title: Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend

text: "Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend" has received strong reviews. Writing for "Rolling Stone", Matt Saincome listed it among the best new podcasts of 2018: "Instead of the heavily choreographed late-night talk show conversations, listeners are treated to a much more vulnerable, behind the scenes vibe from O'Brien. The dynamic between him and his assistant Sona Movsesian helps with this. The relationship is endearing and serves as a springboard for the listener to get to know Conan better, by hearing how those around him see him." Saincome listed the podcasts with Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard as highlights among the first few episodes, writing, "All episodes of this podcast are worth a listen so far, but the one-two punch of Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard stood out for the genuine warmth and discussion of Conan's personal life."


title: Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend

text: In his review for "Vulture", Nicholas Quah praised O'Brien as a stellar podcast host in a very crowded field, writing, "His weirdness translates well to the casual intimacy that's come to define the podcast as a platform for performance, and his default stance of efficient self-deprecation makes the show feel accessible in ways that other comedy podcasts, fronted by needier ids, may not." Quah also praised the dynamic among O'Brien and his sidekicks on the show, Sona Movsesian and Matt Gourley: "It also helps that O'Brien is great at the performance of longer-form interviews, effectively balancing the impulse of filling the room with being genuinely curious, and there's also a lot of charm to be found in the podcast, particularly in the core O'Brien-Movsesian-Gourley workplace dynamic, which goes a long way to providing listeners with a sheen of habitual comfort."


title: Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend

text: In an article for "The Boston Globe", Joshua Macht noted that O'Brien establishing a weekly podcast confirmed that podcasting is no longer on the fringes of the digital audio market. Macht writes, "The arrival of heavy hitters such as Conan O'Brien may not signal the end of podcasting—or even the peak—but it will usher in a new phase for the medium."


title: Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend

text: In a review for BBC Radio 4's "Podcast Radio Hour", Jake Yapp celebrated the "sincerity and openness" of the show, despite its strong humor content. Yapp also praised the parity between guest and host, despite the many outstanding comedians on the podcast, and noted that there was a sincere lack of one-upmanship common among comedians.


title: Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend

text: According to Irish writer Mark Farrelly, who called the podcast an "auditory delight", the podcast has been developing a "cult following" in Europe. Farrelly also praised the unexpected humor in the "Conan O'Brien Pays Off the Mortgage on His Beach House" segments, with O'Brien "showing his genius by turning live reads into top notch comedy material."


title: Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend

text: O'Brien's success as a podcast host was the cover story of the August 20, 2019, issue of "Variety" magazine, in which he was dubbed "the darling of the podcasting world." That day, Marc Maron appeared on "Conan" with the issue, jokingly taking offense that O'Brien had been dubbed a pioneer of the medium after approximately 30 episodes, whereas Maron had done more than 1,000 at that point.


title: Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend

text: Matt Gourley stated in the May 12, 2019, episode featuring Bill Hader, that each episode receives one million downloads in its first cycle, shortly after release, which "Variety" referred to as "blockbuster numbers for a podcast." In August 2021, Deadline Hollywood reported the podcast had reached over 250 million downloads and averaged more than 9 million downloads per month.


title: Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend

text: Episodes 37, 38, and 39 were rereleases of the Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Obama, and Bob Newhart episodes respectively.


title: Maria Ewing

text: Maria Louise Ewing (March 27, 1950 – January 9, 2022) was an American opera singer. In the early part of her career she performed solely as a lyric mezzo-soprano; she later assumed full soprano parts as well. Her signature roles were Blanche, Carmen, Dorabella, Rosina and Salome. Some critics regarded her as one of the most compelling singing actresses of her generation.


title: Maria Ewing

text: Maria Louise Ewing was born in Detroit, Michigan, on March 27, 1950. She was the youngest of four daughters of Hermina Ewing, "née" Veraar, a Dutch-born homemaker, and Norman Isaac Ewing, an electrical engineer at a steel company. Her father claimed to be of Sioux descent, but he was the son of parents who were both part European, part African; an episode of the genealogical television show "Finding Your Roots" devoted to Ewing's daughter, the actress Rebecca Hall, revealed that he was the son of John William Ewing, born into slavery, a prominent figure in the African-American community of Washington DC, and a descendant of Bazabeel Norman, a notable African-American veteran of the American Revolutionary War. (Rebecca Hall's interest in her mother's ethnicity inspired her to make a film, "Passing", the protagonist of which is an African-American woman whose skin is light enough for her to be perceived as white.) According to Ewing's former husband, her father's African roots caused her family so much anxiety that a particularly dark-skinned relative of theirs was forbidden from visiting their home during the hours of daylight. Ewing herself was unembarrassed by her racial make-up, regarding her African roots not with shame but with pride.


title: Maria Ewing

text: Ewing's parents were both musical enthusiasts: her mother was a keen collector of classical recordings, and her father played the piano well enough to attract an audience of admiring neighbors. Ewing's own musical education began with piano lessons when she was thirteen. As well as playing solo piano pieces, she sometimes acted as an accompanist for one of her sisters, Frances, occasionally singing duets with her; their mother was sufficiently impressed by her voice to encourage her to complement her keyboard work by studying singing too. Coached by a local voice teacher, Ewing joined the alto section of the chorus at her Detroit high school—Jared W. Finney High School—and was soon participating in and winning singing competitions. When she was seventeen, she became a pupil of Marjorie Gordon, a coloratura soprano (not to be confused with an English Gilbert and Sullivan soprano of the same name). After only a year of teaching her, Gordon suggested that she should apply to take part in Oakland University's Meadow Brook Music Festival. She auditioned for the role of Maddalena in a production of "Rigoletto" that was to be conducted by a young James Levine. Their meeting proved to be wonderfully serendipitous: Levine was so struck by her expressive power that he assured her that she had the potential to become a major artist, while for her part, she found in him a teacher, mentor, guide, champion and friend. It was in order to study with Levine that she sought and won a scholarship at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where her other instructors included the soprano Eleanor Steber. And after her graduation in 1970, it was at Levine's urging that she continued her training in New York City as a private pupil of the great mezzo-soprano Jennie Tourel, supporting herself by working in offices and clothing stores.


title: Maria Ewing

text: Ewing began her professional life as a lyric mezzo-soprano. Her debut was as Rosina in an English-language production of "Il barbiere di Siviglia" in Detroit in 1970, staged by a company now known as the Michigan Opera Theatre. (She returned to the role many times, including at Houston Grand Opera in 1976 and 1983, at Glyndebourne Festival Opera in 1981 and 1982 and at the Metropolitan Opera in 1982.) After three years of gradually building a career as a recitalist, concert artist and opera performer, she made her first appearance at a high-profile venue on June 29, 1973, when she starred at the Ravinia Festival singing a program of songs by Alban Berg accompanied by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Levine. "I cannot remember a young singer who has excited me more on a first hearing", wrote the "Chicago Tribune"'s Thomas Willis. "Still in her early twenties, she has the clear stamp of greatness in every movement and tone".


title: Maria Ewing

text: The first leading opera company that engaged Ewing was San Francisco's. She was their Mercédès in "Carmen" in 1973, and their Sicle in Francesco Cavalli's "Ormindo" in 1974. In 1975, Santa Fe Opera presented her in "Così fan tutte" as Dorabella, one of the parts with which she became most closely associated: she was highly praised in the role both at Glyndebourne in 1978 and at the Metropolitan Opera, with Levine on the podium, in 1982. In his history of Glyndebourne, Spike Hughes remembered Ewing's Dorabella as "a particular joy, with a natural gift of timing and an enchantingly comical face", while for Levine, Ewing was "the funniest, most stylish Dorabella you could imagine, absolutely sensational".


title: Maria Ewing

text: It was as Cherubino in "Le nozze di Figaro" that Ewing first appeared in Europe, playing the "farfallone amoroso" at Salzburg in 1976; she repeated the role there in 1979 and 1980. It was as Cherubino too that she first sang at the Metropolitan Opera on October 14, 1976 in a production to which she returned in 1977. In his autobiography, the director Lotfi Mansouri remembered Ewing at this stage in her career as "an alluring mezzo who could convince audiences possibly better than anyone else that her enchantingly sung Cherubino was really a boy". She offered another Mozart trousers role in 1977, when she sang Idamante in his "opera seria" "Idomeneo" at the San Francisco Opera. In 1980 and 1984, she appeared in his second da Ponte work when she was Zerlina in "Don Giovanni" at the Geneva Opera and the Met respectively. Her other "bel canto" mezzo-soprano role was Angelina in "La Cenerentola" (Houston Grand Opera, 1979; Geneva Opera, 1981).


title: Maria Ewing

text: As Ewing's career in opera progressed, her choice of parts became ever more eclectic, spanning the gamut from seventeenth century works by Monteverdi and Purcell to twentieth century pieces by Shostakovich and Poulenc. Ultimately she went so far as to adventure beyond the boundaries of her mezzo "Fach" and sing as a soprano too. Among the parts that she assumed were the title role in "La Périchole" (San Francisco Opera, 1976; Geneva Opera, 1982 and 1983); Blanche in "Dialogues des Carmélites" (Metropolitan Opera, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981 and 1987); Mélisande in "Pelléas et Mélisande" (La Scala, 1977; San Francisco Opera, 1979); Charlotte in "Werther" (San Francisco Opera, 1978); the Composer in "Ariadne auf Naxos" (Glyndebourne Festival Opera, 1981; Metropolitan Opera, 1984 and 1985); Susanna in "Le nozze di Figaro" (Geneva Opera, 1983; Lyric Opera of Chicago, 1987); Poppea in "L'incoronazione di Poppea" (Glyndebourne Festival Opera, 1984 and 1986); the title roles in "Carmen" (Glyndebourne Festival Opera, 1985 and 1987; Metropolitan Opera, 1986; Royal Opera House, 1991), "Salome" (Los Angeles Opera, 1986; Royal Opera House, 1988; Lyric Opera of Chicago, 1988; San Francisco Opera, 1993), "Die lustige Witwe" (Lyric Opera of Chicago, 1986 and 1987), "Tosca" (Royal Opera House, 1991) and "Madama Butterfly" (Los Angeles Opera, 1991); Didon in "Les Troyens" (Metropolitan Opera, 1993 and 1994); Katerina Ismailova in "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk" (Metropolitan Opera, 1994); Dido in "Dido and Aeneas" (Hampton Court, 1995); Marie in "Wozzeck" (Metropolitan Opera, 1997); the title role in "Fedora" (Los Angeles Opera, 1997); and the Queen of the Fairies in "Iolanthe" (Gielgud Theatre, London, 2008). It was for her performance in "Salome" that she attracted the warmest plaudits, not least for the "succès de scandale" that she achieved in the opera's notorious Dance of the Seven Veils. At Los Angeles in 1986, she ended Salome's strip-tease with her modesty protected by a gold lamé G-string, but at Covent Garden two years later, she dispensed with even that minimal concession to prudery and became one of the few opera singers to dare full-frontal nudity. "I felt the G-string was vulgar," she said. *I think the nudity is more pure. It's a mixture of purity and decadence, that's what's so fascinating."


title: Maria Ewing

text: The non-operatic music that Ewing performed was as diverse as her theatrical repertoire: it included Berg's "Sieben Frühe Lieder", Berlioz's "La damnation de Faust", Debussy's "La damoiselle élue" and "", Mozart's "Great Mass in C minor" and Verdi's "Quattro pezzi sacri". She could be as dramatic in concert as when performing as a singing actress—the conductor Simon Rattle recalled her interpretation of Ravel's "Shéhérazade" as "easily the most X-rated Shéhérazade you can imagine". Her recital repertoire extended from an aria by Handel to art songs by Debussy, Duparc, Schubert and Wolf. As regards genres of music outside the classical realm, she had an especial affection for jazz ever since being introduced to it by Dave Brubeck's "Take Five" at the age of eight; she sometimes spent an entire night compulsively listening to one jazz record after another. During the BBC Proms festival of 1989 she performed cabaret numbers with Richard Rodney Bennett, and her videography includes a DVD of her performing with the band Kymaera at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London.


title: Maria Ewing

text: Ewing's relationship with the English director Peter Hall began when they worked together in a production of "Così fan tutte" at Glyndebourne in 1978. He found her "delightful, provocative and very, very attractive; formidable too, but wonderfully funny". For her, "it was a meeting of minds and sympathies". "We played piano duets", Hall recalled, "and found that we both hated the dead conventions, the laziness and the silliness of much opera production". When Hall visited her in New York the following year, their friendship metamorphosed into romance: "I am deeply in love with Maria Ewing", he confided to his diary on Christmas Day. "We plan to make our life together in the new year when she will come to London". They married on Long Island on Valentine's Day, 1982. Their only child, Rebecca, was born three months later. Hall described his time with Ewing as "years of passion, of highs and lows, excitements and despair"."Her blazing integrity and refusal to compromise do not make her an easy person to live with", he wrote. "The mixture of our two volatile natures and our two careers... made for a turbulent life, sometimes gloriously happy, sometimes acutely miserable". Six years after their wedding, and after directing her in productions of "Carmen", "L'incoronazione di Poppea" and "Salome", he abandoned her and began a relationship with Nicki Frei, a press officer at London's National Theatre. Hall and Ewing were divorced in 1990. She never remarried, but in her later years she found a platonic lover in Amir Hosseinpour, a Tehran-born director and choreographer.


title: Maria Ewing

text: Opinions of Ewing were extremely diverse. Lotfi Mansouri thought her "highly gifted", but described her conduct in San Francisco Opera's 1993 production of "Salome" as "a nightmare...She became difficult, stubborn, and wrongheaded. In the easier sections, she would drag the rhythms, then rush like crazy in the more difficult parts... Married to Sir Peter Hall at the time, she expected to be addressed as 'Lady Hall', then put a sign on her dressing room saying that she was not to be spoken to at all". The critic and musical historian Peter G. Davis condemned her 1986 Metropolitan Opera Carmen as "a loopy Gypsy who might have just landed from the moon as she lurched spastically from one scene to the next without allure, consistency, credibility, or vocal distinction. That Ewing continued to be taken seriously over the next decade in the face of ongoing vocal collapse, whooping and scooping through one part after another, only indicated how decadent the Farrar-Garden tradition had become". On the other hand, Simon Rattle praised her as "the most interesting singing actress of the stage", and despite a six-year hiatus in their friendship when he broke a promise to cast her in a new production of "Carmen" at the Met, James Levine never ceased to admire her: "She had the whole gift: brilliant on the stage, brilliant musician, brilliant linguist, very striking timbre. Maria started off with maybe the most full-scale and versatile gifts of any artist I ever worked with, able to sing every language, every style, recital, oratorio, opera, the whole business". Peter Hall too always remained as enthusiastic about Ewing's art as he was when he first collaborated with her. "Her whole being is about performing, and truthful performing. She can only work with complete commitment and honesty... Her performances are incandescent. Even if you don't like them you cannot ignore them... Some people cannot take her highly personal approach; they say she pulls the music about, remaking it in her own image. This is not true; she is a meticulous musician. But her need to "express" leads her to emphasise and inflect outside the well-bred norm...She is a disturbing performer, a star". "She is not a well-mannered artist and does not live her life calmly. I love her for that."


title: Famagusta

text: Famagusta ( , ; , ; or ) is a city on the east coast of Cyprus. It is located east of Nicosia and possesses the deepest harbour of the island. During the Middle Ages (especially under the maritime republics of Genoa and Venice), Famagusta was the island's most important port city and a gateway to trade with the ports of the Levant, from where the Silk Road merchants carried their goods to Western Europe. The old walled city and parts of the modern city are a "de jure" territory of Republic of Cyprus, currently under the "de facto" control of Northern Cyprus as the capital of the Gazimağusa District.


title: Famagusta

text: In antiquity, the town was known as "Arsinoe" (), after the Greek queen Arsinoe II of Egypt, and was mentioned by that name by Strabo.


title: Famagusta

text: In the 3rd century book Stadiasmus Maris Magni, is written as "Ammochostos" (), meaning "hidden in [the] sand", which is how Greeks still call it. This name developed into "Famagusta" (originally "Famagouste" in French and "Famagosta" in Italian), used in Western European languages, and to its Turkish name, "Mağusa". In Turkish, the city is also called ; Gazi means "warrior" in Turkish (ultimately from Arabic, meaning one who fights in a holy war), and the city has been officially awarded with the title after 1974 (compare Gaziantep). The old town is nicknamed "the city of 365 churches" owing to a legend that at its peak, Famagusta boasted one church for each day of the year.


title: Famagusta

text: The city was founded around 274 BC, after the serious damage to Salamis by an earthquake, by Ptolemy II Philadelphus and named "Arsinoe" after his sister. Arsinoe was described as a "fishing town" by Strabo in his "Geographica" in the first century BC. It remained a small fishing village for a long time. Later, as a result of the gradual evacuation of Salamis due to the Arab invasion led by Muawiyah I, it developed into a small port.


title: Famagusta

text: The turning point for Famagusta was 1192 with the onset of Lusignan rule. It was during this period that Famagusta developed as a fully-fledged town. It increased in importance to the Eastern Mediterranean due to its natural harbour and the walls that protected its inner town. Its population began to increase. This development accelerated in the 13th century as the town became a centre of commerce for both the East and West. An influx of Christian refugees fleeing the downfall of Acre (1291) in Palestine transformed it from a tiny village into one of the richest cities in Christendom.


title: Famagusta

text: In 1372 the port was seized by Genoa and in 1489 by Venice. This commercial activity turned Famagusta into a place where merchants and ship owners led lives of luxury. By the mid-14th century, Famagusta was said to have the richest citizens in the world. The belief that people's wealth could be measured by the churches they built inspired these merchants to have churches built in varying styles. These churches, which still exist, were the reason Famagusta came to be known as "the district of churches". The development of the town focused on the social lives of the wealthy people and was centred upon the Lusignan palace, the cathedral, the Square and the harbour.


title: Famagusta

text: In 1570–1571, Famagusta was the last stronghold in Venetian Cyprus to hold out against the Turks under Mustafa Pasha. It resisted a siege of thirteen months and a terrible bombardment, until at last the garrison surrendered. The Ottoman forces had lost 50,000 men, including Mustafa Pasha's son. Although the surrender terms had stipulated that the Venetian forces be allowed to return home, the Venetian commander, Marco Antonio Bragadin, was flayed alive, his lieutenant Tiepolo was hanged, and many other Christians were killed.


title: Famagusta

text: With the advent of the Ottoman rule, Latins lost their privileged status in Famagusta and were expelled from the city. Greek Cypriots natives were at first allowed to own and buy property in the city, but were banished from the walled city in 1573–74 and had to settle outside in the area that later developed into Varosha. Turkish families from Anatolia were resettled in the walled city but could not fill the buildings that previously hosted a population of 10,000. This caused a drastic decrease in the population of Famagusta. Merchants from Famagusta, who mostly consisted of Latins that had been expelled, resettled in Larnaca and as Larnaca flourished, Famagusta lost its importance as a trade centre. Over time, Varosha developed into a prosperous agricultural town thanks to its location away from the marshes, whilst the walled city remained dilapidated.


title: Famagusta

text: In the walled city, some buildings were repurposed to serve the interests of the Muslim population: the Cathedral of St. Nicholas was converted to a mosque (now known as Lala Mustafa Pasha Mosque), a bazaar was developed, public baths, fountains and a theological school were built to accommodate the inhabitants' needs. Dead end streets, an Ottoman urban characteristic, was imported to the city and a communal spirit developed in which a small number of two-storey houses inhabited by the small upper class co-existed with the widespread one-storey houses.


title: Famagusta

text: With the British takeover, Famagusta regained its significance as a port and an economic centre and its development was specifically targeted in British plans. As soon as the British took over the island, a Famagusta Development Act was passed that aimed at the reconstruction and redevelopment of the city's streets and dilapidated buildings as well as better hygiene. The port was developed and expanded between 1903 and 1906 and Cyprus Government Railway, with its terminus in Famagusta, started construction in 1904. Whilst Larnaca continued to be used as the main port of the island for some time, after Famagusta's use as a military base in World War I trade significantly shifted to Famagusta. The city outside the walls grew at an accelerated rate, with development being centred around Varosha. Varosha became the administrative centre as the British moved their headquarters and residences there and tourism grew significantly in the last years of the British rule. Pottery and production of citrus and potatoes also significantly grew in the city outside the walls, whilst agriculture within the walled city declined to non-existence.


title: Famagusta

text: New residential areas were built to accommodate the increasing population towards the end of the British rule, and by 1960, Famagusta was a modern port city extending far beyond Varosha and the walled city.


title: Famagusta

text: The British period saw a significant demographic shift in the city. In 1881, Christians constituted 60% of the city's population while Muslims were at 40%. By 1960, the Turkish Cypriot population had dropped to 17.5% of the overall population, while the Greek Cypriot population had risen to 70%. The city was also the site for one of the British internment camps for nearly 50,000 Jewish survivors of the Holocaust trying to emigrate to Palestine.


title: Famagusta

text: From independence in 1960 to the Turkish invasion of Cyprus of 1974, Famagusta developed toward the south west of Varosha as a tourist centre. In the late 1960s Famagusta became a well-known entertainment and tourist centre. The contribution of Famagusta to the country's economic activity by 1974 far exceeded its proportional dimensions within the country. Whilst its population was only about 7% of the total of the country, Famagusta by 1974 accounted for over 10% of the total industrial employment and production of Cyprus, concentrating mainly on light industry compatible with its activity as a tourist resort and turning out high-quality products ranging from food, beverages and tobacco to clothing, footwear, plastics, light machinery and transport equipment. It contributed 19.3% of the business units and employed 21.3% of the total number of persons engaged in commerce on the island.


title: Famagusta

text: It acted as the main tourist destination of Cyprus, hosting 31.5% of the hotels and 45% of Cyprus' total bed capacity.


title: Famagusta

text: In this period, the urbanisation of Famagusta slowed down and the development of the rural areas accelerated. Therefore, economic growth was shared between the city of Famagusta and the district, which had a balanced agricultural economy, with citrus, potatoes, tobacco and wheat as main products. Famagusta maintained good communications with this hinterland. The city's port remained the island's main seaport and in 1961, it was expanded to double its capacity in order to accommodate the growing volume of exports and imports. The port handled 42.7% of Cypriot exports, 48.6% of imports and 49% of passenger traffic.


title: Famagusta

text: There has not been an official census since 1960 but the population of the town in 1974 was estimated to be around 39,000 not counting about 12,000–15,000 persons commuting daily from the surrounding villages and suburbs to work in Famagusta. The number of people staying in the city would swell to about 90,000–100,000 during the peak summer tourist period, with the influx of tourists from numerous European countries, mainly Britain, France, Germany and the Scandinavian countries. The majority of the city population were Greek Cypriots (26,500), with 8,500 Turkish Cypriots and 4,000 people from other ethnic groups.


title: Famagusta

text: During the second phase of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus on 14 August 1974 the Mesaoria plain was overrun by Turkish tanks and Famagusta was bombed by Turkish aircraft. It took two days for the Turkish Army to occupy the city, prior to which Famagusta's entire Greek Cypriot population had fled into surrounding fields. As a result of Turkish airstrikes dozens of civilians died, including tourists.


title: Famagusta

text: Unlike other parts of the Turkish-controlled areas of Cyprus, the Varosha suburb of Famagusta was fenced off by the Turkish army immediately after being captured and remained fenced off until October 2020, when the TRNC reopened some streets to visitors. Some Greek Cypriots who had fled Varosha have been allowed to view the town and journalists have been allowed in.


title: Famagusta

text: UN Security Council resolution 550 (1984) considers any attempts to settle any part of Famagusta by people other than its inhabitants as inadmissible and calls for the transfer of this area to the administration of the UN. The UN's Security Council resolution 789 (1992) also urges that with a view to the implementation of resolution 550 (1984), the area at present under the control of the United Nations Peace-keeping Force in Cyprus be extended to include Varosha.


title: Famagusta

text: Famagusta's historic city centre is surrounded by the fortifications of Famagusta, which have a roughly rectangular shape, built mainly by the Venetians in the 15th and 16th centuries, though some sections of the walls have been dated earlier times, as far as 1211. Some important landmarks and visitor attractions in the old city are:


title: Famagusta

text: In an October 2010 report titled "Saving Our Vanishing Heritage", Global Heritage Fund listed Famagusta, a "maritime ancient city of crusader kings", among the 12 sites most "On the Verge" of irreparable loss and destruction, citing insufficient management and development pressures.


title: Famagusta

text: Famagusta is an important commercial hub of Northern Cyprus. The main economic activities in the city are tourism, education, construction and industrial production. It has a 115-acre free port, which is the most important seaport of Northern Cyprus for travel and commerce. The port is an important source of income and employment for the city, though its volume of trade is restricted by the embargo against Northern Cyprus. Its historical sites, including the walled city, Salamis, the Othello Castle and the St Barnabas Church, as well as the sandy beaches surrounding it make it a tourist attraction; efforts are also underway to make the city more attractive for international congresses. The Eastern Mediterranean University is also an important employer and supplies significant income and activity, as well as opportunities for the construction sector. The university also raises a qualified workforce that stimulates the city's industry and makes communications industry viable. The city has two industrial zones: the Large Industrial Zone and the Little Industrial Zone. The city is also home to a fishing port, but inadequate infrastructure of the port restricts the growth of this sector. The industry in the city has traditionally been concentrated on processing agricultural products.


title: Famagusta

text: Historically, the port was the primary source of income and employment for the city, especially right after 1974. However, it gradually lost some of its importance to the economy as the share of its employees in the population of Famagusta diminished due to various reasons. However, it still is the primary port for commerce in Northern Cyprus, with more than half of ships that came to Northern Cyprus in 2013 coming to Famagusta. It is the second most popular seaport for passengers, after Kyrenia, with around 20,000 passengers using the port in 2013.


title: Famagusta

text: The mayor-in-exile of Famagusta is Simos Ioannou. İsmail Arter heads the Turkish Cypriot municipal administration of Famagusta, which remains legal as a communal-based body under the constitutional system of the Republic of Cyprus.


title: Famagusta

text: Since 1974, Greek Cypriots submitted a number of proposals within the context of bicommunal discussions for the return of Varosha to UN administration, allowing the return of its previous inhabitants, requesting also the opening of Famagusta harbour for use by both communities. Varosha would have been returned to Greek Cypriot control as part of the 2004 Annan Plan had the plan had been accepted by a majority of Greek Cypriot voters.


title: Famagusta

text: The walled city of Famagusta contains many unique buildings. Famagusta has a walled city popular with tourists.


title: Famagusta

text: Every year, the International Famagusta Art and Culture Festival is organized in Famagusta. Concerts, dance shows and theater plays take place during the festival.


title: Famagusta

text: A growth in tourism and the city's university have fueled the development of Famagusta's vibrant nightlife. Nightlife in the city is especially active on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights and in the hotter months of the year, starting from April. Larger hotels in the city have casinos that cater to their customers. Salamis Road is an area of Famagusta with a heavy concentration of bars frequented by students and locals.


title: Famagusta

text: Famagusta's Othello Castle is the setting for Shakespeare's play "Othello". The city was also the setting for Victoria Hislop's 2015 novel "The Sunrise," and Michael Paraskos's 2016 novel "In Search of Sixpence." The city is the birthplace of the eponymous hero of the Renaissance proto-novel "Fortunatus".


title: Famagusta

text: Famagusta was home to many Greek Cypriot sport teams that left the city because of the Turkish invasion and still bear their original names. Most notable football clubs originally from the city are Anorthosis Famagusta FC and Nea Salamis Famagusta FC, both of the Cypriot First Division, which are now based in Larnaca. Usually Anorthosis Famagusta fans are politically right wing where Nea Salamis fans are left wing.


title: Famagusta

text: Famagusta is represented by Mağusa Türk Gücü in the Turkish Cypriot First Division. Dr. Fazıl Küçük Stadium is the largest football stadium in Famagusta. Many Turkish Cypriot sport teams that left Southern Cyprus because of the Cypriot intercommunal violence are based in Famagusta.


title: Famagusta

text: Famagusta is represented by DAÜ Sports Club and Magem Sports Club in North Cyprus First Volleyball Division. Gazimağusa Türk Maarif Koleji represents Famagusta in the North Cyprus High School Volleyball League.


title: Famagusta

text: The Eastern Mediterranean University was founded in the city in 1979. The Istanbul Technical University founded a campus in the city in 2010.


title: Famagusta

text: The Cyprus College of Art was founded in Famagusta by the Cypriot artist Stass Paraskos in 1969, before moving to Paphos in 1972 after protests from local hoteliers that the presence of art students in the city was putting off holidaymakers.


title: Famagusta

text: Famagusta has three general hospitals. , a state hospital, is the biggest hospital in city. and are private hospitals.


title: The Monkey King (film)

text: The Monkey King is a 2014 Hong Kong-Chinese action-fantasy film directed by Soi Cheang and starring Donnie Yen as the titular protagonist Sun Wukong. Donnie Yen also serves as the film's action director. The film co-stars Donald Chow, Aaron Kwok, Joe Chen and Peter Ho.


title: The Monkey King (film)

text: Production began in Beijing on 18 October 2010 and was filmed in 3D. The plot is based on an episode of "Journey to the West", a 16th-century Chinese literary classic written in the Ming Dynasty by Wu Cheng'en. It was released on 31 January 2014 and received mixed reviews from critics. A sequel, titled "The Monkey King 2" was released in February 2016.


title: The Monkey King (film)

text: During an attack on Heaven, the Bull Demon King battles and loses against the Jade Emperor, the ruler of Heaven. The Emperor's sister and Bull Demon King's lover, Princess Iron Fan, convinces the Emperor to spare him and banishes him, Princess Iron Fan, and the rest of the demons to Flaming Mountain. The goddess Nüwa sacrifices her body to rebuild Heaven with crystals. The Jade Emperor appoints his nephew Erlang Shen to guard the Southern Gate, despite Erlang's resentment of the task. One of the crystals falls to Mount Huaguo, taking the form of a monkey over time. A nine-tailed fox is scarred after touching the crystal and whisked away by a mysterious force.


title: The Monkey King (film)

text: Years later, the monkey is taken in and trained by Subhuti, naming him Sun Wukong. The Bull Demon King plans to invade heaven again by using Wukong and preying on Erlang's anger towards the Jade Emperor. Erlang agrees to help the Demon King in exchange for getting to kill his uncle and take Heaven's throne. The plan is kept secret from Princess Iron Fan, who is pregnant with the Demon King's child. Wukong travels to the palace of the Dragon King to find weapons for the Mount Huaguo monkeys. After defeating the Dragon King, Wukong becomes intrigued by a staff planted in the sea. He removes it, causing a violent storm. The Bull Demon King asks a young Vixen if she'd like to meet her old friend again. She is revealed to be the nine-tailed fox and the Demon King as the force that whisked her away, claiming to have saved her life. After the Dragon King informs Heaven of Wukong's destruction, Erlang sends Nezha to arrest him.


title: The Monkey King (film)

text: The Vixen, who reveals her name to be Ruxue, reunites with her old friend, Wukong. He promises to make her immortal after learning she will die when she turns 200 years old. The pair are attacked by Nezha, but is killed by the Bull Demon King. Wukong befriends the Demon King, who appeals to Wukong's ego and tempts him with Heaven's treasures, including immortality. Wukong journeys to Heaven and learn the secret to immortality. The Demon King and Erlang conspire further, revealing that if Wukong consumes the Emperor's elixir, it will increase his power.


title: The Monkey King (film)

text: Erlang tries to convince the Jade Emperor that Wukong is a demon but Subhuti intervenes, explaining Wukong is not evil. Wukong meets the Emperor, and is given a position caring for the stables. Princess Iron Fan learns of the Demon King's plan, who justifies his attack as destiny. Wukong comes across a large kiln. Erlang, disguised as a maiden, tempts him by revealing that the Emperor's elixir is made there. Wukong is restrained by Subhuti and told to leave but Erlang challenges him to take the Elixir. Wukong consumes the elixir and battles Erlang until he flees. Ashamed, Wukong leaves Heaven and returns to find Mount Huaguo destroyed and all his friends dead, including Ruxue who has a dark substance around her neck. Enraged, Wukong returns to Heaven after the Bull Demon King convinces him that they were responsible. Wukong attacks Heaven's armies and the Emperor.


title: The Monkey King (film)

text: Suhuti battles the Demon King but is defeated. Wukong notices the Demon King conjure the same dark substance he found on Ruxue and realizes he was the one that killed his friends. Wukong attacks the Demon King but is defeated. Through a vision, the goddess Guan Yin helps Wukong realize his mistakes. The Demon King defeats the Emperor and kills Erlang, taking the throne. Wukong battles the Demon King once more, sending him crashing to Earth. Later, Princess Iron Fan gives birth to Red Boy. They find the Bull Demon King who, having lost all his power, has been turned into a regular bull. Iron Fan explains that this is the fate of evil men but continues to care for the bull, regardless. Wukong wishes to help the Emperor rebuild Heaven, but he is stopped by Buddha. Buddha reveals that Wukong's chance for atonement will arrive in 500 years, but must sleep inside Buddha's hand-turned-mountain until then. Wukong agrees and is sealed by Buddha. 500 years later, Tang Sanzang approaching the mountain.


title: The Monkey King (film)

text: When the film was first announced, both Jet Li and Donnie Yen were eyed for a role. On 18 May 2010, Yen was confirmed to be playing the title role of the Monkey King. Later, it was announced Chow Yun-fat and Aaron Kwok will be playing the Jade Emperor and Bull Demon King respectively. Kwok's role is said to be breaking traditions for being handsome, stylish and fighting for love. The film was originally budgeted at 300 million yuan but later was raised to 400 million yuan. Production companies include Filmko, Mandarin Films, China Film Group, Shenzhen Golden Shores Films, Zhejiang HG Entertainment, Dongguan Boning Entreprise and Investment, Beijing Wen Hua Dong Run Investment Co., Ltd., China Film Co-Production Corporation, and Global Star Productions, Inc. Michael Wehrhahn, President of Global Star Production, Inc, has joined forces with former Imagine Films President / Universal Television Icon Robert Harris in producing and releasing high end features for the U.S. and Asian markets.


title: The Monkey King (film)

text: Additional cast members were later announced including Cecilia Cheung, Gigi Leung, Kelly Chen, Peter Ho, Joe Chen and Liu Ye. On 17 May 2011, Zhang Zilin, winner of Miss World 2007, confirmed that she joined the film, playing the role of Nüwa, replacing Cecilia Cheung, who was originally announced in the role. However, Zhang claimed that she never heard that Cheung was to be in the film.


title: The Monkey King (film)

text: For the 3-D shoot, Filmko recruited Hollywood talents. The crew includes David Ebner ("Alice in Wonderland", "Spider-Man 3"), who will serve as visual effects supervisor for the film and Shaun Smith ("The Forbidden Kingdom", "300", "I Am Legend") who will be the special make-up supervisor.


title: The Monkey King (film)

text: The original poster released had a release date of February 2012, but it was postponed. Later it was announced that it would be released on 7 July 2012, on 4 July 2013, and finally on 30 January 2014 in Hong Kong and 31 January in China. It was released in the United States in 2015.


title: The Monkey King (film)

text: James Marsh of ScreenAnarchy referred to it as a "Hot Mess From The Heavens", saying it has poor CGI effects and a weak script, while praising lead actor Donnie Yen's performance as Sun Wukong, but ultimately writing Wukong "a somewhat irritating character who can be difficult to sympathise with." Maggie Lee of Variety calls it "a simplistic, action-driven narrative with inexhaustible energy, but little style or substance." Clarence Tsui of The Hollywood Reporter writes ""The Monkey King" is filled to the brim with gravity-defying saints and sprites zipping across the screen in a litany of kinetic 3-D action sequences. But the stellar imagery hardly makes up for the film's underwritten narrative, half-baked characterizations and emotional gimmicks."


title: The Monkey King (film)

text: The film had the highest-grossing opening day in China with RMB121 million (US$20.0 million), surpassing "Iron Man 3". It also broke three more records in China including the highest single-day box office, the first Chinese film to break RMB100 million on its first day and the fastest Chinese film to reach RMB100 million. During its opening, it was the highest-grossing film at the global box office grossing RMB216 million (US$35.4 million). It grossed RMB389.97 million (US$64.35 million) in the first four days. With this, the film also set the record as the fastest film to reach RMB300 million in China box office. In China, "The Monkey King" grossed a total of RMB1,028,688,003 (US$167,840,000) and becoming only the third Chinese film to earn more than a billion yuan at the Chinese box office. The film grossed over US$182.2 million worldwide.


title: The Monkey King (film)

text: Filmko Entertainment announced Louis Koo will be joining the cast as Tang Sanzang in the upcoming sequel. Production for the sequel started in November 2014.


title: Jin Kazama

text: He is also antagonized by his father, Kazuya Mishima, from whom he inherited the gene. While dealing with his relatives, Jin loses control of the Devil Gene, which causes his transformation into an alter ego named , first introduced as a non-playable character in "Tekken 3" and playable ever since "Tekken 5". Outside of the video games, Jin has appeared in the animated and live-action films adapted from the games and have also appeared as a playable character in several other game franchises.


title: Jin Kazama

text: Initially conceptualized as an innocent man, Jin was developed as the series' new protagonist and a replacement for Kazuya, who he was based on visually. His constant fights with his family members would eventually lead him to become an antiheroic character, as crafted by Bandai Namco's director Katsuhiro Harada ever since his introduction. Nevertheless, Jin was portrayed as the main character from multiple adaptations of the games. He has been voiced consistently by Isshin Chiba since he debuted in "Tekken 3" and has had multiple English actors across other appearances.


title: Jin Kazama

text: Critical reception to the character has been positive, with commentary focused on his moves and his role within the wider "Tekken" story. Since his introduction in "Tekken 3", Jin has proven to be quite popular and has often been described as one of the best "Tekken" characters due to his fighting style and because of the impact he had on the storyline. His dark characterization was also noted while Devil Jin also remained popular for retaining Jin's classic fighting style which he discarded.


title: Jin Kazama

text: Jin Kazama was created by Namco artist Yoshinari Mizushima after he graduated from college, with the character's design being a great surprise to the "Tekken" staff. Jin was introduced in "Tekken 3" using the concept of a "misfortunate character" which was part of his dark character arc across the series. The staff also wanted to present him as a determined character. Despite their similarities, Jin was a more caring character in contrast to his mean spirited father, Kazuya. This was the result of their different upbringings. However, both end up becoming more alike as characters because of their dark stories like their shared antagonism for Heihachi Mishima. This would further corrupt Jin but in a different way than his father. Rather than destroying the world like his relatives, Jin instead wishes to end the Mishima bloodline, and himself in the process. Jin and Kazuya share powered up devil forms. They are a common element in fantasy which stands out because of them being genetically related in "Tekken". The parallel between Jin and Kazuya's devils was compared to the protagonists from the "Star Wars" films, Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, respectively.


title: Jin Kazama

text: "Tekken" series' director Katsuhiro Harada has said that Jin is his favorite character in the series along with Heihachi. He says the "Tekken" story is written from Jin's perspective because he is the main character. Jin's concept was that of an innocent young kid corrupted by the evils of society, who would become one of the series' greatest villains as crafted by Harada over the span of ten years. He only serve as villain role in "Tekken 6", Harada motivated players to use the Scenario Campaign to explore Jin's darker character arc as well as his possible relationship with newcomer Lars Alexandersson. Devil Jin completes the character's arc that Harada crafted in terms of his corruption which is now represented in his genes. Harada recalls receiving letter from fans who were angry for turning Jin into a villain in "Tekken 6".


title: Jin Kazama

text: In response to claims that the "Tekken" story is complicated, Harada denied this. He saw it as a "simple" struggle between members from the Mishima family. By 2017, fans still saw Jin as a hero. Harada replied that the character is still responsible for creating wars so the plot continues to have a sense of black and white morality. Harada compared his family with the "Tekken" characters who are constantly fighting each other: Heihachi, Jin and Kazuya. As a parent, he now has a "deeper respect for my family and parents in particular." A common interpretation of Jin's mother Jun Kazama's fate is that she was killed before the events of "Tekken 3". This is explored in a story from Jin's point of view and is a belief that most gamers shared. However, Jin and the gamers were actually incorrect—Jun is missing. As a result, Harada explained that as far as the rivalry between Jin and Kazuya is concerned, Jun would be present at their eventual confrontation.


title: Jin Kazama

text: Before the revelation of Jin's inclusion in "Tekken 7", there were many gamers who asked Harada if he survived his battle against Azazel in "Tekken 6". Harada refrained from answering questions about Jin's status, but said "Tekken 7" would be a proper sequel to the series with or without Jin. However, both Jin and his Devil persona were leaked in 2015 by fans. For "Tekken 7", Jin was made into a hidden sub-boss in the game's arcade mode. Harada explained that the requirements to unlock him were very difficult. Harada added a hint that players who use Kazuya Mishima might have a better chance of fighting Jin while the Devil persona is a hidden boss.


title: Jin Kazama

text: The upcoming "Tekken 8" was revealed with a fight between Jin and his father, which has been building up for several years. While Jin already faced his relatives in previous games from the franchise, in the upcoming one, he is shown in a major conflict with his Devil Gene as it keeps absorbing his humanity to the point he becomes Devil Jin in the middle of the fight. However, Harada remarked that the final scene of the trailer involving broken chains act as symbolism to Jin breaking free from the conflicts he has been connected for several games.


title: Jin Kazama

text: Jin's visual appearance was modeled after his father Kazuya Mishima who was missing in "Tekken 3". Jin was given a similar appearance including spiky black hair, red gloves and similar black and red pants ("keikogi") to the point it confused returning players. In early concepts, Jin was depicted with more clothing covering his left arm. The idea of his design was for it to be simple yet highly recognizable. Originally, Jin was named with a visual appearance being more reminiscent to his father, most notably in his gloves. His design was made less muscular than his predecessors.


title: Jin Kazama

text: Although in his first appearance, he was shown wearing nothing to cover his torso, in following games, Jin was given a jacket along with a hood which Harada found to be highly popular with the fanbase. As a result, Harada views the constant comments about this as positive feedback despite his initial confusion over the fanbase's reaction. "Tekken 5" features a special costume for Jin designed by guest artist Mutsumi Inomata: it is a panda-themed costume with an unzipped jacket that reaches just above his midriff with a blue flame motif and matching white pants. In "Tekken 6", replacing the jumpsuit, Jin wears a long black coat similar to the one that he wore in his ending in "Tekken 5". Jin's alternative outfit in "Tekken 6" was designed by Clamp, a group of four Japanese manga artists. For "Tekken 7", his regular design was made by Yūsuke Kozaki, while Ando Makoto did a special chibi illustration of the character.


title: Jin Kazama

text: Jin's alter ego, Devil Jin, possesses a tattoo that covers his entire torso. Harada claimed he grew to like this part of the design. Devil Jin is often shown wearing chains in his body though that instead is symbolic. Like his father's devil persona, Jin's also shown to possess wings though Harada claims they are actually related with his mother's heritage rather than the Mishima's. For the film "Blood Vengeance", Jin manages to control his Devil powers, resulting in him achieving a new Devil transformation. This form was designed by Takayuki Takeya, who is famous designing characters from "Devilman" and "Kamen Rider". Director Yōichi Mōri conceived, saying he wanted to change the impression of the Devil in the game. The New Devil Jin was given a "sinister yet beautiful" design the audience give a different impression from the game in order to attract more people.


title: Jin Kazama

text: Isshin Chiba has been Jin's voice actor in all his Japanese game appearances. Chiba claimed he initially did not understand the character when first recording his lines in his debut. The actor grew attached to Jin over the years he voiced him and thus disliked how Jin changed from a kindhearted man to a corrupt person in the later games as well as his transformation into a devil. Jon Foo felt honored to play Jin's character in the live-action film based on the series. He says he is a fan of the "Tekken" games. Still, he found it difficult to play Jin as he spent three months on a diet in order to do the fighting moves for the live-action film. In the making of the film, Foo accidentally wounded Cung Le. The film's director, Dwight Little, found that this type of accident is common in fighting films.


title: Jin Kazama

text: For the film "" (2011), writer Dai Satō added both Jin and Kazuya as a pair of men to provide "visual eye-candy" in the same way as the Williams sisters did. While Jin and Ling Xiaoyu appear to have developed a close relationship, Satō did not want to explore a romantic one in the film. Instead, the writer wanted to use these pairs to be played together in the spin-off game "Tekken Tag Tournament 2", which relies on the use of teams composed of two fighters. Chiba was replaced by Patrick Seitz in the English release of the film, being credited as "Darren Daniels". Though Satō believes Jin is infatuated with Xiaoyu, he wanted his characterization to be dark especially with how brooding is Jin in an early scene where he laughs at the idea of his fight with Kazuya being the subject of the world's destruction which ambiguously connects Xiaoyu's story. Satō acknowledged that several members of the audience complained that Jin had little screen time but he is glad with it.


title: Jin Kazama

text: In the original version of the anime film "" (1998), Jin has been voiced by Minami Takayama, while Jacob Franchek has voiced him in the film's English dub. Jin has been voiced by Brad Swaile in the game "Street Fighter X Tekken".


title: Jin Kazama

text: Comic book artist Cavan Scott said that his first impression of Jin in "Tekken 3" was that he was unfit to be a Mishima based on his differences with Kazuya and Heihachi, who are described as "demons" in contrast to Jin's innocence. However, as he becomes a corrupt person, Scott believes Jin is no longer a good person but fits the narrative better because of conflicts with his relatives. Scott believes Jin became a more interesting character during this dark character arc. As Scott began writing a "Tekken" Western comic, he decided to tell the story from Jin's point of view as he was the most relatable character, despite his dark characterization. Jin feels guilty for all the chaos he has brought to the plot. Since Scott's comic was based on "Tekken 6" and "Tekken 7", he wanted to explore this take on Jin further since he was the center of the readers' attention even if he is missing through most of the plot.


title: Jin Kazama

text: While Chiba reprises his role for "Tekken: Bloodline", Kaiji Tang voices Jin for the English dub. Chiba was glad that he kept voicing Jin after 25 years since his debut while Tang appreciated the shades of his personality.


title: Jin Kazama

text: As a result of being introduced as the protagonist in "Tekken 3", Jin's movements were made to be balanced so that he would have neither strong nor weak movesets. This caused difficulties in his design. He was meant to appeal to veterans of the franchise as he uses both moves from Heihachi and Kazuya but not with the same amount of power. As Jin has no model for his fighting style, several of his karate moves were created by the "Tekken" staff. was Jin's motion actor as Narushima also possessed regular karate in his fighting style. Harada said he thought Steve Fox and the Mishimas—Jin, Kazuya and Heihachi—were considered the strongest characters to play in the series.


title: Jin Kazama

text: In his early appearances, Jin's moves were a blend of parents, Jun Kazama and Kazuya Mishima, a combination of and . He fights in this style in both "Tekken 3" and "Tekken Tag Tournament". In "Tekken 4", however, this style was discarded in favor of "traditional" Karate, also known as Kyokushin karate. As a result, Jin performs unique techniques such as one known as the "Right Roundhouse Punch", in Japan. Jin is often regarded as the strongest character in "Tekken 4". As his power was reduced in the following games, he went through minor changes that made him notably stronger in "Tekken 6" than his "Tekken 5" persona. Devil Jin incorporates moves from Jin's Mishima fighting style, which makes him a stronger fighter than the regular Jin. Like Kazuya's devil persona, Jin's devil form can create a projectile move. However, Devil Jin's fighting style is listed as "Unknown". Nevertheless, Devil Jin also possesses a number of weaknesses that separately balances his duality with the regular Jin.


title: Jin Kazama

text: In preparation for "Tekken 7", Harada commented he would often try Devil Jin if he was an "intermediate player" comparing his skills with Heihachi's. "Famitsu" recommended the regular Jin to advanced "Tekken" players. For Capcom's crossover game "Street Fighter X Tekken", the official guide noted how Jin could easily counterattack enemy's moves.


title: Jin Kazama

text: Jin's first appearance is in "Tekken 3", where he is introduced as a teenager "claiming to be Heihachi's grandson" as a result of being Jun Kazama and Kazuya Mishima's child. He was raised by his mother, Jun, until she was attacked by a creature known as Ogre and disappeared. Seeking revenge, Jin goes to train with his grandfather, Heihachi Mishima. During "Tekken 3", Jin defeats True Ogre in Heihachi's tournament. Shortly after his victory, Jin is killed by Heihachi's forces. However, Jin is revived when his body mutates into a devil, taking down his grandfather and escapes.


title: Jin Kazama

text: By "Tekken 4", in the early arcade versions of the game, Jin can also be played through a lucky stab at the random-select feature. He is an unlockable character as he is first confronted as a boss in the game. The console's version explores how Jin has fallen into a pit of self-hatred, despising everything related to the Mishimas. Learning a new karate style for two years in secret in Brisbane, Jin enters a new tournament where he is about to confront his father until Heihachi's soldiers capture him. Imprisoned in a dojo, Jin feels presence of his father Kazuya which causes him to mutate into a devil once again. After his Devil form awakens, Jin tries to kill Heihachi, but spares him after remembering his mother and abandons the area flying.


title: Jin Kazama

text: In the events of "Tekken 5", Jin has lost control over his devil gene and senses that a presence in a new King of Iron Fist Tournament is related to it. Jin is also confronted by his friendly rival, Hwoarang, but he is unable to settle their score because of Jin's agenda. Despite this, Hwoarang defeated him in the later stages of the tournament. While Jin was lying on the ground, he suddenly regains his devil form to attack Hwoarang, knocking him unconscious. Following this he defeats his great-grandfather, Jinpachi Mishima, and becomes the new CEO of the special forces. "Tekken 5" also marks the debut of Devil Jin as a playable character as well as sub-boss who is taking over the human persona. If Devil Jin defeats Jinpachi rather than the regular Jin, an alternative ending is featured showing Devil Jin absorbing Jinpachi's powers. In the same game, a mini-game focusing on Jin's prologue is featured called Devil Within. It features Jin's journey to G Corporation's laboratory where he faces multiple enemies after hearing Jun's voice.


title: Jin Kazama

text: During "Tekken 6" Jin uses the Zaibatsu for world conquest, having started a war against all nations. Jin hosts the sixth King of Iron Fist Tournament to rid himself of Kazuya and his enemies. In gameplay, just as his devil form served as the Stage 8 sub-boss in "Tekken 5", Jin serves as the Stage 8 sub-boss in "Tekken 6". He is also the main antagonist from "Tekken 6"s "Scenario Campaign". In the Scenario Campaign, Jin is confronted by his half-uncle Lars Alexandersson who is rallying a faction within the Zaibatsu's military to take him down. However, Jin escapes by using Lars' partner, the robot Alisa Bosconovitch, as his servant. Jin once again serves as the scenario's final boss against Lars. Upon his defeat, Jin explains he has been throwing the world into disarray in an effort to awaken the beast known as Azazel. Jin's goal in awakening such a monster is to fight it in a suicidal battle and both save the world from Azazel and free himself of the Devil Gene. Despite killing Azazel, Jin's Devil Gene still remains inside his body. Alternatively, Devil Jin also appears as a hidden boss in the scenario.


title: Jin Kazama

text: Jin appears in "Tekken 7" as a sub-boss, replacing Heihachi if the right conditions are met. However, in the updated arcade version, and the console ports, he is no longer a sub-boss. In the Story Mode, a weak Jin loses control of his Devil Gene again and starts causing a rampage. While in his weakened state, Jin wanders in the Middle East where he is rescued by Lars. Lars transports him to Violet System, owned by his adoptive paternal uncle Lee Chaolan, to rest and regain his strength. Recovering after learning of Heihachi's death, Jin joins forces with Lars to bring the world back to order and kill Kazuya. Playing as Devil Jin results in an encounter with Hwoarang, but the battle is interrupted by multiple enemies.


title: Jin Kazama

text: As well as his canonical appearances, Jin appears in "Tekken Card Challenge" and "Tekken Tag Tournament". Beating "Tag Tournament" as Jin results in a sequence where he tries to kill Kazuya, but his body then starts shaking. In "Tekken Tag Tournament 2", Jin can defeat an enemy identical to his mother, Jun Kazama, but mutates when she disappears. In Devil Jin's ending, the berserker demon tries to leave the planet but is stopped by Jun's spirit. He then appears on a beach where soldiers rescue him. A Link outfit from "The Legend of Zelda" was given to him for "Tekken Tag Tournament 2"s Wii U version. Additionally, in the "Fight Lab" section of the game, Lee kidnaps Jin, Kazuya and Heihachi for Combot's final test of the machine.


title: Jin Kazama

text: Other appearances by him include: "Tekken Advance", "Tekken R", "Tekken Resolute", "Tekken Bowl", "Tekken Pachinko Slot 2nd", "", "Tekken Card Tournament", "Tekken Revolution", "Tekken Arena", "CR Tekken", "Tekken Pachinko Slot 3rd" and a mobile phone game. Devil Jin's form from "Blood Vengeance" also appears in "Tekken Tag Tournament 2".


title: Jin Kazama

text: Jin is also featured in "Namco × Capcom", where he joins forces with Ryu and Ken Masters from "Street Fighter" and seeks to defeat Devil Kazuya who was his father through the Devil Gene. "Street Fighter X Tekken" features Jin as a playable character, with Ling Xiaoyu as his official tag partner. The duo seeks to find an item known as Pandora's Box with Jin wanting to use it as a way to get rid of his demon. They are also together in "Project X Zone" where they are targeted by "Street Fighter" character Seth. They along with "Virtua Fighter" hero, Akira Yuki, work together to stop him. He returns in the sequel "Project X Zone 2" with Kazuya as his partner.


title: Jin Kazama

text: He appears on a promotional poster for the Namco-produced crossover fighting game "Tekken X Street Fighter", along with "Street Fighter"s Ryu (as well as their alter egos "Devil Jin" and "Evil Ryu"). Devil Jin's fighting style and costume parts, along with his human form's "Tekken 6" karate, are available for use with custom characters in "Soulcalibur V". Harada's image was used to promote Jin's moves. Although he does not appear, Jin is mentioned in the crossover fighting game "PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale". Additionally, Jin's image appears as downloadable content in Namco's game "". He appears in SNK's mobile phone game "The King of Fighters All Star" in his classic look and his "Tekken 7" design. His persona is used as card artwork alongside Kyo Kusanagi, the protagonist of "The King of Fighters". Jin is the protagonist of the "Tekken" side of the game where he enters Rugal Bernstein's The King of Fighters tournament to finish his rivalry with Kazuya. Jin appears as a Spirit in the Nintendo crossover video game "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate".


title: Jin Kazama

text: Jin makes a brief appearance as a child in the epilogue of the anime film "Tekken: The Motion Picture". His role in the series is also briefly shown in the manga "Tekken Comic", and the novel "Tekken: The Dark History of Mishima". He is also the protagonist of the manga "Tekken: The Other Side of Battle", as well as the Western comics "Tekken Forever" and "The Tekken Saga". Titan's "Tekken" comics focuses on Jin's battles against Heihachi to protect Ling Xiaoyu and combat his inner demon.


title: Jin Kazama

text: He also appears in the CGI-animated film "Tekken: Blood Vengeance", an alternate retelling of events between "Tekken 5" and "Tekken 6". In the film, Jin once again seeks a man known as Shin Kamiya who is tied to the Devil Gene. However, Kamiya is killed by Heihachi who was using him to attract both Jin and Kazuya to take their genes. With help from Alisa Bosconovitch, Jin emerges as the winner and leaves hoping his high school friend Ling Xiaoyu defeats him in the next tournament, having considered himself a threat to the world.


title: Jin Kazama

text: In the 2009 live-action film "Tekken", Jin is portrayed by Jon Foo. This version of Jin differs significantly. He was not raised by Heihachi, and his mother was killed during a crackdown on insurgents by the Tekken Corporation. He is still the illegitimate son of Kazuya. He enters the Iron Fist tournament to take revenge on Heihachi for his mother's death, but during the tournament, he learns that it was Kazuya who was responsible. He progresses through the tournament, falling in love with Christie Monteiro and forming alliances with Steve Fox, Raven, and Heihachi himself when Kazuya overthrows him. Eventually, Jin makes it to the final, and defeats his father in battle, yet refuses to kill him because of their blood relation.


title: Jin Kazama

text: Jin reappears in the original net animation "" as the protagonist based on his appearances of the game "Tekken 3".


title: Jin Kazama

text: Video game publications have praised Jin's character, which has topped various lists. In "Gamest"s 1997 issue of "Heroes Collection", Jin was voted the 31st staff favorite. "Game Informer"s "Top Ten Best Fighting Game Characters" placed Jin fourth, comparing him to "Star Wars" character Luke Skywalker. On IGN's "Franchise Players 2: Reader's Choice" list, Jin was one of the video game characters voted to be featured in a live-action film. The site commented on his role in the "Tekken" series, noting that he could be the "focal point" of any film; the site's staff, however, did not choose any because of the poor quality of films based on fighting games. In May 2012, Namco Bandai opened the Tekken Museum in Osaka, Japan, which houses a statue of Jin and Kazuya in a cross-counter. "WhatCulture" ranked Jin as the 11th sexiest male video game character of all time.


title: Jin Kazama

text: Jin has often been listed as one of the best "Tekken" characters due to his rivalry with family members Kazuya and Heihachi Mishima. The character's popularity in the "Tekken" series also earned him special recognition among fighting games in general; his relationships with other characters throughout the series were also popular. The character's physical look has been the subject of much praise as well as the variability of his clothing across the series. Sato believes that Jin's players think the story is always serious, which he felt was proven wrong during "Tekken 5" when Jin accidentally touches the cleavage of Asuka Kazama.


title: Jin Kazama

text: Critics have focused on Jin's devil alter ego and his darker characterization. "Complex" enjoyed Jin's transition from a regular hero to anti-hero. The website 4thletter enjoyed Jin's dark characterization in his debut due to the shock of him becoming a devil in the ending of "Tekken 3". Despite acknowledging that fighting games lack deep storylines, Comic Book Resources found Jin's characterization brings an air of tragedy as a result of his desire to end his own life to get rid of his chaotic form. However, Den of Geek's Jasper Gavin did not find Jin's role as the main antagonist in "Tekken 6" appealing. He compared him negatively with both Kazuya and Heihachi, who he felt were more menacing villains. Gavin felt his relationship with other characters in "Tekken" as well as his inner conflict with the Devil Gene were appealing but was disappointed by how Jin's character declined across the story. Devil Jin's debut in "Tekken 5" was well received for his differences with the regular Jin. The crossovers "Tekken" had with "Street Fighter" also further raised Devil Jin's popularity with regard to similarities with the characterization of Evil Ryu.


title: Jin Kazama

text: There were multiple reactions in response to Jin's special moves. His initial move-set was noted to be based on his relatives' techniques, with the change shown in "Tekken 4" praised for him bringing his own take on karate. Others found such modifications entertaining as it meant learning new moves, but also criticized the change as it made practice by veteran players pointless. Capcom senior community manager Seth Killian had found the "Tekken 4" version too powerful to the point of quitting the series with Comic Book Resources also claiming he was too ovepowered. Regarding Jin's "Tekken 5" fighting style, GameSpy stated that players would now need to be patient playing as him, as he lost his overpowered moves. Because of the change to Jin's moves in "Tekken 5", sites recommended players use Devil Jin's incarnation in the game, if they missed his original techniques. Prima Games ranked Jin's "Laser Scraper" as the "30th greatest fighting move in video game history" due to its speed.


title: Jin Kazama

text: Critics have also focused on Jin's appearances in other media. For the first "Tekken" live-action film, BeyondHollywood thought Jon Foo's appearance might appeal to viewers based on his similarities with Jin. The Fandom Post disliked the love interests presented to Jin as well as his fights in the Iron Fist Tournament. DVD Verdict criticized how Jin was lacking most of his important traits, most notably his Devil Gene and commented that his quest for revenge was not appealing because of his interactions with other supporting characters. DVD Talk agreed, stating that "Tekken" struggled "to create a fulfilling hero's journey for Jin as he greets a dead end on his path to revenge". Although "Martial Arts and Action Movies" criticized Foo's acting to the point of making Jin emotionless, his fight sequences were praised. Roobla also praised the fight sequences, most notably Jin's fight against Eddie Gordo.


title: Jin Kazama

text: For the CGI film, MTV commented that the initial "games" between Jin and Kazuya were based on their experimentation with other people. Cheat Code Central felt the conflict between Jin and his father was simply an excuse to produce well-executed fight scenes. "PALGN"s Bev Chen enjoyed the new devil versions of Jin and Kazuya, comparing them to Go Nagai's series "Devilman". Titan's comics of "Tekken" earned mixed responses because of how the conflict with Jin is handled. Jin's incarnation from "Bloodline" resulted in praise from the media for how the narrative offers multiple point of views of Jin's morals as he is trained by both his pacifist mother and his violent grandfather but the heavy focus on him over the supporting cast was critcized. His characterization was compared to with those of archetypical "shōnen" manga protagonists due to his personality and powers. Isshin Chiba's performance was also acclaimed by critics as his best one from video games.


title: Jin Kazama

text: In Dianna Ferrand's "Industry Armageddon: Can Heroines Save the Game Industry?" published by Stanford University, Jin is recognized as one of the first gaming characters to have a realistic personality as the narrative of "Tekken 3" involves his quest to take revenge on Jun. Ferrand believed that, as a result, players might find Jin appealing. Similarly, the book "Japanese Culture Through Videogames" addresses Jin as a complex fictional character, comparing him with "Metal Gear"s Solid Snake and "Final Fantasy"s Terra Branford and Cloud Strife due to his identity issues over his powers and relatives. This is primarily explored in "Tekken 4", where Jin confronts his father Kazuya for the first time, while also dealing with the Devil Gene he inherited from him.


title: Jin Kazama

text: In 2017's "Refracted Visions: Transmedia Storytelling in Japanese Game", Rachael Hutchinson, an associate professor of Japanese Studies at the University of Delaware, noted that the Devil Gene is well explored in the character's fighting style as Jin performs different techniques when taking on this look. As a result, she regarded his characterization as one of gaming's best translations from storytelling to gameplay. Moreover, players who play Jin Kazama are noted to be highly skilled as they have to practice his two personas. The character's design and moveset were often cited as one of the biggest reasons behind his popularity within "Tekken" even if they come across as unrealistic comparing him with two other icons: Solid Snake and Lara Croft.


title: Tom Six

text: Tom Six (born 29 August 1973) is a Dutch filmmaker, writer, and actor. He is best known for his trilogy of body horror films; "The Human Centipede (First Sequence)", "The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence)," and "The Human Centipede 3 (Final Sequence)". Six was an original director of Dutch reality TV series "Big Brother", which has since become an international franchise.


title: Tom Six

text: Six started a film production company with his sister Ilona called "Six Entertainment", where he wrote and directed such films as "Gay in Amsterdam", "Honeyz" and "I Love Dries" (later retitled "What the F**k?!"), about the aspiring Dutch singer Dries Roelvink.


title: Tom Six

text: Six had success with the film "The Human Centipede". Although it met with mixed reviews and reactions, "The Human Centipede" garnered widespread attention. The first film's success gave Six the flexibility he needed to work on a sequel, "The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence)", eventually leading to a trilogy. He made the first film to get viewers comfortable with the idea of the Human Centipede. Both the controversial content of the first film and the second's brutal depictions of sexual violence have generated controversy. In the United Kingdom, the BBFC declined to issue an 18 certificate for "The Human Centipede 2 (Full Sequence)", highlighting the antagonist's "total degradation, humiliation, mutilation, torture, and murder of his naked victims". Six then submitted a new cut with two minutes and 37 seconds removed and received the 18 certificate. Six responded with mixed feelings. On the one hand, he was devastated that he had to cut his film, and on the other, the decision of the BBFC gained much press and notoriety. He has said, "In the UK, censors cut many minutes from "The Human Centipede 2" by law. It feels like I made a comedy and they cut out all the good jokes. It’s appalling. Nobody is forced to see a movie."


title: Tom Six

text: The final film in the "Human Centipede" series, "The Human Centipede 3 (Final Sequence)", was released on 22 May 2015. Tom Six's idea was that each of the three sequences of "The Human Centipede" can stand on their own as a self-contained film, or they can be connected into a single 4.5 hour-long movie. "The Human Centipede 2" begins where the original ends, while "The Human Centipede 3" begins where "The Human Centipede 2" ends; therefore, the three films together make a "movie centipede" titled "The Human Centipede (Complete Sequence)".


title: Tom Six

text: Six is currently trying to distribute the satirical psychological horror film "The Onania Club", originally due in 2017, but later delayed to 2019, and now with no release date. He previously commented on the matter, saying that "great art takes time." However, in 2021, Six admitted there have been issues getting it released after the distributor decided not to release it, which led to Six asking fans for support to get it released.


title: Mexican Coke

text: In the United States and Canada, Mexican Coca-Cola, or Mexican Coke (, English: Glass Coca-Cola, or Coca-Cola in a glass bottle) or, informally, "Mexicoke", refers to Coca-Cola produced in and imported from Mexico. Mexican Coca-Cola is sweetened with white sugar instead of the high-fructose corn syrup used in the U.S. since the early 1980s. Some people say that Mexican Coca-Cola tastes better, and other blind tasting tests have found that people can't tell the difference.


title: Mexican Coke

text: Actual Coca-Cola in the country uses a different recipe, containing sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, and artificial sweetener sucralose, with a can containing one-third less sugar than the export product.


title: Mexican Coke

text: The Coca-Cola Company opened its first bottling franchise in Mexico around 1921 with Grupo Tampico, and then Grupo ARMA. Monterrey-based FEMSA is currently the largest Coca-Cola bottler in Mexico and most of Latin America.


title: Mexican Coke

text: The Coca-Cola Company originally imported the Mexican-produced version into the U.S. primarily to sell it to Mexican immigrants who grew up with that formula. Mexican Coke was first sold at grocers who served Latino clientele, but as its popularity grew among non-Latinos, by 2009 larger chains like Costco, Sam's Club and Kroger began to stock it. It is now readily available at most grocery stores throughout the United States.


title: Mexican Coke

text: In 2013, a Mexican Coca-Cola bottler announced it would stop using cane sugar in favor of glucose-fructose syrup. It later clarified this change would not affect those bottles specifically exported to the United States as "Coca-Cola Nostalgia" products.


title: Mexican Coke

text: A scientific analysis of Mexican Coke found no sucrose (standard sugar), but instead found total fructose and glucose levels similar to other soft drinks sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup, though in different ratios.


title: Mexican Coke

text: Results from taste tests have been mixed. In a tasting conducted by a local Westchester, New York magazine, some tasters noted that the Mexican Coke had "a more complex flavor with an ineffable spicy and herbal note," and that it contained something "that darkly hinted at root beer or old-fashioned sarsaparilla candies." However, participants in a different double-blind test preferred American Coca-Cola. Participants in taste tests conducted by Coca-Cola and others reported no perceptible differences in flavor between American Coke and the Mexican formulation.


title: Mexican Coke

text: Mexican Coca-Cola is sold in a thick or glass bottle, which some have contrasted as being "more elegant, with a pleasingly nostalgic shape," compared to the more common plastic American Coca-Cola bottles. Formerly, Coca-Cola was widely available in refundable and non-refundable glass bottles of various sizes in the U.S., but nearly all bottlers began replacing most glass bottles with plastic during the late 1980s. Most exporters of Mexican Coke affix a paper sticker on each bottle containing the nutrition facts label, ingredients, and bottler and/or exporter's contact information, to meet US food labeling requirements.


title: Mexican Coke

text: Adding to the nostalgia factor, the Mexican Coca-Cola bottle does not have a twist-off cap as American glass and plastic bottles do.


title: Mexican Coke

text: A similar phenomenon exists in New Zealand, where Coca-Cola is available both bottled locally (sweetened with cane sugar) and imported from the United States (with high-fructose corn syrup).


title: Tum Bin

text: Tum Bin (), also known as Tum Bin... Love Will Find a Way, is a 2001 Indian Hindi-language romantic drama film written and directed by Anubhav Sinha. The film stars Priyanshu Chatterjee, Sandali Sinha, Himanshu Malik and Raqesh Bapat. The music is composed by Nikhil-Vinay, with lyrics penned by Faaiz Anwar.


title: Tum Bin

text: After Amar Shah's accidental death in India, Canada-based Shah Industries is on the verge of collapse. Pia Varma, Amar's fiancée and a Managing Director of Shah Industries, is devastated, Girdhari, his dad, is in shock and unresponsive towards others while Amar's sister and grandmother are in mourning.


title: Tum Bin

text: Inspector D'Mello who is investigating the case is determined to find the person responsible for the accident despite his superiors' indifference towards the case.


title: Tum Bin

text: Months after Amar's death, a highly respected and talented business worker named Shekhar Malhotra offers to re-build and restore Shah Industries without any compensation, stating Amar met him in India and offered him a job before his death. He is given the chance and goes about the uphill task of making the company viable again. Gradually, Shekhar heals the gaping wound left in the Shah family by Amar's death and they come to accept him as one of the family while he falls in love with Pia. What they don't know – except for Bosco, Shekhar's friend in Canada – is that it was Shekhar's jeep that accidentally had hit Amar after he swerved to avoid hitting an innocent girl who had walked into the road, causing his death. Ridden by guilt Shekhar came to Canada to confess, ask for forgiveness, and do whatever he can for the family.


title: Tum Bin

text: Abhigyan is a wealthy Canadian industrialist who meets Pia and realizes that she is the right woman for him. He is considering proposing to Pia and helping to rebuild Shah Industries. But Pia has fallen in love with Shekhar. Eventually, a conflict arises between Pia and Shekhar regarding a proposition made by Abhi to take over Shah Industries. Shekhar realizes that Pia does not need his help anymore and decides to return to India.


title: Tum Bin

text: Pia stops Shekhar while he boards his flight and confesses her feelings for him. Shekhar denies his feelings and boards the plane. Devastated, Pia goes home and gets engaged to Abhi. At the airport arrives Inspector D'Mello, from India in search of the person who killed Amar, and arrests Shekhar. They wait, with Bosco, to board the next flight to India. Shekhar calls Pia and tells her how much he loves her and confesses that it was he who hit her fiancé. Being drunk, Shekhar meets with an accident.


title: Tum Bin

text: Pia feels guilty about falling for the man who caused Amar's death and confesses it to Girdhari, who surprises her by speaking for the first time after his son's death. He tells her that Shekhar had told him the truth when he first visited them and he believes Shekhar. Amar's family then makes Pia realize how much Shekhar has done for the family and that he is like Amar to them. Bosco informs them about Shekhar's accident. Abhi tells a skeptical Pia to go back to Shekhar as he is her true love. Meanwhile, D'Mello who is in the hospital with everyone, understands that the family needs Shekhar more than the law does and simply closes the case and leave. The movie ends with Shekhar recovering and uniting with Pia while Abhi is left devastated and is comforted by his uncle.


title: Tum Bin

text: The principal photography started from November 2000, and the film is mostly shot in Calgary, Canada, while the songs were picturised in Mumbai.


title: Tum Bin

text: During the making of the film, Anubhav Sinha, director, approached Jagjit Singh for the film's background music and song. During record, Sinha rejected Gazal's "Sher" 81 times, disappointing Singh and made him to leave the task, but soon after, he understood the situation and agreed to complete the Gazal.


title: Tum Bin

text: At film's initial stage, John Abraham also auditioned for the film but was rejected after a "very bad" tryout.


title: Tum Bin

text: Pratiksha Arora in a review for "Rediff" complimented the first half of the movie, but felt the second half of the movie "disappoints". Several aspects stood out well, including some of the photography during the songs and the overall story, but felt the music was lacking and the film was too long. Taran Adarsh of IndiaFM gave the film 2 stars out of 5, writing: "On the whole, TUM BIN has gloss, a hit musical score, competent performances, mature direction and a tremendous publicity campaign as its assets. But the screenplay in the second half and the loose editing dilute the impact to an extent. Yet, with some trimming, the film should find patronage from those who enjoy emotional films. However, the big oppositions (Aks and the two hits ? and Lagaan) will restrict its prospects to an extent. Business in Mumbai should be the best."


title: Tum Bin

text: A commercial success at the time of release, earning an estimated at the box office, against a budget of .


title: Tum Bin

text: The soundtrack is composed by Nikhil-Vinay, Ravi Pawar and T.S.Jarnail and released on 2 May 2001, two-months earlier than the actual film. The lyrics were provided by Faaiz Anwar, Yogesh, Pushpa Patel and T.S. Jarnail. Singers like K.S. Chitra, Shailaja Subramanian, Anuradha Paudwal, Udit Narayan, Sonu Nigam, Jagjit Singh, Abhijeet Bhattacharya and Tarsame Singh Saini lent their voices for the soundtrack. According to the Indian trade website Box Office India, with 2,000,000 units sold, this film's soundtrack album was the year's sixth highest-selling.


title: Tum Bin

text: A sequel of the film, "Tum Bin 2" starring Neha Sharma, Aashim Gulati and Aditya Seal was released in 2016.


title: -stan

text: -stan (; ) has the meaning of "a place abounding in" or "a place where anything abounds" as a suffix. It originated in the Persian language, but is widely used by other Iranic languages as well as the Shaz Turkic languages (excluding Siberian Turkic) and other languages historically influenced by Persian. The suffix appears in the names of many regions throughout Iran, Afghanistan, Central Asia, South Asia, and parts of the Caucasus and Russia.


title: -stan

text: -standar or ostandar was an administrative title wielded by -stan governors under the Sasanian Empire in Persia.


title: -stan

text: The suffix "-stan" is analogous to the suffix "-land", present in many country and location names. The suffix is also used more generally, as in Persian () "place of sand, desert", () "place of flowers, garden", () "graveyard, cemetery", "Hindustân" () "land of the Hindus".


title: -stan

text: Originally an independent noun, this morpheme evolved into a suffix by virtue of appearing frequently as the last part in nominal compounds. It is of Indo-Iranian and ultimately Indo-European origin. It is cognate with the English word "state", and with Sanskrit (Devanagari: ), meaning "the act of standing", from which many further meanings derive, including "place, location; abode, dwelling", and ultimately descends from Proto-Indo-Iranian .


title: -stan

text: Some of these nations were also known with the Latinate suffix "" during their time as Soviet republics: "Turkmenistan" was frequently "Turkmenia", "Kyrgyzstan" often "Kirghizia", and even "Uzbekistan" was very rarely "Uzbekia". In addition, the native name of Armenia is "Hayastan", hay being the self-designation of Armenians.


title: -stan

text: The following list shows some examples of some , , and subdivisions inside different countries that have their names ending in a "-stan"-like suffix.


title: Eddsworld

text: Eddsworld (capitalized as EDDSWORLD in the official title design) is a British Flash-animated web series created by Edd Gould. Since premiering on 20 December 2004, the series has been published through Newgrounds, DeviantArt, YouTube, Albino Blacksheep, Tumblr, The BBC, and their website.


title: Eddsworld

text: Following Gould's death on 25 March 2012, Thomas Ridgewell (the former voice actor of Tom) became the series' new showrunner, launching a crowdfunding campaign to continue the show titled Eddsworld: Legacy. Preceding the release of "Eddsworld: Legacy"'s final episode, Ridgewell announced he was leaving the show and handing control of the series to Matt Hargreaves (voice actor of Matt) and Gould's family.


title: Eddsworld

text: On 1 January 2017, the show's website went back online with new "Eddsworld" comics written and illustrated by Matt Hargreaves. On 1 August 2020, a new short was released to kick off a new era of the show called Eddsworld Beyond, with Hargreaves as showrunner. , the "Eddsworld" YouTube channel has more than 3 million subscribers.


title: Eddsworld

text: At the time of Gould's death, his YouTube channel had the most subscribers in the comedian category for the United Kingdom and was the 4th most viewed comedian in the United Kingdom. "Eddsworld" was noticed by the organisers of the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference who commissioned an episode about climate change, used in the opening ceremony of the conference.


title: Eddsworld

text: "Eddsworld" follows the misadventures of a group of young adult "morons" living together in a house somewhere in the United Kingdom: Edd, an artist obsessed with Coca-Cola; Tom, a jaded nihilist who lacks eyeballs; Matt, a dim-witted narcissist; and (prior to his departure) Tord, a trigger-happy Norwegian addicted to hentai. The series is generally episodic, and typically has little continuity between episodes.


title: The Nightingale (Hannah novel)

text: The Nightingale is a historical fiction novel by American author Kristin Hannah published by St. Martin's Press in 2015. The book tells the story of two sisters in France during World War II and their struggle to survive and resist the German occupation of France. The book was inspired by the story of a Belgian woman, Andrée de Jongh, who helped downed Allied pilots escape Nazi territory.


title: The Nightingale (Hannah novel)

text: "The Nightingale" entered multiple bestseller lists upon release and as of 2021, has sold over 4.5 million copies worldwide and been published in 45 languages. The novel was optioned for a screen adaptation by TriStar Pictures in March 2015, with Melanie Laurent signed on to direct the film.


title: The Nightingale (Hannah novel)

text: The book uses the frame story literary device; the frame is presented in first-person narration as the remembrances of an elderly woman in 1995, whose name is initially not revealed to the reader. It is only known that she has a son named Julien and that she lives off the coast of Oregon. However, the main action of the book is told in third-person, following two sisters, Vianne Mauriac and Isabelle Rossignol, who live in France around 1939, on the eve of World War II. The two sisters are estranged from each other and their father, and the book follows the two different paths they take.


title: The Nightingale (Hannah novel)

text: Vianne, the eldest sister, is a married schoolteacher raising her 8-year-old daughter Sophie in her childhood home named "Le Jardin" in the town of Carriveau. Vianne's husband Antoine is drafted and subsequently captured as a prisoner of war. At home, Vianne copes with the occupation of France after the Battle of France, struggling to keep herself and her daughter alive in the face of poor food rations, the dwindling francs left behind by Antoine, the billeting of Wehrmacht and SS officers at her home, the loss of her job, and the increasing persecution of the Jews in town. The first officer billeted at her home is Wolfgang Beck, a kindly man with a family he's left behind. The second is Von Richter, a more sadistic officer who subjects Vianne to physical and sexual abuse.


title: The Nightingale (Hannah novel)

text: Later in the novel when Vianne's best friend, Rachel de Champlain, is deported to a concentration camp, she adopts Rachel's three-year-old son, Ari, and renames him "Daniel" to hide his Jewish identity. Soon after, Vianne becomes responsible for hiding nineteen more Jewish children in a nearby abbey's orphanage. Meanwhile, Von Richter uses sexual violence as a means of control over Vianne. When the war ends, Antoine returns from the POW camp, but Vianne must still cope with the aftermath of the occupation—she is pregnant as a result of Von Richter's rape, and Ari, whom she has come to love as a son, is taken away to be raised by his cousins in the United States.


title: The Nightingale (Hannah novel)

text: Isabelle, the younger and more impetuous sister, decides to take an active role in resisting the occupation. After being expelled from finishing school, she travels from Paris to Carriveau on foot, meeting a young rebel named Gaëtan Dubois along the way. In Carriveau, she joins the French Resistance and is initially tasked with distributing anti-Nazi propaganda. After moving to a cell in Paris, she develops a plan to help downed Allied airmen escape to the British embassy in neutral Spain, where they can be repatriated. She is successful, and with support from other Resistance operators (including her father, with whom she begins to rebuild a relationship) and the British MI9, this becomes her primary task throughout the war. She earns the code name "Nightingale", and is actively hunted by the Nazis. She is eventually captured, and after her father falsely confesses to being the Nightingale to save her, she is sent to a concentration camp in Germany. She undergoes hellish conditions at the camp but survives long enough to see the end of the war. She makes her way to Vianne, and they reconcile. She reunites with Gaëtan once more before dying from the typhus and pneumonia she has contracted as a result of her mistreatment.


title: The Nightingale (Hannah novel)

text: The book concludes with the elderly narrator, revealed to be Vianne, receiving an invitation to an event in Paris to remember her sister, "The Nightingale". She travels with her son Julien, who is unaware of his family's activities during the war and his true parentage. After the event, Vianne reunites with Ari, and she comes to peace with her memories of the war.


title: The Nightingale (Hannah novel)

text: The characters in "The Nightingale" are not themselves real people, though some of their actions are based on real historical figures. Isabelle's escape route over the Pyrenees for downed Allied airmen was based on the Comet line of 24-year-old Andrée de Jongh, a Belgian woman who helped aviators and others escape. Much like Isabelle, de Jongh personally escorted many over the Pyrenees on foot; by the end of the war, she had aided 118 airmen. Also like Isabelle, de Jongh was captured late in the war and sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp rather than executed, as the Nazis disbelieved her assertion that she was herself the organizer of the route. However, de Jongh lived on long after the war, becoming a countess in 1985 and eventually dying in 2007, whereas in the novel Isabelle dies shortly after being freed from the camp.


title: The Nightingale (Hannah novel)

text: The story of De Jongh also inspired Hannah to conduct further research and found stories during the French Resistance about women who were willing to put their lives and their children at risk in order to shelter Jewish families; this became the inspiration for Vianne's character in the book. Other historical figures mentioned include the World War I nurse Edith Cavell.


title: The Nightingale (Hannah novel)

text: Reviews of the book were generally positive. A review published by "Kirkus Reviews" notes, "[Hannah's] tendency to sentimentalize undermines the gravitas of this tale...Still, a respectful and absorbing page-turner." The novel also sold well: it spent 45 weeks on the NPR Hardcover Fiction Bestseller List and 20 weeks on the "New York Times" bestseller list.


title: The Nightingale (Hannah novel)

text: The book was optioned in March 2015 by TriStar Pictures for screen adaptation, with Ann Peacock to write and Elizabeth Cantillon to produce. In August 2016 it was announced that Michelle MacLaren will direct and rewrite the film with John Sayles, until MacLaren left before production shutdown. In December 2019, Melanie Laurent signed on to direct from a script by Dana Stevens with Cantillon still attached to produce. Dakota and Elle Fanning will star, marking the first time the sisters have shared scenes in a film; previously they had played the same character at different ages, in separate scenes.


title: The Nightingale (Hannah novel)

text: On June 23, 2017, TriStar scheduled the film to be released on August 10, 2018. On March 2, 2020, TriStar pushed the film to December 25, 2020. On April 24, 2020, TriStar briefly removed the film from the release calendar due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On April 30, 2020, TriStar rescheduled the film to be released on December 22, 2021. On February 19, 2021, TriStar pushed the film again to December 23, 2022. On October 22, 2021, TriStar removed the film from the release calendar again.


title: Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story

text: Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story is a 1993 American biographical drama film directed by Rob Cohen. The film stars Jason Scott Lee, with a supporting cast including Lauren Holly, Nancy Kwan and Robert Wagner. The film follows the life of actor and martial artist Bruce Lee (Jason) from his relocation to the United States from Hong Kong to his career as a martial arts teacher, and then as a television and film actor. It also focuses on the relationship between Bruce and his wife Linda Lee Cadwell, and the racism to which Bruce was subjected.


title: Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story

text: The primary source of the screenplay is Cadwell's 1975 biography "". Other sources include Robert Clouse's book "Bruce Lee: The Biography" and research by Cohen, including interviews with Cadwell and Bruce's son, Brandon Lee. Rather than a traditional biographical film, Cohen decided to include elements of mysticism and to dramatise fight scenes to give it the same tone as the films in which Bruce starred. "Dragon" was filmed primarily in Hong Kong, Los Angeles and San Francisco.


title: Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story

text: "Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story" received generally positive reviews, with critics typically finding it entertaining despite criticisms of its veneration of Bruce. Jason was widely praised for his performance. The film was a commercial success and its revenue exceeded box office averages for biographical films, which was attributed to its romantic themes and its appeal to people outside the traditional kung fu film audience. A video game adaptation was released the following year. "Dragon" is dedicated to Brandon, who died several weeks before its release.


title: Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story

text: In Hong Kong, Bruce Lee's father Lee Hoi-chuen awakens from a nightmare about a phantom, known as the Demon, haunting his young son. He subsequently enrolls him in Chinese martial arts training with instructor Yip Man. As a young adult, Bruce fights British sailors who are harassing a young Chinese woman, resulting in him having to leave Hong Kong. His father insists he go to the US.