title: Saint Young Men

text: Comics writer Paul Gravett chose it as one of the best comics of Japan in 2008, while writers Shaenon Garrity and Jason Thompson elected it as one of the most wanted titles for licensing in 2010. In 2014, writing for the newspaper "Der Tagesspiegel", German critic Anne Maren Delseit elected it the third best comic book of the year. Japanese manga critic Kaoru Nagayama has noted that the manga is "fun to read" and commended Nakamura for keeping Jesus and Buddha faithful to their real character—of kindness—even when confronted by evil. Carlo Santos from "Anime News Network" criticized it for its art and questioned its capacity to evolve into something other than "Jesus and Buddha hanging out, while normal people do embarrassing things to them". Santos complained that Jesus' and Buddha's philosophical differences and personalities are not explored. However, Santos praised the series' comedy, noting its simplicity and saying, "its brilliance comes not from purposely trivializing two of the world's great religions, but by highlighting the quirks of the secular world when these famous religious figures are placed in it". According to him, the series does not lose its capacity of making readers laugh as it progresses, unlike other manga. Jolyon Baraka Thomas of "The Guardian" praised the constancy of "visual gags and puns", and wrote: "Her story is not an introduction to abstruse religious doctrines, nor does it feature much overt commentary on the role of religions in contemporary society."


title: Saint Young Men

text: The anime film adaptation of "Saint Young Men" debuted at number nine in Japanese theaters, grossing ¥49,930,836 (US$491,369) on 75 screens. In the subsequent weekends it decreased on its placement from nine to eleven, and then to twelve, closing its run with ¥300 million yen ($1,888,062) grossed. Its DVD release ranked seventh on its first week on the list of best-selling anime DVDs in Japan, dropping to twenty-ninth place on its second week on the list.


title: Sway Calloway

text: Sway Calloway is an American journalist, radio personality, executive producer and former rapper. Known as Sway, he is known for hosting music, news, and culture programming. He was the co-host of the nationally syndicated radio show "The Wake Up Show as" one half of the duo Sway & King Tech. Sway now hosts “Sway in the Morning” on SiriusXM Shade45 as well as the MTV show TRLAM.


title: Sway Calloway

text: As a teenager growing up in Oakland, California, Sway became a locally known rapper and b-boy performing on San Francisco's Pier 39. He teamed up with DJ King Tech after high school and the duo performed at various San Francisco Bay Area clubs. They also released independent albums. A major label record deal with Giant Records followed. The resulting album, "Concrete Jungle" in 1990, got them the job of co-hosting their own show on radio station KMEL.


title: Sway Calloway

text: Another album, "Back 2 Basics" was released in 2005 on Sway and Tech's own record label, Bolo Entertainment, which is distributed by Universal Music.


title: Sway Calloway

text: "The Wake Up Show" featured music and interviews with well-known hip hop artists as well as up-and-coming ones. The show became very popular and began simulcasting to Los Angeles on KKBT in 1993 and to Chicago on WEJM by 1996. Ras Kass, Chino XL and Eminem are among the rappers who made their broadcasting debuts on the show. Soon, Sway was also hosting his own morning drive time show on the station.


title: Sway Calloway

text: The popularity of the show helped Sway and Tech get another record deal, this time with Interscope Records. Their album, "This or That", reached #30 on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and #1 on the Top Heatseekers chart in 1999. The album featured contributions from hip hop artists such as RZA, Eminem, Xzibit, Kool G Rap, KRS-One, Big Daddy Kane, Tech N9ne, Pharoahe Monch and The Roots. Sway also made an appearance on Jennifer Lopez's DVD, The Reel Me in late 2003.


title: Sway Calloway

text: Sway hosts a weekday morning show on Eminem’s Shade 45 channel on SiriusXM! “Sway in the Morning” launched on Monday, July 18, 2011 on Shade 45 (SiriusXM channel 45) and airs Monday-Friday from 8am-12 noon ET. The second week he was there Ludacris phoned in on the show and they talked about his music and movie career. In an interview with The Source in 2012, Sway talked about his experiences in both satellite and terrestrial radio.


title: Sway Calloway

text: In November 2013, Kanye West appeared as a guest on his show and had an infamous meltdown on air, uttering memorable lines like "You ain't got the answers Sway, You ain't been doing the education".


title: Sway Calloway

text: In 2000, Sway was approached by MTV to join the network as a correspondent, becoming a regular reporter for its music video shows and news specials, including "Total Request Live" and the hip-hop music video show "Direct Effect". Because MTV's studios are based in New York City, King Tech and "The Wake Up Show" went along with Sway in his move. Sway's prominence on MTV made the radio show even more popular than it was before. This inevitably led to a TV version of the show on MTV running briefly in January 2004. Sway and Tech also have a popular series of mixtapes that feature freestyles performed on the show.


title: Sway Calloway

text: In September 2005, Sway decided not to renew his contract with MTV. However, in 2006, Sway signed a new contract that included an ability to bring new projects to MTV, making him the first TV personality since Carson Daly to negotiate such a deal (Daly turned down a similar contract). He established the opportunity to produce programming with King Tech on MTV and other Viacom channels as well as continue to host programs.


title: Sway Calloway

text: Sway also appeared as a cameo in The Boondocks, voicing himself in "The Story Of Gangstalicious" in December 11, 2005.


title: Principality of Bulgaria

text: The Principality of Bulgaria () was a vassal state under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire. It was established by the Treaty of Berlin in 1878.


title: Principality of Bulgaria

text: After the Russo-Turkish War ended with a Russian victory, the Treaty of San Stefano was signed by Russia and the Ottoman Empire on 3 March 1878. Under this, a large Bulgarian vassal state was agreed to, which was significantly larger: its lands encompassed nearly all ethnic Bulgarians in the Balkans, and included most of Moesia, Thrace and Macedonia, stretching from the Black Sea to the Aegean. However, the United Kingdom and Austria-Hungary were against the establishment of such a large Russian client state in the Balkans, fearing it would shift the balance of power in the Mediterranean. Due to this, the great powers convened and signed the Treaty of Berlin, superseding the Treaty of San Stefano, which never went into effect. This created a much smaller principality, alongside an autonomous Eastern Rumelia within the Ottoman Empire.


title: Principality of Bulgaria

text: Although an Ottoman vassal, Bulgaria only acknowledged the authority of the Sublime Porte in a formal way. It had its own Constitution, flag and anthem, and conducted its own foreign policy. In 1885, a bloodless revolution resulted in Eastern Rumelia being "de facto" annexed by Bulgaria, which the Ottoman Empire accepted with the Tophane Agreement. On 5 October 1908, Bulgaria declared its independence as the Kingdom of Bulgaria.


title: Principality of Bulgaria

text: In 1396 the Bulgarian–Ottoman Wars ended with the fall of the Bulgarian Empire, due to the Ottoman invasion of the Balkans and its own internal divisions. Under Ottoman rule, the Bulgarian nobility was destroyed and the national consciousness suppressed. The Bulgarian National Revival, emerging in the late 18th century, revived Bulgarian identity and stoked the idea of creating a new Bulgarian state. Numerous revolutionary movements and uprisings against the Ottomans occurred alongside similar movements in the rest of the Balkans, culminating in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877 to 1878.


title: Principality of Bulgaria

text: The Treaty of San Stefano of March 3, 1878 proposed a Bulgarian state, which comprised the geographical regions of Moesia, Thrace and Macedonia. Based on that date Bulgarians celebrate Bulgaria's national day each year.


title: Principality of Bulgaria

text: Fearing the establishment of a large Russian client state on the Balkans, the other great powers, however, were not willing to agree to the treaty. As a result, the Treaty of Berlin (1878), under the supervision of Otto von Bismarck of Germany and Benjamin Disraeli of United Kingdom, revised the earlier treaty, and scaled back the proposed Bulgarian state.


title: Principality of Bulgaria

text: A widely autonomous Principality of Bulgaria was created, between the Danube and the Stara Planina range, with its seat at the old Bulgarian capital of Veliko Turnovo, and including Sofia. This state was to be under nominal Ottoman sovereignty but was to be ruled by a prince elected by a congress of Bulgarian notables and approved by the Powers. They insisted that the Prince could not be a Russian, but in a compromise Prince Alexander of Battenberg, a nephew of Tsar Alexander II, was chosen. An autonomous Ottoman province under the name of Eastern Rumelia was created south of the Stara Planina range, whereas Macedonia was returned under the sovereignty of the Sultan.


title: Principality of Bulgaria

text: The Bulgarians adopted an advanced democratic constitution, and power soon passed to the Liberal Party led by Stefan Stambolov. Prince Alexander had conservative leanings, and at first opposed Stambolov's policies, but by 1885 he had become sufficiently sympathetic to his new country to change his mind, and supported the Liberals. He also supported the Unification of Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia, which was brought about by a coup in Plovdiv in September 1885. The Powers did not intervene because of the power struggles between them. Shortly after, Serbia declared war on Bulgaria in the hope of grabbing territory while the Bulgarians were distracted. The Bulgarians defeated them at Slivnitsa, pushed the Serbian army into Serbia and succeeded to re-conquer the seized by the Berlin Treaty Bulgarian populated towns of Pirot and Vranya, but they were given back to Serbia with the Treaty of Bucharest in 1886.


title: Principality of Bulgaria

text: These events made Alexander very popular in Bulgaria, but Russia was increasingly dissatisfied at the liberal tendencies under his reign. In August 1886 they fomented a coup, in the course of which Alexander was forced to abdicate and was exiled to Russia. Stambolov, however, acted quickly and the participants in the coup were forced to flee the country. Stambolov tried to reinstate Alexander, but strong Russian opposition forced the prince to abdicate again. In July 1887 the Bulgarians elected Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha as their new Prince. Ferdinand was the "Austrian candidate" and the Russians refused to recognise him. Ferdinand initially worked with Stambolov, but by 1894 their relationship worsened. Stambolov resigned and was assassinated in July 1895. Ferdinand then decided to restore relations with Russia, which meant returning to a conservative policy.


title: Principality of Bulgaria

text: There was a substantial Bulgarian population still living under Ottoman rule, particularly in Macedonia. To complicate matters, Serbia and Greece too made claims over parts of Macedonia, while Serbia, as a Slavic nation, also considered Macedonians


title: Principality of Bulgaria

text: as belonging to Serbian nation. Thus began a five-sided struggle for control of these areas which lasted until World War I. In 1903 there was a Bulgarian insurrection in Ottoman Macedonia and war seemed likely. In 1908 Ferdinand used the struggles between the Great Powers to declare Bulgaria a fully independent kingdom, with himself as Tsar, which he did on 5 October (though celebrated on 22 September, as Bulgaria remained officially on the Julian calendar until 1916) in the Holy Forty Martyrs Church, Veliko Tarnovo.


title: Principality of Bulgaria

text: The main external political problem confronting Bulgaria throughout the period up to World War I was the fate of Macedonia and Eastern Thrace. At the end of 19th century the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization was founded and began the preparation of an armed uprising in the regions still occupied by the Ottoman Turks. Relying in part on nationwide support on the part of the Principality of Bulgaria, IMARO got down to organizing a network of committees in Macedonia and Thrace. In August 1903 a mass armed uprising, known in history as the Ilinden-Preobrajenie, broke out in Macedonia and Thrace. Its aim was to liberate those regions, or at least to draw the attention of the Great Powers and make them advocate for the improvement of the living conditions for the population through legal and economic reforms. After three months of fierce battles the Ottoman army crushed the uprising using much cruelty against the civilian population.


title: Aryana Engineer

text: Aryana Engineer (born March 6, 2001) is a Canadian actress who made her debut in the 2009 horror film "Orphan", as a little girl named Max, alongside Vera Farmiga. In 2012 she starred, alongside Milla Jovovich, as Becky in "", the fifth film in the franchise.


title: Aryana Engineer

text: In 2007, she was discovered when she was spotted using sign language with her mother. The neighbour (Brenda Campbell) who discovered her was an agent, who suggested Aryana for the role of five-year-old Maxine "Max" Coleman in the film "Orphan" (2009). The neighbour knew the producers were searching for a blond-haired girl who knew how to sign, and decided to take action. In the script of "Orphan", Max Coleman was described as "unimaginably cute". When director Collet-Serra saw that Aryana had the ability "while crying, to perform a scene -- to immediately go from there still keeping this emotion", he knew she was the one for the part. According to Collet-Serra, Aryana didn't understand what was going on during the making of "Orphan" and thought it was all a game.


title: Aryana Engineer

text: After the release of "Orphan", Aryana took part in a commercial for the 2010 Winter Olympics that was being held in Canada. She also represented Canada with her brother at the 2010 Winter Paralympics opening ceremony, welcoming viewers using sign language.


title: Aryana Engineer

text: In September 2012, "Resident Evil: Retribution" was released to the public. In the film, Aryana plays a deaf girl named Becky who builds a mother-daughter relationship with the main character Alice (Milla Jovovich).


title: The Foundations

text: The Foundations were a British soul band (m. 1967–1970). The group's background was: West Indian, White British, and Sri Lankan. Their 1967 debut single "Baby Now That I've Found You" reached number one in the UK and Canada, and number eleven in the US, while their 1968 single "Build Me Up Buttercup" reached number two in the UK and number three on the US "Billboard" Hot 100. The group was the first multi-racial group to have a number one hit in the UK in the 1960s.


title: The Foundations

text: The Foundations were one of the few British acts to successfully imitate what became known as the Motown Sound. The Foundations signed to Pye, at the time one of only four big UK record companies (the others being EMI, which included the HMV, Columbia and Parlophone labels, Decca, and Philips, which also owned Fontana).


title: The Foundations

text: The Foundations attracted much interest and intrigue due to the size and structure of the group. Not only was there a diverse ethnic mix in the group, but there was also diversity in ages and musical backgrounds. The oldest member of the group, Mike Elliott, was 38 years old. The youngest was Tim Harris, who, at 18, was barely out of school. The West Indian horn section consisted of Jamaican-born Mike Elliott and Pat Burke, both saxophonists and Dominican-born Eric Allandale on trombone. They were all highly experienced musicians who came from professional jazz and rock-and-roll backgrounds. Mike Elliott had played in various jazz and rock and roll bands including Tubby Hayes and Ronnie Scott, the Cabin Boys (led by Tommy Steele's brother, Colin Hicks), and others. Pat Burke, a professional musician, was from the London Music Conservatorium. Eric Allandale had led his own band at one stage as well as having played with Edmundo Ros and was a former member of the Terry Lightfoot and Alex Welsh bands. Alan Warner was the guitarist. Bassist Peter Macbeth was a former teacher. Tony Gomez, the keyboard player, was a former clerk, while Clem Curtis had been an interior decorator and professional boxer.


title: The Foundations

text: There is some disagreement as to who was responsible for choosing the band's name, and various sources give slightly different accounts of their beginnings. One version is that they were originally called The Ramong Sound, or The Ramongs, and there were two lead singers, Clem Curtis and Raymond Morrison aka Ramong Morrison. When Raymond was imprisoned for six months, a friend of the band suggested future Psychedelic shock rocker Arthur Brown.


title: The Foundations

text: The Foundations came together in Bayswater, London, in January 1967. They practised and played in a basement club called the Butterfly Club, which they ran. While managing the club themselves, they played music nightly, and handled the cooking and cleaning. They would get to bed around 6 or 7 a.m., sleep until 4 p.m., get up and begin again to get ready to open at 8 p.m. Sometimes they barely made enough money to pay the rent, let alone feed themselves. At times, they lived off the leftovers and a couple of pounds of rice.


title: The Foundations

text: The biography on AllMusic stated that Barry Class was the first to discover them, although others claim it was Ron Fairway.


title: The Foundations

text: When they were at the top spot with "Baby, Now That I've Found You", Fairway commented to "Melody Maker" that most managements would have pulled them out of the "bargain priced dates" that had been booked for some time. He expressed gratitude to everyone for their support, and said that they would fulfill every engagement for which they had signed.


title: The Foundations

text: Not long after "Baby, Now That I've Found You" became a hit, rock historian Roger Dopson describes what followed as a "behind the scenes struggle", where Fairway was "pushed out" and his partner, Barry Class, remained as sole manager of the group. Fairway later attempted to sue the band, alleging that he was wrongfully dismissed, though the band said that he had resigned of his own accord. Dopson also noted that Fairway also leaked a story to the media saying that the Foundations had broken up which only served to keep the Foundations name in the news headlines.


title: The Foundations

text: At first, they found progress quite slow, and one of their sax players, Pat Burke, had to drop out of the band and take another job while they went through a rough patch. He did rejoin them again later in 1967.


title: The Foundations

text: They were noticed by Brian Epstein, who added them to the roster of his NEMS Agency, but the contract became void when he died.


title: The Foundations

text: When "Baby Now That I've Found You" was first released it went nowhere. Luckily, the BBC's newly founded BBC Radio 1 was looking to avoid any records being played by the pirate radio stations and looked back at some recent releases that the pirate stations had missed. "Baby, Now That I've Found You" was one of them. The single then took off and, by November, was number one in the UK Singles Chart. This was the ideal time because of the soul boom that was happening in The UK since 1965 and, with American R&B stars visiting the country, interest and intrigue in the Foundations was generated. Their second single, released in January 1968, "Back on My Feet Again", did not do as well but made it to No. 18 in the UK, and No. 29 in Canada. Also in January 1968, they were invited to put down some tracks for John Peel's radio show. One of the tracks that they laid down was a cover of ? and the Mysterians garage classic "96 Tears". On the same day, PP Arnold was in the studio with Dusty Springfield and Madeline Bell as her backing vocalists.


title: The Foundations

text: The Foundations did tour the United States after their first hit and they toured 32 states with Big Brother and the Holding Company, Maxine Brown, Tim Buckley, Solomon Burke, The Byrds, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown and The Fifth Dimension.


title: The Foundations

text: Around this time, after the release of their second single, tensions developed between the band and their songwriter/producer, Tony Macaulay. He would not allow them to record any of their own songs. In an interview, the band's organ player, Tony Gomez, told the "New Musical Express" ("NME") in an interview that he, Peter MacBeth, and Eric Allandale had some ideas that they wanted to put together. Curtis later recalled that Macaulay was a problem. "Tony Macaulay was very talented, but could be difficult to get on with. When we asked to record some of our own material – just as B sides, we weren't after the A side – he called us 'ungrateful' and stormed out of the studio."


title: The Foundations

text: The group felt that Macaulay had reined in their "real" sound, making them seem more pop-oriented than they were. Tony Macaulay was later to recall, "I was never close to the Foundations. I couldn't stand them, and they hated me! But the body of work we recorded was excellent."


title: The Foundations

text: Original vocalist Curtis left in 1968, because he felt that a couple of the band's members were taking it a bit too easy, thinking that because they had now had a hit, they did not have to put in as much effort as they had previously. Saxophonist Mike Elliott also left around this time and was never replaced. Curtis hung around and helped them audition a replacement singer. They auditioned 200 singers. It was reported in a "NME" article in 1968 that Curtis while being interviewed at a festival had mentioned that they were trying out Warren Davis to replace him. He said he would not leave the band until they found a replacement. He had become friendly with Sammy Davis Jr. and was encouraged to try his luck in the United States. He moved to the United States for a solo career on the club circuit, encouraged by the likes of Wilson Pickett and Sam & Dave, playing Las Vegas with The Righteous Brothers. His successful replacement was Colin Young.


title: The Foundations

text: With Young the band had two more big hits; "Build Me Up Buttercup" which was their third hit in January 1969 and "In the Bad Bad Old Days (Before You Loved Me)" which was a hit in April 1969, and reached No. 23 in Canada 5 May that year.


title: The Foundations

text: At the height of their popularity, the Foundations management were in negotiations with a UK TV company for a television series that would star members of the band. They had turned down a number of offers to appear in films because of script unsuitability.


title: The Foundations

text: Bassist Peter Macbeth left the band in 1969, to join the group Bubastis with Bernie Living, and was replaced by Steve Bingham.


title: The Foundations

text: After a successful run of hits, the Foundations broke off with their management and a Bill Graham-sponsored tour to support The Temptations at the newly opened Copacabana club. This ended up in disaster and the band came back to the UK in low spirits. It had been previously reported in a publicity sheet around early December 1969 that the band had broken away from their manager Barry Class, during the week of their departure from Barry Class, another bass player Tony Collinge joined the band. Jim Dawson who was formerly their agent and Mike Dolan took over the group's affairs. The group's final hits were "Born to Live, Born to Die" which was written by Eric Allandale and Tony Gomez. and "My Little Chickadee", a US only hit which barely made the hot 100. Another member joined the band in 1970. Paul Lockey who had been with Robert Plant in Band of Joy joined as their bass guitarist.


title: The Foundations

text: "My Little Chickadee" proved to be the band's last hit. In spite of releasing "Take a Girl Like You", the title song to the Oliver Reed and Hayley Mills film, and a heavy blues rock song "I'm Gonna Be a Rich Man", the band split in late 1970.


title: The Foundations

text: The last record released in the early 1970s as "The Foundations" was a single "Stoney Ground" b/w "I'll Give You Love" MCA MCA 5075 1971. There would be two more singles released as "The Foundations" in the mid to late 1970s.


title: The Foundations

text: When Curtis returned to the UK, he formed a new version of the group with little success in spite of releasing several singles, but later had a lucrative spell on the 1960s nostalgia circuit. Re-formed members include John Springate, Derek "Del" Watson, Paul Wilmot (all members of the band Elegy) and Roy Carter who later on joined Heatwave.


title: The Foundations

text: Also in the 1970s, there would be a collaborative attempt between two former members of the Foundations. Original Foundations trombonist Eric Allandale attempted to work with original Foundations drummer Tim Harris.


title: The Foundations

text: In the mid-1970s, while Clem Curtis and the Foundations were on the road, there was also another Foundations line-up that was led by Colin Young who were touring at the same time, and were playing basically the same material. This eventually led to court action which resulted in Curtis being allowed to bill his group as either the Foundations or Clem Curtis & the Foundations. Young was allowed to bill himself as "The New Foundations", or as "Colin Young & the New Foundations".


title: The Foundations

text: Also in the mid-1970s, Young and his group, The New Foundations, released a lone single on Pye, "Something for My Baby" / "I Need Your Love". There were actually two more singles released in the late 1970s as the Foundations. They were "Where Were You When I Needed Your Love" / "Love Me Nice and Easy" and "Closer to Loving You" / "Change My Life" on the Summit and Psycho labels. These featured Curtis as the lead singer.


title: The Foundations

text: Various sources erroneously state that there was an early 1970s English line-up that had nothing, or little to do with, the original Foundations. However, Curtis has been leading a new line-up of the Foundations since coming back to the UK and re-forming the group in the early 1970s.


title: The Foundations

text: There was another line-up formed in 1999 that included Young (vocals), Alan Warner (Guitar), Steve Bingham (bass), Gary Moberly (keyboards), Tony Laidlaw (sax) and Sam Kelly then Steve Dixon (drums). This version of the group was re-formed due to the popularity of the film "There's Something About Mary", and the interest created resulting from the 1968 hit "Build Me Up Buttercup" being featured in the film. Some time later, Young left this version of the group and was replaced by Hue Montgomery (aka Hugh Montgomery).


title: The Foundations

text: From the band's beginning to their breakup towards the end of 1970, the Foundations released ten singles in the United Kingdom including two versions of the same song. The majority of the singles were composed by Tony Macaulay and John Macleod. They had four significant hits from these plus a minor hit with one of their own compositions, "Born to Live, Born to Die". They had minor hit with "My Little Chickadee" in the United States. This was written by Tony Macaulay and John Macleod. There were other titles announced that were either never recorded or were never released. They were "Our Love Went Thataway", "Tear Jerker, Music-worker, You" which was to be released around the same time as "Better By Far" by Lulu and "No Place On Earth Could Find You". In 1971, the single "Stoney Ground" was released. It is believed that this single was actually by Colin Young and his new backing band Development. It seems quite likely as the Colin Young and Development debut single "Any Time at All" pre-dates "Stoney Ground". In the mid and late 1970s, there were two more singles released under the Foundations’ name. They were "Where Were You When I Needed Your Love" and "Closer to Loving You" which featured the Northern Soul classic "Change My Life" as the B side. These last two singles to bear the Foundations’ name featured Clem Curtis once more as the lead vocalist.


title: The Foundations

text: During the 1960s, the Foundations recorded and released four LPs in the United Kingdom. Before the release of their debut album, it was originally announced in the October 1967, by "Beat Instrumental Monthly", that the debut album's title was to be "Sound Basis". However, when it was released on Pye, it had the title of "From the Foundations". The American version of this album, on the Uni label, was given the title of "Baby, Now That I've Found You". This album featured Curtis on lead vocals. The next release was in 1968. It was a live LP called "Rocking the Foundations", and also featured Curtis on lead vocals, plus two instrumentals – "The Look of Love" and "Coming Home Baby". Also in 1968, another LP was released, this time on the Marble Arch label. This self-titled third album featured re-recordings of their previous hits and songs, but with Young on vocals instead of Curtis. It also featured a version of a new track, "Build Me Up Buttercup". There was also a second American album released called "Build Me Up Buttercup". This was a compilation of Foundations tracks. Side one consisted of tracks from their "Rocking the Foundations" album, while side two consisted of "Build Me Up Buttercup", the B side of that single, plus some earlier Foundations tracks. The group's last LP release was "Digging The Foundations" in 1969, which featured their hit "In the Bad Bad Old Days" and the minor US hit "My Little Chickadee". A track "Why Does She Keep On" that was mentioned in the 26 April 1969 issue of "Billboard" magazine was not included. Since then, there have been various compilations of the Foundations songs, released on both the Golden Hour and PRT labels.


title: V. K. Sasikala

text: Vivekanandan Krishnaveni Sasikala (born 18 August 1954), also known by her married name Sasikala Natarajan, and often referred to by her initials VKS, is an Indian politician. She was a close associate of J. Jayalalithaa, the late Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, who headed the AIADMK from 1989 until her death in 2016. After Jayalalithaa's death, the party's General Council elected her as a temporary Secretary General of AIADMK. Before entering the Central Prison in Bengaluru, Sasikala appointed Edappadi K. Palanisamy as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. Palanisamy and other ministers removed her from the post and expelled her from the party in September 2017. Her dismissal was however upheld in April 2022.


title: V. K. Sasikala

text: After her expulsion she went to court over her removal as AIADMK General Secretary. Her nephew T. T. V. Dhinakaran launched Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam in March 2018, with Sasikala as its general secretary. Dhinakaran replaced her in April 2019.


title: V. K. Sasikala

text: In February 2017, a two-bench Supreme Court jury pronounced Sasikala guilty and ordered her immediate arrest in a disproportionate-assets case, in which Jayalalithaa was also involved, effectively ending Sasikala's chief ministerial ambitions. She was released in January 2021.


title: V. K. Sasikala

text: Sasikala was born on 18 August 1954 to C. Vivekanandam and V. Krishnaveni in Thiruthuraipoondi, located in the present-day Thiruvarur district. Her parents belonged to an influential Kallar family and later moved to Mannargudi.


title: V. K. Sasikala

text: She had four brothers named V. K. Dhivakaran, T. V. Sundaravadanam (died in 2020), Vinodhagan (died in 1993) and V. Jayaraman (died in 1991); as well as one sister named B. Vanithamani (died in 2011). Her marriage to M. Natarajan in 1973 was presided over by DMK leader M. Karunanidhi. Natarajan died on 20 March 2018. The two did not have any children.


title: V. K. Sasikala

text: Sasikala's husband was a public relations officer in the Government of Tamil Nadu, who worked closely with the District Collector of South Arcot, V. S. Chandralekha, who in turn was very close to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, M. G. Ramachandran. This helped Sasikala in gaining the friendship of J. Jayalalithaa, who was then the Propaganda Secretary of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, and shaped her further life. Since Sasikala helped with video coverage of party meetings and distribution of policies of AIADMK through CDs, a friendship developed between the two and they gradually became very close.


title: V. K. Sasikala

text: As time went on, Sasikala became the person most trusted by Jayalalithaa. After Ramachandran's death and the public humiliation of Jayalalithaa by AIADMK caderes, Sasikala brought her relatives and 40 other people from Mannargudi for Jayalalithaa's protection. Jayalalithaa grabbed control of AIADMK from Ramachandran's widow V. N. Janaki and Sasikala moved into her Poes Garden residence in 1989. After Jayalalithaa became Chief Minister following the 1991 legislative assembly election and parliamentary Election, Sasikala's power and influence greatly increased, so much so that she was even more powerful than Jayalalithaa herself and the state ministers took orders directly from her.


title: V. K. Sasikala

text: In 1995, an extragavant wedding for Sasikala's nephew V. N. Sudhakaran was held and generated significant controversy due to the extragavant display of wealth, with many people coming to believe that the AIADMK government was significantly corrupt. Subramanian Swamy filed corruption cases against Jayalalithaa and her aides. The AIADMK also lost the 1996 legislative election and parliamentary Election, particularly due to Sasikala's extragavant display of her expensive jewelry. Jayalalithaa had adopted Sudhakaran in 1995, but disowned him in 1996.


title: V. K. Sasikala

text: P. Chidambaram, who had promised to hold Jayalalithaa and Sasikala accountable, had the latter investigated after assuming the charge as finance minister for the union government in June 1996, leading to her arrest under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act. Jayalalithaa distanced herself from Sasikala, but the two restored their friendship after Sasikala refused to implicate her and was released after ten months in prison.


title: V. K. Sasikala

text: AIADMK helped bring Atal Bihari Vajpayee to power after the 1998 general election.In 1999, she helped organise a tea party for Swamy, who was upset with Vajpayee for not giving him the position of a cabinet minister. The party was attended by Jayalalithaa and Indian National Congress leader Sonia Gandhi and was termed as a "political earthquake". It helped bring down Vajpayee's government within a few days as AIADMK withdrew its support.


title: V. K. Sasikala

text: On 19 December 2011, Jayalalithaa expelled Sasikala and 13 others, including Sasikala's husband, M. Natarajan, her nephew T. T. V. Dhinakaran, their relatives, and Jayalalithaa's foster son, V. N. Sudhakaran, from the AIADMK. This act of Jayalalithaa was considered a way to prove that she was not under the influence of Sasikala and her family. The matter was resolved by 31 March 2012, when Sasikala was reinstated as a party member after issuing a written apology.


title: V. K. Sasikala

text: In a meeting held on 29 December 2016 – the first meeting after Jayalalithaa's death on 5 December 2016 – the AIADMK General Council appointed Sasikala as the party's temporary General Secretary until a formal election was held for the post.


title: V. K. Sasikala

text: On 5 February 2017, Sasikala was unanimously elected as the AIADMK Legislature Party Leader by a meeting of all the MLAs in the party.


title: V. K. Sasikala

text: Tamil Nadu Governor, C. Vidyasagar Rao, accepted the resignation of Chief Minister, O. Panneerselvam, on 6 February, and instructed him to continue functioning as acting Chief Minister "until alternate arrangements are made". The Governor delayed announcing VK Sasikala as the new Chief Minister, waiting for the verdict of the disproportionate assets case against her. On 14 February 2017, VK Sasikala was convicted and sentenced to 4 years in Bengaluru's Parappana Agrahara Jail and was given 24 hours to surrender. The Governor then rejected her claims to become Chief Minister. Sasikala then convened the party's MLA council in her capacity as the General Secretary. There, Edappadi K. Palaniswami was unanimously appointed as the new Chief Minister and he was sworn in the next day.


title: V. K. Sasikala

text: On 21 August 2017, it was reported that the AIADMK faction loyal to Palaniswami had decided to merge with the splitner faction of Panneerselvam and expel Sasikala as the General Secretary, as it was one of the key demands of the merger. It was reported on 28 August that Sasikala had been expelled during a party meeting, but this was later clarified as not true.


title: V. K. Sasikala

text: On 13 September, the AIADMK General Council decided to cancel Sasikala's appointment as interim General Secretary and expelled her from the party, though officials appointed to party posts by her were allowed to continue discharging their functions. Instead, the late J. Jayalalithaa was named the eternal General Secretary of AIADMK. Sasikala filed a case in the City Civil Court IV of Chennai in February 2021, but it upheld her dismissal as the AIADMK general secretary in April 2022. On 11 July, Palaniswami succeeded her as the interim General Secretary of the party at a general council meeting.


title: V. K. Sasikala

text: Among the resolutions passed during Sasikala's expulsion, the AIADMK declared that her appointment as General Secretary was disputable and as such, T. T. V. Dhinakaran's appointment as Deputy General Secretary as well as his decisions were cancelled. It was also decided that the party would celebrate M. G. Ramachandran's birth centenary in a lavish manner, and keep the party united.


title: V. K. Sasikala

text: The expulsion of Sasikala and her family led to the creation of the new party Amma Makkal Munnettra Kahzagam (AMMK) on 15 March 2018 by T. T. V. Dhinakaran. Sasikala held the post of general secretary until 19 April 2019 when Dhinakaran was elected to the position. He stated that she would function as the party's president after her release from jail in a disproportionate assets case.


title: V. K. Sasikala

text: After being released from jail, Sasikala announced her intention to return to active politics in February 2021. On 3 March, however, she announced her decision to quit politics. She did not support Dhinakaran when he decided that the AMMK would contest in the 2021 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election alone. After her release from jail, Panneerselvam was open to letting Sasikala back into the AIADMK, but this was opposed by Palaniswami.


title: V. K. Sasikala

text: Sasikala confirmed in May 2021 that she would return to active politics. She later attempted to regain her political influence and released audio tapes on social media, calling on people to bring in a government modelled after Jayalalithaa's policies and push out "enemies and traitors". She also claimed that she was staying away from the AIADMK so Palaniswami and Panneerselvam would win the local elections and promised to unite the disputing factions of the party.


title: V. K. Sasikala

text: Dhinakaran stated in July 2021 that Sasikala was trying to reclaim the AIADMK by winning over the cadres. On 17 October she claimed that she was still the general secretary of AIADMK and called on the party to unite for its sake as well as of the people. On 26 June 2022, she began a political tour claiming that she was trying to protect the AIADMK.


title: V. K. Sasikala

text: After the expulsion of Panneerselvam from AIADMK in July 2022 and Palaniswami becoming the interim general secretary of the party, Sasikala termed the appointment of Palaniswami as invalid and stated that he did not have any authority to expel Panneerselvam, while also claiming that the party cadres wanted her to become the general secretary. After his expulsion was overturned by the Madras High Court in August 2022, Panneerselvam stated that he would soon meet Sasikala and Dhinakaran to unite the AIADMK.


title: V. K. Sasikala

text: A commission probing the death of Jayalalithaa recommended investigating Sasikala and others in a report submitted to the state government on 27 August.


title: V. K. Sasikala

text: On 14 February 2017, the Supreme Court of India found Sasikala and her co-accused — Ilavarasi (her sister-in-law) and V. N. Sudhakaran (her nephew) — guilty of conspiring, laundering, and amassing illicit wealth worth about in the 1990s in a criminal conspiracy with Jayalalithaa. The three were sentenced to a four-year jail term. This restored "in toto" her earlier conviction in the case delivered on 27 September 2014, sentencing her and her relatives to a four-year jail term, in addition to imposing a fine of each. The judgment stipulated that she and her accomplices would serve an additional 12 months in prison if they failed to pay the fine.


title: V. K. Sasikala

text: The Supreme Court refused her plea to surrender after a fortnight and to be allowed to have food from home, so Sasikala and Ilavarasi presented themselves for imprisonment on 15 February 2017. She was released on 27 January 2021 after completion of her term, but was kept at Victoria Hospital for treatment of COVID-19. Her conviction in the case made her ineligible for contesting in an election until 27 January 2027.


title: The Diary of Alicia Keys

text: The Diary of Alicia Keys is the second studio album by American singer Alicia Keys. It was released on December 2, 2003, by J Records. The album was recorded at several recording studios, and production was handled primarily by Keys with contributions from Kanye West and Kerry Brothers Jr., who described it as "an R&B album".


title: The Diary of Alicia Keys

text: Upon its release, "The Diary of Alicia Keys" received generally positive reviews from music critics. The album debuted at number one on the US "Billboard" 200 chart, selling 618,000 copies in its first week. It became Keys' second consecutive number-one debut in the United States and spawned three top-ten singles. "The Diary of Alicia Keys" earned Keys three Grammy Awards at the 47th Annual Grammy Awards. The album has sold over five million units in the United States and over eight million copies worldwide.


title: The Diary of Alicia Keys

text: Keys' debut studio album "Songs in A Minor" was released on June 5, 2001. Debuting atop the US "Billboard" 200, it went on to sell over 6.2 million copies and earned Keys five Grammy Awards at the 44th Annual Grammy Awards, tying Keys with Lauryn Hill as the female artist with most Grammy Awards won in a single ceremony (the record has since been broken by Beyoncé and Adele). Keys embarked on the Songs in A Minor Tour (2001–2002) in support of the album; while touring, Keys started writing songs for her second studio album. Due to the extreme popularity of "Songs in A Minor", there was a lot of pressure on "The Diary of Alicia Keys" to match or exceed that success. Speaking on the subject, album contributor Kerry Brothers, Jr. said in 2018:


title: The Diary of Alicia Keys

text: Following the completion of the Songs in A Minor Tour, Keys started recording "The Diary of Alicia Keys" in late 2002; while touring, Keys solely wrote several songs for the album, including "Dragon Days" and the interlude "Feeling U, Feeling Me". Initial recording sessions took place at the Kampo Studio in Tribeca and the first song recorded was the album's closing track "Nobody Not Really", which "set the tone for the album" according to engineer Ann Mincieli. The album was mostly recorded at studios in New York City; some of the New York City recording sessions were interrupted by the Northeast blackout of 2003. In order to capture the 1960s–1970s sound she wanted on the album, Keys equipped her studio with "vintage" instruments. Among producers, Keys worked with Kerry Brothers, Jr., Kanye West, Timbaland, Dre & Vidal, Easy Mo Bee, D'wayne Wiggins and Kumasi. Dre & Vidal's Andre Harris stated he and Keys "crossed paths in the studio" while Dre & Vidal were working on Usher's album "Confessions" (2004) and started working together afterwards.


title: The Diary of Alicia Keys

text: Timbaland-produced "Heartburn" was recorded at the Hit Factory Criteria in Miami. "If I Was Your Woman", a cover of "If I Were Your Woman" by Gladys Knight & the Pips, was originally recorded for "Songs in A Minor" (2001) but remained unreleased until it was reworked with the cover of "Walk on By" by Isaac Hayes; the original version was included on the 10th anniversary reissue of "Songs in A Minor" in 2011. Lellow, Keys' alter ego, was introduced on the album, making an appearance on "So Simple". Brothers stated: "Lellow is her alter ego. That was what we called her when she was in her hip-hop mode so it's dope they recorded her singing in one key and pitched her up to make it sound high-pitched." The final stage of the recording took place internationally–in Paris, London and Amsterdam–with Keys having already embarked on a promotional tour in support of "The Diary of Alicia Keys". The final track recorded was the album's intro "Harlem's Nocturne".


title: The Diary of Alicia Keys

text: Predominantly an R&B and soul album, "The Diary of Alicia Keys" was largely influenced by 1960s and 1970s music, with Keys calling music from that era "some of the best music ever created". Lyrically, the album mostly explores complexities of romantic relationships, following their different stages. However, some songs address social issues, such as materialism ("If I Ain't Got You") and war ("Wake Up"). The album opens with the intro "Harlem's Nocturne", a classical track with "hip-hop drums", which introduces the album as a diary in which Keys would express her thoughts. Horn-infused alternative hip hop song "Karma" follows; it contains excerpts from Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77 by Johannes Brahms. Titled after the concept of karma, the song follows the narrator whose former lover wants to restart their relationship despite leaving her before, but she has moved on; the lover is now in the position she was once in, and in being rejected receives his just deserts ("what goes around comes around"). The third track "Heartburn" "marries the explosive brass and choppy guitars of a Blaxploitation soundtrack to a beat bearing the influence of visionary producer Timbaland". "If I Was Your Woman"/"Walk on By" is a double cover of "If I Were Your Woman" by Gladys Knight & the Pips and "Walk on By" by Isaac Hayes. The album's lead single "You Don't Know My Name" contains excerpts and a sample of "Let Me Prove My Love to You" by The Main Ingredient. An R&B-soul song, "You Don't Know My Name" follows Keys as a waitress who fell in love with a customer; the song is interrupted by a spoken-word interlude, which is Keys' phone call to her love interest in which she asks him out. Keys was inspired by Aaliyah's death and the September 11 attacks when writing the album's sixth track "If I Ain't Got You", as those events made her realize what's truly important in life. The soul-jazz song condemns materialism: "Some people want diamond rings / Some just want everything / But everything means nothing / If I ain't got you, yeah".


title: The Diary of Alicia Keys

text: The album's title track "Diary" features Tony! Toni! Toné! on bass, piano, guitar, organ and Wurlitzer, while Jermaine Paul provides uncredited additional vocals; Stokley Williams was originally set to sing on the track but was replaced by Paul. The song instructs Keys' love interest to tell her his secrets and to think of her as "pages in [his] diary". Sal Cinquemani of "Slant Magazine" described the song as reminiscent of Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder's work. In an interview to "Rolling Stone" prior to the release of "The Diary of Alicia Keys", Keys called "Dragon Days" and "So Simple" the most adventurous tracks from the album. "Dragon Days" features "bouncy keyboards, classic rock guitar licks, and sultry, surprisingly disco-fied vocal delivery" and follows Keys as a damsel in distress who needs to be saved by her "knight in shining armor". Following the anti-war song "Wake Up", "So Simple" is the album's tenth track, featuring an appearance from Keys' alter ego Lellow, whose verses see Keys' voice manipulated to sound high-pitched. Its lyrics follow a narrator seeking reconciliation with a former lover. The eleventh track, neo soul ballad "When You Really Love Someone", speaks about sacrifices one must make for their significant other. The interlude "Feeling U, Feeling Me" follows, featuring "a squawky synthesizer straight off Stevie Wonder's "Innervisions"". The thirteenth track "Slow Down" sees Keys as a narrator who feels like her relationship is going too fast and is asking her lover to "slow down". "Samsonite Man" is a neo soul song with Latin percussion and guitar. Its lyrics follow a narrator who's ending her relationship and telling her lover to leave; it was later revealed the song was about Keys' father, who abandoned her and her mother when she was two years old. The album closes with "Nobody Not Really", in which Keys sings: "Who really cares? / Who really cares / When I talk / What I feel / What I say? / Nobody not really". UK and Japanese editions of the album include bonus track "Streets of New York (City Life)", a hip hop song featuring Nas and Rakim. Sampling "N.Y. State of Mind" by Nas, the song is an "affectionate ode" to New York City.


title: The Diary of Alicia Keys

text: The album was titled "The Diary of Alicia Keys" due to it being conceived so each of its tracks acts as a diary entry, making the album itself a diary. In the intro "Harlem's Nocturne", Keys introduces it as such and says she would express her thoughts in it. Peter Edge, executive producer of "The Diary of Alicia Keys" and now-chairman and CEO of RCA Records, said about the title in 2018:


title: The Diary of Alicia Keys

text: The album cover for "The Diary of Alicia Keys" was photographed by Warwick Saint. A portrait of Keys, it features half of her face and body covered by a piano.


title: The Diary of Alicia Keys

text: The promotional tour for "The Diary of Alicia Keys" started in November 2003, before the album's production finished, in Europe; Keys performed the lead single "You Don't Know My Name" on television shows such as "" and "Top of the Pops". Keys returned to the United States to perform the song at the 2003 "Vibe" Awards on November 20, later performing on "Good Morning America" on November 26 and December 2, AOL Broadband Rocks! Live on December 1, "Total Request Live" on December 2, and "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" on December 4 and 5. "The Diary of Alicia Keys" was first released on December 1, 2003, internationally, before being released in the United States the following day by J Records; its limited edition with a bonus DVD was released simultaneously. The US promotional tour continued in 2004, with Keys performing at WGCI-FM's Big Jam Slow Jams on February 13. In Germany, Keys performed "You Don't Know My Name" on "Wetten, dass..?" on February 28. Afterwards, Keys co-headlined the Verizon Ladies First Tour with Beyoncé and Missy Elliott in North America from March until April 2004.


title: The Diary of Alicia Keys

text: After performing on "Today"s Toyota Concert Series on May 7, Keys embarked on a five-month international tour which visited various venues and festivals in Europe, Asia and Australia. She continued performing in the United States, performing "If I Ain't Got You" and "Diary" on "The Early Show"s Summer Concert Series on June 8, "If I Ain't Got You" at the 2004 MTV Video Music Awards on August 29, and "Heartburn" at 2004 Fashion Rocks on September 8. In September, a double-disc special edition (also titled collector's tour edition) was released outside the United States. Keys performed "Karma" at the 2004 World Music Awards on September 15, American Music Awards of 2004 on November 14, and the 2004 "Billboard" Music Awards on December 8. Following her performance of "If I Ain't Got You" at the 47th Annual Grammy Awards on February 13, 2005, Keys toured North America on her Diary Tour from February until April.


title: The Diary of Alicia Keys

text: "You Don't Know My Name" was released as the lead single from "The Diary of Alicia Keys" on November 10, 2003. It peaked at number three on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 and atop the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, becoming her second Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs number-one. The song's accompanying music video, directed by Chris Robinson and Andrew Young, features Keys as a waitress at a restaurant and rapper Mos Def playing Michael Harris, her love interest. At the 47th Annual Grammy Awards (2005), the song won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Song. "You Don't Know My Name" was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on August 11, 2020, for shipping 500,000 units in the United States.


title: The Diary of Alicia Keys

text: "If I Ain't Got You" was released as the second single on February 23, 2004. It peaked at number four on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and became her second consecutive Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs number-one. Its accompanying music video, directed by Diane Martel, is set in a wintry New York City and features a cameo by rapper and actor Method Man as Keys' on-screen boyfriend. The song outpeaked its "Billboard" Hot 100 position on the 2004 "Billboard" Hot 100 year-end chart, placing at number three, while being number one on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs year-end chart. At the 47th Annual Grammy Awards, the song won for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, while being nominated for Song of the Year. On August 11, 2020, "If I Ain't Got You" was certified quadruple platinum by the RIAA for shipments of four million units.


title: The Diary of Alicia Keys

text: "Diary" was released as the third single on May 24, 2004. It became Keys' third consecutive "Billboard" Hot 100 top-ten single, peaking at number eight, while peaking at number two on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. The song's music video, directed by Lamont "Liquid" Burrell, Rod Isaacs, Jeff Robinson, and Brian Campbell, contains footage of several live concerts from both the Verizon Ladies First Tour (2004), which Keys took part in, and her own Diary Tour (2005). At the 47th Annual Grammy Awards, the song was nominated for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. "Diary" was certified gold by the RIAA on August 11, 2020.


title: The Diary of Alicia Keys

text: "Karma" was released as the fourth and final single on November 1, 2004. It became the album's only single to miss the top ten on both "Billboard" Hot 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, peaking at numbers 20 and 17 on the charts, respectively. The music video for "Karma", directed by Chris Robinson and Keys herself, was filmed over three days in August 2004, with parts shot in New York City and at Casa de Campo's Altos de Chavón amphitheatre. At the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards, the video earned Keys the award for Best R&B Video. "Karma" was certified gold by the RIAA twice–on September 27, 2005, and on August 11, 2020.


title: The Diary of Alicia Keys

text: "The Diary of Alicia Keys" received generally positive reviews from critics; it holds an average score of 71, based on 17 reviews, at Metacritic. "The Times" said that the album "confirmed her place in musical history". Critics described Keys' music as neo soul and contemporary R&B. "Slant Magazine"s Sal Cinquemani said that it "triumphs" the neo soul "achievements" of "Songs in A Minor" and is "a deft mix of modernism and classicism, not to mention street and class." "Q" magazine called it "a proper soul album which hooks you with the first pneumatic beat and draws you deeper with every heady atmosphere and vivid emotion." Jon Pareles, writing in "The New York Times", claimed that "it has taken "The Diary of Alicia Keys" ... to testify that soul songwriting can survive" and felt that the album "echoes familiar soul sounds, but Ms. Keys sounds undaunted by her sources, and she's learning fast." Rob Sheffield, writing in "Rolling Stone", called the album "an assured, adult statement, steeped in the complicated love life and musical dreams of an ambitious young woman who has absorbed enough Nina Simone and Aretha Franklin records to live up to the soul promise of 'Harlem's Nocturne'." Dimitri Ehrlich of "Vibe" said that Keys is able to "sustain drama over the course" of the "masterful" album, which appropriates the "minimalist" productions of classic soul. Kris Ex of "Blender" called it "an enthusiastic album full of masterful strokes and electrifying intensity."


title: The Diary of Alicia Keys

text: In a mixed review, Josh Tyrangiel of "Time" said that the album's first six songs are "models of how to make nostalgic music that is not anti-present", but the second half "sags". David Browne, writing in "Entertainment Weekly", similarly said that the second half "drifts into a narcotized semi-slumber of one earnest, samey retro-soul piano ballad after another." Laura Sinagra of "The Village Voice" felt that the album's songs lack hooks and other "surface content", sounding instead like unfinished vocal sketches. Mark Anthony Neal of PopMatters said that it only shows "fleeting glimpses" of Keys' actual sensibilities and said that, although it "clearly evinces Keys's growth as an artist since "Songs in A Minor"," the album is "clearly laboring to be relevant to the current marketplace and thus suffers from a serious lack of cohesion. Alexis Petridis, writing in "The Guardian", found it creatively safe and marred by "anodyne slow numbers studded with knowing references to old records". "Uncut" found Keys' lyrics boring and filled with a "litany of cliche and hackneyed need-a-man" wailing. Robert Christgau of "The Village Voice" rated the album a "dud", indicating "a bad record whose details rarely merit further thought."


title: The Diary of Alicia Keys

text: "The Diary of Alicia Keys" was named the seventh best album of 2004 by "Blender". At the 47th Annual Grammy Awards in 2005, it won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Album, while its songs earned Keys two other awards, including Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for "If I Ain't Got You" and Best R&B Song for "You Don't Know My Name". Keys also won three Soul Train Music Awards–Best R&B/Soul Single – Female for "You Don't Know My Name" in 2004 and "If I Ain't Got You" in 2005, and Best R&B/Soul Album – Female for "The Diary of Alicia Keys". In 2007, the National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM) and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame released a list of what they termed "The Definitive 200 Albums of All Time"; "The Diary of Alicia Keys" was ranked at number 129 on the list. The album was also ranked at number 129 on the "New York Daily News"'s list of Top 200 Albums of All Time, and number 277 in the 2020 revision of "Rolling Stone"'s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.


title: The Diary of Alicia Keys

text: "The Diary of Alicia Keys" debuted at number one on the US "Billboard" 200 chart, selling 618,000 copies in its first week. This became Keys' second consecutive number-one debut. It was the highest first-week sales by a female artist of the year. In its second week, the album dropped to number two on the chart, selling an additional 324,000 copies, but returned to the top in its third week with 370,000 units sold. The album spent 88 weeks on the chart, leaving at number 198 in 2005. By January 2006, the album had sold 4.4 million copies in the United States. On August 11, 2020, the album was certified quintuple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for combined sales and album-equivalent units of five million units in the United States.


title: The Diary of Alicia Keys

text: In the United Kingdom, "The Diary of Alicia Keys" debuted at number 13 on the UK Albums Chart and atop the UK R&B Albums Chart. The album was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for shipping 300,000 units. It reached the top ten in Finland, France, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands and Norway, while peaking at number one in Switzerland and number five on the European Top 100 Albums. By November 2007, the album had sold over eight million copies worldwide.


title: Playdead

text: Playdead ApS is a Danish independent video game developer based in Copenhagen. Game designers Arnt Jensen and Dino Patti created the company in 2006 to develop "Limbo", which was released in 2010 to critical acclaim. After a year of Xbox 360 exclusivity, Playdead released ports of the game to PlayStation 3, Microsoft Windows, macOS, iOS and Android.


title: Playdead

text: During Xbox's E3 2014 conference, Playdead announced their second game, "Inside", which was a spiritual successor to "Limbo". It was released for Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, and PlayStation 4 in 2016 to critical acclaim, and was hailed as a worthy successor to "Limbo".


title: Playdead

text: Arnt Jensen, a former IO Interactive developer, drew sketches in 2004 that led him to conceptualize "Limbo". Having tried programming himself and secured government grants, he then sought for additional help through an art-based teaser for the game in 2006. This led to a meeting between Jensen and Dino Patti, and they realized the project was larger than the two of them, so they reached out to investors and with the money they founded the entity "Playdead ApS". (Founded by Underholdningsbranchen ApS and the investors ) Playdead eventually came to have eight employees during "Limbo" development, with temporary increases of up to 16 through freelancers. "Limbo" success led them to be able to reacquire the company back from investors, making Playdead completely independent.


title: Playdead

text: Within the same year as "Limbo" release, Playdead began working on "Project 2", what would later become "Inside". The game was partially financed by the Danish Film Institute. Considered a spiritual successor to "Limbo", "Inside" has many of the same themes, including being a 2.5D platform game using a primarily monochrome palette. After using a custom game engine for "Limbo", Playdead used Unity to simplify development and a custom temporal anti-aliasing filter which was released in March 2016 under an open-source license. The game was officially announced at the E3 2014 with planned release in 2015, was later pushed to mid-2016 for further refinement, but had a demo at PAX Prime in August 2015. Martin Stig Andersen created the soundtrack again after "Limbo", creating sound via bone conduction with a human skull. "Inside" was first released in June for Xbox One, and later on Microsoft Windows, and received more overwhelming praise than "Limbo".


title: Playdead

text: Shortly after the release of "Inside", on 19 July 2016, Patti left the company, selling his shares to Jensen. Patti felt that he was leaving Playdead "in a state where it can definitely manage itself", and stated "Following almost 10 incredible years building Playdead from an idea to two dents in the games industry, I'm leaving to seek new challenges." Danish newspaper "Dagbladet Børsen" reported that a rift had developed between Patti and Jensen around 2015, that Patti described to "Kotaku" as "the supposed timeline for the next project(s) and where I am in my life now". The rift led to Jensen submitting a resignation letter to Patti from his position as creative director, though intending to stay on as a company executive. The letter had been misinterpreted by Patti as a full resignation from the company, and he subsequently removed Jensen's name from the Central Business Register for Playdead. This led to confrontation between the two and their representative lawyers that required intervention of the Danish Business Authority to resolve. This ultimately led to Patti taking a deal to sell his shares for 50 million Danish krones (about ). Patti was disappointed on the way his involvement with Playdead ended, but said that "Arnt has been a really good friend and business partner for many years". Patti went on to found a new UK-based studio, Jumpship, along with film animator Chris Olsen, by June 2017. Jumpship's first game "Somerville", released in 2022, has been compared favorably to Playdead's formula.


title: Playdead

text: Playdead's third game, which has been teased as early as January 2017, will be a "fairly lonely sci-fi game somewhere in the universe", according to Jensen. This game will likely use a third-person perspective within a 3D world, as Jensen stated that the studio has "been tired of the limitations in 2D games". Image teasers of the game were released through Playdead job listings over several months in 2019. Playdead and Epic Games announced in March 2020 that Epic Games will publish this title, providing full development costs and support of the Unreal Engine, while giving full creative control to Playdead, and will split profits 50/50 after Epic recoups its investment on release.


title: Michael Cole (actor)

text: Michael Cole (born July 3, 1940) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Pete Cochran on the television crime drama "The Mod Squad" (1968–1973).


title: Michael Cole (actor)

text: Cole has appeared in numerous films and TV shows, beginning in 1961 with a role in the film drama, "Forbid Them Not." Other film credits include the role of Mark in the 1966 science fiction film, "The Bubble", later re-titled "Fantastic Invasion of Planet Earth", Spivey in the western "Chuka" (1967), Alan Miller in "The Last Child" (1971), which was nominated for a Golden Globe Award, and as Cliff Norris in "Beg, Borrow or Steal" (1973). He did a great deal of stage work after "The Mod Squad" went off the air, such as "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof."


title: Michael Cole (actor)

text: Cole has also appeared on "Gunsmoke," in 1966, as Kipp. During the 1970s, he had many guest appearances on "Wonder Woman," "The Love Boat" and "CHiPs," and appeared in the made-for-TV thriller "Evening in Byzantium" in 1978. In the 1980s and 1990s, he worked on "Nickel Mountain." He also worked on shows such as "The Eddie Capra Mysteries", "Murder, She Wrote," "Fantasy Island," and "." Later, Cole appeared as adult Henry Bowers in Stephen King's 1990 two-part TV miniseries "It". In 1991, he joined the cast of "General Hospital" in the role of Harlan Barrett.


title: Michael Cole (actor)

text: But it was his role as Pete Cochran, a troubled youth turned crime fighter in "The Mod Squad" (1968–1973), that made Cole an international celebrity. Cole's boyish good looks and brooding, deep-voiced personality meshed perfectly with his character's backstory—a ne'er-do-well son of wealthy parents who had evicted him from their home after he had stolen a car. Produced by Aaron Spelling and Danny Thomas, "The Mod Squad" resonated with counterculture-era viewers and ran for five seasons, during which a total of 123 episodes were produced.


title: Michael Cole (actor)

text: According to TVGuide.com, Cole originally balked at the part of Peter Cochran when he realized he would be playing an undercover cop, saying "I'm not going to take the part of a guy who finks on his friends!" He changed his mind, however, when he read the script and gathered the show's potential appeal.


title: Michael Cole (actor)

text: Cole went through treatment in the Betty Ford Clinic in the early 1990s to get his drinking problem under control.


title: Michael Cole (actor)

text: Cole continues to act in various film and television projects, and played the character Charles Hadley in a 2006 episode of the television series "ER." Also in 2006, Cole played opposite Clarence Williams III in "Mystery Woman: At First Sight", an episode of the "Mystery Woman" film series that aired on the Hallmark Channel. Cole later made an appearance in the 2007 thriller "Mr. Brooks" as the attorney for Demi Moore's character of Detective Tracy Atwood.


title: Michael Cole (actor)

text: He was married three times and divorced twice. He has two children from his first marriage, and a daughter from the second marriage. Cole has been married to Shelley Funes since 1996.


title: Chinoiserie

text: As a style, chinoiserie is related to the Rococo style. Both styles are characterized by exuberant decoration, asymmetry, a focus on materials, and stylized nature and subject matter that focuses on leisure and pleasure. Chinoiserie focuses on subjects that were thought by Europeans to be typical of Chinese culture.


title: Chinoiserie

text: Chinoiserie entered European art and decoration in the mid-to-late 17th century; the work of Athanasius Kircher influenced the study of Orientalism. The popularity of chinoiserie peaked around the middle of the 18th century when it was associated with the rococo style and with works by François Boucher, Thomas Chippendale, and Jean-Baptist Pillement. It was also popularized by the influx of Chinese and Indian goods brought annually to Europe aboard English, Dutch, French, and Swedish East India Companies. There was a revival of popularity for chinoiserie in Europe and the United States from the mid-19th century through the 1920s, and today in elite interior design and fashion.


title: Chinoiserie

text: Though usually understood as a European style, chinoiserie was a global phenomenon. Local versions of chinoiserie were developed in India, Japan, Persia, and particularly Latin America. Through the Manila Galleon Trade, Spanish traders brought large amounts of Chinese porcelain, lacquer, textiles, and spices from Chinese merchants based in Manila to New Spanish markets in Acapulco, Panama, and Lima. Those products then inspired local artists and artisans such as ceramicists making Talavera pottery at Puebla de Los Angeles.


title: Chinoiserie

text: Chinoiserie had some parallel in "Occidenterie", which was Western styled goods produced in 18th century China for Chinese consumers. Although this was a notable interest of the Kangxi Emperor and Qianlong Emperor, as shown by the architecture of Xiyang Lou, it was not restricted only to the court. "Occidenterie" artifacts and art were accessible to a wider variety of consumers, as they were domestically produced.


title: Chinoiserie

text: There were many reasons why chinoiserie gained such popularity in Europe in the 18th century. Europeans had a fascination with Asia due to their increased, but still restricted, access to new cultures through expanded trade with East Asia, especially China. The 'China' indicated in the term 'Chinoiserie' represented in European people's mind a wider region of the globe that could embrace China itself, but also Japan, Korea, South-East Asia, India or even Persia. In art, the style of "the Orient" was considered a source of inspiration; the atmosphere rich in images and the harmonic designs of the oriental style reflected the picture of an ideal world, from which to draw ideas in order to reshape one's own culture. For this reason the style of Chinoiserie is to be regarded as an important result of the exchange between the West and the East. During the 19th century, and especially in its latter period, the style of Chinoiserie was assimilated under the generic definition of exoticism.


title: Chinoiserie

text: Even though the root of the word 'Chinoiserie' is 'Chine' (China), the Europeans of the 17th and 18th centuries did not have a clear conceptualization of how China was in reality. Often terms like 'Orient', 'Far East' or 'China' were all equally used to signify the region of Eastern Asia that had proper Chinese culture as a major representative, but the meaning of the term could change according to different contexts. Sir William Chambers for example, in his oeuvre A Dissertation on Oriental Gardening of 1772, generically addresses China as the 'Orient'. In the financial records of Louis XIV during the 17th and 18th centuries were already registered expressions like 'façon de la Chine', Chinese manner, or 'à la chinoise', made in the Chinese way. In the 19th century the term 'Chinoiserie' appeared for the first time in French literature. In the novel "" published in 1836, Honoré de Balzac used Chinoiserie to refer to the craftworks made in the Chinese style. From this moment on the term gained momentum and started being used more frequently to mean objects produced in the Chinese style but sometimes also to indicate graceful objects of small dimension or of scarce account. In 1878 'Chinoiserie' entered formally in the .


title: Chinoiserie

text: After the spread of Marco Polo's narrations, the knowledge of China held by the Europeans continued to derive essentially from reports made by merchants and diplomatic envoys. Dating from the latter half of the 17th century a relevant role in this exchange of information was then taken up by the Jesuits, whose continual gathering of missionary intelligence and language transcription gave the European public a new deeper insight of the Chinese empire and its culture.


title: Chinoiserie

text: While Europeans frequently held inaccurate ideas about East Asia, this did not necessarily preclude their fascination and respect. In particular, the Chinese who had "exquisitely finished art... [and] whose court ceremonial was even more elaborate than that of Versailles" were viewed as highly civilized. According to Voltaire in his "Art de la Chine", "The fact remains that four thousand years ago, when we did not know how to read, they [the Chinese] knew everything essentially useful of which we boast today." Moreover, Indian philosophy was increasingly admired by philosophers such as Arthur Schopenhauer, who regarded the Upanishads as the "production of the highest human wisdom" and "the most profitable and elevating reading which...is possible in the world."


title: Chinoiserie

text: Chinoiserie was not universally popular. Some critics saw the style as "…a retreat from reason and taste and a descent into a morally ambiguous world based on hedonism, sensation and values perceived to be feminine." It was viewed as lacking the logic and reason upon which Antique art had been founded. Architect and author Robert Morris claimed that it "…consisted of mere whims and chimera, without rules or order, it requires no fertility of genius to put into execution." Those with a more archaeological view of the East, considered the chinoiserie style, with its distortions and whimsical approach, to be a mockery of the actual Chinese art and architecture. Finally, still others believed that an interest in chinoiserie indicated a pervading "cultural confusion" in European society.


title: Chinoiserie

text: Chinoiserie persisted into the 19th and 20th centuries but declined in popularity. There was a notable loss of interest in Chinese-inspired décor after the death in 1830 of King George IV, a great proponent of the style. The First Opium War of 1839–1842 between Britain and China disrupted trade and caused a further decline of interest in the Oriental. China closed its doors to exports and imports and for many people chinoiserie became a fashion of the past.


title: Chinoiserie

text: As British-Chinese relations stabilized towards the end of the 19th century, there was a revival of interest in chinoiserie. Prince Albert, for example, reallocated many chinoiserie works from George IV's Royal Pavilion at Brighton to the more accessible Buckingham Palace. Chinoiserie served to remind Britain of its former colonial glory that was rapidly fading with the modern era.


title: Chinoiserie

text: From the Renaissance to the 18th century Western designers attempted to imitate the technical sophistication of Chinese export porcelain (and for that matter Japanese export porcelain – Europeans were generally vague as the origin of "oriental" imports), with only partial success. One of the earliest successful attempts, for instance, was the Medici porcelain manufactured in Florence during the late-16th century, as the Casino of San Marco remained open from 1575–1587. Despite never being commercial in nature, the next major attempt to replicate Chinese porcelain was the soft-paste manufactory at Rouen in 1673, with Edme Poterat, widely reputed as creator of the French soft-paste pottery tradition, opening his own factory in 1647. Efforts were eventually made to imitate hard-paste porcelain, which were held in high regard. As such, the direct imitation of Chinese designs in faience began in the late 17th century, was carried into European porcelain production, most naturally in tea wares, and peaked in the wave of rococo chinoiserie (c. 1740–1770).


title: Chinoiserie

text: Earliest hints of chinoiserie appear in the early 17th century, in the arts of the nations with active East India Companies, Holland and England, then by the mid-17th century, in Portugal as well. Tin-glazed pottery (see "delftware") made at Delft and other Dutch towns adopted genuine blue-and-white Ming decoration from the early 17th century. After a book by Johan Nieuhof was published the 150 pictures encouraged chinoiserie, and became especially popular in the 18th century. Early ceramic wares in Meissen porcelain and other factories naturally imitated Chinese designs, though the shapes for "useful wares", table and tea wares, typically remained Western, often based on shapes in silver. Decorative wares such as vases followed Chinese shapes.


title: Chinoiserie

text: The ideas of the decorative and pictorial arts of the East permeated the European and American arts and craft scene. For example, in the United States, "by the mid-18th century, Charleston had imported an impressive array of Asian export luxury goods [such as]...paintings." The aspects of Chinese painting that were integrated into European and American visual arts include asymmetrical compositions, lighthearted subject matter and a general sense of capriciousness.


title: Chinoiserie

text: William Alexander (1767–1816), a British painter, illustrator and engraver who travelled to the East Asia and China in the 18th century, was directly influenced by the culture and landscape he saw in the East. He presented an idealized, romanticized depiction of Chinese culture, but he was influenced by "pre-established visual signs." While the Chinoiserie landscapes that Alexander depicted accurately reflected the landscape of China, "paradoxically, it is this imitation and repetition of the iconic signs of China that negate the very possibility of authenticity, and render them into stereotypes." The depiction of China and East Asia in European and American painting was dependent on the understanding of the East by Western preconceptions, rather than representations of Eastern culture as it actually was.


title: Chinoiserie

text: Various European monarchs, such as Louis XV of France, gave special favor to chinoiserie, as it blended well with the rococo style. Entire rooms, such as those at Château de Chantilly, were painted with chinoiserie compositions, and artists such as Antoine Watteau and others brought expert craftsmanship to the style. Central European palaces like the Castle of Wörlitz or the Castle of Pillnitz all include rooms decorated with Chinese features, while in the palace of Sanssouci at Potsdam features a Dragon House (Das Drachenhaus) and the Chinese House (Das Chinesische Haus). Pleasure pavilions in "Chinese taste" appeared in the formal parterres of late Baroque and Rococo German and Russian palaces, and in tile panels at Aranjuez near Madrid. Chinese Villages were built in the mountainous park of Wilhelmshöhe near Kassel, Germany; in Drottningholm, Sweden and Tsarskoe Selo, Russia. Thomas Chippendale's mahogany tea tables and china cabinets, especially, were embellished with fretwork glazing and railings, "c." 1753–70, but sober "homages" to early Qing scholars' furnishings were also naturalized, as the "tang" evolved into a mid-Georgian side table and squared slat-back armchairs suited English gentlemen as well as Chinese scholars. Not every adaptation of Chinese design principles falls within mainstream chinoiserie. Chinoiserie media included "japanned" ware imitations of lacquer and painted tin (tôle) ware that imitated japanning, early painted wallpapers in sheets, after engravings by Jean-Baptiste Pillement, and ceramic figurines and table ornaments.


title: Chinoiserie

text: In the 17th and 18th centuries Europeans began to manufacture furniture that imitated Chinese lacquer furniture. It was frequently decorated with ebony and ivory or Chinese motifs such as pagodas. Thomas Chippendale helped to popularize the production of Chinoiserie furniture with the publication of his design book "The Gentleman and Cabinet-maker's Director: Being a large Collection of the Most Elegant and Useful Designs of Household Furniture, In the Most Fashionable Taste." His designs provided a guide for intricate chinoiserie furniture and its decoration. His chairs and cabinets were often decorated with scenes of colorful birds, flowers, or images of exotic imaginary places. The compositions of this decoration were often asymmetrical.


title: Chinoiserie

text: The increased use of wallpaper in European homes in the 18th century also reflects the general fascination with Chinoiserie motifs. With the rise of the villa and a growing taste for sunlit interiors, the popularity of wallpaper grew. The demand for wallpaper created by Chinese artists began first with European aristocrats between 1740 and 1790. The luxurious wallpaper available to them would have been unique, handmade, and expensive. Later wallpaper with chinoiserie motifs became accessible to the middle class when it could be printed and thus produced in a range of grades and prices.


title: Chinoiserie

text: The patterns on Chinoiserie wallpaper are similar to the pagodas, floral designs, and exotic imaginary scenes found on chinoiserie furniture and porcelain. Like chinoiserie furniture and other decorative art forms, chinoiserie wallpaper was typically placed in bedrooms, closets, and other private rooms of a house. The patterns on wallpaper were expected to complement the decorative objects and furniture in a room, creating a complementary backdrop.


title: Chinoiserie

text: European understanding of Chinese and East Asian garden design is exemplified by the use of the word "Sharawadgi", understood as beauty, without order that takes the form of an aesthetically pleasing irregularity in landscape design. The word traveled together with imported lacquer ware from Japan where "shara'aji" was an idiom in appraisal of design in decorative arts. Sir William Temple (1628–1699), referring to such artwork, introduces the term sharawadgi in his essay "Upon the Gardens of Epicurus" written in 1685 and published in 1690. Under Temple's influence European gardeners and landscape designers used the concept of sharawadgi to create gardens that were believed to reflect the asymmetry and naturalism present in the gardens of the East.


title: Chinoiserie

text: These gardens often contain various fragrant plants, flowers and trees, decorative rocks, ponds or lake with fish, and twisting pathways. They are frequently enclosed by a wall. Architectural features placed in these gardens often include pagodas, ceremonial halls used for celebrations or holidays, pavilions with flowers and seasonal elements.


title: Chinoiserie

text: Landscapes such as London's Kew Gardens show distinct Chinese influence in architecture. The monumental 163-foot Great Pagoda in the centre of the gardens, designed and built by William Chambers, exhibits strong English architectural elements, resulting in a product of combined cultures (Bald, 290). A replica of it was built in Munich's Englischer Garten, while the Chinese Garden of Oranienbaum includes another pagoda and also a Chinese teahouse. Though the rise of a more serious approach in Neoclassicism from the 1770s onward tended to replace Oriental inspired designs, at the height of Regency "Grecian" furnishings, the Prince Regent came down with a case of Brighton Pavilion, and Chamberlain's Worcester china manufactory imitated "Imari" wares. While classical styles reigned in the parade rooms, upscale houses, from Badminton House (where the "Chinese Bedroom" was furnished by William and John Linnell, ca 1754) and Nostell Priory to Casa Loma in Toronto, sometimes featured an entire guest room decorated in the chinoiserie style, complete with Chinese-styled bed, phoenix-themed wallpaper, and china. Later exoticism added imaginary Turkish themes, where a "diwan" became a sofa.


title: Chinoiserie

text: One of the things that contributed to the popularity of chinoiserie was the 18th-century vogue for tea drinking. The feminine and domestic culture of drinking tea required an appropriate "chinoiserie mise en scène". According to Beevers, "Tea drinking was a fundamental part of polite society; much of the interest in both Chinese export wares and chinoiserie rose from the desire to create appropriate settings for the ritual of tea drinking." After 1750, England was importing 10 million pounds of tea annually, demonstrating how widespread this practice was. The taste for chinoiserie porcelain, both export wares and European imitations, and tea drinking was more associated with women than men. A number of aristocratic and socially important women were famous collectors of chinoiserie porcelain, among them Queen Mary II, Queen Anne, Henrietta Howard, and the Duchess of Queensbury, all socially important women. This is significant because their homes served as examples of good taste and sociability. A single historical incident in which there was a "keen competition between Margaret, 2nd Duchess of Portland, and Elizabeth, Countess of Ilchester, for a Japanese blue and white plate," shows how wealthy female consumers asserted their purchasing power and their need to play a role in creating the prevailing vogue.


title: Chinoiserie

text: The term is also used in literary criticism to describe a mannered "Chinese-esque" style of writing, such as that employed by Ernest Bramah in his Kai Lung stories, Barry Hughart in his "Master Li & Number Ten Ox" novels and Stephen Marley in his Chia Black Dragon series.


title: Chinoiserie

text: The term is also used in the fashion industry to describe "designs in textiles, fashion, and the decorative arts that derive from Chinese styles". Since the 17th century, Chinese arts and aesthetic were sources of inspiration to artists and creators, and fashion designers when goods from oriental countries were widely seen for the first time in Western Europe.


title: Chinoiserie

text: In the 18th century and throughout the 19th century, Chinoiserie fashion was especially celebrated in France, and the origin of most Chinese-inspired fashion was French during this period. Chinoiserie had also inspired designers such as Mariano Fortuny, the Callot Soeurs, and Jean Paquin.


title: Chinoiserie

text: In the early 20th century, European and fashion designers would use China and other countries outside of the Eurocentric-fashion world to seek inspiration; Vogue Magazine also acknowledged that China had contributed to the aesthetic inspiration to global fashion. Chinese motifs grew popular in European fashion during this period. China and the Chinese people also supplied the materials and aesthetics to American fashion. Original Chinese fashion also influenced various designs and styles of deshabille.


title: Chinoiserie

text: There was also a fashion trend for day-wear jackets and coats to be cut in styles which would suggest various Chinese items as was published the "Ladies’ Home Journal" in June 1913, where the garments displayed showed influences of the Qing dynasty mandarin court gown (especially the bufu), the jiaoling ruqun, kanjia, mamianqun, yunjian, yaoqun (short waist-skirt), piling (collar), as well as traditional Chinese embroideries, and traditional Chinese Lào zi, pankou, high collars, etc.


title: Iron Widow

text: Iron Widow is a 2021 Canadian YA science fantasy novel by Xiran Jay Zhao. The novel is a mecha reimagining of the rise of the Chinese Empress Wu Zetian set in the nation of Huaxia, a futuristic reinterpretation of Medieval China.


title: Iron Widow

text: "Iron Widow" is a "New York Times" Best Seller; , the book has remained on the list for 34 weeks. It won the 2021 BSFA Award for "Best Book for Younger Readers" and has been nominated for two 2022 Locus Awards and the 2022 Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book.


title: Iron Widow

text: In March 2020, Xiran Jay Zhao signed a two-book deal with Penguin Teen Canada for a reimagining of the rise of Wu Zetian, empress of China during the late 600s. Rock the Boat, the children's imprint of Oneworld Publications, acquired the UK rights in May 2021.


title: Iron Widow

text: "Iron Widow", Zhao's debut novel, was released on September 21, 2021. In an interview with "Publishers Weekly", Zhao stated that "there's no other woman in Chinese history who had a rise through the harem as iconic as hers... It's been incredibly fun to reimagine her as instead a teenage peasant girl in an intensely misogynistic world who suddenly gains access to giant fighter mechas—how would she change her world?"


title: Iron Widow

text: The nation of Huaxia, a futuristic reimagining of Medieval China, is constantly under attack by alien creatures (Hunduns). Aided by mysterious and unseen gods (the Heavenly Council), humanity has recovered from a devastating attack ages ago that forced civilization to rebuild. Humans have learned to harvest the bodies of defeated Hunduns to create giant fighting mechas, called Chrysalises.


title: Iron Widow

text: Chrysalises are piloted by young men with high levels of spirit pressure who can release their qi, following the five classical Asian elements. Treated like celebrities by the media and adoring public, male pilots rely on "concubines", female pilots who supply them with additional qi at the cost of their own lives. Male-female pairings that don't risk the concubine's death are called Balanced Matches, but are rare and treated as celebrity marriages. The strongest male pilot in history was the legendary emperor Qin Zheng, rumored to be frozen in stasis within his Chrysalis, the Yellow Dragon, to stave off an illness until a cure could be found. This location was lost to Hunduns centuries ago.


title: Iron Widow

text: Wu Zetian enlists as a concubine to avenge her older sister, who died co-piloting a Chrysalis. She resents her uncaring family, who only value their daughters for the money their deaths as concubines will fetch them. Despite being in love with a wealthy childhood friend, Gao Yizhi, she resolves to avenge her sister even if it will likely mean her death. Zetian successfully arranges to be paired with her sister's co-pilot, Yang Guang. While piloting, Zetian sees his memories of the many girls he's abused. Zetian overwhelms and kills him. Her survival has her branded a dangerous and rare "Iron Widow". Her spirit pressure now registers at extraordinarily high levels. Feared, but conscripted, she resolves to destroy the Chrysalis system and its reliance on the sacrifice of female pilots.


title: Iron Widow

text: To keep her under control, the army pairs her with their strongest male pilot: the conscripted criminal Li Shimin. She and Shimin are a Balanced Match, and their mental bond causes them to learn more about each other. Zetian discovers that Shimin is actually a gentle artist who murdered his family for gang raping a young woman and that the army forced his alcohol addiction to control him. Though their relationship starts as a show for the public, the two fall in love. When they are relocated to the capitol, Yizhi pulls strings to be able to assist their training, in an effort to keep Zetian alive. Yizhi helps Shimin break his addiction, and Zetian and Yizhi secretly rekindle their love. Yizhi, Shimin, and Zetian secretly enter a polyamorous relationship.


title: Iron Widow

text: After a heavily televised battle where Yizhi gives his qi to help them defeat a massive Hundun, Yizhi joins them in the Chrysalis. The three suspect that the Chrysalis system is biased toward the survival of the male pilots. Shimin and Zetian torture a high-ranking official, who confesses that girls are just as likely to have strong spirit pressure as boys, but the system is rigged to ensure the survival of the male pilot.


title: Iron Widow

text: During a counterattack in the lost territory, another Chrysalis attempts to kill them under secret orders from the government. Shimin ejects Zetian and Yizhi from the cockpit and pilots the Chrysalis alone, the strain of which kills him. Zetian desperately seeks out the rumored location of the Emperor Qin Zheng with the aid of nomads in the lost territory. She awakens Zheng from stasis and offers to cure his illness in exchange for piloting his Yellow Dragon, after which she easily defeats the Hunduns and the treacherous Chrysalis pilots. She then turns on the army and capitol, razing its central command tower, and exposing the truth of the co-pilot system to the media. Zetian establishes herself as the new ruler of Huaxia, "Empress Wu", and together with Yizhi, forces the surviving military and political powers to submit.


title: Iron Widow

text: Zetian attempts to retrieve Shimin's body, but the Heavenly Council has taken it. A secret government document reveals that Huaxia is not on Earth, but actually a colony on another planet. The Hunduns are the native species, defending themselves from invading humans. Before Zetian can share this horrifying information with the public, the Heavenly Council advise her that if she serves them, they will revive Shimin.


title: Iron Widow

text: Jessica Singer, for "CBC News" in August 2021, highlighted the impact of BookTok on sales of young adult fiction. Singer wrote that "books like "Iron Widow" by Canadian author Xiran Jay Zhao are already gaining popularity online, even before the book's release date in late September". Kara Savoy, Penguin Random House Canada's integrated marketing director, told Singer that "it's one of the books that we've really been sending out to Canadian influencers. When Xiran did an unboxing video of their advanced copies a few weeks ago [on TikTok], the pre-sale numbers in the U.S. went up 600 per cent that week". "Iron Widow" reached #1 in the Young Adult Hardcover category of "New York Times" Best Sellers in the first week after its release. The week of January 2, 2022, the book had slipped to #5 and had been on the "New York Times" Best Sellers for eleven weeks. , the book has remained on the "New York Times" Best Sellers for 28 weeks.


title: Iron Widow

text: The book received generally positive reviews, with commentators noting the queer and feminist themes. Linda Codega of "Tor.com" stated that the "worldbuilding is imaginative and explosive, the strange mix of mecha battles and reimagined characters lighting up the fight scenes and adding a new mythology to historical fantasy" but that the book didn't go "far enough to examine the underlying misogyny and transphobia" the characters faced from the oppressive society. Mimi Koehler of "The Nerd Daily", however, found the book "takes a deep dive into the unrelenting and unfair gender roles Wu Zetian's society tries to uphold at any cost and how that not only affects how people treat her but how she, in par, treats others," comparing it to "Pacific Rim" and "The Handmaid's Tale".


title: Iron Widow

text: The book was listed on multiple end-of-year roundups. "The Boston Globe" included "Iron Widow" on their "Best Books of 2021" list and stated that the book is an "intense, feminist page-turner". CBC Books included it on their "The best Canadian middle-grade and YA books of 2021" list. "Business Insider" highlighted that the "Iron Widow" is on "The 20 most popular young adult reads of 2021" list based on Goodreads reviewers.


title: Iron Widow

text: In the fall of 2022, Zhao announced that the sequel, titled "Heavenly Tyrant", will be released in August 2023. They earlier hinted on their Tumblr blog that the novel "will be a partial Three Kingdoms retelling".


title: Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah

text: Abū ʿAlī Manṣūr (13 August 985 – 13 February 1021), better known by his regnal name al-Ḥākim bi-Amr Allāh (), was the sixth Fatimid caliph and 16th Ismaili imam (996–1021). Al-Hakim is an important figure in a number of Shia Ismaili sects, such as the world's 15 million Nizaris and 1–2 million Musta'lis, in addition to the 2 million Druze of the Levant.


title: Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah

text: Histories of al-Hakim can prove controversial, as diverse views of his life and legacy exist. Historian Paul Walker writes: "Ultimately, both views of him, the mad and despotic tyrant (like Germanic and Roman despots) irrationally given to killing those around him on a whim, and the ideal supreme ruler, divinely ordained and chosen, whose every action was just and righteous, were to persist, the one among his enemies and those who rebelled against him, and the other in the hearts of true believers, who, while perhaps perplexed by events, nonetheless remained avidly loyal to him to the end." He was known by his critics as the "mad Caliph" or the "Nero of Islam".


title: Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah

text: Born in 985 CE, Abu 'Ali "Mansur" was the first Fatimid ruler to have been born in Egypt. Abu 'Ali "Mansur" had been proclaimed as heir-apparent ("wali al-'ahd") in 993 CE and succeeded his father Abū Mansūr Nizār al-Azīz bil-Lāh (975–996) at the age of eleven, on 14 October 996, with the caliphal title of "al-Hakim Bi-Amr Allah". Al-Ḥākim had blue eyes flecked with reddish gold.


title: Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah

text: Al-Ḥākim was born on Thursday, 3 Rabi' al-awwal in AD 985 (AH 375). His father, caliph al-'Azīz bil-Lāh, had two consorts. One was an "umm al-walad" who is only known by the title "as-Sayyidah al-'Azīziyyah" or "al-'Azīzah" (d. 385/995). She was a Melkite Christian whose two brothers were appointed patriarchs of the Melkite Church by Caliph al-'Azīz. Different sources say either one of her brothers or her father was sent by al-'Azīz as an ambassador to Sicily.