title: Back to Black (song)

text: "Back to Black" is written in the key of D minor. The song explores elements of old school soul music. Its sound and beat have been described as similar to girl groups from the 1960s. Its production was noted for its Wall of Sound. Winehouse expresses feelings of hurt and bitterness for a boyfriend who has left her; however, throughout the lyrics she "remains strong" exemplified in the opening lines, "He left no time to regret, Kept his dick wet, With his same old safe bet, Me and my head high, And my tears dry, Get on without my guy". The song's lyrical content consists of a sad goodbye to a relationship with the lyrics being frank. Slant Magazine writer Sal Cinquemani suggested that the protagonist's lover may be committed to cocaine instead of another woman. John Murphy of "musicOMH" compared the song's introduction to songs by Jimmy Mack, adding that it continues to a "much darker place" than the aforementioned artist's work.


title: Back to Black (song)

text: The song has received universal critical acclaim by music critics. A writer from the website 4Music awarded the song ten stars out of ten in a review saying it was as good as the 1960s girl group classics that influenced it. The writer praised the "thoroughly modern Amy, who writes her own songs about love and sex and drugs and knows her own mind, but still gets hurt in a way only grown-ups can get hurt". Matt Harvey from BBC felt that the song owed to the "sonic heritage" of singers Phil Spector and Scott Walker and called it "a tortured monster of a track - Amy displaying the sort of vocal depth that Marc Almond has always dreamed of". AllMusic writer John Bush found universality in the song and opined that even Joss Stone could take it to the top of the music charts. Alex Denney from the website "Drowned in Sound" found "grit and gravitas" in "Back to Black" best shown in its title song with a "heart-stopping shuffle" and lyrics about a man's philander.


title: Back to Black (song)

text: In 2007, the song was ranked number 39 on Popjustice's list of the year's best in music. Slant Magazine also mentioned it in their respective list of the best singles of the year, with Sal Cinquemani writing, "[It] is not only the singer's finest moment but producer Mark Ronson's as well". Writers of "Rolling Stone" magazine placed "Back to Black" at number 98 on their list of the 100 best songs of the '00s, praising Winehouse's trademark "stormily soulful" vocals and the updated sensibility, and prior to its 2021 article, the track is placed at number 79 on their lists of "500 Greatest Songs Of All "Time."" " NME " editors listed it at 61 on an eponomyous list for the magazine, writing that the song proved the album's real depth and added, "Hard faced and broken-souled, its knowing wallowing spoke to anyone who'd ever had a bunnyboiler moment". "Back to Black" was further considered one of Winehouse's signature songs. Justin Myers wrote for the Official Charts Company that it was the singer's most "anguished" song while also being "[h]eartbreakingly autobiographical". Tim Chester of "NME" also wrote that "Back to Black" was a song by which the singer should be remembered following her death, with Motown influence in her trademark vocal performance along with its powerful lyrics.


title: Back to Black (song)

text: In July 2019 the song was the subject of the BBC Radio 4 programme "Soul Music". The episode included contributions from Donald Brackett, the author of "Back to Black: Amy Winehouse's Only Masterpiece".


title: Back to Black (song)

text: Pre-release, the song charted in the UK Singles Chart on downloads alone for five consecutive weeks, peaking at number 40. The single charted at number 25 in 2007 once it had been released in physical format, which became its peak position in that country. The song has spent 34 non-consecutive weeks on the UK Singles Chart to date. It has re-entered with "Rehab" together on the chart. The song featured on BBC Radio 1's "The B List" Playlist during the week commencing 2 May. With sales of 96,000, "Back to Black" finished as the UK's 85th biggest-selling single of 2007. On 31 July 2011, following her death, the song re-entered the UK Singles Chart at 8, also giving the song a new peak position and second top ten hit in UK. As of September 2014, "Back to Black" has sold 340.000 copies in the UK and is Winehouse's third best-selling single in that country. In America, due to strong digital sales of the single over the years, "Back to Black" was certified platinum for over one million digital sales by the RIAA in January 2015.


title: Back to Black (song)

text: The music video was directed by Phil Griffin and features a funeral procession in which Winehouse mourns over a grave that reads "R.I.P. the Heart of Amy Winehouse". The shot of the headstone was edited out after the singer's death in 2011. The video was primarily shot near Gibson Gardens and Chesholm Road in Stoke Newington, London. The graveyard scenes were filmed at Abney Park Cemetery in northeast London. According to the official Winehouse website, "Amy's sultry new video for Back in Black is both beautifully and artistically shot in black-and-white and compares in imagery a doomed love affair with that of a funeral." At the 2007 Music of Black Origin Awards (MOBO), the music video was nominated for Best Video but lost to Kanye West's "Stronger" (2007). Myers of the Official Charts Company deemed the clip "super-sad" and felt it went further on the song's main theme of goodbye. As of December 2022, the video has over 850 million views on YouTube.


title: Back to Black (song)

text: "Back to Black" was covered by American singer Beyoncé and American rapper André 3000 for the of the 2013 film "The Great Gatsby". Jay Z, who served as an executive producer for the soundtrack, suggested the song to its producer Baz Luhrmann. It was the final song recorded for the album and was included after the producers wanted a darker moment on "The Great Gatsby: Music from Baz Luhrmann's Film". The song premiered in April 2013 after several snippets of it appeared online and it was used in the trailer for the film.


title: Back to Black (song)

text: Amy Winehouse's father Mitchell Winehouse reported that Beyoncé had not informed him about covering the song, and requested that the income coming from it should be donated to his Amy Winehouse Foundation. When the song was released, Winehouse criticized André 3000's singing, saying that it should have been covered only by Beyoncé. However, Mark Ronson, the original producer of the song, revealed that he was flattered and honored by the cover version.


title: Back to Black (song)

text: Beyoncé and André 3000's cover is slower than the original with several lyrical modifications. It features a darker production with heavier instrumentation complete with a guitar and synthesizers, chopped and screwed elements and electronic beats. Upon its release, the song received mixed reviews from music critics who noted that the original version was already perfect to be further reworked; several critics praised its reworked arrangement while others criticized the singers' vocal performance, calling it the most controversial song on the soundtrack.


title: Back to Black (song)

text: On 1 April 2013 E! Online announced that American singer Beyoncé would cover the song with André 3000 for "The Great Gatsby" soundtrack, set to be released on 7 May 2013. Baz Luhrmann, the director of the film, revealed that "Back to Black" was the final song to be included on the album. The song was suggested for the soundtrack by Beyoncé's husband and rapper Jay Z, who also served as its executive producer. "We were looking for, 'How do we have a darker moment?' and he said have a listen to this and he played it", commented Luhrmann, who, after a few spins, confirmed it should appear on the album. Anton Monsted, who served as a producer for the soundtrack, talked about the placement of the cover of "Back to Black" on the track listing during an interview with "The Hollywood Reporter":


title: Back to Black (song)

text: We have to thank Jay Z for bringing this into the overall thinking. He worked with us on the second party in the movie. The first party is a gaudy, rich, Venus flytrap of a celebration designed to attract Daisy's interest by physically bringing the entire city of New York to Long Island. The second party is one that Daisy does attend, but at this point in the story, we were looking for a musical direction that alluded to darker things beneath the surface. We were looking for a song that would speak to the almost 'Sid and Nancy' addictive love that Gatsby and Daisy have found themselves re-engaging in. Everybody knows the Amy Winehouse version of this song, and I think this is a very interesting interpretation. It plunges you further into this particular kind of lovesickness. I think it works very well in the film, where it blends between a jazz recording that The Bryan Ferry Orchestra did and the version on the album with Beyoncé and André 3000. That combination helps to deepen the resonance of what the song is telling us.


title: Back to Black (song)

text: On 2 April 2013, Amy Winehouse's father, Mitchell Winehouse, used his Twitter profile to reveal that Beyoncé had not informed him of her plans to cover the song and that he wanted income from the song to go to his Amy Winehouse Foundation. He wrote, "I don't know about this but what if Beyoncé gave £100,000 to the foundation? Do you know how many kids that would help? Just putting it out there." He later added, "Let me repeat. This is the first I have heard of Beyoncé doing Amy's song." Kia Makarechi of "The Huffington Post" noted that Beyoncé did not use the song as a personal record and thus it was "slightly curious" for Winehouse to request for her to pay out. Winehouse later tweeted, "I like Beyoncé's cover and have no probs." However, upon hearing the full-length track, he wrote on his Twitter profile, "I just heard the André part of 'Back to Black'. Terrible. He should have let Beyoncé do it all."


title: Back to Black (song)

text: On 4 April 2013 a new trailer for the film featured previews of three songs from the soundtrack; a thirty-second preview of the cover of "Back to Black" was among those songs. Chris Payne of "Billboard" magazine praised the cover, which according to him was made unique with the downtempo and EDM wobble. A ninety-second snippet of the song also appeared online on 21 April 2013 and was made available for streaming through the iTunes Store. A writer of "Rap-Up" magazine described it as a "dark and haunting collaboration" adding that it features "[André 3000] rapping his verse, while Queen B[eyoncé] burns slow with her seductive vocals." Sam Lansky of the website Idolator wrote that the cover was "a fairly sinister, gloomy affair" because of the lyrics, which according to him were connected with Amy Winehouse's death, and the film's noirish bent. He further commented that "it strikes us as an unusually dark side of King Bey[oncé], who's supposed to be literally the most poised human being alive". Speaking about the modification of the lyrics, he noted that it was "but a little odd" and concluded the review by saying, "It's eerie but cool, and a fitting tribute to Winehouse's legacy." The full version of the song premiered on Mark Ronson's East Village Radio show on 26 April 2013. Upon its release, Ronson, who co-wrote the original song, commented that it was a "wonderful take on our song" and added: "I'm flattered and honoured, I know Amy would be too."


title: Back to Black (song)

text: The cover version of "Back to Black" has a slower tempo than the original. It features a darker production and chopped and screwed elements with a dark, twisted mood and a hypnotizing dub beat. Charley Rogulewski of "Vibe" magazine commented that the cover version was like a heroin-laced outtake off of the "Trainspotting" soundtrack. Eschewing the 1960s Wall of Sound style of the original, the remake takes a minimalist, synth-heavy approach, with an occasional, echoing guitar twang. Melinda Newman of the website HitFix noted that the cover version was more solemn than the original, with the guitar in the song "adding to the loneliness". Logan Smithson of the online magazine "PopMatters" commented that it also features heavier instrumentation. The 1960s pop string orchestration of the first version is exchanged for a "meatier, keyboard-fueled, big beat groove", as stated by Keith Murphy of "Vibe" magazine. Glenn Gamboa of "Newsday" noted that the cover was stripped down practically to an electronic pulse which he further compared with the "sweeping, dramatic, icy electronic music" that Luhrmann used in his film "Romeo + Juliet".


title: Back to Black (song)

text: The lyrics of the song were modified; they were reversed so it could function better as a duet. It opens with André 3000 rapping his verses on a scratchy, bare beat and dissonant instrumentation further playing with the rhythm of the lyrical phrasing. Beyoncé continues singing her part at the first minute and thirty seconds of the song. Instead of belting her verse out, she whispers with seductive and sultry vocals, while André 3000 "buzzes" and raps over a nostalgic "Aquemini" leaky faucet beat as stated by Rogulewski from "Vibe". Newman of the website HitFix commented that Beyoncé's vocal performance contrasted André 3000's spoken lyrics.


title: Back to Black (song)

text: Upon its release, the collaboration of "Back to Black" received mixed reviews by music critics. Critics discussed that the song was already "perfect" to be further reworked. A writer of the website Consequence of Sound commented that the cover was "an intriguing take on the sultry number, featuring a soft pulse of dub underneath the syrupy sing-talk of André and breathy croon a la Marilyn Monroe/Betty Boop from Queen B." Paula Mejía of the same website listed the song as a highlight on the album, adding that the singers "take an unsettling postmortem stab": "Oozing womps from the latter [Beyoncé] trickle into the ear slowly, mimicking that feeling when you're walking alone at night and have the suspicion you're being followed, but you're too freaked-out and cool to look behind you." Christina Lee of the website Idolator wrote in her review of the song that it was "a gloomier take on Southern hip-hop's codeine effect", comparing it with OutKast's album "Aquemini" (1998) reinterpreted for contemporary times. Charley Rogulewski of "Vibe" magazine commented that the cover was "a drugged-out slow burner in comparison to the doo-wop original, which boasted Winehouse's robust vocals". C. Vernon Coleman of "XXL" magazine simply described it as "dope". Describing it as a shift in Beyoncé's usual approach, Ann Powers of NPR noted that "[she] gets stuck in the 1950s, sounding far more like a torch singer than a blues queen" but added that it was not a problem since " postmodernism has plenty of room for the juxtaposition of historic and current styles." She further added that André 3000 sings in a "dandyish snarl that's been off-putting to some, but his radical rearrangement of the song comes closer than anything else here to own nearly surrealist aesthetic". Describing the cover as "distinguishable", Logan Smithson of "PopMatters" further commented, "Though the cover doesn't top Winehouse's original, it is good in its own right and feels right at home on "Gatsby". Besides, who doesn't love hearing André 3000's voice?". Kelly Dearmore from the "American Songwriter" described the cover as "synthy [and] trippy", writing that the singers turn it into a "wondrously hypnotic effect, and in turn, setting the tone for the entire album by blending brash audacity with dark surrealism".


title: Back to Black (song)

text: In a more mixed review, AllMusic's David Jeffries called the song an "icy cold reading" of the original. Noting that it had a "lavish-yet-empty feeling", Aisha Harris from "Slate" magazine wrote in her review: "The song has the feel of a blurry stupor—fitting... for the dark undertones of "The Great Gatsby", but not terribly satisfying outside that context. Winehouse's vocals had a visceral, emotional punch, whereas here, there's little connection between the sound of the voices and the meaning of the lyrics. 'Life is like a pipe/ And I'm a tiny penny rolling up the walls inside' doesn't feel as meaningful coming from Beyoncé as it did from Winehouse." Thomas Conner from the "Chicago Sun-Times" wrote that Beyoncé surprises by downshifting into "indie-chanteuse mode" for the cover, which he noted was sung "with a sad sexual tension that approaches torch song but never ignites it". Newman from the website HitFix wrote in her review that the original version was stronger than the cover and added that it felt like it was a song by André 3000 featuring Beyoncé as the song mainly featured his vocals. She finished her review by grading the cover with a B-side and wrote, "André 3000 and Beyoncé aren't afraid to rework the track and make it their own, for which they deserve credit, but their remake won't make anyone forget Amy's version." Jim Farber of "New York Daily News" wrote in his review that "unfortunately" Beyoncé only makes a cameo appearance in the song while André 3000 dominates with a "rank rap and a woeful vocal". Writing that it sounded "dull", Cameron Adams of "Herald Sun" added "it's got nice guitar work but the minimal remake is worth it only to hear Bey sing, 'I love blow and you love puff'". "Paste" magazine's Philip Cosores wrote that "'Back to Black' sees Jay Z sticking his wife with a pretty raw deal, with the male half of the duet getting the opening verse and the chorus virtually to himself, leaving Bey with scraps at the end."


title: Back to Black (song)

text: Mark Beech from Bloomberg L.P. gave a negative review of the cover, writing that Beyoncé and André 3000 "murdered" the original version and noted that F. Scott Fitzgerald, the author of the novel "The Great Gatsby" on which the film was based, would be "baffled" by it. Kathy McCabe from "The Daily Telegraph" wrote that the song was the most controversial musical moment from the soundtrack and added that it seemed "unrecognisable from the original, darker and so cut and pasted, it gives you the jitters after a couple of minutes". Keith Murphy of "Vibe" magazine described the cover version as the soundtrack's "weakest link", although he called it "credible". He added that Beyoncé sounds "way too pristine" on it and wrote, "Please avoid covering the late Amy Winehouse if you are unable to project her heartbreaking anguish." Stacy Lambe of VH1 panned the cover of "Back to Black" as "the biggest disappointment on the soundtrack". Another writer of the same website also gave it a negative review, saying "I think the arrangement of this is sleepy and practically smothers the angst out of the song. Also, Beyoncé lives such a perfect life that she can't convey the same bitter pain in her voice that Amy could."


title: Quizás, Quizás, Quizás

text: "Quizás, quizás, quizás", sometimes known simply as "Quizás" (; "perhaps"), is a popular song by Cuban songwriter Osvaldo Farrés. Farrés wrote the music and original Spanish lyrics for the song which became a hit for Bobby Capó in 1947.


title: Quizás, Quizás, Quizás

text: The English lyrics for "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps" were translated by Joe Davis from the original Spanish version. The English version was first recorded by Desi Arnaz in 1948 (RCA).


title: Quizás, Quizás, Quizás

text: The French lyrics, "Qui sait, qui sait", are by , with a slightly different meaning. The story is about a man wondering if the flirting of his girlfriend while dancing with an unknown man will have impact on their relationship: "Who knows?". It has been first recorded by Luis Mariano in 1948, on a single for His Master's Voice.


title: Stephens College

text: Stephens College is a private women's college in Columbia, Missouri. It is the second-oldest women's educational establishment that is still a women's college in the United States. It was founded on August 24, 1833, as the Columbia Female Academy. In 1856, David H. Hickman helped secure the college's charter under the name The Columbia Female Baptist Academy In the late 19th century it was renamed Stephens College after James L. Stephens endowed the college with $20,000. From 1937 to 1943, its Drama Department became renowned under its chairman and teacher, the actress Maude Adams, James M. Barrie's first American Peter Pan. The Warehouse Theater is the major performance venue for the college. The campus includes a National Historic District: Stephens College South Campus Historic District. It enrolled 593 students in Fall 2021.


title: Stephens College

text: Situated in the center of the state, Stephens is approximately from both Kansas City and St. Louis. Columbia is known as "College Town, USA" because of the 36,000 college students attending Stephens, the University of Missouri and Columbia College. The Stephens campus is near downtown Columbia.


title: Stephens College

text: The college follows a liberal arts curriculum and has two schools: Health Sciences and Arts & Humanities


title: Stephens College

text: In addition to undergraduate programs, Stephens offers the following graduate degrees: Master of Education in Counseling, Master of Fine Arts in Television and Screenwriting, and Master in Physician Assistant Studies.


title: Stephens College

text: Stephens is one of four women's colleges, along with Bennett College, Spelman College, and Brenau University, to have sororities on its campus. Sigma Sigma Sigma and Kappa Delta, both of which are National Panhellenic Conference sororities, have on-campus chapters. The sororities are governed by the Panhellenic Council and the Junior Panhellenic Council. Stephens students can also join historically Black or Asian sororities at the nearby University of Missouri campus.


title: Stephens College

text: There are also about a dozen academic honor societies on campus: Mortar Board, Psi Chi, Alpha Lambda Delta, Sigma Tau Delta, Tri-Beta, Kappa Delta Pi, Phi Alpha Delta, and others. Although Stephens College is no longer a two-year institution, it is the location of the Alpha chapter of Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society of the Two-Year College.


title: Stephens College

text: The student newspaper is named "Stephens Life" and is online with a magazine printed once a semester. The college's literary magazine is named "Harbinger" and is released each spring.


title: Stephens College

text: Stephens opened pet-friendly residence halls in 2004. The college also allows students to foster shelter animals in exchange for scholarships.


title: Stephens College

text: The Warehouse Theatre Company is a student-run playhouse on campus which stages an average of four different productions per academic season.


title: Stephens College

text: The Citizen Jane Film Festival was an annual film festival established at Stephens College. The festival was first held October 17–19, 2008. Films were chosen that showcased women behind and in front of the camera. Though the festival has been discontinued, Citizen Jane continues in the form of a lecture series hosted by the Stephens College digital filmmaking program.


title: Stephens College

text: The Stephens athletic teams are called the Stars. The college is a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), primarily competing in the American Midwest Conference (AMC) since the 2008–09 academic year. The Stars previously competed as an NAIA Independent from 2004–05 to 2007–08. Prior joining the NAIA, Stephens was also a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA): in the Division III ranks from 1994–95 (when the school re-instated back its athletics program) to 2003–04; and in the Division II ranks from about 1982–83 to 1986–87, before transitioning to club status until discontinuing the athletics program after the 1988–89 school year.


title: Stephens College

text: Stephens competes in four intercollegiate varsity sports: basketball, soccer, softball and volleyball. Former sports included cross country. Club sports include competitive dance and esports, which is the first varsity esports team at an all-women's college.


title: Stephens College

text: The Stephens College Alumnae Association has more than 20,000 members internationally. Alumnae are found in every state.


title: Stephens College

text: The Firestone Baars Chapel was designed by world-famous Finnish architect Eero Saarinen who also designed the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. The chapel symbolizes commitment to individual spiritual development and worship. The chapel is used for meditation, religious services, vespers, weddings, memorials and campus programs.


title: Stephens College

text: Historic Senior Hall dates back to 1841, when Oliver Parker bought the tract of land on which the college was first located. In 1857, the Columbia Baptist Female College, which later became Stephens College, acquired the building. Until 1918, Historic Senior Hall was the only dormitory at the college. It was the tradition for the President of the Civic Association (now the Student Government Association) to occupy the first floor room just north of the Waugh Street entrance. Many generations of students feel this building is their tie to the past. A complete restoration of Historic Senior Hall began in the spring of 1987, and the building was rededicated in the spring of 1990. Senior Hall was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.


title: Peugeot 407

text: The Peugeot 407 is a large family car (D-segment) produced by the French automaker Peugeot, from 2004 to 2011. It was available in saloon, coupé and estate variants, with both diesel and petrol engines. The petrol engines ranged from 1.8 to 3.0 litres displacement, whereas the diesels ranged from 1.6 to 3.0 litre engines.


title: Peugeot 407

text: Sales commenced in April 2004, in France, with the rest of Europe commencing the following month. According to the website of the European Car of the Year, the 407 was one of the nominees for the award, in 2005.


title: Peugeot 407

text: The 407 was introduced in June 2004 as a replacement to the Peugeot 406, and was replaced in April 2011 by the Peugeot 508.


title: Peugeot 407

text: The 407 was the successor to the hugely successful Peugeot 406, and was launched in "The Sunday Times Motorshow Live", on May 27, 2004. The streamlined design of the car was seen as quite radical by magazines, such as "Autocar", its most distinctive features being its large front grille, and the steeply raked screen pillars.


title: Peugeot 407

text: "Autocar" also published undisguised spy photos, on three occasions throughout 2003, and commented the rear window line of the saloon had "the similar feel to the short wheelbase of the Ferrari 250." The car was first announced, and presented to the press in Paris, in December 2003, and Groupe PSA (then known as PSA Peugeot Citroën) invested in €1.12 billion, in launching the car.


title: Peugeot 407

text: The estate, known as the Peugeot 407 "SW", was launched four months after the saloon, in September 2004. The coupé was launched in July 2005, having been presented at the Frankfurt Motor Show of September 2005, and going on sale in January 2006. The annual sales of the Peugeot 407 peaked at units in 2005, with sales outside Europe. The coupé ended production in December 2011.


title: Peugeot 407

text: The models were given a minor facelift in August 2008, resulting most petrol engined models being withdrawn from sale in the United Kingdom, and other countries of Europe. One model was available with "AMVAR" electronic suspension, that controls each wheel's damping independently, adapting the hardness of the ride every 2.5 milliseconds, to suit the driving style.


title: Peugeot 407

text: The first advertisement, known as "The Toys" or "Les Jouets", featured life size toy cars shown up, by the sleek newly released Peugeot 407. Directed by Philippe André, for agency BETC Euro RSCG, the advert was filmed in Sydney, Australia (we see cars crossing the Sydney Harbour Bridge). André developed twenty model cars especially for the shoot. This campaign was launched in June 2004.


title: Peugeot 407

text: The soundtrack was provided by French duo, "The Film", (Guillaume Brière & Benjamin Lebeau) with their song "Can You Touch Me", an adaptation of their earlier song, "Can You Trust Me".


title: Peugeot 407

text: The next advertisement featured the same scenario of life size toy cars in Sydney, this time taking a new Peugeot 407 SW out of the city, to the beachside home. Along the way, we see old and decrepit station wagons breaking down, or suffering from image problems. The soundtrack features "(Lady) Hear Me Tonight" by the Modjo. The commercials used the slogan "Playtime is Over", which some perceived to be the retort, to the then slogan of Renault's Laguna, "Serious Playtime", which was launched in August 2002.


title: Peugeot 407

text: The slogan given at the end in Spanish was "Volvamos a hablar de automóviles", i.e. "Let's talk about cars again".


title: Peugeot 407

text: The saloon version of the 407 was firstly previewed, with the name "407 Elixir", at the 2003 Frankfurt Motor Show. The "407 Silhouette" is a race car, with most design features of the current coupé. A version, almost identical, to the released coupé, was presented at the 2005 Geneva Motor Show, under the name "407 Prologue". The "407 Macarena" is the four door coupé convertible, produced by Heuliez, and was presented at the 2006 Geneva Motor Show.


title: Peugeot 407

text: The 407 sedan appeared in the comedy film "Taxi 4" of 2007, and the film "Taxi 5", of 2018, unlike the previous films ("1", "2" and "3") which had its predecessor (the 406).


title: Peugeot 407

text: Philippe Varin, from PSA, announced in November 2009 that the successor of the Peugeot 407 would not be called the Peugeot 408, but instead the Peugeot 508, which was officially launched at the Paris Motor Show, in October 2010.


title: Peugeot 407

text: The saloon of the 508 was approximately 12 cm (5 inches) longer than the 407, and also replaced the larger Peugeot 607. The name Peugeot 408 was used for the Chinese built notchback version of the Peugeot 308, that replaced the 407 in South America.


title: Peugeot 407

text: The saloon of the Peugeot 407 has been produced by Majorette and Norev, while the "SW" was only produced by Norev.


title: Peugeot 407

text: The coupé has been produced by Norev and Welly, and the concept "407 Elixr", which was presented in the 2003 Frankfurt Motor Show, has been produced only by Norev.


title: Dogfight (film)

text: Dogfight is a 1991 period coming-of-age drama film set in San Francisco, California, during the 1960s and directed by Nancy Savoca. The film explores the love between an 18-year-old Marine, Lance Corporal Eddie Birdlace (River Phoenix) on his way to Vietnam, and a young woman, Rose Fenny (Lili Taylor).


title: Dogfight (film)

text: The first portion of the film is set on November 21, 1963 (the day before President John F. Kennedy was assassinated). Birdlace and three of his Marine buddies have arrived in San Francisco for twenty-four hours, before shipping off to Okinawa, and are planning on attending a "dogfight" (a party where Marines compete to bring the ugliest date, unbeknownst to the girls they bring) later that evening. They separate into the city to attempt to find dates. After a few women reject his advances, Birdlace ducks into a coffee shop, where he encounters Rose, a waitress, on her break, practicing her guitar. She is not particularly "ugly", but rather plain, shy and awkward. Birdlace attempts to charm her, complimenting her on her guitar playing, and inviting her to a party. She is suspicious of his motives, but decides to accept his invitation.


title: Dogfight (film)

text: While walking to the bar where the party is to be held, Birdlace begins to have second thoughts about playing such a cruel trick on Rose after realizing she's not ugly enough to compete, and attempts to talk her out of going in. However they encounter one of Birdlace's buddies and his "date" in front of the bar, and so he has no choice but to proceed with Rose into the dogfight. Birdlace proceeds to get drunk, presumably feeling guilty. Shortly after, Rose convinces Birdlace to dance with her, though at first he resists because he knows that's where the dates get judged. The alcohol and dancing eventually make Rose feel dizzy, and she rushes off and ends up getting sick in the rest room. Rose does not win the dogfight; Marcie, the date of Birdlace's friend Berzin, is the winner. In the ladies' room, it is revealed that Marcie is actually a prostitute whom Berzin has hired (which is a violation of the rules of the dogfight) and clues Rose in to the true nature of the party. Rose is devastated, tears into Birdlace, and then storms off. Birdlace immediately regrets having treated Rose so cruelly, and chases after her. He convinces her to let him buy her dinner, in an attempt to make it up to her.


title: Dogfight (film)

text: After dinner, the two walk to a club where Rose hopes to perform soon, and then to an arcade. Birdlace is surprised to find himself enjoying spending time with Rose, so much so that he forgets that he was to have met up with his three buddies at a tattoo parlor where they were to get matching tattoos to solidify their friendship. Rose tells Birdlace about her dream to become a folk singer, and he reveals to her that he will be shipping off to Okinawa the following day, and from there on to "a little country called Vietnam," he hopes. She offers to write to him, and asks if he will write back. Birdlace walks Rose home, and they share an awkward moment on her doorstep, before she hesitantly invites him in. They attempt to talk, but end up engaged in a self-conscious yet endearing sexual encounter.


title: Dogfight (film)

text: As he is leaving at dawn, Rose gives him her address and asks him to write. Birdlace meets up with his buddies, where they board their bus. Birdlace makes up a story that he did not show up because he spent the night with the beautiful wife of an officer. Berzin later shares with Birdlace that he saw him with Rose; Birdlace counters that he is aware that Berzin's "date", Marcie, was actually a prostitute. They agree to keep one-another's secrets, as Birdlace tears up Rose's address and throws it out the window of the bus.


title: Dogfight (film)

text: Rose is then shown with her mother, weeping and watching coverage of President Kennedy's assassination on TV. The film then cuts to 1966, where Birdlace and his three friends are shown at Chu Lai, South Vietnam. They are playing cards and trying to pass time, when they are suddenly mortared. The scene descends to chaos. Birdlace is wounded in the leg, Berzin and Oakie drag him away and tell him that Benjamin is dead, then another mortar round hits.


title: Dogfight (film)

text: Birdlace is then shown getting off of a Greyhound bus in San Francisco in 1967. Discharged from the Marines, he is walking with a limp, and it is suggested that his three friends were all killed in combat. He is taken aback by how much things have changed since he was last there, with hippies and flower children everywhere. He walks to the neighborhood where Rose's coffee shop is, and goes to a bar across the street to have a drink. The bartender tells him that Rose's mother has turned the coffee shop over to Rose. He then makes his way across the street and into the coffee shop. Rose, not having heard from him in three years, is surprised to see him, and can only say "hi". She walks over to him and they embrace as the film ends.


title: Dogfight (film)

text: The premiere of "Dogfight" was a screening at the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado on August 30, 1991 with a New York premiere on September 13, 1991. It also had an opening in Los Angeles on September 27, 1991. It was released in the United States on October 4, 1991 by Warner Bros.


title: Dogfight (film)

text: The film was widely praised by critics, and has a 79% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It got a mixed review from Peter Travers, who wrote in "Rolling Stone" that ""Dogfight" doesn’t sum up an era; it merely romanticizes it. What could have been an incisive movie about alienation deteriorates into a conventional romance." Kenneth Turan of the "Los Angeles Times" wrote that "'Dogfight' is two characters in search of a film. And very fine characters they happen to be, as winsome a pair of young people as anyone would ever want to meet. Which makes it all the more a wonder that their on-screen adventures can’t seem to go anywhere at all." Roger Ebert remarked that the film "isn't a love story so much as a story about how a young woman helps a confused teenage boy to discover his own better nature. The fact that his discoveries take place on the night before he ships out to fight the war in Vietnam only makes the story more poignant." Vincent Canby of "The New York Times" wrote that ""Dogfight"... seems to have no clear idea of what these ordinary people are really like. The film wants to be honest (and in its cruelties, it is), but the operative sensibility is that of a sitcom world. The characters aren't necessarily idealized, but they are flat and uninteresting. The material is lugubrious. The only seemingly spontaneous moment comes at the very end, which is too late." Dustin Putman referred to the film as "a virtually unknown gem" and "one of the sweetest, most touching romances of the decade."


title: Dogfight (film)

text: The film's soundtrack featured a number of prominent 1960s artists, including Muddy Waters, The Weavers, Van Morrison, Elizabeth Cotten, Pete Seeger and Malvina Reynolds.


title: Dogfight (film)

text: In June 2012, Second Stage Theatre debuted the musical adaptation. The show, which features music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul and a book by Peter Duchan, was directed by Joe Mantello and choreographed by Christopher Gattelli. It starred Lindsay Mendez as Rose and Derek Klena as Eddie. The cast also included Nick Blaemire, Annaleigh Ashford, Steven Booth, Becca Ayers, Adam Halpin, Dierdre Friel, F. Michael Haynie, James Moye and Josh Segarra. David Zinn designed sets and costumes and Paul Gallo designed the lights. The production opened on July 16, 2012, after previews from June 27, and concluded its limited run on August 19. The show received rave reviews for its young writers and for leading lady Lindsay Mendez's tour de force performance.


title: Dogfight (film)

text: "Dogfight" earned two 2013 Lucille Lortel Awards for Outstanding Musical and Outstanding Choreographer (Christopher Gattelli). It was nominated for five 2013 Outer Critics Circle Awards: Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical, Outstanding New Score (Broadway or Off-Broadway), Outstanding Book of a Musical (Broadway or Off-Broadway), Outstanding Actress in a Musical (Lindsay Mendez), and Outstanding Lighting Design (Paul Gallo). The show was also nominated for two 2013 Drama League Awards for Outstanding Production of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Musical and Distinguished Performance (Lindsay Mendez), as well as the 2013 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical (Lindsay Mendez).


title: Dogfight (film)

text: In August 2014, the musical had its European premiere at the Southwark Playhouse in London, directed by Matt Ryan.


title: American Pop

text: American Pop is a 1981 American adult animated jukebox musical drama film starring Ron Thompson and produced and directed by Ralph Bakshi. It was the fourth animated feature film to be presented in Dolby sound. The film tells the story of four generations of an immigrant family of musicians whose careers parallel the history of American popular music in the 20th century.


title: American Pop

text: The majority of the film's animation was completed through rotoscoping, a process in which live actors are filmed and the subsequent footage is used for animators to draw over. However, the film also uses a variety of other media including water-colors, live-action shots, and archival footage.


title: American Pop

text: In Imperial Russia during the late 1890s, a rabbi's wife and her young son Zalmie escape to America while the rabbi is killed by the Cossacks. Shortly after their arrival in New York City, Zalmie is recruited by Louie, a performer at a burlesque house, to hand out chorus slips (sheets of paper with song chorus lyrics, used to enable audience members to sing along). As Zalmie grows into adolescence, he spends more time with Louie backstage at burlesque shows. When Zalmie's mother dies in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, he begins working with Louie full-time at a small theatre. Though Zalmie aspires to be a singer, he is beginning to enter puberty and his changing voice becomes a significant obstacle. When World War I strikes, Zalmie travels the globe performing for the troops as the bottom half of a pantomime horse and sustains a wound to his throat during a German air raid, which ends his singing career.


title: American Pop

text: When Zalmie returns to New York, he briefly continues performing as a clown, and falls in love with a stripper named Bella, vowing to make her a famous singer and getting involved with mobsters in order to do so. After Zalmie impregnates her, he uses money from mob boss Nicky Palumbo to pay for their wedding. Bella achieves modest success, but she is killed after opening a package containing a bomb intended for Zalmie. Their son, Benny, who is already an introverted child, focuses all of his efforts into becoming a talented jazz pianist. Benny marries Palumbo's daughter at Zalmie's request and enlists to fight in World War II seeking redemption for his family, despite pleas from his father. Benny is killed in Nazi Germany when he stops to play on an abandoned piano and is caught off-guard by a Nazi soldier; Benny begins to play Lili Marleen and the Nazi closes his eyes in bliss, but when the song ends, the Nazi pauses only to thank Benny before riddling him and the piano with gunfire. Benny's wife and son, named Tony, now live in a suburban Long Island town, and they watch as Zalmie testifies against Palumbo on television, calling him a rat.


title: American Pop

text: A teenage Tony steals his stepfather's car and drives across the country for four weeks, ending up in Kansas, where he spends the day washing dishes at a diner and spends the night with a waitress. In California, Tony takes another job dishwashing, but soon grows tired of it and quits. A six-piece rock group invites him to write songs for them after hearing him playing a harmonica under their doorstep. The band becomes successful but slowly starts to decompose because of the heroin addictions of female lead singer Frankie Heart and Tony himself. Tony becomes addicted to drugs after being hospitalized from falling off a stage while on acid at one of Frankie's shows. Frankie and the band's drummer, Johnny Webb, marry but divorce after two weeks, and Frankie begins an affair with Tony. In Kansas, the band is set to perform after Jimi Hendrix, but Frankie overdoses backstage. Meanwhile, Tony meets a blonde, blue-eyed boy, Little Pete, whom Tony realizes is his son, conceived the night he spent with the waitress.


title: American Pop

text: Tony moves back to New York City accompanied by Pete, where he becomes heavily involved with drug dealing. Pete makes a small amount of money playing the acoustic guitar, but Tony takes any money that Pete earns to buy drugs for himself. One day, Tony and Pete argue over the latter's guitar, where Pete reveals that he knows Tony is his father. After he tells the story of his own father, Tony gives Benny's harmonica to Pete, then takes Pete's guitar to pawn it, telling Pete to wait on the city bench they're at. The next morning, a man approaches Pete and gives him a small package of drugs to sell and the pawn slip for his guitar and tells Pete that Tony said goodbye to him. After years of selling drugs to rock bands, Pete refuses to sell the band members any more cocaine unless they are willing to listen to his music. Playing "Night Moves", his talent stuns both the band and the management and they agree to record and hire him on the spot. Eventually, Pete performs in concert with the band.


title: American Pop

text: Following the production struggles of "The Lord of the Rings", Ralph Bakshi decided that it was time to work on something more personal. He pitched "American Pop" to Columbia Pictures president Dan Melnick. Bakshi wanted to produce a film with an extensive soundtrack of songs which would be given an entirely new context in juxtaposition to the visuals in a film. While the film does not reflect Bakshi's own experiences, its themes were strongly influenced by individuals he had encountered in Brownsville. The film's crew included character layout and design artist Louise Zingarelli, Vita, Barry E. Jackson, and Marcia Adams, each of whom brought their own personal touch to the film. Bakshi once again used rotoscoping, in an attempt to capture the range of emotions and movement required for the film's story. According to Bakshi, "Rotoscoping is terrible for subtleties, so it was tough to get facial performances to match the stage ones."


title: American Pop

text: The rock band Fear appeared in the film, Fear lead singer Lee Ving acted under the name Lee James Jude.


title: American Pop

text: The score for "American Pop" was composed by Lee Holdridge. As the result of his reputation as an innovator of adult animation, Bakshi was able to acquire the rights to an extensive soundtrack, including songs by Bob Dylan, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, The Doors, George Gershwin, The Mamas & the Papas, Herbie Hancock, Lou Reed and Louis Prima, for under $1,000,000 in permissions fees. Due to music clearance issues, the film was not released on home video until 1998.


title: American Pop

text: The film was a success upon its February 12, 1981, release. Writer Jerry Beck called it "one of Bakshi's best films". The film received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics and currently holds a 63% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.


title: American Pop

text: "Slate" magazine said the film was a "rock-star epic, a cartoon movie for and about grown-ups, in both style and substance."


title: American Pop

text: Michael Barrier, an animation historian, described "American Pop" as one of two films that demonstrated "that Bakshi was utterly lacking in the artistic self-discipline that might have permitted him to outgrow his limitations."


title: American Pop

text: In 2008, director Hype Williams and Kanye West paid tribute to the film in the music video for West's single "Heartless", which featured use of rotoscoped animation and references to scenes and backgrounds from the film.


title: American Pop

text: "Ain't It Cool News" head writer Harry Knowles wrote that "American Pop" was his favorite Ralph Bakshi film.


title: American Pop

text: On January 12, 2014, at The Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, California, there was a special screening of "American Pop" with actors Ron Thompson and Mews Small in attendance, it was the first time lead actor Ron Thompson had ever introduced the film before a live audience.


title: American Pop

text: At the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica, California on March 27, 2015, there was a screening of "American Pop" with director Ralph Bakshi, Ron Thompson and Mews Small attending.


title: Sniper Elite V2

text: Sniper Elite V2 is a 2012 third-person tactical shooter stealth video game developed and published by Rebellion Developments. It is the sequel to its 2005 predecessor "Sniper Elite", which takes place in the same timeframe and location—the Battle of Berlin in April–May 1945—but with an altered narrative. The game's story follows an American OSS officer who must eliminate a group of scientists involved in the German V-2 rocket program before the Red Army captures them. Another sequel named "Sniper Elite III" was released in 2014. A remastered version for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One was released on May 14, 2019.


title: Sniper Elite V2

text: "Sniper Elite V2" is a third-person tactical shooter that emphasizes a less direct approach to combat, encouraging the player to use stealth and keep their distance from enemy soldiers. Most of the single player campaign missions provide multiple routes for the player to take, including multi-story buildings and side streets, to get vantage points and to hide from pursuing enemies. Set in World War II, the player character utilises appropriate weapons for the era. The sniper rifle is the primary weapon throughout the game, with a variety of submachine guns and pistols available as side arms. In addition to hand grenades, the player can deploy tripwire booby traps, anti-infantry land mines, and dynamite. Binoculars can be used to tag enemies in view, displaying their position and movements to the player. When using the sniper rifle, certain elements can determine the outcome of a shot, taking realistic ballistics into consideration such as wind direction and strength and bullet drop potentially altering the shot through the scope. Bullets can ricochet off surfaces or targets and strike others. Different postures, including crouching or lying down on the front, can also steady a shot, and the player character also has the ability to take a deep breath which from their perspective appears to slow down time. Another key ability is that when the player character is spotted, their last movements and position to the enemy is shown as a white-outlined figure, potentially allowing the player to escape that area while enemy soldiers fire at the wrong target.


title: Sniper Elite V2

text: A major feature of "V2" is the "X-Ray Kill Cam" where a successful and skilled shot will be followed in slow motion from the bullet shooting out of the sniper rifle to the target where upon impact the player will be shown an anatomically correct X-ray style reveal of the body part being hit and the damage the bullet causes to the target's organs and bones. Sniping can also be used to shoot the enemies' own grenades, killing them and anyone nearby. This method can also be used against military vehicles by targeting fuel tanks and valves, and can even detonate fuel canisters and artillery shells marked with red paint. The game will also measure notable shots by briefly displaying distance and other factors like whether it was a head shot or moving target.


title: Sniper Elite V2

text: "V2" supports online multiplayer where players engage in cooperative play in a series of game modes. Kill Tally is a mode where two players fend off increasingly numerous and difficult waves of enemy soldiers and vehicles in an enclosed environment with an infinite supply point of ammunition and explosives. While players can compete for higher kill counts, both must keep each other alive and work together. Bombing Run is a mission based mode where players must search the environment in order to repair a truck to escape before the entire area is bombed. The third mode is Overwatch, where two players take different roles to complete an objective with one player as the operative who undertakes said objectives and is armed with short range firearms and binoculars that can be used to tag enemies for the second player, who takes the role of a sniper who covers the operative throughout. In addition to these separate game modes, missions from the single player campaign can also be played with two players. The Wii U version of the game, however, omits multiplayer, leaderboard and co-op modes.


title: Sniper Elite V2

text: The protagonist is U.S. Army Second Lieutenant Karl Fairburne (Tom Clarke-Hill), a German-American OSS operative and skilled sniper who is inserted into Berlin in 1945, during the final days of World War II. The game starts with Fairburne discussing Operation Paperclip and its predecessor, Operation Overcast, as the United States makes an effort to recruit the top scientific personnel of Nazi Germany with offers of employment. Fairburne is tasked with tracking down key individuals involved with the development of the V-2, which pits him against both the fanatical German forces defending Berlin and the invading Soviet forces who are eager to recruit the scientists to their side.


title: Sniper Elite V2

text: The campaign's first mission has Fairburne assassinating German Major-General Hans von Eisenberg as he meets with a Soviet agent to defect to Russia. He escapes, and is given a new target: Dr. Gunther Kreidl, an expert in rocket engines who is being escorted out of the city in a military convoy. After laying an ambush, Fairburne eliminates Kreidl and obtains documents revealing the location of Germany's primary V-2 production facility, where Kreidl's three colleagues are hiding. Fairburne infiltrates the facility and destroys it with C-3, but finds no trace of the scientists. He manages to overhear a radio message revealing that one of his targets, Dr. Efram Schwaiger, has been caught trying to defect to the Americans.


title: Sniper Elite V2

text: American intelligence informs Fairburne that Schwaiger has been taken to a detainment camp at the Opernplatz. To distract the Germans, Fairburne provokes the Soviets into attacking German defensive positions at an abandoned museum knowing that reinforcements will be sent to defend them. He then locates the camp, shoots a German officer before he can execute Schwaiger, and covers the scientist as he flees to safety before holding off Soviet troops sent to capture him. Schwaiger is mortally wounded in the crossfire and with his dying words states that "Wolff has a plan" involving "Tabun". Not knowing what to make of this information, Fairburne proceeds with a mission to assassinate his fourth target, Colonel Müller. After surviving a large German ambush while recovering his equipment, Fairburne infiltrates a flak tower and kills Müller with a long-distance shot.


title: Sniper Elite V2

text: To find his last target, Dr. Wolff, Fairburne raids a Soviet field HQ. He obtains intel revealing that "Tabun" is actually a nerve gas developed by German scientists, which Wolff and the Soviets intend to load onto V-2 rockets aimed at London. With no idea where the launch will take place, Fairburne goes to Wolff's private office near the German war ministry to look for clues. He finds a notebook revealing Wolff's plan to escape on a Soviet airplane and a tattered map detailing all V-2 storage facilities and launch sites. Arriving just as the Soviets are fueling one of the rockets for the attack, Fairburne destroys it by detonating its fuel supply. He then fights his way back to the Brandenburg Gate, where he had assassinated von Eisenberg only a few days earlier, and where Wolff is about to escape with a Soviet escort to the airfield. With a single shot, he kills Wolff as the doctor speeds away, causing his car to swerve and flip over. As the Battle of Berlin comes to an end, Fairburne notes that the war may be over, but a new conflict is just beginning, and that his actions have made him its first soldier.


title: Sniper Elite V2

text: In 2011, Rebellion announced that it was co-publishing the title with 505 Games. Due for release in May 2012, the game was described as a "reboot" of the original "Sniper Elite", rather than a sequel. The initial announcement however only referred to a release on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, absent a PC version. Following a strong response from PC users, Rebellion announced it was to self-publish a PC version through shops and via the Steam online games download retailer to be released at the same time as the console versions. On 5 February 2013, Rebellion announced a version for Nintendo's Wii U console is in development.


title: Sniper Elite V2

text: Following the initial release, a second retail version of the game was released for the PC only called the "High Command Edition" on 12 October 2012. This version included an updated version of original "V2" game, the previous pre-order bonus "Assassinate the Fuhrer", new multiplayer maps and mode updates and a then previously unreleased new single player mission and weapons. Many of the features would be later released online separately. The PC version was released for a third time on 15 March 2013 as part of the "Collector's Edition", this time including the original game, all downloadable content released up to that date (both single and multiplayer), an audio soundtrack, printed full-colour art book and the original "Sniper Elite" game. In the same month the PS3 and 360 console versions were re-released as the "Game of the Year Edition" in Europe and the "Silver Star Edition" in North America that only include the downloadable content.


title: Sniper Elite V2

text: Originally bundled as a pre-order bonus download with the main game on its release, the first piece of downloadable content is a self-contained single player mission separate from the main campaign, titled "Assassinate the Führer". The mission involves an alternate historical scenario where Fairburne is sent to Salzburg to intercept a convoy in order to assassinate Adolf Hitler before he escapes the area via train. Following the game's release, the DLC was released to non-pre-order players across all platforms on 5 June 2012. The second DLC mission is "The Neudorf Outpost Pack" was released on 20 September 2012 for the PC and on 18 December 2012 for consoles. The mission concerns the demolition of a German-controlled fuel dump in the Harz Mountains and includes two new exclusive weapons. The third DLC mission is "The Landwehr Canal Pack" was released on 18 October 2012 and includes three new weapons. The mission required multiple German generals to be assassinated as they meet in night-time Berlin, thus being challenging and requiring planning. At the same time a new multiplayer mode was released for free through Steam called "Dog Tag Harvest Mode", where players collect points only after a fallen soldier's dog tag has been collected. The fourth DLC missions is "St. Pierre" was released on 6 February 2013 and also includes three new weapons. The missions involves the assassination of "General Rodebrecht", a rising star in the German army whose death could turn the tide of the war for the Allies.


title: Sniper Elite V2

text: On 7 November 2012, Rebellion released a "Multiplayer Expansion" for free on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The new online multiplayer modes support competitive play between players including traditional deathmatch and team deathmatch modes while introducing "distance king", both solo and team based where players' success is measured by the distance of shots. Another mode is "No Cross", a variant on the other modes where teams are separated to two sides of a map, requiring long range firefights only. In addition to the new game types, six new maps for use in multiplayer were also included. At the same time, a paid piece of DLC was also released involving a new selection of weapons.


title: Sniper Elite V2

text: A separate stand-alone title called "Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army" was released following "V2" on 28 February 2013 as a standalone expansion. It was initially available as a digital download through Steam; it was supposed to get a retail release but with no publisher for the title, and has not been released on consoles. The game is also developed by Rebellion and built from the same engine and template as "V2", features the same mechanics and gameplay yet presents completely separate game modes (both single and multiplayer). The premise is that during the final days of World War II, with the German army close to defeat, Adolf Hitler deploys a last resort plan to raise the fallen as zombies through occult rituals and turn them against Allied forces, causing Germany to be overrun with the undead. The game features a series of campaign missions that can be played in single-player mode, or with up to four players in online co-op. The level structure has been compared to the "Left 4 Dead" series, involving missions with specific objectives requiring players to fight their way through levels containing various types of enemy zombie. Checkpoints break up each campaign with safe houses, allowing players to stock up on weapons and ammunition.


title: Sniper Elite V2

text: A sequel named "Nazi Zombie Army 2" was released on 31 October 2013 where the player has to find the fragments of the Sagamartha Relic, the key to controlling the zombies while facing newer, deadlier enemies.


title: Sniper Elite V2

text: Another sequel was announced on 8 January 2015 and released 6 March 2015, alongside the remastered versions of "Nazi Zombie Army" and "Nazi Zombie Army 2", under the package "Zombie Army Trilogy" for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Due to German censorship of Nazi-related symbols, both games were released as just "Zombie Army" in Germany.


title: Sniper Elite V2

text: Developer Rebellion Developments announced in March 2019 that an enhanced version of the game would launch that year for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.


title: Sniper Elite V2

text: The new version contains multiple playable characters (including those from "Zombie Army Trilogy"), updated graphics and a photo-mode for screenshots.


title: Sniper Elite V2

text: In a review for "GamesRadar", Matt Hughes favourably compared "V2" against the original "Sniper Elite" in regards to the mission structure and variety, stating that "V2 keeps the objectives varied and avoids tedium by condensing and refining the physical scope of the game". Matt Hughes presented the scenery of ruined Berlin in the game and wrote that the player really feels to be one man against two armies. Similarly Nathan Meunier at "IGN" praised the single player, feeling that it "delivers a satisfying trek through a well-designed medley of war-torn cityscapes ripe with tactical opportunities for assassination and covert sneakery". While he noted the multiplayer, "Overwatch" was considered the stand out mode "where multiplayer really gets cool" as "these missions require careful collaborative teamwork, and they're a ton of fun." In a mixed response however, "GameTrailers" felt that the single player varied in quality, where "things take a turn for the worse when you're doing anything other than sniping", particularly in regards to close-quarter stealth segments in what the review considered to be "a real drag" causing "unbearable" trial-and-error. However, in the same review, it felt that the option to play the campaign cooperatively "remedies many of our complaints".


title: Sniper Elite V2

text: Phil Savage of "PC Gamer" enjoys the abundance of tricks you can play on the enemy soldiers. However he observes the easiest way to play is hiding behind cover and shooting approaching enemies, he still claims for effort put in more sophisticated play the game "rewards you with the feeling of carefully thought-out mischief falling into place". He complains about tighter levels, where the player is easily discovered and "In these moments the game devolves into a pop-up shooting gallery". Savage also praised the "tactical systems and satisfying ballistics" while being critical of "uncanny enemy vision".


title: Sniper Elite V2

text: "GameSpy" writes the AI has some moments of brillance, mixed with complete stupidity, however he admits it allows killing enemies in exciting way. He complains the enemies respawn until the player reaches certain checkpoints, which makes no sense in a game about a sniper.


title: Sniper Elite V2

text: "GameRevolution" praises details like that breathing while sniping is affected by how tired the character is, however they complain the enemies are predictable. They also complain it is easy to choose a wrong weapon accidentally.


title: Sniper Elite V2

text: "GamesRadar" reviewer praises tension and atmosphere of sneaking and making crucial shots. "Game Informer" reviewer, however, notes situations when a player's bullet is deflected by an invisible barrier, which is "a big deal" in a game where "every bullet matters" and complains the enemies seem to have binoculars glued to their faces.


title: Sniper Elite V2

text: A recurring feature noted in reviews was the "X-Ray Kill Cam". "Official Xbox Magazine" reviewer Chuck Osborne said that it "earns the game's Mature rating and our applause" while Tim Turi of "Game Informer" called it the game's "standout feature" that "never got old", however he admitted that it made his stomach "twitch a bit". GameSpot reviewer Chris Watters called the feature "brutal and gratuitous (perhaps too much so, for some)" yet still enjoyed it as a "delightfully gory" highlight. Marsh Davis of Eurogamer echoed this view by stating that "Its appeal is most definitely crass but, oddly, these animations also give each enemy's death a ghoulish significance."


title: Sniper Elite V2

text: A third entry in the "Sniper Elite" series was announced in March 2013. "Sniper Elite III" takes place in North Africa during World War II and has been described as "more of a sandbox game". Of the choice of gameplay, Kingsley stated that "We want you to feel you're dealing with scenarios that are believable and that you can genuinely make meaningful choices on how to tackle them."


title: Cayden Boyd

text: Cayden Boyd (born May 24, 1994) is an American actor. He is best known for his child roles as Max in Robert Rodriguez's 2005 film "The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl" and Ben Reynolds in the 2007 film "Have Dreams, Will Travel".


title: Cayden Boyd

text: Boyd was born in Bedford, Texas. His older sister, Jenna, is also an actor. Boyd plays violin and cello and played high school football at Village Christian School. He recently graduated from Pepperdine University, studying business.


title: Cayden Boyd

text: Boyd landed his first roles, small television roles and commercials, as young as 6 and 7. He played Tim Robbins's son in "Mystic River". In 2004, he was cast in the starring role of Max in the 2005 film "The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl". He played young Warren Worthington III in "", and he was cast in the lead role in the 2007 film "Have Dreams, Will Travel" (originally titled "A West Texas Children’s Story"). He appeared on episodes of such television series as "Crossing Jordan", "Cold Case", "Close to Home" and "Scrubs". In 2008, he appeared alongside Julia Roberts and Willem Dafoe in "Fireflies in the Garden". In 2015 Boyd also had a role on the television series "Awkward" playing Jenna's Marine boyfriend.


title: Joe Simpson (mountaineer)

text: Joe Simpson (born 1960) is a British mountaineer, author, and motivational speaker. While climbing in Peru in 1985, he suffered severe injuries and was assumed dead by his climbing companion after falling into a crevasse, but he survived and managed to crawl back to his base camp. He described the ordeal in his 1988 book "Touching the Void", which was adapted into a 2003 documentary film of the same name.


title: Joe Simpson (mountaineer)

text: Simpson was born on 13 April 1960 to a Scottish father and an Irish mother, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where his father was stationed with the British Army. From the age of 8, Simpson travelled between schools in Britain and various countries where his father was stationed. Simpson began rock climbing after being introduced to the sport at Peak Scar on the Hambleton Hills in north-eastern Yorkshire by a teacher at Ampleforth College. He was 14 when he read "The White Spider" by Heinrich Harrer, about the first ascent of the North Face of the Eiger by Harrer with Anderl Heckmair, Fritz Kasparek, and Ludwig Vörg in 1938. Despite the inherent dangers of mountaineering described in the book, this reading sparked a passion for the mountains in Simpson.


title: Joe Simpson (mountaineer)

text: In 1985, Simpson and climbing partner Simon Yates made a first ascent of the previously unclimbed West Face of Siula Grande (6,344 m) in the Cordillera Huayhuash of the Peruvian Andes. On the descent, Simpson broke his right leg in a fall. Yates attempted to rescue Simpson by roping the pair together, with Yates lowering Simpson as far down the mountain as their rope would allow, before descending himself, and repeating the process. However, as weather conditions deteriorated and visibility diminished, he unknowingly lowered Simpson over a cliff edge. Simpson could not climb up the rope, and it was impossible for Yates to pull him up due to his own precarious position. To avoid being pulled off the mountain himself, Yates was forced to cut the rope. After they returned to Britain, Yates received some criticism for having cut the rope.


title: Joe Simpson (mountaineer)

text: Simpson published an article about the Siula Grande ordeal in the climbing press shortly afterwards, and later wrote the best-selling book "Touching the Void". The book has been translated into 23 languages and has sold almost two million copies worldwide. Simpson wrote further about the Siula Grande expedition in his book "This Game of Ghosts" as did Yates in his book "Against the Wall". A film based on the book was released in 2003. It takes the form of a docudrama with climbing sequences filmed in the European Alps and the Peruvian Andes together with interviews with Simpson, Yates and the third member of the expedition Richard Hawking (a non-climber).


title: Joe Simpson (mountaineer)

text: Simpson underwent six surgical operations as a result of the leg injuries sustained on Siula Grande. The doctors told him he would never climb again and that he would have trouble walking for the rest of his life. After two years of rehabilitation, however, he returned to mountain climbing.


title: Joe Simpson (mountaineer)

text: His later non-fiction books describe other expeditions and his changing feeling towards extreme mountaineering brought on by the many deaths that surround the pursuit. A bad fall broke Simpson's left ankle while climbing with Mal Duff in 1991 on Pachermo in Nepal, and is described in his third book "This Game of Ghosts". Simpson also made six unsuccessful attempts on the North Face of the Eiger from 2000 to 2003 with his regular climbing partner Ray Delaney, all of which had to be aborted due to bad weather. One of his books, "The Beckoning Silence", was made into a documentary shown on Channel 4 in October 2007. The book won the 2003 National Outdoor Book Award (Outdoor Literature category).


title: Welfare economics

text: Welfare economics is a branch of economics that uses microeconomic techniques to evaluate well-being (welfare) at the aggregate (economy-wide) level.


title: Welfare economics

text: Attempting to apply the principles of welfare economics gives rise to the field of public economics, the study of how government might intervene to improve social welfare. Welfare economics also provides the theoretical foundations for particular instruments of public economics, including cost–benefit analysis, while the combination of welfare economics and insights from behavioral economics has led to the creation of a new subfield, behavioral welfare economics.


title: Welfare economics

text: The field of welfare economics is associated with two fundamental theorems. The first states that given certain assumptions, competitive markets produce (Pareto) efficient outcomes; it captures the logic of Adam Smith's invisible hand. The second states that given further restrictions, any Pareto efficient outcome can be supported as a competitive market equilibrium. Thus a social planner could use a social welfare function to pick the most equitable efficient outcome, then use lump sum transfers followed by competitive trade to bring it about. Because of welfare economics' close ties to social choice theory, Arrow's impossibility theorem is sometimes listed as a third fundamental theorem.


title: Welfare economics

text: A typical methodology begins with the derivation (or assumption) of a social welfare function, which can then be used to rank economically feasible allocations of resources in terms of the social welfare they entail. Such functions typically include measures of economic efficiency and equity, though more recent attempts to quantify social welfare have included a broader range of measures including economic freedom (as in the capability approach).


title: Welfare economics

text: The early "Neoclassical approach" was developed by Edgeworth, Sidgwick, Marshall, and Pigou. It assumes the following:


title: Welfare economics

text: With these assumptions, it is possible to construct a social welfare function simply by summing all the individual utility functions. Note that such a measure would still be concerned with the distribution of income (distributive efficiency) but not the distribution of final utilities. In normative terms, such authors were writing in the Benthamite tradition.


title: Welfare economics

text: The "New Welfare Economics" approach is based on the work of Pareto, Hicks, and Kaldor. It explicitly recognizes the differences between the efficiency aspect of the discipline and the distribution aspect and treats them differently. Questions of efficiency are assessed with criteria such as Pareto efficiency and the Kaldor–Hicks compensation tests, while questions of income distribution are covered in social welfare function specification. Further, efficiency dispenses with cardinal measures of utility, replacing it with ordinal utility, which merely ranks commodity bundles (with an indifference-curve map, for example).


title: Welfare economics

text: Situations are considered to have distributive efficiency when goods are distributed to the people who can gain the most utility from them.


title: Welfare economics

text: Pareto efficiency is a useful efficiency goal that is standard in economics. A situation is Pareto-efficient only if no individual can be made better off without making someone else worse off. An example of an inefficient situation would be if Smith owns an apple but would prefer to consume an orange while Jones owns an orange but would be prefer to consume an apple. Both could be made better off by trading.


title: Welfare economics

text: Note that if one of these conditions leads to inefficiency, another condition might help by counteracting it. For example, if a pollution externality leads to overproduction of tires, a tax on tires might restore the efficient level of production. A condition inefficient in the "first-best" might be desirable in the second-best.


title: Welfare economics

text: To determine whether an activity is moving the economy towards Pareto efficiency, two compensation tests have been developed. Policy changes usually help some people while hurting others, so these tests ask what would happen if the winners were to compensate the losers. Using the "Kaldor criterion", the change is desirable if the maximum amount the winners would be willing to pay is greater than the minimum the losers would accept. Under the "Hicks criterion", the change is desirable if the maximum the losers would be willing to offer the winners to prevent the change is less than the minimum the winners would accept as a bribe to give up the change. The Hicks compensation test is from the losers' point of view; the Kaldor compensation test is from the winners'. If both conditions are satisfied, the proposed change will move the economy toward Pareto optimality. This idea is known as Kaldor–Hicks efficiency. If the two conditions disagree, that yields the Scitovsky paradox.


title: Welfare economics

text: There are many combinations of consumer utility, production mixes, and factor input combinations consistent with efficiency. In fact, there are an infinity of consumption and production equilibria that yield Pareto optimal results. There are as many optima as there are points on the aggregate production–possibility frontier. Hence, Pareto efficiency is a necessary, but not a sufficient condition for social welfare. Each Pareto optimum corresponds to a different income distribution in the economy. Some may involve great inequalities of income. So how do we decide which Pareto optimum is most desirable? This decision is made, either tacitly or overtly, when we specify the social welfare function. This function embodies value judgements about interpersonal utility. The social welfare function shows the relative importance of the individuals that comprise society.


title: Welfare economics

text: A utilitarian welfare function (also called a Benthamite welfare function) sums the utility of each individual in order to obtain society's overall welfare. All people are treated the same, regardless of their initial level of utility. One extra unit of utility for a starving person is not seen to be of any greater value than an extra unit of utility for a millionaire. At the other extreme is the Max-Min, or Rawlsian utility function. According to the Max-Min criterion, welfare is maximized when the utility of those society members that have the least is the greatest. No economic activity will increase social welfare unless it improves the position of the society member that is the worst off. Most economists specify social welfare functions that are intermediate between these two extremes.


title: Welfare economics

text: The social welfare function is typically translated into social indifference curves so that they can be used in the same graphic space as the other functions that they interact with. A utilitarian social indifference curve is linear and downward sloping to the right. The Max-Min social indifference curve takes the shape of two straight lines joined so as they form a 90-degree angle. A social indifference curve drawn from an intermediate social welfare function is a curve that slopes downward to the right.


title: Welfare economics

text: The intermediate form of social indifference curve can be interpreted as showing that as inequality increases, a larger improvement in the utility of relatively rich individuals is needed to compensate for the loss in utility of relatively poor individuals.


title: Welfare economics

text: A crude social welfare function can be constructed by measuring the subjective dollar value of goods and services distributed to participants in the economy ("See also" Consumer surplus, Consumer welfare standard).


title: Welfare economics

text: The field of welfare economics is associated with two fundamental theorems. The first states that given certain assumptions, competitive markets (price equilibria with transfers, e.g. Walrasian equilibria) produce Pareto efficient outcomes. The assumptions required are generally characterised as "very weak". More specifically, the existence of competitive equilibrium implies both price-taking behaviour and complete markets, but the only additional assumption is the local non-satiation of agents' preferences – that consumers would like, at the margin, to have slightly more of any given good. The first fundamental theorem is said to capture the logic of Adam Smith's invisible hand, though in general there is no reason to suppose that the "best" Pareto efficient point (of which there are a set) will be selected by the market without intervention, only that some such point will be.


title: Welfare economics

text: The second fundamental theorem states that given further restrictions, any Pareto efficient outcome can be supported as a competitive market equilibrium. These restrictions are stronger than for the first fundamental theorem, with convexity of preferences and production functions a sufficient but not necessary condition. A direct consequence of the second theorem is that a benevolent social planner could use a system of lump sum transfers to ensure that the "best" Pareto efficient allocation was supported as a competitive equilibrium for some set of prices. More generally, it suggests that redistribution should, if possible, be achieved without affecting prices (which should continue to reflect relative scarcity), thus ensuring that the final (post-trade) result is efficient. Put into practice, such a policy might resemble predistribution.


title: Welfare economics

text: Because of welfare economics' close ties to social choice theory, Arrow's impossibility theorem is sometimes listed as a third fundamental theorem.


title: Welfare economics

text: Utility functions can be derived from the points on a contract curve. Numerous utility functions can be derived, one for each point on the production possibility frontier (PQ in the diagram above). A social utility frontier (also called a grand utility frontier) can be obtained from the outer envelope of all these utility functions. Each point on a social utility frontier represents an efficient allocation of an economy's resources; that is, it is a Pareto optimum in factor allocation, in production, in consumption, and in the interaction of production and consumption (supply and demand). In the diagram below, the curve MN is a social utility frontier. Point D corresponds with point C from the earlier diagram. Point D is on the social utility frontier because the marginal rate of substitution at point C is equal to the marginal rate of transformation at point A. Point E corresponds with point B in the previous diagram, and lies inside the social utility frontier (indicating inefficiency) because the MRS at point C is not equal to the MRT at point A.


title: Welfare economics

text: Although all the points on the grand social utility frontier are Pareto efficient, only one point identifies where social welfare is maximized. Such point is called "the point of bliss". This point is Z where the social utility frontier MN is tangent to the highest possible social indifference curve labelled SI.


title: Welfare economics

text: Some, such as economists in the tradition of the Austrian School, doubt whether a cardinal utility function, or cardinal social welfare function, is of any value. The reason given is that it is difficult to aggregate the utilities of various people that have differing marginal utility of money, such as the wealthy and the poor.


title: Welfare economics

text: Also, the economists of the Austrian School question the relevance of Pareto optimal allocation considering situations where the framework of means and ends is not perfectly known, since neoclassical theory always assumes that the ends-means framework is perfectly defined.


title: Welfare economics

text: The value of ordinal utility functions has been questioned. Economists have proposed other means of measuring well-being as an alternative to price indices like willingness to pay using revealed or stated preference method. This includes


title: Welfare economics

text: subjective well-being functions based on individuals' ratings of their happiness or life satisfaction rather than on their preferences.


title: Welfare economics

text: Price-based measures are seen as promoting consumerism and productivism by many. It is possible to do welfare economics without the use of prices; however, this is not always done. Value assumptions explicit in the social welfare function used and implicit in the efficiency criterion chosen tend to make welfare economics a normative and perhaps subjective field. This can make it controversial. However, perhaps most significant of all are concerns about the limits of a utilitarian approach to welfare economics. According to this line of argument, utility is not the only thing that matters and so a comprehensive approach to welfare economics should include other factors.


title: Welfare economics

text: The capability approach is a theoretical framework that entails two core normative claims: first, the claim that the freedom to achieve well-being is of primary moral importance, and second, that freedom to achieve well-being is to be understood in terms of people's capabilities, that is, their real opportunities to do and be what they have reason to value.


title: Column-oriented DBMS

text: A column-oriented DBMS or columnar DBMS is a database management system (DBMS) that stores data tables by column rather than by row. Benefits include more efficient access to data when only querying a subset of columns (by eliminating the need to read columns that are not relevant), and more options for data compression. However, they are typically less efficient for inserting new data.


title: Column-oriented DBMS

text: Practical use of a column store versus a row store differs little in the relational DBMS world. Both columnar and row databases can use traditional database query languages like SQL to load data and perform queries. Both row and columnar databases can become the backbone in a system to serve data for common extract, transform, load (ETL) and tools.


title: Column-oriented DBMS

text: A relational database management system provides data that represents a two-dimensional table of columns and rows. For example, a database might have this table:


title: Column-oriented DBMS

text: This simple table includes an employee identifier (EmpId), name fields (Lastname and Firstname) and a salary (Salary). This two-dimensional format is an abstraction. In an actual implementation, storage hardware requires the data to be serialized into one form or another.


title: Column-oriented DBMS

text: The most expensive operations involving hard disks are seeks. In order to improve overall performance, related data should be stored in a fashion to minimize the number of seeks. This is known as locality of reference, and the basic concept appears in a number of different contexts. Hard disks are organized into a series of blocks of a fixed size, typically enough to store several rows of the table. By organizing the table's data so rows fit within these blocks, and grouping related rows onto sequential blocks, the number of blocks that need to be read or sought is minimized in many cases, along with the number of seeks.


title: Column-oriented DBMS

text: As data is inserted into the table, it is assigned an internal ID, the codice_1 that is used internally in the system to refer to data. In this case the records have sequential codice_1s independent of the user-assigned codice_3. In this example, the DBMS uses short integers to store codice_1s. In practice, larger numbers, 64-bit or 128-bit, are normally used.


title: Column-oriented DBMS

text: Row-oriented systems are designed to efficiently return data for an entire row, or record, in as few operations as possible. This matches the common use-case where the system is attempting to retrieve information about a particular object, say the contact information for a user in a rolodex system, or product information for an online shopping system. By storing the record's data in a single block on the disk, along with related records, the system can quickly retrieve records with a minimum of disk operations.


title: Column-oriented DBMS

text: Row-oriented systems are not efficient at performing set-wide operations on the whole table, as opposed to a small number of specific records. For instance, in order to find all records in the example table with salaries between 40,000 and 50,000, the DBMS would have to fully scan through the entire table looking for matching records. While the example table shown above will likely fit in a single disk block, a table with even a few hundred rows would not, and multiple disk operations would be needed to retrieve the data and examine it.


title: Column-oriented DBMS

text: To improve the performance of these sorts of operations (which are very common, and generally the point of using a DBMS), most DBMSs support the use of database indexes, which store all the values from a set of columns along with codice_1 pointers back into the original table. An index on the salary column would look something like this:


title: Column-oriented DBMS

text: As they store only single pieces of data, rather than entire rows, indexes are generally much smaller than the main table stores. Scanning this smaller set of data reduces the number of disk operations. If the index is heavily used, it can dramatically reduce the time for common operations. However, maintaining indexes adds overhead to the system, especially when new data is written to the database. Records not only need to be stored in the main table, but any attached indexes have to be updated as well.


title: Column-oriented DBMS

text: The main reason why indexes dramatically improve performance on large datasets is that database indexes on one or more columns are typically sorted by value, which makes range queries operations (like the above "find all records with salaries between 40,000 and 50,000" example) very fast (lower time-complexity).


title: Column-oriented DBMS

text: A number of row-oriented databases are designed to fit entirely in RAM, an in-memory database. These systems do not depend on disk operations, and have equal-time access to the entire dataset. This reduces the need for indexes, as it requires the same amount of operations to fully scan the original data as a complete index for typical aggregation purposes. Such systems may be therefore simpler and smaller, but can only manage databases that will fit in memory.


title: Column-oriented DBMS

text: A column-oriented database serializes all of the values of a column together, then the values of the next column, and so on. For our example table, the data would be stored in this fashion:


title: Column-oriented DBMS

text: In this layout, any one of the columns more closely matches the structure of an index in a row-oriented system. This may cause confusion that can lead to the mistaken belief a column-oriented store "is really just" a row-store with an index on every column. However, it is the mapping of the data that differs dramatically. In a row-oriented system, indices map column values to rowids, whereas in a column-oriented system, columns map rowids to column values. This may seem subtle, but the difference can be seen in this common modification to the same store wherein the two "Jones" items, above, are compressed into a single item with two rowids:


title: Column-oriented DBMS

text: Whether or not a column-oriented system will be more efficient in operation depends heavily on the workload being automated. Operations that retrieve all the data for a given object (the entire row) are slower. A row-oriented system can retrieve the row in a single disk read, whereas numerous disk operations to collect data from multiple columns are required from a columnar database. However, these whole-row operations are generally rare. In the majority of cases, only a limited subset of data is retrieved. In a rolodex application, for instance, collecting the first and last names from many rows to build a list of contacts is far more common than reading all data for any single address. This is even more true for writing data into the database, especially if the data tends to be "sparse" with many optional columns. For this reason, column stores have demonstrated excellent real-world performance in spite of many theoretical disadvantages.


title: Column-oriented DBMS

text: Partitioning, indexing, caching, views, OLAP cubes, and transactional systems such as write-ahead logging or multiversion concurrency control all dramatically affect the physical organization of either system. That said, online transaction processing (OLTP)-focused RDBMS systems are more row-oriented, while online analytical processing (OLAP)-focused systems are a balance of row-oriented and column-oriented.


title: Column-oriented DBMS

text: Comparisons between row-oriented and column-oriented databases are typically concerned with the efficiency of hard-disk access for a given workload, as seek time is incredibly long compared to the other bottlenecks in computers. For example, a typical Serial ATA (SATA) hard drive has an average seek time of between 16 and 22 milliseconds while DRAM access on an Intel Core i7 processor takes on average 60 nanoseconds, nearly 400,000 times as fast. Clearly, disk access is a major bottleneck in handling big data. Columnar databases boost performance by reducing the amount of data that needs to be read from disk, both by efficiently compressing the similar columnar data and by reading only the data necessary to answer the query.


title: Column-oriented DBMS

text: In practice, columnar databases are well-suited for OLAP-like workloads (e.g., data warehouses) which typically involve highly complex queries over all data (possibly petabytes). However, some work must be done to write data into a columnar database. Transactions (INSERTs) must be separated into columns and compressed as they are stored, making it less suited for OLTP workloads. Row-oriented databases are well-suited for OLTP-like workloads which are more heavily loaded with interactive transactions. For example, retrieving all data from a single row is more efficient when that data is located in a single location (minimizing disk seeks), as in row-oriented architectures. However, column-oriented systems have been developed as hybrids capable of both OLTP and OLAP operations. Some of the OLTP constraints, faced by such column-oriented systems, are mediated using (amongst other qualities) in-memory data storage. Column-oriented systems suitable for both OLAP and OLTP roles effectively reduce the total data footprint by removing the need for separate systems.


title: Column-oriented DBMS

text: Column data is of uniform type; therefore, there are some opportunities for storage size optimizations available in column-oriented data that are not available in row-oriented data. For example, many popular modern compression schemes, such as LZW or run-length encoding, make use of the similarity of adjacent data to compress. Missing values and repeated values, common in clinical data, can be represented by a two-bit marker. While the same techniques may be used on row-oriented data, a typical implementation will achieve less effective results.


title: Column-oriented DBMS

text: To improve compression, sorting rows can also help. For example, using bitmap indexes, sorting can improve compression by an order of magnitude. To maximize the compression benefits of the lexicographical order with respect to run-length encoding, it is best to use low-cardinality columns as the first sort keys. For example, given a table with columns sex, age, name, it would be best to sort first on the value sex (cardinality of two), then age (cardinality of <128), then name.


title: Column-oriented DBMS

text: Columnar compression achieves a reduction in disk space at the expense of efficiency of retrieval. The greater adjacent compression achieved, the more difficult random-access may become, as data might need to be uncompressed to be read. Therefore, column-oriented architectures are sometimes enriched by additional mechanisms aimed at minimizing the need for access to compressed data.


title: Column-oriented DBMS

text: Column stores or transposed files have been implemented from the early days of DBMS development. TAXIR was the first application of a column-oriented database storage system with focus on information-retrieval in biology in 1969. Clinical data from patient records with many more attributes than could be analyzed were processed in 1975 and after by a time-oriented database system (TODS). Statistics Canada implemented the RAPID system in 1976 and used it for processing and retrieval of the Canadian Census of Population and Housing as well as several other statistical applications. RAPID was shared with other statistical organizations throughout the world and used widely in the 1980s. It continued to be used by Statistics Canada until the 1990s.


title: Column-oriented DBMS

text: Since about 2004 there have been additional open source and commercial implementations. MonetDB was released under an open-source license on September 30, 2004, followed closely by the now defunct C-Store.


title: Column-oriented DBMS

text: C-store was a university project that eventually, with team member Michael Stonebraker staying on, led to Vertica, which he co-founded in 2005.


title: Column-oriented DBMS

text: The MonetDB-related X100 project evolved into VectorWise. Druid is a column-oriented data store that was open-sourced in late 2012 and is now used by numerous organizations.


title: Column-oriented DBMS

text: Classic Relational DBMS can use column-oriented strategies by mixing row-oriented and column-oriented tables. Despite the DBMS complexity, this approach has proven to be valuable from the years 2010 to present. For example in 2014 Citusdata introduced column-oriented tables for PostgreSQL and McObject added support for columnar storage with its release of eXtremeDB Financial Edition in 2012 which was then used to establish a new standard of performance for the independently audited STAC-M3 benchmark.


title: Yeniseian languages

text: The Yeniseian languages (sometimes known as Yeniseic or Yenisei-Ostyak; occasionally spelled with -ss-) are a family of languages that are spoken by the Yeniseian people in the Yenisei River region of central Siberia. As part of the proposed Dené–Yeniseian language family, the Yeniseian languages have been argued to be part of "the first demonstration of a genealogical link between Old World and New World language families that meets the standards of traditional comparative-historical linguistics". The only surviving language of the group today is Ket.


title: Yeniseian languages

text: From hydronymic and genetic data, it is suggested that the Yeniseian languages were spoken in a much greater area in ancient times, including parts of northern China and Mongolia. It has been further proposed that the recorded distribution of Yeniseian languages from the 17th century onward represents a relatively recent northward migration, and that the Yeniseian urheimat lies to the south of Lake Baikal.


title: Yeniseian languages

text: The Yeniseians have been connected to the Xiongnu, whose ruling elite may have spoken a southern Yeniseian language similar to Pumpokol. The Jie, who ruled the Later Zhao state of northern China, are likewise believed to have spoken a Pumpokolic language based on linguistic and ethnogeographic data.


title: Yeniseian languages

text: For those who argue the Xiongnu spoke a Yeniseian language, the Yeniseian languages are thought to have contributed many ubiquitous loanwords to Turkic and Mongolic vocabulary, such as "Khan", "Khagan", "Tarqan", and the word for "god" and "sky", "Tengri". This conclusion has primarily been drawn from the analysis of preserved Xiongnu texts in the form of Chinese characters.