title: Marionette

text: Marionettes are featured in the 1999 film, "Being John Malkovich". John Cusack played a manipulator who referred to himself as a puppeteer.


title: Marionette

text: The BBC children's show "Playbus" (later "Playdays") used many puppets during their commission, notably a singing and dancing marionette called Lizzie Dreams, sometimes paired up with another marionette called Nick.


title: Marionette

text: "" is a 2004 movie made by "South Park" creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker which uses a crude, naive, childlike style of Supermarionation as in "Thunderbirds". Matt Stone and Trey Parker dubbed their version "Supercrappymation" due to the fact they intentionally left the strings visible, among other reasons.


title: Marionette

text: Also appearing in 2004 was the full-length, award-winning marionette fantasy film "Strings", directed by Dane Anders Rønnow Klarlund.


title: Marionette

text: This type of control has many strings attached to a rounded rectangular paddle with a short handle, all the strings are attached and hang from the outer edge of the paddle and are used by selecting each string with the opposite hand and pulling to control the figure which hangs below.


title: Marionette

text: This control is a bar that is held in the hand in a horizontal plane. There can be numerous bars at right angles to the central bar, which in turn attach via wires to the hands, shoulders, back, etc. A smaller plate is usually hung under the main bar, and this carries the head strings; likewise, a detachable clip usually holds the leg bar. This style of control is generally used in the USA for human figures and is also known as the American control. A similar control is almost universally used for quadruped animals; as it emulates the basic shape of the animal, rocking it from side to side will control the leg movements in unison. The Salzburg Marionette Theatre in Austria also uses a variant of this style for its human characters.


title: Marionette

text: This type of control is an upright bar that has various smaller bars inserted at right angles from which the head, shoulder, back etc. strings etc. are attached to. This control usually has a detachable leg bar that controls walking when held in the opposite hand. The arms are controlled by wires which are inserted into a hole in the shaft bent at approximately 45 degrees to the shaft and hang loosely with a loop at the end to attach the hand strings, these are then moved by the fingers holding the main shaft. A tilt of the main upright controls the head and body with a fine nuance, This type of control is usually called the British control.


title: Marionette

text: Another variation of the vertical control is found in Europe usually a rigid wire rod extends from the centre of the head upwards and is fixed rigidly to the control, The leg bar is inserted through the main upright but pivots on a pin to allow movement of the legs.


title: Marionette

text: They have eight strings that are attached to the legs, hands, head, shoulders, and back. The controls are horizontal.


title: Marionette

text: British marionettes are similar to German marionettes. The usual human form has nine strings — one string to each knee, hand and shoulder, two strings to the head and one string to the lower back. The control is usually the British upright control with separate leg bar. Optional stringing includes elbows, forehead or nose.


title: Marionette

text: Pelham Puppets are a commercially made British puppet who usually have seven strings that are attached to the legs, hands, head and back. The controls are usually a horizontal folding cross bar. Bob Pelham developed the British marionettes in 1947.


title: Marionette

text: Sicilian marionettes are among the simplest marionettes to operate. They are usually carved out of wood and have a sturdy rod that extends up through the body into the head. This rod, and one string attached to the hand, controls the manipulation of the puppet.


title: Marionette

text: Czech rod marionettes are similar to Sicilian ones though they are more complex. They are hand-carved, usually using lime wood. The marionettes have the central rod-like the Sicilian marionette but also have strings for the arms and legs. Sometimes they also use string to control a mouth or movable ears. These require more skilled manipulation. Czechs also have marionettes that have no central rod and strings that are attached to the head, shoulders, and back. These are the most difficult marionettes to manipulate due to the absence of the central rod. Miroslav Trejtnar is an acknowledged master puppeteer and teacher of traditional Czech marionette-making skills.


title: Marionette

text: A BBC article explains how this craft saved Czech culture and language from being eradicated in favor of German.


title: Marionette

text: Burmese marionettes are all string operated and are a popular art in Burma. Marionettes are called Yoke thé (lit. miniatures) and are almost always performed in operas. A Burmese marionette troupe must have 27 characters, including a king, animals such as horse, elephant, tiger, monkey and parrot, ministers, prince and princess and buffoons A hsaing waing, a traditional Burmese orchestra usually provides the music. Burmese marionettes are very intricate and dexterous as they employ 18 (for male characters) or 19 (for female) wires, each puppet controlled only by one puppeteer.


title: Adina Porter

text: Adina Elizabeth Porter is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Lettie Mae Thornton on the HBO fantasy horror series "True Blood" (2008–2014), Kendra James on the HBO drama series "The Newsroom" (2012–2014), and Indra on the CW science fiction drama series "The 100" (2014–2020). She received further recognition for her roles as , , , , and Chief Burleson on the , , , , and seasons of the FX anthology series "American Horror Story" (2011–present).


title: Adina Porter

text: Porter began her acting career appearing on Off-Broadway stage, winning the Obie Award in 1996 for "Venus". She made her Broadway debut in the 2001 revival of "The Women". For her work in "American Horror Story", she has been nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award and two Saturn Awards.


title: Adina Porter

text: Porter was born and raised in New York City, New York. She graduated from the State University of New York at Purchase. Her first acting teacher was Butterfly McQueen. She has been married twice and has two children with her second husband, Larry Earl Madison Jr.


title: Adina Porter

text: Porter began her acting career in the theatre, appearing in off Broadway plays and in regional theatre. Her off-Broadway credits include "The Debutante Ball", "Jersey City", "Aven' U Boys", "Girl Gone", "Silence, Cunning, Exile", "Dancing on Moonlight" and "Hurricane". In 1996, she received Obie Award for Distinguished Performance by an Actress for her performance in "Venus". Her Broadway debut came in 2001 with the Roundabout Theater's revival of "The Women", directed by Scott Elliott, broadcast as part of PBS's Stage on Screen series, in addition, she performed in multiple productions at the New York Shakespeare Festival.


title: Adina Porter

text: Porter began her screen career playing guest starring roles on television dramas include "Law & Order", "New York Undercover", "Brooklyn South", and "NYPD Blue". She had a recurring role as housekeeper Gwen Walker in the NBC period drama "American Dreams" from 2002 to 2003. In film, she made her debut in 1992 Leopold/Loeb New Queer Cinema feature, "Swoon". She went to appear in small roles in films "The Peacemaker" (1997), "Gia" (1998), "Body Shots" (1999), "The Fluffer" (2001), and "The Salon" (2005). In 2005, Porter played Ricky in the film adaptation of Ruben Santiago-Hudson's play "Lackawanna Blues" for HBO. She received for her role. She went to appear "ER", "Prison Break", "Without a Trace", "House", and "".


title: Adina Porter

text: In 2008, Porter was cast as Lettie Mae Thornton, mother to Rutina Wesley's Tara Thorton, in the HBO drama series, "True Blood". She was promoted to series regular in seventh and final season of show. In 2012, she guest starred in an episode of "Grey's Anatomy". From 2012 to 2014, she also had a recurring role on the HBO series "The Newsroom" playing Kendra James. In 2014, she began appearing in a recurring role as Indra in the CW post-apocalyptic drama, "The 100". Porter also starred in two unsold drama pilots for ABC, "Doubt" in 2013, and "The Jury" in 2016. In 2016, she played Pearly Mae during first season of WGN America period drama "Underground". Later that year, Porter was cast as Lee Harris in the FX anthology series "", after previously appearing as a minor character in "" in 2011. For her performance in "Roanoke", she received critical acclaim and was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress on Television. She later portrayed Beverly Hope in "" where she received similar praise from critics and received a second Saturn Award nomination, as well as a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie. She was later promoted to series regular for "American Horror Story"’s eight season entitled , playing Dinah Stevens. In 2021 she appears again as a main in the tenth season of the series, called , where she plays Chief Burleson. In 2020 she played as Sheriff Susan Peterkin in Outer Banks (TV series).


title: Amphora

text: An amphora (; ; English ) is a type of container with a pointed bottom and characteristic shape and size which fit tightly (and therefore safely) against each other in storage rooms and packages, tied together with rope and delivered by land or sea. The size and shape have been determined from at least as early as the Neolithic Period. Amphorae were used in vast numbers for the transport and storage of various products, both liquid and dry, but mostly for wine. They are most often ceramic, but examples in metals and other materials have been found. Versions of the amphorae were one of many shapes used in Ancient Greek vase painting.


title: Amphora

text: The amphora complements a vase, the pithos, which makes available capacities between one-half and two and one-half tons. In contrast, the amphora holds under a half-ton, typically less than . The bodies of the two types have similar shapes. Where the pithos may have multiple small loops or lugs for fastening a rope harness, the amphora has two expansive handles joining the shoulder of the body and a long neck. The necks of pithoi are wide for scooping or bucket access. The necks of amphorae are narrow for pouring by a person holding it by the bottom and a handle. Some variants exist. The handles might not be present. The size may require two or three handlers to lift. For the most part, however, an amphora was tableware, or sat close to the table, was intended to be seen, and was finely decorated as such by master painters.


title: Amphora

text: Stoppers of perishable materials, which have rarely survived, were used to seal the contents. Two principal types of amphorae existed: the "neck amphora", in which the neck and body meet at a sharp angle; and the "one-piece amphora", in which the neck and body form a continuous curve upwards. Neck amphorae were commonly used in the early history of ancient Greece, but were gradually replaced by the one-piece type from around the 7th century BC onward.


title: Amphora

text: Most were produced with a pointed base to allow upright storage by embedding in soft ground, such as sand. The base facilitated transport by ship, where the amphorae were packed upright or on their sides in as many as five staggered layers. If upright, the bases probably were held by some sort of rack, and ropes passed through their handles to prevent shifting or toppling during rough seas. Heather and reeds might be used as packing around the vases. Racks could be used in kitchens and shops. The base also concentrated deposits from liquids with suspended solid particles, such as olive oil and wines.


title: Amphora

text: Amphorae are of great use to maritime archaeologists, as they often indicate the age of a shipwreck and the geographic origin of the cargo. They are occasionally so well preserved that the original content is still present, providing information on foodstuffs and mercantile systems. Amphorae were too cheap and plentiful to return to their origin-point and so, when empty, they were broken up at their destination. At a breakage site in Rome, Testaccio, close to the Tiber, the fragments, later wetted with calcium hydroxide (calce viva), remained to create a hill now named Monte Testaccio, high and more than 1 kilometre in circumference.


title: Amphora

text: Amphora is a Greco-Roman word developed in ancient Greek during the Bronze Age. The Romans acquired it during the Hellenization that occurred in the Roman Republic. Cato is the first known literary person to use it. The Romans turned the Greek form into a standard -a declension noun, "amphora", pl. "amphorae". Undoubtedly, the word and the vase were introduced to Italy through the Greek settlements there, which traded extensively in Greek pottery.


title: Amphora

text: It is remarkable that even though the Etruscans imported, manufactured, and exported amphorae extensively in their wine industry, and other Greek vase names were Etruscanized, no Etruscan form of the word exists. There was perhaps an as yet unidentified native Etruscan word for the vase that pre-empted the adoption of "amphora".


title: Amphora

text: The Latin word derived from the Greek "amphoreus" (), a shortened form of "amphiphoreus" (), a compound word combining "amphi-" ("on both sides", "twain") and "phoreus" ("carrier"), from "pherein" ("to carry"), referring to the vessel's two carrying handles on opposite sides. The amphora appears as , "a-pi-po-re-we", in the Linear B Bronze Age records of Knossos, , "a-po-re-we", at Mycenae, and the fragmentary "]-re-we" at Pylos, designated by , Bennett's AMPHORA, which has a number of scribal variants. The two spellings are transcriptions of amphiphorēwes (plural) and amphorēwe (dual) in Mycenaean Greek from which it may be seen that the short form prevailed on the mainland. Homer uses the long form for metrical reasons, and Herodotus has the short form. Ventris and Chadwick's translation is "carried on both sides."


title: Amphora

text: Amphorae varied greatly in height. The largest stands as tall as 1.5 metres (5 ft) high, while some were less than 30 centimetres (12 in) high - the smallest were called amphoriskoi (literally "little amphorae"). Most were around 45 centimetres (18 in) high.


title: Amphora

text: There was a significant degree of standardisation in some variants; the wine amphora held a standard measure of about 39 litres (41 US qt), giving rise to the amphora quadrantal as a unit of measure in the Roman Empire. In all, approximately 66 distinct types of amphora have been identified.


title: Amphora

text: Further, the term also stands for an ancient Roman unit of measurement for liquids. The volume of a Roman amphora was one cubic foot, c. 26.026 L.


title: Amphora

text: Roman amphorae were wheel-thrown terracotta containers. During the production process the body was made first and then left to dry partially. Then coils of clay were added to form the neck, the rim, and the handles. Once the amphora was complete, the maker then treated the interior with resin that would prevent permeation of stored liquids. The reconstruction of these stages of production is based primarily on the study of modern amphora production in some areas of the eastern Mediterranean.


title: Amphora

text: Amphorae often were marked with a variety of stamps, sgraffito, and inscriptions. They provided information on the production, content, and subsequent marketing. A stamp usually was applied to the amphora at a partially dry stage. It indicates the name of the "figlina" (workshop) and/or the name of the owner of the workshop. Painted stamps, "tituli picti", recorded the weight of the container and the contents, and were applied after the amphora was filled. Today, stamps are used to allow historians to track the flow of trade goods and recreate ancient trade networks.


title: Amphora

text: The first systematic classification of Roman amphorae types was undertaken by the German scholar Heinrich Dressel. Following the exceptional amphora deposit uncovered in Rome in Castro Pretorio at the end of the 1800s, he collected almost 200 inscriptions from amphorae and included them in the "Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum". In his studies of the amphora deposit he was the first to elaborate a classification of types, the so-called "Dressel table", which still is used today for many types.


title: Amphora

text: Subsequent studies on Roman amphorae have produced more detailed classifications, which usually are named after the scholar who studied them. For the neo-Phoenician types see the work by Maña published in 1951, and the revised classification by Van der Werff in 1977–1978. The Gallic amphorae have been studied by Laubenheimer in a study published in 1989, whereas the Cretan amphorae have been analyzed by Marangou-Lerat. Beltràn studied the Spanish types in 1970. Adriatic types have been studied by Lamboglia in 1955. For a general analysis of the Western Mediterranean types see Panella, and Peacock and Williams.


title: Amphora

text: Ceramics of shapes and uses falling within the range of amphorae, with or without handles, are of prehistoric heritage across Eurasia, from the Caucasus to China. For example, the kvevri, common in the Republic of Georgia and the Caucasus, may be traced back to approximately 6000 BC. Amphorae dated to approximately 4800 BC have been found in Banpo, a Neolithic site of the Yangshao culture in China. Amphorae first appeared on the Phoenician coast at approximately 3500 BC.


title: Amphora

text: In the Bronze and Iron Ages amphorae spread around the ancient Mediterranean world, being used by the ancient Greeks and Romans as the principal means for transporting and storing grapes, olive oil, wine, oil, olives, grain, fish, and other commodities. They were produced on an industrial scale until approximately the 7th century AD. Wooden and skin containers seem to have supplanted amphorae thereafter.


title: Amphora

text: They influenced Chinese ceramics and other East Asian ceramic cultures, especially as a fancy shape for high-quality decorative ceramics, and continued to be produced there long after they had ceased to be used further west.


title: Amphora

text: Besides coarse amphorae used for storage and transport, the vast majority, high-quality painted amphorae were produced in Ancient Greece in significant numbers for a variety of social and ceremonial purposes. Their design differs vastly from the more functional versions; they are typified by wide mouth and a ring base, with a glazed surface and decorated with figures or geometric shapes. They normally have a firm base on which they can stand. Panathenaic amphorae were used as prizes in the Panathenaic Festivals held between the 6th century BC to the 2nd century BC, filled with olive oil from a sacred grove. Surviving examples bear the inscription "I am one of the prizes from Athens", and usually depict the particular event they were awarded for.


title: Amphora

text: Painted amphorae were also used for funerary purposes, often in special types such as the "loutrophoros". Especially in earlier periods, outsize vases were used as grave markers, while some amphorae were used as containers for the ashes of the dead. By the Roman period vase-painting had largely died out, and utilitarian amphorae were normally the only type produced.


title: Amphora

text: On a neck amphora, the handles are attached to the neck, which is separated from the belly by an angular carination. There are two main types of neck amphorae:


title: Amphora

text: There are also some rarer special types of neck amphora, distinguished by specific features, for example:


title: Amphora

text: In contrast to the neck amphora, a belly amphora does not have a distinguished neck; instead, the belly reaches the mouth in a continuous curve. After the mid-5th century BC, this type was rarely produced. The "pelike" is a special type of belly amphora, with the belly placed lower, so that the widest point of the vessel is near its bottom. The "pelike" was introduced around the end of the 6th century BC.


title: Amphora

text: Another special type is the Panathenaic prize amphora, with black-figure decoration, produced exclusively as prize vessels for the Panathenaia and retaining the black-figure technique for centuries after the introduction of red-figure vase painting. Some examples bear the inscription "ΤΩΝ ΑΘΗΝΗΘΕΝ ΑΘΛΩΝ" meaning "[I am one] of the prizes from [the goddess] Athena". They contained the prize of oil from the sacred olive tree of the goddess Athena for the winners of the athletic contests held to honour the goddess, and were evidently kept thereafter, and perhaps used to store wine, before being buried with the prize-winner. They depicted goddess Athena on one side (as seen on the second image on this page) and the athletic event on the other side, e.g. a scene of wrestling or running contest etc.


title: Amphora

text: The first type of Roman amphora, Dressel 1, appears in central Italy in the late 2nd century BC. This type had thick walls and a characteristic red fabric. It was very heavy, although also strong. Around the middle of the 1st century BC the so-called Dressel 2-4 starts to become widely used. This type of amphora presented some advantages in being lighter and with thinner walls. It has been calculated that while a ship could accommodate approximately 4500 Dressel 1, it was possible to fit 6000 Dressel 2–4 in the same space. Dressel 2-4 were often produced in the same workshops used for the production of Dressel 1 which quickly ceased to be used.


title: Amphora

text: At the same time in Cuma (southern Italy) the production of the "cadii cumani" type starts (Dressel 21–22). These containers were mainly used for the transportation of fruit and were used until the middle imperial times. At the same time, in central Italy, the so-called Spello amphorae, small containers, were produced for the transportation of wine. On the Adriatic coast the older types were replaced by the Lamboglia 2 type, a wine amphora commonly produced between the end of the 2nd and the 1st century BC. This type develops later into the Dressel 6A which becomes dominant during Augustan times.


title: Amphora

text: In the Gallic provinces the first examples of Roman amphorae were local imitations of pre-existent types such as Dressel 1, Dressel 2–4, Pascual 1, and Haltern 70. The more typical Gallic production begins within the ceramic ateliers in Marseille during late Augustan times. The type Oberaden 74 was produced to such an extent that it influenced the production of some Italic types. Spanish amphorae became particularly popular thanks to a flourishing production phase in late Republican times. The "Hispania Baetica" and "Hispania Tarraconensis" regions (south-western and eastern Spain) were the main production areas between the 2nd and the 1st century BC due to the distribution of land to military veterans and the founding of new colonies. Spanish amphorae were widespread in the Mediterranean area during early imperial times. The most common types were all produced in Baetica and among these there were the Dressel 20, a typical olive oil container, the Dressel 7–13, for garum (fish sauce), and the Haltern 70, for defrutum (fruit sauce). In the Tarraconensis region the Pascual 1 was the most common type, a wine amphora shaped on the Dressel 1, and imitations of Dressel 2–4.


title: Amphora

text: North-African production was based on an ancient tradition which may be traced back to the Phoenician colony of Carthage. Phoenician amphorae had characteristic small handles attached directly onto the upper body. This feature becomes the distinctive mark of late-Republican/early imperial productions, which are then called neo-Phoenician. The types produced in Tripolitania and Northern Tunisia are the Maña C1 and C2, later renamed Van der Werff 1, 2, and 3. In the Aegean area the types from the island of Rhodes were quite popular starting from the 3rd century BC due to local wine production which flourished over a long period. These types developed into the "Camulodunum" 184, an amphora used for the transportation of Rhodian wine all over the empire. Imitations of the Dressel 2-4 were produced on the island of Cos for the transportation of wine from the 4th century BC until middle imperial times. Cretan containers also were popular for the transportation of wine and can be found around the Mediterranean from Augustan times until the 3rd century AD. During the late empire period, north-African types dominated amphora production. The so-called African I and II types were widely used from the 2nd until the late 4th century AD. Other types from the eastern Mediterranean (Gaza), such as the so-called Late Roman 4, became very popular between the 4th and the 7th century AD, while Italic productions ceased.


title: Amphora

text: The largest known wreck of an amphorae cargo ship, carrying 6,000 pots, was discovered off the coast of Kefalonia, an Ionian island off the coast of Greece.


title: Amphora

text: Some modern winemakers and brewers are using amphoras to provide a different palate and tastes to their products than are available with other aging methods.


title: Nikkita Lyons

text: Faith Jefferies (born August 5, 1999) is an American professional wrestler, Taekwondo practitioner, and musician. She is currently signed to WWE, where she performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Nikkita Lyons. Prior to WWE, Jefferies wrestled for the Women of Wrestling (WOW) promotion under the ring name Faith the Lioness.


title: Nikkita Lyons

text: Jefferies was born in Las Vegas and raised in Hollywood, California, and began practicing Taekwondo at four years old, earning a black belt by the age of 8. She graduated from high school in early 2017.


title: Nikkita Lyons

text: Shortly after her high school graduation, Jefferies began training in professional wrestling in 2018 under Selina Majors. She debuted for the Women of Wrestling promotion, performing under the ring name Faith The Lioness before signing with WWE in 2021.


title: Nikkita Lyons

text: She debuted on the December 31, 2021 episode of "205 Live" under the ring name Nikkita Lyons, losing to Amari Miller. She made her NXT debut on the February 22, 2022 episode, defeating Kayla Inlay. In April, Lyons entered into a feud with Lash Legend, beating her on the April 5 and 26 episodes of "NXT" respectively. At Spring Breakin', she teamed with Cora Jade to defeat Legend and Natalya in a tag team match. On the May 10 episode of "NXT", Lyons participated in the NXT Women's Breakout Tournament, defeating Arianna Grace in the first round. On May 24, it was announced that Lyons was removed from the tournament due to an injury, revealing on her Instagram account a day later that she suffered a partial MCL tear and an MCL sprain. Lyons made her return on the June 28 episode of "NXT", defeating NXT Women's Champion Mandy Rose by disqualification.


title: Nikkita Lyons

text: On the July 19 episode of "NXT", Lyons competed in a 20-woman battle royal to determine the number one contender for the NXT Women's Championship, eliminating Kayden Carter and Kiana James, but was eliminated by Tiffany Stratton. On the August 8 episode of "Raw", it was announced that Lyons would be teaming with Zoey Stark in a tournament to determine who would be the next WWE Women's Tag Team Champions, which had been vacant since May. On the August 19 episode of "SmackDown", Lyons and her tag partner were removed from the tag team tournament. This was reported as an injury to Stark. However, Lyons was unable to enter Canada due to her vaccination history. On September 13 at the "NXT 2.0 One Year Anniversary Show", Lyons and Stark defeated Arianna Grace and Kiana James. On the November 8 episode of "NXT", Lyons and Stark failed to capture the NXT Women's Tag Team Championship from Carter and Katana Chance, and Lyons was taken out by Stark after the match.


title: Telling Lies (video game)

text: Telling Lies (stylized as telling l!es) is a narrative video game developed by Sam Barlow and Furious Bee and published by Annapurna Interactive in August 2019 for Microsoft Windows, iOS. Ports for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One were released in April 2020. As with Barlow's previous title, "Her Story", the game uses live action full-motion video of four people (played by Logan Marshall-Green, Alexandra Shipp, Kerry Bishé, and Angela Sarafyan) as part of video calls made between them, and the player will need to use tools provided from the game to piece together events and what statements may be lies to determine the overall mystery.


title: Telling Lies (video game)

text: Barlow describes "Telling Lies" as a "desktop thriller" like "Her Story", where the player becomes involved in a drama that is played out through stored video clips and other information presented on a virtual computer desktop. "Telling Lies" provides the player with numerous video segments that in the game's narrative, cover a two-year period and which have been stored on a stolen hard-drive taken from the National Security Agency. The player has the ability to search the hundreds of video segments on keywords as to piece together timelines, events, and interactions, all to try to understand why the four central people have been the subject of electronic surveillance, as well as the nature of the player-character's role in these events; this character appears female and can be seen in a virtual reflection of the in-game computer screen to the actual player. However, these clips only provide the video and audio from one side of the conversation, requiring the player to determine which clips may match the other participants, as well as potential interactions with around 30 other people. Players can scroll forwards and backwards within segments, highlight certain words in the video subtitles to use as search, and keep notes within an in-game memo pad. The player only has a limited amount of time within a single playthrough to scan material from the hard-drive, and would have to restart from scratch (losing all notes and bookmarks) if they want to see more. Barlow estimated that the content within "Telling Lies" is about four to five times longer than "Her Story". There are three different endings that the player may reach through the game, depending on which character's videos they explored most frequently.


title: Telling Lies (video game)

text: In 2019, Karen Douglas, a former FBI agent, accesses a USB drive on her computer, watching the videos on it by searching them using keywords.


title: Telling Lies (video game)

text: They tell the story of David Smith, an FBI agent. During 2017 and 2018, David was undercover, supervised by his handler Mike, working on a case code-named Green Dagger. Its goal was to investigate potential acts of terrorism by the environmental group "Green Storm", led by the activist Riordan. To infiltrate this group, David would start by infiltrating a smaller team, the "Organizing Group", which targeted the corporation Prosperen, due to its plans to build a pipeline which the activists believed would pollute the water source. David approached one of the group's members, Ava, and developed a romantic relationship with her, eventually being invited to the Organizing Group.


title: Telling Lies (video game)

text: The Organizing Group was led by 4 people: Eric, Chris, Peter, and Simon. Simon was secretly a Black Kite agent providing information to the FBI, an arrangement David was unhappy with as he felt Simon was unprofessional. As David ingratiated himself with the group, he discovered that Peter had previously slept with Ava while she was underage, drugged her and filmed their relations. David attacks Peter, angering Ava and the FBI, and then uses a former contact named Harry to plant drugs on Peter, framing him. David grows increasingly unstable, and outs Simon as a Black Kite Spy. These actions and his growing closeness to Ava alarm Mike. David invites Riordan and the Organizing Group to a meeting on his boat, to discuss plans to disrupt movement on a key bridge vital for Prosperen's plans. While on the boat, Ava reveals that she is pregnant with David's child.


title: Telling Lies (video game)

text: A new Black Kite spy infiltrates Green Storm, and David coordinates with him to trap Riordan into getting involved in a direct attack on the bridge. The plan goes awry, and David discovers that Mike and Black Kite have decided to hold off on Green Storm, and arrest the Organizing Group. David protests, but fails to persuade Mike, who tells him to end his infiltration. The Organizing Group is then arrested, including Ava. David is angry at Mike, but Mike notes that David had been withholding information, including Ava's pregnancy. David tries to continue meeting with the Organizing Group, but Karen Douglas, his then-field supervisor, bursts in to provide him cover to leave. David is furious, but agrees to withdraw. Ava is heartbroken and outraged at David's disappearance.


title: Telling Lies (video game)

text: Meanwhile, David has problems with his wife Emma and daughter Alba. While David was undercover, Emma’s mother Laura moved in. During David's mission, Laura developed dementia and passed away, despite medical care by Steven, an anaesthesiologist hired by the couple. In addition, it is revealed that when David was Emma's boyfriend, he killed Paul, Emma’s abusive ex-boyfriend, with Emma as an unwilling accomplice.


title: Telling Lies (video game)

text: To cope with stress, David had been having conversations with a sex worker named Maxine Williams, who ran a webcam chatroom with multiple aliases. David paid her for conversation, and shared personal stories with Maxine, including his identity. As his life falls apart, David begins believing he has a real connection with Maxine. She bans him, and when he keeps returning, reveals that everything he knows about her is a lie, and that she has recorded their conversations, and will release them if he keeps following her. David tracks her down with Harry's help. Maxine is prepared, has already released the videos, and shoots David in the leg, as police arrives.


title: Telling Lies (video game)

text: This destroys his relationship with Emma, who had grown scared of him. David begins living alone, estranged from his wife and Ava. He tries to reconnect with them, but both reject him. David commits suicide by detonating explosives on his boat, potentially destroying the bridge. After reviewing the videos, Karen leaks them.


title: Telling Lies (video game)

text: The mid-credits scene shows Emma’s, Ava’s, or Maxine’s fate, depending on the videos the player has watched. Both Emma and Ava move on to a new life without David and continue to raise their daughters. Maxine leaves her place in Cleveland, Ohio and opens a cam agency in New York, going on to become a novelist writing crime stories with ‘strong female leads’.


title: Telling Lies (video game)

text: Barlow's work on "Telling Lies" began in January 2016 as a "spiritual successor" to "Her Story", with a narrative unrelated to the first game, though it continued to use full-motion video as its central gameplay element. Through some had urged him to make a direct sequel to "Her Story" by creating another murder mystery and putting another actor in place, Barlow wanted something that was more risky, and utilising the aspects of "Her Story" where the player got to know more about the main character through the clips. He came to the concept of electronic surveillance as a central theme in part of being a parent himself and wanting to keep track of his own pre-teen-aged son's online activities. In reading up about surveillance methods used by the National Security Agency and MI5, Barlow read up on the Optic Nerve program and found that it had several similarities to "Her Story", including the ability to search on stored video and audio through keywords.


title: Telling Lies (video game)

text: In July 2017, Barlow announced that the game, titled "Telling Lies", would feature three to four key characters. He described the game as a combination of the films "The Conversation" (1974) and "Shame" (2011). The game was published by Annapurna Interactive and shooting for the game had been scheduled to start in late 2017 or early 2018. For filming, Barlow wanted the conversations between characters to appear natural, ideally filming both actors as they conversed but from different locations. To accomplish this, they were able to rent out a compound that had a number of different homes and buildings that they could make appear like the different locations that were called for in the script, including scenes where they were moving about the compound. In this fashion, the actors recorded their lines in their separate locations over video conferencing calls, with Barlow and other directors running between the sets as needed to provide direction. The shooting was done mostly in chronological order of the narrative story, with over 100 hours of footage captured. Only about ten hours of this were used for the game itself.


title: Telling Lies (video game)

text: By March 2019, Barlow released the game's first trailer. The game was subsequently released on 23 August 2019 for Windows and macOS personal computers and on iOS devices. Console ports to PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch were scheduled for release on 28 April 2020.


title: Telling Lies (video game)

text: "Telling Lies" received an aggregated score of 84/100 on Metacritic, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Games Radar said that the exploration of footage felt "totally organic and beautifully paced", and that "Sam Barlow has another masterpiece on his hands." Kotaku praised the story and acting, saying that "the cast of "Telling Lies" is uniformly excellent, delivering performances far beyond anything I’ve seen in an FMV game." US Gamer said that in terms of "good interactive mysteries, Telling Lies is among the best you can get." PC Gamer said "the core concept—an open-ended story that's revealed in a different way to every person who plays the game—is still enormously compelling". IGN found the user interface to be somewhat unintuitive, but said that "every one of its short video clips is packed with meaning, and working out where you should go next is rewarding because each subplot is gripping." Game Informer praised the game's freedom to explore the story and the psychology of the characters, saying that "one I discovered the answers to the central mystery, I didn’t stop playing – I continued to find every bit of video content I could because I was enthralled by the people in this world." The Telegraph celebrated the game's interactivity as it takes you through a mystery thriller. The Guardian praised it as an expansion of concepts in "Her Story", saying that the game" doesn’t hold your hand, and ultimately it’s down to you to decide the truth – another secret of a good mystery done well." EGM also complimented its shift from the murder mystery in "Her Story" to a political thriller, calling it "a thought-provoking look at the modern surveillance state—delivered not through soapbox lecture but by forcing you, unsettlingly, to participate."


title: Telling Lies (video game)

text: Calling it "one of the most brilliant games of the year", The Washington Post said the game "works its magic by making you rethink things you hadn’t thought to question", its "crafted voyeurism should inspire the creep in you." Rock Paper Shotgun called it "bigger, better, faster, stronger" than "Her Story", while saying that the nature of the found video made the game feel more voyeuristic. Eurogamer felt that its experiment with storytelling was flawed as "a little wobbly, a little naive," but also "courageous and exciting".


title: Telling Lies (video game)

text: Hardcore Gamer was critical of the game compared to "Her Story", saying that ""Telling Lies" does not hit the same emotional highs". GameSpot criticized the lack of structure, saying "the mechanics, writing, and performances create a real feeling of peering into someone else's private world all the way through, but the game doesn't give you much in the way of agency."


title: Orgeat syrup

text: Orgeat syrup is a sweet syrup made from almonds, sugar, and rose water or orange flower water. It was originally made with a barley-almond blend. It has a pronounced almond taste and is used to flavor many cocktails. Orgeat syrup is an important ingredient in the Mai Tai and many Tiki drinks.


title: Orgeat syrup

text: Bitter almonds as a general rule contain cyanide and can be lethal in large quantities. For this reason modern syrups generally are produced only from sweet almonds. Such syrup products do not contain significant levels of hydrocyanic acid, so are generally considered safe for human consumption unless the person is allergic.


title: Orgeat syrup

text: The word "orgeat" () is derived from the Latin 'made with barley' through the French, where barley is called . The Catalan word , from which derives the Spanish , has the same origin, though today the two drinks have little else in common and neither of them uses barley.


title: Orgeat syrup

text: In Tunisia and Libya, a variant is called "rozata" and is usually served chilled in wedding and engagement parties as a symbol of joy and purity because of its white colour and its fresh (flowery) flavor. It comes in many different flavours, such as traditional almond, banana, mango, pistachio, among others.


title: Orgeat syrup

text: In Suriname, there is a drink called , which is a similar syrup made of sugar and sweet and bitter almonds.


title: Orgeat syrup

text: In Cyprus and on the Greek islands of Chios and Nisyros, a similar syrup is known as (). Soumada has a very ancient history at least in Cyprus, stretching back into the Roman period, and it was given as an exotic delicacy by King Peter I of Cyprus to King Casimir the Great of Poland at the Congress of Kraków, held in Poland in 1364.


title: Telex

text: The telex network is a station-to-station switched network of teleprinters similar to a telephone network, using telegraph-grade connecting circuits for two-way text-based messages. Telex was a major method of sending written messages electronically between businesses in the post–World War II period. Its usage went into decline as the fax machine grew in popularity in the 1980s.


title: Telex

text: The term "telex" refers to the network, and sometimes the teleprinters (as "telex machines"), although point-to-point teleprinter systems had been in use long before telex exchanges were built in the 1930s. Teleprinters evolved from telegraph systems, and, like the telegraph, use binary signals, with mark and space logic represented by the presence or absence of a certain level of electric current. This differs from the analog telephone system, which used varying voltage to represent sound. For this reason, telex exchanges were entirely separate from the telephone system, with their own signalling standards, exchanges and system of telex numbers (the counterpart of telephone numbers).


title: Telex

text: Telex provided the first common medium for international record communications using standard signalling techniques and operating criteria as specified by the International Telecommunication Union. Customers on any telex exchange could deliver messages to any other, around the world. To reduce connecting line usage, telex messages were encoded onto paper tape and then read into the line as quickly as possible. The system normally delivered information at 50 baud or approximately 66 words per minute, encoded using the International Telegraph Alphabet No. 2. In the last days of the traditional telex networks, end-user equipment was often replaced by modems and phone lines, reducing the telex network to what was effectively a directory service running on the phone network.


title: Telex

text: Telex began in Germany as a research and development program in 1926 that became an operational teleprinter service in 1933. The service, operated by the (Reich postal service)


title: Telex

text: By 1978, West Germany, including West Berlin, had 123,298 telex connections. Long before automatic telephony became available, most countries, even in central Africa and Asia, had at least a few high-frequency (shortwave) telex links. Often, government postal and telegraph services (PTTs) initiated these radio links. The most common radio standard, CCITT R.44 had error-corrected retransmitting time-division multiplexing of radio channels. Most impoverished PTTs operated their telex-on-radio (TOR) channels non-stop, to get the maximum value from them.


title: Telex

text: The cost of TOR equipment has continued to fall. Although the system initially required specialised equipment, many amateur radio operators operate TOR (also known as RTTY) with special software and inexpensive hardware to connect computer sound cards to short-wave radios.


title: Telex

text: Modern cablegrams or "telegrams" actually operate over dedicated telex networks, using TOR whenever required.


title: Telex

text: Telex served as the forerunner of modern fax, email, and text messaging – both technically and stylistically. Abbreviated English (like "CU L8R" for "see you later") as used in texting originated with telex operators exchanging informal messages in real time – they became the first "texters" long before the introduction of mobile phones. Telex users could send the same message to several places around the world at the same time, like email today, using the Western Union InfoMaster Computer. This involved transmitting the message via paper tape to the InfoMaster Computer (dial code 6111) and specifying the destination addresses for the single text. In this way, a single message could be sent to multiple distant telex and TWX machines as well as delivering the same message to non-telex and non-TWX subscribers via Western Union Mailgram.


title: Telex

text: Telex messages are routed by addressing them to a telex address, e.g., "14910 ERIC S", where 14910 is the subscriber number, ERIC is an abbreviation for the subscriber's name (in this case Telefonaktiebolaget L.M. Ericsson in Sweden) and S is the country code or location code. Solutions also exist for the automatic routing of messages to different telex terminals within a subscriber organization, by using different terminal identities, e.g., "+T148". The country codes (formally, network identification codes) for the first countries to adopt Telex are single letters, while other countries have two-letter codes. Some specialty services and American cities have three-letter network or location codes (such as MAS for Inmarsat or LSA for Los Angeles), and a few towns have four-letter codes (such as ROVE for Rockville, Maryland).


title: Telex

text: A major advantage of telex is that the receipt of the message by the recipient could be confirmed with a high degree of certainty by the "answerback". At the beginning of the message, the sender would transmit a WRU (Who aRe yoU) code, and the recipient machine would automatically initiate a response which was usually encoded in a rotating drum with pegs, much like a music box. The position of the pegs sent an unambiguous identifying code to the sender, so the sender could verify connection to the correct recipient. The WRU code would also be sent at the end of the message, so a correct response would confirm that the connection had remained unbroken during the message transmission. This gave telex a major advantage over group 2 fax, which had no inherent error-checking capability.


title: Telex

text: The usual method of operation was that the message would be prepared off-line, using paper tape. All common telex machines incorporated a five-hole paper-tape punch and reader. Once the paper tape had been prepared, the message could be transmitted in minimum time. Telex billing was always by connected duration, so minimizing the connected time saved money. However, it was also possible to connect in "real-time", where the sender and the recipient could both type on the keyboard and these characters would be immediately printed on the distant machine.


title: Telex

text: Telex could also be used as a rudimentary but functional carrier of information from one IT system to another, in effect a primitive forerunner of electronic data interchange. The sending IT system would create an output (e.g., an inventory list) on paper tape using a mutually agreed format. The tape would be sent by telex and collected on a corresponding paper tape by the receiver and this tape could then be read into the receiving IT system.


title: Telex

text: One use of telex circuits, in use until the widescale adoption of X.400 and Internet email, was to facilitate a message handling system, allowing local email systems to exchange messages with other email and telex systems via a central routing operation, or switch. One of the largest such switches was operated by Royal Dutch Shell as recently as 1994, permitting the exchange of messages between a number of IBM Officevision, Digital Equipment Corporation ALL-IN-1 and Microsoft Mail systems. In addition to permitting email to be sent to telex, formal coding conventions adopted in the composition of telex messages enabled automatic routing of telexes to email recipients.


title: Telex

text: The Teletypewriter Exchange Service (TWX) was developed by the AT&T Corporation in the United States. It originally transmitted at 45.45 baud or approximately 60 words per minute, using five-bit Baudot code. AT&T began TWX on November 21, 1931. In 1963, AT&T developed a second generation of TWX called "four row" based on the Teletype Model 33 teleprinter using a 110 baud modem and a subset of the seven-bit ASCII code without lower-case letters. TWX was offered in both "3-row" Baudot and "4-row" ASCII versions up to the late 1970s.


title: Telex

text: TWX used the public switched telephone network. In addition to having separate area codes (510, 610, 710, 810, and 910) for the TWX service, the TWX lines were also set up with a special Class of Service to prevent connections from POTS to TWX and vice versa.


title: Telex

text: The code/speed conversion between "3-row" Baudot and "4-row" ASCII TWX service was accomplished using a special Bell "10A/B board" via a live operator. A TWX customer would place a call to the 10A/B board operator for Baudot – ASCII calls, ASCII – Baudot calls, and also TWX conference calls. The code / speed conversion was done by a Western Electric unit that provided this capability. There were multiple code / speed conversion units at each operator position.


title: Telex

text: AT&T published the trade magazine "TWX", related to the Teletypewriter Exchange Service, from 1944 to 1952. It published articles that touched upon many aspects of the technology.


title: Telex

text: Western Union purchased the TWX system from AT&T in January 1969. The TWX system and the special US area codes (510, 710, 810, and 910) continued until 1981, when Western Union completed the conversion to the Western Union Telex II system. Any remaining "3-row" Baudot customers were converted to Western Union Telex service during the period 1979 to 1981. Bell Canada retained area code 610 until 1992; its remaining numbers were moved to non-geographic area code 600.


title: Telex

text: The modem for this service was the Bell 101 dataset, which is the direct ancestor of the Bell 103 modem that launched computer time-sharing. The 101 was revolutionary because it ran on ordinary unconditioned telephone subscriber lines, allowing the Bell System to run TWX alongside POTS on a single public switched telephone network.


title: Telex

text: "Telex II" was the name for the TWX network after it was acquired from AT&T by Western Union. It was re-acquired by AT&T in 1990 in the purchase of the Western Union assets that became AT&T EasyLink Services.


title: Telex

text: In 1958, Western Union started to build a telex network in the United States. This telex network started as a satellite exchange located in New York City and expanded to a nationwide network. Western Union chose Siemens & Halske AG, now Siemens AG, and ITT to supply the exchange equipment, provisioned the exchange trunks via the Western Union national microwave system and leased the exchange to customer site facilities from the local telephone company. Teleprinter equipment was originally provided by Siemens & Halske AG and later by Teletype Corporation. Initial direct international telex service was offered by Western Union, via W.U. International, in the summer of 1960 with limited service to London and Paris. In 1962, the major exchanges were located in New York City (1), Chicago (2), San Francisco (3), Kansas City (4) and Atlanta (5). The telex network expanded by adding the final parent exchange cities of Los Angeles (6), Dallas (7), Philadelphia (8) and Boston (9), starting in 1966.


title: Telex

text: The telex numbering plan, usually a six-digit number in the United States, was based on the major exchange where the customer's telex machine terminated. For example, all telex customers that terminated in the New York City exchange were assigned a telex number that started with a first digit "1". Further, all Chicago-based customers had telex numbers that started with a first digit of "2". This numbering plan was maintained by Western Union as the telex exchanges proliferated to smaller cities in the United States. The Western Union Telex network was built on three levels of exchanges. The highest level was made up of the nine exchange cities previously mentioned. Each of these cities had the dual capability of terminating telex customer lines and setting up trunk connections to multiple distant telex exchanges. The second level of exchanges, located in large cities such as Buffalo, Cleveland, Miami, Newark, Pittsburgh and Seattle, were similar to the highest level of exchanges in capability of terminating telex customer lines and setting up trunk connections. However, these second level exchanges had a smaller customer line capacity and only had trunk circuits connected to regional cities. The third level of exchanges, located in small to medium-sized cities, could terminate telex customer lines and had a single trunk group running to its parent exchange.


title: Telex

text: Loop signaling was offered in two different configurations for Western Union Telex in the United States. The first option, sometimes called local or loop service, provided a 60 milliampere loop circuit from the exchange to the customer teleprinter. The second option, sometimes called long distance or polar was used when a 60 milliampere connection could not be achieved, provided a ground return polar circuit using 35 milliamperes on separate send and receive wires. By the 1970s, under pressure from the Bell operating companies wanting to modernize their cable plant and lower the adjacent circuit noise that these telex circuits sometimes caused, Western Union migrated customers to a third option called F1F2. This F1F2 option replaced the DC voltage of the local and long distance options with modems at the exchange and subscriber ends of the telex circuit.


title: Telex

text: Western Union offered connections from Telex to the AT&T Teletypewriter eXchange (TWX) system in May 1966 via its New York Information Services Computer Center. These connections were limited to those TWX machines that were equipped with automatic answerback capability per CCITT standard.


title: Telex

text: USA-based Telex users could send the same message to several places around the world at the same time, like email today, using the Western Union InfoMaster Computer. This involved transmitting the message via paper tape to the InfoMaster Computer (dial code 6111) and specifying the destination addresses for the single text. In this way, a single message could be sent to multiple distant Telex and TWX machines as well as delivering the same message to non-Telex and non-TWX subscribers via Western Union Mailgram.


title: Telex

text: "International record carrier" (IRC) was a term created by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States. Bell's original consent agreement limited it to international dial telephony, and the Western Union Telegraph Company had given up its international telegraphic operation in a 1939 bid to monopolize U.S. telegraphy by taking over ITT's postal, telegraph and telephone service (PTT) business. The result was a de-emphasis on telex in the U.S. and the creation of several international telex and telegraphy companies, collectively called IRCs:


title: Telex

text: Bell Telex users had to select which IRC to use, and then append the necessary routing digits. The IRCs converted between TWX and Western Union Telegraph Co. standards.


title: Telex

text: Telex began in the UK as an evolution from the 1930s Telex Printergram service, appearing in 1932 on a limited basis. This used the telephone network in conjunction with a Teleprinter 7B and signalling equipment to send a message to another subscriber with a teleprinter, or to the Central Telegraph Office.


title: Telex

text: In 1945, as the traffic increased, it was decided to have a separate network for telex traffic, and the first manual exchange opened in London. By 1954, the public inland telex service opened via manually switched exchanges. A number of subscribers were served via automatic sub-centres which used relays and Type 2 uniselectors, acting as concentrators for a manual exchange.


title: Telex

text: In the late 1950s, the decision was made to convert to automatic switching and this was completed by 1961; there were 21 exchanges spread across the country, with one international exchange in London. The equipment used the Strowger system for switching, as was the case for the telephone network. Conversion to Stored Programme Control (SPC) began in 1984 using exchanges made by Canadian Marconi, with the last Strowger exchange closing in 1992. User numbers increased over the ensuing years into the 1990s.


title: Telex

text: A separate service Secure Stream 300 (previously Circuit Switched Data Network) was a variant of telex running at 300 baud, used for telemetry and monitoring purposes by utility companies and banks, among others. This was a high-security virtual private wire system with a high degree of resilience through diversely routed dual-path network configurations.


title: Telex

text: After privatization of the telecommunications network under Margaret Thatcher's government at the start of the 1980s, Mercury Communications also provided a telex network, based on T200-series switching equipment supplied by the Swiss company Hasler in 1986 (after 1987 a member of the Ascom company). In 1996 Mercury was incorporated into Cable & Wireless Communications, which continued telex operation until 2006 when the remaining telex subscribers were transferred to Swiss Telex, which operated a multinational telex network until 2020 (also with T200 equipment).


title: Telex

text: British Telecom stopped offering the telex service to new customers in 2004 and discontinued the service in 2008, allowing users to transfer to Swiss Telex if they wished to continue to use telex.


title: Telex

text: Canada-wide automatic teleprinter exchange service was introduced by the CPR Telegraph Company and CN Telegraph in July 1957. (The two companies, operated by rivals Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway, would join to form CNCP Telecommunications in 1967.) This service supplemented the existing international telex service that was put in place in November 1956. Canadian telex customers could connect with nineteen European countries in addition to eighteen Latin American, African, and trans-Pacific countries. The major exchanges were located in Montreal (01), Toronto (02), and Winnipeg (03).


title: Telex

text: Telex is still in operation but not in the sense described in the CCITT Blue Book documentation. iTelegram offers telex-like service without subscriber telex lines. Individual subscribers can use Deskmail, a Windows program that connects to the iTelegram telex network, using IP as the last mile. Telex has been mostly superseded by fax, email, and SWIFT, although radiotelex (telex via HF radio) is still used in the maritime industry and is a required element of the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System.


title: Telex

text: The EU Flight Compensation Regulation (EC 261/2004), Article 9(2), requires that airlines provide sufficiently delayed passengers with "two telephone calls, telex or fax messages, or e-mails". It is not clear whether the "or" means that the choice of messaging service is the passenger's or airline's, nor how many passengers request or use telex messages.


title: Nik Stauskas

text: Nikolas Tomas Stauskas (born October 7, 1993) is a Canadian professional basketball player who last played for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A shooting guard, Stauskas played two seasons of college basketball for the Michigan Wolverines from 2012 to 2014. He was drafted eighth overall in the 2014 NBA draft by the Sacramento Kings. Stauskas, whose family is of Lithuanian heritage, is a member of the Canadian national team.


title: Nik Stauskas

text: As a freshman for the 2012–13 Michigan Wolverines, Stauskas was named "Sports Illustrated" National Freshman of the Week once, Big Ten Conference Freshman of the Week three times and to the Wayman Tisdale Award, United States Basketball Writers Association's National Freshman of the Year, top 12 midseason list. During the 2013 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, he earned South All-Regional Team recognition. As a sophomore for the 2013–14 team, Stauskas went on to be named a 2014 NCAA Men's Basketball consensus All-American and was named Big Ten Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year for the 2013–14 Big Ten Conference men's basketball season.


title: Nik Stauskas

text: Stauskas has played for several NBA and NBA G League teams. In 2022, he reached the NBA Finals with the Celtics.


title: Nik Stauskas

text: Stauskas grew up in Mississauga, Ontario. His first experience with basketball came as a member of the Aušra Sports Club, which is a Toronto-based traveling team for children of Lithuanian descent. He became so devoted to basketball that his head coach at Michigan, John Beilein, said in 2013,He doesn't know anything about hockey, he doesn't know anything about football. The other day we had him try to throw a baseball pass as a press breaker. And he had never thrown a baseball.


title: Nik Stauskas

text: Until 2009, Stauskas played for Loyola Catholic Secondary School. He averaged 15 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists in 2007–08 and 32 points, 14 rebounds and 7.5 assists in 2008–09. Stauskas also joined the premier Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) team in Toronto, run by Ro Russell. Some of Russell's prior players, such as Tristan Thompson and Cory Joseph had gone to the United States to complete their scholastic years. Stauskas spent the 2009–10 academic year at South Kent School, but he transferred to St. Mark's School the following year. He missed the 2009–10 basketball season as a result of a hip injury. Michigan Wolverines men's basketball head coach John Beilein became familiar with Stauskas during the Summer 2010 NBA camp prior to Stauskas's junior year. He visited Michigan that summer and was also being recruited by Villanova, Iowa State, Georgetown, Notre Dame, Florida and Providence. By the time he arrived at St. Mark's, he was expected to be an All-State performer. In the 2011 NEPSAC Class AA Championship game, Stauskas led St. Mark's in scoring with 17 points against Nerlens Noel and the Tilton School, but St. Marks lost 72–56. On March 26, 2011, Stauskas made a verbal commitment to Michigan. This commitment made him the second member of Michigan's recruiting class of 2012. That summer, he scored 27 points in an exhibition of Canadian high school all-stars against the Baylor Bears men's basketball team.


title: Nik Stauskas

text: Prior to his senior year, ESPN named him as one of the top 25 three-point shooters in the national class of 2012. At the time of their November 2011 National Letter of Intent signings, Stauskas, Glenn Robinson III and Mitch McGary gave Michigan a consensus top 10 entering class for its 2012 class. Stauskas led St. Mark's to 67–57 victory in a 2012 Hoophall Classic contest with 16 points against Friends Central. As the season progressed, Stauskas (and Robinson) improved in the national player ratings to offset McGary's slide and maintain a top-rated class. He scored 19 to lead his school to a 59–53 2012 NEPSAC Class AA Championship game victory over Noel's Tilton. Stauskas earned the NEPSAC championship game MVP. He was selected to the 2012 All-NEPSAC Class AA first team (along with teammate Kaleb Tarczewski). Following these honors, Stauskas's stock and rankings continued to rise.


title: Nik Stauskas

text: The 2011–12 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team had been co-champions of 2011–12 Big Ten Conference, but lost both of its co-captains, Zack Novak and Stu Douglass, to graduation and three players as transfers. The team was returning a nucleus of All-Big Ten players Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr.


title: Nik Stauskas

text: Stauskas began his college career with the expectation that he would be a sharpshooter based on his performance in three-point field goal drills in which he had raised the bar for the team. In the championship rounds of the 2012 NIT Season Tip-Off tournament at Madison Square Garden on November 21 and 23, Michigan defeated Pittsburgh and Kansas State, respectively, to win the tournament. On November 26, Stauskas earned Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors for his NIT tournament performance in which he averaged 12.5 points and 4.5 rebounds. On November 27, Michigan defeated its first ranked opponent of the season, NC State (#18 AP Poll/#18 Coaches' Poll), in the ACC–Big Ten Challenge with a then-career-high 20 points from Stauskas in a 79–72 victory. On December 1 against Bradley, Stauskas made his first career regular season start and posted a new career-high 22 points. For his first two 20 point performances, he repeated as Big Ten Freshman of the Week on December 3. On December 29, against Central Michigan, Stauskas posted 19 points on 5-for-8 three-point shooting. His 5 three-pointers and 7 rebounds were career-highs, earning him his third Big Ten Freshman of the Week on December 31.


title: Nik Stauskas

text: Entering the day of December 31, Stauskas led the nation in three-point field goal percentage. On January 16, 2013, "Sporting News" named Stauskas the surprise player of the first half of the year. As late as January 28, Stauskas was leading the Big Ten in free throw shooting percentage (.833) as well as three-pointers made and was second in 3-point shooting percentage (.490). On that day, Michigan was ranked number one in the AP Poll with 51 of the 65 first place votes. It marked the first time Michigan ranked atop the AP Poll since the Fab Five 1992–93 team did so on December 5, 1992. On January 31, Stauskas and Robinson were named to the Wayman Tisdale Award (USBWA National Freshman of the Year) top 12 midseason list, recognizing their performances as being among the 12 best freshman performances in the NCAA competition. Stauskas finished the 18-game 2012–13 Big Ten Conference men's basketball season schedule with a 37% three-point percentage on 30-for-81 shooting during conference play.


title: Nik Stauskas

text: Having made his last 20 consecutive free throws entering the 2013 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament Sweet Sixteen, Stauskas ended the season with an 85.1% (74–87) free throw shooting percentage, which was better than the Big Ten Conference free throw shooting percentage leader, Adreian Payne (84.8%). In the regional finals on March 31 against Florida, Stauskas made all 6 of his three-point shot attempts, including all 5 in the first half as the team built a 41–17 lead before going into the half up 47–30. This marked the best NCAA Tournament single-game three-point shooting percentage in school history (min 5 attempts) since no other Wolverine has shot 100% with at least 5 attempts. Michigan advanced to the April 8 national championship game where the team lost to Louisville by an 82–76 margin. His 6 three-point shots was a new career best and his 22-point performance tied his career high. All his three-point shots came from the left corner. The 6 three-point shots pushed Stauskas to a Michigan freshman-season record total of 80, surpassing Tim Hardaway Jr.'s two-year-old record of 76. Six 3 point shots made without a miss was one shy of a conference record shared by Wolverine Glen Rice and 3 others (including David Lighty's 2011 NCAA Tournament performance). Stauskas joined McGary and Most Outstanding Player Trey Burke on the South All-Regional team. For the season, his .9 fouls per 40 minutes was second in the country.


title: Nik Stauskas

text: In the offseason, Stauskas added to his frame and to his vertical jump. On November 12, Stauskas posted career highs of 23 points and 5 assists in the second game of the regular season against South Carolina State. In the next game, Stauskas contributed a career-high 6 assists as well as 20 points against Iowa State on November 17. Stauskas scored a game-high 24 points on November 21 against Long Beach State in the first round of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off, surpassing his career high set two games before and giving him three consecutive 20-point performances for the first time in his career. Stauskas established another career high the next day against Florida State as he scored 26 points including 7 of the team's 13 points in overtime, despite scoring only 3 points in the first half. In the game, he set a career high with 9 made free throws and logged his fourth consecutive 20 point game. Following a Michigan timeout with 11 seconds in regulation, Stauskas made a layup to force overtime. In the championship game against Charlotte, Stauskas tallied 20 points and a career-high 3 steals. Although Michigan lost in the championship game, Stauskas earned tournament MVP honors. In the second half Stauskas twisted his ankle, but continued to play the final 9½ minutes. Stauskas sat out the November 29 game against to rest his ankle.


title: Nik Stauskas

text: In the January 2 Big Ten Conference opener against Minnesota, Stauskas set a career high with 7 assists while scoring 14 points. On January 14, he had a game-high 21 points, team-high 5 assists as well as 6 rebounds against Penn State. On January 18, Stauskas scored 23 points including the final 11 for Michigan as the team defeated (#3) Wisconsin at the Kohl Center for the first time since the 1998–99 team did so, ending an 11-game losing streak at Wisconsin. On January 21, Stauskas earned his first Big Ten Conference Player of the Week recognition. At the time he was leading the conference in scoring and 20-point games. On January 22, against (#10) Iowa Stauskas tied his career high with 26 points and contributed 5 rebounds and 5 assists, helping Michigan defeat consecutive top 10 opponents for the first time since the 1996–97 team. On January 25 in the Michigan–Michigan rivalry game against the 2013–14 Spartans, Stauskas contributed 19 points and 4 assists, including a 5-for-6 effort on three-point shots. The 80–75 victory over (#3) Michigan State marked the first time in school history that the team defeated three consecutive AP Poll top ten opponents and marked the first time since the 1986–87 Iowa Hawkeyes that any team has won three consecutive games all of which were against top 10 opponents. It also gave Michigan a 7–0 Big Ten start, which is the best since the 1976–77 team won its first eight games. His effort for the week earned a second Big Ten Player of the Week recognition on January 27. Stauskas also earned Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week recognition from United States Basketball Writers Association on January 28. He led the conference in scoring and three-point shooting percentage through January, but he only scored six points when Michigan got upset by Indiana on February 2, ending a 10-game winning streak and 8–0 Big Ten conference start. Stuaskas established another career high in assists with 8 against Nebraska on February 5 as the team posted its largest conference game margin of victory since defeating Indiana 112-64 on February 22, 1998. On February 23 against (#13/14) Michigan State, Michigan rebounded from an early 22–11 deficit to win 79–70. Stauskas led the way with 25 points on 9-for-13 shooting and with 21 coming in the second half, including 10 that took the score from a 48–43 deficit to a 53–51 lead. It marked his first game with 9 made field goals. He added 5 assists, 3 rebounds and no fouls on his way to earning his third Big Ten Player of the Week recognition on February 24. On March 4, Stauskas had 24 points, including a career-high seven three-point shots, as part of a 7-for-9 three-point effort against Illinois to help Michigan clinch its 14th and 8th outright Big Ten Conference championship. On March 8, Stauskas had a team-high 21 points to help Michigan close out its season with a season-ending 84–80 victory over Indiana. On March 10 Stauskas earned his fourth Big Ten Player of the week award (this time Co-POTW with Shavon Shields). Stauskas's four Player of the Week awards led the Big Ten for the season. Four B1G Player of the Week awards is a Michigan single-season record. At the end of the regular season, he was the only player in the Big Ten to rank among the top 10 for field goal percentage (48.9), three-point percentage (45.8) and free throw percentage (81.1).


title: Nik Stauskas

text: On March 22 against Texas in Michigan's second game of the 2014 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, Stauskas had a career-high tying 8 assists as well as a team-high 17 points. The 2013–14 team was eliminated in the elite eight round of the 2014 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament by Kentucky as Stauskas led all scorers with 24 points. Stauskas and teammate Caris LeVert joined Julius Randle, Aaron Harrison and Marcus Lee on the All-Midwest Regional team. The team reached the championship game.


title: Nik Stauskas

text: On April 15, in a joint press conference with Robinson on the Big Ten Network, Stauskas declared for the 2014 NBA draft. During his two years with Michigan, the school enjoyed its winningest two-year stretch in school history marked by a total of 59 wins. Of Michigan's prior 14 early NBA draft entrants, 10 were selected in the first round and 3 in the second. Stauskas did sign with Bartelstein (along with teammate McGary).


title: Nik Stauskas

text: On February 13, Stauskas was one of four Big Ten players (along with Keith Appling, Gary Harris and Roy Devyn Marble) who were named to the 30-man Naismith College Player of the Year midseason watchlist. On March 8, Stauskas was one of two Big Ten players (along with Harris) listed among the 15 finalists for the John R. Wooden Award.


title: Nik Stauskas

text: Stauskas was a 2014 NCAA Men's Basketball All-American second-team selection by the "Sporting News". Stauskas earned third team All-American recognition from "USA Today". He was a first team All-American selection by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC). He was also a second team selection by "Sports Illustrated" and Bleacher Report, as well as a third team selection by NBC Sports. When Stauskas was named second team All-American by the Associated Press, he became a consensus All-American. Stauskas also earned John R. Wooden Award All-American Team recognition.


title: Nik Stauskas

text: Stauskas was the Big Ten Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year and a unanimous first-team All-Big Ten selection by both the coaches and the media, becoming Michigan's fifth B1G player of the year and 2nd consecutive. On March 11 Stauskas was named District V (OH, IN, IL, MI, MN, WI) Player of the Year by the United States Basketball Writers Association. Stauskas was listed on the National Association of Basketball Coaches Division I All‐District 7 first team on March 12. Stauskas was named to the 2014 Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament All-Tournament Team.


title: Nik Stauskas

text: Stauskas's career free throw percentage of 83.16% is second in Michigan history, and his 44.10% three-point shot percentage ranks fifth.


title: Nik Stauskas

text: Discussion about him entering the 2014 NBA draft began when he got hot in January 2014 and his father told "Sports Illustrated", "He knows all he has to do is keep his nose to the grindstone for another couple of months, and there's a really good possibility he might be able to go pro." However, a few days later, Stauskas attempted to distance himself from his father's statements and apologized to his fans. Following the season, Stauskas, who was regarded as a likely late first round selection, said he would need some time to process his decision and that he would make his decision after talking to his coaches and family. On April 6, Stauskas said he would make his decision within the next week or so. On April 10, reports emerged that Stauskas had decided to go pro, but he denied he had made a decision. The reports were based on rumors that Stauskas had decided to hire Mark Bartelstein as his agent. Bartelstein is the father of former Michigan teammate Josh Bartelstein, and agent for former teammate Tim Hardaway Jr.


title: Nik Stauskas

text: Stauskas was drafted 8th overall by the Sacramento Kings. He was the highest Michigan selection since Jamal Crawford went 8th in the 2000 NBA draft. With teammates McGary and Robinson also being drafted, it marked the first time Michigan had at least three draft picks since the 1990 NBA draft. With Burke and Hardaway having been drafted the year before, every player that started in the 2013 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship Game was drafted either in the 2013 or 2014 NBA draft.


title: Nik Stauskas

text: On July 8, 2014, Stauskas signed a rookie scale contract with the Sacramento Kings. During the 2014 NBA Summer League Stauskas was a starting member of the Summer League Champions. In the 2014–15 NBA.com Rookie Survey at the annual Rookie Photo Shoot on August 6, Stauskas was named by his peers as the second best shooter in the Rookie class behind Doug McDermott. During his rookie pre-season, he got a lot of publicity for the statement "I understand that I'm a rookie and I'm white, so people are going to attack me" because of stereotypes about race and his unproven and presumably weak defensive skills. Stauskas was surprised by the attention the statement received. In his first week in the league, he had a 3-block game against the Los Angeles Clippers. On December 8 in his first game against Utah and former teammate and fellow Big Ten Player of the Year Burke, Stauskas posted career highs of 15 points and 8 rebounds. Stauskas again posted 15 points against the New York Knicks and former Michigan teammate Tim Hardaway Jr. on March 3. On March 24, he received the nickname "Sauce Castillo" via social media after a closed captioning error. Stauskas started in the Kings' April 15 season finale against the Los Angeles Lakers and tallied 5 assists. It was his first and only start of the season.


title: Nik Stauskas

text: On July 10, 2015, Stauskas was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers along with Carl Landry, Jason Thompson, a future first round pick, and the rights to swap first round picks in 2016 and 2017, in exchange for the rights to Artūras Gudaitis and Luka Mitrović. During the preseason, Stauskas was impaired by a right tibia stress reaction. Although he felt recovered from the stress reaction by the beginning of the season, he missed the October 28 season opener with back spasms. Stauskas debuted for the 76ers on October 30 against the Utah Jazz, scoring 12 points. Stauskas moved into the starting lineup on November 2 against the Cleveland Cavaliers. He posted a career-high tying 15 points. On November 7, Stauskas posted a career-high 18 points and career-high tying five assists against the Orlando Magic.


title: Nik Stauskas

text: On December 1, Stauskas and the 76ers defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 103–91. The win ended the longest losing streak in the history of major professional sports in the United States (28 games going back to the prior season) and the worst start in NBA history (tied with the 2009–10 New Jersey Nets at 0–18). Stauskas was injured in overtime of the January 15, 2016 contest against the Chicago Bulls and missed three games before returning to the lineup on January 25 against the Boston Celtics. Stauskas established a new career high on March 18 against the Oklahoma City Thunder, scoring 23 points.


title: Nik Stauskas

text: After the first week of the 2016–17 NBA season, the 76ers exercised the fourth-year team option. On November 19, 2016, Stauskas scored 21 points, while shooting 8-for-9 in a 120–105 win over the Phoenix Suns. He posted a career-high 24 points on 4-for-7 three-point shooting on March 4 in a 136–106 loss to Detroit. On March 20 against Orlando and March 22 against Oklahoma City, Stauskas reached 20 points in consecutive contests for the first time in his NBA career.


title: Nik Stauskas

text: On December 7, 2017, Stauskas was traded, along with Jahlil Okafor and a 2019 second round draft pick, to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for Trevor Booker. In his debut for the Nets on December 15, 2017, Stauskas scored a team-high 22 points in a 120–87 loss to the Toronto Raptors. In his first few weeks with Brooklyn, he made 19 of his first 33 shots (57.6%) from beyond the three-point line and set a career high with 7 made three-point shots (on 7-for-10 shooting) on December 27 against the New Orleans Pelicans, which tied a Nets franchise record by a performance off the bench.


title: Nik Stauskas

text: On July 5, 2018, Stauskas signed with the Portland Trail Blazers. In his debut for the Trail Blazers in their season opener on October 18, 2018, Stauskas came off the bench to score a career high-tying 24 points in a 128–119 win over the Los Angeles Lakers.


title: Nik Stauskas

text: On February 4, 2019, Stauskas was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers along with Wade Baldwin IV and two second-round picks for Rodney Hood. Three days later, he was acquired by the Houston Rockets in a three-team trade that involved the Cavaliers and Sacramento Kings. Hours later, he was traded again, this time to the Indiana Pacers alongside Baldwin, a 2021 second-round draft pick and the rights to Maarty Leunen, in exchange for cash considerations. He was waived by the Pacers on February 8. On February 11, Stauskas signed with the Cavaliers.


title: Nik Stauskas

text: On August 1, 2019, Stauskas signed a one-year deal with Spanish EuroLeague club Kirolbet Baskonia. On February 12, 2020, Baskonia and Stauskas agreed to terminate the contract.


title: Nik Stauskas

text: On December 3, 2020, Stauskas was signed to a training camp contract by the Milwaukee Bucks. He was waived at the end of training camp.


title: Nik Stauskas

text: On October 16, Stauskas was signed by the Denver Nuggets, but was waived later that day. He subsequently joined the Grand Rapids Gold as an affiliate player.


title: Nik Stauskas

text: Following the expiration of his 10-day contract, Stauskas returned to the Grand Rapids Gold. On March 1, 2022, he scored a franchise-record 57 points in a 131–127 win over the Wisconsin Herd. Alongside the feat, which was the sixth-highest scoring total in NBA G League history, he logged a G League-record 38 first half points. Stauskas made his first 12 shots in the game (including a 9–9/24 point 1st quarter), marking the second-highest scoring 100% FG% quarter in league history. The 38-point first half was one point shy of the G League record for either half. The next day, Stauskas posted 43 points against the Lakeland Magic, becoming the second G League player (Russ Smith, 105 March 2016) to achieve at least 100 points in consecutive games and the first to do it on consecutive nights. Stauskas' 100-point effort coincided with the 60th anniversary of Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point game.


title: Nik Stauskas

text: On March 4, 2022, Stauskas signed a two-year contract with the Boston Celtics. Stauskas and the Celtics reached the 2022 NBA Finals, where they lost in 6 games to the Golden State Warriors.


title: Nik Stauskas

text: On July 9, 2022, Stauskas was traded, alongside Daniel Theis, Aaron Nesmith, Malik Fitts, Juwan Morgan and a 2023 first-round pick, to the Indiana Pacers in exchange for Malcolm Brogdon. On July 14, Stauskas was waived by the Pacers. Stauskas' G-League rights were still held by the Gold, who traded them to the College Park Skyhawks, who turned around and dealt him to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Stauskas entered training camp under contract with the Timberwolves, who assigned his rights to the Iowa Wolves.


title: Nik Stauskas

text: Stauskas played for Canada in the 2009 FIBA Americas Under-16 Championship held in Argentina. He helped lead the Canadian junior national team to a bronze medal, which qualified them for the 2010 FIBA Under-17 World Championship. He averaged 9.4 points per game in the tournament, including a game-high 21 points in a 126–78 loss against the United States team led by Bradley Beal and James Michael McAdoo on June 20, 2009. First overall 2013 NBA draft pick Anthony Bennett was one of Stauskas' teammates in the tournament. Stauskas was later invited to train with the Canadian senior national team.


title: Nik Stauskas

text: He represented Canada at the 2015 FIBA Americas Championship, contributing 111 points in 9 games—including 18-for-36 three-point shooting, but did not play in the team's final game. Food poisoning had impaired him in the semifinal loss against Venezuela, and the illness caused him to miss the bronze medal game against Mexico, which Canada won 87–86.


title: Nik Stauskas

text: Stauskas is the son of Paul and Ruta Stauskas. His brother's name is Peter. Three of Stauskas's four grandparents lived in Lithuania before World War II. Stauskas previously attended Lithuanian Saturday School in Toronto and is able to understand and speak some Lithuanian.


title: Shinji Ikari

text: Director Hideaki Anno conceived Shinji as a representation of himself, reflecting his four-year depression after the airing of his previous work, "". Shinji's insecurity and torment are explored through streams of consciousness and inner monologues, with episodes focusing on his introspection. Anno used psychoanalytical theories for his characterization, including the Freudian psychosexual development model. His design was created by Sadamoto. Shinji is voiced by Megumi Ogata in Japanese, and by Spike Spencer and Casey Mongillo in English.


title: Shinji Ikari

text: The character has had a mixed response from anime and manga publications. Although his complexity was praised and generally considered realistic, he was criticized for his insecurity and weakness. Shinji's characterization in the spin-offs and the "Rebuild of Evangelion" films, however, received more positive comments for his more courageous and self-confident personality, especially in the second instalment of the saga, "". Shinji has placed highly in popularity polls and has been the subject of scholarly study. Merchandise based on the character, including action figures and perfumes, has been marketed.


title: Shinji Ikari

text: "Neon Genesis Evangelion" character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto drew Shinji in an ordinary summer school uniform with a white shirt, making him "an average character". He wanted a "realistic and ordinary" boy, a character "that'll be hard for others to make". Since Shinji lacks the enthusiasm and courage of other robot-anime heroes, Sadamoto gave him a different heroic interpretation: "Rather than a reflection of a hero, sort of a refraction of a hero". At first, he tried to create a character "that would tap into the consciousness of today's anime fans". In one of Sadamoto's original proposals, he had long hair which would have covered his face or fluttered in the wind. Sadamoto changed his mind, finding his original design "too wild". He tried for a look where one could see the forehead through the bangs, "the look of a boyish young girl", giving him girl's eyes. He thus modelled the character on Nadia Arwol from "The Secret of Blue Water"; his face was influenced by Nadia, with just a change in hairstyle. Furthermore, writer Andrew C. McKevitt described Shinji's design, with his brown hair and blue eyes, as an example of , a deliberate lack of ethnic features included in the character design of Japanese fictional characters, which "allowed Japanese creations to be simultaneously Western and transnational".


title: Shinji Ikari

text: "Neon Genesis Evangelion" director Hideaki Anno was depressed for four years before the series production. After the failure of the "" sequel "Aoki Uru", Gainax began planning a new series. According to Gainax co-founder Yasuhiro Takeda, ideas from "Aoki Uru" were borrowed for the new project, including the concept of "not running away"; for Takeda the passage was "something more than just transposing one show's theme onto another... Anno inherited something from "Aoki Uru" — the determination not to run away from problems — and what we saw in "Evangelion" was maybe just a reflection of those feelings". Anno chose "It's ok to run away" as the main theme for the series, with the idea that "it's perfectly fine" to run away sometimes and that "There are things that you gain and things that you lose running away, after all". He reflected his depression in the series, conceiving a world "drenched in a vision of pessimism"; he began production "with the wish that once the production complete, the world and the heroes would change". He originally proposed a character similar to Asuka Langley Soryu as the protagonist, following the Gainax tradition of a female protagonist in "Gunbuster" and "The Secret of Blue Water". Sadamoto objected to a new female protagonist, saying that "a robot should be piloted by a trained person, and if that person just happens to be a girl then that is fine"; however, he did not understand why a young girl "would pilot a robot". He eventually suggested a boy as the main character; his relationship with Asuka, who became another primary character, was modelled after Nadia's relationship with Jean, her love interest and eventual husband in the series.


title: Shinji Ikari

text: Accepting Sadamoto's proposals, Anno suggested a male protagonist after Ryū Murakami's works with two fellow female pilots by his side. He also gave Shinji two male friends, Tōji Suzuhara and Kensuke Aida, whose names were borrowed from Murakami's novel "Ai to gensō no fascism". Anno named the new male character after two of his friends, one of whom was "Evangelion" animator Shinji Higuchi. For the last name, he chose the Japanese word "Ikari" ("anchor"), borrowing the names of other characters in the series from nautical jargon or Japanese Imperial Navy warships.


title: Shinji Ikari

text: According to Hiroki Satō, head of the public relations office at Gainax, the staff decided that the series would focus on "how Shinji deals with things going on inside himself". Shinji's character was conceived to reflect Anno's personality "both in conscious and unconscious part". He was thus represented as "a melancholic oral-dependent type" caught "in [an] oral stage", as Anno considered himself. Seeing Shinji as a reflection of Anno, assistant director Kazuya Tsurumaki avoided depicting him as a brave character, since "Anno isn't that much of a hero". "Shinji was summoned by his father to ride a robot, Anno was summoned by Gainax to direct an animation", he said. Like other male protagonists in Gainax series, Shinji was conceived with a weak and insecure personality. Gainax wanted to reflect the psychological state of animation fans and the Japanese society, in which fathers are always at work and emotionally absent. Anno fixed the protagonist at "age fourteen", when "independence of mind starts manifesting". Shinji was first conceived with slightly different features, which were changed by the main staff. In the original project he was more mature, robust and less introverted than the final version; he should also have been portrayed as a studious boy, a "quiet A-student". His scholastic conduct would not be seen in a positive light, but as a sign of passivity. According to Michael House, Gainax former member and translator, Anno tried to find a way to end the series with a smiling Shinji, but he realized in the process that "the characters he'd created weren't capable of whatever positive change" and reach the result that he had initially imagined, adjusting his plans. In the last episode, believing that human beings can not advance without hurting others, the director inserted the line "If something is truly hurtful it's okay to run away", avoiding suggesting that running away is always wrong, since: "If you don't pick something, then there are times when you get neither. That's the same as with dying".


title: Shinji Ikari

text: In the original Japanese, Shinji is voiced by Megumi Ogata in all his appearances in the original series, as well as the later films, spin-offs, video games and the new "Rebuild of Evangelion" film series. Ogata's agent initially refused her participation in "Evangelion", and she agreed due to her status as a newcomer, but Anno directly insisted with her. She also described Shinji as one of the "most memorable" roles of her career. His characterization required considerable physical and psychological effort. In the eighteenth episode, for example, Shinji cries and gasps during a fight; Ogata felt like her "whole body [was] aching". "Every time a new script arrived, every time I turned a new page I was torn apart by a new pain", she said. Dubbing the film "The End of Evangelion" (1997), moreover, she tried to achieve "a higher synchronization rate with the general director than the TV series".


title: Shinji Ikari

text: The "Rebuild of Evangelion" dub also presented obstacles. On the last recording day for the film "" (2009), Ogata was forced to scream; she collapsed on the studio floor, and Anno sat on the floor with her. He praised her work and shook her hand, thanking her for "keeping the character's feelings unchanged" and for adding her thirteen years of experience "to the current Shinji". In the following film, "" (2012), in which Shinji is treated coldly by the rest of the cast, Ogata stated that she felt like him and experienced emotional pain. The voice actress first saw the scene in which Kaworu Nagisa reveals to Shinji the conditions of planet Earth in her home, when it was not yet animated. The recordings took place in March 2012, and she associated the destroyed landscape of the film with images of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami imagining that the catastrophe was her fault. During the pre-score the drawings for Kaworu's death scene were not clear in the animatic, and the staff animated the keyframes during the recording touch-ups. Ogata was shocked when she performed the scene and stated that her interpretation could reflect her emotional state, resulting "kind of traumatic".


title: Shinji Ikari

text: For the final installment, "" (2021), Ogata was involved more heavily in the plot's development. Anno felt he could no longer understand Shinji and his current self was closer to Gendo, and needed Ogata's input on how Shinji recover. He also felt that the only people who could understand Shinji's feelings were Ogata herself and his assistant, Ikki Todoroki. Ogata also recounted Anno had asked her what sort of ending she'd prefer "as Shinji". His adult self in the film is voiced by Ryūnosuke Kamiki, while Spike Spencer and Casey Mongillo voiced him in the ADV and Netflix English dub, respectively.


title: Shinji Ikari

text: Shinji is the only child of Gendo Rokubungi and Yui Ikari, a student at Kyoto University who became a researcher. When he was three years old, Yui brought Shinji to the Gehirn research center in Hakone to see Evangelion 01's first activation test. In an accident, his mother disappears before his eyes; after the accident, Gendo leaves Shinji with an acquaintance for about ten years. After becoming commander of the Nerv special agency, he invites Shinji to the city of Tokyo-3 to pilot Evangelion Unit-01, to protect the city from creatures known as Angels. Shinji reluctantly agrees, and fights against the Angel Sachiel. After the Angel attack, Shinji lives with Misato Katsuragi, a Nerv officer and now his guardian, and attends school in Tokyo-3; after his arrival he gradually changes and meets Toji Suzuhara and Kensuke Aida, with whom he befriends. When the Angel Ramiel tries to destroy Nerv headquarters, Shinji and fellow pilot Rei Ayanami work together to destroy him. After Ramiel's defeat, a nuclear-powered machine intended to fight the Angels called Jet Alone runs amok, and he and Misato stop it; during this time, Shinji gradually starts to change his attitude, trying to be more open and spontaneous. He also meets Asuka Langley Soryu, an Eva pilot from Germany, and they defeat the Angel Gaghiel together in the eighth episode.


title: Shinji Ikari

text: In the second third of the series, Shinji, Rei and Asuka face Angels in quicker succession and Shinji begins bonding with his peers, especially Asuka, becoming more confident and assertive. When they are sent to fight the Angel Leliel, Shinji, receiving praise from Gendo and improving his synchronization scores, is now accepting his role as an Evangelion pilot. He decides to attack on his own, and is sucked into a parallel universe by Leliel called a Dirac Sea. In the Dirac Sea, Shinji confronts the Angel and his inner self; he is freed from the Angel by Yui, whose soul is in the Eva.