title: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy

text: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy were to make their debut as composers in Mukul Anand's film "Dus". Director Anand wanted Ehsaan to compose the music for the film, but he insisted that Shankar and Loy work with him and Anand agreed. The film remained incomplete after Anand's death, though the album was released later in 1999. After "Dus", they had composed music for a couple of films like "Rockford" and "Bhopal Express", but all of them went unnoticed. Their entry to mainstream cinema was with Vidhu Vinod Chopra's "Mission Kashmir", which was a musical hit and earned the trio a place in the Bollywood film industry. They also earned IIFA nominations for the same.


title: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy

text: In 2001, they made their film debut in Tamil film industry, as Kamal Haasan signed them to compose for "Aalavandhan". The music sold well due to the hype surrounding the movie, though the movie itself was a dud in the box-office. The turning point of their career as music directors though, was "Dil Chahta Hai", which was the debut film of Farhan Akhtar as a director. Initially, A. R. Rahman was considered to do the music, but he backed out due to other assignments. Then the trio composed a title track for the film, which Farhan liked, and he signed them for the film. The film won wide critical acclaim and went on to attain cult status among audiences. This marked the beginning of the trio's friendship with Farhan Akhtar and long-term association with Excel Entertainments.


title: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy

text: Post "Dil Chahta Hai", they composed music for several small budget films like "Yeh Kya Ho Raha Hai?", "Nayee Padosan" and "Ek Aur Ek Gyarah", where all of them went unnoticed as all the movies were panned by the critics. They also had two big ventures, Honey Irani's "Armaan" and Rohan Sippy's "Kuch Naa Kaho", which yet again, failed to impress both critics and audiences – though their work in "Armaan" was lauded by critics.


title: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy

text: Following "Dil Chahta Hai", their next big venture was Dharma Productions' "Kal Ho Naa Ho", directed by Nikhil Advani. The album received a positive response when the film was released and it became one of the best selling Indian music albums of the year and was the highest seller album of 2003. The music won many awards including the National Film Award for Best Music Direction.


title: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy

text: The year 2005 saw them collaborate with Shaad Ali for "Bunty Aur Babli", as his first choice, A.R. Rahman, was busy with other assignments. The soundtrack, despite the initial mixed reaction from various critics, became immensely popular among the public, and went on to win several awards including Filmfare and IIFA awards. The song "Kajra Re" featuring Aishwarya Rai, Abhishek Bachchan and Amitabh Bachchan became a rage among the listeners.


title: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy

text: Following the widespread critical and commercial success of Karan Johar's "Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna", their next album of 2006 was Farhan Akhtar's "" starring Shahrukh Khan. They composed seven songs, including two versions of "Yeh Mera Dil" and "Khaike Paan Banaraswala", from "Don" (1978). The track "Aaj Ki Raat" was also included in the Academy Award-winning soundtrack "Slumdog Millionaire". The soundtracks of "Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna" and "Don: The Chase Begins Again" earned them several Best Music Director nominations at ceremonies including Filmfare and IIFA among others.


title: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy

text: 2007 was arguably the best year of their career. The year started off with Nikhil Advani's multistarrer "", which was lauded by critics and music lovers alike, and went on to rule the music charts. The music was praised by the movie critics too, despite the movie itself receiving mixed-to-negative responses. Same was the fate of their next release, "Jhoom Barabar Jhoom". Despite the music getting positive reviews and becoming quite a sensation among listeners, the movie failed to make a mark. However, this pattern was broken by their next release, Akshay Kumar's "Heyy Babyy", where both the movie and the music were commercial successes.


title: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy

text: In August, the album "Johnny Gaddaar" was released, which was co-produced by the trio and Adlabs, first of its kind in the history of Bollywood. Both the music and movie received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics.


title: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy

text: Their year ended on a good note, as their last album of the year, Aamir Khan's "Taare Zameen Par", was well received by critics, and both movie and music got a cult status among the audience. Thus, a really good year for the trio came to an end, with most of the above albums making their way to the top 10 lists of all major websites.


title: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy

text: In 2008, their major release was "Rock On!!" – which was a cult favourite and rage among the audience, and went on to become a huge commercial success, despite the initial cold reaction from the critics. "Luck By Chance" was their last album of 2008, which garnered positive reviews from both Indian and international critics alike.


title: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy

text: In 2009 they scored music of Salman Khan and Ajay Devgan starrer "London Dreams". Although the music received favourable reviews, the movie didn't fare well in the box office. They also composed the music of Ayan Mukherjee's debut film "Wake Up Sid" starring Ranbir Kapoor along with Amit Trivedi. The music, especially the title track, topped charts.


title: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy

text: Their first soundtrack of 2010 was Shahrukh Khan starrer "My Name Is Khan". The soundtrack blends western bar blues and techno sounds with Indian classical styles such as Sufi and Hindustani. The soundtrack was well received, and they won several awards including, "Star Screen Award for Best Music Director", "Big Star Award For Best Music", and "IIFA Award for Best Background Score". This was followed by Farhan Akhtar's "Karthik Calling Karthik" which despite getting mixed reviews from critics, went on to rule the charts. The track "Uff Teri Adaa" marked the debut of Loy's daughter Alyssa Mendonsa and became immensely popular. The next major release of the year was Sajid Khan's "Housefull", which received generally favourable reviews from reviewers and the track "Oh Girl" crooned by Alyssa and Tarun Sagar topped the charts. Ali Zafar's "Tere Bin Laden" then followed, of which the song "Ullu Da Pattha" became a rage. The phrase was hence used for the promotion of the movie. Final release of 2010, was Dharma's "We Are Family" starring Arjun Rampal, Kajol and Kareena Kapoor. The album received lukewarm response, and the movie didn't do well at the box office either.


title: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy

text: 2011 began with Nikhil Advani's Akshay Kumar starrer "Patiala House", which was well received by all mainstream critics, though the movie didn't quite get such an enthralling reception. The following release, Excel Entertainment's "Game", was met with poor reviews. the movie itself was met with extremely negative reception from the critics and turned out to be a disaster at the box office. They also scored music for Walt Disney's maiden Indian venture, "Zokkomon". The music and the movie failed to generate any positive buzz.


title: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy

text: Their first international venture, the UK movie "West is West", was released on 18 February 2011. The music was well received by almost all the reviewers, despite the movie itself receiving reviews ranging from mixed to positive.


title: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy

text: Their major release of the year, Zoya Akhtar's multistarrer "Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara", was met with universal critical acclaim and opened well in the charts. However, the year ended on a low note for them with Farhan Akhtar's much anticipated "Don 2" receiving mixed response from the critics.


title: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy

text: The trio had three releases in 2012. The bigger of their biggest releases, Kamal Haasan's controversial film "Vishwaroopam", went on to become a major financial success. Their other release, "Chittagong", was met with critical praise, and won Shankar the 2013 National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer, and Prasoon Joshi the National Film Award for Best Lyrics. They had also composed for the animated film "Delhi Safari", whose title song was shortlisted for nominations in the Original Song category for the 85th Academy Awards.


title: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy

text: In 2018 they composed music for the critically acclaimed film "Raazi" starring Alia Bhatt and Vicky Kaushal and directed by Meghna Gulzar for which they were nominated for a filmfare award.


title: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy

text: In 2019, it was announced that the trio would be making their debut in the digital streaming space by composing the soundtrack and background score for an upcoming web series named "Bandish Bandits". They also composed songs for multilingual film "Saaho" in four languages starring Bahubali fame Prabhas.


title: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy

text: In mid-2018, the trio was signed to compose for Prithviraj Sukumaran's Malayalam-language period epic "Kaaliyan". Meanwhile, in Hindi, they also composed for another period film, "", but backed out of the Aamir Khan and Amitabh Bachchan-starrer "Thugs of Hindostan" due to scheduling conflicts.


title: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy

text: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy have been involved in several projects aside from films. Ehsaan, Loy and Farhad had formed the band Instant Karma, and they released redone versions of R D Burman and other composers over two albums in 2002. They have also composed music for several jingles, signature tunes for corporates including Reliance and Aircel, and public awareness campaigns. In 2010, the troika wrote music for the first ever Bollywood musical, "Zangoora".


title: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy

text: In 2011, they composed the official anthem for ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, titled "De Ghuma Ke", which became quite popular among youths and cricket enthusiasts within days of its release.


title: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy

text: In 2004, they performed for a concert organised by The Indian Express held in celebration of the Indian democracy, which was also attended by Aamir Khan, Farhan Akhtar and other celebrities. They organised a concert at IFFI titled "Salaam Boss" (Salute to the Boss) in 2006 paying tribute to the legendary music composer R.D. Burman. Later in 2008, they performed for the Live Earth India Concert to help light homes with solar energy along with several other celebrities like Jon Bon Jovi. They have also performed a worldwide tour in 2010, called "", which began in New Jersey, United States. The tour was a major success, garnering overwhelming response from the audience. They performed at UK for the first time, in the "Asia Rocks!" concert at London's Royal Albert Hall in September 2011. In 2018 they embarked on a Tour of the US & Canada along with Farhan Akhtar.


title: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy

text: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy have composed for most of the films produced by Excel Entertainment, founded by Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani. They have also associated frequently with Karan Johar's Dharma Productions. Other notable collaborations are with directors like Karan Johar, Shaad Ali, Zoya Akhtar and Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra.


title: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy

text: Most of the lyrics for the songs composed by the trio are penned by Gulzar and Javed Akhtar; however, they have also frequently associated with lyricists like Prasoon Joshi and Amitabh Bhattacharya.


title: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy

text: Each member of the trio brings his own talents and experiences to the group, combining the Carnatic and Hindustani vocal tradition (Shankar), Western rock (Ehsaan) and a deep understanding of fusion including a virtuoso mastery over the electronic synthesizer (Loy). They continue a tradition quite common in Bollywood music, that of partnerships between music composers contributing and pooling their individual strengths, often combining deep knowledge of Hindustani (North Indian) and Carnatic (South Indian) classical music with technical expertise as composers and orchestral arrangers. Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy probably represent the first trio of composers to entertain Bollywood audiences themselves with their chart-topping music.


title: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy

text: The eternal quest among Bollywood's music composers has been to create interest among younger audiences who tend to be inspired more by musical themes and influences from the West. Since a film's soundtrack is an influential and critical component of commercial and critical success (required and achieved or sometimes squandered at the box office), this quest to "deliver a film" has always inspired composers to create tunes which combine the best of both traditional Indian music and popular Western or international influences. An overwhelming majority of Bollywood's most popular music has been composed based on classical Indian rāgas (in Sanskrit "raga" is literally "color" or "mood"). Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy have bridged that gap.


title: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy

text: Academy Award-winning lyricist Gulzar described the music of the trio as "a sensible synthesis of popularity and class". Composer duo Vishal–Shekhar considers them as an inspiration. Upcoming Filmmakers Pavel Singh and Shantum Singh consider The trio as their inspiration while Upcoming musicians Arko Mukherjee, Rajkumar Sengupta and Debopratim Bakshi of the "Friends of Fusion" band from Kolkata said "We have been influenced by Shankar Ehsaan Loy, so we mix our own elements to their composition. It's our way of paying homage to them." In Marathi film "Satrangee Re" paid a tribute to Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy by playing their song "Kal Ho Naa Ho". Shankar Mahadevan's nephew Saumil Shringarpure also acted in this.


title: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy

text: The trio is known for launching the career of numerous singers, including Mahalakshmi Iyer, Anusha Mani, Caralisa Monteiro, Dominique Cerejo, and Hard Kaur.


title: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy

text: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy were the recipients of several awards, including three Filmfare awards ("Bunty Aur Babli", "Kal Ho Naa Ho", "2 States"), three International Indian Film Academy Awards ("Kal Ho Naa Ho", "Bunty Aur Babli", "My Name is Khan"), three Star Screen awards ("Dil Chahta Hai", "Bunty Aur Babli", "My Name Is Khan"), one Filmfare RD Burman Award for New Music Talent and two MTV Immies Awards. In 2004, they received the National Film Award for Best Music Direction for the film "Kal Ho Naa Ho". Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy won the Filmfare and IIFA awards 2015 for "2 States".


title: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy

text: In 2010, they were honoured with the "Years of Excellence" at the Jack Daniel's Annual Rock Awards at Hard Rock Café, Mumbai.


title: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy

text: SEL co-produced the album "Johnny Gaddaar", with Adlabs, first time ever in the history of Hindi film music. In 2010, they also launched their own record label, "SEL Songs" and an iPhone app, making them the first Hindi film composers to do so.


title: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy

text: They provide celebrity endorsement for various brands, including Sennheiser, Philips Consumer Lifestyle and Radio One 94.3.


title: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy

text: Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy have been involved in many charitable activities. They composed the music for an album "Haath Se Haath Mila" as the part of an AIDS Awareness campaign launched by BBC World Service Trust. In 2007, they performed in Chennai for a concert organised by The Shakti Foundation – For the Physically Challenged to raise funds. Organized by Farhan Akhtar, they lead the Rock concert for raising funds for a paediatric medical camp in Bihar in 2008. They also launched the "You Know You Can Rock Harder G3 Challenge" talent hunt in search of the most talented rock band in the country in the same year. They had performed for a fund raising concert for the NGO Alert India which fights against leprosy in 2009.


title: Roman army

text: The Roman army (Latin: ) was the armed forces deployed by the Romans throughout the duration of Ancient Rome, from the Roman Kingdom (c. 500 BC) to the Roman Republic (500–31 BC) and the Roman Empire (31 BC–395 AD), and its medieval continuation, the Eastern Roman Empire. It is thus a term that may span approximately 2,205 years (753 BC–1453 AD), during which the Roman armed forces underwent numerous permutations in size, composition, organisation, equipment and tactics, while conserving a core of lasting traditions.


title: Roman army

text: The early Roman army was the armed forces of the Roman Kingdom and of the early Roman Republic. During this period, when warfare chiefly consisted of small-scale plundering raids, it has been suggested that the army followed Etruscan or Greek models of organisation and equipment. The early Roman army was based on an annual levy.


title: Roman army

text: The army consisted of 3,000 infantrymen and 300 cavalrymen, all of which were Equites. The Latins, Sabines, and Etruscans under the Roman state would each provide an extra 1,000 soldiers and 100 cavalrymen.


title: Roman army

text: King Servius of Rome would institute the Servian reforms. These would divide the population into five classes. Each of which would have different roles in the military. The first class could afford to have a cuirass, greaves, a shield, a sword, and a spear. The second class had greaves, a shield, a sword, and a spear. The third class could only afford to have the shield, a sword, and a spear. The fourth class had a shield and a spear. The fifth class would only be a screening force. Any poorer citizen, called "capite censi" would have no weapons. They would not serve in the army unless it was an emergency.


title: Roman army

text: The infantry ranks were filled with the lower classes while the cavalry were left to the patricians, because the wealthier could afford horses. Moreover, the commanding authority during the regal period was the king.


title: Roman army

text: When the army of Rome would be brought together on the Campus Martius it was called the Comitia Curiata.


title: Roman army

text: Until the establishment of the Roman Republic and the office of consul, the king assumed the role of commander-in-chief. However, from about 508 BC Rome no longer had a king. The commanding position of the army was given to the consuls, "who were charged both singly and jointly to take care to preserve the Republic from danger".


title: Roman army

text: The term "legion" is derived from the Latin word "legio", which ultimately means draft or levy. At first there were only four Roman legions numbered "I" to "IIII" (with the fourth being written as such and not "IV"). The first legion was seen as the most prestigious. The bulk of the army was made up of citizens, who could not choose the legion to which they were allocated. Any man "from ages 16–46 were selected by ballot" and assigned to a legion.


title: Roman army

text: Until the Roman military disaster of 390 BC at the Battle of the Allia, Rome's army was organised similarly to the Greek phalanx. This was due to Greek influence in Italy "by way of their colonies". Patricia Southern quotes ancient historians Livy and Dionysius in saying that the "phalanx consisted of 3,000 infantry and 300 cavalry". Each man had to provide their equipment; the military equipment which they could afford determined which position they took in the battle. Politically they shared the same ranking system in the Comitia Centuriata.


title: Roman army

text: The Roman army of the mid-Republic was also known as the "manipular army", or the "Polybian army", after the Greek historian Polybius, who provides the most detailed extant description of this phase. The Roman army started to have a full-time strength of 150,000 at all times and 3/4 of the rest were levied.


title: Roman army

text: During this period, the Romans, while maintaining the levy system, adopted the Samnite manipular organisation for their legions and also bound all the other peninsular Italian states into a permanent military alliance (see "Socii"). The latter were required to supply (collectively) roughly the same number of troops to joint forces as the Romans to serve under Roman command. Legions in this phase were always accompanied on campaign by the same number of allied "alae" (Roman non-citizen auxiliaries), units of roughly the same size as legions.


title: Roman army

text: After the Second Punic War (218–201 BC), the Romans acquired an overseas empire, which necessitated standing forces to fight lengthy wars of conquest and to garrison the newly gained provinces. Thus the army's character mutated from a temporary force based entirely on short-term conscription to a standing army in which the conscripts were supplemented by a large number of volunteers willing to serve for much longer than the legal six-year limit. These volunteers were mainly from the poorest social class, who did not have plots to tend at home and were attracted by the modest military pay and the prospect of a share of war booty. The minimum property requirement for service in the legions, which had been suspended during the Second Punic War, was effectively ignored from 201 BC onward in order to recruit sufficient volunteers.


title: Roman army

text: Between 150 BC and 100 BC, the manipular structure was gradually phased out, and the much larger cohort became the main tactical unit. In addition, from the Second Punic War onward, Roman armies were always accompanied by units of non-Italian mercenaries, such as Numidian cavalry, Cretan archers, and Balearic slingers, who provided specialist functions that Roman armies had previously lacked.


title: Roman army

text: The Roman army of the late Republic (88–30 BC) marks the continued transition from the conscription-based citizen levy of the mid-Republic to the mainly volunteer, professional standing forces of the imperial era.


title: Roman army

text: The main literary sources for the army's organisation and tactics in this phase are the works of Julius Caesar, the most notable of a series of warlords who contested for power in this period.


title: Roman army

text: As a result of the Social War (91–88 BC), all fellow Italians were granted Roman citizenship, the old allied "alae" were thereby abolished and their members integrated into the legions. Regular annual conscription remained in force and continued to provide the core of legionary recruitment, but an ever-increasing proportion of recruits were volunteers, who signed up for 16-year terms as opposed to the maximum 6 years for conscripts. The loss of "ala" cavalry reduced Roman/Italian cavalry by 75%, and legions became dependent on allied native horse for cavalry cover. This period saw the large-scale expansion of native forces employed to complement the legions, made up of "numeri" ("units") recruited from tribes within Rome's overseas empire and neighbouring allied tribes. Large numbers of heavy infantry and cavalry were recruited in the Roman Provinces of Hispania, Gallia and Thracia, and archers from the Eastern Mediterranean, (mostly from Thrace, Anatolia and Syria). However, these native units were not integrated with the legions, but retained their own traditional leadership, organisation, armour and weapons.


title: Roman army

text: During this period, the Republican system of citizen conscription was replaced by a standing professional army of mainly volunteers serving standard 20-year terms (plus five years as reservists), although many in the service of the Roman Empire would serve as many as 30 to 40 years on active duty, as established by the first Roman emperor, Augustus (sole ruler 30 BC–14 AD). Regular annual conscription of citizens was abandoned and only decreed in emergencies (e.g. during the Illyrian revolt of 6–9 AD).


title: Roman army

text: Under Augustus, there were 28 legions, consisting almost entirely of heavy infantry, with about 5,000 men each (total 125,000). This had increased to a peak of 33 legions of about 5,500 men each (c. 180,000 men in total) by 200 AD under Septimius Severus. Legions continued to recruit Roman citizens, mainly the inhabitants of Italy and Roman colonies, until 212. Legions were flanked by the "auxilia", a corps of regular troops recruited mainly from "peregrini", imperial subjects who did not hold Roman citizenship (the great majority of the empire's inhabitants until 212, when all were granted citizenship). Auxiliaries, who served a minimum term of 25 years, were also mainly volunteers, but regular conscription of "peregrini" was employed for most of the 1st century AD. Under Augustus, the "auxilia" consisted of about 250 regiments of roughly cohort size, that is, about 500 men (in total 125,000 men, or 50% of the total army). Under Septimius Severus, the number of regiments increased to about 400, of which about 13% were double-strength (250,000 men, or 60% of total army). "Auxilia" contained heavy infantry equipped similarly to legionaries, almost all of the army's cavalry (both armoured and light), archers and slingers.


title: Roman army

text: The Late Roman army period stretches from (284–476 AD and its continuation, in the surviving eastern half of the empire, as the East Roman army to 641). In this phase, crystallised by the reforms of the emperor Diocletian (ruled 284–305 AD), the Roman army returned to regular annual conscription of citizens, while admitting large numbers of non-citizen barbarian volunteers. However, soldiers remained 25-year professionals and did not return to the short-term levies of the Republic. The old dual organisation of legions and auxilia was abandoned, with citizens and non-citizens now serving in the same units. The old legions were broken up into cohorts or even smaller units. At the same time, a substantial proportion of the army's effectives were stationed in the interior of the empire, in the form of "comitatus praesentales", armies that escorted the emperors.


title: Roman army

text: The Middle Byzantine army (641–1081 AD) was the army of the Byzantine state in its classical form (i.e. after the permanent loss of its Near Eastern and North African territories to the Arab conquests after 641 AD). This army was largely composed of semi-professional troops (soldier-farmers) based on the themata military provinces, supplemented by a small core of professional regiments known as the "tagmata". Ibn al-Fakih estimated the strength of the themata forces in the East c. 902 at 85,000 and Kodama c. 930 at 70,000. This structure pertained when the empire was on the defensive, in the 10th century the empire was increasingly involved in territorial expansion, and the themata troops became progressively more irrelevant, being gradually replaced by 'provincial tagmata' units and an increased use of mercenaries.


title: Roman army

text: The Komnenian Byzantine army was named after the Komnenos dynasty, which ruled from 1081 to 1185. This was an army built virtually from scratch after the permanent loss of half of Byzantium's traditional main recruiting ground of Anatolia to the Turks following the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, and the destruction of the last regiments of the old army in the wars against the Normans in the early 1080s. It survived until the fall of Constantinople to the Western crusaders in 1204. This army had a large number of mercenary regiments composed of troops of foreign origin such as the Varangian Guard, and the "pronoia" system was introduced.


title: Roman army

text: The Palaiologan Byzantine army was named after the Palaiologos dynasty (1261–1453), which ruled Byzantium from the recovery of Constantinople from the Crusaders until its fall to the Turks in 1453. Initially, it continued some practices inherited from the Komnenian era and retained a strong native element until the late 13th century. During the last century of its existence, however, the empire was little more than a city-state that hired foreign mercenary bands for its defence. Thus the Byzantine army finally lost any meaningful connection with the standing imperial Roman army.


title: Roman army

text: Until c. 550 BC, there was no "national" Roman army, but a series of clan-based war-bands which only coalesced into a united force in periods of serious external threat. Around 550 BC, during the period conventionally known as the rule of king Servius Tullius, it appears that a universal levy of eligible adult male citizens was instituted. This development apparently coincided with the introduction of heavy armour for most of the infantry. Although originally low in numbers the Roman infantry was extremely tactical and developed some of the most influential battle strategies to date.


title: Roman army

text: The early Roman army was based on a compulsory levy from adult male citizens which was held at the start of each campaigning season, in those years that war was declared. There were no standing or professional forces. During the Regal Era (to c. 500 BC), the standard levy was probably of 9,000 men, consisting of 6,000 heavily armed infantry (probably Greek-style hoplites), plus 2,400 light-armed infantry ("rorarii", later called "velites") and 600 light cavalry ("equites celeres"). When the kings were replaced by two annually elected "praetores" in c. 500 BC, the standard levy remained of the same size, but was now divided equally between the praetors, each commanding one legion of 4,500 men.


title: Roman army

text: It is likely that the hoplite element was deployed in a Greek-style phalanx formation in large set-piece battles. However, these were relatively rare, with most fighting consisting of small-scale border-raids and skirmishing. In these, the Romans would fight in their basic tactical unit, the "centuria" of 100 men. In addition, separate clan-based forces remained in existence until c. 450 BC at least, although they would operate under the Praetors' authority, at least nominally.


title: Roman army

text: In 493 BC, shortly after the establishment of the Roman Republic, Rome concluded a perpetual treaty of military alliance (the "Foedus Cassianum"), with the combined other Latin city-states. The treaty, probably motivated by the need for the Latins to deploy a united defence against incursions by neighbouring hill-tribes, provided for each party to provide an equal force for campaigns under unified command. It remained in force until 358 BC.


title: Roman army

text: The central feature of the Roman army of the mid-Republic, or the Polybian army, was the manipular organization of its battle-line. Instead of a single, large mass (the phalanx) as in the Early Roman army, the Romans now drew up in three lines consisting of small units (maniples) of 120 men, arrayed in chessboard fashion, giving much greater tactical strength and flexibility. This structure was probably introduced in c. 300 BC during the Samnite Wars. Also probably dating from this period was the regular accompaniment of each legion by a non-citizen formation of roughly equal size, the "ala", recruited from Rome's Italian allies, or "socii". The latter were approximately 150 autonomous states which were bound by a treaty of perpetual military alliance with Rome. Their sole obligation was to supply to the Roman army, on demand, a number of fully equipped troops up to a specified maximum each year.


title: Roman army

text: The Second Punic War (218–201 BC) saw the addition of a third element to the existing dual Roman/Italian structure: non-Italian mercenaries with specialist skills lacking in the legions and "alae": Numidian light cavalry, Cretan archers, and Balearic slingers. From this time, these units always accompanied Roman armies.


title: Roman army

text: The Republican army of this period, like its earlier forebear, did not maintain standing or professional military forces, but levied them, by compulsory conscription, as required for each campaigning season and disbanded thereafter (although formations could be kept in being over winter during major wars). The standard levy was doubled during the Samnite Wars to four legions (two per consul), for a total of c. 18,000 Roman troops and four allied "alae" of similar size. Service in the legions was limited to property-owning Roman citizens, normally those known as "iuniores" (age 16–46). The army's senior officers, including its commanders-in-chief, the Roman consuls, were all elected annually at the People's Assembly. Only "equites" (members of the Roman knightly order) were eligible to serve as senior officers. "Iuniores" of the highest social classes ("equites" and the First Class of commoners) provided the legion's cavalry, the other classes the legionary infantry. The "proletarii" (those assessed at under 400 "drachmae" wealth) were ineligible for legionary service and were assigned to the fleets as oarsmen. Elders, vagrants, freedmen, slaves and convicts were excluded from the military levy, save in emergencies.


title: Roman army

text: The legionary cavalry also changed, probably around 300 BC onwards from the light, unarmoured horse of the early army to a heavy force with metal armour (bronze cuirasses and, later, chain-mail shirts). Contrary to a long-held view, the cavalry of the mid-Republic was a highly effective force that generally prevailed against strong enemy cavalry forces (both Gallic and Greek) until it was decisively beaten by the Carthaginian general Hannibal's horsemen during the Second Punic War. This was due to Hannibal's greater operational flexibility owing to his Numidian light cavalry.


title: Roman army

text: The Polybian army's operations during its existence can be divided into three broad phases. (1) The struggle for hegemony over Italy, especially against the Samnite League (338–264 BC); (2) the struggle with Carthage for hegemony in the western Mediterranean Sea (264–201 BC); and (3) the struggle against the Hellenistic monarchies for control of the eastern Mediterranean (201–91 BC). During the earlier phase, the normal size of the levy (including allies) was in the region of 40,000 men (two consular armies of c. 20,000 men each).


title: Roman army

text: During the latter phase, with lengthy wars of conquest followed by permanent military occupation of overseas provinces, the character of the army necessarily changed from a temporary force based entirely on short-term conscription to a standing army in which the conscripts, whose service was in this period limited by law to six consecutive years, were complemented by large numbers of volunteers who were willing to serve for much longer periods. Many of the volunteers were drawn from the poorest social class, which until the Second Punic War had been excluded from service in the legions by the minimum property requirement: during that war, extreme manpower needs had forced the army to ignore the requirement, and this practice continued thereafter. Maniples were gradually phased out as the main tactical unit, and replaced by the larger cohorts used in the allied "alae", a process probably complete by the time the general Marius assumed command in 107 BC. (The Marian reforms of the army hypothesised by some scholars are today seen by other scholars as having evolved earlier and more gradually.)


title: Roman army

text: In the period after the defeat of Carthage in 201 BC, the army was campaigning exclusively outside Italy, resulting in its men being away from their home plots of land for many years at a stretch. They were assuaged by the large amounts of booty that they shared after victories in the rich eastern theatre. But in Italy, the ever-increasing concentration of public lands in the hands of big landowners, and the consequent displacement of the soldiers' families, led to great unrest and demands for land redistribution. This was successfully achieved, but resulted in the disaffection of Rome's Italian allies, who as non-citizens were excluded from the redistribution. This led to the mass revolt of the "socii" and the Social War (91-88 BC). The result was the grant of Roman citizenship to all Italians and the end of the Polybian army's dual structure: the "alae" were abolished and the "socii" recruited into the legions.


title: Roman army

text: Under the founder–emperor Augustus (ruled 30 BC – 14 AD), the legions, c. 5,000-strong all-heavy infantry formations recruited from Roman citizens only, were transformed from a mixed conscript and volunteer corps serving an average of 10 years, to all-volunteer units of long-term professionals serving a standard 25-year term (conscription was only decreed in emergencies). In the later 1st century, the size of a legion's First Cohort was doubled, increasing legionary personnel to c. 5,500.


title: Roman army

text: Alongside the legions, Augustus established the auxilia, a regular corps of similar numbers to the legions, recruited from the "peregrini" (non-citizen inhabitants of the empire – about 90% of the empire's population in the 1st century). As well as comprising large numbers of extra heavy infantry equipped in a similar manner to legionaries, the auxilia provided virtually all the army's cavalry (heavy and light), light infantry, archers and other specialists. The auxilia were organised in c. 500-strong units called "cohortes" (all-infantry), "alae" (all-cavalry) and "cohortes equitatae" (infantry with a cavalry contingent attached). Around 80 AD, a minority of auxiliary regiments were doubled in size. Until about 68 AD, the auxilia were recruited by a mix of conscription and voluntary enlistment. After that time, the auxilia became largely a volunteer corps, with conscription resorted to only in emergencies. Auxiliaries were required to serve a minimum of 25 years, although many served for longer periods. On completion of their minimum term, auxiliaries were awarded Roman citizenship, which carried important legal, fiscal and social advantages. Alongside the regular forces, the army of the Principate employed allied native units (called "numeri") from outside the empire on a mercenary basis. These were led by their own aristocrats and equipped in traditional fashion. Numbers fluctuated according to circumstances and are largely unknown.


title: Roman army

text: As all-citizen formations, and symbolic guarantors of the dominance of the Italian hegemony, legions enjoyed greater social prestige than the auxilia. This was reflected in better pay and benefits. In addition, legionaries were equipped with more expensive and protective armour than auxiliaries. However, in 212, the emperor Caracalla granted Roman citizenship to all the empire's inhabitants. At this point, the distinction between legions and auxilia became moot, the latter becoming all-citizen units also. The change was reflected in the disappearance, during the 3rd century, of legionaries' special equipment, and the progressive break-up of legions into cohort-sized units like the auxilia.


title: Roman army

text: By the end of Augustus' reign, the imperial army numbered some 250,000 men, equally split between legionaries and auxiliaries (25 legions and c. 250 auxiliary regiments). The numbers grew to a peak of about 450,000 by 211 (33 legions and c. 400 auxiliary regiments). By then, auxiliaries outnumbered legionaries substantially. From the peak, numbers probably underwent a steep decline by 270 due to plague and losses during multiple major barbarian invasions. Numbers were restored to their early 2nd-century level of c. 400,000 (but probably not to their 211 peak) under Diocletian (r. 284–305). After the empire's borders became settled (on the Rhine-Danube line in Europe) by 68, virtually all military units (except the Praetorian Guard) were stationed on or near the borders, in roughly 17 of the 42 provinces of the empire in the reign of Hadrian (r. 117–38).


title: Roman army

text: The military chain of command was relatively uniform across the Empire. In each province, the deployed legions' "legati" (legion commanders, who also controlled the auxiliary regiments attached to their legion) reported to the "legatus Augusti pro praetore" (provincial governor), who also headed the civil administration. The governor in turn reported direct to the emperor in Rome. There was no army general staff in Rome, but the leading "praefectus praetorio" (commander of the Praetorian Guard) often acted as the emperor's "de facto" military chief-of-staff.


title: Roman army

text: Legionary rankers were relatively well-paid, compared to contemporary common labourers. Compared with their subsistence-level peasant families, they enjoyed considerable disposable income, enhanced by periodic cash bonuses on special occasions such as the accession of a new emperor. In addition, on completion of their term of service, they were given a generous discharge bonus equivalent to 13 years' salary. Auxiliaries were paid much less in the early 1st century, but by 100 AD, the differential had virtually disappeared. Similarly, in the earlier period, auxiliaries appear not to have received cash and discharge bonuses, but probably did so from Hadrian onwards. Junior officers ("principales"), the equivalent of non-commissioned officers in modern armies, could expect to earn up to twice basic pay. Legionary centurions, the equivalent of mid-level commissioned officers, were organised in an elaborate hierarchy. Usually risen from the ranks, they commanded the legion's tactical sub-units of "centuriae" (c. 80 men) and cohorts (c. 480 men). They were paid several multiples of basic pay. The most senior centurion, the "primus pilus", was elevated to equestrian rank upon completion of his single-year term of office. The senior officers of the army, the "legati legionis" (legion commanders), "tribuni militum" (legion staff officers) and the "praefecti" (commanders of auxiliary regiments) were all of at least equestrian rank. In the 1st and early 2nd centuries, they were mainly Italian aristocrats performing the military component of their "cursus honorum" (conventional career-path). Later, provincial career officers became predominant. Senior officers were paid enormous salaries, multiples of at least 50 times basic.


title: Roman army

text: A typical Roman army during this period consisted of five to six legions. One legion was made up of ten cohorts. The first cohort had five "centuria" each of 160 soldiers. In the second through tenth cohorts there were six "centuria" of 80 men each. These do not include archers, cavalry or officers.


title: Roman army

text: Soldiers spent only a fraction of their lives on campaign. Most of their time was spent on routine military duties such as training, patrolling, and maintenance of equipment, etc. Soldiers also played an important role outside the military sphere. They performed the function of a provincial governor's police force. As a large, disciplined and skilled force of fit men, they played a crucial role in the construction of a province's Roman military and civil infrastructure: in addition to constructing forts and fortified defences such as Hadrian's Wall, they built roads, bridges, ports, public buildings, entire new cities (Roman colonies), and also engaged in large-scale forest clearance and marsh drainage to expand the province's available arable land.


title: Roman army

text: Soldiers, mostly drawn from polytheistic societies, enjoyed wide freedom of worship in the polytheistic Roman system. They revered their own native deities, Roman deities and the local deities of the provinces in which they served. Only a few religions were banned by the Roman authorities, as being incompatible with the official Roman religion and/or politically subversive, notably Druidism and Christianity. The later Principate saw the rise in popularity among the military of Eastern mystery cults, generally centred on one deity, and involving secret rituals divulged only to initiates. By far the most popular in the army was Mithraism, an apparently syncretist religion which mainly originated in Asia Minor.


title: Roman army

text: The Late Roman army is the term used to denote the military forces of the Roman Empire from the accession of Emperor Diocletian in 284 until the Empire's definitive division into Eastern and Western halves in 395. A few decades afterwards, the Western army disintegrated as the Western Empire collapsed. The East Roman army, on the other hand, continued intact and essentially unchanged until its reorganization by themes and transformation into the Byzantine army in the 7th century. The term "late Roman army" is often used to include the East Roman army.


title: Roman army

text: The army of the Principate underwent a significant transformation, as a result of the chaotic 3rd century. Unlike the Principate army, the army of the 4th century was heavily dependent on conscription and its soldiers were more poorly remunerated than in the 2nd century. Barbarians from outside the empire probably supplied a much larger proportion of the late army's recruits than in the army of the 1st and 2nd centuries.


title: Roman army

text: The size of the 4th-century army is controversial. More dated scholars (e.g. A.H.M. Jones, writing in the 1960s) estimated the late army as much larger than the Principate army, half the size again or even as much as twice the size. With the benefit of archaeological discoveries of recent decades, many contemporary historians view the late army as no larger than its predecessor: under Diocletian c. 390,000 (the same as under Hadrian almost two centuries earlier) and under Constantine no greater, and probably somewhat smaller, than the Principate peak of c. 440,000. The main change in structure was the establishment of large armies that accompanied the emperors ("comitatus praesentales") and were generally based away from the frontiers. Their primary function was to deter usurpations. The legions were split up into smaller units comparable in size to the auxiliary regiments of the Principate. In parallel, legionary armour and equipment were abandoned in favour of auxiliary equipment. Infantry adopted the more protective equipment of the Principate cavalry.


title: Roman army

text: The role of cavalry in the late army does not appear to have been enhanced as compared with the army of the Principate. The evidence is that cavalry was much the same proportion of overall army numbers as in the 2nd century and that its tactical role and prestige remained similar. Indeed, the cavalry acquired a reputation for incompetence and cowardice for their role in three major battles in mid-4th century. In contrast, the infantry retained its traditional reputation for excellence.


title: Roman army

text: The 3rd and 4th centuries saw the upgrading of many existing border forts to make them more defensible, as well as the construction of new forts with much higher defensive specifications. The interpretation of this trend has fuelled an ongoing debate whether the army adopted a defence-in-depth strategy or continued the same posture of "forward defence" as in the early Principate. Many elements of the late army's defence posture were similar to those associated with forward defence, such as a looser forward location of forts, frequent cross-border operations, and external buffer-zones of allied barbarian tribes. Whatever the defence strategy, it was apparently less successful in preventing barbarian incursions than in the 1st and 2nd centuries. This may have been due to heavier barbarian pressure, and/or to the practice of keeping large armies of the best troops in the interior, depriving the border forces of sufficient support.


title: Roman army

text: The Komnenian period marked a rebirth of the Byzantine army. At the beginning of the Komnenian period in 1081, the Byzantine Empire had been reduced to the smallest territorial extent. Surrounded by enemies, and financially ruined by a long period of civil war, the empire's prospects looked grim.


title: Roman army

text: At the beginning of the Komnenian period, the Byzantine army was reduced to a shadow of its former self: during the 11th century, decades of peace and neglect had reduced the old thematic forces, and the Battle of Manzikert in 1071 had destroyed the professional "tagmata", the core of the Byzantine army. At Manzikert and later at Dyrrhachium, units tracing their lineage for centuries back to Late Roman army were wiped out, and the subsequent loss of Asia Minor deprived the Empire of its main recruiting ground. In the Balkans, at the same time, the Empire was exposed to invasions by the Norman Kingdom of Sicily, and by Pecheneg raids across the Danube.


title: Roman army

text: The Byzantine army's nadir was reached in 1091, when Alexios I Komnenos could manage to field only 500 soldiers from the Empire's professional forces. These formed the nucleus of the army, with the addition of the armed retainers of Alexios' relatives and the nobles enrolled in the army and the substantial aid of a large force of allied Cumans, which won the Battle of Levounion against the Pechenegs (Petcheneks or Patzinaks). Yet, through a combination of skill, determination and years of campaigning, Alexios, John and Manuel Komnenos managed to restore the power of the Byzantine Empire by constructing a new army from scratch. This process should not, however, at least in its earlier phases, be seen as a planned exercise in military restructuring. In particular, Alexios I was often reduced to reacting to events rather than controlling them; the changes he made to the Byzantine army were largely done out of immediate necessity and were pragmatic in nature.


title: Roman army

text: The new force had a core of units which were both professional and disciplined. It contained formidable guards units such as the Varangians, the "Athanatoi", a unit of heavy cavalry stationed in Constantinople, the Vardariotai and the Archontopouloi, recruited by Alexios from the sons of dead Byzantine officers, foreign mercenary regiments, and also units of professional soldiers recruited from the provinces. These provincial troops included "kataphraktoi" cavalry from Macedonia, Thessaly and Thrace, and various other provincial forces such as Trebizond archers from the Black Sea coast of Anatolia. Alongside troops raised and paid for directly by the state the Komnenian army included the armed followers of members of the wider imperial family and its extensive connections. In this can be seen the beginnings of the feudalisation of the Byzantine military. The granting of "pronoia" holdings, where land, or more accurately rights to revenue from land, was held in return for military obligations, was beginning to become a notable element in the military infrastructure towards the end of the Komnenian period, though it became much more important subsequently.


title: Roman army

text: In 1097, the Byzantine army numbered around 70,000 men altogether. By 1180 and the death of Manuel Komnenos, whose frequent campaigns had been on a grand scale, the army was probably considerably larger. During the reign of Alexios I, the field army numbered around 20,000 men which was increased to about 30,000 men in John II's reign. By the end of Manuel I's reign the Byzantine field army had risen to 40,000 men.


title: Roman army

text: The Palaiologan army refers to the military forces of the Byzantine Empire from the late 13th century to its final collapse in the mid 15th century, under the House of the Palaiologoi. The army was a direct continuation of the forces of the Nicaean army, which itself was a fractured component of the formidable Komnenian army. Under the first Palaiologan emperor, Michael VIII, the army's role took an increasingly offensive role whilst the naval forces of the Empire, weakened since the days of Andronikos I Komnenos, were boosted to include thousands of skilled sailors and some 80 ships. Due to the lack of land to support the army, the Empire required the use of large numbers of mercenaries.


title: Roman army

text: After Andronikos II took to the throne, the army fell apart and the Byzantines suffered regular defeats at the hands of their eastern opponents, although they would continue to enjoy success against the crusader territories in Greece. By c. 1350, following a destructive civil war and the outbreak of the Black Death, the Empire was no longer capable of raising troops and the supplies to maintain them. The Empire came to rely upon troops provided by Serbs, Bulgarians, Venetians, Latins, Genoans and Ottoman Turks to fight the civil wars that lasted for the greater part of the 14th century, with the latter foe being the most successful in establishing a foothold in Thrace. The Ottomans swiftly expanded through the Balkans and cut off Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, from the surrounding land. The last decisive battle was fought by the Palaiologan army in 1453, when Constantinople was besieged and fell on 29 May. The last isolated remnants of the Byzantine state were conquered by 1461.


title: Roman army

text: This article contains the summaries of the detailed linked articles on the historical phases above, Readers seeking discussion of the Roman army by theme, rather than by chronological phase, should consult the following articles:


title: Loni Love

text: Loni Love (born July 14, 1971) is an American comedian, television host, actress, author, and former electrical engineer. While working as an electrical engineer in the early 2000s, she switched to music engineering, until later launching a career in stand-up comedy. She was the runner-up on "Star Search" 2003 and was named among the "Top 10 Comics to Watch" in both "Variety" and Comedy Central in 2009. She was one of the co-hosts of the syndicated daytime talk show "The Real", which ran from July 15, 2013 and ended on June 3, 2022.


title: Loni Love

text: Love was born in Detroit, Michigan, and grew up in the Brewster-Douglass Housing Projects. Prior to her career as a comedian, she was an electrical engineer, an experience she talks about in many of her acts. After graduating from Cass Technical High School in 1985, she worked for a time on the General Motors assembly line putting doors on 1993 Oldsmobile Cutlasses, work which ignited her interest in electrical engineering. Love then received her bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Prairie View A&M University in Texas. While at Prairie View, she minored in music and was also a member of the Eta Beta chapter of Delta Sigma Theta. It was there that she discovered stand-up comedy after winning a $50 competition and then performed frequently during her college life.


title: Loni Love

text: After finding work as an engineer at Xerox in California, she continued to do stand-up after work in clubs and became a regular at the Laugh Factory. After eight years of working at Xerox, Love resigned to pursue comedy during a layoff to prevent someone else from losing their job. Love did a series on VH1 called "I Love the 2000s" in which she gives her view on pop culture highlights. She was also a panelist in the late-night talk show "Chelsea Lately". Love also appeared in an episode of Supermarket Sweep on July 24, 2000.


title: Loni Love

text: Love started her comedic career in 2003, after appearing on "Star Search", reaching the finals and losing in a close competition to winner John Roy. Since then, she has appeared in films and numerous television shows. Love was named "Hot Comic" for 2009 in "Campus Activity" magazine and one of the "Top 10 Comics to Watch" in both "Variety" and Comedy Central. She was awarded the Jury Prize for best stand-up at the 2003 US Comedy Arts Festival. In 2008 Love became the CNN correspondent for "D. L. Hughley Breaks the News" and covered the inauguration of President Barack Obama. In late 2009, Love recorded her first one-hour Comedy Central special, "America's Sister", which aired on May 8, 2010. In July 2013, she released her first comedy advice book titled "Love Him Or Leave Him But Don't Get Stuck With The Tab". It was published by Simon & Schuster.


title: Loni Love

text: From July 15, 2013 to June 3, 2022, Love served as one of the co-hosts of the syndicated daytime talk show "The Real" originally alongside Adrienne Bailon, Tamar Braxton, Jeannie Mai, and Tamera Mowry. After premiering on July 15, 2013 on Fox Television Stations, "The Real" was picked up to series the following year. In 2015, she appeared in the comedy film "", with Kevin James, and the action film "Bad Asses on the Bayou", with Danny Trejo and Danny Glover. She also won the ninth season "Worst Cooks in America" in 2016, winning $50,000 for her chosen charity. In 2018, Love and her "Real" co-hosts won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Entertainment Talk Show Host for their work.


title: Loni Love

text: In 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, Love hosts a show on Instagram Live under the hashtag #quarantinewithloni. Love's show attracts 50,000 to 100,000 viewers.


title: Mike Bibby

text: Michael Bibby (born May 13, 1978) is an American former professional basketball player. He played professionally for 14 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He last served as the head coach for Hillcrest Prep Academy in Phoenix, Arizona.


title: Mike Bibby

text: Bibby played college basketball for the Arizona Wildcats, with whom he won the 1997 NCAA Championship. He was drafted second overall by the Vancouver Grizzlies in the 1998 NBA draft. He was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team in his first season with the Grizzlies. He also played for the Sacramento Kings, Atlanta Hawks, Washington Wizards, Miami Heat and New York Knicks. He is the son of former NBA player Henry Bibby.


title: Mike Bibby

text: Bibby attended Shadow Mountain High School, and won an Arizona state championship as a point guard under coach Jerry Conner.


title: Mike Bibby

text: As a freshman at Arizona playing under coach Lute Olson, Bibby helped lead the Wildcats to the NCAA championship in 1997, scoring 19 points in the overtime, 84–79 NCAA Championship Game win versus the University of Kentucky and finished third in the voting for the 1998 Wooden Award. He was selected to the ’97 All-Final Four Team, after also being named Pac-10 Freshman of the Year after posting averages of 13.5 ppg, 5.2 apg and 3.2 rpg. Bibby and his father are one of four father-son duos to each win an NCAA basketball championship.


title: Mike Bibby

text: His sophomore year was just as impressive, as he was named Pac-10 Player of the Year (1997–98), after averaging 17.2 ppg, 5.7 apg and 3.0 rpg (.464 FG%, .387 3FG%, .755 FT%). He started all 69 games during his Wildcat career and earned First-Team All-America honors after his sophomore campaign.


title: Mike Bibby

text: Following his sophomore season, Bibby entered the 1998 NBA Draft and was selected by the Vancouver Grizzlies with the second overall pick.


title: Mike Bibby

text: In his first season with the Grizzlies, Bibby averaged 13.2 points, 6.5 assists and 2.7 rebounds per game earning NBA All-Rookie honors during the season which was abbreviated by a labor dispute. He improved those numbers in his next two seasons with the team, averaging 14.5 points per game during the 99-00 season and 15.9 points per game as well as what would be a career-best 8.4 assists per game during the 00-01 season, but the Grizzlies continued to struggle. On January 16, 2000 and April 2, 2000, Bibby twice tied Vancouver's franchise record for steals in a single game with seven. On June 27, 2001, just after the Grizzlies had relocated to Memphis due to a overall lack of success in Vancouver, Bibby and Brent Price were traded to the Sacramento Kings for Jason Williams and Nick Anderson.


title: Mike Bibby

text: In his first season with Sacramento, Bibby formed one of the league's best duos alongside Chris Webber. The two of them guided the Kings to an NBA best-record at 61–21, and a Pacific division title over their archrivals the Los Angeles Lakers, who at the time were the two-time defending NBA Champions. In the first two rounds of the playoffs, they easily defeated the Utah Jazz and Dallas Mavericks, setting up a Western Conference Finals match-up against the Lakers. The 2002 Western Conference Finals between the Sacramento Kings and Los Angeles Lakers was one of the most memorable in league history. Bibby's performance during the series, perhaps most memorably his Game 5 game winner, earned him a reputation as a clutch performer, and as a reward, he was granted a 7-year, $80.5 million contract.


title: Mike Bibby

text: During the 2002–03 season, Bibby was hampered by injuries, playing in only 55 games, but still averaged a respectable 15.9 points per game with the Kings going 59–23 and securing second seed in the West, as well as a second-consecutive division title. They faced the Utah Jazz and Dallas Mavericks in the first two rounds respectively for the second consecutive playoffs, but after defeating the Jazz, 4–1, lost to the Mavericks in seven games. The Kings had lost Chris Webber to season-ending injury in game 2 against Dallas, but still forced the series to seven games.


title: Mike Bibby

text: For the 2003–04 season, Bibby posted some of the best numbers of his career, scoring 1,506 points (18.4 per game) and helping the Kings reach the playoffs. Bibby helped to lift the Kings over the Dallas Mavericks in the first round, scoring a career playoff-best 36 points in the clinching Game 5. They would go on to lose in the second round for the second consecutive year, this time to the Minnesota Timberwolves 4–3.


title: Mike Bibby

text: The next two seasons would see Sacramento taking yet another step backwards, losing in the opening round of the playoffs in both years. During the 2005–06 season, Bibby started all 82 games, and averaged a career-high 21.1 points per game. They would lose in the first round of the playoffs to the defending-champion Spurs 4–2.


title: Mike Bibby

text: Bibby was made a guest of honor by the Sacramento Kings as he sat court side to watch the game against the Chicago Bulls on November 20, 2014. Along with former teammate Chris Webber, the pair were introduced to the crowd along with video clips as part of the team honoring its legends.


title: Mike Bibby

text: On February 16, 2008 the Atlanta Hawks acquired Bibby in exchange for Shelden Williams, Anthony Johnson, Tyronn Lue, Lorenzen Wright and a 2008 second-round draft pick (which was used to select Sean Singletary.


title: Mike Bibby

text: Battling injuries and joining a Hawks team that was 22–28, Bibby put up 14.1 points and 6.6 assists per game while working in an unfamiliar offense to lead the Hawks to their first playoff berth in eight years. Despite being the eighth seed and expected to be swept out of the first round, Bibby helped the Hawks force an improbable seven-game series against the Boston Celtics, who went on to win the NBA Championship.


title: Mike Bibby

text: The next season, Bibby averaged 15 points, 5 assists and 1.2 steals per game to help the Hawks win their first playoff series since 1999, against the Miami Heat. The Hawks lost in the conference semifinals against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Bibby was also selected as a participant for the Three Point Shooting Competition.


title: Mike Bibby

text: On July 7, 2009, Bibby and the Hawks agreed to a three-year deal worth about $18 million. In the same offseason, the Hawks traded for Jamal Crawford and drafted Jeff Teague. Though Bibby would remain the Hawks starting point guard, he was not relied on to be a top scorer as he had in years past. Bibby was credited for his leadership and unselfishness that helped Atlanta to consecutive playoff appearances.


title: Mike Bibby

text: On February 23, 2011, Atlanta traded Bibby to the Washington Wizards, along with Jordan Crawford, Maurice Evans and a first-round pick in the 2011 draft, in exchange for Kirk Hinrich and Hilton Armstrong. On February 28, 2011, after playing two games for Washington, Bibby agreed to a contract buyout. He gave up his following year's entire $6.2 million salary in hopes of joining a contending team, such as the Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics, San Antonio Spurs or Miami Heat, all of whom expressed interest in Bibby.


title: Mike Bibby

text: On March 2, 2011, the Miami Heat signed Bibby after he cleared waivers. He became the Heat's starting point guard and started all 20 playoff games he appeared in, en route to the first NBA Finals of his career. Playing against the Dallas Mavericks, the Heat were defeated 4 games to 2. Following the season, Miami elected to re-sign the younger Mario Chalmers and draft Norris Cole over re-signing Bibby.


title: Mike Bibby

text: After the NBA lockout, Bibby signed a one-year contract with the New York Knicks, bringing his career full circle to the team that drafted his father, Henry. Backing up Jeremy Lin during the "Linsanity" phenomenon, Bibby saw limited playing time prior to Lin's season-ending injury. He and Baron Davis split starting point guard duties through the rest of the season and in New York's first round playoff series against Miami.


title: Mike Bibby

text: At season's end his contract expired, and he was deemed unlikely to return to the team, after New York signed Raymond Felton and Jason Kidd.


title: Mike Bibby

text: Bibby coached his son Michael Jr. on the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) club Team Bibby. In 2013, he returned to his alma mater, Shadow Mountain High School, as an assistant basketball coach. He working alongside his former high school coach Jerry Connor, who had also returned that year. Michael Jr. was the starting point guard for the Matadors varsity team, which also included two other teammates from Bibby's AAU team. Conner held the head coach title, but Bibby was the de facto leader of the team. After Shadow Mountain won the state championship that year, Conner left to coach another school, leaving Bibby to run the team as an assistant coach. At the time, Bibby did not hold the certifications for the head coach title.


title: Mike Bibby

text: In February 2019, the Paradise Valley Unified School District confirmed that Bibby was under investigation by Phoenix police for allegedly sexually abusing a teacher at Shadow Mountain High, where Bibby had since become head coach. The teacher alleged that in February 2017 Bibby made sexually explicit statements to her, groped her, and rubbed his genitals against her. As a result of the allegations, he was removed as head coach of the Shadow Mountain High basketball team. In April, the police said that they did not find probable cause for filing charges against Bibby.


title: Mike Bibby

text: Bibby was hired by Hillcrest Prep in Phoenix in October 2019, coaching them for 10 games before both sides mutually parted ways.


title: Mike Bibby

text: Bibby is the son of Henry Bibby, a former NBA and UCLA player and former USC basketball coach. Mike's mother, Virginia, is a native of Trinidad and Tobago. Mike Bibby is the nephew of the late former Major League Baseball player Jim Bibby (1944-2010), and the brother-in-law of former Miami Heat teammate Eddie House, who was also his Sacramento Kings teammate during the 2004–05 season. Mike also has two cousins who became professional athletes, US national team soccer player Robbie Findley and former NFL wide receiver Shaun McDonald. Bibby and his wife, Darcy, have four children. Son Michael Jr. played college ball for South Florida before transferring to Appalachian State in 2017.


title: Mike Bibby

text: Two decades after leaving college for the NBA, Bibby graduated from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, with a Bachelor of Arts in multidisciplinary studies in 2017.


title: Rich Sommer

text: Rich Sommer (born February 2, 1978) is an American actor, best known for his portrayal of Harry Crane on the AMC drama series "Mad Men". He is also known for his roles in the comedy-drama films "The Devil Wears Prada" (2006), "Celeste and Jesse Forever" (2012), "The Giant Mechanical Man" (2012), and "Hello, My Name Is Doris" (2015), as well as voicing Henry in the 2016 video game Firewatch. He guest starred in a number of "Elementary" episodes. More recently, he portrayed Detective Dean Riley in The CW crime drama television series "In The Dark" (2019).


title: Rich Sommer

text: Sommer was born in Ohio and raised in Stillwater, Minnesota, where he was educated at Oak-Land Junior High School and Stillwater Area High School. He then went on to attend Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, where he majored in theater and sang in The Concordia Choir. Sommer studied improvisation at the Brave New Workshop in Minneapolis, and started an improv group, the Slush Puppies, in Moorhead. In 2004, he received his Master of Fine Arts in acting from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Sommer returned to the school in 2006 to teach icebreakers to law students, and again in 2008 to do an improv workshop with undergraduate theatre students.


title: Rich Sommer

text: Sommer's most notable film role to date is as Anne Hathaway's friend Doug in the 2006 film "The Devil Wears Prada". He has appeared in commercials for companies such as Bud Light, Dairy Queen, Nextel, and Sprint.


title: Rich Sommer

text: From 2007 until its ending in 2015, Sommer maintained a regular role on AMC's period drama series "Mad Men" as Harry Crane, a media buyer who becomes head of the television department in a 1960s Madison Avenue ad agency. In 2008, Sommer appeared as a guest star in two episodes of NBC's mockumentary sitcom series "The Office", portraying the role of Alex. In 2010, he played Jimmy Wilson in a guest appearance on "Ugly Betty".


title: Rich Sommer

text: In 2011, Sommer guest starred in two episodes of The CW's drama-thriller series "Nikita" as electrical engineer and CIA consultant Malcolm Mitchell. The following year, he co-starred with Bob Odenkirk and Jenna Fischer in the romantic comedy film "The Giant Mechanical Man". In May 2012, he began performances of the Roundabout Theatre Company's production of "Harvey" on Broadway, co-starring alongside Jim Parsons. Also that same year, he guest starred in NBC's police procedural series "" as Boyd Hartwell.


title: Rich Sommer

text: On March 1, 2014, it was reported that Sommer had been cast in the CBS pilot "Good Session"; however, the network later declined to pick up the project to series. In November 2014, Sommer reprised his role as Harlan Emple in an episode of CBS's procedural drama series "Elementary", after guest starring as the character in an episode the previous year. From February 2 to March 13, 2016, Sommer starred in the Off-Broadway revival of Sam Shepard's play "Buried Child", with Ed Harris and Amy Madigan. That same year, he also co-starred in Rob Reiner's biopic "LBJ" as Press Secretary Pierre Salinger, alongside Woody Harrelson in the title role.


title: Rich Sommer

text: In 2018, Sommer appeared in the horror mystery film "Summer of 84", opposite Graham Verchere, Judah Lewis and Tiera Skovbye.


title: Rich Sommer

text: Sommer is a fan favorite on the podcast "Never Not Funny", hosted by comedian and pioneer Jimmy Pardo. In 2020, he became a recurring guest on the streaming version of The George Lucas Talk Show, appearing as himself and as his own fictional roommate, Steven Charleston.


title: Rich Sommer

text: Sommer lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Virginia Donohoe, whom he married on August 13, 2005. They have two children.


title: Ghost in the Shell: SAC 2045

text: The first season premiered exclusively on Netflix worldwide on April 23, 2020. It received generally negative reviews, with critics considering it inferior to previous "Ghost in the Shell" media due to multiple factors. A second season was released on May 23, 2022.


title: Ghost in the Shell: SAC 2045

text: In the year 2045 (11 years after events of Solid State Society), after an economic disaster known as the Simultaneous Global Default which destroyed the value of all forms of paper and electronic currency, the "Big 4" nations of the world are engaged in a state of never-ending "Sustainable War" to keep the economy going. In this world, Motoko, Batou, and other members of Public Security Section 9 have contracted themselves out as mercenaries under the group "GHOST," using their cybernetic enhancements and battle experience to earn a living while defusing hot-spots across the globe. However, the emergence of "Post Humans" and a conspiracy uncovered by former Chief Aramaki force Section 9 to reunite.


title: Ghost in the Shell: SAC 2045

text: Kodansha and Production I.G announced on April 7, 2017 that Kenji Kamiyama and Shinji Aramaki would be co-directing a new "Ghost in the Shell" anime production. On December 7, 2018, it was reported by Netflix that they had acquired the worldwide streaming rights to the original net animation (ONA) anime series, titled "Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045", and that it would premiere on April 23, 2020. The series is in 3DCG and Sola Digital Arts collaborated with Production I.G on the project. Ilya Kuvshinov handled character designs. An English dub was not available until May 3 due to the COVID-19 pandemic causing production delays for its recording. It was stated that the series will have two seasons of 12 episodes each, with the second set released on May 23, 2022.


title: Ghost in the Shell: SAC 2045

text: In July 2021, it was announced that the first season would be adapted into a compilation film, subtitled "Sustainable War", which premiered on November 12, 2021. Netflix released the film worldwide on May 9, 2022.


title: Ghost in the Shell: SAC 2045

text: The first season of the anime received generally negative reviews from critics, garnering a 14% approval rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.


title: Ghost in the Shell: SAC 2045

text: Max Genecov of "Polygon" wrote that the series had "none of the visceral aesthetics or mood that made Ghost in the Shell an indelible element of how we think about our interconnected lives." Writing for The A.V. Club, Toussaint Egan rated the series a C−, calling the action sequences "awful" and opining that "as wonderful as it is to return to this series’ interpretations of Major Kusanagi and company after more than a decade away, you'd be better off dusting off "Stand Alone Complex" DVDs and give this one a pass." Kayla Cobb of Decider wrote "time and time again "SAC_2045" ignores the deeper path and chooses instead point and drool." Theron Martin of Anime News Network wrote that the series was "easily the weakest entry in the franchise so far, even below """.


title: Month

text: A month is a unit of time, used with calendars, that is approximately as long as a natural orbital period of the Moon; the words "month" and "Moon" are cognates. The traditional concept arose with the cycle of Moon phases; such lunar months ("lunations") are synodic months and last approximately 29.53 days. From excavated tally sticks, researchers have deduced that people counted days in relation to the Moon's phases as early as the Paleolithic age. Synodic months, based on the Moon's orbital period with respect to the Earth–Sun line, are still the basis of many calendars today, and are used to divide the year.


title: Month

text: The following types of months are mainly of significance in astronomy, most of them (but not the distinction between sidereal and tropical months) first recognized in Babylonian lunar astronomy.


title: Month

text: A synodic month is longer than a sidereal month because the Earth-Moon system is orbiting the Sun in the same direction as the Moon is orbiting the Earth. The Sun moves eastward with respect to the stars (as does the Moon) and it takes about 2.2 days longer for the Moon to return to the same apparent position with respect to the Sun.


title: Month

text: An anomalistic month is longer than a sidereal month because the perigee moves in the same direction as the Moon is orbiting the Earth, one revolution in nine years. Therefore, the Moon takes a little longer to return to perigee than to return to the same star.


title: Month

text: A draconic month is shorter than a sidereal month because the nodes move in the opposite direction as the Moon is orbiting the Earth, one revolution in 18.6 years. Therefore, the Moon returns to the same node slightly earlier than it returns to the same star.


title: Month

text: At the simplest level, most well-known lunar calendars are based on the initial approximation that 2 lunations last 59 solar days: a 30-day full month followed by a 29-day hollow month — but this is only roughly accurate and regularly needs intercalation (correction) by a leap day.


title: Month

text: Additionally, the synodic month does not fit easily into the solar (or 'tropical') year, which makes accurate, rule-based lunisolar calendars that combine the two cycles complicated. The most common solution to this problem is the Metonic cycle, which takes advantage of the fact that 235 lunations are approximately 19 tropical years (which add up to not quite 6,940 days): 12 years have 12 lunar months, and 7 years are 13 lunar months long. However, a Metonic calendar based year will drift against the seasons by about one day every 2 centuries. Metonic calendars include the calendar used in the Antikythera Mechanism about 21 centuries ago, and the Hebrew calendar.


title: Month

text: Alternatively in a pure lunar calendar, years are defined as having always 12 lunations, so a year is 354 or 355 days long: the Islamic calendar is the prime example. Consequently, an Islamic year is about 11 days shorter than a solar year and cycles through the seasons in about 33 solar = 34 lunar years: the Islamic New Year has a different Gregorian calendar date in each (solar) year.


title: Month

text: Purely solar calendars often have months which no longer relate to the phase of the Moon, but are based only on the motion of the Sun relative to the equinoxes and solstices, or are purely conventional like in the widely used Gregorian calendar.


title: Month

text: The complexity required in an accurate lunisolar calendar may explain why solar calendars have generally replaced lunisolar and lunar calendars for civil use in most societies.


title: Month

text: The Hellenic calendars, the Hebrew Lunisolar calendar and the Islamic Lunar calendar started the month with the first appearance of the thin crescent of the new moon.


title: Month

text: However, the motion of the Moon in its orbit is very complicated and its period is not constant. The date and time of this actual observation depends on the exact geographical longitude as well as latitude, atmospheric conditions, the visual acuity of the observers, etc. Therefore, the beginning and lengths of months defined by observation cannot be accurately predicted.


title: Month

text: While some like orthodox Islam and the Jewish Karaites still rely on actual moon observations, reliance on astronomical calculations and tabular methods is increasingly common in practice.


title: Month

text: Roman calendar was reformed several times, the last three enduring reforms during historical times. The last three reformed Roman calendars are called the "Julian", "Augustan", and "Gregorian"; all had the same number of days in their months. Despite other attempts, the names of the months after the Augustan calendar reform have persisted, and the number of days in each month (except February) have remained constant since before the Julian reform. The Gregorian calendar, like the Roman calendars before it, has twelve months, whose Anglicized names are:


title: Month

text: The famous mnemonic "Thirty days hath September" is a common way of teaching the lengths of the months in the English-speaking world. The knuckles of the four fingers of one's hand and the spaces between them can be used to remember the lengths of the months. By making a fist, each month will be listed as one proceeds across the hand. All months landing on a knuckle are 31 days long and those landing between them are 30 days long, with variable February being the remembered exception. When the knuckle of the index finger is reached (July), go over to the first knuckle on the other fist, held next to the first (or go back to the first knuckle) and continue with August. This physical mnemonic has been taught to primary school students for many decades, if not centuries.


title: Month

text: This cyclical pattern of month lengths matches the musical keyboard alternation of wide white keys (31 days) and narrow black keys (30 days). The note F corresponds to January, the note F corresponds to February, the exceptional 28–29 day month, and so on.


title: Month

text: The Romans divided their months into three parts, which they called the "calends", the "nones", and the "ides". Their system is somewhat intricate.


title: Month

text: The ides occur on the thirteenth day in eight of the months, but in March, May, July, and October, they occur on the fifteenth. The nones always occur 8 days (one Roman ‘week’) before the ides, i.e., on the fifth or the seventh. The calends are always the first day of the month, and before Julius Caesar's reform fell sixteen days (two Roman weeks) after the ides (except the ides of February and the intercalary month).


title: Month

text: These are also the names used in the Indian national calendar for the newly redefined months. Purushottam Maas or Adhik Maas (translit. ' = 'extra', ' = 'month') is an extra month in the Hindu calendar that is inserted to keep the lunar and solar calendars aligned. "Purushottam" is an epithet of Vishnu, to whom the month is dedicated.


title: Month

text: The names in the solar calendar are just the names of the zodiac sign in which the sun travels. They are


title: Month

text: The Baháʼí calendar is the calendar used by the Baháʼí Faith. It is a solar calendar with regular years of 365 days, and leap years of 366 days. Years are composed of 19 months of 19 days each (361 days), plus an extra period of "Intercalary Days" (4 in regular and 5 in leap years). The months are named after the attributes of God. Days of the year begin and end at sundown.


title: Month

text: The Iranian / Persian calendar, currently used in Iran and Afghanistan, also has 12 months. The Persian names are included in the parentheses. It begins on the northern Spring equinox.


title: Month

text: The Bangla calendar, used in Bangladesh, follows solar months and it has six seasons. The months and seasons in the calendar are:


title: Month

text: Different from the Hindu calendar, the Khmer calendar consists of both a lunar calendar and a solar calendar. The solar is used more commonly than the lunar calendar. There are 12 months and the numbers of days follow the Julian and Gregorian calendar.


title: Month

text: The Khmer lunar calendar contains 12 months; however, the eighth month is repeated (as a "leap month") every two or three years, making 13 months instead of 12.


title: Month

text: Pingelapese, a language from Micronesia, also uses a lunar calendar. There are 12 months associated with their calendar. The moon first appears in March, they name this month "Kahlek". This system has been used for hundreds of years and throughout many generations. This calendar is cyclical and relies on the position and shape of the moon.


title: Month

text: The Sinhalese calendar is the Buddhist calendar in Sri Lanka with Sinhala names. Each full moon Poya day marks the start of a Buddhist lunar month. The first month is Vesak.


title: Month

text: The old Icelandic calendar is not in official use anymore, but some Icelandic holidays and annual feasts are still calculated from it. It has 12 months, broken down into two groups of six often termed "winter months" and "summer months". The calendar is peculiar in that the months always start on the same weekday rather than on the same date. Hence Þorri always starts on a Friday sometime between January 22 and January 28 "", Góa always starts on a Sunday between February 21 and February 27 "".


title: Month

text: Like the Old Norse calendar, the Anglo-Saxons had their own calendar before they were Christianized which reflected native traditions and deities. These months were attested by Bede in his works "On Chronology" and "The Reckoning of Time" written in the 8th century. His Old English month names are probably written as pronounced in Bede’s native Northumbrian dialect. The months were named after the moon; the new moon marking the end of an old month and start of a new month; the full moon occurring in the middle of the month, after which the whole month took its name.


title: Month

text: Historically Hungary used a 12-month calendar that appears to have been zodiacal in nature but eventually came to correspond to the Gregorian months as shown below:


title: Month

text: The ancient civil Egyptian calendar had a year that was 365 days long and was divided into 12 months of 30 days each, plus 5 extra days (epagomenes) at the end of the year. The months were divided into 3 "weeks" of ten days each. Because the ancient Egyptian year was almost a quarter of a day shorter than the solar year and stellar events "wandered" through the calendar, it is referred to as Annus Vagus or "Wandering Year".


title: Month

text: The Nisga'a calendar coincides with the Gregorian calendar with each month referring to the type of harvesting that is done during the month.


title: Month

text: This calendar was proposed during the French Revolution, and used by the French government for about twelve years from late 1793. There were twelve months of 30 days each, grouped into three ten-day weeks called "décades". The five or six extra days needed to approximate the tropical year were placed after the months at the end of each year. A period of four years ending on a leap day was to be called a "Franciade". It began at the autumn equinox:


title: Month

text: Ojibwe month names are based on the key feature of the month. Consequently, months between various regions have different names based on the key feature of each month in their particular region. In the Eastern Ojibwe, this can be seen in when the sucker makes its run, which allows the Ojibwe to fish for them. Additionally, Rhodes also informs of not only the variability in the month names, but how in Eastern Ojibwe these names were originally applied to the lunar months the Ojibwe originally used, which was a lunisolar calendar, fixed by the date of "Akiinaaniwan" (typically December 27) that marks when sunrise is the latest in the Northern Hemisphere.


title: OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes

text: OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes is an American animated television series created by Ian Jones-Quartey for Cartoon Network. The show is based on Jones-Quartey's pilot "Lakewood Plaza Turbo", which was released as part of Cartoon Network's 2013 Summer Shorts project. It was produced by Cartoon Network Studios. The web series premiered on Cartoon Network's YouTube channel and on Cartoon Network Video on February 4, 2016.


title: OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes

text: On March 9, 2017, nearly four years after the original short's premiere, Cartoon Network announced that the television series had been greenlit, and it premiered on August 1, 2017. The opening sequence was storyboarded by Japanese artist Hiroyuki Imaishi, co-founder of Studio Trigger.


title: OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes

text: On December 4, 2017, the series was confirmed to be renewed for a second season, which premiered on March 18, 2018. A third and final season, which was announced on June 26, 2019, premiered on July 7, 2019; the final episode aired on September 6, 2019.


title: OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes

text: The show is available on Hulu. It was also made available on HBO Max after its launch, but was one of several shows removed in August 2022 as a result of the Warner Bros. Discovery merger.


title: OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes

text: "OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes" is set in the retro-futuristic year of 201X. The series follows the titular character, K.O., and his efforts to become the world's greatest hero while working at Gar's Bodega (run by Mr. Gar), a hero supply shop in Lakewood Plaza. Alongside him are his best friends and co-workers Radicles, a narcissistic alien, and Enid, a levelheaded big sister–like ninja, as well as other heroes who work in the area.


title: OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes

text: In addition, Stephanie Nadolny played K.O. and Gladys in the pilot and several episodes of the first season, and Mena Suvari portrayed Enid in the pilot.


title: OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes

text: The pilot, "Lakewood Plaza Turbo", aired in 2013, and the show was greenlit in March 2017, with the first episode airing on August 1. To promote "OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes", Cartoon Network's Chief Content Officer Rob Sorcher hinted many times that it would become a full series. On March 9, 2017 on PlayStation's Blog, Chris Waldron, the VP of Games & Digital Products for Cartoon Network, announced a series in the works, along with a video game. It was announced as part of a slate of animations for the 2017-18 season, alongside new series such as "Craig of the Creek" and "Summer Camp Island", and recurring series.


title: OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes

text: The show was traditionally animated in South Korea by Digital eMation and Sunmin Image Pictures. Unlike many animated programs, which are inked on paper and then scanned for coloring, "OK K.O.!" was drawn in pencil. The animators pencil each frame on paper using a light table, and then color them digitally on a layer beneath the transparent line work, to retain a hand-drawn quality. For Jones-Quartey, it was important for the audience to "never forget that these are drawings." This was partially inspired by the first season of "The Simpsons", which had a loose, rough quality to its animation. In addition, the show's design sense is inspired by "Yoshi's Island". Animation Magazine later stated that the 30-person production team at Cartoon Network's studios that works on the series was "ruled by storyboards", which refers to the show being board-driven rather than script-driven. Diego Molano, later a creator of "Victor and Valentino", was a character designer on the series.


title: OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes

text: In September 2017, Jones-Quartey said that Dobbin Center was the inspiration for the Lakewood Plaza, while Boxmore represented Columbia Crossing, a strip mall which opened in 1997. He also stated that each episode takes nine months to work on "from start to finish," and stated that the series spoke to kids who are interested in superheroes, "special powers" and enjoy drawing.


title: OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes

text: In August 2021, Ian Jones-Quartey told Insider that in hiring people for the show, he avoided relying on a trusted network of people, prioritizing finding a diverse group of people, doing many open calls, with the studio having a database with which they "sort of cold emailed people," then asking people to come in after looking at what they had done in the past.


title: OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes

text: Series creator Ian Jones-Quartey hinted at this in an interview with Den of Geek published a day before the first episode aired, saying those watching it would "be delighted" by the LGBTQ representation in the series. There were LGBTQ characters in the main cast, among supporting characters and other recurring characters. For instance, the series featured two married couples: Lord Boxman and Professor Venomous, two villains, and Joff and Nick Army, two recurring heroes. The series was noted as portraying Boxman and Venomous romantically, and ending with a same-sex wedding between Joff and Army in the series finale "Thank You for Watching the Show" on September 6, 2019. Before the episode aired, Jones-Quartey confirmed Army and Joff as a canon gay couple and Gregg, a minor character, as non-binary, while Bobo was implied to be agender. Enid, a bisexual ninja and witch, and Red Action, a lesbian, were recognized by GLAAD as a couple, and kissed in the episode ""Red Action 3: Grudgement Day"".


title: OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes

text: The show creators also confirmed that Yellow was possibly Red's ex-girlfriend, with the show's crew calling them a "committed couple," and saying their relationship developed "very naturally." Jones-Quartey later said that Red Action and Enid "run a dojo together and kiss." Other reviewers stated that Enid has possible romantic feelings toward Elodie. Additionally, Gregg, a minor character, was confirmed as non-binary by Jones-Quartey, who also confirmed Venomous as bisexual, but not non-binary, and Boxman as pansexual. In October 2020, Jones-Quartey added that Professor Venomous and Lord Boxman of "OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes" were married at the end of the series. Jones-Quartey also said that The Hue Troop, which Red was once part of, are all LGBTQ characters. When asked about Radicles' sexuality, Toby Jones, one of the supervising directors, confirmed that Rad is "pretty fluid and I think he understands that about himself." Bobo was implied to be agender by Jones-Quartey.


title: OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes

text: "OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes" premiered on Cartoon Network on August 1, 2017. The first 6 episodes were released online on June 13, 2017. It also aired on sister network Boomerang from August 7 to September 1, 2017. It was also featured at the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con.


title: OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes

text: On December 7, 2017, the series was renewed for a second season. In early 2018, Let’s Play Heroes, a video game adaptation of the series premiered. The second season premiered on March 19, 2018.


title: OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes

text: On October 8, 2018, a crossover episode entitled "Crossover Nexus" between characters in "OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes", "Steven Universe", "Ben 10" and "Teen Titans Go!" aired.


title: OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes

text: On July 9, 2019, the third and final season of "OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes" began airing on Cartoon Network. On August 4, 2019, the episode "Let's Meet Sonic" aired, a crossover episode with characters from "Sonic the Hedgehog".


title: OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes

text: On August 6, 2019, Ian Jones-Quartey announced that Cartoon Network opted to not renew the show for a fourth season. The series finale aired on September 6, 2019.


title: OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes

text: As of August 2022, all episodes are available for digital purchase on the iTunes Store, Apple TV, and Amazon Prime Video, as well as streaming on Hulu.


title: OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes

text: On September 1, 2020, the entire series became available on HBO Max. On August 17, 2022, it was announced that the platform would be removing several series, including "OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes". All videos and tweets of the show published by Cartoon Network were taken down shortly after. Creator Ian Jones-Quartey was not informed of the reason for the content removal.


title: OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes

text: A mobile game, "OK K.O.! Lakewood Plaza Turbo", was launched on Android and iOS on February 4, 2016 as a free game for those platforms. It is a beat 'em up developed by Double Stallion Games and published by Cartoon Network Games. The game's original score was composed by Mathieu Lavoie and FX Dupas at Vibe Avenue in Montreal, Canada. The game is no longer available.


title: OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes

text: Capybara Games developed a video game based on the show for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows. Entitled "OK K.O.! Let's Play Heroes", it was released on January 23, 2018, and a Nintendo Switch port was released on October 30, 2018.


title: OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes

text: The series was received positively. Melissa Camacho of Common Sense Media described the series as fun, with a "hard-working wannabe hero" but warned of cartoon violence. She also called the series "quirky", said it has "lots of positive messages" and "clever moments", with some scenes understood more by young tweens rather than small children.


title: OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes

text: Praise has been given to the series' overarching storyline and character writing, as well as for its LGBTQ representation.


title: The Royal Scam

text: The Royal Scam is the fifth studio album by American rock band Steely Dan. It was produced by Gary Katz and was originally released by ABC Records in 1976. "The Royal Scam" features more prominent guitar work than the prior Steely Dan album, "Katy Lied", which had been the first without founding guitarist Jeff Baxter. Guitarists on the recording include Walter Becker, Denny Dias, Larry Carlton, Elliott Randall and Dean Parks.


title: The Royal Scam

text: In common with other Steely Dan albums, "The Royal Scam" is littered with cryptic allusions to people and events both real and fictional. In a BBC interview in 2000, Becker and Fagen revealed that "Kid Charlemagne" is loosely based on Owsley Stanley, the notorious drug "chef" who was famous for manufacturing hallucinogenic compounds, and that "Caves of Altamira", based on a book by Hans Baumann, is about the loss of innocence, the narrative about a visitor to the Cave of Altamira who registers his astonishment at the prehistoric drawings. It is also influenced by Plato's Cave Allegory and Keats' "Ode on a Grecian Urn".


title: The Royal Scam

text: The album went gold and peaked at number 15 on the "Billboard" 200. The album was re-issued by MCA Records in 1979 following the sale of the ABC Records label to MCA.


title: The Royal Scam

text: The album cover shows a man in a suit, sleeping on a radiator, and apparently dreaming of skyscraper-beast hybrids. The cover was created from a painting by Zox and a photograph by Charlie Ganse, and was originally created for Van Morrison's unreleased 1975 album, "Mechanical Bliss", the concept being a satire of the American Dream. In the liner notes for the 1999 remaster of the album, Fagen and Becker claim it to be "the most hideous album cover of the seventies, bar none (excepting perhaps "Can't Buy a Thrill")."


title: The Royal Scam

text: In the song "Everything You Did", a lyric says, "turn up the Eagles, the neighbors are listening." Glenn Frey of the Eagles said, "Apparently Walter Becker's girlfriend loved the Eagles, and she played them all the time. I think it drove him nuts. So, the story goes that they were having a fight one day and that was the genesis of the line." Given that the two bands shared a manager (Irving Azoff) and that the Eagles proclaimed their admiration for Steely Dan, this was more friendly rivalry than feud.


title: The Royal Scam

text: Later that year in a nod back to Steely Dan for the free publicity, and inspired by Steely Dan's lyric style, the Eagles penned the lyrics, "They stab it with their steely knives but they just can't kill the beast" in their hit "Hotel California". Frey commented, "We just wanted to allude to Steely Dan rather than mentioning them outright, so 'Dan' got changed to 'knives,' which is still, you know, a penile metaphor." This comment refers to the name's claimed origin in William S. Burroughs' book "Naked Lunch". Timothy B. Schmit, who sang background vocals on "The Royal Scam", would later join the Eagles.