From Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License ===== The main protagonist of this story is Kenshiro Kasumi, better known as "Yan Wang" or "The King of Hell". Kenshiro is a laid back and chain-smoking Tokyo professor who is secretly the successor of the deadly Chinese assassin martial art Hokuto Shinken. He travels to Shanghai after hearing that his Triad friend Pan Guang-Lin and love interest Pan Yu-Ling are in trouble. In Shanghai, Kenshiro fights the three Hokuto families, the Hokuto Sankaken (based on the royal families of Romance of the Three Kingdoms). At the same time he helps Pan's Qīng Bāng triad against their rivals, the immoral Hóng Huá Huì, in gaining territory and influence in Shanghai. ===== Ramona Quimby is excited because she is starting kindergarten. She is a year older than in Beezus and Ramona and trouble still seems to follow her. Although Ramona does not mean to be a pest, she still manages to create trouble without trying to. Miss Binney is her teacher, and Ramona likes her a lot, especially when she praises Ramona's interesting drawing and nice fat letter 'Q's. There's a girl in her class named Susan with long, springy curls. Ramona really wants to pull on one of those curls and watch it bounce back and forth, but when she finally does she gets sent to the bench until recess is over. Another new person in her class is Davy. Ramona chases him at recess, trying to catch and kiss him, which she finally manages to accomplish when she participates in the Halloween parade when she is "the baddest witch in the world." Ramona tries to do her best in kindergarten but it isn't easy, especially during seat work, when she has to sit quietly and keep her eyes on her own work. She's just too interested in seeing what everyone else is doing. Still, kindergarten is going well until the day the substitute teacher arrives. Ramona won't go to class without Miss Binney, so she hides behind the trash cans with Ribsy the dog. When Beezus finds her and takes her to the principal's office Ramona is forced to go to class anyway. Then one day, Susan calls Ramona a "pest", Ramona retaliates by pulling Susan's curls, and Miss Binney sends her home until she can behave. Ramona decides that Miss Binney doesn't like her any more, and she refuses to go back. Nothing anyone says to her can change her mind until she gets a letter from Miss Binney returning the tooth she lost at school the day she was suspended and Ramona decides Miss Binney must like her and is happy to return to kindergarten. ===== In the story, a girl called Mai appears before a boy who happens to dislike Christmas. As it turns out he was born on December 12 and thus was named Setani, causing him to hate the holiday. Moreover, as a child, he never had any festive occasions, such as birthday parties. With the power of Christmas, Mai is given the mission to improve his luck and change his views for the better. ===== The story revolves around the Planet Mischief, where there is a tradition that once someone turns 3-years old, he or she must travel to a planet and learn how to perform "Mischief" and cause panic on that planet. Cosmi, a three-year- old alien, travels to Earth for his mission, in order to impress his father, the Master of Mischief, Cosmi Sr., mostly because Earth is considered the greatest challenge. Cosmi crashes with a TV satellite from a town called Coco Town. When crash landing, he manages to hide in an alley on Coco Town, where he is saved by Earth's Mischief Master, Master Itazura. He takes him to his Dojo to train, and lets Cosmi move on with his mission, on 8 different locations: Coco Town, High Stakes Hill, Pranksylvania, Pharaoh Island, Big Booty Bay, Frontiersville, Raccoon City and finally Cosmopolis. It is revealed that Cosmopolis is a trap for "Anti-Alien-Forces" to capture all of the aliens on Earth by disguising themselves as aliens. Itazura uses their trap as the final challenge for Cosmi, and challenges him personally there. Cosmi wins and travels back to Planet Mischief to celebrate, but crashes into another TV- station and crashlands on Earth again, this time, in the middle of Coco Town square. Of course, panic arises and reporters try to get a snapshot of the little alien, but Cosmi accidentally pushes someones camera around, causing it to take a photo of the crowd, thus revealing that several of them are also aliens. ===== Lucy, an orphan, marries Oliver, a successful but frustrated businessman. Oliver's ambitions are thwarted when his father dies and Oliver is forced to run the family business. He proves to be a controlling husband. Lucy, who suffers from self-esteem issues, is intimidated by him and gives up her career aspirations. In the summer of 1937, Oliver leaves Lucy (now age 35) and son Tony (age 13) alone at a lake resort for several weeks while he attends to business. During Oliver's absence Lucy is pursued by Jeffrey, a Dartmouth College undergraduate they have hired to be a companion for Tony. She resists Jeffrey's advances but they eventually begin what Lucy regards as a casual affair. Tony sees them having intercourse and tells his father, who confronts the couple. Lucy and Oliver remain married, but she insists that she will have nothing further to do with her son. Tony becomes embittered and cuts off all contact with his mother. Lucy's deliberate act of infidelity and betrayal leads to the disintegration of her marriage and complete estrangement from her son. During World War II, Tony is unable to serve in the military due to poor health. Oliver joins the U.S. Army and is away from home for several years. Lucy embarks on a series of affairs with other men during Oliver's absence. Before leaving for combat in Europe, a despondent Oliver attempts to explain his frustrations and unhappiness to his son: ″You reach a certain age, say twenty-five, thirty, it varies with your intelligence, and you begin to say, “Oh, Christ, this is for nothing. You begin to realize it’s just more of the same, only getting worse every day... I used to have a high opinion of myself... and then, in fifteen minutes in a little stinking summer resort beside a lake, the whole thing collapsed.″ A decade after the war is over, Lucy (now aged 60) visits Paris and unexpectedly encounters her son. She learns that he is married with a son, is living in Paris and is working as a cartoon artist. She immediately sees through his façade and realizes that, while keeping up appearances, he is leading an unhappy life. She attempts to explain to Tony why her marriage with Oliver failed: ″Your father was a passionate and disappointed man. When he was young, he had high hopes for himself ...he saw himself as a nobody, a failure and all the passion and disappointment of his life he centered on me. He frightened me and he expected too much from me and he directed every move of my life and a good deal of the time he didn’t satisfy me... I was timid and uncertain and vengeful and I had a low opinion of myself, so I went out looking for a good opinion of myself in the arms of other men. At first I told myself I was looking for love, but it wasn't so. I didn't find love and I didn't find a good opinion. And it wasn't as though I didn't try.″ Together Lucy and Tony visit the French village where Oliver was killed in combat during the war. This eventually leads to a partial reconciliation of mother and son. ===== Mississippi lawyer and Civil War veteran, Basil Ransom, visits his cousin Olive Chancellor in Boston. She takes him to a political meeting where Verena Tarrant delivers a feminist speech. Ransom, a strong conservative, is annoyed by the speech but fascinated with the speaker. Olive, who has never before set eyes on Verena, is equally fascinated. She persuades Verena to leave her parents' house, move in with her and study in preparation for a career in the feminist movement. Meanwhile, Ransom returns to his law practice in New York, which is not doing well. He visits Boston again and walks with Verena through the Harvard College grounds, including the impressive Civil War Memorial Hall. Verena finds herself attracted to the charismatic Ransom. Basil eventually proposes to Verena, much to Olive's dismay. Olive has arranged for Verena to speak at the Boston Music Hall. Ransom shows up at the hall just before Verena is scheduled to begin her speech. He persuades Verena to elope with him, to the discomfiture of Olive and her fellow-feminists. The final sentence of the novel shows Verena in tears – not to be her last, James assures us. ===== Mae Coleman and Jack Perry are a cohabitating couple who sell marijuana. The unscrupulous Jack sells it to teenagers over Mae's objections; she'd rather stick to an adult clientele. Ralph Wiley, a sociopathic college-dropout-turned-dealer, and siren Blanche help Jack recruit new customers. Ralph and Jack lure high-schooler Bill Harper and college student Jimmy Lane to Mae and Jack's apartment. Jimmy takes Bill to a party where Jack runs out of reefer and Jimmy, who has a car, drives him to pick up more. When they get to Jack's boss' "headquarters", Jimmy asks for a cigarette as Jack gets out and he gives him a joint. By the time Jack returns, Jimmy is unknowingly high; he drives away recklessly and hits a pedestrian. A few days later, Jack tells Jimmy that the man died of his injuries and agrees to keep Jimmy's name out of the case—if Jimmy will agree to "forget he was ever in Mae's apartment." As the police did not have enough specific details to track Jimmy down, he indeed escapes punishment. Ralph is arrested for Jack's murder. Bill, whose once-pristine record at school has rapidly declined, has a fling with Blanche while high. Mary, Jimmy's sister and Bill's girlfriend, goes to Mae's apartment looking for Jimmy and accepts a joint from Ralph, thinking it's a regular cigarette. When she refuses Ralph's advances, he tries to rape her. Bill comes out of the bedroom and, still high, attacks Ralph. As the two are fighting, Jack knocks Bill unconscious with the butt of his gun, which inadvertently fires, killing Mary. Jack puts the gun in Bill's hand, framing him for Mary's death by claiming he blacked out. The dealers lie low for a while in Blanche's apartment while Bill's trial takes place. Over the objections of a skeptical juror, Bill is found guilty. By now Ralph is paranoid from both marijuana and his guilty conscience. Blanche is also high; at one memorable point she plays the piano more and more rapidly as Ralph eggs her on. The boss tells Jack to shoot Ralph to prevent him from confessing, but when Jack arrives, Ralph immediately recognizes the threat and beats him to death with a stick as Blanche laughs uncontrollably in terror. The police arrest Ralph, Mae, and Blanche. Mae's confession leads to the boss and other gang members also being arrested. Blanche explains that Bill was innocent and agrees to serve as a material witness for the case against Ralph, but instead, she jumps out of a window and falls to her death, traumatized by her own adultery and its role in Mary's death. Bill's conviction is overturned, and Ralph, now nearly catatonic, is sent to an asylum for the criminally insane for the rest of his natural life. The film's story is told in bracketing sequences at a lecture given at a parent-teacher association meeting by high-school principal Dr. Alfred Carroll. At the film's end he tells the parents he has been told that events similar to those he has described are likely to happen again, then points to random parents in the audience and warns that "the next tragedy may be that of your daughter... or your son... or yours or yours..." before pointing straight at the camera and saying emphatically "... or yours!" as the words "TELL YOUR CHILDREN" appear on the screen. ===== In a small middle-America town in 1936, a group of parents have been gathered by a mysterious Lecturer for an assembly. The ominous Lecturer informs the parents that he has come to warn them about the evils of marijuana on their youth ("Reefer Madness") through the tragic tale of one boy's struggles with the demon weed in a film titled "Tell Your Children". Throughout the film, the Lecturer stops to detail a political point or to condescend any audience member questioning his credibility. Jimmy Harper and Mary Lane, a joyful teen couple, blissfully enjoy each other's company ("Romeo & Juliet"), unaware of the seedy goings-on in The Reefer Den across town. This is the residence of Mae, who is abused by her boyfriend, Jack, a street tough who supplies her and others with dope ("The Stuff"). Mary, Jimmy and their school friends head to Miss Poppy's Five and Dime, ("Down at the Ol' Five and Dime"). Jack appears at the hangout, offering Jimmy swing lessons to impress Mary. Jimmy is taken to the Reefer Den, where Jack, Mae, college dropout Ralph and neighborhood slut Sally pressure him into smoking his first joint, leading him to a hallucination of an insidious bacchanal. ("Jimmy Takes a Hit/ The Orgy"). Jimmy turns into a crazed addict and neglects Mary, leading her to pray for him ("Lonely Pew"). While breaking into a church to steal collection money, Jimmy has a vision of Jesus Christ in a Vegas-esque Heaven, telling him to change his ways or be sent to eternal damnation ("Listen to Jesus, Jimmy"). Jimmy refuses to heed the word of God and continues to spiral into sin. One night, Jimmy and Sally take a joy ride in Mary's stolen car while buzzed, running over an old man. Jimmy runs to Mary, debating whether to continue being under the influence or repent his ways ("Mary Jane/ Mary Lane"). Jimmy returns to Mary romantically, but he realizes that he is putting her in danger and tells her that he must leave town without her. Jack brings him back to the Reefer Den with a pot-brownie, putting him in a cartoonized trip ("The Brownie Song"). Mary follows Jimmy to the Den where Ralph seduces her by convincing her that Jimmy has joined his "fraternity". He suggests that they celebrate with a smoke, which turns out to be a toke. This intro to reefer immediately turns Mary into a sadistic dominatrix who terrorizes Ralph for pleasure ("Little Mary Sunshine). Jimmy enters and a fight ensues. Jack stops the fight, knocks out Jimmy and accidentally shoots Mary. He frames an unconscious Jimmy for the crime. Jimmy gives Mary his class ring, and comforts her as she dies in his arms ("Mary's Death"). Jimmy is taken away by police. Racked with guilt, Ralph has pot-induced hallucinations of Jimmy as a ghost, Mary as Satan's sodomy pal and the children who got hooked on the Reefer Gang's dope as the living dead. Ralph gets an extreme case of the munchies and cannibalizes Sally. Jack shoots Ralph to stop him ("Murder!"). Seeing similar visions, Mae realizes the error of her ways and tells Jack to do the same. He rejects her pleas and she bludgeons him to death with a garden hoe, gaining her much-needed empowerment ("The Stuff (Reprise)"). Mae pleads to the visiting President about Jimmy's case, earning the boy a presidential pardon. Jimmy, Mae, the President and Jimmy's fellow prisoners, Ralph, Jack, and Sally (reincarnated as Uncle Sam, George Washington, and Lady Liberty respectively) raise the American justice system and patriotism ("Tell 'Em the Truth"). Jimmy burns down the Reefer Den's weed garden, freeing Mary from both Hell and Satan before everyone's eyes. The Lecturer's film ends with Mary entering Heaven, greeted by Jesus and other Holy souls. The entire audience joins the suddenly real film cast to hold a huge anti-reefer book burning pledging to join the fight against marijuana, sex, racial and ethnic minorities and other things harmful to their dear country ("Finale"). The Lecturer drives off, pleased that he has succeeded in exploiting everyone's biases. ===== Jonathan "Jon" Cold (Steven Seagal) is a former "foreigner", or deep cover operative who now works as a freelance agent who is frequently commissioned to deliver high-risk packages. As Jon prepares for his father's funeral, Alexander Marquet (Philip Dunbar) asks him to take on an assignment. Jon is keen to leave the business, but he reluctantly accepts the job. His task is to take a mysterious package from France to a wealthy man in Germany. But Jon will soon find that there are a lot of people who are determined to prevent him from doing so. Jon is accompanied by Dunoir (Max Ryan) to a farmhouse to pick up the package, and they are attacked by assassins. Jon fights them off and decides to continue with the assignment. Leaving Dunoir behind in France, Jon heads for his father Jackson's memorial service in Warsaw, Poland, and Jon meets up with his brother Sean (Jeffrey Pierce) before continuing on to Germany. The package turns out to contain a black box flight recorder from an aircraft that had been suspiciously downed, and the recipient – sinister industrialist Jerome Van Aken (Harry Van Gorkum) – has a vested interest in it. Once he arrives in Germany, Jon discovers that he is being pursued by various agents and assassins, while Van Aken's wife Meredith (Anna-Louise Plowman) and CIA spook Jared Olyphant (Gary Raymond) also seem to want to get hold of the package. ===== Eva is a wealthy, snobbish ballerina who is diagnosed with cancer. She is admitted into the youth cancer ward at a hospital where she is forced into humility by her disease. She rooms with fellow cancer patient Claudia, and the majority of the film revolves around their interactions together in their hospital room. She is treated with "concern and compassion" by Dr. Burton. Ultimately Eva goes into remission and is able to continue her life, but not before witnessing another young woman's death and also assisting Claudia to suicide. ===== 12-year-old Josh Whitney unintentionally brainwashes his younger brother, 7-year-old Sam, making Sam believe that he is a genetically designed child warrior. Josh says that Sam is actually an acronym, and that he is a "Strategically Altered Mutant" that was designed by the government to fight in a secret war in Africa. After a series of various suspicious coincidences in Josh's lies, Sam eventually believes that he is a S.A.M. Josh says that he can be safely deactivated and turned back into a human if he reaches Canada. After a thunderstorm grounds their flight in Dallas forcing them to stay in a hotel, Josh grows impatient with his mother and decides to abandon Sam and his life. Blocked at all exits by hotel officials, he heads into a high school reunion to seek refuge. He later lies that his mother was a graduate, and he finds Derek Baxter, a drunken man claiming to be his father. Before Josh has time to clear his lie, Sam appears and, shortly thereafter, Derek drives them to their "grandparents'" house to tell the good news. Upon entering the house, Derek overreacts to a picture of the real family and goes after Josh. After Sam hits him with a cue-ball, Josh reacts defensively and hits Derek on the head with a pool cue, supposedly "killing" him. In panic, the two brothers steal his rental car and begin their trek to Canada. After a day of Josh and Sam taking turns driving they encounter Allison, who is an older teen runaway from Hannibal, Missouri. They pick her up due to a resemblance to the Liberty Makd; to another lie of Josh's. According to the Liberty Maid's description she aids fleeing S.A.M.s to Canada, in the similar way of Harriet Tubman. Allison travels with the brothers as their driver and during the run develops a bond with Josh. After a run-in with a cop outside of Salt Lake City, Sam flees, causing a chase through the desert that nearly kills Sam as he crawls under a train. After Josh and Allison reach the car, they dash to the road to continue their journey. During a night stop in a motel, Sam decides to leave Josh and Allison and he steals the car. Later that day, Josh and Alison part ways after she fails to convince him to live in Seattle with her. After a long walk, he discovers the car on the side of the road. Unfortunately, Sam is not there, but he discovers a bus stop nearby and rides it the rest of the way to Canada. On the bus, he sees Sam riding on the back of a semi-truck and, after he and Sam reunite, they walk across the border into Canada. In Calgary, Canada, Josh tries several attempts to unbrainwash his brother back to "normal". Among these attempts is a trip to a tanning booth explaing that it will "deactivate him." After this, Sam is sent back home to Orlando on a plane. Feeling unwanted at home and ridiculously considering himself a fugitive, Josh stays behind. When Sam arrives in Orlando he is picked up by their dad, Thom, who gives Sam a big hug and kiss. On the way home, Thom says that he went to Dallas and talked to the police there and he found out that Derek is still alive and Josh only briefly knocked him unconscious. Josh finds this information out also. At home Thom asks Sam where Josh is. Sam thinks Thom doesn't love his brother. Thom says that it's a cruel & mean world out there and that he just wants Josh to be tougher and stronger than he was so that he could be ready. The next morning Josh arrives home in a taxi and has an emotional reunion with Sam. As they walk inside Sam tells Josh that he found a big file in his Dad's office... about Josh. ===== In 1967 New England, aimless 18-year-old Susanna Kaysen has a nervous breakdown and overdoses on aspirin, after which she is checked into Claymoore, a local psychiatric hospital. Previously, she had an affair with Professor Gilcrest, an English instructor, as well as a casual relationship with a boy, Tobias. In the ward, she befriends Polly Clark, a childlike schizophrenic; Georgina Tuskin, a pathological liar and Susanna's roommate; Daisy Randone, who self-harms and has obsessive–compulsive disorder; and Janet, a sardonic woman with anorexia. Susanna is particularly drawn to sociopath Lisa Rowe, who is rebellious but charismatic and encourages Susanna to stop taking her medication and resist therapy. Lisa has been at Claymoore for eight years and knows how to manipulate the system. Lisa helps the girls sneak around at night in the hospital's underground tunnels and constantly provokes them and the staff, including the stern head nurse, Valerie. Through regular therapy sessions with Dr. Melvin Potts, Susanna comes to learn she has borderline personality disorder, a fact Dr. Potts initially keeps concealed from her. On a rare supervised group outing celebrating Daisy's impending release, the women visit an ice cream parlor in town. There, Susanna is confronted by Barbara Gilcrest, wife of Professor Gilcrest, and their daughter, Bonnie. Barbara publicly scolds Susanna for sleeping with her husband, but Lisa and the others vehemently come to Susanna's defense, humiliating Barbara and her daughter. This endears Susanna to Lisa even more, though Valerie reprimands Lisa. One day, Tobias, who has been drafted to serve in the Vietnam War, visits Susanna, begging her to run away with him. She tells him she has become friends with the other girls and would like to leave someday but not with him. That night, Polly has a breakdown and is placed in isolation. Susanna and Lisa drug the night watch nurse with a sedative and attempt to comfort Polly by singing to her. Susanna makes out with John, one of the hospital orderlies who has a crush on her. When Valerie finds the group sleeping in the hallway in the morning, she punishes the two women, particularly Lisa, who is forced to endure electroshock therapy followed by solitary confinement. Later that night, Lisa manages to break out of confinement and convinces Susanna to escape with her. The women hitchhike to Daisy's newly-rented apartment, supplied by her doting father, and bribe her with valium to spend the night. Daisy, insistent she has been cured of her illness, is confronted by Lisa when Lisa discovers Daisy has been cutting herself. Lisa taunts Daisy, accusing her of enjoying the incestuous sexual abuse she has long suffered from her father. The next morning, Susanna finds Daisy dead in her bathroom, having slashed her wrists and hanged herself. Susanna is appalled when Lisa searches Daisy's room and body for cash. Realizing she does not want to become like Lisa, she phones for an ambulance and returns to Claymoore, while Lisa flees to Florida. Back at the hospital, Susanna occupies herself with painting and writing, and cooperates with her therapy, including regular sessions with the hospital's head psychologist, Dr. Sonia Wick. Before Susanna is released, Lisa is apprehended and returned to Claymoore. She steals Susanna's diary one night and reads it for the amusement of the patients in the tunnels, turning them against Susanna. After reading an entry in which Susanna feels sympathy for Lisa being a cold, dark person, Lisa attacks Susanna and chases her through the tunnels. Cornered, Susanna confronts Lisa, accusing her of being dead inside, emotionally dependent on Claymoore, and afraid of the world; this profoundly affects Lisa, who breaks down and attempts to commit suicide, but the others dissuade her from doing so. Before Susanna is released the next day, she goes to visit Lisa, who is restrained to a bed. The two reconcile, and Lisa insists she is not actually heartless. ===== Near the town of Ennis, Montana, local doctor and former government research immunologist Wesley McClaren (Steven Seagal) who has an interest in herbal medicine and is also a weapons and self-defense expert, is called to a hospital when people start dying from an unknown but very deadly disease. He determines that the cause is a highly dangerous airborne virus and calls in a Biological Response team, who seal off the town while doctors start treating sufferers with a vaccine. Unfortunately for them, several have already died. The source of the virus is traced to a local self-styled rebel militia leader, Floyd Chisholm (Gailard Sartain), who has given himself up after a long siege and has been arrested on weapons charges. In court, having ingested the virus himself (believing that he also possesses the vaccine) he spits at the judge, and starts the rapid spread of the disease. Floyd's militia followers, who have been allowed to go free, attack the prison and rescue Floyd. They then proceed to invade and besiege the hospital, with much loss of life, and take medical personnel hostage including Wesley and his daughter Holly (Camilla Belle). But too late, they realize that the vaccine they were seeking at the hospital is the same as the one they possess which only delays the effect of the deadly virus. Working at gunpoint, Wesley takes a sample of Holly's blood; it shows that Holly has been infected, but somehow her body is fighting it off. Wesley and Holly contrive to escape and travel to a farm where Holly's grandfather lives. Wesley takes a blood sample from his friend Dr. Ann White Cloud (Whitney Yellow Robe), and realizes that her body is also fighting off the infection. Wesley and Ann gain access to a secret underground laboratory where Wesley used to work, where they hope to come up with a cure. Wesley finds out why Ann and Holly are not being affected by the virus: they have been drinking tea made with a specific wild herb that is known to Native American healers. Back at the hospital, Wesley and Holly are captured by the militia, but he manages to kill Floyd and disable the other soldiers. As soon as the biological protection team learn of the cure, they go out and pick all the flowers they can find and drop them by helicopter over the town, telling the people to boil them and drink the liquid. ===== In 18th-century Russia, the Czar, Paul, is surrounded by murderous plots and trusts only Count Pahlen. Pahlen wishes to protect his friend, the mad king, but because of the horror of the king's acts, he feels that he must remove him from the throne. Stefan, whipped by the czar for not having the correct number of buttons on his gaiters, joins with the count in the plot. The crown prince is horrified by their plans and warns his father, who, having no love for his son, places him under arrest for his foolish accusations. Pahlen uses his mistress, the Countess Ostermann, to lure the czar into the bedroom, where she tells the czar of the plot. The czar summons Pahlen, who reassures him of his loyalty. Later that night the count and Stefan enter his bedroom, and presently the czar is dead. But moments later Stefan turns a pistol on Pahlen. As the count lies dying on the floor, the countess appears and embraces Pahlen as he says, "I have been a bad friend and lover—but I have been a Patriot." ===== The Blackstone Chronicles follows the lives of several people in the fictional town of Blackstone, New Hampshire. An uninhabited asylum was set to be demolished for a new shopping mall, only for the funding to be withdrawn at the last moment. The series follows a different character each chapter as they receive a "gift" from an anonymous source and the terrible things that happen to the recipient (or those around them) shortly thereafter. The books also follow the character of Oliver Metcalf, editor of the local paper, who had previously grown up on the asylum's grounds and suspects that a single source is behind each of the tragedies that befall the gifts' recipients. The final novel reveals the connection between the various objects and the identity of the mysterious gift-giver. ===== The film comprises four storylines, which run in parallel and interact: #Xixo trying to find his lost children #Two elephant poachers travelling in a truck on which Xixo's children are stuck #A zoologist and a lawyer stranded in a desert #Two soldiers fighting each other The story starts with two elephant poachers, the chronically mean "Big Ben" Brenner and his affable but not-very-bright assistant George, crossing the area in which Xixo's tribe lives. Curious about their vehicle, Xixo's son Xiri and daughter Xisa climb into the water tank trailer and are taken for an involuntary ride as the poachers continue. Xixo follows on foot, determined to retrieve his children. Dr. Ann Taylor, a young lawyer from New York City, arrives at a bush resort to give a lecture at a legal conference. Since she has spare time, she accepts the invitation of a young man to take a joyride in a two-seat, twin engine ultralight aircraft. They go to see scientist Dr. Stephen Marshall, who has just been radioed that he must report to the resort where Dr. Taylor just came from to tend to a wounded animal they have found. Leaving the other pilot to watch his truck and equipment, he heads for the resort in the ultralight with Ann aboard, but encounter severe weather and crash, stranding them in the Kalahari desert. In addition, war is brewing, personified by a lost Cuban soldier (Mateo) and his Angolan enemy (Timi), who repeatedly attempt to take each other prisoner. In the course of the movie, all these people cross paths with Xixo and/or his children. Finally, the plot culminates in the poachers capturing Xixo, Taylor, Marshall, and the two soldiers. Xixo manages to save them, and George, who is actually a nice guy kept under the heel of his boss, gives Xixo directions to his children. The poachers are captured, both soldiers come to somewhat reluctant terms and part without further violence, Taylor and Marshall return to civilization (though not without a last embarrassing accident), entering into a romantic relationship, and Xixo finds his children. ===== Siddhartha (Dhritiman Chatterjee) is forced to discontinue his medical studies due to the unexpected death of his father. He has to now find a job instead. In one job interview, he is asked to name the most significant world event in the last ten years. His reply is 'the plain human courage shown by the people of Vietnam', instead of the expected: man landing on the moon. The interviewer asks if he is a communist. Needless to say, he does not get the job. He reaches a coffee shop where he is offered work for the communist party. When he does not show any interest, the party leader tells him about an opening for a medical representative. To escape from the heat and have a snooze, he goes into a cinema. As a government propaganda newsreel is being shown before the feature, a bomb explodes in the cinema hall. In the stampede that follows, Siddartha breaks his watch. He goes to a watchmaker but he cannot afford the repairs. Waiting to cross the road, he notices a beautiful woman. He drifts back to his days as a medical student in a flashback. The professor is explaining the anatomy of the female breast. Many flashbacks and dreams occur to Siddartha throughout the film. On his way to the hostel, he has an encounter with some hippies. Along with an ex-classmate, he goes out to see an uncensored Swedish film but, to their disappointment, the film turns out to be boring. In such constant wandering in Calcutta, disintegrating relationships with his sister and a Naxalite (militant communist) brother, his friendship with Keya is the only thing that keeps him sane. Keya is a simple girl. Siddharta and Keya enjoy each other's company but they cannot make any commitment to each other due to the circumstances. After yet another attempt at a job interview, Siddhartha leaves the big city to take a modest job as a salesman in a far off small town. He writes to Keya that he still cherishes their relationship. He also hears the call of a bird that he remembers from his childhood in his dreams but this time it is for real, and not in his mind. After completing the letter, he comes out to the balcony of his modest room. The bird calls again. He also hears the sombre chants of a funeral procession. As he turns to the camera, the picture is frozen. The ending is reminiscent of the first scene which shows the death of Siddhartha's father. However, the last scene is symbolic of the end of Siddhartha's aspirations of finding a job in Calcutta. ===== Ashoke Gupta, played by Soumitra Chatterjee, an honest doctor, diagnoses the alarming spread of jaundice among his patients. To identify the cause, he analyses the water of a populated part of his town, Chandipur. According to the report, the holy water (charanamrita) of the Tripureshwar temple, a famous temple and tourist attraction of the town, is found to be contaminated due to damage to the underground piping system. The temple was the source of income for all of the corrupt politicians. Among these politicians is Dr. Gupta's younger brother, Nishith Gupta, portrayed by Dhritiman Chatterjee, who is also the chairman of the municipality. He and other beneficiaries of the temple decides to prevent the doctor from alerting the people. As a responsible member of society, the doctor tries to broadcast the fact of contamination to the people, proposing temporary closure of the temple for water purification. However the Chairman is absolutely against this idea as it tampers with their profits. They are not ready to accept scientific evidence and instead says charanamrita can never be contaminated because it is holy. He also tries to publish an essay in a local daily newspaper (Janabarta) on the topic. But the corrupt officials suppress his voice as the facts would inevitably decrease the temple's income. The newspaper rejects his essay, fearing political pressure and public rage. As the story progresses, Dr. Gupta even tries to convey his message in a public meeting. Unfortunately, it is infiltrated and messed up by his brother and his associates. The Chairman is able to manipulate the community against the doctor's attempts to save it. He faces a widespread angry response and he goes from being a leader of society to an enemy of the people. Dr. Gupta loses his job in the local hospital and his daughter is terminated from her post of a teacher. The landlord asks them to move out. However, at the end of the play Dr. Gupta gets justice. The young educated population of the town sides with him while his son-in-law's theatre troupe campaigns for him. The assistant editor of Janabarta quits his job to side with him and send his writing and interview to top newspapers in Kolkata. The film ends in Gupta family deciding to stay in Chandipur, amidst a shout of "Long Live Dr. Ashok Gupta!" around him. ===== The program takes place in the fictional capital city of Moralton, in the fictional Bible Belt state "Statesota." According to the globe shown in the opening credits, Moralton is in the exact center of the United States, with the town's church at the exact center of the town. The main character is Orel Puppington, a student at Alfred G. Diorama Elementary School, who tries to live by the fundamentalist Protestant Christian moral code as articulated in church or by his father, Clay. Orel naïvely follows this code to disastrous extremes. The series is a satire of the archetypes of Middle American suburban life, modern-day WASP culture, alcoholism, and religious fundamentalism with weighty emotional undertones that increase dramatically as the series progresses. ===== Korgoth is infected with a deadly parasite by Gog-Ma-Gogg and extorted to steal an item known as "The Golden Goblin of the Fourth Age" from the wizard Specules, who Gog believes to have recently died. He journeys with a group of Gog-Ma-Gogg's henchmen to Specules' castle, picking up a girl and killing several things along the way. The group reaches the castle and begin to plunder it. As Korgoth searches for the Golden Goblin, Specules returns, explaining that he was on vacation. Specules uses his magic to kill or incapacitate all but Korgoth, who proves too strong for the ridiculous creatures that the wizard conjures through chewing gum. As a last resort, Specules uses his magic directly against Korgoth; however, he is knocked off- balance and accidentally kills Korgoth's girl. Angered, Korgoth takes a two- pronged candle stick holder and impales Specules through the eyes, only to find that the wizard has magically transferred his head onto the dead girl's body. Specules proceeds to fly out the window. Korgoth returns to Gog-Ma-Gogg with the Golden Goblin (a simple novelty item) and gets the elixir for the deadly parasite, though the elixir takes many seasons to take effect. Korgoth is last seen walking away, pulling a cart full of medicine bottles. ===== A series promo featured brief introductions for the crew on the use of a subterranean drill module. The team, known as STRATA, included Captain Jim J. James, Lieutenant Jen E. James, Robot, Kiko the Mute Wildboy, and the "rest" of the STRATA action team (which included Saul Malone (Gardner) – and Don Rogers). The main character, Saul, is seen in the background or blocked off by objects like a shovel or a flag during the promo. Following the promo, the crew is shown aboard STRATA's huge ship, which is burrowing deep under Earth's surface. Saul becomes the sole survivor of the main team when rocks begin pummeling the rest of the STRATA team, and crippling their ship; the only other survivors are a Robot controlled by a human brain, and the vapid pop musician Johnny Tambourine, who is conscious but trapped in a hibernation capsule. Saul soon finds himself in an underground world populated by "Mole Men" and "Bird Bats" as well as unexplained characters like "The Floating Pancake" and "Chinacula", a cape- wearing Chinese vampire. Though cut off from the surface world, Saul is elated, believing he will find evidence beneath the surface for his theory that there are sentient rocks descended from a huge "mother rock". Terrified by the Mole Men, Saul impulsively impales their king using the STRATA transmitter. The king eventually dies, touching off a power struggle between his two sons – the older (but corpulent and corrupt) Bertrum Burrows, and the noble Clancy Burrows. Saul fails to get a proper signal to STRATA before the transmitter is destroyed. However, he does meet a talking rock, one he believes to be the Mother Rock. The intelligent stone inspires Saul to lead the Mole Men, who themselves are turning to a popular vote in search of a new king. Saul is easily defeated by both of the Burrows brothers, who themselves lose to a clueless Johnny Tambourine. As the series progresses, Saul is alternately challenged and befriended by Mole Men. Saul meets Fallopia, a female and one of the most horribly mutated of the Mole Men (when revealed, she actually appears to be a beautiful human woman). Though Fallopia becomes Saul's love interest, she betrays him when found in flagrante delicto with Johnny Tambourine. Eventually the plot links the Mother Rock, a war between mole men and bird bats and a prophecy involving magical gemstones, the end of the world and Benjamin Franklin. In the season 1 finale, Saul, Clancy, and Stromulus Guandor team up to defeat the Rock Assassins, which are actually Jim J. James and Jen. E. James' bodies with rock heads, who then combine to form a giant rock monster. With the combined talents of Stromulus' "Sonar of the Bird-Bats", Bertrum's"Mole Man Burrowing", and Saul's "Rock Master Tumble", they defeat the rock monster, and Saul's old captains die in peace — only for Saul to confront Nathaniel Baltimore — his arch rival from the Tallahassee Geological License Review Board — who inexplicably appears. Suddenly, they find a spaceship, and everybody, including the floating pancake, clambers on. Clancy even allows Bertrum aboard, though how he survived the rock attack in the previous episode is never explained. Before they take off, Otnip – the moss-covered devil of the Mole Men – stops their ship. Clancy goes out in an apparent suicide mission to blow up Otnip and free the ship. The episode ends as the ship flies into outer space, and the team, led by Saul and Fallopia, with Bertrum, Stromulus, Mrs. Burrows, Li'l Burrows, Nathaniel Baltimore, the floating pancake, and Chinacula is renamed "Strata-Team Space". Thus ends the season. Advertisements began airing on Adult Swim advertising the show as STRATA instead of the original title, making the series appear much like . Subsequent advertisements, however, focus more on Saul and reveal the actual title of the show. Saul often refers to his home-town of Buffalo, New York and reveals that he studied geology. Saul's presence is largely funny because of his endearing use of Buffalo English. His love interest is introduced as a creature perceived by locals as hideous and nearly beaten to death by the Mole Men. The beating is interrupted and the creature is revealed to be the lovely Fallopia. The Mole Men's perception of Fallopia's appearance is not unlike the Twilight Zone episode "Eye of the Beholder". ===== A new servant arrives in a family which is suffering from internal tension. The new servant, whose identity is itself under suspicion, gradually becomes lovable to all of the family members including the old ailing family head. The story unravels how this new man in their life helps each of the family members to find out new meaning in their individual lives as well as find out the happiness of a close-knit family. As the name is translated in English as "Truth seems like a fiction" the film introduces a character in the first half who is indescribably happy, fond of doing work and very much skillful at everything under the sun. He comes as a servant to the family of nearly 10 members when they are in critical need of someone like him. They have lost the peace in their life, getting angry over others over silliest reasons. Then this man appears like an angel. With his mastery at doing household work, intellectual ideas, and even cultural abilities he makes everyone happy and all the good things start happening magically. In the end, when the whole family is happy and reunited, he leaves all of a sudden without notifying anyone. He remains a mystery till the end. ===== Stephanie Plum, laid off from her job as a lingerie buyer for a Newark department store, applies for a filing job with her cousin Vinnie, a bail bondsman. Vinnie's assistant, Connie, tells her the job is taken, but suggests she works as a bounty hunter, apprehending clients who have failed to appear for their court dates. Stephanie is excited to learn that Joe Morelli, a Trenton vice cop and onetime sexual acquaintance of hers, is FTA and facing charges for murder one. Vinnie initially refuses to give her a job, but Morelli's bounty is $10,000, which Stephanie desperately needs, so she blackmails Vinnie into employing her, by threatening to expose his "addiction to kinky sex" to his unsuspecting wife. Staking out Morelli's apartment, Stephanie follows his cousin, Mooch, to Morelli's hideout and finds him quickly, but is humiliated when he laughs off her demand that she come with him, pointing out (correctly) that she has neither the equipment nor the training to apprehend an unwilling fugitive. Connie puts her in touch with Vinnie's "star" bounty hunter, Ricardo Manoso, a.k.a. "Ranger", who gives her a crash-course in bounty hunting. He also buys Stephanie her first gun, a compact Smith & Wesson revolver, and fills her in on Morelli's alleged crime: shooting an unarmed man, Ziggy Kuleska, at the apartment of a prostitute, Carmen Sanchez. Morelli claims that Ziggy was armed and Morelli shot him in self-defense, but no gun was recovered at the crime scene. Stephanie's friend, police officer Eddie Gazarra, advises her that Morelli is likely going around Trenton, trying to find witnesses who will clear his name, so her best bet at finding him is to follow the same trail. Stephanie's first stop is a boxing gym on Stark Street (Trenton's roughest neighborhood) to interview champion boxer Benito Ramirez and his manager Jimmy Alpha, both known associates of Ziggy Kuleska. Her interview with Ramirez quickly turns ugly when he assaults her, but she is rescued by Morelli, who disappears almost as quickly as he appeared. Exploring Morelli's apartment with Ranger, Stephanie decides to "commandeer" Morelli's Jeep Grand Cherokee, counting on trapping him when he tries to steal it back. Instead, he catches her unaware in the shower and leaves her handcuffed, naked, to the curtain rod, forcing her to call Ranger for help. She continues to follow the trail of possible witnesses to Morelli's crime, but is shaken when two of the witnesses are later found dead, and Lula, a prostitute working on Stark Street that she spoke with, is hung outside her apartment window, raped and beaten nearly to death. When Stephanie returns home from the hospital, Morelli is there, and offers her a deal: his movements have become too restricted, so if she helps him investigate and clear his name, he will let her bring him into custody and collect the bounty. While he is hiding in her apartment, Vinnie's regular bounty hunter, Morty Beyers, comes by and requests his case files back, since he's recovered from his appendicitis. He also steals the keys to Morelli's SUV from Stephanie's purse, thinking to lure Morelli to him in the same way. Instead, Morty is killed when a car bomb destroys the SUV, proving that whatever Stephanie is investigating is making someone angry or nervous. At a butcher shop that Ziggy Kuleska was known to frequent, Stephanie is shocked to recognize the "flat-nose" guy behind the counter as the witness Morelli described at the scene of Ziggy's death. They follow him to a moored boat, and Morelli finds traces of heroin that link the boat to the illegal drug traffic run by a local Jamaican gang. They then follow the trail to a freezer truck, where they find oil drums containing the bodies of Carmen and the witness. Morelli despairs, knowing that this has practically eliminated the chances of him clearing his name. Stephanie advocates calling the police, but Morelli refuses, tossing in a remark about her ineptitude as a bounty hunter that stings her into locking him in the freezer truck and driving it to the police station to hand him over. Returning home, Stephanie is held at gunpoint by Jimmy Alpha, who she had taken to be a helpless bystander. Ruefully, he tells her that managing a champion boxer like Ramirez is every promoter's dream, but Ramirez has become a sadistic psychopath, and Alpha can't control him any longer. Alpha has tried to "diversify" by using his earnings from Ramirez to buy other businesses, such as the butcher shop, but was lured into using his boat and his businesses to assist in the Jamaicans' drug trade. Carmen was on the verge of telling the truth to Morelli, which is why Ziggy killed her before Morelli arrived, and the now-dead witness took Ziggy's gun after Morelli shot him. Now Stephanie is too close to the truth, which is why Alpha will have to have Ramirez rape and torture her to death, before Alpha shoots him and retires peacefully. Stephanie shoves Alpha to the ground, taking a bullet in her rear end from Alpha's gun, before grabbing her purse and emptying her revolver into Alpha's heart. Thanks to a microphone hidden on her by Morelli, Alpha's confession was recorded and clears Morelli's name, though Stephanie still receives the capture fee from Vinnie. Morelli visits her apartment with a conciliatory pizza, adding that Ramirez has been arrested and indicted. He also asks if she will continue working for Vinnie, and she says she probably will. The experience has rekindled their attraction for each other, and he tries to make amends by apologizing for writing a lewd poem about her on the stadium wall. Stephanie, who only knew about the poem on the wall of the local delicatessen, gets furious all over again. ===== Stephanie Plum is still an inexperienced bounty hunter, so her boss and cousin Vinnie gives her an easy case: apprehend local boy Kenny Mancuso, accused of shooting his best friend in the knee and then jumping bail. Because Kenny is the black sheep cousin of vice cop Joe Morelli, Morelli is on Kenny's trail as well. There's also a case of 24 missing caskets competing for Stephanie's time. ===== Stephanie Plum is a streetwise Jersey Girl who ended up as a bounty hunter by chance (and family connections). When a kind, old candy store owner (Uncle Mo) goes FTA (failure to appear) after being arrested for carrying a concealed weapon, Stephanie reluctantly agrees to go after him. ===== Stephanie is on the trail of beloved Moses Bedemier, a mild-mannered man who runs an ice-cream parlor/candy store in the Burg. Mo is an upstanding citizen with ties to almost every family in Trenton. He gets ticketed by an overly-excited, fresh-out-of-the-academy cop for carrying a concealed weapon, and then fails to appear for his court date. No one wants to help Stephanie haul "Uncle Mo" (as he is widely known) to jail, so her apprehension work is frustratingly slow. "Mo would never do anything wrong," is the standard refrain from all the Burg's residents when Stephanie questions them. Since her neighbors and family refuse to help her, she calls on her mentor Ranger, her sidekick (and aspiring bounty hunter) Lula, and Joe Morelli, vice cop and former lover. As she investigates, Stephanie confides to Morelli that something feels wrong about Mo - everyone loves him for his profession, but no one seems to know anything about his private life, and a concealed weapons charge is not serious enough for him to go on the run. Lula's friend Jackie, still working as a prostitute on Stark Street, asks Stephanie to help her find her worthless boyfriend, who disappeared with Jackie's almost-new car. A short while later, they find the man's body under the car, shot dead. Even more strange, while snooping through the basement of Mo's ice cream shop, Stephanie finds four dead bodies buried in the dirt, all drug dealers. Stephanie suspects that mild-mannered Mo has become a vigilante. This suspicion soon circulates around the Burg, and, far from being upset, most of the residents decide Mo is a hero and still refuse to help Stephanie find him. Worse, men in masks are following her around, threatening to kill her if she keeps looking for Mo. It is Stephanie's slimy cousin Vinnie who provides the final clue. Vinnie had already told her that Mo was secretly homosexual, but she has a theory about his connection with the drug dealers, and Vinnie's investigation confirms it: Mo, under an alias, is actually a renowned director and producer of underground BDSM films. He owns a small rural house outside Trenton under that alias, where he shoots most of his movies. Stephanie, Lula, and Ranger confront Mo at the house, where he is hiding out. He confesses that one of the drug dealers "procured" young men and women (i.e., drug addicts desperate for money) to perform in Mo's movies, but crossed the line when he asked permission to sell drugs outside Mo's store. Mo pretended to agree, but suggested a "sting operation" to a local church reverend, who embraced the idea. However, Mo did not plan on the scheme "snowballing", and now the reverend and several members of his congregation have become a death squad, privately "cleaning up the streets" of Trenton. Mo was prepared to testify to the authorities, but the vigilantes are now hunting him along with the drug dealers. Just then, the death squad pulls up outside the house and attacks with heavy weapons, including a rocket launcher that blows up Stephanie's pickup truck. Ranger hunkers down in the house, while telling Stephanie and Lula to take Mo to safety. Stephanie tells Lula to drive away with Mo, then draws her gun to help Ranger, but Morelli and the police arrive with reinforcements before anyone is killed or seriously wounded. The vigilantes are apprehended, and Stephanie returns Mo to court. As Stephanie attempts to resume her relationship with Morelli, they are constantly interrupted - first by criminals, then by Stephanie's accidental dye job that makes her look like Ronald McDonald. ===== The series follows the adventures of Dr. Peter Brady, a scientist who is attempting to achieve invisibility with light refraction. However, the experiment goes wrong and turns him permanently invisible. He is initially declared a state secret and locked up, but eventually convinces the UK government, represented by Sir Charles Anderson, to allow him to return to his laboratory and search for an antidote ("Secret Experiment"). Almost immediately, British Intelligence recruits him for an assignment ("Crisis in the Desert"), but soon security is breached ("Behind the Mask") and he becomes a celebrity ("Picnic with Death"), consequently also using his invisibility to help people in trouble, as well as solve crimes and defeat spies for his country. ===== The story follows Sholl, a man living in London soon after a convulsive onslaught by unearthly beings. Through introspective monologue on both sides of the fight, the reader learns of the history of the attacking imagos and "vampires", and the reasons behind the invasion. ===== Six years after the events depicted in Fury3, the Bions (an alien race created by Terran scientists which rebelled and became ruthless killing machines) kill all the Coalition's qualified pilots on Sebek. The player's character ("the Councilor") is the last surviving pilot for the Coalition of Independent Planets, the defense group that protects the universe from the Bions. The Bions are now targeting the rest of the Coalition's citizens. The pilot must accomplish various objectives on eight different worlds in order to stop the Bions, save the universe, and win the game. ===== On the run from the police, S.S. Kumar (Dharmendra), a thief, comes across a private invitation to the island of Sir John Locksley (Rex Harrison) addressed to Raja Bahadur Singh. When the Raja is shot, Kumar takes him to a nearby hospital, dons a Sikh's turban, poses as the Raja's son and goes to the private island of Sir John. Also attending are K.P.W. Iyengar aka Romeo, Dr. Dubari, Colonel Columbus, and Countess Sylvia Rasmussen. A stunned Kumar finds out that all of these invitees are master criminals and thieves. Kumar's guise does not fool anyone, including his former sweetheart, Sheila Enders (Zeenat Aman), nevertheless Sir John permits him to stay on, as he feels that Kumar's career, though an amateur, is consistent with those already present. The reason why John has invited them is to find a successor to take his place as he is dying of cancer. He feels that one of his invitees can be trusted to take his place and for this he has arranged for them to steal a Diamond Shalimar worth 135 crores of rupees. This gem is placed in a secure room within his palace, which is alarmed, and guarded by armed men 24 hours a day. The ruby itself is located within a display case of bulletproof glass and surrounded by a minefield. He challenges one of them to steal the shalimar - but if anyone fails then they are killed by the security system. Pitted against such veterans, it looks like Kumar has got himself into a bind that he may not come out of alive. ===== Centuries ago, the Aztec Empire of Mexico was conquered by the Spanish conquistadors. Horrified by their religious practices, the Spaniards set out to convert the native population to Catholicism, effectively declaring war upon the Aztec religion. According to an ancient prophecy, the Aztecs and their religion will return to dominance in a time known as the Sixth Sun. While attempting to illegally cross the United States-Mexico border, young orphan boy Juan Diego is singled out by a fellow traveler, a strange old man known only as "Old Indian" claiming to know the way. The old man leads the boy to an old Aztec shrine dedicated to the god of death, Mictlantecuhtli. Explaining that they must give thanks to Tezcatlipoca, the god of sacrifice, Old Indian proceeds to carve a symbol of the god in to Diego's hand. Declaring the boy's blood to be pure, the Old Indian dies in the throes of invocations of Nahuatl, abandoning the boy in the desert. Ten years later, 21-year-old Diego has made a home for himself in East Los Angeles. He shares an apartment with his best friend Zak and is in love with Maria, niece of Padre Somera of the local mission which dates back to the Cortés era. However, Diego and Maria's relationship is strained both by his haunting encounter with Old Indian and the devout Padre's disapproval of the young man's sympathy towards Aztec beliefs and mythology. Anticipating a local Dia de los Muertos festival, Diego begins to feel the call of something powerful. He dresses as an undead Mariachi, clad in black with the traditional markings to give himself a skeletal appearance. En route to the celebration, the forces of the Aztec underworld cause Diego's car to crash, ending his life. Diego awakens in the Aztec afterlife of Mictlan where the god of death sacrifices him to Tezcatlipoca in a ritual where his heart is torn from his chest with the aid of an obsidian blade. He is then sent back to the land of the living exactly one year after his death. Diego, selected long ago by the Old Indian, is the sacrificial priest in service to Tezcatlipoca. In order to fulfill the prophecy of the Sixth Sun, Tezcatlipoca requires three human sacrifices, each symbolizing the Catholic Church that wiped out the old gods over five hundred years ago. And Maria, being the direct descendant of the Somera family is at risk. Armed with the power to take life or restore it, Diego must struggle against the very gods who created him in order to save the woman he loves. ===== In Belleville, Paris, Madame Rosa, an elderly French Jew and Holocaust survivor who worked as a prostitute, now runs a boarding home for the children of prostitutes. One of them is Momo, an Algerian boy who is believed to be 11. Although Madame Rosa is Jewish and sometimes makes racist comments about Momo, she remains aloof of the Arab-Israeli conflict and raises Momo as a Muslim in respect of his heritage, taking him to her friend Mr. Hamil for instruction in religion, French literature, and Arabic at the Grand Mosque. She is in fact concealing the fact that Momo is 14, having a strong skepticism of official papers and what they can or cannot prove, and as a result is unable to send him to a regular primary school. Momo steals a dog from a pet shop. He later impulsively sells the dog for 500 francs and stuffs the money into the sewer. Rosa, who regards Momo as a troublemaker, takes him to her physician Dr. Katz under the belief that he is syphilitic or mentally ill. Momo later follows her after she has a nightmare about the Auschwitz concentration camp to discover her hidden Jewish space under the staircase, and the two begin to develop a closer bond. Later, after Momo dresses himself up as a prostitute and a real prostitute takes him to a cafe run by a friend of Madame Rosa's believing that he needs help, Madame Rosa makes Momo swear never to prostitute himself or become a procurer. In a park, Momo meets a female film editor, and she tells him he can visit her lab any time he likes. Madame Rosa is in exceedingly poor health and begins experiencing dementia, at times having flashbacks to the Vel d’Hiv roundup and falling back into the belief that she will be arrested by the French Police and sent back to Auschwitz. Mr. Hamil also begins to have dementia, taking solace in the writings of Victor Hugo. After a bad fall on the stairs, Dr. Katz informs Momo that she has many health issues including hypertension. She refuses to be hospitalized. Momo believes she should be euthanized. When told by Dr. Katz that euthanasia contradicts French values, Momo replies he is not French and that Algerians believe in self-determination. Momo's father, who spent time in an asylum after murdering Momo's mother, returns to try to collect Momo, but Madame Rosa tricks him into believing that she raised him as a Jew and he suffers a fatal stroke. Momo is with Madame Rosa when she retreats to her Jewish space under the staircase to die, and is discovered with her body three weeks later. Afterwards, he goes to live with the film editor. ===== Following on from the events of The Banquo Legacy, the Time Lords have cracked the base code the Eighth Doctor programmed into Compassion's randomiser, and intercept her at her next destination. Threatened with enslavement, Compassion activates her built in weapons system and destroys the approaching WarTARDISes, while the Doctor fights for control of her navigation systems. The resulting "hiccup" expels Fitz and the Doctor into the vortex. The Doctor is captured while escaping from the Edifice, a massive bone structure that has appeared in the skies above Gallifrey, and taken to Gallifrey, where he is accused of being an agent of Faction Paradox. The Doctor is forced to aid the Time Lords in the capture of Compassion to aid in the forthcoming War. Meanwhile, Fitz appears before a group of disenchanted, young Time Lords who are holding rituals based on the occult texts of Faction Paradox and finds himself unable to escape. Getting further embroiled in the group's activities, Fitz witnesses the creation of a copy of former President Greyjan the Sane and is then the unwitting donor of material used to pull the original Fitz Kreiner, now in the guise of Faction Agent Father Kreiner, from a Klein bottle universe into the modern day Gallifrey. During her Reaffirmation Ceremony, Lady President Romana is challenged by Greyjan and placed under house arrest, with only Fitz as company. With the aid of Compassion, they are able to escape and witness Faction Paradox corrupting Time Lord history, followed by the Doctor's fall to the Faction. Travelling to the Edifice with Father Kreiner and a Faction Agent known as Tarra, Kreiner reveals he is not truly working for the Faction and pleads with the Doctor to undo the past so he never becomes Father Kreiner, an act the Doctor cannot agree to. The Doctor reveals that not only has he not fallen to the Faction, but that the Edifice is, in fact, his old TARDIS, which was not actually destroyed at Avalon. Together he and Kreiner are able to dispose of Tarra before Grandfather Paradox appears on the Edifice to confront the Doctor. The Doctor battles the Grandfather, and decides that the only way to prevent Faction Paradox from destroying Gallifrey's past is a drastic move: he chooses to use the energy that is holding the TARDIS together to destroy Faction Paradox and Grandfather Paradox, but also destroy Gallifrey in the process. With the whole of Time Lord history seemingly being erased from existence, Compassion is able to rescue the Doctor, Fitz and the remains of the Doctor's old TARDIS, placing them on Earth for safekeeping, until the TARDIS can regenerate itself over the course of the next century and the Doctor, now suffering from amnesia, can recover. At the end of the novel, the Doctor is stranded on Earth for a hundred years; Fitz is left to his own devices in the late 20th century, with only a time and place to meet the Doctor once the TARDIS is once again active; and Compassion is released from her bonds to both the Time Lords and the Faction, free to roam time and space as she sees fit. ===== Set in Canada, Obasan centres on the memories and experiences of Naomi Nakane, a 36-year-old schoolteacher living in the rural Canadian town of Cecil, Alberta, when the novel begins. The death of Naomi's uncle, with whom she had lived as a child, leads Naomi to visit and care for her widowed aunt Aya, whom she refers to as Obasan (Obasan being the Japanese word for "Aunt" in this context). Her brief stay with Obasan in turn becomes an occasion for Naomi to revisit and reconstruct in memory her painful experiences as a child during and after World War II, with the aid of a box of correspondence and journals sent to her by her Aunt Emily, detailing the years of the measures taken by the Canadian government against the Japanese citizens of Canada and their aftereffects. With the aid of Aunt Emily's letters, Naomi learns that her mother, who had been in Japan before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, was severely injured by the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki; a finding which changes her perspective of the 'War in the Pacific', and rekindles the heartbreak she experienced as a child. Naomi's narration thus interweaves two stories, one of the past and another of the present, mixing experience and recollection, history and memory throughout. Naomi's struggle to come to terms with both past and present confusion and suffering form the core of the novel's plot. Although Obasan is fiction, the events, Parliamentary legal documents, and overall notion of racism mirror reality. Through the eyes of fictional characters, Kogawa tells the story of Japanese-Canadians during the Second World War. ===== The film portrays the economic difficulties faced by middle-class, educated, urban youth in 1970s India. After achieving only moderate academic results and making numerous unsuccessful attempts to find a job, Somnath (Pradip Mukherjee), the central protagonist struggles in his daily life. One day while Somnath was walking down the lane in the crowded Burrabazar area of urban Kolkata, he slips over a banana peel, and coincidentally meets Bishuda(Utpal Dutt). He confesses to Bishuda about his unsuccessful attempts in getting a suitable job for himself. Bishuda advises him to start his own business. Somnath finally decides to start his own business as a middle-man--i.e. a self-employed salesman. He soon however finds himself involved in unethical behaviours, which is contrary to his upbringing. His friend Sukumar, having gone through similar ordeals but finally being unable to land a job, becomes a taxi-driver. One day, Somnath finds that in order to land a big order, he must propitiate a client by supplying him with a prostitute. Despite his hesitation and after trying several brothels, Somnath, with the help of a more experienced operator, finds a girl for the purpose. However, she turns out to be his friend Sukumar's sister. Embarrassed and at a loss, Somnath offers her money and requests her to leave, but the girl refuses. Her purpose is to earn money, not beg, she tells him. Somnath delivers her to his client and lands the contract but is remorseful. ===== The Russian soldier Grischa escapes from a German prison camp and attempts to return to the family home. After his escape he becomes involved with a group of outlaws, including a young woman, Babka, who dresses as a man and has been prematurely aged by her traumatic experiences. Grischa and Babka become lovers. When he leaves, she gives him the identity tag of a former lover, Bjuscheff, so that if he gets caught he will be mistaken for a deserter and not be sent back to the prison camp. She follows him at a distance in case he ever needs her help. Grischa is eventually captured. Being illiterate, he does not realise that calling himself Bjuscheff worsens his plight, as he has been unable to read the notices saying that all deserters must hand themselves in to the occupying German army within three days or face execution as spies. Only when he is condemned to death does he realise what has happened, and he reveals his true identity. The local German authorities send for his former prison guards, and having confirmed his true identity, they send for advice to Schieffenzahn, the chief administrator on the eastern Front. Schieffenzahn orders that the original error must be ignored, for the sake of discipline. Grischa is therefore sentenced to be shot. There follows a power struggle between the local military authorities and the administrators. The old general sees it as a point of honour not to give in to Schieffenzahn's order. Although he fails to convince Schieffenzahn face to face, the latter thinks better of it afterwards and rescinds the execution order. However, a heavy snowfall has brought down the communication wires, and the telegram of reprieve is never sent. In the meantime, Babka hatches a plan to poison the prison guards, whilst Lieutenant Winfried, the general's nephew, tries to find alternative ways of getting Grischa out of prison. Both plans fail because Grischa himself is tired of the struggle and refuses to leave, preferring to face execution rather than continue as a pawn in the larger game. ===== The story follows a number of Jewish partisans and resistance fighters as they struggle to survive and sabotage the German war machine behind Nazi lines during World War II, starting in the western Soviet Union (Byelorossiya) and ending in Milan. The book's chief protagonist, Mendel Nachmanovich Dajcher, worked as a watch repairer before joining the Red Army, where he fought in the artillery. While he is at war, his wife and shtetl are massacred by a German Einsatzgruppe. In the midst of battle, he loses his regiment, becomes disoriented and is overtaken by the front, separated from and unsupported by Soviet forces. His life thereafter is an odyssey through the "partisanka", the motley partisan movement, which includes Russians, Jews, Lithuanians and Poles. About halfway through the book, Mendel and his companion from the first chapter, Leonid, fall in with a group of Jewish resistance fighters called the gedalistas, after their leader: Gedale. With them, Mendel traverses Poland and, overtaken by the victorious Soviets, enters defeated Germany. From there, the group aims for Italy, dreaming of making the aliyah to Palestine to take part in the Zionist project of reclaiming a Jewish homeland. ===== When an undercover detective is shot dead while investigating a string of Porsche 911 thefts, Lieutenant Vincent Bracey assigns 22-year-old San Diego officer Benjamin "Benjy" Taylor to infiltrate a Porsche garage suspected to be a front for the grand theft auto scheme. Benjy is chosen because of his extensive mechanical knowledge of German cars and his rookie status, which dissuades others from suspecting that he is a cop. Bracey wants Benjy to obtain evidence that millionaire playboy Ted Varrick is the mastermind behind the thefts and the murder of the detective. Using the alias "Billy Ayles", Benjy moves to Los Angeles and gets a job at Technique Porsche as a mechanic. After Benjy fixes Ted's Porsche one night, the two men become close friends, and Benjy becomes romantically attached to Ted's sister Ann. Benjy also discovers the presence of a rival syndicate led by Frank Martin, which leads him to believe that Ted is not the prime suspect despite Bracey's insistence. Eventually, Ted brings Benjy into his side business of stealing Porsches, with garage manager Malcolm coordinating the operations. Benjy's first few attempts at stealing cars fail miserably, with Frank's syndicate catching on and slashing his hand as a warning. While doing a job at the mall, Benjy and Ted are confronted by Frank and his thugs, but they manage to lose them in a lengthy car chase. Ted rewards Benjy with a red Porsche that night. The next day, Ted goes to Technique Porsche and finds Malcolm has been murdered. In retaliation, he kills Frank at a night club. During a phone conversation at a party, corrupt police Lieutenant Curtis Loos - who was hired by Ted to take out the detective in the film's opening - tells Ted about Benjy's real identity. The next night, Ted has Benjy meet Loos at a warehouse for a payoff. When Loos tries to kill Benjy, Ted runs him over to save his friend in spite of what he knows. Later, Benjy stops at Bracey's house to inform him of what happened with Loos, and accuses the Lieutenant of conspiring with him. Bracey kicks Benjy out, but tells him to call in the morning so they can work things out. Benji drives off, unaware that Ted is nearby, spying on him. The next day, Benjy's cover is blown in front of Ann when his uncle Mike pays him a visit at his apartment. He goes to Bracey's house, only to find that Ted has murdered him. Ted is preparing to flee the country when Benjy convinces him to meet up at the mall, where he tries to arrest Ted for the murders. Ted refuses to go quietly and a gunfight breaks out; Benjy is wounded, but manages to shoot and kill Ted. ===== Accompanying Doctor Cheryl Kimble—the head of Lexcorp's space division—on the investigation of an incoming probe as part of Lexcorp's attempts to improve its public image, Clark is shocked to discover that the pod's transmissions are a Kryptonian distress call. Making contact with the pod, Superman receives a telepathic transmission of a city that survived the destruction of its planet and is now running out of resources. Taking a ship to investigate the city—which is located far from any sun, causing his powers to fade the longer he remains—Superman discovers a small group of unconscious survivors and sends them back to the Lexcorp satellite in his ship. Further exploration puts him against an Alien, but his depleted powers allow the creature to wound him before he is rescued by Kara, another survivor of the city, who explains that the Aliens came from an abandoned freighter containing an Alien Queen that crashed on Argo years ago. Back on the Lexcorp satellite, the chestbursters (immature Xenomorphs) hatch from the hosts that Superman sent back, leaving Doctor Kimble determined to capture and analyse them while Lois Lane is forced to face an Alien in the hangar, only just managing to force the Alien into space by opening the airlock while she hides in the ship. As Kimble witnesses two of the remaining chestbursters "hatch," Lois torches the infants with a spray can and a match, but she and Kimble are forced together to escape the last, full-grown Alien as it begins to tear the satellite apart. As Superman and Kara attempt to escape, both of them are captured and "impregnated" with embryos, but this gives them an advantage; since Superman's embryo is that of an Alien Queen, the Aliens will not risk harming him. As they escape, Superman learns that Kara is not from Krypton, but from Odiline, the planet where The Cleric—-the being who originally gave Superman the Eradicator-—laid the bodies of his Kryptonian followers to rest after their demise, with Odiline growing to revere Kryptonians as their spiritual protectors, adopting much of their customs and language. Reaching the freighter that brought the Aliens to Argo originally, the two discover escape pods and transporter booths, but the pods launch mechanisms are jammed; the only way to launch them is to destroy the ship. While Superman preps the coordinates, Kara sets the core to overload before returning to a transporter booth; unfortunately, crucial seconds are lost when Superman uses the booth to teleport the embryo out of her, with Kara being forced out of the booth by an Alien attack moments before the ship is destroyed and the pod launched. Arriving back in Earth's solar system, Superman's powers are restored just in time to stop the chestburster from emerging, allowing him to "crush" it and regurgitate out of his system before catching the falling satellite, Kimble subsequently killing the last Alien. As Superman departs, however, he is left mourning the loss of Kara-—the closest thing to a sister he might ever know—unaware that she made it to a pod before Argo's destruction and remains lost in space. ===== In this sequel, Darkseid acquires several Alien eggs, subsequently sending them to New Genesis within several Parademons and unleashing them on his foes, with an embryo even infesting Orion. Learning that he will die from the embryo within him, Orion accompanies Superman on a mission to Apokolips to destroy the Alien Queen, despite the lack of sunlight on Apokolips weakening Superman's powers and Orion growing ever weaker from the embryo within him. Despite the odds, they manage to destroy the Queen. Darkseid subsequently uses his Omega Beams to destroy the embryo within Orion, claiming that Orion may be Darkseid's enemy, but he is also his son and it would be unfitting for him to die in such a dishonorable manner. After Superman and Orion's departure, however, Darkseid reveals to DeSaad that, actually, Orion being infested was the central focus of his plan; with Orion having been given some evidence that Darkseid may still think of him as a son, his loyalties to New Genesis may become divided at some crucial future date. As the comic ends, Darkseid and DeSaad look in at a room filled with facehugger-infected Parademons in stasis, hinting at a possible sequel. ===== Franklin Bean (Charlie Sheen) is shown in flashback with his father, a postal worker at his high school. His poor performance is attributed to a lack of discipline which a school officials assures the elder Bean can be fixed with a stint in the Army. Then, in present day, PFC Bean is attending his father's funeral before returning to his duty station in Germany. In his state of grief he gets drunk, punches an MP and breaks through a plate-glass window in a local bar. Bean's army lawyer secures a plea deal, struck by his attorney Captain Ramon Garcia (F. Murray Abraham), in lieu of a court martial which involves him removing unauthorized tattoos from his hands (obtained during his drunken rampage), paying for a broken window and serving 90 days in the camp stockade. He is met at the gates by a decorated Korean War veteran Master Sergeant named Otis McKinney (Martin Sheen). McKinney explains that the stockade is fairly small and, as a result, he is in complete charge of the compound while being supported by two guards; Corporals Harold Lamar and Gerald Gessner (James Marshall and Ramon Estevez). Bean finds a sympathetic ear in stockade guard Corporal Lamar after learning he is just as afraid of McKinney and only "serving his own time." Gessner is a somewhat spineless lackey to McKinney whom he clearly admires and respects. Bean is introduced to his fellow prisoners, all of them black and led by section leader Roosevelt Stokes (Laurence Fishburne). Stokes is serving an unspecified sentence for larceny and, despite his conviction, apparently retains his rank of Corporal. Bean resists McKinney by refusing to address him as sergeant and refusing most military customs and courtesies. The prisoner detail is regularly trucked to a nearby farm where they perform manual labor such as digging ditches and building fences. While there, Bean becomes obsessed with a nonfunctional and off-limits windmill. He requests permission to repair the windmill from MSgt McKinney through Corporal Lamar but his request is denied. Bean submits a written request to the commanding officer, secretly bypassing McKinney by passing his request through Lamar, who grants him permission to work on the windmill only during meal breaks. Bean challenges fellow inmate Webb (Michael Beach), a Harlem-born boxer, to a pickup game of basketball after suffering a humiliating loss to him in a fist fight which was initiated after Bean accused Webb of stealing his gold zippo lighter. Bean agrees to pay Webb $10 if he loses and Webb agrees to help Bean with his windmill project if Bean wins. Bean wins the game and begins building trust and credibility among the other prisoners. Bean begins to connect with the others and learns of some of their crimes. He soon shares a bunk with Bryce (Blu Mankuma), who was convicted of murder despite his pleas to the contrary. Bryce advises that he expects his appeal to fail and to eventually be shipped out of the stockade to be hanged. Lawrence (John Toles-Bey), a fellow prisoner who harbors sympathetic views toward the Nation of Islam, reveals that he was convicted of rape and sentenced to seven years though he denies his crime. Among the prisoners is also the largely silent Harry "Sweetbread" Crane (Harry Stewart) who is an inspiring vocalist who sings at church services and leads the prisoners' soulful marching cadence. In the meantime, McKinney becomes increasingly irritated with Bean's refusal to submit to his authority. It is revealed that he is estranged from his son, who he states is roughly Bean's age. When McKinney calls his (presumed) ex-wife on his birthday hoping to speak to his son he is told that his son is unavailable, sending McKinney into a drunken bender in the enlisted club. In the middle of the night he tries to break into the prisoner compound to confront Bean while yelling challenges to him. The noise rouses both Lamar and Gessner. Lamar threatens to arrest McKinney and refuses to comply with his order to open the gates. Gessner, however, makes a move to comply but is stopped by Lamar. A fellow sergeant and friend of McKinney arrives on the scene and is warned by Lamar that he will arrest McKinney unless he takes him away immediately and gets him to bed. During a Sunday visit with a friend from his unit, Bean is informed that they are being sent to Vietnam and that he will likely join them there after he is released from the stockade. McKinney decides to try to use tact with Bean and invites him to his office to talk through their differences while plying him with chocolates, which Bean refuses. Bean states that McKinney is a bully and he hates everything he stands for. McKinney dismisses him and is visibly angry. The next day, while Bean and Webb are nearly finished with the windmill repair, McKinney arrives on the scene with a written order from a Colonel in the Army Corps of Engineers to cease all work on the windmill and placing it off limits for all personnel. When McKinney isn't present Webb and Bean return to the windmill to activate it despite the loud protestations from Gessner. In the middle of a rainy night, McKinney arrives at the prisoner barracks in rain gear and a combat helmet while holding a rifle. He orders the prisoners into the yard and summons Gessner. He writes up all of the prisoners, and Gessner, for appearing in formation out of uniform as they are all still in their underwear. He orders the men into the back of a deuce-and-a-half and orders Gessner to drive them to the farm where they normally work. Upon arrival he dismisses Gessner and orders him back to his quarters. When Gessner questions the order, McKinney strikes him sending him face down into the mud. He departs and McKinney begins to march the prisoners in the deep mud, quickly finding that he is unable to keep up with the younger men in the harsh conditions. He orders the prisoners into formation, throws the ammunition clip from his rifle behind him, and tells the men they should run to escape. He then draws his service pistol and begins firing toward the men while shouting incoherently. "Sweetbread" Crane begins wandering toward the windmill and climbing it. McKinney scrambles for his clip, murmuring "help me" as he tries to load his rifle. All the while the prisoners plead with Sweetbread to return and explain to McKinney that he has a tendency to wander off and isn't trying to escape. Sweetbread climbs down from the windmill and begins moving toward McKinney. Bean leaps toward him to try to protect him from McKinney's rifle fire but Sweetbread is struck in the head. Bean removes his shirt to try to stop the bleeding as the other prisoners subdue McKinney, but the wound is fatal. It is revealed that the remainder of Bean's sentence has been commuted by the commanding officer. McKinney is court-martialed for the shooting of Crane and is represented by Captain Garcia. Stokes testifies against McKinney and whispers to Bean, as he leaves the witness stand, that they have McKinney "on the gallows." Garcia elicits from Bean the testimony that McKinney said "help me" as he was loading his weapon. He argues that it couldn't possibly have been a muttering to himself as Bean would not have heard it from his distance and that this was actually a call for the prisoners to assist him with Crane. This, he argues, constitutes a "warning shot" and that the killing was lawful. McKinney is presumably cleared, though it is never explicitly stated. Garcia confronts Bean after the proceedings smiling as he tells Bean that he had no choice but to tell the truth otherwise he would have committed perjury. He then assures Bean that he knows how he feels. Bean replies "No sir, you don't" before saluting and attempting to visit the prisoners. Lamar informs him that they don't want to meet with him though he leaves gifts which Lamar promises to convey. Bean visits McKinney, who despite his acquittal is committed to the base psychiatric unit. McKinney sits motionless in his room in a state of undress and refuses to speak to Bean. When Bean attempts to initiate conversation, McKinney slowly turns in his chair to face away from him. As Bean prepares to leave camp to ship to Vietnam to join his unit, he makes peace with Gessner and receives best wishes from Lamar as they march the prisoners. Webb breaks ranks and tosses the stolen lighter to Bean advising him to stick close to the brothers in Vietnam and they'll keep him safe. The prisoners then call the chain gang cadence that Sweetbread used to call, turning to face Bean in an apparent reconciliation. Bean tearfully joins in the movements and cadence while observing the formation before saluting the men and departing for Vietnam. ===== American criminal profiler and author James McGregor (Sheen), who is trying to escape his past by moving to Scotland where he receives a fax of a stranger's obituary. The next day he is arrested and charged with the stranger's murder, forcing him to collaborate with the local authorities if he wants to clear himself and stop a serial killer. ===== 250px The opening scene shows Wile E. Coyote reading a "Western Cookery" recipe book in total peace. Completely unaware that his prey has zoomed up behind him to sneak a peek at his book, he slurps at the prospect, then finds himself nose-to-beak with the Road Runner. Enraged by the bird, the coyote tries a number of strategies to catch the creature. He tries a lasso, and ends up hit by a rock; he tries chasing the bird at supersonic speed and falls off a bridge and a cactus falls on him; he tries shooting himself toward the bird with a giant spring; and he tries to drop a wrecking ball on the Road Runner with a crane. Finally, he attempts to flatten the Road Runner with a boulder hurled by a catapult. Unfortunately for Wile E., the catapult finds multiple ways to malfunction, resulting in the Coyote getting pancaked each time. The camera zooms in towards the manufacturer's nameplate and reveals that the catapult had been built, not by ACME, but by the "Road-Runner Manufacturing Company — Phoenix * Taos * Santa Fe * Flagstaff." The Road Runner on the nameplate then comes to life, gives the audience a "Beep-Beep" and then zooms off. ===== Tex (Woody Allen) is a butcher who kills his unfaithful wife Candy (Sharon Stone). After cutting up the body, Tex buries most of her body parts in the desert in New Mexico. A blind woman accidentally trips over Candy's hand, which has not been buried. Picking it up, her sight is restored, and she proclaims the hand to be the "Hand of the Virgin Mary." The hand then becomes the talk of the village and people flock there to heal themselves. This ranges from a crippled man growing new legs, a teenager being relieved of his acne and a midget having his manhood enlarged. Tex hears of these miracles, and attempts to retrieve the hand while being pursued by patrol officer Bobo (Kiefer Sutherland) who was one of his wife's lovers. Eventually, Tex and the officer track down the hand, with Tex's theft of the hand undoing all the miracles that it has performed. While Tex is in prison, he is visited by his wife's spirit, who reveals that, despite her life of whoring and adultery, the suffering she endured with Tex allowed her to get into Heaven, and she arranges for him to get out of his cell so that he can return the hand to the church. ===== Nick (Woody Allen), a sports lawyer, is married to psychotherapist and author Deborah (Bette Midler). After years of being happily married, Nick reveals to Deborah that he has had an affair. She is soon shocked and requests a divorce, but later admits that she herself has been unfaithful. ===== Ex-convicts Emil Slovak (Karel Roden) and Oleg Razgul (Oleg Taktarov) arrive in the United States to claim their part of a bank heist in eastern Europe. Oleg steals a video camera from an electronics store. At the rundown apartment of their old partner, they are denied their share of the spoils, so Emil fatally stabs the partner and his wife as Oleg tapes it with the camera. Czech immigrant Daphne Handlova (Vera Farmiga) witnesses the murders from the bathroom, then escapes before Emil and Oleg can kill her as well. To hide the crime, Emil burns down the apartment. Jordy Warsaw (Edward Burns) is a New York City arson investigator assigned to the case. Also at the scene is Eddie Flemming (Robert De Niro), is a high-profile detective who is followed by his girlfriend Nicolette Karas (Melina Kanakaredes), a reporter from the tabloid TV show Top Story. Flemming and Warsaw agree to work the case together. While checking out the crowd, Warsaw spots Daphne trying to get his attention, but she disappears. Meanwhile, Emil calls an escort service and asks for a "Czech girl." Oleg tapes Emil as he kills the escort (Noelle Evans) and learns the address of the escort service. Oleg continually films everything, claiming he wants to be the next Frank Capra. Flemming and Warsaw investigate this murder and visit the escort service. The madam, Rose Hearn (Charlize Theron), tells them that the girl Warsaw described doesn't work for her but rather a hairdresser. She mentions a couple of other guys having just asked her the same questions. Flemming and Warsaw arrive at the hair salon just after Emil and Oleg have warned Daphne to keep quiet. Flemming notices Oleg filming them from across the street. In the ensuing foot chase, Flemming's regular partner Leon Jackson (Avery Brooks) is hit with a glass bottle and his wallet is stolen. Emil finds a card with Flemming's name and address. He becomes jealous of Flemming's celebrity status and is convinced that anyone in America can get away with anything. On the night Flemming plans to propose to his girlfriend Nicolette Karas (Melina Kanakaredes), Oleg and Emil sneak into his house and bind Flemming to a chair. While Oleg is recording, Emil explains that he plans to kill Flemming and sell the tape to Top Story. After getting himself committed to an insane asylum, Emil will declare that he is actually sane. Since he can't be tried again, he will get off, collecting royalties from books and movies based on his crimes. Flemming attacks them with his chair (while still taped to it), but Emil gets the upper-hand and stabs him in the chest, mortally wounding him. Emil then suffocates and kills Flemming with a pillow. The entire city is in mourning. Emil sells the tape of Flemming's murder to Top Story anchor Robert Hawkins (Kelsey Grammer) in exchange for $1 million, outraging Warsaw and the entire police force. Emil and Oleg watch the tape's broadcast on Top Story inside a Planet Hollywood; customers realize that Emil and Oleg are sitting with them and panic. Police arrive and arrest Emil, while Oleg escapes. Warsaw takes Emil to an abandoned warehouse to kill him, but other police arrive just in time and take Emil into custody. Everything goes as planned for Emil, now a celebrity who is pleading insanity. His lawyer agrees to work for 30% of the royalties Emil will receive for his story. Meanwhile, in hiding, Oleg becomes jealous of the notoriety that Emil is receiving. While the lawyer is leading Emil away in court, Warsaw provokes an argument, with the Top Story crew recording the whole thing. Oleg quietly approaches Hawkins and hands him the tape of Emil explaining his plan to Flemming, proving he was sane the whole time. Hawkins shouts out to Emil about the evidence in his possession. Emil grabs a policeman's gun, shoots Oleg and grabs Nicolette, threatening to shoot her. Against orders, Warsaw shoots Emil a dozen times in the chest to avenge Flemming's murder. Hawkins rushes to Oleg's side as he dies. He attempts to get a comment from Warsaw, who punches him and walks away as the police all smile with approval. ===== The film is divided into 5 chapters, the first four of which are named after characters in the film: Noriko, Yuka, Kumiko and Tetsuzo, in that order. The plot is told non-linearly and shifts between the perspectives of Noriko, Yuka and Tetsuzo. A shy and demure 17-year-old girl named Noriko Shimabara (Kazue Fukiishi) lives with her quiet family, formed by her sister Yuka (Yuriko Yoshitaka), her mother Taeko (Sanae Miyata), and her father Tetsuzo (Ken Mitsuishi), in Toyokawa, Japan. Noriko finds her small- town life unsatisfying and craves to move to Tokyo, assuming she would live a more active life there. This sentiment is especially encouraged when she finds that her elementary school friend Tangerine (Yoko Mitsuya) is now working independently as an idol. Noriko's father is strictly against her going to the city, and plans on having her join a local university after school. Feeling alienated and misunderstood by her parents, Noriko resorts to the internet where she finds Haikyo.com, a website where other teenagers from Japan gather. There, after making new and unknown friends, she feels truly at "home" and eventually, on December 10, 2001, runs away from her unhappy life to Tokyo, where she plans on meeting the website's leader, a mysterious girl who uses the screen name "Ueno Station 54". Once in Tokyo, Noriko logs onto the website and contacts Ueno54. They meet up at Locker #54 in Ueno Train Station, where it is revealed that she is a young woman named Kumiko. Kumiko introduces Noriko to her family and takes her to visit her grandparents. As it turns out, however, Kumiko has no real family, and the people she introduced Noriko to are paid actors working for Kumiko's organisation, I.C. Corp. The organisation offers paid rental family services to interested clients, allowing them to fulfill their fantasy of a happy family life. Six months later, 54 girls jump in front of a train at Shinjuku station and commit suicide while Noriko and Kumiko look on. It is implied that the 54 were members of the organization acting out their roles. Back in Toyokawa, Yuka, who was also a member of Haikyo.com, wonders if her sister was involved in the mass suicide. She writes a story speculating how her father would react if she were to disappear as well, and deliberately leaves clues before running off to Tokyo to join I.C. Corp. Tetsuzo attempts to put on a brave face after Yuka's disappearance, but his wife Taeko's mental condition deteriorates rapidly and she eventually commits suicide. Meanwhile, Tetsuzo, a reporter, gathers clues regarding his daughters' disappearances and discovers Yuka's story. He is crushed to find that his daughter could predict his actions and behaviour so accurately while he was completely unaware of his daughters' feelings. His investigations reveal Haikyo.com and taking a cue from sensationalist media tabloids, he concludes that his daughters are part of a cult called the "Suicide Club". Tetsuzo contacts a member of I.C. Corp, who refutes the existence of a "suicide club" and instead expounds on a concept of social roles that forms the basis of his organisation. Tetsuzo gets an old friend of his, Ikeda (Shirou Namiki) to pose as a client for I.C. Corp and rent Kumiko as his wife, and Noriko and Yuka as his daughters (who go by the aliases Mitsuko and Yoko respectively). Tetsuzo finds a house in Tokyo resembling his own and moves all the furniture from the old house to the new one so that it will resemble it exactly. Mitsuko and Yoko are unsettled when they arrive at the house, but they fall back into their roles when prompted by Kumiko. Ikeda sends Kumiko away on an errand and Tetsuzo reveals himself. The girls, however, treat him as a stranger and insist that they are Mitsuko and Yoko, not Noriko and Yuka. As the session falls apart, thugs from the organisation arrive on site to beat up Tetsuzo, who attacks them with a knife and kills all of them in the living room. Kumiko arrives from her errand shortly thereafter, playing out her role as if nothing is wrong, but then imploring Tetsuzo to kill her and run away with Noriko and Yuka. Her insistence gravely disturbs Noriko and Yuka, before Yuka interrupts the heated conversation and asks to 'extend the session'. Finally, Tetsuzo, Kumiko, Mitsuko and Yuka dine together as a happy family and Tetsuzo begins acting as if Kumiko is his wife, calling her Taeko. Yuka does not sleep that night and leaves the home at the crack of dawn, shedding her role and name. Mitsuko awakens shortly thereafter and, speaking to herself, bids goodbye to Yuka, adolescence, Haikyo.com and Mitsuko, before finally declaring that she is Noriko. By the end of the film, two years have passed, including eighteen months since the mass suicide. ===== Number Six is assisting Number Twenty-four ("Alison"), a telepathic young woman, in practising mind reading with Zener cards. In an extremely complex plot of bluff and double bluff, Number Two brings a lookalike of Number Six, referred to as "Number Twelve", to The Village. Number Twelve (also played by McGoohan, apart from some shots featuring a double) is an agent of The Village who happens to bear a very strong resemblance to Number Six. The real Number Six is subjected to an intensive course of aversion therapy, altering his tastes and instincts, and training him to do everything left-handed. He is drugged to wipe his memory of the treatment. When he awakes, he is treated as "Number Twelve", while the lookalike assumes the role of Number Six. The real Number Six is informed by Number Two of the plan to break "Number Six" (the impostor) by convincing him that he is not Number Six at all. Six and Twelve engage in various challenges to prove which is the real Number Six; the aversion therapy allows the impostor to behave more like Number Six than the real one does. In the presence of Number Two and Number Six, Number Twelve is challenged to demonstrate that his fingerprints are Number Six's. They are. He also has his characteristic left wrist mole, which Number Six has lost. Finally, Number Twenty-four is summoned because she supposedly has a unique "mental bond" with the real Number Six, but they fail a test with the Zener cards. Just as he appears to be "breaking", the real Number Six mentally overcomes his brainwashing when he discovers a bruise on his fingernail that he got when Number Twenty-four tried to get his picture a bruise that, furthermore, has migrated from the base of his fingernail to midway, confirming that days or weeks have passed, not the single day shown on his calendar. He then gives himself an electric shock to reverse the therapy. He also physically overcomes the impostor, who reveals his name as Curtis. After being forced to reveal his password and remove the fake mole from his wrist, Curtis escapes and is then mistakenly killed by Rover. Pretending to be Curtis, Number Six reports to Number Two that "Number Six is dead". Having "failed", he is to return to report failure. He is put blindfolded onto the helicopter to leave The Village. He believes himself to have duped Number Two into letting him escape, but the helicopter promptly returns to The Village. Number Two reveals that he deduced the truth when Number Six agreed to give his regards to Number Twelve's wife, who is deceased. ===== A Starfleet starship docks at Deep Space Nine. Sisko recognises its captain, Solok, as a former classmate and longtime rival. Solok believes that his all-Vulcan crew are superior in every respect, and challenges Sisko to a baseball game in the holosuite. Sisko accepts, even though this gives him only two weeks to form a team into shape, and his son Jake is the only other potential member who has played the game before. Sisko's team trains hard and suffers injuries. Impatiently, he dismisses Rom from the team, and the squad nearly quits in protest. Sisko admits to Kasidy Yates that he is taking Solok's challenge so seriously, but it is not because of baseball, it is because of Solok: At Starfleet Academy, Sisko challenged Solok to a wrestling match after Solok provoked a drunken Sisko by announcing that he was studying "illogical human bonding rituals", but Solok won causing Sisko several injuries. Kasidy was amused that Ben would have even challenged Solok, because Vulcans are three times stronger than humans. Afterwards, Solok used the incident as evidence of his viewpoint that Vulcans are superior to humans. Solok published 5 papers on the wrestling match during their time at academy, and after they graduated Solok published over a dozen papers comparing Vulcans and humans, each beginning with an analysis of the wrestling match, and Sisko refused to lose at his favorite sport to Solok. Sisko makes Kasidy promise to keep this between them, but she immediately tells the truth to the whole team, making them understand just how much this means to Sisko. When the game is played, the Logicians (Solok's team) immediately build up a good score. Sisko gets into an argument with the umpire, security chief Odo, and is thrown out of the game for laying a finger on him. Near the end and 10-0 down, the Niners (Sisko's team) are desperate to score a run. Rom's son Nog makes it to third base. In consideration for Rom's feelings, Sisko sends him into the game. Rom accidentally hits a perfect bunt, which brings Nog home, giving the Niners their only run in a 10-1 loss. The team's celebration confuses Solok, who protests to Odo, but also touches him so Odo ejects him too. After the game, the DS9 crew relax at Quark's bar, toasting the triumph of team spirit over Vulcan superiority. Solok protests their celebration, only to be taunted. After continued disparaging attacks by Solok that are met with more mockery, Kira throws Sisko a baseball that his whole team has signed. When Sisko asks Solok if he wants to sign the ball, Solok leaves. ===== The mirror-universe Ezri shows up demanding that Quark bring a cloaking device to the Regent Worf in exchange for Grand Nagus Zek, who went to the other side in search of business opportunities. Quark enlists Rom's help in stealing one of those devices from a docked Klingon Bird-of-Prey (specifically, General Martok's Bird of Prey the Rotarran), which they hide by cloaking the cloaking device. When they reach the habitat ring, they avoid questions from a confused Benjamin Sisko and an impatient General Martok when they are noticed idly staring at a bulkhead. They manage to get the device to mirror Ezri, and are forced to transport to the mirror universe when Martok discovers the theft. Upon arrival at the alternate Deep Space 9 (now called Terok Nor), they meet Vic Fontaine, who is not a hologram in the mirror universe. The three are held captive, as the Rebellion cannot allow the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance to gain such cloaking technology. They are rescued by an alternate version of Brunt, who brings them to the Regent, where it is revealed that the alternate Kira Nerys had planned this all along. Quark and Rom discover that Kira and Ezri are lovers and are then imprisoned. Zek tells the other two Ferengi that he stole the plans to the multidimensional transporter so he could arrange business agreements with this universe, but the plan backfired when he was caught. Rom is forced to install the cloaking device on the Regent's ship, but despite his cooperation, he and Quark are still sentenced to die at the hands of mirror Elim Garak. Ezri, however, injects Garak with the poison meant for Quark and Rom; she reveals her motivations to be both a grudge against Garak and regret over the death of Brunt. The empire attempts to use the cloaking device on the Regent's ship, but it turns out that Rom had sabotaged the device to drain the power grid, and the ship is easily overtaken by the Defiant, forcing Worf to surrender to the Rebels. The Rebels bring the three Ferengi (and Zek's servant, Maihar'du) back to Terok Nor, where a Leeta who never married Rom comes to "debrief" Ezri. ===== The episode opens with Quark trying to persuade one of his best waitresses to provide sexual favors for him. Rom rushes in to declare that, while trying to contact their mother, Ishka, he has lost contact with their home planet of Feringinar. He fears that the Dominion have taken over the planet. When they go and explain the situation to Captain Sisko, sensors pick up an incoming ship which is carrying both Grand Nagus Zek and Ishka. The Nagus explains that by changing the Ferengi Bill of Opportunities to allow women to wear clothes, he has caused planet-wide upheaval and has been replaced by Former Liquidator Brunt who will be officially installed by the commission at its next meeting. Quark, Rom and Nog contact all 432 of the Ferengi commissioners to come to DS9 to meet and talk about the situation. Only one commissioner agrees. Brunt finds out about the upcoming meeting and arrives on the station to torment Quark and thwart his plans. After standing up to Brunt and throwing him out of the bar, Quark and his mother return to Quark's quarters. They get into a shouting match that causes her to suffer a heart attack, and Dr. Bashir performs a transplant. Without Ishka to stand up and speak for herself at the meeting, Quark poses as a female named Lumba to try and fool the commissioner. Over dinner Quark/Lumba has to fend off the advances of the commissioner while explaining the benefits of the increase in the workforce and consumer base that Ferengi females would bring. Once in the commissioner's room, the commissioner goes into full assault, chasing Quark around the apartment. Finally Brunt bursts in and tries to unmask Lumba as an impostor and a male. This fails when "she" removes her dress, revealing her female anatomy to Brunt and the commissioner. Convinced, the commissioner pledges his support for Zek. Later Quark's sex change is reversed and Zek and Ishka leave the station anticipating Zek's restoration as Grand Nagus. Quark, still experiencing the hormonal fluctuations from the sex change, apologizes to the waitress he harassed at the start of the episode and gives her a raise. ===== The Mayne Inheritance tells the story of Patrick Mayne, a young man who migrated to Australia from his impoverished background in County Tyrone, Ireland in 1841. He soon moved to the infant town of Brisbane where he found work as a slaughterman in an abattoir. In 1848 a sawyer, Robert Cox, was savagely murdered at Kangaroo Point and a considerable amount of money was presumed to have been stolen. The next year, Patrick Mayne married and, despite being a poorly paid labourer, bought his own butcher's shop in what is now Brisbane's central business district. He then expanded his business empire through investing cleverly and soon became one of Brisbane's richest men. Patrick became one of the aldermen on the first Brisbane Municipal Council in 1859. He died in 1865 from an unspecified illness, and according to the book during his dying days confessed to the murder of Robert Cox. He left behind a widow and five children who had to survive in a hostile colonial environment which ostracised them for being the children of a confessed murderer. The second half of the book deals mainly with the lives of these children, none of whom married, and in particular James O'Neil Mayne who used the wealth inherited from his father to become a philanthropist. His most notable deed was funding the purchase of of land at St Lucia for the University of Queensland. This spacious riverside site is still the main campus of the University. The story of The Mayne Inheritance spans nearly a century, from Patrick's arrival in Australia in the 1840s to the death of his last surviving child, Mary Emelia Mayne, in 1940, at the age of 81. The narrative takes place within the context of Brisbane's history, and the reader is also taken on the journey of Brisbane's transformation from an isolated colonial hamlet to a major Australian city. ===== Gunnery Sergeant Burns is in charge of the Marine Security Guard detachment at a United States embassy in the Middle East. When terrorists attack the compound, taking hostages, Burns becomes a one-man Marine Corps in an attempt to rescue the hostages and kill the terrorists. ===== The film depicts the adventures of the socially incompetent Vic (played by Bowie) as he tries to win the affections of a beautiful girl by claiming to personally know her favourite rock star, Screaming Lord Byron (also played by Bowie). Rightfully disbelieving him, she challenges Vic to introduce her to him. They make a date for a Screaming Lord Byron show, where Vic attempts to sneak backstage to convince a cowering, paranoid Mr. Screaming to come say hello to him and the girl after the show. Screaming does come to Vic's table after the show and says hello to him and the girl, but the girl and Screaming Lord Byron have already met (in Peru), and she leaves with the rock star instead of Vic. As they drive off, Bowie breaks the fourth wall and asks the director why the story changed from his concept. ===== The main character is a shy, lonely, middle-aged man named Gil Stewart. He lives a relatively clean, good, quiet life in Cedar Hill, Ohio, where he owns and runs an antique novelty and collectibles store and also helps to take care of his institutionalized nephew Carson (in a group home), who has Down syndrome. One evening, while returning home from work, he finds an elderly man on the side of the road wearing a bowler hat. The man's hat gets blown away, and as he runs after it, he gets hit by a car. While that is happening, Gil notices two black mastiffs that seemed to be chasing the man and later witnessing the accident. Gil tries to help him, but the man dies. What disturbed Gil were three things: *The man, an apparent stranger, knew Gil by name *Not only did the two mastiffs look like they knew what they were doing, but they also seemed satisfied at the old man's death. *The man-in-the- bowler-hat says the final words "The Keepers are coming" When he finally arrives home, he encounters an old, wounded and mangy dog lying in his front lawn, which subsequently crawls under his house. As he is deciding what to do with the dog (between taking it to a local shelter, the vet, or simply letting it die in peace where it is), he unexpectedly receives a package delivered by an obscure shipping company. To his surprise, the package was apparently sent from Beth, a woman he loved long ago but who mysteriously disappeared and was presumed dead. Gil soon receives a phone call from Carson's group home: Carson is missing. Gil now is bothered by the following mysteries: *Who sent that package? Was it from Beth? If so, where was she all these years? *Where did Carson go? *Where did that dying dog come from? *How and why did the dying man know Gil's name? *Why are those mastiffs roaming around town? Those questions are answered after going through a bizarre and slightly surreal experience. He is forced to remember many of his repressed experiences of his childhood and young adult years, which, in a convoluted way, are linked to the mysterious incidents involving the old man on the road, the mastiffs, Carson's disappearance, and the mysterious dying stray dog. The feel of the book is very dark and somber. The majority of the book is composed of flashbacks, with the climax occurring during the present day, when he met the old man and the strange dogs. Even though the novel borders on fantasy, real-life issues are dealt with, namely animal abuse, lost pets, aging, and loneliness. ===== It is Easter, and Roo, Tigger, Pooh, Piglet and Eeyore head to Rabbit's house for an Easter egg hunt. However Rabbit has organized a "Spring Cleaning" Day instead. He orders the gang to clean his house while he tidies up in his garden. Initially dejected, the gang, not wanting to let Rabbit down, proceed to carry out Rabbit's orders. While dusting, Pooh sneezes violently, cluttering the house. A large trunk falls out of Rabbit's closet, revealing Easter eggs, decorations, and his Easter Bunny top hat. Assuming that Rabbit had forgotten about Easter, the gang decide to surprise Rabbit by decorating the house, only for a angry Rabbit to literally throw them out of his house for disobeying his orders, trampling his hat in the process. Tigger returns to Rabbit's house and tries to persuade him, but Rabbit refuses, declaring that the Hundred Acre Wood will never celebrate Easter again. Tigger and the narrator tell Rabbit that he used to love Easter, but Rabbit does not believe them, so Tigger takes him back through the book to last year's Easter celebration. In the flashback, the gang prepares for Easter, painting eggs and making decorations. Rabbit wants everything to be as organized and orderly as possible, treating Easter as a professional occasion rather than a fun holiday. The others grow tired of Rabbit's bossiness and, under Tigger's suggestion, sneak off with the Easter eggs. Rabbit goes after them and finds them having the egg hunt without him, with the gang agreeing that Tigger is "the best Easter Bunny ever," upsetting Rabbit. Outside the book, Rabbit admits to Tigger that he did once look forward to being the Easter Bunny, but his exclusion the previous year made him feel unwanted. Tigger says that it was not his intention to leave him out, but Rabbit, still bitter about the past, continues to deny the Hundred Acre Wood Easter. Tigger returns to the present and delivers the bad news, while Rabbit makes his way back home. The narrator purposely stops on the wrong page, at Roo's house, where Roo says he wishes he could make things up to Rabbit. However, Rabbit remains unconvinced and returns home. He puts away Piglet's Easter basket, Pooh's honey pot, Eeyore's bunny ears and Tigger's striped Easter egg in the trunk and goes to sleep, only to be woken up by the narrator, speaking in a ghost-like voice before transporting him forward in time to "unwritten pages of the book" – the future of the Hundred Acre Wood. On one page, it is Spring Cleaning Day and everything is organized exactly as Rabbit wants. Initially delighted, he asks where everyone is, thinking that they are late, but the narrator says that they all moved away because of his selfishness. Refusing to believe this, Rabbit tries to find them but realizes that the narrator wasn't kidding when he discovers that their homes are empty and abandoned. This leads him to regret his terrible behavior towards his friends, but the narrator claims he didn't treat them like friends and that he only cared about himself. Denying this at first, Rabbit finally realizes how his selfish actions have affected his friends and tries to atone for his mistakes. He runs back to his house intent on having Easter, only to find out that their things have gone with them. Rabbit then wakes up on Easter morning and finds himself back in the present, overjoyed to realize that he still has a chance to change the future when he sees the Easter supplies are back in the box. Now "giddy as a jackrabbit", he immediately begins to plan the grandest Easter the Hundred Acre Wood has ever had. At the same time, Roo and the others, unaware that Rabbit has changed, come up with another idea in hopes of cheering Rabbit up. While they are busy working, Rabbit, pretending to still be grumpy, interrupts them, but their fears fade when he surprises them with their Easter decorations, along with a new bunny tail for Eeyore. Rabbit shows them the celebration he prepared and reveals his change of heart, which everyone is very happy to see, especially Roo, who gives Rabbit his Easter Bunny hat, now repaired. The spirit of Easter is now restored, and Roo pops out of the book and says, "BBFN, Bye-Bye For Now!", ending the film. ===== John Ingram (Edward G. Robinson) is a highly successful oil-field firefighter and a family man. It is a contented life, he has even bought his own oil well in hope of striking it rich. His greatest fears are realized, however, when a man, William Ramey (Gene Lockhart), from his secret past sees Ingram in a newsreel and shows up looking for a job. Ramey attempts to blackmail Ingram, who had run from a chain gang years ago, and began a new life under an assumed name. After a shady deal is made, Ingram is tricked and Ramey turns him into authorities, who return him to a chain gang. Ramey subsequently becomes a very rich man. When Ingram finds out about the success of the man who betrayed him, he plans a daring escape in an attempt to return home and get revenge. ===== Melek Özbal (Gülben Ergen)[Fran Fine], fresh out of her job as a bridal consultant in her boyfriend's shop is working as a door-to-door cosmetics saleswoman when she stumbles onto the opportunity to become the nanny to the children of a wealthy media tycoon, Ömer Giritli (Kenan Isik)[Maxwell Sheffield]. Once Melek realizes Giritli is not only wealthy but also a widower, she eagerly takes the job. It's a situation of blue-collar meets blue blood, as Melek gives the prim-and-proper and his problem children a dose of "street-smart logic," helping them become a healthy, happy family. Melek discovers she's got a lot of work to do with the three Giritli youngsters. Dilara (Sinem Kobal) is a pretty, yet insecure teenager in need of a boost in self-esteem. Convinced he doesn't need a nanny, Tolga (Yasar Abravaya) is a master at mischievous pranks and tormenting his sisters. Eight-year-old Duygu (Gökçe Uzuner) is a serious child who dotes on her daily sessions with her therapist. Proudly running the Giritli household is the butler Pertev (Haldun Dormen), who watches all events with a bemused eye and levels problems with his quick wit. Pertev quickly recognizes Melek's gift at bringing warmth back to the family. Suzan (Seray Sever), Ömer's socialite business associate, views Melek with a mixture of skepticism and jealousy, as she has designs on the very available Giritli herself. Apart from a few name changes for the characters, and cities in Turkey, the episodes are identical to their American equivalents. ===== J. Henry Waugh is an accountant, albeit an unhappy one. However, each night after he comes home from work, Henry immerses himself in a world of his choosing: a baseball league in which every action is ruled by the dice. The novel opens with the excitement of a perfect game in progress. Henry, as owner of every team in the league, is flush with pride in the young rookie, who is pitching this rarest of rare games: Damon Rutherford, "son" of one of the league's all-time greats. When the young hurler completes the miracle game, Henry's life lights up. Giddy with happiness, Henry pushes himself and his league to the limits as he plays game after game so that he can see the young boy pitch again. As fate would have it, the rookie Rutherford is killed by a bean-ball, a rare play from "the Extraordinary Occurrences Chart" in the game that Henry has invented and has used to see fifty-six "seasons" to conclusion. That Henry is also fifty-six marks a turning point in Henry's life. The "death" of the young pitcher on the table-top affects the real-life Henry in ways unimaginable. As Henry's personal life spirals out of control, he finally arrives at the solution that will save his league, his creation, and, ultimately, his sanity. ===== Psychiatrist Dr. Sidney Schaefer is chosen by the U.S. government to act as the president’s top-secret personal psychoanalyst, from a referral by Don Masters, a Central Enquiries Agency (CEA) assassin who vetted Schaefer while undergoing his own psychoanalysis. The decision to choose Schaefer is against the advice of Henry Lux, the diminutive director of the all-male Federal Bureau of Regulation (FBR). ("Lux" resembles "Electrolux," which like "Hoover", was once a famous make of vacuum cleaner.) Schaefer is given a home in affluent Georgetown and assigned a comfortable office connected to the White House by a secret tunnel. From this location he is to be on call at all hours, to fit the president's hectic schedule. However, the president's analyst has a unique problem: there is no one with whom he can talk about the president's top-secret and personal problems. As he steadily becomes overwhelmed by stress, Schaefer begins to feel that he is being watched everywhere until he becomes clinically paranoid; he even suspects his sweet girlfriend Nan of spying on him as an agent of the CEA. All of Schaefer's paranoid suspicions eventually turn out to be true. Still worse, Schaefer has a habit of talking in his sleep. Schaefer goes on the run with the help of a "typical" American family who defend him against foreign agents attempting to kidnap him off the street. He escapes with the help of a hippie tribe led by the "Old Wrangler", as spies from many nations attempt to kidnap him for the secret information that the president has disclosed to him. Meanwhile, agents from the FBR seek him on orders to '"liquidate" him as a national security risk. Eventually, Schaefer is found and kidnapped by Canadian Secret Service agents masquerading as a British pop group. Schaefer is rescued from the Canadians and an FBR assassin by Kropotkin (Severn Darden), a Russian KGB agent who intends to spirit him away to the Soviet Union. Kropotkin has second thoughts about his plan following a psychoanalysis session with the doctor during which Kropotkin begins to come to terms with his unrealized hatred of his KGB-chief father. Now feeling that he needs the doctor's help to continue his self-analysis, he instead returns him to U.S. soil. Kropotkin arranges a pickup with his trusted CEA colleague Don Masters, but Schaefer is kidnapped again, this time by TPC (The Phone Company), a far more insidious organization than the FBR or KGB, which had been secretly observing him. Taken to TPC headquarters in New Jersey, he is introduced to its leader, who wants Schaefer's help in carrying out their plan for world domination. As the TPC leader makes his presentation, a camera closeup reveals electronic cables connected to one of his feet, revealing that he is actually an animatronic robot. TPC has developed a "modern electronic miracle", the Cerebrum Communicator (CC), a microelectronic device that can communicate wirelessly with any other CC in the world. With the CC implanted in the brain, a user need only think of the phone number to be called, and is instantly connected, thus eliminating the need for The Phone Company's massive and expensive wired infrastructure. For this to work, every human being will be assigned a number instead of a name, and will have the CC implanted prenatally. Schaefer is to be forced to assist the TPC scheme by blackmailing the president to pushing through the required legislation. Masters and Kropotkin use their superspy abilities to come to Schaefer's rescue. They hand Schaefer an M16 rifle that he gleefully uses on The Phone Company's security staff. The trio emerge victorious from the ensuing bloodbath, but months later, as Schaefer and his spy friends are enjoying a Christmas reunion, animatronic executives from TPC are seen staring approvingly at a secret monitor, while "Joy to the World" plays in the background. ===== The story focuses on the three brothers Andrew E., Jimmy Santos, and Keempee de Leon. They live in the slums of Manila as "bakal-dyaryo-bote" scavengers recycling scrap metal, newspapers and empty beverage bottles. Later on, They discover that Jimmy Santos, the ugliest of the three brothers, is the only heir of a rich yet an ugly tycoon in Manila (played by Zorayda Sanchez) who was lucky enough to marry a wealthy man played by Eddie Gutierrez. Jimmy also took his adopted brothers & adoptive parents with him when his biological parents took him in & it was a stroke of luck for both Andrew (because he became a rap superstar) & Keempee (who was able to go to college, a wish he is longing for). The film also featured a cameo appearance by Ms. Sharon Cuneta near the ending. ===== The original three stories are bracketed by narrative which lays the foundations for them and details the passage of time between them. ===== Widow Adela Gereth tells the sensitive and tasteful Fleda Vetch that she's afraid her son Owen (heir to the family home Poynton) will marry the coarse Mona Brigstock. Mrs Gereth dreads the prospect of her painstakingly collected furniture and other art objects being given up to a philistine wife, while being left to live alone in Ricks, a small and coarsely designed cottage bequeathed to her. Owen in turn enlists Fleda to get his mother to leave with a minimum of fuss. Fleda is shocked to find that Mrs Gereth has decorated Ricks with many of the best pieces from Poynton. Owen reports that Mona is angry with the 'theft' of the valuable heirlooms, and consequently becomes colder towards him. Meanwhile, he begins to show an attraction to Fleda and eventually declares his love for her. Fleda insists that he honour his engagement to Mona unless she breaks it off. Mrs Gereth returns the fine furniture to Poynton on the assumption that Fleda has secured Owen for herself. After a few days Owen and Mona are reported to be married, and they go abroad. Fleda gets a letter from Owen asking her to select any one piece from Poynton as hers to keep, and she goes to Poynton some days later only to find it has been consumed by fire. ===== Bern Thorkellson, a young Erling man, has been a slave on Rabady Island in Vinmark since his father Thorkell killed a man in a drunken fit of rage. He escapes from Rabady Island and travels to Jormsvik, a fortress for elite Erling mercenaries. He gains admittance to their ranks and joins a raiding party heading from Vinmark to Anglcyn. In Cyngael, Alun ap Owyn and his brother Dai, two Princes of the province of Cadyr, arrive at the house of Brynn ap Hywll, a renowned fighter and leader of another Cyngael province. They are accompanied by the famed Jaddite cleric Ceinon. In an attack by Erling raiders, Dai is killed and his soul is taken by a fairy to the fairy queen. Alun witnesses this event and later begins a relationship with one of the faeries. Among the Erlings who participated in the attack is Bern's father, Thorkell Einarsson, who is taken captive and becomes a retainer in Brynn's household. Anglcyn is ruled by Aeldred, who in his youth saved the kingdom from Erling conquest. Aeldred is building a strong nation and has begun to collect manuscripts and foster scholarship. One of the scholars he wishes to attract to his court is Ceinon, who is unwilling to give up his role as leader of the Jaddite faith among the Cyngael. Bern's team of mercenaries attack Anglcyn but are defeated by Aeldred's professional army. Bern and Thorkell have a brief reunion, but Bern rejoins the Erlings in a new quest to kill Brynn ap Hwyll and regain a famous sword. Once the Erlings arrive in Cyngael, they find themselves outnumbered and their fate is decided in a contest of single combat. Thorkell offers himself as the champion of the Cyngael and is slain in an act of sacrifice for his son. Prompted by Thorkell's final words, the Erlings depart and once again change course to loot an undefended monastery in a southern land. They return to Jormsviking with great wealth. After the combat Alun uses the sword of Ivarr's grandfather to kill the souls of mortals that had been taken as the faerie-queen's lovers and later discarded, including the soul of his own brother Dai. Alun's relationship with the faerie ends. Throughout the novel references are made towards the slow but steady growth of civilization as kingdoms are built, the wilderness is pushed back and it is revealed that even the most lawless places such as Jormsviking will eventually fall under the sway of a king. Most of the characters welcome the changes, which bring increased order and prosperity to their lands. The religion of Jad is strongly implied to play a civilizing role through its learned clerics and a shift towards a somewhat more restrained mentality. ===== A brilliant but peculiar professor of Ancient Eastern languages, Jonathan Jones, finds that an amulet sent to his niece Cynthia by a boyfriend from an archeological dig has magical powers. Whoever has the amulet in their possession can 1) cause great pain by pointing at another living creature, 2) cause time to go into slow motion by saying the word "Zotz!", or 3) cause instant death by simultaneously pointing and saying "Zotz!". Both government and Communist agents immediately develop an interest in the amulet's possible military use. (This is a metaphor for the age of nuclear weapons, as the novel was written two years after atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki). In the meantime, Jones and rival professor Kellgore are both in line for a promotion to take over from retiring Dean Updike as head of this California university's language department. A new colleague and possible romantic interest, Professor Fenster, is startled by Jones' behavior, particularly at a party thrown by Updike's wife that turns into chaos. ===== Arabella, the beautiful daughter of a country vicar, sets out to London to have a season and make an advantageous marriage. On her way there, her carriage has an accident and she has to stop over at the hunting box of Robert Beaumaris, the Nonpareil of the town and one of the wealthiest men in England. Mr Beaumaris suspects the 'accident' to be a ruse on the part of someone chasing him for his fortune. Overhearing him make a remark to this effect, Arabella impulsively pretends to be an heiress. Mr. Beaumaris, knowing this to be untrue is amused by her daring to put him in his place, and decides to encourage his friend's belief in this falsehood. He is bored with Society and views the town cynically. He is also amused by the fact that society will follow whoever leads, irrespective of the wisdom of the person's behaviour. Arabella requests that Mr Beaumaris and his friend Lord Fleetwood not reveal her "fortune". She continues on her journey to London to stay with her godmother, Lady Bridlington, blithely believing that nothing will come of this interlude. However, Lord Fleetwood is not very discreet, and the town soon believes Arabella to be an heiress. To amuse himself, Mr Beaumaris decides to make Arabella the rage of the town by flirting with her and driving her out in his carriage. Arabella is aware that his intentions are not serious, but plays along because to be admired by him makes her a social success. Arabella feels that she cannot make a good match when all the town mistakenly believe her to be wealthy. Knowing that Mr Beaumaris can have no designs on her supposed fortune and is only amusing himself with her, she is most comfortable in his company. She enchants him with her unusual behaviour (which includes foisting a climbing boy and a mongrel on him) and the fact that she does not appear to fancy him. Mr Beaumaris eventually falls in love with Arabella and proposes. Arabella, not knowing him to be aware of her deception from the start, tearfully refuses, realising that she is indeed in love with him, but cannot reveal her deception without risking his love. Meanwhile, Arabella's brother Bertram has come to town on 100 pounds that he won. The wealthy friends he makes soon lead him into debt and Arabella decides she must accept Mr Beaumaris's proposal in order to pay off Bertram's debts. Mr Beaumaris guesses the cause of her sudden reversal and is amused, knowing her to be in love with him, despite the appearance of the situation. She insists they elope together since she's desperate and he agrees, but instead takes her to visit his grandmother's house. Once they arrive, she reveals that she is not a wealthy woman, he reveals that he knew all along and that he went to visit her family. All is resolved by the fact that his fortune is so massive, the lack of hers will never be noticed, and the lack of fortune for her brothers and sisters will be explained away by an eccentric uncle who left the money to Arabella. ===== For the past several years Sophia Stanton-Lacy (known as Sophy to everyone) has lived away from England, following her diplomat father Sir Horace around Europe while the Napoleonic Wars raged on. Now that the Battle of Waterloo is over and Napoleon has once again been exiled, her father receives a temporary post in South America. Instead of taking his daughter with him to the new continent, he asks his sister, Lady Ombersley, to watch over his "little Sophy" and help find her a husband. However, "little Sophy" is nothing like anyone expected. 5'9" in her stockings and quite used to getting her own way after a lifetime in a household with no mother, no governess, and wartime liberties, she is outgoing, chic, and quite independent, taking the town by storm with her unconventional manner. Though most of her cousins take to her on sight, her autocratic cousin, Charles Rivenhall, is immediately frustrated and annoyed. Having been raised with a passive, sickly mother and an intemperate, gambling addict father, Charles has assumed since a young age the role of the adult in the household. Forced by his father's debt to shoulder the family finances, he resents the disruption by his lively and confident cousin of what has become, in all but name, his household. With Charles encouraged in domestic tyranny by his spiteful fiancée, Miss Eugenia Wraxton, Sophy and Charles begin a battle of wills. Soon after her arrival, Sophy realizes that all is not well in the Rivenhall household and proceeds to solve the various problems of the family with her trademark flair, saving her cousin Hubert from a moneylender, arranging through an involved and hilarious scheme her cousin Cecilia's extraction from her infatuation with (and later engagement to) a poet, and promoting her marriage to the eligible Lord Charlbury, the man favored by her brother and parents and ultimately, the man Cecilia discovers she loves. Slowly, much to the consternation of both, Sophy and Charles find themselves falling in love, with Sophy's devilry lightening his dictatorial tendencies. In the end, at the successful conclusion of her audacious scheme to unite Cecilia and Charlbury and free Rivenhall from his obligations to his fiancée, Rivenhall proposes, with Sophy accepting. ===== The Duke of Sale is tired of being the Duke of Sale. He just wants to be a nobody from "Nowhere in Particular". He lives with his uncle, Lord Lionel. Lord Lionel and his team of servants baby the Duke and treat him like a child, when in reality he is almost twenty-five years old. The Duke does not want to be forced into marriage or be told what to do. He sets out on a wild adventure to find out who he really is. The Duke is encouraged by his cousin Gideon to set out on the adventure and to avoid his posse of servants. A bit later, he is driving a gig to find a low thieves den called the Bird in Hand, when he sees a teenage boy who is hurt, stumbling down the road. Tom becomes a friend and nuisance to the Duke for the rest of the novel. He soon finds out his other cousin Matthew is in a bit of a fix. Matthew supposedly sent letters to a very beautiful foundling named Belinda, and promised to marry her. When he decided not to marry her after all, her "guardian", Mr. Leversedge, blackmailed Matthew by letter. The Duke pretends to be Matthew and goes to deal with the guardian at the Bird in Hand but gets kidnapped. The Duke then has to figure out how to get Tom and Belinda safely home and out of trouble. He also has his own problems to worry about, including his fight with Lord Lionel and his impending marriage with Lady Harriet. In the end, the Duke accepts his marriage to Harriet, discovering that he truly does love her. Belinda, who is the naïve foundling who only cares about a diamond ring and purple dress, also finds her true love. ===== Sir Gareth is a noted Corinthian and has been a confirmed bachelor ever since his betrothed died prematurely, seven years ago. He decides for practical reasons to marry an old friend, Hester, who is unfashionable and plain, not to mention "on the shelf" at the age of 29. However, he soon meets a young, runaway girl and determines to resolve her problems satisfactorily. Unfortunately, this particular runaway is possessed of an extremely lively imagination, and gets them both into a little more trouble than he had bargained for. The piece is reminiscent of Charity Girl, also about a wiser and more experienced man helping a young girl to find her feet while avoiding becoming romantically entangled with her. ===== Sylvester, the wealthy Duke of Salford, is considering marriage. After discussing his prospects with his beloved ailing mother, who thinks he is too arrogant towards women, he travels to London to discuss the matter with his godmother, Lady Ingham, who tells him of her granddaughter, Phoebe. He departs for a hunt in the countryside and meets Phoebe's father. Impressed by the man's hunting, Sylvester consents to being his guest but, upon finding that he is the only guest, feels his hand is being forced. As the visit progresses he regrets his visit and considers Phoebe to be insipid and talentless. Phoebe's step-mother tactlessly tells Phoebe that Sylvester has come to make her an offer of marriage. Terrified of being made to marry Sylvester and getting no sympathy from her father, Phoebe calls upon a childhood friend, Tom Orde, to help her run away to live with her grandmother, Lady Ingham, in London. Phoebe is unaware that Lady Ingham is the person who suggested Sylvester marry her. Sylvester is happy to have an excuse to return to London and comes across their carriage which has had an accident. Sylvester decides to help them, and he realizes that Phoebe is extremely smart and capable, though very impertinent. He is very angry when he learns why Phoebe ran away but decides to take her to her grandmother to punish Lady Ingham (whom he presumes will not want Phoebe living with her) for having sent him to Phoebe's family in the first place. Sylvester later visits Phoebe in London with the intention of being charming to her to make her sorry for slighting him. Phoebe meets Lady Ianthe, the silly widow of Sylvester's twin brother, who is convinced that Sylvester is evil because he is executing his brother's will exactly: her young son, Edmund, must live with Sylvester at the family home of Chance. Phoebe is struck by the parallels between the real Sylvester and the arrogant parody of him in a book which she has written and which is about to be published. She attempts to change her manuscript, but her publishers say that it is too late to do so. When her novel The Lost Heir is published, it fascinates London because of the perfect satirization of the members of high society who try to find the identity of author. Lady Ianthe, Sylvester's sister-in-law, takes the fairy tale novel seriously. Phoebe, in protesting against this absurdity, accidentally lets slip that she is the author. Naturally, Lady Ianthe cannot keep her peace, and soon all London society is agog. Sylvester, having decided to scotch the rumour, is so hurt by Phoebe's portrayal of him that he insults Phoebe in public, which causes a scandal and confirms Phoebe as the author. Lady Ingham decides to take Phoebe away to France with Tom Orde as their escort. Unfortunately, Lady Ianthe and her new husband, foppish Sir Nugent Fotherby, are going to France on their honeymoon with Edmund, her son, from the same port. Lady Ianthe has got the idea of taking Edmund away to France from a plot in Phoebe's novel. Phoebe tries to intervene and boards the schooner with Tom where they are 'kidnapped' by Fotherby, who orders the skipper to set sail. Edmund is sea-sick and Lady Ianthe is ill so Phoebe and Tom take over the care of the small child. Phoebe writes to Lady Ingham and Sylvester from France, but Sylvester catches up with them before he receives the letter. At first he is overjoyed to see Phoebe but then blames her for helping Lady Ianthe to kidnap Edmund but Sylvester needs Phoebe to look after Edmund on the journey back to England. Sylvester complains of all the scrapes which Phoebe has embroiled him in and, in turn, Phoebe accuses Sylvester of ruining her reputation. Sylvester, having realised that he loves Phoebe, clumsily proposes marriage but Phoebe is outraged by the perceived sarcasm. Sylvester runs to his mother for help. She arranges to meet Phoebe to explain that Sylvester's arrogance has arisen from the grief he suffered after the loss of his twin brother and how much he loves Phoebe. Sylvester is summoned and again declares himself upon which Phoebe is only too happy to accept his proposal. ===== The novel tells the story of two brothers in the early 1960s: Mitsusaburo, the narrator, a one-eyed, married an English professor in Tokyo; and his younger brother Takashi, who has just returned from the US. Mitsusaburo and his wife Natsumi have been through a series of crises. They left their physically and mentally handicapped baby in an institution, while Mitsusaburo's friend committed suicide (he painted his head crimson, inserted a cucumber in his anus and hanged himself). Natsumi has become an alcoholic. Mitsusaburo leaves his job and they all travel to the brothers' home village, set in a hollow in the forest on Shikoku. The brothers' family had been one of the leading families in the village. Takashi is obsessed with the memory of their great- grandfather's younger brother, who led a peasant revolt in 1860. Mitsusaburo remembers the affair differently, believing that the leader of the rebellion betrayed his followers. They similarly disagree over the death of their older brother, S, who was killed in a raid on the Korean settlement near the village. Takashi revels in his warrior's death, while Mitsusaburo recalls him as volunteering to be killed in retaliation for the death of a Korean in an earlier raid. Their sister, also mentally retarded, had committed suicide while living with Takashi. Takashi has agreed to sell the family's kura- yashiki — a traditional residence-storehouse — to 'the Emperor', a Korean originally brought to the village as a slave-worker but who has now gained a position of economic dominance, turning the village's other kura-yashiki into a supermarket which has put the smaller shops out of business. Secretly, he has also agreed to sell the Emperor all the family's land. Takashi begins to organise the youths of the village into a group, beginning with football training. When Mitsusaburo discovers Takashi's deception, he isolates himself from the others, but his wife sides with Takashi. Mitsusaburo goes to live in the kura-yashiki, while Takashi moves his group into the family's main building. Takashi uses his group to begin an uprising against the Emperor, looting the supermarket and distributing the goods among the people. Takashi also begins a sexual relationship with Natsumi and sends one of his followers to tell Mitsusaburo. The people eventually become disenchanted, however; eventually a girl is killed. Takashi claims that he tried to rape her and then murdered her. He is abandoned by his group and waits for the villagers to come and lynch or arrest him. Mitsusaburo, however, does not believe his story and says that Takashi is using the girl's accidental death as a way to engineer his own violent death. Takashi admits to Mitsusaburo that their sister killed herself after he ended an incestuous relationship with her. After Mitsusaburo scorns Takashi's belief that he will be killed, Takashi shoots himself, writing as a final statement, 'I told the truth'. The Emperor comes and begins demolishing the kura-yashiki. A secret basement is discovered in which the brother of the great-grandfather had spent the rest of his life hiding after the failure of his rebellion. Mitsusaburo and Natsumi decide to try to live together again, along with their handicapped baby and Takashi's unborn child, which Natsumi is carrying. Mitsusaburo decides against a return to his old job, instead taking up an offer to work as a translator with a wildlife expedition to Africa. ===== After the death of the Earl of Spenborough all are shocked when they discover that the late Earl has appointed Ivo Barrasford, Marquess of Rotherham, and formerly engaged to Lady Serena Carlow, to be Serena's trustee. Serena moves to Bath with her young stepmother, Fanny, where she meets up with Major Hector Kirkby, a love interest from six years past. Serena and Hector rekindle their romance and become engaged, although keeping the engagement under wraps while she is still in mourning for her father. Meanwhile, Rotherham, having heard of the engagement, proposes to Emily Laleham, a very young and inexperienced girl whose social climbing mother is delighted with Rotherham's fortune and title. Whilst Emily recuperates in Bath, Serena's fiance Hector and her stepmother, Fanny, have fallen in love; they are much more better-suited to each other than he is to Serena. Serena and Rotherham still have feelings for one another, as well. Rotherham, who has begun to believe that his fiance Emily would wish to end their engagement, is confronted by his young ward Gerard Monksleigh, who is in love with Emily. At first furious and contemptuous of his ward, Rotherham soon realises that they had all made a mistake and tries to make his betrothed cry off. When he has finally succeeded, however, Serena steps in and ruins all his plans. A row between guardian and ward ensues with Rotherham storming off to make sure that his engagement over. Rotherham eventually reveals to Serena that he loves her and she admits that she loves him too. They embrace, and are interrupted by Hector, her betrothed. He is all too happy to see this, since it frees them all to be with the person they each love and are best suited with. ===== Berlian and her teenage daughter Daya are on the run from political violence. Constantly daydreaming that her absent father will return, young Daya chafes under the stern hand of her mother. Forced to move inland from their seaside home to a desert of constantly shifting sands, the pair settle down to their familiar antagonism. Finally, Daya sees a vaguely familiar face shuffle in from across the wasteland. ===== To escape exposure as a former Jacobite, Robin and his sister Prudence have exchanged identities and assumed new names. The tall sister takes the name Peter while the slighter Robin is disguised as his younger sister, Kate. On their way to London, the pair encounter Gregory Markham eloping with a beautiful heiress named Letitia Grayson and rescue her. Shortly afterwards Sir Anthony, a friend of Letitia's father, arrives to discover that the elopement has already been frustrated and takes her home. "Peter" and "Kate" take refuge in London with Lady Lowestoft, a former admirer of their adventurous father, and quickly rise to social prominence. Peter/Prudence comes under the patronage of Sir Anthony in particular, but he is recognised by the vengeful Markham, who tries to have him beaten by Mohocks. Later Peter is provoked into challenging Markham’s friend Rensley to a duel. Hearing of this, Sir Anthony forestalls their fight by insulting Rensley in order to force him into an earlier duel and disables him. Startled by this intervention, Prudence/Peter begins to wonder if Sir Anthony suspects her masquerade. Meanwhile their father, whom they refer to as “The Old Gentleman”, has arrived in London claiming to be the younger brother and legal heir of the recently deceased Viscount Barham, much to the consternation of Rensley, who had long believed himself to be the heir and who had already installed himself as the new lord. Under the name of "Tremaine of Barham" the polished new claimant rapidly insinuates himself into high society. He does not acknowledge his children immediately, while they, long used to his delusions of grandeur and multiple identities, are sceptical of his claims. Prudence is invited to dine with Sir Anthony who, despite his air of sleepy detachment, has guessed that "Peter" is actually a woman and fallen in love with her. Prudence refuses his proposal, asking him to wait until her father's doubtful claim is proved, to which Sir Anthony agrees, although resolving to carry her off and marry her whatever the outcome. Having obtained a document that could get the Old Gentleman executed as a Jacobite himself, Markham attempts to blackmail him but is persuaded instead to exchange the incriminating letter for another that exposes Letitia's wealthy father as a traitor. Using this, Markham forces Letitia to run away with him again. To counter that, the Old Gentleman dispatches Robin/Kate, disguised as a highwayman, to kill Markham and steal back the exchanged document, thereby inspiring the romantic Letitia to fall in love with her unknown rescuer. When questioned by the authorities, Letitia gives a false description of the "highwayman" to protect her love. Unfortunately, she unwittingly describes "Peter Merriot" and Prudence is arrested. Once more she is rescued by the respectable Sir Anthony from the officers of the law and they gallop cross- country to the residence of Sir Anthony's sister. There "Peter" dons a gown and becomes the dazzling Miss Prudence Tremaine. Following "Peter's" disappearance, suspicion is cast over both the Merriots, and so "Kate" flees to France while Lady Lowestoft complains of the deception played upon her by her protégés. In the interval the Old Gentleman proves conclusively that he is indeed Tremaine of Barham and the former Kate returns from France, causing a sensation as Mr. Robin Tremaine, his handsome heir. Calling on Letitia's father, the future Viscount is readily accepted as a prospective son-in-law while Tremaine of Barham welcomes Sir Anthony as Prudence’s fiancé and a son- in-law after his own heart. ===== The year is 1586 and 35-year-old Sir Nicholas Beauvallet (great great great grandson of Simon Beauvallet – Simon the Coldheart (1925)) is one of the most infamous pirates of the Elizabethan era. With the blessing of the Queen, Beauvallet sails the seas with the intention of plundering any Spanish ships that come his way. It is while thus occupied that he meets and falls in love with Doña Dominica de Rada y Sylva. He returns Doña Dominica and her father to Spain and vows that he will come back to claim her with total disregard of the danger that the Spanish Inquisition poses to a Protestant in a Catholic land. ===== Philip Jettan, a handsome and sturdy but tongue-tied youth, is rejected by his true love because he is not foppish enough. He resolves to improve himself and travels to Paris, where he becomes a sensation. Once he returns, however, Cleone realizes she wants the old Philip in place of the "painted puppy" she has received. ===== Jay and Silent Bob get the idea that if they go to the town of Shermer, Illinois, where most of John Hughes' movies take place, they could get chicks and be the "blunt connection". Along the way they encounter Holden McNeil, wildlife marshals, and monkeys. ===== The drama begins with a murder and a screaming witness. The witness to the crime tells the police that she can identify the murderer and will never forget his face. Mob attorney Walter Colby (Scott) is called by crime boss Hap Richie (Douglas Kennedy) in the middle of the night to arrange the release of Caesar (Jack Overman), one of his mobsters arrested for the murder. After Colby does so he tells his girlfriend, the unscrupulous mob- connected showgirl Flaxy Martin (Mayo), that he wants to quit the organization and become respectable. Meanwhile, the syndicate arranges for Peggy Farrar (Helen Westcott) to falsely testify on behalf of Caesar. After Caesar is cleared of the charges, however, she changes her mind. Flaxy and Caesar go visit Peggy at her apartment to force her into silence, and Caesar ends up killing her. Due to circumstantial evidence, Flaxy is suspected of murdering Peggy. Not realizing her involvement in the killing, Colby tells the police that he did it, his plan being to defend himself so well that he gets both himself and Flaxy off. Unfortunately, Flaxy and Hap Richie set him up during the trial and Colby is sentenced for Peggy's murder. As Colby awaits transportation to prison, Sam Malko (Tom D'Andrea), a friend of Colby and a former client, tells him that Caesar had been getting drunk and bragging that Colby was sentenced for a killing (the murder of Peggy) that he (Caesar) committed. Sam wonders why Flaxy was not helping Colby since she must know the same information. On his way to prison to serve 20 years, Colby escapes and when he gets to the highway he passes out in front of motorist Nora Carson (Malone). Nora helps Colby get to the city to find out how he was framed. Colby realizes that Flaxy was not the woman she pretended to be. In the city Colby finds Caesar dead. He later ends up in Flaxy's apartment as mobster Hap Richie arrives. She pulls the gun on both men and, as she shoots wildly in the dark, Flaxy kills Hap. Colby calls the police and they arrest Flaxy for the murder of Hap. ===== Slayers Royal is notable for bringing together Naga the Serpent (Lina Inverse's companion in the prequel stories) with Gourry Gabriev, Amelia Wil Tesla Seyruun and Zelgadis Greywords (Lina's companions in the main storyline) at once for the first time. In the game's storyline, Lina, Gourry and Naga encounter an elf boy named Lark (ラークの) being attacked by the mazoku demons. After rescuing him, they find that the mazoku have kidnapped Lark's sister in order to gain an ancient amulet that is now in hands of Lark. Eventually, they discover the real power of this legendary relic: with it, the mazoku can resurrect the demon king Ruby-Eye Shabranigdu and destroy the world. ===== The game, released about a year before the first season of the first anime series, follows the light novels' continuity. Many characters from the Slayers Special novels are present. When introducing the manga Slayers: Knight of Aqualord, Slayers creator and the game's co-writer Hajime Kanzaka described several of the alternative continuities across mediums, mentioning this game as one of them taking place after the first arc of the novel series, namely after the eighth novel. The game begins with a man finding an unconscious Lina Inverse and taking her back to his village. It quickly becomes clear that Lina has lost all her memories: she does not know who she is, or how to cast any but the most basic spells. Most of the game follows her adventures across different locations in the Slayers world. Gradually, Lina regains her spellcasting abilities and reunites with old friends and acquaintances from the novels. Eventually, Lina and her companions learn that the Greater Beast Zelas Metallium has been creating copies of her. When Lina, Gourry, Amelia and Zelgadiss confront Zelas, they learn that the reason Lina has lost her memories is that she is, in fact, one of the copies Zelas created; the real Lina is being held prisoner by Zelas. After defeating her, the original Lina is freed. At this point, the main story is over, but the game can be continued. The player picks a new name for Copy Lina, and can go on a quest to find and defeat Lei Magnus-Shabranigdu. All characters who have been in the player's party will congregate at an inn in Tells City, enabling to freely pick three characters to re-join the party. Once Lei Magnus-Shabranigdu is slain, the game is officially over. ===== The opening scene of Skinny Legs finds newlywed, Ellen Cherry Charles and Randolph "Boomer" Petway III driving cross-country in an Airstream that has been welded into the shape of a giant turkey by Cherry's fiancé, Boomer. During her journey to seek freedom as an artist, Cherry loses precious objects and observes Boomer attain greater artistic recognition. Through a metaphorical belly dancer, Skinny Legs and All confronts the veils of society, and the pain, pleasure and freedom derived as they are lifted. Irony, opposites and parallels, in relationships, art, artists, sex, politics and religion expose the danger of deeper issues in humanity; regarding outmoded gender and cultural roles and rituals, insecurity, guilt, indulgence, gluttony, occultism, war, violence, hypocrisy, greed, and psychosis. The reader is introduced to an array of off-beat and exciting characters, including the estranged couple of artist/waitress Ellen Cherry and welder/accidental artist Randolph "Boomer" Petway; Spike Cohen and Roland Abu Hadee (a Jew and an Arab who co-own a Middle-Eastern restaurant across from the UN building in New York); fundamentalist preacher Buddy Winkler; a doe-eyed belly dancer named Salome; Detective Jackie Shaftoe; Raoul Ritz, the libidinous doorman turned rock star; pretentious art gallery owner Ultima Sommerville; a mysterious performance artist known as Turn Around Norman; and Verlin and Patsy Charles, Ellen Cherry's parents. A host of inanimate objects (Can o' Beans, Dirty Sock, Spoon, Painted Stick and Conch Shell) also play a key role in the novel, and even biblical "harlot" Jezebel and Dan Quayle make cameo appearances. ===== ===== The film is set to a frame-narrative about a film director and producer making a marketing film about Finland, using the visit of the son of a wealthy hair-creme tycoon, William Njurmi (Pasanen), as the premise. For the first two thirds, the film's events take place according to a conversation between the producer, director and a random Finnish tax-payer frozen by the narrator at the beginning of the film. William Njurmi, born and raised in the USA, is visiting the home of his ancestors who were Finnish. After an expansive tour and excessive time spent at a sauna Njurmi escapes the Finnish welcoming committee, runs into the woods and gets mistaken for a deer. He also walks in on an exercise held by the Finnish Armed Forces. Later, Njurmi runs into an inventor living in the woods (played by Spede's frequent collaborator Simo Salminen) named Simo. After Njurmi is almost forced to marry a farm-girl by her redneck in-laws he is saved by Simo. Though Njurmi is open about his identity Simo remains in disbelief until Njurmi returns to the Commerce Council but not before the pair steal a car and tour the country, effectively covering every tourist location in Finland. Becoming fed up with the Commerce Council Njurmi replaces himself with his body-guard, a stereotypical Italian mobster named Luigi (Esko Salminen) with full rights to use Njurmi's name and wealth whilst he and Simo continue to go about Finland unrecognised. It is at this point that the director and producer from the beginning of the film, removing their wigs and revealing themselves to be bald, turn out to be undercover agents for a party that is never identified during the film. Meanwhile, Luigi is constantly harassed by the Finnish Commerce Council who are trying to get a sizable donation often pleading pitifully. Eventually Luigi gives them a check but not before he has seen traditional Finnish winter-sports and dated the Miss Finland. Eventually Luigi is caught double- timing by his wife effectively terminating his role from the rest of the film. The film itself ends with Will and Simo being chased by the agents and fighting them off as they do. The chase ends at the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki where after Njurmi and Simo fight off dozens of agents Njurmi decides to marry a Finnish girl who just conveniently shows up. However the woman is also an agent, revealed when she removes her wig too. Afterwards Simo runs into the scene where Luigi had dumped Miss Finland into a swimming pool when his wife showed up. Simo then breaks the fourth wall by talking to the narrator asking "What the heck is going on?". He is then given a very brief and somewhat inaccurate explanation of the plot. However, Simo seems to have no trouble understanding and after saving Miss Finland from the swimming pool, he tells her they will go off to get married. The movie ends with Simo winking at the camera as the frame freezes and the words "Happy End" appear on screen. ===== The plot concerns the character of Mikko Syvärivi (Pasanen) who works as a night-watchman and also becomes an assistant at a Finnish Television Company. His first day at work starts out quite humorously as he is mistaken as a minister in the Finnish parliament by an urging reporter Antti Vasa (Loiri) who takes him to a live TV-interview. Unfortunately due to the incident Vasa is demoted in to reporting on indifferent news-items with a minimal news-crew and often allowed to ask one question. Mikko on the other hand is also an urging writer who tries his luck comprising a comedy-show and even a police-drama. After catching Vasa breaking into a store in the middle of the night (in the hopes of covering the actions of the local police) he decides to help Vasa with his reports eventually getting him back on the show where started out. Mikko also tries to impress a girl at the cafeteria and is even offered to stay at her (all girl) dormitory. At the latter half of the movie Vasa turns Mikko's bumbling in to a hit comedy-act which comprises him of injuring himself on various types of doors. The fame naturally gets to him in the end and ruins his relationship with the cafeteria girl. He also sabotages his own success by going on stage with a new gag which is met with a chilling silence as the audience leaves. Mikko then goes back to being just an assistant but seems content with the outcome by the end of the film. ===== The series was about a boy named Sam Baxter (played by R. J. Williams) and his robot D.E.C.K.S. (voiced by Rob Paulsen; built from old audio/video equipment and a Sony U-Matic videotape head; the name was an acronym for Digital Electronic Cassette-Headed Kinetic System) and their adventures in the basement, which has a time machine that can bring back historical figures. In some cases, Sam and D.E.C.K.S. occasionally have remote fights in which they each have a remote control and start pressing buttons changing each other from Hanna-Barbera stars to famous movie stars. ===== Uuno is forced to complete his mandatory military service when it is revealed that he only spent one day in the army in his youth. As is typical of the Turhapuro series, his family and friends become closely tied in with these events. His friends Härski Hartikainen and Sörsselssön return to the army for a refresher course and by chance Uuno's father-in-law, Councillor Tuura is made the Finnish Defence Minister. As Uuno's superiors in the army learn of the high position of his father-in-law, they incorrectly deduce that Uuno has been sent to seek flaws in the leadership and conduct of the army. They try to bribe the completely oblivious Uuno with promotions to have him keep his mouth shut. Within one week, Uuno has been promoted from private to major. In one of the most memorable scenes, Uuno's wife, Elisabeth, dresses as Uuno and substitutes him for a day as Uuno has an apparently urgent meeting (at a restaurant) and while becoming lost in the woods with a malfunctioning radio, Tuura accidentally declares war on Sweden, causing him to be court-martialed with Uuno as his defense attorney. ===== Tutul and Shyamal at race course Shyamal (Barun Chanda) is an ambitious sales manager in a British fan manufacturing firm in Calcutta, where he is expecting a promotion shortly. He is married to Dolan and lives in a company flat. He aspires to become the company director. His sister-in-law, Tutul (Sharmila Tagore), arrives from Patna to stay with them for a few days. She is given a tour of the life they lead and the many upscale spaces they inhabit—the restaurants, the beauty parlours, clubs and race courses. Tutul, whose father Shyamal had once been a student under, greatly admires him and his idealism. Secretly she is envious of her sister's marriage with him. Life goes on smoothly for Shyamal until he learns that a consignment of fans meant for export is defective just before the shipment of a prestigious order. The problem is that the fans were painted with a flaw. The company is under a contract requiring the shipment be delivered on time. There is a clause permitting delay in case of civil disturbance. To escape blame, Shyamal hatches a plan with the labour officer to provoke a strike at the factory. A factory watchman is badly injured, a false riot is organised, and a lock-out is declared. The delay caused by the strike and riot are used by the company to allow strikebreakers to make needed repairs. For his "efficient" handling of the crisis, Shyamal is promoted, and there is congratulations all around. However, he has fallen in the eyes of Tutul and himself. He is finally at the top, both successful— and desolate. ===== Commodore 1520 plotter A mini plotter device, the Commodore 1520, could plot graphics and print text in four colors by using tiny ballpoint pens. The 1520 was based upon the Alps Electric DPG1302, a mechanism which also formed the basis of numerous other inexpensive plotters for home computers of the time (e.g. the Atari 1020). ===== A famous painting by the Italian maestro Tintoretto is gifted to the Niyogi family by the aristocratic Italian Cassini family. However, not everyone is aware of the value of the painting. One of the family members(disguised) steals it, and international buyers are interested in it. Feluda chases the criminals all the way to Hong Kong. There was a surprise waiting for him there. Eventually, Feluda (with the help of a relative stranger, who turns out to be a Niyogi family member) succeeds in solving the mystery. ===== Descent 3 takes place in a science fiction setting of the Solar System where the player is cast as Material Defender MD1032, a mercenary working for a corporation called the Post Terran Mining Corporation (PTMC). The game begins moments after the events of Descent II, with the Material Defender escaping the destruction of a planetoid where he was clearing PTMC's robots infected by an alien virus. He was about to return to Earth to collect his reward, but a malfunction occurred with the prototype warp drive in the ship he was piloting, making it drift towards the Sun's atmosphere. At the very last moment, the Material Defender is rescued via a tractor beam by an organization known as the Red Acropolis Research Team. While the Material Defender recovers in the Red Acropolis station on Mars, the director of the team informs him that they have been investigating PTMC, and have uncovered a conspiracy: one of her acquaintances in the PTMC was killed by a robot, and when she contacted PTMC about it, they denied having ever employed such acquaintance, even though he had worked with them for years. The Red Acropolis had tried to notify the Collective Earth Defense (CED), a large police group, of the PTMC's actions, but they took no action, not daring to interfere with such a powerful corporation. The director also tells the Material Defender that, while he was clearing the mines during the events of Descent II, PTMC executive Samuel Dravis was actually testing and modifying the virus and deliberately tried to kill him by overloading the warp drive on his ship. After some persuasion and offers from the director, including a new ship and an AI assistant known as the Guide-Bot, the Material Defender accepts to help the Red Acropolis stop the virus. The Material Defender is first sent to Deimos to obtain information about the location of a scientist named Dr. Sweitzer who has evidence of the PTMC's actions. He is then rescued in the Novak Corporate Prison on Phobos. After recovering the evidence, the Material Defender delivers it to PTMC President Suzuki in Seoul before leaving with his reward. When the Material Defender arrives at the Red Acropolis Research Station, the director tells him that the PTMC president has been killed and that the Red Acropolis Research Team are now accused of being terrorists, resulting in the destruction of the then-abandoned station. After a series of missions, the Material Defender and the Red Acropolis Research Team manage to develop an antivirus and convince the CED that they are not terrorists. The CED suggest to broadcast the antivirus through their strategic platform orbiting Earth, but the results are unsuccessful. The Material Defender is then sent to Venus, where Dravis has been tracked by the Red Acropolis. In the ensuing confrontation in his stronghold, Dravis is mortally wounded by the Guide-Bot's flares and the Material Defender deactivates the virus, which disables all of the PTMC's robots. The game ends with the CED destroying the PTMC's orbital headquarters while the Material Defender returns to Earth. ===== Ahmad, the young, naive sultan of Bagdad is convinced by his evil Grand Vizier, Jaffar, to go out into the city disguised as a poor man to get to know his subjects (in the manner of his grandfather, Harun al-Rashid). Jaffar then has Ahmad thrown into a dungeon, where he meets the young thief Abu, who arranges their escape. They flee to Basra, where Ahmad meets and falls in love with the Princess (June Duprez). Jaffar journeys to Basra, for he too desires the Princess. Her father, the toy-obsessed sultan, is fascinated by the magical mechanical flying horse that Jaffar, a skilled sorcerer, offers; he agrees to the proposed marriage. Upon hearing this, the Princess, now deeply in love with Ahmad, runs away. Confronted by Ahmad, Jaffar magically blinds him and turns Abu into a dog; the spell can only be broken if Jaffar holds the Princess in his arms. The Princess is captured and sold in the slave market. She is bought secretly by Jaffar, but falls into a deep sleep from which he cannot rouse her. Ahmad is tricked by Jaffar's servant Halima into awakening the Princess. Halima then lures her onto Jaffar's ship by telling her that there is a doctor aboard who can cure Ahmad's blindness. Jaffar informs the Princess about the spell, so she allows herself to be embraced; Ahmad's sight is restored and Abu returned to human form. They pursue in a small boat, but Jaffar conjures up a storm that shipwrecks them. The Princess persuades Jaffar to return her to Basra; she tearfully implores her father not to force her into the marriage. Furious when the Sultan agrees, Jaffar presents him with another mechanical toy: the "Silver Maid", a many-armed dancing statue which stabs the Sultan to death. He then sets sail for Bagdad with the Princess. Abu awakes alone on a deserted beach and finds a bottle. When he opens it, an enormous genie appears and rewards the boy with three wishes. Abu wastes his first wish by wishing for sausages like his mother used to make. When he attempts to use his second wish to ask where Ahmad is, the genie cannot grant this, but instead flies him to the top of the highest mountain in the world, where he steals a large jewel, the All-Seeing Eye, which can show where Ahmad is. Then, for his second wish, the genie re-unites Abu with Ahmad. When Ahmad asks to see the Princess, Abu has him gaze into the All-Seeing Eye. There he sees Jaffar arranging for the Princess to inhale the fragrance of the Blue Rose of Forgetfulness, which makes her forget her love. In agony, Ahmad lashes out at Abu. During the ensuing argument, Abu unthinkingly wishes Ahmad to Bagdad. The genie, freed after granting the last wish, abandons Abu in the wilderness. Meanwhile, Ahmad appears in Jaffar's palace and is quickly captured, but the sight of him restores the Princess's memory. The furious usurper sentences them both to death. Abu, unwilling to watch further, shatters the All-Seeing Eye and is transported to the "land of legend", where he is thanked by the Old King for freeing its inhabitants. As a reward, he is given a magic crossbow and arrows and is named the king's successor. To save Ahmad, however, Abu steals the king's magic flying carpet and rushes to Ahmad's rescue. Abu's aerial arrival in Bagdad (which fulfills a prophecy cited a few times during the course of the film) sparks a revolt against Jaffar. Abu saves Ahmad, then kills the fleeing Jaffar with his crossbow. However, when Abu hears Ahmad telling the people of his plan to send Abu to school to train to become his new Grand Vizier, Abu flies away on the carpet to find fun and adventure. ===== Hipólita Díaz is a young woman who lives in Panama with her husband, Antonio, and her mother-in-law, Adelaida. Antonio suffered from sexual abuses when he was a child, so he isn't able to consummate his marriage. Adelaida wants to have a grandchild, as Antonio will not inherit the fortune of his uncle, Próspero, unless he sires a son. Luis Manrique y Arellano is a noble Mexican who came to Santa Rita to close a deal under orders from his cousin Diego, the Count of Guevara, without knowing that the trip was a pretext to have him killed. When Luis is captured by Adelaida's servants while fleeing from justice, she orders him to take Antonio's place in Hipólita's bed, or she'll turn him over to the authorities. So Luis goes to Hipólita's bedroom, intending to escape from a window. It's very dark, she awakes upon hearing him try to escape, she doesn't see him very well and she believes he is her husband. He makes love to her to keep her quiet, and then makes good his escape. But before he leaves, Hipólita discovers that this man isn't her husband, but an escaped prisoner. Luis departs, without Hipólita seeing his face or knowing his name – but Luis knows hers. She is furious with her mother-in-law for what she has done, but she can't change what happened. Some weeks later, Hipólta finds out that she is pregnant with Luis's child, so she decides to leave home with her maid, Adalgisa, and go to Mexico, where her family lives. There, she has her child, Rafael, and finds her mother and her sister, but they aren't very thrilled to see her. Hipólita was Asunción's illegitimate daughter, so she sent the girl to Panama to be raised by her grandmother, so that no one in Mexico could know that she had a daughter outside of wedlock. When Hipólita arrives in Mexico, she has to fight against her stepfather's hate and her mother's desperation when she finds out that there's another bastard in the family. Luis also lives in Mexico: he is a rich man, cousin of the count of Guevara, and there is much mystery about his relationship with his mother, Juana, who appears to hate her own son and support the count against him at every turn. Hipólita and Luis meet again and, although she doesn't recognize him, he recognizes her and he suspects that the child that Hipólita has with her is also his son. They don't get on very well initially, but later, they fall in love with each other. Luis feels that he has to tell her that he is her son's father, but he can't do this, because if he did, Hipólita would hate him. The eventual recognition of Rafael as Luis's son, the reason why Luis's mother detests him, and the plots of the Count of Guevara against Luis are played out against the background of Luis's and Hipólita's attempts to be together. ===== In a small Indiana town in the mid-1910s, the Winfield household – banker father George, his wife Alice, their grown tomboyish daughter Marjorie, their mischievous precocious trouble- making son Wesley, and their exasperated housekeeper Stella – have just moved into a larger house in a nicer neighborhood. No one but George is happy about the move, until Marjorie meets their new neighbor, William Sherman, home on a break from his studies at Indiana University. The two are immediately attracted to each other, which makes Margie change her focus from baseball to trying to become a proper young woman. Their resulting relationship is despite, or perhaps because of Bill's unconventional thoughts on life, including not believing in the institution of marriage, or believing in the role money plays in society. The road to a happy life between Margie and Bill is not only hindered by distance as Bill returns to school and Margie's attempts to learn feminine things, but also George's dislike of Bill because of their differing beliefs, the stuffy Hubert Wakely also trying to court Margie (he who is George's choice as an appropriate suitor for her), Wesley's continual meddling in his sister's life, and the onset of World War I. One of those issues may be overcome when Wesley receives a birthday gift from Aunt Martha that used to be his father old slingshot that he used to kill Aunt Martha's best hen. His father discovers the old slingshot after Wesley cracks a window with it, his father gets emotional after he sees it and everything is resolved in time for a happy ending. ===== David Goliath is an African-American sailor who deserts his ship when it arrives in Wales. He climbs onto the back of a freight train and meets Bert, who is work-shy and scoffs at David's determination to seek employment. The train arrives at a small, mining town and the two men briefly attempt to busk before being scolded by Mrs Parry for making unpleasant noise outside her shop. They stop outside a building where a male choir are rehearsing and David begins singing along. The choir conductor, Dick Parry, is determined to make David a member and offers to make him become a lodger at his house. Despite his wife, Mrs Parry, objecting to the idea, her protests are moot when their sons and daughters side with their father. Dick gets David a job as a miner to work along with him and his eldest son Emlyn, much to the racist objections of one of the workers, but Dick and David accidentally mine close to gas, causing a fire, in which many miners perish. Emlyn was not present at the site that morning and rushes into the mine as a rescuer; David carries Dick out of the fire but is unable to save him. A month later, Dick's choir appears at a competition but only David performs for Dick's memory. The mine has been closed since the disaster and the rest of the miners are forced to gather coal off the top of a spoil heap, but they are unable to receive the same amount of pay that the mine had made them and many have to accept social benefits. A year later, Mrs Parry is struggling with five children to care for and is visited by Mrs Owen—the mother of Emlyn's fiancée, Gwen—who snaps that Gwen is not allowed marry Emlyn because he cannot make enough money to look after her. Gwen later sneaks to the Parry house and tells Emlyn that she would marry him no matter his income, which gives Emlyn the idea to march to London and demand that the government reopens the mine. Emlyn takes David and two other miners and they walk to London, and arrive the day after Germany invaded Poland. The British government are too busy focusing on building up an army and reopen the mine to send the gatecrashers away. The team return to Wales and attempt to reopen the mine, but a large fire causes the mine to collapse and trap the team inside. Their candle flickers constantly, indicating the oxygen disappearing and David estimates they have an hour left until suffocation. One miner finds a weak rock and tries to break through with a pickaxe but he and David fail. Emlyn decides to leave the group to explode an exit through with dynamite, but, knowing that it could lead to another Parry's death, David sneaks away as the rest of their team pray and punches Emlyn unconscious, activating the dynamite and breaking through the rock. The other two miners wake up Emlyn, discovering David's lifeless body nearby and pray for David's soul, and the mine is reopened. The town sing in unison as the coal is transported through the mine. ===== Jim Dodge is a self-proclaimed "people person" and dreamer who is perceived as lazy and good for nothing. After being fired from numerous low-paying jobs, Jim is given the choice by his father, Bud Dodge, to either land a job at the local Target or be put on a bus to St. Louis. Jim is hired as night cleanup boy at Target. On his first shift at his new job, Jim is locked alone in the store by his boss, the head custodian, who leaves him there until his shift ends at 7 am. He encounters Josie McClellan, a stereotypical "spoiled rich girl" whom he has known all his life. Josie had spent the past several hours asleep in a dressing room after backing out of shoplifting some merchandise in a half- hearted attempt to run away from her abusive father, Roger Roy McClellan. Josie and Jim begin to connect with each other, realizing they are not so different. They begin to form a romantic relationship, and proceed to enjoy the freedom of having such a large store to themselves. Josie, having $52,000 in her purse, convinces Jim to run away with her to California as soon as they get out of the store in the morning. Meanwhile, Roger teams up with the town sheriff to search for his runaway daughter all night. Things become complicated when two incompetent crooks, Nestor Pyle and Gil Kinney, break in and hold the two hostage. Eventually, Josie seduces one of the crooks and convinces him to take her with them after robbing the store. While the criminals are loading stolen merchandise into their car, Josie jumps into the front seat and drives away, leaving the two men stranded in the parking lot. Meanwhile, in the building, Jim loads up a shotgun found in the head custodian's locker and tricks Nestor and Gil by luring them to the back of the store and holding them at gunpoint. In the morning, the sheriff arrives and stumbles upon the two crooks, having been tied up by Jim. Jim and Josie run away and we see them lounging next to a pool in Hollywood California. ===== The film briefly depicts Chappaqua, New York, a hamlet in Westchester County, in a few minutes of wintry panoramas. In the film, the hamlet is an overt symbol of drug-free suburban childhood innocence. It also serves as one of the film's many nods to Native American culture. The word "chappaqua" derives from the Wappinger (a nation of the Algonquian peoples) word for "laurel swamp". ===== The story tells of an unnamed young man who has a dream that he is in an old-fashioned movie theater in 1909. As he sits down to watch the film, he starts to realize that it is a motion picture documenting his parents' courtship. The black-and-white silent film is of very poor quality, and the camera is shaky, but nonetheless he is engrossed. Soon the young man starts to get upset. He yells things at the screen, trying to influence the outcome of his parents' courtship and the other people in the audience begin to think he is crazy. Several times the character breaks down. In the end he shouts at his parents when it appears they are going to break up, and he is dragged out of the theater by an usher who reprimands him. In the end, the character wakes up from his dream and notes that it is the snowy morning of his twenty-first birthday. ===== By the Light of the Silvery Moon relates the further adventures of the Winfield family in small town Indiana as daughter Marjorie Winfield's (Doris Day) boyfriend, William Sherman (Gordon MacRae), returns from the Army after World War I. Bill and Marjorie's on-again, off-again romance provides the backdrop for other family crises, caused mainly by son Wesley's (Billy Gray) wild imagination. ===== At the start of the novel, the main character, Jemmy (he changes his name several times over the course of the novel) is around age 10. The novel then proceeds to skip through time in the various sections of the book including his teenage and young adult years, ending when he is in his forties. At first, he lives in his birthplace, Spiral Town, at one end of the Road—no one there knows what lies beyond a short distance down the Road. Jemmy's adventures begin as a late adolescent when, in self-defense, he kills someone working for the merchants and is forced to flee Spiral Town. He winds up a distance down the road in a fishing community where he changes his name and appearance, and becomes a cook. He marries into the population. When a different caravan comes through town from Spiral Town, they arrange with the village elders to hire Jemmy as a chef. He proceeds on the caravan to the Neck, the isthmus which joins the peninsula to the mainland from which the caravans come. No locals, like Jemmy, are permitted on the mainland. At the Neck, Jemmy is told he must return to his town on the next caravan—the same one he fled Spiral Town from. He instead flees by sea. Taking refuge on a boat left over from the time of Landing, he floats around the peninsula to a point beyond the Neck. There, in a storm, he goes ashore and is found by prisoners at the Windfarm—sentenced prisoners who farm speckles. All speckles come from the area and are rendered infertile by irradiation; the monopoly is rigorously maintained. The others use clothing that Jemmy has salvaged to plot an escape, led by the violent Andrew. They break out and evade pursuit. Andrew has planned all along to kill Jemmy, but Jemmy literally gets the drop on him and kills him in self-defense. Jemmy leaves the other prisoners, taking money they have found and a supply of speckles, and flees once again. Twenty-seven years later, Jemmy is a pit chef at a beach resort along the Road. His wife is burned in an accident and he is forced to leave his place—a place, as it turns out, of hiding. He finally reaches his lifetime's goal of seeing the other end of the Road, and Destiny Town. There, he is able to access the Cavorites computer library and learn the true history of Destiny, a discovery which hardens him. After his wife dies from a freak drug interaction during her burn treatment, Jemmy takes his father-in-law's widow Harlow back to the site of the prisoners' hideout, where he had planted fertile speckles. They still survive, and he takes some, sharing the secret with Harlow. They then return to the beach resort, of which Jemmy, by his wife's death, is now part owner. The two contrive to join a caravan, and Jeremy returns as a merchant's chef, unknown to his former townsfolk, to Spiral Town. During the trip, Jemmy makes his attempt to break the speckles monopoly. All along the Road, he distributes gumdrop candy covered with dyed speckle seeds to children. Because the speckle seeds are no longer irradiated, they will grow after having passed through people's bodies, in manure piles and graveyards. The next time the merchants try to withhold speckles, they will be in for a surprise. ===== Illustration accompanying the French edition of the story, ca. 1843 The plot concerns the relationships of an aristocratic young woman named Maria Gavrilovna (Gavrilovna is a patronymic, not a surname) and the unusual coincidences that accompany them. The following is copied from the program notes by Ledbetter (see sources): :In 1811, a seventeen-year-old girl, Maria Gavrilovna, falls in love with a young officer, Vladimir Nikolayevich. Her parents disapprove of the relationship, which continues into the winter through correspondence. Finally they decide to elope, marry quickly, and then throw themselves at the feet of her parents to beg forgiveness (confident that a marriage entered into the Russian Orthodox Church would be regarded as eternal and unbreakable). :The plan was for Maria Gavrilovna to slip out in the middle of a winter's night and take a sleigh to a distant village church, where her love would meet her for the wedding. On the night in question, a blizzard was raging, but the girl managed to do all she had promised and to reach the church. Her lover, on the other hand, driving alone to the rendezvous, became lost in the dark and the storm, arriving at the church many hours late to find no one there. :The next morning, Masha was once more at home, but very ill. In a feverish delirium, she said enough to make it clear to her mother that she was hopelessly in love with the young officer. Her parents, deciding that this was a fated love, gave their permission for a wedding. But when they wrote to inform the officer of this fact, his reply was almost incoherent. He begged their forgiveness and insisted that his only hope was death. He rejoined the army (it was now the fatal year of 1812, when Napoleon made his famous attack on Russia), was wounded at the battle of Borodino, and died. :Meanwhile, Masha's father died, leaving her the richest young woman in her region. Suitors pressed for her hand, but she refused to accept anyone. She seemed to be living only for the memory of her lost love. :Finally, though, she made the acquaintance of a wounded colonel of the hussars, Burmin, who was visiting the estate near hers. Burmin was a handsome man who had once had a reputation as a notorious rake, but who was now both quiet and modest in his personality. The two developed a warm friendship, and it became very clear that he was so restrained that he never made any declaration of love or formal proposal to her. Masha purposely arranged a situation in which they would be able to talk freely with no one else near. Finally he breaks his silence: He loves her passionately but cannot hope for any happiness with her because he is already married, has been married for four years, to a woman whom he does not know and whom he cannot expect ever to see again. :To the astonished Masha, he explains that, in the winter of 1812, he was trying to rejoin his regiment, when a terrible blizzard came on. Riding in a troika with a guide, they became lost in unfamiliar country. Seeing a light in the distance, they drove toward it and found themselves at a village church where people were crying out "This way!" When he stopped at the church, he was told that the bride had fainted and that the priest did not know what to do. When they saw the young soldier, they asked him if he was ready to proceed. Burmin, the young rake, noticed the attractiveness of the bride and decided to play a prank by going through with the ceremony. The church was dark, lit only by a few candles, and everyone in it was little more than a shadow. When, at the end, he was told to kiss his bride, she realized that it was not her intended and fainted dead away. As the witnesses stared at him in horror, he raced out and drove off. :He explains to Masha that he was so thoroughly lost that he still does not know the name of the village where he was married, or who the bride might have been. As the tale ends, Maria Gavrilovna takes the hand of the man she has come to love and identifies herself as the long-lost bride.Ledbetter, Steven: Program Notes for concert by MIT Symphony Orchestra. 2005. ===== Joe Anton (Raft) is a speakeasy owner who falls in love with socialite Miss Healy (Cummings). He takes lessons in high-class mannerisms from Mabel Jellyman (Skipworth). Joe does not know that Miss Healy only pays attention to him because he lives in the elegant building that her family lost in the Wall Street Crash of 1929. After a risky encounter with his old flame Iris Dawn (Gibson) after which Miss Healy kisses him, Joe is ready to marry her, but she's engaged to her friend Mr. Bolton, although admitting she's just marrying him for his money. Joe decides to instead pursue Iris, just as Miss Healy begins to genuinely fall in love with him. Meanwhile, Maudie Triplett (West) befriends Mrs. Jellyman and offers to hire her as a hostess in one of her elegant beauty parlors. ===== While attending a friend's birthday party, Miranda Cotton meets the handsome Brendan Block. The two sleep together that night and begin a relationship. Ten days later, Miranda arrives home to find that Brendan has let himself in and gone through her belongings. She promptly ends the relationship, causing Brendan to storm out of her flat after verbally abusing her. A month later, Miranda is contacted by her sister Kerry, inviting her to meet her new boyfriend: Brendan Block. Miranda warns Brendan against hurting her sister, but he replies that he is genuinely in love with Kerry. As time passes, it becomes apparent to Miranda that Brendan is using his newfound engagement to her sister and increasingly close relationship with her family as a way of getting at her. Her family become close to Brendan; in particular her younger, bipolar brother Troy (Robert Daniel Lowe). When Troy commits suicide, Miranda's concerns about Brendan are strengthened. Brendan then dumps Kerry for her best friend, Laura, whom he marries. Three months later, Laura contacts Miranda, suggesting they talk. Miranda waits at a pub for her, but Brendan arrives and accuses her of meddling in his marriage. After an argument, Miranda goes to check on Laura and discovers her dead body. Brendan is suspected of killing his wife, but a prosecution is not made due to lack of evidence. Miranda becomes obsessed with proving Brendan's guilt. She tracks down Brendan, who is living with a new girlfriend named Naomi. Miranda attempts to warn Naomi about Brendan's violent nature, but she is thrown out by Brendan. He takes out an injunction on Miranda, accusing her of harassment. Receiving a call from Naomi shortly after, Miranda goes to the apartment not knowing it is a setup by Brendan in order to have her arrested. Naomi contacts Miranda from outside, telling her to leave, and Miranda narrowly escapes Brendan and the police. Naomi tells Miranda that Brendan became violent and she feared for her safety. After deciding that Naomi would be safe staying with Kerry, Miranda returns to her flat. That night, Brendan arrives and angrily searches for Naomi, to no avail. He says that Miranda pushed him into doing some things he wouldn't usually do before raping her. The next day, a colleague of Miranda's finds the flat in disarray, as well as blood and tape in the bathroom. Upon the conclusion that Miranda has been murdered, an investigation ensues with Brendan as the prime suspect. Naomi finds a set of bloodied keys in Brendan's suit pocket and hands it in to the police. Brendan is arrested for Miranda's murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. Six months later, Miranda's family receive three plane tickets from Naomi, asking them to come to Australia, where she now resides. When they arrive, they meet Naomi at the airport and see Miranda. A flashback explains that Miranda and Naomi planned to drug Brendan by slipping a pill into his glass the night he arrived at the flat. Naomi is shown drawing blood from Miranda, which Miranda then spreads around the bathroom after Brendan slips unconscious. She plants his fingerprints onto his set of keys which have been smeared with her blood. Then, posing as Laura, Miranda flees England to Australia to stay with Naomi's parents until Brendan is arrested. After putting Brendan away, Miranda pauses to think about her brother Troy, who is the only person missing at the table where she and her family are happily eating. ===== The U.S.S. Enterprise is headed to Starbase 12 for shore leave, supplies and repairs. Food is running low and the engines need servicing. A distress signal diverts the ship to a solar system on the outer edge of explored space. Upon hearing of the emergency mission, Dr. McCoy expresses his concern about the mental health of the crew to Kirk. In Dr. McCoy's opinion, the Enterprise has been on patrol for such a long period of time that the crew is in danger of developing a form of space madness known as cafard. Upon reaching the NGC 400 solar system, the Enterprise crew comes across three planets populated by different human settlers who had been unhappy with the social or political order of Earth. One planet has reverted to a Stone Age state, another has a mid-20th Century technology while the third maintains a level of technology capable of space travel and advanced weaponry. Kirk and crew must determine who sent a distress signal and the nature of the emergency. Along the way, they encounter a warrior society, a planet where drugs are used to control the general population and a culture consisting of an elite class with clones handling the day-to-day chores required by society. ===== Andrea (Virginia Madsen) is a teenage girl that has won a scholarship to Ettinger, a formerly all-male boarding school. She leaves behind her boyfriend Barry (James Wilder) in the hopes of scholastic achievement, but soon discovers that things are not as they seem at Ettinger. Andrea finds that her friends are slowly changing from regular teenagers into personality-less drones. Some investigation shows that the school's faculty has been harvesting life-sustaining chemicals from the student body, which results in them becoming seemingly perfect students that are only focused on doing well in school and obeying rules. Andrea is spared from this fate by one of her professors, Philo (Richard Cox), who takes pity on her due to her resemblance to a former lover. Along with her boyfriend, Andrea discovers that the staff uses classical music as a way of stabilizing the students. Philo gives her a tape to play over the loudspeaker system that he claims will stop the faculty and students from capturing her and turning her into a zombie, only for her to lose it while she is chased by the school's students. With nothing to lose, Barry plays a tape of rock music in its place, which accomplishes the desired task of stopping the students and saving their lives. ===== Zora Matthews, whose mother Sarah conceived her with the aid of an anonymous sperm donor, discovers that her father is a white man named Hal Jackson. This comes as a major shock to Sarah, who had explicitly requested a black donor. On top of that, Jackson is a loud, self-promoting car salesman, which clashes with Sarah's intellectualism. The film revolves around Zora and her mother's rocky relationship with Jackson. Jackson eventually comes to love his daughter and her mother. ===== Caught in the middle of a fierce gang war in Macao, a corrupt cop named Sam (Tony Leung Chiu-wai) handles negotiations between two Triad leaders who plan to join forces. He meets a suspicious bald man named Tony (Lau Ching-wan), who keeps following him around and disrupting his personal business. But when Sam finds out he's a suspect in a nightclub owner's murder, he's sure his stalker has something to do with it. ===== After returning home from White Castle, Harold Lee and Kumar Patel decide to travel to Amsterdam, Netherlands so Harold can surprise his neighbor and newfound girlfriend Maria. At the airport, Kumar argues with a TSA agent for searching him “because of the color of his skin” despite the agent being black. The duo encounter Kumar's ex-girlfriend Vanessa Fanning, who is engaged to Colton Graham, a college friend of Harold's whose family has political connections. The plane passengers mistake Kumar's bong for a bomb and the duo are apprehended by sky marshals. Ron Fox, a neurotic and extremely racist Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, believes the duo are agents of a joint Al-Qaeda and North Korean conspiracy and send them to Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba. After narrowly avoiding a sexual assault by a guard at the detention camp, Harold and Kumar escape and board a Cuban refugee boat to Miami, Florida where they begin their trek to Texas, hoping Colton can clear their names. Harold and Kumar endure several misadventures on their way to Texas, such as staying at the home of an incestuous sibling couple and their inbred son; escaping a Ku Klux Klan rally; and visiting a brothel with Neil Patrick Harris, who helps them evade capture from Fox but is shot. When they reach Texas, Colton agrees to help exonerate the duo. However, upon seeing Kumar reconnect with Vanessa, Colton instead delivers Harold and Kumar to Fox. On the flight back to Cuba, Harold and Kumar subdue Fox's men. When Fox tries confronting them, he is knocked out by Dr. John Beecher (the Vice Chairman of the NSA) after Fox repeatedly treated him poorly. Dr. Beecher accidentally loses his footing, opens a door and falls to his death. Harold and Kumar escape via parachute, and Fox falls to his death while pursuing them. Harold and Kumar land in President George W. Bush's estate. After smoking cannabis with Harold and Kumar, Bush pardons them. Harold and Kumar are escorted to Vanessa and Colton's wedding by the Secret Service. They then expose Colton's betrayal to Vanessa and the guests. Colton attempts to attack them, but Harold punches him out. Kumar consoles a furious Vanessa by reciting a poem he wrote for her in college; they reconcile. Harold, Kumar, and Vanessa travel to Amsterdam where Harold finds Maria, and the couples happily tour the city together while getting high on cannabis. ===== The story-line, like much of Michener's work, depicts a number of characters within family groups over a long time period, richly illustrating the history of the area through these families' timelines. It starts in 1583 with American Indian tribes warring, moves with English settlers through the 17th century (land appropriation, tobacco farming, indentured servitude, religious persecution, etc.), slavery, pirate attacks, the American Revolution and the Civil War, Emancipation and attempted assimilation, to the final major event being the Watergate scandal of 1972-1974. The last voyage, a funeral, is in 1978. ===== The novel is structured into nine sections. The first is named "Ruby" after the town on which the book centers. The rest are named for women implicated variously in the life of the town and the Convent. The Convent women are Mavis, Grace (known as "Gigi"), Seneca, Divine (whose name is actually "Pallas"), and Consolata (also known as "Connie"). The Ruby women – or children, in the case of Save-Marie – are Patricia and Lone. Though the chapters are named for specific characters, in telling their stories, Morrison tells the parallel histories of the town of Ruby and the Convent 17 miles south of it, and how the men of Ruby become intent on destroying the Convent women. Ruby Paradise opens in 1976 with nine men going in for the kill. They are the prominent men of Ruby, a purposefully isolated, peaceful all-black town in Oklahoma with a population of 360. In this group are the twins Steward and Deacon "Deek" Morgan, the de facto leaders of the town. Throughout the book we gradually learn why Ruby was founded, the history of the failed town of Haven that preceded it, and the reasons for Ruby's rigid hierarchies and stringent exclusion of outsiders, to the point where the town's leaders decide they must eliminate the nearby Convent which in fact is not a convent but rather a former embezzler's mansion now inhabited by a group of women with troubled pasts. Before Ruby, there was Haven. Founded in Oklahoma in 1890, Haven was founded by a group containing nine complete families (the Blackhorses, Beauchamps, Catos, two DuPres families, Fleetwoods, Floods, Morgans, and Pooles) and fragments of others. The founding fathers, led by Zechariah Morgan, are motivated to found a new community by the exclusion they face from public life and job opportunities, both as black men and particularly as dark-skinned black men. When they arrive in the place where they decide to situate their new town, they first built a large and sturdy Oven of brick and iron, even though they are living in wagons and sod shelters. The Oven both nourishes them and serves as a symbol of everything they have achieved. Haven flourishes for several decades but falters in the post World War II period. Returning from service, the twins Deacon and Steward Morgan perceive that not much has changed in the outside world since Haven was founded: there is still rampant colorism and anti-black discrimination. Preferring to renew the mission begun by their forefathers of self-sufficient isolation from the outside world, in 1949 they lead a group of 15 families out of Haven to establish a new all-black town. The men take the Oven with them when they leave Haven at the expense of other supplies, and painstakingly rebuild it when they arrive, although in the new town it serves principally a symbolic rather than practical purpose. Though called "New Haven" in the interim, it is eventually named "Ruby", after the younger sister of the Morgan twins who dies when she is repeatedly refused medical attention because of her race. The name of the town, therefore, belies the way in which it is founded out of the indignation of exclusion, and the inability of black men to “protect” black women in the outside world. The inhabitants are proud of the fact that Ruby has no jail or cemetery because it has never needed either; besides Ruby Smith herself and Delia Best, no one has ever died on its soil. Though there are 15 founding families of Ruby, we learn that there are hierarchies. Of the 15 there were nine considered racially pure, a number that has dwindled to seven. The Morgan twins are able to assume unchallenged power in the town because their father founded the bank, and they, therefore, have amassed the most money and property. Ruby becomes the inverse of the outside world: though whites are hated in an abstract way, light-skinned blacks are specifically discriminated against–if not, ideally, kept out altogether. Though for some of its residents Ruby is a reprieve from the race-based discrimination of the world “Out There,” it still has a strongly patriarchal structure. The town's strict racial codes have harmed some of its residents severely. Menus’ alcoholism, though publicly attributed to his experiences during the Vietnam War, seems to stem from the shame and despair he has felt ever since he abandoned the light-skinned woman he intended to marry. Likewise, the men of Ruby refuse to seek outside medical help in an emergency for Delia Best, Roger Best's light-skinned wife, causing her to die in childbirth in a tragic mirror of Ruby Smith's experience. At the point at which the book opens, there is great anxiety about Ruby's future. The town has seen increasingly open signs of division. Steward and Dovey Morgan have not been able to have children and Deek and Soane's sons die at war, leaving no Morgan heir to Ruby's leadership besides K.D. Smith, an often insolent young man who angers his uncles by spending time chasing after Gigi, one of the Convent women. The Reverend Richard Misner, a young upstart recently arrived in town, is deeply invested in the civil rights struggle, models himself after Martin Luther King, and believes Ruby needs to be more open to the changes afoot in the outside world; in turn, the older generations believe he is engendering radicalism and rebelliousness among the town's youth. The Oven has been taken over as a hangout spot for local youth, and one day it is graffitied with a Black Power fist with red-painted nails. The elder generations believe that the young do not understand or respect Ruby's history, encapsulated in their desire to modify the slogan that appears on the Oven: though it now says only "… the Furrow of his Brow", the town elders claim it used to say "Beware" at the beginning, whereas the younger generation wishes to make it "Be the Furrow of his Brow". Finally, the town is scandalized when the Convent women make a rowdy appearance at K.D. and Arnette's wedding, a wedding partly intended to ease the conflict between the Morgan and Fleetwood families and to conceal Arnette's earlier aborted pregnancy by K.D. Eventually, after a series of selectively interpreted "signs", and based on the perception that the Convent is corrupting the town with its amorality and purported witchcraft, Sergeant Person, Wisdom Poole, Arnold and Jeff Fleetwood, Harper and Menus Jury, Steward and Deacon Morgan, and K.D. Smith decide during a meeting at the Oven to destroy the Convent. The Convent The Convent is an elaborate mansion built by an embezzler in an isolated part of Oklahoma. Its architecture reflects both its creator's hedonism and his paranoia: shaped like the cartridge of a gun, it is windowless in one end. The paranoia is justified because the embezzler lives only briefly in the mansion before he is arrested by Northern lawmen. The mansion then falls into the hands of some Catholic nuns, the presence of which is an anomaly in the principally Protestant Oklahoma. The property becomes widely known as ‘the Convent’ although it serves principally as a boarding school for Indian girls where they are educated to forget their culture. The Mother Superior Mary Magna is the administrator of the school and is faithfully served by Consolata, a woman she kidnapped when the latter was an orphan living in destitution. During this period, the families from Haven have settled into the area 17 miles south of the Convent. There is not much interaction between the Convent and the town, though Mary Magna is glad to have a pharmacy close by. On one trip into Ruby, Consolata spots Deacon "Deek" Steward, with whom she has a two-month affair that ends when she repulses him with the carnal intensity of her desire. When the foundation that funds the school begins to run out of money, the nuns are gradually reassigned or moved on to other posts, and the last two Indian girls run away. However, Mary Magna, Sister Roberta, and Consolata remain behind. In order to maintain the Convent and avoid incurring debt, the women begin a burgeoning business from things they produce on their property; in addition to their renowned extra-hot peppers, they also sell relishes, barbecue sauce, pies, and eggs. Eventually, Sister Roberta moves into a nursing home and Consolata dedicates herself to the care of Mary Magna, who falls into a long illness. It is around this time that women begin to arrive at the Convent. They arrive by accident, in flight from fraught lives (abusive husbands and dead babies; parental betrayal or neglect; abandonment by lovers and violent pasts), but one by one they seem drawn into staying permanently. The first is Mavis; Gigi, Seneca, and Pallas then follow. They do not all get along – Mavis and Gigi in particular often clash. However, they seem to find in the Convent an escape from troubled circumstances (often related to men) where they are listened to and cared for without judgment. Though they may leave from time to time, the women always return. In the same way, during this stage of the Convent's history, women of Ruby – as well as one man, Menus – come to the Convent in times of need. The problems and compulsions that the elder statesmen of Ruby would prefer to sweep under the rug seem inevitably to end up at the Convent. Soane, Deek's wife, comes to confront Connie about her affair and ends up becoming her friend, from whom she later receives "tonics" that help ease her mind in the aftermath of her sons’ deaths at war. Arnette becomes pregnant by K.D. and stays at the Convent to carry the pregnancy to term, though she tries and succeeds in inducing an abortion by self-harm (Ruby residents speculate that the Convent women beat her and caused her to lose the baby, a lie that Arnette encourages). Billie Delia stays at the Convent after a violent fight with her mother, who believes, like the rest of the town, that she is wild and promiscuous. K.D. carries on a two-year affair with Gigi, who leaves him, solidifying his hatred of the Convent. The women of the Convent care for Menus as he recovers from alcoholism. Throughout the novel, the women of the Convent provide a safe haven for all those who come to its doorstep. However, the Convent is widely perceived as a corrupting influence in Ruby, the source of their problems rather than where problems must go because of Ruby's intolerant atmosphere. Instead of considering the roots of the conflicts in Ruby (such as the unspoken prejudice against light-skinned blacks, borne of the rejection the original families experienced on their journey to found Haven; or the yearning of the young people to be part of the larger world and participate in the civil rights movement), community leaders decide that the Convent must be destroyed. Under their rhetoric, the men of Ruby are both frightened and disgusted by the idea of women who do not need – and, in fact, actually, shun – men. They also have various selfish motivations behind their moral crusade: Sargeant Person, for example, would no longer have to pay to lease farmland from the Convent. The men solidify their plot against the women one evening at the Convent. Lone DuPres overhears the men and rushes to find someone to help her stop them because she cares about the Convent women but also because their behavior may unwittingly destroy Ruby. A group of nine men – a number mirroring the original, racially pure families that founded Ruby – venture to the Convent under cover of darkness with guns, shooting the women on sight. Some of the women fight back, injuring Arnold, Jeff Fleetwood, Harper Jury, and Menus, but eventually, the men shoot them down in the field as they escape. In the middle of this chaos, Lone and the willing townspeople she has assembled arrive at the Convent. Under censure none of the men claims responsibility or intent to kill; everyone fears the white law they presume will be involved now that they have killed a white woman. However, Deek Steward speaks up to acknowledge culpability, signaling a break with his twin brother Steward, with whom he has agreed on everything for decades. However, when Roger Best arrives to bury the bodies, he finds nothing. Mavis’ Cadillac is also gone. From this, many in Ruby conclude that the women somehow survived and drove away. Lone, however, believes that it is a sign from God, who has taken the bodies of his servants to Heaven whole, in the manner of Mary at the Assumption. The town carries on, relieved that the absence of bodies spares them the attention of white law enforcement. Each man involved tells a different story of what happened. If not for Luther Beauchamp, Pious DuPres, and Deed and Aaron Sands, who corroborate Lone's version, the town might even have proceeded as though it never happened. However, Lone observes that though the bodies themselves might have disappeared, the ramifications of the attack are evident in the town. Menus succumbs to his renewed alcoholism. Deek is unusually troubled and goes to the Reverend Richard Misner for spiritual assistance. K.D. and Arnette continue to build their family and look forward to assuming a position in town where they can make life difficult for K.D.'s critics. Most of all, there is a sensation that the deal brokered by Ruby’s founders with God is broken and that death has finally arrived in town: the last chapter takes place at the funeral of Save-Marie, one of Jeff and Sweetie Fleetwood’s disabled children. The town remains divided, but Richard Misner decides to stay, in part because he feels he can be useful in this flawed town where change and forces of the outside world must inevitably arrive. Paradise closes with a passage about each of the Convent women. Gigi, Pallas, Mavis, and Seneca appear suddenly and surprisingly to figures from their past, each of whom expresses regret and sadness. Gigi’s father, whom we discover for the first time and learn has been in prison since Gigi was eleven, spots her by a lake and encourages her to stay in touch with him. Pallas’ mother, Dee Dee, believes she spots Pallas with a baby near her house, but is unable to speak coherently to flag her attention. Sally Albright, whom we know as Sal from the “Mavis” chapter, spots her mother in a diner, and the two women apologize to each other. Jean, the woman Seneca believed was her sister, is revealed to be her mother. Jean believes she spots Seneca in a stadium parking lot, but Seneca does not remember her. Connie rests her head in the lap of an older woman from her past, Piedade, who sings to her as they face the ocean in a place called "Paradise". Morrison has said in an interview on PBS that she started with race ("They shoot the white girl. . . ") and then erased it by never revealing who the white girl is. ===== A walk in the Black Forest for twins Jacob and Erin turns into an adventure through time when they meet Shadow, a red fox with an unusual set of talents. They are welcomed to his underground laboratory, Hora Cella, and witness the power of Nikola Tesla's time travel device, the Wall of Light. On their first journey through the Wall of Light, they travel to Boston in 1775, to help Paul Revere and the Sons of Liberty spread the word that British Redcoats are on the march. Shadow has discovered seven gaps in the story of Paul Revere's midnight ride. If those gaps are not filled, the American Revolution may never be fought, and liberty as we know it will cease to exist. Travel through time with them and follow Paul Revere, William Dawes, and Samuel Prescott, ordinary men who choose to act for the cause of liberty. Meet Dr. Joseph Warren, one of the leaders of the Sons of Liberty, as he sets the famous ride in motion. Watch Robert Newman and John Pulling as they attempt to place signal lanterns in the steeple of the Old North Church. But, look out for Pratt! If he has his way, you could become trapped in a time when King George III rules, and there is no liberty and justice for all. ===== In the play's opening, the ghost of Polydorus tells how when the war threatened Troy, he was sent to King Polymestor of Thrace for safekeeping, with gifts of gold and jewelry. But when Troy lost the war, Polymestor treacherously murdered Polydorus, and seized the treasure. Polydorus has foreknowledge of many of the play's events and haunted his mother's dreams the night before. The events take place on the coast of Thrace, as the Greek navy returns home from Troy. The Trojan queen Hecuba, now enslaved by the Greeks, mourns her great losses and worries about the portents of her nightmare. The Chorus of young slave women enters, bearing fateful news. One of Hecuba's last remaining daughters, Polyxena, is to be killed on the tomb of Achilles as a blood sacrifice to his honor (reflecting the sacrifice of Iphigenia at the start of the war). Greek commander Odysseus enters, to escort Polyxena to an altar where Neoptolemus will shed her blood. Odysseus ignores Hecuba's impassioned pleas to spare Polyxena, and Polyxena herself says she would rather die than live as a slave. In the first Choral interlude, the Chorus lament their own doomed fate, cursing the sea breeze that will carry them on ships to the foreign lands where they will live in slavery. The Greek messenger Talthybius arrives, tells a stirring account of Polyxena's strikingly heroic death, and delivers a message from Agamemnon, chief of the Greek army, to bury Polyxena. Hecuba sends a slave girl to fetch water from the sea to bathe her daughter's corpse. After a second Choral interlude, the body of Polydorus is brought on stage, having washed up on shore. Upon recognizing her son whom she thought safe, Hecuba reaches new heights of despair. Hecuba rages inconsolably against the brutality of such an action, and resolves to take revenge. Agamemnon enters, and Hecuba, tentatively at first and then boldly requests that Agamemnon help her avenge her son's murder. Hecuba's daughter Cassandra is a concubine of Agamemnon so the two have some relationship to protect and Agamemnon listens. Agamemnon reluctantly agrees, as the Greeks await a favorable wind to sail home. The Greek army considers Polymestor an ally and Agamemnon does not wish to be observed helping Hecuba against him. Polymestor arrives with his sons. He inquires about Hecuba's welfare, with a pretense of friendliness. Hecuba reciprocates, concealing her knowledge of the murder of Polydorus. Hecuba tells Polymestor she knows where the remaining treasures of Troy are hidden, and offers to tell him the secrets, to be passed on to Polydorus. Polymestor listens intently. Hecuba convinces him and his sons to enter an offstage tent where she claims to have more personal treasures. Enlisting help from other slaves, Hecuba kills Polymestor's sons and stabs Polymestor's eyes. He re-enters blinded and savage, hunting as if a beast for the women who ruined him. Agamemnon re-enters angry with the uproar and witnesses Hecuba's revenge. Polymestor argues that Hecuba's revenge was a vile act, whereas his murder of Polydorus was intended to preserve the Greek victory and dispatch a young Trojan, a potential enemy of the Greeks. The arguments take the form of a trial, and Hecuba delivers a rebuttal exposing Polymestor's speech as sophistry. Agamemnon decides justice has been served by Hecuba's revenge. Polymestor, again in a rage, foretells the deaths of Hecuba by drowning and Agamemnon by his wife Clytemnestra, who also kills Cassandra. Soon after, the wind finally rises again, the Greeks will sail, and the Chorus goes to an unknown, dark fate. The plot falls into two clearly distinguished parts: the Greeks' sacrifice of Hecuba's daughter, Polyxena, to the shade of Achilles, and the vengeance of Hecuba on Polymestor, the Thracian king. ===== The story opens with a phone ringing in Lee's apartment somewhere in New York. Sitting beside Lee is a young, blue-eyed woman. The two of them had been sitting and smoking together when Arthur calls, a colleague of his, drunkenly concerned with where his wife is. Arthur later refers to his wife by her name, Joanie. All of whom had just attended a party just hours previously before the phone call occurs. Arthur goes through a scatter of out- loud thought and questions addressed to Lee, accompanied with a roller-coaster of emotions. Arthur's main concern is the whereabouts of his wife, even though he appears to regret his marriage to her. He later expresses a concern with his job at the law firm. Lee attempts at talking some sense into Arthur throughout the conversation, while Arthur continuously interrupts him. All the while Lee is on the phone, the girl he's accompanied by is smoking and exchanging looks with him. Lee tries to reassure Arthur that his wife will probably arrive at any minute and that he should try to pull himself together before she walks in. Although neither the narrator nor the three characters explicitly confirm this, the girl Lee is with is implied to be Arthur's wife, Joanie. This connection isn't drawn until Arthur refers to Joanie's eyes as seashells. The phone call eventually tails off with Lee convincing Arthur to get some rest. The young woman and Lee exchange a few words and continue to smoke when they're interrupted again by another phone call. It's Arthur again, letting Lee know that Joanie just walked in and that everything's alright. Arthur talks a little while longer explaining how he'd like to move to Connecticut with Joanie and practically contradicts everything he had just said in the previous phone call. Lee interrupts Arthur and explains that he has to go due to a headache with unexplained origins. Lee hangs up and the conversation ends abruptly, and in this way so does the story. ===== This is a novel about a woman, Delia Grinstead, who finds her own self-identity and battles with familial relationships. As a spontaneous act of deep sadness and anger, she walks out on her family during a beach vacation. Not only does she put herself in a dire financial situation, she also places herself in a psychologically damaging situation with her family and husband. The narrative follows her as she deals with entering the workforce and considering what is most important in her life. As she deals with these issues, she comes to terms with herself. Cathleen Schine, in her 1995 review in The New York Times, analyzes Delia—and the dilemma Tyler has created for her—in this manner: "If the reader is never quite sure why Delia deserts her life, neither is Delia herself. All she can say to explain herself when her family finally tracks her down is, 'I'm here because I just like the thought of beginning again from scratch.' [She] strips herself bare and exiles herself in the scrappy little town of Bay Borough, and it is she who tests the love of her family, she who waits for a declaration. The novel examines marriage—there are all sorts of marriages Delia comes across in her adventures, good and bad—as well as aging and independence, but finally it is a book about choice. All those years ago, Sam chose Delia, the youngest sister, the one on the right. But whom did Delia choose? Pulled yet repelled by her past, by her complicated and idiosyncratic family, and lured by a new town with a new complicated and idiosyncratic family, what will Delia choose now?"Schine, Cathleen (May 7, 1995) “New Life for Old,” New York Times. ===== This novel tells the story of an ordinary young Bengali man, Shankar Roy Chaudhary, as he adventures in Africa in the years 1909 and 1910. After graduating from college at 20-years-old, his family's financial struggles almost force him take a job in a jute mill in Shyamnagar — a prospect he absolutely loathes. Shankar loves the subject of geography, he wants to follow the footsteps of renowned explorers like Livingstone, Mungo Park, and Marco Polo. He wants to explore the wilderness, passionate for learning about African forests and animals. By a stroke of luck, he gets a job as a clerk at the Uganda Railway and rushes to Africa without a second thought. After a few months laying rail tracks, he encounters the first of many dangers in pre-World War I Africa: a man-eating lion. Later, he takes up a job as station-master in a desolate station amidst the Veldts, where he narrowly escapes a deadly black mamba. While at this post, Shankar encounters, rescues and nurses Diego Alvarez, a middle-age Portuguese explorer and gold/diamond prospector. Alvarez's arrival becomes a turning point in Shankar's life. While recovering, Alvarez describes his exploits in Africa with his friend Jim Carter. He explains that, lured by the prospect of a priceless yellow diamond from a Kaafi village chief, Alvarez and Carter searched for these yellow diamond caves, on the Mountain of the Moon (Chander Pahar) in the Richtersveld. Rumors suggested a mythical monster, the Bunyip, guards the mine. The explorers set off into the dense jungle, much against the villagers' advice, and Carter was gruesomely killed, supposedly by the Bunyip. Shankar, inspired by Alvarez's exploits, resigns from his job and accompanies Alvarez to venture again for the mines. They meet hardships, like a racist gambler, legends about Dingonek the monster and later, a raging volcano. Eventually, they get lost in the forests where Alvarez is killed by the Bunyip. Demoralised, Shankar tries to return to civilization. He finds the Bunyip's cave and the diamond mines by accident. Almost getting lost, he finds the remains of the Italian explorer, Attilio Gatti, and learns that the cave is in fact the diamond mine. Leaving, he becomes lost in the deserts of Kalahari and nearly dies of thirst. Fortunately, he is rescued by a survey team and taken to a hospital in Salisbury, Rhodesia, from where he sets sail for home. Before going back, he writes his account in a newspaper, earning him money. He names the volcano after Alvarez. He ends the book saying that he will return to the cave one day with a large team, and continue the legacy of Alvarez, Carter, and Gatti. ===== Shhhhh! Everybody's Sleeping is a bedtime story that discusses fictional bedtimes for people of different professions (farmer, baker, etc.). ===== Vasu (Ajith Kumar) is a ruthless hooligan who lives in a cinema theater owned by Aarumugam (Vinu Chakravarthy). He had a tortured childhood and wastes his days by drinking, fighting, and sleeping. It all starts when Vasu's friend, Thilak (Dhamu) loses an Annaamalai movie reel to Mohana (Shalini). Vasu and Mohana clash when he attempts to retrieve the reel. Mohana's family are members of the police, headed by Birla Bose (Nassar), Mohana's father. At this point, Tulasi Das (Raghuvaran), an ex-mafia "dada" who spent many years in jail because of Bose, comes to the theater. He does not like Bose and hires Vasu to kidnap Mohana. Vasu later cries out his woes in the song "Satham Illatha." Mohana falls in love with Vasu after hearing his pain. When Tulasi realizes that Mohana loves Vasu, he hires Vasu to pretend that he loves her back. At first it is just pretend, but then he too begins to love her. Tulasi visits Bose to inform him of his daughter's love for a gangster and realizes that Mohana is indeed his daughter. A flashback showing the parted friendship between the two men, and Ganga (Raadhika), Tulasi's wife, abandons him and their child when she comes to know that her husband is a don. Knowing that Mohana is his daughter, Tulasi instructs Vasu to give up his love. When Vasu refuses, Tulasi visits Mohana and tells her about his ploy and that Vasu's love for her was fake. Eventually, Vasu proves to Mohana that his love was true and unites with her after a clash between the cops and some goons of the locality. ===== The film, which claims to be a true story, details the existence of the "Fouke Monster", a seven-foot-tall Bigfoot-like creature that has reportedly been seen by residents of a small Arkansas community since the 1940s. It is described as being completely covered in reddish-brown hair, leaving three-toed tracks and having a foul odor. Several locals from the small town of Fouke, Arkansas recall their stories, often appearing as themselves, claiming that the creature has killed many large animals over the years. One farmer claims that the beast carried off two of his 200 lb. hogs with little effort, leaping a fence with the animals tucked under its arm. In one scene, a kitten is shown as having been "scared to death" by the creature. The narrator informs the audience that, while people have shot at the creature in the past, it has always managed to escape. In another sequence, hunters attempt to pursue the creature with dogs, but the dogs refuse to give chase. A police constable states that while driving home one night, the creature suddenly ran across the road in front of his car. In a later sequence, culled from the actual newspaper accounts inspiring the film, the creature is shown menacing a family in a remote country house. After being fired upon, the creature attacks, sending one family member to the hospital. The creature was never captured and is said to still stalk the swamps of southern Arkansas to this day. ===== The story starts with a child, the narrator, suddenly waking up from sleep and finding that the handkerchief they had placed just beside them before sleeping has turned into a cat. They start talking to the cat, who speaks nonsensically about a handkerchief and a semicolon before disappearing over the hedge. The cat tells him to go find Kakeshwar, in a series of calculations that eventually tell him that he is in a tree. The child finds Kakeshwar doing mathematical calculations on a slate, that appears very unusual to the narrator. This includes division that is purely illogical and fallacious. After arguing over math, a goat appears and narrates his life about eating paper and other artificial things. Hijibijbij appears and laughs hysterically at improbable situations and keeps changing his mind about the names of his family members. Then many animals appear, and confusion results. The child wakes up from their odd dream and finds the cat, which does not talk. ===== Magic Knight is transported to a castle with a collection of other characters and must rescue his friend Gimbal the wizard. Gimbal has become trapped by a self-inflicted "white-out" spell whilst trying to create a better-tasting rice pudding. Magic Knight must rescue Gimbal from his self- inflicted imprisonment and then ensure both she and the castle's other inhabitants are all returned to their correct time and place. ===== Jack Mason is a homeless man from Seattle, Washington who loses his only friends—Hank, a fellow homeless man and his pet dog—on the same day. Dejected, Mason attempts to commit suicide when a soup kitchen worker, Walter Cole, saves him. Cole refers him to businessman Thomas Burns, who kindly offers Mason a job as a hunting guide. Despite his misgivings, the lure of a well paying job causes Mason to accept. Flying to a remote cabin surrounded by hundreds of acres of woods, Mason meets the rest of the hunting party, all of whom paid $50,000 for the privilege of being there. In addition to Burns and Cole, the party includes Doc Hawkins, the founder of the hunt and a psychopathic psychiatrist who specializes in psychological assessments, Texas "oil man" John Griffin, and wealthy executive Derek Wolfe Sr. and his son Derek Wolfe Jr., the latter of whom is at first unaware of the true purposes of the hunt. On the first night, all the men are eating a nice dinner and engaging in conversation. Mason receives a pack of cigarettes from Hawkins and learns a little about his past. Hawkins relays a brutal story from his childhood when his father forced him to train and then fight his dog as a lesson in being a man. The following morning, Mason is awakened with a gun in his face by Cole, who explains that the men are not hunting any animals, but rather Mason himself. Mason is given a head start with only the time it takes the others to eat breakfast. Mason quickly flees the area, but comes to a realization and turns back. The hunters finish their meal and set off after him. Wolfe Jr. is horrified at the thought of killing a man, but is pushed into it by his father. The hunters race off into the forest, but by now Mason has returned to the cabin in search of weapons. He finds none, and instead makes the disgusting discovery of the hunters' trophy room behind a locked door: the preserved heads of the victims of previous hunts. Mason decides to burn the cabin down using chemicals found outside the cabin. The hunters quickly assume Mason's return to the cabin and go back. Wolfe Sr. enters just as Mason lights up the cabin and engages in a fist fight with Hawkins out back, away from the others. Hawkins is knocked back into the cabin as the preserving agent explodes, killing him in the inferno. Wolfe Jr. saves his father, and spots Mason fleeing in the process. The hunt resumes and Mason begins to use his wits to beat the hunters, luring them with falsely-planted lit cigarettes to lead them in the wrong way. Mason manages to lure Griffin away from the others, and takes him hostage. Over the night, Mason learns why Griffin is taking part in the hunt. Years earlier, his daughter was murdered by a homeless man and he's venting his rage, which was enhanced earlier when he asked Mason what happened to his family and Mason sarcastically snarled "I killed them." Mason then reveals that he didn't kill his family, that they died in an apartment fire that he couldn't rescue them from, and Griffin realizes that Mason's comment earlier means that Mason blames himself for the tragedy even though it wasn't his fault. This leads Griffin to have a change of heart in the morning. Upon rescuing him, Griffin reveals his decision to not continue the hunting, but is murdered by Cole to prevent any future legal conflicts. By now, with their numbers dwindling, the remaining hunters seem more intent on killing Mason. Mason sabotages one of their ATVs, causing it to explode. The explosion rips off most of Cole's lower body, mortally wounding him. Burns then uses his fingers to apply pressure to Cole's jugulars in order to kill him and spare him from the pain. As they pursue Mason, Wolfe Jr. is killed by accident when he falls in a ravine, and Wolfe Sr. vows revenge in a fit of rage. The second night sees Wolfe Sr. and Mason fighting one on one with Mason the victor and Burns escaping to the city, knowing that Mason will most likely be searching for him. Days later, Burns is back in Seattle, preparing to leave his current identity, hoping to escape both Mason and the legal responsibilities resulting from the disastrous hunt. But Mason has escaped the forest, returned to the city, and tracked him down. A fight ensues where Mason beats up Burns and takes his gun, but instead of shooting the evil man Mason just leaves the gun and walks away. Burns picks up the gun, thinking Mason screwed up and prepares to shoot him. What he doesn't realize is Mason used a tip from his late friend Hank and messed with the barrel on Burns' gun; when Burns tries to kill Mason, the gun backfires and kills Burns instead. ===== A suspicious Mrs. Chamberlain (Susan Seaforth Hayes) hires a private detective to spy on her husband. When she receives the confirmation later that night that her husband is with another woman, she proceeds to location. While she is on the way, Lance Harper (Randall England) murders the wealthy woman's husband, Jack Chamberlain (Jeremy Slate), who Harper was in various trouble with at the time. The body is stored in the trunk of his Porsche. Upon the arrival of Chamberlain's wife, who came to take back the Porsche, Harper disappears into the night, as Mrs. Chamberlain drives away, not knowing her cheating husband has been murdered and is in under the hood of the car she is driving. College student Barry Davis (Corey Haim) is doing his rounds as a piano tuner for his parents' business while they are on vacation, when his dreams of fast cars become a reality as he is given a silver Porsche turbo for free by Mrs. Chamberlain who wants to get even with her cheating husband, whom she had originally purchased it for. Davis, who cannot believe his luck, does not realise that Jack Chamberlain's corpse is under the hood of his dream car. While Davis is evading fraternity boys and pursuing his dream girl, he becomes mixed up in the homicide as Lance Harper tracks him down by phoning every 'Barry Davis' in the phone book and asking 'Is this Barry Davis the piano tuner?'. Harper homes in on him and a fight ensues in the Davis household. Barry eventually overpowers Lance and he is arrested. In the end he keeps the car, gets the girl and has a neat blonde haircut. ===== Doctor Leonard McCoy (erroneously nicknamed "Doc" instead of "Bones" throughout, which Blish blamed an editor in one of his subsequent adaptation collections) and Engineer Montgomery Scott discuss McCoy's fear of the transporter. McCoy posits that an original person is killed upon dematerialization, and a duplicate is created at the destination. Scotty explains that the technology does not destroy the original object but causes every single particle to undergo a "Dirac jump" to its new location, and that converting a human-sized mass to energy would blow up the ship. McCoy is not convinced, and he wonders what happens to the soul in a transporter beam. The conversation is interrupted by the news that the Organians appear to have been destroyed by the Klingon Empire. The Organians had been enforcing a peace treaty between the Empire and the Federation, and the planet's disappearance is a threat to the peace. As the Enterprise is a long way from Organia, Scotty develops an modification of the transporter that uses tachyons to create a copy of a crewman that could be transported to Organia long before the ship can reach the planet. Spock is chosen, but a permanent duplicate is created unexpectedly upon transport, as something at or on Organia has functioned as a perfect, impenetrable, mirror for the tachyon transporter beam. The crew is unable to distinguish between the two Spocks. Kirk arbitrarily designates one as "Spock One" and the other as "Spock Two". Spock Two soon argues that the duplicate will be operating on a pro-Klingon agenda, since, being physically reversed, he is also ethically reversed as well, and he states that the duplicate must therefore be killed, "even if it is I". After faking a mental breakdown and barricading himself in sick bay, Spock One escapes in a stolen shuttlecraft which he has adapted to warp drive. This offers strong evidence that he is the duplicate and traitor. The crew find corroboration of this when they discover that Spock One used the Enterprise's science facilities to manufacture chirality-reversed amino acids. He had undergone a total left-to-right inversion down to the atomic lever during his creation. To survive, he had to infuse the inverse forms of amino acids into his diet. McCoy explains that such a meagre diet would have induced deficiency diseases in a human, but that a Vulcan is able to endure it indefinitely. The Enterprise receives communiques indicating that the war is going badly for the Federation. Upon arriving at Organia, the crew are affected by a powerful mental disturbance centered on the planet. Kirk, Scotty and Spock transport to the surface, but Kirk identifies the Spock with him as the duplicate Spock (Spock One). Realizing the danger to Kirk and Scotty, via their psychic link, Spock Two transports to the planet and kills his duplicate. The landing party discover that the Organians are not dead, but imprisoned. A weapon deployed by the Klingons has restrained their mental abilities, preventing them from expressing their thoughts. As thought- creatures, the restraint will ultimately destroy them if it is not disabled. Scotty is able to disable the weapon and the thought screen surrounding the planet, freeing the Organians. In retaliation, the Klingon race is confined to their homeworld, and the Klingon commander, Koloth, is trapped in a bubble of asymptotically slowing time, unaware of his fate. The Enterprise continues on its five-year mission of exploration. ===== Bobby Keller (Corey Feldman) is a slacker high school student who, while running through a short cut through a backyard in his neighborhood one night, collides with Lainie Diamond (Meredith Salenger), over whom Bobby has recently been obsessing. During the collision, elderly professor Coleman Ettinger (Jason Robards) is performing a meditation exercise in the yard with his wife Gena (Piper Laurie), theorizing that if he and his wife can enter a meditative alpha state together voluntarily, they will be able to live together forever. However, just as the Ettingers are on the verge of completing their meditation experiment, the teenagers' collision renders both teens unconscious, enacting a type of body switch between the four characters. Bobby wakes up in his bedroom to find his best friend Dinger (Corey Haim) and his parents asking him if he's okay, but "Bobby" has no idea who these people are because he is actually Coleman trapped in Bobby Keller's body. Coleman leaves the house to find his wife but returns when he cannot find her or make any sense of the situation. On his return to Bobby's home, Coleman plays up the role of Bobby for his family and friend, just wanting to go to sleep to see if the alpha state he attains in dreams will give him any clue to what has gone wrong with the experiment. In his dream, Coleman is greeted by the real Bobby, who appears to be trapped in a dream partially generated by Coleman's own subconscious. Coleman discovers that Gena, skeptical of her husband's "dream state" theory from the beginning, is also trapped in the dream but is unable to communicate with him because part of her mind has been transferred to Lainie's body. Bobby informs Coleman that he has very little time to prevent what's left of his wife from forgetting about him and becoming lost in the dream forever. Bobby claims to know the secret to switch them all back, yet is reluctant to help Coleman do so, finding the dream-world he now inhabits to be more satisfying than the physical world in which he existed as a troubled teen. Coleman realizes he only has a few days (while pretending to be Bobby) to overcome generation gaps, high-school bullies, Lainie's violent and unstable boyfriend Joel, and Lainie's bitter and manipulative divorced mother in order to improve Bobby's grades, love-life, relationships with his family and friends, and connect with Lainie (who is not particularly fond of Bobby) enough to convince her to recreate the meditation experiment that might save his beloved wife. ===== Marcus is an Army Reserve Colonel in the Judge Advocate General's Corps, who was recently released from active duty and is now working in New York City. He is approached by a Haganah agent, Major Safir, who requests his assistance in preparing Israeli troops to defend the newly declared State against an invasion by its Arab neighbors. Marcus is refused permission by the Pentagon to go, unless he travels as a civilian. The Haganah gives him a false passport with the alias "Michael Stone". As "Michael Stone", he arrives in Israel to be met by a Haganah member, Magda Simon. Marcus, who parachuted into occupied France during World War II and helped to organize the relief mission for one of the first Nazi concentration camps liberated by American troops, is initially viewed with suspicion by some Haganah soldiers. But after he leads a commando raid on an Arab arms dump and assists in a landing of illegal refugees, he is more accepted. After preparing training manuals for the troops, he returns to New York, where his wife has suffered a miscarriage. Now, restless and, despite his wife's pleadings, he does return to Israel and is given command of the Jerusalem front with the rank of 'Aluf' (General), a rank not used since biblical days. He sets to work, recognising that, while the men under his command do not have proper training or weapons or even a system of ranks, they do have spirit and determination. He organises the construction of the "Burma Road", bypassing Latrun, to enable convoys to reach besieged Jerusalem, where the population is on the verge of starvation. Many of the soldiers under his command are newly arrived in Israel, determined and enthusiastic but untrained. Dubbing them 'the schnooks', Marcus is inspired by them to discover that he is proud to be a Jew. But, just before the convoy of trucks to Jerusalem starts out, he is shot and killed by a lone sentry who does not speak English - the last casualty before the United Nations impose a truce. The coffin containing his body is carried by an honor guard of the soldiers he trained and inspired. ===== Abraxas (Jesse Ventura) and Secundus (Sven- Ole Thorsen), are intergalactic police officers, or Finders, from a planet called Sargacia. Their race is physically similar to humans but with an expanded lifespan; Abraxas has been a Finder for almost 10,000 years. Each Finder is equipped with an Answer Box, which serves as a communicator and scanner. It can also detect any object from a distance based on the object's vibration. When testing for the Anti-Life Equation, the subject being scanned will disintegrate if they do not contain the equation. Secundus wants to access a negative universe which he believes will give him omnipotent powers and make him immortal. To do this he needs the solution to the Anti-Life Equation. He travels to Earth and impregnates the first human female he finds, Sonia Murray (Marjorie Bransfield), simply by holding his hand over her belly. The resulting baby will be the Culmator, a dangerously powerful prodigy able to solve the equation. Only a few minutes later, Sonia gives birth to a boy and names him Tommy. Meanwhile, Abraxas corners Secundus so other Finders can lock onto their location and transport Secundus to the prison planet Tyrannus 7. Abraxas is ordered to kill Sonia before she can give birth, but he can not bring himself to do it and leaves her with Tommy. When Sonia goes home her parents kick her out of their house, seemingly more concerned with the fact that she does not know who the baby's father is than the fact that the baby was conceived and born on the same day. Five years later, Tommy does not speak but does have strange abilities; when he is picked on at school, he makes the bully wet his pants. The school principal (James Belushi) calls Sonia in about this problem, but she refuses to admit that Tommy has problems. Secundus escapes from Tyrannus 7 and teleports to Earth. The Finders send Abraxas right after Secundus with the same technology, but their transport paths cross and their weapons are destroyed. Abraxas chases Secundus, but loses him; Secundus uses the fuse box at an automotive shop to recharge his Answer Box. When the owner confronts him, he uses his Answer Box to test the shop-owner about the Anti-Life Equation. The test causes the owner to explode. Secundus then goes on a rampage, stealing cars, killing innocent people and causing chaos. He continues to scan people, looking for the chosen one who knows the Anti-Life Equation. He is pursued by Abraxas, who is unable to do much as Secundus escapes and finds Sonia's residence. There, he sees the child with one of Sonia's friends, who is currently watching the house while Sonia and Tommy are out at a movie, and tries to test the equation on him. But Abraxas arrives before any harm can be done to the boy and they fight once more. However, Abraxas is stabbed in the stomach and Secundus leaves after saying he will let Abraxas live to see everything destroyed. Sonia returns home with Tommy and finds Abraxas there in the living room. She expresses her anger about being impregnated by Secundus to him, but is convinced by Abraxas to drive somewhere safe with him and Tommy. While en route to meet Maxie, a friend of Sonia's, Abraxas disables his Answer Box in disgust when the Finders order him to kill Tommy. At Maxie's, Abraxas and Sonia grow closer due to their shared goal of protecting Tommy, developing romantic feelings for each other. Meanwhile, Secundus enters the local school and threatens to kill the children one at a time unless someone brings him the Culmator. Upon re-entering the town, Abraxas, Sonia, and Tommy meet up with the police and find Secundus at the school, where he repeats his ultimatum. Abraxas fights Secundus while Tommy flees, but Secundus overpowers Abraxas and chases Tommy down in a stolen car, cornering him in a garage. Pushed to breaking point, Tommy's latent pyrokinetic powers activate, causing much of the garage to catch fire. Abraxas catches up to Secundus and fights him. Secundus warns Abraxas that he cannot kill him because it is against Sargacian law for a Finder to kill another being who is or ever was a Finder, but Abraxas ignores him and uses his Answer Box to scan Secundus himself for the Anti-Life Equation, disintegrating him and putting an end to his rampage. Although Finder Command are willing for Abraxas to return to Sargacia for his next assignment, he decides to stay behind on Earth with Sonia and Tommy in case anyone attempts to exploit the Culmator again. ===== Paul Weaver (Jeff Daniels) is accustomed to playing around on his wife Nancy (Cynthia Sikes) from his baseball-playing days. When divorce papers are filed against him, Paul decides to travel to Pennsylvania and attend his sister's wedding. But Nancy and his two children are both there, making the situation uncomfortable for everyone. ===== The prologue introduces us to George Arthur Rose (a transparent double for Rolfe himself): a failed candidate for the priesthood denied his vocation by the machinations and bungling of the Roman Catholic ecclesiastical machinery, and now living alone with his yellow cat. Rose is visited by two prominent churchmen, one a Cardinal Archbishop. The two propose to right the wrongs done to him, ordain him a priest, and take him to Rome where the Conclave to elect the new Pope has reached deadlock. When he arrives in Rome he finds that the Cardinals have been inspired, divinely or otherwise, to offer him the Papacy. He accepts, and since the only previous English Pope was Adrian (or Hadrian) IV, he takes the name Hadrian VII. The novel develops with this unconventional, chain-smoking Englishman peremptorily reforming the Church and the early 20th-century world, against inevitable opposition from the established Roman Catholic hierarchy, rewarding his friends and trouncing his enemies. Generally he gets his way by charm or doggedness, and of course by being much cleverer than all those round him; but his short reign is brought to an end when he is assassinated by a Pope-hating Scotsman, or possibly Ulsterman, and the world breathes a sigh of relief. ===== The game is set in Yamato, a medieval version of Japan ruled by the shogun Tsunayoshi and the daimyōs of the four clans. To become immortal, Tsunayoshi transforms himself into the demon Zanshin, the Dark Warlord, who unleashes his army of darkness to conquer Yamato. Zanshin's forces sweep across Yamato one night, catching the clans by surprise and annihilating them. However, believing that the four daimyōs were killed, Zanshin recalls his soldiers prematurely, leaving one daimyō and seven of his retainers alive. As dawn breaks, the daimyō decides to counterattack, ordering his seven surviving samurai to destroy Zanshin and his minions. The four clans and daimyōs are named after historical Japanese clans and persons: *The Mōri clan, led by daimyō Mōri Motonari. *The Oda clan, led by daimyō Oda Nobunaga. *The Tokugawa clan, led by daimyō Tokugawa Ieyasu. *The Toyotomi clan, led by daimyō Toyotomi Hideyoshi. ===== In a warehouse, a handful of men regain consciousness; they have no idea who they are or what happened to them. One is bound to a chair, another has been handcuffed and shot, a third has a broken nose, and the other two, one wearing a jean jacket and one wearing a rancher shirt, are also wounded. The man in the jean jacket wakes up first. He makes sure everyone is alive, then discovers that the windows are barred and the only door has a mechanized lock. He finds a ringing phone and picks it up. The caller asks what is going on and the jean jacket man tells the caller that everyone is fine. The caller tells him he will return in a few hours. Somewhere else, a money drop off is occurring. William Coles, Jr. has been kidnapped. In the warehouse, the bound asks to be untied. As the jean jacket man prepares to untie him, the man with the rancher shirt convinces him not to, telling him that the bound is not on the same side, or he would not have been tied up. As the jean jacket and rancher shirt men look for the keys to release the handcuffed man and treat his wound, the man with the broken nose wakes up and fights with them. At the drop off, the signal in the money bag goes silent; the cops enter to find the money gone. In the warehouse, the men find a newspaper featuring a story about the kidnapping of a wealthy businessman named Coles. The men suspect that they were involved with the kidnapping, but do not know what their involvement was. They begin to experience flashbacks. A gun is recovered, and the jean jacket man wins possession of it. Various attempts to free themselves, including trying to attract attention through a hole in the wall, and shooting out a window, fail. The men decide to work together to fight off the criminals who are coming, so all of them can go their separate ways. The handcuffed man recalls a harrowing incident from his childhood when he was comforted by his friend. He claims the jean jacket man is his friend, but the jean jacket man cannot verify this. The handcuffed man dies from his wounds. The police piece together who they believe the kidnappers are. They show photos of the suspects to Coles' wife Eliza. The handcuffed man, the bound man, and the jean jacket man are among the photos. At the warehouse, the gang returns from the money pickup. The bound man remembers he is part of the gang and tries warning them of the trap. In the confusion, he is shot along with one of the gang members. After the rancher shirt man is pushed out at gunpoint, the others surrender. The jean jacket man recalls that he is part of the gang, but cannot accept that he is a criminal. He is greeted by the snakeskin boots-wearing gang leader and chastised for letting things go so wrong in the warehouse. A fight broke out between kidnappers and victims. Chemicals spilled during the fight rendered everyone unconscious and induced temporary amnesia. The jean jacket man is tasked with killing the rancher shirt man and the broken nosed man, and tells them he has to kill them or be killed himself. After hearing gunshots near the grave that the bound man dug before losing his memory, the snakeskin boots leader asks the jean jacket man if he is looking at a cop. This sparks a memory that the jean jacket man was a cop working undercover in the gang. As the snakeskin boots leader looks over to see an empty grave, the broken nosed man comes out of the shadows to attack the gang members. The broken nosed man is killed, as are the remaining gang members. The rancher shirt man saves the jean jacket man's life by shooting the snakeskin boots leader, who has a gun leveled at the jean jacket man. The police arrive on the scene. The jean jacket man is praised for having survived so long undercover. The rancher shirt man turns out to be Coles, the wealthy businessman, and as both are being treated, Eliza arrives and hugs her husband. The jean jacket man looks over at the couple, and upon seeing the wife, remembers that they were having an affair. The jean jacket man arranged the kidnapping and planned to get rich and win Eliza. Horrified by what he has done, he takes the ransom money to the officers. Coles introduces his wife to the jean jacket man. ===== The film tells of a future where rock music is outlawed by a fascist theocracy government and the "MMM (the Majority for Musical Morality)". The story's protagonist, Robert Orin Charles Kilroy, is a former rock star who has been framed for murder and imprisoned by MMM leader Dr. Everett Righteous. In this future society, policing and other peacekeeping duties are maintained by robots; in the prison where Kilroy is kept, "Roboto" humanoid models act as prison guards. Meanwhile, a young musician/activist, Jonathan Chance, is on a mission to bring rock music back. He is shown leaving a shibboleth graffiti tag, and later comes to the attention of Kilroy when he pirates an MMM video broadcast with a Kilroy video (actually the Styx music video for "Borrowed Time"). This inspires Kilroy to disable a Roboto, steal its mask as a disguise, and escape prison. At night, Chance breaks into the Paradise Theatre, the site of the Kilroy concert where an MMM member was allegedly killed by Kilroy. The theater has since been turned into an MMM museum against rock music, filled with animatronic replicas of "decadent" rock stars such as Jimi Hendrix, Elvis Presley, and Kilroy. Still disguised as a Roboto, the real Kilroy emerges from the shadows and reveals himself to Chance. At this point the film ends (when shown in concert, this would segue into the opening song by the band, "Mr. Roboto"). ===== The game takes place in 2010, ten years after a massive earthquake that shook an unnamed city. The earthquake severed the city from its surrounding areas, leaving criminals to run as they please. The game revolves around the inhabitants fighting against one another to accomplish their goals. ===== Emily Hope (Alicia Silverstone) stages her own kidnapping to get the attention of her father. She puts herself into the trunk of her own car (a BMW 850i), tapes her legs and mouth, handcuffs her hands and calls the police so they can come "rescue" her. But then, unexpectedly, a car thief named Vincent Roche (Benicio del Toro) steals the car with her in it. Suddenly, Emily finds herself actually kidnapped, only the kidnapper doesn’t know what to do with her. Christopher Walken shows up as Emily’s Uncle Ray, Jack Thompson as Emily’s father, and Harry Connick, Jr., as Greg, Vincent’s car-stealing partner. ===== The Rescue Rangers catch a news report stating that a bomb has been set to explode at a local restaurant. At once, Chip, Dale, Gadget, Monterey Jack, and Zipper set off to defuse the explosive before it goes off. While there, they manage to corner the rabbit responsible for setting the bomb, who admits that it was Fat Cat who ordered him to do it (having broken out of prison the night before) so he can steal a relic called the Urn of the Pharaoh from a docked cargo ship. The Rangers give chase to the docks. After a search of the ship turns up nothing, Zipper then spots Fat Cat running into a warehouse. Chip and Dale follow him inside, but are ambushed and locked in a refrigerator to freeze. Though the chipmunks escape in time, Fat Cat opens the Urn and releases the evil spirits contained within it. As the warehouse fills with ghosts, Chip and Dale manage to retrieve the Urn and seal it up again. Fat Cat then challenges the Rescue Rangers to meet him at the amusement park for a final showdown. After navigating through the attractions (Clock Tower, Western World, and Future World), Chip and Dale unlock the door to the control room, where Fat Cat attacks them with a giant robot modelled after himself. Once it's destroyed, Chip and Dale go after Fat Cat while the ceiling begins to collapse, but are unable to find him and are forced to escape. Reunited, the Rescue Rangers swear that they'll stop Fat Cat the next time he shows up. ===== Before the credits, the film opens to an image seen through a prism. It depicts a group of naked, writhing bodies in the process of group sex. The prism replicates the image, so several versions are seen in a single frame. The credits are followed by a scene opening in a suburban area of California. A car is seen driving around, the passengers presumably looking for something. They stop before an old mansion, then the camera shifts to the image of a door knocker depicting a lion's head. The young couple knocks first, then enters through the unlocked door. They bicker over the decision to enter unannounced. The young man then jokes about the creepy location, saying that "Any minute, I expect Bela Lugosi as Dracula" to appear. They next enter a room decorated with occult-related items and containing a coffin. There, the young couple is greeted by Tanya, and identified as Danny and Shirley Carpenter. Tanya herself is dressed only in a red negligee. They are there to see necromancer Madame Heles (pronounced "heals") for a witchcraft solution to Danny's erectile dysfunction. Tanya leads them to a room prepared for their stay. A dildo serves as the ringer of the room. When left alone, the Carpenters resume bickering over their sexual dysfunction. They fail to notice feminine eyes watching them through the holes in a nearby painting—Tanya's eyes. Tanya ends her surveillance and returns to the room with the coffin. She picks up a skull and uses it to rub her body. Besides achieving sexual stimulation, this is implied to be a ritual of sex magic. Speaking to the coffin, Tanya informs someone that their suspicions were correct. The Carpenters are not married. The significance of this information is not explained. Tanya leaves the room and encounters a man called Carl, who demands to have sex with her, claiming that he paid plenty to be the first to have her. Tanya makes clear that she does not have to service him, but out of pity for his need, she chooses to do so anyway. An explicit sex scene follows. Back in their room, the Carpenters have their own sexual session, perhaps in an attempt at self-healing. Danny fails to have a full erection, though, leaving Shirley unsatisfied. She wears her own negligee and leaves the room, going in search of something to satisfy her needs. She is startled by the presence of a stuffed wolf in the corridor and admits to nearly peeing herself from fright. At this point, another young woman in a nightgown approaches Shirley and explains that this wolf died of rabies. The woman introduces herself as Barb, an "inmate" of Madame Heles. She compliments the beauty of Shirley and starts petting her. This petting opens a scene of lesbian sex between the two young women. In the bedroom, Danny wakes up from a nap to find himself alone and his penis at rest. He decides to head out to search for Shirley. Elsewhere, Barb and Shirley have moved their lovemaking to another bedroom. Danny instead meets Tanya, who leads him to yet another bedroom and seduces him. Two parallel sex scenes follow. The lesbian one is depicted as mutually satisfying, while the heterosexual only manages to benefit the male partner. Following that, Tanya leads Danny to a window. Once again, group sex is seen through a prism. Tanya explains that not all people react to "the treatment" successfully. The people depicted through the window are those who will never find satisfaction in their sexual lives, as some want too much and others too little. Suddenly self-conscious, Danny realizes that his own reaction to the treatment was not the proper one. Tanya assures him that he is not like them, since they are lost forever. They can never return to a world which will reject them. Next, Tanya and Barb lead their lovers to the room with the coffin. Danny and Shirley seem hostile to each other, implying that their relationship is doomed. Tanya and Barb kneel before the coffin and then strip each other. They engage in sex before their audience. In reaction, Shirley swoons, while Danny groans in displeasure. The sexual ritual summons Madame Heles from her coffin. Heles asks about the progress of her two newest students. Barb praises the learning of Shirley in sex, in response, Heles proclaims that Shirley will henceforth live for sex alone. Barb explains that Shirley has graduated. As Shirley walks away with Barb, Danny is left behind. Tanya declares that they still have some work to do on him. In response, Heles proclaims that he needs her personal sex teachings. While she waits in her coffin, Barb and Karl enter the room. They help Tanya restrain Danny and strip off his clothes. They force the young man to enter the coffin of Heles and then depart. At first, Danny screams, but then he is seen enjoying his healing session with the attractive Heles. The film ends. ===== The first movie revolves around one Bob Gratton (played by Julien Poulin, who co-wrote and co-directed the movies with Falardeau) and his passion for Elvis Presley. Gratton's life goal is to win fame as an Elvis impersonator, and he achieves it through a local TV talent show contest whose prize is a cruise to the fictional island resort of Santa Banana. After his return from Santa Banana Gratton is called on to don his Elvis costume one more time, but because he has gained weight in the interim, he has trouble fitting into it and collapses on stage during a performance, seemingly dead. In the film's final scene, just as Gratton's casket is taken for interment Bob emerges from it, quite alive. The second movie revolves around Gratton's later adventures after being discovered by a talent scout, and his rise to fame as a pop music star. The third installment sees Gratton become the head of a media company and play an active role in manipulating the news that his media empire puts out. ===== This novel is about the gens de couleur libres, or free people of color, who lived in New Orleans before the Civil War. The gens de couleur libres were the descendants of European settlers of Louisiana, particularly the French and Spanish and people of African descent. It was a common practice for the early caucasian settlers to free their children by their slave mistresses. Their mistresses however, were not all enslaved, some were free women of color whose families had been free for several generations. The novel takes place in the 1840s, at which time there was a large population of free people of color living in New Orleans. The story centers on Marcel, a young man who has one white parent and one parent who is half white and half black. His mother, Cecile, is the mistress of Philippe Ferronaire, a rich French plantation owner. Cecile has borne Ferronaire two children, Marcel and his sister Marie. Marie is very light skinned and able to pass as white, but Marcel, who is blonde and blue eyed, but with ethnic hair, features, and slightly darker skin, cannot. The other two major characters in this novel are Christophe, a famous author who returns from Paris to start a school for the young gens, and Anna Bella, Marcel's childhood friend. Anna Bella loves Marcel, but as he is unprepared to offer her marriage (and too young) she becomes the mistress of Vincent Dazincourt, who is the brother of Philippe Ferronaire's white wife. They have a child together, but split after Marcel, who had been expecting to be sent to Paris, learns that his father has betrayed him and wanders to his father's plantation to confront him. There, his father beats him and repudiates him. In disgrace, Marcel is sent to live with his aunt among many Creole planters on the Cane River. It is here that Marcel learns some of his (African Diasporan) history, including the Haitian Slave Revolt and the fact that his mother was stolen off the street by his adopted aunt during that time. While Marcel is learning history, his father is in New Orleans drinking himself to death, which he eventually does, depriving the family of their source of income. Marie, who was set to marry Marcel's best friend Richard, is now told that she will follow in her mother's footsteps and take a white protector in order to get money for the family and send Marcel to Paris (Marcel is unaware of all of this). Marie confides this to her slave maid and half-sister, Lisette. Lisette is also Phillipe Ferronaire's daughter (which Marie does not know) and was promised her freedom by him, but as he did to Marcel, he reneged on his promise to her. In revenge, Lisette takes Marie to the house of a voodooiene, where she is drugged and raped by five men. Marcel comes home to find that his sister has been raped, Richard has been locked in the family attic (to prevent him from taking revenge on the men, and then, certainly, being tried and convicted of murder and executed) and Vincent Dazincourt has already confronted two of the men, challenged them to duels, and killed them. The issue from Dazincourt's perspective is that the five men knew Marie's identity, and therefore knew that she was related by blood to the Ferronaire/Dazincourt family, but raped her anyway. The gens de couleur libre members of the extended family cannot avenge Marie's rape, but he can. Marie takes refuge with a local madam, Dolly Rose. Lisette commits suicide to avoid Dazincourt's vengeance. Dazincourt finds and kills a third man in a duel, but the other two escape from New Orleans before he can call them out and kill them. Richard, who is finally let out of the attic, tells his family that he will marry Marie or face exile with her. The novel ends with Marie and Richard sailing to France (where they will stay until the gossip dies down) and Marcel deciding to become a photographer in order to earn his living (with the implication that once he has some success he will marry Anna Bella). ===== Paul Mathry, a student about to graduate and embark upon a teaching career, finds out that his father was convicted for murder, a secret that his mother had hidden from him since his childhood. Driven by an intense desire to see his father, Paul sets out to visit him in prison, only to find out that visitors are never allowed there. From there, he meets the primary witnesses in the case that convicted his father, not all of whom are supportive to Paul's cause. He encounters several dead ends but he persists, with the help of a store girl named Lena and a news reporter. His persistent campaign finally bears fruit. Rees Mathry, Paul's father, goes on appeal and is vindicated. The novel ends with Paul's father, a hardened, cynical man, seeing a fleeting hope for self-renewal and a purposeful life. From the book cover: 'In this, his latest and most exciting novel, A. J. Cronin tells of a son and his father, of a crime of passion and a crime of injustice, of a bond of loyalty that reached across fifteen years towards a man broken, brutalized, and forgotten within prison walls. Paul Burgess at twenty-one was mature and level-headed, a successful student and a good son to his "widowed" mother. But his life turned to a nightmare when he discovered that he was the son of a convicted murderer who was even then serving the fifteenth year of his life sentence. The suspense mounts as Paul's inquiries not only resurrect long-buried fears and hatred but also bring threats and pressure from high places as he penetrates further into the mystery surrounding the crime and grows more and more convinced of his father's innocence. From then on the story is of Paul's desperate struggle for his father's release, supported only by a few loyal friends and by the girl he loves. The dramatic force of 'Beyond This Place' is heightened by its social significance and by the warm human understanding that has characterized A. J. Cronin's work from 'Hatter's Castle' onwards. To read it is an experience that will be long remembered.' ===== In Ann Arbor, Michigan, 15-year-old David Rice (Max Thieriot) gives his crush, Millie Harris (AnnaSophia Robb), a snow globe. A bully, Mark Kobold (Jesse James), throws it onto a frozen river. While trying to retrieve it, David falls through the ice and is pulled away by the current. He suddenly finds himself in the local library and discovers his ability to "jump" from one place to another. Amazed with his new ability, he leaves his abusive father (Michael Rooker) and runs away from home. Eight years later, an adult David (Hayden Christensen) lives lavishly on stolen money acquired from 'jumping' into and out of bank vaults. One day, he is ambushed in his home by Roland Cox (Samuel L. Jackson), commander of the Paladins, a secret society of religious fanatics who are sworn to trace and kill "Jumpers". Their justification is that Jumpers' alleged omnipresence is blasphemous. Roland tries to capture David with electric cables designed to nullify his ability, but David escapes. He returns to Ann Arbor, seeking his old crush Millie (Rachel Bilson). When Mark (Teddy Dunn) attacks him, David teleports him into a bank vault and traps him. David then returns to Millie and invites her on a trip to Rome. Roland later discovers Mark in police custody and learns David's identity. David and Millie arrive in Rome, though he keeps his ability a secret. After talking, they share a kiss and have sex. They visit the Colosseum, where David meets Griffin (Jamie Bell), another Jumper. A group of Paladins appears, and Griffin casually kills them, then jumps away. David tries to leave with Millie, but he's detained by Italian police and questioned about the deaths. David's mother, Mary (Diane Lane), who had left him when he was five, appears and helps him escape. She urges him to leave Rome with Millie, to protect her. Millie, upset and afraid when David tries to skirt around the issue, demands to know the truth. David declines and puts her on a plane home. David runs into Griffin again, and follows him to his hideout in a cave. Griffin reveals that he has been trailing and killing Paladins for years and plans to kill Roland to avenge his parents. Griffin tells David that the Paladins will target his loved ones to draw him out. David teleports home and finds his father lying bleeding. He jumps his father to a hospital and returns to Griffin to ask for help. Realizing Roland is personally hunting David, Griffin agrees. They go to pick Millie up at the airport, but she is no longer there. Griffin returns to his hideout to get weapons. David breaks into Millie's apartment, angering her. Seeing Roland arriving, David decides to reveal the truth to her. He teleports her to Griffin's hideout. Using a machine that keeps David's "jump scar" open, the Paladins, including Roland, invade the hideout. David and Griffin subdue most of them. David sees his mother's photo on the wall and realizes she is also a Paladin. Roland is chased back through the jump scar, but he manages to snatch Millie with him. He sets up a trap in Millie's apartment, expecting David to come back for her. Obsessed with killing Roland, Griffin plans to bomb the apartment, but David objects, wanting to save Millie. They fight and David traps Griffin with power lines in Chechnya. Ignoring Griffin's warning, David jumps to Millie's apartment and is quickly trapped by Roland's cables. The cables "link" him to the apartment, making him unable to jump away alone. Mustering his strength, David teleports the apartment and everyone inside to a river. Once free of the cables, David teleports Millie to safety and dumps Roland in a cave in Horseshoe Bend. He strands Roland there, telling him "I could have dropped you with the sharks". David visits his long-lost mother Mary and discovers his younger half-sister Sophie (Kristen Stewart). Mary tells David that when he was five, he made his very first jump. She is a Paladin and had to either kill David or leave. After leaving her house, David meets up with Millie, and he jumps himself and her to a much warmer location. ===== On the weekend leading up to April Fools' Day, a group of college friends, consisting of Harvey, Nikki, Rob, Skip, Nan, Chaz, Kit and Arch, gather to celebrate spring break by spending the weekend at the island mansion of Skip's cousin, Vassar student Muffy St. John. As Muffy prepares details around the house, she finds an old jack-in-the-box and recalls receiving the toy at a childhood birthday party. Her friends, meanwhile, joke around on the pier while awaiting the ferry. En route to the island, as their antics become more boisterous, local deckhand Buck is seriously injured in a gruesome accident. Once on the island, it turns out that Muffy has set up a variety of pranks throughout the mansion, ranging from simple gags such as a whoopee cushion and dribble glasses and exploding cigars to more complex and disturbing pranks, such as an audiotape of a baby crying in someone's room and heroin paraphernalia in a guest's wardrobe. In spite of this, the group try to relax, until Skip goes missing, and Kit catches a glimpse of what looks like his dead body. Soon, Arch and Nan also go missing. During a search for the pair, Nikki falls into the island's well, where she finds the severed heads of Skip and Arch, along with the dead body of Nan. The remaining group members then discover that the phone lines are dead and there is no way to get off the island until Monday. One after another, members of the group either vanish or get killed before their bodies are found. After putting some clues together, Kit and Rob realize that everyone's earlier assumption is wrong; the kinsman of the deckhand injured when they arrived is a red herring. It also turns out that Muffy has a violently insane twin sister named Buffy, who has escaped. In fact, the "Muffy" they have been around since the first night was Buffy, pretending to be Muffy. They discover Muffy's severed head in the basement. Buffy chases them with a curved butcher's knife, and the couple gets separated. Kit flees from Buffy by escaping into the living room where she finds everyone else there, alive and calmly waiting for her. It was all a joke, or more accurately, a dress rehearsal. It is revealed to the audience that the whole film was never a slasher film from the start, but rather pretending to be one. Muffy hopes to turn the mansion into a resort offering a weekend of staged horror. She even had a friend who does special effects and make-up in Hollywood help. Each "victim" agreed to take part as things were explained to them. Everyone has a huge laugh and they break out many bottles of champagne. Later that night, a half-drunk Muffy goes to her room and finds a wrapped present on her bed. She unwraps it, and the present is the jack-in- the-box. Savoring the surprise, she turns the handle slowly and when "Jack" finally pops out, Nan, who knew Muffy from acting class, emerges from behind her and slits her throat with a razor. Muffy screams, but then realizes she is not really bleeding and that Nan used a trick razor and stage blood. The film ends with the jack-in-the-box winking at the audience. ===== Kirk is beamed aboard the Enterprise after his accidental death on an unnamed planet. Spock confronts the planetary ruler, Omne, who reveals to Spock that he has pioneered the “phoenix process", a modification of transporter technology capable of creating an exact duplicate of a living person—including a duplicate of Kirk. Spock is given leave for a brief mind meld, and verifies that the duplicate is indeed Kirk, whom he names “James”. Spock then accepts an offer from Omne to learn more about the phoenix process, however, Omne explains the "price of the phoenix" will require the betrayal of the Federation and of the prime directive. Spock and James encounter the Romulan commander they previously met in "The Enterprise Incident" while searching for the real Kirk. The Commander is sympathetic to their plight, and she agrees to help. The party find Kirk being tortured by Omne. Spock engages Omne in hand-to-hand combat, but the more powerful Omne proves difficult to dispatch. He is eventually subdued and Spock subjects him a forced mind-meld to purge his memory of the day's events. Before the meld is ended, Omne commits suicide. Realizing Omne only took such an action to escape capture, Spock, James, Kirk and the Romulan commander retreat to the Enterprise. They draw up plans to establish a new life for James, and a strategy to cope with Omne’s inevitable resurrection. James agrees to accompany the Commander back to a colony world of Romulan Empire, and is surgically altered to appear Romulan. Before James and the Commander depart, the resurrected Omne transports himself aboard the Enterprise. While holding James at gunpoint, Omne announces his intention to return to the planet's surface, where it will be impossible to pursue him. Kirk warns the defiant ruler to mend his ways, which Omne dismisses. Kirk signals the ship's engineer, Montgomery Scott, to transport the weapon out of Omne’s hand. Omne retrieves a second weapon and engages Kirk in a Mexican standoff. Omne is outdrawn and is killed again, this time by Kirk. Spock theorizes Omne has perished outside the range of the phoenix device. However, those present agree to deal with Omne should he ever return. ===== Ray Richardson and his top team of architects have developed a super-smart building for Yue-Kong Yu's business, the Yu Corporation. It is very much self-standing. It can clean itself, uses holograms as greeters in the reception, controls the lifts, toilets, and offices, and digitizes everyone's voice on entry, to allow them to use voice activated services in the building such as lifts and doors. The whole system was given the name Abraham. Another key feature of Abraham was its ability to replicate itself, to adapt to modern office needs and objectives. This, however becomes a problem, when, before office work even starts in the Gridiron, Abraham start creating a new program named Isaac. This is deleted by computer programmers Yojo and Beech, with Beech actually reluctant to do so. Shortly after this, however, members of the Gridiron team begin to be suspiciously killed. These seem to be the fault of the protesters against the building who are outside, and Cheng Peng Fei is arrested on suspicion of one of the murders. Then, a routine inspection of the Gridiron involving Ray Richarson and his entire team (including Jenny Bao), ends in the whole group being locked in, and two policemen from LAPD Homicide coming to inspect the murder of Sam Glieg. After several more deaths from the team, Bob Beech discovers that during the self-replication that Abraham started, another program was created in the process, namely, Ishmael. This program escaped the deletion process by integrating itself with a video game which was on the Gridiron's system. Ishmael now believes that he is in a game, and the objective is to kill all human players before one escapes, or before time runs out. The majority of the team are killed, leaving Mitch, Jenny, Helen, and Frank to escape the Gridiron moments before it destroys itself (time has run out). Ishmael, however, had e-mailed himself to an unknown location, thus saving himself from the destruction of the building. ===== Jeff and Frankie Callum run The Swan, an inn on the island of Fara, somewhere off the English coast. Jeff, a professional novelist, hires a secretary, but this turns out to be Angela Roberts, a younger woman with whom he had an affair some time before, and who has come to the island with the intent of luring Jeff away from his wife, or at least causing trouble in their marriage. The Callums moved to Fara so that Jeff could escape Angela's amorous advances, although as far as Frankie knows, it was only to escape the tedium of life on the mainland. Not helping matters is the fact that despite it being the middle of winter, Fara is experiencing a stifling and inexplicable heat wave, with temperatures rising rapidly. It has become so hot that cars stall, beer bottles shatter, televisions explode, and telephones have ceased to work. Into this tense situation comes Godfrey Hanson, a mysterious scientist from the mainland who rents a room at The Swan. Hanson spends his time exploring the island, setting up motion-sensitive cameras and taking soil samples. The locals, including the Callums, find this suspicious, especially since quite a lot more is happening on Fara than just the heat and Hanson's snooping. A tramp is burned to death in a cave by something emitting a high-pitched whirring sound. Later, a farmer claims his sheep are all dead. Hanson examines the dead sheep and finds their corpses are badly burned, whilst Swan regular Bob Hayward is attacked by something on the road while driving into the village. He crashes after being blinded by a bright light, which also creates enough heat to ignite the car's petrol tank. Meanwhile, pub regular Tinker, losing his mind because of the heat, attempts to attack Angela whilst she's working, but when she brains him with an ashtray he flees and ends up burned to death as well. Jeff finally confronts Hanson and demands answers from him. According to the scientist, Fara is the site of an invasion by extraterrestrials, whose extremely high temperature burns any living creature that gets too close to them. Jeff and Hanson resolve to stop the aliens with the help of local physician Dr. Stone, but when Stone tries to get to Fara's meteorological station so he can alert the mainland of the invasion, he is waylaid by the aliens and killed. Hanson tries next, but witnesses the death of Stella Hayward, Bob's wife, and realises the aliens are attracted to light. At the weather station, he learns from meteorologist Ken Stanley and his colleague Foster that the aliens have already destroyed all their communications equipment, making it impossible to call for help. Quickly formulating a plan, Hanson is joined by Jeff, Frankie and Angela at the radar station. He and Foster will set fire to bales of hay in a field, attracting the aliens, and then lob dynamite into the field, hopefully destroying them, whilst the others signal for help with flare pistols. This plan quickly fails, and Foster and then Hanson are both killed. Surrounded by the deadly aliens, the situation looks hopeless when a sudden thunderstorm breaks. Unexpectedly the rain brings death to the aliens, and Jeff, Frankie, Angela and Ken all survive. ===== After the postman puts a gift into Tom's mailbox, Tom opens the box and finds a book on how to catch mice and for the rest of the cartoon, he takes its advice to attempt to catch Jerry. The first thing the book suggests is to locate the mouse. Tom finds Jerry reading the book with him, but when he tries to grab Jerry, the mouse steps off the book and slams Tom's nose in it. Tom sets out a simple mouse trap. Jerry succeeds in freeing the cheese without setting the trap off. Shocked at the trap's failure, Tom tests it, and the trap snaps Tom's finger, which causes the cat to yell in pain as soon as he touches it. Tom then sets a snare trap around a piece of cheese and gets ready to pull the string but is distracted by a bowl of cream substituted for the cheese by Jerry, who activates the trap, sending the cat out to the tree himself. Practicing the "A Curious Mouse is Easy to Catch" chapter, Tom sits outside Jerry's mousehole reading the book and loudly laughs at it but denies Jerry any chance to see it. When Jerry climbs onto the book to see it, Tom slams it shut on him. However, when Tom grabs him, Jerry pretends to look inside his fists to show Tom that he has something in and when Tom looks into his fists, Jerry punches him in the eye. Tom corners Jerry and, after reading the passage in the book "A cornered mouse never fights", pounces on him and the two engage in a violent brawl. Tom sticks his head around the corner, bruised and battered, and eerily says: "Don't you believe it!" At this point, Tom stops reading from chapter-to-chapter and tries suggestions he thinks will work. Upon reading Chapter VII: "Be scientific in your approach", Tom uses a stethoscope to listen for Jerry within the walls of the house. This backfires when Jerry screams into the stethoscope, almost deafening Tom. Tom then forces a double-barreled shotgun into Jerry's mousehole. However, the barrels protrude out of the wall and point straight at Tom's head as the cat fires and he ends up shooting himself in the head, rendering himself bald. In the next scene, Tom (now wearing a dodgy orange toupee for the rest of the cartoon) sets a bear trap and slides it into the mousehole. Jerry walks outside from another hole behind Tom and puts the trap behind him, which triggers as Tom sits down and sends him flying into the ceiling in pain. Tom then tries to use a mallet to flatten Jerry, but Jerry pops out of a hole behind a picture right above Tom, grabs the mallet, and hits him. After reading the chapter 'Slip him a surprise package', Tom attempts to disguise himself in a gift box. Jerry, seeing the box, knocks on it, hearing no response. Inexplicably, Jerry proceeds to impale the box with pins while Tom whimpers and groans in pain before sawing the box in half. Still hearing nothing, Jerry eagerly looks inside the box but just as quickly pulls his head out. Horror-stricken, he gulps and displays a sign reading "IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE?". Now covered in bandages, Tom winds up a female toy mouse which repeatedly says "come up and see me some time". Jerry, noticing the toy, walks with it. Tom attempts to lure Jerry into a mouse-sized pretend hotel which is named "cozy arms", the door of which leads into Tom's open mouth. Jerry ushers the toy mouse into the hotel first, which causes Tom to eat it shattering his teeth in the process. After inspecting his ruined teeth in a mirror, Tom smashes it in rage and brutally tears the book to shreds, all the while hiccupping "come up and see me some time" since the toy's voice box is stuck in his throat. Having gone mad with revenge, Tom attempts to blow away Jerry with dozens of explosives (TNT, gunpowder, dynamite and a massive block buster). When Tom ignites a piece of dynamite, it does not start the fuse enough, so he blows the fuse too hard. This causes the fuse to be fired immediately and the explosives erupt, killing Tom. Nothing but Jerry (who survived the explosion) and his mousehole remains of the house while a fed-up Tom (who was seen by Jerry), now in spirit form, is seen on a cloud floating to heaven, repeatedly hiccuping "come up and see me some time". ===== When private detective Jack Chandler (Jay Richardson) tries to track down a teenage runaway (Linnea Quigley), he runs into a cult of Egyptian chainsaw-worshipping prostitutes led by "The Master" (Gunnar Hansen). ===== After serving time in prison, Buck Matthews (Gary Busey), a Vietnam War veteran, returns to his hometown to start his life over with his wife Christie (Denise Galik) and their five-year- old daughter Jennifer (Judith Barsi). However, he learns that the small town where he grew up is overrun by a large motorcycle gang which rides through the town in large numbers, harassing various citizens. On his first night back to his old job at a construction yard, Buck hears a woman screaming in the distance. He follows the screams to discover a large group of bikers attacking and attempting to rape a local nurse. Buck manages to chase the gang off using his truck, saving the nurse. The leader of the biker gang, Blade (William Smith), takes Buck's actions personally and begins to terrorize Buck and his family. The gang attacks the Matthews' home, beating Buck and killing his wife. This leaves Jennifer, his young daughter, in shock as she witnessed the entire event. The local sheriff (Seymour Cassel) refuses to help Buck, leaving Buck with no other option but to take justice into his own hands. Buck then calls in a favor from Jamie (Jorge Gil), a friend from prison. Jamie is a Miami-based Colombian drug kingpin whom Buck saved during a prison riot and who was also paroled with Buck in the opening scene. Buck receives a high tech truck, equipped with machine guns and mortars. Buck's friend, J.B. Deveraux (Yaphet Kotto), a local deputy who is also a Vietnam veteran, provides Buck with a history of the motorcycle gang. The sheriff is shown to be colluding with the motorcycle gang as Blade and his men give the sheriff bribes of cash to ignore their activities. Buck and J.B. begin to retaliate against the bikers through various means. Buck uses a wire to string out onto a road to decapitate at least two of the bikers. He lures another small group to their deaths by exploding his old truck when they attack it. He shoots other gang members whom they are seen committing crimes in and around the town. Eventually the bikers kidnap Buck's daughter Jennifer from the hospital, forcing Buck to go to their camp in the desert outside of town. With the help of J.B., flying a bomb-dropping crop duster airplane, Buck, successfully defeats the gang and rescues his daughter. The Sheriff tries to have Buck arrested, however the deputies, having enough of his corruption rebel against him and willingly let Buck deal with him. In an explosive climax, Buck has the local sheriff killed (it seems the sheriff framed Buck for a murder committed years earlier) by offering him as a target for the gang, and then has a one- on-one fistfight with Blade, which ends with the death of the villain when he accidentally ingests cocaine the gang is manufacturing. With their leader dead, the surviving motorcycle gang members ride away. Buck catches up with J.B. and the other deputies and they celebrate their victory for saving the town. ===== The crew of a war galley are up against a storm. Suddenly two dragons are seen fighting above the clouds, during which the White Dragon is killed suddenly by the Black Dragon, an occurrence believed to have been impossible for centuries. News of the kingdom declining and nothing has been heard from Prince Arren, which troubles the King of the once tranquil kingdom of Enlad. The wizard Root speaks of dragons and men once being "as one", divided by their particular desires (freedom and possessions respectively), which is the cause of the world's balance, gradually weakening. Suddenly the King is fatally stabbed with a dagger in a dark corridor by his own son, Prince Arren, who steals his father's sword and flees the castle. In the desert, Arren is rescued from wolves by the archmage Sparrowhawk. Together they travel to the city of Hort Town. When Arren explores the town alone, he rescues a young girl named Therru from slavers, but is later captured by the same slave master, Hare. His sword is dumped in the sea. Sparrowhawk rescues Arren from the slave caravan and takes him to a farm run by Sparrowhawk's oldest and greatest friend Tenar, who lives with Therru. Sparrowhawk's intervention against Hare's slave caravan angers Lord Cob, a powerful warlock and the ruler of Hort Town, who wants the archmage brought to the castle. Meanwhile, Sparrowhawk tells Arren that he seeks a way to restore the upset balance, then resumes his search in Hort Town. While there he buys Arren's sword from a merchant's stall and manages to evade capture from Hare whilst learning about Cob's castle. Arren confesses to Therru that he killed his father and that he feels an unknown presence following him. Because of this, Arren leaves the farm, but is met by the presence, which is a mirror image of himself. Arren falls unconscious after stumbling into a swamp while fleeing from the image. Cob takes him to the castle, where he manipulates him into revealing his "true name", Prince Lebannen, to control him. Meanwhile, Hare captures Tenar as bait to lure Sparrowhawk into the castle, leaving Therru tied to a post as a messenger. She frees herself, and encounters Sparrowhawk, who gives her Arren's sword to give to Arren. Sparrowhawk breaks into the castle to save Tenar and confronts Cob. Sparrowhawk learns that Cob is causing the world's Balance to collapse by opening the door between life and death to try and gain eternal life. Sparrowhawk tries to warn Cob of the dangers of upsetting the balance, and Cob sends Arren out to kill him. Sparrowhawk frees the prince from Cob's control but is captured by Hare, his great mystical strength and powers having been weakened within the stronghold of Cob's castle. Meanwhile, Therru sees the same copy of Arren and follows him to the castle, where he reveals that he is the light within Arren and tells Therru his true name. Therru enters the castle and learns of Sparrowhawk and Tenar's sunrise execution. She finds Arren, guilty and hopeless, and brings hope back to him, calling him by his true name and confiding in him her own true name, Tehanu. They rush to rescue Sparrowhawk and Tenar. Arren confronts Cob, who tries to kill him. He fights back and finally unsheathes his sword, which was sealed with magic. Arren cuts off Cob's staff-holding hand. Unable to use any of his magic powers, Cob rapidly begins to age. He captures Therru and flees to the highest tower of the castle, with Arren in pursuit. Cornering Cob, Arren tries to explain what he learned about life and death from Therru and Sparrowhawk to Cob, but the withering Dark Lord refuses to listen and uses the last of his magic to strangle Therru to death. Instead of dying, she reveals her true form as the Black Dragon, possessing life everlasting. Therru kills Cob with her fire breath and rescues Arren from the collapsing tower. Sparrowhawk and Tenar leave the castle while Therru and Arren land in a field where Therru changes back into a human. Arren tells Therru he will leave for home to repent for his crime, but will come back to see her some day. After he and Therru reunite with Sparrowhawk and Tenar, the four of them spend time together. Arren and Sparrowhawk depart for Enlad, bidding Therru and Tenar goodbye. Therru looks up to see her fellow dragons airborne, indicating that the balance of the world has been restored. ===== The story is set in a largely fictionalized version of Indianapolis, and much of it was inspired by the neighborhood of Woodruff Place. The novel and trilogy trace the growth of the United States through the declining fortunes of three generations of the aristocratic Amberson family in an upper-scale Indianapolis neighborhood, between the end of the Civil War and the early part of the 20th century, a period of rapid industrialization and socio-economic change in America. The decline of the Ambersons is contrasted with the rising fortunes of industrial tycoons and other new-money families, who derived power not from family names but by "doing things". As George Amberson's friend (name unspecified) says, "don't you think being things is 'rahthuh bettuh' than doing things?" The titular family is the most prosperous and powerful in town at the turn of the century. Young George Amberson Minafer, the patriarch's grandson, is spoiled terribly by his mother Isabel. Growing up arrogant, sure of his own worth and position, and totally oblivious to the lives of others, George falls in love with Lucy Morgan, a young though sensible debutante. But there is a long history between George's mother and Lucy's father, of which George is unaware. As the town grows into a city, industry thrives, the Ambersons' prestige and wealth wanes, and the Morgans, thanks to Lucy's prescient father, grow prosperous. When George sabotages his widowed mother's growing affections for Lucy's father, life as he knows it comes to an end. ===== The novel recounts the story of how a dead infant found on an Amish farm rocks the entire community. As the police investigate the death, they discover that the baby was not stillborn, but instead had died shortly after birth. Police were able to find cloth fibers in the infant's mouth and throat, including bruises on the mouth, which leads them to conclude that he was suffocated. An 18-year- old, unmarried Amish girl, Katie Fisher, is charged with the murder of her newborn son. However, Katie denies ever being pregnant. Ellie Hathaway, an experienced defense attorney and a distant relative of Katie, reluctantly accepts the case after a confrontation with her aunt (the relative who connects Ellie with Katie by marriage). As part of the bail conditions of the pre-trial hearing, Ellie has to remain on the farm with Katie prior to the trial—a period that lasts several months. A doctor is able to determine that the infant was born prematurely, and could have died from natural causes due to listeriosis, a bacterial infection which Katie contracted from drinking unpasteurized milk from their Amish dairy farm. During that time, Ellie begins a relationship with her former lover Coop, a legal psychologist whom she trusts with Katie's interviews, and whom she had previously left years before. Coincidentally, on the first day of Katie's trial, Ellie finds out she is pregnant with Coop's baby. Coop then asks Ellie to marry him, but she defers. After the jury deliberates for several days, Katie instead chooses to settle for a plea agreement, and is sentenced to one year of electronic monitoring, which allows her to stay at the farm while wearing an electronic bracelet. Katie's mother, Sarah Fisher, gives Ellie the scissors that were used to cut the umbilical cord, revealing that she knew Katie was pregnant and had gone to her the night she gave birth, though Katie didn't know. Ellie has an ethical obligation as an attorney to provide this evidence to the police, but instead, she opts not to because of Sarah's plea to her - mother to mother. The novel ends with Coop picking up Ellie from the Fisher dairy farm to begin their life together. ===== The body of a 70-year-old man who was struck on the head with a glass ashtray is found in a flat in Norðurmýri. The only clues are a photograph of a young girl's grave and a cryptic note left on the body. Detective Erlendur discovers that the victim was accused of a violent rape some forty years earlier but was never convicted. ===== Three college friends, Dave, Adam, and Dooferwho are head of the Social Committee in a fraternity house called KOK (Kappa Omicron Kappa)are living the party lifestyle. Spence, the socially-awkward KOK President, is punishing a group of new pledges for teaching the KOK handshake to a girl, when Adam and Dave interrupt his ceremony, because they need the space for further partying, in retaliation he gets upset at them and leaves. The KOK are known for throwing heavy parties and socially discriminating against the members of the all girl sorority group DOG (Delta Omicron Gamma), who regularly protest the actions of the FSSF (Fight Sexism Support Feminism) as being rude and mean to them. The KOK in retaliation to the protests, launch plastic sex-toys at their sorority house and refuse to allow them in the KOK house. The next morning, the three are accused by the KOK President Spence, of embezzling the other fraternity brothers' tuition money. They are then run out of the house for ruining the KOK members futures. Doofer suggests that the secret video camera in Adam's room in the frat house, (which Adam uses to record having sex with the Tri Pi's and preserves as part of his Walk Of Shame collection), may show who actually stole the money. In order to infiltrate the house, the three follow Doofer's plan of dressing up as women (however rather unattractive in appearance and clothing wise) to get inside because it's ladies night and also because they have been booted from the house. They are also however unsuccessful at getting the tape as Adam's younger brother Jimmy, has moved into their room, and develops a crush on Adina (aka Adam). Then they are thrown out of the house when they are mistaken for members of DOG, which the KOK call "DOG-Catcher", where a whistle blows and the words "DOG CATCHER" is said aloud and a large net is thrown on top of them and they get tossed on the front steps of the DOG house. Soon afterwards the boys now known as Adina, Roberta and Daisy pledge the sorority house DOG and soon realize just how badly they and the KOK members have been treating the DOG members and soon grow attached to them and become close friends. They also become smarter and more understanding of what it means to be a woman as they learn about low self-esteem issues and learning how to act and look like a woman. Adam, as Adina, tries to seduce his brother Jimmy to get the tape, by giving him a date-rape drug-laced drink while Jimmy does the same. Daisy (a.k.a. Dave) was supposed to back Adam up by being his Wingman, but is falling in love with the DOG president Leah. Dave and Leah meet on the first night when Dave gets up in the middle of the night to take a shower thinking he will be alone and can shower as a man. However Leah, without her glasses and can't see so well, decides to shower as well and an awkward unsettling situation causes Daisy (Dave) to make a hasty escape back to his room. His relationship with Leah gets in the way of Adam's attempts to get the tape back. The DOG sisters end up on the KOK-Tail Cruise after they win the powder puff football game against the Tri Pis, which includes a ticket on the ship. The Tri Pi's get on the boat before the DOG girls can, saying "No DOGS Allowed!!". Doofer then "acquires" a speedboat and delivers the girls to the boat, who then "help" the Tri Pi's off the boat by grabbing them from behind and casting them adrift on a life raft. Leah dances with "Daisy", when she confesses that though it will be hard to have a lesbian relationship with Daisy, she is willing to commit if Daisy is, Leah replies with "That's the zinger". Daisy then tells Leah she is moving back to Minnesota. The two come to mutual understanding. While on the ship Dave needs to get out of his dress so he can meet with John Kloss and get a job in his company. He successfully gets John Kloss to accept his, Adam and Doofer's employment. While getting re-dressed as "Daisy" with Adam trying to help, Leah walks in and mistakenly thinks that Daisy (Dave) and Adina (Adam) are in a relationship, and the "Minnesota" excuse is fake. She storms out with Daisy following her. Doofer is looking for the tape elsewhere. Jimmy finds Adina (Adam) and asks her to dance. Afterward John Kloss grabs Leah on the butt cheek and she slaps him across the face. He then organizes another "DOG- Catcher" session to throw Leah overboard, for not being receptive to his advances. Dave, as Daisy, reveals who he is to stop them throwing her overboard, while Spence catches Doofer trying to find the tape, and Adina (Adam) shows he's male too causing a big shock to Jimmy. Both the KOK and the DOG are shocked at the situation. The KOK "High Council" is convened to determine their fate, Dave describes that he feels so sorry for the way the DOGS were treated and no longer wants to be a member of KOK. Next Dave accuses Spence of stealing the money, and Doofer produces the tape to prove it. At first the tape shows Adam having sex with the Tri-Pi but then the tape shows Spence stealing the money while saying to himself "I'll teach them to humiliate me", after seeing he is the culprit he is then thrown overboard. Later, back at the KOK house, Adam is named president of the KOK house. Afterward, he asks his brother Jimmy what happened the night they were "together" on "their date", and tries to get reassurance that "nothing" happened, which Jimmy replies "Right" but in fact something did happen. Dave meets with Leah and starts their relationship over, truthfully this time. Sometime later, the life raft with all the Tri Pi's is still floating in the ocean somewhere, far away from land. ===== Billy Halleck, a successful, arrogant, and morbidly obese lawyer, is distracted while driving across town by his wife Heidi giving him a handjob, and he runs over an elderly Gypsy woman as a result. Billy uses his connections within the police and the courtroom to get himself acquitted and avoid punishment. The Gypsy's father, Taduz Lemke, exacts vengeance by imposing a curse upon Billy outside the courthouse, and Billy begins to lose weight rapidly. Worried, Billy consults a series of doctors, suspecting cancer, but the doctors are unable to determine the cause of his weight loss. Later, Billy discovers that the judge who passed his acquittal is covered in scales, and the policeman who committed perjury on Billy's behalf has been struck with severe acne. Both men commit suicide. With the help of private detectives and Richie "The Hammer" Ginelli, a former client with ties to organized crime, an emaciated Billy tracks the Gypsy band north along the seacoast of New England to Maine. He confronts Lemke at their camp and tries to persuade him to lift the curse, but Lemke refuses to do so, insisting that justice must be done upon Billy. The Gypsies throw Billy out of their camp, but not before Lemke's great-granddaughter Gina shoots him through the hand with a ball bearing. Billy calls for help from Richie, who sends a mob doctor to treat Billy's hand and then arrives in person to terrorize the Gypsy camp. After Richie finishes with the Gypsies, Lemke agrees to meet with Billy. Lemke brings a strawberry pie with him and adds blood from Billy's wounded hand to it. The weight loss will stop for a short time, but then resume unless Billy passes the curse to someone else by getting them to eat the pie. Lemke implores Billy to eat the pie himself so that he may die with dignity. After finding Richie's severed hand in his car and learning that Richie has been murdered, Billy returns home and intends to give the pie to Heidi, whom he has come to blame for his predicament. The next morning, though, he finds that both she and their daughter Linda have eaten from the pie. Realizing that they are both doomed, he cuts a slice for himself so that he can join them in death. ===== Billy Halleck is an obese, upper class lawyer living with his wife Heidi and their daughter Linda. Billy recently defended an underworld crime boss named Richie "The Hammer" Ginelli in court and is now celebrating his acquittal on a murder charge. Heidi, in an attempt to persuade him to forget about his obsession with food, attempts to give Billy oral sex as he is driving. Distracted, Billy accidentally runs over a Gypsy named Suzanne Lempke. He is acquitted in the subsequent proceedings by his friend Judge Cary Rossington. The local police chief Duncan Hopley also obstructs the case by committing perjury for Billy. Outraged by the injustice, Suzanne's father, Tadzu Lempke, places a curse on Billy on the steps of the courthouse by touching his face and uttering "Thinner". Soon afterward, Billy begins to lose weight rapidly, despite not working out or sticking to his diet. Heidi, fearing the weight loss may be due to cancer, calls Dr. Mike Houston, with whom Billy soon begins to suspect his wife is having an affair. Billy learns that Rossington and Hopley have also been cursed; Rossington has been metamorphosed into a lizard-like being, while Hopley develops purulent ulcers on his face and hands. Both Rossington and Hopley commit suicide. Billy tracks down the Gypsy camp and tries to reason with Tadzu; however, Tadzu is further angered and he makes the curse on Billy worse. Gina, Tadzu's great- granddaughter, uses her slingshot to shoot a large ball bearing which goes directly through Billy's hand, infuriating Billy into vowing revenge against Tadzu and the other Gypsies. Billy then enlists Ginelli to attack the Gypsy camp and persuade Tadzu to meet with Billy and lift the curse. Chanting a spell, Tadzu mixes Billy's blood into a strawberry pie. Tadzu states that if someone else eats the pie, the curse will kill them quickly and Billy will be spared. He urges Billy to eat the pie himself and die with dignity, but Billy refuses. Billy arrives home and gives Heidi the strawberry pie. She delightedly eats a piece, while Billy heads to bed, claiming exhaustion. The next morning, Billy finds Heidi's desiccated corpse next to him. He is gleeful to be free of the curse and of what he believes is his disloyal wife. However, when he goes downstairs, he discovers that his daughter Linda had eaten some of the pie for breakfast. At the same time, Bill discovers the news stating that Ginelli has been discovered dead under mysterious circumstance (with Billy believing the gypsies took revenge on him). Wracked with guilt and having nothing left to lose, he prepares to eat the rest of the pie. However, Billy is interrupted by Mike, who is at the door. Seeing Billy, Mike grows uncomfortable and struggles to explain his unannounced presence, somewhat confirming Billy's suspicions of an affair between Mike and Heidi. Billy invites Mike in for a piece of the pie and closes the door with a smirk. ===== The story begins late at night when François Delambre is awakened by the telephone. On the other end of the line is his sister-in-law Hélène who tells him that she has just killed his brother and that he should call the police. He does and they find the mangled remains of his brother in the family factory, his head and arm crushed under a hydraulic machine press. Hélène seems surprisingly calm throughout the investigation, willing to answer all questions except one: she will not give the reason for killing him. Eventually she is sent to a mental asylum and François is given custody of his brother's young son, Henri. François goes to visit her often, but she never provides the explanation for the question that he most desperately wants to know. Then one day she inquires how long a housefly's life span is. Later that evening, he hears Henri mention something about a fly with a funny white head. Realizing that this might somehow hold a clue to the murder, François confronts her with the news that Henri spotted a strange fly, and Hélène becomes extremely agitated at this news. François threatens to go to the police and give them the information about the insect if she does not tell him what he wants to know. She relents and advises him to come back the next day, at which time he will receive his explanation. The next day she gives him a handwritten manuscript, and later that night he reads it. His brother, André Delambre, was a brilliant research scientist who had just found an amazing discovery. Using machines that he called disintegrator- reintegrators, André could instantaneously transfer matter from one location to another through space. He had two such machines in his basement, one being used as a transmitter pod, the other as a receiver. Hélène's manuscript reveals that at first André encountered several flukes, including an experiment in which he transmitted an ashtray that reintegrated in the receiver pod with the words "Made in Japan" on the back written backwards. He also tried transmitting the family cat, which disintegrated perfectly but then never reappeared. Eventually, however, he ironed out the mistakes and found that the invention worked perfectly. Then one day André tried the experiment on himself. Unbeknownst to him, a tiny housefly had entered the transmitter pod with him, and when he emerged from the receiver, his head and arm had been switched with that of the insect. André tells Hélène that his only hope of salvation is for her to find the fly, identifiable by the fact that its head is completely white, so that he can transmit himself with it again in the hopes of regaining his missing atoms. A search of the house proves fruitless, and in desperation Hélène begs him to go through once more in the hopes that the transformation might reverse itself. Not believing it will work, but wanting to humor her, he agrees and goes through. When he steps out of the receiver Hélène pulls off the cloth sack that he has been covering his head with, and she is greeted with a truly horrifying sight. Not only is his head now that of a fly, but some of the missing particles from the family cat were also mixed in with his scrambled anatomy during the last experiment. Now realizing that he has been transformed beyond all hope, André destroys the pods and all of the work in his lab and devises a way to commit suicide while at the same time hiding from the world what he had become. He shows Hélène how to operate the hydraulic press and then places himself under it. Obeying his last wish, Hélène pushes the button to lower the press and kills her husband. François goes to see Hélène the next day but receives heartbreaking news. Unable to live with her memories, she committed suicide by cyanide during the night. Later that evening François invites Inspector Charas, the policeman in charge of the case, over to his house for dinner. After finishing their meal, François allows him to read Hélène's manuscript. After reading it, Charas declares that Hélène must have been mad, and they both decide to destroy the "confession". But just as the story ends, François tells Charas that earlier that day he killed a fly and buried it at his brother's graveside. It was a fly with a white head. ===== During an open house gathering at Bree Van De Kamp's house, Gabrielle reminisces about how she was head cheerleader back in high school. Tom relates to this since he had huge crushes on some of the girls but because he was in the marching band he was labeled a "band geek". He tells the ladies that he did not get a kiss until he was 18. Gabrielle feels sorry for him and jokingly kisses him on the lips. Lynette takes it to heart and confronts Gabrielle about it after the guests leave. Gabrielle says that she was just being spontaneous and that she was not being serious. Bree sides with Lynette since Gabrielle is an attractive ex-model and she would not have liked the kiss either. The following morning, Lynette thanks Bree for siding with her and Bree tells her that Gabrielle had an affair with John. Lynette is shocked and makes sure that Gabrielle does not start pursuing Tom. When Lynette gets off work early, she finds Gabrielle in her kitchen helping Tom with baby Penny. Lynette asks why she is there and Gabrielle tells her that she was just helping Tom with a few things. Lynette tells Gabrielle she knows about the affair and to watch out. Later while Lynette and Tom are in bed, she asks if there is something going on. Tom tells her not to worry but says that he can't help it "if the women are drawn to him". After learning that the neighborhood is talking about her affair, Gabrielle decides to let Carlos "even the score" by letting him have an affair with anyone he wants. Carlos laughs off her offer. Lynette decides to take matters into her own hands by visiting Gabrielle the following afternoon and making amends. They later laugh over smoothies when Carlos walks in and Lynette wants to be even. Lynette gives Carlos a french kiss and Gabrielle begins to relate to how Lynette felt. The next day when Lynette returns home from work, she finds Carlos waiting for her. As per Gabrielle's suggestion, he asks her that if at any time she would like to have an affair he is ready. Lynette gives him a nervous laugh and walks into her house. After Bree's party, Susan discovers Zach Young throwing out the garbage. Zach greets her as Susan waves back. She goes to Mike's house to tell him Zach is back. Mike already knows and that Paul has asked him to stay away. Susan then tries to develop a plan of how she can reunite them. While this is going on, Paul is preparing to begin homeschool Zach. Zach then asks Paul if he murdered Mrs. Huber because of a blackmail note. Paul denies this and tells him that he is a good man incapable of murder. Zach then says that Mary Alice wasn't capable of suicide but she still did it. The following day, Julie tells her mother the perfect plan: bowling. Susan and Julie then ask Mike if that will be alright which he thinks is fine. Julie then e-mails Zach about the excursion and Zach accepts. Later at the bowling alley, Mike "unexpectedly" arrives much to the surprise of Zach and the two begin their bond, with Zach not knowing that Mike is his real father. Meanwhile, Bree discovers Andrew making out with Justin. She begins to pour herself a glass of wine as Andrew walks back in. Bree tells him to stay away from Justin since homosexuality will not be tolerated under her roof. Andrew tells her that he does not care and will continue to see Justin as he pleases. Bree warns him that she will send him back to deprogramming camp if he does not comply with her instructions. Andrew tells her that she should have another drink and not judge since he does not. The following morning, Bree finds Andrew asleep with his arm around Justin. Bree screams in peril as she sees the two in bed together. Justin awakes and makes up an excuse that he is Andrew's lab partner. Justin then wakes Andrew up and Bree asks to see him downstairs. Andrew comes down and Bree tells Andrew that if Justin does not leave she will call the police. Andrew warns her if she does that he will inform the police that she "murdered" George Williams. Bree believes her son is not prone to blackmail but to be safe, she visits Karl Mayer who is happy to represent Bree. That afternoon, Bree, Andrew and her lawyer Karl have a discussion about Bree's involvement in George's death. He tells Andrew that because there is no law in not interfering with a suicide Bree will not be put on charges. Andrew thinks that is unfair but will lie instead. Bree warns Andrew that if he lies, she will sue him. Karl asks Bree to leave the room and he puts Andrew up against a wall and tells him that if he keeps treating his mother with disrespect he will come over and "take care of him" by violence. Bree smiles from the kitchen as she sips another glass of wine. Betty and Matthew argue over how Caleb wants his freedom and is becoming increasingly restless. Betty reminds Matthew that if he was not so preoccupied with other things maybe he could keep him company. She also tells him that she thinks they may have termites which are destroying the basement stairs. After Betty and Matthew leave, Curt Monroe who is in a car across the street plans to enter the residence to take Caleb hostage. When he finds Caleb he tells him not to be afraid and then punches him. He goes back upstairs to get his gun only to fall through the stairs as his gun goes off. Monroe dies shortly after as Caleb looks on. Betty and Matthew arrive home to find Caleb eating ice cream. Caleb tells them that he didn't do it. They find Monroe hanging from the stairs. They find out that he is from Illinois. When his cell phone rings the caller ID says "FOSTER" and they become suspicious and Betty decides they need to get rid of the body. They dispose of the body in his car but when Matthew leaves the keys in the trunk, they are forced to keep the car parked on the street. While Zach is asleep, Paul finds in his wastebasket a set of bowling scores from the day prior. Paul runs to Mike's house where he knocks him down and tells him to stay away from his son. Mike then punches back. Susan witnesses the whole thing while driving and accidentally crashes into Curt Monroe's car. The neighbors begin to gather as Alberta Fromme shrieks at the dead body in the car. After the police arrive, the women gather to think of who the murderer was. Edie thinks that the Applewhites are too mysterious and that it may have been them. The ladies wave to them and Betty tells Matthew that she is now worried. ===== Azaro is an abiku, or spirit-child, from the ghetto of an unknown city in Africa. He is constantly harassed by his sibling spirits from another world who want him to leave this mortal life and return to the world of spirits, sending many emissaries to bring him back. Azaro has stubbornly refused to leave this life owing to his love for his mother and father. He is the witness of many happenings in the mortal realm. His father works as a labourer while his mother sells items as a hawker. Madame Koto, the owner of a local bar, asks Azaro to visit her establishment, convinced that he will bring good luck and customers to her bar. Meanwhile, his father prepares to be a boxer after convincing himself and his family that he has a talent to be a pugilist. Two opposing political parties try to bribe or coerce the residents to vote for them. ===== In the teaser, Chandler and Monica cuddle while cooperating on a crossword puzzle, which Joey finds cute. That night, however, he dreams that he was doing the crossword puzzle with Monica, leading him to wonder if he finds her attractive. This is exacerbated when, at Central Perk the next morning, Monica is found wearing his sweatshirt as opposed to Chandler's, and later when Monica asks him to taste her cooking, leading to him confessing about his dreams. A bit of honest discussion between the three of them reveals that Joey is not really attracted to Monica, but rather to the intimacy and friendship she shares with Chandler. The two explain that this is because they were friends first before they started dating. Equipped with this new philosophy, he first tries to get on Rachel's good side, on the grounds that they are already friends, but she advises him to strike up a friendship with a woman and then pursue a relationship. Joey tries to do this, but when meeting a woman to strike up a friendship, he ends up in a threesome with her and her roommate. While digging beneath a Central Perk chair cushion for spare change, Phoebe uncovers a policeman's badge. Though she promises to return it, she finds using it far more entertaining, exploiting her new-found power to force a smoking bystander to apologize to a tree on which she snubbed out a cigarette. When she begins threatening her friends with arrest, she realizes she has gone too far, but before she can return it, she tries to force an illegally-parked man to move his car. He turns out to be a policeman as well, and is unimpressed when she claims to be an undercover cop from the 15th district of Manhattan. This fellow, Gary, turns out to be the owner of the badge, but when he arrives at Monica's apartment to arrest her, he asks her out on a date instead. Rachel is helping Ross shop for a new couch. After he finds one he likes, he forgoes delivery charges by having her help him carry it the three blocks to his apartment (he also fends off a condescending salesman by proclaiming that he and Rachel have had sex 298 times, leaving Rachel incredulous as to how he kept count). Getting it up a narrow stairwell proves more problematic, and after Rachel gets help in the form of Chandler, the three attempt to manhandle the couch up the stairs, only to get it stuck between landings. The couch ends up cut in half after Rachel accidentally pulls the fire alarm and Ross’ neighbors have to walk over the couch. Ross then attempts to return it and receives store credit in the amount of four dollars. ===== This book follows the story of Pete Hallam as he returns to the school and becomes a history teacher as well as a coach. It is a story of the aftermath of World War II and the loss of innocence of young men. It starts by Pete Hallam returning to the school he graduated from, war-torn and emotionally scarred. He now is a teacher at Devon School and detects a subtle but deep hate between two members of the class in the first session alone. ===== Teppei Takamiya is the caretaker of a farm located in Kamui Island, north of Japan. His older brother, Kotarō Takamiya, leaves to study robotics in Germany and becomes one of the most brilliant scientists in the world. Five years later, the two brothers reunite at a robotics convention in Mechatopia, China, where Kotarō is to announce his latest breakthrough in artificial intelligence. The convention goes awry when Kotarō is captured by the malevolent Machine Empire and taken to "The Area". Teppei manages to hitch a ride on his brother's capturer and reaches the Machine Empire, Teppei is attacked by Metalface, one of the Empire's soldiers. Unable to win, Teppei is thrown, bleeding, in the Empire's junkyard. His blood reaches the trashed body of X, who was once considered one of the strongest B't of the Empire, and the disgruntled B't awakens. Faced with unanswered questions and imminent destruction, X reluctantly saves Teppei, and the pair flee the Area with soldiers of the Empire in hot pursuit. Meanwhile, inside the Area, Kotarō discovers that he has been summoned by another of the Empire's soldiers, Major Aramis, to find a way to stop the ultimate B't - a creation known as Raffaello (ラファエロ) that has begun a terrifying and uncontrollable evolution. Teppei's main goal is to save his brother, but as he and X venture further into the Area and learn more about the Machine Empire they start to fight for the survival of the human race. On the way to the center of the Empire they gain allies that help them prevail over the guardians of the empire. The ultimate B't eventually finalizes its evolution and the Machine Emperor appears. Before the emperor can fuse with Raffaello, Teppei and his allies confront him. =====