title: Dazzle camouflage

text: After the war, starting on 27 October 1919, an Admiralty committee met to determine who had priority for the invention of dazzle. Kerr was asked whether he thought Wilkinson had personally benefited from anything that he, Kerr, had written. Kerr avoided the question, implying that he had not, and said "I make no claim to have invented the principle of parti-colouring, this principle was, of course, invented by nature". He agreed also that he had not suggested anywhere in his letters that his system would "create an illusion as to the course of the vessel painted". In October 1920 the Admiralty told Kerr that he was not seen as responsible for dazzle painting. In 1922 Wilkinson was awarded the sum of £2000 for the invention.


title: Dazzle camouflage

text: In the First World War, experiments were conducted on British aircraft such as the Royal Flying Corps' Sopwith Camels to make their angle and direction difficult to judge for an enemy gunner. Similarly the Royal Navy painted some of their Felixstowe flying boats with bold disrupting lines similar to those of their ship camouflage. The effect remained dubious, but was found to reduce the incidence of the planes being targeted by anti-aircraft gunners on their own side.


title: Dazzle camouflage

text: Dazzle's effectiveness was highly uncertain at the time of the First World War, but it was nonetheless adopted both in the UK and North America. In 1918, the Admiralty analysed shipping losses, but was unable to draw clear conclusions. Dazzle ships had been attacked in 1.47% of sailings, compared to 1.12% for uncamouflaged ships, suggesting increased visibility, but as Wilkinson had argued, dazzle was not attempting to make ships hard to see. Suggestively, of the ships that were struck by torpedoes, 43% of the dazzle ships sank, compared to 54% of the uncamouflaged.


title: Dazzle camouflage

text: Similarly, 41% of the dazzle ships were struck amidships, compared to 52% of the uncamouflaged. These comparisons could be taken to imply that submarine commanders had more difficulty in deciding where a ship was heading and where to aim. Furthermore, the ships painted in dazzle were larger than the uncamouflaged ships, 38% of them being over 5000 tons compared to only 13% of uncamouflaged ships, making comparisons unreliable.


title: Dazzle camouflage

text: With hindsight, too many factors (choice of colour scheme; size and speed of ships; tactics used) had been varied for it to be possible to determine which factors were significant or which schemes worked best. Thayer did carry out an experiment on dazzle camouflage, but it failed to show any reliable advantage over plain paintwork.


title: Dazzle camouflage

text: The American data were analysed by Harold Van Buskirk in 1919. About 1,256 ships were painted in dazzle between 1 March 1918 and the end of the war on 11 November that year. Among American merchantmen 2,500 tons and over, 78 uncamouflaged ships were sunk, and only 18 camouflaged ships; out of these 18, 11 were sunk by torpedoes, 4 in collisions and 3 by mines. No US Navy ships (all camouflaged) were sunk in the period.


title: Dazzle camouflage

text: However effective dazzle camouflage may have been in World War I, it became less useful as rangefinders and especially aircraft became more advanced, and, by the time it was put to use again in World War II, radar further reduced its effectiveness. However, it may still have confounded enemy submarines.


title: Dazzle camouflage

text: In the Royal Navy, dazzle paint schemes reappeared in January 1940. These were unofficial, and competitions were often held between ships for the best camouflage patterns. The Royal Navy's Camouflage Department came up with a scheme devised by a young naval officer, Peter Scott, a wildlife artist, which were developed into the "Western Approaches Schemes". In 1942 the "Admiralty Intermediate Disruptive Pattern" came into use, followed in 1944 by the "Admiralty Standard Schemes". Dazzle patterns were tested on small model ships at the Royal Navy's Directorate of Camouflage in Leamington Spa; these were painted and then viewed in a shallow tank on the building's roof.


title: Dazzle camouflage

text: The United States Navy implemented a camouflage painting program in World War II, and applied it to many ship classes, from patrol craft and auxiliaries to battleships and some s. The designs (known as Measures, each identified with a number) were not arbitrary, but were standardised in a process which involved a planning stage, then a review, and then fleet-wide implementation.


title: Dazzle camouflage

text: Not all United States Navy measures involved dazzle patterns; some were simple or even totally unsophisticated, such as a false bow wave on traditional Haze Gray, or Deck Blue replacing grey over part or all of the ship (the latter to counter the kamikaze threat). Dazzle measures were used until 1945; in February 1945 the United States Navy's Pacific Fleet decided to repaint its ships in non-dazzle measures against the kamikaze threat, while the Atlantic Fleet continued to use dazzle, ships being repainted if transferred to the Pacific.


title: Dazzle camouflage

text: Nazi Germany's "Kriegsmarine" first used camouflage in the 1940 Norwegian campaign. A wide range of patterns were authorised, but most commonly black and white diagonal stripes were used. Most patterns were designed to hide ships in harbour or near the coast; they were often painted over with plain grey when operating in the Atlantic.


title: Dazzle camouflage

text: In 1940, the US Navy conducted experiments with dazzle-type camouflage for aircraft. The artist McClelland Barclay designed "pattern camouflage" schemes for US Navy aircraft such as the Douglas TBD Devastator and the Brewster F2A Buffalo to make it difficult for the enemy to gauge the shape and position of the aircraft. The camouflaged aircraft were flown in combat, but the effect was found not to be satisfactory.


title: Dazzle camouflage

text: In 2019, the Royal Canadian Navy frigate HMCS "Regina" was painted in a 1944 pattern to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Atlantic; the pattern was described variously as "dazzle" and "disruptive". In 2021, the Royal Navy painted HMS "Tamar", a , in patches of black and four shades of grey. It described this as "dazzle camouflage", making the ship the first Royal Navy vessel to have such a paint scheme since the Second World War. It stated that the scheme was "more about supporting the unique identity of the squadron" than for concealment.


title: Dazzle camouflage

text: In 2013, the United States Navy littoral combat ship USS "Freedom" used the "Measure 32" paint scheme during a deployment to Singapore.


title: Dazzle camouflage

text: The abstract patterns in dazzle camouflage inspired artists including Picasso. He claimed credit for camouflage experiments, which seemed to him a quintessentially Cubist technique. In a conversation with Gertrude Stein shortly after he first saw a painted cannon trundling through the streets of Paris he remarked, "Yes it is we who made it, that is cubism". In Britain, Edward Wadsworth, who supervised dazzle camouflage painting in the war, created a series of canvases after the war based on his dazzle work on ships. In Canada, Arthur Lismer used dazzle ships in some of his wartime compositions. In America, Burnell Poole painted canvases of United States Navy ships in dazzle camouflage at sea. The historian of camouflage Peter Forbes comments that the ships had a Modernist look, their designs succeeding as avant-garde or Vorticist art.


title: Dazzle camouflage

text: In 2007, the art of camouflage, including the evolution of dazzle, was featured as the theme for a show at the Imperial War Museum. In 2009, the Fleet Library at the Rhode Island School of Design exhibited its rediscovered collection of lithographic printed plans for the camouflage of American World War I merchant ships, in an exhibition titled "Bedazzled".


title: Dazzle camouflage

text: In 2014, the Centenary Art Commission backed three dazzle camouflage installations in Britain: Carlos Cruz-Diez covered the pilot ship in Liverpool's Canning Dock with bright multi-coloured dazzle artwork, as part of the city's 2014 Liverpool Biennial art festival; and Tobias Rehberger painted , anchored since 1922 at Blackfriars Bridge in London, to commemorate the use of dazzle, a century on. Peter Blake was commissioned to design exterior paintwork for , a Mersey Ferry, which he called "Everybody Razzle Dazzle", combining his trademark motifs (stars, targets etc.) with First World War dazzle designs.


title: Dazzle camouflage

text: In civilian life, patterns reminiscent of dazzle camouflage are sometimes used to mask a test car during trials, to make determining its exterior design difficult. During the 2015 Formula 1 testing period, the Red Bull RB11 car was painted in a scheme intended to confound rival teams' ability to analyse its aerodynamics.


title: Dazzle camouflage

text: The designer Adam Harvey has similarly proposed a form of camouflage reminiscent of dazzle for personal camouflage from face-detection technology, which he calls computer vision dazzle. Its intention is to block detection by facial recognition technologies such as DeepFace "by creating an 'anti-face. It uses occlusion, covering certain facial features; transformation, altering the shape or colour of parts of the face; and a combination of the two.


title: Dazzle camouflage

text: The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society has used dazzle patterns on its fleet since 2009 for recognition rather than camouflage.


title: Lynnewood Hall

text: Lynnewood Hall is a 110-room Neoclassical Revival mansion in Elkins Park, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Vacant today, it was designed by architect Horace Trumbauer for industrialist Peter A. B. Widener and built between 1897 and 1900. Considered the largest surviving Gilded Age mansion in the Philadelphia area, it housed one of the most important Gilded Age private art collections of European masterpieces and decorative arts, which had been assembled by Widener and his younger son, Joseph E. Widener.


title: Lynnewood Hall

text: Peter Widener died at Lynnewood Hall at the age of 80 on November 6, 1915, after prolonged poor health. He was predeceased by his elder son George Dunton Widener and grandson Harry Elkins Widener, both of whom died when RMS "Titanic" sank in 1912. The structure changed hands a few times over the subsequent decades, with large portions of the estate grounds sold off in the 1940s, and has been predominantly vacant since 1952, when it was purchased by a theological seminary that started selling off the interior detailing.


title: Lynnewood Hall

text: Built from Indiana limestone, the T-shaped Lynnewood Hall (dubbed "The last of the American Versailles" by Widener's grandson) measures long by deep. In addition to 55 bedrooms, the 110-room mansion had a large art gallery, a ballroom large enough for 1,000 guests, swimming pool, wine cellars, a farm, carpentry and upholstery studios, and an electrical power plant.


title: Lynnewood Hall

text: A 2014 "Philadelphia Inquirer" article described the mansion as "dripping with silk, velvet, and gilded moldings, the rooms furnished with chairs from Louis XV's palace, Persian rugs, and Chinese pottery, the halls crammed with art by Raphael, Rembrandt, El Greco, van Dyck, Donatello." "TIME" magazine published an account of a lavish party held at Lynnewood Hall in 1932.


title: Lynnewood Hall

text: From 1915 to 1940, the spectacular art collection at Lynnewood Hall was open to the public by appointment between June and October. In 1940, Joseph E. Widener donated more than 2,000 sculptures, paintings, decorative art works, and porcelains to the National Gallery of Art. P.A.B. Widener had originally planned for the collection to go to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The paintings included Raphael's "Small Cowper Madonna", Bellini's "The Feast of the Gods", eight van Dycks, two Vermeers, fourteen Rembrandts, and a series of portraits by Gainsborough and Reynolds. The sculptures included Donatello's "David" and Desiderio da Settignano's "St John the Baptist".


title: Lynnewood Hall

text: The grounds were used for training military dogs during World War II, and parcels of the land outside the property fence (see below) were sold to others after 1943.


title: Lynnewood Hall

text: Lynnewood Hall was purchased in 1952 by Faith Theological Seminary a Christian school of higher education headed by Carl McIntire. The purchase price was . The Seminary trained hundreds of ministers and Christian leaders at Lynnewood Hall for over 40 years. Near the end of that time, some of the interior detailing, such as mantels, walnut paneling, and landscape ornamentation was sold off in order to raise funds. This is evidenced by the 2006 auction of a French bronze figural fountain—one of only two major surviving Henri-Leon Greber commissions in America—originally installed at Lynnewood Hall.


title: Lynnewood Hall

text: Lynnewood Hall was added to the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia's 2003 list for most endangered historic properties and is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. It is cited in Cheltenham Township's Comprehensive Plan as one of the township's cultural and historical resources, and in the township's Open Space Plan as a priority for preservation, warranting a conservation easement. The seminary and property was eventually foreclosed upon by the second-mortgagee, reportedly a one-time follower of McIntire.


title: Lynnewood Hall

text: At according to Montgomery County Board of Assessment data, Lynnewood Hall is owned by the First Korean Church of New York which acquired the property in 1996. However, Lynnewood is not in use by that church and remains uninhabited. As of 2007, no significant stabilization or repair efforts have been evident. On June 25, 2007, the Cheltenham Township Planning Commission reviewed and denied a submitted request (Appeal No. 3225) by the First Korean Church of New York, Inc., owner of premises known as 920 Spring Avenue, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania from the Decision of the Zoning Officer for a variance from the rules and regulations of the Class R-2 Residence District as outlined in CCS 295–14. for the use of the premises as a Church and a Domicile for a Caretaker/Assistant Pastor instead of one of the permitted enumerated uses. This was the second such request, the first submitted in 1998, for a variance. That resulted in a lawsuit [see First Korean Church of New York v. Twp. of Cheltenham Zoning Bd; submitted to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court May 2001], which upheld Cheltenham's denial of the request. In 2017 the property was rezoned for adaptive-reuse mixed-use development.


title: Lynnewood Hall

text: There have been negotiations ongoing of new ownership and possible renovations to the estate. Parties had hoped to have a plan finalized by the end of 2011. The proposed renovation could take the estate back to a private residence, and offer guest rooms to social elite and that of a high society bed and breakfast. Ongoing searches for previous pieces of the estate that belonged to Lynnewood Hall have been undertaken, and the total cost of renovations will be determined by the buyer.


title: Lynnewood Hall

text: In a state court decision handed down in February 2012 by Judge Norma L. Shapiro, the court ruled the First Korean Church of New York, Inc. did not qualify for tax exemption. In a rare interview with the Philadelphia "Inquirer" after this court ruling with Dr. Richard S. Yoon, video cameras were permitted inside Lynnewood Hall and the original seminary chapel. Dr. Yoon stated, “We have no choice (but) to relocate. We don’t want to fight any more.”


title: Lynnewood Hall

text: The mansion's grounds, bordered by Ashbourne Road, Spring Avenue and Cedar Lane, are surrounded by their original wrought-iron fencing and gates with stone base and pillars, in marked contrast to that of nearby Trumbauer contemporary Whitemarsh Hall whose similar fencing (which encompassed a much greater acreage) was sacrificed for wartime scrap and rapid postwar development. A gatehouse and another staff outbuilding, of the same materials as Lynnewood, also still exist within the fence. The property within the fence has remained contiguous, never having been subdivided.


title: Lynnewood Hall

text: This property was on the market for $11,000,000 in May 2019. Despite multiple offers above the asking price, the home remains unsold. A historical restoration architect estimated in 2014 that it would take about $50 million to restore the mansion to its former glory; however, Realtor Frank Johnson suggests the property could be renovated for $3 million to $8 million.


title: Lynnewood Hall

text: On July 5th, 2022 it was announced that an organization, the Lynnewood Hall Preservation Foundation was established with the goal of acquiring "the Trumbauer-designed Widener Family Estate, a true architectural masterpiece, and see it restored to its former breathtaking glory."


title: RuPaul's Drag Race (season 1)

text: The first season of "RuPaul's Drag Race" premiered in the United States on February 2, 2009, on Logo. Nine contestants were selected to compete in the running of becoming "America's Next Drag Superstar." The first season was filmed during the summer of 2008. The winner of the first season won a cash prize of $20,000, $5,000 worth of MAC Cosmetics, was featured in an LA Eyeworks campaign, and joined the Logo Drag Race tour. One of the nine contestants to compete on "RuPaul's Drag Race", Nina Flowers was determined by an audience vote via the show's official website to be the season's Miss Congeniality. The results were announced in early September 2008.


title: RuPaul's Drag Race (season 1)

text: The theme song playing during the runway every episode was "Cover Girl" from RuPaul's album "Champion". This season and season one of "All Stars" are the only seasons to not feature the "Snatch Game".


title: RuPaul's Drag Race (season 1)

text: The winner of the first season of "RuPaul's Drag Race" was BeBe Zahara Benet, with Nina Flowers as the runner-up.


title: RuPaul's Drag Race (season 1)

text: In late 2013, Logo re-aired the first season, which was titled "RuPaul's Drag Race: The Lost Season", and featured commentary from RuPaul.


title: RuPaul's Drag Race (season 1)

text: Tammie Brown, Shannel and Nina Flowers later on competed in the first season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, placing 8th/9th, 3rd/4th, 8th/9th, respectively.


title: RuPaul's Drag Race (season 1)

text: BeBe Zahara Benet later on competed in the third season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, placing 3rd/4th.


title: Marshall (film)

text: Marshall is a 2017 American biographical legal drama film directed by Reginald Hudlin and written by Michael and Jacob Koskoff. It stars Chadwick Boseman as Thurgood Marshall, the first African American Supreme Court Justice, and focuses on one of the first cases of his career, the "State of Connecticut v. Joseph Spell". It also stars Josh Gad, Kate Hudson, Dan Stevens, Sterling K. Brown, and James Cromwell.


title: Marshall (film)

text: The project was announced in December 2015, along with Boseman's casting, and principal photography began in Los Angeles in mid-December 2015 and moved on to Buffalo and Niagara Falls, New York.


title: Marshall (film)

text: The film premiered at Howard University on September 20, 2017, and was released in the United States by Open Road Films on October 13, 2017. It received positive reviews from critics, with praise directed at Boseman's performance and with criticism aimed at the film's lack of depth and characterization. It went on to gross $10 million against a $12 million budget.


title: Marshall (film)

text: At the 90th Academy Awards, it received a nomination for Best Original Song for "Stand Up for Something".


title: Marshall (film)

text: In April 1941, Thurgood Marshall is an NAACP lawyer traveling the country defending people of color who are wrongly accused of crimes because of racial prejudice. Upon his return to his New York City office, he is sent to Bridgeport, Connecticut, to defend Joseph Spell, a chauffeur accused of rape by his white employer, Eleanor Strubing, in a case that has gripped the newspapers. In Bridgeport, insurance lawyer Sam Friedman is assigned by his brother to get Marshall admitted to the local bar, against his will. At the hearing, Judge Foster, a friend of the father of prosecutor Lorin Willis, agrees to admit Marshall, but forbids Marshall from speaking during the trial, forcing Friedman to be Spell's lead counsel. Marshall must guide Friedman through notes, such as when he advises Friedman to allow a woman of Southern white descent into the jury because of her assertive and questioning personality.


title: Marshall (film)

text: Spell swears to Marshall that he never had any sexual contact with Strubing and leads the lawyers to a patrolman who stopped Spell that night while he was driving Strubing's car. Marshall and Friedman investigate Strubing's story that Spell tied her up in the back seat of her car after raping her and drove to a bridge to throw her over. They wonder why Spell appeared to throw her over the calm side instead of the side with rapids. Spell is initially interested in a plea bargain offered by Willis, but Marshall talks him out of it. Later on at trial, though, a doctor testifies to finding pieces of skin underneath Strubing's fingernails, as well as bruises. Strubing herself testifies that she was tied in the back seat when the patrolman pulled Spell over. With this information, Marshall and Friedman confront Spell, who admits that he was lying about not having had sexual contact with Strubing.


title: Marshall (film)

text: At trial, Spell testifies that Strubing's husband inflicted the bruises through repeated acts of spousal abuse. That night, he went to ask Strubing for money to pay off a debt, finding a distraught Strubing wanting to have sex with him. Spell consented, and the two had several sexual encounters that night. Strubing then panicked about being found out and being pregnant. Spell tried to drive her to a doctor, but Strubing had to hide in the back seat when the patrolman questioned him. A hysterical Strubing forced Spell to stop by a bridge where she ran out and tried to kill herself. When Spell tried to stop her, she scratched him and jumped off the bridge. But she survived and flagged down a motorist making up a desperate story about rape. When Willis asks why Spell didn't tell the truth to begin with, Spell talks about how black men get tortured and lynched in his native Louisiana for having sex with white women. Over Willis's objections, Judge Foster, who is shown to be horrified by Spell's revelation as are the members of the jury, allows Spell's statement to stand.


title: Marshall (film)

text: Before the verdict, Marshall has to leave for a case in Mississippi. A desperate Willis offers Spell a much lighter plea bargain, but Spell feels emboldened enough to turn it down. The night before Marshall leaves, he and Friedman prepare the closing statement that Friedman then delivers on his own. The Southern white woman has now become the jury forewoman, and she ultimately delivers a "not guilty" verdict. Friedman happily breaks the news over the phone to Marshall, who moves on to his next case. Closing credits note that Friedman went on to work in many civil rights cases, while Marshall himself has an illustrious career as the American Civil Rights Movement's principal legal strategist and the first African American Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States.


title: Marshall (film)

text: Principal photography began in Los Angeles in mid-December 2015, before moving to Buffalo in early 2016, including shoots at Buffalo City Hall, the Buffalo Central Terminal, Daemen College, Orchard Park, and Niagara Falls. Reginald Hudlin directed the film from Michael Koskoff and his son Jacob Koskoff's script. Chinese company Super Hero Films financed the film, which was produced by Paula Wagner through her Chestnut Ridge Productions, along with Hudlin and Jonathan Sanger.


title: Marshall (film)

text: The film had its world premiere at Howard University on September 20, 2017, and was released in the United States on October 13, 2017.


title: Marshall (film)

text: In the United States and Canada, "Marshall" was released alongside "Happy Death Day", "The Foreigner", and "Professor Marston and the Wonder Women", and was expected to gross $3–4 million from 821 theaters in its opening weekend. It ended up making $3 million, finishing 11th at the box office.


title: Marshall (film)

text: On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 81% based on 149 reviews, with an average rating of 6.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, ""Marshall" takes an illuminating, well-acted look at its real-life subject's early career that also delivers as an entertainingly old-fashioned courtroom drama." On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score 66 out of 100, based on reviews from 34 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: Marshall (film)

text: Manohla Dargis in a NY Times review praises the film for choosing a specific case as a way of exploring Marshall's life, but is critical of the simplified characterizations and the efforts made throughout to put the audience at ease. Angelica Jade Bastién also criticizes the lack of character depth, particularly regarding Marshall. In Vulture Bastién mentions the scene in which Marshall drinks from a whites-only water fountain, stating that for her it mainly underlined "how little effort the film makes in understanding why Marshall makes such bold decisions on a deeper level, and who he was beyond this arrogant, quick-witted man it presents." One aspect that is 'flattened out' in this film is the colorism of U.S. society, which resulted in light-skinned Thurgood Marshall having much different life experiences than if he had had the skin tone of Chadwick Boseman. Writing for "Rolling Stone", Peter Travers praised Boseman's performance, giving the film 3 stars out of 4 and saying, "Charged by Boseman's dramatic lightning, "Marshall" gives us an electrifying glimpse of a great man in the making." Peter DeBruge of "Variety" called the film "a compelling courtroom drama".


title: Marshall (film)

text: "Stand Up for Something" was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Song, and the Satellite Award for Best Original Song; it won the latter prize, while losing the first two to "Remember Me" from "Coco".


title: Mirrors (2008 film)

text: Mirrors is a 2008 American psychological thriller-supernatural horror film directed by Alexandre Aja, starring Kiefer Sutherland, Paula Patton, and Amy Smart. The film was first titled "Into the Mirror", but the name was later changed to "Mirrors". Filming began on May 1, 2007, and it was released in American theaters on August 15, 2008.


title: Mirrors (2008 film)

text: The film was originally scripted as a straightforward remake of the 2003 South Korean horror film "Into the Mirror" which is rated 15 by KMRB. However, once Aja was brought on board and read the script, he was dissatisfied with the particulars of the original film's story. He decided to retain the original film's basic idea involving mirrors, and to incorporate a few of its scenes, but otherwise crafted a new story and script for his version of the movie. A sequel titled "Mirrors 2" was released in 2010.


title: Mirrors (2008 film)

text: A security guard runs through a subway station until he enters a room he cannot escape and starts begging his reflection in a mirror for his life. His reflection uses a shard to slice into its own throat; the wound reflects upon the real security guard's body, killing him.


title: Mirrors (2008 film)

text: Ben Carson, a suspended police detective, begins his first day as a night security guard at the Mayflower, a luxury department store gutted by a fire and shuttered five years prior. The building still contains numerous mirrors from the store.


title: Mirrors (2008 film)

text: On Ben's first night of patrol, he finds a mirror that appears covered with handprints, but only on the reflected side of the glass. He sees an open door in the reflection while it is actually closed. Over time, Ben begins to see more intense visions, which he initially shrugs off as hallucinations. He soon finds the wallet of Gary Lewis, the previous night guard (from the beginning of the film) who supposedly killed himself. Inside is a note that says "Esseker". After noticing the absence of blood on the mirror shard in Gary’s crime photos, Ben is convinced that the mirrors make people do things to themselves that they are not actually doing.


title: Mirrors (2008 film)

text: Meanwhile, Ben's sister, Angie, is killed by her reflection as it grips its jaw and slowly pulls its mouth apart, causing her to bleed profusely. Ben is distraught when he finds her body. In anger, he attempts to destroy the mirrors at the Mayflower, but they are impervious to damage. He demands to know what the mirrors want, and cracks appear on one of the mirrors, spelling out the word "ESSEKER".


title: Mirrors (2008 film)

text: Ben enters the flooded basement of the Mayflower and finds a small sign stating "Psychiatric Studies" and "St. Matthew's Hospital" underneath. He moves to the site of the leak and begins pulling at the tiles and brick of the wall and finds a room with a chair surrounded by mirrors beyond it, a Psychomanteum. Realizing that the Mayflower was built on the site of an earlier hospital,


title: Mirrors (2008 film)

text: Ben asks his police friend Larry Byrne to help him locate the patient-employee manifest for the hospital. Larry finds the name Anna Esseker, a patient of the psychiatric hospital. She was twelve years old at the time and died in a mass suicide.


title: Mirrors (2008 film)

text: Ben looks through Anna's file and finds an Authorization and Consent form that negated her Death Certificate, stating that she had been discharged from the hospital two days before the suicide and is led to believe that Anna is still alive. Meanwhile, Ben's wife Amy discovers her son Michael's reflection acting differently from the real Michael. In a panic, she calls Ben, who immediately returns home. Together they cover every reflective surface in the house with green paint.


title: Mirrors (2008 film)

text: Ben locates Anna Esseker's childhood home, and discovers that as a child she was violent and uncontrollable, and diagnosed with severe schizophrenia. She was taken in by a doctor, Dr. Kane from St. Matthew's Hospital, who believed that she had a rare personality disorder. His treatment was to confine Anna to a chair surrounded by mirrors, believing this would cure her disorder by forcing her to confront her own reflection. Ben is told by Anna's brother Robert that when she returned, apparently cured, strange things started to happen with the mirrors in their home. As a result, her family sent her to a convent, Saint Augustine's Monastery, where mirrors are forbidden.


title: Mirrors (2008 film)

text: Ben visits the convent and finds Anna alive and well, who explains that she was actually possessed by a demon, which was drawn from her and became trapped in the mirrors. She explains that it collects the souls of those it kills and if she were to return, it would make it possible for the demon to be brought back into the mortal world. She refuses to go back.


title: Mirrors (2008 film)

text: Meanwhile, Amy discovers that Mikey is missing at home, and a thin reflective layer of water is completely covering the floor. After putting her daughter Daisy in a safe closet, she finds Michael using a knife to scrape the paint from the mirrors. Amy tries to stop him, but he escapes, obviously possessed.


title: Mirrors (2008 film)

text: Having threatened her at gunpoint, Ben returns with Anna to the Mayflower and straps her into the chair in the Psychomanteum. Back at Ben's house Michael is suddenly pulled through the water on the floor by his reflection and begins to drown. At the Psychomanteum the lights begin to flicker and the building begins to shake as the demons in the mirrors are released. They repossess Anna and all the mirrors in the Mayflower explode. Simultaneously, Michael is released from the demon's grip and Amy is able to pull him to safety. The repossessed Anna then attacks Ben. He manages to kill her by igniting a nearby gas line, setting off a huge explosion. The old building starts to collapse violently, and Ben is trapped under the ceiling while trying to escape.


title: Mirrors (2008 film)

text: Ben pulls himself out of the rubble and stumbles out of the building. Policemen and firemen are everywhere in the street, and a body is seen being taken in a bag by paramedics, but nobody notices Ben. He looks at the older security guard's name tag and sees it is written backward, realizing everything is in reverse (like in a mirror). He comes upon a mirrored surface in the city and fails to see his own reflection as he reaches out to touch it. He realizes that he died in the rubble and is trapped in the mirror world: his hand appears as a handprint on the glass surface in the living world.


title: Mirrors (2008 film)

text: The movie began development in 2005 under the working title "Into the Mirror" with music video director Sanji Senaka in talks to direct the movie. The screenplay was initially written by Joe Gangemi and Jim Uhls, with rewrites by Michele and Kieran Mulroney. After Alexandre Aja signed on to direct, he brought on his partner Grégory Levasseur to completely rework the script. Filming began in fall of 2006 and was filmed mostly in the Romanian Academy of Sciences building in Bucharest.


title: Mirrors (2008 film)

text: Javier Navarrete used a prior existing work of classical music, "Asturias" by Isaac Albéniz, as the film's main theme.


title: Mirrors (2008 film)

text: In the United States, "Mirrors" opened in fourth position making $11.1 million. On its second weekend, it ranked at seventh position, making a further $5 million. The film made a total of $30 million in the United States. In foreign cinemas the film stayed in the top five for its opening weekend in several countries including France, Mexico and United Kingdom, where it consistently ranked #2. It topped in the Hong Kong box office with $228,481 and stayed at the third place in Philippines and Spain. In South Korea and Russia it took #4 at the box office in its opening weekend. The film grossed $72,436,439 worldwide, including $41,745,000 from foreign cinemas.


title: Mirrors (2008 film)

text: Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 14% of critics gave the film positive reviews based on 87 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads "Inconsistency and listless plot make this horror remake a less-than-frightening time at the movies." Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 35 out of 100, based on 13 reviews.


title: Mirrors (2008 film)

text: On October 8, 2009, the director Victor Garcia announced that he would begin to shoot a sequel, which would be released direct-to-DVD by 20th Century Fox. The sequel was released on October 19, 2010.


title: Samir Handanović

text: Samir Handanović (born 14 July 1984) is a Slovenian professional footballer who serves as captain and plays as a goalkeeper for club Inter Milan.


title: Samir Handanović

text: Before moving to Italy, Handanović played in his home country of Slovenia. In 2004, he was acquired by Udinese, but spent the next few years on loan, playing for teams such as Treviso, Lazio and Rimini. Handanović returned to Udinese ahead of the 2007–08 season, where he played as a starter for the next five years. In the next season, he also played European football for the first time, making his debut in UEFA Cup. After five years as starter and more than 200 appearances, Handanović joined Inter Milan in July 2012 for around €19.4m. In February 2019, he was named club captain, while in September, he made his 300th appearance for the club, and subsequently went on to reach the 2020 UEFA Europa League Final that season. He made his 500th Serie A appearance in February 2021, and won his first trophy that May by winning the title.


title: Samir Handanović

text: Having previously represented the Slovenian under-21 team, Handanović made his senior international debut for Slovenia in 2004. He went on to earn 81 caps for his country, the most by a goalkeeper, and played for them at the 2010 FIFA World Cup.


title: Samir Handanović

text: Nicknamed "Batman", due to his acrobatic saves, he is regarded as one of the best goalkeepers of his generation, and is one of only four non-Italian keepers to be named Serie A Goalkeeper of the Year, winning the honour three times. A penalty saving specialist, during the 2010–11 Serie A season he saved a total of six penalty kicks, equalling an all-time league record set in the 1948–49 season. During the 2019–20 season, he equalled Gianluca Pagliuca's record of most penalties saved in Serie A with his 24th stop. The following season, he broke the record.


title: Samir Handanović

text: Handanović started his career at Slovan and was later transferred to Domžale, where he spent two seasons. He was signed by Udinese in the summer of 2004 at the age of 20. However, his first spell with the "Friuliani " was short-lived as he was unable to cement his place in the starting line-up. His debut occurred on 20 November 2004 in a Coppa Italia match against Lecce, where he was sent-off in 91st minute for conceding a penalty after a foul on Mirko Vučinić; since Udinese had used all three substitutions, striker David Di Michele entered in goal in his place. Vučinić, however, failed to score from the penalty spot and Udinese won 5–4. He made his Serie A debut on 15 May 2005 in a 1–1 home draw against Sampdoria.


title: Samir Handanović

text: Handanović was on loan to Treviso in the summer of 2005, but in January 2006, he was exchanged with Matteo Sereni to Lazio. With Treviso, he received his first ever red card during the match against his next club, Lazio, on 18 September 2005 in an eventual 3–1 away loss. During his time with the "Biancoceleste", Handanović played three matches and conceded six goals.


title: Samir Handanović

text: On 14 May 2006, in the last day of 2005–06 season, Handanović, with the number 24, played his first and last match for Lazio, keeping a clean sheet against Parma in a 1–0 home win.


title: Samir Handanović

text: In July 2006, Handanović was loaned to Rimini, with a pre-set price of €1.2 million. Thanks also to his saves, Rimini remained undefeated in both championship games played against Juventus. The club finished fifth in Serie B and conceded the fourth fewest goals in the league. Handanović was considered the second best goalkeeper of that Serie B season, after Gianluigi Buffon. In June 2007, despite Rimini excising the option, Udinese also excised the option by paying Rimini €250,000 in net.


title: Samir Handanović

text: Handanović returned to Udinese in the summer of 2007 after Udinese excised the counter-option to reject the buying, where he replaced Morgan De Sanctis and signed a new and improved contract lasting until 30 June 2012.


title: Samir Handanović

text: Despite the arrival of the Venezuelan goalie Rafael Romo, Handanović retained his spot as the number one goalkeeper. He started his fourth season as an Udinese player by featuring full-90 minutes in team's opening league match of the season, a 2–2 home draw against Parma. He kept his goal intact for the first time this season on 19 September in matchday 4 against Napoli, which ended in a goalless draw.


title: Samir Handanović

text: During the 2009–10 campaign, Handanović was the most used player on the field, collecting in total 40 appearances, including 37 in league. In Serie A, he made a total of 130 saves which were priceless for Udinese, who ended the season in 15th position.


title: Samir Handanović

text: Before the start of the season, Handanović changed the squad number from 22 to 1. The squad started the 2010–11 season with four losses in its first four Serie A weeks, leaving Udinese in last place. Handanović kept his first clean sheet of the season on 26 September 2010 during a goalless draw against Sampdoria, helping the team to collect its first point of the season.


title: Samir Handanović

text: During a match against Lazio in May 2011, he saved a penalty from Mauro Zárate, his sixth saved penalty during the 2010–11 season that equaled the all-time league record set in the 1948–49 season for most penalties saved during the course of a single season. Due to his performances, he was named to the Serie A Team of the Year for 2010–11.


title: Samir Handanović

text: On 16 August 2011, he played his first ever UEFA Champions League match against Arsenal, in the first leg of the play-off round, being beaten by a Theo Walcott 4th-minute goal in a 1–0 away loss at Emirates Stadium. In the returning leg at Stadio Friuli after one week, Udinese was leading after 50 minutes, but Arsenal come back to beat Handanović twice in a span of 14 minutes with "Bianconeri Friuliani" being eliminated with the aggregate 3–1.


title: Samir Handanović

text: Handanović kept a clean sheet in team's opening league match against Lecce, helping the team to a 0–2 away win. Udinese and Handanović were unbeaten in their first seven Serie A games, and only conceded one goal in that period, which was the best defensive record in top European leagues at the time.


title: Samir Handanović

text: On 4 July 2012, Gino Pozzo, son of Udinese owner Giampaolo Pozzo confirmed that an agreement for the transfer of Handanović to Inter Milan was reached with Inter paying a reported €11 million cash plus Davide Faraoni for his services (which Faraoni was valued for €8m); the transfer was made official by Inter five days later, for €19.4m (including other fee), despite both club bought back 50% registration rights as co-ownership deals; Handanović was brought in to replace the Brazilian goalkeeper Júlio César to take over as first-choice goalkeeper. Handanović signed a contract worth a reported €2 million per season, plus bonuses.


title: Samir Handanović

text: He made his club debut on 2 August 2012, in a 3–0 win over Hajduk Split in the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League third qualifying round, then conceded two goals in the 2–0 return-leg loss at home on 2 August, but Inter advanced on a 3–2 aggregate. On 17 August, Handanović suffered a meniscus injury that delayed the start of his Serie A campaign until 16 September, in a 2–0 road win over Torino. Handanović kept crosstown rivals Milan at bay in his first Derby della Madonnina appearance on 7 October, won 1–0 by Inter. He made his 200th Serie A appearance in Inter's 2–1 home win over Napoli. Inter were held to a 1–1 draw in the second derby encounter on 25 February 2013, but Handanović was noted for performing several saves against Milan striker Mario Balotelli.


title: Samir Handanović

text: In 2012, Handanović was included for the first time in the top ten IFFHS Goalkeepers of the World, ranking eighth. After the end of 2012–13 season, thanks to his solid performances, Handanović was selected in Serie A Team of the Year for the second time in his career, being the goalkeeper with most appearances. He played 48 matches throughout the season, including 35 in Serie A and ten in the Europa League. Inter's season ended in disappointment, however, after failing to finish high in the Serie A table and the Europa League, earning a ninth-placed league finish (the worst position since the 1993–94 season), and a quarter-final exit in Europe.


title: Samir Handanović

text: On 19 June 2013 Inter acquired Handanović outright, and sold Faraoni to Udinese for undisclosed fees.


title: Samir Handanović

text: In June, it was reported that Spanish side Barcelona offered to sign Handanović for €23 million, which was rejected by Inter owner Massimo Moratti; Handanović's agent also confirmed that his client will not move to Barcelona after the Catalan club opted instead to retain their incumbent starting goalkeeper Víctor Valdés for another year.


title: Samir Handanović

text: On 18 August 2013, in Mazzarri's first match in charge, Handanović was in goal and kept his first clean sheet of the season in the Coppa Italia's third round match against Cittadella, where Inter progressed to the next round thanks to a 4–0 home win.


title: Samir Handanović

text: Handanović started the league season in strong fashion, keeping three clean sheets in the first four league matches. On 20 October, during the league encounter against Torino, he received his second-ever career red card for a foul on Alessio Cerci in the 5th minute; Inter however endured and drew 3–3. On 15 December, Handanović saved his first penalty as a "Nerazzurri" keeper in a 4–2 away loss against Napoli, saving a Goran Pandev penalty in the second half.


title: Samir Handanović

text: During the 2013–14 season, Inter returned to European competition after a year long absence, finishing fifth in the league with 60 points. He played as a starter in Javier Zanetti's last competitive match at San Siro, in which Inter defeated Lazio 4–1 to secure a place in Europa League play-offs for the next season. Handanović managed 14 clean sheets in 36 appearances during the Serie A season, and conceded 32 goals.


title: Samir Handanović

text: Inter opened the 2014–15 Serie A season with a disappointing goalless draw against Torino, with Handanović stopping a penalty kick from Marcelo Larrondo. After saving his last five Serie A penalties faced, Handanović saved from Yevhen Konoplyanka of Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk on 27 November 2014 in a game which Inter won to confirm top spot in their Europa League group with one game remaining. That was also his 100th appearance with "Nerazzurri" in all competitions.


title: Samir Handanović

text: Handanović played his 100th league match with Inter on 19 April 2015 in the Derby della Madonnina against Milan, keeping his goal intact as the match ended goalless. He ended his third season with Inter by playing 40 matches in all competitions, including 37 in Serie A, as Inter finished in eighth place, again failing to qualify for European competition. Handanović obtained 11 clean sheets in Serie A, the third-highest total in Serie A. Handanović also managed to have a shot-to-save ratio of better than 67 percent.


title: Samir Handanović

text: At the end of the season, it was reported that Handanović was the target of Premier League side Manchester United, but his agent turned down this opportunity by saying that his client will not move to the club.


title: Samir Handanović

text: Inter Milan commenced the 2015–16 season with a 1–0 home win against Atalanta, where Handanović kept his first clean-sheet of the season. On 27 September 2015, in his 300th Serie A match, against Fiorentina, Handanović made perhaps his worst appearance by giving away a 3rd-minute penalty scored by Josip Iličić, later being beaten three times by Nikola Kalinić in an eventual 1–4 loss. The loss ended Inter's undefeated streak of the 2015–16 season. After the match, Handanović told the reporters that it was his fault for the way the match ended.


title: Samir Handanović

text: On 27 October, during the match against Bologna, Handanović made a crucial save by stopping a Mattia Destro shot in 94th minute to help Inter win 0–1 away at the Stadio Renato Dall'Ara. That was his sixth clean sheet in ten matches, and first win since one loss and three consecutive draws. He later dubbed it as his favourite save of the season. Four days later, in a match against Roma, Handanović was again decisive for his team, making nine saves, including a quadruple save in the 62nd minute, helping Inter to win the match 1–0 and to take the lead of the league with 24 points. He was selected Man of the Match for his performance.


title: Samir Handanović

text: Handanović ended 2015 with 26 decisive saves, 11 clean-sheets and only 11 goals conceded, like no other goalkeeper in Serie A. Inter also ended 2015 at the top of the league.


title: Samir Handanović

text: Handanović agreed a contract extension until 2019, which was confirmed on 5 January 2016. Handanović began the new year with a clean-sheet in the team's 0–1 away win over Empoli, making several good saves throughout the match. On 16 January 2016, during an away match against Atalanta, Handanović was awarded the Man of the Match for an "outstanding" performance, as he made some fine saves. His save in the 61st minute, where he managed to stop Luca Cigarini's effort from point-blank range with his trailing foot, was deemed "save of the season" by European media.


title: Samir Handanović

text: Inter ended the 2015–16 season in fourth position, returning in UEFA Europa League after one-year absence. Handanović managed 111 saves and 15 clean sheets in 36 appearances during the Serie A season, and conceded 34 goals. He called "a shame" the failure to secure a spot in UEFA Champions League for the next season.


title: Samir Handanović

text: Handanović started his fifth Inter Milan season on 21 August in the 2–0 away lose to Chievo. He made his 150th Serie A appearance for Inter on 25 September in the 1–1 home draw against Bologna. On 2 October, during the 2–1 defeat at Roma, Handanović made several saves, including one against Edin Džeko in the 86th minute which was hailed as the "save of the year" by the media. He captained Inter for the first time on 19 February of the following year in his 193rd appearance, taking the armband following Rodrigo Palacio's substitution and keeping a clean sheet in the 1–0 win over Bologna at Stadio Renato Dall'Ara.


title: Samir Handanović

text: On 1 December 2017, Handanović signed a new contract until June 2021. Eight days later, he was named Man of the Match after an impressive performance at Juventus, helping Inter to earn a goalless draw and to keep them undefeated after 16 Serie A weeks. He played his 200th Serie A match for Inter on 30 December in the goalless draw against Lazio which ended the first part of the season. Handanović's 400th overall Serie A match came on 17 April 2018, keeping a clean-sheet, his 7th in last 8 matches, in the 4–0 home win versus Cagliari in round 33. He finished 2017–18 season by being ever-present in league, playing in every minute as Inter finished fourth, meaning they will play in Champions League for the first time in six years. With 17 clean-sheets, Handanović was ranked second along with Roma's Alisson in the clean-sheets list, equaling his personal best set in 2011–12 season. He conceded only 30 goals, his lowest tally since debuting in Serie A (including seasons where he has played 30 or more games).


title: Samir Handanović

text: Handanović made his Champions League debut with Inter in their opening group stage match against Tottenham Hotspur. This match was also his 250th appearance for the "Nerazzurri" in all competitions. In the first part of 2018–19 Serie A, he was able to collect 10 clean-sheets in 19 matches, most than any other goalkeeper in the league, and second only behind Liverpool's Alisson in Europe top five leagues; in addition, he also had 4th best save success rate.


title: Samir Handanović

text: On 13 February 2019, Inter announced via their official Twitter account that Handanović has been named new team captain, replacing Mauro Icardi. On 7 March, in the 0–0 draw against Eintracht Frankfurt in the first leg of 2018–19 UEFA Europa League round of 16, Handanović kept his 100th clean sheet on his 281st official appearance for the Nerazzurri. As the season progressed, Handanović reached another landmark, as the clean sheet he achieved in the 4–0 away win against Genoa, the first since December 2011, was his 150th in Serie A.


title: Samir Handanović

text: In the final match of the championship, he played a vital role in Inter's 2–1 home win over Empoli, making two decisive stoppage time saves to deny the visitors the equaliser. His saves proved decisive for Inter, who earned another Champions League spot for the next season while Empoli was relegated back to Serie B. Before the match, he was awarded the inaugural Lega Serie A Best Goalkeeper award for the first time in his career. Handanović concluded his seventh season at Inter by being ever-present in league, playing in all 38 matches and keeping 17 clean-sheets, more than any other goalkeeper. With 17 clean-sheets, he also equalled the club's all-time record for most clean-sheets in a single Serie A season, which had previously been set by Júlio César in the 2009–10 Treble-winning season.


title: Samir Handanović

text: Handanović begun his first full season as Inter captain on 26 August 2019 by keeping a clean-sheet in the 4–0 home win over newly promoted side Lecce; by doing so, he achieved his 200th Serie A victory. On 25 September, he made his 300th appearance for the club in a 1–0 home win against Lazio, the fifth in five matches, also making three important saves in the first half. His performance in the match earned the praise of the team's manager Antonio Conte, who said that Handanović "made the difference".


title: Samir Handanović

text: In the match-day seven encounter against rivals and title favourites Juventus, Handanović made his 450th appearance in Serie A (182 for Udinese, 3 for Treviso, 1 for Lazio, and 264 for Inter) as Inter suffered a 2–1 defeat at San Siro, losing the top spot in the league to the Turin side. Later that month, he was nominated for the inaugural Lev Yashin award, the Ballon d'Or of goalkeepers. His first UEFA Champions League clean-sheet of his career came on 23 October, in a 2–0 home win over German side Borussia Dortmund, in the third group match of the competition.


title: Samir Handanović

text: In December, Handanović won the AIC Serie A Goalkeeper of the Year Award for the third time in his career. On 6 December, in the goalless draw against Roma, Handanović reached another milestone, as his clean-sheet in the match was his 100th in Serie A for Inter. On 11 January 2020, he saved a penalty against Luis Muriel in a 1–1 home draw against Atalanta; this was his 24th penalty save in Serie A, which saw him equal Pagluca's record of the most penalties saved in Serie A. On 21 August, he started in Inter's 3–2 defeat to Sevilla in the 2020 UEFA Europa League Final.


title: Samir Handanović

text: On 17 October 2020, Handanović overtook Pagliuca's record with his 25th penalty save in Serie A when saved a spot kick from Zlatan Ibrahimović, who went on to score from the rebound, in a 2–1 defeat against rivals Milan. He made his 500th Serie A appearance on 14 February 2021, in a 3–1 home win over Lazio, which allowed Inter to climb to the top of the league table; he became only the 15th player ever to achieve this milestone. On 2 May the club won the title for the first time since 2010, the first trophy of his career. On 23 May, in Inter's final league match of the season against Udinese, he made his 329th Serie A appearance for the club, overtaking Walter Zenga as the goalkeeper with the most appearances in the Italian top flight for Inter.


title: Samir Handanović

text: On 21 September 2021, Handanović made two decisive first half saves in the away match against Fiorentina, with Inter winning 3–1 after conceding initially; this was the 1,500th win in the Serie A for the "Nerazzurri". Later on, he made his 400th appearance for the club in all competitions in a 3–1 home win over Sheriff Tiraspol in the Champions League group stage, becoming the only goalkeeper to do so. On 12 January 2022, Handanović won his second career trophy, the Supercoppa Italiana, as Inter defeated Juventus 2–1 at San Siro thanks to a 120th minute winner of Alexis Sánchez.


title: Samir Handanović

text: Handanović made his debut for Slovenia on 17 November 2004 in a friendly match against Slovakia, which ended in a goalless draw. Handanović was a regular member of the team during the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign, being used mostly as a back-up for the veteran Borut Mavrič. However, in the second part of the qualifiers, he managed to play four matches, first being the 1–1 home draw against Belarus on 30 March 2005, failing to keep a clean-sheet, as Slovenia finished the Group 5 in fourth position with twelve points, failing to secure a spot in the final tournament. Lost 2 goals in the lost final of Cyprus International Football Tournaments 2006 from Romania.


title: Samir Handanović

text: On 26 May 2008, Handanović captained Slovenia for the first time in his 23rd cap during the friendly match against Sweden, who won the match at Gamla Ullevi thanks to a Tobias Linderoth goal.


title: Samir Handanović

text: Ahead of UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying, Handanović was again the second-choice, with Borut Mavrič retained his spot. He played only in the first three qualifying matches, before retiring from the national team. Handanović was successful in his first qualifying match, as Slovenia earned a goalless draw away against Albania. He played in the remaining eight matches, keeping his goal intact in three of them, as Slovenia ended its qualifying campaign in the penultimate spot with eleven points.


title: Samir Handanović

text: Handanović was ever-presented in the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying, playing every single minute of the qualifying campaign. Slovenia began the qualifiers with a 1–1 away draw against Poland, where Handanović was beaten in 17th minute to a Michał Żewłakow penalty kick.


title: Samir Handanović

text: In May 2010, Handanović was named in Slovenia's final list of 23 players to represent the country at the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Slovenia was placed in Group C with Algeria, England and the United States. In the team's opening match against Algeria, Handanović debuted for the first time in a major tournament, keeping a clean sheet as Slovenia managed to win 1–0 at Peter Mokaba Stadium to grab their first three points. In the next match, against the U.S. at Ellis Park Stadium, Slovenia was leading 2–0 at half time, but in the second half Handanović was beaten by Landon Donovan and Michael Bradley, with the match finishing 2–2. Slovenia were eliminated from the tournament after finishing third in their group with four points, behind the U.S. and England, following a 1–0 defeat to the latter side in their final first–round match at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on 23 June.


title: Samir Handanović

text: On 18 November 2015, Handanović announced his retirement from the national team after Slovenia failed to qualify for UEFA Euro 2016, crashing out with a 3–1 aggregate defeat to Ukraine in the play-offs. Handanović ended his eleven-year international career with 81 caps for Slovenia, being the most capped goalkeeper and one of the most capped players of all time; his starting position was taken over by Jan Oblak.


title: Samir Handanović

text: Despite his large stature and imposing physique, which make him effective at handling crosses and a commanding presence inside the box, Handanović is an extremely agile and athletic goalkeeper, who is renowned in particular for his outstanding reflexes, acrobatic saves and excellent shot-stopping abilities, as well as his positional sense, leadership, and ability to organise his defence. Although he was not initially known for being particularly adept with the ball at his feet, during his time under managers Roberto Mancini and Luciano Spalletti, he was also able to improve his ability to play out and start attacks from the back, and successfully adapted to the team's more patient build-up play, while also allowing the team to maintain a high line; his change in playing style also continued under Inter's subsequent manager Antonio Conte, under whom he further developed his control and distribution of the ball, and often acted as a sweeper-keeper.


title: Samir Handanović

text: Regarded as one of the best goalkeepers in Europe and Italy due to his performances, he is also known for his speed off his line and anticipation as a goalkeeper, which enables him to clear the ball away from danger, as well as his ability to get to ground quickly to parry or collect the ball, attributes which also make him particularly adept at stopping spot-kicks. As a result, he has developed a reputation as an exceptional penalty-kick saving specialist, having stopped an Italian record of six consecutive penalties between 2013 and 2015.


title: Samir Handanović

text: With 26 saves, he holds the record of most penalties stopped in Serie A, ahead of Gianluca Pagliuca, although Handanović has a superior success rate. Former Inter goalkeeper Giuliano Sarti has also praised Handanović for his consistency. In a 2016 interview, Handanović stated that his main influences as a goalkeeper were his cousin Jasmin Handanović and Peter Schmeichel. In 2020, Pasquale Marino described Handanović as "one of the best goalkeepers in the world."


title: Samir Handanović

text: Handanović is of Bosniak origin. His parents were originally from the Bosnian town of Sanski Most. His elder cousin, Jasmin Handanović, also embarked on a career in Italy from 2007 to 2011 and was also a member of the Slovenian national team. Handanović's son, named Alen, was born on 19 January 2011 to Zoja Trobec, former KK Olimpija cheerleader, who were in a long-standing relationship; the pair married in May 2012 and Handanović thus became brother-in-law to Zoja's sister Irena who is married to professional Bosnian basketball player Jasmin Hukić. On 3 October 2013, Handanović's wife gave birth to the couple's second son, named Ian.


title: Osteosarcoma

text: An osteosarcoma (OS) or osteogenic sarcoma (OGS) (or simply bone cancer) is a cancerous tumor in a bone. Specifically, it is an aggressive malignant neoplasm that arises from primitive transformed cells of mesenchymal origin (and thus a sarcoma) and that exhibits osteoblastic differentiation and produces malignant osteoid.


title: Osteosarcoma

text: Osteosarcoma is the most common histological form of primary bone sarcoma. It is most prevalent in teenagers and young adults.


title: Osteosarcoma

text: Many patients first complain of pain that may be worse at night, may be intermittent and of varying intensity and may have been occurring for a long time. Teenagers who are active in sports often complain of pain in the lower femur, or immediately below the knee. If the tumor is large, it can present as overt localised swelling. Sometimes a sudden fracture is the first symptom because the affected bone is not as strong as normal bone and may fracture abnormally with minor trauma. In cases of more deep-seated tumors that are not as close to the skin, such as those originating in the pelvis, localised swelling may not be apparent.


title: Osteosarcoma

text: Several research groups are investigating cancer stem cells and their potential to cause tumors along with genes and proteins causative in different phenotypes. Radiotherapy for unrelated conditions may be a rare cause.


title: Osteosarcoma

text: There is no clear association between water fluoridation and cancer or deaths due to cancer, both for cancer in general and also specifically for bone cancer and osteosarcoma. Series of research concluded that concentration of fluoride in water doesn't associate with osteosarcoma. The beliefs regarding association of fluoride exposure and osteosarcoma stem from a study of US National Toxicology program in 1990, which showed uncertain evidence of association of fluoride and osteosarcoma in male rats. But there is still no solid evidence of cancer-causing tendency of fluoride in mice. Fluoridation of water has been practiced around the world to improve citizens' dental health. It is also deemed as major health success. Fluoride concentration levels in water supplies are regulated, such as United States Environmental Protection Agency regulates fluoride levels to not be greater than 4 milligrams per liter. Actually, water supplies already have natural occurring fluoride, but many communities chose to add more fluoride to the point that it can reduce tooth decay. Fluoride is also known for its ability to cause new bone formation. Yet, further research shows no osteosarcoma risks from fluoridated water in humans. Most of the research involved counting number of osteosarcoma patients cases in particular areas which has difference concentrations of fluoride in drinking water. The statistic analysis of the data shows no significant difference in occurrences of osteosarcoma cases in different fluoridated regions. Another important research involved collecting bone samples from osteosarcoma patients to measure fluoride concentration and compare them to bone samples of newly diagnosed malignant bone tumors. The result is that the median fluoride concentrations in bone samples of osteosarcoma patients and tumor controls are not significantly different. Not only fluoride concentration in bones, Fluoride exposures of osteosarcoma patients are also proven to be not significantly different from healthy people.


title: Osteosarcoma

text: Osteosarcomas tend to occur at the sites of bone growth, presumably because proliferation makes osteoblastic cells in this region prone to acquire mutations that could lead to transformation of cells (the RB gene and p53 gene are commonly involved). The tumor may be localized at the end of the long bone (commonly in the metaphysis). Most often it affects the proximal end of tibia or humerus, or distal end of femur. Osteosarcoma tends to affect regions around the knee in 60% of cases, 15% around the hip, 10% at the shoulder, and 8% in the jaw. The tumor is solid, hard, irregular ("fir-tree," "moth-eaten", or "sun-burst" appearance on X-ray examination) due to the tumor spicules of calcified bone radiating at right angles. These right angles form what is known as a Codman triangle, which is characteristic but not diagnostic of osteosarcoma. Surrounding tissues are infiltrated.


title: Osteosarcoma

text: Microscopically: The characteristic feature of osteosarcoma is presence of osteoid (bone formation) within the tumor. Tumor cells are very pleomorphic (anaplastic), some are giant, numerous atypical mitoses. These cells produce osteoid describing irregular trabeculae (amorphous, eosinophilic/pink) with or without central calcification (hematoxylinophilic/blue, granular)—tumor bone. Tumor cells are included in the osteoid matrix. Depending on the features of the tumor cells present (whether they resemble bone cells, cartilage cells, or fibroblast cells), the tumor can be subclassified. Osteosarcomas may exhibit multinucleated osteoclast-like giant cells.


title: Osteosarcoma

text: X-rays is the initial imaging of choice to diagnose osteosarcoma. Some characteristics of osteosarcoma on X-rays are sunburst appearance and Codman triangle (elevation of bony cortex by the tumour that caused new bone formation). CT scan is helpful in defining the bony anatomy, the integrity of the bony cortex, detecting pathologic fracture, and assessing ossification (laying of new bone materials) and calcification of the cartilage. On the other hand, soft tissue and medullary cavity is better imaged by MRI scan.


title: Osteosarcoma

text: Most times, the early signs of osteosarcoma are caught on X-rays taken during routine dental check-ups. Osteosarcoma frequently develops in the mandible (lower jaw); accordingly, dentists are trained to look for signs that may suggest osteosarcoma. Even though radiographic findings for this cancer vary greatly, one usually sees a symmetrical widening of the periodontal ligament space. A dentist who has reason to suspect osteosarcoma or another underlying disorder would then refer the patient to an Oral & Maxillofacial surgeon for biopsy. A biopsy of suspected osteosarcoma outside of the facial region should be performed by a qualified orthopedic oncologist. The American Cancer Society states: "Probably in no other cancer is it as important to perform this procedure properly. An improperly performed biopsy may make it difficult to save the affected limb from amputation." It may also metastasise to the lungs, mainly appearing on the chest X-ray as solitary or multiple round nodules most common at the lower regions.


title: Osteosarcoma

text: A complete radical, surgical, "en bloc" resection of the cancer, is the treatment of choice in osteosarcoma. Although about 90% of patients are able to have limb-salvage surgery, complications, particularly infection, prosthetic loosening and non-union, or local tumor recurrence may cause the need for further surgery or amputation.


title: Osteosarcoma

text: Mifamurtide is used after a patient has had surgery to remove the tumor and together with chemotherapy to kill remaining cancer cells to reduce the risk of cancer recurrence. Also, the option to have rotationplasty after the tumor is taken out exists.


title: Osteosarcoma

text: Patients with osteosarcoma are best managed by a medical oncologist and an orthopedic oncologist experienced in managing sarcomas. Current standard treatment is to use neoadjuvant chemotherapy (chemotherapy given before surgery) followed by surgical resection. The percentage of tumor cell necrosis (cell death) seen in the tumor after surgery gives an idea of the prognosis and also lets the oncologist know if the chemotherapy regimen should be altered after surgery.


title: Osteosarcoma

text: Standard therapy is a combination of limb-salvage orthopedic surgery when possible (or amputation in some cases) and a combination of high-dose methotrexate with leucovorin rescue, intra-arterial cisplatin, adriamycin, ifosfamide with mesna, BCD (bleomycin, cyclophosphamide, dactinomycin), etoposide, and muramyl tripeptide. Rotationplasty may be used. Ifosfamide can be used as an adjuvant treatment if the necrosis rate is low.


title: Osteosarcoma

text: Despite the success of chemotherapy for osteosarcoma, it has one of the lowest survival rates for pediatric cancer. The best reported 10-year survival rate is 92%; the protocol used is an aggressive intra-arterial regimen that individualizes therapy based on arteriographic response. Three-year event-free survival ranges from 50% to 75%, and five-year survival ranges from 60% to 85+% in some studies. Overall, 65–70% patients treated five years ago will be alive today. These survival rates are overall averages and vary greatly depending on the individual necrosis rate.


title: Osteosarcoma

text: Filgrastim or pegfilgrastim help with white blood cell counts and neutrophil counts. Blood transfusions and epoetin alfa help with anemia. Computational analysis on a panel of osteosarcoma cell lines identified new shared and specific therapeutic targets (proteomic and genetic) in osteosarcoma, while phenotypes showed an increased role of tumor microenvironments.


title: Osteosarcoma

text: Deaths due to malignant neoplasms of the bones and joints account for an unknown number of childhood cancer deaths. Mortality rates due to osteosarcoma have been declining at about 1.3% per year. Long-term survival probabilities for osteosarcoma have improved dramatically during the late 20th century and approximated 68% in 2009.


title: Osteosarcoma

text: Osteosarcoma is the eighth-most common form of childhood cancer, comprising 2.4% of all malignancies in pediatric patients, and about 20% of all primary bone cancers.


title: Osteosarcoma

text: Incidence rates for osteosarcoma in U.S. patients under 20 years of age are estimated at 5.0 per million per year in the general population, with a slight variation between individuals of black, Hispanic, and white ethnicities (6.8, 6.5, and 4.6 per million per year, respectively). It is slightly more common in males (5.4 per million per year) than in females (4.0 per million per year).


title: Osteosarcoma

text: It originates more frequently in the metaphyseal region of tubular long bones, with 42% occurring in the femur, 19% in the tibia, and 10% in the humerus. About 8% of all cases occur in the skull and jaw, and another 8% in the pelvis.


title: Osteosarcoma

text: Around 300 of the 900 people diagnosed in the United States will die each year. A second peak in incidence occurs in the elderly, usually associated with an underlying bone pathology such as Paget's disease of bone.


title: Osteosarcoma

text: Osteosarcoma is the most common bone tumor in dogs and typically affects middle-aged large and giant breed dogs such as Irish Wolfhounds, Greyhounds, German Shepherds, Rottweilers, mountain breeds (Great Pyrenees, St. Bernard, Leonberger, Newfoundland), Doberman Pinschers and Great Danes. It has a 10-fold greater incidence in dogs than humans. A hereditary base has been shown in St. Bernard dogs. Spayed/neutered dogs have twice the risk of intact ones to develop osteosarcoma. Infestation with the parasite Spirocerca lupi can cause osteosarcoma of the esophagus.


title: Osteosarcoma

text: The most commonly affected bones are the proximal humerus, the distal radius, the distal femur, and the tibia, following the basic premise "far from the elbow, close to the knee". Other sites include the ribs, the mandible, the spine, and the pelvis. Rarely, osteosarcoma may arise from soft tissues (extraskeletal osteosarcoma). Metastasis of tumors involving the limb bones is very common, usually to the lungs. The tumor causes a great deal of pain, and can even lead to fracture of the affected bone. As with human osteosarcoma, bone biopsy is the definitive method to reach a final diagnosis. Osteosarcoma should be differentiated from other bone tumours and a range of other lesions, such as osteomyelitis. Differential diagnosis of the osteosarcoma of the skull in particular includes, among others, chondrosarcoma and the multilobular tumour of bone.


title: Osteosarcoma

text: Amputation is the initial treatment, although this alone will not prevent metastasis. Chemotherapy combined with amputation improves the survival time, but most dogs still die within a year. Surgical techniques designed to save the leg (limb-sparing procedures) do not improve the prognosis.


title: Osteosarcoma

text: Some current studies indicate osteoclast inhibitors such as alendronate and pamidronate may have beneficial effects on the quality of life by reducing osteolysis, thus reducing the degree of pain, as well as the risk of pathological fractures.


title: Osteosarcoma

text: Osteosarcoma is also the most common bone tumor in cats, although not as frequently encountered, and most typically affect the rear legs. The cancer is generally less aggressive in cats than in dogs, so amputation alone can lead to a significant survival time in many affected cats, though post-amputation chemotherapy is recommended when a high grade is confirmed on histopathology.


title: Osteosarcoma

text: A 2020 study was able to demonstrate via radiographic and histological analysis along with comparisons with osteosarcoma in humans that a "Centrosaurus" from the Cretaceous period had developed osteosarcoma in its fibula.


title: Noah Munck

text: Noah Bryant Munck (born May 3, 1996) is an American actor, comedian, YouTube personality and music producer known for his roles as Gibby in the Nickelodeon series "iCarly" and "Naked Rob" Smith in the ABC comedy series "The Goldbergs". He also produces electronic music under the alias NoxiK and creates independent comedy videos on YouTube.


title: Noah Munck

text: Munck was born and raised in Mission Viejo in Orange County, California. He is the oldest of five children of Kymbry (née Robinson) and Greg Munck, an executive pastor at Crossline Community Church in Laguna Hills. He was involved in his school drama program while filming for "iCarly"'. One of his brothers, Ethan Munck, played Gibby's 8-year-old brother Guppy in five episodes of "iCarly". In fall 2014, Munck was accepted to and began attending Biola University as a cinema and media arts major.


title: Noah Munck

text: In 2007, Munck began a recurring role for three seasons on the Nickelodeon television series "iCarly" as Gibby, one of Carly, Sam and Freddie's friends. In 2010, Munck was elevated to a regular cast member from the fourth season onwards. In 2011, he was nominated for the "Favorite TV Sidekick" award at the Kids' Choice Awards.


title: Noah Munck

text: Proposals were put forth in 2013 for a TV series called "Gibby", a spin-off of "iCarly" that would star Munck. The series was to star Gibby working at a recreational center where he mentors four middle-schoolers. The series was not picked up, although Munck reprised the role of Gibby in the spin-off series "Sam & Cat" in 2014 for the episode "#SuperPsycho". Munck did not return to reprise his role in the 2021 revival series. His brother Ethan, however, reprised his role as Guppy in one episode of the revival series.


title: Noah Munck

text: Munck also produces electronic dance music under the name NoxiK. He released his first song, "Beginnings", on January 20, 2012. Since then he began to release songs he created to his YouTube account. He released a small EP called "Hotline" on April 23, 2013. On December 21, 2013, NoxiK released a single entitled "Killjoy" on SoundCloud and YouTube. It was re-posted on SoundCloud by EDM.com and has become one of his most successful singles to date. He released his first official EP titled "Road Warrior" on March 24, 2014. As of October 2017, the project has been inactive. However, he has put songs out on another SoundCloud account, named SADWORLDBEATS, and has been frequently releasing music from that account.


title: Noah Munck

text: On October 9, 2016, Munck started Sadworld, a YouTube channel dedicated to "weird, absurd" and experimental comedy sketches, and LSD trips. The videos have a distinct editing style, described as "an amalgamation of images, glitches and sounds designed to overload viewers' senses."


title: Noah Munck

text: Munck is an active supporter of Camp Del Corazon, a summer camp on Catalina Island, California, for children with heart disease.


title: Ritu Nanda

text: Ritu Nanda (born Ritu Raj Kapoor; 30 October 1948 – 14 January 2020) was an Indian businesswoman and insurance advisor.


title: Ritu Nanda

text: Nanda served as the chairperson and CEO of Ritu Nanda Insurance Services (RNIS). She initially managed a household appliances manufacturing business, Nikitasha, which got closed due to poor growth. She received the "Brand" and "Best Insurance Advisor" of the Decade awards from the Life Insurance Corporation of India, the largest life insurance company of India.


title: Ritu Nanda

text: Nanda entered the Guinness Book of Records for selling 17,000 pension policies in a single day. She also managed companies such as Escolife and Rimari Corporate art services.


title: Ritu Nanda

text: Nanda was born into a Punjabi Hindu family, the daughter of Krishna and Raj Kapoor, an actor-director. She was born in Mumbai on 30 October 1948. Her grandfather was actor Prithviraj Kapoor, her great uncle was actor Trilok Kapoor and her maternal uncles were actors Prem Nath, Rajendra Nath and Narendra Nath. Her paternal uncles were Shammi Kapoor, Shashi Kapoor, Devinder Kapoor and Ravinder Kapoor. Her paternal aunt was Urmila Sial. Actor Prem Chopra is her uncle-by-marriage. Her brothers, Randhir Kapoor, Rishi Kapoor and Rajiv Kapoor, are film actors. She also has a sister, Rima Jain. Film actresses Karisma Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor are her nieces, while actor Ranbir Kapoor is her nephew.


title: Ritu Nanda

text: Kapoor was married to Rajan Nanda, an Indian industrialist. She had two children, a son Nikhil Nanda, and a daughter Natasha Nanda. Nikhil is married to Shweta Bachchan daughter of Amitabh Bachchan and Jaya Bachchan. Kapoor was diagnosed with cancer, and died from the disease on 14 January 2020.


title: Epica (band)

text: Epica is a Dutch symphonic metal band, founded by guitarist and vocalist Mark Jansen after his departure from After Forever.


title: Epica (band)

text: Formed as a symphonic metal band with gothic tendencies, later Epica have incorporated into their sound strong death metal influences. Starting from the third album, progressive metal influences have also become evident. In addition, the band often uses thrash metal and groove metal riffs, black metal passages (mostly in the drum technique), power metal moments and references to Arabic music. Some songs also have electronic shades, djent transitions and folk metal melodies derived from Middle Eastern, Chinese and Celtic traditions. Epica is also known for the attention to the vocal lines that, in contrast to the heavy context, weave very catchy, easy to hold, sophisticated and emotional melodies. The use of mezzo-soprano vocals and growled vocals, performed by Simone Simons and Mark Jansen respectively, is fundamental to the band's sound. They primarily write their own lyrics, which often deal with philosophical, psychological, spiritual, moral, scientific, environmental, socio-political, global and topical and personal themes. Epica is also known for their wide use of orchestra and opera choirs.


title: Epica (band)

text: In 2003, Epica's debut album "The Phantom Agony" was released through Transmission Records. "Consign to Oblivion" followed in 2005, and debuted at No. 12 in the Dutch charts. They moved labels to Nuclear Blast following Transmission's bankruptcy, and in 2007, released their third studio album "The Divine Conspiracy", which charted at No. 9 in the Netherlands. 2009's "Design Your Universe" was met with yet greater success, debuting at No. 8 in the Dutch Albums Chart, and charting across Europe, also garnering much critical acclaim. Epica's fifth studio album "Requiem for the Indifferent" was released in 2012. Well received by critics, it achieved international success, entering the US's "Billboard" 200 at No. 104, and Japan's Oricon Albums Chart at No. 172.


title: Epica (band)

text: At the beginning of May 2014 the band released their sixth album, "The Quantum Enigma", which was a huge international success, debuting on No. 110 on US Billboard 200 and peaking at No. 4 in Epica's homeland Netherlands. In June 2015 Epica was awarded the Music Export Awards, which is given to the Dutch act with the most international success in the past year. Their seventh album, "The Holographic Principle", was released in September 2016 to continued international success, equalling the peak chart position set by its predecessor in the Netherlands. The band released their eighth album, "Omega", in February 2021.


title: Epica (band)

text: In early 2002, at only 22 years old, Mark Jansen left After Forever over creative differences. He then began looking for musicians who would work towards a more classical/symphonic type of music project; this was initially named Sahara Dust. In late 2002, the band courted Helena Iren Michaelsen (from Trail of Tears) as its frontwoman, but shortly after she was replaced by the then unknown Simone Simons, who was Jansen's girlfriend at the time. The band's line-up was completed by guitarist Ad Sluijter, drummer Jeroen Simons, bassist Yves Huts, and keyboard player Coen Janssen. The name was later changed to Epica, inspired by Kamelot's album of the same name.


title: Epica (band)

text: Epica then assembled a choir (made up of two men and four women) and a string orchestra (three violins, two violas, two cellos and an upright bass) to play along with them. Still under the name "Sahara Dust", they produced a two-song demo entitled "Cry for the Moon" in 2002. As a result, they were signed to Transmission Records.


title: Epica (band)

text: "The Phantom Agony" is the first full-length studio album by Epica. It is the first album recorded by guitarist Mark Jansen after his departure from the band After Forever. The album was produced by Sascha Paeth (known for having produced bands such as Angra, Rhapsody of Fire and Kamelot) and released in June 2003. This album, Mark Jansen continues with the collection of songs that make up "The Embrace That Smothers". The first three parts can be found on "Prison of Desire" (2000), After Forever's debut album, and the following three parts can be found on "The Divine Conspiracy" (2007), Epica's third album. These songs deal with the dangers of organized religion. The song "Façade of Reality" on the album was written about the September 11 attacks and includes fragments from speeches by Tony Blair.


title: Epica (band)

text: Their second release, entitled "Consign to Oblivion", was influenced by the culture of the Maya civilization, which can be noticed on songs in the "A New Age Dawns" series. "A New Age Dawns" refers to the time system of the Mayan people, which extends up to 2012, and makes no reference of what may happen past said year. "Consign to Oblivion" was composed with film scores as a basis, with Hans Zimmer and Danny Elfman cited as major inspirations. The album features guest singing by Roy Khan (from Kamelot) on the song "Trois Vierges". Epica also joined Kamelot as a support band on parts of their tour for promotion of "The Black Halo" album, to which Simons had contributed her vocals on the track "The Haunting (Somewhere in Time)".


title: Epica (band)

text: Epica's non-metal album "The Score – An Epic Journey" was released in September 2005 and is the soundtrack for a Dutch movie called "Joyride", though it could also be considered to be their third album. Mark Jansen describes the album as typical Epica, "only without the singing, without the guitars, no bass and no drums".


title: Epica (band)

text: In 2005 and 2006 Epica went on their first tour throughout North America with Kamelot. After the tour, drummer Jeroen Simons left the band because of his wish to pursue other musical interests. In Fall 2006, Simone once again contributed vocals to an album of Kamelot, this time on the tracks "Blücher" and "Season's End" on the album "Ghost Opera". In December, Ariën van Weesenbeek from God Dethroned was announced via Epica's official website as the guest drummer for their new album, but not as a permanent band member.


title: Epica (band)

text: In September 2007, Epica headlined their first tour through North America and released their third album, "The Divine Conspiracy", this time on a new label, Nuclear Blast. That December, Ariën van Weesenbeek was announced to be Epica's permanent new drummer. The band toured North America again in April 2008 with Into Eternity and Symphony X, this time with Amanda Somerville because Simone had contracted a staph infection (MRSA). It was released on September 7, 2007 through Nuclear Blast in Europe. The concept that guides the songs is that God created many different religions for humanity to figure out and overcome them so as to discover that, in nature and essence, they were all in fact the same one (hence the name, "The Divine Conspiracy"). Aside from the concept of such a conspiracy, "The Divine Conspiracy" finalizes The Embrace That Smothers, which began in After Forever's "Prison of Desire" (Prologue and parts I-III) and continued in Epica's "The Phantom Agony" (parts IV-VI). In short, The Embrace That Smothers is a collection of 10 songs (Prologue and parts I-IX), which talks about the dangers of organized religion.


title: Epica (band)

text: The first single from the album was released on August 10, 2007 entitled "Never Enough", accompanied by a music video and the second single, "Chasing the Dragon," was released in 2008 without an accompanying video.


title: Epica (band)

text: On December 16, 2008, Ad Sluijter left the band. He left a message on his Myspace page with his reasoning for leaving the band, which included frustration over being unable to enjoy composing music because of deadlines. Ad's successor on guitar was announced in January 2009 to be Isaac Delahaye, who was a member of God Dethroned.


title: Epica (band)

text: Also in 2008, Epica recorded "The Classical Conspiracy", their first live album. The live show took place in Miskolc, Hungary on June 14, 2008, in the framework of the Miskolc Opera Festival (where Therion did a similar show a year before). It included a 40-piece orchestra and a 30-piece choir, and the setlist contained not only the band's songs but also covers of classical pieces of Antonio Vivaldi, Antonín Dvořák, Giuseppe Verdi, Edvard Grieg, and of soundtracks of the movies Star Wars, Spider-Man and Pirates of the Caribbean. It was released on May 8, 2009 through Nuclear Blast Records.


title: Epica (band)

text: On March 4, 2009, Epica announced their return to the studio where they would begin the recording process for a new album. In April 2009, it was revealed that the new album's title would be "Design Your Universe". It continued the A New Age Dawns saga which started on Consign to Oblivion. The album was released on October 16, 2009. To promote this release, they performed in Amsterdam at Paradiso on October 10, 2009. This is the first Epica album to feature Isaac Delahaye. The record also contains a guest appearance from Sonata Arctica vocalist Tony Kakko on the song "White Waters". Reception has been positive from both critics and fans. The album debuted in No. 8 in the Dutch charts, being the highest position an Epica album has reached. The album remained on the chart for five weeks and re-entered in No. 94 for one week due to the band's performance at the 2010 Pinkpop Festival. On December 31, 2009, it was announced through their website that a new single will be released. The song is called "This Is the Time" and all profit will go to World Wide Fund for Nature. After the release of Design Your Universe, Epica set out on a World Tour to support the album. They did a CD release party at The Paradiso in Amsterdam. They performed at some summer festival concerts in the summer of 2010 and returned to the United States and Canada in late fall 2010. Several dates in Europe, especially in the Netherlands, were sold out. The band also did a South American Tour, performing in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Bolivia and Uruguay. They played also in many important rock and metal festivals in Europe, such as Wacken Open Air, Pinkpop and Masters of Rock, in front of very large audiences.


title: Epica (band)

text: In an interview in November 2010, Simone stated that the band was going to start writing music around February 2011 after their Latin American tour is over. She also stated that they were hoping for a release in the first quarter of 2012. 14 tracks were written without lyrics by May 2011. The band entered the studio later that year, with Sascha Paeth once again as the producer.


title: Epica (band)

text: On December 1, the band announced that the name of the album would be "Requiem for the Indifferent", and would be inspired by such factors as the enormous tension between different religions and cultures, wars, natural disasters and the financial crisis. The album was released on March 9, 2012 in Europe, and on March 13, 2012 in the United States. On March 25, 2012, Epica announced on their website that original bassist Yves Huts and Epica had parted ways, to be replaced by Rob van der Loo (ex-Delain, MaYaN). On April 24, the music video of "Storm the Sorrow" was officially released, earning 128,000 views on YouTube on the release day. General response to "Requiem for the Indifferent" was positive. AllMusic stated that the album "is a typically elaborate and ambitious affair, incorporating copious amounts of choral work and classical arrangements into the band's neatly established blend of goth, progressive, power, and symphonic metal." Natalie Zed of About.com staff considered "Requiem for the Indifferent" "a transitional album for the band", which tries to expand their musical range experimenting with "weird" riffing and new combination of vocals, while "losing none of the richness that has gained them fans."


title: Epica (band)

text: On 16 September 2012, the band made a guest appearance on the Dutch TV show "Niks te gek" (translation: "Nothing [is] too crazy"), where mentally disabled people (18 years or older) can get their wishes granted. In the episode, they recorded, together with the autistic Ruurd Woltring, one of his own compositions, "Forevermore". The single was released through Nuclear Blast on 25 September 2012.


title: Epica (band)

text: The band announced on their official website that on March 23, 2013, they would celebrate the 10th anniversary of Epica in Eindhoven, Netherlands. The concert which would be called Retrospect, would be held in Klokgebouw with a 70-piece orchestra, choirs, international guests and many special effects. The band invited the Hungarian Remenyi Ede Chamber Orchestra and the Choir of Miskolc National Theatre to this show as they were the same orchestra that accompanied Epica in the recording of the live album The Classical Conspiracy. The concert consisted of a 70-piece orchestra, special effects, acrobats, guest vocalist Floor Jansen (Nightwish) and former band members Ad Sluijter, Yves Huts and Jeroen Simons. Finnish singer Tarja Turunen was also invited to the show, but had to decline due to scheduling problems. In the show the band introduced a new song titled "Retrospect" and played "Twin Flames" from Requiem for the Indifferent for the first time. They also played for the second time their longest song "The Divine Conspiracy", however a shorter version of this song was played. During the concert, Coen Janssen announced that Retrospect would be filmed for release as a DVD.


title: Epica (band)

text: Epica revealed on their official website the first details about their sixth album on February 5, 2014. It was revealed that the new album would be titled "The Quantum Enigma" and would be released at the beginning of May 2014. Later that same month the band unveiled the album's cover art, which was created by longtime collaborator Stefan Heilemann to accompany the ideas behind the lyrics. Track listing and release dates were announced the same day as well and eventually The Quantum Enigma was released by Nuclear Blast on 2 May (Europe), 5 May (UK) and 13 May (USA). The album was produced by Joost van den Broek and recorded in the Sandlane Recording Facilities in The Netherlands. The Quantum Enigma debuted at 110 on US Billboard 200, making it Epica's second entry on this chart, the previous being Requiem for the Indifferent and charting there in February 2013. In Epica's home country the Netherlands, the album peaked at No. 4 making it their highest ranking album on the chart.


title: Epica (band)

text: The band stated that, "Where Retrospect reflected on the first decade of our career, we'd like to think The Quantum Enigma marks the beginning of a new era, where Epica sounds heavy, modern and without compromises! More than ever, the creation of this album was a group effort and we are extremely proud of the results! Every detail finds its way into a perfectly balanced mix, and makes Epica sound raw and overwhelming."


title: Epica (band)

text: On March 17, 2014 the first single, "The Essence of Silence" was made available as a digital download from iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, Deezer and other platforms. Three days later a lyric video was released. "Unchain Utopia" was chosen as the second single and released on April 8, 2014. In an interview with the Sonic Cathedral Webzine, lead vocalist Simone Simons confirmed that a music video for "Unchain Utopia" was set to be released soon. However, a lyric video was released instead, which features footage originally filmed for the music video. Later on the band decided to film a music video for the track "Victims of Contingency", which was released on October 30, 2014.


title: Epica (band)

text: The band returned to the stage after almost a year on 30 April 2013, in Tilburg in their home country, The Netherlands, which marked the album release show. Throughout 2014 and 2015 the band toured Europe, Asia, Africa and both South and North America in support of The Quantum Enigma. Their last venue before going back to studio took place on 22 November 2015 at the "Klokgebouw" in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, where Epica had held their Retrospect venue. The show was part of the first edition of "Epic Metal Fest", which is a festival organized and curated by the members of the band. Epica announced Epic Metal Fest on June 3, 2015 on their official website and revealed that they would be joined at the festival by bands DragonForce, Eluveitie, Fear Factory, Moonspell, Delain and Periphery. The frontwoman Simone Simons further commented: "It was a long-cherished dream of Epica to host our own festival and we are very proud to be able to present an absolute awesome array of international metal acts. This day will surely be the next highlight in our career and we hope to be able to share it with all of you!"


title: Epica (band)

text: On June 5, 2015 Epica was awarded the Music Export Award at Buma Rocks, which is given to the Dutch act with the most international success in the past year. The band's guitarist/vocalist Mark Jansen thanked band's fans through their official website: "We are honored with this prestigious award, it’s a big achievement after all those years of investing countless hours and much energy into Epica. It shows that everything you do by following your heart will eventually pay off and will get acknowledged. Thanks to all our fans from all over the world!"


title: Epica (band)

text: On May 31, 2016 Epica confirmed the title of the band's new album: The Holographic Principle, that was released on September 30, 2016. In an interview with Spark TV the band's singer Simone Simons discussed the complex nature of the album, explaining that the band used more "real, live instruments" than in previous albums and that this album is "one of [the band's] most ambitious offerings to date". The band announced previously that the album would be released as part of their performance at the second edition of Epic Metal Fest, but later revised this, stating it would be released a day earlier.


title: Epica (band)

text: On September 1, 2017, the band released their first EP "The Solace System" during the second North American leg of the tour. The EP features 6 songs that were planned and recorded but never included in "The Holographic Principle".


title: Epica (band)

text: Epica released an EP on December 20, 2017, in Japan titled "Epica vs Attack on Titan Songs", featuring covers of songs from the anime "Attack on Titan". The EP was released worldwide on July 20, 2018.


title: Epica (band)

text: On July 3, 2019, Epica announced that they would release their first book later that year. This would include a history of the band, interviews and photos.


title: Epica (band)

text: The band announced on July 17, 2019 that a Gold Edition of their album "Design Your Universe" would come out on 4 October 2019 in support of its tenth anniversary, along with a tour.