title: Story within a story

text: A 2012 Italian film "Caesar Must Die" stars real-life Italian prisoners who rehearse Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar" in Rebibbia prison playing "fictional" Italian prisoners rehearsing the same play in the same prison. In addition, the film itself becomes a "Julius Caesar" adaption of sorts as the scenes are frequently acted all around the prison, outside of rehearsals, and the prison life becomes indistinguishable from the play.


title: Story within a story

text: The main plot device in "Repo! The Genetic Opera" is an opera which is going to be held the night of the events of the movie. All of the principal characters of the film play a role in the opera, though the audience watching the opera is unaware that some of the events portrayed are more than drama. The 1990 biopic "Korczak", about the last days of a Jewish children's orphanage in Nazi occupied Poland, features an amateur production of Rabindranath Tagore's "The Post Office", which was selected by the orphanage's visionary leader as a way of preparing his charges for their own impending death. That same production is also featured in the stage play "Korczak's Children," also inspired by the same historical events.


title: Story within a story

text: The 1973 film The National Health, an adaptation of Peter Nichols's 1969 play of the same name features a send-up of a typical American hospital soap opera being shown on a television situated in an underfunded, unmistakably British NHS hospital.


title: Story within a story

text: The Jim Carrey film "The Truman Show" is about a person who grows to adulthood without ever realizing that he is the unwitting hero of the immersive eponymous television show.


title: Story within a story

text: In "Toy Story 2", the lead character Woody learns that he was based on the lead character of the same name of a 1950s Western show known as "Woody's Roundup", which was seemingly cancelled due to the rise of Sputnik and children wanting to play with space toys like Buzz Lightyear.


title: Story within a story

text: The first example of a video game within a video game is almost certainly Tim Stryker's 80s era text-only game Fazuul (also the world's first online multiplayer game), in which one of the objects that the player can create is a minigame. Another early use of this trope was in Cliff Johnson's 1987 hit "The Fool's Errand", a thematically linked narrative puzzle game, in which several of the puzzles were semi-independent games played against NPCs.


title: Story within a story

text: "Power Factor" has been cited as a rare example of a video game in which the entire concept is a video game within a video game: The player takes on the role of a character who is playing a "Virtual Reality Simulator", in which he in turn takes on the role of the hero Redd Ace. The ".hack" franchise also gives the concept a central role. It features a narrative in which internet advancements have created an MMORPG franchise called The World. Protagonists Kite and Haseo try to uncover the mysteries of the events surrounding The World. Characters in .hack are self-aware that they are video game characters.


title: Story within a story

text: More commonly, however, the video game within a video game device takes the form of mini-games that are non-plot oriented, and optional to the completion of the game. For example, in the "Yakuza" and "Shenmue" franchises, there are playable arcade machines featuring other Sega games that are scattered throughout the game world.


title: Story within a story

text: In "Final Fantasy VII" there are several video games that can be played in an arcade in the Gold Saucer theme park. In "Animal Crossing", the player can acquire individual NES emulations through various means and place them within their house, where they are playable in their entirety. When placed in the house, the games take the form of a Nintendo Entertainment System. In "Fallout 4" and "Fallout 76," the protagonist can find several cartridges throughout the wasteland that can be played on his pip-boy (an electronic device that exists only in the world of the game) or any terminal computer.


title: Story within a story

text: In the Remedy video game title "Max Payne," players can chance upon a number of ongoing television shows when activating or happening upon various television sets within the game environs, depending on where they are within the unfolding game narrative. Among them are "Lords & Ladies", "Captain Baseball Bat Boy", "" and the pinnacle television serial "Address Unknown" – heavily inspired by David Lynch-style film narrative, particularly "Twin Peaks", "Address Unknown" sometimes prophesies events or character motives yet to occur in the Max Payne narrative.


title: Story within a story

text: In "Grand Theft Auto IV", the player can watch several TV channels which include many programs: reality shows, cartoons, and even game shows.


title: Story within a story

text: "Terrance & Phillip" from "South Park" comments on the levels of violence and acceptable behaviour in the media and allow criticism of the outer cartoon to be addressed in the cartoon itself. Similarly, on the long running animated sitcom "The Simpsons", Bart's favorite cartoon, "Itchy and Scratchy" (a parody of "Tom & Jerry"), often echoes the plotlines of the main show. "The Simpsons" also parodied this structure with numerous 'layers' of sub-stories in the Season 17 episode "The Seemingly Never-Ending Story".


title: Story within a story

text: On the show "Dear White People", the "Scandal" parody "Defamation" offers an ironic commentary on the main show's theme of interracial relationships. Similarly, each season of the HBO show "Insecure" has featured a different fictional show, including the slavery-era soap opera "Due North", the rebooted black 90s sitcom "Kev'yn," and the investigative documentary series "Looking for LaToya".


title: Story within a story

text: The Irish television series "Father Ted" features a television show, "Father Ben", which has characters and storylines almost identical to that of "Father Ted".


title: Story within a story

text: The television shows "30 Rock", "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip", "Sonny with a Chance", and "Kappa Mikey" feature a sketch show within the TV show.


title: Story within a story

text: An extended plotline on the semi-autobiographical sitcom "Seinfeld" dealt with the main characters developing a sitcom about their lives. The gag was reprised on "Curb Your Enthusiasm", another semi-autobiographical show by and about "Seinfeld" co-creator Larry David, when the long-anticipated "Seinfeld" reunion was staged entirely inside the new show.


title: Story within a story

text: The "USS Callister" episode of the "Black Mirror" anthology television series is about a man obsessed with a "Star Trek"-like show, who recreates it as part of a virtual reality game.


title: Story within a story

text: The concept of a film within a television series is employed in the Macross universe. "" (1984) was originally intended as an alternative theatrical re-telling of the television series "The Super Dimension Fortress Macross" (1982), but was later "retconned" into the Macross canon as a popular movie within the television series "Macross 7" (1994).


title: Story within a story

text: The "Stargate SG-1" episode "Wormhole X-Treme!" features a fictional TV show with an almost identical premise to "Stargate SG-1". A later episode, "200", depicts ideas for a possible reboot of "Wormhole X-Treme!", including using a "younger and edgier" cast, or even Thunderbirds-style puppets.


title: Story within a story

text: "Seinfeld" had a number of reoccurring fictional films, most notably "Rochelle, Rochelle", a parody of artsy but exploitative foreign films, while the trippy, metaphysically loopy thriller "Death Castle" is a central element of the "Master of None" episode "New York, I Love You."


title: Story within a story

text: Stories inside stories can allow for genre changes. Arthur Ransome uses the device to let his young characters in the "Swallows and Amazons" series of children's books, set in the recognisable everyday world, take part in fantastic adventures of piracy in distant lands: two of the twelve books, "Peter Duck" and "Missee Lee" (and some would include "Great Northern?" as a third), are adventures supposedly made up by the characters. Similarly, the film version of "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" uses a story within a story format to tell a purely fantastic fairy tale within a relatively more realistic frame-story. The film version of "The Wizard of Oz" does the same thing by making its inner story into a dream. Lewis Carroll's celebrated "Alice" books use the same device of a dream as an excuse for fantasy, while Carroll's less well-known "Sylvie and Bruno" subverts the trope by allowing the dream figures to enter and interact with the "real" world. In each episode of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, the main story was realistic fiction, with live action human characters, while an inner story took place in the Neighborhood of Make-Believe, in which most characters were puppets, except Lady Aberlin and occasionally Mr. McFeely, played by Betty Aberlin and David Newell in both realms.


title: Story within a story

text: Some stories feature what might be called a literary version of the Droste effect, where an image contains a smaller version of itself (also a common feature in many fractals). An early version is found in an ancient Chinese proverb, in which an old monk situated in a temple found on a high mountain recursively tells the same story to a younger monk about an old monk who tells a younger monk a story regarding an old monk sitting in a temple located on a high mountain, and so on. The same concept is at the heart of Michael Ende's classic children's novel "The Neverending Story", which prominently features a book of the same title. This is later revealed to be the same book the audience is reading, when it begins to be retold again from the beginning, thus creating an infinite regression that features as a plot element. Another story that includes versions of itself is Neil Gaiman's "" which contains several instances of multiple storytelling levels, including "Cerements" (issue #55) where one of the inmost levels corresponds to one of the outer levels, turning the story-within-a-story structure into an infinite regression. Jesse Ball's "The Way Through Doors" features a deeply nested set of stories within stories, most of which explore alternate versions of the main characters. The frame device is that the main character is telling stories to a woman in a coma (similar to Almodóvar's "Talk to Her", mentioned above).


title: Story within a story

text: Samuel Delany's great surrealist sci-fi classic, "Dhalgren," features the main character discovering a diary that appears to be written by a version of himself, with incidents that usually reflect, but sometimes contrast with the main narrative. The last section of the book is taken up entirely by journal entries, about which readers must choose whether to take as completing the narrator's own story. Similarly, in Kiese Laymon's "Long Division", the main character discovers a book, also called "Long Division", featuring what appears to be himself, except as living twenty years earlier. The title book in Charles Yu's "How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe" exists within itself as a stable creation of a closed loop in time. Likewise, in the Will Ferrell comedy "Stranger than Fiction" the main character discovers he is a character in a book that (along with its author) also exists in the same universe. In Douglas Hofstadter's "Gödel, Escher, Bach", there is a narrative between Achilles and the Tortoise (characters borrowed from Lewis Carroll, who in turn borrowed them from Zeno), and within this story they find a book entitled "Provocative Adventures of Achilles and the Tortoise Taking Place in Sundry Spots of the Globe", which they begin to read, the Tortoise taking the part of the Tortoise, and Achilles taking the part of Achilles. Within this narrative, which itself is somewhat self-referential, the two characters find a book entitled "Provocative Adventures of Achilles and the Tortoise Taking Place in Sundry Spots of the Globe", which they begin to read, the Tortoise taking the part of Achilles, and Achilles taking the part of the Tortoise. Italo Calvino's experimental book, "If on a winter's night a traveler", is about a reader, addressed in the second person, trying to read the very same book, but being interrupted by ten other recursively nested incomplete stories.


title: Story within a story

text: Robert Altman's satirical noir "The Player" about Hollywood ends with the antihero being pitched a movie version of his own story, complete with an unlikely happy ending. The long-running musical "A Chorus Line" dramatizes its own creation, and the life stories of its own original cast members. The famous final number does double duty as the showstopper for both the musical the audience is watching and the one the characters are appearing in. "Austin Powers in Goldmember" begins with an action film opening, which turns out to be a sequence being filmed by Steven Spielberg. Near the ending, the events of the film itself are revealed to be a movie being enjoyed by the characters. Jim Henson's "The Muppet Movie" is framed as a screening of the movie itself, and the screenplay for the movie is present inside the movie, which ends with an abstracted, abbreviated re-staging of its own events. The 1985 Tim Burton film "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure" ends with the main characters watching a film version of their own adventures, but as reimagined as a Hollywood blockbuster action film, with James Brolin as a more stereotypically manly version of the Paul Reubens title character. Episode 14 of the anime series "Martian Successor Nadesico" is essentially a clip show, but has several newly animated segments based on "Gekigangar III", an anime that exists within its universe and that many characters are fans of, that involves the characters of that show watching Nadesico. The episode ends with the crew of the Nadesico watching the very same episode of Gekigangar, causing a paradox. Mel Brooks's 1974 comedy "Blazing Saddles" leaves its Western setting when the climactic fight scene breaks out, revealing the setting to have been a set in the Warner Bros. studio lot; the fight spills out onto an adjacent musical set, then into the studio canteen, and finally onto the streets. The two protagonists arrive at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, which is showing the "premiere" of "Blazing Saddles"; they enter the cinema to watch the conclusion of their own film. Brooks recycled the gag in his 1987 "Star Wars" parody, "Spaceballs", where the villains are able to locate the heroes by watching a copy of the movie they are in on VHS video tape (a comic exaggeration of the phenomenon of films being available on video before their theatrical release). Brooks also made the 1976 parody "Silent Movie" about a buffoonish team of filmmakers trying to make the first Hollywood silent film in forty years—which is essentially that film itself (another forty years later, life imitated art imitating art, when an actual modern silent movie became a hit, the Oscar winner"The Artist").


title: Story within a story

text: The film-within-a-film format is used in the "Scream" horror series. In "Scream 2", the opening scene takes place in a movie theater where a screening of "Stab" is played which depicts the events from the first film. In between the events of "Scream 2" and "Scream 3", a second film was released called "Stab 2". "Scream 3" is about the actors filming a fictional third installment in the Stab series. The actors playing the trilogy's characters end up getting killed, much in the same way as the characters they are playing on screen and in the same order. In between the events of "Scream 3" and "Scream 4", four other Stab films are released. In the opening sequence of "Scream 4" two characters are watching "Stab 7" before they get killed. There's also a party in which all seven Stab movies were going to be shown. References are also made to "Stab 5" involving time travel as a plot device. In the fifth installment of the series, also named "Scream", an eighth Stab film is mentioned having been released before the film takes place. The characters in the film, several of which are fans of the series, heavily criticize the film, similar to how "Scream 4" was criticized. Additionally, late in the film, Mindy watches the first Stab by herself. During the depiction of Ghostface sneaking up behind Randy on the couch from the first film in Stab, Ghostface sneaks up on Mindy and attacks and stabs her.


title: Story within a story

text: Director Spike Jonze's "Adaptation" is a fictionalized version of screenwriter Charlie Kaufman's struggles to adapt the non-cinematic book "The Orchid Thief" into a Hollywood blockbuster. As his onscreen self succumbs to the temptation to commercialize the narrative, Kaufman incorporates those techniques into the script, including tropes such as an invented romance, a car chase, a drug-running sequence, and an imaginary identical twin for the protagonist. (The movie also features scenes about the making of "Being John Malkovich", previously written by Kaufman and directed by Jonze.) Similarly, in Kaufman's self-directed 2008 film "Synecdoche, New York", the main character Caden Cotard is a skilled director of plays who receives a grant, and ends up creating a remarkable theater piece intended as a carbon copy of the outside world. The layers of copies of the world ends up several layers deep. The same conceit was previously used by frequent Kaufman collaborator Michel Gondry in his music video for the Björk song "Bachelorette," which features a musical that is about, in part, the creation of that musical. A mini-theater and small audience appear on stage to watch the musical-within-a-musical, and at some point, within that second musical a yet-smaller theater and audience appear.


title: Story within a story

text: Fractal fiction is sometimes utilized in video games to play with the concept of player choice: In the first chapter of "Stories Untold", the player is required to play a text adventure, which eventually becomes apparent to be happening in the same environment the player is in; in "Superhot" the narrative itself is constructed around the player playing a game called Superhot.


title: Story within a story

text: Occasionally a story within a story becomes such a popular element that the producer(s) decide to develop it autonomously as a separate and distinct work. This is an example of a spin-off.


title: Story within a story

text: In the fictional world of the "Toy Story" movies, Buzz Lightyear is an animated toy action figure, which was based on a fictitious cartoon series, "Buzz Lightyear of Star Command", which did not exist in the real world except for snippets seen within "Toy Story". Later, "Buzz Lightyear of Star Command" was produced in the real world and was itself later joined by "Lightyear", a film described as the source material for the toy and cartoon series.


title: Story within a story

text: "Kujibiki Unbalance", a series in the "Genshiken" universe, has spawned merchandise of its own, and been remade into a series on its own.


title: Story within a story

text: Such spin-offs may be produced as a way of providing additional information on the fictional world for fans. In the "Harry Potter" series, three such supplemental books have been produced. "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" is a textbook used by the main character, and "Quidditch Through the Ages" is a book from the library at his school. "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" provides an additional layer of fiction, the 'tales' being instructional stories told to children in the characters' world.


title: Story within a story

text: In the works of Kurt Vonnegut, Kilgore Trout has written a novel called "Venus on the Half-Shell". In 1975 real-world author Philip José Farmer wrote a science-fiction novel called "Venus on the Half-Shell", published under the name Kilgore Trout.


title: Story within a story

text: In "Homestuck" by Andrew Hussie, there is a comic called Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff, created by one of the characters, Dave Strider. It was later adapted to its own ongoing series. Similarly, the popular "Dog Man" series of children's graphic novels is presented as a creation of the main characters of author Dav Pilkey's earlier series, "Captain Underpants".


title: Story within a story

text: "Captain Proton: Defender of the Earth", a story by Dean Wesley Smith, was adapted from the holonovel "Captain Proton" in the Star Trek universe.


title: Story within a story

text: In the animated online franchise "Homestar Runner" many of the best-known features were spun off from each other. The best known was "Strong Bad Emails," which depicted the villain of the original story giving snarky answers to fan emails, but that in turn spawned several other long-running features which started out as figments of Strong Bad's imagination, including the teen-oriented cartoon parody "Teen Girl Squad" and the anime parody "20X6."


title: Story within a story

text: One unique example is the Tyler Perry comedy/horror hit "Boo! A Madea Halloween" which originated as a parody of Tyler Perry films in the Chris Rock film "Top 5".


title: Cliffhanger

text: A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode or a film of serialized fiction. A cliffhanger is hoped to incentivize the audience to return to see how the characters resolve the dilemma.


title: Cliffhanger

text: Some serials end with the caveat, "To Be Continued" or "The End?". In serial films and television series the following episode sometimes begins with a recap sequence.


title: Cliffhanger

text: Cliffhangers were used as literary devices in several works of the Middle Ages with "One Thousand and One Nights" ending on a cliffhanger each night. Cliffhangers appeared as an element of the Victorian era serial novel that emerged in the 1840s, with many associating the form with Charles Dickens, a pioneer of the serial publication of narrative fiction. Following the enormous success of Dickens, by the 1860s cliffhanger endings had become a staple part of the sensation serials.


title: Cliffhanger

text: Cliffhangers were used as literary devices in several works of the Middle Ages. The Arabic literary work "One Thousand and One Nights" involves Scheherazade narrating a series of stories to King Shahryār for 1,001 nights, with each night ending on a cliffhanger in order to save herself from execution. Some medieval Chinese ballads like the "Liu chih-yuan chu-kung-tiao" ended each chapter on a cliffhanger to keep the audience in suspense.


title: Cliffhanger

text: The Scottish comic magazine "The Glasgow Looking Glass", founded by English artist William Heath"," pioneered the use of the phrase 'To Be Continued' in its serials in 1825.


title: Cliffhanger

text: Cliffhangers became prominent with the serial publication of narrative fiction, pioneered by Charles Dickens. Printed episodically in magazines, Dickens's cliffhangers triggered desperation in his readers. Writing in the "New Yorker", Emily Nussbaum captured the anticipation of those waiting for the next installment of Dickens' "The Old Curiosity Shop";


title: Cliffhanger

text: On Dickens’ instalment format and cliffhangers—first seen with "The Pickwick Papers" in 1836—Leslie Howsam in "The Cambridge Companion to the History of the Book" (2015) writes, "It inspired a narrative that Dickens would explore and develop throughout his career. The instalments would typically culminate at a point in the plot that created reader anticipation and thus reader demand, generating a plot and sub-plot motif that would come to typify the novel structure."


title: Cliffhanger

text: With each new instalment widely anticipated with its cliffhanger ending, Dickens’ audience was enormous (his instalment format was also much more affordable and accessible to the masses, with the audience more evenly distributed across income levels than previous). The popularity of Dickens's serial publications saw the cliffhanger become a staple part of the sensation serials by the 1860s. Dickens's influence can also be seen in television soap operas and film series, with "The Guardian" stating "the DNA of Dickens's busy, episodic storytelling, delivered in instalments and rife with cliffhangers and diversions, is traceable in everything."


title: Cliffhanger

text: The term "cliffhanger" is considered to have originated with the serialised version of Thomas Hardy's "A Pair of Blue Eyes" (which was published in "Tinsley's Magazine" between September 1872 and July 1873) in which Henry Knight, one of the protagonists, is left hanging off a cliff. According to the Random House "Historical Dictionary of American Slang", the term's first use in print was in 1937.


title: Cliffhanger

text: Cliffhangers were especially popular from the 1910s through to the 1930s serials when nickelodeons and movie theaters filled the cultural niche later primarily occupied by television.


title: Cliffhanger

text: During the 1910s, when Fort Lee, New Jersey was a center of film production, the cliffs facing New York and the Hudson River were frequently used as film locations. The most notable of these films was "The Perils of Pauline", a serial which helped popularize the term cliffhanger. In them, the serial would often end suddenly leaving actress Pearl White's Pauline character literally hanging from a cliff.


title: Cliffhanger

text: Several Australian soap operas, which went off air over summer, such as "Number 96", "The Restless Years", and "Prisoner", ended each year with a major and much publicized catastrophe, such as a character being shot in the final seconds of the year's closing episode.


title: Cliffhanger

text: Cliffhangers are commonly used in Japanese manga and anime. In contrast to American superhero comics, Japanese manga are much more frequently written with cliffhangers, often with each volume or issue. This is particularly the case with shōnen manga, especially those published by "Weekly Shōnen Jump", such as "Dragon Ball", "Shaman King", and "One Piece".


title: Cliffhanger

text: During its original run, "Doctor Who" was written in a serialised format that usually ended each episode within a serial on a cliffhanger. In the first few years of the show, the final episodes of each serial would have a cliffhanger that would lead into the next serial. The programme's cliffhangers sometimes caused controversy, most notably Part Three of "The Deadly Assassin" (1976), which was altered for future broadcasts following a complaint from campaigner Mary Whitehouse. Whitehouse objected to the violence of the scene (the Doctor's head is held underwater in an attempt to drown him). She often cited it in interviews as one of the most frightening scenes in "Doctor Who", her reasoning being that children would not know if the Doctor survived until the following week and that they would "have this strong image in their minds" during all that time. The producer of "Doctor Who" at the time, Philip Hinchcliffe, cited the 1950s radio serial "Journey into Space" as an influence for its use of cliffhangers. A later serial, "Dragonfire" (1987), is notable for having a cliffhanger that involved the Seventh Doctor literally hanging from a cliff, seemingly by choice, which has been described as "the most ludicrous ever presented in "Doctor Who"". Another British science fiction series, "Blake's 7" (1978–1981), employed end-of-season cliffhangers for each of the four seasons the series was on air, most notably for its final episode in 1981 in which the whole of the main cast are seemingly killed. The final cliffhanger was never resolved.


title: Cliffhanger

text: Cliffhangers were rare on American primetime television before 1980, as television networks preferred the flexibility of airing episodes in any order. The sitcom "Soap" was the first US primetime television programme to utilise the end-of-season cliffhanger, at the end of its first season in 1978. Cliffhangers then went on to become a staple of American primetime soap operas; the phenomenal success of the 1980 "Who shot J.R.?" third season-ending cliffhanger of "Dallas", and the "Who Done It" fourth-season episode that finally solved the mystery, contributed to the cliffhanger becoming a common storytelling device on American television. Another notable cliffhanger was the "Moldavian Massacre" on "Dynasty" in 1985, which fueled speculation throughout the summer months regarding who lived or died when almost all the characters attended a wedding in the country of Moldavia, only to have revolutionaries topple the government and machine-gun the entire wedding party. Other primetime soap operas, such as "Falcon Crest" and "Knots Landing", also employed dramatic end-of-season cliffhangers on an annual basis. Sitcoms also utilised the cliffhanger device. As well as the aforementioned "Soap", the long-running sitcom "Cheers" would often incorporate cliffhanger season endings, largely (in its earlier years) to increase interest in the on-and-off relationship between its two lead characters, Sam Malone and Diane Chambers. These cliffhangers did not place the characters in peril of any kind, but rather left their relationship (which was at the core of the show) hanging in the balance.


title: Cliffhanger

text: Cliffhanger endings in films date back to the early 20th century, and were prominently used in the serial films of the 1930s (such as "Flash Gordon" and "Buck Rogers"), though these tended to be resolved with the next installment the following week. A longer term cliffhanger was employed in the "Star Wars" film series, in "The Empire Strikes Back" (1980) in which Darth Vader made a shock revelation to Luke Skywalker, and Han Solo's life was left in jeopardy after he was frozen and taken away by a bounty hunter. These plotlines were left unresolved until the next film in the series, which was released three years later. The first two films in the "Back to the Future" series end in cliffhangers, with the first displaying the "to be continued" title card.


title: Cliffhanger

text: The two main ways for cliffhangers to keep readers/viewers coming back is to either involve characters in a suspenseful, possibly life-threatening situation, or to feature a sudden shocking revelation. Cliffhangers are also used to leave open the possibility of a character being killed off due to the actor not continuing to play the role.


title: Cliffhanger

text: Cliffhangers are also sometimes deliberately inserted by writers who are uncertain whether a new series or season will be commissioned, in the hope that viewers will demand to know how the situation is resolved. Such was the case with the second season of "Twin Peaks", which ended in a cliffhanger similar to the first season with a high degree of uncertainty about the fate of the protagonist, but the cliffhanger could not save the show from being canceled, resulting in the unresolved ending. The final episodes of soaps "Dallas" and "Dynasty" also ended in similar fashion, though all three shows would return years later in some form or other to resolve these storylines. The Australian soap opera "Return To Eden" ended in 1986 with a dramatic cliffhanger in anticipation of a second season. However, the network chose not to renew the show and so a hastily filmed five-minute "conclusion" was filmed and added on to the end of existing final episode to provide closure. Some shows, however, became known for never being resolved. In addition to the aforementioned "Blake's 7", the supernatural series "Angel", the original 1984 series "V" and its 2009 remake, all ended with unresolved cliffhangers.


title: Cliffhanger

text: The cliffhanger has become a genre staple (especially in comics, due to the multi-part storylines becoming the norm instead of self-contained stories) to such a degree, in fact, that series writers no longer feel they have to be immediately resolved, or even referenced, when the next episode is shown, variously because the writer didn't feel it was "a strong enough opener," or simply "couldn't be bothered." The heavily serialized television drama "True Blood" has become notorious for cliffhangers. Not only do the seasons conclude with cliffhangers, but almost every episode finishes at a cliffhanger directly after or during a highly dramatic moment, much like the primetime soap operas of the 1980s and 90s.


title: Cliffhanger

text: Commercial breaks can be a nuisance to script writers because some sort of incompleteness or minor cliffhanger should be provided before each to stop the viewer from changing channels during the commercial break. Sometimes a series ends with an unintended cliffhanger caused by a very abrupt ending without a satisfactory dénouement, but merely assuming that the viewer will assume that everything sorted itself out.


title: Cliffhanger

text: Sometimes a film, book, or season of a television show will end with the defeat of the main villain before a second, evidently more powerful villain makes a brief appearance (becoming the villain of the next film). Occasionally an element other than a villain is also used to tease at a sequel.


title: Cliffhanger

text: Peter Høeg's novel "Smilla's Sense of Snow" ends with a deliberate cliffhanger, with the protagonist and main villain involved in a life-and-death chase on the arctic ice off Greenland - and in this case, the author has no intention of ever writing a sequel, the ambiguous ending being part and parcel of the basic ideas permeating the book's plot. Similarly, Michael Flynn's science fiction novelette "The Forest of Time" ends with a deliberate and permanent cliffhanger: readers are not to be ever told where the protagonist ended up in his wandering the "forest" of alternate history timelines and whether he ever got back to his home and his beloved, nor whether the war which takes a large part of the plot ended in victory for the Good Guys or the Bad Guys.


title: Cliffhanger

text: George Cukor, when adapting in 1972 Graham Greene's "Travels with My Aunt" deliberately introduced a cliffhanger missing from the original. While Greene's book ended with the protagonists definitely choosing the adventurous and rather shady life of smugglers in Paraguay and closing off other options for their future, at the conclusion of the Cukor film a character is seen tossing a coin whose fall would determine their next move, and the film ends on a freeze frame shot as the characters await the fall of the coin.


title: Shree Venkatesh Films

text: SVF Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. is an Indian media and entertainment company headquartered in Kolkata, West Bengal, founded by Shrikant Mohta. Apart from producing and distributing Bengali films, SVF also distributes Bollywood and Hollywood films in Eastern India. The other divisions of the company include Exhibition, TV Content Production, Digital Cinema, Music, New Media and IPR syndication. SVF was in Anandabazar Patrika's powerlist for 2008 and 2010.


title: Shree Venkatesh Films

text: SVF Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. was founded in 1995 by Shrikant Mohta and Mahendra Soni. They started off as distributors of Hindi films like "Bekaar Ka Number, " in Eastern India. Their first production was the 1996 film "Bhai Amar Bhai" starring Prosenjit and Chiranjit and directed by Swapan Saha which became a blockbuster. Later, they produced the Prosenjit starrer "Sasurbari Zindabad" (2000) which became the highest-grossing Bengali movie until then. They followed it up with successful films like "Sathi" (2002), "I Love You" (2007), "Chirodini ...Tumi Je Aamar" (2008) etc. Along with commercial entertainers they have also backed experimental films by directors like Rituparno Ghosh, Kaushik Ganguly, Srijit Mukherji, Sandip Ray, Dhrubo Banerjee.


title: Shree Venkatesh Films

text: In the film entertainment space, SVF has the following divisions: Production, Television, Distribution, Music, Digital Cinema, Exhibition and New Media.


title: Shree Venkatesh Films

text: SVF Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. is one of the biggest integrated production houses in Eastern India. So far it has produced more than 120 films including National Award winning films like Memories in March, Chokher Bali and Raincoat, Chotoder Chobi, Ek Je Chhilo Raja, Gumnaami, blockbusters like Sasurbari Zindabad, Sathi, Minister Fatakeshto, Champion, Jackpot, Chirodini Tumi Je Amar, Paran Jai Jaliya Re, Josh, Awara, Guptodhoner Sondhane, Ek Je Chhilo Raja, Durgeshgorer Guptodhon, Chander Pahar and Amazon Obhijaan, critically acclaimed films like Autograph, Iti Mrinalini, Memories in March, Baishe Srabon, Hemlock Society, , Uma, Byomkesh Gotro, Guptodhoner Sondhane, Durgeshgorer Guptodhon and Golondaaj.


title: Shree Venkatesh Films

text: In January 2008, SVF Entertainment Pvt Ltd. entered a partnership with Real Image Media Technologies to bring their Qube Digital Cinema technology to Eastern India.


title: Shree Venkatesh Films

text: In the television space, SVF has co-promoted Media Worldwide Limited and its four leading channels: Music India, Sangeet Bangla, Sangeet Bhojpuri, Sangeet Marathi and Music India UK. The company has also produced prime-time shows for Zee Bangla, Star Jalsha, ETV Bangla, Rupashi Bangla, Mahua Bangla, Sanada TV including shows like Trinayani, Bojhena Se Bojhena, Goyenda Ginni, Maa, "Behula", "Durga", "Bandhan", "I Love You", "Sindoorkhela", "Janmantar", "Mrs Singha Roy", "Bisharjan", "Sangsar Sukher Hoy Ramanir Guney", "Bodhu Kon Alo Laglo Chokhe", "Bhootu", "Dashi" among others


title: Shree Venkatesh Films

text: SVF has a YouTube channel called SVF Music where music singles like "Mitthey Kotha", "Bolo Dugga Maiki", "Amar Chalaki", "O Mon Re" etc., and songs of the films produced by it and other production companies.


title: Shree Venkatesh Films

text: It also has a YouTube channel called SVF Movies where movies and short films like "Amar Bodyguard", "Encounter", "Karunamoyee", "Iti Kunti", "Network" and others are broadcast.


title: Igor (character)

text: Igor, or sometimes Ygor, is a stock character, a sometimes hunch-backed laboratory assistant to many types of Gothic villains or as a fiendish character who assists only himself, the latter most prominently portrayed by Bela Lugosi in "Son of Frankenstein" (1939) and "The Ghost of Frankenstein" (1942). He is familiar from many horror films and horror film parodies. He is traditionally associated with mad scientists, particularly Victor Frankenstein, although Frankenstein has neither a lab assistant nor any association with a character named Igor in the original Mary Shelley novel. The Igor of popular parlance is a composite character, based on characters created for the Universal Studios film franchise. In the first "Frankenstein" film (1931), Fritz served the role; in subsequent sequels, a different physically deformed character, Ygor, is featured, though Ygor is not an assistant in those films.


title: Igor (character)

text: Dwight Frye's hunchbacked lab assistant in the first film of the "Frankenstein" series (1931) is the main source for the "Igor" of public imagination, though this character was actually named Fritz. Fritz did not originate from the "Frankenstein" novel, but instead originated from the earliest recorded play adaptation, "Presumption; or, the Fate of Frankenstein", where he was played by Robert Keeley.


title: Igor (character)

text: The third and fourth sequel films "Son of Frankenstein" (1939) and "The Ghost of Frankenstein" (1942) featured a character named Ygor portrayed by Bela Lugosi. This character is neither a hunchback nor a lab assistant, but a blacksmith with a broken neck and twisted back as the result of a botched hanging. He reanimates the Monster as an instrument of vengeance against the townspeople who attempted to hang him for grave robbing. He survives a near-fatal gunshot and appears in the next film in which his brain is placed in the Monster's body.


title: Igor (character)

text: Universal Studios actively cemented the idea of the hunchbacked assistant to the "mad scientist" in the Frankenstein film series' "The House of Frankenstein" (1944) with J. Carrol Naish playing a hunchbacked lab assistant named Daniel.


title: Igor (character)

text: In the horror film "Mystery of the Wax Museum" (1933), Ivan Igor is the name of the mad wax museum curator. The film was remade as "House of Wax" (1953), but the name Igor was given to the curator's henchman (Charles Bronson) rather than the curator himself. This character is deaf and mute, rather than a hunchback.


title: Sung Joon

text: Bang Sung-joon (born July 10, 1990), credited mononymously as Sung Joon, is a South Korean actor and model. He became best known for his leading roles in the television series "Flower Band" (2012), "Can We Get Married?" (2012), "I Need Romance 3" (2014), "High Society" (2015) and "" (2016). He also appeared in the films "Dangerously Excited" (2012), "Horror Stories 2" (2013), "Pluto" (2013) and "The Villainess" (2017).


title: Sung Joon

text: Sung Joon began his entertainment career as a model, but soon switched to acting and debuted from the drama "White Christmas" in 2011. The same year he was cast in a supporting role in "Lie to Me". In 2012, he was cast in a leading role in the teen drama "Flower Band", where he played a free-spirited leader of a rock band.


title: Sung Joon

text: In 2013, Sung Joon was cast in a lead role in the romantic comedy drama "Can We Get Married?" opposite Jung So-min. The same year, he starred in his first historical drama, "Gu Family Book".


title: Sung Joon

text: In 2014, he was cast in the third installment of TvN's romantic comedy "I Need Romance 3" which he portraits a character of a care-free songwriter. Later that year he converts into a plastic surgeon for the drama "Discovery of Love".


title: Sung Joon

text: In 2015, Sung Joon was cast as the lead in mystery melodrama "High Society", playing a man who succeeds in spite of his poor family background. The same year, he had a supporting role in "Hyde Jekyll, Me", a romantic comedy where he played a hypnosis specialist.


title: Sung Joon

text: In 2017, Sung Joon starred in the mystery comedy, "Ms. Perfect" alongside Ko So-young, playing a lawyer.


title: Sung Joon

text: In 2021, Sung Joon joins the Film "Ghost Mansion", making a comeback to the big screen four years after his discharge from military service.


title: Sung Joon

text: Sung Joon maintains close friendship with fellow models-turned-actors: Kim Young-kwang, Lee Soo-hyuk, Kim Woo-bin and Hong Jong-hyun – whom he has worked onscreen in "White Christmas". They were given the nickname of Model Avengers by their fans.


title: Sung Joon

text: Sung Joon quietly enlisted for his mandatory military service on December 18, 2018. He first underwent five weeks of basic training at the Army's 2nd Infantry Division in Gangwon Province. Before his enlistment, he was in a relationship with his non-celebrity girlfriend, whom he has a child together. In August 2020, Sung's agency O& Entertainment announced he was to hold a private wedding on September 12, 2020.


title: Assembly of the Republic (Portugal)

text: The Assembly of the Republic (Portuguese: "Assembleia da República", ), commonly referred to as simply Parliament (Portuguese: "Parlamento"), is the unicameral parliament of Portugal. According to the Constitution of Portugal, the parliament "is the representative assembly of all Portuguese citizens". The constitution names the assembly as one of the country's organs of supreme authority.


title: Assembly of the Republic (Portugal)

text: It is located in a historical building in Lisbon, referred to as "Palácio de São Bento" (Palace of Saint Benedict), the site of an old Benedictine monastery. The "Palácio de São Bento" has been the seat of the Portuguese parliaments since 1834 (Cortes until 1910, Congress from 1911 to 1926 and National Assembly from 1933 to 1974).


title: Assembly of the Republic (Portugal)

text: The Assembly of the Republic's powers derive from its ability to dismiss a government through a vote of no confidence, to change the country's laws, and to amend the constitution (which requires a majority of two-thirds). In addition to these key powers, the constitution grants to the Assembly extensive legislative powers and substantial control over the budget, the right to authorize the government to raise taxes and grant loans, the power to ratify treaties and other kinds of international agreements, and the duty to approve or reject decisions by the President of the Republic to declare war and make peace. The assembly also appoints many members of important state institutions, such as ten of the thirteen members of the Constitutional Court and seven of the sixteen members of the Council of State.


title: Assembly of the Republic (Portugal)

text: The constitution requires the assembly to quickly review and approve an incoming government's program. Parliamentary rules allow the assembly to call for committees of inquiry to examine the government's actions. Political opposition represented in the assembly has the power to review the cabinet's actions, even though it is unlikely that the actions can be reversed. Party groups can also call for interpellations that require debates about specific government policies.


title: Assembly of the Republic (Portugal)

text: The assembly originally consisted of 250 MPs, but the constitutional reforms of 1989 reduced its number to between 180 and 230. Members are elected by popular vote for legislative terms of four years from the country's twenty-two constituencies. There are eighteen in mainland Portugal corresponding to each district, one each for the autonomous regions of Azores (Portuguese: Açores) and Madeira, and two for Portuguese people living abroad (one covering Europe and one covering the rest of the world). Except for the constituencies for Portuguese living abroad, which are fixed at two representatives each, the number of MPs is determined by the number of voters registered in a constituency, using the D'Hondt method of proportional representation. Constituencies vary greatly in size; from as large as the district of Lisbon, which returns 48 representatives, to as small as the district of Portalegre, which elects just two.


title: Assembly of the Republic (Portugal)

text: According to the constitution, members of the assembly represent the entire country, not the constituency from which they are elected. This directive has been reinforced in practice by the strong role of political parties in regard to members of the assembly. Party leadership, for example, determines in which areas candidates are to run for office, thus often weakening members' ties to their constituencies. Moreover, members of the assembly are expected to vote with their party and to work within parliamentary groups based on party membership. Party discipline is strong, and insubordinate members can be coerced through a variety of means. A further obstacle to members' independence is that their bills first have to be submitted to the parliamentary groups, and it is these groups' leaders who set the assembly's agenda.


title: Assembly of the Republic (Portugal)

text: The President of the Assembly of the Republic is the second hierarchical figure in the Portuguese state, after the President of the Portuguese Republic, and is elected by secret vote of the members of parliament. The President of the Assembly is aided by four vice presidents, nominated by the other parties represented in the parliament, and is usually the speaker. When they are not present, one of the vice presidents takes the role of speaker. When the President of the Republic is, for any reason, unable to perform the job, the President of the Assembly of the Republic becomes the substitute.


title: Terrace House: Tokyo 2019–2020

text: In April 2020, the production of the show was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan. The show resumed airing episodes that were filmed prior to the suspension of production in May 2020, but the release of new episodes was again suspended following the suicide of cast member Hana Kimura on May 23, 2020.


title: Terrace House: Tokyo 2019–2020

text: Following Kimura's death, Fuji Television announced their decision to cancel the season on May 27, 2020, leaving the final two produced episodes of the show unaired. Netflix removed the season from its searchable database in Japan in mid-2020 and pulled all episodes featuring Kimura on August 10, 2020 in international markets.


title: Terrace House: Tokyo 2019–2020

text: The 2019–2020 season was originally planned as an extended Terrace House edition with an extended run of episodes that would lead up to the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics. In the first episode, the panel spoke about the ambitions of this special season which would culminate around the same time as the global sporting event.


title: Terrace House: Tokyo 2019–2020

text: Comedian Yoshimi Tokui, a panel regular, took leave from the show in late 2019 after he was charged with not reporting income of over 100 million yen over a period of three years for his one-person company. He apologized, saying he missed the payments due to his "sloppiness and neglectfulness."


title: Terrace House: Tokyo 2019–2020

text: In April 2020, the production of the show was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan, a decision that was announced shortly after the postponement of the Summer Olympics on March 30, 2020. The show resumed airing episodes that were filmed prior to the suspension of production in May 2020 with Ryota Yamasato hosting the commentary segments alone, before Reina Triendl joined him to co-host.


title: Terrace House: Tokyo 2019–2020

text: But the release of new episodes was again suspended following the suicide of cast member Hana Kimura on May 23, 2020. Following Kimura's death, Fuji Television announced their decision to cancel the season on May 27, 2020, leaving the final two produced episodes of the show (episodes 43 and 44) unaired.


title: Terrace House: Tokyo 2019–2020

text: On May 23, 2020, cast member Hana Kimura died by suicide while isolating at her own home during the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Terrace House: Tokyo 2019–2020

text: Before her death, Kimura shared a picture of herself and her cat on Instagram with the words, "I love you, have a happy long life. Sorry." She also tweeted hours before her death: "Every day, I receive nearly 100 honest opinions and I cannot deny that I get hurt."


title: Terrace House: Tokyo 2019–2020

text: Several notes were discovered in her apartment, with one addressed to her mother. Kimura's death led to a widespread conversation about cyberbullying messages she faced from Terrace House viewers, a situation that escalated after the episode "Case of the Costume Incident," which included a scene where she was involved in a fight with cast member Kai Kobayashi over him accidentally washing her wrestling costume.


title: Terrace House: Tokyo 2019–2020

text: Hana Kimura's mother Kyoko Kimura claimed in weekly magazine "Shūkan Bunshun" that Hana was pressured by the staff to stage the fight with Kobayashi. In July 2020, she filed a complaint with the Broadcasting Ethics & Program Improvement Organization claiming the producers edited the program to misrepresent her daughter as violent. She said the program violated her daughter's personal and human rights and continued shooting even after her daughter hyperventilated following the dispute with Kobayashi.


title: Terrace House: Tokyo 2019–2020

text: In August 2020, Fuji Television released an internal report which outlined some of the circumstances surrounding Hana's experience on the show and her subsequent suicide. The producers noted in the report that Hana engaged in self-harm after the fight with Kobayashi. They said staff had met with her on a number of occasions where they suggested she stop using social media and seek professional care.


title: Terrace House: Tokyo 2019–2020

text: Hana's mother disputed the report's findings, saying she doubted the investigation was impartial, and that the TV network could have foreseen the cyber bullying because of their past experience with the popular show.


title: Terrace House: Tokyo 2019–2020

text: On August 10, Netflix removed episodes 20 to 42 from its streaming platform across all international markets. Episode 20 featured a brief introduction of Kimura before she entered the house, while on all subsequent episodes she was one of the housemates.


title: Terrace House: Tokyo 2019–2020

text: Kyoko Kimura announced in December 2021 that she will file a lawsuit against Fuji TV and a production company.


title: Terrace House: Tokyo 2019–2020

text: A story arc involving Toshiyuki Niino and Yume Yoshida saw Tom Hanaway of "The Japan Times" write a piece criticizing the show and its commentary panel for not making "a bigger deal" about consent. In the episode "Angel," Niino is shown smearing lip balm on Yoshida's lips and then suddenly kissing her for the first time, without asking permission. On another date in the episode "Another Terrace!!," Yoshida had to decline Niino's physical advances "over a dozen times."


title: Terrace House: Tokyo 2019–2020

text: Hanaway generalized the studio commentators' reactions to these moments by saying they first sympathize with the woman, "before typically ending up at the outdated sentiment: She was asking for it." He noted that while several Western media outlets and online viewers criticized them over a similar situation in , the panel members had yet to face any backlash in Japan for their remarks - or lack thereof - on consent. He wrote that "The conversation on consent in Japan hasn't progressed as far as it has in some places abroad, but those places are precisely where the show is popular." In a YouTube video he made with Vivi where they discussed how the "Terrace House" program only shows short clips of their lives at the house and viewers then think they know them as a result, Niino briefly addressed foreign viewers who accused him of sexual assault based only on seeing the clips; "it's the person's decision whether it's a sexual assault or not. If the person says it is, then it is. But who are you to judge?"


title: Chris Sawyer

text: Christopher Sawyer is a Scottish video game designer and programmer. He is best known for creating "Transport Tycoon", which has been considered "one of the most important simulation games ever made", and the bestseller "RollerCoaster Tycoon" series. After a period away from the games industry in the late 2000s, Sawyer founded 31X, a mobile game development company.


title: Chris Sawyer

text: Sawyer was born in Stirling, Scotland, and had an interest with computers and programming from an early age, writing simple scripts in BASIC on a ZX81 at a local store in Doune. Being unable to afford a BBC Micro, Sawyer purchased a Camputers Lynx with which he could write simple programs in machine code. He graduated with a degree in Computer Science and Microprocessor Systems from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow.


title: Chris Sawyer

text: Sawyer began to write games in Z80 machine code on his Memotech MTX home computer- which possessed a built in assembler- and then later on an Amstrad CPC series home computer. He sent tapes containing his games to Memotech, who arranged first publications of his titles. Some of these were published by Ariolasoft, "Sepulcri Scelerati" and "Ziggurat". He faced issues with one company failing to pay him royalties on continued sales of his games. From 1988 to 1993, Sawyer worked on MS-DOS conversions of Amiga games and was involved in many projects, including "Virus", "Conqueror", "Campaign", "Birds of Prey", "Dino Dini's Goal" and "". In the case of the latter, Sawyer worked to improve on the Amiga version by adding texture mapping to the title.


title: Chris Sawyer

text: Inspired by "Sid Meier's Railroad Tycoon", Sawyer began to develop his own title which made use of an isometric gameworld system he had been designing as a personal project. His management simulation game "Transport Tycoon" was released by MicroProse in 1994 and became a classic of the "tycoon" series of games. A year later, he improved and extended the game, giving it the title "Transport Tycoon Deluxe". The title sold well, and Sawyer immediately sought to create a sequel.


title: Chris Sawyer

text: While working on the basic game engine for this sequel, Sawyer had used some of the revenue from "Transport Tycoon" to travel across Europe and the United States and developed an interest in roller coasters, having ridden over 600 of them by the 2010s, inspiring what would become "RollerCoaster Tycoon". Sawyer developed "RollerCoaster Tycoon" in x86 assembly language by himself, using only the services of freelance graphic designer Simon Foster and composer Allister Brimble. After creating "RollerCoaster Tycoon", he resumed work on the sequel for "Transport Tycoon", but again postponed it to create "RollerCoaster Tycoon 2". Upon completing that project, he resumed his work on the "Transport Tycoon" sequel, finally releasing it in 2004 as "Chris Sawyer's Locomotion".


title: Chris Sawyer

text: Sawyer also served as a consultant for Atari in the development of "RollerCoaster Tycoon 3", which was designed by Frontier Developments. Sawyer understood that further development of the franchise would require 3D graphics but was not interested about that and left it to Frontier.


title: Chris Sawyer

text: In November 2005, Sawyer sued Atari, claiming that they had failed to pay him certain royalties. Atari sued Sawyer for damages in 2007, and the two settled out of court for an undisclosed amount paid to Sawyer in February 2008. Due to a combination of the legal issues with Atari, and a general detest of the violent nature of video games of the time, Sawyer temporarily stepped away from video games after the release of "Locomotion". In an interview, Sawyer also cited a desire to take a break after working on games for 20 years, to spend more time on his personal interests.


title: Chris Sawyer

text: In 2010, Sawyer founded 31X Ltd. which he initially planned to use as a holding company for the "Transport Tycoon" intellectual property. However, he saw that there was interest in a mobile version of "Transport Tycoon" and a space in the market for simulation games like this, and reworked 31X to be a video game developer focused on mobile games. In addition to Sawyer, several others that worked with him on the "Tycoon" games became part of 31X, including Jacqui Lyons, who worked with Sawyer for more than 20 years, serving as the company's executive producer.


title: Chris Sawyer

text: 31X's first product was "Transport Tycoon" for iOS and Android, released in 2013, which was assisted with Origin8. Sawyer continued to work with Origin8 to bring the first two "RollerCoaster Tycoon" games into "RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic" released for mobile in December 2016. The game later received ports to Microsoft Windows and macOS in September 2017.


title: Essaouira

text: Essaouira ( ; ; , formerly "Amegdul"), known until the 1960s as Mogador, is a port city in the western Moroccan region of Marakesh-Safi, on the Atlantic coast. It has 77,966 inhabitants as of 2014.


title: Essaouira

text: The foundation of the city of Essaouira was the work of the Moroccan 'Alawid sultan Mohammed bin Abdallah, who made an original experiment by entrusting it to several renowned architects in 1760, in particular Théodore Cornut and Ahmed al-Inglizi, who designed the city using French captives from the failed French expedition to Larache in 1765, and with the mission of building a city adapted to the needs of foreign merchants. Once built, it continued to grow and experienced a golden age and exceptional development, becoming the country's most important commercial port but also its diplomatic capital between the end of the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century.


title: Essaouira

text: The name of the city is usually spelled "Essaouira" in Latin script, and in Arabic script. Both spellings represent its name in Moroccan Arabic, "ṣ-Ṣwiṛa". This is the diminutive (with definite article) of the noun "ṣuṛ" which means "wall (as round a yard, city), rampart". The pronunciation with pharyngealized /ṣ/ and /ṛ/ is a typically Moroccan development. In Classical Arabic, the noun is "sūr" (, with plain /s/ and /r/), diminutive "suwayrah" (); this is the only form cited in all dictionaries of Classical Arabic. Hence, the spelling of the name in Arabic script according to the classical pronunciation is "al-Suwayrah" (with "sīn" not "ṣād").


title: Essaouira

text: In the Berber language, which is spoken by a sizeable proportion of the city's inhabitants, it is called "Taṣṣort", meaning "the small fortress".


title: Essaouira

text: In Moroccan Arabic, a single male inhabitant is called "ṣwiṛi", plural "ṣwiṛiyin", a single female inhabitant is "ṣwiṛiya", plural "ṣwiṛiyat". In the Berber language, a single male inhabitant is "u Taṣṣort", plural: "ayt Taṣṣoṛt", a single female inhabitant is "ult Taṣṣort", plural "ist Taṣṣort".


title: Essaouira

text: Until the 1960s, Essaouira was generally known by its Portuguese name, "Mogador". This name is probably a corruption of the older Berber name "Amegdul" (spelled in Arabic), which is mentioned by the 11th-century geographer al-Bakrī.


title: Essaouira

text: Archaeological research shows that Essaouira has been occupied since prehistoric times. The bay at Essaouira is partially sheltered by the island of Mogador, making it a peaceful harbor protected against strong marine winds.


title: Essaouira

text: Essaouira has long been considered one of the best anchorages of the Moroccan coast. The Carthaginian navigator Hanno visited in the 5th century BC and established the trading post of Arambys.


title: Essaouira

text: Around the end of the 1st century BCE or early 1st century CE, the Berber king Juba II established a Tyrian purple factory, processing the murex and purpura shells found in the intertidal rocks at Essaouira and the Iles Purpuraires. This dye colored the purple stripe in the togas worn by the Senators of Imperial Rome.


title: Essaouira

text: A Roman villa was excavated on Mogador island. A Roman vase was found as well as coinage from the 3rd century CE. Most of the artifacts are now visible in the Sidi Mohammed ben Abdallah Museum and the Rabat Archaeological Museum.


title: Essaouira

text: During the Middle Ages, a Muslim saint named Sidi Mogdoul was buried in Essaouira, probably giving its origin to the name "Mogador".


title: Essaouira

text: In 1506, the king of Portugal, D. Manuel I, ordered a fortress to be built there, named Castelo Real de Mogador. Altogether, the Portuguese are documented to have seized six Moroccan towns and built six stand-alone fortresses on the Moroccan Atlantic coast, between the river Loukos in the north and the river of Sous in the south. Four of them only had a short duration: Graciosa (1489), São João da Mamora (1515), Castelo Real of Mogador (1506–10) and Aguz (1520–25). Two became permanent urban settlements: Santa Cruz do Cabo de Gué (modern Agadir, founded in 1505–06), and Mazagan, founded in 1514–17. Following the 1541 Fall of Agadir, the Portuguese had to abandon most of their settlements between 1541 and 1550, although they were able to keep Ceuta, Tangier and Mazagan.


title: Essaouira

text: The fortress of Castelo Real of Mogador fell to the local resistance of the Regraga fraternity four years after its establishment, in 1510.


title: Essaouira

text: During the 16th century, powers including Spain, England, the Netherlands and France tried in vain to conquer the locality. Essaouira remained a haven for the export of sugar and molasses and as an anchorage for pirates.


title: Essaouira

text: France was involved in an early attempt to colonize Mogador in 1629. As Richelieu and Père Joseph were attempting to establish a colonial policy, Admiral Isaac de Razilly suggested they occupy Mogador in 1626, which he had reconnoitered in 1619. The objective was to create a base against the Sultan of Morocco and asphyxiate the harbour of Safi.


title: Essaouira

text: He departed for Salé on 20 July 1629 with a fleet composed of the ships "Licorne", "Saint-Louis", "Griffon", "Catherine", "Hambourg", "Sainte-Anne", "Saint-Jean". He bombarded the city the Salé, destroyed three corsair ships, and then sent the "Griffon" under Captain Treillebois to Mogador. The men of Razilly saw the fortress of Castelo Real in Mogador and landed 100 men with wood and supplies on Mogador island, with the agreement of Richelieu. After a few days, however, the "Griffon" reembarked the colonists and departed to rejoin the fleet in Salé.


title: Essaouira

text: After these expeditions, France signed a treaty with Abd el-Malek II in 1631, giving France preferential treatment, known as "capitulations": preferential tariffs, the establishment of a Consulate, and freedom of religion for French subjects.


title: Essaouira

text: The present city of Essaouira was built during the mid-eighteenth century by the Moroccan King. Mohammed III tried to reorient his kingdom toward the Atlantic for increased exchanges with European powers, choosing Mogador as his key location. One of his objectives was to establish a harbour at the closest possible point to Marrakesh. The other was to cut off trade from Agadir in the south, which had been favouring a political rival of Mohammed III, and the inhabitants of Agadir were forced to relocate to Essaouira.


title: Essaouira

text: For 12 years, Mohammed III directed a French engineer, Théodore Cornut, and several other Moroccan and European architects and technicians to build the fortress and city along modern lines. Originally called "Souira" ("the small fortress"), the name became "Es-Saouira" ("the beautifully designed").


title: Essaouira

text: Thédore Cornut designed and built the city itself, particularly the Kasbah area, corresponding to the royal quarters and the buildings for Christian merchants and diplomats. Other parts were built by other architects, including Moroccan architects especially from Fez, Marrakesh, and Rabat. The harbour entrance, with the "Porte de la Marine", was built by an English renegade by the name of Ahmed el Inglizi ("Ahmed the English") or Ahmed El Alj ("Ahmed the Renegade"). Mohammed III took numerous steps to encourage the development of Essaouira including closing off the harbour of Agadir to the south in 1767 so that southern trade could be redirected through Essaouira. European communities in the northern harbour of Rabat-Salé were ordered to move to Essaouira through an ordinance of 21 January 1765.


title: Essaouira

text: From the time of its rebuilding by Muhammad III until the end of the nineteenth century, Essaouira served as Morocco's principal port, offering the goods of the caravan trade to the world. The route brought goods from sub-Saharan Africa to Timbuktu, then through the desert and over the Atlas mountains to Marrakesh. The road from Marrakesh to Essaouira is a straight line, explaining the king's choice of this port among the many others along the Moroccan coast.


title: Essaouira

text: Mohammed III encouraged Moroccan Jews to settle in the town and handle the trade with Europe. Jews once comprised the majority of the population, and the Jewish quarter (or mellah) contains many old synagogues. The town also has a large Jewish cemetery. The city flourished until the caravan trade died, superseded by direct European shipping trade with sub-Saharan Africa. Changes in trade, the founding of Israel, the resulting wars with Arab states, and the independence of Morocco all resulted in Sephardic Jews leaving the country. As of 2017, Essaouira had only three Jewish inhabitants. On 15 January 2020, King Mohammed VI visited Bayt Dakira, a Jewish heritage house, in Essaouira.


title: Essaouira

text: In the 19th century, Essaouira became the first seaport of Morocco, with trade volumes about double those of Rabat. The city functioned as the harbour for Marrakesh, as it was only a few days from the inland city. Diplomatic and trade representations were established by European powers in Essouira. In the 1820s, European diplomats were concentrated in either Tangier or Essaouira.


title: Essaouira

text: Following Morocco's alliance with Algeria's Abd-El-Kader against France, Essaouira was bombarded and briefly occupied by the French Navy under the Prince de Joinville on 16 August 1844, in the Bombardment of Mogador, an important battle of the First Franco-Moroccan War.


title: Essaouira

text: From 1912 to 1956, Essaouira was part of the French protectorate of Morocco. Mogador was used as a base for a military expedition against Dar Anflous, when 8,000 French troops were located outside the city under the orders of Generals Franchet d'Esperey and Brulard. The Kasbah of Dar Anflous was taken on 25 January 1913. In 1930, brothers, Michel and Jean Vieuchange used Essaouira as a base before Michel set off into the Western Sahara to try to find Smara.


title: Essaouira

text: France had an important administrative, military and economic presence. Essaouira had a Franco-Moroccan school, still visible in Derb Dharb street. Linguistically, many Moroccans of Essaouira speak French fluently today.


title: Essaouira

text: In the early 1950s film director and actor Orson Welles stayed at the Hotel des Iles just south of the town walls during the filming of his 1952 classic version of "Othello" which contains several memorable scenes shot in the labyrinthine streets and alleyways of the medina. Legend has it that during Welles' sojourn in the town he met Winston Churchill, another guest at the Hotel des Iles. A bas-relief of Orson Welles is located in a small square just outside the medina walls close to the sea. Several other film directors have utilized Essaouira as a location due to the photogenic and atmospheric qualities.


title: Essaouira

text: The town was used in the filming of "The Game of Thrones" as the home of the Army of the Unsullied. The scene of the rows of crucified slaves were props to cover the Portuguese cannons.


title: Essaouira

text: Essaouira is protected by a natural bay partially shielded from wave action by the Iles Purpuraires. A broad sandy beach extends from the harbour south of Essaourira, at which point the Oued Ksob discharges to the ocean; south of the discharge lies the archaeological ruin, the Bordj El Berod. The Canary Current is responsible for the generally southward movement of ocean circulation and has led to enhancement of the local fishery. The village of Diabat lies about five kilometres () south of Essaouira, immediately south of the Oued Ksob.


title: Essaouira

text: Essaouira connects to Safi to the north and to Agadir to the south via the N1 road and to Marrakech to the east via the R 207 road. There is a small airport some away from the town, which schedules several flights a week to Paris-Orly, London-Luton and Brussels-South (Charleroi) and daily to Casablanca.


title: Essaouira

text: Essaouira's climate is semi-arid ("BSk/BSh") with mild temperatures year round. The gap between highs and lows is small and summers are warm while winters are mild. Annual rainfall is usually . The highest temperature ever recorded in Essaouira was on 8 July 2022. The lowest temperature ever recorded was on 20 January 1988. The lowest maximum temperature ever recorded was on 15 February 2018. The highest minimum temperature ever recorded was on 13 October 2017. The maximum amount of precipitation recorded in one day was on 8 March 2013.


title: Essaouira

text: The Medina of Essaouira (formerly "Mogador") is a UNESCO World Heritage listed city, an example of a late 18th-century fortified town, as transferred to North Africa by European colonists.


title: Essaouira

text: There are only a handful of modern purpose-built hotels within the walls of the old city. Newer international hotels have been built along the sea front, with local planning regulations restricting buildings to 4 storeys in height. There are also many privately owned riads, also known as "dars", that may be rented on a daily or weekly basis.


title: Essaouira

text: The medina is home to many small arts and crafts businesses, notably cabinet making and 'thuya' wood-carving (using roots of the Tetraclinis tree), both of which have been practised in Essaouira for centuries.


title: Essaouira

text: The fishing harbour, suffering from the competition of Agadir and Safi remains rather small, although the catches (sardines, conger eels) are surprisingly abundant due to the coastal upwelling generated by the powerful trade winds and the Canaries Current. Essaouira remains one of the major fishing harbours of Morocco.


title: Essaouira

text: Essaouira is also renowned for its kitesurfing and windsurfing, with the powerful trade wind blowing almost constantly onto the protected, almost waveless, bay. Several world-class clubs rent top-notch material on a weekly basis. The township of Sidi Kaouki is located 25 km south of Essaouira and is becoming one of the best locations in Morocco for surfing, windsurfing and kitesurfing. There are several businesses in Sidi Kaouki which offer gear rental.


title: Essaouira

text: Essaouira is also a center of argan oil production. It has become a tourist attraction due to the tree-climbing goats who are unique to the region, as argan trees are the only type the goats climb.


title: Essaouira

text: Essaouira presents itself as a city full of culture: several small art galleries are found all over the town. Since 1998, the Gnaoua Festival of World Music is held in Essaouira, normally in the last week of June. It brings together artists from all over the world. Although focused on gnaoua music, it includes rock, jazz and reggae. Dubbed as the "Moroccan Woodstock" it lasts four days and attracts annually around 450,000 spectators.


title: Sirf Tum

text: Sirf Tum () is a 1999 Indian Hindi romance film directed by Agathian. It was released on 4 June 1999. The film features Sanjay Kapoor, Priya Gill, Sushmita Sen and Jackie Shroff. The movie was filmed in Nainital, Kerala and Houston. It is a remake of the 1996 Tamil film "Kadhal Kottai".


title: Sirf Tum

text: Deepak Rai (Sanjay Kapoor) comes across a purse that contains educational certificates belonging to a woman named Aarti (Priya Gill). He finds out that this lady lives in Nainital and mails her stuff back to her, this starts an enduring correspondence through letters.


title: Sirf Tum

text: Even though the couple has never seen each other, there is a mutual attraction. Aarti's sister and brother-in-law Nirmal (Tej Sapru) are encouraging to a certain extent. While Nirmal suggests she marry a Mr. Prem (Salman Khan), a renowned young businessman in his neighborhood and business-partner, Aarti's older sis wants Aarti to choose her own life partner.


title: Sirf Tum

text: One day, Aarti starts out on her journey to locate and meet Deepak without informing him that she is on her way. He is currently living in Delhi as he has a job contract with his boss Neha there temporarily. Not helping matters is Neha (Sushmita Sen), who is Deepak's boss and romantically inclined to him too, but Deepak is not. His heart pines for Aarti. Due to this reason, he resigns and desperate to make ends meets, starts to drive an auto rickshaw at the behest of Pritam (Jackie Shroff) whom he befriended when he respected him as a human when he first arrived in Delhi and Pritam helped him when he did not have a place of his own.


title: Sirf Tum

text: During the correspondence, a few months back, Aarti had gifted Deepak a woolen sweater with an image of a "lighted diya" knitted over it. When Aarti arrives at Delhi, she looks for Deepak's address and workplace hoping she can meet him unaware and surprise him with her presence and see what he is really like. She fails to find Deepak and decides to go back because a week had passed and time was running out. She might not get a chance to come and meet him again. Sadly, she reaches the train station to return home.


title: Sirf Tum

text: Unbeknownst, when Aarti first arrived in Delhi and her rickshaw broke down, she had hired Deepak's auto and had been traveling with him the whole day. While Deepak drops her at the station, someone mistakenly spills coffee over Deepak's shirt. Deepak removes his shirt revealing the woolen sweater beneath. Aarti recognizes it, calls out his name and both recognize each other and how they had been looking for each other the whole time.


title: Sirf Tum

text: The movie ends with Aarti and Deepak embracing each other while Pritam and Jency (Jaya Bhattacharya) look at them in joy.


title: Sirf Tum

text: All songs are composed by Nadeem-Shravan, with lyrics penned by Sameer. Cassettes and CDs are available on T-Series and Eros Music.


title: Sirf Tum

text: The "Sirf Tum" soundtrack album sold 2.2million units, and was ninth best-selling Bollywood music album of 1999. "Dilbar" was remade in "Satyameva Jayate", where it was sung by Neha Kakkar.


title: Hello Nasty

text: Hello Nasty is the fifth studio album by American rap rock group Beastie Boys, released by Capitol Records and Grand Royal Records on July 14, 1998. It sold 681,000 copies in its first week, debuting at number 1 on the "Billboard" 200 album sales chart, and won Best Alternative Music Album and Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group (for "Intergalactic") at the 41st Annual Grammy Awards. In "Beastie Boys Book" (2018), Ad-Rock said he felt "Hello Nasty" was the group's "best record".


title: Hello Nasty

text: The album was released on July 14, 1998, just over four years after the previous Beastie Boys album, "Ill Communication". It marked the addition of DMC champion Mix Master Mike to the group's line-up, and was the last time the band worked with percussionist Eric Bobo or a co-producer. There are several guest vocalists on the album, including Miho Hatori of Cibo Matto on "I Don't Know", and Jamaican dub musician Lee "Scratch" Perry on "Dr. Lee, PhD".


title: Hello Nasty

text: The title of the album was allegedly inspired by the receptionist of the band's NY-based publicity firm Nasty Little Man, who would answer the phone with the greeting "Hello, Nasty." In addition, the title is mentioned in the song "Putting Shame in Your Game". The cover art depicts the three Beastie Boys (Horovitz, Yauch, and Diamond, from left to right) stuffed in an aluminum sardine tin and getting baked in the sun. The band references this image in the song "Body Movin'", with the lyrics: "MCA, where have you been?/Packed like sardines in a tin."


title: Hello Nasty

text: There were CD, double-vinyl LP, MiniDisc, and cassette tape releases of the album. One of the cassette formats was packaged for a limited run by BioBox in a small cardboard box, rather than a clear plastic case, in an attempt to distinguish the retail product and augment sales.


title: Hello Nasty

text: "Hello Nasty" received mostly positive reviews upon its release. Caroline Sullivan, writing for "The Guardian", named it the "Pop CD of the Week" and said it "fills a gap created by the current profusion of serious rock bands like Radiohead; elbowing its way up front, [and letting] rip with adolescent vigour." She went on to summarize the record as "the perfect party soundtrack by the perfect party band." "Select"s John Harris praised the Beastie Boys' lyrics for being as "fantastically off-beam as ever", while at the same time noting that they had "broadened their musical vistas yet further". Although AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine felt the album's ending was "a little anticlimactic", he also saw "Hello Nasty" as a progressive step forward from the group's 1992 LP "Check Your Head" and praised the contributions of the group's new recruit, Mix Master Mike: "Hiring DJ Mixmaster Mike turned out to be a masterstroke; he and the Beasties created a sound that strongly recalls the spare electronic funk of the early '80s, but spiked with the samples and post-modern absurdist wit that have become their trademarks." In his review for "Entertainment Weekly", David Browne highlighted the album's multi-genre sound as its most engaging aspect:


title: Hello Nasty

text: "Hello Nasty" is a sonic smorgasbord in which the Beasties gorge themselves with reckless abandon. They dabble in lounge-pop kitsch (the loser put-down "Song for the Man"), make like a summit of Santana and Traffic (the Latin-flavored "Song for Junior"), and subtly incorporate a drum-and-bass shuffle into the mix ("Flowin' Prose"). The melange makes for a looser, more free-spirited record than their earlier albums; the music invites you in, rather than threatening to shut you out.


title: Mara Jade

text: Mara Jade Skywalker is a fictional character in the "Star Wars" franchise. She appears in the now non-canon "Legends" series as the wife of Luke Skywalker and mother of Ben Skywalker. She has been voiced by Heidi Shannon, Edie Mirman and Kath Soucie in various "Star Wars" video games.


title: Mara Jade

text: Her first appearance was in Timothy Zahn's "Heir to the Empire" (1991). Zahn imagined Jade as a strong, complex female character, somebody he thought lacking in the "Star Wars" universe. While competent, she is flawed. When the "Thrawn" trilogy ended in 1993 with "The Last Command", Zahn thought it was the last book for which he would develop the character. Asked to write another novel, he established two goals: "to end the war between the New Republic and the Empire, and to get Luke Skywalker and Mara together." Although Lucasfilm resisted the idea of Luke marrying Mara, they eventually acquiesced.


title: Mara Jade

text: In 2018, Zahn said Lucasfilm gave him some creative control over the character of Mara Jade: any appearance of Mara in new works requires Zahn's approval. Zahn also explained the Lucasfilm Story Group also had the authority to prevent him from incorporating Mara back into the canon, and any appearance would have to be approved by both parties. Zahn said he would only allow her to appear if she plays an important role in the plot, and he would block any kind of cameo. Previously, the character of Grand Admiral Thrawn, another Zahn creation, made the jump from "Legends" to canon, albeit with a slightly-reworked story. Subsequently, Zahn said he hoped to find a way to bring Mara into the canon, stating "If there was a generic, or organic, spot for her to fit into a story... I promise people, I will pitch it to the Lucasfilm story group, and then, it's their decision whether to allow it or not."


title: Mara Jade

text: Compared to Princess Leia, Zahn said, "Mara has a sharper and sarcastic manner, and of course, she had to go through the painful realization her service was to an evil cause. But both women are strong without sacrificing their femininity, a balance which I think some authors have trouble writing. Bear in mind, too, Leia was one of the first people in the New Republic who decided Mara could be trusted, which perhaps says something about their understanding of each other."


title: Mara Jade

text: Mara is introduced as smuggler Talon Karrde's second-in-command in "Heir to the Empire". The novel establishes she was previously an "Emperor's Hand"—a special agent—for Emperor Palpatine.


title: Mara Jade

text: Several stories depict Jade before the events in "Heir to the Empire", showing her training under Palpatine and executing his orders. The "Thrawn" trilogy depicts Mara's first confrontation with Luke Skywalker, whom she swears to kill to avenge Palpatine's death (Palpatine sent her a faked image of Luke and Vader turning on him together, rather than Vader killing Palpatine, and the demand for Luke's death motivated by Palpatine's desire for revenge against his father rather than Luke's actions).


title: Mara Jade

text: This was re-inforced by the Emperor's final telepathic command to assassinate Luke, plaguing her thoughts since his death; upon learning this situation, Luke vowed to help Mara break Palpatine's hold on her, regardless of the threat she posed to Luke. Toward the end of the trilogy, she turns against the Empire, and resolves her anger toward Luke, silences the command without killing him and instead killing Luke's "clone"—Luuke Skywalker—made by the Dark Jedi Joruus C'baoth to challenge Luke.


title: Mara Jade

text: In doing so, she took Leia Organ Solo's lightsaber, and used it to stab C'baoth. At the close of "The Last Command", Luke gives her Anakin's lightsaber because he believed she earned it and because he truly wanted her to have it. Over the course of the series, Luke recognizes in Mara an underdeveloped affinity for the Force; and although she initially resists Jedi training, she eventually becomes a Jedi Master.


title: Mara Jade

text: Luke and Mara develop a strong bond in Zahn's "The Hand of Thrawn" duology; he proposes marriage, and the two wed in Michael A. Stackpole's graphic novel "Union". She delivers a son, Ben, during "The New Jedi Order" series.


title: Mara Jade

text: In the "Legacy of the Force" series, Mara is suspicious of her nephew, Jacen Solo, after he sends Ben on several ethically-dubious missions. Upon learning Jacen is a Sith apprentice, Mara vows to kill him, but Jacen ultimately kills "her" in "Sacrifice". She later appears as a Force ghost, first to Ben then to Luke, in "Revelation". She also appears as a Force ghost to Cade Skywalker in the "" comics, set more than a century after the "Star Wars" films.


title: Mara Jade

text: Mara also appears in the short story "Sleight of Hand: The Tale of Mara Jade", by Timothy Zahn, in the anthology "Tales from Jabba's Palace". In this story, she infiltrates Jabba the Hutt's palace as a dancing girl to assassinate Luke Skywalker under orders of the Emperor, but misses her chance after Jabba drops him into the Rancor's lair then escapes.


title: Mara Jade

text: Mara was portrayed by model Shannon McRandle (as Shannon Baksa) on several cards in the "Star Wars Customizable Card Game".


title: Mara Jade

text: She is a playable character in ",". "", "" and "" (Wii version). Meeting her was also a mission objective in the defunct massively multiplayer online game "Star Wars Galaxies". She also narrates the Imperial campaign in "".


title: Mara Jade

text: In 2008, when franchise creator George Lucas said there would be no sequel trilogy, he explained that plot elements from the Expanded Universe were not part of his story, saying, "Luke doesn't get married". With the 2012 acquisition of Lucasfilm by The Walt Disney Company, most of the licensed "Star Wars" novels and comics produced since the originating 1977 film "Star Wars" were re-branded as "Star Wars Legends" and declared non-canon to the franchise in April 2014.


title: Mara Jade

text: Mara Jade was chosen by "IGN" as the 19th top "Star Wars" character. "IGN"s Jesse Schedeen also listed the character as the top 10th "Star Wars" hero, noting she "entered the Expanded Universe early, and she stuck around for so long because she's just a great character". UGO Networks called the character the seventh top "Star Wars" Expanded Universe character, calling her complex. In a 1998 "Star Wars Insider" poll of fans' favorite "Star Wars" characters, Mara was the only expanded universe character to break the top 20. In 2006, Zahn called Mara and Grand Admiral Thrawn his favorite characters out of those he created, saying "Mara, with her attitude and her Jedi skills, is just plain fun to write, especially in opposition—or in partnership—with Luke."


title: Rock Me Amadeus

text: "Rock Me Amadeus" is a song recorded by Austrian musician Falco, for his third studio album, "Falco 3" (1985). The single was made available for physical sale in 1985 in German-speaking Europe, through A&M. "Rock Me Amadeus" was written by Falco along with Dutch music producers Bolland & Bolland. To date, the single is the only German language song to peak at number one of the "Billboard" Hot 100, which it did on 29 March 1986.


title: Rock Me Amadeus

text: It topped the singles charts on both sides of the Atlantic. It was Falco's only number one hit in both the United States and the United Kingdom, despite the artist's popularity in his native Austria and much of Europe.


title: Rock Me Amadeus

text: Originally recorded in German, the song is about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, his popularity and his debts. A longer version (eight minutes), named the "Salieri Mix", appeared on the initial US release of the album "Falco 3". The song was inspired by the movie "Amadeus". For the US release, the song was remixed with an English background overlay. There was never a full English version.


title: Rock Me Amadeus

text: The voice-over was performed by Rick McCullough, an acquaintance of Rob and Ferdi Bolland. McCullough is a successful television director in the Netherlands known for his 20 plus years as Director of the award winning series "Wie is de Mol?".


title: Rock Me Amadeus

text: The song was released in Europe in 1985 in its original, German-language version. For the international markets (United States, UK, Japan, etc.), several different single and extended mixes were produced by Rob Bolland; none of them were solely an English-language version, but the international single versions reduced the German lyrics. However, the video, which featured the original European version, was used worldwide.


title: Rock Me Amadeus

text: The song's music video mixes elements of Mozart's time with 1980s contemporary society. Falco is shown in a 20th-century-style dinner jacket, walking past people in eighteenth-century formal wear. Later, he is shown dressed as Mozart, with wild colored hair, being held on the shoulders of men dressed in modern motorcycle-riding attire. At the end, the two crowds mix.


title: Rock Me Amadeus

text: The video for the 1991 remix is a much more sexualized version, starting with the refrain 'sugar sweet', with extra footage spliced throughout, including a similar black carriage riding at night with the driver covered in lights, escorted by police motorcycles, scantily clad girls; in black leather riding outside it, and bright neon fashions inside, resembling earlier-century formal wear. A different crowd in a more Mozart-era formal attire was excessively fraternizing at a party. This version also contains red line art of Falco, guitar riff clips, and a long car scene driving away at the end, to a saxophone solo over the added refrain.


title: Rock Me Amadeus

text: With "Rock Me Amadeus", Falco became the first German-speaking artist to be credited with a number-one single on both mainstream US pop singles chart, the "Billboard" Hot 100 and "Cash Box" Top 100 Singles. Prior to Falco, "99 Luftballons" by Nena got to number one on "Cash Box", but peaked at number two on the "Billboard" Hot 100. The single hit number one on the "Billboard" Hot 100 on 29 March 1986.


title: Rock Me Amadeus

text: In the United Kingdom, where his "Der Kommissar" failed to make the charts, the song hit number one on 10 May 1986, becoming the first single by an Austrian act to achieve this distinction. "Vienna Calling" hit number 10 and three subsequent singles briefly charted.


title: Rock Me Amadeus

text: In Canada, the song reached number one on 1 February 1986. (There, "Der Kommissar" had reached number 11 in January 1983, and "Vienna Calling" would hit number 8 in April 1986.)


title: Rock Me Amadeus

text: "Rock Me Amadeus" would later be ranked number 87 in VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the 80s and number 44 in VH1's 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders.


title: 112 (band)

text: 112 (pronounced "one-twelve") is an American R&B group from Atlanta, Georgia. Formerly artists on Bad Boy Records, the group signed to the Def Soul roster in 2002. They had great success from the late 1990s into the early 2000s with hits such as "Only You" (featuring The Notorious B.I.G.), "Anywhere" and the Grammy Award–nominated single "Peaches & Cream". The group most notably won a Grammy Award in 1997 for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group, for featuring on the single by label boss Puff Daddy, "I'll Be Missing You" (alongside Faith Evans).


title: 112 (band)

text: The group had its start when the members met while attending high school. The original group consisting of Daron Jones, Michael Keith, and Reginald Finley sang together while Jones and Keith were in middle school and Finley was in high school. Once all three were in high school, they met fellow schoolmate Aldon Lagon who was working at a local McDonald's in Atlanta and added him due to his deep bass voice. They met a high tenor vocalist Marvin Scandrick who sang with them in the school chorus.


title: 112 (band)

text: Known as Forte, the group performed talent shows and performed at churches and schools around Atlanta. After Wales was able to secure an audition for the group outside of Atlanta's Club 112 in Buckhead, the boys sang for Combs and impressed him. Following another audition for Combs in front of Bad Boy producer Chucky Thompson, Bad Boy Records artist Faith Evans and Combs' protégé Usher, and a co-sign from Thompson and Evans, Combs signed the quartet of Michael Keith, Marvin Scandrick, Daron Jones, and Quinnes Parker to Bad Boy Records. The group then changed their name from Forte to 112, the name of the nightclub where they had auditioned for Combs.


title: 112 (band)

text: Soon afterwards, they found themselves living in New York City, recording their debut album, "112". Released in 1996, the album eventually went double platinum. The album, which was primarily produced by Tim & Bob, entered into the top 5 on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Chart, going on to sell over two million copies. It featured the hit singles "Only You" and "Cupid", both of which peaked at No. 13 on the Hot 100 and No. 3 and No. 2 on the R&B charts, respectively. The group also contributed to records by several high-profile artists, including The Notorious B.I.G., Sean Combs (as Puff Daddy) and Mase. The group eventually went on the road as the opening act for the Isley Brothers at Ron Isley's request, the first of four separate tours that saw the group criss-crossing the U.S. with Keith Sweat, New Edition, and finally Puff Daddy and the Family, over an 18-month period. In the years that followed, they toured with other performers such as Whitney Houston and Janet Jackson.


title: 112 (band)

text: A series of single tracks by 112 populated the charts in 1997, beginning with the Tim & Bob–produced single "Come See Me", which hit the top 40 in January. "Cupid", Produced by Arnold Hennings, released in May, made the top 10 and was certified gold in the same month. By August, "Cupid" went platinum. Another 1997 single, "I'll Be Missing You", hit the top 40 in June and was certified triple platinum by July. Attaining the number-one chart position by August, the song won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group in 1997. "I'll Be Missing You" sat at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for eleven weeks and spent nine weeks at the top of the Hot Singles sales. The track also topped the R&B singles, R&B singles sales, and rap singles charts for eight weeks running. The group booked tours with the Isley Brothers, Keith Sweat, and New Edition, as well as with Puff Daddy and the Family, totaling four separate tours. The group spent 18 successive months on the road fulfilling tour commitments.


title: 112 (band)

text: Their second album, "Room 112", was released in 1998 and featured the hits "Love Me", featuring Mase, and "Anywhere", featuring Lil Zane. Both the album and the song "Love Me" were certified gold. Album sales surpassed the platinum level by January 1999, and double platinum sales were recorded in 2002. To continue supporting the album further, 112 went on tour with singer Whitney Houston for her U.S. My Love Is Your Love World Tour in the summer of 1999.


title: 112 (band)

text: A 2001 single, "It's Over Now", charted at the top of the Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs. The group's third album, "Part III", was released in 2001, spun the hit "Peaches & Cream", and earned the group their first and only Grammy nomination in the Best R&B Group or Duo category. While the group was in production on a new album for 2001, however, executive producer Combs was called to court repeatedly regarding a shooting incident. Instead of taping at the usual accommodations in Combs's studio, 112 went to Nashville, Tennessee, to record the new disc. It was a move that signaled a pending split with Bad Boy Records. The album, "Part III", was released on March 20, 2001, following an intensive barrage of advance radio publicity. Even in the absence of Combs, "Part III" took off with a running start. It raced up the charts to debut at number two on the Billboard 200 chart. Surpassing gold sales in April, the album went platinum in May. To promote the album further, 112 joined Janet Jackson that summer for her U.S. "All for You Tour". The upbeat single "Peaches & Cream"—which was credited in part to Combs—scored another crossover hit for the band. Released in June, the track soared to number one on the Rhythmic Top 40 and peaked at number four on the Hot 100. The group earned two award nominations for the song that year: an MTV Best Video nomination in September, and a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group.


title: 112 (band)

text: In 2002, the group members, having matured both personally and professionally, came to the realization that a split with the Bad Boy label was necessary due to the lack of interest. In search of greater creative control, 112 left Bad Boy Records in February 2002 and signed with Def Jam in July on their Def Soul imprint, insisting that the breakup was amicable. They reiterated this no-hard-feelings attitude by going to Diddy's House to record a debut album for Def Jam. Disagreements remained over ownership rights to the 112 catalog of songs, and their fourth album "Hot & Wet", the Def Jam debut disc, was waylaid as a result, while negotiations ensued between Lyor Cohen of Def Jam and Bad Boy owner Combs. With both sides ultimately in agreement, "Hot & Wet" appeared in November 2003, with its title song breaking into Billboard 's Hot 100 and the Rhythmic Top 40 that year. In 2004, the album charted on the Billboard 200 and peaked at number four on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. The album, however, failed to make any noticeable impression on the charts. From the album, they released "Na, Na, Na", featuring dancehall legend Super Cat.