title: No Problem (2010 film)

text: No Problem is a 2010 Indian Hindi-language action comedy film directed by Anees Bazmee and produced by Rajat Rawail and Anil Kapoor. The film stars himself, Sanjay Dutt, Suniel Shetty, Akshaye Khanna, Paresh Rawal, Sushmita Sen, Kangana Ranaut, Neetu Chandra and Shakti Kapoor in the lead roles while Ranjeet, Mukesh Tiwari, Jeetu Verma, Vishwajeet Pradhan, Suresh Menon and Vijay Raaz are featured in supporting yet crucial roles. Shooting began in July 2010. It was shot in South Africa and Mumbai. "No Problem " released worldwide on 10 December 2010, to a negative reception and was a flop.


title: No Problem (2010 film)

text: Yash Ambani (Sanjay Dutt) and Raj Ambani (Akshaye Khanna) are small-time crooks and childhood buddies. Raj wants to lead an honest life, but Yash always manages to do something that jeopardises Raj's chances of turning over a new leaf. When Yash robs the First Village Bank, the innocent bank manager, Zandulal (Paresh Rawal), gets blamed, because he had sheltered Yash and Raj under his roof. Zandulal finds out that the two crooks fled to Durban and begs the bank chairman for time to look for the two and prove his innocence.


title: No Problem (2010 film)

text: In Durban, diamonds worth millions have been stolen from the International Diamond Centre by an underworld gang led by Marcos (Sunil Shetty). Senior inspector Arjun Singh (Anil Kapoor) is determined to catch Marcos and his gang. Arjun is married to Kajal Khurana (Sushmita Sen), the daughter of the commissioner of the police Khurana (Shakti Kapoor). Kajal has a split personality – she's a loving wife and mother, who for 10 minutes every day transforms into a terrifying troublemaker, intent on murdering her husband.


title: No Problem (2010 film)

text: Yash and Raj try to avoid Zandulal, who does not realise that they are his neighbours. Raj falls in love with Sanjana Khurana (Kangana Ranaut), Kajal's younger sister. He pretends to be arrogant, wanting her to think that lots of girls are crazy for him. After he confesses, however, they plan on getting married. At the engagement, Zandulal encounters Yash and Raj, threatening to expose them unless they return the money they stole from his bank. Cornered, Raj and Yash agree to commit one last robbery. They rob a minister's house, minutes before Marcos arrives. The minister is tortured and killed, because Marcos cannot find the stolen diamonds.


title: No Problem (2010 film)

text: During Sanjana's marriage with Raj, Arjun, with Kajal's father, arrest Yash, Raj and Zandulal for robbing the minister's house. They are sent to prison but Yash bribes a film director to help him escape. Marcos confronts Raj and Yash about the diamonds. He attempts to intimidate them by tying them to a train track on which a train is rushing full-speed, but this fails because the train rushes at him and his gang instead of Yash and Raj.


title: No Problem (2010 film)

text: Because of the cancellation of Sanjana's marriage, Kajal's fits become worse. She uses guns and knives on Arjun to kill him. Kajal's father tries to get them to divorce but to no avail. Yash kidnaps Sanjana and, with Raj, wins approval from Kajal to help them against Marcos. They also kidnap one of Marcos' associates, Sofia. To intimidate Marcos further, they dress up for a festival and run away with the diamonds. The diamonds eventually get thrown into a fishtank, and the fish eat them all up.


title: No Problem (2010 film)

text: After a hilarious climax, Sofia disappears, never to be seen again. Arjun is relocated to another town to start police-training from scratch. Marcos and his associates are all arrested and sentenced to 40 years in prison for their crimes. Yash and Raj start a fishing business to recover their lost diamonds.


title: No Problem (2010 film)

text: "No Problem" garnered mainly negative reviews from Indian critics. Anupama Chopra of "NDTV" gave one star saying, ""No Problem" is so staggeringly brain dead and relentlessly tedious that it makes Anees Bazmee’s earlier comedies, "No Entry" (26 August 2005), "Welcome" (21 December 2007) & "Singh Is Kinng" (8 August 2008) look like classics." Rajeev Masand of "CNN-IBN" rated it 1/5, describing the film as "2010's most abysmal comedy." Mayank Shekhar of the "Hindustan Times" also gave it one star suggesting, "Why bother with something hilarious when you can just get downright delirious. Of course, that is if you have no problems of your own to deal with." Raja Sen of "Rediff" too rated the film 1/5 concluding that ""No Problem" is devoid of taste, flavour and jokes." Taran Adarsh of "Bollywood Hungama" gave it 1.5/5 suggesting ""No Problem" has some funny moments in the first half, but gets agonizing towards the second half." Nikhat Kazmi of the "Times of India" gave the only positive review: rating the film 3/5 and suggesting that the film "makes you forget your problems, provided you are willing to get goofy and give up your quest for meaning in masala."


title: No Problem (2010 film)

text: The film opened in India to a poor response collecting Rs. 42.5 million on the first day. It showed a jump on Saturday and collected Rs. 50 million. A few single screens had showed small drops in collections but most multiplexes were strong. "No Problem" collected Rs. 62.5 million on Sunday making its weekend collections up to Rs. 154.9 million. It grossed 284.7 million by the end of its second week and was declared a flop by Box Office India.


title: No Problem (2010 film)

text: The music of the film is composed by Sajid–Wajid, Pritam and Anand Raj Anand. Lyrics are penned by Shabbir Ahmed, Kumaar and Anand Raj Anand. The music was released on 22 November 2010.


title: Sony Pictures Studios

text: The Sony Pictures Studios is an American television and film studio complex located in Culver City, California at 10202 West Washington Boulevard and bounded by Culver Boulevard (south), Washington Boulevard (north), Overland Avenue (west) and Madison Avenue (east). Founded in 1912, the facility is currently owned by Sony Pictures and houses the division's film studios, such as Columbia Pictures, TriStar Pictures, and Screen Gems. The complex was the original studios of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer from 1924 to 1986 and Lorimar-Telepictures from 1986 to 1989.


title: Sony Pictures Studios

text: In addition to films shot at the facility, several television shows have been broadcast live or taped there. The lot, which is open to the public for daily studio tours, currently houses a total of sixteen separate sound stages.


title: Sony Pictures Studios

text: Director Thomas H. Ince built his pioneering Inceville studios in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles in 1912. While Ince was filming at Ballona Creek in 1915, Harry Culver, the founding father of Culver City, persuaded Ince to move Inceville to Culver City. During that time, Ince co-founded Triangle Film Corporation and the Triangle Studios was opened in the form of a Greek colonnade – the entrance to the studios. The colonnade still stands fronting Washington Boulevard and is a Culver City historical landmark.


title: Sony Pictures Studios

text: Ince added a few stages and an Administration Building before selling out to his partners D. W. Griffith and Mack Sennett. Ince relocated down the street and built the Culver Studios at that location. In 1918, Triangle Studios was sold to film producer Samuel Goldwyn. Goldwyn also added a few sound stages before selling his shares in Goldwyn Studios.


title: Sony Pictures Studios

text: In 1924, Loew's President Marcus Loew organized the mergers and acquisitions of three film companies – The Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures and Louis B. Mayer Pictures to form Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and occupying the Goldwyn production facilities.


title: Sony Pictures Studios

text: In the Classic Hollywood cinema, MGM Studios was responsible for shooting 52 films a year, from screen epic films such as "Ben-Hur", and "Mutiny on the Bounty", to drawing-room dramas such as "Grand Hotel", "Dinner at Eight", and "Anna Karenina". But it was the Technicolor musical films, including "The Wizard of Oz", "Singin' in the Rain" and "Gigi" that MGM was best known for. MGM's success led to six working studio complexes, more than including twenty-eight soundstages – Stage 15 is the second largest sound stage in the world, and Stage 27 served as "Munchkinland" in the production of "The Wizard of Oz".


title: Sony Pictures Studios

text: In addition to the main production building, MGM added two large backlot facilities – Lot 2 located opposite the main studio across Overland Avenue. Lot 3 entered the corner of Jefferson Boulevard and Overland Avenue and was MGM's largest backlot. The administration building was inaugurated in 1938 and was named for Thalberg.


title: Sony Pictures Studios

text: However, the "United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc." antitrust case of 1948 severed MGM's connection with Loews Theaters, and it struggled through its affairs.


title: Sony Pictures Studios

text: On August 10, 1965, a massive fire destroyed Vault #7 in Lot 3, resulting in the loss of hundreds of silent-era films, among them Lon Chaney's 1927 film "London After Midnight", though the majority of MGM's silent film stock survived the fire. In 1969, millionaire Kirk Kerkorian bought MGM and proceeded to dismantle the studio. MGM's film memorabilia was sold through an 18-day auction, and of the studio's backlots were sold. Lot 3 was razed while Lot 2 was sold to housing developments. Kerkorian used the money to construct his MGM Resorts hotel chain.


title: Sony Pictures Studios

text: In 1981, Kerkorian's Tracinda acquired United Artists and merged it with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to become MGM/UA Entertainment Co. He then sold MUEC to Ted Turner in 1986, who after 74 days, sold MGM/UA back to Kerkorian while retaining the pre-1986 MGM film library. In 1986, the studio lot was sold to Lorimar-Telepictures. During that time, the MGM logo was removed from the studios and moved across the street to the Filmland Building (now known as Sony Pictures Plaza) before their 1992 and 2003 moves to Santa Monica and Century City and finally settling in Beverly Hills from 2011 onwards.


title: Sony Pictures Studios

text: In 1988, Warner Communications acquired Lorimar-Telepictures one year before merging with Time Inc. to become Time Warner. Later in 1989, Sony hired producers Jon Peters and Peter Guber to run the company's newly acquired Columbia Pictures Entertainment unit, even though they had a contract with Warner Bros. To resolve this issue, Warner sold their Lorimar lot to Columbia, among other deals. Columbia Pictures had been sharing with Warner Bros. their studio lot in Burbank, California in a partnership called The Burbank Studios beginning in 1972. Sony sold its interest in The Burbank Studios as a result of the Guber-Peters issue.


title: Sony Pictures Studios

text: Sony acquired the property, first renamed Columbia Studios, in poor condition and thereafter invested $100 million to renovate the studio complex. The property underwent a three-year comprehensive plan as it transitioned to the Sony Pictures Studios complex. The buildings, many of which still bore the names of MGM film actors such as Clark Gable, Judy Garland, Rita Hayworth and Burt Lancaster, were painted and upgraded. New walls were erected around the lot and the ironwork gates were restored. Nostalgic art deco and false fronts on Main Street were added, as well as hand-painted murals of Columbia film posters. The MGM logo was removed from the Filmland Building in late 1992.


title: Sony Pictures Studios

text: The studio continues to record TV shows such as "The Goldbergs", "Ray Donovan", and "Shark Tank". The long-running game shows "Jeopardy!" and "Wheel of Fortune" (studio 11) and its spin-offs, with "Jeopardy!"' (The Alex Trebek Stage, formerly studio 10; the studio was renamed in August 2021 prior to the start of the 38th season), are also taped at Sony Pictures Studios. The revival of "American Gladiators" produced by MGM Television was also filmed there.


title: The Little Drummer Boy

text: "The Little Drummer Boy" (originally known as "Carol of the Drum") is a popular Christmas song written by American composer Katherine Kennicott Davis in 1941. First recorded in 1951 by the Trapp Family, the song was further popularized by a 1958 recording by the Harry Simeone Chorale; the Simeone version was re-released successfully for several years, and the song has been recorded many times since.


title: The Little Drummer Boy

text: In the lyrics, the singer relates how, as a poor young boy, he was summoned by the Magi to the Nativity of Jesus. Without a gift for the Infant, the little drummer boy played his drum with approval from Jesus's mother, Mary, recalling, "I played my best for him" and "He smiled at me".


title: The Little Drummer Boy

text: The song was originally titled "Carol of the Drum". While speculation has been made that the song is very loosely based on the Czech carol "Hajej, nynjej", the chair of the music department at Davis's alma mater Wellesley College claims otherwise. In an interview with Music Department Chair Claire Fontijn, the College writes:


title: The Little Drummer Boy

text: Davis's interest was in producing material for amateur and girls' choirs: Her manuscript is set as a chorale, in which the tune is in the soprano melody with alto harmony, tenor and bass parts producing the "drum rhythm" and a keyboard accompaniment "for rehearsal only". It is headed "Czech Carol freely transcribed by K.K.D.", these initials then crossed out and replaced with "C.R.W. Robinson", a name under which Davis sometimes published.


title: The Little Drummer Boy

text: "Carol of the Drum" appealed to the Austrian Trapp Family Singers, who first brought the song to wider prominence when they recorded it for Decca Records in 1951 on their first album for the label. Their version was credited solely to Davis and published by Belwin-Mills.


title: The Little Drummer Boy

text: In 1957, the song was recorded with an altered arrangement by Jack Halloran for his Jack Halloran Singers on their Dot Records album "Christmas Is A-Comin"'. This arrangement is the one commonly sung today. However, the recording was not released as a single that year. In response to this, Dot producer Henry Onorati, who left Dot to become the new head of 20th Century-Fox Records in 1958, introduced the song to Harry Simeone. When 20th Century-Fox Records contracted with Simeone to record a Christmas album, Simeone hired many of the same singers that had sung in Halloran's version and made a near-identical recording with his newly created Harry Simeone Chorale. It was released as a single in 1958, and later on the album, "Sing We Now of Christmas", later retitled "The Little Drummer Boy". The only difference between Simeone's and Halloran's versions, was that Simeone's contained finger cymbals, and the song's title had been changed to "The Little Drummer Boy". Simeone and Onorati claimed and received joint composition credits with Davis, although the two did not actually compose or arrange it. Halloran never received a joint writing credit for the song, something his family disagrees with.


title: The Little Drummer Boy

text: The album and the song were an enormous success, with the single scoring in the top 40 of the U.S. music charts from 1958 to 1962. In 1965, Simeone, who had signed with Kapp Records in 1964, re-recorded a new version of the song for his album "O' Bambino: The Little Drummer Boy". This version (3:18 play time) was recorded in stereo, had a slightly slower tempo, and contained different-sounding cymbals. Simeone recorded the song a third and final time in 1981 (3:08 play time), for an album, again titled "The Little Drummer Boy", on the budget Holiday Records label.


title: Little Deuce Coupe

text: Little Deuce Coupe is the fourth album by the American rock band the Beach Boys, released October 7, 1963 on Capitol Records. It reached number 4 in the US during a chart stay of 46 weeks, and was eventually certified platinum by the RIAA. It is considered to be one of the earliest examples of a rock concept album.


title: Little Deuce Coupe

text: The album was released three weeks after "Surfer Girl". Four of the tracks from "Little Deuce Coupe" ("409", "Shut Down", "Little Deuce Coupe", and "Our Car Club") had already appeared on previous albums, and discounting an alternate recording of "Be True to Your School", no tracks from the album were issued as an A-sided single.


title: Little Deuce Coupe

text: As with the preceding "Surfer Girl" album, the date assigned for recording all eight of the new tracks (September 2, 1963) is highly doubtful. However, as no AFM contracts from these sessions are known to exist, the actual dates are currently unknown.


title: Little Deuce Coupe

text: Although Nick Venet was listed as producer for "Shut Down" and Murry Wilson for "409", the official producer's credit for the entire "Little Deuce Coupe" album cites only Brian Wilson. Despite the rushed nature of the album's sessions, Wilson's song arrangements were notably becoming more complex, specifically songs like "No-Go Showboat" and "Custom Machine". This was the last Beach Boys album to officially include rhythm guitarist David Marks until 2012's "That's Why God Made the Radio".


title: Little Deuce Coupe

text: After the album's recording, Wilson re-recorded "Be True to Your School" for single release on October 28, resulting in another top 10 hit. An original Christmas-themed composition, "Little Saint Nick" was also recorded that month and issued as a Christmas single.


title: Little Deuce Coupe

text: A Deuce Coupe is a 1932 Ford Coupe ("deuce" being for the year). This was considered by many to be the definitive "hot rod". The Model B had four cylinders and the Model 18 featured the Ford flathead V8 engine when the car was introduced. A "pink slip" (mentioned in the lyrics) was the title to the car, named for the color of the paper then used in California.


title: Little Deuce Coupe

text: The picture featured on the front cover of the album was supplied by "Hot Rod" magazine, and features the body (with his head cropped in the photo) of hot-rod owner Clarence 'Chili' Catallo and his own customized three-window 1932 Ford Coupe – known to hot rod enthusiasts as "the lil' deuce coupe".


title: The Legend of Xiao Chuo

text: The Legend of Xiao Chuo () is a 2020 Chinese television series based on the novel Yan Yun Tai by Jiang Shengnan. It stars Tiffany Tang in the title role, along with Shawn Dou, Charmaine Sheh and Jing Chao. The series chronicles the life of legendary Empress Xiao Yanyan.


title: The Legend of Xiao Chuo

text: Xiao Yanyan (portrayed by Tiffany Tang) is the third daughter of prime minister Xiao Siwen and Princess Yan. She falls in love with the young lieutenant Han Derang (portrayed by Shawn Dou) and the couple eventually decide to marry each other. However, their promise of love is severed when Xiao Siwen agrees to let Yelü Xian (portrayed by Jing Chao) take Yanyan as his empress after the latter succeeds the throne. Xiao Yanyan's relationship with sisters Xiao Hunian (portrayed by Charmaine Sheh) and Wuguli (portrayed by Lu Shan) also deteriorate due to the power struggle between the women's husbands, who each believe they have a legitimate claim to the throne.


title: The Legend of Xiao Chuo

text: When Yelu Xian was critically ill, he entrusted her the government and she eventually became the most important woman in the history of Liao. She broke political boundaries, pushed the public to implement the New Deal, completed the process of the Sinicization of the Liao dynasty from the original tribe to the feudal dynasty, promoted the integration of the Khitan and the Han people, and made the Liao dynasty prosperous and continuous. Emotionally, she pursued bravely - disregarding the widow's voice and the world's material opinions.


title: Capsule wardrobe

text: A capsule wardrobe is a collection of clothing that is composed of interchangeable items only, to maximise the number of outfits that can be created. The aim is to have an outfit suitable for any occasion without owning excessive items of clothing. This is usually achieved by buying what are considered to be "key" or "staple" items in coordinating colours. It has been the subject of several popular television series and appears widely in British and American fashion media.


title: Capsule wardrobe

text: Capsule wardrobes appeared in American publications as early as the 1940s as small collections of garments designed to be worn together which harmonize in color and line. Susie Faux, owner of London boutique "Wardrobe", revived the term in the 1970s. According to Faux, a capsule wardrobe is a collection of a few essential items of clothing that do not go out of fashion, such as skirts, trousers, and coats, which can then be augmented with seasonal pieces. American designer Donna Karan popularised the idea when in 1985, she released an influential capsule collection of seven interchangeable work-wear pieces.


title: Capsule wardrobe

text: The use of "capsule" to mean "small and compact" was a distinctly American use of the word that surfaced in 1938 according to the "Oxford English Dictionary". The term capsule wardrobe appeared in American publications as early as the 1940s to denote a small collection of garments designed to be worn together which harmonized in color and line. The term was revived by Susie Faux, owner of the West End boutique "Wardrobe", in the 1970s to refer to a collection of essential items of clothing that would not go out of fashion, and therefore could be worn for multiple seasons. The aim was to update this collection with seasonal pieces to provide something to wear for any occasion without buying many new items of clothing. Typically, Faux suggests that a woman's capsule wardrobe contain at least "2 pairs of trousers, a dress or a skirt, a jacket, a coat, a knit, two pairs of shoes and two bags".


title: Capsule wardrobe

text: The concept of a capsule wardrobe was popularised by American designer Donna Karan in 1985, when she released her "7 Easy Pieces" collection. Her aim was to fill what she referred to as "a void in the marketplace" for a stylish and practical wardrobe designed with working women in mind. When the collection debuted, she showed eight models dressed only in bodysuits and black tights. The models then began to add items of clothing such as wrap-skirts, trousers, and dresses, to demonstrate her interchangeable style of dressing.


title: Capsule wardrobe

text: As a term, "capsule wardrobe" is widely used in the fashion media; the fashion sections in British newspapers "The Independent" and "The Daily Telegraph" have run feature articles on capsule wardrobes, as have British "Marie Claire" and "Elle" magazines, among others. The concept has been further popularised by several television programmes, including "Trinny and Susannah's 'What Not to Wear"', which aired on the BBC 2001–2007, and "Gok's Fashion Fix", which aired on Channel Four from 2008 onwards. Presenter and stylist Gok Wan asserts that a capsule wardrobe is an especially important tool in a recession as it allows people to look good on a small budget.


title: Monument Valley (video game)

text: Monument Valley is an indie puzzle game developed and published by Ustwo Games. The player leads the princess Ida through mazes of optical illusions and impossible objects while manipulating the world around her to reach various platforms. "Monument Valley" was developed over ten months beginning in early 2013 based on concept drawings by company artist Ken Wong. Its visual style was inspired by Japanese prints, minimalist sculpture, and indie games "Windosill", "Fez", and "", and was compared by critics to M. C. Escher drawings and "Echochrome". The art was designed such that each frame would be worthy of public display. After a closed beta test, it was released for iOS on April 3, 2014, and was later ported to Android and Windows Phone. The game received generally favorable reviews. Critics praised its art and sound design, but noted its lack of difficulty and short length. It won a 2014 Apple Design Award, was named Apple's best iPad game of 2014, and sold over two million copies by January 2015; by May 2016, sales of the game exceeded 26 million.


title: Monument Valley (video game)

text: Two expansions titled "Forgotten Shores" and "Ida's RED Dream" were released in 2014 and 2015. A sequel "Monument Valley 2", was released for both iOS and Android in 2017. "Monument Valley+" a Apple Arcade exclusive was released April 2, 2021. The PC-Version "Monument Valley: Panoramic Edition" was released on Steam in July 2022. A third game is reportedly in development.


title: Monument Valley (video game)

text: In "Monument Valley", player character Princess Ida journeys through mazes of optical illusions and impossible objects, which are referred to as "sacred geometry" in-game, as she journeys to be forgiven for something. The game is presented in isometric view, and the player interacts with the environment to find hidden passages as Ida progresses to the map's exit. Each of the ten levels has a different central mechanic. Interactions include moving platforms and pillars and creating bridges. The player is indirectly cued through the game by design elements like color, and directly cued by crow people, who block Ida's path. Critics compared the game's visual style to a vibrant M. C. Escher drawing and "Echochrome". The game includes a camera mode where the player can roam the level to compose screenshots. It includes filters similar to those of Instagram.


title: Monument Valley (video game)

text: "Monument Valley" was developed by Ustwo, a digital design firm founded in 2004 that has produced iPhone apps since 2007. Their "Whale Trail" game received millions of downloads, and their other apps include design app Granimator and photo sharing app Rando. "Monument Valley" was conceived as a touch game for tablets. Its development began in the beginning of 2013, and lasted 10 months. It was developed under the working title, Tower of Illusion. It began with a piece of concept art drawn in the style of M. C. Escher, and the final design did not deviate far from this original. Ustwo management did not give the development team a timeline or budget, and instead told them to focus on "making a high-quality product". Games development is not a large portion of Ustwo's revenue, so the company focuses its games development on producing "great products" that reflect well on the company, rather than highly profitable apps.


title: Monument Valley (video game)

text: Of the art style, game designer and artist Ken Wong said he aspired to make each frame of the gameplay worthy of public display. The project began as Wong's concept drawings before it became a game project. The visual style was inspired by Japanese prints, minimalist sculpture, and indie games "Windosill", "Fez", and "". Wong added that the gameplay was designed to let the player find the object of the game through exploration, without direct guidance. The game uses colors to signify where the player can interact, similar to "Mirror's Edge". Wong compared the gameplay experience to a cross between the wonder of a toy shop and the world of "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe", and its story to a symbolic "song" rather than a narrative book. The game was designed to be completed by most players, a style uncommon for games designed for popular audiences. It was intended to be a "premium experience" rather than a difficult challenge.


title: Monument Valley (video game)

text: The game's soundtrack features music by Stafford Bawler, Obfusc, and Grigori. A limited edition vinyl two-volume recording was released by Ustwo and iam8bit in 2016, which includes the music from the main game and its two expansions.


title: Monument Valley (video game)

text: The game was in beta as of December 2013, where it had over 1,000 testers and the average finish time was 90 minutes. It was planned as an iPad exclusive. The game was initially released for iOS on April 3, 2014, and the company recouped their cost of development within the first two weeks of release. An Android port went through two beta tests and was later released on May 14, 2014. More levels were in development, as of April 2014. Ustwo said they were adding the levels for "artistic reasons", such as ideas they wanted to try but could not fit into the original release. Wong stated that, with consumer interest, the company would consider porting the game to other platforms. The game's technical director said that the game was "not very difficult to port" since it was written in the Unity game engine. But as the game was built with a portrait (vertical) screen orientation in mind, the developer had difficulty converting the game for devices with landscape-oriented (horizontal) screens, such as the YouTube trailer video format and the PlayStation Vita. Jennifer Estaris said in 2022 that they have figured out how to adapt the game for landscape orientation, with plans to release the title for personal computers later that year. The two games (with their DLC) subtitled "Panoramic Edition" and "The Panoramic Collection", containing both games and their DLC, was released on Windows on 12 July 2022.


title: Monument Valley (video game)

text: An add-on expansion, entitled "Forgotten Shores", was released for iOS devices on November 12, 2014, on the Appstore on November 20, 2014 and on Google Play Store on November 24, 2014. This adds eight additional levels to the ten in the original game. An expansion pack titled "Ida's (RED) Dream" was available from June 25, 2015 for purchase for a limited time as part of Apple's Apps for (PRODUCT) RED initiative. This expansion pack could be played with or without the additional purchase of "Forgotten Shores", featuring Ida in a red outfit and several new puzzles. Both DLC are automatically included in the rereleases.


title: Monument Valley (video game)

text: The game received "generally favorable" reviews, according to video game review score aggregator Metacritic. It immediately went to the top of the App Store paid apps chart, where it stayed for at least a month based on strong reviews and word of mouth. It was chosen as an App Store Editor's Choice and later both received a 2014 Apple Design Award and was named Apple's best iPad game of 2014. "Pocket Gamer" gave the game their gold award, and their Harry Slater wrote that there was "nothing else like "Monument Valley" on the App Store".


title: Monument Valley (video game)

text: Multiple reviewers cited the art and sound design as exceptional. "Edge" added that the sound design's addition of "deep rumbles" and environmental "clicks" gave the game the feeling of "Tomb Raider" moving "ancient mechanisms". "TouchArcade" Shaun Musgrave called the visuals "almost impossibly gorgeous", and "Wired" wrote that the game "might be the most beautiful iPad game of 2014". "Creative Review" called the game's puzzles "clever" and appreciated the developers' attention to detail.


title: Monument Valley (video game)

text: While "Polygon" Danielle Riendeau praised the puzzle design, other critics noted its lack of difficulty and short length. Riendeau wrote that the puzzles solutions always felt intuitive and never felt frustrating. She found "everything" about the game to be "soothing, almost hypnotic". "Edge" thought that the game did not present a "genuine" challenge, and that the puzzles did not "find fresh ways to confound and delight" until the final levels. The magazine compared the game to "assembling flat-pack furniture": straightforward in its process, but rewarding in its transformation. Harry Slater of "Pocket Gamer" wrote that the game was "almost breathtakingly unique". Riendeau said she finished the game in under three hours, and "TouchArcade" Shaun Musgrave, who could not "even begin to imagine anyone getting stuck on ... the puzzles", put the game's length at "an hour and change". Jeff Marchiafava of "Game Informer" wanted more content. He was also unsatisfied with the game's narrative, which he found "obtuse" and "vague" to a fault. Musgrave of "TouchArcade" thought that while games that focus on experiences can be shorter, "Monument Valley" did not last long enough "for the mechanics to reach their full potential", though the time was "just about right" for the story.


title: Monument Valley (video game)

text: "Monument Valley" sold 500,000 copies in a month, and one million copies in three months. In November 2014, the game had sold 1.4 million copies and by January 2015, the game had sold 2.4 million copies. In January 2015, Ustwo noted that the game had seen a large amount of software piracy, with 95% of the installs on Android and 60% on iOS devices coming from unpaid copies; the company asserted some of these may include users installing on multiple devices but believe the majority was through users that had not purchased the title. While these numbers were discouraging, the company asserted it will continue to develop premium titles for mobile devices. Despite the piracy, Ustwo stated they have exceeded $6 million in revenue from sales of the game as of mid-January 2015, exceeding the $1.4 million in development costs. By January 2016, USTwo reported that more than 24 million users have downloaded the game, the ten-fold increase from 2015 partially due to legitimate giveaways of the game through Apple's App Store, Google Play, and Amazon Underground. Of about seven million of the free downloads through Apple, about 35% of them purchased the "Forgotten Shores" expansion. Ustwo reported total sales over $14 million from 26 million copies by May 2016.


title: Monument Valley (video game)

text: The game was named as a finalist for Innovation Award, Best Visual Art, and Best Handhold/Mobile Game for the 2015 Game Developers Choice Awards, and was an honorable mention for Best Design. The game won Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction, as well as nominated for Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction, Outstanding Innovation in Gaming, Mobile Game of the Year, and the D.I.C.E. Spirit Award at the 18th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. It won the 2015 International Mobile Gaming Awards' Grand Prix. The title won the BAFTA Video Game Awards for best "British Game" and "Mobile/Handheld Game", while nominated for "Best Game", "Artistic Achievement", and "Original Property" awards. At the 2014 National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers (NAVGTR) awards "Monument Valley" won the category "Game, Special Class" and was nominated for "Game Design, New IP" and "Art Direction, Fantasy". "Time" magazine placed the game on their best of list while being "Game Informer"s "Editor's Choice" for "Best Mobile Exclusive".


title: Monument Valley (video game)

text: The game was a "minor plot point" in the third season of "House of Cards", in which Frank Underwood plays the game; he is inspired by video gamer reviewer Thomas Yates's elegant description of "Monument Valley" to bring the reviewer on as his biographer. According to the studio Ustwo, they were approached by Netflix about including the game in the story, and the studio readily agreed without any financial compensation. They made a specialized version of the game for the show to aid in filming and to meet a description of the game provided within the script for the first episode in which it appeared. Ustwo saw the opportunity to introduce the title to a different audience set, and saw an increase in sales as a result of this appearance. The game re-entered the top of the most download app charts on the major app stores a few days after the February 2015 release of the season on Netflix. "Monument Valley" characters were added to the cast of "Crossy Road" in late 2015. Jaz Rignall ("USgamer") noted that the 2015 "Lara Croft Go" appeared to have been influenced by "Monument Valley". Ken Wong left Ustwo Games soon after completing "Monument Valley" to create his own studio, Mountains, which created "Florence".


title: Monument Valley (video game)

text: "Monument Valley" was reported to have a significant influence on China's indie game development community, as its ability to tell an emotional story through a video game medium influenced numerous developers to build out their own games with similar narratives.


title: Monument Valley (video game)

text: The music video for Ariana Grande's 2018 song "No Tears Left to Cry" was partly inspired by "Monument Valley".


title: Monument Valley (video game)

text: In August 2018, Paramount Animation and Weed Road, in partnership with Ustwo, announced plans to develop a live action/CGI hybrid film based on "Monument Valley", with Patrick Osborne slated to direct. It is anticipated that the film will feature live actors exploring the computer generated settings based on the game. Osborne stated "I’m privileged to be handed the reins to Ida’s mysterious kingdom, to play in her world of impossible architecture where seeing things differently is everything".


title: Oscar Martinez (The Office)

text: Oscar Martinez is a fictional character from the US mockumentary-style television series "The Office" played by Cuban-American actor Oscar Nunez. Nunez, who is straight, did not know his character might be gay when he first signed on. For the 2006–2007 season, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (Glad) reported he was the only LGBT person of color character on a regular series. For the 2007–2008 season, he was the "only remaining gay character on a half-hour comedy program" and the only LGBT lead or supporting character who is a person of color. For the 2009–2010 season, Martinez was one of four people of color LGBT regular series characters; in 2010–2011 there were six and in 2011–2012 there were five.


title: Oscar Martinez (The Office)

text: Oscar Martinez is an accountant at the Scranton, Pennsylvania, office of the paper distribution company Dunder Mifflin and shares his first name with the actor who portrays him; series producer Greg Daniels stating that "Oscar" sounded like a good accountant's name. In the character's backstory, his parents are from Mexico and moved to the United States one year before he was born. His character was outed by his boss Michael Scott in "Gay Witch Hunt," the third-season premiere episode devoted to the outing. However, the character was implied to be gay in the second-season episode "The Secret," when Dwight catches him faking sickness to spend the day with his boyfriend —Dwight was oblivious to this detail, as he was obsessed with proving that Oscar was not ill. In earlier episodes, many co-workers erroneously attribute to him various Mexican stereotypes (e.g. being involved in drug cartels), but after his outing, the stereotypes are more focused on his being gay, particularly by Michael, which may explain their conflicted relationship. Nunez explained in a 2008 interview that the character variously feels amusement, pity and hatred towards his fictional boss. His counterpart in the original British series is accountant Oliver.


title: Oscar Martinez (The Office)

text: Oscar is known for being a rational, quietly efficient, and intellectual worker in the office, often the one who will ask pointed financial questions that his colleagues will not know the answer to, or that Michael avoids answering. Martinez refers to himself as being in the "Coalition for Reason" with Jim and Pam Halpert. According to Núñez, the three "are there to set up the comic situations" for boss Michael and Dwight Schrute, Michael's toady. He explained, "We can still be funny, but we are definitely the 'straight guys'." He is often the one can see the reality and logic in situations, including financial ones, such as when Michael started up his own paper company or when Ryan Howard launched an online startup business. Because of this, Oscar is considered to be a know-it-all by many of his co-workers. Oscar is frequently exasperated by the antics of his coworkers and tends to find their humor offensive. He is reserved, not really exhibiting a desire for close contact with any of his co-workers, although he is friendly when not outwardly pedantic. In an "AfterElton.com" interview, Núñez explained he plays the character of an accountant, who happens to be gay, and just trying to do his work and not really interested in what the documentarians are filming. Actor Núñez references the character as a Log Cabin Republican, though no mention of this has occurred in the show. In the episode "Dwight Christmas", he is in fact openly acknowledged as a Democrat. His more balanced and normal personality makes him an everyman-type character, contrasting with the generally extroverted people with whom he works. He's also a charter member of the company's three-person (and exclusive) "Finer Things Club" with Pam and Toby Flenderson. He and co-worker Kevin Malone have a dynamic where Oscar is often the calm, rational one, while Kevin is the fun-loving one.


title: Oscar Martinez (The Office)

text: Oscar works at Dunder Mifflin since 1999. He is openly gay (after being involuntarily outed by Michael) and previously lived with his partner, Gil. Even after his outing, Michael believed Gil to only be Oscar's roommate ("Gay Witch Hunt").


title: Oscar Martinez (The Office)

text: In a deleted scene from "Gay Witch Hunt", Oscar explains that he notified Michael of his being gay during his job interview. This caused Michael to laugh repeatedly, and he hired Oscar on the spot because he was "the funniest person that [Michael] had ever met". Oscar then hid his sexuality from his co-workers for fear of losing his job.


title: Oscar Martinez (The Office)

text: Before his outing, in the episode "The Fire", when asked by Jim "Who would you do?", Oscar offers the answer, "Pam"; also, in "The Client", he makes an intentionally vague reference to a woman he previously dated.


title: Oscar Martinez (The Office)

text: In earlier seasons, he is seen driving a Saturn Ion. This is the same Saturn that Angela can later be seen driving, such as in the episode "Niagara". However, he is seen in the third season driving a Lexus RX 400h, a company car he was lent as a result of his unwanted outing by Michael. The company also gave him three months' paid leave in exchange for a promise not to sue them.


title: Kagoshima Prefecture

text: Kagoshima is the capital and largest city of Kagoshima Prefecture, with other major cities including Kirishima, Kanoya, and Satsumasendai. Kagoshima Prefecture is located at the southernmost point of Kyūshū and includes the Satsunan Islands group of the Ryukyu Islands. Kagoshima Prefecture's mainland territory extends from the Ariake Sea to Shibushi Bay on the Pacific Ocean coast, and is characterized by two large peninsulas created by Kagoshima Bay. Kagoshima Prefecture formed the core of the Satsuma Domain, ruled from Kagoshima Castle, one of the most important Japanese domains of the Edo period and the Meiji Restoration.


title: Kagoshima Prefecture

text: Kagoshima Prefecture corresponds to the ancient Japanese provinces Ōsumi and Satsuma, including the northern part of the Ryukyu Islands ("Satsunan"). This region played a key role in the Meiji Restoration (Saigō Takamori), and the city of Kagoshima was an important naval base during Japan's 20th century wars and the home of admiral Tōgō Heihachirō.


title: Kagoshima Prefecture

text: More recent incidents are the sinking of a North Korean spy ship (100 ton class) in 2001 by the Coast Guard, which was later salvaged and exhibited in Tokyo, and the abduction of an office clerk from a Kagoshima beach in 1978 by agents from the same country. This became known only recently under the Koizumi administration.


title: Kagoshima Prefecture

text: The two main ethnic groups of Kagoshima Prefecture are the Japanese and the Ryukyuans (Amami Islands).


title: Kagoshima Prefecture

text: Kagoshima Prefecture is located at the southwest tip of Kyushu on the Satsuma Peninsula and Ōsumi Peninsula. This prefecture also includes a chain of islands stretching further to the southwest of Kyushu for a few hundred kilometers. The most important group is the Amami Islands. Surrounded by the East China Sea to the west, Okinawa Prefecture in the south, Kumamoto Prefecture to the north, and Miyazaki Prefecture to the east, it has of coastline (including the 28 islands). It has a bay called Kagoshima Bay (Kinkowan), which is sandwiched by two peninsulas, Satsuma and Ōsumi. Its position made it a 'gateway' to Japan at various times in history. While Kyushu has about 13 million people, there are less than 2 million in this prefecture.


title: Kagoshima Prefecture

text: The prefecture boasts a chain of active and dormant volcanoes, including the great Sakurajima, which towers out of the Kagoshima bay opposite Kagoshima city. A steady trickle of smoke and ash emerges from the caldera, punctuated by louder mini-eruptions on an almost daily basis. On active days in Kagoshima city an umbrella is advisable to ward off the ash. Sakurajima is one of Japan's most active volcanoes. Major eruptions occurred in 1914, when the island mountain spilled enough material to become permanently connected to the mainland, and a lesser eruption in 1960. Volcanic materials in the soil make Sakurajima a source for record daikon radishes, roughly the size of a basketball. Many beaches around the Kagoshima Bay are littered with well-worn pumice stones. A crater lake in the southwestern tip of the prefecture, near the spa town of Ibusuki, is home to a rare species of giant eel.


title: Kagoshima Prefecture

text: As of 31 March 2019, 13% of the total land area of the prefecture was designated as Natural Parks, namely the Amami Guntō, Kirishima-Kinkowan, Unzen-Amakusa, and Yakushima National Parks; Koshikishima and Nichinan Kaigan Quasi-National Parks; and Akune, Bōnoma, Fukiagehama, Imutaike, Ōsumi Nanbu, Sendaigawa Ryūiki, Takakumayama, and Tokara Rettō Prefectural Natural Parks.


title: Kagoshima Prefecture

text: Most of the economic sector is focused in Kagoshima City and the surrounding area, corresponding to the extent of the former Satsuma Province. The eastern part of the prefecture, the former Ōsumi Province, is mostly rural and shows a general population decline.


title: Kagoshima Prefecture

text: The prefecture has strong agricultural roots, which are reflected in its most well-known exports: green tea, sweet potato, radish, Pongee rice, Satsuma ware, Berkshire pork ("kurobuta") and local Black Wagyu beef. Kagoshima prefecture's production of bonito flakes is second only to that of Shizuoka. In addition, it produces Japan's largest volume of unagi eels. Kagoshima is also largest beef and pork producing prefecture in Japan.


title: Kagoshima Prefecture

text: The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has several facilities within the prefecture, including the country's main launch facility on Tanegashima and the Uchinoura Space Center.


title: Kagoshima Prefecture

text: The prefecture's gross domestic product is approximately 5,548.7 trillion yen, with a work force of about 791,000 people (2018)


title: Kagoshima Prefecture

text: The following is a list of Kagoshima Prefecture's cities, and its administrative districts with their constituent towns and villages:


title: Kagoshima Prefecture

text: Kagoshima Prefecture has a distinct and rich food culture. The warm weather and diverse environments allow for the agriculture and aquaculture of Kagoshima to thrive. Numerous restaurants around Kagoshima feature Satsuma Province local cuisine. Popular cuisine incorporating local agriculture include sweet potato, "kibinago sashimi" (silver-striped herring), "buri" amberjack, "kampachi" yellowtail, "Black Label Products" such as "kuro-ushi" Wagyu beef, "kuro-buta" Berkshire pork dishes, and "kuro-Satsuma jidori" chicken (sometimes served as raw, chicken "sashimi"); smoked eel, keihan, and "miki" (fermented rice milk consumed among residents of the Amami Islands).


title: Kagoshima Prefecture

text: "Satsuma-age", or deep-fried fish cake, comes in great variety in Kagoshima. Though the deep-fried fishcake can be found throughout the country, the Satsuma Domain (modern-day Kagoshima Prefecture) is commonly believed to be the birthplace of the snack. It is said, though, the concept was introduced from the Ryūkyū Kingdom (modern-day Okinawa Prefecture) by Satsuma Lord, Nariakira Shimazu.


title: Kagoshima Prefecture

text: There are many types of sweets produced in Kagoshima Prefecture. has produced some of Japan's most popular and timeless sweets such as , , and green tea-flavored Hyōroku mochi, Minami "shirokuma" shaved ice desserts, etc. Traditional treats outside of Seika Food Co., Ltd. products include "karukan" (sweet cakes made from steamed yams and rice flour), "jambo-mochi", "kokutō" brown sugar from the Amami Islands, "getanha" brown sugar cake, etc.


title: Kagoshima Prefecture

text: In 1559, at in a carpenter wrote atop a wooden board "the Shintō Priest of this shrine is too stingy to offer me showing an early love for the spirits. Kagoshima Prefecture is officially recognized (by the World Trade Organization) as the home to one of the most traditional beverages of Japan, "shōchū". In Kagoshima there are 113+ distilleries, producing about 1,500 highly acclaimed brands, placing Kagoshima in the top for production quantity and shipment. While visiting Kagoshima, one may notice labels reading . "Honkaku-shōchū" is a distilled beverage produced with traditional skills using ingredients such as natural spring water, sweet potatoes, locally grown sugar cane, and grains. Varieties of "honkaku-shōchū" include , "shōchū" distilled from sweet potatoes, , distilled from barley, and distilled from rice. Another type of "shōchū" is , "shōchū" distilled with brown sugar). "Shōchū" has long gained international favor and has come to be comparable to Bordeaux for wine, Scotch for whiskey, and Cognac for brandy. Also, the Amami Islands of Kagoshima Prefecture are the only areas sanctioned to bear the label of "kokutō-shōchū".


title: Kagoshima Prefecture

text: Today, Kagoshima is home to a distinctive dialect of Japanese known as or , differing from the usual Kyushu dialects with its pronunciations of the yotsugana.


title: Kagoshima Prefecture

text: For the most part, Satsugū dialect is mutually unintelligible with Standard Japanese, though most Satsugū speakers know both as a result of language standardization in Japan.


title: Kagoshima Prefecture

text: Kagoshima Rebnise, a professional basketball team, was founded in 2003 and currently competes in the second division of the national B.League. Kagoshima United FC, a soccer team, was founded in 2014 and competes in the J3 League. Although no major professional baseball teams are based in the prefecture, a number of Kagoshima's ballparks have hosted the spring training camps of Nippon Professional Baseball teams:


title: Self-consciousness

text: Self-consciousness is a heightened sense of awareness of oneself. It is not to be confused with consciousness in the sense of qualia. Historically, "self-consciousness" was synonymous with "self-awareness", referring to a state of awareness that one exists and that one has consciousness. While "self-conscious" and "self-aware" are still sometimes used interchangeably, particularly in philosophy, self-consciousness is now also commonly used to refer to a preoccupation with oneself, especially with how others might perceive one's appearance or one's actions. An unpleasant feeling of self-consciousness may occur when one realizes that one is being watched or observed, the feeling that "everyone is looking" at oneself. Some people are habitually more self-conscious than others. Unpleasant feelings of self-consciousness are sometimes associated with shyness or paranoia.


title: Self-consciousness

text: When feeling self-conscious, one becomes aware of even the smallest of one's own actions. Such awareness can impair one's ability to perform complex actions.


title: Self-consciousness

text: Adolescence is believed to be a time of heightened self-consciousness. A person with a chronic tendency toward self-consciousness may be shy or introverted.


title: Self-consciousness

text: Unlike self-awareness, which in a philosophical context is being conscious of oneself as an individual, self-consciousness – being excessively conscious of one's appearance or manner – can be a problem at times. Self-consciousness is often associated with shyness and embarrassment, in which case a lack of pride and low self-esteem can result. In a positive context, self-consciousness may affect the development of identity, for it is during periods of high self-consciousness that people come the closest to knowing themselves objectively. Self-consciousness affects people in varying degrees, as some people are constantly self-monitoring or self-involved, while others are completely oblivious about themselves.


title: Self-consciousness

text: Psychologists frequently distinguish between two kinds of self-consciousness, private and public. Private self-consciousness is a tendency to introspect and examine one's inner self and feelings. Public self-consciousness is an awareness of the self as it is viewed by others. This kind of self-consciousness can result in self-monitoring and social anxiety. Both private and public self-consciousness are viewed as personality traits that are relatively stable over time, but they are not correlated. Just because an individual is high on one dimension does not mean that he or she is high on the other.


title: Self-consciousness

text: Different levels of self-consciousness affect behavior, as it is common for people to act differently when they "lose themselves in a crowd". Being in a crowd, being in a dark room, or wearing a disguise creates anonymity and temporarily decreases self-consciousness (see deindividuation). This can lead to uninhibited, sometimes destructive behavior.


title: Roy Marsden

text: Roy Marsden (born Roy Anthony Mould; 25 June 1941) is an English actor who portrayed Adam Dalgliesh in the Anglia Television dramatisations (1983–1998) of P. D. James's detective novels, and Neil Burnside in the spy drama "The Sandbaggers" (1979–1980).


title: Roy Marsden

text: Marsden attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and spent four terms there. He attempted to unionise the students but was thwarted. After one argument he poured a bottle of ink down the front of the director's suit. Marsden recalled, "Two weeks later, he phoned me up and asked if I'd got a job or an agent. I said no, so he arranged for me to start work at a theatre in Nottingham, and who should be the student assistant manager there but Anthony Hopkins. I persuaded him to go to RADA."


title: Roy Marsden

text: In the early 1960s, Marsden worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company and began to accumulate an extensive list of theatrical credits that include everything from Anton Chekhov and Henrik Ibsen to contemporary Soviet playwright Alexander Vampilov. His preference was for the alternative experimental theatres of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Cambridge and Birmingham over London's commercial theatre.


title: Roy Marsden

text: His appearances include Crispen in "The Friends", 1970; Casca and Lucilius in "Julius Caesar", 1972; Paul Schippel in "Schippel", 1974; Heinrich Krey in "The Plumber's Progress", 1975. He also played Long John Silver in "Treasure Island" at London's Mermaid Theatre around Christmas for two years and Henry Higgins in "Pygmalion" at the Albery Theatre. In 2008, Marsden appeared in two productions, "Murder on Air" and "Happy Jack" at the Theatre Royal, Windsor.


title: Roy Marsden

text: His prominent television roles include George Osborne in a 1967 adaptation of "Vanity Fair" and the title role of Arthur Chipping in 1984's "Goodbye Mr. Chips". Marsden has also appeared in guest roles in episodes of "The New Avengers" (episode "The Tale of the Big Why"), "", "Only Fools and Horses" (episode "Little Problems"), and "Tales of the Unexpected" (episode "Proof of Guilt").


title: Roy Marsden

text: Marsden starred in Yorkshire Television's 1978–1980 Cold War espionage series "The Sandbaggers". He played Neil Burnside, the dour and fiercely protective director of operations for the Secret Intelligence Service, whose character spent as much time infighting with his superiors in Whitehall and his own department as he did battling the KGB. The show ran for three series and 20 episodes.


title: Roy Marsden

text: In 1982, Yorkshire Television cast him in "Airline", a series in which he played Jack Ruskin, a scrappy Second World War pilot trying to start his own post-war airline against establishment opposition. It also starred his wife, Polly Hemingway, who was pregnant with their first child during most of the filming. In an interview, Marsden said "It was one of the most enjoyable programmes I ever made. Learning to fly those old DC-3s was terrific. And I enjoyed playing Ruskin enormously because he had hope. Of course, he was a pain up the tushie most of the time, but then you'd see that youthful desire to actually get out and triumph against enormous odds. I identified with that character the most."


title: Roy Marsden

text: Marsden's portrayal of Adam Dalgliesh in Anglia TV's P. D. James series spanned fifteen years. The series began as adaptations played out in serials of five or six one-hour episodes each, which were, unusually for the time, recorded on outside broadcast videotape as opposed to film:


title: Roy Marsden

text: After producer John Rosenberg died in early 1991 (during the transmission run of "Devices and Desires"), the format of the adaptations changed. Initially, Anglia followed the trend made popular by the "Inspector Morse" series, condensing the next two adaptations into two-hour filmed TV films.


title: Roy Marsden

text: The Dalgliesh role was taken by Martin Shaw when the BBC took over the rights to James's novels and produced its own series.


title: Roy Marsden

text: In 2006 he played Ted Cartwright, a veterinarian, in "Bad Blood", in the fourth season of "Foyle's War".


title: Roy Marsden

text: Marsden presented a nine-part crime documentary series "Roy Marsden's Casebook" for ITV West in 2007. He also appeared in the 2007 "Doctor Who" episode "Smith and Jones" as Mr Stoker, a medical consultant.


title: Roy Marsden

text: In 2008, he appeared in the ITV series "The Palace" as King Richard's private secretary, Sir Iain Ratalick. That same year he played Sir Charles Marlow in the television film adaptation "She Stoops to Conquer"; Polly Hemingway appeared in the film as Mrs. Hardcastle, the first time the two formerly married actors had appeared in the same production since 1982's "Arline".


title: Roy Marsden

text: Marsden reprised his "Only Fools and Horses" role in 2009 as one of the Driscoll brothers in the spin-off series, "The Green Green Grass". He also appeared in the television film "Margaret" (2009) as Norman Tebbit.


title: Roy Marsden

text: In 2010 Marsden appeared in an episode of "New Tricks", and in 2011 in an episode of "Silent Witness".


title: Roy Marsden

text: He played Commander Haydock in the 2016 adaptation of Agatha Christie's "N or M?", a three-episode part of the BBC's "Partners in Crime" serial.


title: Roy Marsden

text: His film credits include "Toomorrow" (1970), a small part as a Gestapo officer in "The Eagle Has Landed" (1976), "The Squeeze" (1977), and Oberon in "" (2005).


title: Roy Marsden

text: Marsden's birth name is Roy Anthony Mould; Roy Marsden was his stage name until April 2005, when it also became his legal name.


title: Roy Marsden

text: Marsden's second wife was actress Polly Hemingway; they had two sons together before their divorce in 1992.


title: Saturday night special

text: Saturday night special is a colloquial term in the United States and Canada for inexpensive, compact, small-caliber handguns made of poor quality metal. Sometimes known as junk guns, some states define these guns by means of composition or material strength. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, they were commonly referred to as suicide specials.


title: Saturday night special

text: The term "Saturday night special" refers to cheap guns used in poor neighborhoods. They are usually small, of small caliber, and often unreliable or inaccurate. A single definition is not easy to come by; while legislation in the United States has tried to define them as either "unsafe" or "of no legitimate purpose", these attempts to define are problematic.


title: Saturday night special

text: The earliest known use of the term "Saturday night special" in print is in the September 29, 1917, issue of "The Coffeyville Daily Journal", referring to a "cheap revolver". In its August 17, 1968, issue, "The New York Times" printed a front-page article titled "Handgun Imports Held Up by U.S.", author Fred Graham wrote, "... cheap, small-caliber 'Saturday night specials' that are a favorite of holdup men..."


title: Saturday night special

text: The term "Saturday night special" came into wider use with the passing of the Gun Control Act of 1968 because the act banned the importation and manufacture of many inexpensive firearms, including a large number of revolvers made by Röhm Gesellschaft. With importation banned, Röhm opened a factory in Miami, Florida, and a number of companies in the United States began production of inexpensive handguns, including Raven Arms, Jennings Firearms, Phoenix Arms, Lorcin Engineering Company, Davis Industries, and Sundance Industries, which collectively came to be known as the "Ring of Fire companies".


title: Saturday night special

text: Gun ownership advocates describe the term as racist in origin arguing that many of the guns banned were typically purchased and owned by low-income black people. In his book "Restricting Handguns: The Liberal Skeptics Speak Out", gun rights advocate Don Kates found racial overtones in the focus on the Saturday night special.


title: Saturday night special

text: While Saturday night specials are commonly perceived as inexpensive, and therefore disposable after committing a crime, criminal behavior does not always conform to this expectation. A 1985 study of 1,800 incarcerated felons showed that criminals at the time preferred revolvers and other non-semi-automatic firearms over semi-automatic firearms. A change in preferences towards semi-automatic pistols occurred in the early 1990s, coinciding with the arrival of crack cocaine and rise of violent youth gangs.


title: Saturday night special

text: Nonetheless, three of the top ten types of guns involved in crime (as represented by police trace requests) in the US are widely considered to be Saturday night specials; as reported by the ATF in 1993, these included the Raven Arms .25 caliber, Davis P-380 .380 caliber, and Lorcin L 380 .380 caliber. However, the same study showed the most common firearm used in homicides was a large caliber revolver, and no revolvers of any kind appear on the top ten list of traced firearms.


title: Saturday night special

text: In 2003, the NAACP filed suit against 45 gun manufacturers for creating what it called a "public nuisance" through the "negligent marketing" of handguns, which included models commonly described as Saturday night specials. The suit alleged that handgun manufacturers and distributors were guilty of marketing guns in a way that encouraged violence in black and Hispanic neighborhoods. The suit was dismissed by US District Judge Jack B. Weinstein, who ruled that members of the NAACP were not "uniquely harmed" by illegal use of firearms and therefore had no standing to sue.


title: Saturday night special

text: Proponents of gun ownership argue the elimination of inexpensive firearms limits constitutionally protected gun rights for those of lesser means. Roy Innis, former President of Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and a member of the National Rifle Association's governing board, said "to make inexpensive guns impossible to get is to say that you're putting a money test on getting a gun. It's racism in its worst form." CORE filed as an amicus curiae in a 1985 suit challenging Maryland's Saturday night special/low-caliber handgun ban.


title: Saturday night special

text: Peter Rossi and James D. Wright authored a study for the National Institute of Justice which suggested the ban on Saturday night specials was ineffective or counterproductive. A Cato Institute Policy analysis by Dave Kopel went further:


title: Saturday night special

text: The people most likely to be deterred from acquiring a handgun by exceptionally high prices or by the nonavailability of certain kinds of handguns are not felons intent on arming themselves for criminal purposes, who are more likely to use stolen weapons, but rather poor people who have decided they need a gun to protect themselves against the felons but who find that the cheapest gun in the market costs more than they can afford to pay.


title: Saturday night special

text: The earliest law prohibiting inexpensive handguns was enacted in Tennessee, in the form of the "Army and Navy Law", passed in 1879, shortly after the 14th amendment and Civil Rights Act of 1875; previous laws invalidated by the constitutional amendment had stated that black freedmen could not own or carry any manner of firearm. The Army and Navy Law prohibited the sale of "belt or pocket pistols, or revolvers, or any other kind of pistols, except army or navy pistols", which were prohibitively expensive for black freedmen and poor whites to purchase. These were large pistols in .36 caliber ("navy") or .44 caliber ("army"), and were the military issue cap and ball black-powder revolvers used during the Civil War by both Union and Confederate ground troops. The effect of the law was to restrict handgun possession to the upper economic classes.


title: Saturday night special

text: The next major attempt to regulate inexpensive firearms was the Gun Control Act of 1968, which used the "sporting purposes" test and a points system to exclude many small, inexpensive handguns which had been imported from European makers such as Röhm.


title: Saturday night special

text: Most manufacturers in the US were not directly impacted by the Gun Control Act, as they were not subject to the import restrictions, and for the most part they did not manufacture compact, inexpensive handguns that competed with the banned imports. However, demand for inexpensive handguns still existed and a number of new companies were formed to fill that gap. In an effort to cut costs, many of these guns were made with cast components made of the zinc alloy zamak rather than the more typical machined or cast steel. As a result, legislation against "junk guns" subsequently targeted the zinc frames used in construction by specifying a melting point. The development of polymer-framed guns, which will burn at temperatures much lower than the commonly specified led to this becoming ineffective. Subsequent legislation regulated size (such as barrel lengths under ), materials (such as zinc), or low-cost manufacturing techniques (e.g., density requirements that specifically ban inexpensive powder cast metals), Some of these legal restrictions are based on product liability law.


title: Saturday night special

text: In Canada, the 1995 Firearms Act (known as Bill C-68 before passage) classified handguns with a calibre of .25 or .32, or having a barrel length of 105 mm or shorter, as "prohibited" weapons. This provision appears to have been specifically aimed at "Saturday night specials". Exceptions are made for target pistols in these calibres used in international shooting competitions.


The Provisional Government of National Unity () was a puppet government formed by the decree of the State National Council () on 28 June 1945 as a result of reshuffling the Soviet-backed Provisional Government of the Republic of Poland established by the Polish Workers' Party () through inclusion of politicians from the close political sphere of Stanisław Mikołajczyk, the former prime minister of the Polish government-in-exile based in London. Inclusion of the latter group provided an excuse for the Western allies to approve tacitly the "fait accompli" of Poland becoming part of the Soviet sphere of influence, and to legitimise the Warsaw government while withdrawing their recognition of the Polish government-in-exile.


title: Provisional Government of National Unity

text: When Poland was conquered by Germany in 1939, a new government-in-exile was established in Paris (and moved to London after 1940 Nazi invasion of France). The government-in-exile was recognized by the British government, and controlled the main Polish resistance force, the "Armia Krajowa" (Home Army).


text: In 1943, the PPR and some other left-wing resistance groups formed the KRN as a national government of Poland, in rivalry to the exile government. In July 1944, the KRN proclaimed the Polish Committee of National Liberation (the "Lublin Committee" or "PKWN") in territory liberated from Germany by the Soviet Army. The exile government denounced this, but was powerless to interfere, especially after the "Armia Krajowa" was largely destroyed in the 1944 Warsaw Uprising.


text: Poland was not covered by the Percentages Agreement. Despite renaming the "PKWN" into the Provisional Government of the Republic of Poland ("RTRP"), Stalin promised during the Yalta Conference in February 1945 free elections in Poland, thus contradicting his prior stated position. By that time, Soviet forces had overrun nearly all of Poland, giving them and the KRN effective control. The US and Britain tacitly accepted this at Yalta, in return for Stalin's promise of free elections in Poland. The exile government was dependent on the support of the British and American governments, which did not grasp communist intentions and pressured the exile government to cooperate with the KRN. The Polish exile government still tried to hold out, but was ignored. A group including Stanisław Mikołajczyk, Prime Minister in 1943-1944, broke with the rest of the exiles and began seeking a deal with the communists.


text: The TRJN was a result of negotiations held in Moscow from 17 June to 21 June 1945, between the PPR (Polish communists), the Soviet Union, and Mikołajczyk, who had created the Polish People's Party ("Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe", PSL) as the political vehicle for his participation. The PSL was a centrist organization and continuation of the prewar Polish agrarian movement. The pre-war People's Party also supported Mikołajczyk.


text: The communists had no intention of giving the opposition any real power, or carrying out the promised 'free and fair' elections. The members of the opposition that received government positions were kept in check by their deputies and staff, loyal to the communists, so they had little real power.


text: On 21 June, General Leopold Okulicki, former Commander of the Polish Home Army was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment in Moscow for the alleged sabotage against the Soviet Army. Ten other Poles were given similar sentences in the Trial of the Sixteen. On 24 December 1946, Okulicki died in Butyrka prison.


text: The TRJN was already bound by the "Treaty of Friendship, Mutual Help, and Cooperation" with the USSR which the Provisional Government had signed on 21 April. This treaty formed the basis for Soviet interference in Poland's internal politics for the next 40 years.


text: On 5 July 1945, the TRJN was recognized by the United States. It was soon also recognized by the other major Allies, France and the United Kingdom. It was not recognized by the Vatican.


text: On 6 July, while the Polish government-in-exile maintained its existence, both the United States and the United Kingdom formally withdrew the recognition of it.


text: On 16 August, a Soviet-Polish border agreement was signed in Moscow. Before the end of August, Poland agreed to cede the eastern provinces to the Soviet Union and officially recognized the eastern border based on a slightly modified Curzon line.


text: On 16 October, delegates of the TRJN signed the United Nations Charter and Poland became a member of the United Nations.


text: The 'free and fair' elections promised by the TRJN were postponed until the communists were sure they could control the election process. In the meantime, they increased repressions of opposition members, who were bribed, threatened, delegalised, or even murdered. In the words of Gomułka, the goal of the communists was to be the ""hegemon" of the nation" and nothing would stop them. On 30 June 1946, they tested their control during the 3xTAK referendum, falsifying the results and claiming 68% support.


text: Two great reforms carried out by TRJN were the nationalization decree and the Three-Year Plan (of 1947–49), both issued in 1946. The nationalization decree gave the government control over every enterprise which employed more than 50 people; by the end of the year, 90% of the country's industry was controlled by the government.


text: "Mr. Zurawski is right to say that blood is being shed between the Polish and Russian people. For centuries, Poland and Russia were at war with each other, and only Germany benefited. The Poles occupied Moscow twice - the Russians abandoned them. In the past, Poles had many reasons to hate Russia. Russia is more responsible for the centuries-long relationship between Poland and Russia because it is stronger than Poland. Old Tsarist Russia and its people carried out a policy of repression against the Poles. Russia needs new people to change the policies of Tsarist Russia."


text: The communists rigged the Polish legislative elections of January 1947. The new parliament ("Sejm Ustawodawczy") replaced the KRN; it named a new government headed by Józef Cyrankiewicz. On 19 January 1947, TRJN was dissolved and passed its prerogatives as the government of Poland to the new government.


title: Star Trek: Discovery (season 5)

text: The fifth season of the American television series "" follows the crew of the USS "Discovery", more than 900 years after the events of "", on a galactic adventure to find a mysterious power that has been hidden for centuries and which other dangerous groups are also searching for. The season is produced by CBS Studios in association with Secret Hideout and Roddenberry Entertainment, with Alex Kurtzman and Michelle Paradise serving as showrunners.


title: Star Trek: Discovery (season 5)

text: Sonequa Martin-Green stars as Michael Burnham, captain of the "Discovery", along with the returning Doug Jones, Anthony Rapp, Mary Wiseman, Wilson Cruz, Blu del Barrio, and David Ajala. They are joined by Callum Keith Rennie. Development on the season had begun by March 2020 to allow it to be filmed back-to-back with the in Toronto, Canada, but these plans were altered by the COVID-19 pandemic. The season was officially ordered in January 2022, and filming began in Toronto, Canada, in June.


title: Star Trek: Discovery (season 5)

text: The season is expected to premiere on the streaming service Paramount+ in early 2023, and run for 10 episodes.


title: Star Trek: Discovery (season 5)

text: Frequent "Star Trek" director Jonathan Frakes returned to direct for the season. The fourth episode was written by Sean Cochran and directed by Lee Rose.


title: Star Trek: Discovery (season 5)

text: Development on a fifth season of "" had begun by March 2020, when work was taking place on the , to allow the two seasons to be filmed back-to-back, but these plans were altered by the COVID-19 pandemic. The 10-episode fifth season was officially ordered by Paramount+ in January 2022, with the episode count reduced from previous seasons to align it with the service's other "Star Trek" series.


title: Star Trek: Discovery (season 5)

text: Executive producer and co-showrunner Alex Kurtzman stated in October 2020 that all seasons after the third would continue to be set in the 32nd century. Co-showrunner Michelle Paradise indicated in August 2021 that writing for the fifth season was yet to begin. The writers were in "full swing" by March 2022, working simultaneously with post-production on the fourth season, and some scripts had been written for the fifth season by the time the fourth season finale was released on March 17. Paradise was working on the script for the season finale by late August 2022, and completed it on September 12.


title: Star Trek: Discovery (season 5)

text: Executive producer and producing director Olatunde Osunsanmi said the fifth season would take more inspiration for its themes and storytelling approach from "" and "" than the previous seasons did, and would feature "more exploration and more adventure". The season's story follows the USS "Discovery" on a galactic adventure to find a mysterious power that has been hidden for centuries and which other dangerous groups are also searching for.


title: Star Trek: Discovery (season 5)

text: The season stars the returning Sonequa Martin-Green as Michael Burnham, Doug Jones as Saru, Anthony Rapp as Paul Stamets, Mary Wiseman as Sylvia Tilly, Wilson Cruz as Hugh Culber, Blu del Barrio as Adira Tal, and David Ajala as Cleveland "Book" Booker. They are joined by Callum Keith Rennie as Rayner, a war-time Starfleet captain struggling to adjust to peace. Rennie's casting was announced in October 2022, alongside recurring guests Eve Harlow and Elias Toufexis as outlaw couple Moll and L'ak. Also returning from earlier seasons are Oded Fehr as Charles Vance, Chelah Horsdal as Laira Rillak, Tara Rosling as T'Rina, and David Cronenberg as Kovich.


title: Star Trek: Discovery (season 5)

text: The series is filmed at Pinewood Toronto Studios in Toronto, Canada, and pre-production on the fifth season began by March 2022. Osunsanmi said the season would continue to use the video wall that was built to allow for virtual production on the fourth season, and the crew would take advantage of lessons learned about the technology the first time they used it. Filming for the fifth season began on June 13, 2022. Filming wrapped on November 20, 2022.


title: Star Trek: Discovery (season 5)

text: To celebrate ""Star Trek" Day" on September 8, 2022, a video of Cruz giving a set tour during the filming of the season's fourth episode was released. The season was promoted during the ""Star Trek" Universe" panel at New York Comic-Con in October, with Rapp and Cruz discussing the season alongside executive producers Kurtzman, Paradise, and Rod Roddenberry. Martin-Green joined the panel virtually from set to present a teaser trailer for the season which introduced major new cast members. Justin Carter of "Gizmodo" said the teaser was short and appeared to be primarily influenced by "Indiana Jones". Samantha Coley at "Collider" said the teaser did not reveal much about the plot but she felt it had a "strong undercurrent of delight" that the fourth season did not. Coley said this could be the most fun season since the inclusion of Christopher Pike in the .


title: Omphalos

text: An omphalos is a religious stone artifact, or baetylus. In Ancient Greek, the word () means "navel". Among the Ancient Greeks, it was a widespread belief that Delphi was the center of the world. According to the myths regarding the founding of the Delphic Oracle, Zeus, in his attempt to locate the center of the earth, launched two eagles from the two ends of the world, and the eagles, starting simultaneously and flying at equal speed, crossed their paths above the area of Delphi, and so was the place where Zeus placed the stone.


title: Omphalos

text: Omphalos is also the name of the stone given to Cronus. In the ancient world of the Mediterranean, it was a powerful religious symbol.


title: Omphalos

text: Omphalos Syndrome refers to the belief that a place of geopolitical power and currency is the most important place in the world.


title: Omphalos

text: Most accounts locate the Delphi omphalos in the adyton (sacred part of the temple) near the Pythia (oracle). The stone sculpture itself (which may be a copy), has a carving of a knotted net covering its surface, and a hollow center, widening towards the base. The omphalos represents the stone which Rhea wrapped in swaddling clothes, pretending it was Zeus, in order to deceive Cronus. (Cronus was the father who swallowed his children so as to prevent them from usurping him as he had deposed his own father, Uranus).


title: Omphalos

text: Omphalos stones were believed to allow direct communication with the gods. Holland (1933) suggested that the stone was hollow to allow intoxicating vapours breathed by the Oracle to channel through it. Erwin Rohde wrote that the Python at Delphi was an earth spirit, who was conquered by Apollo and buried under the Omphalos. However, understanding of the use of the omphalos is uncertain due to destruction of the site by Theodosius I and Arcadius in the 4th century CE.


title: Omphalos

text: The Foundation Stone at the peak of the Temple Mount is considered in traditional Jewish sources to be the place from which the creation of the world began, with several further major biblical events connected to it. Jewish tradition holds that God revealed Himself to His people through the Ark of the Covenant in the Temple in Jerusalem, which rested on the Foundation Stone marking the centre of the world.


title: Omphalos

text: The omphalos at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem, represents, in medieval Christian tradition, the "navel of the world" (the spiritual and cosmological centre of the world). The omphalos stone has a collection box chained next to it (see picture).


title: Omphalos

text: The Dome of the Rock on the Aqsa Masjid/Haram ash-Sharif might have served the same purpose in Islam.


title: Omphalos

text: "Omphalos" is a public art sculpture by Dimitri Hadzi formerly located in the Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts under the Arts on the Line program. , the sculpture has been deinstalled; it will be relocated to Rockport, Massachusetts.


title: Omphalos

text: Omfalos is a concrete and rock sculpture by the conceptual artist Lars Vilks, previously standing in the Kullaberg natural reserve, Skåne County, Sweden. As of 2001, the sculpture belongs to the collections of Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Sweden.


title: Omphalos

text: In literature, the word "omphalos" has held various meanings but usually refers to the stone at Delphi. Authors who have used the term include: Homer, Pausanias, D.H. Lawrence, James Joyce, Jacques Derrida, Ted Chiang and Sandy Hingston. For example, Joyce uses the term in the novel, "Ulysses":


title: Omphalos

text: In Ted Chiang's short story "Omphalos" (2019), the protagonist is forced to question her belief about where the center of the world is located.


title: Brian Marshall

text: Brian Aubrey Marshall (born April 24, 1973) is an American musician and songwriter best known as the bassist and co-founder of the rock bands Creed and Alter Bridge.


title: Brian Marshall

text: Brian Aubrey Marshall was born April 24, 1973, in Jackson, Mississippi but has lived in Florida since 1979. He started out his music career by playing his father's drums. He states that after scratching his father's drum set a few times, his father decided it was time to buy him a bass guitar. He cites Steve Harris, John Entwistle, Geddy Lee, John Paul Jones and Doug Pinnick as major influences. Brian truly began his music career in the early 1990s at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida, where he was a member of an original band, Mattox Creed and later, a cover band called Baby Fish Mouth through which he would eventually meet his future Creed band mates.


title: Brian Marshall

text: After being recruited into the band as a full-fledged member by Scott Stapp and Mark Tremonti, Marshall came up with the name Creed after a band he was in earlier called Mattox Creed which had since disbanded. He was in Creed until late 2000, when personal issues with vocalist Stapp led him to depart the band, though some sources state that Marshall was fired. Marshall, however, remains silent about this issue and does not state the reasoning behind his departure.


title: Brian Marshall

text: Brett Hestla from the band Virgos Merlot, replaced Marshall for the tour. For Creed's third album, "Weathered", guitarist Mark Tremonti played bass and Brett Hestla played bass during live performances.


title: Brian Marshall

text: After months of speculation, Creed announced in April 2009 that they had reformed, and also announced that Marshall was back in the band. He appeared on "Full Circle", the Creed album released in October 2009, making it the first album since Creed's sophomore release, 1999's "Human Clay", to feature him on bass. The band toured in support of "Full Circle" throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, and South America during the summers of 2009 and 2010.


title: Brian Marshall

text: When Alter Bridge started getting off the ground in late 2003, Marshall was asked by Tremonti and former Creed drummer Scott Phillips to join the band since they enjoyed his playing and company.


title: Brian Marshall

text: After leaving Creed in 2000, Marshall stated that he had taken some time off before he later got back into music. In 2001, he began writing and recording music with a band he formed called Grand Luxx, featuring his former Mattox Creed band mates, guitarist Dan Bartley and drummer Hardy Mattox. Singer Matt Knabe, who had previously performed in a band called Project Simon, later joined and the newly formed quartet began recording songs. Marshall stated, "I'd say our music is rock, but it's very eclectic, and I think it can reach a wide audience. We have a little bit of alternative and some hard-rocking guitar riffs too. And Matt brings in some pop flair because his influences were bands in that genre." He also stated that with Grand Luxx, he had "kind of moved to a different role" and did more work on the production side. By July 2001, the band, having played a few shows, had six songs written with initial plans to record an album that fall. Some of Grand Luxx's original songs include "Stagnant" and "Insomniac's Dream." Also during this time, Marshall was in a band called Head Heavy with vocalist Maceo Morris, Dan Bartley and James Thatcher. The band completed a full length recording at Marshall's home studio but it was never formally released to the public.


title: Brian Marshall

text: In 2012, Marshall joined Mark Tremonti's solo band Tremonti but due to personal reasons he left the project and was replaced by Wolfgang Van Halen in September 2012.


title: Brian Marshall

text: Marshall attended Choctawhatchee Senior High School (1988–1991), Tallahassee Community College (1991–1993), and Florida State University (1993–1995), where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in interior design.


title: Michael Robbins

text: Michael Anthony Robbins (14 November 1930 – 11 December 1992) was an English actor and comedian best known for his role as Arthur Rudge in the TV sitcom and film versions of "On the Buses" (1969–73).


title: Michael Robbins

text: Michael Robbins was born in Croydon, Surrey, to Percival W. Robbins (1899–1956) and Bertha May "née" Sindall (1900–1997), who outlived him. From 1939 to 1944 Robbins was a pupil at St Michael's College, a Catholic school for boys, in Hitchin, Hertfordshire. He then went on to work as a bank clerk and later became an actor after appearing in amateur dramatic performances also in Hitchin, where he and his family lived at the time.


title: Michael Robbins

text: Robbins made his television debut as the cockney soldier in "Roll-on Bloomin' Death". Primarily a comedy actor, he is best remembered for the role of Arthur Rudge, the persistently sarcastic husband of Olive (Anna Karen), in the popular sitcom "On the Buses" (1969–73). Robbins and Karen provided the secondary comic storyline to Reg Varney's comedy capers at the bus depot. Robbins appeared in the first six series but left before - what would become - the final season because he wanted to return to theatre work. He appeared in the series film spin-offs, "On the Buses", "Mutiny on the Buses", and "Holiday on the Buses" (which came out after he had left the series in 1973).


title: Michael Robbins

text: His other comedy credits include non-recurring roles in "Man About the House", "Oh Brother!", "The Good Life", "One Foot in the Grave", "The New Statesman", "George and Mildred", "Hi-de-Hi!" and "You Rang, M'Lord?". He appeared as a rather humorously portrayed police sergeant in the TV adaptation of "Brendon Chase".


title: Michael Robbins

text: As well as these comic roles, he assumed various straight roles in some of the major British television shows of the 1960s and 1970s, including that of the hard-drinking old sea dog Harry Baxter in "The Saint" episode "The People Importers". He made appearances in "Minder", "The Sweeney", "Z-Cars"," Return of the Saint", "Murder Most English", "Rumpole Of The Bailey", "The Avengers", "Dixon of Dock Green", "The Bill" and the 1982 "Doctor Who" story "The Visitation".


title: Michael Robbins

text: Robbins' film credits included "The Whisperers", "Up The Junction", "Till Death Us Do Part", "The Looking Glass War", "Zeppelin", "The Great Muppet Caper" and Blake Edwards' films "The Pink Panther Strikes Again" and "Victor/Victoria." He also had an extensive career as a radio actor, including a role in the soap opera "Waggoners' Walk".


title: Michael Robbins

text: Robbins was married to actress Hal Dyer (1935–2011), from 1960 until his death from prostate cancer in 1992 aged 62. Dyer died in 2011 from a brain haemorrhage.


title: Michael Robbins

text: Robbins was an indefatigable worker for charity. He was active in the Grand Order of Water Rats (being elected "Rat of the Year" in 1978) and the Catholic Stage Guild. In 1987 he received the "Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice" medal, a papal award, for his services. In one of his last television appearances, in "A Little Bit of Heaven", he recalled his childhood visits to Norfolk and spoke of his faith and love of the Shrine of Our Lady at Walsingham.


title: Moline, Illinois

text: Moline ( ) is a city located in Rock Island County, Illinois, United States. With a population of 42,985 in 2020, it is the largest city in Rock Island County. Moline is one of the Quad Cities, along with neighboring East Moline and Rock Island in Illinois and the cities of Davenport and Bettendorf in Iowa. The Quad Cities have an estimated population of 381,342. The city is the ninth-most populated city in Illinois outside the Chicago Metropolitan Area. The corporate headquarters of Deere & Company is located in Moline, as was Montgomery Elevator, which was founded and headquartered in Moline until 1997, when it was acquired by Kone Elevator, which has its U.S. Division headquartered in Moline. Quad City International Airport, Black Hawk College, and the Quad Cities campus of Western Illinois University-Quad Cities are located in Moline. Moline is a retail hub for the Illinois Quad Cities, as South Park Mall and numerous big-box shopping plazas are located in the city.


title: Moline, Illinois

text: In the mid-1990s, the city undertook major efforts to revitalize its central business district, which had declined after suburban growth and retail changes after the 1950s and 1960s. Today, Moline's downtown again serves as one of the civic and recreational hubs of the Quad Cities; many events take place at the 12,000-seat TaxSlayer Center (formerly known as The MARK of the Quad Cities and iWireless Center) and at John Deere Commons. Downtown Moline features hotels such as Radisson, The Element Moline, The Axis Hotel, and Stoney Creek Inn, along with commercial areas such as Bass Street Landing and the historic 5th Avenue.


title: Moline, Illinois

text: Moline acquired its name after it was platted (surveyed and planned) in 1843. The name derives from the French "moulin" meaning "mill town".


title: Moline, Illinois

text: Indigenous peoples of varying cultures inhabited areas along the river over thousands of years, using it for transportation, water and fishing. According to the Rock Island County Historical Society, the first more permanently settled inhabitants of the Moline area are thought to be the Sauk and Meskwaki Indians, who founded the village of "Saukenuk" in 1720 along the Rock River not far from its confluence with the Mississippi. This tribe saw the land between the Rock and Mississippi rivers as ideal for farming and fishing. By the early 19th century, this once peaceful area became a site of violent confrontations between European-American settlers, arriving in greater numbers and encroaching on Native American land, and the Sauk and Fox tribes. In 1832 Chief Black Hawk declared war on the United States, initiating the Black Hawk War. When the war ended later that year, Black Hawk and his people were forced to leave the area and go north, paving the way for more European-American settlers to enter the Mississippi Valley.


title: Moline, Illinois

text: In 1837, David B. Sears and a group of associates built a stone-and-brush dam across Sylvan Slough, thereby connecting the southern bank of the Mississippi River to what is today called Arsenal Island. The dam not only served as an access road between the island's settlements and the mainland, but it provided water power for a mill which Sears built to saw wood, grind corn, and card wool. The water power generated by the dam attracted many industrialists. Over the next seven years, a number of factories sprouted up along the shoreline. A factory town was platted in 1843 on the Illinois shore under the working name of "Rock Island Mills". The name did not stick. When Charles Atkinson, one of the major landowners in the area, was offered the choice of naming the town "Moline" ("City of Mills", from the French "moulin", as suggested by a local surveyor P.H. Olgilvie) or "Hesperia" (meaning "Star of the West"), he chose Moline. The town of Moline was incorporated on April 21, 1848 under Illinois state law and granted a charter for a trustee form of government.


title: Moline, Illinois

text: The same year, John Deere, the inventor of the self-scouring steel plow, relocated his steel plow company from Grand Detour, Illinois, to Moline. At the time, Moline had a population of only a few hundred, mostly involved in work at the mill. Despite Moline's small size, Deere saw several promising elements there: Moline's dam and coal deposits would provide a good source of power; Moline was near the other well-established towns of Stephenson (later renamed Rock Island) in Illinois and Davenport in Iowa; and Moline's access to the river would make shipping goods cost-efficient. As Deere expanded his factories, Moline grew in area and population.


title: Moline, Illinois

text: Charles Atkinson and others successfully lobbied the federal government to get the first transcontinental railroad to pass through Moline and to cross the Mississippi over Arsenal Island. The railroad, which arrived in 1854, carried thousands of immigrants – at that time mostly Swedish, Belgian, and German, reflecting areas of economic problems in Europe – to Moline's borders. The immigrants, most of whom knew little or no English, responded to the call of "John Deere Town" by the conductor. The railroad connected the region to the national economy, ending its previous isolation, and ensured the future success of the area. Manufactured goods were increasingly transported over rail instead of by water.


title: Moline, Illinois

text: Moline's founding fathers were primarily ambitious industrialists from New England. David B. Sears came to Moline from the Northeast by way of Cairo, Illinois, and Atkinson, John W. Spencer, and Spencer H. White, other prominent founding men, were also New Englanders. They brought a stern work ethic and controlled civic life; Moline, in contrast to its neighbors, was not a "shoot ‘em up river-town." An article in the "Moline Workman" in 1854 noted that a "much duller town could not be scared up this side of Sleepy Hollow." Moline attracted large waves of immigrants from Sweden, who were believed to be family-minded, God-fearing, community-oriented workers who rarely went on strike.


title: Moline, Illinois

text: Following incorporation, Moline was laid out in an orderly initial grid of sixteen square blocks with streets named after the primary landowners of the time. The New Englanders chose not to install a town common or park along the river, as they thought the space would be better used for industrial purposes. Many of these founders clearly envisioned a "Lowell on the Mississippi", after a major industrial city of Massachusetts; Moline was marketed as a "Lowell of the West" to potential investors and immigrants.


title: Moline, Illinois

text: As Moline grew around its mills and factories, and as its neighbor to the west, Rock Island, continued to grow at a similar pace, the neighboring towns ran up against one another's borders relatively quickly. In the mid-19th century, articles about "consolidation" were a daily feature in the "Moline Workman" and the "Rock Island Advertiser"; city leaders dreamed of the joint city becoming the largest in the state. As local leaders sat down to discuss consolidation, however, disputes arose, with the most important being which city would subsume the other. As the county seat and earliest settlement on the Illinois side, Rock Island argued that it should annex Moline; Moline, being more prosperous and better known nationally, wanted to keep its name. Other points of conflict included that Moline did not want to have to assume any of Rock Island's public debt; Rock Island feared that a union with Moline would drive down its property values; and the citizens of the two towns, representing different regions, classes, occupations and ethnicities, widely disagreed on major political issues of the day. Many leaders of Rock Island, a community founded largely by Southerners, remained sympathetic to the Confederate cause throughout the Civil War. Meanwhile, Moline was ardently Republican. The talks of consolidation ceased, although they would later return but were never resolved in favor of the merger.