title: Il trovatore

text: Enrico Caruso once said that all it takes for a successful performance of "Il trovatore" is the four greatest singers in the world. On many occasions, this opera and its music have been featured in various forms of popular culture and entertainment. Scenes of comic chaos play out over a performance of "Il trovatore" in the Marx Brothers film "A Night at the Opera" (including a quotation, in the middle of the Act I Overture, of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game"). Luchino Visconti used a performance of "Il trovatore" at La Fenice opera house for the opening sequence of his 1954 film "Senso". As Manrico sings his battle cry in "Di quella pira", the performance is interrupted by the answering cries of Italian nationalists on the upper balcony who shower the stalls area below with patriotic leaflets. In "Italian Film in the Light of Neorealism", Millicent Marcus proposes that Visconti used this operatic paradigm throughout "Senso", with parallels between the opera's protagonists, Manrico and Leonora, and the film's protagonists, Ussoni and Livia. A staging of Act 1, Scene 2 of "Il trovatore" is featured in Bernardo Bertolucci's 1979 film "La Luna". Music from the opera was featured on Kijiji in Canada for commercials.


title: Il trovatore

text: While the story and most of the characters are fictitious, it is set towards the end of a real civil war in Aragon. Following the death of King Martin of Aragon in 1410, no fewer than six candidates staked a claim for the throne. A political meeting, the Compromise of Caspe, found in favour of Martin's sororal nephew Ferdinand. Count James II of Urgell, King Martin's brother-in-law and the closest relative through purely patrilineal line of descent, refused to accept the decision of the Compromise, believing (with some justification) that Martin had intended to adopt him as the heir by appointing him Governor-General after the death of his own son Martin the Younger, and rebelled. A third candidate was Frederic, Count of Luna, bastard son of Martin the Younger, whose legitimization had been sought from the Pope unsuccessfully. As part of the compromise for withdrawing his own claim in favour of Ferdinand, Frederic was granted the County of Luna, one of the lesser titles that his father had held.


title: Il trovatore

text: While neither of the two princes who actually took part in the war appears in the operaneither is even referred to by name, and only Urgell is referred to by his titlethe fortunes of their followers mirror those of their princes. Thus, with his military success, Ferdinand's side has the upper hand in the war and is effectively the Royalist party, with the backing of much of the nobility and the Dowager Queen, and he also has Di Luna as his chief henchman (Luna's own connection to the royal family is not mentioned, being not necessary to the drama): while Urgel, losing the war and on the back foot, is forced to recruit among outlaws and the dispossessed, effectively taking the part of a rebel despite having some legal right to his case. Thus the fact that the forces of Urgel, in the opera as in real life, lose every pitched battle: and on the single occasion that they capture a castle (named in the opera as "Castellor", a fairly generic name for a castle, there being many Castellars in the region), it proves a handicap to them because their only hope in battle lies in speed, mobility, surprise and ambush, all of which are lost when defending a fortress.


title: Il trovatore

text: Thus it is that the fictitious troubadour Manrico can gain his rags-to-riches background, having risen from the obscurity of a Biscayan gypsy camp to become Urgel's chief general, a knight and a master swordsman in his own right, good enough to defeat Di Luna himself in a personal duel, or win a knightly tournament: only to lose it again on the military battlefield, where the odds are perpetually against him, and he is damned as an outlaw even before the opera begins, for no deed of his own but because his master is the rebel. And yet he gets to be a heroic, popular outlaw, who might just escape with his life in return for a vow of future loyalty, if put on trial in front of the Prince himself: a chance that Luna does not want to risk, given that his rivalry with Manrico is personal as well as political. Hence the challenge to the duel over the personal rivalry, instead of calling the guards and making the arrest political, in Act 1: and hence also the decision to execute without trial in Act 4 even though Luna knows he is abusing his position. Leonora and Azucena are, of course, as fictitious as Manrico, as is the story's conceit that the former Count of Luna had not one but two sons.


title: Socialism of the 21st century

text: Socialism of the 21st century (; ; ) is an interpretation of socialist principles first advocated by German sociologist and political analyst Heinz Dieterich and taken up by a number of Latin American leaders. Dieterich argued in 1996 that both free-market industrial capitalism and 20th-century socialism have failed to solve urgent problems of humanity such as poverty, hunger, exploitation of labour, economic oppression, sexism, racism, the destruction of natural resources and the absence of true democracy. Socialism of the 21st century has democratic socialist elements, but it also resembles Marxist revisionism.


title: Socialism of the 21st century

text: Leaders who have advocated for this form of socialism include Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, Rafael Correa of Ecuador, Evo Morales of Bolivia, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil and Michelle Bachelet of Chile. Because of the local unique historical conditions, socialism of the 21st century is often contrasted with previous applications of socialism in other countries, with a major difference being the effort towards a more effective economic planning process.


title: Socialism of the 21st century

text: After a series of structural adjustment loans and debt restructuring led by the International Monetary Fund in the late 20th century, Latin America experienced a significant increase in inequality. Between 1990 and 1999, the Gini coefficient, a measure of inequality in the income or wealth distribution, rose in almost every Latin American country. Volatile prices and inflation led to dissatisfaction. In 2000, only 37% of Latin Americans were satisfied with their democracies (20 points less than Europeans and 10 points less than sub-Saharan Africans). In this context, a wave of left-leaning socio-political movements, called the Pink tide, on behalf of indigenous rights, "cocaleros", labor rights, women's rights, land rights and educational reform emerged to eventually provide momentum for the election of socialist leaders.


title: Socialism of the 21st century

text: Socialism of the 21st century draws on indigenous traditions of communal governance and previous Latin America socialist and communist movements, including those of Salvador Allende, Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and the Sandinista National Liberation Front.


title: Socialism of the 21st century

text: According to Dieterich, this form of socialism is revolutionary in that the existing society is altered to be qualitatively different, but the process itself should be gradual and non-violent, instead utilising democracy to secure power, education, scientific knowledge about society and international cooperation. Dieterich suggests the construction of four basic institutions within the new reality of post-capitalist civilisation:


title: Socialism of the 21st century

text: The model of socialism of the 21st century encourages economic and political integration among nations in Latin America and the Caribbean. This is often accompanied with opposition to North American influence. Regional organizations like ALBA and CELAC promote cooperation with Latin America and exclude North American countries. ALBA is most explicitly related to socialism of the 21st century while other organizations focus on economic integration, ALBA promotes social, political and economic integration among countries that subscribe to democratic socialism. Its creation was announced in direct opposition to George W. Bush's attempts to establish a Free Trade Area of the Americas that included the United States. In 2008, ALBA introduced a monetary union using the SUCRE as its regional currency.


title: Socialism of the 21st century

text: Former Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez initiated a process of social reforms in Venezuela known as the Bolivarian Revolution. This approach was more heavily influenced by the theories of István Mészáros, Michael Lebowitz and Marta Harnecker (who was Chávez's adviser between 2004 and 2011) than by those of Heinz Dieterich. The process draws its name from Latin American liberator Simón Bolívar and is a contemporary example of Bolivarianism.


title: Socialism of the 21st century

text: Often translated to good living or living well, the concept of "buen vivir" is related to the movement for indigenous rights and rights of nature. It focuses on the living sustainably as the member of a community that includes both human beings and Nature. "Buen vivir" is enshrined in 2008 Constitution of Ecuador as an alternative to neoliberal development. The constitution outlines a set of rights, one of which is the rights of nature. In line with the assertion of these rights, "buen vivir" seeks to change the relationship between nature and humans to a more bio-pluralistic view, eliminating the separation between nature and society. This approach has been applied to the Yasuní-ITT Initiative. "Buen vivir" is sometimes conceptualised as collaborative consumption in a sharing economy and the term is used to look at the world in way sharply differentiated from natural, social or human capital.


title: Socialism of the 21st century

text: Critics claim that socialism of the 21st century in Latin America acts as a façade for authoritarianism. The charisma of figures like Hugo Chávez and mottoes like "Country, Socialism, or Death!" have drawn comparisons to the Latin American dictators and "caudillos" of the past. According to Steven Levitsky of Harvard University: "Only under the dictatorships of the past [...] were presidents reelected for life", with Levitsky further stating that while Latin America experienced democracy, citizens opposed "indefinite reelection, because of the dictatorships of the past". Levitsky then noted: "In Nicaragua, Venezuela and Ecuador, reelection is associated with the same problems of 100 years ago". "The Washington Post" also stated in 2014 that "Bolivia's Evo Morales, Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua and the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez [...] used the ballot box to weaken or eliminate term limits".


title: Socialism of the 21st century

text: In 2015, "The Economist" stated that the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela—now under Nicolás Maduro after Chávez's death in 2013—was devolving from authoritarianism to dictatorship as opposition politicians were jailed for plotting to undermine the government, violence was widespread and opposition media shut down. Western media coverage of Chávez and other Latin American leaders from the 21st-century socialist movement has been criticised as unfair by their supporters and leftist media critics.


title: Socialism of the 21st century

text: The sustainability and stability of economic reforms associated with governments adhering to socialism of the 21st century have been questioned. Latin American countries have primarily financed their social programs with extractive exports like petroleum, natural gas and minerals, creating a dependency that some economists claim has caused inflation and slowed growth. For the Bolivarian government of Venezuela, their economic policies led to shortages in Venezuela, a high inflation rate and a dysfunctional economy. However, the economic policy of the Hugo Chávez administration and Maduro governments have attributed Venezuela's economic problems to the decline in oil prices, sanctions imposed by the United States and economic sabotage by the opposition.


title: Socialism of the 21st century

text: In 2015, Venezuela's economy was performing poorly—the currency had collapsed, it had the world's highest inflation rate and its gross domestic product shrank into an economic collapse in 2016. A 2017 NACLA analysis stated that "reductions in poverty and inequality during the Chávez years were real, but somewhat superficial. [...] [S]tructural poverty and inequality, such as the quality of housing, neighborhoods, education, and employment, remained largely unchanged".


title: Socialism of the 21st century

text: Although democratic socialist intellectuals have welcomed a socialism of the 21st century, they have been skeptical of Latin America's examples. While citing their progressive role, they argue that the appropriate label for these governments is populist rather than socialist. Similarly, some of the left-wing pink tide governments were criticised for turning from socialism to authoritarianism and populism.


title: Safaricom

text: Safaricom PLC is a listed Kenyan mobile network operator headquartered at Safaricom House in Nairobi, Kenya. It is the largest telecommunications provider in Kenya, and one of the most profitable companies in the East and Central Africa region. The company offers mobile telephony, mobile money transfer, consumer electronics, ecommerce, cloud computing, data, music streaming, and fibre optic services. It is most renowned as the home of MPESA, a mobile banking SMS-based service.


title: Safaricom

text: Safaricom controls approximately 64.5% percent of the Kenyan market as of 2020 with a subscriber base estimated at approximately 35.6 million.


title: Safaricom

text: Safaricom was formed in 1997 as a fully owned subsidiary of Telkom Kenya. In May 2000, Vodafone Group PLC of the United Kingdom acquired a 40% stake and management responsibility for the company. In 2008, the government offered 25% of its shares to the public through the Nairobi Securities Exchange.


title: Safaricom

text: Safaricom was ranked as Africa's Best Employer, 67th in the World by the Forbes Global 200 list of the World's Best Employers. In March 2018, Safaricom was ranked as the #1 company to work for in the annual BrighterMonday Best 100 Companies to Work for in Kenya according to career professionals and job seekers.


title: Safaricom

text: As of 2020, Safaricom employed over 4,500 people permanently and over 1,900 people on contract. 75 percent of the company's employees were based in Nairobi, the Headquarters, with the remainder based in other big cities like Mombasa, Kisumu, Nakuru and Eldoret, in which it operates retail outlets. It has nationwide dealerships to ensure customers across the country have access to its products and services.


title: Safaricom

text: In November 2012, Safaricom partnered NCBA Bank and came up with a revolutionary banking product, M-Shwari, which allows M-Pesa customers to save and borrow money through mobile phone while earning interest on money saved tapping into an underdeveloped financial services market.


title: Safaricom

text: Michael Joseph served as the founding CEO between July 2000 and November 2010. He transformed the telecom from a subscriber base of less than 20,000 to over 16.71 million during his previous tenure. In his last full year as CEO, Safaricom posted a 37 percent rise in pretax profit.


title: Safaricom

text: Bob Collymore took over at Safaricom in November 2010, replacing Michael Joseph who currently sits in the telco giant’s board as the Chairman. Collymore oversaw the introduction into the market of various mobile money products that have given the company leverage among its competitors. Collymore was also been at the forefront in leading the charge against regulatory efforts to clip the company’s wings due to its size and dominance. After a two-year battle with cancer, Bob, the longest-serving executive died on July 1st 2019 leaving behind a company with doubled user base and profits increased by 380%. Michael was appointed as interim chief.


title: Safaricom

text: 2G service on 900 MHz and 1800 MHz. 3G DC-HSPA+ service on 900 MHz & 2100 MHz. Safaricom later launched LTE-A (4G service with carrier aggregation) service in Nairobi and Mombasa on band 20 (800 MHz) and band 3 (1800 MHz) in December 2014 and has expanded to other cities. Safaricom's competitors, Airtel Kenya and Telkom Kenya have expressed dissatisfaction with the way the regulatory body Communications Authority of Kenya, awarded Safaricom its LTE (long Term Evolution) license to operate at 800 MHz.


title: Safaricom

text: Safaricom was the first company in Kenya to possess 3G Internet technology with the recent success of 4G / LTE connectivity currently in all major Kenyan cities. In March 2021, Safaricom became the second network operator in Africa after Vodacom to launch a live 5G network, initially available in Nairobi, Kisumu, Kakamega and Kisii.


title: Safaricom

text: Most of Safaricom's network congestion emerges from a practice called 'flashing'. Flashing is the practice of calling another mobile user, but disconnecting before the connected call is answered. It provides a method for mobile users to alert someone that they wish to be called, but either can't, or won't, pay for the call. The method is cost-free for the users; but costly in network bandwidth. That is why Safaricom introduced a flashback service that gave every subscriber five free SMS messages with a single predefined message stating "Please call me. Thank you". Although the messages can be annoying when sent just for fun they can prove useful when one is in trouble and has no airtime. It also gives parents more of a reason to get mobile phones for their children without the real need for getting them airtime.


title: Safaricom

text: Safaricom launched the Kipokezi service in May 2000 that enabled its subscribers to send and receive email and online chat through standard mobile phones. The service does not require users to have an Internet connection as it uses ForgetMeNot Africa’s Handset Initiation technology. Prior to the service fewer than one in ten Kenyans had accessed the Internet but the Kipokezi launch allowed more than a third of the population to exchange email and online chat messages.


title: Safaricom

text: In Partnership with Google, Safaricom introduced Lipa Mdogo Mdogo, a product targeting individuals with 2G phones by upgrading them to 4 G-enabled devices while paying daily installments of Ksh.20 over a period of one year.


title: Safaricom

text: Ndegwa who's the CEO of the company pointed out that they are targeting 1 million customers with plans of rolling the service to other countries depending on its initial success.


title: Safaricom

text: An M-PESA-enabled mobile phone can also function as an electronic wallet and can hold up to KSh.145,000/= (approx. US$1,000). Safaricom has announced that it intends to roll out M-PESA to other countries.


title: Safaricom

text: M-PESA (M for mobile, "pesa" is Swahili for money) is a mobile phone-based money transfer, financing and micro financing service, launched in 2007 by Vodafone for Safaricom and Vodacom. M-PESA was originally designed as a system to allow microfinance-loan repayments to be made by phone, reducing the costs associated with handling cash. After the pilot testing it was broadened to become a general money-transfer scheme. since then safaricom M-PESA brand has reached 12 countries in Africa and three countries outside the continent.


title: Safaricom

text: Once a user registers for M-PESA, they pay money into the system by handing cash at an M-Pesa agent, who then credits the money to the user's M-Pesa account. The user then gets an SMS notifying them of the transaction.


title: Safaricom

text: A user withdraws money by visiting an agent, who checks that the user has sufficient funds before debiting the user's account and handing over the cash. An M-Pesa user can also transfer money to others using a menu on their phone. Cash can thus be sent one place to another instantly, safely and easily. This is in contrast to the preferred system before where money was sent by a porter, usually a friend, relative or bus crew, to the intended recipient.


title: Safaricom

text: M-PESA was first launched by the Kenyan mobile network operator Safaricom, where Vodafone was technically a minority shareholder (40%), in March 2007. M-PESA quickly captured a significant market share for cash transfers and grew to 17 million subscribers by December 2011 in Kenya alone


title: Safaricom

text: The growth of the service forced formal banking institutions to take note of the new venture. In December 2008, a group of banks reportedly lobbied the Kenyan finance minister to audit M-PESA, in an effort to at least slow the growth of the service. This ploy failed, as the audit found that the service was robust. At this time, The Banking Act did not provide the basis to regulate products offered by non-banks, of which M-PESA was one such very successful product. As at November 2014, M-PESA transactions for the 11 months of 2014 were valued at KSh.2.1 trillion/=, a 28% increase from 2013, and almost half the value of the country's GDP.


title: Safaricom

text: On November 19, 2014, Safaricom launched a companion android app Safaricom M-Ledger for its M-PESA users. The application, currently available only on Android, gives M-PESA users a historical view of all their transactions.


title: Safaricom

text: M-Pesa has been particularly successful in Kenya, compared to mobile money platforms in other countries. Contributing factors here include the exceptionally high cost of sending money by other methods; the dominant market position of Safaricom; the regulator's initial decision to allow the scheme to proceed on an experimental basis, without formal approval; a clear and effective marketing campaign (“Send money home”); an efficient system to move cash around behind the scenes; and, the post-election violence in the country in early 2008.


title: Safaricom

text: During the post-election violence, M-Pesa was used to transfer money to people trapped in Nairobi's slums at the time. Some Kenyans regarded M-PESA as a safer place to store their money than the banks, which were entangled in ethnic disputes. Having established a base of initial users, M-PESA then benefited from network effects: the more people who used it, the more it made sense for others to sign up for it.


title: Safaricom

text: M-PESA has since been extended to offer loans and savings products, and can also be used to disburse salaries or pay bills, which saves users further time and money as compared to doing so from banks.


title: Safaricom

text: M-PESA has a wide range of financial services including Person to Person, ATM withdrawal, Payments, Bulk Payments and Bank to M-PESA


title: Safaricom

text: As of January 2016, M-Pesa is used by 21.8 million Kenyans, with over 1.5 million of M-Pesa users using the bill payment feature. At the time M-Pesa had a network of over 90,000 agent outlets.


title: Safaricom

text: Average value of monthly person to person transfers on M-Pesa was KSh.106 billion/= while Person to Business transfers were at KSh.23.5 billion/= and Business to Person at KSh 27.8 billion/= per month.


title: Safaricom

text: M-Pesa is in partnership with a number of banks. M-Shwari and KCB M-Pesa are two such services, which provide access to savings and loans to users. M-Shwari was launched in November 2012 in partnership with Commercial Bank Of Africa.


title: Safaricom

text: Safaricom and VISA in June 2022 launched an M-PESA Visa virtual card that allows Kenyan users to shop for products and pay for services worldwide, facilitating safe cashless payments at merchant locations in over 200 countries via Visa’s global network.


title: Safaricom

text: In September 2010 Vodacom and Ned bank announced the launch of the service in South Africa, where there were estimated to be more than 13 million "economically active" people without a bank account. M-PESA has been slow to gain a toehold in the South African market compared to Vodacom's projections that it would sign up 10 million users in the following three years. By May 2011, it had registered approximately 100,000 customers. The gap between expectations for M-PESA's performance and its actual performance can be partly attributed to differences between the Kenyan and South African markets, including the banking regulations at the time of M-PESA's launch in each country. According to Money Web, a South African investment website, "A tough regulatory environment with regards to customer registration and the acquisition of outlets also compounded the company's troubles, as the local regulations are more stringent in comparison to our African counterparts. Lack of education and product understanding also hindered efforts in the initial roll out of the product." In June 2011, Vodacom and Nedbank launched a campaign to re-position M-PESA, targeting the product to potential customers who have a higher Living Standard Measures (LSM) index than were first targeted.


title: Safaricom

text: Despite efforts, as at March 2015, M-PESA still struggled to grow its customer base. This comes as no surprise as South Africa is well known for being ahead of financial institutions globally in terms of maturity and technological innovation. According to Genesis Analytics, 70% of South Africans are "banked", meaning that they have at least one bank account with an established financial institution which have their own banking products which directly compete with the M-PESA offering.


title: Safaricom

text: M-PESA was launched in Tanzania by Vodacom in 2008 but its initial ability to attract customers fell short of expectations. In 2010, the International Finance Corporation released a report which explored many of these issues in greater depth and analyzed the strategic changes that Vodacom has implemented to improve their market position.[23] As of September 2021, M-PESA in Tanzania has 12.66 million subscribers


title: Safaricom

text: M-PESA, was launched in India as a close partnership between Vodafone India and ICICI bank in November 2011 under the leadership of Mr Suresh Sethi. The service today operates in all telecom circles where Vodafone India is present. Users (of any telecom operator) can activate the M-Pesa service by downloading the Vodafone M-Pesa app (available on all app stores) on to their phones and registering themselves or by visiting any Vodafone store, Vodafone mini-store or M-Pesa agent point across the country. Customers of Vodafone can also activate the M-Pesa service by dialing *400# from their mobiles and completing the registration process. Using the *400# (USSD) facility allows Vodafone customers to avail of the benefits of M-Pesa without having a smartphone or a data connection. Registration is entirely free of charge.


title: Safaricom

text: A customer who activates his M-pesa wallet by only providing his basic demographic details and not sharing any proof of identity is enabled as a minimum KYC customer on M-Pesa. A minimum KYC customer of M-Pesa can not do money transfer (P2B, P2P) from his wallet account but can avail services like recharges (Prepaid mobile/DTH), bill payments, merchant payments, EMI payments, utility payments, insurance payments etc. They also have a monthly /daily/per transaction limit of ₨.10,000/-. If a minimum KYC M-Pesa customer wants to avail of bank transfer facility/increase his or her monthly transaction limit, then he or she can do so by doing their KYC using their Aadhar at any Vodafone store or M-Pesa agent point.


title: Safaricom

text: M-Pesa in India operates under two licenses, the PPI (Prepaid Payment Instruments) license issued by the Reserve Bank of India and the business correspondent license issued by ICICI bank. M-Pesa has also received in -principle nod of the regulator to set up a payments bank in India. Vodafone M-Pesa is the largest business correspondent channel in India with 1.5 lac+ M-Pesa agents who are enabled to provide cash-in, cash-out and assisted payments facility to M-Pesa customers.


title: Safaricom

text: In 2008, reports appearing in the cross section of the press indicated that Vodafone Plc of UK only owned 35% while the remaining 5% was owned by a little-known company, Mobitelea Ventures Limited. The reports caused a stir which led to the summoning of its CEO Michael Joseph to appear before the PIC "Public Investment Committee", where he denied knowing who the other shareholder is. A spokesman for Vodafone said "the PIC has no powers to investigate M&A activity (see Mergers and Acquisitions), only to ask to view company accounts of Vodafone Kenya Limited, a company registered in Kenya. Mobitelea Ventures Limited were granted an option to purchase 25% of Vodafone's shares which they completed in 2002, Vodafone bought back half of the stake in 2003 for $10 million, and in the financial year ending 31 March 2009 purchased the remaining indirect equity stake of 5%, thus returning Vodafone to its original 40% stake-holding. Vodafone said that whilst it would like to disclose who owns Mobitelea it is unable to because of a confidentiality agreement.


title: Safaricom

text: , the company's stock was owned by the following public and private entities. The stock of the company is listed on the Nairobi Stock Exchange, where it trades under the symbol: SCOM.


title: Cadfael (TV series)

text: Cadfael is a British mystery television series, broadcast on ITV between 1994 and 1998, based on "The Cadfael Chronicles" novels written by Ellis Peters. Produced by Central, it starred Derek Jacobi as the medieval detective and title character, Brother Cadfael. The complete series was released on DVD on 24 August 2009. The series aired in the United States as part of the "Mystery!" series.


title: Cadfael (TV series)

text: This detective series is set in the 12th century in England, mainly at the Benedictine Abbey in Shrewsbury where Brother Cadfael lives. The titles are from books by Ellis Peters, who wrote "The Cadfael Chronicles". The television programmes were filmed in Hungary, as the original abbey in Shrewsbury no longer stands, just the church. The episodes aired in the UK from 1994 to 1998. The novels were written in sequence, marking specific years beginning in 1137 and ending in 1145. Not all the 21 novels were filmed, and there are differences between the plots and characters in the novels and those portrayed on the screen in some episodes, as well as the sequence.


title: Cadfael (TV series)

text: Guest stars in this series include Christian Burgess, Michael Grandage, Steven Mackintosh, Sara Stephens, Jonathan Firth, Tara Fitzgerald, Sarah Badel, Jamie Glover, Jonathan Hyde and John Bennett.


title: Cadfael (TV series)

text: Guest stars in this series include Ronan Vibert, Christien Anholt, Julian Glover, Louisa Millwood-Haigh, Ian Reddington, Ian McNeice, John Dallimore, Daniel Betts and Anna Friel.


title: Cadfael (TV series)

text: Guest stars in this series include Kitty Aldridge, Tom Mannion, Crispin Bonham-Carter and Catherine Cusack.


title: Cadfael (TV series)

text: Guest stars in this series include George Irving, Benedict Sandiford, Louise Delamere, Natasha Pyne, Jonathan Tafler, Richard Lintern, Gregor Truter, Terence Beesley, Sioned Jones, Natasha Little and Lee Ingleby.


title: Cadfael (TV series)

text: Reviewing the episode "The Rose Rent", Matthew Bond stated "The series does have a curiously theatrical style to it, where the rather contrived medieval bustle stops while the principal actors deliver their lines and then starts again when they have finished. Still, it’s different, ambitious and Jacobi is in it — which makes three big pluses." In an article discussing depictions of religious characters on British television, Ben Dowell praised "Cadfael". Dowell stated "thanks to some gripping stories, good production values and a brilliant performance from Derek Jacobi as the herbalist and former crusading knight, this adaptation of the Ellis Peters books became a regular viewing habit for millions".


title: Castro District, San Francisco

text: The Castro District, commonly referred to as the Castro, is a neighborhood in Eureka Valley in San Francisco. The Castro was one of the first gay neighborhoods in the United States. Having transformed from a working-class neighborhood through the 1960s and 1970s, the Castro remains one of the most prominent symbols of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) activism and events in the world.


title: Castro District, San Francisco

text: San Francisco's gay village is mostly concentrated in the business district that is located on Castro Street from Market Street to 19th Street. It extends down Market Street toward Church Street and on both sides of the Castro neighborhood from Church Street to Eureka Street. Although the greater gay community was, and is, concentrated in the Castro, many gay people live in the surrounding residential areas bordered by Corona Heights, the Mission District, Noe Valley, Twin Peaks, and Haight-Ashbury neighborhoods. Some consider it to include Duboce Triangle and Dolores Heights, which both have a strong LGBT presence.


title: Castro District, San Francisco

text: Castro Street, which originates a few blocks north at the intersection of Divisadero and Waller Streets, runs south through Noe Valley, crossing the 24th Street business district and ending as a continuous street a few blocks farther south as it moves toward the Glen Park neighborhood. It reappears in several discontinuous sections before ultimately terminating at Chenery Street, in the heart of Glen Park.


title: Castro District, San Francisco

text: Castro Street was named after José Castro (1808–1860), a Californian leader of Mexican opposition to U.S. rule in California in the 19th century, and alcalde of Alta California from 1835 to 1836. The neighborhood known as the Castro, in the district of Eureka Valley, was created in 1887 when the Market Street Railway Company built a line linking Eureka Valley to downtown.


title: Castro District, San Francisco

text: In 1891, Alfred E. Clarke built his mansion at the corner of Douglass and Caselli Avenue at 250 Douglass which is commonly referenced as the Caselli Mansion. It survived the 1906 earthquake and fire which destroyed a large portion of San Francisco.


title: Castro District, San Francisco

text: Up to the 19th century, the areal possession of the Russian Empire in North America included the modern-day U.S. state of Alaska and settlements in the modern-day U.S. states of California (1 settlement) and Hawaii (3 settlements, starting in 1817). These Russian possessions were collectively and officially referred to by the name Russian America from 1733 to 1867. Formal incorporation of the possessions by Russia did not take place until the establishment of the Russian-American Company (RAC) in 1799.


title: Castro District, San Francisco

text: In 1809–1917, Finland was an autonomous part of the Russian Empire and was officially referred to as the Grand Duchy of Finland. During this era, the operations of both merchant and naval fleets as well as construction of naval vessels, relied heavily on Finnish know-how, seamen and officers. At the time, Russia was a relatively young naval power, gaining gradually access to the Baltic Sea only after the city of Saint Petersburg was founded on its coast in 1703, becoming officially part of Russia only at the end of the Great Northern War (1700–1721) in 1721.


title: Castro District, San Francisco

text: In 1839, Sitka Lutheran Church, the first Protestant congregation on the west coast of the Americas and the first Lutheran congregation on the entire Pacific Rim was founded in Sitka, Alaska, by Finns who worked for the Russian-American Company. From the start, in 1840–1865, three consecutive Finnish pastors served this pastorate: Uno Cygnaeus (1840–1845), Gabriel Plathan (1845–1852) and Georg Gustaf Winter (1852–1865). The Finns Aaron Sjöstrom and Otto Reinhold Rehn served as the parish organists/sextons during this period.


title: Castro District, San Francisco

text: In 1841, under the governorship of Russian America by Finnish Arvid Adolf Etholén (1840–1845) (promoted to rear admiral in 1847), the Russian-American area of Fort Ross in Bodega Bay, California, was sold to Johann Sutter. On January 24, 1848, the first California gold was discovered on Sutter's land in Coloma, California, leading to the California Gold Rush, after news of this were spread abroad, mainly by the Finnish seamen in the service of the Russian-American Company.


title: Castro District, San Francisco

text: During the final three decades of the existence of Russian America, Finnish Chief Managers ("governors") of Russian America included Arvid Adolf Etholén (a.k.a. Etolin) in 1840–1845 and Johan Hampus Furuhjelm in 1859–1864. A third Finn, Johan Joachim von Bartram, declined the offer for the five-year term between 1850 and 1855. All three were high ranking Imperial naval officers. In reference to San Francisco, researcher Maria J. Enckell states the following about the Finns in the Russian-American Company:


title: Castro District, San Francisco

text: Russia relied heavily on Finnish seamen. These seamen manned Russian naval ships as well as its deep-sea-going vessels. Company records show that in the early 1800s these ships were crewed predominantly by merchant seamen from Finland. From 1840 onward the Company's around-the-world ships were manned entirely by Finnish merchant skippers and crews. Most Company ships stationed in Sitka and the Northern Pacific were likewise manned by Finnish skippers and Finnish crews.


title: Castro District, San Francisco

text: <poem>… Significant too is that from the early 1800s the Finnish seamen sailing these ships had journeyed up and down the North and South American coasts. Salt, used by the Company in preserving pelts, was obtained on islands in Baja California. Fort Ross in Bodega Bay, just north of San Francisco, was a stop on that route until 1841 when the fort was sold to the "swindler" Johann Sutter, on whose land the first California Gold was found. Thus, all Finnish seamen plying these waters knew every nook and cranny on these shores. Similarly they knew equally well the coast on the Asiatic side. Returning to Finland on their mandatory around-the-world journeys, they spread the news of the riches they had seen.


title: Castro District, San Francisco

text: San Francisco's harbor records and the Russian Consular records display the names of many Finnish and Baltic Russian Alaska skippers busily plying the waters between San Francisco, Petropavlovsk, Nikolajefsk and Vladivostok ... Long before the turn of the century 11% of San Francisco's seaman community were Finns. The commercial activities of these former Finnish Russian-American Company skippers and their men were impressive. At least two are known to have become multimillionaires: Gustaf Nybom (later Niebaum), the founder of Inglenook wineries, and Otto Wilhelm Lindholm of Vladivostok. Their business ventures had interests spread across the Northern Pacific. This activity continued until 1922 and the Soviet terror, when Vladivostok's numerous Finns and Manchurians were rounded up, marched to the central square and shot.</poem>


title: Castro District, San Francisco

text: During the California Gold Rush and in its aftermath, a substantial Finnish population had settled in San Francisco. In addition to Etholén, Furuhjelm and Niebaum, a number of Finns had become household names in the social circles of San Francisco by the time when the Finnish corvette "Kalevala" anchored in San Francisco on November 14, 1861. Accordingly, the ship's visit in the city received a very warm welcome and created much attention.


title: Castro District, San Francisco

text: In 1863, a six-vessel Russian Imperial Navy squadron, a part of the Russian Pacific Fleet, sailed via Vladivostok to the West Coast of the United States, to help defend the waters there against a possible attack by the United Kingdom or France, during the American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 10, 1865). In addition to the Finnish-built corvette "Kalevala" now returning to the U.S. West Coast, this squadron included three other corvettes, "Bogatyr", "Rynda" and "Novik" (Russian: "Новик"), as well as two Finnish-built clippers, the sister-ships "Abrek" (Russian: "Абрек") and "Vsadnik" (Russian: "Всадник"), both built in the southwestern Finnish town of Pori and launched in 1860. Finnish officers serving in the squadron included "Theodor Kristian Avellan", who later became the Minister of Naval Affairs of the Russian Empire (similar role to Great Britain's First Lord of the Admiralty). Among Finnish officers participating in the expedition were also Mr. "Enqvist" and Mr. "Etholén" (not Governor Etholén of Russian America).


title: Castro District, San Francisco

text: At the time when Finnish Sea Captain Gustave Niebaum, the founder of Inglenook Winery (1879) in Rutherford, California, was busy conducting business in the San Francisco Bay Area and Alaska – from the late 19th to the early 20th century –, both places had considerably large Finnish settlements. As the Governor of Russian America from 1858 to 1864, Finnish Johan Hampus Furuhjelm helped pave way for the American Alaska purchase, just like Gustave Niebaum did as the Consul of Russia for the United States in San Francisco in 1867 (at the time Finland was an autonomous Grand Duchy of Russia), when Alaska became part of the United States of America.


title: Castro District, San Francisco

text: During his governorship of Russian America, Furuhjelm put an end to the hostilities involving groups of the native peoples of Alaska, and he succeeded in abolishing the Alaskan "Ice Treaty" with San Francisco. According to a contract which had been signed, Russian America had to deliver a certain amount of ice to San Francisco at a fixed price. The problem was that the product melted down on the way to the warmer climates. The ice contract became very awkward for the Russian colony. Furuhjelm arranged for a new contract to sell ice to San Francisco: 3,000 tons at $25.00 a ton.


title: Castro District, San Francisco

text: Officially registered Finnish Club No. 1 was established in the Castro District of San Francisco in 1882. Soon after, two "Finnish Halls" were erected nearby. One was located at the corner of 24th Street and Hoffman Street. The other hall was located on Flint Street, on the "Rocky Hill" above Castro, an area densely populated by Finns at the time, consequently nicknamed "Finn Town".


title: Castro District, San Francisco

text: In 1899, the First Finnish Lutheran Church was founded on 50 Belcher Street, in what then was considered part of the "Eureka Valley" district of San Francisco, but what is located on the outskirts of what today is best known as the Castro District. Next to it, on September 17, 1905, the cornerstone was laid for the Danish St. Ansgar Church at 152 Church Street, between Market Street and Duboce Avenue. During the April 18, 1906, San Francisco earthquake and its aftermath, the parsonage served as a feeding station and hospital. In 1964, St. Ansgar merged with First Finnish Lutheran Church. The name for the united church, St. Francis Lutheran Church, was derived from San Francisco.


title: Castro District, San Francisco

text: Before the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, nearly all the kids attending the McKinley school (now McKinley Elementary School) at 1025 14th Street (at Castro) were Finnish. Following the earthquake, a large number of Finns from San Francisco and elsewhere moved to Berkeley, where a Finnish community had been established already before the earthquake. A large part of the early Berkeley population was Finnish. The brick and wood frame of the St. Francis Lutheran Church building survived the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and then was used for several months as an infirmary. Following the earthquake, the same year, Finns founded the "Lutheran Church of the Cross" in Berkeley, at University Avenue, where the Lutheran congregation still operates today.


title: Castro District, San Francisco

text: In c. 1910, a bathhouse called Finnila's Finnish Baths began serving customers in the Castro District, at 9 Douglass Street. Its opening as an official business serving the general public took place in 1913. In 1919, the business moved to 4032 17th Street, a half block west from the busy Castro Street. In 1932, the business moved again, now to 2284 Market Street. In 1986, after having been stationed in the Castro District for over seven decades, the business moved the final time, now to 465 Taraval Street in the San Francisco's Sunset District, where it continued as Finnila's Health Club, serving women only. Despite public outcry and attempts to prevent the closing of the popular Finnila's Market Street bathhouse, the old bathhouse building was demolished by Alfred Finnila soon after the farewell party held in the end of December 1985. Today, the Finnila family owns the new "Market & Noe Center" building at the location of the old bathhouse, in the corner of Market and Noe Streets.


title: Castro District, San Francisco

text: From 1910 on, the Castro District of San Francisco and some of the surrounding areas were known by the term "Little Scandinavia", because of the large number of the residents in the area originating from Finnish, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish ancestry.


title: Castro District, San Francisco

text: The 1943 novel "Mama's Bank Account" by Kathryn Forbes focused on a Norwegian family living in the area in the 1910s. Forbes' book served as the inspiration for John Van Druten's 1944 play "I Remember Mama". The play was adapted to a Broadway theater production in 1944; to a movie in 1948; to a one-hour "Lux Radio Theatre" presentation on August 30, 1948; to a CBS "Mama" television series running from 1949 until 1957; and to a Broadway musical in 1979. "Mama's Bank Account" reflected a (then) Eureka Valley neighborhood, where for generations Norwegians worshiped at the Norwegian Lutheran Church at 19th and Dolores streets, and met for fraternal, social events, and Saturday night dances at Dovre Hall, 3543 18th Street, now the Women's Building.


title: Castro District, San Francisco

text: The Cove on Castro used to be called The Norse Cove at the time. The Scandinavian Seamen's Mission operated for a long time on 15th Street, off Market Street, just around the corner from the Swedish-American Hall, which remains in the district. In the 1920s – during prohibition – the downstairs of the Swedish-American Hall served as a speak-easy, one of many in the area. "Unlicensed saloons" were known as "speak-easies", according to an 1889 newspaper. They were "so called because of the practice of speaking quietly about such a place in public, or when inside it, so as not to alert the police or neighbors".


title: Castro District, San Francisco

text: Scandinavian-style "half-timber" construction can still be seen in some of the buildings along Market Street, between Castro and Church Streets. A restaurant called Scandinavian Deli operated for decades on Market Street, between Noe and Sanchez Streets, almost directly across the street from Finnila's.


title: Castro District, San Francisco

text: Receiving an influx of Irish, Italian and other immigrants in the 1930s, the Castro gradually became an ethnically mixed working-class neighborhood, and it remained so until the mid-1960s. There was originally a cable car line with large double-ended cable cars that ran along Castro Street from Market Street to 29th St., until the tracks were dismantled in 1941 and the cable car line was replaced by the 24 MUNI bus. The Castro is at the end of the straight portion of the Market Street thoroughfare, and a mostly residential area follows Market Street as it curves and rises up and around the Twin Peaks mountains.


title: Castro District, San Francisco

text: The U.S. military discharged thousands of gay servicemen from the Pacific theatre in San Francisco during World War II (early 1940s) because of their sexuality. Many settled in the Bay Area, San Francisco and Sausalito. In San Francisco, an established gay community had begun in numerous areas including Polk Street (which used to be regarded as the city's gay center from the 1950s to the early 1980s), the Tenderloin and South of Market. The 1950s saw large numbers of families moving out of the Castro to the suburbs in what became known as the "White flight", leaving open large amounts of real estate and creating attractive locations for gay purchasers. The Missouri Mule first opened in 1935 by Norwegian Immigrant Hans K Lund and would find its place in San Francisco's history becoming a proud icon of the LBGTQ community following its reopening in 1963.


title: Castro District, San Francisco

text: The Castro's age as a gay mecca began during the late 1960s with the Summer of Love in the neighboring Haight-Ashbury district in 1967. The two neighborhoods are separated by a steep hill, topped by Buena Vista Park. The hippie and free love movements had fostered communal living and free society ideas including the housing of large groups of people in hippie communes. Androgyny became popular with men even in full beards as gay hippie men began to move into the area. The 1967 gathering brought tens of thousands of middle-class youth from all over the United States to the Haight which saw its own exodus when well-organized individuals and collectives started to see the Castro as an oasis from the massive influx. Many of the hippies had no way to support themselves or places to shelter. The Haight became drug-ridden and violent, chasing off the gay population, who looked for a more stable area to live.


title: Castro District, San Francisco

text: The gay community created an upscale, fashionable urban center in the Castro District in the 1970s. Many San Francisco gays also moved there in the years around 1970 from what was then the most prominent gay neighborhood, Polk Gulch, because large Victorian houses were available at low rents or available for purchase for low down payments when their former middle-class owners had fled to the suburbs.


title: Castro District, San Francisco

text: By 1973, Harvey Milk, who would become the most famous resident of the neighborhood, opened a camera store, Castro Camera, and began political involvement as a gay activist, further contributing to the notion of the Castro as a gay destination. Some of the culture of the late 1970s included what was termed the "Castro clone", a mode of dress and personal grooming that exemplified butchness and masculinity of the working-class men in construction—tight denim jeans, black or sand combat boots, tight T-shirt or, often, an Izod crocodile shirt, possibly a red plaid flannel outer shirt, and usually sporting a mustache or full beard—in vogue with the gay male population at the time, and which gave rise to the nickname "Clone Canyon" for the stretch of Castro Street between 18th and Market Streets.


title: Castro District, San Francisco

text: There were numerous famous watering holes in the area contributing to the nightlife, including the Corner Grocery Bar, Toad Hall, the Pendulum, the Midnight Sun, Twin Peaks, and the Elephant Walk. A typical daytime street scene of the period is perhaps best illustrated by mentioning the male belly dancers who could be found holding forth in good weather at the corner of 18th and Castro on "Hibernia Beach", in front of the financial institution from which it drew its name. Then at night, after the bars closed at 2 AM, the men remaining at that hour often would line up along the sidewalk of 18th Street to indicate that they were still available to go home with someone (aka The Meat Rack).


title: Castro District, San Francisco

text: The area was heavily impacted by the HIV/AIDS crisis of the 1980s. Beginning in 1984, city officials began a crackdown on bathhouses and launched initiatives that aimed to prevent the spread of AIDS. Kiosks lining Market Street and Castro Street now have posters promoting safe sex and testing right alongside those advertising online dating services.


title: Castro District, San Francisco

text: In 2019, San Francisco Board of Supervisors member Rafael Mandelman authored an ordinance to create the Castro LGBTQ Cultural District; the ordinance was passed unanimously.


title: Castro District, San Francisco

text: One of the more notable features of the neighborhood is Castro Theatre, a movie palace built in 1922 and one of San Francisco's premier movie houses.


title: Castro District, San Francisco

text: 18th and Castro is a major intersection in the Castro, where many historic events, marches, and protests have taken and continue to take place.


title: Castro District, San Francisco

text: A major cultural destination in the neighborhood is the GLBT History Museum, which opened for previews on December 10, 2010, at 4127 18th St. The grand opening of the museum took place on the evening of January 13, 2011. The first full-scale, stand-alone museum of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender history in the United States (and only the second in the world after the Schwules Museum in Berlin), the GLBT History Museum is a project of the GLBT Historical Society.


title: Castro District, San Francisco

text: The F Market heritage streetcar line turnaround at Market and 17th-streets where the Jane Warner city parklet sits. Across Castro street is the Harvey Milk Plaza in honor of its most famous resident with its iconic giant flag pole with an oversized rainbow flag, symbol of the LGBT community. Below street level is the main entrance to the Castro Street Station, a Muni Metro subway station and a multitiered park. Milk's camera store and campaign headquarters which were at 575 Castro has a memorial plaque and mural on the inside of the store, formerly housing the Human Rights Campaign Action Center and Store, it now houses an LGBTQ+ arts store. There is a smaller mural above the sidewalk on the building showing Milk looking down on the street fondly.


title: Castro District, San Francisco

text: Across Market Street from Harvey Milk Plaza, and slightly up the hill, is the Pink Triangle Park – 17th Street at Market, a city park and monument named after the pink triangles forcibly worn by gay prisoners persecuted by the Nazis during World War II.


title: Castro District, San Francisco

text: Twin Peaks Tavern, the first gay bar in the city, and possibly in the United States, with plate glass windows to fully visibly expose patrons to the public, is located at the intersection of Market and Castro.


title: Castro District, San Francisco

text: Special events, parades and street fairs that are held in the Castro include the Castro Street Fair, the Dyke March, the famed Halloween in the Castro (which was discontinued in 2007 due to street violence), Pink Saturday (discontinued in the Castro in 2016), and the San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival.


title: Castro District, San Francisco

text: A LGBTQ Walk of Fame, the Rainbow Honor Walk, was installed in August 2014 with an inaugural twenty sidewalk bronze plaques representing past LGBTQ icons in their field who continue to serve as inspirations. The walk was originally planned to coincide with the business district of the Castro and eventually include 500 bronze plaques.


title: Castro District, San Francisco

text: The main business section of Castro Street from Market to 19th Street was under reconstruction and repaving in 2014 to address a number of neighborhood concerns. The area has heavy vehicular traffic, as well as many visitors. As part of the work, the sidewalks were widened and new trees were planted. Additionally, 20 historical cement etchings covering from the inception to the area being settled to the 2010s sweeping gay marriage movement victories were installed in September 2014.


title: Castro District, San Francisco

text: A separate sidewalk installation, the Castro Street History Walk (CSHW), is a series of twenty historical fact plaques about the neighborhood—ten from pre-1776 to the 1960s before the Castro became known as a gay neighborhood, and ten "significant events associated with the queer community in the Castro"—contained within the 400 and 500 blocks of the street between 19th and Market streets. They were installed at the same time as the inaugural twenty RHW plaques. The CSHW goes in chronological order starting at Harvey Milk Plaza at Market Street, up to 19th Street, and returning on the opposite side of Castro Street. The $10,000 CSHW was paid for by the Castro Business District (CBD) which "convened a group of local residents and historians to work with Nicholas Perry, a planner and urban designer at the San Francisco Planning Department who worked on the sidewalk-widening project and lives in the Castro" to develop the facts. Each fact was required to be about the neighborhood or the surrounding Eureka Valley. The facts are limited to 230 characters, and were installed in pairs along with a single graphic reminiscent of the historic Castro Theater.


title: Castro District, San Francisco

text: San Francisco has a large and thriving tourist economy due to ethnic and cultural communities such as Chinatown, North Beach, Haight-Ashbury and the Castro. The Castro is a site of economic success that brings in capital all year round with many events catered to the gay community along with everyday business.


title: Castro District, San Francisco

text: The Castro is a "thriving marketplace for all things gay" meaning the area caters to people who identify with LGBT culture and other associated meanings to the word gay. There are cafes, the Castro Theater, and many businesses that cater to or openly welcome LGBT consumers. These establishments make the Castro an area of high spending and lead to high tourist traffic. In addition to the city's locals, people travel to visit the shops and restaurants as well as the events that take place, such as the Castro Street Fair. Events such as the fair drum up business for the community and bring in people from all over the nation who visit solely for the atmosphere the Castro provides. People who do not necessarily feel comfortable expressing themselves in their own community have the freedom to travel to places such as the Castro to escape the alienation and feel accepted. There is a sense of belonging and acceptance that is promoted throughout the district to accommodate non-heteronormative people that many LGBT travelers are attracted to.


title: Castro District, San Francisco

text: The Golden Gate Business Association (GGBA) was created in 1974 to help promote the Castro as a place for tourists, but also San Francisco and LGBT businesses as a whole. The GGBA sought to gain local political power and hoped to achieve their gains through an increase in gay tourism, and the association formed the San Francisco Gay Tourism and Visitor's Bureau in 1983. The LGBT tourism industry drives and benefits the economy due to the constant influx of consumers.


title: Spanking the Monkey

text: Spanking the Monkey is a 1994 American sick comedy film written and directed by David O. Russell. It was filmed in Pawling, New York.


title: Spanking the Monkey

text: Ray Aibelli has finished his first year of college at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has received a prestigious summer medical internship which he has to forego to take care of his mother, Susan Aibelli, a married, lonely woman, has suffered a leg injury at home just as her husband is about to leave on his job as a traveling salesman. Ray's relationship with his father is seen to be troubled as his father is overly controlling. The relationship between Susan and Mr. Aibelli is also shown to be suffering because he is later shown to be cheating with prostitutes and Susan feels disappointed by her lack of achievement in life.


title: Spanking the Monkey

text: Ray has to take care of his mother by helping her to shower and massaging her legs leading to him seeing her naked and experiencing a moment of intimacy when he massages her upper thigh. He feels extreme guilt for his incestuous sexual feelings and rubs his skin raw to punish himself. His sexual frustration is increased due to the fact that he is unable to masturbate, due to the family's dog repeatedly interrupting him. His high school friends are shown to be immature and Ray is seen to feel increasingly isolated from them. He also begins a relationship with local teenager Toni Peck whom he struggles to communicate with both socially and when having sex, leading to her rebuffing him.


title: Spanking the Monkey

text: Ray explains to his mother how their sexual encounter developed and she offers him sexual advice and he later openly stares at her body in the shower, increasing their physical intimacy. Ray has an opportunity to leave his mother behind when his aunt, Helen, offers to be her caretaker and he excitedly prepares to leave the next day. Both Ray and Susan are annoyed by Helen and they have a sexual encounter late at night that leads to Ray missing his bus the next day. Ray's father informs him that he will no longer be able to pay for his university tuition causing him to become even more stressed about his future.


title: Spanking the Monkey

text: Toni and Ray are seen to have resumed their sexual relationship and are kissing when Susan interrupts them, she slaps Toni and injures her. Ray and Susan have a loud argument that quickly devolves into groping and kissing. Toni's father comes to their house to complain but Susan is able to flirt with him and prevent him from punishing Ray.


title: Spanking the Monkey

text: Ray attempts to commit suicide by hanging himself from the bathroom door but Susan interrupts him, he complains that he can't achieve anything here and attempts to initiate sexual contact with Susan. He kisses her passionately but then pulls back and attempts to strangle her to death before stopping. His friends invite him to hang out with them again and he accepts joining them near the river. After being provoked by one of his friends he jumps off a steep cliff and is seen hitching a ride with a truck driver early the next morning.


title: Spanking the Monkey

text: Select tracks from Morphine's album "Cure for Pain" are used throughout the film, including "In Spite of Me" which plays over the end credits.


title: Spanking the Monkey

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 92% based on reviews from 26 critics. The site's consensus states: "David O. Russell's feature debut scores with an endearing cast and offbeat humor, finding compelling sweetness in perverse places." On Metacritic it has a score of 66% based on reviews from 15 critics.


title: Spanking the Monkey

text: The film won the Audience Award at the 1994 Sundance Film Festival and the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay.


title: Curse of the Billy Goat

text: The Curse of the Billy Goat was a sports curse that was supposedly placed on the Chicago Cubs Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise in 1945, by Billy Goat Tavern owner William Sianis. The curse lasted 71 years, from 1945 to 2016. During game 4 of the 1945 World Series at Wrigley Field, Sianis's pet goat, named Murphy, was bothering other fans, and so the pair were asked to leave the stadium. Outraged, Sianis allegedly declared, "Them Cubs, they ain't gonna win no more", which had been interpreted to mean that the Cubs would never win another National League (NL) pennant, at least for the remainder of Sianis's life.


title: Curse of the Billy Goat

text: The Cubs lost the 1945 World Series to the Detroit Tigers, and did not win a World Series championship again until 2016. The Cubs had last won the World Series in 1908. After the incident with Sianis and Murphy, the Cubs did not play in the World Series for the next 71 years until, on the 46th anniversary of William Sianis's death, the "curse" was broken when they defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 5–0 in game 6 of the 2016 National League Championship Series to win the NL pennant. The Cubs then defeated the American League (AL) champion Cleveland Indians 8–7 in 10 innings in game 7 to win the 2016 World Series, 108 years after their last win.


title: Curse of the Billy Goat

text: The exact nature of Sianis's curse differs in various accounts of the incident. Some state that he declared that no World Series games would ever again be played at Wrigley Field, while others believe that his ban was on the Cubs appearing in the World Series, making no mention of a specific venue. Sianis’s family claims that he dispatched a telegram to team owner Philip K. Wrigley which read, “You are going to lose this World Series and you are never going to win another World Series again. You are never going to win a World Series again because you insulted my goat.”


title: Curse of the Billy Goat

text: Whatever the truth, the Cubs were up two games to one in the 1945 World Series, but ended up losing Game 4, as well as the best-of-seven series, four games to three. The curse was immortalized in newspaper columns over the years, particularly by syndicated columnist Mike Royko. The curse gained widespread attention during the 2003 postseason, when Fox television commentators played it up during the Cubs-Marlins matchup in the National League Championship Series (NLCS).


title: Curse of the Billy Goat

text: According to an account in the "Chicago Sun" of October 7, 1945, the goat was turned away at the gate, and Sianis left the goat tied to a stake in a parking lot and went into the game alone. There was mention of a lawsuit, but no mention of a curse.


title: Curse of the Billy Goat

text: Between that 1908 triumph, which was the Cubs' second world championship (they'd also won the Series in 1907 to become baseball's first back-to-back winners as well as the first franchise to appear in three consecutive World Series), and 1945, the first year of the alleged Billy Goat curse, the Cubs won the National League pennant six times but failed to win the Series: in 1910, in 1918 (won by the Boston Red Sox who themselves would soon become victims of an alleged baseball curse and not win another Series for 86 years), in 1929, in 1932 (known for Babe Ruth's called shot at Wrigley Field), in 1935 (a re-match of the 1908 series against the Detroit Tigers, with the Tigers winning this time, their first Series triumph in five appearances dating back to the early 1900s), and in 1938.


title: Curse of the Billy Goat

text: Before his death on October 22, 1970, William Sianis himself attempted to lift the curse. Sam Sianis, his nephew, has gone to Wrigley Field with a goat multiple times in attempts to break the curse, including on Opening Day in 1984 and again in 1989, both years in which the Cubs went on to win their division. In 1994, Sam Sianis went again, with a goat, to stop a home losing streak, and in 1998 for the Wild Card tie-breaker game, which the Cubs won.


title: Curse of the Billy Goat

text: In 2003 (the Chinese zodiac's Year of the Goat), a group of Cubs fans headed to Houston with a billy goat named "Virgil Homer" and attempted to gain entrance to Minute Maid Park, home of the Astros, division rivals of the Cubs at the time. After they were denied entrance, they unfurled a scroll, read a verse and proclaimed they were "reversing the curse". The Cubs won the division that year and then came within five outs of playing in the World Series, but were undone by the Florida Marlins' eight-run rally immediately following the Steve Bartman incident. The Cubs then lost the following game and with it the series. (The Marlins went on to win the World Series against the New York Yankees.) Further salting the wound, the Astros earned their first World Series berth two years later and their crosstown rival the Chicago White Sox won the series.


title: Curse of the Billy Goat

text: On February 26, 2004, at the Harry Caray Restaurant in downtown Chicago, the Bartman baseball was electrocuted in an attempt to break the curse, leaving nothing but a heap of string behind.


title: Curse of the Billy Goat

text: In another bizarre twist, it was reported that a butchered goat was hung from the Harry Caray statue on October 3, 2007, to which "The Chicago Sun-Times" noted: "If the prankster intended to reverse the supposed billy goat curse with the stunt, it doesn't appear to have worked." While the Cubs did win the NL Central division title in 2007 and 2008, they were swept in the first round of the postseason in both years: by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2007 and the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2008. The elimination by Arizona came on October 6, the same date that the goat appeared at Wrigley Field in 1945. The act was repeated before the home opener in 2009, this time a goat's butchered head being hung from the statue. The act was futile as the Cubs were eliminated from postseason contention on September 26, 2009.


title: Curse of the Billy Goat

text: In 2008, a Greek Orthodox priest sought to end the curse during the 2008 playoffs with a spraying of holy water in and around the Cubs dugout to no avail.


title: Curse of the Billy Goat

text: On April 1, 2011, a social enterprise called Reverse The Curse, dedicated to bringing innovations to poverty by giving goats to families in developing countries, was initiated. The goats provide the family with milk, cheese, and alternative income to help lift them out of poverty. Reverse The Curse has expanded into reversing the "curses" that afflict the world's children in education and obesity.


title: Curse of the Billy Goat

text: On February 25, 2012, a group of five Chicago Cubs fans calling themselves "Crack the Curse" set out on foot from Mesa, Arizona (home to the Cubs' spring training facilities) to Wrigley Field. They brought along a goat named Wrigley who they believed would be able to break the Curse of the Billy Goat upon arrival at Wrigley Field. Additionally, they attempted to raise $100,000 for the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.


title: Curse of the Billy Goat

text: On April 10, 2013, a severed goat's head was delivered to the Cubs in a possible effort to lift the curse on the team. It was addressed to the Cubs' owner Thomas S. Ricketts.


title: Curse of the Billy Goat

text: On September 22, 2015, Patrick Bertoletti, Tim Brown, Takeru Kobayashi, Kevin Strahle and Bob Shoudt consumed a 40-pound goat in 13 minutes and 22 seconds at Taco in a Bag restaurant in Chicago.


title: Curse of the Billy Goat

text: On October 7, 2016, the owners of The Chicago Diner, a local vegetarian eatery near Wrigley Field, teamed up with Farm Sanctuary to try to reverse the Curse of the Billy Goat by displaying posters in the windows at their locations. The posters feature a goat named Peanut who urges Chicagoans to “reverse the curse” by going meat-free.


title: Curse of the Billy Goat

text: Another factor that may have played a role in the curse was the number of players (44 of them are listed below) who won World Series titles after leaving the Cubs (known as the Ex-Cubs Factor). These players include Andy Pafko (who, coincidentally, played in the 1945 World Series as a member of the Cubs), Gene Baker, Smoky Burgess, Don Hoak, Dale Long, Lou Brock (whose first title was in after a mid-season trade to the St. Louis Cardinals), Barney Schultz, Lou Johnson, Jim Brewer, Moe Drabowsky, Don Cardwell, Ken Holtzman, Billy North, Fred Norman, Bill Madlock, Manny Trillo, Greg Gross, Rick Monday, Burt Hooton, Bruce Sutter, Willie Hernández, Milt Wilcox, Joe Niekro, Dennis Eckersley (he made three consecutive World Series with Oakland, winning the middle bid in 1989), Billy Hatcher, Joe Carter, Greg Maddux, Dwight Smith, Joe Girardi (as both a player and a manager), José Vizcaíno, Glenallen Hill (after his second stint with the Cubs; his title came in after a mid-season trade), Luis Gonzalez (hit the walk-off bloop single that won Arizona the World Series in 2001), Mike Morgan, Mark Grace, Mark Bellhorn, Bill Mueller (drove in speedy pinch-runner Dave Roberts to spark Boston's epic comeback in the 2004 ALCS), Scott Eyre (whose title came in after he had been traded from the Cubs during the season), Tom Gordon, Matt Stairs, Jamie Moyer, Jerry Hairston Jr., Mark DeRosa, Mike Fontenot, Ryan Theriot, Ángel Pagán, and, in 2013, Ryan Dempster. Dontrelle Willis and Jon Garland were traded as minor leaguers (coincidentally, the former won a World Series ring with the Marlins team that defeated the Cubs in the 2003 NLCS). Tim Lincecum, who went on to win three World Series titles, was originally drafted by the Cubs, but he did not sign with them.


title: Curse of the Billy Goat

text: The Cubs ended the 2016 season with a () record. It was their first 100-win season since 1935 (, ), their best since 1910 (, ), and the sixth 100-win season in franchise history.


title: Curse of the Billy Goat

text: The Cubs won the National League Championship Series (NLCS), their first pennant in 71 years, with a 5–0 shutout in Game 6 against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Wrigley Field on October 22, 2016; the "curse" was broken on the 46th anniversary of Billy Sianis's death.


title: Curse of the Billy Goat

text: The Cubs beat the Cleveland Indians in the 2016 World Series in seven games after trailing in the series 3 games to 1. They won game 7 by a score of 8–7 in 10 innings at Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio, ending their 108-year drought.


title: Curse of the Billy Goat

text: In the 1989 film "Back to the Future Part II", it is depicted that in 2015, the Cubs defeated a team from Miami in the 2015 World Series, which ended the longest drought in all four of the North American professional sports leagues. While the Miami Marlins failed to make the playoffs, the Cubs managed to the wild card that year and moved to the 2015 NLCS by October 21, 2015, the date the protagonist Marty McFly traveled to in the movie. On that same day, however, the Cubs got swept by the New York Mets in the NLCS. The movie was also off by one year on when the Cubs won, as the Cubs actually won the World Series the following year in 2016. The official Back to the Future Twitter joked that the one-year delay was due to the 1994-95 MLB strike disrupting the space-time continuum.


title: Leave Home

text: Leave Home is the second studio album by American punk rock band the Ramones. It was released on January 10, 1977, through Sire Records, with the expanded CD being released through Rhino Entertainment on June 19, 2001. Songs on the album were written immediately after the band's first album's writing process, which demonstrated the band's progression. The album had a higher production value than their debut "Ramones" and featured faster tempos. The front photo was taken by Moshe Brakha and the back cover, which would become the band's logo, was designed by Arturo Vega. The album spawned three singles, but only one succeeded in charting. It was also promoted with several tour dates in the United States and Europe.


title: Leave Home

text: The songs in "Leave Home" concentrate on various themes, with the musical tones being diverse as well. Some tunes were more pop-oriented, while others, like "Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment" and "Pinhead" were loaded with distorted guitars and had a more punk rock sound. The song "Carbona Not Glue" was taken off the album because it potentially violated the trademark of the stain-removal product Carbona. The track was replaced with "Babysitter" in the United Kingdom and "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker" in the United States (prior to its inclusion on "Rocket to Russia"); both "Carbona" and "Babysitter" were included on the 2001 expanded edition.


title: Leave Home

text: Critical reception for the album was generally favorable, with several reviewers pointing out the fact that it highly resembled the band's debut album. Critics also said the album was less groundbreaking than their debut but had humorous and enjoyable pieces. The album peaked at 148 on the "Billboard" 200 despite its critical acclaim as well as the band members expecting more commercial success.


title: Leave Home

text: The writing and structure are both somewhat more sophisticated than the songs on their previous record. Guitarist Johnny Ramone relates: "We recorded them in the order they were written; we wanted to show a slight progression in song structure." Most of the songs were written in the band members' homes, rather than at a studio; "Suzy Is a Headbanger" was written in drummer Tommy Ramone's loft apartment. Joey Ramone later recalled:


title: Leave Home

text: Recorded October and November 1976 in New York City at Sundragon Studios through Sire Records, "Leave Home" featured increased sound quality through more advanced output methods. Sire set their budget at about $10,000, hiring Tony Bongiovi to produce the album, and Tommy Ramone (credited as T. Erdelyi) to co-produce. More emphasis was placed on the album's mixing and engineering than their debut album, which received merely $6,400 to record and produce. With a more fine-tuned and exceptional sound, "Leave Home" also presented a production value superior to other punk rock bands at the time. Author Joe S. Harrington called the band's production "brilliant", and noted that it "put them ahead of the run-of-the-mill garage band."


title: Leave Home

text: The title "Leave Home" refers to the Ramones' leaving New York City to go on tour around the world. The album cover was designed by Moshe Brakha, who had worked with the Rolling Stones to yield the "Black and Blue" (1976) cover art, and would later work with artists like Devo and Iron Maiden. The back cover of the album was a drawing of a bald eagle by graphic designer Arturo Vega. The image would soon become the band's logo.


title: Leave Home

text: The original release included "Carbona Not Glue" as the fifth track. However, a month before the band released "Leave Home", Ramones' manager Danny Fields announced to the band that Carbona was a registered trademark and that their record label had to remove the song from the album's track listing. Legs McNeil recalled: "I was shocked. It was such a great song, so radio-friendly—like a song the Beatles or the Rolling Stones would have written if they were just starting out in 1976, with great harmonies and catchy lyrics." Although early purchasers of the Sire release got an album that included the song, "Carbona Not Glue" was later replaced by "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker" for the US release, and "Babysitter" for the UK release. In the early ‘90s, after being unavailable for years, the song was bootlegged as a 45 RPM single with "I Can't Be" as the B-side. The single's cover sported a faux Sub Pop Singles design, despite not actually being released by the label. The song was revived on the 2001 Extended Edition of the album, which also included "Babysitter".


title: Leave Home

text: There were three singles released from "Leave Home": "I Remember You", "Swallow My Pride", and "Carbona Not Glue", released respectively. "Swallow My Pride" was the only single from "Leave Home" that charted, peaking at thirty-six on the United Kingdom singles chart. The album's final single, "Carbona Not Glue"/"I Can't Be", was released in 1991 as a bootleg. The single was given four out of five stars by AllMusic's Matt Whalley, who said that the song "could have been one of the Ramones' most popular tracks if it was not pulled from the album due to legal reasons." Whalley called the B-side "I Can't Be" "simple", describing it as "in the same vein as 'Carbona Not Glue,' only shifting focus to relationships."


title: Leave Home

text: After the album came out in February, the band began a four-week tour of the United States starting with Los Angeles. On February 4, the band played at the Nassau Coliseum with Blue Öyster Cult, and played with Suicide the next day at CBGB. A week after this, the band played with Blue Öyster Cult again in Poughkeepsie, to which Johnny relates: "Those arena shows were a little better for us, although we would have more bad experiences in those big places. I never really enjoyed playing them." The band used their newly designed logo as a backdrop at concerts. They also had more advanced lighting techniques, but still only used white lights.


title: Leave Home

text: In April 1977, the band left the United States to begin their tour of Europe. Ramones co-headlined with Talking Heads, who were a new wave band formed in 1975. During a Marseilles gig, the Ramones caused a power outage to a quarter of the city during a sound check. The gig was cancelled when police arrived and dispersed the fans. When their tour manager arranged for a stop at Stonehenge in Wiltshire, Johnny refused to leave the bus, saying he refused to see "a bunch of old rocks". The band's Europe tour came to an end on June 6, 1977.


title: Leave Home

text: "Leave Home" has various lyrical themes throughout its track list. The opening song, "Glad to See You Go", is rather uptempo and frenetic. The track was about Dee Dee's then-girlfriend Connie, who was well known in the punk rock scene as having once dated New York Dolls bassist Arthur Kane and attempting to cut his finger off with a knife. Connie also harmed Dee Dee in several ways, such as slicing his buttocks with a beer bottle. At the time, every other member of the band despised Dee Dee's girlfriend and he eventually broke up with her. Joey recalls: "Dee [Dee] and I came up with the song 'Glad to See You Go,' about Connie's leaving." In the mid-1980s, Connie died from a drug overdose. "Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment" utilizes Joey's singing abilities with its vocal-demanding melody. Author Scott Schinder called the song a "sing-along mental-illness ode." The next song, "I Remember You" was said by author Greil Marcus to be all about the moment where "Joey's voice turns the single word "you" into pure poetry." "Oh, Oh, I Love Her So" pays homage to the 1950s doo-wop genre, and consists of a three-chord barrage. The song was written solely by Joey, where in the song he humorously tells of how he met a girl at Burger King and they fell in love by a soda fountain.


title: Leave Home

text: "Carbona Not Glue" was written as a follow-up to "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue" from their debut album. The song was Legs McNeil's favorite song from "Leave Home", who relates: "[The song] was meant to clarify that while glue might not be good for you, the cleaning fluid Carbona was definitely a better high." The song contemplates around Beach Boys harmonies, and it uses "bouncy" guitar riffs. "Suzy Is a Headbanger" was inspired by the 1947 film noir "Nightmare Alley", with the lyrics detailing a female involved in the punk rock scene.


title: Leave Home

text: The lines "Gabba Gabba Hey" at the end of "Pinhead" were taken from the horror film "Freaks", which the band saw in Cleveland, Ohio after their gig was cancelled. Joey's brother Mickey Leigh said that it was specifically taken from the scene where "the midget groom does a dance on the banquet table and sings 'Gobble gobble, we accept you, one of us' to his bride." The song is an audience participation song, and during live performances, Leigh appears on stage holding a sign that bore the text "Gabba Gabba Hey". "Pinhead", the album's longest piece, leads into "Now I Wanna Be a Good Boy", which portrays a confused adolescent wanting to be good, yet also yearning to run away from home. The next song on the album, "Swallow My Pride", was a piece written solely by lead singer Joey Ramone, who states that the concept deals with their record company Sire Records; Tommy used the expression "you gotta swallow your pride" when signing to their record company. "What's Your Game" is one of the band's most melodic songs and was called "wistful" by Marcus. It was written by Joey about how he yearns for a girl to be herself instead of something she's not.


title: Leave Home

text: The album's only cover song, "California Sun", was written by Henry Glover and Morris Levy, and originally recorded by The Rivieras. While the lyrics and musical structure remain the same throughout the piece, Joey's pronunciation upon words significantly lessened the similarity to the original song. The sound output tone also differs from the original, with more distortion as well as a faster tempo. Author Steve Waksman relates: "From the opening bars, 'California Sun' becomes subject to the Ramones' distinctive brand of musical minimalism paired with sonic excess. The chords go by in a blur of distortion; the drums and bass kick at seemingly twice the speed of the Rivieras." The twelfth track "Commando" has a theme which deals with war movies and contains multiple military references. Author Avram Mednick said the song was a successor to "Blitzkrieg Bop", released on the band's debut album. He also noted that it has a "bouncy melody and an infectious call-and-response chorus." "You're Gonna Kill that Girl", which was written very early in the band's career, was also rooted in doo-wop genre. Mednick commented that it appealed highly to those tuning into the Ramones in the UK, and also said it has a "lovely misogynistic tune." The final guitar chord on the track is played by drummer Tommy since Johnny rarely played acoustic. The album's final track, "You Should Never Have Opened That Door", was written by Dee Dee and Johnny, and circles themes of horror films and hints that people in these movies tend to be naïve and unintelligent.


title: Leave Home

text: "Leave Home" was released on January 10, 1977 and was well received by critics. Although the album did not receive much initial reception, Ken Tucker of "Rolling Stone" magazine gave the album a favorable review in 1977, saying that it is very similar to their debut yet more experienced sounding. He sums up the album with: "The Ramones are as direct and witty as before. They've also lost just a pinch of their studied rawness: whether this is a sign of maturity or sellout is a matter for debate. The Ramones make rousing music and damn good jokes, but they're in a bind: the hard rock of this group is so pure it may be perceived as a freak novelty by an awful lot of people." In "" (1981), Robert Christgau wrote, "People who consider this a one-joke band aren't going to change their minds now. People who love the joke for its power, wit, and economy will be happy to hear it twice. Hint: read the lyrics." The year-end critics' poll at "NME" ranked it at No. 9 among the top "Albums of the Year" for 1977, with "Sheena" ranked at No. 5 among the year's top tracks.


title: Leave Home

text: Retrospective reviews have also been positive. Writing for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine found it very similar to their debut. Though he did consider it to be slightly more pop music oriented, Erlewine writes that despite being "weaker" than its preceding album, "Leave Home" "deliver[s] at breakneck speed and conclude[s] in under a half-hour." April Long from "NME" especially favored "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker", calling it "a punk-surf-pop crossover that has never been rivalled." It was given a favorable review by "PopMatters" editor Adrien Begrand, who called it his favorite Ramones album, saying: "In this album, the Ramones are witty, menacing, goofy, cynical, and head-over-heels in love, all at the same time." During his extensive review, he called "I Remember You" a "perfect bubblegum pop song", while saying that "Pinhead" urges "all the freaks of the world to unite as one" with the lines "D-U-M-B / Everyone's accusing me."


title: Leave Home

text: The album did not chart as well in the United States as its predecessor, peaking at number 148 on the "Billboard" 200. It was, however, the band's first album to chart on the UK Albums Chart, debuting at number 45. Many of the songs on "Leave Home" were not considered by Mickey Leigh to be "radio–friendly" because "Carbona Not Glue" was about Intoxicative inhalant. Joey relates: "We thought we had a lotta songs that should've been hits. If you grew up in the sixties, things would just get played and be hits right off the bat. So we thought since our music was doin' something unique that everyone would pick up on that. What really happened was we were so alien that no one wanted to touch us. And so we wouldn't get played."


title: Leave Home

text: All tracks originally credited to the Ramones (except "California Sun"). Actual writers are listed alongside the tracks. Writing credits are credited to Mickey Leigh's book "I Slept with Joey Ramone: A Family Memoir".


title: State List

text: The State List or List-II is a list of 61 items. Initially there were 66 items in the list in Schedule Seven to the Constitution of India. The legislative section is divided into three lists: the Union List, the State List and the Concurrent List. Unlike the federal governments of the United States, Switzerland or Australia, residual powers remain with the Union Government, as with the Canadian federal government.


title: State List

text: If any provision of a law made by the Legislature of State is repugnant to any provision of a law made by Parliament which Parliament is competent to enact, or to any provision of an existing law with respect to one of the matters enumerated in the Concurrent List, then, the law made by Parliament, whether passed before or after the law made by the Legislature of such State, or, as the case may be, the existing law, shall prevail and the law made by the Legislature of the State shall, to the extent of the repugnancy, be void. There is an exception to this in cases "where a law made by the Legislature of a State with respect to one of the matters enumerated in the Concurrent List contains any provision repugnant to the provisions of an earlier law made by Parliament or an existing law with respect to that matter, then, the law so made by the Legislature of such State shall, if it has been reserved for the consideration of the President and has received his assent, prevail in that State. Provided that nothing in this clause shall prevent Parliament from enacting at any time any law with respect to the same matter including a law adding to, amending, varying or repealing the law so made by the Legislature of the State."


title: Spencer Hastings

text: Spencer Jill Hastings is a fictional character, one of the five main characters who appear in the "Pretty Little Liars" novel series and its Freeform television adaptation. Created by American author Sara Shepard, she is a member of the group known as the Liars, and is best friend to the four other members, who are protagonists of the story. Portrayed by Troian Bellisario, the character was developed for television by the series' showrunner I. Marlene King and appeared in each of the show's 160 episodes during its seven-years-long run, from its premiere on June 8, 2010, to its finale on June 27, 2017.


title: Spencer Hastings

text: Spencer is known in the fictional town of Rosewood for her sophisticated charm, intelligence, hardheadedness, and, at times, dangerous dedication to achieve her life goals. She is part of the very wealthy, powerful Hastings family; Spencer's parents, Veronica and Peter, are both linked to politics and her sister, Melissa is an equally accomplished grad student.


title: Spencer Hastings

text: For her role as Spencer, Bellisario was nominated thrice for (winning once) and twice for Choice TV Actress: Drama (winning once) in the Teen Choice Awards.


title: Spencer Hastings

text: Spencer is one of four primary protagonists in all sixteen of the "Pretty Little Liars" novels, starting with 2006's "Pretty Little Liars". She is portrayed as a competitive girl who strives for perfection in everything she does. Spencer is willing to do whatever it takes to win, often to the detriment of herself and others. She is known to have a dark side and suffers from rage-induced black outs, which leads her to question whether she had anything to do with the death of her friend Alison. She also exhibits symptoms of OCD but it is never confirmed whether she has the disorder.


title: Spencer Hastings

text: In later books, Spencer is briefly addicted to drugs, which she takes to help her improve her grades at a University of Pennsylvania summer school. It is also revealed that her father had an affair with Jessica DiLaurentis around the time of Spencer's conception, making her the half-sister of Alison and Courtney DiLaurentis.


title: Spencer Hastings

text: Spencer has an ongoing rivalry with her older sister, Melissa, who is equally competitive. The two slowly come to an understanding and eventually have an improved relationship.


title: Spencer Hastings

text: Troian Bellisario was cast as Spencer Hastings for the "Pretty Little Liars" television series adaptation in November 2009.


title: Spencer Hastings

text: Spencer is similar to her book counterpart: she is portrayed as a highly ambitious, intelligent young woman from a wealthy family who frequently competes with her older sister Melissa for accolades and the approval of their parents. However, in the show, Spencer is portrayed as more emotional and sentimental, and more humorous than her book counterpart. She's the most academically gifted of her friends, and in the running for valedictorian. Spencer is on the Rosewood Day field hockey team, and plays tennis at her family's country club. She was the only one who could ever stand up to Alison, although she still deferred to Alison.


title: Spencer Hastings

text: Before the series' chronology, Spencer had a brief affair with Ian Thomas, her sister's boyfriend at the time. Ian and Spencer kissed and Alison saw them together, and later she threatened to tell Melissa. It was later revealed that Alison asked Ian to kiss Spencer. In season one, Spencer flirts with Melissa's fiancé, Wren Kingston when he moves into the Hastings home and the two are caught kissing by Melissa. She ends her engagement with Wren and refuses to speak to him or Spencer. An apologetic Spencer attempts to reunite Wren and Melissa but he tells her that he wishes he could have met her before Melissa. Spencer then dates Alex Santiago after they met at her family's country club but A sabotages their relationship and the two break up.


title: Spencer Hastings

text: Spencer is initially suspicious of Toby Cavanaugh's role in Alison's death and they begin a friendly relationship in the second half of the first season, which eventually becomes romantic Their relationship is stable until A threatens Toby's life to Spencer and she decided to end things to keep him safe. After breaking up with Toby, Spencer seeks out Wren but their reconciliation is short-lived. Spencer reunites with Toby when she discovers he has been working separately to take A down. However, it is later revealed that Toby was actually working with A, causing Spencer break up with him. After Toby dies, Spencer is distraught and begins to question whether he was working with A. She eventually learns that Toby is still alive and he explains that he was working with A as a double-agent and faked his death but his allegiance was always with Spencer and The Liars. They then happily reconcile.


title: Spencer Hastings

text: In season 5, Toby joins the Rosewood police force, which strains his relationship with Spencer. Spencer wants to use his police resources to find "A" while Toby prefer to maintain a separate work/life balance, causing the two to break up again. Spencer then begins a flirtation with Jonny Raymond, an artist renting out the Hastings' guest house. He eventually leaves town after being arrested for theft. Spencer then has a fling with Colin when she is visiting London with Melissa. In season 6, when Spencer returns to Rosewood, she and Toby resume their relationship. In the mid-season finale, Spencer attends Georgetown University. She has a pregnancy scare and she and Toby realize they want different things in their lives, leading to their break up.


title: Spencer Hastings

text: Following the series' five years jump in season 6, Spencer dates Caleb Rivers but they later break up due to Caleb's feelings for Hanna. In the series finale, Spencer and Toby rekindle their relationship and in "Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists", it is mentioned that she and Toby eloped.


title: Spencer Hastings

text: Spencer Hastings is a preppy, ambitious, and competitive student who strives for perfection due to her parents' high expectations. She is resentful of her older sister Melissa, to whom she is always compared to. Spencer is attracted to her sister's fiancé, Wren, whom A warns Spencer to stay away from. Wren kisses Spencer and they are caught by Melissa, who insists that Wren move out. Melissa is angry and resentful towards Spencer afterwards. Spencer feels especially guilty because years earlier, she flirted with Melissa's boyfriend Ian and he kissed her, culminating in his break up with Melissa. She attempts to help Wren reconcile with Melissa but both parties are uninterested.


title: Spencer Hastings

text: Spencer starts dating Alex Santiago who works at her family's country club. Her mother initially dislikes him, but later reveals it is because she is embarrassed that she drunkenly revealed her breast cancer scare to him. Alex confides in Spencer that he had received an invitation to a prestigious tennis clinic but was uninterested in pursuing it. A sends Alex's application to the clinic and fakes messages that Spencer sent the application, which causes Alex to break up with her, believing that Spencer betrayed his trust.


title: Spencer Hastings

text: Spencer is the most suspicious and paranoid of the group, and she opposes Emily's friendship with Toby. But after the two spend time together in a motel room in the episode "Person of Interest", the two begin a romantic relationship. Spencer's family disapproves of their relationship and "A" also conspires to keep them apart. Nevertheless, Spencer insists on staying with Toby.


title: Spencer Hastings

text: Ian returns to Rosewood as Spencer's field hockey coach and he reconciles with Melissa, which makes Spencer nervous given their past relationship. Spencer becomes concerned when Melissa and Ian suddenly elope and Melissa becomes pregnant, especially after it is revealed that Alison had a secret relationship with Ian, making him a suspect in her murder.