title: Emperor of Austria

text: The Emperor of Austria () was the ruler of the Austrian Empire and later the Austro-Hungarian Empire. A hereditary imperial title and office proclaimed in 1804 by Holy Roman Emperor Francis II, a member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, and continually held by him and his heirs until Charles I relinquished power in 1918.


title: Emperor of Austria

text: The emperors retained the title of Archduke of Austria. The wives of the emperors held the title empress, while other members of the family held the titles of archduke or archduchess.


title: Emperor of Austria

text: Members of the House of Austria, the Habsburg dynasty, had been the elected Holy Roman Emperors since 1438 (except for a five-year break from 1740 to 1745) and mostly resided in Vienna. Thus the term "Austrian emperor" may occur in texts dealing with the time before 1804, when no Austrian Empire existed. In these cases the word Austria means the composite monarchy ruled by the dynasty, not the country. A special case was Maria Theresa; she bore the imperial title as the consort of Francis I (r. 1745–1765), but she herself was the monarch of the Austrian Hereditary Lands including Bohemia and Hungary.


title: Emperor of Austria

text: In the face of aggressions by Napoleon I, who had been proclaimed "Emperor of the French" (French: "Empereur des Français"), by the French constitution on 18 May 1804, Francis II feared for the future of the Holy Roman Empire and wished to maintain his and his family's Imperial status in case the Holy Roman Empire should be dissolved. Therefore, on 11 August 1804 he created the new title of "Emperor of Austria" for himself and his successors as heads of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. For two years, Francis carried two imperial titles: being Holy Roman Emperor Francis II and "by the Grace of God" ("Von Gottes Gnaden") Emperor Francis I of Austria.


title: Emperor of Austria

text: In 1805, an Austrian-led army suffered a humiliating defeat at the Battle of Austerlitz and the victorious Napoleon proceeded to dismantle the old "Reich" (which at this time was only a powerless confederation) by motivating or pressuring several German princes to enter the separate Confederation of the Rhine with their lands in July. This led Francis II/I on 6 August 1806 to declare the Reich dissolved and to lay down the Imperial Crown created in the second half of the 10th century (today displayed at the Treasury of Hofburg Palace in Vienna).


title: Emperor of Austria

text: From 1806 onwards, Francis was Emperor of Austria only. He had three successors—Ferdinand I, Francis Joseph I and Charles I—before the Empire broke apart in 1918. A coronation ceremony was never established; the heir to the throne became emperor the moment his predecessor died or abdicated. The symbol of the Austrian Emperor was the dynasty's private crown dating back to Rudolf II (r. 1576–1612), (called "Rudolfinische Hauskrone" by the experts).


title: Emperor of Austria

text: The Austrian emperors had an extensive list of titles and claims that reflected the geographic expanse and diversity of the lands ruled by the Austrian Habsburgs. The grand title of the emperor of Austria had been changed several times: by a patent of 1 August 1804, by a court office decree from 22 August 1836, by an Imperial court ministry decree of 6 January 1867 and finally by a letter of 12 December 1867. Shorter versions were recommended for official documents and international treaties: "Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia etc. and Apostolic King of Hungary", "Emperor of Austria and Apostolic King of Hungary", "His Majesty the Emperor and King" and "His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty".


title: Emperor of Austria

text: "King of Bohemia, of Dalmatia, of Croatia, of Slavonia, of Galicia, of Lodomeria, and of Illyria,"<br>


title: Emperor of Austria

text: "Duke of Upper and Lower Silesia, of Modena, Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla, of Auschwitz and Zator, of Teschen, Friuli, Ragusa and Zara,"<br>


title: Emperor of Austria

text: The function of the emperor was styled like a secular papacy. Therefore, it was the overall goal to demonstrate the all-highest ("allerhöchste") majesty and dignity of the monarch to his subjects and to other monarchs and countries. His and his entourage's life was governed by very strict rules all the time.


title: Emperor of Austria

text: The members of the House of Habsburg were ranked as princes and princesses of the blood imperial, with the honorary title of "Erzherzog" or "Erzherzogin" (archduke or archduchess). Their permanent address and their travels abroad had to be agreed to by the Emperor.


title: Emperor of Austria

text: Whoever wanted to marry an archduke or archduchess of the Habsburg dynasty had to originate from a ruling or formerly ruling house, as was stipulated by the "Familienstatut des Allerhöchsten Herrscherhauses", the Family Statute of the Highest Monarch's House, issued by Ferdinand I in 1839. Otherwise the marriage would be one "to the left hand", called a morganatic marriage, excluding the offspring of the couple from any right the House of Habsburg possessed. (The problems of such a situation were encountered when Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir presumptive to the throne, married a simple countess in 1900).


title: Emperor of Austria

text: To manage the political implications of the Imperial house after 1867 the Emperor and King appointed the "k.u.k. Minister des kaiserlichen und königlichen Hauses und des Äußeren" (the I.& R. Minister of the Imperial and Royal House and of the Exterior), one of the three ministers common to Austria and Hungary. Under Francis I, Klemens von Metternich had covered these and many other agenda, bearing the title "Haus-, Hof- und Staatskanzler" (Chancellor of the House, the Court and the State).


title: Emperor of Austria

text: The Emperor's household, his personal officers and the premises where they worked were called "Hof" ("court").<br>


title: Emperor of Austria

text: The four highest officials managing the Imperial Court, who were drawn from among the highest noblemen of the Empire, were


title: Emperor of Austria

text: Whoever sought an audience with the Emperor himself had to apply at the Office of the Grand Master ("Obersthofmeisteramt"). Francis I used to wear civilian clothes of the Biedermeier era, while Francis Joseph I and Charles I mostly were seen in the uniform of an Austrian field marshal to underline the importance of the army to the throne. Francis Joseph I expected soldiers to appear in uniform at his court and civilians to appear in tails. He never shook hands with visitors; in letters he never addressed his subjects as "Sir" or "Mr." ("Herr").


title: Emperor of Austria

text: The Austrian Empire ("Kaisertum Österreich") from 1804 to 1867 consisted of the Habsburg lands as a whole, leaving each land its special definition as kingdom (e.g., Bohemia, Hungary), archduchy (Lower and Upper Austria), duchy (e.g., Carniola) or princely county (e.g., Tyrol), however the Kingdom of Hungary—as Regnum Independens—was administered by its own institutions separately from the rest of the empire. "Kaisertum" might literally be translated as "emperordom" on analogy with "kingdom" or "emperor-ship"; the term denotes specifically "the territory ruled by an emperor". Austria proper (as opposed to the complex of Habsburg lands as a whole) had been an archduchy since the 15th century, and most of the other territories of the Empire had their own institutions and territorial history, although there were some attempts at centralization, especially between 1848 and 1859.


title: Emperor of Austria

text: In 1866, Austria lost the war with Prussia and several Italian states. Francis Joseph I was urged to solve the internal problems of his realm and was well-advised to provide a substantial rise to the Hungarian nobility, which had stayed in passive resistance to him after the crushed Hungarian revolution of 1848 and 1849. By the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 ("Ausgleich"), the Kingdom of Hungary and the Empire of Austria as two separate entities joined together on an equal basis to form the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary. Thus the former Habsburg-ruled lands were restructured into a dual union which shared a monarch and a common army, navy and foreign policy. Transylvania became again the integral part of Hungary while Croatia-Slavonia were acknowledged as part of the Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen, which were called Transleithania by government officials to distinguish them from Cisleithania, the Austrian part of the Empire from 1867 onwards. The latter were known in the internal administration as the "Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council" ("Die im Reichsrat vertretenen Königreiche und Länder"). Unofficially ever since, these territories officially were called "Austria" from 1915 to 1918 only, despite the fact that all the citizens held the common Austrian citizenship since 1867.


title: Emperor of Austria

text: Austria-Hungary disintegrated at the end of World War I in 1918, when the Austrian lands established their independence. Bohemia and Moravia in the newly created Czechoslovakia, Galicia joined Poland, while Bukovina became a part of Romania. Carniola and Dalmatia joined the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. Other territories were annexed by Italy (South Tyrol, Trieste and Istria). Yet the last Emperor, Charles I, used his imperial title until the end of his life. The Kingdom of Hungary, due to measures enacted during peace proceedings after the Great War and having terminated the 1867 compromise by 31 October 1918, similarly broke apart.


title: Emperor of Austria

text: The term "Kaiserlich und Königlich" ("k.u.k.", spoken , meaning "Imperial and Royal") was decreed in a letter of 17 October 1889 for the army, the navy and the institutions shared by both parts of the monarchy. Institutions of Cisleithania used the term "Kaiserlich-Königlich" ("K.K.", meaning "Imperial Royal", e.g. "K.K. österreichische Staatsbahnen", Imperial Royal Austrian State Railways).


title: Emperor of Austria

text: The heir apparent to the throne bore the title of Crown Prince ("Kronprinz"); heirs presumptive were called "Thronfolger", in addition to their title of archduke. Francis I was followed by Ferdinand Charles, (later Ferdinand I). In the wake of the 1848 revolutions, the empire's existence was in danger. The Habsburg family tried a new start with a new emperor: Ferdinand I was urged to hand over government on 2 December 1848. He then moved to Hradcany Castle in Prague and, without laying down his imperial title, lived there privately until his death in 1875.


title: Emperor of Austria

text: As Ferdinand I had no sons, his brother Francis Charles would have become emperor, but was persuaded by his wife to pass over the right of succession to their son, Francis Joseph. He accepted the duty of the Emperor of Austria without having been Crown Prince or "Thronfolger" before. Francis Joseph's only son Rudolf committed suicide in 1889, Francis Joseph's brother Karl Ludwig died in 1896. Karl Ludwig's son Franz Ferdinand became heir presumptive to the throne. He was assassinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia in 1914; due to his morganatic marriage, his son had no rights to the throne. At this time his younger brother Otto Franz had already died, which made Otto's son Charles the new heir presumptive to the throne, to which he acceded in 1916 as Charles I, upon the death of Francis Joseph I. In this moment Charles I's son, four-year-old Otto became the last Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary. He declared himself a loyal citizen of the Republic of Austria in 1961.


title: Emperor of Austria

text: Charles I did not see himself as a pretender but as the monarch of Austria, while the Habsburg Law of the Republic of Austria of 1919 called him "the former bearer of the crown" ("der ehemalige Träger der Krone"). His son Otto von Habsburg, who had used the title Archduke of Austria in his earlier life outside of Austria, declared himself a loyal citizen of the Republic in order to be allowed to enter Austria; from 1961 onwards he no longer considered himself pretender. Otto's son Karl von Habsburg has never pretended to be the rightful monarch of Austria.


title: Hiraeth

text: The Cornish and Breton equivalents are and . It is associated with the German concept of , the Portuguese or the Romanian .


title: Hiraeth

text: Derived from 'long' and (a nominal suffix creating an abstract noun from an adjective), the word is literally equivalent to English 'longing'. A less likely, but possible, etymology is 'long' + 'pain, grief, sorrow, longing'. In the earliest citations in early Welsh poetry it implies 'grief or longing after the loss or death of someone'.


title: Hiraeth

text: 19th-century attempts to spread the English language through its exclusive use in schools at the expense of the Welsh language, following the 1847 Reports of the Commissioners of Inquiry into the State of Education in Wales (commonly known as the "Treachery of the Blue Books" in Wales), led to an increase in . Between 1870 and 1914, approximately 40% of Welsh emigrants returned to Wales, a much higher percentage than the rest of Britain, and it has been claimed that this was due to .


title: Dropout (streaming platform)

text: Dropout (stylized as Dropout.tv, DROPOUT, or :DROPOUT) is an American subscription media service provider developed and operated by CH Media. It was founded in September 2018 and provides advertisement-free access to uncensored original shows, chat stories, comics, and a Discord server for fans.


title: Dropout (streaming platform)

text: In early September 2018, CollegeHumor began teasing the beginning of a new subscription service, putting hidden keyword clues on their website and in their videos. Entering these keywords to a website owned by CollegeHumor allowed users to see clips of videos, audio, and images that implied the beginning of a new CollegeHumor project.


title: Dropout (streaming platform)

text: On September 26, 2018, Dropout officially launched in the United States. CH Media's CEO, Rich Cusick, announced the service as a "TV-MA version of CollegeHumor", allowing fans to dive deeper into pre-established characters and shows from the primary CollegeHumor YouTube channel. CollegeHumor's Chief Creative Officer, Sam Reich, also claims that the founding of Dropout was in response to difficulty in receiving advertising dollars on traditional media platforms for mature content.


title: Dropout (streaming platform)

text: Dropout officially launched native iOS and Android apps for its service in December 2018, allowing users to watch shows and also cast to smart TVs. Comics, especially the chat stories, were integrated into the app.


title: Dropout (streaming platform)

text: As of December 2018, visitors to the service spent on average 31 minutes per visit, and visited on average 3.5 times per week.


title: Dropout (streaming platform)

text: Throughout 2019, Dropout began to experiment with more live streaming versions of their shows, through using Twitch and podcast-like formats.


title: Dropout (streaming platform)

text: Dropout launched with a beta price of $3.99 per month, for the first three months of the service. After December 2018, the price rose to a three tiered option, with monthly memberships for $5.99/month, semi-annual memberships for $4.99/month, and annual memberships for $3.99/month. As of January 4th 2022, new subscribers paid $5.99 monthly or $59.99 yearly, while those who already subscribed prior to that date were charged $4.99 monthly or $47.99 yearly. Users are also able to access Dropout content through YouTube via the join function.The company has justified the pricing model as allowing them to create content without being dependent on, or beholden to, requests from advertisers.


title: Dropout (streaming platform)

text: In August 2019, CollegeHumor also began to partner with Facebook to offer Dropout content via paid video subscriptions on Facebook's platform.


title: Dropout (streaming platform)

text: In addition to viewing exclusive original series, subscription to Dropout allows users to view all other videos produced by CollegeHumor 72 hours before they are released to the public. There is also access to an exclusive Discord server where subscribers are allowed to chat with cast members and producers of the shows. Dropout also has a store which sells merchandise (such as shirts, stickers, and mugs) related to shows on the platform.


title: Sechs Kies

text: Sechs Kies (pronounced as ; ) is a first generation South Korean boy band. Making their debut on April 15, 1997, they are one of the first K-pop idol groups, credited with pioneering the idol scene and fandom culture. The group currently consists of the following active members Eun Ji-won, Lee Jai-jin, Kim Jae-duck, and Jang Su-won.


title: Sechs Kies

text: Sechs Kies formally disbanded on May 20, 2000 and re-united on April 14, 2016. On May 10, 2016, they signed a contract with YG Entertainment and continue to promote as a team.


title: Sechs Kies

text: Eun Ji-won was scouted at a nightclub by DSP Entertainment's CEO while studying abroad in Hawaii, along with Kang Sung-hoon. The agency originally planned to debut Eun Ji-won and Kang Sung-hoon in South Korea as a duo, but with the success of SM Entertainment's male idol group H.O.T., the agency shifted gears to debut a six-member male idol group instead.


title: Sechs Kies

text: Kim Jae-duck and Lee Jai-jin at the time were members of a dance crew called Quicksilver in Busan and trainees at Seo Taiji and Boys Lee Juno's company. Daesung Entertainment's CEO Lee Ho-Yeon recruited the two through recommendation of Lee Juno. Jang Su-won was cast during an open audition, and lastly, Ko Ji-yong, a childhood friend of Kang Sung-hoon, was cast as the final member of Sechs Kies.


title: Sechs Kies

text: Sechs Kies debuted on April 15, 1997 on KMTV Show! Music Tank with their first single, "School Anthem" (also known as "School Byeolgok", "School Song", or "학원별곡" in Korean). Their debut album "School Anthem", named after the title track, was released on May 15.


title: Sechs Kies

text: Multiple songs from "School Anthem" became immensely popular, including "School Anthem", "Remember Me", and "The Way This Guy Lives - Pomsaengpomsa". OhmyNEWS reported that over 1,800,000 copies of the album were sold. The physical sales of Sechs Kies's albums remain unclear because of DSP's under-reporting and official records being unavailable for albums released before September 1998. For further information on Sechs Kies's album sales record, read Sechs Kies discography.


title: Sechs Kies

text: Shortly afterwards, Sechs Kies made their much anticipated comeback in October on KMTV's "Recharge 100% Show" and began promotional activities for their second album release. Their second album was titled "Welcome to the Sechskies Land", featuring 20 tracks formatted as a tour around a fictional amusement park known as "Sechskies Land", and was released on November 1. They quickly began promoting the album's title track "Chivalry" (기사도) on various music programs, which gave the group their first number one spot on SBS Inkigayo on December 7.


title: Sechs Kies

text: Sechs Kies quickly achieved recognition as rookies of the year and received several awards at various music award shows. In December, they won the 12th Korea Visual and Records Grand Prize (later named Golden Disc Awards) Bonsang, the KMTV Korean Music Awards New Artist Award, the Seoul Music Awards Bonsang, the KBS Music Awards Bonsang, the Best 10 Artist Awards at the MBC and the SBS Music Awards.


title: Sechs Kies

text: On December 21, Sechs Kies held their first concert in Seoul at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts; tickets were reportedly sold out within five hours. Sechs Kies was the first dance group to hold a concert at the center.


title: Sechs Kies

text: Sechs Kies's fanbase and general popularity continued to grow rapidly in 1998. After wrapping up their second album promotions in February, they began a spring nationwide tour, including concerts in Busan, Ulsan, Gwangju, and Daegu.


title: Sechs Kies

text: In March, Sechs Kies became the first idol group to film their own movie, titled "Seventeen". On July 17, it was released nationwide, and the group held promotional fan signing events for the film's premiere release Moreover, Sechs Kies starred in the children's musical, "Alibaba and the 40 Thieves", alongside singer Jinjoo. The musical ran from April 25 to May 5 at the Sejong Center. On May 5, Sechs Kies performed the musical in front of President Kim Dae-jung at Blue House to celebrate Children's Day.


title: Sechs Kies

text: On July 15, Sechs Kies released their third studio album "Road Fighter", which had more hybridized elements of hip-hop and electronica, as leader Eun Jiwon participated in the production of the album. Sechs Kies began promotions for their third album, returning with "Crying Game" on SBS Inkigayo. Sechs Kies held consecutive wins for the title track "Road Fighter" on SBS Inkigayo and KBS Music Bank in July and August. They also won for the number one spot on SBS Inkigayo and KBS Music Bank for the follow-up track "Reckless Love" (무모한 사랑) in September and October.


title: Sechs Kies

text: On October 30, Sechs Kies released a soundtrack for "Seventeen", titled "Special Album", also known as the group's 3.5 album release. They began promotions for "Special Album" on KBS Music Bank, promoting two songs from the album, "Couple" (커플) and "Letting You Go" (너를 보내며). They also won the #1 spot on SBS Inkigayo, KBS Music Bank and MBC Music Camp for the title track "Couple" which was the most popular song. A special photo book was released in conjunction with the album in November.


title: Sechs Kies

text: With the huge success of the song, "Couple", Sechs Kies won the 9th Seoul Music Awards Daesang along with rival boy group H.O.T. Sechs Kies also won the 13th Korea Visual and Records Grand Prize Award Bonsang, the KBS Music Awards Artist Of The Year (Teen Category), the 9th Seoul Music Awards Bonsang, the Popularity Awards at the MBC and the KMTV Korean Music Awards, and the SBS Music Awards Best 10 Artist Awards.


title: Sechs Kies

text: Sechs Kies toured Korea in February, 1999. On April 5, Sechs Kies released their first concert video, recorded at the Seoul Concert on February 25. They also released a live concert album with the video on April 10. After their concert tour, Sechs Kies returned to the studio to record their fourth album, "Com’Back".


title: Sechs Kies

text: On November 30, Sechs Kies participated in the 1st Korea China Music Festival, co-hosted by KBS and CCTV in Beijing. On December 5, Sechs Kies also performed in the 2000 Peace Friendship Music Concert in Pyongyang, North Korea, becoming one amongst a group of the first South Korean dance groups to perform in North Korea.


title: Sechs Kies

text: At the end of the year, Sechs Kies won several awards including the 14th Korea Visual and Records Grand Prize Award Bonsang, the 10th Seoul Music Awards Bonsang, Bonsang at the KMTV Korean Music Awards and KBS Music Awards, and the Best 10 Artist Awards at the MBC and the SBS Music Awards.


title: Sechs Kies

text: On January 12, 2000, Sechs Kies had a 1000th day celebration party with their fans. On February 28, Sechs Kies's Seoul Concert was held in Olympic Gymnastics Arena; tickets were reportedly sold out within a few hours. Sechs Kies members participated in directing the concert and performed self-composed songs. A concert DVD was also released.


title: Sechs Kies

text: On May 18, Sechs Kies held a sudden press conference to officially announce their disbandment. Sechs Kies's final performance was at the Dream Concert on May 20. On May 31, Sechs Kies released "Blue Note", a compilation of "Best Of" songs that served as a farewell album to fans. In August, the members of Sechs Kies self-released one final track and music video titled "Thanks" for their fans, which was uploaded online.


title: Sechs Kies

text: On April 14, 2016, as part of the popular Korean variety show Infinite Challenge, Sechs Kies re-united through a guerilla reunion concert at the Seoul World Cup Stadium, which was attended by approximately 6,000 fans who were alerted of the concert only five hours before it was held. On May 11, YG Entertainment announced that the company had signed contracts with five of the members, with the exception of Ko Ji-yong, who is now a businessman and no longer active in the entertainment industry. Lee Jai-jin and Kang Sung-hoon also signed individual contracts with YG Entertainment. Concerts on September 10 and 11 at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena were sold out within five minutes.


title: Sechs Kies

text: On October 7, Sechs Kies released their new digital single "Three Words" (세 단어). It topped all eight major domestic music charts (Bugs, Genie, Melon, Mnet, Monkey3, NAVER Music, Olleh, and Soribada) shortly after release. "Three Words" also topped the Gaon Digital Chart, Download Chart and BGM (Background Music) Chart for the first week of October. It also took the number one spot on QQMusic, the largest music streaming site in China.


title: Sechs Kies

text: A new album, "2016 Re-ALBUM", was released on December 1. It contained ten rearranged old songs, along with "Three Words" as a bonus track. Multiple songs on the album performed well on the domestic charts.


title: Sechs Kies

text: Sechs Kies held their first national concert tour since their reunion, titled "Yellow Note", from September 10 to January 22, 2017. Concerts were held in Busan, Daegu, and Seoul. The last two concerts, named "Yellow Note Final in Seoul", were held on January 21 and 22 at the Jamsil Indoor Stadium. On December 22, all 13,000 tickets were sold out within three minutes.


title: Sechs Kies

text: At the end of the year, Sechs Kies won several awards including Click! Star Wars Awards Hall of Fame, the 6th Gaon Chart Music Awards K-pop Contribution/Lifetime Achievement, the 8th Melon Music Awards Hall of Fame, the 31st Golden Disc Awards Best Male Group Performance, and the 26th Seoul Music Awards Bonsang.


title: Sechs Kies

text: "The 20th Anniversary" was released on April 28, 2017. The anniversary album entered the Billboard World Albums chart at number nine. "Be Well" (아프지 마요), one of the title songs, reached number one on several domestic music charts upon its release.


title: Sechs Kies

text: As part of their 20th anniversary celebrations, a Sechs Kies exhibition entitled "Yellow Universe" ran from April 28 to May 28, showcasing artwork by Lee Jai-jin, collected items from the band's earlier active years, as well as contents from their comeback. Additionally, Sechs Kies held two fan meetings, both named "YellowKies Day" after their official fan club, at the SK Olympic Handball Gymnasium in Seoul on July 15. On June 26, minutes after YellowKies Day tickets were released, all 14,000 tickets were sold out.


title: Sechs Kies

text: On May 12, YG Entertainment announced Sechs Kies's debut in Japan, 20 years after their debut in South Korea. The Japanese edition of the anniversary album, which contained the Japanese versions of title songs "Be Well", "Sad Song" (슬픈 노래), and "Three Words" was released on July 19. Fan meetings were held for Japanese fans at the Yokohama Bay Hall in Kanagawa on July 23 and at the Namba Hatch in Osaka on September 3; all 4,400 tickets were sold out within a few minutes.


title: Sechs Kies

text: On September 21, Sechs Kies released their long-awaited fifth album, "Another Light". It entered the Billboard World Albums chart at number 10, and was successful domestically as well, ranking at number 10 on the Gaon October album chart. The title song "Something Special" (특별해) held the number 1 spot on the Gaon BGM Chart for six consecutive weeks, and achieved a double crown on Gaon for the month of October, ranking number 1 on both the digital and BGM charts, as well as reaching number 2 on the Gaon monthly download chart.


title: Sechs Kies

text: On August 16, YG Entertainment announced that it had signed an exclusive contract with Eun Ji-won. On November 6, Jang Su-won became the fourth member to sign an exclusive contract with YG Entertainment.


title: Sechs Kies

text: Following their Seoul anniversary concert, Sechs Kies held a 20th anniversary concert tour, performing across Korea in Gwangju (December 9), Goyang (December 23 to 24), Busan (December 30), and in Daegu (January 6 of the following year).


title: Sechs Kies

text: Sechs Kies performed as the closing act at the Busan One Asia Festival (BOF) opening ceremony on October 22. At the BOF closing ceremony, they received the Legend Star award together with YellowKies, who were awarded "Best Fandom" for their support of the group over the past 20 years.


title: Sechs Kies

text: On January 17, it was announced that YG Entertainment had successfully registered "Sechs Kies" with the Korea Intellectual Property Rights Information Service (KIPRIS) as an official trademark on April 24, 2017, allowing Sechs Kies members to exercise exclusive rights to the band name.


title: Sechs Kies

text: Towards the end of December 2017, a teaser for the film "Sechskies Eighteen" was released. The film release was officially announced on January 5.The documentary follows Sechs Kies as they prepared for their fifth studio album "Another Light"; it was filmed using ScreenX technology and opened in select CGV theaters on January 18 in Seoul, Incheon, Jeju, Changwon and Yongin. On January 9, tickets for a January 11 preview screening of the film sold out in 4 minutes. According to the Korean Film Council, the film ranked first in seat sales for the month of February, selling 91.4% of seats available. By March 25, over 50,000 tickets to "Sechskies Eighteen" were sold; to commemorate the milestone as well as the band's 21st anniversary, Sechs Kies announced that a "Fan Festival" would be held from April 1 to 15 across 7 cities (Seoul, Daejeon, Jeonju, Daegu, Ulsan, Gwangju, and Busan), offering free screenings of the 2016 Yellow Note concert, the 2017 Yellowkies Day fan event, and both New Kies shows ("New Kies on the Busan" and "New Kies on the Honolulu") in collaboration with Danaflix.


title: Sechs Kies

text: On February 14, Sechs Kies received the Song of the Year - September award at the 7th Gaon Chart Music Awards for the title song "Something Special" from their fifth album "Another Light".


title: Sechs Kies

text: On May 28, at the request of Yellowkies (Sechs Kies dcinside fan gallery), Ko Ji-yong was removed from Sechs Kies profile by YG Entertainment.


title: Sechs Kies

text: On September 21, YG Entertainment announced that Kang Sunghoon would not be participating in Sechs Kies activities due to ongoing scandals, and in their statement, mentioned that the group was recording new music at the time, having to push back the release date as the result of the scandals. The group later performed without Sunghoon on October 14 of that year, where they confirmed they would soon come back, and were in the midst of picking new songs for the album.


title: Sechs Kies

text: As of December 31, Kang Sung-hoon left the team because of the scandals that he made. with the termination of his exclusive contract from YG and from this time onwards Sechskies became a four-member group.


title: Sechs Kies

text: Eun Ji-won's solo album was released on June 27, and preparations for a new song for Sechskies are in progress, and various contents are prepared in the summer. They are preparing for a comeback with a new formation of four-member.


title: Sechs Kies

text: On November 14, it was confirmed that the comeback video was filmed and the group had yet to decide on a release date for the album.


title: Sechs Kies

text: The album release date was eventually revealed on January 7. The album titled, "All for You" was announced on January 12, 2020, with the title track's details released two days later. They made a comeback on January 28. It is also the first album after reorganization as a four-member and the first mini-album after 23 years of debut. The title songs are ALL FOR YOU, ALL FOR YOU, DREAM, MEANINGLESS, ROUND & ROUND, and WALKING IN THE SKY. On the February 6, 2020 episode of "M Countdown", Sechs Kies won first place with "All For You".


title: Sechs Kies

text: Eun Jiwon asked Na Young Seok PD to make a variety show for Sechskies as the compensation for channel 채널 십오야 commitment to the moon, as the first project related to Eun Jiwon. The program started airing from May 15, 2020. It is a high-speed camping life for 3 days and 2 nights to eat three meals of four Sechskies, who have never been in a camp since their debut! Self-sufficient high-speed camp life <삼시네세끼 - Three meals for Four>. This is Na Young-seok PD's fourth hybrid platform broadcast. Again, only part of the entire volume is edited and broadcast for 5 minutes on TV. After the TV broadcast ends, the entire volume will be released through the YouTube channel '채널 십오야 '.


title: Sechs Kies

text: During the front yard live on the recording day of 3 meals for four, Yoo Hee-yeol and PD Na Young-suk made a pledge, but Yoo Hee-yeol made a pledge to let Sechskies come to the antenna and record a ballad song if the number of antenna music subscribers exceeds 150,000. The number of subscribers to Antenna Music exceeded 150,000, so Yoo Hee-yeol decided to give Sechskis a new song. In the live broadcast of PD Na Young-seok, which was held at the end of December, he mentioned that this is the first time after 7 years Yoo Hee-yeol wrote and composed the song, and the song was for Sechskies. In addition, it was mentioned that the related contents would be broadcast on January 22 (Fri), 2021 with the title of Don't Look Back, with a five-minute broadcast and the subtitle as : Yoo Hee-yeol x Jekki decided to sing a ballad as a pledge, but somehow, things got bigger and a new song was made, and a song containing the feelings of all of us came out.


title: Sechs Kies

text: The digital single "Don't Look Back" (뒤돌아보지말아요) was released on February 5, 2021 on major music platforms with the MV was released during the live on channel with Sechskies members and Na PD. And couple hours after the song reached number 1 realtime in Genie and Bugs music chart.


title: Sechs Kies

text: Sechs Kies' disbandment was suddenly announced without a clear explanation at the height of their career, resulting in a widespread rumor that disbandment was enforced by DSP. However, each member has talked about the truth of disbandment several times through various media channels. Lee Jai-jin stated similar to the rumor, but other members clearly stated that it was not true. Lee Jai-jin mentioned that what Sechs Kies members wanted was to change their agency and not disband at a Korean variety show in 2005. Eun Ji-won, on the other hand, said that the members had decided it would be best to disband at the peak of their career. In 2015, Kang Sung-hoon mentioned that the members had agreed to disband at the peak of their career. At a concert in 2015, Kang Sung-hoon stated that Sechs Kies seems to have left a strong impression for having disbanded at the peak of their career. However, he also added that he had disliked the idea of disbandment as well. Jang Su-won and Kim Jae-duck have also mentioned several reasons for disbandment. They had an opportunity to talk about the disbandment all together during an interview on October 17, 2016. Eun Ji-won stated that the disbandment was decided upon agreement by a majority of the members, though Lee Jai-jin was one of the members that stood against the disbandment.


title: Sechs Kies

text: At Sechs Kies' last performance, fans mistook reporter Jo Young Goo's car for CEO of DSP Lee Ho-yeon's car, vandalizing the property. Given the young age of the fans, Jo Young Goo opted against filing a complaint against them. Lee Ho-yeon paid him 11 million won as compensation on their behalf.


title: Sechs Kies

text: The South Korean idol group Sechs Kies (also known as SechsKies or Sechskies) has held four tours and four fan meetings since their debut in 1997.


title: Isinglass

text: Isinglass () is a substance obtained from the dried swim bladders of fish. It is a form of collagen used mainly for the clarification or fining of some beer and wine. It can also be cooked into a paste for specialised gluing purposes.


title: Isinglass

text: The English word origin is from the obsolete Dutch "huizenblaas" – "huizen" is a kind of sturgeon, and "blaas" is a bladder, or German "Hausenblase", meaning essentially the same.


title: Isinglass

text: Although originally made exclusively from sturgeon, especially beluga, in 1795 an invention by William Murdoch facilitated a cheap substitute using cod. This was extensively used in Britain in place of Russian isinglass, and in the US hake was important. In modern British brewing all commercial isinglass products are blends of material from a limited range of tropical fish. The bladders, once removed from the fish, processed, and dried, are formed into various shapes for use.


title: Isinglass

text: Before the inexpensive production of gelatin and other competing products, isinglass was used in confectionery and desserts such as fruit jelly and "blancmange".


title: Isinglass

text: Isinglass finings are widely used as a processing aid in the British brewing industry to accelerate the fining, or clarification, of beer. It is used particularly in the production of cask-conditioned beers, although many cask ales are available which are not fined using isinglass. The finings flocculate the live yeast in the beer into a jelly-like mass, which settles to the bottom of the cask. Left undisturbed, beer will clear naturally; the use of isinglass finings accelerates the process. Isinglass is sometimes used with an auxiliary fining, which further accelerates the process of sedimentation.


title: Isinglass

text: Non-cask beers that are destined for kegs, cans, or bottles are often pasteurised and filtered. The yeast in these beers tends to settle to the bottom of the storage tank naturally, so the sediment from these beers can often be filtered without using isinglass. However, some breweries still use isinglass finings for non-cask beers, especially when attempting to repair bad batches.


title: Isinglass

text: Many vegetarians consider beers that are processed with these finings (such as most cask-conditioned ales in the UK) to be unsuitable for vegetarian diets (although acceptable for pescetarians). According to global data in 2018, along with low-calorie beer and gluten-free beer, beers that are acceptable for strict vegetarians are expected to grow in demand in the coming years. The demand increase is attributed to millennial consumers, and some companies have introduced vegetarian friendly options or done away with isinglass use. A beer-fining agent that is suitable for vegetarians is Irish moss, a type of red algae containing the polymer chemical carrageenan. However, carrageenan-based products (used in both the boiling process and after fermentation) primarily reduce hazes caused by proteins, but isinglass is used at the end of the brewing process, after fermentation, to remove yeast. Since the two fining agents act differently (on different haze-forming particles), they are not interchangeable, and some beers use both.


title: Isinglass

text: Isinglass finings are also used in the production of kosher wines, although for reasons of kashrut, they are not derived from the beluga sturgeon, because this fish is not kosher. Whether the use of a nonkosher isinglass renders a beverage nonkosher is a matter of debate in Jewish law. Rabbi Yehezkel Landau, in "Noda B'Yehuda", first edition, Yore Deah 26, for example, permits such beverages. This is the position followed by many kashrut-observant Jews today.


title: Isinglass

text: The similar-sounding names has resulted in confusion between isinglass and waterglass, especially as both have been used to preserve eggs. A solution of isinglass was applied to eggs and allowed to dry, sealing their pores. Waterglass is sodium silicate. Eggs were submerged in solutions of waterglass, and a gel of silicic acid formed, also sealing the pores of the eggshell.


title: Isinglass

text: Isinglass is also used to help repair parchment, stucco and damage to paintings on canvas. Pieces of the best Russian isinglass are soaked overnight to soften and swell the dried material. Next, it is cooked slowly in a double boiler at 45 °C while being stirred. A small amount of gum tragacanth dissolved in water is added to the strained isinglass solution to act as an emulsifier.


title: Isinglass

text: When repairing paint that is flaking from parchment, isinglass can be applied directly to an area which has been soaked with a small amount of ethanol. It is typically applied as a very tiny drop that is then guided, with the help of a binocular microscope, under the edges of flaking paint.


title: Isinglass

text: It can also be used to coat tissue or goldbeater's skin. On paintings this can be used as a temporary backing to either canvas patches or filler until dried. Here, isinglass is similar to parchment size and other forms of gelatin, but it is unique in that as a dried film the adhesive can be reactivated with moisture. For this use, the isinglass is cooked with a few drops of glycerin or honey.


title: Isinglass

text: This adhesive is advantageous in situations where minimal use of water is desired for the parchment as the isinglass can be reactivated with an ethanol-water mixture. It also has a greater adhesive strength than many other adhesives used for parchment repair.


title: Isinglass

text: In the musical "Oklahoma!", the song "The Surrey With the Fringe on Top" describes the surrey as having "isinglass curtains you can roll right down" although here the term refers to mica, commonly used for windows in vehicle side screens (but totally inflexible).


title: Battle Royale (novel)

text: The dystopian novel was previously entered into the 1997 Japan Horror Fiction Awards but was eventually rejected in the final round due to concerns over its depictions of students killing each other. Upon publication in 1999, the novel became a surprise bestseller.


title: Battle Royale (novel)

text: In 2000, one year after publication, "Battle Royale" was adapted into a manga series, written by Takami himself, and a feature film. The film was both controversial and successful, becoming one of the year's highest-grossing films as well as prompting condemnation by Japan's National Diet. The film spawned , and two more brief manga adaptations were also created.


title: Battle Royale (novel)

text: "Battle Royale" takes place in a fictional fascist Japan in the year 1997. The state, known as the , arose after an alternate World War 2 where Japan emerged victorious and a rebellion was put down by the combined military and police forces. The government controls everything, and anything "immoral", such as rock music, is banned, unless it beatifies the government, along with an unnamed dictator with a strong cult of personality able to bend the whims of the populace.


title: Battle Royale (novel)

text: The government has established a military program, the , wherein fifty randomly selected classes of third-year junior high school students are kidnapped, dropped into a remote location, and forced to kill one another until only one student of each class remains. Ostensibly, it is to help the government and its military research survival skills and battle readiness – in actuality, it is meant to instill terror and distrust in all of Japan's citizens to curb any attempts at rebellion, by showcasing the government's power and ability to target citizens' families and preying on the fear of being killed by a friend.


title: Battle Royale (novel)

text: A group of students from , a junior high school in the fictional Kagawa Prefecture town of Shiroiwa, prepare for a field trip – among them are wannabe rock star Shuya Nanahara, whose father was killed by the regime; Noriko Nakagawa, the demure crush of Shuya's best friend; Shogo Kawada, a quiet, tough young transfer student; and sociopathic prodigy Kazuo Kiriyama. En route, they are gassed – the "field trip" was a ruse for the Program.


title: Battle Royale (novel)

text: They awake in a classroom on a small, vacated island, surrounded by troops, and wearing metal collars around their necks. A teacher, psychopathic sadist Kinpatsu Sakamochi, briefs the students: the class has been chosen to participate in the Program. The students are also given a time limit. If twenty-four hours pass without someone being killed, then all of the collars will be detonated simultaneously and there will be no winner. It is mentioned that only 0.5% of Programs end in this fashion. The students are issued survival packs and a random weapon/tool, and sent out onto the island one by one. While most of the students receive guns and knives, some acquire relatively useless items like boomerangs, dartboard darts, or a fork. Hiroki Sugimura finds a radar device that tracks nearby students, and Toshinori Oda receives a bulletproof vest.


title: Battle Royale (novel)

text: To make sure the students obey the rules and kill each other, the metal collars around their necks track their positions and will explode if they attempt to remove the collars, or linger in "Forbidden Zones": randomly chosen areas of the map that increase in number over time, re-sculpting and shrinking the battlefield and forcing the students to move around. The collars secretly transmit sound back to the organizers of the game, allowing them to hear the students' conversations, root out escape plans, and log their activities.


title: Battle Royale (novel)

text: The students desperately fight amongst each other for survival, with mentally ill bullies Mitsuko Souma and Kiriyama killing many. Shuya takes Noriko under his wing after his best friend is killed, believing that he has a duty to honor his fallen friend by protecting his crush. Shogo – who was in a previous Battle Royale and hopes to put an end to the Program – avoids the fighting, joining with Shuya. Shuya's friend, athlete Shinji Mimura, attempts to hack the system running the Program and bomb the building where Sakamochi and the other personnel overseeing the Program are stationed, but is killed by Kiriyama.


title: Battle Royale (novel)

text: Eventually, halfway through the third day, only Shogo, Shuya, Noriko, and Kiriyama remain, with Kiriyama dead set on hunting down the trio. After a frantic car chase, Kiriyama is finally gunned down, but Shuya and Noriko are held at gunpoint by Shogo, who taunts them over being so naive as to trust anyone in the Program. The collars record gunshots and Shuya and Noriko flatlining.


title: Battle Royale (novel)

text: Declared the winner by Sakamochi, Shogo is escorted to his transport off the island, surrounded by soldiers. Sakamochi, however, reveals that he knows Shuya and Noriko are alive and that his supposed execution of Noriko and Shuya was a ruse after he found a way to disable their collars, and attempts to kill Shogo. Shogo kills him as a hidden Shuya and Noriko hijack the ship and kill the soldiers on board. As the boat sails towards the mainland, Shogo succumbs to his wounds sustained during the fight with Kiriyama and dies, but not before thanking Shuya and Noriko for being his friends.


title: Battle Royale (novel)

text: On the advice of Shogo, Shuya and Noriko escape to the mainland and plan to escape to a democratic America, pursued by the government.


title: Battle Royale (novel)

text: In the 1990s, Koushun Takami came up with the original story concept for "Battle Royale" after having a dream. Takami stated in 2009:


title: Battle Royale (novel)

text: He came up with the title "Battle Royale" after discussing his story concept with his friends, who said it sounded like a reimagined pro-wrestling battle royal match. Takami then took an interest in the social aspect of a battle royal match, such as how former enemies work together in order to defeat a stronger foe and particularly how former allies betray each other for their own glory. For the worldbuilding, he was inspired by his upbringing in 1960s Japan, when large groups of revolutionaries fought back against police brutality. His depiction of a totalitarian fascist government was also influenced by his favourite Stephen King novel, "The Long Walk" (1979), which is about a walking contest organized by a totalitarian government.


title: Battle Royale (novel)

text: Takami completed "Battle Royale" when he stopped working as a journalist in 1996. The story was rejected in the final round of the 1997 , which took place in March 1998, because of its controversial content. Masao Higashi, who took part in the award's preliminary selection committee, later suspected this was due to its backdrop of students killing each other being too reminiscent of the Kobe child murders committed the previous year. "Battle Royale" was first published in April 1999 by Ohta Publishing. In August 2002, it was released in a revised, two-part bunkobon by Gentosha.


title: Battle Royale (novel)

text: Takami describes the characters as possibly all being "kind of alike", being "all the same" despite differing appearances and hobbies, and being static characters. Takami used these descriptions in contrast to the manga adaptation he wrote, with Masayuki Taguchi illustrating, which he believes has a more diverse and well-developed cast.


title: Battle Royale (novel)

text: "Battle Royale" was translated into English by Yuji Oniki and released in North America by Viz Media on February 26, 2003. An expanded edition with a revision of Oniki's translation and an afterword by Takami was published on November 17, 2009 by Haikasoru, a division of Viz Media. This version also included an interview with the director of the book's film adaptation, Kinji Fukasaku. Viz released a new translation by Nathan Collins on April 1, 2014, under the title "Battle Royale: Remastered". They also published "The Battle Royale Slam Book: Essays on the Cult Classic by Koushun Takami" on the same day, which includes essays on the details of the novel and the controversies surrounding it as well as its adaptations written by science-fiction, horror, and thriller authors such as Brian Keene, John Skipp, and Catherynne M. Valente.


title: Battle Royale (novel)

text: A manga adaptation, written by Takami and illustrated by Masayuki Taguchi, was serialized in Akita Shoten's "Young Champion" from 2000 to 2005. It was collected into fifteen "tankōbon" volumes, and published in North America by Tokyopop from 2003 to 2006.


title: Battle Royale (novel)

text: A second manga, "Battle Royale II: Blitz Royale", ran in "Young Champion" from 2003 to 2004. Written and illustrated by Hiroshi Tomizawa, it was collected into two "tankōbon" volumes.


title: Battle Royale (novel)

text: In 2011, a two chapter spin-off manga titled "Battle Royale: Angels' Border" was drawn by Mioko Ohnishi and Youhei Oguma (each drawing one chapter). It focuses on the six girls who holed up in the lighthouse, was published in "Young Champion" and later combined into one "tankōbon" volume on January 20, 2012. The single volume was published in North America by Viz Media on June 17, 2014.


title: Battle Royale (novel)

text: "Battle Royale" was adapted into a 2000 feature film of the same name, directed by Kinji Fukasaku and written by his son Kenta Fukasaku. The film was also controversial and successful, with it being condemned by members of Japan's National Diet on grounds of it being harmful to the youth, yet becoming one of the year's highest-grossing films. It was followed in 2003 by "".


title: Battle Royale (novel)

text: In June 2006, "Variety" reported that New Line Cinema, with producers Neal Moritz and Roy Lee, intended to produce a new American film adaptation of "Battle Royale". However, New Line never secured remake rights and, following the Virginia Tech shooting in April 2007, Lee stated that prospects for the project had been "seriously shaken." In 2012, Lee stated a remake would no longer be possible due to the release of the film adaptation of "The Hunger Games", which has been criticized for its similarities to "Battle Royale", stating, "Audiences would see it as just a copy of "Games" — most of them wouldn't know that "Battle Royale" came first. It's unfair, but that's reality." However, he stated that he might return to the film in ten years to "develop a "Battle Royale" movie for the next generation."


title: Battle Royale (novel)

text: In 2012, the Sipat Lawin Ensemble and two other college theater groups in the Philippines, made an unofficial loose adaptation of the novel into a live-action performance called "Battalia Royale", which had its debut at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Performances were also held at an abandoned high school in Quezon City.


title: Battle Royale (novel)

text: On July 26, 2012, the "Los Angeles Times" reported that The CW Television Network had been in discussions with Hollywood representatives about the possibility of turning "Battle Royale" into an American television show. According to a spokesperson, the talks were only preliminary, but if a deal could be reached, the network would acquire rights to Koushun Takami's novel, then expand on it for an hourlong dramatic series. Joyce Jun, a Hollywood attorney representing U.S. rights to the title, states that "there is no deal in place." A CW spokesman only confirmed there had been some discussion, declining to comment further.


title: Battle Royale (novel)

text: At the Television Critics Association winter press tour on January 13, 2013, CW president Mark Pedowitz stated "At this time, we're not planning to do anything with "Battle Royale"." He clarified that the reports stemmed from one phone call he made to see if the rights to the book were available and also noted that his interest in the novel predated the 2012 Aurora, Colorado shooting and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.


title: Battle Royale (novel)

text: Upon publication in 1999, "Battle Royale" became a best-seller in Japan. The original Japanese novel sold more than 1million copies, before being translated into nearly a dozen languages.


title: Battle Royale (novel)

text: The novel was entered into the 1997 Japan Horror Fiction Awards, but was eventually rejected in the final round with no winner that year. All three members of the final round's selection committee that year admitted "Battle Royale" was the best work, but declined to award it due to its controversial content. Hiroshi Aramata said that while it was the best nominee in terms of "story, structure, and subject matter," he felt it was too much of a "Kinpachi-sensei" parody and suspected its content would cause problems. Katsuhiko Takahashi felt that although it was the superior work as far as its construction as a novel, giving the award to a story about students killing each other at "this time" would hurt the reputation of the competition. Mariko Hayashi said that while she believed it was the best of the four novels, it was like reading an "unpleasant near-future manga" and "No matter how squarely it might be horror or how interesting it might be, I'm not so sure we should be writing stories like this." In 2001, Kōji Ōnuma wrote , a dissertation that explores the themes of the book.


title: Battle Royale (novel)

text: "Battle Royale" has been critically acclaimed abroad. In "Entertainment Weekly", writer Stephen King included it as one of the seven books in his 2005 summer reading list, after it was recommended to him by novelist Kelly Braffet (writer of "Josie and Jack"). King described "Battle Royale" as "an insanely entertaining pulp riff that combines "Survivor" with World Wrestling Entertainment. Or maybe "Royale" is just insane." He also notes that it has some similarities to his own novel "The Long Walk". He concludes the brief review with a "No prob," as "Takami's Springsteen-quoting teenagers are fond of saying."


title: Battle Royale (novel)

text: David N. Alderman, writing for the Red Room site, gave "Battle Royale" a score of 4½ out of 5 stars, stating that the "story itself is brilliant. Touted as being extremely controversial, especially for the time it was released, the book opens up all sorts of doors to conversations and thoughts about psychology, murder, survival, love, loyalty, and moral ground." While noting that those who "cringe at slash and hack" should "steer away from this" since "it is a bit gory," he states that it is "definitely worth the read" and concludes that it has "touches of romance, and definitely some great moral themes to spark off in-depth conversations with others." "Complete Review" gave the novel a B rating, describing it as "a perfectly fine thriller, with a fun premise, quite well drawn-out." In "The Journal of the Lincoln Heights Literary Society", Tom Good praises the novel, concluding that, as "a pulp-fiction horror tale, "Battle Royale" delivers plenty of thrills, action, suspense and fun."


title: Battle Royale (novel)

text: Since its release, the novel and its film adaptation have had an influence on later works. These include filmmakers such as Quentin Tarantino, most notably his "Kill Bill" films; the character Gogo Yubari, played by Chiaki Kuriyama, is similar to the character she plays in the "Battle Royale" film, Takako Chigusa. V.A. Musetto of the "New York Post" also compared it to "The Condemned", which the critic called "a bad rip-off" of "Battle Royale" as well as "The Most Dangerous Game". Critics have also noted the influence of "Battle Royale" on other later works, such as the 2008 film "Kill Theory", the 2009 film "The Tournament", and the 2016 film "The Belko Experiment", and have noted similarities with the novel and film franchise "The Hunger Games". The manga, anime and film franchise "Gantz" and the 2007 video game "The World Ends with You" have both been compared to "Battle Royale".


title: Battle Royale (novel)

text: The 2008 American young adult novel "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins has been accused of being strikingly similar to "Battle Royale" in terms of the basic plot premise. While Collins maintains that she "had never heard of that book until her book was turned in", Susan Dominus of "The New York Times" reports that "the parallels are striking enough that Collins's work has been savaged on the blogosphere as a baldfaced ripoff," but argued that "there are enough possible sources for the plot line that the two authors might well have hit on the same basic setup independently." The general consensus in the time since has been one of amicable controversy, especially since the release of "The Hunger Games" film adaptation. "Battle Royale" author Takami said he appreciated fans "standing up" for his book, but stated that he thinks "every novel has something to offer," and that if "readers find value in either book, that's all an author can ask for."


title: Battle Royale (novel)

text: The 2012 comic "Avengers Arena" has a similar plot to "Battle Royale". Additionally, the cover of its first issue bears a homage to the "Battle Royale" film poster; featuring the main characters posed in the same manner and a similarly designed logo.


title: Battle Royale (novel)

text: The novel and especially its film adaptation have been influential in global popular culture, inspiring numerous works of fiction in a number of different media, particularly in East Asia and the Western world. Since the film's release, the term "battle royale" has been used to refer to a fictional narrative genre and/or mode of entertainment inspired by the film, where a select group of people are instructed to kill each off until there is a triumphant survivor. The "battle royale" phenomenon has become especially popular in the 2010s. A video game genre with the same name became popular in the 2010s, with games such as "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds", "Fortnite Battle Royale", and "Apex Legends" setting player-count records. Other works focused on the doubt and mistrust among a group of people in a "murder game", such as the "Saw" film series, "The Cube", and games in the "Danganronpa" series.


title: Battle Royale (novel)

text: In 2021, "Squid Game" creator Hwang Dong-hyuk cited "Battle Royale", particularly the manga version, as an inspiration behind the hit Netflix show.


title: Kevin Shields

text: Kevin Patrick Shields (born 21 May 1963) is an American-born Irish musician, singer-songwriter, composer, and producer, best known as the vocalist and guitarist of the band My Bloody Valentine. They became influential on the evolution of alternative rock with their two studio albums "Isn't Anything" (1988) and "Loveless" (1991), pioneering a subgenre known as shoegaze. Shields's texturised guitar sound and his experimentation with his guitars' tremolo systems resulted in the creation of the "glide guitar" technique, which became a recognisable aspect of My Bloody Valentine's sound, along with his meticulous production techniques.


title: Kevin Shields

text: Following My Bloody Valentine's dissolution in the late 1990s, Shields became a frequent guest musician, producer, engineer, and remixer with various bands and artists, including Experimental Audio Research, Yo La Tengo, Dinosaur Jr, and Mogwai. In 1998 he became a touring member of Primal Scream. Shields contributed several original compositions to the soundtrack of Sofia Coppolas 2003 film "Lost in Translation", which earned him nominations for British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) and Irish Film and Television Academy (IFTA) awards. In 2008, Shields released a collaborative live album together with Patti Smith entitled "The Coral Sea".


title: Kevin Shields

text: My Bloody Valentine reunited in 2007, and released their third studio album "m b v" in February 2013. The album was composed entirely by Shields and had been in production since the late 1990s, when Shields was rumoured to have been suffering from writer's block. Shields has since been featured in several publications' best-of-lists, including "Rolling Stone" 100 Greatest Guitarists and "Spin"s 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. Multiple musicians have also cited him as an influence, including Billy Corgan and J Mascis.


title: Kevin Shields

text: Kevin Patrick Shields was born on 21 May 1963 in Jamaica Hospital in Queens, New York City, United States. He is the eldest of five siblings born to Irish parents; his mother was a nurse and his father was an executive in the food industry. Shields' parents had emigrated from Ireland to the United States in the 1950s, when the couple were teenagers. Shields attended Christ the King, a Roman Catholic primary school which he described as "a really horrible school run by psychopathic nuns". They lived in Flushing, a neighbourhood in north-central Queens, relocating to Commack, Long Island, when Shields was four, where he lived until the age of ten. In 1973, Shields returned to Dublin, Ireland, with his parents and siblings due to financial conditions and in order to remain close to their extended family.


title: Kevin Shields

text: Shields was raised in Cabinteely, a suburb in Dublin's Southside. He has described the experience of moving to Ireland as a culture shock, "going from, as far as I was concerned, the modern world to some distant past." According to Shields, the main difference between the US and Ireland that affected him was the attitude towards music culture: "[in the US] there was no "Top of the Pops", there was nothing like that, there was no MTV; and over in [Ireland], everything was completely catered to for teenagers." He said that the change was "what got [him] into music in a really big way."


title: Kevin Shields

text: Shields received his first electric guitar, a Hondo SG, as a Christmas present from his parents in 1979. Shields befriended drummer Colm Ó Cíosóig in south Dublin during the summer of 1978, and together they answered an advertisement placed by a 12-year-old musician to form punk rock band The Complex. Ó Cíosóig's schoolfriend Liam Ó Maonlaí from Coláiste Eoin in Booterstown was recruited as lead vocalist, and the band began rehearsing. Shields later said that The Complex had formed out of "what all the nerds and weirdos actually do as opposed to the cool people with the leather jackets," who were forming fictional groups around Dublin in the late 1970s. According to Shields, the band played "a handful of gigs" during their short-lived career, the first of which included covers of songs by the Sex Pistols and Ramones.


title: Kevin Shields

text: The Complex disbanded when Ó Maonlaí left to form Hothouse Flowers, and Shields and Ó Cíosóig began rehearsing with another bassist. In 1981, the trio formed A Life in the Day, a band which focused on a more post-punk sound influenced by Siouxsie and the Banshees and Joy Division. The band recorded a demo tape, which features Shields' first experimentation with pitch bending, and performed at local venues to crowds of no more than a hundred people.


title: Kevin Shields

text: A Life in the Day disbanded in 1981, and Shields and Ó Cíosóig went on to form My Bloody Valentine in early 1983 with lead vocalist David Conway. Conway suggested a number of potential band names (including The Burning Peacocks) before the trio settled for My Bloody Valentine. Shields has since claimed that he was unaware at the time that My Bloody Valentine was the title of a 1981 Canadian slasher film.


title: Kevin Shields

text: On Shields's suggestion, Conway contacted Gavin Friday, lead vocalist of the Dublin post-punk band, the Virgin Prunes. Friday's contacts secured them a show in Tilburg, Netherlands, in early 1984, and the band relocated to the Netherlands. They lived there for a further nine months, squatting in Amsterdam and later in a more rural area, where Shields worked on a farm. Due to a lack of opportunities and correct documentation, the band relocated to West Berlin, Germany, in late 1984 and recorded their debut mini album, "This Is Your Bloody Valentine" (1985). The album, which features Shields on bass, failed to receive much attention, and the band returned temporarily to the Netherlands before settling in London in 1985.


title: Kevin Shields

text: The band recruited bassist Debbie Googe and released their debut extended play "Geek!" in December 1985. The EP received little attention, and due to the band's slow progress Shields contemplated relocating to New York, where members of his family were living. The band's two successive releases, "The New Record by My Bloody Valentine" (1986) and "Sunny Sundae Smile" (1987), brought minor success, peaking at number 22 and number 6 respectively on the UK Independent Albums Chart and Singles Chart. During a supporting tour in March 1987, David Conway announced his decision to leave the band due to his gastric illness, disillusionment with music and ambitions to become a writer. Conway was replaced by vocalist and guitarist Bilinda Butcher, with whom Shields split (and often shared) vocal duties. Shields was initially reluctant to take on a vocal role within the band, but said that he had "always sung in the rehearsal room... and made up the melodies." With the new line up in place, the band intended to drop the My Bloody Valentine moniker, but were unable to decide on a replacement and so kept the name "for better or for worse".


title: Kevin Shields

text: A series of successful releases followed including three-track single "Strawberry Wine" and the band's second mini album "Ecstasy" (1987), both featuring Shields on lead vocal duties. Whilst touring in support of "Ecstasy", My Bloody Valentine signed to Creation Records, who described the band as "the Irish equivalent to Hüsker Dü". The band's first release for Creation was the EP "You Made Me Realise" (1988), followed by the band's hugely influential debut studio album "Isn't Anything" (1988), which is regarded as having "virtually created" shoegaze genre, establishing the template which a number of bands would work off.


title: Kevin Shields

text: My Bloody Valentine commenced the recording sessions for their second album in February 1989. Creation Records had believed that the album could be recorded in five days, but several unproductive months followed during which Shields took control of the musical and technical aspects of the sessions. Shields relocated to a total of 19 other studios and hired a number of engineers, including Alan Moulder, Anjali Dutt and Guy Fixsen. As the recording was taking so long, Shields and Creation agreed to release two interim EPs, "Glider" (1990) and "Tremolo" (1991). The "Loveless" album was eventually released in November 1991, and was rumoured to have cost over £250,000 and to have bankrupted Creation (claims which Shields has denied). Critical reception to "Loveless" was almost unanimous with praise, although the album was not a commercial success, peaking at number 24 on the UK Albums Chart but failing to chart internationally. Creation Records founder Alan McGee dropped My Bloody Valentine from the label soon after the release of "Loveless", due to the album's excessive recording time and interpersonal problems with Shields.


title: Kevin Shields

text: In October 1992, My Bloody Valentine signed to Island Records for a reported £250,000. The band's advance went towards the construction of a home studio in Streatham, South London, which was completed in April 1993. Several technical problems with the studio sent the band into "semi-meltdown", according to Shields, who was rumoured to have been suffering from writer's block. Googe and Ó Cíosóig left the band in 1995, whilst Shields and Butcher attempted to record a third studio album; Shields had said that this would be released in 1998, but My Bloody Valentine disbanded in 1997. Unable to finalise a third album, Shields isolated himself, and in his own words "went crazy", drawing comparisons in the music press to the eccentric behaviour of musicians like Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys and Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd.


title: Kevin Shields

text: Rumours spread amongst fans that several albums worth of material had been recorded and shelved prior to the band's break up. In 1999, it was reported that Shields had delivered 60 hours of material to Island Records, and Butcher confirmed that there existed "probably enough songs to fill two albums." Shields later admitted that at least one full album of "half-finished" material was abandoned, stating "it was dead. It hadn't got that spirit, that life in it."


title: Kevin Shields

text: Following My Bloody Valentine's disbandment, Shields embarked on a number of collaborations with other artists, both as a guest musician and producing, engineering, mixing and remixing other acts. Shields contributed guitar loops to two Experimental Audio Research albums: 1996's "Beyond the Pale" (which was recorded at Shields' home studio in Streatham and credits him with "special thanks" on the album sleeve) and 1997's "The Köner Experiment". He was a frequent collaborator with indie rock band Dinosaur Jr, appearing on and producing "Hand It Over" (1997) and "Ear-Bleeding Country: The Best of Dinosaur Jr." (2001), as well as frontman J Mascis "More Light" (2000) and "The John Peel Sessions" (2003). Shields has lent his services as a guest musician to releases by Russell Mills & Undark, DJ Spooky, Curve, Manic Street Preachers, Le Volume Courbe, Gemma Hayes and Paul Weller. In a live capacity, Shields has performed with the Canadian contemporary dance company La La La Human Steps (contributing the song "2" to the 1995 performance of the same name), Gemma Hayes, The Charlatans and Spacemen 3 (appearing at their 2010 reunion show).


title: Kevin Shields

text: Shields has also remained active as a producer outside of My Bloody Valentine: his first credits were The Impossible's 1991 single "How Do You Do It?"; and "Tunnel", a track from GODs remix album "Appeal to Human Greed" (1995). He also produced Dot Allisons "Afterglow" (1997), Joy Zippers "American Whip" (2003) and The Beat Up's "Blackrays Defence" (2005). Shields has also mixed and remixed material by The Pastels, Yo La Tengo, Damian O'Neill, Mogwai, Hurricane #1, The Go! Team, Bow Wow Wow and Wounded Knees.


title: Kevin Shields

text: Between 1998 and 2006 Shields became a frequent collaborator and semi-permanent touring member of Primal Scream. He contributed guitar, produced and mixed tracks on two of the band's studio albums: "XTRMNTR" (2000), and "Evil Heat" (2002). Primal Scream frontman Bobby Gillespie has said that "[Shields] brings something that nobody else in the world can bring. He plays guitar the way that nobody else in the world plays guitar," adding that Primal Scream considered Shields to be "part of the family, very much so." Shields has remained close to the band following his departure in 2006, remastering Primal Scream's third studio album "Screamadelica" (1991) in 2010 and contributing guitar to "2013", the lead single from "More Light" (2013). Gillespie has since commented on Shields' absence, noting that "there's always room for Kevin Shields—always."


title: Kevin Shields

text: In 2003, Shields contributed four original compositions to the soundtrack for Sofia Coppola's 2003 film, "Lost in Translation". Shields became involved with the score after being contacted by the film's music co-ordinator Brian Reitzell while in Tokyo, Japan. During summer 2002, Reitzell and Shields began impromptu jam sessions in London where the duo "adopted a late-night recording schedule," resulting in the single "City Girl." Released in August 2003 on V2 Records, the "Lost in Translation" soundtrack included three other ambient pieces which Shields had composed for the film: "Goodbye," "Ikebana," and "Are You Awake?". His contributions to the soundtrack earned Shields nominations for a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) award for Best Film Music, an Irish Film and Television Academy (IFTA) award for Best Music in a Film, and an Online Film Critics Society award for Best Original Score.


title: Kevin Shields

text: In July 2008, Shields collaborated with the American musician Patti Smith to release the live album "The Coral Sea" on the PASK label (which the duo had also founded together). The double album features two performances at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, recorded on 22 June 2005 and 12 September 2006, wherein Smith reads the book of the name same (which she wrote in tribute to her friend, the photographer Robert Mapplethorpe) over Shields' instrumental accompaniment.


title: Kevin Shields

text: In August 2007, reports emerged that My Bloody Valentine would reunite for the 2008 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California, United States; this was later confirmed by Shields, along with the announcement that the band's third studio album (which he had begun recording in 1996) was near completion. In June 2008, My Bloody Valentine played two live rehearsals at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, their first public performances in 16 years. They began an extensive worldwide tour in summer 2008 (their first since their 1992 tour in support of "Loveless") including appearances at Øyafestivalen in Oslo, Norway, Electric Picnic in Stradbally, Ireland, and the Fuji Rock Festival in Niigata, Japan. The band reportedly spent £200,000 on equipment for their world tour.


title: Kevin Shields

text: In October 2011, Shields launched the independent record label Pickpocket together with Le Volume Courbe frontwoman Charlotte Marionneau, and considered releasing a collaborative "ten minutes of noise" single on the imprint. In May 2012 remastered versions of "Isn't Anything" and "Loveless" were released as well as the "EP's 1988–1991" collection, which featured the band's Shields-remastered Creation Records extended plays, singles and unreleased tracks.


title: Kevin Shields

text: In November, Shields announced plans to release My Bloody Valentine's third album online before the end of the year, before announcing during a warm-up show at Electric Brixton in London on 27 January 2013 that the album "might be out in two or three days." The "m b v" album was eventually released through the band's official website on 2 February 2013, crashing the site on its launch due to high traffic. According to Metacritic, "m b v" received "universal acclaim", and the band began a worldwide tour upon its release.


title: Kevin Shields

text: Shields has since announced intentions to release remastered analogue cuts of My Bloody Valentine's back catalogue followed by two releases of new material that were most recently expected to release in 2019.


title: Kevin Shields

text: In April 2018, Shields released "The Weight Of History / Only Once Away My Son", a collaborative double A-side with Brian Eno, for Record Store Day.


title: Kevin Shields

text: Shields has referred to The Beatles and the Ramones as his favourite bands of all time. Upon moving to Ireland in 1973, he became a fan of "the energy, androgyny and otherworldy production style" of glam rock and has said Johnny Ramone inspired him to begin playing guitar. Speaking about Ramone, Shields said "I realised [Johnny] wasn't playing guitar—he was generating the sound ... it was just a noise generator." He later remarked seeing the Ramones perform in a North Dublin cinema "changed his life". Other guitarists he admired were Public Image Ltd guitarist Keith Levene and Killing Joke guitarist Geordie Walker. Some of his earlier influences included local Dublin punk band DC Nien, The Birthday Party, The Cramps and Einstürzende Neubauten. In the mid-to-late 1980s, he was influenced by The Byrds, Hüsker Dü, Dinosaur Jr and Sonic Youth—particularly two of the band's albums: "EVOL" (1986) and "Sister" (1987). He was also influenced by hip hop music, in particular Public Enemy, whose track "Security in the First World" Shields sampled on the 1988 My Bloody Valentine track "Instrumental No 2". Later Shields has cited The Beach Boys as an influence and expressed admiration for modern artists like Tame Impala.


title: Kevin Shields

text: Shields' production techniques were influenced by a range of producers and artists. He has stated a dislike for the "wet and ... liquid" production values of 1980s music and shoegaze artists; he instead favours the "dry ... and upfront" sound used by Dinosaur Jr and Sonic Youth. He said that the use of stereo in the 1980s was part of a "weak, corporate sound". Shields records and produces largely in mono, an approach influenced by Brian Wilsons production on The Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" (1966) and veteran pop producer Phil Spector. He has also expressed admiration for producer Joe Meek and the French electronic duo Daft Punk.


title: Kevin Shields

text: Shields' guitar sound has been cited as one of the most recognisable aspects of My Bloody Valentine's music. His sound uses "texture more than technique to create vivid soundscapes". He has been listed at number 95 and 2 on "Rolling Stone"s and "Spin"s 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time list. During the late 1980s, Shields began customising the tremolo systems for his Fender Jaguars and Jazzmaster guitars; he extended the tremolo arm and loosened it considerably, to allow him to manipulate the arm while strumming chords, which resulted in significant pitch bending. Shields used a number of alternate and open tunings that together with his tremolo manipulation, according to "Rolling Stone" Michael Azerrad, achieved "a strange warping effect that makes the music wander in and out of focus".


title: Kevin Shields

text: Among Shields' notable effects is digital reverse reverb, sourced from a Yamaha SPX90 effects unit. Together with the tremolo manipulation and distortion, he created a technique known as "glide guitar". Shields' effects rig, which is composed largely of distortion, graphic equalisers and tone controls, consists of at least 30 effects pedals. His rig is connected to a large number of amplifiers which are often set to maximum volume to increase sustain. During live performances with My Bloody Valentine – particularly during the closing number "You Made Me Realise" – Shields creates a blend of white noise, which often lasts for half an hour and can reach 130db. "It was so loud it was like sensory deprivation," he remarked. "We just liked the fact that we could see a change in the audience at a certain point."


title: Kevin Shields

text: Shields' sound and performance have been regarded as influential, with musicians including Billy Corgan, J Mascis, and Greg Puciato citing him as an influence; the last revealed that his most desired collaboration would be with Shields.


title: Kevin Shields

text: "Kevin Shields achieved something on "Loveless" that only the great guitarists achieve: he achieved a wholeness and a unity," observed Living Colour's Vernon Reid. "He created his own sound."


title: Kevin Shields

text: Shields has mild dyslexia, "mild to extreme" tinnitus, and tendonitis in his left hand. He contracted tinnitus during the mixing of "Loveless" in 1991. Though initially worried about the condition, Shields has said he has "come to treat the tinnitus as a friend. It filters unwanted sounds and actually protects my ears. It becomes your first line of defence against audible stress." He said his tendonitis, which he has had since 1988, is relieved "once you start to immerse yourself in the sound, any discomfort just disappears."


title: Kevin Shields

text: Shields has been outspoken about the corporate influence in the music industry. He has said that Sony Music Entertainment, upon inheriting My Bloody Valentine from Creation Records, deliberately hid the master tapes of the band's original recordings in an attempt to delay the release of "EP's 1988–1991" (2012). Shields threatened to involve Scotland Yard in the dispute and then said the tapes "magically, suddenly reappear[ed]." He has since called for reorganisation of the record industry, which he has referred to as "psychopathic". As a result, My Bloody Valentine's third album, "m b v" (2013), was self-released. Reflecting on his decision, Shields said it was "great to release the record without any industry interaction at all, but it also meant that it was a bit too expensive to buy, so we're going to try to make it cheaper by working with various record companies in the future," though ruling out agreements with major labels. In 2013, following the release of "m b v", he accused the organisers of the Mercury Prize of "banning" the album for the nominated shortlist. In an interview with "The Guardian", Shields said My Bloody Valentine were "banned by [the Mercury Prize]" due to not having a major digital distribution deal in the United Kingdom. He added "because we're not on Amazon or iTunes ...it's not a real record. Our album's not a real album because it's independent. The corporateness has got to such a point where we've essentially been told that we don't exist."


title: Kevin Shields

text: During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Shields and Bilinda Butcher were in a relationship. Most of Shields' siblings have reached various degrees of fame. His brother Jimi was a founding member and drummer of the indie rock band Rollerskate Skinny, who has since formed Wounded Knees and become co-director of TTT (thirtythreetrees), a Dublin landscape design practice. His sister Ann Marie has worked extensively in the music industry and has managed tours for both My Bloody Valentine and Rollerskate Skinny, as well as being credited for coordination on "Loveless". His youngest sister, Eileen, is a shoe designer who has designed for Bono, Drew Barrymore and PJ Harvey.


title: Project Babylon

text: Project Babylon was a space gun project commissioned by then Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. It involved building a series of "superguns". The design was based on research from the 1960s Project HARP led by the Canadian artillery expert Gerald Bull. There were most likely four different devices in the program.


title: Project Babylon

text: The project began in 1988; it was halted in 1990 after Bull was assassinated, and parts of the superguns were seized in transit around Europe. The components that remained in Iraq were destroyed by the United Nations after the 1991 Persian Gulf War.


title: Project Babylon

text: The first of these superguns, "Baby Babylon", was a horizontally mounted device which was a prototype for test purposes. It had a bore of 350 mm (13.8 inches), and a barrel length of 46 metres (151 feet), and weighed some 102 tonnes. After conducting tests with lead projectiles, this gun was set up on a hillside at a 45 degree angle. It was expected to achieve a range of 750 km. Although its mass was similar to some World War II German "large-calibre guns", it was not designed to be a mobile weapon and was not considered a security risk by Israel.


title: Project Babylon

text: The second supergun, "Big Babylon", of which a pair were planned (one to be mounted horizontally, at least for test purposes), was much larger. The barrel was to be 156 metres (512 feet) long, with a bore of 1 metre (3.3 feet). Originally intended to be suspended by cables from a steel framework, it would have been over 100 metres (300 feet) high at the tip. The complete device weighed about 2,100 tonnes (the barrel alone weighed 1,655 tons). It was a space gun intended to shoot projectiles into orbit, a theme of Bull's work since Project HARP. Neither of these devices could be elevated or trained, making them useless for direct military purposes, unless some form of terminal guidance could be used to direct the fired projectile onto its intended target.


title: Project Babylon

text: It is possible that Big Babylon was intended both to launch satellites and to serve as a weapon, but its ability to fire conventional projectiles in the latter role would have been very limited: in addition to the impossibility of aiming it, it would have had a slow rate of fire, and its firing would have produced a very pronounced "signature" which would have revealed its location. Since it was immobile, it suffered from the same vulnerability as Germany's V-3 cannon, which the RAF readily destroyed in 1944. Also, Iraq already had Scud missiles which would have been far more effective than the outdated supergun technology. However, the gun would have offered greater ranges than the Scud variants then used by the Iraqis, and its projectiles would have been more difficult to intercept.


title: Project Babylon

text: Very large cannons, which would be capable of being elevated and trained, were also planned. The first was to have a bore of 350 mm (13.8 inches) and a barrel length of about 30 metres (100 feet), and it was expected to have a range of up to 1000 kilometres (about 625 miles), making Israel and central Iran well within reach of Iraqi artillery fire.


title: Project Babylon

text: The metal tubes for the barrels and gun cradles were purchased from firms in the United Kingdom, including Sheffield Forgemasters of South Yorkshire, and Walter Somers of Halesowen. Other components, such as breeches and recoil mechanisms, were ordered from firms in Germany, France, Spain, Switzerland, and Italy. Baby Babylon was completed, and test shots were fired from it, revealing problems with the seals between the barrel segments. As those were being worked on, Bull was assassinated in March 1990, possibly by Mossad, halting the project.


title: Project Babylon

text: Most of the barrel sections for Big Babylon were delivered to, and assembled on, a site excavated on a hillside, instead of being suspended by cables from a steel framework as originally planned. Calculations had shown that the original support framework would be insufficiently rigid. It was never completed.


title: Project Babylon

text: In early April 1990, United Kingdom customs officers confiscated several pieces of the second Big Babylon barrel, which were disguised as "petrochemical pressure vessels". The parts were confiscated at Teesport Docks. More pieces were seized in Greece and Turkey in transit by truck to Iraq. Other components, such as slide bearings for Big Babylon, were seized at their manufacturers' sites in Spain and Switzerland.


title: Project Babylon

text: After the Gulf War in 1991, the Iraqis admitted the existence of Project Babylon, and allowed U.N. inspectors to destroy the hardware in Iraq as part of the disarmament process.


title: Project Babylon

text: Several barrel sections seized by UK customs officers are displayed at the Royal Armouries, Fort Nelson, Portsmouth. Another section was on display at The Royal Artillery Museum, Woolwich, London, until 2016.


title: Project Babylon

text: The events of Project Babylon are dramatized in the 1994 HBO movie "Doomsday Gun" starring Frank Langella as Bull, with Kevin Spacey, Alan Arkin, and Clive Owen in supporting roles, and in Frederick Forsyth's novel "The Fist of God".


title: Project Babylon

text: The novel "Splinter Cell", written by Raymond Benson under the pseudonym David Michaels, refers to Project Babylon and Gerald Bull as the antagonists in the story who develop and manage to fire a new supergun, "Babylon Phoenix."


title: Project Babylon

text: The novel "Nature of the Beast" by Louise Penny also revolves around the story of Gerald Bull and Project Babylon.


title: Project Babylon

text: The Babylon Project also provided the inspiration for the "Golgo 13" manga story "The Gun at Am-Shara", in which the title character assassinates a fictionalized version of Gerald Bull.


title: Changeland

text: While a troubled man goes through a personal crisis, he meets up with his estranged friend in Thailand.


title: Changeland

text: The film was announced on June 21, 2017. It marks the feature directorial debut of Seth Green, who also stars in the film alongside Breckin Meyer, Macaulay Culkin, Brenda Song, Clare Grant, Rose Williams, Kedar Williams-Stirling and Randy Orton. Filming in Thailand began that same week. Patrick Stump, who composed the film score, has an uncredited cameo appearance as an airline passenger in the film's opening scene.


title: Changeland

text: In March 2019, Gravitas Ventures acquired distribution rights to the film and set it for a June 7, 2019 release.


title: Changeland

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of , based on reviews. On Metacritic, it has a score of 42 out of 100, based on four critics.


title: Atrial natriuretic peptide

text: Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) or atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) is a natriuretic peptide hormone secreted from the cardiac atria that in humans is encoded by the NPPA gene. Natriuretic peptides (ANP, BNP, and CNP) are a family of hormone/paracrine factors that are structurally related. The main function of ANP is causing a reduction in expanded extracellular fluid (ECF) volume by increasing renal sodium excretion. ANP is synthesized and secreted by cardiac muscle cells in the walls of the atria in the heart. These cells contain volume receptors which respond to increased stretching of the atrial wall due to increased atrial blood volume.


title: Atrial natriuretic peptide

text: Reduction of blood volume by ANP can result in secondary effects such as reduction of extracellular fluid (ECF) volume, improved cardiac ejection fraction with resultant improved organ perfusion, decreased blood pressure, and increased serum potassium. These effects may be blunted or negated by various counter-regulatory mechanisms operating concurrently on each of these secondary effects.


title: Atrial natriuretic peptide

text: Brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) – a misnomer; it is secreted by cardiac muscle cells in the heart ventricles – is similar to ANP in its effect. It acts via the same receptors as ANP does, but with 10-fold lower affinity than ANP. The biological half-life of BNP, however, is twice as long as that of ANP, and that of NT-proBNP is even longer, making these peptides better choices than ANP for diagnostic blood testing.


title: Atrial natriuretic peptide

text: A member of the natriuretic peptide gene family, "NPPA" encodes an important cardiac signaling molecule known as atrial natriuretic peptide/factor (ANP). ANP carries out endocrine functions of the heart. It acts as a diuretic by inhibiting sodium reabsorption in the kidneys. ANP also acts in the heart to prevent cardiac hypertrophy and to regulate vascular remodeling and energy metabolism. "NPPA" expression is varied throughout mammalian development into adulthood. Fetal expression of "NPPA" is associated with the formation of chamber myocardium, muscle cells of the atria and ventricles in the early developing heart. Early expression of this gene has been associated with ventricular hypertrophy in both "in vitro" and "in vivo" models. "NPPA" variants affect plasma ANP concentrations, blood pressure levels, and cardiovascular diseases such as atrial fibrillation (AF). ANP-deficient mice were found to have a large increase in heart and left ventricular weight in response to volume overload, which is normally prevented by proper regulation of blood pressure. Using a knock-in (KI) rat model, researchers found an AF-associated human variant in "NPPA" caused inflammation, fibroblast activation, atrial fibrosis, and AF in KI rats. These findings suggest NPPA is a critical gene in cardiac development and dysfunction of this gene can lead to heart problems via altered ANP levels.


title: Atrial natriuretic peptide

text: The discovery of a natriuretic factor (one that promotes kidney excretion of salt and water) was first reported by Adolfo José de Bold in 1981 when rat atrial extracts were found to contain a substance that increased salt and urine output in the kidney. Later, the substance was purified from heart tissue by several groups and named atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) or ANP.


title: Atrial natriuretic peptide

text: ANP is a 28-amino acid peptide with a 17-amino acid ring in the middle of the molecule. The ring is formed by a disulfide bond between two cysteine residues at positions 7 and 23. ANP is closely related to BNP (brain natriuretic peptide) and CNP (C-type natriuretic peptide), which all share a similar amino acid ring structure. ANP is one of a family of nine structurally similar natriuretic hormones: seven are atrial in origin.


title: Atrial natriuretic peptide

text: ANP is synthesized as an inactive preprohormone, encoded by the human NPPA gene located on the short arm of chromosome 1. The NPPA gene is expressed primarily in atrial myocytes and consists of 2 introns and three exons, with translation of this gene yielding a high molecular mass 151 amino acid polypeptide known as preproANP. The preprohormone is activated via post-translational modification that involves cleavage of the 25 amino acid signal sequence to produce proANP, a 126 amino acid peptide that is the major form of ANP stored in intracellular granules of the atria. Following stimulation of atrial cells, proANP is released and rapidly converted to the 28-amino-acid C-terminal mature ANP on the cell surface by the cardiac transmembrane serine protease corin. Recently, it was discovered that ANP also can be "O"-glycosylated.


title: Atrial natriuretic peptide

text: Three types of atrial natriuretic peptide receptors have been identified on which natriuretic peptides act. They are all cell surface receptors and designated:


title: Atrial natriuretic peptide

text: NPR-A and NPR-B have a single membrane-spanning segment with an extracellular domain that binds the ligand. The intracellular domain maintains two consensus catalytic domains for guanylyl cyclase activity. Binding of a natriuretic peptide induces a conformational change in the receptor that causes receptor dimerization and activation.


title: Atrial natriuretic peptide

text: The binding of ANP to its receptor causes the conversion of GTP to cGMP and raises intracellular cGMP. As a consequence, cGMP activates a cGMP-dependent kinase (PKG or cGK) that phosphorylates proteins at specific serine and threonine residues. In the medullary collecting duct, the cGMP generated in response to ANP may act not only through PKG but also via direct modulation of ion channels.


title: Atrial natriuretic peptide

text: NPR-C functions mainly as a clearance receptor by binding and sequestering ANP from the circulation. All natriuretic peptides are bound by the NPR-C.


title: Atrial natriuretic peptide

text: Maintenance of the ECF volume (space), and its subcompartment the vascular space, is crucial for survival. These compartments are maintained within a narrow range, despite wide variations in dietary sodium intake. There are three volume regulating systems: two salt saving systems, the renin angiotensin aldosterone system (RAAS) and the renal sympathetic system (RSS); and the salt excreting natriuretic peptide (NP) hormone system. When the vascular space contracts, the RAAS and RSS are "turned on"; when the atria expand, NP's are "turned on". Each system also suppresses its counteracting system(s). NP's are made in cardiac, intestinal, renal, and adrenal tissue: ANP in one of a family of cardiac NP's: others at BNP, CNP, and DNP.


title: Atrial natriuretic peptide

text: ANP binds to a specific set of receptors – ANP receptors. Receptor-agonist binding causes the increase in renal sodium excretion, which results in a decreased ECF and blood volume. Secondary effects may be an improvement in cardiac ejection fraction and reduction of systemic blood pressure.


title: Atrial natriuretic peptide

text: ANP has the opposite effect of angiotensin II on the kidney: angiotensin II increases renal sodium retention and ANP increases renal sodium loss.


title: Atrial natriuretic peptide

text: Promotes uterine spiral artery remodeling, which is important for preventing pregnancy-induced hypertension.


title: Atrial natriuretic peptide

text: ANP is produced locally by several immune cells. ANP is shown to regulate several functions of innate and adaptive immune system as well as shown to have cytoprotective effects.


title: Atrial natriuretic peptide

text: Modulation of the effects of ANP is achieved through gradual degradation of the peptide by the enzyme neutral endopeptidase (NEP). Recently, NEP inhibitors have been developed, such as Sacubitril and Sacubitril/valsartan. They may be clinically useful in treating patients in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction .