title: Max Payne (video game)

text: Max strikes a partnership with Lem, who gives him a tip about a cargo ship at the Brooklyn waterfront carrying high-powered firearms, which some of Lem's former henchmen intend to sell to Punchinello. After securing the weapons, Max attempts to lure the Don into a trap at his restaurant, only to be ambushed himself. After escaping, Max storms Punchinello's manor and confronts the Don, but discovers that he is only a puppet in a bigger conspiracy. The manor is then overrun by mercenaries who kill Punchinello and leave Max for dead after injecting him with a Valkyr overdose.


title: Max Payne (video game)

text: After another drug-induced nightmare, Max heads to an old steel foundry where the mercenaries are regrouping. There, he finds a hidden underground military research complex, and discovers that Valkyr is the result of the "Valhalla Project", a Gulf War-era military experiment to improve soldiers' stamina and morale through chemical enhancements. The project was halted after a few years due to poor results, but was later secretly restarted by Nicole Horne (Jane Gennaro) through her pharmaceutical company, Aesir. When Michelle accidentally found out about Aesir's illegal experiments, Horne ordered her and her family's death. Max escapes from the bunker after Aesir initiates a self-destruct protocol to get rid of the evidence and witnesses, including their own men.


title: Max Payne (video game)

text: Later, Max, having figured out that B.B. is on Horne's payroll and framed him for Alex's murder, agrees to meet him at a parking lot complex, where he kills him and his men. He is then called to meet a secret society called the Inner Circle, who have been observing him. Their leader, Alfred Woden (John Randolph Jones), reveals that Horne was once a member, and asks Max to kill her in exchange for dealing with the charges against him. The meeting is ambushed by Horne's men, but both Max and Woden escape. Max arrives at Aesir's headquarters and fights his way to the top. Along the way, he runs into Mona again, who has been hired by Horne to kill him; she refuses to do so and is seemingly killed for it, but her body vanishes. As Horne attempts to flee in her helicopter, Max severs the guy wires of the building's antenna, causing it to crash into the helicopter and kill Horne. As the NYPD storms the building, Max, his vendetta finally complete, surrenders and is taken into custody. Outside, he notices Woden among the crowd formed at the scene, and smiles, knowing that Woden will ensure his protection.


title: Max Payne (video game)

text: Max Payne (voiced by James McCaffrey) is a fugitive DEA agent and former NYPD detective whose wife Michelle and newborn daughter were killed in connection with the Valkyr drug case. Max then goes undercover in the mob and eventually becomes a one-man-army vigilante, waging a personal war on crime. Max ends up killing hundreds of gangsters and conspiracy enforcers while on the run from the police determined to stop his vendetta against all those responsible for his family's death. He uses metaphors and wordplay to describe the world around him within his inner monologues, which often contradict his external responses to characters he speaks with. The game presents the story as retold by Max from his point of view.


title: Max Payne (video game)

text: Mona Sax (voiced by Julia Murney): The twin sister of Lisa Punchinello and a contract killer, Mona is the femme fatale of the game. She has a grudge against her sister Lisa's abusive husband, Mafia boss Angelo Punchinello, whom she desires to kill. After Punchinello is killed, she sides with Nicole Horne, who hires her to kill Max. Finding herself unable to do so, she is shot in the head by one of Horne's henchmen and collapses inside an elevator, though it is implied that she survived, as her body is gone when the elevator's doors reopen.


title: Max Payne (video game)

text: Remedy Entertainment developed an idea of a "third-person action game" in late 1996, after completing "Death Rally" (their first game), inspired first by "Loaded" and then by the success of "Tomb Raider" (although determined to avoid its "horrid camera system"). According to the game's story and scriptwriter Sam Lake, for him "the starting point was this archetype of the private eye, the hard-boiled cop" that would be used in a game with a "deeper, more psychological" story. A game prototype and design document of the project, with the working titles "Dark Justice" and "Max Heat" (a wordplay on this is a TV show called "Dick Justice" and a porn film "Max Heat", both featured in "Max Payne 2"), were soon created and shown to 3D Realms, who signed a development deal and production began. In 1999, the designers traveled from Finland to New York to research the city, accompanied by two ex-NYPD bodyguards, to get ideas for environments and take thousands of photographs for mapping.


title: Max Payne (video game)

text: For cutscenes, the developers found comic panels (with voice-overs) to be more effective and less costly to use than fully animated cinematics, noting that comic panels forced the player to interpret each panel for themselves and "the nuances are there in the head of the reader [...] it would be much harder to reach that level with in-game or even pre-rendered cinematics". They also found it easier to reorganize the comic panels if the plot needed to be changed while developing the game. The in-game engine is used for some cutscenes involving action sequences. The music for the game was composed by Kärtsy Hatakka.


title: Max Payne (video game)

text: Remedy used their game engine, which they dubbed MaxFX (or MAX-FX, in development since early 1997). The only games that used this engine were "Max Payne" and , while a MaxFX level editor was also included in the release. MAX-FX was licensed to Futuremark, who used it for their 3DMark'benchmark series with the last one being 3DMark2001 Second Edition.


title: Max Payne (video game)

text: The first trailer showcasing an early version of the game's story and gameplay was shown at the 1998 E3, attracting considerable interest due to its innovative content and effects (especially the MaxFX's 3D particle-based system for smoke and muzzle flashes), although 3D Realms producers later claimed they deliberately avoided overhyping the game. "Max Payne" was initially scheduled to be released in the summer of 1999; however, it was repeatedly delayed and got heavily revamped in 2000. In particular, the game's graphics were improved to feature much more realistic textures and lighting, while the multiplayer mode was dropped. The game was eventually released for Windows on 23 July 2001.


title: Max Payne (video game)

text: As a result of the inevitable comparisons to "The Matrix", the designers have included several homages to the film in order to capitalize on the hype: for instance, the detonation of the subway tunnel door to gain access to the bank vault is similar to the cartwheeling elevator door in the movie, while the introduction "Nothing to Lose" level is similar to the lobby shootout scene in the film. Futuremark, which licensed the MAX-FX graphics for their 3DMark benchmark series, included a "Matrix"-like lobby shootout as a game test in the 2001 edition.


title: Max Payne (video game)

text: The GBA version of the game was developed in 2003 by Möbius Entertainment (later Rockstar Leeds). Since it was developed on a far less powerful platform, this version differs significantly from the PC versions and its Xbox and PlayStation 2 ports: instead of a 3D shooter, the game is based on sprite graphics and is shown from an isometric perspective. However, the other gameplay features have remained very similar to the original, including the use of polygonal graphics for the characters. The story also remained the same as in the PC and console versions, though some levels from the original are omitted, and the game still features many of the original's graphic novel sections, complete with some of the voice-overs. The music was composed by Tom Kingsley.


title: Max Payne (video game)

text: On 6 April 2012, Max Payne was announced for Android and iOS, titled "Max Payne Mobile", a port of the PC version of the original "Max Payne". The game was released for iOS on 13 April 2012, while the Android version was delayed until 14 June 2012. No major changes were made to the game apart from the HD overhaul. A new version 1.3 was released on 18 March 2013 that fixes a bug that prevents users from accessing their cloud saves.


title: Max Payne (video game)

text: In its debut month, sales of "Max Payne" reached roughly 82,000 copies. It became the United States' 19th-best-selling computer game of 2001, with domestic sales of 300,782 units and revenues of $13.8 million.


title: Max Payne (video game)

text: In the United States, "Max Payne"s computer and PlayStation 2 versions respectively sold 430,000 copies ($16.9 million in revenue) and 1.6 million copies ($56 million in revenue) by 2006. According to "Edge" and "Next Generation", this made "Max Payne" the country's 33rd-highest-selling computer game released between 2000 and 2006, and the 26th-highest-selling game launched for the PlayStation 2, Xbox or GameCube between those dates.


title: Max Payne (video game)

text: The Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) awarded "Max Payne"s computer version a "Silver" sales award, and its PlayStation 2 version a "Gold" award, indicating respective sales of at least 100,000 and 200,000 copies in the United Kingdom. The game ultimately totaled four million sales.


title: Max Payne (video game)

text: "Max Payne" was released to very positive reviews. AllGame praised the game's atmosphere, level and sound design while noting that the "story is, at times, predictable and full of clichés" and that "Unlike "Half-Life", where the action is integrated perfectly with its simplistic, yet appropriate story, Max Payne frequently yanks you out of the game and forces you to look at a badly-drawn in-game 'graphic novel' and listen to mediocre dialogue." The review also noted a lack of replay value or multiplayer modes. In a mixed review, "Edge" praised "Max Payne" for successfully integrating the bullet time mechanic into its core but criticized its linear and shallow level design. While the graphics were generally praised for high-resolution textures, the character models lacked animated facial expressions (IGN criticized the titular character's "grimace on his face that makes him look constipated").


title: Max Payne (video game)

text: The game won many annual awards for the year 2001, including Best PC Game by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts; Golden Joystick Award by Dennis Publishing; Visitors Award Best PC Game at the European Computer Trade Show; Best Game of 2001, Best Graphics in a PC Game, and Best PC Action Game by "The Electric Playground"; Readers Choice Best Game and Best PC Game by "Pelit"; Computer Game of the Year by "The Augusta Chronicle"; Best PC Game of 2001 by Amazon.com; PC Game of the Year by Shacknews and by GameZone; The Best of 2001 - PC and Editor's Choice by Game Revolution; Reader's Choice Game, Best Single Player Action Game, and Best Xbox Game by GameSpot; Readers' Choice Game of the Year, Best Storyline, Best Graphics and Best Use of Sound, and Best Adventure Game (Xbox) and Editor's Choice by IGN; Gamers Choice Award (Xbox) by Games Domain; Best Gimmick by GameSpy (runner-up in the Best Ingame Cinematics and Best Movie Trailer categories); and Editor's Choice and Best Innovation Destined for Overuse by "Computer Gaming World". The staff of IGN wrote: "This game garnered so many votes from the readers that we almost decided to create a new Best Max Payne Game of 2001 category." The site also called it the 96th best PlayStation 2 game. They claimed that gamers thought of "Max Payne" instead of "The Matrix" when they thought of bullet time. "PC Gamer US" presented "Max Payne" with its 2001 "Best Action Game" and "Best Graphics" awards and the editors summarized the game as "spine-chilling, exhilarating, and surreal". "GameSpot" named "Max Payne"s Xbox version the sixth-best console game of 2001. It was a runner-up in the publication's annual "Best Xbox Game" and, among console games, "Best Story" and "Best Shooting Game" award categories.


title: Max Payne (video game)

text: The PlayStation 2 version suffered from reduced detail and occasional slowdowns, as the game stressed the limits of the console's power. Also, the levels were broken up into smaller parts so it would not tax the PlayStation 2's 32 MB of RAM, which according to IGN caused "heavy disruption to the flow and tension of the story". Otherwise, it was a faithful port that retained all of the content from the PC original. GameSpot awarded it an 8.0/10, (compared to the 9.2 ratings awarded to the PC and Xbox versions), saying "If you can't play this intense, original action game on any platform except the PS2, then that's where you should play it--but only by default."


title: Max Payne (video game)

text: Jeff Lundrigan reviewed the PC version of the game for "Next Generation", rating it four stars out of five, and stated that ""Max Payne" is not perfect. On the other hand, we can think of few games, ever, that were such a blast to play, so neatly captured the essence of what they set out to simulate, or were just so over-the-top cool."


title: Max Payne (video game)

text: An early version of "Max Payne" was also a runner-up for the Best of Show award at E3 in 1998. The finished game received several Game of the Month-type awards in various video game outlets (and a Seal of Excellence at Adrenaline Vault) and was included in the 2005 list of 50 best games of all time, as well as in the 2011 list of 100 top PC games of all time. In 2007, bit-tech included the game and its sequel on the list of the top five most moddable games. It received two awards from Eurogamer, Best Game Cinematography Award and Best Game Character Award of 2001.


title: Max Payne (video game)

text: "Max Payne Mobile" received mixed to positive reviews. Some praised the HD graphics overhaul, although pointed out the game's age and the issues with the touchscreen controls.


title: Max Payne (video game)

text: A sequel, "", was released in 2003. The third game, "Max Payne 3", was developed by Rockstar Games and released in 2012. "Max Payne", a film loosely based on the video game, was released in 2008, starring Mark Wahlberg as Max Payne and Mila Kunis as Mona Sax. In April 2022, Remedy announced that it is remaking "Max Payne" and "Max Payne 2" with funding from Rockstar, using Remedy's Northlight game engine, to be released as a compilation for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.


title: Bacon's Rebellion

text: Bacon's Rebellion was an armed rebellion held by Virginia settlers that took place from 1676 to 1677. It was led by Nathaniel Bacon against Colonial Governor William Berkeley, after Berkeley refused Bacon's request to drive Native Americans out of Virginia. Thousands of Virginians from all classes (including those in indentured servitude) and races rose up in arms against Berkeley, chasing him from Jamestown and ultimately torching the settlement. The rebellion was first suppressed by a few armed merchant ships from London whose captains sided with Berkeley and the loyalists. Government forces arrived soon after and spent several years defeating pockets of resistance and reforming the colonial government to be once more under direct Crown control.


title: Bacon's Rebellion

text: Bacon's rebellion was the first rebellion in the North American colonies in which discontented frontiersmen took part (a somewhat similar uprising in Maryland involving John Coode and Josias Fendall took place shortly afterward). The alliance between European indentured servants and Africans (a mix of indentured, enslaved, and Free Negroes) disturbed the colonial upper class. They responded by hardening the racial caste of slavery in an attempt to divide the two races from subsequent united uprisings with the passage of the Virginia Slave Codes of 1705. While the rebellion did not succeed in the initial goal of driving the Native Americans from Virginia, it did result in Berkeley being recalled to England.


title: Bacon's Rebellion

text: Starting in the 1650s, colonists began squatting on frontier land in the Northern Neck of Virginia, land which had been reserved by the Crown for Native Americans since 1634. Secocowon (then known as Chicacoan), Doeg, Patawomeck and Rappahannock natives began moving into the region as well and joined local tribes in defending their land and resources. In July 1666, the colonists declared war on them. By 1669, colonists had patented the land on the west of the Potomac as far north as My Lord's Island (now Theodore Roosevelt Island in Washington, D.C.). By 1670, they had driven most of the Doeg out of the Virginia colony and into Maryland—apart from those living beside the Nanzatico/Portobago in Caroline County, Virginia.


title: Bacon's Rebellion

text: Bacon's followers used the rebellion as an effort to gain government recognition of the shared interests among all social classes of the colony in protecting the "commonality" and advancing its welfare. However, not every class's welfare was looked after in this rebellion. Both Native American women and European women played major roles in Bacon's Rebellion as less noted members of society. However, the primary disagreement between Bacon and his followers and Berkeley was in how to handle the Native American population. Berkeley believed that it would be useful to keep some as subjects, stating, "I would have preserved those Indians that I knew were hoeurly at our mercy to have beene our spies and intelligence to find out the more bloudy Ennimies", whereas Bacon found this approach too compassionate, stating, "Our Design [is] ... to ruin and extirpate all Indians in General."


title: Bacon's Rebellion

text: In July 1675, Doeg Indians in Stafford County, Virginia, killed two white settlers and destroyed fields of corn and cattle. The Stafford County militia tracked down the raiders, killing 10 Doeg in a cabin. Meanwhile, another militia, led by Colonel Mason, attacked a nearby cabin of the friendly Susquehannock tribe and killed 14 of them. The attack ceased only when someone from the cabin managed to escape and confront Mason, telling him that they were not Doegs. On August 31, Virginia Governor William Berkeley proclaimed that the Susquehannock had been involved in the Stafford County attack with the Doeg. On September 26, 1,000 members of Maryland militia led by commander Thomas Truman marched to the Susquehannock stronghold in Maryland. Truman invited five Susquehannock chiefs to a parley. After they denied responsibility for the July attacks in Stafford County, they were seized and executed. The Susquehannocks retaliated in January 1676 with attacks on plantations, killing 60 settlers in Maryland and a further 36 in Virginia. Other tribes joined in, killing settlers, burning houses and fields and slaughtering livestock as far as the James and York.


title: Bacon's Rebellion

text: When Sir William Berkeley refused to retaliate against the Native Americans raids, farmers gathered at the report of a new raiding party. Nathaniel Bacon arrived with a quantity of brandy; after it was distributed, he was elected leader. Against Berkeley's orders, the group struck south until they came to the Occaneechi people. In May, after convincing the Occaneechi warriors to leave and attack the Susquehannock, Bacon and his men murdered most of the Occaneechi men, women, and children remaining at the village. Upon their return, Bacon's faction discovered that Berkeley had called for new elections to the House of Burgesses to better address the Native American raids.


title: Bacon's Rebellion

text: The recomposed House of Burgesses enacted a number of sweeping reforms, known as Bacon's Laws. Bacon was not serving his duty in the House; rather, he was at his plantation miles away. It limited the powers of the governor and restored suffrage to landless freemen.


title: Bacon's Rebellion

text: After passage of these laws, Nathaniel Bacon arrived with 500 followers in Jamestown to demand a commission to lead militia against the Native Americans. The governor, however, refused to yield to the pressure. When Bacon had his men take aim at Berkeley, he responded by "baring his breast" to Bacon and told Bacon to shoot him. Seeing that the governor would not be moved, Bacon then had his men take aim at the assembled burgesses, who quickly granted Bacon his commission. Bacon had earlier been promised a commission before he retired to his estate if he maintained "good" behavior for two weeks. While Bacon was at Jamestown with his small army, eight colonists were killed on the frontier in Henrico County (from whence he marched) owing to a lack of manpower on the frontier.


title: Bacon's Rebellion

text: On July 30, 1676, Bacon and his army issued the "Declaration of the People". The declaration criticized Berkeley's administration in detail. It leveled several accusations against Berkeley:


title: Bacon's Rebellion

text: After months of conflict, Bacon's forces, numbering 300–500 men, moved on Jamestown, which was occupied by Berkeley's forces, besieging the town. Bacon's men captured and burned to the ground the colonial capital on September 19. Outnumbered, Berkeley retreated across the river. His group encamped at Warner Hall, home of the speaker of the House of Burgesses, Augustine Warner Jr., and caused considerable damage, although the house was left standing.


title: Bacon's Rebellion

text: Before a Royal Navy squadron led by Thomas Larimore could arrive to aid Berkeley and his forces, Bacon died on October 26 from dysentery. John Ingram took over leadership of the rebellion, but many followers drifted away. The rebellion did not last long after that. Berkeley launched a series of successful amphibious attacks across the Chesapeake Bay and defeated the rebels. His forces defeated the small pockets of insurgents spread across the Tidewater. Thomas Grantham, captain of the ship "Concord" cruising the York River, used cunning and force to disarm the rebels. He tricked his way into the garrison of the rebellion and promised to pardon everyone involved once they got back onto the ship. However, once they were safely in the hold, he turned the ship's guns on them and disarmed the rebellion. Through various other tactics, the other rebel garrisons were likewise overcome.


title: Bacon's Rebellion

text: The 71-year-old governor Berkeley returned to the burned capital and a looted home at the end of January 1677. His wife described their Green Spring Plantation in a letter to her cousin:


title: Bacon's Rebellion

text: It looked like one of those the boys pull down at Shrovetide, and was almost as much to repair as if it had been new to build, and no sign that ever there had been a fence around it...


title: Bacon's Rebellion

text: Bacon's wealthy landowning followers returned their loyalty to the Virginia government after Bacon's death. Governor Berkeley returned to power. He seized the property of several rebels for the colony and executed 23 men by hanging, including the former governor of the Albemarle Sound colony, William Drummond, and the collector of customs, Giles Bland.


title: Bacon's Rebellion

text: After an investigative committee returned its report to King Charles II, Berkeley was relieved of the governorship and recalled to England. According to historian Alan Taylor, "Because the tobacco trade generated a crown revenue of about £5–£10 per laboring man, King Charles II wanted no rebellion to distract the colonists from raising the crop." Charles II was reported to have commented, "That old fool has put to death more people in that naked country than I did here for the murder of my father." No record of the king's comments have been found, and the origin of the story appears to have been colonial myth that arose at least 30 years after the events. Contrary to the myth, the king prided himself on the clemency he had shown to his father's enemies. Berkeley left his wife, Frances Berkeley, in Virginia and returned to England. She sent a letter to let him know that the current governor was making a bet that the king would refuse to receive him. However, William Berkeley died in July 1677, shortly after he landed in England.


title: Bacon's Rebellion

text: In order for the Virginia elite to maintain the loyalty of the common planters in order to avert future rebellions, historian Alan Taylor writes, they "needed to lead, rather than oppose, wars meant to dispossess and destroy frontier Indians." According to Taylor, this bonded the elite to the common planter in wars against Indians, their common enemy, and enabled the elites to appease free whites with land. Taylor writes, "To give servants greater hope for the future, in 1705 the assembly revived the headright system by promising each freedman fifty acres of land, a promise that obliged the government to continue taking land from the Indians."


title: Bacon's Rebellion

text: Indentured servants both black and white had joined the frontier rebellion. Seeing them united in a cause alarmed the ruling class. Historians believe the rebellion hastened the hardening of racial lines associated with slavery, as a way for planters and the colony to control some of the poor. For example, historian Eric Foner writes, "The fear of civil war among whites frightened Virginia's ruling elite, who took steps to consolidate power and improve their image: for example, restoration of property qualifications for voting, reducing taxes, and adoption of a more aggressive American Indian policy." Some of these measures, by appeasing the poor white population, may have hoped to mitigate any future unification with the enslaved black population.


title: Bacon's Rebellion

text: In 1676, Ann Cotton wrote a personal account of Bacon's Rebellion. Her account was in the form of a letter written in 1676 and published in its original form in 1804 in the "Richmond Enquirer" under the title, "An account of our late troubles in Virginia".


title: Bacon's Rebellion

text: Historians question whether the rebellion by Bacon against Berkeley in 1676 had any lasting significance for the more-successful American Revolution a century later. The most idolizing portrait of Bacon is found in "Torchbearer of the Revolution" (1940) by Thomas Jefferson Wertenbaker, which one scholar in 2011 called "one of the worst books on Virginia that a reputable scholarly historian ever published." The central area of debate is Bacon's controversial character and complex disposition, as illustrated by Wilcomb E. Washburn's "The Governor and the Rebel" (1957). Rather than singing Bacon's praises and chastising Berkeley's tyranny, Washburn found the roots of the rebellion in the colonists' intolerable demand to "authorize the slaughter and dispossession of the innocent as well as the guilty."


title: Bacon's Rebellion

text: More nuanced approaches on Berkeley's supposed tyranny or mismanagement entertained specialist historians throughout the middle of the twentieth century, leading to a diversification of factors responsible for Virginia's contemporary instability. Wesley Frank Craven in the 1968 publication, "The Colonies in Transition", argues that Berkeley's greatest failings took place during the revolt, near the end of his life. Bernard Bailyn pushed the novel thesis that it was a question of access to resources, a failure to fully transplant Old World society to New.


title: Bacon's Rebellion

text: Edmund S. Morgan's 1975 classic, "American Slavery, American Freedom: The Ordeal of Colonial Virginia", connected the calamity of Bacon's Rebellion, namely the potential for lower-class revolt, with the colony's transition over to slavery, saying, "But for those with eyes to see, there was an obvious lesson in the rebellion. Resentment of an alien race might be more powerful than resentment of an upper class. Virginians did not immediately grasp it. It would sink in as time went on."


title: Bacon's Rebellion

text: James Rice's 2012 narrative, "Tales from a Revolution: Bacon's Rebellion and the Transformation of Early America", whose emphasis on Bacon's flaws echoes "The Governor and the Rebel", integrates the rebellion into a larger story emphasizing the actions of multiple Native Americans, as well as placing it in the context of politics in Europe. In this telling, the climax of Bacon's Rebellion comes with the "Glorious Revolution" of 1688/89.


title: Bacon's Rebellion

text: According to the Historic Jamestowne website, "For many years, historians considered the Virginia Rebellion of 1676 to be the first stirring of revolutionary sentiment in [North] America, which culminated in the American Revolution almost exactly one hundred years later. However, in the past few decades, based on findings from a more distant viewpoint, historians have come to understand Bacon's Rebellion as a power struggle between two stubborn, selfish leaders rather than a glorious fight against tyranny."


title: Bacon's Rebellion

text: Nonetheless, many in the early United States, including Thomas Jefferson, saw Bacon as a patriot and believed that Bacon's Rebellion truly was a prelude to the later American Revolution against the control of the Crown. This understanding of the conflict was reflected in 20th-century commemorations, including a memorial window in Colonial Williamsburg and a prominent tablet in the Virginia House of Delegates chamber of the State Capitol in Richmond, which recalls Bacon as "A great Patriot Leader of the Virginia People who died while defending their rights October 26, 1676." Subsequent to the rebellion, the Virginia colonial legislature enacted the Virginia Slave Codes of 1705, which created several strict laws upon people of African background. Additionally, the codes were intended to socially segregate the white and black races.


title: Bacon's Rebellion

text: Robert Beverley reported, in his 1705 book on the history of Virginia, that some soldiers who had been dispatched to Jamestown to quell Bacon's Rebellion gathered and ate leaves of "Datura stramonium" and spent eleven days acting in bizarre and foolish ways before recovering. This led to the plant being known as Jamestown weed, and later jimsonweed.


title: 40-yard dash

text: The 40-yard dash is a sprint covering . It is primarily run to evaluate the speed and acceleration of American football players by scouts, particularly for the NFL Draft but also for collegiate recruiting. A player's recorded time can have a heavy impact on his prospects in college or professional football. This was traditionally only true for the "skill" positions such as running back, wide receiver, and defensive back, although now a fast 40-yard dash time is considered important for almost every position. The 40-yard dash is not an official race in track and field athletics, and is not an IAAF-recognized race.


title: 40-yard dash

text: The origin of timing football players for 40 yards comes from the average distance of a punt and the time it takes to reach that distance. Punts average around 40 yards in distance from the line of scrimmage, and the hangtime (time of flight) averages approximately 4.5 seconds; therefore, if a player can run 40 yards in 4.5 seconds, he will be able to leave the line of scrimmage when a punt is kicked, and reach the point where the ball comes down just as it arrives.


title: 40-yard dash

text: In terms of judging a person's speed, the best method of timing is through lasers which start and stop the times when passed through. A laser start (from a stationary position) is more accurate for measuring pure speed as it does not register a runner's reaction time, however, this method of timing a 40-yard dash can affect the accuracy by as much as 0.5 seconds with the manual stopwatch method.


title: 40-yard dash

text: The National Football League (NFL) did not begin using partial electronic timing (i.e. started by hand, stopped electronically) at the NFL Scouting Combine until 1999. For purposes of measurement at the Combine, the run is made along the lower sideline from the 40 yard-line to the end zone, which has built-in rundown space, and for electronically timed 40-yard dashes, the runner is allowed to start when they wish, and a timer hand-starts the clock.


title: 40-yard dash

text: In contrast, track and field races have the runner react to a starting gun, which takes approximately 0.24 second (based on FAT timing); further to this, IAAF rules state any runner with a reaction time of less than 0.1 second is subject to disqualification.


title: 40-yard dash

text: This aspect means that comparisons with track times are essentially impossible given that a reaction time is not factored in, and the use of hand-timing in the 40-yard dash can considerably alter a runner's time: the methods are not comparable to the rigorous electronic timing used in track and field.


title: 40-yard dash

text: For example, Jacoby Ford, who ran 4.28 s in the 2010 NFL Combine, had a collegiate best of 6.51 s in the 60-meter dash (outside the top-40 of the all-time lists).


title: 40-yard dash

text: Texas Tech's Jakeem Grant was hand-timed by a New Orleans Saints scout as running a 4.10 in 2016. In the early 1980s, Baylor's Gerald McNeil ran a 4.19-second 40-yard dash before being signed to the United States Football League (USFL). Deion Sanders ran a 4.27-second 40-yard dash in 1989.


title: 40-yard dash

text: In 2013, rugby union Carlin Isles recorded a time of 4.22 at a Detroit Lions facility during a workout.


title: 40-yard dash

text: In 2017, Olympic sprinter Christian Coleman ran a time of 4.12 seconds on turf in response to claims that NFL players are as fast as Usain Bolt.


title: 40-yard dash

text: A year and a half after he retired from active competition, Usain Bolt ran a 4.22 in running shoes and a tracksuit at a promotional event for the Super Bowl in Atlanta, Georgia on February 2, 2019.


title: 40-yard dash

text: This is a list of the official 40-yard dash results of under 4.31 seconds recorded at the NFL Scouting combine since 1999, the first year electronic timing was implemented at the NFL Scouting Combine.


title: 40-yard dash

text: According to a five-year NFL combine report, wide receivers and cornerbacks had the fastest average times at 4.48, followed by running backs at 4.49. The following average times were measured between 2000 and 2012 at the NFL combine for players who played at least 5 games.


title: Anita Sarkeesian

text: Anita Sarkeesian ( ; born 1983) is a Canadian-American feminist media critic and public speaker. She is the founder of "Feminist Frequency", a website that hosts videos and commentary analyzing portrayals of women in popular culture. She has received particular attention for her video series "Tropes vs. Women in Video Games", which examines tropes in the depiction of female video game characters.


title: Anita Sarkeesian

text: In 2012, Sarkeesian was targeted by an online harassment campaign following her launch of a Kickstarter project to fund the "Tropes vs. Women in Video Games" series. Supporters donated almost $160,000 to the project, far beyond the $6,000 she had sought. The situation was covered extensively in the media, placing Sarkeesian at the center of discussions about misogyny in video game culture and online harassment. She has spoken to TEDxWomen, XOXO Festival, and the United Nations' Broadband Working Group on Gender, and appeared on "The Colbert Report" discussing her experiences of harassment and the challenge of attempting to improve gender inclusivity in gaming culture and the media.


title: Anita Sarkeesian

text: Sarkeesian was born in Canada and grew up near Toronto. Her parents were Iraqi Armenians who emigrated to Canada in the 1970s. She later moved to California and identifies as Canadian-American.


title: Anita Sarkeesian

text: She received a bachelor's degree in communication studies from California State University, Northridge, in 2007 and then earned a master's degree in social and political thought from York University in 2010. Her master's thesis is titled "I'll Make a Man Out of You: Strong Women in Science Fiction and Fantasy Television".


title: Anita Sarkeesian

text: Sarkeesian launched her website Feminist Frequency in 2009, while a student at York University. She created the site in an effort to create accessible feminist media criticism. Videos created for the site analyzed social and cultural gender structure and popular culture from a feminist standpoint, such as applying the Bechdel test to pictures nominated for the 84th Academy Awards in 2012 and highlighting Lego's role in reinforcing cultural norms.


title: Anita Sarkeesian

text: In 2011, Sarkeesian partnered with "Bitch" magazine to create the video series "Tropes vs. Women". The series examined common tropes in the depiction of women in media with a particular focus on science fiction. The series comprises six videos dedicated to tropes such as the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, Women in Refrigerators and the Smurfette Principle.


title: Anita Sarkeesian

text: In 2011, Sarkeesian co-authored the essay "Buffy vs. Bella: The Re-Emergence of the Archetypal Feminine in Vampire Stories" for the anthology "Fanpires: Audience Consumption of the Modern Vampire". She spoke at conferences and workshops about media criticism and video blogging, and was interviewed by UK Sunday newspaper "The Observer" in March 2012 about modern media culture, stating: "I think to the extent that it could be creating authentic, human female characters, it is a push towards a more feminist media."


title: Anita Sarkeesian

text: In March 2012, Sarkeesian and her blog were listed in the journal "Feminist Collections"s quarterly column on "E-Sources on Women & Gender". Her blog has been utilized as material for university-level women's studies courses, and she has spoken at universities on the topic of female characters in pop culture.


title: Anita Sarkeesian

text: Sarkeesian was inspired to start a video series on female representation in video games after she was invited to speak to developers at Bungie. On May 17, 2012, she began a Kickstarter campaign to fund a series of short videos that would examine gender tropes in video games that was featured as a campaign of note on the official Kickstarter blog. The threats and harassment she received in response generated widespread media attention, and resulted in her ultimately far exceeding her funding goal of $6,000. The final amount raised was $158,922 from 6,968 backers.


title: Anita Sarkeesian

text: While stating that the support Sarkeesian has received "stands at a counter" to the harassment, Sal Humphreys and Karen Orr Vered, writing in "Television & New Media", suggest that the harassment Sarkeesian received may ultimately serve to discourage other women from following Sarkeesian's lead for fear of being subjected to similar attacks.


title: Anita Sarkeesian

text: Sarkeesian initially planned to release the "Tropes vs. Women in Video Games" series in 2012 but pushed it back explaining that the additional funding allowed her to expand the scope and scale of the project. The first video in the "Tropes vs Women in Video Games" series was released on March 7, 2013.


title: Anita Sarkeesian

text: The first three videos discuss examples of the "Damsels in Distress" trope, in which passive and often helpless female characters must be rescued by the male hero. Chris Suellentrop of "The New York Times" referred to the first four videos of the series as "essential viewing for anyone interested in video games", and cites it as the reason why he asked Nintendo producer Shigeru Miyamoto about the themes of damsels present in his games, to which he responded "I haven't given it a lot of deep thought over the years".


title: Anita Sarkeesian

text: Colin Campbell writes at "Polygon" that "Feminist Frequency" has had a demonstrable effect on the games industry, stating, "video games have seen a rise in the number of positive women and minority protagonists and a decrease in the tropes [Sarkeesian] discusses" since the launch of the project. In January 2015, as part of a $300 million effort to increase diversity and inclusivity in the technology sphere, Intel announced it would partner with "Feminist Frequency" and other groups to help promote increased career opportunities, engagement and positive representation for women and minorities in technology and gaming.


title: Anita Sarkeesian

text: On January 23, 2015, "Feminist Frequency" issued its first annual report and announced they were planning two new video series tackling the "positive" portrayal of women in video games, as well as the "portrayal of masculine identities in games".


title: Anita Sarkeesian

text: On March 8, 2016, "Feminist Frequency" launched a crowdfunding campaign for an animated video series called "Ordinary Women: Daring to Defy History". The planned 5-episode series will explore the lives of historical women such as Ida B. Wells and Emma Goldman. The video series was released in 2017.


title: Anita Sarkeesian

text: In March 2016, "Feminist Frequency" began a formal partnership with the Crash Override Network, agreeing to serve as its fiscal sponsor. Crash Override is a support group for victims of large scale online abuse formed by game developers Zoë Quinn and Alex Lifschitz in the wake of the Gamergate controversy.


title: Anita Sarkeesian

text: The "Tropes vs. Women in Video Games" series ended with its final episode, "The Lady Sidekick", posted on April 27, 2017. Sarkeesian announced that "Feminist Frequency" would produce another series.


title: Anita Sarkeesian

text: In March 2019, "Feminist Frequency" returned with a three part miniseries on Queer Tropes in Video Games that is similar to "Tropes vs. Women in Video Games".


title: Anita Sarkeesian

text: According to "Axios" in March 2022, "Reflecting on her work and its impact during a Game Developers Conference talk ... Sarkeesian says that making [Tropes] videos today might be 'not impossible, but harder,' as there are fewer examples and 'the pattern is less egregious.'"


title: Anita Sarkeesian

text: In October 2022, Sarkeesian began a new video series on online streaming service Nebula called "That Time When", which "looks at the moments when pop culture and politics collide in modern history".


title: Anita Sarkeesian

text: Media scholar Soraya Murray calls Sarkeesian emblematic of "a burgeoning organized feminist critique" of stereotyped and objectified portrayals of women in video games.


title: Anita Sarkeesian

text: The "Tropes vs Women" project triggered a campaign of sexist harassment against Sarkeesian that included rape and death threats, hacking of her webpages and social media, and doxing. Attackers posted disparaging comments online, vandalized Sarkeesian's article on Wikipedia with racial slurs and sexual images, and sent Sarkeesian drawings of herself being raped by video game characters.


title: Anita Sarkeesian

text: One attacker created the computer game "Beat Up Anita Sarkeesian", which prompted players to bloody a picture of Sarkeesian by clicking the mouse. Toronto feminist Stephanie Guthrie received death and rape threats for criticizing the "Beat Up Anita Sarkeesian" game. The resulting criminal trial against critic Gregory Alan Elliott is regarded as having significant implications for online freedom of speech in Canada. Sarkeesian responded to the threats against Guthrie in a statement to the "Toronto Standard", condemning the widespread harassment she and other women have faced online.


title: Anita Sarkeesian

text: In March 2014, Sarkeesian was scheduled to speak and receive an award at the 2014 Game Developers Choice Awards. The organizers later revealed that they had received an anonymous bomb threat and that San Francisco police had swept the Moscone Center hall before the event proceeded.


title: Anita Sarkeesian

text: In August 2014, "Feminist Frequency" issued a new "Tropes vs Women in Games" episode. This coincided with the ongoing harassment of Zoë Quinn as part of the Gamergate controversy. The increased volume and specificity of the harassment (including death threats) prompted Sarkeesian to leave her home. San Francisco Police confirmed that they had passed the case file to the FBI for investigation.


title: Anita Sarkeesian

text: On October 14, 2014, Sarkeesian and Utah State University received terrorist threats pertaining to her planned lecture at the university the following day. The threats, one of which was issued by a person who claimed to be affiliated with Gamergate, specifically cited the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada as inspiration. The university and police did not believe the threats were credible inasmuch as they were consistent with others Sarkeesian had received, but scheduled enhanced security measures nonetheless. Sarkeesian canceled the event, however, feeling the planned security measures were insufficient given that the university could not prohibit handguns in the venue per Utah state law.


title: Anita Sarkeesian

text: The threats resulted in public attention to misogynistic and violent harassment on the Internet, along with the propriety of concealed weapons on university campuses. In an editorial, "The Salt Lake Tribune" wrote that the threats "would seem to support Sarkeesian's point about a link between some video games and violent attitudes toward females" and called on the state to allow universities "to ban firearms from venues where they are not just inappropriate, but destructive of the mission of an institution of higher learning".


title: Anita Sarkeesian

text: In an August 2015 interview with "The Guardian", Sarkeesian remarked of dealing with the pervasive harassment (her "new normal") that older mentors and feminists told her "We were dealing with that, but they were throwing rocks at us."


title: Anita Sarkeesian

text: Soraya Murray describes the attack as a "watershed moment" in the "culture war" being fought over representations of women and minorities in video games.


title: Anita Sarkeesian

text: At VidCon 2017, Sarkeesian appeared on a panel discussing online harassment directed towards women. A group of YouTubers and bloggers who produce content critical of feminism and political correctness sat directly in front of the stage and filmed Sarkeesian as part of a targeted harassment campaign against her. Sarkeesian singled out British YouTuber Carl Benjamin, seated in the first row, as a serial harasser of hers. Speaking directly to Benjamin, she said, "I hate to give you attention because you're a garbage human." The event went viral among both critics and supporters of Sarkeesian. Benjamin accused Sarkeesian of abuse and cyberbullying; in a blog post, Sarkeesian wrote:


title: Anita Sarkeesian

text: VidCon founder Hank Green issued a statement that the group's actions were clear "intimidating behaviour" and apologised for the situation "which resulted in [Sarkeesian] being subjected to a hostile environment that she had not signed up for".


title: Anita Sarkeesian

text: In a retrospective for "Polygon" in December 2019, Sarkeesian said that "GamerGate's real goals were expressed in the explicit racism, sexism, and transphobia of the memes the movement generated, and the posts its supporters wrote on the message boards where they organized and strategized. Later, the flimsiness of the 'ethics in games journalism' pretense would become a mocking meme signifying a bad faith argument. It would almost be funny, if GamerGate hadn't done so much harm, and caused so much lasting trauma." Sarkeesian also criticized the video game industry's response to Gamergate, saying "the game industry's silence was shameful".


title: Anita Sarkeesian

text: On August 3, 2020, Sarkeesian launched the Game and Online Harassment Hotline, a free non-profit service that started development in August 2019.


title: Anita Sarkeesian

text: Sarkeesian and her work have come to much greater public attention following the announcement of "Tropes vs. Women in Video Games" and the harassment she subsequently faced. These events helped bring the issue of pervasive sexual harassment in video game culture to mainstream media attention. Discussions occurred in a range of publications and outlets, including "The New York Times", "The Guardian" and "New Statesman".


title: Anita Sarkeesian

text: Sarkeesian's elevated profile led to speaking engagements on sexual harassment and online communities at the TEDxWomen conference and several universities.


title: Anita Sarkeesian

text: Speaking at the XOXO Festival in September 2014, Sarkeesian described the allegation that she and other women fabricated harassment as itself being a form of harassment. "Harassment is the background radiation of my life," she later remarked in a "Bloomberg Businessweek" cover story on her work and the video game industry.


title: Anita Sarkeesian

text: On October 29, 2014, Sarkeesian was interviewed on "The Colbert Report" where she discussed the harassment she suffered at the hands of GamerGate and her views on making video games more inclusive. She told Colbert that video games often portray women in a manner which "reinforces the cultural myth that women are sexual objects" and that her goal is not to censor video games, but to raise awareness of how women can be portrayed in more realistic, less stereotypical ways.


title: Anita Sarkeesian

text: The harassment of Sarkeesian and other women in gaming was featured in the January 14, 2015, edition of "Nightline". When asked by ABC News why there was so much anger, she responded "I think it comes from this idea that gaming is a male-dominated space, and that games are for men by men... it's a very misogynist backlash". She appears in the 2015 documentary "GTFO".


title: Anita Sarkeesian

text: On February 11, 2019, Sarkeesian appeared at the University of Alberta's Myer Horowitz Theatre with the presentation "I Am Tired: The Costs of Online Harassment" during the Level Up: Gender Based Violence Prevention Week.


title: Anita Sarkeesian

text: Sarkeesian's "Feminist Frequency" blog was highlighted by "Feminist Collections" and "Media Report to Women". In 2012, Gamasutra considered the harassment and success of "Feminist Frequency" a catalyst that led to new attention on the importance of diversity and inclusion in the gaming culture and industry. They named this call for inclusion one of the "5 trends that defined the game industry in 2012". In 2013, "Newsweek" magazine and "The Daily Beast" named Sarkeesian one of their "125 Women of Impact".


title: Anita Sarkeesian

text: In 2014, Sarkeesian received the Ambassador Award at the 14th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards for her work on the representation of women in video games, becoming the first woman to receive the award. She was also nominated for the Ambassador Award at Microsoft's 2014 Women in Gaming Awards for her work.


title: Anita Sarkeesian

text: After the Utah State University death threats, "Rolling Stone" called her "pop culture's most valuable critic," saying that "the backlash has only made her point for her: Gaming has a problem". In December 2014, "The Verge" named her as one of "the 50 most important people at the intersection of technology, art, science, and culture". In March 2015, "Time" magazine included Sarkeesian in its list of the thirty "Most Influential People on the Internet", and in April of that year, chose her for the "Time" 100, the magazine's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. In May 2015, "Cosmopolitan" included her in its list of the "50 Most Fascinating People on the Internet".


title: Anita Sarkeesian

text: "Feminist Frequency" won a Peabody Award in the category of "Digital and Interactive Storytelling" in 2022.


title: Ayra Starr

text: Oyinkansola Sarah Aderibigbe (born 14 June 2002), known professionally as Ayra Starr, is a Nigerian singer and songwriter. Born in Cotonou, Benin, Ayra Starr began a fashion career at the age of 16 with Quove Model Management before deciding to pursue music. After covering several songs by popular artists on Instagram, she posted her first original song on her page in December 2019. This brought her to the attention of record executive Don Jazzy, and led to her signing to Mavin Records.


title: Ayra Starr

text: In early 2021, Ayra Starr achieved mainstream recognition with her eponymous debut extended play and its hit track "Away" which spent two consecutive weeks at number four on Nigeria's "TurnTable" Top 50 and went to number 17 on US "Billboard" Top Triller Global, paving the way for the release of her first full-length mixtape, "19 & Dangerous" in August 2021. Categorized mainly as Afropop and R'nB, the album has been met with favorable critical reception. It spawned two top forty hits in Nigeria. The lead single "Bloody Samaritan" peaked atop the Top 50 chart, becoming the first solo song by a female artist to reach the number-one position. Starr debuted on Pandora Predictions chart, and on 28 August 2021, she ranked number two on "Billboard"s Next Big Sound.


title: Ayra Starr

text: Oyinkansola Sarah Aderibigbe was born on 14 June, 2002 in Cotonou, Benin, and grew up there and in Lagos, Nigeria. She was born to Nigerian parents from Kwara State and has four siblings. Her family moved frequently during her high school years because of her father's business, and as a result she had a hard time forming close friends.


title: Ayra Starr

text: Having been raised in a music-loving family, her interest in singing comes mostly from her family. At the age of 10, she sang in a high school choir and began writing songs with her brother. She attended Les Cours Sonou University and received a BA degree in international relations and political science. During her college years, she was often bullied by her classmates because of her age and appearance. To counter the feelings she experienced from being taunted, Ayra Starr turned to music. "I would listen to Nicki Minaj on my way to school, and I'd feel like the second Nicki Minaj." Ayra Starr's mother was very supportive of her musical ambitions, and always encouraged her to pursue a singing career.


title: Ayra Starr

text: In August 2018, Starr was signed with Quove Models, a modelling agency based in Lagos. From there, she modelled for companies such as Mazelle Studio, Complete Fashion Magazine and Esperanza Woman. In 2019, she began posting covers of songs by artists like Andra Day and 2Face Idibia online. She chose her stage name because, in her words, "it means woke and eye-opening and that's what I stand for." She appeared in the music video for Eri Ife's song "Dear Future Wife." In December 2019, she uploaded an original song called "Damage" on her Instagram page. This was heard by thousands of people including label executive Don Jazzy and led to her first recording contract with Mavin Records.


title: Ayra Starr

text: In 2020, she started recording at Mavin Studios in Lagos with producers Louddaaa and Don Jazzy. Her self-titled debut extended play was released on 22 January, 2021 through Mavin Records. The album has been described as "a topsy-turvy chronicle of love or love-themed situations" and "merges elements of R&B/neo-soul with Afropop percussion." Ayra Starr said her intention with the record was to make music that would resonate with both young and old listeners. The mixing and mastering of the EP was by Ikon, Louddaaa and Johnny Drille. Starr wrote one of the songs on the EP alone, and co-wrote the remaining four with her brother Dami. Shortly after its release, the EP became the number-one album on Nigeria iTunes and Apple Music. As of March 2021, it has reached the same position on Apple Music in 4 other countries, racking up over 15 million streams across Spotify, YouTube and Audio Mack. The project spawned the hit track "Away" which peaked at number four on Nigeria's "TurnTable" Top 50 and number 17 on US "Billboard" Top Triller Global. Its accompanying music video also debuted on MTV Base's Official Naija Top 10. "OkayAfrica" included the song in their list of "The 9 Best Nigerian Songs of January 2021". Ayra Starr released remix versions of "Ija" and "Away" featuring Tokimonsta and Lilo respectively between March and April. Around the same time, Crayon's EP "Twelve A.M" was released with her vocals on the track "In Sync." She performed at the UC Berkeley Nigerian Students Association virtual culture show titled The Olori Awards. On 28 April 2021, the official music video for her song "DITR" was released on YouTube via Mavin. In June 2021, the music video for another song titled "Sare", was released. Both music videos were directed by Afolabi Olalekan.


title: Ayra Starr

text: On 11 July 2021, Ayra Starr performed for the season finale of "Nigerian Idol". On 6 August 2021, her debut studio album, titled "19 & Dangerous" was released. For the album, she worked with her previous collaborators Louddaaa and Don Jazzy, both of whom contributed production on her EP "Ayra Starr", and new collaborators, London and Andre Vibez. The album marked her first time recording alongside guest artists such as Fousheé and CKay. It was met with favorable critical reception with most critics characterizing its sound as primarily Afropop and R&B. It spawned two top forty hits on the "TurnTable" Top 50, the highest being "Bloody Samaritan", its lone single, which became Starr's first number-one single on the chart. The song climbed the Top 50 for several weeks, and, on the chart dated 27 September 2021, it reached the number one spot, making Ayra Starr the first female artist to do so with a solo single. She debuted on Pandora Predictions chart, and on 28 August 2021, she ranked number two on the "Billboard"s Next Big Sound. She was featured on "in the light", a track on Johnny Drille's "Before We Fall Asleep". On 4 September 2021, she was named brand ambassador for Pepsi Nigeria. The following day, Starr performed during a live eviction episode of "Big Brother Naija". She collaborated with Cheque on "Dangerous", the second track on his album "Bravo". At the 8th African Muzik Magazine Awards, she was nominated for Best Newcomer award.


title: Ayra Starr

text: Although musically diverse, Ayra Starr's sound has predominantly been categorized as Afropop and R&B. Her voice has been described in the media as "silky", "cozy", "delicate", "sturdy", "arresting" and "soulful", with music critics noting the dynamic nature of her range and emotional delivery. Her lyrics are a mixture of English, Pidgin English and Yoruba, often exploring contemporary topics such as love, relationship, empowerment and freedom.


title: Ayra Starr

text: With the release of her debut eponymous EP, some critics felt that her vocal technique bore a striking resemblance to Tems' musical style. In an interview with Cool FM, Ayra Starr spoke about comparisons to Tems: "I'm a young artist and Tems is an amazing musician, for people to compare me to such an amazing musician, it's a compliment and I'm honoured." Motolani Alake, in his review of the EP for "Pulse" wrote that "Ayra Starr isn't exactly a replica of Tems, but when she manipulates her vocals to stress the final syllable on words, sentences and cadences by flexing her octaves, she definitely sounds like Tems." Alake also opined that both artists are different and that "Tems can be more alternative while Starr is more Nigerian and more Afropop with more lamba in her soul." "Schön! Magazine"s Thandie Sibanda called the EP "a coming-of-age jukebox." Karen Chalamilla of "The Floor" remarked that "Ayra Starr" "not only solidifies the singer/songwriter as a standout vocalist, but also serves as an acute window into her artistic sensibilities."


title: Ayra Starr

text: In a review for "19 & Dangerous", Oris Aigbokhaevbolo of "Music In Africa" described Starr as an evolving artist and praised her singing abilities, adding that it's clear she "can work across genres while not quite sounding like anybody else." "19 & Dangerous" retains the Afropop-R&B sound of her previous record, but it also incorporates influences from genres such as neo-soul, Jazz and EDM.


title: Ayra Starr

text: Ayra Starr grew up in a musically inclined family. She considers her mother, a former singer and her brother Dami, a guitarist and songwriter as her earliest inspirations for her interest in a music career. Growing up between Bénin and Nigeria, she was exposed to different cultures that influenced her perspective on life and her personality. Ayra Starr and Dami began writing songs from a very young age under the tutelage of their mother and aunt. She had wanted to make a real career out of singing since age 10 but her father encouraged her to complete her education first.


title: Ayra Starr

text: In her interviews for local and international media, she stated that throughout her childhood, she had a wide range of musical influences, including 2Face Idibia, Wande Coal, Angélique Kidjo, Lijadu Sisters and Tope Alabi, and in college, Nicki Minaj, Justin Bieber, Sia and Tiwa Savage. She credited Shakira as her biggest influence vocally along with Beyoncé, Rihanna and Miley Cyrus: "It was just the power I would feel listening to their music. We didn't get a lot of Nigerian female singers singing strongly about things like them, not as we do now." Lyrically, she admires Aṣa and has said that she "wrote so beautifully [and] was one of one of those people [she] would listen to just to learn how to write properly."


title: Ayra Starr

text: She was in the cover for October 2021 issue of Accelerate TV's "The Cover" and an editorial titled "Ayra Starr A Starr Is Born". She starred an editorial for Fall/Winter 2021 issue of "ODDA". Around the same time, she appeared in a "Notion" editorial to discuss about her debut studio album "19 & Dangerous".


title: Wheat flour

text: Wheat flour is a powder made from the grinding of wheat used for human consumption. Wheat varieties are called "soft" or "weak" if gluten content is low, and are called "hard" or "strong" if they have high gluten content. Hard flour, or "bread flour", is high in gluten, with 12% to 14% gluten content, and its dough has elastic toughness that holds its shape well once baked. Soft flour is comparatively low in gluten and thus results in a loaf with a finer, crumbly texture. Soft flour is usually divided into cake flour, which is the lowest in gluten, and pastry flour, which has slightly more gluten than cake flour.


title: Wheat flour

text: In terms of the parts of the grain (the grass fruit) used in flour—the endosperm or protein/starchy part, the germ or protein/fat/vitamin-rich part, and the bran or fiber part—there are three general types of flour. White flour is made from the endosperm only. Brown flour includes some of the grain's germ and bran, while whole grain or "wholemeal flour" is made from the entire grain, including the bran, endosperm, and germ. Germ flour is made from the endosperm and germ, excluding the bran.


title: Wheat flour

text: To produce refined ("white") wheat flour, grain is usually tempered, i.e. moisture added to the grain, before milling, to optimize milling efficiency. This softens the starchy "endosperm" portion of the wheat kernel, which will be separated out in the milling process to produce what is known to consumers as "white flour". The addition of moisture also stiffens the bran and ultimately reduces the energy input required to shatter the kernel, while at the same time avoiding the shattering of bran and germ particles to be separated out in this milling process by sieving or sifting.


title: Wheat flour

text: The endosperm portion of the kernel makes up about 80% of the volume and is desirable because the products made from this white flour are often considered to have milder flavor, smoother texture, and, in the case of bread, greater volume. The balance of the kernel is composed of the bran and the germ which tend to be coarser. With the invention of the roller milling system in the late 19th century, the bran and the germ were able to be removed, dramatically improving the appeal of baked products to the public.


title: Wheat flour

text: The moistened grain is first passed through the series of break rollers, then sieved to separate out the fine particles that make up white flour. The balance are intermediate particles of endosperm (otherwise known as product "middling" or "farina") and coarse particles of bran and germ. The middling then makes multiple passes through the reduction rolls, and is again sieved after each pass to maximize extraction of white flour from the endosperm, while removing coarser bran and germ particles.


title: Wheat flour

text: To produce "whole wheat" flour, 100% of the bran and germ must be reintroduced to the white flour that the roller milling system was originally designed to separate it from. Therefore, these elements are first ground on another mill (usually a pin mill). These finer bran and germ fractions are then reintroduced to the endosperm ("white flour") to produce whole wheat flour made of 100% of the kernel of wheat.


title: Wheat flour

text: Wheat flour is available in many varieties; the categorization is regional, and the same name may have several different regional meanings.


title: Wheat flour

text: The W index is an indicator of a flour's strength which is commonly used by professional bakers. It is measured using a Chopin Alveograph, and it takes into account both the toughness and elasticity of the flour's gluten. The W index is often not listed on commercial flour packaging, but it can be approximated based the flour's protein content.


title: Wheat flour

text: In general, a higher W index flour will require a longer rising time for leavened bread products. Higher W index flour better retains the CO produced during the fermentation process, because the gluten traps the produced gas.


title: Wheat flour

text: The Zeleny sedimentation value is a measurement of how much of the flour sediments during a set period of time in a lactic acid solution. It is used to predict the baking characteristics of a particular cultivar. Since this test has costs associated with it, the Zeleny value may itself be estimated by EM irradiation and spectral analysis of the dry material. Where present, damage by insect pests and fungal diseases are the primary determinants of the sedimentation value, overwhelming the underlying genetic characteristics.


title: Wheat flour

text: During World War II, the British government promoted National Flour; it was adopted in 1942 as a healthy and economic alternative to importing wheat. The flour is described as being of 85% extraction, i.e. containing more of the whole wheat grain than refined flour, generally described as 70% extraction at the time. Parliamentary questions on the exact constitution of National Flour in 1943 reveal that it was "milled from a grist consisting of 90 per cent wheat and 10 per cent diluent grains. Authorised additions are calcium at the rate of per of flour and dried milk at the rate of per of flour and customary improvers in normal proportions." The diluent grains were barley, oats and rye and customary improvers were "certain oxidising agents which improve the quality of the bread baked from the flour, and their nature depends on the kind of grain used, whether hard or soft". A survey of the composition of National Flour was conducted for the period 1946–1950. National Flour was discontinued in 1956 against the recommendations of the Medical Research Council as the government considered that the addition of nutritional supplements to refined flour removed the necessity for using National Flour on health grounds.


title: Wheat flour

text: National Flour was also a term for a flour introduced in Kenya by the colonial government which contained 70% wheat flour and 30% maize flour.


title: Norwegian Armed Forces

text: The Norwegian Armed Forces () is the military organization responsible for the defence of Norway. It consists of five branches, the Norwegian Army, the Royal Norwegian Navy, which includes the Coast Guard, the Royal Norwegian Air Force, the Home Guard, and Norwegian Cyber Defence Force as well as several joint departments.


title: Norwegian Armed Forces

text: The military force in peace time is around 17 185 personnel including military and civilian staff, and around 70 000 in total with the current military personnel, conscripts and the Norwegian Home Guard in full mobilization.


title: Norwegian Armed Forces

text: An organised military was first assembled in Norway in the 9th century and its early focus was naval warfare. The army was created in 1628 as part of Denmark–Norway, followed by two centuries of regular wars. A Norwegian military was established in 1814, but the military did not see combat until the German occupation of Norway in 1940. Norway abandoned its position as a neutral country in 1949 to become a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The Cold War saw a large build-up of air stations and military bases, especially in Northern Norway. Since the 2000s, the military has transformed from a focus on defence from an invasion to a mobile force for international missions.


title: Norwegian Armed Forces

text: Norway had its combat units retreat from the War in Afghanistan in 2021. During the war, Norwegian combat forces had been on loan to ISAF, and later on loan to Resolute Support Mission.


title: Norwegian Armed Forces

text: The formal commander-in-chief is King Harald V; however, the "de facto" supreme decision-making is made by the Cabinet, led by the Prime Minister. The Chief of Defence (a four-star general or admiral) is the professional head and leader of the armed forces, and is the principal military adviser to the Minister of Defence. The Chief of Defence and his staff is located at Akershus Fortress in Oslo, while the Norwegian Joint Headquarters, responsible for commanding operations, is located in Bodø. The main naval base is Haakonsvern in Bergen, the main army camps are in Bardu, Målselv and Rena, and the main air station is Ørland.


title: Norwegian Armed Forces

text: Conscription was constitutionally established the 12 April 1907 with "Kongeriket Norges Grunnlov § 119".


title: Norwegian Armed Forces

text: Norway employs a weak form of mandatory military service for men and women. While 62,873 men and women were called in for the examination of persons liable for military service in 2010 (mandatory for men), 9,631 were conscripted. In practice recruits are not forced to serve, instead only those who are motivated are selected. In earlier times, up until at least the early 2000s, all men aged 19–44 were subject to mandatory service, with good reasons required to avoid becoming drafted.


title: Norwegian Armed Forces

text: Since 1985, women have been able to enlist for voluntary service as regular recruits. On 14 June 2013, the Norwegian Parliament voted to extend conscription to women. In 2015 conscription was extended to women making Norway the first NATO member and first European country to make national service compulsory for both men and women. In 2020, women made up one-third of new conscripts.


title: Norwegian Armed Forces

text: Students of professional subjects (doctors, psychologists, pharmacists, dentists, etc.) may serve their conscription after completing a six weeks course, receiving lieutenant ranking when they begin their service. This arrangement is called Conscript Academic Officer (Norwegian: Vernepliktige akademikere (VA)).


title: Norwegian Armed Forces

text: In 2020, the media said that "several soldiers said that they were informed about additional four months of service; the information was given after military service had started".


title: Norwegian Armed Forces

text: The Norwegian "Special Operations Command (NORSOCOM)"' ("Forsvarets Spesialstyrker" ("FS"), was formed on 1 January 2014 by bringing the Special Operations Commando - ("Forsvarets Spesialkommando" ("FSK"), the army special warfare unit) and the Naval Special Operations Commando ("Marinejegerkommandoen" ("MJK"), the naval special warfare unit) together under a unified command.


title: Norwegian Armed Forces

text: The Norwegian Defence University College ("NDUC") (Norwegian (bokmål): "Forsvarets høgskole") is the institution in charge of officer and NCO training, re-qualification and military studies. The officer schools of the separate armed services are departments under NDUC and thus independent from their respective services. The central administration of the NDUC is located at the historic Akershus Fortress in the city center of Oslo.


title: Norwegian Armed Forces

text: The NDUC is headed by the Chief of the NDUC ("sjef FHS", also referred to as "rektor"), a two-star rank.


title: Norwegian Armed Forces

text: The Chief of the NDUC is assisted by the Leading Group (or the Leader's Group, "Ledergruppen"), composed of the NDUC's Chief of Staff ("stabssjef"), the officer in charge of academic work ("dekan"), the chiefs of the Military Academy ("Krigsskolen", the army officer school), the Air Force Academy ("Luftkrigsskolen", the air force officer school) and the Naval Academy ("Sjøkrigsskolen", the naval officer school), the Chief of the Cyber Engineer Academy (Cyberingeniørskolen, the recently established Cyber Defence branch's officer school), the Chief of the NCO School ("Befalsskolen", joint for the armed forces), the directors of the two institutes for military studies and the NDUC's Command Sergeant Major ("sjefssersjant").


title: Norwegian Armed Forces

text: The Managing Board of the NDUC ("Høgskolestyret") is the governing body and it includes the Chief of the NDUC, The chiefs of the Army ("Hæren"), Navy ("Sjøforsvaret") and the Air Force ("Luftforsvaret"), three members of the board ("tre ansattrepresentanter"), one external (audit) member of the board (ekstern representant) and one student (cadet or civilian) member of the board ("studentrepresentant").


title: Norwegian Armed Forces

text: The NDUC Administration is composed of two staffs (administrative staff ("Driftsstab") and academic work staff ("Fagstab").


title: Norwegian Armed Forces

text: The Norwegian National Defence Staff College ("FHS Stabsskolen") is located in the Akershus Fortress and provides education in general military studies, common to the services, such as strategic military leadership, international peacekeeping operations, Military-Civilian Cooperation etc. It offers Bachelor and Masters programs as well as advanced academic programs.


title: Norwegian Armed Forces

text: The Defence Intelligence College ("Språk- og etterretningsskolen") is located at the Lutvann Barracks ("Lutvann leir") in Oslo and the intelligence officer course is a three-year Bachelor program.


title: Norwegian Armed Forces

text: The Norwegian Military Academy ("Krigsskolen") is the Norwegian army officer school, located at the Linderud Barracks (Linderud leir) in Oslo. It provides officer training and professional development, as well as a NCO training program for high school students ("videregående befalsutdanning").


title: Norwegian Armed Forces

text: The Air Force Academy ("Luftkrigsskolen") is the Norwegian air force officer school, located in the Kuhaugen area of Trondheim. It provides officer training and professional development, as well as a NCO training program for high school students ("videregående befalsutdanning").


title: Norwegian Armed Forces

text: The Naval Academy ("Sjøkrigsskolen") is the Norwegian navy officer school, located in the Laksevåg area of Bergen. It provides officer training and professional development, as well as a NCO training program for high school students ("videregående befalsutdanning").


title: Norwegian Armed Forces

text: The Cyber Engineer Academy ("Cyberingeniørskolen") is the Norwegian Cyber Defence Force officer school, located at the Jørstadmoen Barracks ("Jørstadmoen leir") in Fåberg near Lillehammer. It provides training for officer training in communication and information system operations.


title: Norwegian Armed Forces

text: The NCO School ("Befalsskolen") is a joint institution, training sergeants for all the services. It is located at the Sessvollmoen Barracks ("Sessvollmoen leir") in Sessvollmoen near Oslo - Gardermoen IAP. The school was established in 2019 by merging the NCO school of the army ("Hærens befalsskole"), navy ("Befalsskolen for Sjøforsvaret"), air force ("Luftforsvarets flygeskole"), engineering services ("Forsvarets ingeniørhøgskole"), military intelligence service ("Forsvarets etterretningshøgskole") and the Home Guard ("Heimevernets befalsskole").


title: Norwegian Armed Forces

text: The Institute for Defence Studies ("Institutt for forsvarsstudier") is located at the Akershus Fortress. It is organised in four centres: Centre for Norwegian and European Security, Centre for Civil-Military Relations, Centre for Asian Studies and Centre for Transatlantic Studies


title: Norwegian Armed Forces

text: The Strategic Course ("FSH / Sjefskurs") trains senior military officers and high-ranking government officials in strategic military command and national security studies. It uses the education resources of the Institute for Defence Studies, but it is independent from it, directly subordinated to the Chief of the AFHS.


title: In medias res

text: A narrative work beginning in medias res (, "into the middle of things") opens in the midst of the plot (cf. "ab ovo", "ab initio"). Often, exposition is bypassed and filled in gradually, through dialogue, flashbacks or description of past events. For example, "Hamlet" begins after the death of Hamlet's father. Characters make reference to King Hamlet's death without the plot's first establishment of said fact. Since the play is about Hamlet and the revenge more so than the motivation, Shakespeare uses "in medias res" to bypass superfluous exposition.


title: In medias res

text: Works that employ "in medias res" often later use flashback and nonlinear narrative for exposition to fill in the backstory. In Homer's "Odyssey", the reader first learns about Odysseus's journey when he is held captive on Calypso's island. The reader then finds out, in Books IX through XII, that the greater part of Odysseus's journey precedes that moment in the narrative. In Homer's "Iliad" there are fewer flashbacks, although it opens in the thick of the Trojan War.


title: In medias res

text: The Roman lyric poet and satirist Horace (65–8 BC) first used the terms ab ōvō ("from the egg") and in mediās rēs ("into the middle of things") in his "Ars Poetica" ("Poetic Arts", c. 13 BC), wherein lines 147–149 describe the ideal epic poet:


title: In medias res

text: The "egg" reference is to the mythological origin of the Trojan War in the birth of Helen and Clytemnestra from the double egg laid by Leda following her seduction by Zeus in the guise of a swan. Compare the "Iliad", which begins nine years after the start of the Trojan War, rather than at its beginning.


title: In medias res

text: With likely origins in oral tradition, the narrative technique of beginning a story "in medias res" is a stylistic convention of epic poetry, the exemplars in Western literature being the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey" (both 7th century BC), by Homer. Likewise, the "Mahābhārata" (c. 8th century BC – c. 4th century AD) opens "in medias res".


title: In medias res

text: The classical-era poet Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro, 70–19 BC) continued this literary narrative technique in the "Aeneid", which is part of the Roman literary tradition of imitating Homer. Later works starting "in medias res" include the story "The Three Apples" from the "One Thousand and One Nights" (c. 9th century), the Italian "Divine Comedy" (1320) by Dante Alighieri, the German "Nibelungenlied" (12th century), the Spanish "Cantar de Mio Cid" (c. 14th century), the Portuguese "The Lusiads" (1572) by Luís de Camões, "Jerusalem Delivered" (1581) by Torquato Tasso, "Paradise Lost" (1667) by John Milton, and generally in Modernist literature.


title: In medias res

text: It is typical for film noir to begin "in medias res"; for example, a private detective will enter the plot already in progress. "Crossfire" (1947) opens with the murder of Joseph Samuels. As the police investigate the crime, the story behind the murder is told via flashbacks. "Dead Reckoning" (1947) opens with Humphrey Bogart as Rip Murdock on the run and attempting to hide in a Catholic church. Inside, the backstory is told in flashback as Murdock explains his situation to a priest.


title: In medias res

text: The technique has been used across genres, including dramas such as "Through a Glass Darkly" (1961), "8½" (1963), "Raging Bull" (1980), and "City of God" (2002); crime thrillers such as "No Way Out" (1987), "Grievous Bodily Harm" (1988), "The Usual Suspects" (1995), and "Kill Bill Volume 2" (2004); horror films such as "Firestarter" (1984); action films such as many in the James Bond franchise; and comedies such as "Dr. Strangelove" (1964). Some have argued that "Star Wars" takes advantage of this technique because its first-released film, "A New Hope", is the fourth episode of a nine-part epic. Regardless, though, "A New Hope" starts "in medias res" due to the movie beginning after the Death Star plans were stolen.


title: In medias res

text: Superhero films with a satirical edge such as "Deadpool" (2016) and "Birds of Prey" (2020) have utilized "in medias res" to frame their stories.


title: In medias res

text: Animated films such as "The Emperor's New Groove" (2000), "Hoodwinked!" (2005), "Happily N'Ever After" (2006), "Megamind" (2010), and "The Mitchells vs. the Machines" (2021) got their opening scenes "in medias res", with a brief but significant scene that foreshadows the events that occurred earlier. This scene is then seen again afterwards (although in a different way than how it was shown at the beginning).


title: In medias res

text: Many war films, such as "The Thin Red Line" (1998), also begin "in medias res", with the protagonists already actively in combat and no prior domestic scenes leading up to the film's events.


title: In medias res

text: Occasionally, adaptations of source material employ "in medias res" when the original version did not. For example, the film adaptation of the stage musical "Camelot" employed "in medias res" while the original Broadway version did not (although revivals of the musical have). Stanley Kubrick's 1962 film adaptation of "Lolita" begins "in medias res" although the novel does not. Herman Wouk's stage adaptation of his own novel "The Caine Mutiny" begins "in medias res" as it opens with the court-martial that occupies the final section of the novel, telling the earlier part of the story through flashbacks in court-room testimony.


title: Irma Vep (miniseries)

text: Irma Vep is a comedy drama television miniseries created, written and directed by Olivier Assayas for HBO. Based on Assayas's 1996 film of the same name, the series premiered at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival on May 22. It debuted on June 6, 2022 and concluded on July 25, consisting of eight episodes.


title: Irma Vep (miniseries)

text: It stars Alicia Vikander as Mira, an American movie star who comes to France to star as Irma Vep in a television series adaptation of the French silent film serial "Les Vampires", and Vincent Macaigne as René, the director of the adaptation. It also features an ensemble supporting cast, including Adria Arjona, Byron Bowers, Jeanne Balibar, Vincent Lacoste, Nora Hamzawi, Hippolyte Girardot, Devon Ross, Alex Descas, Antoine Reinartz, and Lars Eidinger.


title: Irma Vep (miniseries)

text: "Irma Vep" received highly positive reviews from critics, who praised Vikander's performance and Assayas's direction.


title: Irma Vep (miniseries)

text: "Irma Vep" revolves around Mira, an American movie star disillusioned by her career and a recent breakup, who comes to France to star as Irma Vep in a television series adaptation of the French silent film serial "Les Vampires". Set against the backdrop of a lurid crime thriller, Mira struggles as the distinctions between herself and the character she plays begin to blur and merge.


title: Irma Vep (miniseries)

text: Additionally, Valérie Bonneton portrays Mira's French PR, Élizabeth Mazev appears as Musidora in an interview from 1947, while Jean-Luc Vincent portrays the host. Denis Podalydès appears as the Police Prefect during a flashback scene, Maya Persaud plays Sandra, a member of the production, and Jérôme Commandeur portrays Angus, a production executive. Alexandre Steiger plays Jules, an actor portraying Mazamette, while Stefan Bohne appears as Thor, a bondage consultant on the series, Mélodie Richard as Aurélia, an actress portraying Augustine, and Maud Wyler as Rebekah, an actress portraying Mme D'Alba.


title: Irma Vep (miniseries)

text: Also appearing are Nathalie Richard as Ondine, Calypso Valois as Edmond's Girlfriend, Maya Sansa as Grégory's wife, Jess Liaudin as the actor portraying Satanas, Bertrand Pazos as Sacha Guitry, and Laurent Papot as Albert Willemetz. French comic Panayotis Pascot cameo as a young executive, and Aude Pépin as the voice of René's wife. Kristen Stewart appears in the eighth episode as Lianna, a famous pop star and Eamonn's girlfriend who recently suffered a miscarriage.


title: Irma Vep (miniseries)

text: Assayas started developing the miniseries in May 2020 as a loose adaptation of the film, with it being officially ordered by HBO in December 2020 and to be written and directed by Assayas.


title: Irma Vep (miniseries)

text: In December 2020, Alicia Vikander was announced to have been cast in the leading role. Adria Arjona, Carrie Brownstein, Jerrod Carmichael, Fala Chen and Devon Ross were cast in July. In August, Byron Bowers and Tom Sturridge were cast, with Sturridge replacing Carmichael who had to depart the project due to scheduling conflicts. In November, several new roles were announced, including Vincent Macaigne, Jeanne Balibar, Lars Eidinger, Vincent Lacoste, Hippolyte Girardot, Alex Descas, Nora Hamzawi and Antoine Reinartz, with Macaigne cast as the director of the film and the rest of the announced as cast and crew. In an Interview with "The New Yorker" Kristen Stewart revealed that she was cast in a small part.


title: Irma Vep (miniseries)

text: Principal photography began on June 14, 2021 in Île-de-France, mostly in Paris and its suburbs, and took place over one hundred days. Some of the locations used by the production include the Opéra-Comique, the Champs-Élysées, Montmartre, the Gare du Nord, and the Charles de Gaulle Airport.


title: Irma Vep (miniseries)

text: Jürgen Doering created the costumes for the series while Louis Vuitton's creative director Nicolas Ghesquière is the designer behind Irma Vep's costume.


title: Irma Vep (miniseries)

text: The series premiered on June 6, 2022, on HBO in the United States. It also streams on HBO Max. In France, episodes premiere on OCS's streaming service the morning after the American broadcast then aired on OCS City on the evening. Unlike many series that alternate dialogue in French and in another language, the production decided to not dub the English-language scenes in French for the French broadcast.


title: Irma Vep (miniseries)

text: On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 96%, based on 31 reviews with an average rating of 8.3/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Catnip for cinephiles and a welcome spotlight for the spellbinding Alicia Vikander, "Irma Vep" is a worthwhile expansion of writer-director Olivier Assayas' cinematic opus". On Metacritic, it has a score of 84 out of 100, based on 16 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".


title: Irma Vep (miniseries)

text: Following its premiere at the 75th Cannes Film Festival, Daniel Fienberg of "The Hollywood Reporter" described the series as "loose and intellectually loopy, broad and jokey one moment and wallowing in sad self-absorption the next" and found Vikander's performance "wonderfully light and open".


title: Irma Vep (miniseries)

text: In his review for "Variety", Daniel D'Addario commended Vikander's performance, concluding: "If big-budget moviemaking is a prison, then Vikander-as-Mira, sylphlike and darting, is going to wiggle out between the bars." David Cote of "The A.V. Club" graded it with an "A" and praised Assayas's direction, writing "It's a masterful handling of visual vocabularies, arguably the most sophisticated serial moviemaking HBO has ever produced". 's Brian Tallerico called it a "smart, twisting look behind-the-scenes, and a reminder that Olivier Assayas is one of the best alive today in the filmmaking business, and apparently TV too". In his review for "The Ringer", Adam Nayman wrote, "The pleasures of a show like "Irma Vep" lie in its relentless cleverness and post-modern sophistication—the way it flaunts its own intelligence and frame of reference", praising the characters and direction.


title: Sebastian Shaw (actor)

text: Sebastian Lewis Shaw (29 May 1905 – 23 December 1994) was an English actor, theatre director, novelist, playwright and poet. During his 65-year career, he appeared in dozens of stage performances and more than 40 film and television productions.


title: Sebastian Shaw (actor)

text: Shaw was born and brought up in Holt, Norfolk, and made his acting debut at age eight at a London theatre. He studied acting at Gresham's School and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Although he worked primarily on the London stage, he made his Broadway debut in 1929, when he played one of the two murderers in "Rope's End". He appeared in his first film, "Caste", in 1930 and quickly began to create a name for himself in films. He described himself as a "rotten actor" as a youth and said his success was primarily due to his good looks. He claimed to mature as a performer only after returning from service in the Royal Air Force during World War II.


title: Sebastian Shaw (actor)

text: Shaw was particularly known for his performances in productions of Shakespeare plays which were considered daring and ahead of their time. In 1966, he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he remained for a decade and delivered some of his most acclaimed performances. He also wrote several poems and a novel, "The Christening", in 1975. In 1983, he appeared in the third installment of the original "Star Wars" Trilogy, "Return of the Jedi", starring as the redeemed Anakin Skywalker, as well as Skywalker's ghost in the original 1983 theatrical release of the film.


title: Sebastian Shaw (actor)

text: Shaw was one of three children born to Dr. Geoffrey Shaw, the music master at Gresham's School, a Norfolk independent boarding school, where Shaw began his education. His uncle, Martin Shaw, was a composer of church music, and his family's love of music heavily influenced Shaw's career path.


title: Sebastian Shaw (actor)

text: Shaw made his acting debut at age eight on the London stage as one of the juvenile band in "The Cockyolly Bird" at the Royal Court Theatre in Chelsea on New Year's Day of 1914. During his time at Gresham's, he also played Petruchio in "The Taming of the Shrew", his first of many performances from the works of William Shakespeare; schoolmate W. H. Auden, who would go on to become a highly regarded poet, portrayed Katherina in the play opposite him. After Gresham's, Shaw planned to become a painter and spent two years at the Slade School of Fine Art before switching his interests to acting; regarding the change, his father informed him, "I wondered when you would come to your senses." He earned a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in Bloomsbury, London. Actor Charles Laughton enrolled in the academy at the same time as Shaw, who later said his first impression of Laughton was "a poor fat boy". Although Shaw and his fellow students initially felt pity for Laughton, they were quickly impressed with his talent.


title: Sebastian Shaw (actor)

text: Shaw appeared in regional theatres in Bristol, Liverpool and Hull. In 1925, he performed in London as the Archangel in "The Sign of the Sun", and played first Lewis Dodd and then the Major in separate productions of "The Constant Nymph". He received instruction in verse speaking under famed theatre director William Bridges-Adams in the Stratford Festival Company at Stratford-upon-Avon, where he played some of his early Shakespeare roles, including Romeo in "Romeo and Juliet", Ferdinand in "The Tempest" and Prince Hal in "Henry IV" in 1926. He was criticised for the audacity he displayed in the latter role. When Prince Hal takes on his kingship and rejects the self-indulgent character Falstaff, convention of the day called for Prince Hal to change from a jovial drinking partner to an arrogant snob, but Shaw saw the view as simple-minded and contradictory toward Shakespeare's script. Instead, he displayed inward regrets about leaving Falstaff and accepting the new responsibilities. The interpretation was criticised at the time but, years later, became the standard approach to the character.


title: Sebastian Shaw (actor)

text: Shaw made his Broadway debut in 1929, when he played the murderer Wyndham Brandon in Patrick Hamilton's stage thriller, "Rope's End". In 1929, he married Margaret Delamere and lived with her in the Albany, an apartment complex off of Piccadilly in London. The two would eventually have a daughter together named Drusilla (born 1932). He returned to the works of William Shakespeare in 1931, playing Claudio in "Measure for Measure" at London's Fortune Playhouse. In 1932 he once again played Romeo at the Embassy Theatre. Other works around this period included productions of Ivor Novello's "Sunshine Sisters" in 1933, "Double Door" alongside actress Sybil Thorndike in 1934, J.M. Barrie's "A Kiss for Cinderella" in 1937, and Robert Morley's "Goodness, How Sad" in 1938.


title: Sebastian Shaw (actor)

text: The first film Shaw appeared in was "Caste" in 1930. He soon began to make a name for himself in films such as "Brewster's Millions" in 1935, "Men Are Not Gods" in 1936 and "Farewell Again" in 1937. He was making about £300 a week during this stage of his career, a significant sum higher than the salary of the British Prime Minister of the time. He brought what the "Daily Telegraph" described as a "smooth villainy" to the role of Frank Sutton in "The Squeaker" in 1937, while in 1939 he played the hero Cdr. David Blacklock alongside Conrad Veidt and Valerie Hobson in "The Spy in Black", Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's first collaboration. Shaw described himself as a film buff and called Academy Award-winning actor Spencer Tracy his "great god of all screen actors"; he was so impressed by Tracy's technique that he claimed to become depressed while watching his films because Tracy made acting look simple, while Shaw claimed to find it so difficult to master himself.


title: Sebastian Shaw (actor)

text: When World War II broke out, Shaw took a break from acting and joined the Royal Air Force. He was commissioned as an Acting-Pilot Officer on probation in the Administrative and Special Duties Branch on 25 April 1941 and over the next three months was promoted to Pilot Officer on probation, then Flying Officer and then Flight Lieutenant. According to his obituary in the "Guardian", he saw little action in the service and was told the only chance he would have to fly would be as a rear gunner. Some of his fellow airmen hounded Shaw for autographs while others mocked his posh accent, to which he retaliated with an excellent and unflattering imitation of their less refined speech. He continued to hold a Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve commission after the war until he resigned the commission on 10 February 1954; he was permitted to retain his rank.


title: Sebastian Shaw (actor)

text: Immediately upon returning to London after the war, Shaw lost his Albany flat and his acting contract, and essentially had to restart his acting career. Although he made 20 films before the war and had already begun to develop a reputation as a strong leading man, in later years he would describe himself as "a rotten actor" in the 1930s who landed roles based mainly on his good looks. He used the phrase "a piece of cinema beefcake" to describe himself as an actor during that period. He felt that after his return home from military service, he learned to act properly and began to mature as a performer. Shaw's Royal Air Force experience was put to good use when he played a pilot in "Journey Together", the 1946 RAF training film in which actor Edward G. Robinson coached actor Richard Attenborough in the rudiments of flying.


title: Sebastian Shaw (actor)

text: In 1945, Shaw returned to the Embassy Theatre to direct Fyodor Dostoevsky's "The Gambler". Significant theatre roles that decade included Hercules in "The Thracian Horses" at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith in 1946, Mr. Hern-Lawrence in Florida Scott-Maxwell's experimental "I Said to Myself" at the Mercury Theatre, Notting Hill Gate in 1947, Sir James Kirkham in "His Excellency" at Prince's Theatre in 1950, and Filmer Jesson, MP, in Arthur Wing Pinero's "His House in Order" at New Theatre in 1951. In 1956, he played the title role in the first British production of Hugo von Hofmannsthal's "Everyman". That same year, he wrote the lyrics to his father's ballad-opera, "All at Sea", which played at the Royal College of Music. In 1957, he played Lucifer in "Brother Lucifer" in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, and a sinister Venetian agent in Jonathan Griffin's "The Hidden King" in Edinburgh.


title: Sebastian Shaw (actor)

text: As Shaw grew older, his reputation as a dramatic actor grew stronger, and he became known for a sharp intelligence and dignified style. Although his good looks diminished, reviewers felt that he used his florid and weatherbeaten face well in evoking grandeur and self-assuredness in such roles as generals, priests and his familiar Shakespearean parts. In 1956, his wife Margaret Delamere died; she was survived by their daughter Drusilla. Shaw began a romantic relationship in the mid-1950s with Joan Ingpen, the well-known classical music and opera talent agent who had previously represented him. The two were romantically involved, to the point that she took his surname, until Shaw's death. During the 1980s, however, Shaw also had a brief relationship with Harriet Ravenscroft, the mother of the disc jockey John Peel, whom he met while performing at Ludlow Castle at Ludlow. He split his time between Ingpen and Ravenscroft on a four-day rotating basis to which both women consented. Although Peel got along with Shaw and said he made his mother happy, he said he did not feel comfortable with the arrangement. He felt it disrupted his mother's friendships and prospects for a more stable relationship.