Oplontis is an ancient Roman archaeological site located in the town of Torre Annunziata, south of Naples in the Campania region of southern Italy. The excavated site comprises two Roman villas, the best-known of which is Villa A, the so-called Villa Poppaea.

Like the nearby towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum, Oplontis was buried in ash during the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. However, the force of the eruption was even stronger than at these cities as not only roofs collapsed, but walls and columns were broken and pieces thrown sideways.

History and excavations

The town of Oplontis probably developed under where Torre Annunziata stands today. Excavations have revealed buildings particularly on the east and west sides of the town, the eastern one in the immediate vicinity of Villa A and the other almost at its boundary with Torre del Greco. It is thought that in antiquity, as elsewhere (e.g. at Herculaneum and Stabiae), luxury residential villas like Villa A lined the coast, whereas most productive (agricultural) villas were located farther inland.

Among the finds in the western zone, the most important is the Roman bath complex on the sea shore at Oncino (the Terme Nunziante) as a public building of Oplontis. R. Liberatore recorded the archaeology in detail and he identified it as belonging to Lucius Nonius Florus whose name is stamped on the edge of a terracotta basin in the baths, decorated with vegetal forms and galloping horses.

Unfortunately, the construction of the modern baths above them caused their destruction. Later two underground water supply or drainage tunnels belonging to the baths were found.

In addition remains of two residential villas were discovered nearby, one owned by Caius Siculius Caius Filius whose seal was found and from which a fine fresco was retrieved, though many other remains in the area were destroyed and stolen.

Excavations of Villa A

The first of the villas, known as Villa A, was discovered in 1593–1600 during the great construction project by Fontana of the Sarno aqueduct to feed the mills at Torre Annunziata, the same aqueduct that was tunnelled through Pompeii where he also found the first remains, but similarly no attempt was made to explore the ruins in Oplontis. This aqueduct still runs through the centre of Villa A. In 1785 the Spanish architect Francesco La Vega explored this area, known as Le Mascatelle, with tunnels  and found beautiful objects but soon gave up due to toxic gases.

In 1839–40 excavations in tunnels were restarted by Michele Rusca using La Vega's publications and he discovered for the first time the extent and quality of the building including two peristyles, mosaics and other decorations. He had to stop due to lack of funds.

From 1880 a series of mills and pasta factories were built in Via Fontanelle in the Oplontis area and ancient Roman walls, marble columns, mosaic pavements, and many fragments from a variety of objects were found in their foundation trenches. At the Iennaco pasta factory were found marble basins and lead pipes, two marble statuettes of "exquisite Greek production" one of the goddess Minerva. Many mosaics and frescoes were destroyed. A spring of mineral water erupted during drilling at a depth of 11m and its water was marketed.

In 1934, during construction of a private building in Via Fontanelle more finds came to light. Remains were found of some opus reticulatum and of a probable cryptoporticus. Vincenzo Cuccurullo ordered test trenches to be dug to which brought to light another perimeter wall in opus incertum with light traces of white plaster with traces of a vault.

From this time ever more frequent finds came to light as the town expanded and gradually it became clear that there was an important Roman site on the hill of Le Mascatelle. The "Friends of Oplontis" committee of volunteers was established in 1962 to promote proper excavation.

It was only in 1964 that a full-scale excavation was officially approved. However, even then it was somewhat chaotic and no official records were kept until 1971 when most of the rooms had already been exposed. Valuable information and many frescoes were lost during the period from excavation to final reconstruction. Even after 1971, records were not accurate and omitted details and discoveries that rendered proper reconstruction impossible.

In 1975 the only human skeleton was found at the northern edge of the site, an adult lying on its back 6 m above the floor of the villa who must have been carried by the volcanic flow probably from farther inland.

Today about 60% of the villa has been exposed.

History of Villa A

The oldest part of the building dates from c. 50 BC to which its Second-Style wall paintings belong.

Badly damaged in the AD 62 Pompeii earthquake, parts of the villa were rebuilt with Third-Style frescoes, also as famous as the earlier ones for their quality.

Villa A was probably uninhabited and still in the process of being rebuilt at the time of the AD 79 eruption, as a number of tools were found on the site and statues and columns were stored away from their proper places.

The power of the eruption made roofs and walls collapse, columns to break and be thrown sideways so that on excavation many pieces of walls were difficult to reassemble.

Villa B

A second villa, Villa B, was discovered in 1974,  east of Villa A, during the construction of a school and partially excavated until 1991.

In contrast to the sumptuously decorated Villa Poppaea, Villa B is much smaller and lacks the latter's lavish decoration. Villa B is a rustic, two-story structure with many rooms left unplastered and with tamped earth floors. The structure's plan reveals a central courtyard surrounded by a two-story peristyle of Nocera tufa columns. Nevertheless, more than seventy rooms were found on both ground and second-story levels. On the ground floor all four sides of the courtyard have barrel-vaulted rooms in opus incertum and opus reticulatum.

A bronze seal bearing the name of L. Crassius Tertius was found at the site.

It was built at the end of the 2nd c. BC. The complex was part of a wider settlement built before the construction of neighbouring Villa A.

This villa was not deserted at the time of the eruption: the remains of 54 people were recovered in one of the rooms of the villa, perishing in the surge that hit Oplontis. They were split into two groups, one group possessing fine jewellery, silverware, and coins whilst the other group had none.

Recent archaeology has shown that it suffered unique type of destruction because of its proximity to the sea, different from Pompeii or Herculaneum. The volcanic eruption generated a pyroclastic flow that sped down the mountain toward Oplontis. The impact of the flow on the sea surface led to a type of "tsunami" which caused the violent entry and deposition of a water-heavy layer in the barrel-vaulted rooms (similar to the deposit that buried the skeletons on the shore of Herculaneum). The people sheltering at Oplontis died beneath a mixed mass of superheated gas, ash, and water. The impact of the wave probably also caused the collapse of the barrel-vaults.

Some of the rooms seem to have been used for manufacturing, and others were storerooms, while the upper floor contained the living quarters of the house. These circumstances, along with more than 400 amphorae recovered in the excavations, indicate the property was devoted to the production of wine, oil, and agricultural goods. The discovery of a series of weights seems to confirm this; a bronze seal found at the site preserved the name of Lucius Crassius Tertius, apparently its last owner.

The southern part of the upper floor is perhaps the owner's living quarters, as some rooms are decorated with paintings in the Fourth Style, and there is also a rare example of a second style painting from the Republican era.

A rare very ornate strongbox was found in the peristyle, perhaps fallen from the upper floor, containing over 200 coins, jewellery, and a seal ring. It was finely decorated with inlay in silver, copper, and gilded bronze typical of late Hellenistic design, and it had a complex locking system that was still used in the 19th century.

A sophisticated water drainage system was added late in the villa's history. At the north of the site the ground floor rooms were reconfigured and the street repaved.

See also
Archaeological sites in Naples

References

External links

Official website (English-language version), Archived, 15 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine (in Italian and English)
The Oplontis Project
AD79 Year of Destruction and Re-discovery Website (sites.google.com)
Pompeii: virtual tour and travel guide of Pompeii Italy - ItalyGuides.it

70s disestablishments in the Roman Empire
79 disestablishments
1974 archaeological discoveries
Archaeological sites in Campania
Buildings and structures in the Metropolitan City of Naples
Cities and towns in Campania
Coastal towns in Campania
Destroyed populated places
Former populated places in Italy
National museums of Italy
Pompeii (ancient city)
Populated places established in the 1st millennium BC
Populated places disestablished in the 1st century
Pre-Roman cities in Italy
Roman sites of Campania
Torre Annunziata
Tourist attractions in Campania
World Heritage Sites in Italy
Poppaea Sabina
Roman towns and cities in Italy
Ruins in Italy

Oplontis


The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (commonly called the Kennedy Center) is a performing arts center in Washington, D.C. The Center opened on September 8, 1971. It shows theater, dance, ballet, orchestral, chamber, jazz, popular, and folk music performances.

It is the busiest performing arts center in the United States of America. Each year, it hosts about 2,000 performances, and almost two million people watch one of these performances. The Center presents music, dance, and theater to the public; helps artists make new works and does arts education.

The National Cultural Center Act of Congress in 1958 requires that its programming must be paid for through private money. The center is a public-private partnership. It mostly gets its money from ticket sales and gifts from individuals, corporations, and private foundations. It also gets federal funding each year to pay for the maintenance and operation of the building. It is both the nation's public memorial to President John F. Kennedy and the "national center for the performing arts."

The building was designed by architect Edward Durell Stone, built by Philadelphia contractor John McShain, and is administered by a bureau of the Smithsonian Institution.

History
In 1933, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt first had the idea for the center. It was during the Great Depression, and she thought the government should provide jobs for unemployed actors. In 1935 and 1938, the United States Congress talked about making a building for it in Washington D.C., but the only thing they did was add a small auditorium to the Library of Congress.

In 1950, Representative Arthur George Klein proposed a bill to build a cultural center. Congress debated the bill between 1955 and 1958. The  bill was passed in summer 1958 and President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed it into law on September 4, 1958.

This was the first time that the federal government provided money for a structure dedicated to the performing arts. It cost a total of $70 million to build it. Congress gave most of the money, but donations from foundations, individuals, and businesses were also given.

Construction and Opening

Edward Durell Stone was chosen as the architect.

Construction of the building began on December 11, 1965.

The first performance was September 5, 1971, with a premiere of Leonard Bernstein's Mass in the Opera House.  The Center officially opened on September 8, 1971, with a formal gala and premiere performance of the Bernstein Mass. The Concert Hall was first used on September 9, 1971, and the Eisenhower Theater was first used on October 18, 1971.

It was first called The National Cultural Center, but it was renamed the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 1964, to honor John F. Kennedy after his assassination.

Changes (1990-2005)
By 1990, the Kennedy Center facility was in bad condition. In 1991 and 1992, Congress recommended that $27.7 million be spent to restore the center and improve handicapped access. There were more improvements between 1995 and 2005.

Kennedy Center Honors

Each year since 1978, the Kennedy Center Honors have been awarded by the Center's Board of Trustees. Each year, five artists or groups are honored for the contributions that they have made throughout their life to American culture and the performing arts. They are awarded to people in dance, music, theater, opera, film, and television. The Center has awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor since 1998.

Department of VSA and Accessibility
The Department of VSA (Very Special Arts) and Accessibility (formerly VSA Arts) is an international nonprofit organization. It was started in 1974 by Ambassadress Jean Kennedy Smith. It helps people with disabilities learn through, participate in, and enjoy the arts. VSA provides educators, parents, and artists with resources to support arts programming in schools and communities. VSA also shows the works of artists with disabilities. Affiliated with the Kennedy Center since 2005, VSA was official merged into the organization in 2011 to become part of the Center's Department of VSA and Accessibility.

Management
Before 1980, the board of directors and its chairman were in charge of the day-to-day operations of the center. Other parts of the center's programming and operations were overseen by other people.

Currently, the artistic director is in charge of artistic programming, the center's president is in charge of the center's day-to-day operations, and The Kennedy Center Board of Trustees is in charge of the building.

References

Other websites

  text only

Buildings and structures in Washington, D.C.
Concert halls in the United States
John F. Kennedy


Gardy-Kate Ruder (born 1954 in Lahr in the Black Forest of Germany) is a German author and teacher who is now based in Baden-Württemberg. She writes about the victims of the Nazis.

She originally worked as a teacher in primary and secondary schools.

She integrated the story of her grandmother Katharina, who was killed in the extermination camp in Grafeneck, into her own biography.

This book, Katharina Ketterer - victim of "euthanasia", has changed her life.

Since 1999 she has written for local newspapers. In 2003, she realized in Lahr the project "Stolpersteine" of the artist Gunter Demnig, who lives in Koeln, in her own birth town and in the one of her grandmother Katharina. Writing gave her the possibility to clear up structures of ignoring German History, finding a form to accept what really happened.

References
Gardy-Käthe Ruder, Holocaust im Gedächtnis einer Puppe. Unterwegs auf Lebensspuren von und mit Inge Auerbacher. Deutscher Wissenschafts-Verlag, Baden-Baden 2006.
Gabriel Richter (Hg.), Die Fahrt ins Graue(n), die Heil- und Pflegeanstalt Emmendingen 1933 - 1945 - und danach, zweite durchgesehene und erweiterte Auflage 2005: Gardy Ruder, Katharina Ketterer - ein Opfer der "Euthanasie" geboren am 21. November 1898 in Lahr, ermordet am 26. November 1940 in Grafeneck, S. 323.
Der Ortenaukreis (Hg.) Geroldsecker Land, Jahrbuch einer Landschaft, Heft 46, 2004, Gardy Ruder, Ein "Stolperstein" für Lili Reckendorf, S. 63
Amazon.de

Historians of the Holocaust
1954 births
Living people
German women writers
German schoolteachers

Gardy Ruder


The Grinch (also known as Dr. Seuss' The Grinch) is a 2018 American animated Christmas comedy film directed by Scott Mosier and Yarrow Cheney (in the former's feature directorial debut), and produced by Chris Meledandri and Janet Healy, with a screenplay written by Michael LeSieur and Tommy Swerdlow. Produced by Illumination and distributed by Universal Pictures, it is the third screen adaptation of the 1957 book How the Grinch Stole Christmas! by Dr. Seuss, following the 1966 television special and the 2000 live-action feature-length film. It marks Illumination's second Dr. Seuss film adaptation, after The Lorax in 2012.

The film stars the voices of Benedict Cumberbatch, Rashida Jones, Kenan Thompson, Angela Lansbury (in her last voice acting role before her death in 2022), and narration by Pharrell Williams. The plot follows the Grinch and his pet dog Max who plan to stop Whoville's Christmas celebration by stealing all the town's decorations and gifts.

The Grinch was released and distributed by Universal Pictures in the United States on November 9, 2018. It grossed over $526 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing Christmas film of all time, as well as the highest-grossing Dr. Seuss film adaptation. It received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the animation and the vocal performances (particularly from Cumberbatch), but criticised the lack of creative license. This was the final Dr. Seuss film adaptation to be released during the lifetime of Seuss's widow Audrey Geisel, who served as executive producer of the film and died on December 19, 2018, five weeks after the film's release.

Plot

In the town of Whoville, the human-like people called Whos are filled with excitement about celebrating Christmas. However, the only one who is not thrilled is the grumpy, cantankerous and green-furred Grinch, born with a heart being "two-sizes too small". He lives in his cave with his dog, Max, and only goes into Whoville to buy groceries and harass the Whos.

Meanwhile, 6-year-old Cindy Lou Who notices her mother Donna is overworked trying to take care of herself and her twin infant brothers, Buster and Bean. Cindy Lou initially decides to send a letter to Santa Claus to help her mother, but after an encounter with the Grinch — who sarcastically tells her that, if the matter is so urgent, she will have to talk to Santa face-to-face about it — she decides to go to the North Pole to talk to Santa himself. When Donna tells her that a round trip to the North Pole would take a month, she instead decides to try trapping Santa with the help of her friends.

With Christmas approaching, an attempt by the Grinch to ruin a tree-lighting ceremony goes wrong, resulting in him having a flashback about his disjointed childhood spent alone and unwanted in an orphanage. Unable to bear these memories, the Grinch soon decides that he will steal Christmas from Whoville to assuage his distress. He and Max acquire a fat reindeer, whom the Grinch calls Fred, and steal a sleigh from his neighbor Bricklebaum. After a test run, the Grinch and Max discover that Fred has a family, and the Grinch emotionally agrees to let Fred go home with them.

On Christmas Eve, after making a Santa Claus disguise and crafting dozens of gadgets to help him with his plan, the Grinch and Max, who pulls the sleigh in Fred's place, go down to Whoville to steal the decorations and presents. He soon encounters Cindy Lou after falling into her trap. Her request to help lighten her mother's workload and her advice about listening to the Whos' singing to alleviate his sadness touches the Grinch's heart. Despite this, the Grinch continues his mission, unable to let go of the loneliness Christmas brought him.

After stealing every Christmas present and decoration, the Grinch and Max head back to Mount Crumpit to dispose of them. The Whos wake up and are shocked and disappointed to see that the presents and decorations are gone. Cindy Lou believes that she is to blame because of her trap, but Donna tells her that Christmas is not centered on presents and that Cindy Lou is the best thing that ever happened to her. The Whos join together to sing "Welcome Christmas", rendering the Grinch puzzled to see that they are celebrating Christmas despite his thefts. Seeing Cindy Lou and remembering her guidance, he immerses himself in their singing, causing his shrunken heart to blissfully triple in size.

Afterwards, the sleigh begins to fall off Mount Crumpit, and the Grinch attempts to save it. He succeeds when Fred and his family come to his aid. After securing the sleigh, the Grinch and Max slide down back to Whoville in order to return the stolen items, and the remorseful Grinch admits his actions and apologizes to the Whos before returning to his cave.

Feeling sorry for the Grinch, Cindy Lou later invites him and Max to celebrate Christmas at her house which he awkwardly attends. When seated for dinner, he realizes that it was not really Christmas he despised, but being alone and his bitterness over being neglected. With this, the Grinch finally accepts the Whos' friendship and enjoys Christmas with them giving a toast.

Voice cast
 Benedict Cumberbatch as the Grinch, a grumpy, cave-dwelling, green-furred creature who hates Christmas
 Cameron Seely as Cindy Lou Who, a kind-hearted young resident of Whoville
 Rashida Jones as Donna Who, Cindy Lou's overworked single mother
 Kenan Thompson as Bricklebaum, a jolly citizen of Whoville who lives near The Grinch
 Angela Lansbury as Mayor McGerkle, the Mayor of Whoville who oversees the tree-lighting ceremony
 Pharrell Williams as the Narrator
 Tristan O'Hare as Groopert, Cindy Lou's best friend
 Sam Lavagnino as Ozzy, one of Cindy Lou's friends
 Ramone Hamilton as Axl, one of Cindy Lou's friends
 Scarlett Estevez as Izzy, one of Cindy Lou's friends whose mouth is mostly wrapped up in a scarf
 Michael Beattie as a store clerk

Georgia Toffolo provided the voice of Mrs. Toffee Apple (a customer who was trying to reach a jar of "Christmas chutney") in one scene in some releases. In addition, Bill Farmer voices Sam, a bus driver.

A recording of Pentatonix' "God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen" was used for the Who-Carolers that stalk the Grinch.

Production

Development
In February 2013, Illumination was developing a 3D animated feature film based on the Dr. Seuss book, with the working title How the Grinch Stole Christmas, later shortened to The Grinch. Peter Candeland and Yarrow Cheney were set to direct, though in 2018 producer Scott Mosier took over from Candeland. Candeland still stayed on the project for additional story direction.

Casting
Benedict Cumberbatch was cast as the titular character in April 2016. Illumination originally wanted Cumberbatch to voice the Grinch in his natural accent, but Cumberbatch felt that since the rest of the cast is American, the Grinch himself should have an American accent. By September 2018, Angela Lansbury had been set to voice the Mayor of Whoville. Rashida Jones, Cameron Seely, and Kenan Thompson also joined the cast, while Pharrell Williams, who had previously worked on Illumination's Despicable Me films, was revealed to be narrating the film.

Animation
The animation was created by Illumination Mac Guff in Paris, France. Several software programs were used in creating the film's CGI characters including Maya, ZBrush, and Nuke as well as in-house software. A 3D CGI model of the town of Whoville through which a virtual camera could travel was crafted using Maya, ZBrush, Foundry's Mari, and Allegorithmic's Substance Painter.

Music

Danny Elfman composed the film's score. Tyler, the Creator wrote a new song for the film titled "I Am the Grinch". Tyler and Elfman collaborated on a new version of the song "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" for the film, which was featured in the final trailer, and early on in the film itself. The score and soundtrack albums were released (both digitally and on CD) and the film.

Release

Theatrical
The film was originally scheduled to be released on November 10, 2017, but on June 7, 2016, it was pushed back to November 9, 2018.

Marketing
Beginning in October, various billboards appeared for the film, each featuring an image of the Grinch, accompanied by a mean or ironic message. Universal and Illumination partnered with several companies to promote the film, including Wonderful Pistachios, Ebates, IHOP and 23andme for about $80 million worth of advertising. All-in-all the studio spent an estimated $121 million promoting the film worldwide. To promote the film, a giant inflatable balloon featuring the titular character first appeared at the 91st Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City on November 23, 2017, 1 year ahead of its release. Later in December 2018, The Grinch and Max also made cameos in that year's WNBC/WNJU holiday sing along promo.

Home media
The film was released on Digital HD on January 22, 2019, and on DVD, Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray on February 5. It includes three mini-movies: Yellow is the New Black (which preceded the film in its theatrical run), The Dog Days of Winter, and Santa's Little Helpers. The Dog Days of Winter was first shown on NBC on November 23, 2018, after How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966) and before Trolls Holiday.

Television

The film made its broadcast television premiere on FX on December 12, 2020; it later premiered on Disney Channel on December 13, and on Freeform on December 18. The film aired on NBC on December 22, 2021.

Reception

Box office
The Grinch grossed $271.4 million in the United States and Canada, and $255.4 million in other countries, for a total worldwide gross of $527.8 million, against a production budget of $75 million. Deadline Hollywood calculated the film's net profit as $184.6 million, accounting for production budgets, marketing, talent participations, and other costs; box office grosses and home media revenues placed it ninth on their list of 2018's "Most Valuable Blockbusters". It was Universal's second best-performing film of 2018 behind Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.

In the United States and Canada, The Grinch was released alongside The Girl in the Spider's Web and Overlord, and was projected to gross $55–65 million from 4,140 theaters in its opening weekend. It made $18.7 million on its first day, including $2.2 million from Thursday night previews, more than the $1.7 million taken in by Illumination's Sing in 2016. It went on to debut to $67.6 million, finishing first at the box office and topping the 2000 film's $55 million opening. In its second weekend the film made $38.2 million, finishing second behind newcomer Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. In its third weekend the film made $30.2 million (including $42 million over the five-day Thanksgiving period), finishing fourth. In its fourth and fifth weekends, the film finished second behind Ralph Breaks the Internet, grossing $17.9 million and $15.0 million, respectively. It marked the first-ever time animated films were the top two films at the box office in back-to-back weekends.

Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of  based on  reviews and an average rating of . The website's critical consensus reads, "The Grinch gives the classic Seuss source material a brightly animated update that's solidly suitable for younger viewers without adding substantially to the story's legacy." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 51 out of 100, based on 32 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it an 83% positive score and a 75% "definite recommend".

Alonso Duralde of TheWrap gave the film a positive review, calling it "full of warmth and wit" and writing, "Purists may balk about revisiting this tale, but The Grinch earns its laughter and its sentiment, both of which are plentiful. It's a full-throated Fah-Who-Foraze." Owen Gleiberman of Variety compared the film favorably to the 2000 live-action version, writing, "For anyone who grew up with How the Grinch Stole Christmas, The Grinch won't replace it, yet it's nimble and affectionate in a way that can hook today's children, and more than a few adults, by conjuring a feeling that comes close enough. By the end, your own heart will swell, though maybe just one or two sizes."

Glenn Kenny of The New York Times wrote, "Said dog, Max is the most charming character in this version, directed by Scott Mosier and Yarrow Cheney. The filmmakers keep the visuals merry and popping bright. Benedict Cumberbatch, voicing the Grinch, opts not to compete with Karloff at all, which is smart and speaks in an American accent, sounding rather like Bill Hader, which is confusing. A tepid hip-hop song about the Grinch plays over the end credits. It's by Tyler, the Creator, who only a few years ago was considered one of the saltiest (to put it mildly) voices in music. Here, his contribution is as toothless as the rest of the movie." Molly Freeman of Screen Rant gave the film a 3 out of 5 stars, saying "The Grinch may not be a necessary holiday movie, but fans of Dr. Seuss's story or holiday films, in general, will find plenty to like in this new animated retelling. Plus, with a variety of family-friendly jokes, The Grinch will no doubt entertain viewers young and old, though the 90-minute runtime does stretch thin in the third act of the movie. It's perhaps not worth seeing in IMAX, but The Grinch does provide some rich visuals that will also capture the eye of all moviegoers. The Grinch is holiday fun for the whole family, adapting a classic story with a new twist that makes for an altogether compelling moviegoing experience."

Sandie Angulo Chen of Common Sense Media gave the film 3/5 and stated, "This adaptation is bright, colorful, and occasionally funny, but it doesn't come close to matching the effectiveness of the short-and-sweet original." Amy West of Empire gave the film 3 out of 5 stars, writing "Despite its story-telling ambition being two sizes too small (much like its hairy protagonist's heart), The Grinch is impossibly cute, visually rich and boasts enough festive fun to satisfy young viewers."

Accolades

See also
 List of Christmas films
 How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000 film)

References

External links

2018 3D films
2018 animated films
2018 films
2018 comedy films
2018 computer-animated films
2018 directorial debut films
2010s American animated films
2010s children's comedy films
2010s fantasy comedy films
American 3D films
American children's animated comedy films
American children's animated fantasy films
American Christmas comedy films
American computer-animated films
American fantasy comedy films
American children's animated musical films
Animated Christmas films
Animated films about orphans
Animated films based on children's books
2010s English-language films
Animated films based on works by Dr. Seuss
Films scored by Danny Elfman
IMAX films
Illumination (company) animated films
Universal Pictures animated films
Universal Pictures films
2010s Christmas films
2010s Christmas comedy films
The Grinch (franchise)
Films directed by Scott Mosier
Films directed by Yarrow Cheney
Films produced by Chris Meledandri
Films produced by Janet Healy
Films with screenplays by Tommy Swerdlow

The Grinch (film)


Martiniano José Ferreira Botelho (1853 - 1939) was a leading figure in the municipality of Vila Pouca de Aguiar in the early 20th century. He was a doctor, druggist and Portuguese politician, known from his residence as  Lord of the House of the County.
His humanitarian character was shown by treating his  patients without asking for payment. His wrote a doctoral thesis with the title Breve estudo sobre as águas alcalino-gazósas das Pedras Salgadas.  It was about the way water from the area was used as medicine to make people better.

Botelho' gave land to the community for the market Square which can be seen today, as well as for the municipal slaughter house and water mine.

References

Dicionário dos mais ilustres Transmontanos e Alto Durienses, coordenado por Barroso da Fonte, III volume,  656 páginas,   Editora Cidade Berço.

1853 births
1939 deaths

en:Vila Pouca de Aguiar Municipality#History

Martiniano Ferreira Botelho


Otto III, Duke of Pomerania (29 May 1444 – 7 September 1464) was a member of the House of Griffins and a Duke of Pomerania-Stettin.

Life
Otto III was the only son of Duke Joachim I "the Younger" of Pomerania, ruler of Pomerania-Stettin, and his wife Elizabeth of Brandenburg. After his father died in 1451, his mother married again in 1453, with Duke Wartislaw X of Pomerania-Wolgast.  The young Otto, heir of Pomerania-Stettin, was educated at the court of the Elector Frederick II of Brandenburg (1413–1471), his uncle and guardian.

When Duke Wartislaw IX of Pomerania-Wolgast died in 1457, his will named not only his sons Eric II and Wartislaw X, Otto's stepfather, as heir, but also young Otto III.  An inheritance dispute arose, is which Frederick II supported Otto, and also used the opportunity to meddle in the affairs of Pomerania.

In 1460, Otto III was declared an adult, at the request of the Estates of Pomerania.  This ended the regency by Brandenburg; instead the 15-year-old Otto III took up government himself.  The most important offices in his court were occupied by Brandenburg-minded people.  The disputes about the inheritance of Warislaw IX were settled in 1463, with Otto receiving Pomerania-Stargard, the western part of Pomerania.

Otto died of the plague on 7 September 1464 and was buried in the Otten Church in Stettin.  He was unmarried and had no children.  With his death, the Pomerania-Stettin line of the House of Griffins died out.  It had begun with Duke Otto I (-1344).

Otto's death triggered the Stettin War of Succession.  Elector Frederick II claimed that Pomerania-Stettin was now a completed fief and that it should fall back to Brandenburg.  The Dukes in Wolgast claimed that it was a part of Pomerania and should fall to the surviving line of the House of Griffins.

According to legend, the dispute began when Otto was buried.  Mayor Albert Glinde of Stettin is said to have put Otto's helmet and shield in his grave, to indicate the end of his dynasty.  A gentleman from Eickstädt then jumped into the grave and took the helmet and shield out again, with the words "We still have hereditary, born rulers, the Dukes in Wolgast.  The helmet and shield belong to them."

Ancestors

See also
 List of Pomeranian duchies and dukes

References

 Martin Wehrmann: Geschichte von Pommern, vol. 1, 2nd ed., Verlag Friedrich Andreas Perthes, Gotha, 1919, reprinted: Augsburg, 1992,

House of Griffins
Dukes of Pomerania
1444 births
1464 deaths
15th-century German people
15th-century deaths from plague (disease)

Otto III, Duke of Pomerania


Bernardo Huberman is a Fellow and vice president of the Next-Gen Systems Team at CableLabs. He is also a Consulting Professor in the Department of Applied Physics and the Symbolic System Program at Stanford University.

Early life and work
Originally from Argentina, Huberman received his MS at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1966. He received his PhD in Physics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1971. He is the father of Neuroscientist Andrew Huberman. He has worked as a visiting scientist at the Institut Laue-Langevin in Grenoble, France and Institute of Theoretical Physics, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. He was also a Visiting Professor at the University of Paris, the École Normale Supérieure, in Paris, France, the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark, and the European School of Business, INSEAD in France. He served as a Trustee and Secretary at the Aspen Center for Physics between 1980–1983.

Huberman originally worked in condensed matter physics, ranging from superionic conductors to two-dimensional superfluids, and made contributions to the theory of critical phenomena in low-dimensional systems. He was one of the discoverers of chaos in a number of physical systems, and also established a number of universal properties in nonlinear dynamical systems. His research into the dynamics of complex structures led to the discovery of ultradiffusion in hierarchical systems.

Huberman joined Xerox Corporation's Palo Alto Research Center, PARC, where, in the field of information sciences, he predicted the existence of phase transitions in large scale distributed systems, and developed an economics approach to the solution of hard computational problems. He has authored or edited three books about the ecology of computation and the ecology of the web

.

In 1989 he and colleagues designed and implemented Spawn, a market system for the allocation of resources among machines in computer networks, and a few years later a multiagent thermal market mechanism for the control of building environments. A similar subsequent work at HP Labs called Tycoon received the Horizon Award for Innovation. After working at Xerox PARC, Huberman became a Senior Fellow at HP Labs.

Recent work and recognition
For several years, Dr. Huberman's research concentrated on the World Wide Web, with particular emphasis the dynamics of its growth and use. With members of his group he discovered a number of strong regularities, such as the dynamics that govern the growth of the web, and the laws that determine how users surf the web and create the observed congestion patterns.

Recently, Huberman was the Director of the Mechanisms and Design Lab at Hewlett Packard Labs where his work centers on the design of novel mechanisms for discovering and aggregating information in distributed systems as well as understanding the dynamics of information in large networks.

Awards and honors
 Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science
 Fellow, Japan Society for the Advancement of Science
 Fellow, American Physical Society
 CECOIA Prize on Economics and Artificial Intelligence
 IBM Prize of the Society for Computational Economics
 Trustee, Aspen Center for Physics
 Chairman, Council of Fellows at Xerox Corporation

References

External links
 Bernardo Huberman's Patents
 Bernardo Huberman's bibliography
 Bernardo Huberman's homepage

Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
Argentine emigrants to the United States
American computer scientists
Hewlett-Packard people
Stanford University Department of Applied Physics faculty
University of Buenos Aires alumni
University of Pennsylvania alumni
Scientists at PARC (company)

Bernardo Huberman


Francis Price Blackwood (25 May 1809 – 22 March 1854) was a British naval officer who while posted at several different locations during his time in the Royal Navy, spent much of his time posted in colonial Australia and was an instrumental pioneer of regions near Australia's east coast and nearby islands.

Blackwood was the second son of Vice-Admiral Sir Henry Blackwood and his third wife, Harriet née Gore, Blackwood entered the navy at age twelve. He was commissioned 8 Aug 1828 and joined  under Captain Frederick Marryat.  He then served on  under Captain Charles Yorke.

It was in 1833 that Blackwood was appointed to be in command of HMS Hyacinth, a ship which would take him to Australia on his first visit and in which he would travel to the north-east coast to gather hydrographic data. In 1838 Blackwood received a promotion to the rank of captain.

Voyages of the Fly
Three years later, Blackwood was selected to command the sloop HMS Fly. He was appointed with the purpose of partaking in the initial hydrographic survey commissioned by the admiralty, which involved making explorations into and charting the waters of the Australian north-east coast.

Equipped with a wealth of costly instruments and housing two scientists (Joseph Jukes, a geologist, and John MacGillivray,
a zoologist), the Fly departed from Falmouth, Cornwall in 1842, with the accompaniment of the cutter Bramble (under the command of Lieutenant Charles Yule). Having stopped in Hobart town between the months of August and October, it was not until December 1842 that the survey began, after the ships arrived in Sydney.

Over the following three years, Fly traveled and charted from Sandy Cape to Whitsunday Island, and also sailed past a range of other locations including both Swain Reefs and the Capricorn and Bunker Group and the passage between these two. Fly also mapped and marked the outer lines of the Great Barrier Reef. It was, in part, because of Blackwood and his comrades hydrographic and exploratory effort aboard the Fly that a beacon was erected on Raine Island in 1844 with the purpose of allowing surer and safer travel through the Great Barrier Reef and marking the best passage.

It was during this time that Bramble surveyed the Endeavour Strait.

Later, in late 1844, Blackwood and Fly took a short voyage to Surabaya, but returned in April 1845 to chart a shipping route between Bramble Cay and Endeavour Strait.

After this, Fly and Blackwood surveyed and chartered several other areas. This included a length of  of the south-east coast of New Guinea in the Gulf of Papua where he discovered the Fly River and named it after his ship. He also explored in the waters near Singapore during this time.

It was after this call to Singapore that Fly returned to Sydney and then, with Blackwood aboard, sailed for England in December 1845.

The town of Blackwood, Victoria
The town of Blackwood in Victoria was named after Captain Francis Price Blackwood. Gold was discovered in Blackwood in 1854.

Later life and death
A year after returning to England, Blackwood entered Jesus College, Cambridge, and, on 12 October 1848, Blackwood married Jemima Sarah Strode. On 22 March 1854, Blackwood died and was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery. He is remembered as an important contributor to both hydrographic and cartographic knowledge of a great many locations. Many of the sailing directions and his findings are still apparent on present day charts.

See also
 European and American voyages of scientific exploration

Notes

References

Royal Navy officers
1809 births
1854 deaths
Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge
Francis

Francis Price Blackwood


House raising (also called house lifting, house jacking, barn jacking, building jacking) is the process of separating a building from its foundation and temporarily raising it with hydraulic screw jacks.

The process is the first step in structure relocation in which the building is moved to a different location. House raising may also be a part of a renovation to build a foundation under an existing house or make a house larger by adding a new floor level. Often employed in areas that are prone to flooding and storm damage, this process can be achieved through the use of either timber piles or helical piles. Once a house is raised and supported on cribbing, a new foundation can be constructed beneath it. After Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Sandy large numbers of houses in parts of Louisiana, New York and New Jersey were raised to avoid future flooding.

Other house raising technologies include the ArrowLift structural lifting system which is an alternative to jacking and shoring methods. Utilizing an electromechanical jacking mechanism, the engineered system offers clear span maneuvering beneath lifted structures.

Jacking and shoring, such as using jack posts, are used to hold a wooden building up during foundation and sill repairs.

Little published information is available about building jacking methods. The skills are usually acquired through experience working for a building jacking or moving company.

References

External links
Old-House Journal article on jacking pages 18-23.

Civil engineering
Foundations (buildings and structures)

House raising


Brian Christopher Joseph  Button (born February 2, 1984), better known by the ring name Brian Cage, is an American professional wrestler and bodybuilder currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). Cage also performs in AEW's sister promotion Ring of Honor (ROH), where he is part of The Embassy and is formerly one-third of the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions. In AEW, he is a former FTW Champion. He also competes on the independent circuit.

Button was hired by World Wrestling Entertainment in 2008 and was assigned to their farm territory Florida Championship Wrestling, where he worked as Kris Logan. He left the promotion the following year and began working in the American independent circuit, most notably Pro Wrestling Guerrilla as Brian Cage-Taylor. In 2014, Button was hired to appear in El Rey Network television series Lucha Underground, where he performed as Cage. Since Lucha Underground was created by Mexican promotion Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide, he appeared on several AAA shows. Also, Cage appeared on AAA's American partner Impact Wrestling where he is a former Impact World Champion and a former Impact X Division Champion.

Early life
Brian Christopher Button was born on February 2, 1984, in Chico, California. He is a 2002 graduate of Pleasant Valley High School, the same year as Aaron Rodgers.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (2004–2008)
Cage's love of professional wrestling and desire to be a wrestler began with watching it on television as a child. During those early years Cage became friends with the late Chris Kanyon following a show that was held in Sacramento at Arco Arena where he made a sign that Kanyon noticed. Kanyon then became Cage's biggest advocate in his decision to pursue professional wrestling as a career. This eventually led to him and his friends starting their own Federation in 2004 called Main-Event Wrestling Federation (MWF) in Chico, California. Cage's wrestling debut happened at an MWF show, against Kanyon. This eventually led to a second show where Kanyon once again faced Cage. Cage ended up winning both matches against Kanyon. During this time, Cage had been training at Pro Championship Wrestling. Also, Cage competed at All Pro Wrestling. This continued until Cage, under Kanyon's advice, left to move to Atlanta to be in WWE's then developmental territory Deep South Wrestling.

While not officially signed with Deep South Wrestling, Cage competed in matches with other WWE wrestlers.  When WWE ended its ties with DSW, Cage left to come back to California. However, before Cage left, Kanyon asked Cage to become Mortis so that someday if Kanyon ever decided to make a comeback that he could still have his name out there. Cage is the only person other than Kanyon that has portrayed the Mortis character.

Cage again came back to California and worked with promotions such as All Pro Wrestling, Supreme Pro Wrestling, and Fog City Wrestling.

Florida Championship Wrestling (2008–2009)
In June 2008, WWE signed Cage to a developmental contract, he reported  to their developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling, based in Tampa. When Cage first started with FCW he was using the name Brian Cage but was eventually asked to change it and came up with the name Kris Logan. The name Kris Logan was made to give homage to Chris Kanyon, with the Logan part due to his similar appearance to the Marvel Comics character Wolverine, along with the outfit that he wore which sported yellow tights with claw marks. On July 23, 2009, Logan and Justin Gabriel defeated The Dude Busters (Caylen Croft and Trent Barreta) to become FCW Florida Tag Team Champions. However, they lost the title that same night against The Rotundos (Bo Rotundo and Duke Rotundo). Later, Cage would then come up with a new character Night Claw. The Night Claw character was seen in a few matches and was supposed to be used during the time that Hurricane was still active in WWE. However, this did not occur as Cage was eventually released from his contract in September 2009.

Return to independent circuit (2009–2020)

Upon his release from WWE, Cage returned to the independent wrestling circuit and even competed in Asia. Cage would return to the Main Event Wrestling wrestling promotion where he would win the Main Event Wrestling California Cup where he beat Ryan Taylor, Joey Ryan, and finally T.J. Perkins. In October 2010, Cage wrestled and won a match against Kenny Dykstra at Main Event Wrestling in internet pay-per-view.

Cage would then join the NWA Hollywood promotion where he would team up with Shaun Ricker to form the tag team Natural Selection managed by Percy Pringle III.  Towards the end of 2011, the team would split as Cage would feud with Ricker and would leave Cage as a single competitor.

Cage has also competed in other various promotions such as Future Stars of Wrestling. Cage had a feud with Brandon Gatson who would then compete against in a match on January 21, 2012, that was called the Match of the Year.

In May 2017, Cage started working for Japanese promotion Pro Wrestling Noah. On July 27, Cage unsuccessfully challenged Katsuhiko Nakajima for the GHC Heavyweight Championship.

Pro Wrestling Guerrilla

Fightin' Taylor Boys (2010–2012)
Cage made his Pro Wrestling Guerrilla debut on July 30, 2010, against Brandon Bonham at Seven in a losing effort. In his next match, he lost once more to Bonham in the opening round of the Battle of Los Angeles tournament. Soon after, Cage would form a stable with Chuck Taylor and Ryan Taylor known as the Fightin' Taylor Boys, adding the last name to his own and becoming Brian Cage-Taylor. The group found occasional success (with Brian and Ryan doing most of the teaming), but were never challengers to the World Tag Team Championship. Brian also competed in various singles matches during the time including a Joey Ryan Invitational at Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament on March 4, 2011, but was eliminated by his teammate Ryan Taylor. The group quietly ended after losing to The RockNES Monsters in the opening round of the 2012 DDT4 tournament, and went their separate ways.

At Death to All But Metal on May 25, 2012, Cage (no longer using the "Taylor" moniker) received his first PWG World Championship title shot against champion Kevin Steen but lost. At Threemendous III on July 21, Cage defeated Eddie Edwards before interfering in Steen's title defense against Willie Mack, attacking both men. On September 1, on the first night of the Battle of Los Angeles, Cage defeated B-Boy to advance to the quarterfinal round before interfering in yet another Steen match, causing a non-title loss against Ricochet. The following day, Cage was eliminated from the tournament by Michael Elgin, following interference from Steen. At Failure to Communicate on October 27, Cage defeated Willie Mack, with whom he had been feuding since July.

Unbreakable F'N Machines (2013–2017)
On January 12, 2013, Cage and Michael Elgin formed a team called the Unbreakable F'N Machines (a name derived from both wrestlers' nicknames) and participated in the 2013 Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament. In the opening round, they captured the PWG World Tag Team Championship by beating the previous year's winners, the Super Smash Bros. (Player Uno and Stupefied). However, they lost the championship to the eventual tournament winners The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) in the semifinal round of the tournament later that same day. Unbreakable F'N Machines were regular fixtures in PWG's tag team division, competing in various tag team and six-man tag team matches throughout the year. Cage also continued to participate in singles competition, participating in that year's Battle of Los Angeles tournament, in which he defeated Tommaso Ciampa in the first round but lost to Drake Younger in the quarter-final.

Unbreakable F'N Machines participated in the 2014 Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament on January 31, 2014, by defeating PPRay in the quarter-final but lost to The Inner City Machine Guns in the semi-final round. At Mystery Vortex II, Unbreakable F'N Machines defeated Inner City Machine Guns and African-American Wolves in a three-way match. Following that, the team quietly disbanded as Cage and Elgin went their separate ways. After winning three back-to-back matches in late 2014 and early 2015, Cage earned a PWG World Championship title shot against Roderick Strong in a three-way match, also involving Chris Hero at Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament on May 22, 2015. However, Cage failed to win the title as he was pinned by Strong. Cage continued his domination in singles competition, leading to him participating in his fourth Battle of Los Angeles tournament in the 2015 edition in August. Cage defeated Aero Star in the first round but lost to Jack Evans in the second round.

Unbreakable F'N Machines reunited in PWG at All Star Weekend 11, winning their matches on both nights of the event, defeating The Wolves on the first night, and Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa on the second night. Cage sporadically competed in PWG in 2016, wrestling only twice that year. Unbreakable F'N Machines returned as a team in PWG again in 2017, wrestling three more matches. Cage would then participate in the 2017 Battle of Los Angeles tournament, marking his fifth appearance in the tournament. However, he was eliminated by Dezmond Xavier in the first round. Cage's last appearance to date in PWG occurred at All Star Weekend 13, where he lost to Morgan Webster.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2012–2014)
Cage initially made an appearance for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) on August 30, 2012 competing in a tryout dark match against Robbie E in a losing effort. The following year, Cage made another appearance on the January 10, 2013 edition of Impact Wrestling in another tryout match but through the company's short lived TNA Gut Check program in a losing effort against Jay Bradley. Cage would make another appearance in the year of 2014 during the summer at the June 26 Destination X taping special (aired the following month on July 31 in tape delay) in a triple threat match competing against Sanada and Crazzy Steve to qualify in the next round for the vacant TNA X Division Championship, but in a losing effort.

Lucha Underground (2014–2018)
On October 5, 2014, it was reported that Cage had signed with Lucha Underground. He debuted under the ring name Cage at the October 18 tapings winning a 4-way Elimination Match against Aero Star, Argenis and Angélico which was broadcast on January 14, 2015. Though he started the night seemingly as a dominant face, by the end of the night he attacked Prince Puma, cementing his status as a dominant heel. On the January 28 broadcast Cage received a shot at Puma's Lucha Underground Championship, but lost by disqualification, laying out both Puma and his manager Konnan afterwards. Weeks later, Cage defeated Puma in a non-title match to earn himself another title opportunity. The title match took place on the March 25 episode in a street fight, which saw Puma retain his title against Cage. He then started a feud against The Mack and defeated him in a "Falls Count Anywhere Match" at Ultima Lucha. In Season 2 of Lucha underground, Cage turned face and set his sights on Johnny Mundo.  Mundo tried to attack Cage after his victory over the debuting Joey Ryan only for Cage to turn the tables and hit him with his Weapon X finisher on the 2/17 edition of Lucha Underground.  The two subsequently faced each other a week later, with Mundo winning after a distraction from the debuting Taya. Cage was defeated by Matanza Cueto for the Lucha Underground Championship. Cage defeated Texano in the best of seven series which he won a gauntlet.

Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (2015–present)
On February 27, 2015, Cage made his debut for the Mexican promotion Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA), pinning AAA Mega Champion El Patrón Alberto in a six-man tag team main event. On April 1, Cage defeated Alberto again with help from La Sociedad in a match that was originally scheduled to take place at Rey de Reyes. After the match, Cage demanded a shot at Alberto's title. The title match took place on June 14 at Verano de Escándalo, where Alberto was victorious via disqualification, afterwards demanding a steel cage Lucha de Apuestas with Cage. On August 9 at Triplemanía XXIII, Cage was defeated by Alberto in a Lucha de Apuestas and was afterwards, as per stipulation, forced to have his head shaved.

Return to Impact Wrestling (2018–2020)

X Division Champion (2018–2019)
On January 11, 2018, Cage re-signed with TNA, now known as Impact Wrestling. On the February 15 episode of Impact!, Cage made his in-ring debut against John Cruz in a decisive victory. Cage would then briefly feud with Bobby Lashley after joining him as his mystery partner at the Crossroads special episode of Impact! against Ohio Versus Everything (Dave Crist and Jake Crist), a match which Cage and Lashley won. Lashley confronted Cage on competing in the match despite Lashley never asking for his help. This led to a match between the two on March 29 episode of Impact!, which Cage won, and marked Lashley's final appearance in Impact.

The following month, at Redemption, Cage made his pay-per-view debut in Impact by winning a six-way match against Dezmond Xavier, DJZ, El Hijo del Fantasma, Taiji Ishimori and Trevor Lee. At the Under Pressure, Cage defeated Dezmond Xavier to become the #1 contender for the Impact X Division Championship. Cage received a title shot for the X Division Championship against Matt Sydal on the June 14 episode of Impact!, which Cage lost by count-out after an interfering Kongo Kong attacked him outside the ring. Cage would avenge that by defeating Kong on the July 5 episode of Impact!. Cage received a rematch against Sydal for the X Division Championship at Slammiversary XVI, which Cage won, thus winning his first championship in Impact. On the July 26 episode of Impact!, Cage made his first successful title defense in a rematch against Sydal. Cage also successfully defended his title against Fénix at ReDefined, and against Rich Swann on the October 18 episode of Impact!. At Bound for Glory, Cage teamed with Fénix and Pentagón Jr. against Ohio Versus Everything, which they lost after Sami Callihan pinned Cage, thus ending his undefeated streak.

On the November 15 episode of Impact!, Cage successfully retained the X Division Championship against Callihan. After the match, Cage invoked "Option C", a choice open only to the X Division Championship holder, where they surrender the title, in favor of receiving a title match for the Impact World Championship at Homecoming on January 6, 2019, where he lost to champion Johnny Impact.

Impact World Champion (2019–2020)
On the March 15 episode of Impact, Cage saved Johnny Impact from Killer Kross and Moose, but Impact turned on Cage after Impact's wife Taya Valkyrie would low blow Cage allowing Impact to attack him.

Part of the ongoing feud involved the referee Johnny Bravo where two weeks prior to the Rebellion show, it emerged that he now had allegiances to Johnny Impact and Wife Taya Valkyrie as he chop-blocked Cage when Cage was in a position to pick up a pinfall win over Impact. The previous week Bravo screwed Cage in a match with Killer Kross where he called for the bell indicating a successful pinfall when it was clear to the Audience & commentators present and the TV viewers at home that Cage had barely got a shoulder up before the referee hit the mat with his hand for the third count.

At Impact Wrestling Rebellion PPV on April 28, Cage defeated Impact and became Impact World Champion for the first time. Following the match, he was attacked by the debuting Michael Elgin. During the match Cage suffered a back injury after a Spanish Fly from the ramp to the arena floor. Due to the injury, Cage missed two days of television tapings that took place over the following week. He returned to the ring on May 12.

On the Impact TV broadcasts Cage made his return at Slammiversary  where he would once again face Michael Elgin. Despite being successful in his title defense, Cage once again was to be sidelined, with the show highlighting the cause as the same Back Injury which had limited him to just the once defense since he captured the title from Johnny Impact. Cage would not be seen at the arena events for some time with sporadic updates from his on-screen girlfriend Melissa Santos. Cage was next seen during the August and September tapings.

During the Las Vegas tapings Cage announced that he was medically cleared to return to the ring at Bound for Glory where he would be facing new number one contender Sami Callihan. As part of the buildup to the match, Callihan confronted Cage, interrupting his "first dance" in the ring with Melissa after their on-screen wedding earlier in the broadcast. Following a vile insult, Cage started to attack Callihan, who attempted to strike Cage with a bottle he was holding, but Melissa Santos instead took a direct Hit from Callihan. At the PPV Cage was able to retain his title; however, on the October 25, 2019, tapings, Callihan invoked a re-match clause, with the match held in a steel cage. Cage lost the title by pin-fall following a Super Pile-Driver from the ropes. At Hard to Kill, Cage was challenging Rob Van Dam. Cage was too injured to continue after RVD hit a Van Terminator with a chair against Cage's face. When the officials stopped the match, RVD wanted to keep going, and Daga ran in to protect Cage. RVD attacked Daga, and it became a new match. After the pay-per-view, Cage revealed his Impact Wrestling contract had expired, ending his tenure with the company. Cage also revealed he would be taking time off from wrestling to undergo surgery for an injury.

All Elite Wrestling and Ring of Honor

FTW Champion (2020–2021)
It was reported on January 12, 2020 that Cage had signed with All Elite Wrestling (AEW). Cage made his debut for the company at the Double or Nothing pay-per-view on May 23, as the surprise final entrant in the Casino Ladder Match, where he was accompanied by his new cornerman Taz, thus establishing himself as a heel. He won the match, thus becoming the number one contender for the AEW World Championship. Afterwards, Taz would crown Cage with the FTW World Championship, an unofficial championship introduced by Taz, and Cage would target Jon Moxley, the AEW World Champion. He would challenge Moxley for the championship at Fight for the Fallen on July 15, but lost after Taz threw in the towel. On the 21 July episode of Dark, Cage formed an alliance with Ricky Starks after they attacked Robert Anthony and Darby Allin after their match. The team, managed by Taz and now known as Team Taz, began feuding with Darby Allin as they faced Allin and Jon Moxley on the July 29 episode of Dynamite where they were defeated. On September 5, Cage competed in the 21-man Casino Battle Royale at All Out, but was eliminated by the eventual winner Lance Archer.

On the October 7 episode of Dynamite, Cage successfully defended the FTW Championship when he defeated Will Hobbs. The next month, Hobbs would align himself with Cage, Taz and Starks after he struck Cody Rhodes with Cage's FTW championship belt and then helped them attack both Allin and Rhodes. On the December 2, 2020 special Winter Is Coming, Starks and Hobbs, now known as Powerhouse Hobbs, would lose a tag team match to Cody Rhodes and Darby Allin, after which, Cage, Hobbs, and Starks all attacked Rhodes and Allin until Sting made his AEW debut and ran Team Taz off. At New Year's Smash night two, Cage was defeated by Allin thus failing to win the AEW TNT Championship. On the January 21 edition of Dynamite, it was announced that Cage and Ricky Starks would be facing Darby Allin and Sting in a street fight at Revolution, which they lost. On the March 17 edition of Dynamite, Brian Cage showed signs of a face turn by coming out and showing respect to Sting much to the annoyance of Taz and the rest of Team Taz.

On the April 28 episode of Dynamite, Cage defeated Adam Page, which led to a feud between the two. At Double or Nothing, Cage was defeated by Page in a rematch. On July 14, 2021, at Fyter Fest night one, Cage lost the FTW World Championship to Ricky Starks after being hit in the head with the title belt by Powerhouse Hobbs, effectively being kicked out of Team Taz and ending his reign at a record-setting of 377 days. Cage and Starks had a rematch for the title on the October 8 episode of Rampage in a Philadelphia street fight, which Cage lost.

The Mogul Embassy (2022–present)
On April 1, 2022, Cage appeared at Supercard of Honor XV, an event promoted by AEW's sister promotion Ring of Honor (ROH). At the event, Cage was revealed as the new client of Tully Blanchard and defeated Ninja Mack. Cage later aligned with the Gates of Agony (Toa Liona and Kaun) with the group being collectively referred to as "Tully Blanchard Enterprises". On July 23, 2022, at Death Before Dishonor, Prince Nana announced he had purchased Tully Blanchard Enterprises and reformed The Embassy, with Cage, Kaun and Liona. They would go on to defeat the team of Alex Zayne, Blake Christian and Tony Deppen during the pre-show. On the November 2 episode of Rampage, Cage faced Samoa Joe for the ROH World Television Championship in a losing effort. At Final Battle, Cage, Liona and Kaun, defeated Dalton Castle and The Boys, to win the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship.

On March 30, 2023, it was confirmed by Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Newsletter that his deal had expired. On April 11th, it was reported that Cage signed a new 5-year deal.

At Rampage:Grand Slam, The Embassy lost the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championships to The Elite members "Hangman" Adam Page and The Young Bucks.

Personal life
In 2016, Button began dating Melissa Santos, who worked for Lucha Underground as a ring announcer. The couple have a daughter together. The couple married on July 12, 2019. The marriage was also honored during the August and  September Impact Wrestling broadcasts, with the show holding their own ceremony (chaired by Father James Mitchell) following from Cage's on-screen proposal earlier in the tapings. He was previously married to another woman and also has a son from a previous relationship.

Championships and accomplishments

All Elite Wrestling
FTW Championship (1 time)
Casino Ladder Match (2020)
All Pro Wrestling
APW Worldwide Internet Championship (1 time)
Championship Wrestling from Hollywood
NWA Heritage Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Shaun Ricker
DDT Pro-Wrestling
 Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship (1 time)
Dungeon Championship Wrestling
DCW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
FEST Wrestling
Love Cup (2017) – with Sami Callihan
Fighting Spirit Pro
FSP World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
Florida Championship Wrestling
FCW Florida Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Justin Gabriel
Future Stars of Wrestling
FSW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
Impact Wrestling
Impact World Championship (1 time)
Impact X Division Championship (1 time)
Impact Year End Award (1 time)
X Division Star of the Year (2018)
International Wrestling Federation
IWF World Championship (1 time)
Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide
Lucha Libre World Cup (2016 Men's Division) – with Chavo Guerrero Jr. and Johnny Mundo
Lucha Underground
Lucha Underground Gift of the Gods Championship (1 time)
Ultimate Opportunity
Main Event Wrestling
California Cup (2011)
Masters of Ring Entertainment
MORE Wrestling Championship (1 time, current)
Mayhem Wrestling Entertainment
MWE Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
Mach One Wrestling
M1W Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Shaun Ricker
M1W Tag Team Championship Tournament (2010) – with Shaun Ricker
North America Wrestling
NAW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
NAW North America Championship (1 time)
Piledriver Pro Wrestling
PPW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
Pro Championship Wrestling
PCW Inter-California Championship (1 time)
Pro Wrestling Experience
PWE Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
Pro Wrestling Guerrilla
PWG World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Michael Elgin
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
 Most Improved Wrestler of the Year (2019)
Ranked No. 48 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2019
Pro Wrestling Revolution
PWR Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
PWR Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Derek Sanders
Ring of Honor
 ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Kaun and Toa Liona
Warrior Wrestling
Warrior Wrestling Champion (1 time)
WrestleCircus
WC Ringmaster Championship (2 times)
WC Sideshow Championship (1 time)
World Series Wrestling
WSW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
 WSW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Flip Gordon
WSW Hall of Fame (Class of 2023)
Xtreme Pro Wrestling
 XPW World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

Luchas de Apuestas record

References

External links

1984 births
21st-century professional wrestlers
All Elite Wrestling personnel
American bodybuilders
American male professional wrestlers
Expatriate professional wrestlers in Japan
Expatriate professional wrestlers in Mexico
Living people
Professional wrestlers from California
Sportspeople from Chico, California
TNA World Heavyweight/Impact World Champions
TNA/Impact X Division Champions
PWG World Tag Team Champions
Lucha Underground Gift of the Gods Champions
Ironman Heavymetalweight Champions
XPW World Heavyweight Champions
FTW Champions
FCW Florida Tag Team Champions
ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions
Pleasant Valley High School (California) alumni
Professional wrestlers who use face paint

Brian Cage


Charmion (; ), alternatively Charmian, was a trusted servant and advisor to Cleopatra VII of Egypt. Plutarch, in his Parallel Lives biography of Mark Antony, writes that Charmion managed the principal affairs of Cleopatra's government; therefore, she held an important position in Cleopatra's trusted circle.

Plutarch
In his Parallel Lives biography of Mark Antony, Plutarch noted that Augustus Caesar "had a decree made, declaring war on Cleopatra, and depriving Antony of the authority which he had let a woman exercise in his place. Caesar added that [Antony] had drunk potions that had bereaved him of his senses, and that the generals they would have to fight with would be Mardion the eunuch, Pothinus, Iras, Cleopatra's hairdressing girl, and Charmion, who were Antony's chief state-councillors."

Plutarch later described the scene after Cleopatra's suicide:
The messengers came at full speed, and found the guards apprehensive of nothing; but on opening the doors, they saw her stone-dead, lying upon a bed of gold, set out in all her royal ornaments. Iras, one of her women, lay dying at her feet, and Charmion, just ready to fall, scarce able to hold up her head, was adjusting her mistress's diadem. And when one that came in said angrily, "Was this well done of your lady, Charmion?" "Extremely well," she answered, "and as became the descendant of so many kings"; and as she said this, she fell down dead by the bedside.

Shakespeare
Charmion has been dramatized numerous times alongside Cleopatra, most notably in William Shakespeare's tragedy Antony and Cleopatra (as "Charmian"   or  ). Shakespeare's final line for Charmian derives from Plutarch.
It is well done, and fitting for a princess
Descended of so many royal kings.

Shakespeare gives Cleopatra another handmaid named Iras; notably, she has fewer lines and less characterization than Charmian.

Later dramatizations
A lost 1917 silent film Cleopatra featured Dorothy Drake as Charmian, and Eleanor Phelps appeared as Charmion in 1934's Cleopatra starring Claudette Colbert. Jean Byron was Charmion in 1953's Serpent of the Nile, and Elizabeth Taylor's 1963 Cleopatra had Isabel Cooley in the role of Charmian.

Mezzo-soprano Rosalind Elias portrayed Charmian in the initial run of Samuel Barber's 1966 opera Antony and Cleopatra, based on Shakespeare's play.

In 2005 and 2007, Charmian was portrayed by Kathryn Hunter in the HBO/BBC television series Rome.

Charmion is the main character in the novels Hand of Isis by Jo Graham and Queen Cleopatra by Talbot Mundy.

Charmian is a key character in The Last Pharaoh trilogy by Jay Penner.

Most recently, Charmion was portrayed by Kaysha Woollery in the 2023 Netflix series, Queen Cleopatra.

References

1st-century BC Egyptian people
Cleopatra
Ancient suicides
Ptolemaic courtiers
30 BC deaths
Year of birth unknown
Female Shakespearean characters
1st-century BC Egyptian women

Charmion (servant to Cleopatra)


Salyut 3 (; ; also known as OPS-2 or Almaz 2) was a Soviet space station launched on 25 June 1974. It was the second Almaz military space station, and the first such station to be launched successfully. It was included in the Salyut program to disguise its true military nature. Due to the military nature of the station, the Soviet Union was reluctant to release information about its design, and about the missions relating to the station.

It attained an altitude of 219 to 270 km on launch and NASA reported its final orbital altitude was 268 to 272 km. Only one of the three intended crews successfully boarded and operated the station, brought by Soyuz 14; Soyuz 15 attempted to bring a second crew but failed to dock.

Although little official information has been released about the station, several sources report that it contained multiple Earth-observation cameras, as well as an on-board gun. The station was deorbited and re-entered the atmosphere on 24 January 1975. The next space station launched by the Soviet Union was the civilian station Salyut 4; the next military station was Salyut 5, which was the final Almaz space station.

Background
The first space station, Salyut 1 (also called DOS-1) had been launched by the Soviet Union in April 1971. Only one mission successfully docked with Salyut 1, which was Soyuz 11, whose three-person crew stayed aboard the station for 22 days in June 1971. After undocking from the station, the Soyuz 11 crew were killed just before reentry.

At the time there were competing "civilian" and pure military Soviet space programs; Salyut 1, for example, was developed as a "civilian" program. Other civilian stations, called Long-term Orbital Stations (DOS), were considered successors of Salyut 1. These consisted of the unsuccessful DOS-2 in 1972, DOS-3 in 1974, and later the successful Salyut 4, Salyut 6, and Salyut 7.

The space stations funded and developed by the military, known as Almaz stations, were roughly similar in size and shape to the civilian DOS stations. But the details of their design, which is attributed to Vladimir Chelomey, are considered to be significantly different from the DOS stations. The first Almaz station was Salyut 2, which launched in April 1973, but failed only days after reaching orbit, and hence it was never crewed.

Description
Salyut 3 consisted of an airlock chamber, a large-diameter work compartment, and a small-diameter living compartment, giving a total habitable volume of 90 m³. It had two solar arrays, one docking port, and two main engines, each of which could produce 400 kgf (3.9 kN) of thrust. Its launch mass was 18,900 kg.

The station came equipped with a shower, a standing sleeping station, as well as a foldaway bed. The floor was covered with Velcro to assist the cosmonauts moving around the station. Some entertainment on the station included a magnetic chess set, a small library, and a cassette deck with some audio cassette tapes. Exercise equipment included a treadmill and Pingvin exercise suit.  The first water-recycling facilities were tested on the station; the system was called Priboy.

Earth-observation cameras
The work compartment was dominated by the Agat-1 Earth-observation telescope, which had a focal length of 6.375 metres and an optical resolution better than three metres, according to post-Soviet sources; NASA historian Siddiqi has speculated that given the size of the telescope's mirror, it likely had a resolution better than one metre. The telescope was used in conjunction with a wide-film camera and primarily for military reconnaissance. The cosmonauts are said to have observed targets set out on the ground at Baikonur. Secondary objectives included the study of water pollution, agricultural land, possible ore-bearing landforms, and oceanic ice formation.

The cosmonauts were able to develop film while on the station. Important or interesting images were printed and then scanned by a TV imaging system for broadcast to Earth. They needed as little as 30 minutes to shoot, develop, and scan a photograph. Less important images were packed into a small Earth-return capsule, which could be ejected from the station.

In addition to the Agat-1 camera, other cameras on board included a topographical camera, a star camera, and a Volga infrared camera with a resolution of 100 metres. Cosmonaut Pavel Popovich, who visited the station as the commander of Soyuz 14, recalled that the station was equipped with 14 cameras.

On-board gun
The Salyut 3, although called a "civilian" station, was equipped with a "self-defence" gun which had been designed for use aboard the station, and whose design is attributed to Alexander Nudelman. Some accounts claim the station was equipped with a Nudelman-Rikhter "Vulkan" gun, which was a variant of the 23 mm Nudelman aircraft cannon, or possibly a Nudelman NR-30 30 mm gun. Later Russian sources indicate that the gun was the virtually unknown (in the West) Rikhter R-23. These claims have reportedly been verified by Pavel Popovich, who had visited the station in orbit, as commander of Soyuz 14. Due to the potential shaking of the station, in-orbit tests of the weapon with cosmonauts in the station were ruled out. The gun was fixed to the station in such a way that the only way to aim would have been to change the orientation of the entire station. Following the last crewed mission to the station, the gun was commanded by the ground to be fired; some sources say it was fired to depletion, while other sources say three test firings took place during the Salyut 3 mission.

Station operations
Only one crewed spacecraft, Soyuz 14, docked with Salyut 3. One other spacecraft, Soyuz 15, came within 40 metres of the station, but failed to dock due to a malfunctioning rendezvous system.

Launch
The station was launched on 25 June 1974 by a three-stage Proton launch vehicle.

Salyut 3 was the first space station to maintain its constant orientation relative to the Earth's surface. To achieve that, as many as 500,000 firings of the attitude control thrusters had been performed. Its initial orbit was 219 km by 270 km above mean sea level, which was considered low. The suspicions of Western observers were raised by the low altitude, combined with the choice of a crew from the Soviet Air Force, and the use of radio frequencies normally designated for military use.

Soyuz 14

On 4 July, a little over a week after Salyut 3 was launched, the crewed spacecraft Soyuz 14 docked with the station, having been launched the previous day. The crew of Soyuz 14 consisted of commander Pavel Popovich and flight engineer Yury Artyukhin. The crew spent 15 days aboard the station.

On 9 July, it was reported that the crew activated the Earth-observation cameras, and spent several days taking photos of various locations, including central Asia. They placed some film in the Earth return capsule. After undocking, Soyuz 14 safely landed on 19 July.

Soyuz 15

The spacecraft Soyuz 15 was launched on 26 August 1974, carrying a two-man crew consisting of commander Gennadi Sarafanov and flight engineer Lev Demin. They were intended to be the second crew to man Salyut 3, but failed to dock. The Igla rendezvous system on their Soyuz spacecraft malfunctioned, and the crew was unable to dock manually. Due to the limited battery life of their Soyuz spacecraft, they de-orbited and landed two days after launch. At the time of the spaceflight, Demin was 48 years old, earning him the record for the oldest person to fly in space up to that point. This record was broken the following year, with Deke Slayton's spaceflight as a part of the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project.

Uncrewed operations
Following the failed docking of Soyuz 15, it was decided that the Igla docking system needed significant modifications. Due to the amount of time needed to make the changes, and the limited time Salyut 3 had left in orbit due to orbital decay, the next planned mission to the station was cancelled. The spacecraft which would have been used on the third mission to Salyut 3 was later used for the mission Soyuz 20 to Salyut 4 (a civilian space station).

Following this decision, on 23 September 1974, the station's Earth return capsule was released. The ejected capsule was deorbited by small engines. NASA sources report that the parachute of Salyut 3's capsule opened at an altitude of 8.4 km. Other sources say the main parachute did not open, and the capsule was deformed upon landing, but that all the film was recoverable.

Also following the decision to not send any more cosmonauts to the station, the on-board gun was commanded by the ground to be fired; some sources say it was fired to depletion, while other sources say three test firings took place at the end of the mission.

The station was deorbited on 24 January 1975 over the Pacific Ocean.

See also

TKS spacecraft

Notes

References
 SP-2000-4408. Part 2 (page 1-499), Part 1 (page 500-1011)

External links
Soviet Space Stations as Analogs - NASA report (PDF format)

Salyut program
1974 in the Soviet Union
1974 in spaceflight
Space weapons
Crewed spacecraft
Soviet military spacecraft
Almaz program
Spacecraft launched in 1974
Spacecraft which reentered in 1975

de:Saljut#Saljut 3 (Almas 2)

Salyut 3