From Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License ===== George Beard, Harold Hutchins, Sulu, and Crackers have now ended up in an alternate universe where the whole world is the opposite of their normal world (instead of being perched up in a tree in the Cretacious Period of the Mesozoic Era). Good is bad, smart is dumb, and heroes are villains. For example, Melvin Sneedly is struggling to comprehend a simple children's book and Mr. Krupp is nice and has a sense of humour (Like Captain Underpants does). After they realize these events taking place and then some, there they see evil versions of George and Harold (George and Harold's evil counterparts) and they learn through one of their evil twins' comics that they had turned their principal into an evil supervillain named Captain Blunderpants. Sulu and Crackers are kidnapped by Evil George and Evil Harold. They are hypnotized to be evil. (Crackers isn't hypnotized because she is female) Sulu becomes evil and attacks Good George and Good Harold but Crackers on the other hand, saves them (which Good George and Good Harold can't understand why). The heroes finally get back to their normal dimension of the multiverse, but end up unintentionally bringing Nice Mr. Krupp, Sulu, and Evil George and Evil Harold with them. Evil George and Evil Harold transform Nice Mr. Krupp into Captain Blunderpants by getting water on his head and the 4 began to wreak havoc into the town of Piqua. Good George and Good Harold take the 3D Hypno-Ring so that they could dehypnotize Sulu and take the Extra-Strength Super Power Juice just in case. However, Mr. Beard stops Good George and Good Harold from leaving the house and forces them to come inside as it is Grandparent's Day and Good George and Good Harold have to eat dinner with their grandparents at Good George's house. While Good George and Good Harold try to explain to Mr. Beard they need to leave, George and Harold's grandparents take the remainder of the Extra-Strength Super Power Juice and drink it. Elsewhere, Evil George and Evil Harold find Good George and Good Harold's treehouse, rummage through their personal belongings and find the "Goosy-Grow 4000". They then use it to transform Sulu into a giant monster named Hamsterzilla. Hamsterzilla charges at Good George and Good Harold, but Crackers flies in and Good George and Good Harold flee from their home flying over on Crackers' back, only to be chased by Evil Harold, Evil George and Captain Blunderpants. The Good George and Harold decide that they have to drink the super power juice to fight back, but unfortunately, they realize it is somehow empty despite there being a third amount of juice earlier. Since there was no more of the Super Power Juice left, Good George explains that there is only one plan left they can resort to now. The duo and Crackers manage to escape the evil duo that was following them. They go to Nasty Mr. Krupp's house (which Good George and Good Harold covered in toilet paper at an earlier point) and knock on his door. Right after Nasty Mr. Krupp answers, Good George and Good Harold quickly snap their fingers to turn Nasty Mr. Krupp into Captain Underpants. The latter then defeats Hamsterzilla. The evil trio notice this after robbing a bank, so Underpants now must fight his evil counterpart Blunderpants. However before the epic battle begins, Captain Blunderpants is transformed back into Nice Mr. Krupp by the snap of Good George's finger. The duo reveal that they didn't forget about reading their evil counterparts' comic book on how Blunderpants and Nice Mr. Krupp can switch identities. Underpants ties the alternate counterparts up, but when Good Harold states that nothing can go wrong, the worst thing is that something can go wrong. This causes a rain storm to turn Nice Mr. Krupp back into Captain Blunderpants and Captain Underpants is turned back into Nasty Mr. Krupp. Good George and Good Harold try snapping their fingers, but the snaps have no effect on either Nasty Mr. Krupp or Blunderpants as the rain is pouring too hard on them. Nasty Mr. Krupp can't figure out how he got outside, so he goes back to his soggy toilet paper-covered home to get back to bed not contributing to the plot of what is happening around him. With Captain Underpants out of commission, Good George and Good Harold are forced to get away on Crackers while Captain Blunderpants flies after them with Evil George and Evil Harold in his hand. Good George soon finds the Shrinky-Pig 2000 in the treehouse which the gang can use to make the evil twin counterparts no longer a threat. Unfortunately it is too late as Blunderpants grabs the duo by their Shirts while the device falls into the hands of Evil George and Evil Harold. When all seemed lost at a point before Blunderpants can finish off Good George and Good Harold due to Captain Underpants not being in commission to save them, someone's voice stops him from doing so. George and Harold's grandparents have arrived and order Blunderpants to put down their grandchildren, but Blunderpants just tightens his grip on the two children, so George and Harold's grandparents become Great Granny Girdle and Boxer Boy. They then place two curtains on them as capes before they defeat Captain Blunderpants and save their grandchildren. Good George notes he figured out what happened to the Super Power Juice that disappeared earlier. (Their grandparents drank it.) However, Evil George and Evil Harold are prepared to use the Shrinky-Pig 2000 on their alternate twins, but Good Harold claims they can go right ahead as they are holding the device backwards. The evil twins believe this and turn the device around before activating it, resulting in themselves being shrunk. After giving the evil twins the punishment they deserve and George and Harold's grandparents fly off for a romantic dinner, the duo dehypnotize and shrink Hamsterzilla back into Sulu. They then take Evil George, Evil Harold, and Captain Blunderpants back into the Purple Potty and then they kick them back to their universe. Good Harold states everything worked out perfectly, but this causes policemen to arrest them because they think they are the evil George and Harold, who robbed a bank while Captain Underpants was fighting Hamsterzilla. Good Harold again states that things cannot get any worse because they are going to jail for the rest of their lives. This time, however, Tippy Tinkletrousers (Professor Poopypants who changed his name at the end of Captain Underpants and the Perilous Plot of Professor Poopypants) comes and freezes the cops solid before he starts chasing Good George, Good Harold, Crackers and Sulu, and the book ends, once again, with Good George yelling "Oh no!" and Good Harold yelling "Here we go again!" ===== Rebel begins in Richmond, Virginia after the fall of Fort Sumter, Charleston, South Carolina when Starbuck is trying to visit his friend Adam Faulconer. Starbuck is saved from an attack by Richmond's residents who think that he is a Yankee spy by Faulconer's rich father Washington Faulconer. Faulconer wishes to raise a regiment to fight the Yankees, and he appoints Starbuck as one of his aides, with the rank of second lieutenant. Starbuck is there by circumstance, not for politics, and he is given the task of recruiting a tough Mexican–American War veteran named Thomas Truslow, who lives in the fictional Faulconer County. He succeeds by dedicating the grave of Truslow's wife and officiating in the marriage of his wayward daughter Sally Truslow. Many other events occur between this and the start of the hostilities, when the Faulconer Legion marches off to the First Battle of Bull Run. It is here that Starbuck alienates himself from Faulconer. Copperhead follows Starbuck during the period of the Union invasion of the Confederacy by the Army of the Potomac under General McClellan. Battle Flag is set during the Second Battle of Bull Run. The Bloody Ground follows Starbuck as the Confederate army under Robert E. Lee invades the North, culminating in the Battle of Antietam. ===== After murdering two orderlies, Robert Griffin escapes from the secluded Cape Town mental institution where he has been committed, and now he is looking for revenge on the respectable Herrick family. A family consisting of Sir Jasper and lady Irene, and their daughter Julie, who are engaged in entertaining, and inspecting, Julie's new boyfriend, newspaper journalist Mark Foster, in the family residence. Later that night Julie and Mark leave the residence together, and Sir Jasper and lady Irene are left alone. That's when Robert decides to pay the couple a visit. Quite unexpectedly he enters the residence and accuses the couple of leaving him to die out in the African wild, injured when they were on a safari together. The Herrick couple defends themselves, claiming they were told that he was dead and not injured, but Robert doesn't buy their explanation. He demands they give him his share of the diamond fields they all discovered together on the safari. Jasper tries to tell Robert that the diamond fields were all lost in a series of bad investments. Robert refuses to give in, threatening to sue the Herricks, and to calm him down and get him off their backs, they offer him a share in an estate, the Shortlands. His counter-proposal is that they should arrange for him to be married to their daughter Julie. After saying this, he is drugged by Lady Irene and passes out in their home. The Herricks realize that their old friend and companion has gone completely mad, and while they are frightened of what he could do to them if they don't comply to his wish, they see no problem with stealing the agreement made or pushing him further along the path of insanity with their betrayal. They search Robert's clothes and find the written partnership agreement they all entered into some time ago. Taking the paper, they next callously throw Robert out of their house. Robert nearly drowns where he lies, unconscious, but is saved by a local Cockney cobbler by the name of Herbert Higgins. Herbert decides to use this newfound possibility - the information he got from Robert - to blackmail the Herricks. He is unsuccessful, as Jasper calls on chief constable Sir Frederick Travers. The chief constable declares Robert's claims to the Herricks' estate as void and orders him to leave his jurisdiction. Robert leaves for London, but on his way he happens to come by the home of eager scientist Dr. Peter Drury. This scientist is involved in some questionable research, and is very eager to find a suitable subject to test his new experimental formula on - a formula for invisibility. Robert asks that the doctor try it on him, and he agrees, completely in the dark of the fact that Robert wants to use this to get his revenge on the Herricks. Robert forces Jasper to sign over their entire estate to him. He also finds time to help his saviour Herbert to win a game of darts at the local inn. Jasper secretly also agrees to give his daughter's hand in marriage to Robert - if he ever regains his visibility. Robert goes back to the scientists laboratory and witnesses how the doctor restores visibility to his dog Brutus, by giving him a blood transfusion. Robert breaks into the laboratory and knocks the doctor unconscious, before performing a blood transfusion on himself, using the doctor's blood. The transfusion results in the doctor's death, and to avoid capture, Robert sets the laboratory on fire and takes off just before the police arrive on the scene. Robert changes his identity to "Martin Field" and moves in with the Herricks at the estate which he is now owner of. When Herbert finds out about Robert's return he makes a futile attempt to blackmail him too, and out of pity - and perhaps thankfulness - Robert pays the man one thousand pounds to get rid of him. Robert has one condition for paying the money: that Herbert kills the doctor's dog Brutus, who has followed Robert back to the Herrick estate after the fire. Robert starts losing his visibility one day at the breakfast table, with Julie and her fiancé Mark present. He tricks Mark to follow him down into the wine cellar, where he knocks the man out, starting another, second blood transfusion with Mark's blood. Chief Constable Travers arrives at the estate after he has found out about Robert's return. With some help from Herbert and Jasper they break into the cellar just as the transfusion is about to be completed, in time to save Mark's life. Robert is attacked by the still very much alive Brutus, and killed. Mark tells the others that Griffin went insane when he was locked up in the asylum, and meant no one any harm until he escaped. ===== Protagonist Choi han jung,who was imprisoned for his independence activism,succeeds breaking out of prison.He stays at his friend's house whose name is park jin beom and also a comrade to his cause for independence.He meets his other political comrades in a basement under a house built in a western style, and persuade them to continue their resstance to the japanese Kenpeitai in the 1940s, when the fall of the japanese empire was imminnent.However, a member of the movement gets caught by the japanese while moving the dynamite, which leads to choi striving to save him and end up surrounded by the japanese military police. He hides in the residence of Mihyang, who is a mistress of the japanese police high official Nanbu(南部). A gunfight with the Kenpeitai ensues, which leads to choi being injured and imprisoned in a university hospital while receiving treatment.With the help of nurse hyeja who loved choi, hanjung can keep doing his endeavors for independence.With the atomic bomb on hiroshima and nagasaki,Korea gains its independence as a result of the surrender of japan.While the streets of Jongno celebrates the event, hanjung searches for the tomb of Mihyang, who lost her life.https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Contents/Item/E0048023 ===== The plot is fairly simple. In the first half, when the ship is stranded but unharmed, the mood is bucolic and philosophical, and the main challenge Hisako has is to pass the time in a tropical lake. She has an affair with one of the ship's officers and they go scuba diving together. She practises the cello. She is worried about the future, and has violent nightmares and flashbacks to her early life in Japan. She also spends time with the other passengers, among them a South African engineer and an erudite Egyptian. In the much darker second half, the book becomes an almost Die Hard- like thriller. Guerrillas (who turn out to be agents provocateur) take over the ship. The rebels kill everybody aboard except Hisako and rape her. She avenges herself, killing the pirates. The violence of the rebel takeover and of Hisako's revenge is described very graphically. ===== When a thief driving a motorcycle steals a purse of a pedestrian, the clumsy, naive and honest rookie policeman Sang- hwan runs after him, but Eui-jin, specialist in martial arts, captures the criminal swang and Sang-hwan is severely injured. She brings Sang-hwan to her home, where the six Masters of Tao heal him and believe that he has a powerful Qi, the spiritual energy of the universe, and could be a powerful warrior. Sang-hwan begins his training to ascend to a Maruchi, while the evil and ambitious Heuk-woon is accidentally released from his imprisonment. The powerful Heuk-woon attacks the masters, searching for a key that they protect, which would permit him to become an Arahan and dominate the world. When the masters are defeated, Sang-hwan and Eui-jin are the only and last hope to mankind. ===== The story is told in flashback, once from the perspective of the protagonist, and then a second time with a deeper understanding that is provided by the intelligence officer in London. A Scotsman, RAF Sgt. John Dougall (John Blythe), a downed Royal Air Force air gunner who was previously a prisoner of war, explains how he travelled with great difficulty through German-occupied France. He was accompanied most of the way by a companion who was another escaped prisoner of war, and they were both aided by various courageous Resistance workers. His companion gave him a letter to deliver once he reached London, supposedly a very personal and private letter. However, when we see the Intelligence officer's explanation of the same events, it becomes clear that the gunner's companion, who was supposedly helping him along, was in fact a Gestapo spy, who murdered several of the Resistance fighters and reported the rest to the authorities, and that the "personal letter" the gunner was going to deliver in London contains secret information that would have helped the enemy. ===== Abel and Morgan, an aristocratic couple, live in a small castle in an indeterminate place and time of civil war. They decide to abandon their home and join a trek of refugees seeking safety. A group of irregulars, led by a woman called "The Lieutenant" (or "Loot"), stops them and takes them back to the castle, which the irregulars fortify as a base. They loot the castle, and Morgan is seduced by the Lieutenant. A rival faction attacks the castle with artillery and Abel is taken along with the fighters on a counter- attack. When they return, Abel almost shoots the Lieutenant and there is a violent and nihilistic ending. A Song of Stone tells the frightening story of what happens when the normal rules of society break down. Themes of decadence, violence and war are intertwined with the lives of the rather pompous but lyrical disgraced aristocrat Abel, his partner Morgan, the ruthless Lieutenant and her soldiers with names like "Psycho", "Karma" and "Deathwish". The story is told by Abel, an unreliable narrator. Abel describes Morgan's actions in the second person, mostly when she is in his direct view. As the invaders systematically loot and destroy Abel's family's ancestral home, Abel seems ambivalent to what is happening. Later, when the Lieutenant suggests a memorial for Abel's lifelong family retainer, who has just been killed, Abel and the reader realise that he does not know the servant's surname. The violence of war is described graphically. ===== As a young man, Emile went to England on a university scholarship, leaving behind his brutal older brother Carl and his creative younger brother Freddy to run the family farm in Saskatchewan. Despite promising Freddy that he would return, Emile stayed in England and became an academic, turning his back on his Canadian past and even acquiring an English accent, while his brothers died one after the other in tragic circumstances: Freddy gassing himself with exhaust fumes in his pick-up; Carl dying in a crash in the same pick-up. On his brief return (presumably for Carl's funeral) the authorities think he is there to adopt Carl's young daughter Nadia, but he abandons her simply saying "single parent families are not allowed on campus". All he is there to do is to resolve the family land-holdings. Invited many decades later to receive an honorary degree by a Canadian university, the retired Emile decides to take an extended visit to Victoria, British Columbia to try to get to know Carl's now adult daughter Nadia (Deborah Kara Unger, who also briefly portrays Carl's wife) who has recently separated from her husband, and her ten-year-old daughter Maria (Theo Crane, who also portrays the ten-year-old Nadia) before it is too late. The discovery of his ancient typewriter amongst Nadia's belongings triggers a series of reveries, half memory, half fantasy, in which Emile's unresolved feelings about the past come back to haunt him. ===== Lonny Goosen (Dov Tiefenbach) is a documentary filmmaker whose car just got towed. Together with his friend Gus (Andrew McNee) as his cameraman and Gus' cousin Olena (Diana Pavlovská) as their sound person, Lonny sets out to make a film about what people think about parking enforcers. ===== Bryce (Josh Brolin) is a successful man who returns to his tiny hometown for a visit. While there, he runs into his old friend Nick (Alessandro Nivola). The two decide to go out for the night. When they enter a bar, Bryce encounters Kathy (Reese Witherspoon), a blonde temptress whom he eventually takes home for the night. When he awakens, Kathy informs him that she is underage and threatens to tell the police that Bryce has committed statutory rape. Bryce panics and decides to tie her up and hide her away in the basement. He then makes a call to Nick. Unbeknownst to Bryce, Kathy is actually Nick's girlfriend Lissa. The two had schemed to use Bryce's money to pay off a $15,000 debt they owe small-time hood Jimmy (Terrence Howard). ===== Though Daria and Jane are still on speaking terms, Jane is cold toward Daria, and their relationship is tense. Daria and Tom are seeing each other romantically, but due to Daria's personality and the gravity of the situation, they are taking things slowly. Jane has signed up for a summer art camp, seemingly to avoid Daria. At the camp, Jane meets Alison, an older artist, and the two bond over mutual contempt for their pretentious mentor and equally pretentious peers. However, Alison repeatedly tries to come onto Jane, dismissing Jane's protests that she is straight. The next time they meet, Jane signals uncertainty about her own sexuality. But this turns to anger when she realizes that, after previously putting down their pompous instructor to ingratiate herself with Jane, Alison is now sleeping with him to further her career. This causes Jane to become disillusioned with the art world. Daria intends to do nothing but read, sleep, and hang out with her friends and boyfriend, but her mother Helen forces her to work as a counselor at English teacher Timothy O'Neill's summer day camp for pre-pubescent children. There, Daria meets a nihilistic camper named Link, who constantly voices his disillusionment. It is loosely implied that he is neglected by his mother and his stepfather. Recognizing herself in Link, Daria attempts to reach out to him. However, he rejects her overtures, causing Daria to feel worse. Paralleling these emotions is her relationship with Tom, which she effectively ends for the discomfort it brings. After getting a poor score on a pre-college admissions exam, Quinn desperately wants to prove her intelligence without ruining her image in the fashion club. Helen hires David, a no-nonsense tutor who gets Quinn to take learning more seriously. As the tutoring gets results, Quinn realizes that she is interested in David romantically. At their final session, she confesses her feelings to him, but David says she is not his type due to her low academic aspirations, noting that the college Quinn wants to attend is a party school. In a heart-to-heart talk with Daria, Quinn shows how much the rejection hurt her, but Daria convinces her that it is worthwhile to "give people a chance" even though things might not work out. The talk makes Daria consider whether she broke up with Tom prematurely. Daria comes to visit Jane, and, due to some meddling from Jane's brother Trent, the two reconcile. Daria later tells Jane that she was always impressed by Jane's strong sense of identity, which resolves Jane's identity crisis. Daria receives a letter from Link that invites her to email him, assuaging her fears that she is incapable of connecting with another human being. Jane affirms that she is no longer upset that Daria dated Tom and encourages her to get back together with him. ===== Paul Bradford (Jeffrey Byron) is a skilled computer programmer who lives with his girlfriend, Gwen (Leslie Wing), and "X-CaliBR8," a quasi-sentient personal computer that Paul programmed and which he interacts with via a neural interface. Gwen is jealous of Paul's unusually close relationship with X-CaliBR8, to whom Paul has given a female voice, and fears that their relationship will be destroyed by Paul's reliance on X-CaliBR8 for his various day-to-day activities. One night, Paul and Gwen are both transported to a Hellish realm presided over by Mestema (Richard Moll), an ancient, demonic sorcerer who has spent millennia seeking a worthy opponent with whom to do battle. Having long defeated his enemies with magic, Mestema has become intrigued with technology, and wishes to pit his skills against Paul's, with the winner claiming Gwen. Arming Paul with a portable version of X-CaliBR8 (which takes the form of a computerized wrist band), Mestema begins transporting Paul into a variety of scenarios in which he must defeat various opponents. Most of the challenges involve Paul using his X-CaliBR8 wristband to shoot people, monsters, and objects with laser beams. After Paul completes Mestema's various challenges, the two engage in a final battle, which takes the form of a fist fight in which Paul kills Mestema by throwing him into a pit of lava. After Mestema dies, Paul and Gwen are transported back to their house, where Gwen expresses her acceptance of X-CaliBR8 and suggests that she and Paul get married. ===== In this sequel to Father of the Bride, newly married Kay Dunstan (Elizabeth Taylor) announces that she and her husband are going to have a baby, leaving her father, Stanley Banks (Spencer Tracy), having to come to grips with becoming a grandfather. Middle-class family man Stanley Banks reminisces on events of the past year: One afternoon, returning from the office feeling happy and energetic, Stanley's routine is interrupted when his wife Ellie (Joan Bennett) tells him that they are having dinner with their daughter Kay and her husband, Buckley Dunstan (Don Taylor), to hear some important news. Although Stanley is certain that it concerns Buckley's business, the newlyweds reveal that Kay is expecting a baby. Buckley's parents, Doris (Billie Burke) and Herbert (Moroni Olsen), are delighted, as is Ellie, but Stanley broods that he is too young and vibrant to be a grandfather. Soon Ellie, flush with excitement, throws Kay a baby shower, something Stanley thinks is highway robbery not punishable by law. Later, Ellie suggests that they remodel their house to enable Kay, Buckley, and the baby to move in with them, but Stanley puts his foot down. Ellie is near tears when the wealthy Dunstans announce that they are planning to add a wing to their home for the couple, but is overjoyed when Kay and Buckley reveal that they have just bought their own little house, enabling Ellie to have free rein helping Kay decorate. After settling into their new home, Kay, who is very close to her father, expresses her concern that the baby will make a difference in her relationship with Buckley. Stanley comforts her by telling her how much he loved her as a baby. Soon the Bankses and the Dunstans are trying to outdo one another buying gifts and making plans for the baby, up to his enrollment in college. One night, while listening to Ellie, Doris, and Herbert bicker over what the baby should be named, Kay breaks down and runs to her room. Only Stanley, whom Kay feels is the sole parent who understands her, is able to comfort her. The day after pledging to Kay that he will make certain that none of the in-laws will interfere again, Stanley drags Ellie to Kay's physician, Dr. Andrew Nordell, anxious over the "modern" ideas Nordell has about a more natural method of childbirth and infant care. For the next month or so, things remain calm, until Stanley is awakened by a late night call from Buckley, who says that Kay has left him "for good." After sneaking over to Buckley and Kay's place, Stanley learns from a cab driver that Kay took a taxi to his house. The two men then return to the Banks house, where the couple make up after Kay's jealousy is revealed to be a misunderstanding stemming from Buckley's late nights working at the office. Kay, as well as Stanley, realize Buckley's devotion to his family. As the baby's birth approaches, nerves among the parents and grandparents become frayed. The eventual birth of a baby boy delights everyone, except Stanley, a distant and wary observer of the as-yet-unnamed baby, who starts to cry whenever Stanley comes near him. When the baby is six months old, Kay joins Buckley on a brief business trip and leaves the baby with her parents, hoping to give Stanley time to grow closer to his grandson. One afternoon, while Kay is still away, Stanley takes the baby for a walk in the park. When the baby finally falls asleep in his carriage, Stanley joins some friendly neighborhood boys in a game of football and loses track of time. After the game, when Stanley cannot find the carriage, he frantically retraces his steps back to the house. Seeing through the window that Kay has returned early, he panics and takes a taxi to the local police station. There a befuddled Stanley confesses to the grim- faced police sergeant that he has lost the baby. Fearing the wrath of the police squad, who found the sweet-natured baby and have fallen in love with him, Stanley secretly prays that his grandson will not start to scream when he picks him up. To Stanley's relief, the baby is delighted to see him, and from that moment on, the two are devoted to each other. Some time later, at the baby's christening, Stanley beams with pride as his grandson is finally named "Stanley Banks Dunstan." ===== George breaks up with a woman after she beats him in a game of chess. When he tells Jerry about it at Monk's, they both realize that they have done nothing with their lives and decide to make some changes. However, Kramer warns Jerry against marriage, so he decides to remain with his singles lifestyle. George, meanwhile, proposes to his old girlfriend Susan Ross. George is irritated when Jerry tells him that he broke up with his girlfriend Melanie because she eats peas one at a time, arguing that they had a pact to change their lives. He begins to regret his engagement as he has to pass up opportunities to see action films and baseball games with Jerry in order to watch sentimental films and Mad About You with Susan. A barking dog is keeping Elaine from getting sleep. Kramer refers her to Newman, who agrees to kidnap the dog and relocate it. Later that night, Elaine, Kramer and Newman rent a van and steal the dog, a Yorkshire Terrier. Kramer leaves the dog at a random doorstep in Monticello, but it rips off a piece of his shirt with a tag from Rudy's vintage shop. The dog finds its way back to its owner's apartment, carrying the piece of Kramer's shirt. With the shirt scrap as evidence, police officers arrest Kramer, Newman and Elaine for dognapping. Elaine decides she needs to make some changes with her life. ===== The story revolves around the lead of the story, Kirihara Aruto. It begins one night when Aruto is awake writing his own copy of The Endless Alice. Suddenly he sees a girl leaping through the night sky. Believing her to be the Alice he writes about, he leaves his house and follows her to a library. He sees her fighting with another girl, who is defeated. The former then steals the latter's story and disappears. The next day, she reveals herself as Arisugawa Arisu, the female lead of the story. She then explains that she is an Alice User, capable of transforming into a kemonomimi bunny girl that uses a key in fights against other Alice Users. The keys are used to unlock the stories in other Alice Users's hearts. She explains that if a girl loses her story that she can no longer be an Alice User; the overall goal of an Alice User is to defeat all others and finish the Endless Alice. The one who does so will be granted a wish. Later, Kirihara Kiriha, Aruto's little sister is introduced. Kiriha reveals herself as an Alice User and proceeds to fight Arisu. Aruto breaks up the fight and the two make peace. The trio agrees to help each other finish Endless Alice. The rest of the series follows their adventures together. ===== Kenya McQueen (Sanaa Lathan) is a successful, single African American woman who has sacrificed romance in order to pursue a career as a certified public accountant. Her obsessive compulsive desire for perfection and control has manifested itself in the bland, monochromatic decor of her new home and the rigid rules she follows in her personal life. Urged to loosen up by her friends, Kenya accepts a blind date with landscape architect Brian Kelly (Simon Baker) arranged by her co-worker Leah Cahan (Katharine Towne), who is in the process of planning the kind of wedding Kenya wants herself. The two meet at Starbucks, and she is surprised to discover Brian is white. She quickly excuses herself and leaves. The two unexpectedly meet again at a party at Leah's parents' home, where Brian landscaped the grounds. Impressed with his work, Kenya decides to hire him to renovate her unkempt backyard garden. As time passes, their employer-employee relationship evolves into a friendship and then love. Although Brian is helping her feel more comfortable about her living environment, Kenya finds it difficult to dismiss her reservations about their romance. The opinions of her girlfriends Cheryl (Wendy Raquel Robinson), Nedra (Taraji P. Henson), and Suzette (Golden Brooks), her upper class parents Joyce (Alfre Woodard) and Edmond (Earl Billings), and her womanizing younger brother Nelson (Donald Faison) begin to have a deleterious effect and Brian's unwillingness to discuss issues of color drives them apart. Nelson introduces his sister to someone she views as a more acceptable suitor, tax attorney Mark Harper (Blair Underwood), who has just relocated to Los Angeles. The two begin to date, and while Joyce thoroughly approves, Edmond senses his daughter is not as happy as she was with Brian. Everything Kenya thought she wanted suddenly seems immaterial, and nothing Mark does ignites a spark between them. When the dissonance she’s developed finally overwhelms her, Kenya chooses to reunite with Brian, no longer allowing her controlling nature and social norms to dictate matters of the heart. Kenya marries Brian amongst their closest friends and loved ones. ===== The Enterprise discovers a crashed escape pod in an unexplored star system. Investigating, they find there is one critically injured passenger in the pod, and the crew brings him aboard the ship. Dr. Crusher determines the survivor will live due to the stranger's own amazing recuperative powers. Crusher also notes that the survivor's cells are mutating in some way. A couple of days later the stranger finally awakens, but has no memory of his life or identity. The crew decides to call him "John Doe". Some time passes and John has recovered physically, but still has amnesia. In addition, from time to time he suffers from severe pain which is somehow tied to his ongoing mutation. He also begins emitting strange, bright energy bursts. John soon learns that he is able to use this energy to heal injuries, as witnessed by Crusher when he aids a patient in her Sickbay. In the meantime, Geordi La Forge has determined the pod the Enterprise discovered was a kind of storage device. Geordi is also able to interpret a star chart and find the location of John's home planet. However, John's memory has begun to return, and he senses that he must not go back to his home planet yet. A day or so later, a vessel intercepts the Enterprise, and John declares he has to leave. He tries to steal a shuttle and an energy burst accidentally knocks Lieutenant Worf from a walkway, resulting in a fatal fall to the floor below due to a broken neck. John then uses his healing powers to revive Worf and heal his injuries. Prevented from escaping, John explains that he wanted to leave as he is becoming a danger to himself and the crew. Captain Sunad of the intercepting ship communicates with the Enterprise, announcing he is from the planet Zalkon and that he wants John returned to him. He explains that John is a criminal who has been given a death sentence. Captain Picard considers the situation, but refuses to release John to the Zalkonians without more information as to the charges. He contacts the other ship and mentions John's strange powers, which alarms Captain Sunad. Sunad immediately triggers a device which causes the entire Enterprise crew to become unable to breathe. John resists the device and heals everyone aboard the Enterprise with one bright flash of his energy. His memory now restored, John transports Sunad to the Enterprise using his powers. John explains that his race has reached a new stage in evolution, in which they are evolving into beings of energy. His homeworld's government fears what is happening and, telling the population it is a deadly sickness, kills any who show the signs of change; John and others aboard the ship were escaping from their homeworld when attacked. John then becomes the first to complete the transformation, becoming invulnerable. John offers to help Sunad make this transformation as well, but Sunad still refuses. John sends Sunad back to his own ship, warning him that their government can no longer keep their people in ignorance. The Zalkonian ship then leaves the area. John bids the crew good-bye, transforms into energy and departs the ship. While it's not known where John went, the implication is that John left for his homeworld so that other Zalkonians would have the chance to evolve and join him. ===== The series follows the growth of a teenage Huang Fei Hong (played by Sik Siu Loong) from being naughty to behaving like a man. During the first 5 episodes Huang Fei Hong is living in his hometown in Guangzhou, China. There he and his friend Lin Shi Long, who was also his best friend and student in real life, goes along with him doing naughty things such as throwing a banana on the floor to deliberately trip a martial artist carrying a heavy statue, which almost smashed a little child. Huang Fei Hong also picks fights with other students in his school, especially the martial artist's son, who is a weak wimp. Later, Huang Fei Hong develops a friendship with the wimp. There are final bosses in each few episodes which can also be considered an arc. During the last arc, there is a final boss for the series. ===== Lizzie Borden High's class of 1972 is getting ready to go through the motions at their 10-year reunion when a deranged alumnus named Walter Baylor, who was driven insane by a horrible, sadistic, senior-year prank, escapes from the mental institution and decides to crash the party at his high school reunion. Guests start to disappear and are found dead; the other alumni, including the high class snooty yacht salesman Bob Spinnaker, class tease Bunny Packard, and the class zero Gary Nash, spring into action as they try to uncover the culprit and put an end to the nightmare that has become their class reunion. ===== Brother and sister Dick and Dorothea Callum meet the Swallows and Amazons during the winter beside the lake. Whilst observing the stars from an isolated barn, Dick and Dorothea encounter the other children and shortly become firm friends. They become part of the group, and join in their play of Arctic expeditions. The holiday is extended when leader Nancy Blackett catches mumps and the group is quarantined and cannot return to their boarding schools. Initially, while waiting for snow to fall, the children embark on a series of adventures ranging from rebuilding an igloo to building an ice sled. Dick displays heroism by rescuing a sheep belonging to Farmer Dixon stranded on an ice-covered ledge, thus gaining his gratitude and earning them a sledge of their own. There is a heavy snowfall followed by a prolonged period of freezing weather and, unusually, the lake freezes over, providing an excellent opportunity for an expedition to the point at the head of the lake that they have named the "North Pole". However, plans go awry when the Ds set out earlier than expected due to a misunderstanding over a signal flag. When a blizzard blows up and the Ds are missing, a rescue party is organised consisting of the Swallows and Peggy, one of the Amazons. ===== The novel is set in Britain in 1987, and involves the Seventh Doctor and his companions Chris Cwej and Roz Forrester living on a working-class council estate while attempting to track down an infinitely powerful Gallifreyan weapon before it falls into the wrong hands. A young boy living on the estate, Gabriel Tyler, appears to be the focus of strange powers, and also for the attentions of Eva Jericho, whose own grievously ill young son seems to be linked to Gabriel in some way, through a secret Gabriel's mother Winnie has long tried to hide. ===== Bree attends an elegant luncheon at fellow Fairview socialite Maxine Bennet's home. As Maxine serves the dishes, Bree cannot help but know that Maxine is getting help with the cooking since a recipe Bree used took 6 hours to cook. Bree tries to bring up during the meal that Maxine must have very good help, but her hostess denies it. Minutes later, the FBI arrives looking for Maxine and possess a warrant to search her house. The FBI look around and find a locked room which they break down. In the room they find a Chinese slave, Xiao-Mei, who is busy cooking. As Maxine is escorted out of the house in handcuffs they both scream at each other. The other women look on in shock but Bree knew "the proof was in the pudding". Later, Susan and Edie question Bree on her sudden friendship with Betty Applewhite since everyone knows that Bree was the one pointing the most fingers. Bree defends herself, and Edie asks if it is because Danielle and Matthew are dating. Bree says it is her own business how she handles Betty. As Bree talks to her daughter in the dining room, Danielle wonders why Bree is even talking to her after she betrayed her confidence. Bree tries to ask what Caleb did that made Betty hide him. Danielle does not exactly know, but suggests that she find out herself. Bree gives Danielle the advice "to take care of her looks" because she lacks everything else. Remembering that she possessed a spare key from when the Mullins lived in Betty's home, Bree sneaks over shortly after Betty and Matthew leave. She finds Caleb upstairs and introduces herself and states her business. She warms up to Caleb by bringing him some cobbler and manages to get some answers out of him. When he takes her down to his former room, Bree looks in horror on the harsh treatment Caleb had to endure. Caleb tells her that the reason he was locked down in the basement was because he hurt a girl, Melanie Foster, who then died. Caleb says Melanie was "pretty just like [Bree]". Bree gives a nervous look as she moves away from Caleb. Tom is finding a difficult time adjusting to his new job at Parcher & Murphy as Ed continues to kill all of his pitches. When Tom brings up the fact that he was in a fraternity, Ed really likes the idea but starts a series of contests for Tom to try. The first of many is to catch candies in his mouth from a distance as Ed throws them. Tom successfully catches two but the third lands on his nose. Ed gets a large laugh out of Tom's failure and agrees to give him $200 anyway. The next dare is for Tom to eat a donut dipped in toilet water. Lynette feels that they had enough and that they should quit playing games. Ed sees this as a cry from Tom. This causes Lynette to ask Ed to give her a dare since it is new company policy. Ed dares Lynette to eat a pound of raw bacon and if she succeeds without vomiting the dares will stop. Lynette manages to eat the bacon and Ed stops the dares, saying that Lynette "sucked the fun out of it". Gabrielle arrives home to find Father Crowley talking to Carlos. Father Crowley asks them if they will house Xiao-Mei, Maxine's slave who is currently awaiting plans to return to China. Gabrielle at first objects seeing as they are letting a total stranger into their home. Her mood changes when Xiao-Mei fixes a torn dress and cooks Gabrielle a lavish meal. Gabrielle asks Carlos if they could hire Xiao-Mei full-time and help her apply for citizenship. Carlos does not really agree which causes Gabrielle to leave. The following day, Gabrielle tries to convince Xiao-Mei to stay by telling her about all the good things America has to offer. Xiao-Mei sees a beautiful piece of jewelry that Gabrielle claims is worthless. Gabrielle places it on her wrist and tells her she can keep it. Xiao-Mei sees this as an act of kindness and hugs Gabrielle. When Xiao-Mei is about to leave, she refuses to get in the car and says that Gabrielle treated her with so much kindness that she considers the couple as her new family. Gabrielle hugs her and welcomes her into their home permanently—as their new maid. Susan goes to Karl for help when she is in need of a health insurance plan seeing as she no longer has one. Edie tells her that the only way to get a health plan is to marry someone quickly. Karl does not like where the conversation is going but Susan likes the idea. The following day at a coffee shop, Edie introduces Susan to Gary, a gay, upperclass businessman who is also in need of a wife because he would like to make his aging mother happy—and to collect his inheritance faster. The two plan to marry on Wednesday since Gary will be out of town two days later. At the wedding chapel, Susan meets Gary's life partner Steven (Michael McDonald) who totally objects to the idea seeing as he has proposed 6 times with no response but that Gary is willing to go to great lengths to marry a woman. This leads to an argument and Gary ends up leaving Susan at the altar. Karl finds Susan on her porch eating her would-be wedding cake. Susan tells Karl that the wedding never happened and that she is still without health benefits. Karl asks Susan if she would like to marry him and she says yes. They plan not to tell Edie about this. As Noah Taylor opens his mail that Felicia has brought him he notices a suspicious looking note which he opens. In the note he finds the phrase "YOU HAVE A GRANDCHILD" inscribed. Noah calls Detective Sullivan and asks him to visit Mike Delfino since there is apparently more information. Mike is persuaded by Sullivan to meet with Noah. Noah demands to Mike that he brings Zach to see him in 2 days or Sullivan will do it for him. Betty visits Bree shortly after hearing from Caleb that "a red haired woman" came to see him. Bree advises Betty to take a drink since they are both going to have a long, revealing chat about Caleb and Melanie Foster. Betty tells Bree the story over wine in Bree's dining room. Melanie Foster was Matthew's on-and-off girlfriend in Chicago. After one of their feuds, Caleb called Melanie and asked to meet her at the lumber yard. Melanie saw this as harmless and agreed to meet him. Caleb told Melanie that if he was her boyfriend he would never break up with her or fight. Melanie laughed in his face. Caleb tried to kiss her, but this made Melanie uncomfortable and she slapped him. This angered Caleb who picked up an axe and killed her. This, Betty believes, is the reason why she felt it was her fault and not his for not protecting him "from himself" since she is his mother and could not see him going through imprisonment or even death. Bree puts her hand out to Betty as a sign of truce. ===== The book deals with the life of Bailey Newling and his three lost summers. It tells the story of a divorced Bailey and his young son Caz, where on one fateful canoe trip, they share a remarkable night of truth and love. Macfarlane set this novel among the cottage country in northern Ontario, the Waubano Reaches. Bailey, nicknamed Bay, tells of the three summers in his life: the summer he was 12 and attended the camp where he met his camp instructor Peter Larkin, the summer where he, his wife Sarah and 6-year-old son rented a cottage near his old campsite and, the summer where he and his 12-year-old son shared their extraordinary night. Macfarlane uses a notable technique in the writing of Summer Gone, where he would start the story of one summer and drift into another. It may start with Bay telling of his tale at camp and then shift onto another thought which may have occurred decades later involving his wife or his son. This technique ties all of Bay's summer stories together into one when he tells it to his son. The narration of this story is told by Caz's half brother, from a one-night stand of Bailey's, as an adult, retelling what Caz had told him. Category:1999 Canadian novels Category:Novels set in Northern Ontario Category:1999 debut novels ===== An expedition to an irradiated island brings civilization in contact with a primitive native culture. When one sensationalist entrepreneur tries to exploit the islanders, their ancient deity arises in retaliation. In waters off Infant Island, a presumed uninhabited site for Rolisican atomic tests, the Daini-Gen'you-Maru is caught and run aground in the turbulence of a typhoon. A rescue party following the storm finds four sailors alive and strangely unafflicted with radiation sickness, which they attribute to the juice provided them by island natives. The story is broken by tenacious reporter Zenichiro Fukuda and photographer Michi Hanamura, who infiltrate the hospital examining the survivors. The Rolisican Embassy responds by co-sponsoring a joint Japanese–Rolisican scientific expediction to Infant Island, led by capitalist Clark Nelson. Also on the expedition are radiation specialist Dr. Harada, linguist/anthropologist Shin'ichi Chūjō, and stowaway reporter Fukuda. Chūjō has studied the cultures of islands in the area and ascertained that one of the key hieroglyphs in their written language, a radiant cross-shaped star, translates as Mothra. There the team discover a vast jungle of mutated flora, a fleeting native tribe, and two young women only twelve inches tall, who save Chujo from being eaten by a vampire plant. The "Shobijin" (small beauties), as Fukuda dubs them, wish their island to be spared further atomic testing. Acknowledging this message, the team returns and conceals these events from the public. Nelson, however, returns to the island with a crew of henchmen and abducts the girls, gunning down several natives who try to save them. While Nelson profits off a "Secret Fairies Show" in Tokyo featuring the girls singing, both they and the island natives beseech their god Mothra, a giant egg, for help. Fukuda, Hanamura, and Chūjō communicate with the young women via telepathy; they express conviction that Mothra will come to their aid and warn that "good people are sure to be hurt". Meanwhile, Fukuda's newspaper has accused Nelson of holding the girls against their will; Nelson denies the charge and files a libel suit against the paper. Meanwhile, the island egg hatches to reveal a gigantic caterpillar, which begins swimming the Pacific Ocean toward Japan. The caterpillar destroys a cruise ship and survives a napalm attack on a beeline path for Tokyo. The Rolisican Embassy, however, defends Nelson's property rights over the girls, ignoring any connection to the monster. Mothra finally arrives on the Japanese mainland, impervious to the barrage of weaponry directed at it, ultimately building a cocoon in the ruins of Tokyo Tower. Public feeling turns against Nelson, and he is ordered to release the girls. He flees incognito to Rolisica, where Mothra, newly hatched in an imago form, immediately resumes her search. Police scour New Kirk City for Nelson as Mothra lays waste to the metropolis. Ultimately, Nelson is killed in a shootout with police, and the girls are assigned to Chūjō's care. Church bells begin to ring, and sunlight illuminates the cross atop the steeple with radiant beams, reminding Chūjō and Hanamura of Mothra's unique symbol and of the girls' voices. Chūjō hits upon a novel way to attract Mothra to an airport runway. The girls are returned amid salutations of "sayōnara", and Mothra flies back to Infant Island. ===== The story starts in 1911 with the mysterious disappearance of one of the members of the Barnabas family, owners of a leading publishing house in London. After the initial investigation, the mystery soon disappears from the public's mind, and the remaining cousins continue the family business. Twenty years later, another member of the same family has also gone missing, and Albert Campion, a friend of the family, is brought in to find the wayward cousin. This time, the missing cousin shows up dead. The obvious suspect is the youngest of the Barnabas cousins, who also happens to love the dead man's wife. Campion must delve deep into the Barnabas family history to find the real murderer, but finds much more than he expected. ===== The game takes place about five years after the events of Splatterhouse 2. Rick and Jennifer have since married and have a son named David. Rick has also become successful on Wall Street and has bought a mansion in Connecticut, putting the memories of the Terror Mask behind him. Meanwhile, the Mask feels the ancient energy that it recalls from ages past and begins to speak to Rick. Rick must don the mask for the third time and fight the monsters that have invaded his mansion. Rick first fights to save Jennifer, who has been kidnapped by an entity known as the Evil One, but it is revealed this was only a distraction while the Evil One took David. Rick eventually defeats the Evil One, who had planned to use David's latent psychic abilities to unlock the power of an object known as the Dark Stone. Upon defeating the Evil One, the Mask reveals its true, evil intentions. Rick must then destroy the Terror Mask permanently. There are four possible endings, depending on if the player saves Jennifer and David, saves one or the other, or fails to save them both. All but the best ending start out with the Mask saying it will continue to exist as long as there's human suffering, and as it shatters, it says that the sky has cleared, and evil has once again been banished. The endings are as follows. Bad Ending: If Rick fails to save both his wife and child, the ending goes as usual, but it states that Rick "stands alone, the weight of failure hanging heavily on him". It then shows a picture of him and his family, with the words "Alone. All alone..." Jennifer Dies: If Rick fails to save Jennifer, but rescues David, it shows the ending as normal, but that Jennifer "exists only as a memory". It then shows David asking his dad where his mother is, and fades after that. David Dies: If Jennifer is rescued, but David dies, the ending goes on as usual, but with David "being only a memory". Jennifer then asks Rick where David is, and after being told (though the dialog isn't shown), she cries out "no". Good Ending: Should both survive, the ending is different. Apart from a more pleasant tune, the mask's dialog changes. Instead of saying that he'll survive, he cries out "Can't see... can't hear... I'm dying...!!" before shattering. It continues as normal, saying Rick returns to his family, finally free of the Terror Mask. ===== The farce surrounds an assistant bank manager, Peter Hunter, who lives in a flat above his bank with his new bride Frances. When Frances innocently sends a mail order off for some Scandinavian glassware, what comes back is Scandinavian pornography. The two, along with the bank's frantic chief cashier Brian Runnicles, must decide what to do with the veritable floods of pornography, photographs, books, films and eventually girls that threaten to engulf this happy couple. The matter is considerably complicated by the presence of Eleanor (Peter's mother), Mr. Bromhead (his boss), Mr. Needham (a visiting bank inspector) and Vernon Paul (a police superintendent). ===== Pitamber Chaudhri, headmaster of a school in Madhupur, India, has a daughter named Geeta (Zarina Wahab). Geeta is a typical village belle -- naive, childish, and always in the company of a little boy who is her neighbour. Pitamber's older daughter, Meera, who lives in Mumbai, informs Pitamber of the arrival of a young engineer who could be a possible match for Geeta. Pitamber is asked to welcome him and treat him well. Without further question, Pitamber and family do just that when the visitor arrives by train. Vinod (Amol Palekar), the newcomer, takes an instant liking to the family and to Geeta in particular, even teaching her to sing. The family begins to talk about the possibility of Vinod and Geeta marrying. Life is good until another letter from Meera arrives. Pitamber is shocked to read that the engineer whom Meera was sending to meet the family has not yet arrived but will be coming soon. Vinod is an overseer who happened to come early, as his boss was delayed and could not make it as planned. The family is disappointed. They ask Geeta to stop seeing Vinod and turn her attention to Sunil (Vijayendra Ghatge), the engineer, but Geeta cannot forget Vinod. Sunil is fond of Geeta and agrees to the engagement, which is quickly arranged. When Vinod hears of the engagement, he prepares to leave the village before the ceremony. Upon hearing this, Geeta insists that she will marry Vinod, against the wishes of her family. She rushes to the train station but not before the train leaves. Disheartened, she turns back and is received and driven back to her house by Sunil. To her surprise, Vinod is at the house. All misconceptions have been cleared up: Geeta and Vinod are to be engaged. ===== The narrator meets fellow American Clement Searle at an old-fashioned London inn. Searle has long wanted to settle in England to escape what he considers his arid life in America. But he is physically ailing, and he's also depressed because his lawyer cannot uphold his claim to a share in a country estate currently owned by Richard Searle, a distant relation. Clement and the narrator visit the estate, where they meet the ethereal Miss Searle, who supports Clement's cause. They also meet Miss Searle's brother Richard, who is at first suspicious and then outright hostile and combative toward Clement. Upset by the conflict Clement and the narrator travel to Oxford, where they help a gentleman, Mr Rawson, down on his luck to travel to America. Clement is now very sick and sends for Miss Searle. She responds to his call and tells him that her brother has been thrown from a horse and killed. Clement might now have a real chance for a share of the estate, but the opportunity comes too late for him. He dies and is buried in the England which proved so inhospitable to him. ===== ===== American foreign news correspondent Larry Stanford (Dyneley) has been working out of Japan for the last few years, to the detriment of his marriage. His last assignment before returning to his wife in the United States is an interview with the renowned but reclusive scientist Dr. Robert Suzuki (Tetsu Nakamura), who lives atop a volcanic mountain. During the brief interview, Dr. Suzuki amiably discusses his work on evolution caused by sporadic cosmic rays in the atmosphere, and professes that he has discovered a method for producing evolutionary change by chemical means. Suzuki serves Larry a drugged libation, causing him to fall into a deep sleep. Announcing to Tara (Terri Zimmern), his voluptuous assistant, that Larry is the perfect candidate for his latest evolutionary experiments, he injects an unknown substance into Larry's shoulder. Upon waking, Larry is oblivious to the true situation and accepts Suzuki's invitation to spend the next week vacationing with him around Japan. Over the next few days, Suzuki uses Tara as a beguiling distraction while conditioning Larry with mineral baths and copious amounts of alcohol, exacerbating the pain in Larry's shoulder. Meanwhile, Larry's estranged wife (Jane Hylton) has traveled to Japan to bring him back home with her. When confronted, Larry refuses to leave his new life of women and carousing. After a few drinks that night, Larry examines his painful shoulder to discover that a large eyeball has grown at the spot of Dr. Suzuki's injection. Becoming aloof and solitary, Larry wanders Tokyo late at night. He murders a woman on the street, a Buddhist monk and a psychiatrist, while slowly changing form, culminating in his growing a second head. Seeking a cure, Larry climbs the volcano to Dr. Suzuki's laboratory where Suzuki has just informed Tara that Larry has become "an entirely new species" and beyond remedy. Entering the lab, Larry kills Suzuki and sets the building on fire as Tara flees. Larry splits into two completely separate bodies, bringing himself back to normal. The monstrous second body grabs Tara, and throws her into the volcano. As Larry's wife and the police arrive, he pushes the second body into the volcano. Larry, now cured, is taken away by the police, although it remains unclear how much moral or legal responsibility he has for his violent actions. The movie ends as Larry's wife and his friend discuss the good that remains in Larry. ===== Lack is an emptiness created in a particle collider. Professor Soft theorized that the experiment would replicate the Big Bang and opened a wormhole to a microscopic universe and that this wormhole would close shortly after it was created, leaving the new universe attached to reality. The wormhole however is not accompanied by any events to indicate it is a physical object and so it is named Lack. Lack is characterized by its inexplicable preferences, as some particles and objects enter the space where Lack should be and fail to appear on the other side. Professor Alice Coombs is the first to discover that Lack only absorbs certain items. It takes her keys, but not a paperclip. Its only consistent property seems to be that, when Lack refuses an object once, it would forever refuse to consume that object. The physicists in Coombs's lab become obsessed with Lack, which appears to have its own personality and preferences. Alice develops a personal relationship with the artificial intelligence that they have created, while Philip becomes jealous of their relationship. Philip begins to get involved after B-84, a laboratory animal (cat) enters Lack. This consumption of B-84 causes a campus wide protest. In an attempt to impress Alice, Philip breaks up the protest by giving a speech about how a single cat being destroyed is minimal and their efforts would better spent on larger problems in the world. Instead of impressing Alice, she becomes defensive of Lack and locks herself in its chamber. After a night of drinking, Philip comes back to his apartment to see that Dr. Soft has brought Alice there. She is asleep but Dr. Soft suspects that she may have tried to enter Lack and that she is no longer capable of running experiments on Lack. This causes Dr. Soft to divide Lack's time up among capable people. He does not want to interrupt Alice's research so he gives her time but asks Philip to monitor her. He also claims a portion of Lack's time for himself, his graduate students, and an Italian physics team headed by Carmo Braxia. Despite all of the new people studying Lack, still very little progress is being made both on the grounds of explaining Lack and in restoring Philip and Alice's relationship. Undergraduate students build a device out of only things Lack consumes and try to feed it to Lack but Lack refuses it. Alice tries to give Lack pictures of herself but even those are refused. Even the Italian Physicist seems to be lost, that is until Braxia tells Philip his theory. He claims Lack is a new universe that doesn't have intelligent life. He says that because of the strong anthropic principle, a universe cannot exist if there isn't conscious life to observe it. Since Lack does not contain any conscious life it clings to our reality that does. The personality it developed was that of the first conscious person it encountered, Alice. What it absorbs is what she likes. With his new knowledge, and in a state of drunkenness, Philip sets out to be the first lover in history to ever have a definitive answer as to whether or not he is loved back. He enters Lacks chamber and slides himself into Lack. He wakes up the next morning realizing he is no longer in the universe he was the night before. After retrieving B-84 as proof of the universe, Philip heads back to Lack and climbs in. However, instead of going back to reality as he expects, he enters a new universe that has no light. The universe is inhabited by Evan and Garth, two blind men who had also climbed into Lack. The two men help Philip climb into Lack once again. This time, instead of entering a new universe, he merges and becomes one with Lack. Alice, feeling that Philip and Lack are now one thing, attempts one last time to enter Lack. ===== Toby Flower is a shy, reticent youth who has grown his hair long and who has started wearing a burnous. His father, an editor, and his mother, a novelist, are thrown into despair when Toby is expelled from school because he has been taking drugs. At a loss as to what to do in order to help their son, Charlie and Maggie Flower keep projecting their own goals and aspirations onto their son. They still talk about his going to university despite Toby's assertion that he is not interested in further education. Toby eventually breaks out of that stifling atmosphere, leaves home and moves to London, where he lives in a basement flat without keeping in touch with his parents. Charlie and Maggie Flower finally turn to a psychiatrist friend of theirs who agrees to have Toby hospitalised and treated for mental illness. As it happens, in London Toby associates with Hermia, the psychiatrist's young but rather unattractive daughter, and makes her pregnant. When their parents conspire and talk Hermia into having an abortion, they unwittingly cut the last remaining bond with their son. Toby fetches Hermia from her parents' home, and the young couple move in with Toby's maternal grandmother, a frail old woman who all along has been sympathetic to the young people's needs. ===== The first story, "The Vietnam Project", relates the gradual descent into insanity of its protagonist Eugene Dawn. Eugene works for a U.S. government agency responsible for the psychological warfare in the Vietnam War. However, his work on mythography and psychological operations is taking a heavy toll on him; his fall culminates in him stabbing his own son, Martin. The second story, "The Narrative of Jacobus Coetzee", which takes place in the 18th century, is an account of a hunting expedition into the then "unexplored" interior of South Africa. After crossing the Orange River, Jacobus meets with a Namaqua tribe to trade, but suddenly falls ill. He is attended to by the tribe and gradually recovers, only to get into a fight for which he is expelled from the village. His last slave dying on the way home, he returns alone and later organizes a punitive expedition against the Namaqua. The narrative concludes with his execution of the slaves that deserted him on the previous journey and the massacre of the tribe. ===== Gunslinger Clayton Drumm (Testi) is in jail, about to be hanged, when railroad company men offer him a chance to live if he will agree to murder Matthew Sebanek (Oates), a miner who has steadfastly refused to sell his land to the railroad. Although he accepts the assignment, Clayton has become weary of killing and wants to try to build a new life for himself. The would-be killer finds Matthew at his ranch and after some initial suspiciousness, Matthew and Clayton become friends, even though Matthew correctly guesses that Clayton has been sent by the railroad, the same railroad Matthew once worked and, as he admits to Clayton, killed for. Matthew is married to the beautiful Catherine (Agutter), who greatly complicates matters by falling in love with Clayton. She follows Clayton when he goes for a late night swim in the nearby hot springs. She disrobes, and Clayton has sex with her. The next morning, when Matthew discovers his wife’s infidelity, he becomes infuriated. Catherine stops him from shooting the departing Clayton. When he begins beating her, she stabs him in the back and then hits him on the head with a rolling pin. Believing that she has killed her husband, she catches up with Clayton and persuades him to escort her to Liberty, a town where she can catch the train. For money she intends to sell Matthew's special high-powered rifle which Matthew has said is worth $100. Clayton insists that he is the one who should buy the rifle and offers the $100 to Catherine. Clayton and Catherine stop for the night in a hotel in a small town where Catherine has a bath and where she and Clayton enjoy a night in bed with each other. In amorous chit-chat after they have made love, Clayton tells Catherine she is the second married woman with whom he has had sex. When Catherine inquires about what happened to the husband of the first, Clayton forebodingly says that he shot him after the husband had shot and killed his wife. In the morning at breakfast one of Matthew's brothers, Virgil, coincidentally appears and, after ordering his own breakfast and recognizing Catherine and Clayton from having been at Matthew's a day earlier for a family party, inquires, "Where's Matt?" Clayton tells him what he believes is the truth, that Catherine has killed Matthew who had attacked her and he is still "back at his place." Virgil is intent on taking Catherine back with him and says he will challenge Clayton to draw in order to do so, but Clayton, advising him not to, easily disarms Virgil and Clayton and Catherine leave the hotel. Virgil follows them out of the hotel and, having retrieved his gun, attempts to shoot Clayton, who, warned by Catherine's "Look out!," turns, shoots and kills Virgil. Catherine, presumably distraught at the recent turn of events, goes to a church to pray where Clayton retrieves her, and they mournfully embrace. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Matt has apparently recovered. As his wounds are being attended to, a wagon with a lone driver pulls up at the house delivering Virgil's corpse. Matt and his remaining three brothers set about burying Virgil, but, vowing to finish the burying when they return, Matt insists they leave immediately, eager to get after Clayton and Catherine. Virgil's grieving widow Barbara is left behind weeping at her husband's grave. On the trail Clayton and Catherine have stopped to rest. Catherine musingly asks, "What choices do I have?" to which Clayton replies, "Whoring or teaching school." Catherine adds, "Or get married again." Expressing his credo that being independent is the best way to live, he says to Catherine, "I need you tonight and I hate you for it." So much for his philosophy of life and her (women's) prospects on the frontier. Back on the trail, the two lovers encounter a lost dwarf who's become detached from his circus, a thing Catherine has never heard of much less seen. Clayton hoists him up behind Catherine on her horse and they ride into town, presumably having arrived at Liberty where Catherine was to have taken the train. Clayton is a famous gunfighter, and the sheriff when apprised of Clayton's arrival, immediately leaves town on a supposed errand to Juarez. Clayton goes into the railroad office and returns the money he had been paid to kill Matt, reporting that Matt is dead "but I didn't kill him." Enter a grizzled old dime-store-novelist-of-the-west (Peckinpah), who offers Catherine money to tell him her story which he promises to write up and publish, making her rich by feeding the rabid interest in the largely fictional exploits of gunfighters back east. In his pitch he points our how short-lived are gunfighters and suggests she would be wise to feather her nest which he asserts will soon be missing a mate. Clayton and Catherine, however, reject his blandishments and send him on his way. Clayton and Catherine discuss what they want to do next, Clayton suggesting the two together don't have a future, though in his telling her something of his life's story on which his reluctance to become involved in anything resembling a "relationship" is based, he does account for his (Italian) accent. The circus leaves town while Clayton is attacked on the street by Matt and his three brothers who have caught up with the fleeing lovers. With his youngest brother, Matt goes to Catherine's room, sits on her bed, and rolls a cigarette. The other two stay below shooting it out with Clayton. When Matthew hears an explosion--Clayton has found a box of dynamite sticks in the store into which he has sought refuge--he leaves Catherine in her room with his young brother who almost immediately attempts to rape Catherine. Clayton is shot in the leg but manages to get his horse and Matt's special rifle and ride out of town. Matt interrupts his wife's rape but says to his young brother, "Go ahead, boy. That's what whores are for. (Then addressing himself to Catherine) Get your clothes, you're going home" Out on the trail, Clayton performs some surgery on his leg wound, extracting the bullet, and then falls asleep. Meanwhile, the railroad men understanding that Clayton has not lived up to his part of the bargain, send two groups of gunmen to kill both Clayton and Matthew. Three of them attack Clayton in a whorehouse in which he has taken refuge. One shoots at Clayton through the window of his room, killing the young prostitute who is offering herself to Clayton, and Clayton shoots him through the same window. Clayton then shoots a second attacker through the door of his room, sending him over the railing to the floor below. The third attacker is dispatched by the whorehouse's madam, who seems to have a strong affection for Clayton as she smiles up at him while her pistol still smokes. Meanwhile, Matthew with his surviving brothers heads home to his ranch with Catherine in tow as a sort of captive--she obviously would rather be with Clayton--unaware that the other bunch sent by the railroad managers to kill him is hiding there in ambush. Simultaneously, Clayton rides as fast as his horse will carry him following the trail of Matthew and Catherine. When Matt and his crew stop for the night, Matt begins to try to woo Catherine back, taking care to offer her a blanket, since the night, he promises, will be cold. The next morning he assures her he will never hurt her again and asks why she was unfaithful in the first place. She replies that she really doesn't know why, and they continue on their way home as Clayton continues on his way after them. As Matthew and his brothers and Catherine approach the ranch, the gang lying in ambush shoots at them. Matthew's three brothers are killed but Matthew manages to gain some shelter in something like a foxhole with Catherine by his side. Soon Clayton makes his presence felt as he shoots and kills at least two of the ambushers from the hill above the ranch. The remaining two ambushers attempt to leave the ranch-house, one even trying to surrender, but Matt guns both down. After all the ambushers are dead, Matthew insists Clayton and he engage in a showdown. Clayton outdraws him, shooting Matt's gun from his hand, but refuses to kill him. Matt opines that "You ain't gonna last long, son. There ain't no soft-hearted gunfighters left." As Clayton prepares to leave, Catherine asks him, "What're you gonna do?" to which Clayton, true to his credo, replies, "That's my problem," and he rides off into his future without Catherine. Matthew and Catherine pack their wagon also preparing to leave. As they head up the hill away from the ranch, the camera reveals that Matthew has set fire to his house and barn. ===== The series focuses on Kaguya Haruyama, a teenager who has lived with a Japanese foster family since she was found as an abandoned, amnesiac four-year-old. One night, two men—Idou, a monk, and Seeu, an emotionless prince—appear in her home and fight over her. Gold, Seeu's robot modeled after Kaguya's deceased brother Kagami, brings her to a world parallel to Earth on Seeu's orders. After exploring the world with Gold, she encounters Shiina Mol Bamvivrie who believes Kaguya is the "Girl of Ananai", destined to save only one of the nine parallel worlds from collision. Shiina explains that nine worlds exist: Ancient, the first civilized world that was mysteriously destroyed; Asu, Seeu's disintegrated world; Eden, present-day Earth; Telene, a small world allied with Geo; Fifth World, a politically neutral world; Geus, a peaceful world under the control of Geo; Geo, the most powerful of the worlds; Asuraitsu, Geo's rival; and the Ninth World, destroyed before the start of the series. Shiina and Waseda, a Tokyo University student trapped in the body of a giant rooster, join her and Gold in traveling across Telene. After learning that Seeu watched his people die from an incurable virus spread around Asu, Kaguya decides to change the fate of the worlds by confronting Kura, Geo's indulgent emperor who ordered her kidnapping. Instead, while en route to Geo, Gold brings her to Seeu's floating castle in Asu and Kura captures and recruits Shiina into his army. Kaguya later makes an interplanetary broadcast, announcing her refusal to save only one world. Instead, she plans to find a person to help her save most of the worlds and people. Kura begins to destroy other worlds to increase Geo's survival chances. Deciding to use Kaguya as a political figurehead, Kura sends Shiina to abduct her; once there, Kaguya refuses to help him. Angered, Kura divulges that the "Girl of Ananai" legend is a myth elaborated on and spread around by him and Kagami. After a brief battle with Shiina, Seeu arrives to rescue Kaguya and she realizes her love for him. Transforming into a dragon, Gold teleports everyone to Ancient; there Idou, Seeu, Kura, and Shiina are persuaded to combine their magical weapons with Gold to fix the rift in the universe, the cause of the eventual collision between the worlds. The series ends with an epilogue seven years later; Kaguya explains the fate of everyone and meets Seeu and their young son with a picnic basket. ===== Phig shows the audience the "CyberWorld", a futuristic museum of infinite possibilities. Meanwhile, three computer bugs (Buzzed, Wired, and Frazzled) come and try to eat the CyberWorld through its number coding. When Phig knows about them and hunts for the destructive computer bugs, she presents various short stock clips of computer animated productions, such as scenes from Antz and episodes of The Simpsons post-converted to 3D. In the end, Buzzed, Wired and Frazzled create a black hole (akin to "Homer³"), which inexplicitly leads to their deaths for all the trouble they have caused. Phig is nearly swallowed up as well, but not before her "knight in cyber armor" technician Hank reboots the entire system just as she is sucked into the vortex. The movie eventually concludes with Phig explaining to the audience that none of the events caused by the bugs ever occurred. To prove her point, she attempts to summon her battle gear, only to receive a pink bunny outfit in return (a similar trick the bugs played on her in the film's midsection). ===== The movie is based on the true story of David MacEnultyChessville news who taught schoolchildren of the Bronx Community Elementary School 70 to play at competition level, eventually winning New York City and the New York State Chess Championships. The screenplay portrays whistle-blowing and a mid-life crisis that combine to remove Richard Mason (played by Ted Danson) from his old life. He becomes a substitute teacher and is assigned to a fourth-grade class in a South Bronx school. In the class are students with parents who are drug addicts or in jail or just scrambling to pay the bills. Few of them see a purpose in school other than meeting society's requirements, and he struggles, mostly in vain, to reach them. Then a student whose father is in jail sees Mason in the park playing a simultaneous exhibition, and beating fourteen opponents at once. He asks to learn the game. One thing leads to another, and soon the entire class is interested in the game. Mason convinces them that on the chessboard it doesn't matter how much money you have or what clothes you're wearing or where you come from, and that it's only the moves you make, then and there. The class forms a team to compete in ever-larger tournaments. ===== Hartford tells the exciting true story of the incident in the life of an Ohio River steamboat around 1910. The boat, the Virginia, was subject to the rather fickle nature of the river at that time and ended up stuck in a cornfield. This steamboat navigated the river before locks and dams were constructed to help regulate the waterway. Hartford recounts the hard times faced by this particular steamboat company which pressured the captain to make an ill-advised venture. The book uses old photos and maps to show the steamboat and trace its route. The accomplishment of what was seemingly an impossible task to refloat the steamboat is documented. The book ends with a coda, describing the fate of the characters. In May 1991, the Gasoline Alley comic strip featured Hartford in a storyline that paralleled that of the children's book. ===== The cartoon opens with various shots of 1940s celebrities dining and drinking at the Mocrumbo club--including such personalities as Gregory Peck using a straight razor to cut his steak in reference to his character in Hitchcock's Spellbound,https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2005676884/ Ray Milland (in a spoof of The Lost Weekend, he pays for his drink with a manual typewriter and receives miniature typewriters as change) and Frank Sinatra (depicted exaggeratedly thin, so much so that he slips into his straw when trying to take a sip from his drink). Fudd is a waiter at the Mocrumbo and comes out to find that his next customer is Humphrey Bogart. Bogart tells Elmer that he wants fried rabbit, within 20 minutes--or else! (pulls out a tommy gun). This puts Elmer in a bind, as the restaurant is "fwesh out of wabbit." However, during his frantic search for one, Elmer hears the sound of Bugs munching on some carrots in a corner of the kitchen. Elmer lets Bugs know that Bogart wants to "have" him for dinner. Bugs immediately dresses in a tailcoat and wants to have a peek at what is cooking. Elmer quickly puts a mirror into a pot. Bugs, taking a look inside, soon realizes that he himself is the main course. Bugs eventually manages to escape the kitchen, dressing like Groucho Marx in an attempt to fool Elmer. Elmer then appears next to Bugs, dressed as Harpo Marx. Bugs tries to make a getaway, but is stopped by the large stomach of Sydney Greenstreet. He runs into Carmen Miranda's dressing room and hides in her fruit headdress. Carmen then performs a song and as she exits the stage, Elmer starts chasing Bugs. Elmer runs away from the audience leaving Bugs to dance to the orchestra's samba rhythms. Bugs then makes his way back to the kitchen, where he revels in the audience's appreciation of his performance ("Ah, my public! How they love me! A-huh-huh!") (the little laugh being a Jack Benny shtick). Fudd then runs towards Bugs, and Bugs immediately pretends to be a waiter ordering pies and twice splatters Elmer in the face, first with a lemon meringue pie, then with a banana cream pie. The third time (a comic triple), when Bugs orders a coconut custard pie with whipped cream, Elmer finally realizes that the waiter is Bugs ("Say, ya know what I think? I think that's the wabbit! Well, he who waughs wast, ha ha ha!") and after making the pie, in an attempt to take the last laugh, he throws it at Bugs, but Bugs ducks and the pie sails out into the seating area, accidentally hitting Bogart in the face. Bogart walks into the kitchen, grabs Elmer by his collar and asks him, "Why did you hit me in a face wid a coconut custard pie with whipped cream?" Bogart then warns Elmer that he has just 5 minutes to come up with his fried rabbit. Elmer searches frantically, but cannot find one in time. Bogart returns, and sticks his hand in his jacket menacingly. Elmer thinks he's about to die, but Bogart only pulls out a handkerchief to dab his forehead as he says resignedly, "Baby will just have to have a ham sandwich instead." Upon hearing "Baby", Bugs jumps out of his hiding place and takes his place as the main course (Lauren Bacall being "Baby"), noting, "Remember, garçon, the customer is always right! If it's rabbit Baby wants, rabbit Baby gets!" before howling and wolf whistling at Bacall. ===== Red, about to get even "redder". Animation by Virgil Ross. Little Red Riding Hood is depicted as a typical 1940s teen-aged girl, a "bobby soxer" with an extremely loud and grating voice (inspired by screen and radio comedian Cass Daley, provided by Bea Benaderet). After she sings the first verse of "Five O'Clock Whistle" in the opening to establish this fact, Bugs pops out of her basket to ask where she's going. She replies that she's going to "bring a little bunny rabbit to [her] grandma ta HAVE." With this part of the story set up, the wolf is now introduced. The wolf switches a "Shortcut to Grandma's" sign, so that Red has to take an unnecessarily long mountain path, while the wolf uses the genuine shortcut – literally a few short steps to the house. Seeing a note pinned on the door that Grandma isn't home (apparently, Grandma is a "Rosie the Riveter" type who's working the "swing shift" at Lockheed), the wolf sneaks inside and dresses like Grandma, only to find that three other wolves are similarly dressed and all waiting in the bed for Red! The wolf (voiced by Billy Bletcher) growls for the others to "COME ON! COME ON! Take a powder – this is MY racket!" The other wolves leave, grumbling to themselves, and a small wolf who was hiding under the pillow, sheepishly follows suit, too. Once in bed, the wolf waits for Red to arrive. But in a twist, the wolf isn't interested in eating Red, but rather the rabbit she is bringing to Grandma. Red arrives and begins her "Grandma, what big eyes you have" spiel, but is impatiently interrupted by the wolf who quickly shuffles her out the door and tries looking for Bugs in the basket. Bugs, of course, quickly gets the better of the wolf and runs around the house, with the wolf in hot pursuit. Along the way, Bugs subjects the wolf to the famous lots-of- doors in-and-out routine (which will be repeated in Buccaneer Bunny). The wolf, however, is constantly interrupted by Red, who continues her lines from the actual story. The wolf begins to flirt with her in a faux French accent, then suddenly yells at her to get out. When cornered by the wolf, Bugs mimics the wolf's speech and gestures, irritating him and eventually distracting the wolf into singing Put on Your Old Grey Bonnet. Bugs manages to get a glowing coal from the fireplace and sends the wolf screaming in pain to the ceiling by scorching his backside. When the wolf comes down, Bugs has a large shovelful of hot coals waiting for him. However, the wolf manages to catch his feet on the ends of two benches just in time, doing the "splits". Instead of simply kicking one of the benches away, Bugs proceeds to dump heavy weights into the wolf's arms. After clearing out just about everything in the house (except the kitchen sink), Bugs is about to apply the coup de grace on the wolf – by placing the last straw on top of the mass of junk and furniture the wolf is holding – when Red reappears, bellowing "Hey, GRANDMA!" (By now, Red has managed to comment on the wolf's big eyes, big nose, big ears and sharp teeth, and one wonders what she was planning to say next.) By this time, even Bugs has had enough of Red's interruptions, prompting him to say, "I'll do it, but I'll probably hate myself in the morning." He descends the ladder, and out of frame, there's a shuffling noise... and now RED is the one trying to avoid getting her bottom scorched, holding the weights and assorted junk, while Bugs and the wolf, arms around each other's shoulders, share a carrot and self- satisfied looks, and await the inevitable. ===== 1964 white Cadillac DeVille convertible Leaving Paris for his summer vacation, the naïve Antoine Maréchal has his 2CV totally wrecked in a collision with the Bentley of company director Léopold Saroyan. As compensation, Saroyan offers Maréchal the chance to drive a friend's 1964 white Cadillac DeVille convertible from Naples to Bordeaux, all expenses paid. Unknown to Maréchal, Saroyan is the leader of a criminal gang and the Cadillac is filled with heroin, gold and precious stones, including the largest diamond in the world, the Youkounkoun. Maréchal collects the car in Naples from where, unknown to him, Saroyan and his associates shadow him. Unknown to Saroyan, an Italian gang are aware of the Cadillac's contents and are shadowing it as well. After an accident, in which the repairman finds and removes the gold, Maréchal reaches Rome, where a pretty manicurist called Gina joins him. She only does it to make her fiancé jealous and then finds a pretty German hitchhiker called Ursula to accompany him. At night the Italian gang steal the Cadillac but are chased by Saroyan's gang, who capture it after a gun battle in which all the heroin is destroyed and return it to Maréchal. Mickey, one of the Italian crooks, seduces Ursula, who invites him to join them. In an isolated spot, Mickey then tries to kill Maréchal, but Ursula sabotages the battery so that he cannot make off with the car and saves Maréchal's life. Left on his own, Maréchal gets a new battery and throws the ruined one, full of diamonds, into the sea. The border post at Menton Crossing the border into France at Menton, Maréchal sees Saroyan's car being stripped by the police. He realises that the car they want must be the one he is driving and that Saroyan must be crooked. Heading for Carcassonne, he rings an old friend who is now chief of police there. Still tracked by Saroyan and the Italians, he lures them all into the unmarked side door of the police station, where they are arrested. Taking the Cadillac on the last leg to Bordeaux, he has another accident, in which he finds the Youkounkoun. There is a reward of 100 million francs for its return. ===== The film is a vicious indictment of the Indian caste system. When a poor and low caste village shoemender, Dukhiya(Om Puri) who lives with his wife Jhuria(Smita Patil), goes to the village Brahmin (Hindu priest) (Mohan Agashe) to get the date of his daughter's marriage fixed, the Brahmin in turn asks for labour without pay in exchange.The priest makes him sweep his house, cut logs of tree. Dukhi does all these work without eating food from the morning. The ensuing events turn the tables against the priest, who in the end has to forgo the lofty traditions, including that of untouchability, he held so dearly all his life as village priest.Overview New York Times. ===== Young Max Skinner, whose parents have died in an accident, spends his childhood summer holidays learning to appreciate the finer things in life at his Uncle Henry's vineyard estate in Provence in southeastern France. 25 years later, Max is a successful but arrogant workaholic trader in London with a cheeky-chappy persona. Following his uncle's death, Max is the sole beneficiary of the French property. He travels to Provence to prepare a quick sale. Shortly after arriving, by driving while fumbling with a cell phone, he unknowingly causes a local café owner, Fanny Chenal, to crash her bicycle. Subsequently, he discovers that his latest City financial stunt has caused real trouble for the owners of the trading company he works for, and the CEO orders him to return to London as soon as possible. To assist in his planned sale of the property, Max hurriedly snaps some photos and in the process falls into an empty swimming pool. He is unable to escape until Fanny, driving by and spotting his rental car, turns on the water supply in retaliation. This delay causes Max to miss his flight and, having failed to report to the directors in person, he is suspended from work and trading activities for one week. On Henry's estate, Max must deal with a gruff, dedicated winemaker, Francis Duflot, who fears being separated from his precious vines. Duflot pays a vineyard inspector to tell Max that the soil is bad and the vines worthless. They are surprised by the arrival of young Napa Valley oenophile Christie Roberts, who is backpacking through Europe and claims to be Henry's previously unknown illegitimate daughter. Max realizes, but does not tell her how French law decrees, even though Christie is not his uncle's legitimate daughter, she still becomes the rightful heir to the Chateau and vineyards. As Max did earlier, Christie finds the house wine unpalatable but is impressed by Max's casual offering of the boutique Le Coin Perdu ("the lost corner") vintage, noting some intriguing characteristics. During dinner at the Duflot house, while slightly inebriated, Max exposes his concern that she might lay claim to the estate and brusquely interrogates her. Max's assistant Gemma warns him of the ambitious antics of other employees. To ensure he is not usurped by Kenny, his second-in-command in London, through whom Max continues to direct trades, Max intentionally gives the ambitious young trader bad advice, getting him fired. Max becomes enamoured with Fanny, who is rumoured to have sworn off men. He successfully woos Fanny into his bed. She leaves him the next morning, expecting him to return to his life in London. A disillusioned Christie also decides to move on. Max finds his uncle's memoirs, which contain proof of Christie's heritage. He bids her farewell while handing her an unexplained note inside a book she was reading. While informing Duflot of the pending estate sale, Max learns that the mysterious expensive Le Coin Perdu was made by Henry and Duflot with "illegal vines" from the estate, bypassing wine classification and appellation laws. The estate is sold and Max returns to London where Sir Nigel, the company chairman, offers him a choice: either a large discharge settlement, or the partnership in the trading firm. Max asks about Nigel's art in the conference room, which Fanny has a copy of in her restaurant. Upon Nigel's dismissive comment that the real one is kept in a vault and the $200,000 copy in the office is for show, Max reconsiders if he wants to still be like Nigel. Max invalidates the estate's sale with the farewell letter he gave to Christie, which he forged, along with real photos confirming Christie as Henry's daughter with a valid claim to the entire estate. (As a child Max signed cheques for his uncle, and is able to replicate his handwriting.) He puts his London residence up for sale and returns to Provence, entering into a relationship with Fanny. Christie also returns and she and Francis jointly run the vineyard while trying to reconcile their vastly different philosophies of wine production. This enables Max to focus his entire attention on Fanny. ===== "Sweet Dreams, Sweetheart" plays briefly under the title card, and the cartoon opens with a trail of carrot tops floating on the seas. Bugs is stranded in a barrel in the middle of the ocean, but he does not seem to mind - he is reading Esquire magazine (considered an "adults only" magazine at that time) and singing the song "Down Where the Trade Winds Play" (a song made popular by Bing Crosby). On the island of 'Bingzi-Bangzi - Land of the Ferocious Apes', the population is made up of gorillas that act like humans - they read the newspaper and books such as "The Apes of Wrath", have families, live in huts and speak American English (in the underscore, one of Stalling's orchestrations of Raymond Scott's jungle themes is heard, its official title being "Dinner Music for a Pack of Hungry Cannibals"). One of the apes, Mrs. Gruesome Gorilla, is sad that she does not have any children, whereas her husband (voiced by Mel Blanc) could not care less. Mrs. Gruesome (also voiced by Blanc, using a falsetto) walks toward the water and starts to say, "I'm going to..." (suggesting despondency), but then spots Bugs floating in his barrel. Her mood instantly changes and she takes him back to her treetop (at one point, yielding the right-of-way to a man wearing just a leopard skin loincloth that looks strikingly like Tarzan). Bugs finishes "Trade Winds" just as Mrs. Gruesome picks up the barrel and segués into a full verse of "Someone's Rocking My Dreamboat", which he finishes just as he discovers himself in the clutches of the ape. Mrs. Gruesome wants Bugs to be her 'baby'. At first, Bugs does not want to, but when she starts crying, he gives in ("That's my soft spot - dames crying."). Mrs. Gruesome then presents Bugs to Mr. Gruesome - who is none too happy about having a baby in the house. Bugs tries to fit in, playing like a 'monkey'. Mr. Gruesome takes Bugs out for 'a walk', but Bugs soon realizes that he is in for a beating if he sticks around. A long chase ensues (including a frenetic version of Stalling's jungle theme) and Bugs finds himself trapped against the edge of a cliff. Bugs gives up and allows Gruesome to catch him. However, Gruesome quickly tires out and drops from exhaustion, with Bugs knocking him over with a mere puff of breath. Emerging as the 'victor', Bugs jumps up and catches a hanging branch, again playing 'monkey' (another short clip of the jungle theme is heard in the underscore, along with the time-honored "jungle" sound of a kookaburra) at iris-out. ===== ===== Struggling photographer Rebecca Sommers finds her model boyfriend Richard in bed with another woman. Her life falls apart, and she alternates between desire for revenge upon him, sexual promiscuity, and abandonment of all hope of love. Her best friends, Michelle and Carrie, try to set her up on dates. These include one with a freakish magician and another with a man who gives her ecstasy and has a fetish for fish. She attempts to make Richard jealous by taking a director, who is reminiscent of Woody Allen, to a runway show, but he ends up vomiting on her breasts in front of everyone. Ultimately, Rebecca realizes she should focus her energy on being with someone who truly loves her, and that turns out to be John, her nerdy but caring best male friend who has been supportive of her through the entire ordeal. ===== The story is set in Vetusta (Spanish stands for "antiquated", "extremely old", a provincial capital city, very identifiable with Oviedo, capital of Asturias – especially since it is said that two monks, Nolan and John, founded the city, this being Oviedo's mythical genesis), where the main character of the work, Ana Ozores "La Regenta", marries the former prime magistrate of the city, Víctor Quintanar, a kind but fussy man much older than she. Feeling sentimentally abandoned, Ana lets herself be courted by the province casanova, Álvaro Mesía. To complete the circle, Don Fermín de Pas (Ana's confessor and canon in the cathedral of Vetusta) also falls in love with her and becomes Mesía's unmentionable rival. A great panorama of secondary characters, portrayed by Clarín with merciless irony, completes the human landscape of the novel. ===== Struggling writer Alton Bennet explains to psychiatrist Dr. Redman how he has nightmares about murdering his wealthy wife, Ruth, who owns very valuable jewels. Redman's private secretary, Merl Kramer, casually mentions Bennet's problems to her boyfriend, a private eye, Karl Benson. Merl also mentions that Ruth Bennet is scheduled to drop into Dr. Redman's office that evening for a special session concerning her husband. Benson gets ideas about the jewels, steals Merl's keys and gets duplicates made. Later, he waits outside Redman's office until Ruth arrives, then writes down the Bennets' address from information posted in the car. Benson is next seen showing his pawnbroker acquaintance, Charlie, jewels and asking him to value them. Charlie mentions there is a "murder rap hanging over this junk" and pays out only for a couple of small pieces, advising Benson to get rid of the rest. Benson runs into Merl and asks her to deposit the money into her bank account, suggesting he has earned it from a recent job and does not want to be tempted to spend it all. He hides the jewels in the water cooler in his office/apartment. Ruth Bennet is found murdered, precisely in the manner her husband has been dreaming. Along with Detective Dawson, Insurance Investigator Joe Cooper is on the case. While interviewing Redman, it is revealed that the transcripts concerning Bennet's conversations about his nightmare are missing. Redman is seen to have a bandaged bump on his head, which he claims happened when he slipped the previous evening while walking in the park. It comes to light that Merl's references for her job with Redman were forged, which raises Dawson's suspicions about whether the woman is an upstanding person. He and Cooper question her and she tells them that she got the references and the job with Redman through a friend, Karl Benson. Benson plays down his relationship with Merl and suggests he can help Dawson and Cooper with the Bennet case, for a share of the eventual insurance payout. He then goes to talk with Merl, and secretly plants one of the dead woman's rings under her sofa cushion. When Merl finds it, she pawns it for the few dollars she needs to finish paying for a new coat. She tells Cooper, when he asks her about it - the pawnbroker had immediately recognized the ring and had phoned police - that she had no idea that it could be Ruth Bennet's property. Benson works to frame Merl for the murder and the theft; he shows Dawson and Cooper her bankbook and insinuates the recent large deposit has to do with the stolen loot. In his office/apartment, Benson is then confronted by Redman who has realized it is Benson who has the jewels. Benson had stolen the transcript describing the murder scenario nightmare, and had gone to take the gems; when he arrived, he saw Redman leaving the Bennet apartment after killing Ruth. Benson knocked the man out, thereby giving him the bump on his head, and took the pieces from him. Benson and Redman make an uneasy deal wherein Benson will ensure he 'finds' the jewels in Merl's apartment, turn them in to Dawson and Cooper, and he and Redman can share the insurance payout. Benson then goes to the station where Merl is being interrogated. He denies any knowledge of the money in her bank account, then tells Dawson he would be glad to go check her apartment for him again, to see where she may have hidden things. While there, attempting to hide the stash to make it look like Merl did it, Redman shows up, demanding the items. Benson hands them over but, after the man leaves by the fire escape, Benson runs down to the street and, using Redman's own car, kills him. After stowing the jewels inside Merl's chair, he phones Dawson to tell him he has found them. When Merl returns to her apartment, he tells her she is going down for the crime. They struggle and he knocks her out; he takes her to the roof, intending to throw her off and make it appear like suicide. The police, having arrived as per Benson's call, hear her screams; Cooper and Dawson rescue her. Back in her apartment, Benson learns that Charlie has been taken in for possession of the stolen property; the private eye is further caught in his web of lies and is arrested. ===== A fugitive hides on a deserted island somewhere in Polynesia. Tourists arrive, and his fear of being discovered becomes a mixed emotion when he falls in love with one of them. He wants to tell her his feelings, but an anomalous phenomenon keeps them apart. ===== KEMO city was known for the manufacture of hovercars, meeting the country's demands for transportation until 2022. Over time, however, the crime rate had risen so far that the economy collapsed and the city descended into disorder. Criminals roamed the streets in armored hovercars, terrorizing the citizens without fear of retribution. In 2029, OmniCorp promised city officials that it could clean up KEMO and return it to normal. The offer was accepted, and the corporation began the construction of a massive wall around the city under the guise of a "defensive measure". The wall was completed three years later, and the only exit sealed shut, turning KEMO into a massive prison city for all inside, criminal or otherwise. The outraged population reacted violently, and the city degenerated. Ten years later OmniCorp decided to test the behavior altering chemical Hydergine 344 on the population of KEMO. This chemical was supposed to pacify the citizens and distributed through the city's water supply. Unfortunately, OmniCorp failed to predict the chemical's reaction to stagnant water, resulting in massive brain damage and insanity in the many citizens. More than half the population became crazed killers overnight. Drake Edgewater, a 21st-century cab driver and one of the lucky few unaffected by the spreading virus, is desperate to escape the city alive. Driving his '52 Checker hovercab armed with an assortment of vehicle-mounted weaponry, he delivers passengers and packages for what money he can make to upgrade his vehicle and escape. ===== While on a bus, Joy Ramirez (Kris Aquino) finds a package left by a man (Emil Sandoval). She visits Aling Biring (Luz Fernandez) at the bakery and shows her the package: an antique bagua mirror. Following feng shui tradition, Biring thinks that the mirror will drive away evil spirits and bring good luck to her husband Inton (Jay Manalo) and their children Denton (John Vladimir Manalo) and Ingrid (Julianne Gomez). Joy places the bagua mirror in her home and a series of fortunate events happen: her friend Alice (Lotlot de Leon) grants her a promotion and she wins the grand prize at a grocery store. The series of events makes Joy suspicious of her luck. The next day, Joy recognizes the man who left the mirror on the bus, identified as Evart Mendoza, was run over by a Rabbit Liner bus. She discovers that he was born in the year of the Rabbit after she examines his age. Later, Joy learns that Aling Biring died from leptospirosis that morning; her birth corresponding to the year of the Rat. Denton's friend Billy (Ernesto Sto. Tomas) tells Joy about the omens and deaths occurring in their neighborhood. Joy sees tricycle driver Mang Nestor, who was killed earlier in a brawl at a cockfight, having been born in the year of the Rooster. She is later haunted by the ghosts of Nestor, Biring, Evart, and a woman. Their deaths are connected to the Chinese zodiac of their birth year. Joy visits Evart's wife Lily (Cherry Pie Picache), who tells her about the bagua's history; Lily found the bagua in an old, dilapidated rental house during her years as a real estate agent and decided to keep it. The artifact brought her good luck, but like Joy, also left a series of deaths. Lily reveals that anyone who owned the bagua would receive good fortunes, but for each stroke of luck, a death would always follow afterward. She urges Joy to return the mirror to her instead, but the latter refuses and leaves. Later, after Joy accepts an inheritance from her late client, she learns that the subdivision's security guard, whose reflection he had seen in the bagua mirror, has been found dead from a snakebite. The security guard was revealed to be born on the year of the Snake. Joy, along with Alice and their friend Thelma (Ilonah Jean), seeks help from a local geomancer Hsui Liao (Joonee Gamboa). Liao reveals to them that the bagua was once owned long ago by two siblings—brother and sister—children from a wealthy Chinese family in ancient Shanghai. During the revolution of Sun Yat-sen, the family was forced to evacuate, wherein the brother abandoned his foot-bounded sister, nicknamed "Lotus Feet", referencing to the Chinese tradition of binding the feet of young girls to avert it's physical growth. Because the brother had thought of her as a burden, her servants had betrayed her and killed her by burning her at the stake. Before her death, she took the bagua and placed a curse on it, claiming that she will take the soul of anyone who sees their reflection on the mirror. Liao warns Joy that if she tries to destroy the mirror, the soul of the owner will be taken away before it restores itself. Before they leave, Alice realizes that she had glanced at the mirror earlier. Having suspected her husband's affair with his former lover Dina (Jenny Miller) at work, Joy begrudgingly confronts him. She later realizes after accepting the prize from the day she won at the grocery store earlier, revealing that Alice was next. After an argument, Alice, who was born in the year of the Horse, is assaulted by a drunk neighbor and dies after falling on a stack of crates of Red Horse Beer bottles from her window. The ghosts of all the victims haunt Joy's house and her family is forced to leave. Joy attempts to destroy the mirror, but is stopped by Alice's spirit. Joy eventually faints, overwhelmed by all the ghosts. The next morning, Master Liao calls Joy and tells her the key to end the curse: she must reject offers of good luck so that she would be able to destroy the mirror and save the next victim. Just before they leave, Billy gets involved in an accident and Joy volunteers for a blood transfusion to save him. She then realizes that Inton is the next victim. Joy arrives at the motel where Inton and Dina are to warn the former but she arrives too late as Dina's husband Louie arrives at the parking lot and kills his wife and Inton when they attempted to flee, both born in the year of the Dog. Joy pleads Louie as both of them were cheated on by their spouses and tried to help him, but Louie refuses as he commits suicide with his shotgun. Meanwhile, Thelma takes Denton and Ingrid with her in the hopes of taking them to their mother. Thelma sees a truck of cows and chickens in front of her car. She comes to the realization that Ingrid was born in the year of the Rooster, and Denton and herself were both born on the year of the Ox. Horrified, Thelma tries to alert the truck but an oncoming vehicle speeds towards them. Joy arrives home and is greeted by Regalado, a lawyer sent by Lily to offer Joy the chance of returning the bagua to her in exchange for money. Joy refuses the offer. Distraught by the string of deaths that followed her, Joy finally destroys the mirror. Thelma arrives with Denton and Ingrid. Joy is filled with relief thinking that she has finally broken the curse and saved her kids, but she soon discovers that they were all killed earlier in the truck accident along with Thelma after she saw her dead husband joining with them as Joy screams in horror. A family is shown moving into their new house and the family's twin daughters wander into Joy's former home while playing. They find the restored bagua and decide to show it to their parents. From Joy's house's window, the Lotus Lady watches over them, awaiting her next victim. ===== Upon hearing the legend of the treasure known as the Valkiry, treasure hunters Axel Sonics (voiced by Kazuki Yao) and Ruka Hetfield (voiced by Noriko Hidaka) embark on an adventurous quest to find the legendary stone. However, unknown to Axel and Ruka at the start, there is also a terrorist organization known as the Pumpkin Heads searching for the Valkiry, determined to use the stone for world domination. In a race to reach the stone first, Axel and Ruka fight their way through the Pumpkin Heads' army of elite soldiers along several locations, destroying each of the three top captains and eventually reaching their hideout, where they confront the Master, who already has the Valkiry in her possession. Using the Valkiry to power herself, the Master engages Axel and Ruka in a decisive, final battle, but is eventually destroyed and the Valkiry is freed. The ending differs for each character: if Axel defeats the Master, he is joined by Ruka, who in her excitement takes the Valkiry and runs off, with the weary Axel only barely managing to keep up with her; if Ruka defeats the Master, she accidentally drops the Valkiry and it shatters, and in her frustration, she vows never to hunt for treasure again, although a caption mentions that she eventually stayed in the business with Axel. ===== A group of friends are to celebrate the summer on a small island in the Stockholm Archipelago. The plan is to eat crayfish and drink snaps, a quintessentially Swedish tradition. Some are already in the house on the island (with the food) and the rest of the group arrives by boat (bringing the snaps), but they experience great difficulties while trying to come ashore. Their only neighbor on the island, an eccentric, Hollywood-obsessed, hot-tempered hermit doesn't make the situation better. ===== Sasha (Igor Fomchenko) is a boy who lives with his mother (Marina Adzhubei) and his sister in an old house in Moscow. He is learning to play the violin. Every morning he has to cross the yard to go to the music school, trying to avoid some other children who are bullying and harassing him. This day he is lucky as Sergey (Vladimir Zamansky), the operator of a steamroller, tells them to leave Sasha alone. At the music school he plays beautifully, but his teacher, who is more interested in form and order, is stifling his creativity with a metronome. On his way back home Sasha meets Sergey again, who allows him to help him on the steamroller. The two have lunch together and face a number of adventures as they walk around Moscow. They watch a wrecking ball demolishing a decrepit building, revealing one of the Seven Sisters in the background. Sergey tells stories about the war, and Sasha play the violin for his new friend. They part with the plan to see a film together, but the plans are foiled by Sasha's mother. Sasha attempts to sneak out of the apartment, and in the final scene we see Sasha running after the steamroller in a dream like sequence. ===== The main subject of the book is the relationship between the valet Jacques and his master, who is never named. The two are traveling to a destination the narrator leaves vague, and to dispel the boredom of the journey Jacques is compelled by his master to recount the story of his loves. However, Jacques's story is continually interrupted by other characters and various comic mishaps. Other characters in the book tell their own stories and they, too, are continually interrupted. There is even a "reader" who periodically interrupts the narrator with questions, objections, and demands for more information or detail. The tales told are usually humorous, with romance or sex as their subject matter, and feature complex characters indulging in deception. Jacques's key philosophy is that everything that happens to us down here, whether for good or for evil, has been written up above ("tout ce qui nous arrive de bien et de mal ici-bas était écrit là- haut"), on a "great scroll" that is unrolled a little bit at a time. Yet Jacques still places value on his actions and is not a passive character. Critics such as J. Robert Loy have characterized Jacques's philosophy as not fatalism but determinism.Loy, J. Robert (1950). Diderot's Determined Fatalist. New York: King's Crown Press. The book is full of contradictory characters and other dualities. One story tells of two men in the army who are so much alike that, though they are the best of friends, they cannot stop dueling and wounding each other. Another concerns Father Hudson, an intelligent and effective reformer of the church who is privately the most debauched character in the book. Even Jacques and his master transcend their apparent roles, as Jacques proves, in his insolence, that his master cannot live without him, and therefore it is Jacques who is the master and the master who is the servant. The story of Jacques's loves is lifted directly from Tristram Shandy, which Diderot makes no secret of, as the narrator at the end announces the insertion of an entire passage from Tristram Shandy into the story. Throughout the work, the narrator refers derisively to sentimental novels and calls attention to the ways in which events develop more realistically in his book. At other times, the narrator tires of the tedium of narration altogether and obliges the reader to supply certain trivial details. ===== A wealthy American man named Longmore is introduced to his countrywoman Euphemia de Mauves, wife of the Comte Richard de Mauves. Longmore and Madame de Mauves become friends, and he visits her frequently in Paris. Superficially, Madam de Mauves leads a happy life with a wealthy and "irreproachably polite" husband, but Longmore soon becomes convinced that she harbours a deep sadness. It gradually becomes clear that the Comte is an unscrupulous and dissipated man who married his wife for her money alone. As a youth, Madame de Mauves had been naive and idealistic, believing that the Comte de Mauves' title guaranteed a fine character. The Comte, however, proved to have little regard for his wife, and had embarked on a series of extramarital affairs. Even his politeness "was hardly more than a form of luxurious egotism, like his fondness for cambric handkerchiefs.... In after years he was terribly polite to his wife." Madame de Mauves' faith in her ideals is destroyed, but she responds with stoic resignation. Longmore falls in love with Madame de Mauves, but, understanding that he cannot be her lover, and believing that she desperately needs a friend, he tries to sublimate his love into friendship. This attitude is reinforced by Madame de Mauves, who welcomes his friendship, but is hostile to any sentiment on his part. However both the Comte de Mauves and his sister, the crass widow Madame de Clairin, hint that Longmore should woo Madame de Mauves. The Comte wishes her to take a lover so that he may be free to pursue his own affair. As tensions mount, the Comte openly breaks with his wife, Madame de Clairin urges Longmore to woo Madame de Mauves, and then she tells Madame de Mauves what she has told Longmore. Longmore agonises over how to proceed; he finds it difficult even to decide to continue his daily visits: "His presence now might be simply a gratuitous cause of suffering; and yet his absence might seem to imply that it was in the power of circumstances to make them ashamed to meet each other's eyes." Eventually he visits Madame de Mauves, who rather cryptically asks him to confirm her very high opinion of him by doing the proper thing: "Don't disappoint me. If you don't understand me now, you will to-morrow, or very soon. When I said just now that I had a very high opinion of you, I meant it very seriously. It was not a vain compliment. I believe that there is no appeal one may make to your generosity which can remain long unanswered. If this were to happen,—if I were to find you selfish where I thought you generous, narrow where I thought you large, ... vulgar where I thought you rare,—I should think worse of human nature. I should suffer,—I should suffer keenly. I should say to myself in the dull days of the future, 'There was one man who might have done so and so; and he, too, failed.' But this shall not be. You have made too good an impression on me not to make the very best. If you wish to please me forever, there's a way." After much reflection, Longmore concludes that she wishes him to voluntarily break off contact — to do so not because she has dismissed him, not because there has been a 'scene', and not with any promise of meeting again in future, but simply because it is the honourable thing to do. The next day Longmore leaves for America. At his last meeting with the Comte he receives the impression that the Comte may be starting to repent of his behaviour; Longmore feels threatened by this: "he felt that it would be far more tolerable in the future to think of his continued turpitude than of his repentance." Longmore remains in love with Madame de Mauves, despite having had no contact with her. Two years later, he hears that the Comte has committed suicide. The Comte had indeed repented, and had begged his wife to forgive him, but Madame de Mauves had remained as stoically unforgiving as she had been stoic in her resignation: "[H]e fell madly in love with her now. He was the proudest man in France, but he had begged her on his knees to be readmitted to favor. All in vain! She was stone, she was ice, she was outraged virtue. People noticed a great change in him: he gave up society, ceased to care for anything, looked shockingly. One fine day they learned that he had blown out his brains." Euphemia is now free, and Longmore's first instinct is to go to her. However he puts off leaving for Europe from day to day for several years, because "The truth is, that in the midst of all the ardent tenderness of his memory of Madame de Mauves, he has become conscious of a singular feeling,—a feeling for which awe would be hardly too strong a name." ===== The film begins on the ship bearing Alice (Coral Browne) and Lucy from England to New York City. As she and Lucy (Nicola Cowper) disembark, they are set upon by several journalists, all trying to get a story or quote from her. Clearly bewildered by all the excitement, she is befriended by an ex- reporter, Jack Dolan (Peter Gallagher), who helps her and Lucy through the legions of the press. Dolan quickly becomes her agent and finds endorsement opportunities for her. Throughout it all, a romance develops between Jack and Lucy. Alice, being advanced in age, needs Lucy, of whom she can be very demanding, to be her constant companion. When left alone in their hotel room, she begins to hallucinate and sees Mr. Dodgson (Ian Holm) in their room, and then, later, the Mad Hatter (voiced by Tony Haygarth) and the March Hare (voiced by Ken Campbell). Joining them for their insane tea party, she is berated for being so old and forgetful. She remembers also the lazy boating party of 4 July 1862, when the young Reverend Charles Dodgson (Lecturer in Mathematics at Christ Church, Oxford, where her father was the Dean), had attempted to entertain her and her sisters by spinning the nonsense tale that grew to be Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Via flashbacks, it is insinuated that Dodgson had an infatuation with the young Alice Liddell (Amelia Shankley). Alice is troubled by her recollections of Dodgson. The parameters of her relationship with him were somewhat tortured. Dodgson was unwaveringly adoring of Alice, and while she was usually kind, she could sometimes be cruel and mocking of him, especially of his occasional stutter – as on the day of the boating party when she was on the verge of her teens and trying to impress a couple of young students (one of whom she eventually marries). Alice tries to rectify her feelings and past relationship with the author in her mind. By the time she delivers her acceptance speech at Columbia University, she comes to terms with Dodgson and the way she treated him. In another fantasy sequence with the Mock Turtle, the viewers see them finally reconciled together in a way that can be interpreted as all-encompassing, as both mutual apology and forgiveness. ===== The show concerns the Reverend Timothy Carswell, a timid and somewhat naive vicar who is assigned to an apparently respectable suburban parish. However, the area is actually a hotbed of (among other things) gossip, passion, geriatric prostitution and murder, all of which is going on under Reverend Carswell's unsuspecting nose. ===== ===== Jerry and Elaine go to Florida to visit Jerry's parents Morty and Helen at the Pines of Mar Gables Phase II for the weekend and plan on going scuba diving (which Helen doesn't see the point in doing). Morty is also being honored at a ceremony the next night. Jack Klompus and his wife Doris come over to write Morty a check for a previous night's dinner and Jerry notices Jack's pen. When Jerry asks Jack about it, Jack tells him that it can write upside down and that astronauts use it in space. Jack offers an interested Jerry the pen. Jerry refuses his offer several times, but Jack persists and Jerry finally gives in. Helen asks why he took the pen and says he should give it back because Doris will tell everyone in the condo that Jerry made Jack give it to him. That night, Elaine sleeps on a sofa bed with a bar that sticks up through the mattress and hurts her back, making her extremely uncomfortable while not being helped by the fact that the air conditioning is turned off, since Jerry's parents are "nuts about temperature". Jerry tries to comfort her by saying they only have two more days left before they go back to New York. The next morning, Elaine's back is so sore that she cannot go scuba diving with Jerry, so he goes without her. Morty suggests she take muscle relaxants to ease the pain. Just as Helen predicted, their neighbor Evelyn tells the Seinfelds about the rumors that are beginning to spread around the Pines of Mar Gables Phase II that Jerry wanted Jack to give him the pen. When Jerry returns, he has black eyes because the capillaries around his eyes burst when he went underwater and the pressure was too tight on his mask. Jack comes over again and Jerry returns the pen. Morty berates Jack for "taking Jerry's pen". Elaine decides she wants to take the muscle relaxants, but takes a slight overdose and acts goofily at the ceremony. Jerry has to wear sunglasses because of his black eyes. At the dinner, Uncle Leo and Aunt Stella arrive to watch the event. Jack is the MC and turns the dinner into a "roast", making cracks about Morty at the podium. Morty starts arguing with Jack again about taking back the pen and they start fighting, breaking Jack's dental plate in the process, prompting a bitter Jack to sue Morty. The next day, a chiropractor looks at Elaine's back and tells her she should not go anywhere for at least five days, extending both her and Jerry's stay even longer much to their discomfort. Evelyn appears and tells Morty and Helen that it would take five votes to get them thrown out. She also says her nephew Larry is a good lawyer and offers to have him represent Morty should Jack press charges against Morty. ===== Rand is a computer animator, who has created an artificial intelligence creature designed to interact with children and teach them responsibility. When his prototype is forced into practice at a school, Rand encounters Sarah, a teacher he was inexplicably drawn to, at his favorite bar one fateful evening. Sparks fly between them, but fundamental differences in their approaches to love and relationships slow them down to a halt. ===== Sophie, a young milliner, encounters a wizard named Howl on her way to visit her sister Lettie. Upon returning home, she meets the Witch of the Waste who transforms her into a ninety-year-old woman. Seeking to break the curse, Sophie leaves home and sets off through the countryside. She meets a living scarecrow, whom she calls "Turnip Head". He leads her to Howl's moving castle where she enters without invitation. She subsequently meets Howl's young apprentice Markl and a fire demon named Calcifer, who is the source of the castle's magic and movement. When Howl appears, Sophie announces that she has "hired herself" as a cleaning lady. In truth, Calcifer made a deal with Sophie to break her curse if she breaks his link with Howl. Meanwhile, Sophie's nation is caught up in a war with a neighboring kingdom, who is searching for their missing prince. The King summons Howl to fight in the war. However, Howl decides to send Sophie to the King (under the pretense of being his mother) to tell him that Howl is too much of a coward to fight. Before leaving, he gives Sophie a charmed ring that leads her to Calcifer and guarantees her safety. Sophie meets Suliman, the king's advisor, and also the Witch of the Waste, whom Suliman punishes by draining all of her power and reverting her to her true age, that of a harmless old woman. Suliman warns Sophie that Howl will meet the same fate if he does not fight for the king and so Howl arrives to rescue Sophie. Suliman tries to trap him by turning him into a monster, but with Sophie's help he remembers himself and just barely avoids death. The duo escapes along with the former Witch of the Waste and Suliman's dog Heen. In the meantime, soldiers from each kingdom break into the homes of both Jenkins and Pendragon (Howl's aliases in those kingdoms). However, the men only find an empty courtyard and warehouse, as the castle's magic nature allows travel between 4 separate residences. Sophie learns that Howl's life is somehow bound to Calcifer's and that Howl has been transforming into a bird-like creature to interfere with both sides in the war, but each transformation makes it more difficult for him to return to human form. Howl then has the castle magically linked to Sophie's home, parking the castle itself on the town's outskirts. A few days later, the town is bombed by enemy aircraft and Suliman's henchmen attack the house and Sophie's hat shop. Howl heads out to protect the group. Sophie then moves everyone out of the house and removes Calcifer from the fireplace, which collapses the castle. The Witch of the Waste realizes that Calcifer has Howl's heart and grabs the fire demon, setting herself on fire. Sophie panics and pours water onto the Witch, which douses Calcifer. The remainder of the castle then splits in two; Sophie falls down a chasm and is separated from the group. Following the charmed ring, Sophie wanders into a scene from the past, where she sees a young Howl catch a falling star – Calcifer – and give him his heart. Sophie calls for them to find her in the future as she is teleported away. She returns to the present, finds Howl, and they reunite with the others. The Witch returns Howl's heart, and Sophie places it back inside Howl, reviving him and freeing Calcifer, though he decides to stay. Sophie's curse is broken, though her hair remains white – a symbol to show that her learning and maturity from the whole experience are intact. After she kisses Turnip Head on the cheek, he returns to human form, revealing himself to be Justin, the missing prince from the enemy kingdom. He reveals that only his true love's kiss can break his curse. After seeing Sophie's affection lies with Howl, he promptly heads for home to cease the war. Suliman, watching through a crystal globe, also decides to end the war. As the bombers fly away, Sophie, Howl and the others travel high in the air in a new flying castle. ===== Syanthe is about 18 years old. She is a shapeshifter and has lived with other shapeshifters in the Carlbine forest all her life. Because of an incident that happened years ago, the King had confined all shapeshifters to the Carlbine forest. He marked all of the shapeshifters with a magical tattoo on their faces that would kill them if they crossed the boundaries of the forest. All of the shapeshifters were marked, except Syanthe, who had been hidden at birth from the King's men. When the Carlbine forest and the shapeshifters (who are closely bonded to the forest) slowly grew sick with an illness, Syanthe's mother included, she set out into the King's capital to obtain the cure for the illness. A few days or so later after Syanthe left the forest, she was caught by a caravan of traders. She decided to join these travelers on their way to the capital. She soon found out that the leader of the caravan, Jerel, had powerful magical powers, and realized that there was something amiss with the whole caravan. ===== ===== Ted Scott (John Payne) is a band pianist whose publicity manager decides that, for good press, the band should adopt a foreign refugee. The band goes to Ellis Island to meet the girl and soon discovers that the refugee isn't a 10-year-old child, but a young woman, Karen Benson (Sonja Henie). The surprise comes right before the band is to travel to Sun Valley, Idaho, for a Christmas event. While on the ski slopes Ted soon falls for Karen's inventive schemes to win the heart of her new sponsor, much to the chagrin of his girlfriend, Vivian Dawn (Lynn Bari), a soloist with the band. Vivian promptly quits the band out of jealousy, and Karen stages an elaborate ice show as a substitute. Of particular note is the elaborate "Chattanooga Choo Choo" sequence. The scene begins at a rehearsal with the Glenn Miller Orchestra practicing "Chattanooga Choo Choo" and includes two choruses of the song whistled and sung by Tex Beneke in a musical exchange with The Modernaires. As the Miller band concludes their feature the camera pans left to reveal a railway station set. The band continues with the production number and accompanies Dorothy Dandridge and the Nicholas Brothers in their song and dance routine. Sun Valley Serenade is the first of the only two movies featuring The Glenn Miller Orchestra (the other is 1942's Orchestra Wives). Besides "Chattanooga Choo Choo", other Glenn Miller tunes in the film are "Moonlight Serenade", "It Happened in Sun Valley", "I Know Why (And So Do You)", and "In the Mood". An instrumental version of "At Last" was recorded by Glenn Miller and his Orchestra as well as a version with vocals by John Payne and Pat Friday, but these recordings would remain unused and unissued. "At Last" can be heard in the movie in three scenes, however, in an orchestral performance by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra in the Lido Terrace night club after they perform "In the Mood", as part of the orchestral background score in a scene between John Payne and Lynn Bari, and in an orchestral version with vocalization but without lyrics a minute and twenty seconds in length during the closing skating sequence with Sonja Henie.Soundtracks for Sun Valley Serenade. IMDB. "At Last" would also appear in the 1942 follow-up movie Orchestra Wives performed by Glenn Miller and his Orchestra with vocals by Ray Eberle and Pat Friday. Los Angeles vocalist Pat Friday pre-recorded the vocal tracks that Lynn Bari lip synced in the film. Future Olympic gold medalist Gretchen Fraser was the skiing stand-in for Sonja Henie. Fraser was a member of the Olympic team in 1940 (cancelled) and 1948. ===== On Earth, a boy named Arthur Penhaligon (the main character) is at a new school. He collapses during an outdoor cross country run during gym because of his severe asthma. Two of his schoolmates, Ed and Leaf, stop to help him use his inhaler before running to get help. While waiting for help, Arthur notices two strange-looking men materialising out of thin air. They discuss a key and whether or not to give it to Arthur. One of the men, Monday, doesn't want to give it up because he needs the key in order to continue his reign, but the other man, Sneezer, convinces him to as the Will states Monday must give the key to a suitable heir but after Arthur dies, Monday will once again regain control of the Key. Persuaded, Monday agrees to relinquish control of the key, which is shaped like the minute hand of an old clock, although he quickly becomes suspicious of Sneezer, who apparently never showed much intelligence before. Sneezer and Mister Monday then fight and disappear in a flash of light. In their place is a slim book which Arthur puts in his pocket. In his hand, he holds the key which Arthur finds helps him breathe. As his teacher and school nurse approach, Arthur hides the key and passes out. Arthur wakes up in a hospital bed, tired. Ed and Leaf, the brother and sister who helped him, come and visit. Leaf comments that she had seen an old man pushing a bath-chair with a young man in it; obviously Sneezer and Mister Monday. Ed, however, had not seen Monday and Sneezer, but claims to have seen a bunch of men with dog-like faces digging up the field. Arthur asks them if anyone had seen the key he buried in the field and they say no, but promise to visit him soon. Shortly afterward, they have to leave so Arthur can take a shot. In pain, Arthur pushes his hand under the pillow, only to have his fingers touch the key, which has appeared there magically. A week later, Arthur returns home but Ed and Leaf have not kept their promise to visit him. When he gets there, he uses the key to open the book, which is called The Compleat Atlas of the House and Immediate Environs, and learns that the House (a giant, polyglot-fashioned building that he passed when going home) has an entrance called Monday's Postern. That night, he is visited by one of the dog-like "Fetchers" mentioned by Leaf earlier. He is saved by his ceramic Komodo dragon in which he had placed the Key. During the next day at school, he finds himself being pursued by the Fetchers again. Before being excused from gym class, a friend of Leaf's hands him a printed out email which explains her and her brother's absence. Apparently, they have caught some sort of virus and have been placed in quarantine. Leaf notes that she can smell the same stench from the Fetchers on those in her family but no one else can smell it. Arthur seeks sanctuary in the school library to figure out the Atlas and hide from the Fetchers. During this brief time, he reads up on the Fetchers and finds out that they are vulnerable to salt. His research is interrupted when Monday's Noon, a servant of Mister Monday who proves to be more powerful than the Fetchers, shows up. He attempts to attack Arthur and inadvertently starts a fire in the library. However, Monday's Noon can only attack him between the hours of noon and one o'clock and Arthur manages to evade him until then and Noon disappears. Unfortunately, Arthur still has to contend with the Fetchers who have managed to steal away his Atlas during his struggle with Monday's Noon. He escapes to the kitchens and finds salt to destroy them. During this time, the fire department and the bio-containment and quarantine team, who believe the new virus that Ed and Leaf's family are suffering from has originated from the school, arrive. Arthur realises that the Fetchers must have caused the disease and notices that the smoke from the burning library is spelling out a message for him to get to the House. Arthur lets go of the key to induce his asthma which causes a paramedic to take him to the hospital. As they get closer to his neighbourhood, an unknown force hits the ambulance in the form of a violent rainstorm. Arthur takes advantage of this distraction to leave the paramedic and get to the House. Using the Key, Arthur enters the House and finds that the House is a world unto itself, around which the Universe is organised, whose purpose is, or was, to observe and record all that occurs in the infinity. He sets off on a journey discovering that while there he is in perfect health during his travels through the House, he finds that he is the Rightful Heir, a person to whom the Will referred. If he fulfils this function, the Architect of the World's original intention will be enacted. To save the Lower House, he must kill Mister Monday and steal the other half of the key, of which is the Hour Hand, from him. He is accompanied during the most of his journey by a cockney girl-child named Suzy Turquoise Blue, who was brought to the House by the Piper (one of the immortal Denizens of the House) along with many other children. There, too, he learns something of the House's history: The Architect and the Old One came from nothing to create the universe. Unfortunately, the Architect's consort, the Old One, acts in the role of Prometheus, in that he had defied the Architect for some purpose of his own and been imprisoned as a result. After a while, the Architect left the House and handed over control to the Morrow days. Unfortunately, these Trustees have each been contaminated with one of seven deadly sins and have disobeyed the Architect's will to observe and record the happenings of the Secondary Realms (Our universe) in favour of interfering to where it suits them. Because of their inadequate rule, the House has become a dystopia. At the end of the book, Arthur defeats Mister Monday and takes control of the Hour Hand and gains the First of Seven Keys to the Kingdom. To the displeasure of the Will, he takes pity on Mister Monday and lets him go, after healing him mentally and physically. After going home, with the Will, he hands the responsibility of government over to the Will itself which manifests in the form of Dame Primus (a name almost literally meaning "First Lady" in Latin). He appoints Suzy as the second assistant to Noon who is actually Monday's Dusk who aided Arthur in his attempt to secure the key. Monday's former Noon is changed to the new Dusk while Monday's Dawn retains her position. Monday's Noon (AKA Monday's Dusk) gives Arthur a 'Nightsweeper' to get rid of the virus the dog faces brought with them. After waiting for ten hours, only to fall asleep and wake up at 11:56, Arthur puts the Nightsweeper (which looks like a toy horse) on his windowsill. It flies over his town, waking up everyone as it passes by. Arthur's family tells Arthur that his mother found a cure for the plague. Then a phone rings, which none of Arthur's family can hear. He realizes it is the phone Dame Primus gave him in case of emergencies. The book ends with Arthur looking at the clock and seeing it is one minute past twelve, Tuesday morning. ===== Carmen, a young Spanish woman who is engaged to be married, has her hen night at a French restaurant in London. She is invited to participate in the observance of an old custom which allows her to kiss the stranger of her choice before the marriage, symbolically "kissing her single life goodbye" and bringing luck for the future. The man she chooses is Kit and both enjoy the kiss far more than they have intended. They fall in love, which creates a "love triangle" among Carmen, her fiancé Barnaby, and Kit. What initially appears to be a typical urban love story begins to take some surprising and dark twists. In the third act, it is revealed that the circumstances have been arranged in order to create an "emotional snuff film". Unbeknownst to Carmen, she has been cast as the female lead in this endeavor. Barnaby has hired Kit to play a part in the deception, but has misled him by neglecting to mention that he himself, the director, will take on the role of Carmen's fiancé (Kit believing that the couple know nothing of the film). Barnaby is apparently unscrupulous, as he actually marries Carmen for the sake of the film and later fakes a violent suicide (his motive being that Carmen will never love him as she does Kit). In a state of shock, she returns to Kit, who is also horrified, guilty, and never having met the husband, still in the dark as to the true identity of a man he knows only as "Ford". He admits to Carmen that he has been paid by a man to seduce her for a film, and that he regrets it immensely. Barnaby, whom Kit recognizes as his employer, suddenly appears, offering Kit his final pay and removing camera equipment he previously has concealed in the actor's bedsit without his knowledge. With contemptible satisfaction, he unravels his entire plan to the shocked, broken pair and bitterly ridicules them before leaving. Several months later, as the film is about to open, Barnaby appears to have won Carmen back. For a ceremony during which he is to accept a filmmakers' award, he engineers a publicity stunt by which it appears that Kit will have the ultimate revenge. However, Carmen takes advantage of the opportunity to do in her manipulative husband for real while framing his business partners for murder. Tragedy generates sensation and, while its clueless producers await trial, the film enjoys a big opening at which Carmen and Kit arrive in style, together. ===== Zarak Khan (Victor Mature) is the son of a chief, who is caught embracing one of his father's wives Salma (Anita Ekberg). Zarak's father sentenced both to torture and death but they are saved by an Imam (Finlay Currie). The exiled Zarak becomes a bandit chief and an enemy of the British Empire. ===== ===== ===== ===== In the far future, the human race has abandoned Earth for the reaches of outer space, having ruined the planet in the relentless quest for resources and in endless conflict. In a desperate search to find a new home, they found Evath, a life-sustaining planet with two moons, Mitral and Tricuspid. They sent a ship, named "Exodus" to colonize this new planet with explorers, embryos and supplies. Generations passed, and the colony on Evath was formed. Without the rule of law, the oldest members of the Exodus' crew, the Elders, were forced to take control, form an army and bring the rule of law to Evath. Lesleigh Skerrit aspired to work for the Driller Federation. His grandfather had been a member of the Federation, but he was falsely accused of murder and banished as a Ketar. Only later did the evidence contesting his guilt surface, but it was too late - the law did not allow someone banished as a Ketar to return to Evath. Lesleigh was not bitter and did not seek retribution. He wanted to study law to prevent this kind of mistake happening again. Called in by his superior, Montigue Yarbro, he is offered a lifetime opportunity - to complete his training and gain a promotion to Elite within the Driller Federation in one fell swoop. His experience on Mitral bore him well - he was to go to Mitral and attempt to avert the coming catastrophe. Mitral, having been abandoned in its unstable state by the Ketars, was going to explode within four hours, and the explosion would take Evath with it. Skerrit's mission was to use the excavation probe "Last Hope" to place eighteen drilling rigs around Mitral to allow the gas to dissipate harmlessly into space and prevent this disaster. Things are not so simple though, with the security systems activated prior to the Ketars' departure. ===== When it is announced that the commissioner of pro football Bud Armstrong wants to expand the league, Homer leads the charge to get the new franchise in Springfield. At first his family does not think he can do it, but Homer manages to put forth a surprisingly strong package for the Springfield Meltdowns and the new park, named the Duff Beer Krusty Burger Buzz Cola Costington's Department Store Kwik-E-Mart Stupid Flanders Park. The commissioner narrows down the choice of the two cities to either Springfield or Los Angeles. L.A. puts forth an anti-Springfield video hosted by Rob Reiner and features a song sung by celebrity impersonators that ends with them singing "Springfield Blows". All the owners decide that Springfield is the lesser of two evils (it does not hurt that the Rich Texan owns slums in Springfield and another owner snaps that she did not kill her husband and seize his team just to put a team in Los Angeles) and the Commissioner awards the new team to Springfield. The town gets "Meltmania" and "Downs syndrome", quickly builds Homer's new park, paints the town in the team colours (orange and purple) and changes all of the street names to football- related names (e.g. Two-Point Conversion Avenue, Off-Season Knee Surgery Blvd). On the day when Springfield is officially announced as the new team, Commissioner Armstrong gets confused by all of the new street names and gets lost. He stops for directions at the Simpsons' house and is greeted by Grampa Simpson, who welcomes him in. However, Grampa is watching a TV program about undercover burglars who act just as the Commissioner did (asking for a telephone and a bathroom and, sometimes, taking pictures of the children of the house - he was looking at one with Bart and Lisa when attacked), and sneaks up behind Armstrong and knocks him unconscious with a golf club. The rest of the family arrives home, disappointed that the commissioner did not show and is shocked to find him tied up in their living room. The commissioner furiously declares that neither he nor the League will ever return to Springfield, ending the Meltdowns' history before it began. The entire town then hates Grampa, and the expensive stadium has to be used for farmers' markets, with even his dentures refusing to smile at him. Grampa is depressed and decides to seek out a doctor called Dr. Egoyan who will help him commit suicide with a suicide booth called a "diePod". The doctor tells Grampa to reconsider, and Grampa decides that if anyone calls him in the next 24 hours, he will not go through with his plan. The call never comes and Grampa goes back to the clinic the next day. To make it a more peaceful experience they project in front of him, at his request, hippies being beaten up by police while music from the Glenn Miller Orchestra plays. Grampa comes very close to dying but Chief Wiggum ends the procedure just in time, telling the doctor that voters have overturned Springfield's assisted-suicide law. Grampa thinks he is dead and runs through the town, seeing "Hamburger Heaven" and a Charlie Chaplin impersonator. He soon learns that he is not dead, gets a new lease on life and decides to live without fear. Meanwhile, the city decides to turn the unused football stadium into an arena for bull fighting. Despite Lisa's protests, as they go against her vegetarianism, Grampa decides to become a matador. Grampa wins his first fight with a bull, but at home, Lisa tells Grampa that she wants him to stop hurting and killing animals. Grampa tells her that people are cheering him for his success, but Lisa tells him that she has always cheered for him until now. Grampa is not sure about that, but in the next fight he sees the bull that he is about to kill and decides to spare its life. He releases all the bulls, which immediately start running through the streets of Springfield, causing a great deal of destruction and injuring everyone. One bull takes the elevator up to the press box, and attacks the announcer, who is a parody of Spanish-language soccer announcer Andres Cantor. Lisa is proud of Grampa and the two reconcile in two Lawnchair Larry flight type patio chairs, but they both become in danger by two bulls flying with balloons. In the post-credits scene, a flashback shows that Abe was present at the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings. While he was only there to test out the microphone during preparation time, he names several individuals as members of the Communist Party before being escorted out of the room. ===== ;Foreword Dr. Paul Carruthers (Bela Lugosi), a chemist and physician in the small town of Heathville, is offered a $5,000 bonus from his employers for his contributions to the company, a pittance compared to the million dollars in income the company earned from his work. (His employers argue that he took a buyout early in the company's history instead of retaining his partnership stake.) Embittered and insulted, he seeks revenge and develops a system in which ordinary bats are enlarged to massive size, training them to be drawn to a new, pungent aftershave he is testing. He cleverly distributes the lotion to his enemies as a "test" product. Once they have applied the lotion, the chemist then releases his Devil Bats in the night, targeting the families of his employer's owners. The bats succeed in attacking and killing one of the owners and two of his sons. A hot shot reporter from the Chicago Register, Johnny Layton (Dave O'Brien) gets assigned by his editor (Arthur Q. Bryan) to cover and help solve the murders. He and his bumbling photographer "One-Shot" McGuire (Donald Kerr) begin to unwind the mystery with some comic sidelights. In the climactic closing scene, Layton dumps a sample of the aftershave on Carruthers, leading the bat to attack and kill its own master. Mary, the last surviving member of her family, runs into Johnny's arms. ===== Surya (Prashanth) is a carefree youth living in Malaysia with his brother Chandramohan (Raghuvaran) and sister-in- law Devi (Sukanya). Chandramohan and Devi are childless because of a problem with Chandramohan. Surya falls in love with dancer Priya (Riya Sen) and manages to steal her heart too. Just when things seem happy, a bombshell is dropped by a Sister Mary who tells Surya that he is the father of a small girl Pooja. Pooja must undergo an operation to save her life but insists on seeing her dad before agreeing to the operation. Surya agrees to pose as her dad and is forced to do so on a more permanent basis even after the operation is done. He is driven out of the house and loses Priya, who agrees to wed an earlier suitor, Shyam (Sanjay Asrani). Person who happens to be the dad of Pooja's mother wants to kill Surya for cheating his daughter but ends up being arrested by police. Second half shifts to Cruise ship, where Chandramohan finds out that Pooja is actually his daughter. The film ends with Surya and Priya reuniting. ===== J. Wellington Gedge lives with his rich wife (who inherited a fortune from her first husband) at the Château Blissac, near St Rocque, Brittany. She wants them to live in France though he longs to return to his hometown, Glendale, California. Mrs Gedge is going on a short trip to London, but has invited some guests: the American Senator Opal and his daughter, and the Vicomte de Blissac. Mrs Gedge wants them to make Mr Gedge the American Ambassador to France, an idea which appalls Mr Gedge. At the nearby Hotel des Etrangers are two American criminals, confidence trickster Gordon "Oily" Carlisle and safe-blower "Soup" Slattery. Oily admits that he and his wife, "Gum-Shoe Gertie", had a falling-out a year prior. Soup tries to rob Mr Gedge, but Gedge has no money. They bond over their losses in the stock market crash. Gedge mentions that he was rich when he married and gave his wife sixty thousand dollars' worth of jewels, which are usually kept in a safe. Soup plans to rob the safe, with Oily acting as the inside man (which they call "working the inside stand"). American millionaire Patrick "Packy" Franklyn is engaged to the beautiful but austere Lady Beatrice Bracken. He sees his old friend, the fun-loving Vicomte de Blissac. Beatrice wants Packy to befriend the intellectual novelist Blair Eggleston. She is going to see her family in the country and is certain that Packy would get into trouble or "hot water" of some kind if left to himself. Packy goes to a barbershop, but the staff are on strike. For fun, Packy acts as barber for Senator Ambrose Opal, famous for supporting Dry legislation far stricter than the Volstead Act. Packy does a bad job and flees from the angered senator. This upsets Jane, since now her father will be especially unreceptive to the news that she is engaged to the impecunious Blair Eggleston. Packy apologizes to Jane, and encourages Blair to approach Senator Opal, who assumes Blair is his new valet. Jane wants Blair to keep up the act and win the senator's favour. Senator Opal accidentally sent a letter meant for his bootlegger to Mrs Gedge, and she threatens to publicize it unless he makes Mr Gedge ambassador. The senator agrees to consent to Jane marrying whomever she likes if she recovers the letter. Packy charters a yacht and follows them to St Rocque to help Jane. Soup, Packy, the Vicomte (in a parrot-like lizard costume), and Mr Gedge (dressed as an "Oriental potentate") enjoy St Rocque's annual fancy dress carnival, the Festival of the Saint. Packy helps Soup escape the police after a fight, and Soup offers to help him. Both the Vicomte and Mr Gedge get very drunk at the festival, and the next day, Packy, hoping to help Jane, lies to each man that he mortally injured the other in a brawl; each man agrees to avoid trouble by having Packy visit the Château pretending to be the Vicomte. Jane, disappointed in Blair for not helping her obtain the letter, is glad to see Packy. Senator Opal believes Packy is Jane's secret fiancé, and approves since Packy is a millionaire and former Yale football star. While locating the safe in Mrs Gedge's room, Senator Opal is spotted by Mrs Gedge's lady's maid Medway. He suspects Medway is a detective, and orders Blair to find out. Oily has befriended Mrs Gedge under the alias of the Duc de Pont-Andemer. Playing their roles, Packy and Oily feign speaking French to each other in front of Mrs Gedge's secretary, Miss Putnam. Oily recognizes Medway, who is actually Gertie. Mrs Gedge returns and places her jewels and letter in her safe, but Soup refuses to rob the room while a woman is sleeping there. Packy claims he is a detective and gets Mrs Gedge to change rooms, though Miss Putnam, who is actually a detective hired by Mrs Gedge, knows Packy is lying. Blair, acting on Packy's advice, tells Medway he is a detective to see if she admits to being one, but this causes the thieves Medway and Oily (who have reconciled and plan to betray Soup) to tie him up and leave him in a boathouse for a while. Lady Beatrice appears, hears about Packy and Jane, and ends her engagement to Packy. Soup, who was forced by Senator Opal to sit on a window- sill for hours after being caught burgling, has misgivings about helping the senator but still decides to help Packy get the letter. The Vicomte and Mr Gedge see each other and happily get drunk again. Packy realises that he loves Jane but resolves to help her marry Blair anyway. Soup, Oily and Gertie, and Packy and Jane attempt to burgle the safe at about the same time. Gertie knocks out Soup and Oily manages to open the safe, but Kate Putnam shows up with a pistol. Oily and Gertie escape empty-handed. Packy eats the letter before Mrs Gedge can take it. Soup recognizes her as his old partner in crime, Julia. Packy uses this to blackmail Mrs Gedge into taking Mr Gedge back to Glendale, and finds Blair in the boathouse. Blair is finished with Jane's schemes and leaves her. Packy and Jane confess their feelings for each other. Soup, having made off with five pieces of jewellery from Mrs Gedge's safe, decides to retire and start a farm. ===== 9 is a sentient rag doll who appears to be the last of his kind, living in the ruins of a decaying, post-apocalyptic Earth. He is first seen making simple constructs out of refuse – a swinging armature of scrap metal, an upright book with string tied around it, and a dummy rag doll full of tar, though the purpose behind these things is unclear at first. Hunting 9 relentlessly is the Cat Beast, a mechanical monster wearing a cat's skull for a head. It appears to be guided by a small glowing talisman which it holds in its claws. Sitting quietly, 9 stares into the mirrored surface of his own strange talisman and has a flashback. In the flashback, 9 searches the ruins with his mentor, 5, a one-eyed rag doll. They gather useful bits and pieces and store them in the cloth linings of their own skin. With 9's help, 5 is able to salvage a light bulb and operate it using pieces of wire and a watch battery. 5 gives the functional bulb to 9 for safe-keeping. Almost immediately after, 5 draws the mirrored talisman from inside his chest. It glows green, warning of danger. 5 gives the talisman to 9 then pushes him into cover. Extending a homemade folding spear, 5 steps out to confront the threat. But the Cat Beast circles behind him and snatches him up with a metal pincer, shearing off his right arm. Though he struggles, 5 can not break free, and the Cat Beast sucks 5's soul out through his mouth using its talisman, leaving 5 lifeless. Horrified, 9 escapes in panic, almost giving away his location to the Cat Beast by scraping the light bulb against a rock. 9 is woken from the memory by the warning green glow of the mirrored talisman. Taking the light bulb, which he has attached to the end of a staff, 9 flees into a ruined house. The Cat Beast follows and reveals that it has not only taken the other rag dolls' souls: it also wears their numbered skins like a garment. The number 5 shows prominently on its back. The Beast pounces on what it thinks is 9, but which turns out to be a marionette – the dummy created by 9 at the beginning of the film. The Beast's claws stick in the tar and 9 is able to hop onto its back and steal the Beast's talisman. 9 leads the Beast on a panicked chase through the house and finally runs out onto the end of a broken plank, which extends over a several-story drop. Thinking it has 9 cornered, the Beast walks out onto the plank. But it has fallen into 9's trap. Nearby is the metal armature, and the upright book. 9 leaps off the plank onto the armature, which swings him around to the book. He kicks it and it falls into the pit. The string, tied at one end to the book, has its other end tied to the plank. The weight of the falling book drags the plank into the pit, and the Beast with it. The Beast crashes through a hole in the cellar floor and is presumably impaled by the sharp end of the falling plank. This all reveals that all the things that 9 has built was a cleverly-made trap for the Beast. Now free from fear, 9 salvages the skins of the other rag dolls and prepares them to be ceremonially burned. As he looks sadly at the skin of 5, the two talismans begin to glow. 9 realizes that they are two halves of a whole and puts them together. A beam of green light erupts from the united talisman, and the spirits of the eight slain rag dolls 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 emerge, returning to their rag doll skins to be at peace. Before disappearing, 5's soul turns to 9 and nods in approval. In the morning, when the ashes have cooled, 9 – bearing the light bulb staff, a symbol of the persistent light of knowledge and learning – walks off into the wasteland, leaving the empty talisman behind in the sand. ===== After a doctor informs Donnelly (Gleeson) that his wife died at 3 o'clock in the morning, he brings Donnelly to his wife's bedside to say goodbye, then excusing himself as the doctor is unusually busy: there'd been two cot deaths, and a woman shot so brutally by her son 'she had no head left on her'. Donnelly spends a few final moments awkwardly talking to his wife and gives her a photo of 'David', their pet rabbit. While on a train ride home, Donnelly sits opposite a chain-smoking kid (Conroy), who reveals himself to be a manic foul-mouth. In his forlorn state, Donnelly tolerates the kid, allowing himself to be engaged in some inane conversations. Less accepting of the kid's abrasive manners are a couple sitting across the aisle. After some animated exchanges, the kid leaves to get something from the buffet cart. At this time, Donnelly inquires, and learns that the couple just lost their son from a cot death. The kid returns after the couple leaves their seats, where Donnelly tells the kid about the baby's death. The kid seems surprised and immediately asks, 'Did they kill "it"?'. When Donnelly explains that it was 'cot death', the kid asserts that they must have 'banged it on something'. Upon the couple's return, things heat up. The two almost come to blows, but Donnelly steps in. Donnelly goes to the buffet cart to get a drink. The man comes out to get tea and engages Donnelly in a brief conversation. With her husband gone, the woman is now left alone with the kid, who quickly moves to harass her as she clutches a picture of her deceased baby. He accuses her of 'bang[ing] it on something', because the baby was 'ugly'. Aghast, the woman steps on a table to get away from him, only to trip, fall, and tear the photo. Moments later, the kid, now back in his own seat, is startled by a thump at the window; the woman had thrown herself out of the train. He goes to investigate, to discover an open gate with the torn picture of the baby on the floor. Donnelly and the husband return. The kid nonchalantly informs the husband that his wife has jumped off the train, and is 'dripping down the half of it'. The husband takes this as a joke, and sets out to look for his wife. When Donnelly turns to see the blood on the window, he pulls the emergency stop. The police arrive and the man learns of his wife's suicide. Donnelly and the kid are questioned by a policeman, who questions the kid: 'Do I know you from somewhere?'. As the train departs, the policeman sees the kid wildly waving goodbye, and realizes he is 'wanted'. He orders the train stopped, 'and tell the boys to get the guns out'. On their way again, the kid tries to get Donnelly to take his side. When he gets no sympathy, the kid reveals that HIS mother was murdered last night, but he's not mourning. Donnelly tells the kid that his wife just died as well, and begins to weep. The kid again presses Donnelly with his 'deadly' story of a cow with trapped wind. Donnelly capitulates, and the kid tells his 'true' story, which is so bizarre that Donnelly can't help but laugh. 'Best day of me fucking life – that cow exploding', the kid concludes. As the train pulls into the station, Donnelly notices armed cops everywhere. He realises that the kid is responsible for the matricide mentioned by the doctor in the opening scene. A shootout between the kid and the cops ensues, which leaves the kid mortally wounded. His last words are regrets that he didn't even hit one policeman. The kid dies as Donnelly cradles him. He then takes one of the kid's six shooters and hides it in his coat. At home, Donnelly prepares to kill himself. He looks in the gun which contains two bullets. As he is about to shoot himself, he hears scratching sounds from David, his wife's pet rabbit. He takes David in his lap, and tells the rabbit: 'I'll be following you shortly', before shooting it in the head. Moving the gun to his own head, Donnelly fumbles and drops it, accidentally discharging its last bullet. He looks at the smoking six shooter, then at the dead rabbit in his arms. He sighs, looks skyward and moans, 'Oh Jesus; what a fuckin day.' ===== At golfing seaside resort Bingley-on-Sea, nerve specialist Sir Hugo Drake is impressed by the golfing skill of Dr. Sally Smith, an American general practitioner. Sir Hugo tells her he is looking for his nephew William "Bill" Bannister. Bill was seen with a woman of flashy appearance at Bingley. Bill is rich and impulsive, with a habit of falling in love at first sight. Sir Hugo regards himself as a parent figure to Bill, and has come to take him back to Bill's country house, Woollam Chersey in Hampshire. Nearby in a hotel, "Squiffy" Bixby, Lord Tidmouth, who has divorced four times, sees his first ex-wife, Charlotte "Lottie" Higginbotham, who has a maid, Marie. Lottie was formerly on the stage but married a rich man. She is now a widow, and sort of engaged to Bill, an old friend of Tidmouth's. Bill does not want to marry Lottie anymore. Tidmouth explains this tactlessly to Lottie and she faints. Bill tells the hotel bell-boy and also Tidmouth to get a doctor. To Bill's surprise, the bell-boy brings Sally, whom Bill has fallen in love with. Bill nervously confesses his feelings for her. Sally says in an unemotional way that if she ever loves a man she will inform him simply as if she were saying good morning, but says she still has not met the right man. Tidmouth brings another doctor, Sir Hugo. Sir Hugo agrees with Sally that Lottie only needs rest and tells Bill to go home. Around two weeks later, Bill, Sir Hugo, and Tidmouth are all at Bill's country house. Bill is in a bad mood because of his unrequited love for Sally, though Sir Hugo thinks he is pining for Lottie. Sir Hugo invites Lottie to the house, believing that in the old aristocratic manor, she will be clearly out of place and Bill will lose interest in her. Bill confides in Tidmouth that he is in love with Sally and that he telephoned her earlier. Pretending to be his own valet, he told her that Bill was seriously ill and needed a doctor so that she would come. Bill keeps all this secret from his busybody uncle. Sally reflects that she finds Bill agreeable but she does not want to marry an idle person who does not work and lives on inherited money. When Sally arrives at the house, she sees that Bill is healthy and remains aloof when he tries to tell her his feelings again. It is late, and Sally decides to sleep in a room in the house. Lottie arrives, and Tidmouth tries to tell Bill that they have a visitor, but Bill mistakenly thinks Tidmouth is referring to Sally. Sally sees Lottie at the house and thinks she and Bill are still romantically involved. The next morning, Sir Hugo learns from Bill that a lady arrived the previous night and, thinking Bill is referring to Lottie, is disappointed when Bill says that he loves her. Sir Hugo tells Lottie he does not want Bill to marry her. At first she is insulted, but Sir Hugo convinces her that she would be bored with Bill, who does not like dancing or partying in town like she does. She is much more similar to Tidmouth. Lottie and Tidmouth agree that they suit each other and want to get married again. Tidmouth informs Sally that Lottie is only at the house because she was invited by Sir Hugo. Bill finally makes it clear to Sir Hugo that he loves Sally, which pleases Sir Hugo, who greatly admires Sally's skill at golf. Sally continues to turn down Bill until she sees him do some paperwork for his dairy farm. Seeing that he does in fact work, she now loves him and says good morning to him. ===== Don't Tell is based on the true story of Lyndal, a young woman who had been sexually abused at a prestigious private school and, with the help of a determined lawyer, sued the powerful church that denied her abuse for ten years. ===== After a falling-out concerning Bertie's relentless playing of the banjolele, Jeeves leaves his master's service and finds work with Bertie's old friend, Lord "Chuffy" Chuffnell. Bertie travels to one of Chuffy's cottages in Somersetshire to practise the banjolele without complaints from neighbours. Chuffy hopes to sell his dilapidated manor to the rich J. Washburn Stoker. Mr Stoker plans to rent out the property to the famous "nerve specialist" (or, as Bertie prefers, "loony doctor") Sir Roderick Glossop, who intends to marry Chuffy's Aunt Myrtle. Chuffy has also fallen in love with Mr Stoker's daughter, Pauline Stoker, a former fiancée of Bertie, but feels unable to propose to her until his finances improve. Bertie plans to kiss Pauline in front of Chuffy to spur Chuffy to propose. However, it is Mr Stoker who sees the kiss. A fight between Mr Stoker's son Dwight and Chuffy's cousin Seabury divides the Chuffnells and Stokers. Mr Stoker returns to the yacht in which he and his family are staying. Thinking Bertie and Pauline are still in love, Stoker keeps Pauline on board to keep her from him. Chuffy writes a love letter to Pauline, which Jeeves smuggles aboard the yacht by briefly entering Mr Stoker's employ; Pauline is so moved that she swims ashore to Bertie's house, planning to visit Chuffnell Hall in the morning. Bertie lets her sleep in his bed while he tries to sleep in the garage. Unfortunately, he is seen by Police Sergeant Voules, who informs Lord Chuffnell. Chuffy, thinking Bertie is intoxicated, takes him back up to his bedroom. Seeing Pauline there, Chuffy assumes she and Bertie have resumed their romantic relationship. Chuffy and Pauline argue, and return to their respective homes. The next day, Mr Stoker invites Bertie to his yacht, but locks him in one of the rooms. Stoker found out about Pauline's visit to Bertie, and plans to force them to marry. Jeeves helps Bertie escape: Mr Stoker has hired some blackface minstrels for his son's party, and Bertie disguises himself by blacking his face with boot polish to go ashore with them. Bertie returns to his cottage. His new valet, Brinkley, is drunk and chases Bertie with a carving knife, then sets the cottage on fire, destroying Bertie's banjolele. Searching for butter to remove the boot polish from his face, Bertie goes to Chuffnell Hall. Chuffy, thinking that Pauline loves Bertie and that Bertie should not try to abandon Pauline, refuses to give him butter. Jeeves, again in Chuffy's employ, informs Bertie that Sir Roderick had blackened his face with boot polish to entertain Seabury; unappreciative, Seabury made a butter-slide using all the Hall's butter to make Sir Roderick fall, resulting in an altercation and Sir Roderick leaving the hall. Jeeves suggests that Bertie sleep in the Dower House, where Jeeves will bring him butter the next day. However, Brinkley is occupying the Dower House. Bertie sees Sir Roderick, who now feels friendly towards Bertie, since Bertie dislikes Seabury. Sir Roderick goes to Bertie's garage to find petrol, which he says can remove boot polish; Bertie, wishing to avoid Sergeant Voules, does not join him. Bertie sleeps in a summer-house. In the morning, Bertie meets with Jeeves in Chuffy's office. Mr Stoker is looking for Bertie; Jeeves tells him that Bertie is in the Dower House. Pauline appears, and Bertie reveals himself suddenly to her. Startled, Pauline shrieks, bringing Chuffy running to her. The couple reconciles. After Mr Stoker returns from a run-in with Brinkley, Jeeves delivers a cable saying that Mr Stoker's relatives are contesting the will of his late uncle, who left him fifty million dollars, on the grounds that the deceased was insane. Stoker is confident that Sir Roderick will testify against this. However, Sir Roderick has been arrested trying to break into Bertie's garage; his testimony will not have much weight if he is imprisoned. Jeeves suggests that Bertie switch places with Sir Roderick, as he could hardly be charged with breaking into his own garage. The plan succeeds. Stoker will buy the Hall, and Chuffy and Pauline are to be wed. Jeeves reveals that he was responsible for the cable. Stating that it has never been his policy to serve a married gentleman, Jeeves returns to Bertie's employ. Very surprised and grateful, Bertie has difficulty finding words, and simply says, "Thank you, Jeeves."Wodehouse (2008) [1934], chapter 22, p. 263. ===== A German businessman wants to buy land in southern Sweden for a gigantic amusement park, his new project called "Deutschneyland" (a wordplay of Deutschland and Disneyland). Some of the locals dislike the idea, including the magically talented Lindberg family, and work to frustrate the development plans. ===== The introduction shows the Dungaga, an imperial industrialized race, conquering the more spiritual Lorian race. The protagonist, Mia, is the daughter of the Lorian priestess and an unknown father. Like the rest of her people, she is enslaved to do menial labor under the supervision of her half-brother Hume. As she sees her Dungaga stepfather Gar hit her mother, she manifests a light-based magic that she uses to strike down Gar. At her mother's advice, she flees the village. In her travels, Mia meets the enigmatic lizardlike Shulin, the slime-based Grodol warriors, a familiar baby dragon named Elanduru, and several Dungaga dissidents. It is revealed that the Dungaga are controlled by the three sons of the dark god Baphomet, who wish to summon him into the world. After defeating the three sons, Mia must rally the free people of the world and obtain the blessing of the five gods, in order to strike out into Baphomet's realm and defeat him. ===== At a run-down, understaffed hospital, Dr. Akiba refuses to admit a patient with a strange black rash and is alerted to a serious crisis in Room 3 where a burnt victim dies, having apparently been given the wrong drug. Akiba, Dr. Uozumi, and four nurses decide to cover up the cause of death and move the body to an unused room. The head nurse then discovers that the patient that Akiba previously refused to admit has been left in the hallway and informs him. However, when Akiba goes to check, he discovers that Doctor Akai had taken the patient and decides to study his symptoms: though he is still alive, his body mass is liquefying into green goo. Not knowing how much Akai knows about the events in Room 3, Akiba and the others reluctantly agree to help with the examination but when they return to the patient's room, they find he has vanished and the head nurse unconscious. The head nurse awakens and begins acting strangely while she starts to bleed green goo from both her ears and eyes. The doctors realise they are at risk of infection and decide to put her on a bed and cover her with plastic in an attempt to limit the infection's spread. Soon after, the mean nurse finds the young nurse drawing blood on herself. Their conversation goes awry, when the young nurse lets out a maniacal laughs and plunges two needles into her body, splattering the mean nurse with green goo. While speaking with a patient he killed earlier, Uozumi is overcome with emotional guilt. Akiba walks in, but finds Uozumi alone. His eyes turn white and green goo starts seeping from him. Akiba panics and turns to find the mean nurse, now infected and covered in green goo, smiling and hanging upside down from the ceiling. After finding the nurse giving her own blood to the dead burn patient and running into the infected head nurse, Akiba flees the room. Akiba confronts Akai and accuses him of creating and spreading the virus. Akai denies this and explains that the infection is actually spread mentally, infecting the subconscious of its victims. He then urges Akiba to remember what really happened in Room 3 earlier in the night. Dr. Nakazono walks in to find Akiba talking to himself, forcing him to realize that he's been speaking with his reflection. He looks around and sees the corpses of the two nurses who are dead and covered in blood with no green goo in sight. Soon, Dr. Nakazono realizes that the last few hours have all been a hallucination. Nakazono calls the police, as Akiba recalls the events in Room 3 and realizes that "Akai" was actually the burn patient. The same series of events is shown again, but with Akiba as the burn patient and Akai as Akiba, giving the order for the wrong drug, which massacres the entire staff. The hospital is evacuated the next morning as all of the staff, except Nakazono, are dead and the police is searching for Akiba who has disappeared. When Nakazono leaves the hospital, she sees all the red lights change to green and vice versa; panicking, she accidentally cuts her hand and green blood pours out. A shot of a locker is seen in the room where the burn victim was kept. Someone inside the locker is calling for help as green goo starts pouring out of it. The top of the locker opens and Akiba's hand covered in goo reaches out before falling to the floor. ===== The first part of the movie takes place in Bangkok, Thailand. Ko Fei's (Chow Yun-fat) friend Sam Sei (Anthony Wong) borrows money from a loan shark to give Ko Fei's departed mother a proper burial. The loan shark kidnaps Sam, and Ko Fei rescues him by confronting the loan shark and persuading him to give more time for Sam to re-pay the loan. The loan shark does not comply and orders his cohorts to kill Sam, but Ko Fei punches two of them before he engages a knife fight with the remaining gang members. After doing so, the loan shark attempts to shoot Ko Fei, but he wrestles the gun out of the shark's grasp, frees a trapped Sam Sei and escapes. Not wanting to lose face, the loan shark promises to kill them, so Ko Fei and Sam Sei flee the city. To earn money, they team up with Sam's cousin Judge (Simon Yam) for a heist. The group meets up, although a fight between Ko Fei's and Judge's friend (Chung and Psycho respectively) breaks out, which is triggered by Ko Fei making remarks about Lau Ngang. After the initial group meeting, Judge, meanwhile, is offered money from the loan shark to kill Ko Fei and Sam during the heist. The heist begins with Ko Fei blocking traffic while Lau Ngang tosses a grenade into an irate driver's car, which explodes. The intended target is a lorry and the group shoots and kills the passengers. Psycho gets in the truck but kicks Chung out and prevents him from boarding. The heist is successful, but Judge betrays Ko Fei by attempting to kill him, only to kill Chung instead. A car chase ensues between the two. The scene ends when Ko Fei flips his car up-side down. Judge examines the wreckage only to be ambushed by Ko Fei. Another fight ensues, Judge slices Ko Fei's right finger and thumb but is interrupted by a resident who shoots in the air telling them to leave. The stolen truck, now occupied by Lau Ngang and Psycho, shoot at the house, killing everyone but a girl. Ko Fei takes shelter, but Sam Sei appears with a gun intending to kill Ko Fei (at the behest of Judge), but shoots him once in the chest and the rest at the floor. Sam Sei walks out with a pair of bloody eyes to prove that he has "killed" Ko Fei (Judge made remarks about Ko Fei's "mesmerising eyes" earlier). Convinced, he shoots the pressure cooker, causing it to explode, burning alive the previously shot resident and the girl, leaving her with 3rd degree burns. Ko Fei, assumed to be dead, returns to the city, finding Sam now a competent gangster. Seemingly seeking revenge, he steals the shipment of guns Judge was hoping to sell and ransoms them back. The money is for the hospital stricken girl burned in the fire fight. The pair meet again, but not before Ko Fei guns down all of Judge's cohorts including Psycho. Judge gives Ko Fei the money and asks for the goods, but Ko Fei simply detonates the goods in the end, much to Judge's chagrin. The two shoot at each other, but it's Ko Fei who gains the upper hand when he throws his butterfly knife at Judge. Ko Fei finally kills Judge before quipping "Go masturbate in hell!" ===== A writer named Adrian Messenger (John Merivale) believes a series of apparently unrelated "accidental" deaths are actually linked murders. He asks his friend Anthony Gethryn (George C. Scott), recently retired from MI5, to help clear up the mystery, and provides him with a list of the victims' names. Soon afterward, Messenger's plane is bombed while he is en route to collect evidence to confirm his suspicions and, with his dying breath, he tells a fellow passenger the key to the mystery. The passenger survives and turns out to be Raoul Le Borg (Jacques Roux), Gethryn's old World War II counterpart in the French Resistance. The two of them join forces to investigate Messenger's list of names and decode his cryptic final words. They are joined by Lady Jocelyn Bruttenholm (Dana Wynter), Messenger’s cousin and a former love interest of Gethryn, who Raoul is strongly attracted to. The first conclusion Gethryn and Le Borg draw from Messenger’s words is that there is important information in the manuscript of his unpublished book. Unfortunately, the murderer has beaten them there; he has taken several pages and re-typed them, removing certain information, and murdered the typist to conceal the error (encountering Jocelyn on his way out). After inspecting the manuscript, Gethryn spots the error, but he is powerless to undo it, and arrives too late to save the typist. From Jocelyn’s brief encounter with the murderer, Gethryn determines that he wears realistic masks to disguise his appearance. Next, Gethryn and Le Borg visit the only living name on the list, James Slattery. When they arrive, they are told by James' invalid twin brother, Joe Slattery, that James died of a heart attack several years earlier. The two of them leave in disappointment, assuming all names on the list have died. That night, however, Joe sees and recognizes the masked murderer and pursues him, but the murderer knocks him out and pushes him into the ocean with his wheelchair, drowning him. The following day, his mother reveals the truth to Gethryn; “Joe” was actually James, who impersonated his deceased brother to collect his disability pension. From James' mother, and from the widow of another name of the list, Gethryn and Le Borg establish that all on the list were together in a prisoner of war camp in Burma, where a Canadian sergeant betrayed his fellow prisoners, foiling their escape attempt. It stands to reason that the Canadian is the murderer, and killed each of the names on the list to prevent them from identifying him. They deduce that he is about to come into prominence and cannot risk being recognized. Almost by accident, Messenger’s final clue falls into place; it is revealed that the Canadian stands in line to an inheritance of the Bruttenholms, Jocelyn’s family of landed gentry, who avidly engage in fox hunting. Having disposed of all possible witnesses to his wartime treachery, the Canadian, George Brougham (pronounced 'Broom') (Kirk Douglas), appears at a Bruttenholm estate fox hunt and introduces himself as a member of the family (he has previously been seen only in disguise). It then becomes clear to the visiting Gethryn and Le Borg that Brougham's next victim is to be the young heir, Derek, who comes before Brougham in inheritance. In an attempt to divert Brougham, Gethryn informs him of his investigation of Messenger’s list, calculating to set himself up as the next victim. That night, Brougham sabotages the next morning’s hunt by laying a drag with a fox in a sack over the fields. He especially marks a blind spot behind a high wall, and moves a large hay tedder behind, intending for Gethryn (who has been given the honor of leading the hunt) to be impaled upon its lethal tines. Unbeknownst to Brougham, his plan goes awry when a farmer repositions the tedder early the next morning. The hunt begins, but comes to a halt at the specified spot. Gethryn reveals to the gathered crowd that he discovered and removed the hay- tedder booby trap earlier that morning and, with the help of the lead fox hound, will detect the scent of the culprit amongst a group of hunt saboteurs. Brougham, once again disguised, is identified and runs off, mounting Derek's horse. When Derek shouts a command to the horse, the animal stops short, throwing Brougham and impaling him on the very same machine he intended for Gethryn. ===== Aks is a supernatural thriller centering on two characters― a cop named Manu Verma (Amitabh Bachchan) and a shadowy killer named Raghavan (Manoj Bajpayee). Raghavan is caught. As he is about to be executed by hanging, his spirit goes into Manu's body and starts to manipulate the cop into performing acts that Raghavan wanted to perform. But he couldn't save himself. He goes to another town but is not able to find peace. Eventually, Raghavan's spirit leaves Manu's body. Everything seems to be normal. Manu & his family go on vacation. Unfortunately, Raghavan's spirit is still alive to conquer Manu's friend's body. ===== Cugel is easily persuaded by the merchant Fianosther to attempt the burglary of the manse of Iucounu the Laughing Magician. Trapped and caught, he agrees that in exchange for his freedom he will undertake the recovery of a small hemisphere of violet glass, an Eye of the Overworld, to match one already in the wizard's possession. A small sentient alien entity of barbs and hooks, named Firx, is attached to his liver to encourage his "unremitting loyalty, zeal and singleness of purpose,". Firx's only form of communication with its host is to slash his liver. Iucounu then uses a spell to transport Cugel via flying demon to the remote Land of Cutz. There, Cugel finds two villages, one occupied by wearers of the violet lenses, the other by peasants who work on behalf of the lens-wearers, in hopes of being promoted to their ranks. The lenses cause their wearers to see, not their squalid surroundings, but the Overworld, a vastly superior version of reality where a hut is a palace, gruel is a magnificent feast, etc. — "seeing the world through rose-colored glasses" on a grand scale. The people are not willing to just give Cugel an Eye, but insist that he be on a waiting list for one. Cugel gains an Eye by trickery, and escapes from Cutz. He then undertakes an arduous trek back to Iucounu, cursing the magician the entire way; this forms the principal part of the book. After many pitfalls, setbacks, and harrowing escapes, including a voyage back in time a million years, ending in the eviction of Firx from his system, and a grateful wizard speeding him by a spell back home, Cugel returns to Iucounu's manse, where he finds the wizard's volition has been captured by a twin to Firx. Cugel manages to extirpate the alien, subdue the magician, and enjoy the easy life in the manse, until he tries to banish Iucounu and Fianosther (who himself has come to pilfer from Cugel) with the same spell that the magician had used on him. But Cugel's tongue slips in uttering the incantation, and the flying demon seizes him instead, delivering him to the same spot as before. Author Michael Shea wrote an authorized sequel, A Quest for Simbilis (DAW Books, NY, 1974). Vance's own Cugel sequel was published as Cugel's Saga in 1983. ===== Nicholas Van Orton, a wealthy investment banker, is estranged from his ex-wife and his younger brother, Conrad. He is haunted by having seen his father commit suicide on his father's 48th birthday. For Nicholas's own 48th birthday, Conrad presents Nicholas with an unusual gift—a voucher for a game offered by a company called Consumer Recreation Services (CRS). Conrad promises that it will change his life. Nicholas has doubts about CRS, but he meets fellow bankers who enjoyed the game. He goes to the CRS offices to apply and is irritated by the lengthy and time-consuming series of psychological and physical examinations required. He is later informed that his application has been rejected. Soon Nicholas begins to believe that his business, reputation, finances, and safety are at risk. He encounters a waitress, Christine, who appears to have been endangered by the game. Nicholas contacts the police, but they find the CRS offices abandoned. Eventually, Conrad appears at Nicholas's house and apologizes, claiming he has come under attack by CRS. With no one else to turn to, Nicholas finds Christine's home. He discovers she is a CRS employee and her apartment was fake. Christine says they are being watched. Nicholas attacks a camera, and armed CRS personnel swarm the house and fire upon them. Nicholas and Christine flee. Christine tells him CRS has drained his bank accounts using the psychological tests to guess his passwords. Panicking, Nicholas calls his bank, gives a verification code and is told his balance is zero. He realizes she has drugged him. As he loses consciousness, she admits she is part of the scam and he made a fatal mistake saying his verification code. Nicholas wakes entombed alive in a cemetery in Mexico. He sells his gold watch to return to the US, where he finds his mansion foreclosed and most of his possessions removed. He is told Conrad has been committed to a mental institution due to a nervous breakdown. He retrieves a hidden gun and seeks the aid of his ex-wife. While talking with her and apologizing for his neglect, he discovers Jim Feingold, the CRS employee who conducted his tests, is an actor working in television advertisements. He locates Feingold and forces him to find the real CRS office. He takes Christine hostage and demands to be taken to the head of CRS. Attacked by CRS guards, Nicholas takes Christine to the roof and bars the door. The guards begin cutting through the door. Christine realizes Nicholas's gun is not a prop and is terrified. She frantically tells him it is a part of the game, his finances are intact, and his family and friends are waiting on the other side of the door. He refuses to believe her. The door bursts open, and Nicholas shoots the first person to emerge—Conrad, bearing an open bottle of champagne. Devastated over accidentally killing Conrad, Nicholas leaps off the roof but lands on a giant air cushion. He is greeted by Conrad, who is alive, and the rest of the people from the game; everything had been staged. Conrad tells him this is his birthday present and that he arranged it to help Nicholas become a better person and embrace life. After a birthday party with friends, Christine declines Nicholas's offer for a date as she has another job in Australia. She offers instead to have coffee with him at the airport. ===== The Kite is set in a village called Deir Mimas over the border of the pre-occupied territories in southern Lebanon (occupied by Israel). The 16-year-old Lebanese girl Lamia (Flavia Bechara) lives with her family in the village. Her family had promised to marry her off to her cousin Samy (Edmond Haddad), who lives on the Israeli side. Lamia's mother, Amira (Randa Asmar) was dejected and unwilling to send her daughter away because that meant that Lamia could never come back because of the tense political situation at the border. Lamia, too, is completely reluctant to agree to the marriage because she has never seen him nor does she love him. She is simply a naïve young teenager who has no idea about marriage. Similarly, Samy was not much interested in marrying his cousin either; however, he agreed to the marriage because he thought it would help Lamia escape her village. To conduct the wedding, since there is a no-man's land between the Lebanon side and Israel side, they communicate with each other through megaphones and can only see each other through binoculars. Before the marriage, Lamia had to get a pass from the authorities to cross the border. The day of the wedding, the entire village gathers at the border gates to witness Lamia being sent across the border. On the Israeli side, people wave a white flag as a signal to start. Lamia hugs her family and starts her long walk towards the Israeli border in her majestic wedding gown and a lone bouquet. She keeps looking back, knowing that she may never return. Meanwhile, the movie reveals that an Israeli soldier, Youssef (Maher Bsaibes), stationed at the border is in love with Lamia. After Lamia comes to live in Samy's house, she barely eats or sleeps or talks; this goes on for 20 days. Later, during an argument with her husband, Lamia tells him that she loves someone else, who turns out to be Youssef. Samy's family gets frustrated with Lamia and takes her to the border so that she can talk to her mother. Lamia is given binoculars, but instead of looking at her mother, she turns to look at Youssef and exchanges smiles with him. Both families fume at this and her binoculars are taken away. Because of her continuous unpleasant behavior, Lamia becomes unwanted in Samy's house and she is forced to go back. Samy warns Lamia that no one else would want her anymore if he divorces her and she would be alone forever. Lamia faces a great dilemma because she does not want to be with her husband but she does not want to go back either (because of Youssef). Unfortunately, Lamia returns to Deir Mimas, to her and the soldier's utter disappointment. She becomes a subject of insult in her home village, which is seen when a shop-owner does not accept money from her, calling it "money of dishonor". The ending of the movie has been purposely left vague and open to interpretation. It appears like a dream or surreal scene where Lamia magically crosses the fence of the border and finally gets to be with Youssef. ===== As people are enjoying drinks in a bar, a man covered in blood—identified onscreen as "Hero" (Eric Dane)—enters through the door and warns them all of impending danger. No one heeds his warning, so he shows the bar patrons the head of a repulsive creature to make them take him seriously. He is soon pulled through a window and decapitated by one of the monsters. After the carnage, a woman—"Heroine" (Navi Rawat)—bursts through the door and reveals herself to be the recently deceased man's wife. After a brief sentimental moment between the wife and her late husband, the bar patrons begin boarding up the windows in the bar. Despite their efforts, a young monster bursts through an uncovered window and begins attacking. As a monster outside bursts its hand through "Vet" (Anthony "Treach" Criss), "Edgy Cat" (Jason Mewes) has his face torn off and is accidentally shot dead, and the little monster cuts off the leg of one of the women — "Harley Mom" (Diane Ayala Goldner)—who is initially assumed to have died from massive blood loss. The monster disappears for some time, then is found attempting to sexually penetrate one of the deer heads nailed to the wall. A shotgun blast removes the deer head and monster. The monster drops into a freezer which is then sealed shut, trapping it inside. Following this, the remaining windows are boarded up and the bar patrons are given a moment of peace. Trying to call for help, they learn that the only phone in the bar has been hit by a stray shotgun blast and rendered useless. One of the women—"Tuffy" (Krista Allen)—suddenly realizes that her son Cody (Tyler Patrick Jones) is still upstairs and runs to get him. Once she finds her child the group rejoices until the boy is pulled through a window and eaten by one of the monsters, leaving only his right foot behind. Tuffy is incapacitated by grief, while the monster vomits a stream of slime at one of the group—"Beer Guy" (Judah Friedlander). As the remaining people regroup downstairs, they realize that the slime has a decomposing effect and that Beer Guy is being slowly overcome by its effects. The group kills the young monster in the freezer and hangs it outside. The monster's parents quickly eat the child, have sex and produce two offspring in a matter of seconds, all of whom begin to attack the pub with renewed fury. Meanwhile, one of the women—"Honey Pie" (Jenny Wade)—begins washing off the blood and has to take off her clothes, much to the amusement of the others. The patrons regroup and enact various attempts to escape or drive off the monsters, including using Harley Mom's body as boobytrap while the Heroine and the "Coach" (Henry Rollins) attempt to escape. Upon discovering she's still alive, "Bossman" (Duane Whitaker) continues to prepare to sacrifice her to the creatures when she is suddenly grabbed by a baby monster that starts sexually assaulting her. The distraction fails, leading to the accidental death of the Heroine at the hands of another character, "Bozo" (Balthazar Getty). Driven by rage over the death of her child, Tuffy aggressively takes charge of the remaining survivors, which results in the audience seeing her nickname change from "Tuffy" to "Heroine 2". After "Coach" and "Bossman" are killed, "Honey Pie" successfully makes it to a truck, giving the other characters brief cause for hope (until they realize she is speeding off by herself). A fight to the death between the last remaining humans and monsters ensues, resulting in the deaths of "Beer Guy" and supposedly the "Bartender" (Clu Gulager). Bozo, his brother Hot Wheels (Josh Zuckerman), and Tuffy (Heroine 2) survive, and drive off to retrieve the Heroine and Hero's daughter. One person—"Grandma" (Eileen Ryan)—is shown to still be alive within the bar but is attacked by one of the remaining monsters. ===== Flashbacks reveal Veronica's backstory: in small-town Neptune, California, Veronica – daughter of well-respected County Sheriff Keith Mars (Enrico Colantoni) is a typical teen who was dating Duncan Kane (Teddy Dunn), and was popular with loving parents. But when her best friend and Duncan's sister, Lilly Kane (Amanda Seyfried), is murdered, Veronica's life falls apart. Keith accuses software billionaire Jake Kane (Kyle Secor), Lilly's father, of being involved in the murder. This provokes Neptune's wrath, and Keith is ousted from office and replaced by Don Lamb (Michael Muhney) in a recall election. Veronica's mother, Lianne Mars (Corinne Bohrer), unable to face the loss of status and economic security, develops a drinking problem and suddenly leaves town. Veronica's boyfriend also ends their relationship, and her friends turn their backs on her. To prove that she is unaffected by the rejection, Veronica attends wealthy classmate Shelly Pomroy's "09er" party. Her drink is spiked with GHB and she is raped, but Sheriff Lamb refuses to take her report seriously. These events shock Veronica and she changes her attitude towards her former friends, becoming tough and cynical. Estranged from all her "09er" friends—wealthy students from the fictional 90909 ZIP code—including Duncan and Lilly's ex-boyfriend, Logan Echolls (Jason Dohring), and feeling the drop in income and status that her father's dismissal from office brings, Veronica takes a part-time job in her father's newly opened private investigation agency, Mars Investigations. Although the case of Lilly's murder is officially closed following the confession of a former Kane Software employee, Abel Koontz (Christian Clemenson), Veronica continues her own investigation into what happened. Her investigation discovers new evidence which suggests that Koontz is innocent. In the present, Veronica starts her Junior year at Neptune High by freeing new student Wallace Fennel (Percy Daggs III), who had been stripped and duct-taped to the school flag pole. Wallace explains that while working at the local Sac- n-Pac, he alerted the sheriff's department to two PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) bikers who took alcohol without paying. Sheriff Lamb exposes Wallace as the witness, and despite Wallace's attempts to retract his accusation, Lamb walks away with proof from the in-store video camera. Wallace's duct-taping is PCH retribution for his honesty. In a convoluted scheme to help Wallace, Veronica sets up Logan by placing a bong in his locker. Once the bong is taken to the evidence room at the sheriff's department, Veronica triggers it to smoke and spark by remote control, leading to the arrival of the fire department. The fire chief, a friend of Veronica, switches the video from the Sac-n-Pac with one Veronica filmed of a deputy receiving sexual favors. When the bikers are in court, that video is shown instead, embarrassing Lamb and undermining the case against the bikers. Wallace is forgiven and Eli "Weevil" Navarro (Francis Capra), the bikers' leader, becomes Veronica's occasional ally. At Mars Investigations, Duncan and Lilly's mother, Celeste Kane (Lisa Thornhill) hires Keith to ascertain if her husband Jake is having an affair, despite her open contempt for both Keith and Veronica. Keith is busy with other projects, and Veronica takes it upon herself to follow Jake. Veronica takes photos of him at the Camelot hotel as he meets with an unseen woman after midnight. Once Keith sees the license plate number of the woman's car, he stops the investigation and files the photograph. Puzzled by his actions, Veronica finds the file and learns that Keith has continued his own personal investigation of Lilly's murder. Veronica discovers that the car belongs to her missing mother, Lianne, and begins to investigate the murder herself. ===== The year is 196303 BC. A group of cavemen rises from the mud, and the first thing on their minds is finding something to eat. After two unsuccessful attempts, the group decides to eat one of their own. Suddenly, the men meet women, but don't know how to make love to them. The elder of the men sees a pair of stegosaurus performing doggystyle, which inspires the elder to do the same thing with one of the women. Nine months later, that same woman is pregnant with two boys, Ah and O. The cavemen like Ah, but are frightened by O and abandon him. Meanwhile, a brontosaurus abandons one of her eggs. Both O and the baby brontosaurus Igua meet, and instantly become friends. Years later, while trying to feed O, Igua comes across a stranded egg. Before O can try to eat it, the egg hatches and inside it is a baby pterodactyl named Croak. Croak and O become friends as well, but Igua becomes jealous and doesn't want O to see Croak again. As O grows up into an adult, he meets up with Croak again, who tries to help O become smarter. Their first "lesson" is how to fly. As O tries to fly, Igua steps in and takes O away. The next day, O looks in a pool of water and sees his reflection and discovers that he's a man, not a brontosaurus. He decides to leave Igua and search for his own kind. As O sets out into the jungle, he runs into several creatures that he mistakes for men, including a wild boar and a giant worm. At nightfall, O becomes lost in the jungle and has an encounter with a menagerie of unusual creatures that nearly kill him. However, he soon finds Croak and the two fly away together. While flying, Croak accidentally crashes into a dimorphodon and drops O, thus separating the two. Elsewhere, Igua tries to get together with his own kind. He finds a group of brontosauruses at a nearby lake, but they reject him due to Igua smelling too much like "man". Igua is crushed and decides to find O. As O begins to search for man, he comes across a group of workaholic creatures named "No-Lobes". They let him stay, but O causes chaos, which results in O discovering the wheel. After O destroys the No-Lobes's crops with the wheel, he is kicked out and the quest for man continues. While exploring, O is caught by a feline creature with a long tail, which she uses to seduce her victims before eating them. O decides to name her "No-man". "No-man" uses her tail to seduce O, then drags him off to her own kind. Before the felines eat him, they are distracted by a new-born baby. O and "No-man", who has a change of heart, run off together, with the others quickly behind them. O and "No-man" give them the slip, then they both have sex. While the two sleep, they are interrupted by a stampede of giant turtles. The feline tribe catches up with them, and catches "No-man". O uses a lone giant turtle shell and a couple of wheels to ride up to the tribe and tries to catch "No-man", but misses. O rolls off into the desert, leaving "No-man" to have her tail cut off. O crashes into a palm tree in the middle of the desert and is left to walk again. Later, O runs into Croak again. O is in need of water, and Croak just happens to be searching for water. They find what appears to be water, but before O can drink, he is stopped by a dragon. The dragon tries to breathe fire at O, but it comes out his anus instead. To get water, O decides to help the dragon by sticking a cork up the dragon's butt. This causes the dragon to breathe fire from his mouth. The dragon thanks O and lets him drink. However, the watering hole is in fact a tar pit, but the dragon gives him a lift to a nearby lake. After O drinks plenty of water, he takes a brief nap. When he wakes up, he sees that he's tied down to the ground by a colony of ants. O gets himself free and climbs up a tall building made out of grass, which cracks and sends O crashing into a pool of water, which drowns half of the ants. O continues on to the Arctic, and meets up with a group of Norwegian barbarians. O shows them fire, which intrigues the group. They use their fur coats to light up the fire even more, but the fire melts the ice and their coats are lost in the bottom of the ocean. The group chases after O, but Croak flies in and saves him. As Croak flies O to safety, O is eaten by a shark. O eventually escapes from the shark and finally meets his human family. The elder recognizes O and instantly dies. O takes over as leader and tells them that he'll teach man what he has learned on his travels. While teaching them, Igua finally catches up with O. However, O is still angry at Igua. Meanwhile, Ah (O's brother, though neither of them know that they are related) takes over as leader and shoves O away into the fire that was made by Ah. Igua saves him, and both O and Igua reconcile their friendship. Ah (in caveman talk) tells his people that they must show the world who is boss. They set out reshaping the earth in their own image and destroy any creature standing in their way. As a result, the dragon disappears from the face of the earth, the No-Lobes are all exterminated in a war against Ah, the dinosaurs drive themselves to extinction by committing mass suicide, the feline clan is slaughtered and used for clothing and jewelry (save for No-Man, who later dumps O), and the ant colony attempts to escape via a rocket made of grass, which ends up crashing back down and killing them all, as well as causing Pangaea to split into the earth's continents. O, Croak and Igua escape the devastation and soon find a deserted island where they spend the rest of their lives, with O taking upon the title of the missing link and contemplating the severity of his actions. ===== Diane Andrews is a haughty Wall Street floor trader without any romantic interests. One day, Sheikh Selim, the ruler of an oil-rich Gulf country, who has been tracking Diane has her drugged, kidnapped, and brought to his harem overseen by eunuch Massoud. Despite Diane's initial protests, as the two come to appreciate each other, they fall in love. Meanwhile, a series of events makes Selim realise that he can no longer rule his country and harem the way he and his ancestors used to do. Eventually, he takes the radical decision to evacuate his isolated castle. ===== The series focuses on Eiri Kurahashi, a college art student who works in an antique shop. One day, he sees the image of a girl in an antique glass. To his shock, she appears to be moving and living out her life before his eyes. He becomes infatuated with the girl, and one night at midnight, he somehow makes contact with her. He learns that her name is Cossette, and that she was an aristocrat's daughter during the 18th century. She reveals to him that her spirit has been entrapped within the glass because the artist Marcello Orlando murdered her. She tells Eiri that, in order to set her free, a man must be willing to take upon himself punishment for the sins Marcello committed. As the series progresses, Eiri is tortured mentally and physically by Cossette, who demands that he prove his professed love for her. It is revealed that Eiri is the reincarnation of Marcello, and that Cossette is becoming as infatuated with him as he is with her. Also depicted are the efforts of the women in Eiri's life—relatives, friends, mentors, and the girl who secretly loves him—to free him from what is becoming apparent to them as a self-destructive path. ===== Several residents of a Paris boarding-house write letters to their friends and family back home; their primary subject is their reaction to each other. The main character is Miranda Hope, an angular but likeable Yankee Miss from Bangor, Maine who, quite bravely for a young woman of that era, is traveling in Europe alone. In her letters, she chatters to her mother about seeing the sights in Europe but doesn't like the Old World's treatment of its women, "and that is a point, you know, on which I feel very strongly." Her expressions of petulance with William Platt, who we realize must have been a suitor of hers back in Maine, are so offhand as to be amusing. Although she is in general the least affected and most sympathetic character in the story, her unawareness of the disdain in which most of the characters hold each other (including herself) makes her seem somewhat naive. Meanwhile, society girl Violet Ray of New York writes to a friend that Miranda, who she sees as provincial, is "really too horrible." Another boarder, wannabe aesthete Louis Leverett (quite possibly a self-satire by James) gushes in his letter that "the great thing is to live, you know," amid much precious verbiage about the good, the true and the bee-a-u-tiful. An English boarder, Evelyn Vane, pens a scoffing note that Louis is always talking about the color of the sky, but she doubts if he's ever seen it except through a window-pane; and the German sees Leverett's "decadence" as further evidence that the English-speaking world is weak and ripe for takeover. The Frenchman Leon Verdier almost drools in his letter about the charms of ces demoiselles among the boarders, and focuses primarily on their appearance. The rather threatening German professor is the only character both cynical and intelligent enough to realize how disdainful all the English speakers are of each other. However, he's also the least sympathetic character in the story. (James disliked Germany and its culture.) While the other characters despise each other mostly on personal grounds, or from cultural misunderstanding, Herr Professor despises them all based on their national traits and general sub- human status (he calls the Frenchman "simian"). In a letter to his German friend, he simultaneously brags of his erudition and predicts that the weakness of these other nationalities augurs a bright future "for the deep- lunged children of the Fatherland!" ===== The game begins as the Roman army, under the command of centurion Agrippa (voiced by Rick Weiss), is fighting a Germanic army in the northeastern provinces. In Rome, Julius Caesar (Michael Bell) is on his way to the Senate when he is stabbed. As he dies, he looks at his killer and says "Et tu, Brute?" As he is cremated in the Foro Romano, Cicero (Peter Renaday) reveals the assassin to the public; Vipsanius (Daniel Riordan), Agrippa's father. As Vipsanius maintains his innocence, Cicero announces Caesar's successor, Antonius (Chris Cox). Listening from the crowd, Octavianus (Scott Menville), Caesar's nephew, refuses to believe Vipsanius is guilty. Meanwhile, in Germania, Agrippa receives word of Caesar's death, and orders his men to return to Rome. Soon after the funeral, Octavianus meets Pansa (Jack Angel), formerly Caesar's most trusted spy. With Pansa's help, Octavianus sneaks into the Senate where Maecenas (Larry Cedar), Antonius' secretary, proposes that rather than immediately executing Vipsanius, they hold a gladiatorial tournament across the Empire, the winner of which will perform the execution. Antonius approves of the idea, but dictates that Vipsania (Moira Quirk), Vipsanius' wife, be publicly executed immediately. Agrippa arrives back in Rome, and Octavianus explains the situation. At the execution, presided over by Decius Brutus (Daniel Riordan), Agrippa attempts to save Vipsania, but as they flee, she is stabbed in the back by Decius, who then defeats Agrippa in combat. However, before Agrippa can be arrested, he and Octavianus are saved by a woman on a chariot. She reveals her name is Claudia (Nicole Balick), a female gladiator. She tells them about the gladiatorial tournament, and that her brother, Sextus (Roger Rose) runs a gladiator camp which Agrippa could join to gain entry to the tournament and possibly save his father. Meanwhile, Octavianus will remain in Rome and investigate the murder. As Agrippa fights his way through the tournament, Octavianus begins to follow Cicero's protégé, Marcus Brutus (Cam Clarke). At the camp, Claudia tells Agrippa she and Sextus are not brother and sister; he rescued her as a child after her brother was killed by a Roman soldier. Meanwhile, Sextus is visited by Iris (Heather Halley) and Charmian (Jennifer Hale), who come with "a direct order from our mistress." They want Sextus to assassinate someone, in return for their mistress aiding his plans. Sextus agrees. In Rome, Octavianus finds Cicero stabbed in his office. The dying Cicero tells him a group of conspirators are responsible for Caesar's assassination, and Vipsanius is innocent. Marcus is a member of the group, but the actual murderer is "another Brutus." Meanwhile, Agrippa makes it to the finals of the tournament in the Colosseum. Octavianus heads to meet Marcus, where he finds multiple senators murdered, and a distraught Marcus, who says the other Brutus is killing off the members of the conspiracy. However, he refuses to reveal his identity. At the camp, Claudia tells Agrippa Sextus is really the son of Pompeius, who was killed in battle by Caesar. She explains he plans to assassinate Octavianus (Caesar's only surviving blood relative) in order to gain support for his conquest of Rome. Meanwhile, Octavianus finds a note in Caesar's handwriting speculating as to the worthiness of possible successors, and learns that Antonius was not his chosen heir. At the camp, Sextus abruptly disappears along with a number of gladiators, and Claudia learns he is working for Iris and Charmian. In Rome, Sextus confronts Octavianus, and is about to kill him when Claudia intervenes. Octavianus flees, and witnesses Decius stabbing Marcus. A dying Marcus tells Octavianus that Decius is the "other Brutus." Maecenas then has Octavianus arrested. In the final of the tournament, Agrippa faces Decius, whom he defeats and is about to kill him when Maecenas arrives in the arena, announcing the return of Caesar. He explains the man killed was a decoy employed because Caesar knew about the conspiracy, announcing the murder was carried out by Decius, not Vipsanius. Caesar arrives and addresses Antonius, telling him he did not chose him as his heir. Iris and Charmian revealed Caesar's true choice to Antonius, who masterminded the conspiracy. A shocked Antonius admits his guilt, at which point Maecenas reveals Caesar really is dead, and the man pretending to be him is his true chosen heir - Octavianus. A furious Antonius orders Decius to kill Octavianus, but Agrippa intervenes and kills Decius. At that moment, however, Rome is attacked by Sextus, supported by soldiers loyal to Antonius, who is able to escape the arena. Agrippa and Claudia head to Ostia and confront Sextus. Agrippa defeats him and begs him to surrender. However, Antonius attacks the docks, and Sextus sacrifices himself to save Claudia. As a battle rages at sea between those loyal to Octavianus and those loyal to Antonius, Agrippa faces Antonius, whom he defeats and kills. Back in Rome, Agrippa, Octavianus and Claudia mourn Sextus. She tells them she is leaving Rome, but will keep her eye on things. As she leaves, Agrippa asks her to promise she will return, but she doesn't answer him. Octavianus then vows to fulfill Caesar's dream of the Pax Romana, with Agrippa vowing to help him any way he can. In the epilogue, a content Iris and Charmian state it is time to tell their mistress they have "reached the end of the beginning." ===== David (Troy Ruptash) is a well-known artist who is blocked. He decides to take a job as a waiter to try to find inspiration. His friend and roommate Shannon (Thom Allison), a pre-op male-to- female transsexual, stumbles across the Main St. Diner, owned by Matt (Vince Corazza) and Violet (Cherilee Taylor), who are looking for a waiter. David gets hired and quickly becomes close with the couple although they don't know of his standing in the art community and are surprised to learn that he's gay. David's friend Kryla (Lynda Boyd), a columnist for the Winnipeg Tribune, tracks David down at the diner against his wishes. An annoyed David demands that she write up the diner in her column, which she does. The diner's business picks up considerably. Shannon, whose sex reassignment surgery has been repeatedly delayed because of her HIV-positive status, begins to become ill. David has a painting installed and Kryla gets his photo in the paper. Matt and Violet see the photo and realize that he's famous. David and Matt start hanging out. Matt, who had tried his hand at drawing comic books, pesters David to show him his paintings but David resists. Matt confesses that he had once fallen in love with another man in college although he hadn't acted on it. David, finding himself drawn to Matt, paints him nude (although Matt doesn't pose). He tells Matt that there's a painting he needs to see. Matt comes to David's place and sees the painting. He becomes aroused and the two begin an affair. David paints two more portraits of Matt, who still doesn't actually pose. Kryla and Shannon hail them as his best work and entreat him to exhibit them but Matt, nervous about how Violet would react, makes him promise not to. Each also tells the other that he loves him. They keep the relationship secret, though, especially in the face of the vehement disapproval Kryla expresses to David at the idea of his sleeping with a married man. Kryla soon discovers the affair when she walks in on David and Matt having sex. A panicked Matt tells David that he lied about loving him and flees. In the aftermath of the affair, Shannon convinces David to break his promise and exhibit the paintings. He does so under the title "Straightman." When Matt learns of the show he confronts David, first threatening to destroy the paintings and then offering himself again sexually. David contemptuously dismisses him. Matt tells Violet about the paintings and about the affair and admits that he is in love with David. She demands a divorce. Shannon, who has grown progressively more ill, decides to take her life. As she dies, David runs into Kryla at a bar and they have a bitter fight. Violet attends the opening but merely tells David that the paintings are very good. As she's leaving Matt arrives and she refuses to give him another chance. After the opening Matt again approaches David who also rebuffs him. At film's end, Violet sells the Main St. Diner and Matt has left town. David has also decided to leave. He and Kryla reconcile. ===== "Team Galaxy" is about a group of friends who try to balance both their school work and their free time. The three protagonists, Josh, Yoko, and Brett, are among the students of a school called "Galaxy High", a galactic justice authority, which defends the galaxy against criminals. The school teaches subjects suitable for these types of missions, which their students endure. The series apparently takes place during the present day, but in an episode where they go through a time skip, a calendar says that the year is 2051, hinting that the actual series takes place in 2050. Since the final 3 episodes of season 2 of Team Galaxy 'Predator Plants from Outer Space', a new plot has been introduced where Omni, an android as well as a student of another space school, is searching for his fellow schoolmates after his school has been destroyed by an alien bounty hunter named Gangus. He is convinced to stay at Galaxy High for the time being and is promised by Josh, Brett, Yoko, and the rest of GH to help him. Unfortunately, due to the show currently ending at 52 episodes, this plot hasn't been addressed any further. ===== Scully Christopher Crockett La Cruz is an actor, fortune seeker and adventurer from the long isolated orbital technocratic democracies of Circumluna and the Bubbles Congeries. He lands in what he believes to be Canada to reclaim family mining interests only to discover that Canada is now North Texas and what is left of civilization in North America is ruled by primitive, backslapping, bigger than life anti-intellectual "good ole boys" convinced of their own moral superiority. In the tortured version of history known to the giant hormone-boosted Anglo-Saxon inhabitants who rule a diminutive Mexican underclass, the original Texas, or Texas, had actually secretly ruled the pre- nuclear war United States since 1845. Texas escaped the nuclear destruction of the rest of the United States because of the foresight of Lyndon the First. An enormous bunker then known as the Houston Carlsbad Caverns-Denver-Kansas City- Little Rock Pentagram and now referred to simply as the Texas Bunker had saved the heartland during a war that destroyed both American coasts, Europe, Russia, China, and Africa. Texas then conquered the rest of the continent, although Hawaii and Cuba remain stubbornly "unconquered". ===== The story of Major follows the life of Gorō Honda from kindergarten to his career as a professional baseball player. The story focuses on how the main protagonist overcomes tremendous challenges. Subsections are divided according to the official website's story sections.Official website by Shōnen Sunday ===== Set in the late 15th century during the reign of King Yeonsan, two male street clowns and tightrope walkers, Jangsaeng (Kam Woo-sung) and Gong-gil (Lee Joon- gi), are part of an entertainer troupe. The effeminate and beautiful Gong-gil specializes in female roles ; their manager prostitutes him to rich customers, and Jangsaeng is sickened by this practice. After Gong-gil kills the manager in defense of Jangsaeng, the pair flee to Seoul, where they form a new group with three other street performers. Together the group comes up with a skit mocking some members of the royal court, including the king and his new concubine Jang Nok-su. Though they make a lot of money from the performance, they are eventually arrested for treason and flogged severely. Jangsaeng makes a deal with Choseon, one of the king's consultants, either to make the king laugh at their skit or to be executed. They perform their skit for the king, but the three minor performers are too terrified to perform well. Gong-gil and Jangsaeng barely save themselves with one last joke at the king, who laughs and then makes them all a part of his court. When the king wants to see more performances, the clowns decide to make flyers asking for other minstrels to audition to join the group. The other clowns notice that Jangsaeng and Gong- gil have identical handwriting, as Jangsaeng learned to write by watching Gong-gil. The corruption within the court is revealed when the clowns put on a performance ridiculing the council members by implying that they receive expensive gifts for favours. The king is delighted by the skit, but upon seeing that the council members are not amused, turns on them and asks them one by one if they are guilty of what the clowns are mocking them for. He banishes a corrupt minister and orders that his fingers be cut off and displayed to all the other council members as a warning. Over time, the king falls for Gong-gil, whom he calls to his private chambers often to perform finger puppet shows. Jangsaeng becomes jealous of this relationship and suggests that they leave, but Gong-gil does not immediately agree. Meanwhile, the king becomes more and more unstable. He makes the clowns perform a skit depicting how his mother (played by Gong-gil), the favorite concubine of the former king, was forced to take poison after being betrayed by other jealous concubines. The king then slaughters these concubines at the end of the play, and the Queen Mother dies from shock. Jangsaeng then asks Gong-gil to leave with him and the gang once more before the king kills them too during one of his homicidal fits. Gong-gil, who initially sympathized with the king, begs the tyrant to give him his freedom but the king refuses. The king's main concubine, Jang Noksu, becomes increasingly enraged by the attention the king has been lavishing on Gong-gil. The council members try to have him killed during a hunting trip, resulting in the death of one of the members of the street performing team. Days after the hunting trip, the king forcibly kisses Gong-gil and his violence against the members of his own court escalates, especially at the mention of his father who he feels still rules over the kingdom even after his death. This leads the performing troupe to finally decide to leave the palace, because the king has become too unpredictable, but Gong-gil begs Jangsaeng not to leave him alone as he is not allowed to leave the palace. Then, Jang Noksu tries to have Gong-gil jailed by having flyers run in Gong-gil's handwriting insulting the king severely. Jangsaeng takes the blame for the crime for which Gong-gil has been falsely accused, as their handwriting is the same, and is set to be beheaded the next morning. Choseon secretly releases Jangsaeng, however, telling him that he should forget Gong- gil and leave the palace. But Jangsaeng ignores the advice and returns to walk on his tightrope across palace rooftops, this time openly and loudly mocking the king. The king shoots arrows at him while Gong-gil tries in vain to stop him. Jangsaeng falls and is caught, and has his eyes seared with burning iron as punishment before being thrown into prison again. Gong-gil attempts suicide, but his life is saved by the palace doctors : the king then loses interest in him and goes back to his consort. The king has Jangsaeng walk his tightrope blind. As Jangsaeng tells the story of his and Gong-gil's trials and tribulations while balancing on the rope, Gong-gil runs out to join him. Gong- gil asks Jangsaeng what he would like to return as in his next life and Jangsaeng replies that he would still choose to be a clown. Gong-gil answers that he too would return as nothing else but a clown. At the very end there is a popular uprising resulting in an attack on the palace, and as people storm the court, Jangsaeng and Gong-gil jump up from the rope together, and Jangsaeng tosses away his fan. The last scene is a happy one where Jangsaeng and Gong-gil appear to be reunited with their clowning troupe, including the friend who died earlier during the hunting incident. The whole company jokes, sings and dances, as they all walk away cheerfully into the distance. ===== Frank Carden (Morgan Freeman) is a professional assassin who has been hired to kill a reclusive billionaire named Lydell Hammond, Sr., a vocal opponent of stem cell research. Carden's plan goes awry when he gets injured in a car accident and ends up in the hospital. When hospital staff see his gun, they call the police. They are able to peel away his false identity, and federal marshals are called in to pick him up. Widower Ray Keene (John Cusack), a high school gym teacher, ex-cop, and well-intentioned but not very able dad to Chris (Jamie Anderson), belatedly realizes the need to bond with his son when the latter gets caught smoking marijuana and takes him hiking in the wilderness. Carden is being driven through that same wilderness by the marshals, but his men stage a rescue attempt. The car is crashed, and most of the marshals end up dead. The surviving marshal asks Keene to take the prisoner to the authorities and then dies of his injuries. Ray and Chris have to get Carden out of the wilderness and hand him over to the authorities. Carden's men, highly skilled ex-military thugs, track them down to rescue Carden and kill the Keenes. The pursuit brings a couple, Sandra and Lochlan (Megan Dodds and Ryan McCluskey) into the crossfire, with Lochlan being killed by Carden's men. In a tense standoff in a cabin in the woods, Carden's friends turn up, and Keene agrees to let Carden go. Just at that moment, one of Carden's thugs bursts in and punches Chris, causing Keene to panic and kill him, sustaining critical wounds in the process, while Sandra shoots the other as he enters firing. Carden escapes, taking Chris as a hostage, while Sandra and Keene are rescued by the local police. Miles (Alice Krige), Carden's mission handler, tells Davis (Corey Johnson), Carden's recent recruit, to kill Carden and Chris and to make it look like Carden did it. She also tells him to kill Keene in case Carden told him anything about his job. Feeling defeated and resting at home, a televised news report echoes an earlier conversation about Carden's job description with the key phrase "exterminating obstacles to progress" which makes Keene aware of Carden's intended target. Keene heads to the funeral of Hammond, Jr., to intercept Carden and inadvertently saves Carden from Davis. Carden gets the upper hand on Davis, killing him with his own sniper rifle. However, the battle forces Carden to miss his own window of opportunity to assassinate Hammond, Sr. Carden relents in giving Keene a set of keys to a hotel room where Carden locked up Chris, letting father and son reunite while he disappears. In Washington, D.C., Carden intercepts Miles, aware of her role in hiring Davis to kill him. Carden threatens to "come after her" if any harm were to come to the Keene family. Two weeks after the incident, Keene enters into a relationship with Sandra and holds a family barbecue, expressing disbelief in hearing a radio news report about Hammond, Sr., dying in a boating accident, realizing that Carden finished his contract killing. ===== As Delany's Nevèrÿon series, Phallos uses a frame story — a double frame, in fact. The first is a brief trio of paragraphs telling of a young man, Adrian Rome, whose adolescent encounter with the book leads to his adult attempt, a decade later, to acquire a copy: and how he settles for an on-line synopsis posted by one Randy Pedarson of Moscow, Idaho. The second frame is more complex: it concerns the fictive editor Randy Pedarson, presumably of Moscow, and his relations with two graduate students, Binky and Phyllis, also enthusiasts of the novel, at the university there. According to Pedarson's posting, as far as Pedarson can tell, an anonymous gay pornographic novel, Phallos (one of Pederson's three favorites: the other two are John Preston's Mr. Benson and William Talsman’s The Gaudy Image — both of which are known for their better-than- average writing), was published in 1969 by Essex House of West Hollywood, California. While the anonymous introduction to that volume suggests that Phallos was known to numerous literary gay men of the past, from the 18th century advocate of Greek beauty, Johanne Joaquim Winkelmann, through the 19th century Oxford aesthetician and novelist Walter Pater, to the historian John Addington Symonds (whose seven-volume The Renaissance in Italy [1875-86] acted as a sort of counterbalance to Pater’s brief single volume [of 1873/75], The Renaissance, still widely read and quoted today), and moving on to such characters as Baron Corvo (pseudonym of Frederick Rolfe) and sex researcher Havelock Ellis, Pederson concludes that all this is simply the kind of bogus folderol that accompanies so much of the pornography published in that licentious decade, as an attempt to legitimize it. Pederson goes on to synopsize Phallos — during which synopsis, now and again, he quotes from it more or less liberally. That synopsis, along with the footnotes — some of them as extensive as five or six pages — provided by his friends, recent Ph.D.'s Binky and Phyllis, make up the text of Delany's novella. ===== Like the 1974 film The Godfather Part II, the narrative of Mafia! consists of a series of flashbacks interwoven with the main plot. Tony is the son of a prominent Mafia don, Vincenzo Armani Windbreaker Cortino. As the film opens, Tony introduces the main thread when he exits a Vegas casino and walks to his car, accompanied by a voiceover explaining his philosophy of life. When he starts the car, it explodes. The story then regresses more than half a century to describe the boyhood of Tony's father, Vincenzo, who was born in Italy, the clumsy son of a Sicilian postman. One day, while making a delivery for his father, Vincenzo trips and the parcel bursts open, revealing a strange white powder. The parcel's recipient, concluding that the delivery boy has seen too much, tracks Vincenzo to a street fair, where he kills his father. The boy escapes to America, where he grows to young manhood, marries, and struggles with poverty before finally finding his destiny as a mafia boss. The film then visits the recent past; Tony has just returned from the Korean War and is bringing his idealistic Protestant girlfriend, Diane, to meet his family and friends at his big brother Joey's wedding reception (a parody of Connie Corleone's wedding in the beginning of the 1972 film The Godfather). During the festivities, however, Vincenzo is shot 47 times in an attempted hit and nearly dies. Tony announces his intention to kill Gorgoni, a drug lord with whom Vincenzo had refused to do business before the attack. Diane leaves him, saying he's abandoned the peaceful ideals of his youth, and adding that she'll never be anything to his Sicilian family but "that Protestant chick who never killed anyone." Tony avenges the attack, then goes into hiding in Las Vegas, where Cesar Marzoni offers him the opportunity to manage his casino, The Peppermill. Tony accepts and his casino is a great success until he meets a femme fatale, Pepper Gianini, hired by Marzoni as part of a deep-laid plan to distract him from his duties and to drive a wedge between him and Joey. Vincenzo recovers from his 47 gunshot wounds and visits Las Vegas, where he officially names Tony his successor. Joey, furious at being passed over, is told "You get Wisconsin." The Don then returns home, where he falls victim to his 5-year-old grandson, Chucky, who assassinates him by spraying him with malathion (parody of Vito Corleone's heart attack in The Godfather). The film returns to the present after Tony catches Joey and Pepper cavorting in a hotel room together and walks out in disgust - only to have his car explode. Tony is horribly but temporarily disfigured, and attends his father's funeral in a wheelchair, where he spots the killers when he sees little Chucky taking a payoff. However, he decides to postpone vengeance until he can win back Diane's love and put his life in order. Diane has by this time become President of the United States, and is on the brink of declaring total world disarmament when Tony goes looking for her. He persuades her to put world peace on the back burner until after their wedding. During the ceremony, with the help of Vincenzo's mother (Dukakis), several henchmen, and an Eskimo, he settles the family's accounts in an orgy of slaughter (filmed similarly to the end of The Godfather), even arranging the harpooning of Barney the Dinosaur as a bonus. ===== The Simpsons and many other prominent Springfieldians go to see a performance of Stab-a-Lot: The Itchy & Scratchy Musical. The audience greets the performance with a standing ovation. Julianna, the show's director, and a former student of Springfield Elementary School, greets the reception along with Principal Skinner. Principal Skinner acknowledges Julianna's straight A's at the school, but attributes her "B or two" in Math to being a girl. The audience is outraged by Skinner's remark. Skinner's attempts to defend himself make the situation worse and he is beaten by the Itchy and Scratchy puppeteers. The next day, the teachers of Springfield Elementary and other ladies stage a protest outside the school against Skinner. To pacify them, Skinner holds a conference in the school's auditorium, inviting all protesting ladies to attend. Nothing he says or does (such as wearing a skirt and saying that men and women are equal but not identical) has a good effect on the ladies, so he has a new breakdown onstage. Chalmers introduces them to their new principal. Melanie Upfoot, who for her first act, segregates the school across gender lines. At first, Lisa seems to feel right at home in the girl-friendly school. But she grows disillusioned with the school's condescending attitude and spies on the boy's side, where actual, challenging math is taught. Skinner, now an assistant to Groundskeeper Willie, chases Lisa away. With the help of Marge, she disguises herself as a boy named Jake Boyman (nicknamed "Toilet" by the boys after toilet paper is stuck to the sole of the shoe) and attends the boys’ school. During the math class, she gives a wrong answer and is corrected by Martin, but she feels happy to have learned something. Unfortunately, being with the boys means having to act like one and, during lunch, Lisa inadvertently gets into a fight with Nelson. Despite her efforts to use her intelligence to escape her situation, she gets beaten up. When Bart returns home that day, he is happy to have seen a fight and runs upstairs to tell Lisa, only to discover that Lisa is the boy who got beat up. While he remains amused that his sister is actually "Toilet" he forcefully says "no one should be forced to be a girl" and that he'll help her blend into the boy's school. Lisa begins to pick up the code of the boys, including eating French fries that fell onto a dirty restaurant floor and punching a defenseless Ralph Wiggum; this last act wins over Nelson and the other bullies and "Jake Boyman" becomes an accepted part of their world. Lisa does well in math class, and at an awards ceremony is recognized for her outstanding performance in the subject. She then reveals her true identity to the whole school, and she explains why she had to disguise herself. Bart gets up and tells everyone that she did well only because she was acting like a boy. After that the boys all engage in a chair fight. Lisa walks off stage to Martin playing the flute, but quietly sneaks up behind him and hits him with a chair. A subplot of the episode involves Homer and Marge's relationship where, during the morning after the incident, Marge tries to cheer Lisa up by pointing out the contributions of the women to society. When Homer and Bart interfere with the conversation remarking that the men are more important than the women, Marge retaliates by forcing Homer to sleep on the couch. The next night, Homer tries to apologize for his sexism, but lacks both intellect and sensitivity to do this and is once again forced to sleep on the couch. When Homer tries to get comfort from Santa's Little Helper, he unwittingly insults him by claiming that he is dumber than he himself. The offended dog then kicks Homer out of the house and forces him to sleep in his dog house, where Homer wonders what he did to deserve these punishments. ===== Left to right: Hans Moleman, James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo While driving the Springfield Elementary School's students to school, Otto stops to meet the members of Metallica, whose tour bus has broken down. Behind him, however, Bart takes over driving the school bus, embarrassing Otto in front of Metallica, who hitches a ride with Hans Moleman instead. At the school, a fuming Otto arrives and spanks Bart. Noticing this act of corporal punishment, Principal Skinner suspends Otto from driving the school bus. For this reason, Marge has to drive carpool to several of Bart and Lisa's friends. After picking up Milhouse Van Houten, Sherri, Terri, and Nelson, she finally picks up a boy named Michael. Michael, clearly an outcast with no friends, is bullied by Nelson in the car. He forgets his math book at home, prompting Marge to drive him back to pick it up. While there, his math book is handed to him by his father, Fat Tony. Terrified, Nelson immediately takes back all his insults. News of Michael's "family" spreads, and everyone tries to keep their distance from him. Some, like Ralph, are in fear because Fat Tony shot their parents. Lisa joins a lonely Michael at lunch, and they become friends. She finds that Michael is a talented cook and dreams of being a chef, rather than going into the family business of "waste management". While Fat Tony drives the children home from school, goons working for his rivals, the Calabresi family, attack them. Tony manages to slip them, and when they arrive at the Simpson house, Michael invites the family over for dinner at Fat Tony's mansion, where the Calabresis show up unexpectedly for a sit-down. Fat Tony advises the Calabresis against killing him as his son, Michael, would then take his place and exact a brutal vengeance. Michael, however, arrives, serving soufflés to the mobsters, who love it, but are surprised when they find out he made them. The Calabresis laugh at Fat Tony, calling Michael "Chef Boyaregay" and leave. Fat Tony admonishes Michael for making him look weak in front of his enemies. Suddenly, an attack helicopter appears at the window and guns Fat Tony down. Johnny Tightlips explains to the other mobsters that with Fat Tony in a coma, Michael should step up as mob boss, much to his dismay, but Homer volunteers to take his place. He proceeds to do Mafia dirty work, including plotting various ways to harm Ned, Moe and Krusty. However, Michael notices how this amount of power is corrupting Homer and Bart and seeks to put an end to it. One night, he invites the Calabresis to the Simpsons' for dinner, where he informs them that they have won and that he is out of the family business. They applaud his decision, but end up choking and dying over their own meals. Marge discovers the food had been poisoned, and although Michael appears remorseful, Lisa finds out it was intentional. At Fat Tony's mansion, Fat Tony congratulates Michael for taking down their enemies. Outside, Lisa asks Michael why he did not tell Fat Tony it was all an accident. Michael bluntly tells her to never ask him about his business, and disappears into a room with Jimbo, Dolph and Kearney, who closes the door in Lisa's face, as a reference to the ending in The Godfather. Lisa opens the door to see Michael and co. playing with Hot Wheels, only to have Kearney close the door on her again. ===== The Springfield Isotopes win first place in the NL West thanks to their new acquisition of Buck “Home run King” Mitchell. During a game at Springfield Stadium, Buck's pop star wife Tabitha Vixx sings the first few bars of the American national anthem, then strips down to lingerie and launches into a lascivious performance of one of her own songs. Buck, humiliated, delivers a terrible performance at that night's game, and even accidentally lets go of the bat while swinging it which accidentally hits Sideshow Mel's fiancé, causing the crowd to boo at him. He later sees Homer and Marge kissing on the Jumbo-Vision. Later that night, Buck shows up at the Simpsons’ front door and asks for help with his marriage in exchange for season tickets. Marge doubts their ability to counsel other couples. Her doubts lead to her and Homer flirting, which Buck sees as an example of what he wants with his own wife. At the first session--taking place in the Simpsons’ living room--Buck confesses he assumed Tabitha would give up her recording career to focus on his minor league baseball career, to which she responds she will not stay in a mismatched marriage. The next session takes place at Buck and Tabitha's mansion and goes much more smoothly. As a result of his now-steady personal life, Buck's game returns to superior form. Tabitha continues her concert tour, and Homer comes to check up on her in her dressing room. There he gives her a neck rub; her loud moans and Homer's praise of the fried chicken he is eating are overheard through the door by Buck, who misinterprets them and barges in enraged and slugs Homer. Now with his marriage again on the rocks, Buck goes into another slump. Homer wants to get them back together, but Marge refuses to help. A few minutes later Tabitha knocks on the door; she tells a shocked Marge that she plans to leave Buck for good. Marge objects, insisting they stay together. During Buck's next game, Homer hijacks the Duff blimp and spells out a message to Buck, supposedly from Tabitha proclaiming her love. Buck, reinvigorated, hits the ball into the blimp itself, causing it to crash into the field; as Homer alone runs from the wreckage, Buck realizes Tabitha had no part in the message. He charges Homer, bat in hand, but Marge dissuades him by saying that Homer was just trying to help, and that marriage is hard work but worth it. Tabitha then comes on the Jumbo-Vision to tell Buck she wants to stay together. The episode closes with another Isotope player, Tito, saying he does not care about the healed marriage because bandits just kidnapped his mother. ===== Taxi No. 9 2 11 focuses on Raghav Shastri (Nana Patekar), a cab driver in Mumbai who lies to his wife about his job, pretending to be an insurance salesman. One day, he gives Jai Mittal (John Abraham), the spoilt son of a late businessman, a ride. Jai is fighting for ownership rights of his late father's estate. The cab gets into an accident with Jai escaping as he's in hurry. Jai loses the key to the vault containing his father's will in the back of Raghav's taxi. Raghav decides to hide it from Jai, who, in search for his lost item, goes to Raghav's house and tells his wife what he really does for a living. She leaves him, taking their son. Raghav decides to take revenge. Raghav and Jai vow to kill each other in their fight for their properties. When Raghav fails to kill Jai he targets Jai's girlfriend, Rupali (Sameera Reddy). As Raghav chases Rupali she is saved by Jai by hair's breadth. Jai lets Rupali escape and he attacks Raghav. They have a dirty car fight but both survive. Raghav goes to Jai's place. Jai returns to his apartment from a second court hearing regarding his father's estate in defeat, because he doesn't have his father's will. He discovers the will, torn to pieces and pasted on the wall of his apartment. Jai becomes depressed and lonely after his friends leave him. Rupali dumps him, too. Losing everything that used to be precious, Jai realises the hard-hitting life and starts respecting his father and his work. On the other side Raghav is caught again by police and taken to police station where his wife tells him his real character and problem within himself. Soon, he realises his mistake. Jai, having realised the value of close ones, then bails Raghav out of jail. Raghav insists they have a drink and they go to Jai's house for one. They find out that they share the same birthday. Raghav gives back his will, which he had hidden in the sofa, and says that he had never destroyed it -- the torn will on the wall is a fake. Raghav then goes to the railway station to stop his wife and son from leaving him, but arrives a little too late. He goes back home where he sees a birthday cake on the table. He feels that he is hallucinating, but gets a pleasant shock when he sees his wife and son standing there, singing him a birthday song (and finds out that it was Jai who brought them back). Jai confronts Arjun Bajaj (Shivaji Satam), the friend and custodian of the property of Jai's father, whom he tells that he has realised the value of life and does not want his father's property and takes a leave. Just as he drives out, his car collides with another car driven by a Woman(Priyanka Chopra), though initially both seem to be angry at each, later Jai apologizes and asks for her number, promising to pay for damages. The movie ends as both smile at each other and drive away; indicating a new romantic beginning. ===== Vikram Aditya Singh Sisodiya (Dino Morea), a rich industrialist from Rajasthan, comes to Mumbai for a business meeting and requests the services of an escort who actually will be his secretary for the day. Jia Rao (Minissha Lamba), employed by the escort service, makes a hash of her job, which prompts Vikram to train her to be a good escort. Before the day ends, he proposes marriage and she accepts. She moves into his palatial bungalow where she is introduced to the caretaker Malini (Koena Mitra) and the support staff who do nothing but refer to the dead Mrs Sisidoya (Anamika). Everything in the mansion has her stamp "A" and Jia is trapped, until she musters enough courage to say that she is Mrs Sisodiya. Both try to save their marriage by burying the ghost of the past and by a twist of fate, are led to the body of Anamika. After the dead body is revealed Vikram gets arrested as he is accused of murdering Anamika.Then it is revealed that Malini their caretaker was in love with Vikram and planned this. She led Vikram to believe that Anamika had an affair with her cousin Sanjay. Malini allured Sanjay and they both portrayed Anamika as a characterless woman. Vikram, enraged by Anamika's "unfaithfulness" has a furious row with her and she storms off in anger. Malini follows her in another jeep on the pretence of saving Anamika from the desert storm. She later calls Vikram saying that the jeep Anamika took was stuck in storm and that Anamika was missing. In reality, Malini attacked Anamika and she died due to blunt force trauma on the head. Malini attacks Jia and reveals what she made of Anamika and was about to do the same to her. As Vikram comes to know he goes to save Jia who was about to die in the fire by Malini. And Malini burns herself alive and Vikram and Jia happily live their life together ===== In this movie, Dr. Yuen (Chin Siu-ho) in the jungle of Thailand attempts to rescue a beautiful girl from being sacrificed to the "Worm Tribe" she belongs to. As a result, Yuen is damned with seven "Blood Curses" which burst through his leg periodically. When the seventh bursts, he will die, but Betsy, the beauty he saved, stops the curse with an antidote that lasts only one year, so on the advice of Wisely (Chow Yun-fat) he heads back to Thailand to find a permanent cure. Action ensues as Yuen and cohorts battle the evil sorcerer of the Worm Tribe, a hideous bloodthirsty baby-like creature, and "Old Ancestor," a skeleton with glowing blue eyes that transforms into a monster that is a cross between Rodan and Alien. ===== ===== Nights at the Circus utilizes several different types of narrative techniques throughout its three very different parts. ===== As well as Lester and Hugo, John Carroll, another nephew of Lester's, also lives at Rudge Hall; he is the manager of the estate. A diffident fellow, he is in love with Pat Wyvern, the daughter of the irascible Colonel Meredith Wyvern. Pat likes John but deplores his lack of backbone. In any case, the Colonel would not hear of their marrying because he is at daggers-drawn with Lester due to an incident involving an explosion. Lester, who is a devoted trencherman, despite his miserliness, has enrolled on a fitness course at Healthward Ho. Hugo travels over there with the aim of touching his uncle for £500 to start a nightclub with his friend Ronnie Fish. Predictably he is rebuffed. John travels up to London to meet Pat, who has just returned from France. Hugo hitches a ride. They all go out to a nightclub, The Mustard Spoon, where they are joined by Ronnie and by Soapy and Dolly Molloy, whom Hugo has just met at a boxing match. Soapy and Dolly are a pair of fraudsters, and partners in crime to Chimp. They are a married couple, but are pretending to be father and daughter. John proposes to Pat, but she rejects him. The club is raided by the police and they flee. They all end up at Rudge Hall, where Soapy tries to sell Lester some oil stocks. It emerges, to Soapy's dismay, that Lester is not the wealthy landowner he thought he was; in fact he is broke. Dolly comes up with the idea of stealing Lester's family heirlooms and claiming the insurance (the heirlooms do not legally belong to Lester, so cannot be sold). She describes the scheme as “Money for Nothing”. Lester initially attempts to steal the heirlooms himself, with disastrous results, so they rope in Chimp. Chimp is caught in the act by Hugo, but gets away. In order to get rid of Hugo, and stop him foiling their scheme again, Lester gives him and Ronnie £500 to start their nightclub (we learn in Summer Lightning that the venture is a failure). Chimp is persuaded to have another go, and this time the burglary goes smoothly, or so it seems. But Chimp has been seen and recognised by the butler, Sturgis, who informs John. John travels to Healthward Ho to confront Chimp. Dolly goes with him and puts knock-out drops into his drink when they arrive. Chimp locks John up in a room with bars on the window, but eventually John turns the tables on the conspirators, and learns to his horror that Lester is in on the plot. He dashes back to Rudge Hall and confronts his uncle. As a penance, Lester agrees to make it up with Wyvern. In the meantime, Pat, thinking that John has run off with Dolly, has accepted Hugo's proposal of marriage. When she learns of John's heroism she realises the error of her ways and sweetness and light reign. ===== A major character of the saga who appears in this novel is the Trader, who apparently goes off to die alone near the end of the book, but is constantly referenced in future novels. It also brings Doc Tanner (a senile-sounding gentleman with knowledge of pre-war America) to the group, and gives us our first glance at one of the series' long running mutant menaces : Stickies. This book also introduces the Redoubts, in particular the Cerberus Redoubt, and the MAT-TRANS teleport chambers that are a major plot device driving the series. ===== A small boy fantasizes about catching an airplane he sees reflected in the water. One day he finally does catch the plane, and discovers that not everything is meant to be caught. *Director: Carlos Salces *Producer: Blanca Montoya *Writers: Carlos Salces/Blanca Montoya *Cinematography: Chuy Chávez *Distributor: Fantasmas Films/IMCINE *10 minutes In the Mirror of the Sky ===== Three smart Las Vegas theatrical girls decide to look for husbands; – Carol, (Virginia Mayo), who thinks a millionaire would be good, Abby (Lucille Norman), who is in love with baritone Vince Nichols (Dennis Morgan), but is perturbed because he gambles, and June (Virginia Gibson), who has a crush on Ted Lansing, a dancer, (Gene Nelson). Ted, however, is in love with Abby. Picturegoer, 19 January 1952, p. 14 ===== Aspiring lyricist Lorenz "Larry" Hart needs a composer for his music, so Herb Fields introduces him to Richard "Dick" Rodgers and a partnership is born in 1919. They struggle to achieve success, however, and Dick ultimately leaves the business to sell children's apparel. Larry becomes impressed with singer Peggy Lorgan McNeil, personally and professionally. But when a show by him and Dick is finally bound for Broadway, his promise to Peggy to play the starring role is ruined because Joyce Harmon is hired to play the part. Dick is attracted to Joyce, but is judged too young to be involved with her, then too old for another woman he meets, Dorothy Feiner. A string of hit songs and shows follows, but Larry seems unable to enjoy the success. After fighting depression, things begin looking up for Larry as soon as Judy Garland agrees to do a movie with Rodgers and Hart music in it. Larry buys a home in California but can't shake his sorrow, even after Dorothy marries Dick and invites Larry to share their home. Larry attends a last show of theirs in New York City, then collapses and dies outside the theater. Dick later leads a tribute to Larry's career. ===== The narrator of the story, a somewhat naive American admirer of English novelist Mark Ambient, visits the writer at his home in Surrey. The narrator is very enthusiastic about Ambient's work, especially his latest novel Beltraffio. He meets Ambient's beautiful but chilly wife, his sickly seven-year-old son Dolcino, and his strange sister Gwendolyn. He also learns that Ambient's wife strongly dislikes her husband's novels and considers them corrupt and pagan. Dolcino eventually becomes much more ill. In order to "protect" him from what she sees as the baleful influence of his father, Ambient's wife withholds the boy's medicine. Dolcino dies, and the details of his mother's conduct are told to the narrator by Gwendolyn. The mother, grief-stricken over her role in Dolcino's final illness, dies herself after a few months. In a grimly ironic note to conclude the story, the narrator says Ambient later revealed that his wife had become partially reconciled to his novels and even read Beltraffio in the weeks before her death. ===== The legendary empire of the lost continent of Mu reappears to threaten the world with domination. While countries unite to resist, an isolated World War II Captain has created the greatest warship ever seen, and possibly the surface world's only defense. While on a magazine photo shoot one night, photographers Susumu and Yoshito witness a car drive into the ocean. While speaking with a detective the next day they spot Makoto Jinguji, daughter of deceased Imperial Captain Jinguji, who is also being followed by a suspicious character. Her father's former superior, retired Rear Admiral Kusumi is confronted by a peculiar reporter, who claims contrarily that Captain Jinguji is alive and at work on a new submarine project. The threads meet when a mysterious taxi driver attempts to abduct Makoto and the Admiral, claiming to be an agent of the drowned Mu Empire. Foiled by the pursuing photographers, he flees into the ocean. During another visit to the detective, a package inscribed "MU" arrives for the Admiral. Contained within is a film depicting the thriving undersea continent (with its own geothermal "sun") and demanding that the surface world capitulate, and prevent Jinguji from completing his submarine Atragon. The UN realizes that Atragon may be the world's only defense and requests that Admiral Kosumi appeal to Jinguji. Concurrently, Makoto's stalker is arrested and discovered to be a naval officer under Jinguji. He agrees to lead the party to Jinguji's base but refuses to disclose its location. After several days of travel, the party find themselves on a tropical island inhabited only by Jinguji's forces and enclosing a vast underground dock. Eventually Captain Jinguji greets the visitors, though he is cold toward his daughter and infuriated by Kusumi's appeal. He built Atragon, he explains, as a means to restore the Japanese Empire after its defeat in World War II, and insists that it be used for no other purpose. Makoto runs off in anger, later to be consoled by Susumu. Atragon's test run is a success, the heavily armored submarine even elevating out of the water and flying about the island. When the Captain approaches Makoto that evening they exchange harsh words; again Susumu reproaches the Captain for his selfish refusal to come to the world's aid. After Makoto and Susumu are kidnapped by the reporter, and the base crippled by a bomb, Jinguji consents to Kusumi's request and prepares Atragon for war against Mu. The Mu Empire executes a devastating attack on Tokyo and threatens to sacrifice its prisoners to the monstrous deity Manda if Atragon appears. Appear the super-submarine does, pursuing a Mu submarine to the Empire's entrance in the ocean depths. Meanwhile, Susumu and the other prisoners escape their cell and kidnap the Empress of Mu. They are impeded by Manda, but soon rescued by Atragon, which then engages the serpent and freezes it using the "Absolute Zero Cannon". Jinguji offers to hear peace terms, but the proud Empress refuses. The Captain then advances Atragon into the heart of the Empire power room and freezes its geothermal machinery. This results in a cataclysmic explosion visible even to those on deck of the surfaced submarine. Her empire dying, the Mu Empress abandons the Atragon and, Jinguji and company looking on, swims into the conflagration. ===== The play is set in Provence, France. L’Arlésienne, which translates to "the girl from Arles", is loved by a young peasant Fréderi. However, upon discovering her infidelity prior to their wedding date, Fréderi approaches madness. His family tries at great length to "save" their son, but eventually Fréderi commits suicide by jumping off a balcony. ===== The Bower Family Band petitions the Democratic National Committee to sing a rally song for President Grover Cleveland at the party's 1888 convention. On the urging of Joe Carder, a journalist and suitor to eldest Bower daughter Alice, the family decides instead to move to the Dakota Territory. There, Grandpa Bower, a staunch Democrat, causes trouble with his pro-Cleveland sentiments. The Dakota residents are overwhelmingly Republican, and they hope to get the territory admitted as two states (North and South Dakota) rather than one (so as to send four Republican senators to Washington rather than two). Grandpa's actions result in family strife, including nearly costing Alice her position as the town's new school teacher. The budding romance between Joe and Alice also suffers. In the end, more ballots are cast for Cleveland, but Republican nominee Benjamin Harrison nonetheless wins the Electoral College vote and the presidency. Before he leaves office, Cleveland grants statehood to both the two Dakotas, along with Montana and Washington, evening the gains for both parties. The Dakotans, particularly the feuding young couple, resolve to live together in peace. ===== Cubix, set in the futuristic year 2044, is the story of a bright-eyed young boy named Connor with a deep fascination for robots. His father, Graham, who dislikes all robots, has never truly been supportive of his efforts. That is, until they move to Bubble Town, a city with "as many robots as people," and the location of RobixCorp. The reason for RobixCorp's global success is the EPU (Emotion Processing Unit), which allows a robot to develop their own unique personality, just like a human being. Now that Connor's dream has finally come true, he finds himself with one really big problem: everyone in Bubble Town owns a robot, except him. Shortly after his arrival, he meets his nosy neighbor Abby, who sends her flying pet robot, Dondon, to spy on him. Graham, being not so fond of a robot spying on him, attempts to capture Dondon. During his escape, he crashes into Connor, knocking him out. A worried Abby, along with Connor, hop onto her hover scooter, rushing for the one place in town that can fix her friend. Here, Connor meets Hela, who runs a repair shop called The Botties' Pit. However, to become an employee, he has to fix a robot in less than 24 hours. Of all the robots he could have chosen, Connor picks Cubix, a one of a kind test model referred to as the 'Unfixable Robot.' The Botties all tried to repair him, especially Hela, who could never quite throw him out. Cubix is the one memory left of her father, Professor Nemo, who invented the EPU. Sadly, he vanished after an experiment with a highly volatile substance known as Solex. Suddenly, a rogue robot inventor named Dr. K runs off with a stolen robot, leaving the Botties' Pit on the verge of collapse. Connor races back inside in a final effort to save Cubix, leaving him trapped inside. This act of kindness jumpstarts Cubix's EPU, bringing him back to life. With only a moment to spare, Cubix saves Connor from the collapsing building. It was never a matter of hardware; rather, of heart, that fixed the 'Unfixable Robot'. Therefore, Connor passed the test, earning him a place in the club. That was not the only surprise Cubix had in store, with his amazing design he can transform into virtually anything. Along with their new friends, Connor and Cubix face up against Dr. K to take back the kidnapped bot. This series follows the adventures and discoveries of the group, as they unravel Dr. K.'s conspiracy and the disappearance of Professor Nemo. ===== Franklin Turtle is excited about the coming of spring, because his parents have told him he will become a big brother then. After talking with his friends about it, though, he begins to have mixed feelings. His mother reads a tale known throughout Woodland called The Quest of the Green Knight and Franklin decides to go on his own quest to end the unusually long winter, with his friend Snail as his squire. ===== Franklin the Turtle, his little sister, Harriet (introduced in the previous film, Franklin and the Green Knight), and their parents, Mr. and Mrs. Turtle, plan to spend Christmas with their maternal grandparents (Mrs. Turtle's parents) at Faraway Farm, a farm far away from Woodland where Mrs. Turtle grew up. As the family gets ready to leave, they sing the first and third verses of Deck the Halls. Franklin immediately becomes annoyed with Harriet when she throws a snowball at him, causing him to drop a large pile of presents. Franklin's best friend Bear and his little sister Beatrice come to collect Franklin's pet goldfish, Goldie, and Franklin accidentally leaves his favorite stuffed toy dog Sam behind. Franklin thinks that Harriet dumped Sam in the snow on purpose, when in reality Beatrice had found Sam and Bear had failed to give it back to Franklin before they left. Franklin is still annoyed with Harriet when they get to Faraway Farm, and he becomes even more annoyed when he learns that he and Harriet will be sleeping in the same room. Later that evening, his grandmother, Jenny, tells a strange story from her childhood about a reindeer. This story involves a flashback showing young Jenny and her father (Mrs. Turtle's grandfather and Franklin and Harriet's great- grandfather). Jenny admits that she might have imagined things just as Mr. Turtle takes a family portrait, in which Franklin gives a sad look because he still misses Sam. Jenny then shows Franklin Sirius outside and sings Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to him before sending him to bed. The next day, as Franklin feeds the chickens, Jenny lets him in on a little surprise - she is fixing up an old sleigh for Grandfather Turtle. Franklin decides to help, and Jenny introduces him to her neighbors, the Collies, who collect the polish for the sleigh. That night, an ice storm strikes, causing a blackout, and while Franklin is checking the attic closet for candles, he comes across the bell from Jenny's story, revealing that she was not imagining the story after all. Franklin shows the bell to Jenny the next morning (Christmas Eve), and suggests that they use the bell for his grandfather's sleigh. Jenny has Harriet help with the sleigh, but Harriet spills the beans at lunch, much to Franklin's frustration, although fortunately, his grandfather does not overhear. Later, Mr. and Mrs. Turtle go to check on the Collies while Franklin and Harriet continue to work on the sleigh. Despite Franklin telling her not to do so, Harriet rings the bell, and just like in Jenny's story, a reindeer appears. Franklin runs to the house to tell Jenny. In the process, Franklin distracts Grandfather Turtle, who slips on a puddle of ice and breaks his leg. Back in the house, Jenny examines him and tells him to rest. Grandfather Turtle comforts Harriet when she cries and when Franklin says that he feels guilty, Grandfather Turtle tells him it was simply an accident. Jenny sends Franklin and Harriet to their room while she cares for Grandfather Turtle. Franklin decides to use the sleigh to go back to Woodland and find Bear and Beatrice's mother, Dr. Bear. He eventually discovers that Harriet has come along, hidden in the back. Rosie the horse, who is pulling the sleigh, is just as surprised as Franklin, and runs away, leaving the two young turtles stranded and lost in the woods. Back at the farm, Jenny finds a note that Franklin wrote saying that he is going back to Woodland to find Dr. Bear. Mr. and Mrs. Turtle soon return home from the Collies'; they discover what has happened and they and the grandparents become worried about Franklin and Harriett. Meanwhile, Franklin angrily scolds his sister for her disobedience, which causes her to break down. Franklin then comforts and apologizes to her. Harriett then reveals that she has the bell. With Franklin's approval, she rings it, and this time two reindeer come. One of them has the same exact bell as the one Franklin and Harriet have. Franklin realizes that the bell must belong to the other reindeer and that this is why he always comes whenever somebody rings it. With the bell back, the original reindeer creates a harness seemingly out of nowhere. With the help of the two reindeer, Franklin and Harriett soon arrive at the Bears' house and fetch Dr. Bear. Back at the farm, Jenny and Mr. and Mrs. Turtle decide to split up and try to find the children. Rosie returns to the farm and they all see Franklin, Harriet, and Dr. Bear arrive by sleigh. Dr. Bear gives Grandfather Turtle a cast for his leg and also returns Sam to Franklin, much to his delight. That night, Franklin and Harriet see Santa Claus and the reindeer out the window. The film ends with Franklin and Harriet wishing each other a merry Christmas. ===== ===== Newspaper ad for G Men making a connection between the film and real-life G Men in the FBI, who were tracking kidnappers in the Pacific Northwest. One year after graduation, New York City lawyer James "Brick" Davis (James Cagney) has no clients because he refuses to compromise with his ideals and integrity. His friend Eddie Buchanan (Regis Toomey) tries to recruit him as a federal agent or "G Man" (government man), but Davis is unsure. However, when Buchanan is killed while trying to arrest a gangster, Davis changes his mind, determined to bring the killer to justice. He bids farewell to his mentor, "Mac" MacKay (William Harrigan), a mob boss who financed his education to keep Davis on the right side of the law. He bids farewell to Jean Morgan (Ann Dvorak), the star of MacKay's nightclub who has feelings for Davis. Davis travels to Washington, D.C. to begin his training. A mutual dislike forms immediately between him and his instructor, Jeff McCord (Robert Armstrong) which eventually subsides as time passes, but not before McCord openly mocks and derides Davis' attempts at training . However, Davis is attracted to McCord's sister Kay (Margaret Lindsay) which strengthens his determination to remain passive despite McCord's efforts to rile him. Meanwhile, MacKay retires and buys a resort lodge out in the woods of Wisconsin. His men, free of his restraint, embark on a crime spree. Hamstrung by existing laws (federal agents have to get local warrants and are not even allowed to carry guns), the head of the G-Men pleads for new laws to empower his beleaguered men. They are enacted with great speed. Davis identifies one of the perpetrators, Danny Leggett (Edward Pawley), by his superstition of always wearing a gardenia. Not having completed his training, he can only give agent Hugh Farrell (Lloyd Nolan) tips on Leggett's habits. Farrell tracks down and arrests his quarry, but he and some of his men are gunned down, and Leggett escapes. McCord is put in charge of the manhunt and given his choice of five agents. He picks Davis, a decision that later pays dividends when Jean is brought in for questioning, Davis learns she is now married to Collins (Barton MacLane), one of the crooks. She inadvertently lets slip that the gang is hiding out at MacKay's lodge (against MacKay's will). In the ensuing wild shootout, Davis kills MacKay, who was being used as a human shield. Before he dies, MacKay forgives his distraught friend. Davis then tries to resign from the department but McCord talks him out of it by reminding him that McKay's death wasn't his fault and asks him to stay on. Only Collins gets away. McCord and Davis go to Jean's apartment to warn her. Jean is not there, but Collins is, and shoots at them. Davis pushes McCord out of the way and takes a bullet meant for him. Collins gets away. Davis ends up in the hospital (where Kay is a nurse) for his shoulder wound. Collins kidnaps Kay to use as a hostage. Jean finds out where he is hiding and telephones Davis, only to be shot by her husband. Davis bolts from his hospital bed, has some final words for the dying Jean, sneaks inside the garage and rescues Kay. Collins is shot to death by McCord as he tries to drive away. Kay escorts the still-bandaged Davis back to the hospital, vowing to "handle your case personally." ===== A female student ("the girl") at a Pennsylvania university uses the campus ride share board to find a ride home to Wilmington, Delaware for Christmas. She joins a male student ("the guy"), who is driving home to Wilmington. His older car is in poor condition, with the trunk full of his possessions as he has been kicked out of his apartment. It soon becomes apparent that she is arrogant and asocial. He seems to know quite a lot about her, stating that they have a class together, although she has never noticed him. They stop at an isolated gas station, as the girl wants to use the bathroom. As the girl has just applied her pedicure, the guy offers to piggyback her to the store. While in the restroom, the girl is locked in and hears the guy and the clerk talking about how they hear her banging the door. After the girl manages to unlock the restroom door, she angrily scolds him for not helping her. Both the guy and the clerk are left puzzled over the girl's rant. The girl simply dismisses their responses and proceeds to ask the guy to leave. Before they leave, the girl hears the guy asking the clerk for directions, although he claimed to have driven the route many times. Setting off, he soon turns off the main highway down Route 606, a lonely snow-covered road through a wooded ravine which he claims is a short cut. She tells him to return to the main highway, but he refuses because in the earlier scenes, the girl while talking on the phone claimed she was bored driving on the highway hence the guy decided to drive through a scenic detour - the infamous route 606 where crosses, apparently roadside memorials, can be seen on either side of the road. As night falls, headlights come towards them in the middle of the road. The oncoming driver does not slow down, causing the guy to swerve, half burying their car in a snow drift. The guy observes that the oncoming car, which did not stop, has left no tire tracks in the snow. While the guy walks back to the gas station, the girl sees a dark figure stagger past the car. She calls out, but it ignores her. The guy returns, saying the gas station is closed, but she does not think he has been gone long enough. Huddling in the car, the guy reveals that he had been watching her for some time. As he didn't have "a line or a game", and even though he just lives ten minutes away from campus, when he saw a chance to get her alone for 6 uninterrupted hours after he saw her texting about the ride share in class, he took it. He saw the car ride as a romantic gesture, leading him to post the notice offering a ride to Wilmington. In the car, they notice a number of black-clad figures walking past the car and call after them, but they do not stop. Their faces are white and dead-looking. The guy follows them up the slope into a ruined building where they disappear. He finds frozen corpses half buried in the snow inside and also a newspaper. Meanwhile, the girl sees the lone figure again and when she touches it, burning her hand, it turns round to reveal a bloated corpse. They think help has arrived when a Pennsylvania Highway Patrol cop knocks on their window. He does not seem to understand their predicament, choosing instead to believe they were "parking". He takes the girl to the back of his patrol car, which is clearly not a modern vehicle. When he violently pushes her into the car, the guy hits the cop with a tire iron. They jerk awake, thinking it was all a dream, to find that the guy has the tire iron frozen to his frostbitten hands. The girl realizes that he was badly injured in the crash when she sees a bottle of pee with blood in the backseat. She proceeds to question the guy and he admits that he realized that himself en route to the gas station. He further admits he did not reach the gas station because he started spitting up blood. The newspaper from the ruined building is dated 23 December 1953, telling of an accident in which a young couple and a cop were killed when their cars crashed into a ravine on this road. Retired priests from a nearby home gave them the last rites. They realize that the cop is a ghost, the black-clad figures are the dead priests and the speeding car which caused them to swerve was driven by the ghostly cop. The cop keeps reappearing, always heralded by Brenda Lee's "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" on the car's radio. The girl drifts in and out of consciousness, becoming in her dreams the many other people the cop has killed. She proposes an idea to the guy to use his telephone,from his trunk of belongings, to call for help from the junction box on a nearby telephone pole. The guy seems resistant as he is concerned over her safety and they agreed on a warning system: when song appears on the radio he will honk the horn and she'll return. Before she leaves, he says "You know what I'll do different? ... Next time I will just walk up to you after class and say hi". She smiles and replies, "You should, definitely do that". They kiss before he calls out "Wait...." as the girl reassures him "I will be right back" and she leaves. She climbed up the telephone pole, connects the telephone and reaches 911, but is not sure they could hear her. Returning to the car, she finds that the guy has died. She cries out "You knew I was coming back" as she had him in her arms for the final time as a black figure is seen walking past the car. The girl then carries the guy out of the car and leaves him along a side the road. From afar the girl sees headlights approaching her. Thinking that it is the same car (i.e. driven by the ghostly cop) she hurriedly attempts to open the faulty car door but to no avail. Turns out a snow-plow driver came in response to the girl's reported incident (i.e. the 911 call went through). The girl heaves a sigh of relief as the snow-plow driver puts the guy's body on the back and calls her to get in the vehicle. While driving he tells the girl that, in the early 1950s, a corrupt cop murdered people on this stretch of road and their bodies were never found. In 1953 he ran a young couple off the road, but lost control and also died in the ravine. Frequently, around this time of year, more people die on this road. In 1961, the priests were found frozen to death in their beds. The plowman sees headlights and believes more help has arrived. Instead, the ghostly cop runs them off the road, causing the plowman to swerve in order to avoid him. The girl knew what was going to happen and she prepares for it by buckling her seat belt. True enough the swerve causes the snow-plow truck to tumble. In spite of that, the truck is not stuck; but, despite the girl's pleas, the driver gets out to help the ghostly cop not knowing who he is dealing with. The girl follows him and the pair see the two burning cars from 1953 down the ravine. They see the priests walk down to the trapped cop, but instead of helping him they pull the microphone from his police radio, leaving him to burn to death. His burned body crawls out and touches the plowman, who instantly freezes to death. She runs towards the truck and tries to start the truck, but the ghostly cop reappears. The ghost of the guy appears and hits him with a tire iron, saving her. As dawn breaks, she jerks awake and realized she is back in the car, with the guy's body next to her and there is no sign of the truck. She screams in despair but moments later the guy's ghost appears and leads her up the hill as he says, "I would have told you everything eventually... It will be okay, it will just be a sweet funny story we have" referencing back to the conversation they had while he confessed his motive for driving the girl back to Delaware. The guy leads the girl through the ruined priests' home and to the gas station, where he disappears. The girl finds herself back at the gas station. Ending scene - fire trucks, ambulance, police cars and the girl are back at route 606. The coroners are loading the guy's body on the coroner van as the girl wrapped in a blanket watched from the ambulance. A paramedic is attending to her hand injuries. She takes out her phone, looking at a picture of the guy she took earlier after he had gotten angry (because she complained over the phone about her boredom and the long journey ahead). Tears began forming in her eyes - screen turns black. ===== At a top secret chemical research facility called Hope Center #1, a rat causes a chemical leak and dies. As two workers investigate, the rat suddenly comes back to life and kills one of the men, who likewise revives and attacks his co-workers. Subsequently, the entire staff of the plant turn into flesh-eating zombies. A four-man team of commandos, consisting of Lt. Mike London (José Gras), Osborne (Josep Lluís Fonoll), Zantoro (Franco Garafalo), and Vincent (Selan Karay), are deployed to eliminate a group of eco-terrorists who have taken hostages inside a large building at the US Embassy in Barcelona, Spain. The terrorists demand the closing of all the Hope Centers, which both the government and the military deny exist. The press, under orders of the local authorities, do not publicize the terrorists' demands or mention the disaster at Hope Center. After pumping tear gas into the building, Lt. London and his three commandos burst in, killing the terrorists. Once the mission is completed, the team loses contact with Hope Center #1. Thinking that the complex has been infiltrated by terrorists, the team flies to Papua New Guinea. There they meet journalist Lia Rousseau (Margit Evelyn Newton) and her cameraman Max (Gabriel Renom), who are investigating a series of mysterious, violent attacks on the locals. While stopping at a native village, they encounter several flesh-eating zombies. The commandos and the journalists travel through the New Guinea jungle in the commando's jeep, trying to survive while evading the zombies. The group takes refuge at an abandoned plantation, only to come under attack from the zombie residents. The flesh-eating residents kill and eat Osborne, forcing the survivors to flee. Rousseau and London's men battle their way to a beach, escape by raft, and finally arrive at Hope Center #1, where they find all of the workers either dead or roaming the facility as zombies. The zombies quickly kill Max and Zantoro, and infect Vincent. Rousseau and London learn about the experimental chemical that was accidentally released, which is causing the zombie infestation. From audiotaped notes and papers left behind in the lab's research offices, Rousseau learns that the chemical, codenamed "Operation Sweet Death", had been intended to curb the Third World population by driving it to prey on each other. Rousseau vows to tell the world, but a horde of zombies - including their now zombified comrades - close in and devour the last survivors of the team. Some time later, the zombie contagion has spread beyond the borders of the country and throughout the world. While politicians and scientists dispute the matter, a young couple in the developed world are attacked and devoured by a horde of zombies in a city park. ===== After reading a newspaper article revealing Koontz's innocence, Duncan demands the truth from his parents, Jake and Celeste Kane (Lisa Thornhill), who tell him that they arrived home one night to find Duncan covered in blood and holding Lilly's body. Cassidy "Beaver" Casablancas (Kyle Gallner) tells Veronica that on the weekend of Lilly's murder, he had gone surfing in Mexico with Logan and Dick Casablancas (Ryan Hansen), but that Logan had driven back to Neptune to see Lilly. Veronica and Keith discover that a shot glass Logan bought for Lilly in Mexico is on the list of evidence found in Lilly's bedroom and car. Talking to Keith on the phone, Veronica suggests that Logan is the murderer; she is overheard by the leader of the Latino biker gang PCHers, Eli "Weevil" Navarro (Francis Capra), who had a relationship with Lilly. Keith ends his relationship with Wallace's mother Alicia Fennel (Erica Gimpel), to give Lianne a second chance. He sues the Kanes for refusing to pay the $50,000 reward for finding Duncan; they agree to pay if Veronica signs away any future claim to their estate. Once Veronica signs, Keith shows her the DNA test that proves he is her father, meaning Veronica was never a potential Kane heir. Logan is arrested, and once released he angrily breaks up with Veronica for providing the evidence against him. He tells her that when he saw Lilly after returning from Mexico, he knew their relationship was over and wrote her a letter, which he left in Lilly's car along with the shot glass. Veronica realizes that the letter was never found, and sneaks into a dinner party at the Kane household to search Lilly's room for it. Duncan finds her in the room, and they discover several videotapes which show Lilly having an affair with Logan's father, Aaron Echolls (Harry Hamlin). Veronica concludes that when Aaron learned that Lilly had taken the tapes and she refused to return them, he killed her in a fit of rage, leading to Duncan's discovery of Lilly's body and his parents' mistaken belief that he killed her. In Lilly's room, as a hidden person watches from a closet, Veronica calls Keith and tells him that she will bring home the tapes, noting that Aaron is at the party. Before she leaves, Veronica tells Duncan that they are not related. Elsewhere, Logan drunkenly stands on a bridge railing; Weevil and the PCHers arrive and menacingly close in on him. As she drives home, Veronica discovers Aaron is in the back seat of her car, and intentionally crashes into a power pole to escape him. Although both are knocked unconscious, Veronica awakens first and flees to the back porch of a nearby house, hiding the tapes in various places as she runs. Aaron traps Veronica in a refrigerator on the porch, demanding she reveal where the tapes are, and when Keith arrives, Aaron sets the refrigerator on fire. Keith is burnt while freeing Veronica, and Aaron is hit by a truck while trying to escape. The police arrive and Keith and Aaron are taken away on stretchers as Aaron is read his rights. Jake vows to see Aaron fry for his actions and is also arrested, for obstruction of justice. Keith wakes up in hospital to find Alicia by his side. Veronica arrives home and tells her mother to leave; she knows that Lianne is still drinking and did not finish her rehab. Lianne packs her bags, taking the $50,000 Kane settlement check as she leaves. Veronica dreams about floating on pool rafts with Lilly, in a pool covered with flowers, and they say their final goodbyes. Veronica wakes up and answers the door, telling the unseen visitor, "I was hoping it would be you." ===== A mysterious man named Edward Paladin shows up in place of Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show, but all is not what it seems. A subsequent investigation by detectives Richard Cheyney and Pete Jacoby finds strange items in his possession, hinting that he may not be from our reality. These include passes for the studio which are the wrong color and a bright blue one dollar bill with a picture of James Madison on it rather than one of George Washington, implying that Madison served as the first President of the United States instead of Washington in Paladin's universe. ===== Bookkeeper Nick Cherney is sent to jail for embezzling from Johnny Torno's trucking company. In a California prison, he sees a newsreel showing Johnny welcoming home his brother Jess, a heroic Catholic chaplain just returned from a World War II prisoner-of-war camp. Just before his release four years later (and to give himself a clever alibi), Nick hires Rocky, an inmate who has just finished his sentence, to murder Jess. Jess is staying in a local hotel room, about to depart for his first parish in another city. The brothers meet with a local priest, Father Redmond. It is during that meeting that Johnny finds out Jess is moving away. Johnny arrives at his brother's hotel room not long after Jess is shot by Rocky. Knowing that he is about to die, Jess vaguely indicates that a clue to his murderer can be found within the covers of the room's Bible. Johnny takes this to mean that the name of the killer himself is inscribed somewhere therein. However, the book is not there. For some unexplained reason, the police don't investigate the crime, deciding to instead harass Johnny of going at it alone. He tracks down and questions several strangers who occupied the same room, among them Carla North. He believes that one of them has the Bible. Once he satisfies himself that Carla is not a suspect, he hires her to help in the search, inviting her to stay at his luxury apartment, while he moves to his office. Although a bit suspicious of Johnny's motives, Carla agrees. While Johnny is questioning another hotel guest, he notices Rocky watching him. Setting a trap, he lets Rocky see him buying a book from the former guest and wrapping it up, then leaves it lying around while he gets his shoes shined. When Rocky steals the book, Johnny catches him and reveals that it is just a cookbook. Rocky manages to escape, though Johnny wounds him slightly with his gun. Later, aboard a train back to town, Rocky tells Nick that he is through, and that he intends to blackmail Nick. Nick sucker punches him, causing him to fall off the rear of a moving train. Then, Nick goes to Torno's office to witness the search of the Gideon Bible found earlier by Carla. When Johnny finally locates the missing Gideon Bible, he finds written within not information about the killer's identity, but a plea from his brother not to seek revenge. Nick thinks he is off the hook. Relieved, he turns to leave. However, when he gets to the head of the stairs, he spots Rocky on the floor below. In a shootout, Nick fatally wounds Rocky, but before he dies, Rocky identifies Nick as the mastermind behind Jess's murder. Johnny pursues Nick to the roof, out in a rainstorm. Nick accidentally steps on the main power supply to Torno's huge neon sign and is electrocuted. ===== The novel is set in the present day. Its title refers to a house ins Laos inhabited by three American Air Force pilots who have been missing since the Vietnam War. Following the arrest of one of the MIAs, for trafficking drugs while dressed as a priest, the novel depicts American life in a post-9/11 context through the involvement of the two sisters. ===== The story begins with a stag hunt. Beginning in Carlisle, King Arthur and his knights chase a great white stag, which eludes them until Percival finally captures it in Galloway. At this point, Fergus, working the land in the service of his father, spots the knights and is inspired by them. Fergus persuades his father to give him a suit of armour, so that he can follow after the knights and join them. Fergus makes his way to Carlisle, killing two bandits on the way, whose heads he brings to the king. Arriving at court, he is mocked by Kay, the seneschal. Kay challenges Fergus to prove his worth by, among other things, defeating the king's bitter enemy, the Black Knight; Fergus accepts. After being taught knightly arts by the daughter of the royal Chamberlain, he is knighted by Arthur and receives encouragement and a sword from Percival and Gawain. Dunnottar Castle in the Mearns occupies one of the finest fort- locations in Great Britain. The site is one of the most important locations in the Roman de Fergus. Following his introduction to chivalry, Fergus makes his way to Liddel Castle, where he first encounters Galiene, the niece of the castellan. She declares her love for him, but he only promises to return after he has fulfilled his quest. Having vanquished the Black Knight, Fergus returns, only to find that Galiene has disappeared. At this point, the magic of love hits Fergus. He searches for her in vain for a year, until he meets a dwarf who tells him that he will retrieve his lost love if he can obtain a shield from a hag in Dunnottar Castle. With renewed hope, Fergus makes his way to Queensferry, to cross from "England" into "Scotland"; however, he gets into a dispute with the boatmen, dispatches them all, and is forced to sail himself over. Upon reaching Dunnotar, Fergus slays the guardian of the shield, and returns to Lothian. It is then that he is told that Galiene is the new ruler of Lothian, but is besieged in Roxburgh by a neighbouring king. On the way to Roxburgh, he is waylaid at Melrose by the husband of the hag-dragon he dispatched at Dunnottar. Emerging victorious, Fergus takes up residence in Melrose, and from there wreaks havoc on the army. He defeats some of its greatest knights, but this is not enough to lift the siege. After a while, the king sends his nephew Arthofilaus to demand that Galiene surrender the castle. She refuses, but they agree that if she can find a suitable knight, they will settle the dispute by single combat. Galiene soon regrets the deal, as she is unable to find a willing candidate among her men. She therefore sends her attendant, Arondele, to request a knight from Arthur at Carlisle. However, Arthur is unable to provide one because all of his knights are out searching for Fergus. Dejected, Arondele heads back to her mistress. On the way, she passes Melrose and relates the story to Fergus, before returning to Roxburgh. News of the attendant's failure brings Galiene to grief, because the combat must take place the following day. When the time arrives, Galiene prepares to throw herself from the castle tower. However, she catches sight of a shining shield in the distance. The mysterious knight slays Arthofilaus, and the king gives up his claim to Lothian. It is then that Galiene learns the identity of the knight, her lost love Fergus. By then, however, he had already departed. Back at Carlisle, King Arthur learns of the events and pardons the defeated king. Arthur decides personally to set out in search of Fergus, but Gawain counsels that he has a better chance of finding him if he hosts a tournament. The tournament is arranged at Jedburgh, and the prize is Queen Galiene and her kingdom. During the week-long tournament, Fergus remains invincible, defeating, among others, Kay, Lancelot and the Black Knight. It is after this that Fergus and Galiene are united in marriage, and Fergus becomes King of Lothian. ===== A mysterious stranger (the Asgardian god Loki in disguise) coerces a group of master supervillains to join forces in a conspiracy to destroy the superhero team the Avengers. Loki does this to strike back at his adopted brother Thor, and due to his bitterness that he inadvertently caused the formation of the Avengers.Avengers #1 (Sep. 1963). Marvel Comics The supervillain team consists of Doctor Doom, the Kingpin, Magneto, the Mandarin, the Red Skull, and the Wizard. Loki also attempts to recruit Apocalypse, Cobra, and the Mad Thinker, but they all decline. Loki also approaches Namor, but he rejects the offer stating he is not a villain anymore. To assist the master villains, Loki engineers a jailbreak at the Vault. The lesser villains are then directed against heroes (mainly the Avengers and Spider-Man) who have never fought them before, the theory being that the unfamiliarity will act in the villains' favor. While they did manage to give many of the heroes unusual fights, the plan eventually fails as the master villains fail to cooperate and bicker with each other. An example of this is where Magneto, a mutant and a Jewish Holocaust survivor, attacks the Red Skull, whose Nazi beliefs include a prejudice against mutants, and imprisons him in a buried crypt. The supervillain pawns are defeated by the heroes. A frustrated Loki reveals himself and imprisons the Kingpin, the Mandarin and the Wizard while Doctor Doom is revealed to have been using a Doombot and Magneto is not present. The Avengers track the group and defeat the villains, with Thor forcing Loki to flee back to their native home of Asgard.Avengers West Coast #55 (Feb. 1990). Marvel Comics Loki commits one last act of villainy and fuses three Sentinels to form the robot Tri-Sentinel, so that it can destroy New York City. The Tri- Sentinel is stopped by Spider-Man, who at the time possessed the powers of Captain Universe.Michelinie, David (w), Larsen, Erik (a). The Amazing Spider- Man #329 (Feb. 1990). Marvel Comics ===== Akeelah Anderson, an 11-year-old spelling enthusiast, attends Crenshaw Middle School, a predominantly black school in South Los Angeles. She lives with her widowed mother Tanya, her three older siblings, Kiana, Devon, and Terrence, and her unnamed infant niece. Her principal, Mr. Welch, suggests that she sign up for the Crenshaw Schoolwide Spelling Bee, which she initially refuses. After being threatened for detention for the remainder of the semester, she enters the spelling bee and wins. Soon after, Dr. Joshua Larabee, a visiting English professor, tests Akeelah and decides that she is good enough to compete in the National Spelling Bee. Nevertheless, Dr. Larabee declines to coach her because she is rude to him. As a result, Akeelah studies on her own to prepare for the district spelling bee. Although Akeelah misspells her word during the final round of the bee, she qualifies for the regional bee when one of the other finalists is disqualified for cheating, after getting caught by Kiana. Akeelah also meets and befriends Javier Mendez, a 12-year-old Mexican American boy and fellow speller. Javier invites her to join the spelling club at his Woodland Hills middle school. At Woodland Hills, Akeelah meets Dylan Chiu, a Chinese American boy who won second place at the past two national spelling bees. Contemptuous, after Akeelah misspells a word, he tells her she needs a coach. After, Javier invites Akeelah to his birthday party. Before that, Tanya is depressed over Terrence's bad behavior, her husband's death (after a mugger shot him on his way home from work), and concerned about her daughter's grades and frequent truancy. As she finds out about Akeelah going alone to Woodland Hills, she forbids Akeelah from participating in the upcoming state bee and forces her to take summer school to make up for all the classes she skipped. To circumvent this prohibition, Akeelah forges her deceased father's signature on the consent form and secretly studies with Dr. Larabee. At the party, Akeelah nearly beats Dylan in Scrabble. Afterwards, Akeelah overhears Dylan's overly competitive father insulting her and berating his son for nearly losing to "a little black girl". During the state bee, Tanya comes inside and interrupts her daughter after Akeelah spells her word. Tanya chastises Akeelah for going to the bee without her permission and relents after a side discussion with Dr. Larabee and Mr. Welch. Javier protects Akeelah from disqualification by stalling until she can return. Dylan, Javier and Akeelah advance to the Scripps National Spelling Bee. As Christmas approaches, Akeelah goes out to buy Dr. Larabee a present, but when she meets him, he reveals that he is quitting being her coach because she reminds him of his deceased daughter, Denise; she died of an unexpected terminal illness when she was younger than Akeelah. Instead, Dr. Larabee gives Akeelah 5,000 flashcards to study. Without her coach, rejected by her best friend Georgia, and feeling the pressure from her neighborhood residents to make them proud, Akeelah loses her motivation. However, Tanya tells her that if she looked around her, she would realize that she has "50,000 coaches". Akeelah recruits her family members, classmates, teachers, friends, and neighbors to prepare in earnest. After reuniting with Dr. Larabee, Akeelah goes to Washington, D.C. with him, along with Tanya, Georgia, Mr. Welch, and Devon, unaware that her coach has paid for four of their tickets. Georgia rekindles her friendship with Akeelah after she invites her. During the competition, Akeelah becomes a crowd favorite. After all the other competitors are eliminated, only Dylan and Akeelah remain. The two finalists are allowed a break, during which Akeelah overhears Dylan's father harshly pressuring him to win, so Akeelah attempts to intentionally lose. Dylan, fed up with his father's competitiveness, intentionally misspells it as well. Dylan tells Akeelah that he wants a fair competition. The two then proceed to spell every word listed by the judges until the two are declared co-champions. ===== The gang observes that "Ugly Naked Guy", who lives across the street from them, is moving out. Ross (David Schwimmer), who has lived in Joey (Matt Le Blanc) and Chandler's (Matthew Perry) apartment since his botched wedding with Emily, wonders if he should try to get Ugly Naked Guy's apartment. He, Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) and Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) visit it, and Ross is enthralled, but while he goes for an application, the girls see Chandler and Monica (Courteney Cox) having sex in Monica's apartment. Though initially shocked, Phoebe calms down after Joey and Rachel reveal the two have been together since hooking up at Ross's wedding. Joey, who has been keeping the secret for several months, is relieved that almost everyone knows. However, Rachel and Phoebe want revenge, and decide to mess with the duo by having Phoebe pretend to be attracted to Chandler. Chandler later informs a skeptical Monica that Phoebe was flirting with him. Upon discovering that Ugly Naked Guy is subletting the apartment himself, Ross attempts to bribe him with a basket of mini-muffins. However, many people have bribed him with extravagant gifts such as a pinball machine and a mountain bike. Ross eventually acquires the apartment after he and Ugly Naked Guy share the mini-muffins whilst nude. Monica overhears Phoebe flirting with Chandler, and realises he was telling the truth. However, she also realises that Phoebe knows about their relationship and is just trying to mess with them. They confront Joey, who inadvertently reveals Rachel knows as well. Chandler and Monica decide to turn the tables by having Chandler reciprocate Phoebe's advances; to which Rachel and Phoebe realize what the couple are doing and proceed to up the stakes. The game of chicken between the two culminates with Chandler and Phoebe going on a tense date in Chandler and Joey's apartment while Monica hides in the bathroom and Rachel and Joey eavesdrop in the hallway. After Phoebe and Chandler share an awkward kiss, Chandler finally breaks down and reveals he is in love with Monica. Monica reveals that she is also in love with Chandler, shocking Phoebe who thought they were only in a casual relationship. Joey is relieved that he no longer has to keep their relationship a secret. However, the others inform him that they still have to keep it a secret from Ross, much to his chagrin. In the credits scene, Ross shows his new apartment to his boss, Dr. Ledbetter, to try convince him that he no longer suffers from anger management issues. However, he then sees Monica and Chandler kissing through the window, causing him to angrily yell "Get off my sister!" ===== "It is said that the person who collects all seven of the legendary WakuWaku balls will have their dearest wish granted. Those who find one of the balls become obsessed with the ruthless desire to obtain the others, who will be victorious in the bitter battle to become the owner of all the balls. Victory or defeat - it all lies in your hand." ===== On the way home from visiting her parents' grave, Christy (Nora Zehetner) crashes her car into a rock. The impact throws Christy to safety, but her older sister, Vanessa (Carly Pope), is trapped inside when the car explodes. Vanessa initially survives, though disfigured and completely burnt. Christy is sent to Pine Bluff Psychiatric Care Center for treatment while her sister is treated by her husband Dr. John Locke (Matthew Settle), at home with the assistance of the nurse Claire Wells (Eliza Norbury), and his rather stern mother, Mrs Locke (Gabrielle Rose). When Vanessa has a heart attack and dies, Christy has a breakdown at the funeral service screaming that her sister is alive in the coffin. Christy moves to California for pre-med, but remains haunted by nightmares and weird visions. Six years later, Christy returns to Edgemont for a funeral. Vanessa's husband and mother-in-law regard her coldly, but Amy (Jessica Amlee), Christy's niece who is afraid of "dark things" behind the walls of the house, asks her to stay. Christy experiences blackouts and strange visions, the most prominent of which features a scarred, burnt woman clawing at a lid. She decides to investigate the death of her sister that she believes had been buried alive. The locals believe she has borderline personality disorder. She befriends a cop, Jeff (Warren Christie), and discovers that her sister was treated in the house's basement, which had tunnels connecting it to the rest of the house. She visits the father of Claire Wells, the nurse who treated her sister, who tells her the Lockes are evil and ruined Claire's life, and that Claire broke relations with her family and left the state after Vanessa died. Meanwhile, Christy's premonition that Mrs. Locke will die comes true. Amy tells Christy about a monster which comes into her room through the wardrobe while she is sleeping and touches her cheek. While in Amy's bedroom, Christy hears noises from the wardrobe. She travels through a tunnel connecting the wardrobe and the basement and has another blackout and when she wakes, she discovers John next to her with scratches on his cheek. He threatens to press charges if she does not leave the house immediately. In the Lockes' boathouse, Christy finds a love letter from John to Claire revealing an affair between them and suggesting that Vanessa's death would be best for everyone. Christy is convinced that John and Claire gave Vanessa medication to induce her heart attack. Christy shares her findings with Jeff. They visit the hospital staff connected to Vanessa's treatment, and a doctor tells them that Vanessa's treatment had been controlled entirely by John and Claire. He also says Vanessa's murder would be impossible to prove because her body would have decomposed completely by now, making an autopsy impossible. However, Christy points out that the coffin's lid would contain Vanessa's scratch marks, proving she was alive at the time of her burial. No one, including Jeff, believes Christy. Nonetheless, Christy opens Vanessa's coffin herself and is shocked to see it unscathed. Christy returns to the house and apologizes to John. She is about to leave when she gets a phone call from Jeff and realizes that the woman buried was not her sister but Claire Wells. John attacks Christy but she shoots him with his gun. Christy searches the house again and discovers an underground cellar wherein lies a badly burnt and disfigured womanVanessa. Vanessa does not recognize Christy and attacks her until she sees the necklace Christy is wearinga present from Vanessa. Vanessa cannot speak, but Christy assures her and promises to take care of her. Christy realizes that her visions were of Vanessa scratching the cellar trap. Vanessa had traveled through the house's tunnels, discovered the affair, and killed Claire. She had also killed Mrs Locke and would visit her daughter through the wardrobe. Vanessa and Christy share a moment, when Amy suddenly appears. Amy stabs Vanessa, unaware she is her mother, in order to kill "the monster". In the last scene, Christy scatters Vanessa's ashes into a lake. Amy takes a picture and there is a vision of Vanessa prior to her accident, staring at her killer. ===== The cartoon opens with two castaways adrift on a small raft in the middle of the ocean, underscored with "Asleep in the Deep". Delirious from hunger, they start imagining each other, and even their own limbs, as food. They spot an island in the distance and rush ashore where they meet Bugs Bunny. To his friendly, "What's the good word, strangers?" they answer, "FOOD!" Subsequently, they set up a cooking pot and start chasing after Bugs, as he swings away on a vine. Chasing Bugs through the jungle, the castaways spy him, semi-disguised as an island native, dancing. He welcomes them, "Ah! White Men! Welcome to Humuhumunukunukuapua'a'a'a Island." He then speaks in Polynesian-accented nonsense, a long stretch of which is subtitled simply, "What's up, Doc?" and a very short segment is subtitled, "Now is the time for every good man to come to the aid of his party." Bugs then begins a traditional-style dance, punctuated with drumming and chanting. The men join in until the tall, skinny man, seeing Bugs stop and walk away, gives his pal a slap (off-camera, following the Hays Office rules) to make him quit. A page in an information booklet is shown to be headed: Native Customs, and goes on to explain that 'The natives are skilled at diving for coins dropped into the water'. The men drop a coin into the cooking pot's boiling water; Bugs dashes in and steals the entire pot. While Bugs takes a bath in the hot water, the men set up a dining table; the short, fat one bastes the rabbit. They begin singing, "We're gonna have roast rabbit". Bugs sings too, until he realizes he is the roast rabbit and climbs speedily up into a treehouse. He then tricks the castaways by lowering a skinned chicken into the cooking pot. He taunts them with the chicken, using it as a marionette and giving it a voice, in order to make the two think it is somehow alive. The strings eventually tangle and, as Bugs struggles with it, the chicken is actually manipulated to point up, tipping off the men. They yank Bugs from the treehouse; there is an intense, brief struggle and, in the end Bugs escapes with the meat of the chicken. As the castaways wail in frustration, they hear a steam whistle from a ship. Once the men leap for joy at the prospect of being saved and trot toward the gangplank, Bugs kisses them goodbye and presents them with leis, then pulls his time-honored switcheroo trick and boards the ship himself. The boat pulls out, leaving the two men on the island, waving goodbye to Bugs. Realizing they have been tricked, the Skinny Man slaps the Fat Man (again, off-camera) for continuing to shout, "Goodbye!" The two at once imagine each other as a hot dog and a hamburger and chase each other into the distance. ===== Having read about the U.S. fighting forces pushing the Nazi troops back during World War II ("A smashing frontal attack on the enemy rear?"), Daffy Duck is in a patriotic mood. However, his mood quickly changes to fear when he gets a phone call that "the little man from the draft board" wants to see him. Hiding in his house, Daffy looks out, eventually seeing the little man, who attempts to hand him a telegram (presumably with Daffy's conscription order). Daffy starts whining, and continues to try to outrun the little man, who seems to be everywhere that Daffy happens to be at the moment. Daffy even goes so far as to plant a bomb near the man. Finally, he locks him in a safe, bricks the safe up, puts up a wall over the bricks (chortling: "So long, Dracula!"), runs to the roof and takes off in a rocket. However, the rocket soon plunges back to earth, causing Daffy to crash-land in Hell without Daffy actually saying the word. Shrugging off this turn, Daffy spots a demon (seen from the rear) and tells him: "Oh well, anyway, I sure put one over on that dope from the draft board!" The demon takes off his mask to reveal he's the man from the draft board, who then replies with a popular catchphrase of the "Richard Q. Peavey" character from The Great Gildersleeve: "Well, now, I wouldn’t say that" (same as what Bugs Bunny says at the end of The Old Grey Hare) and proceeds to chase Daffy into the distance, letter still in hand, at iris out. ===== The story takes place on an ocean liner, the RMS Atlantic, en route to New York. Monty Bodkin hopes to win back his fiancée Gertrude Butterwick, an England international hockey player travelling to a tournament, who has just ended their engagement without explanation. Their fellow-travellers include Gertrude's cousin Ambrose Tennyson who has accepted a job as a writer for the Superba-Llewellyn film corporation, and Ambrose's younger brother Reggie Tennyson who is being forced by his family to take up an office job in Canada. Also on board are Ambrose's fiancée, Lottie Blossom, a film actress for the Superba-Llewellyn, as well as the movie mogul Ivor Llewellyn (the corporation's president), and Llewellyn's sister-in-law Mabel Spence. Numerous comic misunderstandings occur throughout the novel, many inadvertently due to the well-intentioned ship's steward Albert Peasemarch. Mabel informs Llewellyn that his wife Grayce, who is currently in Paris, has sent a message telling him that he is to smuggle her new pearl necklace through US customs to avoid paying duty. Too afraid of his wife to refuse, Llewellyn frets about the risks for several days, expecially when he misunderstand's Monty's position and incorrectly believes him to be a spy working for the US customs. He tries to bribe Monty by offering him an acting job, but Monty hates acting and refuses. Gertrude tells Monty why she broke off their engagement. From a photograph of him in swimming costume, she had seen his "Sue" chest tattoo, and thought that it was recent. After Monty explains that he unwisely got the tattoo more than three years ago, during a previous brief entanglement, Gertrude renews their engagement. Monty buys Gertrude a Mickey Mouse toy which opens to reveal chocolates inside. She romantically becomes intensely attached to it. Llewellyn had hired Ambrose Tennyson as a writer under the mistaken belief that he was the famous poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson. When he is told of his error he immediately fires Ambrose. Now lacking a job, Ambrose no longer feels able to marry Lottie as he does not want to rely on her money. Lottie is desperate and takes Gertrude's Mickey Mouse, threatening to tell Gertrude that Monty gave it to her if Monty does not accept Llewellyn's offer and insist that Ambrose be re-hired. Gertrude, growing increasingly suspicous of Monty's relationship with Lottie, calls off the engagement again. Ambrose convinces Lottie to return the toy to Monty, though Monty believes that he has lost Gertrude for good anyway. Reggie and Mabel have grown close during the voyage, and become engaged. Reggie decides to ignore the Canadian office job, and to go with Mabel to California. However, like his brother he is unwilling to rely on his fiancée's money, and he needs a job. Llewellyn agrees to hire Reggie in return for him smuggling the necklace through customs. On arrival in New York, everyone makes it past customs. Reggie privately tells Llewellyn he had hidden the necklace in the Mickey Mouse, but Monty (despite not knowing what it contains) is unwilling to hand it over. Llewellyn agrees to give jobs to both Monty and Ambrose in return for the toy. With Mabel's help, contracts are signed and Llewellyn grabs the toy and leaves. Lottie confesses to Gertrude her attempted blackmail of Monty, and explains that she never had any romantic interest in him, being engaged herself. Gertrude reconciles with Monty once more. Both Monty and Ambrose now have jobs and are free to resume their respective engagements. The steward Peasemarch comes to see Monty and explains that he had found and confiscated the necklace, and the Mickey Mouse is actually empty. However, Peasemarch had held onto the necklace as he did not want Monty to get in trouble, and he reveals that he brought it through customs himself, in his pocket. Wanting to celebrate with the others, Monty is delighted to learn from Lottie that prohibition has been repealed, and calls his hotel's room service to order champagne. ===== After his university professor father remarries, eleven-year-old David Stanley must make a series of new adjustments: first to his new stepmother, then to the strange old house in the country to which the family relocates, and finally to his new stepsister, twelve-year-old Amanda. Amanda is upset about her mother's divorce and remarriage, and about being forced to move away from the city and her best friend there. Amanda claims to be a practicing witch, and arrives at the Stanley home in a ceremonial costume, bringing books on the supernatural and a caged crow that she claims is her familiar. She offers to share her occult knowledge with David and his younger siblings Janie, Tesser, and Blair. David, while skeptical, goes along with the idea in order to get along with Amanda and protect his younger siblings. In contrast to Amanda's possibly staged "witchcraft", the Stanley children, particularly David and Blair, seem to have some actual psychic gifts, but do not talk about them. The Stanleys' old house has an alleged past history of being inhabited by a destructive poltergeist, who caused rocks to fly through the house and beheaded a wooden cupid that is carved into the stairs. When David's father is away, the poltergeist suddenly becomes active and again begins to wreak havoc in the house. David suspects Amanda of causing the events, and he and Blair eventually catch her in the act. However, one night a box of rocks, along with the long-lost cupid's head, suddenly falls down the stairs, in an incident not caused by Amanda. A shaken Amanda confesses to having faked the previous poltergeist events and her other supposed occult encounters, and gives up her witchcraft. As David glues the cupid's head back on, he learns that four-year-old Blair dropped the box down the stairs. According to Blair, a ghost girl told him where to find the box containing the rocks and cupid's head, but he tripped carrying the heavy box and spilled out its contents. Blair does not remember anything else about the encounter, leaving David to wonder whether supernatural beings may be living in the Stanley home. ===== Slicker Smith and Herbie Brown (Abbott and Costello) are sidewalk peddlers who hawk neckties out of a suitcase. They are chased by a cop (Nat Pendleton) and duck into a movie theater, not realizing that it is now being used as an Army enlistment center. Believing that they are signing up for theater prizes, they end up enlisting instead. Meanwhile, spoiled playboy Randolph Parker (Lee Bowman) and his long- suffering valet, Bob Martin (Alan Curtis), also enlist at the theater. Randolph expects his influential father to pull some strings so he can avoid military service. Bob, on the other hand, takes his military obligations in stride. Tensions between the two men escalate further with the introduction of Judy Gray (Jane Frazee), a camp hostess and friend of Bob's upon whom Randolph sets his sights. At boot camp, Slicker and Herbie are mortified to discover that Collins, the policeman who chased them, is now their drill instructor. Randolph, meanwhile, learns that his father will not use his influence on his behalf, believing that a year in the Army will do Randolph some good. For all the difficulties, life at camp turns out not to so bad, since The Andrews Sisters appear at regular intervals to sing patriotic or sentimental tunes (including "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy") and Herbie continues to foul up with little consequence. Although he is an expert marksman, Randolph skips an army shooting match in order to spend the afternoon with Judy. The company loses the match and a sizeable amount of money they had bet, causing them to resent him even more. However, during a war game exercise, Randolph redeems himself by saving Bob and coming up with a ruse to win the sham battle for his company. He is finally accepted by his unit and wins Bob's and Judy's admiration in the process. He learns that he's been accepted to Officer Training School but initially refuses, believing that his father's political influence was responsible. However, his commanding officer assures him that his training record (along with recommendations from his company) factored in the decision. Bob has also been offered an appointment to OTS, and Judy announces that she will be joining them as a hostess at the training facility. Meanwhile, Smitty and Herbie eagerly accept an invitation to shoot dice with Collins, but Herbie ends up losing his pants. ===== Former big-game hunter Sir Buckstone Abbott, finding himself hard up, takes in paying guests at his pile, Walsingford Hall, while hoping to sell the place to a wealthy Princess. Pretty soon, all kinds of schemes, plots and romantic entanglements are going on. ===== In London, Pongo Twistleton is having money troubles, and his wealthy friend Horace Pendlebury-Davenport is in trouble with his fiancée, Pongo's sister Valerie, for hiring Claude "Mustard" Pott to trail her during the Drones Club weekend at Le Touquet. Horace having refused to loan him money, Pongo resolves to call on his Uncle Fred, 5th Earl of Ickenham, for assistance. Meanwhile, at Blandings, Horace's uncle Alaric, Duke of Dunstable, as well as demanding eggs to throw at whistling gardeners, has taken it into his head that the Empress needs some fitness training, and Lord Emsworth needs help. In the absence of his trusty brother Galahad, Emsworth calls on Gally's old friend Uncle Fred for assistance in stopping the Duke from taking his prized pig. Horace, having fallen out with his cousin Ricky Gilpin over Gilpin's fiancée Polly Pott, daughter of Mustard, inadvertently makes trouble for Pongo by being dressed as a Zulu rather than a Boy Scout during a round of the "Clothes Stakes", run by Pott at the Drones. Pongo’s mistaken bet loses all his money, adding to his already large debt. Uncle Fred ponders how to get Polly into Blandings to court her prospective uncle-in-law; Fred thinks the Duke will like her and ignore her background if they meet in a neutral situation. Emsworth creates an opening by insulting Sir Roderick Glossop by calling him a name from their school days, Pimples; Glossop then refuses to come to Blandings to analyse the increasingly loopy Duke of Dunstable, as Emsworth’s sister Connie has requested. Fred heads to Blandings posing as Glossop, with Pongo playing the role of his secretary and nephew, and Polly his daughter Gwendoline. They unexpectedly meet Glossop on the train, who had later been persuaded by Connie to come despite the insult. Fred tells Glossop the Duke is on the train and Glossop can save time by talking with him, and then heading back to London. Fred is not aware that the stranger is Rupert Baxter, now working for the Duke. Arriving at Blandings, they are met by Lord Bosham, who was conned out of his wallet by Uncle Fred the previous day. The Duke sacks Baxter, because he was seen at a ball in London by Horace, but is taken on again when Uncle Fred persuades Horace, and the Duke, that Horace is suffering delusions. Horace heads off for a rest-cure, and Baxter is left unable to reveal that he has seen through Fred's disguise, having met the real Glossop before. Baxter is put on his guard, and informs Lady Constance; she in turn wants to hire a detective to deal with these imposters. Bosham remembers Mustard Pott, and calls him to Blandings. Dunstable's scheme to acquire the pig continues apace, and he calls in his strapping nephew to help. When Gilpin asks for funds to buy an onion soup bar, thus enabling him to marry Polly, the two row and part. Dunstable ropes in Baxter instead. Uncle Fred, meeting Pott just after he has taken £250 from Lord Bosham at "Persian Monarchs", takes the money off him, insisting it will help Polly marry wealthy Horace. Pott, meeting Gilpin at The Emsworth Arms, tells him about Polly being engaged to Horace, and the enraged poet chases a fearful Horace back to the Castle. Fred gives the money to Pongo to pass on to Polly for Gilpin's benefit, but she is spurned by him, and Pongo then uses the cash to pay off his debts. When Fred has reunited the couple, more money is required. Pott is persuaded to take it from Dunstable at "Persian Monarchs", but the wily peer wins himself £300. Both Fred and Pott try to get it back, but Dunstable has the pig, captured earlier by Baxter, hidden in his bathroom, and is keeping his room under lock and key. Having knocked out the vigilant Baxter with a Mickey Finn, Fred finally gains access to the room shortly after Pott has done the same, Pongo having lured Dunstable away with a rendition of "The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond". Fred is caught by a shotgun-bearing Bosham, just as Pott, having discovered the Empress in the bathroom, drinks a second Mickey destined for Dunstable. Bosham locks Fred in a cupboard. Valerie arrives, reunited with her man and hot for vengeance on the uncle that made Horace think himself insane, and confirms Fred's identity; Fred convinces all that Emsworth has become infatuated with Polly, and that he is there to put a stop to it. He takes Dunstable's roll of cash under the pretext of paying Polly off—insisting that his visit remain a secret from Lady Ickenham to maintain the Threepwood dignity—and heads back to London with not only the money for Gilpin's soup bar, but an extra fifty quid for himself to blow on a few joyous weeks in the city. ===== The anime covers a small portion of the life of the timid, shy, Tsubasa Shiina, a grade schooler who is forced to move to Hokkaidō from Tokyo with her father as he pursues his dream of becoming a baker in the aftermath of her mother's death. At her new school, she is so shy and unsociable that her classmates ignore her at best, and abuse her inability to defend herself at worst. Shortly after the two begin to settle in, an alien spaceship comes crashing down to earth in the forest behind her house. Stumbling across the ship with her dog, Tsubasa discovers the pilot, unconscious and wounded, and a monster who is trying to kill him. When the monster attacks, the alien wakes and tries to fight off the monster. Tsubasa, in her fright, runs for the ship to hide from the monster. The monster quickly takes care of the alien, seemingly killing him and in the process releasing him from some sort of transformation, and then tries to reach into the ship to get at Tsubasa. In its effort to reach her, the monster accidentally cracks a mysterious container, the contents of which leak out onto the floor next to Tsubasa. Moments later, the liquid converges upon her and transforms her into what appears to be a young teenage equivalent of the form the man had possessed while fighting the monster. With the aid of this mysterious 'power-up', Tsubasa is able to defeat the monster, though doing so is somewhat accidental on her part. When the battle is over, instead of simply reverting to her usual form, Tsubasa finds that the strange substance has turned into a near-perfect copy of herself on separation. This new girl introduces herself, claiming the name Hikaru. The alien awakens, but does not transform into the appearance he had on Tsubasa's arrival at his ship. Together, all three return to Tsubasa's house and stay the night in her room. The next day the man introduces himself as D.D. -an alien- and explains that he was transporting the seeds of a monster called a Maguar, when suddenly one of the seeds hatched and attacked him, forcing him into a crash landing on Earth. Unfortunately, the Maguar that Tsubasa defeated was only 1 of 6 that he had been transporting, and D.D. explains that the other 5 have escaped the ship and are each scattered somewhere throughout Hokkaidō. He tells the girls that he needs them to help him destroy the remaining 5 Maguar since the atmosphere of the earth has enhanced both Hikaru- who is a form of combat suit known as a Figure- and the Maguar in a similar way, while he waits for reinforcements. To facilitate the problem of suddenly having a twin that no one knows about, D.D. decides to modify the memories of Tsubasa's father, making him believe that he had twin daughters all along, and that Hikaru was simply living elsewhere with an aunt. D.D. proceeds to monitor the Maguar from his ship, while Tsubasa and Hikaru live together at Tsubasa's house, go to school together at Tsubasa's school, fight together as Figure 17 against the Maguar, and essentially become siblings in a more emotional sense. Each episode consists of about 35–40 minutes of Tsubasa's & Hikaru's school life, and is typically concluded by about 5–10 minutes of Maguar fighting. The main point of this series is more about Tsubasa growing up and learning how to cope with life events- such as the loss of her mother and her familiar environment- than the alien-monster fighting which is present throughout each episode. The plot is driven as much by Tsubasa learning from Hikaru and her experiences with her new sister at school as it is by the presence of the Maguar, and there tends to be less cross-interference of mundane and fantastic life than is typical of 'magical girl' type anime. ===== Middle school student Roy A. Eberhardt (Logan Lerman) and his parents (Neil Flynn and Kiersten Warren) have just moved to Coconut Cove, Florida from Montana. Roy is mercilessly teased and bullied at his new school by Dana Matherson (Eric Phillips), until he accidentally breaks Matherson's nose while getting harassed on the school bus and is struggling to get free. As a result, Roy gets suspended from riding the school bus for three days and must write Dana an apology letter as a punishment. Roy slowly becomes friends with Beatrice "The Bear" Leep (Brie Larson), and her stepbrother "Mullet Fingers" (Cody Linley). Meanwhile, someone is responsible for sabotage on a local construction site where a "Mother Paula's Pancake House" restaurant, overseen by corrupt regional manager Chuck Muckle (Clark Gregg), is about to be built. In order to catch the trespassers and prevent further vandalism, Officer David Delinko (Luke Wilson) has parked his police cruiser on the building site. Delinko falls asleep and an unknown prankster vandalizes the car by spray painting its windows black. The next day at breakfast, Roy and his parents read about the spray painted police car. The police chief then gives Delinko a small police scooter to replace the vandalized cruiser. Soon, Roy learns that in order to build the pancake house, they must first destroy the burrowing owls living on site. Mullet Fingers has been covertly pulling pranks to stop construction (including the tagging of Delinko's car), but Beatrice must take Roy into their confidence when he is badly bitten by guard dogs. Roy joins their crusade to save the endangered owls. Leroy "Curly" Branitt (Tim Blake Nelson), the beleaguered construction foreman, is trying to keep the construction schedule going, despite the presence of the owls, due to daily abuse from Muckle over the phone, and later in person. In the end, the trio reveals to Delinko and the rest of the town that there are burrowing owls on the lot. They then manage to get everyone to be quiet long enough for the owls to emerge. As Muckle is fired from his job and arrested for his actions, Kimberly (Jessica Cauffiel), the actress who plays Mother Paula, offers Coconut Cove the site as an owl preserve in the interest of damage control. Ultimately Roy's parents decide to stay in Florida, Officer Delinko finally gets promoted to detective and gets an unmarked patrol car (until he accidentally backed it off a fishing pier), Dana is sent off to military school where he gets tortured by his drill sergeant, Muckle does community service for 90 days (But then gets sentenced to another 30 days by the judge due to lying down on the job after getting hit in the head with a coconut), the land becomes donated and turned into an animal sanctuary and the owls continue to live there, Curly and Kimberly leave Mother Paula's Pancake House to raise dogs, and Roy continues to be friends with Beatrice and Mullet Fingers. ===== Continuing where the last game ended, the forces of C.A.N.Y. have been demolished by the Strikers. However, a faction known as the F.G.R. now has the C.A.N.Y. technology and plans to initiate global warfare with massive mecha technology. Once again, the Strikers are called into action to save the world. ===== Taking place soon after Thunder Force, the ORN Empire creates a powerful new battleship, the Plealos (a.k.a. Preareos). Using this battleship, ORN once again attacks the Galaxy Federation. The outcome of the attacks result in the destruction of the Galaxy Federation affiliated planet of Reda, and heavy destruction on the planet Nepura (a.k.a. Nebula), which ORN eventually captures from the Galaxy Federation. Eventually, the Galaxy Federation learns that ORN houses Plealos deep below Nebula's surface when not in use and takes the opportunity to plan an operation to take it down. They send the next iteration of their Fire Leo series of fighter craft, the FIRE LEO-02 Exceliza, to destroy ORN bases on Nepura and eventually find and destroy Plealos. The player controls the Exceliza and travels through a variety of stages to accomplish this goal. The cover image for the Thunder Force II Sega/MD/G package by Illustrator Marc Ericksen describes the attack of the advanced FIRE LEO-02s on Nepura utilizing its forward and rear firing ordinance (above right). ===== Thunder Force III takes place about 100 years after Thunder Force and directly after Thunder Force II. Despite their successes, the Galaxy Federation has not been faring well in their battle against the ORN Empire. ORN has installed cloaking devices on five major planets in their space territory that conceal their main base, making it difficult for the Galaxy Federation to locate and attack their headquarters. Also, ORN has built a remote defense system to protect itself named Cerberus, which is especially efficient at neutralizing large ships and fleets. Knowing this, the Galaxy Federation creates the FIRE LEO-03 Styx; a craft small enough to avoid detection by Cerberus, yet equipped with the firepower of a large starfighter. The Galaxy Federation deploys Styx (which is controlled by the player) on a mission to destroy the five cloaking devices, infiltrate the Empire's headquarters, and destroy ORN emperor, the bio-computer "Cha Os". ===== The plot concerns the Welsh iron-making communities of Blaenavon and Nantyglo in the 19th century. The action is seen through the eyes of young Iestyn Mortymer who grows up in times of growing tensions between ironmasters and Trade Unionists. In 1826, when the book starts, Iestyn is eight years old and already beginning work at the Garndyrus furnaces near Blaenavon. His sister Morfydd has strong feelings about women and children working in mines and ironworks. She sympathises with the Chartist movement and condemns the action of the militant Scotch Cattle. In this she is in opposition to Hywel Mortymer, their conservative father who later begins to question his own loyalty to the ironmaster. ===== The story concerns the activities of the villainous Captain Trefor, and is set in the small town of Treflan, which appears in two earlier novels by the same author. ===== The story is set in the reign of King Charles II of England and follows the experiences of Quaker leader Rowland Ellis who founded a Welsh colony in Pennsylvania after being forced to leave Wales because of religious persecution. Rowland Ellis becomes a Quaker as a result of the influence of a neighbour, but his wife does not share his religious beliefs. Following her death, he marries a sympathetic cousin. He is betrayed to the authorities by a servant he has dismissed, who describes a "secret room" he claims to have seen in the house, containing objects of Catholic worship. However, this is not the main reason why the novel is named "The Secret Room", as it also refers to the secret room within one's heart where the inner light is found. Ellis and his fellow Quakers are imprisoned and illegally condemned to death, but are released following the direct intervention of the king. Nevertheless, they decide to leave Wales for a better life in America. ===== Two years after the attempted Helghast invasion of Vekta, an ISA fleet led by Colonel Jan Templar is sent to attack Pyrrhus, the capital city of Helghan, with the goal of deposing and arresting Emperor Scolar Visari on charges of war crimes. Among the ISA units taking part in the attack is Alpha Squad, led by Jan's old comrade Ricardo "Rico" Velasquez. Sergeant Tomas "Sev" Sevchenko, a veteran of the ISA "Legion" battalion, is assigned to serve as his second- in-command. Tasked with securing Pyrrhus against the fierce resistance of the Helghan Second Army, the team quickly discovers that the Helghast are well prepared for an invasion. Using Helghan's harsh environment to their advantage, they have developed new weapons and equipment, none of which the ISA has ever seen before. Furthermore, the planet's fog-like atmosphere, gritty deserts, and constant storms pose almost as much of a threat to the invaders as the enemy themselves. ===== Las Vegas magician and wannabe gangster Buddy "Aces" Israel is hiding out in a Lake Tahoe hotel with his entourage. His agent, Morris Mecklen, discusses a potential immunity deal with FBI Deputy Director Stanley Locke. Agents Richard Messner and Donald Carruthers learn that ailing mob boss Primo Sparazza has issued a bounty on Israel worth one million dollars, and involving a mysterious assassin known only as The Swede, stipulating that he will bring Sparazza Israel's heart. A number of assassins also seek the reward, including Lazlo Soot, who specializes in disguises and impersonations; Sharice Watters and Georgia Sykes, two hitwomen hired by Sparazza's underboss; Pasquale Acosta, a calm torture expert and mercenary; and the psychotic neo-Nazi Tremor brothers, Darwin, Jeeves, and Lester. Locke dispatches Messner and Carruthers to take Israel into custody when the deal is struck. Meanwhile, a team of bail bondsmen, Jack Dupree and his partners, "Pistol" Pete Deeks and Hollis Elmore have been hired by the firm that posted Israel's bail to bring him into custody. The bondsmen are attacked by the Tremors, and only Elmore escapes alive. Messner is dispatched to the murder scene while Carruthers proceeds to Israel. At the same time, each of the assassins gain access to the hotel in their own various ways. Carruthers encounters Acosta, disguised as a security officer, in an elevator at the hotel. Carruthers senses something is wrong and both are mortally wounded in a gunfight. Meanwhile, Soot gains access to the penthouse by posing as one of Israel's henchmen. Israel's second-in-command, Sir Ivy, learns that Israel agreed to inform upon Ivy as part of the plea deal and attempts to kill him, but Israel injures Ivy long enough for the hotel security team to restrain him. Georgia finds Carruthers and Acosta in the elevator, but assumes Acosta is Soot. In Los Angeles, Locke abruptly withdraws from the deal with Israel and orders that Messner and Carruthers are not told. The Tremor brothers reach the penthouse floor, where they engage in a shootout with the security team and Ivy, who manages to kill Jeeves and Lester. Israel, learning of the FBI's new position, attempts suicide. Messner arrives at the hotel and sets up a position around Georgia's elevator. Sharice provides cover from another hotel with a .50-caliber, M82 sniper rifle, outgunning the FBI agents. Acosta, still alive, shoots Georgia, but is shot by Carruthers. Sharice, thinking Georgia is dead, refuses to escape and keeps shooting at the FBI team. Georgia escapes to the penthouse, where she stops Darwin Tremor before he can kill Ivy. Tremor escapes, and Messner, distraught over the death of Carruthers, stops Ivy and Georgia on the stairwell, but lets them escape. Sharice, after seeing the pair alive and free through her rifle scope, is gunned down by the FBI. Locke and a team of FBI agents descend on the penthouse and take Israel to the hospital, while Soot escapes by tearing off his disguise and dressing as a member of hotel security. Acosta, carted away on a gurney, is also shown to be alive. Darwin Tremor tries to escape, but is gunned down by Hollis Elmore. Messner arrives at the hospital and learns the truth about the day's events from Locke. It transpires that the mysterious Swede is a prominent heart surgeon and that Soot was hired by Sparazza to get Israel's heart so it could be transplanted into Sparazza's body. Sparazza is further revealed to be Freeman Heller, an FBI agent who went undercover and was thought to have been killed by the mob. But, in actuality, the FBI had attempted to kill Heller, after they thought his assignment had blurred the lines between being a mobster or an FBI agent. Heller survived, however, and ended up taking on the role as Sparazza full-time. The mobster has agreed to expose the mob's operations in exchange for Israel's heart as he is Sparazza's illegitimate son, thus, the most compatible donor. Messner, furious over the unnecessary deaths, especially Carruthers', protests and is ordered by Locke to leave the hospital and go home to Washington, D.C., as he is no longer on the case. Realizing that the FBI will never admit what they did, he walks into the emergency room, locks the door and pulls the plug on both Israel and Sparazza, killing them both. He then lays his gun and badge on the floor, apparently resigning from the FBI, while Locke and his men desperately try to break in. ===== Chander Prakash (Rishi Kapoor), who lives in Srinagar, is about to get engaged to Chandni (Ashwini Bhave) (whom he calls Chand) On the day of his engagement, he meets with an accident and mistakenly strays into the Pakistani side of Kashmir. A native girl, Henna (Zeba Bakhtiar), falls in love with him, amidst the controversial Indian-Pakistani tension on Kashmir, which leads him to be suspected by the Pakistani police of being an Indian spy. Beautiful Henna Khan lives the life of a gypsy near the river Jhelum, in Pakistan with her widowed dad, Khan Baba and three brothers, Ashraf, Razzak, and Zaman. One day she comes across an unconscious man who has been washed ashore. Khan Baba, Bibi Gul, and Henna take this male in, nurse him back to health, only to find out that he has lost his memory. The man, in his sleep, cries out the name of "Chand", and everyone starts calling him by that name. Soon he is well enough to walk around and starts working for Bibi and helping her make clay pots. Henna falls in love with him and would like to marry him, much to the chagrin of Daroga Shahbaaz Khan (Raza Murad), who has already been married twice, but according to Shariat law, he can marry twice more. Khan Baba arranges the marriage of Henna and Chand and a day is set for the marriage. On the day of marriage, Chand regains his memory. The trio finds out that Chand is neither a Muslim nor from Pakistan. He is from India and strayed over to Pakistan during a car accident. The tribe decides to create a safe passage for Chand to get back home. The first attempt is foiled due to one of the brothers colluding with Shahbaaz Khan. The second attempt succeeds, but Henna is killed in the climax. The film ends with Chander asking why war happens. ===== Anthony Zimmer is a genius career criminal wanted by police around the world. He has used ingenious methods to launder money legally, using dummy corporations that file lawsuits against firms outside France. Zimmer is also being pursued by the "White Collar Barons"—a powerful Russian mafia with whom he once did business. Zimmer is an elusive character, however, with no known description of his appearance following his recent plastic surgery. One standout detective named Akerman is getting close to catching the criminal mastermind; he knows that Zimmer will risk everything to reunite with the lover he left behind, Chiara Manzoni, who has not seen him since his plastic surgery. Anticipating a reunion with Zimmer, Chiara arrives at a restaurant, where she receives a message from her boyfriend, telling her to "pick up" a stranger whose general appearance matches his own in order to mislead his pursuers. Chiara boards a TGV high-speed train and chooses François Taillandier, a bland 38-year-old translator who reads detective novels and whose wife left him over six months ago. Fascinated by this beautiful mysterious woman, François has difficulty concentrating on his yogurt and reading. When they arrive at Cannes, Chiara invites François to stay over with her at the Carlton Hotel. She also gives him a watch that bears Zimmer's name on the back. The next morning, François wakes up alone and finds himself the target of two hitmen. He frantically escapes and seeks shelter at a nearby police station. There, he befriends Lt. Camel Driss, who provides him with clothes and a room at a nearby hospital. They discover that Chiara checked out of the Carlton Hotel that day. Driss believes François' story after seeing a bullet hole in the hotel room, which is now occupied by members of the White Collar Barons and their leader, Nassaiev. Later that night, Driss is murdered. When he sees Nassaiev and his goons outside his room, François escapes and unexpectedly reunites with Chiara, who takes him to a secret hideout in Nice. There, she explains that she set him up because he matches Zimmer's build, and she tells him to stay in the hideout for a few days. The next day, however, François leaves the hideout and stalks her outside the Hotel Negresco, hoping to get more answers from her. Soon François is nabbed by the police and interrogated by Akerman, who reveals to him that Chiara is in fact an undercover DGDDI agent. That night, Akerman secretly meets up with Chiara to discuss the rendezvous Zimmer proposed in a classified ad. Akerman tells her that while she will be at the rendezvous point, he will keep an eye on François. With François in custody, Akerman and his men park their surveillance truck and post their snipers within the vicinity of the rendezvous point: Zimmer's old mansion. Chiara enters the mansion and confronts the White Collar Barons and Nassaiev, who threatens to kill her if Zimmer does not arrive within five minutes. François leaves the truck and rushes into the mansion to save her, but is immediately placed on the ground at gunpoint by Nassaiev's men. After Nassaiev rejects her claims that François is not Zimmer, Chiara gives the signal and the snipers shoot down the Russian mobsters. As the police remove the Russian bodies from the scene, François reveals to Chiara that he is, in fact, Anthony Zimmer. She tells him to flee, but Zimmer refuses, even though he knows Chiara is an agent. He opens a secret safe and takes out a notebook filled with his banking information, and leaves it by the front door for Akerman—his way of giving up his life of crime for the woman he loves. Knowing what he's given up for her, Chiara decides not to reveal his true identity to the police, and the two drive away together. ===== Angel Sullivan is an outcast, unable to find any true acceptance anywhere - not at school and certainly not at home, where she's at the mercy of her alcoholic father's anger. When her aunt calls and the family moves to Roundtree, Massachusetts, everyone is hopeful that they'll be able to make a fresh start. Shortly after arriving Angel meets Seth, who is in a similar situation as he is also bullied by his schoolmates and has to put up with an abusive father. The two find solace in one another and it's through Seth that Angel discovers that her new home has a dark and sinister supernatural past that threatens to put an end to Angel and her family. ===== Major Ben McBride (Patrick Wayne) organises a mission to the Antarctic wastes to search for his friend Bowen Tyler (Doug McClure) who has been missing in the region for several years. A British naval survey ship takes them to Caprona. McBride's party: the paleontologist Norfolk (Thorley Walters), gunner and mechanic Hogan (Shane Rimmer) and photographer Lady Charlotte 'Charlie' Cunningham (Sarah Douglas) fly over the mountain wall of Caprona in an amphibious aircraft, but are attacked by a fierce giant pterodactylus and forced down. They find themselves in a world populated by primitive warriors and terrific and dreadful prehistoric creatures, all of whom they must evade in order to get back safely to their ship. They meet a cave-girl, Ajor (Dana Gillespie), who can speak English (she was taught by Tyler); she leads them to the land of a race of samurai-like warriors called the Nargas, who are keeping Tyler prisoner. When the volcano that the Nargas worship erupts, they must escape the cataclysm engulfing the land. Tyler sacrifices himself to cover their retreat. ===== Dr. Abner Perry (Peter Cushing), a British Victorian scientist, and his US financier David Innes (Doug McClure) make a test run of their Iron Mole drilling machine in a Welsh mountain, but end up in a strange underground labyrinth ruled by a species of giant telepathic flying reptiles, the Mahars, and full of prehistoric beasts and cavemen. They are captured by the Mahars, who keep primitive humans as their slaves through mind control. David falls for the beautiful slave girl Princess Dia (Caroline Munro) but when she is chosen as a sacrificial victim in the Mahar city, David and Perry must rally the surviving human slaves to rebel and not only save her but also win their freedom. ===== The film features interviews with gender dysphoria pundit and caregiver Dr. Leo Wollman as well as various transgender people, including transgender rights activist Deborah Hartin. Between the interviews, there are staged dramatizations of the interviewees' experiences. =====