Miss Merriweather, the head librarian, is very particular about rules in the library. No running allowed. And you must be quiet. But when a lion comes to the library one day, no one is sure what to do. There aren't any rules about lions in the library. And, as it turns out, this lion seems very well suited to library visiting. His big feet are quiet on the library floor. He makes a comfy backrest for the children at story hour. And he never roars in the library, at least not anymore. But when something terrible happens, the lion quickly comes to the rescue in the only way he knows how. Michelle Knudsen's disarming story, illustrated by the matchless Kevin Hawkes in an expressive timeless style, will win over even the most ardent of rule keepers.

An affectionate storybook tribute to that truly wonderful place: the library.

Based upon a plot summary included in a film review in a film publication, Nora (Ferguson) is an American heiress who is courted by Lord Bissett (Gamble) while visiting England. She overhears Bissett discussing with his sister the need of Nora's money to replenish his fortune, so she leaves him and moves into a nearby cottage. A successful playwright Sir Howard Furnival (Stephenson) assists her in preparing a play based upon a novel she has written, but keeps this secret from his wife Doris (Dean), who is very jealous. Bissett obtains a page of the manuscript in Nora's handwriting with enduring terms, and gives it to Doris, telling her that it is a love letter to her husband. This leads to the deaths of both Furnivals, and Nora is blamed and ostracized. Nora changes her name and goes to Venice, where she meets and becomes engaged to English army officer Sir Ralph Newell (Carleton). Before their marriage she confesses who she is in a letter that he never receives. Upon return to England, she discovers that her husband is the brother of Doris and has cursed the woman who caused his sister's death. Bissett reveals to Newell who Nora is. In the end after more melodrama, the lovers are reunited in Venice.

Izuko is a mysterious gatekeeper to the afterlife. Known as the "Guardian of the Gate", Izuko guides spirits of the recently departed on their journey, sometimes to Heaven, other times to Hell. The decision is theirs and it is not always an easy one. Often the spirit is the victim of a murder or other untimely death. In such case, a soul is offered three options: accept their death as it is and proceed into Heaven to await reincarnation; wander the Earth as a ghost; take justice into their own hands and face the gates of Hell. Most stories involve characters seeking to discover what happened to them and why—with Izuko attempting to guide them on the correct path.

Francis witnesses a murder and then befriends bumbling reporter David Prescott (Mickey Rooney), who may be next in line. With Francis' help and guidance, Prescott uncovers a mystery involving murder, an inheritance, and a spooky old mansion on the edge of town.

An aging Henry Smart is attempting to cement his reputation. John Ford plans a movie based on Henry's life, but Henry eventually realizes the film that Ford has planned will reduce his story to sentiment. Henry plans to kill Ford, but his callousness has faded, and he drifts into the Dublin suburbs, where he meets a respectable widow who may possibly be his long-disappeared wife. Henry ages in obscurity until the 1970s, when he is caught up in the 1974 Dublin car bombings and the Provisional IRA uses a distorted version of Henry's story as a public relations ploy.

A town of Mexican immigrants (on the Texas border) hire a team of mercenaries to protect them against an underground militia group, who try to claim the town as their own.

At a wilderness boot camp for difficult teens, the desperate spirit of an alleged suicide victim seeks out the help of a young girl to expose the truth about her death.

Donald (Vernon) is an overweight, middle-aged construction worker with a big problem: his shrew of a wife May (Claire Ginsberg) has started to only cook gourmet foods in a Hyacinth Bucket-style misguided effort to make themselves seem classier than they are. While his friends Roosevelt (Loren Schein) and Phillip (Al Troupe) dine on simple bologna-and-cheese sandwiches for lunch, Donald is saddled with crab sandwiches and other cooking atrocities. To his horror, he discovers his wife has bought an unusually large Major Electric microwave oven, which makes the meals worse in half the time.

After coming home drunk one night and getting into an argument with May, Donald loses his temper and bludgeons her to death with a large pepper grinder. He wakes up the next day with a bad hangover, no memory of the night before, and a growling stomach. He discovers May's corpse in the microwave and after the initial wave of horror passes, he starts to take it in stride, telling his co-workers that he and May separated. After work, he then cuts up May's body and stores it in foil wrap in the refrigerator. A running gag involving May's head retaining some sort of sentience is introduced during this scene.

Looking for a midnight snack one night, Donald unintentionally takes a few bites of May's hand, and (again) after the initial wave of horror passes, he realizes it's the best thing he's ever eaten. He even brings some to work with him and shares it with Phillip and Roosevelt, who concur. He soon starts picking up hookers and using them for meat in his recipes.

While cooking one night, Donald has a mild heart attack and goes to his doctor, who tells him of a pacemaker that was put some years earlier in when he had some excess weight, but says he is fine overall. May's equally shrewish sister Evelyn (Sarah Alt) shows up, having not heard from her sister in some time. She finds her severed head in the garage refrigerator, and is gagged with bread and thrown, tied up, in Donald's closet.

Donald's lunches continue to be a hit with his friends, and he decides to cater an outing to a wrestling match with a new recipe he calls "Peking chick." When Roosevelt and Phillip show up to pick up Donald, they discover him dead on the kitchen floor of a heart attack, and some partly cooked body parts in the microwave. They leave in horror and disgust, realizing what Donald had been serving them.

Some time later, the house is up for sale and movers are taking the furniture out. A repairman (director Wayne Berwick, in an uncredited cameo) examines the microwave and discovers a problem with the wires, commenting that it would be bad for someone with a pacemaker. We then zoom into the fridge, which opens to reveal May's head. Her eyes glow orange as the film ends.

The film opens in Araromire in 1908: There is an old folktale about a goddess Araromire who asked a priest to invoke her spirit into a figurine carved out of the bark of a cursed tree. When villagers of Araromire touched the figurine, Araromire would grant them wealth and prosperity in all their endeavours. This good fortune however unfortunately lasted for just seven years, after which everything deteriorated and became worse than it was seven years ago. The climax of the disaster was when the priest who invoked her spirit was found dead at the river. The villagers become infuriated and invaded the Araromire shrine; the shrine is burned down and that ended the evil of Araromire.

Lagos, 2001: Femi (Ramsey Nouah) is about to go for his NYSC; He has been posted to Araromire – at this time, his father (David J. Oserwe) has been very ill (it is later revealed in the movie that he was dying of cancer).

Sola (Kunle Afolayan) attends a job interview and apparently, he has no NYSC, He has also graduated with a third class. He is told he can't be employed without an NYSC certificate, so Sola visits the Dean of his faculty to get his clearance for NYSC. The Dean recognizes him as an irresponsible student who rarely attended his lectures. He further tells him that he used to date Mona who is on the contrary: a brilliant girl. The Dean asks him where he has been posted to; "Araromire", he replied. The Dean picks interest and brings out a book. He starts to narrate the folk story about the village and the goddess it was named after. However, Sola fails to listen to rest of the tale (the disaster which follows the seven years) as he politely leaves the dean's office with disinterest.

Femi and Mona (Omoni Oboli) meet at the car park - She has been posted to Araromire as well; it is revealed here that they were once close friends. They both board a bus headed for Araromire. While in the bus, Mona is asleep and Femi brings out a ring; he stares at the ring and cuddles it while he stares at sleeping Mona. He is also seen cuddling the ring later at the camp.

Sola finally arrives at the NYSC orientation camp when the camp is almost over. While at the camp, out on an endurance trek, Femi becomes drained and he stops in the woods to use his inhaler as he is an asthmatic patient. Sola also waits behind to help him out. While in the jungle, they begin to hear a strange sound which always comes up during camo parade. They both start to trace the sound and later discover a strange object on top of a tree that is emitting the sound. Rain starts to fall and they both find shelter in a mud house. Sola uses his lighter and starts to explore the place. The rain has stopped and Femi moves out of the building to get fresh air. Sola finds a figurine enclosed in a dusty wooden cradle. On the last day of Parade, Mona informs Femi that Sola proposed to her and she accepted. She also stated that she's carrying his baby. Femi seems jealous and tries to discourage Sola from getting married, but Sola declines. Sola brings out the figurine he found in the mud house and drops it on Femi's lap. Femi gets back from the NYSC only to see his father hale and hearty. He is also selected to go for a special training at his work place within just six months of his appointment. Sola gets a job as well and marries Mona.

Seven years later, Femi arrives from abroad and attends Sola's 'get-together'. Mona (who is pregnant again) introduces Femi to Linda (Funlola Aofiyebi), a fashion designer. Throughout the party, Femi pays no attention to her and keeps staring at Mona whom he is apparently still in love with. Lara (Tosin Sido), Femi's younger sister, now lives with Sola's family as Mona is helping her with her thesis. However, The Araromire figurine is still kept at Sola's. Femi's asthma has been cured miraculously as he smoked at the party.

Mona gets to know about the Araromire legend and she is worried; she begins to make conclusions and starts doubting the real source of the sudden wealth of the family. She also deduces that it may be the reason why her marriage with Sola has been so flawless, despite Sola having been a rascal and a Casanova back in school. She asks Lara to throw the figurine away but it returns into the house mysteriously. She then decides to throw it into the lagoon herself, she loses her pregnancy on her way to the lagoon. While dancing at the club with Linda, Femi gets an asthma attack again after so many years. Sola also starts having an affair with Ngozi again after so many years of being faithful to Mona, it is later discovered that he is having an affair with Lara as well and he also had an affair with Linda. Femi arrives at his apartment one day and sees his father dead in his crafts workshop. Both Femi and Sola eventually lose their jobs. Femi raises the topic of the figurine and suggests that they return it to the shrine; though Sola still doesn't believe the figurine is responsible for all the misfortune, he agrees. Junior (Tobe Oboli), Sola's first son, also dies by falling off from the building while trying to reach out to his mother — his father was having a big argument with his mum and the figurine was burnt. However, the figurine returns again. Then, Sola and Femi set out to return the figurine.

Mona, now in depression, sends Lara out of her house believing she let her son die (she was supposed to be with him at the time Junior had the accident). Lara's box opens up while she's struggling with Linda who is throwing her things out and also pushing her out of the compound. Many Figurines; similar to the one in Sola's study start to fall out of Lara's box. Apparently, she has been responsible for 'the return of the figurine' each time it was thrown out! She's called in and she starts to make confessions revealing that She is being controlled by her brother, Femi. Femi and Sola arrive at the Araromire Shrine to return the figurine; rain starts to fall and Femi is nowhere to be found. While Sola is busy looking for Femi, Femi kills him by hitting him with a log of wood. Femi returns to Lagos and he is confronted by Linda, whom Lara has already confessed to. Femi confirms the truth by revealing many things which proves that the whole Araromire good luck and bad luck was all a charade orchestrated by him in order to kill Sola and get Mona all to himself. He terms the losing of their jobs, his father's death and his asthma 'coincidence'. He kills Linda afterwards and dumps her body in the lagoon. On his way back, he has his asthma attack and commands Lara to bring him his inhaler, but she refuses; instead, she calls the 'Rapid Response Squad' to report her brother's killings. Femi struggles to get upstairs. He reaches out to the body of Mona, he removes Sola's ring from her finger and replaces it with his ring (which he was always staring at earlier). The Rapid Response Squad arrives and declares Femi dead.

Linda, Femi and Mona are later seen alive and the movie ends with the caption 'What do you believe'?

2nd Lt. Merle Wye (Hutton), an Army Intelligence officer stationed in Hawaii, is rendered horizontal when struck in the head by a foul ball while playing for his unit's baseball team. In the post hospital he is attracted to Lt. Molly Blue (Prentiss), a nurse he once knew in college. His superior (and manager of the team) orders the inept Merle to distant Rotohan, a secure island liberated some months before, ostensibly to relieve Lt. Billy Monk (Jack Carter), who has been unable to capture a Japanese holdout called Kobayashi suspected of pilfering military supplies. However the coach really wants Monk, a former professional baseball player, for his team. By claiming to be ordered to dangerous duty Merle tries to seduce Blue; when she discovers the ruse, she barely gives him the time of day.

On Rotohan, Merle and his Nisei interpreter (and lothario) Sgt. Roy Tada (Yoshio Yoda) team up with Monk to flush out the wily thief hiding in the hills. Using a reluctant Tada as a "spy" they discover that Kobayashi has been stealing the supplies, all creature comforts, to feed and clothe his pregnant girlfriend. But Merle is distracted when Blue is also assigned to his camp. With the Navy, in the form of obnoxious Cmdr. Jeremiah Hammerslag (Jim Backus), also hunting Kobayashi, Merle is threatened by his new superior, Col. Korotny (Charles McGraw), with another transfer if he does not capture Kobayashi soon—this time to an even more remote rock with only six other soldiers as company.

While romancing a local girl (Miyoshi Umeki), Tada discovers that Kobayashi is not even a soldier but a former circus performer hidden in a cave in the hills by the villagers. That night Kobayashi is to appear at a variety show staged by the locals to entertain the Americans. When Merle tries to arrest him, the agile Kobayashi stuns him using judo, knocking him horizontal again, and escapes. Col. Korotny tells Merle he is shipping out in the morning. During a drive in the hills to "say goodbye", Merle and Blue stumble on the cave, where Blue captures the acrobat after Merle once more becomes "the horizontal lieutenant". Merle is given a medal anyway and wins her heart.

A shoplifter, Faye Burton, is being watched by Herb Klaxon, a security guard at a Los Angeles department store, and by Jeff Andrews, a shopper there. Jeff tries to warn her, but Faye is nevertheless caught and placed under arrest. Faye signs a confession and is set free, warned that if she tries this again, she will go to jail.

Faye returns to her job as a librarian, but a gang of thieves run by Ina Perdue, a pawnbroker, recruits Faye by claiming they can get her confession back, thereby clearing her record. Faye is shown by Ina and her henchman Pepe how to steal like a professional thief, and is then given a San Diego robbery assignment as a test. She is followed by Jeff, who is actually an undercover law officer, working to bust the shoplifting ring.

Pepe attempts to sexually assault Faye, who becomes so despondent, she tries to commit suicide. Jeff rescues her and reveals his true identity. They arrange to work together, but Jeff's cover is blown and Faye is kidnapped. Ina and Pepe take her to Mexico to continue their crime spree, but Jeff and his men arrive in time to apprehend the crooks. Jeff also realizes he has fallen in love with Faye.

The film follows retired soprano Sara Scuderi and the other tenants of the retirement home, as they re-live and re-enact the roles which made them famous.

The main character, Mark Evans (円堂 守 ''Endō Mamoru''), is a very talented goalkeeper. He plays for his high school's soccer team called Raimon Junior High, which has just won the Football Frontier. One day, the aliens from Alius Academy, a mysterious school that trains its students into making soccer a tool to destroy other schools, approach and wreck Raimon Junior High, sending the Raimon Eleven into a journey to stop the aliens, the soccer team named Gemini Storm, with Raimon Eleven's last gift, the van called Inazuma Bus. The heroes have to travel around Japan, recruit new players, seek the secret behind the Alius Academy and save Japan from being destroyed.

Tomka is a boy who likes playing football with his friends. When the German army captures his town, the German soldiers establish their camp in the town stadium. Tomka with help from his friends and their parents organizes sabotage actions against the soldiers.

Yi Mongryong, who always studies hard, goes out to get some fresh air. He sees Chunhyang on a swing and he falls in love with her at first sight. He orders his servant, Bangja, to ask Chunhyang to come to him but she refuses. Yi Mongryong then goes to talk to Chunhyang's mother, Wolmae, to ask permission to marry Chunhyang; Wolmae gives her permission and the two young people marry that day.

Yi Mongryong's father, a government official, has to move to Hanyang (Seoul now) so Yi Mongryong has to leave Chunhyang to follow his father. Chunhyang gives Yi Mongryong a ring as a token of her love for him and promises to stay faithful to him and wait for him to come back in the future and take her to Seoul. After he leaves, a replacement for Mongryong's father comes to Chunhyang's village. The new replacement is Byeon Hakdo, a greedy and selfish person who wastes his time frolicking with gisaengs. Chunhyang, renowned for her beauty, is summoned by the new magistrate. Although Chunhyang is not a gisaeng, Byeon treats her like one because her mother was a gisaeng. Byeon orders Chunhyang to work as a gisaeng for him, but Chunhyang refuses, stating that she has one true love. Byeon gets angry and imprisons her. He decides to punish her on his birthday.

Yi Mongryong wins the first place in a state examination and he becomes a secret royal inspector, or Amhaengeosa, who investigates and prosecutes corrupt government officials as an undercover emissary of the king. Under disguise, he returns to Chunhyang's village and finds out what has happened to Chunhyang and Byeon's abuse of power. Yi must conceal his real identity so he acts like an penniless person and wears ragged clothes. Despite his pretend poverty, Chunhyang still loves him and asks her mother to take good care of him.

Yi Mongryong barges into Byeon's birthday celebration uninvited and makes a satirical poem about Byeon's misconducts, but Byeon does not understand the poem. Yi Mongryong discloses his real identity and punishes Byeon. At first, Chunhyang cannot recognize Yi Mongryong and he tests her fidelity by asking her to be his gisaeng. Chunhyang, who still cannot recognize him, refuses him as well. Deeply moved by her faithfulness, Yi Mongryong orders a servant to show her the ring Chunhyang gave him. She is shocked that he is Yi Mongryong and they live happily ever after.

When only six of eight would-be German saboteurs are sentenced to death by an American court during World War II, an FBI agent complains to his boss, Craig (Ward Bond), about the other two. Craig tells him about one of the men sentenced to prison. A flashback ensues.

American attorney Carl Steelman (Sanders) stuns his German-born parents by telling them that he is a member of the German American Bund. His father (Ludwig Stössel), a loyal American, is particularly incensed. When Carl attends a Bund meeting, his colleague Ernst Reiter divulges that he has been called back to Germany to be trained as a saboteur. The police break up the meeting; fleeing, Reiter draws a gun and is shot dead. Later, Carl meets with Craig; Carl is actually an FBI undercover agent. Craig informs him that he is to impersonate Reiter and infiltrate the school.

In Hamburg, Carl becomes friendly with a woman named Helga Lorenz. Later, Colonel Taeger (Dennis Hoey) informs him that Helga is suspected of being in the German Underground, and orders him to continue seeing her to find incriminating evidence. After Carl accidentally finds some anti-Nazi leaflets, he warns Helga, but a spy with a telescope has witnessed this, so Carl has no choice but to denounce her himself. When she refuses to talk, Taeger orders her sent to a concentration camp. Carl manages to intercept the car taking her away and rescue her.

Then Reiter's wife shows up at his hotel. To prevent her from betraying him, he tells her that Reiter was captured in America, then asks her for a day to explain himself. He then tells Colonel Taeger that his "wife" has lost her mind. After questioning the woman himself, the colonel agrees and has her sent to an asylum.

When Carl's father becomes seriously ill, Craig tells him about his son's real mission, but stresses he can divulge the information to no one, not even his wife. Julius is too overjoyed to obey. He tells his close friend, Dr. Herman Holger (Sig Ruman).

Because of his excellent performance at the sabotage school, Carl is put in charge of the first group of saboteurs to be sent to America after the United States enters the war. He and three others board a U-boat. When Colonel Taeger is notified that a Carl Steelman is an American agent, he goes to see Frau Reiter; she confirms that Steelman was her husband's associate in America. Taeger has her shot to cover up his mistake, then sends an urgent message to the U-boat captain.

The submarine is attacked by American bombers, but escapes unharmed, and the saboteurs depart in a life raft before Taeger's message is received. Then the bomb Carl left aboard blows up, sending the submerged U-boat to the bottom. Ashore, the four men are spotted on the beach and arrested. Craig makes Carl maintain his cover and turn state's evidence against the others, as well as four saboteurs sent to Florida.

Then Carl goes home to see his parents and Dr. Holger. He informs Holger that he has a list of German agents in America, and that the doctor is on it at number eight. He takes Holger away.

Mary Hamilton an heiress tires of fortune hunting men and takes her secretary Peggy to join a group of gypsies undercover. As the women head into the woods Sir Kenneth one of Mary's close male friends follows them dressed as a gypsy. Jack Hutton a wealthy landowner wants the gypsies off his land and has Sir Kenneth jailed. Hutton then seeks out Mary's camp, not knowing her true identity, and wants her thrown off the land as well but then catches her swimming in a moonlit pond. Hutton falls in love with Mary and Mary asks him to dine. When Hutton leaves a band of gypsies attacks Mary's wagon and tie her up. Jack then tries to rescue Mary but is beaten by the gypsies. Sir Kenneth has by then been released from jail and arrives with Peggy, the two of them are now in love. After they cut Mary loose, Sir Kenneth and Peggy head off to be married leaving Mary to care for Hutton. As Hutton recuperates Mary tells him the truth that she is an heiress and not a gypsy as she had led Hutton to believe. They are later married.

The poor in the film, as represented by the lazy gypsies who rob Mary, do not compare well to the heroic but naive members of the upper class.

Wall Street wizard, Larry Day, new to the ways of love, is coached by his valet. He follows Vivian Benton on an ocean liner, where cocktails, laced with a "love potion", work their magic. He then loses his fortune in the market crash and feels he has also lost his girl.

King Serge IV of Molvania (Menjou) comes to Manhattan to conduct business with Arthur Trent (Kilgour), but instead goes to Coney Island, where he meets Gladys Humphreys (Love) and John Rockland (Shaw). John, not knowing the king's royal identity, invites him to his home at Little Falls, New Jersey. The king falls in love with Gladys, but Trent catches them in a compromising situation, and blackmails the king into completing their business deal. The king leaves the United States and Gladys forever.

Since a horrible accident claimed the lives of her family, 16-year-old Ever can see auras, hear people’s thoughts, and know a person’s life story by touch. Going out of her way to shield herself from human contact to suppress her abilities has branded her as a freak at her new high school—but everything changes when she meets Damen Auguste.

Damen is gorgeous, exotic and wealthy, cute and he holds many secrets. Ever does not know who he really is—or what he is. Damen is equal parts light and dark, and he belongs to an enchanted new world where no one ever dies.

The film is set in the fictional town of Gatlin, Nebraska, an agricultural community surrounded by huge cornfields. When the corn crop fails one year, the townsfolk turn to prayer to ensure a successful harvest. However, 12-year-old Isaac Chroner takes all of the children in Gatlin into the cornfields and indoctrinates them into a religious cult based around a bloodthirsty deity called “He Who Walks Behind the Rows”. Isaac and his subordinate Malachai lead the children in a revolution, murdering all of the adults in town as human sacrifices. Children Job and his sister Sarah are uninvolved in the sacrifices, having not attended the meetings in the cornfield with the other children. Sarah has visions portrayed through drawings.

Three years later, Vicky and her boyfriend Burt travel through rural Nebraska on their way to Seattle, where Burt will start working as a physician. Elsewhere, a young boy named Joseph tries to flee Gatlin, but is attacked in the corn; he stumbles out into the road and Burt accidentally runs over him. However, Burt discovers that his throat was cut beforehand. Burt and Vicky place Joseph's body and his suitcase in their trunk and search for a phone to call for help. They find Diehl, an elderly mechanic and the last adult in Gatlin, but he refuses them service, as he has agreed to supply the children with fuel in exchange for his life. However, Malachai breaks the pact and murders him against Isaac's wishes after Diehl tries to steer the couple away from Gatlin.

Vicky and Burt explore the abandoned town and find Sarah alone in a house. While Vicky stays with her, Burt searches the town. Malachai and his followers appear, capture Vicky, and take her to the cornfield, where they place her on a cross to be sacrificed. Burt enters the church, where a congregation of children led by a girl named Rachel are performing a cultural birthday ritual for Amos by drinking his blood from a pentagram-shaped cut on his body. Amos has turned 19, so is considered old enough for his "passing"—joining their god in the cornfield. Burt scolds the children for participating in a blood ritual. Rachel stabs Burt, then Malachai and the others chase him. Job rescues Burt and they hide in a fallout shelter with Sarah, where they learn Vicky was captured.

The zealous Isaac scolds Malachai for his treachery in killing Diehl, their only source of fuel. Malachai takes over, tired of Isaac's preaching, and orders Isaac to be sacrificed instead of Vicky. Isaac warns Malachai that sacrificing him will break their pact with He Who Walks Behind the Rows and the children will be severely punished. That night, Burt sneaks into the cornfield to rescue Vicky. During Isaac's sacrifice, a supernatural light appears and devours him. Burt emerges and overpowers Malachai, then convinces the children to abandon the cult and run for safety. Isaac suddenly reappears, revived by He Who Walks Behind the Rows. Informing Malachai that the deity is angered over him being sacrificed and that He Who Walks Behind the Rows wants Malachai sacrificed as well for his betrayal, Isaac kills Malachai.

A storm appears over the cornfield, and Burt and Vicky shelter the children in a barn. Burt reads a passage in the Bible Job gives him. Job also reveals that the police officer tried to set up the gasohol to stop He Who Walks Behind The Rows, but Malachai murdered him before he could finish. Vicky rereads the passage and realizes that the cornfield must be destroyed by fire in order to stop the false god. Burt sprays the cornfield with gasohol and tosses a Molotov cocktail into the field, setting it alight and destroying the demon along with Isaac. Vicky, Burt, Job, and Sarah return to the car to leave Gatlin, but find it disabled. Rachel attacks Burt, but Vicky knocks her out with the car door. Burt worries about leaving her there, but Vicky quips that they will send her a get-well card from Seattle, and they depart with the children.

Burt and Vicky Robeson, a couple trying to save their crumbling marriage, are driving to California for a vacation and to visit Vicky's brother. As they are driving through rural Nebraska, an argument goes from bad to worse; finally, Burt is ready to call off the vacation and consult a divorce attorney. Then they accidentally run over a young boy...who was already dead from having his throat slit, and who was thrown into the road. Burt, a Vietnam vet, opens the boy's suitcase to find a crucifix made of twisted corn husks. They agree to report the incident to the police; they place the body in their car's trunk, and go to the nearest town -- a small, isolated community called Gatlin -- for help.

When they arrive in Gatlin, it appears to be deserted. They do not see any cars or people anywhere. After driving past a gas station and visiting a diner, they notice that several things (such as gas prices, menu prices, and calendar dates) are very outdated. Vicky, who does not like the town, starts to get nervous and asks if they can leave.

Burt decides to explore a nearby church he remembers seeing not too long ago. Vicky is unsure of his choice and tells him not to go. The couple argues as usual and Burt takes the keys and proceeds inside the church, which unlike the rest of the town, still shows signs of life.

Inside, he finds vile writings and artwork on the church wall as well as the keys and stops of the pipe organ ripped out and its pipes stuffed with corn husks. At the altar, Burt finds a King James Bible (with several pages from the New Testament cut out) as well as a record book listing the births and deaths of various people. He notices that all names in the book and another subsequent one were changed from modern to Biblical ones, and that everyone listed as deceased died on their 19th birthday. Burt realizes that 12 years ago, the children of Gatlin killed the town's adults and that members of their community are not allowed to live past their 19th birthday.

After hearing the car's horn, Burt runs from the church to find the car surrounded by a gang of children and teenagers dressed in Amish-style clothing and armed with farm tools. They destroy the windows and windshield, slash the tires, and drag Vicky out. Burt tries to intervene, but a redheaded teen boy stabs him in the arm. Burt pulls the knife out and stabs the boy in the throat. The children step back in shock. Burt then realizes that Vicky is gone. When he asks where she is, one of the children holds up a knife and makes a slashing motion.

The children chase Burt, but he manages to outrun them and ducks into the cornfield and hides while they search for him. He notices that there are no animals or weeds in the cornfield and that every stalk of corn is blemish-free. As the sun sets, Burt gets lost and wanders around until he finds a circle of empty ground in the middle of the cornfield and discovers Vicky's body. She has been tied to a cross with barbed wire and her eyes have been ripped out, her eye sockets filled with corn silk, and her mouth stuffed with corn husks. He also sees the crucified skeletons of Gatlin's minister and police chief; the latter is wearing a blue uniform. When Burt turns around to flee, he notices that every row in the cornfield has closed up, creating a wall that prevents him from escaping. He realizes that something is coming for him, but before he can do anything, he is killed by a giant, green, red-eyed monster that comes out of the cornfield. Soon after, a harvest moon appears in the sky.

The next day, the children of Gatlin (all of whom worship "He Who Walks Behind the Rows", an entity that inhabits the cornfields surrounding the town) have a meeting in the circle. Isaac, their 9-year-old leader, tells them that He Who Walks Behind the Rows is displeased with their sacrifice because they failed to also kill Burt. The same thing happened with the "blue man" and the "false minister" many years ago. He Who Walks Behind the Rows punishes this failure by lowering the "age of favor" to 18. He also commands the children to "be fruitful and multiply".

That night, Malachi (the killer of the boy who was run over) and all of the other 18-year-olds walk into the cornfield to sacrifice themselves to He Who Walks Behind the Rows. Ruth, a girl who is pregnant with Malachi's child, weeps as she waves goodbye to him. It is revealed that she secretly hates He Who Walks Behind the Rows and dreams of setting fire to the cornfield, but is afraid to actually do so because He Who Walks Behind the Rows can see everything, including the secrets inside human hearts. The story ends by saying that the corn surrounding Gatlin is pleased.

Bryan Ryan (Neil Patrick Harris), a former McKinley High glee club member, arrives as an auditor from the school board. He speaks to the glee club, asking everyone to write their biggest dream on a piece of paper. He then takes Artie's (Kevin McHale) paper and tosses it into the trash, making a point that their dreams will never come true. Having failed to realize his own dreams, he intends to cut the glee club. Glee club director Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) convinces him that it is not too late to pursue his dreams and sings "Piano Man" with him. They both audition for the role of Jean Valjean in the local production of ''Les Misérables'', singing "Dream On" as a duet. Bryan decides not to cut the glee club, and even presents them with new costumes and sheet music, but changes his mind when cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) announces that Will landed the lead role. Will gives up his role in ''Les Misérables'' to Bryan in order to save the glee club.

Rachel (Lea Michele) confides in Jesse (Jonathan Groff) of her lifelong dream to discover the identity of her mother. While they are searching through boxes of records from her basement, Jesse takes a cassette tape from his jacket and pretends that it came from the box. The tape is labeled as a message from mother to daughter. Rachel refuses to listen to the tape, stating that she is not ready. Jesse later meets with Shelby Corcoran (Idina Menzel), the coach of Vocal Adrenaline, who reveals that she is Rachel's biological mother, but a contractual agreement with Rachel's two fathers prevents her from meeting with her until she is 18. Jesse reveals that though he had "befriended" Rachel just to get more acting practice, he had actually started liking her. She implores Jesse to convince Rachel to listen to the tape. Back at Rachel's house, Jesse starts the tape playing as Rachel enters her bedroom, then leaves her to listen to it. On the tape, Shelby sings "I Dreamed a Dream", leading to a duet with Rachel in a dream sequence, ending with Rachel back in her room in tears.

After Bryan's discouraging speech, Tina (Jenna Ushkowitz) retrieves Artie's paper from the trash and learns that his biggest dream is to become a dancer. Tina would like to dance with Artie, but he falls off his crutches when he tries to stand up from his wheelchair. Tina comforts Artie by showing him some of the latest research in spinal cord injury treatments. While waiting for Tina to buy pretzels at the mall, Artie fantasizes about being able to stand up from his wheelchair and dances to "The Safety Dance" in a flash mob dream sequence. He later asks guidance counsellor Emma Pillsbury (Jayma Mays) for advice on how to cope with the possibility of walking again in light of the new research, but is disappointed when Emma tells him that such treatments may not become available for a long time. Tina continues to offer to dance with him but he declines, insisting that she choose another partner but agreeing to sing during the dance. Tina chooses Mike (Harry Shum, Jr.) as her dance partner as Artie leads the glee club into "Dream a Little Dream of Me".

Artist Margaret Church returns to her parents home to create a portrait of them. Margaret is shocked to discover that her parents have decided to sell their home, and she has trouble accepting the loss of her childhood home. Margaret finishes her portrait, only to believe that her parents dislike it. Eventually she realizes that her parents do not dislike her portrait, and Margaret becomes closer to them once more.

Dwight is a 6th grader at McQuarrie Middle School who is considered quite weird. One day, Dwight folds an origami finger puppet of Yoda, a popular ''Star Wars'' figure. Through an imitation voice, Dwight offers advice to his classmates through Yoda. Some students at McQuarrie soon become convinced that Origami Yoda has a special connection to the Force, while others remain skeptical. A fellow sixth-grader named Tommy decides to write a case file to prove if Origami Yoda is real. He convinces a number of students to write about their experiences with Origami Yoda, while his friend Kellen illustrates the file. However, Harvey, who has always been cruel to Dwight and is skeptical about Origami Yoda's wisdom, attempts to disprove Origami Yoda's connection to the Force.

Jarrod and his wife Elaine arrive in Los Angeles, California for Jarrod's best friend Terry's birthday party. They celebrate with Terry's wife, Candice, and his assistant, Denise. During a private argument about whether or not they should move, Elaine reveals she is pregnant.

The next morning, blue lights descend from the sky, hypnotizing anyone who looks at them. The light causes people to become zombie-like and immobilized; they are then collected by the light machines. Jarrod and Elaine's friend Ray is taken, but Jarrod is saved when Terry tackles him. He and Terry go to the condominium roof to investigate the lights. They watch in horror as alien ships descend from the sky and thousands of immobilized people are sucked up into the alien ships. They try to run but are attacked by one of hundreds of flying alien drones. As they attempt to open the rooftop door, Elaine quickly opens it from the other side. She accidentally looks directly into the aliens' light and is hypnotized. But Jarrod and Terry are able to save her and close the door.

Back in the condominium, Terry looks for his neighbor Walt so they can all leave in Walt's car. As Terry and Walt are hiding, Walt's dog runs towards the creature and Walt tries to stop it but he gets abducted. Jarrod believes the open water would be a safer place, since there are no machines over the sea. They encounter a bickering couple, Colin and Jen, also preparing to flee the building. As Terry's car exits the garage, it is flattened by a massive four-legged alien, killing Denise. Terry escapes, but is abducted as he flees. The trio retreat into the garage. There they encounter another alien lifeform in the shape of a large multi-tentacled squid that takes Colin and corners the rest of the group before the building's concierge, Oliver, slams into it with an SUV and finds Colin alive. When they try to free him, the squid creature comes back to life, sucking out Colin's brain to replace its own brain. Jen joins the group, but is abducted as they run back into the building. The four survivors remain hiding in the condominium.

The next day, the group is arguing about what to do to stay alive. Just then the United States Air Force launches an attack against the alien spaceship and flying alien drones using stealth unmanned combat aerial vehicles and conventional drone aircraft armed with air-to-air missiles. Only one stealth plane pierces the carnage and fires a nuclear missile, hitting the mothership, before it is destroyed. The detonation blows the ship apart and kills the aliens. But Jarrod discovers the aliens have survived and the ship slowly begins to repair itself. After Jarrod tells Elaine that the alien light made him feel powerful, he is adamant that safety must be found outside. Oliver wants to stay inside and tries restraining him. Jarrod physically starts changing as he lifts Oliver off the floor and vows that he will protect his family.

Helicopters arrive with soldiers as Jarrod and Elaine go to the roof hoping to catch a ride to safety. Oliver and Candice stay in the condominium but are found when Candice accidentally exposes herself to the light and is abducted. Afterwards, Oliver attempts to kill a tanker alien by turning on a gas stove and igniting a lighter, causing the room to explode. The soldiers are thrown off the roof by the aliens and a squid alien attacks Jarrod and Elaine. The badly injured Jarrod kills it. Amid the aliens, they accept their fate, look into the blue light, and are sucked into the mother ship. A brief montage shows that cities such as London, Las Vegas, Hong Kong and New York City have all succumbed to the invasion and the aliens appear to have won.

Inside the alien ship, Elaine wakes on a pile of human bodies. Tubes are sucking human brains into machines. Probes go through the pile looking for what they can find. Elaine sees Jarrod in the pile but has to watch helplessly as his brain is removed. She is probed but left alone since she is pregnant. Elaine is transported to another chamber where other pregnant women have been sent. She watches as another pregnant woman has her baby removed, before the woman dies. Meanwhile, Jarrod's brain, glowing red instead of the usual aliens' blue, is inserted into a new alien body. Animating the alien body, Jarrod seems to retain control and comes to the aid of Elaine and their unborn child. Elaine recognizes him when he caresses her belly and her head. He then turns around to confront advancing aliens. And in between the credits, a series of still images depict "Jarrod" protecting Elaine and their child from the aliens.

The movie focuses on the marriage of Graciela and Arturo, who operate a kindergarten in their mansion. They live with Graciela's widowed mother, Luisa. Graciela is particularly keen on one boy, Luciano, on whom she makes sexual advances. As time progresses, the relationship between Graciela and Arturo tenses. Scenes show them celebrating kids' birthdays while having sex in hiding, practicing a ritualistic burning of a wrecked car, mistreating their comatose grandfather (victim of said car wreck) and generally torturing Luciano. The end has Luciano imprisoning and gassing Graciela and Arturo, and then escaping with Luisa on a horse-drawn carriage.

The story begins with the sons of the Hung-mo (Hongwu) Emperor returning to the capital city as a show of filial piety to their father, who has fallen extremely ill. Secretly, the princes are harboring intentions to succeed the throne. As a result, chaos surrounds the kingdom, and a chain of conspiracies and schemes begin occurring in the city...

While pursuing a mission, Brocade Guard captain Ngo Siu-fung loses his memory in an accident. As he begins to slowly piece back memories of his past, he realises that he was once a vicious, unreasonable, and merciless Brocade Guard. He decides to start anew and change his ways of style, but his colleagues are unable to see past Siu-fung's history of cruelty, and they assign him insignificant tasks to complete. Fortunately for Siu-fung, he saves Chu Wan-man, grandson of the emperor, who has dressed himself in plain clothes to observe the commoners of the city. The two become good friends and Wan-man appoints Siu-fung as his personal bodyguard.

The emperor dies, his posthumous edict robbed, and the kingdom is left with no heir. The princes all desire the throne, leaving the kingdom unprotected from future attacks. Impatient, Wan-man orders Siu-fung to find the edict as soon as possible to stabilise the chaotic situation. The powerful and intelligent fourth prince Chu Tai (Zhu Di), titled Prince Yin, also sends his most trusted adviser Ma Sam-po to investigate the case. Fighting to retrieve the edict, Siu-fung and Sam-po undergo a battle of wits and skill. They start an ambiguous friendship – though they see each other as equals, they are unable to work together because their loyalties lie elsewhere.

The edict is retrieved and Wan-man ascends to the throne, crowned as the Kin-man (Jianwen) Emperor. Soon after his coronation, mysterious cases begin to occur around the kingdom. Someone with an ulterior motive is intentionally framing Prince Yin of starting a coup.

Though Prince Yin is later proven to be innocent, Wan-man becomes really cautious of him. Aware that the new emperor has intentions in killing him, Prince Yin raises an army to overthrow him. Under the slogan of "clearing the court and pacifying national disaster" ( ), Prince Yin starts a coup d'état, that is later known to be called the Jingnan campaign.

Through a series of dreamlike images, a girl (Sarah Livingston Evans) and her three friends find themselves stranded in a dark and surrealistic forest by someone — or something (Edward Gusts) — who has obsessively loved, watched, and waited for the girl ever since childhood.

The story takes place before, during, and after the genocide in Rwanda; told through parallel storylines. It is divided between the present day and Deogratias' flashbacks, denoted by black borders for the former and blank borders for the latter. It follows Deogratias, a Hutu teenager who has been unstable ever since his two Tutsi friends died in the genocide. The story begins after the genocide. Deogratias is at a bar and meets an old friend, a French sergeant. Deogratias has flashbacks to his life before the genocide. He remembers the crush he had on the two girls and how he tried to spend time with them. In the flashbacks, Deogratias wasn't always a good person. We meet other people in the story. The two tribes in the country didn't get along. Deogratias was a bit caught in the middle of the feud, having been forced to join the "Interahamwe". His life after the genocide seems very bad.

In day three of Deogratias returns to the town looking for urwagwa (banana beer) because he is turning into a dog again, but doesn't. Because he talks to Julius about killing the Tutsis, then he begins to think of how the father and brother Philip left and the others stayed and hid.

''The Wonderful Visit'' tells how an angel spends a little more than a week in southern England. He is at first mistaken for a bird because of his dazzling polychromatic plumage, for he is "neither the Angel of religious feeling nor the Angel of popular belief," but rather "the Angel of Italian art." As a result, he is hunted and shot in the wing by an amateur ornithologist, the Rev. K. Hilyer, the vicar of Siddermoton, and then taken in and cared for at the vicarage. The creature comes from "the Land of Dreams" (also the angel's term for our world), and while "charmingly affable," is "quite ignorant of the most elementary facts of civilisation." During his brief visit he grows increasingly dismayed by what he learns about the world in general and about life in Victorian England in particular. As he grows increasingly critical of local mores, he is eventually denounced as "a Socialist."

The vicar, his host, meanwhile comes under attack by fellow clerics, neighbours, and even servants for harbouring a disreputable character (no one but the vicar believes he comes from another world, and people take to calling him "Mr. Angel"). The angel's one talent is his divine violin-playing, but he is discredited at a reception that Lady Hammergallow agrees to host when it is discovered that he cannot read music and confides to a sympathetic listener that he has taken an interest in the vicar's serving girl, Delia. Instead of healing, his wings begin to atrophy. The local physician, Dr. Crump, threatens to have him put in a prison or a madhouse. After the angel destroys some barbed wire on a local baronet's property, Sir John Gotch gives the vicar one week to send him away before he begins proceedings against him.

The Rev. Mr. Hilyer is regretfully planning how he will take the angel to London and try to establish him there when two catastrophes abort the plan. First, the angel, who "had been breathing the poisonous air of this Struggle for Existence of ours for more than a week," beats Sir John Gotch with Gotch's own whip in a fury after the local landowner insolently orders him off his land. Distraught to think (mistakenly) that he has killed a man, he returns to the village to find the vicar's house in flames. Delia, the serving girl, has entered the burning building in an attempt to rescue the angel's violin: this extraordinary act comes as a revelation to the angel. "Then in a flash he saw it all, saw this grim little world of battle and cruelty, transfigured in a splendour that outshone the Angelic Land, suffused suddenly and insupportably glorious with the wonderful light of Love and Self-Sacrifice."H.G. Wells, ''The Wonderful Visit'', ch. 50. The angel attempts to rescue Delia, someone seems to see "two figures with wings" flash up and vanish among the flames, and a strange music that "began and ended like the opening and shutting of a door" suggests that the angel has gone back to where he came from, accompanied by Delia. An epilogue reveals that "there is nothing beneath" the two white crosses in Siddermorton cemetery that bear the names of Thomas Angel and Delia Hardy, and that the vicar, who never recovered his aplomb after the angel's departure, died within a year of the fire.

Having been dumped by her boyfriend after graduation, Aura (Lena Dunham) moves back home to her mother's loft in TriBeCa for the summer. Aura's plan is to save money until her friend Frankie finishes her degree at Oberlin College and can move to the city so that they can be roommates. Aura's mother Siri is a successful photographer who takes pictures of scenes using tiny furniture. She is aided by Candice, her assistant, and Aura's teenage sister, Nadine. Siri is initially supportive of her daughter's return home while Nadine appears condescending toward her. Upon moving back into her old room, Nadine commands Aura to replace a lightbulb. While searching for one, Aura stumbles upon her mother's journals from when she was Aura's age, and she begins reading them clandestinely.

Shortly after arriving home, Aura goes to a party where she meets Jed, a mildly successful filmmaker who puts his work on YouTube. She also runs into her childhood friend Charlotte (Jemima Kirke), a recovering drug addict. She and Aura return to Charlotte's apartment that night, where they smoke marijuana. Charlotte also helps Aura land an $11/hour (no tips) job taking reservations at a restaurant. The news that she has landed a job is quickly overshadowed by the fact that Nadine has won a prestigious poetry prize for high school students. Aura begins to feel anxious in comparison to her put-together younger sister and resents the close bond between Nadine and their mother.

Depressed, Aura begins to spend time with Jed, who is couchsurfing as his agent tries to land him a TV development deal, and flirts with Keith (David Call), a junior chef at the restaurant. When her mother and sister leave for a week in order to tour colleges, Aura invites Jed to stay with her. Together they discover that Aura's pet hamster Gilda has died, and they store it in the freezer in a plastic bag until Aura can bury her. Jed and Aura ultimately neglect to take care of the apartment while drinking most of Siri's wine and eating frozen dinners. Siri eventually confronts Aura about these things upon her return, which Aura first lies about before throwing a tantrum in front of her mother and sister. Despite this, Aura later asks her mom to let Jed extend his visit by having him stay on an inflatable mattress in her room. She is eventually forced to kick him out after he annoys Siri with his entitled attitude.

Meanwhile, Aura's flirtation with Keith hits a snag when she discovers he has a girlfriend and only seems interested in her ability to obtain prescription pills through Charlotte. After Keith stands her up when they make plans to get high together, Aura impulsively quits her restaurant job. Later that night, Nadine has a party in their loft while their mother is out for the night. Aura becomes upset, ostensibly by the number of drunk high schoolers at the party, and calls Charlotte to help deal with the situation. Upon arriving, however, Charlotte merely joins the party as well. Nadine eventually confronts Aura over her immaturity, yelling at her to grow up. The next morning, Aura's mother finds the frozen hamster in the freezer, which Aura promptly disposes of. Aura also tells a bewildered Frankie that she no longer can move in with her, offering the excuse that her mother needs her too much.

Unsure of what to do with her filmmaking degree, Aura lucks out when Charlotte asks a curator friend to put one of Aura's college videos in his gallery. At the exhibit, Charlotte is annoyed when Frankie appears to discuss living arrangements with Aura. Charlotte encourages Aura to leave Frankie in order to spend time with Keith, who also showed up. Ditching Frankie, Aura goes with Keith and the two smoke marijuana in the street. Encouraged by Charlotte's earlier advice to be spontaneous, Aura makes a move on Keith who, despite still being in a relationship, responds with passion. As Keith still lives with his girlfriend and Aura cannot bring him to her mother's apartment, the two crawl into a pipe in a construction yard where they have unprotected sex.

Returning home, Aura fights with her mother but eventually apologizes. She later climbs into bed with her and tells her about her evening with Keith. Aura confesses to having read her diaries, though her mother calmly replies she is not upset over it. Aura uses the opportunity to get to know her mother, and asks her about what she was like when she was Aura's age.

Leroy Lowe is a racist who throughout his life has hated everything that was not as white as the color of his skin. Unexpectedly immersed in Mexican culture Leroy is forced to decide whether to return to his old life back in the United States or start a new life under the sun-drenched skies of Mexico.

John Storm becomes a Christian Socialist, intending to live as Christ would live. He struggles to free himself from his love for Glory Quayle. John and Glory had been childhood sweethearts while growing up in the Isle of Man. As adults they travel to London where Glory becomes a nurse and finally a star on the stage. John enters the church. Later scenes show John's struggles, the meeting of the couple at the race track, his determination to kill Glory to save her from herself and his death in Glory's arms after a stoning by an infuriated mob.

Utility company employees working near Highway 44 dig up three skeletons while laying pipes. When SAMCRO hear the news, an emergency club meeting is arranged. Clay tells the crew that the bodies are Mayans killed in the SAMCRO-Mayan War of '91, and they need to stop them from being identified. In truth, however, one of the bodies actually belongs to Lowell Harland, Sr., a mechanic at Clay's garage who was killed for being a "junkie rat". Lowell Sr.'s son, Lowell, Jr., is now also a mechanic at the garage and a former drug addict. Tig is the only patch holder besides Clay who knows that Lowell, Sr. was murdered.

To raise funds to buy more guns from the Real IRA, the club decides to enter Half-Sack into a bare-knuckle boxing competition. Half-Sack, the former lightweight champion, is told to win his first five fights then take a dive in the sixth. This will allow SAMCRO to bet on his underdog opponent and earn a large pay-off. He is trained by Chibs, who recently returned from his trip with Michael McKeavey. Chibs insists Half-Sack has "no booze, no weed and no pussy". This means that Cherry must be kept away from him. To test her loyalty to Half-Sack, Bobby tries to have sex with Cherry at his house, but she refuses his advances.

That night, Clay, Tig and Jax go to the morgue to steal the bodies. In order to sneak in unnoticed, they must make sure no one is around; Tig shows the bite mark on his buttocks to the female doctors standing nearby, who flee in disgust. Clay tells Jax to wait outside and keep guard. Upon finding the first dead man, Tig sets about removing his teeth with pliers – until Jax appears and offers to lend a hand. He discovers that the body has already been identified and that it is Lowell Sr. Clay claims that Lowell, Sr. was killed by the Mayans and, after exacting revenge on his killers, Clay and Tig buried all three bodies together.

At the police station, Agents Hale and Stahl, having identified the bodies, suspect Clay of the murders and decide to use their suspicions to turn Lowell, Jr. against SAMCRO. They bring him to the station and tell him of his father's fate and where he was buried. Later, at the garage, Clay tries to convince Lowell otherwise, telling him the same story he told Jax earlier. Lowell seems to have believed the police’s story, however, and goes missing. Worried that he may be a liability to the club, Clay heads off to track down and kill him. He finds Lowell at a motel and puts a gun to his head, preparing to kill him. However, he has a change of heart and decides to tell Lowell the truth and bring him home.

Michael Scott (Steve Carell) is in good spirits due to his wildly successful relationship with Donna (Amy Pietz). He calls an office meeting solely to get suggestions for their next date, but the meeting participants, particularly Ryan Howard (B. J. Novak) and Kelly Kapoor (Mindy Kaling), convince him that she might be cheating on him. Worried, Michael hires Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) to tail her to see if she spends time with anyone else. Dwight follows Donna to her gym and attempts to seduce her. Donna rebukes him and calls security on him, whereby he openly admits he was sent there by Michael to keep tabs on her. An enraged Donna comes to the office to talk to Michael about the whole situation, and the two forgive each other and reconcile by planning a private vacation together.

Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) receives a call from a concerned client that a Sabre printer caught fire during a routine operation. He becomes frustrated when Gabe Lewis (Zach Woods) fails to take his client's complaint seriously. Capitalizing on his fears, Darryl Philbin (Craig Robinson) pranks Andy into believing he has uncovered a conspiracy as revenge for Andy pinning one of his mistakes on the warehouse a few years prior. He pays Creed Bratton (Creed Bratton) to threaten him, and further convinces Andy that the conspirators intend to kill him. Gabe eventually tells Andy that he consulted corporate, who confirmed that only 12 out of 400,000 printers have caught fire, and gives Andy a $5 gift card as thanks for bringing the matter to their attention. This assuages Andy's suspicions, but Darryl is still able to convince him that he needs to go public with proof that the printers are faulty. He films Andy testing the printer in normal use. Though Darryl intends to use the video to further embarrass Andy, the printer indeed catches fire and explodes. This confirms Andy's suspicions, and scares Darryl straight.

While Donna and Michael are planning their trip, Pam Halpert (Jenna Fischer) becomes suspicious when she notices Donna wearing heart-shaped jewelry that Michael did not buy for her. She snoops around on Facebook, and finds recent pictures of Donna hugging and kissing another man. Pam shows Michael the pictures, and he confronts Donna with the evidence. Donna admits to cheating and reveals that it is Michael who is the "other guy"; the photos are of her and her husband.

Betty Suarez worries about her boss Daniel Meade's reaction to the news that she is leaving fashion magazine ''MODE'' for a new job in London. Marc St. James (Michael Urie) overhears Betty talking about her new job and sends a mass text to everyone in the building, including Daniel. Daniel tells Betty that he is fine with her leaving, however, he later burns her contract release form, angered and saddened by her departure. He then offers Betty a promotion, which she turns down, and he does not come to her farewell party, where Marc gets back together with Troy (Matt Newton) and Amanda Tanen finds out that Spencer Cannon (Bryan Batt) is her father; he reveals that he knew she was his daughter when he hired her to be his stylist. Betty's sister Hilda Suarez and her husband Bobby (Adam Rodríguez) look for an apartment in Manhattan, but Hilda worries that their father Ignacio Suarez will be lonely without them, but Ignacio reassures them that he is happy to live alone.

Meanwhile, ''MODE'' co-editor Wilhelmina Slater is in a coma after being shot by Tyler Meade-Hartley. When she wakes up, her boyfriend Connor Owens (Grant Bowler) visits her on a day release from prison and tells her that he cannot live without her. Tyler's mother Claire Meade (Judith Light) offers Wilhelmina a bribe to say Tyler did not shoot her, but Wilhelmina rejects it and plans to stake her claim on the company, prompting Marc to tell her she will never be happy. Wilhelmina holds a press conference, where she states that she accidentally shot herself. Claire thanks her and Wilhelmina tells her that they are now good. Daniel informs Wilhelmina that he is stepping down as co-editor of ''MODE'', leaving her in charge and planning to start over. Wilhelmina promotes Marc to Creative Director and plots to get Connor's prison sentence reduced.

After saying goodbye to her family, Betty is shown enjoying her new life in London. She meets Daniel in Trafalgar Square, where he apologizes to her for not saying goodbye, and asks her out to dinner. Betty jokingly asks if he needs something to do, she is looking for a new assistant and Daniel tells her that he might submit his resume. As Betty heads off to work across Trafalgar Square, the series title is superimposed onto the scene; after a moment, ''Ugly'' disappears.

Synopsis

The Eleventh Doctor, Amy and Rory find themselves flickering between two realities, falling asleep at the sound of birdsong in one and waking in the other. In the first reality, Amy and Rory stopped travelling with the Doctor five years previously, and are happily married in Leadworth, expecting their first child. They are chased by the Eknodine, an alien race that have disguised themselves as the elderly of the village. In the other reality, they are trapped in a powerless TARDIS, drifting towards a freezing cold star which will kill them. During one of their experiences in the TARDIS-reality they are met by the "Dream Lord", an apparition who tells them that he has created a dream reality in contrast to their actual reality. The three must determine which is the dream reality and kill themselves in it to return to the other reality. However, if they choose wrong they will be killed in both.

The Dream Lord keeps Amy awake in the TARDIS reality while the Doctor and Rory fall asleep and return to the Leadworth reality. The Dream Lord questions Amy as to whom she would choose between Rory and the Doctor. He states that she must choose between the worlds; one leads to a peaceful married life with Rory while the other leads to adventure and excitement with the Doctor. Amy returns to Leadworth and rejoins Rory in defending her house from the Eknodine whilst the Doctor is trying to rescue people from Leadworth in a motor-caravan. An Eknodine kills Rory (the first of several 'deaths' for the character). Amy decides that she is willing to risk her own life for the chance of seeing Rory again and concludes the Leadworth reality is false. Amy and the Doctor drive the motor-caravan into the house. The three wake up again on the TARDIS which the Dream Lord reactivates. After the Dream Lord's departure Amy and Rory are surprised by the Doctor when he directs the TARDIS to self-destruct.

The trio again awaken in the TARDIS, no longer in any danger. The Doctor realised that both realities were false since the Dream Lord had no power over the real world and was a manifestation of his darker side. The three were influenced by psychic pollen that had fallen in the TARDIS time rotor and heated up, creating the Dream Lord and the false realities. Rory comes to realise that Amy killed herself in the Leadworth reality out of love for him.

Continuity

The Dream Lord describes the Doctor sarcastically as "The Oncoming Storm", a name coined by his archenemies the Daleks, and first mentioned in the Seventh Doctor novel ''Love and War'' and subsequently on-screen in "The Parting of the Ways", where it was attributed to the Daleks. He also says to the Doctor, "You're probably a vegetarian!" in a butcher's shop and calls him "veggie", referring to ''The Two Doctors'' (1985), in which the Sixth Doctor announced that he and Peri would eat a vegetarian diet from then on. The Dream Lord also teases the Doctor's relationship with Elizabeth I. This began in "The Shakespeare Code" where Elizabeth I wished to behead the Doctor and continued in "The End of Time", which alluded to the possibility the two were married. The marriage between the two was seen three years later in "The Day of the Doctor".

Gilead has fallen to John Farson and his forces. Roland Deschain and Gilead's few remaining survivors manage to escape the city through a secret exit. Not long after, a massive earthquake strikes and further damages the city. Alain informs the survivors it is no normal earthquake but rather a beamquake, meaning one of the six beams holding up the mythical Dark Tower has broken. Gilead was rumored to rest on the Eagle-Lion Beam and its destruction broke the beam. Roland decides as the leader of Gilead's survivors it is their mission to find the Dark Tower and use its power to set things right.

However, Roland and his ka-tet are uncertain which direction to travel along the beam. For nine years they wander unable to locate the Dark Tower as reality seems to be coming apart, time and space no longer being constant. In addition Roland has learned that the Crimson King is working to break the remaining five beams holding The Dark Tower. Unable to find The Dark Tower the ka-tet takes the fight directly to John Farson, by forming a resistance group and destroying several of his military installations.

The war between Roland and Farson take a turn when Randolph, member of Roland's ka-tet, loses his wife and his son is taken by a slow mutant. It is later revealed that this slow mutant was acting under orders from Marten. Marten is holding Randolph's family to force him to betray the resistance. Randolph leads Sheemie into a trap. Marten decides to keep Sheemie alive as his abilities make him too valuable.

After several more setbacks the ka-tet begins to suspect a traitor and attempts to keep sensitive information among the most trusted men. However, a mission to destroy a weapons cache ends in an ambush due to a false scouting report from Randolph. Alain is the only member to escape the ambush and realizes that Randolph is the traitor. As Alain is returning to camp, Roland and Cuthbert mistake him for an enemy soldier and Alain is fatally wounded. Alain is able to tell his friends that Randolph is the traitor before dying.

Roland and Cuthbert return to camp aware that it is only a matter of time before John Farson attacks their camp. Despite Randolph's helping Marten his wife and son are killed anyway. Out of despair for this family and betraying his friends, Randolph commits suicide. His last request is have his son buried with Alain so a true gunslinger will be able to take him to the clearing.

John Farson's army attacks the resistance encampment on Jericho Hill. The resistance is unable to retreat and is outnumbered by thousands. The ka-tet decides to fight on rather than ask for mercy. Early in the battle, Aileen is impaled by a spear and left for dead. Cuthbert is wounded next, but continues to fight. Jamie DeCurry is killed by taking a bullet for Roland. The twelve remaining gunslingers go on one final charge against Farson's army. Cuthbert blows the Horn of Eld and is killed by an arrow shot by Marten. Eventually all the gunslinger are shot down, including Roland.

Roland and the other gunslingers are thrown into a pile and left for dead. Sometime later, Roland stands up, wounded but alive and more determined than ever to reach the Dark Tower.

Aisling (pronounced Ash-ling), known as Ash to her friends, is a teenage girl whose mother was once apprenticed to the local Greenwitch. Some time after Ash's mother dies, her father, a merchant, goes on a business trip and returns married to a woman with two daughters, the eldest of these is Ana who is Ash's age. Soon after they move in though, Ash's father becomes gravely ill, and instead of allowing the Greenwitch to care for him, Ash's stepmother takes him to the city to be treated by their Philosophers, who bleed him and cause his death, as the Greenwich warned they would.

After her father's death, Ash's stepmother discovers he was deeply in debt, and sells Ash's childhood home to try and pay off some of his debts. The stepmother also declares that in order to earn her keep, Ash will serve as a servant in her home, as she has to lay off the rest of the staff because she can no longer afford to keep them. Ash's sole source of comfort is reading fairy tales by firelight each night. Ash wishes that fairies will take her away to their world where all her dreams will come true just like she once wished as a little girl.

One night, the mysterious and sinister fairy prince Sidhean (pronounced Sheen) finds Ash wandering through the woods on an enchanted path that connects Ash's new home to her old one, where her mother was buried. Sidhean warns Ash not to use this path and to stop seeking him out but Ash does not listen and seeks him out multiple times. Eventually Sidhean gifts Ash with a beautiful cloak and a pendant. but even though Ash begs him to keep her by his side in the faerie realm he always tells her it is not time.

One day, Ash meets Kaisa—a noblewoman and the King's Huntress. Ash and Kaisa form an immediate and deep friendship, and eventually Kaisa teaches Ash to ride a horse and invites her to the King's Hunt. However, afraid that her stepmother will not allow her to go, Ash asks Sidhean for help and a disguise. Sidhean agrees but tells Ash there is a price to pay: if he grants her wish she will belong to him. Ash agrees, thinking it is her chance to finally leave her stepmother and enter the faerie kingdom. However, Ash begins to fall in love with the beautiful, strong Kaisa. Hoping to see her again, Ash asks Sidhean for another favor: to help her attend a ball at the castle, at which it is rumored the prince will choose his future bride. Sidhean agrees and gifts Ash a moonstone ring which Ash believes is magic, as she describes a feeling as if the ring binds her soul to Sidhean's. Sidhean also provides a beautiful blue gown and a coach for her to use to get to the ball, with a warning that it will only last until midnight.

At the ball Ash unknowingly accepts a dance offer from the prince, and even though she does not know how to dance, she realizes her shoes and gown are enchanted to make her dance perfectly. While trying to get away from the prince, Ash runs into Kaisa who wants to know where Ash is getting all her fancy clothing and jewels since she knows Ash is a servant. Ash realizes that not only can she not tell Kaisa about Sidhean, but that she is now trapped, because fulfilling her promise to Sidhean will mean never seeing Kaisa again. She realizes that she has real feelings for Kaisa, and that Kaisa confesses she also has feelings for her.

Ash leaves the ball later than she expected and her stepmother and sisters arrive home in time to see her still dressed in her magical gown and jewels. They accuse her of stealing and her stepmother cuts off Ash's hair, beats her and locks her in the cellar. Sidhean rescues her however, and tells her that he knew her mother when she was a young girl herself. He tells Ash that he knew her mother had magical powers and wanted to convince her to go with him to the faerie kingdom, but instead Ash's mother put a curse on Sidhean, to someday fall in love with a human girl so he could know the pain he had caused to other women who had fallen under his spell. Sidhean tells Ash she is the girl he has fallen in love with, but that he also senses her feelings toward him have changed.

When her stepmother finally releases her from the cellar Ash learns her books have been burned, except for her mother's book of herbal spells which was hidden in Ash's coat. Ash hopes the book may have some kind of clue about how to break her deal with Sidhean, since she has now realized she does not want to trade her life and wants to stay in the human world with Kaisa. All she finds though are the words "the knowledge will change him" but is not sure this refers to Sidhean. Eventually Ash returns to the city with her stepmother and sisters who warn her she must stay in the house at all times. However, Gwen, a housekeeper Ash is friendly with, convinces her to sneak out for the Yule bonfire and Ash goes in hopes of seeing Kaisa. There Ash learns that the prince is to announce his choice of bride that same night and that Kaisa will be at the palace for the announcement. There Ash finds Kaisa and they share a dance as well as their first kiss. Ash explains that she has to leave to settle a debt and does not know if she will ever come back.

Ash goes to meet Sidhean and tells him that if he truly loves her, he will release her and that she is only willing to spend one night in his world. Sidhean warns Ash that one night in his world is very different from a night in the human world, but Ash says she understands and Sidhean agrees to her terms. Ash asks if this means she will die and Sidhean responds "only a little." The next morning, Ash returns to the house in the city to collect her things. She finds the room she was staying in ransacked, but thinks nothing of it, and even takes time to say goodbye to Clara, the nicer of her stepsisters, who informs her the prince did not choose Ana as his bride. Ash goes to the castle to find Kaisa whom she finds in the stables. Ash tells Kaisa her debt is settled, she is free and they kiss, with Ash promising never to leave again.

The movie opens on a river scene with children playing on the bank. The body of a girl in a school uniform floats by.

Yang Mi-ja (Yoon Jeong-hee), a 66-year-old grandmother, consults a doctor at a hospital who is concerned about her forgetfulness, referring her to a specialist. As she leaves the hospital she sees a woman crazy with grief because her 16-year-old daughter has drowned.

Though Mi-ja lives on government welfare, she has a small job taking care of a well-to-do elderly man who has had a stroke. At home, she cares for her ill-mannered 16-year-old grandson, Jong-wook (Lee David), whose divorced mother lives in Busan. When Mi-ja asks Jong-wook about the girl from his class who drowned, Jong-wook insists that he doesn't know her.

When Mi-ja notices a poster advertising a poetry class at a local community center, she decides to enroll. The course assignment is to write one poem by the end of the month-long course. At the suggestion of her teacher, she begins writing notes about the things she sees, especially flowers.

Jong-wook frequently leaves home at odd hours to socialize with five other boys from school. One night, he invites all of them over without notifying Mi-ja, who nevertheless tries to be a gracious host, offering them a snack before they disappear into Jong-wook's bedroom. Later, one of the boys' fathers insists that Mi-ja join him and the other boys' fathers for a meeting. She is told that the group of boys have repeatedly raped a girl, Agnes, over the past six months, before she jumped off a bridge into a river and drowned. Her diary was discovered, though only four members of the school's faculty are aware of the situation. The fathers fear retribution for their boys, and the school fears a scandal that will tarnish its reputation. In order to avert a full police investigation, the parents of the boys offer to pay a settlement of 30 million won to the widowed mother, a poor farmer. Mi-ja, who cannot afford her 5 million won portion of the payment, is pressured to ask her daughter (Jong-wook's mother) for the money. Though Mi-ja occasionally speaks to her daughter on the phone, she does not mention the situation. When Mi-ja is diagnosed with early stage Alzheimer's disease, she again neglects to tell anyone. She attempts to confront Jong-wook about his actions, but he simply ignores her.

Mi-ja begins attending a local weekly poetry reading. A brash man frequently reads beautiful poetry at these readings, but follows them with crude sexual jokes that offend Mi-ja. Another amateur poet explains to Mi-ja that the man is a policeman with a good heart, and was recently reassigned from Seoul after exposing corruption within its police force.

Mi-ja temporarily quits her job caring for the elderly stroke victim after he makes a desperate sexual advance toward her. She later returns after a journey to the bridge where Agnes jumped, and her hat flies off into the water. She walks down to the riverbank and sits, writing poetry until it begins raining. Dripping wet, she returns to elderly man, agreeing to have sex with him. When she does, she appears emotionless.

In another meeting with the fathers, Mi-ja is elected to travel to the countryside to convince Agnes' mother to accept the settlement. Initially not finding her at home, Mi-ja eventually comes across her working in the field. Mi-ja begins raving about how beautiful the weather, flowers, trees, and fruit are, forgetting about the task at hand. The two have a pleasant exchange before Mi-ja turns and begins to walk away. Finally, she remembers that she was meant to confront the woman about the settlement, but is too embarrassed and continues to leave.

A few days later, Mi-ja returns to the fathers to admit that she still cannot pay her portion of the settlement. Though annoyed that she still hasn't contributed her sum, the fathers are overjoyed that Agnes' mother has agreed to settle, despite Mi-ja's failure to confront her.

Mi-ja asks the elderly man for the money she needs, refusing to tell him what it is for. Wondering if this is Mi-ja's attempt at extortion, he pays her. Once the settlement has been paid to Agnes' mother, Mi-ja phones her daughter to come home, and insists that Jong-wook shower and cut his nails. That night, the crude policeman from the weekly poetry readings appears with his partner to take Jong-wook away. Mi-ja does not protest.

The film concludes with Mi-ja's poetry teacher discovering a bouquet of flowers on the class podium with her poem, "Agnes's Song", but Mi-ja herself is not present. Her daughter returns to an empty home, and calls Mi-ja's phone, but receives no answer. The teacher begins to read Mi-ja's poem to the class. Mi-ja speaks in voiceover, though the voice of Agnes herself takes over midway through, following Agnes from the science lab, where she was raped, to the bus, to the bridge where she is to jump. Agnes turns to the camera, half-smiling, leaving Mi-ja's fate on an ambiguous note.

The plot describes the campaign of a young man, named Arestis or Armouris Armouropoulos ("son of Armouris"). Although under-age, he accomplishes feats of strength, required by his mother for him to ride on his father's stallion. Crossing the Euphrates with the aid of an angel, he fights an army of Saracens (Arabs) single-handed, "for a day and a night". He is victorious, but gets unhorsed and loses his mace in an ambush. He pursues the Saracen who captured the horse into Syria. Upon reaching him, Armouris cuts off his arm and orders him to go to his emir and announce his arrival. When Armouris' father, who is being held captive by the Saracens, sees the horse, he recognizes it and assumes that his son is dead.Petsopoulos (2001), p. 20Beck (1971), p. 53

The Saracen emir, whose chivalry is exemplary, reassures the father and orders a search to be made for the missing son. The father writes to him to cease slaughtering Saracens, so that he will be treated with mercy, but Armouris refuses unless his father is freed, and threatens to rampage across Syria. The Emir, alarmed, finally agrees to let Armouris' father go and offers him his daughter in marriage in order to secure peace.

The book is written in the first person singular from the perspective of its 15-year-old narrator, Garth Rudd.

The Rudds live in Richmond, Virginia. Garth's father died in a boating accident two years earlier, leaving his middle-class family to shoulder his many debts. Now living on the edge of poverty, Garth's mother, Sonja, works two jobs to support the family and Garth tries to earn spending money and save for college by working as a janitor of sorts at a downtown department store for a condescending supervisor. Wanting to be a veterinarian when he is older, Garth volunteers at a local animal shelter caring for dogs and cats. Garth has repeated nightmares about his father's death, and is unhappy about his short height (he is only tall). Prior to the novel's opening (although this scene is related in flashback), Garth came out to his best friend, Lisa, about his homosexuality. Shortly thereafter, Garth (in flashback) tells his mother that he is gay. But his mother, worried that her short, slight teenage son might be gay bashed, tells Garth not to tell anyone else that he is gay.

The novel opens when Mike Rudd, the twin brother of Garth's deceased father, arrives at the Rudd home. Mrs. Rudd and Lisa are somewhat cold and distant toward Mike, but Mike and Garth immediately become friends. Mike also realizes Garth is gay, and on a shopping trip Mike takes Garth into a gay bookstore. Garth meets an openly gay classmate, Adam Walters, in the store, and Mike arranges for Garth and Mike to watch a DVD of the motion picture ''Beautiful Thing'' together at the Rudd house. A short time later, Mike convinces Garth to go with him on a trip to a shopping mall in a suburb of Richmond where he intends to solicit donations to fight the disease "meninosis." Garth quickly realizes that "meninosis" is not a real disease, but the presence of the boyish-looking Garth helps Mike raise hundreds of dollars in donations. Mike promises to give Garth a cut of the money, and Garth quits his job. Garth begins to feel guilty over the large number of lies he tells his mother and Lisa to cover up both what he is doing with Mike and his relationship with Adam. Garth justifies his actions by assuring himself that the money he is getting will go into his college fund and make his mother worry less, and that his mother's demand that he remain closeted is unjust.

Mike's cons become more elaborate. He successfully convinces Garth to wear an old Scooby-Doo Halloween costume (which still fits, because Garth has not grown much taller in the past several years). He also successfully gets Garth to take two dogs from the animal shelter as well as his own elderly dog, Hutch, with them on a fundraising trip. They pretend to be raising money for a disease which strikes dogs. Adam and Garth watch the movie ''Chinatown'' together, and kiss. Shortly thereafter, Mike takes Garth to a run-down section of Richmond where Mike recruits a beautiful blonde woman and a bar patron to help with his latest scam. Mike rents a sports car and pretends to raffle off the vehicle at the Virginia State Fair. Adam, also visiting the fair, sees Garth with his uncle. When the scam goes wrong, Mike, Garth, and the beautiful woman are forced to flee the scene. Upset that she was duped to participate in a con, the woman sends her boyfriend to the Rudd house to confront Mike. Mike escapes the house, leaving Garth to defend himself against the angry man. Garth's mother witnesses the confrontation, and Garth is forced to tell the truth about what he and Mike have been doing.

The novel concludes with Garth having to own up to his actions and resolve his conflicts with his mother. Garth must also come to terms with his Uncle Mike's cowardice and lies, and struggles to repair his friendships with Lisa and Adam.

The novel contains a number of references to non-fiction people, things, and places, like the singer Sufjan Stevens, the films ''Beautiful Thing'' and ''Chinatown'', the cartoon characters Scooby-Doo and Superman, and to places in and around Richmond, Virginia. It also mentions the Richmond Organization for Sexual Minority Youth (ROSMY), a real organization which offers support and leadership for LGBTQ youth in the Richmond area.

The story takes place in a small town in Texas in 1983. The film follows a 19-year-old boy named Ritchie Wheeler (Shiloh Fernandez) who spends most of his time at the local roller rink where he works and hangs out with his friends, Brent Burkham (Heath Freeman), Brent's sister Michelle (Ashley Greene) and Kenny Crawford (Taylor Handley). Ritchie is struggling trying to figure out his future, what he wants to do with his life and if he wants to go to college. When a tragedy occurs in Ritchie's life he is forced to make these decisions earlier than he expected.

Agent Axon Rey (Filipović), a decorated war hero and former police officer is recruited by a secret government organization and trained to become "Sphinx", an assassin working for an anti-terrorist organization, undertaking missions where failure means death. After failing to execute one of his targets, his life is spared, however, and his supervisor, Janus (Galo), instead sends him to "Gulag 7", a rehabilitation island. Sphinx is forced to face five other government operatives in a battle of life and death. After defeating them, in a jail cell he finds Nina (Mađarević), his former lover, whose death was faked by the Director (Smiljanić). Together they have to team up with Janus to assassinate the Director.

Formerly successful television producer Joachim Zand returns from America to his native France, where he previously has left everything behind, including friends, enemies and his own children. In his company is a burlesque striptease troupe whom he has promised a grand performance in Paris.

Together they tour the French port cities, staying at cheap hotels and making success along the way. Old conflicts are, however, reignited upon the return to the French capital. Joachim is betrayed by people from his past, making him lose the venue where they were to perform, and the Paris finale comes to nothing.

Carson Wheetly is the wealthy and spoiled 20-year-old son of millionaire NASCAR car racer Ted Wheetly. Carson hates his father who he thinks might have murdered his mother to inherit her money. Carson finds himself tangled up in a game of seduction, greed and murder after a raunchy night (a foursome) with three beautiful women: his girlfriend Rachel Thomas, her school friend Brandi Cox and Linda Dobson during a party.

A few days later, Ted dies during a race; Detective Frank Walker investigates the questionable circumstances. Ted's lawyer, George Stuben, suddenly announces during the reading of the will that Carson cannot inherit Ted's money and estate until he turns thirty or marries. Carson quickly marries Rachel, and inherits. They decide to kill the two other women and keep all the money for themselves. However, Rachel and Brandi are actually plotting to kill Carson so that Rachel can inherit as a grieving widow and split the money between them.

Rachel and Brandi lure Carson to a cheap motel in the Everglades with the intention of sex; after a struggle, Brandi murders Carson by shooting him in the head and leaves a forged suicide note. Rachel inherits Carson's fortune, but intends to murder Brandi to keep all the money for herself. Brandi, anticipating this, plots a scheme of her own to kill Rachel.

Brandi lures Rachel to an old cabin in the nearby swamps with the intention of sex. They both try to kill each other, and though Brandi gets the upper hand, they get discovered. They are both arrested and are separately interrogated by Detective Walker, who reveals that he knows they grew up together and plotted to find a man to marry and then murder so they could inherit a fortune. Brandi incriminates Rachel by revealing hidden video CDs that show both Carson and Rachel tampered with Ted Wheetley's car in order to cause his death, as well as Rachel's blood-stained blouse from the motel, which suggests that Rachel murdered Carson all by herself. Rachel is sent to prison while Brandi gets away scot-free.

After closing the case, Walker retires and joins Brandi on a motor launch boat, revealing himself to be a corrupt cop who helped Brandi incriminate Rachel for Carson's murder so he could get a share of the Wheetly money. However, while at sea, Brandi double-crosses Walker by stabbing him to death and throwing his body overboard. She then flees to the Caribbean to claim all of the money for herself.

Over the end credits, the truth behind the crime is revealed. Ted Wheetly's lawyer George was the true mastermind; a career con-artist, he impersonated a lawyer for many years, approaching Brandi (who held a grudge against the Wheetly family) and having her approach Rachel. Rachel and Brandi manipulated Carson into believing that Ted murdered his mother; Brandi then pretended to bring rape charges against Carson during a party in order to blackmail him into marrying Rachel, and to get a share of Ted's money. George worked behind the scenes the whole time by changing the nature of Ted's will, as well as by planting evidence for Walker to find. Brandi was the one who learned that Walker was corrupt and could be swayed by the offer of money. After killing Walker, Brandi meets with George at a Caribbean island. George empties all of his shell accounts to bring the money into his personal Cayman Islands account. George then betrays Brandi by planting a bomb in a motorboat that Brandi pilots away, and it explodes, killing Brandi. It is also implied that George had Rachel murdered in prison and set it up to look like a suicide. In the final shot, George walks off with all of the $154 million alongside his co-conspirator Linda Dobson, who happens to be his wife.

Michael Gerber is an awkward young boy who is about to start junior high and has no real friends. His family life is in turmoil, as his father and mother are constantly fighting. His only companion is an imaginary friend he calls Fuzzbucket. In the first act of the film, both the viewer and every character except Michael is left to make the assumption that Fuzzbucket is an imaginary friend. When Michael cooks up a strange, green concoction for his friend to drink, Fuzzbucket turns visible again. Astonished to see Fuzzbucket for the first time, young Michael becomes overjoyed. His newly visible friend exuberantly leaps around Michael's treehouse in celebration. The two friends share a heartfelt moment in his treehouse when Fuzzbucket traces their hands with crayons, a ceremony that makes them blood brothers. At Fuzzbucket's urgent request for "Toons! Toons!" Michael switches on his television and the two sit together watching classic cartoons, and they soon drift off to sleep. Hours later, Fuzzbucket awakens and insists on knowing the time. He urgently cries to Michael, "How many clocks? How many clocks!?" Fearing that if he doesn't make it back home in time he will turn invisible again, only this time it will be forever. Fuzzbucket leaps out of the treehouse and escapes into the woods. Michael, afraid of losing his one and only friend, takes off after him. Fuzzbucket repeatedly tries to distance himself from Michael while trying to get back to an underground lair full of other rat-like creatures similar to Fuzzbucket. At one point, Fuzzbucket is found in a dumpster with a rat eating his tail. Michael picks up a can and throws it at the rat, knocking it off of his friend's tail. Fuzzbucket thanks Michael for "saving his life," taking his hand, kissing it, and making a strange slurping sound. He runs off and Michael gives chase. Michael tracks the creature into the woods and falls into his lair. He arrives in a chamber where Fuzzbucket creatures scatter in fright. The actual Fuzzbucket shows up and tells Michael that since he helped him, Fuzzbucket will help him also. Michael is found by a search party underneath a tree shortly after. They all return home, where his mother and father find gifts in their room left behind by Fuzzbucket. The father opens up a novelty sized Hershey's Kiss, while the mother opens up a music box. They set their gifts aside and share an intimate moment, when the camera pans to show Fuzzbucket sneaking away from the house.

The film opens with a quotation from the Book of Psalms: "I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High. But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes." (Psalm 82:6–7) The monks' peaceful routine of prayer, medical assistance, and community interaction is soon interrupted by the threat of an Islamic fundamentalist group. When their elected leader, Christian (Lambert Wilson), declines the protection of the corrupt civil authority, the monks divide amongst themselves on the question of whether to stay or flee Algeria. Before a decision is reached, a group of fundamentalists, led by Ali Fayattia, enters the monks' compound in force on Christmas Eve and demands their doctor and his medical supplies. Christian refuses their requests and cites the Quran as proof of the monks' goodwill. With a mixture of surprise and respect, Fayattia leaves the compound and grants it his protection until his capture, torture and death at the hands of government forces. Despite the growing danger, the monks come to consensus on the moral importance of maintaining their committed lives with, and ministry to, the local population, even when faced with violence and death. Ultimately, the terrorists seize most of the monks during a nighttime raid and hold them hostage. As the captive monks trudge a snowy path towards a grim fate, the film concludes with the spiritual testament of Prior Christian de Chergé, bravely written in the face of death.

The film opens with a bustling city street, where a young woman commits suicide by jumping from a building ledge to her death. Eun-yi, who works in a restaurant, persuades her coworker and roommate to drive her to the scene of the suicide, and she stands distraught over the chalk outline where the woman's body had lain. The next morning, an older woman by the name of Byeong-sik visits her small apartment and later expresses interest in giving her a job.

Eun-yi is hired as an au pair for Hae-ra (pregnant with twins) and her rich husband Hoon. Eun-yi's primary task is watching the couple's young daughter, Nami. Eun-yi is eager to connect to Nami, who gradually warms to her. Hoon begins to secretly flirt with Eun-yi, enticing her with glasses of wine and his piano playing, and they eventually begin a sexual relationship. Despite the affair, Eun-yi is still warm and friendly to Hoon's oblivious wife, Hae-ra; she even expresses enthusiasm and delight at the progress of Hae-ra's pregnancy.

Byeong-sik, aka "Miss Cho" (the other live-in maid, originally Hae-ra's childhood maid) witnesses Eun-yi and Hoon having sex. She tries to subtly pry details from Eun-yi, but Eun-yi brushes her off casually. Later, Miss Cho reveals her suspicion that Eun-yi is pregnant to Hae-ra's mother, Mi-hee. Mi-hee then visits the family and stages an "accident," resulting in Eun-yi falling from a ladder positioned at the top of a set of stairs. Dangling from a chandelier, Eun-yi begs Mi-hee to pull her over the railing. She does not oblige, and Eun-yi falls. Suffering only a concussion, Eun-yi spends the night in the hospital. During her stay, she learns that she is pregnant and contemplates abortion. Meanwhile, the affair is revealed to Hae-ra.

Mi-hee instructs Hae-ra to ignore the affair; she insists that all wealthy husbands will eventually cheat and that if Hae-ra ignores it she can "live like a queen." Later that night, Hae-ra stands over Eun-yi's bed with a golf club but is unable to strike the sleeping woman. The next day, Hae-ra and her mother confront Eun-yi, offering her $100,000 to have an abortion and leave. Hae-ra knows that Eun-yi would not abort her child "for all the money in the world," so she takes matters into her own hands by poisoning the herbal medicine packets Eun-yi drinks every day. Hae-ra goes to the hospital and delivers her twin sons. Hoon visits the hospital, where Hae-ra makes her ill will toward him known. Furious, he returns home alone and finds Eun-yi in his bathtub. She reveals that she is pregnant and plans on keeping the baby.

Eun-yi succumbs to the effects of the poison, and Mi-hee arranges an abortion without Eun-yi's consent. After the abortion, Miss Cho reveals that she told Mi-hee about Eun-yi's pregnancy. Eun-yi is angry, but forgives Miss Cho and vows to get revenge on the family. After recovering from her abortion, Eun-yi sneaks into the house with Miss Cho's assistance. Hoon finds her breastfeeding one of the newborn babies. Hae-ra insists that Miss Cho chase Eun-yi out of the house, but Miss Cho refuses and quits her job on the spot. Eun-yi then confronts the entire family (Hae-ra, Mi-hee, Hoon, and Nami), hanging herself from the same chandelier she once clung to, then lighting her body on fire as the family watches in horror.

The final scene depicts the family outdoors in the snow celebrating Nami's birthday, all speaking English. While Hae-ra sings "Happy Birthday", Hoon hands a glass of champagne to Nami. Both appear insane as Nami looks on.

Beth Accomando of KPBS described the story as "a seductive and disquieting thriller in which overt violence is rare but ruthless manipulation and a callous lack of concern for people are commonplace."

British writer James Miller (Shimell) is in Tuscany to give a talk to a group about his new book, titled ''Certified Copy'', which argues that, in art, issues of authenticity are irrelevant because every reproduction is itself an original, and even the original is a copy of another form. A French antiques dealer, whose name is never given (Binoche), attends the event with her 11-year-old son in order to have Miller sign several copies of the book she has purchased, but has to leave early because her son is hungry and becomes a distraction. She leaves her phone number with Miller's translator.

Her relationship with her son is strained; he teases her about giving her phone number to Miller's translator and suggests she is romantically interested in Miller, which she denies.

Miller and the woman later meet at her shop. Though she had intended for them to browse antiques together, he brusquely rebuffs this idea and suggests instead that they go for a drive, as long as they're back for his 9 p.m. train. On their aimless trip, Miller signs six copies of his book for the woman — including a copy for her sister, Marie, in which he inscribes a note that the woman dislikes. The two debate the premise of his book, including the relationship between authenticity and simplicity. During the conversation, which at times becomes very strained, Miller points out that even the ''Mona Lisa'' is a 'copy' of the woman who modeled for the painting, real or imagined.

The woman takes Miller to an art museum to see another famous 'copy,' but he is uninterested, saying that he has already finished work on the book and is not interested in further examples. The woman becomes increasingly distraught as she complains about her rebellious son to Miller, but he attempts to rationalize her son's behavior, frustrating the woman.

At his insistence, they visit a nearby café for coffee. When Miller steps out to take a phone call, the café owner begins speaking to the woman, mistaking Miller for her husband. Binoche's character plays along as the café owner espouses the importance of marriage, no matter the flaws of one's partner. Miller returns and the woman tells him about the café woman's assumption about their relationship.

Once they leave the café, the nature of their discussion changes, and they begin to speak in a combination of French and English instead of just English (Miller states that he only learned French, not Italian, in school). They also begin to behave as though they are a married couple, referring to the woman's son as "our" son. She expresses unhappiness over their 15th wedding anniversary the previous night, during which he fell asleep while she was getting ready in the bathroom, and tells him his constant traveling for work has made him emotionally distant.

During their walk through the city, they encounter an older couple and discuss their interpretations of a nearby statue. The older man pulls Miller aside and offers unsolicited "fatherly" advice: that a small gesture of affection could mend the rift between Miller and his wife. As Miller and his wife walk away, he places his hand on her shoulder; when they go into a restaurant, she goes to the bathroom and applies lipstick and puts on earrings.

When she returns to the table, Miller is angry; he has clashed with the waiter over the quality of the wine. They begin to fight and Miller leaves the restaurant, though he waits for her outside. They pass by a church; she goes in without him, though she later insists this was only to take off her bra. They are entranced by and follow two elderly churchgoers, whose home turns out to be beside the hotel where Miller and his wife spent their honeymoon, though Miller does not remember the specifics of the hotel.

The woman goes inside and asks to tour the room; she and Miller reminisce about their wedding night, although Miller does not remember many details. The woman appeals to Miller, saying that they should be more accepting of each other's faults, because the alternative is loneliness. He appears to rebuff her, saying he still has to catch his 9 p.m. train. Miller then goes into the bathroom and looks into the mirror; when nearby church bells begin to toll, he leaves the bathroom.

The movie follows the incestuous relationship between Bobby, a doll repairer, and his possessive mother. They are shown to bathe together, sleep together and engage in sexual intercourse as well. In turn, she is jealous of his suggestive relationship with his customers, mostly little girls. The film works as a portrait of sorts, depicting a man confused about his sexual identity, and the overprotecting mother that abuses him while she, in turn, seeks to relive the days of her youth. In the end, Bobby kills his mother and dresses up like her.

The film begins with a sumptuous banquet at the opulent estate of the Grand Yakuza leader Sekiuchi (Soichiro Kitamura), boss of the Sanno-kai, a huge organized crime syndicate controlling the entire Kanto region. He has invited the many Yakuza leaders under his control. After the formal conclusion of the banquet, Kato, the chief lieutenant of Sekiuchi, pulls one of the Yakuza leaders, Ikemoto, aside and makes plain that he is displeased with the news that Ikemoto has become friendly with a rival gang leader, Murase, while the two were unexpectedly imprisoned together. Kato, underboss of the Sanno-kai, orders Ikemoto to bring the unassociated Murase-gumi gang in line, and Ikemoto immediately passes the task on to his subordinate Otomo (Beat Takeshi), who runs his own crew.

Shortly thereafter an incident occurs at a nightclub owned by Murase where a man posing as a customer is inadvertently put through a shakedown for about one million yen. It turns out that this is a member of the Otomo family who has been planted into the nightclub in order to help set-off the conditions for an all-out gang war against the Murase family. Murase, who is completely in the dark concerning his having fallen out of favor with Sekiuchi, tries to ameliorate the situation by relying on his former prison friendship with Ikemoto, not knowing that Ikemoto is under orders to terminate his gang. He accepts Ikemoto's advice several times not suspecting any ill-intentions from Ikemoto and each time he further weakens his strength, his resources and his crime family. In one incident, Otomo leaves vicious scars on the face of Kimura who is Murase's chief lieutenant.

When the dust finally settles from the escalated tensions, Ikemoto and Murase are killed, Otomo is in a maximum security prison, unexpectedly with Kimura, and is stabbed twice in a prison ambush by Kimura in the belly with a makeshift knife. The complex interactions in the film finally come full circle and the film ends with Kato secretly killing Sekiuchi and taking control as the new Grand Yakuza leader of the Sanno-kai organized crime syndicate.

Jeff (Joel McHale) is late to the group's study session, but everyone except Britta (Gillian Jacobs) is charmed by him as he greets each of them in turn. She fails to get Jeff to address his lack of punctuality. Later, Jeff gives Britta a card to apologize for his poor first impression two weeks prior, but Britta remains wary of him, believing him to be exploiting other members of the group. Meanwhile, Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown) and Annie (Alison Brie) are interested in learning about a cause Britta mentioned prior, the killing of journalists in Guatemala such as Chacata Panecos. Shirley and Annie plan a protest, but Britta is annoyed at the pair, believing them to be going about the matter poorly.

The group's Spanish instructor, Ben Chang (Ken Jeong), randomly divides the students into pairs for an assignment. Jeff trades his shirt with Abed (Danny Pudi) in exchange for switching partners, but Britta has already swapped with Pierce (Chevy Chase), whom Jeff is unhappy to work with. Pierce is excited to work with Jeff, insisting on drinking scotch and socializing before they begin the assignment. As Pierce develops an increasingly complicated Spanish presentation, veering wildly off-topic into homophobic and antisemitic diatribes, and failing to use the Spanish phrases required to pass the assignment, Jeff grows angry and storms out.

Meanwhile, Annie and Shirley are hosting a candlelight vigil. Initially annoyed, Britta apologizes to them and asks how she can help. Jeff arrives, trying to impress Britta. Pierce soon arrives and rants at Jeff before accidentally lighting himself on fire from a protester's candle and running into a fountain. Shirley and Annie are thrilled when they discover a newspaper article about the event, though it mostly focuses on Pierce's injuries.

While Pierce is ready to do his presentation alone, Britta reveals that Pierce offered her money to swap partners in order to get closer with Jeff. Jeff changes his mind and performs it with him. The presentation is lengthy, with multiple costume changes and a variety of props and dance sequences. Unimpressed, Chang fails the pair. An amused Britta tells Jeff that no woman present will ever see him in a sexual context in the future.

One day Moomintroll wakes to notice that grey dust is covering everything in the Moominvalley. He runs to ask the philosophical Muskrat if he knows what is happening, who advises him that things tend to look like this before an awful fate coming from the sky hits the Earth. With the help of his father, Moominpappa, Moomintroll and his close friends Sniff and Snufkin build a raft and head out on a challenging journey to the observatory in the Lonely Mountains hoping to find out more from the wise professors there. The friends have to overcome several adversities in order to make it there. When they arrive, they find the professors deep in calculations. They reveal that a comet will reach the Earth in four days, four hours, four minutes and 44 seconds.

The group decides to get back home as fast as they can to share the news. On the journey home, they encounter more dangerous creatures and obstacles as well as some old and new friends, including Snork Maiden and her brother Snork, who join them on their adventure. The sky continues to become redder and the air hotter. When they get to the seashore, they are shocked to see that the sea has completely dried up. A walk along the dried out sea bottom brings more excitement and danger.

Eventually they make it back home to the Moominhouse and discover another shocking detail: the comet is supposed to land right in their own garden that very night. Ultimately, the big question is if they can get everybody to safety in time.

The Man in Black is fleeing across the Desert and challenges Roland to catch him.

In pursuit of the Man in Black Roland first encounters an old man who gives Roland a compass. Later Roland stumbles onto a dwelling owned by a man named Brown. Brown informs Roland that the Man in Black did pass through, but Brown cannot say how long ago it was because time has become difficult to determine. Roland stays the night with Brown, but is unsure if Brown is real or an enchantment created by the Man in Black. Roland agrees to tell Brown part of his story starting with Jericho Hill.

After John Farson's victory at Jericho Hill the bodies of the gunslingers are being placed on pyre. Roland, thought to be dead, regains consciousness and escapes the pyre by knocking out a drunken guard. Vowing to take revenge for the death of his friend, Roland is surprised to see Aileen is still alive.

Together the two escape the enemy camp, but Aileen refuses to continue the fight against Farson as she believes her wounds are still mortal. Roland promises to take her back to the ruins of Gilead so she can be buried in her family crypt.

Dragging Aileen back to Gilead on a gurney Roland stumbles onto a merchant's wagon that had been attacked. The only survivor of the attack is a billy-bumbler. The billy-bumbler, which is capable of some speech, says its master was killed by "Not-Men".

Later that night Roland is attacked by these Not-Men who have the ability to turn invisible. Roland is rescued by the billy-bumbler and is able to defeat the Not-Men but Aileen is hit by a dart tipped with poison and dies.

Roland and the bumbler (Billy) reach the ruins of Gilead and Roland places Aileen's body in her Uncle Cort's coffin. While investigating the ruins further, Roland and Billy stumble onto a pack of slow mutants attacking a family of billy-bumblers. Roland defends the bumblers by helping kill all the mutants. After the battle Roland encounters the ghost of Hax

Hax was Gilead's former cook who was hanged years ago for plotting to poison children for John Farson. Roland flashes back to his adolescences and his first experience with death. Roland and Cuthbert had overheard Hax plan to poison children and reported the treachery to Roland's father. Hax was hung because of Roland's accusations. Hax's ghost expresses regret for what his past.

While touring more of the ruins of Gilead, Roland begins to think of all those he has lost over the years when Martin (the Man in Black) appears. Roland attempts to shoot Martin, but the bullets are blocked by magic. Martin claims to be able to help Roland to reach the Dark Tower. Martin vanishes, and Roland begins his quest to find him, believing Martin is his best resource for finding the Tower.

Weeks later Roland and Billy come to the fortified city of Kingstown. A public hanging of a Not-man is scheduled. While waiting for the hanging Roland believes he sees the long dead Susan, but loses her in the crowd. As the Not-man is being hung, Roland overhears a second Not-Man and attempts to capture him for the townsfolk.

After failing to catch the Not-Man Roland enters a tavern and is served by the girl that looks exactly like Susan Delgado. The girl's name is in fact "Susan" but not the one Roland use to know. Susan tells Roland that Not-Men have been stealing women, many of them her friends, ever since Farson's men came through the territory looking for weapons.

Later that night Susan herself is taken by the Not-Men. Roland promises to prevent history from repeating itself and goes after Susan. Billy leads Roland to the Not-Men's lair by following Susan's scent. There Roland learns the Not-Men use technology to turn invisible. Several women are being held against their will with restraining collars.

Roland manages to free the girls, who help him kill most of the now visible Not-Men. Using his sense of smell Billy is able to help track many of the still invisible Not-Men. The last surviving Not-Man takes Susan hostage and uses her as a human shield. Billy attacks this Not-Man, but is thrown against a tree limb and impaled. Roland shoots the last Not-man and Billy dies from his wound soon after.

With the death of another friend, Roland only spends a single night with Susan before moving on to his next quest. In the present Roland informs Brown that anyone close to him dies. However Roland also admits to feeling better after telling his story. Having finished his story Roland continues his search for the Man in Black.

Ed Ballinger is a wheelchair-bound engineer, who is developing a computer system with artificial intelligence called the I-500. After moving into an apartment complex, Ed thinks he witnessed a murder in a neighbouring building.

A dream sequence showcases slow motion shots of the main characters, a collapsing horse, falling birds, and images of the Earth colliding with a rogue planet.

Part One: Justine

The dream belongs to Justine, who weds Michael in a castle owned by her brother-in-law John and her sister Claire. Justine and Michael are late for the reception due to their stretch limousine's difficulty traversing the narrow and winding rural road. Upon their arrival, Justine sees a star in the sky shining particularly brightly. John, an astronomy enthusiast, explains it is the star Antares. The festivities are less than harmonious; Justine's divorced parents Gaby and Dexter verbally abuse each other in front of the guests, and Justine, to John and Claire's annoyance, keeps wandering away. Justine's employer Jack, who announces her promotion to art director of his advertising firm, expects her to write a slogan for a new campaign during the celebration. Justine finds herself pushed into a role that others have chosen for her and falls back into depression, from which she has been suffering for a long time. Towards the end of the party, which goes on until the early hours of the morning, she quits her job in an argument and calls off her marriage to Michael. Early the following morning, while horseriding with Claire, Justine notices Antares is no longer visible in the sky.

Part Two: Claire

Justine returns home with Claire, but sinks even further into depression, and is welcomed back to John and Claire's estate, where she struggles to leave her bed and is unable to eat. According to John, Antares's absence is due to the rogue planet "Melancholia". The planet appeared from behind the Sun and has passed in front of Antares. John announces that according to the scientists' calculations, Melancholia will pass in close proximity to Earth, but will not collide with it. Claire looks anxiously at Melancholia's path on the Internet, learning of a predicted collision with Earth. John tries to calm her down, but secretly secures food and gasoline. In view of the approaching planet, Claire increasingly loses her composure, while Justine longs for the end of the world and "sunbathes" naked in the glow of the planet at night.

Strange omens pile up in the days that follow. The electricity in the castle goes out, the butler does not come to work, the horses in the stable are restless, and the weather changes erratically. Melancholia initially flies past Earth, seemingly vindicating John. Melancholia then crosses Earth's orbit a second time, however, now moving directly towards Earth. Upon this discovery, John commits suicide by overdosing on pills. Claire hides his death from the family and attempts to flee with her son Leo, but the cars will not start. Justine declines to spend her final moments with Claire on the terrace by candlelight and wine. Instead, Justine calms Leo down by suggesting that they build a "magic cave" out of branches. Shortly before the collision, Justine, Claire and Leo sit under the "cave" and hold hands. Melancholia finally collides with Earth, engulfing them and everything else in a sea of flames as the earth shatters into a billion pieces.

A young small-town woman heads to New York City, where she and her two friends have romantic troubles.

The novel is written in the first person singular. At times, it appears to be in the form of an essay or letter to the reader, but at other times it seems to be simply the protagonist telling his story. Portions of the novel are told in flashback, depicting Sprout's first few months in school. Much of the book is written in the stream of consciousness narrative style. Significant portions of the book focus on peer pressure, the role social stratification and social cohesion play in rural life, and norms of social conservatism.

The novel opens with Sprout making claims about whether people know about his homosexuality, his short height, his poverty, or his dead mother (among other things). But Sprout claims to have a secret, but it is a secret which everyone knows about. The nature of Sprout's open secret is a narrative framing device which opens and closes the novel.

Sixteen-year-old Daniel Bradford is nicknamed Sprout. In a flashback, the reader learns that his mother dies of cancer when he is 12 years old. His father has trouble dealing with her death and becomes an alcoholic. Early one morning, Sprout's father announces they are leaving New York and heading for Kansas. Sprout's father buys a plot of tree-covered land near Hutchinson, Kansas. The family takes up residence in a very small vacation trailer. Sprout's father begins covering the trailer in vines, and plants upside-down tree roots all over the property. Sprout's father has no job; the family lives off the proceeds from the sale of their former home.

In another flashback, Sprout reveals that he has trouble fitting in at his new school due to his New York accent, odd way of dressing, poverty, and lack of a mother. He is harassed by the school bully, Ian Abernathy, but is befriended by an eccentric tomboy named Ruthie Wilcox. One day, after he and Ian both receive detention, the two boys wrestle. This leads to Ian initiating a sexual relationship with Sprout. Sprout reveals that he and Ian continue to engage in sexual conduct on-and-off for the next four years, but that he desires an actual relationship. He distracts his peers from these facets of his life by dying his hair green (see the cover illustration).

At the end of Sprout's sophomore year, he meets Mrs. Miller, who teaches English grammar and literature at the high school. Mrs. Miller has discovered that Sprout is an excellent writer. The state of Kansas sponsors a (fictional) statewide essay contest. Over the past several years, Mrs. Miller has coached many students who have entered this contest, and her students have won the event more times than any other teacher in the state. During the summer, Mrs. Miller has Sprout come to her home each day to be coached by her. Sprout learns that Mrs. Miller, too, has a drinking problem. Mrs. Miller meets Sprout's father, and the two begin a relationship. Both adults also learn that Sprout is gay and has been having sex with Ian Abernathy. Mrs. Miller counsels Sprout to not mention his homosexuality in his essay, for fear it would alienate the politically conservative judges. That same summer, Sprout's relationship with Ruthie grows cold for several reasons.

Shortly after the start of his junior year, Sprout meets Ty Petit, a local Kansas boy whose father is a violent man who appears to believe in the Christian Patriot movement. (Ty's father idolizes Timothy McVeigh.) The Petit children were abandoned by their mother, which has left Ty with severe emotional issues—made worse by his father's constant child abuse. Ty and Sprout become close friends, and have several emotionally intense experiences together. Sprout also learns about deep secrets in Ty's past, such as the suicide of his twin brother who had suffered from severe depression. After being chased by a homicidal Saint Bernard, Ty kisses Sprout (Sprout's first kiss), and they begin a secret relationship. Ty continues to assert that he is not gay (even though he and Sprout have sex with one another). The climax of the novel centers around Sprout's betrayal of Ty at a critical moment. When Ty runs away from home after this incident, Sprout believes he is the reason behind it. Several other major issues are addressed (including Sprout's open secret) in the novel's few remaining pages.

Lois Ames (Kay Francis) is the editor of ''400 Magazine'', whose wealthy husband, Fred (Kenneth Thomson), pays her little attention. His interests are polo and partying. When her personal secretary, (Elizabeth Patterson), can no longer take the long hours of work and quits, Lois hires Tom Sherman (David Manners), a handsome man who happens to come by the office to demonstrate a rowing machine, as her new secretary.

Tom soon makes himself indispensable to Lois, and their long hours spent together leads them to fall in love with each other. Tom's fiancée, Ruth Holman (Una Merkel), senses something is going on and isn't happy about it. Tom's roommate, Andy Doyle (Andy Devine), uses Tom's absences and Ruth's distress to try to romance Ruth himself. Meanwhile, Lois's husband, Fred, is having an affair with Anna Le Maire (Claire Dodd). Lois finds out when she discovers a key to Anna's room in Fred's vest pocket, which she puts on Fred's pillow; nothing is said between them, but Fred now knows that Lois knows about his infidelity.

After things go too far between Tom and Lois, Tom quits and begins to plan a wedding with Ruth. Lois tries to smooth things over with Fred, but instead they agree on an amicable divorce. On Tom's last day of work, Lois keeps him busy until very late, and he misses a dinner engagement with Ruth and Andy. Ruth storms into the office, with Andy in tow, and threatens to tell Fred about the affair. Lois tells everyone about the divorce, Ruth breaks her engagement with Tom and threatens to marry Andy in revenge, and Tom asks Lois to marry him.

''Upperworld'' tells the story of Alexander Stream (Warren William), a wealthy railroad tycoon, who is devoted to his wife (Mary Astor), has an affair with a chorus girl (Ginger Rogers), which leads to blackmail and murder.

Alexander (Alex) Stream is a multimillionaire. While he is devoted to his wife, Hettie (Astor) and son, Tommy (Dickie Moore), she is too busy playing attending and throwing society functions to pay much attention to her husband. While out in his yacht, he encounters a young woman, Lilly Linda (Rogers) who is drowning in the ocean. The crew throws her a life preserver and pulls her out of the water, gets her a towel and loans her some of his clothes.

He gives her a ride home in his limousine and she invites him to come in so she can give the clothes back to him. To thank him, she offers to make him breakfast and he ends up skipping all of his morning appointments to have breakfast with her. On the way to his appointments, his car is stopped for speeding by Officer Moran (Sidney Toler), an incorruptible law-and-order beat cop. Alex pulls some strings and gets Moran demoted.

When Alex gets back home, his wife is in the middle of throwing a large costume party. She asks him to come to the party, and Alex tells her that he misses spending time alone with her. Hettie replies that maintaining her social position is as important to her as his career is to him. Alex declines putting in an appearance at the party and instead plays with Tommy.

The next day, he makes dinner reservations at an expensive restaurant and special arrangements for a cake for his and Hattie's 14th wedding anniversary. When he calls Hettie to invite her to meet him in the city for dinner, she tells him she can't make it because she has other dinner plans already. As his driver is taking him home, Alex sees a picture of Linda, showing she is headlining a burlesque show. Afterwards, he stops backstage to invite her to share the anniversary dinner with him. At dinner she realizes that he asked her because his wife wasn't able to come.

After an innocent dinner, Oscar, his driver (Andy Devine) brings him home and he and Alex discuss that neither of them will tell anyone about his dinner with Lilly. The next morning, he wakes up and finds that his wife has made arrangements to send Tommy to a sleep-away summer camp 200 miles away. He expresses his displeasure but Hettie reminds him that it's necessary for their social position. After Tommy leaves, Hettie tells Alex that she's going away for two weeks with some of her society friends. Feeling depressed and at loose ends, Alex makes another date with Lilly to go for a ride in his airplane. In the meantime, Lilly's manager and boyfriend, Louie Colima (J. Carrol Naish) is encouraging her to have an affair with Alex so the two of them can blackmail him. After a minor accident, Lilly and Alex kiss.

A few months later, Alex has put Lilly in an luxury apartment and purchases a $12,000 diamond bracelet for her birthday. On the way to dinner, Hettie finds the gift box while straightening Alex's tie and assumes it's for her. In the meantime, Louie tells Lilly that it's time to blackmail Alex and breaks open her bedroom door and slaps her to the ground when she refuses to give him the letters. He picks up a gun that Lilly pointed at him and tosses it in a chair on his way to the door. At the door he comes face to face with Alex who tells him that he and Lilly were planning to blackmail him all along. Lilly comes into the room and is clearly upset because she is sincerely in love with him. Alex demands that Lou give him the letters and in the ensuring tussle, Lou fires his gun at Alex but kills Lilly instead. When his gun jams, Alex picks up the gun Lou tossed in the chair and kills him. He makes the shootings look like a murder-suicide and erases evidence that he was there.

When he gets home, Hettie is waiting for him to tell him that not only is she bringing Tommy home from military school but that she realizes that she has been ignoring him and wants to spend more time together.

Unbeknownst to Alex, Moran, now walking the beat, saw his car parked illegally in front of Lilly's building and watched him drive away. While everyone else is saying it's a murder suicide, Moran puts the pieces together and believes that someone else committed the murders. When the murders become front-page news, Alex goes to the building and pays off the maintenance man to say that he never saw him come to the building. By this point, Moran is suspicious that Alex is the killer so he contrives to get Alex's fingerprints to compare them against the fingerprints found in the apartment. When he brings this to the detectives, he finds out that they have been paid off. He causes a scene in the office and the chief of detectives has him taken to jail. The reporters follow him to the jail cell because he has been yelling that Alex is involved with the murder.

Several reporters show up with a fingerprint technician at Alex's house where he is having a large party to announce his acquisition of another railroad company. When they come in, they demand that he give them his fingerprints to clear his name. When he can't find a way out of it, Alex submits his prints knowing they will match prints found in Lilly's apartment. After giving his fingerprints, he returns to the party. The technician has compared the fingerprints while waiting in the hallway and when they match, the policemen who accompanied them arrest him for murder. When the press crashes through the door asking him for a statement, Alex tells the assembled company that he is being arrested and charged with murder.

While waiting for the verdict to come back, he is summoned to the judge's chambers and finds that Hettie and Tommy are there. Hettie tells him that they are leaving for Europe the next day and she wanted to give him a chance to say goodbye to Tommy. She tells him that she could forgive him if it weren't for the affair. He responds by telling her that he was very lonely. He tells Hettie that while he was fond of Lilly, he still loves Hettie and her constant unavailability made him lonely enough to reach out to someone else for the attention he wasn't getting at home. He returns to the courtroom where the jury verdict is beginning to be read.

The scene cuts to a ship. Tommy is talking to Oscar about traveling to England. The camera draws back to show Alex sitting next to Hettie on the deck. Alex was acquitted. This trip is a second honeymoon, and the two of them vow to always take time for each other and their marriage.

An evil French woman, Marie Chaumontel (played by Glaum), is a spy for the Germans during World War I. She vamps and seduces officers of the French high command, accumulating state secrets and then discarding her lovers.

Chaumontel is the mistress of Captain Henry Ravignac (played by Storm). She steals some papers from him and gives them to the Germans, then escapes to Berlin. He is tried and found guilty of neglect. He then commits suicide. His brother, Lieutenant Charles Ravignac (played by Hickman), vows revenge on Chaumontel. Pretending to be a spy, he goes to work for the Germans and becomes her assistant. He poses as a chauffeur of her phony countess.

When he gathers enough evidence against her, he turns the information over to the Allies. Chaumontel is arrested by French authorities for her foul deeds and sent to prison. He is then hailed as a hero for damaging German espionage operations.

As described in a film publication, Grizel (McAvoy) is the daughter of the Painted Lady (Taliaferro), who believes that her lover will one day return. Grizel is ostracized by the other children of the town. Tommy Sandys (Hughes) and his sister Elspeth (Frost) come to the town. Tommy is friendly, but Elspeth keeps her distance. When the Painted Lady dies, Dr. Gemmell (Greene) makes Grizel his housekeeper.

Time passes and after the doctor dies, Grizel, who is now twenty-one years old, loves Tommy, who is an author in London. Tommy visits the town but cannot decide whether he loves Grizel. Grizel knows that Tommy does not love her, and after he returns to London her unhappiness leads to insanity. Tommy returns and marries Grizel, although he believes that she will hate him when she gets better. After two years under Tommy's care, she regains her sanity. After Tommy lets her know that he cared for her out of his love for her; not for pity, Grizel is happy.

The story revolves around a young lady named Rosalka, judged and shunned by the public because of her "horrible" disability—all, except for a man who seems to accept her for who she is. But will their love stand the test of time—and of society, when the mystery of Rosalka's disability is made public? Rosa is carrying a monster inside her back that detaches itself every full moon which then transforms Rosa into a beautiful lady. The monster dies at the ending because of saving its and Rosa's mother from Wilfred.

The film tells the story of Giancarlo Siani, a young Neapolitan journalist who works in the editorial room of ''Il Mattino'' in Torre Annunziata. He works the crime beat ( ). While writing about crimes and murders by the Camorra, Siani begins to investigate the Camorra's alliances with the politicians of Torre Annunziata, and to discover large areas of corruption and collusion between politicians and organized crime.

Despite the somewhat veiled threats of the local political class, Siani continues his inquiries, especially after the "massacre of the circle of fishermen". His articles particularly annoy the local Camorra bosses because they undermine their political and criminal alliances. After he is transferred to Naples by his paper, the Camorra meet and decide to kill Siani. Siani is shot outside his girlfriend's house, in the residential district of Vomero, on 23 September 1985. Siani was 26 years old.

The story centers on one of the covert espionage missions undertaken by Cinderella for Fabletown's government. Her latest assignment is to track and prevent the sale of magical items from the Fables' Homelands dimensions to "mundies", the non-magical people of Earth. Cindy's search takes her to Dubai where she encounters Aladdin, who is on a similar mission for the Arabian Fables. The two are initially at odds but soon become friends and eventually, lovers. The series also introduces several of Cinderella's agents, whom she can call upon with a magic bracelet. These include Puss in Boots, Jenny Wren (the former love of the deceased Cock Robin), and Dickory (a mouse with power over time and clocks).

The source of the illegal sales proves to be a trio of liberated concubines from the Arabian Fable Homeland, hoping to profit from the capitalistic mundy world. However, they are working for an unseen employer. Following a lead, Cinderella and her allies travel to Ultima Thule, a frigid Fable world controlled by a totalitarian government that forces everyone to smile on threat of physical harm. The mastermind behind the scheme proves to be Cinderella's Fairy Godmother, who is now ruling Ultima Thule and has become overzealous in her attempts to make the world pleasant. Cindy and her allies are able to stop her plans thanks to Dickory, who causes time in Ultima Thule to speed up to midnight, the hour when the Godmother's magic wears off.

The series features a sub-plot involving Crispin Cordwainer, Cinderella's assistant at the Fabletown shoe store she operates as a cover for her spy activities. Crispin proves to be the famous cobbler of ''The Elves and the Shoemaker'' and still maintains a business relationship with the Elves. The magical shoes he commissions them to make cause problems for the people of Fabletown, who are unable to stop dancing, jogging, or moving while wearing the shoes. This is cleared up when the shoes are transferred safely to injured Fables. Those who cannot walk would enjoy periods of magical movement.

Catherine Yorke, a young woman from London, receives a bracelet from her boyfriend John for her upcoming birthday. She then leaves the city with her parents in the family car to join her father Malcolm's brother, Alexander, for a week at his home in the country. At the turn into Alexander's estate, Malcolm suddenly falls ill at the wheel and crashes the car into a tree. Although the vehicle is only slightly damaged, when Catherine leaves to fetch help it mysteriously explodes, seemingly killing her parents. Alexander, assisted by his son Stephen and secretary Frances, takes the distraught Catherine into the house and gives her a sedative. On waking, Catherine finds the driveway cleared of wreckage and is told that the police have concluded their investigation. Her parents' funeral is conducted later that day on the grounds of the estate. After the ceremony, Catherine finds an old gravestone bearing the name of Camilla Yorke, an 18th-century ancestor of hers who died aged 20 – the age that Catherine is about to reach. Over the next few days, as she continues to be hosted by Alexander, Catherine experiences disturbing visions of women being branded, flogged and sacrificed in satanic rituals. She finds herself drawn to Stephen, with whom she becomes romantically involved. Meanwhile, Alexander steals Catherine's bracelet and uses it to channel dark magic that compels John to kill himself by jumping from the roof of a tower block.

Frances tells Catherine that Camilla possessed supernatural abilities and that Alexander, who believes in necromancy, intends to resurrect the girl's spirit to increase his own power. Having murdered several women, including his own wife, to test his theories, he has determined that he can achieve this only by sacrificing Catherine, Camilla's direct descendant, when she turns 20 – Camilla's age at the time of her death. Frances also warns Catherine not to trust Stephen: having witnessed his mother's sacrifice as a young boy, he has grown into a murderer like his father.

Discovering Frances' betrayal, Stephen stabs her to death and locks Catherine away. On the morning of her birthday, Catherine is led into the surrounding woods to be sacrificed by Alexander and his cult but escapes after running a nail file through Stephen's eye. At the entrance to the estate she runs into Malcolm, who claims that both he and her mother survived the car accident. She is then taken back to the house, where Alexander, no longer wearing his ritual robes, claims that her recent experiences were merely hallucinations brought on by the sedative. However, his trickery is uncovered when Catherine pulls back a curtain to find Stephen's bloody corpse. Alexander praises Catherine's brutality and hails her as a true descendant of Camilla. It is then revealed that Malcolm, not Alexander, is the head of the cult. Trapped, Catherine screams, and the picture dissolves to shots of another human sacrifice before fading to black.

Cult leader, preacher and con artist Pringle hires the thuggish criminal Caulfield to investigate an anonymous report that his wife Tess is having an affair with a defrocked Catholic priest.

It seems as if the report is mistaken, and Tess's visits to the priest McCorquodale are innocent. However, McCorquodale has killed his own wife, and buried her in the cellar. Pringle still wishes to kill Tess, but instead tells people she has 'gone away', a classic ploy used when one has killed one's wife. His intention is to gain respect as a killer. Tess agrees to live out of sight with McCorquodale.

Pringle's plans are in danger of being ruined when a reporter threatens his new reputation by suspecting that Tess is not dead at all, and accuses Pringle of being innocent.

circa 1917 Screenwriter Joel Coles spends his Sundays working — at the moment he is rewriting a Eugene O'Neill play in which a famous actress is to play the lead. He is "twenty-eight and not yet broken by Hollywood" after his first six months there. But on this Sunday, he is invited to tea by the director Miles Calman: a big step up for a writer.

Stella, Calman's neglected wife, presses highballs on Joel — he had promised himself not to drink, especially as the director is loudly opposed to alcoholism — and flirts with him. He chats with the director's mother. Overjoyed by the success he is making, he offers to do his party piece, just as people are leaving. Unfortunately, it is a mocking imitation of an independent producer, Dave Silverstein. You don't mock producers in Hollywood, and the audience, including a famous actress, disassociate themselves silently from his act. "The faces surrounding him in the gently molded light were intent and curious, but there was no ghost of a smile anywhere; directly in front the Great Lover of the screen glared at him with an eye as keen as the eye of a potato." Joel realises that he has not only made a fool of himself, but been irreparably damaged among people on whom his career depends.

Next morning, he writes a horrified, crawling note of apology to Miles Calman. He slinks around the set, so furtive that a security man demands sight of his pass. His buddy Nat Keogh — the archetypal heavy drinker of Hollywood — tries to laugh him out of it, but it is not until next morning he gets a kind telegram from Stella Calman inviting him to a buffet supper that he is comforted.

"Crazy Sunday again", and Joel lunches alone on "trout, avocado salad and a pint of California wine" before dressing carefully for Mrs Calman's sister's supper. In a brief leap from the third-person-subjective mode in which he writes most of the story into third-person-omniscient, Fitzgerald writes: "Miles and Stella arrived in riding clothes — they had been quarrelling fiercely most of the afternoon on all the dirt roads back of Beverly Hills".

Only now does Fitzgerald describe the director: "Miles Calman, tall, nervous, with a desperate humor and the unhappiest eyes Joel ever saw". The problem between the couple is her discovery of an affair Miles Calman is having with an actress, Eva Goebel, his wife's best friend. Husband and wife — separately and together — confide in Joel, then the husband invites him home with them. At home they continue to squabble, using Joel as an intermediary. He realises he is falling in love with her.

Back in the studio during the week, Joel phones Miles but Stella answers; she invites him to a dinner and theatre party because her husband will be flying to a big Notre Dame game. Joel cautiously mentions the invitation to Miles, who dithers jealously then decides to take Stella himself, but on a whim invites Joel too.

"Joel could not get to the dinner. Self-conscious in his silk hat against the unemployment, he waited for the others in front of the Hollywood Theatre and watched the evening parade: obscure replicas of bright, particular picture stars, spavined men in polo coats…" Stella appears, stunning in a sparkling ice-blue dress; Miles had decided to fly to the game after all, and she's just got a telegram to say he's starting back. Afterwards — paranoid that the crazily jealous Miles might be watching her in secret — she invites Joel home. He goes, flirts with her, but is confused — "I have a strange feeling that I'm a sort of pawn in a spite game you're playing against Miles" — she continues to get emotionally blackmailing "I love you" telegrams from Miles — it is implied that Joel and Stella have sex. He is preparing to go — the phone rings with another telegram and Stella answers — the clock strikes midnight as she holds the receiver to her ear, and she falls senseless to the floor — "The telephone mouthpiece was still grinding and he put it to his ear. '—the plane fell just this side of Kansas City. The body of Miles Calman has been identified and—' He hung up the receiver."

"Joel thought of Miles, his sad and desperate face in the office two days before. In the awful silence of his death all was clear about him. He was the only American-born director with both an interesting temperament and an artistic conscience." But now, as Stella desperately tries to make Joel stay with her, he realises that he is her only link with Miles, and if he does stay, he is doomed to be a surrogate for the man she loved.

Claudio (Elio Germano) is a young construction worker who lives a happy life with his pregnant wife Elena (Isabella Ragonese) and their two children in Rome. They manage together their daily difficulties with love and complicity. One day at the construction site, Claudio discovers the corpse of an illegal Romanian worker who died while working intoxicated, but decides not to report the discovery for fear that the site will be closed down. His life is further struck when Elena dies while giving birth to their third son Vasco, right after their vacation. This is the beginning of a new phase for Claudio, who now concentrates on becoming richer, and buying "things" for his three sons in the hopes of making them happier after losing their mom. Claudio blackmails his employer, Porcari, about the dead Romanian worker, demanding his own construction site to supervise in exchange for his silence. Claudio obtains the whole construction business, not only the wall building business.

Claudio obtains 50,000 Euros from his drug-dealing neighbour Ari to start the work. One day, the Romanian's former lover Gabriela (Alina Madalina Berzunteanu) and his son Andrei (Marius Ignat) come looking for the missing man, but Claudio does not tell them about the truth. He befriends Gabriela and has sex with her. He offers Andrei a job, and allows him to stay at his apartment with his family. More and more difficulties, however, put Claudio in dire straits. Claudio soon runs out of money and time. The construction work is behind schedule. Claudio also cannot pay the illegal workers, and they eventually quit and steal equipment from Claudio. Later Claudio tells Andrei the truth about his father and Andrei leaves, in anger. Claudio asks Porcari to give him more time for the construction job, but is rejected.

Claudio eventually turns to his brother, Piero (Raoul Bova) and sister, Loredana (Stefania Montorsi) to borrow more money for the work. He hires more expensive workers and manages to finish the construction work. He is also able to repay his debts. He encourages Piero to show Gabriela his love. Andrei, however, is still angry with Claudio. The film ends with Claudio allowing all of his children to sleep on his bed he once shared with Elena. Previously, he had forbidden his children to play in, which shows he has changed his vision of life and now gives importance to what has real value.

Exodus

The film begins in June 1941. Five years have passed since the lives and destinies of Colonel Sergei Petrovich Kotov, his wife Maroussia, their daughter Nadia, as well as those of Mitya and the Sverbitski family, were irrevocably changed: it has meant five years of incarceration for General Kotov (Nikita Mikhalkov), the former Revolutionary hero betrayed by Stalin. He escapes certain death in the Gulag and fights on the Eastern Front as a private.

It has been five years of terror for his wife Maroussia, without the husband she believes is dead and with a daughter who has rejected her. Nadia has spent five years in hiding, proud of her father whom she refuses to disown and whom she believes is alive, despite all reports to the contrary.

Mitya (Oleg Menshikov) survived his suicide attempt, and reluctantly continues to execute the orders of a regime he holds in contempt. Stalin, with his nation under attack by former ally Adolf Hitler, recalls many of those whom he has had exiled to the GULAG. He tries to mobilize the Soviet population – by any means necessary – to rise against the threat of Nazism.

Citadel

Kotov is now fighting at the front. Nadia, who has survived an attempted rape by German soldiers, is now a nurse risking her own life to save others.

Sickened at the meaningless bloodshed between Catholics and Protestants in the French Wars of Religion (1562-1598), the Count of Chabannes, a Huguenot Protestant, of middle age, decides to desert from the Prince of Condé's army. Captured by bandits who are about to hang him, he is rescued by a former pupil, the young Prince of Montpensier, who has been fighting for the Catholic side, but who bears a high regard for his former tutor. The two ride together to the castle of the Mézières family, whom the prince's father has been visiting to negotiate a marriage between his son and their daughter. This is Marie Mézières age 17. She has never met her intended husband, but has been on intimate terms with her childhood friend, the hot-headed young Henri Duke of Guise of the powerful and ambitious Guise family. Guise is outraged to hear that Marie is to be given to another. He and Montpensier draw swords, but Chabannes stops the fight and tries to reconcile them. The grateful Montpensier takes Chabannes, whose life is in danger since he is now considered an enemy by the Catholics and a deserter by the Huguenots, into his protection.

After their marriage the newly-weds, accompanied by Chabannes, travel to Montpensier's castle. On the way Chabannes confesses to Marie his revulsion at the brutality of the religious wars and his remorse over his former part in them, for in the heat of battle, he had killed a pregnant woman.

Not long after their arrival a summons from the royal court in Paris abruptly separates the young couple, who are still barely acquainted. The prince leaves Marie to the care of Chabannes as her tutor, directing him to polish up her humanistic education so that she can be presented at court. In the course of their studies the lonely bride and the disillusioned count become close, so much so that the older man, struck by Marie's quickness of mind as well as her beauty, imprudently confesses his hopeless love. She answers that she will forget his words, for she values his friendship.

Montpensier returns home for a while but soon receives a letter summoning him again to Paris. When Chabannes takes the letter to the bedroom, he finds couple asleep naked, and Marie does not attempt to cover herself. Before Montpensier can take his departure, however, Guise appears on their estate with his cousin, the elegant and polished Duke of Anjou, brother of the childless and ailing King Charles IX, and next in line to the throne. By chance, the visiting noblemen see Marie standing in a boat on the river, accompanied by her women. Anjou, too, is struck by Marie's beauty. Reluctantly, Montpensier, who is now prey to the most intense jealousy, invites them into the castle for dinner, where Anjou, Guise, Montpensier, and Chabannes, all now in love with Marie, engage in tense conversation.

The party then travels to Paris, where Montpensier surprises Guise and Marie talking intimately together. Swords are again drawn. This time it is Anjou who breaks up the fight. Guise then catches Marie on a staircase and starts kissing her, but she breaks away. She confides in Chabannes, who advises her to keep well clear of Guise. Guise, he warns her, is simultaneously courting another woman, the royal princess Marguerite of Valois, sister of Anjou.

But Marie, driven by passion, still desires a meeting with Guise. At a masked ball she asks Guise to meet her on the same staircase as before. However, the man behind the mask is not Guise but Anjou. Anjou immediately finds Guise and tells him to stay away from Marie. He then goes to Marie and also warns her that Guise is an unscrupulous character who is presently courting his sister, Princess Marguerite.

Montpensier, maddened with helpless jealousy and humiliation, orders Chabannes to escort Marie back to the country in the morning. That night, however, Guise, shows up, puts a dagger to Chabannes' throat, and demands to be taken to Marie's bedroom. Once admitted, Guise declares his love, but hearing blows on the locked door, he escapes. Montpensier breaks in and, furious to find Chabannes in his wife's bedroom, dismisses him from his service and departs. Guise then slips back in and has a night of love with Marie.

Marie rides home alone, while the now penniless Chabannes takes a room in a modest inn in exchange for working in the stables. Marie and her husband decide to separate, though the prince still hopes for a reconciliation. On the evening of 24 August 1572 the dread Massacre of Saint Bartholomew begins: Catholic mobs led by Guise start massacring all the Protestants they can find. While protecting a pregnant woman, Chabannes is killed. Montpensier rides to see Marie to give her the news that Chabannes is dead, that Anjou is going away to be king of Poland, and that Guise is marrying a wealthy heiress at Blois the next day. Marie rides immediately to Blois and tells Guise she is ready to leave Montpensier for him, but he answers that he no longer loves her and must keep his engagement. Marie remembers the last words to her of Chabannes: “As you have lost the trust of your husband and the heart of your lover, at least you have my true friendship.” Dressed in black, through a snow-covered landscape, she rides to his tomb.

Set around the year 2004, the novel focusses on Fredrik Welin, once a successful orthopaedic surgeon forced to retire early from his professional career. He has retreated to a tiny, remote island in the Stockholm archipelago which he has inherited from his grandparents and is now the sole inhabitant. The island is normally surrounded for at least half the year by thick sea ice which adds to the sense of solitude. Fredrik lives a reclusive and somewhat austere lifestyle in a run-down house, enjoying few luxuries. Welin's only companions are his aged cat and dog. The postman, Jansson is the one regular visitor to the island. Despite this Welin has never become particularly sociable with Jansson. In fact he displays little sympathy for the postman’s frequent requests to be treated for his medical concerns and has privately diagnosed Jansson as suffering from mild hypochondria.

One cold winter's day Welin spies a figure out on the ice, struggling to make its way on foot towards his island. This unanticipated encounter leads to a surprising revelation and a journey not only across Sweden, but also back to his childhood and early adult life. The unfolding events force him to confront painful memories from his past, from which his isolation on the island has enabled him to remain largely immune until now. Fredrik also seeks to address the regrets he has about the unfortunate incident which led to his enforced retirement

Key themes of the novel concern the dilemmas faced by those experiencing aging and death, both at first hand and through others close to them; the impact of poverty and destitution on an individual's life chances; and vulnerability, courage and forgiveness in intimate relationships.

The caves of Lascaux are evoked, Louise fighting the air conditioning which would destroy the paintings. In reality, the caves have been closed to the public since the 1970s. Only a replica of the site is accessible.

In a grassy area, a water buffalo breaks free from a rope tethering it to a tree. It wanders into a forest, where it is spotted by a man holding a sickle. The man begins to lead it somewhere, while a silhouetted figure with red eyes watches.

Boonmee lives in a house on a farm with his sister-in-law Jen and his nephew Tong. Boonmee is suffering from a failing kidney; his Laotian assistant Jaai administers dialysis treatments to him. One night, while Boonmee, Jen and Tong are eating dinner together, the ghost of Boonmee's wife Huay appears. Huay, who died over a decade prior, says that she heard Jen and Boonmee's prayers for her, and is aware of Boonmee's poor health. A hairy, red-eyed figure ascends the stairs near the dinner table, and is revealed to be Boonmee's long-lost son Boonsong. Boonsong, who practiced photography, had disappeared some years after Huay died. Boonsong was searching for a creature—whom he calls a "Monkey Ghost"—that he had captured in one of his photos. He says that he mated with a Monkey Ghost, causing his hair to grow longer and his pupils to dilate, and that, after meeting his mate, he forgot "the old world".

During the day, on the farm with Jen, Boonmee asserts that his illness is a result of karma. He claims that it was caused by his killing of communists while serving in the military, and his killing of bugs on the farm.

A princess is carried through a forest in a litter. She walks near a waterfall, and gazes into her reflection in the water, which she perceives to be more youthful and beautiful than her real appearance. She is kissed by one of her servants, but insists that he imagined kissing her reflection. The servant departs, and she sits by the water and weeps. She is complimented by a catfish, prompting her to wade into the water. She makes offerings of her jewelry in return for being made to look like her reflection, and then has intercourse with the catfish.

Boonmee lies in bed near a sitting Huay. He hugs her, and asks about how he might be able to find her in the afterlife. She tells him that the spirits of the deceased are not attached to locations, but to people. Later, Boonmee, Huay, Jen and Tong venture out into the forest. Jen and Tong see shadowy figures running through the brush and leaping between the trees. Huay leads Boonmee, Jen and Tong into a cave. Boonmee believes that he was born in the cave, in a life that he cannot recall. He recounts a dream of a future civilisation in which authorities shine "a light" on "past people", causing them to disappear. Huay disconnects Boonmee's dialysis tube. By the next day, Boonmee is dead.

Following Boonmee's funeral, Jen sits on a bed, organising gifts of baht with her friend Roong. Tong, now a monk, arrives, saying that he has been having difficulty sleeping at the temple. He showers and changes from his robes to a T-shirt and jeans. While preparing to go out to eat with Jen, he is stunned to see himself, Jen and Roong on the bed, watching television. He and Jen leave for a restaurant, while he, Jen and Roong remain on the bed.

It narrates the Iranian history in a 60-year period from Jungle movement to Iranian revolution and Iran–Iraq War. In the Eye of the Storm spans the period of history between the revolutionary movement begun by Iran's national hero Mirza Kuchik Khan in the early twentieth century, to the freedom of Khoramshahr during the eight-year war between Iran and Iraq in the 1980s. The story is told through the trials and tribulations, love and relationships, of one family.

The show deals with age and getting older and featured readings from Nâzım Hikmet, Thomas Carlyle, M. F. K. Fisher, Langston Hughes, Arnold J. Toynbee, William Carlos Williams, Bertrand Russell, Dorothy Parker, Marguerite Duras, Jean Renoir, Colette, and Tennessee Williams.

The opening chapters of Driftless introduce the many characters whose lives are traced through overlapping narratives throughout the novel. Initially readers are told of: July Montgomery's decision to put settle in Words, Wisconsin; the close yet contentious relationship between the Brasso sisters, Grahm Shotwell's growing frustration and the complications in his marriage after Cora's discovery of fraud by her employer, the American Milk Cooperative; Gail Shotwell's unsettled professional and personal life; Jacob Helm's discovery of a cougar; Winifred Smith's tendency for confrontation; and the need for repairs to Rusty Smith's house.

As the novel continues, these individual storylines converge with one another, often through the intervention of July. July gets Jacob to fix Gail's lawnmower, he encourages Rusty to hire Eli Yoder (despite Rusty's prejudice against the Amish) and he arranges for Gail's idol, Barbara Jean, to see her perform with her band. Meanwhile, Grahm and Cora file charges against the American Milk Cooperative and their lives are thrown into chaos, as Cora loses her job and Grahm's milk is apparently sabotaged.

As fall turns to winter, Winnie experiences a religious epiphany, but when she tells Olivia about it, Olivia decides to look for her own divine sign at a casino and loses all of her and her sister's money. On the way out of the casino she is mugged, but Wade Armbuster intervenes and they establish an unlikely friendship. Rusty worries that Eli won't finish working on his house in time for a family reunion, but when the reunion goes off as planned Rusty finds himself emotionally estranged from his family and thinking of his brother, whom he has not seen for years. The Shotwell children almost freeze to death in a blizzard, causing Grahm to reevaluate his life.

Characters lives change as they begin taking actions that they would have at the start of the book. Graham speaks up against the American Milk Cooperative at a shareholders’ meeting. Olivia attends an illegal dogfight with Wade and ends up bringing one of the dogs home with her. Soon, she discovers that she is able to move her legs. Gail writes a song and works up the courage to share it with Barbara Jean, but she leaves when Barbara Jean's band begins adapting it to their style. Jacob begins to fall in love with Winnie. Rusty gets help from Jacob tracking down his brother, who is dead, but discovers that Winnie Smith is his niece. Rusty also discovers that the cougar and a cub are in his barn, but he is reluctant to shoot them and they leave on their own. July convinces Tim and Leona Pikes to represent the Shotwells against the American Milk Cooperative, and it appears that their case has a chance.

As the book nears its conclusion, there are a series of revelations. Rusty informs to Winnie that he is her uncle. Olivia tells Violet that she can walk (Violet had already figured it out). Jacob and Winnie become involved. July is killed in a farming accident. The whole town turns out for his funeral, and July's ashes are mistakenly spread under a peony bush, leading Jacob and Winnie to disagree as to whether they should be left where they are or whether it is important for his remains to be where people think they are.

Ann DeLusia, the "stunt double" for habitually intoxicated and drug-addicted pop star "Cherry Pye", is mistakenly kidnapped by an obsessed paparazzo. Now, the star's entourage must find a way to rescue Ann, and do it without revealing her identity to the star herself, or the world at large.

The novel also features the re-appearance of Hiaasen's recurring character, ex-Florida governor Clinton "Skink" Tyree.

Mr. Hedges, the somewhat naive and idealistic teacher of the rebellious Class 5C of Fenn Street School lobbies to have his class allowed on the annual school camping trip despite opposition from the head teacher Mr. Cromwell, the fastidious and officious school caretaker Mr. Potter, snobbish teacher Miss Ewell and the world-weary Mr. Price. Eventually (with Mr. Hedges having won the hearts and minds of Mr. Cromwell and Miss Ewell with a speech about giving Class 5C a helping hand with the benefits of the trip to the countryside) Class 5C get to go on the trip - providing Mr. Hedges comes along to supervise his unruly class.

Once on the camping trip Mr. Hedges pursues Penny Wheeler, a local part-time barmaid, and the class indulge in their usual activities, eg. Dennis relishes the clean air and rural surroundings and befriends a gypsy boy named Nobbler. Meanwhile 5c engage in a feud with stereotypical upper-class pupils from the posh Boulters School, which is resolved after a false rape allegation from Sharon. A case of stolen money is resolved through Mr. Hedges trusting the class. At the final dance Mr. Hedges is ensnared in the romantic clutches of teacher Miss Cutforth, contrary to his wishes.

The film's closing theme - ''La La La Lu''- was written by Mike Vickers and performed by Cilla Black. Black and her manager/husband Bobby Willis claimed they had been led to believe the song would open and close the film, but it was instead used over the final scenes of the pupils dancing and then partially over the closing credits. The planned release of the single was consequently abandoned by Black, who instead used the track as the 'B Side' of her single ''Something Tells Me (Something's Gonna Happen Tonight)'', which became her final top 10 single in the UK

Sharpay Evans (Ashley Tisdale) performs a dance number at the Lava Springs Country Club ("Gonna Shine"). There, she meets famous producer and casting director Jerry Taylor (Pat Mastroianni), who offers her a chance to star in his newest show on Broadway. Sharpay asks her father, Vance (Robert Curtis Brown), to let her move to New York City on her own. He hesitantly accepts, but he has a condition; if the plan backfires and she is not in a show by the end of the month, Sharpay will to move back with her parents and work at Lava Springs. In New York, Sharpay is kicked out of her penthouse because they do not allow dogs and she refuses to part with her own dog, Boi.

While moping on the street, she meets Peyton Leverett (Austin Butler), an aspiring film director and son of Sharpay's mother's friend from college. He offers her a studio apartment if she will be the subject of his film project. Sharpay accepts but is distraught when she realizes life in New York is not as glamorous as it was back home. To make her feel better, Peyton takes her to the stage of a Broadway theatre, which inspires her to make the best of the situation. The next day, Sharpay heads to her audition, only to discover that Jerry only wanted to audition Boi for the part of the "best friend" in his new musical, ''A Girl's Best Friend''.

She becomes discouraged, but with the help of Peyton, she auditions him ("My Boi and Me"), only to be caught in a tie with the very competitive child star Roger Elliston (Bradley Steven Perry) and his pedigree Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Countess ("My Girl and Me"). Later, Sharpay meets Broadway star Amber Lee Adams (Cameron Goodman), the star of the show, whom Sharpay admires. Rehearsals begin the next morning with the directors Gill Samms (Alec Mapa) and Neal Roberts (Jack Plotnick) using both dogs interchangeably to determine which one will get the role.

After rehearsals, Amber Lee fires her assistant and hires Sharpay, who accepts in the hope it will help Boi get chosen. Later, by pretending to be Sharpay's friend and implying that Boi will get the part, Amber Lee convinces Sharpay to be her maid. Boi and Countess run away together, madly in love, and enjoy a jaunt around the city ("Baby"). Sharpay and Roger panic, finally uniting to find the dogs. Peyton finds them and returns them to the two new friends. At the end of the day, Peyton tells Sharpay the girl he met on the first day would trust in her own talents rather than sell her soul to get ahead, and they get in a fight. Sharpay finds out that Amber Lee plans to remove the dogs from the show and make it all about her. Heartbroken, Sharpay seeks the support of Peyton, and they make up. The next day (the first day of previews), Sharpay and Roger concoct a plan to remove Amber Lee from the show. Roger smears raw chicken all over her golden shoes, and when Amber Lee wears them, the dogs start to lick her shoes. Her plan works when Amber Lee reveals her true colors to the audience, who become outraged and begin booing her, with her outburst. However, Amber Lee quits the production, and Sharpay is fired.

When the show is about to be canceled due to the loss of its star, Peyton shows his footage of Sharpay singing the show's emotional ballad ("New York's Best Kept Secret"). Impressed, the directors reinstate Sharpay as the lead. However, Sharpay only accepts the role on the condition that Boi and Countess split the role of the best friend equally. The directors agree, and the production is back on. Sharpay confides in Peyton her fears about being a star. Assuring her that she will be great, Peyton kisses her. On opening night, paparazzi are everywhere, and fans and stars alike flood the theatre to see the opening night of ''A Girl's Best Friend''. Peyton, Sharpay's parents, and the world watch as Sharpay finally takes the stage in her Broadway debut ("The Rest Of My Life").

In a scene exclusive to television and Netflix showings, Sharpay's twin brother, Ryan (Lucas Grabeel), on a break from his musical tour around the country, pays her a visit after she becomes a star on Broadway to congratulate her. When Boi escapes from Sharpay's apartment, she chases after him, and Ryan relaxes on his sister's bed until it folds back into the closet, taking him with it.

Part 1: The gamers and their games, the workers at their work

In the near future, virtual economies play a key role in geopolitics. These economies share a common virtual world known as “game-space”, essentially a more evolved form of the Internet with no borders or separate countries. However, in game-space, income inequality is staggeringly high and exacerbated by the exploitative practices of robber baron-type figures, including Boss Wing and Mr Banerjee.

Matthew Fong lives in Shenzhen, China. He uses his talents at gold-farming to find the optimal way to earn virtual gold in a dungeon in minimal time. Together with a couple of friends and roommates, they leave their greedy employer Boss Wing, a virtual economy kingpin who steals their profits. Matthew finds a place in the fictional MMORPG Svartalfaheim Warriors where it is possible to earn much more gold in a short time, and exploits this to make a month's living in a single night, before the administrators of the game discover and block him. However, Boss Wing sends his goons to raid Matthew's home and beat him up to lure him back; they agree that Matthew can work on his own but has to surrender 60% of his income to Boss Wing, who handles turning game-gold into real money for him in turn.

Leonard Goldberg is a wealthy American boy in Los Angeles. His father built up a big shipping company, but Leonard is mostly interested in playing games with his guildies in China. He teaches himself Mandarin and takes on the pseudonym "Wei-Dong" (meaning "strength of the East"). His team mentors other Angelenos in leveling up their avatars for money in another game, Savage Wonderland. After one customer makes a series of missteps, they nearly fail but Wei-Dong is able to save them with luck. His stern, disapproving father discovers him playing at night due to time differences and decides to send his son off to a boarding school, Martindale Academy, for better discipline. On the way there, they get into a car accident and amidst the confusion, Wei-Dong manages to run away to Santee Alley, where he rents a cheap room and starts to live on his own, making money as Mechanical Turk, a player who slips into NPCs when other players trigger something not implemented in the game's AI. While he barely earns enough to make a living, Wei-Dong enjoys his newfound freedom playing for Coca-Cola Games, a huge subsidiary of The Coca-Cola Company that runs some of the biggest virtual worlds.

Mala moves with her mother and little brother from a small village in India to Mumbai, where her mother hopes to earn a better living. She ends up in a plastic recycling factory in Dharavi. With her friend Yasmin Gardez, Mala plays a game called Zombie Mecha in Mrs Dibyendu's internet cafe for fun after school, but her mastery of tactics and leadership skills quickly attract a huge following who call her General Robotwallah. Soon, she is approached by Mr Banerjee, who recruits her to attack his business rivals in the game, allowing her family to leave the factory and make a better living. One day, her army gets defeated by a mysterious army; their charismatic leader identifies herself to Mala as "Big Sister Nor". Nor tells her that they are trying to recruit and organize game-workers all over the world into the IWWWW (Industrial Workers of the World Wide Web, a pun on IWW). The members of the IWWWW similarly call themselves "Webblies", a pun on Wobblies and the web. While companies may move their production from one country to another whenever powerful unions arise, because no borders or separate countries exist in game-space, there will always be a chance to reach the replacement workers and have them join the union, too. Mala dismisses the idea at first, however, and begins to believe the Webblies are sabotaging her career.

Part 2: Hard work at play

Connor Prikkel, a PhD student in economics at Stanford University, develops a mathematical model for predicting values of virtual goods in games based on how much fun the game is. With this discovery (which he calls "Prikkel equations"), he quits his studies and begins speculating on in-game items. Eventually, he makes big wins, and his equations and understanding of the game economies earn him the leader's post in Coca-Cola Games’ Command Central.

Boss Wing locks in his employees at his main office after one of the boys discovers a new way to earn gold quickly. Angered at this lock-in, the boys in Shenzhen go on a wildcat strike, breaking out of the internet cafes, cutting their network connections and protesting in the street out front. Big Sister Nor supports them together with her two co-organizers, The Mighty Krang and Justbob. They talk to the media and spread the word about the strike to all the other Webblies. In addition, the Webblies extend the strike to the online worlds of Mushroom Kingdom, where they use their game characters to fend off Boss Wing’s replacement players attempting to earn gold in-game. Boss Wing retaliates with corrupt virtual detectives known as Pinkerton players, and the Webblies and Pinkerton players fight a huge virtual battle. Conner and his colleagues look on in interest (and even bet on the battle outcome), until they eventually block all the involved player accounts.

During the fight, a group of hired bullies attack Nor’s hide-out and inflict serious injuries. Shenzhen police raid the strikers and arrest Matthew. He is sent to a labour camp for three months, while one of his co-workers, Lu, manages to escape. He briefly talks to Wei-Dong, one of his guildies in gamespace, and learns that videos of the strike and subsequent police raid are going viral in game-space and in Los Angeles. At Shenzhen railway station, Lu is recognized as one of the strikers by Jiandi, a girl who broadcasts a dissident Internet radio show centered around advice on labor organizing, with a huge following of millions of Chinese factory girls. Massive revenues from her show’s advertisements for other illegal movements, including Falun Gong, allow her to stay ahead of the police and escape arrest. She takes Lu into her custody, interviews him on her show, and they initiate a romantic relationship and travel the country together.

While Mala harbors antipathy toward the Webblies, Yasmin joins them and gets expelled from Mala's army. Yasmin is recruited by Ashok Balgangadhar Tilak, an economist in Mumbai working on behalf of the Webblies. They go together to Andheri, where Ashok has scheduled a meeting with Indian union leaders. He hopes to win their support for the Webblies, and Yasmin tells them about their work as gold-farmers and gamers. However, the “old guard” of union leaders do not take them seriously and decline to provide money or other support. When they arrive back in Dharavi, Mala and her army are already waiting to attack them. Mala attempts to use a petrol bomb, but Yasmin manages to bring her down and wound her, bringing the old friends together again. Yasmin convinces Mala and her army to declare their support for the Webblies, but they secretly continue to work as double-agents for Mr Banerjee.

Upon Wei-Dong’s eighteenth birthday, he resumes contact with his mother. She tells him that his father is dying in the hospital. Wei-Dong decides to come home and visit him, only to arrive too late. From then on, he moves back in with his mother, and becomes part-owner of their shipping company.

Part 3: Ponzi

Wei-Dong comes into contact with the Webblies, and, partly out of his desire for adventure, helps them. Abusing his position as part-owner of his family's shipping company, he modifies a shipping container into a makeshift flat and smuggles himself into China, along with boxes of prepaid cards for games valid on servers in the United States, so the Webblies can then distribute and use the codes for their online activities.

After three months in the labour camp, Matthew is released. He rejoins Lu and Jiandi in Shenzhen, along with Wei-Dong, who has successfully distributed his smuggled prepaid cards. Jiandi agrees to house more and more Webblies in her spare flats, motivating her to continue with her broadcasts. This attracts police suspicion, however, and one night, they raid her residence. Jiandi and Lu flee via a secret exit, while all the Webblies are arrested at the front door. Wei-Dong follows Jiandi and Lu, but while Jiandi and Wei-Dong escape the police, Lu is shot. The rest of the boys are also shot after being arrested.

As their "chief economist", Ashok (working at the backroom of Mrs Dibyendu's cafe) devises a plan to destabilize the in-game economies. There are multiple references to Ponzi schemes in the plot, but it is not entirely clear how the plan works. One day, Ashok, Mala and her army find the cafe locked and Mrs Dibyendu gone. They are ambushed by a gang hired by Mr Banerjee; but Mala and her group drive them off. When Mr Banerjee returns with more thugs, Ashok and Mala finally persuades the union leaders to side with them, allowing them to defend themselves and keep the cafe to continue their work.

Eventually, Ashok and the Webblies are able to set up a virtual doomsday device of bad financial assets based on game values. With that power in their hands, the Webblies blackmail Connor and his colleagues by demanding Coca-Cola Games give their workers more freedom to farm gold and sell it to players, in exchange for sparing the game economies. With their extensive inside knowledge, Connor and his employees reluctantly accept the Webblies’ proposal and work together with Ashok on re-stabilizing the game economy. Mala gets kidnapped by Banerjee, who refuses to set her free even after Yasmin pays him ransom. Ashok and Connor tamper with his in-game assets, getting Banerjee to finally release Mala.

Police in Hong Kong raid Big Sister Nor’s house, only to find that she had already moved to an apartment above a massage parlor to continue her work. One night afterwards, arsonists attack the massage parlor. The Mighty Krang and Justbob escape, but Big Sister Nor dies in the fire. Krang and Justbob hear this and tell the other Webblies about the fire, revealing that Nor's last words were "You all lead yourselves”, giving them new hope as their unionization efforts spread to more countries.

Wei-Dong, Jiandi, and their teams decide to flee China aboard another of Wei-Dong’s ships. They meet with Ashok, Yasmin, and Mala in Mumbai and see each other face to face for the first time. Connor surprises them by revealing his defection, having used his security department to hack their accounts and find their location. The book ends with the protagonists resolving to figure out what to do next.

The story centers around a boy and his discouragement while attending a preparatory school. The boy, Basil Duke Lee, is characterized as naive and dreamy. He is thus treated as an outcast among his peers as well as by the school's administrators.

Lee's naivete is contrasted with the experienced perspective of an upperclassman, Lewis Crum. Crum resents Lee's carefree nature and his lack of commitment to tradition. The two boys develop a competitive relationship, and it becomes clear that Lee is internally adjusted to the environment while outwardly aloof and unhappy. Unlike Lee, however, Crum comes from wealth, which gives him a palpable advantage at the school.

Lee is castigated by the school's headmaster over his low grades. As the story progresses, it becomes evident that Lee's family is not wealthy; he is one of the "poorest boys in a rich school." This causes him obvious shame, and the story's focus shifts to his hopes for an off–campus excursion to New York City. Instead he ventures out to a suburb and interacts with a boy who seems to have some type of emotional disability.

Escaping the stifling atmosphere of the school, Lee finally goes to New York City, and has lunch at the Manhattan Hotel; while there he reads a letter from his mother. The theme of homesickness is evident throughout the work. The letter informs Lee that he will be going abroad and will thus not be attending the school anymore. Initially, he is elated by the news.

The last section of the story takes place within the theater as Lee's thoughts turn to his future. He feels that, like actors following the course of a play, he has a destiny. Although he seeks to escape the turgid atmosphere of the preparatory school, he also believes that he must actualize his fate including college. After the play, the school official who accompanies him becomes intoxicated and falls asleep. When returning to the school, Lee is called a nickname but he is not ashamed, nor mortified by the prospect of being an outcast any longer. He realizes that he is accepted, to the point where it will serve his needs, and falls asleep satisfied.

The novel is told in the first person singular. All the narrative occurs in the present. The title comes from a line in the novel in which a young girl misquotes a line from an alternative rock band. The fictional band, Vas Deferens, is the favorite band of the main character. One of their songs is used in a TV commercial, and the girl misquotes the lyrics as "the vast fields of ordinary." The novel is prefaced with a quote from the poet and playwright E. E. Cummings: "To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best day and night to make you like everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight and never stop fighting." The quote is taken from the essay "A Poet's Advice to Students," which appeared in the book ''E. E. Cummings, A Miscellany.''

Dade Hamilton is 18 years old and trying to enjoy the summer after his high school graduation. He has a part-time job at Food World, a local supermarket. Dade has come out gay to himself, but not anyone else. His father, Ned, sells luxury automobiles and his mother, Peggy, is an art teacher at a local Roman Catholic parochial school. They live in Cedarville, a fictional city in Iowa. For several years, Peggy has struggled with depression, and is taking a large number of antidepressants. She is increasingly alienated from her upper middle class lifestyle and family. Ned, too, is alienated from his family, and has begun taking poetry classes at a local community college. Dade is a loner whose only friend is Pablo Soto, a Mexican American who is Cedarville high school's star quarterback for the football team. Since they were 16 years old, Pablo and Dade have been having sex. But Pablo considers himself heterosexual, and has a girlfriend, Judy Lockhart. Pablo and Dade are friends, but Pablo doesn't spend much time with Dade and appears to only see him as a provider of passive anal sex.

The novel opens in the last days of high school, with Dade telling Pablo that he loves him. Pablo slaps him hard across the face until Dade retracts the statement. Dade is increasingly harassed at high school by jocks and by Judy Lockhart, all of whom think he's gay. A short time later, Ned tells Dade that he is having an affair with a woman he met at his poetry class. As the school year ends, Dade attends a party hosted by the pretty Jessica Montana and her awkward, less-pretty twin sister Francesca (whom everyone belittles by calling "Fessica"). Fessica attempts to seduce Dade, and Dade leaves the party. Outside, Dade meets Alex Kincaid, a 20-year-old marijuana drug dealer. It is love at first sight for Dade. Dade discovers Alex's name and where he works. He meets Alex, and under the pretense of securing some marijuana, the two teens take a trip into the countryside that evening to obtain drugs from a man named Dingo. Dade meets Dingo, an older man who grows marijuana, and members of Dingo's rock band (all of whom appear to be slackers and drug users). Dade finally feels like he is accepted by a group of 'cool' people.

A few days later, Dade meets Lucy at a neighbor's barbecue party. Lucy is a 17-year-old lesbian from California. She came out to her parents, who were upset with their daughter's sexual orientation. So they sent her to Cedarville to live for the summer. Where Dade is introverted, socially awkward, and closeted, Lucy is socially outgoing, confident, and cool. They become close friends as June turns into July. Pablo seeks out Dade for more sex, but Dade turns him down. Dade expresses that he wants a real relationship with Pablo, something Pablo is unwilling to give. In late July, Lucy and Dade use fake I.D.s to get into Cherry's, a gay bar. Dade sees Pablo there, but Pablo and Dade argue briefly and Dade leaves. After several weeks, Dade finally hears from Alex, who invites him to a party at Dingo's. They attend, and both Alex and Dade shave their heads on a whim. Later that night, Alex nonchalantly reveals he is gay; he is unconditionally accepted by Dingo and his friends. Alex and Dade kiss and Alex takes Dade home.

A few nights later, Alex takes Dade to his grandfather's grave where he learns more of Dade's history. This gives them a deeper connection, and they have sex under the night sky. Alex and Dade continue to bond after that evening, while Pablo continues to harass Dade—seeking both sex and companionship, and verbally gay bashing him when he does not answer his text messages or cell phone calls.

After a night of binge drinking by the family swimming pool, Dade has a dream (or possibly a hallucination) where he sees Jenny Moore, a nine-year-old girl whose disappearance has dominated the local television and radio news for weeks. Dade tells Lucy, who says she believes that Dade really saw Jenny despite the fact that he was drunk, and they try to unravel the meaning of Dade's dream. Dade also tells his parents he is gay. His father is uncertain what this means, but his mother accepts it. Alex takes Dade, Lucy, and Alex's African American co-worker Jay to a large party hosted by Bert McGraw, a homophobe who is a friend of Pablo's. The presence of Alex, Lucy, and Jay cause Dade to be somewhat accepted by the other cool teens and jocks. Dade meets Pablo and they argue, which leads Pablo to become jealous of Alex.

Dade's parents reveal that they will be taking a three-week trip to Europe to try to repair their marriage. Pablo becomes increasingly desperate to be with Dade, even exposing his genitals to him at work. When Dade rejects him, Pablo spits on him. Dade introduces Alex to his parents at an awkward barbecue before they leave for Europe. While his parents are gone, Alex stays with Dade. Alex, Jay, Lucy, and Dade spend much of their time drinking alcohol to excess, and Dade worries that Alex's late-night lifestyle is not very similar to his own. Alex convinces Dade to have a large party at the house. Dade becomes very drunk. He wakes at 5 A.M. to learns from the television news that Jenny Moore has been found. He sleeps again, and wakes to find Pablo in his room. Pablo breaks down and cries, but refuses to talk about his feelings with Dade. A terrible accident brings the novel to a sudden close and forces Dade to end his wonderful summer.

A subplot in the novel involves the disappearance of nine-year-old Jenny Moore. The girl's disappearance creates tension for Peggy, Dade, Alex, and others. At times, the characters' concern for Jenny allows them to voice their own inner feelings to themselves and to others.

The novel depicts homosexual encounters (one review called these descriptions PG-13), marijuana smoking, underage consumption of alcohol, and hangovers.[http://www.cleveland.com/books/index.ssf/2009/12/nick_burds_the_vast_fields_of.html Welch, Rollie. "Nick Burd's 'The Vast Fields of Ordinary' Is A Stand-Out Young Adult Novel This Year."] ''The Plain Dealer.'' December 3, 2009. Most of the teenagers in the novel smoke cigarettes constantly.

Six months have passed since the events of the first book. Laurel has summer vacation and has been summoned to spend eight weeks at the Academy of Avalon. Tamani, who is still disappointed that she chose David over him, meets her and escorts her to the gate. Jamison welcomes her back to Avalon and tells her that the gates were made by King Oberon (at the cost of his life) and that Winter faeries are the only ones who can open them. At the Academy, Laurel is surprised to learn that it was her home, not just a school. She is introduced to professor Yeardley, who gives her a stack of books to read, and told that Katya, another Fall faerie, has agreed to tutor her. The next morning, Katya comes to Laurel's room and finds Laurel making note cards. She asks Laurel why she didn't summon one of the staff—who are all Spring faeries—to cut the cards, then summons one for her. Laurel is uncomfortable about Spring faeries being summoned for trivial tasks.

Later, Tamani comes to visit Laurel. He bows and greets her formally, but hugs her once they're out of sight of other faeries. He explains that the Academy is very strict on protocol between Spring and Fall faeries. Laurel wants to see Avalon, so Tamani takes her to where the Summer faeries live. She becomes frustrated that Tamani is walking behind her when she doesn't know where they're going. Because Laurel is more than one 'rank' above Tamani, he has to walk behind her. Laurel asks to see where the Spring faeries live and Tamani takes her to his mother's house. This confuses Laurel; she was told faeries don't have parents, but Tamani corrects her that Fall and Winter faeries don't. They are separated from their parents so they can better fulfil their duties. Even the records of the two faeries who created her seed were destroyed when she sprouted. Though frustrated, she admits that it's better than two faeries missing her for years whilst she grew up in the human world. At his mother's house, Tamani introduces Laurel to his mother, Rhoslyn and his niece, who's a Summer faerie. Laurel asks if Tamani has a father, and Tamani says he did, until about a month ago.

Back at the Academy, Laurel finishes her reading and starts to join actual classes, where Katya points out another Fall faerie called Mara, whom Laurel beat out for the position of scion. Additionally, Mara applied to study faerie poisons, but was refused. The subject has become something of a taboo ever since one Fall faerie took things too far, and study is now highly restricted. Katya hands Laurel over to Yeardley, who says he'll be teaching her defensive herbology instead of the typical rudimentary potions. Sometime later, Tamani visits again and takes Laurel on a picnic. They go up a hill to a large tree, which Tamani explains is the World Tree and is made of faeries. His father joined the tree recently; not dying, but now so inaccessible that it's as if he did. Tamani says things at the gate have been quiet—suspiciously so—which prompts Laurel to ask if he ever gets tired of being a Spring faerie, given their low social status. He argues that humans have the same hierarchy and Laurel points out that he did not choose to be a Spring faerie. Tamani insists he takes pride in it anyway; he is happy to serve and free to do as he pleases. Laurel asks if he is free to be with her; if she was ever to choose him over David, could he walk alongside her in the street? Tamani admits that he could not ask her to be with him; he would have to wait for Laurel to ask him.

Later, Laurel is packing to go home and shows Katya a photo of her and David. Katya mistakes David for an Unseelie faerie, but Laurel tells her he is a human, and that he loves her. Katya warns her that relationships between humans and faeries never end well—such as King Arthur and Guinevere. Jamison arrives to escort Laurel to the gate and tells her that Yeardley is very pleased by her progress. He adds that the activity of the trolls around the gate means Laurel will have to take a more active role in defending it, and she must be especially careful after sundown. Back home, Laurel worries that she'll never be able to catch up to her faerie peers, and David comforts her. He catches her up on everything that's happened whilst she was in Avalon; her mother's new apothecary store has opened (bought with the money from Jamison's diamond) and Chelsea is dating another student named Ryan. Laurel's father has taken the news about her being a faerie very well, but her mother has become distant. Laurel is unbothered by the demands of her human school after how intensive the Academy was, and tries to reconnect with her mother. It goes well until Laurel, forgetting that she is a plant and humans are animals, gives incorrect recommendations to a customer at the apothecary store, which sparks an argument between her and her mother about how they don't talk anymore.

Fall arrives and Laurel blossoms. Chelsea asks Laurel what she wants to do after graduating, and invites Laurel and David to a house party Ryan is throwing the following week. They enjoy themselves, but Laurel spots a troll and abruptly realises that she is out very late past sundown; the perfect time for Barnes to attack her. She leaves with David, yelling to attract the trolls away from the party, then drive off. They're caught, with one of the trolls ripping out several of Laurel's petals, but are saved by a woman called Klea Wilson. Laurel and David pretend not to know what the trolls really were, and Klea tells them she has been hunting Barnes. She offers them both bodyguards, but Laurel refuses, worrying they might discover the sentries guarding her or the gate. Klea also gives David a gun, which Laurel is displeased by.

The next day, Laurel tells Tamani and Shar—another sentry—about the trolls and Klea. Tamani warns her not to trust Klea, even if she did save Laurel's life. He helps her clean the cabin, which has become dusty from months of inoccupancy, and they almost kiss. David is absent from school the next morning, and Laurel panics until he shows up and suggests they skip their afternoon classes, and takes her for a picnic. When she comes home, she finds an invitation to the festival of Samhain and a note from Tamani saying he'll escort her. On the morning of November 1, Laurel lies to David about going to Chelsea's and meets Tamani in the forest. He takes her to a ballet performed by Summer faeries and Laurel insists Tamani join her in the box for Fall faeries, which he agrees to, despite his discomfort. Laurel is dismayed to see that all the other Fall faerie women are still in bloom. The ballet is, Tamani explains, the ‘original' version of ''A Midsummer Night's Dream''. When the ballet is over, Laurel stands to clap, but Tamani tells her that since Summer faeries are below her station, she should clap sitting down. She ignores him. After the ballet, Tamani takes Laurel to a green, where everyone sits around to chat, eat and engage in revelries—which Tamani explains are essentially just hook-ups and orgies. Marriage—called ‘handfasting'—only exists in Avalon to raise seedlings.

Tamani asks Laurel if she would like to ask him to dance, as he cannot ask her outright, and though annoyed by the continued social barrier between them, does ask him. They dance, and Tamani kisses her. She kisses him back for a moment before pushing him away, and he refuses to apologise, instead saying he loves her. He accuses Laurel of not wanting him in her human life and she demands he take her back home. At the gate, Shar tells them that they have a visitor: David. Tamani learns Laurel lied to David about where she was that day and exclaims he feels special. When Laurel becomes angry, he tells her to say she doesn't love him, and when she can't, asks her to simply love him instead. David approaches them, at which point Tamani kisses Laurel again so David sees. Laurel, furious, yells at Tamani to leave. David, angry that Laurel lied, and suspicious of what exists between her and Tamani, says he doesn't want to see her for a while.

Back home, Laurel finds a note from Barnes saying he has kidnapped Chelsea. She begs David to come help her save Chelsea and he agrees, driving to the specified meeting point—a lighthouse—as Laurel mixes potions in the passenger seat. At the lighthouse, Barnes tells Laurel he will release Chelsea in return for Laurel taking him to the gate. Or, he will kill her, Chelsea and David. He is interrupted by the arrival of someone else; Klea. Barnes is shocked to see her, and she shoots him in the head, killing him. Laurel unties Chelsea, and Chelsea asks Laurel what's going on—and not to lie, because she already knows about her blossom, that Laurel is a faerie, and that trolls are hunting her. Klea assures David and Laurel that she will take care of the trolls (calling them 'specimens') and that it's just as well she ignored Laurel's refusal about having bodyguards, or she wouldn't have known they were in danger. Laurel offers to make Chelsea forget about everything with a potion, but Chelsea says she prefers knowing.

After dropping Chelsea home, Laurel tells David she'll go to Tamani tomorrow and explain she cannot see him anymore, at all—she chooses David entirely. He kisses her and they reconcile. Laurel goes home and tells her parents everything that has happened, including telling them about the trolls, which she omitted six months ago, and reconciles with her mother. The next morning, Shar tells Laurel that Tamani has left for a new assignment already. He also makes clear how much he dislikes the way Laurel treats Tamani. Laurel tells him—after he demands she be honest—what happened with the trolls and Klea. After she leaves, Tamani steps out from where he was hidden. Shar asks if Tamani is ready for what he's about to do, and Tamani assures Shar that he is.

William Collins (Aaron Johnson) is a depressed boy recovering from self-harm and regularly goes online to chatrooms. One day, he decides to open a chatroom himself and calls it "Chelsea Teens!" and where he meets Jim (Matthew Beard), another kid; Eva (Imogen Poots), a model; Emily (Hannah Murray), a goody two-shoes; and Mo (Daniel Kaluuya), a normal kid. There is no real subject matter in "Chelsea Teens!" which instead focuses on the lives of each one as they talk. Even though they only really communicate through text, the film depicts them in an old hotel-like room and actually having contact.

William is a loner who lives with his parents (Megan Dodds and Nicholas Gleaves). He hates both his parents, blaming them for his past, and lives his entire life on the internet. Jim is another loner who is suffering from depression following his father leaving him and his mother. Eva is constantly made fun of by her co-workers about her appearance. Emily feels distant from her parents and does not feel like she gets enough attention. Mo thinks he is a pedophile because he is attracted to his friend's prepubescent sister, Keisha (Rebecca McLintock). William sees it to himself to help them in a crude manner. He Photoshops embarrassing pictures of Eva's co-worker and posts them online. He convinces Jim to flush down his anti-depressants to make himself feel more relaxed and to reveal his face behind the depressants, his true identity. He tells Emily to do some dirty work, teaming up with Eva. They come up with ways in which Emily could be more violent and make it look like somebody is harassing her family, which makes her parents try to protect her more. He tells Mo to tell his friend Si the truth but this backfires when Si calls him a pervert and attacks him.

William becomes darker and more menacing and even begins to watch people commit suicide. He then takes it upon himself to coerce Jim into committing suicide. His plans are halted though when his computer and phone are taken away from him by his father, who when looking through William's computer, finds one of the suicide videos. William gets his backup computer and phone and goes after Jim, who meets up with him at London Zoo. Mo and the others find out about William's intended actions and go to stop him, meeting up in person and trying to follow William and Jim around London.

Jim makes it to the zoo first but decides to not do it. He tries to leave but William goes right after him. William catches Jim, but he refuses to shoot himself and throws the gun to the floor. When William gets it and comes back, Eva punches him and the rest of the crew comes, followed by the police. William tries to escape but is only able to climb up some crates. He then falls in front of the speeding train behind the crates and is killed. The teens leave without talking to each other; William's account is shut down and the credits roll. The ending scene shows William walking in a chat tunnel while the light is gradually fading.

Lola Montrose (played by Glaum) is a kept woman. The man she lives with while facing the scorn of society, famous surgeon Dr. John Hampton (played by Sherry), supports her in lavish style. She wishes he will marry her. Having tired of his mistress, however, Hampton tells her that he plans to marry a "good woman," Paula Chester (played by Matthews), who was originally intended for his son, Irwin (played by Chase). He is sure she will exert proper influence over Irwin.

Lola begs Hampton, whom she loves, to marry her instead. She tells him of her son, David (played by Giraci), who she sent away to school. But Hampton insists that he must not spoil his son's future.

In revenge, Lola decides to marry Irwin. Getting the young man intoxicated, she gets him to propose and they go to the minister. Because Irwin is drunk, however, the clergyman refuses to perform the marriage ceremony. As he was so drunk, Irwin does not realize that there was no actual wedding. He brings Lola home and introduces her to his father as his wife. Hampton, naturally, denounces her.

Lola then receives a call that her son, David, has been badly injured by a fall at school. His new wife, Paula, goes to Hampton and convinces him to operate on David, which saves the boys life. In gratitude, Lola relents. Admitting that the marriage was a hoax, she lets go of Irwin. Seeing his error, Hampton agrees to take care of her and her son.

Following the resignation of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, the ruling Conservative Party is about to elect a new leader. In the subsequent leadership election, the moderate but indecisive Henry "Hal" Collingridge emerges victorious. Francis Urquhart, an MP and the Government Chief Whip in the House of Commons, is secretly contemptuous of the well-meaning but weak Collingridge, but expects a promotion to a senior position in the Cabinet. After the general election, which the party wins by a reduced majority, Urquhart submits a memorandum to Collingridge advocating a cabinet reshuffle that would include a prominent ministerial position for Urquhart himself. However, Collingridge—citing Harold Macmillan's political demise after the 1962 Night of the Long Knives—effects no changes at all. Urquhart resolves to oust Collingridge.

Urquhart exploits his position as Chief Whip to leak inside information to the press to undermine Collingridge, ultimately forcing him to resign. Most of his leaks are to Mattie Storin, a young reporter for ''The Daily Telegraph''. Urquhart then eliminates his enemies in the resulting leadership contest by means of fabricated scandals that he sets up himself or publicizes. These include threatening to publish photographs of Education Secretary Harold Earle in the company of a rent boy; causing Health Secretary Peter MacKenzie to accidentally run over a disabled man; and forcing Foreign Secretary Patrick Woolton to withdraw by blackmailing him with an audiotape of a one-night stand. His remaining rival, Environment Secretary Michael Samuels, is alleged by the press to have supported far-left politics as a university student. Urquhart thereby reaches the brink of victory.

Prior to the final ballot, Urquhart murders the party's drug-addicted and increasingly unstable public relations consultant, Roger O'Neill, whom he forced into helping him to remove Collingridge from office. Urquhart invites O'Neill to his country house near Southampton, gets him drunk, and puts rat poison in his cocaine.

Mattie untangles Urquhart's web and confronts him in the deserted roof garden of the Houses of Parliament. He commits suicide by jumping to his death.

Revision

After the initial TV series the author revised the published novel to bring it in line with the UK TV series, in which Urquhart throws Mattie from the roof rather than committing suicide, thus allowing for a continuation of the story. The name of the newspaper that Mattie Storin works for was changed from ''The Daily Telegraph'' to the fictional ''The Chronicle,'' same as the TV series.

The story centers on a young couple, John and Edith Andros. They are the parents of Ede, their two-and-half-year-old daughter. Although the prospect of having a child to continue his name and livelihood appeals to the father, the day-to-day realities soon irritate him. Early on it is apparent this creates discord among the couple.

The daughter is invited to a party, which John begrudgingly attends. After Ede injures one of the other children, he ends up in a fistfight with another father. At the close of the story, he insists his wife apologize for the mess, and he holds his daughter while she falls asleep in his arms.

In the story the children have characteristics of adults while the adults act like children.

Jeff is an 8th grade boy in remission. Even though cancer should be far behind him, Jeff still worries that it will return. He has got normal teen stuff to deal with, too - friends, parents, girls, school. Normally, he would ask his older brother, Steven, for advice. But Steven, always the trusty, responsible one, is finally rebelling and has taken off to Africa to join a drumming circle and "find himself." Jeff feels abandoned. Meanwhile, his best friend, Tad, is hatching some kind of secretive, crazy plan involving eighth-grade graduation. He gets a letter in the mail that says he must pass the test or else he'll get held back. And Lindsey Abraham, away from a hot girl who is new to the school, thinks Jeff is cute . . . which ''totally'' freaks him out and they become close friends. There is a lot about life that cancer has prepared Jeff, but there is a lot that is brand-new. Now it is time for him to learn not only how to fight for himself but to stick up for the people he loves. However, in the end, he has to prepare to let go of some of his memories and accept the meaning of death.

Jeff has brain damage and cannot remember intricate things such as math rules, and the state just passed a law that every eighth-grader has to take a standardized end-of-grade test and pass in order to be able to graduate. His friend Thaddeus (Tad) needs a wheelchair to move, so Jeff and Tad make a deal, which was letting Tad tutor Jeff, while Tad exercises to be able to walk across the stage at graduation.

The year passes, and Tad has cancer again. Tad will be unable to be at the school during graduation because he will be in the hospital. Jeff reacts by hosting a bike-a-thon to make Tad feel cared about. The bike-a-thon starts out smoothly, but when it ended, Jeff's mother tells him that right after he started riding, Tad went into sudden liver failure, and died soon after.

The story ends with Jeff passing the tests, at graduation, and accepting both his and Tad's diplomas. In the epilogue, he is at Tad's headstone, having a "conversation" with him. His girlfriend Lindsey walks up to him, and they walk away together, holding hands.

Captain John Braddock schools a group of police recruits with three stories of dangerous con artist stories.

Upon seeing his mother Linda terrorized by three thugs, young Petey (Jerry Mathers) is traumatized and wanders off. Truck drivers find him and the boy is taken to police headquarters, where he is recognized as the son of detective Tony Atlas (Philip Carey).

Petey is in shock and cannot even recognize his dad, much less explain what happened. Three young men - Joey (Gerald Sarracini), Gil (Corey Allen), and Jess (John Drew Barrymore) - are holding Linda Atlas hostage in the home of a man named Canfield (Watson Downs), for whom she had been working freelance as a stenographer.

In the course of robbery, Canfield has been killed and the three are now arguing incessantly about whether to also kill Linda; they think she is the only eyewitness and do not believe her when she tells them she has a son and is worried about where he has gone.

At one point, Canfield's niece and her husband come looking for him, because he had missed his regular dinner date at their home. When the couple sees Linda's car, they assume the man is entertaining a woman; they leave.

Gil slips away to retrieve a gun from his mother's and stepfather's apartment. Tony and the police, in the meantime, have had some investigative success and arrive at the apartment while Gil is there. The young man runs, exchanges gunfire with Tony and is ultimately killed. Tony finds Linda's wallet in Gil's pocket.

Eventually, the truckers are located and are able to provide an idea of the general vicinity where they found the boy. The police take Petey to this area and he recognizes a tractor; on the ground they find one of his toy cowboy guns. Tony's men surround the house and, when they enter, they find Canfield's body and discover that Joey, too, is dead. Jess had located a gun upstairs in the home and the two had struggled for it. Jess holds Linda at gunpoint, but Tony manages to disarm him.

At the sight of his mother, Petey emerges from his state of shock.

The story follows its title heroine, from childhood to confirmation. After her mother's death, Lisbeth (given the nickname ''Longskirt'', or ''Sidsærk'' in the original Norwegian, because of her overlong skirt, a Christmas present given her by her brother) as she moves from her original home at New Ridge farm (called "Peerout Castle" for its fine view of the valley), to Hoel farm, one of the central farms of the area. Her brother, Jacob, also goes to Nordrum farm to become a herdsman there. At Hoel, Lisbeth is cared for by Kjersti Hoel, the farm's owner, who has made a promise to Lisbeth's mother before she died. Lisbeth works with livestock both at the farm, and at the ''seter'' (''sæter'' in the book's transliteration), a mountain pasture used during the summertime. At the ''seter'', Lisbeth meets two other herdsmen from neighboring farms, and spends the summer with them, getting to know them as she grows up.

The content of the book concerns the difficult conditions of the work of the country children who had to eke out a poor existence far away from their parents. In spite of this account of their hard lot an optimistic kind of portrayal is predominant.

Johnny Colini, an exiled American living in Rome, rescues Salvatore Giordano, a young Sicilian outlaw, from the police. After Giordano is groomed, polished, and renamed "Johnny Cool," Colini sends him on a mission of vengeance to the United States to assassinate the men who plotted his downfall and enforced exile. Johnny arrives in New York and quickly kills several of the underworld figures on Colini's list.

Meanwhile, he picks up Darien "Dare" Guinness, a wealthy divorcée who becomes his accomplice, she is later severely beaten by the gangsters as a warning to Johnny against pursuing his vendetta. Soon the FBI becomes involved, and when Johnny and Dare bomb the Hollywood home of gangster Lennart Crandall, the police are able to identify Dare's car when she panics and leaves it parked on the street. The two had separated and planned to meet later, but Dare, abruptly realizing that Johnny is a vicious killer, tells his enemies where to find him. She then surrenders herself to the FBI, as Johnny is being tortured by his captors at the film's conclusion.

A British organisation known as the Knights of Avalon is discontent that so many criminals can evade the law. So they decide to secretly hunt down these criminals, and battle and execute them with medieval weapons.

One day the founder of the organisation, Sir Edward Gifford, witnesses their actions, and they execute him too. His son, Sir John Gifford, decides to investigate his father's murder.

In mid-1940s Calcutta, Mother Teresa teaches geography at her convent. One day, she and one of the other sisters go outside the convent to find food for their girls, only to get caught up in a riot. Though they manage to make it back to the convent, Mother Teresa is shocked by the sight of the massive number of people starving in the streets. Haunted by the images of the hungry people, Mother Teresa decides to leave the convent to devote her life to caring for the poorest of the poor.

Soon after her arrival in the slums, Mother Teresa teaches the children to read and write, but she faces opposition from the adults in the slum who mistrust her because of the colour of her skin. As Mother Teresa continues her crusade to help the poor, some of her former students from the convent come to her with the desire to become nuns and help her on her mission.

The films end scene sees Mother Teresa travelling to Oslo, Norway to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

''Dance Academy'' is narrated mainly from the perspective of Tara Webster (Xenia Goodwin), a newly accepted first year student at the National Academy of Dance in Sydney, which also doubles as a Year 10–12 high school for the dancers. Throughout the series, she learns to better her ballet technique, as well as learn contemporary ballet and hip-hop dance, while creating lifelong friendships and experiencing many hardships. In the first series, Tara soon befriends fellow students Kat (Alicia Banit) and Ethan Karamakov (Tim Pocock), Sammy Lieberman (Tom Green), Abigail Armstrong (Dena Kaplan) and Christian Reed (Jordan Rodrigues), as well as eventually getting to know her teacher Ms. Raine (Tara Morice).

Series Two sees Tara return to the academy for her second year with the hope of representing Australia in an international ballet competition, the Prix de Fonteyn. This series introduces new students Grace Whitney (Isabel Durant), Ben Tickle (Thomas Lacey), Ollie Lloyd (Keiynan Lonsdale), as well as teacher Saskia Duncan (Brooke Harman), and sees the characters react to an unexpected death.

Series Three follows the characters in their final year at the academy as they compete for a contract in the dance company. Grace and Tara obtain temporary spots in the corps de ballet, Kat stars in a dance film, Abigail and Ollie explore commercial dancing and singing, and the third years go on tour for ''Romeo and Juliet'' throughout regional Australia.

20 year old Tara’s life is noticeably adrift. After the life changing injury (that occurred in the finale of the TV series), she finds herself underperforming in her role as a waitress for a catering company inside the Sydney Opera House, frequently being publicly berated by her demanding boss. Adding insult to injury, her frenemy and dance rival Abigail is now a soloist dancer for the Sydney Ballet Company with Tara’s work seeing her handing out canapes after Abigail’s highly acclaimed performances.

Back at home, Christian asks Tara to move in with him to her delight. However, not all aspects of Tara’s life are running as smoothly. She longs to return to the world of competitive dance despite a 2 year hiatus, an impending court case means that she would be suing the very company she dreams of working for and her best friend Katrina Karamakov is now a successful children’s performer in New York while her close Ben is principal for the Austin Ballet.

After bumping into Moira, the head of the Sydney Ballet Company and invited to audition, Tara drops the court case despite assurance from her lawyer (Matt Day) that she stands to win close to a million dollars in compensation thanks to compelling evidence in the form of a personal testimonial provided by Tara’s former ballet teacher Ms Raine. After Tara’s audition proves unsuccessful, she is convinced by Kat to take a trip to New York City and stay with her. Christian is less than thrilled with the news especially when Tara asserts that she will spend the trip auditioning for dance roles to fulfill her revenge fantasy of proving the company wrong. This leads to Christian calling Tara to end their relationship shortly after she arrives in New York.

Despite a happy reunion with Kat on the set of her TV show, things go south after Tara runs into Ollie, a former 3rd year (when she was in 2nd year) who tells her to pull all the favours she has now before the city crushes her dreams like they have Ollie’s whose own dreams of “making it” as a dancer remain unrealised despite his best efforts and a string of unsuccessful auditions. Kat and Tara also have a falling out when Tara expresses her concerns about Kat’s apathy towards her own success and current boyfriend who she openly mocks. Tara leaves Kat’s penthouse and stays with Ms Raine and her partner Marcus at their ranch in Austin where Ben is also staying.

There she discovers that despite his happy go-lucky social media presence, Ben is hiding a secret. His leukemia has returned and he is undergoing recovery from the chemotherapy with strict instructions to avoid dancing even though this is the only thing that makes him feel like this. In defiance, Ben and Tara secretly rehearse a symbolic dance for the upcoming Fringe Festival which they enter as contemporary choreographers under the amalgamation “Benstara”.

After being accepted into the festival, Tara again encounters Moira who, after seeing her beautiful rendition of Orpheous in the Underworld, offers her a place in Corp of the Sydney Ballet Company as another dancer has pulled out due to injuries. Having achieved her dream, Tara finds life in the corp demanding and unfulfilling. She ultimately leaves a performance after receiving a call from a distraught Ollie, who has replaced Tara’s role in “Benstara” and as Ben’s carer, that Ben has collapsed and is in hospital.

Realising that there is more to life than dance, Tara resigns from the company and reunites with Kat and Christian who has flown in from Australia to tell her that he misses her. Inspired by Tara’s rebellion, Abigail takes Tara’s original place in the fringe performance despite her active contract with the Sydney Ballet Company whilst Tara and Christian watch from the wings.

Back in Sydney, the friends watch and participate in a high-energy performance by Christian’s dance students at the Samuel Lieberman Centre. Having realised her new ambition to become a choreographer, Tara maps out her plans for her next routine in the journal she receives from Christian confidently predicting, “this next part is going to be amazing”, presumably referring not only to the dance but their future together.

In the Italian town of Assisi during World War II, 300 Jews were sheltered and protected by a peasant turned priest, Father Rufino Niccacci. He dressed many of them as monks and nuns, taught them Catholic ritual, and hid them in the monasteries. Others lived in parishioners' homes and, with fake identity cards, found jobs and blended into the community. The town's printing press, which during the day printed posters and greeting cards, at night clandestinely printed false documents that were sent by courier to Jews all over Italy.

Not a single refugee was captured in Assisi. No one who participated in the rescue operation ever betrayed it.

The operation was aided by the German Commandant of the city, Colonel Valentin Müller, a Catholic, who had been persuaded by Father Rufino that he had been sent to the town not only by the German High Command, but also by God, with the mission of protecting the Christian holy places and monasteries. Müller appealed to Marshal Kesselring to declare Assisi an open city.

When the Allies began approaching the city, one of the Jewish refugees, whose German was so excellent that he had gotten a job with the Wehrmacht, forged a letter from Kesselring declaring Assisi an open city. The colonel never suspected it to be a forgery and immediately ordered all German troops to leave town, thus saving Assisi from destruction.

''Wingin' It'' is a family series about a friendship. One half of the friendship is Porter Jackson a centuries-old angel-in-training (AIT) who has been sent to Earth to get his angel wings posing as a carefree sixteen-year-old student. The other half is Carl Montclaire, a fifteen-year-old typical high school kid who has been going through a run of bad luck. Little things seem to always be going wrong in Carl's life. For Porter to get his angel wings, he's been given the assignment of making Carl the most popular kid at Bennett High. In season 3, Jane knows that Porter is an angel-in-training and helps him through the various problems he has with his magic.

Season 1

Two brides, Yu Ye (Ye Huan) and Jin Feng (Mei Jun) met each other while on their way to their future husband. According to the costume, two brides meeting each other on their wedding day will bring bad luck. Thus, Yu Ye and Jin Feng wish each other a good marriage ahead. When Yu Ye reached her husband's house, Jin Feng was there also. Meanwhile, Shi Hua (Lin Wei) had no idea that he will have a double wedding that day.

Season 2

Season 2 remarks the appearance of Qiong Mei (played by Ye Huan), Yu Ye's twin sister. She came to Taiwan as a Japanese woman with her fiancée, Zheng Chuan. It was discovered that she had lost her memory when Zheng Guang attacked Yong Hui.

Season 3

Season 3 remarks the aftermath of Qiong Mei's suicide and the rising Of Wang Ying Tai.

Season 4

23 years later, in 1940. Jin Feng is mentally unstable. She hates Ming Feng (her son with Ying Tai) but focused all her motherly love to Jia Sheng.

Todd Smith, Curtis Weaver, Jenny Kolinsky, and Hannah Williams are students at Crowley High, the only high school in a small town secretly founded by Satanists. They encounter a cursed magical tome with a mind of its own called the Book of Pure Evil, which grants the wishes of those who hold it in dark and sinister ways they didn't intend. the teens team up in an attempt to track down and destroy the Book. Each episode revolves around a student at Crowley High using the Book to try to make their life better, though this usually results in chaos, mayhem, and bloodshed at the school. Todd and his gang then fight against whatever the Book has done, and try to keep Crowley High from being totally destroyed. Supposedly friendly school guidance counselor, Atticus Murphy helps them in their quest to destroy the Book, though secretly he is a member of the cabal of Satanists who run the town from behind the scenes and has been tasked with returning the Book of Pure Evil to their leader.

A young woman, Natalie Storm (played by Glaum), works in a sweatshop and struggles to support her mother (played by Yorke) and little sister, Beatrice (played by Cartwright). Their mother dies and Beatrice suffers from poverty.

Because of her circumstances, Natalie rejects the marriage proposal of Tom Chandler (played by Kirkwood), a self-educated mining engineer. He then leaves for South America, where he intends to make his fortune. To save her sister and herself, Natalie becomes the mistress of a wealthy Wall Street magnate, Alvin Dunning (played by Kilgour). When he publicly humiliates her, however, she becomes determined to free herself.

Meanwhile, Chandler discovers a copper mine in South America and returns. He is invited to a party at Dunning's home. When he meets Natalie as Dunning's mistress he is heartbroken and abruptly leaves. Natalie is by now desperate to get away from Dunning. She then acquires enough money from a lucky stock tip to leave him.

Dunning finds Natalie and attempts to force her to return to him. He is killed in a violent car accident and Natalie is severely injured. Upon opening her eyes after the crash, she sees Chandler standing over her. The couple is happily reconciled.

Divorcée Jesse Larson lives in Los Angeles, California with her sixteen-year-old daughter Jade. She owns and operates an Italian catering company entitled Boccone Dolce (Sweet Mouthful). Jade makes the daily runs to local cafés in the area, one of which belongs to her mother's live-in boyfriend Billy Stone. Later that evening, Jade and Billy roughhouse with each other in Jesse's bed. Jesse enters the room and dismisses Jade back to her own room, disapproving of Jade's sleepwear. Jesse is further peeved when she finds out Billy was naked the entire time Jade sat next to him in bed. Billy proposes marriage to Jesse though she declines favoring her sense of freedom and waiting for the situation to be right for Jade.

The following night, when Jesse is preparing for a dinner date with Billy, Jade asks if she can tag along. Jesse allows her to do so and the trio dine at an upscale restaurant where their Italian waiter Mario recognizes Jesse from formally working at Boccone Dolce. Jesse promptly flirts with him, causing Billy to become jealous and argue with her. When they return home, Jade, obviously displeased from the night's turn of events, heads straight to bed. But not before an intoxicated Jesse stumbles into her bedroom informing her that it's fun to be in love and advises Jade that she should meet more people in order to experience having a boyfriend of her own.

The next evening, when Jesse is assisting Jade in straightening her bedroom, she uncovers a pack of cigarettes. When Jade lies about the cigarettes, Jesse threatens her if she doesn't adjust her apparent attitude problem. Jade suddenly experiences a flashback from when she was in the midst of her parents' divorce. Instead of wanting custody, she forced Jade to choose who she wanted to live with. Jade realizes her mother never cared about her. Jade uses this as an excuse to run off to her best friend Horizon's home where Billy tackles her onto Horizon's front lawn. Jade insults Billy who slaps her prompting Horizon to run inside. Billy kisses a stunned Jade who seems to reciprocate. Horizon informs Billy her mother phoned the police for hitting Jade. Billy claims that won't be necessary and leads a compliant Jade back to his car.

Jesse is initially upset with Billy for disciplining her daughter but later forgives him (she isn't aware Billy kissed Jade). After a long day spent at the beach, an exhausted Jesse falls asleep when she returns home. Jesse later wakes up to find Billy and Jade watching a film and orders Jade to remove her sheepdog Otis from her bed and continue the movie downstairs. Billy attempts to have sexual intercourse with Jesse but when she rejects him, he goes downstairs to have sex with Jade, unbeknownst to Jesse.

The next morning, Billy reminds a regretful Jade not to tell Jesse in fear she may never forgive them. After Jade quits her job, Billy allows her to work in the stockroom of his café where he apologizes for taking advantage of her and offers a cash bribe if it means not telling her mother. Jesse arrives, surprises Billy and questions Jade about why she isn't at work. Jade tells her she quit before leaving the café. When Jesse confronts her, Jade is about to tell her the truth when Billy intimidates her into silence. Jade evades her mother and a panicked Billy issues Jesse an ultimatum. Either she weds him or he will walk out of her life. Jesse accepts which provokes jealousy in Jade.

The following morning, Jade visits her father Les and informs him of the sexual encounter with Billy though she doesn't disclose his identity or what his relation is to her. Jade emphasizes that she refuses to press charges due to the fact he has two children (from his previous marriage) whom he cares for. When Jessie is notified, she manages to extract the truth from the hysterical and emotionally confused Jade; it was Billy. Jesse slaps her and says Jade is lying because she's jealous of Jesse. The pressure of the situation prompts Jade to suffer from an asthma attack and she is taken to the emergency room. Jade is later sent to live with Les and his wife Denise. When Jade decides to permanently reside with her father, Jesse breaks down crying and comes to the belief she is a horrible mother. Jesse informs Billy of what had transpired and threatens him to stay out of their lives. The engagement is over, and if he ever goes near her or Jade; she will kill him.

Several months later, Jade continues to live with Les and Denise in the San Fernando Valley. She took her mother's advice and opened up her 'friendship circle' and has made more friends at her new school than the previous one she attended. Jesse regularly visits her daughter and they walk the beach together. One afternoon, Jade suggests for Jesse to resume her relationship with Billy now that she is no longer around. But Jesse promises Jade there will be no chance of reconciling. The two discuss Denise's belief in reincarnation before Les arrives to pick up Jade. As Jade races to the vehicle she turns around and tells her mother that if there is such an idea of reincarnation she would still like to be her daughter. This brings tears to Jesse's eyes and she announces her love and sacrifice for her daughter. Jesse continues to walk along the shore of the beach with Otis before she turns to stare at the blue expanse hoping for a brighter future and a new beginning.

In the present day, scientists in the Arctic uncover an old, frozen aircraft. In March 1942, Nazi lieutenant general Johann Schmidt and his men steal a mysterious relic called the Tesseract, which possesses untold godly powers, from the town of Tønsberg in German-occupied Norway.

In New York City, Steve Rogers is rejected for World War II military recruitment due to his various health and physical problems. While attending an exhibition of future technologies with his best friend, Sgt. James "Bucky" Barnes, Rogers again attempts to enlist. Overhearing Rogers' conversation with Barnes about representing his country in the war, Dr. Abraham Erskine allows Rogers to enlist. He is recruited into the Strategic Scientific Reserve as part of a "super-soldier" experiment under Erskine, Colonel Chester Phillips, and British MI6 agent Peggy Carter. Phillips is unconvinced by Erskine's claims that Rogers is the right person for the procedure but relents after seeing Rogers jump on a grenade to save his comrades, unaware that it is a test. The night before the treatment, Erskine reveals to Rogers that Schmidt underwent the procedure prematurely and suffered permanent side-effects.

Schmidt and Dr. Arnim Zola harness the energies of the Tesseract, intending to use the power to fuel Zola's inventions, mounting an offensive that will change the world. Schmidt discovers Erskine's location and sends assassin Heinz Kruger to kill him. Erskine subjects Rogers to the super-soldier treatment, injecting him with a special serum and dosing him with "vita-rays". After Rogers emerges from the experiment taller and more muscular, an undercover Kruger kills Erskine and flees with a vial of the serum. Rogers pursues and captures Kruger, but the assassin avoids interrogation by committing suicide with a cyanide capsule. With Erskine dead and his super-soldier formula lost, U.S. Senator Brandt has Rogers tour the nation in a colorful costume as "Captain America" to promote war bonds while scientists study him and attempt to reverse-engineer the formula. In 1943, while on tour in Italy performing for active servicemen, Rogers learns that Barnes' unit was MIA in a battle against Schmidt's forces. Refusing to believe that Barnes is dead, Rogers has Carter and engineer Howard Stark fly him behind enemy lines to mount a solo rescue attempt. Rogers infiltrates the fortress of Schmidt's Hydra division, freeing Barnes and the other prisoners. Rogers confronts Schmidt, who removes a mask to reveal a red, skull-like visage that earned him the sobriquet "the Red Skull". Schmidt escapes and Rogers returns to base with the freed soldiers.

Rogers recruits Barnes, Dum Dum Dugan, Gabe Jones, Jim Morita, James Montgomery Falsworth, and Jacques Dernier to attack other known Hydra bases. Stark outfits Rogers with advanced equipment, most notably a circular shield made of vibranium, a rare, nearly indestructible metal. Rogers and his team sabotage various Hydra operations, while he and Carter begin to fall in love. In 1945, the team assaults a train carrying Zola. Rogers and Jones succeed in capturing Zola, but Barnes falls from the train to his apparent death. Using information extracted from Zola, the final Hydra stronghold is located, and Rogers leads an attack to stop Schmidt from using weapons of mass destruction on major American cities. Rogers climbs aboard Schmidt's aircraft as it takes off. During the subsequent fight, the Tesseract's container is damaged. Schmidt physically handles the Tesseract, which opens a wormhole into space, sucking him into it. The Tesseract burns through the plane and is lost in the ocean. Seeing no way to land the plane without the risk of detonating its weapons, Rogers radios Carter and says goodbye to her before crashing in the Arctic. Stark later recovers the Tesseract from the ocean floor but is unable to locate Rogers or the aircraft, presuming him dead.

Rogers awakens in a 1940s-styled hospital room. Hearing a radio broadcast of a baseball game that he attended in 1941, Rogers grows suspicious, flees outside and finds himself in present-day Times Square, where S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury informs him that he has been "asleep" for nearly 70 years. In a post-credits scene, Fury approaches Rogers and proposes a mission with worldwide ramifications.

Paul, a banker in Bucharest, has been married for ten years to Adriana and they have an adored daughter Mara. The child has tooth problems which are being tended by Raluca, an attractive young orthodontist. Since first seeing her in the summer, Paul has been having a secret affair with Raluca. But, as Christmas approaches, tensions mount. While Paul loves both women, Raluca tells him what he already knows: that he must choose. When he says to his wife that he is in love with Raluca, she orders him to move out and to say nothing to Mara. The round of Christmas festivities then begins, with the couple pretending outwardly that nothing is wrong. Action is postponed until the Tuesday after Christmas.

The novel follows the adventures of Meredith (Muggs), a Sixth Form prefect at fictional Leadham House Preparatory School in England, and the adventures he has with his friends Hawk, Pongo, Clayton, Pigface, Renton, and Murray as well as a ubiquitous and beloved bulldog named Uggles.

Henry Matthews (Uriah Shelton) lives in a small town in Alabama with his parents, William (Dash Mihok) and Lisa (Nicki Aycox). His father is a garage mechanic, but is also in the Reserves, while his mother is unemployed, but goes to group-therapy sessions for a drug addiction. She has been clean for one year and four months. Henry is a middle-schooler, and deals with bullies after school, forcing him to eventually take refuge in the Baptist Church where Henry meets Pastor John (Ruben Studdard). Pastor John takes a liking to Henry when they begin to play worship music on the church's piano, and discovers Henry is a very talented singer. Pastor John gives Henry a flyer for the Alabama Teen Star Quest, a singing competition in Birmingham.

William's Reserve unit is activated and deployed to Afghanistan. While William is gone, Henry sends him songs to listen to, and to show off to his Marine buddies. While William is gone, Henry's mom cannot afford the mortgage on the house, and they move into Lisa's dad's trailer, without telling William. Lisa's dad hates the music Henry listens to and didn't agree with her marrying William. Henry skips school, but Lisa thinks he is gone. She begins to bike to her therapy session, but turns around. She walks to the neighbors and gets high, breaking her promise to William that she'd stay sober. Henry watches his mom get high out of the window, and unplugs his headphones from his radio. Lisa's dad returns and hits Henry for listening to his music and skipping school. He decides to leave and attend the competition. He tells his mom "bye," but she is too high to understand. Henry hitchhikes to Birmingham to enter the singing competition. His dad comes home while he's gone, and finds the house empty, and his wife high, then runs to Birmingham where he finds Henry and performs with him in the competition.

Henry gets far in the competition, and is covered on the news, where Lisa's dad sees him. Lisa and her dad go to Birmingham and find Henry. Lisa's father tells the competition officials that he hasn't had a parent with him the entire time. This confuses Henry, who is told his father died three months earlier. Henry looks at his dad, who says no one else can see him. His dad was killed by an Afghan woman back when he was deployed, but William's spirit was with Henry the whole time. Henry decides to drop out of the competition because his dad isn't there. William's spirit then visits his friend for his unit. The friend's remote breaks on the channel talking about Henry and reads a letter William gave him. The letter tells him to help Henry in the competition if he ever dies. Back at the competition Henry can't sing because his dad is gone. The judges eliminate him but one of the other singers quits and let Henry have his place. Together Henry and William's friend win the competition and are offered a chance to meet with a record company in Los Angeles.[http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3i91e05ffd5e045bf14426b5923c8399cd]

Season 1

Mikey Kudo receives the Fusion Loader, creates his own team (Fusion Fighters) and recruits some Digimon partners in the Digital World. There, he learns that Lord Bagramon is attempting to conquer the world by collecting 108 Code Crown fragments and wields the Darkness Loader. Mikey collects some fragments from each zones, but Bagramon steals them and recruits AxeKnightmon. Mikey, Angie Hinomoto and Jeremy Tsurugi are sent back to the human world, but Mikey returns to the Digital World, leaving his friends behind.

Season 2

When Bagramon creates an empire divided into seven kingdoms, Mikey, Christopher Aonuma and Nene Amano defeat each generals. They learn that Bagramon is using Ewan to oppose them, while they gathered negative energy from those which transformed fragments into a Dark Stone (D5). After Mikey saves Ewan and retrieves all fragments, Shoutmon defeats Bagramon and plans to bring peace to both worlds.

Season 3

One year later, Mikey discovers an unstable realm between both worlds and learns that Quartzmon is absorbing data. The DigiQuartz is where Digimon Hunters capture Digimon for leaving any world and feeding negative emotions on anyone. The Clock Store Owner unites all heroic characters from different parallel universes. Tagiru and Gumdramon wield Bagramon's lost arm "Brave Snatcher", in order to defeat Quartzmon. With both worlds restored, all humans and their partners are separately return to their own universe. The series ends with Mikey, Tagiru and their friends planning their future.

The tale tells the story of Stephen Elliott, a young orphan boy, who is sent to stay with his much older cousin, Mr Abney, at a remote country mansion, Aswarby Hall, in Lincolnshire. His cousin is a reclusive alchemist obsessed with making himself immortal. Stephen is repeatedly troubled by visions of a young gypsy girl and a travelling Italian boy with their hearts missing.

Jin-hee (Kim Sae-ron) is a 9-year-old girl whose father leaves her at an orphanage after remarrying. Before leaving her, her father buys her new clothes and a cake to convince her that she is going on a trip. This coincides with the Korean title, which literally means "traveler" or "tourist". In the orphanage, she tries to come to grips with the abandonment by her father and insecurities about a possible adoption. She gradually makes friendships, although she retains the belief that her father will return to take her back, and struggles (sometimes violently) not to adjust to her surroundings. In the end, Jin-hee is adopted by French parents who are eagerly waiting for her at an airport to meet their new child.

Centred on characters from the rebellious city of Marseille, most of the great events of the Revolution from 1789 to 1792 occur offstage. In Marseille, citizens capture the royal fortress of Fort Saint-Jean and set up a revolutionary council. When war is declared against Austria in April 1792, the city raises a force of 500 volunteers who march to Paris. Entertained there to a banquet, a man from Alsace sings a patriotic ballad which moves the men from Marseille. Adopting it as their marching song, it is soon known as La Marseillaise. In July Prussia joins forces with Austria and the people, enraged by the threats in the Brunswick Manifesto, storm the Tuileries Palace, making prisoners of the King and Queen. A volunteer army then marches east to face the highly professional Prussian forces and in September, to the astonishment of the world, beats them at Valmy.

Fictional characters and happenings are mixed in with historical characters and actual events. While careful to show genuine revolutionaries who wanted constitutional change rather than mob violence or anarchy, as well as privileged people who accepted the need for ordered change, Renoir often uses members of the public to express the ferment of ideas that gripped France.

Chevalier Fabien des Grieux, who has forsworn the world for the church, falls passionately in love with young Manon Lescaut when he encounters her en route to a convent with her brother André. The lustful Comte Guillot de Morfontaine offers André a tempting sum for Manon, and learning of their bargain, Fabien takes her to Paris, where they spend an idyllic week in a garret. André finds her, persuades her to leave Fabien, and tries to force her into an alliance with Morfontaine—then rescues Manon from the advances of a brutal Apache. Fabien, crushed to believe that Manon has become Morfontaine's mistress, is about to take his vows but is deterred by her love for him. King Louis sees Manon in Richelieu's drawing room and wins her. The rejected Morfontaine orders her arrest and deportation, but he is killed by Fabien, who joins Manon on a convict ship bound for America. After inciting the convicts to mutiny, he escapes with her in a small boat.

Montague Bunsen-Burner is a dragon who is put on a 'no-humans' diet by his wife Albertina. Out on a flight later that day, Montague discovers a young boy, John, who was recently orphaned. Montague decides to take the boy home with him. John proves his worth as a member of the family with his knowledge of various forest herbs that enhance the flavour of several foods.

John proves his value to the family further when Albertina lays her latest clutch of eggs. Deducing that Montague and Albertina are ignorant of the need to incubate eggs, John manages to smuggle an egg away from Albertina's latest clutch and place it in a 'nest' made of reeds, inspired by a lizard nest he saw when he was younger, that will keep it warm until it hatches (taking only one egg in secret in case he is wrong about how dragon eggs develop). While returning from hiding the egg, John is nearly attacked by a wolf, and later a bear, but Montague manages to save him and kill both animals, the bearskin being kept for John to sleep under in winter.

Noting that the wolf is milky, John deduces that she has cubs, setting out to find her family. Although three of the cubs are dead when he finds her den, John takes in the fourth cub (a coal-black male), naming him 'Bart' (after Montague's father) and training him as a pet. After John and Bart have kept an eye on the egg in its makeshift 'nest' for the next six weeks, it finally hatches, revealing a young female dragon who names herself 'Lucky', much to the joy of her parents. From this point onwards, John is regularly described as the Bunsen-Burner's adopted son and Lucky's 'little brother'. Although John attracts some quizzical gazes when an elderly dragon Examiner comes to test Lucky's flying abilities, no definite questions are asked, and Lucky herself passes her test with flying colours.

While the dragons take a holiday at the beach where Montague and Albertina stayed after their wedding, shortly after Lucky's first birthday, John and Bart are confronted by wolves, being cornered in the cave before they are forced to attack. However, Lucky senses that her brother is in danger and returns to save him, although the subsequent damage to John's clothes forces them to travel to a nearby village to steal replacement clothes for him. During their time away, the Bunsen-Burners are briefly attacked by a group of ambitious knights, but the dragons easily drive them away without any casualties (Albertina resolutely informing Montague that their relationship with John means that they must ''never'' eat human flesh again after everything he has come to mean to them).

As Lucky grows older, the comparative rarity of dragons in the present compared to their old courting days prompt Montague and Albertina to try to search for a potential husband for her in an arranged marriage, but their search fails; Albertina is harshly turned away by the head of a family of Welsh dragons, and while Montague discovers a pleasant family- the Charmouths-, they have nothing but daughters. Fortunately, while visiting the holiday beach in a bad mood about her parents' attempt to plan her life for her, Lucky discovers a boy dragon called Gerald Fire-Drake, who left his home in Scotland after an argument with his father, the two forming a deep attachment that blossoms into romance. During this time, John has a brief encounter with an outlaw who threatens to kill him, but Bart senses his master's peril and hurries to save him, Bart's attack- followed closely by the arrival of Albertina- prompting the outlaw to flee while leaving John his weapons.

After an engagement of a couple of years due to Gerald and Lucky's youth, their wedding takes place near the lake where Lucky hatched, attended by the Fire-Drakes, Albertina's cousins, Montague's brother and his wife, the Examiner who gave Lucky her test, and the Charmouths (Montague reasoning that they are a pleasant family and Gerald's brothers might be interested). The ceremony completed after John gives a speech in his role as best man, Gerald and Lucky fly off for their honeymoon, leaving John to reflect on the joys of his life as a dragon boy.

The play concerns the misadventures of the middle-class striver Jerry Frost. He is a 35-year-old "clerk for the railroad at $3,000 a year. He possesses no eyebrows, but nevertheless he constantly tries to knit them." He is stereotypically henpecked (i.e., constantly criticized) by his wife Charlotte, and their marriage is dull. We learn in the first act that Jerry wanted to be a postman, but that he somehow blames his wife for missing out on this ambition.

The Dalton brothers, law-abiding farmers, move to Kansas from Missouri to begin a new life. Bob Dalton meets lawyer Tod Jackson and persuades him to defend his kin Ben Dalton in a court case against a corrupt land-development company.

A melee erupts during the trial and the Daltons shoot their way out of the courtroom. Cronies of the land developers and the press portray the brothers negatively. Ben is shot in the back. Unable to live lawfully, the Daltons rob a stagecoach and their reputation as dangerous outlaws spreads.

Tod has fallen in love with Bob Dalton's fiancée Julie. He urges the Daltons to change their ways, but they defy him and pull one more bank job in Kansas. Bob and Grat are killed there, as are two other members of the gang, but Emmett survives.

As described in a film publication, a youth (Arthur Rankin) in the prologue seeks advice from his grandfather (Sydney), who then recalls a romance of his own youth which is then shown as a flashback. A priest (Sydney) is in love with an Italian opera singer (Keane), and the drama involves the conflict between his efforts to rise above worldly things or to leave with her. The romance ends with a deep note of pathos.

The plot of ''Experience'' was summarized in the August 1921 issue of ''Photoplay'' magazine. File:Experience (1921) - Bruce Barthelmess & Daw.jpg|Youth (Richard Barthelmess) hears Ambition's call and leaves his mother (Kate Bruce) and Love (Marjorie Daw) to seek his fortune. File:Experience (1921) - John Miltern.jpg|Experience (John Miltern) is to teach Youth many things about life. File:Experience (1921) - Youth encounters Pleasure Beauty & Wealth.jpg|Youth encounters Pleasure, Beauty, and Wealth. He asks Opportunity to wait for him. But Opportunity cannot! File:Experience (1921) - Tashman Miltern & Barthelmess.jpg|Youth is enthralled by Pleasure (Lilyan Tashman) and, while Experience looks on, is welcomed into the gay party. File:Experience (1921) - Miltern & Barthelmess.jpg|Youth's funds run low and Chance directs him to a gambling house where he can double his money. At first he wins, but later luck leaves him. File:Experience (1921) - Naldi & Barthelmess.jpg|Temptation (Nita Naldi) fascinates Youth. She intercepts a letter telling Youth of his mother's death. File:Experience (1921) - Sybil Carmen.jpg|Experience meanwhile teaches Youth to know Excitement (Sibyl Carmen). File:Experience (1921) - Robert Schable.jpg|Smirking Conceit (Robert Schable) with his ever-present mirror. File:Experience (1921) - Helen Ray.jpg|And Intoxication (an all-too-present companion) (Helen Ray). File:Experience (1921) - Leslie King.jpg|And - eventually - the sanctimonious Prohibition (Leslie King). File:Experience (1921) - Barthelmess (Youth ejected).jpg|Finally, accused of theft, Youth is ejected to the gutter. File:Experience (1921) - Wolheim & Barthelmess.jpg|Crime (Louis Wolheim) seeks to persuade Youth to rob Wealth's house. File:Experience (1921) - Richard Barthelmess.jpg|But Youth returns home, where Love and Hope await. File:Experience (1921) - Daw & Barthelmess.jpg|With Love by his side, Youth is enriched by Experience.

Giovanni 'Nino' Culotta is an Italian immigrant, who comes to Australia as a journalist, employed by an Italian publishing house, to write articles about Australians and their way of life for those Italians who might want to emigrate to Australia.

In order to learn about real Australians, Nino takes a job as a brickie's labourer with a man named Joe Kennedy. The comedy of the novel revolves around his attempts to understand English as it was spoken in Australia by the working classes in the 1950s and 1960s. Nino had previously only learned 'good' English from a textbook.

The novel is a social commentary on Australian society of the period; specifically male, working class society. Women mostly feature as cameos in the story with the exception of Kay (whose surname is not revealed in the novel), who becomes Nino's wife. In the novel, Nino meets Kay in a cafe in Manly and their introduction is effected by Nino trying to teach Kay that she cannot eat spaghetti using a spoon.

The final message of the novel is that immigrants to Australia should count themselves fortunate and should make efforts to assimilate into Australian society, including learning to speak Australian English. However, there is also a satirical undercurrent aimed at Australian society as a country of migrants.

Suave English thief Barrington Hunt (Ronald Colman) rendezvous with his uncouth American accomplice, Smiley Corbin (Warren Hymer), at a rundown hotel in the Sahara Desert beyond the reach of French authority. Hunt is annoyed to learn that Smiley, who has a weakness for women, lost the proceeds from the latest robbery when he met a "dame".

Hunt soon finds a new target for his larceny in the aged, blind Baron de Jonghe (Tully Marshall), a longtime hotel resident with an unsuspected cache of stolen money. He sets out to determine its hiding place by romancing Camille (Fay Wray), de Jonghe's attentive, inexperienced relative. When Smiley falls for Eliza Mowbray (Estelle Taylor), however, he blabs to her his boss's plan. Soon, every one of the motley assortment of fugitive criminals and murderers who inhabit the hotel knows, and Hunt is forced to promise each a share of the loot. To complicate matters even further, Hunt falls in love with Camille, and she with him.

The location of the money is revealed when the baron becomes extremely agitated when Hunt offers to start a fire in his in-suite fireplace. Hunt keeps this discovery to himself, but tells Smiley to borrow the key to Eliza's car.

The crooks, having grown impatient with Hunt's leisurely courtship of Camille, demand action. Hunt suggests privately to pairs of criminals that the money would be better divided amongst three partners. They all agree.

Meanwhile, Alfred (Charles Hill Mailes), the baron's brother, arrives with a promise of amnesty if de Jonghe will return the money he stole. De Jonghe insists it is legitimately his, and that Camille is to have it after he is gone.

Later, when de Jonghe leaves his room to enjoy holiday festivities, Hunt sneaks in, searches the chimney and locates the money. He pockets the loot and puts the metal box back where he found it, then slips away. De Jonghe becomes suspicious and returns to his room. As he is retrieving the box, he is seen by one of the crooks, who shoots him dead and flees with the box, unaware it is empty. The sound of the gunshot rouses the rest of the residents. It does not take long for them to realize that Hunt has double crossed them all. However, while Smiley holds them off with his gun, Hunt gives Camille the money and sends her to safety with Alfred de Jonghe. He tells the tearful young woman that this is the first good thing he has ever done and that she will be better off if she is not found in the company of a wanted fugitive. Then, he and Smiley make good their own escape. As they are driving off, Smiley asks about his share of the money. Hunt presents him with a flower, explaining that he met a "dame".

The episode opens and continues from "200" with Eric Cartman, as his hand-puppet persona Mitch Conner, narrating a flashback to Conner's 1972 medical discharge from his Vietnam War tour of duty in a parody of a scene from the film ''Apocalypse Now'' as the song "Time of the Season" by the Zombies plays in the background. Back in the present, Mr. Garrison refuses to reveal the identity of Cartman's father, and instead sends Cartman to Dr. Mephisto. Meanwhile, the Ginger Separatist Movement and the townsfolk are negotiating the handover of Muhammad when Mecha-Streisand begins to attack South Park, effectively killing off Pip Pirrup in the process. Muhammad, who is visually obscured throughout the entire episode by a black box superimposed with the word "CENSORED", is taken by Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, and Kenny McCormick to Dr. Mephisto's lab. The Gingers arrive and take Muhammad and Cartman captive. The Super Best Friends are called to South Park to help; after their powers fail to subdue Mecha-Streisand, they pacify her by having Krishna adopt the form of Neil Diamond and providing her the opportunity to perform a duet with him.

The Gingers contact the celebrities and offer to share Muhammad in exchange for access to the celebrities' "goo transfer machine", which transfers Muhammad's power to remain free from ridicule to a target individual. Tom Cruise is the first subjected to the process, gaining a "CENSORED" box identical to Muhammad's, but further transfers are interrupted when the Super Best Friends arrive to free their comrade Muhammad. Meanwhile, Cartman is taken to the Ginger lair to meet Scott Tenorman, the Head Ginger. Depicted as a melodramatic madman, Scott has decorated his lair to represent the Chili Con-Carnival in which Cartman gained his revenge on Scott by tricking him into eating his own parents. Scott tells Cartman that Cartman's real father was a former offensive lineman for the Denver Broncos, and the inhabitants of South Park covered up his identity to protect the football team from the scandalous affair between him and Liane. He reveals to Cartman that they shared the same father, Jack Tenorman, meaning that by his act of revenge against Scott, Cartman orchestrated the death of his own father and fed him to his half-brother.

The fight between the Super Best Friends, celebrities, and Gingers spills over into the Ginger lair, and Tenorman escapes in the confusion. During the fight, Seaman leaps upon Cruise's back, leading Stan to observe, "Tom Cruise has Seaman on his back." The "CENSORED" box over Cruise disappears, and all present continue to make jokes based on the fact that the words "Seaman" and "semen" sound the same. Cruise questions why they are able to do this, which leads to a monologue from Kyle, Jesus Christ, and Santa Claus explaining that the goo does not exist and that threatening people with violence is the only true answer. In the censored version, this explanation is completely obscured by a continuous audio bleep.

As the town begins to rebuild following the Mecha-Streisand attack ("for the 39th time", according to Mayor McDaniels), Stan, Kyle, and Kenny find Cartman break down in tears – not because he learned that he murdered his father, but because he is "half-ginger". Mitch Conner reminds Cartman that he is "half-Bronco" as well and tells him that makes him "pretty cool" and departs. The boys find Cruise sinks into depression for a place in which he can live without fear of mockery. Stan, Kenny and Kyle promise to help Cruise get to such a place. The episode's closing shot is of Cruise's corpse lying on the Moon's surface alongside the corpse of Willzyx, the titular orca whale from "Free Willzyx".

Luke (Nolan Gould) and Manny's (Rico Rodriguez) hot-tempered basketball coach (Eric Lange) yells at the team all the time and makes cruel remarks. Jay (Ed O'Neill) and Phil (Ty Burrell) try to convince him to treat the kids better but he suddenly quits, leaving the team without a coach in the middle of the game. The coach's departure causes Jay and Phil to jockey for the position.

Claire (Julie Bowen) takes Alex (Ariel Winter) out shopping but their trip is cut off by an encounter with some of Alex's friends from school. Alex decides to go shopping with them instead and Claire feels like her daughter has finally turned into a teenager and does not want her around. Gloria (Sofía Vergara) faces the same problem with Manny when Manny pulls her off to the side and says that her words of affection embarrass him in front of his friends. The two women end up walking together while baby-sitting Lily talking about the problem they face with their kids and how to solve it.

Meanwhile, Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) is still unemployed while Cameron (Eric Stonestreet) has a job with a greeting cards company, causing a role reversal in regards to Lily's parenting. Neither is suited to it, with Mitchell missing the workplace environment while Cameron misses spending time with Lily, although both claim to the other they are fine with the new arrangement. Mitchell takes Cam with him to meet a potential boss, who happens to be a golfing buddy with Jay. Mitchell gets offered the job but he says that he would need to talk it over with Cameron first, with both soon admitting they want things go back to the way they were. Mitchell decides to take the job, however he and Cameron accidentally lock themselves in the garage. Trying to get out, they end up wrecking Mitchell's new boss' Ferrari. Mitchell's new boss tells him he ''has'' to take the new job now.

The novel opens with Sukhen, the protagonist, trying to capture a butterfly. Sukhen goes over to his lover's house early in the morning. Even as he tries to catch a butterfly, he is simultaneously taking with his lover and analysing his own life as he recollects the past. Sukhen had been brought up in a family where he had found no love or affection. His mother died leaving behind her husband and three sons- Keshob, Purnendu, Sukhendu. Both of his elder brothers are politicians and according to Sukhen mere opportunists. The brothers used people for their own benefit and cheat them without remorse. He remembers his mother as an extremely flirtatious woman. Sukhen's father is also devoid of any moral depth and realisation. He was a mean money minded man. Sukhen had grown up with in these circumstances. He became venturous and had no respect for elders and women. The neighbours especially the rich ones feared him. Mr. Chopra, manager of neighbouring industry and Mr. Mittir, the labour advisor, always flattered Sukhen out of fear. Sukhen remembers Jina, the daughter of Mr. Mittir who had been seduced by her kaku (uncle), Mr. Chatterjee, a colleague of her father. Sukhen also had seduced Jina. Sukhen had become addicted to women and alcohol at a very early age, soon after having entered college. Subsequently, he got attracted to a girl named Shikha. Sukhen fell in love with Shikha when he was taking in a hunger strike conducted on the demand to rehabilitate a teacher of his college who had recently been fired by the college authority and to stop the rising of a multi-storeyed building close to the college gate.

Unlike Sukhen, Shikha hailed from a poor family. Her father is a drunkard and numb to the affairs of the family. Shikha's two brothers were subordinates of Sukhen's two elder brothers in the respective political parties of the latter. Her only sister, Bela was married but stayed at her father's house and flirted with several men. However the presence of Shikha in Sukhen's life offered some respite to his careless and perplexed life. This relationship somehow helped to revive the latent sense of humanity in Sukhen. Sukhen hates hypocrisy. He hated those politicians who cheated and oppressed people for their own ulterior need and those teachers who used his students as a political weapon for personal benefits as well as the owners and governing body members of industries who squeeze the labourers; also the parents who were indifferent to their children, the lechers who abused children for sexual satisfaction. He also disliked the heinous attack of American soldiers on prostitutes. The atrocities around him agonised and traumatized him. He sometimes suffers from a subtle pain down to his shoulder and channelised his energy into anger to numb and forget the pain. He pees under his father's table, rumples his brothers' rooms, calls out to servants and so on to divert his attention. Yet, the otherwise brash Sukhen, respected Shulada, an old servant of their house. Keshob, the elder brother of Sukhen, is a powerful political leader. The brother allegedly illegally traded in baby foods and railway spare parts. Keshob has several relations with married women and young girls who were members in his own party. Purnendu, the immediate elder brother is also a political leader and an employee in a governmental office. His political party apparently worked for the poor section of the country and fought for justice but ironically, he is the who copulates with their maid servant's daughter. Both of his brothers want him to join their party! Sukhen refuses to join either of them and severely criticises their agendas. He ends up being the enemy of both the groups.

As we proceed through the novel, we see Suhken breaking off one wing of the butterfly and though Shikha tries to revive it, the fly eventually dies. After having chatted with Shikha for some time, he leaves for home. But instead going home, he moves around on the roads on his bike and sees Nirapodobabu (নিরাপদবাবু), a primary school master watching Ramesh (রমেশ), a worker of Purnendu's party, delivering a lecture. He wonders about the peaceful life of Nirapadababu and dreams of having a wife like Nirapadababu's. He plans of marrying Shikha and living peacefully like Nirapadababu. He also enjoys the company of the superintendent of police of the local police station, N’Kori Haldar (ন’কড়ি হালদার), and Bimol (বিমল) a devoted worker of Purnendu's party. As he thinks of living a simple life with Shikha as his wife, he stops by to meet Mr. Chopra and get himself a job. But Chopra refuses him as he known that Suhken is a hooligan and the local mischief. Perturbed, Suhken wonders who are the simple and good boys? (সাধারন বাঙ্গালি ছেলে কারা?)

Sukhen then goes in search of Shutka(শুটকা), a friend of his. He ends up finding Shibe (শিবে), another friend of him in Doyalda's (দয়ালদা) tea stall. Suddenly he feels that strange pain close to his shoulder. To suppress that pain he has alcohol almost voraciously and goes to Shibe's house and there he meets Manjori (মঞ্জরী) and falls asleep. In the evening, he woke up and found Shutka close to him. He goes to Shikha's house again as he had promised to go there in the evening. At last, he comes back home at night and takes a bath and sleeps without having food. The next day there is a strike. He goes out in the evening and fells in midst of two processions. He gets severely injured in a bomb explosion and is admitted in a hospital. One of his arms had been blown off and he finally succumbs to the injury.

Since 2007, the Hong Kong government banned smoking in all indoor areas, causing smokers from neighboring buildings to gather for cigarette breaks during office hours at trash bins with ashtrays near their work premises. The regulars started sharing small talks and dirty jokes like friends at a hot pot dinner and this community became known as the "Hot Pot Pack".

Jimmy (Yue) is an advertising executive. He meets and befriends Cherie (Yeung), a cosmetic sales girl, at a "Hot Pot Pack" shortly after Jimmy broke up with his girlfriend who cheated on him. Over the next few days, Cherie flirts with Jimmy during their cigarette breaks, and through text messages and excursions at night, this eventually leads to Cherie's break up with her live-in boyfriend. On the night Cherie broke up with her boyfriend, they have a failed one night stand at a love motel. Shortly afterwards, Cherie asks to change to the same telco provider as Jimmy in order to save on costs, but the nuance of this action causes Jimmy to have doubts about his commitment to their relationship. Eventually, through a sequence of escalating conversations, Cherie forces them to confront the change in their relationship and consider whether they are viewing each other as love interests or just as companions during lonely nights.

Manning, owner of the Golden Eye Mine in Arizona, persuades Charlie Chan to help him. To avoid alerting Manning's murderous enemies, Chan registers as a guest at a nearby dude ranch along with his number two son, Tommy, and his black servant, Birmingham Brown. There he meets San Francisco Police Lieutenant Mike Ruark, posing as drunken fellow guest "Vincent O'Brien" to investigate why the mine has suddenly become valuable.

When Chan goes to see Manning, he finds that he has supposedly fallen down a mineshaft, leaving him in a coma. While there, he is recognized by assayer Talbot Bartlett, who knows him from a previous case.

Later, Chan guesses that prospector Pete is stealing ore from the mine, and persuades him to guide him, Tommy and Birmingham to the mine through his secret passageway. However, when they arrive, Tommy and Birmingham find Pete's body.

Chan eventually surmises that much cheaper Mexican gold is being smuggled in and sold in the US at a huge profit by Driscoll and his men.

"Heroic Age"

In the wake of the 2008–2009 "Dark Reign" storyline, it was discovered that Norman Osborn had manipulated several young super-powered people for his own purposes. Six of these teens are now placed in a program called the Avengers Academy located in the Infinite Avengers Mansion, headed by Henry Pym, with Tigra, Justice, Speedball, and Quicksilver as teachers. They say the purpose is to teach these youths how to become heroes. However, the students soon discover that they were selected because their profiles indicate they are the ones most likely to become villains. After finding out the truth, Finesse blackmails Quicksilver to teach her everything he was taught in the Brotherhood of Mutants threatening to expose the fact that he stole the Terrigen Crystals and not the Skrull imposter that he claimed to have committed the crime.

Pym takes the students to The Raft, the supervillain prison as a part of a scared straight tour. During the tour, Hazmat uses an EMP to shut down the prison. Hazmat, Mettle, and Veil locate Norman Osborn's cell in order to exact their revenge. Osborn however manipulates their emotions about the secrets Pym is keeping from them and convinces them that he can someday cure them of their individual maladies.

The students gain notoriety after they defeat Whirlwind. However it is revealed to Striker that his mother paid Whirlwind to stage the attack in order to get him some publicity. Reptil is voted to be student leader but after a confrontation with Mentallo he loses control and nearly kills him. His teachers suggest he seek counseling but he refuses to talk to the faculty. They then set up a meeting with Jessica Jones, who had similar issues and Reptil finally opens about many of the things that have been troubling him, but keeps his concerns about his fellow students and the academy private.

Hank Pym finds a way to bring his late wife the Wasp back to life. But after some convincing and a battle with Absorbing Man, he decides against it because the risks are too great. He adopts his old Giant-Man persona as a way of letting go and moving on.

After video of the Hood assaulting Tigra goes viral, Hazmat, Veil and Striker track down Hood, now depowered, and torture him. Veil records the incident and the students upload the video in the same manner as Tigra's assault. When the students show Tigra the video she becomes furious and expels all those involved. Quicksilver helps Finesse seeks out Taskmaster believing him to be her biological father but is called back early to attend a faculty meeting to determine if Tigra's decision to expel Hazmat, Veil, and Striker was just. The teachers overturn the decision and instead place the students involved on probation. After the expelled students are readmitted, Speedball takes them all on a field trip to Stamford, Connecticut to visit the memorial of the incident that started the ''Civil War''. At the memorial, the group is attacked by the Cobalt Men which Speedball easily defeats using his Penance powers. Veil later sneaks into Henry Pym's lab in order to find a way to help him bring Wasp back.

Veil soon finds that what seemed to be Wasp was in fact Carina, wife of Korvac. Korvac follows Carina back and the Avengers are summoned to fight him. With the Avengers soon defeated, Carina uses her powers to transform the students into adults. Carina tells the students that she has placed their consciousness in their adult bodies from possible futures. After the students defeat Korvac, they revert to their normal bodies with the exception of Reptil, who remains in his adult body from a possible future. On prom night at the Avengers Academy with members of the Young Allies and past members of the Initiative in attendance, Reptil still in his adult body dances with Komodo. When Hardball accuses Reptil of hitting on "his girl", a fight breaks out but is soon broken up by Henry Pym and Speedball. After the fight Reptil speaks with Spider-Girl, who tells him that she liked him the way he was, and reverts to his teenage body.

While the adult Avengers are dealing with the eruption of Mount Etna, Tigra and the students learn that Electro has broken into a French lab. Once on the scene, the students discover the Electro is accompanied by the rest of the Sinister Six. The Sinister Six overpower the students and Doctor Octopus steals a device containing self-sustaining power. The team barely escapes before an explosion takes out the lab. Back at the academy, Henry Pym then tells the students that he has failed to prepare them for such a fight and they will train harder as a result.

The students meet another young super-powered person that was manipulated by Norman Osborn named Jeremy Briggs. Since Osborn's defeat, Briggs has managed to become a billionaire. He shows the students several others teens tortured by Osborn, some of which have decided to use their powers to help people directly. However, when Finesse reveals that Briggs was telling lies and was using the teens for his own purposes, they attacked him. Briggs overpowers the students but ultimately lets them be taken out of his building by security stating that he could kill them if he wishes, but not today.

"Fear Itself"

During the 2011 "Fear Itself" storyline, Henry Pym, Quicksilver, Jocasta, and Justice head out to round up criminals who escaped from the Raft. Tigra and the students are dispatched to Washington DC to help fight Skadi and her mechanized soldiers. Pym is knocked down by Greithoth: Breaker of Wills while Quicksilver and Justice are taken down by Skirn: Breaker of Men. After defeating the remaining soldiers, Tigra and the students return to the Academy when it is attacked by Skirn and Greithoth. The dimensional doors to the Academy are destroyed in the attack and the students become trapped with Skirn and Greithoth inside. The students use the Pym Particle generators to grow out of the subatomic underspace where the Academy resides. However Greithoth sabotages the generators causing the academy to grow with them, which threatens to crush an entire city if it grows to Earthspace. In order to prevent the Academy from crushing the city, the students come up with a plan to destroy it. Even though the plan works, Greithoth and Skirn escape. In the aftermath of the battle, Veil is angry that they were used in war, quits the Academy. Veil takes a job at Jeremy Briggs's chemical company to the dismay of the faculty and students. Speedball, now at peace with his past also decides to move on and return to his life as a full-time superhero with Justice. With the Infinite Avengers Mansion destroyed, Henry Pym relocates the Academy to the former headquarters of the West Coast Avengers in Palos Verdes, California.

"Shattered Heroes"

With the arrival of new students at the academy, the original students fear that they are being replaced. After a confrontation with the faculty and other members of the Avengers, Captain America puts their fears at rest. Quicksilver discovers the body of Jocasta who appears to have been slain inside the academy during the commotion. Henry Pym invites the X-Men to the Academy to help investigate Jocasta's murder. A fight breaks out between Magneto and Quicksilver that involves the rest of the X-Men and the Academy. Once the investigation continues, Pym concludes that Jocasta's attacker must have come from outside the Academy possibly from another era or dimension. The Academy takes in Hybrid after being rescued from a firefight with the Purifiers but it is soon discovered that his intended goal is to establish himself as Wraithworld's king. Hybrid finds an ally in a future version of Reptil, who has taken over his past self's body in order to ensure that certain events occur to maintain his future's history. One of these events is Hybrid "murdering half the Academy"; to facilitate this, Reptil begins to lead students and faculty to Hybrid one by one so that he may feed off of their powers. However Reptil has a change of heart and sends a distress signal to Veil, who returns with Jocasta, and together manage to banish Hybrid from this dimension. Jocasta reveals that she faked her death because she believes that the Academy is putting the students' lives at risk and has since joined up with Jeremy Briggs and Veil. Briggs then appears to recruit other students to his side but after an intense standoff the two sides come to a peaceful resolution; allowing the students to decide for themselves and to work together when necessary.

Shortly after, Striker holds a press conference to publicly announce his coming out. The Runaways use this as an opportunity to sneak onto the campus to convince Pym to help them find Old Lace, who was banished to a secret dimension. After they teleport to a prehistoric dimension and find Old Lace, Nico Minoru reveals that Pym intends to send the youngest Runaways to child protective services. A fight breaks out between the two teams, but is eventually settled after Nico casts a spell that allows everyone to understand each other and Pym agrees to let the Runaways leave on the condition that he is allowed to make periodical check ups.

"Avengers vs. X-Men"

During the 2012 "Avengers vs. X-Men" storyline, the Avengers bring the mutant children left behind by the X-Men following the battle on Utopia to the Avengers Academy to keep them from interfering in the war. Hercules organizes a sports competition between the Academy students and the mutants to ease tensions between the groups but after a while the mutants choose to exclude themselves. Meanwhile, Sebastian Shaw breaks out of the holding cell that Wolverine placed him in inside the Academy. Hercules, Tigra and Madison Jeffries try to stop Shaw, but are defeated. Meanwhile, X-23 tries to figure out whether she should align herself with her former friends from Utopia or her current friends at the Avengers Academy. After talking to Finesse, she witnesses the young mutants from Utopia (now joined by Ricochet, Wiz Kid and Hollow) confronting the Academy students. When Juston Seyfert and his Sentinel try to stop the young mutants, X-23 attacks the robot and forces it to retreat, deciding that the young mutants should not be deprived of their free will to leave the Academy if they want. Shaw then suddenly appears in front of the teenagers. Before a battle begins, X-23 and Finesse warn their friends that Shaw's body language indicates that he doesn't mean to hurt anyone, but to help the mutant children to escape. After both sides agree that the mutant children shouldn't be confined against their will, Tigra suggests to fake a fight in order to justify their escape in front of the cameras at the Academy. After the fake battle, Surge and Dust invite X-23 to join them, but she declines. The young mutants leave, except for Loa, who decides to stay at the Academy.

After the Phoenix Five (consisting of the Phoenix Force-empowered Cyclops, Colossus, Emma Frost, Magik, and Namor) return to Earth and start to reform the world, X-23 feels that Seyfert's Sentinel should be destroyed as it still has the directive to exterminate mutants. But he argues that this directive isn't its primary one and that it learned to overcome it. As Emma Frost destroys Sentinels all over the world, she eventually arrives at the Academy and demands to either destroy the Sentinel or have its programming erased. Juston refuses arguing that it would be like erasing the individual that his Sentinel has become. Giant-Man, X-23 and the other students agree and defend the Sentinel against Emma Frost. As the Academy staff and students fight Emma Frost, both sides of the battle discuss the ethics in her attempt to destroy Juston's Sentinel. Finesse asks for Quicksilver's help, but he refuses, stating that Sentinels only exist as mutant-killing machines; nevertheless, instants after Emma destroys Juston's Sentinel, Quicksilver replaces its central processing core with the one from another robot, thus saving the Sentinel's "life" and memories. After Emma leaves the Academy, Giant-Man and Tigra announce that the Academy will be closed, to keep the students away from the war between Avengers and X-Men.

"Final Exam"

After the closure of the Academy, the students are summoned by Jeremy Briggs, proclaiming that he has found a cure. Veil reveals to the students that she's been cured with Alchemist's new invention called "Clean Slate". After Mettle and Hazmat take the cure, Jeremy reveals his true intentions: to depower superhuman beings and re-disperse their abilities to individuals, whom he deems worthy. After defeating the depowered students with the help of the Young Masters, Briggs extends his offer to Hazmat, Mettle, Striker, and Veil, who accept. The depowered students regroup and manage to take down Big Zero. With the rest of Young Masters and Briggs, believing that they are dead, the depowered students make their way to Brigg's laboratory in search of an antidote. Meanwhile, Striker tricks the Enchantress into giving him the antidote and attacks her but is nearly killed by Briggs. During the commotion, Veil gives the antidote to Hazmat and Mettle. Hazmat rescues Striker but Briggs and the Enchantress escape. In the laboratory, the depowered students defeat Coat of Arms, just as Hazmat, Mettle, Striker, and Veil arrive with the antidote. The students make their way to the roof but find that Briggs as already launched "Clean Slate" via missiles. Lightspeed takes off after the missiles and disarms a couple as Veil tricks Briggs' scientists into releasing Jocasta so that she can redirect the rest. Meanwhile, during the battle between the rest of the students and Briggs and the Enchantress, the latter is injured and retreats while X-23 is knocked unconscious. Finesse then uses X-23's claws to stab Briggs and allows him to bleed to death.

Back at the Academy, the faculty organizes an intramural football game between the Avengers Academy and the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning, and some of the Academy students are promoted to be associate level Avengers while still continuing their training at the Academy.

The play takes place in 1492 in Florence. It features the eloquent preacher Girolamo Savonarola. He had once courted Fiorenza, but was rejected. Now Savonarola preaches asceticism. Fiorenza is an allegory for the city of Florence, and is the mistress of the dying Lorenzo de' Medici, the secular ruler of the city.

Fiorenza cannot escape the charismatic Savonarola, even if she had rejected him as a lover. She confronts the dying Lorenzo de' Medici with this. The art-loving, secular ruler recognizes the religious leader as an equal and calls him brother.

The old witch Surulunda orders little clumsy dragon Hector to find a successor for her. Bringing along a magical book, Hector flies into the room of the young girl Lilly. She agrees to be the new witch, and has to prove her fitness for the job during a probationary period of 99 hours. She has to deal with evil warlock Jerome and his Pug minion who wants to steal the book, which he wants to use to taking over the world. For this purpose he tricks people into looking into his eyes, so that he can hypnotize them. The victims, including Lilly's mother, start to behave oddly and dress in grey.

Lilly and her little brother Leon often quarrel, but when Jerome kidnaps Leon and demands the book for his release, Lilly gives up the book temporarily. The two, together with two boys from school, succeed in recapturing it, thus saving the world from Jerome's control. This also improves Lilly's relationship with Leon.

The player wakes up one day finding that they have been transformed into a Pokémon, without any memory of their past. In a world devastated by many natural disasters — that have only begun to happen quite recently — the player and a newly made friend join forces and form a rescue team. The team meets other rescue teams, including a top-ranked rescue team consisting of Alakazam, Charizard, and Tyranitar, named Team ACT. The team makes enemies unwittingly with another rescue team, Team Meanies, consisting of Gengar, Ekans, and Medicham, who seek world domination under the disguise of a rescue team. Not far into the storyline, the player is told of a legend about a Ninetales laying a curse on a human who had deliberately grabbed Ninetales' tail. Ninetales predicted that the human would eventually be reborn as a Pokémon, and that the natural balance of the world would be upset. In the quest to discover the player's lost memory and purpose as a Pokémon, the team journeys to where the fortune-teller Xatu resides. Xatu is quick to realize that the player was once a human and tells that the player's human-to-Pokémon transformation is tied together with the natural disasters. This conversation is eavesdropped upon by Team Meanies' Gengar, who reveals the player's secret to the townsfolk and says that eliminating the human-turned-Pokémon in the legend would return the world to normal.

They are confronted by Alakazam, who says the Pokémon held a town meeting on what they must do to save the world: they must find and kill the player and anyone who sides with them. As they give the team one night to get away, the two leave Pokémon Square as fugitives and make their way to the northeasternmost part of the world in an effort to elude the teams that are now hunting them down. Along the way, they encounter the legendary birds Moltres and Articuno, who feel the effects of the disasters in their respective areas. They befriend an Absol who seeks to find the true cause of the natural disasters. The trio reaches the top of Mt. Freeze only to be cornered by Team ACT. They get ready to finish the player and partner off, but are stopped by Ninetales, who reveals that the player is not the human in the legend, that both parts of the legend are coincidental occurrences, and that the world is in greater danger caused by the awakening of Groudon. Team ACT proceeds to try and stop Groudon, while the team heads home to clear all remaining suspicion at Pokémon Square. After a few days, the player and the partner worry, as Team ACT has not come back from their mission to quell Groudon. Asking to rescue the missing Team ACT, Lombre refuses to let them go, saying there are plenty of tougher Pokémon than them. Shiftry convinces three of the strongest Pokémon, Blastoise, Octillery, and Golem, to form a special rescue team and rescue Team ACT. After a few days, the special team returns defeated.

After being discouraged by Gengar, the player and partner are able to get everyone's spirits back up, and volunteer to rescue Team ACT themselves. When the team reaches Magma Cavern, they find Charizard and Tyranitar defeated, with Alakazam fighting against Groudon alone before quickly being defeated. The team takes matters into their own hands and defeat Groudon. They return to town as heroes, but their celebration is short-lived as grave news arrives from Xatu. A huge meteor, revealed to be the true cause of the natural disasters, is heading for the world, threatening to destroy it. The only way to stop it is to ask for help from the sky guardian Rayquaza. It is less than cooperative, but after a battle, Rayquaza agrees to use its Hyper Beam to destroy the meteor. The team reawakens on the ground, surrounded by their supporters, where they find that the world is safe once again. However, the player must return to being a human and leave the Pokémon world behind. After the credits roll, the player returns to the rescue team base in Pokémon form and surprises everybody.

As time passes, many more secrets are revealed. A shard of the destroyed meteor opens a secret cave under Whiscash Pond, enabling evolution. It is later revealed that another shard hit Latias' wing, and the team rescues her at Pitfall Valley. It is eventually discovered that Gengar was the human from the legend; after uncomfortably getting the player's assistance, he manages to remove the part of the curse that affected his old partner Gardevoir.

The story opens with an influx of recently decommissioned World War I soldiers descending on New York. Gordon Sterrett is an army veteran on his way to the Biltmore Hotel to meet his friend from college, Philip Dean. Sterrett informs him that he needs to borrow money because he is unemployed and he is the victim of a blackmailing plot by a woman named Jewel Hudson. Sterrett needs $300 to pay off Jewel. He envisions pursuing a career as an artist. Dean, however, is not convinced, characterizing Sterrett as "bankrupt—morally as well as financially."

Dean invites Sterrett to breakfast where they discuss a Yale alumni dance hosted by the Gamma Psi fraternity. Dean pays for the breakfast and offers Sterrett $80. They agree to meet at the fraternity dance.

Two other demobilized soldiers, Carroll Key and Gus Rose, are introduced. Key and Rose are described as "ugly and ill-nourished." A Jewish man preaches on the street about the deleterious effects of the war before he is assaulted by a group of soldiers. The group increases in size, marching down Sixth Avenue toward Tenth Street. Key and Rose join the group but abandon it in search of booze. They travel to Delmonico's restaurant where Key's brother, George, works as a waiter. George takes them to a storeroom that is connected to the ballroom where the fraternity dance is taking place.

Edith Bradin, Sterrett's ex-girlfriend, is at the dance. She seeks to dump her date, Peter Himmel, and meet up with Sterrett. When she sees him, however, she is dismayed by his appearance. Himmel, realizing that Edith has lost interest in him, mingles with Key and Rose, who have joined the party and are intoxicated. Edith leaves the party to meet with her brother, Henry, a reporter at the Radical "New York Trumpet", at the newspaper office. Edith feels that her brother disapproves of her way of life, since as a Socialist he wants a world where such parties will be impossible. However, he tells her to enjoy life as long as she is young.

Jewel Hudson arrives at the dance looking for Sterrett. Sterrett informs her that he could not obtain the $300. They leave the party together.

At the newspaper office, Henry and his co-worker Bartholomew explain to Edith the violent nature of the conflict taking place on the streets. The soldiers, tough they are against war protesters and socialists, they "don't know what they want, or what they hate, or what they like." The group of soldiers, of which Key is a part, attacks the office. The reporters are called traitors. Key is thrown out of a window to his death. Henry's leg is broken.

Intoxicated members from the party go to Child's restaurant after the dance. This group, like Dean and Himmel, is made up of the wealthy. Rose is not. He learns that his friend Key has died. Jewel and Sterrett show up at the restaurant as chaos erupts. Unlike the group of soldiers, this gathering is made up of the well off. Himmel and Dean are thrown out of the restaurant for threatening a waiter and starting a food fight.

After "breakfast and liquor," Himmel and Dean return to the Biltmore after seeing Edith who does not want to speak with them. Sterrett awakens intoxicated in a seedy hotel on Sixth Avenue. He learns that he and Jewel had gotten married the night before. He then leaves the hotel to purchase a gun and returns to his rented room on East Street. He shoots himself in the head and dies from the wound, with the blood spattering on his art supplies.

Arata of another world called and Arata Hinohara of modern-day Japan switch places. An illusion hides the switch from people of both worlds, and Hinohara and Arata pass as each other. Kannagi, a wielder of special sword-spirits called , has led eleven other wielders against their ruler Princess Kikuri and framed Arata, the sole witness. The Imperial Court convicts Arata and exiles him to Gatoya Island, but due to the switch, Hinohara goes in Arata's place.

Kotoha, Arata's childhood friend, accompanies Hinohara and gives him Tsukuyo, a Hayagami that Hinohara activated before his trial. She also gives him a charm , through which he and Arata communicate. Barely alive, Kikuri also speaks to Hinohara through the charm and tasks him with restoring order to Amawakuni. Hinohara escapes Gatoya, learns to use Tsukuyo, and gains allies, including Kannagi. As he defeats the other rebels, Hinohara learns Masato Kadowaki, a bully from his past in modern-day Japan, has followed in his footsteps. After switching places with Harunawa, one of the mysterious Six Shinshō, Kadowaki activates a Hayagami of his own, Orochi, and faces Hinohara in multiple fights. Along the way, Hinohara and Kotoha grow close, and their relationship complicated when Kotoha discovers Hinohara's true identity and when he loses control of his growing power and hurts her.

In modern-day Japan, Arata adjusts to high school and befriends Imina Oribe. Imina, a woman from Kikuri's clan who winded up lost on Earth fifteen years prior, is the true heir. Harunawa, who passes as Kadowaki, plots to kill Imina and end Kikuri's line. Arata and Imina search for information in prophecies on how to foil the Six Shinshō's ambition to rule both Amawakuni and Earth. Harunawa attacks the school and infects the city to augment his powers. Imina counters the outbreak with her Amatsuriki abilities, unique to women of her clan, to protect Arata and the Hinohara family.

The film opens with Dr Fanshawe, a historian, waiting at a railway station for a car to arrive to take him to the house of Squire Richards, where he is to catalogue and value an archaeological collection which is to be sold. He gives up waiting and rides his bicycle to Squire Richards's house. On the way one of his bags falls off. When he unpacks his luggage later he finds his binoculars broken. He borrows a pair from Squire Richards.

During a walk through the countryside with the Squire, Fanshawe looks at a plain field through the binoculars and spots an abbey which is invisible other than through the glasses. Next to it is Gallows Hill, where a number of people were hanged. Richards explains that it was the site of an abbey that was dissolved by Henry VIII and there is nothing left of it but a few stones.

That night Fanshawe goes alone to Gallows Hill. He hears rustling in the bushes and comes to the spot where the gallows once stood. Thoroughly frightened by the feeling that he is being watched, he stumbles out of the woods and makes his way back to the Squire's house.

At dinner that evening Richards's butler, Patten, explains to Fanshawe how a local clockmaker called Baxter became obsessed with the old abbey and began going out at night to dig up the bones of the hanged men. While he was repairing his binoculars he bewitched them so that they would show the abbey to anyone who looked through them. Baxter then disappeared without a trace.

That night Fanshawe has a nightmare in which he goes to the bathroom to get a drink, only to find that the water in the cup is cloudy and contaminated. Hearing the water in the bathtub stop dripping, Fanshawe turns round, to be terrified by a shadowy figure lurking in the darkness wearing a skull mask.

The next day Fanshawe goes back to the site of the abbey with the boiled bones and sketches. Looking through the binoculars at the details of the abbey, he spots a figure lurking by one of the pillars, hears rustling and is knocked unconscious by an unseen attacker. He wakes after dark to find himself being dragged up Gallows Hill by an unseen force to the spot where the gallows stood.

Richards, Patten and a search party go looking for Fanshawe, and find his abandoned bike and sketches. They also spot a flock of birds gathering on top of Gallows Hill. Venturing up to investigate, they are met with the sight of Fanshawe hanging. He subsequently recovers.

The next day Patten burns all the sketches and boiled bones in a bonfire, and throws the binoculars in after them. Squire Richards accompanies Fanshawe to the railway station and then leaves. As Fanshawe sits on a bench waiting for the train he hears a loud rustling noise in the woods behind him.

The film loosely follows an English couple that travels to Cave-In-Rock, Illinois, United States to attend the ninth annual Gathering of the Juggalos. The 2008 event is the first Gathering that the couple has attended. While the couple explores the festival grounds, clips from the multiple events occurring are captured, including professional wrestling from Juggalo Championship Wrestling. Interviews about the fan base are conducted with artists Anybody Killa, Ice-T, Afroman, Boondox, Blaze Ya Dead Homie, Three 6 Mafia, Twiztid, and Insane Clown Posse. Concert footage of the interviewed artists as well as the supergroups Psychopathic Rydas and Dark Lotus is included. The film concludes with the English couple getting unofficially married by Insane Clown Posse member Violent J.

The story begins with Hilde, an elderly woman, awaking in the middle of the night to the sound of her telephone ringing. Upon answering she discovers that her husband, Anton, who was staying at a nursing facility for a severe illness, has died. His death triggers feelings of loneliness and abandonment along with painful memories of the death of her older brother, Hannes, who died during World War II, sending Hilde into a state of panic and despair.

Each day Hilde visits Anton's grave mentally talking to him as if he is still alive. One evening, as she is returning home, Hilde discovers that a black cat seems to be following her. The cat causes her to remember two distinct experiences from her past. The first is a memory from when she was a small child and had attempted to hide a stray cat in her bedroom. Her family was very poor and could not afford a pet, but she saved her table scraps for it anyway. One day as she was coming home, her father met her drunk in the doorway. After telling her he had snapped the cat's neck, he beat her harshly with a fly swatter. This first memory seeped into the second: her daughter, Erika, begging to keep a stray cat she had found. Anton had granted her wish, but the cat ruined the neighbors' gardens and Hilde was forced to drown it in the river.

The following day, Mr. Funk, a friend of her late husband, appears at her door and pressures Hilde to join the Retiree's Union. She joins because Anton had been a member of the Austrian Socialist Party and he would have approved of her socializing with other members. Hilde assures Mr. Funk that she will attend the next evening social. Mr. Funk's visit forces another memory to resurface. She remembers her daughter asking what party Anton had belonged to during the period of National Socialism; Hilde recalled him being part of the Hitler Youth. The reader also discovers that Hilde's brother, Hannes, was killed by the Nazi Party. Erika's insolence upsets Hilde greatly.

Soon after, Erika calls her mother, stating that she will be coming to visit. Erika also grieves her father's death. Hilde becomes impatient with Erika, hinting at the contradictory nature of their relationship. Hilde wants to be with her daughter, yet she feels as if her daughter is a total stranger. Erika acts boldly and actively pursues her career as a writer. Hilde believes the only reason Erika wishes to come home is to get information for her book, which is true. Hilde is angry at her daughter for forcing her to relive her past experiences; her childhood was full of poverty, loneliness, and shame. Anton had been her way out of the past, and she only wants to move forward.

Hilde attends the Retiree's Union social pretending to be happy. She watches the dancers on the dance floor and mourns the absence of her husband. The dancers trigger another memory from her childhood: she sees her father kicking her mother on the dance floor and she runs out to help. Soon, both Hilde and her mother are being beaten on the ground, her father will not let them comfort each other. The only person she can turn to is her brother, Hannes, who comforts her. The memory is too painful for Hilde and she leaves the social immediately.

Erika arrives the next day and announces that they will take a trip to the ''village'' so she can obtain more information for her book. (The reader must assume that the village is in the Mühlviertel.) Hilde does not wish to go, yet does not want to be excluded. As they enter the village, Hilde recalls working hard in the fields to harvest the crop left behind by farmers to have enough food for their large family. She remembers the hunger pangs and how her father could not find work. She remembers Fritzi, a member of her apartment-style household, bringing eggs and bacon on Sundays from the farmers and how she had felt proud carrying the basket into the kitchen. She had wanted her mother to be more proud of her than she was of her older and prettier sister, Monika.

Hilde sees the lifeless and leafless pear tree in the village. She refers to it as the "February Tree", the tree on which Hannes was hanged. She remembers a Nazi in a black uniform telling her at school that her brother was dead. She remembers running through the snow and losing one wooden shoe in an attempt to save him. She remembers discovering he truly was dead and lying in the snow, hoping for her own death. Hilde and Erika visit her old house and she recalls beatings; they then visit the pond where she is reminded of the many loads of laundry she was forced to wash with her mother. She begrudged the freedom of her brothers who were not forced to do work, her oldest sister, Renate, who lived with their grandparents, and her delicate sister, Monika, who was never asked to manage hard labor. They walk down the lane to the old school lined with apple trees; she recalls the rough feeling of cobblestones on her sore feet and the bitter taste of the small apples. She evades a certain barn on the lane and avoids looking out into the distance towards the area which was once the site of Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp.

Upon returning to their hotel room, Hilde reflects on her daughter. Her inner thoughts display envy toward Erika's privilege of being educated and her ability to choose her career. Hilde reveals that she had always wanted to be a nurse, however her dreams of a nursing career were shattered the day her village was bombed during air raids. She had watched her brother Stephen die as she was swallowed by mounds of earth. The raid had made her weak and incapable of dealing with trauma later in her life.

During their stay in the Mühlviertel, Erika is able to extract information about the fateful day in February that Hilde had been pushing from her memory for many years. Hilde relays that in the middle of the night she and her siblings were awakened by the sound of sirens. Her parents and the other tenants of her home were forced to stand for a roll call in which Pesendorfer, the Nazi authority in their house, told the tenants that many Russian convicts had escaped from the nearby concentration camp. He explained that it was their duty to Germany to find and kill each one of these convicts. Hilde, being a young girl, is told to stay at the house. However, she is worried about protecting her brother Hannes, who, like her other brothers, is forced to search for prisoners, and sneaks away to find him.

In her search for her brother, Hilde comes across the barn near her schoolhouse. She enters it, only to find Pesendorfer, her neighbor Mrs. Emmerich, and her brother Walter all violently killing prisoners. She runs home and finds Hannes, who informs her that he has hidden a prisoner in his wardrobe and that she must remain silent about it.

The next morning the villagers attend church to commemorate Candlemas. The hunters seek purification and are urged by their pastor to side with Germany and continue the search for the prisoners. At this insistence Hilde finds herself telling Hannes' secret to her mother. The story is vague about how this information is relayed to Pesendorfer, but, he finds and kills the prisoner, then takes Hannes away to beat him for his misconduct. Hilde recalls cleaning the blood from her brother's face after the beating. The following day, she finds that Hannes has been hanged for his actions. Her guilt in the causation of two deaths is evident through her narration.

Back in the present, Erika is stunned by the horrific story and deeply regrets forcing her mother to relive the event. The novel closes with the image of the mother and daughter driving away from the Mühlviertel, with Hilde at the wheel and her foot on the gas pedal.

Jamie Morgan (Jim Sturgess) is a lonely, troubled photographer with a large heart-shaped birthmark that covers nearly half of his face. He is still a virgin at 25 because a lifetime of alienation and bullying have left him unable to make friends or attract women. At the photographic studio he shares with his brother and nephew Lee, he meets aspiring model Tia (Clémence Poésy).

As Jamie develops photos from a shoot, he notices a disturbing face looking at him from the window of a house. When he goes back to investigate, he follows a suspicious man to a group of hooded vandals around a fire, who emit eerie shrieks. One notices Jamie and shrieks at him. Jamie is shocked to see a demonic lizard-like face under the hood, with huge pin-like teeth. Over time Jamie becomes aware of a series of horrific murders by Molotov cocktail that have been occurring in the neighbourhood. A witness to one of the murders, a little Asian girl, tells a TV reporter that they weren't wearing masks; the demonic faces were real. Jamie's neighbour and new-found friend, A.J. (Noel Clarke) turns up with a huge wound that looks as if it was caused by claw marks. Parts of his dismembered body then turn up in the local area.

Jamie and his mother are walking in the neighborhood when they are attacked by the demonic gang. His mother is immolated while Jamie watches helplessly, and he is savagely beaten and left for dead. While unconscious in hospital he glimpses a man in his dream who says he is waiting for Jamie. Later, he receives a phone call from a man with the same voice, and is guided to the apartment of Papa B (Joseph Mawle) and his assistant Belle (Nikita Mistry), who looks just like the little Asian girl from the TV report. Papa B offers a Faustian bargain: Jamie must fulfil Papa B's desire for chaos with occasional acts of vandalism in return for the removal of his birthmarks. Despite Papa B admitting that he was responsible for his mother's death as a way of bringing Jamie to him, Jamie consents and they shake hands. Jamie is told to immolate himself with a Molotov cocktail in order to be reborn. Jamie miraculously survives and peels away his burned skin to reveal perfect, unblemished skin.

Initially things go well: a chance meeting with Tia leads a newly confident Jamie to spend the day with her in the park, where his beloved, deceased father first taught him to use a camera. The deal sours, however, when the Weapons Man (Eddie Marsan) arrives: Papa B has reneged on their bargain and Jamie must now commit murder by ripping the heart from a living victim. The Weapons Man tortures Jamie until he agrees to kill a street hustler. His hope for a better life returns after he and Tia become lovers. During this time Belle also comes to live with Jamie, after Papa B beat her in a fit of rage. She starts calling Jamie "Dad" and becomes a bit of a guide to him, kindly and pragmatically explaining that he has no choice but to kill, to save his own life—and Belle's. But Papa B is outraged at Belle's betrayal and as punishment demands that Jamie kill a new victim—Tia.

Tia asks Jamie to put a photo album in his work safe, and it is revealed that Tia and Lee (Luke Treadaway) intended to steal his late mother's jewellery. Tia had initially meant only to help Lee gain access to the safe, but she ended up sincerely falling in love with Jamie. During the ensuing struggle Tia is accidentally shot and killed, and Lee is seriously wounded by "She", a gang leader to whom he owed money, and who wears a metallic claw in place of a severed hand.

Jamie is pursued by She but fights back and kills him. He notices that a mark on a wall from She's claw looks just like the wound received by A.J. Jamie tells Belle, who has turned up from nowhere, that she must flee to stay safe, and she disappears. Jamie spies himself in a mirror and sees that his birthmark has returned, and with it the knowledge that it had been there the entire time, even while he was courting Tia. Jamie confronts Papa B's minions and fights them off, but when faced with a larger demon, Papa B in his true form, runs away. Viewers are left to decide for themselves whether Papa B cheated Jamie by never removing the birthmark, or if much of what transpired was the product of Jamie's imagination.

After waking up indoors, Jamie staggers outside. On the ground he sees several masks with sharp teeth, and looks up to see several masked and hooded gang members. But these are ordinary masks made of sacks, not the realistic demon faces Jamie has seen so far. Are these the "demons" he had been fighting a short while ago? Jamie now recalls himself walking and talking with Belle—only now he appears to converse with empty space. As realisation sinks in, a gang member catches him with a Molotov cocktail. As he stands still and burns to death, Jamie experiences a vision of his father, who tells him that you can only see the stars in the blackness of the night. Whether this is a memory or a near-death experience is left unclear. Jamie ascends into bright light. The light fades into a field of stars in the night sky, mirroring the words spoken by his father.

Ted is stunned when his mother and her long-term boyfriend Clint announce they are going to be married. At the reception, Ted is unable to grasp the fact that his mother is getting married a second time before he has even once, and when Clint begins singing an erotic but bizarre song, Ted flees without giving his toast. Three days later, Ted reveals that he has bid for and bought a house. The gang questions his decision, as the house is old and dilapidated, but Ted is convinced that as an architect he can fix up the house once he starts a family. The group berates Ted for making this decision too early, seeing as he is not even married yet.

Marshall tries to take the pressure off his friend by having the group play a game where they try and guess whether Marshall had been a kid or drunk during wild and stupid instances in his life (such as putting fireworks in the microwave). When an inspector arrives and begins rambling off the number of problems with the house, Ted finally agrees with the group, especially after the inspector is injured when he falls through the ceiling. Dejected, Ted wonders if he will ever have the life he dreams of; Lily cheers him up by telling him to bash at the house with a sledgehammer, and the whole group has fun smashing a wall with it.

Ted goes to see his mother and Clint, and gives them the toast he had meant to give earlier. Later, Ted returns to the house, and finds Marshall cooking sausages on a grill in the back, having been invited by Robin. Marshall knows Ted is not going to give up on the house, and Ted thanks him for sticking up for him and tells him his plans for it. Future Ted tells his kids that time can turn what seem to be stupid decisions into something else and that he did achieve his dreams for the house... for it is the same house in which Ted is telling his kids the story of how he met their mother.

Meanwhile, Barney catches Robin crying during Clint's song at the wedding, and takes every opportunity to mock her for it. Robin finally snaps and reveals it was in fact Barney who was crying, and that he offered to pay Robin to keep quiet and say she had been the one shedding tears. Barney explains he was jealous of Clint, revealing he had once kissed Ted's mother while dropping her off at the airport after their brunch in 2006.

The game takes place in Earthrealm, where a tournament is being held on Shang Tsung's Island, on which seven of its locations serve as stages in the game. The introduction to ''Mortal Kombat'' explains that Shang Tsung was banished to Earthrealm 500 years previously and, with the help of the monstrous Goro, is able to seize control of the Mortal Kombat tournament in an attempt to doom the realm. For 500 years straight, Goro has been undefeated in the tournament, and won nine consecutive tournaments. If Goro wins again, Shao Kahn, Emperor of Outworld, will be allowed to take Earthrealm. In order to prevent this, a new generation of warriors must challenge Goro. The player receives information about the characters in biographies displayed during the attract mode. The bulk of the game's backstory and lore was only told in a comic book, but some additional information about the characters and their motivations for entering the tournament is received upon completion of the game with each character.

War reporter Matt Ellman is in Singapore with his girlfriend Jessie, to whom he is about to propose marriage. However, before he proposes, both of them are killed in a terrorist attack by a suicide bomber. Afterwards, they find themselves on a strange planet called Riverworld, where everyone who has ever lived on Earth has been reborn along the banks of a seemingly endless river. Riverworld functions as a sort of purgatory for deceased human beings to get a second chance.

In this world, Matt finds several of his deceased friends as well as historical figures, some of whom are his allies and others who are antagonistic. The antagonists include explorer Richard Francis Burton (who in the books was the main protagonist) and Francisco Pizarro, the Conquistador who conquered the Incas. The friendlier people include American author Samuel Clemens (also known as Mark Twain) and Tomoe Gozen, a 12th-century Japanese warrior from the time of the Genpei War married to Minamoto no Yoshinaka. Along with the other heroes, Matt soon discovers that Riverworld has a deeper purpose and is controlled by otherworldly caretakers who are engaged in a civil war.

14-year-old David Morgan, the handsome and academically gifted heir to a South African business empire and fortune, learns to fly with Barney Venter, a gruff but experienced ex-airline pilot. He realises that David is "bird" – blessed with a natural flying ability. David learns quickly and soon gains his pilot's licence. After school, he opts to join the South African Air Force instead of going to university and business school.

He impresses his commanding officer, the crusty Colonel Rastus Naude, who is disappointed when David decides not to accept a longer service contract and instead tries to seek out what he is meant to do. He travels widely in Europe. In Spain, he meets Debra Mordechai, an attractive young Israeli writer and university lecturer, who is traveling with her brother Joe and his fiancée Hannah. Debra rebuffs David's advances and they part on bitter terms.

David is drawn to Jerusalem to find her and meets "The Brig", her father, General Mordechai, a plain-spoken pilot in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and a senior staff officer. Learning that David has much experience of flying Mirage jets, he satisfies himself of David's skills and then offers him a commission in the IDF. He accepts and is granted Israeli citizenship. He is plunged into Israel's struggle for survival.

David's memories of his own (Jewish) mother and his growing passion for Debra make his involvement with this new country's cause inescapable. He and Debra set up house together. At Joe and Hannah's wedding, a terrorist attack kills Hannah and Debra is left blind. In her grief, she rebuffs David, who only finds solace in the skies.

He and Joe get into a dogfight with Russian-trained Syrian fighters. Joe's aircraft is shot down and David, low on fuel and on the wrong side of the border, is forced to ditch. His jet catches fire and he is badly burned.

A year later, after much plastic surgery and no longer the handsome man he was, David is forced to resign his commission on pain of a court-martial. He is now an outcast, as he had brought Israel to the brink of open war. He desperately seeks out Debra, who is now willing to accept him back, not knowing what he now looks like.

They marry, despite the misgivings and anger of "The Brig" and they travel to the now virtually derelict game lodge that David's late father owned in the South African bush. Remembering all the poaching and "sport" killing that had happened there in his youth, he seeks out the game warden, Conrad Berg, and offers the whole estate as a national park to serve as a haven for animals fleeing poachers.

David falls foul of a particularly ruthless poacher and in the ensuing violence, Debra is badly injured. Pregnant, she loses the baby. But the injury has affected her brain and she can now sense some colours. They travel to Cape Town to consult a top ophthalmic surgeon, who decides to operate despite David's objections.

The procedure is successful and Debra's sight is restored. But she can now see how David really looks and in her panic, she rebuffs him. David is badly hurt and seeks consolation in the only place he feels safe – the sky. He plans to commit suicide by flying until his fuel runs out, but Debra's father, who is visiting and has friends in Air Traffic Control, establishes radio contact with him and convinces him to return to Debra.

Secret agents Dick Dagger and Harper Davis are on the trail of former SS Colonel Rudolph Koffman, who is using a meat-packing plant as his secret lair.

The wheelchair-using Ingrid is Koffman's mistress and runs a beauty spa. A massage therapist there, Joy, reveals to Dagger that another employee, Erica, is being held captive in Koffman's secret lair. Erica has been brainwashed and tries to kill Dagger, but does not succeed.

After the madman also kidnaps Harper, it is up to Dagger to stage a daring rescue operation. He is captured and tortured, but escapes thanks to a laser beam in his wristwatch. Koffman tries to kill him with a meat cleaver, but Dagger foils the villain and gets the women.

In this fictionalized autobiography, the hero Antonio does not arrive as a tourist but grows up in Italy, thus able to show not just the sunny side of life but also some of its shadows. In its structure, the novel reflects Andersen's own life and his travels through Italy. The descriptions of the Italian towns and regions are particularly captivating, expressed in the author's colourful language. Like Andersen himself, Antonio comes from a poor background but fights his way through various crises and amorous relationships until he is finally successful. The last improvisation involves a fishing boat accident in which many lose their lives. But finally Antonio becomes the happy husband of the beautiful young Lara as well as a landowner in Calabria.

Darby receives an envelope from Kohn which contains a file on SAMCRO's dealings with the True IRA. He sets up a meeting with Alvarez and offers to give him the information if the Mayans kill Clay, which would allow the Nordics to gain a foothold in Charming while the Mayans would take over the gun-running business. Alvarez is hesitant at first, but Darby assures him that law enforcement will not investigate too closely as they will be pleased that criminals are wiping each other out. Alvarez accepts the offer and tells his son, Esai, to kill Clay as well as Darby.

SAMCRO are collecting the $70,000 needed to secure another shipment of weapons. A sizeable portion of the money comes from an unwilling Luann, while the rest arrives later that day when Jax comes across a truck driver badly beaten on the highway. He says that the Nordics took his tanker truck because he owes money to them. Jax and Opie then steal the truck back and sell it to Wayne Unser for a knock-down price. Meanwhile, Half-Sack steals an unattended ambulance in a bid to pay back his debt and earn his patch, but the club dismisses the stunt as pointless and unnecessarily risky. Jax goes to the hospital to visit Abel, who Tara says is healthy enough that Jax can hold him for the first time. Gemma worries that Jax and Tara are renewing their relationship.

Clay and Tig set up a meeting with McKeavey at a local Irish bar. They are instead met by Cameron Hayes, McKeavey's cousin, whom informs them that McKeavey has been beaten to death in Oakland on the orders of the port authority boss, Brenan Hefner. The deal goes ahead nonetheless, but as they raise their drinks to their fallen comrade, two Mayan gunmen come in through the door. They fire at Clay but are gunned down by Tig and the shotgun-toting barman; Cameron is shot in the buttocks. Simultaneously, the Mayans assault Darby's house and shoot a Nord footsoldier and two women, but Darby survives and manages to escape.

The Sons realize that the Mayans and Nordics are allied, and that war is imminent. However, Clay and Tig are worried about Jax's commitment to a gang war. Jax assures them that he is fully committed to SAMCRO, but also voices his worries over violence destroying the club. Clay decides to call in Sons leaders from Washington, Utah and Nevada in a bid to wipe out the Mayans. Meanwhile, the stolen ambulance is used to bring Cameron to the clubhouse for medical treatment. Jax says he will get medical supplies from Tara while Chibs, a former British Army medic, will perform the surgery to remove the bullet.

Jax picks up the medical supplies from Tara's house. After he leaves, Kohn emerges from Tara's bathroom and coerces her into having sex with him. At the earliest opportunity, however, she reaches for his gun and shoots him in the stomach. She calls Jax for help. When he arrives, he explains to Tara that Kohn will go to prison for this attack but he will probably come back when he is released. However, when the injured Kohn taunts Tara by calling her a "biker slut", Jax shoots him in the head with his own gun. Tara and Jax then make love while Kohn's iPod plays the Andy Williams song "Can't Get Used to Losing You" again and again. Meanwhile, back at the clubhouse, Tig and Opie prepare SAMCRO for war by gathering weapons.

Although Robin and Don have only been dating a short while, he surprises her by suggesting she move in with him. The rest of the gang think it might be too soon, so she agrees to let them meet Don, which she had specifically avoided before. They enjoy his company, but it soon becomes clear Don does not know that both Ted and Barney had once dated Robin. Don eventually finds out from Barney and Lily about the past relationships and, unable to comprehend that Robin continues to hang out with two of her exes, leaves the bar. Don apologizes the next day and offers to invite them over for dinner.

Once he and Robin have left, Barney reveals to Ted he still wants Robin. Ted tries to convince him he does not, and shows him the "letter"; Ted explains that every time he broke up with someone, he would write a letter to convince himself why he should not get back with the girl in the future. Ted had Barney write such a letter after breaking up with Robin, although it becomes clear after reading it that Barney still misses her. He proceeds to misbehave during dinner, bemusing Robin and Don. Ted reads his own letter; after he mentions Robin's then-fear of commitment, he realizes he too misses her. He and Barney end up arguing about who should get to be with Robin, becoming very drunk. They wind up crashing Don's place, much to Robin's embarrassment, especially as Ted has re-stolen the blue French horn for her.

The next day, a hungover Ted and Barney apologize, but Robin reveals she wants to take a break from the group and has agreed to move in with Don. Several days go by with no word from Robin or evidence that she has moved out, but one day Ted checks her room and finds it empty; all that has been left behind is the blue French horn.

Meanwhile, after spending a weekend sleeping in separate beds at a hotel, Marshall and Lily realize they both enjoy their personal space and get separate beds for their own room; they even plan to get a third bed just for sex. After going to Don's place for dinner, however, Lily begins to fear sleeping apart could ruin their marriage; especially as Don reveals he and his ex-wife slept in separate beds before divorcing. Marshall is not keen on giving up his own bed, but after having sex, he ends up climbing into Lily's bed with her.

Barney is excited to get the gang to come with him to a grandscale fighting match called "Robots Versus Wrestlers". Barney had bought a fifth ticket for Robin, despite knowing she had wished to spend time away from them, and indeed she ends up declining. Meanwhile, Ted finds himself continuously snubbed by his friends whenever he tries to appear intellectual, such as by reciting a poem, as his friends always make fart noises to interrupt him. At Ted's apartment, Barney finds an envelope addressed to Marissa Heller, who Ted explains was the apartment's previous occupant. Ted has been receiving her mail ever since they had moved in 10 years ago, and over the years, he and Marshall had become curious about her personality. Ted opens the envelope, which is an invitation to a high-society party in the Alberta Building, a famous building that Ted describes as the most beautiful in Manhattan. Unfortunately, the party is the same night as "Robots Versus Wrestlers", so Ted convinces the gang they will make a brief appearance at the party before heading over to Robots, having Lily pretend to be Marissa so that they can gain entry to the party.

As Lily is about to introduce herself as Marissa to the doorman, the real Marissa arrives, foiling their plan. Ted manages to impress Marissa with his intellectual knowledge, and Marissa agrees to take the group with her up to the party. Ted has a great time at the party, becoming a big hit, while Marshall, Lily, and Barney find it boring and want to leave. Ted decides to stay, leaving Barney hurt, as he, Marshall and Lily head to the Robots event.

At "Robots Versus Wrestlers", Barney is bothered by the fact that their group appears to be growing apart: Robin moving in with Don, Ted leaving them for the party, and Marshall and Lily possibly having a baby soon. Lily assures Barney that, though they might drift apart, they will still remain friends. Meanwhile, Ted continues to have a good time at the party and begins reciting a poem to everyone there, in the original Italian. As he does so, Ted is amazed no one interrupts him and realizes maybe he has gone too far, and wishes someone would stop him. At that moment, Marshall and the others discover Ted's doppelgänger, a Mexican wrestler at the event. Barney sends Ted a picture, who upon seeing it immediately leaves the party.

At MacLaren's, Marshall asks Lily to seriously consider the possibility of having a baby. Lily points out they will not be able to do as many fun things as before, such as finding Ted's doppelgänger. They agree not to start trying for a baby until after they find the fifth doppelgänger of the group, Barney's. Ted arrives later, where Barney apologizes to him and allows to him to recite another poem. As Ted begins to do so, Robin arrives and interrupts him with a fart noise. As the gang shows her Ted's doppelgänger, Future Ted explains that, although the group grew apart one time or another, they always made sure to get together every year for "Robots Versus Wrestlers".

(This summary is based upon the copy of the Northern Octavian found in Lincoln Cathedral Library MS 91, the Thornton Manuscript.)

The Roman Emperor Octavian, upset that, after seven years of marriage, his wife has born him no child, weeps to himself in bed. Octavian's wife hears this and tries to comfort him with the suggestion that they build an abbey and dedicate it to the Virgin Mary. In thanks the Virgin will provide them with a child, she is sure (Octavian became the Roman Emperor Augustus in 27 BC, nearly thirty years before the birth of Christ. Geoffrey Chaucer also transports us back to the age of Augustus in his Book of the Duchess).

Soon, the empress is pregnant with twins! When her time comes, she gives birth to two healthy boys. Octavian is delighted. His mother, however, tells him that the children are not his, a malicious lie that she tries to corroborate by bribing a male kitchen servant to enter the empress's bed while she is asleep. Octavian is taken to the room, sees the boy, kills him at once and holds his severed head in stark accusation before his terrified wife as she wakes from sleep.

On the day of an important Church service soon afterwards, Octavian's father-in-law is deceived into giving a verdict upon his daughter's alleged crime, not knowing that it is his own daughter whom he is passing judgement upon. She should be burned alive, with both her children, for doing such a thing, he insists. Octavian announces that this shall be done at once! They all gather outside the walls of Rome where huge branches are blackening in the flames. Her father cannot bear to attend. But at the last moment the emperor relents and banishes his wife and her two children into exile, instead.

Wandering alone in the forest, the empress (she is given no name in this romance) lies tired and exhausted at a spring one evening and falls asleep. In the morning, as the dawn chorus begins, an ape suddenly emerges from the forest and steals away one of her babies. Then a lioness appears and takes away the other in its mouth. The woman is distraught! She assumes that she is being punished for her sins and undertakes to journey to the Holy Land, so she travels to the Aegean Sea and takes a ship bound for Jerusalem. On the way, the crew stop at an island to take on fresh water and encounter a lioness suckling a human baby. The empress goes ashore and finds her own baby being treated by the lioness as her cub (a griffin – we already know – had snatched away the lioness shortly after it stole the child and took it to this island, where the lioness had killed it). The empress returns to the ship with her child and the lioness follows. They all arrive in Jerusalem where the King recognises the lady for who she is, names her little boy Octavian and allows her to stay, with her child and her lioness, in wealth and comfort.

The story now turns to the fate of the other child, the one who was taken by the ape, and it is this branch of the story that occupies the greater part of the romance. This child is soon rescued from the ape's clutches by a knight, who then loses the baby to a gang of outlaws who take the infant to the coast to sell. The baby is bought by a travelling merchant, Clement the villain (villain in a feudal sense, as a type of farmhand, not a moral sense; Clement, in fact, earns the listener's sympathy as the story unfolds). Clement does his best for the baby, finds it a wet-nurse, brings it back to his home in Paris and gives it to his wife. They rear the little boy as their own child, naming him Florent. As he grows up, however, Florent's noble blood manifests itself when he prefers to buy a falcon rather than two oxen. On another occasion he shows an inclination to be over-generous rather than drive a hard bargain and Clement despairs, leading to some comical scenes which culminate in Florent's insistence that he should borrow his father's rusty armour to go out to fight against a giant.

The Saracens have invaded France and are laying siege to Paris. The Saracen king has a giant to whom he has promised the hand of his beautiful daughter Marsabelle if he can bring to her the head of the French king, Dagobert. At this moment, the giant is leaning over the city wall of Paris, taunting the population and threatening to destroy them all. Everyone is terrified. Six knights have already sallied out and been slaughtered by this giant. Now he is leaning over the wall again and taunting them all once more.

Florent persuades his father to lend him the rusty armour, laughs as his parents fall over backwards when they try to pull the rusty sword from its scabbard, mounts his horse and rides to the outer wall where the waiting population burst out laughing in anxious derision and shout abuse. 'Here comes a mighty bachelor, magnificent in his saddle!' they cry. 'You can see by his shining armour that he is going to save us from this giant!' :"Ilk a man sayde to his fere, :'Here commes a doghety bachelere, :Hym semes full wele to ryde: :Men may see by hys brene bryghte :That he es a nobylle knyghte :The geaunt for to habyde!'”

Florent, of course, defeats the giant and immediately rides off to present the head to Marsabelle, explaining that the giant was unable to get the head of the King of France for her so he has brought his own instead! Then he tries to abduct her, but he is immediately set upon by all those in the castle, fights his way to safety and returns alone to Paris to a hero's welcome. Florent is knighted and the listener is treated to another comic scene as Clement worries that he might have to pay for the feast that the King of France and the Emperor of Rome have put on in Florent's honour. Yes, the Emperor of Rome, Florent's real father, has arrived in Paris to help life the siege.

The emperor is astounded at the noble bearing of this merchant's son and asks the boy if Clement is his real father. Florent replies equivocally. Clement explains truthfully how he came by the child and the Emperor realises that Florent is his long-lost son. The next morning, Florent rides out to the pavilion of the Saracen king, provoking, by his confident boasts, a military engagement the very next day. He rides back to Paris to warn everybody of the impending battle. The next day the forces engage and the fighting is long and hard. Sir Florent performs magnificently, wearing Marsabelle's sleeve on his lance, and saves the Christian forces from defeat. As night falls and the armies fall back, Florent rides to where Marsabelle is staying, where she vows to marry him and become a Christian, and warns him about her father's invincible horse.

Early the next morning, Clement earns his own moment of glory when he rides into the Saracen camp and, through a brave deception, comes away with this horse to give to his son Florent. Florent, however, in keeping with his true nobility, asks Clement to give it instead to the Emperor of Rome as a gift from himself.

Later that day, battle resumes and Florent brings Marsabelle into Paris by boat. However, things go badly for the Christian army during Florent's absence and it is defeated. They are all led away captive, including Florent, the Emperor of Rome and King Dagobert of France. Suddenly and unexpectedly, however, another Christian army arrives, raised by the King of Jerusalem and headed by Florent's brother Octavian. It vanquishes the Saracen host and when the fighting is over they all retire to a nearby castle where Octavian reveals his true identity to the Emperor of Rome and presents his mother to him. Then the lady notices Florent and recognises him as her own son. ''“Then was thore full mekill gamen, with halsynge and with kyssyngez samen”'' Then there was hugging and kissing!

Florent and Marsabelle are married and return to Rome. The emperor explains what was told to him on that fateful day so long ago, and his mother is sentenced to be burned to death in a brass tub, but conveniently, she takes her own life instead. And so ends the story of Octavian.

The movie follows a group of four friends who arrive to a small town and crash a wedding party in the evening. That night they go out to a disco, and one of them hooks up with a girl. They both head to her place, where they engage in bizarre sexual acts at the bottom of an empty swimming pool.

The following day, the four friends rob a bank, but the getaway is complicated when a policeman spots them as they leave. They are forced to leave the car and split up: Ramiro and Cucurucho remain together and dash down the railroad tracks; they eventually get to a garage, where they hide, accidentally killing the mechanic. They split up: Ramiro stashes himself in a truck, which drives off, whereas Cucurucho hides in a monastery, attacking a group of nuns at gunpoint, and, later on, a blind woman's house. The driver (the man who had met the girl the night before) is pursued by an angry mob, who torches the shed he hides in. As he escapes he is shot; he in turn kills the boy that wounds him. Wading down the river, he manages to get to the girl's house, where she bandages him. Just then a policeman storms in. He is shot and killed, but not before shooting them both, as well as the aquarium they're behind. The fourth member has a friendly encounter with an artist, who helps him; later on he is pursued too and hides atop the church's belltower, holding a priest hostage. He is killed by a sniper.

Throughout the movie, various characters falsely attribute other crimes to the robbers as means of using them as scapegoats. A man asphyxiates his wife with a pillow and claims the robbers did it; a woman likewise accuses one of them of rape.

Ramiro has a brief sexual encounter with a woman, Susana. Cucurucho escapes the blind woman's house and reunites with Ramiro as he steals the very truck in which he was hiding. They have seemingly escaped when they're suddenly forced to stop in front of a cemetery, and are cornered by various arriving truckloads of angry villagers. The camera freezes on the duo as they are stoned by the mob in the cemetery. A text then appears on screen, telling that the following day everything in the village had reverted to normal, and that nobody ever knew what happened to the money.

On December 23, Ranger Dan receives a call that all the trees in the forest are disappearing. Tommy and Julie are concerned, but Dan is doing the investigating. Meanwhile, in another part of the forest, a trio of raccoons (married couple Ralph and Melissa and their friend Bert) prepare their home, The Raccoondominium, for Christmas. Their joy is cut short when they see in the news that all the trees in the forest are disappearing. Nearby, local aardvark millionaire Cyril Sneer is revealed to be the tree thief hoping to make a profit out of the lumber. His college-educated son Cedric tries to talk him out of his crazed plans to destroy the whole forest. Cyril ignores Cedric and chops down a whole line of trees, including the Raccoondominium. However, Cyril loses the Raccoons' tree and Tommy, Julie, and Schaeffer find it and take it home.

Left without a home, the Raccoons try to find who's behind the destruction of the forest. Ralph sees Tommy, Julie and Schaeffer dragging it to the cabin and deduces they are the forest destroyers and follows them. While Tommy and Julie go out, leaving Schaeffer alone in the cabin, the Raccoons sneak inside and find the Raccoondominium decorated with ornaments, tinsel, and lights. As Melissa tries to get their Christmas stockings back, Schaeffer wakes up from his nap and chases the Raccoons through the forest. The chase leads the four animals to Cyril's sawmill, where they find the source of the forest destruction. As Cyril and Cedric head out to cut down the rest of the trees in the forest, the Raccoons and Schaeffer catch the two Sneers. After some convincing that there's a profit in planting trees, Cyril reluctantly agrees to replant all of the trees.

The animals are pleased they have saved the forest, but the Raccoons are still homeless. Schaeffer returns to the cabin, where Julie and Tommy wait for him. Just then, Julie and Tommy see the homeless Raccoons in the cold and realise that their Christmas tree must be the Raccoons' home. Julie phones their father to ask him to find a new home for them. Dan agrees and the group celebrate. The next day Julie and Tommy wake up only to find it is Christmas Eve and they must have dreamed the events of the previous 'day'. However, Dan tells them that the trees have miraculously stopped being cut down. He reads a newspaper article to them which says that thousands of seedlings were planted overnight, but the tree planter is anonymous. Suddenly, Schaeffer, Julie and Tommy see outside the window the Raccoons settling in a newly re-planted tree nearby.

When glee club member Puck (Mark Salling) has his mohawk shaved off at the insistence of his dermatologist for medical purposes, he discovers he is no longer considered a credible bully. He realizes that Mercedes (Amber Riley) has become popular since joining the cheerleading squad, and resolves to date her. Mercedes initially attempts to dissuade him, but after the two sing a duet of "The Lady Is a Tramp", she warms to him. Puck's former girlfriend Santana (Naya Rivera) is jealous, and she and Mercedes sing "The Boy Is Mine". When Mercedes realizes that Puck has returned to being a bully, she breaks up with him and resigns from the cheerleading squad.

Meanwhile, Rachel (Lea Michele) realizes that some glee club members are faking their singing. She tells glee club director Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison), complaining that she is doing most of the work, exhausting herself and getting ill in the process. She reveals the non-participants as Finn (Cory Monteith), Quinn (Dianna Agron), Puck, Brittany (Heather Morris), and Santana. Will gathers the students and gives them a new task for the week: each club member will have to do solos, and each must choose a song that best represents their feelings.

Rachel then confronts the non-participating glee members and insults them, but when she starts to sing Miley Cyrus's "The Climb", she sounds terrible: she has started to lose her voice. Later, after an examination by Rachel's doctor reveals that she suffers from tonsillitis and may need to have her tonsils removed, she is afraid to have the surgery lest it affect her voice, as she believes her singing ability is her only asset. Finn, who accompanied her to the doctor's, tries to convince her that he loves everything about her and that there is more to her than her voice. He warns her that if she loses her ability to sing then Jesse (Jonathan Groff) would no longer find her attractive. Rachel tells Finn that she still cares about Jesse and that he needs to move on, prompting Finn to sing "Jessie's Girl" as his solo assignment. To put her fear into perspective, Finn introduces her to his friend Sean (Zack Weinstein), who was paralyzed from the upper chest down during a football game. At first, Rachel is nervous and overwhelmed by the meeting, but Finn forces her to stay as Sean tells her about his grueling experiences with his disability and how he realized that a person is not just one single thing. She then begins to understand why Finn brought her and thanks Sean as she leaves.

In the meantime, Kurt (Chris Colfer) is jealous of the time his father Burt (Mike O'Malley) is spending with Finn, now that their parents are dating, and attempts to emulate Burt's personality. He dresses in outdoorsman gear, sings John Mellencamp's "Pink Houses" during a glee club rehearsal, and attempts to have a fling with Brittany, making out with her in his bedroom and ensuring that his father is aware of his new behavior. Frustrated that Burt is still spending time alone with Finn, Kurt reverts to his former personality and sings "Rose's Turn". Burt overhears his performance, praises Kurt's singing and apologizes for not spending enough time with him. He reassures Kurt that he still loves him, and always will, no matter who his son chooses to be with.

Rachel eventually recovers her voice after taking the antibiotics her doctor prescribed. She goes back to Sean's house to thank him again, and offers to give him singing lessons. They start singing U2's "One", and the scene switches back and forth between her duet with Sean and the full glee club's performance of the song on stage at school.

Jesse (Jonathan Groff) returns to rival glee club Vocal Adrenaline, claiming that he was not appreciated in New Directions. In a successful attempt at intimidation ahead of the Regionals competition, Vocal Adrenaline gives a performance of "Another One Bites the Dust" in the McKinley High auditorium, and toilet paper New Directions' choir room. The New Directions members become depressed, and club director Will Schuester (Matthew Morrison) tries to reinvigorate them by asking them to perform funk numbers. Quinn (Dianna Agron) performs "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" to vent her frustration of being an unwed teenage mother. Mercedes (Amber Riley) sympathizes with Quinn and invites her to move in with her. Later, Mercedes, Puck (Mark Salling) and Finn (Cory Monteith) perform "Good Vibrations" as their own "funk" number, based on Marky Mark's band name being the Funky Bunch.

Will and Terri (Jessalyn Gilsig) finalize their divorce. Attempting to deal with his sorrow and cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester's (Jane Lynch) incessant bullying, Will seduces Sue with a performance of "Tell Me Something Good" and asks her out on a date, standing her up to humiliate her. Sue withdraws the cheerleading squad from the upcoming Nationals competition and becomes bed-bound. Will sees the negative impact on the cheerleaders and realizes that some of them might lose their college scholarships. Will knows that hurting his nemesis did not make him feel any better, and encourages her to be there for her girls. Sue reenters and wins Nationals, but later gives Will two options: either house her new trophy inside New Directions' choir room, or kiss her. As Will is about to kiss her, Sue backs out and decides she prefers that the trophy be set up in the choir room as a reminder of her superiority.

In retaliation to Vocal Adrenaline's vandalism, Puck and Finn slash the tires of their rivals' Range Rovers. Principal Figgins (Iqbal Theba) thinks they should be expelled, but Vocal Adrenaline director Shelby Corcoran (Idina Menzel) disagrees: she decides not to press charges, but she insists they pay for the damages. She then recommends taking the money out of Glee's budget, but Will says that the club will go bankrupt. Finn then says that he and Puck will get jobs, and Shelby agrees. They begin working with Terri at Sheets-N-Things. Expressing the dissatisfaction in their lives, Puck, Finn, Terri, customer Sandy Ryerson (Stephen Tobolowsky), and employee Howard Bamboo (Kent Avenido) perform "Loser" in a dream sequence. Terri finds that Finn reminds her of Will, and befriends him, helping him with his funk assignment.

Jesse further breaks Rachel's (Lea Michele) heart when he lures her to the parking lot, where he and the other Vocal Adrenaline members throw eggs at her, which leaves Rachel distraught. The male New Directions members, led by Puck, are talked out of violent retaliation by Will, and instead the group performs "Give Up the Funk" to show Vocal Adrenaline that they have not been defeated by their bullying. The performance intimidates their rivals, who unlike New Directions have never been able to master a funk number.

A small Middle Eastern state is coveted by the major powers for strategic reasons.

A wealthy doctor's rich and spoiled son, Johnnie Penrose joins a gang of car thieves in France after being denied a car by his father.

The plot of the Story mode, like many fighting games, is mainly a framing device that serves mostly to explain how such a diverse number of characters would all be brought together. The basic, plot follows, though the specifics differ depending on which character has been chosen to play through, though all tell essentially the same story, if from different points of view.

Every millennia, in order to maintain the cosmic balance of magic amongst the multiverse a tournament is held in order to find the greatest, most powerful mage. The participants in this tournament are all kidnapped from their world of origin and transported to a separate dimension. All are told they must fight and win in order to return home. Along the way one competitor the character comes across is their friend (and/or companion). They first must fight, and when the character succeeds in defeating them, they join forces. Once the character and their companion have faced and defeated all the other competitors, they face the apparent host of this tournament, and are told the truth of the fighting. In order to maintain the cosmic balance of magic among the multiverse, the strongest and most powerful mage must be made a ''teosu'' - sacrificed to run the "magical tuning system Kyrios". The last duty of a ''teosu'' is to select the next one, and the tournament was the most effective way of finding who would become the next. After these characters fight, it is decided that they will all work together to find an alternate solution to maintain the balance, though the plan is never clarified.

Characters

From ''Cardcaptor Sakura'': Sakura Kinomoto From ''Magic Knight Rayearth'': Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu (one character) From ''Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's'': Nanoha Takamachi; Fate Testarossa; Hayate Yagami; Vita From ''Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Strikers'': Takamachi Nanoha StS; Fate T. Harlaown StS; Gadget Drone From ''Magical Circle Guru Guru'': Kukuri; Kita Kita Oyaji From ''Slayers'': Lina Inverse; Naga the Serpent; Lord of Nightmares From ''Magical Girl Kirara & Sarara ~Dioskroi Of Starlit Sky~'': Hoshizora Kirara; Hoshizora Sarara Original characters: Lulu Gelad; Nowel Diastasis

New characters released in the Lyrical Pack (update to 1.50 from 1.05): Vita, Yagami Hayate, Takamachi Nanoha StS, Lord of Nightmares, and Kita Kita Oyaji are not available in Story mode.( Update to 1.70 from 1.50): adds Fate T. Harlaown StS from ''Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS'', and Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu from ''Magic Knight Rayearth'' (they play as one character and the player can swap between them using special moves) but they are also not playable in Story mode.

Its plot involves Arliss as a British Foreign secretary swapping identities with his black sheep twin brother (also Arliss), and the rescuing of Britain from war with an Arab nation.

Roger Lent has worked at the same bank for more than twenty years. He is passed over for a promotion and his wife is not happy because she wants the good life. The family can barely afford a membership at Copper Canyon Country Club, and everyone else has these nice mansions. Roger's boss tells him he has to make more money for the bank in order to get a promotion. One way is to encourage people to invest in Copper Canyon Estates, where Roger's son Henry is being told to cut corners. Roger's daughter Cynthia is having to deal with her first period and becoming a teenager. After getting tennis pro/drug dealer Pat to invest his money, Roger finds out Copper Canyon Estates is a Ponzi scheme and he must decide whether to do the right thing.

Frankie Kane (Barrymore) is brought up in a Catholic orphanage. He befriends a Jewish law student named Martin Cabell (McQueen) and becomes romantically involved with Cabell's maid, Julie (Lita Milan). Kane learns later that he is also Jewish, and when told he will be removed from the orphanage and moved to a Jewish home he runs away and turns to a life of crime. Later, after joining a major crime syndicate, he reconnects with Julie, finally deciding to join Martin, now a district attorney, in shutting down the syndicate.

Reggie Wilson's Hollywood career as a film editor ended after he had an affair with his boss's wife. He then moved to England, became successful and married the daughter of a producer. They are both working on a new film called ''Eclipse''. His new life is threatened when he starts receiving intimate letters from a woman. She reminds him of a relationship that they had some time ago, but has no knowledge of it.

Three best friends journey through high school, college and their professional life, as they remember all their adventures. Joanne is a sweet, naive southern girl. Mary is very confident. Kathy is the planner. In high school, they are the popular cheerleaders and are planning all the social events. They go to college and plan to live together. They end up all in the same sorority, Kappa Kappa Gamma. Joanne gets married and becomes extremely conservative. Mary opens an art gallery and explores sexual liberation. Kathy ends up living the high life in New York City and reads all the books she was supposed to read in college, "they are so much better than the cliff's notes." They end up fighting when they meet at Kathy's fabulous apartment in New York. Joanne gets drunk in response and talks about how she never has a break from her kids and Ted never lets her drink. However, at a funeral, they all make up and they end as they started, three best friends.

Susannah Kelton, a newly married woman who was raised in foster care in the city, learns that her real parents have died and left their property to her. She and her husband Mike travel to the island of Dunwich off the coast of Massachusetts to inspect the property. They find a local culture that is clannish, backward and ignorant. The few friends whom they make among the locals, including Susannah's aunt Agatha, warn them that the family mill is cursed and urge the Keltons to leave immediately and never look back.

Refusing to bow to superstition, the couple consider rebuilding the abandoned mill. They become the target of a gang of local thugs led by Susannah's lecherous cousin, Ethan. Their reign of terror is ended by something still living in the shuttered attic room of the mill, something that caused Susannah to have nightmares as a child.

Dr. Samuelson announces the "Icelandic Ultra Blue jingle" is being retired, and urges America to submit their own entries for a new jingle. Later, after showing several entries, Dr. Samuelson announces that his nephew, Lars won the contest, with seven votes. Later, Dr. Samuelson has returned to his lab where he tells the viewer that they ''will'' buy the product. Dr. Samuelson then says "Phase one is complete" into his watch and looks up menacingly at the viewer along with the three extras in the shot. The screen then fades to black and the words "To Be Continued..." appear, abruptly ending the episode.

Products/locations featured

"Icelandic Ultra Blue Health Emphasizer", "Icelandic Ultra Blue Air purity system", "Kimmels Nazi Gold Exchange", "Fattfuck Splinter-B-Gones", "Icelandic Ultra Blue Embalm Balm", "Temptations" – a Jersey Shore nightclub, and "Icelandic Ultra Stuff" – a cream used to cure shaving bumps.

The movie tells the story of a 49-year-old office worker, who quits his job in Tokyo to become a train driver on the rural Ichibata Electric Railway in Shimane Prefecture.

California fruit picker Paul Rodriguez hopes to someday have a farm of his own. When his friend Lopo Chavez has a car accident, he is insulted with a racial slur by Joe Ferguson, a passenger in the other car.

Joe's father disapproves of this bigotry. Lopo visits his friend Sunny Garcia, whose family publishes a Spanish-language paper called La Luz.

At a dance, Sunny is introduced to Larry Wilder, editor of "The Union", who once was a big-city newspaper reporter. A racially heated fight breaks out at the dance. Paul accidentally strikes Peters, a policeman. Joe is also arrested. A reporter who works for Larry depicts the incident to a Stockton paper as a full-scale race riot. Reporter Jan Dawson arrives to pursue the story.

Peters roughs up Paul in the back seat of the police car. His partner tries to intervene but crashes the car and dies. Paul flees. A dragnet for him begins. It intensifies when a teen farm girl, Mildred, startled at seeing Paul, falls and is knocked unconscious, after which she blames Paul for what happened.

Larry tries to defend Paul in a newspaper article, inciting more anger. Lopo is attacked and a lynch mob for Paul is organized. The newspaper office is destroyed. Larry considers leaving town for good, but he is in love with Sunny, so they decide to merge their newspapers and continue to fight for what's right.

The film revolves around Matt Burns (Muniz), a dorky pizza delivery boy who is forced to ingest a genetically-engineered tomato that was designed to create super soldiers. Matt soon stumbles into a hostile corporate takeover and he must use his new-found powers to save himself, the world, and the girl of his dreams. Matt quickly learns that he can no longer be a pizza boy, and must become a hero, the PIZZA MAN.

Eddie and Joan Booth, a white couple, live next door to Bill and Barbie Reynolds, who are black. Although Joan and Barbie are best friends, Bill and Eddie are complete opposites. Without their husbands' knowledge, Joan and Barbie enter a "Love Thy Neighbour" competition to win a cruise, but must contend with the problem of their antagonistic husbands. To add to the problems, Joan's mother-in-law is coming to stay, and Barbie's father-in-law is coming from Trinidad.

The book is set in Vietnam in 1969 and draws from the experiences of Marlantes, who commanded a Marine rifle platoon. The novel looks at the hardships endured by the Marines who waged the war on behalf of America. It concerns the exploits of second lieutenant Waino Mellas, a recent college graduate, and his compatriots in Bravo Company, most of whom are teenagers. "Matterhorn" is the code name for a fire-support base in Quảng Trị Province, on the border between Laos and the Vietnamese DMZ. At the beginning of the novel, the Marines build the base, but later they are ordered to abandon it. The latter portions of the novel detail the struggles of Bravo Company to retake the base, which fell into enemy hands after it was abandoned.

In an exploration of the abstract and the extreme, ''Second Nature'' is an examination of the natural boundaries of the human body. Noah Sakamoto, Patrick Rizzo and J.M. Duran star as the test subjects as they wield skateboards and blue suits to race down the roads of the High Sierras in California.

When the ocean liner ''Queen Victoria'' arrives in Southampton harbor from New York City, mystery writer Henry Morgan disembarks hastily and calls on Dr. Fell to unfold a remarkable story of mayhem and mystery. It begins with Curtis Warren, an amateur cinematographer who also happens to be the nephew of what Morgan describes as “a Great Personage in the present American Government […] not far from F.D. himself”. One afternoon during the ''Queen Victoria''’s voyage, Morgan and his friends Peggy Glenn and Capt. Thomassen Valvick (Ret.) are summoned to Warren’s cabin, where they find its occupant nursing a wounded cranium and thoughts of vengeance. It seems that Warren inadvertently brought some reels of film on board showing his uncle, near the end of a long dinner party, making an extremely impolite speech about his fellows among the world’s mighty, and that someone has just broken into Warren’s cabin, hit him over the head, and stolen enough of this film to cause unheard-of scandal.

The four of them soon learn that a notorious and dangerous criminal (the “Blind Barber” of the title) is believed to be on board the ship. Concluding that this is the person who stole Warren’s film, they hatch a plan to lure the thief into coming back for the rest of the loot so they can catch him or her in the act. Instead, they end up inadvertently attacking the captain of the ''Queen Victoria'' and stealing, then losing, a valuable emerald elephant – to say nothing of the dying woman they find in one of the cabins, who proceeds to apparently vanish into thin air. In attempting to unravel these complications, our heroes succeed only in creating a great many more; by the end of the voyage, Warren has been confined to the brig, the emerald elephant has inexplicably reappeared and disappeared several more times, a high-tech bug-powder gun has gone berserk, and a drunken puppeteer has started throwing the passengers’ personal goods overboard, among other events.

As Morgan relates all this, Fell, greatly amused, makes notes of sixteen clues that he labels with enigmatic phrases (“The Clue of Terse Style,” for instance). In the end, he interrupts the story to answer the doorbell; when he returns, he is carrying a brown-paper parcel that turns out, in due time, to contain the stolen film. Dr. Fell explains complacently that he’s already identified the Blind Barber to the ''Queen Victoria''’s captain; the last two chapters show him explaining his deductions, both to Morgan and to the Barber himself.

The game takes place in Cairn, a dark, war-torn world where a once proud empire has been brought to ruin and the human race driven to the edge of extinction. Cairn has become ground zero of an eternal war between two otherworldly powers, the Aetherials, who view human bodies as a resource to use, and the Chthonians, who are intent on destroying humanity before that can happen.

Humans at some point had come into communication with extra-dimensional beings. They learned things from the whisperings of these otherworldly entities and eventually attempted to open a portal to bring one across. Naturally, being paranoid of the unknown as humans often are, they also devised a way to imprison it once it came through. Through experimentation, they learned that these beings, made of aether, a sort of spiritual energy, could fuse themselves with the human mind, possessing and controlling their host if they were able to subvert the human's will. The researchers discovered that a human, once possessed, retained heightened abilities after the aetherial being was purged from them. Naturally, this research got out of control as such things always do. The researchers brought over more aetherials, they got loose, the aetherials were able to then open more portals into their own world, bringing over large numbers of their brethren.

While the Aetherials were seeking to use human bodies as a resource, the Chthonians appeared to destroy the human race before that could happen. This cataclysmic war not only decimated human civilization but warped the very fabric of reality and, in its wake, gave life to new horrors.

The world of Cairn can never be fully restored to the way it once was. ''Grim Dawn'' is about survival and adaptation to the grim new reality. Small enclaves of human survivors exist scattered throughout the world, holed up in hidden refuges. These humans have quietly watched the warring invaders destroy one another and have become wise to the strengths and vulnerabilities of their otherworldly foes. A few survivors have begun to exhibit strange new abilities after surviving possession or exposure to the warp. These unnatural powers are feared by some but give many new hope of launching a resistance to fight the "outsiders" and reclaim what's left of their world.

After stopping a group of Vizorium smugglers, Kei and Yuri, the Lovely Angels (more commonly known as the Dirty Pair), are sent on a mission to Agerna, a planet rich with Vizorium, a mineral necessary for space travel. They are sent to stop the mysterious attacks on mining operations that have the governments of the world pointing fingers and blaming each other. While the pair bathe, Carson D. Carson, a former member of the group of smugglers they stopped on their last mission, interrupts their baths by falling through a vent. While Kei and Yuri get out of the bathtubs and question Carson, they are attacked by strange alien monsters that force the Angels to flee, leaving their equipment behind and wearing nothing but towels.

The Lovely Angels are forced to ally with Carson to stop Dr. Wattsman, a mad scientist bent on taking a long dormant alien race, the Sadinga, to its final evolutionary form. After they are captured by Dr. Wattsman, it is revealed that Carson was really trying to obtain a rare World War II-vintage wine. Carson D. Carson is forced to fight Bruno, Dr. Wattman's servant. Kei witnesses the fight and initially believes that Carson is killed by Bruno, but later discovers he survived. Kei, Yuri, and Carson take Wattsman and Bruno into custody. However, Carson accidentally activates Wattsman's equipment and Sadingas all over the planet are awakened and cause chaos.

Magobei Wakizaka is a samurai for the Sabai clan. A nearby island, Sado, boasts a rich gold mine which provides plentiful riches for the Tokugawa clan. When one of the gold ships sinks, the local fishermen recover some of the gold, intending to return it to the Tokugawa clan. However, Magobei's clan master, Rokugo Tatewaki, takes the gold and slaughters the fishermen so they cannot report the gold stolen. Magobei is appalled. He promises not to report Rokugo to the shogunate in exchange for Rokugo's promise to never do so again.

However, three years later, assassins sent by Rokugo's retainer, Kunai, come for Magobei, who is living in Edo. He realizes that Rokugo intends to steal more gold and slaughter more innocents. So Magobei returns to Sabai to face his former master. Rokugo hires another ronin, Samon Fujimaki, to kill Magobei, but Magobei eventually wins him over. Also, along the way, Magobei meets a young woman, Oriha, who survived the original slaughter. She and her brother, Rokuzo, join him on his way to Sabai.

At Sabai they learn that Rokugo intends to move a bonfire, which serves as a warning to passing ships against dangerous rocks, so that a gold ship will hit the rocks and sink. After recovering the gold, Rokugo intends to slaughter the peasants who help him in this endeavor. The combined efforts of Magobei, Samon, Oriha, and Rokuzo result in the correct bonfire being lit, the fake bonfire being put out, and the innocent peasants' lives being saved. Thus the gold-bearing ship evades the rocks. In a final showdown, amid falling snow, Magobei slays Rokugo, but is wounded by one of Rokugo's throwing knives.

Annette Burnier lives with her father, elderly grandmother and young brother Dani in a small village in the Swiss mountains. When she is eight years old her mother dies just after Dani's birth, and since the family is too poor to afford a nanny, Annette takes the responsibility upon herself, arranging with the schoolmaster to study at home under her grandmother's guidance. When Dani is old enough for her to return to school, she does well and often gains top marks. On Dani's fifth Christmas, he puts his slipper outside in the snow, hoping that Father Christmas will bring him a present. In the morning, to everyone's astonishment, a tiny white kitten has snuggled into the slipper. Dani calls him Klaus and the two become inseparable.

Further up the mountain in the next chalet, Annette's classmate Lucien Morel lives with his elder sister Marie and their widowed mother. Lucien finds schoolwork difficult and is frustrated that he is often bottom of the class. He also resents having to help around the home and farm with all the tasks that his father would have done, and his mother and sister criticise his laziness.

Conflict flares one day when Lucien is sledging down to school and accidentally collides with Annette's sledge, throwing her into a ditch full of snow. Out of resentment at her success in school, he doesn't stop to help her, but speeds off to school instead. When she arrives late, cold, wet and grazed, with torn wet books, Annette has to explain what happened. Lucien is caned by the schoolmaster, and ostracised by the rest of the class. While on his way home he vents his frustration by kicking over a snowman Dani has built, causing Annette to run out and slap his face and shout angrily at him.

Lucien's increasing loneliness and festering hurt is directed at Annette and looks for opportunities for revenge. When he sees Dani in a meadow picking flowers for Annette's birthday one day, he grabs the flowers and tramples on them. Then afraid Dani would get him into trouble, he picks up Klaus and holds him out over a deep ravine, threatening (but not intending) to drop the kitten unless Dani promises not to tell. Klaus, however, scratches Lucien, and he lets go by accident. Dani rushes across and falls over the cliff into the ravine while trying to save his kitten. Lucien is terrified and griefstricken, convinced that Dani is dead, and flees home to hide in the barn, unable to face his family. When the worried families find Lucien, he confesses what had happened. Dani's father uses a rope to climb down the ravine and finds Dani still alive at the bottom, but with a broken leg. Dani's leg heals badly, shorter than the other leg, leaving him permanently unable to walk without crutches.

The whole village hears about Lucien's involvement with Dani's accident, and he becomes an outcast. Working hard around the home and farm helps him stop brooding for a while, and his mother praises him for this while his sister becomes kinder to him. But his real solace is to climb to the woods and spend time alone, carving little figures out of wood, which he finds he has a real talent for. Here he meets and makes friends with an old man who lives alone in a tiny chalet high above the village, whose only income comes from selling his own woodcarvings. He mentors Lucien and let him use his woodcarving tools, helping him improve his skills. He also confides in Lucien his life story. As a young man he had been happily married with two young sons and a good job in a bank, but then got into bad company and became addicted to alcohol and gambling. To pay the family's debts he stole from the bank and ended up in prison. His wife died, but his sons were adopted by their grandparents and became very successful. When he got out of prison, he did not want his sons' futures jeopardised by being associated with a criminal, so let them assume he was dead. He had lived alone on the mountain for many years and saved a lot of money from the beautiful woodcarvings he sold, similar to the amount he had stolen. He could not repay the people he had stolen from, since he did not know who they were, but his hope was that instead he might be able to use the money to help someone in need.

Lucien is constantly burdened by the guilt of what he had done to Dani, but Annette's hatred towards him makes it impossible for him to do anything to try and right it. He carves a Noah's Ark full of little animals for Dani, but Annette simply throws it on the woodpile when he tries to deliver it. Lucien also decides to enter one of his carvings for the hand-craft competition at school, but shortly before the competition Annette secretly smashes the carved horse out of spite, but goes on to wins the girls' competition while a boy named Pierre won the boys'. Because of their guilt and bitterness, neither Annette nor Lucien can find peace of mind or happiness.

One night Annette goes out for a walk alone, slips on ice and sprains her ankle very badly. She struggles to the nearest chalet but the owners were away and being unable to walk, finds herself in danger of freezing to death. To her relief Lucien skis past while on his way home from visiting his old friend. She calls for help and he gives her his cloak while he goes home to fetch a sledge. When he returns, Annette confesses to him about breaking his carved horse, but instead of being angry Lucien forgives her and takes her home on the sledge, where Annette invites him in. Later Annette confesses to the schoolmaster, and they agree that he should present her prize to Lucien.

The enmity is over, but Lucien still feels troubled with guilt about Dani's disability. One evening Lucien's sister, who commutes by train to work in a hotel in the nearest town, comes home with a generous tip from a famous orthopaedic surgeon, Monsieur Givet, who is staying at the hotel. Intrigued, Lucien asks whether he can make Dani better, but is told the doctor is leaving the hotel for home early the next morning, and that his fees are far too expensive. Undeterred, Lucien creeps out of the house that night in a blizzard and goes to talk with his friend the old man, telling him about Monsieur Givet and that he might be able to cure Dani. The old man gives Lucien a sock full of banknotes to pay for the treatment, but makes him promise to not tell the doctor where the money was obtained, telling Lucien "Just tell him that it is the payment of a debt." Lucien attempts to climb and ski to the town, which involves crossing a high mountain pass. Despite the atrocious weather he reaches the hotel about 5 am. Monsieur Givet goes with Lucien to visit Dani, and offers to treat him in his hospital. But before he leaves the village, he asks Lucien's sister where the old man lived that Lucien knew, and goes to visit him. He recognises the old man as his father and invites him to come home after telling him how much he had missed him.

Annette goes with Dani to stay in the hospital. His fractured leg is re-broken and set properly, and Dani returns home able to walk and run like any little boy. Everybody is reunited with each other as spring arrives.

Short-order cook Frank Darbo recalls his only two good memories from a disappointing life: marrying his wife, Sarah, and an incident in which he directed a police officer to catch a purse snatcher. Frank immortalizes these two events in a pair of crayon drawings that he hangs on his wall for inspiration. Sarah, a recovering addict, leaves Frank for Jacques, a charismatic strip club owner who gets her hooked on drugs. Frank sinks into depression, where he has a vision in which he is touched by the finger of God and meets the Holy Avenger, a superhero from a public-access television show (based on the actual Christian superhero series, ''Bibleman''), who tells Frank that God has chosen him for a very special purpose.

Frank believes that God has chosen him to become a superhero and goes to a local comic book store for inspiration. His claim that he is designing a new superhero is met with enthusiastic appreciation from the store clerk, Libby. Frank creates a superhero costume and assumes the identity of "The Crimson Bolt". Armed with a pipe wrench, he begins to fight crime by delivering savage beatings to various rulebreakers, ranging from drug dealers and child molesters to a man who cuts in line at the movies. The Crimson Bolt soon becomes a media sensation. Initially, the media view him as a violent psychopath, but he begins to gain public appreciation after the criminal backgrounds of many of his victims come to light.

Frank later attempts to rescue Sarah at Jacques' house, but Jacques' thugs recognize him under the costume and shoot him in the leg as he flees while climbing over a fence. A wounded Frank goes to Libby for help. Libby cajoles Frank into letting her become the Crimson Bolt's "kid sidekick", christening herself "Boltie" and designing a costume. She proves to be even more unhinged than Frank, using her superhero guise to nearly kill a man who possibly vandalized her friend's car. Frank decides to let her go, but changes his mind when Libby rescues him from some of Jacques' thugs at a gas station. Libby soon becomes enamored of Frank, but he turns down her advances, insisting that he is still married.

Arguing that it is different when they are in their superhero identities, Libby rapes Frank while the two are in costume (although she claims to have been suffering from sexsomnia). Frank runs to the bathroom and vomits, where he encounters a vision of Sarah in the toilet. He decides that it is time to rescue her from Jacques. Armed with guns, pipe bombs, and bulletproof vests, Frank and Libby sneak into Jacques' ranch, killing the first few guards they encounter. However, they are both shot. Frank is struck in the chest, his bulletproof vest sparing him, but Libby is shot in the head and killed.

Devastated by her death, Frank goes into a rage, slaughtering all of Jacques' thugs. Inside, Jacques shoots Frank, but Frank gains the upper hand and stabs Jacques to death as Sarah watches, horrified. Frank takes her home, and she stays for a few months "out of a sense of obligation" for saving her life, Frank surmises. However, she leaves him again. This time, she manages to overcome her addiction and uses her experiences to help others with similar problems.

She remarries and has four children. Frank is convinced that her children will change the world for the better. Frank, now with a pet bunny, looks on his wall of happy memories. The wall is covered with pictures of his experiences from his time spent with Libby and pictures of Sarah's kids, who call him "Uncle Frank". Frank looks at Libby's picture, and a tear runs down his cheek.

Most wanted terrorist Saif Rahman Yasin, known as the Emir, secretly enters the United States by private plane. Having altered his physical appearance and living in the state of Nevada, he coordinates his massive operation as leader of terrorist organization Umayyad Revolutionary Council (URC), codenamed Lotus. It aims to weaken the current presidential administration with a series of seemingly isolated terrorist attacks and culminating in the destruction of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, using a nuclear device assembled from radioactive material stolen from an abandoned nuclear waste storage site in Russia, in order to poison the water table for the western United States.

After successfully foiling a hostage situation in the Swedish embassy in Tripoli, John Clark and Domingo Chavez are forcibly retired from their duties in the CIA and Rainbow. They are then recruited into The Campus, where they take part in the organization's hunt for the Emir, which spans through Sweden, Pakistan, Canada, and Libya. They suffer a tragedy when operative Brian Caruso died due to injuries sustained during a firefight with his brother Dominic against URC terrorists in Tripoli. After further investigation and at one point cooperating with National Counterterrorism Center deputy head and Clark's longtime friend Mary Pat Foley, The Campus later deduce that the Emir is in the U.S.

Meanwhile, former president Jack Ryan is working on his memoirs and initially refusing to speak out against his successor, Ed Kealty. When he finds out that the Kealty administration are planning to prosecute U.S. Army Ranger Sam Driscoll for killing sleeping Middle Eastern terrorists in a cave during their fruitless search for the Emir, he decides to announce his candidacy for President of the United States in the next election. After the announcement, charges against Driscoll are dropped and he was given an honorable discharge. Clark later recruits him into The Campus. Additionally, Ryan finds out that his son Jack Ryan, Jr. is working for The Campus as an analyst, which he reluctantly accepts.

URC terrorists destroy a Petrobras oil refinery outside São Paulo, Brazil and trigger a series of attacks on small towns across the United States. Jack and Clark later thwart the destruction of a cargo ship carrying flammable material, killing the Indonesian perpetrators tasked by the URC. Chavez and Dominic are sent to Brazil in order to investigate the refinery incident and later capture a URC courier, who reveals that the Emir is in the U.S. and coordinating the attacks. Along with Clark and Jack, they proceed to Las Vegas to apprehend him, preventing him from blowing up the Yucca nuclear waste storage facility in the process. After returning to Virginia, they interrogate him by injecting him with succinylcholine and simulating a heart attack, allowing him to confess his crimes and reveal the plans behind Lotus, which involves the cooperation of Pakistani intelligence in conquering the country and securing their nuclear inventory (this plot point would be continued in ''Locked On''). After a day of interrogations, the Emir was covertly given by The Campus to the FBI in order to be imprisoned and charged by due process of law.

On his spring break at the seaside, with his wife and his four-year-old son, Bogdan Ciocăzanu (a.k.a. Boogie) runs into his best friends from high-school at the precise date and time that reminds all of them of their most glorious drinking trips and sexual escapades of their younger days. Frustrated that, between his job and his family, time is no longer his to manage and play with, Boogie now takes his shock dosage of freedom and spends a night to tick off all the items on the map of his youth (drinking, games, flirting, prostitutes). In the morning, after the disillusionment of the remake he experiences with his former friends, he returns to his wife.

In 2010, Gil Pender, a successful but disillusioned Hollywood screenwriter, and his fiancée Inez are in Paris vacationing with Inez's wealthy, Republican parents. Gil is struggling to finish his debut novel, about a man who works in a nostalgia shop, and finds himself drawn to the rich artistic history of Paris, especially the Lost Generation of the 1920s. Inez dismisses his ambitions to move to Paris and write as a delusional dream and encourages him to stick with more lucrative screenwriting assignments. By chance, they meet Inez's friend Paul and his wife Carol, and Inez invites them to join her and Gil as they sightsee. Paul speaks with great authority but questionable accuracy on every subject they encounter, even contradicting a tour guide at the Musée Rodin, where he insists his knowledge of Rodin's relationships is more accurate than the guide's. Gil finds him pedantic and annoying, yet Inez adores him.

A night of wine tasting gets Gil drunk, and he decides to walk the streets of Paris to return to the hotel; Inez goes off with Paul and Carol by taxi. Gil stops to get his bearings, and at midnight, a 1920s car pulls up beside him. The passengers urge him to join them and he finds himself at a party for Jean Cocteau attended by notable people of the 1920s Paris art scene: Cole Porter, his wife Linda Lee Porter, and Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald. Zelda gets bored and encourages Scott and Gil to leave with her. They first head to Bricktops, where they see Josephine Baker dancing, and then to a cafe where they run into Ernest Hemingway and Juan Belmonte. After Zelda and Scott leave, Gil and Hemingway discuss writing, and Hemingway offers to show Gil's novel to Gertrude Stein. But as Gil exits the building to fetch his manuscript from his hotel, he returns to 2010: the cafe where he encountered Hemingway is now a laundromat.

The next night, Gil tries to share his time-travel experience with Inez, but she ditches Gil before the clock strikes midnight. When it does, the same car returns. Gil joins Hemingway on his way to visit Gertrude Stein’s apartment, where Gil is introduced to Stein, who is in the midst of giving Pablo Picasso a negative critique of a new painting of Picasso’s lover Adriana. Gil is instantly drawn to Adriana, a costume designer who has also had affairs with Amedeo Modigliani and Georges Braque. Stein reads aloud the novel's first line: Adriana praises his writing, and admits that she has always had a longing for the past, especially the Belle Époque.

Back in 2010, Gil continues his time travel for the next couple of nights. Inez is unimpressed with the boulevards and bistros and Gil's disappearing, while her father is suspicious and hires a private detective to follow him. Adriana leaves Picasso and continues to bond with Gil, although he is conflicted by his attraction to her. Gil explains his inner conflict to Salvador Dalí, Man Ray, and Luis Buñuel, but as surrealists, they find nothing unusual about his claim of coming from the future. Gil later suggests the plot of the film ''The Exterminating Angel'' to Buñuel, which he doesn't understand.

Inez and her parents are traveling to Mont Saint Michel while Gil meets Gabrielle, an antique dealer and fellow admirer of the Lost Generation. He buys a Cole Porter gramophone record from her and later finds at a book stall by the Seine Adriana's diary from the 1920s, which reveals that she was in love with him. Reading that she dreamed of receiving a gift of earrings from him and then making love to him, Gil tries to steal a pair of Inez's earrings to give to Adriana, but is thwarted by Inez's early return to the hotel room.

Gil buys earrings for Adriana and returns to the past. He takes Adriana for a walk, they kiss, and he gives her the earrings. While she's putting them on, a horse-drawn carriage comes down the street, and a richly dressed couple inside the carriage invite Gil and Adriana for a ride. The carriage transports the passengers to the Belle Époque, an era Adriana considers Paris's Golden Age. Gil and Adriana go first to Maxim's Paris, then to the Moulin Rouge where they meet Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Paul Gauguin, and Edgar Degas. Gil asks what they believe the best era was, and the three agree it is the Renaissance. The excited Adriana is offered a job designing ballet costumes and proposes to Gil that they stay, but Gil, upon observing the unhappiness of Adriana and the other artists, realizes that chasing nostalgia is fruitless because the present is always "a little unsatisfying." Adriana, however, decides to stay in the 1890s, and they part ways.

Gil rewrites the first two chapters of his novel and retrieves his draft from Stein, who praises his progress as a writer and tells him that Hemingway likes it but questions why the main character has not realized that his fiancée, based on Inez, is having an affair with a character based on Paul.

Gil returns to 2010 and confronts Inez. She admits to having slept with Paul, but disregards it as a meaningless fling and that they can discuss it after their wedding. Gil breaks up with her and decides to move to Paris. Walking by the Seine at midnight, Gil bumps into Gabrielle; he offers to walk her home after it starts to rain. They learn that they share a love for Paris in the rain.

The film begins with a scene of an armoured personnel carrier (APC) and a military checkpoint in the background. Two men come out of it, one in civilian clothing, the other in a Militia (''Miliţia'') uniform, and light up cigarettes. Suddenly, the soldiers manning the checkpoint open fire and kill all of the APC's occupants.

The film then cuts to a Militia night patrol in Bucharest. Out of enthusiasm, one of the men, Costi Andronescu, abandons the mission and decides to fight for the cause of the Revolution at the Television building. His CO, Lt. Neagu and the rest of the fireteam search for him during the confusing night of 22 December 1989.

Costi meets a group in a truck on their way to defend the TV station. He is in uniform and greeted as a brother and told "you are a civilian now" and he swaps items of uniform with the other men for civilian clothing. He and an unnamed Gypsy are asked to step down as they need to take an injured soldier to hospital after the truck is flagged down.

Costi and the Gypsy end up in a villa with soldiers and fighters under Army command. The villa is under attack by what are presumed to be forces loyal to the Communist regime and the two men are ordered to defend it. At one point, however, they realize that the "enemy" are also Army soldiers and try to explain the situation to one of the officers at the scene, only to be branded "terrorists" and "Arabs". Costi is found to be partly in uniform, which further aggravates their situation. He receives a mild beating and the two are confined in the cellar. Later a Colonel checks out Costi's bona fides and he is allowed to go. Meanwhile, his CO Lt. Neagu (who treats Costi and his men like sons) has been driving all over the city until he calls at Costi's mother's place where they watch TV, smoke cigarettes and wait for him to turn up, fearing he is dead.

Eventually he turns up, they drive back to base. The film ends with them in the same standoff seen at the beginning, sitting in their APC while regular army soldiers ask them to identify themselves at the checkpoint. The men are unsure what to reply, but decide to give their Militia password several times ("the paper will be blue"). The film ends just before the soldiers start shooting.

The movie follows seven college students as they take a weekend trip to a lodge in the Cascade Mountains. As they film themselves for their video blog, they record some strange occurrences. The students and the lodge's caretaker come across a mysterious cave with unusual markings. They soon become hunted by an unknown creature with glowing red eyes.

''The Tatami Galaxy'' follows an unnamed third-year student at Kyoto University, using parallel universes as a plot device to explore how his life would have differed had he joined a particular student society (called a "circle" in Japan). The majority of the series' episodes follow the same basic structure: the protagonist joins a circle as a freshman, but is disillusioned when the activity does not lead to the idealized "rose-colored campus life" he dreamed of. He meets Ozu, another student, whose encouragement sets him on a mission of dubious morality. He becomes close to Akashi, a second year engineering student, and makes a promise to her, usually of and within a romantic subtext. He encounters a fortune teller, who cryptically informs him of an opportunity "dangling" in front of his eyes; this prompts him to remember a mochiguman keychain lost by Akashi and recovered by the protagonist, which he leaves hanging from a pull switch in his apartment and perpetually forgets to return to her. The dubious mission ends poorly for the protagonist, causing him to bemoan the state of his life and wonder how things would have differed had he joined a different circle. Time rewinds, and the subsequent episode depicts the protagonist once again as a freshman, joining a different circle.

The story follows three men in their thirties trying to have their first kid.

J.T. Hope, a former police officer and marine and now owner of the Circle Hope Ranch, decides to start a program for troubled teens on the ranch to help turn them around. The first three boys are Keith (Brian Gross), Brooker (Richard Lee Jackson), and Ernesto (J. D. Pardo). The workers at the ranch are Shorty (Barry Corbin) and a former juvenile delinquent Colt Webb (Lorenzo Lamas), who was given a second chance with the help of J.T. As the program goes on, Brooker and Ernesto make progress but J.T. can't get to Keith. He finds out that Keith was being made to do crime and drugs by his older brother Ajax (Brad Hawkins) and he wasn't actually a bad kid. Keith is driving a tractor and it gets out of control, almost running over a young girl called Molly (Isabelle Howell). JT is really angry at Keith and wants to give up on trying to turn him around, but Molly's mother convinces him to give Keith another chance because he isn't trying to be bad. he next day, the three boys have to go back to Juvenile court, and because they made progress, they are allowed another six months at the ranch, giving Keith another chance. The film ends with three more Juvenile court teenagers arriving at the ranch and Keith telling them the rules of the ranch.

A sixteen-year-old teenage girl (Nadine Garner) is forced to care for her family, when her mother (Sue Jones) finds out she is dying of Hodgkin’s disease. The family consists of her father (Bill Hunter) a reformed alcoholic and recently born-again Christian, her heroin-dabbling closet gay older brother (Craig Morrison), and two trying younger siblings (Bradley Kilpatrick and Kymara Stowers) all packed into a rented flat in the Melbourne bayside suburb of St Kilda. She also has to deal with her pregnant Greek best friend (Mary Coustas), her yearnings for her brother’s lover (Juno Roxas) and her gay former schoolteacher plus his lover.

Opening sequence

An arrow from Merida is shot in the forest, piercing the glass in the "O".

Event chronology

The Camelot events take place after "Dreamcatcher" and before "Nimue". The DunBroch events take place two years after King Fergus' story in "The Bear King" and before the events surrounding Merida's coronation in the same episode. The Enchanted Forest events at Granny's Diner take place after "Dreamcatcher". The Storybrooke events take place after "Dreamcatcher".

In Camelot, the Enchanted Forest and DunBroch

Six weeks earlier in the Camelot dungeon, David, Hook, Merlin and Belle waste no time at all in defeating Arthur's guards, with Hook impressed by Merlin's ability to see the future. They then reach the cell where Lancelot and Merida are being held, with Merlin telling the others that it is enchanted. Belle then gives Merlin a book of spells and makes the bars disappear. Merida tells the rescuers that Arthur took the wisps which she needed to find her brothers, so Merlin suggests that they need to come up with another way to find them. When Belle asks Merida why she was in the dungeon, Merida tells her that the wisps led her to the sea, but the boat she hid out in belonged to Arthur, and that when he found her he then threw her in the cell. Merida then knocks Belle out with a rock and hours later Belle awakes to find herself in a rowboat with Merida. Belle learns that Merida needs Belle's magic to find her brothers. She further explains that the clans kidnapped her brothers so they can force her to relinquish the throne as she is not married.

Merida and Belle later stumble upon a witch's home, where they sneak inside to use a cauldron to do a locator spell, which conjures up a futuristic vision of a Southern moor where three men are vying for Merida's hand in marriage, followed by her three brothers brought in by their captors who remove the bags off their heads. Unfortunately, the United Clans also plan to kills Merida's brothers and take DunBroch from Merida. Belle tells Merida its time to change fate, so Belle reads the scroll. As Belle watches Merida practices her archery skills, she's just finished up creating the potion, which will turn Merida into a bear so she can save her brothers. Belle is skeptical about using the spell to change fate, but Merida says otherwise. As they reach the United Clans, Merida threatens to take them out but as she drinks the potion, Belle told her it wasn't the actual potion, then tells Merida that she should have faith in her own fate without magic. When the United Clans' archers aim their arrows at her brothers and fire, Merida showed them who was in charge by aiming and firing her arrow at the executioners' arrows, destroying them, before bluffing her way out of a swordfight with them. The clans then bow down to Merida to acknowledge her as the Queen of DunBroch. With that out of the way, Merida lets Belle return to Camelot to join the others.

Finally, back in Camelot, Merlin looks at a candy bar when Emma arrives, and Emma remembers Merlin from their encounter in the real world. Merlin reminds Emma of his warning not to pull Excalibur, in order to protect her loved ones, and continues to stress that because of the darkness now within her, it is imperative for her to heed this warning more than ever before.

In Storybrooke

In the Present Day, Regina informs Mary Margaret that Emma has slipped out information about Merlin, then confirms that she has the Crimson Crown which can be used to summon Merlin, but it has to be the one that was chosen by the sorcerer. When Belle suggests Gold, believing that he is no worse that Emma, everyone else turns a deaf ear saying it's a risk they have to take if Gold gets hurt, and a furious Belle storms out. Out in the woods, Gold stares at the chipped tea cup in his hands and says "Forgive Me, Belle," then kisses it and breaks the glass in order to take the shards to free himself from the ropes. When Emma arrives to the spot to see if Gold has made any progress, they discovered Gold has escaped. Emma then forces Merida to find him, and threatens the archer by destroying her heart by having Merida kill Belle in order to turn Gold into the hero she needs to release Excalibur. As for Belle, she uses a street map to find out where Emma is keeping Gold, then hears a noise from the elevator, prompting her to take a weapon. She opens it and it's Gold, who warns Belle that Merida's after her by using Gold to turn him into a hero but in order to do that Emma has made Belle a target, and the two race back to the pawn shop to find magic.

Around the same time, Regina conjures up a potion with Arthur watching, telling her that David explained everything, then Regina gives Arthur the mushroom. Arthur hesitates and says its best to do it alone, and adds that Merlin only delivered prophecies when he was alone with him. David then tells everyone to step aside so he can be alone, but after Arthur tosses the Crown into the fire instead the cauldron, he tells them the spell did not work.

In between the events, Zelena, annoyed with Regina sending healthy food and reading "What to Expect When You're Expecting" at the hospital, is interrupted by Emma, who then materialized the Wicked Witch to her home for onion rings and take out food, as Zelena asks Emma about why she's important. Emma shows Zelena the Apprentice's wand, as Zelena was the only person to wield it and lived, then offers Zelena freedom and protection in exchange for her assistance, but Zelena tells Emma that she is a bad influence as her darkness is already causing Henry to resent her, and a broken heart can't be forgiven. Claiming to be busy with own family problems, Zelena asks to be sent back to her cell; despite this, Emma tells Zelena that she will take the deal soon.

Meanwhile, Belle tells Gold that the coast is clear but before they can make a run for it, Gold tells Belle about his past in the Enchanted Forest during the events of the Ogre Wars and why he sees himself as a coward, but Belle now sees Gold as a hero. When they make it back to the pawn shop, Merida shows up to shoot arrows at Belle, saying that he can't resist the magic. When Merida breaks open the door she walks into a mirror but after she sees their reflection Belle yanks the rug from under her and they escape with a bag containing a potion, then drive to the town line so they can use it, but Belle, worried that Emma will still go after them, demands that she be left out of the car. After she gets out, Belle tells Gold that he still a coward and walks away. Belle then runs into Merida, who then drinks a potion and she turns into a bear and starts chasing Belle, but before she can convince Merida to listen the bear is distracted by Gold, who told Belle to go so he can fight Merida. As the bear sniffs down Gold, he uses an antidote powder to restore Merida back to normal. Despite telling Belle that he didn't know how it worked, Gold told Belle it was her who saved him. The three return to the basement, where Gold agrees to pull Excalibur in exchange for Merida's heart and find out where her brothers are. Gold then pulls Excalibur then places it at Emma's feet, only to have Emma warn Gold that there are heroes around Storybrooke that haven't stopped her, but Gold tells her they're not him.

As for the spell, Regina told Mary Margaret that the spell did work, and as suspected by David, Arthur lied to them, believing that he did not want to contact Merlin. Regina believes the only other person who was chosen by Merlin was the Author, meaning Henry, who is brought in to help them, adding that Emma is still inside the darkness and they can save her. Henry then places the mushroom in the cauldron and an image of Merlin appears, informing them that things are worse than he feared. Regina sourly notes they've gotten Merlin's "voicemail". Merlin says the only way the Dark One can be defeated is by the Nimue, but before he can go any further, Merlin says the Dark One has found him already, and the message is cut short, leading the others to believe that Emma has done something to Merlin.

The story of Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, and Janis Joplin, and how their message for their generation made them targets of a US government plot.

Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) distracts himself from his romantic problems involving the choice between CNBC host Avery Jessup (Elizabeth Banks) and his high school sweetheart Nancy Donovan (Julianne Moore) by attempting to resolve a dispute between two janitors, Subhas (Subhas Ramsaywack) and Khonani (Kapil Bawa). Five years ago, Khonani signed a contract to take the 11:30 p.m. janitorial shift from Subhas and informs Jack that he is ready to start at the new time. Jack grants him permission, and calls a meeting with Subhas informing him that Khonani will take over the 11:30 shift. Subhas is not happy with this, so Jack decides to move him to 10:00 p.m., which Subhas has no problem with. As he begins his scheduled shift, Khonani is unhappy with it as there is no trash to pick up because Subhas has already collected it. Khonani complains to Jack about this, resulting in Jack returning Subhas to 11:30, and Khonani leaving NBC to work at Foxwoods Resort Casino.

Meanwhile, Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) is distraught to learn that although her writing staff sometimes hang out after work, they never invite her. She tells Jack—her boss—about this, however, Jack explains that it is best for her to keep her distance from them. Later, Liz's assistant Cerie Xerox (Katrina Bowden) announces that her wedding is back on and that Liz and Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski) need to plan a bachelorette party for her. Liz decides to have the party at her apartment and prove to her employees—who are invited—that she can be fun to be with. At the bachelorette party, staff members Pete Hornberger (Scott Adsit), Frank Rossitano (Judah Friedlander), James "Toofer" Spurlock (Keith Powell) and J. D. Lutz (John Lutz) show up, but want to leave as they are not having a good time. Liz gets upset about this, calls them out for not inviting her to hang out with them and demands that they apologize to her.

At the same time, Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan) is torn between his commitments to his pregnant wife Angie Jordan (Sherri Shepherd) and his desire to party. He asks NBC page Kenneth Parcell (Jack McBrayer) to assist with any of Angie's needs, however, it becomes too much for Kenneth to deal with and he tells Tracy that he needs to be with her instead. Tracy realizes he needs to be with Angie, but changes his mind and goes to a strip club. After returning home and in order to stay there, Tracy decides to wear his dog's shock collar on himself. Tracy then sends Kenneth to take his place at Liz's party. Unbeknownst to Kenneth, Tracy's dog has followed him to the bachelorette party. Kenneth bursts in Liz's home with Tracy's dog right behind him, resulting in the staff hiding from the dog after it attacks them. They all turn to Liz to get rid of the dog, which she at first refuses. She eventually agrees to help them, after they tell her she is a mother figure to them and that nobody wants to go drinking with their mom. Liz finds comfort in this, so she distracts the dog, and the staff exits her apartment unharmed.

Unlike the comic book and movie, the video game story line introduces all three characters from the start. When Kick-Ass first tries to be a superhero, the thugs beat him. Hit Girl and Big Daddy appear and attack the thugs. The game begins after Kick-Ass is freed from the thugs. The circumstances of the storyline differ depending on which character the player selects. For instance in the film Frank D'Amico's men kidnap Kick-Ass and Big Daddy. In the game's storyline, this would not be possible if the player selects Big Daddy as his or her character, so in that event the game would instead have Hit Girl be kidnapped.

In the era of Mao's Cultural Revolution (in the 60s/70s), 11-year-old Chinese boy Li Cunxin resides in a rural village commune in Shandong Province, destined to labour in the fields. As often occurred in those times, government officials fanning out across the nation seeking young candidates for centralized training arrive at this school. At first bypassed but selected after a plea by his teacher during the school visit, Li seems bewildered although piqued by the gruff preliminary inspection screening at the provincial capital city of Qingdao. Forwarded to a Beijing audition for a place in Madame Mao's Dance Academy, he is admitted for ballet training based on a series of physique and flexibility examinations.

Years of arduous training follow, Li surpassing his initial lukewarm interest and mediocre performance after inspiration from senior teacher Chan (whose advocacy of classical Russian ballet as opposed to the politically aimed, physically strident form required by Madame Mao leads to the teacher's apparent banishment). Later during the course of a groundbreaking cultural visit to China, American-based English ballet director Ben Stevenson, impressed by Li's standout talent, seeks him as an exchange student at the Houston Ballet. Li's determined courage garners a formerly disparaging teacher to influence the Academy to allow him the opportunity for a three-month stay in the United States.

Li's encounters with US life cause questioning of the Chinese Communist Party dictates upon which he has been raised, and he begins a relationship with an aspiring American dancer, Elizabeth Mackey. Quickly attracting the attention of the local ballet scene, Li together with Stevenson requests a time extension in America, but the Chinese government refuses. Overwhelmed by the opportunities offered in America and in love with Mackey, Li is determined to stay. With legal advice that the Chinese government would recognize certain residence rights arising from an international marriage, Li and Mackey rush into a marriage. To declare personal responsibility for his decision and hopefully avoid consequences for his family and Stevenson, Li visits the Chinese Consulate in Houston. The Chinese resident diplomat forcibly detains Li in an attempt to coerce his return to China. Unknown to Li, the situation quickly evolves when the media and high level government agents both in the US and China become involved. When Li perseveres in his refusal to repatriate, the Chinese Government agrees to release him but revokes his citizenship and declares he can never return to the land of his birth.

Li and Elizabeth are set to depart for Florida but Li is persuaded to stay by Stevenson for his ballet company, dooming Elizabeth's prospects of dancing success. Burdened by this, plus concerned for and unable to communicate with his family, Cunxin continues to excel as a dancer, but his relationship with Elizabeth disintegrates and their marriage ends. Five years later, as a show of goodwill the Chinese government allows Li's parents to visit him in the US where they finally witness his performance of ''The Rite of Spring'' and even reunite with him on stage. Li is eventually granted permission to visit China. Together with his new wife Mary McKendry (Camilla Vergotis), an Australian ballerina, and coming back to the village of his youth, he rejoins his family and his former teacher Chan, who expresses regret that he never got to see Li perform. Li and McKendry give an impromptu outdoor ballet performance to the village's uproarious cheer.

Closing credits announce that: Li Cunxin danced in China with the Houston Ballet in 1995, a performance broadcast to an audience of over 500 million people. He and Mary McKendry now live in Australia with their three children. Ben Stevenson left the Houston Ballet after 27 years as Artistic Director. Acclaimed as one of the world's leading choreographers, he is now Artistic Director of the Texas Ballet Theater. Charles C. Foster still practices law in Houston. He is recognized internationally as an authority on Immigration Law. Elizabeth Mackey (Liz) danced with the Oklahoma Ballet for some years. She is now a speech therapist, working mainly with children.

The story begins as the narrator fails out of college. His father offers to send him to Europe to learn languages he could use to help his business. While in Vienna, the narrator meets a girl, Leah. She is Jewish and attempts to give him lessons in German as he introduces her to pieces of Americana. He frequently stumbles over his new language while ingratiating himself with her and her family. They both spend time in his apartment, which is above hers. Some time passes before the narrator transfers to Paris, and then goes back to college in America.

While in school he receives a letter from Leah informing him she is married. As with other letters in Salinger's works, the narrator carries it around with him for some time. News begins to spread that the Nazis have invaded Vienna, and he enlists as an infantryman. Since he is in Intelligence, he uses some of the skills acquired while studying the various languages. The story closes as he is in Vienna, after the war, and hears that Leah is dead. Presumably she was sent to Buchenwald, as the story alludes to this. The narrator finds the apartment, which is now an officer's quarters. He notices everything about it has changed and leaves abruptly.

Barbara (Shirley Temple), the sweetheart of a GI corporal, and Phil (Guy Madison), elope to Mexico City. Barbara discovers that her boyfriend, stationed in the Panama Canal Zone, not only has his flight been delayed but the two become trapped in bureaucratic red tape, including the need for a doctor's certificate, and may not have their wedding before he has to return to his military base. The US Embassy Vice Consul (Franchot Tone) goes to great lengths to intervene and help the young lovers, but frequent misunderstandings jeopardise his own upcoming marriage, including when Barbara's diving accident in a pool makes her want to pursue him instead.

The entire office braces for the fallout of Michael Scott (Steve Carell) learning about his girlfriend Donna's (Amy Pietz) infidelity, but surprisingly, Michael is as cheerful as usual. The office deduces that Michael is secretly still seeing Donna. When they confront him about this, Michael becomes defensive and refuses to cut off the adulterous relationship. Andy Bernard (Ed Helms), having been in the situation of the cuckold when Angela was cheating on him with Dwight, decides to step up and make Michael confront his girlfriend's husband. They both go visit him while he is coaching a high school baseball team, and Andy gets the two of them to talk.

Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) and Angela Martin (Angela Kinsey) are working out the baby contract they signed a few months earlier. Instead of going to court, they have asked a mediator to sort out the issues. After pushing through the contract line for line, which include several bizarre clauses such as one that stipulates "whether this is all part of the Matrix", the mediator determines that the contract is solid but unenforceable. Instead, Angela could sue Dwight for damages up to $30,000 for breach of contract. Knowing that Dwight could never pay her damages, she offers him a "settlement": five separate sessions of intercourse. He accepts. Later, Dwight carries out various methods to try to sterilize himself before the first "session", such as holding his crotch near a running microwave, dropping books on it, and aggressively beating it with drumsticks.

Pam Halpert (Jenna Fischer) and Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) are both exhausted from the long nights with the new baby, and their work is being adversely affected. Gabe Lewis (Zach Woods) catches them both sleeping at their desks and talks to them privately about it. He asks them what they would do about the rumors of printers catching fire, but they both nearly fall asleep listening to him. Darryl Philbin (Craig Robinson) hears them discussing how to get enough energy to make it through the day, and lets them in on a secret sleeping place in the warehouse they can use. Unfortunately for them, this secret location is within earshot of Dwight and Angela's "warehouse meeting" place, where Angela complains about the damage to Dwight's testicles while Dwight gripes about having to perform foreplay.

After returning from the baseball game, Michael expresses a sense of freedom and power from the knowledge that he is having sex with another man's wife. Ryan Howard (B. J. Novak) tries the same attitude and petitions Erin Hannon (Ellie Kemper) for sex, but cannot hold through and says he was just joking. He explains to Michael that to do what he is doing, one has to be completely cold and uncaring of what other people think, and that he does not know how Michael can do it. The rest of the office increasingly shuns Michael. He leaves to secretly meet Donna at a motel for sex, but on the way there has a change of heart and breaks up with her via text message instead. He consoles himself, alone, with his favorite ice cream, and tells the camera crew that he chose being able to live with himself over being happy.

At the end of the episode, Michael is ambushed by WBRE-TV reporters, to whom he begins to confess the adulterous rumours to, before they clarify that they were inquiring about the rumors of Sabre printers catching fire.

In 1905, Dinah Sheldon (Shirley Temple), an enthusiastic art student, is expelled from Miss Ingram's Seminary for wearing two petticoats instead of five, attending political rallies and insisting that she be allowed to study nudes. When she is sent home to Baltimore, Dinah's understanding father, Dr. Andrew Sheldon (Robert Young), an Episcopalian pastor, easily forgives his headstrong daughter this latest calamity, but her mother Lily (Josephine Hutchinson) encourages her to be more conventionally feminine. Dinah's childhood sweetheart, Tom Wade (John Agar), also believes that she should settle down and confesses that, since her absence, he has begun dating the more "continental" Bernice Eckert (Carol Brannon).

Dinah feigns indifference to Bernice, telling Tom that her only ambition is to study art in Paris, and he agrees to help her fulfill her dream. When Dinah is arrested during a brawl in a public park, which starts after four loafers begin arguing over one of her paintings, the overworked Tom is asked to provide bail for all five. Out of gratitude, Dinah offers to write a speech for Tom on equality, which he is scheduled to deliver the next night at the Forum Society's Spring Dance. While preparing the speech, which is a modified version of one of her own debates, Dinah learns that her exit from jail was witnessed by two women, who then relayed the information to Dan Fletcher (Albert Sharpe), Andrew's Scottish vestryman. Dan is upset by the scandal because Andrew has just become a candidate for the new bishop's post, and suggests that he punish Dinah.

Instead, the less ambitious Andrew encourages Dinah's dreams by confessing that, as a youth, he had a short career as a ballroom dancer but gave it up to protect his father's reputation. That night, Dinah shows up late at the Forum Society, and Tom is forced to read her speech cold. He is shocked to discover that her "equality" topic is female emancipation and is laughed at by the large crowd.

The humiliated Tom dotes on Bernice and informs Dinah that he no longer wants to be seen with her. Aware of Tom's rejection, Andrew offers to be Dinah's partner in a waltz contest, and father and daughter easily defeat Tom and Bernice. Later, Dinah visits Tom at the automobile garage where he works as a mechanic and begs him to pose for a portrait she intends to enter in a competition called "Spirit of Labor." Although Tom at first refuses to help, Dinah soon talks him into posing by promising to disguise his face in the finished painting. She then dresses him in a bathing suit and hammer and paints his likeness in the seclusion of the family greenhouse. Dinah enters the painting in the contest anonymously, but because Tom's face is clearly identifiable, her identity is soon surmised. In addition, because she painted Tom as half undressed, her reputation is called into question, and Andrew, who has been nominated to the bishop's job, is suddenly embroiled in yet another scandal.

Tom is then fired from his job and dumped by a jealous Bernice. Pressured by Lily and Dan, Andrew reluctantly agrees to send Dinah to her aunt in Pittsburgh until his promotion is assured. Tom, meanwhile, finds himself hotly defending Dinah's honor to Bernice, and as the contrite Dinah is about to leave for the train station, he insists on riding with her in the family carriage. On the way there, a suffrage parade is harassed by a group of jeering men, and Dinah and Lily come to the women's rescue, causing a small riot. Just as a regretful Andrew is about to rush to the station to bring Dinah home, he learns of the incident and bails his family and Tom out of jail. The next day in church, Andrew tells Dan he has been "ruminating" about his future and delivers a critical, impromptu sermon on tolerance to his congregation. Andrew's stand moves his family to tears, and just as Tom finally confesses his love to Dinah, Andrew learns that he has been made bishop.

The short story presents a humorous account of Genghis Khan's day. The first section is an encounter with a woman in her home, where a soldier instructs the woman to ask the Khan questions about his day with affection, to which he replies in an apathetic manner. The soldier, while repeatedly thrashing and threatening the woman, demands that she continue to ask the Khan questions about his day in an affectionate manner like a stereotypical wife. The Khan takes out some scrolls and begins to read them, while the soldier instructs the woman to continue her line of questioning and eventually nag the Khan. The woman, afraid for her life, finally gives up and falls at the Khan's feet offering herself in order for the ordeal to stop, to which the Khan's replies "No" and "you'd only laugh — you're just like all the others." The section then ends with the line, "He stormed out of the hut and rode off into the night in such a rage that he almost forgot to burn down the village before he left."

The second section deals with a conversation between the Khan and his son, Ogdai, after the Battle of Samarkand. Ogdai tells the khan of his plans to attack Persia the following morning and proceed further in their campaign. Khan replies in a laid-back manner about his busy schedule for the next week and eventually the month of March. He then complains that he will be too busy in April since he has plans to go to Africa. A troubled Ogdai pleads with his father to conquer the world in May. Khan replies "Well, I don't like to commit myself that far in advance. One feels so tied down if one's life is completely mapped out beforehand. I should be doing more reading, for heaven's sake, when am I going to find the time for that? Anyway —" as the Khan pencils down "May — possible conquest of the world" in his scroll without committing to it. Just then, a dark green figure arrives in the tent and introduces himself as Wowbagger, the Infinitely Prolonged. He first approaches the Khan and asks him to check the spelling of his name on his clipboard. When the Khan agrees that the spelling is correct, he proceeds to insult the khan before taking off in his spaceship. The story ends with, "Later that year Genghis Khan stormed into Europe in such a rage that he almost forgot to burn down Asia before he left."

Yung Shing-fun (Lau Siu-ming) and his cousin Man Wing-cheong (Chow Chung) have been at odds for years, over the trade name rights of their family's noodle shop.

Eugene (Roger Kwok), Fun's eldest son engages in a property development project in order to solve the problem. Unwillingly, he offers to buy out the location of Cheong's noodle shop with his company's shares. He also invites Cheong and his son, Fung (Sunny Chan), to join the company's management.

Eugene actually has ulterior motives for doing this, as he hates Fung to the core for marrying his girlfriend Ko Wai-ting (Florence Kwok). On top of this, Eugene's younger brother, Gary (Ron Ng), is going out with Cheong's second daughter, Peace (Kate Tsui), regardless of his family's opposition.

Now, Eugene is at his wits' end as he has to handle his family issues single-handedly. He never understood what family ties really meant, nor had he the courage to try to find it out, until now.

The prologue of Radiant Shadows shows Devlin, the high court's Assassin, agreeing to shelter a spectral girl name Rae in faerie without his queen's knowledge. It then skips forward about a century, to show the high queen, Sorcha, ordering Devlin to kill a baby halfling, the child of the Gabriel, along with a warning that it should "never enter faerie".

The novel then cuts to the present day, to Ani, the halfling whose life Devlin spared, as she tries to fit in with the other hounds, but cannot, due to her father's protectiveness and her mortal blood. Devlin, meanwhile, has been told by Sorcha to stay in the mortal world to keep an eye on her son, Seth. Devlin and Ani meet at the crows nest, where she drains his energy and he leaves with a taste of her blood.

Ani is different from other hounds, due to her ability to feed on both emotions and touch, and mortal and faery. Irial, the former dark king, has been performing tests to identify what about her is different and introduce it to his court to strengthen them. This also, however, draws the attention of Devlin and Sorcha's ''other'' sister, Bananach, the essence of war. She tells Ani that she has to kill Seth and Niall, or give Bananach her blood.

Ani can do neither, and is soon found by an unclaimed steed. Ani, Devlin and the steed -which Ani names Barry, short for Barracuda- leave the state to get away from Bananach.

In Faerie, meanwhile, Rae, who is a dreamwalker, enters Sorcha's dream and gives her a way to watch Seth in the mortal world. Unfortunately, she becomes obsessed with this, and without her rulership faerie starts to dissolve. Bananach pays a visit, and starts killing members of the high court.

Scared, Rae contacts Devlin through a dream and informs him of this turn of events. Devlin and Ani return to huntsdale only to find that Bananach has killed Ani's sister Tish. Ani demands that they should then kill Bananach, "breath for breath", but Devlin informs her that neither of the twins can be killed without killing all of faerie.

Bananach later goes to stab Ani, but Irial throws himself in front of her, taking the wound that would be hers. The knife dissolves inside him, poisoning him, and Bananach says that he will not last the fortnight.

Irial tells his successor, Niall, that he "wishes he hadn't been king when they met", referring to Niall's backstory as revealed in Ink Exchange, then Ani, Devlin, Rabbit and Seth leave for faerie.

Devlin was injured in the fight, and Ani allows him to drink her blood, healing him and binding them together. With Seth returned to faerie, Sorcha awakens, and together Devlin, Ani and Rae form the shadow court to balance the high court. (This, however, leaves the dark court out of balance, this will presumably be remedied in the final book, ''Darkest Mercy''.)

They also seal the veil between the mortal and faerie worlds so that one cannot return to the mortal world without both the High and Shadow court's help.

The film features Major Mahmud/Ananta (M A Jalil), a secret service agent working for Bangladesh Counter Intelligence (BCI), a fictional agency conceived in the Masud Rana series by Qazi Anwar Hussain. With the help of Captain Bobby, Major Mahmud thwarts the international arms syndicate headed by the notorious villain Nino.

2004 (flash-sideways timeline)

After being successfully operated on by Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox), John Locke (Terry O'Quinn) awakens at the hospital. Jack tells Locke that he may be a candidate for a new surgical treatment to repair his pre-existing paralysis and asks Locke how he wound up in his paraplegic state. However, Locke declines the offer. In order to find out more about Locke's paralysis, Jack visits dentist Dr. Bernard Nadler (Sam Anderson) and asks for the dental records from an emergency oral surgery performed on Locke about three years previously. Bernard refuses to breach confidentiality, but tells him that a man named Anthony Cooper (Kevin Tighe) was brought in along with Locke three years ago. Jack goes to a nursing home and visits Anthony Cooper, who is Locke's father in a vegetative state. Claire Littleton (Emilie de Ravin) arrives at the hospital to see Jack. She shows Jack a music box that their father (John Terry) said he especially wanted her to have. Jack then invites Claire to come and stay at his house, stating to Claire that they are not strangers, but rather family. As Locke is preparing to leave the hospital, Jack approaches him and tells him that he went to see Locke's father so that he could find out why he doesn't want the surgery. Locke reveals to Jack that the accident that made him paralyzed was a plane crash; he had just qualified for his pilot's license and his father was his first passenger. Jack tells Locke his father is "gone" and that punishing himself won't bring him back. Locke still refuses Jack's offer and leaves.

2007 (original timeline)

Following the events of "The Last Recruit", Jack awakens on Hydra Island with Sayid Jarrah (Naveen Andrews) by his side. The Man in Black arrives and tells them that James "Sawyer" Ford (Josh Holloway), Claire Littleton, Kate Austen (Evangeline Lilly), Frank Lapidus (Jeff Fahey), Hugo Reyes (Jorge Garcia), Sun Kwon (Yunjin Kim) and Jin Kwon (Daniel Dae Kim) have been taken prisoner by Charles Widmore (Alan Dale). The Man in Black plans to help them escape, run for the Ajira plane and leave the island before Widmore knows what is happening. While Jack agrees to help, he insists that he himself will not leave the island. At Hydra Station, Widmore has Sawyer's group thrown inside the animal cages. Sayid turns off the camp's generator, bringing down the sonar fences which had been keeping the Man in Black at bay. The Man in Black then attacks as the Smoke monster, allowing Jack to free Sawyer's group. After reuniting with Sayid, they head into the jungle to find the Ajira plane. The Man in Black arrives at the plane site before the group, and inspects the interior of the plane after killing Widmore's guards. The Man in Black reveals to the group that Widmore has rigged the plane with C4. Unable to take the risk of using the plane, the Man in Black decides to escape using Widmore's submarine. As they head to the docks, Sawyer asks Jack to stop the Man in Black from getting on board the sub.

At the docks, the survivors manage to board the submarine while Widmore's men attack from the jungle. Kate is shot during the ensuing gun fight, but Jack manages to get her on board after pushing the Man in Black into the water. He gets back out of the water and begins to shoot down the last of Widmore's men. In order to prevent the Man in Black from entering, Sawyer has the sub take off without Claire.

On the sub, Jack discovers the Man in Black has planted the C4 in his bag and has set a timer to detonate. Unable to reach the surface in time, Sayid attempts to defuse the bomb. However, Jack tells Sawyer to let the timer reach zero, believing that nothing will happen to them because the Man in Black is unable to kill them himself. Jack theorizes that the Man in Black united the candidates because he needed them all dead in order to leave the island, and has come up with a plan that will trick them into killing one another by mistrusting each other. Sawyer is unconvinced and pulls the bomb's wires, causing the speed of the bomb's countdown to accelerate. Sayid tells Jack where to find Desmond Hume (Henry Ian Cusick) and runs to the back of the sub with the bomb. The bomb detonates, killing Sayid and causing a massive explosion that proceeds to flood the sub. Frank is knocked out by a door as it gives way to the water. Sun is pinned down by fragments of the submarine. Hurley exits the sub with a wounded Kate, while Jin, Sawyer, and Jack try to help Sun. After Sawyer is knocked unconscious, Jin convinces Jack to leave with Sawyer. Jin continues to try to free Sun despite her pleas for him to go, but to no avail. He tells Sun that he won't leave her. They then embrace as water floods the submarine, drowning them while holding hands.

Jack, Sawyer, Kate, and Hurley regroup at a nearby beach, and mourn those who died. Meanwhile, at the docks, the Man in Black tells Claire that the sub has sunk and there are survivors. He then departs to "finish what [he] started."

The book consists of a prologue and five parts. The first, third and fifth sections are narrated in the first person by the protagonist, Helward Mann; the second follows Helward, but is written in the third person; while the prologue and fourth part center on Elizabeth Khan, also from the third person perspective.

Helward lives in a city called "Earth", which is slowly being winched along at an average speed of 0.1 miles per day (0.16 km per day) on four railroad tracks northward toward an ever-moving, mysterious "optimum". The city, which Helward estimates is long and no more than high, is not on the planet Earth; the sun is disc shaped, with two spikes extending above and below its center. The city's inhabitants live in the hope of rescue from their lost home world.

Upon reaching adulthood at the age of "six hundred and fifty miles", Helward leaves the crèche in which he has been raised and becomes an apprentice Future Surveyor. His guild surveys the land ahead, choosing the best route. The Track Guild tears up the track south of the city to re-lay in the north. Traction is responsible for moving the city, while the Bridge-Builders overcome terrain obstacles. The Barter Guild recruits labourers ("tooks") from the primitive, poverty-stricken nearby villages they pass, as well as women brought temporarily into the city to help combat the puzzling shortfall of female babies. The Militia provides protection, armed with crossbows, against tooks resentful of the city's hard bargaining and the taking of their women.

Only guildsmen (all male) have access to the outside world and are oath-bound to keep what they know a secret; in fact, most people do not even know the city moves. Helward's wife Victoria becomes somewhat resentful when he is reluctant to answer questions about his work.

The purpose and organisation of the city is laid out in a document written by the founder: Destaine's Directive, with entries dating from 1987 to 2023. Helward reads it, but it does not satisfy his curiosity as to what the optimum is or why the city continually tries to reach it.

When Helward is assigned to escort three women back south to their village, he is astonished by what he learns about the alien nature of the world. As they go further south, the women's bodies become shorter and wider, and they begin to speak faster and in a higher pitch. The terrain itself becomes similarly squashed; mountains now look like hills to Helward. One woman has a male baby who, like Helward, does not change shape. Most frightening of all, the guildsman feels an ever-growing force pulling him southward.

Abandoning the women, with whom he now cannot even communicate, he returns to the city. There he finds that time runs at a different rate in the south. In the city, several years have passed, during which the tooks have attacked and killed many children, including Helward's son. Victoria had given him up for lost and remarried. When Helward goes to survey the land ahead, he discovers that time passes more quickly in the north.

While returning from a negotiation at a settlement, he is followed by Elizabeth Khan, herself a relative newcomer to the village. They talk for a while. When they meet again, she mentions she came from England several months before. He becomes excited, thinking that rescue is finally at hand. She is unable to convince him that they are on Earth. Intrigued, she replaces one of the village women and enters the city, which to her looks like no more than a misshapen office block. Once again, she encounters Helward. Having learned about the city, she leaves to apprise her superiors and to do some research.

Two crises strike. After the took attack, it was decided to educate the residents about their situation. This, however, had an unintended effect. Dissidents called the Terminators want to stop moving the city, and are willing to resort to sabotage to achieve their goal. Victoria is one of their leaders. A more imminent problem is a large, unavoidable body of water ahead with no opposite bank visible. Both dilemmas are resolved at a meeting.

Elizabeth explains to the citizens their true situation. A global energy crisis (the "Crash") had devastated civilisation, a disaster from which the world is only gradually emerging. Destaine was a British particle physicist who had discovered a new way to generate power, but nobody took him seriously. The process required a natural component to work. Destaine found one such in China: the optimum. He went there to set up a test generator and was never heard of again. His invention has serious permanent and hereditary side effects, distorting people's perceptions (for example the shape of the sun) and damaging their DNA so that fewer females are born. After nearly two centuries, the city has reached the coast of Portugal, with only the Atlantic Ocean ahead. Most of the residents are convinced, but to Elizabeth's disappointment, Helward refuses to give up his beliefs.

By 2025, fifteen years after the events of ''Zebraman'', Aihara Kozou has been elected governor of Tokyo, which then renamed itself Zebra City. It instituted "Zebra Time", a 5-minute period starting at 5:00 AM/PM during which all crime is legal and the government allows the Zebra Police to attack any and all presumed criminals. Once Zebra Time results in the attempted murder of Shinichi Ichikawa, also known as Zebraman. Shinichi, surviving the attack but having lost his memories, teams up with Shinpei (now a doctor) to save a mysterious little girl from Aihara Kouzou, Zebra Queen and her Zebra Police, and then the world from their ultimate plan to use the strange aliens from 2010 to bring Zebra Time to the whole world.

The near future. Heather O'Grainn is a worker in the Office of Future Threat Assessment in Washington state. Aa variety of groups with diverse aims, but an overlapping desire to end modern technological society (which they call the Big System), create a nanotech plague ("Daybreak") which both destroys petroleum-based fuels, rubber and plastics and eats away any metal conductors carrying electricity. An open question in the book is whether these groups, and their shared motivations, are coordinated by some conscious actor, or whether they are an emergent property / meme that attained a critical mass.

The Daybreak plague strikes, and world governments are helpless to deal with it. Industrial civilization rapidly breaks down, and tens of millions die in the U.S. alone (the global death toll measures in the billions). There is a presidential succession crisis. Just as society in the U.S. seems to start stabilizing, previously placed pure fusion weapons detonate, destroying Washington, D.C. and Chicago. This is followed by additional pure fusion weapon strikes, which are determined to be weapons that are being created on the Moon by nanotech replicators. A shadowy neofeudalist group (the "Castle movement") led by a reactionary billionaire may be inadvertent saviors of society... or may have some deeper involvement in things.

An arranged marriage forces Arabian Princess Scheherazade to marry Prince Murad, a cruel ruler. A thief known as the Desert Hawk hears about the wedding, disguises himself as Murad in order to steal the wedding gifts. The next morning the real Murad shows up and finding the dowry gone orders his men to make it appear that the Desert Hawk has massacred the locals.

When the princess learns she has been tricked she changes clothes with one of her maids, who is then mistaken for the princess and murdered. The servants, along with the disguised princess, are rounded up and sold into slavery. The Desert Hawk purchases her at the slave market.

Meanwhile, Murad in a bid to consolidate his power stirs up trouble a neighbour, telling the princess's father that the neighbour has been aiding the Desert Hawk.

The princess' father entrusts Murad to avenge his daughter and murdered people enabling him to pursue the Desert Hawk to try to get the Princess and power for himself.

George (Freddie Highmore) is a loner high school student with a penchant for drawing and skipping class. He has a nihilistic view of the world which is why he never does homework and skips school frequently. His academic delinquency puts him on academic probation.

One day while on the school roof he encounters another classmate, Sally (Emma Roberts), smoking. When a teacher appears, George pulls out a cigarette and takes the fall for Sally. They become friends.

On career day, George meets young artist, Dustin (Michael Angarano), finding him inspiring. He brings Sally with him to visit Dustin at his studio in Brooklyn and it becomes apparent that Dustin finds Sally attractive. She invites George to a New Year's Eve party where she dances with an ex-boyfriend and George gets drunk, goes outside, throws up, and falls asleep in an alley. Finding him there, she takes him to her place, putting him to bed on a pull-out next to her bed. They grow close and George gets more involved in school.

On Valentine's Day, they go out to dinner and Sally starts asking questions about what he thinks of her. George is evasive, and she asks him if he'll have sex with her. George freezes. Sally backtracks and claims she was kidding. He remains withdrawn and leaves early. He refuses to take Sally's calls and avoids her. One day Sally runs into Dustin in the street and after a while the two of them start a relationship. George, troubled by this, stops doing homework and is again sent to the principal's (Blair Underwood) office.

The principal gives George two choices: be expelled, or make up all of the work he has missed all year. Confronted by his mother and stepfather (Rita Wilson and Sam Robards) at home, he responds by telling his mother that his stepfather has been lying about work. The stepfather attacks him and George knocks him down before taking off. He goes to Sally's and, in the hallway, kisses her. Sally kisses back but breaks away as Dustin is in her apartment. Angry and hurt, George leaves.

The next morning, George finds his mother in the park and she tells him she's divorcing his stepfather. Consoling her, he begins to rethink his life. He decides to make the effort to do his assignments. His art teacher tells him he wants only one project, but that it must be honest and real. George works on his backwork and takes his final exams. Meanwhile, Sally continues seeing Dustin.

One day George gets a message from Sally. They meet and she tells him she's going backpacking with Dustin through Europe and skipping graduation. He tells her he's in love with her and they go back to her apartment, where they kiss. She tells him she loves him too and promises they'll be together one day. George turns in all his assignments and the principal tells him he'll know he's passed if his name is called at graduation. George's art teacher applauds him on his project.

At graduation, George is with Sally's friends with his mother in the audience. Sally is at the airport with Dustin. George's name is called and his mother applauds. Afterwards George is in the art classroom looking at his art project, the portrait of Sally. She walks in, joining him looking at the painting as the film closes.

The film starts with a footballer, Lawrence "Lorry" Gomes, who gets admission into an American college. Due to insufficient funds, he is unable to fulfill his dream. On the other hand, his girlfriend Tani got a scholarship to the US. Though he is happy with his girlfriend's achievement, he becomes depressed for not fulfilling his own dream. His friend Ricky tells him that he can get him into the college, but Lorry will have to smuggle drugs along with him. Lorry agrees and, at the airport, successfully passes the X-ray machine.

ACP Vishnu Kamath is a previously corrupt cop who had accepted a lot of bribes to satisfy his family. However, his family died in a car accident. Several years later, he is offered a job by the Chief Minister of Goa: to flush out all the drug dealers in Goa, which he accepts. His success leads to a panic among the drug suppliers. The drug dealers gather for a meeting led by Zoey Mendosa. Zoey guarantees them that their drugs will be in safe hands if they are given to a mysterious person named Michael Barbosa. Kamath decides to chase Michael Barbosa and finds out about Ricky.

When Kamath reaches Ricky, he is already dead. Kamath finds out about his cocaine-smuggling and his girlfriend, Rozanna. They reach the airport on the same day Lorry is about to leave. Kamath encounters Rozanna and finds a photo of Lorry in her phone. She is allowed to go due to a lack of evidence. Kamath then identifies Lorry as the person he had seen in Rozanna's phone. They detain him and find cocaine stuffed in his bag. Lorry is sent to juvenile jail, where his friend, DJ Joaquim "Joki" Fernandes, tries to get him out. It is then revealed that Zoey and Joki used to be in a relationship. Zoey wanted to be an air hostess, but failed. Joki introduced her to his boss, Lorsa Biscuita, a.k.a. the Biscuit, who had worldwide contacts. With the help of his contacts, Biscuit got her a job in the airlines, though she had to smuggle cocaine to international regions to repay him. She ended up getting caught and was sentenced to 14 years in jail. Biscuit's contact got her free in 14 days, but to repay him, she had to sleep with Biscuit. She broke up with Joki and made her life drug-dealing with Biscuit.

Joki meets Zoey, and the two end up sleeping together. Zoey gives him a video of Biscuit announcing that he is going to have a rave in neighboring Karnataka, out of Kamath's jurisdiction and that Michael Barbosa will be bringing and exchanging drugs. Joki gives this tape to Kamath. When Biscuit learns about Zoey and Joki, he kills Zoey. After recruiting Lorry for help, Kamath attacks Biscuit's party and arrests the drug dealers. When Kamath's colleague Rane asks him about Barbosa, Kamath says that he knows the secret of Barbosa, and Rane kills Kamath. It is revealed that Rane was always involved with Biscuit. Joki later finds out about Kamath's death and arrives at the crime scene, fitting together the pieces as Kamath has. Michael Barbosa is not a man, but a gravesite Biscuit uses for storing drugs. We see Joki carefully storing the bags of cocaine somewhere, then calling Rane to arrange a meeting. Lorry is now free of the charge, and he leaves jail. When Joki and Rane are going to meet Biscuit, Joki kills Rane, saying that he knows Rane is the person who killed Kamath. Kamath's body is being cremated in an electric furnace owned by Biscuit. We see that this is where Joki has put the drugs, and Biscuit arrives only too late. Having been brought down by the destruction of his stockpile, Biscuit is killed by a woman, possibly Rozanna. Lorry comes to a beach party where Joki is singing, and Tani joins him in a joyful reunion. The film ends with Joki on his bike, riding off into the sunset, remembering Kamath and Zoey.