Lexx (also known as LEXX: The Dark Zone Stories and Tales from a Parallel Universe) is a science fiction television series created by Lex Gigeroff and brothers Paul and Michael Donovan. It originally aired on April 18, 1997, on Canada's Citytv as four made-for-TV movies. Beginning with season two, the format changed to a traditional TV series with each episode running 45 minutes long. The series follows a group of mismatched individuals aboard the organic spacecraft Lexx as they travel through two universes and encounter planets, including a parody of Earth. The narrative includes irony, parody, and sex comedy, and explores ideas of fatalism, reincarnation, the afterlife, and the paradigm of good and evil.

The series is a Canadian and German co-production with some additional funding from Channel 5. Sci Fi Channel purchased the series from Salter Street Films and began airing episodes from seasons one and two (the former under the name Tales From a Parallel Universe) for the United States audience in January 2000. Lexx was co-produced by Salter Street Films, later absorbed by Alliance Atlantis. In Canada, Lexx aired on the Alliance Atlantis-owned Showcase network. Lexx was primarily filmed in Canada and Germany, with additional filming on location in Iceland, Thailand, Namibia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the British Virgin Islands.

Lexx had very different tones throughout its run. While the original TV movies and the second season were mostly science fiction drama with dark comedy, season three was more serious and explored themes of life, death, and reincarnation. The show's final season – set on Earth in the early 2000s – took many turns into pure farce and introduced magic and other new elements. The series has garnered a cult following.

Plot
The main characters of the series are the Lexx and its crew, consisting of security guard (class four) Stanley H. Tweedle; the love slave Zev (later Xev) Bellringer; the undead former assassin and last of the Brunnen-G, Kai; the love-crazed robot head 790; and the powerful but simple-minded Lexx. Centuries prior, mankind was nearly destroyed in a war with the Insect Civilization, where both sides sought the total annihilation of the other. Although the Brunnen-G led humanity to victory, they were later enslaved by the Divine Order, a religious cult centred around His Shadow, a mystical being who seeks to enslave the two universes. It was foretold to Kai by the Time Prophet that one day his people would destroy His Shadow and the last remnants of the Insect Civilization.

The plot unfolds across a time span of over six thousand years. Kai's "death" occurs 2008 years before the beginning of the main events of the series. For Seasons One and Two, each episode is focused on space travel and usually one different planet. Seasons 3 and 4 have a single general location for all episodes. At the beginning of Season 3, the crew spends 4000 years in cryostasis before arriving at twin planets Fire and Water. In Season 4, the Lexx reaches Earth in the early 2000s.

Season 1 (Tales from a Parallel Universe)
Kai and a small group of other Brunnen-G warriors mount a last stand against His Merciful Shadow as their planet, Brunnis-2, is destroyed. In a final act of defiance, Kai crashes his ship into the control pod of His Shadow's flagship, the Foreshadow. He is killed by His Shadow, his memories are taken from him, and he is forced to serve as an undead assassin in the Divine Order.

2008 years later, Stanley H. Tweedle is an assistant deputy backup courier for the Ostral-B heretics, a resistance group fighting against the Divine Order. After unknowingly leading His Divine Shadow to an Ostral-B outpost, resulting in its destruction, he is captured by the mercenaries Feppo and Smoor who extract information from him on the locations of other Ostral-B planets. They sell this information to the Divine Order, resulting in the deaths of billions. Stanley, subsequently captured by the Divine Order and after undergoing interrogation, is made a class-four security guard on the Cluster, the capital planet of the Divine Order and League of 20,000 Planets. After being reprimanded for insubordination and failing to turn himself in, he becomes a fugitive on the Cluster.

Zev Bellringer arrives on the Cluster as a prisoner and is sentenced to be turned into a love-slave, after failing to perform her wifely duties and assaulting her fiancé. Other prisoners, including a group of Ostral-B heretics and their leader, Thodin, are sentenced to be publicly executed. Thodin attempts to use an explosive device to free himself, but the device malfunctions and releases giant Cluster Lizards from containment, wreaking havoc across the Cluster. Thodin escapes and frees the other heretics, and reluctantly rescues the cannibal Giggerota. During Zev's transformation into a love-slave, she is attacked by a Cluster Lizard, turning her into a love-slave/Cluster Lizard hybrid. Before the brainwashing portion of the transformation begins, Zev frees herself and places the 790 droid in charge of her transformation in her place, causing the robot head to be programmed to be a love-slave. Upon seeing Zev, 790 immediately falls in love with her and pursues her as she escapes. His Shadow awakens Kai from cryostasis to protect the secret weapons laboratory.

Stanley and Zev meet up and make their way towards the secret weapons laboratory, where they find several Ostral-B heretics attempting to board a ship. They are pursued by Kai, who kills Thodin and chases the others into the ship. Although the heretics are hostile towards the "arch-traitor" Stanley, they are attacked and killed by a Cluster Lizard. Before his death, one of the heretics releases some form of energy into Stanley.

Stanley, Zev, 790, and Giggerota reach the ship's bridge. The ship introduces itself as the Lexx, a machine-insect hybrid and "the most powerful weapon of destruction in the two universes", capable of destroying an entire planet in a single blast. The energy Stanley absorbed is revealed to be the key to the Lexx, making Stanley its captain. As Stanley instructs the Lexx to fly off the Cluster, they are cornered by Kai and Giggerota is presumably killed. Before Kai can execute the others, he instead heads to the ship's hold to protect the Divine Predecessors, who are being attacked by a Cluster Lizard. After saving them, Kai regains his memories from the brain of the Divine Predecessor who killed him, prompting him to turn against His Shadow. The Lexx is pursued and boarded by His Shadow, who attacks Kai for turning against him. Stanley and Zev distract His Shadow long enough for Kai to destroy him; his essence retreats from the ship as it travels through a portal into the Dark Zone. While traversing the portal, the Lexx's memory of His Shadow and its allegiance to him is wiped. The Lexx destroys the remnants of His Shadow's fleet. The three then begin searching the Dark Zone for a new home, away from His Shadow.

During their search, they encounter Kai's homeworld and explore it for insights into his past. Finding the planet abandoned, they are pursued by Giggerota who attempts to destroy the planet by disabling a series of towers that are keeping a dying star from becoming a supernova. The trio become separated from each other and discover the Time Prophet's prophecy of Kai destroying the insect civilization. Giggerota disables the towers, but the crew escapes aboard the Lexx without her. She and the planet are destroyed in the supernova.

After some time, the Lexx runs low on organic fuel and lands on the nearby planet of Klaagia to feed. The group discovers a group of psychotics obsessed with "pattern", a liquid made from organic material that parasites within their bodies feed on. Stan, Zev, and Kai inadvertently awaken the parasite queen, who attaches itself to the Lexx and pursues them off the planet. The Lexx fires on the planet and destroys it, using the meteors to kill the queen.

Meanwhile, Kai is running low on protoblood, which he needs to function in his undead state; protoblood can only be found on the Cluster. The group returns to the Cluster to find it abandoned, learning that the entire population of the League of 20,000 Planets had been killed to feed and awaken the immense Giga Shadow, the last remaining insect. With help from a defecting priest of the Divine Order, they stall the Giga Shadow's awakening long enough for Kai to plant a baby Cluster Lizard inside of it. As the Lexx and its crew are almost destroyed, the Cluster Lizard reaches the Giga Shadow's brain and consumes it, killing the Giga Shadow. With a fresh supply of protoblood, the crew returns to the Dark Zone to search for a new home.

Season 2
Before the Giga Shadow's destruction, the last remnant of His Shadow possessed Kai. Kai lies to the crew and states that he requires more protoblood to survive, leading them to the imprisoned supreme Bio-Vizier of the Divine Order, Mantrid and his servant. During their meeting, His Shadow transfers his essence into an insect carcass, resurrecting it and attempting to kill the crew of the Lexx. Mantrid is gravely wounded in the attack, and his servant transfers his consciousness to a spaceship he had created to save him. Kai kills the insect, resulting in His Shadow's essence becoming mixed with Mantrid's. Mantrid, now intertwined with His Shadow, swears revenge on humanity as the crew escapes.

The rest of the season involves the crew searching for a new home. During their adventures, they encounter Lyekka, a plant that can transform into a human appearance and feeds on living beings. During their adventures, Zev is killed but later reincarnated by Lyekka as Xev. The crew has various encounters with strange creatures and civilizations, such as a group of astronauts from a potato planet, a planet that creates sitcoms, a vapour that changes sex organs into their opposite, a crashed prisoner transport captained by a gay cyborg, a graveyard planet for priests of the Divine Order, a cult led by the Wozzard who seeks to turn all beautiful women into ugly ones, and an island of secluded, illiterate monks.

Eventually, the crew learns that Mantrid has been using drones to consume the universe and convert its matter into more drones, quickly bringing the Light Zone to an end. The crew, realizing they have no chance against him, attempt to flee by travelling to the centre of the universe, where the rules of causality are different, offering them a potential hideaway from Mantrid. During their escape, they encounter an interdimensional theatre crew that tells the full story of the Brunnen-G, including how they defeated the insect civilization and eventually became hopelessly depressed at their immortality, waiting for the forces of His Shadow to come and destroy them. Kai, refusing to surrender, led a small group of rebels against His Shadow in a final act of defiance. Reinvigorated by Kai's story, the crew decide to stop running and face Mantrid.

With the help of 790, the crew finds that they can convert some of Mantrid's drones to fight for them and outsmart Mantrid's drones. During their attack on his ship, Lyekka boards Mantrid's pod and is about to destroy him, but is killed before she is able to do so. The crew, about to be overwhelmed by Mantrid drones, employs a last-ditch strategy to destroy Mantrid. Kai taunts Mantrid into pursuing the Lexx towards the centre of the universe. The resulting movement of mass creates a big crunch, which Mantrid, the drones, the Lexx, and the rest of the Light Zone are pulled into and destroyed. However, the Lexx rematerializes in the Dark Zone through a portal as Mantrid is finally defeated. Without any other nearby planets and the Lexx running out of food, the crew place themselves into stasis and the Lexx goes dormant while 790 reactivates annually to search for nearby planets.

Season 3
After four thousand years in cryostasis, the crew reaches the twin planets Fire and Water. All of season three takes place on these two planets.

The crew meets people they knew from the Light and Dark Zones who cannot remember their past lives, though their personalities are the same. Fire is ruled by the charismatic Prince and his lackey Priest, while Water does not have a ruler. The inhabitants of both planets live in isolated towns. On Water, they live on islands in a huge ocean; on Fire, there are massive towers separated by long stretches of desert. Water is inhabited by good people, while Fire is inhabited by evil people.

During Prince's first encounter with the crew, 790 is damaged and falls in love with Kai rather than Xev, and gradually behaves much more erratically. Prince seeks to destroy Water and attempts to win the crew over to his side, especially Xev. Believing that the Lexx is "the grain of sand that will tip the scales", he tests their sense of morality through various temptations, including taking the forms of other crew members to deceive them. The crew are frequently separated from each other, forcing them to act individually. After jumping from the Lexx to the surface of Water, Kai has trouble functioning normally without the other crew members. Deep beneath Water's surface, Kai encounters his soul essence awaiting rebirth.

During one of Prince's attacks on Water, Stanley is killed and Prince holds a trial over the destination of his soul, revealing Fire and Water as the afterlife. All his bad decisions are weighed against his good deeds and he is ultimately sentenced to eternal punishment on Fire. Enraged over Stanley's death, Xev orders the Lexx to destroy Fire, releasing all of its tortured souls. Consequently, Prince possesses the Lexx and uses it to destroy Water. Stanley is released and returns to his body aboard the Lexx, while Prince and the other souls reincarnate on a nearby blue planet.

Season 4
The Lexx travels to Earth looking for food. 790 informs the crew that it is located in the very centre of the Dark Zone and assumes that it must be a very dangerous place. The crew again meet people they knew from the Light and Dark Zones and from Fire and Water. Only Prince and Priest are able to remember their previous lives.

On Earth, the reincarnated souls cause chaos across the planet. Prince becomes the head of the ATF, Priest becomes the President and a puppet ruler for Prince, Giggerotta becomes a Florida real estate agent and is elected pope, and the Wozzard becomes Dr. Ernst Longbore, a paraplegic rocket scientist. The crew attempts to settle in and make Earth their home, but keep getting caught up in fights and other deadly situations with the locals. Although the crew keeps swearing not to return to the planet, they constantly find themselves back on Earth for one reason or another.

Kai's soul is trapped in limbo because he is undead, and he decides to regain his mortality. He makes a wager with Prince in a game of chess and wins, but Prince does not immediately fulfill his promise.

In the series finale, Earth is threatened by plants resembling Lyekka. The crew discovers that the fake Lyekka have destroyed other planets on their way through the Dark Zone and flooded the Earth with alien probes to sample the taste of its lifeforms. Furthermore, Dr. Longbore has created a rocket to escape Earth and, out of spite, leaves behind a particle accelerator to determine the mass of the Higgs boson particle, which will shrink the Earth to the size of a pea in the process. As Lyekka's asteroid attacks Earth, the crew flees with the particle accelerator to destroy the asteroid. As they leave Earth, Prince appears to Kai and fulfills his promise to him, restoring Kai's mortality. 790, now completely insane and still madly in love with Kai, takes advantage of the Lexx's senility and has it destroy Earth to kill any potential "competitors" for Kai. With Earth destroyed, the Lexx dying, and no other habitable planets nearby, the crew decide to sacrifice themselves to destroy Lyekka's asteroid. They travel inside the asteroid, but Kai becomes separated from the others as he is trapped inside with the particle accelerator. In a final sacrifice, Kai crashes into the centre of the asteroid as the accelerator calculates the particle's mass, destroying the asteroid. The Lexx's senility becomes terminal as it disintegrates. Xev and Stanley discover that the Lexx had created another ship within it before it died, "Little Lexx". Little Lexx gives Stanley its key as they search for a new home.

Cast

Main
 Brian Downey as Stanley H. Tweedle: An assistant deputy backup courier for the Ostral-B heretics, before he was captured by the mercenary Feppo and tortured for information about Ostral-B planets. When this information was given to the Divine Order, the billions of lives lost were blamed on him and he was branded the "arch-traitor" by the heretics. The Divine Order made him a class four security guard on the Cluster, where his laziness frequently lands him in trouble with his supervisors. He is sleazy, cowardly, and only acts heroic when it directly benefits him.
 Eva Habermann (seasons 1–2) as Zev Bellringer: Placed into the wife bank at a young age, Zev became overweight and hopelessly ugly. When her to-be husband rejected her, she assaulted him and became a prisoner on the cluster, sentenced to become a brainwashed love-slave. However, the process was interrupted and while she became fit and beautiful, the brainwashing portion was incomplete, and she inadvertently had her DNA fused with that of a Cluster Lizard. Zev is strong and independent, and is obsessed with sex to the point where she is willing to sleep with almost any man, with the sole exception of Stanley, by whom she is repulsed. She is also in love with Kai, but he cannot feel love because of his undead state. Lisa Hynes portrays the original, overweight Zev.
 Xenia Seeberg (seasons 2–4) as Xev Bellringer: An exact clone of Zev with the same personality, but different physical appearance.
 Michael McManus as Kai: The last of the Brunnen-G, Kai led a suicidal attack to protect his home planet of Brunnis-2 against the forces of His Divine Shadow. He was killed, brainwashed, and left in an undead state to become an assassin in the Divine Order, killing whomever His Divine Shadow ordered him to. While protecting the Lexx from the Ostral-B heretics, he regained his previous memories and turned against His Shadow, escaping the Cluster with Stanley and Zev. Because of his undead state, Kai has no emotion and insists that the dead do not feel anything; because of this, he cannot reciprocate the love Zev feels for him.
 Ellen Dubin (season 1; recurring seasons 2–4) as Giggerota: A cannibal convicted on the Cluster who escaped on the Lexx with the rest of the crew. She later attempted to kill them on Brunnis by making a dying star go supernova, though she was left behind and annihilated in the supernova while the crew escaped. She frequently appears in different forms throughout the series.
 Tim Curry (season 1) as Poet Man: A hologram left behind on Brunnis that guides the crew, but inadvertently ends up putting them in danger.
 Rutger Hauer (season 1) as Bog: The leader of the cannibals on Klaagia.
 Doreen Jacobi (season 1) as Wist: A colonist who attempted to stop the parasites from infecting the people of Klaagia, but became infected herself.
 Malcolm McDowell (season 1) as Yottskry: A defecting priest in the Divine Order that helps destroy the Giga Shadow.
 Michael Habeck (season 1) as Feppo: A mercenary who sexually tortured Stanley to retrieve amino acid codes that held the locations of Ostral-B planets and outposts.
 Andy Jones (season 1) as Smoor: Feppo's accomplice in torturing Stanley.

Recurring

 Jeffrey Hirschfield as the voice of 790/791/769: A robot assigned to work the Lusticon, he was decapitated in the attack on the Cluster and brainwashed into becoming a love-slave. Upon seeing Zev, he immediately falls in love with her. He is hostile towards everyone else, berating and ridiculing them with insults. Zev is indifferent to his affection towards her, much to his frustration. He possesses a vast knowledge on several different topics, though he is unwilling to share it with anyone but Zev. At the beginning of season three, he becomes damaged and falls in love with Kai instead, while gradually becoming more deranged and hostile to the rest of the crew.
 Tom Gallant as the voice of The Lexx, a machine/insect hybrid regarded as the most powerful weapon of destruction in the two universes. Created by His Divine Shadow to destroy planets and hold an iron grip across the Dark Zone, the Lexx is stolen by Stanley, Zev, and Kai in the series premiere. The Lexx is capable of destroying an entire planet in a single shot, which it regards as its favourite pastime. Despite its strength, the Lexx is simple and does not possess much intelligence. Stanley is often at odds with the Lexx over what it wants it to do, having to explain simple subjects such as proper grammar.
 Walter Borden (seasons 1–2; season 4) as His Divine Shadow, the mystical ruler of the Divine Order and League of 20,000 Planets: His Shadow rules the Light Zone with an iron fist. Using his flagship the Foreshadow, he destroys any planet that does not submit to his rule. Borden also portrays the "Wuzzard of Woz" and Dr. Ernst Longbore, a crippled rocket scientist who understands that Earth will soon be destroyed and seeks to escape it.
 Anna Cameron (season 1; season 4), Lorraine Segato (season 2) as The Time Prophet, an oracle for the Brunnen-G: The time prophet foretells that Kai will destroy the last remnants of the Insect Civilization. She appears sporadically throughout the series and guides the crew into making the correct decisions to save their lives.
 Louise Wischermann (seasons 2–4) as Lyekka, a plant capable of taking a human appearance, feeding on living organisms: She boards the Lexx early in Season 2 and agrees not to consume the crew if they provide her with a regular supply of food, which typically consists of any guests that board the Lexx.
 Dieter Laser (seasons 2–3) as Mantrid, the supreme Bio-Vizier of the Divine Order: Mantrid was imprisoned by His Shadow on a remote planet. Trapped within a robotic body, he is killed and has his consciousness bonded with the remains of His Shadow, turning him into a homicidal megalomaniac who seeks to convert the entirety of the two universes into Mantrid drones.
 Patricia Zentilli (seasons 2–4) as Bunny, Priest's wife: She is blindly devoted to him and will do anything to please him. She possesses markedly low intelligence and often pouts and complains when things do not go her way.
 Jeff Pustil (seasons 2–4) as Fifi: Originally the head of a pleasure cruise, he later reincarnates on Water and ultimately sides with Prince in causing chaos. Unlike the other citizens of Water, he does not share their carefree, laissez-faire attitude.
 Nigel Bennett (seasons 3–4) as Isambard Prince: The ruler of Fire, Prince is an eccentric and mysterious individual, who does not know his origin but knows that he is "bad and must do bad things". He causes mischief throughout Season 3 and 4, at first trying to turn the crew to his side to destroy Water, then later causing chaos across Earth as the head of the ATF. He is revealed in the series finale to be the personification of Death.
 Rolf Kanies (seasons 3–4) as Reginald J. Priest, Prince's personal servant. He worships Prince and submits to his every whim, even if it does not make sense or goes against all logic and reason. He is later reincarnated and elected as the President of the United States, but is still controlled by Prince and becomes his puppet ruler. He spends the majority of his time sleeping with Bunny, neglecting his Presidential duties, and launching nuclear attacks on countries that have wronged him or Bunny, including Cuba, Newfoundland, and Vietnam.
 Ralph Brown (season 3) as Duke, a military commander on Fire who challenged Prince for power.
 Minna Aaltonen (season 4) as Vlad, a vampire and hunter in the Divine Order: Vlad was sent to Earth several centuries prior and became a local legend. She attempts to destroy Kai for failing to perform his duties in the Divine Order.
 Tara Doyle (season 4) as Tina, one of Dr. Longbore's scientists who is infatuated with Kai.

Guest

 Barry Bostwick (season 1) as Thodin: The leader of the Ostral-B heretics.
 Simon Licht (season 2) as Dr. Kazan: A mad doctor who attempts to steal the key to the Lexx from Zev.
 Stephen McHattie (season 2; season 4) as Moss: The commanding officer of three astronauts from Potatohoe. He is later reincarnated on Earth as E. J. Moss, the leader of an anti-government militia.
 Ross O'Hennessy (season 4) as Cedric: A competitor on Xevivor, a parody of Survivor.

Development

The Dark Zone
Salter Street Films' first sci-fi production, Def-Con 4, had been a moderate success and showed Paul Donovan that there was a potential market for similar material. Salter Street's next projects did not enjoy the same degree of success: George's Island, Buried on Sunday, and Paint Cans received praise but were not financially successful. Donovan then sought to create a World War I film using computer-generated imagery which had now become financially viable, but did not possess the estimated $35 million he needed to create it. In 1993, Donovan created a four-minute short film with a large amount of CGI and demonstrated it to international broadcasters to seek funding. The tape, titled The Dark Zone, featured security guard Stanley Tweedle refusing to let a ship dock because of an invalid security code, then being reprimanded by his superiors. This scene would be reworked and included in the first episode of Lexx. Broadcast companies were impressed, prompting Donovan to build off the demo tape and abandon his original World War I idea. The first season was greenlit in Summer 1995 with a budget of $13 million, barely three months before filming began.

Writing
Donovan had trouble finding writers for the show as most resided in Hollywood and outside of his budget. He eventually came across Lex Gigeroff and Jeffrey Hirschfield, calling them "gems in the rough". Jeffrey had a background in theatre and acting, but was unable to find work and on the verge of abandoning the industry entirely until he met Paul, while Lex was working odd acting jobs in Halifax.

Donovan described the thought process behind the show as "Dirty Dozen meets Alien or Beavis and Butt-Head". He also found inspiration in Fires on the Plain and Dark Star and considers the show to be a homage to Space Precinct. Donovan found that many science fiction films and shows at the time were too serious and wanted to create something more "fun" with a higher production value, sexual motifs, and aspects of dark humour, which Hirschfield says comes from the desensitization of violence in Halifax, citing clubbing harp seals as an example. They rejected making the series scientifically accurate or logical, with writer Hirschfield explaining, "We only wanted enough science to get us through the stories. The Lexx has a particle accelerator, and that's all you need to know. We don't want to bother with dilithium crystals. The Lexx gets its fuel from eating. Simple enough." They openly acknowledged the large amount of sex and violence present within the script, with Gigeroff admitting that he "[wants] teenage boys to pull off to Zev's poster." When asked about Zev's appearance and the amount of sexual content, Gigeroff responded that "I think we have far too puritanical notions about sex. Sex is fun, sex is good, and I hope we can get a lot of it in the show." He also addressed the criticism he received from the Halifax film community about the sexual content, joking "God, you can't even show a woman as a sex object without someone thinking it's bad." The Lexx's name was formed by finding a word that would work well in all languages without translation, and it doubled as a pun on Lex Gigeroff's name.

The scripts for "Super Nova" and "Feeding Pattern" were changed several times during shooting. Ron Oliver, a writer for "Super Nova", says "When I first got the script, it was all over the place because the writers had hit a wall with it. The main characters were these buffoons. That probably works on paper, but the audience needed something to hold on to. So that had to be tidied up a bit by adding some motivation for these characters." Scripts for season two were commissioned before season one premiered.

Casting

Brian Downey had worked with Donovan previously on Norman's Awesome Experience and portrayed Stanley Tweedle in the original demo tape. Downey describes his character as having "some heroic qualities, but it's always a surprise when he does something heroic." Eva Habermann portrayed Zev after her love-slave transformation, saying that "She doesn't see herself as a sex slave. I like the part because she's not quite what she seems. She's tough, and people underestimate her because of her new appearance. And that's what makes it funny." After season one, Habermann would go on to other projects, leaving a gap in the show for her character after the end of season one; this was alleviated by having Zev die and later revived into Xev, now played by Xenia Seeberg.

The character of Thodin (played by Barry Bostwick) was created to subvert the audience into believing he was the hero and main character of the series, only to have him be killed off by Kai in the premiere. Malcolm McDowell agreed to play the part of Yottskry after a previous film he was scheduled to star in fell through, saying that he was drawn to the script because of how "peculiar" and "weird" it was and that he had wanted to visit Nova Scotia. Rutger Hauer was also attracted to the part of Bog because of the script, saying "It takes a lot of liberties – but in a good sense. This goes farther than anything I've ever done." Tim Curry's character as Poet Man was filmed on the final day of shooting entirely in front of a green screen. He compared the series favourably to his time on The Rocky Horror Picture Show, saying "I'm grimly aware that Rocky Horror was done on a non-existent budget over three weeks in a tiny theatre. Yet it was a good idea. Sometimes it's important to show up for guys with really good ideas."

Nigel Bennett had previously worked with Donovan on Paint Cans and was approached to play the role of Prince in seasons three and four. He liked the character "because he didn't say a word for 20 pages". As part of his character, Bennett had at least three different outfits and would have his hair and eyebrows bleached "about every ten to fourteen days".

Filming
Season one was shot in Halifax, Nova Scotia, primarily at a repurposed Volvo plant on the waterfront. Additional scenes were shot at Babelsberg Studios in Berlin. The "protoblood" that Kai lives off of was a combination of honey and hand lotion. One hallway set for the Cluster was so long that it extended outside the studio, through a dressing room, and into another studio. The command "chair" for the Lexx was outfitted with easily removable "skin", allowing it to be shot from any angle. This skin would later be removed entirely after season one. The food that the Lexx produces for the crew was mashed yams in season one, and rice pudding for the rest of the series.

Design

Donovan rejected the sleek, futuristic look common in science fiction in favour of organic, fleshy materials. Many of the creatures and machines are a hybrid of organic material and technology. Producer Bill Fleming compares it to a surgical implant or artificial limb, saying "it's functional, but it sure doesn't look good up close." According to set designer Nigel Scott, "Our world is chaotic. All the cars and buildings are designed by different people, so nothing really matches. And Lexx is exactly the same - it's just chaos." The insect wars and the biological designs of the ships were made a central part of the story after they had been designed, with writers using the concept art as a basis for the plot.

Head art director Mark Laing says that the design of the Cluster was based around medieval cities, explaining how "the whole city is built on top of a ruin built on a ruin. Buildings are built on top of buildings, incorporating still standing structures into their own structures, which are also somewhat run down."

The Lexx itself has sexual undertones as part of its design. Laing points out how the Lexx's showerhead "is this luminous pink tube that's a little too interested in its work... It'll snake all over you if you're not paying attention. It's quite frisky." Several fans have also pointed how the Lexx's seemingly phallic appearance. Writer Jeffrey Hirschfield only incorporated the bare minimum of "accurate" science when absolutely necessary.

Post-production

Computer-generated imagery for season one was created by twenty animators over the course of fifteen months. For "Super Nova", matte paintings were used as the show was quickly going over budget for CGI work. Bob Munroe, president of C.O.R.E Digital Pictures, states that CGI shots get expensive very quickly. "So when the script said 'a brand new planet you've never seen before,' that's a lot of work, and it may translate into $200,000. It got to the point that it was easier to do matte paintings than five people building this whole world." Up to 70% of the final shots contain CGI in some form. The scene where the Lexx destroys the customs station was a model that was blown up in the parking lot of the VFX studio. Animations were done through three production houses, including C.O.R.E. Digital Pictures in Toronto and Berlin and pixelMotion in Halifax. Models and animations were created using Silicon Graphics Indigo workstations, as well as Avid 1000 and 8000 series workstations. Modelling and animation software such as Prisms, Flint, and PowerAnimator were used to create digital imagery. A render farm that was 60 times faster than the industry norm was used for rendering animations.

Music
Two official Lexx soundtracks have been released. The first album, Tales from a Parallel Universe, consists of music from Season One. The second album, Lexx: The Series, consists of music from Seasons Two through Four.

"Brigadoom" (S02E18) is a musical episode that tells of the destruction of Brunnis-2 and the death of Kai in a theatre format. Many of the themes from this episode are based on German nursery rhymes with new lyrics. The usage of existing musical themes as well as the addition of an outside choir has placed these tracks into a legal grey area; as a result, they have not been officially released.

Episodes

There are four seasons of Lexx, totalling 61 episodes. Season One debuted in Canada on April 18, 1997, and consisted of four two-hour TV movies (sometimes screened as eight one-hour episodes), alternatively titled by Sci Fi for the United States Audience as Tales from a Parallel Universe. Some episode guides do not list the two-hour movies as part of the series but list the subsequent seasons as the first through third.

Season One consists of four 90-minute movies, following the misadventures of Stanley Tweedle, Zev Bellringer, Kai, 790, and the Lexx as they escape from the Cluster and try to find a new home in the Dark Zone, an evil and unforgiving universe. The story arc ends with their return to the Cluster as they destroy the Giga Shadow, the last remaining insect.

Season Two consists of twenty 48-minute episodes, with a story arc concerning the evil scientist Mantrid who attempts to convert the entire mass of the two universes into Mantrid drones; flying, self-replicating robot arms. The crew tricks him into moving all the converted mass into a central point in the universe, creating a Big Crunch and destroying the Light Zone.

Season Three consists of thirteen episodes in which the exhausted Lexx is trapped in orbit around the warring planets Fire and Water, and the crew encounters Prince, the enigmatic and cheerful evil ruler of Fire, who identifies himself as Death at the end of season four. Fire is the afterlife for all evil souls, and the location for much of season three. It shares a tight mutual orbit and an atmosphere with Water, the afterlife for all good souls in the two universes. Both worlds are locked in a perpetual war. The souls on Water and Fire have no memory of how they arrived there; they simply "woke up". They are incapable of sexual reproduction and there are no children on either planet. When anyone dies on Fire or Water, they go to a spiritual holding cell in which time stands still, giving the illusion that no time has passed no matter how long they have been there. When space opens up they "wake up" again, whole and healthy on their respective home planet. Fire is destroyed by the Lexx under the command of Xev at the end of Season Three. With Fire gone, Prince possesses the Lexx and destroys Water. When Water and Fire are both destroyed, it is revealed that both planets were on the other side of the Sun and that all the souls contained on both worlds have reincarnated on Earth.

Season Four follows the Lexx as it arrives at Earth in the early 2000s, only to find that Prince (now Isambard Prince and head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, which runs the United States) and several other old adversaries have also arrived there. The crew's arrival coincides with a large asteroid-like vessel filled with robotic carrots that sample the flavors of the various lifeforms on Earth. Between them, Prince, and the Lexx several large chunks of Earth are destroyed – including Orlando, Ottawa (a Canadian metonymical in-joke), Tokyo, the Amazon Rainforest, and Holland, which the Lexx eats – before the series finale, televised on April 26, 2002. Priest, the President of the United States, also destroys Cuba, Newfoundland, and Vietnam with thermonuclear bombs. The Lexx is also responsible for the destruction of Fire, Water, Pluto, Mars, Venus, and finally Earth.

Releases

VHS
Salter Street Films in conjunction with Koch Vision released the first season on four VHS as 'lost episodes' in 1996.

CFP Video, a distribution division of Columbia-TriStar Home Video, released a promo tape for 'I Worship His Shadow' in 1997.

Paramount, in conjunction with Showtime, released the first season on four VHS in 1997.

Acorn Media released seasons 2 & 3 on VHS between 2001 & 2002.

Kult T.V., a subsidiary of Contender Limited, released season one on VHS as 'Lexx: Stories from the Dark Zone' in 1999. They also released season two on VHS, this time as 'Lexx: The Series' in 2000.

DVD
Region 1
Acorn Media released seasons 2–4 on DVD in single volume collections as well as complete season sets between 2002 and 2004.  These releases have been discontinued and are out of print. Echo Bridge Home Entertainment has released all 4 seasons on DVD in the US only. On September 3, 2013, Echo Bridge released Lexx – The Complete Series as a DVD box set in Region 1. The nine-disc set features all 61 episodes of the series. In Canada, Alliance Home Entertainment has released all four seasons on DVD.

Region 2

Seasons One through Three were released on VHS and Region 2 DVD in the UK by Contender Limited, although the Season Three DVDs were initially exclusive to the MVC Entertainment chain of stores and all volumes have since been deleted. Contender failed to obtain the rights to Season Four, which instead went to Momentum Pictures (a subsidiary of Alliance Atlantis). Momentum Pictures has not released any DVDs.

MediumRare Entertainment released the complete series in a 19-disc boxset in the UK in early 2011.

All four seasons were also released on DVD in Germany. However, the Season 1 episodes of the German DVD release were cut to receive a 16 and up rating.

Region 4

Beyond Home Entertainment released all 4 seasons on DVD in Australia: Season 1 on July 11, 2007, Season 2 on September 12, 2007, Season 3 on October 17, 2007, and Season 4 on January 16, 2008. On May 13, 2009, Beyond Home Entertainment released Lexx – The Complete Series, a 19-disc boxset featuring all 61 episodes of the series in a special collectible tin. On December 1, 2010, Beyond Home Entertainment re-released the 19-disc set as a boxset rather than the collector's tin released the year previously.

Online

Lexx is available through streaming television. Netflix provided versions of the show in the US as edited for US broadcast, though as of December 2013 it is no longer available. Similarly, Hulu had stopped streaming the show by November 2013 due to rights lapsing. In 2017, Lexx was available on Amazon Prime in the US, UK, and Australia by mid-2018. Although still included with Amazon Prime in the UK and Australia, the series was removed from Amazon Prime in the US in 2019, though episodes remained available for individual purchase and download.

As of January 2020, all four seasons are available to view in the US on Hoopla and for free on Vudu. As of April 2020, all four seasons are available to view in the US and UK through The Roku Channel.

Reception
Season One holds a 43% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on seven reviews. In a negative review, Linda Stasi of New York Daily News says she "can only imagine that the great SciFi channel must have been captured by idiot monsters from outer space and Germany". Staff of The Independent called it "a wacky German-Canadian sci-fi import for people who find Babylon 5 too cerebral... it's extremely gory, not a little nasty and rather fun".

TV Guide called Lexx "a siren of distinction for its black comedy, skewed take on the human condition and open sexuality..." while calling the visual effects "stunning".

Gavin Edwards of Spin gave praise to the visual effects, writing that "there was a time when a German-Canadian production like this would have had sets with wobbly walls and laughable special effects, but now computer costs are low enough that even when the story line flags – often – you will still be dazzled by state-of-the-art galactic vistas, exploding planets, and gargantuan phallic symbols streaking through the stars."

In a retrospective, Chris Allcock of Den of Geek writes that Lexx's appeal comes from a combination of its antiheroes, overarching plots and themes, experimentation with new ideas, and its simplistic humor, concluding that Lexx is "not exactly high-concept sci-fi, but damned if we didn't laugh anyway. For better or worse, Lexx really was one of a kind – and that's why we loved it".

Lexx has garnered a cult following, primarily through word-of-mouth over the early Internet. A large number of fan sites have been created including forums, chat rooms, and sharing arts and crafts with other fans. The series is frequently referred to by the creators and fans as "Star Trek's evil twin". Salter Street would host an annual "UnCon" convention where fans were invited to tour the studio and sets and meet the cast and crew. Each of the three conventions had over thirty, sixty, and a hundred guests each year, respectively.

SciFiNow magazine included Lexx on their list of "Ten Overlooked Nineties Sci-Fi Shows". Lexx also achieved some mainstream notice with Xenia Seeberg as Xev appearing on a July 2000 cover of TV Guide.

Legacy
The cast and crew have been asked on multiple occasions about continuing the series in the form of a spin-off or movie. While the cast acknowledge rumors about talks of a movie being in the works, Xenia Seeberg stated it is unlikely to occur due to funding and rights issues. Brian Downey also states that Sci Fi was "barely" interested in season four. The producers have stated on multiple occasions that the series was not cancelled and ended on their terms. Several members of the cast, including Downey, Seeberg, and Dubin, have stated they would love to work with each other again.

Ellen Dubin says she was offered her role as Aunt Ilene on Napoleon Dynamite as the director was a fan of her part on Lexx as Giggerota.

Some of the sets used in the show, such as the Lexx's cryochamber, appear as sets on Made in Canada, which is also produced by Salter Street.

Broadcast history
The show's seasons had very different tones. While the original TV movies and the second season were mostly science fiction drama with dark comedy, season three took a more serious tone, exploring themes of life, death, and reincarnation on Fire and Water. The show's final season – set on Earth in the year 2000 – took many turns into pure farce and introduced magic and other new elements.

Lexx was shown originally on Citytv in Canada and Showtime in the US, then later picked up by Space in Canada, Channel 5 in the United Kingdom and then the Sci-Fi Channel in the United States. On Sci-Fi, it aired in the same Friday night lineup as Farscape, and the somewhat similar set-up for both shows (a misfit crew living on a huge, living starship) was often noted by critics, despite Lexx having premiered two years prior to Farscape.

Different versions
The American release of Lexx differs slightly from other regions. In the beginning of the first film, the American version omits a scene in which Stanley is fooled and captured by Feppo. Other versions place this scene between the death of Kai and the time when Stanley wakes up on the cluster 2008 years later, while the American release places it at the start of "Giga Shadow". Thodin's bug bomb was also given a voice and personality. Paul Donovan says the changes were in response to TV audiences being confused about Stanley's loyalty and the bug bomb's purpose, joking that "My mother didn't understand it at all."

Rated Lexx
As part of Sci Fi's acquisition of broadcasting rights for Lexx to the American audience, Rated Lexx was produced as a four-part serialized story to summarize the events that occurred in the series premiere. The story is told through both new and recycled footage and is narrated by the Lexx and 790 as they travel through a portal into the Light Zone, who speak directly to the audience about the events that have occurred thus far. It also provides a backstory for 790: His organic brain belonged to a waitress in a bar that attempted to bribe a priest in the Divine Order with sexual favors, but was caught and sentenced to become a 790 droid.

See also

 Dark Star
 Farscape
 Red Dwarf
 Space Precinct

Notes

References

External links

 Lexx official site (Syfy). Archived from the original on March 5, 2005.

1990s Canadian science fiction television series
2000s Canadian science fiction television series
1997 Canadian television series debuts
2002 Canadian television series endings
1997 German television series debuts
2002 German television series endings
1990s British science fiction television series
2000s British science fiction television series
1997 British television series debuts
2002 British television series endings
Channel 5 (British TV channel) original programming
1990s Canadian comedy-drama television series
2000s Canadian comedy-drama television series
British television series revived after cancellation
Canadian television series revived after cancellation
Lexx
Global Television Network original programming
Television series by Corus Entertainment
Television series by Bell Media
Television series set on fictional planets
Television shows filmed in Halifax, Nova Scotia
Bioships
Television miniseries as pilots
Space adventure television series
Canadian fantasy drama television series
Television series about insects
German science fiction television series
British fantasy drama television series
2000s Canadian television miniseries
2000s German television miniseries
German fantasy television series
British science fiction

Lexx


Edward Lee Greene (August 20, 1843–November 10, 1915) was an American botanist known for his numerous publications including the two-part Landmarks of Botanical History and the describing of over 4,400 species of plants in the American West.

Early life
Edward Lee Greene was born on August 20, 1843, in Hopkinton, Rhode Island. In 1859 Greene moved to Wisconsin and began studying at Albion Academy, a very reputable institution with a religious emphasis. There Greene met Thure Kumlien, a Swedish Naturalist with an interest in botany. Greene accompanied Kumlein on field trips, further developing Greene's interest in botany. In August 1862, Greene joined his father and brothers in joining the 13th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment of the Union Army. Though he never rose above the rank of private in his three years of service, Greene was able to advance his botanical studies, collecting specimens as he marched through Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama.

Following his release from the Army, Greene returned to Albion Academy, earning his Bachelor of Philosophy in 1866. While in the service, Greene thought of moving west of the Mississippi, a desire he realized in 1870. With the aid of botanists Asa Gray of Cambridge, Massachusetts and George Engelmann of St. Louis, Missouri, Greene made preparations to study botany in the West. While in Colorado in 1871, Greene renewed his spirituality and became both a botany teacher and a candidate for Episcopal priesthood, becoming ordained in 1873. In February 1874 Greene assumed pastorship of a church in Vallejo, California, the beginning of many short stays with churches throughout the Southwest. During these travels, Greene continued collecting plants, making forays into Arizona, New Mexico, and Mexico. In 1876–1877, while Greene was an episcopal priest in Yreka, California, he discovered the first specimens of Phlox hirsuta, a small flowering plant found only in that area. He eventually accepted a position as rector of St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Berkeley, California.

Between his arrival in 1881 and 1883, Greene began to drift away from the Episcopal Church toward Roman Catholicism, costing him his congregation and his standing within the ministry. Locked out of St. Mark's, Greene gave in to pressure and resigned in 1883, converting to Catholicism only a year later.

Academic career
Beginning in 1882, Greene began lecturing at the University of California. Following his resignation, he became curator of the herbarium at the California Academy of Sciences.

In 1885, was hired as the first professor of botany at the University of California, Berkeley (1885–1895). While he was chair of the newly founded botany department, Greene was one of only three American representatives to the International Committee on Botanical Nomenclature and president of the Madison Botanical Congress.

His controversial advocacy of nomenclature reform brought him into conflict with the president of the university, leading him to accept a position at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., from 1895 to 1904. Greene then became an associate in botany at the Smithsonian Institution (1904–1915), transferring some 4,000 volumes and his valuable herbarium to the institution for a period of ten years.

Greene began to focus on the history of his field, publishing his seminal work Landmarks of Botanical History, Part 1 in 1909. The second volume was submitted to the Smithsonian as a work in progress but was never completed, the rough draft being published posthumously in 1936. While at the Smithsonian, Greene renewed contact with Fr. Julius Nieuwland, a professor of botany at the University of Notre Dame and a student from Greene's years at the Catholic University of America. Following the expiration of his agreement with the Smithsonian in 1915, Greene moved to South Bend, Indiana along with his library and herbarium specimens. Greene returned to Washington, D.C., in October that same year to continue work on the Landmarks of Botanical History, Part 2, which would eventually be published posthumously in 1983.

Edward Lee Greene fell ill while in Washington, D.C., and died in Providence Hospital on November 10, 1915.

Legacy
By the end of his career Greene had named over 4,400 new species of plants, published 565 original papers, and amassed a library of over 4,000 volumes, some of which have no duplicates in North America.

Greene's library and collections remain at the University of Notre Dame in the Greene-Nieuwland Herbarium.

Notes

References

Further reading
 ; originally published as

American taxonomists
Botanists active in California
1843 births
1915 deaths

Scientists from California
University of California, Berkeley faculty
Catholic University of America faculty
People from Hopkinton, Rhode Island
People of Wisconsin in the American Civil War
American Episcopal priests
Converts to Roman Catholicism from Anglicanism
University of Notre Dame people
Writers from Rhode Island
19th-century American botanists
20th-century American botanists
19th-century American Episcopalians

Edward Lee Greene


The Verdun Dragons were a hockey team based in Verdun, Quebec.  The team was part of the Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey. The Dragons played at the Verdun Auditorium. They won the Futura Cup against the Saint-Georges Garaga in 2003–2004.

Initially the team was based in Haut-Richelieu, Quebec, taking the name Dragons. This lasted from the 1996–97 season. The next season, they moved to Iberville, Quebec. They only played one season in Iberville and moved again to Saint-Laurent, Quebec. They played in Saint-Laurent for three seasons before moving to Verdun in 2002.

Ice hockey teams in Montreal
Defunct Ligue Nord-Américaine de Hockey teams
Quebec Semi-Pro Hockey League teams
Verdun, Quebec

Verdun Dragons


Simon Yakovlevich Rosenbaum (1860 in Pinsk, Russian Empire – 1934 in Tel Aviv, Palestine), was a Jewish activist and attorney, member of the First State Duma of the Russian Empire in 1906–1907, Lithuanian Minister for Jewish Affairs from June 29, 1923 to his resignation on February 12, 1924 and Lithuanian consul in Palestine.

References

1860 births
1934 deaths
People from Pinsk
People from Pinsky Uyezd
Belarusian Jews
Jews from the Russian Empire
Russian Constitutional Democratic Party members
Members of the 1st State Duma of the Russian Empire
Members of the Seimas
Minister for Jewish Affairs of Lithuania
Honorary consuls of Lithuania
Russian Zionists
Lithuanian emigrants to Mandatory Palestine
Ashkenazi Jews in Mandatory Palestine
Burials at Trumpeldor Cemetery

Simon Rosenbaum (minister)


C-pop is an abbreviation for Chinese popular music (), a loosely defined musical genre by artists originating from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan (the Greater China region). This also includes countries where Chinese languages are used by parts of the population, such as Singapore and Malaysia. C-pop is used as an umbrella term covering not only Chinese pop but also R&B, ballads, Chinese rock, Chinese hip hop and Chinese ambient music, although Chinese rock diverged during the early 1990s.

There are currently three main subgenres within C-pop: Cantopop, Mandopop and Hokkien pop. The gap between Cantopop and Mandopop has been narrowing in the new millennium. Hokkien pop, initially strongly influenced by Japanese enka, has been re-integrating into C-pop and narrowing its trend of development towards Mandopop.

Chinese popular music in China was initially a vehicle for the Cultural Revolution and Maoist ideologies; however, during the country's extensive political and cultural changes of the past 50 years, it has lost much political significance; and now closely resembles the styles of Taiwanese Mandopop, Cantopop, K-pop and J-pop, from Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Japan, respectively.

History

The term shidaiqu (meaning "music of the era" or "popular music") is used to describe all different types of music sung in Mandarin and other Chinese dialects recorded in China from 1920 to 1952, then in Hong Kong until the 1960s. Shanghai was the main hub of the Chinese popular music recording industry, and an important name of the period is composer Li Jinhui. Buck Clayton is credited with bringing American jazz influence to China and the music gained popularity in hangout quarters of nightclubs and dancehalls of major cities in the 1920s.  A number of privately run radio stations from the late 1920s to the 1950s played C-pop. Around 1927, Li Jinhui composed "The Drizzle" ("") sung by his daughter Li Minghui (), and this song is generally regarded as the first Chinese pop song. It fuses jazz and Chinese folk music – the tune is in the style of a traditional pentatonic folk melody, but the instrumentation is similar to that of an American jazz orchestra.

Around the time of the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, and the Chinese Civil War, pop music was seen as a leftist undisturbed distraction.  After the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II C-pop has been marketed, produced and branded regionally. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) established the People's Republic of China in 1949.  One of its first actions was to label the genre "Yellow Music" (the color is associated with pornography). The Shanghai pop music industry then took pop music to Hong Kong and in the 1970s developed Cantopop. The Kuomintang, relocated to Taiwan, discouraged the use of native Taiwanese Hokkien dialect from the 1950s to the late 1980s. As a result, mandopop became the dominant musical genre in Taiwan.

In 2000 EolAsia.com was founded as the first online C-pop music portal in Hong Kong. The company survived the dot-com bubble and offered online legal music downloads in February 2005, backed by EMI, Warner Music and Sony BMG. It primarily targets consumers in Hong Kong and Macau: some songs require Hong Kong Identity Cards to purchase.

In August 2008 Norman Cheung, father of HK singer Ronald Cheng, acquired the remaining portion of EMI Music Asia when EMI, which had entered China in the early 20th century, withdrew from the Chinese market. Typhoon music made the purchase for an estimated HK$100 million.

In February 2008 mainland China's top search engine Baidu.com was sued by local industry groups for providing music listening, broadcasting and downloading without approval. Piracy continues to exist in China but Google have since announced a cooperation deal offering free listening and genuine music copies. Top100.cn was founded by basketball star Yao Ming, agent Zhang Mingji and music insider Chen Ge via a 20 million yuan investment. Google mp3 became available in March 2009. The future of C-pop in mainland China is slowly emerging. However, the Chinese government's banning of the highly popular show Super Girl for one year in 2008 and 2012 still a very controversial for the mainland China market.

In the early years of modern mainland China, emphasis on collectivist and party values, would predominantly set the theme for the music that was produced. Chinese officially sanctioned music schools, teaching popular music usually involves praising China's national culture through song lyrics that echo the official orientation of the PRC. The way in which popular music is taught in the school system relates to Chinese patriotic verses and traditional Chinese culture. The educational policy is heavily influenced by the government, and the "... Chinese government still uses traditional Chinese culture and values to enhance its legitimacy and consolidate its authority" (Ho, 2012, p1).

After the Cultural Revolution that isolated China from the rest of the world for more than a decade, the country opened up, especially under the leadership of premier Deng.  Global economic development offered all sorts of opportunities for Chinese businessmen and the opening up of east coast regions to outside economic interests served to boost significantly cross-cultural exchange between China and other nations, including the United States. Globalization and China's joining the World Trade Organization, with the implication of a move to make institutions within the country more compatible with those of the rest of the world, and the surge in international trade all contributed to bringing not only increased economic activity but also social exposure to foreign cultural standards.  Although the new openness affected relations with a broad range of foreign countries, the United States was especially important as it was a major trading partner, and globalization has helped both nations to develop a healthy relationship for future growth.

The openness to trade and other exchanges with the United States, including the growing number of Chinese students seeking admission to educational establishments in the US, facilitated familiarity with American popular music. Although this was not the first exposure to foreign music for China, as there had been a growing awareness of the unique brand of western influenced popular music in Hong Kong, known as Cantopop, the influences of American rock, and African American rebellious hip hop and rap music were undoubtedly a lot more accepted by Chinese youth compared to their parent's generation. Nowadays mainland singers like Hua Chenyu, one of the most influential young pop-rock singers in China today, sold out an Olympic sized stadium concert in two minutes and 58 seconds, demonstrating the homegrown pop music of China are at the stage of strong mass appeal. (Rupke & Blank, 2009).  The globalization of popular music impacted other East Asian countries, especially Korea and Japan, and this in turn has influenced developments in China, as "pop-culture excursions between (the) three countries" are deemed significant (Tricks, 2014, p. 4).

Genres

Notable artists

In 1999, Malaysia's Nanyang Siang Pau compiled a list of the top 100 most influential C-pop artists in the 20th century. The top 30 are in this order: Teresa Teng, Zhou Xuan, Yoshiko Ōtaka, Samuel Hui, Bai Guang, Paula Tsui, Alan Tam, Jacky Cheung, Anita Mui, Leslie Cheung, Faye Wong, Liu Wen-cheng, Chyi Yu, Lee Yee (李逸), Danny Chan, Dave Wong, Julie Su, Roman Tam, Beyond, Eric Moo, Chyi Chin, Yao Surong, Wu Yingyin, Tsin Ting, Yao Lee, Tsui Ping, Tsai Chin, Lo Ta-yu and Jonathan Lee.

At the end of 2007 RTHK began promoting a tribute called "Immortal Legends" (不死傳奇) in honor of the singers who died a legend in the industry.  The honor was given to Roman Tam, Anita Mui, Teresa Teng, Leslie Cheung, Wong Ka Kui (founder of Beyond), and Danny Chan. All six pop stars played a major role in developing the Hong Kong or Taiwan music industry.

In 2010, the Chinese Music Awards recognized the top 30 C-pop artists since 1980. They are, approximately in the order of their birth years: Liu Jia-chang, Li Guyi (李谷一), George Lam, Sam Hui, Paula Tsui, Roman Tam, Alan Tam, Liu Wen-cheng, Julie Su, Teresa Teng, Fong Fei Fei, Jenny Tseng, Lo Ta-yu, Fei Yu-ching, Leslie Cheung, Danny Chan, Chyi Yu, Tsai Chin, Chyi Chin, Anita Mui, Jonathan Lee, Jacky Cheung, Cui Jian, Liu Huan, Tat Ming Pair, Beyond, Sandy Lam, Faye Wong, Eason Chan, and Jay Chou.

At the end of 2010, Vietnam's Hoa Học Trò Magazine proclaimed a list of the top 5 C-pop boybands of the 2000s decade, all are from Taiwan. They are: F4, 183 Club, 5566, Fahrenheit (Fei Lun Hai), and Lollipop (Bang Bang Tang).

See also

References

External links
 Official Pandeh Music (Cpop Music Channel)

Chinese popular culture
Chinese youth culture

C-pop


Silvio Ranieri (1882 – 1956) was an Italian Mandolin virtuoso. Born in Rome, he gave his first concert in 1897, aged fifteen, and he went on to tour Europe to great acclaim. It was his desire to elevate the Mandolin to a status similar to the violin in classical music, and he did much to contribute to the immense popularity of the mandolin in the 1920s. Later settling in Brussels he established a tradition of Mandolin music in northern Europe. He always played Mandolins produced by Luigi Embergher, which he compared to the Stradivarius violin in perfection. Ranieri once visited Embergher's shop in Rome and tried out an instrument marked Gold Medal Paris 1900. When he wanted to buy it the luthier replied that it was not for sale, but that he could play it at the evening recital. After the recital Embergher approached Ranieri and offered him the instrument as a gift.

References

See also
 List of mandolinists (sorted)

1882 births
1956 deaths
Italian classical mandolinists
20th-century classical musicians

Silvio Ranieri


Ning Cheng ( 2nd and 1st centuries BC) was a Chinese politician of the western Han dynasty under Emperors Jing and Wu. He was known for his harsh application of the law, such that officials travelling to and from his area of governance would say to each other "Better to face a nursing tigress than the wrath of Ning Cheng!"

Life
Ning Cheng initially served under Emperor Jing as a palace attendant and master of guests. He employed dishonest means to reach positions of power, eventually being appointed as chief commandant of Jinan. His predecessors in the post had all approached Zhi Du, the governor of Jinan, as though they were mere county officials owing to their fear of him, but Ning Cheng considered him an equal and sought to outdo him. Having known Ning Cheng by reputation, Zhi Du befriended him. Years later, after Zhi Du's death, Emperor Jing appointed Ning Cheng as a military commander in Changan in order to stymie the large number of crimes committed by imperial relatives. Ning Cheng emulated Zhi Du's style of governance and soon became an object of fear to everyone in the imperial family.

Upon Emperor Wu's accession to the throne, he made Ning Cheng prefect of the capital. However, the emperor's in-laws took every opportunity to slander Ning Cheng, ultimately resulting in his conviction. Despite it being customary for high officials of the time to commit suicide when charged with a capital offence, Ning Cheng submitted to even the most severe of punishments. Eventually, he escaped and made his way home, forging papers in order to get through the pass.

Declaring that "An official who can't advance to a salary of 2,000 piculs or a merchant who can't make at least 10,000,000 cash is not fit to be called a man!", Ning Cheng borrowed money and bought over 1,000 qing (equivalent to about 600 million square feet) of farmland on which he employed several thousand poor families to work. By the time a general amnesty was declared years later, he had amassed several thousand pieces of gold and exerted more power over the populace than the governor of the region did. Later, Emperor Wu took him out of retirement and made him chief commandant of Hangu Pass after Gongsun Hong's protests that he was like a "wolf driving a flock of sheep" had prevented Ning Cheng from becoming a provincial governor.

When Yi Zong was travelling from Henei to Nanyang to take up a post of governor at the latter, Ning Cheng had retired again and was living in Nanyang. Despite meeting Yi Zong at the pass and escorting him on his way, Ning Cheng's courtesy was not reciprocated. Instead, Yi Zong pressed charges against the Ning family forthwith and utterly demolished their homes. As a result, Ning Cheng was convicted of an offence.

References

Han dynasty government officials
Political office-holders in Shandong
Politicians from Nanyang, Henan

Ning Cheng


Cyclone Nargis was a tropical cyclone. It was the first in the Indian Ocean in 2008. It was categorized as a Category 4 storm. It made landfall (went on land) in Myanmar (Burma) in April and May 2008. It was possibly one of the worst storms to have hit the country.

The United Nations estimated in its report that 1.5 million people were severely affected by this cyclone. Officially at least 78,000 were killed with 58,000 not found (missing); the figures however are still rising, and 80,000 were reported dead in just one town. After the disaster, the Burmese government has called for help in dealing with the situation. Some people say the government is having problems coping with the situation.

More recent reports from the government say that about 80,000 have died. Some non-governmental organizations estimate that the final number will be well over 100,000. Certain aid workers that came into the country estimate that 2 to 3 million are homeless, in the worst disaster in Burma's history. They say it is comparable with the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Andrew Kirkwood, country director of a British charity organisation said:"We're looking at 50,000 dead and millions of homeless. I'd characterise it as unprecedented in the history of Burma. [It has had about the same effect as] the tsunami on individual countries. There might well be more dead than the tsunami caused in Sri Lanka." The United Nations says that up to 2.5 million people need help upgentltly. According to the same report, access to the affected regions has been cut off. The Red Cross says there could be up to 128,000 dead.

The storm caused the government to declare the five regions as disaster areas. - Yangon, Ayeyarwady, Bago Divisions, Mon and Kayin States. Thousands of buildings were destroyed; in the town of Labutta, located in the Ayeyarwady Division, state television reported that 75% of buildings had collapsed, and 20% had their roofs ripped off. It is believed that the cyclone is the deadliest tropical cyclone in the world since Hurricane Mitch in 1998, which killed about 18,000 people. At least 10,000 people have been reported to have died in the delta town of Bogale.

A diplomat in the city of Yangon spoke to the Reuters news agency, giving them a description of the scene. He said that the area around him looked like a 'war zone' as a result of the cyclone. Burst sewage mains caused the landscape to flood with waste, ruining the rice crop. An official from the United Nations also talked about the situation, at the time of the event. "It's a bad situation. Almost all the houses are smashed. People are in a terrible situation," he said. Another UN representative also talked about the incident. He reported that "The Irrawaddy delta was hit extremely hard not only because of the wind and rain but because of the storm surge." The Daily Telegraph, a UK newspaper, reported that food prices in Myanmar could be affected by this disaster.

International Help
On 6 May 2008, the Burma government representation in New York formally asked the United Nations for help. But in other ways, it remains resistant to the most basic assistance. As of 7 May 2008, the government of Burma has not officially endorsed international assistance, but stated that they are, "willing to accept international assistance, preferably bilateral, government to government." The biggest challenge at present is obtaining visas for entry into the country.

According to Thai Rath Newspaper of Thailand on 8 May 2008, in the afternoon (Bangkok time) of 7 May 2008, the Burmese junta permitted Italian flights containing relief supplies from the United Nations, and twenty-five tonnes of consumable goods, to land in Myanmar. However, many nations and organizations hope to deliver assistance and relief to Burma without delay. Most of their officials, supplies and stores are waiting in Thailand and at the Yangon airport, as the Burmese junta does not want to issue visas for many of those people. These political tensions raise the concern that some food and medical supplies might become unusable, even before the Burmese junta officially accepts the international relief effort.

Cyclone Nargis caused destruction in Burma, now officially called Myanmar.
It happened on 2 May 2008.
The storm was estimated to be category 4 (105 mph)
Cyclone Nargis Caused destruction and at least 138,000 fatalities. There were around 55,000 people missing and lots of other deaths were found in other places. In Sri Lanka the cyclone produced masses of rainfall which led to flooding and landslides across ten districts across the country. The districts Ratnapura and Kegalle were the most affected, where more than 3,000 families were dead. Thousands of houses were flooded, with 21 reported destroyed. As a result, the rainfall left 4,500 people homeless, and more than 35,000 people were affected on the island. Three people were reported injured on the island, with two others dead. The power of the cyclone lowered temperatures along the Indian coastline. Estimates of the people still missing were 53,836, with 84,537 confirmed dead already. Thousands more people were still missing or washed out at sea and drowned, it was feared up to 1 million people might have died in this disaster.
Thailand sent US $100,000 in supplies, thirty tones of medical supplies and twelve tones of food supplies. As well as this, Italy provided 30 tons of emergency relief equipment, like stretchers, generators, and water purifiers. Also, the United Kingdom committed ₤17 million. Australia gave $25 million and 31 tonnes of supplies, whilst Belgium sent €250,000. China sent $10 million in relief resources. France gave 1,500 tons of medicine, food, and water, and Germany sent $3.0 million. All to help the people who had been affected.

Continuing efforts through 2010
 Humanitarian Efforts unsuccessful
 The mission of the Emergency teams has been to help the people of Burma. Since the cyclone hit in May 2008 the current military regime has rejected international aid and humanitarian efforts while also harassing and imposing restrictions on its citizens who are still in need of help. The arrests of relief workers and the situation of the government not allowing workers to access lands that are in need of being rebuilt are examples that these people are not being provided with the resources they need to recover from Cyclone Nargis
 Source Information: Science Daily

References

Other websites

 Damage information from BBC
 Map: Deadly path of Cyclone Nargis

Tropical cyclones in Asia
North Indian Ocean cyclones
Deadly storms
2008 in weather

Cyclone Nargis


A barrage balloon is a type of airborne barrage, a large uncrewed tethered balloon used to defend ground targets against aircraft attack, by raising aloft steel cables which pose to hostile aircraft a severe risk of collision, making the attacker's approach difficult and hazardous. Early barrage balloons were often spherical. The kite balloon, having a shape and cable bridling which stabilises the balloon and reduces drag, could be operated at higher wind speeds than could a spherical balloon. Some examples carried small explosive charges that would be pulled up against the aircraft to ensure its destruction.  Barrage balloons are not practical against high-altitude the long cable required for a high-altitude balloon would be too heavy.

First World War
France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom used barrage balloons in the First World War. While the French and German forces developed kite balloons, early British barrage balloons were spherical.

Sometimes, especially around London, several balloons were used to lift a length of "barrage net": a steel cable was strung between the balloons and more cables hung from it. These nets could be raised to an altitude comparable to the operational ceiling () of the bombers of that time period. By 1918 the barrage balloon defences around London stretched for , and captured German pilots expressed great fear of them.

Second World War

In 1938 the British Balloon Command was established to protect cities and key targets such as industrial areas, ports and harbours. Balloons were intended to defend against dive bombers flying at heights up to , forcing them to fly higher and into the range of concentrated anti-aircraft fire: anti-aircraft guns could not traverse fast enough to attack aircraft flying at low altitude and high speed. By the middle of 1940 there were 1,400 balloons, a third of them over the London area.

While dive-bombing was a devastatingly effective tactic against undefended targets, such as Guernica and Rotterdam, dive-bombers were very vulnerable to attack by fighter aircraft when pulling up after having completed a bombing dive. Due to the effectiveness of the Royal Air Force fighters' tactic of waiting for a dive bomber to complete its dive and then pouncing when it was pulling up - a moment when it was slow and vulnerable - the use of dive bombers against the UK was discontinued by Nazi Germany. Balloons proved to be of little use against the German high-level bombers with which the dive-bombers were replaced, but continued to be manufactured nonetheless, until there were almost 3,000 in 1944. They proved to be effective against the V-1 flying bomb, which usually flew at  or lower but had wire-cutters on its wings to counter balloons. 231 V-1s are officially claimed to have been destroyed by balloons.

The British added two refinements to their balloons, "Double Parachute Link" (DPL) and "Double Parachute/Ripping" (DP/R). The former was triggered by the shock of an enemy bomber snagging the cable, causing that section of cable to be explosively released complete with parachutes at either end; the combined weight and drag bringing down the aircraft. The latter was intended to render the balloon safe if it broke free accidentally. The heavy mooring cable would separate at the balloon and fall to the ground under a parachute; at the same time a panel would be ripped away from the balloon causing it to deflate and fall independently to the ground.

In January 1945, during Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm raids on the Palembang oil refineries, the British aircrews were surprised by the massive use of barrage balloons in the Japanese defences. These were spherical and smaller than the British type. One Grumman Avenger was destroyed, and its crew killed, from striking a balloon cable.

Barrage balloons were partly filled with highly pure hydrogen. "The top of the balloon was filled with hydrogen, the bottom half was left empty, so when it was put up at a certain height it filled with natural air", according to Dorothy Brannan, barrage balloon volunteer in Portsmouth, England.

Power line disruption
In 1942 Canadian and American forces began joint operations to protect the sensitive locks and shipping channel at Sault Ste. Marie along their common border among the Great Lakes against possible air attack.  During severe storms in August and October 1942 some barrage balloons broke loose, and the trailing cables short-circuited power lines, causing some localised disruption to mining and manufacturing. In particular, metals production was disrupted. Canadian military historical records indicate that one of the more serious incidents, known as "The October Incident", caused an estimated loss of 400 tonnes of steel and 10 tonnes of ferro-alloys.

As a result, balloons were stored during the winter months and training was improved. Lessons learned from breakaway balloons led to Operation Outward, intentional release of balloons trailing conductive cables to disrupt power supplies on the occupied European mainland.

Target identification
On the road to Aachen in west Germany in 1944, the British 2nd Tactical Air Force floated barrage balloons along the American First Army sector front line (a.k.a. "bomb line") to designate the location of friendly troops during the air assault preceding the advance of ground forces, which took Aachen on October 21, 1944. Conversely, during the First Army advance past Aachen to nearby Düren, barrage balloons were floated eastward to mark the location of enemy troops to be bombed.

Post-war nuclear weapon tests
After the war, some surplus barrage balloons were used as tethered shot balloons for nuclear weapon tests throughout most of the period when nuclear weapons were tested in the atmosphere. The weapon or shot was carried to the required altitude slung underneath the barrage balloon, allowing test shots in controlled conditions at much higher altitudes than test towers. Several of the tests in the Operation Plumbbob series were lifted to altitude using barrage balloons.

See also
 Aerostat
 Tethered balloon
 Observation balloon

References

External links

 Barrage Balloon Reunion Club
 Popular Science, August 1943, British Barrage Balloon Secrets
 BBC's WW2 People's War: Barrage Balloons
 RAF Barrage Balloon Squadrons
 Barrage Balloon in the WWII

Balloons (aeronautics)
Civil defense
World War II military aircraft

Barrage balloon


Edith Cadivec (27 November 1879, in Sveti Martin, Buzet, Croatia – 1952) was an Austrian teacher, erotic novelist and notorious sex criminal of Slovenian descent.

Conviction
Cadivec was arrested, tried, and convicted in 1924 on the charge of sexually abusing eight underage girls under her care, including her own daughter. After a three-day trial, in the Viennese Court, she was sentenced to six years in jail but was set free in December 1925 after showing signs of mental instability.

When arrested, she was found in possession of a large collection of birches, whips, canes, and erotic pictures. One of the whips had a silver knob with the engraving, Dominatrix. Also revealed were compromising letters to a painter in Innsbruck which enlarged on her interests in erotic sadism. The testimony of the trial indicates that Cadivec not only flogged the children under her care, but also indulged in sex acts with them and invited paying guests to watch.

Books
She wrote two books on her experiences, entitled Confessions and Experiences and Eros, the Meaning of My Life (published together 1930–1). Both books sold well and were translated into many languages. In them, the author portrays herself as unable to control the sexual thrill she obtained, when flogging the minors under her charge in the name of discipline, and being a victim of her own lust—though outside observers have been less charitable about her motives.

Bibliography
Edith Cadivec (1971) Confessions and Experiences. Grove Press.
Edith Cadivec (1998) Eros, the Meaning of My Life. Blue Moon Books.

References

Austrian educators
Austrian women educators
Austrian erotica writers
Austrian torturers
Austrian female criminals
Austrian people convicted of child sexual abuse
Austrian people of Slovenian descent
1879 births
1952 deaths
Incest
People from Buzet

Edith Cadivec


Rhona Howie, MBE (born 12 October 1966, Ayrshire), better known under her married name, Rhona Martin, is a British curler most famous for skipping the British women's team at the 2002 Winter Olympics, where the team claimed the gold medal. She has also skipped for the Scotland curling team at both the World and European Championships.

Career

Early career
Martin was long known in Scottish curling circles for her uncanny knack of repeatedly failing to win the national championships at the final hurdle, but finally won the right to appear in a major international championship in 1998, where she was skip of the Scotland team that won a silver medal at the European Curling Championships. With some significant changes in personnel, she returned to the championships in Chamonix the following year, where the team was narrowly edged out of the medal placings.

In 2000, Martin's quartet won the Scottish Women's Curling Championship, defeating the team led by former Olympic skip Kirsty Hay in the final, and were therefore entitled to represent Scotland at the World Curling Championships, held that year in Glasgow. They performed well at the World Curling Championships, with a particular highlight of defeating the Canadian side skipped by Kelley Law in the round-robin stage of the competition. However, Law earned her revenge against Scotland in the semi-finals, leading Canada to a 10–6 win. Martin's team was disappointed after missing out on a medal by losing 10–5 to Dordi Nordby's Norwegian outfit in the subsequent play-off.

2002 Olympics
The fourth-place finish at the World Championships left the team well placed to secure its place as Great Britain's representatives at the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002, selection for which was based on performances in the World and European Championships over the whole four-year Olympic cycle. Crucially, though, changes in the team's line-up meant that the European silver medal in 1998 was discounted, meaning that the team skipped by former world junior champion Julia Ewart, which represented Scotland at the 2001 World Championships in Lausanne, had the potential to be selected. Ewart recovered from a slow start to string together an extraordinary sequence of wins; a gold for Scotland would take Ewart and her teammates to the Olympics, and a silver would result in a special play-off to decide the selection. However, Scotland were derailed in the semi-final by Sweden, allowing Martin's team to represent Great Britain in Salt Lake City.

After battling illness, Martin arrived in Salt Lake City, and she and her teammates found their Olympic form early, reaching the brink of qualification for the semi-finals by winning five out of their first seven round-robin matches. However, the USA team came back to win against Martin's with a steal, and the British team then succumbed to Germany in the concluding round-robin match. The team's chances of progressing were thus dependent on a Swiss win over Germany. In order to progress to the semi-finals, it was necessary for the British team to win two successive tie-break matches against Sweden and Germany, which was achieved.  The win over Sweden was an upset as Elisabeth Gustafsson was a 4 time World Champion.

For their semi-final match, the British team was paired with Kelley Law's Canadian team, to whom three members of Martin's team had lost whilst playing for Scotland at the same stage of the 2000 World Championships. Martin's team surged to an unexpected win, guaranteeing them a medal. As the underdog against Switzerland's Luzia Ebnother, the 2nd seed and a former World and European silver medalist, Britain won the final with Martin's last stone, often described as a difficult draw. The team of Martin, Debbie Knox, Fiona MacDonald and Janice Rankin thus became Great Britain's first gold medallists in any sport at the Winter Olympics since Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean came first in the ice dancing of the 1984 Winter Olympics. Later that year, Martin was awarded an MBE for services to curling.

Post-Olympic career
Martin's team lost to Jackie Lockhart's rink in the three-match final of the Scottish Championships, played within days of their return to Scotland. Attention was focused on Lockhart, whose team subsequently won the World Championships for Scotland, with Lockhart selecting the same stone used by Martin to seal victory in the Olympics for her own winning delivery. The rock was dubbed the Stone of Destiny, and is now housed in a Scottish sports museum. In 2005, Martin was back on the world stage, when her all-star team (including Lockhart at the second position) finished fifth at the European Championships.

Prior to the 2006 Winter Olympics, it was reported that Martin was living on welfare and that her financial problems were causing her to live apart from her husband. Her husband Keith had recently had trouble with his computer business, and they were forced to move into government housing. Martin had considered quitting curling, but her two children encouraged her to stay. Martin skipped the British Olympic team during the 2006 Winter Olympics, where the team was eliminated during the round-robin stage.

In 2007, Martin halted playing for the time being and focused on coaching. She spent 3 years doing the UK Sport Elite Coach Programme whilst delivering the Performance Development Coach role within the national governing body for curling, the Royal Caledonian Curling Club, looking after the National and Regional Academies. Martin joined the BBC commentary team for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, overseeing the curling along with Steve Cram. Prior to this, Martin also made several TV guest appearances on shows that included A Question of Sport, The Weakest Link and This Morning. In 2010, Rhona was appointed as the new women's head coach of the British and Scottish curling performance squad and was part of a five strong coaching team looking forward to the 2014 Winter Olympics. In June 2012, Martin was part of the London 2012 Summer Olympics torch relay, taking the flame through Glasgow whilst being cheered on by the public. She also attended many Olympics events in London in her role as a games ambassador. Also in 2012, Martin was inducted into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame.

Martin joined the BBC's commentary team for coverage of curling at the 2018 Winter Olympics, and again at the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Medal theft
In May 2014, Martin's Olympic gold medal along with other Olympic memorabilia was stolen from a museum in Dumfries. In September 2017, two men were convicted of the theft, with a third convicted in 2019.

Awards
 Frances Brodie Award: 2000

References

External links

1966 births
Living people
Scottish female curlers
British female curlers
Members of the Order of the British Empire
Olympic curlers for Great Britain
Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain
Olympic medalists in curling
Curlers at the 2006 Winter Olympics
Curlers at the 2002 Winter Olympics
Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics
Alumni of Glasgow Caledonian University
Continental Cup of Curling participants
Sportspeople from East Ayrshire
People from Dunlop, East Ayrshire

Rhona Martin


Renate is a feminine given name. It is derived from the Latin name Renatus.

It is common in German, Dutch and Norwegian.

Notable people with the given name include:

Renate Blauel, music engineer, married to Elton John
Renate Dorrestein (1954–2018), Dutch writer, journalist and feminist
Renate Gebhard (born 1977), Italian jurist and politician
Renate Götschl (born 1975), Austrian alpine skier
Renate Groenewold (born 1976), Dutch speed skater
Renate Holub (born 1946), political philosopher and social theorist
Renate Klein (born 1945), Australian writer, publisher and feminist health activist
Renate Künast (born 1955), German Minister of Consumer Protection, Food and Agriculture, 2001–2005
Renate Loll, Dutch physicist
Renate Müller (1906–1937), German actress
Renate Prince, German-New Zealand architect
Renate Schmidt (born 1943), German Social Democratic politician
Renate Sommer (born 1958), German politician and Member of the European Parliament
Renate Stecher (born 1950), German athlete and Olympic champion
Renate Tobies (born 1947), German historian of mathematics
Renate von Natzmer (1898–1935), German noble lady convicted of spying and treason
Silvia Renate Bernadotte (born 1943), Queen consort of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden
Renate Aschauer-Knaup (born 1948), German singer (Amon Düül II)

See also

German feminine given names
Dutch feminine given names

Renate


Franciszek Ksawery Kasparek (Sambor, 29 October 1844 – 4 August 1903, Kraków) was a Polish jurist, professor of law and rector of Kraków University, founder of the first chair in international law in Poland (at Kraków University), and member of the Polish Academy of Learning in Kraków.

He was the brother-in-law of biologist Professor Maksymilian Nowicki of Kraków University and uncle of poet Franciszek Nowicki.

See also
List of Poles

References
 Kazimierz Opałek, "Kasparek, Franciszek Ksawery," Polski słownik biograficzny (Polish Biographical Dictionary), vol. XII, Wrocław, Polska Akademia Nauk (Polish Academy of Sciences), 1966–67, pp. 176–78.
 Andrzej Śródka, "Kasparek, Franciszek Ksawery," Uczeni polscy XIX–XX stulecia (Polish Scholars of the 19th–20th Centuries), vol. II (H–Ł), Warsaw, Aries, 1995, pp. 170–71.
 Biogramy uczonych polskich (Biographies of Polish Scholars), Część I: Nauki społeczne (Part I: Social Sciences), zeszyt (fascicle) 2: K-O (pod redakcją Andrzeja Śródki i Pawła Szczawińskiego [edited by Andrzej Śródka and Paweł Szczawiński]), Wrocław, Ossolineum, 1984.

1844 births
1903 deaths
Lawyers from Kraków
International law scholars
Rectors of the Jagiellonian University

Franciszek Kasparek


"Jesus Christ Pose" is a 1991 heavy metal song by the American grunge band Soundgarden, from their third studio album Badmotorfinger, which was released in 1991. The song was written by Matt Cameron, Chris Cornell, Ben Shepherd and Kim Thayil and is a downloadable song in the video game, Rock Band.

The music video for Jesus Christ Pose received a lot of controversy from Christians since many of the band's listeners were Christians and they felt that the band was showing the song and music video as anti-Christian.

Soundgarden
1991 songs

Jesus Christ Pose