From Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License ===== The series is set in the near future in the United States. In 1990, a flying saucer crashes in the Mojave Desert containing a race of extraterrestrials, the Tenctonese, escaping from slavery under a cruel Overseer race. They resemble humans but have certain anatomical differences, and have been bred with greater physical strength and intelligence. These Newcomers, as they are called, are accepted as the latest immigrants to the U.S. and the series explores issues around their integration into the multicultural society of the U.S. The storylines generally revolved around morality plays on the evils of racism and bigotry using Newcomers as the discriminated minority. As fictional extraterrestrial immigrants, the Newcomers could stand in for social issues about various races, as well as sexual minorities such as gays and lesbians, and would invert the usual expectations. For instance, during the run of the series, George became pregnant (the male of his species carrying the fetus for part of its gestation) and during much of the episode dialog included lines like, "If you females had to feel the pain we males feel during pregnancy, there wouldn't be any babies." The series offered social commentary by illustrating what it means to be human and the often bizarre rituals we observe. ===== The year is 1991, three years since an unidentified flying object bearing 300,000 enslaved aliens, the Newcomers, landed in the Mojave Desert on planet Earth. Los Angeles later becomes their new home. Matthew Sykes (Caan), a police detective, loses his partner Bill Tuggle (Brown) in a shootout; the detectives had been trying to stop two Newcomer criminals murdering another Newcomer named Porter at a grocery, in what appeared to be a robbery. The next day, Sykes' superior Captain Warner (McCarthy), informs his squad that they will have to work with the newly promoted Newcomer detective Sam Francisco (Patinkin). Although biased, Sykes enlists to work with Francisco to investigate a similar homicide with a Newcomer named Warren Hubely, feeling that if he investigates that crime, he will also find opportunities to investigate his partner's death (which he is officially forbidden to do). While at a crime lab, trying unobtrusively to establish a connection between the two cases, Francisco detects an abnormality on the body of one of the Newcomer criminals who was killed in the robbery. Later, Sykes and Francisco are led to a nightclub to investigate a link in the killings with a Newcomer named Joshua Strader (Kober). However, they end up interviewing his girlfriend instead, after Strader is murdered by a criminal ring led by Newcomer businessman William Harcourt (Stamp) and his henchman Rudyard Kipling (Howard). Harcourt is in the advanced stages of launching a scheme to exploit the alien race by attempting to mass-produce and sell a drug called Jabroka. The drug was used in the past to pacify the Newcomers when they were slaves, but has no effect on humans. The abnormality noticed by Francisco on the body of the Newcomer criminal earlier turns out to have been a visual sign of the drug's influence. The Newcomers Hubley, Porter, and Strader were involved in the planning phases of the operation, but were later murdered due to Harcourt's desire to exclude them from any future financial rewards. Ultimately, Sykes and Francisco track down Harcourt, who is negotiating a timetable for the release of the potent drug. The detectives attempt to foil his plans, and are led on a car chase with Harcourt and Kipling through the streets of downtown Los Angeles. Following a head-on collision where both parties are injured, Harcourt attempts an escape on foot. Sykes pursues and corners Harcourt onto a desolate drawbridge. Harcourt then purposely overdoses on a sample of the stimulant. As Sykes mistakenly believes that Harcourt has died, Harcourt is taken away by an ambulance, but later mutates into a significantly larger and more muscular Newcomer intent on causing violence. The duo pursue Harcourt, catching up with him near a fishing pier. Sykes later ends up in a physical confrontation with Harcourt in the open sea. Harcourt dies, as his body disintegrates due to the effects of direct contact with salt water, which is hazardous to Newcomer physiology. Francisco commandeers a police helicopter, and rescues Sykes from the water. With the Tuggle and Newcomer murder cases solved, the authorities dismantle Harcourt's illicit scheme. Later, Sykes and Francisco--now friends--attend Sykes's daughter's wedding together. ===== Galatea is loosely based on the myth of Pygmalion who carved the sculpture of a woman. In the myth he falls in love with the statue, named Galatea or Elise in different versions, and the goddess Venus brings her to life. The story begins at the opening of an exhibition of artificial intelligences. The player, alone, discovers Galatea displayed on a pedestal with a small information placard. She is illuminated by a spotlight and wears an emerald dress. Seeing the player about to turn away, Galatea says, "They told me you were coming." From this point the story may proceed in a number of ways depending on the player's words and actions. ===== The series centers on the new life of Hewitt's character Sarah Reeves Merrin as she moves to New York City to learn more about her biological mother's life there before she bore Sarah, while also searching for her biological father. Along the way, Sarah moves into her mother's old apartment and makes a new group of friends. Her first friend is her new roommate Romy Sullivan (Jennifer Garner), a struggling actress. ===== The film is set in Trinidad and Tobago while it was still a British colony. Chris Emery (Rita Hayworth) works as a nightclub singer and dancer. One night after her performance she receives news from Inspector Smythe (Torin Thatcher) and Anderson (Howard Wendell), a member of the American consulate, that her husband Neil was found dead. She is comforted by Neil's friend Max Fabian (Alexander Scourby). Initially, the police conclude that Neil committed suicide based on his gunshot wound and due to a pistol at the crime scene. On further investigation they discover that Neil was in fact murdered. Inspector Smythe and Anderson take Chris into confidence and inform her that Neil's boat was seen outside Fabian's property at the time of his murder. Chris learns that Fabian is in fact a crook who has built his fortune by trading information and aiding in treason and that Neil could have been murdered due to his involvement in Fabian's latest project. Chris agrees to exploit Fabian's love for her to gather information for the police. Meanwhile, Neil's brother Steve Emery (Glenn Ford) arrives in Trinidad at the request of his brother who had written to him about a prospective job. He is shocked to learn that his brother committed suicide shortly after writing to him and sets out to investigate matters on his own. After the inquest Chris and Steve spend some time together. Though she starts falling in love with Steve, Chris is unable to reveal to him her motive behind getting friendly with Fabian. As Chris inches closer to discovering the truth about Fabian, Steve gathers proof of Fabian's involvement in Neil's death. This leads to a showdown in the climax. ===== Margaret Simon is just eleven going on twelve when her family moves from New York City to Farbrook, New Jersey. Margaret's mother is Christian and her father is Jewish. Margaret has been raised without an affiliation to either faith, and does not practice an organized religion, although she frequently prays to God in her own words, beginning by saying, "Are you there God? It's me, Margaret." She is beginning to feel uncomfortable with her lack of a religious affiliation. For a school assignment, she chooses to study people's religious beliefs, hoping to resolve the question of her own religion in the process. Part of her study involves attending different places of worship to better understand religious practice and also to see if one of them might be right for her. She enjoys spending time with her Jewish paternal grandmother, Sylvia Simon, who loves her as she is, and hopes Margaret will embrace Judaism after taking her to her synagogue for Rosh Hashanah services. Margaret befriends Nancy, a neighbor girl her own age who seems confident and knowledgeable about many subjects, including sex. Nancy, Margaret, and two other girls, Gretchen and Janie, form a secret club where they discuss subjects like boys, bras and menstruation. The girls anxiously await their menarche, prepare in advance by buying belted sanitary napkins (changed to adhesive pads in later editions of the book), and do exercises in hopes of increasing their bust measurements. Gretchen and Nancy have their menarche, causing Margaret to worry that she herself is abnormal for not having started yet. Margaret envies her classmate Laura Danker who, unlike herself, already menstruates and, according to Nancy, is involved with a handsome older boy. Margaret is also attracted to a popular boy in her class named Philip Leroy and kisses him at a party while playing Two Minutes in the Closet (a game similar to Seven Minutes in Heaven). Over time, Margaret discovers that her seemingly confident friend Nancy has her own insecurities and doesn't always tell the truth (she had told Margaret she got her menarche on a vacation before she really did later at a restaurant with her), which puts Margaret in several uncomfortable situations. Margaret was planning to spend spring vacation in Florida with Sylvia, but her fundamentalist Christian maternal grandparents, Mary and Paul Hutchins, who have been estranged from her mother for 14 years due to their disapproval of interfaith marriage, suddenly decide to visit the day after Margaret leaves for Florida. Margaret's mother has her cancel her vacation, saying it's not the end of the world and she'll go to Florida another time. Margaret is devastated, but tries to use her best possible manners while her grandparents are visiting, but when her grandparents bring up the subject of religion, an argument occurs between everyone. Margaret explodes, saying she doesn't need religion and God. Afterward, Margaret stops talking to God. At the end of her study project, she has not been able to resolve her religious situation as she had hoped, but has learned about herself and become more comfortable with her lack of affiliation. On the last day of school, Margaret gets her menarche. Relieved and happy, she resumes her previous relationship with God, saying, "I know you're there God. I know you wouldn't have missed this for anything! Thank you God. Thanks an awful lot…" ===== After her boyfriend Mike cancels their anniversary date, seventeen-year-old Chris Parker invites her friend Brenda over to her Oak Park, Illinois, house to cheer her up, but is convinced by her mother to babysit the Anderson's daughter, eight- year-old Sarah, while they attend a party in downtown Chicago. Fifteen-year- old Brad Anderson is supposed to go to his friend Daryl Coopersmith's house to spend the night, but he changes his mind when he finds out that Chris is the sitter. After receiving a frantic phone call from Brenda, who ran away to a downtown bus station, Chris plans to go alone to pick her up, but is coerced by Brad, Sarah, and Daryl to take them with her. On the freeway, their station wagon suffers a flat tire and they are picked up by a tow truck driver, "Handsome" John Pruitt, who offers to pay for the tire when Chris realizes she left her purse at the Andersons'. En route, Pruitt gets a call from his boss Dawson with evidence that his wife is cheating on him, and he rushes to his house to confront the infidelity; Chris's mother's car is damaged when Pruitt accidentally shoots out the windshield while aiming to kill his wife's lover with his snubnosed revolver. Chris and the kids hide in the adulterer's Cadillac, which is then car-jacked by a thief named Joe Gipp. Reaching their hideout in the South Side, the kids realize they have stumbled upon a chop shop, and Joe is chided by Graydon, the operation's second-in-command, for bringing witnesses. They are detained in an upstairs office but escape. They enter a blues club where the band on stage refuses to let them leave until they sing the blues. Chris, Brad, Sara, and Daryl recount their events that night to the audience and are allowed to leave, just as Graydon, Gipp, and their boss Bleak catch up. Brad tells Chris about his feelings toward her but finds they are not reciprocated. After separating Daryl from a streetwalker who is a runaway, Chris is reminded of Brenda. They are found and chased again by Greydon and Bleak but escape on the Chicago "L" train and wind up in the middle of a gang fight. Brad is injured when one of the gang leaders throws a switchblade onto his foot. They take Brad to the university hospital, where he receives a stitch. They run into Pruitt, who is now on the run from his earlier attacks; he tells the kids he replaced the windshield, but Dawson wants $50 for the tire. The kids come across a fraternity house party, and Chris becomes attracted to Dan Lynch, a gentleman who learns of Chris' problem and donates $45. He takes them to Dawson's Garage and drops them off. When they find Dawson, his blond hair and sledge hammer lead Sarah to believe he is her Marvel superhero Thor. He denies them their car because of the $5 shortage, but when Sarah offers him her toy Thor helmet, he changes his mind and lets them go. Meanwhile, Joe Gipp tells Bleak about their troubles, and the three are waiting to follow them. The kids find the restaurant where Mike was supposed to take Chris and discover he is there with another girl. Sarah slips away to look at a toy store while Chris yells at Mike. Brad stands up for his friend while Daryl kicks Mike into a table, causing a commotion and ruining the dinner. Bleak spots Sarah, and Graydon chases her to an office building where she hides; the others note her disappearance and follow, accidentally coming across the Andersons' party. After Sarah climbs out an open window and slides down the building, Chris spots her and they run upstairs to help. After the group pulls Sarah from outside the window, Bleak confronts them. Joe knocks his boss out, before giving him a Playboy Magazine that Daryl had stolen, which contained important notes that the criminals wanted, then says he is getting out of crime. The kids retrieve Brenda from the bus station and rush home, narrowly avoiding the Andersons on Interstate 290. Once home, Chris cleans up the mess left earlier, settling into place just as the Andersons enter. As Chris says goodnight to the kids, Brad tells her he understands about her not feeling the same way he did about her and tells her that if they see each other at school the next day, it is okay if she ignores him. But Chris smiles and tells him she does not ignore her friends. Just as Chris is leaving, Dan arrives with one of Sarah's missing skates. He says he needs a babysitter and is disappointed when Chris says she is retired; he confesses the babysitter was for him. Chris decides that retirement can wait and gladly agrees to babysit Dan. With Sarah's encouragement, Chris and Dan kiss outside as Brad closes the blinds. In a post-credits scene, Graydon is shown standing on the ledge, still trying to find his way to safety. ===== Revealed shortly into the movie, Andrew Morenski (Cryer) and two others, all stockbrokers, have managed to pass bogus bonds for a mobster awaiting trial. After an evening out at a bar, one of the stockbrokers is killed in his home. The next morning, the FBI take the other two into protective custody. After convincing his FBI hosts that he wants breakfast and out of the safe house, Andrew and his FBI bodyguards are followed by hitmen hired to eliminate them. One of the FBI bodyguards is killed in a diner, the other injured, and Andrew flees the scene. While running from the hitmen, he manages to board a train and temporarily escapes. Andrew eludes the killer and hitchhikes with a truck driver to Topsail, Delaware where he phones his Aunt Lucy, who tells him to meet her at the high school where she works. Andrew cuts off his beard and dyes the sides of his hair blonde to give himself a punk look. He trades his $500 Italian sports coat for a black pea coat from a bum to complete the look. When he goes to Topsail High School to meet his Aunt Lucy, the office personnel mistake him for a new student and send him to register for classes. Needing a safe place to hide, Andrew, under disguise, attempts to contact his cousin, Patrick, (played by Keith Coogan) and aunt (portrayed by Gretchen Cryer, Jon Cryer's real-life mother), arranging to meet the latter at the high school at which she works as a nurse. While sitting in the nurse's office, he impulsively opts to enroll, taking the name of Maxwell Hauser (off a Maxwell House coffee can) and begin high school all over again. He pulls his cousin aside and reveals himself, eventually using Patrick's house to sleep in, unbeknownst to his aunt. Not willing to take the attitude of teachers, Andrew becomes a hero to those tired of the school's status quo, which upsets Kevin O'Roarke (played by Tim Quill), the current class president, and captures the heart of Ryan Campbell (Annabeth Gish). During an afternoon at the local diner, he accidentally drops a birthday card meant for his grandmother (who had raised him) and it gets mailed. Later, a hitman posing as an FBI agent contacts his grandmother and sees the card and its postmark, telling him where Andrew is hiding. One night, on the way back from a date with Ryan, Patrick stops Andrew from entering the house. FBI agents have arrived, knowing Andrew is close because of his use of an ATM card. Patrick steals his mother's keys and Andrew ends up using the high school as his refuge. He meets the school janitor, Ezzard, and shares a drink with him, revealing who he truly is. Andrew embraces the opportunity to run for class president, not knowing the election committee has already decided to rig the results in favor of Kevin. Bored with high school, Andrew decides to drop out. During the presentation of class election results, Kevin is announced the winner. However, Kevin demands a recount, which reveals that most want Andrew as class president. As Andrew starts to address the crowd, a hitman begins firing at the stage. Ezzard, watching the proceedings, manages to dispose of one of the hitmen, while the other moves up into the rafters of the gym. Andrew chases him and a spotlight is used to blind the hitman. The hitman loses his grip and falls to the gym floor below. Images of graduation are spliced into images of Andrew taking the stand in a court against the mobster for whom he had sold the bogus bonds. After his testimony, Andrew is given a few minutes to say farewell to his grandmother before being placed in the Federal Witness Protection Program. The last scene is of Ryan, sitting under a tree at a university. Andrew, now known as Eddie Collins, appears from behind the tree and tells her he has decided to become a teacher. ===== Sue Ellen Crandell (Christina Applegate) is a 17-year-old high school graduate in Los Angeles who, due to a lack of funds, cannot go to Europe for the summer with her friends. She is about to head to college in the fall. However, when her divorced mother (Concetta Tomei) goes on a vacation to Australia with her boyfriend, Sue Ellen looks forward to an entire summer of freedom with her siblings: twin slacker and stoner Kenny (Keith Coogan), 14-year-old ladies' man Zach (Christopher Pettiet), 13-year-old tomboy Melissa (Danielle Harris), and 11-year-old television fanatic Walter (Robert Hy Gorman). Much to Sue Ellen's dismay, her mother hires a live-in babysitter, Mrs. Sturak (Eda Reiss Merin), a seemingly sweet, humble old woman who assures Mrs. Crandell that she can take care of all five children. As soon as Mrs. Crandell leaves, Mrs. Sturak shows her true colors as an evil tyrant, quickly drawing the ire of the children. However, she soon dies of a heart attack. After her body is discovered by Sue Ellen, the children agree to stuff the babysitter in a trunk and drop her off at a local funeral home and keep her car. They discover that the envelope given to Mrs. Sturak by their mother with their summer money is empty; she had it on her when they delivered her body to the funeral home. With no money to pay the family's bills, Sue Ellen finds work at a fast food restaurant called Clown Dog. Despite a budding relationship with her co-worker named Bryan (Josh Charles), she quits because of the obnoxious manager. Sue Ellen then forges an extensive résumé under the guise of a Vassar-educated young fashion designer and applies at General Apparel West (GAW), hoping to secure a job as a receptionist. However, Rose Lindsey (Joanna Cassidy), a company executive, finds her résumé so impressive that she offers Sue Ellen a job as an executive assistant, much to the chagrin of Carolyn (Jayne Brook), a receptionist on Rose's floor who was initially in line for the job. While the kids have dinner at a Chuck E. Cheese's that night, Mrs. Sturak's car is stolen by drag queens, forcing Sue Ellen to call in a favor from Bryan to bring them home. Sue Ellen then obtains the keys to her mother's Volvo, and begins stealing from petty cash at GAW to support the family, intending to return it when she receives her paycheck. However, Sue Ellen is furious to discover that her siblings have stolen most of the petty cash funds from her purse to buy extravagant gifts; Zach purchases a diamond ring for his girlfriend Cynthia, and Walter orders a state-of-the-art home entertainment center for the house. At work, the inexperienced Sue Ellen has to balance the adult responsibilities thrust upon her while still trying to enjoy herself as a teenager. The double life strains her relationship with Bryan when she discovers that he and Carolyn are brother and sister. Furthermore, resentful of Sue Ellen's promotion, Carolyn and her coworker Bruce (David Duchovny) repeatedly try to discredit her accomplishments — even going so far as to make a copy of Sue Ellen's driver's license to prove she is only a teenager — but Rose views the efforts as nothing more than petty jealousy on Carolyn's part. On top of it all, Sue Ellen has to rebuff the frequent sexual advances of Rose's philandering boyfriend, Gus (John Getz), who also works with the company. When she learns that GAW is in danger of going out of business, Sue Ellen takes it upon herself to create a new clothing line, and Rose suggests holding a fashion show to exhibit their new designs. With no petty cash left to rent a banquet hall, Sue Ellen offers to host the party, convincing her siblings to help clean up the house, beautify the yard, and act as caterers. Although she manages to pull off the party, it comes to an end when Mrs. Crandell comes home early and catches Sue Ellen in the act, forcing her to confess her lie in front of everyone. While apologizing to Rose after the party, Sue Ellen learns that her unique designs had saved GAW. Rose offers Sue Ellen the job as her personal assistant, which she respectfully declines in favor of going to college first. Rose tells Sue Ellen that she can "pull some strings" to get her in to Vassar and they make plans to get together for dinner. Sue Ellen and Bryan make up, but are soon interrupted by Mrs. Crandell, who inquires about Mrs. Sturak's whereabouts. As the credits roll, the scene cuts away to the cemetery, where two morticians look over a gravestone that reads "Nice Old Lady Inside, Died of Natural Causes." ===== Throughout the two series of Phoenix Nights, an ongoing theme of the show is the rivalry between The Phoenix Club and local rival club 'The Banana Grove', run by the flamboyant Den Perry. Brian Potter devises ideas for the club to attract more customers, usually to the disapproval of Jerry "The Saint" St. Clair. However, as more people come to the club, its popularity exceeds that of its rivals. Despite this, Brian Potter's thrifty ways means he continues to try and cut corners in the running of the club wherever possible. The second series follows on from the first. Following the staging of the highly regarded local talent contest 'Talent Trek' a vengeful Den Perry burns the club down. With the authorities taking a dim view of Potter's poor attitude towards fire safety and suspending his licence, he then rebuilds the club on the cheap with Jerry as the licensee. The club bounces back and regains its popularity, with schemes such as placing a fake speed camera outside the club to slow motorists down, and a re-enactment of the club's arson on TV show Crimetime (a parody of Crimewatch) in order to gain free advertising. Following Potter's hiring of two Chinese immigrants, Jerry decides to open a Chinese restaurant inside the club, which, despite Potter's concerns, becomes an instant hit, driving the Phoenix to success whilst leaving other clubs behind. Infuriated at this, Den Perry decides to burn the club again but unwittingly reveals to the clientele that he burned down the Phoenix Club the first time, and the club is victorious. ===== In 1998, a young gay man by the name of Matthew Shepard was robbed, viciously beaten and left tied to a fence to die. Although he's found by the police, rescued and hospitalized, he dies from his injuries. This film recounts the events after the conviction of the two men responsible for this hate motivated murder. Matthew's parents, though satisfied by the conviction, are finding the sentencing phase of the trial more difficult. The parents initially want to request the death penalty for their son's murderers, but the mother, Judy Shepard (Stockard Channing), starts to reconsider. As they struggle with their decision, they decide to reexamine the life of their son and rediscover his personality, his struggle to accept his homosexuality as a natural part of his being and above all, his generous humanity to others. All of this leads the parents to appeal to the court the way their son would have wanted, not out of vengeance but to represent best of what their son was and the tragedy of his loss. ===== Sarah France is the 42-year-old widow of a GP, Henry. She lives in an often volatile family situation with her mother, Eleanor Prescott, and her daughter, eighteen-year-old Clare France. After Henry's death, the three generations of women have to cope with one another as best they can, under their shared roof. Sarah often finds herself in the middle of things, usually figuratively but always literally, as her mother lives upstairs and her daughter has the downstairs flat. Eleanor, ruthlessly cunning and emotionally manipulative, takes every opportunity to get one over on Sarah. Anything told to Eleanor will spread quickly throughout the extensive "geriatric mafia", the elderly of the area. Clare is trying to be independent of her mother, though often has to come running back in times of crisis. The relationships among the three women change constantly through each episode. Sometimes mother and daughter ally against grandmother, sometimes mother and grandmother go against daughter, but usually grandmother and granddaughter gang up on the long-suffering Sarah, whose one haven is Bygone Books, the remarkably unsuccessful second-hand bookshop where she works for Russell, who dispenses in turn sympathy and wisdom. Most of the time, Russell sees the women's relationships second-hand through Sarah, although he isn't opposed to taking the occasional more active role when necessary. In turn, Sarah can see some of Russell's difficulties of living with a gay partner in 1980s London suburbia, while at the same time seeing Russell's relationship as the one perfect marriage she knows. ===== Ebsen and Meriwether After Barnaby Jones (Buddy Ebsen) had worked as a private eye for many years, he decided to retire and left the business to his son Hal. When Hal was murdered while working on a case, Barnaby came out of retirement to find the killer. After this case, his widowed daughter-in-law, Betty Jones (Lee Meriwether), went to work for him at the detective agency. Jones was unusual, ordering milk in restaurants and bars, counter to the stereotypical hard-drinking detective.Barnaby Jones at Nostalgia Central Until the cancellation of Cannon, the characters of both series moved back and forth between the two shows. In 1976, the character of Jedediah Romano "J.R." Jones (Mark Shera), the son of Barnaby's cousin, joined the cast. He had come to try to solve the murder of his father but stayed around to help Barnaby and Betty, while also attending law school. As Ebsen aged and expressed an interest in slowing down a bit, Meriwether's and Shera's characters became more prominent, allowing Ebsen to reduce his role. During the last two seasons, episodes were divided evenly among the three actors, with Ebsen, Meriwether and Shera each being the focus of a third of the season's episodes. Ratings plummeted during season 8. The show was canceled in 1980 due to declining ratings; Ebsen had also tired of playing the role.Etter, Jonathan. Quinn Martin, Producer. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, 2003. After the series' cancellation, reruns aired in syndication. ===== The series stars Vince Edwards as medical doctor Ben Casey, the young, intense but idealistic neurosurgeon at County General Hospital. His mentor is chief of neurosurgery Doctor David Zorba, played by Sam Jaffe, who, in the pilot episode, tells a colleague that Casey is "the best chief resident this place has known in 20 years." In its first season, the series and Vince Edwards were nominated for Emmy awards. Additional nominations at the 14th Primetime Emmy Awards on May 22, 1962, went to Sam Jaffe, Jeanne Cooper (for the episode "But Linda Only Smiled"), and Joan Hackett (for the episode "A Certain Time, a Certain Darkness"). The show began running multi-episode stories, starting with the first five episodes of season four; Casey developed a romantic relationship with Jane Hancock (Stella Stevens), who had just emerged from a coma after 15 years. At the beginning of season five (the last season), Jaffe left the show and Franchot Tone replaced Zorba as new chief of neurosurgery, Doctor Daniel Niles Freeland. ===== Trevor begins 7th grade in Las Vegas, Nevada. His social studies, teacher Eugene Simonet, gives the class an assignment to devise and put into action a plan that will change the world for the better. Trevor's plan is a charitable program based on the networking of good deeds. He calls his plan "pay it forward", which means the recipient of a favor does a favor for three others rather than paying the favor back. However, it needs to be a major favor that the recipient cannot complete themselves. Trevor does a favor for three people, asking each of them to "pay the favor forward" by doing favors for three other people, and so on, along a branching tree of good deeds. His first good deed is to let a homeless man named Jerry live in his garage, and Jerry pays the favor forward by doing car repairs for Trevor's mother. Trevor's efforts appear to fail when Jerry relapses into drug addiction, but Jerry pays his debt forward later by talking to a suicidal woman, who is about to jump off a bridge. Meanwhile, Trevor's mother Arlene confronts Eugene about Trevor's project after discovering Jerry in their house. Trevor then selects Eugene as his next "pay it forward" target and tricks Eugene and Arlene into a romantic dinner date. This also appears to fail, and Trevor and Arlene argue about her love for Ricky, her alcoholic ex-husband, and Arlene slaps Trevor in a fit of anger. The two adults (Eugene and Arlene) are brought together again when Trevor runs away from home, and Arlene asks Eugene to help her find him. After finding Trevor, Arlene begins to pursue Eugene sexually. Eugene has deep burn marks visible on his neck and face, and he initially resists Arlene's overtures out of insecurity. When they finally sleep together, he is seen to have extensive scarring all over his torso. Arlene accepts Eugene's physical disfigurement and forms an emotional bond with him, but quickly abandons their relationship when Ricky returns to her, claiming to have quit drinking. His return and her acceptance of it angers Eugene, whose own mother had a habit of taking his abusive, alcoholic father back. When Arlene attempts to explain to Eugene that she believes Ricky has changed, Eugene explains that his scars are the result of his father setting him on fire in a drunken rage. He berates Arlene for being "one of those women" and warns her of Ricky's potential to abuse Trevor. When Ricky starts drinking again and resumes his abusive behavior, Arlene realizes her mistake and forces Ricky to leave. Trevor's school assignment marks the beginning of the story's chronology, but the opening scene in the film shows one of the later favors in the "pay it forward" tree, in which a man gives a car to Los Angeles journalist Chris Chandler. As the film proceeds, Chris traces the chain of favors back to its origin as Trevor's school project. After her date with Eugene, Arlene paid Jerry's favor forward by forgiving her own mother, Grace, for her mistakes in raising Arlene, and Grace, who is homeless, helps a gang member escape from the police. The gang member then saves an asthmatic girl's life in a hospital, and the girl's father gives Chris his new car. Chris finally identifies Trevor as the originator of "pay it forward" and conducts a recorded interview in which Trevor describes his hopes and concerns for the project. Eugene, hearing Trevor's words, realizes that he and Arlene should be together. As Eugene and Arlene reconcile with an embrace, Trevor notices his friend Adam being bullied. He pays it forward to Adam by rushing into the scene and fighting the bullies while Eugene and Arlene rush to stop him. One of the bullies takes a switchblade out of his pocket and stabs Trevor in the stomach, and then the bullies run away from the scene. Trevor is taken to the hospital, where he dies from his injuries. This news is reported on television as well as the fact that the movement is spreading across the country; Arlene and Eugene are soon visited by hundreds of people who have participated in or heard of the "pay it forward" movement by gathering in a vigil to pay Trevor their respects, including Trevor's friends and classmates, as well as the bullies (who are now remorseful) and other students from his school. ===== CERN director Maximilian Kohler discovers one of the facility's top physicists, Leonardo Vetra, murdered, his chest branded with an ambigram of the word "Illuminati." Kohler contacts Robert Langdon, an expert on the Illuminati, who determines that the ambigram is authentic. Kohler calls Vetra's adopted daughter Vittoria home and it is ascertained that the Illuminati, an ancient anti-religious organization thought extinct, have stolen a canister containing antimatter, a substance with destructive potential comparable to a nuclear weapon. When at CERN, the canister is stored in a unique electrical charger which ensures the antimatter's stability, but when removed, its backup battery provides power for 24 hours, after which the antimatter would fall out of suspension and, on coming into contact with the physical matter of the container, explode. The canister is located somewhere in Vatican City, with a security camera in front of it, as its digital clock counts down to an explosion due to occur at midnight, which will wipe out the Vatican. Langdon is initially convinced that the Illuminati cannot be responsible for two reasons: 1) the Illuminati went extinct centuries ago, and their remnants were absorbed into the Freemasons and 2) the Illuminati, as men of scientific truth, would never sanction the murder of a fellow scientist. Kohler explains that Vetra might be an exception, as he was also an ordained Catholic priest. Langdon and Vittoria make their way to Vatican City, where the Pope has recently died. They are told that the four Preferiti, the cardinals who are most likely to be elected pope, are missing. Langdon and Vittoria search for the preferiti in hopes that they will also find the antimatter canister. Their search is assisted by Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca (the late pope's closest aide), the Vatican's Swiss Guard and Commander Olivetti. Langdon tells Vittoria how the Illuminati created a citywide map known as the "Path of Illumination," a trail once used by the Illuminati as a means of inducting new members; aspirants who wanted to join the Illuminati were required to follow a series of subtle clues left in various churches in and around Rome. The clues indicate the secret meeting place of the Illuminati. Langdon's theory is that the Path was marked by sculptures created by a mysterious Illuminati artist: an Illuminati member placed as a mole within the Vatican itself. Langdon is granted access to the Vatican Archives by the camerlengo, where he believes a document containing the clues to the Path of Illumination is located. The clues to the Illuminati markers are placed inside Galileo's famous book called 'Diagramma.' Langdon then sets off on the Path of Illumination in hopes of saving the preferiti and recovering the antimatter canister. Bernini's Habbakuk and the Angel, and Agostino Chigi's pyramidal wall tomb in the Chigi Chapel The Path leads Langdon and Vittoria to four churches in Rome, each one containing works of art by Baroque artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini (who Langdon realizes is the Illuminati artist) depicting angels and associated with one of the primordial elements: Earth, Air, Fire and Water. Langdon realizes the four preferiti will be murdered in a way thematically related to each location's related element. The first cardinal is branded with an Earth ambigram and has soil forced down his throat, suffocating him; the second is branded with an Air ambigram and has his lungs punctured; the third is branded with a Fire ambigram and is burned alive; and the fourth is branded with a Water ambigram and is wrapped in chains and left to drown at the bottom of a fountain. During their search for the Illuminati lair, Langdon and Vittoria are seen getting closer. West Ponente at Saint Peter's Square After finding the bodies of the first two preferiti, Langdon hurries to the Santa Maria della Victoria Basilica and finds the preferiti's abductor in the act of setting the third cardinal on fire. The kidnapper is an unnamed assassin who is working under the orders of the Illuminati master "Janus," whose true identity is unknown. Commander Olivetti is killed and the assassin kidnaps Vittoria. Langdon escapes and accosts the assassin at the final element's marker (Water) but he is unable to save the cardinal. Ecstasy of St Teresa Langdon must complete the Path of Illumination in order to find the assassin and rescue Vittoria. His search leads him to Castel Sant'Angelo which he realizes is the "Church of Illumination," the Illuminati's secret lair. Under the papal fortress is a tunnel which leads directly into the pope's private library in the Vatican. Langdon frees Vittoria and together they send the assassin falling several hundred feet to his death. The two hurry back to St. Peter's Basilica, where they find that Kohler has arrived to confront the camerlengo in private. Langdon and Vittoria fear that Kohler is Janus and that he has come to murder the camerlengo. Hearing the camerlengo scream in agony from being branded with the Illuminati Diamond (a symbol combining all four Illuminati ambigrams), the Swiss Guards burst into the room and open fire on Kohler. Just before he dies, Kohler gives Langdon a mini video camera containing a video Kohler made while confronting the camerlengo and tells him to give it to the media. Fountain of Four Rivers With time running out, the Swiss Guard evacuates the Basilica. The camerlengo rushes back in, claiming that he has received a vision from God, who has revealed the location of the antimatter canister to him. With Langdon in pursuit, the camerlengo ventures into the catacombs and finds the canister sitting atop the tomb of Saint Peter. Langdon and the camerlengo retrieve the antimatter and get in a helicopter with only minutes to spare. The camerlengo manages to parachute safely onto the roof of St. Peter's just as the canister explodes harmlessly in the sky. The crowd in St. Peter's Square look in awe as the camerlengo stands triumphantly before them. Because of this "miracle," the cardinals debate whether to elect the camerlengo as the new Pope. Langdon manages to survive the explosion using a window cover from the helicopter as a parachute, a trick he learned while touring CERN with Maximillian Kohler and lands in the Tiber River. As Langdon regains consciousness, he finds himself in a hospital located on an island. He is given the video camera which he placed in the pocket of his tweed jacket. He is shocked when he hears the footage and becomes desperate to head back to the Vatican. The video shows the camerlengo branding himself with the Illuminati diamond and confessing that he himself is Janus, and who set in motion the night's chain of events in order to sabotage the Vatican. He also confesses that he killed the Pope with an overdose of heparin, a powerful anticoagulant because the Pope revealed he had fathered a child. After viewing Kohler's tape, Langdon, Vittoria, and the cardinals confront the camerlengo. Shortly before the novel began, the Pope met with Leonardo Vetra, who believed that antimatter was capable of establishing a link between science and God. Vetra's beliefs caused great discomfort to the camerlengo. While discussing Vetra, the pope revealed that his support was caused by science having given him a son. Without waiting to hear the explanation (that the child was the result of artificial insemination) and horrified that the Pope appeared to have broken his vow of chastity, the camerlengo plotted to rectify the situation. He poisoned the pope and, under the guise of an Illuminati master (Janus), recruited the assassin to kill Vetra, steal the antimatter and kidnap and murder the preferiti. The camerlengo planted the antimatter in St. Peter's Basilica, feigned his last-minute vision from God, and retrieved the canister just in time to save the Vatican from the ensuing explosion, hoping to unite the struggling Catholic Church. The Illuminati involvement was merely a plot engineered by the camerlengo to cover his own involvement. Upon the discovery and the camerlengo's attempts to justify his murder of the Pope, Cardinal Saverio Mortati, Dean of the College of Cardinals, reveals that the camerlengo is, in fact, the late pope's biological son, conceived with a nun through artificial insemination. Overcome with guilt, Ventresca soaks himself in oil and sets himself on fire before a crowd of onlookers in St. Peter's Square. His ashes are recovered by Mortati, who places them in an urn which is placed inside his father's sarcophagus. It is revealed that the cardinals' endorsing of him would have made him Pope by acclamation. Mortati is unanimously elected pope by the cardinals, and Langdon and Vittoria reunite at Hotel Bernini . The last brand, the Illuminati Diamond, is given to Langdon on indefinite loan, provided that he return it to the Vatican in his will. ===== Caillou lives with his mother, father, and younger sister, Rosie. He has many adventures with his family and friends, and uses his imagination in every episode. Each episode in Seasons 1–3 has a theme and is divided into several short sections that mix animation, puppet skits, and video of children in real-life situations. In Seasons 4–5, the episodes are divided into three short sections; the puppet segment was dropped, along with the "Real Kids" version of the segment. During the first season, many of the stories in the animated version began with a grandmother (who is also the show's narrator) introducing the story to her grandchildren, then reading the story from a book. Since the second season, the narrator/grandmother is an unseen character. ===== Singles centers on the precarious romantic lives of a group of young Gen X'ers in Seattle, Washington at the height of the 1990s grunge phenomenon. Most of the characters dwell in an apartment block, a sign in front of which advertises "Singles" (single bedroom apartments) for rent. Divided into chapters, the film focuses on the course of two couples' rocky romances, as well as the love lives of their friends and associates. The film revolves around Janet Livermore (Bridget Fonda), a coffee-bar waitress fawning over Cliff Poncier (Matt Dillon), an aspiring, yet slightly aloof grunge rock musician of the fictional grunge/rock band Citizen Dick (which features members of the real-life grunge group Pearl Jam), Linda Powell (Kyra Sedgwick) and Steve Dunne (Campbell Scott), a couple wavering on whether to commit to each other, and Debbie Hunt (Sheila Kelley), who is trying to find Mr. Right - a man who would make an ideal romantic partner - through video dating, which attracts several strange suitors until she meets Jamie (Peter Horton), a cycling enthusiast. The events of the film are set against the backdrop of the early 1990s grunge movement in Seattle and features appearances from several musicians prominent in that movement. In the end (aside from some setbacks) Debbie meets her perfect significant other at an airport, Linda and Steve finally commit to each other (Steve leaves the apartment block to be with Linda), and after Janet finally gives up on her relationship with Cliff, he realizes she is the one for him and wins her back with a series of kind gestures. ===== Joan Wilder is a successful, but lonely, romance novelist in New York City. After finishing her latest novel, Joan leaves her apartment to meet her editor, Gloria. On the way she is handed a letter that contains a map, sent by her recently murdered brother-in-law, Eduardo. While she is gone, a man tries to break into her apartment and is discovered by her apartment supervisor, whom he kills. Returning to her apartment, Joan finds it ransacked. She then receives a frantic phone call from her sister Elaine — Eduardo's widow. Elaine has been kidnapped by antiquities smugglers, cousins Ira and Ralph, and instructs Joan to go to coastal city of Cartagena with the map she received; it is Elaine's ransom. Flying to Colombia, Joan is diverted from the rendezvous point by Colonel Zolo — the same man that ransacked her apartment looking for the map - by tricking her into boarding the wrong bus. Instead of heading to Cartagena, this bus goes deep into the interior of the country. Ralph realizes this and begins following Joan. After Joan accidentally distracts the bus driver by asking where they are going, the bus crashes into a Land Rover, wrecking both vehicles. As the rest of the passengers walk away, Joan is menaced by Zolo but is saved by the Land Rover's owner: an American exotic bird smuggler named Jack T. Colton. For getting her out of the jungle and to a telephone, Joan promises to pay Jack $375 in traveler's cheques. Jack and Joan travel the jungle while eluding Zolo and his military police. Reaching a small village, they encounter a drug lord named Juan, who is a big fan of Joan's novels and happily helps them escape from Zolo. After a night of dancing and passion in a nearby town, Jack suggests to Joan that they find the treasure themselves before handing over the map. Zolo's men enter the town, so Jack and Joan steal a car to escape—but it is Ralph's car, and he is sleeping in the back. They follow the clues and retrieve the treasure: an enormous emerald called El Corazón ("The Heart"). Ralph takes the emerald from them at gunpoint, but Zolo's forces appear, distracting Ralph long enough for Jack to steal the jewel back. After being chased into a river and over a waterfall, Jack and Joan are separated on opposite sides of the raging river; Joan has the map, but Jack has the emerald. Jack directs Joan to Cartagena, promising that he will meet her there. In Cartagena, Joan meets with Ira, who takes the map and releases Elaine. But Zolo and his men arrive, with a captured Jack and a severely beaten Ralph. As Zolo tortures Joan, Jack tries to throw the emerald into a crocodile pool behind Zolo. Zolo is able to catch the emerald, but then a crocodile jumps up and bites his hand off, swallowing the emerald with it. A shootout ensues between Zolo's soldiers and Ira's gang. Joan and Elaine dash for safety, pursued by the maimed Zolo, as Jack tries to stop the crocodile from escaping; he begrudgingly lets it go to try and save Joan. A crazed Zolo charges at Joan; she dodges his wild knife slashes and he falls into a crocodile pit. As the authorities arrive, Ira and his men escape, but Ralph is left behind. After a kiss, Jack dives into the water after the crocodile with the emerald, leaving Joan behind with her sister. Later, Joan is back in New York City, and has written a new novel based on her adventure. Gloria is moved to tears by the story and tells Joan she has another best-seller on her hands. Returning home, she finds Jack waiting for her in a sailboat named the Angelina, after the heroine of Joan's novels, and wearing boots made from the crocodile's skin. He jokes that the crocodile got "a fatal case of indigestion" from the emerald, which he sold, using the money to buy the boat of his dreams. They go off together, planning to sail around the world. ===== Psycharpax, the Mouse-Prince, having escaped a hunting cat, stops by the shore of a lake to drink, and encounters the Frog King Physignathus. Physignathus offers to show Psycharpax his kingdom, on the other side of the lake, and the Mouse agrees. Psycharpax climbs onto the Frog King's back, and Physignathus begins to swim across the lake. In the middle of the lake, they are confronted by a frightening water snake. Physignathus dives, forgetting about Psycharpax, who cannot swim, and drowns. On the bank, another Mouse witnesses Psycharpax' death, and informs the other Mice, who arm themselves for battle to avenge the Frog King's treachery, and send a herald to the Frogs with a declaration of war. The Frogs blame their King, who altogether denies the incident. In the meantime, Zeus, seeing the brewing war, proposes that the gods take sides, and specifically that Athena help the Mice. Athena refuses, saying that Mice have done her a lot of mischief. Eventually the gods decide to watch rather than get involved. A battle ensues, and the Mice prevail. Zeus summons a force of crabs to prevent the complete destruction of the Frogs. Powerless against the armoured crabs, the Mice retreat, and the one-day war ends at sundown. ===== The Eastern Hemisphere ca. 500, a few decades before the time the series is set The premise of this science fiction (more specifically alternate history) series is that a war between two competing societies in the future spills over to 6th century Earth. The New Gods back the Malwa Empire of IndiaReferences the Malwa region of Central India, part of the Gupta Empire in the 6th century and commence attempts to conquer the world and stamp out meritorious accomplishment as a means to privilege and instead favor planned eugenics and hereditary birth (Autocracy) in order to change the future. Meritorious performance is seen to originate in the Eastern Roman Empire, and the root cause of a future that must be changed by conquest, and Malwa has a malleable society and the base power for their intervention. Anything in the way (other Indian kingdoms, the Sassanid Persian Empire, and so forth) must be crushed, including plans to deal with China after Byzantium falls. The Malwa Empire is advised and controlled by a calculating cyborg (human/machine) interface named Link, and the empire uses gunpowder technology to conquer most of the rest of India. To counter this, the other side, crystalline entities originating in humanity's far future after much adaptive exploration of the galaxies, contacts the Byzantine general Belisarius via a local holy man and shows him the vision of the future with Malwa conquering the Byzantine Empire and the world. This in essence, puts the problem of thwarting the horrible future visions exposed by the crystal in Belisarius's lap even as emissaries of the far off Malwa Empire are visiting Rome to establish a factional struggle to divide Byzantium—and are becoming very popular amongst some of the ruling class and with the Emperor Justinian in particular, forcing Belisarius and friends to move surreptitiously. Belisarius, though a Cataphract General (heavy cavalry) more attuned to direct approaches, is no stranger to either intrigues or indirect methods— and is thus a good choice for the crystalline emissary to contact within the Byzantine political situation, as he must work with imperfect tools, including the suspicious Byzantine Emperor Justinian I and the Empress Theodora, to thwart the hidden Malwa plotting and invasion. He and his wife thus spearhead a conspiracy to save the empire despite its rulers, sets out to build an alliance with Byzantium's historical enemy, Persia with whom they are currently effectively at war, the African Kingdom of Axum—a naval and trading power of the day which is so far away little is known of it or its capabilities, and various Indian forces and individuals that remain in opposition to Malwa— which may or may not be out there, but which are suggested by the visions presented by the mysterious crystal—whatever agenda it might have. So starts 'just another day at the office' for what is arguably one of the best General officers known to history. An Oblique Approach primarily revolves around Belisarius, a grand-master of the indirect approach, and a few trusted confidants forming a conspiracy to save the empire under the nose of their jealous and dangerously paranoid emperor. This is a period of seeming calm that precedes any major conflict between rivals where the conspiracy struggles to play catch up and not let its existence be discovered by friend or foe—an important deception hoping to gain both information and time. During the conflict and action, the greater part of this book, the Byzantines are at war with the Sassanid Persian Empire, and the general takes uncharacteristic "great risks" instead of indirection at one point to bring that conflict to a speedy end. This uncharacteristic event in turn partially exposes his conspiracy to his good friend, a fellow general who becomes part of the intrigue and willing co-conspirator thereafter. In the Heart of Darkness primarily revolves around Belisarius learning the strengths and weaknesses of both his Axumite allies and his Malwa enemies. The cataphract general personally travels to India to explore for vulnerabilities (spy) among the Malwa Empire's peoples, and spars dangerously both with the rulers themselves and their spies planted in Constantinople. The conspiracy against the Malwa expands to a few others and establishes a secret research site overseen by his wife and a discredited naval officer who carry on an affair seemingly under the nose of a Malwa spy, dance further in 'feigned disaffection' with spies of the Malwa and their allies within Byzantium and so tend to things in Byzantium with the added cast of a fellow General (Belisarius' best friend) and his spy mistress. Belisarius meanwhile leaves the dangers of both his emperor—being too popular can be a 'bad thing' and his stunning victories in the first book against the Persians made him so—and cultivates the Kingdom of Axum as allies, a naval power of the day, and leads a five-man invasion of his 'exposed' Malwa enemies (nominally diplomatic friends). The events in this book provide him time to plan out various contingencies which come to bear fruit in surprising ways in the later sequels and allow the West's own gunpower tech researchers to get started. During his journey, the spy mission and deception allow Belisarius to become better able to communicate and understand the crystalline emissary "Aide". Belisarius learns of his true enemy, the mysterious entity known as Link, an artificial intelligence that uses human bodies as its interactive device. It concludes with the war between the Byzantines led by Belisarius against his Malwa enemies transforming from a cold to a hot war as Belisarius, separated from his companions by urgent circumstances born of intrigue and might—is hotly pursued fleeing half of Malwa's might, alone and unaided, some 1500 miles from the Malwa capital (Modern Delhi) to make his way back home to the west. His companions (and people they gathered along the way during the course of the spying parts of the book) are also variously pursued, but saved by prior contingency planning by the wily general, who is at least as good at deceptions as he is at indirections (But they are complementary skills). Destiny's Shield deals with the Malwa invasion of the Persian Empire, and the growing of an alliance and trust between the Byzantines and Persians to stop the invasion and to cement a permanent peace. Belisarius' actions and magnanimous behavior as victor in the first book will pay a pivotal role as the third book develops and the secret war against the Malwa turns hot. Belisarius leads an under-strength expeditionary force in much more characteristic "Indirect approach" ways to the aid of the Persian empire which as a new ally had requested 4-5 times as many troops. The Malwa invade the gut of Persia by sea through the Persian gulf during the monsoons with an unbelievably huge (Asian) army (to the Persians and other Byzantium Generals) which force succeeds in battering the unwary and surprised Persians (forcing them to seek peace with Justinian) and penetrates as far as Babylon thereby pinning most of Persia's military might and paralyzing its capabilities whilst also invading from the Hindu Kush by land into eastern Persia. Belisarius gains the trust of the Persian Emperor, uses the chance of conspiracy and treason as a hole card, and generally totally upsets the Malwa plans of conquest by repeatedly tactically showing one thing and strategically moving unseen in surprising real tactics when it matters. Fortune's Stroke covers the later events of the Malwa Invasion of Persia as Belisarius must campaign against Rana Sanga, a Rajput general of great skill who befriended Belisarius during the second book of the series, who is loyal to the Malwa through an overdeveloped adherence to honoring his given word. The campaign is but another stratagem (developing like a good mystery story) while in fact, Belisarius is carefully marking time and giving other events set in motion by himself and the conspiracy members time to bear fruit and astonish both friends, and readers in the events and results. The Tide of Victory begins the third phase of the war against the Malwa, with Belisarius appointed commander of a combined Byzantine/Persian army to invade India while Axum and the Kushans (a tribe turned against the Malwa in the subterfuges of Fortune's Stroke) carry out operations north and south of him. By moving boldly, the obvious again is demonstrated as delightfully false in the stratagems of Belisarius and the developments at times both delight and dismay his allies. In the end, "In Belisarius we trust" becomes a motto of all save the Malwa. The Dance of Time concludes the series as the disparate events set in motion by Belisarius unfold, creating the opportunities that he hopes will end the threat that the Malwa pose to Rome once and for all. ===== Voodoo takes place in the year 1932 and deals with the affairs of the Lafayettes, a family consisting of Sarah (who is pregnant), David, and Grandpa. They move to an old colonial house on the Mississippi River, just north of Baton Rouge, which also happens to have been built next to a voodoo graveyard. Unknown to the Lafayettes, the colonial house's servant, Salem, is involved in voodoo. Salem partakes in voodoo rituals at the graveyard, along with Doctor le Croix, a voodoo sorcerer, Madame Sarita, and Lula Chevalier, a girl who is never seen. The Lafayettes hear the voodoo drums from the ceremonies in the graveyard. They call a secret meeting with Salem to discuss what should be done. The Lafayettes decide to destroy the voodoo burial ground. Salem does not want this to happen, so he sneaks out at midnight to talk to Doctor le Croix. Le Croix gives Salem money to buy some goofer dust, and tells him that the Lafayettes must all die. Salem puts a snake in David's room, mixes haunted graveyard dirt in Grandpa's food, and, after talking to the dead Baron Samedi, pours goofer dust on Sarah while she sleeps. David and Grandpa become very ill, and Sarah becomes possessed with a voodoo spirit. Grandpa manages to call Father Malone, an exorcist. Father Malone travels to the colonial house to rid Sarah of her possessor. He fails, and is rendered unconscious from exhaustion. While he is unconscious, Lula brings the heavy, nail-riddled ceremonial cross of Baron Samedi to the possessed Sarah. Sarah attacks Malone with the cross, almost killing him. Grandpa comes in and tells Sarah to stop, and she does, which saves Father Malone's life. Grandpa calls the police and ambulance, which arrive two hours later. The story concludes with Salem speaking about the aftermath of the situation, which also reveals that he escaped the events of the mansion. He explains that the Lafayettes abandoned the old colonial house after leaving the hospital. Sarah's child was born and it was speaking "in the strangest tongue...backwards. Some expert had uttered the word...'Voodoo'..." Voodoo is one of the best-selling King Diamond's albums. It peaked at #27 in the Finnish Charts, remaining four weeks in the Top 40, and it peaked at #55 in the Swedish Charts, but remaining for just one week. ===== In 2241, the primitive town Arroyo suffers the worst drought on record. Faced with the calamity, the village elder asks the direct descendant of the Vault Dweller, referred to as the Chosen One, to perform the quest of retrieving a Garden of Eden Creation Kit (GECK) for Arroyo. The GECK is a device that can create thriving communities out of the post-apocalyptic wasteland. The player, assuming the role of the Chosen One, is given nothing more than the Vault Dweller's jumpsuit, a RobCo PIPBoy 2000, a Vault 13 water flask, a spear and some cash to start on their mission. The Chosen One eventually finds Vault 13, the supposed location of a GECK, devoid of the majority of its former human inhabitants and instead inhabited by intelligent Deathclaws. The Chosen One then returns to find their village captured by the deep state remnants of the United States government known as "The Enclave". The Enclave often terrorizes the inhabitants of continental United States with their supreme arsenal of advanced technology. The Chosen One, through various means, activates an ancient oil tanker and engages its autopilot, thus allowing them to reach the Enclave's main base on an offshore oil rig. It is revealed that the dwellers of Vault 13 were captured as well, to be used as test subjects for Forced Evolutionary Virus (FEV). Vault 13 was supposed to be closed for 200 years as part of a government experiment, making them perfect test subjects. The Enclave modified the Forced Evolutionary Virus into an airborne disease, designed to attack any living creatures with mutated DNA. With all genetic impurities removed, the Enclave (who remain protected from radiation) could take over. The Chosen One frees both their fellow villagers from Arroyo and the Vault 13 dwellers from Enclave control and subsequently destroys the Enclave's oil rig, killing Dick Richardson, the President of the United States, as well as a genetically modified Secret Service enforcer named Frank Horrigan. In the end, the inhabitants of Vault 13 and the Arroyo villagers create a new prosperous community with the help of the GECK. ===== Brief overview. Pamphilus has promised to marry Glycerium (the eponymous but unseen girl from Andros). His father had arranged for him to marry Philumena. However, following Pamphilus' behaviour at Chrysis' funeral, Chremes withdraws his permission for the union. Wishing to publicly shame his son for his dalliance with a woman of low birth, Simo pretends that not only will the match still go ahead but that it is scheduled for that same day. Pamphilus, on the advice of Davus, who has learnt of Simo's scheme, accepts the proposal willingly in order to wrong-foot his father. Simo however then persuades Chremes to again accede to giving his daughter away. This leaves Pamphilus in an awkward position as he has promised Chrysis on her death bed to protect Glycerium, Glycerium is pregnant with their son and finally his friend Charinus is in love with Philumena. Davus faces the three- way wrath of Pamphilus (for his advice), Charinus (for causing the loss of his beloved) and Simo (for double-dealing between him and his son). The situation is saved by the fortuitous arrival of a stranger from Andros. He tells the protagonists that Glycerium was not Chrysis' natural sister. She had been left in her family's care when her uncle Phania, while searching for his lost brother, was shipwrecked on Andros and died. Chremes reveals that Phania was his brother and therefore he is Glycerium's true father. He gives Glycerium's hand in marriage to Pamphilus which leaves Philumena free to marry Charinus and absolves Davus from fault. ===== Nanako Misonoo is a young high school freshman at the exclusive girls' school Seiran Academy. When she begins her first year at this school, she falls into a world of female rivalry, love, chaos, and heartbreak. She narrates the story of the series in a chain of letters to a young man named Takehiko Henmi, who she calls "Oniisama" (Brother). In reality, Takehiko was her teacher at the cram school she went to earlier. She feels such a strong bond with Takehiko that she asks to continue corresponding with him. Takehiko agrees, and soon Nanako begins addressing him as "brother" in her letters. When Nanako starts her new school year at the all-girl Seiran Academy, she is unexpectedly inducted into the school's Sorority despite having none of the looks, talents, or background needed to become a member. As the series progresses, she becomes involved in the lives of the "Magnificent Three", the three most popular girls in the school. As Nanako interacts with these women, she becomes attached to the great but troubled Rei Asaka, whom she wants to help, but cannot get close to due Rei's obsession with Fukiko Ichinomiya, the Sorority president. Nanako also becomes friends with a beautiful and lonely young girl named Mariko Shinobu, who is determined to get into the Sorority and make Nanako her best friend at all costs. Meanwhile, Nanako has problems of her own; she is constantly being bullied by her peers due to her unlikely membership in the Sorority, especially by one Aya Misaki who feels that she should have been the one chosen for it. Throughout these problems Nanako is supported by her childhood friend Tomoko, the athletic but secretly ailing Kaoru Orihara, the passionate and troubled Mariko Shinobu and the correspondence with her "brother", who just happens to have some secrets of his own. The series chronicles her first year at Seiran Academy as she uncovers the past of some of the most popular girls in school, learning of love, loss, and her own family's secrets, including her true relation with Takehiko. ===== The comic tells of the unlife and adventures of the title character and her similarly odd (if not odder) friends. The story takes place in a small town called Nevermore (taking its name from the same poem as Lenore's namesake "The Raven") and the surrounding wilderness where Lenore's mansion and a nearby graveyard are situated. The primary focus of the graphic novel is dark humor, with many of the stories having twist endings. Common themes are the reinvention of children's songs, games, and nursery rhymes to something more macabre, and subverting all sorts of pop culture icons and cultural figures into topics of dark comedy. In one story, for instance, Lenore accidentally kills the Easter Bunny. Lenore's actions often result in the death or injury to those around her and in various forms of chaos. Lenore is a character who is a mystery. She often thinks she is doing good and occasionally shows good intentions, although in recent issues the character has shown a change in personality. When she is asked of what her dream is, she replies that it is to rule the world. To further question this, it should also be mentioned that whenever Lenore gets really upset or angry, she can be very violent and often takes her anger out on whoever made her angry even if it is one of her friends. This results in most of her friends (except for Mr. Gosh) being very fearful of her. She can also be spiteful. All of this results in Lenore being an enigma due to her at times thinking that she is doing good with a meaning to do good and at other times wanting to do something more along the lines of being evil. The comic also featured various one-time side stories (one of these characters, Samurai Sloth, is set to star in his own series) and occasionally guest strips from other artists (with Jhonen Vasquez being the most frequent ). A recurring comic strip called "Things Involving Me" tells about the author's life and experience in an exaggerated, semiautobiographical manner. ===== The quirky but down-to-earth residents of the small hamlet of Highwater, Vermont, are faced with the freshly dead body of Harry Worp (Philip Truex), which has inconveniently appeared on the hillside above the town. The problem of who the person is, who was responsible for his sudden death, and what should be done with the body is "the trouble with Harry." Captain Wiles (Edmund Gwenn) is sure that he killed the man with a stray shot from his rifle while hunting, until it is shown he actually shot a rabbit. Jennifer Rogers (Shirley MacLaine), Harry's estranged wife, believes she killed Harry because she hit him hard with a milk bottle. Miss Gravely (Mildred Natwick) is certain that the man died after a blow from the heel of her hiking boot when he lunged at her out of the bushes, while still reeling from the blow he received at the hands of Jennifer. Sam Marlowe (John Forsythe), an attractive and nonconformist artist, is open-minded about the whole event, and is prepared to help his neighbors and new-found friends in any way he can. In any case, no one is upset at all about Harry's death. However, they all are hoping that the body will not come to the attention of "the authorities" in the form of cold, humorless Deputy Sheriff Calvin Wiggs (Royal Dano), who earns his living per arrest. The Captain, Jennifer, Miss Gravely and Sam bury the body and then dig it up again several times throughout the day. They then hide the body in a bathtub before finally putting it back on the hill where it first appeared, in order to make it appear as if it was just discovered. Finally it is learned that Harry died of natural causes; no foul play at all was involved. In the meantime, Sam and Jennifer have fallen in love and wish to marry, and the Captain and Miss Gravely have also become a couple. Sam has been able to sell all his paintings to a passing millionaire, although Sam refuses to accept money, and instead requests a few simple gifts for his friends and himself. ===== The Discworld part of the book begins when a new experimental power source for the Unseen University is commissioned in the university's squash court. The new "reactor" is capable of splitting the thaum (the basic particle of magic), in homage to the Chicago Pile-1 nuclear reactor, which was housed in a rackets court at the University of Chicago. However, the wizards' new reactor produces vastly more magical energy than planned and threatens to explode, destroying the University, the Discworld, and the entire universe. The university's thinking engine, Hex, decides to divert all the magic into creating a space containing nothing—no matter, no energy, no reality, and, importantly, no magic. The Dean sticks his fingers in the space and "twiddles" them, inadvertently creating the universe. The wizards soon discover that they can move things around in the universe, using Hex. They call it the Roundworld (the Earth), because in it, matter seems to accrete into balls in space (instead of discs on the backs of turtles). They decide to appoint Rincewind, whom they dragged out of bed in the early hours of the morning, the Egregious Professor of Cruel and Unusual Geography, and send him down (against his will) to investigate this strange world. The wizards create a series of balls of matter in space, and give one of them a Moon (accidentally). This stabilizes the ball enough that, over a score of millennia (the wizards can skip over vast periods of Roundworld time, allowing them to view the history of the universe in less than a month), blobs of life emerge, ready to begin evolving into more complex forms. The book also features a fictional crab civilization and the dinosaurs (both of which are wiped out by comets/asteroids colliding with the earth), before jumping ahead to when an advanced civilization (presumably humans) has evacuated the earth due to an impending natural disaster. ===== A heatwave strikes Springfield, so Bart and Lisa persuade Homer to buy a swimming pool. When word spreads that the Simpsons have a pool, all the neighborhood children arrive to use it. On a dare, Bart attempts an ambitious dive into the pool from his tree house, but falls to the ground and breaks his left leg after getting distracted by Nelson. Bart is forced to spend the summer wearing a cast. Unable to socialize with other children, he retreats to his bedroom. Lisa loans Bart her telescope, which he uses to spy on the neighbors. After Bart hears a woman's scream and sees Ned burying something in his backyard, he suspects Ned has murdered his wife Maude. Bart overhears Ned tell Rod and Todd their mother is "with God" and they will soon join her, making Bart think he plans to murder them too. While Ned is gone, Bart sends Lisa to search his house for murder evidence. When Ned returns, Lisa is trapped in the Flanders house and hides in the attic. Despite his broken leg, Bart crawls to Flanders' house and makes his way to the attic. When Bart and his sister see Ned wielding an axe, they think he intends to harm Lisa and yell for him to stop. Suddenly aware Bart and Lisa are in his attic, Ned merely returns the axe to its proper place and faints when he learns they suspect him of murder. After the police arrive to investigate, the Simpsons discover Maude was "with God" at Bible camp and is alive, having returned home. The victim of Ned's "murder" was her favorite ficus plant, which he killed by watering too much. When the police unearth it from the Flanders' backyard, Ned emits a high-pitched scream which sounds like a woman's voice. During Bart's exile in his room, Lisa becomes popular with the other children thanks to the swimming pool. She loses her newfound popularity to Martin when he gets an even bigger pool. After Martin's pool collapses due to overcrowding, his new friends angrily abandon him and Nelson snatches his swim trunks as a final insult. Standing naked and alone amid the wreckage, Martin sings "Summer Wind" as the sun sets. ===== Set in 1984, British journalist Arthur Stuart is writing an article about the withdrawal from public life of 1970s glam rock star Brian Slade following a death hoax ten years earlier, and is interviewing those who had a part in the entertainer's career. As each person recalls their thoughts, it becomes the introduction of the vignette for that particular segment in Slade's personal and professional life. Part of the story involves Stuart's family's reaction to his homosexuality, and how the gay and bisexual glam rock stars and music scene gave him the strength to come out. Rock shows, fashion, and rock journalism all play a role in showing the youth culture of 1970s Britain, as well as the gay culture of the time. At the beginning of his career, Slade is married to Mandy. But when he comes to the United States, he seeks out American rock star Curt Wild, and they become involved in each other's lives on a personal and creative level. The vignettes show both Wild and Slade becoming increasingly difficult to work with as they become more famous. They suffer breakdowns in both their personal and professional relationships. Eventually, Slade's career ends following the critical and fan backlash from his on-stage publicity stunt where he faked his own murder. As he gets closer to the truth of where Slade is now, Stuart is suddenly told by his editor that the story is no longer of public interest, and Stuart has now been assigned to the Tommy Stone tour, which coincidentally is Brian Slade's new identity. We discover Stuart was also at the concert where Slade faked his own death, and that after seeing Wild perform on another night, Wild and Stuart had a sexual encounter. Eventually, Stuart confronts Tommy Stone and once again encounters Wild, who casually passes on a piece of jewelry from Oscar Wilde. ===== Ten years after the end of World War II, Tom Rath (Gregory Peck) is living in suburban Connecticut with his wife Betsy (Jennifer Jones) and three children; he's having difficulty supporting his family on his salary writing for a nonprofit organization. Tom is also dealing with flashbacks from his combat service as an Army Captain in both the European and Pacific theaters, involving men that he killed (including, by accident, his best friend), and a young Italian girl named Maria (Marisa Pavan), with whom he had a brief but heartfelt affair in Italy despite his being in a relationship with Betsy at the time. Before he left Maria for the final time to go back into battle, Tom was told that she was pregnant and was going to keep the baby. He would never see her or the child again. When an expected inheritance from Tom's recently deceased grandmother turns out to have been depleted, leaving only her large and unsaleable mansion, Betsy pressures Tom to seek a higher-paying job. Acting on a tip from a fellow train commuter, Tom applies for an opening in public relations at television network UBC. Asked to write his autobiography as part of the interview process, he refuses. Hired nonetheless, he helps network president Ralph Hopkins (Fredric March) launch a national mental health campaign. Hopkins is powerful and highly respected, but unbeknownst to his employees, his workaholic habits have caused him to be estranged from his wife and his rebellious daughter, who soon elopes with an unsuitable man. Tom is initially supervised by Bill Ogden (Henry Daniell), a micromanager and office politician who rejects Tom's drafts of an important Hopkins speech intended to launch the campaign, substituting his own draft consisting of what Ogden thinks Hopkins wants to hear. Tom plans to play along and accept Ogden's draft but, coaxed by Betsy, presents his original ideas to Hopkins instead. Hopkins, who has just received the unwelcome news of his daughter's elopement, is receptive to Tom's criticism and thinks Tom resembles his own late son, who refused to accept an officer's commission in World War II and was subsequently killed in action as an enlisted man. Hopkins now regrets having ignored his family and advises Tom not to make the same mistake. Betsy abruptly sells the family's modest dwelling and moves them into Tom's late grandmother's mansion, "Dragonwyck," only to find that Edward (Joseph Sweeney), the old woman's longtime caretaker, is claiming that Tom's grandmother had bequeathed him the estate. Judge Bernstein (Lee J. Cobb) intercedes and presents evidence that suggests that not only did Edward forge the bequest letter, but he also padded his bills, thus depleting the estate and accumulating a large fortune in the town's bank that he could not otherwise explain. The Raths are able to keep the house. At his new job, Tom runs into elevator operator Caesar (Keenan Wynn), a sergeant with whom he'd served in Italy. Caesar is married to Maria's cousin and tells Tom that Maria and her son by Tom are desperate for money in their still war-ravaged country. Tom has kept his affair and child a secret from Betsy, but he now decides to tell her, remembering her admonition to be honest at all times. Betsy reacts angrily and speeds away recklessly in her car. They reconcile at the local police station. Tom and Betsy go to Judge Bernstein to set up a trust fund for Tom's son in Italy. That night, Hopkins calls to ask Tom to accompany him on a trip to California in support of the new campaign. Tom declines, saying he just wants to "work 9 to 5 and spend the rest of the time with my family," a decision Hopkins respectfully accepts. ===== Yashvardhan "Yash" Raichand is a billionaire business tycoon living in Delhi with his wife Nandini and sons Rahul and Rohan. The Raichand household is highly patriarchal and strictly follows traditions. Rahul is the elder son and was adopted by Yash and Nandini at birth. This is known to everyone in the household except Rohan. Adult Rahul returns home after completing his education abroad and falls in love with the vivacious Anjali Sharma from Chandani Chowk. Rahul learns shortly that Anjali too reciprocates his love. However, their love is forbidden because Anjali is from a low-income background. During this time, Rohan, still a child, is sent to boarding school. Yash announces his desire for Rahul to marry Naina, a high-society woman and Rahul's childhood friend, as Yash believes that parents have the right to choose their child's spouse. However, when he comes to know of Anjali, he is enraged due to her status, and Rahul promises not to marry her, as he does not want to hurt his father. However, Rahul discovers that Anjali's father has died, leaving behind Anjali and her kid sister Pooja. He spontaneously decides to marry her despite his father's hostility. When he brings Anjali home, Yash disowns Rahul, reminding him of his adopted status. Immensely hurt by this, Rahul shares a tearful goodbye with Nandini and leaves home. Rohan never finds out the truth of why Rahul left home. Ten years later, an adult Rohan returns home from boarding school and finally learns from his grandmothers why Rahul left as well as the fact that he is actually adopted. Seeing the pain that this separation has brought upon his parents, Rohan vows to reunite the family. He learns that Rahul, Anjali, and Pooja have moved to London, and travels there, lying to his parents that it is to pursue further studies. In London, Rahul and Anjali live happily with their young son, Krish, and Pooja, now an ultra-modern diva studying at King's College London. Rohan and Pooja, who were childhood friends in the past after their elder siblings fell in love, reunite and she supports him in his quest to bring his brother and sister-in-law back home. Rohan poses as Pooja's friend who has come from India and Rahul agrees to let him live with them after Rohan introduces himself as "Yash" to hide his real identity: Rahul does not recognise his immensely-changed now-adult brother seeing him after so many years. Meanwhile, Rohan and Pooja grow closer and develop feelings for one another. At Krish's school function, he performs the Indian National Anthem much to Anjali's pride. When Pooja asks Krish how he got over his stage nerves, he recites some advice that Rohan had given him. Rahul, having given Rohan this exact advice ten years ago, hears Krish and finally realizes that "Yash" is actually his brother. Rohan begs Rahul to come home but he refuses, reminding him of what their father had said. Rohan invites his parents to London and arranges a covert reunion where he brings them all to the same mall. Nandini and Rahul share an emotional reunion. However, when Yash sees Rahul, Anjali and Pooja with Rohan, he is enraged at Rohan and their confrontation does not go well. Nandini stands up to Yash for the first time, telling him that he was wrong for disowning Rahul and did not do right by breaking the family. After their grandmother's death, Rohan and Pooja convince Rahul and Anjali to come home. Nandini gives the couple a proper welcome and Yash tearfully asks for forgiveness, telling Rahul that he had always loved him. Rohan and Pooja, who have fallen in love, are married, and the family holds a belated celebration of Rahul and Anjali's wedding. Thus living happily together. ===== This album, like its predecessor Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers, is one complete narrative that covers both sides of one LP. The first LP side is 20 minutes 51 seconds, and the second side is 18 minutes 7 seconds. Side one starts with an audio segue from the end of Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers: the music box tune played by the ice cream truck chased by George Tirebiter is heard approaching, played this time by a bus announcing a free Future Fair, which it touts as "a fair for all, and no fair to anybody". A trio of computer-generated holograms pop up outside the bus: the Whispering Squash (Phil Austin), the Lonesome Beet (David Ossman), and Artie Choke (Peter Bergman), singing "We're back from the shadows again" to the tune of Gene Autry's "Back in the Saddle Again". They encourage the onlookers to attend the fair, which the Beet describes as "technical stimulation" and "government- inflicted simulation". Then they disappear "back to the shadows again". A young man named Clem (Philip Proctor) boards and takes a seat next to Barney (Austin), an older man who identifies himself as a bozo (person with a large nose which honks when squeezed); he says, "I think we're all bozos on this bus." After a stewardess tells the passengers to prepare for "a period of simulated exhilaration", broadcaster Floyd Dan (Bergman) tells them they are riding the rim of the Grand Canyon, the floor of which is five thousand feet below. The "bus" is apparently some sort of hybrid vehicle that can travel on the ground, yet turn into a jet plane which takes off for a "flight to the future". As Clem and Barney disembark at the fair, a public address announcer directs all bozos to report for cloning, so Barney leaves Clem. The Lonesome Beet pops up and recommends Clem visit the Wall of Science. He boards a moving walkway taking him to the exhibit, which opens with a parody of religious creation myth and seques into a brief overview of history from ancient times to the emergence of mankind, then to the modern scientific era. Two scientific discoveries are reenacted: Fudd's First Law of Opposition ("If you push something hard enough, it will fall over"), and Teslicle's Deviant ("What comes in, must go out"). Then recordings of selected audience members' reactions to the future are played. Next, the Honorable Chester Cadaver (Ossman) addresses the audience, and relates a meeting with Senator Clive Brown (Bergman), who demonstrates a "model government" consisting of a model train-sized automated maze of bureaucracies which terminates with an animatronic President as the output bus, whom Brown says everyone asks questions. When Cadaver asks Clem to state his name, he responds "Uh, Clem", and the central computer permanently identifies him as "Ah clem". As side 1 closes, Clem is directed onto another moving walkway which takes him in to see the President. On side two, we meet the President (Austin impersonating Richard Nixon). An African American welfare recipient named Jim (Bergman) relates the harsh urban conditions he and his wife live in and asks the President where he can get a job. The President responds with vague, positive- sounding replies only remotely related to the questions and completely unrelated to the citizens' concerns. Barney (or rather, his clone) is next in line, but is given the bum's rush without the chance to ask his question. Then it is Clem's turn; he puts the President into maintenance mode by saying, "This is Worker speaking. Hello." The computer responds with the length of time that it has been running. Clem then attempts to get access to Doctor Memory (the master control), and confuse the system with a riddle: "Why does the porridge bird lay his egg in the air?" This causes the President to shut itself down. Clem meets up with Barney back on the Funway. They encounter sideshows such as astronaut Mark Time (Ossman) recruiting a crew for a trip to the Haunted Space Station, and Hideo Nutt's Bolt-a-drome, where fairgoers are invited to participate in boxing matches with electrical appliances such as water heaters and toasters. Public announcers repeatedly page Clem to come to the "hospitality shelter", and Artie Choke pops up again, programmed to take lost children back to their parents. He says he will send Deputy Dan to take Clem to the hospitality shelter. Clem then uses Artie to create a clone of himself which enters the system for another confrontation with Dr. Memory. He repeats his porridge bird riddle, which the computer struggles with several attempts to parse, finally mangling it into "Why does the poor rich Barney delay laser's edge in the fair?" Clem succeeds in confusing the computer into contradicting itself, causing a total crash which ends the fair with a display of fireworks. The entire experience is then revealed to be a vision seen in the crystal ball of a Gypsy doctor (Proctor) telling Barney his fortune. After Barney leaves, the Gypsy plots with his partner (Bergman) to make a quick escape after their last client, a sailor. ===== Slow Step is a romantic comedy boxing and softball manga by Mitsuru Adachi. It follows Minatsu Nakazato, a popular high-school girl, as she deals with the unwanted romantic attentions of multiple boys and a teacher. Her plans for evading their pursuits of her grow increasingly convoluted, even involving taking on alternate identities. ===== The book comprises a preface, 25 chapters, and an afterword, with a total of around 72,000 words. ===== Villette begins with its famously passive protagonist, Lucy Snowe, age 14, staying at the home of her godmother Mrs. Bretton in "the clean and ancient town of Bretton", in England. Also in residence are Mrs. Bretton's teenaged son, John Graham Bretton (whom the family calls Graham), and a young visitor, Paulina Home (who is called Polly). Polly is a serious little girl who soon develops a deep devotion to Graham, who showers her with attention. But Polly's visit is cut short when her father arrives to summon her to live with him abroad. For reasons that are not stated, Lucy leaves Mrs. Bretton's home a few weeks after Polly's departure. Some years pass, during which an unspecified family tragedy leaves Lucy without family, home, or means. After some initial hesitation, she is hired as a caregiver by Miss Marchmont, a rheumatic crippled woman. Lucy is soon accustomed to her work and has begun to feel content with her quiet, frugal lifestyle. The night of a dramatic storm, Miss Marchmont regains all her energy and feels young again. She shares with Lucy her sad love story of 30 years ago, and concludes that she should treat Lucy better and be a better person. She believes that death will reunite her with her dead lover. The next morning, Lucy finds Miss Marchmont died in the night. Lucy then leaves the English countryside and goes to London. At the age of 23, she boards a ship for Labassecour (Belgium) despite knowing very little French. She travels to the city of Villette, where she finds employment as a bonne (nanny) at Mme. Beck's boarding school for girls. (This school is seen as being based upon the Hégers' Brussels pensionnat). After a time, she is hired to teach English at the school, in addition to having to mind Mme. Beck's three children. She thrives despite Mme. Beck's constant surveillance of the staff and students. "Dr. John," a handsome English doctor, frequently visits the school at the behest of Mme Beck, and deepens his love for the coquette Ginevra Fanshawe. In one of Villette's famous plot twists, "Dr. John" is later revealed to be John Graham Bretton, a fact that Lucy has known all along but has deliberately concealed from the reader. Graham recognizes Lucy only after she is brought to Mrs. Bretton's new home after collapsing from fever and mental exhaustion during the Christmas break. After Dr. John (i.e., Graham) discovers Ginevra's classless character while at the theater, he turns his attention to Lucy, and they become close friends. She values this friendship highly despite her usual emotional reserve. Lucy and Graham meet Polly (Paulina Home) again at the same theater; her father has inherited the title "de Bassompierre" and is now a Count. Thus her name is now Paulina Home de Bassompierre. Polly and Graham soon discover that they knew each other in the past and slowly renew their friendship. They fall in love and eventually marry. Lucy becomes progressively closer to a colleague, the irascible, autocratic, and confrontational professor, M. Paul Emanuel, a relative of Mme. Beck. Lucy gradually realizes that his apparent antagonism is actually helping her to overcome her weaknesses and to grow. She and Paul eventually fall in love. However, a group of conspiring antagonists, including Mme. Beck, the priest Père Silas, and the relatives of M. Paul's long-dead fiancée, work to keep the two apart, on the grounds that a union between a Catholic and a Protestant is impossible. They finally succeed in forcing M. Paul's departure for the West Indies to oversee a plantation there. He nonetheless declares his love for Lucy before his departure and arranges for her to live independently as the headmistress of her own day school, which she later expands into a pensionnat (boarding school). During the course of the novel, Lucy has three encounters with the figure of a nun — which may be the ghost of a nun who was buried alive on the school's grounds as punishment for breaking her vow of chastity. In a highly symbolic scene near the end of the novel, she discovers the "nun's" habit in her bed and destroys it. She later finds out that it was a disguise worn by Ginevra's amour, Alfred de Hamal, placed in Lucy's bed as a prank. The episodes with the nun no doubt contributed substantially to the novel's reputation as a gothic novel. Ginevra keeps in contact with Lucy through letters that show the young coquette has not changed and expects to live off of her uncle's (Basompierre's) good graces. Villette's final pages are ambiguous. Although Lucy says that she wants to leave the reader free to imagine a happy ending, she hints strongly that M. Paul's ship was destroyed by a storm during his return journey from the West Indies. She says that, "M. Emanuel was away three years. Reader, they were the three happiest years of my life." This passage suggests that he was drowned by the "destroying angel of tempest." Brontë described the ambiguity of the ending as a "little puzzle" (quoted in Chapter XII of part 2 of Gaskell's Life). ===== ===== Robert Moore is a mill owner noted for apparent ruthlessness towards his employees. He has laid off many of them, and is apparently indifferent to their consequent impoverishment. In fact he had no choice, since the mill is deeply in debt. He is determined to restore his family's honour and fortune. As the novel opens Robert awaits delivery of new labour-saving machinery for the mill, which will enable him to lay off additional employees. Together with some friends he watches all night, but the machinery is destroyed by "frame-breakers" on the way to the mill. Robert's business difficulties continue, due in part to continuing labour unrest, but even more to the Napoleonic Wars and the accompanying Orders in Council, which forbid British merchants from trading in American markets. Robert is very close to his cousin Caroline Helstone, who comes to his house to be taught French by his sister, Hortense. Caroline worships Robert. Caroline's father is dead and her mother has abandoned her, leaving her to be brought up by her uncle, Rev. Helstone. To keep himself from falling in love with her Robert keeps his distance, since he cannot afford to marry for pleasure or for love. Caroline realises that Robert is growing increasingly distant and withdraws into herself. Her uncle does not sympathise with her "fancies". She has no money of her own, so she cannot leave, which is what she longs to do. She suggests that she might take up the role of governess, but her uncle dismisses the idea and assures her that she need not work for a living. Caroline recovers somewhat when she meets Shirley, an independent heiress whose parents are dead and who lives with Mrs Pryor, her former governess. Shirley is lively, cheerful, full of ideas about how to use her money and how to help people, and very interested in business. Caroline and Shirley soon become close friends. Caroline becomes convinced that Shirley and Robert will marry. Shirley likes Robert, is very interested in his work, and is concerned about him and the threats he receives from laid-off millworkers. Both good and bad former employees are depicted. Some passages show the real suffering of those who were honest workers and can no longer find good employment; other passages show how some people use losing their jobs as an excuse to get drunk, fight with their previous employers, and incite other people to violence. Shirley uses her money to help the poorest, but she is also motivated by the desire to prevent any attack on Robert. One night Rev. Helstone asks Shirley to stay with Caroline while he is away. Caroline and Shirley realise that an attack on the mill is imminent. They hear the dog barking and realise that a group of rioters has come to a halt outside the rectory. They overhear the rioters talking about entering the house, but are relieved when they decide to go on. The women go to the mill together to warn Robert, but they are too late. They witness the ensuing battle from their hiding place. The whole neighbourhood becomes convinced that Robert and Shirley will marry. The anticipation of this event causes Caroline to fall ill. Mrs Pryor comes to look after her and learns the cause of Caroline's sorrow. She continues her vigil even as Caroline worsens daily. Mrs Pryor then reveals to Caroline that she is Caroline's mother. She had abandoned her because Caroline looked exactly like her father, the husband who tortured Mrs Pryor and made her life miserable. She had little money, so when her brother-in-law offered to bring up the child, she accepted the offer, took up the name of Pryor and went off to become a governess. Caroline now has a reason to live, since she knows that she can go and live with her mother, and begins to recover. Shirley's uncle and aunt come to visit her. They bring with them their daughters, their son, and their son's tutor, Louis Moore. He is Robert's younger brother and taught Shirley when she was younger. Caroline is puzzled by Shirley's haughty and formal behaviour towards Louis. Two men fall in love with Shirley and woo her, but she rejects both of them because she does not love them. The relationship between Shirley and Louis, meanwhile, remains ambivalent. There are days when Louis can ask Shirley to come to the schoolroom and recite the French pieces she learned from him when she was younger. On other days Shirley ignores Louis. However, when Shirley is upset the only person she can confide in is Louis. After a supposedly mad dog bites Shirley and makes her think that she is to die early no one except Louis can make her reveal her fears. Robert returns one dark night, first stopping at the market and then returning to his home with a friend. The friend asks him why he left when it seemed so certain that Shirley loved him and would have married him. Robert replies that he had assumed the same, and that he had proposed to Shirley before he left. Shirley had at first laughed, thinking that he was not serious, and then cried when she discovered that he was. She had told him that she knew that he did not love her, and that he asked for her hand, not for her sake, but for her money. Robert had walked away filled with a sense of humiliation, even as he knew that she was right. This self-disgust had driven Robert away to London, where he realised that restoring the family name was not as important as maintaining his self-respect. He had returned home determined to close the mill if he had to, and go away to Canada to make his fortune. Just as Robert finishes his narration his friend hears a gunshot and Robert falls from his horse. The friend takes Robert to his own home and looks after him. After a turn for the worse Robert slowly gets better. A visit from Caroline revives him, but she has to come secretly, hiding from her uncle and his friend and his family. Robert soon moves back to his own home and persuades his sister that the very thing their house needs to cheer it up is a visit from Caroline. Robert asks for Caroline's forgiveness. Louis proposes to Shirley, despite the difference in their relative situations, and Shirley agrees to marry him. At first Caroline is to be Shirley's bridesmaid, but Robert proposes to her and she accepts. The novel ends with Caroline marrying Robert and Shirley marrying Louis. Illustration by Thomas Heath Robinson ===== Judy Bernly (Jane Fonda) is forced to find work after her husband, Dick (Lawrence Pressman), runs off with his secretary. She finds employment as a secretary at Consolidated Companies. Her opportunistic boss, Franklin Hart Jr. (Dabney Coleman), exploits and mistreats his female subordinates with backstabbing and sexist remarks; he takes credit for ideas from his senior office supervisor Violet Newstead (Lily Tomlin), cruelly yells at and threatens to fire Judy on her first day after an equipment malfunction, and sexually harasses Doralee Rhodes (Dolly Parton), his secretary, spreading rumors about an affair that never happened. Violet discovers that a promotion she was hoping to receive was instead given to a man because of sexist hiring practices and confronts Hart about it. Doralee likewise takes Hart to task over the rumors he has been spreading. After one of Judy's co-workers is fired by Hart due to an unfair workplace policy, Judy joins the two women in storming out of the office and head to a local bar, where Violet produces a marijuana joint and suggests they have "an old-fashioned ladies' pot party". The three women smoke and bond over fantasies of getting revenge on their boss. The following day, Hart hits his head when he falls out of his desk chair. Violet, mistakenly thinking he is being taken to the hospital because she'd accidentally put rat poison in his coffee, rushes to the hospital with Judy and Doralee. They mistake a dead police witness for their boss and steal the body to prevent an autopsy before smuggling it back into the hospital when they discover they've stolen the wrong body. Hart turns up alive the next morning, much to the shock of Violet, Doralee, and Judy. Hearing word of their shenanigans through his executive assistant, Roz Keith (Elizabeth Wilson), he demands that Doralee spend the night at his house, threatening to have all three of them prosecuted for attempted murder. They kidnap him and, upon bringing him to his Tudor-style mansion, discover he has been involved in an embezzlement scheme. They must keep Hart tied up at home while they collect evidence on it to blackmail him into silence. The women use Hart's absence to effect numerous changes around the office in his name, including flexible work hours, equal pay for male and female employees, a job-sharing program, and an onsite daycare center for employees with children. Hart is so disliked around the office by male and female employees alike that the only person to question Hart's absence is Roz, whom Violet sends away to Paris for a multi-week language training seminar. Judy's ex-husband, Dick, comes to ask her to take him back. However, he discovers Hart tied up and jumps to the wrong conclusion about Judy, leading her to shed her meek ways and throw him out. Hart manages to secretly break free and undo the embezzlement, eliminating the leverage that the three women had over him and giving him the upper hand to prosecute them. Although Hart is appalled by the changes that have been made in his absence, an unexpected visit from company chairman Russell Tinsworthy (Sterling Hayden) reveals that these changes have led to substantial increases in productivity. Tinsworthy is so impressed that he recruits Hart to work at Consolidated's Brazilian operation for the next few years. A graphic reveals that Violet is later promoted to Hart's job, Judy falls in love with and marries a Xerox representative, Doralee quits Consolidated to become a country and western singer, and Hart is abducted a tribe of women in the Brazilian jungle and never heard from again. ===== The story of the Advance Wars begins in the "Field Training" tutorial mode, with the nation of Orange Star in a war against the neighboring nation of Blue Moon, with Olaf as the Blue Moon Army commanding officer (CO). Olaf suddenly ordered an invasion of the Orange Star nation and is in battle with the Orange Star Army. The campaign continues the story that started in the tutorial. Nell, the de facto leader of the Orange Star COs, gives the player the duty of a tactical advisor for the Orange Star Army. The player follows the war effort through all four countries, with its own COs, over the course of the game. Starting with having only one choice of a CO to advise, Andy, the player will have a choice of two more Orange Star COs, Max and Sami, to advise as the story progresses, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. Depending on which CO is chosen by the player to advise, there are times when a mission is split into a choice of two or three, where the maps and dialog could be different. After completing that mission, the story paths could split up, depending on which CO was chosen in that previous mission, with the story differing from the other path, eventually leading back to the main path. After winning a battle against Green Earth, Andy gets mysteriously accused by Green Earth's CO, Eagle, of committing a treacherous act of aggression against Green Earth. After defeating the Blue Moon troops that invaded the Orange Star country, the Orange Star Army then invade the Blue Moon country, defeating their troops. The Blue Moon COs, Olaf and Grit, are revealed to be COs whom both used to work for the Orange Star Army, but switched to Blue Moon. When the Orange Star Army's intention was to just pass through the other two countries, Green Earth and Yellow Comet, the countries' COs like Kanbei of Yellow Comet assume a threat of an invasion and declare battles against the Orange Star Army in their land. Later on, Green Earth CO Drake tells Eagle that the Orange Star Army didn't attack Green Earth, saying that "This entire conflict has been orchestrated from the beginning." Meanwhile, Yellow Comet CO Sonja and Grit try to discover the person who is really behind the attacks. When Eagle meets Andy again, Eagle again accuses Andy of attacking Green Earth, to which the Orange Star COs eventually convince Eagle that it wasn't Andy who attacked Green Earth. This explains why the three nations have been declaring battles against Orange Star, as they thought Andy attacked them first. When Eagle meets Sonja, Sonja also tells Eagle that Andy wasn't behind the attacks, saying it was someone else, and goes with her to see what she discovered. It is revealed that the enigmatic Black Hole Army, under the command of Sturm, is the true enemy. Using a CO doppelganger clone of Andy, Sturm stirred up war among the four countries in order to confuse, weaken, and eventually conquer them. Once this is revealed, the four countries unite to drive Black Hole out of their land, the Cosmo Land, with COs automatically chosen depending on the paths the player took during the game. ===== In October 1899, Dorothy Gale still talks of her adventure in the Land of Oz, troubling her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry, who believe she is fantasizing. In her yard, she finds a key with an Oz insignia. Aunt Em takes her to Dr. J.B. Worley for electrotherapy, leaving her under the care of Nurse Wilson. As Dorothy is about to receive treatment, the asylum is struck by lightning and the power fails. Dorothy is freed from her restraints by a mysterious girl who tells her that Dr Worley's machines damage the patients. They escape, with Nurse Wilson in pursuit, and fall into a river. Dorothy clambers aboard a chicken coop, but the other girl vanishes. Dorothy wakes up in Oz with her chicken Billina, who can now talk. They find the Emerald City in ruins and its citizens except the Scarecrow have been turned to stone. Cornered by Wheelers, menacing people with wheels instead of hands and feet, they escape into a room as Dorothy opens a door with the Oz key. They meet a mechanical man, Tik-Tok, who defeats the Wheelers and learns from the Lead Wheeler that King Scarecrow has been captured by the Nome King, who is responsible for the Emerald City's destruction. The three visit princess Mombi, who collects heads and decides to imprison Dorothy to take hers. In a locked room at the top of Mombi's castle, Dorothy, Billina, and Tik-Tok meet Jack Pumpkinhead, who explains he was brought to life via Mombi's Powder of Life. They assemble a creature with furniture, rope, and the head of a moose-like animal called the Gump. Dorothy steals the Powder of Life from Mombi, but awakes her many heads. A girl in a mirror guides Dorothy back to her friends, where Dorothy uses the powder to bring the Gump to life. He flies them across the Deadly Desert to the Nome King's mountain. Mombi sends the Wheelers after them, but half of them are killed by turning into sand by touching the Deadly Desert. The next day the remaining Wheelers take Mombi the safe route (The Nome King's Tunnel) towards the Nome King's Mountain. In his underground domain, the Nome King tells Dorothy that he has turned the Scarecrow into an ornament. He will allow Dorothy and her companions three guesses each to identify which ornament; if they fail, they will become ornaments themselves. The Gump, Jack and Tik-Tok each fail. The Nome King gives Dorothy the chance to return home, since he has her discarded ruby slippers, but Dorothy refuses. While Dorothy makes her guesses in the ornament room, Mombi arrives. The Nome King, furious at having allowed Dorothy to escape, imprisons Mombi in a cage. On her last guess, Dorothy locates the Scarecrow, and realizes that people from Oz turn into green ornaments. After she finds Jack and Gump, the enraged Nome King eats the Gump's couch body, but Dorothy is able to save the head. He prepares to eat Jack, but Billina, hiding in Jack's head, lays an egg and it falls into the Nome King's mouth. As eggs are poisonous to Nomes, the Nome King and his subterranean kingdom crumble. Dorothy finds the ruby slippers and uses them to wish for the group to be returned to a restored Emerald City. There, they mourn the loss of Tik-Tok until Billina notices a green medal stuck on one of the Gump's antlers. Dorothy restores him. At a celebration, Dorothy is asked to be Queen of Oz but refuses, saying she must return to Kansas. She learns that the girl who helped her escape is Princess Ozma, the rightful ruler of Oz, who had been enchanted by Mombi. Ozma takes her place on the throne and Dorothy hands over the ruby slippers. Billina opts to stay in Oz. Ozma sends Dorothy home, promising that Dorothy is welcome to return. In Kansas, Dorothy's family finds her on a riverbank. Aunt Em reveals that Worley's hospital was struck by lightning and burned down, and Worley died trying to save his machines. They see Nurse Wilson locked in a cage on a police buggy. In the farmhouse, now complete, Dorothy sees Billina and Ozma through her bedroom mirror. She goes outside to play with Toto. ===== Having lost the first Cannonball Run race, Sheik Abdul ben Falafel is ordered by his father to go back to America and win another Cannonball Run in order to "emblazon the Falafel name as the fastest in the world." When Sheik Abdul points out that there is no Cannonball Run that year, his father simply tells him to "buy one." To make sure his "Royal Ulcer" does not prevent him from winning, the Sheik hires Doctor Nikolas Van Helsing, who teamed with JJ and Victor in the first race as his in-car physician. Most of the participants from the first race are lured back, including JJ and Victor, who have taken jobs working with a flying stunt crew. In a subplot, Blake and Fenderbaum are in financial trouble with Don Don Canneloni, who in turn is in financial trouble with mob enforcer Hymie Kaplan. After the Sheik manages to bail out Blake and Fenderbaum by handing one of Don Don's thugs a stack of cash, Don Don hatches a plot to kidnap the Sheik in an attempt to extort money from him. The race begins with JJ and Victor dressed as a US Army general and his driver, a private. They catch the attention of Betty and Veronica, who are dressed as nuns for a musical, but remain in character and hitch a ride with JJ and Victor when they think the guys could become overnight millionaires. They do not lose their habits until later. Other racers include Mitsubishi engineer Jackie Chan, teamed with a giant behind the wheel in a car—a Mitsubishi Starion—able to go under water. In a red Lamborghini (white at first) with "two great-looking chicks in it" (as the cops chasing them continually say) is the duo of Jill Rivers and Marcie Thatcher. Another team is accompanied by an orangutan, who at times appears to be the driver. They are pulled over at one point by two California Highway Patrol officers. JJ and Victor stop along the way to help a stranded soldier, Homer Lyle. They also get much better acquainted with their passengers, Betty and Veronica, who change into something a little more comfortable. Don Don's enforcers continue to blunder along the way, with disastrous results. After Don Don's gang capture the Sheik, the racers band together to invade Don Don's "Pinto Ranch". JJ, Victor, and Fenderbaum infiltrate it in drag, dressed as belly dancers. Others barrel in by car and rescue the Sheik, who is reluctant to leave, since he has his pick of women there. The three "dancers" and Blake go to their Leader to seek help, only to have him jump into the race himself. In the end, the Sheik bankrolls Don Don's Ranch and then declares that he is upping the stakes to $2 million for the winner. All jump into their automobiles and make a dash for the finish line, avoiding traffic patrollers on the way. The Sheik, as it turns out, loses yet again, this time blaming the doctor who rode with him for injecting him with an unknown substance. But he convinces his father that he will win the return-trip race, having hired the winner of this one. It turns out to be the orangutan with a penchant for destructive behavior and giving elderly ladies the middle finger. ===== MI6 agent James Bond is sent to Siberia to locate the body of 003 and recover a Soviet microchip. Q analyzes the microchip, establishing it to be a copy of one designed to withstand an electromagnetic pulse, made by government contractor Zorin Industries. Bond visits Ascot Racecourse to observe the company's owner, Max Zorin. Zorin's horse wins a race but proves hard to control. Sir Godfrey Tibbett, a racehorse trainer and MI6 agent, believes Zorin's horse was drugged, although tests proved negative. Through Tibbett, Bond meets with French private detective Achille Aubergine who informs Bond that Zorin is holding a horse sale later in the month. During their dinner at the Eiffel Tower, Aubergine is assassinated by Zorin's bodyguard May Day, who subsequently escapes, despite being chased by Bond. Bond and Tibbett travel to Zorin's estate for the horse sale. Bond is puzzled by a woman who rebuffs him; he discovers that Zorin has written her a cheque for $5 million. At night, Bond and Tibbett break into Zorin's laboratory where he is implanting adrenaline-releasing devices in his horses. Zorin identifies Bond as an agent, has May Day assassinate Tibbett, and attempts to have Bond killed. General Gogol of the KGB confronts Zorin for killing Bond without permission revealing that Zorin was initially trained and financed by the KGB, but has now gone rogue. Later, Zorin unveils to a group of investors his plan to destroy Silicon Valley which will give him—and the potential investors—a monopoly over microchip manufacture. Bond goes to San Francisco where he learns from CIA agent Chuck Lee that Zorin could be the product of medical experimentation with steroids performed by a Nazi scientist, now Zorin's physician Dr. Carl Mortner. He then investigates a nearby oil rig owned by Zorin and while there finds KGB agent Pola Ivanova recording conversations and her partner placing explosives on the rig. Ivanova's partner is caught and killed, but Ivanova and Bond escape. Later Ivanova takes the recording, but finds that Bond had switched tapes, leaving her with a recording of Japanese music. Bond tracks down the woman Zorin attempted to pay off, State Geologist Stacey Sutton, and discovers that Zorin is trying to buy her family oil business. The two travel to San Francisco City Hall to check Zorin's submitted plans. However, Zorin is alerted to their presence and arrives, killing the Chief Geologist with Bond's pistol and setting fire to the building to both frame Bond for the murder and kill him at the same time. Bond and Sutton escape from the fire, but when the police try to arrest Bond, he and Sutton escape in a fire engine. Bond and Sutton infiltrate Zorin's mine, discovering his plot to detonate explosives beneath the lakes along the Hayward and San Andreas faults, which will cause them to flood, causing Silicon Valley and everything within to be submerged underwater forever. A larger bomb is also in the mine to destroy a "geological lock" that prevents the two faults from moving at the same time. Once in place, Zorin and his security chief Scarpine flood the mines and kill the mine workers. Sutton escapes while Bond fights May Day; when she realises Zorin abandoned her, she helps Bond remove the larger bomb, putting the device onto a handcar and pushing it out of the mine, where it explodes, killing her. Escaping in his airship with Scarpine and Mortner, Zorin abducts Sutton as Bond grabs hold of the airship's mooring rope. Zorin tries to knock Bond off the rope, but he manages to moor the airship to the framework of the Golden Gate Bridge. Sutton attacks Zorin and in the fracas, Mortner and Scarpine are temporarily knocked out. Sutton flees and joins Bond out on the bridge, but Zorin follows them out with an axe. The ensuing fight between Zorin and Bond culminates with Zorin falling to his death. An enraged Mortner attacks Bond using lit sticks of dynamite, but Bond cuts the airship free, causing Mortner to drop the dynamite in the cabin, blowing up the airship and killing himself and Scarpine. General Gogol awards Bond the Order of Lenin for foiling Zorin's scheme. ===== Steamboat Bill, Jr. complete movie William "Steamboat Bill" Canfield is the owner and captain of a paddle steamer that has seen better days. He eagerly awaits the arrival of his college student son, whom he has not seen since the lad was a baby. Expecting a big, husky man like himself to help him compete with businessman John James King and his brand new, luxurious riverboat, William is sorely disappointed with his slight, awkward offspring, who shows up with a pencil moustache, a ukulele, and a beret. He becomes outraged when he discovers that his son and King's daughter Kitty, also visiting her father, are in love. Both business rivals are determined to break up the relationship. When Canfield's ship is condemned as unsafe, he accuses the King of orchestrating it. He assaults his enemy and is then put in jail. His son tries to free him by bringing him a loaf of bread with tools hidden inside, but his scheme is detected. The sheriff hits Canfield Jr. on the head, sending him to the hospital. Then a cyclone hits, tearing down buildings and endangering the ships. As Canfield Jr. makes his way through the town, a building front falls all around him. He reaches his father's ship and rescues first Kitty (stranded on a floating house), then his father (by ramming the ship into the sinking jail, which has also been blown into the river), and finally Kitty's father. When Kitty goes to her hero, she is puzzled when William jumps into the water. However, his purpose becomes clear when he returns, towing a minister in a lifebuoy. ===== At the Long Hampton Hospital, Dr Jimmy Nookey (Jim Dale) seems to attract trouble, beginning with an incident in the women's washroom which he'd mistakenly entered, frightening the highly strung Miss Armitage out of her senses. Nookey's carefree manner isn't to everyone's liking at the hospital, with Dr. Stoppidge (Charles Hawtrey) wanting Nookey sacked for the washroom incident. Accident-prone Nookey then quickly falls in love with a film star patient named Goldie Locks (Barbara Windsor). With the hospital Matron (Hattie Jacques) and his moody boss Dr. Frederick Carver (Kenneth Williams) watching his every move, Dr. Nookey drinks a fruit punch spiked by jealous Dr. Stoppidge at the staff party. The drunk Nookey ends up crashing through a window on a hospital trolley, after he had almost got into bed with a patient. Goldie leaves Nookey, as the latter is not interested in marriage. Meanwhile, Carver and his rich patient Ellen Moore (Joan Sims) dispatch the disgraced Nookey to Moore's medical mission in the Beatific Islands, where it rains for nine months of the year. Nookey discovers Gladstone Screwer (Sid James), the local medicine man, who has a weight-loss serum. Nookey soon returns to England and opens a new surgery with Mrs. Moore, much to the anger of Carver. While Matron joins Dr. Nookey's clinic, Carver and Stoppidge plot to try to steal the serum. Stoppidge dresses as a female patient to effect the theft, but his luck runs out when Nookey catches him in the act. Goldie returns to have the serum as well, much to Nookey's chagrin. Gladstone quickly discovers that Nookey is making a fortune from his serum, and cuts off his supply to deliver the serum in person and get in on the action. Nookey prevaricates, so Gladstone gives him a serum which in fact seems to cause sex changes! The movie ends with Nookey and Goldie getting married and the rest of the staff of the Long Hampton Hospital becoming friends again. ===== Frustrated butcher Fred Ramsden (Windsor Davies) and his dim electrician friend Ernie Bragg (Jack Douglas) happily head off for a holiday trip at the Riverside Caravan Site, while their respective wives Sylvia (Liz Fraser) and Vera (Patricia Franklin) look forward to their health farm holiday. Once at the caravan site of Major Leap (Kenneth Connor), Fred starts making eyes at two young female campers, Carol (Sherrie Hewson) and Sandra (Carol Hawkins). However, as Ernie talks in his sleep and any infidelities are likely to be spoken of in the marital bed after their holiday, Fred is despondent. Professor Roland Crump (Kenneth Williams) teams with Roman expert Anna Vrooshka (Elke Sommer) in an archaeological dig at the site. Arthur Upmore (Bernard Bresslaw) and his wife Linda (Patsy Rowlands) are saddled with her mother Daphne (Joan Sims) and her vulgar mynah bird. Arthur is caught in a compromising position with attractive blonde Norma Baxter (Adrienne Posta) whose husband Joe (Ian Lavender) is lumbered with their giant Irish wolfhound. After a few drinks with the amused pub landlord (David Lodge), Fred and Ernie discover that the caravan site is riddled with excavation holes. Daphne is perturbed by the discovery that her estranged husband Henry Barnes (Peter Butterworth) lives a downtrodden life as the camp's odd-job man, despite having won the pools. Major Leap is determined to give the place a boost and arranges an evening cabaret for the caravanners, but a mix-up over the phone secures a stripper, Veronica (Jenny Cox), rather than the singer he wanted. Carol and Sandra having hooked up with archaeology students Bob (Brian Osborne) and Clive (Larry Dann), Fred and Ernie pick up Maureen (Diana Darvey) and Sally (Georgina Moon), two beautiful young women from the village. Some wet paint, some glue, heavy rain that causes the tunnels of the dig to collapse, and the arrival of their wives soon bring their planned night of passion to a halt. ===== Captain S Melly (Kenneth Connor) is put in charge of an experimental mixed-battery during the darkest days of the Second World War. It is a relief for Captain Bull (David Lodge) to greet his relief but Melly is not prepared for the ball- squeezing Sergeant Major "Tiger" Bloomer (Windsor Davies) and the randy antics of Bombardier Ready (Jack Douglas), Sergeant Tilly Willing (Judy Geeson) and Sergeant Len Able (Patrick Mower). Forever feigning illness or hiding in their underground "snoggery", the troops are happily getting to grips with each other rather than the enemy. Most prominent of the females is Private Alice Easy (Diane Langton) who tries to charm her new commanding officer but only succeeds in propelling her top button into his system! Private Jennifer Ffoukes-Sharpe (Joan Sims) pines for "Tiger" while everybody – including little Gunner Shorthouse (Melvyn Hayes) – gets a piece of the action. Even after a tip-off to the medical officer, Major Butcher (Julian Holloway) segregation and rigorous training, the unit is still a shower. However, an inspection by the cowardly Brigadier (Peter Jones) and Major Carstairs (Peter Butterworth) is interrupted by an airborne attack and Melly's troops finally prove they are real British bulldogs. ===== In bathroom ceramics factory W.C. Boggs & Son, the traditionalist owner W.C. Boggs (Kenneth Williams) is having no end of trouble. Bolshy and lazy union representative Vic Spanner (Kenneth Cope) continually stirs up trouble in the works, to the irritation of his co-workers and management. He calls a strike for almost any minor incident – or because he wants time off to attend a local football match. Sid Plummer (Sid James) is the site foreman bridging the gap between workers and management, shrewdly keeping the place going amid the unrest. Prissy floral- shirt-wearing product designer Charles Coote (Charles Hawtrey) has included a bidet in his latest range of designs, but W.C. objects to the manufacture of such "dubious" items. W.C. will not change his stance even after his son, Lewis Boggs (Richard O'Callaghan), secures a large overseas order for the bidets. It is a deal that could save the struggling firm, which W.C. has to admit is in debt to the banks. Vic's dim stooge Bernie Hulke (Bernard Bresslaw) provides bumbling assistance in both his union machinations and his attempts to woo Sid's daughter, factory canteen worker Myrtle (Jacki Piper). She is torn between Vic and Lewis Boggs, who is something of a playboy but insists he loves her. Sid's wife is Beattie (Hattie Jacques), a lazy housewife who does little but fuss over her pet budgie, Joey, which refuses to talk despite her concerted efforts. Their neighbour is Sid's brassy and lascivious co-worker Chloe Moore (Joan Sims). Chloe contends with the endless strikes and with her crude, travelling salesman husband Fred (Bill Maynard), who neglects her and leaves her dissatisfied. Chloe and Sid enjoy a flirtatious relationship and are sorely tempted to stray. Unusually for Sid James, his character is a faithful husband, albeit a cheeky and borderline-lecherous one. Sid and Beattie find that Joey can correctly predict winners of horseraces – he tweets when the horse's name is read out. Sid bets on Joey's tips and makes several large wins – including a vital £1,000 loaned to W.C. when the banks refuse a bridging loan – before Sid is barred by Benny (Davy Kaye) his bookie after making several payouts. The strikers finally return to work, but it is only to attend the annual works outing, a coach trip to Brighton. A good time is had by all with barriers coming down between workers and management, thanks largely to that great social lubricant, alcohol. W.C. becomes intoxicated and spends the day – and it seems the night – with his faithful, adoring secretary, Miss Hortense Withering (Patsy Rowlands). Lewis Boggs manages to win Myrtle from Vic Spanner, giving his rival a beating, and the couple elope. After arriving home late after the outing and with Fred away, Chloe invites Sid in for a cup of tea. They fight their desires and ultimately decide not to have the tea fearing that neighbours might see Sid enter Chloe's home and get the wrong idea. At the picket lines the next day, Vic gets his comeuppance – partly at the hands of his mother (literally, as she spanks him in public) – and the workers and management all pull together to produce the big order to save the firm. ===== Mach Rider takes place in the year 2112, and planet Earth has been invaded by evil forces driving vehicles known as Quadrunners. The player controls Mach Rider, who travels from sector to sector on a high-powered superbike, searching for survivors and destroying any enemies in their path. ===== Los Angeles cop Chris Kenner (Dolph Lundgren) is an American who was raised in Japan. He is given a new partner, Johnny Murata (Brandon Lee), an American of partial Japanese descent. Kenner does not appreciate American culture, while Johnny does not like Japanese culture a lot. One thing they both enjoy are the martial arts, of which they are both experts. The two are assigned to L.A.'s Little Tokyo, where they break up some criminal activity in a Japanese restaurant, and an arrest is made. While Kenner and Johnny are questioning the suspect, Kenner loses his temper and rips the suspect's shirt, and the tattoos that Kenner sees on the suspect remind Kenner of when he was 9 years old, a time when he witnessed his parents being killed by a member of the Yakuza. The tattoos are the trademark of the Iron Claw Yakuza clan. Before Kenner or Murata can interrogate the suspect further, he kills himself in the interrogation room by breaking his own neck. The leader of the Iron Claw clan, Yoshida (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa), kills the owner of a popular downtown nightclub called the Bonsai Club by crushing the owner, Tanaka (Philip Tan), in a car compactor. To celebrate gaining ownership of the Bonsai Club, Yoshida throws a party at his house with all of the club staff. One of the girls at the party, named Angel (Renee Griffin), is revealed to have warned Tanaka about Yoshida behind his back, and this infuriates Yoshida who then questions Angel about her loyalty. She attempts to appease Yoshida by offering her body to him but Yoshida instead drugs Angel and strips off her clothes, and then fondles her from behind before beheading her. When the coroner runs an analysis on Angel's body, it is revealed that the methamphetamines in her system which would have led to her death anyway. This discovery of drugs, together with the suspect having Yakuza tattoos, prompts Kenner and Johnny to go to the Bonsai Club in search of information. There they meet lounge singer Minako Okeya (Tia Carrere), who was a good friend of Angel's. Before they can get any useful information out of her, they are ambushed and taken to see the nightclub's owner and Kenner recognizes Yoshida as the man who killed his parents. Yoshida is now a drug manufacturer using a local brewery as his distribution center. He uses smaller gangs such as the Hells Angels, Crips and Sureños to peddle the drugs for him, in return for a percentage of the profit. Kenner pulls his gun on Yoshida and almost kills him to avenge the death of his parents, but Johnny manages to diffuse the situation and they both leave the nightclub. That night, Yoshida rapes and kidnaps Minako and holds her hostage in his home and vows to kill Kenner. Kenner and Johnny set out for Yoshida's heavily guarded home, where they rescue Minako. His pride wounded, Yoshida sends his men out to get Minako back. He has Kenner and Johnny stripped, captured and tortured, but Kenner and Johnny manage to escape. They then prepare an assault on Yoshida's brewery, where they rescue Minako once again and Kenner fights Yoshida in a duel, in which Kenner emerges victorious. ===== "Kogō" and "The Imperial Procession to Ōhara" ===== ===== ===== Around Christmas, Ronna, working overtime at her supermarket job to avoid being evicted, is approached by Adam and Zack to buy 20 hits of ecstasy, which they had hoped to buy from her absent co-worker, Simon. After work, Ronna approaches Simon's dealer, Todd, for the pills. She is unable to pay the full amount so she leaves her friend Claire with Todd as collateral. Ronna meets with Adam and Zack but grows suspicious of Burke, a stranger accompanying them who presses her for the ecstasy. She flushes the drugs down the toilet and leaves, then steals over- the-counter pills to replace them, helped by Manny (Nathan Bexton) who had covertly swallowed two of the ecstasy pills, unaware of their strength. Ronna gives 20 of the fake pills to Todd. She, Claire, and Manny then go to a rave where she sells the rest of the fake pills as ecstasy. Todd realizes the pills are fake and pursues Ronna to the rave. Ronna flees, hiding the now incapacitated Manny in an alley and promising to return with her car. Todd confronts her with a gun in the parking lot when she is hit by a car that speeds away, leaving her motionless in a ditch. The story restarts from the perspective of Simon, who is on a trip to Las Vegas with Marcus, Tiny, and Singh. Simon crashes a wedding and has sex with two of the bridesmaids before they accidentally set their hotel room on fire. Simon and Marcus leave the hotel, stealing a Ferrari from someone who thinks Marcus is a parking valet. The two go to a strip club where Simon enrages the bouncer, Victor Jr., by groping one of the strippers. Simon shoots Victor Jr. in the arm with a gun that he found in the car. He and Marcus flee to the hotel, rousing Tiny and Singh. A car chase ensues and the four barely escape the bouncer and his father, Victor Sr., but Victor Sr. traces an address from Todd's credit card, which Simon had borrowed. The story changes perspective to Adam and Zack, actors in a soap opera who are secretly in a relationship. Having been busted for drug possession, they are forced to work for Burke, a police detective, to entrap their dealer. Adam is fitted with a wire. As Simon is absent, the two arrange to buy drugs from Ronna. When Ronna arrives later to make the deal, Zack secretly warns her so she flushes the drugs down the toilet and leaves. After the unsuccessful bust, Burke invites Adam and Zack to Christmas dinner, where they observe strange behavior from Burke and his wife, Irene. During dinner, Adam and Zack make excuses to leave, but before they do, Burke and Irene pitch a multi-level marketing company to the two. Discussing their mutual infidelities, Adam and Zack realize they both cheated with the same person, Jimmy. They discover he is at the rave and confront him, cutting a lock of his hair. Leaving the rave they accidentally run over Ronna, panic, and drive away when they see Todd with a gun. Zack tries to reassure Adam that, even if Ronna had survived, Todd would have shot her. Adam realizes to his horror that he is still wearing his wire. Fearing they have been recorded, the two return to the scene to remove Ronna's body but discover she is just unconscious. They prop her up on a car, setting off its alarm, and watch from a distance as other partygoers call an ambulance. As morning breaks, Claire goes to a restaurant to meet up with Ronna and Manny, but encounters Todd instead. The two end up going to Todd's apartment building. While making out on the stairs they are confronted by the two Victors. Simon arrives, having hoped to hide for a few days. The ensuing scuffle is stopped by Claire, who refuses to witness a murder. Simon agrees to be shot in the arm by Victor Jr. as Claire leaves in disgust. Meanwhile, Ronna wakes up in hospital and hobbles to the supermarket to start work. Realizing she left Manny at the rave, she and Claire return to the venue to find Manny pale and shaking in the alley. The three go to Ronna's car where Ronna muses that she can now pay her rent and Manny asks what their plans are for New Year's. ===== Mary Ashley, a professor at Kansas State University, is offered an ambassadorship by Paul Ellison, the US president. She rejects the offer because her husband, Dr. Edward Ashley, does not want to leave his medical practice, and she is not willing to be separated from him. She also feels that it is harder to find a good doctor for a small Kansas town than an ambassador to a foreign country. When her husband suddenly dies in a traffic accident, Ashley accepts the President's offer in order to fill the void in her life. She is sent to Romania, behind the Iron Curtain, and adapts to the role of ambassador. She takes an instant distaste to her second in command, Mike Slade, but is unable to remove it due to his appointment being a presidential order. Her success as an ambassador turns her into a public face for understanding between the United States and Romania. She begins a relationship with Louis Desforges, a widowed French physician that saves her from attempts to kidnap and poison her, until he gets killed by Slade. Interspeded with that narration, the novel shows gatherings of members of the Patriots for Freedom, a secret society of powerful men that orchestrate political events trying to divide the Eastern and Western Blocs. They hire an international assassin nicknamed Angel to kill her, but the information is leaked and the attempt foiled. In the climax of the novel, it is revealed that Mike Slade is an agent who infiltrated the Patriots for Freedom and foiled their plans, while Desforges was an agent of the Patriots who saved her only so she could be publicly killed by Angel. The members of the Patriots are arrested and their chairman (revealed to be the Vicepresident of the United States) is killed by Angel after refusing to pay for the failed assassination. Once this threat is neutralized, Mary attempts to resign her post, believing that her success was created to be used as a political tool, but the president convinces her to remain in the position under the protection of Slade. In the final scene, another cell of the Patriots for Freedom composed only by women is shown deliberating about their next course of action. ===== Four years into his ten-year sentence for armed robbery, Carter "Doc" McCoy is denied parole from a Texas prison. When his wife Carol visits him, he tells her to do whatever is necessary to make a deal with Jack Beynon, a corrupt businessman in San Antonio, to free him. Beynon uses his influence and obtains Doc's parole on the condition that he take part in a bank robbery with two of his henchmen, Rudy and Frank. Frank kills a guard, then Rudy attempts a double-cross, killing Frank and drawing on Doc, who quickly reacts and shoots Rudy several times. Doc takes the $500,000 ($3,087,500 in 2020) and leaves. Rudy, having secretly worn a bulletproof vest, is only wounded. Doc meets with Beynon, not realizing he had arranged a double-cross wherein Carol would sneak into the meet and kill Doc; however, Carol turns her gun on Beynon, killing him. Doc, having just been taunted by Beynon before Carol shot him, realizes that Carol had sex with Beynon to secure his parole. He angrily gathers up the money and, after a bitter quarrel, the couple flees for the border at El Paso. Rudy forces rural veterinarian Harold and his wife Fran to treat his injuries, then kidnaps them to pursue Doc and Carol. Beynon's brother Cully and his thugs also pursue the McCoys. At a train station, a con man swaps locker keys with Carol and steals their bag of money. Doc follows him onto a train and forcefully takes it back. although the con man has already pocketed a packet of the money. The injured con man and a train passenger—a boy whom Doc had rebuked for squirting him with a water gun—are taken to the police station, where they identify Doc's mug shot. Carol buys a car, and the McCoys drive to an electronics store. As Doc buys a portable radio, he switches off the radio set near the proprietor's desk broadcasting the news of the earlier incidents they were involved in. When all the television sets in the store show Doc's picture, he leaves immediately. The proprietor gets a glimpse of the picture and calls the police. Doc steals a shotgun from a neighboring store, and shoots up the police car so that they can flee. The mutual attraction between Rudy and the veterinarian's wife leads to them having consensual sex on two occasions in front of her husband, who is tied up in a chair. Humiliated, the vet hangs himself in the motel bathroom. Rudy and Fran move on, barely acknowledging the suicide. They check into an El Paso hotel used by criminals as a safe house because Rudy knows that the McCoys will be heading to the same place. When Doc and Carol check in at the hotel, they ask for food to be delivered, but the manager, Laughlin, says he is working alone and cannot leave the desk. Doc realizes that Laughlin sent his family away because something is about to happen. He urges Carol to dress quickly so they can escape. An armed Rudy comes to their door while Fran poses as a delivery girl. Peering from an adjacent doorway, Doc is surprised to see Rudy alive. He sneaks up behind Rudy, knocks him out, and does the same to Fran. Beynon's brother and his thugs arrive as the McCoys try to leave. A violent gunfight ensues in the halls, stairwell, and elevator; all but one of Beynon's brother's men are killed. Doc allows him to run away. Beynon's brother dies when Doc shoots the cables of the elevator he is in and it crashes to the bottom of the shaft. Rudy comes to, follows Doc and Carol outside onto a fire escape, and shoots at them. Doc returns fire and kills him. With the police on the way, the couple hijack a pickup truck and force the driver, a cooperative old cowboy, to take them to Mexico. After crossing the border, Doc and Carol pay the cowboy $30,000 ($185,250 in 2020) for his truck. Overjoyed, the cowboy heads back to El Paso on foot, while the couple continue into Mexico. ===== The story retells the famous fairy tale of Snow White from the point of view of Snow White's stepmother, who is traditionally the villain of the piece. The stepmother is struggling desperately to save the kingdom from her unnatural and monstrous stepdaughter. Ultimately she is unsuccessful, as the "happy ending" of the original story still takes place despite her efforts to prevent it. The story incorporates themes of vampirism, incest, pedophilia, and necrophilia. The stepmother has had magical powers from a very young age, including visions of the future. She marries a king and describes his daughter, Snow White, as a mysterious, vampiric young girl. The king ultimately dies from abuse, both physical and sexual, by Snow White and leaves the stepmother to reign as queen. The stepmother has her huntsmen murder Snow White and cut out her heart, which still beats even after being removed and is hung in the queen's private chambers. Following large numbers of disappearances and murders in the kingdom, the queen uses magic and her own blood to create enchanted apples which she brings into the woods to a still- living Snow White. The queen flees but knows that the creature ate the apples when Snow White's removed heart finally stops beating. Two years later, a prince visits the queen and she plans to marry him and unite their kingdoms. However, the queen is unable to sexually satisfy the prince, who is clearly a necrophiliac, and he leaves. On his way home, he encounters the dead body of Snow White being guarded by seven dwarves. Indulging his necrophilia, the prince rapes Snow White and unwittingly dislodges the piece of apple stuck in Snow White's throat, resurrecting her. The prince and Snow White return to the queen's kingdom and sentence her to death for witchcraft. The queen is incinerated in a kiln and the story is revealed to be her final thoughts as she begins to burn to death. ===== ===== Miles Monroe (Woody Allen), a jazz musician and owner of the "Happy Carrot" health- food store in 1973, is subjected to cryopreservation without his consent, and not revived for 200 years. Two scientists (played by Bartlett Robinson and Mary Gregory) wake him. They are members of an underground rebellion. The U.S. in 2173 is an indulgent, automated police state, ostensibly ruled by a dictator known only as "The Leader", about to implement a secret plan known as the "Aries Project". The rebels hope to use Miles as a spy to infiltrate the Aries Project, because he is the only member of this society without a known biometric identity. The authorities discover the scientists' project and arrest them, where they are taken for interrogation and torture. Miles escapes by disguising himself as a robot, and goes to work as a butler in the house of socialite Luna Schlosser (Diane Keaton). When Luna decides to have his head replaced with something more "aesthetically pleasing", Miles reveals his true identity to her, after which Luna threatens to give Miles to the authorities. In response, he kidnaps her and goes on the run, searching for the Aries Project. Miles and Luna fall in love, but Miles is captured and brainwashed into becoming a complacent member of the society, while Luna joins the rebellion. The rebels kidnap Miles and perform reverse-brainwashing, after which he remembers his past and enters their efforts. Miles becomes jealous when he catches Luna kissing the rebel leader, Erno Windt (John Beck), and she tells him that she believes in free love. Miles and Luna infiltrate the Aries Project, wherein they quickly learn that the national Leader had been killed by a rebel bomb ten months previously. All that survives is his nose. Other members of the Aries Project, mistaking Miles and Luna for doctors, expect them to clone the Leader from this single remaining part. Miles steals the nose and "assassinates" it by dropping it in the path of a road roller. After escaping, Miles and Luna debate their future together. He tells her that Erno will inevitably become as corrupt as the Leader. Miles and Luna confess their love for one another, but she claims that science has proven men and women cannot have meaningful relationships due to chemical incompatibilities. Miles dismisses this, saying that he does not believe in science, and Luna points out that he does not believe in God or political systems either. Luna asks Miles if there is anything he does believe in, and he responds, "Sex and death — two things that come once in a lifetime — but at least after death, you're not nauseous." The film ends as the two embrace and kiss. ===== In South Africa, a convoy of interpol agents led by Lin (Xu Qing) transport a prisoner, Keith. At a checkpoint, they are ambushed. Most of the agents are killed, but Lin escapes with Keith. Travis Conrad (Ethan Hawke), a hitman, fishes with his father in law, Frank (Rutger Hauer). They scatter ashes in the ocean, noting the one year anniversary of the deaths they commemorate. After Frank falls asleep, Travis goes to a bar to get cocaine. He assaults two thugs following him who tell him Jim wants to see him. Jim offers Travis $1 million per day to clean up the botched assassination attempt on Keith and Lin. Though he initially refuses, claiming he's retired, the money convinces him. He travels to Hong Kong and meets Lin's son, from whom he steals his cell phone and determines Lin's location. He meets her at the airport and seduces her. The next morning, he gets Keith's location from her phone but chooses not to kill her; she realizes he is an agent and kills him. Travis' agency, Red Mountain, bring him back to life using an experimental procedure. Once he tells them Keith's location, Jim, his friend and former fellow Marine, informs him that they just revived him to get the location, and the doctor plans to kill him upon her return. Travis obtains a scalpel and cuts his restraints; when the doctor returns he kills a guard and learns from her that with a timer on his wrist, he has 24 hours to live. He escapes with her as a hostage and pursues Lin, telling her not to make him regret not killing her. Keith testifies against Red Mountain, revealing they experimented on over 70 civilians to develop the resurrection procedure and forced him to dispose of the bodies. Just after he testifies, Jim snipes several guards from a clocktower and Red Mountain assault the building. Lin and Keith escape when Travis arrives to help, knowing Red Mountain betrayed him. During the chase, Keith is killed, but he managed to get the camera's memory card before they left. Travis entrusts the card to Lin, but Jim calls to inform them that they have taken her son in exchange for the card. Travis decides to help her retrieve him and collects guns and explosives from a safe house. They travel to the village from which the civilians Red Mountain experimented on lived and enlist their help in avenging them. Travis knows prisoner transport protocol; they corner and ambush the convoy and get the boy back. Travis tells Lin to get the testimony to the authorities and decides to spend his last half hour alive delaying Red Mountain from pursuing her. He forces a surviving Red Mountain agent to drive him to base claiming he is the prisoner; when he arrives he kills several guards and drives the car into the building. He detonates the car and assaults the office in which Jim and the Red Mountain leader, Wetzler, are holed up. After killing all the agents in the room, Wetzler tries to goad Travis into killing Jim, who knew that Wetzler ordered his wife and son killed in an attempt to keep him from quitting the company. Though angered, Travis feels remorse for all the killing he's done and lets Jim live. Jim then approaches Wetzler to kill him as police arrive. Though they warn him not to shoot, he shoots Wetzler and is killed himself. Travis dies and has a vision of his family on a beach. He beckons for his son, but he runs away. Travis begins to hear a woman's voice and awakes in the lab in which he was first resurrected. ===== Shigeharu Aoyama, a middle-aged widower, is urged by his 17-year-old son, Shigehiko, to begin dating again. Aoyama's friend Yasuhisa Yoshikawa, a film producer, devises a mock casting audition at which young women audition for the "part" of Aoyama's new wife. Aoyama agrees to the plan and is immediately enchanted by Asami Yamazaki, attracted to her apparent emotional depth. Yoshikawa develops misgivings about Asami after he is unable to reach any of the references on her résumé, such as a music producer she claimed to work for, who is missing. However, Aoyama is so enthralled by her that he pursues her anyway. She lives in an empty apartment, containing a sack and a phone. For four days after the audition, she sits perfectly still next to the phone waiting for it to ring. When it finally does, she answers pretending that she never expected Aoyama to call. After several dates, she agrees to accompany him to a seaside hotel, where a smitten Aoyama intends to propose marriage. At the hotel, Asami reveals burn scars on her body. Before having sex, Asami demands that Aoyama pledge his love to her and no one else. A deeply moved Aoyama agrees. In the morning, Asami is nowhere to be found. Aoyama tries to track her down using her résumé, but as Yoshikawa warned, all of the contacts are dead ends. At the dance studio where she claimed to have trained, he finds a man with prosthetic feet. The bar where she claimed to work has been abandoned for a year following the murder and dismemberment of the owner. A passerby tells Aoyama that the police found three extra fingers, an extra ear, and an extra tongue when they recovered the body; Aoyama has hallucinations of the body pieces. Meanwhile, Asami goes to Aoyama's house and finds a photo of his late wife. Enraged, she drugs his liquor. Aoyama comes home, pours a drink, and begins feeling the effects of the drug. A flashback shows that the sack in Asami's apartment contains a man missing both feet, his tongue, one ear and three fingers on one hand. He crawls out and begs for food. Asami vomits into a dog dish and places it on the floor for the man. The man sticks his face into the vomit and hungrily consumes it. Aoyama collapses from the drug. Asami injects him with a paralytic agent that leaves his nerves alert, and tortures him with needles. She tells him that just like everyone else in her life, he has failed to love only her. She cannot tolerate his feelings for anyone else, even his own son. She inserts needles into the skin below his eyes, saying "deeper" continuously as she does so. She then cuts off his left foot with a wire saw. Shigehiko returns home as Asami begins to cut off Aoyama's other foot, and she sneaks up on him with a spray. As she attacks the boy, Aoyama appears to suddenly wake up back in the hotel after he and Asami had sex, and his current ordeal seems to be only a nightmare; Aoyama proposes marriage and Asami accepts. As he falls back asleep in the hotel, he returns to find his son fighting Asami, who is brandishing a can of mace. Shigehiko kicks her downstairs, breaking her neck. Aoyama tells his son to call the police and stares at the dying Asami, who repeats what she said on one of their dates about her excitement on seeing him again. ===== Best in Show is presented as a documentary of five dogs, their owners, their trainers and their handlers, who travel to compete in the fictional Mayflower Kennel Club Dog Show, held in the fictional Beyman Center in Philadelphia. Segments of the documentary continuously cycle among owners and handlers as each prepares to leave for the show, arrives at the hotel, prepares backstage, handles their dog's performance, and appears in a post-show follow-up. The owners and their dogs include: * Gerry and Cookie Fleck (Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara), with their Norwich Terrier Winky:A middle-class couple from Florida, who, not having paid their credit-card bills, making their card unusable, and not having enough cash on them for a two-night stay at the posh fictional Taft Hotel, are forced to sleep in the hotel's storage room when they finally arrive. Throughout the film, they encounter Cookie’s former lovers, who kiss her passionately and try to seduce her, provoking Gerry’s jealousy. * Meg and Hamilton Swan (Parker Posey, Michael Hitchcock), with their Weimaraner Beatrice: An upper-class, stereotypical yuppie couple from a fictional Chicago suburb known as Moordale, Illinois, they think they are taking great care of Beatrice (although really they are just confusing and upsetting her with their neurotic behavior), going as far as taking her to a psychotherapist after she sees Meg and Hamilton have kinky sex. At the show, the Swans fear that Beatrice will become unhinged without her favorite toy, the "Busy Bee", and frantically search for a replacement for it before the show. * Harlan Pepper (Christopher Guest) and his Bloodhound Hubert: The Southern owner of a fishing goods store and an aspiring ventriloquist, he is an affable man who prides himself on being able to name every type of nut. Pepper's family has raised a variety of hounds for generations, and Harlan continues the tradition by raising bloodhounds. * Sherri Ann and Leslie Ward Cabot (Jennifer Coolidge, Patrick Cranshaw) with their Standard Poodle Rhapsody in White (or Butch):A two-time past winner of the show, Sherri Ann is a plump, buxom, overly-made-up trophy wife to the elderly Leslie, her sugar daddy. They are assisted by trainer Christy Cummings (Jane Lynch), an extremely competitive handler who makes sure the dog is truly ready for the show, while Sherri Ann fixates on giving Christy a makeover and Leslie remains utterly oblivious. Over the course of the film, Sherri Ann and Leslie's sham marriage and Sherri Ann and Christy's romantic involvement become apparent. * Scott Donlan and Stefan Vanderhoof (John Michael Higgins, Michael McKean) and their Shih Tzu Miss Agnes: A campy gay couple, they take great pride in their dog, and are confident that she will win the competition. They share a love of old movies and enjoy making fun of Christy Cummings, but are friendly to the other competitors, especially the Flecks. The owners and their dogs all arrive in time for the show, which is hosted by dog expert Trevor Beckwith (Jim Piddock), and oblivious "color" commentator Buck Laughlin (Fred Willard). During the first round, Beatrice is disqualified when Hamilton cannot control her, but the other four dogs advance to the final round. Just before the finals, Cookie dislocates her knee and insists that Gerry take over for her. Though the audience is initially awed by seeing Gerry's "two left feet" (the result of a birth defect), ultimately Winky takes Best in Show. Afterwards, the film explores what each character is doing after the competition. Gerry and Cookie return home to Florida and are overcome with attention after the victory. They go on to record, in amusingly bad style, songs about terriers, but discover to Gerry's frustration that the recording engineer (Steven Porter) is yet another of Cookie's ex-boyfriends. Sherri Ann and Christy have entered into a partnership (whether Leslie has died or has been divorced from Sherri Ann is unknown) and publish a magazine for lesbian owners of purebred dogs, called American Bitch. Harlan fulfills his dreams and becomes a ventriloquist, entertaining sparse crowds with a honky tonk song and dance number. Stefan and Scott are in the process of designing a calendar featuring Shih Tzu dogs appearing in scenes, with appropriate costume, from famous classic films, such as Gone with the Wind and Casablanca (and McMillan & Wife, a television show included without explanation, though possibly because it starred Rock Hudson, a closeted homosexual.) Hamilton and Meg Swan no longer have Beatrice (they do not explain what became of her), allowing them to enjoy a calmer, more loving partnership, as well as a new dog (a pug) named Kipper, which they claim enjoys watching them make love. ===== Professor Julius Kelp is a nerdy, scruffy, buck-toothed, accident-prone, socially awkward university professor whose experiments in the classroom laboratory are unsuccessful and highly destructive. When a football-playing bully embarrasses and attacks him, Kelp decides to "beef up" by joining a local gym. Kelp's lack of physical strength leads him to seek a solution in his specialty of chemistry. He invents a serum that turns him into Buddy Love: a handsome, suave, charming and brash girl-chasing hipster. This new personality gives him the self- confidence to pursue one of his students, Stella Purdy. Although she resents Love, she finds herself strangely attracted to him. Buddy wows the crowd with his jazzy, breezy musical delivery and poised demeanor at the Purple Pit, a nightclub where the students hang out. He also mocks a bartender and waitress and punches a student. The formula wears off at inopportune times, often to Kelp's humiliation. Although Kelp knows that his alternate persona is a bad person, he cannot prevent himself from continually taking the formula as he enjoys the attention that Love receives. As Buddy performs at the annual student dance the formula starts to wear off. His real identity now revealed, Kelp gives an impassioned speech, admitting his mistakes and seeking forgiveness. Kelp says that the one thing he learned from being someone else is that if you don't like yourself, you can't expect others to like you. Purdy meets Kelp backstage, and confesses that she prefers Kelp over Buddy Love. Eventually, Kelp's formerly timid father chooses to market the formula (a copy of which Kelp had sent to his parents' home for safekeeping), endorsed by the deadpan president of the university who proclaims, "It's a gasser!" Kelp's father makes a pitch to the chemistry class, and the students all rush forward to buy the new tonic. In the confusion Kelp and Purdy slip out of the class. Armed with a marriage license and two bottles of the formula, they elope. During the short closing credits, each of the characters comes out and bows down to the camera, and when Jerry Lewis, still portraying Kelp, comes out and bows, he trips and goes into the camera, breaking it and causing the picture to go black. ===== Hannay is called in to investigate rumours of an uprising in the Muslim world, and undertakes a perilous journey through enemy territory to meet his friend Sandy in Constantinople. Once there, he and his friends must thwart the Germans' plans to use religion to help them win the war, climaxing at the battle of Erzurum. ===== Chief O'Brien needs to replace a failing component of the space station Deep Space Nine's machinery. The only way to obtain a replacement is by salvaging it from Empok Nor, an abandoned Cardassian space station built to the same design as Deep Space Nine. The salvage team consists of O'Brien, Cardassian ex-spy Garak, cadet Nog, engineers Pechetti and Boq'ta, and security officers Stolzoff and Amaro. As Cardassians routinely booby-trap abandoned facilities against non- Cardassian intruders, Garak is brought along to help disarm the security measures. On the abandoned station, the team discovers two empty and recently deactivated stasis tubes and a third one with a dead Cardassian soldier, whose uniform marks him as a member of an elite and ruthless battalion. Suddenly, the away team's runabout detaches from the station and explodes, stranding them inside with no means to send for help and at under threat from the two recently-awoken Cardassians. The team splits into groups to continue the salvage and attempt to establish communications. The Cardassian soldiers methodically ambush and eliminate Pechetti and Stolzoff. Garak decides to go on the offensive and track down the enemy soldiers himself. He returns after killing one of them, and relays his discovery that the soldiers had been subjected to psychotropic drugs which amplify their natural xenophobic tendencies. The second soldier ambushes Boq'ta, but Garak emerges and kills him before he can kill Amaro, only to then stab Amaro himself. O'Brien and Nog discover Amaro, who tells them what happened, before dying from his injuries. O'Brien realizes Garak has been affected by the same drug as the soldiers, and sets out to stop him. Garak captures Nog, using him to draw O'Brien out. O'Brien consents to lay down his weapons and face Garak in hand-to-hand combat, but disables him with his own trap, having rigged his phaser to explode. The three are rescued after collecting the parts they needed. Back on DS9, O'Brien visits Garak in the infirmary. Garak expresses his sincere regret over his actions; O'Brien informs him there will be an inquest, but it will be made clear that Garak wasn't responsible for what he did. Garak remarks that he is lucky the phaser blast didn't kill him, and O'Brien replies that it was intended to do exactly that. ===== The Castle of Otranto tells the story of Manfred, lord of the castle, and his family. The book begins on the wedding-day of his sickly son Conrad and princess Isabella. Shortly before the wedding, however, Conrad is crushed to death by a gigantic helmet that falls on him from above. This inexplicable event is particularly ominous in light of an ancient prophecy, "that the castle and lordship of Otranto should pass from the present family, whenever the real owner should be grown too large to inhabit it". Manfred, terrified that Conrad's death signals the beginning of the end for his line, resolves to avert destruction by marrying Isabella himself, while divorcing his current wife, Hippolita, who he feels has failed to bear him a proper heir due to the sickly condition of Conrad before his untimely death. However, as Manfred attempts to marry Isabella, she escapes to a church with the aid of a peasant named Theodore. Manfred orders Theodore's death while talking to the friar Jerome, who ensured Isabella's safety at the church. When Theodore removes his shirt to be killed, Jerome recognizes a marking below his shoulder and identifies Theodore as his own son. Jerome begs for his son's life, but Manfred says Jerome must either give up the princess or his son's life. They are interrupted by a trumpet and the entrance of knights from another kingdom, who want to deliver Isabella. This leads the knights and Manfred to race to find Isabella. Theodore, having been locked in a tower by Manfred, is freed by Manfred's daughter, Matilda. He races to the underground church and finds Isabella. He hides her in a cave and blocks it to protect her from Manfred and ends up fighting one of the mysterious knights. Theodore badly injures the knight, who turns out to be Isabella's father, Frederic. With that, they all go up to the castle to work things out. Frederic falls in love with Matilda and he and Manfred begin to make a deal about marrying each other's daughters. Manfred, suspecting that Isabella is meeting Theodore in a tryst in the church, takes a knife into the church, where Matilda is meeting Theodore. Thinking his own daughter is Isabella, he stabs her. Theodore is then revealed to be the true prince of Otranto as Matilda dies, leaving Manfred to repent. He abdicates the principality and retires to religion along with Hippolita. Theodore becomes prince and is married to Isabella, for she is the only one who can truly understand his sorrow. ===== Thousands of years before the setting of the first game, Shinnok, one of the Elder Gods who control the six realms in the Mortal Kombat universe, attempted to become the conqueror of them all. Thunder god Raiden fought and defeated Shinnok in a war that spanned hundreds of years, sending him to the Netherrealm, where he would be trapped forever. Now, Shinnok has managed to escape from the Netherrealm with help from the sorcerer Quan Chi, and seeks vengeance against the Elder Gods who banished him. In his plan, he first conquers the realm of Edenia, with the aid of a traitor, Tanya, while he prepares to attack the Elder Gods. In order to stop Shinnok's menace, Raiden requests help from the Earthrealm warriors who saved the realms from Emperor Shao Kahn in previous titles. ===== Full movie In World War I, song-and-dance man Jerry Jones is drafted into the US Army, where he stages a revue called Yip Yip Yaphank. It is a rousing success, but one night during the show orders are received to leave immediately for France: instead of the finale, the troops march up the aisles through the audience, out the theater's main entrance and into a convoy of waiting trucks. Among the teary, last- minute goodbyes Jones kisses his newlywed bride Ethel farewell. In the trenches of France, several of the soldiers in the production are killed or wounded by shrapnel from a German artillery barrage. Jones is wounded in the leg and must walk with a cane, ending his career as a dancer. Nevertheless, he is resolved to find something useful to do, especially now that he is the father of a son. Sgt. McGee and Pvt. Eddie Dibble, the troop bugler, also survive. Twenty-five years later World War II is raging in Europe. Jerry's son Johnny enlists in the Army shortly after Pearl Harbor. He tells his sweetheart Eileen Dibble that they cannot marry until he returns, since he doesn't want to make her a widow. Johnny reluctantly accepts an order to stage another musical, following in his father's footsteps. The show goes on tour throughout the United States and eventually plays Washington, D.C., in front of President Roosevelt. During the show it is announced that this is the last performance: the soldiers in the production have been ordered back to their combat units. Eileen, who has joined the Red Cross auxiliary, appears backstage. During a break in the show she brings a minister and convinces Johnny that they should marry now - which they do, in the alley behind the theater, with their fathers acting as witnesses. The plot provides an envelope to showcase both revues. ===== ===== El Mariachi is recruited by CIA officer Sheldon Jeffrey Sands to kill General Emiliano Marquez, a corrupt Mexican Army officer who has been hired by Mexican drug lord Armando Barillo to assassinate the President of Mexico and overthrow the government during a period of unrest in Culiacán (the capital of Sinaloa) which is testing the presidency. Many years before, El Mariachi and his wife Carolina confronted Marquez in a shootout and wounded the general; in retaliation, Marquez took the lives of Carolina and their daughter in an ambush. In addition to El Mariachi, Sands persuades former FBI agent Jorge Ramírez to come out of retirement and kill Barillo, who had murdered his partner Archuleta in the past. Furthermore, AFN operative Ajedrez is assigned by Sands to tail Barillo. While monitoring Barillo's activities, Ramírez meets Billy Chambers, an American fugitive who has been living under the protection of Barillo, but can no longer stomach the horrible tasks he's been forced to carry out for him. Ramírez convinces Chambers he will provide him protection in exchange for getting closer to Barillo by tagging Chambers' pet chihuahua with a hidden microphone, and Chambers agrees to complete the deal by surrendering to U.S. authorities once Barillo has been taken down. Sands' agent, Cucuy, originally hired to keep an eye on El Mariachi, instead turns and tranquilizes El Mariachi and turns him over to Barillo, also offering to reveal the details of Sands's plan. Cucuy, however, is promptly killed by Chambers while El Mariachi escapes from captivity and calls his friends Lorenzo and Fideo to assist him in his mission. While monitoring Barillo's activity outside a hospital, Ramírez notices armed men storming the building and follows suit. He discovers that a group of doctors have been gunned down and Barillo has bled to death as a result of a botched facial reconstruction, but realizes that the corpse on the operating table is a body double before he is knocked out and kidnapped by the real Barillo and Ajedrez, who reveals herself to be Barillo's daughter. Sands realizes that his mission has been compromised, but is too late, as he is captured by Barillo and Ajedrez — who drill out his eyes before sending him out. Despite his blindness, he manages to gun down a hitman tailing him with the aid of a chiclet boy. As Culiacán celebrates the Day of the Dead during the President's visit, Marquez and his army storm in and attack the presidential palace. Marquez's troops, however, are met with resistance from not only the President's bodyguards, but also the citizens of Culiacán and the Mariachis. Sands had instructed El Mariachi to allow the President to be killed before attacking Marquez, but the Mariachis, concluding that the President is a good man, intervene early and protect him. Marquez enters the presidential palace, only to once again confront El Mariachi, who shoots out his kneecaps before killing him with a headshot. Ramírez, who was released from captivity by Chambers, faces Barillo. After Barillo guns down Chambers, Ramírez and El Mariachi kill the drug lord. Sands manages to shoot the sadistic Ajedrez dead outside the presidential palace. Ultimately, Lorenzo and Fideo walk away with the cash that Barillo was using to pay Marquez, and help the president safely escape the attempted coup. Ramírez says goodbye to Sands and walks away, having avenged his partner's death. El Mariachi then gives his share of the cash to his home village before walking into the sunset. ===== Three hitmen, Willy, Norwood, and Simms are staying in a posh Los Angeles hotel. After failing a job, they take off in a car with a pregnant woman named Velma, who is in on their scheme. They flee to Mexico to escape the wrath of their boss, Amos Dade, and rob a bank along the way. While driving through the desert, their car breaks down. They bury their suitcase of money and begin to walk. Night falls, and they come upon a town, where they see a demolished car with a corpse inside. They enter an empty bar, where the three men get drunk and Velma pesters them to leave. As they exit the bar, the wrecked car has vanished, but the men are too inebriated to notice it. The group camps out for the night, and the following morning, Velma witnesses several trucks of cowboys enter the town, carrying espresso machines with them. Much to the dismay of Velma, who insists they keep a low profile and leave, the three men enter the town, which is now full of townspeople, and go back to the bar. There, they are confronted by a gang of cowboys addicted to coffee, and a shoot-out ensues, but they are ultimately welcomed by the townspeople. The bizarre townspeople include a couple who own a store full of piñatas, a man running a hot dog stand, and countless cowboys and prostitutes. The head honcho of the town, Tim McMahon, invites the gang to a party that evening. The following day, Tim McMahon's elderly father is pushed off of a building by his relative Sabrina McMahon and dies. The entire town has a funeral procession for him, and at the funeral, a friend of Amos', named Whitey, shows up looking for the hitmen and Velma. The town seizes Whitey for being a "stranger", and accuses him of the murder of the McMahon grandfather. During the burial of the grandfather, his hand comes up out of the dirt and grabs the priest's ankle, and the priest shoots into the ground, killing him. Meanwhile, on the gallows, Whitey begins to tell the town the truth about Amos and the hitmen, but is hanged before he can tell his story. A man named I.G. Farben, who claims to be a house manufacturer, enters town with his wife Sonia and introduces himself, advertising his company. The next morning, Simms sees Amos' car enter the town, and tries to get a drunken Willy and Norwood to leave with Velma. A series of shootouts begin between the townspeople, Amos' crew, and the hitmen, and I.G. Farben and Sonia provide high-grade weapons for the killers. Tim McMahon joins Amos' team after having wrongfully hanged Whitey, and everyone begins to turn against each other. As Simms and Willy run into the desert, a shootout ensues with the town priest. They reach the spot where they buried the money, and Simms shoots Willy as they are trying to lift the suitcase out of the ground. Simms then hears Velma laughing, and turns around only to be shot by Velma and one of the townsmen. After Velma shoots Simms several times, the townman with her is shot by Tim McMahon. Tim and Velma then take off arm-in-arm with the suitcase of money, while Simms and Willy die. Meanwhile, in town, chaos has ensued, and the town hardware store is set on fire. Amos is shot, and virtually everyone is killed, aside from Norwood and several prostitutes. Tim and Velma leave the town in a truck with the suitcase of money, but accidentally drive off of a cliff when their brakes go out. Norwood leaves town with the prostitutes, and Farben Oil Company trucks enter the town to drill for oil. ===== In 1960, Lorenzo works as a MTA bus driver in Belmont, a working-class Italian-American neighborhood in The Bronx, with his wife Rosina and their nine-year old son Calogero. Calogero becomes enamored of the criminal life and Mafia presence in his neighborhood, led by Sonny. One day, Calogero witnesses Sonny shooting and killing a man assaulting his friend. When Calogero chooses to keep quiet when questioned by NYPD detectives, Sonny takes a liking to him and gives him the nickname "C". Sonny's men offer Lorenzo a better paying job, but preferring a law-abiding life as a bus driver, politely declines. Sonny befriends Calogero and introduces him to his crew. Calogero earns tips working in Sonny's bar and throwing dice, and is admonished by Lorenzo when he discovers the cash. Lorenzo returns the money to Sonny, and warns him to keep away from Calogero. Eight years later, a 17-year old Calogero has been visiting Sonny regularly without his father's knowledge. Calogero is also part of a gang of local Italian-American boys, which concerns Sonny. Later, Calogero meets a black girl, Jane, and they develop a tentative friendship. Despite the high level of racial tension and dislike between Italian-Americans and African-Americans in the neighborhood, Calogero arranges a date with Jane. He asks for advice from both his father and Sonny, with the latter lending Calogero his car. Later, Calogero's friends beat up black cyclists who ride through their neighborhood, despite Calogero's attempts to defend them. One of the cyclists turns out to be Jane's brother, and he mistakes Calogero for one of the assailants and accuses him of beating him up when he and Jane meet for their date. Calogero loses his temper over the accusation, and calls him a nigger, which he instantly regrets. Jane leaves with her brother. At home, Calogero is confronted by his father who had just seen him driving Sonny's car. An argument ensues and Calogero storms out. Shortly thereafter, Calogero is confronted by Sonny and his crew, who found a bomb on Sonny's car. Sonny confronts Calogero, and after he tearfully pleads his unwavering dedication to Sonny, he recognizes Calogero's innocence and allows him to leave. The black boys egg the Italian-American boys' usual spot in retaliation for the previous beating, and Calogero's friends make a plan to strike back using Molotov cocktails. They force Calogero to participate, but while on their way, Sonny stops their car and orders Calogero out. Calogero catches up with Jane, who tells him that her brother had later admitted that the boy who beat him up was not Calogero. Jane and Calogero make amends, but he suddenly remembers his friends' plans to attack Jane's neighborhood, and the two rush to stop them. During the attack, a black shopkeeper had thrown an unbroken Molotov cocktail back at the Italian-American boys' car which entered through the window igniting the other Molotov cocktails, resulting in an explosion that killed everyone inside. When Calogero and Jane arrive, they find the car engulfed in flames and the boys burned. Calogero leaves and rushes into Sonny's bar to thank him for saving his life, but among the crowd, an assailant shoots Sonny in the back of the head before Calogero can warn him. Calogero later learns that the assailant was the son of the man he witnessed Sonny kill eight years earlier. At Sonny's funeral, countless people come to pay their respects. When the crowd disperses, a lone man, Carmine, visits the funeral, claiming that Sonny once saved his life as well. Calogero does not recognize Carmine until he sees a scar on his forehead and realizes he was the man being assaulted whom Sonny had defended when he committed the murder. Carmine tells Calogero that he is filling in for Sonny in the neighborhood for the time being, and promises Calogero help should he ever need. Carmine leaves just as Lorenzo unexpectedly arrives to pay his respects to Sonny. Lorenzo thanks him for saving his son's life and admits that he had never hated him, but that he had resented him for making Calogero grow up so quickly. Calogero and his father walk home together as Calogero narrates the lessons he learned from his two mentors. ===== Bill is a farmboy on a small backward agricultural planet who is drugged, hypnotised, then shanghaied into the Space Troopers and sent to recruit training under a fanged instructor named Deathwish Drang. After surviving boot camp, he is transferred to active duty as a fuse tender on the flagship of the space fleet in battle with the Chingers, a small reptilian race who are, in Trooper propaganda, portrayed as being 7 feet tall. Before the battle one of Bill's fellow troopers, known as Eager Beager, is revealed to be an android operated from within by a Chinger, who is in fact only 7 inches tall. Injured and with the fleet almost destroyed, Bill accidentally fires off a shot from his ship's main gun. The shot is witnessed by an officer and Bill is proclaimed a hero. As a reward he is sent to the city-planet Helior to receive a medal from the emperor. Bill's city plan is stolen from him on a sightseeing tour. Losing his plan is a crime, and without his plan it takes him days to get back to the Trooper Transit Center. When he arrives he finds he is AWOL for missing his transport, and is threatened with arrest and torture. He escapes and flees into the depths of the city, where he first falls in with a gang of similarly "deplanned" outlaws, then finds employment with Helior's garbage disposal service, cannily using the galactic postal service to send garbage to other planets, since Helior has run out of room for it. His unwilling recruitment as a spy to infiltrate an ineptly-run anarchist plot leads to his arrest. He has been AWOL for so long that now he is considered a deserter. He avoids being shot by a firing squad thanks to a wily lawyer, who points out that technically the entire city, and therefore the entire planet, is under military rule and is a military base, so he never actually went AWOL. However, he is convicted of sleeping on duty. He is sent to a prison unit working on a planet where the Human-Chinger war continues. Escaping during an attack, he rescues some prisoners and meets a dying Deathwish Drang. He then shoots off his own foot to get off-planet. The book ends with the story coming full circle as Bill, with an artificial foot and Deathwish Drang's fangs, returns to his home planet and recruits more gullible young men, including his own younger brother, into the Troopers without recognizing him. (A recruiter's term of service is reduced for each new trooper they enlist.) ===== ===== Svipdagr is set a task by his stepmother, to meet the goddess Menglöð, who is his "fated bride."cf. Grógaldr 3 and Fjölsvinnsmál 40-41. In order to accomplish this seemingly impossible task, he summons by necromancy the shade of his dead mother, Gróa, a völva who also appears in the Prose Edda, to cast nine spells for him. This she does and the first poem abruptly ends. At the beginning of the second poem, Svipdagr arrives at Menglöð's castle, where he is interrogated in a game of riddles by the watchman, from whom he conceals his true name (identifying himself as Vindkald(r) "Wind-Cold" apparently hoping to pass himself off as a frost giant). The watchman is named Fjölsviðr, a name of Odin in Grímnismál 47. He is accompanied by his wolf-hounds Geri and Gifr. After a series of eighteen questions and answers concerning the castle, its inhabitants, and its environment, Svipdagr ultimately learns that the gates will only open to one person: Svipdagr. On his revealing his identity, the gates of the castle open and Menglöð rises to greet her expected lover, welcoming him "back" to her. ===== As a former staffer at the Environmental Protection Agency, Jack McDarvid, the main character, knows all about extremists in the cause of virtue. He now works for a law firm that represents companies that need clearances or information about just what is or is not allowed. But then his boss is killed in a shootout near the Capitol, and nothing is what it seems. And no one what they appear to be. From Moscow to Washington, from a near hit and run to the very real threat of a nuclear time bomb in the hands of a fanatic with a point to prove, The Green Progression moves non-stop through the machinations behind the scenes of the environmental movement. Category:1992 American novels Category:Novels by L. E. Modesitt Jr. ===== Ambitious high school senior Matthew Kidman has been accepted to Georgetown University, but cannot afford the tuition. He has raised $25,000 in order to bring a brilliant Cambodian student, Samnang, to study in the United States, but finds little else truly memorable about his high school experience. His life suddenly changes when Danielle moves in next door. Matthew witnesses her undressing from his bedroom window, until she sees him and storms over, knocking on the door and introducing herself to his parents. They suggest to Matthew that he show Danielle around town. While driving around, Danielle stops the car and forces Matthew to get out and strip for her. The two get to know each other through weird adventures, which include Matthew finding himself in his principal's pool. He and Danielle sneak away and pick up his friends before going to a party. When a few of Matthew's athlete classmates attempt to get him away from Danielle and kick him out of the party, he finds the courage to walk right up and kiss her. Matthew's world is suddenly rocked the next day when his friend Eli informs him that Danielle is an adult film actress. On Eli's advice, Matthew takes Danielle to a sleazy motel. Danielle, insulted, realizes that he has discovered her past and abruptly ends the relationship. Matthew later attempts to apologize and reconcile, but Danielle believes that she will never be able to escape her past and decides to return to the adult industry. Matthew tracks Danielle down at an adult film convention in Las Vegas where Kelly, a porn producer and Danielle's ex, menacingly warns Matthew not to interfere with his business. Matthew ignores him, convincing Danielle to leave the adult industry and begin their relationship anew. Next morning, Kelly furiously abducts Matthew from school and assaults him, saying that Danielle's failure to film has cost him $30,000. Kelly offers to let Matthew erase his debt by stealing an award statuette from porn mogul Hugo Posh, but once Matthew has entered the house Kelly calls in a burglary report and leaves the premises. Matthew narrowly avoids the police and rushes to a scholarship award dinner. High on ecstasy that Kelly gave him as aspirin, he gives a deeply sentimental speech but loses out on the scholarship. Kelly exacts further revenge by stealing all the money Matthew raised for Samnang. Matthew fears that he will be implicated in the crime and expelled from school. He turns to Danielle for help in recouping his losses. Danielle calls in two friends from her porn star days, and they agree to make a video for Hugo Posh on prom night using Matthew's classmates as actors. After the successful shoot, Danielle and Matthew have sex in their limousine. Despite Danielle's past, it is the first time she has truly made love. The next morning, Eli calls Matthew, panicked because the prom night tape has been stolen, jeopardizing their hopes of financial recovery. Matthew enters his home to find Kelly (and the stolen tape) in his home, along with his parents and Principal Salinger. Kelly, in private, tells Matthew that unless he is given half of all profits, he will play the tape immediately for Matthew's family. Matthew dares him to show the tape, asserting that he no longer cares about his "now-ruined future," and Kelly obliges. Surprising everyone, Matthew and his friends have made a progressive, comprehensive sex ed tape rather than a porn film. With no more cards left to play, Kelly admits defeat as well as a grudging respect for Matthew. Hugo Posh and Matthew make millions from the video. Hugo Posh pays for Samnang to come to the United States, while Matthew has enough money to attend Georgetown and take Danielle to DC with him. =====