From Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License

=====

Lewis Barnavelt, recently an orphan, moves to the town of New Zebedee, Michigan, to live with his mysterious uncle Jonathan Barnavelt. Lewis' uncle turns out to be a mediocre, though well-intentioned, warlock. His next-door neighbor and good friend, Florence Zimmermann, is a far more powerful good witch. Jonathan's house was previously owned by Isaac and Selenna Izard, a sinister couple who had dedicated their lives to black magic, and plotted to bring about the end of the world. Before dying, Isaac constructed the eponymous clock that he hid somewhere inside the walls of the house, where it eternally ticks as it attempts to pull the world into the magical alignment, which would permit him to destroy it. Lewis befriends a local boy named Tarby Corrigan, who is everything he is not -- popular, athletic, thin -- but the two soon begin to drift apart. Lewis tries to win Tarby back by demonstrating how to raise the dead in the local cemetery on Halloween but in doing so unwittingly releases Selena Izard from her tomb. An escalating series of encounters with the sorceress' ghost builds to a final confrontation in the basement of Jonathan's house, where Lewis must summon up his courage and prevent the couple from finishing their work and bringing about the end time. 

=====

When Lupin attempts to steal a gem, he is interrupted by Pycal, a magician who was considered to have died after facing off with Lupin in the past 31 years (chapter 7: "Magician" of the original manga and episode 2: "The Man They Called a Magician" of the first anime series). Pycal, once a trickster, now seems armed with real magical abilities, and seems determined to get his revenge on Lupin. 

=====

Inukami! revolves around Keita Kawahira, a descendant of an Inukami-tamer clan and considered a failure by the clan due to his attitude towards his duty and being unable to find an Inukami to bond with. Inukami, literally "dog god", are benevolent creatures that possess spiritual powers. They are a type of demon with the appearance of a dog who can transform into a human form. Along with a partner from the historic Inukami-tamer clan, they act to obliterate evil and proliferate righteousness. Keita is initially unable to find an Inukami to bond with, but eventually finds a beautiful Inukami named Yoko that decided to become his Inukami, causing Keita to become overjoyed. However, his joy is short-lived when he discovers that she is a very problematic and uncontrollable Inukami. At first Yoko is shown to be selfish and just thinks of herself, to help with this problem Keita's cousin Kaoru sends one of his Inukamis, Nadeshiko, over to help. Keita becomes attracted to Nadeshiko. However, Yoko is thrown into a jealous rage, this is subdued when Keita's grandma's Inukami Hake calms Yoko down stating that Nadeshiko's visit was short and was only here to help Yoko. After Nadeshiko leaves, Yoko grows even closer to Keita although she is annoyed by Keita's flirting with the rest of Kaoru's inukamis when they go to visit. Things later get heated up when Keita fights a shinigami in order to save the last heir of a wealthy family from death. Yoko ends up beating the shinigami. However, Keita sees what appears to be a large fox where Yoko was fighting, but in the end he blacked out. Towards the end everyone is getting ready to celebrate Keita's grandma's birthday, a special guest who is a giant frog appears looking for Keita, Yoko mistakes him for a perverted frog but learns that the frog's name is Hakusan Meikun. Hakusan, a fallen wizard tells Yoko how he was chosen by Keita and thus became free from a sentence he was serving after making a contract with Keita, in return Hakusan gave him magic abilities. After hearing the story, Yoko becomes jealous and worried that she might get replaced something that is noticed by Nadeshiko. Yoko has a secret hidden and feels guilt, to help with this Nadeshiko suggests confessing to her like she would to Keita with her eyes closed, Yoko agrees and as she is confessing; Nadeshiko slips away and is replaced by Keita who overheard Yoko talking to her. Stunned by seeing Keita by her side which Yoko apologizes to Keita that she did not tell him sooner, something Keita does not care about. Keita states he likes Yoko for Yoko, reminds that he chose her and asks to stay by her side. Overjoyed by what Yoko heard, but takes the confession of love to her, she also confesses that she scared away the other Inukamis who were in fact interested in him when he was looking for one in order to have him all to herself and confesses her love to Keita. 

=====

In January 1999, Lupin the Third and Daisuke Jigen steal a diamond and hide it in a doll. Though Inspector Zenigata attempts to catch the two, he fails and they escape on an airplane. While on the plane, a little girl named Julia steals Lupin's doll. Lupin chases her and she leads him to Fujiko Mine, who is chaperoning her. Lupin tries to bargain with Fujiko in an effort to get the doll back, but their conversation is interrupted when the plane is hijacked. The hijackers land the plane at a nearby airport and request transportation and a million dollar ransom in exchange for the women and children, as well as the Brazil National Football Team who also boarded the plane. While Fujiko and Julia are allowed to get off the plane, Lupin and Jigen must stay on with the hijackers. Meanwhile, a man named Chris watches the commotion from a distance and activates the bomb the hijackers have using his watch. When the bomb starts counting down, the hijackers become startled and Lupin, Jigen, and the rest of the passengers use this opportunity to fight back and escape from the plane. During the commotion, Zenigata arrives and makes another attempt to arrest Lupin and Jigen, but he becomes sidetracked when he tries to disarm the bomb. As Lupin and Jigen escape, Julia (still holding the doll) is kidnapped by Chris and his henchmen via helicopter. Fujiko then explains to Lupin and Jigen that Julia is the daughter of Douglas, who is campaigning to become President of the United States in the forecoming election, and is worth $50 million. Meanwhile, a man named Rhisley, the head of a cult known as the Nostradamus Sect, speaks to a crowd of followers. He claims to have a book filled with the lost prophecies of Nostradamus and recites one of the verses which predicted the plane's hijacking. In actuality, his book is a fake. The real one is in the safe on the top floor of the Earth Building, which belongs to Douglas. Fujiko reveals that she took the job of looking after Julia in order to break into the safe and steal the lost prophecies of Nostradamus. The three travel to the Earth Building and Fujiko meets with Douglas and his wife, Mary, to tell them that Julia has been kidnapped while Lupin and Jigen try to break into the vault. During all of this, Chris makes an appearance on TV and demands that Douglas drop out of the presidential race in exchange for Julia. Douglas refuses, saying that the kidnapping will lead to sympathy for his campaign. Meanwhile, Lupin and Jigen fail to open the vault and Fujiko is kidnapped by Chris. While driving through the city searching for Fujiko, Lupin and Jigen come across Goemon Ishikawa XIII and convince him to join them. Goemon agrees because he is also searching for the lost prophecies. Lupin then makes a plan to get himself arrested and sent to Execution Island, a prison where Lupin's Uncle Philip is kept in. He does this because Philip was the only person who managed to get inside the vault. During Lupin's stay, Chris and the Nostradamus Sect take Uncle Philip and use a machine to get inside his brain and extract the information on how to get into the vault. However, during the process, Philip dies. Lupin takes Philips body and discovers that one of his eyes is fake. He takes it out and keeps it as something to remember him by. After the mishap, Jigen and Goemon arrive in a helicopter and try to help Lupin escape, but Lupin is shot in the arm by Chris and falls into the ocean. The next day, Lupin wakes up on an island and is being nursed back to health by a boy named Sergio and his grandmother. While on the island, he discovers that Fujiko is there as well, but Sergio's grandmother says that she's really a handmaiden of the Nostradamus Sect named Tanya. Lupin follows Fujiko to a cathedral where the sect is located. When he sneaks in, he finds out that Julia is being kept prisoner there and Fujiko has lost her memory. Before he can find out anything else, Lupin is discovered by the sect and they throw them in a cell. Meanwhile, Jigen and Goemon believe that Lupin is dead and stake out a black market weapons shop, waiting for Chris. He shows up with some henchmen and they partake in a short battle. Jigen attempts to kill Chris, but he gets away. After the fight, Lupin contacts Jigen with a device hidden in his tooth. He informs Jigen that the Nostradamus Sect is connected to the kidnapping and that he is being held prisoner by them. While this is taking place, Julia cuts off a wrist band that Fujiko is wearing and her memories return. Chris then meets with Rhisley as their plan is revealed. As more people join the Nostradamus Sect, and their lies become the only truths, they plan to gain enough power to have the entire world bow down to them. Rhisley tells Chris that since Douglas won't back down, that Julia isn't of any use to them anymore. An attempt on Julia's life is made, but Lupin, Fujiko, and Sergio help her escape. As the sect closes in on them, Jigen and Goemon arrive and get them all out of there via helicopter, but Julia is kidnapped once again. They make their way back to the States and try to come up with a plan to get into the vault. Lupin then recalls the fake eye he got from Uncle Philip and thinks that since the security system only recognizes the eyes of Douglas' immediate family, Philip must have used the eye to get into the vault. Meanwhile, the Brazilian Soccer Team is staying in the Earth Building when Chris uses his watch to activate the same wrist bands they're wearing that Fujiko had on earlier. The bands hypnotize them and they place several bombs throughout the building. Goemon discovers what's going on and informs the others about it. The next day, Rhisley speaks to a crowd of people in front of the Earth Building and informs them that one of the verses states that the skyscraper will explode, leading to the many people inside to evacuate. During the commotion, Lupin, Jigen, Fujiko, and Goemon make another attempt to break into the vault. However, Chris goes against Rhisley's plan and enter the building to steal the lost prophecies of Nostradamus for himself. Rhisley chases him with a helicopter to stop him. Chris gets to the vault first and uses Julia to get inside, but the inside of the vault has a defense mechanism which creates the illusion that Chris is falling into an endless abyss. When Lupin and Jigen arrive, Julia gives them the prophecies of Nostradamus, but Rhisley meets them and threatens to kill them if they don't give him the prophecies. While Chris is still affected by the vault's illusion, he panics and activates the bombs with his watch. The building is severely damaged, but is still able to stand. Jigen, Goemon, and Fujiko are separated from Lupin and Julia, but Douglas gets parachutes to all of them and they plan to meet up at the bottom. However, the vault's illusion is disrupted and Chris comes to his senses and attacks Lupin and Julia. As the Earth Building continues to break apart, the vault collapses onto Chris, killing him. Lupin and Julia make their escape and Rhisley falls to his death. When the disaster is over, Julia is reunited with her family. As Lupin and the others make plans to sell the book of lost prophecies, Goemon discovers that Julia had doodled on several of the pages in the past, so no one would ever buy it. Realizing, that it's now useless, they destroy the book, but Julia returns the diamond to Lupin and they all watch as the Earth Building collapses. 

=====

In a village in Southern Kerala bordering Tamil Nadu lives a wealthy man named Raja Rathnam Pillai (Saikumar). Following the demise of his first wife, he marries Muthu Lakshmi Ammal so that the child from his marriage will not grow up without the love and care of a mother. Unknown to him, Muthu Lakshmi already has a son, who she called muthu. On the night of the wedding, Muthu knocks at the door of Raja Rathnam Pillai, demanding that he be shown his mother. Once Raja Rathnam comes to know the truth, he takes Muthu into his care, giving him love, affection and a new name, "Rajamanikyam". Muthu returns the favour duly, as when Raja Rathnam's son ends up killing one of the children of the village, he takes the blame and leaves the village. Several years later, Raja Rathnam's two grown-up children, Rajaselvam (Manoj K. Jayan) and Rani Rathnam (Sindhu Menon), start fighting for their father's wealth. Rajaselvam, aided by his childhood buddy Simon Nadar (Ranjith) also notches up a plot to frame his own father in a murder case. As a result, Raja Rathnam is arrested, but dies of a heart attack while being taken to prison. After his death the two siblings call the family lawyer to read out Raja Rathnam's will in public. But to their surprise, they find that control of all the assets of their father have been given to a cattle dealer in Bellary, known by the name of Bellary Raja (Mammootty), a billionaire. They fail to recognize that Bellary Raja is none other than Rajamanikyam. How Rajamanikyam returns to his home town to unite the warring siblings forms the rest of the story. During the course of the movie, Rajaselvam and Rani Rathnam tries to thwart Bellary Raja in order to regain control of their father's wealth. But Bellary Raja never falls for any of their attempts and he uses his secretary, educated Raju(Rahman) to stabilize the assets of his stepfather and prevents it from getting into the hands of his siblings, thereby preserving it. Raja effectively uses the help of his thug friends to restore order in the establishment. Simon and Rajaselvam send a goon to kill Bellary from his blind side. However Bellary thwart the attempt, causing him minor wound., Rajaselvam and Simon Nadar get into an argument. Simon Nadar, who wants to harm Rajaselvam, betrays him and he is held by one of his old trade partner, who demands a lot of money for the release of Rajaselvam. Rani, unknown to this, blame Rajamanikyam in order deny them their control on their father's wealth. Rajamanikyam comes to his rescue, pays the required amount of money to release Rajaselvam. He emotionally reveals that he is none other than Rajaselvam's stepbrother and Rani's elder brother. Feeling regret to fulfill his father's wish to unite their family, He leave and prepare to go back. At night Rajaselvam, being drunk came to Bellary and apologize to him where both of them settle their old enmities. He ask Bellary not to leave them and reveal the truth behind their father's death. Towards the end of the movie, Rajaselvam and Simon Nadar get into an argument which turns into a fight. Selvam, beaten badly by Simon and his goons was about to be killed. However Bellary and his men came to rescue and fight off Simon. At the Climax, Bellari releases a bull towards Simon for killing his father and trying to destroy his family and kills him. He reunited with Rajaselvam and takes him home. The movie ends when Rajamanikyam, who is half- blind, says, "Now I have both eyes", signifying Raju (whom he considers a brother) and Rajaselvam. 

=====

In the summer of 1953, Canadian bush pilot Charlie Halliday, a brash, former Second World War bomber pilot based in Yellowknife, is flying a routine job in the Queen Maud Gulf on the Arctic Ocean when he encounters a small band of Inuit people who plead for his help. They are traveling with a sick young woman, Kanaalaq, and they ask Charlie to fly her to a hospital. Charlie suspects she has tuberculosis. At first he refuses, but when they offer him two valuable walrus tusks for his help, he reluctantly agrees to take her to Yellowknife. During the flight, his Noorduyn Norseman aircraft develops engine trouble, and they crash land near the shore of a glacial lake. Charlie and Kanaalaq are unharmed, but the aircraft is disabled. They are in the middle of a vast tundra in the Northwest Territories, the radio is broken, and they have a meager amount of supplies. To make matters worse, he is hundreds of miles from the route he submitted in his original flight plan, so any rescue operation would not know where to look. Charlie is overwhelmed with a sense of doom, and he sees his Inuit companion as an unwelcome burden. Charlie estimates they are about 100 miles from the closest town. Believing their chances of survival are slim if they both wait with the aircraft, Charlie leaves Kanaalaq behind to look for help on his own. He soon learns, however, that he is unprepared for the challenges presented by this harsh and unforgiving land. One morning he awakens surrounded by a storm of mosquitoes, which cause him to flee shoeless across the jagged rocks before collapsing unconscious. Kanaalaq appears above him and begins treating his wounds and bites with mud and moss. He awakes later, and is startled to find her. She feeds him and continues to care for him. Gradually, Charlie regains his strength and is healed through Kanaalaq's patient care. Charlie comes to appreciate this young woman's gifts, and together they learn to communicate with each other. After hearing the sound of a distant aircraft, Charlie realizes they never should have abandoned the crash site. He decides they should return to their aircraft, which he believes has surely been discovered by now. They set out together, but this time he is much better equipped with the watertight boots that Kanaalaq made for him. Along the way, the ailing young Inuit woman teaches the hot-tempered pilot the way to live in the tundra, and the two form a bond of respect and friendship. When they discover the ruins of another aircraft crash, Kanaalaq shows Charlie how to prepare a corpse for the afterlife in a stone burial cairn with the person's tools placed inside. She tells him that when a person is called to the afterlife, where there is much wildlife for hunting, they need the appropriate tools. When Charlie and Kanaalaq arrive back at the crash site, they discover no sign of rescuers, and Charlie becomes deeply depressed, convinced they will not survive the oncoming winter. Kanaalaq, however, understands how to survive in this harsh land, and she prepares a caribou hunt. She places inuksuit — multiple stone structures used by the Inuit to guide caribou into areas where hunters can easily harvest them. She is able to elicit Charlie's help, and together they kill three caribou, which will provide sufficient food and pelts for the winter. One night, Kanaalaq reveals how her father died in a snowstorm, and how her mother wandered off to die so that her children would have enough food to live. After Kanaalaq uses the pelts to create suitable winter clothing for Charlie, Charlie and Kanaalaq set out together across the tundra hoping to reach an Inuit camp or village to the north. In the coming days, Kanaalaq's condition worsens, and Charlie is forced to carry her on a sleigh he built using the valuable walrus tusks. One morning, Charlie discovers that Kanaalaq too has wandered off so that he might live. He follows her tracks in the snow, which lead to a white owl. He builds a stone burial cairn for Kanaalaq, placing her hunting and fishing tools, and the valuable walrus tusks inside for the afterlife. In a snowstorm, Charlie approaches a small Inuit village, where he is welcomed. 

=====

Ajay (Nagarjuna) is an unemployed youth who always gets into trouble because of his temper. He gets heated up when he encounters anyone committing a crime; he takes the law into his own hands, beats them up and then gives them some free advice. Ajay’s father Padmanabhan (S. P. Balasubrahmanyam), who works for an insurance firm, is very unhappy with his son’s attitude, and tries his best to change his attitude through a meditation expert, but fails in this matter as the expert suggests that Ajay's anguish is reasonable. Ajay meets Sonia (Sushmita Sen) through his father, and she falls in love with him. What Sonia likes about Ajay is his temper and anger when he encounters anything, which is against the law. Sonia gets Padmanabhan's help to get Ajay to love her. Still, Ajay is not interested in her and seriously rejects her at first; but he later changes his mind after going through some unusual situations, and love blossoms between them. Sonia’s father Sriram (Girish Karnad) is an industrialist who owns the Daewoo automotive manufacturing facility. He has no objection to his daughter’s relationship with Ajay, but has one condition: Ajay must become employed in his factory, control his temper for three months, and not get into any fight whatsoever, even if he encounters a crime happening in front of his eyes. If Ajay cannot do this, he will not be allowed to marry Sonia. With a heavy heart, Ajay agrees to the condition; Sonia's love for Ajay deepens and Sriram offers Ajay a job in his factory. Sriram actually has his own problems with his factory in a loss; ten of his workers are working with his rival and younger stepbrother Gnaneswar (Raghuvaran), and they hamper the progress of his factory with frequent, pre-planned mishaps. This leads to the factory's property loss. Gnaneswar is the son of Sriram's stepmother, who gets deceived by Sriram and loses his share of his father's common business empire. Further, in unusual circumstances, Gnaneswar spends some years in jail and returns with a planned conspiracy and vengeance on his stepbrother Sriram. Gnaneswar is now trying to put Sriram out of business, so his ten men create havoc in the factory by killing old workers and raging new workers. So when Ajay comes to work in Sriram’s factory, these ten men do the same to Ajay. Ajay keeps cool, trying to keep his promise to Sriram. But Sriram hopes otherwise; he wants Ajay to break the promise and beat up the ten men and throw them out of the factory. At the same time, Sriram hopes the imminent marriage between Ajay and Sonia will be canceled, since he does not want his daughter to marry an angry street0fighter like Ajay. So Sriram keeps hoping Ajay will somehow burst out. Gnaneswar's men damage an important machine to make the international Korean experts attend the problem. The plan is to kill those Korean experts so that it would become an international issue and Sriram's company would be locked out permanently, but Ajay saves those experts, and Sriram publicizes this to create a fight between Gnaneswar's men and Ajay, but it happens otherwise that Ajay still keeps cool in spite of them beating him black and blue, and Sriram's hopes are devastated. As a last trigger, Sriram uses his father's name in publicizing the issue in factory to media so that Gnaneswar's men may think that it was Ajay's father who brought this to the media. As expected by Sriram, those ten men brutally murder Ajay's father for this. After this, Ajay becomes furious and breaks his promise and banishes the ten men from the factory. But Gnaneswar holds Ajay and blackmails Sonia that he would kill Ajay unless Sonia kills herself by destroying Sriram's factory by bombarding it with a truck armed with a powerful Russian explosive. In the climax, Gnaneswar kills Sriram by throwing him off the helicopter; Gnaneswar gets killed when his helicopter hits the mountains; and Sonia gets saved and unites with Ajay. 

=====

Common themes in the book include the untimely death of children, the effect of the two World Wars on the family, the ultimate fate of characters who "disappeared" from their family's lives never to be heard of again, and how the women of the family feel compelled to enter into unhappy marriages. The fate of Ruby's family is revealed gradually. A number of revelations, such as the fact that Ruby's sister Gillian dies in a road accident aged 11, are revealed to the reader long before they occur. However, other revelations relating to the fate of various characters are withheld and revealed gradually throughout the novel, including: *The fact that Ruby had a twin sister, Pearl, who drowned shortly before their fourth birthday, for which Ruby was falsely blamed (Gillian lied to shift the blame from herself). Ruby has lost all memory of Pearl, and it is not until she is given hypnotherapy at the age of 18 that she remembers Pearl at all. We are given subtle hints of Pearl's existence earlier in the novel (e.g. the doctor looking surprised when Ruby was born as if he wasn't expecting it, the midwife inexplicably saying "Snap," Ruby's mother seeming to possess twice as many pictures of Ruby as of her other children), but because everything is told from Ruby's point of view, their significance is not made narratively explicit. *That Ruby's great-grandmother Alice, who was believed to have died giving birth to Ruby's grandmother Nell, actually ran away with a travelling French photographer in an effort to escape her unhappy life. She spent her final years back in York, vainly searching for her children. *The whereabouts of characters who "disappeared" from family life is not explained until nearer the end of the book: these include Nell's brother Lawrence, her sister Lillian, and Ruby's sister Patricia. *The interconnections between Ruby's family, and Doreen O'Doherty, the Irish nurse. When Doreen is first mentioned, she is introduced as the person with whom Ruby's father George is having an affair. In a later flashback, we discover that Doreen had become pregnant by Edmund, Bunty's Canadian cousin (son of Nell's sister Lillian), who was in the UK on a tour of duty with the Royal Air Force during the Second World War In the final chapter, clues allow us to surmise that the nurse who is present at Bunty's 1992 death is the daughter of Doreen and Edmund, whom Doreen gave up for adoption. *The father of Edmund, whom the unmarried Lillian had steadfastly refused to name, is revealed on the final page of the footnote ahead of Chapter 11. 

=====

The Goodies open a restaurant called "Knutters Knoll Knite Spot", on the top of Knutters Knoll. To help with the housework, including washing up, Graeme has built a robot he calls EB-GB (Electronic Brain of Great Britain). Graeme asks: "EB-GB, how do you speak to aliens?" to which EB-GB replies in a Dalek voice: "Exterminate!" Away from the restaurant, Bill is watching when musicians suddenly and unexpectedly disappear during performances. Graeme tries to determine a common link between the series of recent disappearances, even writing up all the information that he has about the missing persons on the blackboard. Graeme has no idea what could be the common link, and it takes Bill to point out that all the missing persons are trombone players. In contemplation of this fact, Bill plays the trombone in the park to see if he can find the answer to the riddle and also get taken, but nothing happens to him. Bill rushes back to the restaurant when he sees a weird noisy light approaching, but the weird light turns out to be Graeme who is out doing some UFO spotting with an electronic gadget box. Graeme explains his UFO spotter gadget box to Tim, and they do not notice when Bill and his trombone are kidnapped -- Bill is later sent back with a mangled trombone and the word "REJECT" stamped on his forehead. Later, Graeme becomes aware that there is a moving blip on the television screen, which seems to be attuned to his every thought. Graeme sets about devising an ingenious plot, which includes some "Supermen" and a "Supernun", to get rid of the rapidly approaching spacecraft before it can reach Earth. Later, when things are beginning to improve, Graeme's device comes back to haunt him -- and everyone else. Graeme comments: "That was a five megaton Nun, son ...... I didn't know the Nun was loaded. Boom! Boom!" 

=====

After receiving honourable discharges from the British Army in Palestine in 1918, Professor Holly (Peter Cushing), young Leo Vincey (John Richardson) and their orderly Job (Bernard Cribbins) embark on an expedition into a previously unexplored region of north-east Africa. They discover the lost city of Kuma after Leo receives a mysterious map revealing the city's whereabouts. This lost realm is ruled by Ayesha (Ursula Andress), who is also known as "She-Who-Waits" and "She-Who- Must-Be-Obeyed." Ayesha is an immortal queen and high priestess who believes Leo is the reincarnation of her former lover, the priest Kallikrates (whom she killed when she found him in an intimate embrace with another woman about two thousand years before). Ayesha tries to convince Leo to walk into a ceremonial fire after it has turned blue, which happens once certain astronomical events coincide. These conditions are met for only a short period and only occur rarely. By entering the fire, Leo himself will become immortal. As this is happening, Ayesha's army is attacked by her enslaved tribesmen, the Amahagger. Although Ayesha had oppressed the Amahagger for 2,000 years, the uprising was triggered by the queen's executing Ustane (Rosenda Monteros), an Amahagger woman who had developed a relationship with Leo, in a fit of jealousy. Ustane's father, Haumeid (André Morell), who like his daughter had befriended Leo, Holly and Job, is outraged at his daughter's execution and incites the Amahagger into the uprising. Ayesha's army is overwhelmed during the fierce battle against the poorly equipped yet numerous Amahagger. Whilst the uprising is taking place, Leo battles Billali (Christopher Lee), Ayesha's fanatical priest, who wants immortality for himself, believing it is his due after his years of selfless service. After dueling with Leo and finally gaining the upper hand, Billali, giving Leo up for dead, attempts to enter the blue flames himself and become immortal but is killed by Ayesha before he can enter the fire. Ayesha takes Leo's hand and leads him into the fire. Upon entering, Leo becomes immortal, but Ayesha's second exposure to the fire destroys her immortality and she dies almost instantly as the centuries catch up with her and she ages millennia in a few seconds. The film ends with a despondent Leo stating that he doesn't care when the fire will next burn blue but it will find him waiting for it. 

=====



=====

Agnieszka, is a young filmmaker who is making her film thesis on Mateusz Birkut, a bricklayer elevated as a hero in a stunt to increase construction efficiency and brick quotas. However, he has since had a fall from grace of the Party and other officials. His current whereabouts seem to have been lost two decades later, and she attempts to piece together the details of his downfall. Agnieszka has difficulty making the film from archival sources and museum collections, but little work remains outside of official propaganda. Then Agnieszka goes to successful director Jerzy Burski, who recounts the details from the making of his unfinished film, Building Our Happiness. The truth behind the propaganda film comes to light, revealing how Birkut was selected as an example for demonstrating the progress and efficiency of a new industrial city Nowa Huta. Selected by Jodla, the local Party Secretary, Birkut's fame spread from the bricklaying record of 30,000 bricks in one shift launched him to stardom. Burski does not divulge much about Birkut following his initial rise, but puts her in touch with a man who knew Birkut personally. Agnieszka then goes to Michalak, an agent of an unnamed state organization who tailed Birkut during his fame. He acted a dual role of security and keeping tabs on Birkut's activities. From him is learned the details of Birkut's accident which stopped him from continuing his bricklaying feats. A burning hot brick was mixed in with the rest, burning Birkut's hands badly. Michalak then sheds light on Birkut's activities after being placed in the inspectorate. A seemingly true believer, Birkut was beloved by the working people and fought for their betterment. Stalled by a lazy and selfish bureaucracy, Birkut loses heart and increasingly butts heads with powerful politicians and officials. At the same time as his own health was failing, Birkut's friend from the bricklaying feats Wincenty Witek is arrested by the state and Birkut fights for his release. Losing hope, Birkut falls into despair and drunkenly attacks a local party building, breaking a window. Next Agnieszka watches archive newsreels from the trial of Birkut's friend Witek and others in what was known as the trial of the “Skocznia Gang” who sought to reduce worker efficiency and sabotaging construction sites. Witek and Birkut both seem to have been sentenced to prison terms and reeducation. After the trial and release from reeducation, Witek has successfully turned his career around and is now an important official in Katowice. He recounts Birkut's return from prison, in which Witek has accepted the party line and tries to encourage Birkut to do the same. Throughout Agnieszka's interview with him, he dodges questions and continuously praises the advances being made at Katowice. Next the film crew go and interview Hanka, Birkut's wife before his denunciation as a traitor. Yet when she realizes the topic of her interview, she becomes extremely distressed. She recounts the story of how Birkut tracked her down and met with her. Again Birkut is given the opportunity to take advantage of his past and become successful, but again he seems to have turned it down. Hanka has fallen into drunkenness and shame. During the review phases, the authorities are not happy and rescind support for her movie. Her cameras and film reels she gathered are confiscated. New film of Birkut is found in the archives, but they are not allowed access to editing it and including it in what they have remaining of her film. Agnieszka's father consoles her about her film and speculates that there must be a single specific reason for the authorities' fear of further disclosure and suggests that she should locate Birkut and talk to him to find out more, even if she is no longer involved in making the film. With this inspiration, Agnieszka tracks down Mateusz's son, Maciej, in the Gdańsk Shipyard. Agnieszka learns from Maciej that his father died years ago. The film ends with Maciej walking into the film office with Agnieszka. 

=====

Brian, who is now sixteen years old, is canoeing through the Canadian wilderness. He realizes that the woods are now his home and he will never be happy in modern society with its noise, pollution, and inauthentic people. He now spends his time in the wild hunting, fishing, and home schooling himself. While Brian does not miss human contact, he finds his thoughts frequently turning to Kay-gwa-daush (also known as Susan), the only daughter of the Cree family who rescued him at the end of Brian's Winter. Though he has only seen her photograph, her family has described her as an adventurous, self-reliant young woman, and Brian wonders if she might be a kindred spirit. While canoeing, Brian finds a seriously wounded Malamute dog, which he nurses back to health. The dog is clearly domesticated, and Brian begins to worry that whatever maimed the dog may have done the same to her owners. He remembers his Cree friends, the Smallhorns, and decides to go check on them. When Brian reaches their cabin, he finds that a bear had killed the parents and apparently chased Susan into hiding. Brian returns her to her home and buries the family while she radios for help. The authorities arrive to take Susan to relatives in Winnipeg. Brian, along with the dog, stays behind in order to hunt down and kill the bear, knowing very well that the hunt could cost him his life. Brian uses skills he has learned (explained in past books Hatchet, Brian's Return, and Brian's Winter) to search for the bear that killed his friends. He finds bear tracks on an island and begins to follow them. He later realizes that he was walking in a circle. Soon, the hunter becomes the hunted. The bear is actually following Brian. The next day, instead of moving on, he waits for the bear. After a hard-fought battle with the bear, Brian is triumphant. 

=====

During the Anglo-French War (1627–29), which involved suppression of the Protestant rebels of La Rochelle, Cardinal Richelieu continues the machinations he began in The Three Musketeers by ordering the Count de Rochefort to kidnap Constance Bonancieux, dressmaker to the Queen Anne of France. The evil Milady de Winter, who wants revenge on junior musketeer d'Artagnan, seduces him to keep him occupied. He soon discovers her true nature, however, and also that she was once married to his fellow musketeer Athos, who had supposedly killed her after discovering that she was a branded criminal. The trio of musketeers — Athos, Porthos, and Aramis — rescue Constance from imprisonment in Rochefort's abode of Saint Cloud and take her to safety in the convent of Armentieres. De Winter sends d'Artagnan poisoned wine and a note intended to trick him into thinking that the trio have been imprisoned for drunkenness. On his way to bail them out, d'Artagnan is attacked by Rochefort and his men. The trio join the fight, and Rochefort flees. One of his men is captured and tortured for information, revealing that Richelieu is going to the Dovecote Inn near La Rochelle, but then drinks the poisoned wine and dies, revealing de Winter's trap. The trio then proceed to the inn where they spy on Richelieu. The Cardinal orders de Winter to threaten the Duke of Buckingham with exposure of his affair with the Queen, to discourage him from sending a relief force to aid the rebels; she is to kill the Duke if he does not comply. In return, de Winter asks for a warrant, so she can kill d'Artagnan and Constance. Richelieu reluctantly signs one, wording it in a way that leaves no evidence against himself: "By my order and for the good of the state, the bearer has done what has been done." After revealing himself to de Winter, Athos takes the death warrant from her and later tells d'Artagnan of the plot. D'Artagnan sends his servant Planchet to warn the Duke. In England, de Winter asks Buckingham not to help the rebels, but he refuses. De Winter tries to assassinate him, but she is captured. Buckingham has his servant John Felton lock her away in the Tower of London, but she seduces Felton and convinces him that Buckingham is his enemy. Felton helps her to escape and return to France, then murders Buckingham before Planchet can warn him. Soon after, La Rochelle surrenders. Rochefort and de Winter are still intent on killing d'Artagnan and Constance. With a force of guards, they occupy the convent at Armentieres and battle all four musketeers when they arrive. While Rochefort and his men hold the musketeers at bay, de Winter strangles Constance. Athos captures de Winter; D'Artagnan duels Rochefort and apparently kills him with a lunge through the chest (though it is revealed in the sequel The Return of the Musketeers that he actually survived the wound). The four musketeers sentence de Winter to death by beheading, and they hire an executioner to carry out the punishment. Afterward, they are arrested by the Cardinal's guards. Richelieu charges d'Artagnan with murder for killing a valuable servant of the State, but d'Artagnan shows him the signed death warrant which, due to its ambiguous phrasing, appears to authorize d'Artagnan's actions. Defeated and quite impressed at d'Artagnan's achievement, the Cardinal offers him a commission for either him or one of his three friends to become an officer. Athos, Porthos, and Aramis all reject it, and d'Artagnan is promoted to Lieutenant of the Musketeers. 

=====

After Cartman gets into trouble at school (forcing another student into a Saw-esque situation for calling him "chubby"), Liane admits that she cannot control her son anymore. She turns to Nanny 911 (whom Cartman psychologically harasses about her decision to not have children) and Supernanny (who ends up in a mental hospital sobbing and eating her own excrement while shouting "It's from Hell!"), but their attempts to change Cartman's behavior are unsuccessful. Desperate, Liane turns to Cesar Millan, the Dog Whisperer. Millan does not treat Cartman as a human child, instead using dog-training techniques. Millan's methods are extremely effective, leading to intense frustration from Cartman. After a period of time, Cartman's behavior improves, although he himself feels as if he is not in control of his own actions. As Liane enjoys her more flexible lifestyle, Cartman plots to kill his mother, although he cannot go through with his plan. With Cartman's behavior now in-check, Millan returns for a final visit. Liane thanks him and invites him on an outing, which he declines because he sees her as a client and not a friend. As her son was previously her friend, Liane asks Cartman to join her on the outing. After he refuses, Liane persuades Cartman to spend time with her, saying he can have anything he wishes, and Cartman returns to normal, an unsettling smile on his face. 

=====

Twenty years after the events of The Four Musketeers, Cardinal Mazarin has imprisoned the Duke of Beaufort. Mazarin hires d'Artagnan to bring together Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, to work for him. Porthos accepts, but Athos and Aramis decline. By this time, Athos has a son named Raoul. Milady de Winter's daughter, Justine, captures and questions the executioner that the musketeers hired to kill her mother. After finding out that "Comte de la Fere" hired him, she kills him. Raoul happens upon the aftermath of this event and chases after Justine, who is disguised as a priest. After a swordfight, when he discovers who she really is and her plan, Raoul leaves and tells d'Artagnan, Porthos, and Athos that Justine wants to kill them. Comte de Rochefort is unable to prevent Beaufort from escaping from his prison, and he is subsequently arrested by Mazarin. Mazarin sends d'Artagnan and Porthos after Beaufort, but Beaufort escapes them due to interference from Athos and Aramis, who are working for Beaufort. This starts a fight amongst the Musketeers, in which d'Artagnan slices Aramis' hand. Aramis breaks his sword and rides away. d'Artagnan and Porthos are fired by Mazarin for not catching Beaufort. Rochefort, who has survived his near-fatal clash with d'Artagnan in the previous film and has gone into hiding, finds Justine and tells her the names of d'Artagnan, Porthos, and Aramis, revealing to her that the Comte de la Fere is Athos. King Charles I of England is to be executed, so Queen Anne of Austria sends d'Artagnan, Athos, Porthos, and Raoul to rescue him. They attempt a rescue by knocking out the executioner, but Justine takes his place and beheads Charles. The Musketeers have several encounters with Justine: in one, Raoul's true allegiance is revealed to her; in another, Justine and Rochefort attempt to kill the Musketeers by blowing up their ship. The Musketeers notice their trap, set their own bomb and escape. Rochefort is killed when the ship explodes, but Justine escapes. Justine attempts to kill King Louis XIV, but is stopped by the Musketeers, and their battle concludes with Justine jumping out of the window into the water. Aramis rejoins the Musketeers, and they force Mazarin to sign several forms in favour of them, including making Porthos a baron, Aramis a bishop, and Raoul being commissioned into the Guards. The film ends with the Musketeers riding together again. 

=====

Joe (Billy Connolly) is a regular guy who runs a flower shop and has never had much in the way of good luck. Things seem to be grim for Joe when he's diagnosed with a brain tumor, but a bit of good fortune appears on the horizon when he wins a jackpot at the race track. However, Hush (Sharon Stone), a stripper who has fallen deeply in debt to a gang of thugs, steals Joe's newly won fortune to pay them off. Joe gets his money back by explaining to the gangsters what happened, but only because they mistake him for a syndicate kingpin they've heard about but never met. When the gangsters discover that Joe is a florist and not a career criminal, they find the situation less than amusing. 

=====

After his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo and surrender to the British Empire, Napoleon Bonaparte is delivered into exile and imprisonment on St. Helena, setting the scene for a psychological character study of the fallen Emperor and those upon the island with him as he rakes over the ashes of his career. After a failed escape attempt, the British Government offers him a chance for a return to limited power in France once again as a buffer against instability there, however on the point of departure he is afflicted by the symptoms of stomach cancer and the offer is in consequence withdrawn, leaving him entrapped on the island and exiting history's stage. 

=====

Don begins, true to its title, as the story of one of the most powerful men in the business of crime. In spite of being on Interpol's "Most Wanted" list, Don (Amitabh Bachchan) remains elusive to the police. Besides the police, Don makes a few other enemies through his merciless approach to running his organization. Don kills one of his men, Ramesh, when Ramesh decides to leave the business. This introduces Don to two new enemies, Kamini (Helen), Ramesh's fiancée, and Roma, (Zeenat Aman) Ramesh's sister. When Kamini seduces Don and attempts to have the police arrest him, her plan backfires as Don outsmarts her and the police in his escape. In the process, Kamini is killed. A shattered, revenge-seeking Roma gets her hair cut short, trains in judo and karate, then enters Don's gang after deceiving them into thinking that she too is on the wrong side of the law. Don is impressed with her fighting skills and allows her to work for him without suspecting any ulterior motive. After years of unsuccessful attempts at nabbing Don, the police finally succeed. Unfortunately, Don dies in the heat of the chase, botching Officer D'Silva's (Iftekhar) plan to reach the source of all crime—the man Don reported to—through capturing Don alive. D'Silva buries Don's body, ensuring that people believe he may still be alive; the only ones who know of Don's death are D'Silva, the graveyard priest, and his followers. As luck would have it, D'Silva remembers his chance encounter with Vijay (Amitabh Bachchan), a slum-dwelling simpleton trying to survive in the hustle and bustle of Bombay in order to support two small foster children, who is an exact lookalike of Don. D'Silva hatches a plan to transform Vijay into Don so he can arrest the rest of the gang. Around the time Vijay "returns" to Don's gang as Don under the guise of amnesia, Jasjit (Pran), just released from jail, begins his mission of revenge against D'Silva and his search for his children Deepu and Muni, who had been saved and taken care of by Vijay. Vijay manages to replace the red diary with a blank one, and tells his gang that he is going to take revenge on the DSP, but is actually going there to give him the real diary. Roma goes after him, but Vijay survives the attack and he tries to explain to her that he is not Don, but Vijay. She refuses to believe him at first but D'Silva intervenes and tells her that the man she is trying to kill is indeed Vijay. Roma apologizes to Vijay, and joins him. Vijay hands over the diary to D'Silva. D'Silva reads the diary and discovers that the underworld crime boss, the man Don reported to, is a man named Vardhan, but he is unable to determine Vardhan's identity. Meanwhile, as Vijay learns more and more about Don through his discovery of his diary and Roma's help, he announces to his colleagues that his memory has returned. Celebrations ensue as Don announces his return to the world, but things take a drastic turn when the police raid the celebrations, acting upon Vijay's information, but Vijay's only witness to his true identity, D'Silva, is shot in the crossfire, and Vijay is arrested because the police think he is Don. Vijay manages to talk the police into taking him to the DSP, who is in hospital. A desperate Vijay tries to get a gravely injured D'Silva to tell the police he is Vijay. Unfortunately the DSP dies from his injuries and Vijay is imprisoned. However, he escapes the police truck while on the way to a high-security jail. He begins to fight for himself and tries prove his innocence. Roma, now an ally of Vijay, agrees to do whatever she can to help him. Tangled in a web of confusion where the police refuse to believe that he is Vijay while simultaneously his underworld gang realize that he is indeed not Don, Vijay incites the ire of both the police and Don's right-hand man, Narang. To add to Vijay's woes, the diary that Vijay had handed over to D'Silva – his last hope of proving his innocence – is stolen by Jasjit in an attempt to track down his lost children, without realizing that Vijay is the one man who can reunite them. Vijay escapes the clutches of the police and the underworld with Roma's help and returns to his old self though he struggles to prove his identity and innocence. In the process, he also discovers that the Interpol officer R. K. Malik (Om Shivpuri) is actually the underworld crime boss Vardhan, who had killed DSP D'Silva, and had also abducted the real R. K. Malik to take his place. After Vijay fights against Vardhan's men Roma ends up getting the diary. Vardhan snatches it from her and burns it. The ending reveals that the burnt diary was, in fact, the fake diary, and that Vijay had the real one in order to trick Vardhan. Vijay gives the proof to the police and all charges are put against him. Vardhan is arrested and the film ends with Vijay, Roma, Jasjit and his two children returning happily. 

=====

The lead singer of boy band 'Take 10' vanishes. The band conducts an American Idol type contest to find a replacement. 

=====

Ganga (Jyothika) lives in a small village in Thenkasi district and yet secures state second rank in XII board exams. Although she wishes to pursue civil engineering, her father Veluthambi (Murali) plans to get her married to young Lawyer Adhithya aka Adhi (R. Madhavan), who also hails from the same village. The reason for this alliance is that Adhi's rich dad was Veluthambi's former boss who helped him become a rich rice mill owner, and Velu wants to repay the moral debt. Adhi is a fun-loving person who has just completed his law degree and prefers to enjoy his bachelor life and is not interested in marriage. Adhi comes to the village and meets Ganga trying to convey his feelings. To his surprise, Ganga is also not interested in marriage as she wants to study in Chennai. Both of them decide to somehow stop the wedding by creating some problem before the wedding, but all their efforts go in vain as both the families get even closer following their plans. Slowly, Adhi and Ganga start liking each other and decide to get married. However, to their shock, on the day before the wedding, a small quarrel erupts between Veluthambi and Adhi’s father (Delhi Kumar) while playing cards. Adhi’s father accuses Veluthambi of cheating during the game, which was actually done by Adhi’s relative Dr kathamuthu (M. S. Bhaskar). Veluthambi retaliates to prove his genuineness. The argument, which started in a funnier tone, gets serious slowly, and immediately, both of the families decide to get the wedding cancelled and in the tussle, Adhi's house servant is stabbed. Ganga's brother-in-law a government school PT teacher, is blamed for the incident and is arrested. Ganga is sent to Chennai to pursue engineering and stays with her paternal uncle Sivaji (Manivannan), who is a leading lawyer by profession. Adhi, who also lives in Chennai, meets Ganga, and they both now plan to get the cancelled wedding re-arranged again by their families. Adhi comes in place of his friend Jim (Vivek) as a junior lawyer to assist Sivaji, thereby meeting Ganga everyday. Sivaji finds that Adhi has not come as a junior and instead for some other reason. However, he misunderstands that Adhi is in love with his own daughter and fears that his daughter might elope with Adhi someday. Adhi appears as lawyer for Veluthambi's son-in-law, and saves him based on lack of evidence. Finally, Adhi’s father understands that Veluthambi was innocent and apologizes to him. Adhi and Ganga are united in the end. 

=====

On the advice of a bartender familiar with the Wall Street crowd, Jeff Allen (William Gregory Lee) applies to the Wolfe Brothers brokerage firm in New York City for his dream job as a stock broker. What he does not know is that the brokers are werewolves, and he is bitten, thus he "joins the pack". He is forced to abandon his love and values for cunning and instinct during which time he cheats on his girlfriend, Annabella, and brutally kills and eats various humans. After a change of heart, he finds that leaving the brotherhood is harder than joining. Jeff goes to Annabella's friend's birthday party, and a drunk tries hitting on Annabella. Jeff rips a piece out of the neck of the drunk and then chases his girlfriend back to her apartment and bites her, transforming her into a werewolf too. Annabella had given him a silver pen when he first started as an intern at the Wolfe Brothers firm, and he goes back to the headquarters and he tries to quit, but his mentor, Dyson Keller, refuses to let him go. Jeff leaves anyway, but the werewolves led by Vince, go to Annabelle's apartment and seize her. They force him to return to headquarters, and he stabs the person he thought was the alpha but he was wrong, and a fight ensues during which him and his girlfriend kill all of the werewolves, and then they start walking away. The alpha who they thought they had killed, opens his eyes a split second before the end of the film, showing that they were not successful. 

=====

A writer arrives at the Chateau Rousseau, an illustrious Montreal hotel known for its favourable treatment of struggling artists. He has been hired by Lucy Knowlton, the alcoholic owner of the hotel, to research and write a book about its history. She will comp his room and board until the book is written. At the same time, Jenny arrives at the hotel and is hired as a chambermaid. While the writer researches the hotel's past, Jenny hears a gunshot at the hotel pool and arrives to find a body floating in the pool. She also finds herself face to face with the murder suspect, gun in hand; but she cannot identify him because she is near-sighted and can't see him clearly. The death may be related to events in the past. It may also be related to an attempt by Jacob Knowlton to have his sister Lucy murdered, leaving him with sole ownership of the hotel. He plans to demolish it, partly to support his son's election campaign, but knows that his sister would never allow it. The body is that of Lucy and Jacob's old friend Peter Miflin, whose daughter was killed when Jacob's son got drunk and drove the car into a river. News of her death was hushed up. In the meantime, guests come and go at the hotel, each with his or her own story like a cross-section of their lives. Some have affairs, one couple tries to sell a baby, there is even a case of spontaneous human combustion. A young girl whose mother dies at the hotel successfully covers up the death by hiring another guest as her "father." The chambermaids and bellhops also have complex relationship problems, which are made worse for Adelaide and Jeremy by Jeremy's constant scheming to turn an additional illicit buck at the expense of the guests. Jenny's uneasiness over what she has witnessed also factors into many of the vignettes. In the fifth episode, it becomes apparent that many if not all of these stories are actually the novel the writer has written instead of the history he was supposed to write. The writer blames the closed doors of the hotel, which told him nothing, so he had to make things up. Lucy agrees to read the novel. If it is good enough, she will tear up his bar bill, which was not included under the terms of room and board. With that, the story plunges back into other guest vignettes, while continuing to follow Jenny and the other hotel staff. The novel does not end with the operatic death and funeral of another guest, because the writer thinks that would be too maudlin. A formerly famous opera singer was overcome with emotion and died when a famed tenor came to serenade her. All the staff and guests at the hotel break into operatic song at her funeral. Jenny has a knack for being in the right place at the right time. When one of the guests learns of his father's death over the telephone, she is present to console him. It turns out that the guest is now the King of Saudi Arabia, and she will become his queen. It turns out that Jacob's son is not Jacob's son at all. Instead, he was secretly adopted by Jacob after he was born to Lucy out of wedlock to an unknown father. When the young man finds out, he rejects Jacob and his scheming. Jacob is ruthless and reveals the secret of the accident in revenge against his son's betrayal. Jacob's son saves himself from the disclosure by discovering Christianity. Jacob is arrested for his friend's death in the pool, but turns out to be innocent of that death. He was, however, the person at the 1961 party who killed the chambermaid. The novel finally ends when Jacob is killed in the halls of the hotel he tried so hard to own. The story told by the miniseries ends when the writer receives an envelope with the torn-up bar bill inside. Lucy never tells him that she thinks the novel is rather bad. However, she has a soft spot for artists. 

=====

The film begins with Painty the Pirate about to sing the television series theme as usual, but he instead pops out of the painting and throws the riders into Bikini Bottom. The audience ends up in The Krusty Krab, where SpongeBob SquarePants welcomes them and shows them how to make a Krabby Patty by pointing at the ingredients with his spatula. When preparing the Krabby Patty, SpongeBob accidentally loses a pickle. The pickle then bounces out of the restaurant into Patrick Star's hand, as he rides on a pogo stick. Patrick then steals the pickle, and SpongeBob, not knowing why, tells the riders to find Patrick on his bubble bike, destroying half of Bikini Bottom. While going through Jellyfish Fields, SpongeBob plummets down the vertical road into Rock Bottom, where a fish pops the bubble bike by biting it. The force of the pop hurdles SpongeBob into the air, landing in the Chum Bucket where Plankton is holding the real Patrick hostage, revealing that the pickle thief was a robotic version of Patrick. The robot then pursues SpongeBob, only to be unplugged by Patrick (looking for an electrical outlet for his toaster). Plankton is crushed by his robot, and SpongeBob recovers the pickle. Sandals enters the Chum Bucket to eat his patty; however, he tells SpongeBob that he ordered his Krabby Patty without pickles, before he abruptly explodes, leaving only his head and feet. He then explains to him that he is allergic to pickles and walks away as SpongeBob quips, "Well, that was pickle-culiar!" 

=====

In 1996, a young American reporter, Ian Smith, is sent by his news network to the Soviet republic of Poland, to document guerrilla actions of Polish freedom fighters against the Soviet regime. His task includes interviewing the charimastic leader of Polish Freedom Army, Colonel Xavras Wyżryn. Ian does not realize that during his long trip from Ukrainian steppes to Moscow, alongside hardened veterans of Polish forces, he will experience the horror of war in which there is no good and evil side. Neither does he expect to find himself in the midst of the most reckless of Wyżryn's campaigns - when the Polish forces capture a Soviet atomic bomb and start to smuggle it towards Moscow. 

=====

Presented within the frame of the discovery of the supposedly historical Flashman Papers, this book chronicles the subsequent career of the bully Flashman from Tom Brown's School Days. The book begins with a fictional note explaining that the Flashman Papers were discovered in 1965 during a sale of household furniture in Ashby, Leicestershire. The papers are attributed to Harry Paget Flashman, the bully featured in Thomas Hughes' novel, who becomes a well-known Victorian military hero (in Fraser's fictional England). The papers were supposedly written between 1900 and 1905. The subsequent publishing of these papers, of which Flashman is the first instalment, contrasts the public image of a (fictional) hero with his own more scandalous account of his life as an amoral and cowardly bully. Flashman begins with the eponymous hero's own account of his expulsion from Rugby and ends with his fame as "the Hector of Afghanistan". It details his life from 1839 to 1842 and his travels to Scotland, India, and Afghanistan. It also contains a number of notes by the author, in the guise of a fictional editor, providing additional historical glosses on the events described. The history in these books is largely accurate; most of the prominent figures Flashman meets were real people. 

=====

The story is set in the United States, presumably during the late 1980s or early 1990s. It begins with Yeager driving around Washington D.C with a rifle. In his personal campaign of assassination, he initially shoots racially mixed couples in parking lots. Over 22 days, his campaign leads to 12 victims in 6 shootings. In the narrative, Yeager is depicted as the hero. His campaign escalates to more sophisticated methods against higher-profile targets, including prominent journalists and politicians whom Yeager sees as promoting racial mixing. At the same time, Yeager and his girlfriend are developing connections with a white nationalist group. After several successful and increasingly ambitious attacks, Yeager is found and confronted by a senior agent of the FBI who himself is disgusted with "Jewish control" of the FBI and the American social situation. This agent blackmails Yeager into assisting him with his career by assassinating several Jewish FBI agents and targeting Mossad agents in the United States so that the agent can be appointed as the head of a newly formed antiterrorist secret police agency, assume increasing control of the United States and use his power to challenge and remove Jewish control of the government and media. At the same time, Yeager's white nationalist group achieves growing prominence through the insertion of one of their members into a Christian evangelist television broadcasting ministry, from which he is broadcasting increasingly racist and antisemitic messages. Yeager's campaign of assassination and terrorism, the actions of copycats and imitators, the white nationalist broadcasting effort, the efforts of the antiterrorist official, and a rapid decline of the US economy all work to push the United States towards increasing racial and social violence and fragmentation. Eventually, Yeager is faced with a dilemma when the government official for whom he has been working finally orders him to kill the undercover evangelist minister, whose efforts oppose the agent's intent to establish order and strike a temporary bargain with the Jews. Yeager attempts to avoid the assignment and then deliberately appears to bungle the assassination. At this point, Yeager is caught between the intentions of his government confederate (who intends to consolidate his own power and control over the government and reform the system from the top down after suppressing upcoming black nationalist riots) and the white-nationalist group who wishes to stir up the chaos even further, draw white Americans into battle, and eventually overthrow the government. Ultimately, Yeager kills the government agent. Following this, the Jewish-controlled media side with the black rioters, revealing that the government official would have been double-crossed had he attempted to strike his deal. Yeager and the other members of the group, now under increasing government scrutiny, resolve to continue their efforts and to go "underground" to continue the fight against the system. 

=====

After the events of the first book, Dragon Weather, Arlian finds himself armed with the knowledge of how dragons reproduce. It is a nasty and terrible business and Arlian wishes to prevent dragons from ever reproducing. Using the magic gathered in Arithei, he continues his quest. He realizes that if he is to fulfill his quest of destroying the dragons he must destroy the entire dragon society which is made up of dragon hearts. Dragon hearts are those who have drunk a mixture of human blood and dragon venom and gain a long extended life and a baby dragon growing in their heart; ironically, Arlian is himself such a dragon heart, and he to would give birth to a dragon in a thousand years unless he does something to prevent that. Arlian and his best friend Black hunt down the dragons in the hope that if Arlian kills a dragon the duke will assist him in destroying the dragon menace. In the end he removes a dragon from the heart of a Lady Rime which wakes up its mother - as it turns out, dragons care for their offspring as much as do humans and other creatures. The mother dragon comes to Manfort to kill Arlian but instead falls victim to an obsidian spear. This success is achieved only thanks to a change of heart by one of Arlian's most staunch foes - who, at the crucial moment becomes a loyal and courageous ally, sacrificing his own life in order to enable Arlian to overcome the dragon. Shaken and deeply moved, Arlian decides to give up any further design of revenge on human enemies, concentrating on the campaign against the dragons. Arlian is the first man ever to kill a dragon, and his standing and prestige mounts high. He receives the full assistance of the duke and is named warlord in the coming battle against the dragons. Even with the initial success of killing a dragon, Arlian's task is far from over. 

=====

Members of a college swim team take anabolic steroids to enhance their performance. While on a daytrip to a local lake, a couple of the members pick up some leeches, which feed on the steroids in their blood. The leeches end up washed down a shower drain, where they grow to enormous size and return for more feedings. Following the deaths of several members of the team and a college administrator, the few surviving team members and one of their girlfriends hatch a plan to kill off the monster leeches. They will draw them to the campus swimming pool by having one of the swimmers act as bait. Then they'll electrify the pool, electrocuting the leeches. Tragically, the team coach, who's been infected by a leech, attacks them, delaying the electrification just long enough to allow the leeches to kill one last swimmer. Finally the coach is subdued and the switch is thrown, frying the leeches. As the film ends, a surviving swim team member, in true mad scientist fashion, is revealed to have had a hand in creating the leeches and is shown to have breeding stock left. 

=====

Young Chris Chandler, a student at Drake University, gets a new roommate, Dan, and becomes friends with him. Meanwhile, the fraternities are pledging and a student said to have been interested in Doma Tau Omega is found dead on the campus. Chris, who has no high opinion of fraternities, gets to know a student of psychology, Megan, who invites him and Dan to a party of Doma Tau Omega, saying that she does not want to go there alone. However, when they arrive at the party, Chris seems to be interested only in the leader of DTO, Devon Eisley, and approaches him. After waiting for Chris a long time, Megan and Dan leave the party. Chris, meanwhile, is made drunk by Devon, who then makes him a member of DTO by drinking a bit of his blood while, in turn, Chris has to drink a bit of Devon's. Shortly after that, Chris is introduced to parties in the DTO house, where he and Devon drink blood from a girl called Sandy in a way reminiscent of sexual intercourse. Dan is unsettled by the change in Chris since joining the fraternity, and breaks into the DTO house. Investigating the book of DTO, Dan is shocked to find photos of Devon throughout the decades of the fraternity's history, completely unchanged. He persuades Megan to go with him to Chris' room, which they find totally ravaged. They decide to look for Chris at the fraternity house. At the DTO house, Devon tells Chris that he lives eternally as long as he transforms his soul into a new body every century, and that this time, Chris would be the one whose body is used. The student found dead on campus was made to commit suicide, as he was afraid to participate in the ceremony and threatened to go public. Chris tries to flee but is knocked out by the other DTO members, Barry and Jordan. Dan and Megan try to enter the fraternity house, but their way is blocked by DTO member Mikhail who threatens them with an axe. Dan grabs the needle used by the fraternity members to get blood from their victims and thrusts in into Mikhail's neck, killing him. In the house, Dan and Megan meet Berry, Jordan, Devon and Chris, who are already beginning the ceremony. Megan reveals herself as a decoy who has worked for Devon over the last 70 years and was tasked with luring Chris. She threatens Dan with the axe, saying that she will kill him if Chris tries to resist the ritual. Chris stops fighting and kneels down in front of Devon. While everyone is concentrating on Chris, Dan suddenly breaks free of Megan. He takes the axe, and attacks Devon with it. Devon, the other fraternity members and Megan all die, leaving Chris and Dan standing amongst the carnage. Dan asks why Chris did not die, and Chris answers, "I told you I would never join a fraternity." The two leave the house. 

=====

The novel is set in British India of the 1940s. it follows on from the storyline in The Jewel in the Crown. Much of the novel is written in the form of interviews and reports of conversations and research from the point of view of a narrator. Other portions are in the form of letters from one character to another or entries in their diaries. 

=====

In this novel an old Raj family comes newly on the scene, the Laytons of Pankot, an imaginary hill station in India. Now an army captain, Ronald Merrick, a self-made man of the lower middle class and the former police official in charge of the Daphne Manners case, begins to insinuate himself subtly into the Layton family. We learn what the Laytons do not know, that in a searing session with the incarcerated Hari Kumar, Merrick tortured and molested him. Susan, the younger Layton sister, driven by a sense of her own nothingness, marries Teddie Bingham, a colourless and conventional officer in the prestigious Pankot Rifles regiment. By accident, Teddie and Merrick are roommates, and when his designated best man falls ill at the last minute, Teddie asks Merrick to act as best man. The wedding is held in Mirat, a native state ruled by a Nawab. On the way to the wedding ceremony, someone throws a stone at the car in which Teddie and Merrick are riding. Teddie is injured and has to be patched up. At the wedding reception, the Nawab of Mirat becomes a victim of heightened security when he is denied entrance to his own property as he is an Indian. When the newlyweds are being seen off at the railway station, Shalini Gupta Sen appears and makes a scene, beseeching Merrick. She is later revealed to be begging Merrick to reveal the whereabouts of her nephew, Hari Kumar. Nigel Rowan, an officer serving in the civil service, takes Lady Manners to observe the debriefing of Hari Kumar, who was tortured and jailed after the rape of Lady Manners's niece, Daphne, and who has been held in prison for a year under the Defence of India Act for vague alleged political crimes. The panel, consisting of Rowan and V. R. Gopal, is horrified to learn of Hari's treatment at Merrick's hands. It comes out that Hari has never been informed that Daphne conceived a child and then died. The questioners realize that Hari's statements will be too inflammatory in the fragile political climate of India. They also realize that Hari is innocent, however, and suspect that at some point in the future, he will be quietly released from custody. Teddie and Merrick are sent to the front in Manipur against the Japanese and their surrogates, the Indian National Army (known as "Jiffs" among the British). Teddie, against Merrick's warnings, falls victim to an INA ambush while trying to induce INA soldiers from his regiment to surrender. Merrick does his best to save Teddie, but is unsuccessful, and comes away horribly disfigured. Teddie goes forward, it is implied, because he is concerned about the methods Merrick might employ on the turncoats. Sarah Layton, the older sister, comes to the fore as the morally fine-tuned mainstay of the family. To show the family's gratitude for his efforts, Sarah visits Merrick in Calcutta, where he is convalescing at an Army hospital. Merrick explains to her why he believes himself partly responsible for Teddie's fate. She is horrified by his disfigurement and learns that much of Merrick's left arm is to be amputated. While in Calcutta, Sarah is staying with Aunt Fenny, who is eager to get Sarah matched up with a young man. She gets her husband, Uncle Arthur, to bring several of his junior officers over for dinner. In particular, she is enthusiastic about introducing Sarah to Jimmy Clark. After an unsuccessful evening on the town, Clark takes Sarah to the Indian side of Calcutta, where they attend a party at the home of a wealthy socialite. There, Clark seduces Sarah by challenging her to taste life. On her way back to Pankot, Sarah encounters Count Bronowsky, a White Russian emigre who is the Nawab's wazir or chief advisor, whom she had met during Susan and Teddie's wedding. With him is Nigel Rowan. They are there to meet Mohammed Ali Kasim, a prominent politician who is being released after a period of imprisonment under the Defence of India Act. Kasim learns from his younger son, Ahmed, that his elder son, Sayed, an officer in the Indian Army, has become turncoat and joined the INA and now faces charges of treason. Barbie Batchelor, the friend and paying guest of Mabel Layton discovers the secret of the enmity between Mabel and Mildred one night when both the elderly women are unable to sleep. Mabel also tells Barbie she will never go to Ranpur again until after she is buried, which Barbie interprets to mean that she wishes be buried next to the grave of her late husband, James Layton, in Ranpur. Susan Bingham, Teddie's newlywed and pregnant bride, is unhinged when having received news of Teddie's death she witnesses her aunt Mabel's death. As it is, Susan depends on others to define her role and character. Without Teddie to serve as the anchor for her identity, Susan is lost and afraid to be responsible for a fatherless child. Coming unhinged, she makes a ring of fire with paraffin and places the baby with it, in imitation of a native treatment of scorpions that she witnessed as a child. The baby is rescued unharmed by its nurse. 

=====

Alberto (played by Diogo Morgado) is a young Portuguese monarchist who in 1912 is exiled to Brazil. There, he is contracted by Velasco (Karra Elejalde), a Spanish overseer, to work in the heart of the forest. Alberto discovers a strange and wild world, in which the Indians, the fever and the madness of the men are daily dangers. 

=====

In this tragic tale of misunderstanding, obsession, and increasing madness, Eliane ("Elle"), a beautiful young woman (Isabelle Adjani) settles into a small town in the south of France with her introverted mother (Maria Machado) and physically handicapped father, and soon becomes the subject of wild speculation because of her aloofness and at the same time, her obvious sexuality. The young woman is actually caught up in the desire to avenge the long-ago rape of her mother by three men who had arrived at her isolated house in a van which contained an old piano which they were delivering. A shy car mechanic (Alain Souchon) becomes enamored of her, and the woman suddenly sees him in a different light when she learns that his father, now dead, was an Italian immigrant who had owned and tried unsuccessfully to pawn the piano. Intent on taking action against the mechanic's family to right the wrong suffered by her mother, the daughter begins to lose her grip on sanity when she finds out that the men she suspects of the rape are actually innocent. In fact, her father had long ago exacted his own vengeance on the real culprits. This knowledge pushes her over the edge, and she has to be institutionalized. Meanwhile, the young mechanic misunderstands what happened and that leads to tragedy; he tracks down and kills the innocent men Elle had suspected of raping her mother, believing them to be responsible for Elle's current condition. 

=====

The film details the history of both the New York Dolls and one of its members, Arthur "Killer" Kane. The film narrates the history of the band from its formation in 1972, through its drug problems and the deaths of several of its members. The central focus of the film, however, is Arthur's life after conversion to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after struggles with alcoholism, drug abuse, an attempt at suicide, and a 1992 beating with a baseball bat (falsely rumored to be related to the Rodney King riots happening at the same time) that left him near death and needing a long recovery. As Kane struggles with both loneliness and poverty, he discovers that he will once again have a chance to perform with the Dolls in London. After overcoming his differences with former band member David Johansen, Kane has a successful performance. Upon his return to Los Angeles, Kane contemplates touring with the reunited Dolls, but plans are cut short by his unexpected death from leukemia. The film features interviews with Morrissey, who arranged the reunion show, as well as other artists such as Chrissie Hynde and Bob Geldof. New York Doll was shot on digital camcorders with an aspect ratio of 1.78:1.DVD TalkIGN ReviewNew York Times It scored a 90% on Rotten Tomatoes out of 51 reviews. 

=====

The film is built around two main parallel stories, each containing almost identical dialogues. One story line involves Linda Sykes (Gyllenhaal), an American woman detained in the People's Republic of China, being interrogated by a military officer (Leung). In the other storyline, Sharif Bin Said (Lastra), an Arab man detained in New York City, is interrogated by two FBI agents (Winters and Close). Both characters are graduate students detained with no hard evidence and interrogated about unspecified activities which may or may not be related to terrorist plots. In the course of the increasingly brutal interrogations, both Sykes and Bin Said are strip searched against their will by their interrogators and are subjected to a cavity search. In both cases the protagonists appear to have only tenuous connections with the suspected terrorist plots. The film ends with the question: "Must security and safety come at the price of freedom?" 

=====

Billy Behan is a poor teenage boy from the Bronx. One day he catches the attention of gangster Dutch Schultz. Changing his last name to Bathgate, after a local street, he goes to work for Schultz's organization, serving mostly as a gopher for Schultz. Billy is present when Schultz murders his former partner Bo Weinberg, who Schultz believes betrayed him. Schultz then begins a relationship with Weinberg's beautiful, married, girlfriend, Drew Preston. Facing legal charges in a court in upstate New York, Schultz brings Billy and Drew along. He successfully charms the locals, presenting himself as charming and good natured. While his boss Dutch stands trial, Billy's job is to watch over Drew. His loyalties to Schultz are tested as he begins falling in love with the flirtatious Drew. Realizing that Drew is about to be killed, Billy calls her husband, who hurries to town and takes her home before Schultz's men can make their move. Having beaten the rap in court, Dutch is indicted again on federal tax evasion charges. He wants to have federal prosecutor Thomas Dewey murdered, but his request is rejected by the Mafia Commission. Schultz sends Billy to another gangster with some bribe money, but the effort is rejected. When Billy returns with the bad news, he and Schultz have a falling out and Billy is fired by Schultz's associate Otto, who lets him keep the bribe money as a severance package. As Billy leaves, he is abducted and beaten by gangsters working for Lucky Luciano. The men storm Dutch's hideout and kill everyone inside. Billy is taken before Luciano, who warns him that he knows where Billy's family lives, before letting him go. 

=====

The film opens before the declaration of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. At a forward operating airbase, Indian Air Force Wing Commander Anand "Andy" Bajwa (Jackie Shroff), setting his stopwatch, waits for the air raid siren to go. As the siren goes, he sprints towards his MiG-21, armed, fuelled and ready for takeoff. Bajwa and his air force wingmen soon take off to an unknown airbase in Rajasthan. Once there, he is briefed by his superiors that he and his squadron are assigned to the Jaisalmer sector and have to fly the outdated and day fighter Hawker Hunter Ground attack planes (with no night vision capabilities) to support the Indian Army. He is soon joined by his brother-in- arms army Major Kuldip Singh Chandpuri (Sunny Deol) as they meet on a courier flight and speak about the possibility of the opening of the Western front in light of the East Pakistan conflict. Kuldip takes up command of a company of the 23rd Battalion Punjab Regiment, arguing the light defence being assigned to the military post of Longewala. He meets his second-in-command 2nd Lieutenant Dharamveer Bhan (Akshaye Khanna) (who happens to be the son of a 1965 Indo-Pakistani War veteran who was killed during that war) and the Company JCO Naib Subedar Mathura Das (Sudesh Berry). The company moves to a remote outpost in the deserts of Rajasthan and begin to expand the rudimentary Border Security Force (BSF) post and does the observation of the area up to the international border with Pakistan. They meet the post's BSF Assistant Commandant Bhairon Singh (Sunil Shetty), a deeply patriotic man who expresses his love for the desert. During a night patrol, Kuldip, Dharamveer and Bhairon Singh come across a suspicious bunch of locals who turn out to be insurgents having informed the identities of the company to the Pakistani military. The trio gets into a brief firefight killing all but one of the insurgents when Dharamveer hesitates to shoot the surviving insurgent, as he has never killed anyone. Kuldip severely derides him and shoots the insurgent himself, prompting Dharamveer to vomit. A badly shaken Dharamvir is comforted by Bhairon Singh and the two reminisce about their personal lives. Dharamveer recounts how he met his fiancée Kamla (Pooja Bhatt), a lively girl from his native village whom he had fallen for and how he got his mobilization orders on the day of his engagement to Kamla. Bhairon Singh recounts his wedding night, his first night with his bride Phool Kanwar (Sharbani Mukherjee), when he was called back to post and how he bids a tearful goodbye. The unit is joined by the charismatic Subedar Ratan Singh (Puneet Issar), a man of insatiable appetite and wit, with two 106mm jeep-mounted RCL guns to serve as an anti-armour unit. The company wireless operator picks up a spy transmitting from a nearby area and Dharamveer sets out to investigate. He ambushes the spy and kills the man, bringing the body back to the post to prove that he has overcome his fear of killing. The unit settles down to wait for the enemy as they keep track of the developing events on the radio. The Indian army starts moving forces to nearby locations preparing to attack if Pakistan tries to open the Western front. This gives hope of soon-to-come action for the men tired of the long wait in the hot and desolate desert. Naib Subedar Mathura Das is granted leave to attend to his wife (who is ailing with cancer) and children. The men receive letters with news from back home and talk among themselves of the people they left to serve the country. On the evening of 3 December 1971, the unit receives word that the enemy has attacked with Pakistan Air Force planes bombing multiple Indian airbases and that war has been officially declared by the Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Dharamveer Bhan and five of his soldiers are sent to patrol the border in a section; Bhairon Singh and his men are assigned to clear out the nearby villages. As Bhairon Singh is briefing the villagers on evacuation, Pakistani artillery batteries start shelling Indian positions and villages. Kuldip joins in the evacuation as heavy shelling occurs, levelling a whole village. In the meanwhile, Dharamveer and his patrol spot Pakistani tanks (Chinese Type 59s) and infantry crossing the border into India. He reports back the enemy movement to Kuldip and is ordered to secretly follow the tanks without engaging them. The artillery firing was being done to suppress the sound of the tanks. Kuldip radios for air support and speaks to Wing Com Bajwa, who tells him that there can be no air support as his base has only Hunter- Fighters (which, as mentioned above, cannot fly at night). Bajwa tells Kuldip to defend the post as long as possible and that he and his pilots would be on the battlefield at the first stroke of light. In despair, Kuldip radios his CO and explains his untenable position. He is given the option of either holding his post or retreat. He stays. Kuldip then gives the company the choice to leave the post or not, and they all prefer to stick with him and face the Pakistanis to their deaths. As the unit digs in to face the enemy assault, Mathura returns and apologizes for deserting the men of his company. Kuldip thanks him for returning in time and assigns him to a M-40 RCL Jeep unit, promising Mathura that he will return to his family when the war is over. The post is surrounded by massed enemy armour and infantry while the shelling from across the border continues relentlessly. Kuldip manages to get the company to bury anti-tank mines around the post to prevent the tanks from barging in. Upon seeing one of his tanks being blown by one of the mines, the Pakistani commander Ghulam Dastagir hurls expletives at Kuldip addressing him by name and tells him to retreat or die. Kuldip lashes back and swears and insults Dastagir, addressing him by name. The Pakistani tanks open fire on the post and the battle begins with Kuldip ordering Mathura to destroy the tanks with his RCL units. Though the tide of the battle is improving for the Indians at first, Mathura's RCL Jeep is hit by a tank shell, wounding him and prompting Bhairon Singh to extract him from the burning jeep. Mathura is fatally wounded when he goes to extract a recoil spring for Bhairon Singh's MMG and dies in Bhairon's arms. Subedar sacrifices himself to throw away an exploding tank shell to prevent several of his men from being killed. Another tank targets Bhairon's machine gun nest and destroys it, wounding Bhairon. He charges the same tank and destroys it with an anti-tank mine, killing himself and the Pakistani soldiers inside. Dharamveer breaks through the enemy cordon and returns to post, but his entire patrol is wiped out in the process. The Pakistani commander orders a bayonet charge on the Indian position but the attack is beaten back by the Indians with Dharamveer being severely wounded. The Indians capture a Pakistani private who reveals that the Pakistani column plans to capture Jaiselmer by morning, Jodhpur by afternoon, and reach Delhi by night. As dawn nears, the Pakistanis launch a last-ditch attempt to overrun Longewala post with their massed assault of tanks and infantry, ignoring the danger of the anti-tank mines. Kuldip, arming himself with an Anti-Tank Rocket Launcher and a bagful of grenades gathers his remaining depleted force and prepares for a suicide counter-attack on the advancing enemy. The Indians engage in vicious hand-to-hand fighting with Kuldip jumping from tank to tank lobbing grenades down the turret hatches and killing tank commanders with pistols. Dawn has broken as the fight heats up and Bajwa's Hunter squadron finally takes off from the Jaisalmer Base to aid Kudip's besieged company. The Pakistani attack breaks as tank after the tank is hit by the planes firing rockets till they retreat across the border. The battle ends as a soldier tries to tell Dharamveer Singh about the victory and realizes that he is dead. The unit is relieved as Indian tanks and artillery arrive and more air-strikes beat back enemy reinforcements. The end credits roll as the Indians launch their counter-offensive and news of the deceased reach their homes, much to their families' sorrow. 

=====

Indu (Shabana Azmi) and DK (Naseeruddin Shah) have a happy marriage and two daughters -- Pinky and Minni -- and live in Delhi. The tranquility of their life is interrupted when DK receives word that he has a son, the result of an affair with Bhavana (Supriya Pathak) during his 1973 visit to Nainital when his wife Indu was about to give birth to their first child Pinky (Urmila Matondkar). Bhavana did not tell DK about their son as she did not want to disturb DK's matrimonial life. Now that she has died, her guardian Masterji sends word to DK informing him that his son, Rahul (Jugal Hansraj), who is nine years old, needs a home. Despite the objections of Indu, who is devastated to learn of her husband's infidelity, DK brings the boy to stay with them in Delhi. Rahul is never told that DK is his father as he bonds with DK and his daughters. But Indu can't bear to look at him, a tangible reminder of DK's betrayal. DK, worried by the effect Rahul is having on his family, decides to put him in a boarding school in St. Joseph's College, Nainital; Rahul accepts with reluctance. After gaining admission at the school and returning to Delhi before his permanent move to Nainital, Rahul figures out that DK is his father and runs away from home. After he is escorted home by a police officer, Rahul confesses his awareness of the identity of his father to Indu. Indu is unable to bear his heartbreak and intercepts Rahul before he is put on the train to Nainital, thereby accepting him into the family and wholeheartedly forgiving DK, after which they drive home happily. 

=====

"Satte Pe Satta" is the story of seven brothers living on a large farmhouse. The first half of the movie shows the life of the brothers who grow up under the leadership of their oldest brother Ravi. Being orphans and uneducated, all seven brothers are unsophisticated bumpkins and lack social etiquette and hygiene. They live on a farm among animals. A sequence of events leads Ravi to fall in love with a nurse named Indu. Indu despises unruliness and chaos. Therefore, Ravi tricks her into believing that he has only 1 younger brother, Shani and thus Indu eventually marries him only to realize he has five more brothers, all uneducated and uncouth. Ravi's six brothers learn to adjust with a new woman in their lives as she does with them, trying to civilize them. Soon enough, they all fall in love with a group of six women, friends with a paraplegic heiress (and the feeling is mutual). Shortly things take a turn when Babu, Ravi's lookalike, is hired by the heiress's guardian, Ranjit Singh, to kill her for possession of her ancestral property. Ranjit imprisons Ravi and sends Babu to impersonate him. Babu tries to murder Seema, but because of the shock, Seema regains control over her legs and is able to walk again. Babu spends many days with the family. Overcome with guilt, Babu confesses his true intent. The family forgives him because he did not take advantage of Indu. Babu takes the brothers to Ranjit's lair where they rescue Ravi and defeat Ranjit. 

=====

Bugs wakes up after a long night to find that a burly construction worker (whom Bugs derisively dubs "Hercules") has just shoveled up his rabbit hole near a highrise building being built. Bugs kindly asks Hercules to put his hole back, and Hercules pretends to comply, before he dumps Bugs and the dirt into the dump truck. Bugs angrily shouts "Hey, you big gorilla! Didn't you ever hear of the sanctity of the American home?" before another mound of earth falls on him and the truck hauls him away. When Hercules exits the crane, Bugs calls him from the building under construction ("Yoo hoo! Hercules! Here's a message for ya!") dropping a brick on him (along with a telegram labeled "Eastern Onion" reading "Okay Hercules... You asked for it... Bugs Bunny"), then a steel girder, and then plays with the elevator controls while Hercules is inside the elevator. He accidentally breaks the controls, causing the elevator to fly off, and Hercules to fall into a pile of wet concrete. Bugs then impersonates the project engineer and orders Hercules to make a high brick wall, followed by several attachments. Once done, Hercules is trapped at dizzying heights on a teeterboard. As Bugs removes the bricks from one end, Hercules on the other end strips off his clothes to save weight. This only works temporarily; by the time Bugs removes the last brick, Hercules is down to nothing but his underwear. Hercules takes the fall, but suddenly manages to knock Bugs out temporarily with a steel girder, causing Bugs to dumbly "sleepwalk" through a harrowing series of moving girders and other objects. He finally regains his senses when he falls into a barrel full of water, then witnesses his nemesis bullying a shy employee, swiping his lunch and ordering him back to work. Infuriated, Bugs decides to put the goon out of commission once and for all ("Action, he says? Action he shall get."). Appropriating a red-hot rivet with pliers, Bugs takes a look at the posted floor plans for the building and finds his mark. He releases the rivet down a hole; it bounces around through an elaborate maze of objects and finally lands and burns through a rope holding up a giant steel casing which falls on top of Hercules (who echoes Candy Candido's radio catchphrase, "I'm feelin' mighty low"). Bugs' ultimatum: "Do I get my home back or do I have to get tough?" prompts Hercules to finally wave the white flag in defeat. The next shot is of the finished skyscraper, with a slight indentation in the middle. At the bottom, Bugs sits in his hole - the building has been built around it - and declares: "After all, a man's home is his castle." 

=====

While the first two volumes are something like collections of vignettes about Betsy, Tacy, and Tib, this one has a story through the whole volume. The girls are competing with Betsy's and Tacy's older sisters about having a Queen of Summer. When they go out to collect votes, they find themselves making friends with a surprising little girl their own age in the Little Syria section of Deep Valley, Minnesota. 

=====

In this volume in the series, horseless carriages arrive in Deep Valley for the first time when Mr. Poppy, the owner of the Opera House, buys an automobile. Betsy's friend Tib is his first passenger -- along with his wife -- due simply to her having the boldness to ask for a ride. Although the girls' classmate Winona Root is initially jealous of Tib over this experience, she soon gets over it and invites Betsy, Tacy, and Tib to their first real theatrical experience, a dramatized version of Uncle Tom's Cabin at the Opera House. Betsy befriends the lonely Mrs. Poppy, who welcomes the chance to share the little girls' affection after having lost her only daughter in the years before moving to town. Through this friendship, the girls not only enjoy parties at the Poppy Hotel, but also participate in a theatrical production of Rip Van Winkle that lets Mrs. Poppy reunite Betsy's mother, Mrs. Ray, with her long-lost brother. Betsy and her friends also discover the temptations of dime novels, prompting Betsy to try her hand at writing her own. Eventually, Betsy shares her secret writings with her mother, who successfully encourages her to write fiction of more elevated character. Betsy's parents decide that in order to foster a love of classic literature and make Betsy a better writer, she will be allowed to go alone to the new Carnegie library every two weeks, with spending money for a special mid-day treat to let her stay all day. Category:Betsy-Tacy Category:1943 American novels Category:Novels set in Minnesota Category:Novels about writers Category:1943 children's books 

=====

The novel begins with the return of Betsy's childhood friend Thelma (Tib) Muller, who had been living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin since her parents were independent and they wanted to return to their old life, and the departure of Betsy's older sister, Julia, for college at the University of Minnesota. Julia's desire to bypass college and begin a musical career cause her to be relatively uninterested in classes and to focus instead on her desire to join a sorority. Excited by her sister's stories of college life, Betsy and her friends Tacy and Tib join with five other girls in establishing a local sorority at the high school level. Over time, Betsy finds that the social whirl of the sorority distracts her from her studies and also eventually causes a backlash of resentment among the rest of the student body, which leads to her group's being excluded from their usual leading role in school activities. Moreover, the exclusiveness of the sorority concept pushes away others she would like to welcome into her social circle. Julia likewise becomes less interested in sororities after she is temporarily blackballed for having attracted the romantic attentions of a man who had dated other sorority members. By April, both girls have decided against sorority membership -- Betsy in order to have a wider circle of friends and Julia to have the long- awaited chance to travel abroad and begin her musical training in earnest. The novel also revisits a theme from the previous novel in the series, Betsy in Spite of Herself. Having been reunited with her old friends Betsy and Tacy, and re-entering a co-educational setting after years in a girls-only school, Tib is initially very interested in her friends' advice on attracting young men by seeming less practical and knowledgeable than she really is. However, at various points in the novel the narrator portrays this dumbing-down as a silly and unnecessary self-denial that is not very satisfying. Category:Betsy- Tacy Category:1947 American novels Category:Novels set in Minnesota Category:Novels set in schools Category:1947 children's books 

=====

Judge Steven Hardin (Michael Douglas) is an idealistic Los Angeles judge who becomes frustrated when the technicalities of the law prevent the prosecution of three criminals. The first is a man who was charged with murdering several elderly women for their welfare money. The second and third are two men who were accused of raping and killing an eight-year-old boy as part of a suspected child pornography ring. The suspected child murderers attracted the attention of two police officers when they were driving slowly late at night. The police officers suspected that the van's occupants might be burglars. After checking the license plate for violations, the officers pulled the van over for expired paperwork. They also claimed to have smelled marijuana, and then saw a bloody shoe inside the van. However, the reason for stopping the van turned out to be spurious: the paperwork was actually submitted on time (it was merely processed late). Since the traffic stop was illegal, based on the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine Hardin has no choice but to exclude any evidence discovered as a result of the traffic stop, including the bloody shoe. Hardin becomes even more distraught when the father of the murdered boy attempts to shoot the criminals in court, but misses and shoots one of the arresting officers instead. After another boy is discovered raped and murdered, the father of the original boy tells Harding "This one is on you, your Honor. That boy would be alive if you hadn't let those men go." The father then commits suicide while in jail. Judge Hardin learns from his friend, Judge Caulfield (Hal Holbrook), of the existence of a modern-day Star Chamber. This is a group of judges that identifies criminals who cannot be brought to justice through the judicial system, and takes action against them using a hired assassin. Judge Hardin participates in one of the Star Chamber proceedings, and the assassin is dispatched to kill two other unrelated murderers who were released on technicalities despite their own confessions, as well as the suspected child murderers. Soon afterward, however, police detective Harry Lowes (Yaphet Kotto) comes to Hardin with conclusive evidence that someone else raped and killed the boy. Realizing that he and the Star Chamber have just sentenced two men to die for a crime that they did not commit, Hardin implores the Star Chamber to recall the assassin, but is told by the other judges that the hit cannot be canceled. For the judges' protection, there is a cut-out between them and the assassin; they do not know who he is, and he doesn't know who they are. They tell Hardin that, although an occasional mistake is inevitable and regrettable, what they are doing still serves society's greater good. They argue that the two targeted men are clearly criminals who are guilty of numerous other crimes, even if they are not guilty of the specific crime for which the group convicted them. Hardin makes it clear that he does not accept their reasoning. Caulfield warns him to back down because the members of the group will do whatever they have to in order to protect themselves. Hardin decides to make an effort to stop the men from being killed. He tracks down the men in an abandoned warehouse and attempts to warn them. However, he has stumbled across an illegal drug operation, and the men do not believe that he is there to rescue them. They attack Hardin, but the hitman, disguised as a police officer, kills them before they can kill Hardin. The hitman threatens to kill Hardin, but at the last moment Lowes arrives and kills the hitman. The film ends with the Star Chamber deciding another "case" without Hardin, who is outside in a car with Lowes recording their conversation. 

=====

Olivia (Charlotte Church) is a young girl who is blessed with a beautiful, natural singing voice, although few people know that. She was conceived the night her mother met Paul, a Scottish rock star (Craig Ferguson), but the couple fell out of touch and her Paul never knew that he had a daughter. Much later, Paul is "sectioned" after a motorcycle accident is viewed as a suicide attempt, and he meets his now 16-year-old daughter while confined to a psychiatric hospital. Olivia's mother feels she was betrayed by Paul and failed by her own musician father, so she does not want her daughter to be involved in what she sees as the decadent world of rock music. In spite of her mother's attempts to keep them apart, Olivia and Paul get to know each other and become the family they should have been all along. 

=====

The Goodies are running their own holiday service. The Detectives Club book their annual holiday on the 'Detectives Mystery Tour', and several members dressed as famous detectives arrive to go on the mystery train. The Mystery Train is at the station and, after the detectives are aboard, Bill runs up and down the platform with a life-sized model cow on wheels to represent a cow that is being passed, and antlers on his head to represent a deer that is being passed -- to make the detectives feel that the train is moving (which it isn't). On the train, Graeme is the narrator for the 'journey', while Tim dresses up in clothing suitable for the country the train is supposed to be going through. A goat supplies extra verisimilitude. Then, mysterious things start to happen: the train takes off down the track, with Bill running after it (later catching up to the train and boarding it) -- and the world's great detectives begin to disappear. Graeme sniffs a bottle labelled 'Arsenic' and says: "Aha! The characteristic smell of bitter almonds!" Bill asks: "Isn't that cyanide?" to which Graeme replies: "Precisely. This arsenic has been poisoned!" More detectives disappear and Bill states: "Ten little s, sitting down to dine, someone cut their cufflinks off, now, there's only nine." Later, Bill resumes, commenting: "Nine little s, sitting there in state, someone lit the touchpaper, now, there's only eight." The train keeps moving on -- not always on rail. It is discovered that a group of badly behaved mimes are behind the mysterious events, and that they had stolen the train as part of an attempt to win the legendary "Gold Bore" at the French "Le Boring" competition. So the Goodies and the detectives chase the mimes on wheelchairs. One by one detectives fail capturing the three criminals but, luckily, just as the mimes about to escape by the harbour, the goat rams at them and falls onto their boat. The Goodies arrive just in time to see the mimes sink with their hats above the water. 

=====

James Vasanthan (Madhavan) and his three friends Ganeshan (Charle), Charles (Vaiyapuri), and Mohan (Venu Madhav), have a music troupe that sings at weddings. They are tenants of Subramani (Manivannan) whose daughter Lakshmi (Sneha) shares a good rapport with the youths, helping them in their time of need. Her encouragement puts a new zeal in James, who soon gains recognition as a singer. Not that this brings any change in the group's lifestyle, for J. Suresh still shows them as strugglers. James finally proposes to Lakshmi who rejects him, as she has her past to reckon with. She is a divorcee, her husband having abandoned her soon after marriage for his girlfriend. When Lakshmi's friend and neighbour Seetha (Aswini) puts some sense into her, she decides to make amends. But misunderstandings pile up between the lovers - the situations are all forced here - until J. Suresh leads the story to a desired happy ending. 

=====

Part one opens with a young boy and his father flying a kite on a secluded beach. The father is soon confronted by a past enemy, who demands a rematch after an embarrassing defeat. The young boy is horror-stricken as, after his father's defeat, the father takes his own life before the young boy's eyes and rushes to avenge his death. The challenger easily defeats the boy, but rather than kill again, he allows the boy to journey with him, offering to teach the boy in martial arts so that he may one day take appropriate revenge. The boy keeps training under him; and through a series of events, the boy has his revenge but not in the way he intended. 

=====

Dr. Clitterhouse (Edward G. Robinson) is a wealthy society doctor in New York City who decides to research the medical aspects of the behavior of criminals directly by becoming one. He begins a series of daring jewel robberies, measuring his own blood pressure, temperature and pulse before, during and afterwards, but yearns for a larger sample for his study. From one of his patients, Police Inspector Lewis Lane (Donald Crisp), he learns the name of the biggest fence in the city, Joe Keller. He goes to meet Keller to sell what he has stolen, only to find out that "Joe" is actually "Jo" (Claire Trevor). The doctor impresses Jo and a gang of thieves headed by 'Rocks' Valentine (Humphrey Bogart) with his exploits, so Jo invites him to join them, and he accepts. Dr. Clitterhouse pretends to take a six-week vacation in Europe. As "The Professor", he proceeds to wrest leadership of the gang (and the admiration of Jo) away from Rocks, making him extremely resentful. When they rob a fur warehouse, Rocks locks his rival in a cold-storage vault, but Clitterhouse is freed by Butch (Maxie Rosenbloom), a gang member that Jo had assigned to keep watch on him. Afterwards, Clitterhouse announces he is quitting; he has enough data from studying the gang during their robberies, and his "vacation" time is up. He returns the gang to Rocks' control. However, Rocks learns Dr. Clitterhouse's real identity and shows up at his Park Avenue office. Rocks tries to blackmail the doctor into using his office as a safehouse as they rob the doctor's own wealthy friends. Clitterhouse learns that Rocks will not let him publish his incriminating research, and also realizes that he has not studied the ultimate crime - murder - which will be the final chapter to his book. So, he gives a poisoned drink to Rocks, and he studies his symptoms as he dies. Jo helps dispose of the body in the river, but it is recovered and the poison is detected by the police. The doctor is ultimately caught by his friend Inspector Lane and placed on trial. He insists that he did everything for purely scientific reasons and claims that his book is a "sane book" and that it is "impossible for an insane man to write a sane book". His determination to show that he is sane, and therefore willing to face the death penalty, convinces the jury to find him not guilty by reason of insanity. 

=====

Royal Flash is set during the Revolutions of 1848. The story features Lola Montez and Otto von Bismarck as major characters, and fictionalises elements of the Schleswig- Holstein Question, 1843, 1847 and 1848. It is set in the fictional Duchy of Strackenz, making it the only Flashman novel to be set in a fictitious location. Other characters include: *Prince Edward *Lillie Langtry *Ludwig I of Bavaria *John Gully *Nicholas Ward *Lord Conyngham *Richard Wagner *Franz Liszt *Oscar Wilde *Henry Irving *Karl Marx *Lord Palmerston *Viscount Peel *Jefferson Davis The book is loosely based on the plot of The Prisoner of Zenda. Flashman explains that this is because the story was plagiarised from him by its author, Anthony Hope. In a letter, Fraser wrote that during his researches into an earlier Flashman book he had discovered that in real life Bismarck and Lola Montez had been in London at the same time. He added that it had been too good an opportunity to miss.Letter from George MacDonald Fraser in the Glenn Christodoulou Collection 

=====

Presented within the frame of the supposedly discovered historical Flashman Papers, this book describes the bully Flashman from Tom Brown's School Days. The papers are attributed to Flashman, who is not only the bully featured in Thomas Hughes' novel, but also a well-known Victorian military hero. The book begins with an explanatory note detailing the discovery of these papers and also discussing the supposed controversy over their authenticity. A reference is made to an article in The New York Times from 29 July 1969, which puts these claims to rest. Fraser hints that the article supports the papers' authenticity, although the opposite is true. Flash for Freedom begins with Flashman considering an attempt at being made a Member of Parliament and continues through his involvement in the Atlantic slave trade, the Underground Railroad, and meeting a future president, detailing his life from 1848 to 1849. It also contains a number of notes by Fraser, in the guise of editor, giving additional historical information on the events described. 

=====

Goody Rickby is impregnated by the wealthy Gilead Wingate, after which he refuses to accept the responsibility of fatherhood. Goody decides to use black magic to get revenge on Wingate. She succeeds in summoning Satan before her, and together they concoct a scheme to punish the man who wronged her. Satan creates a living being from a scarecrow and the creature adopts the human identity of "Lord Ravensbane" so that he can function unsuspected in society. Satan instructs his creature to seduce Wingate's niece Rachel and fool the villagers into believing the Wingates are all witches. Ravensbane develops emotions and a soul, however, and genuinely falls in love with the young lady, foiling the Devil's plans. 

=====

Presented within the frame of the supposedly discovered historical Flashman Papers, this book describes the bully Flashman from Tom Brown's School Days. The papers are attributed to Flashman, who is not only the bully featured in Thomas Hughes' novel, but also a well-known Victorian military hero. The book begins with an explanatory note detailing the discovery of these papers. Flashman at the Charge begins with Flashman trying to avoid a transfer to the Crimea but failing miserably. He is made guardian of one of Queen Victoria's cousins and is sent to the midst of the Crimean War. Flashman witnesses and participates in the most notable offensive and defensive actions of that war, and eventually finds himself trekking across Asia in an effort to save the British Raj. Flashman at the Charge covers the years 1854 to 1855. It also contains a number of notes by Fraser, in the guise of editor, giving additional historical information on the events described. 

=====

Presented within the frame of the supposedly discovered historical Flashman Papers, this book describes the bully Flashman from Tom Brown's School Days. The papers are attributed to Flashman, who is not only the bully featured in Thomas Hughes' novel, but also a well-known Victorian military hero. The book begins with an explanatory note detailing the discovery of these papers. Fraser also states he has received communications from people either claiming to be a descendant of Flashman or of someone to whom Flashman owed money. Flashman in the Great Game begins with Flashman at Balmoral as a guest of Queen Victoria. Here he meets with Lord Palmerston, who recruits him to go to Jhansi in India and investigate rumours of an upcoming rebellion among the Sepoys. Flashman skulks through India in various disguises, narrowly avoiding death several times and witnessing first-hand the carnage of the Sepoy Mutiny. Flashman in the Great Game covers the years 1856 to 1858. It also contains a number of notes by Fraser, in the guise of editor, giving additional historical information on the events described. 

=====

Presented within the frame of the supposedly discovered historical Flashman Papers, this book describes the bully Flashman from Tom Brown's School Days. The papers are attributed to Harry Paget Flashman, who is not only the bully featured in Thomas Hughes' novel, but also a well-known Victorian military hero. The book begins with an explanatory note that while this is the sixth packet of the papers to be published, the story contained within actually takes place chronologically after Flashman, the first packet to be published, and between the two timeframes featured in Royal Flash, the second story to be published. Flashman's Lady begins with Flashman's encounter with Tom Brown, a former acquaintance from Rugby School, and progresses through cricket, battling pirates with James Brooke in Borneo, and enslavement in Madagascar under Queen Ranavalona I, detailing his life from 1842 to 1845. This book is unique among the Flashman series for containing extracts from the diary of his wife, Elspeth. It also contains a number of notes by Fraser, in the guise of editor, giving additional historical information on the events described. 

=====

Presented within the frame of the supposed discovery of a trunkful of papers detailing the long life and career of a Victorian officer, this series centres around Flashman, the bully from Tom Brown's School Days. The papers are attributed to him, who has grown from the schoolboy of Thomas Hughes's novel into a well-known and much decorated military hero. The book begins with an explanatory note detailing the discovery of these papers. The story proper begins with Flashman fleeing with Susie Willinck (a New Orleans madam, aka "Miss Susie"), as described at the end of Flash for Freedom!. They cross the continent to join the California Gold Rush, meeting several well-known personalities of the American West in 1849 and 1850. The story resumes in 1875, when he takes part in the Battle of the Little Bighorn the following year. It also contains a number of notes by Fraser, in the guise of editor, giving additional historical information on the events described. 

=====

Presented within the frame of the supposedly discovered historical Flashman Papers, this book describes the bully Flashman from Tom Brown's School Days. The papers are attributed to Flashman, who is not only the bully featured in Thomas Hughes' novel, but also a well-known Victorian military hero. The book begins with an explanatory note detailing the discovery of these papers. The present novel takes place shortly after Flashman's service with John Brown in the United States (detailed in Flashman and the Angel of the Lord). There is no explanation as to how he ends up in Hong Kong, but it is from here that he begins his adventures in China. Flashman meets both the leaders of the Taiping Rebellion and members of the Qing Dynasty who participated in the Second Opium War. 

=====

Presented within the frame of the supposedly discovered historical Flashman Papers, this book describes the bully Flashman from Tom Brown's School Days. The papers are attributed to Flashman, who is not only the bully featured in Thomas Hughes' novel, but also a well-known Victorian military hero. The book begins with an explanatory note detailing the discovery of these papers. The book begins with Flashman being questioned about Koh-i-Noor by Queen Victoria. As Flashman cannot tell the truth to the Queen without offending her, he reminisces about the First Sikh War, 1845 and 1846, and how he acquired Koh-i-Noor (The Mountain of Light). 

=====

Presented within the frame of the supposedly discovered historical Flashman Papers, this book describes the bully Flashman from Tom Brown's School Days. The papers are attributed to Flashman, who is not only the bully featured in Thomas Hughes' novel, but also a well-known Victorian military hero. The book begins with an explanatory note detailing the discovery of these papers. The present novel takes place immediately after Flashman in the Great Game and before Flashman and the Dragon. It details Flashman's involvement with John Brown and his raid on Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, from 1858 to 1859. 

=====

Presented within the frame of the supposedly discovered historical Flashman Papers, this book describes the bully Flashman from Tom Brown's School Days. The papers are attributed to Flashman, who is not only the bully featured in Thomas Hughes' novel, but also a well-known Victorian military hero. The book begins with an explanatory note detailing the discovery of these papers. It also states that smaller narratives have been discovered mixed in with the larger packets which comprise the previous books. Flashman and the Tiger is a collection of three of these narratives. "The Road to Charing Cross" is the longest, detailing Flashman's involvement in preventing an assassination attempt on Emperor Franz Josef. It takes place in 1878 and from 1883 to 1884. "The Subtleties of Baccarat" describes the Tranby Croft affair in 1890 to 1891. "Flashman and the Tiger", covering 1879 and 1894, borrows some characters from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for a tale about blackmail and revenge. It is also the only Flashman story to give any detail about his adventures with the Zulus. The title story had been originally serialised in the Daily Express, between 29 September 1975 and 3 October 1975, with illustrations by Andrew Robb. 

=====

As in all of Fraser's Flashman novels, the story is presented as part of the Flashman Papers, supposedly written by Sir Harry Flashman, the villain of Tom Brown's School Days. It begins with the usual explanatory note detailing the discovery of the papers. The adventure is set in 1867-8 and starts in Trieste, shortly after Flashman's service with Emperor Maximilian I in Mexico. Flashman then travels to Abyssinia (Ethiopia) and takes part in General Robert Napier's 1868 expedition. 

=====

Mark Franklin arrives on the Mauretania at Liverpool in 1909 with a copy of Shakespeare's works, an old Mexican charro saddle and two Remington pistols in his battered luggage. A tall and softly-spoken American prospector, who made his fortune in a silver strike in Nevada, he is visiting the 'old country' to see his roots. He goes to London where he meets and has a one-night stand with 'Pip' Delys, a music hall performer. She gives him the name which forms the title of the book. He then buys a house in Castle Lancing, the Norfolk village his ancestors came from in the 17th century. A chance event during a fox hunt, when the fox hides in Franklin's picnic basket, leads to an acquaintance with King Edward VII, and the beginning of an enmity with a neighbour (Frank, Lord Lacy) which lasts throughout the book. Through playing bridge with Edward and his mistress Alice Keppel, Franklin elevates himself greatly in the king's estimation through his easy manners. When the king invites him to Sandringham, Franklin meets Winston Churchill, Jackie Fisher, and Ernest Cassel. This allows Fraser to depict some of the historical background of the build-up to the First World War. He also meets General Flashman, from Fraser's well-known historical fiction series. Flashman is in his late 80s at the start of the book (as he says, "I'm eighty-eight next May, and I attribute my longevity to an almost total abstinence from tea"), and an important sub-plot involves his grand-niece, Lady Helen Cessford, a suffragette. An old partner in crime, Kid Curry, tracks him down and demands half of all his wealth. Franklin refuses, and the stage is set for a midnight gunfight, which Franklin wins with the assistance of his manservant Samson. They bury the body in a field. He falls in love with, and marries, another neighbour, Peggy Clayton. Her brother is an officer in the British Army and is involved in running guns to Ireland during the Curragh Mutiny, using Franklin's money obtained by Peggy from him by deception. Over the years, Franklin gradually grows apart from his young wife, at first due to the breach of trust over the money, and then when he discovers her sexual infidelity. The novel ends with the outbreak of war in 1914, and Franklin deciding to return to the US, leaving the bulk of his fortune in England for his wife and her family. At the last moment, he changes his mind, and the reader is left unsure whether he intends to return to his unfaithful wife, to possibly accompany Samson who plans to serve in the Legion of Frontiersmen under Frederick Selous, or something else entirely. 

=====

Intense young "tough" Thomas Seyr is a 28-year-old real estate broker involved in shady business deals. His business partners, Fabrice and Sami, spend much of their time ruthlessly chasing squatters and illegal immigrants out of the buildings they have procured and trying to work their way around government housing regulations. Thomas is born to this kind of work; his father, Robert, is also involved in dodgy enterprises and sometimes calls upon Thomas to beat up people who refuse to pay. Tom shows a protective and defensive attitude toward his father who doesn't always appreciate what his son does for him – so much so that when his father introduces his new girlfriend to Tom, Tom undermines her to her face, and insults her to his father, insisting she is an opportunistic "whore." Later, when he tries to enlist her help to watch over his father, she tells him they broke up due to Robert changing his attitude and she is aware of Tom's backstabbing because Robert told her. Robert by this time is in danger from a Russian gangster, Minskov (Anton Yakovlev) who scammed him out of 300,000 Euros and Tom is worried for his safety. Tom chances upon his late mother's manager, his mother having been a concert pianist until she died 8 years previously. The manager remembers him playing something when he was 20 years old, and invites him to audition for him. The opportunity rapidly takes over Tom's imagination, becoming an obsession. He finds a teacher newly emigrated to France, virtuoso Miao Lin, to help him prepare for the audition. She speaks only Chinese, Vietnamese and some English, but no French. Tom misses appointments and drops assignments while practicing piano around the clock, and having an affair with the wife of one of his promiscuous business partners. Finally Tom reaches the high standards of his teacher, but he falls apart at the audition, having stayed up all night helping his partners with a business deal. He goes to see his father only to find the apartment destroyed and his father murdered. Tom is devastated. Two years later: Tom tests a piano onstage and gives directions to the stage manager. He drives Miao Lin to the concert hall and parks the car, when he chances to see Minskov. He follows Minskov, and takes him by surprise waiting for an elevator. They fight in the stairwell, Minskov almost shooting Tom. Tom gains the upper hand and tries to use Minskov's own gun against him, but cannot pull the trigger. Tom washes in the restroom and takes his seat in the concert hall, knuckles and shirt bloody, exchanging affectionate glances with Miao Lin at the piano. He is evidently Miao Lin's manager and partner. 

=====

It's 1890. Priest Adolf Daens returns to his hometown, the Belgian municipality Aalst, after a dispute with bishop Antoon Stillemans. Daens moves in with his brother Pieter, publisher of the local newspaper "Land Van Aelst". Daens is upset when he hears about the bad work conditions in the textile industry. Workmen are abused and exploited by the rich directors only for their own profit. To gain more profit, the companies have just decided to fire all men. They are replaced by women as their wages are much lower. Children need to work day and night, fall asleep and are flattened under the mechanical looms. Industrial accidents happen continuously and the management takes no action. A new catastrophe will soon happen: Stephane Borremans is about to fire 50% of his employees. His action is supported by Charles Woeste, a foreman of the Catholic-Party fraction in the Chamber of Representatives. Daens resists and wants to stop the atrocity. Pieter helps him in his task by publishing the misbehaviours in the textile industry in his newspaper. Daens becomes a pulpit and, later on, also a member of the Chamber of Representatives. Nette Scholliers is the eldest daughter of a Catholic family. She is just 17. As her parents have been made redundant, she is the only one who is earning some money to support her whole family. As soon as she hears about Daens's plans, she supports him. Daens is even supported by the liberal party and the socialist party. Jan, a socialist, falls in love with Nette and both start a forbidden romance. Daens starts to doubt whether he can really change the bad circumstances. Furthermore, as he chooses the side of the poor people, he gets into a conflict with the rich directors, the Catholic party and even the Catholic church. Father Daens is a thorn in their side as he has become a symbol in the hardline freedom struggle of the workmen. Woeste sets up a plot in which he even involves the Holy See. Daens is summoned by Pope Leo XIII and is put before a dilemma: either he stays a priest or he becomes a politician. Daens just neglects the warnings and continues both of his activities. This leads to his compulsory defrocking. Eventually, Daens convinces the Belgian politicians that work conditions must improve and workmen must have more rights. Thanks to this action, the directors are forced to invest in better work conditions and to assume a greater responsibility in the prevention of accidents. 

=====

Rupert Bear decides to head off for a walk on the hills. With his Mother's blessing, he sets off for a jolly trip, encountering his friends Edward Elephant and Bill Badger along the way, who are too busy to join him - Bill needs to look after his baby brother and Edward has to do some shopping. As Rupert reaches a hill, he props himself up against the trunk of an oak tree and enjoys the glory of the countryside. Suddenly, he finds himself enveloped by a rainbow cloud of butterflies previously masquerading as leaves on the oak tree, and all of them swarm away from the leafless tree towards a rocky outcrop; Rupert cannot resist following them. As he leaves, a large white barn owl and two black cats decide to follow him. Upon the rocks, Rupert finds a large number of multicolored frogs. He walks into a cave behind a waterfall and sees three signs: "Frogs only beyond this point", "Everything except frogs must be kept on a lead", and "Guard frogs operating". He sneaks into the palace, trying to avoid getting caught by the frog guards. There, he witnesses the Frog Song, an event that occurs only once in a few hundred years in which various frogs of all shapes and sizes come together and sing "We All Stand Together". Around the end, the frog King and Queen rise out of the water before the crowd to finish off the song. After a thunderous applause from the frogs, the owl, who had followed Rupert to find out where the frogs were hiding, launches itself for an attack on the royals, but Rupert manages to warn the frogs in time and they all quickly retreat, leaving the owl and the cats empty-handed and the palace completely empty. After hearing his mother call him, Rupert excitedly rushes home to tell his family about what he saw. 

=====

The play takes place in a mansion in Chappaqua, New York in December 1940, specifically, the library. The mansion is owned by Elsa Von Grossenknueten, and her maid, Helsa Wenzel. In the opening scene, we see Helsa is killed by a masked figure. We also see Elsa talking to a police officer, Michael Kelly, about some sort of undercover scheme. Both are unaware of the maid's murder. The next morning, we see Helsa again, only now her entire personality seems to have changed overnight. The guests Elsa has invited soon begin to arrive. They have been invited for a backer's audition to the Musical White House Merry-Go- Round. The first of the invited guests is an Irish tenor named Patrick O'Reilly. He's quickly followed by a bombastic theatre director named Ken De La Maize, and a beautiful young singer/dancer named Nikki Crandall. Nikki is followed in by a young (and bad) comedian named Eddie McCuen, who takes an instant liking to Nikki. While talking with Nikki, Eddie realizes that everyone coming (including Marjorie Baverstock, the producer, and Roger Hopewell and Bernice Roth, the writers) were all part of the creative team that made Manhattan Holiday, in which The Stage Door Slasher murdered three women. Eddie instantly wants to leave, and tells Nikki that she should leave as well, but he decides to stay after Marjorie and Elsa enter and woo him into staying. Roger Hopewell and Bernice Roth arrive and meet the performers, and the group gets started with their work. After things get underway, Marjorie is murdered and the body of Helsa is discovered. After a series of dizzy conversations, multiple trips through secret doorways leading to a labyrinth of hidden passageways, a power outage in the mansion, multiple crimes, and criminals are revealed. Eventually after much murderous mayhem the Stage Door Slasher is revealed and captured through deciphering Bebe's coded notebook. It is revealed to be Ken the weird director.Video of a director talking about the theatre production and its history, The Nomad Theatre. 

=====

A pelican magically changes his appearance into that of a young man. He walks and acts somewhat oddly compared to real humans, and at first he does not know much about humans, but he learns fast. He rents an apartment and gets a job. The 10-year-old boy Emil finds out that he is a pelican, and they become friends. The pelican man is sent to a zoo, but Emil helps him escape. Then the pelican man changes back to pelican appearance. 

=====

The story is set thousands of years in the future. The Lhasinu, a reptilian race native to Vega, rule a third of the galaxy, including Earth. The rest of the galaxy is occupied by a number of independent human planets which are content to maintain the status quo. Earth is, however, the center of a cult called Loarism, whose adherents make an annual pilgrimage there. The Loarists are content to allow the Lhasinu to rule Earth as long as their own cult is not interfered with. When the people of Earth rose up against the Lhasinu five hundred years earlier, the Loarists did not aid them, and the rebellion was crushed. The story opens with Russell Tymball, a nationalist Earthman, gaining possession of a Lhasinuic dispatch ordering the evacuation of Earth's human population and the planet's destruction. This will deal a death-blow to Loarism, and set the stage for the Second Galactic Drive, a planned Lhasinuic offensive against the disunited human worlds of the galaxy. Tymball uses the dispatch to convince Loara Paul Kane, head of the Loarists, to join in a second Terran rebellion against the Lhasinu. When a young Loarist pilgrim named Filip Sanat discovers two Lhasinu skulking around the Memorial in New York, Earth's most sacred structure, discussing the upcoming destruction of Earth, he rushes out, rouses a crowd, and starts a riot. When the Lhasinu attempt to force their way into the Memorial to arrest Sanat, they are overcome by Tymball's rebels and a human mob. Within a day, the Lhasinu are driven from New York City, and Sanat is sent out of the Solar System to enlist the help of the other human worlds. Six months later, the Lhasinu are closing in on Earth, while the fleets of several human worlds close in on the Lhasinu. The human alliance is close to breaking up when Sanat betrays Lunar Base to the Lhasinu, forcing the allied human fleets to fight in self-defense. The Lhasinu fleet attacking Earth is defeated. At the same time, a human fleet attacking the Lhasinuic Home Fleet in the Vega system is also victorious, and the Lhasinu are forced to surrender. 

=====

Out on a routine mission, Nanairo Planetary Patrol Officers Rallen and Jeena respond to a strange distress signal and discover the wreckage of an escape capsule in which an old man has been in a cryogenic sleep for over a decade. Once conscious, the man, whose name is Aldous, relays an unbelievable tale of the attack on his home planet by a vicious horde of creatures known as the Krawl. Rallen, Jeena, and Aldous then set out on a mission to save Nanairo from the destructive planet-eating Krawl. After fighting the Krawl on five of Nanairo's seven planets, Rallen's boss, Commander Grant, reveals that the Krawl had established a base on the seventh planet, Meido; however, their spaceship is incapable of reaching this planet. Aldous reveals that ancient ruins found on one of the planets are actually a spaceship from an earlier civilization, and that it may be able to reach Meido. After gathering a number of Keystones, they are able to resurrect the spaceship and reach the Meido. After fighting through more hordes of Krawl, Rallen fights a large Krawl called Xelles that has the ability to heal whatever comes near it. After defeating it, Rallen fights a final Leader Krawl and kills it, thus ending the invasion - temporarily. 

=====



=====

The story focuses around the narrator and his friend, St. John, who have a deranged interest in robbing graves. They constantly defile crypts and often keep souvenirs of their nocturnal expeditions. Since they reside in the same house, they have the opportunity to set up a sort of morbid museum in their basement. Using the objects collected from the various graves they have robbed, the two men organize a private exhibition. The collection consists of headstones, preserved bodies, skulls, and several heads in different phases of decomposition. It also included statues, frightful paintings, and a locked portfolio bound in tanned human-skin. One day, they learn of a particular grave, which sparks a profound interest in them, an old grave in a Holland cemetery, which holds a legendary tomb raider within. One who is said to have stolen, many years ago, a "potent thing from an mighty sepulcher." One night, they travel into this old cemetery where the ancient “ghoul” was buried. The thought of exhuming the final resting place of a former grave robber is irresistibly appealing to them. That, and the fact that the body had been buried several centuries before, drives them to travel such long distances to reach the site. Upon reaching the old cemetery, they notice the distant baying of a giant hound. They ignore it and begin their excavation. After a while of digging, they hit a solid object in the ground. After clearing the last of the dirt from it, the two men unearth a strange and elaborately-made coffin. Upon opening the casket, they see that several places on the skeletal remains appear torn and shattered, as if attacked by a wild animal. Yet, the whole of the skeleton is still completely distinguishable. At that moment, they notice a jade amulet hanging from the “ghoul's” neck. They examine it and, after a bit of observation, they recognize the amulet as one mentioned in “the forbidden Necronomicon of the mad Arab Abdul Alhazred." They immediately know they must have the amulet at all cost. They remove it from the skeleton and flee into the night. As they do, they notice once again the continuous sound of a baying hound in the distance. Even as they return home, strange sounds can be heard within their house, including the distant howl of a dog. This culminates into his friend being violently attacked and killed by a mysterious creature, which the narrator claims the amulet had brought onto him. He destroys the macabre museum he and his friend made, before fleeing from the house. He decides that he must return the amulet to its rightful owner, but it's stolen from him before he can return it. The next day, he reads in the morning paper about a band of thieves dismembered by an unknown creature. Growing mad, he returns to the churchyard and exhumes the coffin once more, only to find the skeleton within covered in caked blood and bits of flesh and hair, holding the lost amulet in its hand. Suddenly, the skeleton begins howling the same type of howl that had plagued him since he left. The narrator flees the graveyard and it is then revealed that the story is a suicide note. The narrator states that he intends to kill himself with a revolver. He believes this to be his only refuge from the crawling horror which grows within him. 

=====

The book tells the story of three women, Claire, Guinea, and Deb, who are co-workers in the beauty salon of an exclusive Sydney hotel. The story weaves together these characters with their familial and romantic relationships, as they struggle to manage the realities of working for the privileged upper classes, to whom no rules apply, while their own families cope with wartime deaths and losses, rationing, government manpower recruitment, and stiflingly conservative attitudes surrounding the role and perception of the "acceptable" behaviour of women. 

=====

33 Snowfish follows the character of Custis, a 10-year-old orphan living with his "owner" Bob Motley, who sexually abuses him, in a dilapidated house in Rockdale, Illinois. After overhearing that he was to star in a snuff movie, Custis steals a small pistol and escapes through a hole in the wall. While hiding from Motley's crew and begging for quarters in a video arcade at the Joliet Mall, Custis spots Boobie (whose real name is Darrin Flowers), a strange boy with black eyes and a single painted fingernail. Custis decides to follow Boobie into Crazy Lou's Woods, a private woodland supposedly owned by an ex-military cat farmer. Custis and Boobie soon become friends. Custis, having no home, and Boobie, who has an unstable relationship with his parents, set up a makeshift home in the woods with a tent and steal electricity from a nearby paper factory. Soon they are joined by Curl, Boobie's 14-year-old girlfriend who is addicted to drugs and supports herself as a prostitute, and finally Boobie's baby brother, whom Boobie abducts after murdering his parents. The four of them take to the road in a stolen Buick Skylark to flee the police who are searching for Boobie, engaging in dumpster diving, robbery and begging in various Chicago suburbs along the way. 

=====

As the Fifth Doctor and his companions vacation in Tasmania they become caught up in a scheme by the Time Lord Ruath to resurrect the vampire Yarven (from Blood Harvest). Ruath sends a vampire baby to attack the Doctor and turn him into a vampire, but the child instead attacks and converts Nyssa. Unable to provide Yarven with the Doctor's Time Lord blood, Ruath gives her own blood to Yarven, causing her to die and regenerate into a vampire Time Lord. Nyssa, while trying fight her new vampire nature, is drawn to Yarven's castle, where she learns more about Ruath's plan. Ruath has created a genetically enhanced mist that can turn normal humans into vampires, and kill those who use traditional methods (garlic, crosses, etc.) to protect themselves. Ruath has also invented a Time Freeze, a small Time Loop that can hold the Earth in a perpetual night, leaving the vampires free to roam and feed. 

=====

The First Emperor searches for the elixir of immortality, and he despatches 500 teenage boys and girls to help him accomplish this task. One of his soldiers, General Meng Tianfang falls in love with one of the despatched maiden by the name Dong'er. When their forbidden love is exposed, the girl reveals she has found the elusive elixir and secretly gives it to Meng. The emperor orders their execution and the soldier is sentenced to death by being encased alive in clay as a terracotta warrior, only to be reawakened in the 1930s when a struggling actress, Zhu Lili, the reincarnation of the girl who remembers nothing of her past life, accidentally stumbles upon the tomb of the First Emperor. The soldier struggles to adapt to a new era while the two are pursued by archeological looters and thugs. 

=====

Uuno disguises as an old man and infiltrates a nursing home for rich old people, where his father-in-law also lives. The ever-hungry Uuno is seduced by the table groaning with food, but as it happens, he never manages to be there at dinnertime. Meanwhile, Sörsselssön enters Uuno for a TV competition named This Is My Life, where contestants tell about their life as viewers vote them either to continue or out of the show. The nursing home elderly watch on TV as Uuno tells the show's host his life story. 

=====

Theo is addicted to sadomasochism. He insists on being hurt - whether by one he loves or by a professional dominatrix. Theo is a victim of the child welfare system. Told in reverse chronological order, Happy Baby begins when 36-year-old Theo returns to Chicago after six years away, to visit an ex-girlfriend called Maria. He knows Maria from their years growing up together in a state institution, where Theo was sent aged thirteen after his abusive father was killed and his mother died from multiple sclerosis. Theo then drifts into relationships with women who are willing to abuse him. His need for pain stems from the brutal treatment he received as a child in state custody. He recalls the memory of Mr. Gracie, a pedophile caseworker who regularly raped him when he was aged twelve but also protected him from the other boys. Elliott explores the psychology of child sexual abuse and physical abuse. 

=====

The narrative deals with the developing relationship between the marine and the nun, especially Allison's growing attraction to Sister Angela. The novel is set earlier in the war than the film, with Allison escaping from the Battle of Corregidor at the time that the Allies are still on the defensive in the Pacific. 

=====

From the trailer for the film Monte Beragon, the second husband of Mildred Pierce, is murdered. The police tell Mildred that her first husband, Bert Pierce, has confessed. Mildred protests that he is too kind to commit murder and reveals her story to the officer in flashback. Mildred and Bert are unhappily married. Mildred must sell her baked goods to support the family after Bert splits with his business partner, Wally Fay. Bert accuses Mildred of favoring their two daughters over him. Their quarrel intensifies after a phone call from Bert's mistress, Maggie Biederhof, and they separate. Mildred retains custody of 16-year-old Veda, a bratty social climber, and 10-year-old Kay, a tomboy. Mildred's principal goal is to provide Veda's material possessions, who longs for high social status and is ashamed of her mother being a baker. Mildred hides the fact that she has taken a job as a waitress, but Veda learns the truth and treats her mother with derision. Mildred meets Monte Beragon, a Pasadena society playboy and heir whose inheritance is almost depleted. Beragon owns the building that Mildred wants to purchase for a restaurant, and he pursues a romantic interest in her. While the two are at his beach house for a weekend, Kay contracts pneumonia and dies after a trip with Veda and Bert. Mildred channels her grief into work and throws herself into opening a new restaurant. With her friend and former supervisor, Ida Corwin, Mildred's restaurant is a success. Wally helps Mildred buy the property, and soon she owns a chain of restaurants throughout Southern California. Veda secretly marries well-to-do Ted Forrester for his money and position, but his mother objects. Veda agrees to dissolve the marriage but claims she is pregnant and demands $10,000 from the Forresters. Veda smugly confesses her pregnancy is a sham to Mildred, who tears up the check and throws Veda out of the house. Bert, too distraught to tell Mildred about Veda's latest escapade, takes her to Wally's nightclub, where Veda performs as a lounge singer. After seeing several sailors in the audience wolf-whistle at Veda in her sexy costume, Mildred begs her to come home. Still, Veda sneers and says her mother can never give her the lifestyle she deserves. Desperate to reconcile with her daughter, Mildred coaxes Monte into a loveless marriage to improve her social status, with Monte's price being a one-third share of Mildred's business to allow him to settle his debts. Veda, eager to live out her dream as a debutante, pretends to reconcile with her mother and moves into Beragon's lavish mansion. Eventually, the cost of supporting Monte and Veda's rich lifestyles, and Monte's underhanded ploy to retain his share in the business while causing his wife to forfeit her own, bankrupts Mildred, forcing her to sell the restaurant chain. After driving to his beach house to confront Monte, Mildred finds Veda in his arms. Veda scornfully tells her mother that Monte intends to marry her after divorcing Mildred, who runs to her car in tears. When Monte tells Veda he would never marry her because she is a "rotten little tramp," she shoots him. Veda begs her mother to help conceal the murder; Mildred reluctantly agrees. Fed up with Wally's misdeeds--helping Veda blackmail the Forresters, hiring her to sing in his seedy nightclub, assenting to Monte's business move against her making constant sexual overtures toward her--Mildred tries to pin the murder on Wally by luring him to the beach house. Police officers arrest Wally when he flees in panic after seeing Monte's body. Still, the investigating officer tells Mildred that Wally cannot be the killer because he has no motive. Back in the present, the detectives admit they knew all along that Veda committed the murder. Mildred tries to apologize as her daughter is led away to jail, but Veda rebuffs her. Mildred leaves the police station to find Bert waiting for her outside. 

=====

The story is set in 1967 in Yasothon Province, Thailand, where Yam is a hard-working, humble, and kind farmer—kind, that is, except when it comes to the attentions of Joei, the homely maid of Soy, who is the girlfriend of Yam's cousin, Tong. Yam nurses stray and injured animals of all kinds, but he never has nice things to say to Joei. Despite this, she persists in flirting with Yam and making unwanted physical advances. Meanwhile, Soy and Tong cuddle, kiss and hug each other at every opportunity. Soy's aunt, the haughty village moneylender, Dok Toh, disapproves of Soy seeing Tong, whom Dok Toh believes is too low class for her niece. She orders Soy and Joei to stay away from Tong and Yam. The social-climbing Dok Toh additionally arranges for Soy to meet the handsome, yet dull, son of the local sheriff, who has a pair of slow-witted henchmen who will help enforce Dok Toh's orders that Joei and Soy never again see Yam and Tong. However, on the night of a village temple fair, Tong and Soy and Yam and Joei sneak away and each couple finds a place to spend the night together. Tong and Soy stay up all night talking about their feelings for one another, while Joei takes sexual advantage of Yam. Dok Toh finds out about Joei and Soy's misadventures and arranges to send them away to Bangkok. Soy will attend a trade school, learning English language and secretarial skills while Joei will learn to be a seamstress and hairdresser. With the money earned while she is in Bangkok, Joei transforms herself by assembling a new wardrobe and undergoing beauty treatments, including having her skin lightened, a prominent mole removed, and her teeth straightened and whitened. In Joei's absence, Yam begins to long for her, discovering that he cares for her after all. Both Soy and Joei write letters to their men, but they hear nothing in return. It turns out that Dok Toh has bribed the postman to deliver letters addressed to Yam and Tong to her, and she in turn dumps the letters into the river. Joei and Soy determine that their letters aren't getting through, so they write to the abbot at the local Buddhist temple and ask him to deliver their letters to Yam and Tong. Yam and Tong, meanwhile, strike out on their own and head for Bangkok to try to find the girls. Neither had ever been to the city before, and did not realize how big the capital was. Discouraged by their lack of success, they return home, but through the efforts of the monk, they finally hear from Soy and Joei. The girls return to Yasothon for Songkran, and Soy is reunited with Tong. Yam is heartbroken when he does not see Joei on the bus. In fact she was on the bus, but because she had drastically changed her appearance, Yam did not recognize her, and showed no interest in Joei when she approached him. The engagement of Soy and the sheriff's son is still on, though. Tong falls into despair, starts drinking and becomes a hopeless alcoholic. On the day of the engagement ceremony, Tong's father shows up with shotgun to disrupt the proceedings. He points out that Soy does not love the sheriff's son and he demands that Tong be allowed to marry Soy. As for Yam, he comes around and sees that Joei is the same woman, even if she's changed on the outside. 

=====

Gilbert awakens in 1983 floating in the north Atlantic when all of a sudden a U.S. submarine emerges from the depths and plucks him from certain death. (The book's cover shows Gilbert on the deck of a modern submarine.) Together with some hundred other "Temporally Displaced Persons," or DTIs, the government term for those it’s kidnapped from other times, Gilbert is illegally incarcerated in a secret installation in Horsefield, New Jersey where authorities conduct experiments designed to extract historical and linguistic secrets from the past. Gilbert is forced to live a pathetic existence of living in a prison and must wear a protective suit just to prevent himself from being infected with deadly modern day viruses and bacteria. Just when hope seems to have run dry Gilbert discovers that he and the other DTIs have developed a telepathic ring, coordinated by the Ancient Egyptian priestess Tari, a follower of the cult of Isis. In this ring they are able to share their dreams, fears and plans for escape. Together with Tari, a Norse giant, a dancer from ancient North America and many others, Gilbert escapes from his illegal confines. This is a deadly plan as the US government is eager, even willing to kill, to keep the scandalous DTIs a secret from the public. Once on the outside Gilbert, Tari and a handful of others find themselves on-the-run and overwhelmed by culture shock. Dodging murderous government agents and curious laymen Gilbert wanders across the American continent, meeting up with crazed Irish nationalists, an anti- government rock group and even working for a time in a San Francisco S&M; parlor, indulging his homosexual desires. One by one Gilbert’s companions are killed off by accident or murder until he alone finally makes an escape back to England, where he again finds himself an outsider and fugitive. The book, written in the first person, is Gilbert's diary and is intended as proof of the government misdeeds committed against DTI’s. Gilbert makes many sardonic remarks on the life and institutions of the modern world in general and present-day Britain in particular, but also enjoys disabusing moderns who tend to romanticize the Elizabethan Age. Gordon is especially harsh in his mocking of the political paranoia that infected the United States during the Cold War. Gordon, a Scotsman, does manage to have Gilbert, an Englishman, visit the author’s home town of Buckie on the northeastern coast of Scotland. 

=====

Tilo (Aishwarya Rai), an immigrant from India, is a shopkeeper, an unusually strong clairvoyant, and a chosen Mistress of Spices. The Spices she gives to her customers help them to satisfy their certain needs and desires, such as "sandalwood to dispel painful memories; black cumin seed to protect against evil eye." As a young girl, Tilo was initiated as one of several young Mistresses of Spices by the First Mother (Zohra Sehgal), who warns the girls about certain rules they must follow, or face dire consequences. They are instructed never to leave their respective stores all around the world, physically touch the skin of the people they meet, or use the great and incomprehensible strength and power of the Spices to their own ends. Tilo ends up in the San Francisco Bay Area in a store called "Spice Bazaar". Tilo's customers include Haroun, a cab driver (Nitin Ganatra), a grandfather (Anupam Kher) dealing with an American-born granddaughter Geeta (Padma Lakshmi), Kwesi, a man trying to impress his girlfriend (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) and Jagjit, a teenager trying to fit in at school (Sonny Gill Dulay). Her life takes a turn one day, when a young architect named Doug (Dylan McDermott) crashes his motorcycle outside her store. Tilo tends to his injuries while trying to ignore their mutual romantic attraction. Her life changes when he touches her and they begin to fall in love. But the Spices are displeased, and things soon start to go sour in her relationships with her other customers. Haroun gets in an accident, Geeta's family situation does not improve, Jagjit falls in with the wrong crowd at school, and Kwesi's girlfriend breaks up with him. Doug comes to meet her that night and sadly tells her that his Native American-born mother had died. Tilo recognizes that the source of these misfortunes is due to her breaking the rules fit for a Mistress. The First Mother comes to her in a vision and scolds her for choosing Doug over the Spices. She vows that she will return to India, and posts a notice about a closing sale. She goes all out to help her customers one last time and tells the Spices that she will spend just one night with Doug, and then she will give herself utterly to them. She closes the store and goes off with Doug for the night. After a night of love-making, she leaves him a note that she must leave and cannot return, but that she will always deeply love him. Then she goes back to the store and sets the Spices on fire, with her at the center of the flames, as a sign of eternal servitude to the mystical Spices. Doug comes searching for her, and finds the store devastated. But Tilo has not been burned after all; she is still there, alive and barely conscious. There is no sign of a fire, but there has been an earthquake. We see a vision of the First Mother sitting at the beach, telling her that because she demonstrated her willingness to give up everything for the Spices, now she can have everything she desires and the Spices will never desert her again. Doug agrees to help her rebuild the store, and she happily reunites with him as they walk along the beach holding hands. 

=====

Donnerjack is set in a world that has developed a shared, fully immersive virtual reality. This virtual reality, referred to as Virtu, has come to dominate all aspects of society. People work, play, and can lead entire lives in Virtu. The eponymous John Donnerjack is one of the creators of Virtu, and a peerless engineer, capable of building just about anything in his virtual reality. The story follows John's final adventure, where he saves his lover from Death itself, and continues on through the perspective of his son, Jack. Many aspects of Donnerjack directly parallel famous myths and legends, particularly those conforming to Joseph Campbell's theory of the monomyth. It is heavily implied throughout the novel that, though humanity experiences it as a virtual reality simulation, Virtu may actually be an unintentional bridge to the magical realms described in mythology. It is not connected with Jack of Shadows written by Zelazny years before. 

=====

A crafty nightclub owner (Jack) brings together a group of small-time hoods and teams them up in unusual pairs (black man and white racist, Ivy Leaguer and simpleton) for a set of multiple heists which turn out to be an elaborate double cross against a notorious gangster (Dominic). During an extended standoff in a nightclub between Jack and his band of thieves and Dominic's henchman, the hoods discover why Jack brought them all together for what amounts to a suicidal mission. 

=====

On the third day of their fishing holiday to the remote Irish village of Kraighten, Tonnison and Berreggnog stumble upon the ruins of a strangely shaped house on a large lake. They discover the mouldering journal of the Recluse, an unidentified man who recorded his last days in the house before its destruction. The Recluse begins his journal with descriptions of how he acquired the house, along with his daily life with his sister and his faithful dog, Pepper. He started the diary to record the strange experiences and horrors occurring in and around the house. The Recluse relates a vision in which he travels to a remote and vast arena, "the Plain of Silence", surrounded by mountains with representations of mythological beast-gods, demons, and other "bestial horrors" on their slopes. In the center of the plain stands a house almost identical to his own, except that the house in the arena is much larger and appears to be made of a green jade-like substance. Along the way, he sees a huge, menacing humanoid with swine-like features. Shortly after his vision of the "arena," the Recluse is attacked by humanoid pig-like creatures that he names "the swine-things", which appear to come from the depths of a great chasm under the house. The struggle with these creatures lasts for several nights of increasing ferocity, but the man kills several of the creatures and drives them off. As he searches for the origin of the swine- things, the man finds a pit beyond the gardens where a river descends into the earth. There he finds a tunnel leading to the great chasm. A rock slide dams the water in the pit. The man is trapped, but Pepper rescues him. The house transports the Recluse to an unknown place called "the Sea of Sleep" where he briefly reunites with his lost love. Tonnison and Berreggnog must stop reading there as the house's collapse has destroyed much of the journal. Except for an enigmatic fragment, the book becomes unreadable between the passage describing "the Sea of Sleep" and a later entry titled "The noise in the night". They realise that the water from the dammed pit has overflowed to create the lake. They suppose that the destroyed section of the journal may have explained other mysteries about the house. They resume when readable text resumes. As the Recluse's story continues, he notices that the passage of day and night has increased in speed, eventually blurring into a never-ending twilight. As he watches, his surroundings decay and collapse to dust. His own body ages, dies and becomes one with the dust. The dead world slowly grinds to a halt and the sun goes out after several million millennia. Once the world ends, the man's spirit floats through space, seeing angelic, human, and demonic forms passing before his eyes. He sees again the house's counterpart in the Arena and enters. He finds himself back in his own study on Earth, with everything apparently returned to normality, with one exception: Pepper is dead, gone to dust. The malicious swine-beast from his earlier journeys to the "arena" has followed him back to his own dimension. The creature infects the man's new dog (kept outside) with a luminous fungal disease. Although the man shoots the suffering animal, he also contracts the disease. The manuscript ends with the man, by then partly covered by the fungal growth, locked (from the outside only) in his study as the creature comes through a trap door in the basement from the chasm under the house. As he ponders suicide to end his suffering, the creature tries to open the study door and the diary abruptly ends. Tonnison and Berreggnog search for information about the man and his circumstances. They learn that the house was long believed to be evil before the unsociable old man and his elderly sister acquired it. Monthly supplies were brought in by a man who would say nothing about the Recluse. After several years, the man returned early one day from his delivery trip, rather hurriedly, and said that the house had mysteriously fallen into the chasm. The two travelers leave Kraighten and never return. The novel ends with a five- verse poem titled "Grief", found behind the fly-leaf of the diary. 

=====

When the mysterious Onyx Island appears out of nowhere, Sonic and Tails fly there to investigate. They confront Doctor Eggman, who reveals his latest device: a camera which can turn people and things into cards, having already done so to Amy. He turns Tails into a card just as Knuckles arrives, angry at Eggman for using his device on the Master Emerald as well. Eggman announces his plan to conquer the world by turning everything to cards, challenging Sonic and Knuckles to stop him as he flees. The two heroes both set out independently to stop his plan. Elsewhere, Shadow receives a distress signal from Eggman, but upon finding him, the doctor denies sending one. He later receives a communication from Rouge warning him she has stumbled upon a dangerous secret about Eggman, but she is turned to a card before she can continue. Suddenly, Silver appears from the future, and tells Shadow he needs to get to Eggman first. After numerous conflicts, the heroes discover that Dr. Eggman had been imprisoned in a card before everything began, and that the Eggman the heroes have been interacting with is Eggman Nega in disguise. Nega is revealed to have traveled back from the future, plotting to use the camera to remove Eggman's failed schemes from existence and rewrite their family history, with Onyx Island being a future version of Angel Island he brought back to further his plan. His ruse exposed, Nega escapes into space, planning to use his camera to turn the whole planet into a card. The heroes rescue Tails and the real Eggman, who aid them in reaching Nega's space station to stop his plan. After a final battle with the heroes, Nega is defeated and captured in a card. The prisoners of the other cards are restored, and Silver takes Onyx Island and Nega's card with him back to the future. 

=====

The book centers on Wanda Petronski, a poor and friendless Polish-American girl. Her teacher, although outwardly kind, puts Wanda in the worst seat in the classroom and does not say anything when her schoolmates tease her. One day, after Wanda's classmates laugh at her funny last name and the faded blue dress she wears to school every day, Wanda claims to own one hundred dresses, all lined up in her closet in her worn-down house. This outrageous and obvious lie becomes a game, and the group of girls in her class, headed by Maddie and Peggy, mock and corner her every day before school demanding that she describe all of her dresses for them. Her father, Jan Petronski, reveals that due to the constant discrimination directed at his family they must leave town. The teacher holds a drawing contest in which the girls are to draw dresses of their own design. Wanda enters and submits one hundred beautiful designs. Her classmates are in awe of her talent and realize that these were her hundred dresses. The students who teased her feel remorse and want her to know this, but they are not sure how. They decide to write her a kind letter and send it to her old address, hoping the post office can forward it. Unfortunately, she has already moved away and does not realize she won the contest.Kathleen T. Horning, Association for Library Service to Children, The Newbery & Caldecott Awards: A Guide to the Medal and Honor Books, Chicago: American Library Association, 2009, , p. 68. Nevertheless, Wanda's lovely nature and kind heart are revealed later when she tells the teacher to give the students the drawings. 

=====

Somebody's running a takeover on crime lord King Lathrop's (Owen Watson) operation using bogarts in Hannibal Lecter lookalike masks. Clueless, King Lathrop calls private detective Velvet Smooth (Johnnie Hill) for help. With the help of her friends Ria (Elsie Roman), a lawyer, and Frankie (René Van Clief), she infiltrates the criminal underworld to investigate. Velvet finds this may be an inside job led by King Lathrop's man Calvin (James Durrah). When Velvet reports this to Lathrop, he denies it at first but the problems come closer to Calvin. Hurt by it all, Lathrop fires Calvin. Although Lathrop thinks Calvin masterminded the take-over on his own, Velvet remains unconvinced and seeks further to find out who was the man behind the man. 

=====

In New York City, an Eastern bluebird named Buster runs away from his siblings and he meets an intelligent orange Tyrannosaurus named Rex, who is playing golf. He explains to Buster that he was once a ravaging dinosaur, and proceeds to tell his personal story. In a prehistoric jungle, Rex is terrorizing other dinosaurs when a spaceship lands on Earth, piloted by an alien named Vorb. Vorb captures Rex and gives him "Brain Grain", a breakfast cereal that anthropomorphizes Rex and vastly increases his intelligence. Rex is introduced to other dinosaurs, altered by the Brain Grain: a blue Triceratops named Woog, a purple Pteranodon named Elsa, and a green Parasaurolophus named Dweeb. They soon meet Vorb's employer Captain Neweyes, the inventor of Brain Grain, who reveals his goal of allowing the children of the present time to see real dinosaurs. He plans to take them to Dr. Julia Bleeb who will guide them to the Museum of Natural History and warns them to keep away from Professor Screweyes, his nefarious and evil brother who travels around causing mischief after losing his left eye several years ago. Neweyes drops the dinosaurs off in the Hudson River in the year 1993 AD, but they are unable to meet with Dr. Bleeb. Instead, they meet a young boy named Louie, who plans on running away to join the circus. Louie agrees to help the dinosaurs get to the museum. Riding on Elsa, Louie soon encounters a girl named Cecilia, who is miserable with her life because of her neglectful parents. She agrees to run away with Louie and help the dinosaurs, and when she threw away her Thanksgiving hat, it lands on a little girl who wished for a similar hat and ends up granting her wish. To prevent mass panic, Louie decides that the dinosaurs need to stay hidden during their journey to the museum. He disguises them as floats in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. But when Rex sees the Apatosaurus balloon coming out in the parade, Rex greets it, thinking it is real and already-intelligent like he is. Then in the process of hand-shaking, Rex unwittingly punctures the balloon, causing it to run out of air and fall on the dinosaurs, but left them unharmed. When the audience realize that live dinosaurs are among them, they fly into a panic, and the dinosaurs flee to Central Park while being pursued by the police and the army. Meanwhile, Louie and Cecilia meet Professor Screweyes, who is running his "Eccentric Circus". Unaware of Screweyes' sinister nature, the children sign a contract to perform in his circus troupe. When the dinosaurs arrive at the circus, Screweyes explains that he delights in scaring people and believes that the dinosaurs would make a great addition to his circus. Using his "Brain Drain", pills that are the polar opposite of his brother's Brain Grain, Screweyes devolves Louie and Cecilia into chimpanzees. When he offers the dinosaurs to consume the pills and join his circus as a ransom in exchange for the two children's freedom, they reluctantly accept and Screweyes releases Louie and Cecilia, agreeing to tear up their contract in the process. Knowing their friendship will be lost forever, Rex transforms Louie and Cecilia back to their human forms with his gentle pats. And before leaving, he sadly tells the two children to remember him. As the kids awake the next morning, they are greeted by a circus clown named Stubbs, who works for Professor Screweyes, serves them breakfast and explains everything. Upon seeing the dinosaurs returned to their natural savage states, Louie and Cecilia plan to sneak into the night's show and save the dinosaurs with Stubbs' help. That night, Professor Screweyes opens his circus with a parade of demons and evil spirits, and then unveils the dinosaurs to the terrified audience. Screweyes says he can control Rex, and proceeds to hypnotize him, while bragging that he is never afraid. However, a crow unintentionally activates the flare lights, breaking Rex out of the trance. Realizing he has been tricked, Rex becomes enraged and attempts to eat Screweyes, making him afraid after his talk. However, Louie steps in and desperately talks Rex out of killing Screweyes. His impassioned pleas and loving touches, along with Cecilia's, return Rex and the other dinosaurs to their kind and friendly natures. Just then, Captain Neweyes arrives in his ship and congratulates Louie and Cecilia, who proceed to kiss, while Stubbs puts on an act announcing his resignation from Professor Screweyes' employ which wins the audience over with laughter. Neweyes, Louie, Cecilia and the dinosaurs board the aircraft, leaving Screweyes to be swarmed upon and devoured by the crows and one crow flies off with his now powerless screw. The dinosaurs spend the rest of their days in the museum, allowing children to see live dinosaurs, and thus fulfilling their wishes. Back in the present, Rex tells Buster that he and his fellow dinosaurs are still in the museum. He also reveals that Louie and Cecilia have reconciled with their respective parents and become a couple. Rex returns Buster to his family, ignoring his brothers' taunts while hugging his mom, and Rex tells him to remember his story before leaving for the museum. 

=====

Wilde (Nickolas Grace) and his lover Lord Alfred Douglas (Douglas Hodge) arrive late on Guy Fawkes Day in 1892 at their friend's brothel, where they are treated to a surprise staging of Wilde's play, public performances of which have just been banned in England by the Lord Chamberlain's office. In the play, all the roles are played by prostitutes or their clients, and each actor (except Grace) plays two roles, one in the brothel and the other in the play. King Herod (Stratford Johns) begs his young stepdaughter Salome (Imogen Millais- Scott) to dance for him, promising to give her anything she desires, much to the irritation of her mother, Herodias (Glenda Jackson). Salome ignores him, choosing instead to try and seduce John the Baptist, who is Herod's prisoner. John responds by loudly condemning both Herod and Salome in the name of God. A spurned and vengeful Salome then agrees to dance for Herod — on the condition that she be given anything she asks for. Herod agrees, but it is only after the dance is over that Salome asks for the head of John the Baptist on a platter. Herod is appalled, tries to dissuade her, but finally gives in to her request. The scenes from the play are interwoven with images of Wilde's exploits at the brothel. At the end Wilde is arrested. 

=====

Set in the summer of 2000, Mona (Clara Khoury), a young Druze woman living at Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights, is about to marry a successful Syrian actor. Following the hostilities between Israel and Syria there is now a zone manned by UNDOF in the Golan Heights. Crossing of the zone is extremely rare as it is only granted by both sides under special circumstances. It has taken 6 months to obtain permission from the Israeli administration for Mona to leave the Golan. When Mona crosses she will not be able to return to her family on the Golan even to visit. Mona is a bit hesitant also because she doesn't know her husband-to-be. Her father Hammed (Makram Khoury) openly supports the reunification with Syria and has just been released on bail from an Israeli prison. For this personal sacrifice he is respected by the elders of the village—yet when there is word that his son Hattem (Eyad Sheety) who has married Evelyna (Evelyn Kaplun), a Russian doctor, breaking with Druze tradition, is returning to see his sister off, they make it clear to the father that they will shun him too if he allows Hattem to come to the wedding. Mona's sister Amal (Hiam Abbass) is unhappily married and has two daughters who are almost grown up. She is considered a somewhat free spirit as she and her daughters wear trousers. Now she is even considering training as a social worker. Her elder daughter wants to marry the son of a pro-Israeli villager. Amal's husband feels put in an awkward position, as tradition demands that the male head of the family controls the other members of the family to act in a socially acceptable manner. Amal is seen advising her daughter not to give up her studies irrespective of whatever pressures she may face from the family or society. This gives insight into Amal's persona. The second brother, Marwan (Ashraf Barhom), is a shady merchant doing deals in Italy and obviously a womanizer. Yet nobody seems to object to his slightly unsettled lifestyle—quite a contrast to his brother who is only greeted by his mother and siblings. Then, after the wedding feast, the bride is escorted to the border where her emigration runs into trouble, as the Israeli government has just decided to stamp the passports of Golan residents bound for Syria as leaving Israel. The Syrian officials still regard the Golan as part of Syria under foreign occupation, and a stamp like that is viewed as an underhanded ploy by the Israelis to force the Syrian side to implicitly acknowledge the annexation. So the UN liaison officer Jeanne goes back and forth until the Israeli official who put the stamp into the passport in the first place finally agrees to erase it with some correction fluid. Yet just as the problem seems to have been peacefully resolved, the solution is threatened by a change of position on the Syrian side. In the end when it looks as if the wedding will be delayed at least for some days (which is regarded as a bad omen), the bride takes matters into her own hands. In our final view of her, she is walking with energy and determination toward the Syrian border; at the same time Amal walks away from the group with a determined face as if she would shatter the invisible fences which prevent her from pursuing her dreams. 

=====

The reader plays as one of Lone Wolf's Grand Masters. On a visit to the court of Xo-lin, news of an invasion force by the Autarch Sejanoz of Bhanar brought to the palace in Pensei. Xo-lin must be rescued and brought to sanctuary in the distant city of Tazhan across the Lissanian Plain. 

=====

Vinod (Dhanush), who has grown up under the care of a church father Rozario (Nagesh), is an introvert but a genius. He is forcibly sent to college by Rozario but is a complete misfit in class. Though shunned by the rest of his class, Divya (Sonia Agarwal) becomes his friend, and he gradually warms up to her. His feelings soon turn into love, but he realizes that Divya considers him as only a friend and learns that she is in love with another classmate, Aadhi (Sudeep). Divya's father is enraged on knowing about her love. He locks her up and prevents her from contacting anyone. Vinod comes and requests to meet her on the pretext of getting some old clothes for himself to wear. Pitying Vinod, her father allows him to meet Divya. Vinod escapes with Divya and convinces her that she will meet Aadhi in Ooty. Vinod has set up a secret place in Ooty for executing his plan of wooing Divya. He makes her stay with him, while convincing her by talking about Aadhi's arrival. On one such day, he reveals his miserable past, when he was made to work for paid labour after being orphaned at an early age. He revolts against the oppression one day. Promptly, he is beaten black and blue for his bravery. Moreover, he also loses his girlfriend to rapists in that place, who also kill her. After some days he kills the woman running the orphanage and also kills the rapist, helped by other children. They manage to break the place, escape from there, and seek refuge in the place of Rozario. Divya is touched by his past. Incidentally, the police and Aadhi arrive at the place. While Vinod was away to get some food, they try to explain to Divya that Vinod is a psychopath. Divya scoffs at their claims, citing his gentlemanly behaviour over the days that she has been alone with him. Vinod, learning that the police have arrived at the scene, begins to indulge in violence. He opens fire, killing a police constable. Forcing them out of their hideout, he manages to evade the police inspector and Aadhi and successfully brings Divya back to their original place of stay. Divya soon identifies the tiger in the cow's skin. Vinod pleads with her, telling Divya that all he wanted in his life was her presence, but she called him a friend and stated her inability to accept him as her partner for life. Meanwhile, Aadhi regains consciousness and comes back to attack Vinod and rescue his girlfriend. A violent fight follows, where Vinod treats Aadhi with disdain. The fight culminates with Vinod, Aadhi, and Divya teetering at the edge of a slippery cliff. While Divya clutches a tree bark tightly, Vinod and Aadhi slip out and barely manage to hold either of her hands. Divya is forced to choose between her boyfriend and friend. Aadhi's pleas notwithstanding, Divya does not have the heart to kill Vinod, who smiles wryly at Divya and lets go of her, falling to his death in the ravine. 

=====

The player must help recolonize the human race after the Earth's habitability is critically reduced by an ecological catastrophe. The entire human race is being housed in huge Conestoga-class colony ships, which are waiting for the player to secure at least one planet with an Earth-like environment and to also acquire enough material resources to ensure that the colony or colonies in question can build a fledgling industrial base as soon as possible. The player is allowed limited time to accomplish this goal. In addition, the player must contend with the alien races living in the area that the player is exploring. The mission's success requires diplomacy to acquire allies and the elimination of races that may be potentially hostile to humanity. The player may also deem it necessary to destroy a friendly race in order to secure enough resources to successfully complete the objectives. 

=====



=====

First is shown the last part of 'Devasuram' where Mangalassery Neelakandan chops off Shekharan’s right hand. The story begins with Mangalassery Neelakandan's ('Neelan') son Karthikeyan, as he ventures out to make money which ultimately makes him a liquor baron as now Neelakandan has lost his wealth. The relationship between Neelan and Karthikeyan deteriorates, as the father does not approve of his son's money- making methods. Mundakkal Shekaran Nambiar comes into the picture again after spending a 9 year term in prison for killing one of Neelakandan's friends: Kunjananthan, decades ago on Neelakandan's and Bhanumathi's marriage day. He still carries the vengeance against Neelan for severing the former's right- hand years ago. Shekaran decides to finish the Mangalassery family by taking over the chairmanship of a debt-ridden Bank for confiscating the house which was kept as mortgage to the bank for the medical treatment of Bhanumathi: Neelan's wife and Karthikeyan's mother. Bhanumathi seeks treatment at Shekaran's Hospital. Even though Dr. Janaki: Shekaran's daughter, offers her the treatment she requires, Shekaran throws her out of the hospital, but Neelan reaches on time and issues a strong warning to Shekaran . Neelan tries to find her treatment elsewhere, but Bhanumathi passes away in her sleep. He is shattered. Karthikeyan is not able to reach on time to set her pyre on fire and he's now bent on taking revenge on Shekaran. He vandalises the hospital as his revenge. Neelan loses his home and Karthikeyan ventures out in an attempt to reclaim his ancestral home - where Bhanumathi was cremated and her eternal urn stands on the Mangalassery soil. He tries to acquire the house legally from an auction with the assistance of the State Home Minister and MLA Sivadasan (Kunjananthan's son and Karthikeyan's childhood friend), but Shekaran and his cunning nephew Mundakkal Rajendran, along with Rajendran's evil accomplice Maniyampra Purushothaman acquire it back using a faux concealed tender. As a last resort, Karthikeyan abducts Janaki in an attempt to blackmail Shekaran, and harbours her in his friend – Sakhtivel Gounder's house in Pollachi, where the Gounder family takes great care of her as their own daughter. It is during this period, Karthikeyan and Janaki fall in love with each other. Karthikeyan gets the Mangalassery House (Tharavadu) back when Shekaran strikes a compromise without the knowledge of Rajendran and Janaki's fiancé, Sreenivasan Nambiar IPS. Janaki is subsequently released. As a result of arguments between Janaki and Sreenivasan about her chastity while being in the custody of Karthikeyan, and she not giving a written statement to the police against him because of her liking towards Karthikeyan, the fixed marriage is called off by Janaki. Rajendran makes a last attempt to kill Karthikeyan, but instead kills Neelakandan by lighting him on fire, and gets killed by Neelan after a perfect knife throw, which decapitates Rajendran. Karthikeyan, now infuriated, goes to kill Shekaran by burning him. But the elderly Warrier stops him and brings him back. Shekaran realizes his mistakes, as well as the kindness of and the influence of Warrier on both Neelan and Karthikeyan (Warrier's shout prevented Neelakandan from killing Shekaran decades ago: in Devasuram). Karthikeyan becomes the head of his home, the soil where both his parents now sleep peacefully in eternity, and the IPS officer gives Janaki back to him, thus parting ways with the would-be couple on a happy note. Karthikeyan and Janaki are happily married with everyone's blessings. 

=====

DCP (Deputy Commissioner of Police) Shiv Kumar (Sunil Dutt), returns home to his wife Sheetal (Rakhee Gulzar) and their young daughter and announces that he has been transferred to Bombay. He has two brothers, Vijay (Amitabh Bachchan) and Ravi (Shashi Kapoor), who live in Bombay. They are intelligent, capable guys, but spend their time loafing about the city and swindling unsuspecting people. A mysterious man (Shatrughan Sinha) tries to assassinate Shiv Kumar twice in the city. Shiv survives both times. After being swindled by Chacha (Johnny Walker) and Renu (Bindiya Goswami), the twosome decide to join forces with them. They are quickly joined by a glamorous thief, Sunita (Parveen Babi). One of their tricks eventually backfires and lands Vijay and Ravi in jail. Shiv bails them out and reads them the riot act at home. After the two attempts on his life, Vijay and Ravi advise him to find a different line of work, arguing that his profession is unpredictable, dangerous and unsuitable for a family man. Shiv stands firm, citing his undying patriotic commitment to his corps and his country. Shakaal (Kulbhushan Kharbanda) is an international crime lord operating from a remote island outside India. Shakaal is a sadistic villain who rejoices in pain of his enemies and traitors. Shiv gets progressively closer to the root of the crimes in the city. Shakaal has Shiv brought before him. He compliments Shiv on his wits and valour, and invites him to come to his side. True to his form, Shiv firmly refuses the offer. Shakaal tries to kill him, but Shiv breaks loose and tries to escape from the island. Shakaal unleashes wild dogs upon Shiv and eventually shoots him dead on the beach from a helicopter. As Vijay, Ravi and Sheetal lament their tragic loss, the mysterious man who tried to kill Shiv shows up. Sheetal angrily identifies him. The man introduces himself as Rakesh, a marksman and former circus performer who used to shoot targets blindfolded. He was recruited by Shakaal to assassinate Shiv, by holding Rakesh's wife hostage. Rakesh confesses that he deliberately missed Shiv on the two previous instances, hoping it would buy him time to rescue his wife. On realizing this, an angry Shakaal killed his wife. Rakesh sought out Ravi and Vijay so they could work together to bring down Shakaal. The trio seek the aid of a homeless cripple, Abdul (Mazhar Khan) and manage to find and destroy Shakaal's contraband warehouse in the city. Finding that Abdul was providing Ravi and Vijay with information, Shakaal has his men kill him. Enraged with the destruction of his warehouses, Shakaal kidnaps Sheetal and has her brought to his island. Vijay, Ravi and Rakesh fume, knowing that Sheetal will almost certainly be killed and that they have no clue about the location of Shakaal's island. At this point, Jagmohan (Mac Mohan), another of Shakaal's aides who has been mercilessly crippled by him, offers his help to the group to gain entry to Shakaal's hideout. Posing as a musical troupe (a familiar stratagem in many Bollywood films), Vijay and Ravi (with Renu, Chacha and Sunita) enter the island and perform for Shakaal. Shakaal, however, reveals that Jagmohan was sent by him to trap them. Jagmohan's fracture was a lie. Their cover is blown and they are captured. An elaborate sequence ensues as the three men escape. The trio and the widow avoid the booby traps and the henchmen ultimately capture Shakaal and finally end his ignominious existence. Shakaal, with his dying breath, sets his island hideout to blow up, but the heroes escape via helicopter to safety. 

=====

Bhola (Sunil Dutt), an innocent young man lives with his maternal uncle (Mama) Kunwar Pratap Singh (Om Prakash). Bhola is enraged at Pratap Singh who has been searching for a girl to marry despite his wife being alive. Angry, he leaves his uncle's house and moves in to live with his Aunt (Pratap's wife). There, he finds a beautiful neighbour Bindu (Saira Banu) and falls in love with her. Bindu however, gets annoyed by Bhola and refutes his advances. Vidyapati (Kishore Kumar), who is a singer and theater actor and Bhola's friend and mentor comes to his rescue and spies on Bindu. Bindu tolerates advances of her South Indian music teacher Master Pillai / Masterji. Vidyapathi realizes that Bindu loves music and that is the reason for her closeness with Master Pillai. He tries to teach Bhola to sing but fails miserably. Inspired by dubbed songs, he devises an idea and asks Bhola to mimic the lyrics to songs while he does the real singing in the background himself. Their plan to impress Bindu succeeds and Bindu slowly starts falling for Bhola, much to the chagrin of Pillai. When singing at Bindu's birthday party, one of her friends becomes suspicious at Bhola's voice. She leads Bindu to discover Bhola's fake act. It makes Bindu angry and in a fit of rage, she agrees to the marriage proposal of Kunwar Pratap Singh, which she had earlier rejected upon knowing that he is Bhola's Maternal Uncle. Vidyapathi and his gang visit Pratap Singh and plead him to reject the proposal for his nephew's love, to which Pratap Singh agrees. This further enrages Bindu who decides to marry Pillai, just to get even with Bhola. Helpless to stop the wedding, Vidyapathi comes up a last-ditch plan to fake Bhola's suicide. They arrange a suicide scene and start shouting and mourning Bhola's "death". Everyone arrives at the scene including Bindu who is deeply shocked and tries to wake him up. Vidyapathi tells her that only her unrequited love could have a chance of bringing the dead back and encourages her to try harder. After some more pretending, Bhola finally cries and wakes up, embracing Bindu. Everyone including Master Pillai is happy and shocked to see the power of true love. In the end, Bhola's Maternal Uncle and Aunt also reconcile and bless the newlywed couple. In the last scene of movie, Master Pillai is shown playing 'Shehnai' with tears in his eyes. 

=====

The film follows one week in the life of 24-year-old Jamie Conway. Originally from Pennsylvania, Jamie works as a fact-checker for a major New York magazine, but because of his nights partying with his glib best friend Tad and his addiction to cocaine which has led to him being frequently late to work and not finishing assignments on time; Jamie's on the verge of getting fired by his stern boss, Clara Tillinghast. His wife Amanda, a fast- rising model, just left him; he is also still reeling from the death of his mother from cancer a year earlier; and he follows a tabloid story about a pregnant woman in a coma. Jamie's story captures some of the glossy chaos and decadence of New York nightlife during the 1980s, and also views desperately trying to escape the pain in his life. After Jamie gets fired from his job, he goes on a further downward spiral with more substance and alcohol abuse. He attempts to go on a date with Tad's cousin Vicky as a favor so Tad could, in turn, have a fling with a woman he claims is a Penthouse Pet. Jamie also avoids phone calls from his younger brother Michael who has come to New York to look for him. Megan attempts to help Jamie out with finding a new job as well as try to open up about his troubled life and the reason why Amanda left him. After a confrontation with Michael and attending a party where Amanda is in attendance, Jamie finally decides to open up and come clean with himself before he ends up either dead or in jail. At the party, Tad is so intoxicated that he doesn't seem to realize that a woman he is flirting with is actually a man in drag. Meanwhile, Jamie phones Vicky and tells her that he and his brother Michael helped their dying mother commit suicide to end her suffering. Jamie then refuses Tad's offer to spend more time together and leaves the party. Jamie wanders the streets until dawn when he decides that today will be a better day to get his life back on track. As the film ends, a news clipping of the newborn "Coma Baby" is shown. 

=====

The novel is narrated in the first-person from the point of view of Alison Poole, "an ostensibly jaded, cocaine-addled, sexually voracious 20-year-old." Alison is originally from Virginia and lives in Manhattan, where she is involved in several sexual relationships and is aspiring to become an actress. She falls in love with bond trader and Shakespeare expert Dean, but soon they betray each other. The novel implies that the cause of Poole's "party girl" behavior is her father's abuse, including the killing of her prize jumping horse. 

=====

Ram (Dilip Kumar) lives with his sister Sulakshana (Nirupa Roy) and niece Kuku in his family estate. His brother-in-law Gajendra (Pran) is a ghar jamai who looks after his factories and controls his property with an iron hand. Ram is shy and cowardly in nature. He is always abused and brutally beaten by Gajendra. Sulakshana and Kuku try to protect Ram from Gajendra whenever he whips Ram. Everybody decides to get Ram married for his well being. Gajendra finds a rich girl Anjana (Waheeda Rehman) with the aim of getting a huge dowry. Anjana dislikes Ram after he spills tea over her due to nervousness. Gajendra, angry at Ram's behaviour, conspires with the support of his mother and cunning Munimji to kill Ram and take over his property. Ram overhears this and escapes to the city to save his life. Meanwhile, Ram's long lost twin brother Shyam (also Dilip Kumar) lives in a village with his adopted mother Ganga, whom he believes to be his biological mother. No one other than Ganga knows the truth about the twin brothers. Shyam is strong, brave and mischievous, unlike his brother. He has a love-hate relationship with Shanta (Mumtaz). Shyam escapes to the city, after a mischievous conflict with Ganga, and meets Anjana, who is impressed by his personality. Anjana and her father confuse Shyam with Ram. Ram meets Shanta, who thinks he is Shyam and takes him forcefully to his mother. Ram and Shanta develop feelings for each other. Meanwhile, Shyam decides to take the place of Ram to face Gajendra. Shyam refuses to sign his property over, after which angry Gajendra attacks him. Shyam retaliates and whips Gajendra hard, shocking everybody. Sulakshana stops her brother to protect her husband. Gajendra is startled after being beaten up by Shyam, whom everybody believes as Ram. Shanta and Anjana meet and both claim the picture of Ram as their fiancé. Gajendra learns that Shyam has taken the place of Ram. He abducts Ram and Shanta, and plans to kill Ram. He frames Shyam for the murder of Ram though Ram is alive. Shyam is arrested by police. Anjana and her father learn from Ganga that Ram and Shyam are twin brothers lost in a village fair. They also learn about the true colour of Gajendra. Shyam escapes from police custody and battles Gajendra and his henchmen. Gajendra tries to shoot them, but both the brothers and Shanta manage to defeat him. At the end, the twin brothers are happily married and the family reunited. 

=====

Set in 1960, the story follows the efforts of the Mossad, the Israeli Secret Service, to find former SS Colonel Adolf Eichmann, who fled Germany for Argentina and took the name Ricardo Klement. He was wanted for the mass murder of both Jews and non-Jews in Europe during the Holocaust. Learning of Eichmann's living in Argentina, the Mossad sends a team to capture him, led by agent Peter Malkin. The standing order is to bring Eichmann back alive to Israel for trial. The film ends with the take-off of the El Al aircraft taking Eichmann to face trial in Jerusalem. 

=====

Rajesh (Feroz Khan) was a motorcycle stuntman in a circus and is now a thief, expert in breaking open treasuries. In one such robbery, he is being watched by a jolly but shrewd police inspector Amjad Khan (Amjad Khan). Sheela (Zeenat Aman) is a gorgeous disco club dancer and singer. Rajesh and Sheela are in love. Rajesh has not disclosed to Sheela that he is a thief. An evil brother-sister duo, Vikram (Shakti Kapoor) and Jwaala (Aruna Irani) seek revenge against crime boss Rakka (Amrish Puri), who cheated Jwaala and siphoned her money. Vikram meets Rajesh in jail. Inspector Amjad Khan arrests Rajesh for theft after he is seen by an officer at a traffic accident. The court sentences Rajesh to two years' imprisonment. Sheela is devastated after she realises Rajesh was a thief. Meanwhile, Amar (Vinod Khanna) is an ace crime member in Rakka's gang who revolts against Rakka. He is a widower with a daughter Tina (Natasha Chopra) studying in a boarding school. However, before quitting Rakka's gang, Amar has committed a crime, masked, and inspector Amjad Khan is investigating that case. Amar saves Sheela from a gang of rowdy bikers. They meet regularly as Sheela likes Amar's daughter Tina. Soon, Amar begins to love Sheela, who does not reciprocate because she still loves Rajesh. After a short time, Amar and Sheela get together. Rajesh completes his jail sentence. While returning, he meets Vikram who again reminds him of the deal to rob Rakka. During the conversation, Amar incidentally reaches the site and a fist fight ensues between Amar and Vikram. While fleeing, Vikram swears revenge against Amar. Thus Rajesh and Amar meet for the first time. Rajesh takes Amar to introduce to Sheela; Sheela and Amar pretend as if they do not know each other since they don't want Rajesh to unnecessarily suspect them. Later, Vikram's goons kidnap Amar's daughter and beat Amar, who is hospitalized. In return for Amar and his daughter's safety, Rajesh agrees to do Vikram's job. He nurses Amar back to normal and soon they turn thick friends. Amar promises Rajesh he will support him in this one last robbery. They plan to shift to London after the robbery with the money. They concoct a scheme whereby Amar would steal gold bars and jewellery from a safe, phone the police, let Rajesh take over, get arrested, and get a prison term for about 12 to 18 months. After his release, he will join Amar in the UK. Things don't go according to plan as Rajesh gets arrested for killing Rakka, while Amar and Sheela reach London with the money. Rajesh construes that Amar deliberately framed him so that he can get Rajesh out of the way, keep all the money (as well as Sheela) for himself. Rajesh escapes from jail and reaches London to apprehend Amar. After a brief tussle, Rajesh realizes the truth and that Amar did not frame him. Vikram and his goons reach London to take revenge against Rajesh and Amar. In the climax of the movie, Amar sacrifices his life to save Rajesh, Sheela and Tina from getting killed by Vikram. 

=====

The scoutship Ceres is assigned to explore the Jovian moon Callisto, outermost of the four Galilean moons. Seven previous ships landed there over a 25-year period and never returned. Two crewmen discover a stowaway in the supply room, a 13-year-old boy named Stanley Fields who believes in the heroic spacemen and villainous pirates of dime novels. The crew adopts Fields as a mascot, even repairing an obsolete rubber space suit for him, and the stowaway's presence distracts others from the death they fear is likely. When the Ceres lands on Callisto, the crew find a previous scoutship, the Phobos, still intact. An inspection of the Phobos reveals it to be covered with dried slime, and the bodies of its crew are discovered. Soon a horde of four-foot-long slugs emerges from a nearby lake and approaches the Phobos. Two of the Ceres crewmen are overcome by a mysterious affliction, and a third barely makes it back to the ship. The captain of the Ceres realizes that the slugs are using magnetic fields to stun the crewmen, amplified by their steel space suits. Fields volunteers to retrieve the unconscious crewmen in his rubber space suit. He brings the first back, but while retrieving the second he falls victim to an air leak and barely makes it back to the ship. Fields and the unconscious crewmen survive, and Ceres safely departs Callisto. 

=====

On a stormy night, engineer Devinder (Dilip Kumar) drives down a hill road with his friend to fetch his wife and child from a railway station. A landslide blocks their path and the friends take shelter in an old mansion. Devinder finds the house uncannily familiar. In the large front room, he finds an old portrait, which he recognises. His friend and the old caretaker join him and Devinder, amid flashes of memory from another life, sits down to tell his story while the storm rages outside. Anand (Dilip Kumar) is the new manager of Shyamnagar Timber Estate. An artist in his spare time, he roamed the hills and fell in love with Madhumati (Vyjayanthimala), a tribal woman whose songs have haunted him from a distance. Anand's employer, Raja Ugra Narain(Pran (actor)) is a ruthless, arrogant man; Anand, who refuses to bend down to him like others, incurs his wrath. Anand has enemies among his staff; he is sent away on an errand and returns to find that Madhumati has disappeared. He learns that she has been taken to Ugra Narain and confronts him, but Ugra Narain's men beat him unconscious. While the men are taking Anand's body out of the palace, they meet Madhumati's father, who had to fight to stop his own daughter's death. He had won, but died on the road, while Charandas(Johnny Walker (actor)) hides and takes Anand's body to a hospital. Anand's life is saved but his mind wanders. One day, he meets a woman who looks exactly like Madhumati. She says she is Madhvi(Vyjayanthimala) but Anand refuses to believe her; her companions beat him when he tries to plead with her. Madhvi finds a sketch of Madhumati and realises he was speaking the truth. She takes the sketch and learns his story. Meanwhile, Anand is haunted by the spirit of Madhumati, who tells him Ugra Narain is responsible for her death. He appeals to Madhvi, who agrees to pose as Madhumati before Ugra Narain and make him confess to being responsible for her death. Returning to Ugra Narain's palace, Anand asks permission to paint a portrait of him, which he does the next evening. At the stroke of eight, Ugra Narain sees Madhvi posing as Madhumati in front of him. Ugra Narain is shaken; he confesses his part in her death and is arrested by police waiting outside the room. Anand realises the questions Madhvi asked Ugra Narain, such as Madhumati 's burial place, were things she could not have known; even Anand did not know. Madhvi smiles and moves towards the stairs. The real Madhvi, dressed as Madhumati, then rushes into the room. She is late because her car broke down on the way. Anand realises he saw Madhumati's ghost, not Madhvi. He runs to the terrace, where the ghost beckons to him. Madhumati had fallen from the same terrace, trying to escape Ugra Narain. Anand follows the ghost and falls to his death. After telling the story of Anand and Madhumati, Devinder receives news that the train in which his wife was travelling has met with an accident. The road is cleared and they rush to the station. Devinder's wife, Radha (also Vyjayanthimala) appears unhurt, with their baby. 

=====

The plot involves a young English woman named Elizabeth, who, after the death of her father, travels to a convent on a remote island where her mother died after giving birth to her. The convent is populated only by nuns, who practise strange rituals in the catacombs under the building and who seem to hold something at bay down there. A priest is shown in a church studying a strange ancient book. Outside there a violent storm is raging. The church begins to collapse and the priest is impaled by the spike on top of a fallen crucifix. Later a nun is shown bearing a strange pagan amulet to the edge of the sea. As she stands on the cliff she is approached from behind by someone or something that frightens her so much that she falls to her death. The amulet she was carrying is smashed on the rocks but its pieces are shown being recovered by someone who is not identified. 20 years later a young heiress from London, Elizabeth, is traveling to a remote convent to visit her friend. She is shown on a rustic country bus that is full of strange characters. Meanwhile, a young girl in a novice nun's cassock is shown entering a catacomb through a crack in a wall. She watches a sinister ritual where nun's beat themselves with whips and lay face down on the ground in some sort of pattern. The girl is then attacked from behind by someone with a knife. While the ritual continues below the girl is repeatedly stabbed. Her blood flows into a stream which pours out over a large crucifix. Elizabeth arrives at her destination during a heavy rainstorm (which continues through much of the movie) and has to deal with various creepy or insane locals before she finds someone willing to take her on a boat to the island where the convent is located. Elizabeth is greeted by the nuns and taken to the ancient Mother Superior who is blind and communicates through an assistant. She tells the Mother Superior that she is there to see why her father donated money to the convent and if she is willing to continue the charity. She is provided with a room but all her possessions are confiscated until she decides to leave. Shortly after she is befriended by a seemingly innocent novice, Sarah, who is appointed to act as her guide during her stay. Sarah tells her that the friend she came to visit has left the convent and returned to London. Elizabeth reveals to Sarah that she was actually born on the island and lived there until she was seven. Elizabeth and Sarah visit the decaying library of the convent. There they discover an ancient book with sinister images of a demonic creature. They also find a strange painting that features a pair of young girls and a pagan amulet. While Sarah is out of the room looking for more light Elizabeth is attacked by one of the nuns. Elizabeth narrowly escapes when the nun accidentally falls to her death out of an open window. Elizabeth then discovers an entrance into a labyrinth of catacombs beneath the convent. There she spies on a strange procession of nuns carrying burning crosses and a bloody corpse wrapped in a sheet. While following this procession Elizabeth gets lost and wanders into a pit-like room where a blind painter has covered the walls and canvases with enigmatic images. She recognizes one of the faces on the wall as that of her missing friend and realizes that the body the nuns were carrying might well have been hers. The next day she sees a boat leaving the island despite Sarah having told her that there would be no way to reach the mainland for several days. Elizabeth begins to suspect that Sarah might not be as friendly as she appears. She also starts having strange dreams/visions. One involves seeing a crucified nun accompanied by two small girls. Later, she finds the beach covered by thousands of dead fish... she begins eating one before coming to her senses and vomiting. While wandering on the beach one of the villagers shows Elizabeth some photos of her childhood on the island which include another little girl and what seems to be Elizabeth's mother, who had supposedly died in childbirth. Elizabeth goes to her childhood home and questions the old woman who cared for her as a child. Their meeting is interrupted by the nuns when they set fire to the house. Elizabeth escapes but the old woman is hideously burned. Meanwhile Sarah is shown uncovering a piece of the shattered pagan amulet shown in the painting. A nun comes up to stab her but is later shown cut to ribbons and nailed to a chair. The blind painter gives a painting of Elizabeth to the Mother Superior. The old blind woman begins to smudge off the wet paint and reveals a demonic face underneath. Elizabeth makes her way back to the convent. There are dead and dying nuns everywhere. She is attacked by a nun wielding a huge knife but she manages to kill her by bashing her head on the stone floor. Elizabeth descends into the catacombs where she finds more dead nuns. The blind painter is shown using the Mother Superior's blood to paint more strange images on the wall. Elizabeth is then approached by Sarah, who removes the top of her cassock to reveal that much of her body is not human at all. She is not entirely human. It is revealed that Sarah is Elizabeth's sister but that she more closely resembles their mother. Their mother is actually the demon depicted in the book and on the pagan amulet. The nuns were trying to prevent Elizabeth from realizing her heritage and attempting to free her demon-mother from the walled up crypt she is trapped in. The two women had previously tried to free their demon-mother when they were children but Elizabeth had gotten scared and ran away. She and her father fled the island but it is presumed Sarah has been there ever since, waiting for her to return and complete the ceremony. Now the grown-up Sarah and Elizabeth begin the ritual again. The pieces of the shattered amulet are placed on the ground by a captured nun. Elizabeth eviscerates the nun and the falling blood causes the broken amulet to become whole again. The women raise the blood-soaked amulet and their demon-mother begins to break free of her prison. Just like before Elizabeth becomes terrified and throws the amulet... shattering it into pieces again. Sarah goes to the demon-mother while Elizabeth runs away. At the end of the movie Elizabeth is shown on the beach of the island. She is now in a nun's habit and putting on a necklace made of the center fragment of the shattered amulet. Her white eyes now look like those of the blind Mother Superior's. The film ends with the words "For those who are blind shall see the true face of the beast, and forever suffer it in their soul." 

=====

When Wanda Holloway was a teen, her father forbade her from trying out for her school's cheerleading team. Many years later, when Wanda had a daughter of her own, she was determined that her daughter would fulfill the dream she was denied and become a cheerleader—which would allow Wanda to make up that part of her childhood by reliving it through her daughter. The film takes place in Channelview, Texas. Wanda enrolls her daughter, Shanna, in various dance and gymnastics classes in order to enhance her prospects of becoming a cheerleader. She forces Shanna to practice for hours on end, despite sickness or injury. Wanda's best friend, Verna Heath, and her daughter, Amber, live next door to the Holloway family. Amber is the same age as Shanna and the two teenagers become friends. Verna had been a successful varsity twirler when she was young and holds the same ambition as Wanda for her own daughter. Leading up to the cheerleading tryouts, jealousy sparks between Wanda and Verna, despite the fact that their daughters' friendship remains solid. In the months prior to the tryouts, Wanda forces Shanna to concentrate completely on cheer-leading. At the tryouts, Amber impresses the judges but Shanna is unable to, despite all of her training. Amber makes the squad and Shanna does not, disappointing both Shanna and Wanda. The fact that Shanna did not make it onto the team causes Wanda to end the friendship between Shanna and Amber. Wanda does not give up on seeing her daughter become a cheerleader, and decides to try again next year. Every day until next year's tryouts, Shanna practices frequently at her mother's command. When the time arrives, Amber makes the team and is even promoted to co-captain, but Shanna is disqualified because of her mother's attempts to bribe the judges and other students. The shock of her daughter's failure for the second time puts Wanda into a mad fit of rage, anger and jealousy. Wanda decides that if it wasn't for Amber, Shanna would have definitely been a cheerleader. She becomes obsessed with the notion that living next door to talented Amber had sapped Shanna's confidence and ruined her chances of success. Wanda meets her brother-in-law Terry to take a hit out on Amber and Verna. Terry is horrified by Wanda's hate for a thirteen-year-old girl, and disagrees with the murder of a young vibrant girl—especially over something as petty as cheerleading. After the rendezvous, Terry decides to turn Wanda in to the police. He meets Wanda again, this time with a tape recorder in order to obtain proof of Wanda's desire to commit homicide. Terry sends the recorded message, along with background information, to the police. Wanda is arrested and sentenced to fifteen years in prison, but is set free when it is discovered that a member of the jury at her trial was on probation. Wanda serves only six months for the attempted murder of Amber. In the end, Shanna decides it would be best to quit trying out for the cheerleading team. Presently, Shanna and Wanda reside in California, where Shanna is taking classes in modelling, singing and acting. Wanda hopes that one day, her daughter will be a famous Hollywood actress, no matter what it takes. 

=====

The movie begins with the UK Hip Hop group "Time Served" getting used to living the high life as rap stars. This all comes crashing down however when one of their members Too Fine is killed in a drive-by because he owes a drug dealer, Temper, money. On returning to her flat after the murder, Too Fine's sister Hope walks in on the same drug dealer looking for his money. After telling her she has two days left to pay or he is going to kill her family, he rapes her and leaves. While this is happening the other two members of the group, Rage and Finny find out that due to being signed as a three-man group, their contract is now void. Under the premise of paying him back, Hope goes to Temper's house with a sawn-off shotgun. After killing him she goes back to Finny's. Knowing that Temper's two side-kicks, Chosen-one and Chronic, will come hunting for her, Finny, Rage and their friend Pushy decide to finish them off. Turning up at their favourite night-club, they kill the two, catching a waitress in the crossfire. Hope is then contacted by big time crime lord David Brumby, who wants the money Temper owed him. She instead convinces him to work with her instead, and with Finny, Rage and Pushy, go into the drug dealing business. While this is going on, DS Andy White is on the case looking for the killers of the night club waitress. White and his cohorts raid a Yardie drug-dealer and find out that Too Fine and Pushy are connected. Knowing this they begin tailing Pushy and his known affiliates, Rage and Finny. Noticing they are being followed on the way to a drug deal, they attempted to give their pursuers the shake. Finny although is captured after their cars rolls off the road and they attempt to get away on foot. In order to avoid going down for multiple offences (White also threatens to have him killed in his cell) he fingers everyone else involved. The police round up everyone involved, including Rage, Pushy and Brumby, but not Hope. Knowing Finny is the grass, Pushy calls Hope, not fully believing him she hangs up on him. Finny then comes round to Hope's to get her to leave London with him. Now knowing the truth she stabs Finny, dumping his body in a car. With his only witness dead, White has to let Rage, Pushy and Brumby go. Thinking they have gotten off, Rage and Pushy go out to celebrate, but get gunned down in the car park of a pub by Brumby's men, on the orders of DS White, who says he'll turn a "blind eye" to Brumby now. 

=====

Dutch Dooley attends a ritzy party with his girlfriend, Natalie Standish. He stands out terribly among the upper-class aristocrats – wearing a cheap suit and making boorish comments. Natalie's relaxed, less rigid personality also does not fit with the rest of the patrons. Dutch also meets Natalie's snobbish, wealthy ex-husband Reed, who tells Natalie that he will have to break his Thanksgiving plans with their son Doyle for an unexpected business trip to London. Natalie calls Doyle at his private school in Georgia and invites him home for Thanksgiving, but Doyle refuses the offer, solely blaming his mother for the divorce. Despite this, Dutch sees an opportunity to get to know Doyle and further his relationship with Natalie, so he offers to go to Georgia and bring Doyle back to Chicago for the holidays. Upon arriving in Georgia, Dutch finds Doyle to be much like his father: snobbish, selfish and elitist. He welcomes Dutch by throwing a book at his face, hitting him with a golf club, kicking him and shooting him in the groin with a BB gun, to which Dutch promises revenge. Dutch ultimately hogties Doyle to a hockey stick and carries him to the car to start on the drive back home. The trip entails several mishaps, including an impromptu fireworks show that sees Dutch's coat destroyed. Later, after Doyle throws a lit cigar in Dutch's lap, Dutch throws Doyle out of the car and makes him walk to the next motel by himself. Doyle gets even by parking Dutch's car in the middle of the highway, where it is hit and totaled by a truck. They hitch a ride with two prostitutes who steal their luggage and Dutch's wallet, leaving them stranded. Doyle calls his father, whom he discovers has lied about his trip to London; he instead spent the holidays with a girlfriend. Stunned by his father's betrayal, and wounded by Dutch's accusation that he "hates his mother", Doyle begins to regret his callous attitude. Dutch initially gives up and wants to call Natalie for assistance, but Doyle refuses and insists on getting home on their own. They sneak a ride on the back of a semi-truck and are assaulted by security guards at a trailer drop yard; Doyle brandishes his BB gun and feigns insanity, pretending that voices in his head are telling him to kill the guards, which frightens them enough to allow their escape. The two enter a restaurant, where they meet a married couple who takes them to a homeless shelter in Hammond, Indiana for the night. At the shelter, Doyle grows fond of a young girl and her family. While getting to know them, he finally realizes that he has been neglecting his mother and indeed wants to be with her for the holidays. The next day, the family drives Dutch and Doyle to Natalie's home, where Reed is waiting. Doyle reunites with his mother and reveals to Reed that he knows the truth about his trip to London. When Doyle decides to stay with his mother instead of Reed for Thanksgiving, Reed evicts Natalie from the house, which he owns. Dutch follows Reed outside as he departs and hits Reed in the forehead with his pinky ring. He then demands that Reed show more respect to Natalie and become a better father to Doyle, to which a dazed Reed agrees. As Natalie, Dutch and Doyle sit down to begin their Thanksgiving feast, Dutch asks Doyle to retrieve Dutch's coat, as it contains a very special gift for Natalie. As Doyle walks away, Dutch pulls the BB gun Doyle originally shot him with and finally gets his revenge by shooting him in the groin. 

=====

The player controls Metal Mutant, the ultimate battle machine, which was sent to the heavily protected high-tech planet Kronox to find and destroy the tyrant AROD 7. On the way to this goal, the player needs to solve puzzles and combat hostile lifeforms and enemy robots. 

=====

The game's plot has no relations to the original Battle Raper and is set in the year "20XX". The Story mode follows a young treasure hunter swordsman named Yuuki. The player gets to choose one of the female characters to accompany Yuuki, while he travels the island, fighting undead monsters and other female characters (their competitors) and to lie with her in the end. 

=====

The series follows a group of mismatched superheroes and supervillains -- Hank Pym, the Wasp, Gravity, Medusa, Firebird, Alyosha Kravinoff, Venom (Mac Gargan), The Hood and the Space Phantom --who have been abducted by a cosmic entity, supposedly The Beyonder, to the alien Battleworld for unknown purposes. Deathlok was later introduced to the roster. 

=====

It is the eve of the Iranian New Year. The film opens in a Teheran market where seven-year-old Razieh (Aida Mohammadkhani) and her mother are shopping. Razieh sees a goldfish in a shop and begins to nag her hurrying mother to buy it for the festivities instead of the skinny ones in her family's pond at home. Almost all of the film's major characters are briefly seen in this market scene, though they won't be introduced to the viewer until later. On their way home, mother and daughter pass a courtyard where a crowd of men has gathered to watch two snake charmers. Razieh wants to see what is happening but her mother pulls her daughter away, telling her that it is not good for her to watch these things. Back home, Razieh is upset about her mother's refusal to let her buy a new goldfish, but continues her campaign of nagging. Her older brother Ali (Mohsen Kalifi) returns from a shopping errand for their father who, although remains unseen has a tangible presence causing tension in the family. He complains that he asked Ali to buy shampoo, not soap, then throws the soap at him. Ali sets off to buy the shampoo and when he returns Razieh enlists his help in changing her mother's mind about the goldfish, bribing him with a balloon. Insisting that she can buy the goldfish in the market for 100 tomans ("You're crazy," Ali tells her, remarking that he can see two films with that money), Razieh finally gets her wish. Her mother gives her the family's last 500-toman banknote and asks her to bring back the change. Razieh sets off with an empty glass jar to the fish shop a few blocks away. Between their home and the fish store, Razieh manages to lose the money twice, first in an encounter with the snake charmer, and then when she drops the money through the grate at the entrance to a store which has been closed for the New Year celebration. Razieh and Ali make several attempts to retrieve the money and receive assistance from many people, including the owners of nearby shops and an Iranian soldier. The money, however, is always just out of reach. Finally, the siblings receive help from a young Afghan street vendor selling balloons. He carries all of his balloons on a wooden stick, and has only one balloon, a white one, left. The group attaches a piece of gum to one end of the balloon stick, and with it, they reach down through the grate and pull the money out. The film ends, not with Ali and Razieh, but with the young Afghan boy, who has become an important character only at the very end of the film. 

=====

Tim and Bill arrive home and are stunned to discover that the door is locked. When they knock on the door, Graeme asks them to tell him the password. Then Bill demands that Graeme let them in, and Graeme opens the door. Tim and Bill are amazed at the change to their office, which has been set up like a space control centre. Graeme has agreed to do his bit to put Britain into the space race by sending two rabbits (called "Floppsy" and "Spiro") to the moon. Bill and Tim comment that it would be very expensive to get hold of a rocket to do this, but Graeme says that he was able to buy a second-hand Saturn rocket from NASA, and that the rocket was parked outside. Tim looks embarrassed and comments that he had just posted a couple of letters in it. Graeme then demonstrates to Tim and Bill how he trains the rabbits for their space voyage, including giving the rabbits stress and gravity tests. The rabbits then lift off successfully on their trip to the Moon. Six months later, Graeme is worried because he had lost contact with "Floppsy" and "Spiro" -- and Tim intends to send up two more rabbits to the moon to find out what happened to them and Bill agrees. But Graeme does not want to sacrifice two more rabbits because they are like family to him so, when the rocket takes off, it is not Graeme's specially trained rabbits which make up the spaceship crew, but Bill and Tim, who are not at all happy, and do not wish to go. After they have taken off, Tim and Bill get into a bit of banter: :Tim: "Look, I just need to nip out to the telephone box." :Bill: "WHAT TELEPHONE BOX"? :Tim: "Er, that one there." The TARDIS from Doctor Who then flies past. Graeme says "You're looking good", and Tim then looks at his reflection in a compact mirror and thanks Graeme for what he, Tim, mistakenly assumes is a 'compliment' regarding his appearance. Bill asks where the food is, and Graeme tells him where to find it. Tim then asks Graeme where the tea is, and Graeme tells him that the tea is above their heads -- commenting that they will need to drink the tea through tubes. Tim objects, saying that he would rather drink tea from a cup, causing Graeme to yell "Don't do that, the weightlessness you fool." Then there is a meteorite shower and Bill opens a window in the rocket to get a better photo. Graeme loses contact briefly, and then says, "Captain's Journal, Stardate: February 18. Time: 10:15. It's all very... 10:15?" After switching on the television to reveal Monty Python's Flying Circus: "Blast. Missed Moira Anderson." When the rocket eventually lands on the moon it can be seen, from all the American flags planted in the dust, that other people have already been on the moon. Tim and Bill leave the rocket and set about collecting moon dust and sing "By the Light of the Silvery Earth". They become aware of all of the lettuces and carrots which are growing in the soil and Tim comments that it must be to feed all the rabbits. It appeared that "Floppsy" and "Spiro" did not perish after all, and "Floppsy" (who is now called "Big Bunny") comments that he is going to turn Bill and Tim into rabbits using carrots (with Bill and Tim then doing the Bugs Bunny impression of "What's up, Doc"), so that the rabbits can return to Earth and take over the world—with Bill and Tim as the vanguard of the invasion force. When Tim and Bill return to Earth, they are met by fanfare as the first British astronauts to travel to the moon and safely return. Everyone is then shocked to find that Tim and Bill have been turned into rabbits. Tim and Bill then proceed to wreak havoc wherever they go and Graeme has to find a way to stop them. In the aftermath of havoc, Tim and Bill appear to lose their Rabbit habits and crave for Fish n' Chips and other kinds of food like meat, But they're both in denial and clam to be still sworn servants of Big Bunny so Graeme serves them pies, which Tim and Bill find them delicious. Tim asks Graeme what they were eating. Much to their horror, Graeme reveals that he tricked them into eating Rabbit pies (OH NO!, YOU MADE US CANNIBALS!). Then Big Bunny turns up to stop them eating meat but it was too late. Tim And Bill now crave more rabbits to eat and chase their leader for dinner. 

=====



=====

While wandering around Covent Garden transcribing bits of conversation from passers-by, the linguist Professor Higgins is mistaken for a policeman, causing protests from the flower girl Eliza Doolittle. The incident is also clarified with the help of Colonel Pickering, also a scholar of languages and dialects, who came from India precisely to meet Higgins. Bragging about Pickering, Higgins argues that by teaching her to speak correctly, Eliza could have a better fate; indeed, he would be able to pass her off as a duchess. The girl then shows up at Higgins' house to take pronunciation lessons. Colonel Pickering then makes a bet with Higgins: he offers to pay all the expenses if the professor manages to make the girl pass for an elegant lady in the space of a few weeks. A first disappointing experiment takes place in the house of Higgins' mother, at a tea, during which the girl scandalizes those present with her speeches even if pronounced with perfect accent. But one of the guests - young Freddy - is fascinated by Eliza. After a tiring internship to which she is subjected by an inflexible Higgins, and during which the young Freddy tries in vain to see her again, Eliza is finally led by Higgins and Pickering to an embassy reception. Here Higgins meets his former pupil, Count Aristid Karpathy, who has become famous and in demand for his ability to recognize the origin of high society people from their way of speaking. Higgins and Pickering fear that Eliza will cheat on him, but she manages to deceive him perfectly and is so successful that she is mistaken for a princess. Returning from the reception, Higgins and Pickering congratulate each other on their success, neglecting the important contribution of Eliza and her commitment. Wounded by the indifference of Higgins, with whom she fell in love, the girl escapes by taking refuge in the home of the professor's mother. Here the teacher and student have a further discussion at the end of which Eliza abandons Higgins and leaves with the young Freddy, threatening to offer herself as assistant to Aristid Karpathy. Back home alone, Professor Higgins destroys some records in a fit of rage and listens to one of the first recordings of Eliza's voice. This is revealed a few moments later in the professor's room, and the film ends (unlike the previous play) with an open and rather hopeful ending. 

=====

Jerry is unable to remember the name of the woman he is dating (played by Susan Walters). As it would be too awkward given the time they have spent together to simply ask her, he tells her that people made fun of his name in school and asks if kids ever made fun of her name. She affirms that she was relentlessly teased because her name rhymes with a part of the female anatomy. Jerry and George come up with possible candidates, with George suggesting Mulva (for vulva). She presses him to say her name. Jerry guesses Mulva, causing her to storm out of his apartment. Moments after she leaves, in a flash of insight, Jerry runs to the window and yells "Dolores!" (rhyming with a common pronunciation of clitoris). Elaine goes to visit her ex-boyfriend Roy (Sherman Howard), an artist who she dumped because he was fat—in the hospital. Noticing that he has slimmed down (due to depression from her breaking up with him), Elaine becomes interested in dating him again. Kramer and Jerry observe the artist's splenectomy in the hospital's operating theater and accidentally drop a Junior Mint from the viewing gallery into his body. When George hears that Roy has developed an infection, he spends $1,900 (which he collected in interest from a bank account from the sixth grade) to buy some of Roy's art, thinking it will appreciate in value when Roy dies. Roy's condition suddenly turns around and he recovers. Although Roy attributes the change to George buying his art, the doctor (Victor Raider-Wexler) attributes the limited effect of the infection to "something from above." As Kramer offers the doctor a Junior Mint, Elaine decides to cancel her date with Roy, whom she observes eating enthusiastically again in his hospital room. 

=====

The first scene begins with a young couple awakening in bed, after a one-night stand. An older teen, Edith Alice “Breezy” Breezerman (Kay Lenz) hops out of bed, gets dressed, and steps into the daylight. Breezy lost her parents years before in an auto accident, and lives as a homeless free-spirited hippie in California. That same morning, Frank Harmon (William Holden) is bidding farewell to his overnight guest, a very beautiful blonde that openly shows interest in him. He is only humoring her as she leaves, and the audience gets the first sense of how detached he is emotionally. Middle-aged, divorced and wealthy from his work in real estate, Frank lacks for nothing material. His beautiful post-modern home is the setting for much of the movie. After escaping a bad hitchhiked ride with an unstable stranger, Breezy loiters near Frank's home, and runs to him as he leaves for work. She invites herself into his car and happily insists that he give her a ride to her destination. Again, we see the never-smiling Frank who is now annoyed by the insistence of this young and loquacious girl. Carefree and true to her name, Breezy steals the show with both her charm and her lack of self-awareness. The next scenes develop their friendship, showing Frank's jaded personality as he becomes slowly more loving toward Breezy. He takes a fatherly approach and gives her room/board, but never acts on sexual opportunities. In a separate side story, he is conflicted about love lost: his ex-wife named Betty Tobin (Marj Dusay). There is no formal backstory, but Betty refers to Frank "never being late with your checks," implying alimony payments. Betty gently explains she is marrying a man she very much loves, and Frank pensively accepts this news. There are discussions at their business lunch of how she has made certain life realizations, with an unsaid declaration that Frank is stunted emotionally. As Betty puts it, he is “lost”. They part as friends, clearly showing that they have mutual respect. Frank and Breezy's relationship continues to strengthen platonically, and he protects her from trouble. He introduces her to the finer things in life, while Breezy stays true to her humility and charm. On a side note, Frank's friend and workout buddy Bob Henderson (Roger C. Carmel) is grappling with his own mid- life crisis. He is not able to end his devoid marriage, which could be perceived as proof that a constrained life is no life at all. Frank takes this into consideration, while still growing closer to Breezy. They consummate their relationship at his home, which is now the protective fortress that allows them to freely express their relationship. Some of the conflicts in this plot are that Breezy maintains friendships with her own peers who are starkly opposite of Frank; they are hippies and carefree, “unwashed” as referenced by Frank. Frank's friends are established and successful, and while they never seem to question his relationship with her, the imploring question of guilt is rampant in Frank's mind. He cannot abide that he, in his fifties, is in a relationship with a teenager. These conflicts eventually break him, after a sobering discussion with Bob in a sauna. Bob reveals that there is no way he himself could embark on such a relationship, as he might feel like a “child molester”. He has no intention of being insulting, and is in fact admiring Frank, but Frank's facial expressions convey his own self-loathing. All of his shared joys with Breezy, such as their adopted stray dog and “us against the world” mentality, do not stop them from parting ways. Frank simply cannot cope with the age issue. Time goes on, and the final dramatic twist involves a death. It is this experience that brings Frank to an epiphany: life is short, and his own projected insecurities are his true enemies. He and Breezy are reunited and they begin their new life together. 

=====

A traveling show reminiscent of Buffalo Bill's, "Bronco Billy's Wild West Show" is a rundown traveling circus, the star of which is Bronco Billy McCoy (Clint Eastwood), the "fastest gun in the West." For the show's finale, a blindfolded Bronco Billy shoots balloons around a female assistant on a revolving wooden disc, and for the last balloon, he throws a knife. However, the assistant moves her leg and is nicked, so she quits. The show is not making any money, and nobody has been paid for six months. The show moves on to a new town and Bronco Billy goes to city hall to get a permit. He bumps into Antoinette Lily (Sondra Locke) and John Arlington (Geoffrey Lewis), who are there to be married. Antoinette despises her future husband, but has to marry before she is thirty in order to inherit a large fortune. Their car breaks down at the motel opposite the Wild West Show. The next morning, Arlington steals all her money and their repaired car. She is left to fend for herself. Bronco Billy talks Antoinette into becoming his new assistant, "Miss Lily," though she only agrees to do one show. Her first performance is unusually successful, although Miss Lily irritates Billy by not sticking to the script. Antoinette discovers that Arlington has been arrested for her murder (framed by Antoinette's stepmother and her scheming lawyer friend, who stand to gain her inheritance). Seizing the chance to get even with Arlington, Antoinette rejoins the Wild West Show. She learns that no one is a real cowboy: they are mostly ex-convicts, or alcoholics, or both. Bronco Billy was a shoe salesman from New Jersey who shot his wife for sleeping with his best friend. Nevertheless, Miss Lily begins to warm to the troupe. Two of the show's performers announce that they are going to have a baby. The crew goes to a bar to celebrate. One gets arrested by police who discover that he is a deserter from the Army. Bronco Billy uses the show's meager savings to bribe the sheriff into letting the man go, swallowing his pride and enduring the sheriff's verbal humiliations for his friend's sake. Then the circus tent burns down. Everyone blames Miss Lily for their bad luck, but Bronco Billy defends her and proposes that they rob a train. They try to do this in the standard Western way (riding alongside and jumping on), but a modern train proves to be resistant to such an approach and they give up. Next, the troupe travels to a mental institution at which they have previously performed pro bono. The head of the institution, who is obsessed with the Wild West, agrees to provide them with accommodation and to supply a new tent, and the inmates sew one out of American flags. Miss Lily and Bronco Billy spend the night together. By chance, one inmate turns out to be Arlington (he had been paid by the crooked lawyer to confess to being mentally disturbed when he "murdered" Antoinette). When he sees her, he raises a fuss and gets released. Bronco Billy and the show depart without Miss Lily. Antoinette returns to a luxurious lifestyle, but she is bored and misses Billy, who drowns his loneliness with alcohol. When Bronco Billy is about to introduce Lefty as his assistant, Miss Lily appears. The show, now a raving success, runs smoothly and Bronco Billy ends it with a positive message for the children in the audience. 

=====

Itinerant western singer Red Stovall suffers from tuberculosis but has been given an opportunity to make it big at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee. He is accompanied by his young nephew Whit. After a series of adventures which include the nephew's first sexual encounter in a brothel, they finally arrive. While a fit of coughing in his audition ruins his chances, talent scouts for a record company are impressed enough to arrange a recording session, realizing that he has only days to live. The tuberculosis reaches a critical stage in the middle of this session, where Red's lines are filled in by Smokey, a side guitarist (country singer Marty Robbins in his last film role). Red eventually succumbs while Whit vows to tell his uncle's story. Red's vintage Lincoln Model K touring car, prevalent throughout the movie, finally 'dies' at the cemetery where Red is laid to rest. 

=====

Harold Hall, a young man with little or no acting ability, desperately wants to be in the movies. After a mix-up with his application photograph, he gets an offer to have a screen-test, and goes off to Hollywood. At the studio, he does everything wrong and causes all sorts of trouble. But he catches the fancy of a beautiful actress, and eventually the studio owner recognizes him as a comic genius. 

=====

Joe (Matthew Barry) is the son of famous opera singer Caterina Silveri (Jill Clayburgh). While he believes that Caterina's husband, Douglas Winter (Fred Gwynne), is his biological father, the truth is that Joe was sired by Caterina's former lover, who is now living in Italy and working as a schoolteacher. Joe, moody and spoiled, needs a strong father figure to guide and discipline him, but Douglas is aloof and largely indifferent to parenting. When Joe witnesses the sudden death of Douglas in New York City, it leaves him angry and distraught. Caterina, unwilling to continue residing in Manhattan after Douglas' death, decides to move to Italy with her son. There, Joe begins associating with a dangerous crowd and becomes addicted to heroin. Caterina is heartbroken and hopes to lure her son back to a safer and more healthful lifestyle. She tries in many instances to get closer emotionally to her son hoping that increased contact will prevail over the allure of the drugs. She even contacts his drug dealer to ask for sympathy for her situation. At one point, when Joe is desperate for a fix, his mother masturbates him just to get his mind off drugs temporarily. Seeing no other alternative, she decides to drive to the location they originally lived, where her estranged lover lives with the hope that some sort of fatherly bond will cure her son. Along the way, tensions, some sexual, derail and prolong the trip. Eventually the son is dropped off at the ex's home, but Joe, rather than telling his father that he is his son, says that he is instead a friend of his son, and that his son overdosed on heroin after lifelong turmoil over the absence of his biological father. With some sort of closure achieved for the boy, he returns to his mother, who is preparing for an opera. Embracing, they reaffirm their love for each other, and together the son and his father, who has come to watch the performance, and who now knows Joe's true identity as his child, hear Caterina sing at her very best. 

=====

The film opens in an unnamed African town where Shandurai (Thandie Newton) watches with distress as a school teacher is taken away by police. In Rome, Shandurai is now a housemaid for Jason Kinsky (David Thewlis), an eccentric English pianist and composer, and is also a promising medical student. Kinsky is in love with Shandurai, sending gifts down to her room via the dumbwaiter. One gift is a ring, which leads to an impassioned marriage proposal, which she rejects. Asked how he could make her love him, she shouts, “Get my husband out of jail!” Only then does Kinsky realize that Shandurai is married. Shandurai notices a tapestry and some figurines she had dusted are now missing. Later, Kinsky begins composing using Shandurai, vacuuming nearby, as his muse. Hearing his piano riffs, she begins to fall in love herself. Kinsky bargains with an African priest over an undisclosed transaction. Coming home from the school, Shandurai looks up to see Kinsky's piano being lowered into a truck; he has sold it. From a letter, she discovers that Kinsky has raised the money to secure her husband's release. He is coming to Rome. The night before his arrival, Shandurai unbuttons the sleeping Kinsky's shirt and curls up with him in bed. Morning arrives with her husband ringing the doorbell below. Shandurai at first doesn't react. Then she gets up, and the film ends with her husband still waiting by the door. 

=====

In 1968, Frank Lucas is the right-hand man of Harlem mob boss Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson. When Johnson dies of a heart attack, Lucas takes control of both his criminal empire and the gangland underworld of Harlem. After handing in almost $1 million that he found in a mobster's car, Newark detective Richie Roberts is ostracized in his precinct. After his exiled and addicted partner overdoses on a potent brand of heroin called "Blue Magic", Captain Lou Toback puts Roberts in charge of a task force that targets local suppliers. Lucas buys Blue Magic directly from producers in Thailand and smuggles it into the U.S. through returning Vietnam War servicemen. His low overhead allows him to eventually wholesale Blue Magic to most of the dealers in the New York area. With this monopoly, Lucas expands his control to nightclubs, casinos, and prostitution. He buys a mansion for his mother and recruits his five brothers, including Huey and Turner, as lieutenants to spread his empire. During his rise to becoming Harlem's undisputed crime boss, Lucas falls in love with Eva, a Puerto Rican beauty queen. As Lucas' business prospers, he makes a point of operating quietly and dressing with a modest conservatism both as a sign of strength and to avoid attracting police attention. Also, he stays away from the drugs to avoid making hard decisions under the influence. However, Lucas violates these principles when he attends the Fight of the Century with Eva, sporting gaudy clothes that were a present from Eva prior to their wedding; Roberts discovers this after he attends the fight and notices the previously unknown Lucas with even better seats than the Italian mobsters. Roberts soon begins to investigate Lucas, during which the two individually cross paths with corrupt NYPD detectives led by Nick Trupo, who constantly attempts to extort and blackmail Lucas into giving them a cut. Lucas thereafter finds his reign challenged by local gangster Nicky Barnes, who has been diluting Lucas' Blue Magic and selling it under the same brand name. He also finds himself at loggerheads with Lucchese mafia boss Dominic Cattano when the latter threatens to destroy Lucas' family unless he gets in on a deal. After the Fall of Saigon cuts off Lucas' supply, he is forced to rely on the other crime rings. Roberts' detectives witness Lucas' cousin and driver shoot a woman and then use the threat of a long sentence to get him to wear a wire. The gathered information allows Roberts and his task force to identify and search one of the last planes carrying Lucas' stock, discovering Blue Magic in the coffins of dead returning servicemen. With this evidence they obtain a warrant to follow the drugs into Newark's projects and Lucas' heroin processing facility. One such incident leads to a shootout where Lucas' young nephew Steve, who had gave up a promising career for the New York Yankees to join Lucas' crime family, is killed. Meanwhile, Trupo seeks retaliation after Lucas destroys his prized Shelby Mustang; he and his men later break into Lucas' mansion to steal his emergency cash supply hidden under the doghouse, killing the dog in the process. Lucas plans to go after Trupo, but his mother dissuades her son from killing a cop by telling Lucas that she and Eva will leave him if he does. Lucas is eventually arrested after Roberts' team conducts a raid on the shops run by his brothers. In the police station, Lucas threatens Roberts' life after attempting to bribe him no avail. He eventually confides to Roberts about his hatred for the police; Lucas claims that he witnessed police officers murder his 12-year-old cousin when he was just 6-years-old. Roberts offers Lucas a chance at a shorter jail sentence if he aids his investigation of dirty cops in the NYPD, to which Lucas duly agrees out of respect for Roberts' integrity. Following Lucas' corporation to Roberts' case, three-quarters of the New York DEA are arrested and convicted while Trupo himself commits suicide in light of his own corrupt activates getting exposed. Roberts, having just passed the bar exam, defends Lucas as his first client. Lucas is sentenced to 70 years in prison, of which he serves 15 years and is released in 1991. After the closing credits, Lucas slowly walks toward the camera whilst backlighted. He stops, raises his gun at the camera, and fires a gunshot that subsequently illuminates him. The film ends with no additional information. 

=====

Thirteen-year-old Howard Sykes lives in an English town with his parents, Quentin, an author and professor, and Catriona, a music teacher; his sister Anthea, always called "Awful" because of her constant screaming; and Fifi, the family's au pair. Their life is interrupted one afternoon when an unnamed huge person, "somebody's Goon" as Fifi describes him, comes into their home and announces that he has come to collect the two thousand words that Quentin owes somebody called Archer. It transpires that thirteen years ago, Quentin was suffering dreadfully from writer's block and hadn't been able to write anything for nearly a year after his last book was published, and so Mountjoy, a town official, came up with the idea that Quentin should undertake to write two thousand words of nonsense quarterly and deliver them to him at the town hall. In return, Quentin was promised an exemption from city taxes. The Goon says that the latest two thousand didn't get to Archer. Quentin irritably writes a replacement set and gives them to the Goon, who goes away — but the next afternoon, he is back, as the words were a repeat of what had been done previously, and the agreement specified that they must not be a copy or paraphrase of anything Quentin had done before. The Goon takes Howard to see Mountjoy, who reveals that the town is secretly run by seven wizard siblings: Archer, Shine, Dillian, Hathaway, Torquil, Erskine, and Venturus. Each one "farms" (i.e. collects a portion of taxes from) some aspects of the town's life and industry (for a list, see below). Mountjoy has instructions from an unknown superior to post the words but does not know who the actual recipient is. Mountjoy's revelation starts the Sykes family on a quest for the sibling who is the actual user of Quentin's words. Fifi revels to Howard that she did not deliver the two thousand words as she was busy and gave them to one of Quentin's students at the college, Maisie Potter, to deliver. Howard, Awful and Fifi go to Maisie Potter's house to find out what she did with them. She tries to fob them off with excuses as to why the words were not delivered but they finally get the truth out of her: that she gave them to one of the wizard siblings, Dillian. The trio force her to take them to see Dillian. Dillian admits that she did ask Maisie Potter to steal the words as she believes, just like the other siblings, that the two thousand words have for the past thirteen years prevented them from leaving the town. Howard informs her that the words have been delivered to Archer for the past thirteen years and this makes Dillian believe that Archer is behind them all being stuck there. She gives back the words to Howard, but as he, Fifi and Awful are walking home they find that the words have magically vanished. When they try to go back to Dillian's house, it too has magically vanished. The Goon takes the family to meet Archer, who also believes that Quentin's words are restricting him and his siblings from leaving town. His aim is to acquire a sample of the writing so that he can figure out how to lift the restriction, in order to take over the world. On learning of Archer's ambitions, Quentin becomes convinced that the restrictions are a thoroughly good thing, and stubbornly refuses to write them anymore. Other siblings also want to acquire samples of Quentin's words for the same purpose as Archer and they all start putting pressure on the Sykes family. Gas and electricity are cut off, the shops are closed to them (e.g. when Quentin goes to the supermarket, although there are customers inside shopping, when he tries to enter the doors won't open and the CLOSED sign is up), their bank accounts are frozen, and all of Catriona's musical instruments play themselves, full blast, as do the radio and TV. Torquil, who farms music and therefore is Catriona's effective boss, threatens that she will lose her job if she does not get Quentin to write him the two thousand words; Fifi, who has fallen in love with Archer, attempts to get the words for him; Shine sends a group of boys known as Hind's Gang, led by one Ginger Hind, to follow Howard and Awful and briefly kidnaps the two to use them as leverage, though the Goon and Torquil quickly come to the rescue. Hathaway (roads and transport, archives and records) sends a messenger to collect the words, but Quentin locks up his typewriter with a length of chain and a padlock and gives it to the messenger, telling him to have Hathaway write the words himself; the street outside the Sykes' house is subsequently dug up and re-paved over and over again as a form of punishment. When Quentin receives a letter from the town demanding payment of a huge amount in back taxes, Howard and Awful decide that they have to seek help from Hathaway who, they discover, lives 400 years in the past. The children visit Hathaway in his Elizabethan household by going through a white door marked CURATOR at the back of the museum. Hathaway proves to be very reasonable, stops the street digging, and promises to help about the taxes. Howard suggests that Hathaway could bury some money at the site where their garden will be, so he (Howard) can dig it up tomorrow. However, Hathaway points out that this wouldn't work; he (Hathaway) can't stop someone else from finding the money during the 400 years in between. He also tells Howard that Catriona and Quentin found him (Howard) as an infant and adopted him, which proves only to add more to the boy's troubles. With Hathaway out of the running, Erskine is the next most likely candidate as the "user of the words". The Goon takes Quentin and the two children through the sewers to Erskine's sewage installation outside the city limits. It would have been only a short walk above ground, and when asked why he took them through the sewers, the Goon admits that he can only leave the town through the sewer or by a rubbish truck. Quentin realizes the Goon is, in fact, Erskine. Erskine has the three locked up as a way of exerting even more pressure on Quentin, but they manage to escape with the help of the aforementioned Ginger Hind, who insists that he needs Howard's help to be free from Shine. Howard now must find the seventh brother, Venturus, who lives in the future. Howard identifies Venturus's hiding place by going to a half- constructed building, i.e. a place that will exist in the future. As he runs from Erskine's men, he frantically wishes to Hathaway to send him a bus, and lo and behold — one appears. He asks Archer for money for the fare, Shine to cause a distraction, and Dillian for a police car to stop Shine's "distraction", which goes a little over the top; all of these things miraculously appear. Having asked Catriona where she would live if she lived in the future and told "some house that hasn't been built yet", Howard acts on this suggestion and makes for what he guesses is Venturus's hideout — a half- finished building near the Polytechnic where Quentin works (bearing in mind that as well as housing, Venturus also farms education). Howard's guess is correct, and as he climbs up the stairs of the unfinished building, he discovers that each step ages him and the building completes itself around him as he moves forward in time. On a mirror is scrawled the foreboding message, "THIS IS THE SECOND TIME". Howard eventually realizes that he himself is Venturus, who has been building a fantastic spaceship inside his home in the future. Venturus had twice, to get himself out of design problems with his spaceship, sent the whole town back thirteen years through time, accidentally transforming himself into a small child in the process. That small child was adopted (twice) by Quentin and Catriona, who named him Howard. The six siblings could not leave the town all that time not because of Quentin's words, but because their parents laid it on them to protect Venturus, and as long as Venturus–Howard was too young to realize his magical powers, they had to be close by to protect him. Torquil, Hathaway, Erskine, and Venturus, who understand that civilization would likely crumble if one of the seven gained ultimate control, evolve a plan to send the other three, eldest siblings (Archer, Shine, and Dillian) off into deep space, never to return, in Venturus's newly constructed spaceship. They do this by convincing each of the three that the rest had plotted against each other and would put their final plan into action that night in Venturus's spaceship. They all board the ship, which Howard–Venturus has programmed to allow them to come aboard but not disembark, for a one-way trip to Alpha Centauri, and the ship takes off. The remaining siblings have no plans to rule the world – but Howard, now Venturus, still worries about what Erskine and Awful may get up to in the future. He decides he will stay with the Sykes family so he can help keep Awful in check and Erskine decides to travel the world, making for a pleasant ending. 

=====

Miss Peters is an English teacher at a gang-infested high school where fights between different gangs are the norm. Trying to stop one of these clashes, she is captured by the sight of a gargoyle on the rooftop of the school's main entrance which appears to be watching over her. After this incident, Miss Peters start to notice some changes in her behavior. For example, she pins one of the gang members in the classroom against a wall after a small class insubordination. Moments later, she spots another member of a gang vandalizing his locker. She violently confronts him, knocking him against the locker several times, chiding him that the school is older than his grandmother and if he respects his grandmother, then he should respect the school. Later that night, her dog starts barking at her for no apparent reason which leads her to believe there must be something very wrong with her. The next day in class, a gang member nicknamed Wizard starts to play his boom box in the middle of the class and Miss Peters crushes the radio with her own bare hands and wipes the wall with Wizard's body. The Fury's gang leader decides that he has had enough and prepares to finish her later with a baseball bat when the school building is empty. Thanks to her recently gained supernatural abilities, she senses his plan and draws him into a storage room. After a game of cat-and-mouse, Miss Peters emerges resembling a gargoyle and defeats Wizard. As she is getting ready to finish him off, she sees herself in the mirror and recoils. Lightning strikes the gargoyle on the rooftop and Miss Peters backs into a power box. Wizard helps Miss Peters to her feet, and asks if he should get a doctor. Miss Peters, now returned to her normal self, thanks Wizard for aiding her and that she is okay. The two leave the storeroom. 

=====

This drama features a romance between two different teenagers: a young atheist girl, Judith Craig, and the male head of a Christian youth organization, Bob Hathaway. The two leaders and their groups attack each other, starting a riot that kills a young girl. Followed by a goofy boy, Bozo, the three are thrown into a juvenile prison with a cruel head guard and bad living conditions. The film maker makes a point of talking about the truth of prison cruelty in the middle of the movie. Bob, who is in love with Judy, eventually rescues her and takes shelter in an old farm where Judy, breath-taken by the romance and beauty of the forest, realizes there must be a God. They are found and taken back to prison and held in solitary confinement until a fire breaks out. Mame is Judy's new friend who is trying to get her out before she burns. But the rest of the prison girls escape. Bob, who is trusting in God to help them, finally rescues Judy with the help of Mame and Bozo; they also rescue the cruel head guard who pleads for his life and, as he is dying, sets them free for their kind act and rescue. At the very end, Bozo and Mame seem to end up together while Bob and Judy and their rekindled faith ride off together as the movie ends. 

=====

The Creed family—Louis, Rachel, and their children Ellie and Gage—move from Chicago to rural Ludlow, Maine, after Louis accepts a job as a physician with the University of Maine. They befriend their neighbor Jud Crandall, who takes them to an isolated pet cemetery (misspelled "sematary") in the forest behind the Creeds' new home. Louis encounters Victor Pascow, a jogger who is mortally injured after being hit by a truck. He warns Louis about the pet cemetery before dying, calling Louis by name though they have never met. That night, Pascow appears to Louis as a ghost and leads him to the Pet Sematary, warning him not to cross the barrier because the ground beyond is "sour". Louis awakens, assuming it was a dream, but notices his feet are covered in dirt. During Thanksgiving while the family is gone, Ellie's cat, Church, is run down on the highway. Realizing Ellie will be devastated, Jud takes Louis beyond the cemetery and deep into the woods, where they reach an ancient Miꞌkmaq burial ground. Jud instructs Louis to bury the cat and warns him not to tell anyone about what they have done. The next day a reanimated Church returns to the house. He now stinks, moves sluggishly, and is vicious toward Louis. Jud explains that as a boy he revived his pet dog, and that although the cat might be different, it will save Ellie the grief of losing her pet. Sometime later, Gage is killed by a truck along the same highway. Jud anticipates that Louis is considering burying his son in the Miꞌkmaq ground, although Louis denies it. Jud believes that introducing Louis to the ritual ground aroused the malevolent forces present there, which caused Gage's death. He tells him the story of a local named Bill Baterman who buried his son Timmy in the Miꞌkmaq ground after he was killed in World War II. Timmy returned as a malevolent zombie, terrifying the townsfolk. A group of men including Jud tried destroying Timmy by lighting the Baterman house on fire, only for Bill to perish with his son. Jud insists that the burial ground is evil and Louis must not bury his son there. After the funeral, Rachel and Ellie leave for Chicago while Louis remains home. Despite Pascow and Jud's warnings, Louis exhumes his son's body and buries him at the ritual site. In Chicago, Pascow appears to Ellie in a dream and warns her that Louis is about to do something terrible. Rachel is unnerved by her daughter's dream but can only reach Jud when she calls, who tells her Louis is not home. She decides to return to Maine, much to Jud's alarm. That night, Gage returns home and steals a scalpel from his father's bag. He taunts Jud before slashing his Achilles tendon and his mouth, before biting his throat, killing him. Rachel returns home and is lured into Jud's house by the voice and specter of her dead sister Zelda, only to discover that she is actually seeing Gage, holding a scalpel. In shock and disbelief, Rachel reaches down to hug her son and he kills her. Waking up from his sleep, Louis notices Gage's muddy footprints in the house and discovers his scalpel is missing. Receiving a phone call from Gage that he has "played" with Jud and Mommy, he fills three syringes with morphine and heads to Jud's house. Encountering Church, he kills the cat with an injection before entering the house. Gage taunts him further and Louis is startled by Rachel's corpse hanged from the attic before Gage attacks him. After a brief battle, Louis overpowers Gage and injects him with the morphine syringe. He then lights Jud's house on fire, leaving it to burn as he carries Rachel's body from the fire. Pascow appears and warns Louis not to "make it worse", but grief- stricken Louis believes that because Rachel was not dead as long as Gage was, burying her "will work this time". Pascow cries out in frustration and vanishes as Louis passes through him. That night, Rachel returns to Louis and the couple embrace. Rachel takes a large knife from the counter, before Louis screams. 

=====

The plot revolved around a mysterious masked villain known as the Wolf Devil trying to drive all of the non-native settlers out of Alaska. Walter Miller plays a Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer named Inspector Steele. The Wolf Devil kidnaps the heroine, Miss Moreau. 

=====

At the end of class, poorly paid college professor Andrew Griggs begs his unruly students to show more appreciation for his efforts to teach them. Among the most disrespectful are a spoiled trio led by Phil West (Louis Calhern), whose father is the school's wealthiest trustee; Bert Gareth, a congressman's son; and Walt Lucas, a 23-year-old who must graduate to receive his inheritance. Unbeknownst to his friends, Phil's interest has been piqued by the professor's daughter, Amelia (Claire Windsor). He frequently drops by the public library where she works, just to be able to speak to her. She, however, is unimpressed by him and his wealth. The Griggs' poverty is contrasted with the prosperity of their next-door neighbors. "Foreign-born" shoemaker Hans Olsen is sympathetic to their plight, as is his eldest son Peter (Amelia's secret admirer), but his wife strongly dislikes what she considers Mrs. Griggs' superior airs. One day, Phil finally manages to persuade Amelia to let him drive her home after work, as it is raining (and her shoe has a hole in it). He is invited inside. Mrs. Griggs, knowing who he is, decides to spend what little she has on some fancy sandwiches, cakes and tea in an attempt to put up a brave front. She is heartbroken to find when she brings them in that Phil has departed and poor Reverend Gates (another of Amelia's admirers) is to be the recipient of her expensive bounty. As a result, Mrs. Griggs is unable to make the mortgage payment on the house. Juanita Claredon (Marie Walcamp), another of the country club set, considers herself Phil's girl. Noting a change in the now more thoughtful and considerate man, she follows him one day to the library and sees her rival. Eventually, she realizes that his love for Amelia has matured him, and wishes him well. When Amelia becomes sick, the doctor recommends she get some nourishing food, such as chicken. Mrs. Griggs tries unsuccessfully to buy one on credit (a scene observed by Phil). In desperation, she steals an uncooked chicken from Mrs. Olsen's open window; this is witnessed by the horrified Amelia. While Amelia does not see her mother change her mind and put it back, Mrs. Olsen and Peter do. When Mrs. Olsen threatens to make this theft known, Peter insists he will leave home if she does. Meanwhile, Phil sends anonymously a basket of food (including a chicken) to the Griggs. However, Amelia refuses to eat it, as she believes it was stolen. The next day, though she is still ill, she goes to work, as it is payday. Afterward, she goes to apologize to Mrs. Olsen and to pay for the theft. Her teary attempt to make amends moves her neighbor, who denies she lost a chicken. The strain is too much for Amelia; she faints. Phil and Mrs. Griggs rush over and take her home. There, Phil confesses it was he who sent the chicken. Amelia is finally won over. Phil writes his father about the inadequate salaries paid to the teachers, calling it a "blot on the present day civilization"; impressed, Philip West Sr. comes to see his altered son and agrees that something must be done. In the meantime, Phil dragoons his friends into paying the professor for extra tutoring in the evenings. During that night's session, both Peter and Gates see that Amelia has given her heart to Phil. In the final scene, the saddened reverend congratulates them and makes his way home. Louis Calhern and Margaret McWade in The Blot, 1921 

=====

After being unsuccessful in finding her true love in her own country, India, the rich Deepa (Sharmila Tagore) goes to Paris, France in search of it. Her father's secretary already lives there, so to take care of her in the unknown country, her father informs him and also hires an assistant, Honey, and a driver, Makhan Singh (Rajindernath). On one of her outings, Deepa meets Shyam/Sam (Shammi Kapoor), who immediately falls in love with her and begins to follow her around. After some initial resistance, Deepa eventually gives in to his charms. Meanwhile, Deepa's father's secretary's son, Shekhar (Pran) needs money to clear his gambling debts. Knowing that Deepa is rich, he plans to marry her. Jack, a gangster to whom he owes the money, threatens him that he should repay the debts at the earliest. Shekhar tells him that he will do so soon by marrying a rich girl, Deepa. However, since Deepa does not love him, she refuses, telling him that she only loves Sam. When Jack sees Deepa, he is taken aback and mistakes her to be someone he knows. But Deepa remains clueless. Jack then takes Shekhar to his casino/ hotel, where they see a girl who is identical to Deepa. Her name is Suzy (Sharmila Tagore), a club dancer in the same casino. Shekhar, angry at Deepa, hatches a plan. He approaches Suzy and convinces her to be a part of his plan by offering her a huge amount of money. He takes Suzy with him and shows her Deepa with Sam, so that she can learn her mannerisms. When Jack kidnaps the real Deepa, Shekhar puts Suzy in her place at her home. Due to this replacement, initially, nobody finds out about Deepa's kidnapping. Suzy pretends to be Deepa and goes out with Sam. Eventually, Sam starts to notice the difference. He get suspicious when he notices Suzy (pretending to be Deepa) smoking and drinking. Deepa's father learns of Deepa's kidnapping and flies to Paris. He and Sam discover that Suzy is Deepa's lost twin sister, who had been kidnapped when she was very young and her real name is Roopa. Deepa's father is overjoyed that he has found his daughter, but Suzy refuses to accept herself as his daughter. Sam follows Suzy to find the whereabouts of Deepa. Suzy puts a condition that Sam has to marry her before she will tell him about Deepa. She has fallen in love with him while pretending to be Deepa. Sam refuses, saying that he only loves Deepa. This angers Suzy at first, but later she realises that she should not come between her sister and her love. Jaggu, now working for Jack, who has also been an ex-employee of Deepa's father, goes to see him asking for ransom to release his daughter. Deepa's father agrees, but Sam knocks him unconscious, before which he tells them to go to a certain place with the ransom money. Shekhar overhears this conversation. As the story climaxes, Suzy arrives with Jack at his hideout where he has kept Deepa to show her the resemblance and leaves them alone for a while to take care of some chores. Suzy then reveals to Deepa that she is her lost twin sister. Despite her refusal, she convinces Deepa to switch places and escape. Sam and Shekhar go separately to Niagara Falls to ransom Deepa. Shekhar arrives at the secret hideout first. At the same time, one of Jack's men informs him about Sam's arrival. When Jack confronts him, Shekhar kills him and the real Deepa (pretending to be Suzy) escapes just before that. Shekhar then collects Suzy thinking she is Deepa. He learns that she is actually Suzy when she sees Sam and yells a warning that Deepa has escaped and is waiting for him at Jack's Boat. Angered, Shekhar shoots Suzy and tries to shoot Sam. Sam escapes, and just before following Shekhar, he tells Makan Singh to go and help the injured Suzy. Shekhar reaches the boat where Deepa is waiting for Sam and drives off with her. Sam also reaches just after Shekhar drives off. He jumps in the boat from a helicopter and beats Shekhar up. Sam throws him overboard, where he floats over the waterfall. Deepa and Sam escape to a small rock in the middle of waterfall from where they are rescued by the helicopter. The movie closes with Sam and Deepa hanging to the ladder of the helicopter with a song (Aasmaan Se Aya Farista) playing in the background. 

=====

The protagonist of Hyderabad Blues is Varun, played by the director, Nagesh Kukunoor. The movie revolves around his visit to his home after 12 years in the USA and his resulting culture shock. The movie is a romantic comedy, following Varun's attempts to romance an Indian doctor and balance the local customs of arranged marriage with the Western tradition of dating. The dialogue is primarily in English and Telugu, with some Hindi spoken as well. 

=====

A mysterious jewel thief has been looting valuable gems throughout the country. As the daring crimes grab headlines, the Police Commissioner of Bombay mentions that the thief is currently operating in his jurisdiction. He vows to resign if he fails to catch the criminal by January 26. Meanwhile, the Commissioner's son Vinay is hired by prominent jeweller Vishambhar Nath, who values his skill with jewels highly. In the course of his work, Vinay grows close to Vishambhar's daughter Anjali. At a party hosted by Anjali, Vishambhar's childhood friend Arjun and Arjun's sister, Shalini, mistake Vinay to be Shalini's fiancé, Amar. Both of them soon realise the mistake, but Arjun notes Vinay's uncanny similarity to Amar. Nevertheless, Shalini and Vinay strike a friendship, that develops into romance. Shalini's engagement ring is identified as a previously stolen piece of jewellery, and the Commissioner suspects that Amar might actually be the elusive jewel thief. At Vishambhar's shop, all the jewellery in a concealed storeroom gets stolen. He believes that the man he had left in-charge was Vinay, although the real Vinay was with Anjali. The police believe the impersonator was Amar. A small-time thief gets caught at the shop, and divulges information about Amar's associate, Helen. Vinay agrees to help the police by impersonating Amar, and goes to meet Helen. He tricks her and learns that the real Amar is going to Pune. There, Vinay meets other members of Amar's gang, including Julie, Amar's wife. The gang fly to Calcutta and pull off another jewellery heist. Arjun and Vinay learn from Julie, who has realised that Vinay is only masquerading as her husband, that Amar has left for Gangtok, Kingdom of Sikkim. Vinay visits Gangtok, and meets another Amar associate, Neena. He promises to help her escape the gang in return for information. Neena, however, gets Vinay captured by luring him into the gang's safehouse. The gang's real leader is revealed to be Arjun, who is the jewel thief. No person named Amar ever existed; the identity was created to baffle the police and deflect any attention away from Arjun. Vishambhar Nath was part of this carefully planned scheme, too, while Shalini had assisted the gang to secure the release of her kidnapped brother, Shishu. When she approaches Arjun for Shishu's release, she gets locked up with him in the safehouse. Having discovered secret passages under the building, Shalini rescues Vinay and explains the situation to him. The three try to flee, but are recaptured. Vinay is administered electric shocks to wipe out his memory. The gang then make Vinay believe that 'jewel thief Amar' is his real identity. Their plan is to stage a fake heist of the Sikkimese crown jewels, and let 'Amar' take the blame. The police will be manipulated into shooting 'Amar' dead, forever lifting suspicion from the actual criminals. Since Shalini is a well-known dancer in the royal court, she is to facilitate the gang's entry disguised as a dance troupe. 'Amar' dies according to plan, and the gang celebrates. Vinay, however, had merely been acting; he had secretly warned the police about the gang's plan beforehand. Anjali, who has discovered her father's criminal involvement, has got in touch with the police too. The police surround the safehouse and Vinay corners Arjun, but he manages to escape. Vinay follows Arjun to his plane, but the latter threatens to shoot him. Anjali, though, has already removed the bullets in the gun, and the Commissioner appears to announce that the entire gang has been arrested, before January 26 as promised. Anjali takes Vinay to the cabin where Shalini is waiting for him with Shishu, as the plane gets airborne. 

=====

The Emersons return to Egypt in 1895–96 to excavate at Dahshoor - finally, some real pyramids for Amelia! In looking for a keeper for Ramses, they find a demoralized Englishman named Donald Fraser. Donald has troubled family relationships and a hashish habit, both of which Amelia means to reform. Enid Debenham, a young lady whose behavior scandalizes Cairo society, also takes a hand when Amelia takes her under her wing. Meanwhile, the Master Criminal reappears personally, taking an interest not only in illegally obtained antiquities but in the person of Amelia herself. The story is key in the series because it is the first time the reader learns the pseudonym of the Master Criminal: Sethos. It is the name of a number of Pharaohs, and is tied to Set or Seth, the Egyptian god of the desert. Sethos interacts in a number of ways, including offering gifts and returning the communion set stolen from Mazghuna the previous year. Sethos also appears in a number of guises, only one of which Amelia sees through. She does, however, assume a number of others are either Sethos or in his gang, almost always incorrectly. Donald and Enid return in a later novel, Seeing a Large Cat. 

=====

When Jonathon Raven was twelve years old, his parents were killed by the Black Dragon. He trained with them for many years in the deadly martial arts with the hopes of learning and mastering their lethal skill and then using it against them for vengeance. Although he succeeded in infiltrating them, the Black Dragon are many in number, and are now bent on destroying Raven's bloodline. His one true love, a beautiful Japanese woman named Aki, becomes pregnant with their son at the same time the Black Dragon clan is after Raven's life. Aki unfortunately dies shortly after giving birth to their son, but before she passes away, she realizes that her son's life is in danger. Jonathon learns of his wife's plan of hiding their son from imperilment, but sadly never gets to see him or attain the knowledge of his location. Later on, he joins the U.S. Special Forces and becomes one of their top assassins under a man named Nick Henderson. After many complications and regrets, Raven leaves the Special Forces and continues his search for his long-lost son. His search eventually leads him to Honolulu, Hawaii, where he believes his son may be. Raven is on a lifelong journey in search of his son, and is willing to risk his life along the way to find him and ensure the safety of his life, with the aid of his old military buddy - a drunken private investigator named Herman "Ski" Jablonski. 

=====

Madhava (Madhavan) is a doctor, and a single appearance has made him the heartthrob of thousands of girls. He marries Simi (Simran), but a revelation about his past separates them and takes them as far as divorce. They remain friends though, even going so far as to fix up each other's second marriages. Simi decides to get Madhava married to Chella (Sneha), a nurse at his hospital, while he tries to fix up her marriage with a dancer Azhagu (Lawrence Raghavendra). Madhava and Chella's wedding and Simi and Azhagu's wedding are on the same date. Azhagu then marries his cousin due to his father's greed for wealth. Chella's parents find out about Madhava's past and call off the wedding. In the end, Madhava and Simi remarry. Chella marries Kumaran (Vivek), Madhava's colleague, who was interested in her ever since he became Madhava's understudy in the hospital. 

=====

The Starlight & Shadows trilogy covers the adventures of the drow outcast Liriel Baenre and her companion, Fyodor of Rashemen. 

=====

Tom is relaxing in a penthouse, while Jerry is struggling to look for food, being forced to tie his tail around his waist to stop his stomach growling. Suddenly Jerry sees a lunchbox at a 125-story skyscraper construction site and jumps into it, eating through to it. However, the steel beam on which the lunchbox is sitting is lifted into the air and the box slides off. Jerry tries to hide in the lunchbox, but it bursts open. The lunchbox then falls onto Tom's head, much to Tom's annoyance, but Tom sees Jerry falling and catches him in a baseball glove in between two pieces of bread. Tom eats the sandwich, but notices he missed eating Jerry. Tom eats the rest of the sandwich, but Jerry escapes by flicking Tom's middle finger into his eye. Jerry jumps into a rain gutter, but unaware slides back onto the construction site, barely managing to evade a crusher. Jerry jumps into Tom's mouth and closes his ears and eyes, but Tom shakes Jerry out. Tom grabs a flyswatter and flattens Jerry four times, but Jerry angrily stops him. He marches towards Tom and holds out his hand as if to say, "Hand over the flyswatter." And then he flattens Tom's head to escape. Jerry runs to the end of a flagpole, with Tom following, but Jerry spins the pole counterclockwise. Tom, running very fast, convinces Jerry to stop. He momentarily sports a halo and points at it as to say "I'm too young to die", but Jerry lets Tom know that he loves him before unscrewing the ball. Tom thinks that Jerry is crazy, but the cat and the flagpole are sent down to the construction site as Jerry, still standing on the ball in mid air, rolls back to the penthouse. Tom eventually ends up rolling on a barrel and encounters the same crusher that almost killed Jerry. He too evades the crusher and is relieved for a moment, but soon afterwards rolls into a humongous building hosting a big dog show before the dogs quickly attack Tom. Finally, Jerry relaxes in Tom's penthouse and drinks some juice but ends up swallowing a whole ice cube before he decides to take a nap. 

=====

One early August morning in Harney County, Florida, the body of Robert Clinch is found floating in a lake shortly after taking his boat out to go bass fishing. Private investigator R.J. Decker is hired by sugar cane tycoon Dennis Gault, another bass fisherman, to prove that celebrity fisherman Richard "Dickie" Lockhart, his main rival on the fishing tournament circuit, is a cheat. Decker is a former newspaper photographer who was fired and briefly sent to prison after assaulting a teenager who tried to steal his camera equ, Decker looks up an old newspaper friend, a laconic reporter named Ott Pickney. Finding the local bass fishing guides too expensive, Decker takes Ott's advice and meets a reclusive hermit who lives in the woods, calling himself "Skink". While teaching Decker about fishing, he mentions seeing Clinch on the lake, but not fishing, on the morning he died. Attending Clinch's funeral, Decker meets Gault's sister Elaine, or "Lanie," who confides to Decker that she and Clinch were lovers. She tells Decker that Gault hired Clinch to catch Lockhart first, only she believes Lockhart had Clinch killed. Ott is skeptical of Lanie's suspicions, since the coroner ruled Clinch's death an accident and a murder over fishing is too outlandish to be believed. However, when Ott interviews Clinch's widow, he also discovers clues that Clinch wasn't fishing. Tracking down the junked remains of Clinch's boat, Ott discovers signs of sabotage. Unfortunately, at that moment Ott is tracked down and murdered. After finding the body, Decker and Skink are both committed to nailing Lockhart. They tail him to his latest fishing tournament on Louisiana's Lake Maurepas, but inadvertently photograph the wrong gang of cheaters; Lockhart wins the tournament anyway. Skink tries to raise Decker's spirits, adding, "Worse comes to worst, I'll just shoot the fucker." Later, Decker returns to their hotel room and finds Lanie waiting for him. After the two sleep together and he drops her off at her hotel, Decker notices lights on at the lakeside. He discovers Lockhart floating in the weigh tank, clubbed to death. Assuming Skink is the culprit, Decker drives back to Florida. Upon returning home, he finds the Miami police, led by Detective Al Garcia, waiting for him. Skink intercepts Decker and tells him Gault's whole assignment was a set-up, allowing Gault to kill his hated rival and put the blame on Decker. The Outdoor Christian Network, led by televangelist Charlie Weeb, organizes a fishing tournament in Lockhart's memory to promote Weeb's housing development at the edge of the Everglades. Weeb is becoming increasingly desperate to boost sales of the condominia, as his network is so financially dependent on the development that its failure will also ruin Weeb himself. He becomes even more desperate when the bass salted into the condo's lakes die, revealing that the water is toxic. Weeb orders his new spokesman, Eddie Spurling, to cheat by harvesting caged bass from the neighboring stretch of clean water in the Everglades. While trying to escape Miami, Decker and Skink are stopped by Garcia, who has already found holes in Gault's frame-up story and is more than ready to believe Decker's version of events. Meanwhile, a worried Gault sends his hired thug, Thomas Curl, to kill Decker before Garcia finds him. While researching Lockhart's history, Decker and Skink learn of the housing development, and Skink is determined to stop it by sabotaging the fishing tournament. With the help of Skink's friend, State Trooper Jim Tile, Decker tracks down Lanie and forces her to confess to helping her brother frame Decker for Lockhart's murder. Lanie admits that she became involved with Decker at Gault's suggestion, to help punish Lockhart for Clinch's murder. After Lockhart was killed, Gault convinced her to falsely tell police that Decker was on his way to see Lockhart when she last saw him. Although Lanie's recorded statement is enough to clear Decker's name, Curl kidnaps Decker's ex- wife Catherine and demands that Decker trade his life for hers. Decker tells Skink to go ahead with his plan to sabotage the tournament while he deals with Curl himself. Skink's original plan is to have Garcia and Tile enter the tournament, posing as brothers, and win by catching Skink's gargantuan Queenie. With publicity for Weeb's development aimed exclusively at white people, Skink predicts that having an African-American and a Cuban win the tournament will be fatal for sales. However, at the last moment, Skink changes his plan and arranges a "confrontation" between Queenie and Gault. He anonymously tips off Gault as to the location where he will plant Queenie, while sabotaging the motor of Garcia and Tile's boat. Decker rescues Catherine and kills Curl with a booby-trapped camera. Predictably, the tournament is a fiasco: the latest batch of fish are so sickened by the toxic water that they refuse to eat, while Garcia and Tile are the only participants to catch one (tiny) bass. Spurling refuses to cheat, forcing Weeb to name them the winners and admit that the promised $250,000 grand prize is "not available." Garcia and Tile reveal their badges and arrest Weeb for fraud on live television. Skink sees all the bass floating to the surface and realizes he has put Queenie in mortal danger by slipping her into the toxic water. Decker and Catherine join him on a boat borrowed from Spurling, and they speed to where he put her into the water. They come upon Gault's boat, where Lanie is sitting alone and Gault's dead body is floating in the water. Gault succeeded in hooking Queenie, but was unprepared for her weight and power, and so tried to use his boat's engine to exhaust her. When she unexpectedly changed direction, Gault was unwilling to let her go, and was pulled overboard onto his own boat's propeller. Skink dives into the water, pulls a barely-alive Queenie out and leaps across a levee to put her in the Everglades. Decker and Catherine, following onto the levee, cannot see either of them, but are sure they hear the sound of both swimming to safety. 

=====

The shuttle camera on a United States spaceship orbiting Earth begins to malfunction and the astronauts on board shut it off. Back on Earth, there are two technicians working on the shuttle after it has landed; one of the technicians, Crew Chief Simmons, detaches the camera and takes it to be repaired. However, after touching it, a blue light flashes and he suddenly disappears. The box falls to the ground and another technician calls for the emergency alert, and the box is put in an isolation chamber. As the scientists are discussing what could possibly have happened to the technician, there is a bright flash in the isolation chamber and Simmons reappears; the box, however, is mysteriously missing. Simmons asks to be let out and becomes irritated when his pleas go unanswered. The scientists review the surveillance tape of the box changing into the man but are stumped as to what could have caused the transformation. Though the technicians are suspicious, Simmons is able to tell them his name, identification number, and can give them personal information. After it becomes clear that he will not be released, Simmons disappears in another flash of light, and replacing him is a woman who begs them to let her out. One of the technicians claims that it is Simmons' wife Kathy. After realizing that Simmons may be a creature of unknown origin, they come to the conclusion that it can shape-change at will. After being foiled by a lapse in judgement, the creature becomes flustered and tries to cover up its mistake. The blue light flashes again and Simmons reappears only to start breaking the interior of the isolation tank. In response, the scientists and technicians subdue him with sleeping gas. Dr. Vaughn Heilman attempts to enter the chamber, but is surprised to find that Simmons is still awake and takes his hand. They both disappear in a flash of blue light and they are replaced by a nuclear bomb. The technicians and scientists suddenly recall that Dr. Heilman was once a bomb expert for the United States nuclear team. Dr. Curt Lockridge attempts to reason with the creature, saying that it will probably survive the explosion but those in the complex will not. When the timer reaches zero, Heilman appears again and runs through the open door with Lockridge at his heels. Heilman is confronted at a launch platform and Lockridge begs to let the doctor and Simmons free. The creature claims that they are not prisoners, and stay within him due to their thirst for knowledge. The creature asks Lockridge to come with them, to join them in the adventure, but Lockridge declines. He then asks why the creature came to earth, and it replies that it arrived on Earth out of curiosity before changing into a glowing gaseous cloud that flies away into the night sky. 

=====

The two lovers live in Northern Ireland. Stokes is a Protestant, while McAliskey is Catholic. Their relationship is complicated by the spying of Stokes' brother Jef, played by Marc O'Shea, and by the attempts of Rohan, played by Gabriel Byrne, to recruit McAliskey into the Republican movement. The film also stars Richard Harris as Old Man Jacobs, an ally to the couple. 

=====

The film revolves around a group of talented friends, whose lives undergo a complete change with the arrival of a new student – Khushi (Rinke Khanna). The friends are Siddhant (Dino Morea), Bhargav or Bugs (Sanjay Suri), Ronnie (Akash Sehgal), Radha (Shweta Salve), Ruby (Melody), Manoj Dhanwani as ‘Haklu’ because he stammers a lot. They all are the young and vibrant students of National Institute of Performing Arts. With Khushi comes a lot of happiness in their lives and as the days pass by, both Sid and Bugs fall in love with her. But Khushi loves Sid. Sid is driven by a burning ambition of becoming a singer. He throws friendship aside for a desirable woman (Roxy), who he believes, is his stepping stone to success. He dreams of becoming the greatest pop singer and performing with Roxy. But nothing stops them (Sid and Khushi) from coming closer and closer each day. Bugs finds himself falling deeply in love with Khushi, but is forced to keep it a secret that only he can treasure. He takes Khushi on a day-long romantic date. Khushi, broken by Sid's falling for another woman, returns to her comfortable yet lonely existence, the very home that she left to find genuine love and lasting friendships. Emotional upheavals also haunt the rest of the group when a close colleague develops AIDS. 

=====

In the early 1990s, Tarik is a young Sarajevan just starting out as a writer. Before the onset of war in the former Yugoslavia, he sends a screenplay to a literary competition in France. In a parallel plot, we see the dramatization of his script: a true story of his father Ahmed Karaga, who is unprepared for the outbreak of World War II and ends up in a concentration camp, but manages to survive. In the present plot, Ahmed's drama is almost identically replayed in the fate of Tarik. Only the era and the conditions of suffering have changed. In Sarajevo, Tarik is captured by the Serbian Army and is subjected to the cruel conditions of a labour camp, which differs little from a concentration camp. After an unsuccessful attempt to escape, a famous French film producer helps exchange Tarik for another prisoner and ensures transportation to Paris. There, where few know of the great tragedy that has struck Bosnia, he meets one of his tormentors. The film explores the theme of revenge versus forgiveness, as well as the idea that history repeats itself and that those who do not learn from it are doomed to repeat it. Remake is also a coming-of-age drama, with scenes in which Ahmed and Tarik go out with their friends, have fun, fall in love. 

=====

The film takes place decades after the Falklands War between Argentina and the United Kingdom for the control of the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. It tells of Fabián Stratas, a magician and stand-up comedian from Buenos Aires, who saves his money from weddings, birthdays, and bar mitzvahs, and uses a hidden camera to document a week-long trip to the Falkland Islands, which he calls "Fuckland". He plans to impregnate an islander, reasoning that if only 500 Argentines did the same each year, the islands would soon be overrun with half-Argentines, and he would be the head of a "sexual invasion." He sets his eyes on Camilla Heaney, whom he first saw in church. He has initial success, having sex with Camilla twice, first in his hotel room and then on the beach. He manages to impregnate her before leaving for Buenos Aires, cocky and happy for having achieved his goal and duped his lover. However, Heaney gets the last word, making a videotape on Fabian's camera where she denounces him as shallow, condescending and self-centered. After this, the camera shows Stratas, unfazed by Camilla's anger, taking a shower while singing the Charly García cover of the Argentine National Anthem. 

=====

In London at the beginning of the twentieth century, Phyllis Allenby is a young and beautiful woman who is soon to be married to barrister and boyfriend Barry Lanfield. Phyllis is living at the Allenby Mansion without the protection of a male, along with her aunt Martha and her cousin Carol and the servant Hannah. As the wedding date approaches, London is shocked by a series of murders at the local park, where the victims are discovered with throats ripped out. Many of the detectives at Scotland Yard begin murmuring about werewolves, while Inspector Pierce believes the opposite and suspects strange activity at the Allenby Mansion (which is near the park), where the "Wolf-Woman" is seen prowling at night and heading for the park. Phyllis becomes extremely terrified and anxious, since she is convinced that she is the "Wolf-Woman", deeply believing in the legend of the so-called "Curse of the Allenbys". Aunt Martha tries to convince Phyllis how ridiculous the legend sounds, while she (Aunt Martha) and Carol are suspicious in their own ways. Phyllis each day denies Barry visiting her, and when a suspicious detective is murdered soon after he visits the mansion in the same way the other victims perished, Barry begins believing that something else is going on beside the so-called "Werewolf murders", and makes his own investigations both of the park and the mansion. It turns out that Aunt Martha did the attacks to convince Phyllis she was insane, and belonged in an asylum rather than married to Barry, so Martha and her daughter could remain living in the mansion. 

=====

The film follows Fando (Sergio Klainer) and his paraplegic girlfriend Lis (Diana Mariscal) through a barren, postapocalyptic wasteland in search of the mythical city of Tar, a place where one will know the true nature of eternity, and reach enlightenment. On their journey they see many odd and profoundly disturbing characters and events. The narrative of the film leaves a lot to the audience's interpretation, as the avant-garde and surreal nature in which the events of the film are presented mimic the workings of the subconscious. 

=====

Foreign Office civil servant Samuel Fennan apparently commits suicide after a routine security check by Circus agent George Smiley. Smiley had interviewed and cleared Fennan only days previously after an anonymous accusation; because of this, Circus head of service Maston sets up Smiley to be blamed for Fennan's death. While interviewing Fennan's wife Elsa in her home, Smiley answers the telephone, expecting the call to be for him. It is a requested 8:30 AM call from the telephone exchange. Inspector Mendel, a police officer on the verge of retirement who is investigating the Fennan case, finds out that the call had been requested by Fennan the night before. When Elsa later tells Smiley that she requested the call from the exchange, Smiley becomes suspicious of her. However, Maston unequivocally orders Smiley to refrain from any further investigation into Fennan's death. Back in his office, Smiley receives a letter posted by Fennan the night before, requesting an urgent meeting that day. Believing that Fennan was murdered to prevent the meeting, Smiley resigns from the Circus and attaches his resignation to Fennan's letter, which he forwards to Maston. Arriving home, Smiley notices a movement in the drawing room. He rings his own door bell and is met by a tall, fair, handsome stranger. Smiley skilfully avoids entering and notes all the number plates of the seven cars parked in the road. Mendel traces one car to a car dealer, Adam Scarr. Scarr tells Mendel that he rents the car out twice a month to a stranger known as "Blondie", whose description matches Smiley's intruder. Smiley is subsequently attacked and nearly killed while trying to track the car to "Blondie", and Scarr is later murdered. Investigating further, Mendel learns that Elsa attends a local theatre twice a month with "Blondie", and that the two exchange music cases at each performance. "Blondie" is soon identified by fellow Circus agent Peter Guillam as Hans-Dieter Mundt, an East German agent under diplomatic cover working for Dieter Frey, a German spy of Smiley's during the Second World War who has since become an important East German agent. Smiley believes that Frey would use a courier like Mundt to service only one highly placed resident agent. Guillam reports that Mundt has fled England. When confronted with Smiley's evidence, Elsa confesses to Smiley that her husband was an East German spy, that she was his unwilling accomplice in passing secret documents in the music cases, and that Fennan was killed by Mundt after Frey saw him talking to Smiley. However, Guillam learns that during the last six months, Fennan had been taking home insignificant, unclassified documents. Smiley realises that Elsa herself is the East German spy and that Fennan had accused himself to meet someone with whom he could discuss his suspicions about his wife. Smiley sets a trap, using his knowledge of Frey's tradecraft from the war to inspire a rendezvous between Frey and Elsa. When Frey utilises the meeting to kill Elsa, he is trailed by Mendel and killed by Smiley while attempting to escape. Smiley turns down Maston's offer of reinstatement and promotion and instead flies to Zurich to see his estranged wife, Ann. 

=====

Deven earns a living by teaching Hindi literature to college students. As his true interest was in Urdu poetry, he jumps at the chance to meet the great Urdu poet, Nur. Under the advice of his friend Murad, an editor of a periodical devoted to Urdu literature, Deven procures a secondhand tape recorder so that he can help transcribe Urdu's early poetry, as well as conduct an interview or even write the memoirs of Nur. However, things do not happen as he expects them to. Devens' old friend Murad visits seven unexpectedly with an offer for him to interview a great Urdu poet Nur Sahjahanabadi who lives in Chandni Chowk, Old Delhi for his magazine. seven is fond of Urdu poetry. He accepts the offer. At first, He thinks that he is getting a chance to sit a great Urdu poet but after reaching his house he notices the unbearable condition of Nur's house. When he meets Nur, he refuses to give an interview by saying that Urdu is now at its last stage and soon this beautiful language will not exist. But he shows some trust in seven. But seven gets annoyed by the condition of Nur's house and drops the idea of interviewing Nur. Murad again convinces him to interview Nur with the help of tape recorder so that it can be further used for audio learning by Urdu scholars. seven, who is a poor lecturer, asks for money from the college for a tape recorder. He goes to a shop to buy, where the shopkeeper, Jain, offers him a second hand tape recorder. At first seven refuses to purchase it but later Jain convinces him that it is a machine with good quality and his own nephew Chikua will help them to operate it while recording the interview. Unwillingly, seven agrees to purchase it. Nur's first wife promises Deven that she can arrange a room for seven if he gives her some money. seven arranged the money for the payment to her by the college authority with the help of his colleague-cum-friend Siddiqui. He then goes to Delhi with Chikua for recording, but he fails to record the interview. Now, he not only has no recording but also has to bear the expenses like payment demanded by poet, his wife, nephews of Jain, etc. 

=====

Retired spy George Smiley is contacted by a wartime colleague, Miss Elsa Brimley, who now edits a small Christian magazine, Christian Voice. She tells Smiley that she has received a letter from a reader, Stella Rode, claiming that her husband is plotting to kill her. The woman's husband is a teacher at a public school in the town of Carne. It so happens that Terence Fielding, brother of a classics professor who was one of Smiley's close associates in British intelligence during the war, is a house master at the school. However, before Smiley can intervene, Stella Rode is murdered. Since Stella's father and ancestors had been long time subscribers of the magazine, Brimley feels obligated and guilty over the woman's death, asks Smiley for help, with whom she had worked during the war as his secretary. Smiley travels to Carne to investigate. Smiley's estranged wife Ann had lived in Carne as a child, and upon his arrival, he becomes the subject of snide gossip. He also is a witness to an invidious class division between "town and gown" which is superimposed upon a religious division between adherents of the Church of England and Nonconformists. As the wife of a public school teacher, and as a nonconformist, Stella Rode occupied a low rank in the local social hierarchy, especially in the estimation of Carne's upper crust. The town police focus on a homeless madwoman as the murderer, but both Smiley and the investigating officer believe her to be innocent. Ms. Brimley discovers the murderer's hidden blood-stained clothes, while in the meantime Tim Perkins, a boy in Fielding's house, becomes the second murder victim. Stanley Rode admits to Smiley that, behind her apparent piety and ostentatious good works, his murdered wife was a pathological liar and schemer who would emotionally abuse him and viciously beat her own dog. Digging deeper, Smiley learns that Stella habitually humiliated, blackmailed, and otherwise terrorized those around her, using both her mask of civility and a fear of reprisals to escape suspicion or retribution for her behavior. Smiley follows the clues to identify the real murderer, Terence Fielding, whom Stella had been blackmailing over his wartime conviction of homosexual conduct with a member of the Royal Air Force. The conviction was known to school authorities, who took advantage of the situation for their own ends with separate blackmail of Fielding into remaining in his position at a significantly lower salary than his peers. Perkins had inadvertently made a discovery that would derail Fielding's attempt to implicate the husband and would have put suspicion on Fielding himself. Instead, until the end Fielding maintained unawareness of the significance of what he had seen. Fielding ultimately fails to frame the husband for the murders, despite his attempt to misdirect Smiley by saying he loved Perkins. Having admitted his guilt, Fielding is arrested. 

=====

Winnie Barringer is heartbroken over her close friend Iggie's move to Tokyo, Japan. However, she immediately takes an interest in the black family that has relocated in Iggie's old house, the Garbers, who have moved to her neighborhood (in an unspecified location) from Detroit, and prioritizes befriending the family's three children, Glenn, Herbie, and Tina, over all else. Her first meeting with the Garber children is awkward and nearly disastrous as she brings up racist subjects inadvertently, but she tries to overcome this by continuing to bond with them, despite several major bumps in the road along the way — most notably her snobby, prejudiced neighbor Mrs. Landon's callous attempts at running the Garbers out of town because of their race. After Mrs. Landon and her daughter Clarice leave a sign on the Garbers' lawn telling them they are unwanted and to leave town, Winnie fears that the Garbers will move again, and becomes extremely disappointed in her parents (especially her mother, who appears to demonstrate racism equal to Mrs. Landon's, albeit in more subtle ways) for not standing up for the Garbers. Eventually Mrs. Landon decides to sell her house and move away herself for no reason other than her prejudice, and attempts to pressure her neighbors into doing the same. This proves to be the last straw for Winnie's father, who thoroughly excoriates Mrs. Landon for her intolerance and tells her there will be no blockbusting in their neighborhood. Although she is proud of her father for telling Mrs. Landon off, Winnie fears that her parents will follow Mrs. Landon's lead, and decides to stow away on a ship to Japan to live with Iggie's family as she would be ashamed of having racist parents. In the end, Winnie's parents decide not to move but only, Winnie's mother tells her, because "moving is too much trouble," not because they wish to befriend the Garbers. Winnie is again disappointed by her mother's attitudes but is glad to see her father is being more receptive to the idea of being a good neighbor to the Garbers. She also realizes that she herself has a long way to go, and decides to work on becoming a real friend to the Garbers. 

=====

The book centers on Sheila Tubman, a 10-year-old girl who masks her insecurities with a much more self-assured, confident persona. In truth, she suffers from fears ranging from arachnophobia (fear of spiders and other arachnids), cynophobia (fear of dogs), and aquaphobia (fear of water). Her family decides to spend the summertime in Tarrytown, New York, where she is enrolled at a day camp and meets Merle "Mouse" Ellis, an easygoing, courageous, and slightly tomboyish girl skilled with her unlimited knowledge of yo-yo tricks. To Sheila's dismay, the family that owns the house in which they are staying owns a dog named Jennifer that she deeply fears and avoids, and her troubles increase when they learn of Jennifer's pregnancy and the desires of Sheila's sister Libby to adopt one of the puppies. Aside from these factors, Sheila is enlisted in swimming lessons (to her chagrin, but finally manages to take the final exam and earned a beginner's certificate) and single-handedly starts a camp newspaper (which proves a lot of work, but hands over editorship to two bigger boys who completed a crossword puzzle of hers; having promised a prize but forgotten to name it), even painting the backdrop of the camp's production of Peter Pan (Sheila accomplishes this without incident; and even laughs to herself that Libby is cast as Captain Hook, to Libby's consternation). Sheila believes that her fearless masquerade is effective, but her beliefs are proven false after the guests at her sleepover party write otherwise in a slam book activity. Despite the brawl that ensues between the agitated girls, devastated by the insults written in each other's books, their friendship, nevertheless, continues, and Sheila slowly overcomes her fears (albeit not entirely) little by little. As the summer draws to a close with a barbecue party, she is unshaken at the thought of her family's adoption of a puppy, and realizes that she enjoyed her vacation after all. 

=====

Katherine, in the middle of her senior year in high school, finds herself strongly attracted to Michael, a boy she meets at a New Year's party. As their relationship unfolds, the issue of sex comes up more as an emotional and health issue than as a moral one. Both of them are aware that physical intimacy is both common and complicated. Their relationship progresses slowly as they begin to go on dates and trips together; they are accompanied on various meetings by Katherine's friend, Erica, who has known Katherine since the 9th grade and believes that sex is a physical act and not very romantic, and believes Katherine should "just get it out of the way." Erica and Katherine are also joined by Michael's friend Artie, who got together with Erica; they split up after he told her he was going to kill himself, but he didn't harm himself. He is a depressed teenager who doesn't know what to do with his life. He shows his depression when he attempts to hang himself from his shower curtain rod but fails and gets himself hospitalized for the rest of the novel. Katherine and Michael go on a skiing trip, where they plan to have sex, but Katherine has her period, and they are disappointed. Michael teaches Katherine how to hold his penis (nicknamed "Ralph") and how to rub it correctly. When Katherine and Michael do have sex on Michael's sister's living room floor in her apartment, they are sure it seals a love that will be "forever". Michael buys Katherine a necklace for her birthday that says both of their names on it and it also says "Forever". However, separated for the summer by work that takes them to two different states, Katherine finds herself aware of the limitations of the relationship and is ultimately attracted to a tennis instructor, Theo, who is older than Michael. Theo calls her Kat, because everyone else is doing it, even though she is highly irritated with the nickname. She shares a kiss with him, and takes responsibility for breaking the news to Michael when he comes on a surprise visit. Michael realizes she has found someone else, and Katherine gives him back the forever necklace before he takes off. She realizes that she could get over it. The book ends with Katherine's mother giving her a message that Theo called for her. 

=====

Although The Unvanquished was first published as a whole in 1938, it consists of seven short stories which were originally published separately in The Saturday Evening Post, except where noted: *"Ambuscade" (September 29, 1934) *"Retreat" (October 13, 1934) *"Raid" (November 3, 1934) *"The Unvanquished" (namesake for the novel, in which it is titled "Riposte in Tertio") (November 14, 1936) *"Vendée" (December 5, 1936) *"Drusilla" (titled "Skirmish at Sartoris" in the novel), published in Scribner's (April 1935) *"An Odor of Verbena" (never published outside the novel prior to its release) The Unvanquished is told in seven episodes—sometimes immediately following one another, other times separated by months or years—spanning the years 1862 to 1873. The book begins with Bayard Sartoris and his slave friend Ringo playing in the dirt on the Sartoris plantation. A slave named Loosh smugly interrupts their game, hinting that Union armies have entered northeastern Mississippi, near their town of Jefferson. The boys do not fully understand, but when Bayard's father, Colonel John Sartoris, returns home from the front that day, they overhear him telling Granny Millard that Vicksburg has fallen. Loosh obviously knows about the defeat, and Bayard decides he and Ringo will keep watch over Loosh. Several days into the watch, the boys spot a Yankee soldier on horseback riding up the road. The boys grab a musket off the wall and shoot at the soldier, then run into the house as a fist pounds on the front door. Granny hides them under her billowing skirts and insists to the angry Union sergeant that there are no children present. Colonel Dick, a Yankee officer, calls off the search but makes it clear that he does so out of pity, not because he believes Granny. Afterward, the boys learn they only hit the horse, not the rider. The next year, following Colonel Sartoris's instructions, Granny carries a heavy trunk of silver to Memphis for safekeeping. After digging the buried chest out of the ground, she insists that the slaves carry it up to her bedroom so she can watch it during the night. The journey to Memphis carries them through Union- occupied areas. One afternoon, men with guns waylay the travelers, stealing their mules despite Granny's attempts to fend them off. Bayard and Ringo take a horse from a nearby barn and try to pursue the attackers, leaving Granny to fend for herself. They are discovered asleep the next day by Colonel Sartoris's troop. Furious and anxious for Granny's well-being, the colonel sees them back to Jefferson personally; on the way, they accidentally overcome the thieves, a group of Northern soldiers, and capture their supplies, though the colonel allows the men to escape. Granny has arrived home safely, but the next day a Union brigade rides to the house looking for Colonel Sartoris. He escapes, but the Yankees burn the house and take the chest of silver. Granny decides to personally petition the Yankees to return her silver, slaves and mules. With Bayard and Ringo, she sets off for Alabama and the Union army. They pass an army of freed slaves that is also seeking out the Yankees. On the way, they stop at Hawkhurst, where Bayard's Aunt Louisa lives. Ringo had been looking forward to seeing the railroad that runs nearby. But the railroad has been destroyed and the house burned. At Hawkhurst, Bayard's cousin Drusilla begs him to ask his father to let her join the regiment as a soldier. She accompanies them to the river crossing where the Yankees are encamped, and they are engulfed in a sea of restless slaves. The Northern troops dynamite the bridge over the river, and in the confusion the wagon falls into the water. The Yankees retrieve them, however, and are so overburdened with slaves that Colonel Dick issues Granny an order for more than 100 slaves and mules, as well as for several chests of silver. Granny dismisses most of the slaves, but she and Ringo use the order to get twelve extra horses from a Union encampment. The scam is quickly repeated, and after a year, Granny and Ringo have built a thriving trade in smuggled mules with the help of Ab Snopes, a poor local white. Ringo forges new orders and Granny uses them to requisition mules. Then, Ab sells the mules back to the clueless Yankees. They deliberate about a particularly risky opportunity and decide to go ahead, though Granny says she is uneasy. Her hesitation is justified: the Union army has issued a memo to be on the lookout for scams, and shortly after they leave camp the soldiers ride back to confront them. Granny has already given the mules to Ab for safekeeping, and when Ringo creates a diversion in the woods, Bayard and Granny simply vanish into the trees. Later that week, it becomes clear that Granny has not kept the profits for herself but has distributed them to keep other members of the community afloat. At Christmas 1864, Ab tells Granny about a group of bandits led by an ex- Confederate named Grumby who are terrorizing the countryside. Ab convinces Granny to try out her scam one last time on Grumby and his men. Though Bayard tearfully tries to dissuade her, she insists on going, and is shot and killed by Grumby. After the funeral, Bayard sets off to seek revenge, accompanied by Ringo and a friend of his father's, Uncle Buck. Realizing that Ab Snopes has joined Grumby's party, they track them for two months throughout the area. They know they are getting closer when a well-dressed stranger who turns out to be one of Grumby's men shoots at them, wounding Uncle Buck; the next day they find Ab Snopes tied up in the road as a kind of sacrifice. The cowardly Ab begs for mercy, and they decide not to kill him; instead, Uncle Buck carries him back to town. Bayard and Ringo continue their pursuit, and before long, Grumby's associates decide to hand him over to the boys to placate them. Grumby and Bayard wrestle. Bayard is almost trapped, but he prevails and kills Grumby. The boys nail his body to the door of the cotton compress where Granny was killed, then cut off his hand and attach it to Granny's grave marker. That spring, Drusilla has returned home from the war and is living in Jefferson with the Sartorises, dressing and acting mannish as she did while serving in the troops. Aunt Louisa is scandalized that Drusilla has been living with Colonel Sartoris and determines that they should marry. Aunt Louisa asks several respectable local women to take Drusilla in. The women cruelly offer sympathy for Drusilla's "condition," reducing Drusilla to tears. Before long Louisa arrives and, ignoring her daughter's protests, makes plans for the wedding. However, she has planned the wedding for the same day as a hotly contested election in Jefferson, in which Colonel Sartoris is attempting to stop a carpetbagger victory in the town. The day of the wedding, Drusilla rides into town to get married but ends up helping Colonel Sartoris face off against the two carpetbaggers, whom he shoots and kills. When she learns what has happened, Aunt Louisa is furious that the wedding has not taken place. Drusilla, the colonel and the townspeople ride to the Sartoris plantation to resume the election; not surprisingly, the Republican candidate, an ex-slave, loses. Eight years later, Bayard is a law student at the University of Mississippi; once in the intervening years he has kissed Drusilla, who seems almost to be in love with him. One night Ringo rides to the university to tell him Colonel Sartoris has been killed by an ex-business partner and rival, Ben Redmond. Bayard will be expected to avenge his father and shoot Redmond. He rushes back to Jefferson, where Drusilla, in her yellow ball gown with a sprig of verbena in her hair, seems almost a priestess of revenge. She hands him a pair of dueling pistols, then breaks down in a hysterical fit of laughter. After Louvinia has led Drusilla to bed, Bayard's Aunt Jenny warns Bayard not to indulge in violence for its own sake. The next morning, Bayard rides into town with Ringo. A crowd gathers as he prepares to enter Redmond's office, but Bayard refuses offers of assistance from Ringo and of a pistol from a friend of his father's, George Wyatt. He enters Redmond's office; Redmond fires two shots at him, then takes his hat, walks across the square and boards a train out of Jefferson forever. The townspeople think Bayard has been killed; in fact, he has chosen to confront Redmond unarmed, breaking the cycle of violence without sacrificing his honor. When he returns home that evening, Drusilla has left for good. The only sign of her is a sprig of verbena she has left on his pillow. 

=====

Tom (Scott Speedman) and Dan (James Marsden) meet in a bar and then proceed to Tom's apartment together. While there, Dan realizes that he had been in that same apartment before. Five years earlier, Dan and Tom had a one night stand there. According to Tom, that encounter with Dan was his first and only homosexual experience. Some years later, Tom's wife is found to be HIV positive. Despondent after receiving this diagnosis from her doctor, she drives through a red traffic light and is killed in an ensuing collision. Subsequent to these events, medical tests reveal that Tom is also HIV positive. Tom blames himself for passing HIV on to his wife and, in turn, he blames Dan for passing the virus on to him. Reasoning that Dan, ultimately, is to blame for his wife's death, Tom devises a plan to exact revenge. He holds Dan hostage, keeping him bound and gagged to a chair in his apartment. He draws blood from Dan in order to conduct a test to determine Dan's HIV status. If Dan's test results are positive for HIV, Tom vows to kill Dan. If the results are negative, Tom agrees to release Dan unharmed. In the end, Tom returns to the apartment and lets Dan go. As Dan is leaving, Tom asks him when he had last been tested. A few moments later, he reveals that Dan's test was, in fact, positive. He decided to let Dan go because he realized that his positive status was the result of his choices which he couldn't blame on anyone else. The screen fades with Dan standing in Tom's doorway in shock. 

=====

The two lead characters appear as the robotic forms of Daft Punk and are credited as "Hero Robot No. 1" and "Hero Robot No. 2". One wears a silver helmet and the other wears a golden one. An opening scene shows the duo driving in a 1987 Ferrari 412 with its license plate displaying "HUMAN". After passing through a Southwestern United States landscape, the duo arrives by car at a town in Inyo County, California. The town's residents are also shown to be robots physically identical to the two main characters, but at different ages, with different clothing and alternating gender. The pair drive to a high-tech facility where liquid latex is poured over their heads. The latex is shaped into human-like faces with the aid of prosthetic appliances and wigs. The resulting look caricaturizes the members of Daft Punk, Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. When the two leave the facility, the locals of the town are shocked by their human appearance. The townsfolk gradually begin to chase the duo, whose faces eventually melt in the sun. The two take cover in a public restroom where the gold robot discards his ruined mask, then encourages the reluctant silver robot to do the same. Again appearing as robots, the pair then undergo a lengthy hike across desert salt flats. After walking for an extended period, the silver robot slows down and comes to a stop. Becoming aware of this, the gold robot walks back to the silver one. The silver robot continues to stare at the ground for a moment before removing his own jacket. He then turns away from the other robot, revealing a switch on his back. The gold robot flips the switch, which begins a timer. When the countdown ends, the silver robot is blown to pieces. The remaining robot piles the remains of the silver robot, then continues to walk. The gold robot eventually falls to his knees and attempts to reach the switch on his own back, but to no avail. Another moment passes before the robot removes his helmet and repeatedly slams it into the ground until the helmet shatters. Using one of the shards as a burning-glass, the robot focuses the sunlight to set his hand ablaze. The film ends as the robot, completely on fire, walks in slow motion through darkness. 

=====

The novel deals with the decay of an aristocratic southern family just after the end of World War I. The wealthy Sartoris family of Jefferson, Mississippi, lives under the shadow of its dead patriarch, Colonel John Sartoris. Colonel John was a Confederate cavalry officer during the Civil War, built the local railroad, and is a folk hero. The surviving Sartorises are his younger sister, Virginia Du Pre ("Aunt Jenny" or "Miss Jenny"), his son Bayard Sartoris ("Old Bayard"), and his great-grandson Bayard Sartoris ("Young Bayard"). The novel begins with the return of young Bayard Sartoris to Jefferson from the First World War. Bayard and his twin brother John, who was killed in action, were fighter pilots. Young Bayard is haunted by the death of his brother. In addition to feeling intense survivor guilt, Bayard senses instinctively that everyone in town liked John better. Both were superb athletes, and fearless fighters, but as Aunt Jenny frequently points out, "Johnny" Sartoris was friendly, cheerful and good-natured to old and young alike, while Bayard was cold, sullen, and moody even before the war. As a result of all this, Bayard secretly feels that he should have been killed in Johnny's place. That and the family disposition for foolhardy acts push him into a pattern of self- destructive behavior, especially reckless driving in a recently purchased automobile. Eventually young Bayard crashes the car off a bridge. During the convalescence which follows, he establishes a relationship with Narcissa Benbow, whom he marries. Despite promises to Narcissa to stop driving recklessly, he gets into a near wreck with old Bayard in the car, causing old Bayard to die of a heart attack. Young Bayard disappears from Jefferson, leaving his now pregnant wife with Aunt Jenny. He dies test-flying an experimental airplane on the day of his son’s birth 

=====

The book opens with an introduction of characters, and with Trachtenberg, the narrator, describing his complex relationship with his maternal uncle, Benn Crader, a world-renowned botanist. He then discusses the distinctions between himself, and his father, a man who, as he describes him, “[puts] on the kind of sex display you see in nature films, the courting behavior of turkey cocks or any of the leggier birds… Dad was a hit with women.” This theme continues throughout the book, with Kenneth accepting his difficulties with women. He also introduces his mother, a woman who allowed her husband to step out, and only left after realizing that he did not understand what made her happy. She wanted intellectual stimulation of a literary style, whereas he bought her materialistic goods to make up for his infidelities. To atone for receiving the goods she did not need, Kenneth's mother is now living among refugees in Africa. Kenneth then embarks on an overview of Benn's recent sexual history. He presents a man who, while appreciative of beauty and women, is not quite rooted enough in human society to understand the sexual pretexts he encounters. One incident is discussed many times during the novel: a middle aged neighbor of Benn's, an attractive professional who has a slight drinking problem, asks Benn to help her change a light bulb, a not too subtle hint which Benn ignores until she makes a move. The next day, when he shows no interest, and expresses regret for the act, she exclaims, “What am I supposed to do with my sexuality?” Benn then attracts the attentions of another older woman, Caroline who is controlling, indifferent, and loving all at the same time. While Benn, unbeknownst to Kenneth, is dealing with a planned wedding to Caroline, the protagonist is in Seattle to discuss with his ex-girlfriend, Treckie, what they should do about raising their child, now three years old. Treckie, a beautiful, half-sized woman, has been seeing another man, a fact Kenneth knows because of the bruises on her legs - lovemaking injuries he refused to ever give her. Kenneth has discussed this peculiar fetish with his father, who knows women, and received the knowledge that some smaller women must do it to show they are women, and not fully matured girls, the perception they give off. Benn, escaping from the wedding to Caroline, flies to Kyoto at the expense of a lecture series, inviting Kenneth to join him. The Japanese sense of order and utility appeals to Benn, until a strip show he sees at the insistence of his colleagues upsets him with its overt sexuality, at which point, he and Kenneth return to their home in the Midwest. Benn's next partner is Matilda Layamon, a beautiful, Midwestern daughter, who wants to settle down with a distinguished, older man who can calm her wild side. Benn, perhaps fearing that Kenneth will convince him that it is a foolhardy idea, weds her without “Kenneth’s permission.” Matilda's father is a rectangular man with sharp, thin shoulders who is a doctor, and in fact, asks that he be called, “Doctor.” He serves the rich, and because of this, has one-percentage point interests in many businesses around the country - an accidental fortune. He is a scheming man, and other than a few disagreements between Benn, and the man, no conflicts occur until he attempts to take advantage of Benn's uncle, a man who, as executor of the will of the Crader mother, undersold, and unfairly bought the Crader home, selling the land to a company which built a tower there, resulting in millions of dollars of profit for Uncle Vilitzer, and pennies for the Crader children. Because Vilitzer controlled the judge, neither Benn nor Kenneth's mother received their fair share, and the Doctor hopes to correct this, so that Matilda will have a rich husband. In the end, Vilitzer dies after a heated discussion with Kenneth and Benn, and Benn, attending the funeral, sends his wife ahead to their honeymoon, and changes his ticket for the North Pole. He relays this to Kenneth who now lives in Benn's apartment, and who has recently returned from a successful bid to Treckie that he have his daughter for a part of the year. He is aware of her impending marriage thanks to a self-expedient phone call that revealed this information. The book ends with a conversation between the two professors in which both stories are relayed to each other. 

=====

Jordan and Dr. Cox are preparing to throw a party for their son Jack's first birthday. Dr. Cox advises J.D. not to attend the party because Jordan's sister Danni, with whom J.D. had recently broken up, is also coming. Also coming to the party is Jordan and Danni's brother Ben (Brendan Fraser), whose cancer has gone into remission; however, he has failed to have routine screenings and Cox advises him to get checked out. Meanwhile, Turk and Carla clash over removing a mole from Turk's face and Carla taking Turk as her last name after they marry, and one of Ted's band members quits. J.D. is taking care of an elderly man with an irregular heartbeat when Dr. Cox instructs him to run tests on Ben while Cox runs an errand. Twenty minutes later, J.D. is called to resuscitate a patient who has gone into cardiac arrest. When Dr. Cox returns, J.D. hands him a chart and informs him that the patient died. Dr. Cox angrily blames J.D. and sends him home, despite Ben's efforts to convince Cox that it wasn't J.D.'s fault. Two days later, Cox has been at the hospital for sixty straight hours and it is apparent that Jordan is worried he won't show up for their big event later that day. Ben follows Cox around the hospital, apparently trying to convince him to go, but he claims to have a rule of thumb against attending "parties where the guest of honor has no idea of what's going on". Meanwhile, Carla is busy annoying everyone as she is looking for advice: first she is upset because she doesn't know what to do to repay Turk for having his mole removed, but when he asks her to agree to take his name (hoping she would say no so he wouldn't have to have the surgery) she gladly accepts his terms. But after that she is angry that Turk is 'forcing her' to take his name. She asks an annoyed Dr. Kelso for advice; he responds that she may end up missing the mole after it's gone, even though she thinks she hates it. She finally decides that Turk shouldn't have to have his mole removed, and Turk respects her wishes to keep her own last name. Ben finally gets Dr. Cox to leave the hospital to attend the event, as well as apologize to J.D. for blaming him for the patient's death, and on the way to the gathering tells him to forgive himself. After Dr. Cox asks why Ben doesn't have his camera with him, J.D. arrives and brings Cox to the realization that not only is he not actually attending his son's birthday party, but also that Ben is not present. Cox and J.D. are revealed to be at a cemetery where they are joined by Jordan, Danni, and many of the hospital staff for what is revealed to be Ben's funeral. In reality, Ben was the patient who died under J.D.'s watch. Cox, unable to accept the death of his best friend, had been seeing Ben's spirit as if he were alive. The episode ends as a heartbroken Dr. Cox uncharacteristically allows those around to comfort him. 

=====



=====

The Claw of Naar is the evil wand of power used by Agarash the Damned during his ancient conquest of Magnamund. Legend held that it had been lost forever in the molten ruins of Naaros, but now it has resurfaced, and its dread return heralds a dawn of disaster for the peaceable nations of Magnamund. Your allies, the wise wizards of the Elder Magi, have the power and the means to destroy the accursed Claw, but they do not possess it. In Vampirium, you must venture into the hostile land of Bhanar and snatch the Claw from the clutches of the evil Autarch Sejanoz. 

=====

In December 1935, Hercule Poirot is traveling aboard the Orient Express, encountering his friend Signor Bianchi, a director of the company which owns the line. The other passengers traveling in Poirot and Bianchi's coach are American widow Harriet Hubbard; American businessman Samuel Ratchett, with his English manservant Edward Beddoes and secretary/translator Hector McQueen; elderly Russian Princess Natalia Dragomiroff and her German maid Hildegarde Schmidt; Hungarian diplomat Count Rudolf Andrenyi and his wife Elena; British Indian Army officer Colonel John Arbuthnot; Mary Debenham, a teacher; Greta Ohlsson, a Swedish missionary; Italian-American car salesman Antonio Foscarelli; and Cyrus Hardman, an American theatrical agent. The morning after the train departs from Istanbul, Ratchett tries to secure Poirot's services as a bodyguard for $15,000 (equivalent to $286,679 in 2019), as he has received death threats, but Poirot has no interest. That night, Bianchi lets Poirot use his compartment as he goes to sleep in another coach. During the journey, the train is stopped in a snowdrift that has formed on the tracks in Yugoslavia. The next morning, Ratchett is found stabbed to death in his cabin. Bianchi entreats Poirot to solve the case. They enlist the help of Stavros Constantine, a Greek medical doctor who was traveling in the other coach. Dr. Constantine finds Ratchett was stabbed 12 times, though some wounds were slight. Poirot's reconstructed timeline of passenger activities the night before indicates that Ratchett was murdered at about 1:15 a.m. The doors to the other cars were locked, so the murderer is likely one of the passengers in Poirot's coach, or its French conductor, Pierre Michel. Found at the crime scene is a fragment of a burned letter. Examining the letter, Poirot discovers that Ratchett was actually Lanfranco Cassetti, a gangster who, five years earlier, planned the kidnapping and murder of Daisy Armstrong, infant daughter of British Army Colonel Hamish Armstrong and his American wife, Sonia. Overcome with grief, the pregnant Mrs. Armstrong went into premature labor and died giving birth to a stillborn baby. A French maidservant named Paulette, suspected of complicity in the kidnapping, committed suicide, only to be found innocent later. Colonel Armstrong, consumed by these tragedies, committed suicide. Cassetti betrayed his partner by fleeing the country with the ransom and was only revealed to be involved on the eve of his partner's execution. Several clues are quickly discovered, suggesting that an assassin boarded the train during the night while it was stuck in the snowdrift, murdered Cassetti, and then left the train. Mrs. Hubbard reports that she detected the presence of a man in her bed. Then, a button from a sleeping car conductor's uniform is discovered. Pierre confirms that he is not missing any buttons from his uniform. Later, an entire conductor's uniform is discovered that does not fit Pierre and misses a button. In the uniform's pocket is a conductor's passkey. Finally, Mrs. Hubbard discovers a bloody dagger. Dr. Constantine confirms that it could have inflicted all the wounds found on Cassetti's body. Poirot later agrees with Foscarelli that the assassin was likely a rival Mafia gang, exacting vengeance as part of a Mafia feud. As these clues are being discovered, Poirot begins interviewing the passengers. He learns that: McQueen was the son of the District Attorney who prosecuted the case and was very fond of Mrs. Armstrong; Beddoes had been a British Army batman; Countess Andrenyi is of German descent, and her maiden name is Grunwald; Greta Ohlsson has limited knowledge of the English language and has been to America; Pierre Michel's daughter died five years earlier of scarlet fever; Col. Arbuthnot, who displays knowledge of Armstrong's military decorations, plans to wed Mary Debenham. When Poirot interviews Princess Dragomiroff, he discovers she is a great friend of Linda Arden, Mrs. Armstrong's mother; the Princess was Sonia's godmother. He learns that the Armstrongs had a butler, a secretary, a cook, a chauffeur, and a nursemaid to Daisy. Poirot flatters Hildegarde Schmidt by saying he knows a good cook when he sees one, and she responds to his request for a photo of the maid Paulette, with whom Miss Schmidt was friendly. Foscarelli vehemently denies ever having been in private service as a chauffeur. Hardman reveals he is, in fact, a Pinkerton detective hired to guard Cassetti. When shown the photo of Paulette, Hardman breaks down and reveals he knew her. Poirot gathers the suspects together, stating he has formulated two possible scenarios. The first, his simple solution, suggests that Cassetti's murder was the result of a Mafia feud. The second, his complex solution, links all the suspects on the coach to the Armstrong case. In addition to the earlier self-incriminating revelations by Hardman, McQueen, Miss Schmidt, and the Princess, the Princess had incriminated three others: when asked Mrs. Armstrong's maiden name, she replied "Greenwood," the English for "Grunwald," allowing Poirot to deduce that Countess Elena was Mrs. Armstrong's sister, and Count Andrenyi her brother-in-law; the Princess also claimed the secretary's name was "Miss Freebody," so Poirot deduced the secretary was in fact Mary Debenham (as in the London department store Debenham and Freebody). Poirot then presents the motives of the other suspects: Pierre was Paulette's father; Beddoes was Colonel Armstrong's army batman and the family butler; Miss Ohlsson was Daisy's nursemaid (having inadvertently shown an understanding of complex English words and that her devout charity works comes from a personal tragedy); Col. Arbuthnot was a close army friend of Armstrong's; Foscarelli was the Armstrongs' private chauffeur; Hardman was a police officer in love with Paulette and Mrs. Hubbard is Linda Arden, Mrs. Armstrong's mother. McQueen had drugged Cassetti so each of the passengers could stab him - with the Andrenyis stabbing Cassetti together, totaling 12 stab wounds. The noises which disturbed Poirot's sleep were contrived to obfuscate the time of death. Poirot asks Bianchi to choose one of the two solutions to present to the police once the train is freed from the snowdrift. He admits that the Yugoslavian police will likely prefer the simple solution. Bianchi decides that Cassetti deserved to die and elects the simple solution. Poirot agrees, admitting he will struggle with his conscience when he gives his report to the police. The passengers celebrate with champagne as the train is freed of the snow and resumes its journey. 

=====

For centuries the Shom’zaa has lain incarcerated and forgotten in a granite prison located deep below the mountains of Bor. Now this terrifying beast has accidentally been set free, and its hunger for vengeance knows no bounds. With a horde of vile minions at its command, swiftly the Shom’zaa enacts its sinister plan to destroy King Ryvin and the wondrous realm of the Drodarin dwarves. You must journey to the subterranean kingdom of the dwarves and attempt to save your ancient allies from the wrath of the Shom’zaa. 

=====

Hercule Poirot is travelling on the Orient Express. While on the journey, Poirot meets a very close friend Bouc, who works for the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits. The train is stopped when a landslide blocks the line on the second night out from Istanbul, and American millionaire Samuel Edward Ratchett is found stabbed to death the next morning. Since no footprints are visible around the train and the doors to the other cars were locked, it seems that the murderer must still be among the passengers in Ratchett's car. Poirot and Bouc work together to solve the case. They are aided by Pierre Michel, the middle-aged French conductor of the car. A key to the solution is Ratchett's revealed involvement in the Armstrong tragedy in the United States several years earlier, in which a baby was kidnapped and then murdered. (The fictitious Armstrong case, inspired by the real-life kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh's baby boy.) 

=====

Alma in the background The plot of the expansion starts off exactly where the original game left off; while the huge explosion of the "Origin Facility" has flattened the Auburn district and devastated the city, the helicopter evacuating the survivors of the F.E.A.R. team crash lands in the midst of the chaos. The Point Man is reunited with Delta Force operator Douglas Holiday and F.E.A.R. technical officer Jin Sun-Kwon at the crash site. While trying to regroup, the survivors find the city to be mysteriously empty after the explosion. The Point Man meets Fettel in a nearby church, who notes that the circumstances do not make sense since he had been killed. Angered by his own death, Fettel reactivates the Replica soldiers, who have been dormant since his death, and sends them after the Point Man. Holiday mentions that an extraction point has been established at the roof of Auburn Memorial Hospital, informing the Point Man that he should proceed there as well. Meanwhile, Kwon is captured by Fettel's Replicas, but she is later able to escape while being transported via the subway; from there, she proceeds on her own to Auburn Hospital. The Point Man and Holiday eventually meet up and navigate through the warehouse district of the city, facing great Replica resistance along the way. Eventually Alma, through her apparitions, violently murders Holiday. The Point Man is forced to proceed alone toward and through the subway system, which leads directly to Auburn Hospital. During the Point Man's journey through the winding tunnels, Alma, in her younger form, clears the way for the Point Man multiple times by killing Replica soldiers impeding the Point Man’s path. Replica forces eventually become desperate and place demolition charges in the subway tunnels with the hope that the resulting explosions will kill the Point Man. While initially unsuccessful, the Point Man is eventually caught in one of these demolition explosions and is ejected from the tunnels onto a nearby parking structure. From here, the Point Man proceeds to the hospital which neighbors the parking structure. Upon reaching the hospital, the Point Man attempts to find and rescue Jin only to find her murdered at the hands of ghostly apparitions. Now, with nothing to fight for but his own survival, the Point Man proceeds to the service elevator. Suddenly, a power outage occurs and the Point Man must find a way to restore it, being taken to the hospital's morgue in the process. While walking around the dark basement, the Point Man witnesses several hallucinations (thought to be the physical form of what is in Alma's mind) which include a series of prison cells, containing the dead ATC victims of Alma's murders in the previous game. Eventually, the Point Man witnesses a hallucination that involves the older and younger Alma reuniting in a blue light. After that hallucination, the Point Man returns to the hospital and notices there's no longer blood on the floor, walls and bathtubs. The elevator is then reactivated and the Point Man is able to make contact with Commisioner Rowdy Betters, who tells him to get to the roof for pickup. Fettel tells the Point Man does not understand the situation and proceeds to unleash a squad of Replica Elites. A UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter proceeds to evacuate him but Fettel, through unknown methods, destroys the helicopter, sending the Point Man into unconsciousness. When he awakens, he staggers to the roof railing, to witness the entire city in flames. The credits roll, ending with Fettel's line from F.E.A.R. "A war is coming, I've seen it in my dreams. Fires sweeping over the earth, bodies in the streets, cities turned to dust. Retaliation..." 

=====

This is a comedy about three physically impaired men: Tarun/Tom (deaf), Deepak/Dick (blind) and Harshvardhan/Harry (mute). They live together as paying guests, and their life takes an endearing turn when a beautiful girl Celina comes to live in the bungalow opposite their house. They start making their moves to cast an impression on her, who is least interested in acknowledging their presence. In Tom’s life there’s Bijlee, a fisherwoman, who is completely besotted by him and does not leave any stone unturned to express her desire. On the other hand, there is Suprano (Gulshan Grover) a bad man who is out to prove that he is the worst villain ever and has with him some of Bollywood's most dreaded criminals, Shakaal from film Shaan, Gabbar Singh from Sholay and Mogambo from Mr. India, making an indestructible Suprano. Tom, Dick and Harry unknowingly become the target of Suprano, by being the biggest barriers in his business deals. The movie depicts the three friend struggles with their disabilities and how they have to fight against Suprano. 

=====



=====

Bonita Friml is a Las Vegas lounge singer. Her husband, Harold Benson, is a cigar-smoking recreational gambler with a long winning streak. It seems that he cannot lose to one blackjack dealer in particular: a young man named Willie Brodax. When the casino notices Willie's losing streak, they fire him, figuring that he's jinxed. Willie then lands another blackjack-dealing job in Reno, and Harold follows him there, forcing Bonita to leave behind her lucrative singing gig to go with him. When Willie sees that Harold is now in Reno, Willie reports Harold to security, but they find no cheating on Harold's part. Milt Hawkins, who works with Willie at the casino, suggests that he "get a piece of" Harold, the way Harold "got a piece of" him. Willie starts following Harold around and eventually finds his and Bonita's trailer. Willie then encounters Bonita, and the two of them end up falling in love. Then she tells him that she is tired of living with Harold and wants to do away with him. She tries to get Willie to help with the murder plot, but he is hesitant. When she insists, he agrees to help her, on one condition: if he can break the jinx, the murder will be called off. When the fateful day arrives, Harold shows up to play blackjack against Willie as usual. Harold's winning streak continues, but just when he has wagered every last dollar on one final hand, a woman sitting next to him gets annoyed by the cigar he's been smoking for good luck. She yanks the cigar away from him and extinguishes it, much to his chagrin. When he hits on his blackjack hand, he makes 20, but a surprisingly calm Willie manages to get 21, thus finally beating Harold. Willie has broken the jinx, and Harold is now flat broke. But when Willie phones Bonita to call off the murder plot, she doesn't pick up. When Harold arrives home, he pretends that he had won big so that Bonita won't know that they're broke. But while he's in the shower, he is so distraught that he commits suicide by sticking his finger in an open light-bulb socket. Not long after, Willie arrives, sees Bonita hovering over the dead body, and assumes that she had killed her husband. She assures Willie that it was a suicide, which makes him say how sorry he is that he had beaten Harold. When Bonita hears this and learns that Harold lost everything, she begins to panic. Willie reminds her of the life insurance money she is sure to get. But she points out that the insurance policy had a suicide clause, which now prevents her from collecting. So she and Willie decide to make Harold's death look like an accident. Willie drives off towing Bonita's trailer behind him and, while stopped in a remote location, puts Harold's corpse behind the wheel of the truck. Willie rolls the truck and trailer into a ravine, then heads back into town. When police discover the crashed vehicle, they conclude that Harold must have died in an accident, meaning that Bonita can now receive the insurance money. But when she goes to file the claim, she learns that Harold had allowed the policy to lapse, thus dashing any hope of her getting any benefits. But Harold did leave her a letter he wrote, which sends her on a scavenger hunt for various clues that will tell her how to get the money she'll need. The clues she finds end up spelling out "J-O-N-A-H," as in Jonah, the Biblical prophet who was infamously jinxed in the Old Testament. Knowing what this means, Bonita heads to the casino, sits down at Willie's table, and begins to play blackjack. During her gameplay, she smokes the same kind of cigar that Harold always smoked for good luck. She goes on a winning streak of her own, upsetting Willie and his supervisors, who fear that his jinx has returned. After he is fired from this job, he drives away in his car, only to find Bonita hiding in the back seat waiting for him. She says she'd like him to join her in a new scheme she just concocted, where he goes from casino to casino working as a dealer, and they split the money they'll get after she wins all the casinos' dough playing against him. 

=====

Lone Wolf has been abducted by the forces of the Dark God Naar and imprisoned in a remote city-fortress on the border of the Darklands. Subjected to relentless attacks by the minions of evil, the Supreme Master of the Kai is surely doomed to die unless a rescue can be affected swiftly and successfully. You must venture alone into the dreaded stronghold of Gazad Helkona to find and free your leader. 

=====

Evil Lord Vandyan of Eldenora has unearthed the lost secrets of rune magics used by Agarash the Damned during his ancient conquest of Magnamund. Empowered by his discoveries, Vandyan unleashes his armies upon the peaceful realms of the Free Alliance with swift and devastating effect. Lone Wolf, Supreme Master of the Kai, leads the crusade to defeat Vandyan before all Magnamund succumbs to his tyrannical rule. Your task is to infiltrate Skull-Tor, Lord Vandyan’s stronghold, and destroy the ancient runes from which he draws his evil power. 

=====

The King of Siyen has been assassinated. Prince Karvas is the sole heir of this rich and powerful realm but he lives in exile in distant Sheasu - ‘the Isle of Lost Heroes’. In his absence, evil Baron Sadanzo and his army of robber knights have staked their claim to the vacant throne. In Mydnight’s Hero, your quest is to voyage to Sheasu and track down Prince Karvas in the fabled city of Mydnight. Once found you must persuade him to return with you to Siyen without delay. You have only 50 days in which to complete this challenging quest or Siyen will be enslaved by the tyrannical Sadanzo and his brutal followers. 

=====

The Moonstone is a legendary artefact that was created by the godlike Shianti. It contains the might of all their magic and wisdom, the sum of their divine knowledge. Lone Wolf - Supreme Master of the Kai - has succeeded in retrieving it from the clutches of Naar, the King of the Darkness. Now the Moonstone must be returned to its creators who are exiled upon the remote Isle of Lorn in southern Magnamund. Someone must take the fabled artefact to the Shianti and Lone Wolf has chosen you, the most promising warrior, among the ranks of the New Order Kai, to carry out this vital mission. Armed with the special weapons and skills of a Grand Master, you embark upon a secret voyage to the distant Isle of Lorn. However, your mission becomes a life and death struggle when you encounter intrigue and danger en route. 

=====

A group of young men in South Africa, undergo a rite of passage symbolizing their change from boyhood into manhood. In rural China, a heavily pregnant Jin Ping is caught by Chinese military men with crates of black market blood in her van. The blood is destroyed and she is subsequently gang raped. Jin Ping is then shown visiting a village and convincing the inhabitants to give blood for $5 each. They all agree, except Tong Sam, a rice farmer, as he is unable to give blood as he is sick. However, as Jin Ping's equipment is not safe, most of the people in the village contract HIV and die of AIDS, including Tong Sam's family. The military men led by Xuan arrive in the village to help with the disease, and they help Tong Sam grow rice, which he then gives out to his remaining neighbors. Government officials arrive in the town to test people for AIDS, but the testing is $10 per person, which one neighbor thinks is a scam because it "cost $5 when she gave me the virus." In Canada, porn star Denys thinks he may be HIV positive. He cheats his monthly blood tests by taking blood samples from his ailing father instead of providing his own blood. Eventually his father dies, and his mother Olive finds out her son's job, much to her dismay. Denys subsequently quits his job. Olive finds out that her son is HIV positive when she goes to meet him at a self-help group. She then decides to infect herself with the HIV virus by drinking Denys's blood, and then gets a substantial pay-off from her health insurance company. She uses the money to provide a better life for her and Denys. One night they go out for dinner, and they are waited on by Maria, a former colleague of Denys. She informs him that she, and several other porn actors, are now infected with HIV because of Denys. She says "you killed me for $800". In South Africa, where three nuns Clara, Mary, and Hilde arrive at a plantation where they are to give aid. Clara who is very head-strong goes to great lengths to look after the family of a young rape victim, whose grandmother has died, and who is cared for by her older brother. She asks for help from the plantation owner Hallyday, who makes sexual advances on her. Eventually she gives in and allows Hallyday to have sex with her, if he agrees to help the family she looks after. She eventually discovers that the older brother in the family is re-using the plantation's needles, effectively spreading infections amongst the people who live and work there. Following this, three men break into the nuns' bedroom and rape them. The nuns leave the plantation soon after, but as the car pulls away, Clara gets out and walks back to the plantation, removing her habit as she goes. The epilogue is narrated by Hilde, who is revealed to be a Saint and has heard the prayers of everyone from the three stories detailed above. She wonders why the human race will not unite in the face of their common enemy, AIDS, and decides that God, or at least the way people believe in him, is to blame for this failure. 

=====

Nastanirh takes place in late 19th-century Bengal and explores the lives of the "Bhadralok", Bengalis of wealth who were part of the Bengal Renaissance and highly influenced by the Brahmo Samaj. Despite his liberal ideas, Bhupati is blind to the loneliness and dissatisfaction of his wife, Charu. It is only with the appearance of his cousin, Amal, who incites passionate feelings in Charu, that Bhupati realizes what he has lost. 

=====

The show follows Mildred Hubble (Georgina Sherrington) in her first year at Weirdsister College, a university for students of magic. Similar to her adventures at Cackle's, Mildred usually messes up, but saves the day in the end. The series has a darker side than The Worst Witch, with evil creatures and a possible doomsday. 

=====

Katya Livingston is an ad exec living in San Francisco. Her accountant goes to prison and advises her to keep a journal of all of her expenses as she is sure to be audited. Katya is vain and selfish, trying to keep up with society by wearing designer knock offs and trying to get into all of the hottest clubs. She is best friends with Eliza: a well meaning do-gooder, Ferguson: a gay male escort with self-esteem issues and a long list of ex-boyfriends, and Frangiapani: a woman that has been married several times. Katya finds out about the Royal Ball, a benefit for Youth Aid International and the biggest social event of the season. It will be thrown by socialite sisters Dove and Fawn Greenstein. She finds out that she has not been invited because of an indiscretion she mistakenly had with Dove Greenstein's husband on their wedding day and then later revealed Dove's real age to a local tabloid. She is desperate to go, especially when she finds out all of her friends are going. 

=====

The story starts with Chandru (Vivek) cheating most people in and around Ooty of their money due to his childish ventures. Though he hails from a rich family, he is unable to maintain the wealth because of his bad luck and unconcerned life style. He has a friend Rakesh (Shaam) who is a farm lord and a rich young man. Chandru saved Rakesh's life when he spotted him on a roadside accident on the hill side which he uses as a leverage for favours from the kind-hearted Rakesh. One day Chandru's grandfather comes to Ooty to stay for two months, thinking that Chandru owns a large mansion and much land and money. The grandfather who is very rich is an ex-military man. Chandru, afraid to confess the truth to his grandfather, convinces Rakesh to act so that all of Rakesh's property as his and that Rakesh is his partner but he introduces to them as a manager. Rakesh angered by all this lying threatens to confront Chandru's relatives but is convinced again by Chandru to stay calm. With the grandfather, comes his wife (Sathyapriya), and five well educated girls. The last girl, Balamani (Trisha), is the most favored and most fun. She is seen dull and nonchalant when she arrives, later has fun with the others. They have run-around with Rakesh who is irritated by them all. Later when Bala learns that all the property is not her cousin Chandru's but Rakesh's she apologises and they become friends. However, this soon becomes love for Rakesh, eventually he proposes to Bala. Bala becomes sober — she says that she likes him, but says that she's already married to a guy named Deva Narayanan (Madhavan). She doesn't explain further. Later Rakesh sees two people at night in the estate. He beats them up and Bala tells him that the unknown guys are actually Deva's friends and Deva is going to die. Bala then explains how she fell for Deva: Deva is a professor at the college which Bala has joined. She learns that, though Deva is violent, he has no choice — her college is in very bad situation as it is planned to be sold, as it is a real estate gold mine. The board members and the management of that institution are for this selling as they are promised money. He behaves very violently and beats up the students who are gangsters sent in to disrupt normal college activities by conducting strikes. Eventually Deva is overwhelmed and is made to resign. He wants revenge and punishment for the guy who did this so he throws a small dynamite to immobilize the enemy's vehicle and injure him so that he wouldn't leave the country. All turns bad when a bus filled with children come next to his vehicle and the bomb kills many. Filled with remorse and regret, he accepts all charges and is given the death sentence. After telling this, Bala confirms that she will kill herself the day when Deva is executed. Rakesh meets with Deva and convinces him to talk to Bala. Deva meets up with Bala and tells her that he has been lying about him and has not considered her to be a lover but as one among the many girls who fell for his charm. He lies so that Bala will change her mind to not kill herself but is not able to continue doing this. When he turns back to see Bala, she's gone, hearing only the first part in which Deva says he has cheated her into being his wife. Rakesh thanks Deva and leaves. Back home Bala determines to work hard and do more for her family and refuses the marriage. When they all leave after the vacation Rakesh meets Bala and asks her whether she would change her mind someday and comeback or at least stay as his friend as he has no one. The train starts before she could give an answer. Bala gets down from the moving train and hugs Rakesh expressing her love for him. 

=====

The primary antagonist, Specter, introduces a new card game which becomes very popular among humans and pipo monkeys alike. Using this card game, he dominates the world through culture manipulation, concurrently introducing a card battle contest for monkeys to complete in. The prize for winning the contest is the rare "Platinum Specter" trading card and a year's supply of bananas. 

=====

The story is about a homosexual photographer Mikael, who finds a young and injured troll from his home yard and takes it to his home. This troll is inspired by Finnish folklore and is an intelligent, almost human-like animal that in appearance resembles a cat and a monkey. In the world of the novel trolls are existing animals instead of mythical creatures, although quite rare. The book has multiple narrative levels, and each chapter is broken into short segments that alternate between viewpoints of different characters. Interspersed between the story are newspaper articles, old stories, novel segments, jokes and other slightly altered history that illustrates the long relationship between humans and trolls in the world of the novel. By concentrating on gay characters the story explores power structures in interpersonal relationships without the need to consider how gender roles affect them. 

=====

The story takes place in Leningrad, USSR, apparently in the 1970s. The protagonist, Dmitry Alekseyevich Malyanov (Дмитрий Алексеевич Малянов) is an astrophysicist who, while officially on vacation, continues to work on his thesis, "The Interaction of Stars with Diffused Galactic Matter". Just as he begins to realize that he is on the verge of a revolutionary discovery worthy of a Nobel Prize, his life becomes plagued by strange events. First, Malyanov is visited unexpectedly by an attractive woman claiming to be his wife's classmate and food and wine arrive for them mysteriously and already paid for. Then his neighbor dies of an apparent suicide and Malyanov becomes the murder suspect. Approaching the problem with a scientific mindset, Malyanov suspects that his discovery is in the way of someone (or something) intent on preventing the completion of his work. The same idea occurs to his friends and acquaintances, who find themselves in a similar impasse—some powerful, mysterious, and very selective force impedes their work in fields ranging from biology to mathematical linguistics. An explanation is proposed by Malyanov's friend and neighbor, the mathematician Vecherovsky (Вечеровский). He posits that the mysterious force is the Universe's reaction to mankind's scientific pursuit, which threatens to destroy the very fabric of the universe in some distant future. His hypothesis is that of a Homeostatic Universe, meaning that the Universe tends to conserve both its total entropy (a measure of disorder) and the capacity of regeneration of reasoning performed into it. The equilibrium between the two measures determines the structure of the Universe at a given time. Thus, the Universe naturally resists attempts of rational beings of constructing supercivilizations. Vecherovsky proposes to treat this universal resistance to scientific progress as a natural phenomenon which can and should be investigated and even harnessed by Science. As the novel concludes, the other scientists, including Malyanov, have been forced to abandon their research, and Vecherovsky remains alone to battle the universe and continue their work. 

=====

The film is about a Chief minister and his family being kidnapped and taken to a remote village making them undergo the hardships of village life to learn about it. Murali played the role of a villager who was looking for revolutionary means to correct the political system in Tamil Nadu. The basic line of the story was that the leaders should understand and know the difficulties faced by his subjects. 

=====

Paul Marsh has a dream that he discovers a mermaid with razor-sharp teeth while scuba diving into a strange underwater building. Paul awakes on a boat off the shores of Spain, where he is vacationing with his girlfriend, Barbara, and their friends Vicki and Howard. A sudden storm blows their boat against some hidden rocks. Vicki is trapped below deck and Howard stays with her while Paul and Barbara take a lifeboat to the nearby deserted fishing village of Imboca. During their absence, an unseen creature from the deep attacks the two in the boat. On the shore, Barbara and Paul find no one about and venture into town until they eventually reach the church, where they find a priest. Barbara convinces him to help them, and the priest speaks with two fishermen at the docks, who volunteer to take either Paul or Barbara to the wreck. Despite Paul's misgivings, Barbara stays to try to find a phone in order to call the police and a doctor while Paul goes to help their friends. Vicki and Howard are mysteriously missing, however, and Paul is taken back to Imboca, where he is sent to the hotel that Barbara was supposed to have gone to. But she is missing as well and Paul is left to wait for her in an old, filthy hotel room, where he dreams of the mermaid again. His fitful rest is disturbed by a large gathering of strange, fish-like people approaching the hotel and he is forced to flee. He ends up in a macabre tannery full of human skins, where he discovers Howard's remains. He escapes the tannery by starting a fire and finds momentary safety with an old drunkard named Ezequiel, the last full- blooded human in Imboca. Ezequiel explains to Paul that, many years ago, the village fell on lean times. A fishing ship captain Orpheus Cambarro (based on captain Obed Marsh) convinced the locals to worship Dagon rather than God. Xavier's first offerings to Dagon brought Imboca enormous wealth in the form of fish and gold. This caused the locals to make him as high priest of the Church of Dagon and help him dismantled the local Catholic church and killed the priest to establish the church in Dagon's honor (based on Esoteric Order of Dagon). However, the wealth brought upon by Imboca from worshiping Dagon had the terrible price as Dagon demanded blood sacrifices and human women to breed with. These were, respectively, the fates of Ezequiel's father and mother who resisted Xavier's heretical practice. Over time, the people of Imboca eventually began to die off leaving only the half-fish/half-human offspring of Dagon and Dagon's offsprings themselves to settle in the village who would kidnap unexpected trespassers to sacrifice to Dagon while Ezequiel watched the village go to ruin and lamented the villagers' foolishness in worshiping a demon for short-lived prosperity. Paul begs Ezequiel to help him escape. Ezequiel relents and takes Paul to the Mayor's manor, so he can steal the town's only car. Ezequiel distracts some Imbocans long enough for Paul to slip inside, but he accidentally honks the horn while trying to hot-wire the engine. Forced to flee into the manor, Paul finds a beautiful woman named Uxia, the mermaid from his dreams. She saves him from discovery, but when he finds that she really is half-fish, he flees in horror, despite her pleas for him to stay. Paul narrowly escapes a horde of villagers in the car but ends up crashing. He is caught and thrown into a barn, where he is reunited with Vicki, Ezequiel, and Barbara. The three plan to escape, but the attempt is foiled. Having been raped and impregnated by Dagon, the traumatized Vicki kills herself. Paul and Ezequiel are separated from Barbara and end up in a butchery, where they are chained and given a chance to join the worship of Dagon. When they both refuse, Paul, apologizes to Ezequiel, who thanks Paul for helping him to remember his mother and father, who died resisting Dagon and the cult. He is flayed alive before Paul's eyes as they recite the 23rd Psalm together. Paul is saved by the appearance of Uxia, who informs him that he has no choice but to join them. He offers to stay with her in return for Barbara's release, but she insists that Barbara must stay and bear Dagon's child. When Paul seems to concede, Uxia tells the priest of Dagon to make arrangements for their marriage. After Uxia leaves, Paul escapes, killing the guards and the priest. He starts looking for Barbara, collecting a can of kerosene on the way. When he reaches the church, apparently intending to burn it down, he instead discovers a hidden passage that leads below ground to a ritual chamber. There a congregation of Imbocans watch Uxia prepare Barbara to be offered to Dagon; she is chained by her wrists and lowered nude into a deep pit leading to the sea. While the Imbocan congregation and Uxia call to Dagon, Paul attacks, dousing several villagers in kerosene and setting them on fire. He winches Barbara back out of the pit, but Dagon has already raped her and she pleads with him to kill her. Paul refuses and the monstrous Dagon himself grabs Barbara and tears her bodily (and bloodily) from the winch, claiming her as his new consort. The uninjured Imbocans assault Paul, but are halted by Uxia and a monstrously deformed Imbocan who is revealed to be Uxia's and Paul's father. Uxia explains that Paul's human mother escaped from Imboca years ago after being impregnated by his half-breed father, but now that Paul has returned, he will be her lover and they will dwell with Dagon forever. Trapped and shocked at the realization that he has been an abomination all along, Paul pours the last of the kerosene over his own body and attempts to set himself on fire. Uxia grabs him and dives into the water, where Paul sprouts gills. With no choice left and no chance to return to the human world, he follows Uxia down into Dagon's undersea lair where Barbara likely is now to dwell there for eternity. 

=====

Cody, Abby, and Fig Newton, alongside Abby's best friend Marcella Walker are dropped off to the Newton's grandparents' farm for a whole week during summer break. As Cody believes there's nothing exciting at the farm, Abby and Marcella rub a Barney doll in his face. Cody starts a game of "keep- away" by taking the Barney doll and running off with it. The two go after Cody, who hides the doll in the bathroom. The girls catch up with Cody, who tells them to use their imagination and laughs when he thinks that nothing happened. However, the doll comes to life as Barney the Dinosaur takes the girls to play in the barn. Cody refuses to believe in Barney, and claims that real dinosaurs don't talk. That night after dinner, the whole family is outside the front porch where Cody further discusses how Barney was in their barn and was not just a little doll. Grandpa then sings Let Me Call You Sweetheart to Grandma before he goes back inside with her and Fig. Right on cue, Barney appears after Fig and their grandparents went back inside and they sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star before Abby and Marcella go back inside to play in the attic. Barney then gives Cody advice to wish upon a star. Cody takes his advice and wishes for a real adventure that summer and to do things no one else has done before. A shooting star deposits an egg in the barn, and Cody discovers it the next day. Barney and the kids go tell their grandparents about this, but Barney gets distracted when he hears Fig cry. Grandma suggests to Abby and Marcella that they go see Mrs. Goldfinch. Cody finds Barney in the baby room and takes him to see his grandparents, but Abby and Marcella take Cody and Barney to see Mrs. Goldfinch, who tells them that the egg is a dreammaker. Cody accidentally knocks the egg off the table which lands on a birdseed truck. Barney and the others recover it through a parade as the egg avoids being cracked by the people in the parade. Barney's friend B.J. catches it when it almost lands on the ground, but tosses it away. Barney and the gang chase the egg through a French restaurant where Barney sings If All The Raindrops, a circus where Barney and the kids sing We're Gonna Find A Way, and finally, they fly through the sky to continue their pursuit of it. However, they eventually make it back to the barn in time. All the while, Baby Bop is looking for her blanket and B.J. and Baby Bop arrive just in time to see the egg hatch. After they return the egg to the barn, it finally hatches into a koala-like being named Twinken who shows everyone Abby's dream, then Barney's. Cody apologizes to Barney for being mean and says that he's cool. Barney accepts his apology and tells Cody he thinks he's cool too and the two share a hug. Twinken shows everyone a magical fireworks display which lands in Barney's arms. Barney begins to sing "I Love You", and the rest of the cast sings with him. Baby Bop gets sleepy, which prompts B.J. to decide they are ready to go home. The film ends with Twinken sitting next to Barney who has reverted into his doll form. 

=====

Alec B. Francis and Harold Lloyd in Feet First Harold Horne, an ambitious shoe salesman in Honolulu, unknowingly meets the boss's secretary Barbara (Barbara Kent) - thinking she is the boss's daughter - and tells her he is a millionaire leather tycoon. Horne spends much of his time around Barbara hiding his true circumstances, in both the shoe store and later as an (accidental) stowaway on board a ship. Trying to evade the ship's crew, he becomes trapped in a mailbag, which is taken off the ship and falls off a delivery cart onto a window cleaner's cradle, which is hoisted upwards. Escaping from the bag, he finds himself dangling high above the streets of Los Angeles. After several thwarted attempts to get inside the building, he climbs to the very top, only to slip off - unaware his foot is caught on the end of a rope, which rescues him inches from the ground. 

=====

Rebellious and uncontrollable, seventeen-year-old Rachel is promiscuous, does drugs, and drinks. With her latest car crash, Rachel has violated the final rule in the San Francisco home of her mother, Lily. With nowhere else to take the impulsive and rambunctious girl, Lily hauls her daughter to the one place she swore she would never return to: her own mother's house in Idaho. Matriarch Georgia lives her life by a number of unbreakable rules — God comes first, and hard work comes a very close second — and she wants that whoever shares her home to do the same. Now saddled with raising the young woman, it requires each patient breath she takes to understand Rachel's fury. Georgia arranges a job for Rachel as the office girl of Dr. Simon Ward, the local veterinarian, who also unofficially treats people. His two nephews, Sam and Ethan, are often at Georgia's house. Simon does not show interest in Rachel or other women; so, she thinks he is gay. However, Simon's sister Paula reveals that he is still mourning the death of his wife and son who were killed in a car collision three years earlier. He refuses to have sex with Rachel even when she tries to seduce him, but retains some feelings for her mother Lily, whom he has dated in the past. Rachel performs oral sex on Harlan Wilson, who was not yet married and still a virgin because of his LDS (Mormon) religion. He confesses to his LDS girlfriend, June, who is shocked. Later, a team of LDS girls spy on Harlan to make sure he does not have sex again as well as on Rachel. After almost running them over with Harlan's truck, Rachel explains to them that what happened was over and that they can go back to having their summer fun. They agree to do so, but they tell Rachel to go home leading Rachel to threaten them by saying if they have anything to do with her and Harlan again, she will find all of their boyfriends and "fuck them stupid". That is the point when they stop insulting her and end their spying on Harlan and Rachel. While trying to make a point to Simon about survival, Rachel bluntly says that her stepfather, Arnold, sexually molested her from the time she was 12 until she turned 14. Seeing the effect of her revelation, Rachel tries to convince him she lied. However, Simon tells Georgia about the abuse, and in turn, Georgia tells Lily, who thinks Rachel is lying. Heartbroken, Lily comes to believe her daughter. She begins to drink heavily and asks Arnold for a divorce. When Arnold arrives, Georgia tells him to leave and refuses to let him in the house. Finally, she forces him to leave by hitting him with a baseball bat. When he still refuses to leave the property, she threatens to vandalize his new red Ferrari. Rachel sees that Lily cannot accept the truth, and lies to her about being molested. At the motel where Arnold is staying, Rachel tells him that she has a video tape of them having sex when she was 14 and Arnold seems worried. Rachel demands $10 million if he does not keep Lily happy. She admits to him that she told Lily lies because she does not want her to be upset anymore. On the way back to San Francisco, Arnold tells Lily that he is giving Rachel his Ferrari, and Lily realizes that he is guilty. Lily starts a raging argument/attack and Arnold finally admits to having molested Rachel numerous times, using the excuse that Rachel seduced him, Lily's alcoholism drove him to it, and that Rachel enjoyed it. So, Arnold drives off and leaves Lily to walk home. Georgia, Simon, Rachel, and Harlan catch up with Lily in Harlan's pick-up truck, and a tearful Rachel apologizes to her mother for her behavior. Harlan tells Georgia that he is in love with Rachel, and plans to marry her when he returns from his two-year mission. 

=====

An intelligent young misfit, Kevin Senecal, leaves Earth to escape various troubles, including a teen gang vendetta which the authorities will not act to stop, and bureaucratic interference in his studies for an engineering degree, in a culture where environmentalists and zero-growth advocates hold sway. He enlists with the Hansen Corporation, a huge conglomerate which has re-located to the Moon, and is now involved in asteroid mining. He is to go to the asteroid Ceres. The journey involves laser launch from Earth to orbit, and a long voyage on a ship using the NERVA nuclear rocket technology. During the journey, all the passengers have to be involved in maintaining the shipboard environment, which includes algae to generate oxygen from photosynthesis. Kevin falls in love with a mystery woman called Ellen MacMillan. Between them they deal with the consequences of sabotage of the ship by persons unknown, and find a way to effect the rendezvous at Ceres after the ship's computer is sabotaged. They use the expertise of Jacob Norsedal, a prototypical computer hacker who is also a top-notch mathematician and physicist. At Ceres Ellen reveals herself to be an agent for Hansen investigating the mining work, which is plagued with irregularities. In particular, a new element called Arthurium is being mined on Ceres. This is a stable transuranic element of the kind predicted during the 1970s based on the theory of an Island of stability for elements of atomic number 114, 120 and 126. Being super-heavy, these elements sink into the cores of planets and are not accessible, but may be found in asteroids. In the story, the arthurium is a possible catalyst for hydrogen fusion and is vital to both the economy of Earth and the future of spaceflight. Rival corporations and mineral interests on Earth want to steal the arthurium or stop its production. Anti-technology politicians would like to shut down all space industry and dedicate the money to the Welfare State. Ellen is actually Glenda Hansen-Mackenzie, daughter of Aeneas Mackenzie and Laurie Jo Hansen, owner of the Hansen Corporation. She can foil the plots if she can access the Ceres computer system. However, she, Kevin and Jacob are marooned on one of Ceres' small satellites by the enemy agents. They improvise a steam-jet rocket which lets them land back on Ceres and bring an end to the intrigue. 

=====

Illustration by Byam Shaw for a London edition dated 1909 The narrator, 22-year-old Napoleon Bonaparte Froissart, changes his last name to "Simpson" as a requirement to inherit a large sum from a distant cousin, Adolphus Simpson. At the opera he sees a beautiful woman in the audience and falls in love instantly. He describes her beauty at length, despite not being able to see her well; he requires spectacles but, in his vanity, "resolutely refused to employ them". His companion Talbot identifies the woman as Madame Eugenie Lalande, a wealthy widow, and promises to introduce the two. He courts her and proposes marriage; she makes him promise that, on their wedding night, he will wear his spectacles. When he puts on the spectacles, he sees that she is a toothless old woman. He expresses horror at her appearance, and even more so when he learns she is 82 years old. She begins a rant about a very foolish descendant of hers, one Napoleon Bonaparte Froissart. He realizes that she is his great- great-grandmother. Madame Lalande, who is also Mrs. Simpson, had come to America to meet her husband's heir. She was accompanied by a much younger relative, Madame Stephanie Lalande. Whenever the narrator spoke of "Madame Lalande", everyone assumed he meant the younger woman. When the elder Madame Lalande discovered that he had mistaken her for a young woman because of his eyesight, and that he had been openly courting her instead of being civil to a relative, she decided to play a trick on him with the help of Talbot and another confederate. Their wedding was a fake. He ends by marrying Madame Stephanie and vows to "never be met without SPECTACLES" — having acquired a pair of his own at last. 

=====

Because the film has been lost, the following summary is reconstructed from a description in a contemporary film magazine. Cleopatra (Bara), the Siren of Egypt, by a clever ruse reaches Caesar (Leiber) and he falls victim to her charms. They plan to rule the world together, but then Caesar falls. Cleopatra's life is desired by the church, as the wanton woman's rule has become intolerable. Pharon (Roscoe), a high priest, is given a sacred dagger to take her life. He gives her his love instead and, when she is in need of some money, leads her to the tomb of his ancestors, where she tears the treasure from the breast of the mummy. With this wealth she goes to Rome to meet Antony (Hall). He leaves the affairs of state and travels to Alexandria with her, where they revel. Antony is recalled to Rome and married to Octavia (Blinn), but his soul cries out for Cleopatra. He sends her a message to arm her ships and meet him at Actium, where they battle the opposing forces. They are overpowered, and flee to Alexandria. There they are captured by Octavius (De Vries), and Antony dies in Cleopatra's arms. Before Cleopatra is to be dragged behind the wheels of Octavius' chariot, Pharon the priest, who has never ceased to love her, brings her the serpent that she joyously brings to her breast, dying royally with her crown on her head and scepter in her hand as becomes Egypt. 

=====

Captain Blackadder receives numerous calls to the wrong number before finally having a call with orders to advance. He avoids going over the top by pretending the line is breaking up. He then throws away a telegram ordering him to advance on the grounds that it is wrongly addressed to "Catpain Blackudder" and then shoots a carrier pigeon relaying the same message. Upon inspection of the pigeon's partly charred message, however, it turns out that shooting carrier pigeons has become an offence punishable by court-martial, and Blackadder simply decides to destroy the evidence by cooking and eating the pigeon for his lunch. When General Melchett arrives at the trenches, demanding an explanation as to why the group hasn't advanced, Blackadder nearly gets away with it by blaming the communication breakdown. Unfortunately Private Baldrick and Lieutenant George unintentionally reveal what Blackadder has done (as having been told not to answer any questions on the incident, when asked unrelated questions, they reply, "We didn't get any messages, and Captain Blackadder definitely did not shoot that delicious plump-breasted pigeon."). Finally, there are pigeon feathers on the floor, which Captain Darling and Melchett believe to be white. But after Baldrick points out that the feathers are "speckly," Melchett is enraged, as it was his beloved pet pigeon Speckled Jim, and tries to strike Blackadder, forcing Darling to physically restrain Melchett. Smugly, Darling then informs Blackadder that he's under arrest and, if found guilty at court- martial, he will face execution by firing squad. Blackadder sends for Sir Bob Massingbird (originally scripted as "Robert Moxon Browne", a real-life lawyer and friend of Rowan Atkinson's, until this was judged to be technically advertising), a brilliant lawyer sure to get him acquitted (Massingbird's previous cases included convincing a jury that a man who had a bloody knife in front of a dead man, who was seen stabbing the man in front of 13 people and said "I'm glad I killed the bastard" was innocent, and that Oscar Wilde was a homosexual despite incredible notoriety as a womanizer). However, the letters are mixed up thanks to Baldrick, and George turns up as Blackadder's defence. On the day of the court-martial, Blackadder is relieved to know that Darling is the prosecuting counsel – but is mortified to learn that Melchett is the judge. Melchett summarily fines George £50 for wasting the court's time by turning up, takes great pains to locate his black cap, and refers to Blackadder as "the Flanders Pigeon Murderer". George puts paid to any remaining hopes with his poor choice of witnesses: Darling, who provides more evidence against Blackadder, and Baldrick, who takes Blackadder's order to deny everything literally and denies everything, even his name. Darling's case for the prosecution involves calling Melchett to the witness stand and inciting him against Blackadder, after which Melchett sentences Blackadder to death by firing squad without consulting the jury. Back in his cell Blackadder receives an escape kit from Baldrick that fully caters for unexpected situations but lacks the essential tools to actually attempt an escape, and a visit from his friendly firing squad, with whom he trades vicious banter. Another mix-up results in Baldrick delivering a telegram for George's mother to Blackadder, but this provides Blackadder with a way out, when he discovers that George's mad uncle Rupert has just been made Minister of War, and can get Blackadder acquitted. When Baldrick eventually remembers to tell George this after confusion as to which person in the letter can help Blackadder, they decide to celebrate by drinking some Scotch that George's mother sent him – and get so drunk that they pass out before remembering to send a telegram. Blackadder turns up to the execution grounds optimistic, but gets worried when he hears a telegram has not arrived. A telegram arrives and the jailor stops the squad just after the Corporal says 'Aim!' It turns out to be from one of the firing squad saying 'Here's looking at you, love from all the boys in the firing squad.' The Squad then begin again. In the end, though, Rupert sends a telegram anyway after reading about Blackadder's case in the register, believing that Melchett made a mistake and knowing that Blackadder is a close friend of his nephew's. However, Blackadder reads another of George's telegrams and discovers that they did not send it themselves. Out of revenge, Blackadder volunteers Baldrick and George for the mission that Captain Darling calls him about – 'Operation Certain-Death', a mission into No-Man's Land. 

=====

Cameron Miller is 14. He has been physically and sexually abused by his father all his life. His "Pop", Hank, is a serial killer who preys on young boys, murdering more than 20 over the years. Hank kept newspaper cuttings of each of the boys in a filing cabinet in the cellar where he locked Cameron while he tortured and killed the boys. Cameron studied the cuttings and dreams of being one particular boy whose parents have sailboats on a lake. When "Pop" dies in a gunfight with police, Cameron takes on the identity of this boy, Neil Lacey, a victim who was abducted and murdered six years earlier. The Lacey parents accept "Neil" into their home with few questions, but he lives in fear that he will make a serious mistake through not knowing Neil's likes and dislikes and that dental records and suspicious Detective Simmons will expose him. His eight-year-old brother Stevie is put out by his return and his younger sister Diana is convinced he's not Neil, but much prefers him to her memories of her real brother. Alphin describes the years of sexual and physical abuse that Cameron endured at the hands of his father, but never in graphic detail. Cameron is always expecting punishment from his new "parents", yet finds kindness and love instead. When Cougar, "Pop's" former accomplice newly freed from prison, finds Cameron and threatens him with exposure, Cameron tries to tell his "father" the truth. In the novel's climax, Stevie is kidnapped and Cameron risks everything to save him. Category:2000 American novels Category:Edgar Award-winning works Category:American young adult novels 

=====

After Tessa Bryan (Jill Eikenberry) is diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer, she attempts to ensure that her two young daughters, Lara and Kate, accept her ex-husband Michael's second wife Carolyn. To do so, she takes them on a trip across the country to her father's ranch. 

=====

Eleven-year-old Jamie Reardon’s cat dies and his father leaves home; and his aunt Sapphy has an accident at work that causes her memory to skip. Jamie is teased at school and, on the other hand, has a memory he'd give anything to be able to forget. He is performing badly at school and has Miss Miller, an unsympathetic teacher. A visiting author, or as Jamie hears the name - 'Arthur', recognises that the boy is troubled, but the two do not have a chance to really communicate. Jamie has to sort out his problems himself. He tries to find the magic trigger that will help Sapphy's memory jump the scratch, like the needle on a record, but in the end it's Audrey Krouch, a neighborhood girl who hypnotises him. Under hypnosis, when he is hoping to learn how to forget, Jamie recalls being molested by Old Gray, a paedophile caretaker at the trailer park where he lives in Traverse City, Michigan. Jamie's emotional reaction to the incident he was trying to suppress returns Sapphy’s memory, and the boy is finally able to tell her everything. Jamie is the one who helped Aunt Sapphy jump the scratch, as well as his own. The actual abuse is not described in the book. Sarah Weeks has said that, "I felt like I wanted to protect Jamie’s privacy... Jamie didn’t want anybody to know what had happened to him in Old Gray’s office on Christmas Eve, so it didn’t feel right for me to tell all the details either."Author's website 

=====

Bo Hooper (Lewis), a clown, finds himself unemployed when the circus where he works suddenly closes. He winds up living with his sister (Susan Oliver), against the wishes of her husband Robert (Roger C. Carmel). From there he goes from job to job, wreaking havoc along the way. He finally finds some stability as a postal worker, until he finds out that his boss is his girlfriend's father. The father hates all mail carriers because his daughter's ex-husband was one, so he tries to wreck Bo's life, but Bo overcomes the odds and succeeds not only at work, but at impressing the father. 

=====

Sometime in the future, humans have utterly destroyed Earth's environment and have been forced to live in cities connected only by a single highway and many tubes. However, some humans mutated and became the White Gaunas, which pose a threat to mankind. A group of scientists foresaw this dystopian situation years before. In an attempt to preserve humanity's future, they created a number of time machines each powered by nuclear plants, named as the mausoleums. Each time machine could accommodate humans and send them to a very distant future, thus ensuring the survival of the human race. They also used the collective energy from these plants to shift all the White Gaunas on Earth at that time to a separate dimension. The scientists eventually entrusted knowledge of all this to the 4th Eon Group (4th Chronicle Group), tasked to ensure at least a pair of humans can escape into the future. However, humans were mutating into new White Gaunas all over the place. These White Gaunas terrified and started to consume the remaining humans. People then began to fight over the time machines and the mausoleums in desperation. Due to all the chaos, all the mausoleums were destroyed save one. The entire 4th Eon Group was wiped out, but not before they uploaded remnants of their memories and personalities onto the computers embedded in the Raven, the Skull Man and the Stick. At this point, the Observation Bureau (Kagen House) was created to safeguard the true purpose of the Mausoleums so as to prevent further conflict. Hundreds of years later, to counter the White Gaunas, the Observation Bureau studied the White Gaunas and engineered a human-Gauna hybrid, namely the Black Gaunas. These hybrids would have the abilities of the White Gaunas yet retain their human minds. Two children, Denji and Nayuta were used as test subjects. Nayuta was the first to be experimented upon, and a control device was implanted in her. However, before they could do the same to Denji, he escaped, killing loads of people in the process.. A few years later, Tadohomi engages Denji's help in eliminating the first White Gauna before more people are killed. Denji complies but is wounded in the process. Sakijima tracks down Tadohomi and arrests her after Denji's body is found at the scene of the aftermath of the battle with the White Gauna. At this point, Sakijima is oblivious about the Observation Bureau's existence . Meanwhile, the Observation Bureau sends Nayuta as a Black Gauna to bring Denji back to HQ by taking advantage of Denji's wounded state. The boss of the Observation Bureau feels that Black Gaunas are untrustworthy; to him, Black Gaunas are monsters akin to their White cousins. Sakijima is ordered by his bosses in the Ministry to release Tadohomi. At this point he starts becoming suspicious of the Observation Bureau and decides to dig up the truth. Another White Gauna spawns, but this time it is able to consume many humans before the Bureau took action. At first, they simply sent a squad of humans, but when this was wiped out, they sent Nayuta to destroy the big White Gauna. Unfortunately, a disturbingly humanoid White Gauna appears and duels with Nayuta. After an epic battle, Nayuta wins a Pyrrhic victory - a few seconds after fatally stabbing the White Gauna, Nayuta falls dead. Because she is telepathically linked with her twin Ayuta, any damage sustained by Nayuta is also manifested in Ayuta. Meanwhile, the cop Sakijima gains info regarding the 4th Chronicle Group and the Gaunas from a colleague who was sent to chat with an old man in charge of the archives. With this info in hand, Sakijima moves to Kegen Hall for a confrontation. His colleague gets shot down by a Kegen Hall security guard whom Sakijima then kills in anger. Sakijima meets Tadohomi who is trying to rescue her childhood friend Denji just as she is about to get killed by a team of Kegen Hall guys. Sakijima helps her out and they both enter the room where Denji is being held. At this point, a revived Ayuta suddenly awakes and mutates into a White Gauna. Denji fights Ayuta head on while Sakijima and Tadohomi escape on a helicopter. The successors to the 4th Chronicle Group's memories seek to activate a powerful missile weapon they believe is capable of killing the Big White Gauna if it hits the spinal cord. Ayuta, now a White Gauna, attacks them and Denji fights her off, buying the Raven and the Skull Man some time. When the missile was primed and the Big White Gauna in sight, the skull man was still hanging onto the missile, trying to attack the hostless black Gauna with the projectile, so the Raven had no choice but to fire the missile along with him in hope of taking the Big White Gauna down. The missile hits and the Big White Gauna falls, but the nuclear reactor was already beginning to fail and the Forbidden Cage appeared because there was insufficient energy to dimensionally shift all those White Gaunas anymore. A White Gauna attacks the helicopter, which consequently crashes. The Stick and the Raven guide Tadohomi and Sakijima to the House storing the time machine. The Raven gets killed by Ayuta but Nayuta, a Black Gauna, appears in the nick of time and kills her sister. Tadohomi and Sakijima escape into the House just as an explosion seemingly destroys Nayuta. With the help of the Stick, the duo activate the time machine Many years laters, it is shown that the rest of humanity has been obliterated either by the White Gaunas or by infighting. The world is an empty landscape and lush greenery has taken over the House's rooms. Tadohomi and Sakijima run out of the House and look up into the dark, empty sky. And two Black Gaunas, revealed to be Denji and Nayuta, still is battling the White Gaunas, stranded in a separate dimension. (This is conveyed through the double spread pages, separate from the pages with Sakijima and Tadohomi in their original dimension). PS: Digimortal has no relation to the story of Abara. 

=====