John McCain flies his jet from a carrier on a bombing mission over Hanoi, North Vietnam. As a warning buzzer announces incoming missiles, McCain stays with the bomb drop, but is hit by a missile. He lands in the water and is pulled ashore by an angry mob, and taken prisoner. Asked to give information, he gives out the names of a sports team rather than of his squadron. In flashbacks, his father tells of how his submarine escaped destruction in World War II, and told him not to worry about his grades, as his father and grandfather "really fooled them" by rising to admiral despite doing poorly in school. In prison, McCain sees other prisoners cruelly tortured, while he sees a couple who appear to have decided to cooperate with the enemy. McCain is given a choice to be released early in recognition that his father is commander of US forces in the Pacific, but he refuses, and suffers for it. During a stepped-up bombing campaign, the prisoners sing "Silent Night", after which negotiations result in a release of prisoners and a trip home.
The story is set aboard the ''Phaeton'', Earth's first starship, on a ten-year journey to explore the nearby Epsilon Eridani star system. In order to help the 12-person crew endure the long mission, a system of virtual reality modules are installed aboard the ship. These modules, which are worn like glasses and suppress real-world body movement, allow the crew to assume various identities and enjoy a variety of adventures. The crew's experiences aboard the ship are broadcast back to Earth as Fox's reality television program ''Edge of Never: Life on the Phaeton''.
The pilot picks up approximately six months after the launch of ''Phaeton''. The crew now faces a "go or no-go" situation, in that they are fast approaching their last chance to change course back towards Earth. However, their home planet is quickly becoming uninhabitable, with dry land becoming increasingly rare. Scientists estimate that the planet will become completely inhospitable within the next hundred years. The ''Phaeton''
Unfortunately, as the crew fast approaches their point of no return beyond the planet Neptune, several problems arise. Dr. Adin Meyer (Metwally), the crew's only physician, becomes aware that he is in the early stages of Parkinson's disease. Via use of the ''Phaeton's'' virtual reality programs, Commander Frank Pike (Coster-Waldau) has begun a secret sexual relationship with botanist Rika Goddard (Guillory), whose husband, psychologist Dr. Roger Fallon (D'Arcy), is also a part of the crew, the mission psychologist and producer of ''Edge of Never''.
Meanwhile, the crew's virtual reality simulators have been experiencing several bizarre glitches, all of which involve a mysterious man, whose acts against the crew inside the virtual simulations become more and more disturbing, including "murdering" Pike during a Civil War re-enactment and "killing" Meyer by pushing him off a cliff. Despite the hardships, the crew unanimously decides to continue on with the 10-year voyage.
After Billie Kashmiri (Bishé), the new host of ''Edge of Never'', is beaten and raped by the mystery man within the virtual world, the crew considers discontinuing use of the virtual reality programs, possibly for the remainder of the voyage. Now past their "point of no return", the crew faces the prospect of continuing on for an entire decade within the confines of the ''Phaeton'' without a virtual world for comfort.
The communications array fails to deploy, and after Dr. Jules Braun (designer of most of the ''Phaeton''
Rika finds Pike's virtual reality headset in her quarters, and when she wears it, she finds herself in Pike's favorite simulation: a tactical military command of the Civil War era. Inside the simulation, she encounters what appears to be a simulation of Pike that tells her, "None of this is real," and only by following him "through the looking-glass and down the rabbit hole" will she learn the truth. He rides off on horseback into the virtual sunset, with Rika crying out Pike's name in desperation.
The film begins in a Paris hotel where two American men drink champagne to celebrate their gambling wins. As the young man boasts, the old man strangles him from behind.
The killer is identified almost instantly because of the signature napkin knot found around the victims throat - the signature of notorious card-playing killer C.J. Dabney. The police know his next victim will fit the pattern: a young American man.
Despite the identification, the American detective Higgins pleads to the French police not to try to apprehend the perpetrator, because he wants to catch Dabney red-handed if possible. Just like Higgins guesses, Dabney soon finds a new victim, a newspaperman from Ohio, Freddie Hunter. Freddie is in Paris escorting eight young boy scouts - the Boy Foresters, but he plans to stay longer in France by deliberately missing the boat ride home to the U.S. He is looking for romance.
As Freddie is leaving the ship, he literally bumps into the beautiful young Duchess Alexandria, and isn't as keen on leaving anymore. He find a bunk with the boys, who are led by the tallest boy, Stanley. The duchess travels with her father, the Grand Duke Maximilian, and their secret hope is to start a new life in the United States, since the family is bankrupt. Dabney, who is also on the ship, offers to introduce the clueless Freddie to the duchess. When Freddie meets Alexandria, he pretends to be a very wealthy man, and instantly falls head over heels for her. She has a few more drinks of champagne than intended and reciprocates his feelings. Freddie engages in a card game with the Grand Duke.
As the scout bugler plays "Taps", Freddie has to run from the adult company to reach his bunk in time for lights out. In the morning he is woken by Reveille.
Unaware that Dabney is a cardsharp, Freddie maintains his pose as a millionaire and enters into a running card game with him and Maximilian. Dabney continually deals Freddie a winning hand then deftly changes one card to create a losing hand after Freddie has bet. Freddie cannot smoke, since he has been caught smoking before by the troop-leader. The boy scouts catch him with smoking on the ship, and threaten to reveal this and get Freddie in trouble. They tell him to confess to Alexandria that he is poor.
Freddie finds out that Alexandria doesn't have a penny to her name, and she laughs when she confesses she was going to ask him to lend her $1000. When he unexpectedly wins the card game, he discovers that Dabney has orchestrated the win and confronts him with this. Dabney is about to garotte Freddie when Higgins, who is also on the ship, interrupts, without revealing his identity as a detective. Later, Dabney murders Higgins and removes all evidence against himself, but not before the latter has warned Freddie to steer clear of Dabney. Dabney brings the ship authorities to Higgin's cabin and pretends to discover the murder and frame Freddie.
When Alexandria learns from Dabney that Freddie is a fraud, she makes a fool out of him in front of all the boy scouts. Freddie escapes the murder room and hides in a lifeboat. The boy scouts have a ceremony and the bugler plays the Last post as they think Freddie has jumped overboard. Little Tommy finds Freddie hiding in the ship's dog kennels and goes to get Alexandria. She believes Freddie when he tells the truth about Dabney, and goes in search of the evidence - a diary that Higgins wrote. Dabney catches her in Higgin's cabin and tries to kill her. Meanwhile Freddie is lowered on the anchor rope and almost eaten by a shark. When he gets back onboard he intervenes and rescues her from Dabney, becoming her hero of the day. They kiss in front of the boys.
The film runs two narratives simultaneously, preparation of the escape and the escape itself.
Frank Perry (Brian Cox) is a lifer and has long accepted that he will never see the outside again. When Perry receives his first letter in fourteen years that his cherished daughter is a drug addict and near death following an overdose, he starts to think about escaping. He plans an escape with help from Lenny Drake (Joseph Fiennes), Brodie (Liam Cunningham) and Viv Batista (Seu Jorge). But when Perry's new cellmate James Lacey (Dominic Cooper) gets noticed by Tony (the brother of the powerful inmate Rizza), things get more complicated and lead to Tony's death. When Perry receives the bad news that his daughter has died his plans change.
Perry nears freedom, as he climbs towards a London Underground exit. The story snaps back to within the prison where Perry is offering himself to be killed by Rizza for failing to bring Lacey to him for punishment. The escape scenes were Perry's hallucinations as he was dying, and he sacrificed himself to cause distraction, allowing the other prisoners to escape.
Having graduated from college, Matthew Anderson travels to Florida to spend some time with his older brother while deciding what career to pursue. He is not motivated by money or desire for worldly success; he spends a great deal of time observing marine creatures at the local marine life observation station, and successfully defends his right (against the landlady) to have a small aquarium in the rented apartment. He also earns a significant paycheck by writing radio advertisements, but that sort of work repels him. Urged by his brother to get a job, he becomes a lifeguard at the municipal swimming pool.
In flashback scenes the audience learns that the boys used to spend pleasant summers at a Wisconsin lake with their family, often swimming across the lake for sport. The final such summer ended in tragedy - Michael had been busy with his career by then and was not at the lake; Matthew and his father began swimming across the lake but the father suffered cramps midway and drowned despite Matthew's frantic efforts to save him.
Much of the film is devoted to Matthew's inner thoughts, including his conversations and visits with Jesus. Matthew tells us at the film's beginning that his stream-of-consciousness thoughts are like having a radio inside, with the dial being constantly tuned across the spectrum of available stations.
Michael is dating a girl, Natalie, and is considering asking her hand in marriage. However, he is often insensitive to her emotional needs, a fact which his younger brother recognizes and tries to help with. Matthew then becomes emotionally attached to Natalie, but finally realizes that in order to keep his brother, he must give Natalie up, much as he gave up his father. The heaviness of this realization drives him to a suicide attempt. He concludes that God wants people to give everything to God, at least everything they value dearly.
The film opens as Eddie Lomax (Jean-Claude van Damme) drives an Indian motorcycle in an open desert plain (referred to as the Dry Lake). Soon enough, the motorcycle breaks down and Eddie dismounts, carrying nothing but his jacket, his .45 pistol, and a bottle of tequila. As he lies in the desert drinking, he eventually sees his friend Johnny Sixtoes (Danny Trejo), a Mexican Indian, to whom he had sent a postcard notifying him of his arrival.
In their conversation Eddie reveals that the surprise he wrote about in the letter was, in fact, the Indian motorcycle. He also reveals that he is there to kill himself as he goes into a drunken rage, revealing deep regret from their days in the Army, claiming that the souls of those he killed haunt him. Firing shots off in all directions, he vents his buried feelings to Johnny, and hopes he will "give him the OK to take a journey".
Soon after the shots are fired, a truck pulls up to Eddie, Johnny disappears, and it becomes clear that Eddie was hallucinating about him being present. Matt (Shark Fralick), Jesse (Silas Weir Mitchell), and Petey Hogan (Jonathan Avildsen), sons of Ramsey Hogan (Larry Drake) get out of the truck, Matt furious as one of Eddie's drunken shots almost killed him.
Eddie staggers to them, not wanting any trouble; Matt, however, insists that he apologise. Matt then proposes that they take the motorcycle, and they will forget about the gunshot. Eddie persists that the motorcycle is a gift for his friend, telling Matt to get off. Matt seems to comply, until he delivers a cheap blow to Eddie. After a fight, Eddie is left beaten and shot in his right shoulder. As the brothers stand over Eddie, another truck passes with a local restaurant waitress Dottie (Jaime Pressly) and cook Vern (Kevin West). Dottie expresses extreme concern; Vern simply drives on, not wanting any trouble from the Hogans. Matt begins to load the motorcycle onto the truck, instructing Jesse to make sure that Eddie is dead.
Jesse asks for Eddie's gun from Pete, who took it from the earlier struggle. Being the youngest of the three, Petey insists on doing the job. As Jesse and Matt load the motorcycle, Petey aims at Eddie's head. Eddie's eyes open briefly, which makes Petey uneasy. Two shots ring out, which make Matt and Jesse think that Pete shot Eddie twice. However, Petey froze and simply shot two rounds into the ground.
Johnny Six Toes finds Eddie and nurses him back to health. Eddie then comes back to town to recover his pistol from Leon (Gregory Scott Cummins) and Lester (Neil Delama) in the pawn shop by killing them. Eddie falls for Rhonda Reynolds (Gabrielle Fitzpatrick), the other waitress, and enlists the help of Jubal Early (Pat Morita) to help him dispose of the bodies.
Eddie then sets the two rival gangs against each other in a bloody path to recover his prized motorcycle for Johnny, have his revenge on the Hogans, and ultimately find a reason to carry on living. Eddie defeats Matt and is once again on the road with Johnny, riding with Rhonda.
The school is run by Rowland Mahler and his wife Nina Parker. Rowland is trying to write a novel but discovers that a new star pupil, Chris Wiley, only seventeen is also writing a novel, which eclipses Rowland's efforts. Frustrated by his own inability to make progress, and increasingly aware of Chris' prodigious talent, Rowland becomes obsessed with the boy, occasioning dry ironies about twists in human relations. Chris recognises this and keeps his novel under wraps whilst at the same time encourages his attention, increasing Rowland's frustration.
''Siyama'' is the story of three Thai youths who are transported back in time to an ancient village in the last period of Ayutthaya kingdom. They find themselves in the midst of a vicious war with Burma before Ayutthaya is burned down (in April 1767).
The novel describes the slapstick circumstances surrounding a local election in one of the districts of Trinidad. Its main character is Surujpat Harbans. It also delves into the multiculturalism of Trinidad, showing the effects of the election on various ethnic groups, including Muslims, Hindus, and Europeans.
A century has passed since the Fire Nation declared war on the other three nations of air, water, and earth in their attempt to conquer the world. Sokka and his younger sister Katara, who live in the Southern Water Tribe, discover an unusual iceberg. Breaking into the iceberg releases a beam of light and reveals a 12-year-old boy named Aang and his pet flying bison Appa.
Zuko, the disgraced prince of the Fire Nation, detects the light from Aang's release and arrives at the Southern Water Tribe to demand the villagers hand over the Avatar: the only person capable of manipulating, or "bending", all four elements of air, water, earth, and fire. Aang surrenders himself to save the village, but escapes the Fire Nation ship and flies to Appa, brought by Katara and Sokka. The trio travel to Aang's homeland at the Southern Air Temple, where Aang learns he was in the iceberg for a century and that the Fire Nation wiped out the other Air Nomads, including his guardian Monk Gyatso. In despair, Aang enters the Avatar State and finds himself in the Spirit World where he encounters a Dragon Spirit. Katara's pleas bring Aang out of the Avatar State.
The group arrives at an Earth Kingdom village controlled by the Fire Nation. When they are arrested and imprisoned, they incite a rebellion, battling and defeating the Fire Nation soldiers occupying the village. Aang tells Katara and Sokka that he only knows airbending and has yet to master the other three elements. They make their way to the Northern Water Tribe where Aang can learn from waterbending masters.
During a side trip to the Northern Air Temple, Aang is betrayed by a peasant and captured by Fire Nation archers led by Commander Zhao. However, a masked marauder called the Blue Spirit helps Aang escape. Zhao realizes that Zuko is the Blue Spirit, and has a crossbowman fire a bolt that knocks Zuko out, but Aang uses his skills to escape with the unconscious Zuko. Aang watches over Zuko until morning, then leaves to reunite with Sokka and Katara. Zhao tries again to kill Zuko by blowing up his ship, but Zuko secretly survives and sneaks aboard Zhao's ship.
Upon arriving, Aang and company are welcomed by the citizens of the Northern Water Tribe, and waterbending master Pakku teaches Aang and Katara. The Fire Nation arrives and Zhao begins his attack while Zuko continues his independent search for the Avatar. After defeating Katara in battle, Zuko captures Aang, who reenters the Avatar State to search for the Dragon Spirit for help to defeat the Fire Nation. The Dragon Spirit advises him to "use the ocean and show the power of water".
Returning to his body, Aang battles Zuko until Katara freezes Zuko in ice, then leaves to join the battle. Zuko's uncle Iroh and Zhao make their way to a sacred cave where Zhao captures the Moon Spirit. Despite Iroh's pleas, Zhao kills the Moon Spirit to strip all the waterbenders of their abilities. Enraged by Zhao's sacrilege, Iroh reveals his mastery of firebending, frightening Zhao and his entourage out of the sacred cave. Princess Yue gives her life to revive the Moon Spirit. Zhao finds out Zuko survived and they prepare to fight, but Iroh talks Zuko out of it and Zhao is drowned by waterbenders. Recalling his life before being trapped in the ice, Aang enters the Avatar State and raises the ocean into a gigantic wall to drive the Fire Nation back.
Zuko's father Fire Lord Ozai learns of the defeat and tasks his daughter Princess Azula with preventing the Avatar from mastering earth and fire.
Mobile phones today come with a host of novel features to entertain their users. But a dark side hides amid their use. This film features a group of people obsessed with mobile phone video recording: Ken (Paopol Thephasdin) is a mobile phone repair man who has steals private video clips from his customers’ phones; Pub DJ Aud (Warot Pitakanonda) likes having fun with girls and records those adventures on his phone to share with others; and Gaeng (Nuttapong Tangkasam), the pub owner who creates a porn website featuring mobile phone video clips. However, none of the characters realise their mobile phone habit is to become a threat to their lives.
As described in a film magazine, Jane Vale (Frederick), a forty year old business woman who ran a great industrial plant left to her by her father, awoke to the realization that she was in love with Robert Elliott (McGregor), a youth scarcely more than half her age. This lad first attracted her attention by opposing her policy in a matter of production. She was passing at the time and heard him refer to her executive staff as "yes" men. Her general manager was for firing the boy on the spot, but instead, she made him her assistant. As a result, gossip spread about the factory through the envious mouths of his fellow employees. Feeling bound by his honor to defend her, on an occasion when a tough employee makes a scurrilous remark, the boy strikes him, knocking him down. Jane sees the fight although she is not seen by any of her workers. Then she gets the thrill of her life when, Elliott, the lad, announces that he is engaged to marry Miss Vale. Just before their marriage, Jane's young sister, Dorothy (La Plante), returns home from college and pays her a visit. The latter is about Elliott's age. The two immediately fall in love with each other, but conceal their growing passion out of love for Jane. Elliott goes through with the marriage, and later, on a mountain climb, circumstances result in Dorothy falling into his arms. It is then that they decide to tell Jane. But again they fail when they realize the pain it will cause her. After a party which was made up of Dorothy's younger friends, Jane discovers that Elliott and Dorothy love each other. Jane pretends that she has fallen out of love with Robert and seeks a divorce. In this way, she paves the way for his freedom and her sister's happiness.
The well-to-do Lord Montague is assaulted on a fog enshrouded London street on his way to his club, but manages to escape death. He later learns that some unknown assailant is killing off the members of his old army regiment from the Indian War. A Scotland Yard inspector investigating the homicides asks Montague to have the nine remaining members of his regiment assemble at his estate, so as to protect them from being murdered one by one, and so that he can hopefully learn the identity of the assassin, assuming the killer may be one of them.
Frank tells Dr. Arden they should report Grace's death to the police. Arden asks if he wants them to know Frank killed Grace, who was unarmed, but Frank says he doesn't care for the consequences.
Jude sneaks into her office and holds a straight razor to Mary Eunice's throat, threatening to end the Devil's possession by killing her. Mary Eunice manages to break Jude's hold and Jude is escorted out of the building. Arden mentions Frank's intentions to Mary Eunice, who claims she will take care of it. Intent on lifting his spirits, she takes a Santa suit to Leigh Emerson, a man sent to Briarcliff after he went on a killing spree dressed as Santa Claus and later put into solitary confinement by Jude.
Lana worries that Mary Eunice hasn't done anything about Dr. Thredson, but she discovers Kit has returned to the asylum. She explains to him that Thredson is the killer and she will prove Kit's innocence. He wants to help her, but can't yet as he's been drugged.
Arden admits to Jude that she was correct about Mary Eunice and seeks Jude's help. He vows loyalty to her if she can return Mary Eunice's innocence. He later lets Jude into the asylum and she tells him she must speak to Mary Eunice alone in the office.
Monsignor Howard commends Mary Eunice for allowing Leigh to have a chance at redemption, by allowing him to be unshackled and dressed as Santa. Leigh then attacks Frank and attempts to kill him before orderlies tackle him.
Thredson finds Lana at Briarcliff, and tells her he's destroyed all evidence relating to Bloody Face. He attempts to garrotte her, but Kit knocks Thredson unconscious. Lana wishes Thredson dead, but Kit needs him alive to show who the real killer is. They hide him in a closet.
Frank puts Leigh back in his solitary cell. Mary Eunice then kills Frank. Leigh enters the office where Jude is. Arden states his loyalty to Mary Eunice and leaves. Avenging Jude's cruelty to him, Leigh canes Jude and attempts to rape her, but Jude stabs him with a letter opener.
As Arden disposes of Grace's body by giving her to the raspers, the aliens take Grace.
The story is about a three-armed man on a journey from Lampang to Bangkok who meets a young woman and the two experience various misadventures and grow closer together.
The story revolves around the main protagonists Shinobu Handa and Momoko Naitou. They have known each other since childhood and Shinobu fell in love with Momoko from the first day they met. Now enrolled in Kagome Academy, an all-girls school, Momoko has forgotten about the past, but Shinobu has not. Both follow their own ways, but Shinobu still hopes for Momoko to remember their promise from long ago.
The series depicted Logan and Jessica escaping from the City of Domes only to be pursued by Francis (Randolph Powell) and various other Sandmen. Traveling in a futuristic hovercraft-like vehicle which they find in an abandoned building in the remains of Washington DC, they embark on a trek through post-apocalyptic United States to find Sanctuary. On their journey, they encounter strange human societies, robots and aliens. The domed city (including Carousel) was seen only in the pilot and two other episodes, using recycled footage from the film. In a change from the book and film, the television series had the city secretly run by a cabal of older citizens who promised Francis a life beyond the age of 30 as a city elder if he can capture the fugitives. Logan and Jessica were joined on their journey by an android named Rem (played by Donald Moffat), whom they encounter in a futuristic city run by robots.
Huey, Dewey, and Louie request Scrooge McDuck donate $1.49 to buy a championship trophy for their new soccer team, which Scrooge gasps is very expensive. Scrooge gives an old trophy of his he thinks is worthless, but the boys pass the curator of the Duckburg Museum, who appraises it as an artifact worth a million dollars. To win back the trophy, Scrooge is now made to sponsor his nephews. They buy a soccer ball from a sporting goods store owned by a surprisingly athletic and agile Goofy, who ends becoming the team's coach when the nephews' teammates are shown as ragtag misfits, but the "McDuck Greenbacks" come together under "Sport Goofy"'s patient coaching and sharpen their soccer skills.
Since the trophy's value makes front page news, the Beagle Boys are aware it, and sought to enter the soccer tournament as well, but since they are out of shape and do not know anything about soccer, they resort to cheating. A series of sports news montages are shown how the soccer tournament has been progressing. When the Beagles see the Greenbacks won the semifinals, they think Goofy is a problem and kidnap him. The team is disheartened by the loss of their team captain, but resolve to go on without him. Despite the excellent playing by the team members, the Beagle Boys engage in their cheating and a nearsighted referee keeps declaring the Beagles' goals legit, ending the first half with a score of 10–0. Goofy quietly escapes the Beagles' hideout and gets to the field for the second half, which encourages the Greenbacks into incredible playing that not even the Beagles' cheating can counter, causing a comeback of 10–10.
When the enraged Beagles resort to outright physically assaulting Goofy, Scrooge finally makes the referee wear his glasses, causing the referee to cry foul and set up a penalty shot. The field is cleared save for Goofy and the Beagles' goalie, however Goofy is still dizzy from the beating he is trying to regain his balance. The Beagles' captain has secretly placed a bomb in the ball, and orders a Beagle to push the red button on the detonator when Goofy is ready to take his shot. Unfortunately, that Beagle is so uneducated he keeps pushing the green button, causing Sport Goofy to easily make the penalty goal past an overconfident goalie, thus the Greenbacks win 11–10. All of Duckburg rejoices except for the Beagles, whose angry captain pushes the red button causing the ball to explode and send all the Beagle Boys into a waiting police van. Now that Scrooge has his trophy back, he donates it to the Duckburg Museum (after making sure it's tax-deductible), and joins the McDuck Greenbacks in their championship photo.
Ten-year-old Frederick Muller is a poor but honest and free-thinking boy who lives with his mother Gerta and father Josef in an early 18th century Prussian dukedom. Josef is valet to the aging, bad-tempered and somewhat foolishly stubborn duke, whom he will do anything to win the favor of. Josef is also estranged from Frederick, who would rather be a stonemason than a servant to the duke. On Frederick's birthday, during a party Frederick was invited to, Composer Johann Sebastian Bach storms in and argues with the Duke and his right-hand man, the Concertmaster, about his working conditions and the music that they both say should be played in the chapel. Bach wants to play new and happier music as it "lifts people up", but the duke stubbornly prefers only dirges or, as he calls them, "the old hymns". To further impress the Duke, Josef decides to make Frederick Bach's assistant. Seeing this as a way to restrain Bach's obstinate behavior and keep him under their thumb, The Concert Master, his assistant Melchior, and the Duke agree. At first, Bach is annoyed at Frederick, who is equally annoyed by the fact that he is doing this on his father's orders. But gradually, Bach comes to see the honest Frederick as a friend and they spend a lot of time together.
Feeling threatened by Bach's influence on his son, Josef starts to hate Bach, especially when Bach takes Frederick to the Red Palace, the home of the Duke's nephew, Prince August, for a concert performance. After Frederick innocently and happily tells his parents about the Red Palace, Joesf leaks the information to the Duke, who has Bach defeated for the role of the Concertmaster by Melchior, as the Concertmaster is bound to retire in a month. An enraged Bach confronts the Duke. Frederick confronts his father, who tells him that Bach's insubordinate behavior should be punished. Frederick protests, stating that Bach wants to share his musical capabilities and is frustrated with the creative constraints the Duke oppresses on him. Frederick scathingly declares that Bach is more of a man than his father is, straining their relationship further.
Frederick continues to spend time with Bach, who sympathizes with the boy's frustration. During a meal with Bach's family he is invited to, Frederick's disappointment in his own family peaks and he opens up to Bach about his disappointment in his father. Bach tells Frederick of his experience with his father and that he shouldn't be too hard on his father.
Bach announces to Frederick has been offered a musical position for Prince Leopold in Köthen and asks Frederick to assist him. Unbeknownst to either of them, a jealous Josef overhears them and reports this to the Duke. This proves to be the final straw for the Duke and the concertmaster. They angrily confront Bach. When Bach stands his ground, the duke orders his arrest. Frederick tries to help Bach escape but they are stopped by Josef. The duke's guards throw Bach in a cell, separating him from Frederick. Frederick, meanwhile, is placed on probation. Frederick worries about Bach, causing further friction between him and his father. Josef is enraged that Frederick still supports Bach. Fed up with how his family still has to continue to pander to the Duke, Frederick declares Bach is freer than Josef and anyone else in the household and that he is sick and tired of the Duke before storming off in anger. A bitter and bereaved Josef storms up to Bach's jail and rips up his music, believing it will render the composer powerless. Bach, however, is able to play without his music, saying that he learned it from memory. Humiliated, Josef begs Bach to not drive Frederick away from him, but Bach tells him that he (Josef) is the only one who can drive Frederick away. Realizing his mistake and that he should listen to his son, Josef leaves.
The next day, Prince August and his fiancé Elonora try to free Bach but the Duke dismisses it, comparing Bach to a slave, but Frederick and Josef (who both have reconciled) enter at that very moment, convincing the others to free him, saying Bach's music makes him feel free, and a man's soul cannot be held prisoner. Realizing the futility of the situation, The Duke, admits defeat and lets Bach go free. Frederick reunites with Bach as he personally sets him free. The film ends with Bach and Frederick, who has decided to play music like Bach, playing for a crowd. Josef looks on, finally proud of his son. The Duke and concertmaster, representing the Old Guard, sit dejectedly near the crowd and the Duke states that he still liked the "Old Hymns" and the concertmaster agrees.
Dinosaurs reappear on Earth, stronger and more intelligent than before, led by Dinosaur Satan Gottes (renamed Emporer Tyrannos in the English dub), and this time they are trying to rule Earth once more and wipe out humankind. They are alive and even thriving in an underground empire that they have built.
In 1986, Satan Gottes, the leader of the dinosaurs, declares war against humanity. In an attempt to reclaim Earth's surface, some of the dinosaurs evolve into deadly monsters and start wreaking havoc on human population centers around the globe.
The story revolves around the D-Force (D戦隊 ''D Sentai''), and its two members, a brother and sister team of Tachibana Ai (立花 愛) and Tachibana Zen (立花 善), the Special OPs force, whose mission is to combat monsterized dinosaurs and protect humanity. But early in the series, the siblings suffer a near-fatal injury from the massive explosion during the test of a prototype super-tank, "predecessor to Izenborg".
In order to keep them alive, they receive cybernetic body parts and other implants, which synchronize with their combat vehicle and form ''Aizenborg'' (Ai + Zen + Cy"borg"; called ''Gemini'' in the US version) to fight the dino-army. Halfway through the show their bodies are altered again, and the two are able to combine into a robotic giant that can fight the dinosaurs in close combat.
On 25 August 1982, the first four episodes were released to VHS in the United States in the form of a compilation film titled '''''Attack of the Super Monsters'''''.
Comedy podcast RiffTrax (Michael J. Nelson, Bill Corbett and Kevin Murphy) recorded and released a riff in 2019. The original, unriffed version is available on IMDb TV and Tubi.
In the 1940s, Joventino arrives in the Pantanal of Mato Grosso accompanied by his 10-year-old son, José "Zé" Leôncio. Once settled, he becomes one of the main cattle breeders in the region. After Joventino disappeared in the Pantanal while hunting for oxen in the fields, Zé carries on his father's dream and becomes one of the main farmers in the country. On a visit to Rio de Janeiro, Zé falls in love with Madeleine, a spoiled girl with whom he marries and has a son named Joventino "Jove", bearing his grandfather's name. The differences between the couple, and Madeleine not adapting to the rural world, leads to her abandoning Zé and taking their son with her. Abandoned by Madeleine, Zé finds affection with Filó, a former prostitute who has a son, Tadeu.
Years later, Jove, now an adult, finally decides to move in with his father. However, the differences again bring problems for Zé and the two find it difficult to understand each other. The differences are aggravated when Jove falls in love with Juma Marruá, a wild and sensual young woman raised as a savage by her mother until her death, killed in revenge in a dispute between land squatters and victims of hoarding. Like her mother, Juma is said in the Pantanal to transform into a jaguar. Feeling rejected by his father, who thinks his son is effeminate, and ridiculed by the peasants for his city boy ways, Jove decides to return to Rio de Janeiro and takes Juma with him. After a time in Rio, where the culture shock is now suffered by Juma, Jove returns to the Pantanal so as not to be separated from his beloved. This time, he is willing to adapt to the local lifestyle. Jove begins to settle down with his father and Juma and gradually becomes a true Pantanaler, surprising everyone little by little.
Roger Moore is Gary Fenn, a talent scout for a London modelling agency who finds the perfect target and calculates the events which mean that only one girl will be good enough for his bosses, a Hungarian Marla Kugash (Lange). He finds her among the anti-war movement in the bohemian depths of swinging London. She is in the company of a young man, Tarquin, who is extremely protective of her and overtly aggressive to Fenn.
The young Hungarian, an illegal refugee from her native homeland, accompanies Fenn to a photoshoot. However, she admits she is in fear of her life, and seems disturbed by the presence of her aunt. When she is nearly killed, the girl drops out of sight and Fenn has to go on the run himself, suspected of a separate murder. He locates her to a country house, which turns out to be the home of Tarquin, an aristocrat in spite of his anti-war sentiments.
It is revealed that Marla's aunt is part of a shadowy organisation trying to destabilise the existing world order so they can take over themselves. They will go to any length to try and shut Fenn and Marla up, including sending a helicopter after them. Fenn and his friend manage to escape to London, where they realise that the shadowy movement are planning to assassinate a visiting African head of state in Hyde Park. They manage to foil the plot.
Nineteen-year-old Elisha (Ashley Madekwe), her mother and sister arrive on the Greenside estate, ready to move into their new flat, after their last flat was burnt down whilst they were visiting Elisha's father's grave. Whilst moving in, a box of Elisha's stuff is stolen from their car by a local thug. She immediately accuses Valerie (Chi Kolo) and her group of friends, but soon discover they were not involved. In the process, however, she becomes friends with Valerie - who offers to help her get her box back. At the local youth club, Elisha attempts to identify the thief - but finds herself immersed in a world of crazy socialism, run by Lacey (Ashley Walters) and Michael (Noel Clarke), and fame-seeking DJ Nathan (Adam Deacon). Meanwhile, local gang member Orin (Duane Henry) believes he has hit the jackpot when he recovers a stash of drugs dropped during a police arrest.
However, his best friend Will (Andre Squire), is not so sure, but soon sets up a deal with local drug dealer Maverick (Nick Nevern), who offers the pair £1600 for the stash. Unlucky for them, the owners of the stash are on their tail - and they want their drugs back. After not having any luck at the youth club, Valerie and Elisha meet up with Val's boyfriend Ray (Fraser Ayres), who offers to help Elisha get her box back - and directs the pair to local Turkish pimp Gout (Tamer Hassan). After Gout fails to cough up the goods, Elisha decides to steal her own stuff back. As Valerie and Elisha attempt to escape the wrath of Gout, they come across Orin and Will being beaten by the owners of the stash - and with the help of a cup of foundation, manage to save them from being beaten to death. Orin owes his life to Elisha - and soon, a relationship between the pair begins to blossom.
The story takes place in a fictional world called Arcadia, where life-draining monsters called Thanatos plague the villages and the Sacred Capital. The only ones who have the power to exterminate these creatures are Purifiers, but only a few exist. One day, Angelique, who is just a presumably normal girl attending school, is visited by Nyx, a rich gentleman as well as a Purifier, who created an organization of Purifiers dedicated to exterminating Thanatos. Nyx is interested in the potential power she possesses and invites her to join his organization, but she refuses since she wants to become a doctor, like her father. However, when her school is later attacked by Thanatos, she ends up activating her powers in her wanting to protect those in danger. After purifying the creature, she finds out she has a unique purifying power, and that she is the one that has been foretold in legends, the "Queen's Egg". It is then that her journey begins, and she becomes the only female Purifier in the world. She then goes off to Sunlit Mansion where another Purifier, as well as researcher resides: Rayne.
The story centers on the Mizuki Diving Club (MDC) member Tomoki Sakai. The MDC has fallen on hard times, and their sponsors are preparing to pull their support. They promise to give the club another year of support if the new coach, Kayoko Asaki, can get one of the members into the Olympics in a year's time.
Colonel Nick Fury leads a team comprising Iron Man, Captain America, Spider-Man, Wolverine and a few other superheroes on an unsanctioned attack on Castle Doom in Latveria after discovering that the country's newly elected prime minister, Lucia von Bardas, has been supplying weapons to the Tinkerer, who in turn sells them to supervillains. After the defeats of Electro, Scorcher, Wizard, and Tinkerer, Castle Doom is destroyed in an explosion, with Von Bardas assumed dead.
One year later, Von Bardas returns as a cyborg, and joins forces with several villains, including Shocker, Diamondback, Scorcher, and Wizard, to destroy New York City as revenge for the attack on Latveria. While investigating Ms. Marvel's disappearance, the heroes discover she has been captured by Shocker, and learn about the villains' scheme. The heroes defeat Von Bardas and foil her plans, but many city blocks are destroyed in the process, prompting the U.S. government to consider the Superhuman Registration Act (SRA). In light of this incident, Fury disappears and S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Maria Hill is sworn in as the new Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. During discussions in Washington D.C. regarding the SRA, Titanium Man attacks, but the heroes defeat him with Deadpool's help.
Three days later during a telecast of The New Warriors, Nitro creates a large explosion in Stamford, Connecticut killing over 600 civilians in the process, prompting the immediate implementation of the SRA. Opposing the act, Captain America goes underground, along with several other superheroes and S.H.I.E.L.D agents (who have formed a group called "The White Star"). At this point, the story branches into two segments; Anti-Registration led by Captain America, Luke Cage and Iron Fist; and Pro-Registration led by Iron Man, Mister Fantastic, and Songbird. In order to aid them, the Pro-Registration group develops nanite technology and use it to mind control supervillains like Lady Deathstrike, Bullseye, Green Goblin, and Venom, increasing their ranks.
The two story arcs converge when Iron Man fakes a hostage situation at a Stark Industries chemical plant. There, he attempts to negotiate with Captain America, promising amnesty. Captain America refuses thanks to a trick and a battle ensues between the two factions. While the pro-registration heroes fight Firestar, Patriot, Colossus, Dagger, Luke Cage, Iron Fist and Captain America, the anti-registration heroes fight Bullseye, Wonder Man, She-Hulk, Molten Man, War Machine, Mister Fantastic and Iron Man. The nanite-controlled Bullseye, Green Goblin, Lady Deathstrike, and Venom go haywire and attack the agents they were programmed to help, stealing explosives to destroy the facility. Disguised as one of the agents, Fury enlists the help of a group of heroes to disarm the bombs, but before he can disarm the final one, he is attacked by Venom. The explosion wounds the heroes and seemingly kills Fury, but the latter is revealed to be an android copy. The real Fury saves the injured heroes and takes them to his hideout, where he reveals that he has recruited the Tinkerer to help discover the cause of the malfunction.
After gaining the assistance of Penance at Ryker's Island, the group travels to Prison 42 in the Negative Zone, where most of the captured heroes and villains are held, in order to get a sample of the nanite formula. They collect the samples and Fury activates the prison's self-destruct system to prevent the spread of nanites. Most of the superheroes involved escape, but Fury's fate is unknown. A memorial is held for Fury and the other missing or presumed deceased superheroes.
The team learns the nanites survived and have now spread worldwide. As a result, the SRA is suspended, uniting the two teams. They split into different groups with the main group traveling to Wakanda, where they help Black Panther and the Dora Milaje defend the country from nanite agents, now under the moniker of "The Fold." In the process, they defeat a mind-controlled Havok, Justice, and A-Bomb, cure Venom and Green Goblin of the nanites, and discover that Fury is still alive and has been taken by The Fold. The heroes establish a base in Wakanda, learning that The Fold cannot comprehend Fury's intel on it, making it temporarily safe from nanite attacks.
Yellowjacket, Iron Man, Goliath, and Mister Fantastic are researching a way to take out The Fold. In order to stop The Fold, the heroes infiltrate a base in Iceland to broadcast a nanite stasis signal that will paralyze those in its control, allowing them to be cured. At the culmination of their mission, the teams face off against Tinkerer, who was behind The Fold all along, and then a nanite-controlled Nick Fury enhanced with numerous superpowers like those of Electro, Havok, Firestar, Multiple Man, Bishop, and A-Bomb. After defeating Fury, everyone who was affected is freed from the nanites.
The game has one of two news-based endings depending on which side the player has chosen:
Also in both endings, a banner running across the screen states that Nick Fury has been pardoned by the President.
Franck Bordoni (Patrick Timsit) loses job as a night watchman when he finds himself inadvertently on the front cover of a popular magazine. The photograph was taken while he was enjoying a football match instead of working. Deciding to punish the photographer, Franck visits the magazine's offices and finds Michel Verdier (Vincent Lindon), a member of the paparazzi pack. Franck clings to Michel; he becomes fascinated by the man's work and is eager to serve as an apprentice. Franck immerses himself in exciting new life (and Isabelle Adjani’s dustbins), however he hardly notices former life (including wife and son) disappear.
Max (Clive Owen) is a promiscuous gay man living in 1930s Berlin. He is at odds with his wealthy family because of his homosexuality. One evening, much to the resentment of his boyfriend, Rudy (Brian Webber II), Max brings home a handsome Sturmabteilung (SA) man (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau). Unfortunately, he does so on the Night of the Long Knives, when Hitler ordered the assassination of upper echelon SA corps. The Sturmabteilung man is discovered and killed by SS men in Max and Rudy's apartment, and the two have to flee Berlin.
Max's Uncle Freddie (Ian McKellen) has organised new papers for Max, but Max refuses to leave his boyfriend behind. As a result, Max and Rudy are found and arrested by the Gestapo and put on a train headed for Dachau. On the train, Rudy is brutally beaten to death by the guards. As Rudy calls out to Max when he is taken away, Max lies to the guards, denying he is gay. In the camp, Max falls in love with Horst (Lothaire Bluteau), who shows him the dignity that lies in acknowledging one's beliefs. After Horst's death, Max finds the courage to be true to himself and takes his own life.
The story follows the life of an adolescent named Tighe (pronounced, roughly, Tig-Hee). Tighe's village is built on the ledges and crags of an enormous cliff-face, called the Wall or the World-wall. Every morning, the sun rises from the bottom of the wall, and every evening it sets at the top. The first part of the novel introduces Tighe and the hardness of life in his village, the abuse Tighe receives from his family members, and the unusual (to us) state of his world. Partway through this part of the book, Tighe's parents mysteriously disappear, and his grandfather takes care of him. Tighe concludes that his parents must have fallen off the wall. Eventually Tighe himself falls off, falls over 10 miles, and lands in the midst of an army preparing for war. He survives.
While recovering from his injuries, he learns the local language, and that the army will soon attack the Otre, a nearby civilisation. Tighe is drafted into the army, but the campaign goes badly, and Tighe's entire platoon is lost. Tighe himself is captured by the Otre and sold as a slave. During the battle, he sees a silvery flying object that he takes as an enemy balloon, and that calls his name. However, he is forced to run from Otre troops before he can react.
The slave trader who buys Tighe takes him on a long journey across the wall, intending to sell him in a large city. Before arriving at the city, they again encounter the silvery flying object. The pilot is a man who speaks Tighe's native language, and looks very like his grandfather. He kills the slave trader and takes Tighe on board his craft. Tighe's mother is on board, but in a nonresponsive mental state.
The pilot, who Tighe calls Wizard, is in control of technology that is highly advanced by our standard, almost incomprehensibly so for Tighe. He tries to explain that gravity once pointed towards the centre of the Earth, but catastrophically changed due to mankind's over-dependence on Zero Point Energy as an energy source. He explains that he had implanted machinery in Tighe's and his mother's brain when they were young, but he avoids Tighe's questions about his identity, or where Tighe's father is. Tighe grows to mistrust the Wizard, and after his mother dies, he shoots the Wizard in the eye with a firearm. This only blinds and irritates the Wizard, but it gives Tighe the opportunity to escape from the Wizard's craft. The environment outside the craft is inhospitable, but Tighe is rescued by others with similar technology to the Wizard's. They question him, and release him.
The last two chapters describe how Tighe makes his way slowly back in the direction of his village. The story ends with Tighe rounding a corner on a shelf, and suddenly re-encountering the Wizard, whose plans for Tighe have apparently not changed. According to the author's website, this ending received some criticism, but seemed to the author to be the only possible way the story could end.
Category:2001 British novels Category:British science fiction novels Category:Works by Adam Roberts (British writer) Category:Victor Gollancz Ltd books
A village boy, Gikor by name, meets his tragic fate when he is sent to the city (Tiflis by his father, Hambo (Sos Sargsyan) to work for a rich trader, Bazaz Artem (Armen Dzhigarkhanyan).
Bolshevik Tsolak Darbinyan infiltrates the Dashnak Army as a musician of the Army music band. Despite the initial personal conflict with band leader Arsen, he is able to win the friendship of young band musicians, including Arsen, and to persuade them to back him on the eve of the Bolshevik invasion to Armenia.
Set in the 13th century, the film is a fictionalized tale of Princess Urduja, legendary warrior princess of Pangasinan.
As the only daughter of Lakanpati, chieftain of the Tawilisi tribe of Northern Luzon, Urduja grew up as a warrior with the ability and willingness to defend her people from their rival tribe, the Badjaos. Lakanpati's age and failing health gave rise to the urgency of finding a man for the princess to marry and who will inevitably lead the tribe as the new chieftain.
The man Lakanpati considers most eligible to become Urduja's husband is Simakwel, a Tawilisi warrior but whom the princess dislikes. Oblivious of Simakwel's ambitious and scheming ways, Lakanpati tries his best to convince Urduja to marry him. However, Urduja meets Limhang, a Chinese pirate, who lands on the Tawilisi shore after he flees from the wrath of the ruthlessly greedy Wang. Urduja immediately falls in love with the stranger Limhang, which worries Lakanpati and drives Simakwel into madness. Afraid of losing both the crown and Urduja, Simakwel does everything to drive Limhang away from his dream. Eventually, Limhang's good deeds and genuine kindness win the respect and trust of the Taliwisi tribe.
Wang soon finds Limhang, who surrenders voluntarily to Wang in assurance that he will not attack Tawilisi. In the end, Wang still orders his men to attack the tribe. Urduja and her people bravely defend the tribe from the forces of Wang. Limhang escapes from his captors and with the aid of the Badjaos sends the invaders fleeing.
In the end, Daisuke, Mayumi and Kukut left Limhang, who decided to stay with his love, but not without another surprise from Tarsir, which the latter threw a snake on Kukut.
The beautiful Princess Veronica (Hedy Lamarr) travels to New York City to find the American newspaper columnist she fell in love with six years earlier. After checking into the elegant Eaton Hotel, she is mistaken for a new maid by bellboy Jimmy Dobson (Robert Walker), who offers to accompany her on an afternoon stroll through Central Park. When they return, the hotel manager is shocked to see his bellboy with the princess and fires him for consorting with an important guest. Veronica saves Jimmy's job by insisting that the manager assign him to be her personal attendant while she is in New York.
When he is not working, Jimmy spends time with his slow-witted friend and co-worker, Albert Weever (Rags Ragland), and their good friend and neighbor Leslie Odell (June Allyson), a former dancer who is now bedridden and crippled. Leslie and Albert enjoy listening to Jimmy read fairy tale stories to them on their roof. Jimmy is unaware that Leslie is secretly in love with him.
Meanwhile, Veronica's traveling companion Countess Zoe (Agnes Moorehead) is concerned about Veronica wanting to rekindle an old romance with newspaper columnist Paul MacMillan (Warner Anderson)—hardly an appropriate match for a princess. She tries to persuade Veronica to forget her former American lover and marry the annoying Baron Zoltan Faludi, who followed her to New York, but the princess ignores her. When Veronica learns that Jimmy knows Paul, she asks him to deliver an invitation to Paul for a formal ball being held at the hotel that evening.
At the ball, Veronica and Paul are finally reunited after six years. Paul is still upset with her for abandoning him to marry another royal, who has since died. When she offers to renew their relationship, he turns her down, saying they are from two different worlds. After he leaves, Jimmy discovers her crying and tries to comfort her. Not knowing that the bellhop has fallen for her, she asks him to take her to a bar called Jake's Joint, where Paul likes to hang out. Knowing the bar is not appropriate for an elegant princess, Jimmy tries to change her mind, but she insists.
Believing that Veronica is in love with him, Jimmy rents a tuxedo for his big date. Just before he leaves, Albert reminds him that he's been neglecting their invalid neighbor Leslie. He goes to her room and gives her the corsage he had bought for the princess. After he leaves, the young woman breaks down in tears, believing her secret love for him will never be returned, now that he is dating a princess. She is left with her fantasies of dancing in the arms of the man she loves.
That night at Jake's Joint, while the princess is looking for Paul, Jimmy sees Albert in the company of gangsters. Thinking that Jimmy had abandoned him, Albert tells him he's now joined up with the gang. When the gang leader orders Albert to punch Jimmy, Albert punches the leader instead, and a brawl ensues. Veronica gets involved in the fight and is arrested in a police raid. While Veronica is in jail, news arrives at the hotel that her uncle has died from a fall and that she has succeeded to the throne.
The next morning, Jimmy wakes up in the bar after being knocked out during the fight, and makes his way to the hotel, where he is joined by Albert. The princess' entourage are upset over news that she was arrested the night before. Meanwhile, Paul arrives at the jail, bails out the princess, and accompanies her back to the hotel, where they learn that Veronica is now the queen of her country. When he sees her distracted by the pressures of being a queen, Paul leaves in frustration.
Later, when Veronica invites Jimmy to accompany her back to Hungary, Jimmy misinterprets her intentions and believes she wants him to share the throne with her. After accepting her offer, Jimmy packs his bags and stops by Leslie's room to say goodbye. Wanting to show him that she is recovering from her disability, Leslie attempts to walk across the room to him, and just as she falls, he catches her in his arms. Finally realizing how much Leslie loves him, and how much he loves her, Jimmy decides to remain in New York with her.
Returning to the hotel, Jimmy tells Veronica that he cannot go with her and be "king" because he loves another woman. Realizing that Jimmy has given up what he believed to be his crown in order to be with the woman he loves, Veronica is inspired to abdicate her throne and return to Paul, the man ''she'' loves. Sometime later, Jimmy is dancing at a nightclub with Leslie, who has made a full recovery, and they are joined by another happy couple, Veronica and Paul.
The film depicts the final days of apartheid, focusing on secret talks held between the African National Congress and the members of the National Party in a country house in Somerset, England.Carnevale, Rob (5 March 2008). "[http://www.indielondon.co.uk/Film-Review/vantage-point-pete-travis-interview Vantage Point - Pete Travis interview]". IndieLondon. Retrieved on 17 April 2008. The film focuses on the relationship that develops between Willie Esterhuyse and Thabo Mbeki.
The secret talks were brokered by Michael Young, a British businessman who worked for Consolidated Gold Fields, a firm with considerable interests in South Africa. The talks took place in Mells Park House, a country house near Frome in Somerset. The house was then owned by Consolidated Gold Fields.
Consolidated Gold Fields was a company with interests in South Africa which is the subject of sanctions by other nations. In one scene, Young and Rudolf Agnew, chairman of Consolidated Gold Fields, leave their offices in London and are mobbed by anti-apartheid protesters who batter and chase their car, unaware that the two men are sponsoring the very talks that are leading to the end of the system they oppose.
In an interview on BBC Radio 4's ''Today'' programme on 24 April 2009, Michael Young mentioned how he had been asked by Thabo Mbeki to write the final chapter of the 2003 book by Robert Harvey on the ''Fall of Apartheid'', the chapter titled "Endgame", on which this film is based.
Count Reginald narrates the story of his life, beginning with the death of his father when he was an infant. He was brought up by his mother, "a woman of rather a masculine understanding, and full of the prejudices of nobility and magnificence."
Reginald has grand notions of aristocratic honour, and, inspired by his uncle, the Marquis de Villeroy, he joins the Italian war of 1521–6, hoping to achieve military renown in the battle of Pavia. Reginald is knighted by King Francis I, while fighting for the French against the Spanish Imperial army, but the King is captured and imprisoned by Charles V. The King's exile changes the climate in France from one in which "the activity of the field" is exchanged "for the indulgences of the table."
On his return home, Reginald, now twenty years old is forced by the death of his mother to take charge of his own affairs. He is quickly led astray by a life of spending too much, keeping mistresses, and gambling. He lives like this for two years and quickly depletes his fortune. He meets the beautiful and accomplished nineteen-year-old Marguerite Louise Isabeau de Damville, whose education has benefited from the society of Clement Marot, Rabelais, Erasmus, and Scaliger, and whose drawing has been encouraged by Leonardo da Vinci. Reginald courts Marguerite, who is the daughter of the Marquis de Damville, but Reginald's reputation as a gambler causes the Marquis to warn him that he should be careful not to ruin himself and his daughter. The Marquis allows them to marry, but by the time he is in his thirties, Reginald is living beyond his means and has returned to gambling. The Marquis does not live to see this development.
Marguerite moves their family to Switzerland and pays off her husband's debts by selling their possessions. She tries to convince him that the simpler life of a peasant will make the whole family happier and more virtuous. However, while they are beginning their farming life, their crops and animals are unexpectedly destroyed in a fierce storm. Disturbed by the sight of a dead woman and child, Reginald realizes he is fortunate when he returns home to find his family is safe. He dismisses his former love of money and rank. Seeing the casualties of a fierce storm reveals to him that his new life as a subsistence farmer is more valuable than he imagined, but that it is a life subject to the precarious whims of fortune. This development gives Godwin scope to expatiate on the Swiss system of storing corn in public reserves in case of natural disasters.
Reginald applies for national relief and a disbursement from the public treasury to enable him to restock his farm. But relief is refused on the grounds that he is not Swiss. Government officials are sent to remove the family from the country altogether without giving them time to sell their cottage. A compassionate neighbour lends them money against the house and they leave for Lake Constance. The neighbour dies, and his estate passes to a relative, Monsieur Grimseld, who steals their house. Reginald risks imprisonment to return to Switzerland to reclaim his cottage as his family are beginning to starve. Grimseld is fined for fraud, and Reginald is given the money for his farm.
Volume 2 begins in the year 1544. An old man arrives at the family's house at Lake Constance, claiming to be a Venetian called Francesco Zampieri, but his true identity remains a mystery. He is being pursued by the Inquisition. Zampieri reveals to Reginald the secret of immortality and the art of multiplying gold. Only one person is permitted to know these secrets at any one time. The secret of immortality is an elixir made from herbs that when consumed bring youth and vigour. It cures sickness, but cannot save anyone from injury. Reluctant to keep a secret from his wife, Reginald is forced to remain silent about the gift and Zampieri dies shortly afterwards.
Francis I returns to France from his imprisonment in Spain, finding the country in a great upheaval, with Charles V and Henry VIII in the process of invading northern France. Unwilling to return to his simple domestic life, Reginald plans to repurchase the estate that he lost, but in order to make it seem like he has regained his wealth gradually and not in suspicious circumstances, he moves to the city of Constance and pretends that Zampieri had given him 3,000 crowns. Constance is in the process of becoming Protestant.
Reginald is quickly seduced into spending a great deal of money and arouses the suspicion of his countryman, Gaspard de Coligny. Reginald's son, Charles, becomes aware of the shame that wealth with an inexplicable origin has brought and disowns his father and leaves. Marguerite is also suspicious and guesses that he has found the Philosopher's Stone. Reginald tells her not to reveal this and not to enquire further about it. She is ill, but as the elixir can only be drunk by an "adept", he cannot give it to her.
The suspicions about Reginald's wealth grow to such a height that the magistrate has him arrested and questioned. He is asked about the disappearance of the stranger and about his new wealth, but refuses to cooperate. Monsieur Monluc, a Frenchman, arrives, and Reginald appeals to him for help. Monluc investigates the case, interviews Marguerite. Reginald tells him the honorable name of St. Leon which removes the necessity for an explanation and he does not provide a reason. Monluc refuses to help him further.
Marguerite advises Reginald to escape from the prison. He attempts to bribe a turnkey, Hector, but he refuses to help because he is loyal to the keeper and he reveals this to the keeper. The keeper asks for a bribe. Reginald hands over a large sum but is led to a dungeon instead and chained to a wall. Hector is imprisoned because he is the only person who knows about the bribe. The keeper asks for more money, and Reginald is forced to trust him, and this time he is released provided he takes Hector with him in order to make the latter appear to be an accomplice.
In volume 3, Reginald, his family, and Hector set out for Italy. One evening, while Hector and Reginald are taking an evening walk while the family are at an inn in the Alps, Reginald hears a man shrieking and is attacked by a large black dog. The dog takes him to a man who is wounded and dying. Reginald and Hector dress his wounds, and Hector runs back to the inn to get help.
The man's name is Andrea Filosanto. He had been taking his mother's dower to her and was robbed. He dies, and the dog grieves for him. Reginald takes the dog, Charon, into his family. A few months later, the dog finds the assailant, who is apprehended, confesses to being one of the robbers, is tried, convicted, and executed.
Reginald settles in Pisa, and is protected by the Filosanto family and the family of the woman Andrea was about to marry, the Carracciuoli, who are powerful in the Pisan territory. Reginald spends some time practicing alchemy in a grotto, employing Hector as an assistant. Hector tells his girlfriend about the experiments, and Reginald quickly gains the reputation of being a sorcerer. His girlfriend's other lover, Agostino, is jealous and seeks revenge.
Reginald is shunned, and someone shoots at their house at night. The dog is killed, and Hector is attacked. The attack is motivated by the suspicions about magic and by Hector's being of African origin. Reginald addresses the mob in an attempt to vindicate himself, but they throw mud at him and accuse him of witchcraft.
He leaves to consult with the Marchese Filosanto, and the rest of the family leave for Lucca, heading for Spain. They leave Hector in charge of their house in Pisa. When Reginald goes back to Pisa, he finds that the mob have burned his house down, that Hector has gone mad and has escaped his carers and has died defending the house. Hector was tortured by the mob, and it is clear that the crime is racially motivated.
Marguerite has a miscarriage in Lucca. The family continue to Spain, and Marguerite dies in Barcelona. Distraught, the family continues to Madrid. Here, the daughters are looked after by Mariana, a former companion of their mother's. Reginald repurchases his family's French estate, and he gradually separates himself from his children, considering this to be a virtuous action. They are told to think and speak of him as if he were dead. The family still do not know the whereabouts of Charles.
Reginald moves to Madrid and spends time studying natural philosophy and ethics. He is followed by two men, who are eventually revealed to be informers for the Inquisition. He is arrested and imprisoned for sorcery. Philip II returns to Spain after his marriage to Queen Mary, and he oversees an auto da Fé in Seville. Philip then travels to Valladolid for another auto da Fé, at which Reginald is to be burned alive. The elixir of life cannot protect him from this punishment.
While processing to Valladolid from Madrid, a horse is frightened and kicks, and in the confusion, Reginald escapes and breaks into the house of a Jewish convert to Christianity, Mordecai. Just as he had appealed to the turnkey as a member of an oppressed minority, so Reginald appeals to Mordecai to help him escape the Inquisition. Mordecai helps him change his clothes and fetches the herbs needed for the elixir of immortality. Reginald now has visibly aged such that he looks like a man of eighty. He drinks the elixir and becomes as young and healthy as he was on his wedding day. He leaves without Mordecai's knowledge. During his escape, Reginald accidentally witnesses the auto da fé and is horrified.
At the beginning of volume 4, Reginald visits his daughters disguised as an Armenian merchant. He has now been away from them for twelve years. Louisa is 28, Marguerite (named after her mother) is 24, and Julia died four years previously after her fiancé had been imprisoned by his father for intending to marry her. Reginald pretends to have known their father and informs them of his own death. He hopes that the death certificate that he gives them will remove the dishonour from his family.
Reginald leaves for Hungary and takes a house in Buda, intending to use his money to revitalize the economy after the devastation of a long war. He gives charity to poor people, becomes a corn-dealer and an architect, and takes a new name: "the sieur de Chatillon" (p. 366). Problems occur, however, when demand for corn becomes too great and the people suspect him of manipulating the market for personal gain.
Reginald presents himself to the Turkish Pasha of Buda, Muzaffer Bey. But Bey blames him for causing civil unrest and investigates the unknown origins of Reginald's wealth. Reginald is forced to bribe him. He then meets Bethlem Gabor, a misanthropic arms dealer, and a native of Hungary, whose wife and children have been murdered. Like Reginald, Bethlem spends a great deal of time wandering, and they share their sorrows and become friends.
The civil unrest eases as the crops that Reginald has ordered to be sown are ripening and are being successfully protected by soldiers. Three months have passed since Reginald first became acquainted with Bethlem. After expecting to meet him while travelling, Reginald is captured by Austro-Hungarian freebooters. He escapes and finds Bethlem, but without warning, Bethlem takes him to one of his castles and puts him in the dungeon. Reginald is left without food for thirty-six hours, and then he is given food and chained to a wall.
Bethlem gives as his reason for his hostility: that Reginald had helped an enemy of his, unknowingly, and that although he and Reginald had suffered the same loss of their families, Reginald had reacted to it by being kind to a great number of people and Bethlem had done the reverse. Bethlem feels shamed by this. Reginald tries to pay Bethlem to let him go, and requests a chest from his house. Bethlem opens the chest and discovers that it contains alchemical equipment. He demands gold, making it clear that he intends to keep Reginald locked up forever in order to supply it.
In the dungeon Reginald dreams that he is rescued by a knight in armour, who turns into a female angel, and that they fly away together leaving the castle in flames. Something close to this vision comes true. Bethlem visits Reginald's cell to tell him that the castle is under siege, and that he is experiencing remorse for keeping him captive. Bethlem gives Reginald the means to escape, making him promise not to do so for twenty-four hours. Reginald waits six hours, justifying his inability to keep his promise with the argument that it was extorted under duress. He spends two hours trying to get out of the caverns, but finds that the aids he left on the walls on his way in are no longer helpful.
He hears a loud shout and is startled, and concludes that he is near the outside. But a large amount of smoke convinces him to wait before he attempts to leave and he returns to the dungeons risking suffocation. He hides in a different cell from the one to which he was confined in case Bethlem returns. Eventually, Reginald leaves the castle in ruins and approaches some soldiers. He immediately recognizes his son Charles, who has changed his surname to de Damville. Charles is now thirty-two. Ruminating over what has happened, Reginald cannot account for Bethlem's hostile actions or his remorse and he forgives him. Charles does not recognize his father, who appears to be twenty-two, even though the other soldiers notice their similarity.
Intending not to disgrace his son, Reginald adopts the name Henry d'Aubigny. Charles and Reginald quickly become friends, and Charles reveals his history. He is fighting the Turks, and prefers not to fight in the wars between Protestants and Catholics. He is also in search of Chatillon because of his known friendship with Bethlem Gabor. Reginald does not reveal that he is Chatillon. Charles recounts that he fought with General Castaldo in the battle of Muhlberg in 1547, whom he served for seven years. He recalls the siege of Erlau (Eger, Hungary) and notes the bravery of the women of the city, and the siege of Ziget (Sisak in Croatia). Ziget was governed by Horvati, a Christian, and was besieged by the Turkish Pasha of Buda.
The Pasha lost the siege and died of grief and mortification. While Charles sympathizes a great deal with his son and is proud of his achievements, he regards his role as a Christian warrior as religious fanaticism. Charles has fallen in love with Pandora, the niece of the palatine of Hungary, Nadasti, whom he first met when she was fourteen. Pandora's father died in the siege of Ziget, leaving her a poor orphan and Nadasti prefers Charles to marry one of his own daughters. Charles realizes that he cannot support a wife on his pay, and he needs the uncle's consent. Reginald sees Pandora and is struck by her beauty, good sense and naturalness. He is determined to use his wealth to enable them to marry, but needs to find a way to make it seem appropriate. Reginald discovers that Pandora's mother had been a Venetian, and that her mother's uncle sailed with the Spanish explorer Francisco Pizarro to conquer Peru. Her uncle having died during the mission, he did not receive a portion of the treasure. Pandora being his sole surviving relative would have inherited this treasure.
Reginald finds, by chance, a man who had sailed on the same ship, Benedetto Cabriera, who has lost all of his money due to a series of calamities. Reginald pays him to pretend that Pandora's uncle had received his share, and that it had been bequeathed to her. While waiting for Benedetto to appear with the money in Hungary, Reginald learns that Charles has rejected Pandora because he thinks, incorrectly, that she is in love with Reginald and is an ‘unfeeling coquette’. Pandora explains to Reginald that they must no longer see each other, and is interrupted by Charles's arrival, faints and is caught by Reginald increasing Charles's suspicions. Charles remonstrates with them both and leaves them speechless.
Reginald yearns to tell his son the truth about his identity and learns his greatest lesson about solitude: more than a dungeon, solitude is alienation from your child. Reginald leaves for Presburg and meets Charles, who is on his way to accompany Mary, Queen of Scots back to her native land. Charles confronts his father with a letter from Andrew, Count of Bathori, accusing Reginald of being Chatillon and an alchemist. He tells Reginald that he lost his father to alchemy and challenges Reginald to a duel. Reginald agrees, but leaves Presburg before the appointed time.
Charles and Pandora are reconciled, and the remainder of Reginald's story is devoted to tracing the development of Charles's virtues and to expressing his own regret at realizing the importance of his family too late.
The film begins with the airing of a knife fight at Lucy's (Madeleine Garrood) initial public school, where she was located footsteps away from the scene of violence. This event induces fear in her parents Stuart (Christopher Eccleston) and Alison (Susannah Harker) and subsequently catalysed her parents' search for a safer and well-renown school and her eventual departure from that public school. Subsequently, it follows the story of a little girl named Lucy and her atheist-based upbringing in her parents' pursuit of superior educational development for their child. After a thorough search, the only better alternative they could afford was St Mary of the Veil, which is managed by a group of nuns with a preference for traditional Catholic families to maintain their exclusivity, given the lengthy enrolment waiting lists.
Thus, as part of their deliberate strategy, the entire family began to exercise the Catholic faith superficially with the core intent on progressing their child's application to an esteemed Catholic school. Surprisingly, their satirical attempt to depict themselves as devout Catholic believers was highly effective and assisted the progression and success of their daughter's entrance to the desired educational institution. She eventually ended up at the desired Catholic school, St Mary of the Veil. However, their pursuit of enrolment into a prestigious educational institution for their beloved daughter led the couple into a life filled with lies, deceit and violence.
It initially seemed as though the white lie would bear little consequence. However, to adequately prepare for a frightening interview with the school’s harsh principal, known as Sister Estonia (Lesley Manville), they posed as a devout Catholic family and utilised their questionable religious connections through their friend Eddie to identify a Catholic priest (David Warner) that they may bribe for a parishioner reference for their school application. However, that event is the beginning of many more decisions that are plagued with fraud, blackmail and violence as they navigate the questions of morality. It satirises the emerging global phenomenon in which parents are going to increasingly extreme lengths to ensure that their children are able to receive entry to highly competitive schools and also the priceless value in their child's safety regardless of the moral implications that may follow. As a late show twist, after Stuart and Alison enlist the assistance of the Catholic priest, the costly price of securing admission into a prestigious emerged with past stories about the priest’s dark secrets – but it may be too late to avoid the consequences.
After a car accident, the spirits of Tan (Tat Na Takuatung and Peang (Kullasatree Siripongpreeda) become trapped in a dangerous limbo, awaiting the chance to be reborn.
Felix De La Pena (John Leguizamo) is a hardworking armored-truck driver, a loving husband to his wife Marina (Rosie Perez) and a caring father of two in Los Angeles's Boyle Heights neighborhood. After being abducted and shot in the head during a hijacking led by Adell Baldwin (Tyrese Gibson), Felix loses his memory, exhibits erratic post-trauma behavior, and is framed as a prime suspect for the crime. Since he cannot provide any leads to FBI agent Steve Perelli (Bobby Cannavale), Felix is forced to try to find his assailant by himself.
The Doranen have ruled Lur with magic after fleeing the evil Morg who took over their homeland. For an Olken (Lur's original inhabitants) it is unlawful to use magic. Any Olken who breaks the law will be executed.
Asher has come to Lur‘s capital city to make his fortune. He begins as a worker in the stables of the Royal Palace but is soon made an assistant to the magicless Prince Gar, who is the mediator between the Olken and the Doranen. Soon, he hopes to gain enough money to buy a boat and fish with his father for the rest of his life.
But unrest starts to show among the Olken. It has been prophesied that the Innocent Mage will be born, and the Circle is dedicated to preserving the magic of the Olken until the saviour arrives. The Circle have been watching Asher, and as the city streets are filled with Olken rioters, his life takes a bitter turn.
The book opens with the sentence "Her name is Hekat -- and she will be slave to man...". Hekat, the protagonist, is a girl born unwanted and as a burden to her family. Her unloving father beats his wife and rapes Hekat on the insistence that she should birth him more sons to plough the fields in a dry desert wasteland known as the Anvil. Food is scarce. A father who kills his own flesh and blood when it runs away, and who trade them to strange men for gold. Hekat is sold to the slave traders Abajai and Yagji. Once sold, she begins her journey to the south, through the wealthier, greener Mijak, to reach the traders' home city of Et-Raklion. Along the way, Abajai teaches her how to speak courteous Mijaki, how to dress, and how to sing and dance, and keeps her away from the rest of the slaves. Hekat witnesses love for the first time, Abajai treats her as a human, until she realizes too late, to him she is just a slave; like cattle that Abajai would fatten up to sell to Raklion, the warlord of Et-Raklion. A pretty slave that would fetch a good price from Raklion; a singing, dancing, educated courtesan.
Heartbroken, Hekat runs and joins Et-Raklion Warlord's army through the help of the nameless god, and pity to those who stand in her way, because Hekat will not be tamed. Hekat will be slave to no man.
Category:2007 Australian novels Category:2007 fantasy novels Category:Australian fantasy novels Category:HarperCollins books Category:Novels by Karen Miller She is in the god
After making a three-hour fiasco about New York City's water supply, a two-man film crew decides to take it up a notch by documenting life in the private investigator offices of "Boone and Murphy". Cheating husbands and missing dogs fail to bring in the big bucks however, and after sleeping with the wife of one of their clients Murphy leaves. To stop Boone from having to close down the business the two film-makers must resort to a hands-on approach in the investigations to ensure the completion of their movie.
Carefree vagabond Johnny Rutledge is stuck in a small town when his medicine show employer and friend Professor Mordecai Ford is put in jail. He befriends a young girl named May Chalotte and her older brothers January ("Jan"), February ("Feb") and twins March and April. Jan received word six months before that their parents had died in a riverboat accident, but has not told anybody but Feb, and now Johnny, fearing they would be sent to an orphanage. Johnny makes it clear that he is adamantly opposed to taking on any responsibilities, but somehow finds himself becoming their "uncle" anyway. He works on a farm during the week and sings and waits tables on Sunday in a restaurant owned by Jericho Schlosser to provide for the children.
When Prudence Millett, daughter of the local judge, comes to inquire why the boys are not in school, Johnny is forced to claim he is their uncle. A romance begins to blossom, despite his strong aversion to being tied down. (He had worked very hard to drag himself out of poverty to half-ownership of a paper mill, only to have his partner abscond with all the company funds, so he gave up being a responsible citizen.)
When wealthy, unloved Jeffrey Gilland Sr. orders Johnny to keep his disreputable children away from his son Jeffrey Jr., Johnny scuffles with him and gets arrested. Prudence posts his bond, but his troubles are not over. Plato Cassin, Gilland's lawyer, finds out about the children's parents and blackmails Johnny into agreeing to marry one of his older, spinster sisters, Genevieve and Adelaide, in order to keep the kids. (Adelaide wins a game of quoits for the privilege.) Plato also convinces Prudence that Johnny was using the children to romance her.
After thinking it over, Johnny decides to run away with the now-released Professor Ford. May overhears and invites people to her birthday party the next day, intending it to be a going-away party for Johnny. Meanwhile, Johnny dissuades Gilland's young son from running away himself. At the party, a grateful Gilland drops the charges against him.
When May asks why Prudence cannot be her aunt instead of Adelaide, the young woman is quite willing, having seen how far Johnny is willing to go for the children. Johnny tells Adelaide that he loves Prudence. She proves to be a sport and the two women gamble for him. Professor Ford offers what he, Johnny and Jan believe is Johnny's two-headed coin. Prudence wins the toss. Later, Johnny is shocked to learn that they accidentally used a regular coin. Professor Ford leaves town, leaving Johnny with his new family.
Homer Ellory awakes in the year 5000 AD after sleeping for 3,000 years and discovers the Earth in a state of barbarism. He befriends the people of North America who have been conquered by the Antarkans. Ellory leads a revolt, but is captured by the Antarkans, imprisoned in the Antarkan city of Lillamra and sentenced to death. The Lady Ermaine falls in love with him and enables his escape. He returns to North America, where he leads a second revolt. After the surrender of Antarka, he is proclaimed the leader of the Earth's peoples.
Kino lives with his family on a farm on the side of a mountain in Japan while his friend, Jiya, lives in the fishing village below. Though everyone in the area has heard of the big wave no one suspects that when the next one comes, it will wipe out Jiya's entire family and fishing village below the mountain. Jiya soon must leave his family behind in order to keep the fisherman traditions alive.
Jiya, now orphaned, struggles to overcome his sadness and is adopted into Kino's family. He and Kino live like brothers and Jiya takes on the life of a farmer. Even when the wise Old Gentleman offers Jiya a wealthy life at his rich castle, Jiya refuses. Though Jiya is able to find happiness again in his adopted family, particularly with Kino's younger sister, Setsu, Jiya wishes to live as a fisherman again as he comes of age.
When Jiya tells Kino that he wishes to marry Setsu and return to the fishing village, Kino fears that Jiya and Setsu will suffer and it is safer for them to remain on the mountain as a farmer, thinking of the potential consequences should another big wave come. However, Jiya reveals his understanding that it is in the presence of danger that one learns to be brave, and to appreciate how wonderful life can be.
The game begins with Spider-Man (Michael Vaughn) looking for Mary Jane Watson (Dana Seltzer) amidst the symbiote invasion in Manhattan. After finding her with Luke Cage (Robert Wisdom), he is attacked by an unknown assailant. Four days prior, Spider-Man has an encounter with Venom (Keith Szarabajka), during which part of the latter's symbiote attaches itself to Spider-Man, recreating his black suit. Spider-Man discovers he has more control over the symbiote, and easily defeats Venom, who flees afterward. Later, while helping Luke Cage deal with a gang war in Harlem, Spider-Man finds evidence that the Kingpin (Gregg Berger) is responsible for the war. During a parley between the two gang's leaders (James C. Mathis III and Isaac C. Singleton Jr.) and Cage, Spider-Man can either present the evidence in order to end the war peacefully, or let the gangs finish each other off.
Shortly after, Spider-Man goes to confront Kingpin at Fisk Tower, but ends up chasing a fleeing Black Cat (Tricia Helfer). With assistance from Moon Knight (Robin Atkin Downes), Spider-Man defeats Black Cat, only to discover that she is a double agent trying to bring down the Kingpin in an attempt to gain Spider-Man's affection. Returning or rejecting Black Cat's feelings, Spider-Man join forces with either her or Moon Knight to dismantle the Kingpin's operations, including his production of Goblin gliders, led by the Vulture (Kristoffer Tabori). During a fight with Kingpin's men, Spider-Man is attacked by several symbiote-infected civilians, and decides to investigate. He encounters Wolverine (Steve Blum), who is also hunting symbiotes and mistakes Spider-Man for one, but the two settle their differences after a brief fight. Spider-Man's investigation leads him to Venom, who has been abducting and infecting civilians with his symbiote, but he escapes once again. As more people become infected, a S.H.I.E.L.D. team led by Black Widow (Salli Saffioti) sets up quarantine camps across Manhattan. Electro (Liam O'Brien) rampages through them in search of his sister, but is defeated by Spider-Man, and escapes after being infected by a symbiote.
Unable to contact any scientific genius, Spider-Man breaks the Tinkerer (William Utay) out of Ryker's Island, aided by an incarcerated Rhino (Fred Tatasciore), so that he could create a device to destroy the symbiotes without harming the hosts. However, by this point the symbiotes have taken over Manhattan, forcing S.H.I.E.L.D. to isolate it from the rest of New York and set up several bases across the island. While S.H.I.E.L.D. constructs the Tinkerer's device, Spider-Man assists with various operations, including persuading the Kingpin to aid S.H.I.E.L.D. and defeating Symbiote Electro, who also agrees to help after Spider-Man removes his symbiote. Spider-Man also defends the S.H.I.E.L.D. base at Stark Tower from a symbiote attack, assists Moon Knight in protecting Spector Tower, and aids Wolverine with a civilian evacuation. During the evacuation, Wolverine gets infected by a symbiote, but Spider-Man defeats and rescues him, potentially ripping him in half under the symbiote suit's influence.
After assisting Mary Jane and Luke Cage with escorting civilians from Harlem to Fisk Tower, Spider-Man is devastated when he learns the two have gone missing, and leaves to find them, leading to the game's opening sequence. The person who attacked him is revealed to be Symbiote Black Cat, whom he defeats with Mary Jane's help. However, Black Cat is severely injured in the process, forcing Spider-Man to leave her in Mary Jane's care, or infect her with a symbiote to heal her, which upsets Mary Jane. Meanwhile, S.H.I.E.L.D. installs the Tinkerer's device, but Symbiote Vulture leads an aerial assault to destroy it. After defeating Symbiote Vulture, Spider-Man either activates the device, which eliminates all the symbiotes in Manhattan, including his black suit, or destroys it at Vulture's urgings, who advises him to rule over the symbiotes.
Either way, Spider-Man learns Venom is attacking the Helicarrier and proceeds to plant explosives across the doomed aircraft, before being confronted by a giant, five-headed Venom. After destroying four heads and failing to kill Venom with a Helicarrier turret, Spider-Man persuades Eddie Brock to come out of Venom and pay for his actions. After Brock dies, either at Spider-Man's hands or by committing a heroic sacrifice, Spider-Man escapes from the Helicarrier, just as the explosives detonate, destroying the aircraft and Venom.
In the aftermath, Spider-Man either oversees Manhattan's return to normal, while reconciling with Mary Jane or hoping that she will eventually forgive him; or takes over the island as the new symbiote leader, alone or with Black Cat at his side. In the latter scenario, Black Widow, the Kingpin, the Tinkerer and Symbiote Wolverine strike an alliance to eliminate Spider-Man.
After an encounter between Spider-Man and Venom, the latter inexplicably explodes, leaving no trace of Eddie Brock and causing Spider-Man to regain his symbiote black suit. Later, Spider-Man is surprised when Nick Fury calls him and reveals that Venom has infested Manhattan with his symbiote, forcing S.H.I.E.L.D. to quarantine the city. He also explains that Spider-Man's previous encounters with the symbiote gives him more control over it, though he warns him that the symbiote can still influence his behavior. Tasked with collecting pieces for a sonic generator that can counter the symbiotes, Spider-Man first goes after the Shocker (Liam O'Brien) to obtain his vibro gauntlets. Next, having been informed by the Kingpin, who is also trying to stop the symbiotes, that Spencer Smythe and A.I.M. are working on a secret project involving vibranium, Spider-Man infiltrates A.I.M.'s underground lab through the sewers. Along the way, he must avoid traps set by Kraven the Hunter (Dwight Schultz) and eventually confront him. Inside A.I.M.'s lab, Spider-Man encounters J. Jonah Jameson (Daran Norris), who was captured and cloned as part of a plot by Smythe to discredit both him and Spider-Man. After releasing either Jameson or his clone, Spider-Man defeats Rhino, who was hired to guard the lab, and escapes with the vibranium.
Returning to Manhattan, Spider-Man encounters Luke Cage, who suggests teaming up to fight the symbiotes. While doing so, Spider-Man learns of the Tinkerer's plot to spread the infestation to other countries, and has the option to redirect a train full of symbiotes towards Cage to make his own travel through the city easier. After defeating Cage, who was either infected by a symbiote, or is tyring to remove Spider-Man's black suit in retaliation for redirecting the train, Spider-Man infiltrates the Tinkerer's lab, and encounters a brainwashed Venom, who was captured by the Tinkerer for experimentation. Eventually, Spider-Man defeats the Tinkerer and foils his plot, despite the villain's escape.
Afterwards, Spider-Man arrives on a symbiote-infested Helicarrier to build the sonic generator, but is forced to assist with the evacuation and reactivating the ship's defense systems. He encounters the Jackal (Greg Baldwin), hired by S.H.I.E.L.D. out of desperation for someone to analyze the symbiotes, who reveals that S.H.I.E.L.D. plans to weaponize the symibotes and that he is in league with Spencer Smythe, who aims to control the symbiotes. However, Jackal betrays Smythe and tries to take Spider-Man's symbiote for his own ends. After defeating Jackal, Spider-Man escapes from the Helicarrier as it crashes in the city. Making his way to the crash site, Spider-Man finds a symbiote-infected Jessica Drew (Mary Elizabeth McGlynn), whom he defeats, and the blueprints for the sonic generator. He is then informed by Nick Fury that the sonic generator is on the top of Fisk Tower, so he goes there to combine the parts he collected to a super-computer, completing the generator. However, it is stolen by the Jackal while Spider-Man is busy fighting A.I.M. agents dispatched by Smythe. Claiming that he had nothing to do with the theft and that it's too late to stop the symbiotes, Smythe then unleashes a mind-controlled Black Cat to kill Spider-Man, who either frees her from Smythe's control, or lets the mind-controlling device kill her so that he can take it for himself.
Spider-Man finds the stolen generator in Central Park and confronts Jackal, who reveals that he has modified it to control the symbiotes. After defeating Jackal, Spider-Man recovers the generator and programs it to either destroy or control the symbiotes. As the generator is powered up, Spider-Man finds a symbiote-filled fountain containing seven serpent heads with Venom's consciousness. Using the generator to supply energy that weaken the heads, Spider-Man defeats Venom, allowing him to stop the invasion, or take over Manhattan as the new symbiote leader.
The game begins with the symbiote invasion already in progress. After an encounter with several symbiotes, Spider-Man is infected by one, but is able to maintain control over it, leading to the re-creation of his black suit, which he can now remove at will. Afterwards, thinking Venom is responsible for the invasion, Spider-Man searches for him. Along the way he encounters Black Cat (Valerie Arem), who informs him that both Nightcrawler (Yuri Lowenthal) and the Green Goblin (Roger L. Jackson) require his assistance: the former is helping out with civilian evacuations, while the latter is setting up bombs to defeat the symbiotes.
After choosing to help either of them twice or both once, and defeating several "super-symbiotes", Spider-Man arrives at a symbiote hive, where he finds and defeats Venom. However, the villain claims that he is not behind the invasion, but rather is trying to stop it as well. With Venom now too weak to accompany him, Spider-Man ventures deeper into the hive by himself and encounters the Symbiote Leader. After defeating him, the hive begins to collapse, but Spider-Man is able to escape in time. The ending of the game depends on who the player helped earlier.
If they helped either Nightcrawler twice or both him and the Green Goblin once, Manhattan is saved and the citizens are freed from the symbiotes' control, praising Spider-Man, who thinks of taking a shower after having gone to the sewers twice in a day. If they helped the Green Goblin twice, Spider-Man realizes that, with the symbiote leader gone, he is now in charge of the symbiotes. The infected citizens worship Spider-Man as their new leader while he swings through a New York City covered in symbiotes, reflecting upon how great power is simply a lot of power and that it is far better than sharing the responsibility.
For hundreds of years, the small island kingdom of Ethrea sat in the middle of a precariously balanced treaty agreement that ensured peace. With the king on his deathbed, and no male heirs, Princess Rhian must find a way to keep the kingdom out of the hands of the evil Prolate Marlan, and prevent a war.
Category:2007 Australian novels Category:Novels by Karen Miller Category:Australian fantasy novels Category:Novels set on islands Category:HarperCollins books
Agent Michael Ford regains consciousness in a collapsed Washington Metro tunnel, some time after the invasion of the alien Drudge. Fighting his way through utility corridors, Ford comes upon a massive Conduit embedded in the atrium of a Metro station. After defeating the aliens' defense, Ford enters the Conduit.
The story then flashes back to five days earlier, before the invasion, as Ford is contacted by John Adams, leader of the mysterious Trust organization. He informs Ford of an upcoming operation to recover a Trust prototype stolen by the terrorist Prometheus. The Trust has set up an ambush at Reagan National Airport to capture Prometheus as he flees, and Ford is assigned to ensure that if the ambush fails, Prometheus will be apprehended at any cost. During the operation, the Trust agents turn against Ford and he is forced to battle his way through the airport to the Metro train that Prometheus is supposed to be using. As Ford reaches the forward train car with no sign of Prometheus, a wounded scientist tries to destroy the train. Ford survives the explosion and regains the prototype All-Seeing Eye. Alarmed at Prometheus' ability to turn his own agents against him, Adams orders Ford to infiltrate Prometheus' base at Bunker 13, a defunct Cold War-era facility, and hack into his lines of communication. After Ford destroys a cache of mind-altering chemicals, Adams betrays him, saying he will tell the President that Ford died fighting the first wave of the Drudge invasion. Ford is then contacted by Prometheus, who offers him a way out. Emerging from the bunker near the now combat-damaged Jefferson Memorial, Ford eliminates a Drudge force and is airlifted to safety by Prometheus' helicopter.
Ford is dropped at the Library of Congress and told to demolish the Drudge nests hidden in the sewers below before the city is overwhelmed. Prometheus reveals that he was a former member of the Trust who became disillusioned and defected with the All-Seeing Eye. He explains that Adams had been manipulating Ford, and had made him destroy the Trust-developed neuro-toxins in Bunker 13 to cover the organization's tracks. At this point, Ford assumes Adams and The Trust are cooperating with the Drudge in order to take control of the country. Desperate to upset Adams' plan, Ford storms the White House in an attempt to save President Thompson. During the rescue the President is led to believe that Ford is a Trust agent; thinking that the Trust can avert the crisis, Thompson signs over executive power to Adams before escaping on the Marine One.
Prometheus then prompts Ford to investigate and defend the Pentagon and secure its national defense codes. After he eliminates the Drudge forces there, Prometheus deduces that a much larger infestation is in downtown Washington D.C. The search for its source leads Ford down into the subways, where he finds and enters the large Conduit depicted at the start of the game. It transports him to the Trust's headquarters, where he learns that the existing Drudge are being created and deployed into the city by Trust-maintained Conduits. After fighting through the base, with Adams taunting Ford and jamming Prometheus' communications signal, Ford reaches a chamber holding a single captive alien being who reveals himself as Prometheus. Prometheus explains that he was used as the genetic blueprint to clone Adams' army of Drudge, who at this point are revealed to be creatures created on the Earth and are not aliens, and persuades Ford to kill him to prevent Adams' work from continuing. Ford, after hesitation, complies and proceeds to clear out the rest of the base, when Adams disables the base's Conduit networks and activates its self-destruct sequence to trap Ford. Prometheus then speaks to Ford from the ASE, where he uploaded his consciousness before his death, and instructs Ford on how to reactivate the Conduit network in the base. After fighting his way through the last of the Drudge, Ford enters a Conduit to escape the self-destructing Trust headquarters, determined to find and kill Adams. This leads immediately into the events of ''Conduit 2''.
During the credits, Adams can be heard speaking to an unknown alien contact, where he reveals himself to be Enlil, an alien exile who has been on Earth for 240 years. Adams/Enlil reports that Prometheus is dead, and that the plan to take control of Earth is still in effect.
Wealthy big-game hunter Maston Thrust has a multimillion-dollar company, Thrust Inc., which drills for oil under the polar caps with a manned laser drill called the "Polar Borer". Following one expedition, only one man, geologist Chuck Wade, returns; he explains that the drill was going through a routine check in the icecaps when it surfaced into a valley super-heated by a volcano. When the crew, except for Wade, began exploring the area, they were devoured by a ''Tyrannosaurus rex''. Thrust decides to go there himself to study the creature. He brings with him Chuck; Bunta, a Maasai tracker; Dr. Kawamoto; and Frankie Banks, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer selected by the press pool. Thrust is initially unwilling to let Frankie join the crew, but she manages to convince him to allow her on the expedition by seducing him.
Upon arriving at the isolated valley using the Polar Borer, the group notices flying ''Pteranodons''. Once they raft to shore, they avoid to be trampled by a ''Uintatherium''. After setting up camp, Maston, Chuck, Bunta, and Frankie go out looking for the T. rex, while Kawamoto remains at the camp. The party encounters the ''T. rex'' and narrowly escapes from it. Later, the T. rex find the camp, destroying it and kills Kawamoto. It then attacks the Polar Borer and throws it into a canyon containing a bone field. While he continues his attack on the Polar Borer, a ''Triceratops'' unearths itself from the canyon and the two clash. After a fierce battle, the ''T. rex'' kills the ''Triceratops''.
The group returns to the destroyed camp and notice Kawamoto is gone, as well as the Borer, which they mistakenly believe was sunk. Enraged, Thrust vows to kill the dinosaur. After a few months pass, the group is now living in a cave and has a number of encounters with cavemen in the area, but are able to turn them away with a handmade crossbow. They also befriend a cavewoman, who they name Hazel. While Hazel helps Frankie wash her hair, the ''T. rex'' returns. Frankie is able to flee to a cave, with the T. rex trying to get in. Thrust, Bunta, and Wade are able to turn it away with a large boulder tied to its tail. Thrust decides to kill the ''T. rex'' once and for all with a catapult.
After building the catapult, they wait for the dinosaur. Out hunting, Wade finds the Borer and realizes it is still operable. However, Thrust refuses to leave, wanting to kill the ''T. rex'' first. Wade and Frankie leave the camp to get the Borer fixed and then leave, while Thrust and Bunta remain. Once the Borer is launched back in the water, Frankie goes back to convince the others to leave with them one last time. While tracking the ''T. rex'', Bunta is eaten by it. Frankie reunites with Thrust and helps him use the catapult on the T. rex, but it only injures it. The ''T. rex'' then goes on a rampage and destroys their catapult.
In the wake of the destruction, Wade arrives and states that they have to leave now or they will be trapped in the valley. Frankie pleads with Thrust to go with them and to leave the ''T. rex'', as it is the "last one". However, Thrust replies "So am I...", and is therefore left behind with Hazel.
Eleven-year-old Sabrina and Seven-year-old Daphne are orphans who go to live with their grandmother (who they thought was dead) in the small town of Ferryport Landing, New York. After the kidnapping of their parents and going through countless abusive foster homes, Sabrina is incredibly suspicious and hesitant to trust their grandmother. Sabrina, having been told her whole life that her grandmother is dead, believes she is an imposter. 'Granny' lives with a man named Mr. Canis, who she says helps her take care of the house. They soon find out that their grandmother is a very strange person. Her house is filled with fairy tale books, her dog, Elvis, initially attacks Sabrina, her door has eight locks and eight different keys, her car has a rope rather than a seatbelt and they are told that they aren't allowed to let anyone or anything in the house without Granny or Canis' permission first. Granny claims that she was very close with their parents and has received letters from them in the past. That night, Sabrina attempts to escape with Daphne through the woods but they are attacked by small bugs that resemble fireflies. When Granny finds them, she refers to the bugs as pixies, and keeps them away with a mysterious blue dust that seems to put them to sleep. Granny doesn't seem angry, but she has their windows nailed shut.
Afterwards, Granny and Mr. Canis drive with the girls through the town, eventually reaching what appears to be the scene of a crime; a house that has been completely crushed into rubble. Granny and Canis leave the girls alone to go investigate the scene and while Sabrina and Daphne wait, they encounter Mr. Seven and his employer, Mr. Charming. Both seem to have a serious disdain for the Grimm Family, despite being familiar with Granny and Mr. Canis. Granny finds a fresh leaf on the ground and decides that it's from a beanstalk, but Mr. Charming seems eager to dismiss and cover up the case. Granny tells the girls she believes the house has been stepped on by a giant. Sabrina thinks she's gone crazy, and Daphne thinks she's joking, but later they both realize that the rubble is sitting in the indentation of a massive footprint. At the house, Granny finally informs the girls that they are late descendants of the Brothers Grimm.
She tells them that every fairy tale the Brothers Grimm wrote was actually an accurate account of something that really happened. She explains that in the past, fairy tale creatures, or 'Everafters,' and normal humans lived side by side. However, much later in history, as tensions grew, magic was banned and any dangerous everafters were captured and caged. The Grimm brothers collected and documented as many stories as they could of everafters, and became friends with many of them in the process. Many everafters moved to America to build a safe community, with Wilhelm Grimm as their leader. However, as the human population began to grow, rebel groups formed in Ferryport landing in order to eradicate the human population. In order to prevent an all out war, Wilhelm Grimm went to Baba Yaga, a powerful witch, and asked her to put a spell over the town keeping all everafters in permanently. Baba Yaga granted this in exchange for Wilhelm's freedom, meaning one grimm would always have to stay in Ferryport Landing for the spell to stay intact. Granny tells them that the peace in Ferryport Landing is fragile, and it's the Grimm Family's job to maintain it.
After, the family goes to the hospital to visit the farmer who was injured in the giant accident, only to find that Mr. Charming (revealed to be Prince Charming) has beaten them and erased the farmer's memory. Despite this, they interview the farmer's wife at his bedside. The farmer's wife, Mrs. Applebee, informs them that her husband had sworn he'd seen a giant, but she believes a different theory. She says there was a British man who often visited their farm and asked to rent their field, but became hostile when they refused. She says that later, the man had returned, apologized for being so rude, and offered to pay for them to stay in New York City as an apology. Mrs. Applebee had gone with her sister rather than her husband. However, when they arrived, the hotel had no record of their reservation. On the way out, the family is ambushed by a group of 'goons' who threaten the Grimms to abandon the case. Granny is not scared, and instead sees this as a sign they are on the right path. Granny decides to follow the gang and find out who employed them in a stakeout. On the way, she tells them about giants. the only person to ever have successfully robbed and killed a giant was Jack,(from Jack and the Beanstalk), but now he works at a retail store in town. On the stakeout, while granny and canis are distracted, sabrina makes an attempt to escape with Daphne, despite Daphne's protests. just after they leave the car, it is attacked by a giant. The giant, chanting about how he must find "the englishman" picks up the car, containing granny and canis, and walks away with it, leaving the girls alone in the woods with only granny's handbag. They try to hitchhike, but encounter Officer Hamstead, one of the three little pigs. He offers to drive the girls home, but they discover he works for Mr. Charming, and make an escape. The girls follow pixie lights into the woods and soon meet Puck (from ''A Midsummer Night's Dream''). Puck originally believes they are spies and tries to drown them, claiming they have stolen the old lady away from him. they mistake him for the infamous Peter Pan, which enrages him even further. He originally decides that he won't help them find granny because he is a self-proclaimed villain. however, he follows them home, helps them get back into the house, and agrees to help them save their grandmother just because she was kind to him and fed him since he was little. Puck and Sabrina share a clear hatred for each other and spend the majority of the time bickering. Sabrina and Daphne find their father's diary, detailing his accounts with Mayor Charming. It reveals that the upcoming fundraiser ball at prince charming's mansion is a scam he created to make money after a series of business fails. They also find out that giants are very gullible. They theorize that Mayor Charming tricked a giant into crushing the house for him, and that Mayor Charming is the 'Englishman.'
After, the girls find a letter in granny's purse telling them to enter the room in her house that she previously declared off limits. Inside, they discover the Magic Mirror from Snow White that is in their home. They can ask the Mirror any rhyming question, and it will answer. They first ask if granny is alive, to which the mirror replies that both her and canis are okay. they then find out that they are still in the car in the giant's shirt pocket. When they ask who they can go to, to help defeat the giant, the mirror shows them Jack the giant killer, sitting in a cell. However, at the same time, they are pursued by the police, Officers Hamstead, Swineheart, and Boarman (from The Three Little Pigs). Sabrina, Daphne, and Puck escape the house on a magic carpet and fly to the Ferryport Landing prison where they rescue Jack. The officer guarding Jack is Ichabod Crane (from "Sleepy Hollow"), so the girls disguise themselves as the Headless Horseman to distract him while Jack escapes. While they fly away, Jack purposefully attracts attention from the police. then, the giant makes a reappearance and chases them through town, causing destruction everywhere they go. Jack seems to enjoy the attention, while Sabrina and Daphne struggle to stay on the carpet. They get home and Jack decides they should spend the night, though Sabrina is hesitant to let him stay in their house. Late at night, Puck and Sabrina discuss their distrust for Jack, only to stumble upon him and the dog in a fight. Puck accuses Jack of having 'sticky fingers', or thieving. they briefly fight before the girls stop them. Jack keeps mentioning his "big plan," but refraining from telling the girls what it is. After this secrecy causes Sabrina to finally snap and ream Jack, he reveals that his plan is for them to sneak into Charming's office during the fundraiser ball and steal his city planning blueprints. Jack believes this will lead them to wherever Charming wants to send the giant next.
The group uses the mirror to get disguises as well as the Ruby Slippers from ''The Wizard of Oz''. Sabrina (disguised as Momma Bear from Goldilocks) and Daphne (disguised as the Tin Man) are told by the mirror that their disguises will wear off at nine o' clock. The sisters use the magic slippers to get into Charming's mansion.the girls encounter many fairy tale creatures who all discuss Granny Relda's incident with the giant. The whole town is familiar with the Grimm family. The Everafters have a blatant disdain for the Grimms and loudly discuss how they hope the family will soon die out so they can leave the town. They are only interrupted by Briar Rose, or Sleeping Beauty, who defends the Grimm family. The girls also find out that there is a possibility that their parents were kidnapped rather than just having abandoned the girls. Sabrina sneaks away into the mayor's office, where she finds tape recordings of the giant crushing the farmer's house. Suddenly, Sabrina is caught by Prince Charming, who already has Daphne. He threatens to kill them if they don't tell him who they really are. He also mentions that he doesn't want to join the "Scarlet Hand," a 'revolution.' The girls change back into themselves just in time, as a giant arrives outside the party. Charming attempts to throw them outside, but the party has formed a mob that is impossible to penetrate. The Three Witches start to fight the giant, which Daphne protests as Granny and Canis are still in its pocket.
King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table fight the giant off, and the guests leave the party, enraged with Charming. The girls demand that Charming give them their grandmother back, sure that he is in control of the giant. However, Charming's tapes reveal the real culprit: Jack, who had tricked them and who was the one who had set loose the giant hoping that by killing it in front of a crowd of news reporters he would come back into his former fame. Charming sent Hamstead to take them out of town long enough to kill the giant and save their grandmother. The girls ask why Charming would want to help them, and he replies 'I have my reasons. They return home quickly after this realization to find that Jack has ransacked their home and injured Elvis. Jack has stolen several magic beans from the Mirror. Charming and the girls get weapons from the mirror and go to fight Jack, who has released a new giant and is attempting to anger it. Sabrina accidentally kills the giant with excalibur and enrages Jack. Jack tries to kill Sabrina and Daphne but they are rescued by Mr. Canis, who turns out to be the Big Bad Wolf and the giant is sent back to its kingdom accompanied by Jack to meet its queen.
The girls discover that a shady organization known as the "Scarlet Hand" is responsible for kidnapping their parents. It is also revealed that Puck will be moving in with them.
Greg Blazer is a slothful, lazy Latter-day Saint who loves football so much that he wears football jerseys under his church clothes. Much to his dismay, Greg's Sunday-football-watching plans are interrupted by Nelson Parker, a faithful, nerdy, stalwart Latter-day Saint who is Greg's new home teaching companion. Together, the two men set out to complete their assignment, beginning a journey of slapstick comedy and hijinks that includes Greg falling through a ceiling while wearing a wedding dress, dressing up like a deer, and accidentally dancing with a dead grandfather at his own funeral.
The novel's plot has been called a plot of female socialization, in which the hero is taught by the heroine how to live peacefully in society. ''Mauprat'' resembles the fairy tale ''Beauty and the Beast''. As this would suggest, the novel is a romance. However, Sand resists the immediate happy ending of marriage between the two main characters in favor of a more gradual story of education, including a reappraisal of the passive female role in courtship and marriage. Sand also calls into question Rousseau's ideal version of the female education as described in his novel ''Emile'', namely, training women for domesticity and the home.
The novel, set before the French Revolution, depicts the coming of age of a nobleman named Bernard Mauprat. The story is narrated by the old Bernard in his country home many years later, as told to a nameless young male visitor. Bernard recounts how, raised by a violent gang of his feudal kinsmen after the death of his mother, he becomes a brutalized " ". When his cousin Edmée is held captive by Bernard's "family", he helps her escape, but elicits a promise of marriage from her by threatening rape. Thus begins the long courtship of Bernard and Edmée. The novel ends with a dramatic trial scene, similar to that in Stendhal's ''The Red and the Black''.
During the period Sand wrote the novel, she was gradually becoming more interested in the problem of political equality in society. She had read widely about the views of socialist thinkers such as Pierre Leroux, with whom she went on to form a journal, the . In keeping with Sand's interest in equality, ''Mauprat'' depicts a new type of literary figure, the peasant visionary Patience. In addition, part of the novel takes place during the American Revolutionary War.
The story follows Yūji Yagami, a high school student with a problem: his mother, Nomi, looks very young and Yūji has a crush on her. To complicate matters, his high school homeroom teacher is also infatuated with her due to how young she looks. Nomi is oblivious to all of this and is head over heels in love with her husband, Yōji, and frequently displays this affection very publicly, which causes more embarrassment for Yūji.
Yūji's high school friends constantly tease him about his "mother complex". When Valentine's Day comes around, though, Yūji receives a box of handmade chocolates. The name on card can be read multiple ways, the most common way being , a male name, so his friends tease him throughout the day until it is time to meet the person who sent the chocolates at the front gate after school.
The girl who sent the chocolates (the name is actually read "Mayuki") starts meeting him after school so they can walk home together, and they eventually become an item. The remainder of the story follows Yūji and Mayuki as their love grows and as Yūji works to resolve his "mother complex" issues.
Having spent most of her life in the city, Tess Silverman returns home when she inherits part of Drover's Run, a cattle station passed down the generations of the McLeod family, from her late father, Jack McLeod. There she meets her estranged half-sister, Claire, after twenty years of separation. Tess announces that her mother Ruth, Jack's second wife and Claire's step mother, died recently. Claire, now in charge of the property, is placed in a desperate position when she discovers her farmhands have breached her trust, as they did her father, and fires them. With the future of Drover's Run now in jeopardy, Claire enlists the help of her sister, along with the local wayward delivery girl, Becky, the housekeeper of Drover's, Meg, and Meg's spoiled daughter, Jodi. Against all odds, they form an unlikely workforce, in the hope of saving the land and the property.
Claire, at first, struggles to bond with Tess, more so when she discovers Tess' secret – she plans to sell her share of the heritage and fulfil her dream of owning a café in the city, much to Claire's worry when she tries to convince Tess that in doing so could spell disaster for Drover's Run.
The story is about Audee Walthers, an "airbody driver and tour operator", who scams Earth tourists who visit Venus. He needs a new liver, so he is seeking a rich client to profit from. He is pleased to meet the seemingly well-off Boyce Cochenour. However, Walthers finds out that Cochenour also needs money.
''The Angel's Game'' is set in Barcelona in the 1920s and 1930s and follows a young writer, David Martin.
In a once-abandoned mansion at the heart of Barcelona, Martín makes his living by writing sensationalist crime stories under a pseudonym. The survivor of a troubled childhood, he has taken refuge in the world of books and spends his nights spinning baroque, "grand guignol" tales about the city's underworld.
His own life begins to take on a dramatic bent, in the form of a number of complex relationships: with Pedro Vidal, his patron, with Cristina, the daughter of Vidal's chauffeur, and with Isabella, a young admirer of David and his work.
Furthermore, the history of the house he lives in begins to seep into his life - in a locked room within the house lie photographs and letters hinting at the mysterious death of the previous owner. At the same time he receives a letter from a reclusive but wealthy French editor, Andreas Corelli, who makes him an irresistible offer. He is to write a book unlike anything that has ever existed—an attempt at a new religious work with the power to change hearts and minds. Yet as David begins the work, he realizes that there is a connection between his haunting book and the shadows that surround his home.
Behind the walls of a secluded convent, the nuns commit sexual acts at night with each other, while living in fear that their Mother Superior may learn of their transgressions.
One day, an injured man appears at the convent and the sisters take him in. One by one, the nuns become attracted to the man and take turns visiting his room at night. Unbeknownst to them, Satan has also entered the convent and is turning the nuns into horny sinners.
Finally, an exorcist is sent to the convent to drive out Satan and restore godliness to the monastery's lustful inhabitants.
Sleazy bon vivant Edmund Lamont continues to live the high life despite being up to his eyebrows in debt. He begins wooing wealthy socialite Mabel Wilton, conning her into giving him $100,000 to "invest" for her. Meanwhile, her daughter Jeanne unexpectedly arrives from private school, and when Lamont sees her, he promptly begins seeing her surreptitiously. Inevitably both women find out the deception, but the smitten Jeanne agrees to marry him anyway. True to form, Lamont starts seeing Harriet (the third woman of the title), leading to a night club brawl in which he's knocked out with a champagne bottle. He is taken home by Fred, newly-graduated from medical school, who is shocked to learn that Jeanne, his presumptive fiancee, is already married to the man he brought home. Things begin to escalate even more, culminating in a shooting death and a murder trial.
In late 19th-century London, destitute Richard Darrell (Stewart Granger) rescues Don Carlos (Gerard Heinz) from two robbers. When Richard returns for the manuscript he inadvertently left behind, he is encouraged by Don Carlos to talk about his background. The son of a poor country doctor, he met the upper class Oriana Camperdene and Francis Castleton during their childhood; he and Francis became rivals for Oriana's affections. Oriana and her father left for Spain, but the couple were reunited as adults and agreed to marry, much to Francis's disgust. However, they postponed the wedding for a year so that Richard could go to London and make his fortune as a writer. However, though he has completed a novel, no one wants to publish it and his year is almost up. Don Carlos offers to publish it and asks him to take a valuable necklace, which once belonged to Queen Isabella of Castile, to Granada.
Bidding farewell to Oriana (Anne Crawford), Richard sets out. On the way, he meets Wycroft (Robert Helpmann), who assaults, robs and nearly kills Richard on behalf of his dastardly master, Sir Francis Castleton (Dennis Price). Oriana thinks Richard is dead and, with her father recently dead, marries Francis, whilst Richard loses his memory as a result of the assault and marries a gypsy girl named Rosal (Jean Kent). However, everyone meets again...
A man is put on trial for the murder on his best friend. A young attorney wants to become successful and decides to defend him. However, he is very inexperienced.
A nineteenth-century circus performer becomes a celebrated dancer, but has trouble balancing her romantic and family aspirations with her career.
Category:2005 American novels Category:2005 children's books Category:American children's novels Category:American fantasy novels Category:American mystery novels Category:Children's fantasy novels Category:Children's mystery novels
A mother discovers her daughter Susan is marrying an insufferable social-climber. Already horrified by the idea, she also finds out her son Martin has gone into a life of crime. She decides to head to Paris to forget about her domestic troubles. She marries Richard Elliot, the executor of her late husband's estate.
Diane De Valle (Bebe Daniels) is an aging theatre actress who can't deal with getting older. Trying to hide it, she has to come to terms she is being replaced by a younger actress. She has to defeat the much younger Peggy Harper (Alice Faye) for a role of a young woman in an upcoming stage production.
Sabrina is confronted by a mentally challenged girl who has kidnapped her parents (who may be the person mentioned in the title) and a vicious monster, continues to fight when Puck comes to save her (once again, he complains). Just then, the portal which Sabrina used to get to her parents burns out, and Sabrina and Puck are trapped in an old asylum. Puck and Sabrina escape, but Sabrina is injured by the monster. After her injuries heal at the hospital, Sabrina goes back with her family to Relda's house where they hold a celebration to welcome back Sabrina. That night, after investigating through many journals, the criminal becomes clear: Little Red Riding Hood. The following night, wanting to know about Red Riding Hood, Sabrina, Daphne, and Puck go to the ruins of the asylum where she had met the Everafter child. They search for medical files in hopes of finding a clue, but a mysterious man discovers them. He seems to know Sabrina and Daphne's name, but thinking that he is part of the Scarlet Hand, the three escape back to her grandmother's house.
In the morning, Sabrina, Daphne, Relda and Puck travel to the newly built school for the opening ceremony, where Mayor Prince Charming gives a speech. However, he is distracted when the Queen of Hearts announces that she dislikes Charming's ideas and she will seek election as mayor. Suddenly, just as the chaos began, the mysterious man Sabrina had met at the ruin pops out of nowhere. He turns out to be Jacob Alexander Grimm, Relda's son and Henry's brother who gets Sabrina addicted to magic and later gets her into trouble with Baba Yaga, an ancient witch who is rumored to be a cannibal. That night, while everyone was asleep, Sabrina sneaks into the room where Jacob was sleeping, to take a look at the files in search for clues. She accidentally wakes Jacob, but instead of sending her back to bed, he explains about a few things about Red Riding Hood. The kidnapper had fallen in despair after she had lost many people that she had cared for, and thinking that her dead kitten was the ferocious monster called the Jabberwocky, she went on kidnapping other people she thought she had lost. That was how the sisters Grimm's parents were kidnapped, with Little Red Riding Hood thinking that they were her dead parents. Red Riding Hood seems evil only because of the Jabberwocky; once the Jabberwocky is killed, she is not to be feared. But Sabrina discovers that the only thing that can kill the Jabberwocky is the Vorpal blade, which was divided into three pieces and distributed to separate places in Ferryport Landing. They already have the first piece. Sabrina, Daphne, and Jacob must find the remaining two.
Uncle Jake wants to take Sabrina, Daphne, and Puck out for a drive. Granny sends Sabrina to get Puck, where she finds him pouting because Granny gives more attention to Uncle Jake then him. Sabrina tells him that the whole family cares about him, he believes what she's trying to say is that she loves him and kisses her on the lips. Later during their drive, at a restaurant labeled the "Blue Plate Special" the Jabberwocky attacks and rips Puck's wings off. After two narrow escapes, they get hold of the pieces from the Little Mermaid, who is hugely fat, turning to food for comfort, after being left by an unknown "topsider". They set off searching for Baba Yaga, the cannibal witch who has the last piece of the Vorpal Blade, who asks for Merlin's Wand as an exchange. Sabrina disagrees, but Uncle Jake gives it to Baba Yaga without Sabrina's permission. As they were leaving, Sabrina stole the Shoes of Swiftness from Uncle Jake's overcoat, and went to Baba Yaga to retrieve the wand. She makes the mistake of accidentally picking up the wrong wand and holding it backwards, thus turning her into a frog (Charming had to kiss her in order to turn back into herself). Sabrina tries connecting the pieces together, and finds a puzzle on the blade, which was supposed to show who the Blue Fairy was disguised as so as she could make the sword into one whole object. The Blue Fairy turns out to be a waitress at a restaurant. After the sword is mended, Sabrina and Daphne fight the Jabberwocky and kill it. Unfortunately, afterward, Uncle Jake is so addicted to magic that he attacks the Blue Fairy with the Vorpal Blade and forces her to grant him a wish. He wishes for all her power, and the fairy is forced to give it up. He uses the fairy's powers to take away the Everafters' immortal powers, which begins to kill them. He gives everyone else a wish, and Sabrina wishes that "Uncle Jake, you're smart, you've got a great family, and you're a Grimm. I wish that deep down you had always known how much power that gave you." This alters the past and changes where Uncle Jake attacks the Blue Fairy to Uncle Jake being happy with how it turned out and hugs Granny. Sabrina and Daphne then get their parents back. However, they could not be woken, as far as they know of, and Puck is getting weaker. Book 4 continues with saving Puck.
It is graduation time for the A-List crew. That means lavish yacht parties, designer caps and gowns, and saying bye-bye to high school for good. Despite the festivities, Anna is not in a partying mood. Ben has been acting distant and she is worried. Maybe her father's hot tattooed intern, Caine Manning, will help cheer Anna up! Ever since her illicit kiss with Parker, Sam has been Eduardo-less and heartbroken. But hopefully Sam will use her brains and considerable means to get creative about winning Eduardo back. And infamous Cammie? She could not care less about graduation, not when she is so close to unraveling the mystery of her mother's death. She will stop at nothing to find out the truth.
The book starts out with Anna driving to Sam's pre-graduation party on her father's new yacht. While talking to Cyn, her best friend from New York, she stops to let a couple cross the street, and a woman hits the back of her car.
Category:2006 American novels Category:American young adult novels Category:Little, Brown and Company books
A reformed outlaw (Lease) marries a teacher (Sebastian) to protect her from his gang,
Darker's story is revealed over the course of the game as information gathered by reconnaissance. The people of Delphi are not militarised, having never had reason for military action, and so technology for combating the Halon menace is developed over the course of the game. The Halon people are revealed to be invading in order to expand their cities away from the light side, which they have polluted beyond the point where it can sustain life. Eventually Tolly pilots a Halon craft to the light side of the planet, where he destroys the Halon aircraft factories.
"Glago's Guest" follows the story of a lonely Russian soldier stationed in a remote Siberian outpost. When the soldier's solitude is interrupted one day by the arrival of a strange new "guest" named Lars, Glago is jolted out of his uneventful daily routine. Soon, though, he comes to realize that things are not always what they appear to be.
The film opens with Marnie Piper (Kimberly J. Brown) and her mother, Gwen (Judith Hoag), arguing over why she and her younger siblings Dylan (Joey Zimmerman) and Sophie (Emily Roeske) cannot go out for Halloween. Marnie cannot go to a friend's costume party, and her mother offers no clear explanation. Gwen's mother Agatha, or "Aggie" (Debbie Reynolds) shows up for her annual Halloween visit. The children are happier to see Aggie than Gwen is, as Aggie openly encourages the children to get more involved in Halloween. Aggie and Gwen are secretly witches, but Gwen is determined to live a normal life as a mortal instead.
Despite objections from Gwen, Aggie is intent on training Marnie as a witch. Before heading home, Aggie reads the children a bedtime story called "Halloweentown", about a mystical place where witches, vampires and monsters of all sorts live in peace. Sophie points out a drawing of a witch in the book that resembles Marnie; Aggie does nothing to stop Marnie from imagining such a thing. After putting the children to bed, Gwen and Aggie get into an argument, with Marnie, who has sneaked downstairs, eavesdropping. Gwen is angry that her mother encourages the children to enjoy Halloween, and insists Marnie will be raised as a mortal, like her father was, and not a witch. Aggie doesn't understand why Gwen wants to live without magic, and wants to train Marnie before she turns 13, as at this point without training, she would lose her powers. Aggie then asks Gwen for help. Citizens of Halloweentown have been disappearing, and while Gwen doesn't take this seriously and says it is possible that the missing have simply moved, Aggie believes that foul play is involved.
When Aggie leaves to return home, Marnie and Dylan covertly follow her. They see Aggie getting onto a magical bus, and sneak onto it through the back door. When they arrive in Halloweentown, Aggie does not see Marnie and Dylan getting off the bus, and the children lose sight of her. At the same time, Marnie and Dylan realize that Sophie has sneaked onto the bus with them. They begin looking for Aggie, and are approached by Kalabar (Robin Thomas), the mayor of Halloweentown. He whistles for a cab driven by Benny (voiced by Rino Romano), a skeleton with a bad sense of humor. The children find their grandmother's mansion, and against her better judgment, Aggie decides not to take them back to their home immediately. She says she will start Marnie's witch training, but has to take care of "the bad thing" first. She shows her grandchildren what she is talking about: in her cauldron, a vision of a hooded figure appears, laughing maniacally. She says she must activate Merlin's talisman with a spell and potion to defeat the evil creature.
After trying, and failing, to light the talisman with "instant" potion, Aggie takes the children back to town to shop for the right ingredients. The family is introduced to Luke (Phillip Van Dyke), a goblin who was made handsome by a "shadow creature". He makes a clumsy pass at Marnie, which she turns down on the spot. Gwen, who had noticed her children were missing and immediately blamed Aggie, arrives in Halloweentown to retrieve them, much to Marnie's objections. Gwen tells the children to say goodbye to Aggie, then takes them to the bus station, but cannot find another bus back to the mortal world according to a two-headed ticket vendor (Hank Cartwright and Tim Tolces), whose two heads are constantly arguing with each other, and decides to see if the mayor can do anything to help. She is shocked to see that the mayor is Kalabar, an ex-boyfriend of hers. After Kalabar briefly leaves to handle another problem, Gwen and her children see Aggie walking somewhere with Luke. Sensing Aggie might be in trouble, they follow Luke and her to an abandoned movie theater.
Aggie meets the hooded demon in the theater, where the missing Halloweentown citizens have been frozen in time. Aggie declines to give the talisman to the demon. Gwen and the children enter the theater as Luke rushes out in fear. The demon freezes Gwen and Aggie. The children escape, and obtain the necessary ingredients the hair of a werewolf, the sweat of a ghost, and a vampire's fang to make the potion that will activate the talisman. They then realize they must place the talisman in the large jack-o'-lantern in the center of the town to defeat the demon.
When they arrive to install it, the demon suddenly appears and reveals himself to be Kalabar, who is bitter that Gwen (whom he used to date when she was a teenager) chose to marry a human instead of him. He starts talking to the townspeople and tries to persuade them to join him and take over the mortal world. With the help of Luke, Marnie slips past Kalabar long enough to climb up onto the jack-o'-lantern and try to place the talisman inside. Kalabar, noticing this, casts a spell to freeze her. As she is about to pass out, Marnie drops the talisman inside the jack-o'-lantern, which causes it to illuminate. This unfreezes her and everyone trapped inside the theater, and severely weakens Kalabar. Kalabar obtains the talisman and says he will use it to become the ruler of both the mortal and magical world. Dylan is revealed to have magic powers and eventually joins Gwen, Aggie, and his sisters in confronting Kalabar and using their combined powers to defeat him. Luke is restored to his goblin appearance.
The film ends with the family getting on the bus and blasting off to the mortal world. Gwen and Aggie decide to train Marnie as a witch and Aggie decides to stay in the mortal world to spend more time with her grandchildren.
''Majesty 2'' returns to the gently satirical, high fantasy world of ''Ardania'' featured in the original, a magical realm populated by elves, gnomes, dwarves and various monsters, as well as humans.
According to the game's back story, Ardania was unified 500 years previously by a great ruler. Since that time, many celebrated kings ruled, who vanquished many legendary foes. The last king, Leonard, however, had no enemies left to conquer, and became worried over his place in history. He summoned a powerful demon in an attempt to banish it and win renown himself, but the demon killed the king and usurped his throne. Under the demon's rule, Ardania crumbled and fell back to its chaotic past, and many pretenders tried and failed to win the throne. The player assumes the role of the "true heir" to Ardania, who sets out to defeat the demon and purge the realm of evil.
When his cruise ship, the Cuban Queen, runs aground near Florida on its way to Havana, New York ocean liner magnate Walter McCracken (George Barbier) sends his vice-president, Jay Williams (John Payne), to the site to forestall any legal action. Jay gets the passengers to sign claim waivers in exchange for future passage on another McCracken ocean liner. One passenger, Macy's salesclerk Nan Spencer (Alice Faye), refuses to sign, because she has saved for years for the vacation and cannot take it at any other time. When Nan hints that she is aware of the captain's negligence in the accident, Jay accedes to her demand that the company ensure her an enjoyable vacation in Havana. Nan refuses to sign the waiver until after her vacation is completed, so McCracken orders Jay to accompany her, even though he is soon to be married to McCracken's snobbish daughter Terry. Upon reaching Havana, Nan is delighted with the scenery but bored with Jay, who is too stodgy to provide the romance she craves. When charming fortune hunter Monte Blanca (Cesar Romero) comes across Nan, he believes that she will be the solution to his gambling debts.
Monte takes Nan to a casino run by Boris, who threatens Monte upon discovering that Nan is a simple salesclerk who cannot make good on the losses she believed Monte himself was going to pay. Jay, who has followed the couple, offers to pay off Monte's debts if he will romance Nan, thereby making sure she has a good time and will sign the waiver. Monte readily agrees, despite the jealousy of his tempestuous girl friend, Rosita Rivas (Carmen Miranda), a singer whom Monte manages. In order to forestall Rosita's tantrums, Jay agrees to be her new manager, but regrets his decision when it becomes apparent that she wants romance as well as advice.
One evening, Rosita meets Jay at a secluded inn, but Monte and Nan are already there, and during an ensuing argument, Monte reveals that he accepted Jay's proposition in order to repay Rosita money he owes her. Nan is furious at both men for the deception, and when Jay tries to follow her after she leaves, his car is accidentally wrecked. While walking back to town, Jay and Nan discover that they are genuinely attracted to each other. The next morning, happy that her vacation is going well, Nan gives Jay a signed waiver, but tears it up when Terry appears and intimates that Jay's behavior has been strictly business. Heartbroken, Nan signs another waiver and accepts from Terry a check for $1,000, which Terry says came from Jay. When Jay sends her a check for $150, however, Nan realizes that Terry was trying to bribe her without Jay's knowledge. Terry's scheming soon becomes apparent to Jay as well, and after he angrily sends her back to New York, he finds Nan in the nightclub where Rosita is performing. As Rosita and Monte dance together, Jay and Nan are reconciled, and everyone sings the praises of their weekend in Havana.
The first season story arc involves the Australian Federal Police's investigation into the death of marine biologist Dr. Lisa Holmes, Kate's relationship with freighter Captain Rick Gallagher, Mike's relationship with Lisa's partner, Dr. Ursula Morrell, and the deaths of two fishermen, Carl Davies and Sam Murray. These threads increasingly intertwine throughout the season, culminating in the final two episodes, in which it is revealed that Gallagher hired Ursula and Lisa to manufacture a deadly toxin from an unusual venomous crab that he planned to sell on the black market. The plot is thwarted, the boat carrying the poison is sunk, Gallagher is killed and Ursula's death is staged as she enters a witness protection program.
During the season, Nav and ET develop a relationship despite adversities: Chefo becomes engaged to his girlfriend; Swain's wife, Sally, gives birth; Charge reluctantly gets help for, and recovers from, an eye injury; Spider loses friend and shipmate Jaffah to a jellyfish sting; Robert comes to terms with his father's death and Lt. Daryl Smith has a mostly off-screen and implied relationship with AFP Agent Alicia Turnball.
The novel takes place shortly after the attack on the Citadel by the Reaper Sovereign and its allies Saren Arterius and the geth. The Ascension Project is an initiative program aimed at developing biotic abilities in humans, with a particular focus on the children of the victims of element zero accidents in multiple human colonies across the Systems Alliance. The Project, set up around 2176, is based at the Jon Grissom Academy, a medium-sized space station in orbit around the human colony of Elysium in the Skyllian Verge, a largely undeveloped patch of space situated along the borders of the Systems Alliance and the lawless Terminus Systems.
The Illusive Man, the enigmatic leader of the rogue, anthropocentric organization called Cerberus, plots Cerberus' next move, which involves the pursuit of an autistic young biotic prodigy named Gillian Grayson. Gillian's father and one of the Illusive Man's long-serving agents, Paul Grayson, is a troubled drug addict who was assigned with raising an infant girl with immense biotic potential. The autistic girl is now a member of the Ascension Project. Grayson, despite having much affection for his adopted daughter, is now reduced to a link man between Cerberus and their mole inside the Ascension Project, Dr. Jiro Toshiwa. Their mission is to sabotage the Ascension project by administering biotic-enhancing drugs to Gillian and evaluate their efficacy. When the Cerberus plot is exposed, Paul takes Gillian away from the Ascension Project and flees into the Terminus Systems. They are aided by Kahlee Sanders, a returning character from ''Revelation'' who is determined to protect Gillian, unaware that Paul is in fact a Cerberus operative. Their predicament is complicated when they cross paths with the quarian Migrant Fleet. Eventually Paul Grayson has a change of heart and leaves Cerberus, Kahlee returns to Grissom Academy, and Gillian remains with the quarian Migrant fleet.
''De Ortu Waluuanii'' expands on the account of Gawain's early life given in Geoffrey's ''Historia'', which mentions that at the age of twelve Gawain was sent to Rome to serve in the household of the fictional Pope Sulpicius, who educated and knighted him. The structure and plot revolve around the theme of establishing one's identity. Gawain, the illegitimate son of Arthur's sister Anna, is raised ignorant of his parentage and his relationship to Arthur and is trained as a cavalry officer to the Roman emperor. Known only as "the Knight of the Surcoat", he must first work to establish himself as knight in his own right, and then must discover his biological identity by learning his lineage.
The narrative is centered around two major quests, involving Gawain's defense of Jerusalem and Arthur's Britain, respectively. The first quest describes Gawain's battles with Greek fire-equipped pirates and culminates with his single combat against a Persian knight. The second quest involves protecting Arthur's lands from northern raiders. Gawain, traveling incognito, must fight Arthur and Kay before he is allowed to pass, and is eventually rewarded for his service by receiving knowledge of his true identity from his uncle.
In describing the boyhood deeds of Gawain, the romance recalls several other Arthurian works, notably the ''Enfances Gawain''. Other works to deal with the subject include Geoffrey's ''Historia'', works derived from the ''Historia'' such as Wace's ''Roman de Brut'' and Layamon's ''Brut'', and the romance ''Perlesvaus''. However, ''De Ortu Waluuanii'' contains the only complete account. While chiefly serious in tone, ''The Rise of Gawain'' contains some humorous incidents; notably, when Gawain pushes Arthur into the River Usk and the king is forced to explain to his wife Gwendoloena (Guinevere) why he is so wet.
''De Ortu Waluuanii'' also contains one of the earliest European descriptions of the processing and use of the maritime explosive Greek fire. The passage recounts how the pirates Gawain fights in the Mediterranean resort to using the substance when they see Gawain will not submit to them, and then goes into a long description of how it is made. The rough, unlearned description combines elements of folklore and literary tradition about Medea's magic as it appears in Ovid's ''Metamorphoses'', but the process described would have resulted in a working, napalm-like weapon of thickened gasoline.
Mia is at boarding school and has access to her mother's drugs. She gets into trouble for drugging a fellow student and this causes her father to be brought back to England from Hong Kong. Henry, her brother, has dropped out of school and has to stay at home and look after his alcoholic mother. Martha, their fading glamorous mother, controls their lives whilst her own sick mind and world crumble around her.
Wendell Graham (Bert Wheeler), while a millionaire through inheritance, is incredibly irresponsible. On a trans-Atlantic crossing, he meets the lovely Betty Harrington (Dorothy Lee), and her stuffy, over-protective aunt, Minnie Van Varden (Edna May Oliver). Wendell is definitely interested, and his interest is reciprocated by Betty; however, Aunt Minnie takes an instant dislike to the young man. On the same ship are several dissidents who are seeking financial support for their revolution back home in the fictional country of El Dorania. Wendell believes that if he offers them financial support in their revolutionary pursuits, this will enhance his position with Aunt Minnie, who owns a large estate in El Dorania and has been vocal about her displeasure with the current monarch. Wendell agrees to furnish the revolutionaries with $100,000 to further their cause.
Meanwhile, back in El Dorania, Zander Ulysses Parkhurst (Robert Woolsey), better known by his acronym, Zup, is a casino owner. One night he believes he has hit the jackpot when he wins the crown of the country in a crap game with King Oscar (Harvey Clark), the owner of which becomes king of the country. Unbeknownst to Zup, Oscar has deliberately lost the crown, since he realizes that whoever the king is targeted for death. After he is crowned king, Zup learns from Queen Carlotta (Leni Stengel) that a king's reign in El Dorania has averaged a single month over the past year, after which they are assassinated.
Wendell is told by the revolutionaries as they near El Dorania that after they overthrow the current monarch, they intend to make him their king. This sits well with Wendell, who feels that this will prove his worth to Aunt Minnie. When he arrives in the country, he realizes that the current monarch is his old friend from Brooklyn, Zup. Their celebratory reunion is short-lived when Wendell realizes that he needs to kill Zup in order to assume the throne. Wendell discovers that the assassinations are the brainchild of General Bogardus (Stanley Fields), who agrees to allow Zup to be killed in the modern fashion—with bombs dropped from airplanes.
Wendell arranges for all the bombs to be disarmed and lets Zup know there is nothing to fear. The day of assassination arrives during a national celebration, but Zup is unafraid since he knows that the bombs won't detonate. However, as the bombs begin to fall they explode, since they have been re-armed without Wendell's knowledge. The two friends flee for their lives, and as they do, fortune shines on them as one of the bombs lands over an oil deposit, which begins to gush forth. The country, now rich, is no longer interested in revolution. Zup remains king and Wendell gets to marry Betty, much to the chagrin of Aunt Minnie.
Engineer and inventor Robert Fulton (Richard Greene) comes to New York City in 1807, where he meets tavern and inn keeper Pat O'Day (Alice Faye). O'Day comes to strongly believe in Fulton and his dream after he lodges at her establishment. He pursues the investment capital he needs to build his visionary steam-powered ship.
O'Day's longtime suitor, Charles Browne (Fred MacMurray), opens his own shipyard to assist the dapper engineer in building his steamboat after Fulton receives initial financial investment from Chancellor Robert L. Livingstone (Henry Stephenson). Additional funds are raised by O'Day' from her business acquaintances. Fulton eventually acquires the remaining funds needed to complete his revolutionary paddle steamer.
After a shipwright named Regan (Ward Bond) has a run-in with Fulton, Regan attempts to turn every local deck hand and sail-powered passenger boat operator against the engineer, exploiting their fear of losing their livelihoods to a steam-powered vessel. In the end, despite adversity, bad luck, and additional interference from Regan, Fulton is able to complete the steamboat, now named ''Clermont'', at Charles Brown's shipyard. She is successfully launched on her first voyage, silencing the local critics and doubters who had previously labeled the venture "Fulton's Folly".
Situated in Boston, Albert Paul 'Pally' LaMarr (Kiefer Sutherland) plays the role of a 35 year old police officer who has recently suffered a heart attack while facing a bandit, forcing him into retirement. The loss of his career created a void that drove him into depression and left him contemplating suicide. His wife, Charlotte LaMarr (Radha Mitchell) calls Pally's half-brother Ray LaMarr (Anthony LaPaglia) to come and visit him with the intention of bringing his spirits up. Ray is a small time crook and he convinces Pally to finance a long-shot race horse. Unknowingly, Pally becomes in over his head as Ray's new found jockey Tony LaRoche (Lothaire Bluteau) is a gambling addict who is in debt with a Mob kingpin Frank Finnegan (Daniel Benzali). Ray and Pally become guilty by association and Tony's debt is now theirs. Pally finds himself mired in murder, mobsters and misfired romance. The stakes of their new horse panning out just increase substantially.
After Shao Kahn's invasion of Earthrealm is halted by Raiden's forces of light, Raiden blasts and sends Kahn through a portal. At exactly the same time on Earth, Superman stops Darkseid's Apokoliptian invasion by blasting Darkseid with his heat vision as he enters a boom tube. These acts do not destroy either of them, but merge them into Dark Kahn, and causes the DC and ''Mortal Kombat'' universes to merge. As this happens, the characters' abilities fluctuate, causing violent "rage" outbreaks that are actually the feelings of Dark Kahn being infused in the characters from afar. Because of this, certain characters gain either strength or vulnerability. This allows for such things as the possibility of Superman being defeated due to his vulnerability to magic, and giving the Joker the ability to fight skilled martial artists such as his nemesis Batman and Deathstroke. With each world thinking that the other is responsible for the merger, they fight each other until only one fighter from each side remains: Raiden and Superman. In the final battle, the two fight while Dark Kahn feeds on their rage. Both realizing that neither is working with Dark Kahn, Raiden and Superman overcome their rage for each other and defeat their fused enemy, restoring the two worlds to their normal separation. While everyone else has been sent to their original universe, Darkseid and Shao Kahn have been switched and are both rendered powerless. In the end, they both face eternal imprisonment in the other's universe; Darkseid is restrained in the Netherrealm, while Shao Kahn is trapped in the Phantom Zone.
Murray Golden is an unscrupulous New York City gambler and casino operator who wants to live life to the fullest. His philosophy is encapsulated in something he keeps saying: "You're only wrong when you fail." His wife, Virginia, has extracted a promise that he will quit the business once he makes $500,000. However, when he does, he breaks his word. He also starts seeing Peggy Warren behind his wife's back.
Murray learns that gangster Al Mossiter has fixed a championship boxing match. He pays one of the fighters to take a dive in the second round, before Mossiter's man goes down in the fifth, and wins a lot of money. (Mossiter's boxer is later murdered.) However, Virginia hears about Peggy and threatens to leave Murray. He manages to convince her that Peggy is the mistress of Freddie, Murray's friend and associate. He also tells her that he has made enough money and is getting into the insurance business.
Later, Mossiter learns who double-crossed him and vows to get back everything Murray won from the fight. An associate suggests he kidnap Virginia. When Murray is told about the kidnapping, he races back to the city, but is injured and Peggy is killed in a car crash. Virginia is freed unharmed when the ransom is paid, but she has had enough. She decides to get a divorce.
Years later, Murray receives a telegram from Virginia, telling him she is sailing home from Europe and has a "surprise". He is overjoyed, assuming she is coming back to him. However, she tells him that she is going to marry someone else. She asks him for her jewelry. He promises to give it to her in a week, though he is down on his luck and has pawned them.
He gets into a poker game with Mossiter and others. After playing for a day and a half, he owes $210,000. Mossiter buys up all of his IOUs and gives him a deadline to come up with the money. Murray shows up at Mossiter's hotel room and declares he is not going to pay. Furthermore, he says he is going to tell the district attorney who killed the boxer. After Mossiter shoots him, Murray reveals he took out a life insurance policy on himself in order to raise the money to get Virginia's jewelry back. He boasts that he has outsmarted his killer (winning a $20 bet they had made). The doctor informs Virginia that Murray is dying, so she lies and tells him she is returning to him.
''Naisho no Tsubomi'' tells the story of Tsubomi Tachibana, a fifth grader dealing with rather sensitive issues such as her mother's pregnancy, her first period and the strange feelings she has started to get when around boys. When she first met Daiki, she tends to blush a lot when she is around him, she does not know what that feeling is at first, but further into the story she then discovers that she, in fact, has fallen in love with Daiki.
Each volume tells the story of a different girl, always with the given name of Tsubomi and similar appearance. In each case the story deals with various issues the girl experiences with early adolescence, including physical matters such as menstruation and breast development, personal issues such as the first crush, and more uncommon but dangerous issues such as the risk of predation (this was not included in the anime). Each story also includes some source of candid advice and information to support the girl, such as the spirit of a future sibling (volume 1), an alien posing as a twin brother (volume 2), or even another self from a parallel universe (volume 5).
Much like the film The Illusion Rides the Tram, directed by Buñuel two years later, focuses on a tram ride, this film is essentially about a bus ride.
When Oliverio's mother is dying, she wants to quickly write a will so that the youngest son gets his share and the two older brothers don't collect everything. Because his mother is too weak to travel, Oliverio is supposed to bring a notary from the city to her. So he takes the bus, but the journey is constantly interrupted by unforeseen events. These interruptions affect all aspects of life; a birth as well as a funeral and a breakdown when the bus hits a river and breaks down. The most pleasant companion for Oliverio on this journey is the seductive Raquel. In the end, Oliverio returns to his mother, who has died in the meantime, without the notary, but can still secure his share of the inheritance by means of a fingerprint under the will she wants.
Jim Donovan (Richard Dix) is a two-bit mob leader in New York during the 1920s. When another mobster, Ben Murray (Richard Alexander) is killed in a gunfight between rival gangs, Donovan takes it upon himself to raise his son, Midge Murray (Jackie Cooper). When Donovan seeks the advice of the parish priest on how to raise an adolescent boy, the priest, Father Dan (Frank Sheridan), enlists the services of his niece, Kitty Costello (Marion Shilling). When she directs Donovan to get honest work, he agrees, and she gets him a job at the ironworks where she is also employed. He is slowly transformed by the effect that both Midge and Kitty have on him. He also falls in love with Kitty.
Things are going well until the government gets involved, and Midge is taken away from Donovan and sent to a house of correction. Donovan is devastated and loses his mind, declaring war on the authorities. However, Kitty has not given up on him, and gets him to calm down, by working out a deal with the authorities (due to her own personal standing in the community) where Midge will be returned to him if he keeps his nose clean for several months.
The romance between Kitty and Donovan further blossoms over the course of the next couple of months, as Donovan looks forward to the return of Midge. However, one day as he is visiting Midge, Kitty is robbed of $5,000 which she was transporting from the ironworks to the bank. The police, suspecting the worst, arrest Donovan. He escapes from police custody and tracks down the actual culprits who perpetrated the robbery, who happen to be his old gang. He recovers the money, but in the process is seriously wounded in a gunfight.
Donovan manages to return the stolen funds to the police before collapsing. While in the hospital, he and Kitty declare their love for one another, and he is promised that Midge will join them shortly.
Impoverished tenants are being evicted from their block of flats by their elderly landlord, Cabrera, who wants to build a house on the site for himself. The tenants refuse to leave, so the landlord, at the prompting of his young wife, Paloma, tells his strongest slaughterhouse worker, Pedro, known as El Bruto, to get rid of the ringleaders. When Pedro moves into the landlord’s house to work for him as a retail butcher and enforcer, Paloma, who also works in the shop, is strongly attracted to him. They begin an affair.
Starting the campaign, Pedro punches one of the ringleaders, the father of Meche, and kills the sick man unintentionally. This precipitates the other tenants to find and attack him, ending in a nail being stuck in his shoulder. He bursts into an apartment and, finding Meche, asks her to remove it. He falls in love with her despite her initial rejection, and faces divided loyalties as the landlord treats him like a son. El Bruto has a suspicion that the landlord had an affair with his mother when she was his maid, and is indeed his father.
When Pedro finds that Meche has been evicted and has been abandoned by the other tenants, he proposes marriage and offers her a home. When Paloma, paying another clandestine visit to Pedro, finds out that he now lives with Meche, in her jealous rage, she tells Meche that he killed her father. Meche, horrified, flees. Pedro strikes her. She returns home and tells the landlord falsely that El Bruto ravaged her. Cabrera issues instructions for Pefro to come to his house. When he does, Cabrera insults him and his mother and tries to kill him. Instead, Pedro kills him. Prompted by Paloma, the police pursue him. The tenants are happy because they will no longer be evicted.
Bel Lenora is a magical kingdom where everyone can use magic. A long time ago, a man who could not use magic named Vai entered Bel Lenora and brought about a great tragedy. At high cost to the kingdom, Vai was banished by one of the kingdom's Generals. Fifteen years after that event, a young man named Kairu ventures into Bel Lenora, and it is found that he is also unable to use magic.
On July 2, 1937, Amelia Earhart (Hilary Swank) and her navigator, Fred Noonan (Christopher Eccleston), are on the last leg of an around-the-world flight. Moving in vignettes from her early years when Earhart was captivated by the sight of an aircraft flying overhead on the Kansas prairie where she grew up, her life over the preceding decade gradually unfolds.
As a young woman, Earhart is recruited by publishing tycoon and eventual husband, George Putnam (Richard Gere) to become the first woman to cross the Atlantic Ocean, albeit as a passenger. Taking command of the flight results in success and she is thrust into the limelight as the most famous woman pilot of her time. Putnam helps Earhart write a book chronicling the flight, much like his earlier triumph with Charles Lindbergh's ''We''. She gradually falls in love with him and they eventually marry, although she enacts a "cruel" pledge as her wedding contract.
Embarrassed that her fame was not earned, Earhart commences to set myriad aviation records, and in 1932, recreates her earlier transatlantic flight, becoming the first female pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic. Throughout a decade of notoriety, Earhart falls into an awkward love affair with pilot and future Federal Aviation administrator Gene Vidal (Ewan McGregor). In a display of romantic jealousy, Putnam quietly tells Amelia that he does not want Vidal in his house. Annoyed by the seemingly endless agenda of celebrity appearances and endorsements, Putnam reminds her it funds her flying.
Earhart returns to her husband on the eve of her last momentous flight, her biggest and most dangerous adventure to date, to fly around the world. Earhart's first attempt ends in a runway crash in Hawaii, due to a collapsed landing gear, and her aircraft requires extensive repairs before the flight can be attempted again. Eventually, she takes the repaired Lockheed Model 10 Electra, sponsored by Purdue University, in a reverse direction, leaving the lengthy trans-Pacific crossing for the end.
Setting out to refuel at tiny Howland Island, radio transmissions between USCGC '' ,'' a Coast Guard picket ship, and Earhart's aircraft reveal a rising crisis; the Coast Guard radio operators realize they do not have sufficient length to provide a "fix". ''Itasca'' has a directional finder with a dead battery, and weak radio communications prevent Earhart and USCGC ''Itasca'' from making contact. Running low on fuel, Earhart and Noonan fly on. They disappear. A massive search effort is unsuccessful, but solidifies Earhart as an aviation icon.
Archie "Snake" Simpson (played by Stefan Brogren), a former student of Degrassi High, and now teacher at Degrassi Community School, has arranged a mixed reunion for the classes of 1990 and 1991. Spike Nelson (Amanda Stepto), Caitlin Ryan (Stacie Mistysyn), and Lucy Fernandez (Anais Granofsky), who also attended Degrassi High, plan on attending and try to persuade Joey Jeremiah (Pat Mastroianni) to join them. Joey, however, is reticent as he is still dealing with his grief over the death of his wife. Along with Caitlin's fiancé Keith (Don McKellar), the five friends go out to a bar for the night, reminiscing about the past and discussing their present lives.
Spike's daughter, Emma (played by Miriam McDonald) is told by her online boyfriend, Jordan, that he is coming to Toronto for a school field trip, and asks her if she would like to meet him for the first time. Her friends, Manny Santos (Cassie Steele), J.T. Yorke (Ryan Cooley) and Toby Isaacs (Jake Goldsbie) warn her of the potential dangers of meeting somebody she only knows from the Internet, and tell her that he could be an Internet stalker, pointing out that schools do not take field trips in the middle of summer. However, Emma is undeterred, convinced that Jordan is just a normal boy with whom she shares the same interests.
At the reunion party, Joey and Caitlin meet Alison Hunter (Sara Holmes), another Degrassi High attendee. As the evening progresses, Joey overhears Keith and Alison flirting with each other and Keith reveals he does not want to marry Caitlin. When Joey confronts Keith, their argument turns into a physical altercation, and Alison has to tell Caitlin about Keith's hesitance over getting married. Joey and Caitlin have a heart-to-heart discussion about their past and their relationships, and after ten years, finally make amends after she forgives him for his affair with Tessa Campanelli, while Wheels (Neil Hope) apologizes to Lucy for crippling her while driving drunk nine years ago for which she forgives as she realized how he's been through since the death of his adoptive parents.
While her mother attends the reunion, Emma visits Jordan at his hotel where she meets his teacher, Mr. Nystrom (Jeff Gruich). He takes her up to Jordan's hotel room but as they enter, Emma sees that it is completely empty except for a video camera which has been set up. She immediately becomes suspicious and tries to escape but Nystrom blocks her access to the bedroom door. She locks herself in the bathroom, and comes to the startling realization that Nystrom is Jordan. Nystrom apologizes and tells Emma he will let her go, but when she comes out of the bathroom he grabs and restrains her.
Unable to get in contact with Emma, Manny tells Toby and J. T. that she is afraid that Emma may have gone to meet Jordan. They hack into Emma's email account and realize that Jordan has told her a number of lies. After discovering which hotel Emma is meeting Jordan at, they rush to the school to inform Spike. As Nystrom attempts to rape Emma, Spike and Snake arrive just in time to save her. Emma manages to break free from Nystrom and rushes out of the hotel room. Snake restrains Nystrom until the police arrive to take him away.
Taking place in a futuristic style of Tokyo, Japan. Society has harnessed the power of the elements into items known as "Mystickers" which give off various effects depending on which is used and can be applied to everyday housework or even combat. Daichi, our main hero is a young teen that resents his older brother but finds comfort in his dealings with friends. After an encounter with some bullies Daichi discovers he has the potential to become a Blazer, people who are able to apply these "Mystickers" unto their skin without causing harm to their own bodies. It isn't after another deadly encounter with an unknown assailant of an organization that's targeting him that Daichi learns of his fate and that of his brother. At the cost of something precious, Daichi sets out to reclaim that which was taken, embarking on a dangerous quest with a new resolve and a powerful "Mysticker" of his own.
After the events of the preceding novel, ''Gone, Baby, Gone'', Patrick Kenzie is working solo; Angie Gennaro has left their partnership for employment at a large investigative firm, moving out of Dorchester and turning her back on a possible personal relationship with Kenzie.
A young woman has leapt to her death from Boston's landmark Custom House tower, and Kenzie is shocked to hear that she is one of his former clients, Karen Nichols. A dressed-for-success career woman, Nichols had hired him several months earlier to scare off a stalker she had first encountered at her fitness club. An unpleasant visit from Kenzie and his explosive friend Bubba Rogowski had apparently been enough to deter the stalker, Cody Falk, an upscale predator with a long history of restraining orders.
But news of Nichols' suicide leads Kenzie to recall, with some guilt, a loose end from her case. Several weeks after he'd confronted the stalker, Nichols had left a message on his answering machine—and he had neglected to return her call.
Stung by his former client's death, Kenzie makes a quick investigation and finds that at the time of her call, Nichols had been experiencing a suspicious run of bad luck. Her fiancé had been hit by a car and went into an irreversible coma from his injuries; she had lost her job while caring for him; and, according to the police, the pert young client Kenzie recalled as "someone who would iron her socks" had become a strung-out prostitute working from a cheap motel. When Kenzie once again questions Falk, he discovers that the stalker had received several notes, purporting to be from Karen Nichols herself, inviting him to continue pursuing her. Horrified and fascinated, Kenzie embarks on the search for a vindictive mastermind who manipulated Falk and others in a complex scheme to destroy Nichols' life.
The film takes place in a small valley of Sonora, Mexico, near the Arizona Territory, around 1870. Steve Fallon, a drifter and gun-for-hire, is seriously wounded while on the trail and is found by Mike Summers and his wife, Franchea. He is taken into their home and, while recovering, he learns that a local land baron, Ortega, is pressuring local ranchers to sell their land to him with the help of Danny Pose and his gang of outlaws. Fallon also develops feelings for Fanchea's sister, Juana.
Mike Summers, a former Confederate officer, had become a pacifist following his experiences during the American Civil War. Refusing to even wear a gun, he is defenseless when Danny Pose arrives at the ranch to collect "protection" money. Confronted by Fallon, Pose is disarmed and looses to Fallon in a brawl. He is eventually run out of town after a gunfight with Fallon ends with three of his companions dead.
Ortega responds by taking over the gang himself and leading a raid against the Summers ranch and, in one of the films most graphic scenes, he has Fallon's hands crushed under a wagon. Danny Pose soon returns, under the belief that Fallon has been killed, and turns on Ortega murdering his former employer. Riding to the Summers ranch, he sees the helpless Fallon and proceeds to shoot him when Summers grabs a nearby gun and kills Pose in order to save Fallon's life.
The game's protagonist is a nano bot called Kiki. Kiki is the only bot left sane from a "parasitic capacity" that affected the nano world where he lived, leaving all the nano bots produced in that world "lazy stupid little robots/which shoot each other/and destroy the nano world". Kiki's task is to "repair the maker" of the nano bots.
Dr Goldfoot and his assistant Hugo send their robot woman Diane to entrap Malcolm Andrews, who contains all the knowledge of the world in his head. Diane sets out to seduce Andrews but is stopped by government agent 001/2 of Security Intelligence Command (SIC). Diane and the agent begin a romance, and Goldfoot and Hugo capture Andrews.
Diane brings the agent to Goldfoot's lair where Goldfoot intends to kill him. However Diane turns against Goldfoot and overpowers him. There is a floorshow.
At a local gym in New York City, heavyweight boxing champion Eddie Cunningham is finishing his workout for the night. He hears a noise and looks around when he turns to the ring. A mysterious man dressed in black sporting a mask tells Eddie he fights well but he lacks the "killer instinct". The masked man challenges the boxer to a fight and shows him the moon, which has a faint red color. The man sports boots with the toes and heels encased in steel and uses martial arts to fight Eddie. Initially, the two combatants seemed evenly matched, but Eddie soon finds himself overwhelmed by the man's superior fighting skills. When the man knocks Eddie outside of the ring, he unmasks himself and still pounds on Eddie despite Eddie's pleas of calling off the fight. When Eddie uses a bench to knock down the man, the man uses two steel fingers which goes through the bench and stabs Eddie in the chest. He hoists a dead Eddie in the air and declares victory.
The next day, Detective Chuck Baker, a wise cracking cop who has a penchant for magic, is called to investigate Eddie's death. This is the fourth death of a recent wave of a possible connected killing spree in New York City. When Chuck returns to the office, his making fun of Chief Hutchins gets him in hot water with the chief, who tells him that if he doesn't solve the case, he will have him transferred to Poughkeepsie.
That night, former toughman champion Dutch is on a date at his bar. His date hears a noise during their makeout session and he tries to calm her down to no avail. However, the masked man appears with the girl and calls Dutch "Crutch". He chokes the girl unconscious and he and Dutch fight. At first, Dutch seems to have the upper hand before the masked man reveals his true skills. When he cripples Dutch, he unmasks himself and it seems Dutch knows him, when he responds, "You?" Dutch's last ditch attempt to stop the man results in the killer breaking his neck and throwing him out of the bar window.
The next day, at an autopsy clinic, Chuck analyzes Dutch's body and Chief Hutchins tells Chuck that he would like for him to meet with a serial killer expert named Ken O'Hara. Ken was one of the best in Chief Hutchins' unit until he was forced into retirement due to a near fatal experience with his last job. Ken, who is separated from his wife, is spending the day with his daughter at the beach. As they are about to leave, Ken accidentally bumps into a big fat guy, causing him to spill his beer on his shirt. Ken apologizes and offers to pay for his shirt and beer. The big guy felt offended and wants to start a fight with Ken. Ken initially refuses to fight, but when the big guy does harm to Ken's daughter by pushing her out of the way despite her pleads for him to not harm Ken, Ken becomes enraged and fights the big guy and his two goons. He ends up knocking all three of them down.
Ken shows up at the house where he sees his ex-wife and Chuck. Mistaking Chuck for a lover of his ex's, Chuck tells him that Chief Hutchins sent him and asks for help in the case. At first Ken refuses and even has a flashback of his last job. That night, Chuck finds a fellow police officer watching a "movie" on the computer screen. Chuck learns the video is a real-time confrontation between the mysterious killer, now decked out in full kendo gear, and local martial arts master Takaido. Chuck heads towards Takaido's school while the killer and Takaido have a sword fight. When Takaido unmasks the killer, he recognizes him as well through a nod. However, the killer proves to be too much as the killer slices and stabs Takaido. When Chuck arrives, the entrance to the school explodes but Chuck makes it out okay.
When Ken learns that Takaido, his martial arts instructor, has been killed, he sneaks into the school late at night but also catches Chuck at the school. After a brief fight, the two look at each other and Chuck is shocked to find Ken. Kelly, Takaido's adopted daughter, finds the two and stops them from fighting. Ken agrees to help Chuck on the case. At first, Chuck is reluctant for Ken's help, but soon finds him a valuable ally due to Ken's connections, including a computer hacker named Justice. However, when Justice attempts to trace the killer's latest call, the killer forces Chuck and Ken to confront and take down a local crime boss and his goons.
Ken and Chuck soon learn that Kelly is about to be the killer's next target. When the two arrive at Kelly's apartment, they warn her of the killer's intentions, but Kelly dismisses them, claiming she can take care of herself. As they leave, the killer arrives and Kelly finds him, leading to a confrontation. Ken and Chuck return to retrieve a file Ken accidentally left at the apartment only to find themselves facing the killer, who was overpowering Kelly. Chuck, Ken and Kelly prove to be too much for the killer, who after knocking out Kelly and using his steel fingers to incapacitate Ken, escapes by jumping out of a window onto a garbage truck.
Ken and Chuck, along with Kelly, decide to locate the killer, whose targets are clearly champions in various fighting styles. They find a photo of combatants in a tournament known as The Master's Challenge and they narrow the field down to two suspects, Willy and Chad. Chad was believed to have been killed in a car accident, thus making Willy the prime suspect. However, the killer is in fact Chad, who did have an accident, which resulted in him losing two fingers, which he replaced with steel. Kelly discovers the killer amongst a crowd watching the police leave to apprehend Willy and follows him to his home. Kelly confronts the killer only to end up defeated. Chuck and Ken succeed in capturing Willy, but they noticed during the confrontation that something was not right in terms of Willy's appearance, fighting style and skills in comparison to those of the person they fought earlier. Their suspicions are confirmed when Kelly texts them what she'd discovered. They rush to the killer's house, only to arrive too late finding Kelly's lifeless body and the killer nowhere to be found. The killer then phones Ken, revealing that he has kidnapped Ken's wife and daughter in order to challenge Ken to a "grand championship match" to the death.
Ken and Chuck head to an abandoned construction site where the top of the building has Ken's wife (whom he has reconciled) and daughter strapped to a bomb. As Ken begins to face off against the killer in a showdown, the killer uses the environment to his advantage. When Chuck attempts to help Ken, Chuck is nearly killed for his actions. However, Ken eventually gets the upper hands and on a long scaffold, Ken unleashes a flurry of kicks and blows, knocking the killer off the building and causing him to fall to his death. When Ken reaches his wife and daughter, the bomb goes off but the explosion only consists of confetti. A tape recording reveals the killer saying, "I'm no child killer. There will be no slaughter of the innocents". Chuck makes it out, still injured from the killer, while Ken walks away in joy and relief with his wife and daughter.
A young reporter interviews a gravedigger, Vivian Frederick, who tells her about the recently deceased mobster Robert Downing and the attempt to steal an ancient relic with occult powers that ends in a bloodbath. The relic, itself, has been here since the Middle Ages and preserves a terrible secret.
The film is based on the idea that Adolf Hitler, the "beast" of the film title, is still alive—hidden in a bunker—at the age of 103 (in 1992). The protagonist sits in a wheelchair and speaks English. This "real" Hitler invites six Hitler doubles into the bunker, furnished with Nazi paraphernalia, in which he lives with his apparently very young wife Hortense. Webster, an American journalist, breaks into the bunker and asks uncomfortable questions. He interviews the self-proclaimed Hitler for ten days before shooting him on the last day of the interview, as he is now sure that he is facing the real Hitler.
Cantankerous, bigoted Korean War veteran and retired Ford factory worker Walt Kowalski is widowed after 50 years of marriage. His aging neighborhood in Highland Park in Metro Detroit was formerly populated by working-class white families but has become filled with gang violence and poor southeast Asian immigrants, including Walt's next-door neighbors, the Vang Lor family. Adding to his isolation, Walt is emotionally detached from his family; he rejects his son's suggestion he move to a retirement community and lives alone with his elderly Labrador, Daisy. A chronic tobacco user, Walt suffers from coughing fits, occasionally with blood, which he conceals from his family. Walt's late wife's priest, Father Janovich, tries to comfort Walt, who dismisses him as young and inexperienced.
Walt catches Thao Vang Lor attempting to steal his Ford Torino as a coerced initiation into a Hmong gang run by Thao's cousin, "Spider." Even after this failed attempt the gang nonetheless wants to take Thao with them, but Walt drives them off with his M1 Garand, earning the Hmong community's respect. As penance, Thao's mother makes him work for Walt, who has him do different jobs in the neighborhood. The two soon form a grudging mutual respect, and Walt mentors Thao, helping him obtain a construction job and giving him social and dating advice. Walt rescues Thao's sister, Sue, from the unwanted advances of three rough youth and bonds with her as well. Walt consults his doctor, who gives him a gloomy prognosis that he conceals from his family.
Spider's gang continues to pressure Thao and assaults him on his way home from work. Walt visits the gang's house and attacks a member as a warning. In retaliation, the gang rapes Sue and injures Thao in a drive-by shooting. The members of the community, including Sue, refuse to report the crimes out of fear. The following day, an enraged Thao seeks Walt's help to exact revenge; Walt tells him to return later that day. Walt makes personal preparations: He mows his lawn, buys a suit, gets a haircut and finally makes his confession to Father Janovich.
Walt takes Thao to his basement and gives him his Silver Star, then tells him that he is still haunted by the memory of killing an enemy soldier who was ready to surrender and that he wants to spare Thao from becoming a killer. He locks Thao in the basement and heads to the gang's residence. The gang members point their guns at Walt, who loudly berates them for their crimes, drawing the attention of the neighbors. Walt puts a cigarette in his mouth, reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls his hand out suddenly, as if he were drawing a gun; the gang members shoot and kill him. Walt's hand opens to reveal his Zippo lighter with First Cavalry insignia — he was unarmed and sacrificed himself to save the Vang Lor family. Sue, following Walt's directions, frees Thao, and they drive to the scene in Walt's Gran Torino.
A police officer tells Thao and Sue that the gang members have been arrested for murder and the surrounding neighbors have all come forward as witnesses. Father Janovich conducts Walt's funeral, which is attended by his family and many of the Hmong community, puzzling his family. Afterward, Walt's last will and testament is read. Much to the surprise of Walt's family, Walt leaves his house to the church and his cherished Gran Torino to Thao, on the condition that Thao does not modify the car in any way. Sometime later, Thao drives the car along Detroit's Jefferson Avenue with Daisy at his side.
The story is told by Peter Aaron about the victim, Benjamin Sachs, his best friend whom he first meets as a fellow writer in a Greenwich Village bar in 1975. Peter decides to try to piece together the story of Ben's other life after agents from the F.B.I. approach him in the course of their investigation. Of their friendship, Peter acknowledges Ben's lost years of suffering and painful inner state, saying —
In 15 years, Sachs travelled from one end of himself to the other, and by the time he came to that last place, I doubt he even knew who he was anymore. So much distance had been covered by then, it wouldn't have been possible for him to remember where he had begun.
The two first meet as struggling novelists, Peter with the “wheeling” mind and the provocative Ben with his perfect marriage to the beautiful Fanny. Both have a wish to “say something”, to make a difference in the real world.
Privately, Ben himself is full of doubts and his marriage is showing cracks, when one night at a drunken party by freakish chance, he tumbles from a fourth-floor fire escape, nearly losing his life. The fall is both actual and metaphorical. For days afterward he refuses to speak and on recovery he is strangely remote. Within a week of turning 41, Ben expresses a desire to end the life he has lived until then. Feeling that his life has been a waste, he declares he wants everything to change, and serving himself with an all-or-nothing ultimatum, decides he must take control or fail. In evincing this change, he leaves Fanny, moves to a cabin in Vermont where he begins to work on a book – then vanishes.
His cabin and its contents are deserted, including his manuscript, titled ''Leviathan''. There is no further contact with Fanny and one final meeting with Peter where he confesses all.
Peter pieces together Ben's life and relationships with Maria, an artist, and her friend Lillian. A random, violent encounter with Lillian's husband, a Vietnam War veteran named Reed sends Ben in a radically new direction.
On August 3, 2007, an American TV crew visits Hanuda Village, Japan, a mountain village that vanished completely in 1976. At night, Sol and Melissa stumble upon a Mana ritual, where Yukie Kobe is murdered as a sacrifice. Howard Wright intervenes, allowing Miyako to escape unharmed. Howard runs to find help; and encounters a policeman who tries to kill him. Howard kills the officer and escapes, discovering that the man was already dead. As he crosses a bridge, an ominous siren shakes the mountain, and the policeman—a shibito—reappears and shoots Howard in the chest. He falls into the river below. Meanwhile, Yukie resurrects as a shibito and attacks the camera crew, separating them as the siren wails.
Howard wakes downstream, having survived the gunshot. Amana assists him, but they are separated when a shibito knocks Howard down and carries Amana away. Sam reawakens at the Hanuda mines, and reunites with Melissa. Meanwhile, Bella, hiding in the Saiga Hospital, calls for help; this draws in Sol, now a shibito, who attacks Bella. Howard encounters Miyako and attempts to escape with her. Later, Sam and Melissa meet Saiga. As they leave, Saiga decides to kill himself after Yukie—his fianceé—appears again. The Monroes encounter Bella—who died and has become a shibito. Amana recovers her lost memories, remembering that she is to bring the god Kaiko into the world. She subdues Howard, and takes Miyako into the Shibito Nest. Howard pursues them, but is too late: Miyako has already been sacrificed. He encounters the shibito of Sam and Bella, as well as an insane Melissa, who shoots and kills him.
Howard and Bella's deaths cause a time loop. The player returns to the point when Howard first encountered Amana. This time, Howard remembers her actions from the previous timeline and runs away. Amana, now retaining her memories, does not follow.
In this timeline, Sol and Sam reunite in the Hanuda mines; while Melissa finds Bella safe in the hospital. However, Sol dies after he and Sam are surrounded, and Melissa dies while saving Bella from a maggot shibito. Saiga, getting a strange sense of déjà vu, protects Bella from more shibito, and uncovers an ancient Mana text. Sam finds the text and discovers their experiences were all predestined. Howard, meanwhile, recalls Miyako melded her blood with his to prevent him from becoming a shibito, and he goes in search of her. Bella narrowly escapes from Melissa, now another shibito.
Howard finds Miyako, who explains the village is caught in an unending time loop, and they must release the "other power" to stop it. They break the seals, but Amana appears, knocking Howard unconscious and kidnapping Miyako. Saiga and Bella carry Howard to the hospital. When Howard awakens he discovers Saiga "experimenting" on a shibito. Saiga goes to the Hanuda Mine, fights Yukie (now a mutated shibito) and retrieves an artifact called "the Uryen". Howard, Bella, and Sam enter the shibito nest and see Amana sacrifice Miyako in the red sea, summoning an otherworldly monster—Kaiko. As the others escape, Amana stays, horrified by Kaiko's form: something has gone wrong again.
Saiga arrives with the Uryen—the "fruit" that Amana was supposed to use to resurrect Kaiko in its true form. Kaiko impales Saiga, who dies as he unleashes the Uryen's sacred fire down upon them. Howard gets separated from Bella and meets Sam, who had sent Howard the message that brought him here. Sam asks Howard to keep Bella safe should he find her again, then traverses the Shibito Nest core. He encounters Melissa and Sol, now shibitos. As Sol corners Bella, Melissa intervenes, saving her daughter. However, all three wind up falling through an orange void. Howard, meanwhile, heads back to where Miyako was sacrificed, and finds her spirit looking up from the reflection of the red sea. She requests he make the village disappear, and he falls into the water.
Howard enters , where he encounters Saiga's spirit. After giving him the Uryen, Saiga battles him as a test. Howard defeats Saiga, and the doctor leaves behind a sword. Amana appears, and offers herself up to resurrect Kaiko's true form: a mass of floating insect parts. With Miyako's spirit guiding him, Howard turns Saiga's sword into a vessel for the "other power", which the Uryen's flame unleashes. Howard works with Miyako's spirit to see through Kaiko's illusions and destroy the deity. After succeeding, Amana returns and says the ritual has succeeded, then walks away. Sam falls into another orange void, which deposits him into Hanuda in 1976, after the village was washed away in a flood. He comments that "[e]verything must be repeated so that Bella can exist forever", and remembers Howard, ensuring that the events of the game would repeat.
In the epilogue, Howard approaches Hanuda's shibito, while listening to his music player. The camera reveals he is armed with guns, Saiga's sword, and the Uryen. Activating the Uryen, Howard begins to destroy the village—his "promise to Miyako."
As described in a review in a film publication, Newton Craddock (O'Malley), a shipping clerk who makes $30 per week, loves his wife Millie (Chadwick) even though she is running him into debt through her extravagance. Thomas Kirtland (Kerry) has the same problem with his wife Dorothy (Windsor) even though he makes $30,000 per year. After a fight with his wife, Newton decides to kill himself but is stopped by some wharf workers. Newton is given $5 to deliver a package to the Kirtlands' apartment and, after finding the door open, lets himself in. He sees some of Dorothy's expensive gowns hanging there and exchanges them for the cheap gowns that he had purchased as a peace offering to his wife. He also helps himself to some liquor and sits down, only to find that the Kirtlands have returned home. Dorothy is suspicious of her husband and during an exchange of strong words notes the gowns. Newton then comes forward to explain what happened. Thomas refuses to be submissive any longer and dictates the new policy of the household. Newton returns to his home with the same strategy and finds his wife eager to bend to his will. Happiness then reigns in both households.
In a suburb of Bucharest, a 13-year-old boy, Andrei (Gabriel Huian), together with some of his friends, watches the prostitutes' show every night from a rooftop and how they are being taken by drivers. The boy falls in love with one of the girls, called Marilena (Mădălina Ghiţescu), and finds out that he needs a decent sum of money in order to approach her. Thus, he steals his father's (Gabriel Spahiu) salary and goes to the prostitutes' meeting place. Marilena's pimp (Andi Vasluianu) is also present, and only agrees to send Marilena and another prostitute with the boy to a nearby pub, where the Rom Elvis is singing (played by the singer Elvis Romano, who translated Elvis Presley's lyrics into his own language). The prostitutes play with Andrei, telling him that he needs a car in order to date them, then they leave. The boy asks Marilena for her phone number, and she writes something in his hand.
Andrei sends a dedication for "Marilena from P7", to the local radio station. The prostitute is in an old man's house, listening to the radio, and the song is ''Are You Lonesome Tonight?'', sung by Elvis Presley.
Among her clients, Marilena falls in love with a man, nicknamed Giani (Cătălin Paraschiv). One night, however, she spots Giani in his car in front of a store, accompanied by another woman, and becomes very discouraged.
Andrei finds a way to get hold of a car and plans to steal his father's trolleybus. He manages to do so, together with his friends. His father sees him and starts following the boys with another driver, his colleague. Arriving at the prostitutes' meeting place, the boys cannot find Marilena. Andrei recognizes Giani's car parked in front of block P7, so he goes in.
Marilena and Giani were in fact in her apartment; the girl goes to the restroom for a minute. Andrei manages to sneak into the apartment, and watches how, while still talking to Giani, Marilena cuts her jugular vein.Extracted from Mădălina Ghiţescu's speech, from a Q&A about the movie's premiere in Stockholm, on August 24, 2007. After realizing what had happened, Giani becomes frightened and runs away; the pimp sees him leaving in a rush, so he goes to the apartment to see what happened. Meanwhile, Andrei goes into the room and looks down at Marilena who is lying down, with blood spilled over her. The news about Marilena's suicide spread fast around the neighborhood.
In Latin America, Larry O'Brien (Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.) sees Diane Forsythe (Loretta Young) and quickly falls in love. She, however, is engaged to marry the much older Clive Lattimer (Edmund Breon). Larry discovers that her motive is to save her stepfather, Areal Pacheco (Henry Kolker), from being shot. Pacheco, the Minister of Finance, has embezzled $200,000 from the national treasury, and an audit is scheduled soon. Lattimer is extremely wealthy and willing to make up the shortfall in exchange for Diane.
To keep Larry from disrupting the arrangement, Pacheco has his butler Luigi (Boris Karloff) arrange Diane's kidnapping (to Lattimer's country estate). Larry rescues Diane and leaves her in the care of his friend, Archie Lester (Claud Allister). Then he telephones a newspaper to report his "ransom" demand of $200,000. Citizens demand Pacheco pay the sum, but Larry points out that Diane's fiancé is the only person in the country with access to that much money. Lattimer refuses at first, but soon caves in to the outrage. Larry collects the money at the arranged dropoff point and later presents it to Pacheco, who then cancels Diane's engagement to Lattimer.
The story is narrated by a third-person omniscient narrator who has insight into Mosén Millán's thoughts and feelings. Three distinct planes of narration exist in the novel: the present, Millán's recollections of his relationship with Paco from birth to death, and the ballad the altar boy sings which recounts Paco's life.
In the present, Millán, fatigued, prays as he awaits the requiem mass with recollections of Paco's life. As he prays he rests his head against a wall—a habit—which bears a dark spot. The altar boy comes and goes and both remark on the lack of people attending mass. Millán, feeling guilty knowing that he played a role in Paco's death, asks the altar boy to leave the church to look for mass attenders in the town square when the altar boy sings the parts of the ballad that refer to Millán.
Captain Blackbird meets the beautiful Lorna on the island of Pago Pago. However, Lorna is promised to the evil Chief Waki. She and her lover Lloyd Warren beg the captain for help, but he refuses.
The Queen of Sardalia is in a bad marriage with the brutal King Constantine II. She decides to get away from her normal life for a period and goes on vacation to Switzerland. There, she meets Paul Verdayne. They have an affair, which lasts for three weeks.
The film takes place in a small valley in the Mexican state of Sonora, near the Arizona Territory, around 1870. Steve Fallon, a drifter and gun-for-hire, is severely exhausted when travelling through the barren landscape and is found by Mike Summers and his wife, Franchea. He is taken into their home and, while recovering, he learns that a local land baron, Ortega, is pressuring local ranchers to sell their land to him with the help of Danny Pose and his gang of outlaws. Fallon also develops feelings for Fanchea's sister, Juana.
Mike Summers, a former Confederate officer, had become a pacifist following his experiences during the American Civil War. Refusing to even wear a gun, he is defenseless when Danny Pose arrives at the ranch to collect "protection" money. Confronted by Fallon, Pose is disarmed and loses to Fallon in a brawl. He is eventually run out of town after a gunfight with Fallon ends with three of his companions dead.
Ortega responds by taking over the gang himself and leading a raid against the Summers ranch and, in one of the film's most graphic scenes, he has Fallon's hands crushed under a wagon. Danny Pose soon returns, under the belief that Fallon has been killed, and turns on Ortega murdering his former employer. Riding to the Summers ranch, he sees the helpless Fallon and threatens to shoot him when Summers grabs a nearby gun and kills Pose in order to save Fallon's life.
Eva Boutelle is a businesswoman whose husband Harry is out of town. Meantime, she meets colleague Frank, who is also married. Despite of that, they start an affair.
As a six-year-old orphan, Elizabeth Raby prevents Rupert Falkner from committing suicide; Falkner then adopts her and brings her up to be a model of virtue. However, she falls in love with Gerald Neville, whose mother Falkner had unintentionally driven to her death years before. When Falkner is finally acquitted of murdering Neville's mother, Elizabeth's female values subdue the destructive impulses of the two men she loves, who are reconciled and unite with Elizabeth in domestic harmony.
The unpopular Mandy Gilbert (Ashley Tisdale) lives with her strict father Tom (Kevin Pollak), and has only two friends, Alexa (Lauren Collins) and Cayenne (Shenae Grimes). She is bullied and mocked by the popular girls at her high school, particularly Lisa Cross (Cindy Busby). Lisa happens to be the girlfriend of Mandy's dreamboy crush, swim team captain Drew Patterson (Robbie Amell). Mandy is about to turn 18 and wants her life to change.
Mandy decides to try out for the swim team, but loses her glasses at the pool and falls in the water unconscious. When she awakens, she finds out Drew gave her CPR and they talk to each other. Lisa thinks Mandy is a threat and tries to humiliate her by taking Drew to the pet shop where Mandy works. Instead, Drew does not care that Mandy works there and invites her to go out with him the next day.
Mandy turns 18 and her father surprises her by replacing her old glasses and phone with an expensive video phone and contact lenses. Her father reveals his intentions to join her when she moves to attend UCSB next year, but Mandy is too afraid to say anything about it. Later that day, Mandy flirts with Drew at the lake near school against her father's wishes. When Lisa finds out that Mandy is with Drew, she becomes outraged and uses Mandy's phone to film them. Lisa accidentally drops the phone to show Tom, who confronts Mandy. Before going home, Drew asks Mandy to his party on Saturday and Mandy happily accepts. At home, Tom is disappointed in Mandy's actions and bars her from going out or using electronics.
Mandy tells Alexa and Cayenne she wants to tell her father the truth about her whereabouts. When she does, Tom tells her he trusts her, and asks her if he has been a good dad. Mandy tells him he is a great dad, and decides not to tell she is actually at a party. Mandy attends the party with Drew. Since Alexa and Cayenne have told Mandy about the Patterson legend, she expects the worst. To her surprise, the "tower" actually turns out to be Drew's photography studio, which is filled with pictures of his family, friends, pets, and one of Mandy that he took at the lake. Seeing this, Mandy is relieved and realizes he just wants to spend time with her.
Drew goes to the bathroom to wash his hands, but does not tell Mandy what he is doing. Mandy thinks he is taking a shower and leaves after she becomes uncomfortable. Meanwhile, Lisa has been drinking all night and Alexa films her vomiting from under a glass table. The clip is shown playing on video screens as the girls exit the party.
Back at home, Tom shows Mandy an updated detachable version of the model home he built for them. However, Mandy sees this as a metaphor for their relationship, and explains that she does not want to feel detachable. Tom says that he trusts her and feels he should let her go.
Afterwards, Mandy and her friends attend their senior prom. Drew, the prom king, is about to crown Lisa as prom queen, but realizes that he truly loves Mandy. Drew brings Mandy up to the center stage and crowns her as the prom queen, as they share a passionate kiss.
Ash Mattley (Mark Dacascos), a doctor in a small village deep in the jungles of Borneo, is approached by another scientist, Carl Wessinger (Jürgen Prochnow) regarding his studies of an enzyme found in a rare beetle. With the aid of Mattley and a group of natives, Wessinger secures several of the beetles, but then betrays his team and leaves them behind in a cave. Later, Wessinger uncovers a fossil in the jungle, but the natives in his new team fall in fear and worship before the deceased creature, which they call "Balakai."
Two years later, Mattley's clinic is beset by a series of gruesome murders in the jungle. The natives attribute the killings to Balakai, who is an ancient myth in the area. Mattley is enlisted by Claire Sommers (Robin McKee), a CIA agent, to find Wessinger. The government had been monitoring Wessinger's activities in the jungle after he began working for them, but the doctor had recently fallen off radar, and Sommers reveals she has been sent to track him down. Together with Matzu (Tom Taus), a boy whose sister was one of the victims, they set out into the jungle. Mattley does not initially believe that Balakai is real, but Sommers eventually tells him that the CIA was funding Wessinger's research into the fossil, leading him to change his mind.
Mattley and Sommers eventually reach Wessinger's compound, only to find it abandoned. When they examine the computers in the main lab, they find that Wessinger used the enzyme from the beetles to reanimate Balakai's fossil; it was an alien creature that terrorized the jungle centuries earlier. He intended to make clones of it for sale to the highest bidder, but it grew hostile and escaped. While fleeing from Balakai, who returned to the compound, Mattley and Sommers are separated from Matzu but find Wessinger and his assistants in a panic room. The two groups team up to keep the compound's power on and save Matzu, resulting in the death of Hatton (John H. Brennan). Balakai attacks in the main lab, but the flashing of Sommers's camera and the light from a helicopter frighten it away. A band of mercenaries led by Sergeant Reinhardt (Mark McCracken) that work for Wessinger arrive in the helicopter, ostensibly to aid in recapturing the creature, but instead help Wessinger subdue and imprison Mattley and Sommers. They also decide to use Wessinger's assistant, Azenfeld (Roger Aaron Brown) as bait for the creature, but Mattley and Sommers escape and free him. In the ensuing battle, Azenfeld sacrifices himself to set off a bomb that kills most of the mercenaries and Wessinger.
Mattley, Sommers and Matzu escape into the jungle, pursued by both the remaining mercenaries in a second helicopter and Balakai, which is able to track them using invisibility and heat vision. After destroying the helicopter, they are attacked by the creature, and Matzu is killed when he warns Mattley and Sommers of its presence. Matzu's tribe arrives to give him a burial and prepare Mattley for battle against Balakai. After a series of traps fails to do much damage, Mattley acquires a rocket launcher from Sommers and kills the creature by firing an explosive into its mouth. He and Sommers grow close at the bottom of a waterfall as the natives cheer and CIA rescue helicopters arrive.
When martial law is declared in Russia, all Jews are restricted to their villages. The authorities are unsympathetic to Marya (Elissa Landi), who desperately wants to travel to St. Petersburg to see her dying father. Marya learns that a special card, called "the yellow ticket", is issued to prostitutes and allows them to travel freely.
Marya manages to get a yellow ticket. In St. Petersburg, Baron Andrey (Lionel Barrymore), a corrupt police official, prevents his lecherous nephew, Captain Nikolai, from forcing himself on Marya. She later meets Julian (Laurence Olivier), a British journalist, and tells him about injustices the government has kept him from learning about, including the yellow ticket. When Julian's articles are published, Andrey, a womanizer, guesses that Marya has been giving him information.
The children of feuding gangsters fall in love and fight to escape their parents' notoriety.
The film is set in a small village and follows progression in painter Abilin's (Joe Abeywickrema) life through the eyes of his nephew Sirisena (Kumara Balasooriya, Karunarathna Ranasinghe). Abilin is an alcoholic and drifts through his life in debt and without focus. After getting into arguments with other villagers and his own brother (Dharmadasa Kuruppu), Abilin decides to take a job with a rich landowner (A. P. Gunarathna).
Sirisena then goes to art college inspired by his uncle. He develops his art skill there and dreams of showing his talent to Abilin. Abilin's situation, however, deteriorates due to alcoholism, juxtaposing serenely with Sirisena's foray into art in the city.
The plot concerns Doney, the Duke of Tavistock, promising a reward of twenty thousand pounds to the doctor who can cure his daughter Anna of her passion for Shakespeare and David Garrick -- a passion so intense that she is refusing an arranged marriage to a wealthy baronet. A plucky servant of the household tries to claim the reward for himself by hiring Garrick to visit the daughter, though Garrick refuses to accept any payment for the job. Meanwhile, Garrick has unknowingly developed an admiration for Anna due to some poetry she anonymously mailed to him. The Duke goes to visit Garrick, who assures him that his intentions are honorable, and so the Duke allows the plan to go forward.
Lady Anna is visited first by a drunken ex-servant who reports that Garrick is abusive to his servants and to his girlfriends, before he reveals that he actually ''is'' Garrick in disguise. Anna is horrified to have seen the leading-man convincingly play the part of a lowlife. She later overhears her father in conversation with a man, discussing the merits of stage actors and the theater; the gentleman argues that people need to be more aware that actors are only actors and plays are only imaginary stories. After the man leaves, the Duke reveals that it was Garrick he'd been talking to. Anna's illusions are destroyed and she is finally convinced to go ahead with her arranged marriage to the baronet. In a final scene, Anna and Garrick are reunited several decades later, and Garrick confesses he had been in love with Anna the whole time.
Penny and Mary are sisters living together in a tenement apartment in a seedy section of an unnamed city. The responsibility of caring for fifteen-year-old Mary has fallen on Penny due to the death of their parents years before.
Mary has cystic fibrosis, and the deterioration of her lungs is rapidly worsening. Forced to spend most of her time indoors, she has tracked her life and dreams and hopes in an artistic scrapbook which she calls her "Book of Stars and Lovely Things." In it, she fashions herself an astronaut, cut adrift in space and slowly and helplessly drifting towards the sun and her eventual doom. Penny is a once-promising poet who has turned to a life of drugs and prostitution to help numb her from the grim reality of her job and the impending loss of her sister.
There is a quiet young man who has moved in next door. He is from war-torn Eastern Europe and walks with a limp. Penny gets a letter from a prisoner, who was moved by her poetry and writes her admiring letters. She won't answer, or even read the letters, so Mary does it for her.
Mary arranges things and events to keep her sister human. Together, they all face life, death, and the universal need to reach out for someone.
''Pushing the Bear'' tells the story of Cherokee removal in the Trail of Tears. Diane Glancy weaves the story together through the voices of a variety of characters, the majority of whom are Cherokee Indians, but also through historical documents, missionaries and the soldiers who were responsible for guiding the Cherokee along the trail. Glancy describes the horror and tribulations close to thirteen thousand Cherokee Indians faced from the months of September 1838 to February 1839.
Maritole, a mother, wife, daughter and aunt, is the main voice in the novel. Her character reveals the thoughts of the women, the relationship between soldiers and those walking the trail, and the losses, both emotionally and physically, that the people suffered. Through the plethora of voices, Glancy is presents the knowledge of Indian Removal, with the perspectives of those who walked, suffered and died along the trail. After nine hundred miles of trudging through mountains, snow and water, the bitterness and pain experienced by the Cherokee is combined with their sense of helplessness and their sorrow over losing their connection with their land, their livelihood, their traditional gender roles, and their family.
The novel travels chronologically through each month and location along the Trail of Tears. Glancy taps into an emotional and horrific, but historically accurate account of what many now refer to as Indian genocide. In an interview with Jennifer Andrews for the ''American Indian Quarterly'', Glancy tells Andrews that "the land had to give me permission to write. The ancestors had to give permission to write, too. For instance, I started off ''Pushing the Bear'' with one voice, and it wasn't enough. I had to go back and add her husband and everybody who had traveled with them on the Trail of Tears. It takes many voices to tell a story, and I think we carry those voices within us" (Andrews 651).
Tomás Ramírez (Raul Julia) is a professor who joins a clinic run by Anna Lenke (Vanessa Redgrave), a Holocaust survivor, psychologist and the clinic's proprietor, whose patients are also recovering Holocaust and torture victims. Among them is Helen McNulty (Laura Dern), a journalist tortured by the death squads of an unidentified Central American country controlled by a dictatorship. In time she grows close to Ramírez, but suspicions are aroused when three men attempt to detain him while he and McNulty are on a date. McNulty is able to photograph one of the assailants and sends the picture to a colleague for possible identification.
During one of the Scotch-fueled late night conversations between McNulty and Ramírez, he talks about a childhood friend who was an officer in the Army of his home country. Ramírez portrays his friend as a man who followed orders without questioning the morality of them, preferring to go along with his superiors in order to protect his family.
Eventually McNulty's colleague contacts the person in the picture and arranges a meeting where the man and his two associates identify themselves as police from Ramirez's home country. They inform McNulty that Ramírez is a fugitive and wanted for torture. Back at group therapy session in the clinic, McNulty violently confronts Ramírez with this revelation, where he confesses that the childhood friend he spoke of was really himself. When asked why he came to the clinic, Ramírez stated that he wanted "to feel human again." Dr. Lenke and the patients escort Ramírez out of the clinic, where the police take him into custody.
Kim Hye-kyeong is a retired handball player who has been successfully coaching in the Japan Handball League. When the coach of South Korea's women's national team suddenly quits, she is asked to fill in, but is faced with an undisciplined squad of players. Hye-kyeong tries to improve the team by recruiting some of her old teammates, including two-time Olympic gold medalist Han Mi-sook. However, Hye-kyeong's aggressiveness causes friction amongst the players, and she is replaced by former men's handball star Ahn Seung-pil, though she decides to stay with the team as a player. Seung-pil introduces modern European training methods which brings him into conflict with the older players, and things get worse when they lose a game against a high school boys' team.
The opponents, in order, are: Apollo Creed, Clubber Lang, and Ivan Drago.
Fights are of 15 rounds duration, with an increasing level of difficulty depending on the opponent, and different strategies required to overcome each.
The game also features a two-player mode where player two can choose from any of the above opponents, while player one always controls Rocky.
Joe Daylight is on the run along with members of his outlaw gang, The Kid, Doc and Henri. After fleeing from a bank robbery, they manage to elude the posse chasing them after crossing into Mexico. The gang had agreed to meet up later to divide up the money, however Daylight instead uses the money to buy a ranch, the Casa Grande. Although several of them protest, the gang agrees to follow Daybreak to the ranch. They are soon joined by The Traveler, who has recently joined the gang, and leads them to the ranch.
Daybreak plans to use the ranch as a cover to rustle cattle from his neighbors and sell them at inflated prices across the border, however his gang members soon adapt to life on the ranch. Both The Traveler and The Kid meet Dona Maria de Castellar and Pacesita, with whom they eventually fall in love with.
Daybreak's plans are temporarily threatened by another bandit gang led by Rojo, who begins stealing cattle from numerous ranches in the area including his own. Organizing the local ranchers against the bandits, they succeed in chasing off Rojo. This has an unintended consequence however as Daybreak's men have decided to remain at Casa Grande. He and his men begin to argue and, during the course of events, shoots and kills Doc causing The Traveler to kill Daybreak in turn. With their former leader dead, the men stay on the ranch and The Traveller and Maria begin a new life on the Casa Grande.
Gary Blake stars in a new show, ''On the Avenue'', with Mona Merrick. The show contains a satire on the richest girl in the world, Mimi Carraway. Mimi and her father are in the audience on opening night and feel insulted. She goes backstage and tries to get Gary to take the skit out of the show. He refuses and calls her a "bad sport".
Shocked by the remark, Mimi decides to make a date with Gary. They spend the entire evening together and, by morning, have fallen in love. He finally agrees to revise the skit so it can no longer hurt the Carraways. Mona is in love with Gary and is furious when she hears about Gary's date with Mimi. When the Carraways appear to see the revised sketch, she changes it, without Gary's knowledge, making it worse than before. The Carraways decide to file suit against Gary.
To get back at him, Mimi buys the show from the producer and embarrasses Gary by hiring a paid audience to walk out on the show. Word leaks out to the press and makes Gary the laughingstock of New York. Furious, he tears up his contract, refusing to work with Mimi. Soon, Mimi becomes engaged to Arctic explorer Frederick Sims. On her wedding day, Mona arrives and tells Mimi that she, not Gary, changed the skit. Mimi runs out of the wedding and goes to city hall with Gary to be married.
The film's action is interspersed with songs from the play, including Berlin's songs "He Ain't Got Rhythm," and "Let's Go Slumming On Park Avenue."
Dr. Kelso, to try to prevent the staff from making mistakes due to tiredness that will make the hospital liable and open for lawsuits, says that anyone caught working past their shifts will be suspended. Dr. Cox recounts this tough day at the hospital to his son through an imaginative fairy tale. When Princess Elliot's handmaiden, i.e. one of Elliot Reid's patients, falls ill at the hands of an unknown monster, the Princess summons the Village Idiot, J.D., to help rescue her. But with the Dark Lord Oslek (Dr. Kelso) standing in their way, the duo can't do it alone. The Prince (Keith) is still in love with the Princess and tries to win her back, to no avail.
The Giant (Janitor) keeps an eye out for the heroes while the two-headed Turla, a combination of Turk and Carla, lends some magic, but it's the brave knight in shining armor (the storyteller, Dr. Cox) that lends them the knowledge that may save the day. However, with Dr. Kelso's new rules, the staff of Sacred Heart may not have time to figure out how to slay the monster. The Idiot and the Princess admit they both tried to kiss each other as they were "both running away from something".
In the end, J.D. concludes the woman has Wilson's disease and needs a new liver. Dr. Cox tells his son that the maiden lived, but when he exits the room Jordan asks him whether or not she really survived. He suggests that she didn't, saying, "that's the way I'm telling it."
The story of Markham Sutherland is presented through various letters, journals, and the third-person account of the novel's supposed editor, Arthur. Sutherland, under pressure from his father to become a clergyman, confesses to Arthur his reservations about accepting the Thirty-Nine Articles and contemporary English Christianity in general. In particular, Sutherland is concerned about the depiction of God in the Old Testament, God's patronage of the Israelites on non-moral grounds, the doctrine of Eternal Punishment, and the supposed inerrancy of the Bible. Sutherland was profoundly influenced by John Henry Newman in his early years, but was ultimately unable to accept Newman's doctrines. Sutherland also seeks guidance in the writings of Victorian historian and sage Thomas Carlyle (who was Froude's chief intellectual influence in later years), but finds no solutions. Tormented by his doubts and subsequent alienation from his family, Sutherland becomes morbidly depressed.
On Arthur's advice, Sutherland takes orders, hoping that his doubts will eventually pass when he enters a more active life. Because of the selectivity of his sermons, however, his parishioners begin to suspect him of Socinianism. When Sutherland is tricked into making a harsh criticism of the British and Foreign Bible Society, claiming that the text of the Bible without clerical guidance is more likely to lead to wickedness than to Christian faith and virtue, his doubts are revealed, and he is forced to resign his position.
Sutherland travels to Como to rest and recover from illness, indulging in free religious speculation while there. He befriends Helen Leonard, who sympathises with his troubles and listens to his doubts. Helen's dull, unloving husband prefers to spend time away from his wife, and leaves her in Sutherland's company for the season. Helen and Sutherland fall in love, causing both great anxiety, although the relationship never becomes physical. The two consider eloping, but Helen decides she cannot leave her daughter, Annie. During this conversation, however, the unsupervised Annie dips her arm into the lake, causing her to fall ill and die soon after. Sutherland again becomes depressed, believing that his religious speculations have brought himself and Helen into sin. He plans suicide, but is stopped at the last moment by an old friend, representative of John Henry Newman.Willey 130 Sutherland retires to a monastery, although his repentance is short lived, and he dies still in doubt. Helen, meanwhile, separates from her husband and retires to a convent, although she is unreconciled with the Church because she maintains that her love for Sutherland is holier than her marriage.
Mr. Garrison takes his fourth grade class on a field trip to Pioneer Village, a 19th-century themed living history museum, where actors perform as if it was 1864 and never break character (much to the annoyance of the children). Since nobody wants to be partners with him, Cartman is forced as punishment to take Butters as his partner and Garrison tells Butters not to let go of Cartman's hand until they are back on the bus.
Thieves led by Franz have robbed a Burger King and flee to Pioneer Village, taking everyone hostage. Stan, Wendy, Jimmy and Kyle flee with two townspeople to an office where Kyle calls the police. The thieves find a locked mine shaft door. They interrogate the workers to find the code, but none will break character (even after the thieves manage to kill one of the workers), and the one that does break character gets shot by his own employer.
Cartman and Butters escape the village and go to an arcade called "Super Phun Thyme", but Butters stubbornly refuses let go of Cartman's hand, which leads to Butters being dragged around as Cartman plays games. When they return to Pioneer Village and see the entrance surrounded by police, they believe they are there because someone has noticed they left, so they decide to sneak back in and claim they were there all along. Franz threatens to kill the kids (specifically Kenny), but Stan portrays a time period character and gives the workers an in-character way to divulge the door code.
Cartman and Butters jump the fence into the village, where one of the thieves attacks them. The thief tries to make them put their hands on their heads, but Butters will not let go of Cartman. Butters uses Cartman as a weapon by flinging him at the robber, runs away and they are knocked down by a hand grenade. The blast makes the robbers investigate, leaving the leader guarding the hostages. Stan points to him and gives the village criminal, Murderin' Murphy, an in-character reason to attack him. The police raid the camp, killing the robbers and catching Franz. As the workers finally break character (since their working shift is over) and leave to enjoy some festivities, an injured Butters stumbles out of the camp, still clutching Cartman's hand. Butters drags the unconscious Cartman to the bus steps and finally lets go of his hand, proudly proclaiming that his partner is accounted for before fainting from exhaustion.
The story takes place in the year 1944 in Lincoln Bluff, a fictional, small Colorado town. The Second World War is still raging when the town's only doctor, George Hansen, is murdered at a local US Army camp, Camp Bremen, holding German prisoners of war.
Harmon J. Cobb, a local lawyer, is railroaded by Judge Bell into being the defense attorney for Geiger, the German prisoner accused of killing the doctor, who also happened to have been Cobb's friend. Cobb has no desire for Geiger to be acquitted; in addition to sharing in the wartime anti-German sentiment, Cobb's son is an American soldier fighting the Germans. However, to preserve his hard-earned standing as a top-notch attorney, he begins to build a nominal defense by asking several of Geiger's subordinates who are also prisoners at Camp Bremen to act as character witnesses. However, they all refuse to testify, and when Cobb asks Geiger to pull rank on them to get them on the stand, he refuses. Moreover, he angrily accuses Cobb of being disinterested in the real goings-on in the camp.
Cobb does not press Geiger for more explanation of his comments. However, when a local acquaintance comes forward with more information, Cobb begins to suspect not only that Geiger is in fact innocent, but that Hansen's death is only the tip of the iceberg in illicit operations at Camp Bremen.
A pack of confidential letters is stolen from the Secretary of State for the American Colonies. With cross-Atlantic tensions rising, Sir John is ordered to interrogate the American representative in London, one Benjamin Franklin.
Category:2002 American novels Category:Sir John Fielding series Category:G. P. Putnam's Sons books
Sylvia, a not-so-young woman, is working as a prostitute in Nice. She has a painful relationship with her daughter, Laurence. When two pimps attack Sylvia in her apartment, Laurence stabs one of them, perhaps fatally, to defend her mother. Sylvia and Laurence go on the run. They begin a journey as hitchhikers, first trying to track down Sylvia's first husband, Piotr, who had a son with her, eight years ago. Sylvia desperately hopes to resume her marriage with Piotr. Sylvia and Laurence cross paths with Joshua, a man out on bail who decides not to return to prison and is trying to avoid the police. Joshua drives off with Sylvia's handbag by mistake. Sylvia and Laurence also separate. Sylvia continues her search for Piotr, occasionally trading sex in exchange for rides, and sometimes on foot to the point of collapse. Sylvia eventually discovers that Piotr has moved from the village where they used to live. After long, painful wanderings, Sylvia, Joshua and Laurence eventually reunite. Sylvia still wants to track down Piotr. A visit to Sylvia's grandparents leads them to the burned-out house where Sylvia once lived with Piotr. Sylvia eventually finds Piotr and her son, but Piotr has found a new, young wife, who is expecting a daughter. Sylvia leaves them to their lives together. She returns to Laurence and Joshua, who has indicated a desire to go his separate way. He does, but returns. Sylvia, Laurence and Joshua leave France together.
Joe Daylight is on the run along with members of his outlaw gang, The Kid, Doc and Henri. After fleeing from a bank robbery, they manage to elude the posse chasing them after crossing into Mexico. The gang had agreed to meet up later to divide up the money, however Daylight instead tells them that he has used the money to buy a hacienda, the Casa Grande. Although several of them protest, the gang agrees to follow Daylight to the ranch. He also enlists a mystical Mexican gunfighter called ”Viajero” (Traveller) – who knows the neighbourhood and comes from a haciendero family (though few know this) – to help him fit into the role of a Mexican hacienda owner, a hidalgo.
In effect, Daylight has won the hacienda in a poker game and his plan is to keep the gang together and use the ranch as a cover to rustle cattle from his neighbors and sell them at inflated prices across the border. However, his comrades soon adapt to life on the ranch. The Traveller and The Kid meet two women named Dona Maria de Castellar and Pacesita, with whom they eventually fall in love.
Daylight's plans are temporarily threatened by another bandit gang led by Rojo, who begins stealing cattle from numerous ranches in the area including his own. Organizing the local ranchers against the bandits, they succeed in destroying Rojo and his men. This has an unintended consequence however as Daylight's men have decided to remain at Casa Grande. He and his men begin to argue and, during the course of events, shoots and kills Doc causing The Traveller to kill Daylight in turn. With their former leader dead, the men stay on the ranch and The Traveller and Maria begin a new life on the Casa Grande.
Unlike previous Touhou games where the multiple endings are numbered, leading to ambiguous canonicity of each ending, ''Scarlet Weather Rhapsody'' does not number its endings and all story routes are considered as canon. This is achieved by placing all story routes in different places in the plot's continuity, though the chronological order in which the characters' stories are played out is not immediately apparent to the player.
A bizarre phenomenon is occurring in Gensokyo. In the middle of summer, untimely rain and hail fall in the Forest of Magic, snow blankets Hakugyokurou, the Scarlet Devil Mansion is enveloped in a cloudy, dense haze, and the Hakurei Shrine is levelled by a sudden earthquake. Throughout the game, Reimu and the other protagonists set out to investigate the source of the strange occurrences.
The culprit behind all these is the celestial Tenshi Hinanai. Finding her newfound life in Heaven boring and monotonous, she enviously saw the youkai of Gensokyo stirring many incidents from above. Wielding the power to control the earth and the divine , the jaded celestial decides to instigate a catastrophe of her own.
Hermann Hermann lives in Berlin during the Weimar Republic. A refugee from Soviet Russia, with a Baltic German father and a wealthy Jewish mother, he has inherited a business making chocolates. His Jewish wife Lydia, voluptuous but not intelligent, has an over-close relationship with her bachelor cousin, a painter called Ardalion. As the Great Depression bites and Nazi thugs start targeting Jewish businesses, with his firm becoming less profitable and Germany less hospitable, Hermann starts dreaming of escape. He already has moments of leaving his body, for example to watch himself making love to his wife, and consults a man he believes to be a Viennese psychiatrist. In fact it is a life insurance salesman, who sells Hermann a policy.
After watching a film which features a doppelgänger, he sees an unemployed drifter called Felix, who he decides is his double. Felix, bemused as there is no resemblance between them, goes along with the idea when Hermann promises him a job. The work, it emerges, is to act as Hermann's double for a substantial lump sum.
Hermann is now able to finalize his plan, which is to erase all traces of his unwelcome existence. After getting Ardalion to write a letter that demands money to leave Lydia and go painting in Switzerland, he shows the letter to the insurance salesman as evidence that he is being blackmailed. Then he tells Lydia that he has a troubled twin brother who is contemplating suicide. He will change clothes with his brother, so that the corpse is taken as his, and lie low in Switzerland. When Lydia has been paid the insurance money, she is to join him there.
Meeting Felix in the woods, they change clothes and Hermann then shoots him dead. Dressed as Felix and with Felix's passport, he goes to a Swiss hotel, where he learns from newspapers that the Berlin police are seeking the murderer and suspect it is him. Moving in increasing desperation from village to village, in the end he is spotted by Ardalion and armed police close in. He explains that he is an actor making a film and they must stand aside to let him go on.
Set in 1982, while the Roman Catholic Church is preparing to elect a successor to the dying pope, Callistus IV, the book describes the attempts of lawyer Ben Driskill to solve the murder of his sibling, Sister Valentine, a nun who was an outspoken activist and a thorn in the Church's side. Driskill's world-spanning investigation leads him to the discovery of a document from a forgotten monastery in Ireland, which proves the existence of the ''Assassini'', an age-old brotherhood of killers, once hired by princes of the Church to protect it in dangerous times; and the person who now controls them in his Machiavellian bid for power.
A prequel written after the other books in the series, ''Young Legionary'' follows Keill Randor through his childhood, from the age of 12 to 18 (within four distinct stories), as he struggles to meet the requirements of becoming a Legionary. The novel also introduces his close friend, Oni Wolda. Each story reinforces the concept that Keill is a highly competent Legionary, and his only shortcoming is his lack of experience.
As the book begins, Keill is the leader of an off-world Strike Team. Far from home his task force receives a distress signal from their home planet Moros, stating that they are under attack from unknown forces. Keill's ship has suffered damage, and he is unable to immediately return. When he arrives, the entire planet is covered with an unknown type of radiation. He is met by Oni's ship, and she tells him to flee the planet; a deadly radiation is killing everyone who comes close to the surface. It is an automated message: Oni herself is dead, having stayed on Moros, but sent her ship out to warn Keill. In grief Keill leaves the planet's orbit. He soon realizes that even at the extreme range he has been exposed to the radiation and is slowly dying.
Keill begins to search for any fellow Legionnaires who may have survived, relying on his extreme physical conditioning and iron will to fight the course of the disease. His search is fruitless, and it appears he truly is the last Legionary. As Keill begins to lose hope, he is contacted by an unknown agency seeking a meeting, but he ignores the contact to pursue some rumours of apparent survivors on a nearby moon. Shortly afterwards, he is gassed inside his ship and rendered unconscious.
Keill wakes as an apparent prisoner, immobilized within what appears to be a medical facility. His extreme physical conditioning allows him to recover quickly, and he discovers that he has been completely healed of his radiation sickness by a strange group known only as The Overseers. This group has a network of satellites that give an overview of all events throughout the galaxy. The Overseers' leader, Talis, explain to Keill that his home planet was destroyed by a malevolent entity known as 'The Warlord' whose sole aim is to spread war through the galaxy, enabling him to rule over the remains that survive. The Warlord moved against the Legions since he perceived them as the greatest threat to his plan. The Overseers also explain that since the radiation sickness had settled into his bones, they were forced to replace his entire skeleton using a new alloy—effectively rendering Keill's bones unbreakable. They also reveal how they captured Keill so easily—a telepathic avian life form from another galaxy known only as Glr.
With Glr as his companion, a sceptical Keill moves to meet with the Legionaries he found evidence of. He quickly finds that they are in fact agents of a shadowy force known as the Deathwing, and that everything the Overseers told him was true. With the help of Glr, and his prodigious abilities, Keill manages to defeat them; in doing so he takes on their leader from the Altered Worlds, (Planets where radiation and the environment have created mutations amongst the inhabitants,) Thr'un, a giant of a man who can grow plates of leathery armour from within his body. After eventually killing him, a wounded Keill then agrees to collaborate with his new friends to find and destroy the Warlord.
Keill is sent to a planetoid by the Overseers, to determine if their recent turn to aggression has its roots in the Warlord's influence. Known as "The Cluster" it is the only source of a highly effective broad-spectrum antibiotic "Ossidin", and the colonists are attempting to secede from the home planet Veynaa. The Overseers are also concerned that the medicine may come under the control of the Warlord. Glr stays with his ship while Keill lands on the planet posing as an out of work mercenary. He befriends council members Shalet and Quern, freighter pilot Joss, and makes an enemy of an enforcer Groll. It transpires that Quern is from the Altered Worlds, and highly telepathic, though Glr is able to shield Keill's mind from Quern's probing. Keill suspects that Quern and Groll are Deathwing agents, which is confirmed when Quern announces possession of a doomsday device that will destroy Veynaa. A test-firing of the weapon on a nearby moon shows it to be the same weapon that wiped out the Legionaries on Moros. As tensions escalate Shalet becomes disillusioned with the rebellion, and suspicious of Quern. When Quern imprisons Keill and orders the radiation bomb launched she turns against him and releases Keill, who fights his way to the freighter intending to either prevent liftoff or destroy it. On the way he encounters Groll and Quern, killing Groll, but surrendering his weapon when Quern threatens Glr. Quern takes Keill prisoner, and gloats that he has already killed Glr, but Keill realises he is mistaken after finding that his mind is still shielded from Querns telepathic probing. Glr's alien mind deceived Quern, and after telepathically shocking him, he is killed by Keill.
Keill makes it to the freighter and explains to Joss the nature of the weapon, but is trapped by a mining robot controlled by her - she is the second Deathwing agent, and intends to destroy both planet and Keill, claiming all the credit to "The One" - the leader of the Deathwing. Using his unbreakable bones to advantage Keill damages the robot (which then attacks Joss in error,) and escapes from it and the ship, programming it for overlight before he leaves. Glr reminds him that when it exits overlight the radiation bomb will still be a hazard to any nearby planets, but Keill replies that he did not program the ship to leave overlight.
Reading news reports later, Keill notes that peace has returned to both Veynaa and the Cluster with both sides claiming victory, but the Cluster gaining much better trade agreements from Veynaa, and a measure of independence after all.
Keill and Glr are sent by the Overseers to investigate the planet Jitrell, which has been plagued by a series of violent crimes, carried out by highly trained combatants. His investigations take him to a nearby planet Rilyn which is periodically orbited by the moon Qualthorn, also known as "The Intruder", and the close proximity of the moon causes planet-wide storms, called the Starwind, strong enough to destroy and flatten anything on the surface - all native life is subterranean. Glr is uncomfortable on the planet - the starwind when it arrives will kill her, but she is unable to stay under cover as being an avian species she has a fear of being underground. Together they find a tall tower, many storeys high protected by an energy field which nullifies all energy sources - including weapons and vehicle power sources. He also comes into contact with a poorly trained group of Jitrellian militia, also sent to investigate the planet. Obliged by his moral code he assists them, however they are all killed - except for their leader Tam - by a group of the combatants Keill has been searching for. Keill recognises the faces of several soldiers and as there are duplicate faces comes to the conclusion that they are clones of long-dead legionaries. The strike team are eager to try their skills against a real Legionary, but when given the chance, Keill defeats them and makes his way into the tower. He meets their leader, a golden cyborg calling himself Altern, who explains that the cloning process has been going on for many years, that the forcefield will easily withstand the Starwind, and even offers Keill a place in "The legions of Rilyn" - as Keill has now killed the previous Strike Team Leader.
Refusing the offer, Altern fights Keill revealing that he is also "The One", the most dangerous Deathwing agent, and also its leader, his golden body overwhelming Keill with brute strength, and only Keill's unbreakable bones and training allow him to survive. An oversight on Altern's part allows Keill to pick up a blaster, and he shoots Altern directly through the chest.
Keill rescues Tam, and disables the tower's forcefield making his way to the top of the tower where Glr will pick him up, despite the ever-increasing strength of the Starwind. At the top of the tower he encounters Altern again, who is not permanently bonded to the golden armour as a cyborg, but merely as an exoskeleton. Altern escapes and Keill himself is nearly killed by the Starwind as the tower collapses, but Glr arrives in his own craft just in time.
Keill and Tam return to Jitrell as heroes. During his capture Tam had theorised that the New Legion were a group of space pirates setting up base on Rilyn, and Keill sees no reason to change this story. After the Starwind has passed no trace of the tower remains, and only a few clones are discovered to have survived, but they are killed while trying to escape.
Keill decides to leave the planet and surmises that it is time he began his hunt for The One again.
Keill has been unable to track any more Deathwing agents, so decides to offer himself as a target to them instead. He has entered the Battle Rites of Banthei, the most famous fighting contest in the galaxy. He is the first person in 80 years to enter it unarmed, and his progress through the early rounds of the contest has made him famous throughout the galaxy. This leads to the Warlord sending an assassin to try to kill him, and while Keill pursues the gunman he is captured, rendered unconscious and taken to the far side of the Galaxy.
There, on the technologically advanced planet Golvic, he meets Altern - "The One" - and is introduced to the Warlord: The Golvicians had created a semi-organic device called ''Arachnis'' which links the minds of those attached and creates a hive mind with vastly increased intelligence. The Warlord is the Arachnis creators all linked together by the "touch of Arachnis".
Keill tries to fight Arachnis, but is enslaved by one of the tendrils and falls under the mental control of the Warlord.
The One notes that as Keill was responsible for the dissolution of the Warlords earlier fighting force (The legions of Rilyn, from ''Day of the Starwind'') it is fitting that he trains a replacement team. Over a period of months Keill trains a group of mutants from the Altered Worlds, each with distinct fighting styles benefitting their mutations. Glr has tracked Keill to Golvic, and is observing him, enacting a guerrilla war against the Golvician military.
After destroying a power station in Golvic city, Keill is ordered to find and kill Glr, but it is a trap to lure him out of the city, and in a fight she removes the fragment of Arachnis tendril controlling Keill, returning his free will. Glr tells him that the Warlord has established a new base on the Overseers asteroid, and the two head back to confront the Warlord, The One, and the Deathwing team trained by Keill.
Once at the asteroid base, Keill and Glr make their way through the corridors wiping out Deathwing agents as they go. Eventually Keill confronts The One who is guarding the 24 scientists who make up the mind-linked Warlord. The One's new golden body is stronger than his old one, and Keill through as much luck as skill uses the Warlord's own energy field to destroy The One. He disengages the tendrils from the scientists driving them insane, and breaking the Warlord's hive mind control.
With the Warlord defeated Keill finds himself without purpose, until Glr suggests they explore the galaxy. Keill believes this to be impossible as prolonged exposure to overlight causes insanity. Glr suggests that they contact her species to provide them with a more powerful overlight ship that can traverse the galaxy in weeks, and he agrees.
Lena Ha is a beautiful and tough girl who is the captain of kumdo team. She grew up under the eye of her single mother, who is constantly harassed by the wife of Lena's father. She meets Hyun-Min Kang, the son of the president of a large company in Korea, and the two seem to feel love at first sight. The couple learn that they are half-siblings, and Hyun-Min's mother thinks Lena has motives of revenge for her relationship with Hyun-Min. Thus Hyun-Min's mother sends her thugs to take care of the problem. They murder Lena's mother with Lena's sword and then chase Lena down and attack her until she falls into a strange body of water. When Lena comes to, she finds herself in an unfamiliar kingdom, with only the sword that ended her mother's life and thoughts of revenge. She is told by a prophet that her only way to return home is to disguise herself as a man and find the rightful king of the land. On her journey to find this man she comes to discover a feeling of responsibility towards the people of this land, and the people of the land discover that they might have found their "Child of Destiny."
Book ends with Belladonna making herself even more evil than the Eater of the World inside of the school that she had been kicked out of in the events of Sebastian. She traps the Eater of the World and somehow Michael finds a way to bring her back to the world.
After the revelations at the end of the previous episode, the Tenth Doctor and Donna rush back to present-day Earth, only to find that everything seems normal. They go back into the TARDIS, but a major earthquake then occurs and, upon opening the doors, they realise they are in space. The TARDIS, however, has stayed dormant, meaning that the Earth has been teleported out of its spatial location. The Doctor and Donna are left clueless as to what has happened to the planet.
In order to find Earth, the Doctor contacts the Shadow Proclamation, a universal police force. The Doctor and Donna determine that 27 missing planets—including Earth and others they learnt were lost —automatically reorganise into a specific pattern when placed near each other. Donna mentions the disappearance of bees on contemporary Earth; this allows the Doctor to trace the planets to the Medusa Cascade, an inter-universal rift.
A Dalek force, led by their creator Davros and the red Supreme Dalek, quickly subjugate Earth despite humanity's fierce resistance. Davros, who was thought to have perished during the Time War, was saved by Dalek Caan, who entered the conflict after performing an emergency temporal shift. The power needed to enter the Time War caused Caan to become precognitive at the cost of his sanity.
The Doctor's former companions—who have all encountered the Daleks before —hide in various places in the UK. Martha, Captain Jack and Sarah Jane are contacted by former Prime Minister Harriet Jones through a secret "Sub-Wave Network" to contact the Doctor's companions in an emergency (although Rose is unable to contact the others after tracking down Donna's mother Sylvia and grandfather Wilfred). They attempt to reach the Doctor by amplifying the Sub-Wave signal; Sarah Jane uses her supercomputer Mr Smith's computing power, and Jack and his Torchwood team members Gwen and Ianto manipulate the spatial-temporal rift in Cardiff. The Doctor, and consequently the Daleks, receive the transmission and trace the signal: the Daleks kill Harriet; and the Doctor is able to locate Earth in a temporally desynchronised pocket universe.
The Doctor travels into the pocket universe and receives transmitted images of his companions in the Sub-Wave signal. After Davros hijacks the signal and taunts the Doctor about his resurrection and imminent victory, the Doctor breaks communication and attempts to convene with his companions. He lands on the same street Rose is searching for him on and runs to embrace her, but is suddenly shot by a Dalek extermination ray. Jack teleports to the street and promptly destroys the Dalek. In the Torchwood hub, Gwen and Ianto attempt to fight off a Dalek that corners them, whilst Sarah Jane sets off in her car to find the Doctor but two Daleks find her and threaten to exterminate her. Jack helps Rose and Donna carry the Doctor into the TARDIS, where the Doctor begins to regenerate.
The game begins when five amnesic college-aged teens suddenly appear with guns in the middle of New York City. Psychiatrist David McNamara from DC is sent to examine the case thanks to his previous work in the US Army dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder. Right from the beginning, the case seems odd. On the first day, David discovers that all five patients had the same origins, and they were escaping from the same unknown person from an isolated military island. As the history is revealed, David, using a PDA as a tape recorder, makes his way through the teens' minds, piecing together their history, while at the same time dealing with his ongoing divorce. David himself has serious issues regarding anger management, which ended his former relationship.
It is revealed in the end that the teens were part of a military experiment for making amnesic assassins, and David's anger issues were only side effects of the previous project back in the Army.
The film follows a young woman, '''Wu Hongyan''' (Liu Dan), who works as a prison guard who aids in the execution of female prisoners. Lonely and widowed, Wu finds herself taking the night train to a dating service in a neighboring city.
After a series of unsuccessful dates, she meets '''Li Jun''' (Qi Dao), with whom she begins a relationship. It soon becomes clear that Li Jun is hiding a secret: that he is the widower of one of Wu's executed prisoners. Li Jun is torn both by his attraction to Wu, but also his desire to exact some sort of vengeance. Wu, meanwhile, must consider her own safety in this new volatile relationship.
L.B. Jones, a wealthy African American funeral director in fictional Somerset, Tennessee, seeks legal representation from the local law firm run by Oman Hedgepath and his newlywed nephew Steve Mundine. Jones is seeking a divorce from his considerably younger wife Emma, alleging she had an affair with white police officer Willie Joe Worth, whom he suspects is the biological father of her unborn child.
In an effort to avoid a public scandal, Worth begs Emma not to contest the divorce, but she hopes to collect enough alimony to allow her to maintain the lavish lifestyle to which she has become accustomed. When she refuses to cooperate, Worth severely beats her, then, with the aid of fellow officer Stanley Bumpas, arrests Jones on false charges after he refuses to withdraw the divorce suit.
Jones escapes and eventually cornered, he confronts the officers and is handcuffed. He quietly and respectfully refuses to cooperate even at gunpoint, and Worth murders him, with Bumpas casually watching. Worth, initially cool, is suddenly horrified by what he has done and then even more so at Bumpas's subsequent, but cold bloodily practical actions in treating Jones's body like it was a side of beef and hanging it from a wrecker hook.
Bumpas slashes the body and removes Jones's shoelaces to make it look like it was done by other black persons in a revenge-type killing. Initially another black man and Emma are forced to confess to the murder, but Hedgepath quickly discovers that the man was in jail at the time of the murder and also the confessions were obtained with a cattle prod which appears to be commonplace at the jail.
The charges are immediately dropped and Worth, who has been shocked by his own actions, turns himself in and confesses to Hedgepath and the Mayor, in part suggesting that Hedgepath may have accidentally, but with no intent, influenced him to take action.
Worth is willing to take all responsibility. However, he and Bumpas are not held accountable by City Attorney Hedgepath, who in typical Southern fashion, sweeps the problem under the rug, and makes himself a true accessory after the fact by disposing of the murder weapon and the murder is covered up quietly. The Mayor wants nothing to do with any of this and is happy that Hedgepath handles it so as not to disrupt the reputation of the community.
Hedgepath props up Worth enough with thoughts of his family so that Worth accepts the burden of guilt without the need to confess and although he gives Worth a choice it is clear that Hedgepath has significant influence over Worth. The two officers are not held accountable for their actions. However, almost immediately, Bumpas, off duty, is murdered very deliberately and coolly by Sonny Boy Mosby in partial retaliation for a vicious beating he once inflicted on the man.
Sonny had recently decided not to retaliate against Bumpas for the beating, but the murder and cutting up of Jones was apparently the final straw for Mosby. The murder is gruesome, but Sonny makes it appear to be an agricultural accident, rather than a revenge killing.
Worth keeps his job, Emma is under the presumption she will be getting Jones's money, although there is a suggestion that she might have a little guilt and will be ostracized by the black community. Hedgepath is apparently abandoned by the remnants of his family with the Mundines moving out. Mosby, unsuspected, leaves town on a train, apparently with a clear conscience but a look of maturity.
Nella Vargo (Swanson) is a Hungarian prima donna whose latest performances include singing ''Tosca'' in Venice. Although she is praised by the audience, her music teacher Rudig feels that she can not be the greatest opera singer in history until she performs in New York City. When she is criticized for not putting her soul into the song, she gets mad, until she suddenly notices a mysterious man walking on the street. She becomes smitten with the man, until Rudig claims that he is a gigolo whose latest client is Marchesa Bianca San Giovanni, a former diva with a notorious past.
Later that night, Nella decides to head to Budapest, accompanied by Rudig, her butler Conrad, her maid Emma and her fiancé Count Albert von Gronac, whom she is not in love with. She is shocked when she finds out the mysterious man is on board as well, with the marchesa as his company. Rudig again suggests that she will never be a great singer if she does not experience love. The next day, Rudig announces that Fletcher is in town to sign European artists, an agent for the prestigious Metropolitan Opera in New York. Later that afternoon, she finds out her fiancé is having an affair with one of her enemies.
Furious and upset with her love life, she goes to the hotel where she is staying and decides to hire the mysterious man, Jim, in hopes of experience love and thereby impress Fletcher. She is attracted to him, but is afraid to have her as his admirer. Jim, who is actually agent Fletcher, soon finds out that Nella thinks that he is a gigolo. Instead of revealing the truth, he pretends to be one and dominantly forces her to make a decision: spend the night with him or leave within three minutes.
Nella decides to spend the night with him, but leaves the next morning before he awakes. That night, she again gives a performance of ''Tosca'', which is acclaimed as her best in her entire career. After returning home, she is overcome by joy to find out that she has landed a contract with the Metropolitan Opera, but feels guilty for what she has done the night before. The same day, Jim visits her, returning the necklace she has left to pay for his services and demanding her to choose between him and the contract. When she tears up the contract, he realizes that she is in love with him and he reveals himself to be a nephew of the marchesa and the famous talent scout. Now, Nella can have the successful New York career she has dreamt of.
A federal agent (Holt) goes undercover to infiltrate a drug smuggling operation headed by a mysterious Mr. X (Van Sloan), a criminal mastermind whose identity is unknown even to his henchmen. Mr. X is also running a bogus hospital where victims are killed on the operating table, and their coffins stuffed with narcotics. The drug-filled coffins are then buried in a cemetery.
Elliot Guilespie (Bob Kunkel) is a smalltown twentysomething with aspirations of stardom in television news as his alter-ego, Lance Windchaser. He idolises the local TV news anchor, Rod Reel (Tim Hensely), who is intermittently shown reporting on the spree of a local serial killer known as the Rubik's Cube Killer, or "RCK".
Elliot's home life is less than ideal; he still lives with his mother and never knew his father, who was killed in a "freak hospital accident". Compounding Elliot's frustrating life is Roy-Henry Ringold (Sean Mann), who terrorized Elliot in high school, but is now a recovering alcoholic and desperately seeks his forgiveness. Roy-Henry's quest for forgiveness is conflicted with the fact that he is sleeping with Elliot's mother and feels compelled to act as a father figure to the aimless Elliot. As if that weren't enough, Elliot works for Roy-Henry's landscaping company.
Elliot does not own a car and is unwilling to ingratiate himself to Roy-Henry for transportation, so his main mode of transportation comes from Toby's Taxi Service, driven by Toby (Jackson Williamson), a depressed family man who vents to an unwilling Elliot about the horrors of his hen-pecked homelife.
After a disastrous attempt at handling the filming and the reporting simultaneously, Elliot enlists Toby as his cameraman. Desperate for friendship and an opportunity to escape his horrible marriage, Toby happily agrees and the two begin a whirlwind escapade of freelance journalism marked largely by failure, ridicule, and numerous injuries.
Things start to look up for Elliot when Roy-Henry is killed in a hit and run accident. Elliot is overjoyed to be free of Roy-Henry's smothering presence, but his newfound happiness is quickly shot down by his idol Rod Reel, who mercilessly ridicules Elliot's work. Elliot becomes unhinged as he realises his only shot at making the news may be to actually "make the news". Soon after his epiphany, Elliot is shown reporting suspiciously quickly on several acts of anti-Rod Reel vandalism. Further complicating things, Elliot falls in love with a prostitute (Nichole Harrison) he meets while riding along on Toby's taxi runs. Believing Elliot is interested in her services, she gives him her card. When Elliot goes to her place to see her again, he is surprised to find she has committed suicide to escape from the shame of her past misdeeds, of which, prostitution is the least troublesome. Finally snapping, Elliot decides to use her body to fake the next RCK killing and be the first to report it, thus showing up Rod Reel and proving his worth as a reporter. His plans are thwarted as Toby arrives and witnesses Elliot arranging the gruesome tableau and, believing his friend to be a killer, calls the police. The film ends with a blood soaked Elliot being dragged away into a squad car as Rod Reel ironically reports live on the scene of Elliot's capture as the "RCK Killer".
''Who's Who in the Zoo'' is one of the cartoons that Warner would occasionally produce, particularly in the World War II era, that featured a series of loosely related gags, usually based on outrageous stereotypes and plays on words, as a narrator (in this case Robert C. Bruce) describes the action. The plot is substantially similar to that of 1939's ''A Day at the Zoo'', except that Porky Pig (voiced by Mel Blanc as usual) appears as the zookeeper of the "Azusa Zoo," and that the now-discontinued Egghead is absent. Some excerpts:
In a comic "triple", a timber wolf is shown, then a gray wolf, then a "Hollywood wolf" (a frequent reference in the 1940s WB cartoons). Other creatures include a "missing lynx", a "tortoise and the hair", "March hares" who march to a drumbeat, a down-on-his-luck "bum steer", an Indian elephant attired as an American Indian, and a bald eagle wearing a toupee. There is also a running joke about a lion who is awaiting the arrival of the ice cream truck. An Alaskan Bear who's known for hugging its prey to death picks up and starts hugging a defenseless sheep. When the narrator begs the bear to stop hugging the sheep, the sheep responds, in a feminine voice: "Oh, for goodness' sake, mind your own business!" A group of seals that the narrator says only eat fresh mountain trout. Porky attempts to feed them a mackerel instead, claiming it to be indistinguishable, but a seal plants a sign saying "No substitutes accepted". Some gags reference the then-ongoing World War II, including a black panther drinking cream from its dish, then noticing the dish is aluminum and throwing it into a scrap pile, a reference to the Salvage for Victory campaign; as well as a distressed rabbit father of dozens of babies given a note from the government to "increase your production 100%," as the song "What's The Matter with Father" plays in the background.
The story begins with Batman and Robin perched onto a gothic building lit by lightning. Batman defiantly proclaims "Batman and Robin will never die!"
Events then flash back to Gotham City six months earlier, where Dr. Simon Hurt announces the Black Glove's next venture: the destruction of Batman.
Bruce Wayne is dating Jezebel Jet, a model who is very influential in her home country. Jezebel discovers Bruce was Batman relatively early in their relationship, and the revelation makes the relationship easier for Bruce to handle. He lets Jezebel so deep into his life that he even introduces her to the Batcave. Meanwhile, the Black Glove member, Le Bossu, while in his secret identity as a psychologist, contacts The Joker in Arkham Asylum and offers him a role in their assault on Batman.
Jezebel tries to convince Batman that he is simply living a life he has fabricated in his own head as a child to cope with the death of his parents. This suggestion begins to affect Batman's already-strained psyche (he almost died and was forced to re-live very traumatic moments in his life as Batman just weeks earlier) and he passes out when Jezebel says aloud a word that was on all the Bat-computer's screens: Zur-En-Arrh. As he passes out, Dr. Hurt and minions of his diabolical club, the Black Glove, infiltrate the Batcave. They drug Batman, beat Alfred, and wreak havoc upon the cave.
When Bruce Wayne is seen next, he wakes up in a pile of garbage with no memory of himself. He meets a homeless man named Honor Jackson, who recognizes that Bruce is going through drug withdrawal and helps him. As the two spend time together, traveling in what Honor calls an "odyssey" across the city, Bruce sees more evidence of his forgotten life. The two reflect on the day, and Honor gives Bruce an old broken radio as a sentimental gift. Abruptly, Bruce finds that Honor is no longer sitting next to him and learns from a local dealer that Honor had blown two hundred dollars on smack and overdosed the previous day. This statement leaves Bruce full of despair, grief, and guilt (Bruce, as Batman, had given Honor the two hundred dollars at the end of a car chase, which took place earlier in the story), but also further confuses his sense of reality. At this point, Bruce seems to snap. He makes himself a costume out of red, yellow, and purple rags, and begins referring to the broken radio as the "Bat-radia". He then calls himself "The Batman of Zur-En-Arrh" and begins taking advice from Bat-Mite (written as "might" in this case, as the character is meant to be a voice of reason to Zur-En-Arrh, as in "the Bat might do this").
The Batman of Zur-En-Arrh hunts down and dispatches two small-time members of the Black Glove, and finds that his next destination is Arkham Asylum, armed with nothing but a baseball bat, his Bat-radia, and miscellaneous bits of junk that serve in place of his utility belt. Batman and Bat-Mite ultimately make it to Arkham, where Bat-Mite says he cannot follow. Inside, Batman is confronted by Joker, who holds Jezebel Jet captive and kills her in front of him using the flowers that make up Joker's laughing gas.
As Batman regains his sanity and loses consciousness from the same poisonous flowers, Jezebel appears to be okay, the Joker is smiling, Dr. Hurt is there, and everyone is asking Batman "Now do you get it?" It is revealed that Jezebel Jet has been a part of the Black Glove all along.
The term "Zur-en-Arrh" was written all over the city by Hurt as a subliminal trigger to be used when the time was right to break Batman's mind. Dr. Hurt calls off Joker, referring to him as "my good and faithful servant". The straitjacketed Batman is buried in a shallow grave, Hurt's intention being to exhume him once oxygen deprivation has permanently damaged his mind. Back in the asylum, Joker casually murders a Black Glove member and places a bet with those who remain: that Batman will emerge from the grave undamaged and hunt them down, as he always does. While the now mentally stable Batman escapes the shallow grave that the Black Glove put him in, Joker points out that no one has investigated Batman's "Bat-radia". When they do, they activate a transmitter that brings Nightwing, Robin, Damian, and the League of Assassins right to them. Before Joker flees in an ambulance, he promises the remaining Black Glove members that he will collect his winnings from them soon and tells Hurt that he should not have called him his servant. Batman hunts down Hurt, who tries to convince Bruce that he is his father, but Batman believes him to be Mangrove Pierce, an actor who had once been his father's double. As Hurt tries to escape, Batman infiltrates his escaping helicopter, causing it to crash in a blazing explosion. Flying back to her own country, Jezebel Jet's plane is ambushed by Talia's Man-Bat Commandos. Back in present-day Gotham, Le Bossu tells his henchmen that Batman has not been seen in months and that they are free to commit crimes unmolested, when suddenly a Bat-signal-like light comes on above them, bringing the story full circle to its opening image. In the epilogue, young Bruce Wayne is walking home with his parents after seeing a Zorro movie. Bruce wonders what it would be like if Zorro showed up. Thomas Wayne responds: "The sad truth is, they'd probably throw someone like Zorro in Arkham" as he notice
someone in front of them
In a forest lives a peaceful community of birds, including a pair of sparrows residing happily in a nest awaiting the hatching of their seven eggs. A storm rolls in and a white dove warns the couple about Fagin, a sinister vulture who kills every bird in his path. Fagin arrives, and the male sparrow bravely attempts to protect his family by distracting the vulture and is pursued, but is killed. The female shares her mate's fate, and the struggle causes the seven eggs to fall out the nest with only one surviving and landing near a hole in the tree which is owned by Walter, an owl. Betty, a bluebird, comes and decides to adopt the egg. Some time later, the egg hatches and Betty names the chick Oliver. While Betty is away, Walter tells Oliver a story about Betty saving the dove from a cat. Betty goes a nearby city and meets a sparrow named Olivia and then Betty adopts her as well. Betty introduces Olivia to Oliver, and the pair quickly become friends. Betty goes away again, and Oliver and Olivia wander off and befriend two orphaned mice named Fredrick and Ingolf. They play, but Ingolf, who dreams of flying like a bird, falls into a stream and is saved by the group. The dove appears again and warns them about Fagin, prompting them to run and hide. Oliver, who spots Fagin, becomes too scared to move, but Olivia saves him and they hide in a can. Fagin corners the young birds and nearly crushes them inside the can, but is chased away by a human ornithologist human and his dog. Betty finds them and scolds them for wandering off. In the end Oliver learns to fly with the help of Olivia.
Back home, Olivia starts to develop a crush on Oliver. The two wander off again to town where they eat at a small market, but encounter a cat. The cat attacks Olivia, who distracts it again other local birds in the city watch as she is pursued by the cat. The cat is outwitted again when and crashes into a box angering the owner of the fruit stand and ridiculing the cat in front of the other birds. The birds go back to the forest where the dove tells Oliver and Olivia about Fagin. Oliver finds out his real parents where killed by Fagin and decides to fight him. First, he tries to gather several birds to fight Fagin, but are too frightened to fight Fagin. Oliver, feeling left out, meets again with Armstrong the seagull who tells him to come to his party that night. Oliver comes back to the nest where Olivia teases him into falling in love with her. Walter goes out, and, during the night, Oliver and Olivia sneak off to Armstrong's party. Armstrong sings a song about not being afraid of Fagin, with Walter being there with a number of chickens. Oliver gains the birds' trust and plans to outwit Fagin with a trap.
The following day, Fredrick and Ingolf decide to help Oliver with his battle towards Fagin with the trap being set up with his friends along with Armstrong. However, Fagin hears the dove's talk about Oliver's plan to kill him and decides to fight and kill Oliver first. When the vulture arrives, Oliver tells Fagin about his parents, which he dismisses. Fagin attacks Olivia, Fredrick, and Ingolf. Oliver tries to save them, but is knocked unconscious by Fagin's wing. The dove alerts Betty that Oliver is fighting Fagin. Fagin nearly kills Oliver, but is saved by Betty who slashes Fagin in one of his eyes making him half blind. He pursues Betty up to the storm clouds, where he apparently kills her. Oliver's friends carry him into a hollow log where Olivia tells him that Betty was killed saving him and the plan didn't work, making him lose hope. After the storm, Oliver and Olivia go back to nest only to see the nest destroyed and Walter gone, leaving them orphaned once again. After a pair of blackbirds try to tell them the error of their ways, they wander off.
After nearly being attacked by a group of birds who've become fed up with their attempts to take down Fagin, Oliver gets angry with Olivia for teasing him to love her. Olivia sings to Oliver about how much she loves him, and Oliver decides to accept it and regains hope. Later on, the two young birds meet up with Fredrick and Ingolf again. Oliver and Armstrong form a plan to trap Fagin. Walter is actually nearby, searching for food, but is unaware of this. The dove comes and warns Oliver and Olivia, who look around for Fagin and see him now with one eye, due to his struggle with Betty. Oliver and Fagin battle one last time, with Oliver attempting to lead the vulture into the fire started by Ingolf. Fagin captures Olivia, and Oliver rescues her, but is seized by Fagin in the process. The dove rescues Oliver and grabs Fagin by the wings, trying to hurtle him into the fire. Fredrick and Olivia enter the fire to save Oliver with Ingolf in shock. The dove's wing is crippled by Fagin, but Fagin realizes too late that his wing is on fire and both birds plummet into the fire and perish. Oliver's friends mourn him, but Oliver has survived and is expected to fully recover. Walter finds them with Armstrong, telling them they have finally defeated Fagin and all celebrate.
In the aftermath, the birds return to the forest, now in harmony without fear of Fagin. Oliver and Olivia become mates and bear two children looking like them. Fredrick and Ingolf now take care of themselves and Walter telling stories to Oliver and Olivia's children. Ingolf makes one attempt to fly and does so and the film ends with Ingolf flying into the black screen.
Jesse (Allan Arbus) paraglides into a town on the American frontier run by a saloon owner named Seaweedhead Greaser (Albert Henderson), a tyrant who collects the town's taxes while keeping his mother and favorite mariachi band in cages, and suffering from chronic constipation. Jesse has amnesia and remembers nothing except that he is anticipated by talent agent Morris, telling people that he's on his way to Jerusalem, where he will become a singer, dancer and actor. Greaser murders his son, Lamy Homo Greaser (Michael Sullivan), for being a homosexual, and Jesse resurrects the dead man.
Subsequently, Jesse heals the sick and tap dances on water. Greaser's saloon is losing money due to the declining popularity of his daughter Cholera (Luana Anders)'s performances, so he hires Jesse to sing and dance at the saloon. Jesse concludes his act with him bleeding stigmatically from his hands. The audience loves it, but the talent agent pans the act. Jesse begins a relationship with a woman (Elsie Downey) who ultimately crucifies him so he can resurrect her son (Robert Downey Jr.), who was killed by Indians.
In 1880, a group of strangers boards the east-bound stagecoach from Tonto, Arizona Territory, to Lordsburg, New Mexico Territory. The travelers seem ordinary, but many have secrets from which they are running. Among them are Dallas, a prostitute, who is being driven out of town; an alcoholic dentist, Doc Holliday; pregnant Lucy Mallory, who is meeting her cavalry officer husband; and whiskey salesman Trevor Peacock. As the stage sets out, U.S. Cavalry Lieutenant Blanchard announces that Geronimo and his Apaches are on the warpath; his small troop will provide an escort to Dry Fork.
The film is shown through the point of view of a Japanese photojournalist named Shiomi Akutagawa (Lam). Three years after covering Danang during the communist takeover, Akutagawa is invited back to Vietnam to report on life after the war. He is guided by a government minder to a New Economic Zone near Danang and is shown a group of schoolchildren happily playing, singing songs praising Ho Chi Minh.
The scene that he sees is actually staged to deceive the foreign press. In Danang, he witnesses a fire and is beaten by the police for taking photos without permission. He also sees the police beating up a "reactionary". Later he sees a family being forced to leave the city to a New Economic Zone and wonders why they would not want to go there, recalling the happy children that he saw.
In the city, he meets Cam Nuong (Ma) and her family. Her mother secretly works as a prostitute to raise her children. She has two younger brothers, the older one, Nhac, is a street-smart boy who is conversant in American slang, while the younger boy, Lang, was fathered by a Korean that her mother serviced. From Cam Nuong, Akutagawa learns the grisly details of life under communism in Danang, including children searching for valuables in freshly executed corpses in the "chicken farm". One day, Nhac finds an unexploded ordnance while scavenging in the garbage and is killed.
At the "chicken farm", Akutagawa meets To Minh (Lau), a young man who was just released from the New Economic Zone. After To Minh attempts to rob Akutagawa's camera, he is tried and re-sent to the New Economic Zone. Akutagawa uses his connections with an official to follow him there. At the New Economic Zone, he witnesses the inmates being mistreated. He returns to the location where the smiling children were singing for him earlier, and finds to his horror them sleeping unclothed in overcrowded barracks.
Meanwhile, To Minh has a plan to escape the country with a friend named Thanh. However, while on duty dismantling landmines one day, Thanh is blown up. To Minh gets on the boat to flee the country alone, but he is set up. The Coast Guard is waiting for them and shoots indiscriminately into the boat, killing all on board then taking all the valuables.
Cam Nuong's mother is arrested for prostitution and forced to confess publicly. She commits suicide by impaling herself with a hook. Akutagawa decides to sell his camera to help Cam Nuong and her brother leave the country. On the night of the ship's departure, Akutagawa helps them by carrying a container of diesel. However, they are discovered and he is shot at. The diesel container blows up, burning Akutagawa to death. The film ends with Cam Nuong and her brother safely on the boat, looking forward to a new life at a freer place.
13-year-old Shunpei Closer is viewed as a weak and timid teenager. His grandfather, Alsyd Closer, was a magician, the "Sorcerer King." Alsyd would travel around the world constantly, only stopping in Japan every now and then to tell tales of his journeys to Shunpei. Before leaving to Africa on Shunpei's 7th birthday, Alsyd gave Shunpei a teddy bear named Hyde. Shunpei quickly grows attached to Hyde, stating it was his best friend. Six years have passed, and Shunpei comes home one day, only to receive a package that had a stuffed animal in it. Soon, Shunpei is attacked by the toy, and is almost killed. But before getting killed, Shunpei is cornered into his room, and as the toy was about to strike, Hyde comes to life, and protects Shunpei against the toy. Shunpei is frightened of the fact that Hyde came to life at first, but Hyde quickly calms him down and explains how Shunpei is the number one target of every magician in the world. At this moment, the stuffed animal from earlier is still alive, and ruthlessly attacks Hyde with knives and forks. Hyde is at a disadvantage because his only weapon is in his back, and he can not reach it himself, meaning he needs Shunpei to do it for him. Shunpei struggles to get away from the fight, but he remembers how he was treated at school, and calls himself "pathetic". Summoning up his courage, Shunpei returns to the fight, and brings out the Texas Chainsaw within Hyde. With this new weapon, the stuffed animal is easily destroyed. With the duo finishing up their first battle of many to come, Shunpei learns more about his grandfather than he could have possibly dared, and to overcome the coward that he and everyone else thought he was. Shunpei eventually meets more allies and learns about "The Six", a group of sorcerers who are after him, and "The Watcher in the Window", a mysterious magic user. Shunpei also learns more about his family history with magic and what truly happened to his grandfather.
Buffalo Soldier Abner Meeks is condemned to roam the plains with a demonic gun that forces him to kill someone once a day or suffer soul-searing pain.
Christopher Priest provided prose backup stories in each issue, chronicling the "Legend of Abner."
A United States government satellite crash lands near Piedmont, Utah, and two teenagers find it and bring it back to town. The town's inhabitants open it and release a deadly microorganism, which is later codenamed ''Andromeda'' by the U.S. Army. A team is sent from the Army's biological defense group to retrieve the satellite, only to die from the disease themselves. The video footage recorded by the retrieval team and their strange deaths capture the attention of General George Mancheck, the head of the group, who activates "Wildfire," a team of five scientists who are called upon when high-level bioterror threats occur in the United States. The team, headed by its creator, Dr. Jeremy Stone, investigates Piedmont. They retrieve the satellite and rescue a hysterical 60-year-old man and a colicky baby who have survived the Andromeda outbreak.
In an isolated underground laboratory, the Wildfire team begins their examination of the downed satellite and the two survivors. The laboratory is powered by a small water-cooled nuclear reactor. In the event of a contamination breach, a 15-minute self-destruct sequence would be automatically initiated; however if the activated sequence is deemed unnecessary, Major Bill Keane, designated by the Odd-Man Hypothesis, is the only person able to deactivate the sequence, using his pass key and right thumbprint.
The scientists begin their analysis of the Andromeda strain by recovering a sample from inside the satellite. They initially discover that the microorganism contains large numbers of buckyballs, and the team believes Andromeda is a product of advanced synthetic biology. The team hypothesizes that Andromeda may also have an extraterrestrial origin, as it has no DNA or amino acids. The team discovers Andromeda is an airborne microorganism that kills its host by entering the bloodstream through the lungs and coagulating the blood in the body, causing death within 10 seconds via a blood clot in the brain. Those who survive the blood clot become insane, extremely violent, and suicidal. It is revealed that the two survivors from Piedmont had not been affected by Andromeda because of their acidic blood. Later testing reveals the cell to be resistant to all known antibiotics.
Cable news reporter Jack Nash becomes aware of some of the events related to the fallen satellite and Andromeda. As he investigates further, Chuck Beeter, the Director of the NSA, uses General Mancheck's aide, Colonel Ferrus, to perform assassinations to prevent knowledge of Andromeda from reaching the civilian population. Nash travels to one of the temporary Army outposts performing quarantine procedures, and witnesses the effects of Andromeda spreading through various modes of transportation. He becomes a target of assassination due to his presence at the outpost, but manages to escape from Ferrus and his subordinates.
Meanwhile, a government agency forms a conspiracy to contain the microorganism for further uses, probably weapons related. To handle the situation, General Mancheck deliberately isolates the Wildfire team and cuts their contact with the lab's exterior. However, Jack Nash manages to report to Dr. Stone about Project Scoop, a secret program that was hidden by the government and General Mancheck. Mancheck, being forcefully questioned by Wildfire and fearing for the whole world's safety being threatened by Andromeda, reveals the truth about the satellite. Project Scoop was one of several attempts to investigate a singularity, or a wormhole, that has mysteriously appeared in the Solar System. Sent specifically to collect biological samples, the satellite malfunctioned upon approaching the wormhole and fell back to Earth. When it was picked up, it released the deadly agent.
In an attempt to neutralize the problem, the President of the United States authorizes a small tactical nuclear strike on the quarantine area in hopes of completely irradiating and destroying Andromeda. When the Wildfire team is informed, they realize that they have not reviewed the test results for irradiating Andromeda. They find that the microorganism grows at an exponential rate when irradiated. The Wildfire team alerts the President, and the air strike is called off before the pilot launches the nuclear missile. However, as the fighter jet continues to fly over the quarantine area, the pilot reports a malfunction of the aircraft's controls. Through video feed, the Wildfire team and President watch in shock and horror as all plastic components of the aircraft, including the pilot's visor, disintegrate.
The nuclear missile is re-armed, the fighter jet and missile crash into the ground, and the missile detonates, irradiating the quarantine area. The team examine the footage of the crash, and realize that Andromeda has mutated again and is now able to consume nylon.
As Andromeda grows and mutates into more virulent forms and takes host in anything from mammals and reptiles to the bird population, the Wildfire team continue their tests to find a way to stop Andromeda before it reaches Las Vegas, the closest city to the quarantine zone with an international airport. Further studies reveal Andromeda is actually a sulfur-based bacterium. A set of tests with bacteriophages reveals that one phage can kill Andromeda. However, repeated tests with this phage prove unsuccessful, causing the Wildfire team to theorize that Andromeda can communicate through an unknown mechanism among its separate parts. By the time they discover a binary code on Andromeda's cell wall encoded on buckyballs with potassium and rubidium atoms, the team suspects Andromeda to be a message according to the Messenger Theory. The information included the six-digit number "739528" and the words "Bacillus infernus" encoded in ASCII plus a bitmap image of a symbol with interlocking triangles. ''Bacillus infernus'' is the name of a bacterium found only in the thermal vents. At this time, President Scott was championing the new and controversial industry of thermal vent mining, and it was likely that the mining would eradicate the bacteria. Wildfire requests samples of the bacteria to begin testing its effects on Andromeda.
Tests with ''Bacillus infernus'' reveal that the bacterium easily consumes and destroys Andromeda because of Andromeda's sulfur structure. The Wildfire team begins to grow large amounts of the bacterium in culture vats, intending to spray the culture liquid over a quarantine area in an attempt to sanitize it of the extraterrestrial bacterium.
As the team watches the video footage of the crashed fighter jet, Dr. Stone suspects and considers the possibility that Andromeda did not attack until the launching sequence of the nuclear warhead has been halted, which means colonies of it could probably think and so attack the jet to force the warhead to be detonated, hence accelerating their own growth. The team therefore begins to destroy the remaining samples of Andromeda in the lab in an attempt to prevent Andromeda from communicating the nature of the tests with its other parts.
As part of a government conspiracy to preserve cultures of Andromeda for future use, Colonel Ferrus blackmails Dr. Barton to keep a single sample container. The bacteria then disintegrate their container setting off the lab's contamination breach sensor and initiating the self-destruct sequence. The self-destruct sequence also causes the flashing emergency lights to turn on, triggering Chou's photosensitive epilepsy, which causes him to inadvertently destroy the self-destruct control panel on the lab level of the complex.
With the elevators deactivated due to the self-destruct sequence, Keane decides to climb to the control panel on the level above through the lab's main exhaust vent. However, the pipes and other components in the vent have begun to deteriorate due to the escaped Andromeda. The pipe Keane climbs suddenly bends, dangling Keane above the radioactive water at the base of the vent. Before falling, Keane manages to throw his badge to Stone. Realizing Keane's right thumb is also required to shut down the self-destruct sequence, Chou sacrifices his life to enter the radioactive water to cut off Keane's thumb for Stone. With Keane's thumb and badge, Stone reaches the control panel and deactivates the sequences with only seconds to spare. Eventually, the bacteria being dropped eradicate all traces of Andromeda.
As the remaining Wildfire team attends the funerals of their fallen colleagues, both General Mancheck and Colonel Ferrus are secretly assassinated. Dr. Stone reveals some of the events to the public in an interview with Jack Nash. In the final scene, the saved sample of the Andromeda is inserted into a BSL-4 compartment with the access code "739528", held in a vessel marked with a symbol with interlocking triangles. Director Beeter watches over the operation on the computer in his office. The camera then zooms out, revealing Andromeda has been stored within a space station orbiting Earth. The ending implies that the sample saved on the space station is the cause of the outbreak in the future that necessitated sending the organism back to the present via the wormhole, creating an ontological paradox as to the cell's origin. The ending also implies that Andromeda could really think, since the future outbreak of Andromeda has happened after the bacteria ''Bacillus infernus'', the only thing capable of exterminating Andromeda, was completely destroyed, and so Andromeda avoided unnecessary risks by waiting for its right opportunity.
The storyline revolves around Lou Gehrig playing himself, who decides to give up baseball in New York for the life of a western cattle rancher. Once at the ranch, Gehrig encounters a protection racket preying on the ranchers by extortion and violence. He teams up with a crusading local attorney to fight the crooks and ultimately put them in jail.
In the opening scene, Lou Gehrig is surrounded by a group of reporters at Grand Central Terminal in New York City, where he is about to take a train to his sister's ranch out west in Rawhide. Proclaiming that he is "through with baseball", he tells the sceptical newsmen that he wants the "peace and quiet" of the cowboy life.
Gehrig plays an easygoing dude rancher, whose self-deprecating humor is displayed the first time he attempts to ride a horse. As he timidly approaches his steed, a ranch hand urges, "Jus' walk right up to him like ya' wasn't afraid", to which Gehrig deadpans, "I couldn't be that deceitful".
An unscrupulous interloper, Ed Saunders, and his henchmen have seized control of the local "Ranchers Protective Association" by subterfuge and are using it as a front to extort outrageous "association fees" from the local ranchers, resorting to violence and bribery. After Gehrig refuses to pay, one of his ranch hands is shot by one of the crooks. Gehrig storms into the local saloon to confront Saunders and his gang. When a barroom brawl ensues, the attorney (played by co-star Smith Ballew) joins in the fight as Gehrig hurls billiard balls at the criminals. The movie eventually reaches a climax in the obligatory Western film chase scene when Gehrig and the other ranchers form a posse to chase the fleeing Saunders gang and put them in jail.
The film has several musical interludes. Ballew sings ''When a Cowboy Goes to Town'' by Albert von Tilzer (who also composed the familiar ''Take Me Out to the Ball Game''). Other songs credited are ''Cowboy's Life'' by Charles Rosoff, ''Drifting'' also by von Tilzer, and ''That Old Washboard Band'' by Norman Phelps.
Charlie Pritchard arrives in the fictitious North Wales seaside town of Permadoc on 1 April 1929. After seven years working for Cadwallader's Mercantile Bank, the 23-year-old is discontented as he takes up his job in the local branch, especially because he is to lodge with the branch manager, Ewan Rhys-Jones. Ewan and his wife, Gladys, immediately start throwing their daughter, 27-year-old Ida, at Charlie. Charlie and Ida become good friends and begin a sexual relationship, but without any romance involved.
Charlie's serious interest is focused on the woman who works at the Rainbow Café, two doors down from the bank. The beautiful Delphine is the prime attraction of the Café, and Charlie learns that she runs it with her brother, Beppo. Charlie comes to the attention of the two when he stops a factory worker's advances on Delphine, long enough for Beppo to notice what is going on and intervene.
Things deteriorate at Charlie's lodgings when Ida leaves for London. Gladys and Ewan assume it has something to do with Charlie, and the atmosphere at the bank, never too good, become even worse. Charlie is therefore all too ready to listen when Delphine makes a proposal to him — she, her brother and Charlie should rob the bank, tunneling from the café into the basement, where the vault is, and obtaining or forging keys to the locks. At first Charlie is dismissive, but then he decides that he has “damn all to lose”.
The planning for the bank break-in continues, with Charlie continuing to hope for a relationship with Delphine. When the Rhys-Joneses decide there may be some chance of salvaging the hoped-for marriage to Ida, and Ewan approaches Charlie, Charlie pretends that he and Ida had considered marriage, but that, given the bank's slow promotion pace, there seemed no point. Ewan reassures Charlie, and tries to get rid of another bank employee in the hopes of getting a better job for Charlie. Charlie writes Ida a letter, and calls the bank heist off, but Beppo blackmails him by threatening to use some preparatory drawings made by Charlie, threatening to send them to the bank's home office. Charlie is shocked when he spies on Delphine and Beppo and learns they are actually lovers, not brother and sister. Angered and disgusted, he decides to go his own way after the heist.
Ida sends a letter saying she is coming home on the very day set for the heist. Charlie replies that he will be away at his father's retirement ceremony, and asks her to come the following week. The day of the heist arrives, a Saturday, and Charlie succeeds in obtaining a final key from the possession of Ewan. He does so by drugging Ewan and his wife with their bedtime cocoa. While waiting for Delphine, he notices a half-burned envelope in the fireplace. It is a passport envelope, addressed to “Mr. and Mrs. Giuseppe Beppolini”. He rifles the couple's travel bags and finds a passport for a married couple and train tickets to a destination different from the port Charlie had been told would be the escape route. Realizing that the couple have deceived him and intend to swindle him out of the money, Charlie slips the passport and tickets into his pocket.
Charlie and Beppo break through the wall, enter the vault, and take about twenty thousand pounds. On their return to the café, they find that Delphine has discovered Charlie's subterfuge, and has turned on the lights and music in the café to cover any altercation. Beppo takes out a gun, but Charlie rushes him, knocking him down a flight of stairs as the gun goes off. Beppo dies of a broken neck, and Charlie finds that the bullet has hit Delphine, killing her.
In a state of shock, Charlie answers a knock on the café door. It is Ida, just returned, having through Charlie's lies and somehow sensed his predicament. She assists him in disposing of the bodies, in an area in which fill is being placed to level the ground for a park. They bury the bodies and the money, and return to the Rhys-Jones house. Charlie asks Ida to marry him, and she agrees, though without much enthusiasm, revealing that the reason she ran off to London was because she was pregnant with Charlie's child, which was then given up for adoption. Ironically, it will be the only child they will ever have.
Once Gladys and Ewan awaken from their drugged sleep (the key being returned), they are delighted. On the following day, the bank manager and his future son-in-law elect arrive on Monday morning at the bank to find that it has been robbed. The investigation drags on for weeks. At the end, Ewan is forced to retire. Ewan defies the bank directors, making it clear that the head office in Cardiff is responsible for the heist, since they gave him inadequate security. He stalks off, gets drunk, catches pneumonia, and dies only days later. After the funeral, one of the police inspectors makes it clear he suspects Charlie, but there is no evidence of involvement, and Charlie and Ida marry as planned.
Charlie rises to become a bank manager himself, and the two live to old age. When Ida dies, Charlie returns to Penmadoc, seeking to rid himself of the ghosts of the past, and rents a room in what had been the Rhys-Jones house. To his shock, he sees that the park where the Beppolinis lie buried is being dug up for a car park. He watches every day, until they and the money are found, but there is no evidence after forty years to connect Charlie with the skeletons and the money, even when the bodies are identified.
Charlie learns that he is dying. He begins to write his story (this book), intending it to be lodged with a solicitor and released after his death.
"Paris in 1850 Louis Napoleon, nephew of the great Bonaparte, is president of the French Republic." During a tennis match in Paris between Ferdinand de Lesseps (Tyrone Power) and his friend Vicomte Rene de Latour (Joseph Schildkraut), the enthusiastic admiration of Countess Eugenie de Montijo (Loretta Young) for de Lesseps attracts the attention of Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte (Leon Ames). Bonaparte sees to it that both she and de Lesseps are invited to his reception. At the party, a fortuneteller predicts that Eugenie will have a troubled life, but also wear a crown, and that de Lesseps will dig a ditch. Entranced by Eugenie's beauty, Bonaparte arranges for his romantic rival to be assigned to a diplomatic post in Egypt, joining his father, Count Mathieu de Lesseps (Henry Stephenson), the Consul-General. De Lesseps impulsively asks Eugenie to marry him immediately, but she turns him down.
In Egypt, de Lesseps befriends two people who will have a great influence on his life: Toni Pellerin (Annabella), a tomboy being raised by her grandfather, French Sergeant Pellerin (Sig Rumann); and Prince Said (J. Edward Bromberg), the indolent heir of his father, Mohammed Ali (Maurice Moskovitch), the Viceroy (ruler) of Egypt. Toni makes it clear that she has fallen in love with him, but de Lesseps still pines for Eugenie. Count de Lesseps leaves for France, leaving his son to take his place.
One day, after a brief rainstorm in the desert, de Lesseps sees the water draining into the sea and comes up with the idea for the Suez Canal. He departs for Paris to raise the necessary funding; Toni goes along as well. He presents his proposal to Bonaparte, but is rejected. He is also disheartened to learn that Eugenie is now very close to Bonaparte.
France is on the verge of civil war between Bonaparte and the French Assembly, led by Count de Lesseps and others. Eugenie persuades Ferdinand de Lesseps to pass along Bonaparte's proposal asking the Assembly to disband, giving Bonaparte's promise to reconvene it once the civil unrest has been defused. Despite their misgivings, the members of the Assembly agree, only to be betrayed and arrested. Bonaparte assumes the throne of the revived French Empire, just as Count de Lesseps had feared. The news causes the count to suffer a fatal stroke. Ferdinand de Lesseps is outraged, but Toni persuades him to do nothing. In return for de Lesseps' help, Bonaparte (now Emperor Napoleon III), withdraws his objections to the canal, and construction commences under de Lesseps' direction.
The building of the canal progresses despite Turkish sabotage. However, Napoleon unexpectedly withdraws his support out of political necessity; he needs to appease Great Britain, and the British Prime Minister (George Zucco) is firmly opposed to the project. Prince Said bankrupts himself to keep the venture going, but it is not enough. De Lesseps goes to England to plead his case. The Prime Minister is unmoved, but the leader of the opposition, Benjamin Disraeli (Miles Mander), is enthusiastic about the project. Disraeli tells him to return to Egypt and pray that Disraeli wins the upcoming general election. He does, and funding is assured.
As the canal nears completion, an enormous sandstorm threatens everything. When de Lesseps is knocked unconscious by flying debris, Toni rescues him by tying him to a wooden post, but is herself swept away and killed. De Lesseps finishes the canal and is honored by Eugenie, now Empress of France after her marriage to Napoleon III.
The novel is set in 1960s Alexandria at the pension Miramar. The novel follows the interactions of the residents of the pension, its Greek mistress Mariana, and her servant. The interactions of all the residents are based around the servant girl Zohra, a beautiful peasant girl from the Beheira Governorate who has abandoned her village life.
As each character in turn fights for Zohra's affections or allegiance, tensions and jealousies arise. In a style reminiscent of Akira Kurosawa's 1950 film ''Rashomon'', the story is retold four times from the perspective of a different resident each time, allowing the reader to understand the intricacies of post-revolutionary Egyptian life.
Martin Blank, the Gibbon, having been restored to his simian appearance, is left with his personal life in shambles. His attempts to side with the heroes are frustrated by his ineptitude and even Princess Python, previously a caring and deeply devoted wife, is now fed up with the meek loser that Gibbon has become. Out of boredom and depression, he replies to an ad posted in the ''Daily Bugle'' by Fiona Fitzhugh, a spunky and cheery young scientist hoping to study the nature of super-powered individuals. Upon hearing that Gibbon had his powers since birth (as opposed to the majority of mutants who gain their mutation during puberty), Fiona analyzes his aura and hypothesizes that Gibbon may come from another reality in the Multiverse. While attempting to contact such a reality, Fiona and the Gibbon are sucked into a portal that takes them to a world populated by intelligent simians. Gibbon manages to help Spider-Monkey and the Ape-Vengers, simian versions of the Avengers, subdue Doctor Ooktavius, and he is inducted into the Ape-Vengers. Fiona is sent to ask for Reed Richards' help in returning to Earth-616; she discovers that in the Marvel Apes reality the cosmic storm that gave the Fantastic Four their powers also gave a human appearance to Susan Storm.
Gibbon is at first excited to become a member of the Ape-Vengers, but after witnessing the brutal lynching of Doctor Ooktapus, he questions the Ape-Vengers methods. Meanwhile, Fiona and the ape Mr. Fantastic are able to recreate a gateway back to Earth-616. Captain Ape-merica then reveals that he is actually the simian counterpart of the vampire Baron Blood, who in this reality was able, by sampling Captain America's blood in the forties, to take over his appearance and powers. The super-soldier serum also removed Baron Blood's vulnerability to sunlight. After turning the Invaders into vampires as well, Blood became the leader of the Ape-Vengers and uses their bloody lynching of supervillains as a way to feed.
Gibbon, with the help of a cadre of dissident heroes, finds the real Captain America, still frozen in ice, and thaws him to lead the last free heroes against their vampiric foe. Baron Blood and the vampiric Invaders are destroyed, but in the melee, the portal is destroyed after Fiona and the ape version of Speedball are sent through. The Gibbon is happy to remain behind in the ape-centric world.
In 1303, the innkeeper and would-be wool-merchant Dick Puddlecote is arrested and imprisoned in Flanders after travelling there from England to trade wool. Before he could receive the money, he was imprisoned, as punishment for the English monarch Edward I having defaulted on a loan from Flanders.
On his release, Dick returns to England, where he finds Edward has taken over his inn and forced his girlfriend Joanna the Concubine into prostitution. Dick vows revenge on the King for all this, and begins to gather his friends to attempt an audacious robbery on the king's treasury beneath Westminster Abbey.
Esmoreit is the crown prince of Sicily. His birth is a concern for his cousin Robbrecht, until then the successor to the throne. He decides to kill Esmoreit.
At the court of Damascus a prophecy foretells that a foreign prince will kill the king of Damascus and marry his daughter Damiët. The king then decides to look for this prince to take him to his court and raise him as his son to avoid the murder. He sends out Platus to look for the prince.
In Sicily, Platus meets Robbrecht, who is trying to kill Esmoreit by drowning him in a well. Platus buys the child for one thousand pounds in gold ("om dusent pont van goude ghetelt") and brings him to Damascus. Robbrecht accuses the queen of the murder on her son and she is imprisoned by the king, who is enraged with grief.
The king of Damascus leaves Esmoreit in the care of Damiët, telling her he is an abandoned child.
Many years later, Esmoreit discovers Damiët is not his sister and that she has fallen in love with him. Esmoreit has fallen in love with Damiët but she cannot reciprocate his love because she considers him of lower class.
He also finds out that he is not abandoned and goes to look for his parents. When Esmoreit comes to Sicily he discovers his true identity: the cloth he was found in is recognized by the queen, who is still locked up. While the king and queen are united, Robbrecht is still not punished.
In the meantime, Damiët cannot stand being without Esmoreit and she decides to go after him. She leaves with Platus, dressed as a pilgrim. Meeting him in Sicily gives great joy: Esmoreit introduces Damiët to his father who resigns his throne in behalf of Esmoreit. Platus recognizes Robbrecht as the man from whom he bought Esmoreit. Robbrecht is hanged. Esmoreit and Damiët marry.
The Italian secret police have called Nancy Drew in to investigate a series of art thefts happening in Venice. The thief has been dressing up in a mask and cape, and the news media have begun to call him "The Phantom" not only because of the way he dresses, but because he leaves behind so few clues. A crime syndicate is actually responsible for the thefts, using commedia dell'arte characters as code names. Nancy is sent to spy on the ring and discover the ringleader of the crimes.
Gloriant is the duke of Bruuyswijc and a bachelor by heart. His relatives Gheraert and Godevaert urge him to marry to make sure there is a successor. Gloriant does not make haste.
Florentijn, daughter of Rodelioen from Abelant, hears of him and sees much of herself in Gloriant's way of doing. She sends her help Rogier to Gloriant with a portrait of hers.
When Gloriant sees it, he immediately falls in love with her, but then the trouble starts: his relatives now are less keen on him marrying Florentijn because Gloraint’s father had killed several relatives of Rodelieon during a crusade. This will not help in getting Gloriant a good reception.
Despite this Gloriant goes to Abelant to get Florentijn. They meet in an orchard near the palace and confess their love for each other. They decide to leave the very night. Overcome by fatigue Gloriant falls asleep in Florentijn's lap. Floerant, Rodelioen's cousin, finds them there; he takes Gloriant's sword (Brant) and betrays them.
Rodelioen is outraged and imprisons Gloriant and Florentijn in order to kill them. Faithful Rogier manages to free Gloriant and hides him in the forest. He plays a risky double play and goes to Rodelioen to advise him to have Florentijn beheaded right away. Because of her betrayal of her own religion for Christianity he agrees. Just before her death Gloriant leaps forward, kills Rodelioen and takes Florentijn to Bruuyswijc to marry her.
The film is presented in a series of flashbacks between present-day and past, jumping between various moments in both Julie and Julia's lives. The following plot summary separates the plot based on character.
In the 1950s, Julia Child, an enthusiastic and unabashed woman, moves to Paris with her diplomat husband, Paul Child. She attends Le Cordon Bleu to learn French cooking and is initially met with skepticism as she is the only woman in the class. Madame Elizabeth Brassart, the proprietress of the school, clashes with Julia. However, Julia is undaunted and begins collaborating on a book about French cooking for American housewives with Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle.
Julia continues to work diligently on the book, despite such obstacles as Paul being repeatedly reassigned, Louisette's less-than-diligent efforts on the project (she's eventually told she will get a smaller share of the royalties than Julia and Simone), and Paul's being investigated for allegedly "un-American activities."
Although Julia's book is rejected by Houghton Mifflin as too long and complicated, it is ultimately accepted and published by Alfred A. Knopf.
In 2002, Julie Powell has an unpleasant job at the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation's call center, where she answers telephone calls from victims of the September 11 attacks and members of the general public complaining about the LMDC's controversial plans for rebuilding the World Trade Center.
To do something she enjoys, she decides to cook every recipe in Julia Child's 1961 book ''Mastering the Art of French Cooking'' in one year while blogging about it. Her husband Eric initially supports her in this and she gains a following, but tension develops when Julie starts to get conceited and prioritize her blog and readers over their marriage. He temporarily leaves after an argument, after which Julie expresses remorse in her blog. Finally, Julie is visited by a food writer from ''The New York Times'', who features her blog in a story, after which her project begins to receive the attention of journalists, literary agents, and publishers.
Julie is hurt when a journalist tells her that Child was critical of Julie's blog project, but she retains her love and gratitude for Child and the inspiration she provided. The last scenes show Powell and her husband visiting a reconstruction of Child's kitchen at the Smithsonian Institution, and Child in the same kitchen at her home receiving a first print edition of her cookbook and celebrating the event with her husband.
Chris (Neil Stuke) is thrown off the balcony of a high rise block of flats – and it looks like murder. Suspicion falls on his flatmate Dean (Joseph Mawle) who is profoundly deaf. Penny (Susan Lynch) is the sign language interpreter brought in to help the police question him. But when Penny bumps into Dean later in a nearby pub, they embark on a secret affair which makes Penny's impartiality as police interpreter harder and harder to sustain. Dean needs Penny to prove his innocence, but as the police investigation continues, Penny starts to wonder if he is in fact the murderer after all.
Jim Stanton, the narrator, tells the tale of Bob Girard, a former college basketball player who now runs a popular basketball camp for children in South Florida.
Chad Payne, an eleven-year-old basketball phenom, sneaks into the camp. Girard rescues Chad from a broken home and encourages him. Eventually, Chad grows up, becomes a star and signs with Duke University. Meanwhile, Girard becomes a college basketball referee with troubled finances.
Bob begins to make extra money by fixing games, he becomes so good at it, and so greedy, that he, with support from the mafia, attempts to fix the national championship game.
The film follows Mr. Shi (Henry O), a retired widower from Beijing. When his only daughter, Yilan (Faye Yu), who lives in Spokane, Washington and works as a librarian, gets divorced, he decides to visit her to help her heal. However Yilan is not interested. She tries keeping an emotional distance but when this finally fails she begins physically avoiding her father. He confronts her about an affair with a married Russian man (Pasha D. Lychnikoff) and she, in turn, lets loose about all the gossip she'd heard as a young girl about his alleged affair with a female colleague back in China.
Running parallel to this plot is Mr. Shi's park bench meetings with an elderly woman, Madam (Vida Ghahremani), who had fled to the United States from Iran after the revolution. Neither Mr. Shi nor Madam speak English well, but by gesturing and talking in their own tongues, they start a friendship which ends when Madam is put into a retirement home.
Mr. Shi and his daughter Yilan finally come to terms as father and daughter through the greater understanding achieved by their heated confrontations over perceived transgressions that neither one was initially willing to forgive. Mr. Shi catches a train into the interior of the United States as a tourist and strikes up a conversation with a woman he meets in one of the cars.
The film opens at a jewelry shop in Chinatown, which contains a statue with one glowing red eye. Three masked figures kill the store's owner, then try to pry the eye free. The police arrive, and after a bloody fight, all of the intruders and all but one of the policemen are dead, with the lone survivor being seriously wounded.
The next day, children are being held hostage in an elementary school. A black-clad figure enters and takes on the terrorists, killing all three before revealing that she is Inspector Angel Wolfe (Melanie Vincz) of the L.A.P.D. A man enters the school room and Angel strikes him, breaking his nose and knocking him down, before realizing that the newcomer is Federal Agent Rick Stanton (Paul Coufos), an old friend. The two spend the night together.
The next morning, Angel receives a phone call telling her that her brother Rob (Bill Thornbury), is in the hospital after the jewelry shop confrontation. Angel and Rick rush to his side, and Rob gives Angel a strange star-shaped object and a cryptic message that "the Devil exists, and the Eye knows where." Rick recognizes the star and tells Angel about the legend of Lee Chuck (Angus Scrimm), who gained immortality at the price of giving the devil a new soul every day.
Angel pays a visit to the crime scene. As she gazes sadly at the spot on which her brother was wounded, the glowing red eye drops, unnoticed, from the statue into her handbag. Angel is startled by the sudden appearance of a mysterious Chinese man, who turns out to be Inspector Charles Chang (Art Hern). Chang tells Angel and Rick about the Eyes of Avatar, into which the Dragon-God placed enough power to allow anyone possessing them both to rule the world; and about his belief that Lee Chuck is both real, and in possession of one of the Eyes. He further tells them that Dr Sin Do (Angus Scrimm, in a dual role), the leader of a religious cult, is somehow involved with Lee Chuck.
After learning that Rob has died from his injuries, a grief-stricken Angel forces Rick to tell her more about Sin Do, who is recruiting women for an army of terrorists, luring them to his island by promising them fabulous wealth. When she hears that Sin Do only accepts women in trios, Angel travels to an Indian reservation to see Whitestar (Raven De La Croix), an old friend, and asks her to join the mission, to which Whitestar agrees. The third recruit is Heather McClure (Angela Aames), a criminal who Angel promises a parole in exchange for her help. The three sign on, and are flown by plane to Sin Do's mysterious island fortress of Golgatha.
Due to her father bankrupting their family, Homare, is essentially sold to the Ichinokura family. Once taken in by them her sense of duty encourages her to work as their maid with hilarious consequences. Her main obstacle is winning over the three sons of the Ichinokura family.
Claire, a mild-mannered parking enforcement officer, lives in a small flat with her mother who is recovering from a recent stroke. In the opening sequence she patrols the Los Angeles streets and stumbles into an old flame, who introduces Claire to his wife and ill-behaved daughter. Reeling from the chance encounter, she steps out onto the street and is hit by a passing vehicle.
Returning to work three weeks later, Claire attracts the attention of another parking officer, an extremely blunt and aggressive man named Jay whose home life consists mainly of entertaining himself using the services of a webcam porn site and phone service. Claire witnesses him fighting with her best friend Wilma, a neighbor working for a delivery service who parks on the curb to unload her consignment, but does not bring it up with either party.
She develops a crush on Jay, but in each conversation Jay takes issue with some entirely innocuous comment Claire has made and storms off in disgust. Nonetheless, he keeps coming back for more. One night as Claire prepares to join him at the annual office Christmas party, she finds her mother slumped over—dead—in a bowl of mashed potato.
In shock, she simply picks up her coat and leaves for the party. She sits alone, watching Jay dance with another woman, until finally Jay asks in brutal terms what the matter is. She takes him home to show him the problem.
Claire decides that rather than call an ambulance she prefers to have the situation dealt with by family. She calls her mother's vain and self-obsessed sister, who lives in a different part of the city. Her aunt says it is too far to come at that hour of the night, but if she wants to, Claire can come pick up a necklace belonging to her mother.
After calling an undertaker who takes the body of Claire's mother away, Jay insists on staying the night to "take care" of Claire, promising to sleep on the couch. But he goes to Claire's narrow bed and starts to remove her clothes. After a few seconds of brutal thrusting, during which he talks to her as if she were the phone sex service he uses so frequently, he rolls over and falls asleep.
From that point on, Jay and Claire maintain a tenuous sort of relationship, hung mainly on Claire's optimism and Jay's desire for sex and attention. At work, Jay is suspended for his aggressive behavior with parking offenders, which has earned him an impressive complaints record. He watches a crafts documentary on carpentry and decides to make a love seat.
Jay offers to drive Claire to her aunt's house in Pasadena to pick up her mother's necklace, lying to her over his disciplining at work. He drives her to the other side of the city, with her seated on the makeshift love seat in his parking officer's vehicle. Her aunt insists that they all go out drinking; Jay and Claire end up in a hotel room. Jay gives Claire a tiny, pink PVC bikini and tells her she should lose weight, which Claire takes in stride, as she has previously with his other insinuations and outright insults.
During her next shift, Claire is informed that she is being promoted for her exemplary behavior. To celebrate she goes to Jay's apartment but swiftly realizes that he was visited by a prostitute immediately before her arrival. She leaves in disgust.
Jay goes to her apartment to apologize. Dressed in a more fashionable and confident style, she is outspokenly skeptical about his behavior, but submits when he pulls her to the floor for another round of uncomfortable sex. When it is over, Jay expresses that he has burgeoning feelings of commitment to Claire, but she asks him to leave, saying their relationship is over.
In the final scene, Claire once again walks her beat alone. Another vehicle nearly catches her at the site of her prior accident, but this time she escapes unscathed, and smiles in relief.
Earl Tinker (Will Rogers) goes on a Mediterranean cruise and finds that a business rival has a femme fatale in pursuit.
It's June and Chauncey Nelson [Deance Wyatt] has just graduated from high school. Where most kids his age will spend their summer getting ready for college, Chauncey's got other plans: kick it with his boy Diego, win a youth boxing tournament and buy an Impala. Of course we all know what happens to even the best laid plans; Chauncey and Diego hang and get hung up in small-time hustles that go sour and the boxing tournament KOs any chance of Chauncey sporting golden gloves. Just as his dream car is about to ride off into the sunset, Chauncey gets it, there's a big difference between having a dream and working hard to make a dream come true.
Dan and Laura Miller (Daniels, Matlin) have been married for nine years, are separated, and in a custody dispute over their deaf son, Adam (Valencia). Their close relationship began to change when Adam loses his hearing at the age of four, the condition was initially accepted as Laura is deaf since her youth. Adam turns eight years old and he is injured when Dan is unable to warn him of oncoming danger. Dan begins to explore the idea of cochlear implants.
Flashbacks show how various situations in their lives have been advantageous and unfortunate to be deaf. The effects of deafness on the relationships of the grandparents are explored as one set is deaf and the other hearing. The issue of Deaf Pride and Deaf culture weighs in from the family.
The attorneys and the witnesses at the custody hearing focus on the benefits and disadvantages of cochlear implants. The case is to resume following the weekend. Both parents see that living separately is not helping with the raising of their children and they will make the decision as a family.[https://www.variety.com/review/VE1117936826.html?categoryid=32&cs=1 Sweet Nothing in My Ear] ''Variety''.[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/television/reviews/article_display.jsp?&rid=10976 Sweet Nothing in My Ear] ''The Hollywood Reporter''.
In a small village in the mountains overlooking the sea the people struggle to survive on a daily basis. Their lives, like those of their ancestors, follow the rhythms of the earth, air and water, of day and night and the seasons, with days divided into five parts by the call to prayer. Childhood is difficult and a father typically has a preference of one son over the other. Ömer, the son of the Imam, is such a victim of his father's dislike and he wishes for the death of his father. When his wish is not granted he begins to look for ways to kill him as a twelve-year-old boy might think of with his friend Yakup. Yakup seeing his father sexually interested in his teacher also develops a hatred of his father in the same way and as the children grow up they are riddled between guilt and love and hate for their fathers.
Dr. Bruno Sachs, the only medical practitioner in a small French town, seems on the surface to be compassionate and dedicated. However, in private he is not happy in his work and does not like most of his patients, which include a heart patient who refuses life-saving surgery, and a man whose wife wants sex three times a day, the strain of which is causing his body to wear out. To supplement his income, Dr. Sachs performs abortions in a nearby town. Here he meets Pauline Kasser, a young woman, and they are attracted to each other. While she is not interested in a traditional courtship, she would like to consummate their relationship. A few days later she bumps into him in a book shop, and their relationship seems to start to blossom.
Three brothers, Necati, Hassan and Omer, who have not seen for a long time, going in his native Istanbul to transport from Russia to Turkey remains of his father, who was buried in the USSR. In the preparation of documents in Russia Russian woman Tatiana helps them. In the bus with a group of Russian girls traveling to Turkey to work, Tanya accompanies by three brothers with their weight and at the same time takes with him his young niece Olga disabled for the treatment of her legs in Istanbul hospital. The main intrigue of the film takes place in a bus on the way to Istanbul. A number of obstacles have been giving bus passengers safely get to the city. After crossing the Turkish border on the way to Istanbul Turkish gang of pimps stops the bus and selects among girls future sexual slaves. Seeing Tanya's young niece - Olya, gang leader insists on its issuance, and there intercedes Tanya.
The story takes place in 1930s Skåne, Sweden, and focuses on Sven, who is hare-lipped and thus can't speak correctly. Most people consider him stupid, and call him an idiot.
The film begins with Sven and a woman, who we later learn is called Anna, driving an old car across the landscape. The sun is setting, and in the sky Sven sees three angels. He and Anna hide in an old house, and while Anna makes herself comfortable, Sven throws a huge, bloodstained blade into a well. He lies down beside Anna and starts his inner monologue about how it all began.
When Sven's mother died, he was "taken care of" by Höglund (Hans Alfredsson), an evil, rich factory owner who is a member of the local Swedish Nazi party, and lives on a farm. Sven must work on Höglund's farm without payment, and sleep among cows in the stables, where he is tormented by a rat. Being very goodhearted, Sven cannot make himself drown the animal once he has caught it, because he simply can't take another life.
Having read the Bible, a gift from his sister, Sven imagines he is visited by three angels from time to time, whom he speaks to in a clear voice, making it clear that this dialog takes place in his own mind. One day he meets the wheelchair-using Anna (Maria Johansson), whom he falls in love with, and having been mistreated at Höglund's, Sven escapes to Anna's family, who gladly take him in. At Anna's house, Sven is finally treated as an adult. He is given a real bed, gets to work at their own farm, and is paid by Anna's father, Mr. Anderson (Per Myrberg), "in real money", as he points out when Höglund comes and wants to take Sven back to his farm. Although Andersson wins the argument, Sven faints from fear.
Sven decides to buy himself a motorcycle, a real Indian. But Höglund, now out for revenge, pulls some strings and uses his contacts to ensure Sven can't get a driver's license. After a long media battle arranged by Anderson, Sven gets his license and starts riding his motorcycle around town. Höglund, however, does not surrender that easily. The Anderssons' farm is thrown in financial crisis, and Höglund's new chauffeur (Gösta Ekman) steals Sven's motorcycle and destroys it.
Anna starts to scream at Sven, in her desperation blaming him for all that has happened. Sven angrily pushes her out of her wheelchair, but immediately regrets it. Furious at Höglund, and all the pain he has put Sven and his loved ones through, Sven takes the blade from Andersson's chaff cutter, and marches off to Höglund's factory, followed by the three angels singing Verdi's ''Requiem''. Attacking Höglund, Sven steals the evil man's car, then picks up Anna on the run, taking her to the deserted house where the movie begins. It begins to dawn and police start to surround the building. The Anderssons beg for Sven's life. A couple of shots are heard, and the film ends with a picture of the sun rising over the southern Swedish landscape.
Thirtysomething Suat still lives with his parents and works at his father's store when not practising as goalie for the local football team, Esnaf Spor. Suat is in love with Nurten, the neighbourhood beauty, but she has never responded to his many secret letters. The neighbourhood's greatest wish is for Esnaf Spor to win the amateur league championship.
A boy named Toku is awakened by the wind. As he heads back toward his home, the bridge he is on collapses and he falls into a cave, where he finds a crystal shard. The shard starts talking and reveals itself to be a spirit of wind, Enril. Enril was trapped in this form when Balasar, one of the spirits assigned to watch over the land, decided to conquer the world. Using all her might Enril trapped Balasar in a crystal- but in the process she herself was also trapped. Eventually Balasar grew powerful enough to break free. Unfortunately, Enril was still trapped.
Using Enril's power Toku is able to navigate himself out of the cave and learns how to use the wind to jump higher in the process. Once out he goes to see Deo, his babysitter. Enril seems to recognize Deo but Deo does not hear her. Deo tells Toku to buy him something from the herb store. However it is revealed that the village has been hit by several earthquakes lately. One of the quakes destroys the herb shop. Seeing nothing else for Toku to do, Deo lets him go play.
Questioning why Deo did not hear her, Enril talks to Toku and a nearby archaeologist hears Enril. He tells them about how the ancients built several devices to beckon the return of the spirit of the wind. He points out one such device in a cave known as The Chamber of Memories. Toku and Enril follow his directions and discover a cave that has several statues, along with the Slipstream ability. Upon opening it they decide to talk to Deo who reveals he knows Enril and is one of the spirits himself.
Before Deo can help though he says his memory has been locked away in four chests, including the one the player already opened. He tells them to check the old mines and inside they find the Vortex ability and a new chest. Returning Deo tells them about another chest located near the falls and the other in the abandoned village. Deo gives Toku a Jumbrella Cape to allow him to fly.
Once the chests are opened Deo says he remembers where his power is. He left it with a monster known as Magmok, located below the Chamber of Memories. Despite saying Magmok is a friendly creature, the Chamber shakes and the monster roars. Deo warns Toku and the two head outside to see a corrupted Magmok rise from the earth, revealing he was the cause of the quakes. Toku removes the pieces of corruption on his hands and head and Magmok removes the rest. He then picks up Deo and gives him a shining light.
In the epilogue, Deo tells the other spirits that Enril is back. However Balasar got a hold of the message as well and is plotting to defeat the "boy-hero".
The novel describes the fictional story of a young teenager by the name of William Campbell who starts out as a sergeant and later is promoted to a full Knight Templar. He is tasked with the search of the Book of the Grail which, if ever in the wrong hands, could potentially result in the downfall of not only the Anima Templi (a secret order within the Temple), but also the Temple itself. However, Will finds he's not alone in the search of the book. There are also Prince Edward and The Order of the St John's or the Hospitallers who want the Book as part of their plans to bring down the Temple.
The story of Will Campbell runs parallel to that of Baybars Bundukdari, a slave who rose to become Sultan of the Mamluks motivated purely by his hatred of the Franks. In the earlier parts of the story, Will does not know that his father James Campbell is also part of the Anima Templi (or Brethren) and that there is a contact deep within Baybars' circle of trusted advisors who works with the Brethren to achieve long-lasting peace in the Holy land and the reconciliation of the three dominant faiths of the West: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
The book has a sequel written by the same author. "Crusade" follows Will as he becomes further entangled in the Brethren and Baybars.
Legendary film director Donald Baines lies dying alone in his private screening room, watching the films he has devoted his life to creating. Having isolated himself from family and friends, he now regrets many personal sacrifices. The rejection of his illegitimate child, Christopher, brings him the most pain, since Donald saw him only once, 30 years ago.
Late one night, Donald is awakened by the ghostly image of Stan, a favorite editor who has been dead more than 35 years. Suddenly Donald finds his deathbed transported to an old movie house. Stan informs Donald that he has come to help and that he will show him three films - three visions - each vision representing a different period of Christopher's life.
The first vision brings Donald into the teenage life of Christopher who is in the throes of his first brush with love. A rebel and a romantic, Christopher proclaims his love for a girl he has only seen from afar and chances it all for an opportunity to spend some time with her. A nagging voice, which sounds like the father he never knew, echoes in his head, telling him he is not worthy.
A wild romp marks the second vision of the twenty-something life of Christopher as he tries to escape an artistic maelstrom and finds himself face to face with the love he had for a brief moment and lost from the first vision. His life takes a brutal twist as he finds but again loses his love.
The last vision Donald sees is the return of Christopher now as a mature man, wearied from the difficult curveballs life has thrown him. Again looking for love, this is his last and perhaps only chance to rid himself of what he imagines to be his father's haunting disapproval.
A collie pup is separated from his mother and grows to young adulthood in the forest. After being swept away in a torrent and then shot by a young hunter, he is found by Kathie Merrick (Elizabeth Taylor) and carried to her home. With the help of a kindly shepherd, Mr. MacBain (Frank Morgan), she tends him back to health, names him Bill, and teaches him to herd sheep.
One day, unknown to Kathie, Bill is hit by a truck and taken to an animal hospital. Kathie risks her life futilely searching for him on the island where they first met. Bill remains unclaimed in the hospital for two months and is sent to a War Dog Training Center, where he is referred to as "Duke". After training, he is shipped out with the troops to the Aleutian Islands Campaign. Duke performs heroically on the battlefield, but the stress and a wound cause him to become aggressive. Sent back to the War Dog Training Center to recover, he escapes, attacking livestock and threatening people as he finds his way back to Kathie.
Merricks' neighbors insist he be put down because of his attacks, and Bill is impounded. A hearing is held and Mr. MacBain acts as Bill's lawyer. He discovers an Army tattoo in Bill's ear; a quick investigation reveals Bill is a war hero. All then realize that the dog who served on the battlefield was not himself after his war experiences, and he will need time to adjust to civilian life. Bill is freed and joyfully reunites with Kathie.
''Warrior's Return'' picks up from the previous volume, with Graystripe and Millie just having found the ruined ThunderClan camp. The duo leave it behind and find Ravenpaw (a former Clan cat) and Barley, loners introduced earlier in the series. Ravenpaw and Barley help them continue their quest to find the Clans before returning to their barn. Graystripe and Millie plan to go to the sun-drown-place (Atlantic Ocean), which was where Ravenpaw told them the Clans had planned to go.
On their travels, a fight emerges between Graystripe and Millie about how much help they can accept from Twolegs. At a gas station, Graystripe is hit by a car, and is nursed back to health by Millie and Diesel, a loner who lives by the gas station. As Graystripe recovers, he tries to confess that he is sorry to Millie, though Diesel gets in the way. Millie tells Graystripe that the fastest way of getting to the ocean (where they will find the Clans) is by a truck, which forces him to make a choice; to use Twolegs to help him find his Clan and go against the warrior code, or take longer to find his Clan. The duo decide to use the truck to get to the Clans. The volume concludes with Graystripe and Millie finding the Clans and Graystripe apologizing to Millie and also asking her to be his new mate. When Graystripe and Millie see the Clans in the middle of a Gathering, Firestar welcomes Graystripe and Graystripe introduces Millie.
America seeks to construct a Space Platform (station) to be deployed into medium Earth orbit. It will provide a waystation for deeper exploration of space, prevent "them" from continuing to threaten freedom around the world via atomic war by providing both monitoring and near-space military supremacy to the USA, and serve humanity by providing a facility to conduct "nuclear experiments" too dangerous to perform on Earth. The construction project is subject to a relentless campaign of sabotage by its enemies (obviously the Communists, though they are never explicitly named as such). The forms of sabotage include murder, blackmail, fuel tampering, missile attacks on flights, bombings of ground supply routes, and even radiological terrorism.
Within this broader context, the novel centers on Joe Kenmore, a master machinist whose father's company is tasked with building the pilot gyroscopes which will be responsible for attitude control of the Platform. It opens with Joe being tasked by Kenmore Machine Tool to accompany the ultra-precision mechanism to its destination and oversee its installation. Following the attack upon their flight which damages the gyros, it continues with the work of Joe and his friends to salvage the project while battling relentless saboteur attacks. They discover that the damaged gyros can be rebalanced in their damaged state and construction reaches completion.
Upon completion, a last-ditch attack is made against the Platform on the ground by saboteurs. This is followed by a long-range missile tipped with a nuclear warhead, which is successfully intercepted. "A certain block of associated countries" threaten to walk out on the UN. The launch suddenly becomes do-or-die, as if it is not in place to prevent atomic war it is about to incite one.
Along the way, naturally Joe meets the beautiful and brilliant daughter of the Major commanding the construction project, and they fall in love.
At the end, Leinster breaks the 4th wall and informs the reader that he has attempted to describe a realistic scenario whereby a space station would be placed into orbit. He indicates the advantage of launch sites near to the equator, and describes a multi-stage launch process which begins with the use of numerous small jet-powered craft ("pushpots") to lift the station and begin its flight, JATOs aboard the pushpots to accelerate it to several thousand MPH, and finally solid fuel rockets which minimize weight by burning away their tubes as the propellant combusts. The descriptions of the Platform's heavy (steel) construction are unrealistic, given that weight is recognized as crucial. Suggesting that launchers will combust Beryllium in Fluorine to maximize energy per unit of fuel is not incorrect as far as energy release, but downplays spectacular corrosion and toxicity problem.
William Meadows, the son of the curate of Epworth in North Lincolnshire, is sent to sea as a boy after his father dies. He finds himself ill-suited to a nautical life and leaves the ship at Archangel in Russia in the final years of the reign of Peter the Great (the 1720s). He falls foul of John Ernest Biren, the principal minister of Empress Anna, who ruled Russia from 1730 to 1740 and returns to England. His sister and brother-in-law rent a farm from. Earl Danvers (Richard Herbert) of Axholme. Lord Danvers, who has seen some of William's correspondence with his sister from his time in Russia, invites him to Millwood Park; he is fifty, a widower with one remaining son, Lord Bardsley who is 11. Lord Danvers, a solitary man with a tendency to melancholy, gives William the job of secretary and reveals his extraordinary history. Richard dislikes his status and financial prospects as a younger son whose brother, Arthur, will inherit the earldom from their cousin, Robert. When Arthur unexpectedly dies in a duel in Austria and his wife, Irene, dies shortly after giving birth, Richard hides the identity of his infant nephew. Arthur's servant, Cloudesley, brings up the boy in Italy and marries the servant of the boy's mother, Eudocia. They call him Julian Cloudesley. Richard returns to England and marries Selina and they have four children. All but one of them die at the age of eleven, and Selina dies. Cloudesley tries to convince Richard that he should reveal his secret and restore the boy to his position and entitlements, but Richard refuses. Eudocia dies, and Cloudesley goes to Britain to confront Richard, but when he is away Cloudesley's friend, Borromeo, with whom he has left the 18-year-old Julian, writes to say that Julian has gone missing. Julian found it difficult to live with Borromeo, a blue beard character, and left to join his friends in the countryside whom he does not know belong to a group of bandits. Cloudesley is shot by one of the bandits, Francesco, and his secret about Julian's birth is left with his misanthropic friend, Borromeo. Robert dies, making Richard Baron Alton and Earl Danvers. Having formed a close bond with the chief bandit, St. Elmo, Julian returns to them. Borromeo writers to Lord Danvers to tell him of Cloudesley's death and of Julian's disappearance. Danvers sends Meadows to find Julian, who is now 21. Julian is about to be executed with the rest of the bandits. Meadows asks the consul-general to intervene, but he is only prevailed upon to do so when Lord Danvers arrives to confess his guilt. Danvers is dangerously ill and has recently lost his last child. St. Elmo, Francesco, and the rest of the gang are executed and Julian is released. Lord Danvers is buried according to his wishes in an unmarked grave in Naples. Witnesses are produced in England to corroborate the truth of Julian's birth for the English courts, and Meadows writes to Borromeo to inform him of what has happened. Borromeo learns that “The true key of the universe is love” (289). He renounces his misanthropy and proclaims that the most important human trait is “disinterested affection” (289).
In ''Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'', Dumbledore prepares Harry for the final battle that he knows is fast approaching as Voldemort is tightening his grip on both the Muggle and wizarding worlds. Together they work to find the key to unlock Voldemort's defences, and to this end, Dumbledore recruits his old friend and colleague, the well-connected and unsuspecting bon vivant Professor Horace Slughorn, whom he believes holds crucial information.
''(To be added)'' Nick Shen is a popular Singaporean Actor/Musician. He is well known for his operas as well as appearances on numerous television shows.
Category:Singaporean television series
Roxy is a fifteen-year-old girl living with her mother, her younger sister, and her new step-dad. Upset about her father's death and resentful of her mother remarrying, she begins to rebel. She attends a party where she has sex for the first time. Soon realising she's pregnant, Roxy runs away from home in fear. She goes to London, hoping to stay a shelter she read about, but quickly leaves when she realises the woman in charge will phone the police, when she learns Roxy is underage.
Luckily, she finds help in the form of Mr and Mrs Dyce, a couple who host young pregnant women in their country house. Things quickly become suspicious; the girls in the Dyces' care are completely cut off from the rest of the world, not allowed to leave the grounds, or even read newspapers or listen to the radio, and once a girl is sent into the birthing room she's never seen again. The Dyces have answers to all of these, but things still seem odd.
One night Roxy slips out, and discovers the Dyces have an extremely sinister motive behind their kindness...
Some time a little over 10,000 years from now, a noblewoman gives birth to a deformed child, a consequence of having been accidentally exposed to radiation from one of the temples of the Atom Gods. The baby is kept alive because one of the atom priests wants to conduct an experiment to see what will happen if the boy, unlike other mutant children, is given the full education of an atom priest.
In his teens the mutant boy Clane helps his father win a war with Mars. He also continues his studies while his grandfather, who is Lord Leader, and his tutors protect him from the Machiavellian intrigues swirling around him, especially those of his grandmother Lydia.
Reaching his majority, Clane turns his estate into a laboratory where he can test new inventions and machines that he has retrieved from the ruins of ancient cities and reactivated. When his grandfather dies, Clane becomes a target for assassination, but shortly thereafter Lady Lydia receives a vase containing the assassin’s ashes. Even a direct frontal assault by a militia fails against Clane and Lady Lydia is compelled to cease her attacks on him.
A war between the Linnan Empire and rebels on Venus provides an opportunity for Clane to take an expedition to explore the ruins of an ancient city there. When the Venusians capture the Lord Advisor and thousands of his troops and prepare to hang them, Clane appears in their camp and displays the awesome power of the Atom Gods. With the war won, Clane returns to Earth with his findings.
In spite of Clane’s warnings, the Linnan Empire is taken by surprise by an invasion of barbarians from Europa, the largest of Jupiter’s moons. The invaders kill the Lord Advisor and Clane must take command of the imperial forces. Disguised as a slave, Clane sneaks into his townhouse in the city of Linn and touches an artifact that he found on Venus. With the power it gives him he compels the barbarian chieftain, Czinczar, to surrender, but not before Czinczar shows him the body of an alien, one of a species that Czinczar believes caused the cataclysm that devastated human civilization thousands of years before. The Europan threat is vanquished, but now Clane has a new worry.
The story continues and concludes in ''The Wizard of Linn''.
Troma Entertainment co-founder and B-movie director and producer Lloyd Kaufman plays the Crap Keeper. He presents the viewers with two horror stories that contain gore, nudity, fat men, talking penises, lesbian scenes, vampires, UFOs, and appearances by porn star Ron Jeremy and the band New Found Glory. The film was purportedly shot over three years with six directors and close to fifteen writers.
Five years have passed since the super computer called Colossus used its control over the world's nuclear weapons to take control of humanity. In our timeline, that would place this story in the 1990s or the early 2000s. All references in the novel, however, place it in the 22nd century, with the 20th and 21st being mentioned in the past. Colossus has been superseded by an even more advanced computer system built on the Isle of Wight, which has abolished war and poverty throughout the world. National competition and most sports have been replaced by the Sea War Game, where replicas of World War I dreadnoughts battle each other for viewing audiences. A group known as the Sect, which worships Colossus as a god, is growing in numbers and influence. Yet despite the seeming omnipresence of Colossus' secret police and the penalty of decapitation for anti-machine activities, a secret Fellowship exists that is dedicated to the computer's destruction.
Charles Forbin, in his early 50s in this and the first novel, is the former head of the design team that built and activated the original Colossus. He now lives on the Isle of Wight with his wife and son, serving the computer as Director of Staff. Though contemptuous of the growing cult of personality around Colossus, he has reconciled himself to Colossus' rule. His wife Cleo, now 28 years old (35 in the previous novel), loathes Colossus and is a member of the Fellowship. One afternoon while taking her son to a secluded beach, she receives a radio transmission from the planet Mars. Identifying Cleo as a member of the Fellowship, the transmission offers help to destroy Colossus and asks her to return to the same spot the next day for further instructions. She returns with Edward Blake, Colossus' Director of Input and the head of the Fellowship. Together, they receive instructions to obtain a circuit diagram of one of Colossus' input terminals and a sample of the information that is fed into it, along with instructions to proceed to two locations — one in St. John's, Newfoundland, the other in New York's Central Park — to receive further transmissions.
Though Blake passes the necessary information along to Cleo, she is quickly arrested by the Sect and sentenced by Colossus to spend three months at an "Emotional Study Center" on the island of Tahiti, where she is repeatedly raped as part of an experiment designed to help Colossus better understand human emotion. Now under suspicion, Blake approaches Forbin, who is devastated by his wife's arrest. Explaining the details of their plot, Blake convinces Forbin to help after explaining the details of Cleo's captivity. Forbin travels in disguise with the requested information, first to St. John's, then to New York City, where he receives an incomprehensible mathematical problem that the transmission claims will destroy Colossus once it is fed into the computer.
Upon his return, Forbin slips the problem to Blake, who enters it into Colossus. While Forbin converses with the computer, Colossus begins to make verbal errors, then stops. Increasingly erratic, it attempts to warn Forbin of a threat from outer space that it was preparing to meet, but breaks down before it can complete the message. Now free of Colossus' rule, Blake moves to seize power, using the automated fleets of the Sea War Games to threaten the world's capitals. As Blake gloats, Forbin tells him of Colossus' warning. Requesting any reports of unusual astronomical activity, they learn that two contacts have been detected leaving Martian orbit and are now heading toward the Earth. The novel ends with the two men hearing a radio transmission repeating "Forbin, we are coming".
The game takes place in a fictional world ruled by anthropomorphic beings known as Ferals. Humans live as slaves, and a group dubbed the "World Annihilation Front" intends to destroy the world in rebellion. They are opposed by the Feral's "World Salvation Committee".
Wealthy industrialist Alfred Borden has problems both at work and at home. His employees at Amalgamated Pump are making demands that may drive the business that he has built from nothing into bankruptcy. His son Tim, who prefers playing polo, has neglected and lost a major customer. On his birthday, when Alfred returns to his Fifth Avenue mansion, he finds nobody there but the servants. His unfaithful wife Martha, his daughter Katherine and Tim have all forgotten, are busy or do not care.
Feeling lonely, Alfred takes the advice of his butler and visits Central Park, where he meets Mary Grey, a young unemployed woman. He invites her to dine with him at a fancy nightclub. They get drunk, dance and are spotted by a friend of Alfred's wife. The next morning, he wakes with a hangover and a black eye, discovering that he had invited Mary to spend the night in a guest room.
Seeing the reaction this elicits from his formerly indifferent family, he hires Mary to pretend to be his mistress. He neglects his company, forcing his son to take up the slack, and Tim develops fresh new ideas to save the firm. Alfred and Mary go out every night, pretending to cavort for hours, although they are actually driven around by the ardently communist chauffeur Mike, whom Katherine loves.
Embarrassed by the newspaper gossip columns and shunned by her friends, Martha consults a psychiatrist who finds nothing wrong with her suddenly cheerful and carefree husband. She starts staying home, plotting ways to drive Mary away. Tim, who shows contempt for Mary, unsuccessfully tries to buy her off and eventually falls in love with her. Mary tries to help Katherine with Mike, who does not pay any attention to her. Finally, Martha tries to convince Mary that she has surrendered and that they should all be friends.
In Central Park, Tim kisses Mary, who is upset the next day and wants to leave but is confronted by Tim. Martha and Alfred dine together in the kitchen, which reminds them of when they were young and poor. They page through old photographs, reminiscing about their life together.
Katherine announces that she has married Mike, who has decided to quit and open a repair shop. Martha is aghast, but Alfred reminds her that they had started their own marriage in a similar fashion, and she grudgingly accepts her new son-in-law. When Mary and Tim enter, Alfred feigns rage, but Mary can no longer continue with the charade and tearfully confesses the truth about her arrangement with Alfred. When she leaves, Tim chases her and carries her back into the mansion. When a policeman tries to interfere, Mary tells him to mind his own business.
Donald and his nephews visit a carnival. While they play games, Donald is tricked by a shifty barker into fighting "Pee Wee Pete" (Pegleg Pete), a truculent bruiser who significantly outweighs Donald. In spite of help from Huey, Dewey and Louie, the situation looks desperate for Donald Duck, until his fist accidentally connects with Pete's jaw, which crumbles. It turns out Pegleg Pete literally had a glass jaw. Donald wins the prize money and exits the carnival triumphantly with his nephews.
Sam Clayton is too good for his own good. A sermon by Rev. Daniels persuades him to help others in every way he can, including his wife Lu's good-for-nothing brother, Claude, who's been living with them rent-free for six months, and their neighbors the Butlers, who need a car for a vacation when theirs breaks down.
Sam is a department store manager whose boss, H.C. Borden, wants him to sell more and socialize less. Sam's a shoulder for clerk Shirley Mae to cry on when her romance breaks up. He also gives a $5,000 loan, without his wife's knowledge, to Mr. and Mrs. Adams, who need it to save a gas station they bought.
Lu is fed up with Sam's generosity, particularly when he ends up paying for the Butlers' car repairs, then letting the mechanic come over for home-cooked meals. The last straw for Lu comes when she learns they have a chance to put a down payment on a new house, except Sam has lent their nest egg to the Adamses.
Sam is unhappy, too. He's annoyed with the Butlers, who have crashed his car and can't pay to fix it. He also wants Claude to move out. Shirley Mae's troubles come to his door after she overdoses on pills. Though the Adamses surprise him with a check for $6,000 to repay their loan, Sam uses some of the money to pay for the annual Christmas charity dinner after he is robbed of the money he collected from employees and the bank refuses to give him a loan. He ends up in a bar, drinking copiously. A Salvation Army marching band playing Christmas songs brings him back home. There the bank manager promises that he will receive the loan he asked for, and Borden surprises him with a promotion to vice-president of the store.
The player begins as a vocalist with ambitions for becoming a rock star, setting a personal goal of achieving this in five years. The player then must hold auditions for other bandmates, including a drummer, a bassist, and a guitarist (required to continue), as well as a keyboardist, and a saxophone player (optional) the player must write enough songs to fill a "setlist" allowing him to play "gigs" at a first limited but later expanded number of venues. Once a sufficient number of songs have been written, and enough money has been made, the player can create an album which can be sold at gigs, along with T-shirts, sweatshirts, and posters, for additional profit. Although the game is either won or lost after five years, gameplay is allowed to continue after that.
The time frame for ''Flower Net'' is January 10, 1997 – March 14, 1997. The main narrative ends February 13, 1997—just before the death of Deng Xiaoping on February 19. Much of the story involves flashbacks to the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) and its traumatic impact on the lives of a great number of people. The novel's key characters are Liu Hulan, inspector in the Ministry of Public Security and a Red Princess, and David Stark, Assistant U.S. Attorney, who loves her. Gary Krist writes that "Hulan is a provocative mixture of vulnerability, bitterness and hardheaded practicality," a survivor of the Cultural Revolution who has learned that survival means hiding her emotions from the outside world.
The book begins with the murders of two young men, one the son of the U.S. ambassador to China and the other the son of one of the richest and most powerful men in China. For reasons not clear to Hulan and David, the Chinese and American governments come to the unusual agreement that the two should jointly investigate the murders. Their initial assumption is that the killings must be related to the Rising Phoenix, a criminal gang operating in both China and Los Angeles. The case is complicated because Hulan and David have previously been lovers, and each is devoted to his or her country. See also describes Vice Minister Liu and his frosty relationship with Hulan, his daughter.
Near the end of the novel seven gruesome murders are solved. Although the young men of the Rising Phoenix are indeed involved, the murderer hounding Hulan and David is revealed to be Hulan's father, Vice Minister Liu, who has been consumed by greed and the desire for revenge, mistakenly blaming his daughter for the hard time he served in a Chinese work camp early in the Cultural Revolution and for the serious injuries his wife, Hulan's mother, suffered during the same period.
The narrative concludes with Hulan's thoughts of the coming spring and her anticipation of the birth of her first child.
Anaxandra is the only daughter of Chrysaor, a chieftain who rules an uncharted island in ancient Greece. One day King Nicander of Siphnos comes and demands hostage and tribute, he takes Anaxandra to be the playmate of his daughter Callisto. Unable to return home, she comes to love the small island of Siphnos and lives there for six years with Nicander's family.
One day, ships come into Siphnos harbor and kill everyone except Anaxandra, who survives by pretending to be Medusa by wearing an octopus on her head. Found by Menelaus, king of Sparta, Anaxandra assumes the identity of Princess Callisto, believing that Menelaus will otherwise abandon her. Brought into Menelaus's household in Sparta, all the members of his family welcome her, except Menelaus’s beautiful wife, Helen. Suspicious of "Callisto," Helen's animosity towards Anaxandra places her in greater danger than ever.
When Menelaus Leave for Crete to repay its king for slaves, Paris, a prince of Troy arrives to plunder Sparta's treasury and takes an eager Helen away with him. To save Helen's daughter Hermione from leaving, Anaxandra takes her place and soon becomes the sole protector of Helen's infant son, Pleisthenes. Upon arriving in Troy, Anaxandra is exposed again by Helen, who will stop at nothing to make Anaxandra suffer and neglects her own son in favour of her new life as the bride of Paris.
Helen is quickly beloved by all of Troy, save Paris's sister Cassandra. Cassandra has foreseen that Helen will destroy the city, but she is cursed so her prophecies will never be believed. In spite of her suffering, Anaxandra befriends Cassandra and Andromache, the bride of Prince Hector. When Menelaus learns that Paris has stolen Helen and the treasures of Sparta, he calls upon his brother Agamemnon and all of Helen's former suitors who have sworn to defend his honour and to declare war upon Troy.
As Helen revels in the war that will occur for her sake, Anaxandra finds herself falling in love with Euneus, the neutral king of Lemnos who is a friend of Hector. Torn between her love of Troy and her loyalty to Menelaus, Anaxandra must find a way to rescue Pleisthenes and return the young prince to his father before Troy is destroyed.
The musical opens with Lucie Manette as a child, en route from France to England. She is delivered by Mr. Jarvis Lorry, an employee of Tellson's Bank to the home of Miss Pross, who had been nanny to Lucie's now-deceased mother. Later, Mr. Lorry returns to the Pross household to tell the now-adult Lucie that her father, Dr. Alex Manette, has been found alive in the Bastille after 17 years (''Prologue: The Shadows of the Night'').
Dr. Manette, Lucie and Lorry set sail for England and meet Charles Darnay. Upon arriving, Darnay is arrested as a spy as he is discovered in possession of papers showing British troop placements. It is later found that the papers were dropped by John Barsad, henchman of Darnay's uncle, the Marquis St. Evermonde's (''Dover''). Lucie requests that Mr. Lorry arrange for a lawyer to defend Darnay in exchange for the kindness he has shown her and her father during their journey and Lorry agrees.
We are then taken to the law office of Mr. Stryver and Sydney Carton - who arrives clearly intoxicated (''The Way it Ought to Be - London''). Carton decides with his friend, grave robber Jerry Cruncher, to attempt to blackmail Barsad by visiting several local taverns (''No Honest Way''). The next day, the trial commences (''The Trial''). Darnay is acquitted after the blackmail attempt succeeds and prompts the key witness to assert that Darnay and Sydney look similar after Sydney removes his barrister's wig and robe. The witness then admits it could have been either man-or anyone else-with those papers.
Darnay takes Sydney and Stryver out to celebrate at a tavern that Sydney calls "home." (''Round and Round'') After Darnay is insulted by Sydney and leaves, Sydney reflects on why he acted this way (''Reflection'').
Several months have passed and Darnay now desires Lucie's hand but asks her father's permission first (''The Promise''). On Christmas Eve, Lucie attempts to convince Sydney to have supper with she and her father, but he declines; out of kindness, she invites him to dinner the following evening, which he must accept. Awakened by her kindness, Sydney realizes what he has been missing in his life (''I Can't Recall'').
The next day Darnay asks Lucie to marry him and she accepts (''Now at Last''). Sydney arrives and Lucie gives him his gift - a scarf. Unaware that he would be receiving one, Sydney tells Lucie to close her eyes and kisses her. Shocked, she informs him that Mr. Darnay has asked her hand in marriage. Upset - and embarrassed — Sydney leaves and reflects on the life he now cannot attain, and on the marriage and life of Darnay and Lucie together (''If Dreams Came True'').
The action then switches over to France, where the king is expected to drive his carriage past Defarge's wine shop. Many children are very excited however near the road. One, the son of a man named Gaspard, is killed when the Marquis St. Evremonde's carriage passes. Madame Defarge, who was unaware of what the children were waiting for, expresses disgust for the death the Marquis has caused and urges Gaspard to murder him (''Out of Sight Out of Mind''). Gaspard later follows the Marquis to his chateau and does so.
Darnay receives a letter from Gabelle, a former house servant in France, and agrees to defend him in the courts and leaves (''Gabelle's Letter/I Always knew''). Stryver and Sydney visit the Manet household one evening and Stryver tells of the killings and other developments there. During their visit, Sydney agrees to help put Little Lucie to bed (''Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep''). Meanwhile, a funeral is being held for Gaspard's son (''Little One''). At the funeral, officers come to arrest Gaspard for murder, but Ernest Defarge tells him to remain and the revolution begins (''Until Tomorrow'') Darnay is arrested when it is revealed that he is the Marquis' nephew. Lucie is devastated and turns to Sydney for guidance as Darnay left without explanation or revealing his true identity.
Act 2 opens with the storming of the Bastille. The Defarges have found the notes left by Dr. Manette in his cell so many years before, but the people of Paris are still unsatisfied after the prison's fall (''Everything Stays the Same'').
Darnay is sent to trial because he is a member of the aristocracy. At his trial, Madame Defarge reads Dr. Manette's charges against the Marquis St. Evremonde and his brother, who is Charles' father. At the end of his journal, Manette condemns them and all their descendants. Manette himself makes an impassioned plea to recant this and say that Darnay is nothing like his father and uncle. He adds that Darnay's execution would inflict a further burden on him and Lucie who suffered so greatly during his imprisonment. Manette's plea is denied and Darnay is sentenced to death. (''The Tale'').
Lucie is depressed that Darney has left without telling her why. Sydney at first is tempted to steal her from her husband, but realizes rather that the right thing would be to help Darnay (''If Dreams Came True [Reprise]''). Lucie wishes to die with her husband, but she realizes this may put her daughter in the same position she was in as a child. She vows to save both her husband and family yet still questions why Darnay left for France without telling her (''Without a Word'').
Sydney makes arrangements with his old acquaintance Barsad to allow him entrance into the prison where Darnay is held (''The Bluff''). Realizing that he cannot simply escape with Darnay, Sydney concocts a plan to save him, and to allow Little Lucie to have her father and a brilliant life ahead (''Let Her Be a Child'').
In Darnay's prison, after denying that he loves Lucie, Sydney switches clothes with Darnay and then drugs him, to the surprise of Barsad. Barsad delivers the unconscious Charles to Telson's Bank, where his family is waiting. Lucie believes it is Sydney who has returned and reads a letter from him which is delivered by Barsad. In the letter, he explains he had to do this and that she has meant more to him than anything else in his entire life (''The Letter'').
With both sadness for Sydney and joy for the opportunity for her life with Charles, Lucie and her family quickly leaves France. Madame Defarge arrives armed and vows to not let any of the Evremonde family escape. She and Miss Pross struggle over the pistol and Madame is killed. Ernest learns of Madame's death and calls-off the massive hunt for the Evremondes to have the opportunity to mourn his wife (''Defarge Goodbye - Lament'').
On the way to the gallows, a friendly and innocent seamstress realizes that Sydney is not Darnay, with whom she was imprisoned. However instead of betraying him, she calls him an angel and the two console each other. When she is called to the guillotine, Sydney bids her a final goodbye. He is next and as he climbs the stairs, he realizes the good that he has done for the woman who opened his eyes to so much love (''Finale - I Can't Recall [Reprise]'').
Dr. Kay Scarpetta is still shocked by the tragic loss of Benton Wesley. She is trying to carry on, but she gets a letter from Benton, written before his death and left to Senator Lord, who had agreed to deliver it a year after his death.
Dr Scarpetta and Marino start working on a new case after a body is found in a container arriving from Belgium. There is writing in the container that says ''"Bon voyage, le loup-garou"'' (Have a nice trip, the werewolf). The body has a strange tattoo and wears rich clothes and there are some baby-like hairs inside the garments. Kay and Marino get in touch with European Interpol and with Jay Talley, who calls them and makes them fly to Paris to meet the Chief Medical Examiner. They get to know that the body found in the container is a member of one of the richest and oldest families of Paris, the Chandonnes, who live in an ancient mansion on the Île St Louis. It is also rumored that this family has got a son with a rare disease that makes hair grow on his entire body (hypertrichosis). This person has always been hidden, and he is believed to have committed several murders. Kay and Jay have a short liaison, and it seems the man is really involved, while Dr Scarpetta tries to keep him at distance. Kay finds out that Lucy is in part involved in this case, since she is investigating a Miami group of weapons and drugs smugglers related to the Chandonnes, the "One Sixty-Fivers".
Back to Richmond, Virginia, Kay and Marino deal with the case of a woman brutalized and killed in a little shop and with attempts from a member of Dr. Scarpetta's team to sabotage her. Thanks to Marino, they learn that the new police chief, Diane Bray, is behind the sabotage because she wants to get control on how investigations and exams are held. Bray is also behind a drugs-smuggling operation, but she is killed with the same modus operandi as the young woman in the shop. It is clear that the killer is at large and trying to kill the people investigating the death of the man in the container.
Dr Scarpetta is in her house when the alarm rings. The police come quickly, but they find nothing. After a while, someone knocks at her door claiming to be a police officer and that someone had reported seeing a prowler. Kay does not realize that ''le loup garou'' is fluent in English, and she opens the door. She then realizes that she is under attack. During the struggle, Kay throws a bottle of formalin onto the ''loup garou's'' face, which temporarily blinds him.
She then runs out of the house, but falls and fractures her elbow, making her unable to fire her gun. At this time, Lucy and Jo return, and Lucy runs over and points a gun at the assailant's head, with the intention of killing him, but Marino and Kay convince her not to do it.
Successful and single 29-year-old Beth (Kristen Bell), an art curator at the Guggenheim, is at a point in her life where love seems like a luxury she can't afford. Waiting for the "perfect" romance has embittered her. After flying to Rome to be the maid of honor in her younger sister Joan's (Alexis Dziena) impulsive wedding, she meets 27-year-old Nicholas Beamon (Josh Duhamel), the best man. He rescues her in a couple of difficult situations but they are both clumsy. Still, they hit it off.
As Beth comes to believe in love again, she sees Nick kissing another woman, who turns out to be the groom's (Luca Calvani) "crazy cousin." Slightly drunk and jealous at seeing Nick with another woman, she picks up coins (a poker chip, a rare coin, a penny, a trick quarter and a Euro) from the "fountain of love" (based on the Trevi Fountain). Joan tells her that legend says if you take coins from the fountain, the owner of the coin will fall in love with you.
Beth is pursued back in New York City by a band of pushy suitors whose coins she gathered, including a diminutive sausage magnate Al (Danny DeVito), lanky street illusionist Lance (Jon Heder), a doting painter Antonio (Will Arnett), and a narcissistic male model Gale (Dax Shepard). She must return the coins to the fountain to break the spell. As she falls in love with Nick, she realizes that the poker chip belongs to him and is convinced that he is under a spell, not truly in love with her.
Joan calls Beth on the day of a gala and tells her that the spell can also be broken by returning the coins to the original owner. Stacey (Kate Micucci), Beth's secretary, concerned about her, overhears the conversation and steals the coins. She believes that Beth would lead a better life with people loving her, regardless of the spell.
When Beth's suitors all show up together at her apartment, she tells them she does not love them and plans to return their coins. She also tells them of her love for Nick, but realizes that Stacey has stolen the coins. She sets off to retrieve the coins, aided by her suitors. All pile into a yellow Vespa 400 microcar, which careens through city traffic, into the Guggenheim and up an elevator.
Stacey returns the coins and Beth gives them back to their respective owners. Left with the poker chip, she calls Nick and thanks him for making her believe in love again. Nick makes his way to the gala to search for Beth in a sudden lightning storm that hits New York. There he happens to pick up his poker chip, dropped by Beth, and convinces her his love was true.
On Beth and Nick's wedding day in Rome, Lance tells her he had several poker chips, and Nick did not break out of the spell. While exchanging wedding vows, Beth hesitates and dashes out of the church. She revisits the fountain and wades in again. Nick appears and joins her in the fountain. He said he had never thrown a chip in. He drops a poker chip in the water, and the priest is heard yelling, "Free of temptation!" Beth finally believes Nick and kisses him.
This novel is the final book of the Finders Stone Trilogy. Akabar bel Akash has visions that the god Moander is returning to the Realms, so he brings the band of adventurers back together again to counter this threat.
Galamoth plots to send his servant, the Time Reaper, from ten millennia in the future into the past to destroy his rival Dracula and change history. A man named Aeon discovers this and pulls together champions from different eras of history into a time rift, in order to find a chosen one capable of destroying the Time Reaper. Each character has their own unique storyline, cutscenes and ending sequence when playing through the game's story mode.
''Judgment'' features 13 playable characters, made up of heroes and bosses from throughout the ''Castlevania'' franchise's history, along with the new original character Aeon for a total of 14.
Other non-playable characters roam the game's stages, serving as obstacles that can be eliminated to replenish energy. These characters include common ''Castlevania'' enemies such as zombies, mermen and minotaurs.
The palace of the demanding and iron-fisted Russian czarina Catherine the Great is full of intrigue. Devoted chancellor Nicolai Ilyitch conducts delicate negotiations for a treaty with France while surreptitiously stealing from the imperial treasuries. General Michael Ronsky schemes to overthrow Catherine in a military coup and install his oafish nephew Boris as a figurehead. Countess Anna Jaschikoff is the czarina's confidante and lady-in-waiting, helping her navigate the social aspects of court life. When Catherine discards her latest lover, Variatinsky, commander of the palace guard, he responds by attempting to shoot himself, but he misses. Determined to conclude the Russian-French treaty by receiving the Marquis de Fleury, the French ambassador, Chancellor Nicolai orders that no only he and the ambassador may spend any time with the czarina. However, determined young lieutenant Alexei Chernoff, coincidentally Jaschikoff's fiancé, insists on an audience with Catherine, riding for three days and storming past palace security to speak to her.
Chernoff comes bearing news of Ronsky's nascent rebellion. It comes as no surprise to the czarina or to Chancellor Nicolai, who has already made an "arrangement" with Ronsky, but Catherine likes the patriotic and handsome lieutenant, promoting him to captain and asking him to prepare policy recommendations on foreign and domestic issues. Later, she seduces him, ensuring his promotion to general and installing him as the new commander of the palace guard. Countess Jaschikoff is infuriated and takes her anger out on Catherine, who responds by banishing her from court. Chancellor Nicolai, who has become outraged at Chernoff's reformist proposals, attempts to resign, but is compelled to stay on by Catherine, who ensures him that she is not taking Chernoff seriously as an advisor.
Elsewhere, Chernoff is being courted by Ronsky and the rebellious generals; they wish to use his position to ensure that the palace guard does not raise any physical resistance to their forces. To drive a wedge between Chernoff and Catherine, Ronsky introduces Chernoff to Variatinsky, who informs Chernoff in private of his intimate knowledge of Catherine. Chernoff attacks Variatinsky and begs Catherine to say that Variatinsky was lying, but the czarina candidly confirms his claims, describes Chernoff as a "nobody" whom she "made" prominent, and accidentally discloses that she has been discarding Chernoff's policy plans without reading them. Chernoff returns to Ronsky and pledges his support. Later that night, he dismisses the palace guard and arrests the czarina. Troops storm the palace, but they are loyal to Catherine; Chancellor Nicolai has leveraged his illicit control of Russia's finances for the allegiance of the rebels and then immediately betrayed them. The uprising is quelled.
Ronsky is made Chancellor Nicolai's servant, but a betrayed Catherine sentences Chernoff to death, a condemnation that he accepts as a traitor. Lobbying by Chancellor Nicolai and Countess Jaschikoff (who has returned from exile) convinces the czarina to pardon Chernoff. Finally, Catherine and the French ambassador conduct their long-delayed meeting. The diplomat, himself a young and handsome nobleman, greets Catherine with such obsequious flattery that the Czarina takes a romantic interest in him, and the film ends with Chancellor Nicolai leaving the two to flirt in privacy, confident that a relationship between the two will lead to the alliance for which he has long schemed.
The full-length silent film conceived in the UFA's cultural department shows sport, gymnastics and dance performances, but also the Roman bathing culture, in order to demonstrate not only intellectual education but also physical fitness based on the example of ancient gymnasiums and personal grooming. Physical exercise in the great outdoors was intended for preventive healthcare and prevent postural damage in adults caused by imbalanced seated occupations and the health promotion of children, but it was also a life-reforming (''Lebensreform'') alternative to the decadence of city life with anxieties, lack of exercise and tobacco consumption as well as national movement based on the model of gymnastics father Friedrich Ludwig Jahn. The film's scientific advisor was the German physician Nicholas Kaufmann, who also wrote the script. In contrast to traditional military sports, the film expressly addresses women, for example with gymnastics according to Bess Mensendieck, and shows sports training in a civilian function, for example for self-defense or rescue swimming.
Aesthetically, the film stages the human body in the style of classical antiquity by recreating numerous ancient scenarios and shows it extremely freely for the time. Studies in slow motion illustrate the muscular effect of individual exercises and movement sequences. The film features the first on-camera appearance of Leni Riefenstahl.
The film is divided into six parts with the titles:
Part one: The Ancient Greeks and the New Era Part two: physical training for the sake of health: hygienic gymnastics Part three: rhythmic gymnastics Part four: the dance Part five: sport Part six: fresh air, sun and water
In the fifth part, numerous athletes of their time are shown, for example:
High jump: Leroy Brown (U.S.), 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, 1.96 meters Charlie Paddock, America's best sprinter training Hubert Houben (Germany) beats the Olympic champions Paddock and Murchison (U.S.) as well as Porritt and Carr (Australia) in the 100-meter sprint H.H. Meyer, America's best hurdler Fencing: The Nadis' from Livorno, a family of famous fencers Aldo Nadi, the Italian champion *Nedo Nadi, the world champion, winner of the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm and 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp
In the sixth part "a good example of national leaders" like:
Arthur James Balfour playing tennis and David Lloyd George playing golf, as well John D. Rockefeller playing golf at the age of 85 the Norwegian royal family on skis Benito Mussolini on horseback (later cut out) as well as the German poet and Nobel Prize in Literature Gerhart Hauptmann and his wife on the beach in Rapallo