From Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License ===== Le Fresne begins with two wedded knights. The wife of one knight gives birth to twins, and upon hearing a message to that effect, the other wife declares that in order to have two children at one time, a woman must have slept with two men. Many consider this comment to be slanderous, and the husband of the woman who gave birth to twins shuts her away. Appropriately, the wife who made the comment about twins being a mark of adultery gives birth, in turn to twin daughters. More willing to make amends with God than shame herself, the wife plans to secretly kill the extra child and deny its existence. A handmaiden offers to hide it instead. After an ornate brocade is tied to the baby's arm signifying its noble birth, the handmaiden leaves it under an ash tree outside of an abbey. A porter finds the girl and names her Le Fresne (modern French frêne, "ash tree"), and gives her to a gentle abbess to raise. Le Fresne grows into an exceedingly beautiful woman, and a respected lord named Gurun becomes enamored of her. Gurun makes a great donation to the abbey as an excuse for his constant visits, and secretly gains the love of Le Fresne. Fearing the wrath of the abbess if Le Fresne became pregnant in her house, Gurun convinces her to run away with him, making her his concubine. Gurun's knights become concerned that if he does not marry a noblewoman for the sake of a legitimate heir, his lands and lineage will be lost upon his death. They find a noble and beautiful woman named La Coudre (modern French coudrier, "hazel tree"). Gurun's knights convince him that for the sake of carrying on his noble lineage, he should marry La Coudre instead of Le Fresne, creating a metaphor of the fertile hazel tree and the barren ash. The marriage is planned. While La Codre's mother originally plans to move Le Fresne as far away from Gurun as possible, she discovers upon meeting her that Le Fresne is very kind and then wishes her no harm. The night of the wedding, Le Fresne helps to prepare the wedding bed, for she knows how Gurun likes things. Not finding it sufficiently beautiful, she adds her brocade to the wedding bed. This is discovered by the mother of La Codre, who recognizes that the brocade is her own, and that Le Fresne is the twin sister of La Codre whom they had abandoned at birth. The family welcomes Le Fresne. Though the marriage of La Codre and Gurun is finished, it was annulled the next day. Le Fresne and Gurun marry, a husband is found for La Codre, and all characters end up happy. ===== In 1943, in preparation for overseas deployment, 400 pilots and 3,600 crewmen of the 351st Bombardment Group assemble at a Colorado air base. Arriving in England, as part of the Eighth Air Force, the 351st BG is welcomed by the Royal Air Force and begins training, attending daily lectures on security. Their first mission flying Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers has the armada departing at 15-second intervals. The first mission of the 351st on Fortress Europe, after fighting through Luftwaffe defenders, is a success, with all 20 B-17s returning safely back to base. The danger of flying in massed formation, however, is brought home in training, when a collision takes place over the home base. Missions are also not always without casualties and 351st bombers are shot down. Wounded airmen who make it back to base, are cared for at a nearby hospital. When bombers are all shot up, the ground crew works up to 90-hour periods to put them back into service. As the mission tallies build, the men partake in activities at the base, including games, socializing and worship. The U.S.O. brings entertainers such as Bob Hope while the Red Cross provides the men with rest and recreation. During special parades, commanders of the 8th Air Force bestow medals for exceptional service and sacrifice. The 351st participates in a big mission into Germany and after flying for about three hours, the B-17s' fighter escort turns back. As the bombers near their target to drop incendiary and anti-personnel bombs, enemy fighter aircraft appear and intense flak comes up from the ground. After a long battle, the 351st returns to base, ready to fight again until the war is over. ===== The narrator, Walker Easterling, is a film actor and screenwriter. His director friend Nicholas Sylvian introduces him to Maris York, a sculptress who makes model cities and who is freeing herself from Luc, her abusive partner. On the day Maris and Walker meet, Luc has just threatened to kill her, so Walker and Nicholas take her away to Vienna, where Maris and Walker commence a relationship. Walker, who knows nothing about his parents or family background, discovers that he can perform magical acts and has dreams of inhabiting another identity, that of an Austrian named Moritz Benedikt who fought in the First World War and was subsequently murdered. After Maris' brother Ingram loses his lover in an earthquake, Walker is able to foretell, or induce, Ingram's meeting with a certain Michael Billa, who will be a significant person in Ingram's life. (The consequences of Ingram's and Billa's friendship are recounted in Black Cocktail.) Through an acquaintance, screenwriter Philip Strayhorn, Walker meets Venasque, a mystic and teacher who appears in several other Carroll books. With Venasque's help, Walker learns to control his talent, but inadvertently causes Venasque's death because of the strength of his powers. He is contacted by his real father, a little man with no genitals whose name he does not know. The little man is an immortal (and the real-life source of the Rumpelstiltskin legend) who has murdered all Walker's previous incarnations, the last of whom was Moritz Benedikt, because they kept falling in love with women and repudiating the little man's sterile immortality. His father tries to persuade Walker to leave Maris by telling him that she'll mourn him forever and never love anyone else; this above all persuades Walker that his father is selfish and evil. Thanks to his and Maris' complete understanding of each other, Walker is able to discover his father's name in a city which Maris is building him as a birthday present. Walker uses his magic powers to call up the two sisters who originally told the Rumpelstiltskin story to the Grimm brothers. The sisters retell the story, changing it to end with the little man's death. Soon after Maris' and Walker's son is born, a little girl (apparently the original source of the Little Red Riding Hood story) appears on the doorstep and tells Walker: "You're dangerous." As Walker observes that "nothing in life is done without regret", it seems that his and Maris' son has been affected in some way by the vengeful immortals. ===== The Minx is by turns an action/thriller and a comedy. The film's plot details the adventures of Linnea Chiang, a mild-mannered tobacconist by day and a masked master thief by night; like some modern day Robin Hood, the black vinyl-clad "Minx" robs large corporations and gives the money away to homeless people on the streets of Chicago. Over the course of the film's plot turns, Linnea develops relationships with two very different men: Joseph Van Zwick, the ruthless CEO of the corrupt "World Energy" company, and Edgar Alvarez, an idealistic young reporter for "The Windy City Weekly," Chicago's leading alternative newspaper. In an ironic twist, Edgar is assigned to write a story on the Minx, never dreaming that Linnea, the woman he has become romantically involved with, could be her alter-ego. As both of these men, as well as Chief Inspector Chiapetti of the Chicago police, begin to close in on the Minx's true identity, Linnea is forced to make a decision about her future that will affect the lives of everyone involved. ===== Saitama High School went to the first round of the Koshien 36 years ago. However, after that they did not manage to win any. Keisuke Hatogaya one of the members of the team 23 years after going to the Koshien punched the Umpire for making an unfair call because he was trying to make high school baseball like he wanted. 13 years later Keisuke is a sly and successful businessman. After making a big sale he got promoted but within moments of getting promoted he was placed under arrest for disobeying pharmaceutical laws. He was arrested because he was placed in charge to be framed by the boss. After spending some time in jail he gets a visitor who turned out to be the coach of the baseball team he was in 13 years ago. The coach was then the principal of Saitama High School. He offered to pay for Keisuke's bail if he became a coach for the Saitama baseball team. Keisuke resented it for a little but then eventually gave in. The baseball team was completely average. Keisuke began to train them until a woman came by and told them that the baseball club was shut down at that school for it did not have any value. However Keisuke obtained an extension on the fall of the club saying that he didn't get the team to Koshien next summer that it would be disbanded. Now with almost a whole year to train the students Keisuke works hard to train these students in his odd but effective methods so that they may reach the Koshien. ===== The Great Llewes (as he is invariably known) is an organic chemist who runs the successful firm of Central Organic Laboratories with an iron fist and a tendency to take credit for his employees' work. The employees at Central Organic spend a lot of time fantasizing about killing Llewes, but one of them finally decides to do it. Edmund Farley has just spent half a year setting up an industrial-scale chemical plant in the hydrogen/methane atmosphere of Titan, and now Llewes is taking the credit for that as well. On Space Day, the anniversary of the first successful space flight, Farley sneaks into Llewes' atmosphere room and coats the inside of the nozzle of a compressed-gas cylinder with platinum black (finely powdered platinum). Only after he finishes does he realize that he chose the wrong cylinder. Fortunately (for him) he has enough powdered platinum left to booby- trap the correct cylinder. The next morning, Llewes is fatally injured in an explosion. As Farley's co-worker Jim Gorham inspects the wreckage of the atmosphere room with H. Seton Davenport of the Terrestrial Bureau of Investigation, he is convinced that the explosion could not have been an accident; Llewes was too safety-conscious for that. Davenport notices that the cylinder of compressed hydrogen is lying on the floor empty, and he asks Gorham whether there is a way to cause hydrogen to explode. Gorham tells him there are several catalysts that could cause hydrogen to react explosively with atmospheric oxygen, with platinum black at the top of the list. Gorham analyses the residue on the lip of the cylinder's nozzle and finds traces of platinum, but not enough to be certain. Davenport then has the rest of the cylinders inspected and finds powdered platinum in the nozzle of the oxygen cylinder. Gorham is puzzled by this; the murderer would not have put it in the oxygen cylinder on purpose, but he can't imagine why he would have done so accidentally, unless... Gorham realizes then that Farley must be the murderer. Six months working in Titan's hydrogen/methane atmosphere had accustomed Farley to using jets of oxygen to create combustion. He had booby-trapped the oxygen cylinder from force of recent habit, then realized his mistake and also booby-trapped the hydrogen cylinder. Davenport is convinced, and orders Farley's arrest. ===== Mayor Royce meets with Burrell to discuss the murdered witness, which Carcetti has used to gain on him in the polls. Royce decides to use city resources to harass Carcetti's campaign. He also orders that State's Attorney Steven Demper downplay the victim's role as a witness to the press, and threatens to drop him from the ticket when he questions the demands. State Delegate Odell Watkins criticizes Royce for his failure to fund a witness protection scheme. Royce still refuses to let it go ahead because Carcetti was involved in planning it and would politically benefit if it were properly funded. Elsewhere, Royce recommends to Burrell that Herc be promoted to sergeant in exchange for Herc's silence about his affair. At the funeral of the witness, Carcetti greets Councilwoman Marla Daniels. Against Wilson's advice, Carcetti does not address the press, deciding that the perceived restraint will make a stronger positive impression on Watkins and Daniels. Bunk visits McNulty and Beadie for dinner; McNulty, now no longer drinking, reluctantly goes to the bar with Bunk. Bodie is visited by Marlo, who gives him an ultimatum: start selling Marlo's product, or give up his corner to one of Marlo's crews. Marlo recognizes Michael and asks Partlow to find out more about him. Bodie also takes an interest in Michael and tries to convince him to stay with his crew instead of going back to school. Michael walks away without answering. Bodie later tells Slim Charles that he has decided to fight Marlo for control of the corner, even without backup. Meanwhile, the New Day Co-Op realizes they face two problems: Marlo is expanding his empire, and drug dealers from New York City are encroaching on the territory in East Baltimore. The Co-Op agrees to strike against the New York dealers and consider including Marlo in the effort. Slim Charles warns Proposition Joe that he is unlikely to be successful negotiating with Marlo, given Stringer Bell's previous failure to make him see reason. As Omar makes his way to buy cereal, lookouts announce his progress and drug dealers flee. On his way home, a frightened dealer drops his stash from a window. Omar reflects that he doesn't want the drugs because there was no effort required to take them, and worries that taking easy targets will eventually make him soft. While staking out a corner shop, Omar spots Greggs photographing the owner, Old Face Andre. Both observers notice a drug resupply being delivered by a man with a child in school uniform. After Greggs leaves, Omar and Renaldo stick up Old Face Andre. At the MCU, Freamon has linked Old Face Andre to Marlo through the wiretap, and hopes to tie him to other Stanfield lieutenants. Rawls appoints Lieutenant Charles Marimow as the new head of the unit, who demands that the Stanfield wiretap be shut down. Freamon confronts Rawls and is forced to accept a transfer back to Homicide. When Greggs considers transferring to Daniels' district, Daniels meets with Rawls and asks him to consider moving her to Homicide as well. Howard "Bunny" Colvin, the former commander of the Western District, has a new job as head of security at a hotel. The Deacon tells Colvin that the University of Maryland has been awarded a grant to study repeat violent offenders and seek a street- wise agent to act as liaison to potential subjects. Colvin is initially not interested. Later, Colvin loses his job at the hotel when the manager refuses to let him turn in a guest for assaulting a prostitute. Colvin approaches the Deacon and is introduced to the head of the study, Dr. David Parenti, who hopes to enlist Colvin as a field researcher recruiting subjects. Feeling that the age of Parenti's targeted age group is too high, Colvin takes him to interview a prisoner at the Western DEU. The prisoner attacks Parenti during the interview, forcing him to acknowledge that his age group is probably "too seasoned." Colvin takes Parenti to the middle school where Prez teaches and, seeing how out of control the children are, persuades the academic to study them instead. On their way to school, Randy, Dukie, Michael, and Bug visit Namond's house to pick him up. Randy's home room teacher is Prez, who he believes to be out of his depth. Prez quickly finds that most of the students are disinterested and disruptive, and has to break up a fight between two girls, Chiquan and Laetitia. As he tidies up at the end of his first day, he finds notes on a math problem showing that at least one of his students followed his material. The following day, while Prez is trying to present a different math problem, Laetitia attacks Chiquan with a box cutter and threatens him. Laetitia is disarmed while Crystal is sent to call for an ambulance. ===== The 20th century is just under way, and somebody is killing the vampires of London. Against the wishes of his fellow undead, Simon Ysidro, oldest of the London vampires, seeks the assistance of Oxford professor James Asher, former spy for the British government. Ysidro gains Asher's cooperation by threatening the life of his beautiful young wife, Lydia. Unbeknownst to Ysidro, Asher enlists the help of his wife, a physician with a keenly analytical mind. Asher prowls the streets and crypts of London with Ysidro, entering the dark underworld of the undead, as Lydia combs property records and medical journals for clues as to who might have the means and the motive to carry out the slaughter. Asher's theory is that the killer must be a vampire himself, one able to remain awake and active in the daytime. Lydia develops a theory as to how such a vampire might come to be. Together Asher and Ysidro travel to Paris to seek out the mythical eldest of all vampires, who might be either the killer himself, or the key to the killer's undoing. What they discover is a threat to the living as well as the undead. ===== The protagonist, Beli Bora Perjar (Bekim Fehmiu), is a charming but mean-spirited gypsy, while his former affair, the kafana singer Lenče (Olivera Katarina), is submissive. Bora is in love with the younger Tisa (Gordana Jovanović), who is being offered in marriage by her step-father. The two get themselves in trouble and eventually have to flee. Tisa rejects her husband and she and Bora get married in the church. Tisa tries to get to Belgrade, while Bora stabs a man in a knife fight. They are both, therefore, exiled from their Romani camp, yet their adventures continue. ===== In this romantic comedy story, a high school girl named Kotoko Aihara finally tells a fellow senior named Naoki that she has loved him from afar since she saw him on their first day of high school. However, Naoki, a hottie "super-ikemen" (handsome male) who is smart and good at sports, rejects her offhand. Fate intervenes when a mild earthquake ruins Kotoko's family house. While the house gets rebuilt, Kotoko and her dad stay at the home of her dad's childhood bestfriend...whose son is Naoki. Naoki eventually falls for Kotoko and starts to have romantic, protective feelings for her. ===== In this sequel to Those Who Hunt the Night, professor James Asher and his young wife, Lydia, are again swept up in the dangerous world of the undead. It is 1908, and a weary Asher, traveling home from his tiresome duties as executor of a relative's estate, spots Charles Farren, vampire Earl of Ernchester, clearly involved in some intrigue with mercenary and enemy spy Ignace Karolyi. Asher, who had left the secret service years ago to wed Lydia, reluctantly trails the pair to Paris, wiring Lydia to alert her to the danger. But Lydia is aware of something Asher does not know: an obscure footnote in one of her medical journals clues her into the fact that the safe house Asher is planning to use is in the hands of a double agent, actually in league with Karolyi. To save her husband, Lydia seeks the assistance of the oldest of the London vampires: the enigmatic and haughty Simon Ysidro. Ysidro agrees to help, to keep Farren from forming an alliance with humans, but on one condition: over Lydia's strenuous objections, he recruits a drab but romantic-minded governess, Margaret Potton, to travel with them as Lydia's chaperon. The three of them trail Asher across Europe to Constantinople, as he joins forces with Farren's strong-willed and alluring vampire-wife, Anthea. In Constantinople, the trail dies, as Asher has been kidnapped by the vampire lord of the city, who is struggling to keep control as a rival seeks to destroy him. Asher tries to uncover his own role in the power struggle, for this may hold the key to his survival. Meanwhile, Lydia and Ysidro explore the city, Lydia through Asher's diplomatic connections, Ysidro through his nocturnal prowlings, seeking any clue as to where Asher and Charles have disappeared to, even as Margaret's obsession with Ysidro and jealousy of Lydia endanger them all. Only by unwinding the threads of money trails, strange business transactions, and a series of increasingly gruesome murders can Ysidro and Lydia find Charles and Asher, and escape the city alive. ===== A hostile alien race has conquered the earth and enslaved the human race to do their bidding. The player assumes the role of a man who has worked in an alien maintenance garage, steals a prototype alien combat vehicle called the MASTER and escapes with it. The MASTER is used to fight the alien forces in a desperate bid to save the planet. ===== The Smurfs and the Magic Flute was set at a castle during the Middle Ages. One day a merchant brings musical instruments to sell to Peewit, the court jester, but because Peewit is such a terrible musician the King throws the merchant out before Peewit arrives. However, he has left behind a flute that has only six holes. The King throws it into the fireplace in his room, which starts to emit green smoke. When the fire is put out, Peewit retrieves the flute from the ashes unharmed. He cleans it and starts playing it for the whole castle realizing that it causes everyone to dance when it is played. That night a man named Matthew McCreep learns from the merchant that the same flute he had been looking for is at the castle. He heads over to the castle and steals the flute from Peewit. The king sends Peewit and the young knight Johan out to catch McCreep, who uses the flute to rob people of their money. However, McCreep uses the flute to stop them. Johan and Peewit then go to the house of Homnibus the wizard. Using a spell called Hypnokenesis, the wizard sends Johan and Peewit to Smurfland where the magic flute was built. Upon arriving, they meet a Smurf who leads them to the village. Papa Smurf greets the two of them and tells them that they will make a new flute in order to counter McCreep's flute. The Smurfs head into the forest and chop down a huge tree to get wood from the tree trunk's very centre as only this kind of wood can be useful in crafting a magical flute. Afterwards, they celebrate with a party. However, just as Papa Smurf is about to give the flute to Johan and Peewit, the two are warped back to the wizard's house. Homnibus tries the spell again but passes out from a headache. Meanwhile, McCreep, who has now stolen over 7,000 gold pieces, arrives at the castle of his secret partner, Earl Flatbroke. McCreep tells Flatbroke of his plan to go to an island to hire people for an army to raise war on the King's castle; fortunately, two Smurfs had been listening to this. Back at the wizard's house, the Smurfs regroup with Johan and Peewit and give them the magic flute. Then they head to the port of Terminac where McCreep sets sail for the island. However, they are too late. Papa Smurf tells Johan and Peewit about Flatbroke's castle and Johan comes up with a plan. Flatbroke receives a letter from McCreep (written by Johan) to come to the island. He heads over to Terminac to board a ship where Johan and Peewit are also on board in disguise as well as Papa Smurf and three others. They head to the island where Johan and Peewit tail Flatbroke. Suddenly, Peewit comes face to face with McCreep and they both start playing their flutes to each other. They both become exhausted soon after, but Peewit knocks out McCreep with a final note. With McCreep and Flatbroke being brought back to the castle and all the stolen money recovered, Peewit now has two magic flutes. Johan tells him that the flutes are dangerous and must be brought back to the Smurfs, but Peewit begins to carve a phony flute to give to them instead. At the castle, Johan and Peewit give the flutes back to the Smurfs, and after they leave, Peewit starts playing the flute, only to realize (to his horror) that it has no effect on the townsfolk; it is rather the fake flute he had made, much to his frustration. ===== A mentally challenged girl is defended by a young man who takes care of pigs. He gets into a fight with the local saloon keeper, prompting the man to get the boy drunk and bribe a priest into marrying the boy to the unfortunate girl. A female teacher arrives in town to teach women how to paint. She uses the young boy as a model and then as a toy for her pleasure. The teacher subsequently takes another lover and abandons the young man, claiming that she was unaware of his marriage. The young boy eventually kills his wife, but his father takes the blame for the crime and confesses his sins before he dies in prison. As a conclusion to this sad movie, the townspeople punish the young boy for what he has done. ===== The movements of the ballet, and the action as described by Beecham in the score, are as follows: 1\. The Pump Room. :"The scene is a large hall, one of the pump rooms in the baths, and various persons are taking the waters or walking about. In the centre of the background and covering nearly one half of it are tall, wide curtains screening what is afterwards disclosed to be an egress into the gardens behind. It is a bright morning in summer." 2\. Beau Nash :"The Master of Ceremonies, Beau Nash, enters and salutes the water-drinkers. He announces a fête and concert for the evening at which the beautiful Miss Linley will sing. Beau Nash is a handsome, genial person, slightly pompous and in his early 40s." 3\. The Linleys :"Enter Squire Squaretoes followed by Mr and Miss Linley. The squire is a bucolic and awkward type, obviously purse-proud and vain. Mr Linley is amiable, fussy and self-important. Miss Linley is about 18 and modest in appearance. It is clear that she does not welcome the attentions of the squire, although these are supported by her father." 4\. Hunting Dance :"Sheridan enters in hunting costume: he and his four friends, who are equipped with hunting horns and riding whips, perform a lively dance." 5\. Love Scene :"Sheridan observes Miss Linley and is presented to her by Beau Nash. He instantly becomes enamoured of her and she is equally attracted to him. The squire and Mr Linley have retired to the background, where they take the waters and converse with friends. Sheridan declares his love, but Miss Linley indicates the obstacles in the way." 6\. The Quarrel :"The attention of the squire and Mr Linley is now drawn to the tender passages between the young couple and they display marked dissatisfaction. Miss Linley endeavours to conciliate her father, but without effect, and she is hurried by him from the hall, the squire following." 7\. The Pump Room :"The water-drinkers leave the hall by the exits at the two sides of the scene (music same as No.1)." 8\. The Plot :"Sheridan implores the advice and aid of Beau Nash, who at first refuses to have anything to do with the affair. Gradually he is won over to a plan whereby Sheridan can run off with Miss Linley, provided she consents. Beau Nash, Sheridan and his four friends leave together." 9\. The Weary Flunkeys :"Three tall flunkeys enter the empty stage and draw aside the tall curtains in the background to expose to view a spacious garden flanked by an elegant building behind it. The flunkeys are world-weary creatures who move with the greatest deliberation, perform their task with extreme reluctance and yawn frequently." 10\. The Exquisites (Madrigal) :"There enter from the garden eight persons clad in the most fashionable clothes of the period. These are the exquisites, who perform a slow and stately dance. There are four men and four women and they make their appearance in couples. Finally they go out." 11\. Second Love Scene :"Enter Miss Linley and Sheridan, the former from the garden and the latter by one of the pump room entrances. Miss Linley is agitated and apprehensive. Sheridan does his best to reassure her, discloses his plan for their elopement and obtains her approval of it. They go off in opposite directions. By this time the light has changed so as to present the appearance of late afternoon." 12\. March :"A procession of the whole company led by Beau Nash enters the stage from the garden." 13\. Sarabande :"This is the first of a set of formal ballet movements." 14\. Minuet :"A solo dance for Miss Linley." 15\. Hornpipe :"The first measure is danced by a group of naval officers, the second by a midshipman, the third by the principal officer, the fourth by a group of girls, the fifth by girls and men." The number ends with a prominent quotation from "Rule, Britannia", which Beecham said he added to annoy the Americans. 16\. Rondeau :"A general ensemble." 17\. Gigue :"A general ensemble." 18\. March :"The whole company retires as it made its appearance (music same as No.12)." 19\. Interlude :"The stage is empty. Light gradually fades, leaving the foreground in semi-darkness. Lights are seen in the windows of the building in the far background. The evening entertainment is beginning." 20\. Serenade :"Miss Linley is heard singing her song. Beau Nash enters from the garden and is met by Sheridan and his four friends. The final arrangements for the elopement have been completed. A parson has been secured to marry them immediately. Beau Nash and his friends go off quietly. Sheridan remains to wait for Miss Linley." 21\. The Elopement. :"Miss Linley runs in from the garden. Beau Nash urges them to hurry, and she disappears with Sheridan." 22\. Discovery—Finale :"Her absence is discovered and the whole company enters the scene. The squire and Mr Linley are furious, but everyone else seems delighted. The uproar is silenced by the appearance of the parson, who informs the company that Miss Linley and Mr Sheridan are now man and wife. Evident satisfaction of everyone except the squire and Mr Linley, but the latter accepts the fait accompli. Miss Linley and Sheridan reappear, and receive the congratulations of the assembled company." ===== On 22 August 1962, an assassination attempt is made on the President, General Charles de Gaulle, by the militant French underground organisation OAS in anger over the French government granting independence to Algeria. As the president's motorcade passes, de Gaulle's unarmoured Citroën DS car is raked with machine-gun fire, but the entire entourage escapes without injury. Within six months, OAS leader Jean Bastien-Thiry and several other members of the plot are captured, and Bastien- Thiry is executed. The remaining OAS leaders, now hiding in Austria, decide to make another attempt, and hire a professional British assassin, who chooses the code name "Jackal". They order several bank robberies to pay his fee: $500,000. Meanwhile, the Jackal travels to Genoa and commissions a custom-made rifle from a gunsmith and fake identity papers from a forger. He kills the forger when the man tries to blackmail him. In Paris, he sneaks an impression of the key to a flat that overlooks the Place du 18 juin 1940. In Rome, where the OAS team have moved, members of the French Action Service kidnap the OAS's chief clerk, Viktor Wolenski. Wolenski dies under interrogation, but not before the agents have extracted some information about the plot, including the word "Jackal". The Interior Minister convenes a secret cabinet meeting of the heads of the French security forces. When asked to provide his best detective, Police Commissioner Berthier recommends his deputy, Claude Lebel. Soon afterwards, Lebel is given special emergency powers to conduct his investigation, which is complicated by de Gaulle's refusal to change his planned public appearances. Colonel St. Clair, a personal military aide to the President and one of the cabinet members, discloses what the government knows to his mistress Denise, who passes this information on to her OAS contact. Meanwhile, Lebel determines that British suspect Charles Calthrop may be travelling under the name Paul Oliver Duggan, who died as a child, and has entered France. Although he is told that the authorities know about the plot, the Jackal carries on. He seduces the aristocratic Colette de Montpellier at a hotel, and warned by his contact leaves just before Lebel and his men arrive. The Jackal drives to Madame de Montpellier's country estate for somewhere to stay. After sleeping with her again and discovering that the police have talked to her, he kills her. The Jackal then assumes the identity of a bespectacled Danish schoolteacher named Per Lundquist, whose passport he had previously stolen in London. He drives to the railway station in de Montpellier's car and catches a train for Paris. After Montpellier's body is discovered and her car recovered at the railway station, Lebel initiates an open manhunt describing to the media that the Montpellier murder was a result of a jewelry robbery, no longer hindered by secrecy concerns. The Jackal picks up a man at a Turkish bathhouse and is taken to the man's flat. The next day, the Jackal kills his host after the man learns from a television broadcast that Lundquist is wanted for murder. At a meeting with the Interior Minister's cabinet, Lebel states his belief that the Jackal will attempt to shoot de Gaulle three days later on 25 August, the day commemorating the liberation of Paris during World War II. Later, Lebel plays a recording of a phone call, in which St. Clair's mistress gives information to her OAS contact. St. Clair apologises for his indiscretion and leaves the meeting. Denise returns to St. Clair's apartment to find that he has killed himself and that the police are waiting for her. On Liberation Day, the Jackal, disguised as an elderly veteran amputee, enters the building he had chosen earlier. After knocking out or killing the building’s concierge with a blow to the back of the neck, He assembles his rifle, hidden disassembled in one of his crutches, and waits at a window in an upper apartment. When Lebel finds out a policeman allowed a one legged man with crutches to pass through the cordon, the two race to the building. As de Gaulle presents the first medal, the Jackal shoots, but misses when the tall president suddenly leans down to kiss the recipient on the cheek. Lebel and the policeman burst in. The Jackal shoots the policeman, but Lebel kills him. The Jackal is buried in an unmarked grave. While searching Charles Calthrop's flat, the police are confronted by its occupier who insists on accompanying them to Scotland Yard. He is later cleared, leading Inspector Thomas to ask, "But if the Jackal wasn't Calthrop, then who the hell was he?" ===== After scientists accidentally spill a deadly chemical into the ocean, a group of aliens offer to help humans eliminate the chemical. They offer a choice, the Good Package to clean up the mess, or the Big Gun, a weapon capable of destroying the planet. The aliens only ask for a glass of water in return, which must be delivered by CIA agent Pillbox (John Ritter), the only human they entirely trust. While preparing to meet the aliens, agent Pillbox is shot and killed in a forest by an unseen assassin. FBI computers find Bob Wilson (also played by Ritter), an insurance agent who looks just like Pillbox, and suggest sending Wilson in Pillbox's place. However, Wilson is a meek office worker who we initially see being easily pushed around by a group of local bullies and by a milkman who is trying to seduce his wife. Tough guy government agent Nick Pirandello (James Belushi) is sent to recruit Wilson and escort him to the meeting. He meets Wilson at Wilson's home, with Russian agents close on his tail. Wilson thinks Pirandello is an intruder and tries ineffectively to attack him, culminating in a shoot-out with the Russians that devastates Wilson's house. Parindello explains the mission as the pair head to meet the aliens near Washington, D.C. Wilson doesn't believe the story, and instead believes that Pirandello is insane. He repeatedly tries to escape, forcing Parindello to stop and try to convince him they're real. After a series of rather unconvincing demonstrations, one finally convinces Wilson their mission is real. Wilson is then willing to do the job, but lacks skills and confidence. The pair meet corrupt CIA agents dressed as clowns, part of a splinter group that would rather receive the Big Gun. Pirandello tells Wilson that he is in fact a sleeper "Super Agent", at which point Wilson charges into battle and is knocked out with one punch. Pirandello defeats the clowns, but leads the waking/groggy Wilson to believe he did it. Wilson gains a new macho attitude. Pirandello, weakened by love for a dominatrix he meets in a bar in Pittsburgh, abandons the mission, leaving Wilson on his own. During a final shootout between the rogue CIA element and Wilson, Pirandello comes to his senses and rejoins the mission; together they defeat the others, including Pirandello's boss. Wilson meets with the aliens and receives the Good Package to save humanity. Wilson returns to his home, which has been repaired. With his new-found machismo, he deals with the bullies and the amorous milkman, bringing the film to an end."Real Men". HiDefDigest, July 14th, 2015. Matthew Hartman August 7th, 2015 ===== The film revolves around various plots. The central story-line is about a murder investigation involving one of the central characters Chris (Valentine Nonyela) and his relationship with his girlfriend Tracy (Sophie Okonedo). The second narrative involves the relationship between a gay punk Billibud (Jason Durr) and a soulboy Caz (Mo Sesay) and the racism and homophobia they face in both West Indian and white British communities. The film is a love story that can be seen as an allegory for racial and class solidarity, as their love transcends class and race barriers. Set in London in 1977, the plot takes place against the background of the Queen's Silver Jubilee. The film begins as buddy movie between two friends, Chris and Caz, who run a pirate radio station from a tower block in Dalston, East London. The film starts with the murder of their friend TJ while cruising for sex in the local park at night. While Caz is distraught by the death of his friend, Chris seems focused on balancing a professional career in commercial radio without selling out. They both want to promote soul music while the prevailing popular music is punk. The murder and the different paths they diverge on causes tension between buddies Chris and Caz. Chris discovers that he has a tape recording of the murder but fails to hand it in as evidence. He is then pulled in by the police as a suspect because he was in possession of TJ's cassette radio. He tries to call Caz but Caz is busy with his new boyfriend, Billibud, who is a punk that espouses the views of the Socialist Workers Party while wearing (admittedly stolen) Vivienne Westwood designer T-shirts. The character Billiibud gets his name from the fictional character "Billy Budd" from Herman Melville's novel "Billy Budd, Sailor". In this novel Billy Budd is described as "renowned for his good looks and gentle, innocent ways". Similarly, in the film Billibud is known for being good looking. However, in Melville's novel the character is also known for being on the less intelligent and gullible side, as seen for his "inability to perceive ill will in other people" and has an "unpredictable tendency to stutter". In comparison, in the film Billibud is also portrayed as somewhat dimwitted. Chris and Caz then have a showdown on the roof of the tower block and Chris nearly falls off the roof. He then meets Tracy and she persuades him to send the tape to the police, but not before he has made a copy. They then make love on a rooftop. On the day of the Silver Jubilee celebrations Caz and Billibud go to the street fair, where Billibud is attacked by local skinheads. Caz and Billibud return home and make love. That evening Chris goes to the radio station but Caz is not there and the studio has been vandalised. He starts broadcasting "Funk the Jubilee" but feels is not the same without his partner, Caz. Chris is then attacked by TJ's murderer, who turns out to be someone he and Caz had thought of as a friend. He escapes but cannot find Caz. A grand reckoning takes place at an open-air disco in the park where TJ was murdered. While Caz and Billibud are MCing, Chris attempts to warn them about the revelations regarding TJ's murderer. A Molotov cocktail is thrown onto the stage and Caz and Billibud begin trying to save the vinyl records. Chris puts on the tape of TJ's murder, but doing so requires going onto the stage. TJ's murderer, a member of the National Front, follows Chris on stage, whereupon he falls to his death in the inferno of his own creation. The scene is a bitter-sweet microcosm of the racial and sexual tensions of 1970s Britain, with skinheads hassling Chris and Caz, whites making snide remarks about how things have changed since their youth, and blacks stating that they are unable to decide if they hate whites, mixed-race people or "batty boys" most. Yet, despite all of this, youth in the clubs are enjoying the music, drinking, dancing and bonking inter-racially while paying no mind to the gay men around them. The film ends with the two DJ buddies reconciling their differences while they clean records, which is followed by a one-by-one each of the friends joining into dance together. ===== Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms comprises two stories, "Town of Evening Calm" and "Country of Cherry Blossoms". ===== At night. An Inostrancevia emerges from the Forest of Dean pursuing Dr. Helen Cutter. Unable to find shelter in a nearby closed supermarket, Helen flees back into the forest. With no witnesses to her disappearance, she is presumed dead. Eight years pass. At Central Metropolitan University, graduate student Connor Temple approaches his tutor in evolutionary zoology, Professor Nick Cutter, and Cutter's assistant, Stephen Hart, with a newspaper photograph of a Therapsid-like creature. Cutter initially dismisses it as a hoax, but decides to investigate upon learning that the sighting took place in the Forest of Dean, where his wife disappeared. At the Forest of Dean, Cutter, Stephen, and Connor find evidence of a large and powerful predator. They are joined in their search by Claudia Brown, a junior-level agent from the Home Office sent to investigate the monster sighting. Meanwhile, reptile specialist and London zookeeper Abby Maitland investigates the origins of an exotic lizard named Rex. Abby and the lizard's owner, Ben Trent, take Rex into the Forest of Dean. They discover the body of a cow lodged high in a tree and are separated when Ben panics and runs. Abby and Rex are forced to hide for the Inostrancevia, while Ben encounters an anomaly and briefly looks through it into the past. The two investigations merge when Abby encounters Cutter, Connor, Stephen, Claudia, and a full-grown Scutosaurus in the woods. They question Ben about his time in the woods and, based on his story that he “saw the past,” Cutter intentionally frightens the Scutosaurus and it leads them to the anomaly. A Home Office team led by government official Sir James Lester takes control of the investigation and takes Cutter, Abby, and Rex to a Home Office building. Cutter proposes that the anomaly leads back to Earth during the late Permian period and convinces Lester to permit an exploratory foray into the anomaly. At the Forest of Dean, Cutter travels through the anomaly with SAS Captain Tom Ryan and returns Rex to his home period. They discover the remains of a human encampment, a male human skeleton, and a camera engraved with Helen's initials. Cutter wants to stay and look for her but Ryan forces him back through the anomaly. Rex also sneaks back through the anomaly to present-day Earth. In the present-day world, the Inostrancevia attacks the group and is eventually killed. Later, the film from the camera is developed, showing pictures of Helen in the Permian landscape. Lester seems satisfied that the crisis is resolved, but Cutter is convinced that the situation is far from over. Cutter returns to his office at the Central Metropolitan University and catches sight of Helen, but she vanishes before he reaches her. ===== Hazari Pal (Om Puri) is a rural farmer who moves to Calcutta with his wife Kamla (Shabana Azmi) and three children in search of a better life. The Pals do not get off to a good start: they are cheated out of their rent money and thrown out on the streets, and it's difficult for Hazari to find a job to support them. But the determined family refuses to give up and eventually finds its place in the poverty-stricken city. Meanwhile, on the other end of Calcutta, Max Lowe (Patrick Swayze), a Houston surgeon distraught after the loss of a young patient, has arrived in search of spiritual enlightenment. However, he encounters misfortune as soon as he arrives. After being tricked by a young prostitute, he is roughed up by thugs and left bleeding in the street without his documents and valuable possessions. Hazari comes to Max's aid and takes the injured doctor to the "City of Joy," a slum area populated with lepers and poor people which becomes the Pals' new home and the American's home-away-from-home. Max spends a lot of time in the neighborhood, but he does not want to become too involved with the residents because he is afraid of becoming emotionally attached to them. He soon, however, is coaxed into helping his new-found friends by a strong-willed Irish woman (Pauline Collins), who runs the local clinic. Eventually, Max begins to fit in with his fellow slum-dwellers and become more optimistic. There are many around him whose lives are much worse, but they look on each day with a hope that gives new strength to the depressed doctor. ===== Dr. Schrader, Professor Layton's mentor, reportedly has come across the mysterious Elysian Box, fabled to kill anyone who opens it. When Layton and Luke pay Dr. Schrader a visit, they find him unconscious on the floor and no sign of the box. A train ticket to the Molentary Express is the only clue of the box's theft, and the two prepare to follow on the next train out to head towards the town of Folsense, listed in Schrader's diary as the origin of the Elysian Box. They are followed by Inspector Chelmey, tracking down the crime, and Flora, who sneaks aboard the train but is eventually discovered by the pair. The train makes a stop in Dropstone, a town celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of its founding. As they enjoy the celebration, Layton and Luke learn that the town's founder, Sophia, also had an interest in the Elysian Box, but she died the year before, and her granddaughter Katia continues to seek it out. Don Paolo, Layton's arch-rival, kidnaps Flora and disguises himself as her, leaving her behind in Dropstone as the train departs. En route to Folsense, Layton, Luke, and "Flora" are knocked out with sleeping gas by the train's conductor. They awake to find their train car separated from the rest of the engine at the Folsense station. As they enter the town, they are struck by a brief wave of nausea, and "Flora" feigns illness to stay at the hotel. Layton and Luke explore the town and learn it was founded on top of rich mine deposits by Duke Herzen and his sons, Anton and Fredrich. Some fifty years ago, upon discovery of a new vein of gold, strange incidents began to occur around town, and many of its citizens left. Fredrich left with his part of the family fortune and founding the Molentary Express, changing his name to hide his identity. They also learn that Dropstone's founder Sophia was also a former resident, evacuating with several of the citizens to form the nearby village. The remaining citizens point to the central castle over the mines, where they claim that Anton remains to this day as a vampire. On returning to the hotel, Layton and Luke find that the remainder of the train's contingent has arrived, and Chelmey has arrested one of the conductors named Thunder as a suspect in the theft of the box. Layton proves him wrong, revealing Don Paolo after long ago seeing through his disguise. Don Paolo escapes but leaves behind the Elysian Box. Layton and Luke figure out the mechanism to open it, but find the box is completely empty. Layton suggests visiting Anton to solve the mystery. At the castle, the surprisingly young Anton initially welcomes them as his guests, but when they start to ask about the Elysian Box, he becomes suspicious, and at one point ties the pair up though they are able to escape. During the escape, the pair find a large hole in the basement of the castle, along with some strange machinery. Layton discovers the mine, which is connected to the castle basement, but finds the effects of the nausea worsen as they get closer to it. In spite of this, the two return to Anton and find Katia along the way. Upon mistaking her for Sophia, Anton challenges Layton to a fencing duel. Anton eventually tires from the duel: this leads Katia to break it up, revealing Anton to be her grandfather in the process. She also tells everyone that her grandmother left Folsense to protect her and Anton's unborn child (who would grow up to be Katia's mother) and that Sophia and this child had died some time ago. Unfortunately, Anton lashes out with his saber in rage and disbelief, cutting a chain holding the chandelier in place and causing the castle to collapse. Everyone makes it out in time before the building falls into the mine, caving in the exposed mine shaft in the basement. Layton explains that when the mine was discovered fifty years ago, it released a hallucinatory gas that affected everyone in Folsense; as the gas disperses, Anton is revealed to be an old man, and Folsense an abandoned, desolate town. Layton suspects a quantity of the gas was in the Elysian Box, causing those that believed in the myth to actually succumb to death. Anton is suddenly reminded of his fiancée, Sophia, and that he has commissioned the box to hold a message to be sent to Sophia in Dropstone after her departure, but it had been stolen so many times he had lost hope Sophia received it. Luke opens the special compartment and reveals that Sophia had gotten the box and left her own note to Anton, stating her love for him and Katia's relationship to her. Anton welcomes Katia with open arms, wanting to love her as much as he had Sophia, stating that he has to get to know Katia before he can join Sophia in death. The group returns to Dropstone, where Flora is located. As Layton and his friends return to London, they learn that Dr. Schrader had only fallen into a temporary coma from his exposure to the gas from the box, and has now fully recovered. After the credits, the game ends showing "to be continued" along with a picture of Layton and Luke standing in front of a time machine which continues on to the next adventure Professor Layton and the Unwound Future. ===== A young woman, Fati, dies in a hospital. Her family is devastated when they discover her death was self-inflicted. She leaves a letter revealing her suicide is a result of being raped by Mansour Ab-Mangol—the brother of a friend who did nothing to stop it. Fati's older brother Farman, an ex street thug who now runs a butcher-shop, decides to confront Mansour. His uncle persuades him not to exact revenge; Farman struggles with his anger, and ultimately decides to give up his knife before confronting Mansour. Farman's encounter with Mansour quickly degenerates into a fight, as Mansour's two younger brothers, Karim and Rahim, stand back and watch. Farman strangles Mansour, nearly killing the man. Rahim tells Karim to save their brother; Karim furiously stabs Farman, killing him. The three brothers dispose of Farman's body in a wasteland, planting the knife he was stabbed with next to him. Qeysar, Farman's younger brother who works in Khuzestan, returns home bearing gifts for his family, only to find his siblings dead and his mother and uncle devastated. Despite his uncle's protests, Qeysar decides to take revenge, swearing to kill all three Ab-Mangol brothers one by one. He follows Karim to a public bath, where he stabs him to death in a shower cubicle. He then seeks out Rahim, and finds him working in a slaughterhouse. Qeysar murders Rahim, leaving him butchered amid the cattle. The revenge spree is set aside when Qeysar is distracted by a former lover, Azam, only until he realizes he must abandon his love to finish off the path of revenge he has started. Mansour goes into hiding, desperately afraid for his life. By this time the police have realized that Qeysar is the primary suspect in the murders; they pursue him. Qeysar's mother dies, only aggravating matters and strengthening Qeysar's desire for revenge. The police pursue Qeysar at his mother's funeral, but he manages to elude them. He learns that Mansour has a girlfriend, Soheila Ferdos, an erotic dancer and singer. He visits Soheila and seduces her. She takes him back to her apartment, where he discovers the location of Mansour's hideout, a railway siding. Qeysar makes his way straight for Mansour. Mansour spots him and attempts to escape; Qeysar catches him. The two men fight. Mansour stabs Qeysar, badly wounding him, and flees from the scene. The Police arrive, forcing Mansour back in the direction he came, back towards the wounded Qeysar, who summons just enough strength to kill Mansour in a final fight. Qeysar stands tall, but only for a moment. The police spot him and he attempts to flee but is shot in the leg. Badly wounded, he tries to hide in an old train carriage. The police move in on him. ===== After Amar Varma's Siva Balaji accidental death in India, Germany-based Varma Industries is on the verge of collapse. Priya Shriya, Amar's fiancée, is devastated, Amar's dad Vijayachander is in shock and unresponsive towards others while Amar's sister Suhani Kalita and grandmother Sowcar Janaki are in mourning. Inspector who is investigating the case is determined to find the person responsible for the accident despite his superiors' indifference towards the case. Months after Amar's death, a highly respected and talented business worker named Sekhar Tarun offers to re-build and restore Varma Industries without any compensation, stating Amar met him in India and offered him a job before his death. He is given the chance and goes about the uphill task of making the company viable again. Gradually, Sekhar heals the gaping wound left in the Varma family by Amar's death and they come to accept him as one of the family. What they don't know — except for Sunil Sunil, Sekhar's friend in Germany — is that it was Sekhar's jeep that accidentally had hit Amar after he swerved to avoid hitting an innocent girl who had walked into the road, causing his death. Ridden by guilt Sekhar came to Germany to confess, ask for forgiveness, and do whatever he can for the family. Abhi is a wealthy Germany industrialist who meets Priya and realizes that she is the right woman for him. He is considering proposing to Priya and helping to rebuild Varma Industries. But Priya has fallen in love with Sekhar. Eventually, a conflict arises between Priya and Sekhar regarding a proposition made by Abhi to take over Varma Industries. Sekhar realizes that Priya does not need his help anymore and decides to return to India. Priya stops Sekhar while he boards his flight and confesses her feelings for him. Sekhar denies his feelings and boards the plane. Devastated, Priya goes home and gets engaged to Abhi. At the airport arrives inspector Tanikella Bharani, from India in search of the person who killed Amar, and arrests Sekhar. They wait, with Sunil, to board the next flight to India. Sekhar calls Priya and tells her how much he loves her and confesses that it was he who hit her fiancé. While talking to priya, Shekhar meets with an accident. Priya feels guilty about falling for the man who caused Amar's death and confesses it to Amar's father, who surprises her by speaking for the first time after his son's death. He tells her that Sekhar had told him the truth when he first visited them and he believes Sekhar. Amar's family then makes Priya realize how much Sekhar has done for the family and that he is like Amar to them. Sunil informs them about Sekhar's accident. Abhi tells a skeptical Priya to go back to Sekhar as he is her true love. Meanwhile, Inspector who is in the hospital with everyone, understands that the family needs Sekhar more than the law does and simply closes the case and leave. The movie ends with Sekhar recovering and uniting with Priya while Abhi is left devastated and is comforted by his uncle. ===== Raghavaiah (Krishnam Raju), a rich industrialist has a daughter (Meena Kumari). Raghavaiah helps Prasad (Suman) who was the son of Raghavaiah's deceased employee by funding his studies. Prasad falls in love with Raghavaiah's daughter and elopes with her to London and settles there. They have a daughter called Seetu alias Seeta Lakshmi. Raghavaiah adopts a boy from an orphanage and names him Anand. Raghavaiah has excessive hatred towards love marriages because of his daughter's elopement. In the meantime, Raghavaiah's daughter dies due to illness. After a few years, Prasad and Seetu (Shriya Saran) return to Hyderabad where she meets Anand (Uday Kiran) who is very loyal to his adopted father. Seetu and Anand fall in love. What happens when Raghavaiah comes to know that his loyal and truthful son is in love with the daughter of those who hurt him forms the crux of the story. ===== Rome, Year of our Lord 1809. The Pope Pius VII with his cardinals and ministers manages both temporal and spiritual power of the Papal States in Italy. The Marquis Onofrio del Grillo is one of his favorites, but even the worst of all the nobility. As a privileged and protected nobleman, Onofrio feels free to play his pranks on the poor people without any fear of the consequences. On one occasion, when he is arrested at a dinner with common criminals, he turns to the populace in a vulgar speech, claiming that his nobility allows him to do what he wants, and that they, being poor, are not worth anything. Memorable is the dispute between the poor Jew Aronne Piperno and the Marquis for the payment of a salary. Aaron is amazed when Onofrio refuses to pay with the argument that his creditor being a Jew is a murderer of Jesus. Aaron brings his case to court, but Onofrio wins the lawsuit by corrupting the judges and the cardinals. Piperno is condemned and mocked by the people, and Onofrio announces to the Pope that justice has just died in his States. In the meantime the Pope has the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte excommunicated. When the conflict escalates, Onofrio is appointed commander of the Swiss Guards in Castel Sant'Angelo. He does not take the situation very seriously, and ultimately fails in his task to defend the Papal palace. While he is leaving command to check on the fidelity of a young plebeian lovers of his, the French guards penetrate the holy seal to arrest the Pope. Onofrio has personally few prejudices and quickly includes acquaintances from the new order within his circle, becoming friends with a young commander of the French regiment as well as more senior officers. This is however much to the disappointment of his pious mother who claims that the French, as enemies of the Pope King, are also sworn enemies of God. With the French occupants a theater company also arrives from Paris, introducing the novelty of real women for female roles. Due to the obtuseness of the Roman people the show proves a failure, but Onofrio takes the chance to start an affair with the beautiful and free spirited singer Olympia. One night, while walking around the ruins of the Forum to find a suitable spot for sleeping together, they notice a drunken coalman who is a perfect sosia of the Marquis. Onofrio decides to play one of his jokes by switching roles. He instructs his servant to have the inconscious man dressed up as himself, while he will play the part of Gasperino the coalman. The next morning the poor drunkard wakes up in Onofrio's bed to find himself transformed into a marquis. His bad manners lead the family to believe that he is possessed by the spirit of a dead coalman, and Onofrio's uncle tries to have him exorcised. After the first shock Gasperino starts to adapt to his new role and some of his family find him even better than the real Marquis. But when the Pope returns after Napoleon's defeat he has Onofrio condemned and Gasperino risks to end his life under the guillotine. ===== Tilak (Venu) is a mind games expert and tries to help people in need. He, his friend (Sunil) who is a lawyer, and a former police officer (Mallikarjuna Rao) help needy people who are in the public. Venu falls in love with Suryakantham (Shriya Saran). He follows her and they both fall in love. Suryakantham has difficulty adjusting to help people in need. Suryakantham gets kidnapped by Tilak's enemies. The rest of the movie is about how Tilak saves her. ===== The film is set in the Kyzylkum Desert, Kazakhstan. The opening scenes of the movie sets up the various alliances and tensions between a group of cavers. Five of them - Bailey (Sybil Temtchine), Gannon (Mustafa Shakir), Domingo (Andres Saenz-Hudson), Miranda (Ogy Durham), and Ori (Andrew Caple-Shaw) - are part of a team who have caved together for a number of years, making their living from exploring and photographing new caves and reporting back to the world what they find there. Also involved in this trip are two Kazakh natives, Vlad (Kamen Gabirel) and Slava (Neno Pervan), who the band have hired as guides, and Ambrose (Danny A. Jacobs), who is researching for a book on caving. It can also be said that there is a ghost with the group - that of Rachel (Cassandra Duarden), a member of the team who died on an expedition in Peru two years prior, and whose story is told in flashback as the movie goes on. The men are killed one by one by a mysterious creature, and just as the two women find the escape route, they are captured. They awaken in the beast's lair naked and wrapped in animal skin blankets where they find photos, belongings and an airplane wing in the surrounding area. After searching further, the two find water, then food, and, while eating, discover that the meat is one of their dead friends. The beast enters, and we discover he was the only survivor of a plane crash, a Russian boy called Peter. He proceeds to brutally kill one and rape the other. ===== Arthur Banks (Kiefer Sutherland) is an Ivy League-educated hitman for Latin American drug cartels who picks up solitary women, uses them as cover for a hit, then kills them. His trademark is a bullet with a tungsten core. Over the years, he has become wary of the FBI's attempts to catch him, including by use of satellite and security cameras, which leads him to mostly stay in rural desert areas when not working. The FBI team is spearheaded by Agent George Scanlon (Jamey Sheridan), who lost five years of his career when Banks killed a witness he was guarding 15 years ago while leaving no evidence behind. In a desperation sting, Scanlon plants Agent Bennie Harper (Melora Walters), portraying a drifter, in Banks' path, and Banks picks her up for what he says will be his last job, a hit on a Mexican presidential candidate. Scanlon and Agent Donna Marbury (Leslie Stefanson), along with several support agents, follow Banks and Harper through the Southwest, but the scheme goes wrong when one of the tailing agents is spotted and caught by Banks. Thinking quickly, the agent pretends to be Harper's jealous and abusive ex-husband, but this plan goes awry when Banks, who seems more interested in Harper than normal, kills the agent out of Harper's sight and then disposes of the body in a manner not witnessed by Harper (incineration), leaving the FBI once again with no evidence to arrest him. That night, Banks and Harper become lovers at a remote motel. Scanlon decides to cancel the sting after the agent's death and to withdraw Harper, but Harper talks him out of it, pointing out that Banks is their only lead to his employers in the drug cartels. On the road, Banks confides to Harper that he hates his job but hasn't had a chance to get out of it for years until now. In Mexico, Harper double-crosses both Banks and the FBI, first shooting Banks to stop him from committing the assassination and handcuffing him to the balcony, but then killing the thugs who hired him and taking their key for the payoff from the hit. She tells Banks that she expects the FBI will be so happy to catch and question him that she'll depart with the payoff without much problem, which is why she leaves him alive. However, by the time Scanlon responds to her call on Banks' location, he has escaped. Meanwhile, the FBI agents follow Agent Marbury's sighting of a fleeing Harper to the local airport, only to lose her there, because the "sighting" was actually Marbury herself in a disguise, which she sheds in a washroom, permitting Harper's undetected escape. In the last scene, Harper and Marbury meet in the desert and kiss, while discussing their new wealth. In the distant brush, we see Banks' boots and bloody hand, unnoticed by the two women. After the screen goes black, we hear a single shot. ===== Bobby Grady is an ordinary middle-class electronics store owner who occasionally moonlights doing surveillance work. He attends a group therapy session because his wife, Amy, has lost interest in sex and he fears their marriage is in trouble. Grady is soon approached by the owner of a fashion design house to spy on an employee, Joanna Crane, who is suspected of selling clothing patterns to his competitors. Grady discovers the accusations are unfounded, but also learns that Joanna is moonlighting as a prostitute under the name China Blue, and shedding her business attire for provocative clothing and a platinum wig. Grady keeps quiet about Joanna's double life. Following a sexual encounter with her in her China Blue persona, Grady begins seeing her on a regular basis, first professionally, then romantically. However, their involvement is complicated by his guilt and her intimacy issues—in addition to her clientele of regular patrons and their bizarre sexual fetishes. Among them is the "Reverend" Peter Shayne, who alternately spends his time delivering soapbox sermons on the street, visiting peep shows while sniffing amyl nitrite, and patronizing prostitutes. Shayne has been seeing China Blue as a customer and declares a misguided need to "save" her. (When he says, "Save your soul, whore!", she replies, "Save your money, shithead.") Underscoring Shayne's contradictory nature is the cache of sex toys he carries in a small doctor's bag with his Bible. Grady admits he may leave his wife and children, but Joanna feels put-upon and depressed. She seeks solace in turning tricks because the encounters are not fraught with emotional entanglements. She dominates a young policeman in an S&M; session, penetrating him with his nightstick, and endures a botched threesome in a limousine. A session with a dying man whose wife wants China Blue to give him sexual gratification one last time inspires Joanna to reveal her real first name, suggesting for the first time that she is the proverbial "hooker with a heart of gold". Shayne grows increasingly psychotic: he carries a sharpened metallic vibrator he nicknames "Superman" and starts stalking Joanna. He moves into a seedy motel next door to her nighttime place of business and watches her activities through a peephole. He also sets up a shrine with candles and numerous photos of her. Sensing that he is mentally unhinged, Joanna no longer wishes to see him, but Shayne follows her home to her actual apartment. Once there, he begs her to kill him. Grady comes there to tell Joanna that he has left home. He hears shouting from her apartment, breaks down her door and finds someone he assumes is Joanna, cowering in terror, not realizing it is actually Shayne in her China Blue disguise. Joanna, now wearing Shayne's clothing, leaps from the shadows and stabs Shayne with the "Superman" vibrator before he can attack Grady with a large pair of scissors. Shayne dies, convinced that his sacrifice has "saved" them both. The film ends with Grady addressing his group therapist about his new relationship with a woman named Joanna. ===== Carrying out orders, rookie hitman Ray shoots a priest during confession, but accidentally kills a young boy who is also in church. He and his mentor Ken are sent to Bruges by their employer Harry, where they are to await further instructions. Ken finds the city charming and quaint, while Ray has nothing but contempt for it. They chance upon a film shoot involving a dwarf actor, which amuses Ray. Ray is attracted to Chloë, a local drug dealer moonlighting as a production assistant. He takes her to a restaurant, where he gets into an argument with a Canadian couple (mistaking them for Americans) and ends up knocking them unconscious. Chloë takes Ray to her apartment where they begin to have sex, but her ex-boyfriend Eirik appears and threatens Ray with a handgun. Ray disarms him and fires the gun, loaded with blanks, in Eirik's face, blinding him in one eye. Chloë admits that she and Eirik rob tourists, but insists she had told Eirik that Ray was not a target. Ray and Ken spend a debauched night with the dwarf actor, Jimmy, who takes cocaine and rants about a coming war between blacks and whites. Harry calls Ken and orders him to kill Ray, on the principle that killing a child, even accidentally, is unforgivable. With a handgun supplied by Harry's local contact Yuri, Ken tracks Ray to a park and reluctantly prepares to kill him. Ray, however, distraught at his killing of the boy, prepares to kill himself with Eirik's loaded gun. Seeing this, Ken stops Ray, informs him of Harry's order and tells him to leave Bruges to make a new start elsewhere. He gives Ray some money and puts him on a train to another city, while confiscating his gun to prevent a further suicide attempt. Ken reports the truth back to Harry, who immediately sets out for Bruges, enraged at the disobedience. He picks up a gun at Yuri's, and Eirik, Yuri's son, learns of his intention. On the train, Ray is identified by the Canadian couple he assaulted in the restaurant and is escorted by the police back to Bruges. Chloë bails him out and the two share a drink on the market square beneath the Belfry of Bruges. Harry arrives in Bruges and rushes through the streets towards Ray's hotel, but spots Ken sitting outside a cafe. As the two have a drink, Harry boasts that if he himself had killed a child, he would have immediately taken his own life. Ken argues that Ray has the capacity to change and deserves a chance at redemption. Harry is unconvinced, so Ken suggests they ascend the bell tower. At the top, Harry pulls his handgun on Ken, but Ken refuses to resist. Confused, Harry cannot bring himself to kill Ken, so he shoots him in the leg as punishment for not killing Ray. Seeing Ray at the square, Eirik climbs the tower to inform Harry, who is helping Ken down the tower. Ken tries to disarm Harry, who shoots him in the neck and rushes down. Bleeding heavily, Ken drags himself back to the top of the tower and jumps into the square. Ray rushes to Ken's mangled body and learns of Harry's arrival. Just before he dies, Ken tells him to take his gun, but it has been broken in the fall. Harry chases Ray to the hotel; Marie, the pregnant owner, refuses Harry entry, even when he draws his gun. To protect the owner and her unborn child, Harry and Ray agree to continue the chase on the canal and Ray armed with Eirik's loaded gun, jumps on to a passing barge but loses the gun. Harry wounds Ray with a shot from a distance. Ray staggers onto the street where Jimmy's film is shooting. Harry catches up and repeatedly shoots Ray until he collapses. One of the bullets hits Jimmy (costumed as a schoolboy), blowing his head apart. Harry believes he has killed a child and, despite protest from Ray, kills himself. Ray is carried past Chloë, Marie and Eirik into an ambulance. In narration, Ray reflects on the nature of hell, speculating that it is an eternity in the city of Bruges, and declares that he really hoped he wouldn't die. ===== Rahul (Tusshar Kapoor) is sincere and hardworking whilst Karan Pandey (Riteish Deshmukh) is just the opposite. Both are best friends and cool wannabes. When they are evicted from their flat, the both enter their flat from the back of the apartment and live secretly. They try to find girlfriends and secretly enter a college reunion party from where they are thrown out after being caught. Karan tricks a girl into roaming with him by stealing a car but gets caught by the police and gets beaten up. He lies to Rahul that he had fun with the girl. While running from tailor Popat, Rahul is advised by a baba that his true love will have a mole on her chest. When the city is rocked with a series of rape and killings, the police with psychiatrist/psychologist Dr. Screwvala (Anupam Kher) is in search of this dreaded Serial Killer. Due to some misunderstanding, Rahul becomes the prime suspect. Meanwhile Karan gets beaten up by violent lady inspector and again lies about the incident to Rahul. Things take a funny turn when the job of nabbing Rahul is entrusted to Urmila Martodkar (Isha Koppikar). Urmila and Doctor again misinterpret Rahul's actions. Urmila is taken to a salon and kept gagged with tape on her mouth while the doctor instructs how she has to be disguised, while she moans through the tape on her mouth. She meets Rahul in a complete makeover as a hot woman. Rahul falls in love with her and invites her to live in his flat secretly. She tries to seduce him in sexy clothes to reveal his true nature and she loves him back, not remembering she is on a police force mission. By this time, Karan falls in love with D.K.(Rajendranath Zutshi) i.e. his boss's ex Kiran (Bobby Darling) who is actually the brother of Rekha (Neha Dhupia) a psychologist and Karan's ex-college mate. After a roller coaster ride of mistaken identities and comedy of errors, the film reaches its peak when Karan is about to wed Kiran at the temple, but he is not aware that she is a transvestite, but Rekha and D.K. reach on time, where D.K. takes Kiran away and Rekha reveals that it was she who used to call and write letters to him on the name of Kiran, Karan realises his true love and reunites with her. The police are on the verge of arresting Rahul as the rapist, when the true rapist reveals himself, and turns out to be Uma Shankar Tripathi (Rajpal Yadav) and is arrested by police. Rahul and Urmila reunite and the film ends. ===== The game begins with the protagonist walking through a forest in a deep fog. They have no memory of how they ended up in the forest. They eventually see a bright light coming from a hotel, Gregory House, which is the game's main setting. They enter the hotel and are greeted by Gregory, the mouse that runs the hotel. He asks the player what their name and gender is, allowing them to proceed. From there, he gives them a room in the hotel. That night, after the player has fallen asleep, they meet Death in a dream. He tells the player that they have been trapped at Gregory House, but that he will help them to escape. In return, he wants the player to find 12 lost souls which are kept by residents of Gregory House. Death makes the promise that, once he has received the 12 souls, he will help them to escape. The player, upon waking, hears screaming from the neighbouring room, which is locked. The room's inhabitant, Neko Zombie, asks the player to get the key for the room by stealing it from Gregory. Once the player has done so, they encounter Neko Zombie. Neko Zombie gives the player explanations on various aspects of the game and, once the tutorial is finished, he gives them the game's first lost soul. After this, the player needs to retrieve the souls from each guest as they come into the hotel. As the story progresses, the story introduces Gregory's mother, who feeds on lost souls to retain her youth. Once the player has retrieved every soul, Death tells the player that he will help them to escape, but the player declines; before they leave, they want to bring Neko Zombie with them. They then go to Neko Zombie's room, asking him to accompany them. Neko Zombie declines, urging the player to hurry and leave. The player, before leaving, gives Neko Zombie a red handkerchief to tie over his foot, which has been injured by a ball-and-chain. The player then goes to the lobby, where the door is locked. There is a boss battle with Gregory's mother, in which the player has to get her to break the door down. Once this is done, the player flees Gregory House. Gregory takes on a ghostly form and gives chase, but the player manages to escape to reality. Back at Gregory House, Neko Zombie burns down the hotel, destroying it and killing everyone inside, including himself, Gregory, Gregory's mother and all of the guests. The game's ending shows that the hotel was a creation of the player, and served as an escape for the struggles of reality. The player then states that should they ever grow bored with life in reality, they will find their way back to the hotel once again. Gregory house is then shown being reconstructed, and Gregory has a room prepared for the player when they return. ===== Sam Leonard is the new kid at Bridgeport High School, joining for the last year. On his first day, he is humiliated by the school jock Kyle Plunkett, becomes friends with Annie Dray and falls in love with Kyle's girlfriend Vicki Sanders. When he goes to the guidance counselor, the counselor gives him the advice to lie to get the other kids to like him. Sam tells lies like "I drive a Porsche", "My dad's a rock star", "My dog ate my homework", "I never miss a shot" (at basketball) and that Vicki Sanders and his English teacher Mrs. Moran are pursuing him. That night, after an argument with his parents, he accidentally breaks the mirror behind his door. The next morning, Sam finds his dog actually eating his homework, he has a Porsche, he never misses a shot, and Mrs. Moran and Vicki Sanders are after him. Now he must find a way to fix what he's created. Meanwhile, Cheerleader #2 (Maia Schor) is competing with Vicki for Sam's attention. Little does she know, it was all a dream. ===== Slick salesman Jimmy Starks (Pearce) has auto problems in a small New Mexico town and while his car is in the shop he visits low-rent fortune teller Vacaro (J.K. Simmons) to pass the time. The supposed seer tells him he will have good fortune soon, but looking deeper relates the information that his future is blank, and he is safe only until the first snow of winter beyond which there is no future to foretell. The act upsets Jimmy and rekindles old transgressions and makes him feel he is on a collision course with destiny especially when an old friend Vincent (Shea Whigham) returns from a jail sentence that he went to in Jimmy's place after a bad business deal. Jimmy becomes obsessed with knowing more of his future and re-visits Vacaro but the old man can only tell the salesman that he has related to him all he can see. Jimmy feels that Vincent has returned to kill him and that he must do something to change the course of his future but Vacaro convinces him to accept his fate. ===== The film alternates between two time periods, the 1950s and the present, in which a dying Ann Grant Lord (Vanessa Redgrave) reflects on her past. Her confusing comments about people she never mentioned before leave her daughters, reserved Constance (Natasha Richardson) and restless Nina (Toni Collette), wondering if their mother is delusional. As a young woman in her early twenties, cabaret singer Ann (Claire Danes) arrives at the spacious Newport, Rhode Island, home of her best friend Lila Wittenborn (Mamie Gummer), who is soon to marry Karl Ross (Timothy Kiefer). Lila's brother (and Ann's college friend) Buddy (Hugh Dancy) introduces her to Harris Arden (Patrick Wilson), a young doctor and the son of a former family servant. Buddy tells Ann his sister has always adored Harris, and expresses his concern that she's marrying another man out of a sense of duty rather than love. Inebriated, Buddy passes out, and as Ann and Harris chat they find themselves bonding. On Lila's wedding day, she confesses to Ann that she confronted Harris with her feelings for him and he rebuffed her, so she goes along with the ceremony as planned and marries Karl. At the reception, at Lila's request, Ann sings a song and is joined on stage by Harris. Afterwards Buddy, drunk again, confronts the two about their growing closeness. Then he unexpectedly kisses Harris. As Lila prepares to depart with her new husband, Ann offers to take the bride away with her, but Lila refuses and leaves for her honeymoon. Buddy admits to Ann he has had a crush on Harris since his childhood, though he also claims not to be "that way" - he denies that this would be okay as Ann assures him. He then changes the subject, confessing he has loved Ann ever since their college days, offering as proof a note she once sent him he has kept in his pocket ever since. Ann is unconvinced. By the sea the younger guests dance drunkenly and dive into the sea from a clifftop: Buddy joins in but fails to surface, prompting a panicked search. When Buddy reappears at the top of the cliff, Ann expresses her anger at the prank and berates Buddy for repressing his sexual orientation and building her up as his true love. She storms off and she and Harris slip off to his secret hideaway, where they make love. Buddy, in search of the couple, stumbles into the road and is hit by a car. His friends find him, but too late to save his life. The following morning, Ann and Harris, oblivious to what transpired the night before, jokingly consider sailing away, but at the Wittenborn house they hear the tragic news of Buddy's death. In the present day, Lila (Meryl Streep) arrives at Ann's bedside to comfort her and reminisce. Ann recalls a day when she ran into Harris in the street in New York City. By then she had one daughter and was on the verge of moving to Los Angeles, and he was married with a son. He intimated he still loved her before the two exchanged cordial goodbyes. As Lila leaves, she tells Nina about Harris and reassures her that her mother did not make any mistakes in her life. Nina sits with Ann, who encourages her daughter to have a happy life. Nina finally musters the courage to tell her boyfriend Luc she is pregnant with their child. An ecstatic Luc proudly announces the news to Constance and promises he always will be there for Nina. Their joy is interrupted by Ann's nurse, who urges the women to rush to their mother's bedside to bid her farewell. ===== When a car bomb detonates in the Liverpool suburb of Allerton, killing family planning doctor Karen Lynott (Karen Westwood) and severely injuring her young daughter Sarah, Section D of MI5 is on the case. Danny Hunter (David Oyelowo) learns from one of his assets, "Osprey" (Kelly Rolfe), that the group responsible have smuggled 20 bombs into the country from Ireland. After following her, the team learn that the terrorist responsible for smuggling the bombs and killing Lynott is Mary Kane (Lisa Eichhorn), an American pro-life extremist; she smuggled herself into the country under an assumed name and has been setting up cells across the UK. Section D also learn that Kane may be setting up the attacks in tribute to her husband, who is on death row in Florida following a series of attacks on abortion clinics. Upon tracking the movements of one cell, the Central Intelligence Agency pressure MI5 to extradite Kane back to the United States; such an action will seriously hinder their efforts to find the cells and a put a stop to them. By the time Harry Pearce (Peter Firth) signs the extradition forms, Kane has evaded MI5. In the meantime, Zoe Reynolds (Keeley Hawes) goes undercover to pose as a sympathizer to the cell. She lures a member, Rachel (Rachel Power) to the same hospital Sarah Lynott is being treated; Sarah later dies from the extent of her injuries. Senior case officer and team leader Tom Quinn (Matthew Macfadyen) attempts to persuade her to stop Kane, believing she has little regard for any life. Rachel leaves in haste, but unbeknownst to her, MI5 bug her mobile phone and record a phone conversation she makes to the cell regarding their next target, Diane Sullivan, a doctor living in London. Tom's team are able to take Sullivan to safety whilst Zoe poses as the target. The team see Kane deliver a bomb to Zoe's car, and prepares to detonate it via mobile phone. To counter the attack, a Bomb Squad jams the signal long enough for Tom to arrest her. During the interrogation, Tom promises to send her to a state in the US where the death penalty does not apply in exchange for the locations of every cell she runs in the UK. After she cooperates, Tom goes back on the deal and delivers Kane to CIA liaison Christine Dale (Megan Dodds), who returns her to Florida to be executed. Over the course of the episode, Tom enters a relationship with civilian Ellie Simm (Esther Hall) following an unrelated operation before the events of the episode, going by the pseudonym of civil servant in IT "Matthew Archer". ===== Set in modern-day Japan, the plot centers on , a cheerful thirteen-year-old with an excellent sense of taste who hopes to become a chef. In her backstory, it is revealed that a mysterious boy rescued her from drowning in Hokkaidō as a young, recently orphaned girl and gave her flan to cheer her up. Before he left, she promised to make him the best- tasting dessert in the world. Now on a journey to find her "flan prince," as she calls him, Najika attends Seika Academy in Tokyo, after she learned that the silver spoon her flan prince left her is unique to the school. There she befriends , the substitute director of the academy, and his younger brother . Although teen model initially dislikes her, they eventually become friends after Najika heals her eating disorder by making her her grandmother's recipe. Najika periodically competes in cooking competitions, both formal and informal, while working at the diner run by the skilled, yet lazy chef . Najika falls in love with Sora, after he tells her that he is her flan prince. However, he soon dies after being struck by a truck while on a journey to deliver some ingredients to Najika, and, in his final moments, admits that he lied about being her flan prince, having fallen in love with her. She loses her sense of taste out of sorrow, although she quickly recovers it. After Sora's death, Daichi is unable to bring himself to act on his love for her, though he gives in to his father's demands to protect Najika from being kicked out of the school and becomes the student body president to replace Sora. Wealthy and conceited junior pastry chef also begins to attend the school, where he clashes with Najika, whom he had watched bake as a young girl at the orphanage. Seiya eventually falls in love with her, and tries to romantically pursue her, although he gives up when he realizes that she loves Daichi. After Daichi recovers a repressed memory of his mother's death during a family trip to Hokkaidō—which Sora attempted to protect him from by lying about being Najika's flan prince—he remembers that he is actually her flan prince, having given her a flan made by Seiya, and accepts her feelings for him. Joyful, she fulfills her promise to him by making him a crème brûlée. ===== After getting shot during the Turkish consulate raid in the previous episode, Tom Quinn (Matthew Macfadyen) is on sick leave until he recovers. When Ellie (Esther Hall) notices Tom's wound, he feels compelled to tell her that he is a spy. Over the course of the episode, Ellie threatens to leave Tom unless he also explains his job to her daughter, Maisie (Heather Cave). After he does, Ellie begins to forgive him for having lied to her ever since they met. Danny (David Oyelowo) and Zoe (Keeley Hawes) observe an anti- globalisation rally before Bush's visit, where a riot ensues led by a man in a flaming helmet, who spots the two and flees with a young woman, Andrea Chambers. When they are surrounded by riot police, the man reveals himself as Peter Salter (Anthony Head), a legendary MI5 officer who recruited Tom. They contact Tom after they weren't briefed about the situation. Harry Pearce (Peter Firth) admits that Salter is working with Harry and Jools Siviter (Hugh Laurie) at MI6 in a joint operation to take down a European anarchist terror group led by Istvan Vogel. In order to get into the cell, Salter has been sleeping with Andrea. Upon meeting him, Tom questions Salter's allegiance after learning he is in love with Andrea; Tom reluctantly allows the operation to continue, but displays his concern to Harry. Tom's concerns are revealed to be correct, as Salter and Andrea evade Danny and Zoe. Zoe is sent to meet up with one of Tessa's (Jenny Agutter) contacts, who may have information on where Salter is. However, upon waiting, Tessa arrives; Zoe works out that Tessa is running several phantom agents and pockets their money. In order to keep Zoe quiet, Tessa bribes her £10,000. Salter meets with Vogel in Wales. There, Salter offers his plan to take down the President; they break into a University researching Geographic Topology. There, Salter breaks into the database and manipulates the flightpath of Bush's plane, and the nearby topography to cause the plane to crash. By the time all but Salter leave, Armed Police arrive and arrest Salter, who is brought to Thames House. After reluctantly telling Tom where Vogel's group are hiding, Salter hangs himself before revealing what he did in the campus. Harry learns about Danny hacking his way into improving his credit rating, and destroys his credit cards. As punishment, Danny is to train new staff. There, he learns of Salter's intentions; the plane is diverted to Paris. In the end when Ellie asks Tom about his day, he replies; "a man, who believed in a cause, killed himself for love, totally pointless." ===== Swords of Mars begins as a cloak and dagger thriller and ends as an interplanetary odyssey. In this novel John Carter, transplanted Earthman, returns to his status of protagonist and first-person narrator for the first time since the third Martian novel, The Warlord of Mars. ===== Lora Hart (Barbara Stanwyck) applies for a job as a trainee nurse in a hospital, but is rejected by the Superintendent of Nurses, Miss Dillon (Vera Lewis), for not having graduated from high school. A chance encounter with the hospital's chief of staff, Dr. Arthur Bell (Charles Winninger), in an uncooperative revolving door, gets that requirement waived. Lora's roommate and fellow nurse, Miss Maloney (Joan Blondell), becomes her best friend. Lora is assigned to night duty in the emergency room. One night, Lora treats bootlegger Mortie (Ben Lyon), for a gunshot wound and earns his gratitude by letting herself be persuaded not to report it to the police as required by law. He also admires the pretty young nurse. After she passes her training, Lora is hired for private duty, looking after two sick children, Desney and Nanny Ritchie. She moves into the Ritchie mansion, where there is always a party going on. The children's socialite mother, Mrs Ritchie (Charlotte Merriam), lives in an alcoholic stupor, infatuated with the brutish chauffeur Nick (Clark Gable). When a drunken guest tries to molest Lora, Nick knocks him out. When Lora refuses his demand that she pump out the stomach of a very drunk Mrs. Ritchie, he knocks her out and takes her to her room. The Ritchie family physician is "society doctor", and apparent drug addict, Dr. Milton Ranger (Ralf Harolde). Lora becomes alarmed by Dr. Ranger's treatment of the children, because she sees that they are being slowly starved to death, but she is unable to get anybody to take her seriously. She quits and takes her suspicions to Dr. Bell. He is initially reluctant to interfere with another doctor's patients, but eventually advises her to return to her job so she can gather evidence. She persuades Dr. Ranger to take her back. Nanny Ritchie becomes so weak, Lora fears for her life and tries unsuccessfully to get Mrs. Ritchie to show any concern. By chance, Mortie is delivering liquor to the perpetual party at the mansion. Desperate, Lora sends Mortie for milk for a milk bath for Nanny, a folk remedy recommended by the frightened housekeeper, Mrs. Maxwell (Blanche Friderici). Mrs. Maxwell gets drunk and confides her suspicions to Lora. The girls have a trust fund from their late father. Nick ran over and killed their sister with his car, and with Dr. Ranger's connivance, is deliberately starving the little girls to death. The trust fund will pass to the drunken and infatuated Mrs. Ritchie, and murderously vicious Nick will marry her for the money. After being threatened by Mortie, Dr. Bell shows up and examines Nanny. However, when he tries to take Nanny to the hospital, Nick knocks him out. Mortie stops Nick from interfering any further, and Nanny's life is saved by an emergency blood transfusion provided by Lora. The next day, Mortie gives Lora a lift in his car. To allay her worries, he informs her that he told some of his friends that he didn't like Nick. Elsewhere, an ambulance brings a corpse dressed in a chauffeur's uniform to the hospital's morgue. ===== While chasing Jerry in the garden, Tom runs through a mud puddle and then into the house, tracking mud on the kitchen floor right after Mammy Two Shoes has finished cleaning. As punishment, Mammy makes Tom clean the floor and orders him to keep the house clean, while she leaves to go shopping. Once she is gone, Jerry wants to sabotage Tom, so he begins making a mess around the house by, among other things, emptying the ashtray onto the floor, squirting ink from a fountain pen into a pail, juggling food, bringing an old horse and pushing an ink stamp pad onto Tom's paws while he takes a nap, causing the cat to leave a long trail of paw prints in the living room. Tom throws Jerry down the laundry chute into the basement and quickly cleans the room. As he does so, a coal truck arrives at the house to make a delivery, and Jerry uses a rope to pull the truck's delivery chute up to the living room window, causing the house to flood with coal. When Mammy returns from shopping and discovers this, she blames Tom, who flees. As he runs, Mammy throws lumps of coal at him, one of which knocks him out. ===== Karthik (Charan), hailing from a rich family, is quite inept in his academics. Neha (Shriya) is Subbu's (Chandra Mohan) daughter and she's motherless. Karthik is the senior of Neha in the college and rags her quite a bit. When Karthik's mother Lakshmi (Poonam Dhillon) meets with an accident, Neha rescues and admits her in a hospital. Over time, Lakshmi and Neha become friends and Neha falls in love with Karthik. But when Subbu proposes to get Karthik and Neha married, Lakshmi refuses. The film is about why Lakshmi doesn't accept the marriage, who initially wanted Neha to marry Karthik. ===== Bharat (Balakrishna) is a sincere and dedicated police officer in Mumbai. In a short span of time, he is regarded as a fearless officer who could single- handedly bring the guilty to justice. Preethi (Shreya) is a medico and daughter of Police Commissioner Prasad (Vizag Prasad). She falls head over heels for Bharat, but this does not make any difference to the story line of the present stream of faction backdrop movies. Meanwhile, another super cop, Sivakrishna, working in the Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh, becomes a person in the news as a daring and dashing police officer who never bows his head to politicians. Inevitably, Sivakrishna becomes an irritation to local faction leader, Dhanunjaya Reddy (Anantraj), who runs a parallel government in that region. When Sivakrishna falls victim to the political clout of Dhanunjaya Reddy, he is demoted and transferred to Tihar Jail as a lower rank officer. In between is shown a statue of Chenna Kesava Reddy, who is considered as a man of high respect in the region and has been missing for the past 22 years. Sivakrishna finds Chenna Kesava Reddy in Tihar Jail, having been imprisoned for some false case. Sivakrishna makes every effort to get Chennakesava Reddy released. When Chennakesava Reddy returns to his village after 22 years, he is pompously welcomed by one and all. Chenna Kesava Reddy halts the factionist activities of Dhanunjaya Reddy and his henchmen. After knowing of the return of Chenna Kesava Reddy, his wife and son come to see him. Now the movie turns to the flashback, in which Chennakesava Reddy is shown as a generous and the most revered man in the village, but has a rivalry with Venkata Reddy (Jayaprakash Reddy). In one of the worst incidents between the rivals, Chennakesava Reddy's rivals hack his entire family members to death. When their bid to kill Chennakesava Reddy falls short, they wangle some false case against him and send him to Tihar Jail. However, Chennakesava Reddy's wife Sita (Tabu) and younger son Bharat (Balakrishna) escape the attack by Venkata Reddy and his men with the help of his followers and reach Mumbai. Chenna Kesava Reddy starts taking revenge on his rivals one after the other and there happens to be none to dare Chenna Kesava Reddy in Seema. In order to counter him, Dhanunjaya Reddy gets Bharath posted in Seema. The movie continues with the son chasing the father to arrest the father, moving ahead in his mission of revenge. ===== After his stern Uncle Daniel describes him as a "millstone" for neglecting his chores, ten year old Toby Tyler runs away from his foster home to join the circus. There he soon befriends Mr. Stubbs, a frisky chimpanzee. However, the circus isn't all fun and games. His employer Harry Tupper, the candy vendor, is dishonest and greedy. He convinces Toby that his Aunt Olive and Uncle Daniel don't love him nor want him back and hides their letters. Toby resigns himself to circus life, even scoring himself a much bigger role, when he replaces the uppity, self-centered boy bareback rider after an injury. When Toby discovers, with the help of Mr. Stubbs, that Harry lied to him about his aunt and uncle he departs the circus for home. Mr. Stubbs follows him and Toby decides to take the chimp home with him. Soon after, though, Mr. Stubbs is chased by a hunter's dog. The hunter, Jim Weaver, accidentally shoots Mr. Stubbs just as Harry arrives to haul Toby back to the circus. Back at the circus, Toby finds his aunt and uncle in attendance, leading to a tearful reunion. When Harry tries to pursue Toby, he's obstructed by Ben, who confronts him for tampering with Toby's mail and warns him to leave him alone. Joyfully, just before Toby's performance, with his family in attendance, he discovers that Mr. Stubbs has survived his wounds, having been brought back to the circus by Jim. Relieved, Toby begins his performance on horseback, only to have Mr. Stubbs jump down from the trapeze to join him, thus creating a wonderful new act for the circus. ===== In the evening, several Pomor men have brought in their boats for the day and are relaxing in a fishermen's hut by the light of a kerosene lamp. The eldest of them named Senya Malina (on his behalf is narrated in the Pisahov's tales) tells them that "there has been so much untruth told about our Arkhangelsk region" that he wants to set the record straight and tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth. With that said, he begins his first tale. ===== Henry Stauf, the main antagonist from The 7th Guest and The 11th Hour is a toymaker with a dark and disturbed imagination inclined toward the macabre and the deadly. In Uncle Henry's Playhouse Stauf has created a twisted dollhouse, the 12 rooms of which he has furnished with miniaturized puzzles from his previous mansions. In the attic of the dollhouse Stauf has placed a thirteenth puzzle that can only be accessed once the player has satisfactorily completed the other 12 puzzles.Uncle Henry's Playhouse instruction manual. Trilobyte. 1996. As the player progresses through the game, Stauf observes the proceedings and offers commentary in the form of gleeful taunts for the player's failures and sounds of unhappiness for the player's successes. ===== Daniel (Tom Long), an Australian classical dancer, is drugged and abducted in an alley by three hooded women. They proceed to hold him in an abandoned warehouse for about two weeks, mutilating him sexually and using him for their own physical and psychological gratification, before dumping him blindfolded from a car near his home. Traumatised, Daniel neither reports his kidnapping and rape to the authorities, nor reveals it to family, friends or colleagues. In the aftermath, he loses his ability to dance and has problems readjusting to normal life. His sceptical live-in lover, a ballerina, suspecting that he was unfaithful to her during his absence, leaves him. Obsessed with finding the culprits, who he has reason to believe are from the vicinity, he dates every woman who bears a resemblance to his abductors, hoping to identify them. This leads him into trouble with the law, and to an eventual breakdown that may or may not prove cathartic. The film concludes on this ambiguous note, with Daniel weeping in the arms of a policeman. ===== Set in the town of Springfield, Believe tells the story of Adam Pendon (Larry Bagby), a struggling truck driver who was recently laid off from his job at the steel mill when it closed. Adam is approached by a salesman for a multi-level marketing company, Believe Industries. The salesman, Mark Fuller (Lincoln Hoppe), offers Adam a business opportunity. Adam agrees to meet Mark at a local hotel for the business meeting. This meeting is filled with distributors for Believe Industries, such as Dan Bretenheirmer (Steve Anderson) and Sally Bretenheirmer (Ann Bosler) who are unable to succeed at Believe, even though they sincerely try to work the program. Tom (Brian Neal Clark) and Amy Hawks (Britani Bateman) are a focused couple who also meet Adam. The owner of Believe is Howard Flash (Jeff Olson), who claims to have lived in a trailer park until the business of Believe saved his life and made him wealthy. Adam decides to join Believe and succeeds unexpectedly. He is invited to be a speaker at a Believe convention. The crux of the plot is Adam at a crossroads of either enjoying wealth and fame from Believe or walking away because he believes he is misleading other people with his wealth and fame.Kaleidoscope Pictures ===== The film shows a scene of a girl being kidnapped from a charity plane by Vietnamese rebels (a U.N. supplies [as in food and medicine] plane) in Vietnam. Then we are taken to the United States to a detention center in Los Angeles where the warden of the center and 6 of the toughest prisoners are hired to rescue the girl, whose name is Gabrielle Presscott, daughter of Jameson Prescott, CEO and billionaire. Warden Toliver and prisoners (by last name only, their first names are never revealed) Butts and Monster (black youths), Lopez and Vasquez (Latino youths, with Vasquez being a girl), and Brophy and Lamb (white youths). The group travels to Vietnam with three days to rescue Gabrielle, spending one day to train and the rest of the days to find her. After winning a battle the group spends the night at a village brothel and has a small celebration, with Brophy sneaking away into the night. The group awakens to find the rebels with Brophy as a hostage and asking the villagers to hand over the rest of the Americans. The group decides to attempt a rescue for Brophy and are successful, however, Lopez and Monster are both killed during the fight. The group runs away into the jungle and is tiredly marching along when Lamb steps on a landmine. While Toliver is trying to disarm the mine, some rebels are slowly getting nearer and nearer to the group. Brophy once again sneaks away but sacrifices himself, bringing another death to the group. Toliver and his men finally arrive at the rebel base camp, with Toliver combing the camp for Gabrielle. After he finds her he returns to the others and hands each of them a set of explosives to be detonated by a timer. After setting all of the charges, the group is found out and a battle ensues. The group kills scores of rebels but there is no apparent end in sight, forcing the group to retreat. The group is driving away in a stolen armored truck when a missile explodes inches away from the truck. The rebel leader has taken a chopper and followed the band of "soldiers". But Butts had secretly put a charge in the chopper back at the base, and detonates it, killing the rebel leader. The group heads home and the camera shows a chopper flying away into the Vietnamese sunset. ===== Michael Lander is a pilot who flies the Goodyear Blimp over National Football League games to film them for network television. Secretly deranged by years of torture as a POW in the Vietnam War, he had a bitter court martial on his return and a failed marriage. He longs to commit suicide and to take with him as many as possible of the cheerful, carefree U.S. civilians he sees from his blimp each weekend. Lander is desperately in love with Dahlia Iyad, an operative from the Palestinian terrorist group Black September, who controls and manipulates him. They conspire together to launch a suicide attack using a bomb composed of plastique and a quarter-million steel flechettes. They plan to mount the bomb on the underside of the gondola of the Goodyear blimp which traditionally flies over the Super Bowl football game, and detonate it over the Miami Orange Bowl during Super Bowl X, in order to call attention to the plight of the Palestinians and to punish the US for supporting Israel. During a raid on a Black September unit in the Middle East, the Israeli counter-terrorist Mossad agent David Kabakov surprises Iyad while she is bathing. His mission was to kill everyone in the unit; however, seeing her unarmed and naked, he spares her life and turns his attention to clearing the rest of the unit. She escapes. When the raid is complete, Kabakov finds a recorded message which Iyad had planned to publish after the terrorist attack. The recording explains the motive for the terrorism, but does not include any specific information about the attack plan itself. Collaborating with FBI agent Sam Corley, Kabakov tries to learn the details of the plan. Together, they are able to trace the path of a large amount of plastic explosive which Black September has illegally shipped into the USA. During the Super Bowl game, Kabakov figures out that Iyad and Lander have mounted the bomb on the Goodyear blimp. He and Corley commandeer a helicopter and set out in pursuit of the blimp, accompanied by several other police helicopters. Loaded with the bomb, the blimp approaches the stadium. Lander pilots the blimp while Iyad exchanges deadly gunfire with policemen in the pursuing helicopters. From his place in one helicopter, Kabakov sees Iyad's face, and recognizes her as the Black September agent whose life he had previously spared. This time he doesn't hesitate; he shoots and kills her. Lander is mortally wounded, but he lasts long enough to succeed in flying the blimp straight into the Super Bowl, causing mass panic and destruction in the stadium. Just before dying, Lander lights the fuse of the blimp's bomb. With just minutes away from detonation, Kabakov lowers himself from the helicopter to the blimp, and hooks it up with a cable to the helicopter, which hauls it out of the panicked stadium and over the ocean. Kabakov unhooks the cable from the blimp, and clings to the cable as the helicopter moves away to a safe distance. A few seconds later, the bomb detonates, firing the flechettes harmlessly into the water. Goodyear Blimps Columbia and America, seen in 1984: Both blimps were separately used in the film. ===== The movie opens in live-action Denmark. The narrator mentions Hans Christian Andersen and his authorship of the original story. After a brief shot of a live-action ocean and the opening title card (with a mermaid song in the background), the scene dissolves to 2-D hand-drawn anime. Princess Marina, who lives in the undersea kingdom with her father, grandmother and five older sisters, is playing with her best friend Fritz, a dolphin. On her way home, the Sea Witch conjures a powerful storm. Marina is scolded by her sisters for being late, reminding her that their grandmother will not give her the pearl hairpin that signifies adulthood unless she is responsible. Marina and her sisters are then summoned to their father and grandmother and are told to go to bed early because of the storm. The following day, Marina's sisters go to the surface. Marina is curious, but she is forbidden to go because she has not yet come of age. She then asks her grandmother if humans can live forever. She says that although mermaids can live up to 300 years, they do not have an immortal soul as humans do when they die; mermaids simply dissolve into sea foam and cease to exist. While exploring a sunken ship destroyed by the storm, she discovers a statue of a human prince. Deciding that she is ready to see the world above, she and Fritz sneak away to the surface with the help of Fritz's uncle, Duke the Whale. There, she sees the handsome young prince on a ship. Suddenly, another storm arises and throws the prince into the sea. Marina saves him and brings him to shore, leaving him there to be found. A raven-haired young woman arrives, finds the prince and cares for him. Marina and Fritz then return home to the kingdom. Marina's grandmother tells the king of the rescue and decides that Marina is ready to come of age. The next morning, Marina joins her sisters and receives her pearl hairpin. Determined to see the prince again and to gain an immortal soul, Marina visits the Sea Witch, who actually had sent the storm and apparently has some agenda of her own, and obtains a potion that allows her to exchange her tail and her beautiful voice in order to become human. The Sea Witch warns Marina that if the prince marries another, she will die and turn into sea foam the next morning. After a heartfelt goodbye to her family and to Fritz, Marina drinks the potion and is transformed. Early the following morning, she is discovered by the prince on the shore. Marina lives with the prince for one month and they become very close. One day, Fritz visits Marina and informs her that if she needs him, she can signal him by raising her pearl hairpin high in the air. The prince takes Marina horseback riding the next morning. While riding, the prince's jealous cat Jemmy pounces on Marina's horse, spooking the horse into throwing Marina off. Marina is surrounded and chased by a pack of wolves. The prince comes to her rescue and kills the wolves, enraging Jemmy. The prince tells her that his parents want him to marry a foreign princess, but instead he wants to marry the girl who saved his life. Since he cannot find her, he wishes to marry Marina. Jemmy, who then vows to get rid of Marina, reports the conversation to the prince's parents, and the queen suspects that Marina has bewitched her son. When the ship arrives carrying the princess whom his parents intend for him to marry, the prince's father orders Marina to be placed under arrest for treason. The next morning, the prince meets the foreign princess and recognizes her as the same raven-haired girl who had supposedly saved him. The prince and princess are soon married. Heartbroken, Marina summons Fritz so that she can say goodbye. Fritz vows to find a way to save her. Marina's sisters, having given their hair to the Sea Witch, give her a magic dagger. They tell her that if she stabs the prince through the heart and lets his blood drip onto her feet, she will become a mermaid again. Marina accepts the dagger. With dawn only minutes away, Marina sneaks into the prince's room but finds that she cannot bring herself to kill him. Marina kisses him goodbye as he sleeps. As she throws the dagger into the sea, the reflection wakes the prince. He rushes onto the deck, calling after her, but she jumps before he can reach her. As he calls her name one last time, he sees that she has left behind her pearl hairpin and a scale from her tail. As the sun rises, Marina's body slowly turns to foam and ascends into the sky. The prince suddenly realizes that Marina was the girl who had saved his life, and he grieves her death. Marina becomes a daughter of the air and her spirit lives on in heaven for her self-sacrifice, while Fritz calls out her name. The movie then fades back to live action in Denmark, and the narrator expresses belief that the mermaid princess has become one with the sea and waves in body and soul, that her love and courage forever lives on in the hearts of all. The movie ends on a still shot of the Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen. ===== Gwen, a Canadian, is visiting her cousin, Findabhair (finn-ah-veer), in Ireland. The two, who keep regular correspondence, share a deep love of Irish mythology. Since their youth, they have tried to find a doorway to another world called Faerieland. Now sixteen, they travel to Tara, without telling their parents, the ancient seat of the High Kings in Ireland in search of adventure. While they are there, the cousins challenge an ancient law by sleeping in a fairy mound. That night the King of Faeries, Finvara, comes to take them away. Since he is King of Dreams, he comes to them in their sleep and asks them to come with him. Findabhair says yes, but Gwen refuses. Therefore, since he is bound by an ancient law, the King only takes Findabhair, leaving Gwen to wake up wondering about her cousin's safety. Gwen decides to rescue her cousin from her fate, only to find she is happy. Gwen does not want her to stay with the faeries because they are immortal, partying teenagers. As Gwen tries continuously to find the Faeries, which is hard for her since the King is hindering her, she meets many good friends, including a middle-aged businessman, a farm girl, a king (who becomes her boyfriend) of an island, called Island Island, and even befriends the second in command of the Faeries, Midir. When she finally catches up with the faeries fast pace, she learns that either her cousin or her must be the sacrifice to an evil ancient creature known as Crom Cruac, the Great Worm, supposedly the serpent from the Garden of Eden. Her cousin voluntarily chooses to be the sacrifice, upsetting Gwen and the King of Faeries, who has fallen in love with her. In the end, with the help of many friends, Findabhair decides not to be sacrificed, but to be the first person ever to fight the serpent. With their friends by their sides, Findabhair and Gwen attack the serpent after being equipped for battle by the Land of Light, but after a while Findabhair gets blasted with poison from the serpent and falls unconscious with her life on the edge. The King of Faeries, in a desperate act of love, gives himself up as the sacrifice. He is greatly mourned, and Midir becomes king. The friends decide to meet again in a year. After a year, they meet again at Island Island and reminisce. Then they suddenly hear music. As they search for the source of the music, they find the king, alive. The worm had only taken his immortality instead of killing him, and now the faerie was mortal and without memory. They understand that it's going to be hard for the king, because of his loss. But overjoyed as they are, they promise to explain everything to him. ===== The Waterburys are an affluent family who live in a luxurious Edwardian villa in the suburbs of London. Charles Waterbury, the patriarch, works at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. He is arrested on suspicion of being a spy. This is hidden from the rest of the family by his wife. The family become impoverished and are forced to move to a house called 'Three Chimneys' in Yorkshire, which is near Oakworth railway station. When they arrive, they find the house in a mess and rat-infested. The three children, Roberta (known by her nickname Bobbie), Phyllis, and Peter find amusement in watching the trains on the nearby railway line and waving to the passengers. They become friends with Albert Perks, the station porter, and with an elderly gentleman who regularly takes the 9:15 train. To make ends meet, their mother works as a writer and also home schools the children. Mrs Waterbury falls ill with the flu. Bobbie writes to the gentleman, who delivers food and medicine to the house to help their mother get better. They are admonished by their mother for telling others of their plight and asking for assistance. The following day, a man is found at the railway station. He speaks a language that no-one can understand. The children figure out that he can speak French, which their mother is fluent in. Mrs Waterbury discovers that the man is an exiled Russian writer who has arrived in England to find his family who had fled there. He stays with them at their house. Bobbie writes another letter to the gentleman asking him to help in finding the exile's family, who are soon found. One day, while watching the railway tracks, they notice that there has been a landslide which has partially obstructed the tracks. The children fashion their red petticoats into flags which they use to warn the driver of the impending danger. The train stops due to their warning. The railway company and villagers hold a party for the children and thank them for their actions. The children are given personalised engraved watches and are dubbed "The Railway Children". The children find out that Mr Perks, the station porter, doesn't celebrate his birthday. They secretly ask for gifts from the villagers that he has helped in the past and deliver the gifts to his house. Mr Perks initially refuses the gifts as he doesn't accept charity. However, after the children explain that the gifts are from people that he has helped over the years, he thanks them for their kindness. In return the following day, he delivers old newspapers and magazines for them to read. Bobbie reads one of the newspapers and notices a story about their father being imprisoned. She discusses this with her mother who finally discloses that their father is in prison after having been falsely convicted of being a spy and selling state secrets. She speculates that a jealous colleague of his may be behind it. Bobbie again contacts the gentleman and asks him to help her father. A group of youths are playing a game of paper chase which the children observe. One of the boys injures his leg in a railway tunnel and is helped by the children. He is taken to their house where he recuperates from his injuries. The gentleman visits their house and reveals that the boy is his grandson, Jim, and thanks the family for looking after him. Jim and Bobbie grow close during his recuperation and promise to write to each other when he departs to his home. Bobbie arrives at the railway station. She runs to greet her father who has just alighted onto the platform after being exonerated and released from prison. They return to 'Three Chimneys' and the family are reunited. ===== For two centuries a small island of Ymros enjoyed eternal springtime thanks to the enchanted Shard of Spring, a piece of the long-lost legendary Life Stone. However, three years ago the land's peace was shattered when a mysterious Siriadne arrived to Ymros and stole the Shard. With the threat of the Shard's destruction, the selfish sorceress and her minions now extort a ruinous and ever-increasing tribute from the people of Ymros. Anyone who might put an end to her tyranny will be a hero for all time to come. The aim of the game is to gain access to Siriadne's castle (which is encircled by a magical force field) and defeat her. The player needs to kill Siriadne's chief followers Devon the Destroyer, Ralith (in Ralith's Tower) and Edrin (in Edrin's Dungeon) so the party can storm Siriadne's Fortress. Siriadne herself transforms into a dragon for the final battle. After the player's victory, the game ends in a cryptic way."(...) As you turn to go back into the room, you see a black bird out of the corner of your eye, moving swiftly upward. As you re-enter the room, an old man who you recognize is standing near the dead body of Siriadne. His face shows a mixture of serenity and contentment. He speaks: 'The true springtime shall now return to Ymros because of what you have done today. Your names shall be remembered as long as men exist to sing of you.' He makes some mysterious motions and everything begins to swirl about you. His voice speaks to you out of the dizziness: 'Evil is personified in the form of dragons, but borne in the hearts of men...'" ===== Jane Eyre is an orphan living unhappily with her relations, the Reeds. Mrs. Reed only keeps Jane on because it was the dying wish of her late husband, Jane's maternal uncle. The Reeds openly resent, neglect, and abuse Jane, and justify it by saying she is a charity case and she should be grateful for any care. In addition, Jane is not a pretty child, nor is her demeanor sweet. She keenly feels the injustice of her treatment. After a fight with her older cousin, John, Jane is locked into the Red Room, which she believes is haunted, and goes into a swoon. This is something of a catalyst: Mrs. Reed decides to get Jane out of the house, for the benefit of her own children. Mrs. Reed sends Jane to Lowood Hall, a school for other charity girls where they will learn to be governesses. At Lowood, Jane is desperate to be loved and accepted, but learns from her friend Helen Burns to be more patient and seek solace in prayer and her own conscience. Helen Burns dies, and Jane weathers a typhoid epidemic at the school. Over time, Jane gets a good education and becomes a particular friend of Miss Maria Temple, the school's principal. After a few years of teaching at Lowood (without once returning to the Reeds' house, Gateshead) Jane decides it is time to go out into the world. She seeks work as a governess, and is employed to Thornfield Hall, to care for a solitary orphan, Adele. Jane goes to Thornfield, learns about the distant master, a Mr. Rochester, and starts to teach his ward, although she finds Adele to be a less-than-stellar student. One morning when Jane is out for a walk, she meets a mysterious man when his horse slips and he falls – this is Mr. Rochester. Jane and Rochester are immediately interested in each other. She is fascinated by his rough, craggy, dark appearance as well as his abrupt, almost rude manners, which she thinks are easier to handle than polite flattery. He is very interested in figuring out how Jane is herself, comparing her to an elf or sprite and admiring her unusual strength and stubbornness. Rochester quickly learns that he can rely on Jane in a crisis – one evening, Jane finds Rochester asleep in his bed with all the curtains and bedclothes on fire, and she puts out the flames and rescues him. Jane and Rochester find that they can have interesting and in-depth conversations, and both fall steadily in love with each other. However, Rochester soon invited some of his acquaintances to Thornfield, including the beautiful Blanche Ingram. Rochester lets Blanche flirt with him constantly in front of Jane to make her jealous and encourages rumors that he's engaged to Blanche. During the week-long house party, a man named Richard Mason shows up, and Rochester seems afraid of him. At night, Mason sneaks up to the third floor and somehow gets stabbed and bitten. Rochester asks Jane to tend Richard Mason's wounds secretly while he fetches the doctor. The next morning before the guests find out what happened, Rochester sneaks Mason out of the house. Before Jane can discover more about the mysterious situation, she gets a message that her Aunt Reed is very sick and is asking for her. Jane, forgiving Mrs. Reed for mistreating her when she was a child, goes back to take care of her dying aunt. When Jane returns to Thornfield, Blanche and her friends are gone, and Jane realizes how attached she is to Mr. Rochester. Although he lets her think for a little longer that he's going to marry Blanche, eventually Rochester stops teasing Jane and proposes to her. She blissfully accepts. On the day of Jane's wedding, during the church ceremony, two men show up claiming that Rochester is already married. Rochester admits that he is married to another woman, but tries to justify his attempt to marry Jane by taking them all to see his "wife." Mrs. Rochester is Bertha Mason, the "madwoman in the attic" who tried to burn Rochester to death in his bed, stabbed and bit her own brother (Richard Mason), and who's been doing other creepy things at night. Rochester was tricked into marrying Bertha fifteen years ago in Jamaica by his father, who wanted him to marry for money and didn't tell him that insanity ran in Bertha's family. Rochester tried to live with Bertha as husband and wife, but she was too horrible, so he locked her up at Thornfield with a nursemaid, Grace Poole. Meanwhile, he traveled around Europe for ten years trying to forget Bertha and keeping various mistresses. Adèle Varens (Jane's student) is the daughter of one of these mistresses, though she may not be Rochester's daughter. Eventually he got tired of this lifestyle, came home to England, and fell in love with Jane. After explaining all this, Rochester claims that he was not really married because his relationship with Bertha wasn't a real marriage. He wants Jane to go and live with him in France, where they can pretend to be a married couple and act like husband and wife. Jane refuses to be his next mistress and runs away before she's tempted to agree. Jane travels in a direction away from Thornfield. Having no money, she almost starves to death before being taken in by the Rivers family, who live at Moor House near a town called Morton. The Rivers siblings – Diana, Mary, and St. John (pronounced "Sinjin") – are about Jane's age and well-educated, but somewhat poor. They take whole-heartedly to Jane, who has taken the pseudonym "Jane Elliott" so that Mr. Rochester can't find her. Jane wants to earn her keep, so St. John arranges for her to become the teacher in a village girls' school. When Jane's uncle Mr. Eyre dies and leaves his fortune to his niece, it turns out that the Rivers siblings are actually Jane's cousins, and she shares her inheritance with the other three. St. John, who is a devoted clergyman, wants to be more than Jane's cousin. He admires Jane's work ethic and asks her to marry him, learn Hindustani, and go with him to India on a long-term missionary trip. Jane is tempted because she thinks she'd be good at it and that it would be an interesting life, and she would be doing God's work. Still, she refuses because she knows she doesn't love St. John, and he does not love her back. He just believes Jane would make a good missionary's wife because of her skills. To top it off, St. John actually loves a different girl named Rosamond Oliver, but he won't let himself admit it because he thinks she would make an unsuitable wife for a missionary. Jane offers to go to India with him, but just as his cousin and co-worker, not as his wife. St. John won't give up and keeps pressuring Jane to marry him. Just as she's about to give in, she imagines Mr. Rochester's voice calling her name. The next morning, Jane leaves Moor House and goes back to Thornfield to find out what's going on with Mr. Rochester. She finds out that Mr. Rochester searched for her everywhere, and, when he couldn't find her, sent everyone else away from the house and shut himself up alone. After this, Bertha set the house on fire one night and burned it to the ground. Rochester rescued all the servants and tried to save Bertha, too, but she committed suicide and he was injured. Now Rochester has lost an eye and a hand and is blind in the remaining eye. Jane goes to Mr. Rochester and offers to take care of him as his nurse or housekeeper. He asks her to marry him and they have a quiet wedding, and after two years of marriage Rochester gradually gets his sight back – enough to see their firstborn son. And Adopted Adele Varens. ===== Jack's down-and-out brother, Eddie, pays him a visit claiming that their father is dead. Jack and Eddie, after feuding, later bond and they even decide to invite their sisters (Molly Shannon and Siobhan Fallon Hogan) and brother- in-law (Boris McGiver) to 30 Rock for an impromptu family reunion. As his family are about to watch a taping of TGS, Jack's supposedly dead father visits Jack in his office, claiming that Eddie is dead. This eventually leads to an argument on the TGS stage and Liz getting beaten up by one of Jack's sisters, Katherine Catherine. Meanwhile, Liz has been told by Jack that she has to fire ten percent of her staff. While the staff try their best to keep their jobs, Liz struggles with making a decision of whom to fire. Liz's problem is solved when Floyd, for whom Liz has romantic feelings, tells her that his girlfriend works in accounting at TGS. After Liz fires Floyd's girlfriend, she goes on a rampage around 30 Rock firing people, including her producer Pete Hornberger (Scott Adsit), who disagrees with her decision to fire Floyd's girlfriend for her own personal gain. Jack later tells her that he hired all the fired people back, but he is transferring Floyd's girlfriend to General Electric headquarters in Fairfield, Connecticut. Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan) has been told by his lawyer that he should join a religion. He asks advice of people including Liz and Jack, going as far as attending church with Kenneth Parcell (Jack McBrayer). When Eddie explains Irish Catholicism to Tracy, emphasizing the seeming free ride aspect of confession, he decides that this is the religion he was looking for and joins. He changes his mind after learning about the constant crushing guilt from Jack. ===== The setting for the story is a near-future Japan where politicians and businessmen pamper and lavish themselves amidst growing public unrest, while excessive corruption and speculation lead the country to a massive economic downfall, increasing the public deficit to an enormous seven hundred trillion yen and triggering an economic recession. When her father's company goes bankrupt, Shiina finds out and resolves to sell herself into prostitution by attending high-class parties through an escort agency, in order to help pay off her family's debt. It is during the first and only such party she attends, where the guests were mainly VIPs and high-profile officials of the Ministry of Finance, and what was set to become an orgy, is suddenly interrupted by a young man wearing an Oni mask, who after giving a speech on how savage and corrupted the upper class of Japan has become, shoots the attendants in order to state his point and then proceeds to brutally slaughter the most prominent guest using a fire axe. Recognized by a frantic Shiina as Shou, the man simply waves the statement off as a misunderstanding, then grabs the mauled body of his victim and walks calmy to the front lobby, where he is gunned down by police and, before dying, has his head blown off by a device implanted into his own mask. Thus, the act introduces a long, exceptionally violent campaign of murders performed by such masked individuals, targeting those who are deemed as responsible for the massive economic crisis and, as such, labeled as evil by the masked men, who all goes by the common alias Akumetsu (literally destroyer of evil). ===== During a party, Frannie Scott (Richard Crystal) croons a Sinatra song and playfully tries to kiss his friend's date, causing the friend to pull Frannie's hair, which unexpectedly comes off. The bald Frannie then has a psychotic break, brutally murders several party guests, and chases Jerry Zipkin (Zalman King) into the nearby road, where Frannie is hit and killed by a passing truck. Jerry is wrongly accused of the murders and goes on the lam, trying to gather evidence to prove his innocence, helped by his friends Alicia Sweeney (Deborah Winters) and surgeon David Blume (Robert Walden). After learning about a similar sudden mass murder by a bald police officer, Jerry discovers that ten years prior, a group of college students had taken a new form of LSD called "Blue Sunshine," provided by dealer Ed Flemming (Mark Goddard), and are now suddenly losing their hair and becoming homicidal maniacs many years after their trips are over. Flemming, now a respected local politician running for Congress, lies and tells Jerry he never heard of Blue Sunshine. When Jerry visits Flemming's estranged wife, Wendy, he finds she is also bald and about to murder two children she is babysitting. Jerry saves the children by pushing the knife-wielding Wendy off her apartment balcony, but ends up wrongly accused of her murder as well. Jerry schemes to prove that Blue Sunshine is causing homicidal psychosis by finding a past user of the drug who is still living and can be tested for chromosome damage caused by the drug. Armed with a paraldehyde dart gun, Jerry goes to a Flemming rally at a shopping mall, having learned that Flemming's campaign manager/ bodyguard Wayne Mulligan (Ray Young) was a heavy Blue Sunshine user. Before Jerry's arrival, the now-bald Wayne goes on a rampage through the mall discotheque, beating and terrorizing its patrons including a police detective and Alicia, and causing crowds to flee the mall in panic. Jerry tracks Wayne to an empty department store and paralyzes him with the dart gun. An on-screen epilogue states that Wayne was tested, found to have "extensive chromosomic aberrations", and confined to a sanitarium, and that 255 doses of Blue Sunshine are still unaccounted for. ===== Equitan, the king of Nantes, falls in love with the beautiful wife of his seneschal. The king agonises between his feelings for her and his loyalty towards the seneschal. When Equitan declares his sentiments for her, she is incredulous because of the difference in rank between them. He convinces her that his feelings are genuine and he would be willing to be her servant. The couple begins their affair. As the affair progresses, Equitan's advisors pressure him to marry. One day, the seneschal's wife tearily asks the king if she will one day be set aside in favour of another, more highly-born woman who can become his wife. The king tells her that she is his only love, and that he would marry her if not for her husband. The wife suggests the idea of killing the seneschal by preparing a bath of boiling water. Her idea is that the king and her husband will take a bath, and then the king will claim that the seneschal mysteriously died while bathing. Later on, the king and the seneschal go on a hunting trip. They stay in a lodge where there are two bathtubs side by side in the bedroom. When the seneschal goes out to fetch something, the king and the woman prepare their trap, then they have intercourse. The seneschal returns to the lodge and finds the bedroom door locked. He bangs on the door so persistently that the door bursts open, showing the couple in each other's arms. The king, ashamed by his nakedness, tries to hide himself and runs straight into the tub of boiling water. The seneschal, angered by his wife's infidelity, tosses her into the tub as well, and the unfaithful couple are scalded to death. ===== Nancy enters a magazine competition with an answer to an old Belgian mystery of a missing nobleman. However, her manuscript is intercepted and someone else submits her same solution, so she must find out who it was and prove that the solution was indeed hers. Meanwhile, her friend Bess Marvin's mom has been sent a letter from her friend in Belgium, Madam Chambray. Madam Chambray recently bought an old house with a mystery attached, and she invites Bess, Nancy, and their friend George Fayne to come stay with her and solve the mystery. But on the way to Belgium, Nancy's suitcase is stolen. She and her friends continue to Madame Chambray's house, where the old woman tells them about a beautiful cross made of gold, diamonds, and Lapis Lazuli. It came when she bought the house and she does not know who owned it. While in Belgium working on these three mysteries, the girls are guided by their Belgian friend Hilda Permeke. They visit a lace center and learn how it is made. At a museum, Nancy is intrigued by a painting of a man on a bridge with a dark cloaked figure behind him (this painting appears on both of the covers pictured below). She later identifies the man as the missing Belgian nobleman, and solves the real-life mystery that the magazine contest was for. The valuable cross and suitcase and manuscript theft also tie in. ===== Nancy is asked to fly to Greece investigate the disappearance of money that was intended to help a needy village family, after the New York agency responsible for donations closes suddenly. While in Greece Nancy is told that a large inheritance from a Greek tycoon, meant for her friend Helen Nicholas, was stolen, and she agrees to find the culprit, aided by her friends Bess and George. They are also on the hunt for Helen’s cousin, Constantine. A poisonous snake in a basket of apples that was delivered to their room and a strange symbol stamped on a rare Byzantine mask that was dropped in Nancy’s shopping bag are the main clues, which lead Nancy and her friends to a ring of art smugglers and to the secret of the Greek symbol. ===== When Nancy Drew discovers an amnesia victim is carrying a royal Hindu ring, she is all the more determined to use her detective talent to identify him. At the same time, she is working on a mystery for a beautiful harpist. ===== When Nancy, Bess, and George arrive at the McGuire's Fitness ranch in Arizona, they discover that the future of the ranch is being threatened by unexplained accidents. Teaming up with a ghost, Nancy begins her search for a precious collection of ancient kachina dolls and hunts for her elusive adversary who is determined to prevent the ranch from operating. ===== When a star model disappears, Aunt Eloise insists that Nancy replace the model in a NYC fashion show. Nancy reluctantly accepts the invitation, only to discover that several of the clothes for the show have been stolen! Once on the trail of her elusive enemies, Nancy discovers clue after clue pointing to a diabolical scheme that she must stop at all costs! ===== Nancy is on a student tour of Austria with Emerson college. After an attempted theft, the tour leader, professor Raymond Bagley, tells Nancy of his secret mission: to smuggle ten children aged six to thirteen out of an Iron Curtain country to relatives in England, France, and the United States. Another Emerson student, Eric Nagy, who had been paralyzed by an accident and uses a wheelchair, is also in on the mission as his thirteen-year-old cousin is one of the children. Upon arriving in Salzburg, the large group finds that their hotel reservations have been canceled. An obnoxious man named Herr Gutterman offer reservations at another hotel for a large group that had canceled. Grudgingly, the professor accepts the offer as there is no other alternative. At the hotel, Nancy is now able to focus on an assignment given to her by her father. A famous film director named Kurt Kessler created a devastating political film about the oppression of human rights in his home country in Eastern Europe. However, the film was stolen and the studio with the negative burned down, so the stolen film is the only copy of Kessler's Captive Witness. Kurt Kessler had hoped to enter the film in a film contest in five days, and unless Nancy can find his film, he will not be able to show the world his important work. Nancy thinks that the stolen film is in Vienna, which the tour will not reach for another few days, so she convinces her boyfriend Ned Nickerson to drive with her to Vienna. Because no rental cars are available, Nancy convinces Herr Gutterman to take her and Ned in his car. As soon as they leave, however, Nancy realizes that she and Ned are being kidnapped by Herr Gutterman, who is the person who tried to steal Professor Bagley's luggage. Herr Gutterman and his chauffeur, Herr Burger, drive Nancy and Ned high into the Alps. Herr Burger is not a cautious driver, and the car almost goes over the edge of a cliff. Later, Gutterman and Burger drive up to a small cabin high in the Alps. They question Nancy, but she quickly escapes and steals their car. The car is amphibious, and she and Ned drive into a river that turns into a waterfall. They make it safely to Vienna. After an attempt to find the film fails, Nancy goes with Gutterman and sees half of Captive Witness. She returns to the hotel to meet Ned, and later the rest of the tour arrives. While they are eating lunch, a man tells Professor Bagley that he has a message for him regarding the children. But before he can say anything, he has a heart attack. While being lifted into the ambulance, the man keeps looking at Eric as if trying to say something. Nancy has a sudden idea and takes apart Eric's wheelchair, where she finds an envelope containing information on where to bring the children across the border. Then, she meets Emile Popov, who asks for help in the rescue mission as two of the couples who planned to help the operation have been arrested and the refugee organization does not have anyone it can spare. Eric reveals that he can actually walk, and Nancy then devises a daring plan. She send her friends on a decoy mission the throw Gutterman off the trail, and she and Eric successfully rescue the children with the help of Emile Popov and his wife. She then finds the stolen film, Captive Witness . It is shown at the film festival and wins first prize. ===== The film is inspired by the true story of Gang Lu, a former graduate student who killed four faculty members and one student at the University of Iowa. However, the story has substantial differences in plot and character motivation. Liu Xing (Liu Ye) is a humble but brilliant Chinese student who arrives at Valley State University and makes a bumpy transition into American life with the help of Joanna Silver (Meryl Streep). Silver is a wealthy university patron who has a fascination with Chinese culture and takes a liking to Liu Xing. Xing joins a select cosmology group under the direction of his hero, the famous cosmologist Professor Jacob Reiser (Aidan Quinn). The group is working to create a model of the origins of the universe, based on Reiser's theory. Xing's enormous talent leads him quickly to become Reiser's protégé, and it seems that only hard work stands between him and a bright future in science. Xing is obsessed with the study of dark matter, an unseen substance that he believes shapes the universe, and a theory that conflicts with the Reiser model. Xing makes scientific breakthroughs of his own which improve the Reiser model. Without Professor Reiser's approval, Liu Xing proposes to research dark matter for his doctoral dissertation. Reiser explains to Xing that this type of research is too complicated and suggests that he should pick a simpler dissertation topic. Refusing to work with Xing, Reiser finds a new protégé in Feng Gang (Lloyd Suh), another Chinese student who was Xing's rival in undergraduate school in Beijing. Professor Reiser approves of Feng's dissertation proposal as it sticks to the Reiser model. Feng's English skills are far superior to his fellow Chinese students', and he refuses to speak in Mandarin with them. Feng changes his name to Laurence so that Americans would be more comfortable pronouncing his name. Without the permission of Professor Reiser, Xing publishes an article in an astronomy journal. Reiser is enraged by this and refuses to accept Xing's doctoral dissertation. At a graduation party for the Chinese students it is announced that Laurence Feng has won the university's Gell-Mann honorary doctorate prize for that year. Joanna Silver urges Professor Reiser to do something to help Liu Xing. Reiser informs her that he has written a "very fine" recommendation for him. Professor Reiser also attempts to belittle Xing by telling Silver that Xing is not a "team player." Xing does not graduate and finds his dream of winning the Nobel Prize shattered. He goes on to sell beauty products to try to make money. His roommate offers to find him a job in China, but Xing refuses to leave. A few months pass and Xing mails all of his money (a check for ten thousand dollars) to his parents in China. One day, Xing returns to campus. He heads into an auditorium where Laurence Feng is giving a presentation to the cosmology department. Unable to cope with his emotions, Xing pulls a revolver out of his coat and begins firing, shooting Laurence and Reiser before making his way to Reiser's office and shooting himself in the head. ===== Nancy, Bess and George arrive in Chicago for the Mystery Lovers of America convention. The two stars scheduled to appear are kidnapped, and some think it is a ratings ploy, but Nancy uncovers the truth and only she can save them. ===== Norman (Norman Wisdom), a lowly stock clerk at Burridge's department store, is in love with another employee, Sally Wilson (Lana Morris), though he has been unable to muster the courage to let her know how he feels. After he antagonizes the new head of the store, Augustus Freeman (Jerry Desmonde), he is promptly fired. On his way out, Norman helps Miss Bacon (Margaret Rutherford) carry her bulging suitcases, unaware that she is an audacious shoplifter. Freeman sees Norman assisting a "customer" and rehires him. Meanwhile, Peggy Drew (Moira Lister), the store's personnel manager, flirts with Mr. Freeman, while plotting with her boyfriend Gerald (Derek Bond) to rob the place. Norman is fired and rehired again and again, as his escapades somehow manage to benefit the store. He also finally becomes acquainted with Sally, chasing her down through the city streets to return her handbag. His antics make her laugh. After his latest firing, Norman is alarmed to find the handsome, suave Gerald trying to get to know Sally better. When he goes to the man's apartment to warn him to stay away from her, Norman inadvertently uncovers the robbery plot, scheduled to coincide with a big sale the next day. But, he is unable to get Sally or anyone else to take him seriously. Sally eventually decides to bring Norman's story to the attention of the management, but tells the wrong person, Miss Drew, and is tied up for her efforts. Norman finds her and together, they foil the thieves. Freeman takes Norman back into his employ...but not for long. ===== The story is first recorded by the Greek geographer Strabo (64 or 63 BC – 24 AD) in his Geographica (book 17, 33), written sometime between c. 7 BC and c. 24 AD: ===== ===== The game's narrative takes place using cutscenes at the beginning and end of each level, featuring Shatner himself (in character as Walter Bascom) as the narrator. Cutscenes vary depending on the player's performance during missions: if the player does not shoot any innocent non-player characters (NPCs), kills the TekLord in the mission, and does not raise any tension (i.e. walking with his gun drawn), Bascom delivers praise. On the other hand, shooting innocent characters or aborting the mission causes him to threaten to have you put back into cryo-storage. The premise details an ex-cop who acts as a rogue agent under the direct guidance of Walter Bascom, exterminating drug dealers ("TekLords") who peddle "Tek", a highly addictive neurological drug. Bascom sends the player through several missions to kill TekLords. Killing each TekLord gives players a symbol to be taken into the Matrix, a virtual computer world where players must decipher the meanings of the symbols. Killing all seven TekLords has players return to the Matrix one final time to stop a Tek distribution system that is wired into the Matrix. Upon successfully halting the Tek distribution system, Bascom praises the player for their deeds, and promises them a permanent spot in his agency and a guarantee that their original sentencing will be dismissed. ===== On his deathbed, Henry VIII reflects upon his long reign, and especially the crucial part his six marriages have played. The bulk of the film is depicted in flashback, while the dying Henry is surrounded by his family and courtiers. Henry's first queen is the Spanish princess Catherine of Aragon. The young pair are in the midst of celebrating the birth of their son, only to be told that he has died. Henry and Catherine mourn their child together, and hope for another soon. Many years pass, during which time Catherine only produces one living daughter, Mary. Henry confides to Thomas More that he fears the marriage is cursed by God, as Catherine was previously wed to Henry's late older brother, Arthur, although Catherine proclaimed the marriage was not consummated. Henry woos Anne Boleyn, a lady at court, who refuses to sleep with him unless she is his wife. Henry presses the Vatican to annul his marriage to Catherine. When that fails, he has Cardinal Wolsey removed from office and himself made head of the new Church of England. The marriage annulled, Catherine is sent away from court, and Anne is crowned the new queen. Anne also fails to produce a male heir, giving birth to a daughter, Elizabeth. Henry loses interest in Anne and starts courting Jane Seymour, another lady of the court. Thomas Cromwell, protege of Cardinal Wolsey, observes Henry's interest in Jane and assists him by presenting a false case of Anne's infidelity with various men of the court, including her own brother, George Boleyn. Anne is beheaded in the Tower of London. Henry marries Jane Seymour, who successfully returns Princess Mary to royal favour and has opinions on the matter of religion, asking for pardons for the participants of the Pilgrimage of Grace. Jane gives birth to Henry's long-sought male heir, Edward, but she dies soon after. Henry's courtiers advise him to marry again for diplomatic reasons, with Cromwell pushing for the German Anne of Cleves, of whose portrait Henry approves. However, when she arrives Henry is disappointed that her appearance does not match the image. After a reluctant wedding, he arranges an annulment. At court, Henry is drawn to Catherine Howard, young cousin of Anne Boleyn. Catherine is flattered by Henry's attention. Her uncle, Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, urges her to return his affections. Henry and Catherine marry, with Henry lavishing her with many gifts and jewels. Archbishop Thomas Cranmer discovers that Catherine has had liaisons before her marriage, and presents this knowledge to Henry, who initially disbelieves the charges. Cranmer secures a confession from Catherine, who also admits an affair with Thomas Culpeper during her marriage to Henry. Catherine is beheaded. Henry, now elderly, approaches Catherine Parr, a widow from two previous marriages. Catherine is reluctant, citing her religious views which differ from Henry's, but Henry admits his need for companionship in his old age. The pair marry, and Catherine becomes a loving stepmother to the royal children Mary, Elizabeth, and Edward. At the end of the flashbacks, Catherine Parr is shown waiting by Henry's beside with Princess Mary. Archbishop Cranmer is summoned for Henry's final confession, and Henry dies holding his hand. ===== Stephanie's path crosses again with that of her despised ex-husband, Richard "Dickie" Orr, while doing a favour for Ranger. When Dickie is later discovered missing from his apartment under some rather violent circumstances, Stephanie becomes the prime suspect in his apparent murder. ===== While Master Higgins and Tina are leaving the church after getting married, a shadowy figure called Baron Bronsky and six of his underlings kidnap Tina and some of the island children. The player controls Higgins through six stages with four areas each (the fourth area being a boss battle) to rescue the children, and then finally defeat Baron Bronsky in his fortress to rescue Tina. ===== After Pebbles and Bamm- Bamm get married and move to Hollyrock in I Yabba-Dabba Do!, Fred and Barney are both working overtime for Mr. Slate, and Wilma and Betty now own a food delivery service called 'Bone Appetite', but much to Fred's disgust. Wilma is not there to cook for him, so he cooks his own TV dinners as well as Barney's. One day, the Flintstones and the Rubbles go to Hollyrock to visit their children, Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm (who is trying his luck at being a screenwriter), after Pebbles reveals that she and Bamm-Bamm are going to have a baby. During the visit, they drive Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm crazy by telling them what to do now that Pebbles is going to have a baby. Meanwhile, Fred and Barney try to help Bamm-Bamm sell his script, but end up in a mess with a robbery of a giant pearl when it is mistaken for a bowling ball. Big Rock sends his henchmen Rocky and Slick to recover the giant pearl. Fred and Barney manage to get the tickets to a taping of a show at ABC studios in hopes to sell Bamm-Bamm's script. Fred and Barney encounter Shelley Millstone in hopes to have her for Bamm-Bamm's film. It doesn't go well and the security guard is called in to eject them. A chase begins throughout the ABC studios and they eventually get thrown out. Meanwhile, Wilma and Betty are designing a nursery when Pebbles reveals that she is attending the premiere of "It Came From the Tar Pits" starring Craig Craigmore. Fred and Barney decide to take the advantage by finding someone to buy the screenplay. Rocky and Slick also slip in to get to Shelley Millstone in an attempt to get the giant pearl. Bamm-Bamm mistakes Slick and Rocky for movie producers. When they find Fred's car, they are attacked by Dino. Back at the party, Fred tries to get to Shelly Millstone, which ends up with Craig Craigmore being injured. The next day, Pebbles has Fred attend a baby training seminar while she does paperwork for her boss, Mr. Pyrite. With Bamm-Bamm exhausted, Barney attends in Bamm-Bamm's place. Slick and Rocky follow Fred to the baby training seminar where Slick and Rocky infiltrate the class. It soon breaks up into a fight which ends up with Fred, Barney, Slick, and Rocky being thrown out. After a call from Rocky, Big Rock gets impatient and decides to take over the operation. Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm declare themselves unready for the baby after they were busy. Fred and Wilma try to get Pebbles to calm down until she breaks down. The next day while Fred apologises to Pebbles about being too helpful, Pebbles attends a baby shower which Wilma's mother Pearl also attends. Pearl sends Fred and Barney to get the baby supplies. At the grocery store, they end up gaining a lot of "Maps to the Stars' Homes" and decide to take another shot at Shelly Millstone. Later that night, Fred and Barney sneak into Shelly's property and distract the guard dogs. Rocky and Slick show Big Rock the house where Fred and Barney are staying and mistake Pearl for Fred when they abduct her. The next morning, Fred confesses to Bamm-Bamm that he lost the script in Shelley Millstone's yard. They soon return a call from Big Rock who demands the giant pearl in exchange for Pearl's freedom. They are forced to give them the pearl for the exchange. They disguise a bowling ball as the pearl when they forget the giant pearl. Pebbles goes into labor and they drive a bus towards the hospital with Big Rock, the real bus driver, and the painter of the bike the bus driver borrowed. There is a high speed chase which attracts the local cops. Fred finally makes it to the hospital and Pebbles is taken into the hospital fast. Big Rock, Rocky, and Slick catch up to them and Bamm-Bamm arrives to take them down as the cops arrest the crooks. Pebbles gives birth to twins, Roxy (who has muscular strength like her father) and Chip (who has his Grandpa Flintstone's mouth because he's another chip off the old Flintstone). As for Bamm-Bamm's script, Shelly Millstone got Bamm Bamm's script when Fred and Barney left it to her house. She loves the script and wants to star in it and Bamm Bamm sold his screenplay. Mr. Pyrite manages to get the script to Craig Craigmore and promotes Pebbles as Vice President. Fred and the others head back to Bedrock, leaving their children and grandchildren in happy harmony. ===== ===== It is Christmastime in Bedrock, and the Flintstones and the Rubbles are all getting ready for when Santa Claus comes to town. On the morning of Christmas Eve Fred is busy decorating the house, alongside Wilma and Pebbles, when the Rubbles show up. While Barney helps Fred finish the decorations before heading to work, Wilma and Betty, who have been busy with the preparations for the Christmas party at the Bedrock Orphanage, talk about how Wilma has failed to convince Fred to dress up as Santa for the children. Still, she believes that Fred will change his mind, if she keeps insisting. Fred arrives at work in Slate's Quarry, where Mr. Slate tells him that he has chosen him to be Santa for the children of Bedrock Orphanage during the Christmas party that very same night. Fred immediately accepts the honor, with Mr. Slate telling him to take the rest of the day off, while warning him that he must show up on time, or he will be fired. Leaving work, Fred heads home, while singing "It's My Favorite Time of the Year". Back at home, Fred tells Wilma how he accepted Mr. Slate's offer to be Santa, and quickly changes into the Santa costume. Shortly after, Barney shows and Wilma leaves for the orphanage, while Fred and Barney plan Fred's grand entrance. While planning, the two of them hear a noise coming from the rooftop. Going outside, they see a pair of boots stuck in the snow. Pulling them out, they find out that the owner of the boots is none other than the true Santa, who accidentally slipped and fell off Fred's roof, spraining his ankle. The guys find out that on top of a sprained ankle, Santa has also caught a cold, preventing him from delivering the presents. With Christmas in jeopardy, Barney suggests that Fred should be the one to do it. Loving the idea, Santa uses his magic, giving Fred his suit and turning Barney into a Christmas elf, while also instructing Fred on how to drive the sleigh. After a couple of mishaps, Fred and Barney start delivering the presents around the world. Having managed to deliver half of the presents, they fly over China, when they are caught in a snowstorm, which forces them to take the sleigh to a higher altitude in order to escape it. They do so, but in the process, they lose the remaining half of the presents. Calling Santa for help and explaining the situation, the old man tells them that there is only one thing to do, and that they must go to his workshop back on the North Pole to get the rest of the presents. When asking how to get there, Santa tells Fred and Barney to tell the reindeer to head back home, because they know the way. Arriving at the North Pole, Fred and Barney quickly fill the sleigh with a new set of presents and fly into the sky. They begin dropping the rest of the gifts down the chimneys, when Fred remembers about the Christmas party. Knowing that they will not be able to reach Bedrock in time, they call Santa for help, who tells them to put the sleigh in top speed. This allows them to deliver the rest of the presents and reach Bedrock in time. Not having a minute to lose, they arrive at the orphanage, sliding down the chimney. Using Santa's magic to produce gifts for the orphans, Fred not only saves the party, but also his job. ===== In 1813, the war turns in favour of the British. Lord Wellington (Hugh Fraser) is poised to invade southern France after triumphing in Spain. The Comte de Maquerre (Christian Brendel), a French nobleman, offers to raise a rebellion in Bordeaux against Napoleon. Major General Ross (James Laurenson), is unconvinced, as his spies have reported no discontent in the region, but agrees that a brigade can be sent as a probe if the Comte can provide a secure base; he offers a family castle, though he admits that it is garrisoned. Wellington is forced to put a young, inexperienced Colonel Horace Bampfylde (Christopher Villiers) (the son of a general Wellington needs to placate) in charge of the expedition, instead of Major Sharpe (Sean Bean). Sharpe is reluctant to go, as he has just married Jane Gibbons (Abigail Cruttenden) and she has come down with a deadly fever. Without quinine, her prognosis is bleak, but he is a soldier and he has his orders. Bampfylde botches the initial assault on the fortress and is driven back with heavy casualties. Disgusted, Sharpe and his men gain entry to the castle at night by a ruse, pretending to be a French patrol, and capture the place. The Comte is reunited with his sister (Amira Casar) and gravely ill mother. For his trouble, Sharpe is sent by Bampfylde on a useless reconnaissance in order to grab the credit for himself. While Sharpe is away, the Comte brings the "Mayor of Bordeaux" to Bampfylde who confirms that Bordeaux is ripe for rebellion, however the Comte is in league with Napoleon and the mayor is in fact Napoleon's agent and Sharpe's old enemy Major Ducos (Féodor Atkine). Ducos also tells Bampfylde that Sharpe was ambushed and killed by a French column. Now convinced that his mission is a success and there's no further reason to stay, Bampfylde is convinced by the Comte to demolish the front gates, blow up the captured ammunition, abandon the wounded, and return to Wellington immediately with the wonderful news. Sharpe's patrol meanwhile ambushes and annihilates a French column of reinforcements, and captures a resupply cart and a doctor bringing quinine for the Comte's mother. Resisting the temptation to save it for his wife, Sharpe allows it to be given to the ailing woman. Rifleman Robinson (Danny Cunningham) is found with a local French girl. Sharpe is required to hang him by Wellington's standing orders, but when the girl says she had been willing, Sharpe reduces the sentence to a beating from Sergeant Harper (Daragh O'Malley). During the incident, they question the locals and find them fiercely loyal to Napoleon and conclude that the Comte's rebellion is a sham. Hearing the explosion from the castle's magazine, Sharpe and his men hurry back. When he gets a description of the mayor, he realises he has been trapped by Major Ducos. Not only will Wellington be tricked into advancing into an ambush, but Ducos will have his own personal revenge on Sharpe. French General Calvet (Olivier Pierre) arrives with a sizable, but inexperienced, force. Under a flag of truce, the Comte reveals himself to be Napoleon's agent, and offers to let the British go free provided they leave Sharpe behind; Robinson replies for them all, "Fight them to the finish, sir." Sharpe turns them down. In a shooting contest, sharpshooters mortally wound the Comte in the back at long range as he returns from the parley. Sharpe and his men only have 18 rounds a man. Earlier, out of gratitude for Sharpe providing her mother with quinine, the Comte's sister had told them to burn a cellar full of oyster shells to produce lime. The French attack, but are met by accurate volley shooting. With the British ammunition running low, Sharpe's men dump powdered lime from the walls, blinding their foes as they enter the castle. The British form ranks and proceed to massacre the blinded Frenchmen. The French retreat just as the British run out of ammunition. Then, a messenger arrives from Marshal Soult, Calvet's superior, wondering why he wasn't guarding the flank when Wellington attacked... fifty miles away. The wily British commander had been suspicious and so only ever intended the uprising to be a distraction while he attacked elsewhere. General Calvet hurries away, leaving Sharpe victorious. When Sharpe gets back, Bampfylde is placed under arrest for cowardice and other charges. Sharpe is astounded to find his wife well; she tells him that Wellington had gone to some lengths to obtain quinine for her. ===== Waking from their latest jump, Ryan Cawdor and his friends find themselves in a MAT-TRANS chamber which is smaller than the norm. This curious change is overshadowed by their next discovery: the chamber door release latch is stuck, leaving the group no way to leave the chamber and no way to start another MAT-TRANS jump to a different redoubt. After numerous unsuccessful attempts to make the mechanism work, Krysty Wroth calls upon her mutant strength and forces the door open. This frees the group but breaks the latch mechanism completely, rendering the MAT-TRANS inoperable. Rick Ginsberg, a cryonic patient from 2001 who was "thawed" by Ryan, estimates that he can fix the mechanism, but will need at least basic tools to do so. The remainder of the redoubt is unusually small and limited, lacking the usual assortment of rooms and equipment. The only exit leads up a long, spiraling metal staircase which eventually comes out in a secret door built into the attic chimney of a partially fire- destroyed dacha. Finally able to see the sky, J. B. Dix uses his pocket sextant to find their approximate location; to his disbelief, the latest jump has taken him and his friends somewhere near Moscow. After taking food and clothing from hostile residents of a nearby town, Ryan, J. B. and Krysty head out to obtain tools to repair the MAT-TRANS chamber. Their progress is halted when they are nearly shot by a Russian government security patrol. Realizing they need to be able to understand the local language to avoid further incidents, the group returns to the dacha for Rick, who is fluent in Russian. Rick protests at first, revealing that his ALS is no longer in remission and is making him progressively weaker, but relents when it becomes clear there is no other option if they are to find tools. Meanwhile, in the Russian government capital (located in the suburbs near the heavily bombed ruins of Moscow), the recently promoted Major-Commissar Gregori Zimyanin has been following reports of the group's actions. The descriptions of the people involved stir memories of his encounter with a one-eyed American in Alaska. Despite orders to the contrary, Zimyanin continues his investigation, culling reports for suspicious behavior or crimes committed by one-eyed men. On the advice of several locals, Ryan, Krysty, and Rick travel to the Russian War Museum in order to learn more about the current Russian government. Shortly thereafter Zimyanin arrives at the Museum, having estimated the group's likely path and assuming they would not be able to ignore the Museum. Ryan spots Zimyanin, immediately recognizing him, and hastens the group's progress through the Museum. On the way through they come across an ill-visited side exhibit which unexpectedly holds all the tools Rick needs to fix the MAT-TRANS chamber, presumably looted from the nearby dacha. The three resolve to come back at night when the Museum is closed to retrieve the tools. With Zimyanin closing in from the front entrance and soldiers moving to set up roadblocks, Ryan and his friends move to leave through the back, only to discover that the back exit goes past the most popular (and monitored) exhibit: a tattered American flag, which attendees are expected to spit on. All three are nearly overcome with disgust, and Rick balks at following through, but in the end all three spit on the flag and leave unnoticed. As they leave Rick demands that the flag be taken as well when they return in the evening. With Rick's condition rapidly worsening, Ryan and Kristy return to the Museum without him. The tools are stolen easily, their cases not even locked, but taking the American flag trips an alarm and alerts Museum security. Ryan and Kristy shoot their way through the confused guards and escape. Ultimately Zimyanin is able to track the group's path back to the abandoned American dacha, following a path of violent firefights and other crimes, while the group works quickly to repair the MAT-TRANS door under the guidance of Rick, who is entering the final, fatal stages of ALS. Zimyanin's forces attack the dacha as repairs are nearing completion, and Rick asks to be left behind with cans of gasoline and a pyrotab to cover the escape. Ryan and the others are able to hold off the Russians long enough for the door to be repaired; before they leave Rick, wrapped in the rescued American flag, asks for one last favor, to hear The Star-Spangled Banner before he dies. With Doc's help the group tearfully sings the anthem for Rick, who dies before the song is finished. Zimyanin manages to make it to the hidden redoubt during this time, and enters the control room just as Ryan hurls the burning pyrotab into the gas-soaked room before closing the chamber door; Zimyanin narrowly avoids being killed by the ensuing fire. As the MAT-TRANS activates he runs through the fire and quickly enters the chamber, intent on killing the now-incapacitated Ryan. Ryan is aware of Zimyanin's hands around his neck as the jump continues, but is unable to do anything as he slides into unconsciousness. ===== The story is set in 1964 in and around Los Angeles, California. Jim Hastings is a young boy who lives with his uncle, Edward St. Ives; Jim's father suffered a nervous breakdown upon his wife's death and has been institutionalized ever since. Jim is increasingly puzzled by a series of strange events that seem to happen around his friend Giles "Gill" Peach who, like his father and forefathers before him, has gills. The boys are fascinated by pulp science fiction, and Gill begins building a device inspired by the "subterranean prospector" described in Edgar Rice Burroughs' novel At the Earth's Core. Jim's father William, who periodically escapes the psychiatric facility run by Hilario Frosticos, is convinced that Gill is being manipulated by unscrupulous adventurers allied with Frosticos: a hollow earth conspiracy. This is discounted as paranoia by St. Ives, Russell Latzarel, Roycroft Squires, and William Ashbless, all members of the Newtonian Society, an alternative science-oriented social club. However, as events unfold it appears that William's worst fears have a bizarre truth behind them, and the ideas described in Gill's diaries are more than weird tales. Clues found by William lead St. Ives and Latzarel to sewers connected to an underground river, mermen, bizarre technology, and a longevity serum based on carp. Together with Jim, the four men try to outmaneuver Frosticos in the race to reach a not- quite unimaginable goal. ===== In 1638, King Louis XIII of France is delighted when his wife bears him a son, Louis, the heir to the throne. However, a few minutes later, a second son is born. Colbert (Walter Kingsford), the king's trusted adviser, persuades the king to secretly send the second child, Philippe, away to Gascony to be raised by his majesty's dear friend, d'Artagnan (Warren William), in order to avert a possible civil war later. Fouquet (Joseph Schildkraut), a mere cardinal's messenger at the time, finds out about the twin and uses this to advance his career. Twenty years later, he is the Minister of Finance under Louis XIV. The king is hated by the commoners for levying oppressive taxes and for executing them for not paying them. Fouquet sends soldiers to force d'Artagnan and his people to pay the taxes, though the old king had exempted him and his village from them. They are driven off, but return in much greater numbers and, with great difficulty, capture d'Artagnan, the three musketeers and Philippe. Louis is about to order their executions when Colbert tells him about Philippe's uncanny resemblance to him. As Louis is aware of an assassination attempt to take place that day (but not where or when), he makes Philippe impersonate him in exchange for his friends' lives. Philippe not only survives the ambush, he shows mercy to his would-be killers and is cheered by the people. Princess Maria Theresa (Joan Bennett), whom Louis is to wed to seal an alliance with Spain, finds this new Louis much more attractive than the real one. However, when she discovers that Louis is having an affair with Mademoiselle de la Valliere (Marion Martin), she returns to Spain. When the truth is discovered, Louis has Philippe imprisoned with an iron mask placed on his head, hoping that Philippe's beard will grow inside the mask and eventually suffocate him. Philippe is rescued by the musketeers, who break into the sleeping Louis's chamber and imprison him in the mask. The musketeers drag him away and lock him in the Bastille, where the jailers mistake him for Phillippe, and whip him. When Louis manages to get a message to Fouquet, he is freed, and a chase by coach ensues to stop Philippe from marrying Maria Theresa and taking Louis' place on the throne. The coach is waylaid by the musketeers, who all die heroically, but Fouquet and the real Louis XIV are also killed when the driverless coach plunges off a cliff. The mortally wounded d'Artagnan survives long enough to exclaim "God Save the King!" at Philippe's wedding, and then falls dead. Philippe finally assumes the throne. ===== In this version, the twins' ages are swapped: Philippe is the firstborn and rightful king, who had been spirited away at birth and raised with no knowledge of his true identity in a plot by Cardinal Mazarin to manipulate Louis before his own death. Colbert and D'Artagnan plot to replace Louis (who is an ineffective king more interested in dancing and pleasure than the welfare of France) with Philippe, and in the process bring down the corrupt finance minister Fouquet, who has embezzled from the national treasury. Louis is repulsed by his own wife and makes repeated advances on Louise, who is in turn repulsed by him yet falls in love with Philippe. ===== After Gabrielle's wardrobe is ruined by a plumbing leak, she asks Victor if she can borrow one of his ex-wife's dresses. When Victor refuses, Gabrielle steals a few dresses and wears one of them to an event that Victor attends. Victor's ex-wife is also at the event and notices Gabrielle wearing her dress. Edie decides that Carlos doesn't just make a great fill-in father for her son, Travers, he'd be a great boyfriend too. She decides the best way to put the moves on him is through his relationship with Travers, so she invites him over to the house and instructs Travers to go to bed early. Carlos is about to go home, so she snaps a piece off a model airplane for him to fix. He quickly realizes she's hitting on him and tells her he's not looking for a party girl—especially one who uses her son as date bait. She says she'd like him to see her for who she is, and with this she drops her bag, takes off her shirt, skirt, shoes bra, and finally her underwear. Edie, now fully naked, is hugged by Carlos and they have sex the next morning, and Edie is still naked. ===== The film opens in the Dev Lok (Hindi for Devaloka) or "the world of the gods," a Hindu heaven located above the clouds, where we witness the "birth" of Goddess Santoshi ("Santoshi Maa") as the daughter of Lord Ganesha, the elephant headed god of good beginnings, and his two wives Riddhi and Siddhi ("prosperity" and "spiritual power"). Although, Lord Vinayaka has another wife Buddhi ("wisdom") and another son, Kshema ("well-being"), other than Shubha ("auspiciousness") and Labha ("profit"), they are not portrayed in the film. A key role is played by the immortal sage Narada, a devotee of Lord Vishnu, and a cosmic busybody who regularly intervenes to advance the film's two parallel plots, which concern both human beings and gods. We soon meet the 18th-century maiden Satyavati Sharma (Kanan Kaushal), Santoshi Mata's greatest earthly devotee, leading a group of women in an aarti to the goddess. This first song, "Main To Arti Utaru" (I perform Mother Santoshi's aarti) exemplifies through its camerawork the experience of darshan —of "seeing" and being seen by a deity in the reciprocal act of "visual communion" that is central to Hindu worship. Through the Mother's grace, Satyavati soon meets, falls in love with, and manages to marry the handsome lad Brijmohan ("Birju"), youngest of seven brothers in a prosperous Bias Brahmin farmer family, an artistic flute-playing type who can also render a zippy bhajan on request (Apni Santoshi Maa, "Our Mother Santoshi"). Alas, with the boy come the in-laws, and two of Birju's six sisters-in-law, Durga and Maya are jealous shrews who have it in for him and Satyavati from the beginning. To make matters worse, Narada (in a delightful scene back in heaven) "stirs up" the "jealousy" of three senior goddesses, Lakshmi, Parvati, and Brahmani (a.k.a. Sarasvati)— the wives of the "Hindu trinity" of Vishnu, Lord Shiva, and Brahma—against the "upstart" goddess Santoshi Ma. They decide to examine (pariksha) her perseverance or faith (Shraddha) by making life miserable for her chief devotee. Of course, this is all just a charade and the holy goddesses are just acting as if they are jealous of the granddaughter of Universal Mother Parvati to test Satyavati's devotion. After a fight with his relatives, Birju leaves home to seek his fortune, narrowly escaping a watery grave (planned for him by the goddesses) through his wife's devotion to Santoshi Ma. Nevertheless, the divine ladies convince his family that he is indeed dead, adding the stigma of widowhood to Satyavati's other woes. Her sisters-in-law treat her like a slave, beat and starve her, and a local rogue attempts to rape her; Santoshi Ma (played as an adult by Anita Guha), taking a human form, rescues her several times. Eventually Satyavati is driven to attempt suicide, but is stopped by Narada, who tells her about the sixteen-Fridays fast in honour of Santoshi Ma, which can grant any wish. Satyavati completes it with great difficulty and more divine assistance, and just in the nick of time: for the now-prosperous Birju, stricken with amnesia by the goddesses and living in a distant place, has fallen in love with a rich merchant's daughter. Through Santoshi Ma's grace, he gets his memory back and returns home laden with wealth. When he discovers the awful treatment given to his wife, he builds a palatial home for the two of them, complete with an in-house temple to the Holy Mother. Satyavati plans a grand ceremony of udyapan or "completion" (of her vrat ritual) and invites her in-laws. But the celestials and sadistic sisters-in-law make a last-ditch effort to ruin her by squeezing lime juice into one of the dishes (key point here: the rules of Santoshi Ma's fast forbid eating, or serving, any sour food). All hell breaks loose — before peace is finally restored, on earth as it is in heaven, and a new deity is triumphantly welcomed to the pantheon, as the goddesses have been convinced of Satyavati's devotion. ===== An example of a narrative within a narrative, the frame story begins in Egypt when the "sphinx was young," with an (unnamed) lamia sitting upon a ridge near the Nile River, who, due to her infamy, has been unable to procure a lover for a fortnight. Charnadis, a demon speaking with the lamia, provides the narrative for the further story, told to brighten the lamia's day. In his youth, Charnadis was accustomed to use his wings to travel through space and explore remote and distant places. One day, traveling through a particularly remote and distant galaxy, Charnadis encounters a grey, desert planet orbiting a dying sun: the world of Sadastor. Flying over its equator, Charnadis finds a deep gorge in the former ocean beds and comes eventually nigh to a tiny, green pool, the last of the oceans. About to leave, a voice calls to him, asking him why he is there, and then relating its tale: it is a Siren, called Lyspial, the last of her kind on their world. After recounting her memories of Sadastor in its earlier days, when the seas were nearly boundless and she could easily prey upon sailors, Charnadis offers her transport to another world. Sobbing, Lyspial explains that she, being born of the seas of Sadastor, is bound to them and must perish with them. The narrative ends with Charnadis chiding the lamia, and advising that she reflect on the siren's fate, which was infinitely worse than the Lamia's own present predicament. ===== Anthony Mallare (Noel Coward) is a publisher who (it appears) wishes to ruin the life of every person he comes in contact with. Every sentence he says is like a poisoned dart aimed for the greatest damage, and delivered in cold lifeless tones. He is under no illusion regarding his own personality, remarking to his staff at large that he has found the perfect woman - one as empty as he is: "I must marry her......it would be like two empty paper bags belaboring one another". He finally manages to completely destroy the career and life of an aspiring young author (Stanley Ridges) and his girlfriend (Julie Haydon), who curses him with the hope that he will die friendless. Shortly afterwards he is killed when his plane crashes into the ocean—Haydon's character, upon hearing of the tragedy, remarks, "I've just found out there IS a God!" Faced with the prospect of damnation he is allowed to go back to earth to find one person who will mourn for him - which person turns out to be Haydon. (Those around him are astonished to see him apparently alive and back at work, but gradually become aware that something supernatural is afoot.) ===== "The Renegade" is one of the most obscure and confusing of the short stories published in Exile and the Kingdom. It is presumed to be an allegory.Camus's "Le Remegat": An Allegory of the Existentialist Pilgrimage The story begins with the narrator, who we are told has somehow lost his tongue, waiting in the desert with a rifle. Much of what the narrator says at the beginning of the story is not explained until much later. After the opening pages in the desert which are set in the narrator's present, the narrator recounts events from his past which begin to explain his present nature and situation. The narrator, a French Catholic from the Protestant Massif Central region, left his home to work as a Christian missionary to the Tribes in the closed city of Taghaza, Mali. His mentor warns him that he is not yet ready for such a task but in his self-confessed 'pig- headedness' he decides to go anyway. Upon arrival, his guide turns on him and robs him leaving him in the desert. The narrator has more misfortune in store as he arrives at Taghaza and is imprisoned and beaten by the men and women of the Tribe. After several days of isolation he is taken to the House of the Fetish where the tribe's priest and several men and women engage in worship rituals in front of Fetish. During the rituals the narrator and several others are physically and mentally abused. Eventually the narrator is converted by the tribe that he came to convert. He disowns Christ, refusing to believe in his righteousness and declares that the Fetish and the power of hatred are the only true and flawless powers in the world. The narrator relates of one day when the priest without his mask brings a woman into the House of the Fetish. The woman has a tattoo across her face in the image of the Fetish and is left prostrate on the floor in front of the fetish itself as the priest leaves. It is implied here that the narrator attempts to engage with the woman (although nothing explicit is described) but is caught by the priest who returns with several tribesmen. They beat him and remove his tongue, causing him to pass out on the floor. Some time later the narrator learns that another missionary is to be sent to look after the children in Taghaza but that a garrison of twenty French soldiers is to be maintained to ensure the missionary's safety (possibly a result of the narrator's disappearance). Upon learning this, he decides to escape the day before the missionary is due to arrive, steal a rifle and kill him. In killing the missionary, the narrator intends to instigate a conflict between the French and the Tribe. Although it seems this is not to effect revenge on his captors but to give the tribe a chance to conquer and spread throughout Europe. Eventually the missionary and his guide appear on the horizon and the narrator fires on them. Wounding his target, the narrator closes in and beats the missionary to death. The narrator comments on how good it feels to strike the face of goodness with his rifle butt. As soon as the new missionary is dead the tribesmen come for the narrator; alerted by his gunfire. The story ends with the recapture and torture/execution of the narrator. The narrator compares himself to the martyred Christ; asking why the Fetish has forsaken him and declaring his love for the nails which crucify him. When the narrator realizes that the Fetish is not coming to save him and the powers of "good" are winning, he wonders if he's made a mistake and chosen the wrong side. He hastily tries to convert back to the side of good and mercy, but as he babbles his narration ends. The narrative switches to a third person point of view for the closing line: "A fistful of salt fills the mouth of the babbling slave." ===== * Njelele Agro-plots ===== Alcott patiently drudged away at Little WomenWells, Kim. "Louisa May Alcott and the roles of a lifetime." Master's Thesis, Southwest Texas State University, May 1998 (full text) but found emotional release in scribbling her blood-and-thunder tales.Eiselein, Gregory. ibid. The difference shows: in pacing, tone, and content, Love Chase is startlingly unlike its famous successor. The ostentatiously Faustian plot centers on Rosamond Vivian, a discontented maiden who lives on an English island with only her bitter old grandfather for company and who begins the novel by rashly declaring: "I often feel as if I'd gladly sell my soul to Satan for a year of freedom." Right on cue, a man named Phillip Tempest — a man who bears a more than trivial resemblance to Mephistopheles — walks in the door. Within a month, Rosamond is in love, and although she realizes that this man is “no saint”, she marries him, believing with the fatuousness of youth that her love will save him. She sails away from her lonely island in Tempest's yacht, the Circe, and begins her married life at a luxurious villa in Nice. Much to his own surprise, Tempest, a heartless libertine, finds that he, too, has fallen in love. He tries to make Rosamond happy, and succeeds for a while; however, after a year in his company, she begins to realize how conscienceless and cruel he is. She then discovers that Tempest has a wife and son already, making their marriage a sham and Rosamond the unwitting mistress of a man who has grossly deceived her. That same night, she packs a few items, stealthily climbs down from her second-floor balcony, and catches the next train to Paris. Tempest pursues her, beginning the obsessive “chase” of the title. Tempest hunts Rosamond for two years, telling her he enjoys the sport. To throw him off the track, she assumes a variety of disguises: in Paris, she's a seamstress named “Ruth”; next, she escapes to a convent, where she's known as “Sister Agatha”; after that, under the name “Rosalie Varian”, she travels to Germany as companion to a wealthy little girl. Each time, as she begins to settle comfortably into a new life, Tempest makes a sudden, funhouse-type entrance and ruins everything. Under this treatment, Rosamond learns to hate and fear her former lover. At the same time, a hopeless passion develops between Rosamond and Father Ignatius, a handsome, virtuous, high-born man who happens — unfortunately — to be a Roman Catholic priest. The chase finally - tragically - ends the night Ignatius attempts to help Rosamond return to her grandfather's island. ===== In 1938, Brad Craig (Richard Quine), the son of a famous Army colonel, starts his freshman (fish) year at the Agricultural & Mechanical College of Texas (now Texas A&M; University). After spending the past four years in the Philippines, he has acquired both an intimate knowledge of Japanese culture and a desire to invest in the modernization of Asia. At the train station, Brad is met by cadet “Cyanide” Jenkins (Noah Beery, Jr.), his new roommate. He is also introduced to sophomore (pisshead) cadet “Panhandle” Mitchell (Robert Mitchum), who wastes little time in penalizing Brad for various violations of cadet conduct. As Brad adjusts to life on campus, he becomes romantically involved with Nina Lambert (Anne Gwynne), the daughter of beloved chemistry professor “Pop” Lambert (Harry Devenport). Following an artillery exercise, Brad observes that the brakes on his section's caisson appear to be damaged. Panhandle disregards Brad's concerns and orders the section to move out. When the brakes fail and the caisson goes careening out of control, Brad risks his life to improvise a solution and prevent a disaster. His actions save Cyanide's life and earn him Panhandle's respect. Brad is soon promoted to “fish sergeant” and his upperclassmen delight in exhausting him (smoking him out) by constantly staging fights and ordering Brad to intervene who finally discovers the game and wreaks revenge. As Brad's college career progresses, he discusses marriage with Nina who is secretly smitten with Cyanide (and he with her), though each is hesitant to disclose their feelings. During the Field Artillery Ball, Brad encourages Cyanide and Nina to dance together when they finally admit their mutual attraction. By the following year, they have become a couple with Brad's blessing. Meanwhile, Brad finds himself in a difficult position when his classmates are concerned about his support of Japan. Two Japanese- American cadets, Kubo (Allen Jung) and Matsui (Roland Got), come to his aid, their justification of Japanese war crimes angers the others and earns Brad the contempt of his friends. While guarding the chemistry building one night, Brad discusses with Pop Lambert his invention that will protect servicemen from poison gas. Pop hides the formula in his office to prevent tampering, but after he departs Brad is drugged and locked in a closet but manages to escape, seeing Kubo and Matsui ransacking the professor's office. He trails the pair and confronts their employer, a traveling salesman (William Frawley) working for the Japanese. Having taken some papers from Pop Lambert's office, Brad offers to provide the formula in exchange for a bribe but deliberately gives them a version of the formula missing a key element whose absence will render it useless. Brad is accused of treason for his actions although the commandant does not have enough evidence to bring formal charges. Ostracized by the student body, Brad decides to leave the university. Months later, Brad is working for the Japanese Navy recording English-language propaganda for distribution in the United States. He is assigned to give radio commentary on an impending Japanese assault on the Solomon Islands. The maneuver is detected and a U.S. Navy carrier group moves to intercept the Japanese fleet. While airborne to cover the battle, Brad manages to contact the U.S. fighter group, led by Cyanide, revealing his covert infiltration of the Japanese military and offering his services to the American forces. He crashes his own aircraft into the Japanese aircraft carrier, disabling the flight deck and giving the Americans the advantage. Brad dies as the carrier is destroyed and is posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. ===== In a Renaissance chamber decorated with devilish faces and a warped coat of arms, a gleeful demon throws three human victims into a cauldron, which spews out flames. The victims rise from the cauldron as nebulous ghosts, and then turn into fireballs. The fireballs multiply and pursue the demon around the chamber. Finally the demon himself leaps into the infernal cauldron, which gives off a final burst of flame. ===== The film begins in 1987 when penal reform campaigner Lord Longford is invited by a radio host to discuss his new book Saints, with the radio host inviting listeners to call in and join in with the conversation about the new book. Instead, Longford finds himself being challenged by a man who berates him for campaigning for Myra Hindley's release from prison - particularly as she has recently confessed to another two killings which had remained unsolved for more than 20 years. Longford declines to talk about Hindley, as he had made it clear that he would not be discussing her on this particular programme, and makes the same response when another caller questions whether he regrets having supporting Hindley for so long now that he knows she stayed silent about the two additional murders, and other facts about the case which Hindley had only recently revealed. The story itself begins during the late 1960s (during the first premiership of Harold Wilson) at the House of Lords, with Lord Longford, a regular prison visitor, presiding over a reception for a number of ex-convicts whom he had visited and corresponded with when they were incarcerated. He receives a letter from one of the most notorious criminals in Britain, the Moors Murderer Myra Hindley, who is several years into her life sentence for taking part in the murder of three children with her boyfriend, Ian Brady. When he visits her, she asks for books but also for him to arrange for her to meet Brady. Longford is shocked and tells her that it would be in her own best interests to have no contact with Brady, as it might harm any future chances of parole. Hindley seems equally shocked at the idea that she would ever be allowed parole. Longford then begins his campaign for Hindley to be paroled, acknowledging that her trial judge had felt that rehabilitation and the chance of eventual parole would be possible for Hindley once removed from the influence of Brady. The question remains of whether Hindley is indeed reformed -- for example, in her decision to convert to Longford's own Roman Catholic faith -- or whether she is merely manipulating him and feigning her rehabilitation in an attempt to bring herself closer to release. Longford visits Brady twice; on both occasions, Brady tells him that she is manipulative and that he should turn his back on her, as she is only interested in winning release from prison and will do or say anything to boost her chances of eventually gaining parole. Longford, driven by his deep religious belief that all people are ultimately good and can be reformed if they have sinned, decides to continue on his course, despite heavy criticism from the public, the tabloid media, politicians and even from his own family. His own wife advises him to find another cause to pursue for his family's good as well as his own, before eventually deciding to support his campaign for Hindley's parole. In 1977, he appears on the very first episode of Brass Tacks, a current affairs programme, in which he takes part in a debate on the issue of whether Myra Hindley should be given parole. Longford argues that Hindley has repented and had merely acted as Brady's accomplice under duress, but is faced with an argument against Hindley's parole from Ann West (the mother of Moors Murders victim Lesley Ann Downey), who feels that Hindley should never be given parole, and vows to kill her if she is ever released. Ann West was at the centre of a campaign to ensure that Hindley was never released, and gave numerous newspaper and television interviews to argue against any suggestion of parole for Hindley, and on many occasions vowed to kill Hindley if she was ever set free. Ann West died in February 1999, shortly after Hindley's unsuccessful second appeal against a Home Office ruling to keep her in prison for the rest of her life. Longford often condemned the media - particularly The Sun newspaper - for their "exploitation" of Ann West. In 1986, Hindley reveals that she and Brady were responsible for two further murders. She later helps police locate the body of one of the victims. Even as Hindley's revelations spark yet more public hostility towards Longford, he remains loyal to Hindley in public and continues to back her campaign for release. This includes a radio interview regarding a book he has had published in the late 1980s, during which a number of callers berate Longford for his support of Myra Hindley - which he declines to comment upon. Longford finally agrees to discuss Hindley when the radio host questions him, but insists that he does not regret having supported Hindley and that his friendship with her has enriched his life. Privately, he is depicted as being affected by doubts. He is last seen visiting her in prison in the late 1990s, by which time he is frail and in his nineties. Hindley, still in her fifties, is in a declining state of health. As the film ends and just before the credits start to roll, we are informed that Longford died in August 2001, while Hindley did not win the parole for which she spent many years fighting. She remained imprisoned until her death in November 2002. ===== Gisella Perl (Christine Lahti), a Jewish- Hungarian gynecologist from Sighetul Marmatiei, Romania, testifies before an Immigration & Naturalization Service (INS) review board consisting of three men (Bruce Davison, Richard Crenna, and Beau Bridges). Perl is seeking to be granted citizenship after passing the New York State Medical Licensing Board examinations, wishing to begin practicing in New York. She recounts her early life when she aspired to be a doctor despite the admonishments of her father, her time practicing as a gynecologist before the German invasion, and her experiences as prisoner #25404, where she provided what medical care she could to fellow prisoners. Her most controversial actions included providing late- term abortions to pregnant women in order to save their lives. These pregnant women would otherwise have been killed immediately or subjected to the torture of horrific "medical" experiments. Perl is accused of "colluding" with the Nazi doctor Josef Mengele who directed experiments on pregnant female inmates at the Auschwitz concentration camp. As the review board questions her over several days, she becomes increasingly emotional and questions her own determination to survive, as well as her guilt at having lived while so many others did not. She testifies that despite her intention to keep herself and others alive, she unknowingly became part of the Nazi efforts to kill, but she held on to the hope that the lives of the women she saved would undermine the efforts of the Nazis to exterminate the Jewish race. After she is granted citizenship and begins to practice in New York, she gets a call to attend one of the women whose first baby she had aborted in the camp. She delivers the baby and sees her wish that the Jewish race will survive fulfilled.IMDb Plot summary ===== Paul de Manerville is a gentleman born of wealth and nobility who decides, over the objections of his worldly friend de Marsay, to give up his elegant bachelor's life and get married at the age of twenty-seven. He falls in love with a beautiful girl named Natalie Evangelista, the daughter of a proud Spanish matriarch whose financial assets have been diminishing since the death of her husband. Too naïve and full of illusions to see the hidden motives of Natalie Evangelista's mother, who wants Paul's wealth in order to procure for her daughter the lavish lifestyle she believes to be her birthright, or to recognize that his bride's loyalty is entirely with her mother and not with him, Paul gets himself stuck in a frigid and childless marriage. So strong are his illusions, that even at the end of the novel he remains unaware of his wife's infidelities. ===== In Jerusalem, a rabbi named Rostenburg is using software he designed to decode seventy eschatological prophecies hidden within the Torah. Rostenburg has handwritten each one in a journal, to be entered into the program for deciphering. The program deciphers a prophecy which says that he is about to die; immediately, he tears the page containing the final code from his journal, hiding it in his shirt pocket. He is then shot and killed by an assassin, who takes his journal and the optical disc containing the decoding program. After the assassin leaves, two mysterious men (later revealed to be two prophets) retrieve the journal page Rostenburg had hidden. Television reporter and talk show host Cassandra Barris (Catherine Oxenberg) introduces Dr. Gillen Lane (Casper Van Dien) as her show's guest. Lane is a popular author and charismatic motivational speaker who explains that codes hidden in the Old Testament describe events past, present, and future; he sees no contradiction between this belief and his dismissal of religious faith. Media mogul and European Union Chairman Stone Alexander (Michael York) receives a humanitarian award in Rome for having all but eliminated world hunger through advances in nutritional technology. There, we see that the man who killed Rostenburg and stole his decoding software is Alexander's apprentice, Dominic (Michael Ironside). Dr. Lane is in attendance, seeking to meet with Alexander "to discuss some ideas." Cassandra, employed by one of Alexander's television networks, is also in attendance, providing Lane brief conversation after Alexander spurns him. Some time afterward, however, Alexander sees a prophecy (deciphered with Rostenberg's program) that leads him to ask Lane to become his Minister of Information. Using each prophecy Rostenburg's program deciphers to guide him, Alexander works toward world domination by whatever means he deems necessary, including secretly arranging for the bombings of Muslim and Jewish holy sites in Israel. Reporting from Jerusalem, Cassandra is caught up in one of the blasts. The two prophets from Rostenburg's study take her from the rubble, telling her that they have "a message for [her] to carry". Alexander goes on to use the sites' rebuilding to help forge a groundbreaking Middle East peace treaty. Not long thereafter, most national governments agree to join a ten-state "World Union", of which Alexander is chairman. Lane finds fulfillment in his new position, though he regrets not being able to be with his estranged wife and young daughter. Cassandra delivers to Lane a warning that the prophets gave her, though he is skeptical. Nevertheless, the warning leads Lane to discover the decoding facility where Alexander's staff uses Rostenburg's program. No one else is in the facility at the time, but Lane sees that the program is running, and leafs through printouts of previously deciphered codes. Seeing Lane on a surveillance feed, Alexander and Dominic go to confront him. A disillusioned Lane accuses Alexander of "following the code like a script," and being behind the Israeli bombings. Confessing to Lane's charges, Alexander asks him to be "my spokesman for this new world, my visionary, my prophet." Believing himself to be the only rightful aspirant to the position, Dominic pulls his gun on Lane, who flees. Firing repeatedly at Lane, Dominic inadvertently shoots Alexander in the head, mortally wounding him. Dominic immediately alerts security, claiming that Lane shot Alexander and fled. Lane escapes Alexander's compound, but becomes the target of a worldwide manhunt. Alexander is pronounced dead at a local hospital. Lane runs into a sympathetic Cassandra, who agrees to smuggle him onto a network jet so that he can return to his family in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Satan enters Alexander's body in the hospital, causing his head wound to heal miraculously and the World Union chairman to rise from the dead. Seven of the ten World Union leaders agree that Alexander will be appointed "Chancellor of the United World" in a ceremony to be held at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, coincident with the reopening of Solomon's Temple. In Los Angeles, it becomes clear that Lane cannot be safely reunited with his family, which is under heavy surveillance. He and Cassandra end up flying back to Jerusalem, where the prophets give him the page of Rostenburg's journal containing the final code. Immediately thereafter, Cassandra pulls a gun on Lane, demanding the code and revealing that she is loyal to Alexander. At the ceremony in Jerusalem, Chairman Alexander (now Chancellor Alexander) proclaims that he has become "both king and god!" The crowd is upset by this statement, with some devout Jewish and Muslim listeners denouncing him as a blasphemer. Out of the growing tumult, the two prophets appear inside the temple, identifying Alexander as the Abomination of Desolation, quoting evangelistic biblical prophecies, and predicting that they would be resurrected three days after their deaths. Alexander has Dominic kill them both, and put them on display as an example of what happens to those who oppose him. He leaves for his compound in Rome, as Dominic relays word to him that "the Israelis and several others are seceding." Alexander plots a massive military action, including a nuclear strike. Alexander meets Cassandra, who gives him the final code; when he examines the writing, it evaporates from the page supernaturally. Alexander accuses her of conspiring with Lane (who is being detained on-site). The two of them go to Lane's holding cell, where Dominic violently interrogates him as to the whereabouts of the final code. Lane is truly ignorant of its whereabouts, causing the interrogation to reach an impasse. Lane is left alone in his cell. In his solitude, demons swirl around him, tormenting him; Lane prays, "God ... Jesus, save me." Immediately, the demons are scattered, Lane's cell door opens, and he exits. Meanwhile, the two prophets are resurrected. Lane, trying to find Alexander, runs into Dominic instead. Dominic is about to kill him when the two prophets supernaturally appear. They strangle Dominic without touching him, and give Lane the journal page with the final code. Lane takes Dominic's gun and confronts Alexander, who, with Cassandra at his side, is about to commence the attack. Alexander uses this as a bargaining chip to get Lane to give him the final code; Lane agrees, typing it into Rostenburg's program for deciphering. Once he does, however, Alexander reveals that he never intended to call off the attack, and now, with the final code, will begin his massive Third World War. Just as Alexander is about to give the final authorization to attack, a blindingly brilliant and pure white light appears on the horizon, expanding like a shockwave through the entire surrounding area. As it reaches Alexander's war room, its appearance is accompanied by a strong wind. While Lane stands safely and peacefully within it, it blows through Alexander violently enough to cause Satan to fly behind him. Initially attempting to grasp onto Alexander's shoulders for stability, Satan is finally blown away, out of sight. At this point, Alexander reaches behind his ear and finds that his hand is bloodied: His head wound was restored after Satan was ejected from him, leaving him dead again. The shockwave of light spreads to cover the entire Earth, then grows in brightness and intensity such that it causes the entire screen to remain white for a few seconds. This effect ends with a fade to the printer in Alexander's facility, the output tray of which bears a freshly-printed page with Rostenburg's final code, deciphered as follows: "0000 ... Dawn of New Millennium". ===== As an idealistic 23-year-old English teacher at Wilson High School in Long Beach, California, Erin Gruwell confronted a room of "unteachable, at-risk" students. One day she intercepted a note with a racial caricature, and angrily declared that this was precisely the sort of thing that led to the Holocaust – only to be met by uncomprehending looks. So she and her students, using the treasured books Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl and Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Sarajevo as their guides, undertook a life-changing, eye-opening, spirit- raising odyssey against intolerance and misunderstanding. They learned to see the parallels between these books and their own lives, recording their thoughts and feelings in diaries and dubbing themselves the "Freedom Writers" in homage to the civil rights activists "The Freedom Riders." With funds raised by a "Read-a-thon for Tolerance," they arranged for Miep Gies, the Dutch woman who sheltered the Frank family, to visit them in California during the 1994/1995 school year, where she declared that Erin Gruwell's students were "the real heroes." Their efforts have paid off spectacularly, both in terms of recognition – appearances on Primetime Live and All Things Considered, coverage in People magazine, a meeting with U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley – and educational benefit. All 150 Freedom Writers graduated from high school and many went on to attend college. ===== Written in an epistolary style, consisting of newspaper cuttings, letters, and extensive excerpts from the diary of its protagonist, the novel tells the story of Humphrey Mackevoy, a young man who achieves sexual satisfaction by boring holes in trees and penetrating them with his penis. Intercut with the story of how his passion leads him into confusion, shame and prison, but eventually into acceptance of, and almost pride in his peculiarity, are a series of comic sub-plots involving the local naturalists' society (are the holes appearing in trees around town really the work of the sabre-toothed dormouse?); a feud between local councillors that leads to mass poisoning; Mackevoy's unwitting involvements in the sexual fantasies of teenager Rose Hopkins; and the increasingly outrageous behaviour of "mummy". ===== Vicky (Jeevan) is the eldest son of a railway officer. He is a perpetual loser in whatever he does and is looked down by his other family members. One day, he meets Shivani (Kamna Jethmalani), the daughter of a rich textile tycoon, who has brought all the luck to her father Rajangam (G. M. Kumar). Soon, the "unlucky" Vicky is drawn towards the "lucky" Shivani, and they fall madly in love. Due to circumstances, they are forced to elope, with Shivani’s cop brother in hot pursuit. The lovers decide to go to Rajangam’s village in Theni, where he is considered and treated as "Mr. Nice Guy", a philanthropist and savior of the locals, and is given the honour of conducting the temple Thiruvizha every year. How the runaway couple against all odds rips his good guy image and exposes him in front of the entire village forms the rest of this predictable yarn. ===== The story starts with 10-year-old Liza Barton accidentally shooting and killing her mother and shooting and injuring her stepfather Ted. She is acquitted of the crime and is later adopted by some distant relatives. Twenty-four years later, the story picks up with Liza determined to bury her past. She has changed her name to Celia Foster and married Alex Nolan after her first husband Larry's death. Alex, not aware of Celia's past, gifts her with a surprise birthday present—the keys to her own parents' home in a neighboring town Mendham. Alex, Celia and her 4-year-old son, Jack, move into the home to find that it has been vandalized. Unsure of how Alex would react to her past, Celia decides to hide it from him for some more time. Flashes of the night her mom died come back to Celia as she sets out to find out more about what really happened that night. She discreetly tries to find information about her father's accident that led to his death a year before her mother's death. One by one, a few of the older residents of the town are murdered and some of the evidence leads to Celia being suspected. Celia finds her own life in danger, as the pursuit of the murderer's identity picks up pace. ===== The film unfolds in brief episodes, detailing the travails of the working- class Pollock family, who live in a shabby flat in a tower block in London's East End. They are struggling to stay afloat during the recession under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's premiership. Only the nagging, put-upon mother Mavis (Pam Ferris) is working; the bitter, feckless father Frank (Jeff Robert) and the couple's two sons Colin (Tim Roth), an extremely shy young man, and Mark (Phil Daniels), his outspoken, headstrong older brother, are on the dole. Their aimless, querulous existence is contrasted with Mavis's sister Barbara (Marion Bailey) and her husband John (Alfred Molina), whose financial and social loftiness in suburban Chigwell serves as a comfortable facade for their lacklustre marriage. The boys spend their time at home, on the street, at friends' flats, in the unemployment office, and at the local pub. Mark is continually scrounging for cash and cadging drinks from his friends, among them Coxy (Gary Oldman in his screen debut), a crude, impulsive skinhead. Colin has a crush on a sweet-natured girl named Hayley (Tilly Vosburgh), but he can't bring himself to act upon it. Mark mocks his father, teases Colin by calling him "Kermit" and "Muppet," and makes insinuations about Barbara's troubled relationship with her husband. Barbara offers Colin a job helping her redecorate her home, but when Mark shows up, Colin withdraws, refuses to do any work, and finally leaves. When he returns home, he's had his head shaved. There is no resolution to the film, simply a succession of days that present commonplace problems, amusements, conversations, and arguments. ===== The story revolves around two local cricket league teams that compete against each other in local matches and consider each other as sworn enemies. Royapuram Rockers are on top of the chain and keep bashing the Sharks year after year. The heroes of the movie are the Sharks' team. The story begins when Raghu's (Jai) parents move from Royapuram to Visalakshi Thottam, Chennai 600 028. Raghu is a member of the Royapuram Rockers Cricket team, and a college student living with his parents. He has no choice but to move with them although he detests the area. He is not very excited at the prospect of living in the same area as his sworn enemies. Raghu is faithful to his teammates, but they ignore him because of the distance. Angered at being replaced by a new guy in the team in one of the matches, Raghu estranges himself from cricket and the Rockers. Raghu informs of Pazhani's (Nithin Sathya) sister Selvi's (Vijayalakshmi) love for Karthik (Shiva) to him. This incident initiates Raghu's friendship with a few Sharks team players and eventually gets induced into the team. Raghu practices with the Sharks to play against the Rockers in the upcoming Radio Mirchi trophy. Pazhani, who soon comes to know of his sister's and Karthik's love affair is disappointed and then there is a tiff amongst the friends. The team splits up for a while, but Karthik apologizes to Pazhani and they make up. The team is united again and they start practicing for the trophy once again. Unfortunately, Karthik gets stabbed by his brother's enemies and is rendered unfit to play the match. Pazhani replaces Karthik as the captain and the team heads for the match. Under tight pressure and with a nail biting finish, the Sharks finally defeat the Rockers in the semi-finals of the tournament. In the finals they meet their enemies , a bunch of school kids named Bad Boys-II who practice by bunking school to play cricket on the beach. The kids are really good and the Sharks know it because they have lost to them once before and that too very badly... The movie ends with the team really struggling to keep it up in the game. ===== After the recent death of her husband and extreme loneliness because her son and especially her daughter have little time to visit her, Ruth (Doris Roberts), an elderly socialite takes an overdose of pills in an attempt to commit suicide. She is saved by Billy (Judy Reyes), a homeless woman. Although Billy is initially resistant to Ruth's attempts to befriend her, she eventually relents and accepts a place to stay in the lonely old socialite's mansion. To the dismay of Ruth's family and neighbors, several other homeless people also move in with them. Ruth works with them to better their lives and helps them find jobs and purpose in life. Eventually, her daughter finds out and tries to throw the people out because she thinks they're taking advantage of her mother. Ruth's son sees how happy his mother is, so he decides to return to the house to help her. However, the neighbors are upset and think their property values will go down because of Ruth's new occupants. They sue her and tell lies under oath in court to get the formerly homeless people thrown out. For example, they say that one of the men was urinating in their garden at 3 a.m. in the morning, yet this never happened. Although Ruth hires a good lawyer (who regularly volunteers to provide free legal advice to the homeless), she soon risks losing her case, because of Beverly Hills covenant rules; the home is regarded as a boarding house which is illegal in their residential neighborhood. In the meantime, Ruth's lawyer and Billy begin a romantic relationship, but this is stalled when Billy finds out that Ruth is going to lose her case. Billy and the others leave in the middle of the night because they love Ruth and don't want her to lose her home. Ruth finds them, however, and convinces them to come back, saying she needs them as much as they need her. As Ruth is testifying in court, she faints. Her doctor tells her that her cancer is terminally active. Her daughter realizes the error of her ways, decides to help her mother, so she works together with the lawyer Ruth had hired and creates a deal that the prosecution cannot refuse. If the prosecuting lawyer (who happens to be a condominium real estate king) suing them doesn't drop the case and sell Ruth's daughter one of his condominiums to house Ruth's friends, then Ruth will give the house to them and they will each become part owner of the house and live there permanently. Ruth wins her case and they all move into the newly purchased condominium. Ruth passes on, but not before she sees her new and old families come together to provide the halfway house for the homeless which is now called "Our House". ===== The silent men are the workers at a cooper's shop. They have recently returned to work after a failed strike. When the owner's daughter has a serious, acute illness requiring an ambulance, the men do not offer any words of condolence. Where once there had been a sense of being all part of a whole, they no longer feel such for the owner who had refused to acquiesce to their demands following their strike. The owner himself is not a bad person; it is stated that he treated his men well, even offering each man five bottles of vintage wine each new year. The owner even tried to reconcile with the men, saying that if they are to increase productivity and thus bring in more revenue he will not only increase their salaries but he will do so without being prompted. Nevertheless, the men are cold, and when the owner says goodbye to everyone at the end of the day, nobody reacts. The men themselves have preserved their own sense of fraternity, however, and despite the situation with the owner and his daughter, the men are warm and humane to each other. While as a whole the men seem morally unaffected by the situation, Yvers, the protagonist, can't stop thinking about the little girl. At the end of the story, Yvers breaks his silence and confides in his wife all that has happened in the course of the day, and concludes by uttering "Ah! it's his own fault!" ===== A stevedore in Thessaloniki, Greece, Salamo Arouch's passion is boxing. Captured along with his family and fiancé Allegra in 1943 and interned in Auschwitz, Arouch is used by his SS captors as entertainment, forced to box against fellow prisoners. He knows that if he refuses, his family will be punished; if he wins, he will be given extra rations which he can share with them; if he loses, he will be sent to the gas chamber. As his family and friends die around him, he has only his love of Allegra and his grim determination to keep her alive. The film follows the early life story of Salamo Arouch, though it takes some artistic liberties including the early introduction of wife Allegra (a pseudonym for Marta Yechiel), whom Arouch did not actually meet until after the liberation of the camp. ===== When a frightened child approaches Marcus Didius Falco with a plea for help, he does not believe her. One quarrel with the family does not mean that a relation is trying to kill her. Beset by his own family troubles, his new responsibilities as Procurator of the Sacred Poultry, and the continuing search for a new partner, he decides to send her home. However, he almost immediately regrets it. Gaia Laelia comes from a pre- eminent Roman family with a long history of key religious positions. Gaia, herself, is considered the most likely candidate for election to the office of Vestal Virgin. When she disappears, Falco is officially asked to investigate. Meanwhile, Helena's brother Aelianus has problems of his own. In an attempt to restart his political career - stalled by his younger brother's elopement with his wealthy fiancee - he tries to gain election to the Arval Brethren. During the night-time ceremonies, however, Aelianus stumbles across the body of one of the Brethren with his throat cut as if he had been sacrificed. Unable to bring in the Vigiles, Falco is forced to search the house of Gaia Laelia alone, aware that time is running out for finding her before the lottery takes place, or even alive. ===== When Marcus Didius Falco gives a poetry reading for family and friends, things get a little out of hand. The event is taken over by Aurelius Chrysippus, a wealthy Greek banker and patron to a group of struggling writers, who subsequently offers to publish Falco's work, which Falco turns down as being a raw deal. Unfortunately, soon afterwards Chrysippus is brutally murdered, with part of a broken scroll jammed up his nose, and due to his presence at Chrysippus' scriptorium Falco is implicated in his death and forced by his friend Petronius Longus, the enquiry chief of the vigiles, to investigate. The result is a trawl through the literary and financial worlds of Ancient Rome, as Falco delves deep into Chrysippus' personal life and business history. Falco's investigations reveal that the deceased Chrysippus (Greek: "Golden Horse") was owner of the Golden Horse Bank, and many potential suspects are turned up, including disgruntled writers employed by Chrysippus’ scriptorium, a shipper Pisarchus who has fallen on hard times, as well as his family: Chrisyppus' widow Vibia, his ex-wife Lysa and his son Diomedes. Meanwhile, things get worse: one of the suspected writers, Avienus, is found dead and Falco and his friend Petronius are also attacked, although they manage to survive and kill the assassin. To add insult to injury, Falco also faces problems with his own family: his estranged father Geminius has problems coping with the death of his mistress, Flora, and Falco's nemesis Anacrites is slowly ingratiating himself with Falco's own mother, persuading her to place her savings with his own at the Golden Horse Bank -- which, unfortunately for the two and Falco, goes insolvent. Falco initially suspects Pisarchus because Pisarchus has recently gone into insolvency, but soon discounts that motive as being insufficient for murder after consulting his banker and his father for advice. Running out of time and options, Falco plays a desperate gambit -- bring together Chrysippus' family and his associates who are directly implicated in the murders at a conference at the Chrysippus home for questioning, along with Helena and the vigiles, who have been assisting Falco so far. Eventually, the murderer is identified and it's none other than Diomedes, identified by his accidentally revealing knowledge of how Chrysippus was found dead, and with further corroborating evidence collected during investigation or provided by witnesses at the time of the crime. The novel ends on an ominous tone, with Diomedes being sentenced to a gruesome death, and Falco brooding over tensions between his family and Anacrites, who has tried to woo Maia but was spurned by her. ===== Jiao Ge is a Grand Counselor that has been serving under the renowned Shang dynasty for many a year. Once King Zhou had unleashed a certain edict to create a large pit of spiders and snakes as to feed the seventy-one remaining maidens for holding on to their original Queen, Jiao Ge would decide it best to discuss the issue with Prince Huang Feihu. Once the maidens began to be thrown into the pit, Jiao Ge would immediately present himself before King Zhou and wished for an answer. During Jiao Ge's anger, he would continuously blabber on at the king that killing his own people is equivalent to that of slicing of your own arms and legs. Once the king's anger was well exploded, he ordered that Jiao Ge would be thrown into the pit as well. These would be the last words of Jiao Ge before throwing himself over the Star- Picking Belvedere, "You no good bird-brain! Your name will be stinking with cruelty for thousands of years!" Thus immediately following this, other random officials would watch in horror as another loyal official killed himself for the sake of his kingdom. Jiao Ge was appointed as the deity of Zoushu Star (奏书星) in the end.Fengshen Yanyi Chapter 99. ===== Fresh from his trip to Britannia, Marcus Didius Falco needs to re- establish himself back in Rome. A minor role in the trial of a senator entangles him in the machinations of two lawyers: Silus Italicus and Paccius Africanus, both ex-consuls with notorious reputations. The senator is convicted, but then dies, apparently by suicide. Silius hires Falco and his young associates – Aelianus and Justinus – to prove that it was murder, not an attempt to protect his heirs from further legal action. However, probing this tangle of upper-class secrets leads to fresh prosecutions. Falco finds himself in the role of advocate, exposing himself to powerful elements in Roman law. If he offends the wrong people, it might lead to charges he has not bargained for and ruin his family financially. ===== A long and complicated case awaits Falco and Lucius Petronius Longinus (or Petro' for short) on the streets of the port town of Ostia, accompanied by Maia, Helena and Falco's daughters -- Albia, Julia and Favonia. Petro' is on the lookout for Balbinus Florius, a dangerous mobster last seen in Britain, while Falco is on the lookout for a missing gossip columnist named Diocles, an Imperial freedman known by the pen name of "Infamia" (Latin: "scandal", "calumny"). A young boy named Zeno approaches Petro', and tells him that "his mother won't wake up". Zeno's mother is found unconscious and drooling, and Maia is sent to nurse her - only to end up with a black eye when the woman, Pullia, wakes up. When asked why he told them, Zeno replies to Petro' that his uncle Lygon told Zeno that "the vigiles would want to know" if Pullia wouldn't wake up. Infamia's colleagues Mutatus and Holconius say that Diocles is gifted but dissolute, and believe that he is playing truant, but Falco suspects otherwise. Continuing on the Infamia case, Falco calls on Diocles' landlady, who admits that she has no idea where he has gone to. Falco bribes one of her slaves, Titus, to hand over Diocles' possessions, which but for one note tablet marked with the name "Damagoras" and another engraved with a strange grid-shaped pattern, hand no conclusive leads to Falco. Much to Falco's chargrin, the one man in all of Ostia who seems ready to talk about Damagoras and who he is turns out to be none other than Falco's brother-in-law Gaius Baebius, whom Falco loathes greatly. Gaius leads Falco to a large estate up north near Portus, where they are assaulted and confined (and Gaius belatedly tells Falco that Damagoras is rumoured to have been a pirate), and brought out later to meet its ostensibly prosperous owner. Damagoras surprisingly treats them hospitably in the opulent surroundings of his villa, and reveals that he was born in Cilicia (a region in Asia Minor notorious for piracy) but when questioned by Falco about being a pirate, Damagoras instantly denies being one or being connected with them, saying he is a "retired sea captain" who contacted Deiocles to "write his memoirs". Falco is not convinced by Damagoras, however, and decides that Damagoras needs to be inspected more closely. Back in Ostia, the local vigiles chief, Brunnus, suggests that Falco talk to an expert on piracy -- a naval officer named Caninus. Caninus, once drunk, however arouses Falco's suspicion: Caninus is a naval attaché who is supposed to be attached with the Imperial fleet at Ravenna on the Adriatic: if so, then what is he doing on the wrong side of the Italian peninsula? Meanwhile, Aulus comes back to Falco with news -- the wife to the owner of Aulus' ship to Athens, Aline, has been kidnapped. Falco discovers more clues about the kidnapping racket in Ostia, and discovers that the kidnappers' go-between for contacting hostages' relatives is a cross- dressing man known as "The Illyrian". Seeking more help, Falco returns to Rome on two errands -- the first is Marcus Rubella, Petro's tribune, to inform him of the kidnappings going on in Ostia. The second is to speak to Holconius and Mutatus, but they are out. Nevertheless, a slave in the columnists' office tells Falco the reason Deiocles went back to Ostia - to see his aunt Vestina. En route, Falco meets his father Favonius, who tells Falco that he knows Damagoras as a business partner. Falco's father also reveals that Aline wasn't the first victim -- previously, a young girl named Rhodope had also been abducted. Speaking to Rhodope, Helena manages to discover that she was seduced by one of her former captors, named Theopompus. Back in Ostia, Falco tries to locate Vestina, but discovers that she died in a fire almost a year ago, and that Deiocles would normally stay with her. Falco's sleuthwork also reveal a darker side to law enforcement in Ostia -- the vigiles are seen as heavy- handed and not trustworthy, and so fire fighting and security work is done mostly by members of the local builders' guild, headed by a rich building contractor named Privatus. When Rubella's Sixth Vigiles Cohort arrives in Ostia to take over from the Fourth Cohort of Brunnus, Privatus has his men attempt to intimidate the vigiles at the handing-over ceremony. Naturally, Falco asks Privatus about the whereabouts of Diocles, and notes Privatus' seeming disquiet, implying that Privatus is somehow involved with Diocles' disappearance. More note tablets by Diocles turn up, proving that he had contact with someone who had engaged in piracy, mentioning the name of Lygon -- Zeno's uncle, and possibly one of Damagoras' henchmen. Falco decides that he needs to question Damagoras again, but once more, Damagoras flatly denies anything to do with piracy or the abductions on the quays. At the same time, Falco and Helena manage to meet Falco's uncle Fulvius, whom Falco has not see for twenty years. More trouble is in store for Falco, however: Theopompus elopes with Rhodope in Ostia, but is soon murdered -- ostensibly by jealous colleagues and the wealthy but hapless Posidonius is forced to cough up for Theopompus' wake. Suddenly, Holconius and Mutatus arrive in Ostia, with what seems to be a large chest full of cash in order to ransom back Diocles on Helena's advice. This causes her to have a heated argument with Falco, but he backs down in the end and following Helena's plan, he asks the vigiles to trail the scribes, but the scribes are assaulted by unknown assailants who take the ransom money, and the vigiles lose the trail. Dejected and disgusted, Falco goes for a walk and bumps into Caninus, who tries to convince Falco that his uncle Fulvius is "the Illyrian", but Falco doesn't believe him and tells Caninus to leave Fulvius alone. Much later, however, Falco catches sight of the alleged kidnappers with the ransom chest, and tails them to a military dock, where they are planning to board a liburna, but is spotted and attacked. Falco, outnumbered, is defeated in the ensuing scuffle and realises that Caninus is connected with the pirates operating in Ostia. Now taken prisoner, Falco discovers that he is on board a pirate ship and confronts her Illyrian captain Cotys. Cotys and his crew taunt Falco and force him to climb down a ladder into the water, but when they discover that the scribes' chest is actually full if pebbles, Cotys cuts the ladder off in anger, dropping Falco overboard. By a twist of fate, Falco is rescued by his father and his father's porter Gornia. It turns out that Geminus has been smuggling goods into Ostia from offshore, possibly with help from Fulvius. Once back, Falco hastily returns into town to attend Theopomous' wake, presided over by Rhodope. As usual, things get out of hand once Rhodope identifies a suspect for Theopomous' death at his wake, sparking a gang war which results in a three- way melee between the Illyrians, Cilicians and the vigiles. Falco, his family as well as Petro' manage to rescue Rhodope from the fight and take refuge in a mausoleum, where she finally reveals that during her captivity she was drugged (possibly by Pullia) and held in a sacrificial vault in a temple. After being rescued along with Petro and the rest, Falco follows Mutatus into a temple to Cybele to meet with Diocles' supposed captors, where he bumps into Fulvius, who reveals that he works for the Navy as an intelligence gatherer, and that he has been watching Caninus, who is the actual "Illyrian" -- this is soon proven when they hear Caninus demanding the ransom money from Mutatus, before killing him. Caninus is shortly afterwards detained by the vigiles, never to be seen again. But what of Diocles? Damagoras finally breaks his silence and offers Falco information in return for Diocles' note tablets. Damagoras asserts that he and Diocles were indeed working on publishing the old sea dog's memoirs, but Diocles was depressed at having lost his aunt in the fire. Damagoras also warns Falco that Diocles might have blamed Privatus for Vestina's death, and the building guild then had Diocles murdered to silence him. Falco finally figures out what the strange grid pattern in Deiocles' possession was -- it's a map, and shows that Diocles may have been working on the old vigiles station prior to disappearing. The vigiles send for a diver to look for Diocles in a cistern under the vigiles house, and confirm Damagoras' story, when they find a human corpse weighed down deep in it. ===== Marital problems cause Stephen Monk to return to his birthplace, Philadelphia, where he undergoes a period of cathartic introspection. Though he is a member of the American jeunesse dorée, he is an emotional and observant man, and the novel chronicles his search for love. ===== Norman Neale and his best friend Chuck have an ongoing debate on the subject of "what single superpower would you choose?" Then, one day, Norman notices Victor Ventura, a successful trader at Richmond financial, the company he works for. While the two are both getting coffee, Norman accidentally drops a mug. Victor amazingly catches the mug in midair. Though impressed, Norman dismisses it as good reflexes. Later, Mr. Richmond, company CEO, asks Norman to videotape Victor at the company softball game. He notices that as Victor is about to hit the ball, the video momentarily displays static interference, and begins to suspect Victor has Telekinesis. Norman confirms his theory with a small trap, but Victor catches Norman watching and threatens to have him fired if he doesn't back off. Victor knows he has powers, but also fears that if they become public he would be institutionalized and studied. Norman consults Chuck on what to do, and after an initial misunderstanding, Norman lets Chuck continue to believe that Victor is a comic book character of Norman's creation. Chuck suggests training Victor and Norman agrees, but again Victor refuses to go along with it. Meanwhile, Victor's competition, Carson Fleming, introduces the secretary, Andrea Hicks, into a secret project of his. He claims that once he is finished the project and presents it to Mr. Richmond they will both be rewarded. One night Carson and Victor go out drinking. On their way home, Carson slips on a curb and falls into the path of a car. Victor tries to use his powers to save Carson, but isn't strong enough. Carson is run over and killed. Victor returns to Norman and agrees to let him train him. Norman sets about training Victor, increasing his range and strength. The two also discover his weakness; Alcohol causes his concentration to diminish severely, drastically reducing his powers. Norman ends the training by making Victor save him from the same situation he lost Carson in. He then offers to make Victor "Victory Man", a real life superhero. Victor, mad at Norman for what he pulled, calls him delusional and tells him to go. Later that day, however, Victor decides to treat Norman to one night of crime fighting as payment for the training. The pair run into a gang of street thugs, who threaten them. Victor quickly defeats them with his powers, but then begins to force two of the toughs to do humiliating things to each other. Norman begs Victor to stop and they both leave. Norman tells Chuck that he has given up on Victor, because he has no compassion left. Chuck tells him that he shouldn't give up on his comic-book, because now he has a "killer villain". Realizing this may be true, he quickly leaves to find Victor. At the same time Andrea shows up at Victor's house, telling Victor that she still wants in on Carson's project. Victor reveals that there was never any project and that it was all a scheme, created by Victor for Carson, to get girls. An argument ensues, but is cut short by the arrival of Norman. As he enters, Andrea is not there, and Norman informs Victor he wants out of the partnership. He also accidentally reveals Chuck as his confidant. Norman leaves and then Andrea is shown to be paralyzed and hidden in the closet. He gets information on chuck from her and heads out to find him. Just after closing time, Victor breaks into Chuck's comic book store and kills Chuck. Victor breaks into Norman's house and demands that Norman help him steal money from Richmond Financial. The two break into the corporate building after dark. Victor reveals that Andrea is being help captive and threatens to hurt her if Norman doesn't continue to help. Before he begins hacking the company computer, he suggests they have an alcoholic drink. Norman only drinks a little, but while waiting a long time for Norman to do his work (Norman was actually stalling), Victor drinks nearly the rest of the bottle. Norman waits until Victor has passed out before going into the men's bathroom, where he takes off his suit to reveal that he is wearing the Victory Man costume. Norman releases Andrea and tells her to run. Then he tapes Victor to a rolling chair and rolls him to the elevator. While waiting for the elevator, Victor comes to, but isn't focused enough to use his powers. Norman reveals that he put sleeping pills into the scotch and that he's turning Victor in. As they talk, Victor regains his focus and attempts to push Norman down the elevator shaft. Before Victor can finish Norman off, however, Andrea returns and knocks him out with a fire extinguisher Norman is interrogated by the police. Norman tries to warn them of Victor's powers, but they refuse to believe it. As a result, Victor breaks free of his hand-cuffs, kills the guard and escapes. ===== The story takes place in the production order of the films, rather than the chronological order, starting with episodes 4-6 and ending with episodes 1-3. The bulk of the story concentrates on the character of Luke Seespotrun as he joins the Rebelend in their struggle against the nefarious forces of the Imperial Empire of the Imperium, trying to prevent them from enslaving the entire galaxy. Due to page restrictions the last three episodes are heavily abbreviated with Episode II being only three chapters and Episode III only one chapter long. ===== Soni Razdan is a budding actress. Naseeruddin Shah is a military man. Amol Palekar is an established actor. Shabana Azmi is a fellow actress. Ajit Vachani is a film producer and Pankaj Kapoor is his mentally unstable brother. Sushma Seth plays Mrs. Bhal, a retired actress now doing character roles and pushing her reluctant daughter into the film industry to obtain fame and fortune. The filming unit enters Pahalgam in Kashmir for their next film. Razdan mysteriously commits suicide. The police are about to call it an open and shut case when Shah enters the scene. He pretends to be a special officer sent to investigate the case, but subsequently his cover is blown. The police come to arrest him just as he about to accuse Mrs Bhal of Razdan's murder as he had found Razdan's missing earring hidden under Mrs Bhal's mattress in her hotel room. Shah then reveals his true identity as Razdan's estranged brother and states that some days before the "suicide", Razdan had sent him a letter that she had gotten the lead role for a prestigious project. As such, he refuses to believe that she committed suicide. The crew accept that Razdan had indeed got the coveted role, but they are less enthusiastic about co-operating now with the police and investigation of her murder. The only person who believes that Razdan was murdered is Azmi, who heard Razdan practising her lines until late at night. Azmi realises that Razdan was portraying a village girl who spoke no English, but that she had started shouting something in English before she became silent. She agrees to help Shah catch the culprit, and they join forces but more murders happen - first with Mrs Bhal is killed and then the male housekeeper. Eventually, all clues point to Vachchani, who confesses that his brother Kapoor killed Razdan in a rage when she spurned his advances. Vachchani confesses that he was just covering for him, because his brother was mentally ill. Kapoor goes on a shooting spree, killing Vachchani in the process. It seems like the mystery has been solved but Shah realizes two things : 1] Kapoor's revolver had already been emptied before he "shot" his brother dead. 2] Vachchani had posted a mysterious letter to his lawyer. Azmi knows where the actual gun used to kill Vachchani is but finds it missing from the props and costumes box. Who is behind all these murders? ===== Chennai-bred Yuvraj (Shanthnoo Bhagyaraj) has had four close friends from childhood. He meets and falls in love with Deepali (Ishita Sharma). However, his cousin Reema (Vedhika) is in love with him. After Deepali sees Yuvraj with Reema, she becomes jealous and ignores Yuvraj when he follows her. Then, Yuvraj and Deepali get back together. Later, she sees Yuvraj and Reema together, but it was an accident. Deepali starts ignoring him again. Yuvraj wants to prove that he was not with Reema, so his friends decide to throw a birthday party to mend the trio's fractured relationship. Deepali and Yuvraj finally unite. ===== Having narrowly escaped the self-destruction of the last redoubt they jumped to, Ryan Cawdor and his friends find themselves in the southwestern desert somewhere near the border of New Mexico and Texas. The group sets out South, hoping to find food and supplies, and possibly surviving "freezies" in a cryonics facility that the late Rick Ginsberg believed was located in the area. Soon the group comes to a prosperous ranch and are nearly shot by the residents, who have mistaken them for members of a local group of raiders. Once Ryan convinces the residents that they are not in any way associated with Skullface, the feared leader of the raiders, they are cautiously welcomed in. The ranch belongs to the Ballinger family, consisting of a widowed father, his two sons, and his daughter. The daughter, Christina, takes an immediate liking to Jak Lauren, but is impeded by her verbally and physically abusive father. That evening the men of the family are revealed to be serial rapists and murderers: the two brothers enter the room housing Krysty Wroth and Mildred Wyeth, plainly stating their intent to rape and kill them, while the father keeps armed watch outside. The women are able to kill the brothers while Jak silently kills their father. Christina, upon learning of the death of the rest of her family, says only one thing: "good." Continuing south, the companions link up with a West-bound wagon train, where they serve as scouts and protection against hostile mutants who roam the area. After several days of travel they bring the settlers to a seemingly abandoned town, but while most of the companions are out scouting for additional supplies the town's current residents return: Skullface and his gang of raiders. Everyone but the scouting party is captured, including Mildred and Dr. Theophilus Tanner. Doc is shaken to the core when he recognizes Skullface as none other than former sec-boss Cort Strasser. Strasser attempts to draw out Ryan and his friends, first by organizing a sweep of the town, then later by arranging a murderous lottery in revenge for the six gang members killed by Ryan and his friends during the sweep. Acting on Mildred's cue, the uncaptured companions attack during the final stages of the lottery. They kill more than half of Strasser's remaining gang, but not before those same men kill fully half the wagon train settlers in the chaotic firefight. The six companions reunite and head off after Strasser. The pursuit is long and marked by violence, with the companions narrowly evading ambushes and attacks as they pursue Strasser by railcar, then foot, and eventually on rafts down the wild flowing waters of the Grandee. Strasser takes Mildred hostage during one encounter and flees with her to a heavily damaged redoubt; his gang is completely wiped out by the time he reaches it, leaving him alone with Mildred. After the chase winds through the ruins of the redoubt, and after Strasser tries and fails (with Mildred's intervention) to kill Ryan with a long-range sniper rifle, Cort convinces Ryan to agree to a fight to the death, armed only with knives, to bring the pursuit to a final end. The fight takes place on a rapidly decaying wire bridge over perilous terrain riddled with quicksand, which greatly hampers both fighters. Finally Ryan deliberately causes the bridge to snap, dropping the two men to the ground below. Strasser lands in a quicksand pit, and as Ryan watches from relative safety Cort demands he be shot to end it quickly; Ryan refuses. Rather than face death by suffocation, Strasser slits his own throat. Although the redoubt is mostly destroyed, including the attached cryonics facility Ryan had hoped held survivors, the MAT-TRANS facility is undamaged. As the companions prepare to make the next jump Jak states that he is not going; Ryan correctly guesses that this is because Jak intends to stay with Christina Ballinger and start a family. Jak is given a fond farewell before he departs. The rest of the group enters the chamber and makes the jump to the next location. ===== ===== Alex Benedict receives word from a cousin that his uncle Gabriel was among the passengers on an interstellar that disappeared in Armstrong space. A package arrives from his uncle’s lawyers informing Alex that he is his uncle’s heir and giving Alex a sealed message from his uncle. Alex learns that his uncle had been working on a special archeological project that Alex is to pursue now that his uncle cannot. Alex must return to his uncle's home on Rimway and look in the “Leisha Tanner” file to recover relevant research and notes. The message does not discuss the nature of the project, other than to mention Hugh Scott, an old acquaintance. However, en route to Rimway, Alex learns that his uncle’s house has been burgled and, when he arrives, that the Tanner file is missing and all of his uncle's computerized records have been destroyed. From this point onward, the story follows two increasingly intertwined threads, a mystery in the present and a history narrated in the backstory. The mystery is the nature of Uncle Gabe’s project, which Alex works to discover. As Alex does so, he becomes increasingly immersed in the history of the Resistance and its principal leader and hero, Christopher Sim. The story switches back and forth between the developing mystery and the historical narrative. Alex visits the local police inspector and learns that the burglars apparently wanted only the Tanner file. The inspector, a social friend of Alex's uncle, can shed little light on Gabe’s project other than to note that Alex's uncle seemed distracted for the three months before his death and that he had become a “nut” on the subject of Christopher Sim and the Resistance. Chase Kolpath visits Alex at his uncle's house. Before disappearing, Gabriel Benedict had hired Ms. Kolpath to investigate the last flight of the Tenandrome, Hugh Scott's Planetary Survey ship, and then meet Gabe at a world near the Veiled Lady star cluster and pilot them to an unspecified destination. Alex's uncle disappeared before reaching his destination, and owed Ms. Kolpath a considerable sum. Alex agrees to pay what his uncle owed her and asks her to assist him in his investigations. From the planned logistics of the trip, Ms. Kolpath estimates that they were to travel from 800 to 1,500 light years distance. Chase doesn’t know Gabe’s objective, only that it had something to do with the Tenandrome. That ship had explored the Veiled Lady about three years before Gabe’s death and returned unexpectedly early. “Apparently, they saw something. . . Gabe wanted to know what, but I could never find out.” Alex researches the Tenandrome flight but finds no indication of anything unusual besides a mechanical breakdown. He then attempts to visit Hugh Scott, but finds that Scott has been away from home for months. One of his neighbors notes that Scott’s personality has changed since the Tenandrome flight. Like Alex's uncle, Scott has become obsessed by the Resistance and Christopher Sim. Alex gradually learns more of the history of the Resistance and is puzzled by the fact that during the war Sim’s forces, and especially Sim himself, appear to have been present and in action at widely separated locations virtually simultaneously. He contacts the local Ashiyyur representative office to review Ashiyyur records of the war, which might shed some light on the problem. Alex meets S’Kalian and experiences mind-to-mind contact for the first time. He learns that the Ashiyyur are aware of the “problem” of Sim’s nearly simultaneous appearances in distant places and account for it as human scholars have done, by assuming that Sim’s fleet included as many as three other Dellacondan vessels disguised as the Corsarius, Sim's ship, as a form of psychological warfare. Dellaconda itself is the next destination, as Chase and Alex continue their hunt for Hugh Scott. Alex visits Christopher Sim’s home and the school where he taught before the war; both are maintained as shrines to his memory. He locates and meets with Hugh Scott, in spite of Scott’s obvious reluctance. Scott will not say anything about theTenandrome mission, except to confirm that the survey ship found something and that there was a good reason to keep it secret. Alex startles Scott by guessing that the Tenadrome had found a Dellacondan warship, but Scott will say no more. The mystery begins to unravel. Alex and Chase decide that whatever the Tenandrome found, Lesha Tanner had found it first, 200 years before. Alex has an inspiration – the location of the missing something is obliquely described in a poem by Walford Candles, to whom Tanner must have confided the secret. A collection of Candles' poems, Rumors of Earth, had been in Uncle Gabe’s bedroom when Alex returned, and was open to that poem. Gabriel Benedict must have had the same insight. Alex is able to find the university researcher who helped his uncle work with the clues in Candles’ poem and who identifies a location about 1,300 light years into the Veiled Lady as the primary locus of search. Alex and Chase rent a ship and begin a two-month journey through Armstrong space. At their destination, they find a red dwarf star with two planets in its habitable zone. One appears to be a terrestrial world and they move toward it. From a distance, they are able to see something artificial orbiting this world. Moving closer, they can see first that it is a ship, then that it is a warship, and then that it is a Dellacondan warship. Finally, they can make out clearly the ship’s insignia – the famous markings of Corsarius, Christoper Sim’s own. They board the ship and find that the Corsarius has power and appears functional. Indeed, the ship appears virtually normal, aside from a few mechanical malfunctions due to age. They play back the captain’s log, and unexpectedly find that it ends before the battle at Rigel at which Sim died. They listen to the whole record and hear a Sim’s-eye view of the history of the Resistance. It becomes clear that as time had passed, Sim became increasingly angry at the shortsightedness of the major human worlds and increasingly disturbed by the casualties among “our finest and bravest.” Toward the end, “his anger flared: there will be a Confederacy one day, . . . but they will not construct it on the bodies of my men.” Gradually, Alex works out the answer. Christopher Sim became disillusioned with the war and wanted to sue for peace. His brother Tarien and other Resistance leaders seized him and marooned him on this planet to keep him from surrendering. Alex confirms this by searching the planet in a lander and finding Sim’s camp. There is no indication there what happened to Sim. Chase reports from orbit that an Ashiyyur warship is inbound at high speed. Then another appears, slowing to make orbit around Sim's world of exile. Alex warns Chase to abandon their rented ship for the Corsarius; she does so just before the first Ashiyyur warship destroys their rented ship. Alex joins her and learns that the Armstrong drive on the Corsarius won’t be fully charged for about a day. Their problem is to stay alive until the Armstrong drive is ready. They borrow a classic maneuver from one of Sim’s battles and leave orbit at high speed headed directly toward the incoming Ashiyyur warship, which cannot slow its speed quickly enough to meet them. It uses lasers to disable Corsarius' magnetic drives; Chase realizes too late that she has forgotten to raise the ship’s shields. The Ashiyyur warship reverses its trajectory and reaches them about ten hours before they can jump. It demands their surrender. Through a strategem, Alex and Chase are able to fire Corsarius’ major weapons at it, damaging it badly and forcing it to flee. Ten hours later, the interstellar drive activates. It is not an Armstrong drive but something else, product of Rashim Machesney’s genius. In an eye blink, Corsarius is in orbit around Rimway, and safe. The huge (if temporary) technological advantage conferred on humanity by the new drive ends the human-Ashiyyur rivalry; the Perimeter stabilizes and more peaceful relations develop between the two civilizations. In an epilogue to the novel, the reader learns, with Hugh Scott, that Christopher Sim did not die on the planet where he was marooned. Sim was rescued by Leisha Tanner and lived afterward under the assumed identity of Jerome Courtney, spending considerable time as a respected lay brother at a Catholic monastery on an isolated planet. There, he continued to write on various historical and philosophical subjects. ===== Renji is a rogue angel who seems to know only how to fight. God banishes Renji to earth for his recklessness. He can only return on one condition - if he is able to save ten thousand human souls. God sends an elite angel, Kaito, to watch over him and help him with his mission. Renji's abilities are dampened before his mission because his power would be too potent for earth. In order to save the ten thousand souls, God has granted Renji the power of Soul Rescue. This power enables him to relieve souls of emotional damage and heal physical damage. The power of Soul Rescue lies hidden somewhere within Renji, and he must find it in order to use it. ===== The story begins 40 years after the events depicted in the original Hawaii as a new generation of Americans and Asians must deal with a changing island and world. One of them is a sea captain. Whipple "Whip" Hoxworth returns home to Hawaii to find his grandfather (Captain Rafer Hoxworth in the preceding film) has died and left his fortune to Hoxworth's cousin, Micah Hale. Whip, the black sheep of his otherwise very conservative and disapproving family, starts a plantation, staffing it with newly arrived Chinese indentured servants Mun Ki, and his second wife/concubine Nyuk Tsin. Mun Ki fathers children with Nyuk Tsin, all the while dreaming of returning to China and his first and officially "real" wife. Nyuk Tsin has other ideas. For the remainder of the story she is referred to as "Wu Chow's Auntie". Wu Chow is their firstborn son, and the nickname serves to support the traditional fiction that Mun Ki's official spouse in China is the "real" mother of his children. Whip steals valuable pineapples from French Guiana in the hope that they will grow in Hawaii. He gives the forlorn plants to Wu Chow's Auntie, knowing that she has a "green thumb". When she succeeds in nurturing the plants into flourishing, the overjoyed Whip offers to buy her some land as a reward. Over Mun Ki's opposition, she accepts. This is the first step in the rise of both Whip and Wu Chow's Auntie, as well as of the pineapple industry in Hawaii. Meanwhile, Whip marries native Hawaiian, Purity, and has a son with her. However, because of her inbred royal Hawaiian ancestry, she is mentally fragile. Eventually, her mind gives way, and she can no longer abide to live with Whip. Their son Noel grows to manhood experiencing an uneasy relationship with his father. When Mun Ki contracts leprosy, Wu Chow's Auntie accompanies him to the leper colony on Molokai. Upon Mun Ki's death years later, she returns to be reunited and reacquainted with her now-grown, educated, and prospering children. A complication arises when Noel falls in love with Wu Chow's Auntie's only daughter. Neither parent approves of the marriage, but in the end, they grudgingly accept it. ===== The film is about the day in the life of two detectives (Robert Forster as Lieutenant Matt Lewis, Ward Costello as Captain Lloyd Bryant, and later Don Johnson as Sergeant Brian Scott) in Los Angeles solving (in this particular case) a crime where a man is killed for unknown reasons, coming to find an unstable young man (Mark Hamill as Eugene Banks) with a deep hatred against a famous country singer (Jimmy Dean as Wes Collins). ===== The short play is set in Honest Sancho's Used Mexican Lot and Mexican Curio Shop, a fictional Californian store that apparently sells various "models" (robots) of stereotypical Mexicans and Mexican-Americans that buyers can manipulate by simply snapping their fingers and calling out commands. The action of the play revolves around "The Secretary," a character by the name of Miss Jiménez, who converses with Honest Sancho, the owner of the store. Sancho says her name with Spanish pronunciation ( or, roughly, ), though she chastises him for speaking bad English, demanding that it be pronounced as the Anglicized . Miss Jiménez explains to the courteous Honest Sancho that she is a secretary for Governor Reagan and that his administration is looking to purchase "a Mexican type" to appeal to a lower income crowd. Sancho shows the Secretary four different models, snapping his fingers in order to bring them to life and demonstrate their behaviors. Although Miss Jiménez is herself evidently a Chicana (Mexican-American), she seems completely ignorant to the cultural stereotypes displayed in each of the four buyable characters. First, Sancho shows her the sturdy Farm Worker, but she refuses to buy him because he speaks no English. Second, they examine the "Johnny Pachuco," a 1950s Chicano gang member model who is violent, profane, and drug-abusing, though an easy scapegoat and perfect to brutalize. Third, when Miss Jiménez asks for a more romantic model, they come to the Revolucionario, one of the glorified bandit/martyrs of early Californian history; however, she denies him when she learns that he is completely Mexican and not even American-made. Finally, they come to the most contemporary Mexican-American model, named "Eric Garcia": a well-dressed and exciting public speaker who is university-educated, ambitious, bilingual, and polite. Miss Jiménez very reluctantly agrees to buy Eric for $15,000, when suddenly he begins staging a vocal protest in Spanish: "¡Viva la raza! ¡Viva la huelga! ¡Viva la revolución!" (Long live the people! Long live the strike! Long live the revolution!). Soon he snaps the three other models awake and they join in his miniature uprising. After Jiménez flees in fright, the four models converse among each other, revealing that they, in fact, are not robots, but rather, living human beings. They leave the lot and share the money amongst themselves, and Sancho stays still; it is he who is the robot. One of the people take him for an oil job and the play ends. ===== Murphy plays a successful Broadway musical comedy producer named Johnnie Demming. He needs a star for his new show. He's smitten with the glamorous film star, Helen Hoyt (Simms), and offers the part to her, but she turns him down because she wants to be sure she's in a hit. Johnnie's father (Winninger), retired from vaudeville, wants to do his own show. He gets his daughter, Patsy (DeHaven) and also Helen. Johnnie feels betrayed by his father. The film is very loosely based on the Broadway musical Very Warm for May (1939). However, all the songs from the musical except for "All the Things You Are" were left out of the film. Some of the songs from the movie are by the writers of the original musical, Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II: * All the Things You Are * That Lucky Fellow * In Other Words, Seventeen * All in Fun ===== Gorgibus wants at all costs to marry Lucile to the old Villebrequin. However, Lucile loves Valère. Entrusting his love to Lucile's cousin Sabine and his valet Sganarelle (who takes on a double role as both himself and his twin "doctor" brother"), Valère is going to need all the help he can get to solve this problem. ===== The story tells of the experience of a man, Herbert, on his way to meet his girlfriend Guenevere, who experiences what seems to be a macabre vision of various skeletons, each of whom advances with a skeleton child in its arms. The ninth skeleton (of the title) has no infant skeleton, but is still in the grave, and attempts to pull the narrator in. However, he awakes to normal reality, apparently due to the touch of Guenevere on his arm. The opening of the story features an accurate description of the area of Boulder Ridge in Auburn, California where Smith lived most of his early life. ===== While driving home from his London office in his Rover P5B, Harold Pelham, a director of Freeman, Pelham & Dawson, a marine technology company and very conservative creature of habit, seems to undergo a sudden personality change and starts to drive both fast and recklessly on his way home, imagining himself in a sports car, and ending in a serious high-speed crash. On the operating table he briefly suffers clinical death, after which there briefly appear to be two heartbeats on the monitor. After he recovers from the accident Pelham notices odd things occurring and people acting strangely, and he gradually finds his life in turmoil. Friends, colleagues and acquaintances claim to have seen him in places where he has no memory of being or doing things he can't recall, involving behaving in rash ways quite unlike his usual character. When he gets home from work, a friend is at his house for a drink which he doesn't recall arranging, and an attractive girl at the company swimming pool casts him a knowing glance. At bedtime he and his wife have a somewhat tense but amicable discussion about their recent lack of a love life. His wife also notices a mysterious silver car (a Lamborghini Islero) which she sees parked outside their house, but gives it no further thought. The driver of the car is then seen lighting a cigarette and snapping the match stick in half after he blows it out, exactly as Pelham does. There seems to be a spy at work trying to force a merger with a rival company. Pelham drives to the research and development centre in Rugby to try and see where the leak began. Soon he suspects there is a "double" masquerading as him. On a night out at the company club with his wife, he hopes to energise their relationship by indulging her request to go gambling, but he is tense and clearly not interested. As they are about to leave he bumps into the attractive girl, who sees his wife a short distance away and says "I didn't know you were married." His wife notices the exchange and is furious, suspecting the worst. She threatens to leave him. He finds out where the girl lives and confronts her; confused, she makes it clear that "he" was having an affair with her. He angrily denies the affair; the woman, hurt and almost hysterical, yells at him to leave. At his usual the barber‘s he is told, "I cut your hair yesterday". At work Pelham finds out that apparently he was supporting a merger that he now opposes with the board. He confronts an executive of the other company, who explains how the two of them had clandestinely arranged the deal in a series of meetings, to "his" (the double's) benefit as well as the company's, when "he" revealed a "top secret" technology breakthrough his company was about to make. When he confronts the rival firm (run by Ashton) he is reminded of three secret meetings: at the top of The Monument; in the London Planetarium; and in a boat on The Serpentine. He phones home and due to a misunderstanding, his butler Luigi thinks he is asking for Mr Pelham. Luigi says "I will just get him". He drives home quickly. Distraught and unable to explain the unfolding events, he consults a psychiatrist, Dr Harris, and undergoes extended treatment in his clinic, where Harris explains that he doesn't believe Pelham is mad but perhaps was acting out of a subconscious desire to break out of his obsessively rigid lifestyle. He agrees to be admitted to the psychiatrist’s clinic for a few days’ observation. On his discharge the doctor persuades him to adopt some less conventional behaviour, so he goes to work dressed quite differently. However, during his time away, the double finalised the merger and took his wife out on the town, culminating in their going home and sleeping together. Pelham calls his home from the office and is astonished when the phone is answered by someone claiming to be himself. On edge, he drives to his house as quickly as possible, and inside comes face to face with his double, who calmly insists he is the real Pelham, pointing out the uncharacteristic clothes the visitor is wearing. The family and his best friend are all there and side with the double. After asking the others to let the two of them speak alone, the double tells the "real" Pelham that the new clothes were a mistake, and explains how on the operating table the double was "let out" but there is only room in this world for one of them. Both insist they will go to the police. The real Pelham drives off in his Rover in a greatly agitated state. The double immediately leaves and pursues him in the sports car. Dr Harris happens to see both men and is shocked. After a high-speed chase in the rain, the two cars race towards each other on a bridge. The real Pelham swerves off into the river, and just before he hits the water his image fades away. The double stops and looks down into the water, and then, to the audible sound of a double heartbeat, he briefly clutches his chest as if in extreme pain, but the spasm soon passes and he becomes calm: there is only one Pelham again. ===== In 1940, after the fall of France, the fictitious Channel Island of Armorel is occupied by a small garrison of German troops under the benign command of Hauptmann Weiss (George Coulouris). He finds that the hereditary ruler, the Suzerain, is away in the British army, leaving the Provost in charge. Back in London, the Ministry of Agriculture realise that during the evacuation of the island, Venus, a prize pedigree cow, has been left behind. They petition the War Office to do something urgently due to the value of the cow's bloodline, and Major Morland (David Niven), is assigned the task of rescuing Venus. When he realises that the Suzerain's sister, Nicola Fallaize (Glynis Johns) is in Wales, serving as an Auxiliary Territorial Service army cook, she is quickly posted to the War Office and the two, with a radio operator sergeant and a Channel Islander naval officer who knows the local waters, are landed on the island. They contact the Provost and discover that the Hauptmann, a cattle breeder in civilian life, is about to have the cow shipped to Germany. In a race against the Germans discovering their presence, they spirit the cow onto a beach and via a special craft, onto a Royal Navy Motor Torpedo Boat which takes them to Britain, though they are pursued by German E-boat. ===== Sarah follows the story of Abraham through the eyes and perspective of Sarah. The Biblical account of the life of Sarah is contained in Genesis 12 - 22 (about 16 pages) most of which is centered on Abraham. Card expands the story into a novel of over 300 pages, so many of the details and characters are fictional. He also seems to use the Book of Abraham, a section of the LDS Standard Works. The core story-line does not deviate from the story told in Genesis and the Book of Abraham, although some of the details are reinterpreted. Sarah begins life as a princess of Ur in Mesopotamia. She is hard-working and humble especially compared to her older sister Qira. Sarai is promised to become a priestess for the goddess Asherah, while Qira is to marry a desert prince named Lot. Sarai's thoughts on a life as a priestess change when Lot arrives with his uncle Abram who promises Sarai that he'll come back and marry her. ===== In 1907, in a Central American country called San Miguel, Maria II (Brigitte Bardot), the daughter of an Irish Republican anarchist, meets Maria I (Jeanne Moreau), the singer of a circus. After her father dies, Maria II hides in the circus where she sees Maria I's partner commit suicide after a failed love affair. Both Marias agree to form a theatrical team. In her debut as a singer, Maria II accidentally invents striptease, an action that lets the circus achieve great fame. Shortly afterwards the Marias meet Florès (George Hamilton), a socialist revolutionary. He invites them to join his cause, a revolution against "El Dictador" (José Ángel Espinoza). But Florès is soon shot. On his deathbed he makes Maria I promise to carry through with his cause and she agrees. Though at first reluctant to acquiesce to Florès' and Maria I's endeavor, Maria II joins the cause when she comes to the aid of her vulnerable friend. The rest of the film concerns the revolution. After Maria I leads her men into an ambush, and Maria II saves them, the women create a peasant army, organizing the countryside into a quasi-Socialist state. There are numerous sight gags and comic actions. Preparing to take the capital city, the Marias are captured by Catholic churchmen who fear the disorder of a revolution and want to stop the people from treating the women like saints. After a bungled attempt to tickle torture them (the Inquisition's equipment is too old to work well) the Marias are rescued by their victorious army. Finally they move to France, where the circus is recreated as a successful musical version of the revolution. The women now wear dark wigs to look more "Latin American". ===== The film's theme of immurement draws inspiration from Balzac's "La Grande Bretêche",Gunning, 1994, pp. 177-178 and Edgar Allan Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado". The king constructs a cozy, windowless love-nest for himself and his concubine. However, she is not faithful to her sovereign, but consorts with the court troubadour. In fact, they use the king's new play chamber for their trysts. When the king discovers this, he sends for his masons. With the faithless duo still inside, the masons use stone and mortar to quietly seal the only door to the vault. The two lovers suffocate and the film ends. ===== During a rainstorm, a reckless car driver causes the collision of a bus and a truck on a two-lane road between Zagreb and Belgrade. The film covers the events on the bus and the truck leading up to the crash, and the lives of the characters who end up in the crash. ===== The episode begins with Brutus and Cassius on their march through Greece with their army of 100,000 soldiers to challenge Octavian. Cassius is worried about the grain supply for their army, whereas Brutus is cheerful, having spent time getting to know the men and jubilantly talking about saving the Republic. In Cisalpine Gaul Marc Antony, Lepidus and Octavian are devising a plan to surprise Brutus and Cassius. They believe their enemies do not know that they are reunited and hope to overcome Brutus and Cassius with an unexpectedly large army. Octavian comes up with a list of supporters of Brutus in Rome and proposes to send the list to Lucius Vorenus and order him to have them killed. Lepidus objects to the killing of some of the most honorable men in Rome but is turned down by the prospect of the money the killing would bring to them. They resolve to march to Greece and leave Lepidus in Rome. In Rome, Lucius Vorenus divides up the names from the list among the gangs he controls. He makes them an offer to loot the houses of each victim and take as much as they can carry. Titus Pullo gets the order to kill Cicero, but Vorenus insists on "no looting on this name" to show some respect. He also asks the gang leaders about what to do with the expected wealth, and proposes to distribute fish and bread to the people as a gesture of good will by the collegium. After some debate (and Memmio speaking in favor of the proposal) it is accepted. Meanwhile Vorenus' daughter Vorena is receiving gifts from a stranger whose ulterior motive is to woo her at Memmio's order. While in Rome, Agrippa is greeted by Octavia who reveals that she reciprocates his feelings for her, but Agrippa tries to dissuade her stating that he is lowborn and can never marry Octavia. Regardless the two begin a love affair that Atia recognizes but agrees to keep silent about. While Titus Pullo prepares for the killing of Cicero, he is teased by Gaia. When asked about it by his wife Eirene, he suddenly proposes to take her and Vorenus and his whole family to the lovely countryside where Cicero is living. Just as the company starts their picnic, Titus and two men are leaving them to get their job done. While playing with his children, Vorenus wishes him good luck. Cicero receives news of Mark Antony and Octavian being reunited, and immediately begins scribbling a message to Brutus just as Titus Pullo arrives at the front door. He manages to finish the messages just before Pullo finds him. When Pullo enters, both men exchange pleasantries in an extraordinarily respectful manner. Cicero briefly tries to bribe Pullo, but he declines with a smile. Cicero asks for a few minutes to compose himself and while he is watching an eagle flies overhead. Pullo amicably asks for some of the peaches growing in the atrium of Cicero's estate, then executes him with a gladiatorial thrust down through the neck. The messenger Cicero sent is stopped by Vorenus, and almost killed for nearly trampling little Lucius, but then allowed to go on his way—he has, however, dropped his vital letter from Cicero, which Vorenus does not see, but the children find it and fold it into a paper crown. In Rome, Octavian and Posca are debating some additional names to be added to their killing list on the wishes of Mark Antony. When Octavian rejects them, stating he would prefer not to appear as a butcher, Agrippa leaves in disgust. Outside, Agrippa meets Octavia, and after solving some misunderstandings, they kiss for the first time and later have sex in a hired brothel room. The next day, Octavian and Agrippa set off with their troops to Greece to meet Brutus and Cassius. An assembly of Jews discusses the attempt of Herod to bribe the Romans, depending on which side wins the civil war. Levi, the brother of Timon, strongly objects to such plans. The assembly ends in a turmoil with Levi jubilant at his alleged success and the fact that Timon has finally rejected his Roman ways and resumed his Jewish heritage. Titus Pullo is ashamed about not participating in Octavian's campaign because he feels himself to still be a soldier. Vorenus tries to console him, envisioning great things that they both could do, but Pullo remains wary. Later on, he discusses the topic with his wife Eirene, but resolves to stay in Rome. Eirene then reveals to Pullo that she is pregnant. Brutus and Cassius are in their camp near Philippi in Greece, and receive word from the scouts that the combined force of Mark Antony and Octavian is only a day's march away. Moreover, they are outnumbered, with their 14 legions to Octavian's and Antony's combined 19 legions. Cassius immediately orders to break camp and begin the retreat. Brutus objects and convinces Cassius to accept the battle, there and then, saying, "No more running." The armies are about to engage and Mark Antony commences the fighting with the words: "Let's have some fun." In the ensuing bloodbath, Mark Antony and Octavian prevail. A mortally wounded Cassius is brought to Brutus whose remaining forces begin to disintegrate. After Cassius dies, Brutus tells one of his soldiers to "give his mother his best" and to say "something suitable." He then kisses his father's ring, looks to the gods, and resolves to go down fighting. He then strips off his armor, and walks alone towards the advancing forces of Mark Antony, wounding a single soldier before being felled. He dies in a fashion deliberately reminiscent of Caesar's assassination, being stabbed repeatedly by a surrounding mob of soldiers. Mark Antony and Octavian ride over the battlefield and indulge in their victory. They hope to recover the bodies of Brutus and Cassius, but only the latter is found—the former has had his ring looted by a local beggar as the two rode by unaware. ===== When former supervisor Evžen Huml, now on disability pension, returns from the spa to the small flat where he lives with the rest of his family in the small room behind the bathroom, he decides to move out of Prague to the peaceful countryside. He buys a cottage in the village of Třešňová, but there is one problem — there is still one former tenant in his dream cottage, Bohouš Císař, a pensioner too, who doesn't want to leave. Their adventures begin. ===== Mark Walsh, a young war photographer, returns to New York in 1989 after being injured in Kurdistan whilst on assignment. He had spent a few frightening days in the recovery ward of a dilapidated, overcrowded hospital inside a cave, but can this explain his sleeplessness, distraction, his wounds' inability to heal? Elena, Mark's Spanish girlfriend, grows more and more alarmed by his strange behavior, while she also tries to calm her pregnant friend Diane, whose photographer husband has gone missing in the same war zone. As Mark continues to deteriorate, Elena's grandfather sweeps onto the scene. Joaquin is the last person from whom Elena wants to accept help; once very close to him, she ended all contact after learning of his role in "purifying" conscience-stricken officers after the Spanish Civil War. In treating Mark, Joaquin sees a way back into his granddaughter's life, and, despite Elena's disapproval, the two men begin to forge an extraordinary relationship. Eventually, all three travel to Joaquin's manor home in Granada, Spain so that Mark can find a safe haven in which to heal. It is in this romantic and haunted Spanish valley where both men's secrets surface with life-altering force and where Mark and Elena attempt to know and love each other again, with the discovery of her grandfather's secrets of the incurables and of Mark's knowing that Colin is dead and that he could not save him. ===== In 19th-century England, a youth born into poverty named Dio Brando is adopted by the wealthy George Joestar to repay a family debt to Dio's father Dario, who died in 1880. Jonathan Joestar, who aspires to become a gentleman, is shunned by his family and friends, whom Dio manipulates as part of his plot to take the Joestar fortune for himself. After Jonathan overpowers Dio in a battle, Dio gets revenge by murdering Jonathan's pet dog Danny, before biding his time. Jonathan and Dio develop an interest in a mysterious stone mask that reacted to Dio's blood being spilt in the battle, which was used by the Aztecs to bring the wearer immortality. In 1888, after becoming old enough to inherit the Joestar fortune, Dio deliberately poisons George. Jonathan's search for an antidote takes him to Ogre Street, a dangerous street in London, where he befriends a thug named Robert E. O. Speedwagon. At the same time, Dio intends to arrange a freak accident to kill Jonathan with the stone mask and tests the mask on a drunkard. The mask instead turns the drunkard into a powerful vampire who nearly kills Dio before being destroyed by sunlight. Jonathan and Speedwagon return to the mansion with an antidote and expose Dio's scheme. Dio attempts to kill Jonathan with a knife but George sacrifices his life to save Jonathan. Dio uses the blood spilt by George and the mask to become a vampire. Jonathan sets the Joestar family's mansion on fire and impales Dio on a statue in the burning mansion, but Dio survives. Will A. Zeppeli, a man who intends to destroy the stone mask after it caused his father's death, teaches Jonathan how to use a supernatural energy produced by controlled breathing called Then, on November 30, 1888, Jonathan, Speedwagon, and Zeppeli travel to Wind Knights Lot, where Dio is creating an army of zombies. Zeppeli is mortally wounded by one of these zombies, Tarkus, and passes the last of his Hamon energy on to Jonathan before dying. Joined by Zeppeli's fellow Hamon users, on December 1, 1888, Jonathan destroys Dio's body by sending Hamon directly through him. Dio decapitates his head to survive the Hamon attack. Speedwagon destroys the stone mask. On February 2, 1889, Jonathan marries his childhood love Erina. The next day, they leave on a ship to America on their honeymoon. Dio sneaks aboard the ship, intending to transplant himself onto Jonathan's body. On February 7, 1889, Dio mortally wounds Jonathan. Jonathan uses the last of his Hamon to manipulate the body of Dio's servant Wang Chan into obstructing the ship's paddle wheel, setting it to explode. Jonathan dies with Dio's head in his arms. Erina escapes in the coffin that Dio hid in with a dead passenger's baby girl. Rescued near the Canary Islands two days later, Erina vows to pass on the truth of Jonathan's life to her unborn child and the generations to follow. ===== The story begins in 1988, centered on Jotaro Kujo, grandson of Joseph Joestar. Jotaro has been arrested, and refuses to leave his cell, believing he is possessed by an evil spirit. After being called by Holly, Joseph's daughter and Jotaro's mother, Joseph arrives with an associate, Mohammed Avdol. They explain that Jotaro’s "evil spirit" is actually a manifestation of his fighting spirit, called a Stand, and reveal that they possess Stands as well. Joseph explains that the sudden appearance of their Stands is caused by the nemesis of his grandfather, Jonathan Joestar: Dio Brando, now referred to as DIO. DIO has awoken his own Stand (thus awakening the Stands of the rest of the Joestar bloodline) and recruited Stand-using assassins to kill Jonathan's remaining descendants. Soon after, Jotaro defeats the first of these assassins, Noriaki Kakyoin, managing to rescue him from the influence of DIO's parasitic flesh bud. Holly soon becomes gravely ill due to a Stand manifesting in her, which is slowly killing her due to her reserved personality. With little hesitation, Jotaro, Joseph, Avdol, and Kakyoin begin a journey to Egypt to kill DIO and save Holly's life. On the way, they are joined by another reformed assassin named Jean Pierre Polnareff, who seeks to avenge his sister, whose murderer is among DIO's forces. Forced to travel on foot after DIO's assassins manage to foil their travel by plane and ship, the group encounter Hol Horse and the murderer of Polnareff's sister, J. Geil, in Calcutta, with Avdol seemingly killed during the confrontation. Polnareff kills J. Geil with Kakyoin's help, and the remaining group travels further into Pakistan. After defeating Geil's mother, a DIO loyalist named Enya, the group reach the Red Sea, where Polnareff learns Avdol faked his death to acquire a submarine that allows them to reach Egypt. Upon arriving in Abu Simbel, the heroes are joined by Iggy, a Boston Terrier with a Stand of his own, while facing the first of eight assassins with Stands named after Egyptian deities (rather than the tarot theme of before). Kakyoin is wounded in an ambush, and is taken to a hospital to recuperate. After the group defeats several more Stand users while reaching Cairo, Iggy discovers and leads them to DIO's mansion, with Kakyoin rejoining them. At the mansion's entrance, the party is split up, with Polnareff avenging Avdol and Iggy when they are killed by DIO's vampirized servant, Vanilla Ice. Jotaro, Joseph, Kakyoin, and Polnareff ultimately encounter DIO, and escape his mansion. A chase across Cairo follows, leading to Kakyoin confronting DIO and his Stand, The World. Though fatally wounded by The World, Kakyoin deduces the Stand's ability to stop time for a few seconds and relays it to Joseph before dying. Joseph is able to pass it on to Jotaro, but is fatally wounded by DIO who uses his blood to increase the duration of his ability. Jotaro then fights DIO alone, slowly discovering that he shares DIO's time-stopping ability, due to Star Platinum having similar abilities and stats to The World. The battle ends with Jotaro defeating DIO using the ability, transfusing DIO's blood back into Joseph, before destroying the vampire for good. Jotaro and Joseph then bid Polnareff farewell before returning to Japan, as Holly has made a full recovery. ===== In 1999, in the town of Morioh located in S-City, M-Prefecture, a freshman named Koichi Hirose meets a man looking for Josuke Higashikata, a popular boy in high school. Josuke, who is the illegitimate child of Joseph Joestar, soon encounters the man, who introduces himself as Jotaro Kujo. Jotaro's arrival in Morioh pulls Josuke into the world of the supernatural powers known as Stands, as he becomes involved in Jotaro's search for the Stand-creating Bow and Arrow; Josuke himself is revealed to possess the Stand Crazy Diamond, which has the ability to return any object or living creature (except himself or any deceased being) to a previous state. Josuke and Koichi eventually come across a pair of Stand-using brothers, Okuyasu and Keicho Nijimura. Keicho is revealed to be the one possessing the Bow to create Stand users, turning Koichi into one. After he and his brother are defeated, Keicho is killed by the Stand Red Hot Chili Pepper, which takes the Bow and Arrow. Okuyasu joins with Josuke's group to avenge his brother, encountering several other Stand users before they eventually find and defeat Akira Otoishi, Red Hot Chili Pepper's user, as Joseph arrives in Morioh. The Bow and Arrow are taken into Jotaro's custody and all seems to be over for the moment. Soon afterward, after Josuke spends time with Joseph, the group encounters other Stand users such as eccentric manga artist Rohan Kishibe, middle schooler Shigekiyo "Shigechi" Yangu and an aesthetician named Aya Tsuji. Koichi and Kishibe later stumble across the mysterious Ghost Street where they meet the ghosts of Reimi Sugimoto and her dog Arnold, learning that they were murdered a decade ago by a serial killer who is still lurking in Morioh. The culprit is eventually revealed to be a handsome office worker named Yoshikage Kira, who seeks to satisfy his murderous urges while living a peaceful, quiet life. Kira has acquired a Stand named Killer Queen, possessing the ability to turn anything it touches into a bomb. When his act of murdering Shigechi to conceal himself backfires (resulting in a brief battle with Jotaro and Koichi in which he is injured), Kira uses Aya to assume the identity of a man named Kosaku Kawajiri, kills them both, and disappears. Kira's father Yoshihiro uses a second Bow and Arrow to create an army of Stand users to protect his son, including a dying cat that reincarnated as a Stand-plant hybrid named Stray Cat, which shoots bubbles of compressed air at its target. Kosaku Kawajiri's son Hayato begins to suspect that his father has been replaced by an impostor and confronts Kira, who responds by impulsively murdering Hayato. In a panic that he will be discovered, Kira is pierced by Yoshihiro's Arrow a second time, giving Kira's Stand a new ability which revives Hayato. The following morning, Hayato is approached by Rohan, who is investigating whether Kira has assumed Kosaku Kawajiri's identity. After using his Stand to read Hayato's memories, Rohan is blown up by a miniature version of Killer Queen, which had been implanted into Hayato; Hayato suddenly finds himself back in bed on the same morning, one hour earlier. Kira explains that he has infused Hayato with his new ability Bites the Dust, which kills anyone who asks Hayato for Kira's identity and rewinds time by one hour afterward, with the victim's fate cemented regardless of Hayato's attempts to prevent it. The next loop ends with Josuke, Jotaro, Okuyasu, and Koichi all exploding as well; Hayato wakes up once again, and must get Kira to turn off Bites the Dust within one hour in order to prevent the others' deaths from becoming permanent. Hayato takes advantage of his knowledge of the time loop to wake Josuke up early and arrange for him to overhear Kira blowing his cover, forcing Kira to cancel Bites the Dust just in time to save the group. Josuke, with help from Hayato and Okuyasu, engages Kira and Stray Cat in a pitched battle; Yoshihiro is blown up after Josuke tricks Kira into targeting him. As Jotaro, Koichi, and Rohan arrive on the scene, Kira attempts to use a paramedic to activate Bites the Dust and rewind time once more, but is stopped by Koichi and Jotaro. Kira is accidentally run over by an arriving ambulance and dies, with Reimi subsequently forcing her killer's soul into being dragged into the underworld. Her mission accomplished, Reimi gives the group her final farewells and moves on to the afterlife. The next day, Jotaro and Joseph return home as the summer of 1999 draws to a close for the residents of Morioh, and a conclusion to all the stand users in Morioh. ===== In 2001, Koichi Hirose arrives in Naples, Italy at Jotaro Kujo's request to obtain a skin sample from a young man named Haruno Shiobana to confirm him as the son of Dio Brando, conceived with Jonathan Joestar's body prior to the events of Stardust Crusaders. Koichi ends up being scammed by Haruno, who now goes by the name Giorno Giovanna, and whose Stand Gold Experience allows him to transform inanimate objects into living organisms. After Giorno fends off an assault from gang member Leaky-Eye Luca, Stand-wielding mafioso Bruno Bucciarati attacks Giorno in order to avenge Luca's defeat. Giorno wins Bucciarati over by revealing his goal of becoming a mafia boss to better Naples and end the scourge of drug trafficking plaguing the city's youth. Bucciarati agrees to introduce Giorno into the Passione organization, with Giorno taking a deadly initiation test from the morbidly obese capo Polpo. Giorno passes the test while convincing Koichi to cease his investigation, though he indirectly kills Polpo for his test having caused an innocent bystander's death. Giorno is placed in Bucciarati's group, which consists of fellow Stand users Guido Mista, Leone Abbacchio, Narancia Ghirga and Pannacotta Fugo. The news of Polpo's apparent suicide results in Bucciarati being promoted to capo after his group retrieves and donates Polpo's amassed fortune from the island of Capri to Passione's boss. Bucciarati is then given Polpo's mission from the boss, a mysterious figure who conceals himself from everyone, including his subordinates. The assigned task is for Bucciarati's group to bring the boss's teenage daughter Trish Una safely to him; to do so they must fend off Passione's Stand-wielding Hitman Team, who seek to use Trish to discover the boss's identity and take over the organization. After retrieving a key in Pompeii, the group acquire a Stand-using turtle named Coco Jumbo and travel to Venice, defeating members of the Hitman Team along the way. Reaching Venice safely and delivering Trish to the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore, Bucciarati realizes that the boss intends to kill his own daughter to maintain his secret identity. An enraged Bucciarati saves Trish, but suffers grievous injuries at the hands of the boss' immensely powerful Stand, King Crimson, which has the ability to see several seconds into the future and skip over short bursts of time. Giorno heals Bucciarati's injuries and the two manage to escape the church. With the exception of Fugo, the group decides to defect from Passione and uncover the boss's identity in order to defeat him. They and Trish, who discovers her own Stand Spice Girl, fight for their lives against the boss's elite soldiers, who have been sent to eliminate the traitors. Following a lead on the boss's origins, Bucciarati's group travels to the island of Sardinia. Unfortunately, the boss is waiting for them, and swiftly kills Abbacchio before going into hiding once again. All seems lost until Giorno and company are contacted by someone who knows the boss's identity and suggests using a special Arrow to evolve Bucciarati's Stand. Bucciarati and the rest travel to Rome to meet the informant, who is revealed to be Jean Pierre Polnareff. Once again, the boss arrives first, and fatally wounds Polnareff. As a last-ditch gambit, Polnareff stabs his Stand, Silver Chariot, with the Arrow, evolving it into Chariot Requiem, which has the ability to swap the souls of all living beings and a mission to guard the Arrow. Chariot Requiem goes berserk, causing a city-wide soul swap with Polnareff's soul now in Coco Jumbo's body. Polnareff explains to the group about the Arrow and his Stand, revealing Passione's boss is named Diavolo. After Diavolo kills Narancia, he and the remainder of Bucciarati's group chase after the user-less Chariot Requiem, both sides focused on obtaining the Arrow. Though Diavolo succeeds in weakening the Stand, Bucciarati sacrifices himself to dispel the soul swap and pass the Arrow to Giorno. Giorno succeeds in upgrading his Stand to Gold Experience Requiem, and uses his new power to send Diavolo into a loop of never-ending death. The final scene shows gang members kneeling before Giorno as Mista and Polnareff (still in the body of Coco Jumbo) watch, suggesting that Giorno has succeeded in becoming the new Passione boss. ===== Set near Port St. Lucie, Florida, the story follows Jotaro Kujo's daughter, Jolyne Cujoh, who is framed for a murder and ends up in Green Dolphin Street Jail. However, an amulet containing the head of the Arrow from her father allows her to unlock her Stand, Stone Free. Jotaro soon comes to visit her and informs her that a disciple of DIO's framed her so that he could kill her in prison, and urges her to escape. This plan goes awry when a Stand named Whitesnake uses its power to remove Jotaro's Stand and memories, in the form of discs. Jotaro sinks into a deathlike state, and Jolyne must somehow find a way to recover the discs from Whitesnake's user, the mysterious prison chaplain Enrico Pucci. Along the way, she picks up allies such as Emporio Alniño, a boy whose late mother gave birth to him in prison, Ermes Costello, an inmate searching for her sister's killer, and the convicted murderer, Narciso Anasui, who soon falls into unrequited love for Jolyne. Most notable of her allies is Weather Report, an amnesiac like Jotaro ever since Pucci stole his memories, though he retains his weather-controlling Stand, also named Weather Report. She also meets Foo Fighters (shortened to F.F.), a mass of plankton and hybrid of Stand and Stand User that had been made sentient via Whitesnake and assumed the human appearance of a recently-deceased female inmate, who becomes a core ally before her untimely demise at the hands of Pucci. Pucci knew and idolized DIO sometime before the events of Part 3 occurred. While in DIO's company, DIO spoke of "Heaven" and how to create a "perfect world" when certain conditions were met. Pucci, keeping DIO to his word, proceeds with his plan to realize this "perfect world", which involves absorbing the remnants of DIO's bones in the form of a green homunculus and arriving at a predestined place on the night of the new moon. Sometime after the death of F.F., Jolyne, Ermes, and Emporio escape from prison on their hunt for Pucci while Anasui and Weather Report also escape in pursuit of Jolyne. She succeeds in sending both of Jotaro's discs to the Speedwagon Foundation and the "resurrection" of Jotaro quickly goes underway. During the battle with Donatello Versus, one of the sons of DIO, Weather's memory disc is returned to him, after which he remembers his true name, Wes Bluemarine, that Pucci is in fact his long-lost twin brother, and the torment he went through before his memories were taken. With his memories returned, Weather unleashes his Stand's true powers on the world and faces Pucci in combat. Weather Report is ultimately killed, and Pucci continues on to Cape Canaveral in time for the new moon. Jolyne and company catch up to Pucci but all seems lost when they are faced by the next evolution of his Stand, C-Moon. Jotaro arrives just in time and defends Jolyne and her friends from Pucci. However, Pucci is able to survive and realizes he can use C-Moon to replicate the gravitational conditions required for his plan. Unlocking his ultimate stand, Made in Heaven, Pucci speeds up time itself causing the rapid acceleration of the world around Pucci and the Joestar group. Pucci aims Made in Heaven to maneuver Stone Free into successfully killing Anasui, but Jotaro is able to stop time. Made in Heaven greatly shortens Jotaro’s time stop, and upon saving Jolyne from Pucci’s attack, Jotaro and Ermes are killed in front of Emporio. Jolyne sacrifices herself to halt Pucci and save Emporio, being quickly obliterated by Made in Heaven’s punches. The final effects of Made in Heaven are completed when time accelerates to the end of the universe, leading to a new cycle of time and a parallel universe in its place, where all surviving humans have precognitive understanding of fated actions in their lives; all deceased humans became different, but similar versions of themselves. Pucci, who believed that such knowledge of one's fate would bring all people happiness, proceeds to hunt down Emporio to ensure that the future does not change. As he is about to kill Emporio, he inadvertently changes fate when Made in Heaven pushes Weather Report's Stand Disc into Emporio’s head. Although Pucci accelerates time once more, Emporio is able to use Weather Report to raise the concentration of the oxygen around him, causing both him and Pucci to suffer from oxygen poisoning. Pucci pleads with Emporio not to kill him, but Emporio uses Weather Report to crush Pucci’s head. The universe reaches its end again, and another parallel universe is formed, without the precognitive effects of Pucci's universe. Within the new universe, Emporio meets a young woman who looks identical to Ermes, and a couple in a car who look similar to Jolyne and Anasui introduce themselves as Irene and Anakiss. They offer Emporio and the new Ermes a ride as they head to see Irene's father. Irene pushes Anakiss to pick up another hitchhiker who bears a striking resemblance to Weather Report as they drive off in the rain. ===== The series is set in 1890 in an alternate reality from all previous JoJo's Bizarre Adventure parts, where racing jockeys from all over the world flock to the United States to take part in the titular Steel Ball Run — a cross-country horse race from San Diego to New York City with a prize of fifty million dollars. Johnny Joestar, a former jockey who fell from glory after a shooter paralyzed him from the waist down, enters the race after meeting the mysterious Gyro Zeppeli to learn the secrets of the man's Spin technique which temporarily restored his mobility. While beginning as rivals, Johnny and Gyro become friends as they travel through the wilderness while fending off violent competitors. As Gyro begins teaching Johnny the secrets of the Spin, his own background is explored through flashbacks. He is a former executioner from Naples who is competing in the Steel Ball Run not for his own gain, but to win the favor of the Neapolitan royalty and thus prevent the unjust execution of a young boy, Marco, who has been falsely accused of treason. The two continue their progression through the race, all the while being attacked by various assassins, terrorists, and outlaws. Although the Steel Ball Run is organized by the eccentric oil tycoon Stephen Steel, it is revealed that the race is backed by the United States government. Steel is unaware of the actual agenda of US President Funny Valentine: the race is a means for Valentine to collect the scattered pieces of a two-thousand-year-old corpse known as the Saint's Corpse (implied to be the body of Jesus Christ, brought to America by Joseph of Arimathea) so he can use the reassembled body to achieve incredible power. Stephen's wife Lucy discovers this plot and finds out that Valentine already possesses one part of the Corpse, the heart. After Johnny and Gyro encounter another piece of the Saint's Corpse, it is absorbed into Johnny's body and he develops the Stand Tusk, allowing him to fend off one of Valentine's minions. Later, they meet the mysterious racer Diego Brando (a counterpart to the character Dio Brando, a major antagonist in previous installments of the series), who obtains one of two Corpse eyes, while Gyro gains the other. Lucy intercepts a message to Valentine about the Corpse parts, making her a target for his men. She is able to escape him and with Johnny and Gyro's help she finds one of the parts. With the information provided by Lucy, Johnny and Gyro decide to search for the next three Corpse parts while sending Lucy, with the advantage of Gyro's Corpse eye, to take the Heart from Valentine himself. Meanwhile, Diego makes a deal with Valentine to help him deal with the traitor (who Valentine does not know is Lucy). Partnered with another racer, Diego attacks Johnny and Gyro. Gyro teaches Johnny how to use the Golden Ratio found in nature to amplify the power of the Spin, which evolves his Stand and allows him to defeat the other racer with this technique, but Diego escapes and all but one of the Corpse parts are stolen by another racer, Hot Pants. Johnny and Gyro are next forced to deal with a Stand based on the fable of The Honest Woodman by Aesop, which grants them a considerable fortune alongside another Corpse part but forces them to get rid of both before sunrise or else they will be trapped within an ancient tree forever and become the new users of the Stand, making the same deal with passersby. The duo spend the money hiring a mercenary force to fend off Valentine's henchmen, but Gyro is nearly lost forever until Johnny trades away the Corpse parts to the last survivor of Valentine's forces, saving Gyro's life but leaving them with nothing. Lucy uses Hot Pants' Stand to disguise herself as Valentine's wife Scarlet, while Hot Pants steals several Corpse parts from Valentine, including the Heart. Johnny and Gyro are led to a garbage dump by Hot Pants, only for all three to be nearly defeated by one of Valentine's men, who takes all of the parts they have collected. With the help of a vision of the Saint, Johnny's Stand develops new powers in combination with the Spin. Before he can win the battle, however, Valentine arrives and kills his own minion, then leaves along with all the Corpse parts except for the undiscovered head and the eyes possessed by Diego and Lucy. Upon returning to the Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Valentine uncovers Lucy's disguise and takes her captive after she fuses with the Corpse and seemingly becomes pregnant with the Corpse's head. Lucy escapes from captivity, only to be lured into Valentine's clutches once again. Diego and Hot Pants ally against Valentine, chasing him and Lucy to a trainyard while being followed themselves by Johnny and Gyro. Diego and Hot Pants fight Valentine on the moving train but his Stand “D4C” (Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap) allows for multiple universes to exist simultaneously. Valentine's stand ability proves to be far too dangerous as Diego is lured to his death after Valentine pulls him under the moving train, bisecting him. Hot Pants is killed when space time distortions cause multiple solid objects to converge with her heart, instantly killing her. Lucy begins to metamorphose into a being resembling the Saint's Corpse. This grants Valentine even further powers in the form of an ability for D4C called Love Train, a dimensional wall of light that redirects all harm away from Valentine and randomly redistributes it as misfortune across the world. Johnny and Gyro arrive and attempt to battle the seemingly invulnerable Valentine. Johnny is momentarily incapacitated as Gyro and Valentine take their fight towards the Atlantic Ocean, with Gyro unlocking his stand “Ball Breaker” utilizing the Golden Spin and the Steel Balls. Gyro is able to pass Johnny a cryptic hint regarding The Golden Spin, a form of spin utilizing gravity. Although Ball Breaker is able to pass through Love Train and greatly damage Valentine, he unexpectedly survives Ball Breakers second attack however, and kills Gyro after multiple wounds travel towards his heart. At the last possible second, Johnny understands Gyros hint and is able to achieve the Golden Spin with Tusk, unlocking ACT 4, which allows Johnny to mark objects or beings with infinite rotation. Valentine is horrified as Tusk ACT 4's attack is able to breach his dimensional wall and mark D4C with infinite rotation. Pursued by infinite rotation regardless of which dimension he travels to, Valentine is forced to surrender and attempts to make a deal with Johnny, offering to resurrect Gyro by finding a version of him in another universe in exchange for the Corpse. Johnny nearly agrees but realizes that this is a trick after he notices Valentine holding a gun taken from another universe, which he intended to kill Johnny with if he let his guard down. Johnny kills Valentine in a fierce standoff, but realizes somebody else has taken the Corpse, now separate from Lucy. Pursuing this unknown enemy into the final stage of the Steel Ball Run, Johnny is shocked to find that it is an alternate version of Diego Brando, taken from a different universe by Valentine and entrusted with the Corpse. Unlike the previous Diego, this one possesses the time-stopping Stand of Dio Brando, THE WORLD. A flashback reveals that Valentine has educated the alternate Diego on the dangers of Tusk ACT 4 and a battle on the streets of New York begins. The new Diego is able to stop time for Johnny utilizing THE WORLD, however, Tusk ACT 4 is shown to be able to slightly mitigate the time stop by the use of gravity. Diego eventually outsmarts Johnny by weaponizing Tusk ACT 4's own Golden Spin against it. THE WORLD is attacked by ACT 4, but Diego uses his stand to sever his leg which was attacked by the infinite rotation and redirects it at Johnny. Overwhelmed by his own stand ability, Johnny begins to die. Diego then goes on to win the race in first place. He brings the Corpse to Trinity Church, where Valentine intended to lock it in a vault so that its powers would protect America forever. At the last moment, Lucy arrives with the severed head of the previous Diego. Terrified, Diego stops time with THE WORLD, but is unable to crawl up the stairs with his missing leg and accidentally comes into contact with the root world Diego's head. Since parallel instances of the same person cannot come into contact without destroying each other, Alternate Diego fuses with the original Diego's head, instantly killing him and his Stand. With Diego missing, first place is awarded to the carefree Pocoloco, who had slept through the start of the race and only caught up by sheer luck. Stephen Steel arrives to save Johnny, who is able to reverse his own spin with his Stand after being assisted onto a horse. Valentine's death is covered up as a retirement from public life, with concerns over the race placated by the donation of the prize money to charitable causes. Johnny, having regained his ability to walk through the power of his Stand and the Spin, leaves America to return Gyro's body to his family. On the boat he meets the Japanese racer Norisuke Higashikata, whose daughter Rina he later marries, leading to the events of Part 8, JoJolion. ===== On Christmas Eve, suburban housewife Della Myers gets into an argument with her abusive husband Kenneth. After putting her two children to bed, she drives to the mall to buy some wrapping paper and cards. At the mall, she can't find a parking space for a while and angrily leaves a note on the window of a car that is parked using up two parking spaces. She leaves the store as the mall is closing, and the parking lot is nearly deserted. She notices the note is gone from the 'offending' car. As she enters her own car, the car on which she had left the note pulls up behind her. She confronts the car, and four young men emerge—Huey, Vingh, and Tomás—led by Chuckie. They threaten to rape her. Della insults Chuckie, and a security guard intervenes, but he is shot dead by Chuckie. As the gang realizes that they have committed a murder, Della manages to start her car and drive away. They follow her, intending to kill her, as she is the only witness. As they pursue her some distance, she eventually crashes her car in a deserted area where homes are under construction. She takes a road flare and a toolbox out of her car and hides behind a backhoe. Della runs through the buildings under construction to hide as they search for her. After some time, the thugs corner and threaten her by name, as they had found her drivers license in her purse in her car. As they have her open the toolbox, she hits Chuckie with a crescent wrench, and escapes again into some nearby woods. In the process of chasing her, Tomás accidentally steps on Huey, who falls through a construction site and dies from a broken neck. After some hide and seek in the woods, Della beats and finally kills Tomás with a lug wrench. She flees through a creek, pursued by Chuckie and Vingh. Della sneaks up on Vingh and kills him with a screwdriver and hides behind a fallen tree. Chuckie tries to persuade Della to give up; he talks about her kids, saying that he is going to pay them a visit. He tells her what he thinks of her, that she lives a boring life she doesn't want, mistreated by her husband. He finds her, touches, and teases her face. She holds his hand, pulls him down and they kiss. He draws his weapon as they engage in foreplay. She tells him to have sex with her, and as he is distracted she ignites the road flare and blinds him, takes his weapon, and kills him. Della returns home. Her husband Kenneth complains she was out late and is tracking mud throughout the house, but Della ignores him. She goes upstairs to check on her children who are both sleeping. The drunk Kenneth asks what she brought him from the mall, and she replies, "Nothing", and points the gun at him. ===== Karen (Catherine Tate) is a mother in her thirties, raising teenaged Charlotte (Holly Grainger). Karen's mother Nan (Anne Reid) is suffering from Alzheimer’s. ===== Set in 1987, the series follows Jotaro Kujo and his comrades who have developed mysterious powers known as Stands. Jotaro, his grandfather Joseph Joestar and their allies travel to Egypt in search of the evil and immortal vampire Dio Brando, now known solely as "DIO" to save Jotaro's mother Holly, whose Stand has awakened and threatens to consume her in 50 days. Meanwhile, DIO has commissioned a number of assassins with various types of deadly Stands to destroy them before they can reach him. ===== An amateur photographer arrives in coastal Potters Bluff to practice his craft. A beautiful woman offers to model for him, but when he accepts her invitation to have sex, a mob of townspeople beat him and set him afire. The man survives the attack, but is later killed by the woman posing as a nurse in the hospital. More visitors are murdered by the townspeople. Sheriff Dan Gillis (James Farentino), assisted by Dobbs (Jack Albertson), the eccentric local coroner-mortician, works hard to discover the motive for the killings. Gillis becomes increasingly disconcerted as a grisly death occurs every day. In each case, the killers photograph the victims as they are murdered. Gillis's investigations are complicated by the bizarre behavior of his wife, Janet (Melody Anderson). Gillis accidentally hits someone with his squad car following an attack. On the grill of his car, Gillis finds the twitching severed arm of the accident victim, who attacks him and flees with the arm. After the attack, Gillis scrapes some flesh from the vehicle and takes it to the local doctor, who tells him that the tissue sample has been dead approximately four months. Gillis grows suspicious of Dobbs and conducts a background check. He discovers that Dobbs was formerly the chief pathologist in Providence, Rhode Island, until he was dismissed ten years before for conducting unauthorized experiments in the county morgue. Gillis confronts Dobbs, who admits he has developed a secret technique for reanimating the dead, and all of the townspeople are reanimated corpses under his control. Dobbs considers himself an "artist" who uses his reanimated to murder the living in order to create more corpses for him to create art with. Even Janet is a reanimated corpse. When she appears in Dobbs's office, Gillis shoots and mortally wounds her, then shoots Dobbs as well. He follows her into the cemetery, where she pleads with him to bury her in an open grave. After he does as she asks, the rest of the townspeople come to pay their respects. Gillis returns to Dobbs's office to discover that Dobbs has used his technique on himself. Dobbs then shows Gillis a film of Janet stabbing him to death as the townspeople and Dobbs watch. As Gillis stares at his own decomposing hands, Dobbs offers to repair them. ===== Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson are elderly gentlemen in 1910 Vienna. They are both getting involved with Balkan terrorists and meeting again with “The Woman” the actress and leading lady Irene Adler. They save Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria from an assassination at the opera house and thus delay the onset of World War I. The film also featured a number of historical characters involved in the plot including Eliot Ness and Sigmund Freud. ===== Two elderly sisters invite their wonderful nieces and nephews to a dinner party in celebration of the sisters' upcoming birthdays. The one nephew who is not invited is the ostracised black sheep of the family whose devil- worshipping activities have resulted in his being removed from the sisters' inheritance. The rest of the guests are merely putting in time; they are actually only waiting for their aunts to die, leaving them amply endowed via their respective inheritances. Unfortunately for all but the aunts, the nephew sends a party gift that turns the scene into a frolic of the macabre and ruins the party: under the gift's power, the aunts turn into cannibalistic demons and proceed to eat up all of their guests. ===== During World War II, an outsider, Baston Morris (Weller), comes to a tiny town looking for work at the local mill. He meets up with the town's evil employer, Pink Gresham (Smitrovich), who abuses the men and has affairs with the women. Pink toys with Baston's plight but keeps the upper hand with his pistol and chases Baston away. Baston then meets Pink's wife, Maggie (Baker), and spins a tale of her husband's philandering and Pink's personal involvement with Baston's affairs at his hometown in the next county. The subplot contains stories of Maggie's brother, Shep Sheppard, (Glover) who is a fundamentalist preacher that has followed his father's misogynistic ways. Sheppard sides with Pink when it comes to laying down the law, and a hunt ensues for Baston after stories are revealed of him being an axe murderer. ===== Yūya Fukushima decides to enroll in Natsuka Academy, a boarding high school, but is reassigned to live in Raspberry Dorm with five other students: Azusa Chiba, Nagisa Takamatsu, Emika Muto, Ame Yamanashi, and Kon Miyagi. Yūya is initially offended by her dormmates' quirkiness, but she is encouraged to stay by Azusa and falls in love with him. At the same time, she discovers that the occupants of the Raspberry Dorm are socially ostracized from the school, and she decides to support and defend her dormmates from the bullying. ===== Ezekiel Cobb, a naive young man raised by missionaries in China, is sent to the United States to seek a wife. He is promptly enlisted by the corrupt political machine of the fictional city of Stockport, led by the corrupt boss Jake Mayo (George Barbier) to run for mayor as phony "reform" politician. He is expected to be the "cat's paw" of the political machine. Cobb unexpectedly takes his job seriously. Frequently quoting Chinese poet “Ling Po” (an apparent mispronunciation of Li Po), he embarks on a campaign to clean his town of its corrupt political machine. Fighting back, the corrupt politicians frame Cobb. He turns the table on them, however, by enlisting the help of his friends in the local Chinese community, who help him kidnap the corrupt politicians and their hoodlum backers, detaining them in the "cellar of Tien Wang." He tells them that since his attempts to use western methods have not worked, he is going to use the methods of the ancient Chinese: either they confess or they will be executed. They take a man into a back room – everyone says it’s a bluff, but then the man screams in terror and a moment later his decapitated body is brought out with his head set on top of his chest. When the second man is taken to the back room, it is shown that Cobb has enlisted the help of The Great Chang a famous Chinese magician on his first American tour, and that they are using his tricks to fake the executions. This tactic works, and Mayo decides to throw his support to Cobb after all. The town is swept of its corruption and Cobb, with the support of local girl Petunia Pratt (Una Merkel), abandons plans to return to China and stays in the U.S. to fight corruption in his town. But his new wife insists on him returning to China. ===== Back from action in World War II, Sam Lawson (Tony Franciosa, who has second billing in the film despite being in every scene) leaves home and friends in Lansing, Michigan to fulfil his ambitions to make it as an actor in New York. After many auditions he joins the off-Broadway grassroots theatre group called the Actors' Rostrum, run by actor-director Maurice "Maury" Novak (Dean Martin) out of a seamen's mission in Greenwich Village. When the theatre group runs out of money, Novak leaves the theater eventually to become a well known Hollywood director. Both men know Sharon Kensington (Shirley MacLaine), who is the alcoholic daughter of powerful Broadway producer Robert Kensington (Robert Middleton). Lawson continually tries to establish himself as an actor, suffering the slings and arrows of rejection despite his dedication and passion for the theater. It costs him his first wife, played by Joan Blackman. Lawson's long-suffering agent Shirley Drake (Carolyn Jones) attempts to get him work and after marrying Sharon Kensington and with the grudging backing of his new father-in- law, Lawson's star slowly begins to rise. But Sharon is in love with Novak and pregnant with his child. Lawson makes a deal to give her a divorce for the lead in the new Novak production. But Novak reneges on the deal. After more struggle, Drake manages to find Lawson a job but he has been called up from the reserves to serve in Korea, where he sees out the end of the war. Lawson returns to the rounds of auditions in New York. Just as he's about to land a long-term TV announcing job, his loyalty is researched and to Lawson's shock he is found to be on the blacklist. This is owing to his connection with Novak and the allegedly "subversive" theater work of the Actors' Rostrum. Drake explains, "Sam, these are very responsible, patriotic people. They're just trying to protect their country." The now blacklisted Lawson, reflecting the realities of real-life blacklisted actors, is forced to take work as a waiter. When Drake asks him what he's going to do, Lawson replies: "There's only one thing for me to do. Survive." In one sense this was among Hollywood's first direct documentations of the blacklist in a dramatic film. Novak, himself on the skids, appears back in Lawson's life, vowing to start fresh with a new off-Broadway theater. Novak confesses that he was briefly a communist in the past, but for opportunistic, career reasons. He offers Lawson a chance to work together again. After an accidental meeting with his first wife, who now understands Lawson's ambition, Lawson quits restaurant work and accepts the offer. With the blacklist past, the new play becomes successful and heads to Broadway. With Lawson finally emerging as a major actor, Drake, who has fallen in love with Lawson, asks him in the final scene, thinking of his struggles and humiliation, if it was "worth it." "Yes," says Lawson. "It was worth it." ===== Independently, the two protagonists, Diana Martin and Secret Service agent Larry Trent are searching the jungle for missing relatives, her father and his brother. Tied up in this plot are ivory smugglers and a lost treasure hidden in the jungle. ===== A retired CID inspector Angus Blake tries to prevent a female jewel thief named The Queen of Diamonds from stealing a valuable ring which, according to legend, carries a curse. ===== In the Asian province of Seemang, where the Bay of Bengal meets the jungle, Chandler Elliott (John St. Polis) owns a large and prosperous rubber plantation. His attractive daughter, Dorothy (Charlotte Henry), is engaged to neighboring planter Tom Banning (William Bakewell), but troubles are brewing for both plantations. They ship a cargo of rubber on a riverboat to be taken to an ocean port, but the boat is hi-jacked by river pirates. They kill the crew and steal the shipment. This is part of a plot by Jim Murphy (LeRoy Mason), Elliott's plantation manager, and others to force Elliott to sell his plantation. Local explorer Frank Hardy (Frank Buck) determines to find out who is behind the plot. ===== In the Salton Sea, an underwater earthquake causes a crevice to open, releasing prehistoric giant mollusks. A rescue training parachute jump is conducted, but the patrol boat sent to pick up the jumper finds only a floating parachute. One sailor dives in but also disappears. The other sailor screams in terror as something rises from the water. When the patrol boat does not answer radio calls, Lt. Cmdr. John "Twill" Twillinger takes a rescue party out on a second patrol boat to investigate. They find the deserted patrol boat covered in a strange slime; the jumper's body then floats to the surface, now blackened and drained of bodily fluids. Twill takes a sample of the slime to the base lab for analysis, where he teams up with recently widowed Gail MacKenzie and Dr. Jess Rogers. A young couple disappear after going for a swim. U.S. Navy divers investigate and discover a giant egg and the body of one of the victims on the ocean floor. The divers are attacked by a giant mollusk, which kills one of the divers. The mollusk attacks the boat, but Twill stabs it in the eye with a grappling hook. The egg is taken to the U.S. Navy lab for study and kept under temperature control to prevent it from hatching. The mollusks escape into an irrigation canal system, attacking livestock, a lock keeper, a trysting couple, and others. Navy divers locate a group of mollusks in the canal system, and use explosives to destroy them. In the meantime, Gail is at the lab with her young daughter, Sandy. Worried about the lab rabbits being cold in the lab's lowered temperature, Sandy surreptitiously turns up the thermostat. Twill calls the lab and gets no answer. He arrives and finds that the hatched mollusk has Gail and Sandy cornered in a closet, where they ran to escape from the monster. He fights it with lab chemicals and a CO2 fire extinguisher until other Navy personnel arrive and shoot the mollusk. ===== As the novel begins, twelve-year-old Natalie is almost done writing a novel called The Cheater about a girl and her friends. It is uncommon, if not impossible, for someone her age to get published, but Natalie's best friend, Zoe Reisman, thinks The Cheater is good enough. Natalie wants her mother, Hannah Nelson, who works as an editor at Shipley Junior Books, to edit her manuscript, but she doesn't want her mother to find out that she wrote it. To accomplish this, Natalie uses the pseudonym Cassandra Day, and Zoe acts as her literary agent, fabricating the "Sherry Clutch Literary Agency". Zoe hides her identity by using her nickname, "Zee Zee", and pronouncing her last name differently. The girls decide to rent a cheap "instant office", then realize that they could use some adult help. They enlist a teacher at their school, Laura Clayton, to be their adviser, and together the three form "The Publishing Club". Zoe gives Ms. Clayton $500 to pay for the office and services, but feeling guilty, Ms. Clayton secretly pays for it herself and safely stores Zoe's money away in her bank account. Besides the girls' age disadvantage, the editor in chief at Shipley, "Lethal" Letha Springfield, adds complications. Seeing that The Cheater could prove to be a success, Letha takes over editing the manuscript. Zoe (speaking as Zee Zee) gets into an argument with her and states that Cassandra (Natalie) will only write with Hannah as her editor. Instead of obliging, Letha refuses and declares that the book will not be published by Shipley unless an apology is received. This problem is averted when Zoe sends a copy of the manuscript directly to Tom Morton, president of Shipley, along with a letter describing Cassandra's wishes. After reading (and loving) the story, Tom tells Letha to let Hannah handle it. Later, when the girls are offered a contract, they show it to Zoe's father, who is a lawyer, and they get Natalie's Uncle Fred to sign in place of her mother. After hearing the story from the girls, Zoe's father is extremely impressed with Ms. Clayton and calls to commend her. He also gets her to send him a bill for the office. ===== The novel opens by introducing the reader to an alcoholic vagrant, resting in an abandoned and forgotten lock-keeper's house by a canal. As he is ruminating over the injustices inflicted upon him in his life, he is suddenly set upon by a pack of small dog-sized black rats and is devoured alive. Harris, a young East London art teacher, notices that one of his students has a bloodied bandage around his hand. When he enquires as to what caused the damage, the student answers that he was attacked by a rat. Meanwhile, a baby girl and her dog are killed by the giant rats, now aided by packs of smaller black rats. The girl's mother rescues her daughter's mutilated body, but not before sustaining bites as well. Harris takes the student to the hospital and sees the grieving mother with her dead child. According to the doctor, the number of seemingly unprovoked rat attacks have strangely increased. The next rat attack occurs at the remains of a bombsite, where a group of squabbling vagrants are slaughtered. Harris is visited at work by the Minister of Health, Mr. Foskins, who reveals that the bitten student, and all the other surviving victims of rat attacks, died of a mysterious disease 24 hours after being bitten. Foskins asks Harris to keep the existence of the disease a secret and lead an exterminator named Ferris to the area where the student had been bitten. Accompanied by Ferris, Harris goes to the canal described by the student and sights a group of giant rats. Harris attempts to contact the police, while Ferris follows the rats, who then attack and kill him. The rat attacks become increasingly more daring, as more and more public places are attacked. A tube station is assaulted, leaving few survivors. Next, Harris' own school is attacked, resulting in the death of the headmaster. With the existence of the rats' disease now becoming public knowledge, a meeting is held, in which a young researcher by the name of Stephen Howard comes up with the idea of using a virus to infect the rats. The virus is injected into several puppies, which are left in areas of the attacks. This results in the deaths of thousands of rats, which crawl to the surface to die. A few weeks later however, the rats adapt to the virus, at the same time losing the toxicity of their bites. The rats brutally attack a cinema and overrun the London Zoo. Based on the fact that rats communicate with each other using ultrasound, a plan is formulated to use ultrasonic machines to lure the rats into poison gas chambers. Foskins is dismissed as Health Minister and reveals to Harris that he has been investigating possible clues as to the rats' origins and comes to the conclusion that they were illegally smuggled into the country by a zoologist named William Bartlett Schiller from an island near New Guinea which had been near some nuclear tests. At his home by an East London canal, Schiller had bred these mutant rats with common black rats, producing a new and deadly strain. They later killed him and escaped. Pursuing the disgraced health minister past waves of entranced rats, Harris finds the abandoned house and enters it. He goes into the cellar and finds Foskins' corpse being devoured by rats of unusually great size. He kills them after a bloody battle and discovers the rats' alpha hidden in the shadows; a white, hairless and obese rat with two heads. Harris kills the creature and leaves. The epilogue indicates that one female rat survived the purge by being trapped in the basement of a grocery shop. There, it gives birth to a new litter, including a new white two-headed rat. ===== Ranjani (Tabu) is a proud woman and the daughter of Koteswara Rao (Rao Gopal Rao), a multimillionaire in Singapore. Once when she was traveling towards Hyderabad in the train, she stops the train for her fallen lipstick, which leads to the death of Parvathamma (Dubbing Janaki). Raju (Venkatesh) is the Coolie No. 1 at Secunderabad Railway Station. He and Ranjani always have so many clashes between each other. Rajani calls her father from Singapore, and both of them implicate Raju in a rape case and send him to jail. However, Raju is successful in escaping from jail. Due to Raju's threat, Koteswara Rao and Ranjani go to Singapore. Raju also reaches there with the help of Ranjani's mother Gruhalakshmi (Sarada). Raju changes himself as Bharat and showcases himself as a big shot before Ranjani and makes her fall in love with him. Everyone agrees to their marriage, but Buchi Babu (Paruchuri Venkateswara Rao), Koteswara Rao's partner, and his son Gopal (Mohan Babu), who wants to marry Ranjani, find out that Bharat is none other than Raju. After the marriage completion, Raju reveals the truth. Everyone is shocked, Ranjani is disturbed, and she also throws away the holy Hindu wedding chain (Mangalsutra). After that, everyone goes back to India, where Raju arranges their marriage reception. To overcome this problem, Koteswara Rao contacts local goon named Ranga Rao (Kota Srinivasa Rao) to stop the reception. He creates a big communal riot in Raju's colony, which leads to the deaths of many innocent people. In frustration and anger, Raju makes Ranjani pregnant by giving her sedation with her mother's help. She makes all possible attempts to remove the baby but fails. Finally, she decides to throw away the baby after giving birth. Meanwhile, Ranga Rao, Buchi Babu, and Gopal try to kill Koteswara Rao for his property, but Raju protects him, which makes him realize. Ranjani gives birth to the baby boy; even then she will not leave her arrogance, and throws away the child. Raju decides to leave her, and her fate goes away with the baby. In that anger, Gruhalakshmi reveals Ranjani's past that she is not their own daughter, but the daughter of a railway coolie, and the woman who died in the beginning due to her negligence is her own mother. Listening to this, Ranjani admits her mistake. At the same time, Ranga Rao, Buchi Babu, and Gopal all beat Raju very badly, kidnap the baby, and blackmail Ranjani for her entire property documents. Ranjani runs towards Raju's help and apologises to him by falling down at his feet. Finally, Raju protects the baby and eliminates all the baddies. The movie ends with Raju and Ranjani's remarriage. ===== Patrick Dennis (Jan Handzlik), orphaned in 1928 when his father unexpectedly dies, is placed in the care of Mame Dennis (Rosalind Russell), his father's sister in Manhattan. Mame is a flamboyant and exuberant woman, who hosts frequent parties with eclectic, bohemian guests. Patrick is quickly introduced to his aunt's free- spirited and eccentric friends, including Vera Charles (Coral Browne), a Broadway actress, who spends many of her nights passed out drunk in Mame's guest room, Acacius Page (Henry Brandon), who runs a nudist school, and Lindsay Woolsey (Patric Knowles), a book publisher. Mame's frequently repeated motto, as heard later in the film, is "Life is a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death!" As Patrick's father was a wealthy man at the time of his death, Patrick's inheritance comes with a trustee, Dwight Babcock (Fred Clark), who disapproves of Mame's lifestyle (as did her brother, Edwin) and wants to interject discipline in Patrick's life. Mame has Patrick enrolled at Mr. Page's school. Mr. Babcock insists that Patrick be enrolled at Bixby's, a nearby boy's prep school. When he learns that Mame has not enrolled Patrick at Bixby's and instead as Mr. Page's school, he orders that Patrick go to his alma mater, St. Boniface's in Massachusetts and Mame will only see him at the holidays and during the summer. When Mame's investments are lost in the stock market crash of 1929, she takes a series of jobs—stage acting, telephone operator, sales girl at Macy's—that all end disastrously. At her sales job at Macy's, she meets a man named Beauregard Jackson Pickett Burnside (Forrest Tucker), a rich oil man from the South. He's immediately smitten with her, and she falls in love with him as well. Though she almost gets killed by Beau's betrothed (Brook Byron), he proposes to her at his estate in Georgia. For their honeymoon, they travel around the world. Through Mame's correspondence with Patrick, she senses that the now-grown Patrick (Roger Smith) is growing into a conventional man. After Beau dies by falling down a glacier while they are climbing the Matterhorn, Mame comes home (after spending 10 months visiting the places she had been with Beau). Patrick surprises her by installing a dictaphone, typewriter, and a secretary, Agnes Gooch (Peggy Cass). He and her friends persuade her to write her autobiography. Patrick and Lindsay arrange for a collaborator (and ghost writer) for Mame, Brian O'Bannion (Robin Hughes). He is initially charming, but it soon becomes clear that O'Bannion is a hack and is using Mame as a meal ticket. Patrick announces that he has a girlfriend, Gloria Upson (Joanna Barnes), and wants to bring her over to meet Mame, but he cautions Mame to act responsibly while Gloria is there. She calls him beastly and he almost leaves, but at the last minute Mame says she will do whatever he wants to make him and Gloria happy. Patrick leaves to bring Gloria. Meanwhile, O'Bannion insists Mame accompany him to a party to meet movie producers interested in Mame's autobiography. Mame instead dresses up the dowdy Agnes and tells O'Bannion that Agnes is an heiress merely doing secretarial work for "literary experience". O'Bannion's greed kicks in, and he escorts Agnes to the party in Mame's place. When Agnes returns the next day, she is disheveled and remembers very little of her night with O'Bannion—only that she drank heavily and thinks she saw a movie with a wedding scene in it. Patrick brings Gloria over, but Mame is horrified to see she is nothing more than a spoiled rich girl. Against Patrick's wishes, she goes to visit Gloria's family in a "restricted" community in Connecticut called Upson Downs, where they express anti-Semitic views. Her parents (Lee Patrick and Willard Waterman), although outwardly friendly, are just like Gloria. Mame arranges a dinner party at her apartment and she invites Gloria, her parents, and a few of her own friends. On the night of the party, Patrick meets Pegeen (Pippa Scott), Mame's new secretary; Agnes is now several months pregnant due to her night with O'Bannion. Everything about the evening is a carefully planned disaster: the food, the drink, the furniture, and the company. Lindsay surprises the attendees with the galleys from Mame's autobiography. The release of the book prompts a telegram from O'Bannion demanding his collaborative efforts be rewarded and declaring that his wife Agnes can substantiate his claims. The ribald content leads Gloria to insult the other attendees. Patrick defends them, attacking Gloria's friends instead. Mame then reveals that she bought the lot behind Upson Downs, to make a home for refugee Jewish children. The Upsons, and later Mr. Babcock, leave in a huff. Several years later, when Patrick and Pegeen are married, their son, Michael, wants to travel with Mame on her trip to India. The two of them wear down Patrick and Pegeen's objections, and the movie fades away as Mame tells Michael of all the wondrous sights they will see. ===== Hawkeye and Charles start a rumor that Marilyn Monroe will be visiting the 4077th but find themselves in hot water when people start to believe it, including Col. Potter. They desperately try to arrange for Marilyn to appear, with Hawkeye going so far as to try to contact her by phone pretending to be Ted Williams. However, they are ultimately unsuccessful, and end up having to send a faked telegram purportedly from Marilyn apologizing for not being able to appear. Meanwhile, B.J. has a chopper pilot take him out on a fishing trip. On the flight, they encounter a wounded soldier. B.J. throws the soldier a rope to haul him up into the helicopter, but at that moment the chopper is besieged by enemy fire. At the pilot's frantic behest, B.J. ends up cutting the rope and abandoning the wounded man as the chopper flies off. The pilot is impressed by B.J.'s valiant attempt to save the soldier and recommends him for a commendation; shortly thereafter, B.J. is notified he is to receive the Bronze Star. Far from gratified, B.J. is disgusted with himself for putting his own welfare first and possibly leaving a wounded man to die; he also remarks that he can no longer consider himself morally superior to those he operated on: "The minute I cut that line they made me a soldier." He eventually gives the medal to another patient. Gerald S. O'Loughlin guest stars as General Franklin Schwerin. ===== In the film, Holmes is about to retire to Sussex and keep bees when King Edward (Joss Ackland) sends him on a mission to South Africa to retrieve the Star of Africa diamond. Complications arise and Holmes meets several historical people including ex-President Theodore Roosevelt (Claude Akins), and Lillie Langtry (Jenny Seagrove). He also encounters the fictional character A. J. Raffles. ===== The plot opens with a faux email addressed to Nigel MacDonald, listing a job offer. It is later learned that this email is for a work-at-home programmer position at Hayek Associates PLC. It is then learned that a cybercrime has been committed in the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) Avalon Four. A robbery of several thousand euros worth of "prestige items" occurs in the game's central bank, led by a band of orcs and a "dragon for fire support." It is later noticed that this seemingly simple incident has deep implications – both financial (Hayek stock price) and logistical (compromised cryptographic keys), which sets the stage for the latter half of the novel. The main story is then divided between police chapters as Sue, investigation sections as Elaine, and programmer and gamer geek sections as Jack. Initially separate storylines, the three inevitably join forces to combat a much larger conspiracy that hinges on international espionage and counterterrorism. These initial segments track the bank robbery and mystery man, Nigel MacDonald, who is revealed as a shadow identity created from Jack Reed's credentials as a programmer and gamer. Eventually, it is discovered that the entirety of the European network backbone—including its root keyservers—has been compromised by Chinese hackers. It is more or less at this point that the wool is removed from the reader's eyes that "it's no longer a game," while Jack and Elaine develop a romance between action segments. Using the game Spooks as a sock puppet for real espionage missions, Jack and Elaine are sent to uncover the identity of a mole inside Hayek Associates, which is subsequently revealed to be a front for the government. The mole is said to have leaked cryptographic keys to "Team Red", or Chinese interests, through a blacknet. For contrast, the European protagonists are called simply, "Team Blue". It is at this point that the stage is set for the final confrontation. Using Nigel's shadow identity as bait for Team Red's mole, Elaine and Jack successfully expose and capture Marcus Hackman, who is revealed to be the mole and main antagonist. It is then revealed that Hackman had staged the whole thing to use strategic put options to earn €26 million when his own company, Hayek Associates, took the fall for the initial robbery sequence. Jack is shot twice in the chest during this exchange, but is seen recovering in a hospital bed by the end of the book. The novel closes with an email addressed to Hackman that resembles a 419 scam from a Nigerian banker, implying that is where he hid the money. ===== Antonio Badalamenti, a Sicilian who has been settled for many years in Northern Italy and is employed in a car factory in Milan, takes a vacation with his family, leaving behind the modern conveniences of his home in northern Italy, to visit his childhood village in Sicily and introduce his blond, northern-Italian wife, Marta, to his mother, father and other relatives back home. While his wife suffers in the comparatively rustic conditions of her husband's hometown and has trouble adapting to the culture of Sicily, Antonio becomes reacquainted with his childhood friends. He also pays a visit to the local don, Don Vincenzo, who is a crime boss. The don smooths over some problems Antonio had with a deal to buy some property on the island, and in return, Antonio is tasked with carrying out a hit for the mob. As an outsider with no strings attached and a crack shot, Antonio is seen as a perfect candidate. While his wife is sleeping one night, Antonio leaves for what is purportedly a hunting trip with his friends. In reality, he is put inside a wooden crate and smuggled aboard an airplane into the United States, where he goes to New York City to carry out his task. The job done, he is returned to Sicily in the same manner and arrives back at home as if from the hunting trip. Plagued by what he has done, he goes back to his efficient job at the car factory. ===== Hawkeye is asked by the nurses to fix a malfunctioning stove in the nurses' tent. While doing so, a gas pocket builds up and explodes, flash burning and blinding Hawkeye. A specialist is called in to examine his eyes, and he is told he must keep them bandaged for a week, after which time the specialist will be able to tell whether the damage to his eyes is permanent. Hawkeye is initially despondent over the possibility of losing his sight and his surgical career. However, as the week goes on, he becomes fascinated by the stimulation of his other senses due to sensory deprivation. He also meets and bonds with patient Tom Straw (played by blind actor/singer Tom Sullivan) who was blinded in combat. He even participates in the OR; while unable to operate, he is able to give tips to the other surgeons due to his sense of smell and other clues, much to Frank's annoyance. Frank, meanwhile, has been steadily winning money from the rest of the staff camp by betting on baseball games. The key to his success is that he cheats by listening to the games on the radio the night before, when everyone else is asleep, and then suckers people listening to the rebroadcast into betting on the losing team. Hawkeye, aware of Frank's scheme, arranges it so that Frank's radio is connected to the camp PA, and then "broadcasts" a fake Indians-Yankees ballgame into it at night, with B.J., Klinger, and Radar providing background noise. Hawkeye ends his phony broadcast with the Indians winning 5-4. When the real game's final score (Yankees won, 8-1) is broadcast over the PA the next morning, Frank notices the different outcome, inadvertently blurts out that he listened to the game last night, and the other staff members immediately begin to accost him, demanding their lost money back. Finally, the specialist returns and removes the bandages, and Hawkeye, with great relief, announces that his sight is returned. However, shortly thereafter, Hawkeye appears in the nurses' tent with his eyes bandaged again, explaining that he had a relapse. However, this turns out to be just a ruse to trick the nurses into getting undressed in his presence, one that is easily exposed when he catches a cup one of the nurses throws to him. This prompts the nurses to kick him out their tent. ===== The documentary portrays a behind-the-scenes look at the poor state of Argentina's civil aviation, and puts the blame on the Argentine Air Force. The Air Force has been in control of air traffic operations since the military takeover of General Juan Carlos Onganía in 1966. The producer/director, Enrique Piñeyro, claims Argentina and Nigeria are the only countries whose air force controls and regulates the airline industry. Piñeyro, a former Argentine airline pilot, makes his case in the documentary using diagrams, 3D animations, interviews, hidden cameras in the control tower, and a few props. For example, at one point he spills out a bag of plastic airplanes and equates it to the number of planes the air force has lost due to negligence. The film is heavily based on the Austral Líneas Aéreas Flight 2553 plane crash. Enrique Piñeyro takes his camera, secretly, into the control tower of the Ministro Pistarini International Airport also-known-as Ezeiza, the international airport at Buenos Aires. ===== In a Tyrolean castle in the late 18th century, twin sons, Gregor and Anton, are born to the de Berghmann baronial family. The baron is concerned: an old prophecy in the family states that the younger brother shall kill the elder in the Black Room of the castle. Some years later in 1834,http://www.dvddrive-in.com/reviews/i-m/iconsofhorrorkarloff3542.htm it is revealed that the Baron Gregor (Boris Karloff) has become a depraved ruler who murders the wives of local peasants. His brother, Anton (also played by Karloff), who cannot use his right arm and has spent much of his life traveling Europe, returns to the castle for a visit, but refuses to believe the rumors he hears about Gregor. The kindly Anton becomes popular with the villagers and the castle staff, being the exact opposite of his brother. At the same time, Gregor's attempts to woo Thea (Marian Marsh), daughter of family advisor Colonel Hassell, fail noticeably before both her admiration for Anton and her true love for young Lieutenant Albert Lussan (Robert Allen). When the castle servant Mashka (Katherine DeMille) disappears after being seen with Gregor, the locals form a mob and enter the castle, confronting the baron. Gregor agrees to abdicate, and give power to his brother, who has become popular. After the papers are signed to relinquish his baronetcy to Anton, he lures his unsuspecting brother to the Black Room, kills him, and throws him into the pit where the dead bodies of Mashka and his other victims are kept. Gregor now assumes Anton's identity, and prepares to wed Thea, whose father supports their union. Lt. Lussan angrily and threateningly objects to the Colonel; Gregor kills the Colonel and easily frames the Lieutenant, who is found guilty and sentenced to death. Only Anton's mastiff recognizes that the baron is not his master, and the dog pursues Gregor when he travels to town for his wedding. Meanwhile, Lussan escapes his cell and meets secretly with Thea, who urges him to flee. He refuses, however, and the wedding ceremony begins in the town cathedral. As the stately ceremony draws to a close, the priest asks for any who object to the union to "speak now or forever hold their peace", and the dog attacks "Anton", who defends himself with his supposedly paralyzed right arm. Standing thus revealed, Gregor flees. The townspeople gathered for the wedding form a mob in a matter of seconds. The dog, followed by the mob, which includes Lussan, pursues Gregor to the castle, where he attempts to hide in the Black Room. The mob discovers where he is and begins to batter open the secret door. Before they can gain passage, however, the dog squeezes through and throws himself on Gregor, who falls backward into the pit and onto the knife still held in his murdered brother's crippled hand. Thus, the prophecy is fulfilled. ===== King Arthur, the Pendragon, lies dead after the Battle of Camlann. Lin, his only child by his queen, Gwenhwyfar, is one of five remaining members of the Round Table. Civil strife has laid waste to the unified Britain forged during Arthur's reign. In Lin's warrior persona she suppresses her gender. Through years of habit, she presents an outward calm for the soldiers who have come to accept a woman's presence and command in the army. To be an effective fighting unit, they cannot be distracted by her gender either. Lin tells the men of her half- brother, Modred's defeat and that her father has been taken to a place of healing. Beneath her stoic facade, she is torn by grief and self-doubt. She knows a mere handful of men still live who would support her claim as Arthur's heir. In her mind, it is not enough. In her mind, she is unworthy to follow in her father's wake. She denies her birthright and does not return to Camelot. Twelve years pass in restless wandering. Nightmares of Camlann and of a past that she has kept hidden continue to plague her thoughts and dreams. She is now married to GAHERIS (RIS), her father's nephew, by whom she has borne three children; BEAR (ARTHUR), MELORA, and GERNIE, with a fourth child expected. Her children are unaware of their mother's true identity as the Pendragon's daughter. The family at last camps in the shadow of Camelot. The homecoming is at once difficult and joyous. Lin's secret gnaws at her mind constantly. The children are excited and curious, having heard countless tales of Camelot from their uncle, DAFYDD. While exploring the deserted fortress of Camelot, Bear questions his mother and forces her to realize he is ready for the truth. Yet she does not reveal this immediately. Instead, Lin relates her childhood as a slave in QUEEN MORGAUSE's holding of DUNN NA CARRAICE in the distant kingdom of Orkney, before she learned the truth of her birth and her own royalty. Once begun, the catharsis must run its course. Lin's earliest memories are of sorrow and hardship. At five years old, the only mother she knows dies, leaving Lin alone with Dafydd, the boy she believes is her true elder brother. She hides the pain of abandonment from others and establishes her lifelong pattern of self-denial and internalization. While at work, Lin often watches the royal family. She especially enjoys Orkney's princes sparring in the practice yard. Prince Modred, the youngest, gains her sympathy when she sees the cruel jokes his older brothers play on him. She even comes to the prince's aid. Modred resents anyone knowing of his weak moments. That a mere slave witnesses two of those moments is not to be tolerated or forgiven. Dafydd is proud his sister displays such compassion. He feels duty-bound to take care of Lin after his mother's death. During the next few years, he hones his skills as a story-teller. His tales of Camelot's honor ease many of the horrors of slavery which surround him and his sister. Then he receives his leather slave's collar, a coming of age "gift" from Queen Morgause, their mistress. Their owner. The event shatters Lin's fragile peace with her lot in life. Questions of the established order form in Lin's mind. She rejects her brother's slavery to the point of a futile attack on the overseer. She is given a small taste of the lash as a lesson. Dafydd is far more accepting of their situation than Lin. He finds it better to survive with as few scars as possible. Lin's beating breaks his heart. He tries to dissuade her rebellion while tending her wounds later that night. For two years, he seems successful. At best, Lin's calm is temporary. On Lin's twelfth birthday, she is collared like so many slave before had been. She also gains Prince Modred as her master. The prince is now seventeen. He has recently been told by his mother that his father is the celebrated Arthur Pendragon and that Lin is his half- sister, his father's legitimate child. She stands in his way to the throne. She is the same slave who helped him escape the outhouse his brothers had locked him inside of a few years ago. She heard his screams, she must know his fears. Years of competition with his older brothers and warrior training have set the pattern of violence in Modred. He has never held any sort of power in Dunn na Carraice. He has ultimate power over Lin. Lin only knows and reacts according to her instincts. The blood of kings flows through her veins. Far from subduing Lin—as Morgause hopes—slavery brings out Lin's strengths. She resists her collar, refusing to use the word "master" or bend her knees in subservience. For her open rebellion against the collar, Modred has Lin flogged, enjoying the sight of her pain. Afterwards, he rapes her to further prove his mastery over his possession. Again, Dafydd cares for his sister. He does not understand her defiance. He wants her to accept reality. They are slaves and can do nothing to change that fact. One thing he does know about Lin is her need for his stories about Camelot. He redoubles his efforts. To Lin, Camelot is a beacon of hope and of equality—things Dunn na Carraice and her life lack. Prince Modred treats her like a beast, branding her as his property. He embodies the inequality she despises. Each fuels the passions of the other. While outwardly continuing her resistance, the intensity of the punishments she endures take their toll on her body and her mind. Lin begins to believe in her unworthiness to be loved and to love in return. She sees herself as damaged goods no husband will ever want to touch while at the same time having no desire to ever be touched by a man again. Her sleep becomes tortured by nightmares and she does not eat, except when Dafydd presses the issue. Easily provoked by Modred, she invites the beatings in the hope the next one will bring release from her suffering through death. Lin's self- neglect grieves Dafydd, yet he admires his sister's strength of will and the courage she displays in defying Prince Modred. He has come to understand that resistance is as important to Lin as story-telling is to himself. He cannot dream of not weaving his tales. Lin's struggle reminds Dafydd, and all of Orkney's slaves, of their humanity. Dafydd becomes determined to keep his hero, his sister, alive. Obsessed with quelling his slave's spirit, Prince Modred's abuses intensify. He soon includes Dafydd in his tortures, since he knows Lin feels Dafydd's pain as her own. Lin realizes there is only one cruelty Prince Modred has left with which to break her. It is but a matter of time before he uses it. The time is brief. But through a misunderstanding in the actual order given, Lin is sent to the auction block along with her brother. She watches Dafydd displayed on the block, filled with horror and utterly defeated. Meanwhile, Modred is unaware of his moment of triumph. Lin's sale is not part of his plan. Lin loses all hope when she watches Dafydd disappear after being sold. In his memory, she goes to the block as defiant as ever and brings but a few coins for those who would profit from human flesh. She is taken to Britain's mainland in the cargo-hold of a ship laden with other souls sharing her fate. Not long after disembarking, Lin discovers that Dafydd had been on the ship also, as a cabin-boy. But the shadow of yet another auction looming in their future taints their joy of reunion. Now on foot, the slavers' destination is the northern British city of Ebrauc. Unbeknownst to the slave traders, the Pendragon is in residence in Ebrauc when they arrive on market day. King Arthur has tried to outlaw slavery in his realm, yet has been unable to stop it. Performing errands, CAI, seneschal and foster-brother to the Pendragon, passes a pavilion with an auction in progress. Curiosity leads him inside to investigate. Appalled to see children for sale, he uses his authority to halt the activity and cuts away the collars from those who have not been sold. Lin is among them. Cai notices the lean, auburn-haired girl with the bruised face and aloof stance in the midst of the others. Something about the girl draws his attention to study her more closely. Recognition sparks. She bears an uncanny resemblance to the Queen. Cai takes Lin to Arthur. Arthur also sees his wife's features in the child standing before him. After a long interview he has no doubt, the girl who says she came from Orkney is his long-missing daughter, long-believed dead. He welcomes Lin to his residence and tells her the truth of her identity.. He explains how her mother, Gwenhwyfar, did not know of the serious rift between him and his half-sister, Morgause. Gwenhwyfar only thought to send their daughter to fosterage among kin. Lin is sickened by the news that Modred is her half-brother. She tells her father of the rapes and of the child she miscarried not many days before. Furious with his half-sister and the boy he sired, Arthur wants to avenge his innocent daughter for the abuse she endured as a slave. He is willing to leave immediately for Orkney. Lin has selfish reasons for stopping her father. She views slavery as a stigma and wants it to remain secret. Public vengeance means exposure. She also realizes she cannot let her father fight her battles. When the time comes for her to confront Modred, she knows she cannot be hiding behind her father. She must face Modred alone as she has always done. ===== The episode introduces the characters of Rocky Blue (Zendaya) and CeCe Jones (Bella Thorne). They appear in a group of people waiting at a subway stop, as Rocky plays her boombox and they attempt to dance for money. They give a rousing performance, which gets everyone in the crowd dancing as well. When they are done, the performance is received with applause, however, after receiving the hat they passed around, Rocky sees that they have only earned a dime. After telling the crowd that they want money for cell phones, and an operation, they pass around the hat again, only to see that their dime is gone. "Start It Up" is one of the multiple Shake It Up episodes that reference pop singer Lady Gaga. Next, the girls get ready for school, and CeCe does her daily ritual of yelling out her apartment window for Rocky, who lives on the floor above, to get ready for school. While preparing for school, "Shake it Up Chicago" appears on television, and CeCe dances along to it. CeCe's mother, Georgia (Anita Barone), who is a police officer, and her brother Flynn (Davis Cleveland). When Georgia orders CeCe to fix breakfast for Flynn, Rocky arrives through the window, to rush CeCe to catch the subway for school. In a rush, the duo prepare a "one-minute breakfast" for Flynn, mixing his cereal in a blender and putting it in a bag. As they arrive at school, their friend Deuce (Adam Irigoyen) is introduced, offering them bootleg Lady Gaga concert tickets. He then tells them about an opportunity to audition on their favorite show, "Shake it Up Chicago." After deciding to go to the auditions, their rivals, Gunther and Tinka Hessenheffer (Kenton Duty and Caroline Sunshine), are introduced, and they tell CeCe and Rocky their plans of trying out for the show as well. Before going to the auditions, Rocky has an impromptu dance-off with her brother, Ty (Roshon Fegan). CeCe encourages him to try out also, but he says that he "doesn't dance for the man." Both do well in their preliminary auditions, and Rocky shines during the solo round. However, CeCe gets stage fright and ends up running off stage. Rocky finds her crying at the subway stop, embarrassed and referring to herself as a loser. When CeCe brings up how Rocky is better and names all of her good qualities, Rocky replies with things good about CeCe. CeCe then accompanies Rocky on "Shake it Up Chicago" to support her. Rocky then tries to get CeCe onstage with her, and when she refuses, Rocky uses Georgia's handcuffs to make her come and they dance onstage together. After the segment is over, the show's host, Gary Wilde (R. Brandon Johnson) decides to let CeCe join the show as well. Trying to unlock the handcuffs, Rocky realizes they are gone. Flynn took the keys in retaliation for their "one-minute breakfast" prepared for him. ===== Phoebe (Nadia Litz) is a perky university student who has difficulty relating to her fellow students. Her only friend is her roommate Robin (Nikki Barnett) who she smothers with advice. Eventually Robin cracks under the pressure of being Phoebe's only friend and leaves on a plane with a stranger she just met, informing Phoebe that she is too uptight and immature, casually mentioning that she's never even had a boyfriend. Embarrassed by her own immaturity Phoebe tries to go on a date. After it goes sour she ends up talking to Frazer, her 14-year-old neighbour who mows her lawn. As time passes, Phoebe grows close to Frazer as he enjoys listening to her advice and looks up to and respects her while at the same time teaching her to have fun and relax. However their friendship begins to strain when Robin returns and notices that Phoebe is spending lots of time with Frazer and has crossed getting a boyfriend off her task list. Meanwhile, Suzanna (Ellen Page), Frazer's neighbour, grows jealous of all the time he spends with Phoebe and tells him that Phoebe will want to have sex with him in an effort to scare him. Instead Frazer buys condoms and later attempts to kiss Phoebe. Disturbed, Phoebe brushes him off and pushes him away. On her way to graduation Frazer approaches Phoebe to talk. She ends up kissing him in front of Robin and her friends but the two realize the age difference between them is too large for anything romantic to happen. Instead, they go to Phoebe's graduation ceremony as friends. ===== The film is about Marta, a young woman, who travels to her childhood village, only to find that one of her aunts is dead and another is under the influence of Mr. Duval, who later turns out to be a vampire named Count Karol de Lavud. ===== An ovum is deposited on pre-human Earth by an alien race and in due course it gives birth to a creature that takes the form of a human. Over the centuries, the creature lives amongst humans and mentally influences certain of them to advance the development of civilization. In particular, it works on scientists and eventually it causes the development of space travel. As the first spaceship to attempt to reach the moon is being built, the creature, now known as Kane, causes the creation of a small space in the ship, which he enters, unknown to the builders. The ship leaves Earth and at the appropriate point, Kane departs from the ship and, now fully developed, travels unaided to its home planet. The author draws an analogy between Kane and a bee that visits and thereby pollinates flowers at random, with no real knowledge of what it has done. ===== A man named Jenkins is put on trial after accidentally damaging a computer system that potentially could have a disastrous effect on the totally computerized underground society in which he lives. The trial, which is carried out by computers programmed with prosecution and defence arguments, finds Jenkins guilty of equipment damage, a major crime by the society's laws. He is sentenced to permanent exile, a punishment considered harsher than execution. Only at the end of the story is it revealed that the society is built beneath the surface of the Moon, with a totally conditioned and computer-controlled environment, and that the place of exile is on the surface of the Earth. ===== Earth has established a totally balanced and ecologically stable underground society (similar to that portrayed in Asimov's novel The Caves of Steel). But one man, Cranwitz, regarded as a deviant and eccentric because he keeps a few animals as pets, refuses to get rid of these animals, the last non-human inhabitants of the planet. He is finally persuaded by his sector representatives to exterminate his pets, but also commits suicide. This leaves Earth in 'perfection', with its fifteen trillion inhabitants, twenty billion tons of human brain and the 'exquisite nothingness of uniformity'. ===== "Every Sunday, the lonely bachelor and sophisticated judge Mladen (Stevo Žigon) comes to play chess with his friend, the sculptor Fedja (Relja Bašić), and gradually he falls into an affair with Fedja's wife Neda (Milena Dravić). The chess board is the center of the film, the moves mirroring the emotional developments of the characters." ===== The first part of the story takes part in the 1980s. Salomé, who was abandoned as a child by her mother, is a cabaret dancer who works at the cabaret Salón D'Rubí. Her best friend, Karicia, also works as a dancer. At the Salón she meets Diego Duval and his brother-in-law, Julio Montesino, a married man. Lucrecia, Julio's mother, is obsessed with having a grandson. Julio and Salomé meet in Tampico and begin an affair. Afterwards, Salomé finds out she is pregnant. When Doña Lucrecia finds out, she proposes to Salomé that she stay at the Montesino mansion while awaiting the birth of her baby. Salomé accepts and Doña Lucrecia proposes that Salomé turn over her baby to the Montesino Family to raise as Salomé has no financial means to care for a child. Salomé accepts and moves into the Montesino mansion, much to the displeasure of Ángela. Ángela is Julio's wife; she has a fatal illness and is unable to bear children. Manola, the maid of the house, cares for Ángela and is also displeased with the situation. It is later revealed that Manola and Lucrecia are half sisters. Arturo is Julio's father and is very understanding of Julio's situation. Salomé changes her mind and decides to keep the baby after he is born. She runs away with the child and is aided by Hipólito and Piro. Piro's sister, Martha, is married to Hipólito, and they have two children. She is unhappy with her life and abandons her family. Salomé, whose real name is Fernanda, escapes Mexico City and takes with her Hipólito's kids (with his permission). Salomé raises all three kids, who she registers as being born the same day in order to conceal her own son. The kids are called José Armando, José Miguel and José Julián. She marries a man who is a widow and wants to give her son's his name and protection and uses his last name, Lavalle. When the boys grow up, they decide to go to college in Mexico City and she is forced to move back. She had never told the kids that two of them were not hers, that she used to be a dancer, or who their father was. Ángela has since died and left Julio's son the majority of her large fortune, much to the displeasure of Diego. Julio is raising his friend's daughter, Karla, because they died in a plane accident. Julio is the Dean of the University that the boys attend, and he also a partner in a construction company. Eventually, Salomé and Julio meet and they start their romance once again. Mauricio, Julio's business partner, is also in love with Salomé. Mauricio Valdivia is mentally disturbed and causes a lot of trouble when he partners with Rebeca Santos, who is in love with Julio. They constantly plan to ruin Julio and Salomé's plan of getting back together. Karicia has become an alcoholic and the Salón D'Rubí is now owned by Diego Duval, who has turned it into a strip joint. Fernanda helps Karicia turn her life around, and she goes to live in Fernanda's house. Karicia also adopts a boy known as "El Guerejo", who took care of her when she was an alcoholic. José Julián falls in love with Karla, and José Armando marries Natalia, who has an incurable disease. José Miguel falls in love with Romina, who used to dance at Salón D'Rubí. José Julián and Karla face many obstacles, mainly Mercedes who, after sleeping with José Julián (he thought she was Karla since she was wearing the costume and mask Karla was supposed to be wearing), makes him believe she is pregnant. He almost marries her but then learns the truth. Natalia has an incurable disease but nevertheless gets pregnant because she wants to be able to leave a symbol of her and José Armando's love behind. José Miguel has to cope with Romina's lies about what she does for a living. Julio and Fernanda marry but then Arturo is murdered, and Fernanda is accused of Arturo's murder and goes to trial. She is found innocent after Rebeca confessed she did not really see her murder Arturo. Manola, who had begun a romance with Arturo by then and since Arturo was divorcing Lucrecia, found written in her diary (by Arturo), the identity of the killer - Diego Duval. ===== Naive Montana cowboy Duke Fergus arrives in San Francisco and visits the notorious Barbary Coast. Fergus becomes smitten with the lovely star attraction of the fanciest gambling hall, "Flaxen" Tarry, the "Flame of the Barbary Coast". Fergus gets talked into gambling against the owner (and Flaxen's lover), card shark Tito Morell. Predictably, Fergus gets cheated and loses all his money. Fergus sets himself to win Flaxen's affections and decides the best way to do it is to take over. Fergus gets his friend Wolf Wylie to teach him everything about gambling, including how to spot cheating. When Duke's ready, he sells all he owns and returns to the city to challenge Morell's rule of the Barbary Coast. He goes from casino to casino, challenging each one's resident poker champion to a heads-up game, starting with Morell. Duke wins every time. Fergus then builds an opulent new gambling establishment, catering to the upper class. To make it a success, he needs to persuade Flaxen to come work for him, but she is initially not interested. Only when Morell offends her does she decide to accept Fergus' offer. On opening night of the new establishment, Morell comes to challenge Fergus and win back Flaxen only in the midst of it all, a great earthquake hits, leaving Fergus' and Morell's businesses are destroyed, and Flaxen grievously injured. The town rebuilds and Fergus helps Flaxen in her recovery. In the aftermath, both Fergus and Morell run for mayor. Fergus catches Morell's men in the act of trying to rig the election. Fergus turns the results over the people to have them decide in favor of returning to Montana to marry Flaxen while Morell keeps his business and influence. ===== This film depicts the disputes between two forms of the dance styles and music, Classical Indian (in particular Carnatic music and Bharathanatyam danceform) against rural Tamil folk music and dance. The film depicts the misunderstanding and mutual ignorance of the two factions. The parallel plot in the movie is of the children and intended successors of the respective dance doyens falling in love with each other. ===== The action takes place on a future Earth that has established a totally controlled and balanced ecology. The Secretary-General of Ecology, Ino Adrastus, controls all the ecology with the aid of massive computers. He is visited by Jan Marley, a science writer, to whom Adrastus claims to be no more than a clerk whose sole task is to sign the directives produced by the computers. Marley is invited to witness a meeting between Adrastus and Lou Tansonia, a medical researcher from the moon colony, whose proposal involving setting up experimental ecologies has been rejected by the computers. After Tansonia explains his proposal, Adrastus approves it against the recommendation of the computers. This leads Marley to think that he was there specifically to witness this act. After Tansonia leaves, Adrastus explains to Marley that a common saying attributed to Tansonia is slightly misquoted as being, "Man's Greatest Asset is a balanced ecology." Whereas it should say that "Man's greatest *need* is a balanced ecology. Man's greatest *asset* is the unsettled mind." This is because unsettled minds are a necessary prerequisite for "man to be man - which is more important than merely to live." Adrastus is then revealed to have almost certainly engineered this encounter to correct this misattribution. ===== Magdalena Miłowicz is a young lawyer who seems to be a little lost in her love life, until she meets Peter, a man who also turns out to be a lawyer. After they met, they fall madly in love. Nonetheless, Peter has chosen to fight for Magda's affection. Once he wins Magda's love, he gets very sick with an illness, requiring him to go to the United States for treatment. However, he chose not tell Magda, unwillingly hurting her in the process. When he gets well and comes back, he tries to win her back. But for leaving her without a word, she wants him out of her life, saying that she has other men to choose from. But the question is—is Peter Magda's true love, a love that she has denied herself? ===== The story begins at the college where three young students, Zbyněk, Vašek, and Jano, are roommates. They decide to work for the same company after their studies, but after military service, they each go to a different city. ===== Graffiti based on the novel in Kharkiv, Ukraine The novel is written as a first-person narrative of Pyotr Pustota () and in the introduction to this book it is claimed that unlike Dmitriy Furmanov's book Chapayev, this book is the truth. The book is set in two different times — after the October Revolution and in modern Russia. In the post-revolutionary period, Pyotr Pustota is a poet who has fled from Saint Petersburg to Moscow and who takes up the identity of a Soviet political commissar and meets a strange man named Vasily Chapayev who is some sort of an army commander. He spends his days drinking samogon, taking drugs and talking about the meaning of life with Chapayev. Every night (according to his post-revolutionary life) Pustota has nightmares about him being locked up in a psychiatric hospital because of his beliefs of being a poet from the beginning of the century. He shares the room in the hospital with three other men, each with his very individual form of fake identity. Until the end of the book it isn't perfectly clear, which of Pyotr's identities is the real one and whether there is such a thing as a real identity at all. ===== Prospector Juan Valdez is murdered by The Cactus Kid and his gang in an attempt to discover the location of his gold mine. Valdez's dog Rinty witnesses the murder and can also lead the gang to the mine, making him the villain's target throughout the serial. In addition Rinty must help Valdez's daughter Dolores legitimately find and claim the mine while being blamed for the wolf attacking local livestock. The mysterious figure of Ramon is constantly on hand, overhearing pieces of the villain's conversations. He appears to be another bandit but his actions seem to contradict that. It is revealed during the course of the serial that Ramon is in fact Marco Roberto, an agent of the Justice Department. ===== Francisco Cortez escapes prison after serving fifteen years for the murder of Jim Lester's father. He proclaim's his innocence and lists seven men who may be the real killer, who uses the name "the Phantom". ===== Robert Grant, framed for a coup in the Indian country of Ranjapur, escapes from prison to Africa in search of the real villains. Here he meets Sheik Mustapha (Boris Karloff), who has evidence to clear him, and the location of a secret diamond mine. ===== Masked mystery villain The Voice is out to sabotage the Milesburg Oil Co. "Happy" Cardigan needs to successfully drill for oil before his contract with Milesburg expires or he goes broke. Jimmie Williams' father, Jed (Edward Hearn), has been framed for murder. Secretary Caroline Hall appears to have an ulterior motive. The mysterious "Vanishing Legion" is also on the scene. Jimmie and Cardigan team up, along with Jimmie's horse Rex, to defeat The Voice and solve the mysteries surrounding Milesburg. ===== Red Grange is thrown off the Clay College football team in disgrace when his friend, Buddy Courtland, takes a bribe to throw the big game and Red attacks him. Red then proceeds to investigate and hunt down the head of the gambling ring responsible. Red eventually clears his name and both he and Buddy are reinstated on the team. ===== The main character is Josef Pláteník, a conscientious and responsible man, and the leader of the Communist party in Brod, a fast-growing industrial region. All of his days are full of problems that must be solved. ===== The Doctor leaves Nyssa on Earth, not knowing that she's in Rhodes during the Crusades, then ends up in the American Civil War. The Doctor meets General Tillington, an American general that has been spying on the TARDIS with actinoids. The Doctor finds out that The Dalek Invasion of Earth hasn't happened and a new Dalek invasion is coming very soon. The Doctor must try to put history right, but how can he convince General Tillington? The Doctor heads to the TARDIS. With the help of Tillington's nephew Wilton, can he save Nyssa and her friends Mulberry and Floyd from getting blown up? And can he escape the deadly "Toy Daleks"? ===== The setting of e is the very beginning of the new millennium inside the London office of Miller Shanks, a prominent (fictitious) international advertising agency. When the novel opens two major projects are under way: the shooting, on location in Mauritius, of a commercial for a porn channel; and preparations for a sales pitch, with Coca-Cola as the company's prospective client. While the Coca-Cola advertising campaign is supposed to be kept confidential, David Crutton, the chief executive officer, is astonishingly computer illiterate and inadvertently sends carbon copies of every single one of his e-mails to the Helsinki office of Miller Shanks. Simon Horne, the creative director, has stolen the "original" idea on which the Coca-Cola campaign is based from two recent college graduates who are looking for work and does not believe that the past will ever catch up with him. In the end it does, but although the campaign can be patched up in the last minute with the help of the Helsinki office, Coca-Cola finally decide not to award their advertising account to Miller Shanks after one of their female top level managers has watched a secretly filmed video on the Internet showing Horne in his office having sex with a ladyboy, uploaded thanks to the efforts of Liam O'Keefe, who filmed it all taking place, and his friend Brett Topowlski. The shooting in Mauritius goes terribly wrong already during the flight to the island when the breast implants of one of the four models hired to appear in the video explode. Shortly afterwards, yet another model drops out due to hyperthermia, facts which force the creative team to continually rewrite the script. Bad weather makes filming impossible for a couple of days, but the last straw is an alleged sexual attack by the company's male client ("a fat lech") on television presenter Gloria Hunniford, who happens to be staying at the same hotel together with a BBC crew to film a holiday show. Miller Shanks encounter further complications when loose talk at the hotel bar by Topowlski and Vince Douglas, the two art directors for the commercial, triggers a headline in The Sun about the "Hunniford Affair". Subplots revolve around the frantic attempts of Ken Perry, the Office Administrator, at upholding order in the building; the ongoing love affair between O'Keefe and Lorraine Pallister; a not even half-hearted suicide attempt by Susi Judge-Davis, devoted PA to Simon Horne and Simon Horne alone; and Nigel 'Nige' Godley's failed endeavours to be recognized as both a good chum and a loyal workaholic. ===== Undercover officer Nick had spent the last seven years penetrating into the core of a drug ring, working his way up from a street dealer post to the managerial position handling cargo deliveries for Kwan – the biggest player in the local heroin market. When the ailing Kwan makes Nick his protégé, Nick cannot help but sway before money and power and starts to perform his role like a real drug trafficker. This, together with his affair with heroin-addict Fan, causes Nick to become more and more confused about his true identity, and eventually leads to a disastrous end. The film begins with a scene in a dark isolated rundown apartment building, showing a heroin addict living poorly with her young daughter. The scene then forwards to the perspective of Officer Nick who is suffering from loneliness just after completing an undercover assignment. He recalls the entire story of what happened and the events to lead to his emptiness. Towards the end of the film, Nick finally builds a case strong enough to catch Kwan. However, Kwan realizes he has no way out and commits suicide traumatizing Nick because Kwan has put so much trust and faith in Nick, treating him like family. In addition, he finds that Fan who he had been looking after throughout the film, died of an overdose, discovering her body with rats on it. Due to this trauma, Nick completely goes into a breakdown. Swearing vengeance, and knowing that Fan's drug addicted husband was responsible for her death and encouraged her multiple times, Nick tricks Fan's husband into doing a drug run, however it turns out to be a trip to Singapore, and arriving at Changi Airport, Nick sets a trap with Singaporean customs officials to arrest Fan's husband on the spot. Nick then coldly informs Fan's husband that its over and that he will receive the death penalty under Singapore Law. Nick then returns home to Hong Kong, but is deeply affected by the death's of Kwan and Fan. He considers using drugs himself and just before he does, Fan's surviving daughter comes in and throws the drugs away saving Nick and silently reminding him he has something to live for. ===== The story takes place during the Muromachi period of Japan, in the midst of the Ōnin War. The main character in the series is Hino Tomiko, a historical figure with a bad reputation because of her actions to rebuild Kyoto after the Ōnin War. ===== 1919: After surviving the Great War, Major Brendan Archer makes his way to Ireland, hoping to discover whether he is indeed betrothed to Angela Spencer, whose Anglo- Irish family owns the once-aptly-named Majestic Hotel in Kilnalough. But his fiancée is strangely altered and her family’s fortunes have suffered a spectacular decline. The hotel’s hundreds of rooms are disintegrating on a grand scale; its few remaining guests thrive on rumours and games of whist; herds of cats have taken over the Imperial Bar and the upper stories; bamboo shoots threaten the foundations; and piglets frolic in the squash court. Meanwhile, the Major is captivated by the beautiful and bitter Sarah Devlin. As housekeeping disasters force him from room to room, outside the order of the British Empire also totters: there is unrest in the East, and in Ireland itself the mounting violence of “the troubles.” https://www.nyrb.com/products/troubles?variant=1094932909 The novel concerns the arrival of the English Major Archer, recently discharged from the British Army, at the Majestic Hotel on the Wexford coast in south-east Ireland in 1919. Both the hotel, and the town in which it is situated, Kilnalough, are fictional. Archer is convinced he is engaged, though sure he had never actually proposed, to Angela Spencer, the daughter of Edward Spencer, the owner of the hotel. She has written to him since they met in 1916 while on leave from the trench warfare of the Western Front. The Spencers are an Anglo- Irish Protestant family, strongly Unionist in their attitudes towards Ireland's ties to the United Kingdom. Archer functions as a confused observer of the dysfunctional Spencer family, representing the Anglo-Irish, and the local Catholic population. As the novel progresses, social and economic relationships break down, mirrored by the gentle decay of the hotel. ===== Chunauti was a window into the psyche of college life in India. The serial profiled an idealist college principal Mr. Shastri and his travails with the problems that plague students including admissions, donations, ragging, miserable hostel conditions, drug addiction, irresponsible teachers, mass copying, and other malpractices. Character graphs and a well-crafted emotional drama covering every aspect of college life in detail made Chunauti a big hit. Chunauti highlighted the higher education system and generated tremendous response from thinkers, planners and common masses. In the serial, principal Shastri faces adversity. In the end, however, with the assistance of many of his students and colleagues he emerges victorious. ===== Marie (Anita Pallenberg) shoots her ex- boyfriend with his own gun, after he attempts to beat her. Instead of reporting this to the police she hires two men to help her dump the body in a construction site near an autobahn. While doing this she becomes romantically involved with both men. ===== The Wolfman, a mysterious masked figure, is leading an Indian uprising to drive local settlers off their land. The Wolfman kills Jimmy Carter's father and Alan Scott's brother, which leads the two heroes and Alan's dog Rinty to hunt down and defeat the villain. ===== Colonel Nathan B. "Skipper" Gregory (Edward Hearn), a former World War I ace pilot, is the owner of a travelling carnival, that has fallen on hard times. Only the money brought in by Craig McCoy (John Wayne), the carnival stunt pilot, keeps the carnival from closing. Jean Gregory (Dorothy Gulliver), Colonel Gregory's daughter, works with Craig as a wing walker and parachutist. A mysterious pilot, the legendary "Eagle", thought to have been shot down by accident by his own squadron and killed in the war, attempts to sabotage the Evans Aero Co., a large corporation, sending threatening messages to the company's five directors via skywriting, the date that the "Eagle" was shot down: May 23, 1918. Gregory is thought to be the Eagle because he has a grudge against the company who stole plans for a radio- piloted aircraft. Suspicions also fall on Craig McCoy (John Wayne), the carnival stunt pilot, who is also skilled in skywriting and had left the message about the "Eagle" after being paid by an anonymous source. Craig goes looking for the "Eagle", with a new suspect, Mr. Green (Lloyd Whitlock), a director of the corporation and a pilot who flew in the same squadron as the "Eagle", the likely culprit who stole plans to Gregory's invention. When confronted, Green escapes and teams up with two compatriots, Tim Moore {Bud Osborne} and Boyle (Yakima Canutt) but Craig grabs the plans and rushes back to the carnival to show Jean. Gregory, who is confined to a wheelchair tries to hide from the authorities. Someone steels Craig's aircraft and tries to burn down the carnival. Hoping to prove her father's innocence, the pair then learn of Gregory's disappearance, captured by the henchmen of the "Eagle". A murder occurs at the corporation and Gregory is again implicated. Jean still thinks that her father is innocent and with Craig, escapes death on many occasions, fighting with gang members, as they go after the real "Eagle". Craig enlist the aid of the carnival's midget ("Little Billy"), strongman (Ivan Linow) and ventriloquist (James Bradbury Jr.) to track down the criminal. Craig unmasks the evildoer and brings the ordeal to an end. ===== Winslow Lowry is a no-good, indebted gambler and the nephew of elderly, infirm millionaire Albert Dennison. Winslow seeks to speed his uncle's demise by hiring three of the most inept orderlies he can possibly find. The trio (played by The Fat Boys Markie, Buffy and Kool) only mean well, however, and their good-natured antics actually help re-energize the ailing Albert. They learn about Winslow's scheme and try to stop him. ===== In 1992, twenty Ivy League football players visit Japan, to play an exhibition match against Japanese college kids. On this trip, Princeton University's contribution to that all-star-Ivy team, John Malcolm, encountered a Princeton alum, Dean Carney (also a pseudonym).Carney is thought to be based on Richard Tavoso managing director of RBC Capital Markets and head there of Global Arbitrage and Trading. Tavoso spent seven years at Kidder Peabody in the equity derivatives group, and built and managed its Tokyo equity derivatives business from 1990 to 1993. He was awarded Kidder Peabody's equity trader of the year for his efforts in 1992. He graduated with a major in history from Princeton University. Carney was an executive in Kidder Peabody's Tokyo office, and he suggested Malcolm contact him about a job if his pro football career did not pan out. When it did not, and following a job search on Wall Street, Malcolm contacted Carney in 1993. Malcolm then became one of KP's two Osaka-based traders. This lasted until April 1994, when KP discovered a $350 million "accounting glitch," and assigned responsibility for the glitch to one of its managing directors, Joseph Jett. KP (and its corporate parent, General Electric) made sweeping cutbacks in their trading operations as a result. Both Carney and Malcolm—neither of whom had anything to do with Jett's accounting trickery—were out of jobs, and they went their separate ways. Malcolm took a position with a venerable English bank, Barings. He was again to work out of Osaka, but this time his orders were coming from Singapore, where Barings' star trader, Nick Leeson, held court. Leeson, though, was making huge unauthorized trades during this period. In January 1995 he made an enormous bet on a rise in the key Japanese stock exchange index, known as the Nikkei (large enough so that if he won, he would recover all his losses). However, the huge bet went against him, due to the Kobe earthquake (January 17) and its devastating effects on Japan's economy. After a brief period as a fugitive, Leeson was captured and did prison time. Meanwhile, Barings suffered historic loses from the gamble, and later went into receivership. For the second time in eight months, a superior's malfeasance had cost Malcolm a job. He called Carney for help. Carney, meanwhile, had founded a hedge fund, and Malcolm was soon trading for it, primarily index arbitrage. In 1994, the Hong Kong government created a tracker fund for the Hang Seng (the Hong Kong equivalent of the Dow Jones or the Nikkei; see Tracker Fund of Hong Kong). In 1995, after Malcolm was settled into his Tokyo job, a company named Pacific Century Cyberworks (PCC) merged with Hong Kong Telecom, and under the terms of the tracker funds' charter, its managers had to buy $225 million worth of PCC stock. This was widely known, and so several traders were "front running" this deal, i.e. buying PCC stock ahead of the fund's expected purchases. Malcolm, though, discovered that the tracker fund was not going to buy the PCC stock through the exchanges at all. It made a private off-exchange deal with PCC's founder Richard Li. This meant that, when the day of the expected fund purchases arrived and no purchases took place, there'd be a strong downward pressure on the stock price. Accordingly, on Malcolm's suggestion, Carney's hedge fund took a "short" position on $100 million of PCC stock. In the event, the tracking fund did not make the expected purchases, and the price dropped dramatically—Malcolm covered the short position, winning his firm more than twenty million dollars. This one deal made Malcolm a star, known to expat western traders throughout east Asia as their "hot young gunslinger." The ending of the book turns on another, quite similar, but even larger deal involving the addition to the Nikkei index of several high-tech firms. This is the deal that justifies the book—Malcolm made Carney's firm five hundred million dollars in cash out of the restructuring of the Nikkei. Disillusioned, Malcolm then leaves Carney's employ and heads for semi-retirement in Bermuda, where he still does light trading. Other elements which Mezrich intertwines into the narrative with the main charactersepinions.com include the sex industry in Japanasianreporter.com criticizes Mezrich here: "It seems in Ugly Americans that Japan is one big brothel, and Mezrich retells the lurid parts ad nauseum." and the role of the Yakuza in Japanese society and finance. ===== Hank Canfield (Noah Beery), leader of a gang of horse thieves, attempts to steal a wild racehorse called El Diablo. The crooks bungle the job, but in making their escape, they kill a Ranger named Elliott Norton (Lane Chandler). The ranger's older brother Bob (Harry Carey) sets out to bring his brother's killers to justice, not realizing the apparently respectable Canfield is the guilty party. A young mute orphan referred to as the Wild Boy (Frankie Darro) is the only one in town who knows who the killer is, and Bob Norton attempts to communicate with the child to draw the secret out of him. Meanwhile, the horse thieves make further attempts to kidnap the prized racehorse. ===== At Medfield College, science buff Dexter Riley and his friends, including Richard Schuyler and Debbie Dawson, eavesdrop via a hidden walkie-talkie on a board meeting led by Dean Eugene Higgins, discussing the small college's continuing precarious finances. Later that afternoon, Professor Lufkin shows Higgins around the science lab where Dexter is working on an experiment with invisibility and another student, Druffle, explores the flight of bumblebees. That night, during a powerful thunderstorm, the lab is struck by lightning, resulting in the destruction of Dexter’s work. The next day, as Dexter examines his burnt equipment with dismay, Higgins meets with A.J. Arno, a recently released prisoner, who had also purchased Medfield's mortgage. When Dexter accidentally drops one half of his glasses into a container of his experimental formula, it appears as if the substance destroys them, but upon closer examination, Dexter realizes the frames are merely partially invisible. After several tests, Dexter places his fingers in the liquid and they disappear. Schuyler and Debbie arrive and are horrified to see Dexter with a partial hand, but Dexter insists Schuyler test the substance as well, admitting only afterward that he does not yet have an antidote. Just then, Higgins brings Arno to visit the lab, stunning the students, as only two years earlier, Dexter was instrumental in exposing Arno's crooked gambling scheme. Dexter and the others notice that Arno is more concerned with the campus architecture than Higgins' speech. Curious about Arno's behavior, Dexter convinces Schuyler to use the invisibility formula to sneak into Arno's office that night. Despite several mishaps, the boys get inside Arno's office where they find a model of Medfield College redesigned as a gambling establishment. After taking photos of the model, the boys flee with Debbie's help. The next day Dexter shows the photos to Lufkin and Higgins. Convinced that Druffle's bumblebee study would draw attention and investments to Medfield, Higgins reacts angrily when Dexter assures him that his invisibility formula could win the top prize money in the upcoming Forsythe science contest. Not having admitted to anyone that Medfield has been dropped from the contest for being too insignificant, Higgins contacts the contest's sponsor, millionaire Timothy Forsythe, and agrees to meet over a game of golf, despite his inability to play. Upon learning of Higgins' plan and suspecting it must be connected with raising money for the college, Dexter urges Schuyler to volunteer to serve as Higgins' caddy while, hidden by the invisibility formula, he will take control of Higgins' golf ball. At the golf club, Forsythe and the state university dean, Collingsgood, are amazed by Higgins' quirky golfing abilities, which include numerous hole-in-one-shots, as is Arno who is also at the club. After the game, Forsythe agrees to reinstate Medfield into the competition. Meanwhile, Arno accidentally sees Dexter becoming visible in the club showers and grows suspicious. When the local television news covers Higgins' extraordinary golf game, he is invited to join an exclusive tournament in nearby Ocean City. Convinced that he will win enough money to pay the college's mortgage, Higgins brashly accepts and that afternoon departs with Schuyler. Learning of the tournament too late, Dexter misses the plane and is forced to watch the competition on television where Higgins' game against two professionals is a disaster. Arno and his henchmen also watch the tournament and ponder Higgins' odd inconsistency. Upon returning to the college, Higgins tells Lufkin that Druffle's bumblebee experiment is the school's last chance. Both men are stunned when Druffle appears swathed in bandages after being attacked by the bumblebees, to which he is allergic. Hoping to assuage the crestfallen Higgins, Lufkin suggests that they give Dexter's unproven formula a chance and the dean reluctantly agrees. That evening, Arno’s henchman Cookie, disguised as a janitor, sneaks into the campus lab where he witnesses Dexter and Schuyler using the invisibility spray and reports to Arno, who orders him to return and steal it. The following day, Forsythe and members of his committee arrive on campus to judge the best science experiment at the college. Unaware that their spray bottle has been replaced by Cookie, Dexter and Schuyler make their presentation and are stunned when it has no effect. Forsythe and Higgins depart as Dexter remains confused until he chats with Charlie the janitor. Learning that there is no night janitor, Dexter realizes that Cookie likely stole the formula. Concluding that Arno must be behind the theft, Dexter plants a walkie-talkie in his office. A couple of days later, Schuyler overhears Arno plotting with Cookie to rob the Medfield Bank by making themselves and the money invisible. Certain that if he could retrieve the formula before the Forsythe Award announcement that night he could still win the contest, Dexter sends Schuyler to the police and goes to inform the bank's president, Wilfred Sampson. When both the police and Sampson dismiss the boys' story about invisibility, Dexter and his friends gather outside of the bank. When an invisible Arno and Cookie knock out the guards and take the money, Dexter unsuccessfully tries to use a fire hydrant to hose the men down as they exit the bank. Sampson contacts the police, who join the college students in a wild chase of the car driven by the invisible robbers. After a long police chase, Dexter forces Arno's car into a swimming pool where it, the money, and the men become visible. Arno and his henchmen are arrested. Dexter and the others dash to the presentation of the Forsythe Award and plead for one more opportunity to demonstrate their invention. Frustrated by Dexter's determination, Higgins intervenes just as Dexter sprays Schuyler, and, again, there is no result. Realizing the dip in the pool has diluted the formula, Dexter tries to explain to Forsythe. Just when Higgins tells everyone for the last time that invisibility does not exist, the top half of him becomes invisible, thus shocking the group and winning the top prize to save Medfield for another year. ===== The game takes place in and around Neo Tokyo after a new Great Depression of 2010 (future at the time of the game's release) and after Mount Fuji erupts in a catastrophic manner in the year 2020. While Tokyo survives and the people managed to repair the areas destroyed by the volcano, it became infested with motorcycle gangs. An all-female gang known as the Bishin dominates with the help of their leader, Ryoko. Koji (コージ), a 20-year-old former professional boxer, and Lisa (リサ), a 16-year-old who used to be a high- ranking Bishin member but left, are attacked and one of them is kidnapped while the other sets out to take down the gang and rescue his or her partner using Koji's Cobra 429 car. They go through a desert (boss: Lidera), forest (boss: Roller and Dozer), volcano (boss: Lei-Fan), super-highway (boss: Miki & Aki), construction area (boss: Miyabi), bayside highway (boss: Flare), and the streets of Neo-Tokyo (boss: Ryoko). ===== The draft has been reinstated, and on the night before being shipped off to war, Robbie and his friends share one last night together. The only problem is, that the big secret his best friend Jon and his ex-girlfriend Jen have been keeping from him is revealed by their other friend, Moose. With only hours remaining, they must resolve their differences before Robbie leaves them, what may be for good. ===== The film begins with a sexologist in his office, talking about the history of sex. Izabela (Eva Ras), a Hungarian switchboard operator, meets and falls in love with a Sandžak Muslim sanitation inspector named Ahmed (Slobodan Aligrudić), who soon moves into her apartment and has a bathtub installed. The film then cuts away to a police investigation of the death of a young woman by drowning. Ahmed goes away on business for a month. During his absence, Izabela finally gives in to a persistently amorous postman. When Ahmed returns, he finds Izabela different, less loving. (She has found out she is pregnant.) He gets very drunk, and when Isabella chases after him to keep him from harm, he threatens to commit suicide by jumping into an underground vat of water. However, Ahmed ends up accidentally pushing Izabela in instead, killing her. He goes into hiding, but is arrested by the police for murder. The film concludes with a scene of Ahmed and Izabela walking down a staircase. ===== The story is set in present-day England and involves three main characters: a serial killer named Ralph Wantage, who kidnaps and murders a young girl; the murdered girl's mother, Nancy Shirley; a New York psychiatrist, Agnetha Gottmundsdottir, who travels to England to examine Ralph. The three lives slowly intersect -- and the characters gradually change and become "unfrozen" as they come to terms with the idea of forgiveness. The script begins in monologues, each person showing his or her side of the story; the audience sees each person's story intertwine as they connect with one another. ===== The circle begins with Tommy Reilly, a onetime wannabe writer who became the producer of a weekly television entertainment news show by design rather than choice, and has stayed with it for the money rather than any professional satisfaction. Dumped by his live-in girlfriend without warning, he temporarily moves in with colleague Carpo, an aging Lothario ready to offer unlimited -- and sometimes useless -- romantic advice. At a video store, Tommy meets grammar school teacher Maria Tedesko. The two flirt, meet for coffee and begin to date. Maria, recently divorced, finds it difficult to commit to a new relationship and stops taking Tommy's calls. When she discovers she's pregnant, she attempts to reconnect with him, but at the last moment opts to lie and tell him she's leaving town and chooses to raise the child on her own. Maria's ex-husband, who longs to reconcile with her, is Benjamin Bazler, an apartment house doorman and aspiring songwriter whose obsession is 1960s/1970s rock music. He shares his dream of becoming a full-time musician with Iowa transplant Ashley, an NYU student working as a coffee shop waitress to support herself. Ashley is involved in an affair with considerably older married dentist Griffin Ritso. Although he professes to love his mistress, the once divorced Griffin shies away from leaving his wife Annie Matthews for fear of being a two-time loser at matrimony. Eventually, Griffin's inability to commit to their relationship causes Ashley to dump him and reject his advances to get her back as she becomes involved in a relationship with Benjamin. Real estate broker Annie is unhappy with her marriage but too moral to consider having an affair. She finds herself confiding in and flirting with one of her house-hunting clients -- Tommy Reilly. Thus the circle is complete. She finally leaves Griffin. The narrative segments are intermingled with documentary-like interviews in which of the characters address the camera with their thoughts about sex, love, and relationships. ===== Trevor Anderson (Brendan Fraser) is a Bostonian volcanologist whose nephew, Sean (Josh Hutcherson), is supposed to spend ten days with him. Trevor learns at work that his brother's lab is being shut down because of a lack of funding. Trevor has forgotten that Sean is coming until he receives several messages from Sean's mother. When Sean's mother drops him off, she leaves Trevor with a box of items that belonged to Max, Trevor's brother and Sean's father, who disappeared years before. Sean suddenly takes interest in what Trevor has to say after he tells him about his father, whom he never really had a chance to know. In the box, Trevor discovers the novel Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne. Inside the book Trevor finds notes written by his late brother. Trevor goes to his laboratory to find out more about the notes. There he realizes that he must go to Iceland to investigate for himself. He intends to send Sean back to his mother, but relents at Sean's protest and brings Sean to Iceland with him. They start by looking for another volcanologist. When they get to that scientist's institution, they meet his daughter Hannah (Anita Briem), who informs them he is dead. She also tells them that both her father and Max believed that Jules Verne's books were factual accounts. However she offers to help them climb up to the instrument that has suddenly started sending data again. While hiking the mountain a lightning storm forces the three into a cave. The cave entrance collapses, trapping them, so they have no alternative but to go deeper in the cave, which turns out to be an abandoned mine. Trevor, Sean, and Hannah investigate farther into the mine until they fall into a deep pit, taking them to the "Center of the Earth". They all continue until they discover a cave dwelling that Max lived in. Trevor and Sean find Max's old journal. Hannah and Trevor discover Max's dead body and bury him. Trevor reads a message from Max's journal that was written on Sean's 3rd birthday (8-14-97). Trevor continues to read Max's journal until he realizes from his notes that they must quickly leave, as the temperature is steadily rising. Trevor figures that they must find a geyser that can send them to the surface. They must do this in 48 hours or all of the water to create the geyser will be gone. They also figure that they must get out before the temperature rises past 135 degrees. They begin by crossing the underground ocean, and then the two adults become separated from Sean. Sean's guide is now a little bird who has been present since the trio entered the Center, and it takes him towards the river. However, he encounters a Tyrannosaurus and Trevor - who desperately is searching for him - saves him. When they arrive at the geyser it is all dried up. All of the water is on the other side of a wall. Trevor uses a flare to ignite the magnesium in the wall and causes a geyser to shoot them through Mount Vesuvius in Italy. When they destroy the home of an Italian man, Sean gives him a diamond that he had found earlier. Trevor sees that he has many more in his backpack, and he uses them to fund his brother's laboratory. Throughout the adventure, Hannah and Trevor gradually become so attached to each other that they kiss. The film ends on the final day of Sean's visit with Trevor (and now Hannah), and he is leaving their new home, which was purchased with some of the diamonds Sean took from the cave, and Trevor handing Sean a book titled "Atlantis", suggesting they could maybe hang out at Sean's during Christmas break. ===== Fatty and Buster play automobile mechanics and firemen at a garage in a fire station. Mollie Malone plays the boss' daughter who is constantly pestered by a stranger named Jim (McCoy) who wishes to make her his girlfriend, though she turns him down after the flowers he brings her end up accidentally soaked in motor oil thanks to Fatty and Buster. Livid, Jim raises the alarm in the fire station to make Fatty and Buster think there is a fire and forcing them to rush across town. However, Jim accidentally starts a real fire while trying to exit the station and Fatty and Buster immediately return to put out the fire and rescue Mollie who is trapped inside. They attach the fire hose to a hydrant, but the hose has a leak, forcing Fatty to sit on it. After a streetcar runs over the hose, Fatty, Buster and several of the townspeople rescue Mollie using a life net but she bounces up into the telephone wires. Fatty and Buster eventually get Mollie down but become trapped themselves; luckily Mollie moves a car beneath them just before they fall and all three ride off together. ===== The people of Earth have developed atomic power. As such, they are recorded by Naron the Rigellian, the long-lived Keeper of the galactic records. as having achieved maturity. But when the keeper learns that they have not yet penetrated space and that they test their atomic weapons on their own planetary surface, he strikes them from the record, commenting that Earth people are 'Silly Asses'. ===== Alex Gregor (Chaney) is a performing mentalist known as "Gregor the Great". One night on stage, placing his own fiancé into a hypnotic trance, he is ridiculed by a skeptical member of the audience (Hohl), who claims it's all done with mirrors. Simultaneously, the show is aired to a radio audience. The man, clearly plastered, starts accusing Alex of being a fake. Alex reacts by hypnotizing the man, ending up accidentally killing him. Even though the medical examiner concludes that the drunken man died from a heart attack, Alex is riddled with guilt and confesses to have murdered the man. Ashamed of what he has done, he breaks off the engagement to his girlfriend and assistant, Maura Daniel (Ankers). George Keene (Milburn Stone), who is Alex's manager, arranges for him to work for an old friend, Mme Valerie Monet (Tala Birell). She is the owner of a wax museum and Alex is hired as a lecturer. Valerie's niece, Nina Coudreau (Elena Verdugo), is also working at the museum, and they are both very excited to have a man with Alex's gifts working with them. There is also a disturbed former plastic surgeon Rudi Poldan (Martin Kosleck), on the payroll, working as a sculptor. This odd physician becomes jealous of the attention given to Alex. Maura reappears and attempts to woo Gregor back. Jealousy spreads, infecting Valerie, who falsely accuses Alex of making advances to Nina, her niece. Arguments ensue, ending with Valerie fainting and Alex leaving in anger. Following a night's sleep, Alex returns to find that Valerie has disappeared. Police Inspector Brant (Douglass Dumbrille) suspects that Valerie has been murdered, believing Alex to be the last person to have seen Valerie alive. All are unaware that Rudi has found Valerie in a coma and hidden her away among his unfinished wax sculptures. Nina suspects Alex of scheming with the crazy surgeon to be rid of Valerie. What they don't know is that Rudi has planned to get Alex committed as mentally ill, and the mastermind of this ingenious plan is none other than Alex's manager, George. The reason is to gain control over Alex's property. Rudi manages to make Nina fall into a coma and hides her body in the same manner as was done with Valerie. Rudi shows George where he has placed the bodies of the two women. They discover that Valerie is dead. Now guilty of murder, George becomes frantic, wanting to get rid of both of the bodies, even though Nina is still alive. Alex decides the only person he can trust is Maura, who agrees to help. Alex places Maura in a trance and she implicates both George and Rudi (using the psychic abilities granted to her by the trance, as demonstrated in the opening scene of the film). Trying to escape, George is captured by Brant, who has heard Maura's every word. Alex and Maura go to the museum cellar to free Nina and encounter Rudi. In the ensuing struggle with Gregor, Rudi falls backward into the furnace to his death. The story ends with Alex and Maura married and on their way to their honeymoon, together with Nina, their new ward. Brant visits and asks Alex for help with a case, as a medical consultant. Alex answers: "Oh, Inspector, I thought you knew. It's all done with mirrors." ===== An animal trainer Fred Mason (Milburn Stone) returns from his latest safari with a horde of animals for his employer John Whipple (Lloyd Corrigan), owner of the Whipple Circus. Among them is Cheela (Ray Corrigan), a gorilla with remarkably human characteristics. Mason relates that she is the most affectionate jungle animal he has ever encountered. Mason's fiancée Beth Colman (Evelyn Ankers) is present at the dock for his return. She tells him of the recent health problems encountered by her sister Dorothy (Martha MacVicar). Beth reflects on taking her sibling to see Dr. Sigmund Walters (John Carradine), an endocrinologist of some standing. Dorothy is staying at Walters’ Crestview Sanatorium for treatment. Fred and Beth arrive at the winter quarters, and Dr. Walters pays a visit. He is extremely interested in Cheela, and inquires about purchasing her. Whipple tells him that she is not for sale. Upon returning to his lab, Walters finds that his latest experiment has resulted in the lab animal's death. He becomes convinced he needs larger animals that possess the “will to live.” Walters enlists the aid of a disgruntled former circus employee to steal Cheela. After the ape is loaded onto his truck, the scientist callously pushes the man into the gorilla's grasp and stolidly watches as the beast wrings his neck. Back at his lab, Walters and his assistant Miss Strand (Fay Helm) transplant glandular material from Dorothy into Cheela. There was discussion by Miss Strand that Walters has previously grafted the glands of different animals like placing a guinea pig's glands into a rabbit and a frog's glands into a mouse. To the horror of the nurse, the ape transforms into human form (Acquanetta). Telling the doctor that she cannot allow him to continue, Miss Strand informs him that at best he will have “a human form, with animal instincts.” Dr. Walters reaches the conclusion that he will need to place a human brain into his creation to successfully complete his experiment. He sacrifices Miss Strand for this purpose. The brain transplant is a success, and the result is a sultry and exotic young woman who remembers nothing of her previous existence. Walters names her Paula Dupree, and takes his creation to the winter quarters for her first public outing. While watching Mason practice his animal act, an accident occurs. Paula rushes into the cage and saves him from the ferocious felines, who display an unnatural fear of her and retreat from her presence. Mason is dumbfounded and offers the girl a job in his act. After the final dress rehearsal, Paula becomes jealous of Mason's fiancée. She goes to her dressing room and while having a tantrum, begins converting to animal form. Later that night, she climbs through Beth's window planning to kill her, but attacks and brutally murders another woman instead. The beast returns to Walters, and the doctor realizes that another operation is necessary to return her to human form. He can continue to use Dorothy for the glandular material, but will need yet another subject to replace Paula's damaged cerebrum. Beth receives a frantic telephone call from her sister who expresses her fear of Dr. Walters and the forthcoming operation. Arriving at the Sanatorium to aid her sister, Beth is pegged by the good doctor as the next brain donor for Cheela. However, she proves resourceful in a pinch, releasing the ape from its cage. Cheela does Walters in and departs the lab, leaving Beth and Dorothy unharmed. Performing his animal act solo, Mason finds himself trapped inside the cage with his unruly subjects. A powerful storm interrupts the performance and the beasts attack the trainer. Cheela comes to his rescue once again and carries him to safety. Unfortunately, a nearby police officer mistakes her intentions and kills Cheela. ===== Malika Modi lives a very wealthy lifestyle with her widowed dad in India where they own vast acres of land and businesses. When Mr. Modi suddenly passes away, he leaves all the business's interests with his younger brother conditionally until Malika turns 25. Shortly before she turned 25, Malika is told by a young man, Uday Jagirdar, that she is about to get killed, and the person to kill her is none other than Uday himself. Malika disbelieves him and runs for her life. She finds out that Uday is not chasing her but another man, Anil Suri, an employee of her uncle's. Malika knows now that she has no choice but to seek help from Uday, her very own paid assailant. What Malika does not know is that Uday is not who he claims to be, but is actually a deranged former mental patient who is accused of murder. ===== After listening to one of his favorite radio programs, Porky Pig receives a grand prize from the station. Out of the gift box pops Daffy Duck, who insists on living in Porky's house. After numerous attempts to throw Daffy out of the house, Daffy devises a plan to stay. He tells Porky that he has a split personality (á la The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde). When people treat him with kindness, he becomes sweet and cuddly, whereas when treated badly, he turns into a hideous monster, which he does by messing his hair up and putting in fangs. Getting the idea, Porky promises to be nice to Daffy who then begins to treat him like a servant. Porky then intends to call the authorities about Daffy without him knowing, only to be outsmarted by Daffy who impersonates the phone. Daffy puts up his monster guise on and chases Porky around the house. When Porky realizes he's been had (after coming out scared from a closet with a skeleton in it, presumably put in there by Daffy), he decides to outsmart this psychotic duck and get him out of the house by dressing up as a monster. When Daffy sees the monster ("Sufferin' catfish, I never realized I was THAT hideous. I'M NOT!"), he becomes so scared, he falls apart (literally) and runs out of the house screaming (putting himself back in the gift box in the process). When Porky accidentally sees himself in the mirror in his monster costume (which he stated that only a craven little coward would be scared of), he scares himself so much that he jumps onto a chandelier ("So I'm a craven little coward"). ===== A man and his pregnant wife, played by Dana Anderson, live in a trailer park. The wife discovers that the husband has been spending time with their young neighbor. The young neighbor is played by Yeardley Smith, who is best known as the voice of Lisa Simpson. ===== Gordon Hocheiser's mother, an 87-year-old widow, is ruining her son's love life. He resents her so much that he tries to scare her to death by donning a gorilla suit and attacking her in bed, only to end up on the receiving end of her cane. An attempt is made to persuade Sidney, his brother, to take their mother off Gordon's hands. Sidney has troubles of his own, though, repeatedly getting mugged in Central Park. Gordon, a lawyer, made a deathbed promise to his father not to place his mother in a rest home. She continuously asks, "Where's Poppa?" His repeated response is, "Still dead." Gordon locates a nurse, Louise, whose patients have a peculiar habit of dying in her care. He hires Louise to be his mother's companion, hoping for the worst, and falls in love with Louise in the process. Sidney borrows the gorilla costume and wears it home. Rather than scaring off muggers, they force him to attack a woman in the park, who turns out to be an undercover police officer. At the end of his rope, with Louise unable to stand the mother one minute more and threatening to leave Gordon, he drives to a rest home and drops off his mother at the entrance, telling her that Poppa is there. Then he drives away. In a post- credits scene removed from the movie but still seen in cable prints, Gordon's ruse to keep his mother at the rest home has failed, and she is once again home with him, with Louise following through on her threat to leave him. Resigned to the belief he will never be rid of her, he dejectedly climbs into bed with his mother, saying, "Here's Poppa." ===== Groomed by her overly ambitious mother, Anabelle is on the road to winning the Miss Texas Rose title when she dies tragically due to an eating disorder after being crowned on stage. Her death lands her on the embalming table of Elvis Moreau, an embittered young man whose sense of family duty and love for his ailing father keep him from following his dreams. When Anabelle is miraculously resurrected on Elvis' embalming table, the two unexpectedly connect and sparks fly. With the help of each other and Elvis' father, they discover love, freedom and happiness as the real world and their own demons threaten to force them apart. ===== Much-loved village schoolmaster Deenanath Chavan (Alok Nath) strongly opposes the plans of Kancha Cheena, an underworld don (Danny Dengzongpa) and his band of gangsters to set up a base for heroin smuggling. After being discredited in a set-up scandal and lynched by the manipulated villagers to death, his family is evicted and made destitute much to Cheena's advantage. Swearing revenge over his father's murder and the attempted rape of his mother Suhasini Chavan (Rohini Hattangadi) gone unpunished, and with a burning desire to clear his father's name, his son Vijay (Amitabh Bachchan) takes on the responsibilities of caring for his mother and sister Siksha (Neelam) that, by a strange twist of fate, cause him to become a gangster in his own right. Working his way up the ladder and attaining notoriety as an underworld kingpin, Vijay suffers an assassination attempt by fellow gangsters after he refuses to co-operate with their drug- smuggling operations. Left to die, he is discovered by a Tamilian coconut vendor Krishnan Iyer M.A. (Mithun Chakraborty) who transports him to hospital and saves his life, becoming his friend and eventually finding employment as Siksha's bodyguard. During his time in hospital, Vijay is cared for by Nurse Mary Matthew (Madhavi). Vijay avenges his assassination attempt by killing the assassins one by one, but his mother strongly disapproves of his murderous and gangster tendencies and drives him away from home after chastising him for dirtying the good name of his father. Vijay, hurt and upset, seeks solace in Mary's arms and begins a relationship with her. Siksha is then kidnapped and held in a slum by a gangster who wants to avenge the death of his associates killed by Vijay, and an unsuccessful rescue attempt by Krishnan ends up with the two of them brawling. Vijay hears of this and arrives to kill the gangster in a fit of rage. But this close encounter between Krishnan and Siksha causes a growing intimacy between the two of them and they fall in love with each other. Vijay is outraged and strongly protests against the relationship to his mother, but is rebuffed again when his mother disowns him a second time and considers Krishnan her "good son". Stung and deeply hurt by this slight, he again seeks solace in Mary and later marries her and resolves to do things "in the right way" to gain his mother's favour. After cutting a deal with Kancha Cheena to allow him access into his old village, Vijay sets in motion a number of strategies that undercut Cheena's criminal operations and gain him the legal ownership of the village. Revenge is a dish best served cold as Vijay informs Cheena of his identity as the son of Deenanath Chavan, lands Cheena in jail and arranges for Cheena's associates to testify against him in court. Vijay returns the village to his mother and finds himself back in her favour, but Cheena ensures his release by arranging for the witnesses to be gunned down and Vijay's family to be kidnapped and held hostage. This is the last straw for Vijay who is forced to return to his criminal ways and to walk the "Path of Fire" in order to rescue them. An almighty struggle takes place as Cheena bombs every building and demolishes the whole village before he is killed by Vijay's bare hands. But Vijay does not survive; he dies of a bullet wound in the lap of his mother at the site of his old house. His mother realises that everything Vijay had done until then had been for the ultimate purpose of restoring the good name of Deenanath Chavan, and she weeps over his body piteously along with Krishnan, Siksha and Mary. ===== Two dumb blondes, Dee Twiddle (Pamela Anderson) and Dawn St. Dom (Denise Richards), meet each other at their first lesson in flight school. Dee is a professional dancer who has breast implants and a gassy pet turtle named Virgil. Dawn is a former secretary who has tried to be a dancer. After meeting with each other in flight school, they take off in their plane without the instructor. When they notice that it's their first lesson, the blondes panic and crash into a golf course. The blondes survive the crash with no injuries. The blondes eventually become friends and they notice that they have been neighbors for nearly a year. Dee decides to help Dawn get a dancing gig at the Beaver Patch Lounge. Meanwhile, the Vancouver Italian Mafia decides to whack Lou Rimoli, a former mafia member and current informant, who is running the Beaver Patch Lounge. Rimoli is being protected by two agents. The Godfather of the mob sends two female assassins, Cat (Emmanuelle Vaugier) and Kit (Meghan Ory) to whack Rimoli. The assassins succeed. However, Rimoli is murdered right before Dee and Dawn's audition. The Mobsters, Leo (Kevin Farley) and Swan (John Farley) were supposed to monitor what was happening, after seeing Dee and Dawn run from the club, they mistake the blondes for being the infamous assassins Cat and Kit. Believing that Dee and Dawn are assassins, Leo and Swan offer them $250,000 to "take out" Hang Wong (Byron Mann), the head of the Triads in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Dee and Dawn agree, but they think that they have to take Wong on a date. Federal agents discover the plan to kill Wong and follow the blonde duo also thinking they are Cat and Kit. The Godfather sends Leo and Swan to follow the girls to make sure Wong gets whacked. Once the blonde duo arrive in Niagara Falls, they settle at a casino hotel and resort, which Mr. Wong owns. Cat and Kit also arrive there and find out that Dee and Dawn are pretending to be them and have been the hired assassins. They plan to get revenge because Dee and Dawn stole their reputation for whacking Rimoli and are pretending to be them to kill Wong. While Dawn is winning money at the casino, Dee meets Mr. Wong during his meeting with Leo and Swan. Dee tells Wong that Leo and Swan hired her to show him a good time. Federal agents spot Dee with Wong in the casino, and chase them. Wong decides to kidnap Dee and takes her to his yacht. Meanwhile, they are chased by the federal agents, Dawn (Richards), Cat and Kit. The federal agents and police take everyone into custody. Back at the casino, the police arrest Kit and Cat, and also Wong for kidnapping Dee. Dawn finally finds her dream man (who had joined her in the boat chase), and with the millions of dollars Dawn won at the casino, Dee and Dawn establish Dee and Dawn's Famous Turtle Sanctuary in the countryside where they only have one turtle but promise to have more soon. ===== The film tells of Juan Desouza (Julio Chávez), a lawyer in his late 40s, who's happily married and his wife is expecting a child. On a one-day business trip to the country-side, Desouza embarks on an unintended journey. When he reaches his destination Desouza discovers that the man traveling next to him is not sleeping but dead. Secretly, he assumes the dead man's identity and invents a profession for himself. He finds a place to stay in the village where the man used to live and contemplates not returning. Juan Desouza undertakes an adventure into nature, into the rediscovery of his tastes and his basic instincts. He tries to grasp the idea that the life dealt out for him, and which he chose to live, is not the only one possible. He eventually goes back home, stronger from the spiritual experience. ===== ===== A girl named Gol-Ghotai and a boy named Zahed are siblings living in post-Taliban Kabul. Their father is a mullah. He had fought against American soldiers in a Taliban War and was eventually imprisoned. The mother of the children was also imprisoned. She had remarried, as she believed her husband was dead in the war and is now being accused of infidelity. Gol-Ghotai and Zahed spend every night with their mother in jail. They call themselves "night prisoners." One day, the prison commander bans all "night prisoners," and the children become homeless. Since it is wintertime, they attempt to find a place to stay overnight, but still they dream of returning to their mother's jail cell. They are advised to steal something to be arrested by the police and imprisoned. The children conduct several robbery attempts, but no one notices. Finally, Zahed manages to steal a bicycle, and his sister tries to get passersby to notice by crying and calling him a thief. Zahed is imprisoned, but in a different jail cell from his mother's. ===== Martin Chadwick is a middle-aged (born 1956) advertising executive whose job is downsized and he is forced to work at home, only having contact with one colleague, Gemma, via a webcam. Meanwhile, the Civil Service career of his wife Julie stagnates and his two twenty-something daughters, Chloe and Lucy refuse to leave home. Martin's elderly mother appears lost in another world. Martin and Julie's best friends are Duncan Amis, an author, and his wife Sarah who is a television actress. Martin and Julie try new jobs and therapy in order to cope with their life. ===== Truman Gates (Patrick Swayze), raised in Appalachia, has migrated to Chicago to become a police officer. Married to Jessie (Helen Hunt), who is pregnant, he seems to have made the transition from hillbilly to respectable lawman. When the local coal mine closes, Truman persuades his younger brother Gerald (Bill Paxton) to look for work in Chicago. But things take a turn for the worse when soon after landing a job as a truck driver, Gerald's vehicle is hijacked by mobsters and Gerald is killed by Joey Rosellini (Adam Baldwin), the nephew of mob boss Papa John Isabella (Andreas Katsulas). Truman returns to Kentucky for the funeral. When his surviving brother, Briar Gates (Liam Neeson), insists on a traditional mountain blood feud, Truman urges his family to let the police deal with Gerald's murder. Briar finds Truman's reluctance to be disgraceful. Determined to deal with the murderers in his own way, Briar travels to Chicago in search of his youngest brother's killer. Meanwhile, Truman desperately tries to solve the crime before Briar takes revenge on his own. He approaches John Isabella and explains the mountain code to him. He suggests that if Gerald's murderer surrenders peacefully, it would save them both a lot of trouble. John, however, refuses on general principle, and Truman is left to continue his investigation. After arriving in town, Briar gets a room at a flop house. Before he leaves, he gives the front desk clerk the phone number of his cousin back home and asks him to call the number if he doesn't return by morning. Not wasting any time, Briar goes looking for information on the man who killed Gerald and, during his search, shoots up a local mob hangout. When Truman arrives a little later, Joey, embarrassed by the attack, says he is not pressing charges against Briar. He intends to "handle things" himself. When Papa John says he feels things are getting out of hand, Joey dismisses the threat, saying that the Gates family, "plow rocks for a living." John responds, "That's what they said about 'our' people back in Sicily." Working together for a time, Briar and Truman learn the identity of the hijackers from a witness. Truman pressures Lawrence (Ben Stiller), the son of Papa John, to turn state's evidence against Joey. Lawrence goes to Joey for help, only to have Joey betray him. Lawrence's body is found with evidence of being tortured, and Briar's shotgun is found at the scene. Joey goes to Papa John, who devastated by his son's death, sanctions a hit on the supposed culprit. Before he can, Briar breaks into Rosellini's trucking company and engages in a gunfight with Joey's crew and kills two of Joey's guys before Joey shoots Briar twice. Fatally wounded, Briar dies in Truman's arms. When the flop house desk clerk hears about the deaths at the Trucking Company on the news, he calls the phone number that Briar gave him. Even though both Truman and the police know that the evidence against Briar was planted, and that Briar's death was an ambush, there is no proof. Truman resigns from the police force and goes after the Rosellini mob himself. As the Gates family gathers together and travels to Chicago to begin a war against the Outfit, Truman goes on the offensive and throws one of Joey's guys through the window of a restaurant. When Joey comes out, he finds "You forgot one," painted on Joey's car, and he vows to kill Truman without Papa John's permission. Truman lures the Rosellini crew to a darkened cemetery, where an extended battle ensues, including the arrival of the Gates clan (and their hound dogs and rattlesnakes). In the end, Truman has Joey pinned on the ground with a knife to his throat only to be stopped when Papa John arrives with members of the Gates family held at gunpoint. He orders Truman to drop the knife and move out of the way. Papa John has learned the truth about Lawrence's murder, and to Joey's horror, he points the gun not at Truman, but at him. Joey asks him what is he going to do. The Don tells Joey, "This is for killing my son," and he fatally shoots Joey. The Gates and Isabella families call a truce. Back at the police station, Truman finds Jessie and tells her, "You're my family." ===== Grisna Smirnov Vittorio De Sica courts Elena Silvana Pampanini with almost fatal results. ===== Jane Victoria Stuart, called Victoria by her family, lives in Toronto, Ontario, with her mother, grandmother, and aunt. Her grandmother is very strict and is jealous of anything that her daughter Robin (Jane's mother) loves. Jane does not like having to live with her grandmother and wishes she and her mother could escape, though she knows her mother will never have enough backbone to stand up to her grandmother and leave. Jane believes her father to be dead, but is eventually told he is alive and living far away on Prince Edward Island, her birthplace. Jane's only friend is Josephine Turner, Jody for short, an orphan who lives and works as a servant at the boardinghouse next door. Jane also likes to cook, but her grandmother will not allow her to practice. One day, a letter from her estranged father arrives, asking that Jane stay with him for the summer on the Island. Jane is very reluctant about going, but one of her uncles says that it would be best if she went. Upon arriving at the island, Jane meets her Aunt Irene (her father's sister) and takes an instant dislike to her. The next morning, she meets her father for the first time and loves him from the start. The two buy a little house on Lantern Hill and Jane takes on the role of housekeeper. Jane soon becomes friends with all the neighbors, such as the Snowbeam family and the Jimmy Johns (so named to distinguish them from a James Garland and a John Garland who also live on the Island). Jane also gains self-possession and, upon her return to Toronto, is much less affected by her sour, disapproving grandmother. Jane eagerly counts down the months until she can return to the Island the following summer and be reunited with her father and friends. Upon returning, she has many adventures, including finding a lion that had escaped from a circus and fearlessly locking it up in a barn. When Jody writes to say that she is about to be sent to an orphanage, Jane talks to the Titus ladies, a pair of sisters who want to adopt a child. Initially they say no, but after some consideration, they decide to adopt Jody. Upon her return to Toronto, Jane tells her the good news and Jody soon leaves for the Island, promising to see Jane in the summer. In the meantime, Jane finds out why her parents have separated. She discovers that her grandmother was against her parents' relationship from the start; when her mother returned home for a visit during a rough time in her parents' marriage, her grandmother convinced her to stay, then burned the letter Jane's father sent asking her to return home. One day, Jane receives a letter from Aunt Irene saying that Jane's father is going to Boston, probably to get a divorce from her mother, and it is likely he will remarry. Jane is shocked by the news and sets out alone to see her father on the Island, over a thousand miles away. She uses her pocket-money to buy a train ticket, endures a sleepless journey of two days, then walks three miles from the station in the cold and wet to the house on Lantern Hill. Her father, astonished, assures her that he is not going to get a divorce or remarry; he is going to Boston to meet with publishers about a book of his that has been accepted. Jane then catches pneumonia and her father sends a telegram to her mother. Robin, ignoring her mother's command of staying in Toronto, goes to the island to be with Jane. Jane's father falls in love with her mother all over again on first sight, and when Jane awakens, her parents have reconciled. As the book ends, Jane is happily making plans for her reunited family who will spend half the year in Toronto and half on Lantern Hill. ===== ===== Youngster Frank Courtney discovers that he has inherited control of a Los Angeles shipping line. The current president, Norman Bryan, does not want to lose his position and conspires to have the boy killed. Rin Tin Tin Jr., the Wonder Dog, protects the boy from Bryan's murderous plots throughout the serial's running time. ===== At an air show, ace flyers Fred Cromwell (Bob Steele) and his partner, Bill "Jelly Bean" Cook (Guinn "Big Boy" Williams) perform aerial feats that prove they are the greatest aviators around. A dam being built by Stephen Gray (Lafe McKee), the owner of a construction firm, comes under attack from the mysterious pilot, the "Black Ace", and his "Mystery Squadron" of pilots. With Gray facing financial ruin, he asks Henry Davis (Jack Mulhall), the dam's foreman and ex-stunt pilot to hire Fred and Bill. The identity of the Black Ace is so secret that it is even concealed from his own men in the Mystery Squadron. Fred and his partner, Bill seek to unmask the Black Ace and stop his attacks on Gray's power dam. The Mystery Squadron is headquartered in a secret cave near the dam. A rich gold mine is threatened by the dam's construction and a number of individuals behave suspiciously, including Lafe Johnson (Purnell Pratt), a rival contractor, Martin (Edward Peil, Sr.), the hotel owner, Collins (J. Carrol Naish), a construction employee for Gray and Dr. Flint (Robert Frazer). When the Mystery Squadron strikes again, Fred finds Davis tied up in his car. Davis explains he has been held captive by the raiders. Fred and Bill finally confront Davis with evidence that he is the Black Ace. Davis panics and takes off in his aircraft only to be shot down by Fred and his partner. ===== Graham Holt (William Hurt) is a single man, aged 42, who wants to adopt a ten-year-old son. Graham is a sub- postmaster in a village in Wales. James Lennards (Chris Cleary Miles) is a disturbed child brought up in foster care. Graham wants a son, but James doesn't want another father at the time. Graham walks by an agency and starts looking at pictures of children. Being a single man and unmarried he decided maybe adoption is the way to go. He spots James picture and when he sits filling out the forms he is slightly baffled as to why he wrote son. Later in the film he makes a comment to James as to how desperate they must be to be considering himself to be a parent, 'since you can count on one hand the number of single men who wish to adopt.' Graham Holt's emotional development has been smothered by his uncaring parents. Graham was born to parents who loved each other more than their son, never spending time with him and later on pretending to be interested in him. His mother passes on and a year later his father suffers a stroke which means Graham has to now care for him. Later in a heartfelt scene, Graham's father passes and James bring out a shell placing it on Graham's ear, the one good memory Graham ever had of his father. This takes place later on in the film. James has been shifted from foster home to group home throughout his short life. Causing some disruptions and being unable to relate to women. Due to the nature of his past he has a hard time coping, anger, self-mutilation are just a few things that Happens with young James. He only has a vague memory of his mother when he was aged 3, but has a vivid and romantic image of his father. James's father is in and out of prison and has spun tales of him being a 'mercenary' in the one time they have spent together on the run. Near the end of the film, James finally dreams and remembers what has happened to his mother. As Graham goes through the extended vetting process to be an adoptive parent, He then has to attend classes and meet regularly with social workers. Graham and James meet and the embarrassed silences demonstrate Graham's nervousness and James's fears of the situation. Graham is not sure how to behave, nor what to say, due to being nervous. He talks about wanting a son, and suggests what James needs, ungracefully saying that James need a father, but stammering on the what James needs is that special someone to look after his needs. Throughout the movie James has flashbacks of his past about his father and his mother. They cause him to act out, from self-mutilation to destruction of property. Asked by James Key worker, if Graham likes children his reply is ‘Yes, but I don't think I could eat a whole one.' Trying to make a tense situation easier. The Key Worker is cut off from explaining issues about James when James enters the room. When James is shown the room that would be his if the adoption goes through, it also serves as James room when he starts his visits to Graham's place. He moves towards Graham and places his arms around Graham's waist. He then hugs him briefly. Showing affection for the first time in his young life. James also makes friends in this time with some of the local children racing with a bicycle. On one trip out in the car, Graham tries to explain how a relationship should work, He explains it should be a partnership, he never mentions love. Graham has to visit key people in James' past; one of them, Lynn, a foster mother, who was one of the few females James ever got along with, was disappointed that James would not stop in to see her. She explained to Graham about James constantly running away and finding him partially dressed, always hiding in holes and covered in dirt. During this time a flashback scene is shown of James hiding from the police. On the ride home Graham asked James why he liked Lynn when women don't seem to be his cup of tea. James due to having issues starts to self-harm himself, first by scratching his legs with his hand, then by trying to jump from the car, all the while telling Graham that Lynn is not a proper woman, eventually forcing Graham to stop the car as James tries to jump out. James convinces Graham that tenting is fun. James stands in the small shop choosing gear while Graham remains outside with his caseworker. She quickly tells Graham to beware of knots for once they are tied they are harder to get out from. It's a happy experience. James plays in a creek while teaching an inept Graham the ways of camping or as the English refer to it as tenting. James tests Graham as well by finding a stick and giving himself and injury on his forehead. He tells Graham while remembering an experience by his birth father, that the kiss has to be a long one to make it feel better. After Graham asks Jamie if he was testing Graham and James replies, 'I often test people.' Unfortunately this is fairly common in the world scope of foster care since nothing is ever permanent. Later that night on the camp out Jamie goes to relieve himself then returns to the tent cold, and slips into the sleeping bag with Graham. Who at the time is dreaming and does not even realize the boy is in with him until he wakes in the morning. After a few weekends together, Graham takes James to meet Graham's father's brother, Uncle Turpin (John Hurt). Turpin teases James and finally makes him smile. He asks Graham if he has ever apologized to his father; he always hated Graham's mother, since she would never let the father have a moments peace. Graham replied it was a true love to which Turpin replies ‘no' since she would not even let Graham's father take a whittle on his own. Turpin also asks Graham if he is sure about wanting to adopt, Graham is adamant about it that this is what he wants to do. So James now has a better understanding of Graham, and Graham a better understanding of James. While their relationship develops and has its ups and downs, nothing shakes Graham's belief that he is the one person who can make all the difference and that between them, they could change each other. Near the end James's father unexpectedly shows up and asks Graham to allow him to stay nearby secretly for the last few months he is expected to live, just to be able to see James without James knowing he is there. Graham decides that James should meet his father, that James should know that his father is dying of AIDS so that James would not have to wonder years later as to what had happened to his father. As a new school season is starting Graham is allowed to foster James while the final adoption can take place. In this way James would not have to change schools during the process. The reunion with James's father does not go well and James withdraws into himself. Once again the pains of the past take over as James tries to escape the pain in the only way he knows how. Graham invites James' father to move in with them, and he and James care for him as he lives his last few months. In the end Graham says to Jamie, "I won't be second best." As James flips a sign over at a gas station from open to closed, more a symbol of his past is over and his new life is beginning, as he hurries to catch Graham and places his hand in Graham's. ===== The story starts with a girl named Yuniko trying to steal an award because it was held by the late actor Akira Nanae. The actor who would receive it, Ryu Eba, finds out about her stealing it and tells her that she must steal it from him again. Then they start to fall in love. She continues to steal Akira's things, and she finds a tape of a conversation between her parents that states she has a brother named Ryu. They then travel to America and attend acting school in Los Angeles. She meets another Ryu, Ryu Gilliams. He says that his parents were Nanae's friends, and that they were told to marry. They star in the school play, and are successful. They find out Ryu Eba isn't her brother, and they end up as successful actors. At the end, Kamui and Cinnamon have babies, and Yuniko and Ryu have a baby as well. The last page ends in a cliffhanger, however, as they attend an award ceremony and it is never shown whether Ryu or Yuniko get the award. ===== Prabhu (Dhanush) is a happy-go-lucky middle-class man who spends time playing carrom in the streets with his friends Sathish (Santhanam) and Kumar (Karunas). He and his father (Murali) keep falling into minor misunderstandings, and he indulges in a hopeless romance with a strange girl named Hema (Divya Spandana), who he meets at a bus stop. When he is caught in the act of stealing a pittance from his father for booze with his friends, Prabhu questions his father’s responsibility towards his upbringing. His angry father gives Prabhu some of his savings and tells him to do something with his life. Prabhu purchases a Bajaj Pulsar bike and finds a job. The bike eventually saves his life from a freak incident and gets lost, subjecting him to interminable anguish as he searches for his bike. When his family members asks him about his bike, he tells them that he has given it for dealer service. Prabhu comes into conflict with the underworld when he witnesses a brutal murder planned by a gang in Kasimedu in North Chennai by a smuggling don named Selvam (Kishore) and his accomplices. Prabhu finds out that his bike was stolen by a petty bike thief who turns out to be in connection with Selvam's younger brother Ravi (Daniel Balaji). Prabhu traces down the culprit (Sendrayan) and hands him over to the local police station. A formal complaint is lodged on the culprit on the same night. Later that night, Prabhu confesses to his family that his bike was stolen. His family is very upset with him due to his irresponsible behavior. The next morning, Ravi visits Prabhu's residence and threatens him to withdraw the complaint against the culprit. When Prabhu refuses, a fight breaks between Prabhu and Ravi, where Ravi is joined by a few of his accomplices. Prabhu manages to fight them all and leaves Ravi beaten and embarrassed among the public. Selvam returns home in bail after a murder charge. When he finds out what happened to Ravi, he gets furious and sends his henchmen to kill Prabhu without knowing the reason for his brother's embarrassment. Meanwhile, Prabhu, along with Kumar, meets Selvam at his own residence in Kasimedu. Ravi is not home at that time. Prabhu tells the truth to Selvam, but the latter refuses to believe that Ravi and his men stole his bike. After hearing from his close ally Out (Pawan), Selvam believes Prabhu, apologizing for what happened and promises Prabhu that he will do whatever he can to get his bike back, but it was too late for Prabhu's father, who receives the attack from Ravi's men. He was admitted in a hospital, and Prabhu breaks down after knowing that his father may never walk again after his right leg is paralysed by the attack. Selvam, Ravi, and their men visit Prabhu to condole and apologize for what happened this time. Prabhu turns down the apology, and again, an immediate fight was about to break between Prabhu and Ravi before Selvam separates them both. Although he wants to stay away, Prabhu invariably gets dragged into rubbing shoulders with the criminals, who now target his family to seek revenge. Prabhu's bike was caught by the Anti- Narcotics wing police, and they nab him, suspecting him of drug smuggling in his bike. They release him after Prabhu tells them that his bike was stolen and shows them his FIR copy, but he does not tell them about Ravi or Selvam. Now, Prabhu learns that his bike was stolen by Selvam's men to escape from a murder scene, but it was Ravi who smuggled drugs in his bike's petrol tank. Prabhu loses his job as an employee in his workplace since his bike was a source of transportation, and as he was kept at police custody for one night. Prabhu also gets despair from Hema's father (Boys Rajan) for being involved unwillingly with Selvam's men. Meanwhile, Ravi makes one more attempt at Prabhu's life, but he was snubbed again by Prabhu. Selvam becomes unhappy about this and warns him to quit smuggling if he ever gets in Prabhu's business anymore. Ravi accuses Selvam of being a non-caring brother, and Out intervenes and warns Ravi to mind his language. Surprisingly, Selvam himself comes in support of his brother to lash out at Out. Out separates briefly from Selvam after this conflict. The next day, Selvam and Ravi get attacked by unknown gangsters when they were traveling in their car outside the city. Selvam asks his brother to stay inside the car and handles the killers on his own. He gets brutally injured only to find out that he has been stabbed by his own brother Ravi. The attack was arranged by Ravi himself to kill Selvam. Ravi delivers the killer blow before telling that Selvam is too complacent of Prabhu and he is going to kill him after killing Selvam, after which Selvam dies. Ravi creates a scene among Selvam's family, henchmen, and Out that he is not aware of who launched the assault on Selvam. Out gets furious and vows to kill every enemy of his mentor Selvam, including Prabhu. Prabhu gets his bike back and was relieved for a brief time before coming to know what is going on and finding out that Ravi is after him and his family. He first goes to save Hema. After securing her, he goes to save his family. He thinks that the only way to stop this is to confront Ravi himself. He takes down all the men sent by Ravi, who comes in his way. Meanwhile, Prabhu's family were chased down in Kumar's auto rickshaw by Ravi's men. Prabhu finds Ravi hiding in an ice factory and engages in a fight with him. Prabhu gets Ravi under the knife, threatening him to ask his men to leave Prabhu's family. Ravi does so. When Prabhu is about to leave, Ravi provokes him to continue the fight until death. Prabhu manages to dodge Ravi's swing of his knife and gets a steel rod to fatally knock him down. Out arrives at the scene and surprisingly tells Ravi that he discovered Ravi's conspiracy of killing Selvam before Ravi dies. Prabhu then leaves the scene in his Pulsar bike. ===== Marvin's Maze is a maze game where the player fight against Robonoids while trying to clear the maze of dots. There are two ways to finish each rack: eating up all the dots, or destroying a certain number of Robonoids (listed at the bottom of the screen). Two ways to destroy the Robonoids: shoot them, or remove the ground from under them at certain points of the maze (the 'Trick'). ===== Anna is an ambitious young archaeologist who desperately needs the kudos of an important find, but her work is ruined when the authorities suddenly shut down the old hospital in which she is working. Plague spores contaminate its medieval foundations. Anna is convinced that this ancient plague site holds an even darker secret. In her research she has stumbled on a murderous pattern of unexplained child deaths. This is a very cold case; the children disappeared in 1665, the year of the Great Plague. The 'suits' at her museum don't buy her theories and they give the approval for the hospital's imminent demolition. That night Anna risks everything, and breaks back into the hospital to prove her suspicions. Reaching for a mysterious ancient artifact, she slips and falls. Meanwhile, Nick's 21st birthday celebrations are culminating in chaos. He just wanted a good night out with girlfriend Joolz, best mate Steve, and Steve's younger brother, Clive. But a little innocent joy-riding goes badly wrong. After a fatal hit-and-run the teenagers hide out in the hospital and their fates become intertwined with Anna's. With luckless synchronicity, two worlds collide and the ancient force that has snared the young people starts to play out its cruel game. Anna has unwittingly resurrected the malevolent spirit of a hideous medieval plague doctor, and one by one they will all encounter his evil reincarnation - their fates mirroring the cruel deaths of his victims 350 years ago. History is repeating itself. Anna works against the clock to unlock the secrets of the murderous plague doctor. In a twisted version of Alice Through The Looking Glass, the young people find themselves fighting for their lives - and souls - in a long-forgotten medieval underworld. The only way out is for Anna to confront the plague doctor. Can she destroy him, and stop his evil spreading like a plague epidemic, into today's world? A shocking mystery that began centuries ago needs solving but even Anna cannot see that she herself is the final piece of the puzzle. Time is her enemy and death is only the beginning. ===== The iOS version of Warfare Incorporated, showing an alien duplication machine. Warfare Incorporated is set in a future ruled by super corporations engaged in no- holds-barred competition for the resources of the galaxy. The game focuses on two specific corporations (ACME and OMNI), who are fighting over the newly discovered planet Icarus, which holds a great wealth of galaxite, a rare and valuable mineral needed for teleportation. Players take the role of Andy Whitmore, a junior executive at the underdog ACME Exploration Corporation, who discovered Icarus. The player must attempt to work their way up the corporate ladder by mining the planet and finding missing security specialist Gordon Fox. Over the course of the game, ACME discovers mysterious alien technologies, such as a machine that can duplicate objects, as well as a new enemy for humanity. ===== John Sheldon is falsely accused by Frank Nolan of killing Lou Salters. Nolan steals Sheldon's horse Rex while Sheldon is in jail, with plans to ride him in a big race. Sheldon's friend Alice and her comedic sidekick Henry rescue the horse with the aid of Rin Tin Tin Jr., and Alice rides him in the race instead. The winnings from the race are used to pay for Sheldon's legal defense. ===== Ken Williams (Ken Maynard) is determined to discover the identity of a mysterious killer who preys upon railroads and transportation companies like the ones owned by Jane Corwin (Verna Hillie). Her railroad worker father (Lafe McKee) was the first victim of the murderous fiend known as the Rattler, who is especially difficult to catch because he makes himself appear as other people with a collection of masks, or he effects a strange disguise with eyeglasses, a fake nose, and a crepe-hair mustache. The Rattler — also known as "the Menace of the Mountain" — attempts to control the mountain and its hidden gold from his secret cave filled with strange electronic gadgets. ===== Zaroff (Charles Middleton), a rancher and oil company owner, wants to drive the Ravenhead Indians off their reservation so that he can mine the rare element X-94, a super explosive, found there and sell it to the highest bidder. Texas Ranger Tom Morgan tries to stop him and save the tribe. ===== When the United States Marine Corps starts building a landing strip on Halfway Island in the Pacific Ocean, they interfere with the secret hideout of the masked mystery villain, The Tiger Shark, who begins to sabotage their efforts. Sergeant Schiller is abducted by the villain after developing a gyrocompass that could pinpoint his location. Corporal Lawrence and Sergeant McGowan attempt to rescue him and stop the Tiger Shark for good. ===== Vijay is the only son of a rich industrialist, Vishwanathan. Having pursued his education abroad, he is highly Westernised and spends his time partying and enjoying with his friends Chandru and Sowmya instead of managing his father's business. Moreover, he has no faith in the institution of marriage. When Vishwanathan decides to get Vijay married in order to make him more responsible, Vijay agrees under the condition that the marriage is valid only for one year, and that he will decide if he wants to continue the marriage after that. Vishwanathan is upset at this as he feels that no girl will accepts the conditions put forth by Vijay. He explains his situation to his personal assistant, Priya, and requests her to marry him, with the idea that Priya would be able to change Vijay and make him more responsible. Priya initially refuses on knowing about Vijay's agreement. However, she is the sole breadwinner of her family. She has an elder sister who needs to undergo a heart surgery, a younger sister who needs to get married, and a younger brother, Shankar, who is unemployed. So she decides to sacrifice her life and marry Vijay, accepting the conditions of his agreement, for the sake of her family. Vijay and Priya become good friends after marriage, however, Vijay refuses to consider Priya as his wife. On Priya's insistence, Vijay decides to work in his father's office, where he gets to know about the money siphoning made by his office employees Manohar, who is an associate of Vijay, and 7 Times, Priya's crude and uncouth uncle who lusts for her. He dismisses them and lodges a police complaint against them. In retribution, Manohar and 7 Times orchestrate a car accident, severely injuring Vijay. Priya takes good care of Vijay and Vijay soon recovers. During their first wedding anniversary, Vijay, to everyone's shock, decides to end their marriage as per his agreement, claiming that he only considered Priya as a friend and never as a wife, and drops Priya back to her home. Priya is deeply hurt by Vijay's behaviour, and she also gets verbally harassed by many men for accepting an "agreement" marriage. Vijay continues his carefree lifestyle for some more days until he sees an old beggar carrying his paralysed wife on his back and begging at a traffic signal. When questioned, the beggar says that even though his wife cannot recover, it is his duty to look after her till her death. This incident makes Vijay realise his mistake, understand the Indian culture and feel guilty that even an old and poor beggar can take care of his wife, while he could not. He rushes to Priya's home, apologises to her and requests her to return to him. But Priya refuses as her faith in Vijay has been shattered. Meanwhile, Manohar and 7 Times again attempt to cause trouble for Vijay, prompting him to get them arrested. Priya gets a job at another company. Vijay takes over that company, even though it is running under heavy loss, so that Priya will work in his company as his personal assistant. But Priya refuses to talk to Vijay and snubs all of his efforts to reconcile with her. Priya soon realises that she is pregnant. She invites Vijay, Vishwanathan and her company employees to her Seemantham. However, she uses the Seemantham function as an opportunity to insult Vijay and Vishwanathan, revealing to all the guests present that Vijay is her husband and left her after one year as per his agreement. Vijay retaliates by saying that Priya did marry him and accepted the conditions in his agreement, not out of love for him, or not with the intention to reform him, but to use his money to fix the various issues in her family, and leaves the function with his father. As a last-ditch resort, Vijay, Chandru, Shankar and Vijay's driver Stepnee, hatch a plan to bring back Priya to Vijay. They decide to lie to Priya that Vijay is stabbed by his ex- employees Manohar and 7 Times whom he had sent to jail earlier so that Priya will change her mind and unite with Vijay. When Priya find out about the trick, she rushes to Vijay's home to admonish him for his cheap behaviour. But it turns out that Manohar and 7 Times really escaped from prison and stabbed Vijay. When Priya realises that Vijay is really wounded and attempts to help, she goes into labour. Vijay manages to drive Priya to the hospital despite his condition. Priya gives birth to a baby boy, while Vijay is operated upon and manages to recover. In the end, Vijay and Priya reunite again. ===== In the oil fields of the Middle East desert, the Mysterons (voiced by Donald Gray) sabotage the drill on Rig 15 by opening a safety valve, releasing a jet of oil that quickly ignites and turns the rig into an inferno. An oil refinery at Bensheba is the one source of fuel for the Spectrum Organisation's vehicles. When the Mysterons cryptically threaten to "immobilise" the whole of Spectrum, Colonel White (voiced by Donald Gray) fears that they intend to destroy the organisation's fuel supply and dispatches Captains Scarlet and Blue (voiced by Francis Matthews and Ed Bishop) to investigate the unfolding disaster at Rig 15. On arrival, Scarlet and Blue learn from the rig controller, Kinley, and his assistant, Hansen, that an explosives expert, Jason Smith, has been brought in to "blow out" the fire by detonating an explosive charge at its centre. However, they are unaware that Captain Black (voiced by Donald Gray) is observing the blaze from afar. While Smith is planting the charge, Black uses the Mysterons' powers to hypnotise him. The charge detonates according to plan and the fire is extinguished, but Smith is killed in the explosion and replaced with a double under Mysteron control. That night, Black orders Smith's double to leave in his truck and use his explosives to destroy the Bensheba refinery. The following morning, the body of the original Smith is discovered and Scarlet realises that the expert has been taken over by the Mysterons. He requisitions a Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle and chases Smith down the highway leading to Bensheba, managing to force him off the road before they reach the refinery. Smith's truck crashes into a dune and explodes, but at the same time Scarlet's SPV collides with a set of oil tanks, fatally injuring Scarlet. Scarlet's body is returned to Cloudbase in anticipation of his recovery. ===== Jack Reacher gets off a Greyhound bus in the town of Margrave, Georgia, because he remembers his brother mentioning that a blues musician named Blind Blake had died there. Much to his surprise, shortly after his arrival, he is arrested in a local diner for murder on the orders of the sheriff, Morrison, who falsely claims he saw Reacher leave the scene. While in custody, Reacher meets Finlay, the chief of detectives, and Roscoe, a female officer who believes him to be innocent. Reacher persuades Finlay to call a number on a piece of paper found in the dead man's shoe; the number leads them to Paul Hubble, a retired banker who instantly confesses to the murder. Before Reacher can be released, he and Hubble are transferred to a state prison in Warburton, where Reacher manages to thwart an attempt on their lives by the Aryan Brotherhood. Suspecting that the deputy warden set them up, Reacher joins Finlay's investigation, while Hubble is presumed dead after vanishing from his house in the middle of the day. Reacher learns that the murdered man is his brother, Joe, who was running an investigation into a counterfeiting ring operated by the Kliner family under the protection of Morrison, several dirty cops, and the corrupt mayor, Grover Teale. A second body, belonging to truck driver Sherman Stoller, is found, and Morrison and his wife are brutally murdered shortly thereafter. Roscoe theorizes that the Kliners are using Margrave as a distribution hub for their counterfeit money, but this is eventually disproven when Reacher searches one of their trucks and finds it empty. He then realizes that the opposite is true: the Kliners have been hoarding the money in response to a Coast Guard operation cutting off their supply of bills from Venezuela, and plan to resume distribution once the operation is shut down as a cost-saving measure. Sending Hubble's family into hiding to protect them from Kliner, Reacher kills his son and several other associates after luring them into an ambush. He then informs Finlay of the secret behind Kliner's operation, which his brother had been trying to prove: to obtain the special paper required to make undetectable forgeries, the criminals had employed Hubble to collect hundreds of thousands of used $1 bills and send them to ports in Florida through Stoller and other drivers, whereupon they would be bleached in Venezuela to remove the ink and then used to make forged $100 bills. However, when they return to Margrave, they are taken captive by Kliner, Teale, and Finlay's FBI contact Picard, who reveals that he's been keeping track of their progress, and has Roscoe and Hubble's family in his custody. Kliner reveals that Hubble isn't dead, but in hiding, and threatens to kill his hostages unless Reacher finds him. En route, Reacher stages a distraction and kills Picard's escorts, before apparently shooting him dead. He then locates Hubble in a nearby motel, and brings him back to Margrave. Finding the criminals gone, they spring Finlay from captivity in the police station and set it on fire, before locating the hostages at Kliner's warehouse. Reacher kills a dirty cop named Baker, shoots Teale and Kliner, and sets fire to the rest of their money. A wounded Picard shows up and beats Reacher down, but Finlay distracts him long enough for Reacher to kill him. The group then escapes as the warehouse explodes, and Reacher ends up spending the night with Roscoe. Realizing that his actions will attract a lot of unwanted attention from the authorities, Reacher decides to leave Georgia. Roscoe gives him one last gift: a picture of his brother retrieved from one of Kliner's victims. ===== Professor Kurian Fernandez, a convict, escapes from jail along with Raghu, his cell mate. After a failed attempt to chase and nab the duo, the officials draw up several plans to capture both. Police authorities strongly feel that Fernandez will land up in Bangalore and may try to meet up with his only daughter. Unnikrishnan and K. Purushothaman Nair, two inspectors from Kerala Police, are sent to Bangalore to follow the activities of Gaadha, daughter of Fernandez. Upon reaching Bangalore, Unnikrishnan meets Peter, his college mate, who is also now an inspector with Karnataka Police. Unnikrishnan and Peter make up a team and sideline Purushothaman Nair, who struggles hard to cope up with Kannada language. The police team stays at a room just opposite to where Gaadha stays as a paying guest. Gaadha, working at an advertisement agency as a copy writer is staying along with aunt Maggie, who is constantly in a fight with her son. Unnikrishnan and Peter, who are born flirts, are more interested in drinking and playing cards than investigating. K. P. Nair tries to report this to the authorities, but fails in getting both in control. Unnikrishnan slowly develops a crush towards Gaadha, which gets transformed into a full-fledged passion, but Gaadha never accepts it. Unni befriends Maggie aunty and tries all ways to woo Gaadha. Meanwhile, Unni and Peter finds out that Fernandez is in the city and is constantly in touch with Gaadha. The police commissioner is in all efforts to nab Fernandez. Unnikrishnan decides to use Gaadha to reach out to Fernandez. Gaadha reveals to Unni about the past of Fernandez, when he was a college professor, who was loved and cared for by the students. The sincere professor questioned the college authorities on many administration malpractices, which made him a dust in their eyes. The sons of the local M.P, who was corrupt and the police commissioner were punished by the professor, which led to a serious fracas in college and authorities were forced to take action on them under severe protests from students. In retaliation, they and their friends attacked professor Fernandez while he was traveling with a female student after a college event in the night. The girl was raped and later committed suicide and the professor was falsely convicted in the case. Now, the professor is out of jail to avenge on it. Unnikrishnan tries to convince the professor with the help of Gaadha, but he fails to give up. Meanwhile, an elderly and wealthy businessman, who is a client of the ad agency, where Gaadha works, likes her and asks her to join him as his secretary abroad. Gaadha, who had by then developed a soft feeling towards Unni, lets him bring his mother to see her to fix their marriage. At the same time, the professor succeeds in killing the sons of the commissioner and the M.P, as well as their dishonest lawyer, who had fabricated the professor in the rape case. The Commissioner orders "shoot at sight" at Fernandez. The professor loses mental stability and decides to plant a bomb at the city stadium, which might kill hundreds of civilians. Raghu parts ways with the professor as a result of the latter's deteriorating mental equilibrium, but is shot dead by him when he decides to foil his plan of bombing the stadium by revealing it to the police. Unnikrishnan asks Gaadha to make her father give up this heinous plan, but he refuses. That evening, Fernandez plants the bombs in the stadium, but the police team under Unnikrishnan corners him and takes him to the tower. The professor, despite repeated requests, refuses to explain how to defuse the bomb. But Unnikrishnan successfully defuses the bomb, thereby saving the lives of hundreds. In the stampede and chaos that had ensued in the stadium amongst the spectators of the football match after the news of the bombs had been leaked, a revengeful Fernandez stabs the M.P to death, and is finally captured back by the police. Unnikrishnan safely and successfully rescues Gaadha from the police, who had captured her on the orders of the commissioner who wanted to take revenge from Fernandez for killing the former's son. To save her from the future actions of the commissioner, Unni and Gaadha decide to leave for Kerala together to get married. But due to their ill-fate, Gaadha, who actually wanted to join with Unni, could not join with him and decides to go with the old man to London. The film ends with both the cars with Gaadha and Unni, both lovers being unaware of each other's presence, stopping at a junction and when the signal turns green, they move to opposite roads. ===== On a trip to Turin to analyse the Shroud of Turin, journalist Decker Hawthorne and Professor Harry Goodman discover human dermal cells remaining. After the trip, Goodman takes some samples back to his laboratory, in the United States, and discovers that they are still alive. He then invites Decker to show him his discoveries. Once Decker arrives, Goodman explains several of his theories about the cells, and has engineered a strain of "C Cells" which are incredibly resilient to damage and disease. Goodman is actively searching for ways these C Cells could be implemented to insert into one's body to cure disease, due to their strange properties and signs of immortality. Then the professor proposes to Decker the idea of cloning the cells, but Decker does not support this idea. Some years pass and Decker visits Professor Goodman with one of his two daughters. While Hawthorne and Goodman talk for some time, Decker's daughter meets and interacts with the Goodmans' adopted son, Christopher. On the way back home, Decker deduces Christopher's origin. He immediately returns to Goodman's home and confronts him about Christopher being the Clone of Jesus Christ. Goodman explains that Christopher is like any usual boy, but that he shows a high degree of intelligence and has never suffered from disease of any kind. He convinces Decker not to do a story or Christopher's life will be ruined. Before leaving, Decker assumes out loud that Goodman named the child "Christopher" because of Jesus Christ, of whom he was cloned; but the professor rapidly corrects him, claiming that he named him in name of Christopher Columbus, since he believed that the child would usher the world into a new era. Several years later, Decker visits Israel on business and stays with old friends, Joshua and Ilyana Rosen. There he learns much about the historical place and its notable culture. During his visit, Decker receives an anonymous phone call saying that "Dogs will cry, but their tears will find no place to land" following the shootings of several Palestinians by Israeli troops in a riot. He immediately calls the police and they tell him that the call must have come from Muslim terrorists, making a threat of some kind of massacre or attack against the Jews (to which the callers referred to as "the dogs"), but they remain uncertain about where they plan to attack. Decker realizes that the terrorists who called him were referring to The Wailing Wall when they said that the Jews tears would have "no place to land". He rushes to the historical site, just in time to watch it blow up entirely. He saves a young boy from being killed by the blast. In retaliation for the destruction of The Western Wall, Israel destroys the Dome of the Rock and retakes the Temple Mount. Decker later goes to check on the boy, but he is kidnapped by terrorists, along with his companion journalist and long-time friend and confidant, Tom Donafin. They are held captive in an unknown building in Lebanon. He and Tom remain imprisoned for three years. Decker and Tom escape, after one day Decker had a dream of Christopher Goodman, who leads him to the exit. In the dream his captors are dispatched and lie throughout the building. Decker reminds the Dream Christopher that Tom was also held prisoner, and Christopher absent-mindedly shows Decker where he is. Upon waking Decker discovers that his door is unlocked and his captors were dispatched in the same fashion as in his dream, and Tom was right where Christopher had shown him. Decker and Tom then make their escape into the countryside where they are rescued by United Nations troops under none other than the Secretary General, Jon Hansen, with whom Decker forms an instant friendship and bond. They are housed temporarily in Israel, which is under attack by Russians, until it is safe for them to fly home. Transport is arranged for them to get out of the besieged city, however a dogfight in progress causes Tom and Decker to exit the car to document the duel and Tom tries to get pictures. The car, the driver and Tom are hit by a blast from one of the fighter planes. Decker survives, and Tom is assumed dead. It is revealed that Tom, however, does not die. He is stricken blind, however, from the explosion and from flying glass. Decker is informed that Tom's body was never found and he is presumed dead. Decker is finally reunited with his family, and they return to the United States while Decker recovers from captivity. During his recovery period, there is a worldwide catastrophe that seemingly has no explanation. Millions of people wake up next to dead loved ones, and often whole families have died. This event is called "The Disaster" by most people, however sudden converts to Christianity begin to call it The Rapture. Decker's entire family, along with his friends abroad, The Rosens, perish in the tragedy. Some collateral damage is also suffered: people driving cars suddenly die and their cars careen out of control; some commercial airline pilots die and their planes crash; and other damage occurs. Decker buries his family, and then falls into a catatonic stupor as the weight of his loss consumes him. Later Christopher Goodman arrives at Decker's house explaining that his adoptive parents died in a plane crash piloted by a casualty of the Disaster. Decker shakes off his catatonia and invites Christopher to stay with him, and Christopher becomes his new family. Jon Hansen offers Decker a position as his assistant at the United Nations, where Christopher encounters Robert Milner, a retired Secretary General who is heavily involved in occult practices, and recognizes Christopher as one who has been prophesied in New Age Councils to usher in a new era of peace and prosperity and enhanced consciousness for mankind. Alice Bernley (a thinly veiled reference to Alice Bailey - an actual noted Theosophist), a confidant of Milner's also sees and recognizes Christopher and they befriend him, and Milner assumes the role of mentor to Christopher, not only in politics, but in a worldwide New Age movement. Meanwhile, Jon Hansen has been working on an ambitious project to reorganize the United Nations to better handle operations, and in light of the recent Disaster (The Rapture), he has almost open reign to do what he sees necessary. The UN is restructured with a central government led by the Secretary General, and ten Regional Divisions which include Oceania and Asia, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, the Americas, etc. Each of these regions is led by a Primary Regent who is backed up by an Alternate who serves as proxy when the Primary is absent. Israel is the only nation on earth that refuses to join the UN because Israel's regional partners are all Arab nations that would force them into an extremely unfavorable position of lacking representation within the UN. Meanwhile, Christian Fundamentalists, citing various prophecies in the Biblical Book of Revelation, identify Hansen as the Antichrist or "The Beast". This, however, quickly ends as Jon Hansen tragically dies when his helicopter crashes in Pakistan during a fact finding mission. The Office of Secretary General falls vacant and remains vacant. None of the Ten Regents believe there was anyone to be a suitable replacement for the extremely charismatic, popular and altruistic Hansen. A rotation schedule is established where each Primary Regent serves as Acting Secretary General for a month. It is deemed that this cycle will continue until a unanimous agreement can be made for Hansen's replacement. Unanimous consent is proven to be almost impossible. Years pass, and Christopher has been elected as the European Alternate Regent. Under the tutelage of Milner and Bernley, Christopher has embraced his spiritual nature, and Decker has provided him with pragmatic and political guidance. Under machinations of Milner and with the cooperation of various groups such as Freemasons and the Knights Templar with the funding from an occult clearinghouse known as The Lucius Trust (a thinly veiled reference to The Lucis Trust), Christopher comes into possession of The Ark of the Covenant. He gives the Ark to Israel as a gift. and in exchange he wants Israel to sign a treaty with the UN. A seven- year treaty is signed promising Israel that they will not be impeded by their neighbors, and UN recognizes their right to exist. When it is proven that the Ark is authentic - proven as Alice Bernley dies from looking inside - Israel agrees, joins the United Nations, and The Ark is placed in the New Temple that was built on the Temple Mount (previously retaken by Israel after the destruction of The Wailing Wall). Albert Faure (previously named Albert Moore in earlier printings), an extremely aggressive and deft manipulator - as well as the Primary Regent of Europe - sets in motion a plan that he hopes will gain him the position of Secretary General. Meanwhile, Christopher, following a Spirit guide sets off into the desert for guidance after a series of extremely unsettling dreams about God and an impending feeling of global doom. When Christopher's journey into the desert nears its completion (after 40 days and 40 nights), Milner leads Decker to the desert where he says they will encounter Christopher who will need their assistance. Christopher's "vision quest" has revealed Faure's plan to him, and he intends to stop it. However, they learn that Christopher is too late, because Faure's plan has already culminated in several strategic assassinations, as well as the declaration and execution of the China-India-Pakistan war, a nuclear conflict that lasts a single day, yet ends with hundreds of millions of casualties. No clear winner was declared or recognized in this war; however, Faure uses the incident to catapult himself into a position of power, at which time he forces a vote for Secretary General. He expects unanimous consent due to bribery, force, blackmail and threats against the other Regents, and he is widely expected to win. Just as the vote for Secretary General is under way, Christopher shows up at the United Nations and announces that Faure was responsible for the assassinations and is the single man who is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of millions in the China-India-Pakistan war. Faure denies this, but Christopher insists, and commands Faure to confess. Seemingly under the power of Christopher Goodman, Faure does confess, and then immediately drops dead in front of everyone at the United Nations. It is concluded that Faure died under the weight of his own guilt, but Decker and Robert Milner realize that Christopher has extraordinary powers and he was beginning to exercise them. ===== Gokula Krishnan (Vijay) is a music loving man who begins the movie with a dream where he sees his dream girl. The only trademark he remembers from it is a mole which is situated next to her navel (bellybutton). He then becomes determined in looking for his "dream girl" with the help of his uncle (Manivannan) and brothers-in-law (Charle and Halwa Vasu). On the other hand, his father (Vinu Chakravarthy) arranges his marriage to a village girl named Savithri (Devayani), which Gokul (often referred to as "Mapillai") objects to, but Savithri loves him. Gokul later sees his dream girl, Swapna (Rambha), at a wedding where he spots the mole on her navel. He then sings to her, impressing her, but she leaves abruptly. He later sees her at a music class which he teaches, and from then on, they love each other. Gokul tries to stop the marriage with Savithri in many failed attempts due to everyone in Savithri's family getting the wrong impression. Swapna then arrives to Savithri's village, and it is revealed that they are sisters. Neither of them knew that they love the same man. Gokul tells Savithri's father that he does not want the marriage, which Swapna overhears. Knowing how much her sister loves him, Swapna is determined to get Gokul to forget her by lying that she has a blood clot in her heart. After much persuasion, Gokul agrees to marry Savithri. Throughout the movie, Vignesh (Ranjith) is in love with Swapna and tries to get her to marry him and if not, he will kill her with him also. When Vignesh reveals after almost killing Savithri that he loved Swapna but she said that she will only marry Gokul, Savithri lets Swapna marry him. ===== While in Chicago, former military policeman Jack Reacher is helping a young woman with an injured leg with her dry cleaning when they're captured at gunpoint by three men and thrown into a car, then transferred into a van and driven cross country. On the way, Reacher learns the woman is an FBI agent named Holly Johnson, though she doesn't tell him she's the daughter of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff nor goddaughter of the President, having been accused of being the beneficiary of nepotism all her life. Meanwhile, Holly's fellow agents search for her. Security footage leaves Reacher as the prime suspect, and his mentor, Col. Leon Garber, is brought in to help, though he insists Reacher would never do such a thing. The Chicago office where Holly worked takes charge, with only agent in charge McGrath and two others, Milosevic and Brogan involved. At one point, they manage to put an APB out on the van, but get the wrong van due to a transfer of vehicles. After Reacher fails to takes advantage of an opportunity to escape during the night, Holly insists that he let her handle things. However, she ends up owing him when, during another stay, one of the kidnappers, Peter Bell, tries to rape her. Reacher breaks free of his restraints, kills Bell, hides his body, and re- restrains himself before the others become suspicious. Holly finally and reluctantly accepts his help after this. Reacher and Holly finally arrive at their destination; a mountain community that's home to a radical military sect wishing to secede from the US. Holly, intended by leader Beau Borken to be used as leverage to make her father agree to his demands, is placed in an upstairs room of an abandoned county courthouse, whose walls are supposedly filled with dynamite. She meets Jackson, an FBI agent working undercover, who offers to help her escape, but she refuses to leave without Reacher. Meanwhile, Reacher, after witnessing Borken execute Loder, the leader of the kidnappers, for multiple failures, is shown around the camp with the intent of sending him back to the States with information on the militia's credibility. However, word soon reaches Borken of Bell's murder, and Reacher is put on trial. Learning that he'll be executed, Holly escapes her room and convinces Borken to commute his sentence after he proves his worth in a shooting match. During the punishment, Reacher and Holly are forced to bury the caught Jackson's corpse, and Reacher suspects something big is about to happen. Meanwhile, the FBI figures out where the militia is. When the President, fearing political fallout from a bloodbath, refuses to authorize an attack, McGrath and his men go rogue, setting up camp near the community. That night, Reacher sneaks out of his cabin and into an abandoned mine, where he finds trucks carrying missiles. The next morning, as he returns to the camp, Reacher rescues McGrath, who was caught trying to break into the camp, proving his innocence. The two realize that Brogan and Milosevic are moles working for Borken for money. They stalk the camp to save Holly, killing Brogan in the process. Borken drags Holly out on national TV and tries to force her father to give in to his demands. With a sniper rifle stolen from the ammo cabin, Reacher shoots him dead. Milosevic takes Holly hostage, but Reacher and McGrath manage to kill him. As the FBI round up the remaining militia members and demolish the camp, Reacher discovers that Holly's cabin isn't actually filled with dynamite and realizes that Borken sent Stevie, the last kidnapper in a truck filled with it to San Francisco, where he plans to detonate in the middle of a crowd celebrating the Fourth of July. Everyone gets in a helicopter and Reacher manages to shoot and destroy the truck on time. Learning that Holly and McGrath are in a relationship, Reacher sadly says goodbye to her and is left to hitchhike down a highway. ===== Birth of an Age starts after In His Image. The world is still grieving the loss caused by the China-India-Pakistan War. Christopher Goodman, the Alternate member of the United Nations Security Council for the European States assumes the Primary membership from Albert Moore who was responsible for the war. The United Nations sets out to provide aid to the survivors of the war. Two men, Saul Cohen and John the Apostle, leaders of a radical cult called the Koum Damar Patar (KDP), give prophecies of plagues. Only Christopher Goodman and his close advisors, Decker Hawthorne and Robert Milner acknowledge the prophecies. Plagues arrive and John and Cohen speaking prophecies about the plagues, quickly gain the world's attention. They become despised, being recognized as the harbingers of destruction, and they are blamed for the plagues. Three asteroids are discovered, one of which is on a collision course with Earth. The UN launches a series of nuclear missiles at the asteroid in order to deflect or destroy the asteroid. The other two asteroids shift trajectories to a collision course with Earth. The first asteroid passes through Earth's atmosphere almost parallel to the ground, but close enough to cause incredible amounts of damage due to the force of the shock wave it makes, creating damage from Northern Alaska, in a southeastern curve through Canada, the United States, Mexico, Central America, Columbia and Brazil. Its entrance and exit to and from the atmosphere siphons off a huge amount of ozone, which allows the ultraviolet rays from the sun to destroy crops and causes worldwide famine. The second asteroid directly collides with Earth, striking in the Philippine Basin of the Pacific Ocean and causing seismic upheaval. The asteroid's explosion on the sea floor sent iron dust throughout the Pacific Ocean, which quickly turned red with rust. The third asteroid is obliterated by the nuclear missiles launched by the UN. When the asteroid's dust reached earth, it contains a large amount of arsenic, which poisoned Earth's water supply creating a global outbreak of arsenic poisoning. Soon, locust-like creatures appear in massive swarms injecting people with a painful neurotoxin. After five months they die en masse. Christopher Goodman, the clone of Christ, discovers that he had the power of healing and soothes people who had been stung by the locust. He healed hundreds of people, including several members of the UN Security Council, and their families, as well as Decker Hawthorne. Christopher's supernatural powers make him popular, and he is nominated to the vacant seat of the Secretary General. During his acceptance speech, Christopher Goodman is assassinated by Decker's old friend Tom Donafin. After Goodman dies, a homicidal madness began spreads amongst the people near the mouth of the Euphrates River. Entire families, villages, cities, and nations are filled with rampaging citizens bent on killing each other. The madness destroys the middle East, southern Russia, much of Asia, eastern Africa, and south eastern Europe. Three days after Christopher's assassination, at his funeral, Robert Milner approached the coffin and laid his hands on it. Christopher Goodman is resurrected, the reincarnation of Christ. Christopher explained that as his body was dead, he gained the entire memory of Jesus Christ all the way up to the time of his death, and gained other knowledge as well. He explained that rather than being a god, Yahweh was the member of a species called Theatans. Four billion years ago, these Theatans were at the same evolutionary level as humans are now. Their evolutionary process had stagnated, until it was discovered that the next evolutionary step - the final step - was a voluntary step taken by the species as a whole. The people of Theata took this evolutionary step, and evolved into spiritual beings capable of wonders only dreamed of previously. Eventually, one Theatan discovered that there was one further evolutionary step, although it was a state that only a single being may achieve. This Theatan, named Yahweh, took this step, and became a Godhead. Christopher continues to explain that humans are now on the brink of the evolutionary step into the spirit as the Theatans, however, Yahweh does not wish to relinquish his hold on humanity, believing that if they evolve into spirits, they will be on equal footing with him, and will no longer serve him. In order to stave off this evolutionary cooperation by humankind, Yahweh has stricken the earth with the plagues of asteroids, locust and madness, and he plans more and worse plagues as time goes on. Decker and Milner resolve to do anything they can to help Christopher rally humanity against Yahweh and issue in the New Age of Humankind. Christopher, Milner and Decker travel to the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, Israel. Cohen and John are located. With a swipe of his hand Christopher sends them both flying toward the Temple at great speed, killing them on impact with the temple wall. Decker remains outside to talk to the press as Christopher and Milner enter the Temple with the intention of desecrating the altar inside, to put a stop to the animal sacrifices that take place there. Also Christopher takes the contents of the Ark of the Covenant and throws them from the roof of the Temple as he proclaims that he is the Second Coming of Christ, the Jewish Messiah, and Muhammad al-Mahdi among other prophesied figures throughout most other religions, saying they're all one and the same. As Christopher nears the conclusion of his address, light beings, presumably Theatans, surround the temple and flood the Temple Mount. Christopher leaps from the roof of the Temple, and is suspended in mid-air by the light beings and he proclaims that everyone should "Behold the Hosts of Heaven". ===== The book starts before the conclusion of Birth of an Age. Christopher's address from the top of the Temple in Jerusalem is revisited, concluding with Christopher leaping from the top of the temple, and caught by the visible Spirit beings, whom Christopher identified as Theatans on the flight to Jerusalem with Decker Hawthorne and Robert Milner. Christopher is an extremely popular Secretary General of the United Nations, who was nominated following his supernatural healing of various members of the Security Council, and elected unanimously prior to his assassination, and subsequent resurrection. Christopher reveals to the world that humanity is on the brink of its greatest evolutionary step, which people are now heralding as the New Age. However, given the nature of this evolutionary step - that of evolving into nearly omnipotent Spirit Beings - this step must be taken collectively by the entire species, rather than through natural selection of individual members of the human race. If any significant portion of the human population balks at taking this evolutionary step, the evolutionary process will be a failure, and humankind will lose the opportunity to evolve, and remain a stagnant species doomed for extinction. The greatest threat to humankind in taking this evolutionary step is represented by Fundamentalist Christians and various Jewish sects, including a group of 144,000 Jews which call themselves the Koum Damar Patar or KDP for short. These groups remained loyal to Yahweh, whom Christopher has identified as a power hungry Theatan, intent on keeping humankind as they are, in order to prevent them from becoming his equal. Christopher vows not to let this happen, and declares the New Age, starting with year 1. March 11, the day of Christopher's resurrection, is declared New Year's Day. Three days after Christopher's address at the Temple, the bodies of John and Saul Cohen are called into Heaven. This is captured on tape by the media, but is dismissed by Christopher as dramatics by Yahweh to frighten people away from their destinies. A life-size statue of Christopher is erected at the top of the Temple, and speakers are set to broadcast Christopher's Address to Humankind in a repeating loop. Here, Christopher also begins a revitalization plan for healing the Middle East, which was decimated in a recent plague of mass psychosis that affected every man woman and child in the region, which now sits bereft of humanity. The first priority in fixing this region is to rebuild the city of Babylon in Iraq. This site is chosen as a symbol of defiance toward Yahweh, since that was where humankind was first attacked by Yahweh when he afflicted them with tongues when they were erecting the Tower of Babel. He also indicated that he planned to move the United Nations main headquarters there, relocating from the Secretariat Building in New York City. Throughout the world, people start experiencing brief moments of supernatural power. These powers include the ability to control others' behavior, telepathy, precognition, rapid healing of fatal injuries, and very detailed memories of past lives. Most people's experiences are very brief, mostly linked to a single incident, however these episodes happen all over the world and begin to happen more frequently. Christopher attributes this phenomenon to the fact that people are inching ever closer to that evolutionary step which will bring humanity into its New Age. Christopher then reveals that he will help accelerate this process, by instituting a Communion. This Communion remains a closely guarded secret, only to be revealed when the time is right. The communion is said to give people immortality along with great power. Decker meets with Christopher to discuss this communion, and points out that giving immortality and power to the Christian Fundamentalists, KDP and the other Jews set against Christopher will be counter-productive. He suggests that the best way to keep Christopher's enemies away from the communion is use their own prophecies against them. If a mark is required to receive communion, as well as a pledge by individuals to aid Christopher and all of humankind by working toward the New Age, then Christians, Jews and the KDP will avoid taking the mark, and lack the powers, and immortality to continue their subversive behavior against Humankind. Christopher decides to show Decker the Communion. As they walk, Christopher reminds Decker that Christopher's foster father, Harry Goodman, had developed so-called C-Cells after the discovery of Jesus's blood on the Shroud of Turin. He also reminds Decker of Robert Milner's advanced age, yet remarkable health, due to a blood transfusion with Christopher years before. Decker correctly concludes that the Communion must consist of the distribution of Christopher's blood among the population. Christopher confirms this, and indicates that for the last two years, scientists and technicians have been frantically cloning Christopher's blood, and putting it in medicinal capsules. They enter a huge warehouse that was stocked floor to ceiling, wall-to-wall with Christopher's blood. The mark of communion was a depiction of the numerals 666, since Christopher's name added up to that value in the Hebrew alphabet, and the intent was to keep Christians and other religious fundamentalists away. As the day drew closer to opening up the clinics to the public, these clinics became the targets for Christian protesters. These protests grew more violent and when the doors were finally opened, the clinics became the targets of terrorist attacks, apparently by Fundamentalists trying to prevent people from taking the communion. Public clamor for the capture and punishment of these terrorists grew until Christopher was forced to take stronger actions. Capital punishment was extended to Christian terrorists, and their fundamentalist leaders. Other than zealots and terrorists, Christians mostly avoided the clinics. Decker also avoided taking the mark. When confronted by Christopher, in his office in Babylon, Decker, now 72 years old, indicated that he didn't want to live forever. He still missed his family who died in The Disaster years before, and although he was in no hurry to die, he would welcome the rest when it came. Christopher pointed out that Decker, who had been writing speeches for Christopher, and had been promoting New Age principles and philosophies, must have forgotten that all that applied to him as well! His wife and daughters had reincarnated immediately after their deaths, and Decker would not be old and tired after the Communion, and he could go to them and reunite his family. Decker, very excited by this prospect, immediately headed out, and was on his way to the nearest clinic when he was abducted by the KDP. The KDP took Decker to Petra, Jordan where he stayed in a one-room building. He was confronted by Scott Rosen, the son of Decker's late close friends Joshua and Ilana Rosen. Scott was revealed to be a member of the KDP and was instructed by God to attempt to convert him. After a violent outburst by Decker, which resulted in a shining black eye for Scott, Decker grew calm and attempted to not listen to Scott. Scott presented very convincing arguments about the existence of God, the accuracy of the Bible, and the messages it contained, and how Christopher was a huge liar and the personification of evil. Decker, unimpressed, said nothing and refused to react to anything Rosen said. Rosen presented Decker with a Bible which belonged to Decker's late wife, Elizabeth, complete with her handwriting and notes. After another session with Rosen, Decker continuing to refuse to give Rosen the satisfication of knowing that some of what he said got through, Rosen released Decker from captivity, promising him a ride to Israel after their observance of Shabbat. That evening, walking around Petra, Decker met Rhoda Donafin, the widow of Decker's closest friend Tom Donafin, as well as his sons, Tom, Jr., and Decker Donafin (this was the first Decker knew that Tom named one of his children after him, and it affected him greatly). Decker met several people around Petra, and realized that none of the people he met were anything like the overzealous, wild-eyed fundamentalists that he saw on TV, or read about in the papers. These people were caring, friendly and scared. When Rhoda indicated to Decker that they were to be attacked by Christopher and the armies of the world, even offering Decker a timeframe for when this was to occur. Decker promised that was not the case, and if it were, he would talk sense to Christopher, and maybe they could all become friends - or at the least allies - in the evolution of Humankind. Rhoda reacted with an amused dismissal of Decker's promise, however the two remained friendly even if they disagreed on this. Decker ate with the Donafins, and treated them to stories of their father when he and Decker used to share adventures and misadventures when they were younger. After Shabbat, Decker was provided a ride, as promised, to Israel, where he caught a plane back to his home in Maryland where he planned to rest for a few days. On his way home, he noticed that everyone bearing Christopher's mark was also bearing bandages that covered up painful sores and blisters. Decker decided to hold off on the Communion for a bit. This first plague of sores caused outrage among Humankind who demanded that Christopher retaliate against Yahweh. The United Nations instituted penalties for sedition and collusion with Yahweh. Leaders of Fundamentalists groups were subject to capital punishment. The rationale was that although capital punishment was distasteful for many, removal of the opposing force was necessary to Humankind's evolutionary journey, and furthermore, individuals would be reincarnated free of their past prejudices and philosophies, and will join everyone else in the procession into the New Age. During Decker's vacation, the next plague began with the transformation of all the oceans of the earth to blood. The world watched horrified as all aquatic life, and anyone in boats during the transition from water to blood were killed. After a couple of days people in coastal areas grew sick from the decay and stench of the rotting blood, and the surface of the oceans were scabbing over. People were outraged and grew extremely angry toward Yahweh whom Christopher pointed out was responsible for this plague. A week after the plague began, Robert Milner walked out to a bloody coastline and threw a charged quartz crystal that landed on the scab, liquefying it, and turning the liquid back into water. The water began to replace blood in a spreading radius, and after a day, all the oceans were once again water, although, they remained void of life. The United Nations increased the penalties for sedition and collusion with Yahweh again, this time banning followers of Yahweh from engaging in commerce or owning property. It was made illegal to buy anything from or sell anything to anyone not bearing the mark of Communion. Properties owned by those not bearing the mark were confiscated by the government, and residents not bearing the mark, evicted. Capital punishment was extended toward anyone showing an active role in the subversive behavior against Humankind and the New Age. Decker, by virtue of his position within the United Nations, and by virtue of very few people knowing where he was, remained undisturbed in his home in Maryland. Policemen issuing eviction notices bypassed Decker's home believing that there's no way that Decker Hawthorne - THE Decker Hawthorne - would not have received the Communion, especially when record-keeping errors were not uncommon. The week following Milner's cleansing of the oceans, all the bodies of fresh water turned to blood. Decker took stock of all the drinkable liquid in his house, and hoarded as much as possible. Decker watched on TV the various horrors that came from this plague. People dying of dehydration, people killing each other for groceries that had liquid (even cans of corn and peas were precious for the water inside), riots and looting. A week after the plague started, Robert Milner walked into a bloody river, and cut his own arm, mingling his own running blood with the blood of the water. The water turned clear and pure. Nearby observers made their exhausted way to the water to quench their thirst. Within a day all the fresh water of the world was cleansed. In reaction to the anger to this plague, the United Nations again increased the penalties for sedition and collusion with Yahweh, this time extending capital punishment toward anyone refusing to take the mark. Rewards were offered for turning in those not bearing the mark. Decker, who knew what was going on, read his wife's Bible to determine what would happen next. Decker called his property manager, Bert Tollinson, and had him reinforce a room in his house with insulation and air- conditioning units, and got lots of ice. He warned Bert that extreme heat was coming, and he should do the same for his home so his family wouldn't suffer. Bert took Decker's advice. By midweek the extreme heat was taking its toll. People died in the heat. In Antarctica settlements fell under the ice, and avalanches were common in mountainous regions. The power stations around Decker's home failed, and Decker eventually collapsed and was unable to move. Fortunately Decker's home had been so cold before and well insulated he managed to survive. After a week of the heatwave, Milner arrived in Machu Picchu and made a plea to the sun-god to relent. From where Milner stood, a cool breeze issued forth, and within a day, the heat was back to normal. With normal temperatures restored, Decker soon recovered. The frequency of executions accelerated in retaliation to this latest plague. So-called "Execution Centers" were established to systematically murder those without a mark. As many as 20,000 people a day were killed in a single Execution Center. At first, only religious leaders and celebrities were televised during their executions. As the anger among humanity grew, so did their demand for televised executions, until some stations began to show executions 24 hours a day. A week after the heat subsided, a dark murky substance engulfed the entire planet, with the exception of Petra and Christopher's office in Babylon. Everywhere else was consumed by the darkness. Anyone in contact with the darkness (which was almost everyone on the planet) experienced terrifying hallucinations and horrifying visions. Sufferers were incapacitated with fear. This plague only lasted 3 days. After this plague Decker discovered that Christopher's approval rating had dropped from 95% to 11% as a result of the plagues. Decker felt guilty because it was his job to deal with the media and he had been home the whole time rather than doing his job. In a televised address later that week, Decker watched as Christopher promised that there would be no more plagues and that humankind would receive three signs that their step toward the New Age was nearly complete. Sores would disappear, and telepathic and telekinetic powers would be acquired by everyone who wore the mark, permanently. Finally, Christopher promised that the last remaining vestige of Yahweh's followers were trapped in Petra, and they would all be destroyed. Decker, horrified, decided to return to Babylon and talk Christopher out of destroying Petra. Since Decker did not bear the mark, he had to get Bert Tollinson to arrange his passage to the United Nations building in Babylon. Decker arrived at Christopher's office and immediately began arguing for sparing the people of Petra. When Christopher refused to talk about the issue, Decker decided that everything that the Jews, Fundamentalists and the KDP had been saying about Christopher was true. Christopher finally showed his true self to Decker, admitting that he was the Antichrist and his only desire was to acquire as many believers that he could, and kill anyone who opposed him. Christopher elaborated that he took pleasure in "mak[ing] the Creator of the Universe weep". Decker, defeated, realized he, too, was responsible for all Christopher's campaign of death and mayhem. He told Christopher that when he and Decker were both in hell, Decker would be the one on his knees thanking God for giving him what he deserved. At that point Christopher went into an insane fury and murdered Decker - but not before Decker apologized to Jesus for what he had done, and was forgiven, denying Christopher Decker's soul. Shortly after, the plague of sores that afflicted anyone bearing Christopher's mark vanished. Followers also gained the strength, health and vitality of youth as well as the fantastic powers of telepathy and telekinesis that Christopher had promised them. All of Christopher's promises came true, and his popularity again surged. He planned for a march on Petra and invited every human on Earth to join him. They would use their new powers to tear down the city walls; killing the last non- believers and completing their transcendence. The Jews within Petra finally joined with the Christians in Petra as one people, when they had been reluctant allies previously. Several rescue missions were sent into Babylon and Jerusalem to find any remaining Christians and transport them to Petra. Some of those bearing Christopher's Mark tried to gain forgiveness from God by amputating their hand, the only way to remove the mark completely. For those desperate enough to do so, the self-mutilation was justified by scripture: citing , "If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off". As the people of the world gathered in Tel Megiddo in the northern Jezreel Valley, Babylon was destroyed by an immense earthquake and vehicle-sized hail stones. Christopher placated those effected by promising to resurrect Babylon - along with everyone and everything that had been destroyed in it - once Petra had been razed. As Christopher issued the call to begin the invasion of Petra, Jesus Christ appeared on the top of a nearby mountain. Christopher met him there, and offered to allow Jesus to join mankind against the forces of Yahweh. For a moment all of Christopher's followers thought they may be watching an historic alliance being formed. Christopher's offer was met with silence. After this rejection Christopher began to brag to Jesus about how all these hundreds of millions of people rejected Jesus in favor of Christopher, boasting that "those you wanted as your bride have become my whores and sluts". The sudden realization of Christopher's cynicism lead to panic. Jesus forced Christopher and Robert Milner into a fiery chasm. Christopher's army collapsed upon itself and quickly decomposed as individuals vainly struggled to escape. The epilogue features Decker's reunion with his wife and children, his brother Nate, and the Donafins, including Tom, as well as many friends and acquaintances from throughout his life. Decker also met Jesus Christ who told Decker that all was forgiven, and he was glad Decker had finally accepted Him, even if it was during Decker's final moments of life. Tom and Elizabeth explained to Decker what happened between his death and his resurrection. While Decker mourned those who had not been able to join them in this Kingdom, but mostly rejoiced that he had his wife and daughter's back. ===== Beba used to be a well-to-do socialite but Argentina's rising economic crisis between 1998 and 2002 has left her with almost nothing. She is then forced to sell beauty products door-to-door. On the other hand, Dora came to Buenos Aires during her teenage years from the Chaco Province to work as a full-time maid at Beba's apartment. Since then she has slowly worked to build a house in one of the towns outside Buenos Aires. Dora, however, is unable to complete the construction of her house because Beba owes her six months pay. Dora, tired of listening to Beba's promises of payment, is now determined to resign. Beba asks her for more time to get the money together and Dora accepts. During this period Beba tries to use the confidence of Dora and discourages her from venturing into a new phase of her life. Finally, Dora leaves the apartment to live with Miguel, her boyfriend, at her new home. Meanwhile, at Beba's apartment, the power and telephone services are cut due to lack of payment. Dora visits a lonely and disheveled Beba in her now unkempt home on her birthday. Much to Beba's disappointment, Dora must leave after only a short while, explaining that she is awaiting a call from an employment agency. Beba gives Dora her letter of recommendation. When summer arrives Beba is forced to rent out her apartment and move to a smaller place. She goes in a moving truck to Dora's house, with the intention of giving her much of her furniture. Dora invites Beba to stay the night in her house. It is then clear that Beba will live with Dora in the latter's house. ===== Professional wrestling promoter Frank Bass (Ed Asner) has to deal with the pressures of running a professional wrestling promotion, facing the pressures of constantly finding new wrestlers to pull in the crowds, keeping the wrestlers he has under contract under control and especially dealing with the fact that the top man, the champion of "the League" Mike Bullard (Verne Gagne) is getting old and there is pressure to replace him with a younger wrestler. One such possible replacement is the latest challenger Billy Taylor (Billy Robinson). At one point, Bass meets with a number of other wrestling promoters (played by real life wrestling promoters from the National Wrestling Alliance, including Vincent J. McMahon) to possibly create a "Super Bowl of Wrestling". Facing pressure, Frank Bass decides to back Bullard as he faces the challenger Billy Taylor in the climax of the movie. ===== The novel is set during a ten-year interval, from 68-58 BC, which Julius Caesar spent mainly in Rome, climbing the political ladder and outmaneuvering his many enemies. It opens with Caesar returning early from his quaestorship in Spain, and closes with his epochal departure for the Gallic campaigns. Some of the pivotal moments include Caesar's marriage to Pompeia; his curule aedileship; his narrow election as Pontifex Maximus in 63 BC; his praetorship in 62 BC; his divorce from Pompeia; his governorship of Further Spain; the first time he was hailed imperator on the field by his troops, the blocking of his triumphal parade by Marcus Porcius Cato; the creation of the First Triumvirate, which Caesar formed with Marcus Licinius Crassus and Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus in 60 BC; his betrothal of his daughter Julia to Pompey; his marriage to Calpurnia; and his first consulship, in 59 BC. Reflecting the title, Caesar's divorce and remarriage come into play, as does his daughter's marriage, his lengthy affair with Servilia and his close relationship with his mother, Aurelia. However, most of the plot is concerned with the political struggles of Caesar's rise to power, his conflict with the conservative 'boni' faction, and his election to each post on the Roman ladder of government. ===== ===== Dexter in the Dark original UK 2007 version. Dexter Morgan investigates a double homicide at the University of Miami campus, where 2 female students have been found burned & beheaded. Their heads are replaced by the ceramic heads of bulls. Something about this uncharacteristically frightens Dexter's "Dark Passenger" into silence, leaving him to solve the crime on his own. As a series of similar murders take place, members of a mysterious cult begin stalking Dexter, believing his Dark Passenger to be a threat to them. Dexter soon begins to question the Dark Passenger, as he slowly realizes that it's a true entity unto itself, possibly an offspring of the ancient god Moloch. While attempting to dispatch a killer who had been stalking him, Dexter becomes frightened & is unable to go through with the deed. He soon realizes that the Dark Passenger had given him an unusual amount of confidence & an almost supernatural awareness of the world around him; now that it's gone, he feels vulnerable for the first time in his life. Dexter begins to develop sadness & anger, emotions that were once suppressed by the Dark Passenger. While missing the helpful clues & hints of the Dark Passenger, Dexter feeds off of his newfound emotions to find some balance in his life & to solve the mystery unfolding around him. Meanwhile, traumatized by their abusive biological father, Dexter's soon-to-be stepchildren Astor & Cody Bennett have developed homicidal tendencies similar to his own. Dexter intends to teach them the "Code of Harry", which his adoptive father used to help him hide his dark nature, blend in with normal people, & channel his sociopathic urges to rid society of vile scum who deserve to die. Cody & Astor are eager to learn, but Dexter informs them that they aren't ready yet, & still have years of training left before they'll be able to inflict any real human suffering. The cult kidnaps Astor & Cody, thereby forcing Dexter to engage them head-on. However, the cult soon captures Dexter through a supernatural captivation of music. Though confined in a small storage closet, Dexter escapes & encounters an old man who's the current avatar of Moloch. Though Dexter is instantly humbled & frightened by Moloch, he continuously mocks the malignant spirit, which in turn entrances the trio & orders them to be sacrificed in a flaming pit. Dexter manages to snap out of his trance & opens fire on the cult members. Moloch takes Astor hostage & threatens to kill her, only for Cody to stab him in the back with his own ceremonial knife. Dexter laments that, due to having killed at such an early age, Cody's journey will now be more difficult. Weeks pass, & Dexter is left alone to accept life without his Dark Passenger. At his wedding to Rita Bennett, Dexter falls into a state of depression as he thinks about how painful his life is going to be in its banality. Just then, the Dark Passenger returns, brought on by Dexter's immense suffering, & Dexter is made whole again in the final paragraphs of the novel. ===== The game takes place in the world of Arroya 10,000 years after the demon lord Xyphus was defeated, but not killed. His heart had been ripped out and magic amulets sprang from drops of his blood becoming the source of all magic in Arroya. The land became forbidden to human kind for monsters and dangerous creatures of all kinds inhabit Arroya. But a great leader, Das, has arisen and vows to bring civilization back to Arroya. This can only be accomplished by a small band of mercenary troops recruited from the races of humans, elves, and dwarves. As told in song only this band can destroy Xyphus, for as long as Xyphus lives, his minions shall roam and no peace will ever reign over the lands of Arroya.Apple Doc Online Manual ===== While on patrol, Sharpe (Sean Bean) and his men rout some French soldiers who have raped and murdered the inhabitants of a Spanish village. Two are captured alive. Their commander, Brigadier General Loup (Oliver Cotton), attempts to bargain with Sharpe for the lives of his men, but Sharpe has them shot in front of him. Loup vows revenge as he departs. Meanwhile, Wellington (Hugh Fraser) receives unwanted reinforcements from the King of Spain. His Most Catholic Majesty sends his personal bodyguard, the Real Compania Irlandesa (Royal Irish Company), composed of poorly trained men of Irish descent under the command of the inexperienced Lord Kiely (Jason Durr). Wellington doesn't trust them, not least because of reports in American newspapers that the British are committing atrocities against the Irish people. So he orders the unreliable men to garrison a fort near the French lines, where it will be easy for them to desert if they want to. He assigns Sharpe to train them and puts him under the command of former Wagonmaster- General Colonel Runciman (Ian McNeice). Kiely's wife, Lady Kiely (Allie Byrne), and his mistress, guerrilla leader Doña Juanita (Siri Neal), both show up in camp. In the meantime, Sharpe has enough time to train the men and strengthen the fort's defences, so that when Loup finally attacks, he is repulsed. Afterwards, Sharpe proposes a quick surprise assault on Loup's headquarters, which is approved by Kiely, Runciman and Juanita. When Kiely learns that his wife is pregnant, he sends her away, out of harm's way, but she is captured. Juanita reveals herself to be a French agent by giving Kiely a secret ultimatum from Loup. He is to let Sharpe and his men commit themselves to the attack, then abandon them in exchange for Lady Kiely's life. It almost goes according to plan. Sharpe's men are trapped, though he himself manages to reach Kiely. When Kiely refuses to act, Sharpe fights him, only to be shot in the arm by Juanita. At that point, Kiely finally rebels. He kills Juanita and shows that she had distributed fake newspapers to undermine the Irishmen's loyalty. Together, he and Sharpe lead the attack against the French. Meanwhile, Harper, in temporary command of Sharpe's company, tricks the French by pretending to be dead. The British win the fight - although Harper is devastated by the death of his youngest rifleman, Perkins (Lyndon Davies), killed by a rebel in the Irish Company, who Harper, hungry for revenge, ultimately kills. As the battle draws to a close, Kiely is killed by Loup when he tries to free his pregnant wife. Loup is slain in turn by Sharpe. Now a widow, Lady Kiely leaves the country and the surviving Chosen Men bury Perkins next to Miranda. The riflemen salute Perkins and solemnly leave the grave. Sharpe takes one last look at Perkins' final resting place before moving on. ===== The series takes place in the fictional world of Misfitland, populated by 'misfits', an eclectic group of characters notable for their unique traits that distinguish them from other members of their species. Kleo is a unicorn charged with aiding those who accidentally arrive in Misfitland in returning to their home worlds. ===== Twin fawns Geno and Gurri learn the pleasures as well as downsides of nature and their forest home, as their mother Faline raises them to adulthood. Their father, Faline's cousin Bambi, watches over them and, at times, takes care of them while their mother is busy. During their lives, they interact with Lana and Boso, twin fawns of their Aunt Rolla. One day, Gurri is attacked by a fox, but survives because a hunter shoots the fox at the last moment. She is then taken away by the hunter (known only as “He” by some of the animals; in the English translation, he is referred to as a gamekeeper, and the name has been changed to the "brown He" because of a brown coat he wears, but such detail is never mentioned in the German text). When she is brought to the "He's" place, she meets his dog, Hector, and a European eagle-owl that He captured a while ago. The owl is kept in a cage, and he tells Gurri about the times when He uses him as a bait to attack crows and other birds of prey and shoots them. Then Bambi finds her, and he tells Gurri that he will come every night to teach her how to jump over the fence. But when "He" sees the tracks of Bambi in the corral, He sets Gurri free. When she comes back, tensions between her family and Rolla's family start to rise. First, Rolla asks Gurri to tell her what had happened, but she doesn't want to talk because she thinks that she would not honor her miraculous salvation and Bambi's effort properly. Then one day, Rolla gets attacked by a wolfdog, Nero. While trying to escape him, she accidentally lures the wolfdog to where Faline and the others are hiding. The wolfdog immediately turns his attention to Geno, and chases him instead. When Faline sees Geno disappear, she blames Rolla for "sacrificing" her son. After Bambi saves Geno from the wolfdog, Geno finds Rolla, and he is then reunited with his sister and mother. When they see Rolla, Gurri gives her a warm welcome, while Boso starts developing a grudge against them. He starts antagonizing Geno, claiming that his ordeal was greater. When Faline and her children leave, a feud between the two families is started. When Geno starts to grow his antlers, he and Gurri discover two orphaned male fawns named Nello and Membo. Faline decides to adopt them as new friends for her children, so they can forget about their new enemies. When Geno gets older, he meets Lana again. Boso comes out and challenges Geno to a fight, but Geno refuses. Boso starts to call Geno a coward. Only at a third encounter, when Geno thinks no witnesses are around to see Boso humiliated, he fights Boso and defeats him; he offers a truce, but Boso instead turns away. One day, Boso is shot by a boy hunter, but before the boy can kill him he escapes. He then runs into Bambi, and Bambi has him use the same techniques that his father, the Old Prince, told him to use when he got wounded. The boy later returns to the meadow and tries to kill a deer from a pack, thinking that Faline and Rolla are bucks. But right when he is about to shoot, Bambi jumps out and charges him down. In the end, the two families end their feud and become friends again. At the end, Faline lets her children go their own paths. On the final page, she appears to the meadow with a newborn fawn, Ferto. (This sequence, among others, is missing from the English edition.) ===== The story follows an unnamed narrator who visits a mental institution in southern France (more accurately, a "Maison de Santé") known for a revolutionary new method of treating mental illnesses called the "system of soothing". A companion with whom he is travelling knows Monsieur Maillard, the originator of the system, and makes introductions before leaving the narrator. The narrator is shocked to learn that the "system of soothing" has recently been abandoned. He questions this, as he has heard of its success and popularity, but Maillard tells him to "believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see". The narrator tours the grounds of the hospital and is invited to dinner, where he is joined by twenty-five to thirty other people and a large, lavish spread of food. The other guests are dressed somewhat oddly: though their clothes are well made, they do not seem to fit the people very well. Most of them are female and are "bedecked with a profusion of jewelry, such as rings, bracelets and earrings, and wore their bosoms and arms shamefully bare". The table and the room are decorated with an excess of lit candles wherever it is possible to find a place for them. Dinner is also accompanied by musicians playing "fiddles, fifes, trombones and a drum", and though they seem to entertain all the others present, the narrator likens the music to horrible noises (at one point even mentioning the torture and execution device known as the brazen bull). The narrator says that there is much of the "bizarre" about everything at the dinner. Conversation as they eat focuses on the patients they have been treating. They demonstrate for the narrator the strange behavior they have witnessed, including patients who thought themselves a teapot, a donkey, cheese, champagne, a frog, snuff tobacco, a pumpkin, and others. Maillard occasionally tries to calm them down, and the narrator seems very concerned by their behavior and passionate imitations. He then learns that this staff has replaced the system of soothing with a much stricter system, which Maillard says is based on the work of a "Doctor Tarr" and a "Professor Fether". The narrator says he is not familiar with their work, to the astonishment of the others. It is finally explained why the previous system was abandoned: one "singular" incident, Maillard says, occurred when the patients, granted a large amount of liberty around the house, overthrew their doctors and nurses, usurped their positions, and locked them up as lunatics. These lunatics were led by a man who claimed to have invented a better method of treating mental illness, and who allowed no visitors except for "a very stupid-looking young gentleman of whom he had no reason to be afraid". The narrator asks how the hospital staff rebelled and returned things to order. Just then, loud noises are heard and the hospital staff breaks from their confines. It is revealed that the dinner guests are, in fact, the patients, who have just recently taken over. As part of their uprising, the inmates treated the staff to tarring and feathering. The keepers now put the real patients, including Monsieur Maillard (who had once been the superintendent before going mad himself), back in their cells, while the narrator admits that he has yet to find any of the works of Dr. "Tarr" and Professor "Fether". ===== Golden has revealed some things about the plotline in an interview with Slayerlit: :"Once upon a time, all of the demonic and monstrous races, and the old gods, would choose ambassadors to send to the Dark Congress, which would take place under a general truce once every hundred years. The world is populated by demons from dark dimensions and many other supernatural beings and breeds, and they all have different attitudes toward humanity and the world. Some want to leave to return to their home dimensions, some to conquer this one; some want to live in peace with human beings, and others want to eat them."Mata, Shiai, "CHRISTOPHER GOLDEN INTERVIEW 2 ", SlayerLit.us (2007). The story takes place after the seventh season of Buffy. The Congress has not met for 500 years, having failed to come to an agreement. The story starts as Micaela, a Watcher, unknowingly releases the demon, Kandida, one of the leaders of the Dark Congress. Then, we find Buffy, and Xander in Providence, Rhode Island, trekking to the location of the city's own Hellmouth. There, they meet Trabajo the Sand demon, from whom they nearly escape. Meanwhile, in Greece, Willow is living happily with Kennedy, until she returns to their apartment to find Kennedy has cheated on her with a newbie Slayer. Completely broken-hearted, Willow immediately leaves and heads to Athens to clear her mind, there she meets a very ancient witch named Catherine, who promises Willow her heart's desire if she will be her apprentice. She gives Willow a very powerful scroll and her witch's familiar, a ginger cat. With a very ancient spell Willow is able to resurrect her former lover Tara Maclay, with whom the familiar shares a body. Willow and Tara have an emotional reunion. Elsewhere, former Scooby, Oz, is approached by an elder werewolf, who tells him that he is needed in Providence. Faith, who is now in San Francisco, finishes off vamps in the city, gets a message from a vamp who is a minion of an ancient vampiress named Harmann and decides to head back to New England, to Rhode Island, to meet up with Buffy. She arrives there and is attacked by The Gentlemen (of the Buffy Season 4 episode, "Hush"). She defeats them and remeets Xander, and has a sisterly reunion with "B". Giles, in England, has heard of all of the supernatural activity centered on Providence and he and Micaela travel to Rhode Island. Willow decides to bring Tara to meet Buffy and Xander, and Oz also heeds the older wolf's orders and goes to Providence. The Scoobies have a very happy reunion, especially with the resurrection of Tara (of which both Buffy and Giles are highly skeptical). They learn of the Dark Congress which is in session above the once active hellmouth in Providence, and the court of Demons want Buffy to be their arbiter. The Sand demon Trabajo is reunited with his lover, Kandida, but the two have a short reunion when Kandida's heart is ripped out. Trabajo is about to accuse a few of the members of the Congress and attack them, which would send the Congress in chaos and start an inevitable apocalypse. Buffy must keep that from happening by finding Kandida's killers and bringing them before the Council before Trabajo has a chance at them. The suspects are; Haarmann, the ancient vampiress; Willow's new suspicious and very intimidating teacher, Catherine; and Malik a rogue "Champion" for The Powers that Be, and his group of warriors who will kill anything connected to demons, including demons who aren't harmful, and even Slayers. Buffy is horrified and disgusted to be included. After all she is not a demon...is she? She knows so little about her powers that she can't say for certain where they truly spring from. How can she spend so much time wallowing in the darkness without becoming part of it? Can she possibly agree to a truce with all the horrors of the world, and allow them to come to Providence without any attempt to stop them? Does she have a choice? Meanwhile, can Willow and Tara come to terms with their denial that Tara's resurrection is anything but unnatural? ===== Opening Title Graphic: As the film begins a message appears and reminds the audience that approximately 30,000 people died during the Dirty War due to the military dictatorship's reign during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The story is then dedicated to the surviving children of the dictatorship's victims. Two such children, now adults, are the main characters. One, Daniela (Vera Fogwill), now has her degree in film and is having trouble finding work. She's hired by an older couple who are living in seclusion, to film Buenos Aires for them so they can see it again. So she goes out and documents the city. But her customers are upset, as they don't remember the Buenos Aires Daniela has filmed. She then shoots a reel of tourist-type shots in hopes of pleasing the couple. The other surviving child, Damián, played by Nicolás Pauls, works in a low-rent motel. He eventually discovers the truth about what his parents experienced during the dictatorship. The story is largely episodic, blending together more than 6 different story lines. ===== The action focuses almost exclusively on Lula, a white woman, and Clay, a black man, who both ride the subway in New York City. Clay's name is symbolic of the malleability of black identity and black manhood. It is also symbolic of integrationist and assimilationist ideologies within the contemporary Civil Rights Movement.Rebhorn, Matthew. "Flaying Dutchman: Masochism, Minstrelsy, and the Gender Politics of Amiri Baraka's Dutchman", Callaloo 26.3, Gale Group, Summer 2003, accessed April 19, 2011. Lula boards the train eating an apple, an allusion to the Biblical Eve. The characters engage in a long, flirtatious conversation throughout the train ride. Lula sits down next to Clay. She accuses him of staring at her buttocks. She ignores his denials and uses stereotypes to correctly guess where he lives, where he is going, what Clay's friend, Warren, looks and talks like. Lula guesses that Clay tried to get his own sister to have sex with him when he was 10. Clay is shocked by her apparent knowledge of his past and says that she must be a friend of Warren. Lula is glad that Clay is so easy to manipulate and puts her hand on his leg. She feeds him apples. She tells Clay to invite her out to the party he is going to. At this point, it is unclear whether Clay is really going to a party, but he tells her he really is. Lula vaguely alludes to having sex with Clay at her "apartment" after the "party". We don't know if these are real or conveniently made-up by Lula. Clay is gladdened by Lula's apparent liking for him and maintains a hopeful attitude to having sex together. However, he does not push his hope onto her and waits for Lula to make the offer first. Lula is angered by Clay's not falling for her manipulative tactics. She switches strategies and mocks Clay's Anglo- American speech, his college education and his three-button suit. She derides his being black and passive. She dances mockingly in an R&B; style and tells Clay to join her and "do the nasty. Rub bellies". Clay, who does not respond initially, eventually grabs her and throws her down. Clay accuses Lula of knowing nothing but "luxury". He slaps her twice and tells her to leave him alone. Clay launches into a monologue. Clay suggests that whites let black people dance "black" dances and make "black" music. He explains that these segregatory actions assuage black Americans' anger towards whites and distracts them from accessing the "white man's intellectual legacy". Clay states that if black people stopped trying to heal their pain through dance, music, civic participation, religion, or focusing on moving upwards in American society, and became coldly rational like white people, black people would just kill all the whites and be done with racism in America. Clay says that if he were to take Lula's words to heart, he should just kill all the white people he meets. Although Clay says all this, he deeply rejects this plan of action. He states that he does not want to kill and that he prefers to be ignorant of the problem. He says he would rather choose to pretend to be ignorant of racism, not try to get rid of it by fighting with whites. Once Clay makes his confession, Lula changes strategies again. Clay makes as if to leave, but Lula coolly, rationally, stabs him twice to the heart. She directs all the other passengers, blacks and whites, in the train car to throw his body out and get out at the next stop. The play ends with Lula looking towards another young black man who has just boarded the now mostly empty train car. The elderly black train conductor steps into the compartment and tips Lula his hat. ===== The film opens with a handsome young prince traveling through the forest in winter with his men. In a forest glen, the prince finds Snow White lying in a glass coffin. The seven dwarfs arrive and tell the Prince of Snow White's story through flashback. A courageous King and his fair Queen rule their kingdom well. One winter's day while sewing with her maids, the Queen accidentally pricks her finger with her needle, and a single drop of blood falls on the snow outside her windowsill. The King declares they will have a child with hair as black as ebony, cheeks as red as blood, and skin as white as snow. The Good Queen eventually gives birth to a daughter, whom she names Snow White, but dies shortly after her child is born. Some years later, the king marries again. However, the new queen (Diana Rigg) is evil and vain and jealous of Snow White (Nicola Stapleton). When her magic mirror tells her that Snow White is now the fairest in the land, the Evil Queen orders a huntsman (Amnon Meskin) to take Snow White into the forest and kill her, and to bring back her liver as proof of her death. During a hunting trip, the huntsman succeeds in taking Snow White away from her father, but Snow White, realizing her stepmother's plan to destroy her, manages to escape into the forest where she finds a cottage belonging to seven kindly dwarfs - Iddy, Biddy, Kiddy, Diddy, Fiddy, Giddy and Liddy - who allow her to stay with them. The King is heartbroken when he is told that Snow White had been eaten by wild animals, and later he is killed in battle. Years later, Snow White (Sarah Patterson) grows into a beautiful young maiden. When the Evil Queen asks the magic mirror "who is the fairest one of all", she learns that Snow White is still alive. The Evil Queen attempts to kill Snow White three times. First, she disguises herself as a gypsy woman and laces up Snow White in a tight bodice, only for the dwarfs to cut the lace with scissors. The second time, she disguises herself as an Asian comb seller and gives Snow White a poisoned comb, only for the dwarfs to remove the comb from her hair. Finally, the Evil Queen disguises herself as an old peddler woman and offers Snow White a poisoned apple. Snow White resists at first, but relents when the Evil Queen cuts the apple in half so they may share it. Snow White eats the poisoned half of the apple and collapses. The dwarfs are unable to revive her, and place her inside a glass coffin. The film returns to the present, where the dwarfs allow the Prince to take Snow White to a proper resting place. When Snow White is being transported, the coffin accidentally falls off the wagon due to a tree falling down by a snowstorm, causing the piece of poisoned apple to dislodge from Snow White's throat, and she awakens. The Prince is enchanted that Snow White magically revived herself and asks her to marry him, and she accepts. Invitations to the wedding are sent throughout the land, and the Evil Queen receives one as well, leaving the magic mirror into concluding that the Prince's bride is the fairest in the land. Enraged, the Evil Queen smashes her mirror, which causes her to age rapidly. She rushes to the church in time to see that the bride is Snow White, and then disintegrates into ashes before heading back to the carriage. Snow White and the Prince are married and live happily ever after. ===== Karma, a young Tibetan woman from New York City comes to Dharamsala, the exile headquarters of the Dalai Lama in India, in search of her roots. She is making a documentary film about former political prisoners who have escaped from Tibet. One of her interviewees is the recently arrived Dhondup. He reveals to her that his dying mother had made him promise to deliver an old charm box to an exile Tibetan named Loga, and appeals to her for help in locating the man. Their enquiries reveal that Loga, a former CIA-trained resistance fighter, has been missing for the past fifteen years and is presumed to be dead. But is he really dead? As they set out to unravel the mysterious circumstances of his disappearance, Karma finds herself unwittingly attracted to Dhondup even as she is sucked into the vortex of his search, which takes them through the world of the exile Tibetan community in India and becomes a journey of self-discovery. ===== The film tells of Maria (Antonella Costa), an activist fighting the Argentinian military dictatorship during the Dirty War. She teaches reading and writing in a poor suburb of Buenos Aires and lives with her mother Diane (Dominique Sanda), who rents out rooms. One of the lodgers is a young man named Felix (Carlos Echevarría), who is in love with Maria, and rather shy. Felix seems to have come from nowhere and is supposed to work as a watchman in a garage. One morning, Maria is kidnapped by a military squad in civilian clothes in front of her mother and is taken to the garage Olimpo, one of the many well-known torture places in the middle of Buenos Aires, which operate with the general indifference of the locals. As soon as Maria is captured the film's mood becomes uncomfortable and the atmosphere is minimalist. The head of the center, Tigre (Enrique Piñeyro), asks Felix, their best torturer, to make Maria talk. Yet, Felix is overcome by his feelings for Maria, and Maria is determined to exploit this for her survival. ===== Renko is depressed because his beloved wife Irina is dead due to a misunderstanding through carelessness on the part of a Russian doctor and his nurse. He is in a suicidal state of mind when anonymously summoned to Havana to help an old acquaintance out of some unspecified trouble. By the time he arrives, however, the good Colonel Pribluda, late of the SVR, has apparently died under very mysterious circumstances. The novel begins with Arkady at the tip of Havana Bay as the sun begins to rise on what promises to be a hot day in Cuba. The Cuban militia has what they believe is a dead Russian. Renko being a Senior Investigator from Moscow who knew Pribluda, the Cubans are hoping he can expedite matters by both confirming the liquefying corpse's identity and affirming it as a natural or accidental death. In a decaying Cuba filled with cars and houses that were built in the 1950s and are now falling to pieces, Renko stumbles upon a plot to defraud Russia of $250 million in an underhanded sugar purchase scam. Along the way, there are the gruesome killings, abakua ceremonies and attacks upon his person. File:Bahia Habana Entrada.jpg|Havana Bay entrance File:Old Havana Cuba.jpg|Street scene at the Old Havana ===== While at West Point, Lt. Bob Denton rebuffs Evelyn Palmer, who shows up later in Arizona as the wife of his commanding officer. Denton gets involved in a romantic relationship with Evelyn's younger sister, Bonnie. To keep him from marrying her sister, Evelyn falsely accuses Denton of sexually harassing her, which leads to his being expelled from the academy. She later learns that he and her sister had already been secretly married, however, which leads her to admit her lie about him to her husband, Colonel Bonham, who then reinstates the framed Denton. ===== After the events in Storm Front, Kim Delaney, whom Dresden helped to control her magical talents, asks Dresden how to create a set of three magical circles, which could be used to contain powerful entities. Dresden withholds the information, because such circles are generally used to contain demigods and archangels. Lt. Karrin Murphy asks Dresden to consult on a homicide: a henchman of mobster Johnny Marcone was found, savaged, near a group of wolfish paw prints. Without telling Murphy, Dresden magically follows the scent of the murderer's blood that leads him to a confrontation with a gang of teenage werewolves and their pack leader, Tera West. After consultation with his oracular skull, Bob, Dresden informs Murphy of the existence of four different types of lupine theriomorphs: classic werewolves, hexenwolves, loup-garous and lycanthropes. At the police station, Dresden gets a tip from FBI Agent Harris that the Streetwolves biker gang might know something about the murder, and learns that the Streetwolves and their "pack leader," Parker, are lycanthropes. Dresden escapes unscathed, but now the Streetwolves want him dead. Marcone offers to hire Dresden for protection, but Dresden refuses. On his way out the door, Marcone says that these killings are connected to a millionaire named Harley MacFinn and his Northwest Passage Project. Dresden summons the demon Chaunzaggoroth in order to get information, exchanging one more part of his name for information about Harley MacFinn. Before Dresden can check on Harley MacFinn, Lt. Murphy arrests him on suspicion of murder: Kim Delaney's shredded body was found in MacFinn's apartment next to a summoning circle. Tera West frees Dresden, telling him that MacFinn, her fiancé, is a loup-garou, the most dangerous of the four "breeds" of werewolves. Dresden must draw a containment circle around MacFinn before the next full moon, or more innocent people will die. Dresden is shot during his escape from police custody, and is rescued by Tera. Desperate, he calls his sometime-girlfriend Susan, a reporter, and bums a ride in exchange for an exclusive on the wolf murders. Ignoring Dresden's warnings, Murphy arrests and jails MacFinn in his human form. Dresden races to the station to get to MacFinn, but the moon rises, and MacFinn changes, slaughtering the suspects in the holding cells, the desk sergeant, and Murphy's staff. Dresden drives off MacFinn and goes in search of Marcone. While searching for MacFinn, Dresden is attacked by the Streetwolves. They are interrupted by the FBI agents, and Dresden captures one, learning that the agents are hexenwolves, planning on killing Marcone (who is considered immune from any conventional form of justice) and have been working with the Streetwolves, planning on using MacFinn to kill Marcone. At moonrise, Dresden, Susan, Tera and her pack drive to Marcone's estate to save him from MacFinn. Dresden and his allies are captured by the FBI hexenwolves and are thrown into a pit Marcone had prepared to capture the transformed MacFinn, but Marcone frees them. Dresden and Murphy kill the FBI hexenwolves and MacFinn, and burn the hexenwolves' talismans so they can never be used again. Susan evacuates the Alphas, and the Chicago police arrest Marcone on general principle, though Dresden predicts that no charges will be filed. Tera, revealed to be a wolf that can change into a human, accepts that MacFinn had to be killed before he could cause more deaths, and returns to her family in the Northwest. ===== "Texas" Grant (Tim McCoy) rides into a strange town only to find that everyone there recognizes him, but not as Texas Grant. The town villains confuse him with a lawman named Jim Rawlings whom they had murdered a few years prior, because the two men look very similar. Hefty the bartender and Sheriff Collins used to be friends with Rawlings and come up with a plan to fool the local crooks into thinking Grant really is the man they killed. Even Helen, the dead lawman's widow, thinks her husband's returned from the grave when she first sees him. Grant sees how the woman's ranch hands are mismanaging the ranch her husband left her and are even stealing from her, and decides to help her get the place back to financial solvency. Appointing himself the new boss and adopting the identity of Jim Rawlings, he fires all but one of the ranch hands, an honest young man named Steve Pickett (John Wayne), and together Grant and Pickett try to help the widow rebuild her enterprise. ===== The prologue opens with a mystery person's point of view on knowledge, power and killing, "People say that knowledge is power. The more knowledge, the more power. Suppose you knew the winning numbers for the lottery? You would run to the store. And you would win. Same for the stock market. You're not talking about a trend or a percentage game or a whisper or a tip. You're talking about knowledge. Real, hard knowledge. You would buy. Then later you'd sell, and you'd be rich. Any kind of sports at all, if you could predict the future, you'd be home and dry. Same for anything. Same for killing people." In New York City, Reacher confronts and beats up two thugs sent to collect protection racket money from the new restaurant in which he has just finished dinners, and deliberately implies to the thugs that he is a member of a rival crime organisation. Reacher is picked up by the FBI and questioned but explains he's been a loner since he mustered out of the army. He is then questioned about two women whose cases of sexual harassment he dealt with when he was an MP. It is revealed they have both been killed in the last few months and a criminal profiling team has come to the conclusion that the person responsible was someone exactly like Reacher. Reacher realizes that he has no alibi for the places and times that the women were killed, and he requests a lawyer. Reacher's lawyer girlfriend Jodie arrives, and he is released after further questioning. Jodie returns to work, and Reacher drives to his house in upstate New York that he inherited from Leon Garber. He is soon called upon by two members of the FBI team that previously questioned him. A third woman has been killed who was also an ex-soldier who filed for sexual harassment – albeit in a different timeframe from the first two. The FBI compels him to assist with the investigation by threatening to hurt him and, possibly, Jodie too. Reacher and Special Agent Lamarr, the lead profiler on the team, drive from New York to the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, whilst discussing information on the case. Lamarr's stepsister, it so happens, is a woman with the same particulars as the three already killed. Lamarr also reveals the killer's M.O., which is killing the victims in an unknown way, with no bruises or injuries, leaving them naked in their bathtub, filled with army-issue camouflage paint. 150px|thumb|left|Running Blind (Lee Child novel) US cover The team holds several meetings at Quantico, and Reacher meets agent Lisa Harper, the woman who has to accompany Reacher wherever he goes. Reacher suggests contacting Colonel John Trent at Fort Dix to inquire about special forces soldiers and the three week rotation (another of Lamarr's misdirects of the investigation). Reacher and Harper head up to New Jersey, but while Harper remains outside the colonel's office due to security clearance reasons, the colonel helps Reacher sneak out the window and arranges a four-hour trip to New York. Once there Jack targets a random pair of criminals collecting protection money and deliberately instigates a turf war between rival racketeers. By taking a certain crime lord out of the picture this effectively removes the leverage that the FBI has had over him and Jodie. He returns to New Jersey with Agent Harper being none the wiser. The team continues the search, and the next victim is Agent Lamarr's stepsister. Local policemen are then put on surveillance of the remaining women on the list. Eventually Reacher and Harper catch the killer. It is none other than FBI Agent Lamarr. She is in the process of killing her fifth victim when Jack intervenes. Reacher and Harper come to the conclusion that Lamarr was utilising her hypnotising techniques to make the victims unwittingly suffocate themselves by swallowing their own tongues. Her motives were a family inheritance and a sociopathic bitterness to her stepsister; the other murders were carried out to muddy the investigative waters. The FBI is unhappy that Reacher has killed one of their agents, murderess or not, but an accord is eventually reached. Jack then meets up with Jodie, and she reveals she is leaving for London in a month's time. Reacher knows he will not want to go with her, since he misses his wandering ways, and the two agree to spend one last month together. ===== Jack Reacher breaks a bully's nose and finger after being repeatedly provoked in a Texas saloon, so when the bully turns out to be a local cop and shows up with three of his colleagues the following day to arrest him, Reacher decides it's time to move on. He chooses hitchhiking as the fastest escape and hooks up with a driver of Mexican heritage named Carmen Greer. She says that the only reason she stopped, however, is because she has a problem: Her tax-evading husband, Sloop, is coming out of prison soon, and he will inevitably continue beating her as he did so many times before, especially because he knows she was the one who informed on him. Carmen has been diligently searching for candidates to kill him, and she thinks Reacher's military background may qualify him for the job. Reacher initially refuses and even leaps out of the car and back into the sweltering 110-degree (Fahrenheit) heat, but then he expeditiously changes his mind and agrees to accept a ride back to her ranch. It is there that Carmen, her husband Sloop and the rest of his family live, and Reacher is promising nothing more than to look into the situation and, if necessary, to act as her bodyguard. Carmen and Jack then proceed to pick up her daughter Ellie, who gets on well with Reacher. Meanwhile, two other groups are introduced: a group of watchers, composed of two men and a boy who have been staking out the ranch, and a trio of hitmen (two men and one woman) who subsequently kill the first group on the orders of their mutual employer after murdering Al Eugene, the lawyer who had secured Sloop's release. Carmen and Reacher arrive back at the ranch, but Reacher does not receive a warm welcome from Sloop's bigoted mother, brother, or the two ranchers who work there. Reacher gets the Greers to hire him as a wrangler, and teaches Carmen how to handle a firearm. The family orders the other ranchers to dispose of Reacher; he subdues them and returns unharmed. Sloop then arrives, and claims Jack is trespassing; he is arrested and removed by Texas Rangers. En route, the rangers are called back: Sloop has been shot and killed, and the authorities charge Carmen with the murder after finding a gun. Furthermore, while she is incarcerated, she suddenly confesses to the murder and assiduously denies legal help from Alice Amanda Aaron, the pro bono attorney whom Reacher procures for her. Assisted by Hack Walker, the Pecos County district attorney and an old friend of Sloop's, Jack and Alice discover a cover-up related to the murder of several illegal immigrants by Hack, Sloop, and Eugene. Reacher concludes that Hack orchestrated the murders in order to protect his election chances, and that he is pressuring Carmen to confess by threatening Ellie's life. Reacher kills two of the hitmen in an ambush and confronts Hack at the ranch, whereupon Sloop's mother kills him as a fire breaks out and burns down their house. After tracking down and subduing the third man at a motel, preventing him from killing Ellie, Reacher leaves Carmen to start a new life as he prepares to look for a ride out of Texas. ===== Jack Reacher arrives in Atlantic City after hitching a ride cross-country with a couple of aging blues musicians who dream of playing at B.B. King's club in New York City. He is approached there by Secret Service Agent M.E. Froelich, who had dated Reacher's brother Joe, a fellow Secret Service agent, before his death (Killing Floor). Froelich hires Reacher to conduct a "security audit" of the Secret Service's protection of Vice President-elect Brook Armstrong, the junior senator from North Dakota. Armstrong attends a meeting and photo-op with prominent bankers on Wall Street, a campaign event in Bismarck with the newly elected senator from North Dakota, and a fundraising event in Washington, D.C. Reacher reveals to Froelich that he hired his old colleague from the military police, Chicago security consultant Frances Neagley, to help with the "audit." Working together, Reacher and Neagley say that they could have killed the Vice President three times for sure, and once probably, in three days. Froelich reveals that the Secret Service has been receiving letters from someone threatening to kill Armstrong. She and her supervisor, a man named Stuyvesant, agree to hire Reacher and Neagley to help their investigation. Reacher tries on one of his brother's suits, and Froelich sleeps with him. Froelich asks why Neagley and Reacher never had a relationship, and he tells her that, for reasons she will not disclose, Neagley has a fear of being touched by others. The would-be assassins kill two men, one in Colorado and one in Minnesota, who resemble the Vice President and also have the name "B. Armstrong," as a warning message. A killer appears at another event in Bismarck, but Reacher breaks into the church tower where they were hiding out and they flee without a trace. On Thanksgiving Day, Armstrong is scheduled to serve food at a lunch buffet at a homeless shelter. Reacher and Neagley argue that Armstrong should be warned, and that the event should be cancelled. Stuyvesant agrees to bring in the F.B.I. for help; they send Special Agent Bannon, who concludes based on the weapons used in the Colorado and Minnesota homicides that a Secret Service agent is behind the killings. Froelich moves the benefit lunch outside, where the Secret Service can better control who gets close to Armstrong. On Thanksgiving, Froelich meticulously secures the area. Ten agents look over the homeless people as they line up to get food from Armstrong, and snipers are posted on the only rooftop that has a clear shot at the Vice President. An assassin kills a Secret Service sniper named Crosetti, and fires at Armstrong twice. They miss with the first shot, and Froelich covers the Vice President from the second. Fatally struck in the neck, Froelich becomes delirious with blood loss in Reacher's arms. She tells him "I love you, Joe," to which Reacher replies "I love you too." Against the recommendations of Stuyvesant and Bannon, Armstrong agrees to Reacher's demands that he publicly announce he will attend a funeral for Froelich in her hometown of Grace, Wyoming, to lure the killers out into the open. Armstrong insists that his protection detail be limited to three men, out of respect for Froelich's family. Reacher remembers seeing the Thanksgiving Day shooter running with a badge during the assassination attempt in Bismarck, and concludes that the killers are policemen. Reacher also deduces that the assassins are motivated by some personal feud with Armstrong. The Vice President confesses that, as a teenager in rural Oregon, he stood by as his father brutally beat two local bullies with a baseball bat. Armstrong reveals that he received a broken baseball bat in the mail from the killers, something the Secret Service did not pick up on during their postal screening. Reacher and Neagley fly to Denver and drive to Grace, arriving the day before the funeral. Staking out the church steeple, they watch the assassins arrive and ambush them the morning of the funeral. Reacher kills both of the killers, who are revealed to be cops from rural Idaho. Back the Denver airport, Neagley gives Reacher a quick hug before catching the plane to Chicago. Reacher flies to New York, and stops at B.B. King's club to see if the musicians made it there from Atlantic City. An usher says no one matching their description has played at the club. Reacher heads toward the Port Authority Bus Terminal to catch a ride out of town. ===== Jack Reacher is working unofficially with the DEA to bring down a boy's father, Zachary Beck, who is suspected of smuggling drugs under the pretext of trading in oriental carpets. They stage a kidnap effort on Zachary's son, Richard Beck. A frightened Richard places his trust in Reacher and asks him to take him back home. Reacher gains access to Beck and gradually gains his confidence by working as a hired gun/bodyguard. While working undercover he regrettably has to eliminate a few of Beck's minions to prevent them from exposing him. During this time he figures out that he was not the only undercover agent appointed to keep track of Zachary Beck. The house maid, too, turns out to be a federal agent trying to find evidence of arms smuggling against Zachary. The DEA, on finding that they were mistaken about the nature of the business Zachary was involved in, tries to pull Reacher out. Reacher refuses to step back as his primary motivation in getting involved at all in this off-the-books operation is to have another go at Francis Xavier Quinn, a former Military Intelligence agent who, ten years before, had brutally mutilated and murdered a female military colleague of Reacher's. Reacher had originally presumed Quinn to be dead after their last little encounter but found that assumption to be incorrect after running into Quinn in public. It's ten years later and Quinn somehow just happens to be Zachary Beck's boss in a supremely lucrative, international gun-running enterprise. And it is revealed that Zachary was forced into working for Quinn and his family was tormented by bodyguards appointed by Quinn. As always, it is Reacher's all-consuming obsession with revenge, or at least with his personal interpretation of doling out justice, which pushes him far beyond the normal boundaries of physical endurance and acceptable risk. ===== Bug Wars takes place an unspecified length of time before the present, in an unspecified part of the galaxy. The song "Reminder," would suggest that it is at least one million years. Opening with the main character, Rahm, waking from stasis, the book covers his campaigns as part of the Tzen Warrior caste against a coalition of large Insect species; the Wasps, Leapers, and Ants, in that order. After a mission to destroy the Wasp nests and queens on a planet, the Tzen intend to colonize. However, because of Tzen military practices, that a task force leaves after a predicted proportion of units return, assuming that all others are casualties, Rahm's flight group was stranded on the planet. The Tzen would return in a year to eliminate the Leapers, insects not unlike a praying mantis. While stranded, the team made a number of discoveries, chief among which was the fact that the Tzen needed to find a natural predator of the Leapers to defeat them. The standard practice for the Tzen is to kill the next generation of insects before it is born, then return later to kill any remaining adults. The Leapers are immune to this, however, because they are all capable of reproduction, and bury their eggs, making them impossible to eradicate without levying resources unavailable to the Tzen Empire. After the Empire returns as planned to eradicate the leapers, they retreat and begin looking for a creature that eats insect eggs. Rahm is selected to lead a team of Tzen from each caste to find such a creature. When they set up a pre-fabricated building as their base, they soon discover a number of hostile flora and fauna, including a plant with toxic thorns, Spiders, and a colony of Ants near their base. Several of the team are captured by the Ants, and learn that they are intelligent and capable of telepathic communication. When the team discovers a suitable creature, they round up as many as they can, but are hounded by the insects. The mission culminates in a battle between the Tzen and Insects at the base. After the leapers have been defeated, Rahm is selected to lead a campaign against the Ants as a Planetary Commander. The mission is considered almost suicidal, with a casualty estimate of at least seventy percent. In the middle of the battle, Rahm discovers that, while they have eliminated the Ants primary power source, they had a reserve strong enough for one use of a power-consuming device. One colony used theirs for cold-beam lasers, another used it to launch an escape shuttle, which was promptly destroyed. After defeating the Ants, Rahm returned to stasis, to be reawakened whenever the empire needed him. ===== The novella is split into eight sections - each spanning roughly an hour. The narrative is fragmented, often making it difficult to tell who is talking or thinking, or whether events are occurring in the present or being recalled. ===== In the last hours of 1989, Major Gen. Kenneth Kramer dies of a heart attack in a seedy North Carolina motel, apparently while in the company of a prostitute. MP Maj. Jack Reacher investigates and comes to the conclusion that the woman Kramer was with stole his briefcase. Reacher's superior, Col. Leon Garber, orders him to deliver news of the general's death to his wife. Accompanied by a female officer, Lieutenant Summer, Reacher travels to her house in Virginia. When they arrive, however, they find evidence of a break-in, as well as Mrs. Kramer's body. Reacher returns to the bar across the street from the motel in an attempt to identify the alleged prostitute. He gets into a fight with a bouncer, breaking his knee. Afterwards, Reacher is told by the motel's night clerk that he heard a military vehicle leaving after Kramer's death, and Reacher concludes that the woman Kramer was with is a female army officer. He is later confronted by two officers, Col. Coomer and Brigadier Gen. Vassell, members of Kramer's staff, who inquire about the briefcase but leave after Reacher mentions Ms. Kramer's death. Later, a Delta Force soldier, Christopher Carbone, is found murdered in a manner that suggests he was gay. Garber is suddenly transferred to a new command in South Korea and replaced with Col. Willard, a deeply unpleasant bureaucrat who instructs Reacher to write off Carbone's death as an accident. He also reveals that Carbone filed a complaint against Reacher accusing him of assaulting the bouncer, and that he intends to use it as evidence that Reacher killed Carbone unless he closes the investigation quickly. Shortly thereafter, another murder is reported: David Brubaker, Carbone's CO, is shot dead in a Columbia alleyway with money and heroin in his pocket. Believing that the two murders are connected, Reacher and Summer focus on the one thing missing from Kramer's newly recovered briefcase: the printed agenda from a conference he was supposed to attend for members of the armored divisions. Coomer and Vassell deny that such an agenda exists, and Willard begins to turn up the pressure on Reacher, forcing him to rely on his wits, contacts in the military police, and years of experience as he tries to unravel the true reason why Kramer's briefcase was stolen. In the midst of it all, he receives a call from his older brother Joe informing him that his elderly mother Josephine has died from cancer in Paris. Despite having been assured by Josephine earlier that she was ready to die, Reacher feels her loss immensely. After returning to the United States with Summer following his mother's funeral, Reacher secures a meeting with the Chief of Staff, and reveals his findings: with the collapse of the Soviet Union imminent, the army is preparing to downsize its armored units in favor of infantry, and Kramer and his fellow officers, not wanting to lose their prestigious jobs and perks, were preparing to orchestrate an elaborate public relations and lobbying scheme to persuade Congress and the American people to reject the plan. Having foreseen this, the Chief admits that he arranged for twenty of the army's best investigators, including Reacher, to be assigned to specific posts across the world on a specific day, using forged orders from Garber, so that they would be in a position to prevent such manipulations. He provides Reacher with evidence of his claims, and notes that the Secretary of Defense was also working with the plotters. Reacher deduces that Kramer was gay, and that he met Carbone at the motel, who stole his briefcase when he died and informed Brubaker of the contents. He also set up Reacher to be charged with assault to cover his tracks. Coomer and Vassell, eager to recover the briefcase, set up an exchange between Carbone and their gofer Maj. Marshall; Marshall killed Carbone and then murdered Brubaker as well before he could use the information. He also killed Ms. Kramer while searching her house for the case; Reacher realizes that Marshall also had a relationship with Kramer and killed his wife out of anger and jealousy. Reacher travels to California and arrests Vassell and Coomer for conspiracy to commit homicide. He then travels to a firing range in the Mojave Desert where Marshall is conducting firing exercises to arrest him as well. Marshall attempts to commit suicide by maneuvering the tanks into firing on his position, but Reacher shoots him in the shoulder and takes him into custody. The missing agenda is subsequently retrieved from Carbone's billet: it contains a plan to assassinate eighteen prominent infantry officers, including many rising stars, to cripple their modernization efforts. The evidence is turned over to military authorities, and the accused are sentenced to life imprisonment for their crimes. Reacher is informed that, due to the charge filed by Carbone, he will be demoted to captain unless he denies it, which his lawyer encourages him to do. Instead, Reacher accepts the charge to avoid disgracing Carbone's memory further, and looks forward to serving on the front lines again. Before accepting his new command, he tracks down the corrupt Willard and executes him in his own house, planting drugs on the body to hide his involvement. The story ends with Reacher reflecting on the fact that he never saw Summer again despite hearing that she also received a promotion to captain. ===== In a small Indiana city, a lone gunman in a parking garage calmly fires into a rush-hour crowd in a public plaza, committing a massacre of five apparently random victims with six shots. The shooter leaves a perfect trail behind for the police to quickly track him down. Evidence from the scene, of a shell case and a quarter bearing the same fingerprints, points clearly to James Barr, a former Army infantry sniper. He is arrested, but will only say two things to the police: "They got the wrong guy," and "Get Jack Reacher for me." Reacher, a former Army military police officer and now a drifter, is 1500 miles away, but sees the news on CNN and gets on a bus to Indiana. Reacher has no job, no home, no car, and a shrinking savings account from his past military pay. Although Reacher has a nomadic existence, what he does have is sharp moral clarity. Instead of clearing Barr, Reacher wants to assist the prosecution in convicting him. Reacher is the last person Barr would want to see for good reason. When Reacher was an investigating military policeman years past, Barr had gone on a killing spree similar to the Indiana shootout, murdering four men during the Gulf War in Kuwait City. Convoluted military politics and a technicality let Barr walk free. Reacher swore he would track the sniper down if he ever tried it again. Reacher believes Barr is guilty, but Barr's sister Rosemary is convinced of her brother's innocence and entreats lawyer Helen Rodin to defend her brother. Helen's father is the district attorney who will prosecute the case. When Reacher arrives in Indiana, Barr has been beaten so badly while in prison that he cannot remember anything about the day of the murders, leaving Reacher to form his own conclusions with the available evidence. The local NBC news reporter, Ann Yanni, is also looking for more information, and Reacher is more than willing to include her in his investigation, in exchange for the use of her car and a guaranteed public exposé on the Barr case. Reacher knows that 35 yards, the parking garage shooting distance to the victims, is point-blank range for a trained military sniper like Barr. Reacher also knows the shooter missed one shot on purpose, giving Reacher one shot at the truth. Reacher drives to Kentucky to the shooting range where the sniper practiced and learns some interesting facts from Gunny Samuel Cash, the former US Marine who owns the shooting range, which make him doubt the solidity of the presumably airtight case against Barr. Cash is unwilling to reveal information or his records to Reacher, but grudgingly agrees to talk if Reacher is able to hit a paper target dead center at 300 yards with one shot. After he succeeds, Reacher is shown 32 sheets of target paper from three years' worth of Barr's practice shootings at his range, every single sheet with dead-on maximum scores. Reacher, given his expertise with firearms and experience as a military investigator, quickly deduces that the target sheets were faked by using a handgun at point blank range. After the visit to the shooting range, Reacher adds Cash's information to the case evidence. Helen and Rosemary sift through the clues in a riveting analysis and finally get Reacher to conclude that Barr is innocent, which means someone set up Barr as the sniper. Someone is also trying to get Reacher off the case, which formerly seemed a slam-dunk, but is now falling apart. Reacher is teamed with Helen, working against a prosecution team that has an explosive secret of its own. Reacher gets closer to the unseen enemy pulling the strings, leading him to the real perpetrators, a Russian gang masquerading as legitimate businessmen. The gang's 80-year-old capo spent much of his life in one of the infamous Soviet gulags and is known only as the Zec (prisoner). Reacher outwits the mob guards in the Russian gang's fortress, efficiently and brutally dispatching five hoods before confronting the boss and forcing him to come clean on the conspiracy from beginning to end: covering up the murder of the one victim he wants dead with the other four victims. The real killer is shot, the Zec chooses to confess to the authorities who arrive on the scene, Barr goes free, and Reacher moves on. ===== A man with two broken legs is thrown out of a corporate helicopter from 3,000 feet above the California desert. Seventeen days after that, Reacher is roaming alone with no objectives, no phone, no address, just the clothes he's wearing and his ATM card, when he sees an anonymous deposit to his bank account. Reacher automatically analyses the amount, using his math obsession and investigative skills. Also obsessed with math, Frances Neagley (previously seen in Without Fail) is the sender of $1,030.00, which Reacher recognizes as their old army code, 10–30, for urgent help needed. He meets up with Neagley in California and they discover the death of Calvin Franz, one of nine members of their elite team of ex–army investigators, who are being hunted down one by one. After getting no reply from anyone else, their suspicions rise and Neagley convinces him to put the old unit back together. Reacher and Neagley find that three of the other five members are missing, while Stan Lowery had a fatal car accident years earlier. They conclude Franz called the others for help with a major problem but left out the remaining four that resided too far away to get to him quickly, apart from Reacher, who is famously untraceable. Reacher and Neagley visit Franz's widow and child, Angela and Charlie. Angela is not surprised to see them and says that Franz told her all about the team, which made her feel like he had been married before, to them. Reacher notes if people were lucky like the team, they became family, but Franz got even luckier with her and Charlie, with Angela replying "but his luck ran out". The visit produces no useful information about Franz's death, but Angela gives them Franz's office keys, which Reacher and Neagley find gutted and trashed. They realise the perpetrators didn't find what they were looking for and that Franz kept his home life completely separate from his business, leading Franz to mail any dangerous computer data to himself, with triple backup of refreshed computer USB flash drives on rotating days. They find his flash memory sticks in his business post-office box and try unsuccessfully to crack the password. More information on the other team members shows that Franz was unlikely to be the one who called for help. Reacher and Neagley go to Tony Swan's workplace, defense contractor New Age in search of information, but are sent away with basically nothing by the HR manager, Margaret Berenson, except that Swan had been unemployed by them three weeks prior. They meet David O'Donnell at their hotel, confirming three of the team are alive. O'Donnell cracks the password to Franz's flash drives and the team reviews a set of bizarre numbers which they conclude to be scores, and an unfamiliar name "Adrian Mount" with four aliases. The trio then go to Swan's home for more clues. Following Reacher and his team is an unmarked car, which they trap to discourage the driver. After roughing him up they find out the driver is an LA County Deputy named Thomas Brant, but outside of his jurisdiction in Orange County, CA. The team decides to ditch their rental car for a new one and run into Karla Dixon. With four of the team now confirmed alive, they proceed to source money, cars and weapons. Except for Reacher, all the team members have "moved onward and upward" from the military, making Reacher reconsider his drifting. He is happy for the others' successes but feels as if he is "treading water while the rest are swimming". Putting aside conflicting reactions at seeing his team again, Reacher on the three missing members; Manuel Orozco, Jorge Sanchez and Tony Swan, and which one was in a situation so bad they couldn't handle it on their own and called for help. Unsurprised, Reacher is visited by Brant and his boss, Curtis Mauney, a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department detective. But Reacher is surprised when Mauney tells him that Reacher and his team are bait, for whoever killed Franz and caused Swan, Sanchez and Orozco to be reported missing. Mauney's LA deputies and Las Vegas police frequently work together and recent information had linked the dead and the missing with Reacher's team. Neagley gets a response regarding Swan's company New Age from Diana Bond, a staffer for a guy on the House Defense Committee, that Reacher and his team distrust, but they pressure Diana for confidential information on New Age and its military contracts. Mauney later contacts the team with information on Jorge Sanchez's death and Vegas police evidence on Adrian Mount with three aliases, one less than Franz had. Sanchez and Orozco were partners in a Las Vegas casino security firm, and the team drives to Las Vegas for clues and answers on Sanchez and the still missing Orozco. Reacher and his team seek out the major casino security directors about the possibility of Sanchez and Orozco being involved in a large scale internal multi-casino thief network and are told about Sanchez's girlfriend, who leads them to Orozco's wife and children. An assassination attempt is made on Reacher and his team but they kill the assassin and take his car, which Reacher recalls from their LA hotel. Reacher uses the cell phone in the car to return-dial the last number on the call list, telling the man who answers that his assassin failed, the team knows he is behind their unit's dead members and they are coming for him. From Las Vegas they are told to meet Mauney at the hospital, leading Reacher to conclude that Sanchez is not dead, just severely injured. O'Donnell and Dixon go to the hospital and Reacher and Neagley go to find Margaret Berenson, after they realise that she has been lying to them. They find that New Age has been producing state of the art surface to air missiles and pretending to destroy the prototypes, while selling them to foreign terrorists. Neagley and Reacher leave Berenson's house after finding out Berenson is being blackmailed by New Age's corrupt director, Allen Lamaison, who has threatened to harm her son if she reveals what she knows. Upon discovering this, Reacher and Neagley arrange a safe hiding place for them. After investigating Lamaison, they also discover that Lamaison used to be a police officer before joining New Age, and his partner was none other than Curtis Mauney. From this, Reacher and Neagley deduce that Lamaison and Mauney are working together. O'Donnell and Dixon are captured by Mauney's men in the hospital and taken to New Age's Director, Allen Lamaison. Reacher and Neagley track Mauney down, take his suitcase containing the terrorists' payment of $65 million, and kill him. At the second New Age complex, Reacher stows away on the same helicopter as Lamaison, where he finds O'Donnell and Dixon tied up and about to be thrown off and killed the same way that Franz, Orozco, Sanchez and Swan were. Reacher confronts Lamaison just in time, kills his assistant and pushes Lamaison out of the helicopter once it is fully one mile above ground level. After the helicopter lands Reacher asks the pilot if he flew for each of the murders and after confirmation, Reacher kills the pilot as well. The last part is the terrorist weapons buyer, who Reacher concludes does not know how to use them. The team finds the one New Age staff engineer capable of teaching the terrorist how to use the weapons, and who is being threatened with his daughter's torture. Reacher poses as the engineer briefly as the terrorist arrives, then he and Neagley tie the terrorist up, leaving him for FBI to find. Later, the four team members agree to set up trust funds for the murdered team members' loved ones, with a donation to PETA for Tony Swan's only family, his dog Maisi, and split the remaining money obtained from the bad guys. After going their separate ways, Reacher receives a deposit for over $100,000 in his account, automatically analyses it, and thinks the amount is just a boring plain number. He feels disappointed and let down by Dixon, the money manager of the group. But the detailed report shows multiple deposits, "101810.18. 10012 ... Military police radio code for mission accomplished, twice over. 10–18, 10–18 ... second deposit was her zip code: 10012. Greenwich Village. Where she lived." Reacher remembers her inviting him to visit her in New York, and considers a moment, but remembering his words to her that he "Doesn't make plans", withdraws a $100 and buys a ticket on the first bus available, with no idea where it is going. ===== The prologue describes Victor Truman "Hook" Hobie's carefully planned escape route in the event of somebody discovering his "really big, well-guarded secret". His "early-warning system" consists of geographically-located "tripwires" that will warn him that he has been discovered. The first is eleven thousand miles from his home in the United States and the second is six thousand miles out. His response to their activation would be to tie up loose ends, cash in, transfer his assets, and flee the country. Over thirty years of quiet success have made him feel somewhat secure. But he did not expect both alerts to arrive on the same day. The story then begins with Jack Reacher working two jobs in Key West (digging pools with a shovel by day and working in a bar at night) and bumping into a private investigator, Costello, who happens to be looking for him on behalf of a client named Mrs. Jacob, a name Reacher does not recognise. Later on, while Reacher is working his night job as a bouncer in a strip club, two suspicious-looking large men also make inquiries about his location. Reacher attempts to follow them but instead finds Costello murdered on the sidewalk. Jack then flies to New York to find out why Costello was looking for him and why he was killed for it. After finding Costello's office ransacked, Reacher gets the contact information for Mrs. Jacob and arrives in the middle of a funeral for his old mentor, former commanding officer, and friend, Col. Leon Garber. Garber's now-adult daughter, Jodie Garber-Jacob, turns out to be the mystery client. She has become a successful lawyer. Reacher and Jodie follow Costello's trail, uncovering information on her father's last project, an investigation for the Hobie family on the whereabouts of their son Victor, a helicopter pilot reported missing-in-action decades ago in Vietnam. They discover that the Hobies had been tricked into giving their life savings to a con man and gun runner named Rutter, who poses as a fake military liaison and investigator to families of MIA soldiers. Hobie becomes aware of their investigation, and tries to hunt them down. After forcing Rutter to return the money he stole, Reacher and Jodie visit the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, which leads them to the military Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii, a special facility that identifies the forensic remains of soldiers. They then learn that Hobie served in the war as a helicopter pilot until he was shot down. However, it becomes clear that Hobie died in the crash, and that another soldier named Carl Allen assumed his identity in order to escape prosecution for fragging a superior officer. Severely burned by the crash, Allen left his own dogtags behind to fool investigators and had his right hand, lost in the helicopter crash, replaced with a hook. Under his new identity, Allen amasses a fortune as an illicit "moneylender", before establishing himself as a legitimate businessman who offers high-interest loans to financially troubled firms unable to borrow from banks. However, his real objective is to seize control of their assets, using threats and torture to force his clients to agree to his terms. Despite being aware that Reacher's investigation could expose his crimes, Allen decides to complete one final job: the takeover of a bankrupt multimillion-dollar company owned by Chester and Marilyn Stone. Allen and his men take the couple hostage, but Marilyn is able to stall them before her husband signs over his company. Jodie is called back to New York by her law firm to handle the Stone deal, but ends up being captured by Allen along with another private investigator posing as the Stone's lawyer, forcing Reacher to come to her rescue. Reacher manages to kill Allen and his men, but sustains a seemingly fatal bullet wound to his chest. At the hospital, however, a doctor discovers that, due to the arduous physical labour he has done digging pools in Key West, his pectoral muscle was so thick the bullet did not make it past his rib cage. Reacher is then visited (while convalescing) by the Hobie family to thank him for restoring their son's good name. ===== Indra Devi (Kushboo), the elder sister of Ishwarya (Monica Castelino), is a rich and arrogant entrepreneur. Priya (Rambha) is her personal assistant. All three of them live in Udhagamandalam (Ooty). Kannan (Vijay) is the only son of a multi- billionaire Devanathan (Manivannan), and has fallen in love with Ishwarya after meeting her in Germany. But after hearing about Indra Devi’s over protective nature towards Ishwarya, Kannan comes to India with his family to somehow convince her under the guise of being a bodyguard to Indra’s family. His younger brother Vetri (Mahendran) works as a servant boy, and his sister serves as a cook for Indra Devi's family. Meanwhile, Indra Devi has a rival Vedhachalam (Mansoor Ali Khan), who is determined to get his son Ashok (Karan) married to Ishwarya. Priya falls in love with Kannan for his good nature, but later gives it to Ishwarya after knowing Kannan and Ishwarya's story and the purpose of their visit to India. It is revealed that Indra hates men because her lover Indra Kumar (B. H. Tharun Kumar) refused to marry her after her face was disfigured in a fire accident. She has since worked hard, educated her sister and has grown wealthy and has done plastic surgery to restore her face. Kannan's family waits for Indra Devi's permission for her sister's marriage, but she agrees to Vedhachalam’s marriage proposal for his son Ashok, but Ashok realizes that Ishwarya loves Kannan and unites them despite the opposition from Vedhachalam. Indra Devi is disappointed and in a fit of rage she tries to commit suicide, but Kannan stops her and says that Ishwarya will die of guilt if she loses Indra for him. He leaves them alone and returns to Germany. In their residence, to everyone's surprise, Indra Devi and Ishwarya appear. Indra has a change of heart and wholeheartedly accepts Kannan as her sister's life partner for his good nature, though he pretended to be a servant. Indra is also united with her lover who has realized his mistakes. ===== The film starts with Karunakaran (Vijay) leaving his village to go to Mumbai looking for a job to help his sister's wedding. He lives with his sister, and there, he meets Nisha (Isha Koppikar), who loves him at first sight. He first rejects her but later starts to love her too. Karunakaran is unable to get a job, and through a friend, joins as a hit man for a gangster. This brings him a lot of money, in this way he can help his family financially. Unfortunately, Karunakaran's own gang plans to kill Nisha after killing her parents. Karunakaran tries to protect her, and this earns the gang's wrath. Whether Karunakaran can save Nisha or not forms the crux of the story. ===== Vijay (Vijay) is the managing director of a large shipping corporation. He lives in a joint family with his father Sethupathi (M. N. Nambiar), two brothers Krishna (Radha Ravi) and Vasu (Dhamu), their wives and children, and a spinster sister Pooja (Bhanupriya). Vijay goes to Switzerland to stipulate a contract with Nagaraj (Nizhalgal Ravi) and Shekar (Raghuvaran). There, he meets Meenakshi (Rambha), Nagaraj's sister. The two of them fall in love. Nagaraj approves of Vijay, but when he expresses the condition that Vijay should stay with them after the marriage because India is not good, he refuses his offer and returns home. However, Shekar and Meenu later travel to India to mend fences. Shekar learns that Pooja had been dumped by Nagaraj for a better life, and Vijay is just waiting for an opportunity to kill the man who destroyed his sister's life. He devises ways of preventing Nagaraj from attending the marriage, but he later tells Pooja the truth. Vijay overhears this and is angered, but Shekar solves all the problems by deciding to marry Pooja. Pooja agrees for this too, making everyone happy. Finally, Vijay, seeing his sister happy leaves Nagaraj alone. Eventually, Meenu and Vijay get married. =====