title: Geek

text: Some use the term self-referentially without malice or as a source of pride, often referring simply to "someone who is interested in a subject (usually intellectual or complex) for its own sake".


title: Geek

text: The word comes from English dialect "geek" or "geck" (meaning a "fool" or "freak"; from Middle Low German "Geck"). "Geck" is a standard term in modern German and means "fool" or "fop". The root also survives in the Dutch and Afrikaans adjective "gek" ("crazy"), as well as some German dialects, like the Alsatian word "Gickeleshut" ("jester's hat"; used during carnival). In 18th century Austria, "Gecken" were freaks on display in some circuses. In 19th century North America, the term "geek" referred to a performer in a geek show in a circus, traveling carnival or travelling funfair sideshows (see also freak show). The 1976 edition of the "American Heritage Dictionary" included only the definition regarding geek shows.


title: Geek

text: This variation of the term was used to comic effect in 1970s TV shows such as "Sanford & Son", and "Starsky and Hutch". In the Bounty Hunter episode of 1976 of "Starsky and Hutch", stating that "a geek is a freak in a circus side show, who is kept in a pit and they throw snakes and chicken heads at, and he runs around crazy and gobbles them up", and "in 1932 the geeks formed their own union". In that episode, Starsky and Huggy Bear say they read this in an unreliable book. In it, there is a man shooting the head off a bumblebee in flight, and Big Foot, alluding to the apocryphal nature of who is a geek.


title: Geek

text: Professional wrestling manager "Classy" Freddie Blassie recorded a song in the 1970s called "Pencil-Necked Geek".


title: Geek

text: The 1975 edition of the American Heritage Dictionary, published a decade before the Digital Revolution, gave only one definition: "Geek [noun, slang]. A carnival performer whose act usually consists of biting the head off a live chicken or snake." The tech revolution found new uses for this word, but it still often conveys a derogatory sting. In 2017, Dictionary.com gave five definitions, the fourth of which is "a carnival performer who performs sensationally morbid or disgusting acts, as biting off the head of a live chicken."


title: Geek

text: The term nerd has a similar, practically synonymous meaning as geek, but many choose to identify different connotations among these two terms, although the differences are disputed. In a 2007 interview on "The Colbert Report", Richard Clarke said the difference between nerds and geeks is "geeks get it done" or "ggid". Julie Smith defined a geek as "a bright young man turned inward, poorly socialized, who felt so little kinship with his own planet that he routinely traveled to the ones invented by his favorite authors, who thought of that secret, dreamy place his computer took him to as cyberspace—somewhere exciting, a place more real than his own life, a land he could conquer, not a drab teenager's room in his parents' house."


title: Geek

text: Technologically oriented geeks, in particular, now exert a powerful influence over the global economy and society. Whereas previous generations of geeks tended to operate in research departments, laboratories and support functions, now they increasingly occupy senior corporate positions, and wield considerable commercial and political influence. When U.S. President Barack Obama met with Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and the CEOs of the world's largest technology firms at a private dinner in Woodside, California on February 17, 2011, "New York" magazine ran a story titled "The world's most powerful man meets President Obama". At the time, Zuckerberg's company had grown to over one billion users.


title: Geek

text: According to Mark Roeder the rise of the geek represents a new phase of human evolution. In his book, "" he suggests that "the high-tech environment of the Anthropocene favours people with geek-like traits, many of whom are on the autism spectrum, ADHD, or dyslexia. Previously, such people may have been at a disadvantage, but now their unique cognitive traits enable some of them to resonate with the new technological zeitgeist and become very successful."


title: Geek

text: "The Economist" magazine observed, on June 2, 2012, "Those square pegs (geeks) may not have an easy time in school. They may be mocked by jocks and ignored at parties. But these days no serious organisation can prosper without them."


title: Geek

text: "Geek chic" refers to a minor fashion trend that arose in the mid 2000s (decade), in which young people adopted "geeky" fashions, such as oversized black horn-rimmed glasses, suspenders/braces, and capri pants. The glasses quickly became the defining aspect of the trend, with the media identifying various celebrities as "trying geek" or "going geek" for wearing such glasses, such as David Beckham and Justin Timberlake. Meanwhile, in the sports world, many NBA players wore "geek glasses" during post-game interviews, drawing comparisons to Steve Urkel.


title: Geek

text: The term "geek chic" was appropriated by some self-identified "geeks" to refer to a new, socially acceptable role in a technologically advanced society.


title: Saliva

text: Saliva (commonly referred to as spit) is an extracellular fluid produced and secreted by salivary glands in the mouth. In humans, saliva is around 99% water, plus electrolytes, mucus, white blood cells, epithelial cells (from which DNA can be extracted), enzymes (such as lipase and amylase), antimicrobial agents (such as secretory IgA, and lysozymes).


title: Saliva

text: The enzymes found in saliva are essential in beginning the process of digestion of dietary starches and fats. These enzymes also play a role in breaking down food particles entrapped within dental crevices, thus protecting teeth from bacterial decay. Saliva also performs a lubricating function, wetting food and permitting the initiation of swallowing, and protecting the oral mucosa from drying out.


title: Saliva

text: Various animal species have special uses for saliva that go beyond predigestion. Some swifts use their gummy saliva to build nests. "Aerodramus" nests form the basis of bird's nest soup.


title: Saliva

text: Cobras, vipers, and certain other members of the venom clade hunt with venomous saliva injected by fangs. Some caterpillars produce silk fiber from silk proteins stored in modified salivary glands (which are unrelated to the vertebrate ones).


title: Saliva

text: Produced in salivary glands, human saliva comprises 99.5% water, but also contains many important substances, including electrolytes, mucus, antibacterial compounds and various enzymes. Medically, constituents of saliva can noninvasively provide important diagnostic information related to oral and systemic diseases.


title: Saliva

text: Experts debate the amount of saliva that a healthy person produces. Production is estimated at 1500ml per day and researchers generally accept that during sleep the amount drops significantly.


title: Saliva

text: In humans, the submandibular gland contributes around 70 to 75% of secretions, while the parotid gland secretes about 20 to 25%; small amounts are secreted from the other salivary glands.


title: Saliva

text: Saliva contributes to the digestion of food and to the maintenance of oral hygiene. Without normal salivary function the frequency of dental caries, gum disease (gingivitis and periodontitis), and other oral problems increases significantly. Saliva limits the growth of bacterial pathogens and is a major factor in sustaining systemic and oral health through the prevention of tooth decay and the removal of sugars and other food sources for microbes.


title: Saliva

text: Saliva coats the oral mucosa mechanically protecting it from trauma during eating, swallowing, and speaking. Mouth soreness is very common in people with reduced saliva (xerostomia) and food (especially dry food) sticks to the inside of the mouth.


title: Saliva

text: The digestive functions of saliva include moistening food and helping to create a food bolus. The lubricative function of saliva allows the food bolus to be passed easily from the mouth into the esophagus. Saliva contains the enzyme amylase, also called ptyalin, which is capable of breaking down starch into simpler sugars such as maltose and dextrin that can be further broken down in the small intestine. About 30% of starch digestion takes place in the mouth cavity. Salivary glands also secrete salivary lipase (a more potent form of lipase) to begin fat digestion. Salivary lipase plays a large role in fat digestion in newborn infants as their pancreatic lipase still needs some time to develop.


title: Saliva

text: Saliva is very important in the sense of taste. It is the liquid medium in which chemicals are carried to taste receptor cells (mostly associated with lingual papillae). People with little saliva often complain of dysgeusia (i.e. disordered taste, e.g. reduced ability to taste, or having a bad, metallic taste at all times). A rare condition identified to affect taste is that of "", or excessive amounts of sodium in saliva that is "not" caused by any other condition (e.g., "Sjögren syndrome"), causing everything to taste 'salty'.


title: Saliva

text: The production of saliva is stimulated both by the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic.


title: Saliva

text: The saliva stimulated by sympathetic innervation is thicker, and saliva stimulated parasympathetically is more fluid-like.


title: Saliva

text: Sympathetic stimulation of saliva is to facilitate respiration, whereas parasympathetic stimulation is to facilitate digestion.


title: Saliva

text: Parasympathetic stimulation leads to acetylcholine (ACh) release onto the salivary acinar cells. ACh binds to muscarinic receptors, specifically M, and causes an increased intracellular calcium ion concentration (through the IP/DAG second messenger system). Increased calcium causes vesicles within the cells to fuse with the apical cell membrane leading to secretion. ACh also causes the salivary gland to release kallikrein, an enzyme that converts kininogen to lysyl-bradykinin. Lysyl-bradykinin acts upon blood vessels and capillaries of the salivary gland to generate vasodilation and increased capillary permeability, respectively. The resulting increased blood flow to the acini allows the production of more saliva. In addition, Substance P can bind to Tachykinin NK-1 receptors leading to increased intracellular calcium concentrations and subsequently increased saliva secretion. Lastly, both parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous stimulation can lead to myoepithelium contraction which causes the expulsion of secretions from the secretory acinus into the ducts and eventually to the oral cavity.


title: Saliva

text: Sympathetic stimulation results in the release of norepinephrine. Norepinephrine binding to α-adrenergic receptors will cause an increase in intracellular calcium levels leading to more fluid vs. protein secretion. If norepinephrine binds β-adrenergic receptors, it will result in more protein or enzyme secretion vs. fluid secretion. Stimulation by norepinephrine initially decreases blood flow to the salivary glands due to constriction of blood vessels but this effect is overtaken by vasodilation caused by various local vasodilators.


title: Saliva

text: Saliva production may also be pharmacologically stimulated by the so-called sialagogues. It can also be suppressed by the so-called antisialagogues.


title: Saliva

text: Spitting is the act of forcibly ejecting saliva or other substances from the mouth. In many parts of the world, it is considered rude and a social taboo, and has even been outlawed in many countries. In Western countries, for example, it has often been outlawed for reasons of public decency and attempting to reduce the spread of disease; however, these laws are often not strictly enforced. In Singapore, the fine for spitting may be as high as SGD$2,000 for multiple offenses, and one can even be arrested. In some other parts of the world, such as in China, expectoration is more socially acceptable (even if officially disapproved of or illegal), and spittoons are still a common appearance in some cultures. Some animals, even humans in some cases, use spitting as an automatic defensive maneuver. Camels are well known for doing this, though most domestic camels are trained not to.


title: Saliva

text: Because saliva can contain large amounts of virus copies in infected individuals (for example, in people infected with SARS-CoV-2), spitting in public places can pose a health hazard to the public.


title: Saliva

text: Many birds in the swift family, Apodidae, produce a viscous saliva during nesting season to glue together materials to construct a nest. Two species of swifts in the genus Aerodramus build their nests using only their saliva, the base for bird's nest soup.


title: Saliva

text: A common belief is that saliva contained in the mouth has natural disinfectants, which leads people to believe it is beneficial to "lick their wounds". Researchers at the University of Florida at Gainesville have discovered a protein called nerve growth factor (NGF) in the saliva of mice. Wounds doused with NGF healed twice as fast as untreated and unlicked wounds; therefore, saliva can help to heal wounds in some species. NGF has not been found in human saliva; however, researchers find human saliva contains such antibacterial agents as secretory mucin, IgA, lactoferrin, lysozyme and peroxidase. It has not been shown that human licking of wounds disinfects them, but licking is likely to help clean the wound by removing larger contaminants such as dirt and may help to directly remove infective bodies by brushing them away. Therefore, licking would be a way of wiping off pathogens, useful if clean water is not available to the animal or person.


title: Saliva

text: In Pavlov's experiment, dogs were conditioned to salivate in response to a ringing bell, this stimulus is associated with a meal or hunger. Salivary secretion is also associated with nausea. Saliva is usually formed in the mouth through an act called gleeking, which can be voluntary or involuntary.


title: Robert California

text: Robert California, also known as Bob Kazamakis, and The Lizard King, is a fictional character on the U.S. comedy television series "The Office", portrayed by James Spader. In the eighth season, Robert managed to persuade Jo Bennett to appoint him CEO in her place. In the eighth-season finale, Robert departs from the company after David Wallace purchases Dunder Mifflin.


title: Robert California

text: California is an original character and has no counterpart on the original British version of the series.


title: Robert California

text: Robert first appeared in the seventh season finale, "Search Committee", as an interviewee for the Scranton branch Manager position. His intense personality disturbs the search committee, though Jim Halpert admits that, while Robert "creeps [him] out", he believes he "might be a genius". In a talking-head interview held in the parking lot, Robert informs the documentary film crew that he is confident that he will be offered the job.


title: Robert California

text: In the season 8 premiere, "The List", it is revealed that Robert was hired as the branch manager over the summer. But, after one look at his new workplace environment, he quickly drives to Florida and convinces Sabre CEO Jo Bennett to give him her job. Once CEO himself, he appoints Andy Bernard as the Regional Manager. Jim notes that when Robert visits the office, he spends half of his time working out of the conference room, and occasionally ventures out and wanders around, randomly choosing employees to have conversations with. Robert makes a list of all the workers in the office, dividing them between perceived "Winners" and "Losers"; after finishing the list, he takes the winners out to lunch. When confronted about the list, Robert states that those are his impressions, and they could change, challenging the office with: "winners: prove me right; losers: prove me wrong". Andy later intercedes on behalf of the 'losers', making a new list on his team of 'winners' relaying their positive and productive qualities observed over years in the office and from being their supervisor; Robert appears to gain respect for Andy's effort, as it unites the office around him. Andy begins trying to get on Robert's good side, and he organizes a garden party at Schrute Farms during "Garden Party", to impress him.


title: Robert California

text: In "Spooked", Robert's young son, Bert, is introduced; Robert brings Bert to the office Halloween party. Robert's wife, Susan (Maura Tierney) is introduced in "Mrs. California"; Susan comes to the office looking for a job, something he does not want, although he pretends to help her out. Andy ends up giving her an accounting job, enraging Robert. Andy then gets the staff to be mean to her to urge her to quit. She ultimately catches on and confronts Andy and her husband. At the end of the episode, Susan asks Andy on a date. In "Christmas Wishes", it is revealed that Robert and Susan are getting a divorce, prompting him to become despondent and lonely. At the branch Christmas party, Robert comforts Erin, who is upset over Andy's new girlfriend. Robert decides to sell his mansion following his divorce, and at Kevin's suggestion, throws an office pool party as a last hurrah.


title: Robert California

text: Robert appears in "Last Day in Florida", accompanying Dwight, Jim, and Nellie Bertram on a golf outing celebrating Dwight's new vice president position. After playing, Robert stuns Jim by revealing that he dislikes the business plan for the Sabre store, and that he had only approved of it because Jo wanted it. But with the knowledge that Sabre products are inferior and will illuminate the fact that the store is a failure, he plans to sandbag it at a high-level meeting of the Sabre company board, and also strongly hints that, despite liking Dwight, he is going to fire him over it. Later, after Jim stops Dwight from attending the meeting, Nellie appoints Todd Packer as vice president in his place. During the meeting, Robert chastises Packer for the failure of the store, pretending that the Sabre store itself was a great concept, but that Packer botched in execution. While Packer protests that he has only been vice president for half an hour, and that Dwight is to blame, Robert commends Dwight for being smart enough not to show up at the meeting, and terminates Packer. Robert later allows Nellie to have a job at the Scranton branch; Nellie declares herself as the new manager, despite the fact that Andy is already employed as Regional Manager. At Nellie's welcome party, Robert makes very obvious attempts to make a good impression on her.


title: Robert California

text: In "Angry Andy", Andy enlists Robert to give him his job back from Nellie by claiming it was an interim position for her. Nellie refuses, but manipulates Robert by flirtatiously hinting that she is attracted to him. Robert then stays detached from their conflict until Andy has an anger outburst, in which he throws his chair at Robert and then punches his hand through the wall over Nellie stealing his job. Robert then chooses Nellie as the branch Manager and fires Andy.


title: Robert California

text: In "Turf War", while celebrating the finalization of his divorce, Robert drunkenly shuts down Dunder Mifflin’s Binghamton office, leaving the other branches to fight over their clients. Meanwhile, Andy decides to land an important Binghamton client as a "rogue" and jumpstart his Dunder Mifflin comeback by using his success as leverage with Robert. After Nellie reveals to Robert that he sent her a sexually suggestive voicemail, Robert tasks Pam to find out what the voicemail entailed. Pam manages to steal her cellphone, however, as Robert goes through Nellie's messages, Pam relents and tells Robert that she will not help him anymore. The two struggle over the phone, but Pam manages to delete the messages before Robert can hear his voicemail. Later, Andy calls Robert, after having stolen his largest client, and offers him the client back if Robert will rehire him. Meanwhile, Jim and Dwight talk with Harry Jannerone, an employee from the Syracuse branch, who predicts that Robert will ruin the company within six months.


title: Robert California

text: In "Free Family Portrait Studio", Robert is surprised when he learns that David Wallace is purchasing Dunder Mifflin. After talking with Robert in the conference room, David announces that Robert is leaving, but that he will be working on an important new charity: seeing college-aged girls (particularly gymnasts) in developing countries on their paths through to college. Wallace also mentions that he has donated one million dollars in matching funds for Robert's three-year-long mission. Robert bids Andy goodbye, kisses him on the mouth, and states that "It's been a great year".


title: Robert California

text: James Spader first appeared on "The Office" in the episode "Search Committee". He was originally expected to be just a one-time guest star, as the producers were planning to hire either Catherine Tate or Will Arnett for the series, but neither could commit due to their involvement with other projects. In an interview with "Digital Spy", Spader stated "I never really considered whether I would do more [episodes]". "Then...suddenly [the producers] called me back again and said, 'We'd really ... like your character to come back in some capacity. While Spader was initially hired as the replacement for Steve Carell in the series, Spader's presence actually filled the void of two departed actors: Carell, and Kathy Bates, who left the show in order to focus on her starring role in the NBC drama "Harry's Law". Spader was also the second actor to receive an "And" credit, after Amy Ryan, during her appearances in season seven. Spader stated in an interview that he only took the role in order to supplement his income after working on "Lincoln", which he stated paid little due to the size of the cast. He only ever intended for his role to last one season.


title: Robert California

text: On February 28, 2012, Spader announced that he would be departing from the show at the end of its eighth season. The season eight finale, "Free Family Portrait Studio", marked his final appearance in the series.


title: Robert California

text: The character of Robert California was met with acclaim during his guest appearance on the season 7 finale "Search Committee". In the "IGN" review for "Search Committee", Cindy White cited the guest appearance by Spader as being the "meatiest part [of the episode]", comparing Robert's role of the "dominating boss" to that of Spader's similar character in "Secretary". In James Poniewozik's review of the episode, he wrote that "James Spader killed as an overqualified candidate who was creepily perceptive". While his review was less favorable, Alan Sepinwall wrote that he found "Spader's persuasive evil genius to be somewhat amusing". Seth Abramovitch, of TV.com, wrote that he enjoyed Spader's "mildly sociopathic (but highly effective)" portrayal of Robert. In her review, Kaili Markley wrote that Spader's appearance in the episode was the "high point of the show" for her. "BuddyTV"s Meghan Carlson wrote that Spader was "the most memorable and impressive guest".


title: Robert California

text: Spader's acting had been particularly lauded by his fellow "Office" cast members. In an interview with "Huffington Post", Brian Baumgartner stated that "the energy [Spader] has is so totally different. The writers have done really a great job. He has these demented arguments that on the surface make no sense, but he's talking, and suddenly and you're like, 'Oh yeah, that's right! That's right!'". In the same interview, Kate Flannery commented that Spader "has this grounded intensity that we've never seen on our show before that makes these kind of little Scranton peons stand at attention". In an interview with "NBC Chicago.com", Angela Kinsey praised Spader's portrayal of California, stating "He is amazing. Our first table read with him was a week before we went back and at that moment I was like, 'Oh, we're going to be just fine'. He crushed the table read. He brings such a cool, amazing, intensity as Robert California that's so different from Michael Scott. Michael wanted everyone to love him. Robert California wants to run the best company in the world, and to see him turn that kind of intensity onto Kevin Malone was cracking me up. I just love him as this character. And it's been really fun to watch Dwight and Robert California act". Paul Lieberstein was pleased that Spader would be joining the cast in the eighth season, stating that "James has an energy that is completely his own, and 'The Office' has no tools for dealing with this guy. We're thrilled he's joining our cast". On July 28, 2011, Rainn Wilson favorably tweeted, when referring to Spader's acting on the series, "[he's] Killing it!!!!". Former leading actor Steve Carell was also impressed by the decision to hire Spader, stating in an interview with "Access Hollywood", "I think it's an excellent choice. I think it's great and he will infuse all this new energy into the show".


title: Robert California

text: However, as time passed, critics, even ones who had initially praised Robert, began to respond negatively to the character. In his review for the episode "Gettysburg", Chris Plante, of "New York", critiqued the way that Robert, as well as Andy, were being written, writing, "That isn't to say every character has been fleshed out well. ... Andy and California seem off point." In his review for "Mrs. California", Plante called Robert the worst part of "The Office". While initially reacting positively to the character, by the episode "Doomsday", Seth Abramovitch wrote that "Spader's character is a lot more successful a fit than Will Ferrell's, whose brand of comedy was just too broad, too surreal for the Dunder-Mifflin crew. Robert California has definitely added some menace and mystery to the proceedings. He's funny, too. But the way the show is using him so far—sparingly, as an aloof, omniscient, and fearsome motivator—is essentially as nothing more than a plot instigator, and it's doing nothing to enrich the series. It's also getting repetitive". In his "Hitfix" blog, Alan Sepinwall wrote that "Robert California could have become the new comic engine that drove the series, but the character has been neutered from his first appearance. Instead of a lunatic capable of performing the Jedi mind trick, he's just an inscrutable eccentric, who wanders around looking amused at everything the branch is up to, and whom no one can get a read on". Myles McNutt, of "The A.V. Club", criticized Robert's role as one "that the narrative reacts to as opposed to something actually involved in the narrative".


title: Robert California

text: "Salon.com"s Matt Zoller Seitz wrote that ""The Office" loses something by having Spader's Zen master drive the action instead of Michael Scott", he also suggested that, perhaps, if Robert was still positioned as Regional Manager, instead of CEO, the series might be more enjoyable. In response to this, Myles McNutt wrote "It may just be me, but I'm not convinced that Spader's presence has been as prominent as Seitz suggests. While I would agree that Robert California alters the tone and rhythm of the series when he is present, he isn't present particularly often (and wasn't present at all during what Seitz and I would both identify as the season's strongest episode, "Lotto") and, even when he is present, he isn't really being developed as a character with motivations or multi-dimensionality. His omniscience is valuable on some level, but it also creates a distance between the character and the narrative, which makes me reluctant to consider him as Carell's replacement (which is what Seitz suggests in his piece). In truth, and picking up on something I suggested last week, I think I would be enjoying this season a lot more if Spader were positioned as Carell's replacement, and we were seeing the season from his perspective".


title: Robert California

text: In White's review of "Last Day in Florida", she wrote that "As for Robert's return, I don't think it's a coincidence that the weakest episode of this otherwise strong [Florida story arc] was the only one in which he appeared. ... Robert has had his moments of brilliance in the past, but this wasn't one of them. He was merely a tool here, and yeah, I mean that in both senses. It's pretty clear by this time that the writers have never quite gotten a handle on the character or figured out how to use him properly since he joined the cast. With Spader leaving at the end of this season, that won't be a problem for much longer. In the meantime, we have to put up with a character who is all over the map. One week he's quirky and zen, the next week he might be vulnerable and mopey, the next he's a ruthless, calculating executive. There's still some time to pin him down by the season finale, it's just hard to imagine at this point". In her review of the season 8 finale, she wrote "At least we saw that last of Robert California, who walked away with $1 million to travel around Europe educating gymnasts. Um, okay. I'm too pleased to see him go to care about the logistics".


title: Nick Adams (actor, born 1931)

text: Nick Adams (born Nicholas Aloysius Adamshock; July 10, 1931 – February 7, 1968) was an American film and television actor and screenwriter. He was noted for his roles in several Hollywood films during the 1950s and 1960s along with his starring role in the ABC television series "The Rebel" (1959–1961).


title: Nick Adams (actor, born 1931)

text: Decades after his death from a prescription drug overdose at the age of 36, his widely publicized friendships with James Dean and Elvis Presley would stir speculation about both his private life and the circumstances of his death. In an "AllMovie" synopsis for Adams's last film, reviewer Dan Pavlides wrote, "Plagued by personal excesses, he will be remembered just as much for what he could have done in cinema as what he left behind."


title: Nick Adams (actor, born 1931)

text: Adams was born as Nicholas Aloysius Adamshock in Nanticoke, Pennsylvania to Catherine (Kutz) and Peter Adamshock, an anthracite coal miner. His parents were both Ukrainian. In 1958, he told columnist Hedda Hopper, "We lived in those little company houses – they were terrible. We had to buy from the company store and were always in debt and could never leave."


title: Nick Adams (actor, born 1931)

text: The family did leave when he was five years old after Adams's uncle was killed in a mining accident. "My father piled all our belongings into an old jalopy, with our bedding on top," Adams recalled. "We didn't know where we were going. He started driving, and ran out of gas and money in Jersey City, New Jersey, at Audubon Park. A man came over and started talking to us, a Mr. Cohn. He said to my father 'You look like you need a job,' and my father said 'I do.'" Adams's father was given a job as janitor of an apartment building along with living quarters in the basement. Eventually, they moved to Van Nostrand Avenue between Ocean Avenue and Rutgers Avenue. His mother worked for Western Electric in Kearny, New Jersey.


title: Nick Adams (actor, born 1931)

text: Adams was a successful athlete at Henry Snyder High School but failed to get a part in the school play when he was a senior. While still in high school Adams was offered a playing position in minor league baseball with the St. Louis Cardinals, but he turned it down because he was uninterested in the low pay. He briefly worked as a bat boy for the Jersey City Giants, a local minor league team. Some sources recount Adams made money as a teenager by hustling games of billiards.


title: Nick Adams (actor, born 1931)

text: In 1948, while visiting New York, 17-year-old Adams wandered into an audition for Seán O'Casey's play "The Silver Tassie" and met Jack Palance (who was understudying for Marlon Brando in "A Streetcar Named Desire"). When Palance, whose father was also a Ukrainian coal miner from Northeastern Pennsylvania, asked why he wanted to act, Adams replied, "For the money." Palance introduced him to the director of "The Silver Tassie" as Nick Adams. After the director declined to hire him as an extra, Palance sent Adams to a nearby junior theater group where he got his first acting job playing the role of Muff Potter in "Tom Sawyer". While trying to get a role in the play "Mister Roberts", Adams had a brief encounter with Henry Fonda. who advised him to get some training as an actor.


title: Nick Adams (actor, born 1931)

text: Adams's friends teased him about his acting ambitions. "Everybody thought I was crazy," he recalled. "My father said, 'Nick, get a trade, be a barber or something.' I said, 'But, Pop, I want to do something where I can make lots of money. You can't make lots of money with just a trade.'" After a year of unpaid acting in New York, Adams hitchhiked to Los Angeles.


title: Nick Adams (actor, born 1931)

text: Adams was an avid reader of fan magazines and came to believe he could meet agents and directors by being seen at the Warners Theater in Beverly Hills. He got a job there as doorman, usher, and maintenance man, which included changing the notices on the theater marquee. He was fired after he put his own name up as a publicity stunt.


title: Nick Adams (actor, born 1931)

text: Adams's earliest reported paid acting job in Los Angeles was a stage role at the Las Palmas Theater in a comedy called "Mr. Big Shot". Although he was paid about $60 a week, Adams had to pay $175 for membership in Actors' Equity Association. He also earned $25 one night at the Mocambo nightclub, filling in for Pearl Bailey who had fallen ill. Eight years later, Hedda Hopper told Adams she recalled writing about him at the time; and he replied by reciting back to her, "Nick Adams, gas station attendant from New Jersey, did an impersonation of Jimmy Cagney and a scene from "Glass Menagerie"."


title: Nick Adams (actor, born 1931)

text: After three years of struggle and optimistic self-promotion, his first film role came in 1951, an uncredited one-liner as a Western Union delivery boy in George Seaton's "Somebody Loves Me" (1952). This allowed him to join the Screen Actors Guild, but he was unable to find steady acting work, even when "creatively" claiming he had appeared with Palance in "The Silver Tassie" in New York. Undaunted, Adams joined a theater workshop run by Arthur Kennedy. In January 1952, Adams enlisted in the United States Coast Guard.


title: Nick Adams (actor, born 1931)

text: About two years later, in June 1954, his ship docked in Long Beach harbor and, after a brash audition for director John Ford during which Adams did impressions of James Cagney and other celebrities while dressed in his Coast Guard uniform, he took his accumulated leave and appeared as Seaman Reber in the 1955 film version of "Mister Roberts". Adams then completed his military service, returned to Los Angeles and, at the age of 23, based on his work in "Mister Roberts", secured a powerful agent, and signed with Warner Bros.


title: Nick Adams (actor, born 1931)

text: Adams had a small role (as Chick) in "Rebel Without a Cause" (1955). Also that year Adams played the role of "Bomber" the paper boy in the widely popular film adaptation of "Picnic" (1955), which was mostly filmed on location in Kansas, and starred William Holden, Kim Novak, and Susan Strasberg. He was not perceived by casting directors as tall or handsome enough for leading roles, but during the late 1950s, Adams had supporting roles in several successful television productions, including one episode of "Wanted Dead or Alive" (1958) starring Steve McQueen, and films such as "Our Miss Brooks" (1956), "No Time for Sergeants" (1958), "Teacher's Pet" (1958), and "Pillow Talk" (1959).


title: Nick Adams (actor, born 1931)

text: Adams initially may have met James Dean in December 1950 while jitterbugging for a soft drink commercial filmed at Griffith Park. Adams spent three years in the Coast Guard between the time this commercial was shot in late 1950 and the start of filming for "Rebel Without a Cause" in March 1955. Actor Jack Grinnage, who played Moose, recalled, "Off the set, Nick, Dennis (Hopper), and the others would go out together — almost like the gang we portrayed — but Jimmy and Corey Allen ... were not a part of that." They became friends during filming. During breaks, Dean and Adams entertained cast and crew with impersonations of Marlon Brando and Elia Kazan (who had directed Dean in "East of Eden"). A 1955 Warner Bros. press release quoted Dean as saying, "I shall be busy for the rest of 1955, and Nick will be doing film work for the next six months. Come 1956, however, I wouldn't be surprised to find myself with Adams doing a two-a-night nightclub routine — or acting in a comedy by William Shakespeare." When production was wrapped, Dean said in another press release, "I now regard Natalie (Wood), Nick, and Sal (Mineo) as co-workers; I regard them as friends ... about the only friends I have in this town. And I hope we all work together again soon." Following Dean's 1955 death in an automobile accident, Adams overdubbed some of Dean's lines for the film "Giant" (these are in Jett Rink's speech at the hotel) and dated co-star Natalie Wood. Adams tried to capitalize on Dean's fame through various publicity stunts, including a claim he was being stalked by a crazed female Dean fan, allowing himself to be photographed at Dean's grave in a contemplative pose, holding flowers, and surrounded by mourning, teenaged female fans along with writing articles and doing interviews about Dean for fan magazines. He also claimed to have developed Dean's affection for fast cars, later telling a reporter, "I became a highway delinquent. I was arrested nine times in one year. They put me on probation, but I kept on racing ... nowhere."


title: Nick Adams (actor, born 1931)

text: Adams's widely publicized friendship with Elvis Presley began in 1956 on the set of Presley's film "Love Me Tender" during the second day of shooting. Presley had admired James Dean, and when the singer arrived in Hollywood, he was encouraged by studio executives to be seen with some of the "hip" new young actors there. Meanwhile, his manager Colonel Tom Parker was worried that Elvis's new Hollywood acquaintances might influence Presley and even tell him what they were paying their managers and agents (usually a fraction of what Parker was getting). Elaine Dundy called Parker a "master manipulator" who used Nick Adams and others in the entourage (including Parker's own brother-in-law Bitsy Mott) to counter possible subversion against him and control Elvis's movements. She later wrote a scathing characterization of Adams:


title: Nick Adams (actor, born 1931)

text: ... Brash struggling young actor whose main scheme to further his career was to hitch his wagon to a star, the first being James Dean, about whose friendship he was noisily boastful ... this made it easy for Parker to suggest that Nick be invited to join Elvis' growing entourage of paid companions, and for Nick to accept ... following Adams' hiring, there appeared a newspaper item stating that Nick and Parker were writing a book on Elvis together.


title: Nick Adams (actor, born 1931)

text: Dundy also wrote, "Of all Elvis' new friends, Nick Adams, by background and temperament the most insecure, was also his closest." Adams was Dennis Hopper's roommate during this period, and the three reportedly socialized together, with Presley "hanging out more and more with Nick and his friends" and glad his manager "liked Nick". Decades later, Kathleen Tracy recalled Adams often met Presley backstage or at Graceland, where Elvis often asked Adams "to stay over on nights": "He and Elvis would go motorcycle riding late at night and stay up until all hours talking about the pain of celebrity" and enjoying prescription drugs.


title: Nick Adams (actor, born 1931)

text: Almost 40 years later, writer Peter Guralnick wrote that Presley found it "good running around with Nick ... there was always something happening, and the hotel suite was like a private clubhouse where you needed to know the secret password to get in and he got to change the password every day." Presley's girlfriend June Juanico complained the singer was always talking about his friend Adams and James Dean. She also was upset that Adams had started inviting himself to see Elvis, and Juanico felt that she was trying to compete for Elvis' attention. Adams would talk often about Natalie Wood to Elvis, constantly discussing her figure and her beauty, something else that caused Juanico to feel that she would soon lose Elvis to the glitz of Hollywood. Presley's own mother even commented about Adams, "He sure is a pushy little fellow".


title: Nick Adams (actor, born 1931)

text: As with Dean, Adams capitalized on his association with Presley, publishing an account of their friendship in May 1957. In August 1958, after the death of Elvis's mother Gladys, Parker wrote in a letter, "Nicky came out to be with Elvis last Week was so very kind of him to be there with his friend."


title: Nick Adams (actor, born 1931)

text: "The Rebel and the King" by Nick Adams is a first-person account written by Adams about his friendship with Presley. The manuscript was written in 1956 by Nick during Presley's eight days in Memphis when the singer returned home for his big Tupelo homecoming. The manuscript was discovered 45 years later by Adams's daughter and initially published in 2012.


title: Nick Adams (actor, born 1931)

text: In 1959 Adams starred in the ABC series "The Rebel" playing the character Johnny Yuma, a wandering, ex-Confederate, journal-keeping, sawed-off shotgun toting "trouble-shooter" in the old American west. He is credited as a co-creator of "The Rebel", but he had no role in writing the pilot or any of the series' episodes. Adams had asked his friend Andrew J. Fenady to write the pilot as a starring vehicle for him. The series' only recurring character, publicized as a "Reconstruction beatnik", was played by Adams. He reportedly consulted with John Wayne for tips on how to play the role. Adams wanted Presley to sing the theme song for "The Rebel", but the show's producer wanted Johnny Cash. Guest stars appearing on the series during its two-year run included Dan Blocker, Johnny Cash, Leonard Nimoy, Tex Ritter, and Robert Vaughn. A total of 76 half-hour episodes were filmed before the series was cancelled in 1961. Reruns were syndicated for several years. Adams went back to TV and film work, along with a role in the short-lived but critically successful television series "Saints and Sinners".


title: Nick Adams (actor, born 1931)

text: Adams was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as an unlikable murder suspect in the film "Twilight of Honor" (1963), which featured the film debuts of both Linda Evans and Joey Heatherton. He campaigned heavily for the award, spending over $8,000 on ads in trade magazines, but many of his strongest scenes had been cut from the movie, and he lost to Melvyn Douglas.


title: Nick Adams (actor, born 1931)

text: In 1964, Adams had a leading role opposite Nancy Malone in an episode ("Fun and Games") of "The Outer Limits". A review of this episode written over three decades later would characterize him as an "underrated actor". By this time Adams's career was stalling. He had high hopes his co-starring performance with Robert Conrad in "Young Dillinger" (1964) would be critically acclaimed, but the project had low production values, and both critics and audiences rejected the film. Also that year, Adams guest-starred in an episode of the short-lived CBS drama "The Reporter".


title: Nick Adams (actor, born 1931)

text: In 1965, after publicly insisting he would never work in films produced outside the U.S., Adams began accepting parts in Japanese science fiction monster movies ("kaiju eiga"). He landed major roles in two science fiction epics from Toho Studios in Chiyoda, Tokyo. His first Japanese movie was "Frankenstein vs. Baragon", in which he played Dr. James Bowen, a radiologist working in Hiroshima who encounters a new incarnation of the Frankenstein monster. Adams next starred in the sixth Godzilla film, "Invasion of Astro-Monster" (known in the U.S. as "Monster Zero"), in which he played Astronaut Glenn, journeying to the newly discovered Planet X. In both films, his character had a love interest with characters portrayed by actress Kumi Mizuno. On the set of "Monster Zero", Adams and co-star Yoshio Tsuchiya (who played the villainous Controller of Planet X) reportedly got along well and played jokes on each other. Adams made three films in Japan during 1965 and 1966. During this time, he also co-starred with Boris Karloff in "Die, Monster, Die!" (1965), a Gothic horror–sci fi movie filmed in England.


title: Nick Adams (actor, born 1931)

text: In early 1967, Disney released "Mosby's Marauders", a Civil War drama told from a southern perspective with Adams in the role of a cruel Union army sergeant. Adams guest-starred in five episodes of four TV series that year, including an installment of his friend Robert Conrad's "The Wild Wild West", an appearance in "Combat!" and two episodes of "Hondo" (a short-lived western which also had an ex-Confederate theme). Throughout 1967 and early 1968, he also worked in three low-budget films. One of these was "Mission Mars" (1968) which has been described as "rarely seen, and utterly dreadful." Adams's costume for this movie included an off-the-shelf motorcycle helmet. Reacting to "Mission Mars" over 30 years later, SciFi reviewer Gary Westfahl wrote, "The only quality that Adams could persuasively project on film was a desperate desire to be popular, to be liked ... which helps to explain why Adams got his foot in many doors." Adams's last U.S. production was a movie filmed in Iowa called "Fever Heat". His last film appearance was in the little-seen Spanish-language western "Los Asesinos", filmed in Mexico City, Mexico.


title: Nick Adams (actor, born 1931)

text: Adams married former child actress Carol Nugent in 1959. Nugent had appeared in an episode of "The Rebel". They had two children, Allyson and Jeb Stuart Adams. Jeb was a child actor, then gave up acting, and is now a successful realtor in Ventura County, California. Allyson was a film director, but is now a costume designer and activist.


title: Nick Adams (actor, born 1931)

text: Sometimes acrimonious marital problems reportedly interfered with his ability to get lucrative acting parts after 1963. While promoting "Young Dillinger" during a television appearance on "The Les Crane Show" in early 1965, Adams "shocked" the viewing audience with an announcement that he was leaving his wife, seemingly without telling her first. The couple publicly announced a reconciliation a week later, but his career and personal life following this episode have been characterized as a "tragic freefall".


title: Nick Adams (actor, born 1931)

text: Adams and actress Kumi Mizuno may have had a short affair while he was working in Japan. "That's one of the reasons my parents were divorced." his daughter, playwright Allyson Lee Adams, later said. "My dad had a penchant for becoming infatuated with his leading ladies. It was a way for him to take on the role he was playing at the time." Rumors of a romance between the two were common occurrence until Mizuno denied it during an interview in 1996.


title: Nick Adams (actor, born 1931)

text: By July 1965, Adams and Nugent were legally separated; Nugent filed for divorce in September. The following month, while Adams was in Japan, Nugent was granted a divorce and custody of the children. In January 1966, Adams and Nugent announced another reconciliation on "Bill John's Hollywood Star Notebook", a local television show. However, in November 1966, Nugent resumed the divorce proceedings and obtained a restraining order against him, alleging Adams was "prone to fits of temper", and in an affidavit, charged he had "choked her, struck her and threatened to kill her during the past few weeks." On January 20, 1967, Adams was waiting for a court hearing to start when he was served with a $110,000 defamation suit by Nugent's boyfriend, Paul Rapp, who later married Nugent. Nevertheless, nine days later he was granted temporary custody of the children. His son Jeb Adams later recalled, "He saw it as a competition, basically, more than anything of getting custody of us. But, a matter of a week or two later, he gave us back to my mom." Nugent later regained legal custody of the children.


title: Nick Adams (actor, born 1931)

text: After finishing "Los Asesinos" (1968), produced by Luis Enrique Vergara and filmed in Mexico, Adams bought a plane ticket with his own money and flew to Rome, Italy, to co-star with Aldo Ray in a science fiction/horror movie called "Murder in the Third Dimension", but when he got there, he found the project had been dropped. Susan Strasberg, who had worked with him 13 years earlier on the hit film "Picnic" and was living in Italy, encountered a thoroughly demoralized Adams in a Rome bar.


title: Nick Adams (actor, born 1931)

text: On the night of February 7, 1968, his lawyer and friend, ex-LAPD officer Ervin Roeder, drove to the actor's house at 2126 El Roble Lane in Beverly Hills to check on him after a missed dinner appointment. Seeing a light on and his car in the garage, Roeder broke through a window and discovered Adams in his upstairs bedroom, slumped dead against a wall.


title: Nick Adams (actor, born 1931)

text: During the autopsy Dr. Thomas Noguchi found enough paraldehyde, sedatives and other drugs in the body "to cause instant unconsciousness." The death certificate lists "paraldehyde and promazine intoxication" as the immediate cause of death, along with the notation "accident; suicide; undetermined." During the 1960s, drug interaction warnings were not so prominent as they later would be, and the American Medical Association has subsequently warned these two types of drugs should never be taken together.


title: Nick Adams (actor, born 1931)

text: The death of Nick Adams has been cited in articles and books about Hollywood's unsolved mysteries along with speculation by a few of his acquaintances that he was murdered (according to author David Kulczyk, Adams was apparently planning to write a tell-all book revealing many sexual secrets of Hollywood names) and claims no trace of paraldehyde (a liquid sedative often given to alcoholics at the time and one of two drugs attributed to his death) was ever found in his home. However, Adams's brother Andrew had become a medical doctor and prescribed the sedative to him. Moreover, a story in the "Los Angeles Times" reported stoppered bottles with prescription labels were found in the medicine cabinet near the upstairs bedroom where Adams's body was discovered. Through the years, his children offered speculation ranging from murder to accidental death, the latter perhaps caused by Roeder while trying to calm the actor's nerves with an unintentionally lethal combination of alcohol and prescription drugs (although the autopsy found no alcohol in Adams's blood). Actor Robert Conrad, Adams's best friend, consistently maintained that the death was accidental.


title: Nick Adams (actor, born 1931)

text: Carol Adams is listed as Adams's spouse on his death certificate, evidence the divorce had not become final when the actor died. She and the children were living only a few blocks from his recently rented house on El Roble Lane.


title: Nick Adams (actor, born 1931)

text: Adams's remains were interred at Saints Cyril and Methodius Ukrainian Catholic Cemetery in Berwick, Pennsylvania. The backside of his gravestone, which bears a silhouette of Adams wearing the Civil War-era cap from his television series, is inscribed "Nick Adams — The Rebel — Actor of Hollywood Screens".


title: Nick Adams (actor, born 1931)

text: Decades later, Adams's highly publicized life and death at a young age, his friendships with cultural icons such as James Dean and Elvis Presley, and his reported drug consumption made his private life the subject of many reports and assertions by some writers who have claimed Adams may have been gay or bisexual. One of the earliest published mentions on this overall topic was made by gossip columnist Rona Barrett in her 1974 autobiography, in which she made no assertion Adams was homosexual or bisexual but claimed Adams had told her, along with a "whole roomful of people," that he wasn't making it because no one in Hollywood's upper stratosphere would accept his wife." Barrett called it "untrue. She was one of the most refreshing wives in the entire community" and went on to say Adams "had become the companion to a group of salacious homosexuals" who flattered the actor, which affected his judgment and caused him to blame Carol. Hollywood biographer Lawrence J. Quirk claimed Mike Connolly (a gay gossip columnist for "The Hollywood Reporter" from 1951 to 1966) "would put the make on the most prominent young actors, including Robert Francis, Guy Madison, Anthony Perkins, Nick Adams, and James Dean." According to "American Film" (1986), "Nick Adams, who was ...gay, was the butt of anti-gay humor in "Pillow Talk"".


title: Nick Adams (actor, born 1931)

text: Some writers later called Adams a "Hollywood hustler" or a "street hustler". One journalist also refers to Adams as a "pool hustler" who made money in pool halls when he was a teenager in New Jersey and later while struggling to make ends meet during his early years in Hollywood.


title: Nick Adams (actor, born 1931)

text: It is uncertain whether James Dean and Adams met before his service in the United States Coast Guard (1952–1955) and subsequent role in "Rebel Without a Cause" (1955). In his 1986 gossip book about gay Hollywood, "Conversations with My Elders", Boze Hadleigh claimed actor Sal Mineo told him in 1972, "I didn't hear it from Jimmy (James Dean), who was sort of awesome to me when we did Rebel, but Nick told me they had a big affair." Journalist, screenwriter and author of books about Hollywood, John Gregory Dunne wrote that "James Dean was bisexual, as were Nick Adams and Sal Mineo." According to Eric Braun, "Elvis was attracted by Adams' outgoing personality and the young actors caused quite a stir, cruising round Los Angeles with Natalie Wood, Russ Tamblyn and others on their Hondas." In 2005, Byron Raphael and Presley biographer Alanna Nash wrote that Adams may have "swung both ways" like "Adams's good pal (and Elvis's idol) James Dean. Tongues wagged that Elvis and Adams were getting it on."


title: Nick Adams (actor, born 1931)

text: Adams regularly dated actresses with whom he made movies. During the mid-1950s, photographs of him with actress Natalie Wood were widely publicized in fan magazines. "Modern Screen" wrote at the time "their relationship has been mostly for fun" and they shared "a tendency toward moodiness and unpredictability." The magazine also reported they had given joint interviews "in which they admitted they adored each other" and "they even came terribly close to getting married" in Las Vegas. The same article also remarked that on one of their trips they "posed for innumerable publicity photographs — that was the real reason for the trip — " and "Right now, both Nick and Natalie are inclined to deny the whole Las Vegas episode." In his 2004 biography "Natalie Wood: A Life" biographer and screenwriter Gavin Lambert wrote in passing, Wood's "first studio-arranged date with a gay or bisexual actor had been with Nick Adams." In his biography of gay Hollywood agent Henry Willson, Robert Hofler deals with the rise of the studio star system, in which several actors spent time on the homosexual casting couch and dated girls or even entered into sham marriages in order to cover their homosexuality. "In the Henry Willson date pool," the author says, "Nick Adams was one client, among many, who glommed on to Natalie Wood to get his picture taken." Suzanne Finstad cites actor Jack Grinnage, one of the gang members in "Rebel Without a Cause", about Nick Adams's and Dennis Hopper's reasons "for getting close to Natalie. 'I remember being in Dennis' dressing room with Nick and Natalie ... I don't know which one of them said this — it was Nick or Dennis — but he said, "We're gonna hang on to her bra straps." Meaning up the career ladder.' Natalie's tutor, who knew Hopper and Adams off set, said, 'Both of those two guys were all over her ... because they could see that this movie was going to be a big thing for Natalie ... they were game for anything in order to be noticed and to get ahead in the business.' "


title: Nick Adams (actor, born 1931)

text: Actress Olive Sturgess relates: "When Nick and I went out, it was a casual thing —no great love or anything like that ... I thought he was very troubled ... You could feel he was troubled. It was the manner he had —that was the way he was in real life, always brooding ... When we went out, it was never on his motorcycle! That's one trick he couldn't pull on me. We always went in a car!"


title: Nick Adams (actor, born 1931)

text: Because of morality clauses in studio contracts, along with practical marketing concerns, most homosexual actors during the 1950s and 1960s were forced to be discreet about their sexuality. However, Adams was known in Hollywood for embellishing and inventing stories about his show business experiences and long tried to capitalize on his associations with James Dean and Elvis Presley. In a brief biographical article, journalist Bill Kelly wrote Adams "became James Dean's closest pal, although Nick was straight and Dean was bisexual." Moreover, there are neither court documents (such as from the long and drawn-out divorce and child custody proceedings between him and his wife), nor personal letters from Adams, nor directly attributable statements by any alleged male lovers, to support the assertions.


title: Irish whiskey

text: Irish whiskey ( or "uisce beatha") is whiskey made on the island of Ireland. The word 'whiskey' (or whisky) comes from the Irish , meaning "water of life". Irish whiskey was once the most popular spirit in the world, though a long period of decline from the late 19th century onwards greatly damaged the industry, so much so that although Ireland boasted at least 28 distilleries in the 1890s, by 1966 this number had fallen to just two, and by 1972 the remaining distilleries, Bushmills Distillery and Old Midleton Distillery (replaced by New Midleton Distillery), were owned by just one company, Irish Distillers.


title: Irish whiskey

text: The monopoly situation was ended by an academically-conceived launch of the first new distillery in decades, Cooley Distillery, in 1987. Since the 1990s, Irish whiskey has seen a resurgence in popularity and has been the fastest-growing spirit in the world every year since 1990. With exports growing by over 15% per annum, existing distilleries have been expanded and a number of new distilleries constructed. As of December 2019, Ireland has 32 distilleries in operation, with more either planned or under development.


title: Irish whiskey

text: Irish whiskey was one of the earliest distilled drinks in Europe, arising around the 12th century. The "Red Book of Ossory", a medieval manuscript produced in County Kilkenny in the 14th century, includes a reference to the drink. It is believed that Irish monks brought the technique of distilling perfumes back to Ireland from their travels to southern Europe around 1000 AD. The Irish then modified this technique to obtain a drinkable spirit.


title: Irish whiskey

text: Although termed "whiskey", the spirit produced during this period would have differed from what is currently recognised as whiskey, as it would not have been aged, and was often flavoured with aromatic herbs such as mint, thyme, or anise. Irish Mist, a whiskey liqueur launched in 1963, is purportedly based on such a recipe.


title: Irish whiskey

text: Although known to have occurred for hundreds of years, records of whiskey production in Ireland can be difficult to come by, particularly in the earlier years when production was unregulated. Even in later years, as production was frequently illicit, official records bear little resemblance to reality. In addition, as many Irish records were traditionally oral rather than written, details on early production are likely lost.


title: Irish whiskey

text: The oldest known documented record of whiskey in Ireland was in 1405; in the Annals of Clonmacnoise it was written that the head of a clan died after "taking a surfeit of aqua vitae" at Christmas. Its first known mention in Scotland dates from 1494. However, it is known that by 1556 whiskey was widespread, as an Act passed by the English Parliament declared whiskey to be "a drink nothing profitable to be drunken daily and used, is now "universally" throughout this realm made". This Act also made it technically illegal for anyone other than "the peers, gentlemen and freemen of larger towns" to distil spirits without a licence from the Lord Deputy. However, as Crown control did not extend far beyond the Pale, a fortified area around Dublin, this had little effect.


title: Irish whiskey

text: Irish whiskey has a smoother finish as opposed to the smoky, earthy overtones common to Scotch whisky, which come largely from drying the malted barley using peat smoke. Peat is rarely used in the malting process outside of Scotland. There are notable exceptions to these rules in both countries. Examples include Connemara peated Irish malt whiskey from the Cooley Distillery in Riverstown, Cooley, County Louth; Pearse Whiskey from Pearse Lyons Distillery, Dublin a Dunville's peated from Echlinville Distillery.


title: Irish whiskey

text: In 1608, King James I granted a licence to Sir Thomas Phillips, a landowner in County Antrim. It is through this licence that the Old Bushmills Distillery lays claim to being the oldest surviving grant of licence to distil in the world. However, the current Bushmills distillery and company was not registered to trade until 1784 and despite the promotion of the Phillips licence as its claimed founding date, the Bushmills distillery does not clearly descend from any distillery operated by Phillips through ownership or location. This allows the Kilbeggan Distillery in Kilbeggan, County Westmeath, to lay claim to the title of oldest distillery in Ireland, as the first distillery in Kilbeggan was established in 1757 (although not continuously operating since e.g., the Kilbeggan Distillery was entirely shut down around 1917 and again between 1954 and 2007 and was "in rubble" and "totally derelict" by 1983). Kilbeggan also has what is believed to be the oldest operational copper pot still in the world, first used in 2007 after being "last used in the 19th century".


title: Irish whiskey

text: In 1661, the Crown introduced a tax on whiskey production in Britain and Ireland. Therefore, in theory, all whiskey distillers in Ireland were to register and pay taxes. Although Crown control now extended far beyond the Pale, there is limited official record of whiskey distillation during this period. One reason for this is that, until 1761, registration was done on a voluntary basis. Therefore, as registration entailed paying a tax, it was much avoided for obvious reasons. Another reason is that those tasked with enforcing the law were frequently local landlords, and, if their tenants were the illicit distillers, it was not in their best interests to enforce the law. It is known, however, that more distillation occurred than is officially recorded, as when registration later became compulsory, several registrations detail the use of existing facilities.


title: Irish whiskey

text: From a regulatory perspective, the introduction of the Act is a historical milestone as it provides a clear distinction between licit and illicit whiskey distillation in Ireland. For many years following its introduction, whiskey produced by registered distillers was known as "parliament whiskey", while that produced by illicit producers was, and still is referred to as "Poitín", a Gaelic term meaning "small pot" (often anglicised as poteen) in reference to the small pot stills used by the illicit distillers. However, although traditionally the product of illicit production, many legal varieties of "Poitín" have come to market in recent years.


title: Irish whiskey

text: In the 18th century, demand for whiskey in Ireland grew significantly, driven both by strong population growth, and by displacing the demand for imported spirits. Growth in the latter is very much visible in the share of Irish duties paid on legal spirits in the late 1700s. In 1770, whiskey only accounted for 25% of the total duty on spirits received by the exchequer, while duty on imported rum accounted for 51%, with the remainder divided equally between brandy and gin. By 1790, however, whiskey's share accounted for 66%.


title: Irish whiskey

text: As a consequence of this increased demand, some distillers prioritized quantity over quality, to the detriment of their product. This prompted parliament to pass an Act in 1759 prohibiting distillers from using any ingredient other than malt, grain, potatoes or sugar in the production of whiskey, and specifically prohibiting several unsavory ingredients. Another consequence was that the potential revenue lost to the exchequer through the under-reporting of output at legal distilleries and the tax avoidance of illicit producers became more significant, prompting parliament to introduce another Act of Parliament. This was enacted in 1779 and significantly reformed how the taxes payable on whiskey production were calculated. Previously, taxes were payable on production volumes, which were subject to manipulation. However, this Act removed the potential for under-reporting by making taxes payable on a distillery's potential output (based on the capacity of its pot stills), rather than its actual, or reported, output. In addition, the Act penalised smaller distillers in an attempt to reduce reporting fraud.


title: Irish whiskey

text: Due to the stringency of this Act, which made assumptions about output (for instance, a 500-gallon pot still was assumed to produce 33,075 gallons a month) and the minimum numbers of days which a still was in operation per annum (112), many of the smaller or less efficient registered distilleries were forced underground. In 1779, when the Act was introduced, there were 1,228 registered distilleries in Ireland; however, by 1790, this number had fallen to 246, and by 1821, there were just 32 licensed distilleries in operation. This had the effect of concentrating licit distillation in a smaller number of distilleries based mainly in the larger urban centres, such as Cork and Dublin, which offered better markets for legal producers. In the rural areas distillation became a more illicit activity, in particular in the northwest of Ireland where agricultural lands were poorer and poitín provided a supplemental source of income to the tenant farmers, an income which landlords were again slow to curtail as it would have weakened their abilities to pay rent. The scale of this illicit activity was such that one surveyor estimated that duty was paid on only 2% of the spirit consumed in the northwestern provinces of Ulster and Connaught, while Aeneas Coffey (an excise officer at the time, and later inventor of the Coffey Still) estimated that there were over 800 illicit stills in operation in Inishowen, County Donegal alone. By contrast, illicit distillation in Munster and Leinster was less extensive.


title: Irish whiskey

text: By some measures the Act was successful, as the volume of whiskey on which excise was paid increased from 1.2 million to 2.9 million gallons. In addition, it prompted capital investments in establishing larger distilleries (which were more easily regulated), due to the need for economies of scale to profit from legal distillation. However, when demand for whiskey increased in the early 1800s, due to population growth, and changing consumption patterns (which saw it becoming more ingrained in Irish cultural activities), much of the demand was initially met by small-scale illicit distillers who did not need to pay tax or comply with the restrictions of the 1779 Act. In fact, so much illicit spirit was available during this period that the licensed distillers in Dublin complained that it could be obtained "as openly in the streets as they sell a loaf of bread".


title: Irish whiskey

text: In 1823, the authorities, acknowledging the problems with the licensing system, cut the duties by half, and published an Excise Act which significantly reformed the existing legislation, making legal distillation much more attractive. In particular, the reforms removed the need for distillers to rush production in order to produce as much (or more) whiskey than duties would be paid on, leading to improvements in fuel efficiency and product quality, as distillers could operate the stills at a more appropriate pace. In addition, restrictions on the type and capacity of stills used were removed, granting distillers more freedom to tailor their equipment. Another significant reform was a change to how duty was paid. Previously, duty was charged monthly, based on still output, meaning that distilleries paid tax on whiskey before it was sold. However, under the reforms, duty was to be paid only when the whiskey was actually sold, making its storage in bond more attractive, as less of the distillery's working capital would be tied up in already-taxed stock.


title: Irish whiskey

text: Together, these reforms greatly improved the distilling landscape, leading to a drop in illicit whiskey production and a boom in investment in legal distilleries. In 1821, two years before the reforms, there were 32 licensed distilleries in Ireland. Just four years later (in 1827), this number had risen to 82, and reached 93 by 1835, a 19th-century peak. The increased attractiveness of legal distillation is evident in the scale of the equipment used. Prior to the Excise Act of 1823, the largest pot still in Ireland had a capacity of just 750 gallons. By 1825, however, the Midleton Distillery operated a 31,618-gallon pot still, which remains the largest ever built;Note: the largest pot still in operation in the world (as of 2014), located next door in the New Midleton Distillery, are roughly half this size, at 16,498 gallons (75,000 litres).


title: Irish whiskey

text: Domestic demand was reduced somewhat in the mid-1800s, due to the Temperance movement of the 1830s, and the Great Famine of the 1840s (during which a million Irish died and a million Irish emigrated). Between 1823 and 1900, however, whiskey output in Ireland still increased fourfold, and with access to the overseas markets provided by the British Empire, Irish whiskey became the most popular spirit in the World. "Dublin whiskey" was particularly well regarded.


title: Irish whiskey

text: In the early 1800s, Ireland was the largest spirit market in the United Kingdom, with demand for spirit exceeding that of more populous England. Therefore, as capacities expanded, Ireland became the largest producer of spirits in the United Kingdom; and Dublin, then the largest market for spirits in Ireland, emerged as a major distilling centre. By 1823, Dublin boasted the five largest licensed distilleries in the country. At their peak, the distilleries in Dublin would grow to become the largest in the world, with a combined output of almost 10 million gallons per annum, the largest of which, Roe's Thomas Street Distillery, had an output exceeding 2 million gallons per annum. By 1878, the reputation of Dublin whiskey was such that Distillers Company Ltd., a Scottish distilling firm, having built a distillery in Dublin, claimed that Dublin whiskey could sell for a 25% premium over other Irish whiskeys, and that it had a demand five times that of Scotch at the time. Although these figures are likely inflated, they give an indication of the esteem in which Dublin whiskey was held, even by Scottish distillers.


title: Irish whiskey

text: During this period, the four largest Dublin distilling firms, of John Jameson, William Jameson, John Powers and George Roe (all family-run, and collectively known as the "Big Four") came to dominate the Irish distilling landscape. The chief output of these distilleries, known as single or "pure pot still" whiskey, was made from a mix of malted and unmalted barley, and solely distilled in pot stills. The style, having initially emerged as a means of avoiding a 1785 tax on malt, endured although the tax had been later repealed. In fact, even by the late 1880s, only two of Ireland's then 28 existing distilleries were producing single malt whiskey, the rest steadfast in their devotion to "pure pot still".


title: Irish whiskey

text: In this period, when Irish whiskey was at its zenith, it would have been difficult to imagine that Scotch, then produced by small-scale producers and almost unheard of outside of Scotland, would soon become the world's preeminent drink, while Irish whiskey, then the world's most popular whiskey, would enter a century of decline, culminating with all of Dublin's great distilleries shutting their doors. By the late 20th century, the once-popular pure pot still whiskey had almost disappeared entirely, with only two specialist bottlings, Green Spot and Redbreast remaining in existence. However, since 2010, several new single pot whiskeys have been launched.


title: Irish whiskey

text: There were a number of factors, both internal and external, which led to this decline. However, one of the main turning points was the patenting in 1832 of the Coffey still by Aeneas Coffey. Ironically, Coffey was both the former Inspector General of Excise in Ireland, and subsequently, after leaving the excise service, an Irish distiller himself. His patent, the Coffey still, was a continuous distillation apparatus which offered an improvement on the traditional pot still. Although similar continuous stills had been proposed in the past, including by other Irish distillers themselves, the Coffey still was the most effective, and soon entered widespread use.


title: Irish whiskey

text: Unlike traditional pot stills, which were operated in a batch manner, Coffey stills could be operated continuously. This made them cheaper to operate, as they required less fuel, and more efficient to run, producing a continuous, rapid output of spirit. In addition, because technically, continuous distillation entails the conduct of a series of distillation runs in sequence internally within a self-contained unit rather than the conduct of a single distillation within a pot still, Coffey stills were capable of producing a far higher strength output than pot stills. However, this advantage also came with a downside. As a consequence of increasing the alcohol concentration in the product, Coffey stills removed some of the other volatile components responsible for flavour. As a result, their use proved extremely controversial when first introduced.


title: Irish whiskey

text: Ireland was the initial testing ground for the Coffey still, with Coffey showcasing them in his own distillery and offering them to other Irish distillers. Although there were seven in operation in Ireland by 1833, their use did not become widespread amongst the larger distilleries. In particular, the big four Dublin distillers, proud of their existing produce, scoffed at its use, questioning if its product, grain whiskey, which they termed "neutral" or "silent" (i.e. tasteless) "spirit", could even be termed whiskey. It wasn't that the distillers were Luddites, afraid of change; their distilleries were amongst the most advanced in the world. The distillers were simply steadfast in the belief that their existing methods yielded a superior whiskey. For instance, John Jameson trialled a Coffey still at his distillery, but chose to not adopt the technology because he was not satisfied with the quality of product it produced. Therefore, in the face of opposition in Ireland, Coffey offered his still to the English gin and Scottish whisky distillers, who proved more receptive, and where the technology gained widespread use.


title: Irish whiskey

text: The adoption of the Coffey still in Scotland was indirectly assisted by Ireland's Great Famine of the 1840s, which led to the repealing of the Corn Laws, which between 1815 and 1846 had restricted the import of cheaper foreign grain into Britain and Ireland. After the laws were repealed in 1846, cheap American corn could be imported and used to produce neutral spirit in Coffey stills. This spirit, though lacking in taste, could then be blended with traditional pot still derived spirit to produce a cheaper "blended whiskey". This blended whiskey, which was less intense in taste than pure pot still, was to prove popular in Britain, capturing much market share from Irish pure pot still whiskey.


title: Irish whiskey

text: Despite changing tastes and falling market share, the adoption of Coffey stills was stubbornly resisted by Irish distillers for many years, with some arguing for restrictions on their use. For instance, in 1878, the big Dublin distillers jointly published a pamphlet entitled "Truths about Whisky", in which they referred to the output of Coffey stills as ""Good, bad or indifferent; but it cannot be whiskey, and it ought not to be sold under that name"". In 1904, almost seventy years after the Coffey still had been patented, the Senior Manager of Ireland's largest rural distillery, Allman's of Bandon, placed an outright ban on the introduction of Coffey stills at his distillery, in the face of opposition from a director.


title: Irish whiskey

text: The issue came to a head in 1908, when a royal commission was appointed to investigate the issue. By this point, 60% of all whiskey produced in Britain and Ireland was made in Coffey stills. In 1909, the royal commission settled the argument, declaring that whiskey could refer to the output of either Coffey or pot stills. By comparison, a similar debate occurred in France, such that under French law, Cognac must be double-distilled in pot stills, whereas Coffey stills are permissible in the production of armagnac.


title: Irish whiskey

text: In addition to the introduction of blended whiskeys and the Irish distillers' failure to account for its appeal to changing tastes, there were a number of additional issues which placed further pressure on the Irish distillers: the Irish War of Independence, the subsequent civil war, and trade war with Britain (which cut off whiskey exports to Britain and all Commonwealth countries, then Irish whiskey's biggest market); prohibition in the United States (1920-1933), which severely curtailed exports to Irish whiskey's second-biggest market (Irish whiskey had accounted for more than 60% of whiskey sales in the US in the 1800s); widespread counterfeiting of Irish whiskeys in America and Britain; protectionist policies introduced by the Irish Free State government, which significantly capped whiskey exports in the hope of taxing domestic consumption; and finally, over-expansion and mismanagement at several Irish distilleries. Together, these factors greatly hampered exports and forced many distilleries into economic difficulties and out of business, and by the early 20th century Scotland had surpassed Ireland to become the world's largest whiskey producer.


title: Irish whiskey

text: When British historian Alfred Barnard published his account of the distilleries of Britain and Ireland in 1887, there were 28 distilleries in operation in Ireland. By the 1960s, there were only a handful of these remaining in operation, and in 1966 three of these (John Jameson, Powers, and Cork Distilleries Company) chose to amalgamate their operations under the name of Irish Distillers and to close their existing facilities and concentrate their operations in a new purpose-built facility to be constructed beside the Old Midleton Distillery in Co. Cork. In 1972, these were joined by the only other remaining Irish operation, Bushmills, so that by the mid-1970s there were only two whiskey distilleries in operation in Ireland, the New Midleton Distillery and the Old Bushmills Distillery, both owned by Irish Distillers, and with only one of these having operated during Irish whiskey's golden years.


title: Irish whiskey

text: Production reached a nadir at about 400,000–500,000 cases per annum during the consolidation period, down from a peak of 12 million cases around 1900.


title: Irish whiskey

text: The late 1980s saw the beginnings of a long and slow resurgence in the Irish whiskey industry, with the establishment of the Cooley Distillery in 1987 by John Teeling, and then Pernod Ricard's takeover of Irish Distillers in 1988, which led to increased marketing of Irish whiskeys, in particular Jameson, overseas.


title: Irish whiskey

text: Since the 1990s, Irish whiskey has undergone a major resurgence, and for the next twenty years it was the fastest growing spirit in the world, with annual growth of approximately 15–20% per annum. In 2010, the Kilbeggan Distillery, which had closed in 1954, was reopened fully by Teeling. Irish distillers, who operated under rules less strict than those applying to Scottish producers, experimented with new flavours, methods and cocktails.


title: Irish whiskey

text: By June 2019, the number of operating distilleries had grown to 25, and several more were in the planning stages. As of 2017, roughly 750 people were employed on a full-time basis in the whiskey industry in Ireland. In addition, it is estimated that the industry provides support to a further 4,200 jobs across agriculture and other sectors of the economy. As of 2018, sales of Irish whiskey stood at 10.7 million 9-litres cases, up from 4.4 million cases in 2008, with sales projected to exceed 12 million cases (its historical peak) by 2020, and 24 million by 2030. In 2021, annual sales were 14 million cases (168&million bottles), and in 2022, there were 42 distilleries on the island.


title: Irish whiskey

text: Irish whiskey is a protected European Geographical Indication (GI) under Regulation (EC) No 110/2008. As of 29 January 2016, production, labelling and marketing of Irish whiskey must be verified by the Irish revenue authorities as conforming with the Department of Agriculture's 2014 technical file for Irish whiskey.


title: Irish whiskey

text: Individual technical specifications for the three varieties of Irish whiskey, "single pot still", "single malt", "single grain", plus "blended" whiskey (a mix of two or more of these varieties) are also outlined in the technical file. The use of the term "single" in the aforementioned varieties being permissible only if the whiskey is totally distilled on the site of a single distillery.


title: Irish whiskey

text: According to the Irish Whiskey Association, as of December 2019, there were 32 whiskey distilleries in operation in Ireland. However, many of these were recently established and had not yet aged their own spirits for sale as whiskey:


title: Irish whiskey

text: In addition, there are a number of independently owned brands, such as Clontarf 1014, that purchase and market whiskey sourced from operating distilleries.


title: Irish whiskey

text: Further distilleries are either planned or in development across Ireland. In addition, to the "Glendalough" distillery mentioned above, which had previously distilled spirit, planned distilleries include:


title: Irish whiskey

text: In addition, work began on a further distillery, the Quiet Man Craft Distillery, in Derry in 2017. However, the project was subsequently cancelled in late November 2018.


title: Irish whiskey

text: Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, around 1,000 registered distilleries opened and closed across Ireland with multiples of this number operating illegally. Most of these have disappeared without a trace, only to be remembered by local street names e.g. Bond Street in Dublin. For instance, the excise return for 1800 lists 40 distilleries operating in Dublin city alone, while Drogheda is estimated to have had 15 distilleries in the 1780s, with as many as ten operating in Cork city in the 19th century. Of these numerous ventures, only one, Bushmills, has remained in continuous operation until the present day. However, the Kilbeggan Distillery (est. 1757) which closed in 1954, reopened in recent years, while a new distillery was constructed in Tullamore to replace an existing distillery which also closed in 1954. Some of the notable distilleries previously in operation across Ireland are listed below.


title: Irish whiskey

text: Irish whiskey comes in several forms, with the name of the style depending on the type of grain used and the distillation process. Traditionally, Irish whiskey was produced in pot stills. Irish whiskeys made in a pot still fall into two categories.


title: Irish whiskey

text: Whiskeys made entirely from malted barley distilled in a pot still within a single distillery are referred to as single malt whiskeys, a style also very commonly associated with Scotch whisky. These may be double or triple distilled.


title: Irish whiskey

text: Single pot still whiskey is made from a mixture of malted and unmalted barley completely distilled in a pot still within a single distillery. This differs from single malt whiskey through the inclusion of raw, unmalted grain in the mash. This style has also historically been referred to as "pure pot still" whiskey and "Irish pot still whiskey", with older bottlings and memorabilia often bearing these names. Single pot whiskeys were the most common style of Irish whiskey until the emergence of blends in the 20th century.


title: Irish whiskey

text: Whiskey produced from continuous distillation in a column or Coffey still, rather than a pot still, is referred to as grain whiskey. This may be produced from a variety of grains. Lighter and more neutral in taste, this spirit is rarely found on its own, though some examples exist. The vast majority of grain whiskey is used to make blended whiskey, a product made by mixing column still product with richer and more intense pot still product.


title: Irish whiskey

text: A mixture of the above styles. Regardless of whether the blended whiskey is made from combining grain whiskey with either single malt whiskey or with single pot still whiskey or both, it is labelled with the same terminology. Blended whiskeys are now the most common style of both Irish and Scotch whiskeys.


title: Aayush Sharma

text: Aayush Sharma (born 26 October 1990) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi films. He made his film debut with brother-in-law Salman Khan's production "Loveyatri" (2018). His film "" (2021) was critically and commercially acclaimed, in which he starred alongside Khan.


title: Aayush Sharma

text: Aayush Sharma was born on 26 October 1990 in Mandi, Himachal Pradesh to Anil and Sunita Sharma. He has a sibling, Aashray Sharma. He is the grandson of veteran congress leader Pandit Sukh Ram, ex-cabinet minister, who comes from village Kotli in district Mandi. Sharma's family has been involved in politics for more than 50 years and have a very special place in Himachal politics.


title: Aayush Sharma

text: In 2018, Sharma debuted in Bollywood with the lead role in Salman Khan's production "Loveyatri" opposite newcomer Warina Hussain. In 2020, he and Saiee Manjrekar were seen in the music video "Manjha" by Vishal Mishra. His breakthrough came in 2021 when he portrayed a gangster alongside Khan in his another production "".


title: Aayush Sharma

text: He is next set to appear in the actioner "Kwatha" with Isabelle Kaif, a film delayed since 2019. In May 2022, he confirmed that he will reunite with Khan in his production "Kabhi Eid Kabhi Diwali", in which he is playing his brother.


title: Aayush Sharma

text: Sharma married Arpita Khan, the younger adoptive sister of Salman Khan on 18 November 2014. They have a son, Ahil (born 30 March 2016), and a daughter, Ayat (born 27 December 2019).


title: The King of Fighters XV

text: , also called KOF XV, is a fighting game developed by SNK. It was released on February 17, 2022, for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. This is also the first game in "The King of Fighters" series created using Unreal Engine 4, and the first to implement GGPO rollback networking. Taking place after the events of "The King of Fighters XIV", the narrative primarily revolves around two fighters with multiverse-related supernatural powers, Shun'ei and Isla, among other returning heroes facing revived threats. "King of Fighters XV" generally received praise for its character roster, team-based gameplay, and smooth online performance, but criticism for its story mode, complex tutorials, and mechanics. Player criticism has mainly been directed to the game's inability to find matches within a short period of time.


title: The King of Fighters XV

text: Like its predecessors, "The King of Fighters XV" uses a fighting system involving teams composed of three fighters. The parry system also returns under the name Shatter Strike. It also reincorporates the common MAX Mode system where fighters can use stronger techniques once energy bars are filled. The game features a wide variety of online modes, including Ranked Match, Casual Match, Room Match, and Online Training.


title: The King of Fighters XV

text: The single button "Rush" from "The King of Fighters XIV" reappears and is updated to help newcomers perform combos and special/super moves easier. Shatter Strike was designed mainly as a defensive system but it can be used offensively when making use of guard points. Destructoid compared Shatter Strike with a fully charged Focus Attack from "Street Fighter IV". It will also be adjusted as it is apparently quite strong in the demo. In "XIV", combos from quick activation were the main way max mode was used so the gauge consumption was increased from 1 to 2 to prevent players from being overwhelmed. A neutral state in "XIV" was not seen often so in "XV" attack power and guard crush are increased when neutral is activated. Since Max Mode activations in neutral were almost nonexistent in "King of Fighters XIV", the developers are giving more incentive to players to not just use it as a combo extender.


title: The King of Fighters XV

text: The story focuses on the next King of Fighters tournament held after the appearance and defeat of Verse. Following Antonov's early retirement, new tournament commissioner Anastasia sends out invitations to fighters to join the tournament; the mayhem caused by Verse's powers resurrects various long-thought deceased fighters from past tournaments as well. Chizuru Kagura gathers Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami in order to look after the seal of the snake demon Orochi. Shun'ei, a teenager with mysterious powers resembling Verse's, enters the tournament again alongside Meitenkun and Benimaru Nikaido to better understand his powers, the Amplified Specters. During the tournament, they encounter a rival team led by a girl with similar powers to his own and also another Amp user, Isla. Isla is being mentored by a woman named Dolores who wishes for her and Shun'ei to stop the appearance of more Amp-related creatures like Verse, believing Ash Crimson's time-traveling in a previous tournament, which Dolores' disciple, Kukri confirms it to have caused their appearances and connected to distortions across the multiverse. However, a new Amp creature born from Isla's Amp power, labeled as Re Verse manifests as the tournament progresses and targets the fighters, pulling them into another world. Following Re Verse's defeat, the mysterious goddess Otoma=Raga appears and attacks the teams. Upon Otoma=Raga's defeat, the fighters escape back to their world and are crowned the new King of Fighters champions, whereas Isla finally warms up with Shun'ei at the same time their respective Amps are fully under control, such as Shun'ei can finally take off his headphone safely. As confirmed by Kukri earlier, defeating Otoma=Raga and Re Verse does not erase the revived fighters’ existences once they survive the two entities’ rampages.


title: The King of Fighters XV

text: "The King of Fighters XV" launched with 39 playable characters, consisting of 13 teams with three fighters each. Four more teams were released as paid downloadable content, with 15 additional DLC characters currently planned for release. Much like "Samurai Shodown" (2019) and "", the DLC teams' involvements in the storyline are canon. The game features two non-playable bosses, while Omega Rugal appears as a playable character and special boss via free DLC.


title: The King of Fighters XV

text: Due to positive response to the marketing of "The King of Fighters XIV", director Yasuyuki Oda said in August 2017 "The King of Fighters XV" was possible, but the company SNK also wanted to focus on other franchises. Oda instead worked on a spin-off, "", a female character-driven fighting game and a spiritual sequel of "SNK Gals' Fighters". In December 2018, SNK revealed the company was working on "The King of Fighters XV", aiming to release it during 2020. Feeling the previous title had outdated graphics for a 2016 game, SNK chairman Zhihui Ge said that "XV" will use the Unreal Engine 4 to provide a better presentation. They decided to make "XV" while they were still working on "XIV" but only started development after "Samurai Shodown" was completed. At Evo 2019, SNK announced that the game was in development. The game's creative director is Eisuke Ogura, who has previously worked as an artist on the series, beginning with "The King of Fighters 2001". Most notably, he served as the main illustrator for "The King of Fighters XIII" and "XIV". The director of "King of Fighters XIV", Yasuyuki Oda, serves as the producer for the title.


title: The King of Fighters XV

text: Originally, the game was set to be released in 2020. However, in late December, Oda and Ogura revealed the game would see release in 2021 with more content yet to be explored. During these announcements, the two developers revealed sketches of Shun'ei, Kyo Kusanagi and Benimaru Nikaido, with the former being set to be the protagonist of the new game. Ogura called it "our most ambitious "KOF" yet". An official trailer was set for January 7, 2021 but was delayed for unknown reasons alongside the downloadable content for "Samurai Shodown". The trailer was, instead, revealed the next day and included game footage of Kyo, Shun'ei, Benimaru, K', Mai Shiranui and Leona Heidern, while also confirming a 2021 release. The team focused on improving the visuals and increasing the fast-paced gameplay by adding new elements. The game was developed for PC and ninth generation of consoles, and supports ray tracing on these platforms. The PlayStation 4 version was also created with fans of "The King of Fighters XIV" in mind: SNK wanted to release the game while the console was still popular and expects this version to be used during major tournaments. Much attention to the character lineup was given due to the worldwide popularity of the series. In total, around 400 people were involved with game's development.


title: The King of Fighters XV

text: In February 2021, Oda announced on his personal Twitter account that the team is working on implementing rollback-based netcode for the game. The team aims to improve the gameplay and graphics while also providing a more interesting story than the one from "XIV". SNK later confirmed that they were using GGPO for their rollback implementation.


title: The King of Fighters XV

text: In promoting the title, anime director Masami Ōbari (who previously worked on "" and 1995 Technōs' Neo Geo fighting game title "Voltage Fighter Gowcaizer" along with the OVA adaptation) created and directed a short anime based on the series, with his animation studio, G-1Neo, producing the short anime. Yusuke Takeda and Hirotoshi Takaya have also worked on the short. In an interview with "Famitsu", Ōbari has stated that he wanted this anime to be his best work yet, and that his team worked closely with SNK on the character design to make sure it has feature film level of detail put into every frame of animation. The song "Now or Never" by Steven McNair plays during the short, and is also used as the main theme of the game.


title: The King of Fighters XV

text: Character design is being handled by Tomohiro Nakata, who is also working on "The King of Fighters All Star". Many returning characters received cosmetic changes. For example, Kyo Kusanagi was altered to overall look closer to his earlier appearances in the series, but different in other parts of his design like his jacket and gloves. The decision to revive characters killed off in previous "KOF" games was made during "XIV"s development and was based on "XIII"s themes of energies connecting the past to the present through space and time and Oda wondering how that would affect things in the future. The deceased characters returning for "XV" were chosen based on fan requests and the aim of the roster was for it to have a 'fresh and festive feel'. They feel like the gathering of the "KOF" Heroes as well as the return of Team Sacred Treasures and Team Orochi helped them achieve this feeling. They brought back Clemence Bellamy, the story mode announcer from "XIV", to appeal to the "tournament-likeness" of "KOF" and acknowledge that he was well received.


title: The King of Fighters XV

text: Previous "KOF" heroes Kyo, K' and Ash Crimson have been more independent protagonists, but Shun'ei is a little bit younger than them and is more of a mentally unstable character. Oda has compared Shun'ei to Rock Howard, and says that his story could end up being as fun to write as Rock's. Oda feels that unlike the older fighting game protagonists, Shun'ei has a one-of-a-kind world view, and his values change as he grows older. In regards to Isla, SNK wanted to introduce a rival to Shun'ei, so they let the design team to come up with whatever they could think of. The resulting draft had an impact on Oda, as it is very close to the final result, but he was initially worried about putting a character with that type of design into a fighting game. According to Eisuke Ogura, Isla is "not very much into actual fighting", and has a special and abnormal dance-like style. Despite Shun'ei being the protagonist the story will explore Isla's character as well.