title: Striptease (film)

text: Brian D. Johnson of "Maclean's", who thought Moore's acting was terrible, predicted that despite Moore's financial success, her career depended on the success of this film and the film was "tacky, pretentious-and boring." This critic described "Striptease" as displaying Moore's vanity. Dave Ansen of "Newsweek", sharing Ebert's view on Moore's character, also claimed "Striptease" failed as a drama because it had no mystery, revealing the identity of its villains early. Moreover, the "damsel-in-distress angle generates zero tension." Daniel P. Franklin, in his book "Politics and Film: The Political Culture of Film in the United States" went so far as to call "Striptease" "the worst film ever made" and stated "The film pays homage to Moore's surgical breast enhancement". Nathan Rabin, reviewing the film for his series "My Year of Flops", described the film thus: "Moore's dour lead performance sabotages the film from the get-go. It's as if director Andrew Bergman told Moore she was acting in a serious drama about a struggling single mother...and then told everyone else in the cast that they were making a zany crime comedy filled with kooky characters, sleazy hustlers, dumbass opportunists, and outsized caricatures."


title: Striptease (film)

text: "Striptease" made $12,322,069 in its first weekend, behind "The Nutty Professor" with Eddie Murphy, "Eraser" starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Disney's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame", in which Moore voiced one of the main characters. Ultimately, "Striptease" made $33,109,743 in the United States, and domestically it was the 47th highest-grossing film of 1996. It made $113,309,743 internationally, having grossed £2,294,568 in the UK and ¥102,419,500 in Japan.


title: Striptease (film)

text: "That movie did better than almost anything I've been involved with," said Bergman. "All the subsidiary stuff was gigantic. People said, 'I wouldn't be caught dead seeing it,'’ and suddenly when it's available in a rental store, it's 'I'll get "Schindler's List" and "Striptease". [laughs] It's like when you're a kid and you're buying condoms at a drug store, but you buy 12 tubes of toothpaste, too."


title: Striptease (film)

text: "Striptease" was released on home video by Columbia TriStar Home Video on May 27, 1997. Warner Home Video owned the rights to this movie on April 3, 2001.


title: Striptease (film)

text: In 1997, "Striptease" made news again when it was shown in a fourth-grade class in Chicago, Illinois. The teacher claimed the students chose the film but drew criticism since the film was risqué. The violent 1996 film "Scream" was shown in the same school on the same day, causing further controversy. In 2000 in Ireland, some viewers criticized the Raidió Teilifís Éireann for running "Striptease". These viewers questioned the film's appropriateness and some considered it demeaning to women. The station felt it was not pornography and it was aired at night.


title: Striptease (film)

text: In 2003, Radioactive Films used a scene from "Striptease" featuring Moore nude in a video called "Hollywood's Hottest". This raised a dispute as to whether the use of the scene qualified as fair use. A lawsuit was launched as a consequence.


title: Abigail Thorn

text: Abigail Thorn (born 24 April 1993) is a British YouTuber, actress, and playwright, best known for producing the YouTube channel Philosophy Tube.


title: Abigail Thorn

text: Philosophy Tube began in 2013, when Thorn sought to provide free lessons in philosophy in the wake of the 2012 increase in British tuition fees. In 2018, her videos became more theatrical, beginning to incorporate dramatic studio sets, lighting, costuming and makeup. The channel has been positively received by critics, and has over one million subscribers.


title: Abigail Thorn

text: In 2019, Thorn hosted a livestream on Twitch in which she read plays from the Complete Works of Shakespeare for the mental health charity Samaritans. The stream lasted five days, featured a number of guests, and raised over £100,000 for Samaritans. In September and October 2022, "The Prince"—a play written by and starring Thorn—ran Off West End. The transgender-themed work is based on characters in Shakespeare's "Henry IV, Part 1" becoming self-aware.


title: Abigail Thorn

text: Thorn publicly came out as a transgender woman in January 2021, with the video "Coming Out As Trans – A Little Public Statement" and the more theatrical "Identity: A Trans Coming Out Story".


title: Abigail Thorn

text: Thorn is from Newcastle upon Tyne and has two older brothers. She attended the Royal Grammar School, where she was a member of an army cadets group. Thorn credits her discovery of philosophy to her teacher, as well as having taken the subject as an A-level course. She later studied Philosophy and Theology at the University of St. Andrews, where she also participated in Mermaids and the St Andrews Revue. Thorn graduated with a Scottish Master of Arts in Philosophy in 2015, coming top of her year. She then trained at East 15 Acting School, completing a Master of Arts awarded by the University of Essex in 2017 before moving to London.


title: Abigail Thorn

text: In October 2019, Thorn discussed her sexuality in her YouTube video "Queer✨", where she came out as bisexual. On 30 January 2021, Thorn came out as a trans woman. She has given speeches at protests in favour of transgender healthcare, and advocated for transgender liberation. Thorn identifies as a lesbian, as of February 2022.


title: Abigail Thorn

text: Thorn began her YouTube channel, Philosophy Tube, as an educational channel in 2013 in response to the university tuition fees tripling in the United Kingdom in 2012, rendering higher education less accessible. Thorn made it her mission statement to "[give] away a philosophy degree for free". Thorn originally planned to record her lectures and upload them, rather than appearing in videos, but her university would not allow this. Her first video titled "I think therefore I am" about René Descartes was uploaded in May 2013. Her first subscriber unsubscribed in protest when she first voiced feminist opinions. Prior to transition, Thorn presented the channel under the name Oliver Thorn and was commonly known as Olly.


title: Abigail Thorn

text: Thorn makes money from both YouTube advertisement revenue and crowdfunding on Patreon. The channel's style progressed over a period of years from a direct style of talking to the camera about the works of philosophers such as René Descartes and Immanuel Kant, to more theatrical productions. In 2016, Thorn took part in the YouTube NextUp, a week-long training programme for YouTubers with under 100,000 subscribers.


title: Abigail Thorn

text: Following attendance at the 2018 conference VidCon, Thorn decided to change her content creation, beginning to film at a studio with costumes and makeup. She also used props such as snakes and horses. Kayleigh Donaldson of "Pajiba" described Thorn's works in 2019 as "long-form think-pieces" with "detailed production design" that use aspects of sketch comedy. Emily St. James of "Vox" summarised that the channel covers both philosophical topics and "sociopolitical ideas of the current era from a leftist point of view". For instance, a video about the former Trump advisor and "Breitbart News" co-founder Steve Bannon features Thorn performing a cover of a "Hadestown" song, with lyrics about Bannon. St. James praised that Thorn "undercuts [Bannon's] entire shtick". In 2021, Thorn reached one million subscribers.


title: Abigail Thorn

text: In July 2019, Thorn discussed her channel on the BBC radio show "World Business Report". In January 2020, Dmitry Kuznetsov and Milan Ismangil, writing for "tripleC", reported that the channel is a focus of an internet fan community centered around leftist YouTubers categorised as "BreadTube". The authors note fan crowdfunding, production value, criticism of the alt-right, use of citation and videos about broad topics as common BreadTube attributes that are employed by Philosophy Tube. As a case study, Thorn's "Climate Grief" discusses climate change through multiple personas, citing Timothy Morton's concept of hyperobjects and Terry Eagleton's "Why Marx Was Right". In the video, Thorn criticises some right-wing and left-wing arguments and highlights indigenous philosophy.


title: Abigail Thorn

text: Thorn's 2018 video "Suic!de and Ment@l He@lth" examines societal attitudes to mental health, along with her personal experiences: she has a history of self-harm and attempted suicide twice in her life. She said in mid-2019 that she still received at least one email per day by a person who said the video saved their life. Thorn's video "Men. Abuse. Trauma." is about men and mental health, with reference to her personal experiences. The video is 35 minutes long, with the script entirely memorised by Thorn. There are no cuts or editing, and a single costume change is facilitated by a slow camera pan across the room; Thorn used the second of two takes. Both the script and the style of the video reference the 1944 Jean-Paul Sartre play "No Exit". Emily St. James of "Vox" praised that the "tension and vulnerability that builds" is maintained by the lack of editing, and opined that in the video, "aesthetic form is inseparable from content".


title: Abigail Thorn

text: In a 2021 interview with "Insider", Thorn said she had an idea in mind for the final episode of the channel, saying that she felt the channel had been successful due to her subscriber numbers, an invitation to be a featured creator at 2021 VidCon and other YouTube channels that were inspired by her. She said that the timing of the channel's ending would depend on future acting roles.


title: Abigail Thorn

text: On 30 January 2021, Thorn came out as a trans woman via a public statement, posted on social media and recorded as the video "Coming Out As Trans – A Little Public Statement". "Jezebel"s Harron Walker described it as a "feminist, anticapitalist appeal in support [of] trans people's legal equality, physical autonomy, and broader liberation in the United Kingdom and beyond". The statement discussed issues in access to healthcare, journalist fearmongering about transgender people and a lack of elected transgender representatives. She also says that other issues in society like homelessness disproportionately affect the trans community. "Abigail" trended on Twitter subsequent to the announcement.


title: Abigail Thorn

text: Thorn also released the video "Identity: A Trans Coming Out Story", which drew on the work of the American writer Audre Lorde and saw Rhys Tees acting in the role of Thorn's former self. Thorn told the "Daily Xtra" that studying works by trans philosophers helped her gain insight about her identity, but that she felt significant societal pressure as a transgender public figure. Prior to the announcement, she had come out to friends and family but experienced difficulties in avoiding being publicly outed in day-to-day life, and in accessing trans spaces anonymously. Her messages to other trans public figures went unanswered and she fell out of contact with a trans friend who told her that being transgender was "a curse". Thorn had chosen to act as a man in some of her videos despite having realized she was transgender, and decided to keep her pre-transition videos public because of their educational content and artistic value, and as she did not think being transgender should be a source of shame.


title: Abigail Thorn

text: In a 2021 interview with Ben Hunte for the BBC, Thorn described anxiety over publicising her transition, but felt that she could not have kept it private for much longer. Thorn told "Insider" that prior to her transition, when male fans would refer to her as a positive role model for masculinity, "it always felt like they were talking about someone else". She described: "I tried to do the man of the 21st century thing... woke but also compassionate and fun and charming and sexy and all the rest of it... and it all made me sort of miserable really. But I understand why some of my audience felt that way". When she came out, she felt external pressure to "perform a certain model of femininity", as a "white, stylish, eloquent, charming, non-threatening woman", saying that "that's kind of what British women are expected to be".


title: Abigail Thorn

text: In 2019, Thorn aimed to read the Complete Works of Shakespeare in order to raise money for the Samaritans, a UK charity that helps people in emotional distress. Thorn chose the charity because she said that its telephone hotline "saved [her] life when [she] was considering suicide". She chose Shakespeare based on the idea that "Shakespeare features every human emotion", which she attributed to Judi Dench. The stream was inspired by a January 2019 video game stream by hbomberguy which raised £278,000 ($340,000) for British transgender charity Mermaids. It was announced at the end of her YouTube video "Men. Abuse. Trauma.", which was released in late July 2019.


title: Abigail Thorn

text: Streaming on Twitch, Thorn began on Friday 23 August and finished on Tuesday 27 August, streaming continuously with only a few hours per day for sleep. Many internet personalities joined Thorn to voice roles in the plays, such as Mara Wilson as Lady Macbeth and Dominique "SonicFox" McLean as "Troilus and Cressida"s Hector. Thorn initially expected to raise between $2,000 and $5,000, but said on Twitter that the stream had raised £109,447.54 (roughly $130,000) after PayPal currency conversion fees. Over 175,000 people watched the stream. The Royal Shakespeare Company praised Thorn for the endeavour, as did the Samaritans.


title: Abigail Thorn

text: In the second series of "Ladhood", which was released on BBC iPlayer on 15 August 2021, Thorn played the guest role of Iona, appearing in the episodes "Indie" and "The Big Day".


title: Abigail Thorn

text: In May 2021, it was announced that Thorn was filming for an upcoming 10-episode television series, "Django", a remake of the 1966 Western film of the same name.


title: Abigail Thorn

text: Thorn wrote and was the acting lead in the Off West End play, "The Prince"; at the Southwark Playhouse. The show features characters becoming self-aware and trying to escape from Shakespeare's play "Henry IV, Part 1". Natasha Rickman served as director. The eight-person cast was majority-trans. Previews began on 15 September 2022 and the performance run was from 19 September 2022 to 8 October 2022. Thorn needed a security officer for protection from a stalker.


title: Abigail Thorn

text: "The Prince" has themes of transgender identity, political radicalisation and unhealthy romantic, platonic and familial relationships. Thorn described it as "Like "The Matrix" if it was written in 1600". The programme notes compare it to the play "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead", which shows "Hamlet" from the perspective of two minor characters. Thorn said that Shakespeare is fit for trans allegory as performers were originally all male and the writing is dense with jokes about people dressing up as or being confused for other genders. Not seeing it as a "queer play", but more generally one about "characters who are trapped for all sorts of reasons", Thorn compared it to the period of making Philosophy Tube videos where she would conceal her gender before coming out publicly.


title: Abigail Thorn

text: The play received three stars out of five in reviews from "The Guardian", "BroadwayWorld", "The Stage" and "The Reviews Hub". A reviewer for "The Guardian", Kate Wyver, said that it is an "ambitious if slightly feverish exploration of transgression and transition within Shakespeare's plays" that "playfully questions the performance of gender and the roles we are all assigned". Wyver found that the plot mechanics brought "frustrating confusion", but that the audience would "see these characters anew" through a queer lens, and that "glee oozes from Thorn's playful juggling of Shakespearean language around identity and performance". Cindy Marcolina, writing in "BroadwayWorld", approved of "The Prince"s "sacrilegious approach to Shakespeare" in which Thorn explores characters' psychology "with a contemporary lens" but "remaining surprisingly faithful to the original" and re-appraises Shakespeare's language around gender and bravery "under queer lights". However, Marcolina believed that "the scripted ending stands on wobbly feet and the framing never gets the explanation it needs to be satisfyingly convincing".


title: Abigail Thorn

text: "The Stage"s Frey Kwa Hawking praised the multiple trans characters and the ambition of the play, with its "tantalising ideas about the performance of gender and duty". Hawking also praised the "brittle, uneasy energy" that Thorn brought to her character, Hotspur. However, Hawking criticised aspects of the pacing and narrative, such as the "text-heavy" nature, "creaking plot mechanics", length of time spent in Shakespeare's play in the second act. Characterisation was also critiqued by Hawking, including the "under-explored" nature of Kate and Hotspur's marriage and "thinly sketched" relationship between Jen and Sam. Oliver Pattrick of "The Reviews Hub" similarly praised the transgender themes while criticising the writing in another three-star review, summarising that "it feels like the script needs a further rewrite to realise its full potential". Pattrick suggested that the plot mechanics be made "less prominent", that Hotspur's discovery of her womanhood needed more "depth" and slower pacing, and that the humour was overly reliant on "incongruity of blunt modern slang as a response to elaborate archaic language".


title: Abigail Thorn

text: In February 2021, Thorn joined Alice Caldwell-Kelly and Devon in hosting the podcast "Kill James Bond!" Released fortnightly, each episode sees the hosts review one of the James Bond films. The podcast takes a critical angle, attempting in the words of its creators to "give 007 the socialist, feminist upcoming he so richly deserves". It peaked at #1 on "Chartable"s list of most popular film review podcast in the U.K. Thorn said that she got involved after Caldwell-Kelly suggested the podcast on Twitter—she was familiar with the Bond films from her childhood and believed that they are flawed "in interesting ways that say interesting things about Britain". She saw Bond as symbolic of a "British sort of military masculinity" and commented that both she and Caldwell-Kelly had been army cadets as children.


title: Abigail Thorn

text: Thorn narrated the audiobook for "Axiom's End" (2020) by Lindsay Ellis, alongside Stephanie Willis. For her narration she was jointly nominated for an Audie Award for Science Fiction.


title: Abigail Thorn

text: Shannon Strucci, writing for the magazine "Sight & Sound" published by the British Film Institute, said that Thorn's videos "vary tremendously" in "tone and content". Strucci described the videos as "always well-researched, inventive, and theatrical". The German broadcaster Deutsche Welle praised the videos as entertaining and elaborate in design. The channel Philosophy Tube was recommended in the Slovak broadsheet "SME". The Irish author and broadcaster Emma Dabiri has enjoyed Thorn's videos. In 2021, Philosophy Tube was recommended in a list of open access streaming content in an essay for "Choice Reviews", and two reviewers for "The Guardian"s—Frances Ryan and Ammar Kalia—praised the channel.


title: Abigail Thorn

text: St. James described the video "Men. Abuse. Trauma." as "one of the best TV episodes of the year". Dan Schindel of "Hyperallergic" described the same video as a "riveting half-hour", praising its lack of cuts. The video was also praised by Lukáš Pokorný in the Czech magazine "". Thorn's video "Queer"✨ was one of 134 video essays included in "Sight and Sound" as one of the "best video essays of 2019". Strucci reviewed for the magazine that the video was "illuminating and entertaining" as well as "joyful". Gwendolyn Ann Smith, writing for the "Bay Area Reporter", praised "Identity: A Trans Coming Out Story" as "delving deeply into the very nature of being trans in ways [she has] not typically seen", in relation to the perspective that gender transitioning is about "revealing the truth within" rather than "becoming something that we weren't".


title: Abigail Thorn

text: Schindel recommended the video "Artists & Fandoms". Merryana Salem, writing for "Junkee", said "The Trouble with the Video Game Industry" was one of her "all-time favourite Youtube videos". Salem later recommended "Data"—a video about ethical concerns of data mining—as one of "10 Video Essays That Will Get You Addicted To Video Essays". Wil Williams of "Polygon" reviewed "Data" as one of the Thorn's most underrated videos, comparing the format to a Platonic dialogue and the interactive film "".


title: Abigail Thorn

text: In 2022, Thorn was awarded an Off West End Theatre Award ("Offie") in the "OneOff" category. The awarding body credited her as "a pioneer for trans rights" across her YouTube work, Shakespeare charity livestream and role in "The Prince".


title: Abigail Thorn

text: Thorn was nominated in the category Online Influencer for a 2021 British LGBT Award. Thorn declined the nomination citing moral and political disagreements with the award's sponsors.


title: Pokhara

text: Pokhara (, ) is a metropolitan city in Nepal, which serves as the capital of Gandaki Province. It is the second most populous city of Nepal after Kathmandu, with 518,452 inhabitants living in 101,669 households in 2021. It is the country's largest metropolitan city in terms of area. The city also serves as the headquarters of Kaski District. Pokhara is located west of the capital, Kathmandu. The city is on the shore of Phewa Lake, and sits at an elevation of approximately 822m. The Annapurna Range, with three out of the ten highest peaks in the world—Dhaulagiri, Annapurna I and Manaslu—is within of the valley.


title: Pokhara

text: Pokhara is considered the tourism capital of Nepal, being a base for trekkers undertaking the Annapurna Circuit through the Annapurna Conservation Area region of the Annapurna ranges in the Himalayas. The city is also home to many of the elite Gurkha soldiers, soldiers native to South Asia of Nepalese nationality recruited for the British Army, Nepalese Army, Indian Army, Gurkha Contingent Singapore, Gurkha Reserve Unit Brunei, UN peacekeeping forces and in war zones around the world.


title: Pokhara

text: The Nepali word ""Pokhari" " (, ) means "pond". "Pokhara" is a variant of "Pokhari" as the city has numerous ponds.


title: Pokhara

text: By radiocarbon dating and investigating the alluvial deposits of Pokhara Valley, researchers have found that there were at least three large medieval earthquakes in 1000, 1255, and 1344 AD. Up to 9 cubic kilometres of conglomerates, massive mud and silt show indications of one or several megafloods that emanated from the Sabche Cirque in the Annapurna range.


title: Pokhara

text: Pokhara lies on an important old trading route between China and India. In the 17th century, it was part of the Kingdom of Kaski which was one of the Chaubisi rajya (24 Kingdoms of Nepal, चौबिसे राज्य) ruled by a branch of the Shah dynasty. Many of the hills around Pokhara still have medieval ruins from this time. In 1786 Prithvi Narayan Shah added Pokhara into his kingdom. It had by then become an important trading place on the routes from Kathmandu to Jumla and from India to Tibet.


title: Pokhara

text: The first settlement of the valley is theorized to have taken place when the first King of Kaski, Kulamandan Shah Khad (also called Bichitra Khan and Jagati Khan), made Batulechaur in the northern side of the valley his winter capital during the mid 14th century. The people settled here included Parajuli Brahmins, who were asked to look after the Bindhyabasini temple and were given some land in that locality as Birta. Dhobi Gauda was the first market center developed in Pokhara valley before the last King of Kaski brought sixteen families of Newars from Kathmandu (Bhaktapur) to develop the present-day market (i.e., old market) in the 1770s. Prior to that people were settled in the peripheral hills.


title: Pokhara

text: Pokhara was envisioned as a commercial center by the King of Kaski in the mid 18th century A.D. when Newars of Bhaktapur migrated to Pokhara, upon being invited by the king, and settled near main business locations such as Bindhyabasini temple, Nalakomukh and Bhairab Tole. Most of Pokhara, at the time, was largely inhabited by Khas (Brahmin, Chhetri, Thakuri and Dalits), Gurungs, and Magars. At present, the Khas, Gurung (Tamu) and Magar form the dominant community of Pokhara. There is also a sizeable Newari population in the city. Batulechaur in the far north of Pokhara is home to the "Gandharvas" "or Gaaineys" (the tribe of the musicians).


title: Pokhara

text: The nearby hills around Pokhara are covered by Gurung villages with few places belonging to Khas community. Small Magar communities are also present mostly in the southern outlying hills. Newar community is almost non-existent in the villages of outlying hills outside the Pokhara city limits.


title: Pokhara

text: From 1959 to 1962 approximately 300,000 exiles entered Nepal from neighboring Tibet following its annexation by China. Most of the Tibetan exiles then sought asylum in Dharamshala and other Tibetan exile communities in India. According to UNHCR, since 1989, approximately 2500 Tibetans cross the border into Nepal each year, many of whom arrive in Pokhara typically as a transit to Tibetan exile communities in India. About 50,000–60,000 Tibetan exiles reside in Nepal, and approximately 20,000 of the exiled Tibetans live in one of the 12 consolidated camps, eight in Kathmandu and four in and around Pokhara. The four Tibetan settlements in Pokhara are Jampaling, Paljorling, Tashi Ling, and Tashi Palkhel. These camps have evolved into well-built settlements, each with a gompa (Buddhist monastery), chorten and its particular architecture, and Tibetans have become a visible minority in the city.


title: Pokhara

text: Until the end of the 1960s, the town was only accessible by foot and it was considered even more a mystical place than Kathmandu. The first road was completed in 1968 (Siddhartha Highway) after which tourism set in and the city grew rapidly. The area along the Phewa lake, called Lakeside, has developed into one of the major tourism hubs of Nepal.


title: Pokhara

text: Due to the high population density and the frequency of natural disasters, western Nepal is considered one of the most disaster-prone regions in the world. Pokhara is considered particularly vulnerable to earthquakes and floods because the Seti Gandaki River flows through the city. For example, the strongest earthquakes in the region include those of 2015 in Nepal.


title: Pokhara

text: Pokhara is in the northwestern corner of the Pokhara Valley, which is a widening of the Seti Gandaki valley that lies in the region ("Pahad") of the Himalayas. In this region, the mountains rise very quickly, and within , the elevation rises from . As a result of this sharp rise in altitude the area of Pokhara has one of the highest precipitation rates in the country (3,350 mm/year or 131 inches/year in the valley to 5600 mm/year or 222 inches/year in Lumle). Even within the city, there is a noticeable difference in rainfall between the south and the north: The northern part at the foothills of the mountains experiences a proportionally higher amount of precipitation.


title: Pokhara

text: The Seti Gandaki is the main river flowing through the city. The Seti Gandaki (White Gandaki) and its tributaries have created several gorges and canyons in and around Pokhara that give intriguingly long sections of terrace features to the city and surrounding areas. These long sections of terraces are interrupted by gorges that are hundreds of metres deep. The Seti gorge runs through Pokhara from north to south and then west to east; at places, these gorges are only a few metres wide. In the north and south, the canyons are wider.


title: Pokhara

text: In the south, the city borders Phewa Tal (or Phewa Lake) (4.4 km) at an elevation of about above sea level, while north of Pokhara, the village of Lumle at touches the base of the Annapurna mountain range. Pokhara, the city of lakes, is the second-largest city of Nepal after Kathmandu. Three peaks (Dhaulagiri, Annapurna, Manaslu) can be seen from the city. The Machhapuchchhre ("Fishtail") with an elevation of is the closest to the city.


title: Pokhara

text: The porous underground of the Pokhara valley favors the formation of caves and several caves can be found within city limits and neighboring cities as well. In the south of the city, a tributary of the Seti Gandaki River flowing out of the Phewa Lake disappears at "Patale Chhango" (पाताले छाँगो, Nepali for Hell's Falls, also called Davis Falls, after someone who supposedly fell in) into an underground gorge, to reappear further south.


title: Pokhara

text: The city has a humid subtropical climate; however, the elevation keeps temperatures moderate. Temperatures in summer average between 25 and 35 °C; in winter around −2 to 15 °C. Pokhara and nearby areas receive a high amount of precipitation. Lumle, 25 miles from Pokhara city center, receives the highest amount of rainfall (> 5600 mm/year or 222 inches/year) in the country. Snowfall is not observed in the valley, but surrounding hills experience occasional snowfall in the winter. Summers are humid and mild; most precipitation occurs during the monsoon season (June–September). Winter and spring skies are generally clear and sunny.


title: Pokhara

text: The highest temperature ever recorded in Pokhara was on 4 May 2013, while the lowest temperature ever recorded was on 13 January 2012.


title: Pokhara

text: The single largest caste or ethnic group in the Pokhara city are the Hill Brahman, who make up 28% of the population, Gurungs with 16% comes to second place, Chhetri with 15% comes to third. Other groups in Pokhara include the Magar (9%), Newar (5%) and various other ethnic groups.


title: Pokhara

text: Since the 1990s, Pokhara has experienced rapid urbanization. As a result, service-sector industries have increasingly contributed to the local economy overtaking the traditional agriculture. An effect of urbanization is seen in high real estate prices, among the highest in the country. The major contributors to the economy of Pokhara are manufacturing and service sector including tourism; agriculture and the foreign and domestic remittances. Tourism, service sector and manufacturing contributes approximately 58% to the economy, remittances about 20% and agriculture nearly 16%.


title: Pokhara

text: There are numerous temples, Gumbas (Buddhist monasteries) and Churches in and around Pokhara valley. Many temples serve as combined places of worship for Hindus and Buddhists. Some of the popular temples, Gumbas and Churches are:


title: Pokhara

text: The municipality of Pokhara spans from north to south and from east to west but, unlike the capital Kathmandu, it is quite loosely built up and still has much green space. Nepal The gorge through which the river flows is crossed at five places: K.I. Singh Pool, Mahendrapul and Prithvi Highway Pool from north to south of the city. The floor of the valley is plain, resembles Terai due to its gravel-like surface, and has slanted orientation from northwest to southeast. The city is surrounded by the hills overlooking the entire valley.


title: Pokhara

text: Phewa Lake was slightly enlarged by damming which poses a risk of silting up due to the inflow during the monsoon. The outflowing water is partially used for hydropower generation at Fewa Hydropower Station. The dam collapsed in 1974 which resulted in draining of its water and exposing the land leading to illegal land encroachment; since then the dam has been rebuilt. The power plant is about below at the bottom of the Phusre Khola gorge. Water from Phewa is diverted for irrigation into the southern Pokhara valley. The eastern Pokhara Valley receives irrigation water through a canal running from a reservoir by the Seti in the north of the city. Some parts of Phewa lake are used as commercial cage fisheries. The lake is currently being encroached upon by invasive water hyacinth (जलकुम्भी झार).


title: Pokhara

text: In 2017, Pokhara Lekhnath Metropolitan City became Nepal's largest metropolitan city by area, occupying —which means the city is nine times larger than Kathmandu, 18 times larger than Lalitpur and 2.5 times larger than Bharatpur.


title: Pokhara

text: Pokhara is known to be a popular tourist destination for visitors from all over the world. Every year, many people visit the location in order to travel to the Annapurna range and famous religious place muktinath. The tourist district is along the north shore of the Phewa lake (Baidam, Lakeside, and Damside). It is mainly made up of small shops, non-star tourist hotels, restaurants, and bars. Most upscale and starred hotels are on the southern shore of the Phewa Lake and southeastern fringes of the city where there are more open lands and unhindered view of the surrounding mountains. Most of the tourists visiting Pokhara trek to the Annapurna Base Camp and Mustang. To the east of the Pokhara valley, there are seven smaller lakes such as Begnas Lake, Rupa Lake, Khaste lake, Maidi lake, Neureni lake, Dipang lake. Begnas Lake is known for its fishery projects.


title: Pokhara

text: After the occupation of Tibet by China in 1950 and the Indo-China war in 1962, the old trading route to India from Tibet through Pokhara became defunct. Today only a few caravans from Mustang arrive in Bagar.


title: Pokhara

text: In recent decades, Pokhara has become a major tourist destination: it is considered the tourism capital of Nepal, mainly for adventure tourism and the base for the famous Annapurna Circuit trek. Thus, a major contribution to the local economy is made by the tourism and hospitalities industry. Tourism is the primary source of income for local people and the city. There are two 5-star hotels and approximately 305 other hotels that includes one 4-star, five 3-star, fifteen 2-star and non-star hotels in the city.


title: Pokhara

text: The city promotes two major hilltops as viewpoints to see the city and surrounding panorama: World Peace Pagoda, built-in 1996 A.D. across the southern shore of Phewa Lake and Sarangkot, which is northwest of the city. In February 2004, International Mountain Museum (IMM) was opened for public in Ratopahiro to boost the city's tourism. Other museums are Pokhara Regional Museum; an ethnographic museum; Annapurna Natural History Museum which houses preserved specimens of flora and fauna, and contains a particularly extensive collection of the butterflies, found in the Western and Annapurna Conservation Area region of Nepal; and Gurkha Museum featuring the history of the Gurkha soldiers.


title: Pokhara

text: Annapurna Cable Car takes tourists from Lakeside to Sarangkot and back. Another one being built will connect Phewa Lake with World Peace Stupa.


title: Pokhara

text: The Pokhara region has a very strong military tradition with a significant number of its men being employed by the Nepali army. The Western Division HQ of the Nepalese Army is stationed at Bijayapur, Pokhara and its Area of Responsibility (AOR) consists of the entire Western Development Region of Nepal. The AOR of this Division is 29,398 km and a total of 16 districts are under the Division. The population of the AOR of Western Division is 4,571,013. Both the British Army and the Indian Army have regional recruitment and pensioners facilitation camps in Pokhara. The British Gurkha Camp is located at Deep Heights in the northeast of the Pokhara city and the Indian Gorkha Pension Camp is on the south-western side of the city, Rambazar.


title: Pokhara

text: Electricity in Pokhara is regulated and distributed by the NEA Nepal Electricity Authority. Water supply and sanitation facilities are provided by the Nepal Water Supply Corporation ( NWSC ).


title: Pokhara

text: Pokhara has more than eight hundred private and public high educational institutions. There are several institutions of higher learning up to the doctorate level in social sciences, business, and science and technology.


title: Pokhara

text: Pokhara has extensive privately operated public transportation system running throughout the city, adjoining townships and nearby villages. Pokhara Mahanagar Bus Bebasaya Samiti (green, brown and blue buses), Mama Bhanja Transport (blue buses), Bindabashini Samiti(blue buses), Phewa Bus Bebasaya Samiti(mini micros) and Lekhnath Bus Bebasaya Samiti (green and white buses) are the private companies that provide public bus transportation facility in and around Pokhara Valley. The public transport mainly consists of local and city buses, micros, micro-buses and metered-taxis.


title: Pokhara

text: Pokhara is well connected to the rest of the country through permanent road and air links. The main mode of transportation are Cars, Motorbikes, Public Buses, Taxis and the "Purano Bus Park" is the main hub for buses plying countrywide. The all-season Pokhara Airport with regular flights to Kathmandu and Mustang are operated by various domestic and a few international airlines. A new Pokhara International Airport is being constructed in the southeast of the city. Flight duration from Kathmandu to Pokhara is approximately 30 minutes.


title: Pokhara

text: The sporting activities are mainly centered in the multipurpose stadium Pokhara Rangasala (or Annapurna Stadium) in Rambazar. The popular sports are football, cricket, volleyball, basketball, martial arts, etc. The Sahara Club is one of the most active organizations promoting football in the city and organizes a South Asian club-level annual tournament: the Aaha Gold Cup. Additionally, the Kaski District Football Association (KDFA) organizes Safal Pokhara Gold Cup, which is also a South Asian club-level tournament and ANFA organizes local Kaski district club-level Balram KC memorial football tournament. B-13, Sangam & LG are the powerhouse Football club in Pokhara. There are several tennis courts. Himalayan Golf Course has attracted international press for its unique design. At 1100 meters, on the way, near Sarangkot hill, high mountain sports activity, paragliding is a good attraction for tourists as well as domestic tourists for adventure activities Nearby Sarangkot hill has developed as a good attraction for adventure activities such as paragliding and skydiving. The Pokhara city marathon, high altitude marathon are some activities attracting mass participation. Adventure sports such as base jumping, paragliding, canyoning, rock climbing, bungee jumping, etc. are targeted towards tourists. Pokhara Rhinos represents the city in Everest Premier League.


title: Pokhara

text: The universal instruments used in Nepalese music include the "madal" (small leather drum), "bansuri" (bamboo flute), and "saarangi". These instruments are prominent features of the traditional folk music ("lok gít" or lok geet) in Pokhara, which is actually the western (Gandaki, Dhaulagiri and Lumbini) branch of Nepali "lok geet". Some examples of music of this region are "Resham Firiri" (रेशम फिरिरी) and "Khyalee Tune" (ख्याली धुन).


title: Pokhara

text: The "lok geet" started airing in Radio Nepal during the 1950s and artists such as Jhalakman Gandharva, Dharma Raj Thapa are considered pioneers in bringing the "lok git" into mass media. During early and late 1990s, bands from Pokhara like Nepathya started their very successful fusion of western rock and pop with traditional folk music. Since then several other musical groups in Nepal have adopted the "lok"-pop/rock style producing dozens of albums every year.


title: Pokhara

text: Another important part of cultural music of western Nepal, and hence Pokhara, is the "Panché Baaja" (पञ्चे बाजा), a traditional musical band performed generally during marriage ceremonies by the "damaai" musicians.


title: Pokhara

text: The musical culture in Pokhara is quite dynamic and in recent years, Western rock and roll, pop, rap and hip-hop are becoming increasingly popular with frequently held musical concerts; however, the traditional "lok" and modern (semi-classical) Nepali music are predominantly favored by the general population. More musical concerts are held in Pokhara than in any other city in the country.


title: Pokhara

text: Media and communication were quite limited until the 1990s. However, in the following decade there has been a proliferation of private media in print, radio and television. There are 19 privately owned local FM stations in the Pokhara valley. An additional 4 FM stations from Kathmandu have their relay broadcast stations in Pokhara. There are six community radio stations and five television stations.


title: Pokhara

text: Approximately 14 national daily newspapers in Nepali are published in the city, along with several other weekly and monthly news magazines. All major national newspapers published in Kathmandu have distributions in Pokhara. A number of online news portals are also updated from Pokhara, as well as some entertainment-based websites. Popular technology based web-magazine TechSansar also started in Pokhara.


title: Pokhara

text: Pokhara has got 4G network of Nepal Telecom, Smart Cell and Ncell. The majority of the people in the city access internet through mobiles, numerous cyber cafes, and local wireless ISPs. Most tourist restaurants and hotels also provide WiFi services. Wi-Fi hotspots by Nepal Telecom using Wi-MAX technology were launched in Feb. 2014, and are accessible in most parts of the city for a fee. Subscriber based internet is provided by several private ISP providers.


title: Pokhara

text: People who live or have lived in Pokhara City are known as "Pokhareli". In demographic terms, the Gurung people are the dominant ethnic group, hailing from the hills around Pokhara such as Sikles, Armala, Ghalel gaun, Ghandruk, Lumle etc., with Brahmin from Syangja, Newar and Magar making up the rest of Pokhara's population. Pokhara also has the highest number of Gurkha soldiers, the majority of them belonging to Gurung and Magar ethnic groups, who were categorized as martial race by the British Army.


title: Human Torch

text: The Human Torch (Jonathan "Johnny" Storm) is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is a founding member of the Fantastic Four. He is writer Stan Lee's and artist Jack Kirby's reinvention of a similar, previous character, the android Human Torch of the same name and powers who was created in 1939 by writer-artist Carl Burgos for Marvel Comics' predecessor company, Timely Comics.


title: Human Torch

text: Like the rest of the Fantastic Four, Johnny gained his powers on a spacecraft bombarded by cosmic rays. He can engulf his entire body in flames, fly, absorb fire harmlessly into his own body, and control any nearby fire by sheer force of will. "Flame on!", which the Torch customarily shouts when activating his full-body flame effect, has become his catchphrase. The youngest of the group, he is brash and impetuous in comparison to his reticent, overprotective and compassionate older sister, Susan Storm, his sensible brother-in-law, Reed Richards, and the grumbling Ben Grimm. In the early 1960s, he starred in a series of solo adventures, published in "Strange Tales". The Human Torch is also a friend and frequent ally of the superhero Spider-Man, who is approximately the same age.


title: Human Torch

text: In films, the Human Torch has been portrayed by Jay Underwood in the unreleased 1994 film "The Fantastic Four"; Chris Evans in the 2005 film "Fantastic Four", and its 2007 sequel ""; and Michael B. Jordan in the 2015 film "Fantastic Four".


title: Human Torch

text: Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, Johnny Storm is a renovation of Carl Burgos's original character, the android Human Torch, created for Timely Comics in 1939. Storm first appeared in "The Fantastic Four" #1 (cover-dated Nov. 1961), establishing him as a member of the titular superhero team. In his plot summary for this first issue, Lee passed on to Kirby that the recently formed Comics Code Authority had told him that the Human Torch was only permitted to burn objects, never people. Over the course of the series, Johnny being the little brother of teammate Susan Storm a.k.a. the Invisible Girl was one of several sources of tension within the group.


title: Human Torch

text: Additionally, he starred in a solo feature in "Strange Tales" #101-134 (Oct. 1962 – July 1965). An eight-issue series, "The Human Torch" (Sept. 1974 – Nov. 1975), reprinted stories from that solo feature, along with stories featuring the original android Human Torch. Later years also saw a 12-issue series, "Human Torch" (June 2003 - June 2004) by writer Karl Kesel and penciler Skottie Young, and the five-issue team-up miniseries "Spider-Man / Human Torch" (March–July 2005) by writer Dan Slott and penciler Ty Templeton.


title: Human Torch

text: The Human Torch was originally the permanent co-star of "Marvel Team-Up", but was dropped after three issues because the creators found this format too restrictive. He co-starred in two one-shot comics, "Spider-Man & the Human Torch in... Bahia De Los Muertos!" #1 (May 2009), by writer Tom Beland and artist Juan Doe, and "Incredible Hulk & the Human Torch: From the Marvel Vault" #1, a previously unpublished story from 1984, originally intended for "Marvel Team-Up" by plotter Jack C. Harris, scriptwriter and artist Kesel, and breakdown artist Steve Ditko.


title: Human Torch

text: Growing up in Glenville, New York, a fictional Long Island suburban town, Johnny Storm lost his mother due to a car accident from which his father, surgeon Franklin Storm, escaped unharmed. Franklin Storm spiraled into alcoholism and financial ruin, and was imprisoned after killing a loan shark in self-defense. Johnny Storm was then raised by his older sister, Sue Storm.


title: Human Torch

text: At 16, Storm joined his sister and her fiancé, Reed Richards, in a space flight in which cosmic radiation transformed those three and spacecraft pilot Ben Grimm into superpowered beings who would become the celebrated superhero team the Fantastic Four. Storm, with the ability to become a flaming human with the power of flight and the ability to project fire, dubs himself the Human Torch, in tribute to the World War II-era hero of that name. In "The Fantastic Four" #4, it is Storm who discovers an amnesiac hobo whom he helps regain his memory as the antihero Namor the Sub-Mariner, one of the three most popular heroes of Marvel Comics' 1940s forerunner, Timely Comics, returning him to modern continuity.


title: Human Torch

text: Though a member of a world-famous team, Storm still lived primarily in Glenville and attended Glenville High School. Here he thought he maintained a secret identity, although his fellow townsfolk were well aware of his being a member of the Fantastic Four and simply humored him. This series introduced what would become the recurring Fantastic Four foes the Wizard and Paste-Pot Pete, later known as the Trapster. In Storm's home life, Mike Snow, a member of the high-school wrestling squad, bullied Storm until an accidental flare-up of the Torch's powers scarred Snow's face. Storm dated fellow student Dorrie Evans, although she eventually grew tired of his constant disappearances and broke off their relationship.


title: Human Torch

text: After graduating high school, Storm enrolled at New York City's Metro College. There he befriended his roommate Wyatt Wingfoot. He also met the original Human Torch of the 1930s and 1940s. Around this time, Storm met and fell in love with Crystal, a member of the superpowered race the Inhumans. After their relationship ended, Crystal returned to her native city of Attilan and eventually married the superhero Quicksilver, Storm, crushed, attempted to move on, finding that his high-school girlfriend, Dorrie Evans, had married and had two children. Storm dropped out of college but remained friends with Wingfoot, who often participated in the Fantastic Four's adventures.


title: Human Torch

text: Storm eventually began a romance with who he thought was Alicia Masters but was eventually revealed to be an alien from the shapeshifting Skrull race, Lyja, posing as Masters. In the interim, they married. Storm later discovers "Alicia's" true identity, and that Lyja is pregnant with his child. He then witnessed Lyja's apparent death and rescued the real Alicia from the Skrulls.


title: Human Torch

text: Storm briefly joined his nephew Franklin Richards' Fantastic Force team, where he battled his otherdimensional counterpart, Vangaard (formerly Gaard). Lyja posed as student Laura Green and dated Storm to stay close to him; Storm recognized her when they kissed, though he did not reveal this to her until later.


title: Human Torch

text: Seeking an acting career, Storm was cast as the Old West hero the Rawhide Kid, but producers reconsidered and gave the role to Lon Zelig (actually the alien Super-Skrull). After working mostly in some television shows, Storm also spent some time as a firefighter at the behest of his former classmate, Mike Snow, but when Snow moved away after his wife turned out to be a psychopathic arsonist and seemingly died, Storm left the job. He later returned to the profession during a period when the Fantastic Four was short on cash. Frustrated with her brother's directionless life and near-disastrous pranksterism, his sister compelled him to become chief financial officer for the Fantastic Four, Inc. Infighting and betrayal resulted in a near-catastrophe, ending Storm's position.


title: Human Torch

text: After a major battle with the supervillain and dictator Doctor Doom, Fantastic Four leader Reed Richards attempted to claim Doom's Latveria for the Fantastic Four, an act that alienated the United States government and his own team. This led to team-member Ben Grimm's apparent death and the Fantastic Four's subsequent dispersal. Storm took to fixing cars for a living. Grimm later was revealed to be alive. Over the Internet, Storm meets a young woman, Cole, whom he learns is the daughter of one of the Fantastic Four's oldest enemies, the Wizard; after a confrontation with that supervillain, who escaped with Cole, Storm remained hopeful of meeting her again. For a time, Storm became the Herald of the powerful cosmic being Galactus, becoming the Invisible Boy after switching powers with his sister and teammate, Susan Richards, the Invisible Woman.


title: Human Torch

text: During the 2006–2007 "Civil War" company-wide crossover, in which the superpowered community is split over the Superhuman Registration Act, which required them to register with, and become agents of, the US government, Storm and his sister allied with the underground rebels, the Secret Avengers. Shortly afterward, during the "Secret Invasion" company-wide crossover, the shape-shifting extraterrestrial Skrulls intensified their clandestine infiltration of Earth. Storm was briefly reunited with his former Skrull girlfriend, Lyja. Though part of the invading force, she finds she still has some feelings for him, and does not carry out her mission of sabotage. She returns to her people, unsure of herself and of any future relationship.


title: Human Torch

text: In the conclusion of the 2011 "Three" storyline, in "Fantastic Four" #587 (March 2011), the Human Torch appears to die fighting a horde of aliens from the otherdimensional Negative Zone. The series ended with the following issue, #588, and relaunched in March 2011 as simply "FF". Spider-Man, one of Storm's friends, took his place on the team, as requested in the Torch's will.


title: Human Torch

text: It is later revealed that the Human Torch was revived by a species of insect-like creatures that were implanted in his body by Annihilus in an attempt to force Storm to help open the Negative Zone portal. Storm eventually escapes, and Richards determines Storm was on the other side of the portal for two years from his perspective.


title: Human Torch

text: The Human Torch becomes an ambassador within Inhuman society and joins Steve Rogers's Avengers Unity Squad and helps Rogue in incinerating the telepathic portions of Professor Xavier's brains, thus unknowingly preventing Hydra from using it for their secret empire. He becomes a multi-billionaire when he inherits Reed Richards' and Sue Storms' wealth and uses the money for rebuilding the Avengers Mansion and philanthropy. He is seemingly annihilated when he grabs a cosmic object called Pyramoids during the fight between the Lethal Legion and the Black Order in Peru, but is restored after Living Lightning wins a high stakes poker game versus the Grandmaster.


title: Human Torch

text: To help the Thing cope with Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman's disappearance, the Human Torch takes him on a journey through the Multiverse using the Multisect in order to find them. They have not been able to find Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman as they return to Earth-616 empty-handed. The Human Torch and the Thing were reunited with Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman to help alongside other superheroes who were part of the Fantastic Four (including surprisingly X-Men's Iceman) fight the Griever at the End of All Things after Mister Fantastic persuaded the Griever to let him summon the Thing and the Human Torch. As the Thing and his teammates finally return to 616, while Future Foundation stays behind to keep learning multiverse, the Thing reveals to them that he proposed to Alicia and they are about to get married soon. Although the Baxter Building is now owned by a new superhero team Fantastix, the Thing allows his teammates to use his hometown Yancy Street as their current operation base. He later becomes engaged with an Unparalleled named Skye at Planet Spyre, who then joins the Fantastic Four to learn about Earth and its other superheroes besides them.


title: Human Torch

text: Due to Doctor Doom's mechanism, Johnny Storm's permanently stuck in his Human Torch form. After saving the Watchers, restoring Uatu's power, returning Nick Fury Sr. back to normal, as well as freeing Galactus from being controlled by a Destroyer Armor, with the help of other superheroes across the universe, including Doom against the during "Reckoning War", Johnny decides to stay at Spyre for a cure to be able to deactivate his Human Torch form once more.


title: Human Torch

text: The Human Torch has been involved in several romantic relationships throughout the years, including, but not limited to, the Inhuman Crystal, member-in-training and future Galactus herald Frankie Raye, the Skrull agent Lyja disguised as Alicia Masters, the Atlantean Namorita, Inhuman Medusa, and X-Men member Rogue.


title: Human Torch

text: Crystal dissolved her relationship with him due to the adverse effects of pollution within population centers of "Homo sapiens". Frankie Raye ended her relationship with him when she accepted Galactus' offer to become his newest herald.


title: Human Torch

text: Lyja, while in the disguise of the Thing's former girlfriend Alicia Masters, carried on a long-term relationship including marriage with the Torch, until it was revealed that her true nature was as a Skrull double agent. Although the two attempted reconciliation after it was learned that their "child" was actually an implanted weapon to be used against the Fantastic Four, they ultimately parted on less than favorable terms.


title: Human Torch

text: Torch's brief relationship with Namorita lasted until he pursued a career in Hollywood. It is suggested that he had a short relationship with his Uncanny Avengers/Unity Squad leader Rogue, following which he had a rebound relationship with Medusa (Crystal's sister). At first it seemed as if he and Rogue resumed their relationship, which was considered as an open secret, however this relationship came to an end after his apparent death and when Rogue rekindled her relationship with Gambit. He has also had relationships with civilian women.


title: Human Torch

text: Johnny Storm gained a number of superhuman powers as a result of the mutagenic effects of the cosmic radiation he was exposed to, all of which are related to fire. His primary ability to envelop his body in fiery plasma without harm to himself, in which form he is able to fly by providing thrust behind himself with his own flame, and to generate powerful streams and/or balls of flame. He can also manipulate his flame in such a way as to shape it into rings and other forms, such as a fiery duplicate of himself that he can remotely control. Even when not engulfed in flame himself, Storm has the ability to control any fire within his immediate range of vision, causing it to increase or decrease in intensity or to move in a pattern directed by his thoughts. Additionally, he is able to absorb fire/plasma into his body with no detrimental effects.


title: Human Torch

text: The plasma field immediately surrounding his body is hot enough to vaporize projectiles that approach him, including bullets. He does not generally extend this flame-aura beyond a few inches from his skin, so as not to ignite nearby objects. Storm refers to his maximum flame output as his "nova flame", which he can release omnidirectionally. Flame of any temperature lower than this cannot burn or harm the Torch. This "nova" effect can occur spontaneously when he absorbs an excessive amount of heat, although he can momentarily suppress the release when necessary, with considerable effort.


title: Human Torch

text: Storm has demonstrated enough control with fire that he can safely shave another's hair, or hold a person while in his flame form without his passenger feeling discomforting heat. His knowledge extends to general information about fire as well, supported by regular visits to fire-safety lectures at various firehouses in New York. In one instance when poisoned, Storm superheated his blood to burn the toxin out.


title: Human Torch

text: Storm's ability to ignite himself is limited by the quantity of oxygen in his environment, and his personal flame has been extinguished by sufficient quantities of water, flame retardant foam, and vacuum environments. He can reignite instantly once oxygen is returned, with no ill effects. In early stories he could only remain aflame for up to five minutes at a time, after which he would need five minutes to recharge before igniting himself again.


title: Human Torch

text: Storm was depicted as transmuting his body itself into living flame in the first two issues of "The Fantastic Four". In all subsequent appearances, his power consists in the generation of a flaming aura.


title: Human Torch

text: In the "Marvel 1602" universe, Jon Storm is a young hothead who has to leave London following a duel. Along with his sister, who is escaping a man she does not love, he joins Sir Richard Reed on his explorations, and is caught in the radiation of the Anomaly, turning him into a Human Torch. The Four continue their explorations until they are captured by Otto von Doom prior to the original "1602" miniseries.


title: Human Torch

text: At the start of the miniseries "1602: Fantastick Four", Jon has rejoined high society, and once more finds himself embroiled in a duel, this time with Lord Wingfoot, who is betrothed to the 1602 version of Doris Evans. When he is called upon to battle Otto von Doom, he kidnaps Doris and takes her with them, believing this is for her own good.


title: Human Torch

text: In the Age of Apocalypse, Johnny never becomes the Human Torch. Instead, he is among Reed Richards' crew, along with Ben Grimm as pilot and Johnny's sister Susan. Reed Richards attempts to evacuate a full contingent of refugees in his own experimental tran-ship, but a mutant saboteur interferes with the launch. Johnny and Reed sacrifice themselves to save the others from the forces of Apocalypse.


title: Human Torch

text: In Earth-98 universe, Johnny married Crystal and has a daughter named Luna and a son named Ray. He is also the leader of the Fantastic Four. He first appeared in "Fantastic Four/Fantastic 4 Annual" (1998).


title: Human Torch

text: In Ghost-Spider's universe, Susan and Johnny Storm went missing on a trip to Latveria. When they return to New York, they are shown twisted to evil and murderers of their own mother.


title: Human Torch

text: The Earth-A version of Johnny does not join Reed and Ben in their trip to space. He serves in the Vietnam War, where he is believed to have been killed. However, Johnny is found and saved by Arkon, who gives him superpowers and the new identity of Gaard.


title: Human Torch

text: In the Heroes Reborn history of the Marvel Universe, created after a battle with Onslaught, Johnny is an owner of a popular casino and part financial backer of Reed Richards' plan to go into space. His handprint is one of two — the other being his sister's — needed for launch. His rivalry with Ben Grimm now extends into much more dangerous areas, such as a potentially deadly game of 'chicken' without thought to the life of the woman in his passenger seat.


title: Human Torch

text: After being attacked by agents of Doctor Doom, Johnny ends up going up into space on Reed's spacecraft prototype as he really had nowhere else to go. The entire launch base had been overtaken by enemy forces and it was miles to civilization. It is during the flight a cosmic anomaly imbues him and the others with their powers. After the crash of the prototype, Johnny would prove more reliable, recovering Reed Richards and rescuing his own sister.


title: Human Torch

text: In the "House of M: Iron Man" limited series, Johnny Storm is a contestant on a reality game show called "Sapien Death Match." He has no inherent superpowers, but wears a suit of powered armor that has a 'flame on' ability.


title: Human Torch

text: In the Marvel Mangaverse comics, the Human Torch is portrayed by two separate characters spanning two very different continuities. The first character is a member of the Megascale Metatalent Response Team Fantastic Four on Earth-2301a and the mirror opposite of Earth-616's Johnny Storm in terms of personality. The team uses power-packs to boost their talents to manifest at mecha-sized levels in order to combat Godzilla-sized monsters that seem to constantly attack Earth. In volume two of Mangaverse, which takes place on Earth-2301b, the character of Johnny Storm has been replaced with a young woman named Jonatha Storm, who is the half-sister of Sioux Storm. Jonatha is quite hotheaded; sometimes riding into battle singing "I am the Goddess of Hellfire." She denies being impulsive, saying she can only be described that way in comparison to her "neurotic" teammates. In "New Mangaverse" Jonatha is slightly redesigned to look a few years younger than she did in volume one of Mangaverse, and no longer wears her hair in multiple braids, instead sporting two pigtails on each side of her head. After witnessing the murder of the other Fantastic 4 members by supernatural assassins, she joins Spider-Man, Spider-Woman (Mary Jane Watson), Black Cat, Wolverine, and Iron Man, in hopes of getting revenge.


title: Human Torch

text: In this alternative universe crazed Reed Richards recently infects Johnny Storm, Sue Storm, and Ben Grimm with the zombie virus. The three then turn Reed into a zombie and the four of them go on a rampage with the other zombies. Eventually Reed contacts the Ultimate Reed and gets him to come to the infected universe. Johnny travels with the three others to the Ultimate Universe. They attack the Fantastic Four there but are thwarted, and are locked up in a containment cell. Johnny eats live animals and loathes the Ultimate version of himself, remarking that he especially hates his hair. When they escape the four attack the Baxter Building, Ultimate Reed switches bodies with Ultimate Doom and takes on all four zombies. Johnny is last seen being torn apart and extinguished by Reed in Dr. Doom's body.


title: Human Torch

text: In the MC2 alternative future Johnny leads the Fantastic Five. He is married to Lyja and they have a son Torus Storm (who calls himself "Super-Storm" when role-playing as a hero). Torus has inherited both his father's flame powers and his mother's stretching / shapeshifting powers.


title: Human Torch

text: In this universe starring Gwen Stacy as Spider-Woman, Johnny and Susan's family are stars of a television series and they are still children. Silk picks up a magazine that says they are entering their fourth season.


title: Human Torch

text: In the Amazing Spider-man comic's event "Spider-Verse", "Scarlet Spider (Kaine) and "Spider-Man (Ben Reily)" "met and fought Johnny Storm (Earth-802) who is the Head of Security of Baxter Building and serving one of the Inheritors, Jennix.


title: Human Torch

text: In the Ultimate Marvel Universe, Johnny Storm is the youngest child of Franklin Storm, but is not as intelligent as his sister and father. He spent time at the Baxter Building, but his rebellious nature meant that he learned little from his time spent there. Although he is portrayed as being very vain, narcissistic, and displays some misogynistic tendencies, he is also shown to have a deep devotion to his friends and family. He is good friends with Spider-Man, and has a friendship/friendly rivalry with Bobby Drake due to each other's respective powers.


title: Human Torch

text: He is present at Reed Richards' test of the N-Zone Teleportation Device in the Nevada Desert. After a malfunction in the device, he wakes up in France in a hospital bed. He uncontrollably bursts into flames until he learns to control his powers by saying "Flame On" and "Flame Off.". When Mole Man's creatures attacks, Johnny finds out he can fly while on fire. It is explained by Reed that Johnny's combustion makes him lighter than air. Johnny's body is covered with a microscopically thin film of transparent plates that make him impervious to flame. When he activates his powers, fat cells beneath his skin create clean nuclear fusion and jet out between the plates as plasma which then ignites on contact with air. Periodically, Johnny enters a hibernation where his old layer of skin peels off as ash while a new layer forms underneath. Unlike the mainstream Human Torch, Ultimate Johnny's power sometimes have detrimental effects on his health, specifically causing unhealthy levels of weight loss and exhaustion.


title: Human Torch

text: In issues #68 and 69 of "Ultimate Spider-Man", Johnny meets Spider-Man when his sister says he has to finish high school. Johnny picks a school in Queens which happens to be Midtown High. He quickly meets and becomes friends with Peter Parker, Mary Jane and Liz Allan. At a bonfire, he catches fire and scares off Liz Allan. He arranges to meet Liz, but she does not show up.


title: Human Torch

text: Encouraged by Mary Jane, Spider-Man shows up instead and gives Johnny a heart-to-heart talk about great power and great responsibility. Together, they save people from a burning building when Johnny absorbs the flames. Spider-Man shows Johnny that they will not always be appreciated by the public.


title: Human Torch

text: In issue #98 of "Ultimate Spider-Man", the Fantastic Four learn Spider-Man's identity, and Johnny recognizes Peter. In issue #101, Nick Fury and a regiment of Spider Slayers try to arrest Peter but are stopped by Johnny and the rest of the Fantastic Four.


title: Human Torch

text: In the "Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends" story arc (beginning with issue #118 and concluding in issue #120) Johnny returns to Midtown High wanting to spend time with real friends after becoming frustrated on a date with a popular pop-star who only came for publicity. After some prodding, Johnny arranges for a group consisting of himself, Peter, Mary Jane, Kitty Pryde, Kong, Bobby Drake and Liz Allan (Johnny's apparent romantic interest) to have a somewhat normal day at the beach. During the evening bonfire, mirror his last visit, Liz Allan bursts into flame, exposing herself as a mutant. At the end of the arc, Liz returns to the Xaiver Institute with Iceman.


title: Human Torch

text: In Issue #129 of "Ultimate Spider-Man", Johnny attends another unsuccessful date with the same pop-star as before and after again becoming frustrated calls Peter Parker to give him an excuse to leave. Johnny laments that he does not know any nice girls and has no real way of meeting any, and wants Peter to set him up. After flying off, he encounters The Vulture mid-robbery. Johnny attempts to stop him, but is thwarted several times before being assisted by Spider-Woman (a female clone of Peter Parker who is still mentally Peter up to the point of her "birth" in the Clone Saga story arc, a fact not disclosed to Johnny). Johnny proceeds to follow her around asking her for details about who she is, going as far to flirt with her. The very embarrassed Spider-Woman swings off.


title: Human Torch

text: Throughout the first story arc of "Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man" (the continuation of "Ultimate Spider-Man"), Johnny Storm appears at Peter Parker's door and passes out in his arms. When he wakes up he informs Aunt May that he does not wish to return to the Baxter Building. Aunt May decides to let him live with her, Peter and Gwen (later also adding Bobby Drake to the household as well). As to not raise suspicion and to not reveal Peters' secret identity, Aunt May comes up with the idea of coloring Johnny's hair black and changing his name to Johnny Parker, Peter's cousin. She then enrolls him and Bobby at Midtown High along with Peter and Gwen. The school is then attacked by a Spider-Slayer, created by Mysterio, to hunt down Spider-Man. Johnny runs away from the school before "Flaming On", as to not reveal his new secret identity, then returns to aid Peter in the fight, only to discover that the Shroud has already taken care of it. Johnny decides to melt the remains of the Spider-Slayer anyway.


title: Human Torch

text: Later when Norman Osborn escapes alongside The Vulture, Kraven the Hunter, Electro, Doctor Octopus, and The Sandman, Johnny and Bobby find them at Peters home and Johnny manages to knock Osborn unconscious before sandman does the same to him. Spider-Man then wakes him up to fight Osborn again but Johnny only succeeds in adding to Osborn's power before being knocked out yet again. Afterwards Spider-Man is killed after defeating Osborn and the other supervillains and Johnny is the one who checks to see if he truly is dead.


title: Human Torch

text: Ultimate Johnny appears briefly in issue one of Ultimate Fallout. In this issue, distressed by Peter's death he screams and releases most of his energy above the city.


title: Human Torch

text: Johnny eventually joins Kitty Pryde's team of mutants in the pages of . He elects to stay behind and defend a group of younger mutants in the Morlock tunnels while Kitty, Iceman, Jimmy Hudson, and Rogue decide to head to the Southwest to fight off the Sentinels. He is later rescued wandering the streets of New York, having been severely tortured. The only clue to the fate of the children is a garbled phone call to Kitty by one of the children lamenting Johnny's disappearance.


title: Human Torch

text: Johnny also makes an appearance in the "Ultimate Spider-Man" video game, in which he challenges Spider-Man to a series of races.


title: Human Torch

text: On Counter Earth, counterparts of the Fantastic Four hijack an experimental spaceship in order to be the first humans in space. Man-Beast negates the effects of the cosmic radiation for all of them except Reed Richards who succumbs to the effects a decade later. Johnny Storm's counterpart is revealed to have been killed by the cosmic radiation.


title: Human Torch

text: In "What If?" vol. 2 #11 (March 1990), the origins of the Fantastic Four are retold, showing how the heroes lives would have changed if all four had gained the same powers as the individual members of the original Fantastic Four. In "Pyros", all have the power of the Human Torch; after the team sets fire to what they believe to be an uninhabited area in order to battle a monster, they inadvertently kill the daughter of a woman squatting one of those buildings; the guilt causes them to disband, after which Reed Richards returns to his research, Storm becomes a race car driver and Grimm adopts the Human Torch moniker and joins the Avengers. Susan Storm, who could never forgive herself for the child's death, took monastic vows and spent the rest of her life as a nun in penance. In "Team Elastics", all have the power of Mister Fantastic, but Grimm, Sue Storm and Reed Richards all believe their powers to be silly; which also causes Sue Storm to leave Reed. Reed Richards returns to his research, only using his powers to aid him in his work, such as handling dangerous chemicals at far range, and Sue marries Ben Grimm, where they live a quiet domestic life free of superpowers. Johnny is the only member to go public, where he becomes a performer called "Mr. Fabulous", using his powers to gain fame, fortune and women. In "Monstrous", all become monsters, and relocate to Monster Isle. In "The Phantoms", each gain one aspect of the invisibility power, with Johnny able to become intangible. The story focuses on the four becoming a special secret unit of S.H.I.E.L.D. which defends against an attack by, and ultimately captures and places in custody, Doom.


title: Human Torch

text: The Human Torch was ranked as the 90th greatest comic book character by "Wizard" magazine. IGN ranked the Human Torch as the 46th greatest comic book hero, stating that even though the youngest member of the Fantastic Four routinely basked in the glory of his celebrity status, he also proved himself in his many adventures with both the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man.


title: Life (1999 film)

text: Life is a 1999 American buddy comedy-drama film directed by Ted Demme. The film stars Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence. It is the second film featuring Murphy and Lawrence together, the first being "Boomerang". The supporting cast includes Ned Beatty, R. Lee Ermey, Obba Babatundé, Bernie Mac, Anthony Anderson, Miguel A. Núñez Jr., Bokeem Woodbine, Guy Torry, Michael Taliferro and Barry Shabaka Henley. The film's format is a story being told by an elderly inmate about two of his friends, Ray (Murphy) and Claude (Lawrence), who are both wrongfully convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. It received an Oscar nomination for Best Makeup at the 72nd Academy Awards. "Life" failed to meet the studio's expectations at the box office, and received mixed reactions from critics. The film later found a strong cult following among Murphy and Lawrence’s fans, establishing "Life" as a cult classic.


title: Life (1999 film)

text: In 1997, at the Mississippi State Penitentiary, elderly convict Willie Long tells his friends' life story at their burial. Ray Gibson and Claude Banks, New Yorkers from different worlds, meet at a club called Spanky's in 1932. Ray, a small-time thief, picks Claude as a mark. Ray convinces club-owner Spanky to let him and Claude pay off their debt via boot-legging. Traveling south to buy Mississippi "hooch", they pay for the booze and enter a local bar. Ray loses his father's prized pocketwatch to card hustler Winston Hancock. Outside, racist sheriff Warren Pike kills Hancock, framing Ray and Claude.


title: Life (1999 film)

text: Ray and Claude are given life sentences, with hard labor at an infamous prison camp. They immediately run afoul of the guards, Sergeant Dillard and Hoppin' Bob, and also meet fellow inmates Jangle Leg (who makes a pass at Claude), Willie Long, Biscuit (another homosexual inmate, involved with Jangle Leg), Radio, Goldmouth (a bully who picks a fight with Ray), Cookie the chef, and Pokerface. Claude's cousin, an attorney, unsuccessfully appeals his conviction and seduces his girlfriend (who’s grown tired of Claude’s selfishness). With no chance at freedom, Claude and Ray break out, getting as far as Tallahatchie before being captured.


title: Life (1999 film)

text: In 1944, twelve years later, Claude and Ray meet young, mute inmate "Can't-Get-Right", a talented baseball player who is sighted by a Negro league scout who offers a pardon to play. Sensing opportunity, Ray and Claude introduce themselves as his handlers. Despite his talent, Can't-Get-Right is often distracted by Mae-Rose, the daughter of Camp 8's superintendent Abernathy. After Mae-Rose gives birth to a biracial boy, Abernathy demands to know who is the father. Various inmates simultaneously claim to be to confuse Abernathy and save Can't-Get-Right.


title: Life (1999 film)

text: During a dance social, Biscuit confides to Ray that he is due for release but fears returning to his family because of his homosexuality. Despite Ray’s sincere encouragement to resume life on the outside, Biscuit instead commits suicide by crossing the gun line, much to the shock and heartache of the other inmates. Can't-Get-Right's release without Ray and Claude causes extreme frustration and a bitter falling out. Over the following years, Ray attempts several escapes alone unsuccessfully.


title: Life (1999 film)

text: By 1972, Ray and Claude are still not speaking; as their friends have all passed away excluding Willie. One day, Claude snaps, running past armed guards to steal a pie, and he is punished by having to stand barefoot on a case of bottles for 24 hours. Dillard offers to set Ray free if he will shoot Claude should he move. Ray refuses and is given the same punishment. Touched, Claude apologizes, and they finally make amends.


title: Life (1999 film)

text: One day, Ray and Claude are transferred to live and work at Superintendent Dexter Wilkins' mansion. Ray does yard work, while Claude works inside and befriends with him. Claude is entrusted to pick up the new superintendent, Sheriff Warren Pike, the man who wrongfully framed them. While on a pheasant hunt, Ray notices that Pike has his father's watch, having framed them for killing Winston Hancock 40 years prior. He approaches Pike and inquires him about the watch and Pike lies that he got it from his wife 40 years ago. When Ray asks whether his wife also gave him the scar on his face, Pike instantly recognizes Ray and threats him but Ray wrestles the gun and points it at Pike. He tells Wilkins that Pike framed him and Claude for murder, which the sheriff admits without remorse by justifying that at least the state of Mississippi had them as cheap labor for 40 years. As Claude struggles to stop Ray from killing him, when Pike aims at them both with a Derringer. Realizing that they are both innocent, Wilkins kills Pike and covers it up as a hunting accident, but then suffers a fatal heart attack in his bathroom before he can pardon them.


title: Life (1999 film)

text: In 1997, (current timeline), Ray and Claude live in the prison infirmary. Claude tells Ray a new plan, but Ray has accepted his fate. Later that night, the infirmary catches fire, and they seemingly perish in the flames. Willie concludes the tale by outlining Claude's plan: Ray and Claude would steal two bodies from the morgue, start the blaze, plant the bodies, hide and escape in the fire trucks. Willie reveals to the workers and inmates the plan worked: the bodies buried are not Ray and Claude, who have gone back to New York immediately and are watching a baseball game. They are again on good terms, free and living together in Harlem.


title: Life (1999 film)

text: "Life" was released on April 16, 1999 in North America. The film grossed $73,345,029 worldwide against an $80 million budget, making it a financial disappointment.


title: Life (1999 film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, it has an approval rating of 50% based on reviews from 56 critics. The site's critic consensus reads, "Entertaining if not over-the-top humor from a solid comic duo provides plenty of laughs." On Metacritic, it has a score of 63 out of 100, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave it a grade B+.


title: Life (1999 film)

text: Even though "Life" was set in Parchman, Mississippi, it was filmed in California; filming locations include Brentwood, CA, Locke, CA, Los Angeles, Downey, CA, and Sacramento, CA. Parts of the film were shot at a Rockwell Defense Plant in California.


title: Life (1999 film)

text: A soundtrack containing hip hop and R&B music was released on March 16, 1999 on Rock Land/Interscope Records. It peaked at 10 on the "Billboard" 200 and 2 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and was certified platinum with over 1 million copies sold on June 18, 1999.


title: New Radicals

text: New Radicals (stylized as Иew Radicals) were an American alternative rock band formed in 1997 in Los Angeles, California. The band was centered on frontman Gregg Alexander, who wrote and produced all of their songs. The band's only other permanent member was keyboardist and percussionist Danielle Brisebois.


title: New Radicals

text: The band released only one album, 1998's "Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too", an alternative rock album heavily influenced by the rock and soul of the 1970s, containing—among radio-friendly modern rock tracks and love songs—strong criticism of corporate America. The band is known for their debut single "You Get What You Give". Despite aspects of the lyrics generating minor controversy for their references to certain celebrities, the song topped the charts in Canada and New Zealand, became a top 5 hit in the United Kingdom, and was in the top 40 in the US.


title: New Radicals

text: Tired of touring and promotional interviews, Alexander disbanded the group in mid-1999 before the release of their second single, "Someday We'll Know", to focus on writing and producing songs for other artists. Alexander and Brisebois' songwriting partnership continued following the disbanding of the group, with the two being nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2015 for their composition "Lost Stars" from the film "Begin Again".


title: New Radicals

text: Since their disbandment, the group has received numerous offers for a reunion tour or new album, but Alexander has repeatedly turned these down. However, the band finally reunited for a one off performance on January 20, 2021 to mark President Joe Biden's presidential inauguration.


title: New Radicals

text: New Radicals had a "revolving-door policy" and no permanent members other than Gregg Alexander, who produced, wrote, sang and played various instruments for the band. The only other person considered a relatively constant member was former child actress Danielle Brisebois ("All in the Family", "Archie Bunker's Place"). She acted as background singer, keyboardist and percussionist on the album, at live shows and in the band's music videos. She also co-wrote their second single "Someday We'll Know" with Alexander and Debra Holland. Brisebois had previously worked with Alexander on his 1992 album "Intoxifornication" and on her 1994 solo debut "Arrive All Over You", and was concurrently working with him on her solo album "Portable Life" at the time (which was not officially released until 2008).


title: New Radicals

text: Most of the musicians who worked on "Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too" were friends of Alexander and Brisebois, including piano player Paul Gordon, drummers Matt Laug and Josh Freese, Paul McCartney's guitarist Rusty Anderson, guitarist Michael James (who also mixed), bassists Paul Bushnell, Dan Rothchild and John Pierce, percussionist Lenny Castro, pianist Greg Phillinganes, and producer Rick Nowels, who played piano on two tracks on the album (and who had previously produced Alexander's debut album "Michigan Rain").


title: New Radicals

text: Other musicians who were at some point part of the live line-up include drummer Stuart Johnson, guitarist Bradley Fernquist, keyboardist Jim McGorman and bassist Sasha Krivtsov. The latter two were later also part of the house band in "". Sasha and Jim also played with KISS' Paul Stanley on his "Live To Win" solo tour in 2006.


title: New Radicals

text: New Radicals were formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1997 by Gregg Alexander, who had previously released two unsuccessful solo albums, 1989's "Michigan Rain" and 1992's "Intoxifornication". Michael Rosenblatt, MCA Records' A&R Senior Vice President, signed the band to the label in 1998, and Alexander received a $600,000 advance for their first (and only) album, "Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too". The album was released on October 20, 1998, and was well received by music critics, who praised the record for its wide range of atypical influences for a modern pop rock album, such as Todd Rundgren, World Party and Hall & Oates, and compared its funk and soul-influenced upbeat pop rock to the early work of Prince and Mick Jagger.


title: New Radicals

text: Some critics disliked the album's themes, dismissing Alexander's criticism of society and the frequent references to drugs and sex that run throughout the album as "shallow posturing" and "empty social pronouncements", while others stated that these criticisms "would sound clichéd if they so insightful and articulated with such uninhibited truth." Popular opinion, by contrast, pushed the album to No. 10 on the UK Albums Chart and No. 41 on the "Billboard" 200 in the U.S., where it also achieved platinum status (1,000,000 copies sold). It was also certified gold in the United Kingdom (100,000 copies sold) and in Canada (50,000 copies sold).


title: New Radicals

text: To promote their album, New Radicals embarked on a tour through the United States, starting in late 1998. Apart from many concerts and festivals, the tour also included several live performances on the radio, appearances on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and Nickelodeon's "All That" and a performance at the House of Blues in Chicago on New Year's Eve 1998—which is probably the only New Radicals show of which bootlegs are circulating. They also opened for the Goo Goo Dolls on their tour starting on March 30, 1999.


title: New Radicals

text: The album was followed on November 17, 1998, by the release of their first single, "You Get What You Give" (co-written with Rick Nowels), which reached No. 36 on the U.S. "Billboard" Hot 100, No. 5 on the UK Singles Chart, and No. 1 on the "RPM" Canadian Singles Chart. The song received heavy radio airplay and rotation on MTV and much media attention. In large part this attention focused on the celebrity-slamming line "Fashion shoots with Beck and Hanson / Courtney Love and Marilyn Manson / You're all fakes run to your mansions / Come around we'll kick your ass in."


title: New Radicals

text: When asked about it in an interview, Marilyn Manson replied he was "not mad that [Alexander] said he'd kick my ass, I just don't want to be used in the same sentence with Courtney Love" and would "crack his skull open if I see him." Beck reported that "I was in a grocery store and he [Alexander] came running up to me, so apologetic, and saying, 'I hope you weren't offended. It wasn't supposed to be personal.' I was kind of pleased, because he's a big guy." The members of Hanson said they weren't really bothered by the song, as they saw it as just a pop-culture reference. They also co-wrote the song "Lost Without Each Other" from their 2004 album "Underneath" with Alexander. Zac Hanson said that "It was cool working with Gregg... [he]'s definitely a character but he's a cool guy."


title: New Radicals

text: Following the mass media's excitement about the celebrity insults, Alexander explained that the verse, along with the lines directly preceding it ("Health insurance rip off lying / FDA big bankers buying / Fake computer crashes dining / Cloning while they're multiplying") were an experiment to see if the media would focus on the real issues, or on the celebrity ridicule. Similar complaints and attacks on Christian religion, American society, politics and corporations can be found in other songs on the album as well, and Alexander would often use promotional interviews to talk about these topics, complaining about—among other things—corrupt, greedy politicians and corporate officers, credit card interest, the poor American social security system, and lack of education.


title: New Radicals

text: The drums on the album's title track were sampled from the XTC song 'All of a Sudden' (from their "English Settlement" album). According to XTC's songwriter Andy Partridge, the sample was used without permission; and the band and its record company eventually received £70,000 in compensation for its use.


title: New Radicals

text: When the band canceled their appearance at the Atlanta open-air music festival RockFest, as well as their UK tour (scheduled to start on May 17, 1999), rumors started they would break up, while MCA Records claimed an unspecified member of the band being ill was the cause for the canceled shows. New Radicals went on to shoot the video for their second single "Someday We'll Know"; however, less than two weeks before its release, Gregg Alexander issued a press release on July 12, announcing the breakup of the group. Alexander said that New Radicals "will no longer be a recording, promoting, or performing entity" and that he would focus on producing and writing material for other artists. He went on to say that he "accomplished all of [his] goals with this record" and that "the fatigue of traveling & getting three hours sleep in a different hotel every night to do boring 'hanging and schmoozing' with radio and retail people, is definitely not for [him]", that he "lost interest in fronting a 'One Hit Wonder' to the point that [he] was wearing a hat while performing so that people wouldn't see [his] lack of enthusiasm" and that he would go on to form a production company to focus on producing and writing songs freelance for other artists. His first production work after New Radicals' breakup was the album "Portable Life" by fellow Radical Danielle Brisebois, originally set to be released in October 1999, but cancelled by RCA Records until eventually being released digitally almost a decade later in September 2008. Given the band's breakup and the resulting lack of promotion, "Someday We'll Know" failed to have a notable impact on the charts (it did not chart the "Billboard" Hot 100 and reached only No. 28 on the U.S. Adult Top 40 and No. 48 on the UK Singles Chart)


title: New Radicals

text: Although no third single was released, there are some (conflicting) clues as to what would have been the third single: certain promotional copies of "Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too" come with a sticker reading "includes 'You Get What You Give', 'I Don't Wanna Die Anymore' and 'Someday We'll Know'", suggesting that "I Don't Wanna Die Anymore" would join the other two as a single release. Several websites selling the album also marked the track as "Album Version", indicating that there would be a single version at some point. However, there also exist copies of "Mother We Just Can't Get Enough" as both a one-track promotional single and as a four-track commercial single with a barcode. These apparently never made it to retail and were probably test pressings.


title: New Radicals

text: In addition to the songs released on the United States version of "Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too", two studio songs by New Radicals were produced. The song "To Think I Thought" was included as the B-side to "You Get What You Give" and as an additional track on the Japanese version of the album, and "The Decency League" was a B-side to the single "Someday We'll Know".


title: New Radicals

text: In the years following New Radicals' breakup, Alexander worked with artists such as Ronan Keating, Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Enrique Iglesias, often collaborating with producer/songwriter Rick Nowels. His most successful song as a producer/songwriter was the 2003 Grammy Award-winning "The Game of Love" by Santana and Michelle Branch. Rod Stewart also recorded Alexander and Nowels' "I Can't Deny It" for his 2001 album "Human".


title: New Radicals

text: In 2003, a new Gregg Alexander song titled "A Love Like That" was released at PickTheHits.com, a website where users could rate new music. While it was uncredited, fans immediately recognized Alexander's voice and parts of the lyrics that had already appeared in the booklet for "Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too". The song was (as official sites listing Alexander's song repertoire reveal) written by Alexander and Rick Nowels.


title: New Radicals

text: New Radicals reunited on January 20, 2021, to perform "You Get What You Give" as part of the Inauguration of Joe Biden. The song was used by Vice President Kamala Harris' husband, Doug Emhoff, during 2020 campaign rallies, and was referred to by Joe Biden in his autobiography, "Promise Me, Dad", as his family's “rallying 'theme song'" during his late son Beau Biden's terminal battle with glioblastoma. Alexander said that he hopes the group's performance of the song can be a “tiniest beacon of light in such a dark time”. Alexander told "Rolling Stone" that he was unable to reunite the original New Radicals touring band for the performance due to COVID-19 related restrictions, and he and Brisebois were instead accompanied by musicians from the Philadelphia area.


title: New Radicals

text: Since their breakup, New Radicals' songs have been used for several commercials and trailers (for example the trailer to 1999's "Big Daddy" with Adam Sandler, the 2001 film "Bubble Boy", and the 2006 film "Click"), TV shows (like "Scrubs", "Community", "JAG", "Dawson's Creek", and "Daria"), on soundtracks (such as "A Walk to Remember", "", "Click" and "Surf's Up") and covered by artists such as Mandy Moore and Jon Foreman (lead singer of Switchfoot) and Hall & Oates (both covered "Someday We'll Know" – Moore and Foreman on the soundtrack to "A Walk to Remember", Hall & Oates on their 2003 album "Do It For Love"). Ronan Keating also covered the song during his 2002 Destination Everywhere tour and included "You Get What You Give" in his celebrity playlist on iTunes, as did Joni Mitchell on her "Artist's Choice" CD, released by Starbucks' Hear Music. She also declared New Radicals "the only thing I heard in many years that I thought had greatness in it... I loved that song 'You Get What You Give.' It was a big hit, and I said, 'Where did they go?' It turns out the guy [Gregg Alexander] quit. I thought, 'Good for him.' I knew he was my kind of guy." In 2012, "You Get What You Give" was covered in the season three finale episode of "Glee".


title: New Radicals

text: In 2005, LMC performed a remix of "You Get What You Give" under the title "Don't Let Go". A new version of the remix, with new vocals by Rachel McFarlane replacing the samples from the original version, was released in January 2006 as a single under the song's original title. The remix with new vocals peaked at No. 30 on the UK Singles Chart. Shawnna's 2006 song "Chicago" from the album "Block Music" samples the opening line from Moore and Foreman's version of "Someday We'll Know". In 2013, Brooklyn-based pop rock duo Savoir Adore covered "You Get What You Give" as part of season four of "The A.V. Club"s web series "A.V. Undercover".


title: The Wire (season 1)

text: The first season of the television series "The Wire" commenced airing on Sunday, June 2, 2002, at 9:00 pm ET in the United States and concluded on September 8, 2002. The 13 episodes tell the story from the points of view of both the drug-dealing Barksdale organization and the investigating police detail.


title: The Wire (season 1)

text: The season was released on DVD as a five-disc boxed set under the title of "The Wire: The Complete First Season" on October 12, 2004, by HBO Video.


title: The Wire (season 1)

text: David Simon is the series' creator and head writer, showrunner and executive producer. Alongside Simon, many of the creative team behind "The Wire" are alumni of "" and Emmy-winning miniseries "The Corner". "The Corner" veteran, Robert F. Colesberry, was also executive producer. Colesberry is credited by the rest of the creative team as having a large creative role for a producer, and Simon credits him for achieving the show's realistic visual feel. He also had a small recurring role as Detective Ray Cole. Colesberry's wife Karen L. Thorson joined him on the production staff. A third producer on "The Corner", Nina Kostroff Noble, also stayed with the production staff for "The Wire" rounding out the initial four-person team.


title: The Wire (season 1)

text: Stories for the show are often co-written by Ed Burns, a former Baltimore Police Department homicide detective and public school teacher who has worked with Simon on other projects including "The Corner". The writing staff includes acclaimed crime fiction novelist George P. Pelecanos from Washington, D.C. Pelecanos has commented that he was attracted to the project because of the opportunity to work with Simon. Staff writer Rafael Alvarez was a colleague of Simon's from "The Sun" and a Baltimore native with working experience in the port area. Another city native and independent filmmaker, Joy Lusco Kecken, joined the writing staff and served as the script coordinator. David H. Melnick and Shamit Choksey complete the writing staff.


title: The Wire (season 1)

text: "Homicide" alumnus Clark Johnson, who directed several acclaimed episodes of "The Shield", directed the pilot, the second episode, and the fifth episode (Johnson later had a starring role in the fifth season). Clement Virgo directed two episodes. Single episode directors include Ed Bianchi, Joe Chappelle, Gloria Muzio, Milčo Mančevski, Brad Anderson and Steve Shill. The season finale was directed by Tim Van Patten, an Emmy winner who has worked on every season of "The Sopranos". The directing has been praised for its uncomplicated and subtle style.


title: The Wire (season 1)

text: The major characters of the first season were divided between those on the side of the law and those involved in drug-related crime. The starring cast comprised characters from both groups. The investigating detail was launched by the actions of Detective Jimmy McNulty (Dominic West), whose insubordinate tendencies and personal problems overshadowed his ability. The detail was led by Lieutenant Cedric Daniels (Lance Reddick), who faced challenges balancing his career aspirations with his desire to produce a good case. Kima Greggs (Sonja Sohn) was a capable lead detective who faced jealousy from colleagues and worry about the dangers of her job from her domestic partner. Her investigative work was helped by her confidential informant, a drug addict known as Bubbles (Andre Royo).