title: Latin music

text: In the Regional Mexican field, Tejano music became the most prominent genre and one of the fastest-growing music genres in the United States. On January 10, 1990, EMI Latin bought Bob Grever's Cara Records, beginning the golden age of Tejano music. Tejano music's growth exploded, as journalist Ramiro Burr put it "a stubborn brushfire spread over the horizon", the genre converted radio stations to play Tejano music. This garnered the attention of record labels across the United States who were eager to expand their rosters. In 1991, Warner Nashville created Warner Discos specifically for Tejano artists crossing over into country music while Arista Nashville erected Artista Texas with the same objective. Other labels such as PolyGram Latino and WEA Latina began deliberations to exclusively sign Tejano acts, while Fonovisa began signing Tejano musicians. These incentives helped expand performers' fanbases beyond Texas and the southwest. It also brought the genre to territories unfamiliar with the genre. The golden age is generally considered by journalists to have ended on March 31, 1995, when Selena was shot and killed. Tejano music set five consecutive years of sales and concert attendance records from 1990 to 1995. Mario Tarradell of "The Dallas Morning News" wrote that the singles from "Amor Prohibido" elevated Selena to success on Latin radio whose promoters had not previously taken the singer seriously. By 1994, Tejano acts were effortless selling 100,000 units of their albums, while La Mafia and Selena were the two most commercially successful Tejano artists. Selena's music led the genre's 1990s revival and made it marketable for the first time. Tejano music is believed by Jose Behar to have hit Mexico "like an atomic bomb" by 1994. While Tejano singer Emilio Navaira decided on a crossover into American country music, preparations began for Selena's crossover into American pop music. The singer was fatally wounded after a confrontation with Yolanda Saldivar, a friend and former associate of the singer's fan club, and boutiques. Her unfinished crossover album, "Dreaming of You" (1995), became the first mostly-Spanish album to debut and peak at number one on the US "Billboard" 200 chart. Tejano music suffered and its popularity waned following Selena's death, and record labels began abandoning their Tejano artists while radio stations in the United States switched from Tejano to Regional Mexican music.


title: Latin music

text: By the mid-1990s, Tejano music was replaced by Latin pop as the dominant Latin music genre in the United States. Gloria and her husband Emilio Estefan are considered to have "open[ed] the door" to a number of artists throughout the 1990s decade. Their production is believed to have provided Mexican singer Thalía with her first platinum award for "En éxtasis" (1995). Colombian pop rock singer Shakira released her international debut album "Pies Descalzos" (1995). She worked closely with the Estefans for her album "Dónde Están Los Ladrones?" (1998), which topped the US "Billboard" Top Latin Albums chart. The album's success and production by the Estefans, provided Shakira with a lucrative formula that she used for her English-language crossover which was released in 2001. Enrique Iglesias, the son of Spanish singer-songwriter Julio Iglesias, released two albums; his self-titled album released in 1995, and "Vivir" (1997), that concentrated on pop ballads and rhythms. With improvements in his songwriting on "Vivir", Enrique was able to successfully convey "his innermost thoughts and feelings". Critics found "Vivir" to be superior to Enrique's contemporaries and reportedly sold over five million copies in Asia, Europe, and South and Central America within a week of its release, the first Latin album to do so. Ricky Martin's hip-shaking dance moves were compared to those of Elvis Presley among American music critics seeking to find an artist who resembled Martin's dance moves and their effect on the United States pop market. In 1998, music and ticket sales of Martin grossed $106 million, which was the equivalent of the total exports of Puerto Rico to Mexico in 1996. His 1998 album "Vuelve" contained "La Copa de la Vida", which became the official 1998 FIFA World Cup song. This provided Martin with worldwide visibility, though it was his performance of the recording at the 1999 Grammy Awards that brought Martin attention from American audiences. In 1999, he released his self-titled album which contained the English-language number-one song "Livin' la Vida Loca". Following the commercial and critical success of the film "Selena" (1997), Jennifer Lopez catapulted to fame in the title role. Lopez entered the music market following a string of films and released her debut recording "On the 6" (1999), which she described as a Latin soul album.


title: Latin music

text: Bolero music saw a resurgence of popularity with the younger audience. Mexican singer Luis Miguel was credited for the renewed interest with the success of his album, "Romance" (1991), a collection of classics covered by the artist. Around the same time, artists from Italy such as Eros Ramazzotti, Laura Pausini, and Nek successfully crossed over to the Latin music field by recording Spanish-language versions of their songs. In the tropical music field, merengue, which had gained attention in the 1980s, rivaled salsa in popularity.


title: Latin music

text: In the mid-2000s, reggaeton became popular in the mainstream market, with Hector 'El Father' Tego Calderon, Daddy Yankee, Don Omar, and Wisin & Yandel considered to be the frontiers of the genre. In the tropical music scene, bachata music became popular in the field, with artists such as Monchy & Alexandra and Aventura finding success in the urban areas of Latin America. Banda was the dominant genre in the Regional Mexican music field.


title: Latin music

text: By the turn of the decade, the Latin music field was dominated by up-tempo rhythms, including electropop, reggaeton, urbano, banda and contemporary bachata music, as Latin ballads and crooners fell out of favor among U.S. Latin radio programmers. Streaming has become the dominant form of revenue in the Latin music industry in the United States, Latin America and Spain. Latin trap gained mainstream attention in the mid-2010s with artists such as Ozuna, Bad Bunny, and Anuel AA.


title: Latin music

text: The origins of Latin Music in the United States dates back to the 1930s with Rhumba. Rhumba was prominent with Cuban style ballroom dancing in the 1930s, but was not mainstream. It was not until the 1950s and 1960s that Latin Music started to become intertwined with American culture. Latin music is starting to become mainstream in the US as Latin artists are teaming up with English speaking artists. In 2017, a song named, "Despacito" by Justin Bieber, Luis Fonsi, and Daddy Yankee had 4.5 billion views on YouTube. In 2017, six of the top ten viewed songs on YouTube feature Latin Artists. The song was the beginning for the boom of Latin music in the United States. Some of the most popular forms of Latin music are Salsa, Bachata, Regional Mexican music, Tango, Merengue, Latin Pop, and Reggaeton. Today, reggaeton is a very popular style that combines reggae and American hip-hop. Some of the most popular artists today are Daddy Yankee, Melymel, J Balvin and Nicky Jam. In 2018, Latin music came second in total video streams with 21.8% market share. Latin music listeners tend to be younger, more tech savvy, 95% of Latin music coming from streaming suggests, according to Jeff Benjamin.


title: Latin music

text: Immigration and globalization has caused Latin music to skyrocket in popularity. Historically, the United States and Britain have had control over the music industry but the internet and technology has allowed for diversification and local music to become more prominent throughout the world. The technological advancements have allowed streaming services to flourish that offer a wide variety of music without having to pay for each individual song/album. The increase in Latin artists working with English speaking American artists has caused songs such as Ritmo by An American band, The Black Eyed Peas, and J Balvin, a Latin singer, to be number one on the billboard's Hot Latin Songs chart. This increase has caused Latin music sales revenue in the US to rise from 176 million to 413 million dollars in 2018. From 2016 to 2017, the amount of latin songs on the billboard hot 100 increased from four to 19. Latin music surpassed Country and EDM in terms of album sales in the US in 2018. This trend has caused pop music in the US to adopt certain styles from Latin music. This has some experts questioning whether less popular Latin genres will become more niche in the future as record labels focus on products in industries with a greater concentration of money.


title: Latin music

text: Numerous computer science and music experts have reported a common error on streaming services such as Spotify. Overlooking mainstay artists in catch-all genre terms such as Latin music, potentially causing a categorical homogenization of musical styles; incorrectly miscategorizing musicians and songs from heritage styles, such as Norteño, New Mexico music, Duranguense, and Tejano music, leading to underperformance of these styles on their platforms.


title: Arbitrage (film)

text: Arbitrage is a 2012 American crime drama film directed by Nicholas Jarecki and starring Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, Tim Roth and Brit Marling. Filming began in April 2011 in New York City. It opened in U.S. theaters in September 2012.


title: Arbitrage (film)

text: The plot follows the personal and professional troubles of a hedge fund manager as he approaches retirement.


title: Arbitrage (film)

text: New York City hedge fund magnate Robert Miller (Richard Gere) manages a fund with his daughter Brooke (Brit Marling) and is about to sell it for a handsome profit. He is having an affair with a much younger woman, gallery owner Julie Cote (Laetitia Casta), whom he has also helped financially. However, unbeknownst to Brooke and most of his other employees, Miller has cooked his company's books and borrowed $412 million from an associate in order to cover an investment loss and avoid being arrested for fraud.


title: Arbitrage (film)

text: The potential buyer, James Mayfield (Graydon Carter), is stalling the process, and Miller's lender wants to call in the loan, but Miller says he needs the money to stay in his account until the audit for the sale is complete. They schedule a meeting at a restaurant during which contracts are to be signed, and it's the same night as Julie's gallery show, which Miller has promised to attend. Julie continually texts and calls Miller throughout the meeting, which drags on as they wait for Mayfield to arrive. When Mayfield doesn't show up, Miller leaves in disgust, but not before Brooke informs him that she has found some financial discrepancies in old ledgers.


title: Arbitrage (film)

text: Miller finally goes to Julie's opening, but she tells him to leave. He comes back and they fight, but he convinces her to go with him on a trip upstate. Miller dozes off at the wheel and crashes the car, resulting in Julie's death. An injured Miller almost calls 9-1-1, then realizes he must cover up his involvement. He flees the scene as the car bursts into flames. Miller calls Jimmy Grant (Nate Parker), the son of his late chauffeur, who feels loyal to Miller for paying his father's medical bills. After Jimmy drives him home, Miller removes security camera DVDs that show his late arrival, burns his bloody clothing, then goes to bed bruised at 4:30 am, arousing wife Ellen's (Susan Sarandon) suspicion.


title: Arbitrage (film)

text: The next day, Miller discusses his "hypothetical" situation with his lawyer (Stuart Margolin), who advises the hypothetical person to turn himself in, as the lies required to keep the story a secret will pile up. The lawyer also mentions that Ellen has visited an estate lawyer. Miller is later questioned by police detective Bryer (Tim Roth), who is keen on arresting him for manslaughter. Meanwhile, Brooke discovers Miller's fraud and, realizing that she could be implicated, confronts him. Miller admits to the fraud, but insists that he will handle it.


title: Arbitrage (film)

text: Jimmy is arrested and placed before a grand jury, but still refuses to admit to helping Miller cover up the accident. Miller once again contemplates turning himself in. Even though Jimmy is about to go to prison, Miller tells him that investors are depending on him and that waiting for the sale to close before coming forward would serve the greater good. Eventually, Miller gets himself and Jimmy out of trouble by proving that Bryer fabricated evidence.


title: Arbitrage (film)

text: With the audit complete and the company in the clear for the sale, Miller meets Mayfield and they agree on a price. Later, Ellen confronts Miller and offers him a deal: if he signs a separation agreement that gives all voting rights and money to her non-profit foundation and their daughter, she will lie and say she was with him the night of the accident; if he refuses, she will tell the truth and he will go to prison. Meanwhile, Mayfield discusses a secondary audit that has been performed on Miller's company. The report does show a problem, but Mayfield chooses to ignore it and go forward with the sale.


title: Arbitrage (film)

text: In the final scene, Miller addresses a banquet honoring him, with Ellen at his side and Brooke introducing him. Tension among them is evident but nobody seems to notice. Smiling as he approaches the podium to deliver his speech, the screen cuts to black.


title: Arbitrage (film)

text: Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions paid $2.1 million to acquire the United States rights of this film, and they spent around $3 million promoting the film's theatrical and VOD release. The film went on grossing $7.9 million in the United States box office and $14 million in United States VOD sales.


title: Arbitrage (film)

text: The film also outperformed financially in several areas: it set a record as the highest-grossing "day-and-date" release of all time, meaning it outperformed all other films released simultaneously in theaters and "on-demand". It also opened to a per-screen average in the United States in excess of $10,000, making it one of the highest per-screen average films of the year. It was the top film in Israel two weeks running and no. 3 in Spain two weeks running, nearing a Spanish theatrical gross of US$5 million. It broke independent box office records in many other countries including Australia, the United Arab Emirates, and Switzerland.


title: Arbitrage (film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, 87% of 173 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 7.10/10. The website's critics consensus reads: ""Arbitrage" is both a tense thriller and a penetrating character study, elevated by the strength of a typically assured performance from Richard Gere." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 73 out of 100, based on 35 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: Arbitrage (film)

text: Gere was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama at the 70th Golden Globe Awards for his performance in "Arbitrage".


title: Moms Mabley

text: Loretta Mary Aiken (March 19, 1894 – May 23, 1975), known by her stage name Jackie "Moms" Mabley, was an American stand-up comedian and actress. Mabley began her career on the theater stage in the 1920s and became a veteran entertainer of the Chitlin' Circuit of African-American vaudeville. Mabley later recorded comedy albums and appeared in films and on television programs including "The Ed Sullivan Show" and "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour".


title: Moms Mabley

text: Loretta Mary Aiken was born in Brevard, North Carolina, US, on March 19, 1894. She was one of 16 children born to James Aiken and Mary Smith, who had married in 1891. Her father owned and operated several successful businesses, while her mother kept house and took in boarders.


title: Moms Mabley

text: Her teenage years were tumultuous. Aiken had given birth to two children that had resulted from her being raped at age 11, by an elderly black man, and at age 13, by a white sheriff. Both children were given up for adoption.


title: Moms Mabley

text: At the encouragement of her grandmother, Aiken ran away at age 14 to Cleveland, Ohio, joining a traveling vaudeville-style minstrel show starring Butterbeans and Susie, where she sang and entertained. In 1909, a year after Aiken left, her father was killed when a fire engine exploded while he was volunteering as a firefighter. Her mother took over the family's primary business, a general store. She was killed a few years later, run over by a truck while returning home from church on Christmas Day.


title: Moms Mabley

text: Aiken adopted the stage name Jackie Mabley, borrowing the name of an early boyfriend, Jack Mabley, who was also a performer. She remarked in a 1970 "Ebony" interview that he had taken so much from her, the least she could do was take his name from him.


title: Moms Mabley

text: Mabley quickly became one of the most successful entertainers of the Chitlin' Circuit, although, as a black woman, her wages were meager. She made her New York City debut at Connie's Inn in Harlem.


title: Moms Mabley

text: She came out as a lesbian in 1921 at the age of twenty-seven, becoming one of the first openly gay comedians. During the 1920s and 1930s she appeared in androgynous clothing and recorded several "lesbian stand-up" routines.


title: Moms Mabley

text: During the 1950s, Mabley—influenced by the maternal role she was filling for other comedians on the circuit—adopted the name "Moms" and the appearance of a toothless, bedraggled woman in a house dress and floppy hat. Mabley also credited the name to her grandmother, who had been a driving force in the pursuit of her dreams. The non-threatening persona aided her in addressing topics too edgy for most comics of the time, including racism, sexuality and having children after becoming a widow. A preference for handsome young men rather than "old washed-up geezers" became a signature bit.


title: Moms Mabley

text: In the 1960s, Mabley became known to a wider white audience, playing Carnegie Hall in 1962, and making a number of mainstream TV appearances, with multiple appearances on "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour". Music became a regular part of her act, and a cover version of "Abraham, Martin and John" hit No. 35 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 on July 19, 1969, making Mabley, at 75, the oldest living person to have a U.S. Top 40 hit. She played the Harlem Cultural Festival during this time.


title: Moms Mabley

text: Mabley continued performing in the 1970s. In 1971, she appeared on "The Pearl Bailey Show". Later that year, she opened for Ike & Tina Turner at the Greek Theatre and sang a tribute to Louis Armstrong as part of her set. While filming the 1974 film "Amazing Grace", her only film starring role, Mabley suffered a heart attack. She returned to work three weeks later, after receiving a pacemaker.


title: Moms Mabley

text: Over the course of her life, Mabley had six children: Bonnie, Christine, Charles, and Yvonne Ailey, and two given up for adoption when she was a teenager.


title: Moms Mabley

text: Mabley died from heart failure in White Plains, New York, on May 23, 1975. She is interred at Ferncliff Cemetery, Hartsdale, New York.


title: Moms Mabley

text: In 1983 and 1984, Whoopi Goldberg "first came to national prominence with her one-woman show" in which she portrayed Mabley, "Moms", first performed in Berkeley, California, and then at the Victoria Theatre in San Francisco; the Oakland Museum of California preserves a poster advertising the show. Mabley was the subject of "Whoopi Goldberg Presents Moms Mabley", a documentary film which first aired on HBO on November 18, 2013. The documentary was nominated for two Creative Arts Emmy Awards at the 66th ceremony held on August 16, 2014, at the Nokia Theatre in Downtown Los Angeles: Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special and Outstanding Narrator for Whoopi Goldberg. In 2015, she was named by Equality Forum as one of their 31 Icons of the 2015 LGBT History Month.


title: Moms Mabley

text: Mabley was the inspiration for the character of Grandma Klump in the 1996 movie "The Nutty Professor".


title: Moms Mabley

text: Mabley was featured during the "HerStory" video tribute to notable women on U2's tour in 2017 for the 30th anniversary of "The Joshua Tree" during a performance of "Ultraviolet (Light My Way)" from the band's 1991 album "Achtung Baby".


title: Moms Mabley

text: Mabley, portrayed by Wanda Sykes, appears in the final episode of the third season of "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel", performing a full stand-up routine on the Apollo Theater stage.


title: Kitten Natividad

text: Francesca Isabel Natividad (February 13, 1948 – September 24, 2022), known professionally as Kitten Natividad, was a Mexican-American film actress and exotic dancer. She was noted for her 44-inch (112 cm) bust, and appearances in cult films made by her ex-partner, director Russ Meyer.


title: Kitten Natividad

text: Natividad was born on February 13, 1948, in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua State, Mexico. She was the eldest of nine children. Natividad did not speak English until she was 10 years old. At that time, her mother married a U.S. citizen and they moved to Texas. Natividad attended Ysleta High School in El Paso, where she was her senior class president.


title: Kitten Natividad

text: After moving to California, Natividad worked as both a maid and a cook for Stella Stevens, and then as a key-punch operator for IBM, before eventually turning to go-go dancing to make ends meet. At this time, she adopted the stage name of "Kitten" Natividad, which came from her shyness. In 1969, at the age of 21 years, she had her first breast implant surgery in Tijuana (where it was legal) on the advice of her agent.


title: Kitten Natividad

text: Natividad, by then known mainly as Kitten, was introduced to Russ Meyer by fellow dancer Shari Eubank, a performer in Meyer's 1975 film "Supervixens." Meyer hired her to narrate his movie "Up!" In it, she was shown sitting nude in a tree, quoting the poetry of Hilda Doolittle, and acting as a Greek chorus to the nonsensical action. Meyer was so impressed he wanted her to star in his next feature, "Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens," one of several collaborations between Meyer and film critic Roger Ebert. Meyer paid for a second breast enhancement and voice lessons to eliminate her accent. Due to the tragic results of her breast enhancement surgeries she deeply regretted what she was talked into doing. She left her husband for Meyer during the filming, and they lived together as a couple for most of the next 15 years.


title: Kitten Natividad

text: After this, Natividad moved into pornographic modeling, mainly doing glamour or girl-girl shoots with the likes of Candy Samples, Uschi Digard, and Patty Plenty. The appearances increased her dancing income many times over. She incorporated a giant champagne glass into her act, similar to such as Lili St. Cyr had used, accompanied by the Bobby Darin hit "Splish Splash". She appeared as a guest on "The Dating Game," one of a number of game shows that Chuck Barris produced.


title: Kitten Natividad

text: During the 1980s, Natividad began appearing in pornographic productions, initially limiting her performances to appearing topless. Eventually, however, she graduated to engaging in hardcore performances, usually with younger men and women. She has had backlash from burlesque performers because she did hardcore videos. She also founded the private photo and video studio called "The Kitten Klub". Her website later closed. She famously appeared as a stripper at the bachelor party held by Sean Penn to celebrate his 1985 marriage to Madonna, having portrayed a stripper the year before in "The Wild Life", a movie starring Sean’s brother Christopher.


title: Kitten Natividad

text: In 2001, Natividad starred in the cult film comedy "The Double-D Avenger," directed by William Winckler, and in it, she was reunited with fellow Russ Meyer "repertory" stars Haji (from Meyer's "Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!") and Raven De La Croix from Meyer's film "Up!" In "The Double-D Avenger," Kitten Natividad played Chastity Knott, a woman who becomes a busty costumed crime fighter.


title: Kitten Natividad

text: In October 1999, Natividad underwent double-mastectomy surgery for treatment of breast cancer. After her breasts were removed, it was discovered that the silicone that had been used in her implants when she had undergone her 1969 surgery was of an industrial grade rather than a surgical grade. She subsequently underwent corrective surgery, and this brought her closer to the size that her fans remembered her having been.


title: Kitten Natividad

text: As of early August 2016, she was living alone with a pit bull and three cats, all of which were featured in the 2005 documentary movie "Pornstar Pets," and she continued to support herself with sales of her porn videos and phone sex. She appeared in the Adam Rifkin independent feature "A Night at the Golden Eagle;" according to her, Rifkin remembered recognizing her when their cars were both stopped at the same stoplight 25 years earlier.


title: Kitten Natividad

text: Natividad died from kidney failure at Cedars Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles on September 24, 2022, aged 74. She was survived by her sister Eva, her mother, four nephews and a niece.


title: Kitten Natividad

text: Kitten Natividad has appeared in more than 65 films and video productions. Career highlights and major studio features include:


title: Al-Lat

text: Al-Lat (, ), also spelled Allat, Allatu and Alilat, is a pre-Islamic Arabian goddess worshipped under various associations throughout the entire Arabian Peninsula, including Mecca where she was worshipped alongside Manat and al-'Uzza as one of the daughters of Allah. The word "Allat" or Elat has been used to refer to various goddesses in the ancient Near East, including the goddess Asherah-Athirat.


title: Al-Lat

text: Al-Lat is attested in south Arabian inscriptions as Lat and Latan, but she had more prominence in north Arabia and the Hejaz, and her cult reached as far as Syria. The writers of the Safaitic script frequently invoked al-Lat in their inscriptions. She was also worshipped by the Nabataeans and was associated with al-'Uzza. The presence of her cult was attested in both Palmyra and Hatra. Under Greco-Roman influence, her iconography began to show the attributes of Athena, the Greek goddess of war, as well as her Roman equivalent Minerva.


title: Al-Lat

text: According to Islamic sources, the tribe of Banu Thaqif in Ta'if especially held reverence to her. In Islamic tradition, her worship ended when her temple in Ta'if was demolished on the orders of Muhammad.


title: Al-Lat

text: There are two possible etymologies of the name al-Lat. Medieval Arab lexicographers derived the name from the verb "latta" (to mix or knead barley-meal). It has also been associated with the "idol of jealousy" erected in the temple of Jerusalem according to the Book of Ezekiel, which was offered an oblation of barley-meal by the husband who suspected his wife of infidelity. It can be inferred from al-Kalbi's "Book of Idols" that a similar ritual was practiced in the vicinity of the image of al-Lat. Another etymology takes al-Lat to be the feminine form of Allah. She may have been known originally as "ʿal-ʿilat", based on Herodotus' attestation of the goddess as "Alilat".


title: Al-Lat

text: Al-Lat was used as a title for the goddess Asherah or Athirat. The word is akin to Elat, which was the name of the wife of the Semitic deity El. A western Semitic goddess modeled on the Mesopotamian goddess Ereshkigal was known as "Allatum", and she was recognized in Carthage as Allatu.


title: Al-Lat

text: Al-Lat was mentioned as "Alilat" by the Greek historian Herodotus in his 5th-century BC work "Histories", and she was considered the equivalent of Aphrodite (Aphrodite Urania):


title: Al-Lat

text: Al-Lat was widely worshipped in north Arabia, but in south Arabia she was not popular and was not the object of an organized cult, with two amulets (inscribed "Lat" on one, "Latan" on the other) being the only indication that this goddess received worship in the area. However, she seems to have been popular among the Arab tribes bordering Yemen. She was also attested in eastern Arabia; the name "Taymallat" (a theophoric name invoking the goddess) was attested as the name of a man from Gerrha, a city located in the region.


title: Al-Lat

text: From Safaitic and Hismaic inscriptions, it is probable that she was worshipped as Lat ("lt"). In Safaitic inscriptions, al-Lat was invoked for solitude and mercy, as well as to provide well-being, ease and prosperity. Travelers would invoke her for good weather and protection. She was also invoked for vengeance, booty from raids, and infliction of blindness and lameness to anyone who defaces their inscriptions.


title: Al-Lat

text: The Qedarites, a northern Arabian tribal confederation, seemed to have also worshipped al-Lat, as evidenced by a silver bowl dedicated by a Qedarite king, with the goddess' name inscribed on it.


title: Al-Lat

text: The Nabataeans and the people of Hatra also worshipped al-Lat, equating her with the Greek goddesses Athena and Tyche and the Roman goddess Minerva. She is frequently called "the Great Goddess" in Greek in multilingual inscriptions. The Nabataeans regarded al-Lat as the mother of the deities, and her family relations vary; sometimes she is regarded as the consort of Dushara and at other times as the mother of Dushara. Nabataean inscriptions call her and al-'Uzza the "brides of Dushara".


title: Al-Lat

text: A temple was built for al-Lat in Iram, by the tribe of 'Ad. Al-Lat was referred to as "the goddess who is in Iram" in a Nabataean inscription. She was also referred to as "the goddess who is in Bosra". Perhaps a local Hijazi form of her attested in Hegra alongside Dushara and Manat was "Allat of 'Amnad".


title: Al-Lat

text: Al-Lat was closely related to al-'Uzza, and in some regions of the Nabataean kingdom, both al-Lat and al-'Uzza were said to be the same goddess. John F. Healey believes that al-Lat and al-'Uzza originated as a single goddess, which parted ways in the pre-Islamic Meccan tradition. Susan Krone suggests that both al-Lat and al-'Uzza were uniquely fused in central Arabia.


title: Al-Lat

text: Al-Lat was also venerated in Palmyra, where she was known as the "Lady of the temple". According to an inscription, she was brought into the Arab quarter of the city by a member of the Bene Ma'zin tribe, who were probably an Arab tribe. She had a temple in the city, which Teixidor believed to be the cultic center of Palmyrene Arab tribes. The practice of casting divination arrows, a common divination method in Arabia, was attested in her temple; an honorific inscription mentioning "a basin of silver for [casting] lots ("lḥlq")".


title: Al-Lat

text: By the second-century AD, al-Lat in Palmyra began to be portrayed in the style of Athena, and was referred to as "Athena-Allāt", but this assimilation does not extend beyond her iconography. The Palmyrene emperor Vaballathus, whose name is the Latinized form of the theophoric name "Wahballāt" ("Gift of al-Lat"), began to use "Athenodorus" as the Greek form of his name.


title: Al-Lat

text: In Islamic sources discussing pre-Islamic Arabia, al-Lat is attested as the chief goddess of the Banu Thaqif tribe. She was said to be venerated in Ta'if, where she was called "ar-Rabba" ("The Lady"), and she reportedly had a shrine there which was decorated with ornaments and treasure of gold and onyx. There, the goddess was venerated in the form of a cubic granite rock. The area around the shrine was considered sacred; no trees could be felled, no animal could be hunted and no human blood could be shed.


title: Al-Lat

text: According to al-Kalbi's "Book of Idols", her shrine was under the guardianship of the Banū Attāb ibn Mālik of the Banu Thaqif. She was also venerated by other Arab tribes, including the Quraysh, and their children would be named after the goddess, such as "Zayd al-Lat" and "Taym al-Lat".


title: Al-Lat

text: Al-Lat is also mentioned in pre-Islamic Arab poetry, such as in al-Mutalammis' satire of Amr ibn Hind:


title: Al-Lat

text: Al-Lat was also called as a daughter of Allah along with the other two chief goddesses al-'Uzza and Manat. According to the "Book of Idols", the Quraysh were to chant the following verses as they circumambulate the Kaaba:


title: Al-Lat

text: The word "gharaniq" was translated as "most exalted females" by Faris in his English translation of the "Book of Idols", but he annotates this term in a footnote as "lit. Numidean cranes".


title: Al-Lat

text: According to Islamic tradition, the shrine dedicated to al-Lat in Ta'if was demolished on the orders of Muhammad, during the Expedition of Abu Sufyan ibn Harb, in the same year as the Battle of Tabuk (which occurred in October 630 AD). The destruction of the cult image was a demand by Muhammad before he would allow any reconciliation to take place with the tribes of Ta'if, who were under his siege. According to the "Book of Idols", this occurred after the Banu Thaqif converted to Islam, and that her temple was "burnt to the ground".


title: Al-Lat

text: In the Quran, she is mentioned along with al-‘Uzza and Manat in , which became the subject of the alleged Satanic Verses incident, an occasion on which the Islamic prophet Muhammad had mistaken the words of "satanic suggestion" for divine revelation. Many different versions of the story existed (all traceable to one single narrator Muhammad ibn Ka'b, who was two generations removed from biographer Ibn Ishaq). In its essential form, the story reports that during Muhammad's recitation of Surat An-Najm, when he reached the following verses:


title: Al-Lat

text: Following this, the angel Gabriel chastised Muhammad for uttering said line, and the verses were abrogated with a new revelation:


title: Al-Lat

text: The majority of Muslim scholars have rejected the historicity of the incident on the basis of the theological doctrine of "'isma" (prophetic infallibility i.e., divine protection of Muhammad from mistakes) and their weak "isnads" (chains of transmission). Due to its defective chain of narration, the tradition of the Satanic Verses never made it into any of the canonical hadith compilations, though reference and exegesis about the Verses appear in early histories, such as al-Tabari's "Tārīkh ar-Rusul wal-Mulūk" and Ibn Ishaq's "Sīrat Rasūl Allāh" (as reconstructed by Alfred Guillaume).


title: Al-Lat

text: Various legends about her origins were known in medieval Islamic tradition, including one which linked al-Lat's stone with a man who grinds cereal ("al-latt", "the grinder"). The stone was used as a base for the man (a Jew) to grind cereal for the pilgrims of Mecca. While most versions of this legend place the man at Ta'if, other versions place him at either Mecca or 'Ukaz. After the man's death, the stone, or the man in the form of a stone, was deified, according to some legends after the Khuza'a drove the Jurhum out of Mecca, while other legends report it was Amr ibn Luhayy who deified the grinder.


title: Al-Lat

text: Michael Cook noticed the oddity of this story, as it would make al-Lat masculine. Gerald Hawting believes the various legends that link al-Lat with that of "al-latt", "the grinder", was an attempt to relate al-Lat with Mecca. He also compared the legends to Isaf and Na'ila, who according to legend were a man and a woman who fornicated inside the Kaaba and were petrified.


title: Al-Lat

text: F. V. Winnet saw al-Lat as a lunar deity due to association of a crescent with her in 'Ayn esh-Shallāleh and a Lihyanite inscription mentioning the name of Wadd over the title of "'fkl lt". René Dussaud and Gonzague Ryckmans linked her with Venus while others have thought her to be a solar deity. John F. Healey considers al-Uzza actually might have been an epithet of al-Lat before becoming a separate deity in the Meccan pantheon. "Redefining Dionysos" considers she might have been a god of vegetation or a celestial deity of atmospheric phenomena and a sky deity. According to Wellhausen, the Nabataeans believed al-Lat was the mother of Hubal (and hence the mother-in-law of Manāt).


title: Al-Lat

text: It has been hypothesized that Allah was the consort of al-Lat, given that it is typical of deities in that area of the world to have consorts.


title: Al-Lat

text: In Ta'if, al-Lat's primary cult image was a cubic stone, sometimes described as white in color. Waqidi's mention of the 'head' ("ra's") of "ar-Rabba" may imply that the image was perceived in human or animal form, although Julius Wellhausen resisted this implication.


title: Al-Lat

text: Early Palmyrene depictions of al-Lat share iconographical traits with Atargatis (when seated) and Astarte (when standing). The Lion of Al-Lat that once adorned her temple depicts a lion and a gazelle, the lion representing her consort, and the gazelle representing al-Lat's tender and loving traits, as bloodshed was not permitted under penalty of al-Lat's retaliation.


title: Al-Lat

text: Al-Lat was associated with the Greek goddess Athena (and by extension, the Roman Minerva) in Nabataea, Hatra and Palmyra. It seems that her identification with Athena was only a mere change in iconography, and al-Lat's character noticeably softened the warlike Athena in places where she was equated with al-Lat. One Nabataean relief of Athena-al-Lat depicts the goddess bearing both Athena and al-Lat's attributes. The relief depicts the goddess in the style of Athena, but having a Nabataean religion stylized eye-betyl in place of the Gorgoneion.


title: Al-Lat

text: Al-Lat can also be identified with the Babylonian goddess Ishtar, with both of the deities taking part in prosperity, warfare, and later being linked to Aphrodite and Athena. The two's similarities also appeared in their symbols, as both were associated with lions, morning star and crescents. Like Al-Lat, Ishtar's origin was of Semitic roots.


title: Al-Lat

text: The Lion of Al-Lat statue that adorned her temple in Palmyra was damaged by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in 2015 but has been since restored. It now stands in the National Museum of Damascus, but it may be returned to Palmyra in the future.


title: Cody Jinks

text: Meredith Cody Jinks (born August 18, 1980) is an American outlaw country music singer and songwriter. His breakout 2016 album, "I'm Not the Devil", reached No. 4 on the "Billboard" Country Albums chart, while a number of other albums such as "Lifers", "After the Fire", and "The Wanting" reached No. 2 on the same chart.


title: Cody Jinks

text: Cody Jinks is a native of Haltom City, near Fort Worth, Texas, United States, and attended Haltom High School. He started learning to play a few country music riffs on the guitar from his father when he was 16, but soon formed a heavy metal band.


title: Cody Jinks

text: Jinks started out as the lead singer of a thrash metal band from Fort Worth named Unchecked Aggression, initially named Silas, that was active from 1998 to 2003. He also played the lead guitar; the other band members were Gary Burkham on bass who left in 2000 and was replaced by Chris Lewis, Anthony Walker on drums, and Ben Heffley on guitar. They were influenced by Metallica and Pantera. An album, "The Massacre Begins" was released in 2002. Songs they recorded included "Hell Razor" and "Kill Me Again". The band however broke up after a trip to Los Angeles, and Jinks took a year off from music. In around 2005, he started playing country music, the music he grew up with.


title: Cody Jinks

text: Jinks is backed by The Tone Deaf Hippies. He began to release albums in the country genre in 2008. An album titled "30" was released in 2012. He began to develop his own sound in an EP, "Blacksheep", which was released in 2013.


title: Cody Jinks

text: The album was recorded at the Sonic Ranch in Tornillo, Texas, and the album title was named after a small adobe room they recorded the album in. It was released in January 2015 and charted in Billboard's regional Heatseekers charts – No.2 on Heatseekers South Central and No. 8 on Heatseekers Mountain. Jinks toured in support of "Adobe Sessions" as an opener for Sturgill Simpson in 2015.


title: Cody Jinks

text: "I'm Not the Devil" was released on August 12, 2016. The album was recorded at the Sonic Ranch in Tornillo, Texas. It includes a cover of Merle Haggard's "The Way I Am". The title track was written with Ward Davis; the album was almost finished and the album title had already been decided, but it was retitled with the name of the song they wrote. The album debuted at No. 4 on the Top Country Albums chart, selling 11,300 copies in the first week. Jinks supported "I'm Not the Devil" with a co-headlining tour with Whitey Morgan and the 78's in August, September, and October. The album was rated one of the best country albums of 2016 by "Rolling Stone".


title: Cody Jinks

text: Jinks released a cover of Pink Floyd's hit song "Wish You Were Here" in January 2017. He also re-released a remixed and remastered version of his 2010 album "Less Wise", as "Less Wise Modified 2017", with three bonus tracks included.


title: Cody Jinks

text: Jinks released the album "Lifers" on July 27, 2018, via Rounder Records. It was preceded by the lead single "Must Be the Whiskey", which was released on June 15, 2018.


title: Cody Jinks

text: On October 11, 2019, Jinks released the album "After the Fire". The album was independently produced and released by his own label, Late August Records, marking a departure from Rounder Records, with whom he produced 2018's "Lifers". The album was preceded by two singles, "Ain't a Train" and "Think Like You Think". Jinks also promoted the song "William and Wanda", which was written about his late grandparents. For the week of October 26, 2019, the album was No. 2 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart.


title: Cody Jinks

text: One week later, October 18, 2019, Jinks released a second album, "The Wanting". Similar to "After the Fire", the album was independently produced. It was preceded by two singles, "Same Kind of Crazy as Me" and "Which One I Feed".


title: Cody Jinks

text: On October 24, 2019, both albums held the No. 1 and 2 spots for Top Albums on iTunes and Apple Music.


title: Daniel Logan

text: Daniel Logan (born 6 June 1987) is a New Zealand-born American actor. Logan is best known for his portrayal of Boba Fett from the 2002 film "", for which he was nominated for a Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a Feature Film (Supporting Actor) at the age of 15. Logan also voiced Fett in the animated series "".


title: Daniel Logan

text: Logan was born in Auckland on 6 June 1987. He broke into acting when his amateur rugby union team was scouted for a TV commercial, where he was chosen to play the role of a small child who gets knocked into the mud by Auckland rugby star Michael Jones. Picked up by a casting agent, he began to do more commercials and TV appearances, including a recurring role in episodes of the New Zealand-based medical series "Shortland Street" and a guest appearance in the international series "".


title: Daniel Logan

text: Logan is best known for his role as the young Boba Fett in "Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones" when he was 15.


title: Daniel Logan

text: Logan is of Māori descent. In 2017, Logan was granted American citizenship. He now lives in Tustin, California.


title: Newness

text: Newness is a 2017 American romantic drama film directed by Drake Doremus from a screenplay by Ben York Jones. It stars Nicholas Hoult, Laia Costa, Courtney Eaton, Danny Huston and Esther Perel.


title: Newness

text: The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2017. It was released on November 3, 2017, by Lost City.


title: Newness

text: Living in Los Angeles, Martin is a divorced pharmacist while Gabriella is a physical therapy assistant from Spain. One night, the two go out with people they met on a dating app. After both dates end badly, they return to the app and match with each other. Meeting at a bar, they spend the rest of the night talking and getting to know each other. In the morning, they return to Martin's apartment and have sex. Soon after, they begin a relationship and Gabriella moves in with Martin.


title: Newness

text: Visiting Martin's parents, his father tells Gabriella that his mother has dementia. She also sees photos around the house of Martin's ex-wife, Bethany, and of an unknown girl. At home, Gabriella confronts Martin for not mentioning his mother's condition or the girl in his childhood photos. Frustrated, he accuses her of being nosy and reveals he had a sister who died when she was 16. They have a heated argument where Gabriella storms out. The next day, an acquaintance invites Gabriella to a dinner party. Meanwhile, Martin goes clubbing with his co-workers. They both cheat on each other that night but, confess the next morning and then, decide to begin an open relationship.


title: Newness

text: Gabriella's friend, Blake, invites them to a party at her boss, Larry's house. There, they both spend the night flirting with others, Martin with Blake and Gabriella with Larry who is a much older man. They then continue a string of hookups with other people until Gabriella suggests a threesome, to which Martin requests for Blake but is rebuffed by Gabriella because of their friendship. She soon starts spending more time with Larry and his daughter.


title: Newness

text: Meanwhile, Martin discovers his ex-wife recently had a child. Unsettled, he watches old home videos and later goes to a bar where he runs into Blake. After a night of drinking, it is revealed Bethany miscarried when they were together and he has unresolved feelings for her. The conversation makes Blake uncomfortable and she leaves. Martin returns home immediately to talk to Gabriella but she dismisses him. Later, Larry gives Gabriella a necklace, which she hides from Martin and they have sex. The next morning, Gabriella admits she climaxed during sex with Larry, which disturbs Martin as her other dates have never done so.


title: Newness

text: Gabriella discovers Martin's private messages to his ex-wife and he reveals he found the hidden necklace from Larry. The two have another fight and break up. Gabriella then moves in with Larry. Larry reveals that in two weeks, he will be leaving on a 2-year business trip around Europe, inviting Gabriella to join him, so she can visit her family. Meanwhile, Martin meets up with Bethany where she says she is now content with her life and wishes him well before they amicably part ways.


title: Newness

text: At a party hosted by Larry, Gabriella demands him to uninvite Blake to which he refuses and calls her immature. She immediately leaves to a club where she seduces two men before breaking down and texting Martin. The next day, Gabriella tries to apologize to Larry but he belittles her and she leaves him. Later, she returns to Martin's apartment who admits he was never comfortable with an open relationship. The two reconcile and redeclare their love for each other.


title: Newness

text: The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2017. Shortly after, Netflix acquired worldwide SVOD distribution rights for the film. It was released on November 3, 2017.


title: Newness

text: On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 69 percent based on reviews from 16 critics, with an average rating of 6.63/10. On Metacritic, the film has a score of 50 out of 100, based on reviews from 8 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


title: Newness

text: John DeFore of "The Hollywood Reporter" wrote: "As a sympathetic look at two likeable lovers who don't know what's good for them, it's enough to give us a rooting interest — even if we're rooting for the two protagonists to accept the consequences of their mistakes and move on."


title: Newness

text: Owen Gleiberman of "Variety" wrote: "The trouble with Newness — and the reason it's shot in such a clinical vérité fashion — is that it’s a thesis movie, heady and ambitious yet overly thought out."


title: Outlaw Star

text: "Outlaw Star" was originally serialized in the monthly Shueisha magazine "Ultra Jump" between 1996 and 1999 for a total of 21 chapters. Three volumes of collected chapters were published in Japan between August 1997 and January 1999. Although no official English version of the manga exists, it has been published in Chinese, German, Italian, and Spanish. Sunrise produced a 26-episode anime adaptation that was directed by Mitsuru Hongo and aired on the Japanese station TV Tokyo in early 1998. The animated series has since been translated and broadcast worldwide.</onlyinclude> This includes an English version from Bandai Entertainment that received an edited airing on the North American Cartoon Network blocks Toonami in early 2001 and later on Adult Swim in early 2002. "Outlaw Star" has been licensed for release in Australia and New Zealand by Madman Entertainment and in Europe by Beez Entertainment. A few Japanese-exclusive audio CDs and light novels have been spawned since the start of the manga's publication.


title: Outlaw Star

text: Critical reception for "Outlaw Star" has been mostly positive. Many reviewers praised the anime series, particularly its animation style and its balance of dramatic and comedic elements. However, some found fault with the show's pacing, believing that the storyline quality begins to wane after the first few episodes. Sunrise produced a spin-off television series titled , which aired in Japan in 1999. Preliminary plans were made to create a direct sequel in the form of a single-episode (OVA) called "Sword of Wind", but production never began.


title: Outlaw Star

text: "Outlaw Star" is a space opera/space Western set in the fictional universe. During its past, an asteroid containing a material known as "dragonite" crashed in the fictional Arashon desert of northern China. Scientists found that the dragonite contained properties related to "ether", an energy source that would allow spacecraft to travel faster than the speed of light, and thus traverse large distances of the universe in a short time. As new colonies were formed throughout the vast reaches of outer space, pirates, assassins, and outlaws began to threaten humanity's new frontier. To create order, the Earth Federation established four empires: USSA, Einhorn, Piotr, and Tenpa. However, internal power struggles within the factions and conflicts amongst one another become abundant, leading to inevitable lawlessness. The storyline starts shortly after an infamous outlaw named "Hot Ice" Hilda flees from the Kei Pirates, a branch of the Tin'Pa. Hilda has stolen from them a highly-advanced prototype ship dubbed the "XGP15A-II" and a suitcase containing a bio-android called Melfina, the only being capable of interfacing with the ship.


title: Outlaw Star

text: "Outlaw Star" opens on the backwater planet Sentinel III, on which the protagonist Gene Starwind and his 11-year-old business associate and best friend James "Jim" Hawking run a small jack-of-all-trades business. After the two take a job as bodyguards for a disguised Hilda and engage in a brief skirmish with the Kei Pirates, Gene and Jim find themselves the owners of the XGP15A-II (which they nickname the "Outlaw Star") and the caretakers of Melfina, though Hilda is killed in the process. Hilda reveals that the ship's true purpose is to locate the , a place which popular claims say is a holder of immense treasure, knowledge, and power. Throughout the course of the series, the crew grows to include the kimono-garbed contract killer "Twilight" Suzuka and the Ctarl-Ctarl alien catgirl Aisha Clanclan.


title: Outlaw Star

text: The "Outlaw Star" manga series and animated television series are paced differently. The anime episodes often involve Gene and his comrades taking on various jobs or missions to fund their ship's massive maintenance costs. Throughout their travels, the crew often encounters Ronald MacDougall and Harry MacDougall, a pair of bounty hunters responsible for the death of Gene's father. Ronald acts as a rival to Gene, while Harry wishes to form a bond with Melfina, a bio-android like himself, who instead develops strong feelings for Gene. The crew also contends with others that learn of the Outlaw Star's connection to the Galactic Leyline. They are Nguyen Khan, a scientist wishing to gain omniscience through the Leyline; and Lord Hazanko, the leader of the ruthless assassin organization the Anten Seven that seek the Leyline to gain ultimate power. The series climaxes when all parties meet on the physical plane of the Leyline. In the end, Ron MacDougall retreats, saved by a computer copy of his brother Harry (who is killed trying to protect Melfina from Hazanko), Khan is integrated into the Leyline as data, Gene reveals to Melfina that he is in love with her and frees her from the Leyline by making it their shared wish to be together forever, and Hazanko is eventually defeated by the Outlaw Star crewmembers. Once the conflict comes to a close, Gene and his friends return to Sentinel III and go their separate ways, but ultimately reunite to continue their adventures together.


title: Outlaw Star

text: "Outlaw Star" was created by Morning Star Studio. Takehiko Itō was the manga's director, writer, and chief artist. Itō was aided in his duties by Hajime Yatate, a pseudonym of writers at Sunrise. Others who contributed to the work include producer Kenzoh Tomita; starship designer Shoji Kawamori; character concept and imageboard illustrators Yutaka Minowa and Hajime Jinguji; and a team of production designers and assistant artists. "Outlaw Star" takes place in the Toward Stars Era, the same universe as Itō's , a pulp-science fiction manga that was first serialized by Kadokawa Shoten in 1988. Itō has described this earlier work as "something out of boy's dream" and took a much more mature, scientific approach when writing "Outlaw Star". The author also referenced aspects of Chinese culture when creating "Outlaw Star".


title: Outlaw Star

text: The animated television series of "Outlaw Star" was produced by Sunrise and directed by Mitsuru Hongo, whose previous credits include the comedy "Crayon Shin-chan" and the magical girl series "Shamanic Princess". The script was chiefly written by , who wrote about three-quarters of the episodes. Character designs were handled by Hiroyuki Hataike ("Detonator Orgun", "Armored Trooper Votoms") and Takuya Saito. The show's vehicles were designed by and "Macross" and "Gundam" mecha artist Shōji Kawamori, the latter of whom designed the Outlaw Star ship itself. Kow Otani composed the musical score for the "Outlaw Star" anime. The series features the opening theme "Through the Night" written and performed Masahiko Arimachi, and two closing themes, and , both written and performed by Akino Arai. "Through the Night" was chosen for the opening among several candidate songs. Itō and Sunrise agreed that the theme should be one that had not been used in a recent animation and that it should feature male vocals. Arimachi wrote the song to resemble a story, took into account its long-term impact, and felt it fit "Outlaw Star" perfectly.


title: Outlaw Star

text: "Outlaw Star" was serialized in Japan's monthly Shueisha magazine "Ultra Jump" between 1996 and 1999. A total of 21 chapters were published, and 17 of these chapters were compiled among three "tankōbon" (collected volumes), released in Japan from August 1997 to January 1999. Each volume also contains information on the series' universe; detailed spaceship and planet descriptions; and character profiles. A Chinese version of the manga was published in Hong Kong by Sharp Point Press. The series has also been published in German and Italian by Planet Manga. No official English translation of the "Outlaw Star" exists, though Morning Star Studio's official website suggests that a release in the United States was planned at one time.


title: Outlaw Star

text: The 26-episode anime adaptation of "Outlaw Star" began broadcasting in Japan on TV Tokyo from January 8, 1998, and ended on June 25, 1998, though the broadcast began on January 9, as it was in a 1:15 A.M. time slot. The series was licensed by Bandai Entertainment. The English version was produced by ZRO Limit Productions and was aired on the evening Toonami block beginning on January 15, 2001


title: Outlaw Star

text: and ended on February 21, 2001. This broadcast of the show was heavily edited due to its adult content. Profanity was removed, scenes with violence and lewd behavior were cut or toned down, and many scenes containing nudity were altered by digitally inserting clothing onto characters. Episode 23, in which the Outlaw Star crew visits a hot spring planet, was not aired due to nudity and suggestive themes. However, some instances of adult language were not removed for the anime's initial run. Toonami's creative director Sean Akins claimed that Cartoon Network made all of their own edits to their licensed properties during this time period, which they did "in a way that preserves the story". The role of Fred Luo, a recurring homosexual character, was considerably toned down. Cartoon Network had no specific editing policy with regard to gay characters, but that "overt sexuality or implied sexuality of any kind are not allowed". "Outlaw Star" was also aired on the late night Adult Swim block throughout 2002. However, the broadcast was cancelled late in the year and (according to Akins) the network allowed its rights to the anime to expire by 2003. "Outlaw Star" was aired in the United Kingdom on CNX in October 2002.


title: Outlaw Star

text: Bandai released the first 13 episodes of "Outlaw Star" on DVD in Japan on August 25, 1999, and the remaining 13 episodes on November 25, 1999. A Japanese "remastered" DVD boxset containing the entire series was published by Bandai on September 22, 2006. Yet another DVD boxset, "Emotion the Best: Seihō Bukyō Outlaw Star", was released in Japan on September 24, 2010. Bandai released the series in North America in three DVD collections on September 1, 2000, February 14, 2001, and March 6, 2001. The "Outlaw Star Perfect Collection Box Set", a DVD compilation of the entire series, was released on September 10, 2002. The series was again re-released on March 28, 2006, as the "Outlaw Star Complete Collection". "Outlaw Star" additionally received DVD releases in Australia and New Zealand by Madman Entertainment on June 23, 2004, and in the United Kingdom by Beez Entertainment on April 25, 2011. Following the closure of Beez, the show was re-licensed by Anime Limited who would re-release the series in 2013. At Otakon 2013, Funimation and Sunrise had announced that they have rescued "Outlaw Star", along with a handful of other former BEI titles. In October 2014, the entire series was released in Japan for the first time on Blu-Ray, with the set including such features as staff commentary, an art gallery board, book breaks of Gene and Melfina, and various songs.


title: Outlaw Star

text: On March 16, 2017, Funimation announced that "Outlaw Star" would be released in North America in both standard and Collector's Editions on June 13, 2017. Each edition includes a DVD and Blu-ray copy of the series, while the Collector's Edition comes in a metallic chipboard artbox designed after the XGP-15A2 and includes a 100-page artbook. Following Funimation's acquisition of the series, it aired again on Cartoon Network as part of Adult Swim on the Toonami programming block starting on August 20, 2017, and concluding on March 18, 2018. Due to its late night broadcast on Adult Swim, the anime was aired with many fewer edits and included the TV premiere of episode 23.


title: Outlaw Star

text: The opening theme and the two closing themes of "Outlaw Star" were published in Japan in 1998 as CD singles by Victor Entertainment and JVC respectively. Victor Entertainment published a two-volume original soundtrack for the series on March 31, 1998, and June 24, 1998. The CDs consist of a total of 61 background and vocal music tracks. Another two-disc album containing several drama tracks, , was released on August 21, 1998.


title: Outlaw Star

text: A series of light novels based on "Outlaw Star" has been released in Japan by Shueisha under its "Super Dash Bunko" label. , was written by Katsuhiko Tiba (千葉 克彦 "Chiba Katsuhiko"), illustrated by Takuya Saitou (斎藤 卓也 "Saitō Takuya"), and released in two volumes on October 1998 and February 1999. The two books are an adaptation of the anime series, retelling the early events that trigger Gene and company's search for the Galactic Leyline. Another light novel, , was written by Miho Sakai, illustrated by Takuya Saitou, and released as a single volume on July 14, 2000. The novel features an original plot involving the Outlaw Star crew pursuing a serial killer named Billy McAglen in a mining town called El Dorado.


title: Outlaw Star

text: A hardcover guidebook titled was published by Fujimi Shobo as part of its "Dragon Magazine" imprint in November 1998. The guide contains summaries of the manga and anime, character profiles, sketches, animation cels, and interviews with the production staff. In 2001, Bandai released an "Outlaw Star" action figure set as part of a line based on its licensed anime franchises. The set contains the Outlaw Star ship and the characters Gene and Melfina. Asako Nishida, one of the show's animation directors, compiled her contributions to the Toward Stars Era franchise in a 2009 art book.


title: Outlaw Star

text: Critical reception for "Outlaw Star" has been favorable. Eric Luce, Ivevei Upatkoon, and Michael Poirier of EX.org all gave similarly positive reviews for the Japanese manga, Japanese anime, and English anime versions of "Outlaw Star" respectively. Luce was complimentary of the manga's "raw" yet "good and distinctive" artwork, detailed backgrounds, and good placement of characters among one another. However, he was annoyed that all the women have a "disturbing tendency to all have the same silicone stiffened chests" and that characters typically wear mad grins. Upatkoon found the artwork of the anime version to be good, and he particularly enjoyed the opening sequence, but took issue with the occasionally inconsistent character designs. He also appreciated the show's dichotomy between serious and humorous subject matter, shown by the titular ship in its grappler mode and how it communicates with the crew. Poirier found the main protagonist Gene to be the anime's best characterization: "Gene Starwind is a sly, sharp-shooting hero whose success with his gun (and with the ladies) is matched only by his propensity to get space-sick. Imagine that: the star of a space-faring series has to continually worry about vomiting onto his control panel. This sort of ironic comedy can be found throughout "Outlaw Star", creating excellent segues between the fantastic action sequences and the delightful characters." Poirier was intrigued by its other characters as well, and was impressed by the "sharp but fluid" animation style and the spaceship designs. Mania.com's David Owens appreciated the artistic style specifically for the characters, nearly all of which he incidentally found likeable. Jacob Churosh of THEM Anime Reviews additionally noted high animation quality throughout. Although he proclaimed the vehicle designs of "Outlaw Star" to be superb, "Protoculture Addicts" writer Martin Ouellette judged the animation and character designs to be "less lucky" and lacking in "the special aura" of Sunrise's acclaimed 1998 series "Cowboy Bebop". Jonathan Clements and Helen McCarthy, authors of "" agreeably denoted "Outlaw Star" as "no competition for "Cowboy Bebop" in terms of style, content, or execution".


title: Outlaw Star

text: Critical reception for the plot of "Outlaw Star" has been mixed. Churosh found that though the series features many clichés of 1990's science fiction anime, "Outlaw Star" manages to transcend them as well. "Maybe it doesn't go anywhere that other series haven't already been", the reviewer stated. "But boy, does it have a damn good time getting there." Upatkoon observed that the plot "[takes] off with a bang at the beginning" and then begins to drag. Keith Dawe of "Animerica" also noted this about the anime's pacing, stating that even as the first few episodes do well to begin the narrative, the show's writers rely too heavily on inertia to advance it. He went on to remark that the series suffers from "unfocused scripting" and that "one has to endure the occasional cheesy episode to reap the rewards of a show that is clever, pragmatic and amusing". However, Dawe did regard the English script writing and voice acting, and called the over-the-top introductory narration for each episode a reminder that the show should be enjoyed for what it was. Owens commented that the plot will not seem very original, but that it does seem to have direction, despite said direction not being very clear.


title: Outlaw Star

text: "Outlaw Star" has received very modest commercial success and miscellaneous viewer recognition. The initial shipment of the manga's first volume sold out nationwide in Japan. According to Morning Star Studio's English website, the "Outlaw Star" manga has sold 250,000 copies, though the anime series was less successful. The "Outlaw Star" television series was aired in Japan during a late night timeslot because it was not likely to obtain more than one or two percent viewership like prime time shows. "Outlaw Star" was voted as the 20th best anime of 1999 in the Japanese "Animage" Anime Grand Prix. During a summer 2001 online poll to determine which show would return to Toonami, "Outlaw Star" received approximately two-thirds of the more than 150,000 votes cast. In August 2002, Cartoon Network announced that the late-night Adult Swim "Outlaw Star" received a Nielsen rating of 0.9, up 125 percent for that same time slot and a delivery of 414,000, up 135 percent for the 18–34 age range. The "Outlaw Star Complete Collection" was the 21st best-selling anime DVD in the United States in 2006 and the 25th in 2007. In 2012, Bandai's North American division, Bandai Entertainment, listed "Outlaw Star" as one of its top five most successful anime properties. Josh Pool of IGN listed "Outlaw Star" at number six on its "Top Ten Anime Themes and Soundtracks of All-Time", noting a stark polarity between the opening and ending themes.


title: Outlaw Star

text: In 1999, Sunrise produced a spin-off television series titled . "Outlaw Star" and "Angel Links" take place in the same universe; characters from both series appeared in an episode of "Outlaw Star", but the two have little else in relation. Morning Star Studio also drafted a proposed sequel to "Outlaw Star" in the form of a single-episode OVA special titled "Outlaw Star 2: Sword of Wind" on its official website with character designs and a plot outline. Set three years after the events of "Outlaw Star", it was to continue the adventures of Gene Starwind in his new starship named "Sword of Wind". Due to the lack of the franchise's popularity in Japan and the busy schedule of animation director Mitsuru Hongo, no production date was set. In October 2001, Takehiko Itō commented that his team only had static, preliminary plans for the sequel series and that they could perhaps continue the manga series in the future.


title: 2006–07 NBA season

text: The 2006–07 NBA season was the 61st season of the National Basketball Association. The San Antonio Spurs were crowned the champions after sweeping the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals.


title: 2006–07 NBA season

text: Teams in bold advanced to the next round. The numbers to the left of each team indicate the team's seeding in its conference, and the numbers to the right indicate the number of games the team won in that round. The division champions are marked by an asterisk. Home court advantage does not necessarily belong to the higher-seeded team, but instead the team with the better regular season record; teams enjoying the home advantage are shown in italics


title: Joan of Arcadia

text: Joan of Arcadia is an American fantasy family drama television series telling the story of teenager Joan Girardi (Amber Tamblyn), who sees and speaks with God and performs tasks she is given. The series originally aired on Fridays on CBS for two seasons, from September 26, 2003, to April 22, 2005.


title: Joan of Arcadia

text: The show was praised by critics and won the Humanitas Prize and the People's Choice Award. It was also nominated for an Emmy Award in its first season for Outstanding Drama Series. The title alludes to Joan of Arc and the show takes place in the fictional city of Arcadia, Maryland.


title: Joan of Arcadia

text: Joan Girardi is a 16-year-old teenager living in the fictional town of Arcadia in Maryland. She is the middle child of her family which includes elder brother Kevin, a former jock who has been left a paraplegic after a car accident, and younger brother Luke, a brainy nerd. Joan's father Will is the town's police chief. In the pilot episode, God appears to Joan and reminds her that she promised to do anything he wanted if he would let Kevin survive the car crash. He appears to Joan in the form of various people including small children, teenage boys, elderly ladies, transients, or passersby. Joan is asked by God to perform tasks that often appear to be trivial or inconsequential—such as enrolling in an AP Chemistry class or building a boat—but always end up positively improving a larger situation.


title: Joan of Arcadia

text: These plot lines are interwoven with more realistic matters, such as the relationships between the Girardi family. Various storylines that spanned multiple episodes dealt with the consequences of Kevin's accident, Will's job as a police officer, mother Helen's career as an art teacher, and Luke's aspirations to be a scientist.


title: Joan of Arcadia

text: God is portrayed with a very human personality, and does not appear to favor any one particular religion, saying there are "different ways to share the same truth." He quotes Bob Dylan, Emily Dickinson and the Beatles rather than any scripture or verses. The series examines God from a more metaphysical standpoint instead of a religious perspective.


title: Joan of Arcadia

text: God is also depicted as having a sharp sense of humor. In the episode "Touch Move", He tells Joan that He has to send her "down there". When Joan is worried He means Hell, He laughs and clarifies He meant the school basement. In another instance, He appears in the form of a woman exercising and says, "Why do people always try and discern my deeper meanings? This is the kind of thinking that starts wars."


title: Joan of Arcadia

text: The opening credits roll with the song "One of Us" written by Eric Bazilian and performed by Joan Osborne. It was a hit single for Osborne in the United States from her 1995 album "Relish":


title: Joan of Arcadia

text: Osborne re-recorded the song specifically for the show. To fit the lyrics of the song, Joan first meets God as a teenage boy riding to school on the bus with her (although they don't actually speak to each other at the time).


title: Joan of Arcadia

text: The idea for "Joan of Arcadia" took shape during Barbara Hall’s time as a producer on "Chicago Hope" in the mid-1990s and evolved while she was an executive producer on CBS drama "Judging Amy". Hall said "the concept meshed her fascination with Joan of Arc...her longtime interest in physics and metaphysics, and her desire to use drama and comedy to explore the existence of God in a 'scary, not benign universe.'" Hall added, "I started thinking, what would it look like if God tried to contact a teenager today? I made the decision that God would have to come to a teenage girl visually. Joan of Arc heard voices, but kids today aren’t going to hear voices because you’d have to get the iPods off their heads.”


title: Joan of Arcadia

text: When Hall pitched the series to CBS, she and executives agreed they were not looking to make another "Touched by an Angel". Among the differences between the former show and "Joan" is that the character of Joan is not religious and "the show’s tone is grittier.”


title: Joan of Arcadia

text: CBS greenlit the show in 2002 "when public discourse about spirituality seemed more gentle: post-9/11 prayer services rather than heated debates over "'The Passion of the Christ".'" The acquisition was made as part of an effort by the network, which was known for its adult-skewing shows, to appeal to younger viewers. Hall developed the series with Hart Hanson and Jim Hayman, her "Judging Amy" production associates.


title: Joan of Arcadia

text: As a guideline for the series’ writing staff, Hall wrote a list of "Ten Commandments of "Joan of Arcadia"", which enumerated what God can and cannot do in the show. These guidelines included points like, "God can never identify one religion as being right," "The job of every human being is to fulfill his or her true nature," "God's purpose for talking to Joan, and to everyone, is to get her (us) to recognize the interconnectedness of all things," and "the exact nature of God is a mystery, and the mystery can never be solved."


title: Joan of Arcadia

text: Though Arcadia itself is set in Maryland, the series was mostly filmed at various Los Angeles locations. Establishing shots of Arcadia's skyline and other outdoor scenes were filmed in the city of Wilmington, Delaware. Scenes at the fictional Arcadia High School were filmed at El Segundo High School in California.


title: Joan of Arcadia

text: "Joan of Arcadia" received widespread acclaim from critics. On review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, the first season has a rating of 92% based on 25 critics’ reviews, while Season 2 has a rating of 100% based on 5 reviews.


title: Joan of Arcadia

text: Greg Braxton of the "Los Angeles Times" said "the series is a veritable squeezebox of genres...[including] a family drama, a coming-of-age saga of a teenager, a high school drama and a gritty police show, all tossed together with a mix of fantasy and religion.” Robert Lloyd, also of the "LA Times", said "the real miracle here is how deftly the show avoids the soggy cliches of redemption so many of its forerunners have embraced." Rob Owen of the "Pittsburgh Post-Gazette" called it "the best new broadcast series of the season," and the "Associated Press" said the show has an "intelligent quirkiness."


title: Joan of Arcadia

text: James Poniewozik of "Time" wrote, "[The series'] marriage of the sacred and the mundane has made "Arcadia" the rare TV show about spirituality to win over both audiences and critics. Whereas its predecessors have been either panned but popular marshmallow halos ("Highway to Heaven") or controversial, swiftly canceled critical darlings ("Nothing Sacred"), "Arcadia" has avoided, Goldilocks-style, going too soft or too hard.” He also noted that “by separating God from religion, "Arcadia" takes away what makes faith divisive—a reasonable goal for a major-network series that needs to draw a broad audience to thrive."


title: Joan of Arcadia

text: Melanie McFarland of the "Seattle Post-Intelligencer" said, "Only a few episodes into its season, "'Joan"' has proved deserving of its growing reputation. It's alive with everything television so desperately lacks: genuine heart, wit devoid of crassness, dramatic situations mirroring so many of our realities that the Girardis sometimes feel more like neighbors than a television family.” Nancy Franklin of "The New Yorker" opined the show is "both thought through and open-ended, and it should prove especially rewarding for those who think that belief has more to do with asking questions than with getting answers."


title: Joan of Arcadia

text: Criticism of the series focused on the police procedural plots involving Will Girardi, which many said did not tonally fit with the show. Devin Gordon of "Newsweek" said that the series' cop drama and its fantasy elements felt like “two shows stitched awkwardly together." Tom Shales of "The Washington Post" said "the premiere suggests viewers are being asked to wade heart-deep into a drearily portentous muddle.”


title: Joan of Arcadia

text: Though critics were divided about the show’s tone and plot elements, there was across the board praise for Amber Tamblyn. Poniewozik wrote, "If God, however, is simply asking Joan to do what all teens have to do—develop an identity—"Arcadia" works because Tamblyn reminds us so well how tough that job is. Joan may talk to God, but she has to do the work her own, mortal self, from accepting life's unfairness to finding her niche at school...Unlike most prime-time teens, Joan is neither a babe nor a brain, neither a Goody Two-Shoes nor a sarcastic rebel. She's the most extraordinarily average teen to crop up on a TV show in years—yet after a few episodes, you realize you would watch her story even if God stopped showing up.” Praise was also given for Mary Steenburgen and Jason Ritter, the latter of whom Robert Bianco of "USA Today" wrote, "Indeed, the often painfully realistic treatment of the familial anguish that swirls around Kevin (Ritter), who lost the use of his legs in an auto accident, is one of the show's greatest achievements.”


title: Joan of Arcadia

text: Critics have written retrospectively about the series. In 2015, Margaret Lyons of "Vulture" wrote, "Somehow "Joan of Arcadia" is one of vanishingly few shows to bring up two extremely common questions that shape the human condition: 'Is there a God?' and 'Am I a good person?' The answer to both is, it depends whom you ask. And you can only ask so many people in two seasons.”


title: Joan of Arcadia

text: Writing for "IndieWire", Alison Willmore said "the show balanced [Joan's] missions with the mistakes a well-meaning but impulsive high school girl might make, allowing the show to also be a very fine portrait of life at a certain age."


title: Joan of Arcadia

text: "Joan of Arcadia" debuted on the heels of "Touched by an Angel", which had ended its nine-year run in April 2003. An estimated 12 million viewers tuned into the series premiere in September 2003. Though "Joan" was broadcast in the 8 p.m. time slot on Friday nights, a traditionally quiet night for TV, it became a modest hit for CBS and averaged 10.1 million viewers during its first season. The show regularly drew in young adult viewers for its time slot, which led to NBC changing the schedule for the competing comedy-drama series, "Miss Match".


title: Joan of Arcadia

text: The following year, "viewership sank to 8 million, according to Nielsen Media Research," despite continued critical acclaim which included three Emmy nominations. Partly at the request of the network, Barbara Hall introduced the character of Ryan, a menacing figure and amoral "tempter" (with The Rolling Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil" as his musical motif) seemingly destined to cause a significant amount of conflict for the show's characters.


title: Joan of Arcadia

text: While "Joan of Arcadia" was one of the highest-rated new shows of the 2003–2004 television season, its ratings declined in the second season and it was cancelled by CBS on May 18, 2005. Fan campaigns were created in response in an effort to have the show reinstated. A promotional campaign by CBS sent street teams into cities to do good deeds, such as buying a cold person a cup of coffee. Only two episodes from the second season, "No Future" and "The Rise and Fall of Joan Girardi", were repeated by CBS, with remaining reruns pulled from the schedule. The cancellation meant the show ended on a cliffhanger, with the Ryan character potentially facing off against Joan. "Ghost Whisperer" took over the show's Friday time slot in September 2005.


title: Joan of Arcadia

text: After the show's cancellation, props such as pieces of Adam's artwork and Joan's signature messenger bag and costume pieces belonging to cast members were sold on eBay.


title: Joan of Arcadia

text: CBS Home Entertainment (distributed by Paramount) released both seasons on DVD in Region 1 in 2005 and 2006.


title: Joan of Arcadia

text: On June 6, 2017, CBS Home Entertainment (distributed by Paramount) released "Joan of Arcadia: The Complete Series" on DVD in Region 1.


title: Melissanthi Mahut

text: Melissanthi Mahut (; born September 20, 1988) is a Canadian and Greek actress. She is known for her role as Kassandra in "Assassin's Creed Odyssey", and for playing Mita Xenakis in the Netflix film "".


title: Melissanthi Mahut

text: Mahut was born in Toronto, Canada and raised in Greece. Her father is a Quebecois Canadian, while her mother is Greek. She attended the National Theatre of Greece Drama School and later went on to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). She graduated at RADA with a BA degree in Acting in 2012.


title: Melissanthi Mahut

text: Mahut’s career started in Greece where she starred in theatre productions as well as in short and feature films such as Mythopathy ("Νοτιάς"), The Taste of Love ("Η Γεύση της Αγάπης").


title: Melissanthi Mahut

text: In 2017 she landed the role of Kassandra in the video game "Assassin's Creed Odyssey" for which she received widespread critical acclaim as well as global recognition for her performance including a nomination for the BAFTA Game Awards and The Game Awards.


title: Melissanthi Mahut

text: In 2020 she appeared as the Greek Eurovision contestant Mita Xenakis in the Netflix film "" alongside Will Ferrell, Rachel McAdams and Dan Stevens. The film was scheduled for a May 2020 release, but due to COVID-19 was postponed to June 26. In 2020 Mahut voiced the character of Athena in the video game "Immortals Fenyx Rising". She had a recurring role in two parts of the Greek anthology series "The Other Me (Έτερος Εγώ)" based on the 2016 Greek crime thriller of the same name. In 2022 she starred in a standalone episode of the Greek TV series "Kart Posta"l.


title: Melissanthi Mahut

text: In 2022, Mahut played Calliope in the eleventh episode of the Netflix production of Neil Gaiman's "The Sandman".


title: Actor–network theory

text: Actor–network theory (ANT) is a theoretical and methodological approach to social theory where everything in the social and natural worlds exists in constantly shifting networks of relationships. It posits that nothing exists outside those relationships. All the factors involved in a social situation are on the same level, and thus there are no external social forces beyond what and how the network participants interact at present. Thus, objects, ideas, processes, and any other relevant factors are seen as just as important in creating social situations as humans.


title: Actor–network theory

text: ANT holds that social forces do not exist in themselves, and therefore cannot be used to explain social phenomena. Instead, strictly empirical analysis should be undertaken to "describe" rather than "explain" social activity. Only after this can one introduce the concept of social forces, and only as an abstract theoretical concept, not something which genuinely exists in the world.


title: Actor–network theory

text: Although it is best known for its controversial insistence on the capacity of nonhumans to act or participate in systems or networks or both, ANT is also associated with forceful critiques of conventional and critical sociology. Developed by science and technology studies (STS) scholars Michel Callon, Madeleine Akrich and Bruno Latour, the sociologist John Law, and others, it can more technically be described as a "material-semiotic" method. This means that it maps relations that are simultaneously material (between things) and semiotic (between concepts). It assumes that many relations are both material and semiotic.


title: Actor–network theory

text: The theory demonstrates that everything in the social and natural worlds, human and nonhuman, interacts in shifting networks of relationships without any other elements out of the networks. ANT challenges many traditional approaches by defining nonhuman as actors equal to human. This claim provides a new perspective when applying the theory in practice.


title: Actor–network theory

text: Broadly speaking, ANT is a constructivist approach in that it avoids essentialist explanations of events or innovations (i.e. ANT explains a successful theory by understanding the combinations and interactions of elements that make it successful, rather than saying it is true and the others are false). Likewise, it is not a cohesive theory in itself. Rather, ANT functions as a strategy that assists people in being sensitive to terms and the often unexplored assumptions underlying them. It is distinguished from many other STS and sociological network theories for its distinct material-semiotic approach.


title: Actor–network theory

text: ANT was first developed at the Centre de Sociologie de l'Innovation (CSI) of the École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris in the early 1980s by staff (Michel Callon, Madeleine Akrich, Bruno Latour) and visitors (including John Law). The 1984 book co-authored by John Law and fellow-sociologist Peter Lodge ("Science for Social Scientists"; London: Macmillan Press Ltd.) is a good example of early explorations of how the growth and structure of knowledge could be analyzed and interpreted through the interactions of actors and networks. Initially created in an attempt to understand processes of innovation and knowledge-creation in science and technology, the approach drew on existing work in STS, on studies of large technological systems, and on a range of French intellectual resources including the semiotics of Algirdas Julien Greimas, the writing of philosopher Michel Serres, and the Annales School of history.


title: Actor–network theory

text: ANT appears to reflect many of the preoccupations of French post-structuralism, and in particular a concern with non-foundational and multiple material-semiotic relations. At the same time, it was much more firmly embedded in English-language academic traditions than most post-structuralist-influenced approaches. Its grounding in (predominantly English) science and technology studies was reflected in an intense commitment to the development of theory through qualitative empirical case-studies. Its links with largely US-originated work on large technical systems were reflected in its willingness to analyse large scale technological developments in an even-handed manner to include political, organizational, legal, technical and scientific factors.


title: Actor–network theory

text: Many of the characteristic ANT tools (including the notions of translation, generalized symmetry and the "heterogeneous network"), together with a scientometric tool for mapping innovations in science and technology ("co-word analysis") were initially developed during the 1980s, predominantly in and around the CSI. The "state of the art" of ANT in the late 1980s is well-described in Latour's 1987 text, "".


title: Actor–network theory

text: From about 1990 onwards, ANT started to become popular as a tool for analysis in a range of fields beyond STS. It was picked up and developed by authors in parts of organizational analysis, informatics, health studies, geography, sociology, anthropology, archaeology, feminist studies, technical communication, and economics.


title: Actor–network theory

text: , ANT is a widespread, if controversial, range of material-semiotic approaches for the analysis of heterogeneous relations. In part because of its popularity, it is interpreted and used in a wide range of alternative and sometimes incompatible ways. There is no orthodoxy in current ANT, and different authors use the approach in substantially different ways. Some authors talk of "after-ANT" to refer to "successor projects" blending together different problem-focuses with those of ANT.


title: Actor–network theory

text: An actor (actant) is something that acts or to which activity is granted by others. It implies no motivation of human individual actors nor of humans in general. An actant can literally be anything provided it is granted to be the source of action. In another word, actors, in this circumstance, is considered as any entity that does things. For example, in the "Pasteur Network", microorganisms are not inert, they cause unsterilized materials to ferment while leaving behind sterilized materials not affected. If they took other actions, that is, if they did not cooperate with Pasteur — if they did not take action (at least according to Pasteur’s intentions)-then Pasteur’s story may be a bit different. It is in this sense that Latour can refer to microorganisms as actors.


title: Actor–network theory

text: Under the framework of ANT, the principle of generalized symmetry requires all entities must be described in the same terms before a network is considered. Any differences between entities are generated in the network of relations, and do not exist before any network is applied.


title: Actor–network theory

text: Traditionally, nonhuman entities are creatures including plants, animals, geology, and natural forces, as well as a collective human making of arts, languages. In ANT, nonhuman covers multiple entities including things, objects, animals, natural phenomena, material structures, transportation devices, texts, and economic goods. But nonhuman actors do not cover entities such as humans, supernatural begins, and other symbolic objects in nature.


title: Actor–network theory

text: As the term implies, the actor-network is the central concept in ANT. The term "network" is somewhat problematic in that it, as Latour notes, has a number of unwanted connotations. Firstly, it implies that what is described takes the shape of a network, which is not necessarily the case. Secondly, it implies "transportation without deformation," which, in ANT, is not possible since any actor-network involves a vast number of translations. Latour, however, still contends that network is a fitting term to use, because "it has no a priori order relation; it is not tied to the axiological myth of a top and of a bottom of society; it makes absolutely no assumption whether a specific locus is macro- or micro- and does not modify the tools to study the element 'a' or the element 'b'." This use of the term "network" is very similar to Deleuze and Guattari's rhizomes; Latour even remarks tongue in cheek that he would have no objection to renaming ANT "actant-rhizome ontology" if it only had sounded better, which hints at Latour's uneasiness with the word "theory".


title: Actor–network theory

text: Actor–network theory tries to explain how material–semiotic networks come together to act as a whole; the clusters of actors involved in creating meaning are both material and semiotic. As a part of this it may look at explicit strategies for relating different elements together into a network so that they form an apparently coherent whole. These networks are potentially transient, existing in a constant making and re-making. This means that relations need to be repeatedly "performed" or the network will dissolve. They also assume that networks of relations are not intrinsically coherent, and may indeed contain conflicts. Social relations, in other words, are only ever in process, and must be performed continuously.


title: Actor–network theory

text: The Pasteur story that was mentioned above introduced the patterned network of diverse materials, which is called the idea of 'heterogenous networks'. The basic idea of patterned network is that human is not the only factor or contributor in the society, or in any social activities and networks. Thus, the network composes machines, animals, things, and any other objects. For those nonhuman actors, it might be hard for people to imagine their roles in the network. For example, if two person, Jacob and Mike, are speaking through texts. Within the current technology, they are able to communicate with each other without seeing each other in person. Therefore, when typing or writing, the communication is basically not mediated by any of them, but by the network of objects, like the paper, the computer.


title: Actor–network theory

text: If taken to its logical conclusion, then, nearly any actor can be considered merely a sum of other, smaller actors. A car is an example of a complex system. It contains many electronic and mechanical components, all of which are essentially hidden from view to the driver, who simply deals with the car as a single object. This effect is known as "punctualisation", and is similar to the idea of encapsulation in object-oriented programming.


title: Actor–network theory

text: When an actor network breaks down, the punctualisation effect tends to cease as well. In the automobile example above, a non-working engine would cause the driver to become aware of the car as a collection of parts rather than just a vehicle capable of transporting him or her from place to place. This can also occur when elements of a network act contrarily to the network as a whole. In his book "Pandora's Hope", Latour likens depunctualization to the opening of a black box. When closed, the box is perceived simply as a box, although when it is opened all elements inside it become visible.


title: Actor–network theory

text: Central to ANT is the concept of translation which is sometimes referred to as sociology of translation, in which innovators attempt to create a "forum", a central network in which all the actors agree that the network is worth building and defending. In his widely debated 1986 study of how marine biologists try to restock the St Brieuc Bay in order to produce more scallops, Michel Callon has defined 4 moments of translation: problematization, interessement, enrollment and mobilisation of allies. Also important to the notion is the role of network objects in helping to smooth out the translation process by creating equivalencies between what would otherwise be very challenging people, organizations or conditions to mesh together. Bruno Latour spoke about this particular task of objects in his work "Reassembling the Social".


title: Actor–network theory

text: Problematization: The researchers attempted to make themselves important to the other players in the drama by identifying their nature and issues, then claiming that they could be remedied if the actors negotiated the 'obligatory passage point' of the researchers' study program.


title: Actor–network theory

text: Interessement: A series of procedures used by the researchers to bind the other actors to the parts that had been assigned to them in that program.


title: Actor–network theory

text: Enrollment: A collection of tactics used by the researchers to define and connect the numerous roles they had assigned to others.


title: Actor–network theory

text: Mobilisation: The researchers utilized a series of approaches to ensure that ostensible spokespeople for various key collectivities were appropriately able to represent those collectivities and were not deceived by the latter.


title: Actor–network theory

text: The quasi-object is an entity characterized by the way it is connective and weaves networks, social collectives, and associations (such as a basketball, language, or bread).


title: Actor–network theory

text: In the above examples, "social order" and "functioning car" come into being through the successful interactions of their respective actor-networks, and actor-network theory refers to these creations as "tokens" or "quasi-objects" which are passed between actors within the network.


title: Actor–network theory

text: As the token is increasingly transmitted or passed through the network, it becomes increasingly punctualized and also increasingly reified. When the token is decreasingly transmitted, or when an actor fails to transmit the token (e.g., the oil pump breaks), punctualization and reification are decreased as well.


title: Actor–network theory

text: Although it is called a "theory", ANT does not usually explain "why" a network takes the form that it does. Rather, ANT is a way of thoroughly exploring the relational ties within a network (which can be a multitude of different things). As Latour notes, "explanation does not follow from description; it is description taken that much further." It is not, in other words, a theory "of" anything, but rather a method, or a "how-to book" as Latour puts it.


title: Actor–network theory

text: The approach is related to other versions of material-semiotics (notably the work of philosophers Gilles Deleuze, Michel Foucault, and feminist scholar Donna Haraway). It can also be seen as a way of being faithful to the insights of ethnomethodology and its detailed descriptions of how common activities, habits and procedures sustain themselves. Similarities between ANT and symbolic interactionist approaches such as the newer forms of grounded theory like situational analysis, exist, although Latour objects to such a comparison.


title: Actor–network theory

text: Although ANT is mostly associated with studies of science and technology and with the sociology of science, it has been making steady progress in other fields of sociology as well. ANT is adamantly empirical, and as such yields useful insights and tools for sociological inquiry in general. ANT has been deployed in studies of identity and subjectivity, urban transportation systems, and passion and addiction. It also makes steady progress in political and historical sociology.


title: Actor–network theory

text: The distinction between intermediaries and mediators is key to ANT sociology. Intermediaries are entities which make no difference (to some interesting state of affairs which we are studying) and so can be ignored. They transport the force of some other entity more or less without transformation and so are fairly uninteresting. Mediators are entities which multiply difference and so should be the object of study. Their outputs cannot be predicted by their inputs. From an ANT point of view sociology has tended to treat too much of the world as intermediaries.