In the human body, the cuboid bone is one of the seven tarsal bones of the foot.

Structure
The cuboid bone is the most lateral of the bones in the distal row of the tarsus. It is roughly  cubical in shape, and presents a prominence in its inferior (or plantar) surface, the tuberosity of the cuboid. The bone provides a groove where the tendon of the peroneus longus muscle passes to reach its insertion in the first metatarsal and medial cuneiform bones.

Surfaces
The dorsal surface, directed upward and lateralward, is rough, for the attachment of ligaments.

The plantar surface presents in front a deep groove, the peroneal sulcus, which runs obliquely forward and medialward; it lodges the tendon of the peroneus longus, and is bounded behind by a prominent ridge, to which the long plantar ligament is attached.

The ridge ends laterally in an eminence, the tuberosity, the surface of which presents an oval facet; on this facet glides the sesamoid bone or cartilage frequently found in the tendon of the peroneus longus. The surface of bone behind the groove is rough, for the attachment of the plantar calcaneocuboid ligament, a few fibers of the flexor hallucis brevis, and a fasciculus from the tendon of the tibialis posterior.

The lateral surface presents a deep notch formed by the commencement of the peroneal sulcus.

The posterior surface is smooth, triangular, and concavo-convex, for articulation with the anterior surface of the calcaneus (the calcaneocuboid joint); its infero-medial angle projects backward as a process which underlies and supports the anterior end of the calcaneus.

The anterior surface, of smaller size, but also irregularly triangular, is divided by a vertical ridge into two facets, forming the fourth and fifth tarsometatarsal joints: the medial facet, quadrilateral in form, articulates with the fourth metatarsal; the lateral, larger and more triangular, articulates with the fifth.

The medial surface is broad, irregularly quadrilateral, and presents at its middle and upper part a smooth oval facet, for articulation with the third cuneiform; and behind this (occasionally) a smaller facet, for articulation with the navicular bone; it is rough in the rest of its extent, for the attachment of strong interosseous ligaments.

Muscle attachments
Only one muscle is attached to the cuboid bone; the tibialis posterior. The tibialis posterior inserts to the under surface of the cuboid bone. While the flexor hallucis brevis arises, by a pointed tendinous process, from the medial part of the under surface of the cuboid bone, from the contiguous portion of the lateral cuneiform bone, and from the prolongation of the tendon of the tibialis posterior.

Clinical significance
In a condition known as cuboid syndrome, the cuboid can be subluxated downward causing a swollen kind of ache along the central portion of the lateral border of the foot.

See also
Bone terminology
Cuboid fracture
Terms for anatomical location
Knucklebones (precursor of gaming dice)

References

Bones of the lower limb
Bones of the foot
Tarsal bones

Cuboid bone


Bat-Mite is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Bat-Mite is an imp similar to the Superman villain Mister Mxyzptlk. Depicted as a small, childlike man in an ill-fitting copy of Batman's costume, Bat-Mite possesses what appear to be near-infinite magical powers, but he actually uses highly advanced technology from the fifth dimension that cannot be understood by humans' limited three-dimensional views. Unlike Mxyzptlk, Bat-Mite idolizes his superhero target and thus he has visited Batman on various occasions, often setting up strange and ridiculous events so that he could see his hero in action. Bat-Mite is more of a nuisance than a supervillain, and often departs of his own accord upon realizing that he has angered his idol.

Publication history
Bat-Mite made his first appearance in Detective Comics #267 (May 1959) in a story titled "Batman Meets Bat-Mite" written by Bill Finger, with art by Sheldon Moldoff.

Bat-Mite, along with Batwoman, Bat-Girl and Ace the Bat-Hound, retired from the comic in 1964, when editor Julius Schwartz instituted a "New Look" Batman that shed some of the sillier elements in the series.

Fictional character history

Pre-Crisis

Bat-Mite regularly appeared in Batman, Detective Comics, and World's Finest Comics for five years. Bat-Mite and Mr. Mxyzptlk teamed up four times in the pages of World's Finest Comics to plague Superman and Batman together, as well. In 1964, however, when the Batman titles were revamped under new editor Julius Schwartz, Bat-Mite vanished along with other members of the Batman extended family, such as Batwoman, Bat-Girl, and Ace the Bat-Hound.

After this, only three more Bat-Mite stories were published in the Pre-Crisis DC Universe: two more Bat-Mite/Mr. Mxyzptlk team ups in World's Finest Comics #152 (August 1965) and #169 (September 1967) (which were not edited by Schwartz, but by Mort Weisinger), and "Bat-Mite's New York Adventure" from Detective Comics #482 (February–March 1979), in which the imp visits the DC Comics offices and insists that he be given his own feature in a Batman comic. This story featured protestors with picket signs shouting "We want Bat-Mite!" outside the Tishman Building (where DC's editorial offices were located at the time), and was accompanied by an editorial comment that this story was published specifically to acknowledge the actual requests of fans for this character's revival.

Later Bat-Mite appeared in a one-page story in The Brave and the Bold #200.

Post-Crisis
After the continuity-changing 1985 limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths was published, Bat-Mite was mostly removed from the Batman comics canon. Bat-Mite made an appearance in Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #38, although he may have been the hallucination of a drug-addled criminal named Bob Overdog. This comic states that Bat-Mite is one of the many admirers of superheroes from another dimension. This version of Bat-Mite later returned in Batman: Mitefall — A Legends of the Dark Mite Special, a one-shot book which was both part of, and a parody of, the Batman storyline Knightfall (with Overdog briefly in the Jean-Paul Valley role). In #6 of the 1999 Batman and Superman: World's Finest miniseries, Mr. Mxyzptlk encounters Bat-Mite, shortly after being mistaken for him by Overdog. While in this story, the Post-Crisis Bat-Mite encounters Batman for the first time, Superman and Batman subsequently concluded that Mxyzptlk had created him, inspired by Overdog's ravings.

Bat-Mite also appeared in the 2000 one-shot Elseworlds comic special World's Funnest, in which he battles Mr. Mxyzptlk, destroying the Pre-Crisis multiverse and the Post-Crisis DC Universe, as well as the Elseworlds of Kingdom Come, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, and the DC Animated Universe. As an Elseworlds story itself, World's Funnest has no impact on continuity, as inferred from The Dark Knight Returns and Kingdom Come being introduced to the official DC multiverse as a result of the maxiseries 52.

Apart from World's Funnest, there has been no direct connection between Bat-Mite and Mr. Mxyzptlk. In the Bizarro Comics anthology, Mxyzptlk's native Fifth Dimension seemed to include beings similar to Bat-Mite and Johnny Thunder's Thunderbolt. Neither of these comics are considered canonical, but in a Justice League/Justice Society of America crossover in Justice League and in Justice Society of America #78–80 it was revealed that both Mxyzptlk and Thunderbolt come from the Fifth Dimension. Letter columns and writer interviews suggest that Bat-Mite comes from there as well, although this has never been shown thus far in the comic stories themselves.

In the post-crisis issue of Superman/Batman #25, it was revealed that the Joker had gained fifth-dimensional powers by maintaining the essence of Mr. Mxyzptlk from the earlier "Emperor Joker" storyline; at the end, Bizarro was able to extract this latent magical essence from the Joker, which manifested in a form recognizable as Bat-Mite. As such, a Bat-Mite has been fully reestablished into the current continuity as an outgrowth of Mr. Mxyzptlk, incubated within the Joker.

The first Post-Infinite Crisis appearance of Bat-Mite was in Batman #672, written by Grant Morrison. Batman is confronted with Bat-Mite (or "Might") after being shot in the chest and suffering a heart attack. Might, who bears a green insectoid creature on his back, claims to have come from "Space B at the Fivefold Expansion of Zrfff" (at times, Zrfff has been used as the name of Mr. Mxyzptlk's home planet in the Fifth Dimension). Only Batman sees him. As Batman is having an increasingly difficult time keeping his grip on reality during this period, it is possible that Mite is a mental delusion.

In Batman #678, after Batman transforms himself into "the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh", Might reappears on the last page with him, commenting "uh-oh" regarding Batman's increasing delusions. He then counsels the Zur-En-Arrh Batman, a 'back-up' personality manufactured by Bruce himself to keep Batman able to fight in case he was mindwiped, or driven to insanity. Batman #680 reveals that Might is indeed a product of Batman's imagination, representing the last vestiges of Batman's rational mind within the Zur-En-Arrh Batman, although when asked by Batman whether he is an extra-dimensional being or a figment of his imagination, Bat-Mite responds that "the Fifth Dimension is imagination".

In Superman/Batman #52, Bat-Mite appears, having had a bet with Mr. Mxyzptlk similar to that of World's Funnest. This Bat-Mite appears to admire Batman, and Batman addresses him with familiarity.

The New 52
Bat-Mite appeared in a self-titled six-issue miniseries which lasted from June to November 2015.

Powers and abilities
Bat-Mite has powers and skills identical to that of Mister Mxyzptlk (but not his weaknesses), such as the ability to manipulate spacetime. He can access to various bat-weapons like his hero, Batman.

Publications

2015 series
 Bat-Mite (2016-02-17): Includes Bat-Mite #1-6 and a sneak peek story from Convergence: Supergirl: Matrix #2.

In other media

Television

 Bat-Mite appears in The New Adventures of Batman, voiced by Lou Scheimer. This version is a well-meaning magical fan of Batman who tries to help him despite usually complicating matters.
 An animatronic of Bat-Mite makes a cameo appearance in the Batman: The Animated Series episode "Deep Freeze", voiced by Pat Fraley.
 Bat-Mite appears in Batman: The Brave and the Bold, voiced by Paul Reubens. This version regularly breaks the fourth wall, reads to Batman his past, present, and future exploits from real world comic books, and makes fun of real-world comic convention fans.
 Bat-Mite appears in Lego DC Comics: Batman Be-Leaguered, voiced again by Paul Reubens.
 A stuffed Bat-Mite toy appears in DC Super Hero Girls.

Video games
 Bat-Mite appears as an assist character in the Wii version of Batman: The Brave and the Bold - The Videogame. Additionally, he can be summoned and controlled with a running copy of the game's Nintendo DS counterpart to drop anvils, bombs, and power-ups via Wii-DS connectivity.
 Bat-Mite appears as a playable character and game navigator in Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, voiced by Roger Craig Smith.

References

External links
 Bat-Mite at Comic Vine

DC Comics aliens
DC Comics deities
DC Comics supervillains
DC Comics male supervillains
DC Comics superheroes
DC Comics male superheroes
DC Comics characters who can teleport
DC Comics characters who use magic
Fictional characters from parallel universes
Fictional characters who can manipulate reality
Fictional higher-dimensional characters
Fictional tricksters
Comics characters introduced in 1959
Characters created by Bill Finger
Characters created by Sheldon Moldoff
Characters created by Bob Kane
Imps

Bat-Mite


Huc-Mazelet Luquiens (1881–1961) was an American printmaker, painter and art educator who was born June 30, 1881, in Massachusetts to Jules Luquiens a French-speaking Swiss and Emma Clark who was born in Ohio.

Life
He graduated from Yale University where he received training in art, earning both a bachelor of arts and master of fine arts degrees. At Yale, he served on the editorial board of and contributed illustrations to campus humor magazine The Yale Record. After Yale, he continued his studies in Paris at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts and at the Académie Julian.

In New England, Luquiens focused his etchings on portraiture and architectural. In search of portrait commissions, he came to Hawaii in 1917 to visit his sister, who had married into the Judd family. The island landscapes proved irresistible, and Luquiens produced numerous studies. He is known for naming the Volcano School of Hawaiian painting the 'Little Hawaiian Renaissance'. After teaching at the Punahou School for some years, he was hired as the first teacher of art at the University of Hawaii where he is credited with the formation of the department and served as its chair from 1936 to 1945.  Among the instructors who joined him were Ben Norris, Henry H. Rempel, Millard Sheets and Frederik Taubes. Norris calls Luquiens "the dean of Hawaiian artists of his generation and its professional leader in a very real way." During his life, Luquiens was extremely active in community affairs concerning nature and art. He co-founded the organization, Honolulu Printmakers, which continues today. Huc-Mazelet Luquiens died in Honolulu in 1961.

Although best known for his small intaglio prints (such as Banyan - Study), he also painted in oils (such as Manoa Valley from Round Top). The Bishop Museum (Honolulu, Hawaii), the Butler Institute of American Art (Youngstown, Ohio), the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the Hawaii State Art Museum, the Honolulu Museum of Art, the Isaacs Art Center (Waimea, Hawaii), the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (Kansas City, Missouri), the Hilo Art Museum (Hilo, Hawaii), the Isaacs Art Center (Waimea, Hawaii), and the Yale University Art Gallery are among the public collections holding prints by Huc-Mazelet Luquiens.

References
 Congdon-Martin, Douglas, Aloha Spirit, Hawaiian Art and Popular Design, Schiffer Publishing, Atglen, PA, 1998, pp. 160–165
 Forbes, David W., Encounters with Paradise, Views of Hawaii and its People, 1778-1941, Honolulu Academy of Arts, 1992, 178-214.
 Luquiens, Huc-Mazelet, Huc Luquiens' Hawaii, prints, 1918-1950, Honolulu, Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, 1998.
 Luquiens, Huc-Mazelet, Hawaiian Art, Honolulu, Hawaii, Bernice P. Bishop museum, 1931.
 Luquiens, Huc-Mazelet, Copper Plate Printing, Honolulu, Hawaii, Honolulu Academy of Arts, 1928.
 Morse, Morse (ed.), Honolulu Printmakers, Honolulu, HI, Honolulu Academy of Arts, 2003, p. 17,
 Severson, Don R. Finding Paradise: Island Art in Private Collections, University of Hawaii Press, 2002, pp. 128–9, 143-5.
 Wisnosky, John and Tom Klobe, A Tradition of Excellence, University of Hawai'i, Honolulu, 2002, pp. 80–83
Hustace, James J.  Painters and Etchers of Hawaii-A Biographical Collection-1780-2018, Library of Congress (C)

Footnotes

20th-century American painters
American male painters
1961 deaths
1881 births
Printmakers from Hawaii
Yale School of Art alumni
20th-century American printmakers
University of Hawaiʻi faculty
20th-century American male artists

Huc-Mazelet Luquiens


"Moves Like Jagger" is a dance pop single released by American pop rock band Maroon 5 on June 22, 2011 internationally and digitally. The single features pop singer-songwriter Christina Aguilera and was produced by Shellback, Benny Blanco, and Ari Levine. The song was later put on the Maroon 5 album Hands All Over in July 2011 for the re-release. The song peaked at number-one on the Billboard Hot 100 singles' chart for four weeks and number-one on the Billboard Digital Songs chart for three weeks. The song will not feature on the upcoming fourth studio album Overexposed, which is scheduled for release on June 26, 2012.

The song's lyrics refer to a male protagonist's ability to impress a female with his dance moves, which he compares to those of The Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger. The song received a positive critical appreciation, many of them complimented the vocal chemistry between Levine and Aguilera and labeled it "an irresistible summer hit".

Music video
The music video for "Moves Like Jagger" was directed by Jonas Åkerlund and filmed in Los Angeles, California on July 8, 2011. On July 9, Aguilera posted an image of herself from the video shoot via Twitter, saying, "Always great to see Jonas Akerlund. He created the perfect feel for the song. Expect a fun video." The image showed Aguilera performing with a band in front of a background of the American flag. Four shirtless images of Levine from the shoot were also released online the same day. More images from the video shoot were released online on July 11, showing Levine and Aguilera performing in front of an American and British-themed backdrop with confetti falling from the ceiling. Another image showed Aguilera performing in front of a black backdrop with her name "Christina" shown in pink. Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger made an appearance in the video "via archive footage." The music video premiered on August 8 on E!

Track list
 Digital download
 "Moves Like Jagger (featuring Christina Aguilera) – 3:21

 CD single
 "Moves Like Jagger (featuring Christina Aguilera) – 3:21
 "Moves Like Jagger (featuring Christina Aguilera) (Soul Seekerz Radio Edit) – 3:25

Maroon 5 songs
Christina Aguilera songs
2011 songs

Moves Like Jagger


Francisco Antonio Ruiz (c. 1804 – October 18, 1876) was the alcalde of San Antonio during the Texas Revolution and was responsible for identifying the bodies of those killed at the Battle of the Alamo.

Biography
Ruiz was born between 1804 and 1811 in San Antonio, then part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain interior province of Spanish Texas.  He was the eldest son of José Francisco Ruiz and Josefa Hernandez.

Ruiz supported the Texian cause during the Texas Revolution, when he was the alcade of San Antonio.  General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna did not trust Ruiz, and when the Mexican army entered San Antonio to begin the siege of the Alamo, Santa Anna placed Ruiz under house arrest.

At the conclusion of the battle, Santa Anna ordered Ruiz to identify the bodies of David Crockett, James Bowie, and William Barret Travis and to dispose of the dead.   He later "left one of the most vivid eyewitness accounts of the fall of the Alamo."

Ruiz stated that Crockett's body was found on the west side of the garrison, contradicting Susannah Dickinson's claim that he lay between the chapel and the low barracks to the south. He stated that Travis' body was found on a gun carriage on the north wall, with a single bullet wound to the forehead; and that Bowie's body was found in one of the rooms on the south side, on a bed.

Account of the Battle of the Alamo

The Ruiz account, first translated and published in the 1860 Texas Almanac has been generally well regarded by historians as one of the few from the perspective of a non-combatant observer. Ruiz stated that the Mexican Army advanced against the Alamo in the early morning hours of March 6, 1836, utilizing 4,000 troops, although all did not take part in the assault. According to Ruiz, the Mexican's were repulsed twice, and he commented that the cannon fired from the Alamo resembled a constant thunder. The third wave that attacked the Alamo consisted, according to Ruiz, of 800 Mexican troops, of which only an estimated 130 survived. However, they breached the Alamo walls on this last assault, and were supported by other Mexican units. Ruiz stated that when the Mexicans entered the walls, he and Political Chief Don Ramon Musquiz accompanied Don Carlos de la Garza across the bridge on Commerce Street, so that they might get a better view. However, Mexican Dragoons fired on them, forcing them to withdraw. After a half an hour, Santa Anna sent for Ruiz, and ordered him to join him in the Alamo, to locate and identify the bodies of Travis, Crockett, and Bowie. After locating the bodies and identifying them, Ruiz was instructed to help dispose of the dead Mexican soldiers.

It was through the accounts by Ruiz that most historians base the number of confirmed defenders of the Alamo. The number of defenders has varied through history, with some indicating 180, while others indicate they believed the number to have been as high as 250. However, Ruiz stated that the Mexican Army burned 182 defender bodies after the battle. Gregorio Esparza, a Tejano defender, is known to have had his body claimed for proper burial by his two brothers, who received permission from Santa Anna to do so. Taking in accounts of others who claimed that their loved ones of Mexican descent were properly buried, the number of defenders is believed to have been between 182 and 189.

Historians have also pondered over the number of troops lost by Santa Anna's forces. Most now agree that the combined Mexican dead and wounded range between 400 and 500. Santa Anna overstated the Alamo defender losses, claiming 600 killed and reported "We lost 70 men killed and 300 wounded". Ruiz however, claimed that the Mexican Army lost an estimated 1,600 troops during the battle, and was ordered to have those bodies buried or otherwise disposed of. Due to there being insufficient room in the cemetery, Ruiz had many of the bodies thrown into the river.  Some have questioned Ruiz estimating the Mexican losses at 1,600, while others have completely dismissed that estimate. In historian Thomas Ricks Lindsey's 2003 book "Alamo Traces"  the author takes exception to Ruiz's inflated casualty numbers and asserts that the 1860 Ruiz account "...has been accepted by historians and writers without sufficient examination". Lindsey also makes the argument that Francisco Flores and not Francisco Ruiz was the alcade of San Antonio in February 1836 and that neither were present during the siege, having been sent on a mission by Travis and Bowie to transport ammunition, clothing and provisions to the Alamo.

Later life

From 1837 until 1841, Ruiz served as an alderman in San Antonio.  He strongly opposed Texas's annexation to the United States of America and believed that only those who had served during the Texas Revolution should be able to participate in making that decision.  After the annexation was complete (late in 1845), Ruiz left San Antonio and lived for several years amongst the Indians.

He later returned to the now-U.S. city of San Antonio.  After his death on October 18, 1876, he was buried in the Ruiz-Herrera family cemetery in Bexar County.

Footnotes

References

Francisco Antonio Ruiz
Handbook of Texas

1876 deaths
People of Spanish Texas
People of Mexican Texas
People of the Texas Revolution
Politicians from San Antonio
Year of birth uncertain
1804 births
Tejano politicians

Francisco Antonio Ruiz


Marie-Jeanne Meyer (born 1942) is a French billionaire and member of the Louis Dreyfus family.

Early life
Born Marie-Jeanne Louis-Dreyfus, she was one of three children born to Jean and Jeanne Madeline (née Depierre) Louis-Dreyfus. Her brother is Robert Louis-Dreyfus and her sister is Monique Roosmale Nepveu. Her father was Jewish and her mother Roman Catholic. She is the great granddaughter of Léopold Louis-Dreyfus, founder of the Louis-Dreyfus Group, which had begun buying and selling wheat in the Alsace region a century earlier, and rapidly diversified into shipping, oil and other commodities. Her grandfather was Louis Louis-Dreyfus who served in the French Parliament during the French Third Republic. After the death of her brother Robert, his widow and second wife Margarita Louis-Dreyfus (b: Rita Bogdanova), inherited 60% of the Louis Dreyfus Group (later increased to 65% in 2012). As of 2013, Marie-Jeanne owned 12.5% of the Louis Dreyfus Group making her a billionaire. In 2009, she founded the venture capital company Florac SAS.

As of March 2015, she had a net worth of US$1.5 billion.

Personal life
She is married to Philippe Meyer. They have three children.

Actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus is her cousin.

References

1942 births
French billionaires
French people of Jewish descent
Louis-Dreyfus family
Living people

Marie-Jeanne Meyer


Lewis Guy Melville Thorpe  FRSA FRHistS (5 November 1913 – 10 October 1977) was a British philologist and translator. He was married to the Italian scholar and lexicographer Barbara Reynolds.

After service in Italy in the Second World War, Lewis Thorpe joined the staff of the University of Nottingham in 1946. He was Professor of French there from 1958 to 1977. He served as President of the British Branch of the International Arthurian Society and was a member of the Marylebone Cricket Club.

Thorpe was born in Croydon. He died in Nottingham in 1977.

Publications
La France guerrière. Penguin, 1945.
Le roman de Laurin, fils de Marques le Sénéchal. 1950.
Le roman de Laurin: text of MS B. N. F. fr. 22548. Cambridge: Heffer, 1960.
Guido Farina, Painter of Verona, 1896-1957. 1967 (with Barbara Reynolds).
Heldris de Cornouaille, Le roman de Silence. Cambridge: Heffer, 1972.
The Bayeux Tapestry and the Norman Invasion. 1973.

As editor
Bulletin bibliographique of the International Arthurian Society
Nottingham Mediaeval Studies
Nottingham French Studies

As translator
Geoffrey of Monmouth, The History of the Kings of Britain. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1966 (revised, 1976).
Einhard and Notker the Stammerer, Two lives of Charlemagne. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1969.
Einhard the Frank, The Life of Charlemagne. 1970.
Gregory of Tours, The History of the Franks. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1974.
Gerald of Wales, The Journey Through Wales and The Description of Wales. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1978.

References

Lewis Thorpe's translation of Gerald of Wales, The Journey Through Wales and The Description of Wales (Penguin Books, 1978)
History of the Kings of Britain, Penguin 1973 reprint

1913 births
1977 deaths
Latin–English translators
British philologists
Fellows of the Royal Historical Society
Academics of the University of Nottingham
People from Croydon
20th-century British translators
20th-century philologists

Lewis Thorpe


Frederick Feikema Manfred (January 6, 1912 – September 7, 1994) was an American writer of Westerns, very much connected to his native region: the American Midwest, and the prairies of the West. He named the area where the borders of Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota, and Nebraska meet, "Siouxland."

Biography

Manfred was born in Doon, Iowa.  He was baptized Frederick Feikes Feikema VII, and he used the name Feike Feikema when he published his first books. He was the oldest of six boys, all over six feet tall, and was himself six feet nine inches tall. Manfred was a third generation Frisian American, whose family originated in the village of Tzum, in the Dutch province of Friesland.

Manfred was raised in the Christian Reformed Church. James Bratt argues that Manfred rebelled against this upbringing, being filled with "religious doubts and ethical chafings." Bratt goes on to discuss this influence that this upbringing had on Manfred's writing, and suggests that the qualities of his work - "earthy detail, metaphysical sweep, both set to biblical cadence - are precisely those of his native faith."

In 1937 Manfred worked as a sports reporter for The Minneapolis Journal. He was fired a couple years later, due to his involvement in union organization. Shortly after this, Manfred developed tuberculosis and entered Glen Lake Sanatorium in Oak Terrace, Minnesota, in April 1940. It was in this sanatorium that he met his future wife Maryanna Shorba. Manfred left the sanatorium in 1942 and worked on the staff of Modern Medicine and as assistant campaign manager for Hubert Humphrey, who was a candidate for mayor of Minneapolis. He fictionalized this period in his book Boy Almighty, published under the name Feike Feikema.

Manfred published The Primitive, the first novel in his World's Wanderer trilogy, in 1949. It was poorly received, and the next two books in the trilogy, The Brother (1950) and The Giant (1951), met with mixed reviews. In 1952 Manfred decided to change his name from Frederick Feikema to Frederick Feikema Manfred, and Frederick Manfred became his publishing name. Lord Grizzly, the first of The Buckskin Man Tales, was the first work Manfred published under his new name. It was a best seller and one of the finalists for the National Book Award in 1954. The Buckskin Man Tales are the novels Lord Grizzly, Conquering Horse, Scarlet Plume, King of Spades, and Riders of Judgment.

For a time he lived in a house which is now the interpretive center of Blue Mounds State Park in Rock County, Minnesota. He attended Calvin College in Michigan. He had three children with his wife Maryanna Shorba Manfred: Freya Manfred, Frederick Manfred Jr., and Marya Manfred.

Manfred was the writer-in-residence in the English Department at the University of South Dakota during the 1970s and 1980s. According to his daughter Freya Manfred, "Many of those who drank coffee with him, watched him, listened to him, learned from him, are now well-known national or regional writers: Pete Dexter, Michael Doane, Elly Welt, William Earls, Dan O'Brien, Linda Hasselstrom, Craig Volk, Bill Holm, John Calvin Rezmerski, and Joe and Nancy Paddock."

Manfred died in Luverne, Minnesota in 1994, of a brain tumor, at the age of 82. In 2013, a Frisian translation was published of Manfred's autobiographical novel Green Earth, titled De Griene Ierde.

Fiction
The Golden Bowl (Manfred) (1944)
Boy Almighty (1945)
This is the Year (1947), Doubleday & Company
The Chokecherry Tree (1948)
The Primitive (1949), Doubleday & Company
The Brother (1950)
The Giant (1951)
Lord Grizzly (1954), , about the ordeal of mountain man Hugh Glass
Morning Red (1956)
Riders of Judgment (1957),  fictionalization of Wyoming's Johnson County War
Conquering Horse (1959),
Scarlet Plume (1964),
King of Spades (1965),
The Man Who Looked Like the Prince of Wales (1965)
Eden Prairie (1968)
The Manly-Hearted Woman (1976)
Milk of Wolves (1976)
Green Earth (1977)
Sons of Adam (1980)
Flowers of Desire (1989)
No Fun On Sunday (1990)
Of Lizards and Angels (1992)
Note: There are also a handful of non-fiction titles, notably The Wind Blows Free, a memoir of the Dust Bowl, Conversations with Frederick Manfred, and Prime Fathers and Duke's Mixture, anthologies of FM's essays.

References

Sources
"Frederick Manfred." Dictionary of Literary Biography 212:185-197. 1999.
The Frederick Manfred Information Page
Robert C. Wright, Frederick Manfred (Twayne's United States Authors series ; TUSAS 336)

External links
Frederick Manfred discusses Lord Grizzley and his other writings with his daughter Freya Manfred in this two-part program recorded in 1988:
Northern Lights Minnesota Author Interview TV Series #51
Northern Lights Minnesota Author Interview TV Series #52
Author John Calvin Rezmerski reads from The Frederick Manfred Reader as part of the 1997 Minnesota Book Awards program in 1997:
Northern Lights TV Series #376

1912 births
1994 deaths
20th-century American novelists
Writers of fiction set in prehistoric times
American male novelists
American people of Frisian descent
Calvin University alumni
People from Lyon County, Iowa
People from Luverne, Minnesota
Writers from Sioux City, Iowa
Western (genre) writers
Novelists from Minnesota
Writers from South Dakota
Deaths from brain cancer in the United States
20th-century American male writers
Novelists from Iowa
Neurological disease deaths in Minnesota
Deaths from cancer in Minnesota

Frederick Manfred


Papa is a Korean drama that aired on KBS2 from January 3 to February 29, 1996 with a total of 18 episodes.

Synopsis

Prologue
The prologue of the story is not shown in the first episode, but is revealed through flashbacks in various parts of the drama series, notably when a character is thinking about his past experiences.

Choi Hyun-joon was a university student who met Han Se-yung and fell in love, during his years in a university. Se-yung became pregnant with Heun-heun prior to their marriage. Their friend, Hee-min, was secretly in love with Choi and frequently met with Choi to assist his writing. Se-yung often saw the couple in intimate conversations sharing laughter etc., right until Hee-min decided to go to America to further her studies, due in part to relation problems which developed between Choi and Han. Han later decided to file a divorce with Choi shortly after.

Episodes 1-8
Hyun-joon, a university professor and a best-selling novelist, who is the father of a six-year-old daughter, lived with his two roommates who are his friend and ex-brother-in-law, Han In-pyo. Han In-pyo is a loafer who frequently hangs out with his girlfriends and squanders away his time at home on music, movies, and calling girlfriends. He came to live in Choi's house immediately after his water supply was cut off while washing his face. In-pyo's water supply and electricity were cut off for he had owed the electrical supply board a large sum of unpaid fees.

A conflict happened when In-pyo met Yong Gong, who also appeared after renting a room from Choi. He tried to punch Gong, as he (mistakenly) was angry at Gong for flirting with Se-yung at the bar, and letting her off altogether by boarding a taxi by herself. Se-yung was surprised to find Gong in Choi's house as well as a son.  Yong-min heaved a sigh.

His friend, Yong Gong, was a widower who worked as a Chinese physician. His wife died the previous year (1995) after a car accident. Yong Gong also had a naughty and greedy son, Jae-hong. Yong Gong eventually fell in love with Yoon Hye-won, who doted on his son. They first met after Hye-won brought Jae-hung into her pharmacy as he ran, fell, and injured himself when he was following Hye-won doing exercises.

On the other hand, In-pyo, fells in love with a kindergarten teacher, who happened to be the teacher of the children of Hyun-joon and Yong Gong. They first met outside a fashion shop. In-pyo first attracted her attention by splashing a puddle of dirty water with his car onto her pants. They later met again while meeting Jee-yeong, and again at the kindergarten where his niece Shin-shin and Jae-hung are students.  At the kindergarten, In-pyo tried to attract her attention by criticizing her attitude and dress as a teacher from what he saw the previous day, in front of her colleagues. Han In-pyo felt jubilant after that, but the children protested by highlighting their risk of being transferred out to another school. The kids told their fathers of Han In-pyo's conduct at the kindergarten, both of whom demanded him to apologize to the teacher.

In-pyo apologized to the teacher the following day. Hee-ju disguised herself as another individual when In-pyo came in, who presented an apple. Shortly after In-pyo left the kindergarten, Hee-ju followed suit and proceeded to her car, where her chauffeur, Mr Wang, was waiting for her.  Hee-ju requested to drive towards In-pyo short of crashing into him. Hee-ju lowered her spectacles and apologized after doing so. As Wang drove off, a jubilant Hee-ju gave a bite on the apple In-pyo gave.  In-pyo himself was smiling as well. He subsequently frequently visited the kindergarten, even during lesson time, and spent time eating and shopping with Hee-ju.

Episode 9-18
As time progressed, the three men's affairs with women also progressed, but complications arose as Yong-min tried to balance his relations between Hee-min and Se-young. This happened when Hee-min had just returned from America to Korea, and frequented the university Choi was teaching in and his house. In-pyo also had a hard time getting approval from Hee-ju's father and elder brother for their relationship.

However, after deliberations and persuasion by his son, he approved at episode 17, on condition that In-pyo would agree to change his course of study to a new course that could assist his company. Hee-ju's father also warned In-pyo that he would only allow the couple to marry after three years, and they would have to break up if his behavior changed for the worse.

After sending Hee-min to America with the termination of their relations and Se-young shaking off her relationship with her boss, Gang, Hyun-joon eventually reconciled with his ex-wife Se-young after a separation of many years. Se-young is working in a film production company, under Gang, to create the film Salut D'Amour.

Yong Gong got to marry the pharmacist who lived with his entire family and Hyun-joon's brother-in-law eventually went abroad to America to study, as a promise to marry Hee-ju if both of them excel academically.

Se-young and Hyun-joon confessed their feelings towards each other after Hyun-joon broke up with Hee-min, who had already returned to America to further her studies for another three years. At this time, Yong Gong married the pharmacist, Hye-won after dating indirectly for sometime as well as pressure applied by his son. Yong Gong had confessed his love to Hye-won in episode 17 at her pharmacy shortly after she wound up for the day. That was the same time Hye-won was introduced to a new boyfriend through her father.

The duo later met again at the KBS radio station where Choi worked. The duo then hugged each other after confessing their needs to each other.

Cast
 Bae Yong-joon - Choi Hyun-joon
 Father of Heun-heun, formerly married to Se-young for a few years. Worked as an author and school teacher, but later resigned from his job and became a narrator on one of the KBS stations. Later reconciled with Se-young.
 Lee Young-ae - Han Se-young
 Mother of Heun-heun, formerly married to Hyun-joon for a few years. They married when they had Heun-heun, and first met during their University days. A staff of a film production company, and dated with Yong Gong and her boss Gang Dong-suk. She has a younger brother, In-pyo.
 Jung Chan - Han In-pyo
 The ex-brother-in-law of Hyun-joon and younger brother of Se-young.  However, In-pyo still continued to address Hyun-joon as "brother-in-law". Formerly a dissolute hippie, his behaviour improved when he lived with Hyun-joon. He had numerous girlfriends.  Han studied in the laboratory as a science student. Later dated Hee-ju, but met resistance from her father.  Studied with Hyun-joon during their youth.
 Choi Yoon-young  - Lee Hee-ju
 The daughter of a wealthy businessman.  Worked as a kindergarten teacher, and happened to be the teacher of Heun-heun and Jae-hung. Her mother died a few years ago, and her father had gone through at least one operation in America. Hee-ju has an elder brother and a younger sister, Suk-ji.  Later dated In-pyo.
 Lee Hye-young - Yoon Hye-won
 Worked as a pharmacist. Made her first appearance in episode 2. Frequently played with Jae-hung and later married Gong.
 Park Chung-hyun - Yong Gong
 A widower whose wife had died in a car accident in 1995. Worked as a Chinese physician, assistant to the clinic's boss.  Had a son, Jae-hung. Attempted to date Se-young, but later gave up. Se-young was his childhood friend.
 Lee Jae-ni - Suk-ji
 The younger sister of Hee-ju. A student of Hyun-joon who liked him very much. Fell in love with Jeong-mun. In spite of her tender age, she owned a mobile phone and a car, which were luxuries during the mid-1990s.
 Choi Jong-won - Shin Shin-ho
 A middle-aged Chinese physician who is a mild cheeky toad, and boastful by nature.  Initially attempted to tie Miss Bae with Gong, but later changed his views to Hye-won. He is married with several children, and his parents, both of whom had died from stroke, inspired him to become a physician.  Shin has been practicing medicine for the past twenty years. He later acted as a witness during Gong's and Hye-won's wedding.
 Lee Jung-yoon - Choi Heun-heun
 Daughter of Se-young and Hyun-joon. Lived intermittently with either of her parents, and very sensitive to relationships. Five years of age.
 Choi Kang-won - Yong Jae-hung
 Son of Yong Gong. A clumsy boy, Jae-hung loved to eat and would cry at the slightest thing. Often thought of his mother, and would call "mother" upon meeting a long-haired lady.
 Kim Yeong-ju - Son Hee-min
 A former friend of Se-young. Hee-min first met Hyun-joon during their university days, and continued to date even after his marriage to Se-young, and eventually caused them to break up. Went to America to study. She later broke up with Hyun-joon and returned to America to further her studies.
 Kim Kyu-chul - Gang Dong-suk
 The chairman of the film production company Se-young was working in. He had proposed to Se-young, who eventually returned to Hyun-joon
 Cha Tae-hyun - Jang Jeong-mun
 A young boy who fell in love with Suk-ji, and their relations developed successfully.
 Yoon Son-ha - Miss Bae
 A hospital nurse, who befriends Yong Gong. Worked as the clinic nurse under Doctor Shin and Gong.
 Kim Min-hee - Jang Jee-yeong
 A friend of In-pyo and Suk-ji.
 Im Chan-ho - Mr Lee
 Father of Hee-ju and Suk-ji. The chairman of the company he was working in. His wife died a few years ago and he himself had undergone at least one operation.
 Kim Kyung-eung - (no name)
 A staff member, secretary of the film production company Se-young was working in.  His name was never revealed.
 Park Sol-mi - (no name)
 Bit part in Episode 15, friend of Hee-ju's fiancée's younger sister. Her name was never revealed.

Soundtrack
 Papa - Park Jung-chul
 Again - Jung Seok-won
 Bank - 뱅크
 Come Vorrei
 California Dreamin' by The Mamas & the Papas

Trivia
 Bae, as Choi Hyun-joon in Papa was the author of the Korean version of Salut D'Amour. The content described in Papa strongly corresponds to the story in this drama. This is evidenced in one scenario in episode three, Choi (Bae) was having a grand meeting on his third fiction book. The Korean words "사랑의 인사" were written on the display signboard for the meeting. Bae starred as Kim Yong-min in Salut D'Amour.
 The lyrics of the theme song contain a humorous "Por Por Por..." rhythm, a form of a human mimic of the car horn. It can be heard after the words "차윤 데 나지만! (jayun de nachiman!)"

References

External links

Korean-language television shows
South Korean comedy-drama television series
1996 South Korean television series debuts
1996 South Korean television series endings
1990s South Korean television series
Korean Broadcasting System television dramas
South Korean romance television series

Papa (TV series)


Stotting (or pronking) is a behaviour of some bovines, particularly gazelles. They spring into the air, and lift all four feet off the ground simultaneously. Usually, the legs are held in a relatively stiff position and the back may be arched with the head pointing downward.  Many explanations of stotting have been proposed. At least in some cases it is an honest signal to predators that the stotting animal is not worth pursuing.

Some possible explanations
Stotting makes a prey animal more visible and uses up energy and time that could be spent escaping. Therefore, it is assumed that it must bring some benefit to the stotting animal. A number of possible explanations have been proposed. Stotting may be:

 A good means of rapid escape or jumping over obstructions. This cannot be true in Thomson's gazelles because they do not stot when a predator is less than about 40 m away.
 An anti-ambush behaviour: animals in tall grass may leap into the air to detect potential predators.
 An alarm signal to other members of the herd that a predator is hazardously close thereby increasing the survival rate of the herd.
 A social behaviour, making it more difficult for a predator to target any individual during an attack (much like the suggestion that zebra stripes cause motion dazzle).
 An honest signal of the animal's fitness. Stotting could be a way of deterring pursuit by warning a predator of the animal's unsuitability as prey: the prey benefits by not being chased (because it is in fact very fit); the predator benefits by not wasting time chasing an animal it is unlikely to catch.
 An instance of Amotz Zahavi's handicap principle: stotting is signalling to predators that the animal is so fit it can escape even if it slows itself down with some apparently useless behaviour (i.e. stotting).
 A predator detection signal: the animal signals to the predator that it has been seen and therefore does not have the advantage of surprise. Many such signals exist in different groups of animals. Again, this would be an honest pursuit deterrence signal, benefiting the prey by not being chased and benefitting the predator by not wasting time stalking prey when it has already been seen. Evidence for this hypothesis is that cheetahs abandon more hunts when their gazelle prey stots, and when they do give chase to a stotting gazelle, they are far less likely to make a kill. However, gazelles stot less often to cheetahs (which stalk and would therefore probably give up when detected) than to African wild dogs, which "course" (chase prey relentlessly, not relying on surprise).
 A fitness display to potential mates in a sexual selection process rather than a defence against predators.
 Play, especially in young animals, may help to prepare them for adult life. Stotting is sometimes observed in immature animals, but stotting is generally seen in adult prey responding to predators.

The English evolutionary biologist John Maynard Smith concludes that "the natural explanation is that stotting is an index of condition and of escape capability", used as a signal especially to coursing predators. He also observes that "it is hard to see how it could be a handicap", unless perhaps it is a signal to other gazelles of the same species.

References

Ethology
Animal communication

Stotting


Super Cyclonic Storm Gonu was an extremely intense and very damaging storm. The cyclone was the most intense recorded tropical cyclone in the Arabian Sea and the strongest named tropical cyclone recorded in the Indian Ocean. Gonu developed on June 1 2007 over the northwest Indian Ocean and then intensified to Category 5 levels. The storm then weakened and then struck eastern Oman on June 6, contributing to that region's worst modern natural disaster and causing around $4.2 billion in damage. The cyclone also struck Iran, causing $216 million in damage. Almost eighty people died from Cyclone Gonu.

Tropical cyclones in Asia
Cyclonic storms
2007 in weather
2007 in Asia
History of Oman
2000s in Iran

Cyclone Gonu


Shurat Islam, formerly known as Kharijites, was a branch of Islam. It was one of the three main branches of Islam, along with Shia Islam and Sunni Islam. Though, the branch has no followers today, the Ibadi movement is seen as a moderate current demonization of Shurat Islam. However, Ibadis reject themselves being Shuratis.

Initially, Muslims were divided into two groups, Sunni Muslims and Shia Muslims. After caliph Uthman's death, Ali and Muawiya I were having a war. At this time, the Shurati Muslims emerged, who did not pledge allegiance to Ali or Muawiya I. Rather than allegiance, Shurati Muslims decided to attack Ali and Muawiya I's followers.

Sometimes, the term Kharijite (or Neo-Kharijite) is also used for some Islamic terrorist groups. Examples of such groups are the Groupe islamique armé in Algeria, or the Takfir wal-Hijra in Egypt.

Islamic denominations

Shurat Islam


An Earl (or Jarl) was a title for nobility used by Anglo-Saxons and Scandinavians. It originally meant "chieftain" and it referred especially to chieftains set to rule a territory in a king's stead. In Scandinavia, it stopped being used in the Middle Ages, whereas, in Britain, it became synonymous with the continental count.
In Anglo-Saxon times the title was similar to that of Ealdorman.

Today, an earl is a member of the British peerage, and is below a Marquess, but above a Viscount. A British Earl is the same as a continental Count. Since there is no feminine form of Earl, the wife of an Earl has the rank of Countess (the continental equivalent).

Peerages

Earl


The E1000 is a 3G/GSM candybar style mobile phone developed by Motorola.  This product was announced in February 2004.  The E1000 was made to replace Motorola's older 3G phones such as the A835 and A845. The E1000 includes an mp3 player and stereo speakers.  It is able to record video and taking mega pixel stills. The features list includes assisted global positioning system (AGPS) for location-based services

Specifications
 Technology: WCDMA/UMTS and GSM 900/1800/1900
 Dimensions: 114 x 52 x 23 mm
 Weight: 140 g
 Talk time: Up to 2.5 hours
 Standby time: Up to 150 hours

Features
 Display: 240 x 320 pixel TFT, 262K colors (2.2in diagonally)
 Ringtones: 3D Stereo Speaker Polyphonic (22 channels) and MP3 + WMA support
 16 MB shared memory, and supports microSD (TransFlash) external memory cards (not hotswappable)
 Connectivity: GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2), USB, Bluetooth v1.1
 Messaging: SMS, EMS, MMS, E-Mail, Instant Messaging
 Two-way video calling / video telephony
 Integrated video and audio media player
 CIF internal camera for video calls (0.3MP), 1.2MP external camera - 8x digital zoom, exposure settings and brightness
 Video and still image capture using either camera
 Supports AGPS
 Java MIDP 2.0 Compatible
 WAP 2.0 / XHTML web browser

External links
 Motorola Product Announcement
 GSM Arena Phone Specifications

E1000
Mobile phones introduced in 2004

Motorola E1000


Metrosexual (Thai: แก๊งชะนีกับอีแอบ or Gaeng chanee gup ee-aep) is a 2006 Thai romantic comedy film about four women who believe their best friend is about to marry a man who is gay. The film was directed by Yongyooth Thongkongtoon, who also directed The Iron Ladies. The five female leads all co-host a daytime talk show on Thai TV Channel 3.

Plot

Four friends each receive phone calls to meet a fifth friend for lunch at MK Restaurant, a popular hot pot chain in Bangkok. The friends are:
 Pom, a reporter for a women's magazine.
 Nim, a sexual dysfunction telephone-hotline counselor.
 Fai, the stingy owner of a beauty salon.
 Pat, the fiancée of a retired Japanese man.

They are called to the restaurant by Pang, who announces that she is planning to marry Kong, her boyfriend of three months. The four friends are surprised by the news and think maybe it is too sudden.

Then Kong joins the five women for their meal. His well-groomed appearance is met with approval, but when Kong starts offering tips on how to cook the meal, and presents a pair of earrings that he picked out to Pom for her birthday (the real reason the five girlfriends are getting together), eyebrows are raised.

The four women later meet at Fyne's beauty salon and voice their suspicions that Kong might be gay, and not just a metrosexual male. Pom reveals that she spotted Kong earlier at a male model beauty pageant she was covering, and she saw him embracing another man backstage. To confirm their belief, they need advice. So Pat arranges a meeting with her brother, Bee, who's a flight attendant for Thai Airways International. Bee puts together a checklist, which includes various physical attributes as well as biological and sociological backgrounds that could indicate whether a man is gay.

A series of comic scenarios then occur as the four women investigate Kong and watch for any telltale signs.

Cast
 Thianchai Chaisawatdee as Kong
 Meesuk Jaengmeesuk as Pang
 Patcharasri Benjamas as Pom
 Ornpreeya Hunsat as Nim
 Pimolwan Suphayang as Fyne
 Kulnadda Pajchimsawat as Pat
 Michael Shaowanasai as Bee
 Dawido Dorigo as Off
 Yano Khasogi as Kengi
 Panisara Pimpru as the fortune teller

Casting notes
 Thai producer-director Jira Maligool has a cameo appearance as the portrait of the dead husband of a Bangkok Chinatown restaurant owner.
 Actor Yano Khasogi (or Kasuki) is a Bangkok-based Japanese mime artist.

Reception
On opening day, the US$1.25 million film earned 5 million baht (about US$131,000).

References

External links

2006 films
GMM Tai Hub films
2006 romantic comedy films
Thai-language films
Thai LGBT-related films
Films directed by Yongyoot Thongkongtoon
Thai romantic comedy films

Metrosexual (film)


Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (also known as Batman: The Animated Movie - Mask of the Phantasm) is a 1993 American animated romantic superhero film featuring the DC Comics character Batman. It was directed by Eric Radomski and Bruce Timm, and written by Alan Burnett, Paul Dini, Martin Pasko, and Michael Reaves. The film is based on Batman: The Animated Series (1992-1995) and is the first original theatrical film produced by Warner Bros. Animation before eventually establishing the additional Warner Bros. Feature Animation division for theatrical productions afterwards. Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Bob Hastings and Robert Costanzo reprise their voice roles from Batman: The Animated Series, joined by Dana Delany, Hart Bochner, Stacy Keach Jr., Abe Vigoda, Dick Miller and John P. Ryan.

Produced between the first and second seasons of the series, the film follows Batman as he reconciles with a former lover, Andrea Beaumont, and faces a mysterious vigilante who is murdering Gotham City's crime bosses. The situation becomes more complicated when the Joker enters the picture. The plot was inspired by Mike W. Barr's Batman: Year Two comic book story arc, but features an original antagonist, the Phantasm, in place of the Reaper, while also borrowing elements from the Batman: Year One graphic novel, recounting how Bruce Wayne became Batman and his first attempts to fight crime.

Originally planned for a direct-to-video release, Warner Bros. gave Mask of the Phantasm a theatrical release, condensing its production into a strenuous eight-month schedule. The film was the first theatrical feature film produced by Warner Bros. Animation, and was released through the studio's Family Entertainment division on December 25, 1993, to generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the stylized animation, voice performances, story, and music.

Due to the decision to release it in theaters on short notice, Mask of the Phantasm failed at the box office. After its release on home media, it became financially successful. Until the limited release of Batman: The Killing Joke in 2016, Mask of the Phantasm was the only animated Batman film to be given a theatrical release, as well as the only one to receive a full theatrical release until The Lego Batman Movie in 2017.

Plot

Bruce Wayne and Andrea Beaumont begin a relationship after meeting while Bruce visits his parents' grave and Andrea visits her mother's. During this time, Bruce makes his first attempts at crime-fighting. He foils a truck hijacking but is disappointed that the criminals were not scared of him. Bruce becomes conflicted about how to honor his parents; whether to defend Gotham City to avenge their deaths, or to settle down and marry like they wished. Bruce proposes marriage to Andrea, who accepts. However, she abruptly leaves Gotham with her father, businessman Carl Beaumont, ending the engagement in a Dear John letter. Heartbroken, Bruce assumes the mantle of Batman.

Ten years later, Chuckie Sol proposes flooding Gotham with counterfeit money, but is thwarted by Batman. When Sol tries to escape in his car, the Phantasm, a masked vigilante resembling the Grim Reaper, attacks him. Sol attempts to kill the assailant with his car, but the Phantasm dodges it and Sol careens to his death. Witnesses see Batman at the scene and believe him to have killed Sol. City councilman Arthur Reeves, once a lawyer for Carl Beaumont, vows to have Batman arrested.

The Phantasm murders another gangster, Buzz Bronski, in the Gotham Cemetery. Bronski's bodyguards mistakenly believe the Phantasm to be Batman. Batman investigates the scene of Bronski's death and encounters Andrea, inadvertently revealing his identity to her. Batman finds evidence linking Carl Beaumont with Sol, Bronski, and a third gangster, Salvatore Valestra, later finding a photograph of the four together in Valestra's home. Paranoid that Batman will come for him next, the now-elderly Valestra asks Reeves for help but is refused. In doing so, Valestra reveals he illegally aided Reeves in his political career. In desperation, Valestra turns to the Joker.

The Phantasm goes to kill Valestra at his penthouse, only to find Valestra already killed by Joker venom. Joker booby-trapped the place expecting to kill Batman with a bomb, but sees through a camera that Batman is not the killer. The Phantasm escapes the blast and is pursued by Batman but disappears. The police attempt to ambush Batman, but he is saved by Andrea. Andrea later explains to Bruce that her father embezzled money from Valestra and was forced to flee to Europe to find a way to repay it. What Andrea later realized is that Valestra wanted "payment in blood". While Bruce considers resuming his relationship with Andrea, he concludes that Carl Beaumont is the Phantasm. However, Bruce takes another look at the photo. He recognizes Valestra's unnamed enforcer as the Joker prior to his transformation.

The Joker confronts Reeves, who reveals Batman did not commit the murders and accuses Reeves of targeting him to erase his mob connections. Reeves is exposed to Joker venom; albeit a weakened dose as Joker was interrupted. Later hospitalized, Reeves struggles with hysteria. Batman interrogates Reeves, and he confesses that while previously working as Carl's lawyer, he helped the Beaumonts escape. When he ran out of money during his first run for office, he sold out their location to Valestra. Reeves failed to realize that Valestra wanted Beaumont dead. Both Batman and the Joker deduce that the Phantasm is Andrea, and that her final target is the Joker.

Andrea tracks down the Joker to his hideout in Gotham's abandoned World's Fair . They fight but are interrupted by Batman. Batman pleads with her to stop, to no avail. The Joker prepares to destroy the fair but is seized by Andrea, who bids Bruce goodbye as the explosives detonate. Bruce survives the blast but finds no trace of either Andrea or the Joker.

Alfred later consoles Bruce in the Batcave, assuring him that Andrea could not have been helped, before finding Andrea's locket containing a picture of them together. A sorrowful Andrea departs Gotham and a saddened Batman, cleared of accusations against him, resumes crimefighting.

Voice cast
 Kevin Conroy as Bruce Wayne / Batman
 Mark Hamill as The Joker
 Dana Delany as Andrea Beaumont / Phantasm
 Hart Bochner as City Councilman Arthur Reeves
 Stacy Keach as Carl Beaumont and voice of Phantasm
 Abe Vigoda as Salvatore "The Wheezer" Valestra
 Dick Miller as Chuckie Sol
 John P. Ryan as Buzz Bronski
 Efrem Zimbalist Jr. as Alfred Pennyworth
 Bob Hastings as Commissioner James Gordon
 Robert Costanzo as Detective Harvey Bullock
 Arleen Sorkin as Mrs. Bambi (uncredited)
 Jane Downs, Pat Musick, Vernee Watson-Johnson, Ed Gilbert, Peter Renaday, Jeff Bennett, Charles Howerton, Thom Pinto, Marilu Henner, Neil Ross as Additional Voices

Production
Impressed by the success of the first season of Batman: The Animated Series on Fox, Warner Bros. assigned Alan Burnett to write a story for a full-length animated film. The original idea for the film was to have Batman being captured by his enemies at Arkham Asylum and face a kangaroo court in which the villains try him for making them what they are. The idea's concept, however, was considered "too brainy", as it required Batman to be immobile for a long time, so the idea was later used in the series' episode "Trial", which was aired after the film's release. Although the Joker does play a pivotal role in the film, it was Burnett's intention to tell a story far removed from the television series' regular rogues gallery. Burnett also cited he "wanted to do a love story with Bruce because no one had really done it on the TV show. I wanted a story that got into his head." Members of the creative team have claimed that they did not intend for the Joker to appear in the film; Paul Dini has contradicted this, stating that the Joker's role was always part of the story from the beginning of the film's production. The writers were highly cautious of placing the Joker in the film, as they did not want any connection to Tim Burton's 1989 film Batman, but writer Michael Reaves said, "We then realized that we could make his appearance serve the story in a way that we never could in live-action." In order to keep the Joker as a solo threat, Bruce Timm and Burnett convinced frequent Animated Series writer Dini to not use Harley Quinn in the film for that reason (although Arleen Sorkin did a bit part in the film voicing a minor character). The same technique was previously used in the episodes "The Strange Secret of Bruce Wayne" and "Joker's Wild" Conversely, the episode "Harley's Holiday" was done with Harley Quinn and did not feature the Joker.

Aiding Burnett in writing the script were Martin Pasko, who handled most of the flashback segments; Reaves, who wrote the climax; and Dini, who claims he "filled in holes here and there". The film's plot was heavily influenced by the 1987 miniseries Batman: Year Two, written by Mike W. Barr and illustrated by Alan Davis, Paul Neary, Alfredo Alcala, Mark Farmer and Todd McFarlane. Orson Welles' 1941 classic Citizen Kane served as an influence for the flashbacks, a story about loss and the passage of time. According to Kevin Conroy, Andrea Beaumont was named after voice director Andrea Romano. The character of Hazel, the cook robot of the World of the Future Fair, was named by Burnett after Hazel the Maid (portrayed by Academy Award-winning actress Shirley Booth), The Saturday Evening Post protagonist of cartoonist Ted Key's TV series Hazel. On the other hand, the design of the Phantasm went into 20 different versions until one was found which convinced the film's crew. According to Burnett, the Phantasm was like the Grim Reaper with a cape, although the idea was to make her resemble the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come of Charles Dickens' novel A Christmas Carol, something that even the Joker mentions in the finished version of the film.

Early in production, Warner Bros. decided to release Phantasm theatrically, rather than straight to video. That left less than a year for production time (most animated features take well over two years from finished story to final release). Due to this decision, the animators went over the scenes in order to accommodate the widescreen theatrical aspect ratio. The studio cooperated well, granting the filmmakers a large amount of creative control.

Warner Bros. also increased the production budget to $6 million, which gave the filmmakers opportunities for more elaborate set pieces. The opening title sequence featured a flight through an entirely computer-generated Gotham City. As a visual joke, sequence director Kevin Altieri set the climax of the film inside a miniature automated model of Gotham City, where Batman and the Joker are giants. This was an homage to a mainstay of Batman comic books of the Dick Sprang era, often featuring the hero fighting against a backdrop of gigantic props (they would later do another homage to Sprang's works in The New Batman Adventures episode "Legends of the Dark Knight"). From start to finish, the film was completed within eight months.

Themes
Paul Dini intended each of the flashbacks into Batman's love life to "have a tendency to get worse, when you hope things will get better." Bruce's relationship with Andrea, which at first shows promise, eventually turns into turmoil. At first, Bruce and Andrea are set for marriage, but then Bruce is given a farewell note from Andrea cutting off their relationship. This eventually leads into Bruce's decision to become Batman. Richard Corliss of Time felt this scene paralleled Andrea's decision to avenge her own parents and reject love when she finds her own father murdered. Both events transform the two people (Bruce becomes Batman, Andrea becomes the Phantasm). One scene depicts Bruce Wayne at his parents' tombstone saying, "I didn't count on being happy." According to Reaves, this scene was to be a pivotal moment in Bruce's tragic life, as he denies himself the opportunity to live a normal life. Reaves also stated: "When Bruce puts on the mask for the first time, [after Andrea breaks their engagement], and Alfred says 'My God!' he's reacting in horror, because he's watching this man he's helped raise from childhood, this man who has let the desire for vengeance and retribution consume his life, at last embrace the unspeakable."

Music
The soundtrack was composed by Shirley Walker, the main composer for The Animated Series. Walker cited the score as a favorite among her own compositions. In an interview with Cinemusic.com, Walker explained that the "latin" lyrics used in the Main Title were actually names of key Warner Bros. staff read backwards. The song "I Never Even Told You" was written by Siedah Garrett and Glen Ballard. It was performed by Tia Carrere. Hans Zimmer, who would later compose the score for The Dark Knight Trilogy, played the synthesizer on the score.

The score was originally released on December 14, 1993, by Reprise Records. On March 24, 2009, La-La Land Records released a limited expanded edition. The release includes all tracks found on the original release with some tracks expanded. It also features almost 30 minutes of previously unreleased material.

Marketing
In December 1993, two novelizations were released. One was a young readers book written by Andrew Helfer, with the other being an adult-oriented novelisation authored by Geary Gravel.

DC Comics released a comic book adaptation written by Kelley Puckett and drawn by Mike Parobeck. The comic book adaptation was later included with the VHS release. Kenner, who had already released toys for the cartoon series, produced several tie-in figures for the film, including Joker and the Phantasm (packaged unmasked, spoiling a pivotal plot point in the film). Batman & Robin Adventures Annual #1: Shadow of the Phantasm is a comic book sequel to the film. It was written by Dini and released in 1996. In 2015, a DC Collectibles action figure 2-pack featuring Batman and Phantasm was released.

Home media
Mask of the Phantasm was released on LaserDisc in April 1994 and on VHS in May of the same year. The VHS was reissued in April 2003 as part of a three-tape pack with Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero and Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker. Mask of the Phantasm was first released on DVD in December 1999 as a snap case and in October 2005 as a keep case with the insert. The film was re-released in April 2004 as a three disc DVD box set that included SubZero and Return of the Joker. That version is currently out of print. Warner Home Video re-released the film again in February 2008 as a double feature DVD with SubZero.

The film was released as part of the Warner Archive Collection on Blu-ray on July 25, 2017, featuring new high definition transfers in 16:9 and open matte 4:3 presentations. The film was also included in the Blu-ray release of the Batman: The Complete Animated Series box-set in late 2018.

The film was released on Ultra HD Blu-ray on September 12, 2023. It featured a 26-minute documentary about the legacy of Kevin Conroy, who died 9 months prior to the 4K re-release.

Reception

Box office
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm opened on Christmas Day, 1993 in the United States in 1,506 theaters, accumulating $1.2 million over its first 2 days. The film went on to gross $5.8 million in the domestic total box office intake. The filmmakers blamed Warner Bros. for the unsuccessful marketing campaign, which is commonly attributed to the rushed production schedule due to studio's last-minute decision to release the film theatrically. Despite this, Mask of the Phantasm eventually turned a profit with its various home media releases.

Critical response

Empire cited it as the best animated film of 1993, and felt it contained better storylines than Tim Burton's Batman and Batman Returns. TV Guide Magazine was impressed with the Art Deco noir design that was presented. In addition the film's climax and Batman's escape from the Gotham City Police Department were considered to be elaborate action sequences. Richard Harrington of The Washington Post agreed with overall aspects that included the animation, design, dialogue and storyline, as well as Shirley Walker's film score. Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert regretted not having viewed the film during its theatrical release and gave it a positive review on their television series, At the Movies, when the film was released on home media, with Siskel feeling that Phantasm was better than Batman Returns and Joel Schumacher's Batman Forever, and only slightly below Batman.

However, Chris Hicks of the Deseret News felt "the picture didn't come alive until the third act" feeling that the animators sacrificed the visuals for the storyline. Leonard Klady of Variety had mixed reactions towards the film, but his review was negative overall. He felt the overall themes and morals were clichéd and cited the animation to be to the "point of self-parody".

Wireds Scott Thill called Kevin Conroy "the finest Batman on record" in 2009. In a 2010 list, IGN ranked Mask of the Phantasm as the 25th best animated film of all time. That same year, IGN also stated it was "the Dark Knight's best big screen story" until Batman Begins. In 2011, Total Film also named Mask of the Phantasm as one of the greatest animated films of all time, coming in at 47th out of 50. Time ranked Phantasm as one of the 10 best superhero films ever in 2011. In 2017, Screen Rant named the film the best Batman film of all time. In 2018, Paste magazine called the film "the greatest Batman movie". In 2022, Empire magazine named Mask of the Phantasm the best Batman film. Also in 2022, nearly 30 years after its release, Rolling Stone placed Mask of the Phantasm at number 19 on its list of the 50 Greatest Superhero Movies of All Time, being the only traditionally-animated film included, the third-best animated superhero film and the second-best Batman film of all time, behind only The Dark Knight (number 8).

Mask of the Phantasm was cited as an example of a film that effectively personified the character's "inner bubble" and psyche by actor Robert Pattinson, who portrayed Batman in the Matt Reeves film The Batman (2022).

To commemorate the film's 20th anniversary, a screening of the film was held in Santa Monica with cast members Kevin Conroy, Dana Delany and Mark Hamill in attendance. To commemorate the film's 25th anniversary, Fathom Events rereleased the film for one day on November 12, 2018.

Accolades
Alongside The Lion King and The Nightmare Before Christmas, Mask of the Phantasm was nominated for an Annie Award in the category of Best Animated Feature, but lost to the former.

Notes

References

Bibliography

External links

 Batman: Mask of the Phantasm at The World's Finest
 Interview with Writer Martin Pasko
Original theatrical trailer
Excerpt

1993 films
1993 action thriller films
1993 animated films
1993 children's films
1993 crime thriller films
1990s American animated films
1990s animated superhero films
1990s English-language films
1993 romance films
American children's animated action films
American children's animated superhero films
American children's animated science fiction films
American films about revenge
Animated Batman films
Animated films about revenge
Animated films based on animated series
DC Animated Universe films
Films based on television series
Films directed by Eric Radomski
Films directed by Bruce Timm
Films scored by Shirley Walker
Films with screenplays by Alan Burnett
Films with screenplays by Paul Dini
Films produced by Benjamin Melniker
Films produced by Michael E. Uslan
Sequel films to television series
Warner Bros. films
Warner Bros. Animation animated films
Works based on Batman: The Animated Series
World's fairs in fiction

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm


The coat of arms of Liechtenstein is used as the great arms of the nation. As the sovereign emblem of the Principality of Liechtenstein, its use is reserved for the members of the Princely House and state authorities. Private individuals may be authorized to use the great arms, if it is in the interest of the State. The arms are a history of the Princely House, and show the many different areas of Europe with which Liechtenstein has been involved, either by conquest or by marriage.

The first quarter is Silesia; the second is the arms of the Kuenring family; the third quarter, the Duchy of Troppau; and the fourth quarter, the arms of the East Frisian family Cirksena representing County of Rietberg. The base is occupied by the arms of the  Duchy of Jägerndorf. The small gold and red shield of the Princely House is shown in the middle of the larger shield. The Princely hat crowns a purple cloak with ermine lining behind the large coat of arms.

Liechtenstein

National symbols of Liechtenstein

Coat of arms of Liechtenstein


Dražen Ladić (; born 1 January 1963) is a Croatian professional football coach and former player who is the current assistant manager of the Croatia national team.

Playing career

Club
Ladić was born in Čakovec, but grew up in the nearby village of Gornji Hrašćan and started his career at NK Varteks in 1977, transferring to the club's senior squad in 1980. He left Varteks for Dinamo Zagreb in 1984, but the club decided to loan him to Iskra Bugojno for two seasons immediately after they signed him. He eventually made his debut for Dinamo in July 1986 and stayed at the club until the end of his playing career nearly 14 years later, collecting a record-holding total of 802 appearances in official matches.

During his time at the club, Ladić also played in several matches of both the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Cup. In 1997, he notably saved a penalty kick in Dinamo Zagreb's home match against Partizan Belgrade in the first qualifying round for the UEFA Champions League, which they won 5–0. The Dinamo team continued to compete in the UEFA Cup after an unlucky 4-3 defeat on aggregate in the last minute of extra time against Newcastle United in the second qualifying round for the UEFA Champions League and got all the way to the third round, where they lost 2–1 on aggregate against Atlético Madrid.

In the autumn of 1998, Ladić debuted with Dinamo Zagreb in the group stages of the UEFA Champions League and played all six group matches before the club was eliminated from the competition by finishing second in their group, behind Olympiacos. The club repeated the success of qualifying for the UEFA Champions League group stages the following year, with Ladić making four group-stage appearances before being injured in the fourth group match against Sturm Graz and missing the final two matches before the team was eliminated from the competition after finishing last among the four teams in their group, one point behind the third-place Sturm Graz.

He soon recovered from the injury and continued to play for Dinamo until the end of the 1999–2000 season, making his last appearance for the club in the Croatian Cup finals against Hajduk Split on 16 May 2000 in Zagreb. With Dinamo, he won the Croatian First League champions title six times, in 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000, as well as four Croatian Cup titles in 1994, 1996, 1997 and 1998.

International
In early 1990, Ladić was for the first time in his professional career a candidate to play for the national team of former Yugoslavia and was also mentioned to be part of their squad at the 1990 FIFA World Cup finals in Italy, but was eventually omitted from the squad without making his debut for the team that year. He eventually made his international debut for at the time newly founded Croatia national team in their first international match, a friendly against the United States on 17 October 1990 in Zagreb. After winning his first two caps for Croatia, Ladić nevertheless managed to make his international debut for Yugoslavia as well. He appeared in two matches, playing all 90 minutes in a friendly against Turkey on 27 February 1991 in İzmir and being the team's substitute goalkeeper in the last 25 minutes of a Euro 1992 qualifier against the Faroe Islands on 16 May 1991 in Belgrade. The match against the Faroes was also the last where Croatian footballers have played in the Yugoslavia national team.

Ladić went on to become the first-choice goalkeeper of the Croatia national team throughout the 1990s and won a total of 59 international caps before he retired in May 2000. His competitive debut for the Croatia national team came in the team's first qualifying match for the UEFA Euro 1996 against Estonia on 4 September 1994 in Tallinn. He went on to make nine out of possible ten appearances in that qualifying campaign, only missing the team's away match against Ukraine due to a one-match suspension for a red card received in the previous home match against Slovenia. He was also the team's starting goalkeeper at the Euro 1996 finals in England, making three out of possible four appearances and only missing the final group match against Portugal where Croatia started to play with seven players who were normally left on the bench. Croatia was eliminated from the tournament in the quarterfinals after losing 2–1 to Germany.

Ladić was also the first-choice goalkeeper during the Croatia national team's qualifying campaign for the 1998 FIFA World Cup and appeared in seven out of possible ten matches, but is mostly remembered from this period for his two blunders that he made during the qualifying campaign. The first happened to him in the team's home match against Denmark, when he conceded a bizarre goal after misjudging the path of Brian Laudrup's cross due to strong wind deflecting the ball and allowing Denmark to get an equaliser in the final ten minutes of the match. The incident saw Croatia losing two possibly crucial points after the match ended in a 1–1 draw. The second blunder was when he scored an own goal that put the Bosnia and Herzegovina team 1–0 up in another Croatia's home match, but the team eventually managed to get all three points with a tough 3–2 victory. Croatia eventually qualified for the finals after beating Ukraine 3–1 on aggregate in the play-offs, without Ladić playing in the second leg.

Despite Ladić's solid performances for Dinamo Zagreb in the European competition in 1997, his two blunders for the national team were still remembered by many people and made them sceptical when he was chosen as the Croatia national team's starting goalkeeper at the 1998 World Cup finals in France. However, he showed really good shape at the tournament and already distinguished himself in the second group match against Japan with a great save of Masashi Nakayama's shot in a one-on-one situation. He once again attracted the attention in the quarterfinals against Germany by saving a header and a volley from Oliver Bierhoff at close range, helping the Croatian team to record a surprisingly convincing 3–0 victory over the highly favoured German side. In the semifinals, he was helpless against two Lilian Thuram's goals that gave France a 2–1 victory and a place in the Final, but once again performed well in the third-place match against the Netherlands, clearing several promising goalscoring chances from the Dutch side and conceding only an unstoppable shot from Boudewijn Zenden for the 1–1 equaliser. Croatia won the match 2–1 in the end and was awarded with bronze medals in their very first World Cup appearance since the country's independence. Ladić was seen by many as one of the three best goalkeepers of the tournament. He appeared in all of the team's seven matches.

Despite initially announcing his withdrawal from the national team following the 1998 FIFA World Cup, Ladić later continued to play for Croatia in the Euro 2000 qualifying and made seven out of possible eight appearances, eventually ending his international career after the final qualifying match against Yugoslavia on 9 October 1999 and Croatia's failure to qualify for the final tournament.

He briefly returned to the Croatia national team for their friendly match against France on 28 May 2000 in Zagreb to make the final appearance of his career, symbolically appearing in the opening ten minutes of the match. As this was his 59th match for the Croatia national team, he played it with an otherwise unusual shirt number 59. At age 37 and five months, he became the oldest player in the history of Croatia.

Managerial career
When Otto Barić took the charge of the Croatia national team in 2002, Ladić was appointed goalkeeping coach in his coaching staff. He left the post following the UEFA Euro 2004 finals in Portugal, along with the rest of the staff, as their contracts expired after the tournament and were not renewed following Croatia's failure to reach the quarter-finals.

On 9 August 2006, Ladić was appointed the head coach of the Croatia national under-21 team, replacing Slaven Bilić, who was appointed the head coach of the country's senior national team at the time.

Car wreck and sacking
In the early morning of 5 September 2010, hours after an under-21 international between Serbia and Croatia, Ladić was involved in a car wreck when the Mercedes-Benz E-Class he was driving, collided with a Renault Clio at a Zagreb road intersection. Both cars were damaged beyond repair and three passengers in the Renault sustained serious injuries. Ladić escaped the wreck unhurt. Some eyewitnesses of the wreck accused Ladić of a red light violation, which he denied.

He was removed from his position in January 2011, when the Croatian Football Federation accused him of falsifying insurance documents following the car wreck. However, within the federation there were, and still are, others who have been charged of felonies and have not been removed from their positions, sparking corruption claims within the media.

Return to Croatia
In March 2018, Ladić joined Croatia's coaching staff under the manager Zlatko Dalić, as his assistant coach.

Honours

Club
Iskra Bugojno
Yugoslav Second League – West (1): 1983–84
Mitropa Cup (1): 1985

Dinamo Zagreb
Prva HNL (6): 1992–93, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1997–98, 1998–99, 1999–00
Croatian Cup (4): 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998

International
FIFA World Cup runner-up (1): 2018
FIFA World Cup third place (1): 1998

Individual
Franjo Bučar State Award for Sport - 1998

Orders
Order of Danica Hrvatska with face of Franjo Bučar – 1995
 Order of the Croatian Trefoil – 1998

References

External links

1963 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Čakovec
Men's association football goalkeepers
Yugoslav men's footballers
Yugoslavia men's international footballers
Croatian men's footballers
Croatia men's international footballers
UEFA Euro 1996 players
1998 FIFA World Cup players
Dual men's international footballers
NK Varaždin (1931–2015) players
GNK Dinamo Zagreb players
NK Iskra Bugojno players
Yugoslav First League players
Croatian Football League players
Croatian football managers
Croatian expatriate football managers
Croatian expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia
Croatian expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates
Association football goalkeeping coaches

Dražen Ladić


Land can mean some territory, forming part of a country. Dry land is the parts of Earth's surface not covered by the ocean or other permanent body of water. About 29% of the surface of Earth is dry land, while the rest is covered with liquid water. Land can have different types of soil; it may be covered with stones, sand, dirt, etc. Sometimes it is not clear where land ends and a body of water begins.

Amount and types of land
The total area of Earth is about 510 million km2. About 149 million km2, which is 29% of the surface, is land. Large masses of ice called glaciers cover 15 million km2, or 10% of the land area. The biggest continuous landmasses are called continents, and smaller landmasses, surrounded by water, are called islands.

19% of land on Earth (28 million km2), is barren: without plants. This includes deserts, beaches, and rocky areas with no soil. 26% of land (39 million km2) is forests. 8% of land (12 million km2) is shrubland or grassland. 1% of land (1.5 million km2) is cities, towns, and land used for infrastructure. The remaining 34% of land (51 million km2) is used for farming: 7% (11 million km2) for crops (plants) 27% (40 million km2) for livestock (animals).

Formation of land
Even today, some land is being formed and some land is sinking into the ocean. The surface of the earth, which includes both the land and the ocean floor, is made of large pieces of rock called tectonic plates. Continental plates are thicker and lighter, so they stay at the top and make up the land surface. Oceanic plates are thinner and heavier, so they sink down and make up the ocean surface.

Tectonic plates move over time, which is called continental drift. When two continental plates push into each other, they fold upwards to make mountains. When they move apart, they form a rift valley: the East African rift valley is forming now. Islands can be formed by volcanoes: the Hawaiian islands are a good example. Over time, land can wear away through erosion and sink below sea level. This can be seen with the Hawaiian islands, because the newer islands are taller than the older islands.

Related pages
 Geology
 Landscape
 Land (economics)

Other websites
 Conserving Land for People

References

Basic English 850 words
Earth
Geology
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Land


Finist, the brave Falcon () is a Soviet 1976 Slavic fantasy adventure film directed by Gennadi Vasilyev in his directorial debut, based on a screenplay by Lev Potyomkin and poems by Mikhail Nozhkin. Produced by Gorky Film Studio (Yalta branch).

The film was loosely based on the fairy-tale The Feather of Finist the Falcon with the same name by I. Shestakov. Finist, the brave Falcon was the final project of the famous fantasy film director Alexander Rou, who wrote the script and was going to direct it, but died before the production begun. The movie was dedicated to his memory.

Plot
In ancient times a simple plowman lives in Russia by the name of Finist who is friends with a falcon. The falcon warns Finist about enemies who want to capture Russia. Finist successfully chases the foreign invaders away. The other side is unhappy with the emergence of a bogatyr-defender in Russia. Their chief, sorcerer Kartaus-Red Mustache sends his henchman Kastryuk the werewolf to get rid of the hero. Using deception he lures Finist into a dungeon where he enchants him and turns him into a monster.

At the Russian outpost a voivode with druzhina prepare to repel raiding enemies. For this purpose city clerk Yashku is sent to search for Finist. During his journey, Yashka meets Finist's bride Alyonushka. As they go along the road together to find Finist, they meet peasant Agathon and his wife Anfisa, who at that were about to go to the fair, but fearing a monster's roar were forced to stay in the forest. Suddenly an old woman appears, Neninla, who proclaims that it is possible to make a wish on a fern and that it would be fulfilled this night. Also, the old woman says that the monster is a bewitched person and the curse will be undone if under a monster's guise he will be loved by a fair maiden. In a debate about what kind of a wish to make, Anfisa heatedly tells Agathon to "disappear off the face of the earth". Blaming Yashka for this, the next day she returns him to the outpost demanding the return of Agathon and Alyonushka follows them.

Meanwhile, Kartaus sends Kastryuk to the frontier, so that he disguised as a merchant gets inside and opens the gates to the enemies of the war-leader. But Kastryuk is uncovered by jocular old women and he is pushed into the pantry together with shrewish Anfisa.

Soon Kartaus sends his servants to capture the outpost. But this time the monster gets through by a breach to the outpost. Alyonushka, knowing that this monster is Finist, covers him with a red cloak which she wanted to gift him. The curse is coming off and Finist becomes a man again. Together with druzhina he drives away his enemies.

Sitting in a pantry, Kastryuk attempts to persuade Anfisa to help him fulfill his nefarious plans, giving her a magic comb to send the hero to sleep. Anfisa untangles Kastryuk's hands and sticks a comb into Finist's hair. Kastryuk transports Anfisa and sleeping Finist to Kartaus' den.

Again Alyonushka goes to rescue the bogatyr. To protect the girl Yashka hires a war-lord for her. With the help of jocular old women who miraculously appear in Kartaus' den, Alyonushka and Yashka free Finist. Finist sends them home and he deals with Kartaus.

Cast
 Vyacheslav Voskresensky as Finist
 Svetlana Orlova  as Alyonushka
 Mikhail Kononov as Yashka
 Mikhail Pugovkin as Voyevoda
 Lyudmila Khityaeva as Anfisa
 Georgi Vitsin as Agafon
 Mariya Barabanova as Nenila
 Glikeriya Bogdanova-Chesnokova as Veselushka
 Anna Stroganova as Veselushka
 Aleksei Smirnov as Bath-attendant
 Mark Pertsovsky as Kartaus
 Georgi Millyar as Kastryuk
 Lev Potyomkin as Fingal

References

External links

1970s romantic fantasy films
1970s fantasy adventure films
1970s musical fantasy films
Films based on Slavic mythology
Gorky Film Studio films
Soviet fantasy adventure films
Russian fantasy adventure films
Soviet musical fantasy films
Russian musical fantasy films
Soviet romance films
Russian romance films
Romantic fantasy films
Films based on fairy tales

Finist, the brave Falcon


Big Tom and The Mainliners were a Country and Irish showband from the Castleblayney area of County Monaghan, Ireland.

Timeline

1966–1975
Originally named as "The Mighty Mainliners Showband", the band achieved fame after appearing on RTÉ Television's Showband Show broadcast on 21 May 1966 performing Gentle Mother which subsequently reached number 7 in the pop charts of Ireland. In the early 1970s, the band changed their name to "The Mainliners", however soon afterwards they adopted the name "Big Tom and the Mainliners" in line with other Irish Showbands where a single man was used to take centre stage.

Original line up 1966
 "Big" Tom McBride – lead vocals, saxophone, rhythm guitar
 Seamus McMahon – lead guitar, fiddle, vocals
 Henry McMahon – tenor sax, vocals, bandleader, percussion
 John Beattie – keyboards, piano
 Cyril McKevitt – trombone, vocals
 Ronnie Duffy – drums, vocals
 Ginger Morgan – Bass guitar, vocals

Irish Top Ten Songs

1975–1998
In May 1975, lead vocalist Tom McBride (known as "Big Tom") left the band and formed a new band "Big Tom and the Travellers" under the management of Top Rank Entertainment (owned by country music tycoon Tony Loughman). The band subsequently used other lead vocalists, including John Glenn, Tom Allen and Jan Lynch, and occasionally performed without a front man. Big Tom would rejoin the band in 1989 and they continued to play and record regularly until 1998.

1999–2018
Due to their advancing years the band have only had occasional 'comeback' tours. They have toured more regularly in the last 4 years with the original band playing together.

In 2004, Big Tom's son Dermot McBride took Ginger Morgan's place on Bass Guitar, Peter McCarthy took Ronnie Duffy's place on drums and Robert Browne, a second keyboardist in the band, appeared to take Cyril McKevitt's place on Trombone (however both were performing for the band in their Q4 2005 tour). In 2005, the band recorded a hit single The Same Way You Came In. In November 2006, McBride suffered a sudden heart attack, jeopardising plans for future tours, however doctors later gave the all clear for him to have a mini tour of Ireland in February, 2008. It is believed that the band will revert to the seven original Mainliners for this tour. Cyril McKevitt died of a heart attack, on Tuesday 15 September 2009, just days after the end of the band's Summer 2009 tour. Martin Campbell filled McKevitt's position one year later.
Since 2014 the band continue to tour on a regular basis including 8 dates in 2015–16

Big Tom died on 17 April 2018.

Last line up (2009–2018)
 Big Tom – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
 Seamus McMahon – lead guitar, rhythm guitar, fiddle, vocals
 Henry McMahon – bandleader, tenor sax, vocals, percussion
 John Beattie – keyboards, piano
 Martin Campbell – trombone, vocals
 Ronnie Duffy – drums, vocals
 Ginger Morgan – bass guitar, vocals
 Harry Conlon – Organ

References

Castleblayney
Irish country music groups
Musical groups established in 1966
Musical groups disestablished in 2018
1966 establishments in Ireland
2018 disestablishments in Ireland
Musical groups from County Monaghan

Big Tom and The Mainliners


Jens Carl Frederik Hilfling-Rasmussen (14 October 1869 – 23 February 1941) was a Danish-born Norwegian photographer.

He was born in Brenderup, Denmark as a son of photographer Jens Rasmussen. He grew up in Assens, where he learned photography in his father's company. He worked in Copenhagen from 1890 to 1896, and then migrated to Kristiania. He started his own photo studio in 1898, and by 1905 he was preferred as the official photographer of many events. From 1907 to 1910 Hilfling-Rasmussen had a company together with Ernest Rude, and Hilfling-Rasmussen then moved to Trondhjem. As a photographer he was best known for portrait photography. He taught at the school Trondhjems Fagskole, was a board member of the Norwegian Association of Professional Photographers from 1913, and became an honorary member in 1937. He died in February 1941 in Trondheim, and his son Skjold Hilfling-Rasmussen took over the company.

References

1869 births
1941 deaths
Danish emigrants to Norway
19th-century Norwegian photographers
Portrait photographers
People from Middelfart Municipality

Frederik Hilfling-Rasmussen


Mastectomy is a surgery to remove the breast. They may remove one breast or both breasts. They may remove some of the breast, or all of it.

Mastectomy is often done for people with breast cancer. Both men and women can get this cancer. Both men and women can need a mastectomy. Some people with a high risk of breast cancer have the operation before the cancer starts.

If they find a tumor in the breast, they may only remove part of the breast around the tumor. Then the person might also take drugs (chemotherapy) to stop the cancer. They might also have a machine send energy (radiation) into the breast. Sometimes this can stop the cancer.

Transgender men also get this surgery to reassign their sex.

Other websites
 Types of Mastectomy  at mrbra.com
 Advice for Men with Breast Cancer at National Cancer Institute
 Mastectomy study at BBC
 Mastectomy summary  at breastcancer.org
 Mastectomy article at eMedicine
 Mastectomy And The Swimwear Industry (Article)

Cancer treatment
Breasts

Mastectomy


A sheriff is generally a legal official with responsibility for a county or parish. The duties of a sheriff vary from country to country. The term comes from Anglo-Norman English. The kings officer in each shire was called a "shire-reeve". His function was to enforce the king's law in the shire or county.

History

The term shire reeve appears in documents in England in the early 11th century. When William the Conqueror conquered England in 1066, he kept most of the Anglo-Saxon sheriffs. When William abolished the great Anglo-Saxon Earldoms, the sheriff became the immediate representative of the king in the county. His appointment was typically for one year. He held court where he punished minor offenders. Later, his powers were reduced to arresting and imprisoning criminals.

Colonial America

When the American colonies began to grow, Britain established political control.  As each colony established counties, a sheriff was appointed to keep law and order. He was also an officer of the British court. The sheriff had different titles in different colonies. In Rhode Island he was called a general sergeant. In Connecticut and Massachusetts the title was Marshal. In Plymouth Colony he was called a messenger.  In the later colonial period, sheriffs were appointed by the colonial governor. They collected taxes, testified in court and served subpoenas. Because they were paid per task, and tax collecting paid the most, enforcing the law became a lower priority.

After the American Revolutionary War sheriffs were elected by the people.

17th and 18th century America

In the American west, the Spanish were colonizing what would become Texas, California. The equivalent of the sheriff was called an Alguacil (sheriff/constable). As Americans moved west, they often started new communities. A sheriff was usually the only available law enforcement. Sheriffs had the power of posse comitatus. That means a sheriff had the power to deputize anyone to help him keep the peace or go after and arrest criminals. A group of temporary deputies under the authority of a sheriff is called a posse. As America grew the posse was used less and less. Sheriffs are still the main law enforcement in rural areas.

Modern sheriffs

United States

In many states the sheriff remains the highest ranking county law enforcement officer. Each state decides what powers the sheriff will have. In some states the sheriff is a court officer and law enforcement is left to the police. In other states they are charged with enforcing laws, investigate crimes, transport prisoners and operate jails. A sheriff can appoint deputies. A small sheriff's department might be run by a sheriff alone. A large sheriff's department could have hundreds of deputies and civilian employees. The main difference between a sheriff's office and a police department is that the sheriff usually operates correctional facilities and county civil functions.

Australia

Sheriffs were appointed, as early as 1829 in Western Australia, as a court official. Duties included collecting taxes and fines.

Related pages
Police officer

Notes

References

Law enforcement occupations

Sheriff