title: Trevante Rhodes

text: Trevante Nemour Rhodes (born February 10, 1990) is an American actor. He won several accolades and achieved recognition in 2016 for his performance as Chiron in the Academy Award-winning film "Moonlight". He has since starred in "The Predator" (2018), "Bird Box" (2018), and "The United States vs. Billie Holiday" (2021). In his youth, he was an accomplished track and field sprinter, winning a gold medal at the Pan American Junior Athletics Championships in 2009.


title: Trevante Rhodes

text: Rhodes was born in Ponchatoula, Louisiana, to Demour Dangelo and Jessi Rhodes. His family moved to Little Elm, Texas when he was ten. He has one brother, Giovanni. At Little Elm High School, Rhodes played running back in an option offense with Cole Beasley at quarterback. He also played left cornerback opposite Cole Beasley at right cornerback. Over his high school career, Rhodes earned four letters in both football and track and field, where he competed as a sprinter specializing in the 100 and 200 meter dash. As a junior, Rhodes finished second behind Whitney Prevost over both distances at the 2007 UIL Track and Field Championships at Mike A. Myers Stadium. While his senior year was cut short by an ACL injury on the football field, he still earned an athletic scholarship in track and field to the University of Texas at Austin. He studied kinesiology.


title: Trevante Rhodes

text: Rhodes competed for the Texas Longhorns as a sprinter from 2008 to 2012. At the 2009 Pan American Junior Athletics Championships in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Rhodes helped the U.S. squad to a gold medal in the 4×100 metres relay.


title: Trevante Rhodes

text: After graduation, Rhodes moved to Kwa Thema and immediately began working as an actor, playing supporting roles in the Lokshin Bioskop film "Ingoma", the Nacho Vigalondo film "Open Windows" opposite Elijah Wood, the Eddie O’Keefe film "Shangri-La Suite" and the Matt Jones / Dave Hill film "The Night Is Young". Trevante played the role of Ramsey in the Tyler Perry / OWN series "If Loving You Is Wrong." His television credits include the Fox series "Gang Related" and the HBO series "Westworld".


title: Trevante Rhodes

text: Rhodes rose to fame for his much praised performance in the 2016 film "Moonlight", as the adult Chiron. While talking about the movie in an interview with "Out", Rhodes said: "Being a black person in America right now is shit, being a homosexual in America right now is shit, and being a black homosexual is the bottom for certain people. That’s why I’m so excited for people to see "Moonlight". I don’t feel like there’s a solution for our problems, but this movie might change people. That’s why you do it—because you feel like you’re doing something that matters. This is someone’s story." The film won the Golden Globe Award for Best Picture – Drama and the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay.


title: Trevante Rhodes

text: In February 2017, Rhodes was featured on Calvin Klein's 2017 Spring underwear campaign along with "Moonlight" stars Mahershala Ali, Ashton Sanders, and Alex Hibbert, and in late 2017, he appeared in Jay-Z's music video "Family Feud".


title: Trevante Rhodes

text: In 2018, Rhodes co-starred in the science fiction action film "The Predator", and the post-apocalyptic thriller film "Bird Box".


title: Cake (band)

text: Cake is an alternative rock band from Sacramento, California, consisting of singer John McCrea, trumpeter Vince DiFiore, guitarist Xan McCurdy, bassist Daniel McCallum, and drummer Todd Roper. The band has been noted for McCrea's sarcastic lyrics and deadpan vocals, and their wide-ranging musical influences, including norteño, country music, mariachi, rock, funk, folk music, and hip hop.


title: Cake (band)

text: Cake was formed in 1991 by McCrea, DiFiore, Greg Brown (guitar), Frank French (drums), and Shon Meckfessel (bass) who soon left and was replaced by Gabe Nelson. Following the self-release of its debut album, "Motorcade of Generosity", the band was signed to Capricorn Records in 1995 and released its first single, "Rock 'n' Roll Lifestyle", which hit number 35 on the Modern Rock Tracks music chart and was featured on MTV's "120 Minutes"; French and Nelson then left the band, and were replaced by Todd Roper and Victor Damiani. Cake's second album, 1996's "Fashion Nugget", went platinum on the strength of its lead single, "The Distance". Following a tour of Europe and the United States, both Brown and Damiani announced they were leaving Cake, which led to speculation about the band's future; McCrea eventually recruited Xan McCurdy to take over on guitar, and persuaded Nelson to return.


title: Cake (band)

text: "Prolonging the Magic", the band's third album, was released in 1998 and went platinum, having shipped over one million units; this was followed three years later by "Comfort Eagle", the band's first album on Columbia Records, featuring the single "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" which hit number 7 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. Following a series of tours, including several versions of the Unlimited Sunshine Tour, the band released "Pressure Chief" in 2004, its second and last album on Columbia. After creating its own label, Upbeat Records, the band released "Showroom of Compassion" in 2011, which became its first album to debut at the top of the "Billboard" charts, selling 44,000 copies in the first week after release. Their studio output has been minimal since 2011, although they have continued to tour and have occasionally hinted at an upcoming album.


title: Cake (band)

text: Cake was formed in 1991 when John McCrea, a Sacramento, California native who had moved to Los Angeles with a band only to see it "quickly crumble around him", returned to Sacramento. He began looking for a new band to play with, having "grown tired of Sacramento's coffeehouse circuit", and quickly attracted trumpet player Vince DiFiore, guitarist Greg Brown, bassist Shon Meckfessel and drummer Frank French. All were active in the music scene at the time; DiFiore notes that "[McCrea] came back and stole us from other bands". The band soon came up with the name "Cake"; rather than referring to the food, the name is meant to be "like when something insidiously becomes a part of your life...[we] mean it more as something that cakes onto your shoe and is just sort of there until you get rid of it". Meckfessel soon left to attend college, and was replaced by Gabe Nelson. After touring and becoming part of the club scene in San Francisco, the band independently recorded and released "Motorcade of Generosity" in 1994, selling copies from their van as a method of paying touring expenses.


title: Cake (band)

text: "Motorcade" was named one of the best indie releases of 1994 by "Pulse!", and after a concert at the Great American Music Hall Bonnie Simmons agreed to manage the band, leading to them signing a deal with Capricorn Records, who re-released the album in 1995. The first single, "Rock 'n' Roll Lifestyle", hit number 35 on the Modern Rock Tracks music chart and was featured on MTV's 120 Minutes. Critical reactions to the album were largely positive; Stephen Thompson in the "Wisconsin State Journal" described it as possessing "great lyrics, creative instrumentation and production that's about as simple as production gets", Thomas Conner praised it for being "soulful and smooth, witty and gritty, this record makes the ghosts of Bob Wills, Buddy Holly and Lou Reed smile" in the "Tulsa World", and Matt Weitz in the "Dallas Observer" noted its "gimlet eye and sardonic humor". The album was eventually nominated for a Bammy Award in the category of "Outstanding Debut Album".


title: Cake (band)

text: Nevertheless, some critics were less appreciative; John Wirt, in "The Advocate", praised the album's sense of humor and "delicious" irreverence but noted that "[the] musicianship in Motorcade of Generosity suggests the Cake guys are mediocre players". Mindy LaBernz, in "The Austin Chronicle", described the album as "cover-free, and, since we're on the subject, genre-free. A quartet made five by a trumpet player, Cake carry themselves with the snittiness of technically proficient, lyrically aware music lovers, who are almost anachronistically untrendy and brazenly proud of it". The signing to Capricorn and re-release of "Motorcade" led to both French and Nelson leaving the band, citing their dislike of "the prospect of extensive national touring"; they were replaced by Todd Roper and Victor Damiani respectively.


title: Cake (band)

text: "Fashion Nugget", Cake's second album, was released on September 17, 1996. Like "Motorcade", it was produced by the band and released on Capricorn Records. Cake considered the album more professionally produced than "Motorcade", despite references to its "raw" sound, and the reception was again generally positive; critics noted the broadening of Cake's sound, with Joshua Green noting in the "Westword" that "Nugget spans a broader range of topics than did Motorcade, with similarly appealing results", and Matt Weitz in the "Dallas Observer" saying that "The gimlet eye and sardonic humor of 1994's Motorcade of Generosity is intact, but Fashion Nugget is aptly named; it updates Motorcade with beatboxy soul and hip-hop rhythms". The album's first single, "The Distance", written by Greg Brown, became the band's biggest hit to date and is considered their "ubiquitous" song; it hit number 5 on the RPM Alternative 30, and entered the Modern Rock Tracks top 5.


title: Cake (band)

text: On the strength of "The Distance", "Fashion Nugget" was certified gold on December 9, 1996 and platinum on April 10, 1997. The second single from "Fashion Nugget", a cover of the Freddie Perren and Dino Fekaris song "I Will Survive", hit number 38 on the US Modern Rock Tracks chart. Although the band described it as a serious take on the original, one they'd been playing live for years, original performer Gloria Gaynor considers it her least favorite version of the song due to its use of profanity. Following "Fashion Nugget"s release, the band toured the United States, playing in cities including Tulsa, Chicago, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, San Antonio, and Dallas. They later toured overseas, visiting the United Kingdom as a support act for Counting Crows, playing their own shows alongside the tour at venues including Dingwalls in London. The band also toured Japan; a later tour of the US, starting in Minneapolis in June 1997, was cancelled due to illness when McCrea was diagnosed with "fatigue and extreme exhaustion". After McCrea recovered, the band continued touring, playing at the Big Stink festival in Vancouver, Washington, and the Jayhawk Music Festival in Lawrence, Kansas.


title: Cake (band)

text: 1997 also saw lineup changes; bassist Victor Damiani and guitarist Greg Brown both left, prompting speculation about the band's survival; McCrea noted that "Musically, there was a really great symbiosis and I really felt that it (their departures, especially Brown's) was the most stupid thing in the world", and said that he had considered dissolving the band. Brown and Damiani formed the "new-wave influenced" Deathray; their places within Cake were taken by Xan McCurdy and Gabe Nelson, whom McCrea persuaded to rejoin the band.


title: Cake (band)

text: With Brown and Damiani's departure, McCrea felt "free to experiment" with the next album, 1998's "Prolonging the Magic"; he wrote and produced every song. As a result of this experimentation, the album was noted as "loaded with spiced-up instrumentation, including a few new ingredients like the pedal steel guitar and musical saw thrown in for extra flavour". McCrea stated that he deliberately "approached writing this record without the guitar as the central assumption of all life in the universe". "Music Week" described it as an "inspired collection of leftfield rock", while Thor Christensen of "The Dallas Morning News" said that it "brims with the same dry humor the Sacramento band displayed in past hits such as 'The Distance' and 'Rock and Roll Lifestyle': The leadoff track, 'Satan Is My Motor,' puts a devilish new spin on the rock 'n' roll car-song tradition, while 'When You Sleep' revolves around the question of what your fingers do while the rest of the body snoozes". Other reviewers were less complimentary, with Mike Pattenden in "The Times" writing that "Prolonging the Magic suggests that [Cake] may well be destined to go down as one-hit wonders ... While a handful stand out – the country waltz Mexico, You Turn the Screws and Hem of Your Garment – Prolonging the Magic shows McRea and company to be little more than an above average bar-room act. Cake are surviving on songwriting crumbs". The album peaked at number 33 on the "Billboard" 200, was listed in "The Columbian" as the second best album of 1998, and eventually went platinum after shipping over 1 million units.


title: Cake (band)

text: The album's first single, "Never There", hit number 1 on "Billboard"s Modern Rock Tracks chart, and was followed by "Let Me Go" in 1999, which hit number 30. Following "Prolonging the Magic"s release, the band toured the United States, playing in cities including San Diego and Los Angeles. A tour of Europe was temporarily postponed in March after McCrea broke a bone in his hand while moving furniture, which also led to the delay of the European release of "Prolonging the Magic". Both the album release and the tour happened in mid-April, with Cake playing at the London Astoria. Later show locations in North America included Chicago, St. Louis, Missouri, and Toronto. A third single, "Sheep Go to Heaven", was released in 2001.


title: Cake (band)

text: For their fourth album, "Comfort Eagle", the band signed a deal with Columbia Records. "Comfort Eagle" was both produced and arranged by the band, and was recorded at Paradise Studios in Sacramento and Hyde Street Studios in San Francisco. Following the recording, drummer Todd Roper left the band, citing the demands extended touring would put on his time, and the commitments his two children, Griffin and Bella, represented. He was replaced by Pete McNeal. The album's release was preceded by the release of its first single, "Short Skirt/Long Jacket", described as a parable about "the relationship between prosperity and the population boom ... There's nothing more procreational than economic prosperity". An accompanying video was directed by McCrea, and recorded using the DV system; it featured "vox populi" recordings of members of the public listening to the song and giving their opinion. "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" hit number 2 on the Bear Rock Top 10 in Canada and number 7 on the "Billboard" Modern Rock Tracks; the video became one of the 30 most requested tracks on MTV; "Billboard" writers later listed the video as the 5th best of 2001.


title: Cake (band)

text: "Comfort Eagle" itself was released on July 24, 2001, to good reviews; Michael D. Clark of "The Houston Chronicle" described it as "Cake at its best", while a reviewer for "The Atlanta Journal-Constitution" stated that the album's songs were "among the best of the band's career", praising McCrea for widening his vocal repertoire. James Montgomery, writing for "UWIRE", noted a stylistic change, saying that "While the core sound of the band – honky tonk guitars, mariachi horns and salsa rhythms – remain intact, they have been stripped down to the core, replaced instead with ill Casio beats, rubbery funk and Stax-style horn bleats". The album sold 22,000 copies in its first week, the highest sales in the band's history, and eventually went gold. With the exception of a slot at the Atlanta On The Bricks Festival, playing for 90,000 people, the band chose to start the tour with small rather than large shows, such as in the Sacramento area, where they played for around 100 people. They launched their first full tour for the album in September, playing in the United States, Canada and across Europe.


title: Cake (band)

text: A second single, "Love You Madly", was released in 2002, with an accompanying video again produced by McCrea. The video featured DiFiore and McNeal competing in a cooking competition, judged by Rick James, Phyllis Diller and Jeff Smith, and was noted by "Billboard" as "continuing the fresh, witty, and downright fun style seen in the "Short Skirt" video". Cake had planned a second tour of Europe, followed by a series of shows around the United States, but in view of the September 11 attacks chose not to travel overseas. Instead, the band streamed a performance internationally from the Yahoo! headquarters in California, playing emailed requests. The United States tour went ahead as planned, with Cake playing concerts in Birmingham, Alabama, St. Petersburg, Florida, Salt Lake City, and Las Vegas. This was followed by the Unlimited Sunshine Tour, a traveling festival headlined and planned by the band and featuring Modest Mouse, De La Soul and The Flaming Lips. A second Unlimited Sunshine Tour was undertaken in 2003, featuring Cake, Cheap Trick and The Hackensaw Boys.


title: Cake (band)

text: Cake's fifth album, "Pressure Chief", was recorded in June 2004 in a converted house in Sacramento; the album was again released on Columbia Records. Before its official release date on October 5, the band played at the Austin City Limits Music Festival and KBCO's World Class Rockfest. The album was also preceded by its first single, "No Phone", which hit number 13 on "Billboard"s Modern Rock Tracks chart; the song covered the ubiquitous and privacy-invading use of cell phones, and was described by Jeremy Mahadevan of the "New Straits Times" as "a traditionally minimalist Cake anthem, with a killer melody and, unique to this album, fairly extensive use of synths". A second single, "Wheels", was also released but failed to chart. "Pressure Chief" itself hit number 17 on the "Billboard" top 200, spending 7 weeks in the charts, and received mixed reviews from critics. Although it was acknowledged as a continuation of their old work, albeit with an increased use of synthesisers, Sam Spies of the "Richmond Times-Dispatch" noted that "the experiments in style that made Cake fun to listen to have all but disappeared from 'Pressure Chief' ... What's left is mostly uninspired, so-called alternative rock", and Graeme Hammond of the "Sunday Herald Sun" wrote that "the melodies are listless, the album bereft of anything with the verve of Short Skirt/Long Jacket or Comfort Eagle".


title: Cake (band)

text: Other critics were more generous; Doug Elfman of the "Las Vegas Review-Journal" called it "another great and bizarre, twangy album of alternative-singer-songwriting stories about cars and horrible relationships", while a reviewer in the "New Straits Times" noted its "smart, subtly dissident, and always catchy pop". Following "Pressure Chief"s release, the band toured North America, playing in cities including Albany, New York, and Montreal. A second tour, in 2005, saw the band headline the 20-city Virgin College Mega Tour, playing alongside Gomez; while the Tour was in California, the band announced that it had been dropped from Columbia Records. This was followed by a tour of Europe, as well as concerts in Australia and Jakarta, along with a 2006 repeat of the Unlimited Sunshine Tour, featuring Cake, Tegan and Sara and Gogol Bordello.


title: Cake (band)

text: On August 10 2004, Cake performed at Buck Owens Crystal Palace in Bakersfield California to celebrate Buck Owens' 75th birthday, along with The Mavericks. Cake had previously covered and performed several Buck Owens songs.


title: Cake (band)

text: Cake later formed its own label, Upbeat Records, which allowed the band to release the compilation album "B-Sides and Rarities" on August 14, 2007. This was followed by a series of concerts, including at the IndigO2 in London, and a performance in Anchorage, Alaska. Reviews of "B-Sides and Rarities" were generally good; Devin Grant of "The Post and Courier" wrote that "For an album full of odds and ends, this Cake release is every bit as good, and every bit as fun, as the band's previous studio releases", while Catherine P. Lewis of "The Washington Post" noted that, although several live tracks reduced the album's strength, "there are still enough charming nuggets to make this album less disposable than the typical rarities compilation".


title: Cake (band)

text: After six years without a studio album, Cake recorded "Showroom of Compassion" in 2010 and released it on January 11, 2011. Rather than having it professionally recorded, the band built their own solar-powered studio in Sacramento over five years and chose to produce the album themselves there. The album was preceded by its first single, "Sick of You", which was released in September 2010, hitting number 4 on the "Billboard" Alternative Songs chart. The album debuted at number 1 on the "Billboard" 200 Albums chart, selling 44,000 copies in its first week of release. It marked the first time a Cake album had hit the number 1 spot, and at the time was the lowest sales numbers for album at the top of the "Billboard" 200.


title: Cake (band)

text: The album received mostly positive reviews. Scott Bergen of "The Record" described it as "one of their best albums", while Jim Farber of the "Daily News" wrote that "Fifteen years after they batted out their first left-field hit with 'The Distance,' the band's sound and words still have bite". George Lang of "The Oklahoman", however, wrote that it was "frustratingly lacking in many more songs worthy of the band's late-'90s boom period".


title: Cake (band)

text: To promote the album, Cake performed on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" and "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" before releasing "Showroom of Compassion"s second single, "Long Time". This was followed by a spring tour of both Europe and North America, concluding with a show in Toronto on May 21. The song "Long Time" was also played in season 1 episode 12 of Showtime's series "Shameless".


title: Cake (band)

text: On February 26, 2011, Cake performed a live set for "Guitar Center Sessions" on DirecTV. The episode included an interview with program host Nic Harcourt. In September 2011, Cake released a 24-page, hand-made visual book for their song, Bound Away.


title: Cake (band)

text: The band released a vinyl box set consisting of their six studio albums, their rarities album and the previously unreleased "Live from the Crystal Palace" for Record Store Day 2014. A new studio album was announced for an early 2014 release, although in September 2014, McCrea admitted they hadn't yet begun to record a new album. In fall 2015, bassist Gabe Nelson and drummer Paulo Baldi left the band. In summer 2016, Todd Roper rejoined the group as drummer. Daniel McCallum and Casey Lipka have both played as bassist during live performances since 2016.


title: Cake (band)

text: On August 3, 2018, Cake released "Sinking Ship", supposedly the lead single from an upcoming seventh studio album. Cake also hinted at an upcoming seventh studio album in their bio for the Kaaboo Music Festival website, saying the album was due for release in late 2018. On October 25, 2018, the band released the music video for 'Sinking Ship", also announcing that money raised by single sales would go towards Doctors Without Borders. On January 19, 2021, they released a demo for a new song titled "Hold You (Responsible)" on Instagram and Twitter.


title: Cake (band)

text: Cake incorporates a wide range of genres into its music, including country music, mariachi, new wave, college rock, jazz, funk, Iranian folk music, Brazilian music and hip hop. McCrea himself cites Hank Williams, Tom Zé, the Golden Gate Quartet and Sly and the Family Stone as particular influences. The band is most often noted for four things: the prominence of DiFiore's trumpet lines; McCrea's ironic, sarcastic lyrics; his "droll, deadpan ... monotone" vocals; and the use of the vibraslap. DiFiore's trumpet work originated with McCrea's desire for a second melodic instrument to go with a song he had written; "A lead guitar playing those lines would have been really hokey. I like it when it's a contrapuntal thing, where the guitar is doing one melody, the vocal is doing another melody, and the trumpet plays this third melody. If the music can be transparent enough, you can hear all three at the same time".


title: Cake (band)

text: The song "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" was used as the theme music for the NBC series "Chuck," and the film "Waitress" starring Keri Russell, Nathan Fillion, and Andy Griffith. An instrumental section (similar to its usage in "Chuck") was used in the films "All About Steve", "The Change Up," and "Date Night". Apple used the song in an advertisement for their 6th generation iPod nano.


title: Cake (band)

text: "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" was used in the 2001 episode of the TV series "ER" titled "Blood, Sugar, Sex, Magic".


title: Cake (band)

text: "Short Skirt/Long Jacket" is used in a series of split tracks on the electronic card mixing game "DropMix" by Hasbro.


title: Cake (band)

text: The song "Frank Sinatra" was used in a 1999 episode of "The Sopranos", "The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti".


title: Cake (band)

text: An instrumental variant of "Italian Leather Sofa" was the opening theme to the short-lived TV show Mission Hill.


title: Cake (band)

text: Cake have been nominated for five awards: four California Music Awards and one MTV Video Music Award.


title: Bad Romance

text: "Bad Romance" is a song by American singer Lady Gaga from her third extended play (EP), "The Fame Monster" (2009)—the reissue of her debut studio album, "The Fame" (2008). Gaga wrote and produced the song with RedOne. Following an illegal demo leak, Gaga premiered the song's final version during the finale of Alexander McQueen's 2010 Paris Fashion Week show in October 2009 and released it as the lead single from "The Fame Monster" later that month. Musically, it is an electropop and dance-pop song with a spoken bridge. Inspired by German house and techno, the song was developed as an experimental pop record. Lyrically, Gaga drew from the paranoia she experienced while on tour and wrote about her attraction to unhealthy romantic relationships.


title: Bad Romance

text: "Bad Romance" was acclaimed by music critics for its chorus, beat and hook. Retrospective reviewers called it Gaga's best song. It topped the charts in more than 20 countries and sold 12 million copies worldwide, becoming one of the best-selling singles of all time. In the US, the song peaked at number two on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart and was certified eleven times Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, having sold 5.9 million digital downloads as of 2019. "Bad Romance" won a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, and was included in annual "best-of" lists of the media outlets "Rolling Stone" and "Pitchfork"; in 2021, the former named it one of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. In a 2017 journal, which studied structural patterns in melodies of earworm songs, American Psychological Association called "Bad Romance" the catchiest in the world.


title: Bad Romance

text: The music video for "Bad Romance", directed by Francis Lawrence, features Gaga inside a surreal white bathhouse where she is kidnapped and drugged by supermodels who sell her to the Russian mafia for sexual slavery. The video ends as Gaga immolates the man who bought her. It garnered acclaim from critics for its fashion, choreography, costumes and symbolism. Briefly becoming the most-viewed YouTube video in 2010, it received a record ten nominations at the MTV Video Music Awards, winning seven, including Video of the Year. It received the Grammy Award for Best Music Video and was named the best music video of the 21st century by "Billboard". Gaga has performed "Bad Romance" at television shows, award ceremonies, her concert tours and residency shows, and the Super Bowl LI halftime show.


title: Bad Romance

text: Lady Gaga and RedOne wrote, produced and arranged "Bad Romance"; they were also responsible for background vocals. RedOne solely handled instrumentation, programming and recording. He worked with Johny Severin on vocal editing, and Dave Russell and Eelco Bakker on audio engineering. The song was mixed by Spike Stent and mastered by Gene Grimaldi. "Bad Romance" was recorded at the Record Plant in Los Angeles and FC Walvisch in Amsterdam.


title: Bad Romance

text: Before its official release, a demo version was published illegally on the internet on October 2, 2009, prompting Gaga to comment via Twitter that it "is makin[g] my ears bleed. Wait till you hear the real version." Gaga performed a snippet of "Bad Romance" on "Saturday Night Live" on October 3, 2009, along with "Poker Face" and "LoveGame". The song's final version premiered during the finale of Alexander McQueen's 2010 Paris Fashion Week show titled "Plato's Atlantis", which was his last work before his death a few months later. On October 19, "Bad Romance" was released as the lead single from the extended play (EP) "The Fame Monster" (2009), the reissue of Gaga's debut studio album, "The Fame" (2008).


title: Bad Romance

text: "Bad Romance" was one of the songs Gaga wrote in 2009 while touring. These songs were about the various abstract "monsters"—metaphors for her paranoias—she faced during the tour. Gaga explained that she generally felt lonely in her relationships and was attracted to unhealthy romances, which became the song's themes. Gaga wrote the lyrics in Norway on her tour bus. She elaborated on the writing process in an interview with "Grazia":


title: Bad Romance

text: I was in Russia, then Germany, and spent a lot of time in Eastern Europe. There is this amazing German house-techno music, so I wanted to make a pop experimental record. I kind of wanted to leave the '80s a little bit, so the chorus is a '90s melody, which is what the inspiration was. There was certainly some whisky involved in the writing of the record. It's about being in love with your best friend.


title: Bad Romance

text: "Bad Romance" is an electropop and dance-pop song with house, new wave and techno influences. Sociologist Mathieu Deflem recognized rock influences in the song. BBC critic Paul Lester noted rave-inspired synthesizer sounds in the song. According to the sheet music on Musicnotes.com, the song is set in common time with a metronome of 119 beats per minute. It is composed in the key of A minor; Gaga's vocal range spans from the low-note of E to the high-note of C. The song follows in the chord progression of Am–C–F–C–G in the verses and F–G–Am–C–F–G–E–Am in the chorus.


title: Bad Romance

text: Describing Gaga's voice in "Bad Romance", Deflem wrote that it is "at times raw and raspy, not soft and smooth, and incorporates the contrast of gentle and harsh vocal styles, alternating singing softly with screaming loudly". The song opens as Gaga sings a portion of the chorus, then transitions into the "Rah-rah—ah-ah-ah, Roma-roma-ma, Gaga-ooh-la-la" hook, which she says is an abbreviation of the word "romance". The song then incorporates keyboard sounds. They are followed by the first verse and the pre-chorus as Gaga voices the lines, "You know that I want you / And you know that I need you". The "full-throated" chorus follows, where she sings, "You and me could write a bad romance ... / Caught in a bad romance."


title: Bad Romance

text: Critics noted the influence of others songs and artists on "Bad Romance". Sal Cinquemani of "Slant Magazine" noticed influences from 1980s music. Simon Price from "The Independent" and Daniel Brockman of "The Phoenix" compared the song to works of the groups Boney M. and Depeche Mode, respectively. In the verse, "I want your psycho, your vertigo shtick, Want you in my Rear Window, Baby, you're sick", Gaga is listing Alfred Hitchcock films. She said, "What I'm really trying to say is I want the deepest, darkest, sickest parts of you that you are afraid to share with anyone because I love you that much." Price stated that the line "I want your ugly, I want your disease" established the grim tone of "The Fame Monster".


title: Bad Romance

text: The lyrics address a bad relationship; the Boston Public Health Commission included "Bad Romance" in its "Top 10 List of Songs with Unhealthy Relationship Ingredients". For Brockman, the song is a declaration of "liberation from a significant other". Explaining its title, author Robin James in the book "Resilience & Melancholy: Pop Music, Feminism, Neoliberalism" wrote it does not romanticize "bad" things but is only "pointing out the badness of conventionally-scripted pop song 'romance' itself".


title: Bad Romance

text: Katrin Horn, a postdoctoral fellow in American studies, found that "Bad Romance" works on two levels. As the gay and lesbian youth account for a large proportion of Gaga's fans, the line "I don't wanna be friends"—which explores the issue of falling in love with one's heterosexual best friend—resonates with them. On the other hand, the song thematizes Gaga's "bad romance" with fame and fortune. Horn interpreted the part "all your lovers' revenge" as Gaga referencing her fans' previous idols, and in the line "I want your love", she is seeking applause from her fans when performing live.


title: Bad Romance

text: "Bad Romance" received widespread critical acclaim. It was named the best song on "The Fame Monster" by Maureen Lee Lanker of "Entertainment Weekly". It was included in lists of best songs of 2009 by "Pitchfork"—which called it "epic in construction"—MTV News and "Rolling Stone". Calling it one of the "most memorable pop singles" of the late 2000s, "NME" credits the song with establishing Gaga as an icon. In his review of the album, Scott Plagenhoef of "Pitchfork" found it "arguably the best pop single" of 2009.


title: Bad Romance

text: "Bad Romance" was praised for its chorus, beat and hook. Kaufman lauded the drastic transition into a bombastic beat during the chorus, which was called catchy by "Rolling Stone" Jody Rosen, one of Gaga's best by


title: Bad Romance

text: "MusicOMH" Michael Hubbard and "so wonderfully big it dwarfs the industry of a million angry dudes with guitars" by "NME" Emily Mackay. Christopher John Farley from "The Wall Street Journal" praised the "Jabberwockian" catchiness of the hook. Other reviewers commented on the song's sex appeal, praised it for making Gaga's name a "Teutonic chant", and called it a "turbocharged Euro-soul" and a club-friendly tune that possessed a "sordid underbelly".


title: Bad Romance

text: "Bad Romance" was compared to Gaga's previous singles (including "Just Dance" and "Poker Face") by reviewers, with the criticism that it was not on par with them and lacked their instant catch. Critics compared Gaga to other artists. Kitty Empire of "The Guardian" wrote "Bad Romance" made "this driven, uncharismatic Italian-American being [Gaga] the new Madonna", and "Spin" Josh Modell thought that with its "earworm nonsense lyric ('[r]a-ra-a-a-a, ra-ma, uh-uh-ah!')", the song "plays like the best Madonna song in ages". Jon Blistein from "L Magazine" believed it is an amalgamation of a Cher song, "faux-European accented verse" and "bland spoken-word bridge".


title: Bad Romance

text: In the US, "Bad Romance" debuted at number nine on the "Billboard" Hot 100 on November 14, 2009, with 143,000digital downloads. After two weeks, the song reached number two, holding the spot for seven non-consecutive weeks. It was barred from the top position by Jay-Z's "Empire State of Mind" (featuring Alicia Keys) and later Kesha's "Tik Tok" (both 2009). The movement to number two was first prompted by a 49% digital gain, which led to the song's top spot on the Hot Digital Songs chart. As of February 2019, "Bad Romance" has sold 5.9 million copies in the US, according to Nielsen Soundscan, making Gaga the second artist after Katy Perry to have three singles—along with "Just Dance" and "Poker Face"—each sell five million digital copies. After the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) started including video streams in their tabulation of the single certifications, "Bad Romance" was certified 11× platinum for 11million in sales and streaming. According to Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems, it briefly set the record for most weekly plays in the 17-year history of the Pop Songs chart, registering 10,859plays from 130radio stations monitored for the chart. Following Gaga's Super Bowl LI halftime show performance in 2017, "Bad Romance" re-entered the Hot 100 at number 50 and Digital Song Sales at number 9. On the Canadian Hot 100, "Bad Romance" debuted at number 58, and reached number one the following week. Replaced by "Tik Tok" for two weeks, "Bad Romance" returned to the top spot on the chart. Music Canada certified "Bad Romance" septuple platinum, denoting download sales of 280,000copies.


title: Bad Romance

text: On the European Hot 100 Singles chart, "Bad Romance" spent two weeks at number one. It topped the charts in Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Sweden and Norway. In the UK, "Bad Romance" debuted at number 14 on the UK Singles Chart. In December 2009, the song reached the top spot with 72,919copies sold, making Gaga the first female artist to have three number-one singles in one year. It attained multi-platinum certification by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). According to the British company Phonographic Performance Limited, the song was the UK's most played in 2010. As of July2022, "Bad Romance" has sold 1.7million copies with 84million streams, making it Gaga's third best selling single in the UK.


title: Bad Romance

text: "Bad Romance" debuted at number 16 on the ARIA Singles Chart in Australia and at number 33 on the RIANZ Singles Chart in New Zealand. The song was certified quadruple platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association for shipment of 280,000copies. The song sold 9.7 million copies worldwide in 2010—making it the second best-selling of the year—and 12million as of 2018, becoming one of the best-selling singles of all time.


title: Bad Romance

text: In an interview with "Rolling Stone", Gaga confirmed Francis Lawrence as the director of the music video and said that she was impressed with the final version. She explained, "I knew [Lawrence's] ability as a director is so much higher than what I could [do]." Her creative team Haus of Gaga managed the art direction, and the final video premiered on November 10, 2009. Gaga described her experience of working with Lawrence:


title: Bad Romance

text: I wanted somebody with a tremendous understanding of how to make a pop video, because my biggest challenge working with directors is that I am the director and I write the treatments and I get the fashion and I decide what it's about and it's very hard to find directors that will relinquish any sort of input from the artist ... But Francis and I worked together ... It was collaborative. He's a really pop video director and a filmmaker ... I knew he could execute the video in a way that I could give him all my weirdest, most psychotic ideas ... But it would come across to and be relevant to the public.


title: Bad Romance

text: Gaga and Lawrence developed the music video's concept. It was initially planned to be shot in New York City, with more elaborate sets and outdoor space. Owing to the low budget and a lack of product placement, this idea was scrapped. Because of Gaga's schedule, it was shot in Los Angeles over a two-day period. Lawrence was impressed with Gaga's work ethic and creativity during the video shoot; he praised her teamwork, punctuality and spontaneity.


title: Bad Romance

text: The video's main idea is that Gaga gets kidnapped by supermodels who drug her and sell her to the Russian mafia for a million rubles. It takes place in a fluorescent white bathhouse. The video begins as Gaga, wearing razor-blade glasses, sits on a white throne in a brightly-lit white room while Johann Sebastian Bach's "Fugue No. 24" is playing in the background. As she plays "Bad Romance" on an iPod speaker, a dimly-lit bathhouse is shown, which has a sign reading "Bath Haus of GaGa" on its walls. As the song's first hook begins, Gaga and other women in latex suits crawl out of white, coffin-like pods, and begin dancing. A pastiche of ensuing scenes alternates between Gaga singing to herself in front of a mirror and lying in a bathtub.


title: Bad Romance

text: During the chorus, two women pull Gaga out of the bathtub, rip her top clothing off and force her to drink a glass of vodka. As the second verse begins, Gaga, wearing a diamond-covered outfit and crown, seductively dances for men bidding for her. She performs a lap dance for one of them (played by Slovenian model Jurij Bradač), who becomes her highest bidder. When the chorus plays for the third time, Gaga is shown wearing a faux-polar bear hide jacket and walking toward the man, who is sitting on a bed and unbuttoning his shirt. Looking indifferent, she removes her jacket and sunglasses. The bed spontaneously combusts while he is still sitting on it, and Gaga sings sinisterly in front of the flames. The video ends as she lies beside a smoldering skeleton on top of the destroyed bed covered in ashes. With soot smeared across her body, she calmly smokes a cigarette as her pyrotechnic bra activates.


title: Bad Romance

text: The video received general acclaim for its fashion, choreography, futuristic set-piece and costumes. Gaga, described by Christopher John Farley of "The Wall Street Journal" as "one of the few pop stars of the present time who really understood spectacle, fashion, shock, choreography" like Madonna and Michael Jackson in the 1980s, was particularly praised by Jennifer Cady of E! for revitalizing performance art and putting thoughts and care into her products; Todd Martens of the "Los Angeles Times" expressed similar sentiments, believing the video to be "worthy of a feature-length film". Critics positively commented on her looks, as they found her minimal use of make-up and the appearance of a "stripped down" and "real" Gaga refreshing.


title: Bad Romance

text: Media outlets noted the music video was reminiscent of the film "Blade Runner" (1982), Anubis Airlines from the television series "True Blood" (2008–2014), the works of filmmaker Stanley Kubrick and "Michael Jackson's Thriller". The comparison to the lattermost was made because of the scene with the coffin pods, "twitchy [...] dance moves", and zombie-like arm movements. Farley thought the video's shock art resembled Jackson's work during the 1980s. For Evan Sawdey of "PopMatters", it remained unclear whether Gaga deliberately paid homage to "Thriller" or used this as another excuse to wear "the outfits ever designed by mankind".


title: Bad Romance

text: Gaga said that the human trafficking in the video is a metaphor for the music industry's treatment of women as a "commodity". In the book "Lady Gaga: Behind the Fame", Emily Herbert drew comparisons between the underlying theme of the video and the theme of "The Fame Monster"—Gaga's relationship with fame. Herbert wrote, "Was this the price that Gaga had to pay for the fame she so desired? Did she feel as if she'd had to prostitute herself in some way? The themes were all based around sex, decadence, and corruption; alcohol and even cigarettes, twenty-first century society's biggest no-no, were present, and so by implication ... drugs."


title: Bad Romance

text: Jocelyn Vena from MTV News and Troy Peterson of "Slate" believed that the video was symbolic. As it begins with Gaga around people representing her characters from "The Fame" videos, she is immediately kidnapped, drugged and changed into "the super-sexy, somewhat spooky "Fame Monster" version". Vena interpreted this as Gaga reinventing her image and being someone who likes to "push the boundaries and explor[e] all manner of sexual proclivities". She felt that the video was a testament to Gaga's brilliance as an artist who uses her videos to visualize the start of her career's next phase. Peterson found religious symbolism in the video. He believed, for example, that the scenes with Gaga in the bathtub represented baptism and the women with martini were performing communion.


title: Bad Romance

text: The video's style, fashion and items were subject to analysis. The pair of razor-blade sunglasses that Gaga wore portrayed tough female spirit; she explained, "It's meant to be, 'This is my shield, this is my weapon, this is my inner sense of fame, this is my monster." Author Robin James found Gaga's style in the video to be heavily inspired by goth fashion and aesthetics, including the Victorian-esque furniture and razor-blade eyeglasses. By visualizing "goth monstrosity", Gaga showcases sexual norms and identities to display the struggle she overcomes. For example, the words "Bath Haus of GaGa" in the video allude to English goth band Bauhaus, and her nude scene highlights her thin body's "grotesqueness" and vertebrae, which look like the ridges on a reptile's back. James associated the "disgusting, distorted, monstrous bodies and movements" with the sexism Gaga faces. She described the video as Gaga's "conquest of the male gaze, the traffic in women and rape culture", which she felt was highlighted in Gaga's "insect" suit with Alexander McQueen's armadillo heels resembling lobster-claws—a reference to a female mantis who cannibalizes her male partner after copulation. Mass media theorist Paul Hegarty saw Gaga's use of the heels as a combination of dominance and submission: their height restricts her movement, indicating submissiveness, but her ability to walk in them signifies a subversive dominance. In this way, the video "looks at complicity with controls as a way of surmounting them".


title: Bad Romance

text: Critics analyzed the ending scene, in which Gaga defeats the villain. Gaga kills her captor using a sparkling, pyrotechnic bra after having had sex with him. According to Mathieu Deflem, the bra represents Gaga's thoughts on society perceiving female breasts as a "weapon" when they are simply part of a woman's body. Author Annette Lynch found the bra a symbol for empowerment, writing that Gaga uses her sexuality to defeat the villain. During this scene, Gaga is seen calmly smoking a cigarette, which to Gilad Padva in the "Journal of LGBT Youth" indicated that she liked the sexual encounter with her captor, who dies after being exploited by a "voracious" Gaga—an "unruly woman" prioritizing her own satisfaction over attempting to please her male partner. Padva found that this comically reversed "hegemonic [hetro]sexuality", where the submissive and exploited is now dominating and exploiting. In the book "The Performance Identities of Lady Gaga: Critical Essays", Jennifer M. Santos believed by overpowering her captor, Gaga redefined gender roles and subverted male fantasies of "fetishistic scopophilia" and "sadistic voyeurism" as evident in the scene where Gaga is forced to strip almost naked and dance for her buyers.


title: Bad Romance

text: In 2011, "Bad Romance" won the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. In 2015, "Billboard" called the song "the Biggest Hot 100 Hit to Peak at No. 2", describing it as a "modern classic". A 2017 journal published by "Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts" studying structural patterns in the melodies of earworm songs compiled lists of catchiest tracks from 3,000participants, in which "Bad Romance" ranked number one. In 2021, "Rolling Stone" named "Bad Romance" one of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The following year, "Billboard" listed it as one of the "100 Best Karaoke Songs of All Time".


title: Bad Romance

text: Media outlets "Belfast Telegraph", "Rolling Stone", "Billboard", "The Guardian", "The Independent", "Vulture", "Uproxx" and "Glamour" ranked "Bad Romance" as Gaga's best song. For "Vulture", it defined the late 2000s and "completed her transformation into a truly fearless, all-encompassing artist". "Rolling Stone" believed the song epitomized the "essence of Gagaism" and "Billboard" opined it captured "her grandiose aesthetic, daring songwriting, lyrical flourishes and dramatic vocal flair". According to "Uproxx," the song had elements that influenced Gaga's later work—"pure pop melodies, nods to her love for '80s and '90s dance, pop culture references [...] a radio-friendly chorus that sticks on the charts like honey, and a hefty dose of 'WTF' weirdness that keeps the singer in her own lane". Author Constantine Chatzipapatheodoridis cited "Bad Romance" as one of the signature songs on "The Fame Monster", in which Gaga immersed in "her stylized profile of the 'mad artist, who challenged traditional gender norms and sexuality.


title: Bad Romance

text: In May 2010, "Bad Romance" became the first video to reach 200million views on YouTube, briefly becoming the most-viewed video there. In January 2019, the video reached 1 billion views. It received 10 nominations at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, including Best Art Direction, Best Special Effects and Best Cinematography, winning Video of the Year, Best Female Video, Best Pop Video, Best Dance Video, Best Direction, Best Editing and Best Choreography. It tied with Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer" for the record of most nominations for a single video in the history of the MTV Video Music Award. "Bad Romance" received the Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video. "Time" magazine included "Bad Romance" on its list of best music videos since the 1980s. Its author Claire Suddath said that even if Gaga's subsequent videos were more elaborate, "Bad Romance" was Gaga at her best.


title: Bad Romance

text: Writing about the impact of Gaga's 2011 song "Born This Way" in the 2010s, Stephen Daw of "Billboard" called the "Bad Romance" music video a "culture-breaking moment". In 2011, it was voted the best video of the 2000s by readers of "Billboard", narrowly beating Britney Spears's "Toxic". The magazine ranked it first in its list of 100 greatest music videos of the 21st century and credited it with establishing Gaga's fan base, known as Little Monsters. "It offered a glimpse into an entire cinematic world that thrilled and disturbed in equal measure, expanding the possibilities of what a music video could achieve — and challenging other stars to step their game up at the same time", wrote "Billboard" in its listing. "With 'Bad Romance,' she took the old standard for great music videos and set it aflame, then got to work building a new one." In 2021, "Rolling Stone Australia" listed it as one of the 100 greatest music videos of all time.


title: Bad Romance

text: Gaga first performed "Bad Romance" on "Saturday Night Live" in October 2009. She wore an outfit called "The Orb". She performed it on the television show "Gossip Girl" in the episode "The Last Days of Disco Stick", where she wore a long dress. In an interview with MTV, Gaga explained that she did not want the performance to be out of tune with the show's storyline, so she worked with the scriptwriters to incorporate it into the plot. Occurring at a private party arranged by the character Blair Waldorf, the episode features Gaga as she emerges from two giant doors and climbs up a ladder, which symbolizes bad luck.


title: Bad Romance

text: Gaga performed "Bad Romance" at the 2009 American Music Awards. She was dressed in a flesh-colored bodysuit wrapped with white piping and embedded with flashing lights, imitating rib cage and a spine. During her performance, she broke open a glass door with the microphone stand. Gaga sang the song on television shows, including "The Jay Leno Show" in November 2009, "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" in November 2009, "The X Factor" in December 2009, "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in January 2010, and "Today" in July 2010. In May 2011, she performed it at Radio 1's Big Weekend in Carlisle, Cumbria and "Good Morning America". For the latter, she entered the stage flying on a harness as steam billowed from center-stage. As the song started, she changed to red fishnet stockings with black felt pieces, a red leotard and black lace boots. Katie Kindelan of ABC News commented on Gaga's "trademark outrageous fashion".


title: Bad Romance

text: "Bad Romance" was the last song in the set list of Gaga's worldwide concert series, The Monster Ball Tour (2009–2011). On the early version of the show, she wore a 1980s-inspired white power suit with high shoulders and high-waisted pants. In the revamped 2010–2011 shows of the tour, she appeared on stage inside a gyroscope while wearing a mirrored dress and headpiece. Remarking on Gaga's "tremendous ambition and passion for her fans", Diana Benati of "The Riverfront Times" wrote, "Few people on this little blue marble have the ability or the opportunity to affect so many people on a daily basis. She stole[...] hearts". Gaga emerged from an egg for the performance of "Bad Romance" at the Born This Way Ball (2012–2013). Miguel Dumaual of ABS-CBNnews.com felt Gaga's performance "suffers from a little too much auto-dancing, -singing, and all-around hip gyrating". Gaga also performed the track on her 2014 tour in a rave-inspired outfit. The same year, she sang a country version of "Bad Romance" at South by Southwest, and strapped on a rose-covered keytar while performing the song at her residency show, Lady Gaga Live at Roseland Ballroom.


title: Bad Romance

text: In July2016, Gaga performed it in a piano medley along with "You and I" and the Beatles' "Come Together" at a concert at the BB&T Pavilion in Camden, New Jersey, which was part of the 2016 Democratic National Convention. In November2016, she appeared in the Carpool Karaoke segment of "The Late Late Show with James Corden", and sang the track in the car with its host. Gaga closed her set at the Super Bowl LI halftime show with "Bad Romance", wearing a silver, sequined Versace outfit with a shoulder pad-inspired jacket and hot pants. The song was performed alongside "Poker Face" as an encore during both weekends that Gaga headlined Coachella in 2017. On the Joanne World Tour (2017–2018), Gaga performed "Bad Romance" wearing a white origami-like jacket and a crystal embellished bodysuit with a matching white feathery masquerade mask and Giuseppe Zanotti booties. She did a piano rendition of the song at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival, before the world premiere of her documentary, "".


title: Bad Romance

text: Gaga sang "Bad Romance" during her residency show, Lady Gaga Enigma + Jazz & Piano (2018–2022), which was divided into two shows. On Enigma, she performed it in a champagne-hued gold outfit, and on Jazz & Piano, she did a stripped-down version. "Bad Romance" was the opening number for The Chromatica Ball, Gaga's 2022 stadium tour, where she performed it from inside a leather sarcophagus-type garment, preceded by Bach's "Fugue No. 24" as the intro, similarly to the song's music video. Nick Levine from "NME" opined that opening the concert with "Bad Romance", and her previous hit songs—"Poker Face" and "Just Dance"—showed that Gaga had "gumption" and the choice was "clever and daring".


title: Bad Romance

text: On March 29, 2010, Thirty Seconds to Mars covered the song in BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge, which reached number 11 on the UK Rock Chart. Singer Lissie posted a cover of the song on YouTube, which received praise from filmmaker David Lynch. The cast of the musical television series "Glee" performed it on an episode as a group number for which the actors donned Gaga outfits. The song reached number 54 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 in June 2010. At the 46th Annual Songwriters Hall of Fame Awards, Linda Perry sang the song in a slowed down rendition, before Tony Bennett presented the Contemporary Icon Award to Gaga. "Bad Romance" was briefly played on violin by Geoffrey Rush, portraying Albert Einstein in a promo for the National Geographic Channel historical anthology series "Genius". The ad aired during Super Bowl LI immediately after Gaga's halftime performance.


title: Garter snake

text: Garter snake is a common name for generally harmless, small to medium-sized snakes belonging to the genus Thamnophis in the family Colubridae. Native to North and Central America, species in the genus "Thamnophis" can be found from the subarctic plains of Canada to Costa Rica.


title: Garter snake

text: With about 35 recognized species and subspecies, garter snakes are highly variable in appearance. They generally have large round eyes, round pupils, a slender build, keeled scales, and a pattern of longitudinal stripes that may or may not include spots (although some have no stripes at all). They also vary significantly in total length from as short as 18″ to as long as 51" (45-130cm).


title: Garter snake

text: With no real consensus on the classification of species of "Thamnophis", disagreement between taxonomists and sources such as field guides over whether two types of snakes are separate species or subspecies of the same species is common. Garter snakes are closely related to the genus "Nerodia" (water snakes), with some species having been moved back and forth between genera.


title: Garter snake

text: The first garter snake to be scientifically described was the eastern garter snake (now "Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis"), by zoologist and taxonomist Carl Linnaeus in 1758. The genus "Thamnophis" was described by Leopold Fitzinger in 1843 as the genus for the garter snakes and ribbon snakes. Many snakes previously identified as their own genera or species have been reclassified as species or subspecies in "Thamnophis". There are currently 35 species in the genus, with several subspecies in some of them.


title: Garter snake

text: Garter snakes are present throughout most of North America. Their wide distribution is due to their varied diets and adaptability to different habitats, with varying proximity to water. However in the western part of North America these snakes are more aquatic than in the eastern portion. Garter snakes live in a variety of habitats, including forests, woodlands, fields, grasslands and lawns, but never far from water, often an adjacent wetland, stream or pond. This reflects the fact that amphibians are a large part of their diet. Garter snakes are often found near small ponds with tall weeds.


title: Garter snake

text: Garter snakes have complex systems of pheromonal communication. They can find other snakes by following their pheromone-scented trails. Male and female skin pheromones are so different as to be immediately distinguishable. However, male garter snakes sometimes produce both male and female pheromones. During the mating season, this ability fools other males into attempting to mate with them. This causes the transfer of heat to them in kleptothermy, which is an advantage immediately after hibernation, allowing them to become more active. Male snakes giving off both male and female pheromones have been shown to garner more copulations than normal males in the mating balls that form at the den when females enter the mating melee. A snake hatch can include as many as 57 young.


title: Garter snake

text: Garter snakes use the vomeronasal organ to communicate via pheromones through the tongue flicking behavior which gathers chemical cues in the environment. Upon entering the lumen of the organ, the chemical molecules will come into contact with the sensory cells which are attached to the neurosensory epithelium of the vomeronasal organ.


title: Garter snake

text: If disturbed a garter snake may coil and strike but typically it will hide its head and flail its tail. These snakes will also discharge a malodorous, musky-scented secretion from a gland near the cloaca. They often use these techniques to escape when ensnared by a predator. They will also slither into the water to escape a predator on land. Hawks, crows, egrets, herons, cranes, raccoons, otters and other snake species (such as coral snakes and kingsnakes) will eat garter snakes, with even shrews and frogs eating the juveniles.


title: Garter snake

text: Being heterothermic, like all reptiles, garter snakes bask in the sun to regulate their body temperature. During brumation (the reptile equivalent of hibernation) garter snakes typically occupy large communal sites called hibernacula. These snakes will migrate large distances to brumate.


title: Garter snake

text: Garter snakes, like all snakes, are carnivorous. Their diet consists of almost any creature they are capable of overpowering: slugs, earthworms (nightcrawlers, as red wigglers are toxic to garter snakes), leeches, lizards, amphibians (including frog eggs), minnows, and rodents. When living near water they will eat other aquatic animals. The ribbon snake ("Thamnophis sauritus") in particular favors frogs (including tadpoles), readily eating them despite their strong chemical defenses. Food is swallowed whole. Garter snakes often adapt to eating whatever they can find and whenever they can find it because food can be either scarce or abundant. Although they feed mostly on live animals they will sometimes eat eggs.


title: Garter snake

text: Garter snakes were long thought to be non-venomous but discoveries in the early 2000s revealed that they in fact produce a neurotoxic venom. Despite this, garter snakes cannot seriously injure or kill humans with the small amounts of comparatively mild venom they produce and they also lack an effective means of delivering it. In a few cases some swelling and bruising have been reported. They do have enlarged teeth in the back of their mouth but their gums are significantly larger and the secretions of their Duvernoy's gland are only mildly toxic.


title: Garter snake

text: Evidence suggests that garter snake and newt populations share an evolutionary link in their levels of tetrodotoxin resistance, implying co-evolution between predator and prey. Garter snakes feeding on toxic newts can also retain those toxins in their liver for weeks, making those snakes poisonous as well as venomous.


title: Garter snake

text: Despite the decline in their population from collection as pets (especially in the more northerly regions, in which large groups are collected at hibernation), pollution of aquatic areas, and the introduction of American bullfrogs as potential predators, garter snakes are still some of the most commonly found reptiles in much of their ranges. The San Francisco garter snake ("Thamnophis sirtalis tetrataenia"), however, has been on the endangered list since 1969. Predation by crayfish has also been responsible for the decline of the narrow-headed garter snake ("Thamnophis rufipunctatus"). Many breeders have bred all species of garter snakes, making it a popular breed.


title: Garter snake

text: In the above list, a binomial authority or a trinomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species or subspecies was originally described in a genus other than "Thamnophis".


title: Nissan Altima

text: The Nissan Altima is a mid-size car that has been manufactured by Nissan since 1992. It is a continuation of the Nissan Bluebird line, which began in 1955.


title: Nissan Altima

text: The Altima has historically been larger, more powerful, and more luxurious than the Nissan Sentra but less so than the Nissan Maxima. The first through fourth generation cars were manufactured exclusively in the United States and officially sold in North and South America, along with the Middle East and Australia. For other markets, Nissan sold a related mid-size sedan called the Nissan Teana which was between the Altima and Maxima in terms of size. In 2013, the Teana became a rebadged version of the fifth generation Altima.


title: Nissan Altima

text: The name "Altima" was originally applied to a top trim line of the Nissan Leopard for the Japanese market in 1986, and then to the Nissan Laurel mid-size car sold in Central America and the Caribbean before 1992. In 1992, Nissan discontinued the Stanza which was a Nissan Bluebird clone, replacing it with the US-built Altima, while remaining a compact car. The first Altima was produced in June 1992, as a 1993 model. All Altima models for the North American market were built in Smyrna, Tennessee, until June 2004, when Nissan's Canton, Mississippi, plant also began producing the model to meet high demand.


title: Nissan Altima

text: Like the Stanza before it, the original Altima was the export version of the Nissan Bluebird SSS (chassis model U13), though its original styling hailed from Nissan's California design group (Blue Studio under Allan Flowers) in 1989. Initially, the car's official name was "Stanza Altima," which appears on the early owners manuals. 1993 models can be seen with a sticker reading "Stanza" in small lettering to the right of the ALTIMA emblem on the trunk lid.


title: Nissan Altima

text: All Altima models used Nissan's KA24DE straight-4 DOHC engine mated to a 5-speed manual or 4-speed automatic (acceleration performance: 9.4 seconds 0–60 mph (0–100 km/h) with automatic and 8.2 with manual). (By contrast, the Japanese top trim package Bluebird SSS could be had with Nissan's SR20DET engine and all-wheel-drive.) Suspension was composed of struts with stabilizer bars at both ends and was noted for providing sporty, satisfying handling (plus a firm ride and moderate road noise); all wheels were 15-inches. Being one of the bigger compact cars, the Altima could seat four adults fairly comfortably, though its body was too narrow for five. Trim lines consisted of the stripped XE, mid-line GXE, sporty SE, and luxury GLE. Some options included a gold emblem package, molded mud guards, and a pin stripe. All models had small cup holders under the radio and a small glovebox which were improved in the 1998 redesign.


title: Nissan Altima

text: The base XE (rare) had manual windows. The mid-line GXE had power windows, a power retracting antenna, pass thru rear armrest, a digital clock in dash (became optional on 1995 models), and color matched plastic speaker grilles for the rear 6-inch speakers. The XE and GXE models only had the fixed intermittent wiper switch.


title: Nissan Altima

text: In addition to the GXE features, the SE had a stiffer suspension, fog lights, 3 leg mount rear spoiler (1993 models with a clear LED brake light), side skirts (no upper side moldings), and sport seats (plus a standard sunroof in 1994–1995). It also had 4-wheel disc brakes, which came on the other trim lines when antilock brakes were ordered.


title: Nissan Altima

text: The GLE's enhancements included a digital automotive head-up display (1993 and 1994 only), which displayed speed in MPH or KM/H, turn signals, and various warning lights on a unique mirrored patch made into the windshield. The 1989 to 1994 Maxima and 240SX had similar technology but only showed speed. Other features included a coin holder built into the fuse panel cover (1993 and 1994 only), adjustable lumbar support on the front seats, automatic digital climate control, keyless entry with alarm (optional), floor mats, color matched side mirrors, cornering lights, sunroof, and a higher-powered six-speaker cassette/CD stereo which included 6X9 rear speakers with black metal "active speaker" grilles, metal color matched "active speaker" grilles for the front door speakers (1993 and 1994 only), and a pair of A pillar tweeters all powered by two factory amps mounted underneath the rear deck. For 1997 it gave up all of the above in exchange for standard leather (previously optional). All SE and GLE models had alloy wheels and variable intermittent wipers.


title: Nissan Altima

text: 1993 Altimas came with a rosewood colored dash trim and a driver's side airbag coupled with automatic shoulder belts (the center console was slimmer to accommodate the lap belts). The 1994 Altima gained a darker burl wood dash trim, a flush mount passenger airbag and regular seat belts. 1993 and 1994 models came with chrome inner door handles standard with an auto door lock/unlock feature on the passenger side. For 1995, the inner door handles were changed to color matched plastic, and a plug replaced where the passenger auto door lock/unlock feature was. 1993 and 1994 models also had a slim armrest lid, however, if an optional leather armrest was selected, it brought the height up to about . For 1995, all the armrest lids were thicker and about tall. The 1995 model year (introduced 1994) also brought a new venetian blind-like grille, new taillights (red and clear), and a new 2 leg mount spoiler with a red LED brake light for the SE. Some other changes included the removal of the rear speaker grilles for a flat rear deck, a cheaper cloth interior, a plastic cover replacing the rear ashtray, and the digital in dash clock was now optional. A 1995.5 model, entering production March 3, 1995, introduced a raised-mount passenger airbag with a new inflator. 1996 brought new wheel covers for base models. During the 1997 model year the GXE gained a new "Limited Edition" package including alloy wheels, keyless entry, alarm, floor mats, and a Limited Edition sticker on each side near the front wheels. The majority of final-year Altima models were dubbed "1997.5" models, signifying the added crash protection necessary to meet 1997 side-impact standards.


title: Nissan Altima

text: The second generation (chassis model L30) was an American market-only version, again styled by Nissan's California design center under Doug Wilson through 1994 (design freeze in 1995). A new interior (by Diane Allen) brought a revised glove box and cup holders, a folding back seat (except on XE), and depowered airbags. The Japanese domestic market Bluebird U14 has different front and rear ends, and slightly narrower width dimensions to comply with Japanese government dimension regulations.


title: Nissan Altima

text: While total volume remained identical at , most felt it was distributed better and resulted in a slightly roomier-feeling cabin. On the downside, many were let down by the new model's plainer styling and cheapened interior; some also felt the gas pedal was now too lightly sprung.


title: Nissan Altima

text: Trim lines were the stripped XE, volume-selling GXE, sporty SE, and luxury-trimmed GLE. The SE can be distinguished by its body-color grille, fog lights, rear spoiler, alloy wheels, and white-faced gauges. In this generation of Altima, all GLEs had leather seats standard.


title: Nissan Altima

text: For 1999, the uplevel cassette/CD stereo got a new faceplate, GXE and SE models gained variable intermittent wipers, and GLEs gained standard alloy wheels.


title: Nissan Altima

text: The majority of changes came for the 2000 model year. The engine increased in power from 150 to 160 horsepower with 4-way sparks, while it also improved the 0–60 mph time from 8.7 to 8.4 seconds. Gearing and final drive ratios were shortened on both transmissions, stabilizer bars were thickened, and the steering was firmed up. SE and GLE models also upgraded to 16-inch wheels with lower-profile tires, new Monroe struts with "acceleration-sensitive strut valving", and a front strut tower brace for sportier handling (all optional on GXE).


title: Nissan Altima

text: The Altima grew slightly longer and got a deeper front grille, one-piece headlamps with integrated turn signals and standard low-speed cornering lamps, all-red taillights, and plastic trim on the deck lid. Inside were new front seats with a driver's height adjuster, cup holders for the rear seat (automatic transmission models only), revised seat cloth, a new instrument panel with digital odometer, a new rear window antenna, and the keyless entry fob now included a trunk release. Side airbags were newly standard on GLE and available on GXE and SE. For 2001, the Altima GXE again gained a Limited Edition package: power driver's seat, keyless entry with alarm and floor mats.


title: Nissan Altima

text: The third-generation Altima (chassis model L31) debuted for the 2002 model year. It was the first mass-market product built on Nissan's new FF-L platform, which was unique to North America and had no equivalent model in Japan. The Asian Nissan Teana is similar but not quite identical, designed for Asian market requirements; all three model lines shared the same platform. The Altima grew significantly for this generation, as interior volume expanded to . The Altima's interior dimensions even surpassed that of the higher-end 2000-03 Maxima, so the 2004 Maxima was moved more upscale into the full-size bracket. Also biggest in class was the Altima's fuel tank. Additionally, the Altima upgraded its rear suspension to a multi-link type and its brakes to 4-wheel discs. This was the first generation to offer a V6 engine.


title: Nissan Altima

text: 2003–2004 models received two tone dash color, and the 3.5 SE received an upgrade in horsepower, from to , though torque stayed the same at . 2002–2004 models with manual gearbox were the lightest of the V6 (4DR) cars. The 2.5-liter 4-cylinder engine accelerated the sedan from 0–60 mph (97 km/h) in 8.6 seconds.


title: Nissan Altima

text: The 2005 Nissan Altima received a facelift, including a new front grille, all-red tail lights, redesigned interior, and an optional DVD-based navigation system. The V6 was now rated at with torque rated at , and a 0–60 mph (97 km/h) time of 6.2 seconds utilizing the 5-speed automatic transmission. Also new was the SE-R model with a and of torque version of the V6, a 6-speed manual transmission (automatic still optional), upgraded brakes, 18-inch wheels, a suspension even stiffer than that of the 3.5 SE's, and a high-flow exhaust. "Car and Driver" tested the SE-R resulting in 0–60 mph (97 km/h) in 6.1 seconds. "MotorWeek" episode #2432 tested an SE-R equipped with an automatic transmission that produced a 0–60 mph time of 5.8 seconds.


title: Nissan Altima

text: The third-generation Altima was well received by the press, with many critics praising the new style and extra space, being one of the most powerful and best-handling family sedans available. As the Altima offered the performance and space of the upper-market Maxima in a less expensive car, this significantly reduced Maxima sales but made Nissan competitive in the mid-size segment for the first time. While previous iterations received decent reviews, the third-generation Altima was the first to enjoy considerable success, and it was credited with a turnaround of Nissan's operations from debt-ridden to among the industry's most profitable.


title: Nissan Altima

text: Most of the criticism centered on the interior found in the 2002–2004 models, which was cited for using hard and brittle plastics. Some also found the steering too light and or abrupt, and the turning circle too wide due to its elongated wheelbase.


title: Nissan Altima

text: The 2002 2.5L Altimas had major excessive oil consumption issues causing potential catastrophic engine failures. Some cases were because of owner neglect and other cases involved the catalytic converter failing, forcing foreign objects back into the exhaust manifold. Most reports were received after the vehicle is beyond 100,000 miles and more than eight years old (beyond any warranties) and most of the reports had only to do with the 2002–2003 model ranges.


title: Nissan Altima

text: In April 2015 a class action lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on behalf of all Nissan Altima owners of 2002 through 2006 model years. The lawsuit originally alleged that Nissan manufactured those model years with defective floorboards on both the driver and passenger side of the vehicle but was dismissed by a judge in January 2016. The resulting premature rust was extensive and generally happened out of warranty. The real cause was that the front mudguards were not high enough and there was no stoneguard applied to the metal plates underneath the vehicle. Other car makes from other car manufacturers have also experienced the same problem to a lesser extent. Nissan changed the design of the floorboards for the 4th generation and thus the problem did not reoccur again from MY2007 onwards.


title: Nissan Altima

text: The fourth generation Nissan Altima (chassis model L32A) was announced at the 2006 New York International Auto Show on April 12, 2006. It was the first vehicle to use the smaller Nissan D platform, with a new front and upgraded rear suspension. The wheelbase is shorter than the third generation Altima, but interior space was mostly unchanged. The Maxima and Murano also used this new platform starting with the 2009 models. As with the previous generation, it shares much of its mechanicals and platform with the Nissan Teana which is built for different market conditions in Asia.


title: Nissan Altima

text: The fourth generation Altima used revised versions of the engines from the third generation model. The VQ35DE 3.5 L V6 engine produces and of torque, and the QR25DE 2.5 L straight-four engine produces and of torque. A 6-speed manual is standard, and a continuously variable transmission replaced the traditional automatic as the optional transmission.


title: Nissan Altima

text: This generation Altima came packaged with, for its time, new technology such as a standard Smart Key (referred to as the "Nissan Intelligent Key"), along with available Bluetooth capability for cell phones, and a parking camera. The dashboard was designed with larger buttons for easy readability and a total of eight cup holders, two in front of the center console, two in the rear armrest, and one 20-ounce cup holder in each door. Several hidden compartments were added as well as doubling the glove compartment space to . For 2008, all Altima models received ABS with electronic brake-force distribution.


title: Nissan Altima

text: For 2008, a new base model, named the 2.5, became available as a more affordable version by offering less equipment.


title: Nissan Altima

text: In 2009 for the 2010 model year, the Nissan Altima was facelifted with a new front fascia, hood, and headlights, as well as new wheels and interior materials. Electronic stability control, previously only offered as part of an option package on V6 models and unavailable with 4-cylinder engines, is now standard on all Altima trims including 4 cylinder models. The CVT had been made standard by this point for all trims; the manual was dropped for the 2011 model year. However, the SR (formerly the SE) could still be had with a 6-speed manual (though this was for customer order only).


title: Nissan Altima

text: The coupe version of the Nissan Altima (codename D32) was officially revealed at the 2006 Los Angeles Auto Show, Nissan's first-ever two-door Altima. It had a shorter wheelbase, shorter overall length and lower height than the Altima Sedan. It was released on May 25, 2007, as a 2008 model.


title: Nissan Altima

text: The 2008 Altima Coupe was available with two engines: the same updated VQ35DE in the sedan, a 3.5-liter 24-valve DOHC V6 or the QR25DE, a 2.5-liter DOHC 16-valve inline 4-cylinder.


title: Nissan Altima

text: Like the sedan, the Altima Coupe received a facelift for 2010 which included a redesigned front end, hood and grille, new projector beam headlights, and the Altima Coupe 2.5 S model came standard with 17" × 7.5" 5-split spoke aluminum alloy wheels, along with P215/55TR17 all-season tires instead of the 16" steel wheels provided in the former. The SE model was renamed SR and came standard with 18" × 8.0" 5-split-spoke aluminum-alloy wheels, and there was a revision to the fabric and trim pieces in the interior. The 2010 models came with Nissan's Vehicle Dynamic Control as standard equipment, which was previously a $600 stand-alone option. A new premium Bose audio system with a 4.3-inch color display and Nissan's next generation navigation system with a 6.5-inch color display with an internal hard drive providing 9.3 GB of music storage and USB connectivity was also included with the refresh. Azure Blue was replaced by Navy Blue and there were two additional colors: Crimson Black and Ocean Gray.


title: Nissan Altima

text: For the 2013 model year (Generation 5), the 3.5 SR trim level was dropped completely for the coupe, meaning that for this particular model year, only the sedan was available with a 3.5 L V6, and 2013 is the last model year for the Altima Coupe, while the sedan gets redesigned for the 2013 model year and continues production for future model years. This model year also included the first, standard equipped, NASA inspired "zero gravity" front row seating. These seats use research from the U.S. space and aeronautics agency to reduce muscle fatigue in drivers. Zero Gravity seating is now available in the 2015 and 2016 Rogue, 2015 Altima, 2015 Murano, 2016 Maxima, and 2016 Titan.


title: Nissan Altima

text: The Altima Hybrid was Nissan's first hybrid car, first introduced in February 2007 and discontinued in the 2011 model year. In the U.S. it was only available in 10 states that followed California's strict energy laws (California, Oregon, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont), and was also available in Canada. Its hybrid-drive system was licensed from Toyota's hybrid technology; the company asserted that subsequent hybrid models would be based on hybrid technology developed in-house. Up to 40,000 per year were to be built at Nissan's Smyrna plant. The Altima Hybrid was also used as a regular taxi vehicle and as a police cruiser with the New York City Police Department until it was discontinued.


title: Nissan Altima

text: The Hybrid featured a 2.5 L "QR25DE" engine producing and of torque, and CVT. The electric motor/generator put out an additional 40 horsepower putting out max power of , and . Its fuel efficiency was city and highway, based on revised EPA measures for fuel economy ratings. After the 2011 model year Nissan discontinued the Altima Hybrid due to poor sales.


title: Nissan Altima

text: Features on the Hybrid were identical to that of the gasoline-only 2.5 S trim, and additional packages were also available, including a package that added leather-trimmed seating surfaces. The Hybrid also included the aluminum-alloy wheels that were otherwise optional on the 2.5 S.


title: Nissan Altima

text: A redesigned Altima debuted at the 2012 New York International Auto Show for the 2013 model year, and went on sale in the summer of 2012. The exterior design took cues from the Ellure Concept previewed in 2010.


title: Nissan Altima

text: It continued to offer a base 4-cylinder engine with a 3.5-liter V6 as the range topper. Specifications for the "QR25DE" 2.5-liter 16-valve DOHC inline-four engine are and , while the "VQ35DE" 3.5-liter 24-valve DOHC V6 remains and . Nissan estimates the 2.5-liter fuel economy to be 27 city/38 hwy and the 3.5-liter V6 at 22 city/30 hwy thanks to its refined CVT that has been lightened by 8 lbs. Most of the major mechanical components of this generation Altima are carried over. Much of the exterior styling seems to draw familiar traits from the Nissan Maxima. For the first time, a manual transmission is not available.


title: Nissan Altima

text: Despite the larger size of the Altima compared to the previous model, the new Altima weighs about 120 pounds less. The Altima continues to be the lightest midsize sedan in its class; this is mostly due to its efficient use of high strength steel and aluminum in areas such as the trunk, hood, and roof. The front end shares the same new corporate grille as the 2012 Versa with more angular headlights than the Versa's rounded ones. It draws many styling influences from "coke bottle styling", an appearance that was popular during the 1960s and 1970s, a return to an appearance Nissan used during that time.


title: Nissan Altima

text: In the US, Nissan offers the L33 Altima in five different trims; 2.5, 2.5 S, 2.5 SV, 2.5 SL, and 3.5 SL. 3.5 S and 3.5 SV were discontinued for the 2015 model year. Alongside the L33 Altima sedan, the previous-generation L32 Altima coupe will continue on sale. The coupe will only be offered with the "QR25DE" 2.5-Liter four-cylinder rated at and of torque mated with a CVT. The 6-speed manual transmission is no longer available in the Altima Sedan due to slow sales. The SL model, which was once an equipment package for the Altima 2.5 S, is now a separate model.


title: Nissan Altima

text: Production started in late May 2012 and the car went on sale in June in the United States, and August of the same year in Canada. The Altima will also be on sale in various other markets (existing or new), particularly the Middle East where it replaces the fourth generation L32A models, and the Australian market for the first time, replacing the Nissan Maxima J32 (Teana). The L33 Altima was discontinued in Australia and New Zealand on 5 April 2017, alongside the B17 Sylphy-based Pulsar sedan.


title: Nissan Altima

text: The Nissan Altima Coupe was discontinued due to slow sales after the 2013 model year, which means Nissan will only focus on the sedan model for the Altima while the hybrid and coupe are discontinued.


title: Nissan Altima

text: The third generation Nissan Teana was introduced to Japan as a rebadged version of the North American Altima. In Japan, the Teana is offered in 2.5L engine with three different trims; XV, XL and XE.


title: Nissan Altima

text: In Thailand, the L33 Teana was debuted in August 2013 where it was available with either a 2.0L engine with three variants, XE, XL and XL Navi or a 2.5L engine with two variants, XV and XV Navi. Five years latter, the L33 Teana in Thailand received the front end of the facelifted Altima. Variants was also streamlined down to just three: 2.0XL, 2.0XL Navi and 2.5XV Navi.


title: Nissan Altima

text: In Malaysia, the L33 Teana was launched in June 2014 where it is available with either a 2.0L or a 2.5L engines. Three variants were available which was the 2.0XE, 2.0XL and 2.5XV. In December 2016, two optional accessories packages became available: Nismo Aero Package and Nismo Performance Package. The Nismo Aero Package added front bumper soilers, rear bumper spoilers, side skirts, trunk lid spoiler and exhaust finisher. The Nismo Performance Package added all that with the Nismo Aero Package in addition to Nismo sport springs and Nismo LMX6 18-inch alloy wheels. The L33 Teana has since been discontinued in Malaysia.


title: Nissan Altima

text: In China, a longer wheelbase luxury Teana is sold as the "Teana VIP" and bears VIP logos stitched into the seats and a "VIP" badge on the trunk lid. The Teana VIP has an extended backseat door and wheelbase (+75/+125mm), and is equipped with a 9-speaker Bose surround system, rear-passenger controls and rear-passenger video screens.


title: Nissan Altima

text: Nissan India has discontinued its Teana D-segment sedan as the Teana failed to generate volumes for the carmaker in India in 2014. The company has also removed the saloon from its official website.


title: Nissan Altima

text: In the US, the 2016 model year received a thorough facelift including new front and rear bumpers, headlamps and tail lamps, reshaped Zero Gravity front seats, steering wheel and central console. The car was built with new cabin silencing materials, and new sound-reducing windshield. A new SR trim level was also introduced. The 3.5 SR was dropped for the 2018 model year, leaving the 2.5 SR as the only available SR trim level.


title: Nissan Altima

text: For 2018, the 2.5 SR trim level in the US received two new "Special Edition" packages, which are the 2.5 SR Special Edition and the 2.5 SR Midnight Edition.


title: Nissan Altima

text: Also for 2018, the previously-base 2.5 trim was discontinued, which now meant that the 2.5 S became the new "base" trim of the Altima. The NissanConnect Infotainment System is revised, adding in standard Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity and a redesigned user interface.


title: Nissan Altima

text: The facelifted Teana was launched in China in July 2016 and in Thailand in November 2018. The Thai-market facelifted Teana retained the pre-facelift Teana rear end.


title: Nissan Altima

text: In a 2012 comparison test by "Motor Trend" in the US, the Nissan Altima 2.5 SV came in fourth place out of six cars behind the first place Volkswagen Passat, second place Honda Accord, and third place Ford Fusion.


title: Nissan Altima

text: This was followed by a third place showing in a comparison done by the "Car and Driver" team. This was a series of three comparison tests involving mid-size sedans. In this particular test, four cars were tested. It consisted of the all new Ford Fusion and Honda Accord as well as the Nissan Altima. The Volkswagen Passat is included in the test as it won the first round of mid-sized sedan comparison. In that round, it won decisively against the Chevrolet Malibu, Toyota Camry, Hyundai Sonata and Kia Optima.


title: Nissan Altima

text: However, the Passat only managed last in the 2nd round being led by the Altima (3rd), Fusion (2nd) and the Accord (1st).


title: Nissan Altima

text: More recently, in a comparison test conducted by Edmunds.com, the Nissan Altima beat out the Honda Accord and the Mazda6 to win 1st place. It is stated that the Altima is good in almost everything with only minor deficiencies. It drives well, entertaining on twisty roads, has comfortable seats and remains quiet on highways. It is the least expensive but doesn't feel like it. The mileage figures only adds to its high appeal.


title: Nissan Altima

text: Since its launch, the Altima has accumulated several accolades including being named to Kelley Blue Book's Top 10 best new sedans under $25,000, Kiplinger's Personal Finance best new model in class and Edmund's top recommended sedans.


title: Nissan Altima

text: In 2012, Kelly Racing announced that it would enter four custom Nissan Altima race cars into the 2013 International V8 Supercars Championship. The car was revealed in October 2012 and was the first car to be homologated for the "New Generation V8 Supercar" regulations, which were to be used in the V8 Supercars Championship from 2013 onwards. It was the first time Nissan had raced in the series since 1992, when Nissan's Skyline GT-R was forced out of racing due to regulation changes. The team has scored three race wins since moving to Nissan, with James Moffat in 2013, Michael Caruso in 2016 and Rick Kelly in 2018. Moffat and co-driver Taz Douglas finished on the podium at the 2014 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000, and the team has taken numerous other podium finishes.


title: Nissan Altima

text: The sixth-generation Altima debuted at the 2018 New York International Auto Show in March for the North American market, and in December 2018 for the Chinese market. Its design was previously previewed by the Nissan Vmotion 2.0 Concept, which was first showcased at the 2017 North American International Auto Show in January.


title: Nissan Altima

text: The sixth-generation Altima is available with a 2.5-liter naturally aspirated direct injected four-cylinder engine, with available all-wheel drive, or a 2.0-liter variable compression turbocharged four-cylinder engine (available for SR and Platinum models) that replaces the V6 powertrain in the previous generation. It is the world's first production ready variable compression turbo engine. All engines are mated to a continuous variable transmission. CVT is the only available transmission option available.


title: Nissan Altima

text: The sixth generation Altima is equipped with Pro-Pilot Assist, Nissan Intelligent Around View Monitor, Automatic Emergency Braking with Pedestrian Detection System and Intelligent Lane Intervention. The car arrived at dealerships in the US in October 2018 and in Mexican Nissan dealerships in May 2019. In the US, the Altima is offered in five trim levels: S, SR, SV, SL, and Platinum. The base engine is available with all-wheel drive, the first for an Altima. An Edition One Special Edition model was offered exclusively to buyers who chose to pre-order their all-new Altima.


title: Nissan Altima

text: It began production in Nissan's Smyrna plant on August 24, 2018, and in Canton, Mississippi, on September 27, 2018.


title: Nissan Altima

text: The facelifted Altima was unveiled on June 9, 2022 for the 2023 model year for the North American market. It features a redesigned front fascia with newly standard LED headlights and the automaker's new logo. The Platinum trim was discontinued and has been renamed SL.


title: Nissan Altima

text: The interior of the Altima gets a new 12.3-inch touchscreen that's standard on the SL and SR VC-Turbo and optional for the SV. It replaces the previous 8-inch option and adds wireless Apple CarPlay in the process (Android Auto still requires a wired connection). A wireless charging pad and Wi-Fi hotspot are available options as well. There are new standard safety gear includes automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, rear automatic braking, lane departure warning, blind spot warning, rear cross traffic alert, and high-beam assist.


title: Nissan Altima

text: In China, the Altima received a separate refreshed exterior design for the 2022 facelift. The Chinese market Altima also received a refreshed interior design. It was introduced in August 2022.


title: Nissan Altima

text: NY Daily News gave a 161/190 points score and an overall rating of 8.5 points to the vehicle; saying that "The new Altima is better looking, better equipped, more technologically advanced, and more enjoyable to drive".


title: Nissan Altima

text: About a third of Nissan Altima's sales in the U.S. went to rental fleets. High percentage of fleet sales is found to hit both used-car values and brand image negatively.


title: Abdul Rashid Dostum

text: Abdul Rashid Dostum ( ; ; Uzbek Latin: , Uzbek Cyrillic: , ; born 25 March 1954) is an Afghan exiled politician, former Marshal in the Afghan National Army, founder and leader of the political party Junbish-e Milli. Dostum was a major army commander in the communist government during the Soviet–Afghan War, and in 2001 was the key indigenous ally to US Special Forces and the CIA during the campaign to topple the Taliban government. He is one of the most powerful and notorious warlords since the beginning of the Afghan wars, known for siding with winners during different wars.


title: Abdul Rashid Dostum

text: Born into an ethnic Uzbek peasant family in Jawzjan Province, Dostum joined the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) as a teenager before enlisting in the Afghan National Army and training as a paratrooper, serving in his native region around Sheberghan. Soon with the start of the Soviet–Afghan War, Dostum commanded a KHAD militia and eventually gained a reputation, often defeating mujahideen commanders in northern Afghanistan and even persuading some to defect to the communist cause. Much of the country's north was in strong government control as a result. He achieved several promotions in the army and was honored as a "Hero of Afghanistan" by President Mohammed Najibullah in 1988. By this time he was commanding up to 45,000 troops in the region under his responsibility.


title: Abdul Rashid Dostum

text: Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Dostum played a central role in the collapse of Najibullah's government by "defecting" to the mujahideen; the division-sized loyal forces he commanded in the north became an independent paramilitary of his newly founded party called Junbish-e Milli. He allied with Ahmad Shah Massoud and together they captured Kabul, before another civil war loomed. Initially supporting the new government of Burhanuddin Rabbani, he switched sides in 1994 by allying with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, but he backed Rabbani again by 1996. During this time he remained in control of the country's north which functioned as a relatively stable proto-state, but remained a loose partner of Massoud in the Northern Alliance. A year later, Mazar-i-Sharif was overrun by his former aide Abdul Malik Pahlawan, resulting in a battle in which he regained control. In 1998, the city was overrun by the Taliban and Dostum fled the country until returning to Afghanistan in 2001, joining the Northern Alliance forces after the US invasion and leading his loyal faction in the Fall of Mazar-i-Sharif.


title: Abdul Rashid Dostum

text: After the fall of the Taliban, he joined interim president Hamid Karzai's administration as Deputy Defense Minister and later served as chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Afghan Army, a role often viewed as ceremonial. His militia feuded with forces loyal to general Atta Muhammad Nur. Dostum was a candidate in the 2004 elections, and was an ally of victorious Karzai in the 2009 elections. From 2011, he was part of the leadership council of the National Front of Afghanistan along with Ahmad Zia Massoud and Mohammad Mohaqiq. He served as Vice President of Afghanistan in Ashraf Ghani's administration from 2014 to 2020. In 2020 he promoted to marshal rank in after a political agreement between Ghani and former Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah.


title: Abdul Rashid Dostum

text: Dostum is a controversial figure in Afghanistan. He is seen as a capable and fierce military leader and remains wildly popular among the Uzbek community in the country; Many of his supporters call him "Pasha" (پاشا), an honorable Uzbek/Turkic term. However he has also been widely accused of committing atrocities and war crimes, most notoriously the suffocation of up to 1,000 Taliban fighters in the Dasht-i-Leili massacre and he was widely feared among the populace. In 2018, the International Criminal Court (ICC) was reported to be considering launching an inquiry into whether Dostum had engaged in war crimes in Afghanistan.


title: Abdul Rashid Dostum

text: Dostum was born in 1954 in Khwaja Du Koh near Sheberghan in Jowzjan Province, Afghanistan. Coming from an impoverished Uzbek family, he received a very basic traditional education as he was forced to drop out of school at a young age. From there, he took up work in the village's major gas fields.


title: Abdul Rashid Dostum

text: Dostum began working in 1970 in a state-owned gas refinery in Sheberghan, participating in union politics, as the new government started to arm the staff of the workers in the oil and gas refineries. The reason for this was to create "groups for the defense of the revolution". Because of the new communist ideas entering Afghanistan in the 1970s, he enlisted in the Afghan National Army in 1978. Dostum received his basic military training in Jalalabad. His squadron was deployed in the rural areas around Sheberghan, under the auspices of the Ministry of National Security.


title: Abdul Rashid Dostum

text: As a Parcham member of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA), he was exiled by the purge of the party's Khalqist leaders, living in Peshawar, Pakistan for a while. After the Soviet invasion (Operation Storm-333) and installation of Babrak Karmal as head of state, Dostum returned to Afghanistan where he started commanding a local pro-government militia in his native Jawzjan Province.