song of the Year as well. At the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards, the music video received 11 nominations, winning Video of the Year and Best Group Video.


title: Money for Nothing (song)

text: "Money for Nothing" is a pop rock song. Knopfler modeled his guitar sound on ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons' trademark guitar tone, as ZZ Top's music videos were already a staple of early MTV. Gibbons told Timothy White of "Musician" in late 1985 that Knopfler had solicited Gibbons' help in replicating the tone, adding, "He didn't do a half-bad job, either, considering that I never told him a goddamned thing!"


title: Money for Nothing (song)

text: Following the initial sessions in Montserrat, at which that particular guitar part was recorded, Neil Dorfsman attempted to recreate the sound during subsequent sessions at the Power Station in New York but was unsuccessful.


title: Money for Nothing (song)

text: The recording contains a highly recognisable hook, in the form of the guitar riff that begins the song proper. The guitar riff continues throughout the song, played in permutation during the verses, and played in full after each chorus. The song's extended overture was shortened for radio and music video.


title: Money for Nothing (song)

text: In 2000, Knopfler appeared on "Parkinson" on BBC One and explained again where the lyrics originated. According to Knopfler, he was in New York City and had visited an appliance store. At the back of the store was a wall of televisions which were all tuned to MTV. Knopfler then said there was a male employee dressed in a baseball cap, work boots, and a checkered shirt delivering boxes who was standing next to him watching. As they were standing there watching MTV, Knopfler remembers the man coming up with lines such as "what are those, Hawaiian noises?...that ain't workin'," etc. Knopfler then requested a pen to write some of these lines down and then eventually put those words to music.


title: Money for Nothing (song)

text: The first-person narrating character in the lyrics refers to a musician "banging on the bongos like a chimpanzee" and a woman "stickin' in the camera, man we could have some fun". He describes a singer as "that little faggot with the earring and the make-up", and bemoans that these artists get "money for nothing and chicks for free".


title: Money for Nothing (song)

text: The songwriting credits are shared between Mark Knopfler and Sting. According to Knopfler, he used the "I Want My MTV" line from seeing an MTV advertisement featuring The Police and setting it to the tune of Don't Stand So Close To Me (written by Sting), hence the co-writing credit. "Sting used to come to Montserrat to go windsurfing," recalled John Illsley, "and he came up for supper at the studio. We played him 'Money for Nothing' and he turned round and said, 'You've done it this time, you bastards.' Mark said if he thought it was so good, why didn't he go and add something to it. He did his bit there and then."


title: Money for Nothing (song)

text: However, keyboard player Alan Clark claims the "I Want My MTV" intro was his idea and not Knopfler's. According to him, the song originally began with the guitar riff, then he developed the intro on keyboards and sung "I Want My MTV" on top during a break in rehearsals for the album.


title: Money for Nothing (song)

text: The music video for the song features early 3D computer animation illustrating the lyrics. The video was one of the first uses of computer-animated human characters and was groundbreaking at the time of its release.


title: Money for Nothing (song)

text: Two other music videos are also featured within "Money for Nothing". The Hungarian pop band Első Emelet and their video "Állj, Vagy Lövök!" ("Stop or I'll Shoot!") appears as "Baby, Baby" by "First Floor" during the second verse (The name "első emelet" translates to "first floor", and the song is credited as being on "Magyar Records": "Magyar" means "Hungarian" in the Hungarian language.) The other one is fictional, "Sally" by the "Ian Pearson Band". The fictional album for the first video was listed as "Turn Left" and the second was "Hot Dogs". For the second video, the record company appears as "Rush Records", and it was filmed on Fisherman's Bastion, Budapest, Hungary.


title: Money for Nothing (song)

text: Originally, Mark Knopfler was not at all enthusiastic about the concept of the music video. MTV, however, was insistent on it. Director Steve Barron, of Rushes Postproduction in London, was contacted by Warner Bros. to persuade Knopfler to relent. Describing the contrasting attitudes of Knopfler and MTV, he said:


title: Money for Nothing (song)

text: Barron then flew to Budapest to convince Knopfler of their concept. Meeting together after a gig, Knopfler was still unimpressed, but this time his girlfriend was present and took a hand. According to Barron:


title: Money for Nothing (song)

text: Ian Pearson and Gavin Blair created the animation, using a Bosch FGS-4000 CGI system and a Quantel Paintbox system. The animators went on to found computer animation studio Mainframe Entertainment (today Mainframe Studios), and referenced the "Money for Nothing" video in an episode of their "ReBoot" series. The video also includes stage footage of Dire Straits performing, with partially rotoscoped animation in bright neon colours, as seen on the cover of the compilation album of the same name.


title: Money for Nothing (song)

text: When Dire Straits performed "Money for Nothing" at the 1985 Live Aid Concert at Wembley Stadium, the performance featured a guest appearance by Sting. Knopfler performed "Money for Nothing" using his Pensa-Suhr signature MK-1 model guitar with a pair of Soldano SLO-100 tube/valve amplifier heads and Marshall speaker cabinets during the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute and the Prince's Trust concerts in 1986 with Sting, as well as the Nordoff-Robbins charity show at Knebworth in 1990 and the On Every Street world tours in 1991/1992. These versions featured extended guitar solos by Knopfler, backed by Eric Clapton and Phil Palmer.


title: Money for Nothing (song)

text: "Cash Box" said that it's "a simply rocking cut taking a look at jobs and videos performed by rock stars." "Billboard" called it a "bluesy poke at [Dire Straits' and Sting's] own kind; intentions ambiguous."


title: Money for Nothing (song)

text: "Rolling Stone" listed the song as the 94th greatest guitar song of all time, noting how Mark Knopfler "traded his pristine, rootsy tone for a dry, over-processed sound achieved by running a Les Paul through a wah-wah pedal on a track that became one of the [MTV] network's earliest hits." The video was awarded "Video of the Year" (among many other nominations) at the third annual MTV Video Music Awards in 1986.


title: Money for Nothing (song)

text: The lyrics for the song have been criticised as being homophobic by critics. In a late 1985 interview in "Rolling Stone" magazine, Knopfler expressed mixed feelings on the controversy:


title: Money for Nothing (song)

text: Dire Straits often performed the song in live concerts and when on tour, where the second verse was included but often altered slightly. For the band's 10 July 1985 concert (televised in the United Kingdom on "The Tube" on Channel 4 in January 1986), Knopfler replaced the word "faggot" with "queenie":


title: Money for Nothing (song)

text: In January 2011, the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council (CBSC) ruled that the unedited version of the song was unacceptable for air play on private Canadian radio stations, as it breached the Canadian Association of Broadcasters' code of ethics and their equitable portrayal code. The CBSC concluded that "like other racially driven words in the English language, 'faggot' is one that, even if entirely or marginally acceptable in earlier days, is no longer so." The CBSC's proceedings came in response to a radio listener's Ruling Request stemming from a playing of the song by CHOZ-FM in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, which in turn followed the radio listener's dissatisfaction with the radio station's reply to their complaint about the word 'faggot' in the lyrics.


title: Money for Nothing (song)

text: Not all stations abided by this ruling; at least two stations, CIRK-FM in Edmonton, Alberta and CFRQ-FM in Halifax, Nova Scotia, played the unedited version of "Money for Nothing" repeatedly for one hour out of protest. Galaxie, which was owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (the CBC) at the time of the controversy, also continues to play the song. On 21 January 2011, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission asked the CBSC for a review on the ban, in response to the public outcry against the CBSC's actions; the commission reportedly received over 250 complaints erroneously sent to them, instead of the CBSC. The regulator requested the CBSC to appoint a nationwide panel to review the case, as the decision on the ban was reviewed by a regional panel for the Maritimes and Newfoundland.


title: Money for Nothing (song)

text: On 31 August, the CBSC reiterated that it found the use of 'faggot' to be inappropriate; however, because of considerations in regard to its use in context, the CBSC has left it up to the stations to decide whether to play the original or edited versions of the song. Most of the CBSC panelists thought it was inappropriate, but it was used only in a satirical, non-hateful manner.


title: Vikings (season 1)

text: "Vikings" is a historical drama television series created and written by Michael Hirst for the Canadian television channel History. The series broadly follows the exploits of the legendary Viking chieftain Ragnar Lothbrok and his crew, and in later seasons those of his sons. The first season premiered on March 3, 2013 in Canada and concluded on April 28, 2013, consisting of nine episodes. It begins at the start of the Viking Age, marked by the Lindisfarne raid in 793, and follows Ragnar's quest to become Earl, and his desire to raid England.


title: Vikings (season 1)

text: An Irish-Canadian co-production presented by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, "Vikings" was developed and produced by Octagon Films and Take 5 Productions. Morgan O'Sullivan, Sheila Hockin, Sherry Marsh, Alan Gasmer, James Flynn, John Weber, and Michael Hirst are credited as executive producers. This season was produced by Steve Wakefield and Keith Thompson. Bill Goddard and Séamus McInerney are co-producers.


title: Vikings (season 1)

text: The production team for this season includes casting directors Frank and Nuala Moiselle, costume designer Joan Bergin, visual effects supervisors Julian Parry and Dominic Remane, stunt action designers Franklin Henson and Richard Ryan, composer Trevor Morris, production designer Tom Conroy, editors Aaron Marshall for the first, third, fifth, seventh and ninth episodes, and Michele Conroy for the second, fourth, sixth and eighth episodes, and cinematographer John Bartley. PJ Dillon served as second unit director of photography.


title: Vikings (season 1)

text: The musical score for the first season was composed by Trevor Morris in collaboration with Steven Richard Davis, Steve Tavaglione, Brian Kilgore, Tina Guo and Mel Wesson. The opening sequence is accompanied by the song "If I Had a Heart" by Fever Ray.


title: Vikings (season 1)

text: Additional non-original music by Norwegian music group Wardruna is featured in the episodes "Trial" and "Sacrifice". The featured tracks—which were not included in the soundtrack release—are "Fehu", "Ár var alda", "Heimta Thurs", "Dagr", "Laukr", and "Løyndomsriss".


title: Vikings (season 1)

text: The first season of "Vikings" received positive reviews. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an 81% approval rating with an average rating of 6.9/10 based on 27 reviews. The site's consensus reads, "Vikings makes up for its lack of historical accuracy with a heaping helping of violence, romance, and striking visuals". Metacritic assigned a score of 71 based on 20 reviews.


title: Vikings (season 1)

text: IGN gave the season an overall score of 7/10, stating: "While parts of the story felt rushed and sparsely told, Vikings still gave us a good first season outing."


title: Casper the Friendly Ghost

text: Casper the Friendly Ghost is the protagonist of the Famous Studios theatrical animated cartoon series of the same name. He is a pleasant, personable and translucent ghost, but often criticized by his three wicked uncles, the Ghostly Trio.


title: Casper the Friendly Ghost

text: The character was featured in 55 theatrical cartoons titled "The Friendly Ghost" from 1945 to 1959. The character has been featured in comic books published by Harvey Comics since 1952, and Harvey purchased the character outright in 1959. Casper became one of Harvey's most popular characters, headlining dozens of comic book titles.


title: Casper the Friendly Ghost

text: Following Harvey's purchase of the character, he appeared in five television series: "Matty's Funday Funnies" (1959–1961), "The New Casper Cartoon Show" (1963–1970), "Casper and the Angels" (1979–1980), "The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper" (1996–1998) and "Casper's Scare School" (2009–2012). The character made a theatrical-film appearance in a live-action adaptation released by Universal Pictures, "Casper" (1995), becoming the first ever computer-generated character to star in a film, and he would later appear in four direct-to-video and made-for-TV follow-up films.


title: Casper the Friendly Ghost

text: Casper was created by Seymour Reit and Joe Oriolo, the former devising the idea for the character and the latter providing illustrations. Initially intended as the basis for a children's storybook, there was at first little interest in their idea. When Reit was away on military service during World War II before the book was released, Oriolo sold the rights to the book to Paramount Pictures' Famous Studios animation division for a total of $175. This one-time payment was all that he received, missing out on a share of the revenue earned from the films, comic books and merchandise to come.


title: Casper the Friendly Ghost

text: "The Friendly Ghost", the first Noveltoon to feature Casper, was released by Paramount in 1945 with a few differences from the book. In the cartoon adaptation, Casper is a cute ghost-child with a New York accent who inhabits a haunted house along with a community of adult ghosts who delight in scaring the living. Casper, however, is a nonconformist among ghosts: He would prefer to make friends with people. He packs up his belongings and goes out into the world, hoping to find friends. However, the animals that he meets (a rooster, a mole, a cat, a mouse named Herman, and a group of hens) take one horrified look at him, scream: "A ghost!" and run off in the other direction. Distraught, Casper unsuccessfully attempts to commit suicide (apparently forgetting that he is already dead) by lying down on a railway track before an oncoming train, before he meets two children named Bonnie and Johnny who become his friends. The children's mother, apparently widowed and impoverished, at first is frightened of Casper, but later welcomes him into the family after he unintentionally frightens off a greedy landlord, who, unwilling to own a "haunted" house, tears up the mortgage and gives her the house outright. The short ends with the mother kissing Bonnie, Johnny, and Casper as she sends them off to school, with Casper wearing clothing as if he were a living child.


title: Casper the Friendly Ghost

text: Casper appeared in two more subsequent cartoons, "There's Good Boos To-Night" and "A Haunting We Will Go". "There's Good Boos To-Night" differs wildly from later Casper cartoons: although the theme of Casper trying to find a friend and failing in these attempts before succeeding also occurs in later cartoons, the tone of this short turns remarkably dark when a hunter and his dogs appear, chasing the little fox cub named Ferdie that Casper has befriended. Although Casper scares the hunter and dogs away, Casper discovers Ferdie dead after a harrowing chase scene. Happily, however, Ferdie returns as a ghost to join his friend Casper in the afterlife.


title: Casper the Friendly Ghost

text: These were later adapted into Noveltoons before Paramount started a "Casper the Friendly Ghost" series in 1950, and ran the theatrical releases until summer 1959. Although having much success, the series was later criticized by animation historians and viewers, mainly due to the story of each entry of the series as being largely the same: Casper (now slightly thinner than the pudgy figure that appeared in the earlier cartoons) escapes from the afterlife of a regular ghost because he finds that scaring people can be tiresome year after year, tries to find friends but inadvertently scares almost everyone, and finally finds a (cute little) friend, whom he saves from some sort of fate, leading to his acceptance by those initially scared of him. In 1955, composer Winston Sharples composed an instrumental theme for Casper's cartoons.


title: Casper the Friendly Ghost

text: Casper was first published in comics form in August 1949 by St. John Publications, running for five issues until September 1951. In 1952, Alfred Harvey, founder and publisher of Harvey Comics began producing "Casper" comic books. Casper first appeared in "Harvey Comics Hits" #61 (Oct 1952), and then moved to a solo book with "Casper the Friendly Ghost" #7 (December 1952). In 1959, Harvey purchased the rights to the character outright.


title: Casper the Friendly Ghost

text: Casper went on to headline a large number of comic book series, as well as appearing in back up stories and guest appearances in other titles. The "Casper" series inspired three popular spinoffs: "Spooky the Tuff Little Ghost", "Wendy the Good Little Witch", and "The Ghostly Trio". Casper's titles include:


title: Casper the Friendly Ghost

text: In 2009, a new "Casper" comic was published, called "Casper and the Spectrals" by Arden Entertainment. Much like "The Man of Steel" and "" did with their respective characters, it revamped Casper and several other Harvey characters for a new audience. After selling 6,400 copies of the first comic, the last two issues were published in 2010.


title: Casper the Friendly Ghost

text: After Harvey bought the rights to Casper and many other Famous properties in 1959 (including Herman and Katnip, Little Audrey, and Baby Huey), they began broadcasting the post-September 1950 theatrical Famous shorts on a television show sponsored by Mattel Toys titled "Matty's Funday Funnies" on ABC in 1959 which introduced the Barbie doll to the public. The other Famous produced Casper cartoons had already been acquired by television distributor U.M. & M. TV Corporation in 1956. U.M. & M. retitled just "A Haunting We Will Go", but credited "Featuring Casper The Friendly Ghost" as "Featuring Casper's Friendly Ghost".


title: Casper the Friendly Ghost

text: New cartoons were created for "The New Casper Cartoon Show" in 1963, also on ABC. The original Casper cartoons were syndicated under the title "Harveytoons" (initially repackaged as "Casper and Company") in 1963 and ran continuously until the mid-90s. Casper has remained popular in reruns and merchandising.


title: Casper the Friendly Ghost

text: Hanna-Barbera Productions also gave Casper two holiday specials, "Casper's First Christmas" (which also starred Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Snagglepuss, Quick Draw McGraw, Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy) and "Casper's Halloween Special" (aka Casper Saves Halloween), and also the Saturday morning cartoon series "Casper and the Angels" (an animated takeoff on two live-action hit shows "Charlie's Angels" and "CHiPS") in the autumn of 1979, all on NBC. Also featured on the NBC version was a big ghost named Hairy Scary (voiced by John Stephenson). None of Casper's original co-stars appeared in the show.


title: Casper the Friendly Ghost

text: Between 1990 to 1994, Casper appeared in "The Harveytoons Show" which was known as "Casper and Friends" in the UK. This show featured other Harvey Comics characters and series including: Little Audrey, Tommy Tortoise and Moe Hare, Baby Huey, Herman and Katnip, Buzzy the Crow, Modern Madcaps, Possum Pearl, Professor Schmatlz, Jeeper and Creeper and others. The show consisted of Famous Studios-produced cartoons from 1950 to 1964 and each episode of the series included three full cartoons and one "ToonTake" segment.


title: Casper the Friendly Ghost

text: In 1996, Amblin Entertainment and Universal Cartoon Studios created a new "Casper" series for Fox Kids called "The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper", based on the 1995 feature, that lasted two years and was never seen on television again after 1998. Two live-action direct-to-video follow-ups to the film, "" and "Casper Meets Wendy" (which introduced Hilary Duff as fellow Harvey Comics character Wendy the Good Little Witch), were made. They were followed by "Casper's Haunted Christmas" (starring Spooky and Poil from the comics and animated spin-off of the first movie), and "Casper's Scare School", which were done entirely in CGI with no live-action elements. These films are often referred to as being "prequels" to the 1995 feature despite the fact that they heartily contradict the feature and do not appear to even take place in the same universe.


title: Casper the Friendly Ghost

text: In 2007, MoonScoop Group, in association with Classic Media, TF1 and DQ, produced a TV show of 52×12 named "Casper's Scare School".


title: Casper the Friendly Ghost

text: In 2020, Casper appeared in a supporting role in the "Scare Bud" episode of "Harvey Girls Forever!", a series based on Harvey Comics characters.


title: Casper the Friendly Ghost

text: A new live-action television series is in the works at Peacock. The project will be co-produced between Universal Content Productions and DreamWorks Animation with Wu Kai-yu writing and executive producing.


title: Casper the Friendly Ghost

text: The Famous Studios version of Casper was scheduled to appear as a cameo in the deleted scene "Acme's Funeral" from the 1988 film "Who Framed Roger Rabbit".


title: Casper the Friendly Ghost

text: Numerous "Casper" cartoons were released on home video by Universal Studios (via MCA Inc.), which also adopted the friendly ghost into a live-action feature film titled "Casper" in 1995, where he and his wicked uncles, the Ghostly Trio, were rendered via computer animation, which initially created the first CGI lead character in a film. The film constructed a back-story for the character and is the only time in the series that the question of his death has been addressed. According to the film, Casper was a twelve-year-old boy living in Whipstaff Manor with his inventor father J.T. McFadden until he died from pneumonia after playing out in the cold until it was past nightfall.


title: Casper the Friendly Ghost

text: In 2001, Harvey Entertainment was acquired by Classic Media which, until 2012, licensed the Harvey properties including Casper.


title: Casper the Friendly Ghost

text: Casper made a cameo in a MetLife commercial along with several other cartoon characters in 2012. Later that same year, Classic Media was acquired by DreamWorks Animation, which in turn would be acquired by NBCUniversal in 2016, and thus Universal Studios, the producer of the original live-action feature film, now manages the rights to the character and other related characters in addition to regaining the rights to "Casper's Haunted Christmas" (which Universal itself originally released in late 2000). The rights to "Casper Meets Wendy" however are owned by Disney through 20th Century Studios Home Entertainment.


title: Casper the Friendly Ghost

text: In 2011, Shout! Factory released a DVD set titled "Casper The Friendly Ghost: The Complete Collection 1945-1963" which contains "The Friendly Ghost", "There's Good Boos To-Night", "A Haunting We Will Go", 55 theatrical cartoons, and all 26 episodes of "The New Casper Cartoon Show".


title: Casper the Friendly Ghost

text: Several video games were based on the 1995 film for PC, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy, Sega Saturn, 3DO, PlayStation, and Game Boy Color. In subsequent years Windows 95 and Game Boy Advance games were released serving as sequels to the film.


title: Casper the Friendly Ghost

text: Developed by Sound Source Interactive, published by WayForward Technologies and released in 1998 for PC, it is based on and is similar in format to Disney's Activity Center. Set at Ghost Central Station, the player earns Casper coins by completing Casper's Spinning Squares, Stretch's Memory Game, Fatso's Kitchen, Stinkie's Goo Toss and Snivel's Mix & Match. The player must collect at least 15 Casper coins from these five games to unlock Kibosh's Magic Puzzle.


title: Casper the Friendly Ghost

text: Developed by Realtime Associates, published by TDK Mediactive and released in 2000 on PlayStation. It is a mostly 2D side-scrolling platform game with occasional forward and backward movements. The evil Kibosh has invented a device to send Casper's human friends to a place where they "would not have a ghost of a chance of being found" and has hypnotized the Ghostly Trio into doing his bidding. However Casper finds a page from a map of Hollywood giving him a clue on where to start his quest to find his friends and the three missing pieces for Kibosh's imprisoning device to get them back home safely. The game is played across ten levels set around the world with 40 friendship crystals on each level to collect in order to advance to the bonus level at the end.


title: Casper the Friendly Ghost

text: Developed by Lucky Chicken Games and published by TDK Mediactive, it was the first 3D game, to have a movable game camera, based on Casper. It was released in 2001 for PlayStation 2 and in 2002 for Nintendo GameCube. The evil Kibosh has taken over the Spirit World and is intent on also taking over the mortal world. Meanwhile, Wendy the Good Little Witch summons Casper, the only remaining free ghost, and opens the portals to the Spirit Dimensions to help in their only chance to defeat Kibosh.


title: Casper the Friendly Ghost

text: Developed by Data Design Interactive and Published by Blast! Entertainment, it was released in 2007 on PlayStation 2. It is a 3D game in which Casper has legs and is affected by gravity though he can glide, unlike his flying ability in Spirit Dimensions. The Ghostly Trio have kidnapped Wendy the Good Little Witch in an attempt to use her magic to create a potion that would give them the power to rule Ghostland. Wendy manages to use her magic to get the message across to Casper who must find his way through six levels to rescue her. At the end of the first five levels is a bonus stage in which Casper must collect as many jewels as he can while avoiding the Trio's lightning which is chasing him.


title: Casper the Friendly Ghost

text: A series of three games, for PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS and Wii, based on the computer animated film and TV series of the same name released in 2008 and 2009.


title: The Sisters of Mercy

text: The Sisters of Mercy is an English rock band, formed in 1980 in Leeds. After achieving early underground fame there, the band had their commercial breakthrough in the mid-1980s and sustained it until the early 1990s, when they stopped releasing new recorded output in protest against their record company WEA. Currently, the band are a touring outfit only.


title: The Sisters of Mercy

text: The group has released three original studio albums: "First and Last and Always" (1985), "Floodland" (1987), and "Vision Thing" (1990). Each album was recorded by a different line-up; singer-songwriter Andrew Eldritch and the drum machine called Doktor Avalanche are the only points of continuity throughout. Eldritch and Avalanche were also involved in The Sisterhood, a side-project connected with Eldritch's dispute with former members.


title: The Sisters of Mercy

text: The Sisters of Mercy ceased recording activity in the early 1990s, when they went on strike against East West Records, whom they accused of incompetence and withholding royalties, and had pressured the group to release at least two more studio albums; instead, the label released the album "Go Figure" under the moniker SSV in 1997. Although the Sisters of Mercy were eventually released from their contract with East West, they have never been signed to another label nor released any new material, despite showcasing numerous new songs in their live sets.


title: The Sisters of Mercy

text: The Sisters of Mercy were formed in Leeds, England, in 1980 by Gary Marx and Andrew Eldritch, to satisfy their desire to hear themselves on the radio. During this time a single, "Damage Done/Watch/Home of the Hit-men", was recorded and released. The band name was influenced by Robert Altman's film "McCabe & Mrs. Miller" (1971), which featured the Leonard Cohen song "Sisters of Mercy" from his album "Songs of Leonard Cohen", "because [calling ourselves] the Captains of Industry wouldn't have been as funny".


title: The Sisters of Mercy

text: On the single Marx played guitar through a practice amplifier and Eldritch was on drums that he had bought from Jon Langford. The duo each wrote and sang on a song: Eldritch on "Damage Done", Marx on "Watch".


title: The Sisters of Mercy

text: The band regrouped with Craig Adams on bass, while Eldritch's drumming was replaced by a drum machine, leaving him to concentrate on vocals. The drum machine was christened "Doktor Avalanche", and all of its numerous successors kept this moniker. Eldritch took over lyrics-writing, Doktor-programming, and record-producing duties, while co-writing the music with Marx and (occasionally) Adams.


title: The Sisters of Mercy

text: This became what is generally recognised as the first real Sisters line-up. It began with the Doktor/Eldritch/Marx/Adams incarnation of the band playing a gig in the Riley Smith Hall of the Leeds University Union building in early 1981. Since nobody can remember the exact date, for historic purposes the band and fans have often celebrated the anniversary of the concert of 16 February 1981, in Alcuin College, York which was the band's second gig. Later in 1981, Ben Gunn was recruited as the Sisters' second guitarist. Eldritch's melancholic baritone, Craig Adams's pulsating bass, Doktor Avalanche's beat and Marx's flowing guitar led the band to early underground success. In 1982, the band recorded "The Body Electric" b/w "Adrenochrome" single for the CNT label.


title: The Sisters of Mercy

text: The band's singles were regularly featured in UK independent charts; some became single of the week in various UK indie magazines. John Ashton of the Psychedelic Furs produced the early classic "Alice". "The Reptile House E.P." is another example of early Sisters work and marks the maturing songwriter Eldritch (who wrote, produced and [reportedly] played all instruments on it).


title: The Sisters of Mercy

text: Their live performances featured many cover versions: among those, a medley consisting of "Sister Ray" (by the Velvet Underground), "Ghostrider" (by Suicide) and "Louie Louie" (by Richard Berry) became a live staple. Only four of them, the Stooges' "1969", the Rolling Stones' "Gimme Shelter", Hot Chocolate's "Emma" and Bob Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" were eventually recorded and released on Sisters records (all as B-sides).


title: The Sisters of Mercy

text: In late 1983, following the highly successful "Temple of Love" single, the band signed a contract with major record label WEA. At the same time Gunn left in an atmosphere of unanimous bitterness. Gunn stated that he did not agree with the direction Eldritch was taking the band, which, according to Gunn, started out as a joke on serious rock 'n' roll outfits, but eventually became one. Gunn also mentioned personality conflicts with Eldritch as a reason for his departure.


title: The Sisters of Mercy

text: Gunn was replaced by Wayne Hussey, who concentrated on 12-string electric and acoustic guitars while also contributing as a songwriter. His studio experience with Dead or Alive also proved to be invaluable as the Sisters set out to record their first full-length album. The "Black October" UK tour (October–November 1984) confirmed the underground cult status of the band. However, the growing alienation between Eldritch and the rest of the group was getting out of hand during the recording of the debut "First and Last and Always" album. Eldritch's deteriorating health and psychological problems worsened the situation. The causes of these issues were frequently written about in the gossip columns of the music press, "NME", "Melody Maker" and "Sounds".


title: The Sisters of Mercy

text: Most songs on the album were written and rehearsed by Marx, Hussey, and Adams, with Eldritch stepping in at the last stage to write lyrics and add vocals.


title: The Sisters of Mercy

text: Following the release of "First and Last and Always", produced by David M. Allen, Marx split from the band in the middle of a supporting tour, citing inability to continue working with Eldritch. The Sisters of Mercy completed the tour as a three-piece act, and said farewell to the fans with the final gig in London's Royal Albert Hall on 18 June 1985. Video recordings of this show were later released as "Wake". A music video of the song "Black Planet" was also released in which the Monkeemobile was featured. Promotional videos were also made for the singles "Body and Soul", "Walk Away", and "No Time to Cry", but none of these videos, including "Black Planet", have been officially released yet by the band.


title: The Sisters of Mercy

text: Shortly after the last gig Eldritch relocated to Hamburg, where he was soon joined by Hussey. Their intention was to begin working on a follow-up album, tentatively titled "Left on Mission and Revenge". Hussey had several written songs for the album, including "Dance on Glass" and "Garden of Delight". Demo versions of both songs featuring Eldritch on vocals have since surfaced, suggesting the band did work on the material in unison.


title: The Sisters of Mercy

text: When Adams and Hussey left the band, they were replaced by the American singer and bass guitarist Patricia Morrison of The Bags and the Gun Club.


title: The Sisters of Mercy

text: Hussey and Adams went on to form a new group called the Sisterhood. Their setlists featured songs Hussey had intended for the Sisters of Mercy; he would later record and release many of them with his new group. Meanwhile, Eldritch protested against their usage of the "Sisterhood" name as too similar to the Sisters of Mercy and the name of his band's fan community. In an attempt to stop Hussey's band Eldritch released the single "Giving Ground" by his own band, the Sisterhood. The single was later followed by the album "Gift". Hussey's band eventually christened themselves the Mission. Hussey has since expressed regret about the entire incident.


title: The Sisters of Mercy

text: According to some sources, with these releases Eldritch allegedly won, over Hussey and Adams, a race for a £25,000 advance (a sum opening the song "Jihad" on the "Gift" album) offered by the publishers to the first member of the Sisters of Mercy to release any output. This would tie Eldritch to WEA, and release Hussey and Adams from their contract with the same record company. According to the Mission's manager Tony Perrin, the case never went to court and Hussey's new band was able to release their material through an independent outlet. However, Eldritch stated elsewhere that the "2-5-0-0-0" which opens "Jihad" on the Sisterhood LP represents the sum of money he won from the Mission in the civil courts. He states in an interview, recorded in Boston, that the English courts did not recognise either his or the other members' of the band's legal right to the name "the Sisterhood". He said the courts required a release for anybody to claim ownership of the band name, which was the motivation for the initial Sisterhood single. After that single had been released, Eldritch officially owned the name, and could sue, which he did, winning £25,000 in the lawsuit.


title: The Sisters of Mercy

text: Left to his own devices, Eldritch recorded "Floodland", marking a shift away from guitar-based rock towards an atmospheric, Wagnerian rock and keyboard-oriented explorations pioneered on "Gift". The album was produced by Eldritch and Larry Alexander, with contributions from Jim Steinman on two songs, one of them being "This Corrosion".


title: The Sisters of Mercy

text: "This Corrosion" was a composition Eldritch had already once recorded (if not released) with his Sisterhood collaborators. Also, the B-side featured "Torch", the last song from the previous line-up. Then-manager Boyd Steemson maintains the chart success was no surprise for the band.


title: The Sisters of Mercy

text: Eldritch has later considered producer Steinman to have been more pivotal in securing funding for additional production than the songs themselves.


title: The Sisters of Mercy

text: The band did not play live during this period, but did mime "Top of the Pops", among others. "This Corrosion", "Dominion" and "Lucretia My Reflection" were released as singles, the videos for which would be compiled on the 1988 VHS release "Shot", alongside a video for "1959".


title: The Sisters of Mercy

text: The next incarnation of the Sisters of Mercy featured an unknown German guitarist, Andreas Bruhn, whom Eldritch apparently discovered playing in a Hamburg pub and brought into the band in April 1989; bassist Tony James (ex-Sigue Sigue Sputnik guitarist and Generation X bassist/songwriter); and last-minute recruit Tim Bricheno, formerly of All About Eve, on guitars. The new line-up kicked off with the "Vision Thing" album, released in October 1990, produced by Eldritch (one song, the single "More", was a co-production and co-written with Steinman). The album also featured guitarist John Perry with backing vocals by Maggie Reilly. The title is from a quotation by then-Vice President George Bush in 1987 and it marked another change of direction, this time towards guitar-oriented rock.


title: The Sisters of Mercy

text: The band launched a 1990–91 world tour to promote the album. In 1991 they organised a controversial North American tour in double-act with Public Enemy. Fearing a clash between white fans of the Sisters with the black following of Public Enemy, several cities banned the performances, and the tour was cancelled halfway through. Late in 1991, bassist James left the group for his solo career; the band continued by using a pre-recorded backing track. The US tour fiasco did not help the already strained relationship between Eldritch and the Sisters' new record company EastWest, a WEA subsidiary (the band was assigned to it 1989 following an internal shuffle in WEA). Conflicts with WEA led to the termination of the band's US record distribution deal circa 1991–92, meaning later recordings are only available in the US as imports.


title: The Sisters of Mercy

text: Under the insistence of the record company the band re-recorded their early single "Temple of Love" (with Ofra Haza on additional vocals, and Tony James on bass) to promote the collection of their early independently released singles, entitled "Some Girls Wander By Mistake" (1992). Early into the year, the band performed the track in "Top of the Pops" with Haza and Tony James, marking the final time the recording line-up for Vision Thing shared the stage.


title: The Sisters of Mercy

text: Around this time, Bricheno had begun focusing on his other band, XC-NN (originally, CNN). Meanwhile, Bruhn released his debut solo album, "Broon". Bruhn claimed the songs on the album were offered for the next Sisters release, only to be rejected by Eldritch. Eldritch denied these allegations, saying he was never offered the songs.


title: The Sisters of Mercy

text: Bricheno left by the end of the year and was replaced in 1993 by Adam Pearson. Pearson was the only guitarist on the single "Under the Gun", which also featured former Berlin lead vocalist Terri Nunn on backing vocals. The track was co-produced by Billie Hughes, co-writer of the song. The single was recorded to promote the "greatest hits" compilation, "A Slight Case of Overbombing" (1993). A third video album, "Shot Rev 2.0", would also be released, containing all videos from the original "Shot" in 1988, the videos for the "Vision Thing" singles "More", "Doctor Jeep", as well as the videos for "Under the Gun", the 1992 re-recording of "Temple of Love" and a video for the album track "Detonation Boulevard". Bruhn left the band in 1993. These releases turned out to be the last commercial recordings until the 2021 release of the "BBC sessions 1982-1984" on vinyl for RSD and CD, containing the 1982 and 1984 Peel Sessions and the 1983 David 'Kid' Jensen session.


title: The Sisters of Mercy

text: Following the last concerts in December 1993, the Sisters of Mercy went into what Eldritch called a "strike against EastWest". He was alluded to have been preoccupied with legal matters surrounding the band; although Eldritch has never explained the meaning behind this, it has been suggested by various parties that the issues stemmed from either the short-lived tour with Public Enemy in 1991, or, alternatively, Eldritch's ongoing issues with EastWest Records, as the band still owed them two original studio albums.


title: The Sisters of Mercy

text: In 1995, Eldritch remixed two songs for the German group Die Krupps and appeared on the Sarah Brightman single "A Question of Honour".


title: The Sisters of Mercy

text: Eldritch's associates approached Gary Marx, the co-founding member, to write tracks for a new studio album. Marx then met with Eldritch, with the two agreeing upon the terms under which the backing tracks would be produced. After Marx delivered a total of eleven tracks, Eldritch backed out of the project 'without uttering a single word'.


title: The Sisters of Mercy

text: In 1996, the band was revived for several gigs supporting the Sex Pistols, with Bruhn's place initially taken by Chris Sheehan. During subsequent tours, the guitarist spot would rotate between Sheehan and Mike Varjak.


title: The Sisters of Mercy

text: In late 1997, the contract with EastWest was terminated, after the company agreed to accept material recorded under the SSV name instead of two albums for which the Sisters of Mercy had contractual obligations. The company agreed to accept the material (techno-like droning featuring mumbling vocals by Andrew Eldritch, without drums) without listening to it first. The recordings were never officially released and circulated only through pirate MP3s.


title: The Sisters of Mercy

text: Following the release, the official Sisters of Mercy website contained the same "update" for several years:


title: The Sisters of Mercy

text: In October 2006, Side-Line Music Magazine announced that the band was in talks with the Universal sublabel W14 Music. In the same year, three Sisters of Mercy reissues were released on 3 November in Europe (and 30 October in the USA) via WEA International: "First And Last And Always" (1985), "Floodland" (1987) and "Vision Thing" (1990). All contained bonus tracks taken from related single releases.


title: The Sisters of Mercy

text: The Sisters of Mercy have not released new recorded material since 1993. In 2010 Eldritch confirmed that he currently sees no reason to release an album in an interview with "Classic Rock" contributor Joel McIver. In August 2010, when asked to elaborate, Eldritch pointed time constraints and lack of available material as some of the problems involved.


title: The Sisters of Mercy

text: Speculation about a new release was renewed in November 2016 when Eldritch was quoted by TeamRock website: "I can tell you one thing: If Donald Trump actually does become President, that will be reason enough for me to release another album. I don't think I could keep quiet if that happened." The band has yet to release any new material, but in 2017 they embarked on a European tour in August and September. Since 2012, some of the shows featured a guest appearance by the Irish singer Lisa Cuthbert who performs her cover version of "This Corrosion" on piano.


title: The Sisters of Mercy

text: Eldritch cited the Psychedelic Furs, Slade, Pere Ubu and David Bowie as his primary influences. Eldritch also cited Motörhead, The Cramps and Siouxsie and the Banshees among his early influences. According to Jennifer Park, the band have also cited Leonard Cohen, Hawkwind, Gary Glitter, Lou Reed and The Velvet Underground, Iggy and the Stooges, Suicide, The Birthday Party and The Fall as among their influences.


title: The Sisters of Mercy

text: Whilst the band enjoys a considerable fan base with overlapping interests in so-called dark culture, the Sisters of Mercy consider themselves first and foremost a rock band. They have discouraged their association with "goth" via regular public statements in the press, and stipulations in their standard contract riders. Nevertheless, this has not stopped them from regularly appearing at festivals where this music is featured, such as M'era Luna.


title: The Sisters of Mercy

text: The original incarnation of Doktor Avalanche was a BOSS DR-55 ("Doctor Rhythm"); the Doktor was later replaced by a Roland TR-606, soon followed by a TR-808, and, briefly, a TR-909. On one album, "First and Last and Always", an Oberheim DMX bore the Doktor name.


title: The Sisters of Mercy

text: With increased financial resources from sale of the album, the Doktor was upgraded to a Yamaha RX5, and subsequently reinforced by Akai S900 and S1000 samplers. An Akai S3200 has been used as studio equipment. Soon after, the first digital Doktor appeared in the form of a set of Compaq portable PCs, which had to be scrapped when it became impossible to maintain them because of a lack of spare parts.


title: The Sisters of Mercy

text: In recent years the "Digital Doktor" has been moved to a custom-built laptop designed by Eldritch and constructed by an English military software and hardware company. For a time there was some division in the band whether or not the Doktor should be moved to a Macintosh running Logic or remain as is.


title: The Sisters of Mercy

text: In a 2011 interview with a New Zealand radio station, Eldritch said Doktor Avalanche was now a MacBook Pro laptop running Steinberg Cubase.


title: Holly Valance

text: Holly Rachel Candy (; born 11 May 1983), known professionally as Holly Valance, is an Australian actress and singer. Valance began her acting career on the Australian soap opera "Neighbours", as Felicity Scully (1999–2002, 2005, 2022). She released her first album, "Footprints" (October 2002), which provided her top 3 singles, "Kiss Kiss" (April 2002), "Down Boy" (September) and "Naughty Girl" (December). By that time she had relocated to Los Angeles. Her second and final album, "State of Mind", appeared in November 2003. Her film roles include, "" (2006), "Pledge This!" (2006), "Taken" (2008) and "Kambakkht Ishq" (2009). Valance has lived in her mother's native United Kingdom since 2009 and became a contestant on the BBC One dance competition "Strictly Come Dancing" in 2011. In 2013, she was a mentor and judge of fashion competition, "Shopaholic Showdown". In September 2012, Valance married British property developer Nick Candy; the couple have two children.


title: Holly Valance

text: Holly Valance was born on 11 May 1983, as Holly Rachel Vukadinović, in Fitzroy, Victoria to a Serbian father, Rajko Vukadinović, and a British mother, Rachel (née Stephens), of English and Spanish descent. Her father was a former pianist and model in his native Belgrade, Serbia, former Yugoslavia. Her mother, whose father was a relative of Benny Hill, was a model in the United Kingdom. Valance's parents divorced in 1986 and she has a sister, Coco. Rajko later remarried, and Holly has a half-sister, Olympia, who has also acted in "Neighbours" (2014–2018). In Melbourne Rajko ran a "trendy imported European clothes store". She started modelling as a teenager, when "she posed for supermarket catalogues and ad campaigns and by 14 she was earning $200 an hour modelling children's clothes and teenage lingerie." Valance grew up in Melbourne and moved to the UK when she was 18; she holds both Australian and British citizenship. After two years she moved to Los Angeles, where she spent seven years before returning to the United Kingdom.


title: Holly Valance

text: In 1999 at age 16, Valance was cast in the Australian TV soap opera, "Neighbours", as Felicity "Flick" Scully. Soon after gaining the role she left her Catholic school, "where girls were given detention for wearing make-up or having a hem above the knee." She appeared in Human Nature's music video for "He Don't Love You" (November 2000), "in a raunchy shower scene." Valance left "Neighbours" in 2002 to start her music career.


title: Holly Valance

text: Her first single, released in April 2002, was "Kiss Kiss", an English language cover version of Turkish singer, Tarkan's "Şımarık". Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, described it as "a catchy dance pop hit." It entered both the ARIA Singles and UK Singles Charts at No. 1. It charted in the top ten in seventeen countries, including reaching number one in Macedonia. The music video's director's cut appeared to show Valance dancing naked. She later explained that she was topless but wearing flesh-coloured underwear. The song was nominated for four ARIA Music Awards in 2002.


title: Holly Valance

text: Valance's second single, "Down Boy" (September), peaked at No. 2 in the UK and No. 3 in Australia. Her first album, "Footprints", was released on 14 October 2002, which reached No. 9 in the UK and No. 15 in Australia. She co-wrote the album track, "The Harder They Come", with Rob Davis (ex-Mud), who supplied guitar for the album. The album's third and final single, "Naughty Girl" (December) peaked at No. 3 in Australia and No. 16 in the UK.