title: Boston Marathon

text: Bizunesh Deba of Ethiopia was eventually named women's winner of the 2014 Boston Marathon, following the disqualification of Kenyan Rita Jeptoo from the event due to confirmed doping. Deba finished in a time of 2:19:59, and became the course record holder. Her performance bested that of Margaret Okayo, who ran a time of 2:20:43 in 2002.


title: Boston Marathon

text: In the 2016 Boston Marathon, Jami Marseilles, an American, became the first female double amputee to finish the Boston Marathon. Bobbi Gibb, the first woman to have run the entire Boston Marathon (1966), was the grand marshal of the race. The Women's Open division winner, Atsede Baysa, gave Gibb her trophy; Gibb said that she would go to Baysa's native Ethiopia in 2017 and return it to her.


title: Boston Marathon

text: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Boston Marathon was initially rescheduled from April 20 to September 14. It was the first postponement in the more than 100 year uninterrupted history of the event.


title: Boston Marathon

text: On May 28, 2020, it was announced that the rescheduled marathon set for September 14 was canceled. Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said of the decision to cancel the race, "There's no way to hold this usual race format without bringing large numbers of people into close proximity. While our goal and our hope was to make progress in containing the virus and recovering our economy, this kind of event would not be responsible or realistic on September 14 or any time this year."


title: Boston Marathon

text: Runners were issued full refunds of entry fees. Organizers later staged a "virtual alternative" in September 2020 as the 124th running of the marathon. This was the second time that the format of the marathon was modified, the first having been in 1918, when the race was changed from a marathon to a military relay race because of .


title: Boston Marathon

text: On October 28, 2020, the B.A.A. announced that the 2021 edition of the marathon would not be held in April; organizers stated that they hoped to stage the event later in the year, possibly in the autumn. In late January 2021, organizers announced October 11 as the date for the marathon, contingent upon road races being allowed in Massachusetts at that time. In March, organizers announced that the field would be limited to 20,000 runners. The race will be the fourth of the five World Marathon Majors held in 2021; all the events in the series are being run in the space of six weeks between late September and early November. In 2021, the B.A.A. also offered a virtual alternative to the in person race to be completed anytime between 8-10 October.


title: Boston Marathon

text: The Boston Marathon is open to runners 18 or older from any nation, but they must meet certain qualifying standards. To qualify, a runner must first complete a standard marathon course certified by a national governing body affiliated with the World Athletics within a certain period of time before the date of the desired Boston Marathon (usually within approximately 18 months prior).


title: Boston Marathon

text: In the 1980s and 1990s, membership in USA Track & Field was required of all runners, but this requirement has been eliminated.


title: Boston Marathon

text: Qualifying standards for the 2013 race were tightened on February 15, 2011, by five minutes in each age-gender group for marathons run after September 23, 2011. Prospective runners in the age range of 18–34 must run a time of no more than 3:05:00 (3 hours 5 minutes) if male, or 3:35:00 (3 hours 35 minutes) if female; the qualifying time is adjusted upward as age increases. In addition, the 59-second grace period on qualifying times has been completely eliminated; for example, a 40- to 44-year-old male will no longer qualify with a time of 3:15:01. For many marathoners, to qualify for Boston (to "BQ") is a goal and achievement in itself.


title: Boston Marathon

text: An exception to the qualification times is for runners who receive entries from partners. About one-fifth of the marathon's spots are reserved each year for charities, sponsors, vendors, licensees, consultants, municipal officials, local running clubs, and marketers. In 2010, about 5,470 additional runners received entries through partners, including 2,515 charity runners. The marathon currently allocates spots to two dozen charities who in turn are expected to raise more than $10 million a year. In 2017, charity runners raised $34.2 million for more than 200 non-profit organizations. The Boston Athletic Association's Official Charity Program raised $17.96 million, John Hancock's Non-Profit Program raised $12.3 million, and the last $3.97 million was raised by other qualified and invitational runners.


title: Boston Marathon

text: On October 18, 2010, the 20,000 spots reserved for qualifiers were filled in a record-setting eight hours and three minutes. The speed of registration prompted the B.A.A. to change its qualifying standards for the 2013 marathon onward. In addition to lowering qualifying times, the change includes a rolling application process, which gives faster runners priority. Organizers decided not to significantly adjust the number of non-qualifiers.


title: Boston Marathon

text: On September 27, 2018, the B.A.A. announced that they were lowering the qualifying times for the 2020 marathon by another five minutes, with male runners in the 18-34 age group required to run a time of 3:00:00 (3 hours) or less and female runners in the 18-34 age group required to run a time of 3:30:00 (3 hours, 30 minutes) or less in order to qualify.


title: Boston Marathon

text: The race has traditionally been held on Patriots' Day, a state holiday in Massachusetts, and until 1969 that was every April 19, whichever day of the week that fell on. From 1969 to 2019, the holiday was observed on the third Monday in April and so the marathon date was correspondingly fixed to that Monday, often referred to by local residents as "Marathon Monday".


title: Boston Marathon

text: Through 2005, the race began at noon, (wheelchair race at 11:25a.m., and elite women at 11:31a.m.), at the official starting point in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. In 2006, the race used a staggered "wave start", where top-seeded runners (the elite men's group) and a first batch of up to 10,000 runners started at noon, with a second group starting at 12:30. The next year the starting times for the race were moved up, allowing runners to take advantage of cooler temperatures and enabling the roads to be reopened earlier. The marathon later added third and fourth waves to help further stagger the runners and reduce congestion.


title: Boston Marathon

text: The course runs through of winding roads, following Route 135, Route 16, Route 30 and city streets into the center of Boston, where the official finish line is located at Copley Square, alongside the Boston Public Library. The race runs through eight Massachusetts cities and towns: Hopkinton, Ashland, Framingham, Natick, Wellesley, Newton, Brookline, and Boston.


title: Boston Marathon

text: The Boston Marathon is considered to be one of the more difficult marathon courses because of the Newton hills, which culminate in "Heartbreak Hill" near Boston College. While the three hills on Commonwealth Avenue (Route 30) are better known, a preceding hill on Washington Street (Route 16), climbing from the Charles River crossing at , is regarded by Dave McGillivray, the long-term race director, as the course's most difficult challenge. This hill, which follows a drop in a stretch, forces many lesser-trained runners to a walking pace.


title: Boston Marathon

text: Heartbreak Hill is an ascent over between the 20- and 21-mile (32- and 34-km) marks, near Boston College. It is the last of four "Newton hills", which begin at the mark and challenge contestants with late (if modest) climbs after the course's general downhill trend to that point. Though Heartbreak Hill itself rises only vertically (from an elevation of ), it comes in the portion of a marathon distance where muscle glycogen stores are most likely to be depleted—a phenomenon referred to by marathoners as "hitting the wall".


title: Boston Marathon

text: It was on this hill that, in 1936, defending champion John A. "Johnny" Kelley overtook Ellison "Tarzan" Brown, giving him a consolatory pat on the shoulder as he passed. This gesture renewed the competitive drive in Brown, who rallied, pulled ahead of Kelley, and went on to win—thereby, it was said, breaking Kelley's heart.


title: Boston Marathon

text: Because the course drops from start to finish and the start is quite far west of the finish, allowing a helpful tailwind, the Boston Marathon does not satisfy two of the criteria necessary for the ratification of world or American records.


title: Boston Marathon

text: At the 2011 Boston Marathon on April 18, 2011, Geoffrey Mutai of Kenya ran a time of 2:03:02, which was the fastest ever marathon at the time (since surpassed by Eliud Kipchoge's 2:01:39 in Berlin 2018). However, due to the reasons listed above, Mutai’s performance was not ratified as an official world record. Bezunesh Deba from Ethiopia set the women's course record with a 2:19:59 performance on April 21, 2014. This was declared after Rita Jeptoo from Kenya was disqualified following a confirmed doping violation.


title: Boston Marathon

text: On only four occasions have world record times for marathon running been set in Boston. In 1947, the men's record time set was 2:25:39, by Suh Yun-Bok of South Korea. In 1975, a women's world record of 2:42:24 was set by Liane Winter of West Germany, and in 1983, Joan Benoit Samuelson of the United States ran a women's world record time of 2:22:43. In 2012 Joshua Cassidy of Canada set a men's wheelchair marathon world-record time of 1:18:25.


title: Boston Marathon

text: In 2007, astronaut Sunita Williams was an official entrant of the race, running a marathon distance while on the International Space Station, becoming the first person to run a marathon in space. She was sent a specialty bib and medal by the B.A.A. on the STS-117 flight of the Space Shuttle "Atlantis".


title: Boston Marathon

text: The race's organizers keep a standard time clock for all entries, though official timekeeping ceases after the six-hour mark.


title: Boston Marathon

text: The "Boston Athletic Association" is a non-profit, organized sports association that organizes the Boston Marathon and other events.


title: Boston Marathon

text: In 1975, the Boston Marathon became the first major marathon to include a wheelchair division competition. Bob Hall wrote race director Will Cloney to ask if he could compete in the race in his wheelchair. Cloney wrote back that he could not give Hall a race number, but would recognize Hall as an official finisher if he completed the race in under 3 hours and 30 minutes. Hall finished in 2 hours and 58 minutes, paving the way for the wheelchair division.


title: Boston Marathon

text: Handcyclists have competed in the race since at least 2014. Starting in 2017, handcyclists are honored the same way runners and wheelchair racers are: with wreaths, prize money, and the playing of the men's and women's winners' national anthems.


title: Boston Marathon

text: In addition to the push rim wheelchair division, the Boston Marathon also hosts a blind/visually impaired division, and a mobility impaired program. Similar to the running divisions, a set of qualifying times has been developed for these divisions to motivate aspiring athletes and ensure competitive excellence. In 1986, the introduction of prize money at the Boston Marathon gave the push rim wheelchair division the richest prize purse in the sport. More than 1,000 people with disabilities and impairments have participated in the wheelchair division, while the other divisions have gained popularity each year. In 2013, 40 blind runners participated.


title: Boston Marathon

text: The Boston Marathon Memorial in Copley Square, which is near the finish line, was installed to mark the one-hundredth running of the race. A circle of granite blocks set in the ground surrounds a central medallion that traces the race course and other segments that show an elevation map of the course and the names of the winners.


title: Boston Marathon

text: With approximately 500,000 spectators, the Boston Marathon is New England's most widely viewed sporting event. About 1,000 media members from more than 100 outlets received media credentials in 2011.


title: Boston Marathon

text: For the entire distance of the race, thousands line the sides of the course to cheer the runners on, encourage them, and provide free water and snacks to the runners.


title: Boston Marathon

text: At Wellesley College, a women's college, it is traditional for the students to cheer on the runners in what is referred to as the Scream Tunnel. For about a quarter of a mile (400m), the students line the course, scream, and offer kisses.


title: Boston Marathon

text: The Scream Tunnel is so loud runners claim it can be heard from a mile away. The tunnel is roughly half a mile (0.8km) prior to the halfway mark of the course.


title: Boston Marathon

text: Every year, the Boston Red Sox play a home game at Fenway Park, starting at 11:05a.m. When the game ends, the crowd empties into Kenmore Square to cheer as the runners enter the final mile. This tradition started in 1903. In the 1940s, the Red Sox from the American League and the Boston Braves from the National League (who moved to Milwaukee after the 1953 season) alternated yearly as to which would play the morning game. In 2007, the game between the Red Sox and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim was delayed until 12:18p.m. due to heavy rain. The marathon, which had previously been run in a wide variety of weather conditions, was not delayed. The 2018 game hosting the Baltimore Orioles was postponed into May due to rain. And 2020 saw the game not played resulting from the pandemic.


title: Boston Marathon

text: Dick and Rick Hoyt were one of the most recognized duos annually at the Boston Marathon. Dick was the father of Rick, who has cerebral palsy. While doctors said Rick would never have a normal life and thought that institutionalizing him was the best option, Dick and his wife disagreed and raised him as an ordinary child. Eventually, a computer device was developed that helped Rick communicate with his family, and they learned that one of his biggest passions was sports. "Team Hoyt" (Dick and Rick) started competing in charity runs, with Dick pushing Rick in a wheelchair. Through August 2008, Dick and Rick had competed in 66 marathons and 229 triathlons. Their fastest marathon finish was 2:40:47. The team completed their 30th Boston Marathon in 2012, when Dick was 72 and Rick was 50. They had intended the 2013 marathon to be their final one, but due to the Boston Marathon bombing, they were stopped a mile short of completing their run, and decided to run one more marathon the following year. They completed the 2014 marathon on April 21, 2014, having previously announced that it would be their last. In tribute to his connection with the race, Dick Hoyt was named the Grand Marshal of the 2015 marathon. Dick Hoyt died in 2021, aged 80.


title: Boston Marathon

text: Unlike many other races, the Boston Marathon tolerated "bandits" (runners who do not register and obtain a bib number). They used to be held back until after all the registered runners had left the starting line, and then were released in an unofficial fourth wave. They were generally not pulled off the course and mostly allowed to cross the finish line. For decades, these unofficial runners were treated like local folk heroes, celebrated for their endurance and spunk for entering a contest with the world's most accomplished athletes. Boston Marathon race director Dave McGillivray was once a teenage bandit.


title: Boston Marathon

text: Given the increased field that was expected for the 2014 Marathon, however, organizers planned "more than ever" to discourage bandits from running. As of September 2015 the B.A.A. website states:


title: Boston Marathon

text: A: No, please do NOT run if you have not been officially entered in the race. Race amenities along the course and at the finish, such as fluids, medical care, and traffic safety, are provided based on the number of expected official entrants. Any addition to this by way of unofficial participants, adversely affects our ability to ensure a safe race for everyone.


title: Boston Marathon

text: A number of people choose to run the course in a variety of costumes each year. During the 100th running in 1996, one runner wore a scale model of the Old North Church steeple on his back. Old North Church is where the signal was lit that set Paul Revere off on his midnight ride, which is commemorated each year on the same day as the Marathon. During the 2014 marathon, runners and spectators were discouraged from wearing "costumes covering the face or any non-form fitting, bulky outfits extending beyond the perimeter of the body," for security reasons following the 2013 bombing. However, state authorities and the Boston Athletic Association did not outright ban such costumes.


title: Boston Marathon

text: Starting in the mid 1970s, members of Ondekoza, a group from Japan, would run the marathon and right after finishing the race would start playing their "taiko" drums at the finish line. They repeated the tradition several times in the 1970s and 1980s. The drum would be set up at the finish line to encourage runners finishing the marathon. Bill Rodgers was a guest on Sado Island and ran marathons in Japan with Ondekoza members. The group also ran the New York City Marathon and Los Angeles Marathon, and ran of the perimeter of the United States from 1990 to 1993.


title: Hard Boiled

text: Hard Boiled () is a 1992 Hong Kong action thriller film directed by John Woo from a screenplay by Gordon Chan and Barry Wong. The film stars Chow Yun-fat as Inspector "Tequila" Yuen, Tony Leung Chiu-wai as Alan, an undercover cop, and Anthony Wong as Johnny Wong, a leader of the criminal triads.


title: Hard Boiled

text: The film was John Woo's last Hong Kong film before his transition to Hollywood. After making films that glamorized gangsters and receiving criticism for doing so, Woo wanted to make a "Dirty Harry" styled film to glamorize the police. With the death of screenwriter Barry Wong, the film's screenplay underwent constant changes during filming. New characters such as Mad Dog and Mr. Woo were introduced, while the original plotline of a baby-poisoning psychopath was cut.


title: Hard Boiled

text: "Hard Boiled" was released in Hong Kong in 1992 to generally positive audience reception, but was not as commercially successful as Woo's previous films such as "A Better Tomorrow" and "The Killer". Reception from Western critics was much more positive, with many critics and film scholars describing its action scenes as being among the best ever filmed. In 2007, a video game sequel titled "Stranglehold" was released.


title: Hard Boiled

text: In a teahouse in Hong Kong, Royal Hong Kong Police inspectors "Tequila" Yuen and Benny Mak attempt to arrest a group of gun smugglers while they are making a deal. After an ambush from a rival gang, a fierce gun battle breaks out; the gangsters are defeated but several police officers are badly wounded and Benny is killed. As revenge, Tequila executes the gangster who killed Benny rather than arrest him, much to the chagrin of his superintendent Pang. Tequila is then ordered off the case for his misdeed.


title: Hard Boiled

text: Meanwhile, Alan, an assassin under the employ of Triad boss "Uncle" Hoi, murders one of his subordinates who had double-crossed their clan for a rival syndicate led by upstart Johnny Wong. Wong, who is looking to usurp the old Triad bosses through his control of the illicit arms trade, is impressed by Alan's skill and attempts to recruit him. Alan reluctantly accepts the offer, and Wong brings Alan to a raid on Hoi's warehouse, where many of Hoi's men are killed.


title: Hard Boiled

text: Hoi is eventually cornered, and allows Alan to kill him in exchange for the safety of his men. After Alan shoots him, he kills the rest of his men regardless. Tequila then comes out from hiding and attacks all of Wong's men, but Alan spares Tequila's life in the chaos. Pang confirms to Tequila that Alan is an undercover cop. Tequila tracks Alan down to his sailboat to try to make sense of the situation, but the two are ambushed by the remnants of Hoi's gang.


title: Hard Boiled

text: Tequila and Alan manage to kill their attackers just before Wong arrives, allowing Alan to keep his cover. Wong realizes that one of his lieutenants, Foxy, is a police informant. Foxy is beaten at the docks by Wong's henchman Mad Dog in front of Alan and Wong. Alan then shoots Foxy in the chest, although a cigar lighter he placed in his chest pocket earlier prevents the shot from being lethal. Foxy finds Tequila at a jazz bar and informs him that Wong's armory is hidden in a vault beneath a nearby hospital. As Tequila takes Foxy to the hospital, Wong discovers that Foxy is alive and sends Alan to kill him, then discreetly sends Mad Dog to monitor Alan. At the hospital, Alan confronts Tequila, demanding to know the whereabouts of the vault. While the two are distracted, Foxy is killed by Mad Dog.


title: Hard Boiled

text: Alan and Tequila discover a hidden passage in the hospital leading to Wong's vault where they get into a gunfight with Mad Dog. As more police and gangsters arrive, Wong has several patients taken hostage. Mad Dog requests the hostages be released, but Wong refuses. After fighting their way to the main lobby, Alan and Tequila manage to save the hostages; Pang evacuates the lobby while officer Teresa Chang goes to the maternity ward to evacuate the babies. As Alan and Tequila continue fighting through the hospital, the duo eventually confront Mad Dog once again. While Tequila leaves to assist Chang with the babies, Alan and Mad Dog get into a tense shootout, before finding themselves in a standoff amidst several patients and staff. They offer the group safe passage, but Wong shoots at the group in a bid to kill Alan. Angered, Mad Dog turns on Wong, but finds himself out of ammo. Wong kills Mad Dog while Alan escapes.


title: Hard Boiled

text: Tequila manages to meet up with Alan, and the two are confronted by Wong, who sets off bombs within the building. Alan refuses to escape, choosing to pursue Wong, while Tequila jumps out of the hospital with wire cables as it explodes. Wong drags Alan outside at gunpoint as a hostage and has Tequila humiliate himself. With this distraction, Alan manages to grab Wong's pistol and shoot himself, giving Tequila the opportunity to shoot Wong dead, however Alan collapses from the aftermath.


title: Hard Boiled

text: Alan is revealed to have survived the ordeal. To protect Alan from the triads, Pang and Tequila destroy Alan's personnel file and declare him dead, allowing him to leave Hong Kong to start a new life.


title: Hard Boiled

text: The film was originally developed in 1990. After creating films which focused on the lives of gangsters, director John Woo wanted to make a film that glorified the police instead. Woo admired Clint Eastwood's and Steve McQueen's characters from their films "Dirty Harry" and "Bullitt" respectively, and wanted to make his own Hong Kong-style "Dirty Harry" police detective film. While creating this character, Woo was inspired by a police officer who was a strong-willed and tough member of the police force, as well as being an avid drummer. This led to Woo having Tequila's character be a musician as well as a cop.


title: Hard Boiled

text: Before production started, Woo told his actors that he was not going to make the film as stylish as his previous films, but to have it be more of an "edgy thriller". The role of Teresa Chang was originally made for actress Michelle Yeoh, who had a long relationship with producer Terence Chang. After casting Teresa Mo, the character of Teresa Chang was greatly re-written.


title: Hard Boiled

text: The film's initial story was about Tony Leung's character being a psychopath who would poison baby food. When Terence Chang was making connections to have Woo make films in the United States, Chang found people uninterested and disgusted with the theme of babies being poisoned. This halted production for a month to develop a new story. Screenwriter Barry Wong was brought in to write a new story about Tony Leung's character being an undercover police officer. After writing the first part of the script, Wong went on a vacation outside Hong Kong, where he died leaving the script unfinished.


title: Hard Boiled

text: "Hard Boiled" took 123 days to shoot. Although Woo told his cast that the film would be more gritty and not as stylish as his previous films, "Hard Boiled" became more stylish as the filming began. The tea house sequence in the film was shot before the script was written. The crew found that the tea house was going to be torn down and decided to film a scene there. Woo saw the staircase in the tea house, and thought about a scene where a character would come shooting down gun smugglers while sliding down the banister. The tea house sequence was shot in around a week's time and was choreographed by Woo and Philip Kwok. It was shot with interruptions from many local triads in the area asking for protection money, and residents complaining about the noise.


title: Hard Boiled

text: The script of the film went through several changes during filming. Due to the length of the film, scenes from a side-story involving the relationship between the character Tequila and Teresa Chang were cut. Another cut scene included Tequila playing clarinet over Benny's grave. With these cuts, Chow Yun-fat felt his character was not very deep in comparison to Leung's character of Alan. To develop his character more, Chow asked John Woo to insert a mentor character in the film, which Woo himself would play; Chow felt that having Woo in this role would make Woo not cut out these scenes. Philip Kwok's role of Mad Dog was not in the script and was created on the set. Kwok first worked with Woo on his film "Once a Thief" and was asked to return to work on "Hard Boiled". After reading the script, Woo felt that the character of Johnny Wong was not a strong enough physical threat. After seeing Kwok do several of the stunts while filming, Woo created the character of Mad Dog for him.


title: Hard Boiled

text: The scenes shot at the Hospital maternity ward and the warehouse were shot at a new studio called "The Coca-Cola Factory" which was formerly a Coke bottling plant. The hospital scenes took 40 days to shoot. The hospital segment's location was chosen since they wanted to have an atypical location where gangs would hide their weapons. While filming in the hospital, the windows were covered with blast shields to give the appearance of night time, which allowed the crew to film at any time during the day. Members of the cast and crew stayed in the hospital for days often losing track of the time of day. After long hours of filming in the hospital, the crew became exhausted. This led to having the last scene be one long five-minute scene of action to shorten the time needed to film. To complete this, during the scene when two characters go into an elevator to talk for twenty seconds, the crew changes the scene entirely and sets up the explosions for the scene to continue seamlessly. An accident occurred while filming the hospital sequence. Real glass was used and pieces of it flew toward Tony Leung and got into his eyes. Leung was sent to the hospital and after a week's rest, he returned to the set. Woo changed the ending of "Hard Boiled" after many members of the crew of the film felt that Leung's character should survive at the film's end.


title: Hard Boiled

text: Woo is a fan of jazz music and wanted this style for the soundtrack of "Hard Boiled". Woo had also previously wanted a singer to perform a jazz song and have Chow Yun-fat's character play saxophone in his previous film "The Killer". The producer for "The Killer", Tsui Hark, rejected this idea for "The Killer", feeling that Hong Kong audiences didn't enjoy and understand jazz music. The score heard in "Hard Boiled" was created by jazz musician Michael Gibbs. During promotional screenings, the score for the film was different and was described as "very haunting music". This score could not be used as the production crew could not get the rights to the music. Other songs featured in the film, include "Hello" by Lionel Richie and the traditional song "Mona Lisa". Woo chose these songs specifically for their lyrics to suggest that Tony was a sort of pen pal to Teresa. All the characters in "Hard Boiled" had their voices dubbed by their own actors to save money. Woo stated this was convenient as he did not have to worry about setting up boom mics and other sound elements.


title: Hard Boiled

text: "Hard Boiled" was released on 16 April 1992 in Hong Kong. The film grossed HK$19,711,048 which was not as strong of a box office reception as Woo's previous action films "A Better Tomorrow" or "The Killer". On the film's initial release in Hong Kong it debuted at number 3 in the box office where it was beaten by Tsui Hark's "Once Upon a Time in China 2" and the Stephen Chow film "Fight Back to School II".


title: Hard Boiled

text: The North American premiere of "Hard Boiled" was in September 1992 at the Toronto International Film Festival. At the premiere, the audience response was very positive with people stomping their feet and yelling at the screen. This reception surprised producer Terence Chang who did not expect such a positive reaction. It had a limited US release in June 1993, grossing US$71,858. In France, it was released the same month and sold 85,104 tickets. "Hard Boiled" received a wide release in the United Kingdom on 8 October 1993.


title: Hard Boiled

text: A laserdisc edition of "Hard Boiled" was released by The Criterion Collection in December 1995. A region free DVD of "Hard Boiled" was released by The Criterion Collection on 10 July 1998. A second Region 1 DVD of the film was released by Fox Lorber. Fox Lorber released the film as a stand-alone release and as a double feature with "The Killer" on 3 October 2000. Originally, when Miramax bought the rights to "Hard Boiled", "The Killer", and "Bullet to the Head", they intended to release it in a cut version on video, it was until Woo prevented them from releasing it except Woo prefers his cut of his films to be released. The most recent Region 1 release of "Hard Boiled" was from Dragon Dynasty, who released a two disc DVD of the film on 24 July 2007.


title: Hard Boiled

text: Initial reception to "Hard Boiled" was positive. Vincent Canby of "The New York Times" found it difficult to follow both the action scenes and the subtitles at the same time, but stated that "Mr. Woo does, in fact, seem to be a very brisk, talented director with a gift for the flashy effect and the bizarre confrontation." A review in the "Los Angeles Times" stated that "With "Hard Boiled", John Woo shows himself to be the best director of contemporary action films anywhere."


title: Hard Boiled

text: "The Philadelphia Inquirer" spoke positively about the action scenes, noting the "epic shootouts that bookend Hard-Boiled, John Woo's blood-soaked Hong Kong gangster extravaganza, are wondrously staged, brilliantly photographed tableaux." The "Boston Herald" proclaimed the film as "arguably Woo's masterpiece, it is an action film to end all action films, an experience so deliriously cinematic it makes "True Romance", a film that clearly aspires to it, look like a cheap copy" A review in "Newsday" gave the film three and a half stars, stating that "Mayhem has never looked better than in John Woo's latest high-caliber cops-and-robbers thriller, even if the plot is a bit slippery" and that John Woo "has blasted the action genre onto a whole new level. His shootouts are a ballet; his firebombings are poetry. And while he lets the body count get away from him, he constantly fascinates, through a combination of chaos and an excruciating control over what we're allowed to see."


title: Hard Boiled

text: After the film's initial release, critical reception continues to be positive; the review-aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives it a score of 94%, with an average rating of 7.79 out of 10, based on 35 reviews. The website's "Critic's Consensus" for the film reads, "Boasting impactful action as well as surprising emotional resonance, "Hard Boiled" is a powerful thriller that hits hard in more ways than one." Film scholar Andy Klein wrote that the film is "almost a distillation of [Woo's] post-1986 work. Even if the plot is full of holes, and the emotional tug isn't quite as strong as in "The Killer", the action sequences (nearly the whole movie) are among the greatest ever filmed". Mark Salisbury of "Empire Magazine" gave the film four stars out of five, calling it "Infinitely more exciting than a dozen "Die Hards", action cinema doesn't come any better than this." Salisbury compared "Hard Boiled" to Woo's American films, stating that his Hong Kong films are "not as slick as his later films, ["Hard Boiled" is] more inventive and stylised and [has] great early performances from Fat and Leung". "Empire" placed the film at number 70 in their list of "The 100 Best Films Of World Cinema" in 2010. Ed Gonzalez of "Slant Magazine" gave the film the highest rating of four stars, proclaiming it to be one of Woo's best films. The British film magazine "Empire" ranked the character of Tequila as 33rd in their "The 100 Greatest Movie Characters" poll.


title: Hard Boiled

text: At the 12th Hong Kong Film Awards, David Wu and John Woo won the award for "Best Film Editing". Tony Leung was nominated for "Best Supporting Male Actor", but he refused the nomination on the grounds that he had a leading role in the film. His protest was supported by John Woo and Chow Yun-fat. This later led the Hong Kong Film Awards to change its nomination rules to allow for multiple leading roles from the same film.


title: Hard Boiled

text: In 2007, Midway Games released the game "Stranglehold". The game's story and storyboards were made in collaboration with John Woo. The game features the character Tequila from "Hard Boiled", who is travelling the globe in search of his kidnapped daughter. In 2009 John Woo's production company Lion Rock Entertainment was reported to be developing a film version of the game, to be written by Jeremy Passmore and Andre Fabrizio.


title: Indian philosophy

text: Indian philosophy refers to philosophical traditions of the Indian subcontinent. A traditional Hindu classification divides āstika and nāstika schools of philosophy, depending on one of three alternate criteria: whether it believes the Vedas as a valid source of knowledge; whether the school believes in the premises of Brahman and Atman; and whether the school believes in afterlife and Devas.


title: Indian philosophy

text: There are six major schools of Vedic philosophy—Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Samkhya, Yoga, Mīmāṃsā and Vedanta, and five major heterodox (sramanic) schools—Jain, Buddhist, Ajivika, Ajñana, and Charvaka. However, there are other methods of classification; Vidyaranya for instance identifies sixteen schools of Indian philosophy by including those that belong to the Śaiva and Raseśvara traditions.


title: Indian philosophy

text: The main schools of Indian philosophy were formalised and recognised chiefly between 500 BCE and the late centuries of the Common Era. Competition and integration between the various schools was intense, despite later claims of Hindu unity. Some schools like Jainism, Buddhism, Yoga, Śaiva and Vedanta survived, but others, like Ajñana, Charvaka and Ājīvika did not.


title: Indian philosophy

text: Ancient and medieval era texts of Indian philosophies include extensive discussions on ontology (metaphysics, Brahman-Atman, Sunyata-Anatta), reliable means of knowledge (epistemology, Pramanas), value system (axiology) and other topics.


title: Indian philosophy

text: Indian philosophies share many concepts such as dharma, karma, samsara, dukkha, renunciation, meditation, with almost all of them focusing on the ultimate goal of liberation of the individual from dukkha and samsara through diverse range of spiritual practices (moksha, nirvana). They differ in their assumptions about the nature of existence as well as the specifics of the path to the ultimate liberation, resulting in numerous schools that disagreed with each other. Their ancient doctrines span the diverse range of philosophies found in other ancient cultures.


title: Indian philosophy

text: Many Hindu intellectual traditions were classified during the medieval period of Brahmanic-Sanskritic scholasticism into a standard list of six orthodox (Astika) schools (darshanas), the "Six Philosophies" (""), all of which accept the testimony of the Vedas.


title: Indian philosophy

text: Sometimes these groups are often coupled into three groups for both historical and conceptual reasons: "Nyāya"-"Vaiśeṣika", "Sāṃkhya"-"Yoga", and "Mīmāṃsā"-"Vedānta".


title: Indian philosophy

text: Each tradition included different currents and sub-schools, for example, Vedānta was divided among the sub-schools of Advaita (non-dualism), Visishtadvaita (qualified non-dualism), Dvaita (dualism), Dvaitadvaita (dualistic non-dualism), Suddhadvaita, and Achintya Bheda Abheda (inconceivable oneness and difference).


title: Indian philosophy

text: Besides these schools Mādhava Vidyāraṇya also includes the following of the aforementioned theistic philosophies based on the Agamas and Tantras:


title: Indian philosophy

text: The systems mentioned here are not the only orthodox systems, they are the chief ones, and there are other orthodox schools. These systems, accept the authority of Vedas and are regarded as orthodox (astika) schools of Hindu philosophy; besides these, schools that do not accept the authority of the Vedas are heterodox (nastika) systems such as Buddhism, Jainism, Ajivika and Charvaka. This orthodox-heterodox terminology is a construct of Western languages, and lacks scholarly roots in Sanskrit. According to Andrew Nicholson, there have been various heresiological translations of Āstika and Nāstika in 20th century literature on Indian philosophies, but quite many are unsophisticated and flawed.


title: Indian philosophy

text: Several Śramaṇic movements have existed before the 6th century BCE, and these influenced both the āstika and nāstika traditions of Indian philosophy. The Śramaṇa movement gave rise to diverse range of heterodox beliefs, ranging from accepting or denying the concept of soul, atomism, antinomian ethics, materialism, atheism, agnosticism, fatalism to free will, idealization of extreme asceticism to that of family life, strict ahimsa (non-violence) and vegetarianism to permissibility of violence and meat-eating. Notable philosophies that arose from Śramaṇic movement were Jainism, early Buddhism, Charvaka, Ajñana and Ājīvika.


title: Indian philosophy

text: Ajñana was one of the nāstika or "heterodox" schools of ancient Indian philosophy, and the ancient school of radical Indian skepticism. It was a Śramaṇa movement and a major rival of early Buddhism and Jainism. They have been recorded in Buddhist and Jain texts. They held that it was impossible to obtain knowledge of metaphysical nature or ascertain the truth value of philosophical propositions; and even if knowledge was possible, it was useless and disadvantageous for final salvation. They were sophists who specialised in refutation without propagating any positive doctrine of their own.


title: Indian philosophy

text: Jain philosophy is the oldest Indian philosophy that separates body (matter) from the soul (consciousness) completely. Jainism was revived and re-established after Mahavira, the last and the 24th "Tirthankara", synthesised and revived the philosophies and promulgations of the ancient Śramaṇic traditions laid down by the first Jain tirthankara Rishabhanatha millions of years ago. According to Dundas, outside of the Jain tradition, historians date the Mahavira as about contemporaneous with the Buddha in the 5th-century BCE, and accordingly the historical Parshvanatha, based on the c. 250-year gap, is placed in 8th or 7th century BCE.


title: Indian philosophy

text: Jainism is a Śramaṇic religion and rejected the authority of the Vedas. However, like all Indian religions, it shares the core concepts such as karma, ethical living, rebirth, samsara and moksha. Jainism places strong emphasis on asceticism, ahimsa (non-violence) and anekantavada (relativity of viewpoints) as a means of spiritual liberation, ideas that influenced other Indian traditions.


title: Indian philosophy

text: Jainism strongly upholds the individualistic nature of soul and personal responsibility for one's decisions; and that self-reliance and individual efforts alone are responsible for one's liberation. According to the Jain philosophy, the world ("Saṃsāra") is full of "hiṃsā" (violence). Therefore, one should direct all his efforts in attainment of Ratnatraya, that are Samyak Darshan (right perception), Samyak Gnana (right knowledge) and Samyak Chàritra (right conduct) which are the key requisites to attain liberation.


title: Indian philosophy

text: Buddhist philosophy is a system of thought which started with the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, or "awakened one". Buddhism is founded on elements of the Śramaṇa movement, which flowered in the first half of the 1st millennium BCE, but its foundations contain novel ideas not found or accepted by other Sramana movements. Buddhism and Hinduism mutually influenced each other and shared many concepts, states Paul Williams, however it is now difficult to identify and describe these influences. Buddhism rejected the Vedic concepts of Brahman (ultimate reality) and Atman (soul, self) at the foundation of Hindu philosophies.


title: Indian philosophy

text: Buddhism shares many philosophical views with other Indian systems, such as belief in "karma" – a cause-and-effect relationship, samsara – ideas about cyclic afterlife and rebirth, dharma – ideas about ethics, duties and values, impermanence of all material things and of body, and possibility of spiritual liberation (nirvana or moksha). A major departure from Hindu and Jain philosophy is the Buddhist rejection of an eternal soul ("atman") in favour of "anatta" (non-Self).


title: Indian philosophy

text: After the death of the Buddha, several competing philosophical systems termed "Abhidharma" began to emerge as ways to systematize Buddhist philosophy. The Mahayana movement also arose (c. 1st century BCE onwards) and included new ideas and scriptures.


title: Indian philosophy

text: Many of these philosophies were brought to other regions, like Central Asia and China. After the disappearance of Buddhism from India, some of these philosophical traditions continued to develop in the Tibetan Buddhist, East Asian Buddhist and Theravada Buddhist traditions.


title: Indian philosophy

text: The philosophy of Ājīvika was founded by Makkhali Gosala, it was a Śramaṇa movement and a major rival of early Buddhism and Jainism. Ājīvikas were organised renunciates who formed discrete monastic communities prone to an ascetic and simple lifestyle.


title: Indian philosophy

text: Original scriptures of the Ājīvika school of philosophy may once have existed, but these are currently unavailable and probably lost. Their theories are extracted from mentions of Ajivikas in the secondary sources of ancient Indian literature, particularly those of Jainism and Buddhism which polemically criticized the Ajivikas. The Ājīvika school is known for its "Niyati" doctrine of absolute determinism (fate), the premise that there is no free will, that everything that has happened, is happening and will happen is entirely preordained and a function of cosmic principles. Ājīvika considered the karma doctrine as a fallacy. Ājīvikas were atheists and rejected the authority of the Vedas, but they believed that in every living being is an "ātman" – a central premise of Hinduism and Jainism.


title: Indian philosophy

text: Charvaka (; IAST: Cārvāka), also known as Lokāyata, is an ancient school of Indian materialism. Charvaka holds direct perception, empiricism, and conditional inference as proper sources of knowledge, embraces philosophical skepticism and rejects ritualism and supernaturalism. It was a popular belief system in ancient India.


title: Indian philosophy

text: The etymology of Charvaka (Sanskrit: चार्वाक) is uncertain. Bhattacharya quotes the grammarian Hemacandra, to the effect that the word cārvāka is derived from the root carv, 'to chew' : "A Cārvāka chews the self (carvatyātmānaṃ cārvākaḥ). Hemacandra refers to his own grammatical work, Uṇādisūtra 37, which runs as follows: mavāka-śyāmāka-vārtāka-jyontāka-gūvāka-bhadrākādayaḥ. Each of these words ends with the āka suffix and is formed irregularly". This may also allude to the philosophy's hedonistic precepts of "eat, drink, and be merry".


title: Indian philosophy

text: Brihaspati is traditionally referred to as the founder of Charvaka or Lokāyata philosophy, although some scholars dispute this. During the Hindu reformation period in the first millennium BCE, when Buddhism was established by Gautama Buddha and Jainism was re-organized by Parshvanatha, the Charvaka philosophy was well documented and opposed by both religions. Much of the primary literature of Charvaka, the Barhaspatya sutras, were lost either due to waning popularity or other unknown reasons. Its teachings have been compiled from historic secondary literature such as those found in the shastras, sutras, and the Indian epic poetry as well as in the dialogues of Gautama Buddha and from Jain literature. However, there is text that may belong to the Charvaka tradition, written by the skeptic philosopher Jayarāśi Bhaṭṭa, known as the Tattvôpaplava-siṁha, that provides information about this school, albeit unorthodox.


title: Indian philosophy

text: One of the widely studied principles of Charvaka philosophy was its rejection of inference as a means to establish valid, universal knowledge, and metaphysical truths. In other words, the Charvaka epistemology states that whenever one infers a truth from a set of observations or truths, one must acknowledge doubt; inferred knowledge is conditional.


title: Indian philosophy

text: The Indian traditions subscribed to diverse philosophies, significantly disagreeing with each other as well as orthodox Indian philosophy and its six schools of Hindu philosophy. The differences ranged from a belief that every individual has a soul (self, atman) to asserting that there is no soul, from axiological merit in a frugal ascetic life to that of a hedonistic life, from a belief in rebirth to asserting that there is no rebirth.


title: Indian philosophy

text: The Arthashastra, attributed to the Mauryan minister Chanakya, is one of the early Indian texts devoted to political philosophy. It is dated to 4th century BCE and discusses ideas of statecraft and economic policy.


title: Indian philosophy

text: The political philosophy most closely associated with modern India is the one of ahimsa (non-violence) and Satyagraha, popularised by Mahatma Gandhi during the Indian struggle for independence. In turn it influenced the later independence and Civil Rights movements, especially those led by Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela. Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar's Progressive Utilization Theory is also a major socio-economic and political philosophy.


title: Indian philosophy

text: Integral humanism was a set of concepts drafted by Upadhyaya as political program and adopted in 1965 as the official doctrine of the Jan Sangh.


title: Indian philosophy

text: Upadhyaya considered that it was of utmost importance for India to develop an indigenous economic model with a human being at center stage. This approach made this concept different from Socialism and Capitalism. Integral Humanism was adopted as Jan Sangh's political doctrine and its new openness to other opposition forces made it possible for the Hindu nationalist movement to have an alliance in the early 1970s with the prominent Gandhian Sarvodaya movement going on under the leadership of J. P. Narayan. This was considered to be the first major public breakthrough for the Hindu nationalist movement.


title: Indian philosophy

text: In appreciation of complexity of the Indian philosophy, T. S. Eliot wrote that the great philosophers of India "make most of the great European philosophers look like schoolboys". Arthur Schopenhauer used Indian philosophy to improve upon Kantian thought. In the preface to his book "The World As Will And Representation", Schopenhauer writes that one who "has also received and assimilated the sacred primitive Indian wisdom, then he is the best of all prepared to hear what I have to say to him." The 19th-century American philosophical movement Transcendentalism was also influenced by Indian thought.


title: Pamela Reed

text: Pamela Reed (born April 2, 1949) is an American actress. She is known for playing Arnold Schwarzenegger's hypoglycemic police partner in the 1990 movie "Kindergarten Cop" and as the matriarch Gail Green in "Jericho". She appeared as Marlene Griggs-Knope on the NBC sitcom "Parks and Recreation". She is also well known as the exasperated wife in "Bean".


title: Pamela Reed

text: Reed was born in Tacoma, Washington, the daughter of Vernie and Norma Reed. She received her B.F.A. at the University of Washington.


title: Pamela Reed

text: Reed earned a Drama Desk Award for the off-Broadway play "Getting Out" and an Obie Award for "sustaining excellence in performance in theater". She was a regular in the cast of the 1977 CBS drama "The Andros Targets". She had minor film and television work in the 1980s. She won a CableAce Award for Best Actress for the HBO series "Tanner '88" (1988). She also co-starred with Daryl Hannah in the film "The Clan of the Cave Bear" (1985).


title: Pamela Reed

text: Her notable film roles include "The Long Riders" (1980), "The Right Stuff" (1983), "The Best of Times" (1986), "Kindergarten Cop" (1990), "Junior" (1994), "Bean" (1997), and "Proof of Life" (2001).


title: Pamela Reed

text: Reed played Janice Pasetti in the quirky NBC sitcom "Grand", and then played a judge and single mother in the short-lived NBC sitcom "The Home Court". She has provided the voice for the character Ruth Powers in 4 episodes of the animated TV series "The Simpsons" and guest-voiced in an episode of the 1994-1995 animated series "The Critic". She played a main role in "Jericho" and has appeared as the mother of main character Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) on "Parks and Recreation".


title: Pamela Reed

text: In 2005 Reed portrayed executive producer Esther Shapiro in "", a fictionalized television movie based on the creation and behind the scenes production of the 1980s prime time soap opera "Dynasty".


title: Pamela Reed

text: Reed has been married to Sandy Smolan since 1988. Since 2004, she has resided in the Hancock Park neighborhood of Los Angeles with her husband and two children.


title: Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein

text: Augusta Viktoria of Schleswig-Holstein (Auguste Viktoria Friederike Luise Feodora Jenny; 22 October 1858 – 11 April 1921) was the last German Empress and Queen of Prussia by marriage to Wilhelm II, German Emperor.


title: Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein

text: Augusta Victoria was born at Dolzig Castle, the eldest daughter of Frederick VIII, future Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, and Princess Adelheid of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, a great-niece of Queen Victoria, through Victoria's half-sister Feodora. She grew up at Dolzig until the death of her grandfather, Christian August II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, in 1869. The family then moved to and the estate her father had inherited. She was known within her family as "Dona"


title: Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein

text: On 27 February 1881, Augusta married her second cousin Prince Wilhelm of Prussia. Augusta's maternal grandmother Princess Feodora of Leiningen was the half-sister of Queen Victoria, who was Wilhelm's maternal grandmother.


title: Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein

text: Wilhelm had earlier proposed to his first cousin, Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine (known in the family as "Ella"), a daughter of his mother's own sister, but she declined. He did not react well, and was adamant that he would soon marry another princess.


title: Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein

text: Wilhelm's family was originally against the marriage with Augusta Victoria, whose father was not even a sovereign. However, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck was a strong proponent of the marriage, believing that it would end the dispute between the Prussian government and Augusta's father. In the end, Wilhelm's intransigence, the support of Bismarck, and a determination to move beyond the rejection of his proposal to Ella, led the reluctant imperial family to give official consent.


title: Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein

text: Augusta was known as "Dona" within the family. She had a somewhat lukewarm relationship with her mother-in-law, Victoria, who had hoped that Dona would help to heal the rift between herself and Wilhelm; this was not to be the case. The Empress was also annoyed that the title of head of the Red Cross went to Dona, who had no nursing or charity experience or inclination (though in her memoirs, Princess Viktoria Luise paints a different picture, stating that her mother loved charity work). Augusta often took pleasure in snubbing her mother-in-law, usually small incidents, such as telling her that she would be wearing a different dress than the one Victoria recommended, that she would not be riding to get her figure back after childbirth as Wilhelm had no intention of stopping at one son, and informing her that Augusta's daughter, Viktoria, was not named after her (though, again, in her memoirs, Viktoria Luise states that she was named after both her grandmother and her great-grandmother, Queen Victoria).


title: Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein

text: Augusta and her mother-in-law grew closer for a few years when Wilhelm became emperor, as Augusta was often lonely while he was away on military exercises and turned to her mother-in-law for the companionship of rank, although she never left her children alone with her lest they be influenced by her well-known liberalism. Nevertheless, the two were often seen riding in a carriage together. Augusta was at Victoria's bedside when she died of breast cancer in 1901.


title: Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein

text: Augusta also had less than cordial relationships with some of Wilhelm's sisters, particularly the recently married Crown Princess Sophie of Greece. In 1890, when Sophie announced her intention to convert to Greek Orthodoxy, Dona summoned her and told her that if she did so, not only would Wilhelm find it unacceptable as the head of the Evangelical State Church of Prussia's older Provinces, but she would be barred from Germany and her soul would end up in Hell. Sophie replied that it was her business whether or not she did. Augusta became hysterical and gave birth prematurely to her son, Prince Joachim, as a result of which she was overprotective of him for the rest of his life, believing that he was delicate. Evidently, so did Wilhelm; he wrote to his mother that if the baby died, Sophie would have murdered it.


title: Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein

text: In 1920, the shock of exile and abdication, combined with the breakdown of Joachim's marriage and his subsequent suicide, proved too much for Augusta's health. She died in 1921, in House Doorn at Doorn in the Netherlands. Wilhelm, still reeling over the same losses, was devastated by her death. The Weimar Republic allowed her remains to be transported back to Germany, where they still lie in the Temple of Antiquities, not far from the New Palace, Potsdam. Because he was not permitted to enter Germany, Wilhelm could accompany his wife on her last journey only as far as the German border.


title: Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein

text: The funeral of Augusta Victoria is reflected upon in the novel by Katherine Anne Porter, " Ship of Fools". In it, a German passenger silently reminisces on the funeral and its cinematic showing to a small colony of Germans living abroad in Mexico and describes the outpouring of public grief that was seen within that community. Augusta Victoria's passing is viewed among Germans who lived through the First World War as the ending of a great epoch, the conclusion of which forever divorces them from their maternal country and enshrines Augusta Victoria as a venerable saint and symbol of a Germany long past.


title: Monkey Man (film)

text: Monkey Man is an upcoming American action thriller film written by Paul Angunawela, John Collee, and directed by Dev Patel, who serves as co-writer. The film stars Patel, Sharlto Copley, and Sobhita Dhulipala.


title: Monkey Man (film)

text: A recently released ex-felon living in India struggles to adjust to a world of corporate greed and eroding spiritual values.


title: Monkey Man (film)

text: On October 29, 2018, it was reported that Dev Patel would make his directorial debut with an action thriller film titled "Monkey Man". On March 12, 2021, it was announced that filming was completed and Netflix had bought worldwide rights to the film, described as ""John Wick" in Mumbai."


title: Monkey Man (film)

text: The film features fight choreography by Brahim Chab, an action actor and choreographer who has worked with Jackie Chan on the films Dragonblade and Vanguard, Scott Adkins on Ninja: Shadow of a Tear, Boyka:Undisputed and Abduction, Donnie Yen on Big Brother, Jean-Claude Van Damme on The Eagle Path and Pound of Flesh, and most recently Nicholas Tse on Customs Frontline.


title: Raster graphics

text: In computer graphics and digital photography, a raster graphic represents a two-dimensional picture as a rectangular matrix or grid of square pixels, viewable via a computer display, paper, or other display medium. A raster is technically characterized by the width and height of the image in pixels and by the number of bits per pixel. Raster images are stored in image files with varying dissemination, production, generation, and acquisition formats.


title: Raster graphics

text: The printing and prepress industries know raster graphics as contones (from "continuous tones"). In contrast, line art is usually implemented as vector graphics in digital systems.


title: Raster graphics

text: Many raster manipulations map directly onto the mathematical formalisms of linear algebra, where mathematical objects of matrix structure are of central concern.


title: Raster graphics

text: The word "raster" has its origins in the Latin "rastrum" (a rake), which is derived from "radere" (to scrape). It originates from the raster scan of cathode ray tube (CRT) video monitors, which paint the image line by line by magnetically or electrostatically steering a focused electron beam. By association, it can also refer to a rectangular grid of pixels. The word rastrum is now used to refer to a device for drawing musical staff lines.


title: Raster graphics

text: The fundamental strategy underlying the raster model is the tessellation of a plane, into a two-dimensional array of squares, each called a "cell" or "pixel" (from "picture element"). In digital photography, the plane is the visual field as projected onto the image sensor; in computer art, the plane is a virtual canvas; in geographic information systems, the plane is a projection of the Earth's surface. The size of each square pixel, known as the "resolution" or "support", is constant across the grid.


title: Raster graphics

text: A single numeric value is then stored for each pixel. For most images, this value is a visible color, but other measurements are possible, even numeric codes for qualitative categories. Each raster grid has a specified "pixel format", the data type for each number. Common pixel formats are binary, gray-scale, palettized, and full-color, where color depth determines the fidelity of the colors represented, and color space determines the range of color coverage (which is often less than the full range of human color vision). Most modern color raster formats represent color using 24 bits (over 16 million distinct colors), with 8 bits (values 0–255) for each color channel (red, green, and blue). The digital sensors used for remote sensing and astronomy are often able to detect and store wavelengths beyond the visible spectrum; the large CCD bitmapped sensor at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory captures 3.2 gigapixels in a single image (6.4 GB raw), over six color channels which exceed the spectral range of human color vision.


title: Raster graphics

text: Most computer images are stored in raster graphics formats or compressed variations, including GIF, JPEG, and PNG, which are popular on the World Wide Web. A raster data structure is based on a (usually rectangular, square-based) tessellation of the 2D plane into cells, each containing a single value. To store the data in a file, the two-dimensional array must be serialized. The most common way to do this is a "row-major" format, in which the cells along the first (usually top) row are listed left to right, followed immediately by those of the second row, and so on.


title: Raster graphics

text: In the example at right, the cells of tessellation A are overlaid on the point pattern B resulting in an array C of quadrant counts representing the number of points in each cell. For purposes of visualization a lookup table has been used to color each of the cells in an image D. Here are the numbers as a serial row-major array:


title: Raster graphics

text: 1 3 0 0 1 12 8 0 1 4 3 3 0 2 0 2 1 7 4 1 5 4 2 2 0 3 1 2 2 2 2 3 0 5 1 9 3 3 3 4 5 0 8 0 2 4 3 2 8 4 3 2 2 7 2 3 2 10 1 5 2 1 3 7


title: Raster graphics

text: To reconstruct the two-dimensional grid, the file must include a "header" section at the beginning that contains at least the number of columns, and the pixel datatype (especially the number of bits or bytes per value) so the reader knows where each value ends to start reading the next one. Headers may also include the number of rows, georeferencing parameters for geographic data, or other metadata tags, such as those specified in the Exif standard.


title: Raster graphics

text: High-resolution raster grids contain a large number of pixels, and thus consume a large amount of memory. This has led to multiple approaches to compressing the data volume into smaller files. The most common strategy is to look for patterns or trends in the pixel values, then store a parameterized form of the pattern instead of the original data. Common raster compression algorithms include run-length encoding (RLE), JPEG, LZ (the basis for PNG and ZIP), LZW (the basis for GIF), and others.


title: Raster graphics

text: For example, Run length encoding looks for repeated values in the array, and replaces them with the value and the number of times it appears. Thus, the raster above would be represented as:


title: Raster graphics

text: This technique is very efficient when there are large areas of identical values, such as a line drawing, but in a photograph where pixels are usually slightly different from their neighbors, the RLE file would be up to twice the size of the original.


title: Raster graphics

text: Some compression algorithms, such as RLE and LZW, are "lossless", where the original pixel values can be perfectly regenerated from the compressed data. Other algorithms, such as JPEG, are "lossy", because the parameterized patterns are only an approximation of the original pixel values, so the latter can only be estimated from the compressed data.


title: Raster graphics

text: Vector images (line work) can be rasterized (converted into pixels), and raster images vectorized (raster images converted into vector graphics), by software. In both cases some information is lost, although certain vectorization operations can recreate salient information, as in the case of optical character recognition.


title: Raster graphics

text: Early mechanical televisions developed in the 1920s employed rasterization principles. Electronic television based on cathode-ray tube displays are raster scanned with horizontal rasters painted left to right, and the raster lines painted top to bottom.


title: Raster graphics

text: Modern flat-panel displays such as LED monitors still use a raster approach. Each on-screen pixel directly corresponds to a small number of bits in memory. The screen is refreshed simply by scanning through pixels and coloring them according to each set of bits. The refresh procedure, being speed critical, is often implemented by dedicated circuitry, often as a part of a graphics processing unit.


title: Raster graphics

text: Using this approach, the computer contains an area of memory that holds all the data that are to be displayed. The central processor writes data into this region of memory and the video controller collects them from there. The bits of data stored in this block of memory are related to the eventual pattern of pixels that will be used to construct an image on the display.


title: Raster graphics

text: An early scanned display with raster computer graphics was invented in the late 1960s by A. Michael Noll at Bell Labs, but its patent application filed February 5, 1970 was abandoned at the Supreme Court in 1977 over the issue of the patentability of computer software.


title: Raster graphics

text: During the 1970s and 1980s, pen plotters, using Vector graphics, were common for creating precise drawings, especially on large format paper. However, since then almost all printers create the printed image as a raster grid, including both laser and inkjet printers. When the source information is vector, rendering specifications and software such as PostScript are used to create the raster image.


title: Raster graphics

text: Three-dimensional voxel raster graphics are employed in video games and are also used in medical imaging such as MRI scanners.


title: Raster graphics

text: Geographic phenomena are commonly represented in a raster format in GIS. The raster grid is "georeferenced", so that each pixel (commonly called a "cell" in GIS because the "picture" part of "pixel" is not relevant) represents a square region of geographic space. The value of each cell then represents some measurable (qualitative or quantitative) property of that region, typically conceptualized as a field. Examples of fields commonly represented in rasters include: temperature, population density, soil moisture, land cover, surface elevation, etc. Two sampling models are used do derive cell values from the field: in a "lattice", the value is measured at the center point of each cell; in a "grid", the value is a summary (usually a mean or mode) of the value over the entire cell.


title: Raster graphics

text: Raster graphics are resolution dependent, meaning they cannot scale up to an arbitrary resolution without loss of apparent quality. This property contrasts with the capabilities of vector graphics, which easily scale up to the quality of the device rendering them. Raster graphics deal more practically than vector graphics with photographs and photo-realistic images, while vector graphics often serve better for typesetting or for graphic design. Modern computer-monitors typically display about 72 to 130 pixels per inch (PPI), and some modern consumer printers can resolve 2400 dots per inch (DPI) or more; determining the most appropriate image resolution for a given printer-resolution can pose difficulties, since printed output may have a greater level of detail than a viewer can discern on a monitor. Typically, a resolution of 150 to 300 PPI works well for 4-color process (CMYK) printing.


title: Raster graphics

text: However, for printing technologies that perform color mixing through dithering (halftone) rather than through overprinting (virtually all home/office inkjet and laser printers), printer DPI and image PPI have a very different meaning, and this can be misleading. Because, through the dithering process, the printer builds a single image pixel out of several printer dots to increase color depth, the printer's DPI setting must be set far higher than the desired PPI to ensure sufficient color depth without sacrificing image resolution. Thus, for instance, printing an image at 250 PPI may actually require a printer setting of 1200 DPI.


title: Raster graphics

text: Raster-based image editors, such as PaintShop Pro, Corel Painter, Adobe Photoshop, Paint.NET, Microsoft Paint, and GIMP, revolve around editing pixels, unlike vector-based image editors, such as Xfig, CorelDRAW, Adobe Illustrator, or Inkscape, which revolve around editing lines and shapes (vectors). When an image is rendered in a raster-based image editor, the image is composed of millions of pixels. At its core, a raster image editor works by manipulating each individual pixel. Most pixel-based image editors work using the RGB color model, but some also allow the use of other color models such as the CMYK color model.


title: Axial skeleton

text: The axial skeleton is the part of the skeleton that consists of the bones of the head and trunk of a vertebrate. In the human skeleton, it consists of 80 bones and is composed of six parts; the skull (22 bones), also the ossicles of the middle ear, the hyoid bone, the rib cage, sternum and the vertebral column. The axial skeleton together with the appendicular skeleton form the complete skeleton. Another definition of axial skeleton is the bones including the vertebrae, sacrum, coccyx, skull, ribs, and sternum.


title: Axial skeleton

text: Flat bones house the brain and other vital organs. This article mainly deals with the axial skeletons of humans; however, it is important to understand the evolutionary lineage of the axial skeleton. The human axial skeleton consists of 81 different bones. It is the medial core of the body and connects the pelvis to the body, where the appendix skeleton attaches. As the skeleton grows older the bones get weaker with the exception of the skull. The skull remains strong to protect the brain from injury.


title: Axial skeleton

text: The human skull consists of the cranium and the facial bones. The cranium holds and protects the brain in a large space called the cranial vault. The cranium is formed from eight plate-shaped bones which fit together at meeting points (joints) called sutures. In addition there are 14 facial bones which form the lower front part of the skull. Together the 22 bones that compose the skull form additional, smaller spaces besides the cranial vault, such as the cavities for the eyes, the internal ear, the nose, and the mouth. The most important facial bones include the jaw or mandible, the upper jaw or maxilla, the zygomatic or cheek bone, and the nasal bone.


title: Axial skeleton

text: Humans are born with separate plates which later fuse to allow flexibility as the skull passes through the pelvis and birth canal during birth. During development the eight separate plates of the immature bones fuse into one single structure known as the Skull. The only bone that remains separate from the rest of the skull is the mandible.<ref name="Inner Body/Skull"></ref>


title: Axial skeleton

text: The rib cages are composed of 12 pairs of ribs plus the sternum for a total of 25 separate bones. The rib cage functions as protection for the vital organs such as the heart and lungs. The ribs are shaped like crescents, with one end flattened and the other end rounded. The rounded ends are attached at joints to the thoracic vertebrae at the back and the flattened ends come together at the sternum, in the front.<ref name="Postcranial Skeletal/Ribs"></ref>


title: Axial skeleton

text: The upper seven pairs of ribs attach to the sternum with costal cartilage and are known as “true ribs.” The 8th through 10th ribs have non-costal cartilage which connects them to the ribs above, and for this they are known as "false ribs". The last two ribs are called “floating ribs” because they do not attach to the sternum or to other ribs and simply “hang free.” The length of each rib increases from number one to seven and then decreases until rib pair number 12. The first rib is the shortest, broadest, flattest, and most curved.<ref name="Human Body Maps/Ribs"></ref>


title: Axial skeleton

text: At birth the majority of humans have 33 separate vertebrae. However, during normal development several vertebrae fuse, leaving a total of 24, in most cases. The confusion about whether or not there are 32-34 vertebrae stems from the fact that the two lowest vertebrae, the sacrum and the coccyx, are single bones made up of several smaller bones which have fused together. This is how the vertebrae are counted: 24 separate vertebrae and the sacrum, formed from 5 fused vertebrae, and the coccyx, formed from 3-5 fused vertebrae. If you count the coccyx and sacrum each as one vertebra, then there are 26 vertebrae. If the fused vertebrae are all counted separately, then the total number of vertebrae comes to between 32 and 34 (due to the number making up the coccyx varying between 3 and 5).


title: Axial skeleton

text: The vertebral column consists of 5 parts. The most cranial (uppermost) part is made up by the cervical vertebrae (7), followed by thoracic vertebrae (12), lumbar (5), sacral (5) and coccygeal vertebrae (3-5).


title: Axial skeleton

text: Cervical vertebrae make up the junction between the vertebral column and the cranium. Sacral and coccygeal vertebrae are fused and thus often called "sacral bone" or "coccygeal bone" as unit. The sacral bone makes up the junction between the vertebral column and the pelvic bones.


title: Axial skeleton

text: The word "axial" is taken from the word "axis" and refers to the fact that the bones are located close to or along the central "axis" of the body. The term axis means the central point around which the other structures are distributed.


title: Rangeela (1995 film)

text: Rangeela () is a 1995 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy film written, directed and produced by Ram Gopal Varma. It stars Urmila Matondkar, Aamir Khan, and Jackie Shroff. The film was A. R. Rahman's debut Hindi film with an original score and soundtrack, as his previous Hindi releases were dubbed versions of his Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films.


title: Rangeela (1995 film)

text: "Rangeela" released on 8 September 1995, and proved to be a major box office success. The film received critical acclaim upon release, with particular praise directed towards the film's soundtrack and Matondkar's performance, thus proving to be a breakthrough for her. It was screened at the mainstream section of the International Film Festival of India.


title: Rangeela (1995 film)

text: At the 41st Filmfare Awards, "Rangeela" received a leading 14 nominations, Best Film, Best Director (Varma), Best Actor (Khan) and Best Actress (Matondkar), and won 7 awards, including Best Supporting Actor (Shroff), Best Music Director (Rahman) and Special Jury Award (Asha Bhosle for "Tanha Tanha").


title: Rangeela (1995 film)

text: A street-toughened orphan by the name of Munna (Aamir Khan) is befriended by some kind folks, whose effervescent daughter Mili (Urmila Matondkar) soon grows to be his best buddy. Both gravitate toward the Mumbai movie industry. While Mili finds occupation as a movie extra, Munna earns his livelihood selling movie tickets in the black market.


title: Rangeela (1995 film)

text: Mili has ambitions of becoming an actress. Fortune glances her way when she dances her way into a movie star's attention. This actor, Raj Kamal (Jackie Shroff), arranges for her to be auditioned for the heroine's role in his upcoming film called "Rangeela". Mili's shortcomings amount to distractions, but thanks in no small way to Munna and Raj, she lands the role.


title: Rangeela (1995 film)

text: Raj and Munna both fall for Mili, but Mili is too busy making the movie to notice any of this. She starts spending a lot of time with Raj during the filming. Munna tries many times to tell Mili that he loves her, but he is unable to, or Raj gets in the way. Eventually, feeling inferior, Munna decides to leave Mili to Raj, who can give her a better life than he can. The matter is not resolved though, as Mili hears of this on the film's opening night. She asks Raj to help her find Munna, which he does after realizing that Mili seems to love Munna and not him.


title: Rangeela (1995 film)

text: "Rangeela" opened to critical acclaim and was declared a “superhit” at the box office, grossing 334 million. It was also the fourth biggest grosser of 1995. Urmila Matondkar became an overnight sensation and a superstar. Her fame and star status were bolstered by hits like "Tanha Tanha" and "Rangeela Re". The costume designer of the film Manish Malhotra also received instant fame. The film proved to be a turning point for Khan's career, whose chemistry with Urmila was also appreciated. The choreography of "Rangeela" also deserves a special mention. The amazing dance sequences led by choreographers Ahmed Khan and Saroj Khan were considered classic and appealing. "Rangeela"'s music was also highly successful that helped the film to achieve victory at the box office. The lead actor, Aamir Khan stopped attending award shows after this film after he lost the Best Actor award to Shah Rukh Khan who won the "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge".


title: Rangeela (1995 film)

text: Ram Gopal Varma once loved a woman named Satya Polavarapu, who he claims did not love him back since she preferred a wealthier, better looking man; this inspired him to write "Rangeela".


title: Rangeela (1995 film)

text: The soundtrack featured 7 songs composed by A. R. Rahman with lyrics penned by Mehboob and an instrumental theme song. The audio was released in September 1995 by Rahman's mother Kareema. It is listed in almost all lists of best Bollywood soundtracks.


title: Rangeela (1995 film)

text: The soundtrack fetched Rahman two filmfare awards, Filmfare Award for Best Music Director and Filmfare R. D. Burman Award for New Music Talent. Mehboob got two nominations for Filmfare Award for Best Lyricist, for the tracks "Kya Kare" and "Tanha Tanha". Swarnalatha, Shweta Shetty and Kavita Krishnamurthy were nominated for Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer for their respective tracks.


title: Rangeela (1995 film)

text: Asha Bhosle received the Filmfare Special Award that year for her rendition of the song "Tanha Tanha".


title: Rangeela (1995 film)

text: The song "Yaaro Sun Lo Zara" was originally composed for a Telugu film "Super Police" (1994) as "Baabu Love Cheyyara". The soundtrack was also released in Tamil, with title "Rangeela" itself and lyrics penned by Vairamuthu. However, the reused track "Yaaro Sun Lo Zara" was not included in the Tamil version. The soundtrack rights are now acquired by Tips Music Company.


title: Rangeela (1995 film)

text: Despite the film's huge success, It was still regarded as a film ahead of its time as the films made during the early 1990s had dated plots and storylines. Shekhar Kapur called it 'The film of the 21st Century with great music and visuals' at the screening of the film. The look and presentation of Urmila Matondkar in the film became the talk of the town as it re-invented the image of the Bollywood Heroine. Aamir Khan played an unusual character of a Mumbaiya Tapori in the early stages of his career and that proved to be the milestone for him. A. R. Rahman's music of the film became such a rage that it topped the charts for almost a decade. The songs still remain popular as they have a fresh feel. The film established careers of so many technicians and the people who worked behind the camera.


title: Niko Kovač

text: Niko Kovač (; born 15 October 1971) is a Croatian professional football coach and former player. He is currently the manager of Bundesliga club VFL Wolfsburg.


title: Niko Kovač

text: Kovač was the long-standing captain of the Croatia national team until his retirement from international football in January 2009. A defensive midfielder who was known for his excellent passing and tackling skills, Kovač was, at the time of his retirement, the oldest player in the Croatian squad and had captained them at the 2006 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2008. He has also enjoyed a high level of top club action, having spent most of his club career in the German Bundesliga, including spells with Hertha BSC, Bayer Leverkusen, Hamburger SV and Bayern Munich.


title: Niko Kovač

text: He ended his playing career with Austrian club Red Bull Salzburg, where he then took the non-playing role of the reserve team coach and eventually became assistant manager under team manager Ricardo Moniz. In January 2013, Kovač took over the Croatia national under-21 team and in October 2013 he took over the Croatia senior team following the dismissal of Igor Štimac. Kovač managed Croatia at the 2014 FIFA World Cup, then became head coach of Eintracht Frankfurt in 2016, winning the 2018 DFB-Pokal Final with the club. At Bayern, Kovač won the domestic double in 2019 after a strong ending to the season, but lost his job later in autumn. In the summer of 2020, Kovač was appointed manager of Monaco, but was sacked on 1 January 2022.


title: Niko Kovač

text: Kovač started training football as an eight-year old with Rapide Wedding in Berlin. After that he joined Hertha Zehlendorf and soon became a member of the first team. He moved to Hertha BSC in 1991 and started his professional career with the club that competed in the 2. Bundesliga at the time.


title: Niko Kovač

text: During his youth, Kovač in parallel with football practised judo, earning the blue belt. After finishing high school (gymnasium) he continued his education at Free University of Berlin. He pursued a degree in business studies while playing for Hertha BSC. After eight semesters, he left university when he secured a contract with Bayer Leverkusen.


title: Niko Kovač

text: In the summer of 1996, Kovač left Hertha, still a 2. Bundesliga side at the time, for Bundesliga side Bayer Leverkusen. He made his Bundesliga debut on 17 August 1996, appearing as a half-time substitute in the club's opening match of the 1996–97 season, a 4–2 home victory over Borussia Dortmund. He appeared in 32 Bundesliga matches in his first season with Leverkusen, also scoring three goals. However, he mostly played as a substitute in the following two seasons and missed several matches in the 1997–98 season after sustaining an injury in the club's home match against VfB Stuttgart in December 1997. In three seasons with Bayer Leverkusen, Kovač made 77 Bundesliga appearances and scored eight goals in league competition. At the club, he was teammates with his younger brother Robert for the first time in his professional career.


title: Niko Kovač

text: Kovač joined Hamburger SV in the summer of 1999 and spent two seasons with the club, making 55 Bundesliga appearances and scoring 12 goals in the Bundesliga.


title: Niko Kovač

text: In July 2001, Kovač signed for then Bundesliga and UEFA Champions League winners, Bayern Munich. Kovač joined the club along with his brother, Robert. However, Kovač did not manage to establish himself as a regular at the club and left Bayern for a second stint with Hertha BSC after two seasons in the summer of 2003. He appeared in 34 Bundesliga matches and scored three goals for Bayern in the league.


title: Niko Kovač

text: Kovač then signed for Hertha again. He made 75 Bundesliga appearances for the club and scored eight goals in the league.


title: Niko Kovač

text: After the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Kovač left Hertha after three seasons for Austrian Bundesliga side Red Bull Salzburg. He was a regular in the Salzburg team and also appeared in all of their four UEFA Champions League qualifiers in the summer of 2006. On 26 August 2006, he scored his first goal for Red Bull Salzburg in the Bundesliga, netting the second goal in their 4–0 home victory over Wacker Tirol. He signed one more year until summer 2009 in May 2008. On 29 May 2009, Kovač left after three years with Red Bull and retired from professional football. He played his last match for Red Bull in a friendly against former club Bayern Munich; he was substituted off after the first 15 minutes.


title: Niko Kovač

text: Kovač made his senior international debut in Croatia's friendly match against Morocco on 11 December 1996 in Casablanca. He subsequently also appeared in three qualifying matches for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, but missed the finals in France because he did not fully recover from injury until the beginning of the preparations for the tournament. He was subsequently not part of the national team for two years before making his comeback in a friendly match against France in November 1999.


title: Niko Kovač

text: At international level, Kovač played for Croatia in five qualifying matches for the 2002 World Cup and scored one goal in Croatia's 4–0 victory away against San Marino. At the final tournament, he appeared as a starting player in all three group matches before Croatia was eliminated from the tournament with a third-place finish in their group. He was also a regular in UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying, making seven appearances and scoring two goals in away matches, the 1–0 winner against Estonia and the opening goal in the team's 3–0 victory over Andorra. He also played the entire three group matches played by the Croatian team at the final Euro 2004 tournament in Portugal and scored the opening goal in the final group match against England. However, Croatia lost the match 4–2 and was once again eliminated from the tournament as the third-placed nation in its group.


title: Niko Kovač

text: After Euro 2004, Kovač became the Croatia national team's captain and led the team through the qualifying campaign for the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals in Germany. He appeared in nine of ten qualifying matches and scored two goals, both in Croatia's 4–0 victory over Iceland at home in Zagreb. At the final tournament, he appeared in all three of Croatia's group matches, despite sustaining an injury which forced him to leave the pitch after 40 minutes of the team's opening match against Brazil. Kovač scored the goal that put Croatia 2–1 up in the final group match against Australia. However, the match ended in a 2–2 draw and Croatia was eliminated by virtue of finishing third in the group. This was the third consecutive time this had happened in a major tournament.


title: Niko Kovač

text: Euro 2008 was a bittersweet campaign for captain Kovač. His sterling performances against Germany and Turkey ultimately unrewarded in what could prove to be his last major tournament. Against Germany, he was peerless, producing a man of the match display alongside Luka Modrić whilst against Turkey, he reduced his opponents to pot shots from distance as they rarely broke through his screening protection of the back four. Before and after that game, Kovač reiterated his intention to retire from international football at the end of Euro 2008, however, after conversation with Slaven Bilić, it would seem he feels there is "unfinished business" to take care of.


title: Niko Kovač

text: Kovač finally announced his international retirement on 7 January 2009, stating a desire that younger players should be given experience in the Croatia side.


title: Niko Kovač

text: After his retirement from professional football, Kovač became coach of the second squad of FC Red Bull Salzburg, Red Bull Juniors, from 16 June 2009 to 7 April 2011.<ref name="RB Salzburg (A)/FC Anif » Manager history"></ref> In the 2009–10 season, he finished in sixth place and were knocked out in the Austrian Cup in the second round in a shootout. He was with the second team until 7 April 2011. His final match was a 1–1 draw against SV Seekirchen. In 2011, he was promoted to being assistant coach of the first squad together with Ricardo Moniz as head coach. After Moniz resigned as a first-team coach in June 2012, Kovač was one of the favourites for taking his position. However, the position went to Roger Schmidt and Kovač subsequently left Salzburg.


title: Niko Kovač

text: On 21 January 2013, Igor Štimac, head coach of the Croatia national team, announced that Kovač, alongside his brother Robert as assistant coach, would take over as the under-21 team head coach. His task was to qualify for the 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship. Croatia were drawn in Group 5 of the qualifying competition, together with Switzerland, Ukraine, Latvia and Liechtenstein. In the first four games Croatia got the maximum of 12 points with a goal difference of 13–0. He debuted with a 5–0 away win against Liechtenstein, before he brought two away wins against the group favourites Ukraine and Switzerland.


title: Niko Kovač

text: On 16 October 2013, Davor Šuker, president of the Croatian Football Federation (HNS), announced that Niko Kovač would take over as caretaker manager of the Croatia senior team. He replaced Štimac, who was sacked after Croatia scraped into the World Cup play-offs having taken only one point from their last four qualifiers. However, one day later, in an inaugural press conference, Šuker stated HNS signed a two-year contract with Kovač and his staff including his brother Robert Kovač, Vatroslav Mihačić and Goran Lacković, until the end of Croatia's UEFA Euro 2016 campaign. His first two matches for Croatia were in the World Cup play-offs against Iceland. Croatia managed to qualify for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil after winning the play-off tie against Iceland 2–0 on aggregate. At the World Cup, Croatia won 4–0 against Cameroon and lost 3–1 against Brazil and Mexico. Croatia did not qualify from their group. On 9 September 2015, HNS terminated Kovač's contract after Croatia lost 2–0 to Norway in the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying.


title: Niko Kovač

text: Kovač was appointed as head coach of Eintracht Frankfurt on 8 March 2016. He made his managerial debut for Frankfurt in a 3–0 loss to Borussia Mönchengladbach. The club was only able to finish the season in 16th place, requiring them to play in the relegation play-offs against 1. FC Nürnberg. After drawing the first leg 1–1 at home, Kovač ensured Eintracht's survival in the Bundesliga after Haris Seferovic's goal won the second leg 1–0. Kovač received a Fair Play Prize from the DOSB for his gesture of comforting Nürnberg's players after their defeat.


title: Niko Kovač

text: In the 2016–17 season, Frankfurt managed to finish mid-table in 11th position, as well as notably reaching the 2017 DFB-Pokal Final, club's first final since 2006, where Frankfurt lost 1–2 against Borussia Dortmund. In the 2017–18 season, Frankfurt competed for a place in European competition for the following season. Kovač has typically used a 3–4–2–1 formation with emphasis on defensive stability and wing play. He took Frankfurt to the 2018 DFB-Pokal Final, the second in succession for the club, where he beat his future employer, Bayern Munich. With that win, Kovač led Frankfurt to its first trophy since 1988. He finished with a record of 38 wins, 20 draws, and 33 losses in 91 matches. Adi Hütter became his successor.


title: Niko Kovač

text: On 13 April 2018, Bayern Munich announced that Kovač would succeed Jupp Heynckes as manager of the club for the 2018–19 season, with a three-year contract lasting until 30 June 2021. Kovač's brother, Robert, would follow him to Munich to be his assistant coach. Kovač had a contract with Frankfurt until 30 June 2018 and Bayern had to pay a release clause in his contract reported to be around €2.2 million. Kovač is just the fourth former player to manage Bayern Munich after Søren Lerby, Franz Beckenbauer and Jürgen Klinsmann. Kovač was the third Croatian to manage Bayern after Zlatko Čajkovski and Branko Zebec. Kovač officially took over on 1 July 2018 and was presented as the new manager of Bayern Munich on 2 July 2018.


title: Niko Kovač

text: On 12 August, Kovač won his first match as manager of Bayern 5–0 in the German Super Cup against his former club, Eintracht Frankfurt. He won his first Bundesliga game in charge as Bayern defeated 1899 Hoffenheim 3–1 at home on 25 August. On 19 May 2019, he led Bayern to their seventh consecutive Bundesliga title after a 5–1 home win against his former club, Eintracht Frankfurt, beating nearest rivals Borussia Dortmund by two points. This was Kovač's first Bundesliga title as a coach.


title: Niko Kovač

text: On 25 May 2019, Kovač led Bayern to a league and cup double when Bayern defeated RB Leipzig 3–0 in the 2019 DFB-Pokal Final. It was Kovač's second consecutive cup win as he became the first coach since Felix Magath in 2005 and 2006 to win back-to-back cup titles. Kovač also became the first person to win a league and cup double both as a player and coach in German football. On 1 October, Bayern defeated Tottenham Hotspur 7–2 in the Champions League, with Serge Gnabry scoring four goals. It was Bayern's second highest victory in European competitions, only behind their 7–1 victory over Roma in October 2014. On 3 November, Kovač left by mutual agreement after a 5–1 loss to his former club, Eintracht Frankfurt.


title: Niko Kovač

text: On 19 July 2020, Kovač was appointed as head coach at Ligue 1 club Monaco. In his first game as Monaco coach on 23 August, Kovač secured a 2–2 draw after being two goals down against Reims. On 20 November, Monaco beat French champions and Champions League finalists Paris Saint-Germain 3–2 after falling behind 0–2. On 21 February 2021, he defeated Paris Saint-Germain once again, this time 2–0. It was the first time since March 2016 that Monaco won at Parc des Princes. Kovač was subsequently widely praised by French sports media. On 19 May, Monaco lost 2–0 to Paris Saint-Germain in the Coupe de France Final. On 1 January 2022, Monaco announced the departure of Kovač.


title: Niko Kovač

text: VfL Wolfsburg announced the appointment of Kovač on 24 May 2022 marking his return to the Bundesliga after three years.


title: Niko Kovač

text: Kovač was born on 15 October 1971 in Berlin-Wedding, West Berlin, to a Bosnian Croat family hailing from Livno, Bosnia and Herzegovina. His parents Mato and Ivka emigrated from SFR Yugoslavia in 1970. He has two younger siblings, brother Robert and sister Nikolina. Kovač is also a German national and therefore he was eligible to represent Germany, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina at international level. He opted for Croatia.


title: Niko Kovač

text: Kovač married his primary school sweetheart in 1999. They have a daughter named Laura. Kovač is a Roman Catholic. He generally lives a quiet family life, and considers a family of great value and tries to convey that to his players.


title: Niko Kovač

text: In 2007, Kovač appeared in Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ)'s campaign video for that year's parliamentary election. The video focuses on Croatian diaspora's right to vote despite not living in the country, and depicts Kovač talking about his connection with his homeland. One of the lines from the video, "" ("My brother Robert, as well"), entered Croatian popular culture and is frequently quoted by the people and the media in the country when referring to the brothers.


title: German cuisine

text: The cuisine of Germany () is made up of many different local or regional cuisines, reflecting the country's federal history. Germany itself is part of the larger cultural region of Central Europe, sharing many culinary traditions with neighbouring countries such as Poland and the Czech Republic. Southern regions, like Bavaria and Swabia, share dishes with Austrian cuisine and parts of Swiss cuisine.


title: German cuisine

text: The Michelin Guide of 2015 awarded a three-star ranking (the highest designation) to 11 restaurants in Germany, while 38 more received two-star rankings and 233 one-star rankings. , Germany had the fourth-highest number of Michelin three-star restaurants in the world, after Japan, France, and the United States.


title: German cuisine

text: The average annual meat consumption is per person. The most common varieties are pork, poultry and beef. Other varieties of meat are widely available, but are considered to be insignificant.


title: German cuisine

text: Meat is usually braised; fried dishes also exist, but these recipes usually originate from France and Austria. Several cooking methods used to soften tough cuts have evolved into national specialties, including "Sauerbraten" (sour roast), involving marinating beef, horse meat or venison in a vinegar or wine vinegar mixture over several days.


title: German cuisine

text: A long tradition of sausage-making exists in Germany; more than 1,500 different types of sausage () are made. Most "Wurst" is made with natural casings of pork, sheep or lamb intestines. Among the most popular and most common are "Bratwurst", usually made of ground pork and spices, the "Wiener" (Viennese), which may be pork or beef and is smoked and fully cooked in a water bath, and "Blutwurst" (blood sausage) or "Schwarzwurst" (black sausage) made from blood (often of pigs or geese). Thousands of types of cold cuts also are available which are also called "Wurst" in German. There are many regional specialties, such as the "Münchner Weißwurst" (Munich white sausage) popular in Bavaria or the "Currywurst" (depending on region, either a steamed pork sausage or a version of the "Bratwurst", sliced and spiced with curry ketchup) popular in the metropolitan areas of Berlin, Hamburg and the Ruhr Area. Strict regulations governing what may and may not be put into them have been in force in Germany since the 13th century. In the market ordinance of Landshut in 1236, it was set down that only top-quality meat could be made into sausages. Döner kebab sales reach more than 3.5 billion euros each year, making it one of the most popular fast food items in the country.


title: German cuisine

text: Of saltwater fish, Alaska pollock is the most common. Popular freshwater fish on the German menu are trout, pike, carp, and European perch also are listed frequently. Seafood traditionally was restricted to the northern coastal areas, except for pickled herring, which was often served in a Fischbrötchen, as "Rollmops" (a pickled herring fillet rolled into a cylindrical shape around a piece of pickled gherkin or onion), or "Brathering" (fried, marinated herring).