title: New Girl

text: New Girl is an American television sitcom created by Elizabeth Meriwether and produced by 20th Television for Fox that originally aired from September 20, 2011, to May 15, 2018. The series revolves around a kooky teacher, Jessica Day (Zooey Deschanel), after she moves into a Los Angeles loft with three men, Nick Miller (Jake Johnson), Winston Schmidt (Max Greenfield), and Winston Bishop (Lamorne Morris); their former roommate Coach (Damon Wayans Jr.) and Jess' best friend Cece Parekh (Hannah Simone) are also part of the series. The show combines comedy and drama elements as the characters, who are in their early thirties, deal with relationship issues and career choices. "New Girl" is a joint production between Elizabeth Meriwether Pictures and 20th Century Fox Television and is syndicated by 20th Television.


title: New Girl

text: Produced in Los Angeles as a single-camera comedy, "New Girl" is an ensemble show aimed at a general audience. Most episodes are anchored around Jess, who, according to series creator Meriwether, would have played a side character on other shows. The show's first marketing push was on Zooey Deschanel and the promotional tagline "Simply Adorkable". The producers rejected early criticism of Jess's girlishness, insisting that Jess was not meant to be emblematic of all women. Instead, they aimed to portray realistic, emotionally driven characters and to approach the show from that angle rather than simply firing off punchlines.


title: New Girl

text: "New Girl" has received acclaim from critics and was named one of the best new comedies of the 2011 fall season. The pilot episode drew 10.28 million U.S. viewers and a 4.8 adults 18–49 demo rating, making it the highest-rated fall debut for a Fox scripted show since 2001. Particular praise has been given to the performances of Deschanel, Greenfield, Simone, Johnson and Morris. Max Greenfield was considered the show's breakout star in season 1, before critics named Jake Johnson the breakout star of season 2. The show has been nominated for several awards, including five Golden Globe Awards and five Primetime Emmy Awards.


title: New Girl

text: On May 14, 2017, Fox renewed the series for a seventh and final season consisting of eight episodes, which premiered on April 10, 2018. The show has garnered an increased mainstream following since its inclusion on Netflix, becoming one of the most popular shows on the platform. The series finale aired on May 15, 2018.


title: New Girl

text: Jessica "Jess" Day (Zooey Deschanel) is a bubbly and quirky teacher in her early 30s who comes home to find her boyfriend, Spencer, with another woman and leaves him immediately to look for somewhere else to live. After answering an ad for a new roommate on Craigslist, she finds herself moving into a loft in Los Angeles with three men around her own age: Nick, Schmidt, and Coach. After the pilot episode, Winston, a former roommate and Nick's childhood friend, replaces Coach, who had vacated the apartment to live with his girlfriend. Cece, Jess's childhood best friend and a successful fashion model, frequently visits Jess and the guys.


title: New Girl

text: The series follows the group's amusing interactions with each other as they become closer friends, and their romantic relationships. Midway through season 1, Schmidt and Cece get involved in a mostly sexual relationship but break up at the end of the season. In Season 2, Jess is laid off from her teaching job; she and the others get involved in mostly temporary relationships, although Cece enters an arranged marriage engagement to Shivrang (Satya Bhabha) that is broken up at their wedding in the season 2 finale. The season 2 finale features Taylor Swift, Shivrang's love interest when he and Cece do not go through with their wedding. Cece realizes that she loves Schmidt because of how selfless he is. Jess and Nick become romantically attracted to each other, making their relationship official at the end of season 2, and it lasts through most of season 3. Coach returns to the loft in season 3 after revealing that he had broken up with his girlfriend and stays through season 4 where he moves out to be with another girl, May (Meaghan Rath). After bouncing around several random jobs, Winston works to become a police officer with the LAPD, and falls in love with his partner Aly (Nasim Pedrad). At the end of season 4, Schmidt proposes to Cece, and they marry at the end of season 5. Schmidt's famous line to Cece is that "being brown, you have the wisdom of 100 white women." Also, in season 5, while Jess is on jury duty, the group brings in temporary roommate Reagan Lucas (Megan Fox), whom Nick becomes interested in. For a while,Reagan becomes Nick's love interest but they break up. In season 6, Schmidt and Cece buy a house together that they have to remodel, living with the gang in the meantime. Season 7 advances the storyline three years later where Schmidt and Cece have a three-year-old daughter named Ruth, Winston and Aly are expecting their first baby, and Nick proposes to Jess.


title: New Girl

text: 20th Century Fox Television first approached playwright Elizabeth Meriwether in 2008 to develop a pilot that was eventually shelved. After Meriwether's success with the 2011 romantic comedy film " No Strings Attached", 20th Century Fox approached her once more, and she pitched an idea for a TV sitcom about an "offbeat girl moving in with three single guys", inspired by her experience of "bouncing from Craigslist sublet to Craigslist sublet, for four years in L.A." when she was in her twenties. This show was initially called "Chicks and Dicks", and two of the characters were already similar to the final characters of Jess and Schmidt. The initial idea was a "Will & Grace"-style comedy inspired by Meriwether's close friendship with a guy after their exes started dating each other. The FOX network liked the script and pursued Zooey Deschanel for the role of Jess, to whose story Meriwether felt most connected. As the script developed, the plot moved on from being about the sexual endeavors of the roommates and became more socially oriented, so the title was changed to "New Girl".


title: New Girl

text: As Fox greenlit the show in 2011 and ordered an initial 13 episodes, Meriwether approached Jake Kasdan, whom she admired for his work on "Freaks and Geeks" blending comedy and emotion, to shoot the pilot and subsequent episodes. "30 Rock" Brett Baer and Dave Finkel became co-showrunners, although Meriwether is still regarded as the voice behind "New Girl". According to "The New Republic", Kasdan "helped develop the feel of the show, which is lit more darkly and cinematically than the average sitcom", and Meriwether found the show working best "when you're laughing, but you're a little sad about it". The show attempts to combine "comedy and drama as the five characters explore the difficulties of the decade between 30 and 40, which is when many people take their biggest steps toward maturity" in regards to relationships and careers, which, unlike "Friends", is giving the show a "built-in biological clock". Kasdan said that "Their lives are moving forward, [but] they're still trying to hang on to some kind of crazy youth" although he does not "want them ever to seem pathetic."


title: New Girl

text: Screenwriters Stephanie Counts and Shari Gold filed an 87-page lawsuit in January 2014, claiming that "New Girl" was based on their 2006 script for a proposed television series. There were a number of similarities, including the number of roommates, similar backgrounds, appearance, and ethnicity. Additionally, Jess's long-term partner in the New Girl pilot had the same name (Spencer) and they broke up for similar reasons (partner's infidelity). Fox and talent agency William Morris Endeavor Entertainment LLC responded in April 2014 that in their view, the two works were not substantially similar and that any other similarities stemmed from non-protectable ideas, or "scenes a faire". Thus, they pleaded that the judge dismiss the case. The case was dismissed with leave to amend in 2014. An amended complaint was filed in 2014 and decided by summary judgment against Counts and Gold on December 30, 2015. In March 2016, Counts and Gold were ordered to pay approximately $800,000 in attorney's fees.


title: New Girl

text: Movie actress and singer-songwriter Zooey Deschanel was in the process of developing an HBO show when she read the "New Girl" pilot script and responded to the material. The character of Jess was not specifically written for Deschanel, but the producers found it a great match and needed little fine-tuning. With the support from Fox, Meriwether wanted to make Jess a unique, interesting and funny female character that would have been the side character on other shows. Deschanel became a producer on the show and helped build the character, requesting to not play the classic wife character who would be ignored by the guys she tries to keep out of trouble. Meriwether's goal was to write about herself from an honest perspective, with Jess mirroring her at the start and later Deschanel until Jess turned into a "hybrid of me and Zooey, the writers, and the editor". Deschanel described Jess as a part of her, especially in regards to "the sort of enthusiasm and optimism" of her youth. She does not shy away from playing embarrassing scenes or being unattractive, and Kasdan said that "This show advocates for the attractive dork." Although Meriwether had always imagined the show as an ensemble show, Fox would later focus its first marketing push on Zooey Deschanel and gave the show the promotional tagline "Simply Adorkable."


title: New Girl

text: With Kasdan's advice to cast good actors and write for them instead of shoehorning them into the other roles, Meriwether was prepared to deviate from her pitched characters during casting. Basing Nick Miller on a friend also surnamed Miller, she originally imagined Nick as the smartest one of the group who doesn't need to say that and thought of him as "the everyman one, who's stepping away and commenting on what all the crazy people are doing around him." She sent the "New Girl" pilot script to movie actor Jake Johnson, with whom she had enjoyed working on "No Strings Attached". As he had never auditioned for a TV pilot, she guided him through the audition process. Casting was done mainly through chemistry tests, and Johnson auditioned with Max Greenfield, who impressed the producers in his first audition as Schmidt. The actors auditioning for Schmidt were more varied in appearance than those auditioning for Nick, and Johnson and Greenfield were initially worried that they looked too much alike. Johnson got the role of Nick after he agreed to lose 15 pounds at the network's request; Greenfield learned the same day that he was cast.


title: New Girl

text: Casting the role of the "Coach" character took longer. Meriwether originally envisioned Coach as "a fat Jewish guy, like a manchild" and later as "this dumb jock [with] crazy rage problems". David Neher (who would play Schmidt's so-called "fremesis," Benjamin, in four episodes) was among the 400 actors auditioning for Coach before the producers settled on Damon Wayans Jr. Wayans was expecting his show, the ABC sitcom "Happy Endings", to be cancelled. When that show was renewed for a second season, Wayans' spot was replaced with Lamorne Morris, who had also read for Coach but had been unavailable for filming the pilot. Meriwether estimated that about 80 percent of the pilot would have needed to be re-shot in order to remove Wayans from the episode, since he was in one of the leading roles of the show. As the producers also liked reflecting the frequent apartment changes in young people's lives, Meriwether, 20th Century Fox and the studio decided to keep the characters and the plot of the pilot episode as they were. Morris joined the show in the second episode of the series when the producers had already broken seven episodes without knowing what the actor was going to be able to do. Wayans returned to "New Girl" in season 3 for a season-long arc after "Happy Endings" had been cancelled, and was officially added as a regular for season 4.


title: New Girl

text: The "New Girl" production offices were on the Fox lot in Los Angeles. "New Girl" had 11 writers during its first season and 15 during the second seasonincluding Elizabeth Meriwether, Brett Baer, and Dave Finkel. Stories were developed in a collaborative effort and are aimed at viewers of both sexes. The first season had no planned story arcs, but focused on setting up the characters, while the second season was to show different sides of the characters. Overarching storylines usually culminated at a season's end; the actors were generally not told the ending. Creator/showrunner Meriwether said the writers did not "have a lot of plans. I think we really just to try to go where the show wants to go." The writers challenged themselves to create new stories and to change the show's dynamics to keep things fresh, while aiming to be "as emotionally real as possible" with "Every story having to feel like it was grounded in some emotional arc as opposed to going from the joke into the story." As the show's jokes rely on the actors' performance instead of perfectly constructed punch lines, Meriwether looked for the actors' strengths before writing. The A story generally revolved around Jess and had an emotional core. Still, Meriwether saw the show as an ensemble about friendship with "everybody having their own stories and people being interested in all of the characters."


title: New Girl

text: Each "New Girl" episode started out as a pitch page, went through stages of an outline and a final draft before being filmed and edited, a process which could take weeks. Each stage was approved by Meriwether and her co-showrunners, by the production company Chernin, the Fox studio and the Fox network. One group of writers worked on alternate punchlines ("alts"), while another group reworked a draft until they find the funniest and most emotionally resonant version. All characters are tried to be tied into the story, and determining their motivation is the major goal so that people will laugh. Before taking the script to the table read with the whole cast on Tuesday, the main writers of an episode continued working on the draft over the weekend and the executive producers polish it. During the first season, Meriwether usually made a final pass at the draft alone because of her film and theater background. The actors' performance influences new story ideas; the actors may also hand in story ideas.


title: New Girl

text: The main set, which was built for the pilot and is to represent a factory-turned-loft in downtown Los Angeles, got reused once the show was given a full season. The apartment building exterior is the Binford Building, located at 837 Traction Avenue in the city's Arts District, with interior shots done in a studio set. The exterior shots for the bar where Nick works is of The Griffin, located in Atwater Village. The interior shots of the bar are originally from a restaurant called The Prince in Koreatown, and were recreated in a studio set after the first season.


title: New Girl

text: As a single-camera comedy, "New Girl" is neither performed in front of a studio audience nor has a laugh track. Some scenes are cross-covered (i.e. are filmed with a shooting camera on each person at the same time), to allow for better improvisations. Handheld cameras are avoided for a more filmic look.


title: New Girl

text: The actors first receive the script in form of a table draft and film the episode the next Monday, by which time the story may have changed drastically. The script keeps evolving during shooting. The actors first perform scenes as written, then act out the alts or improvise, to later allow the producers and editors to choose the gags that ultimately work best. Morris estimated that 20 percent of each episode are improv. Episodes are generally shot over five days, which may increase to several weeks if weather conditions delay filming outdoor scenes. The scenes are put together in the editing room until they achieve the emotional and comedic tone the producers are looking for. The first cut of generally 27 minutes has to be cut down to the air version's 21 minutes and 35 seconds, which may air as little as a few days later. Only upon completion do the producers know what version ends up in the episode.


title: New Girl

text: "True American" is a fictional, convoluted drinking game that the "New Girl" characters first played in the season 1 episode 20, "Normal". In September 2012, producer Brett Baer felt the concept of the game "deserves its own episode at some point", but the writers were reluctant to repeat the established rules and rather wanted to make it fresh. A version for the 2012 U.S. Presidential Election was planned but never made. The game's eventual second appearance in season 2's "Cooler" was played with the strip-poker version "Clinton Rules", but the exact rules remain unclear even to the actors. "True American" with updated rules and the resulting hangover were featured in season 3's "Mars Landing". The writers started to do new "True American" episodes once each year.


title: New Girl

text: After "Normal" aired, internet sources began to summarize the rules for "True American", which the characters described as a mix of a drinking game and Candy Land where the floor is lava; it also involves shouting the names of American presidents. The idea of "True American" came from a "New Girl" writer who played a similar game in college. As she could not remember the game's exact rules, the writers focused on making the game as funny on the page as possible, but only established chanting "JFK! FDR!" and walking on chairs. As the cast did not understand the game during shooting, the writers created more rules on the spot, advised the actors to "have fun, dig in, jump in" and play it as if "they'd been playing this thing for years and years and years." The high-energy feel of the game and the amounts of coverage made filming "True American" more challenging for the actors than normal episodes. Producers Dave Finkel, Brett Baer, and writer Luvh Rakhe, came up with most of the obscure American history facts, but much was cut from the finished episode.


title: New Girl

text: Fox subsequently released a set of official rules for the game, which can be summarized "There are no real rules". When the promotional "New Girl True American Bus Tour" went through 19 American cities in 2012, the writers stated lack of time rather than not knowing the rules for not writing down the rules. Liz Meriwether said the game would not be easier to comprehend in later appearances, as the writers' goal is to actually make it harder to understand. She agreed with "The A.V. Club" that "It's much funnier if the rules make no sense." As more people attempted playing the game in real life, Baer pointed out that most people were "getting too drunk too fast" and did not focus enough on strategy, so the writers were thinking of establishing more rules for guidance. Meriwether advised to "just trust your hearts, get really wasted, and look inside yourselves. I think you'll find the rules were there all along."


title: New Girl

text: Creator Elizabeth Meriwether sees Nick, Schmidt and Winston "on the weirder side of things". The producers started learning more about the characters by seeing the actors' work and that "We probably rely on them more than we should" to define the characters. For example, the producers found more variety in Nick's character in season 1 and enjoyed Johnson's improvisations, so they relayed Coach's attributed rage issues to Nick. Nick is a childhood friend of Winston, has been best friends with Schmidt since his college days and becomes close to Jess, so his character connects the most with the other loft mates and is often part of their stories. Jake Johnson (Nick) noted the contrast to the original plans for his character, as season 1 turned Nick into "an idiot, he's not keeping anyone together", and that he did not fully understand his character in season 1, partly because the character might not have figured himself out at the age of 30. Johnson felt that initially it seemed like Nick hated Schmidt for being a douchebag, but the show later teamed them up like The Odd Couple, showing their genuine friendship and simultaneous idiocy as they get into trouble. According to Johnson, he and Max Greenfield (Schmidt) "couldn't be more different [as actors] and it's very much like Nick and Schmidt, but we both really get a kick out of the other guy" on set.


title: New Girl

text: Winston came into New Girl later on, the writers developed the Nick–Winston dynamic in season 1 and sought to figure out Winston's relationship with the other loft mates in season 2. The writers noticed late during the first season that Morris seemed better suited to play a smart character and act as the loft's voice of reason, although Meriwether found that when Winston "finally does blow up, he's crazier than all of them" and that he works better "in these kind of crazy, comedic runners, small pieces of the episode" that contrast the relationship dramas of the other main characters. The Winston–Schmidt friendship was developed significantly in the second half of season 2 when the story focus moved to Nick and Jess. The Nick–Jess relationship affects the three guys' friendship as Nick starts being more considerate of Jess' feelings regarding shenanigans. Damon Wayans Jr. was planned to reprise his role as Coach in at least four episodes in the third season, according to Meriwether "at a time when the roommates are at odds with each other" and "The guys are all fighting for his friendship." The three guys will get intimidated by Coach's return, as he has "this alpha male aggression" and is "that macho, tough-talking guy that they all think is so cool".


title: New Girl

text: With Meriwether's openness regarding straight and gay communities, "New Girl" also plays with the guys' sexual orientation for humor. One of Winston's recurring alternate persona is Nick's gay lover "Theodore K. Mullins", which started out as an improv of Lamorne Morris (Winston). Johnson thought that Nick and Schmidt had "a pretty funny bromance" with "their own little weird will-they-won't-they". Greenfield improvised kissing Nick a lot in season 1 until the writers (“finally” according to Greenfield) started putting Schmidt–Nick kisses into the script, so that they shared more kisses than Nick and Jess did in the first two seasons. The season 2 episode "Models" came about when Meriwether thought the show "needed a love story between Nick and Schmidt or something. We wanted to tell it like a classic rom-com story about Nick and Schmidt and their love of each other".


title: New Girl

text: The "New Girl" pilot was released via on-demand, iTunes, and TiVo on September 6, 2011 before its September 20 premiere on Fox in the United States and on City in Canada. Other international broadcasters include Channel 4 and E4 in the United Kingdom, RTÉ2 in the Republic of Ireland, Network Ten and Eleven in Australia, and Four in New Zealand. The pilot episode drew 10.28 million U.S. viewers and a 4.8 adults 18–49 demo rating, making it the highest-rated fall debut for a Fox scripted show since "The Bernie Mac Show" in 2001. The second episode made "New Girl" the top-rated show on television in the marketing-important 18–49 demographic, improved the rating of its lead-in hit series "Glee" and beat the long-running hit series "NCIS" and "Dancing with the Stars". At this time, Fox ordered 11 additional episodes to the initial 13-episode order, bringing the first season to 24 episodes.


title: New Girl

text: The ratings dropped considerably when the show took a break for baseball, plunging almost 20 percent to a 2.1 rating in the 18–49 audience group. During the 2011–12 television season, "New Girl" averaged 8.22 million viewers and a 4.2 adults 18–49 demo rating. In 18–49 demo, it ranked as the fifth highest rated show on Fox and 13th overall. On April 9, 2012, "New Girl" was officially renewed for a second season of 24 episodes; Fox ordered one more episode during the second half of the season.


title: New Girl

text: On March 4, 2013, the series was renewed for a third season, which premiered on September 17, 2013. "New Girl" ratings were cited as an example for changed audience behavior: when including its Live+7 (days) results instead of just Live+SD (same day), the show's viewership almost doubled in the week of October 13–20, 2013, by jumping 89 percent, that week's the biggest percentage gain, to a 3.6 demo rating. The total audience of the episode "Sister" grew by 112 percent over thirty days on multi platforms, compared to the Live+SD rating of 3.4. The post-Super Bowl episode "Prince" holds the show's Live+SD viewership record of 26.30 million viewers. "New Girl" was renewed for a fourth season on March 7, 2014, and renewed for a fifth season on March 31, 2015.


title: New Girl

text: The series was added to TBS's line-up on August 17, 2015. Additionally, the sitcom was added to MTV in the fall of 2015.In Germany, the show was syndicated on Disney Channel.


title: New Girl

text: On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, season one holds an approval rating of 84% based on 32 reviews, with an average rating of 6.83/10.


title: New Girl

text: The site's critical consensus reads, "Zooey Deschanel's offbeat style gets a worthy showcase in "New Girl", and while it can get awfully cutesy at times, the show benefits from witty writing and a strong supporting cast." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the season a score of 66 out of 100 based on 25 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: New Girl

text: In June 2011, "New Girl" was one of eight honorees in the "most exciting new series" category at the 1st Critics' Choice Television Awards, voted by journalists who had seen the pilots. Robert Bianco of "USA Today" considered "New Girl" "fall's most promising new series" and praised how Deschanel and Meriwether "have shaped Jess into something we haven't quite seen before – a woman who is sweet yet crass, innocent yet sexy, beautiful yet clumsy, and brash yet irresistibly adorable." However, he noted how "Some people will be resistant to Deschanel's doe-eyed charm; others have a congenital need to insult anyone who most everyone else is praising, particularly if doing so gets them attention." "The Hollywood Reporter" Tim Goodman saw the show as a "mostly romantic comedy", and although Jess' adorability "might seem like a thin premise, [...] Meriwether manages to make the situations funny and lets Deschanel channel her charm – a winning combination." David Wiegand of the "San Francisco Chronicle" would rather see the show tone down. He felt "the show's fundamental setup isn't all that inspired, but it could work with smarter writing and better direction, especially with regard to Deschanel", who, in his opinion, overplayed Jess' weird habits "to the point of overkill within the first 10 minutes of the show".


title: New Girl

text: Alan Sepinwall of HitFix considered "New Girl" "the best new comedy of the fall season, and the only new show I genuinely enjoyed from start to finish" because it was so well developed from the start. He praised Deschanel's "wonderful comic performance" and said that while the supporting actors "all bounce nicely off of Deschanel", the scenes without Deschanel around them fell flat for him. Writing for the "Daily News", David Hinckley lauded how none of the characters "settle in as the stereotypes they could easily become", and presumed that all of them would evolve and get smarter as the show progresses. Lori Rack of the "Chicago Sun-Times" praised the actors' comedic timing and playing off each other. Despite the guys sounding "like nightmares" on paper, "they have endearing, vulnerable cores that make them likable, and occasionally, lovable. [...] "New Girl" didn't give me as many laugh-out-loud moments as some comedies", but instead made her "feel warm and fuzzy". Rob Owen of the "Pittsburgh Post-Gazette" said the show's pilot was "more charming than hilarious" and "cuter than it is funny, but when it does conjure laughs, its style of humor is reminiscent of ABC's "Happy Endings"".


title: New Girl

text: Critics questioned the portrayal of Jess' girlishness early on. Phillip Maciak of "Slant Magazine" initially expected "New Girl" as one of 2011's many new female-centric shows to "be an exemplar of this new age of empowerment", but found instead that ""New Girl" presents us with a narratively scattered, male fantasy of a show about a cooing woman-child in a polka-dot skirt who literally can't say the word 'penis' without giggling." Meriwether stated it was not the show's goal to create a symbol and, pointing to gender double standards, rejected opinions that Jess was emblematic of all women. She "was really just writing about myself, and so my main goal is just to give Zooey, really fun, interesting things to do every week, and then just be really honest with myself about the character and present an interesting, funny female character on television." Critics felt the first-season episode "Jess & Julia" was a meta reference to Jess' girliness and the initial "adorkable" ad campaign for "New Girl", but Meriwether stated the episode was more a response to a controversial New York magazine cover story about Deschanel's personality and her views on women's issues.


title: New Girl

text: Summarizing the first two seasons, Jon Caramanica of "The New York Times" said "Jess fit into no known mode, sitcom or interpersonal. For much of the [first] season, she remained a cipher. Her interactions with the rest of the crew were unfailingly odd—there was no common language, and that was the root of the show's comedic alchemy, or lack thereof. By the end of that first season, Jess' sharp angles had been sandpapered down a bit, but the show's second season [...] represented a change in approach that has rescued "New Girl" from its whimsy and turned it into one of the most reliable and reliably affecting sitcoms on television. At root, these changes sprang from the recognition that Ms. Deschanel's charms lie not in her quirk but in her empathy and warmth." "Variety" Cynthia Littleton summarized that "The show has drawn praise from critics for its deft mix of offbeat humor that captures the voice of contempo 20-somethings and laugh-out-loud moments, aided by Deschanel's flair for physical comedy." "HuffPost" Maureen Ryan said "New Girl" second season was "doing an ace job of mixing sharp comedic moments and goofball weirdness with excellent character-building."


title: New Girl

text: Many critics considered Max Greenfield the show's breakout star in season 1; "The A.V. Club" even named Greenfield's Schmidt "the year's breakout TV character" as a "douchebag with a heart of gold". "Salon" described Schmidt as "a sort of self-created alpha male and a collection of beta male qualities [... which] are performed with such conviction they congeal into a sort of deranged machismo, one slathered in sandalwood-scented lotion. As part of this transition, Schmidt has gone from being a douchebag in the classic model—a guy who, in the pilot, constantly wanted to show off his pecs and scam girls, and seemed capable of doing so—to a douche of a more unique variety." "The Huffington Post" Maureen Ryan said how "Schmidt could have easily been 'the dumb guy', or the show could have exploited his status as an eminently mockable douche. But thanks to Max Greenfield's endearing depiction of the would-be lady-killer, there's a lot more the writers have been able to do with the character." Caramanica lamented how Winston as the lone black character "is still an outlier, though far less so than in the first season. He's a sharp foil when other characters, especially Schmidt, get too racially comfortable."


title: New Girl

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, season two holds an approval rating of 88% based on 16 reviews, with an average rating of 6.56/10.


title: New Girl

text: The site's critical consensus reads, ""New Girl"s terrific ensemble cast remains its most valuable asset, and the show is buoyed by a deeper, more relatable central performance from lead Zooey Deschanel in its sophomore season." After the teasing of the Nick–Jess relationship in the first season, critics named Jake Johnson the breakout star of season 2 as the characters' romance unfolded. Saying that "Not since Ross and Rachel's tango on "Friends" has watching a comedy romance been so satisfying", "The Hollywood Reporter" said the producers "did the impossible by engaging their leads in a love story, which only strengthened the artistry of the single-cam comedy". "The New York Times" said season 2 "erupted in fantastic and bizarre fits and starts" because of the characters' unmatched personalities, and lauded the writers for not playing up the will-they-or-won't-they dynamic. By emphasizing "how" the characters got together, the show "made for hilarious setups [that occasionally led] to high-level Abbott and Costello slapstick. They have a modern love. [...] Together, they are fully functional. They make each other human." "The Huffington Post" Maureen Ryan was unconcerned about getting Jess and Nick together, as because of immaturity "they're bound to keep on making a lot of amusing and painful mistakes, sometimes with each other. Those choices can be both hilarious and sad, and "New Girl" has gotten a lot of mileage out of both those areas." The continued Nick–Jess relationship was criticized in season 3 for dropping the characters' personalities, lack of tension, and for neglecting the show's female friendship between Jess and Cece. "TV Guide" Natalie Abrams felt that during the first half of season 3 that "bringing them together caused that [former] spark [between them] to diminish", while "Hitfix" Alan Sepinwall and "The A.V. Club" David Sims found that the show's perceived decline in quality had less to do with the Nick–Jess relationship but with the handling of Schmidt's cheating arc and the re-introduction of Coach.


title: New Girl

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, season three holds an approval rating of 88% based on 14 reviews, with an average rating of 6.46/10.


title: New Girl

text: The site's critical consensus reads, "Though it falls within a common sitcom template, "New Girl" brings laughter by spotlighting funny and genuine characters that are imperfect in relatable ways." Season four holds an approval rating of 100% based on 10 reviews, with an average rating of 6.67/10. The site's critical consensus reads, ""New Girl"s fourth season benefits from a renewed cast chemistry reminiscent of season two." The series' seventh and final season has an approval rating of 100% based on 10 reviews, with an average rating of 6.78, and a critical consensus of, "After seven years of friendship, "New Girl" signs off with a thoughtful, funny final season that bids a proper adieu to its colorful cast of characters."


title: New Girl

text: "Variety" has quoted Zooey Deschanel saying that "we were ready for it to be the end, in a bittersweet way...It was like finishing a marathon, like we did this really long run for seven years and we've played these characters a long time. It's not like there was any unfinished business".


title: New Girl

text: The show has been nominated for several awards, including five Golden Globe Awards and five Primetime Emmy Awards.


title: Nintendo DS

text: The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens working in tandem (the bottom one being a touchscreen), a built-in microphone and support for wireless connectivity. Both screens are encompassed within a clamshell design similar to the Game Boy Advance SP. The Nintendo DS also features the ability for multiple DS consoles to directly interact with each other over Wi-Fi within a short range without the need to connect to an existing wireless network. Alternatively, they could interact online using the now-defunct Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service. Its main competitor was Sony's PlayStation Portable during the seventh generation of video game consoles.


title: Nintendo DS

text: Prior to its release, the Nintendo DS was marketed as an experimental "third pillar" in Nintendo's console lineup, meant to complement the Game Boy Advance family and GameCube. However, backward compatibility with Game Boy Advance titles and strong sales ultimately established it as the successor to the Game Boy series. On March 2, 2006, Nintendo launched the Nintendo DS Lite, a slimmer and lighter redesign of the original Nintendo DS with brighter screens and a longer lasting battery. On November 1, 2008, Nintendo released the Nintendo DSi, another redesign with several hardware improvements and new features, although it lost backwards compatibility for Game Boy Advance titles and a few DS games that used the GBA slot. On November 21, 2009, Nintendo released the Nintendo DSi XL, a larger version of the DSi.


title: Nintendo DS

text: All Nintendo DS models combined have sold 154.02 million units, making it the best-selling Nintendo system, the best-selling handheld game console to date, and the second best-selling video game console of all time, overall, behind Sony's PlayStation 2. The Nintendo DS was succeeded by the Nintendo 3DS in February 2011.


title: Nintendo DS

text: Development on the Nintendo DS began around mid-2002, following an original idea from former Nintendo president Hiroshi Yamauchi about a dual-screened console. On November 13, 2003, Nintendo announced that it would be releasing a new game product in 2004. The company did not provide many details, but stated it would not succeed the Game Boy Advance or GameCube. On January 20, 2004, the console was announced under the codename "Nintendo DS". Nintendo released only a few details at that time, saying that the console would have two separate, 3-inch TFT LCD display panels, separate processors, and up to 1 gigabit (128MB) of semiconductor memory. Current Nintendo president at the time, Satoru Iwata, said, "We have developed Nintendo DS based upon a completely different concept from existing game devices in order to provide players with a unique entertainment experience for the 21st century." He also expressed optimism that the DS would help put Nintendo back at the forefront of innovation and move away from the conservative image that has been described about the company in years past. In March 2004, a document containing most of the console's technical specifications was leaked, also revealing its internal development name, "Nitro". In May 2004, the console was shown in prototype form at E3 2004, still under the name "Nintendo DS". On July 28, 2004, Nintendo revealed a new design that was described as "sleeker and more elegant" than the one shown at E3 and announced Nintendo DS as the device's official name. Following lukewarm GameCube sales, Hiroshi Yamauchi stressed the importance of its success to the company's future, making a statement which can be translated from Japanese as, "If the DS succeeds, we will rise to heaven, but if it fails we will sink to hell."


title: Nintendo DS

text: President Iwata referred to Nintendo DS as "Nintendo's first hardware launch in support of the basic strategy 'Gaming Population Expansion because the touch-based device "allows users to play intuitively". On September 20, 2004, Nintendo announced that the Nintendo DS would be released in North America on November 21, 2004, for US$149.99. It was set to release on December 2, 2004, in Japan for JP¥15,000; on February 24, 2005, in Australia for A$199.95; and on March 11, 2005, in Europe for €149.99 (£99.99 in the United Kingdom). The console was released in North America with a midnight launch event at Universal CityWalk EB Games in Los Angeles, California. The console was launched quietly in Japan compared to the North America launch; one source cited the cold weather as the reason. Regarding the European launch, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said this:


title: Nintendo DS

text: The Nintendo DS was launched in North America for US$149.99 on November 21, 2004; in Japan for JP¥15,000 on December 2 in the color "Titanium". Well over three million preorders were taken in North America and Japan; preorders at online stores were launched on November 3 and ended the same day as merchants had already sold their allotment. Initially, Nintendo planned to deliver one million units combined at the North American and Japanese launches; when it saw the preorder numbers, it brought another factory online to ramp up production. Nintendo originally slated 300,000 units for the U.S. debut; 550,000 were shipped, and just over 500,000 of those sold through in the first week. Later in 2005, the manufacturer suggested retail price for the Nintendo DS was dropped to US$129.99.


title: Nintendo DS

text: Both launches proved to be successful, but Nintendo chose to release the DS in North America prior to Japan, a first for a hardware launch from the Kyoto-based company. This choice was made to get the DS out for the largest shopping day of the year in the U.S. (the day after Thanksgiving, also known as "Black Friday"). Perhaps partly due to the release date, the DS met unexpectedly high demand in the United States, selling 1 million units by December 21, 2004. By the end of December, the total number shipped worldwide was 2.8 million, about 800,000 more than Nintendo's original forecast. At least 1.2 million of them were sold in the U.S. Some industry reporters referred to it as "the Tickle Me Elmo of 2004". In June 2005, Nintendo informed the press that a total of 6.65 million units had been sold worldwide.


title: Nintendo DS

text: As is normal for electronics, some were reported as having problems with stuck pixels in either of the two screens. Return policies for LCD displays vary between manufacturers and regions, however, in North America, Nintendo has chosen to replace a system with fixed pixels only if the owner claims that it interferes with their gaming experience. There were two exchange programs in place for North America. In the first, the owner of the defective DS in question would provide a valid credit card number and, afterward, Nintendo would ship a new DS system to the owner with shipping supplies to return the defective system. In the second, the owner of the defective DS in question would have shipped their system to Nintendo for inspection. After inspection, Nintendo technicians would have either shipped a replacement system or fixed the defective system. The first option allowed the owner to have a new DS in 3–5 business days.


title: Nintendo DS

text: Multiple games were released alongside the DS during its North American launch on November 21, 2004. At launch there was one pack-in demo, in addition to the built-in PictoChat program: "Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt" (published by Nintendo and is a demo for "Metroid Prime Hunters", a game released in March 2006). At the time of the "Electric Blue" DS launch in June 2005, Nintendo bundled the system with "Super Mario 64 DS".


title: Nintendo DS

text: In Japan, the games were released at the same time as the system's first release (December 2, 2004). In the launch period, "The Prince of Tennis 2005 -Crystal Drive-" (Konami) and "Puyo Puyo Fever" (Puyo Pop Fever) (Sega) were released.


title: Nintendo DS

text: The DS was released in Europe on March 11, 2005, for €149. A small supply of units was available prior to this in a package with a promotional "VIP" T-shirt, "Metroid Prime Hunters - First Hunt", a "" demo and a pre-release version of "Super Mario 64 DS", through the Nintendo Stars Catalogue; the bundle was priced at £129.99 for the UK and €189.99 for the rest of Europe, plus 1,000 of Nintendo's "star" loyalty points (to cover postage). On 23 January, 2006, 1 million DS units had been sold in Europe, setting a sales record for a handheld console.


title: Nintendo DS

text: The European release of the DS, like the U.S., was originally packaged with a "" demo. The European packaging for the console is noticeably more "aggressive" than that of the U.S./Japanese release. The European game cases are additionally about 1/4 inch thicker than their North American counterparts and transparent rather than solid black. Inside the case, there is room for one Game Boy Advance game pak and a DS card with the instructions on the left side of the case.


title: Nintendo DS

text: The DS launched in Australia and New Zealand on February 24, 2005. It retailed in Australia for AU$199 and in New Zealand for NZ$249. Like the North American launch, it includes the "Metroid Prime Hunters - First Hunt" demo. The first week of sales for the system broke Australian launch sales records for a console, with 19,191 units sold by the 27th.


title: Nintendo DS

text: "iQue DS", the official name of the Chinese Nintendo DS, was released in China on June 15, 2005. The price of the iQue DS was 980 RMB (roughly US$130) as of April 2006. This version of the DS includes updated firmware to block out the use of the PassMe device, along with the new Red DS. Chinese launch games were "Zhi Gan Yi Bi" ("Polarium") (Nintendo/iQue) and "Momo Waliou Zhizao" ("") (Nintendo/iQue). The iQue was also the name of the device that China received instead of the Nintendo 64.


title: Nintendo DS

text: The system's promotional slogans revolve around the word "Touch" in almost all countries, with the North American slogan being "Touching is good."


title: Nintendo DS

text: The Nintendo DS was seen by many analysts to be in the same market as Sony's PlayStation Portable, although representatives from both companies stated that each system targeted a different audience. "Time" magazine awarded the DS a Gadget of the Week award.


title: Nintendo DS

text: At the time of its release in the United States, the Nintendo DS retailed for . The price dropped to on August 21, 2005, one day before the releases of "Nintendogs" and "".


title: Nintendo DS

text: Nine official colors of the Nintendo DS were available through standard retailers. Titanium-colored units were available worldwide, Electric Blue was exclusive to North and Latin America. There was also a red version which was bundled with the game "Mario Kart DS". Graphite Black, Pure White, Turquoise Blue, and Candy Pink were available in Japan. Mystic Pink and Cosmic Blue were available in Australia and New Zealand. Japan's Candy Pink and Australia's Cosmic Blue were also available in Europe and North America through a "Nintendogs" bundle, although the colors are just referred to as pink and blue; however, these colors were available only for the original style Nintendo DS; a different and more-limited set of colors were used for the Nintendo DS Lite.


title: Nintendo DS

text: As of March 31, 2016, all Nintendo DS models combined have sold 154.02 million units, making it the best-selling handheld game console to date, and the second best-selling video game console of all time.


title: Nintendo DS

text: The success of the Nintendo DS introduced touchscreen controls and wireless online gaming to a wide audience. According to Damien McFerran of "Nintendo Life", the "DS was the first encounter many people had with touch-based tech, and it left an indelible impression."


title: Nintendo DS

text: The DS established a large casual gaming market, attracting large non-gamer audiences and establishing touchscreens as the standard controls for future portable gaming devices. According to Jeremy Parish, writing for "Polygon", the Nintendo DS laid the foundations for touchscreen mobile gaming on smartphones. He stated that the DS "had basically primed the entire world for" the iPhone, released in 2007, and that the DS paved the way for iPhone gaming mobile apps. However, the success of the iPhone "effectively caused the DS market to implode" by the early 2010s, according to Parish.


title: Nintendo DS

text: The DS also enlarged the market for female gamers. According to Nintendo in 2006, 44% of DS owners were female, with the majority of "Nintendogs" owners being female.


title: Nintendo DS

text: The success of the DS paved the way for its successor, the Nintendo 3DS, a handheld gaming console with a similar dual-screen setup that can display images on the top screen in stereoscopic 3D.


title: Nintendo DS

text: On January 29, 2014, Nintendo announced that Nintendo DS games would be added to the Wii U's Virtual Console, with the first game, "", being released in Japan on June 3, 2014.


title: Nintendo DS

text: The Nintendo DS design resembles that of the multi-screen games from the Game & Watch line, such as "Donkey Kong" and "Zelda", which was also made by Nintendo.


title: Nintendo DS

text: The lower display of the Nintendo DS is overlaid with a resistive touchscreen designed to accept input from the included stylus, the user's fingers, or a curved plastic tab attached to the optional wrist strap. The touchscreen lets users interact with in-game elements more directly than by pressing buttons; for example, in the included chatting software, PictoChat, the stylus is used to write messages or draw.


title: Nintendo DS

text: The handheld features four lettered buttons (X, Y, A, B), a directional pad, and Start, Select, and Power buttons. On the top of the device are two shoulder buttons, a game card slot, a stylus holder and a power cable input. The bottom features the Game Boy Advance game card slot. The overall button layout resembles that of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System controller. When using backward compatibility mode on the DS, buttons X and Y and the touchscreen are not used as the Game Boy Advance line of systems do not feature these controls.


title: Nintendo DS

text: It also has stereo speakers providing virtual surround sound (depending on the software) located on either side of the upper display screen. This was a first for a Nintendo handheld, as the Game Boy line of systems had only supported stereo sound through the use of headphones or external speakers. A built-in microphone is located below the left side of the bottom screen. It has been used for a variety of purposes, including speech recognition, chatting online between and during gameplay sessions, and minigames that require the player to blow or shout into it.


title: Nintendo DS

text: The system's 3D hardware consists of rendering engine and geometry engine which perform transform and lighting, Transparency Auto Sorting, Transparency Effects, Texture Matrix Effects, 2D Billboards, Texture Streaming, texture-coordinate transformation, perspective-correct texture mapping, per-pixel Alpha Test, per-primitive alpha blending, texture blending, Gouraud Shading, cel shading, z-buffering, W-Buffering, 1bit Stencil Buffer, per-vertex directional lighting and simulated point lighting, Depth Test, Stencil Test, Render to Texture, Lightmapping, Environment Mapping, Shadow Volumes, Shadow Mapping, Distance Fog, Edge Marking, Fade-In/Fade-Out, Edge-AA. Sprite special effects: scrolling, scaling, rotation, stretching, shear. However, it uses point (nearest neighbor) texture filtering, leading to some titles having a blocky appearance. Unlike most 3D hardware, it has a set limit on the number of triangles it can render as part of a single scene; the maximum amount is about 6144 vertices, or 2048 triangles per frame. The 3D hardware is designed to render to a single screen at a time, so rendering 3D to both screens is difficult and decreases performance significantly. The DS is generally more limited by its polygon budget than its pixel fill rate. There are also 512 kilobytes of texture memory, and the maximum texture size is 1024 × 1024 pixels.


title: Nintendo DS

text: The system has 656 kilobytes of video memory and two 2D engines (one per screen). These are similar to (but more powerful than) the Game Boy Advance's single 2D engine.


title: Nintendo DS

text: The Nintendo DS has compatibility with Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi is used for accessing the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, compete with other users playing the same Wi-Fi compatible game, PictoChat or with a special cartridge and RAM extension, browse the internet.


title: Nintendo DS

text: Nintendo claims the battery lasts a maximum of 10 hours under ideal conditions on a full four-hour charge. Battery life is affected by multiple factors including speaker volume, use of one or both screens, use of wireless connectivity, and use of backlight, which can be turned on or off in selected games such as "Super Mario 64 DS". The battery is user-replaceable using only a Phillips-head screwdriver. After about 500 charges the battery life starts dropping.


title: Nintendo DS

text: Users can close the Nintendo DS system to trigger its 'sleep' mode, which pauses the game being played and saves battery life by turning off the screens, speakers, and wireless communications; however, closing the system while playing a Game Boy Advance game will not put the Nintendo DS into sleep mode, and the game will continue to run normally. Certain DS games (such as "") will also not pause, but the backlight, screens, and speakers will turn off. Additionally, when saving the game in certain games the DS will not go into sleep mode. Some games, such as "", used the closing motion needed to enter sleep mode as an unorthodox way of solving puzzles. "" is another game that used the closing motion as well, which has a game mode that required the player to close the DS in order to play, helping Daffy Duck hunt a monster with the shoulder buttons.


title: Nintendo DS

text: Although the secondary port on the Nintendo DS does accept and support Game Boy Advance cartridges (but not Game Boy or Game Boy Color cartridges), Nintendo emphasized that the main intention for its inclusion was to allow a wide variety of accessories to be released for the system.


title: Nintendo DS

text: Due to the lack of a second port on the Nintendo DSi, it is not compatible with any accessory that uses it.


title: Nintendo DS

text: The Rumble Pak was the first official expansion slot accessory. In the form of a Game Boy Advance cartridge, the Rumble Pak vibrates to reflect the action in compatible games, such as when the player bumps into an obstacle or loses a life. It was released in North America and Japan in 2005 bundled with "Metroid Prime Pinball". In Europe, it was first available with the game "Actionloop", and later "Metroid Prime Pinball". The Rumble Pak was also released separately in those regions.


title: Nintendo DS

text: The Nintendo DS Headset is the official headset for the Nintendo DS. It plugs into the headset port (which is a combination of a standard 3.5 mm (1/8 in) headphone connector and a proprietary microphone connector) on the bottom of the system. It features one earphone and a microphone, and is compatible with all games that use the internal microphone. It was released alongside "Pokémon Diamond" and "Pearl" in North America, and Australia.


title: Nintendo DS

text: On February 15, 2006, Nintendo announced a version of the cross-platform web browser Opera for the DS system. The browser can use one screen as an overview, a zoomed portion of which appears on the other screen, or both screens together to present a single tall view of the page. The browser went on sale in Japan and Europe in 2006, and in North America on June 4, 2007. Browser operation requires that an included memory expansion pak is inserted into the GBA slot. The DSi has an internet browser available for download from the Nintendo DSi shop for free.


title: Nintendo DS

text: This USB-flash-disk-sized accessory plugs into a PC's USB port and creates a miniature hotspot/wireless access point, allowing a Wii and up to five Nintendo DS units to access the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service through the host computer's Internet connection. When tried under Linux and Mac, it acts as a regular wireless adapter, connecting to wireless networks, an LED blinks when there is data being transferred. There is also a hacked driver for Windows XP/Vista/7/8/10 to make it function the same way. The Wi-Fi USB Connector was discontinued from retail stores.


title: Nintendo DS

text: The Nintendo MP3 Player (a modified version of the device known as the Play-Yan in Japan) was released on December 8, 2006, by Nintendo of Europe at a retail price of £29.99/€30. The add-on uses removable SD cards to store MP3 audio files, and can be used in any device that features support for Game Boy Advance cartridges; however, due to this, it is limited in terms of its user-interface and functionality, as it does not support using both screens of the DS simultaneously, nor does it make use of its touch-screen capability. It is not compatible with the DSi, due to the lack of the GBA slot, but the DSi includes a music player via SD card. Although it stated on the box that it is only compatible with the Game Boy Micro, Nintendo DS and Nintendo DS Lite, it is also compatible with the Game Boy Advance SP and Game Boy Advance.


title: Nintendo DS

text: The Guitar grip controller comes packaged with the game "" and is plugged into the GBA game slot. It features four colored buttons like the ones found on regular "Guitar Hero" guitar controllers for the stationary consoles, though it lacks the fifth orange button found on the guitar controllers. The DS Guitar Hero controller comes with a small "pick-stylus" (which is shaped like a guitar pick, as the name suggests) that can be put away into a small slot on the controller. It also features a hand strap. The game works with both the DS Lite and the original Nintendo DS as it comes with an adapter for the original DS. The Guitar Grip also works with its sequels, "", "", and "Band Hero".


title: Nintendo DS

text: The is the first redesign of the Nintendo DS. While retaining the original model's basic characteristics, it features a sleeker appearance, larger stylus, longer lasting battery, and brighter screens. Nintendo considered a larger model of the Nintendo DS Lite for release, but decided against it as sales of the original redesign were still strong. It was the final DS to have backwards compatibility with Game Boy Advance games. As of March 31, 2014, shipments of the DS Lite had reached 93.86 million units worldwide, according to Nintendo.


title: Nintendo DS

text: The is the second redesign of the Nintendo DS. It is based on the unreleased larger Nintendo DS Lite model. While similar to the previous DS redesign, new features include two inner and outer 0.3 megapixel digital cameras, a larger 3.25 inch display, internal and external content storage, compatibility with WPA wireless encryption, and connectivity to the Nintendo DSi Shop.


title: Nintendo DS

text: The Nintendo DSi XL ("DSi LL" in Japan) features larger screens, and a greater overall size, than the original DSi. It is the fourth DS model, the first to be available as a pure size variation. It features larger screens with wider view angles, improved battery life, and a greater overall size than the original DSi. While the original DSi was specifically designed for individual use, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata suggested that DSi XL buyers give the console a "steady place on a table in the living room", so that it might be shared by multiple household members.


title: Nintendo DS

text: Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection was a free online game service run by Nintendo. Players with a compatible Nintendo DS game could connect to the service via a Wi-Fi network using a Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector or a wireless router. The service was launched in North America, Australia, Japan & Europe throughout November 2005. An online compatible Nintendo DS game was released on the same day for each region.


title: Nintendo DS

text: Additional Nintendo DS Wi-Fi Connection games and a dedicated Nintendo DS web browser were released afterwards. Nintendo later believed that the online platform's success directly propelled the commercial success of the entire Nintendo DS platform. The Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection served as part of the basis of what would become the Wii. Most functions (for games on both the DS and Wii consoles) were discontinued worldwide on May 20, 2014.


title: Nintendo DS

text: With Download Play, it is possible for users to play multiplayer games with other Nintendo DS systems, and later Nintendo 3DS systems, using only one game card. Players must have their systems within wireless range (up to approximately 65 feet) of each other for the guest system to download the necessary data from the host system. Only certain games supported this feature and usually played with much more limited features than the full game allowed.


title: Nintendo DS

text: Download Play is also utilized to migrate Pokémon from fourth generation games into the fifth generation "Pokémon Black" and "White", an example of a task requiring two different game cards and two handheld units, but only one player.


title: Nintendo DS

text: Some Nintendo DS retailers featured DS Download Stations that allowed users to download demos of current and upcoming DS games; however, due to memory limitations, the downloads were erased once the system was powered off. The Download Station was made up of 1 to 8 standard retail DS units, with a standard DS card containing the demo data. On May 7, 2008, Nintendo released the Nintendo Channel for download on the Wii. The Nintendo Channel used WiiConnect24 to download Nintendo DS demos through it. From there, a user can select the demo they wish to play and, similar to the Nintendo DS Download Stations at retail outlets, download it to their DS and play it until it is powered off.


title: Nintendo DS

text: Multi-Card Play, like Download Play, allows users to play multiplayer games with other Nintendo DS systems. In this case, each system requires a game card. This mode is accessed from an in-game menu, rather than the normal DS menu.


title: Nintendo DS

text: PictoChat allows users to communicate with other Nintendo DS users within local wireless range. Users can enter text (via an on screen keyboard), handwrite messages or draw pictures (via the stylus and touchscreen). There are four chatrooms (A, B, C, D) in which people can go to chat. Up to sixteen people can connect in any one room.


title: Nintendo DS

text: On Nintendo DS and Nintendo DS Lite systems, users can only write messages in black. However, in the DSi and DSi XL, there is a function that allows the user to write in any colour from the rainbow that cycles through the spectrum, meaning the user cannot choose a color.


title: Nintendo DS

text: Nintendo's own firmware boots the system. A health and safety warning is displayed first, then the main menu is loaded. The main menu presents the player with four main options to select: play a DS game, use PictoChat, initiate DS Download Play, or play a Game Boy Advance game. The main menu also has secondary options such as turning on or off the back light, the system settings, and an alarm.


title: Nintendo DS

text: The firmware also features a clock, several options for customization (such as boot priority for when games are inserted and GBA screen preferences), and the ability to input user information and preferences (such as name, birthday, favorite color, etc.) that can be used in games.


title: Nintendo DS

text: Japanese, American, and European consoles support the following languages: English, Japanese, Spanish, French, German, and Italian.


title: Nintendo DS

text: On consoles from mainland China, Chinese replaces Japanese and on Korean consoles, Italian is replaced by Korean.


title: Nintendo DS

text: The Nintendo DS is backward compatible with Game Boy Advance (GBA) cartridges. The smaller Nintendo DS game cards fit into a slot on the top of the system, while Game Boy Advance games fit into a slot on the bottom. The Nintendo DS, like the Game Boy Micro, is not backward compatible with games made for the original Game Boy and Game Boy Color because the required hardware is not included and the console has physical incompatibility with Game Boy and Game Boy Color games. The original Game Boy sound processor, however, is still included to maintain compatibility for GBA games that use the older sound hardware.


title: Nintendo DS

text: The handheld does not have a port for the Game Boy Advance Link Cable, so multiplayer and GameCube–Game Boy Advance link-up modes are not available in Game Boy Advance titles. Only single-player mode is supported on the Nintendo DS, as is the case with Game Boy Advance games played via the Virtual Console on the Nintendo 3DS (Ambassadors only) and Wii U.


title: Nintendo DS

text: The Nintendo DS only uses one screen when playing Game Boy Advance games. The user can configure the system to use either the top or bottom screen by default. The games are displayed within a black border on the screen, due to the slightly different screen resolution between the two systems (256 × 192 px for the Nintendo DS, and 240 × 160 px for the Game Boy Advance).


title: Nintendo DS

text: Nintendo DS games inserted into the top slot are able to detect the presence of specific Game Boy Advance games in the bottom slot. In many such games, either stated in-game during gameplay or explained in its instruction manual, extra content can be unlocked or added by starting the Nintendo DS game with the appropriate Game Boy Advance game inserted. Among those games were the popular "Pokémon Diamond" and "Pearl" or "Pokémon Platinum", which allowed the player to find more/exclusive Pokémon in the wild if a suitable Game Boy Advance cartridge was inserted. Some of the content can stay permanently, even after the GBA game has been removed.


title: Nintendo DS

text: Additionally, the GBA slot can be used to house expansion paks, such as the Rumble Pak, Nintendo DS Memory Expansion Pak, and Guitar Grips for the "" series. The Nintendo DSi and the DSi XL have an SD card slot instead of a second cartridge slot and cannot play Game Boy Advance games or "". In certain Wii games such as Band Hero, the player can use a Nintendo DS for additional features.


title: Nintendo DS

text: The Nintendo DS is region free in the sense that any console will run a Nintendo DS game purchased anywhere in the world; however, the Chinese iQue DS games cannot be played on other versions of the original DS, whose firmware chip does not contain the required Chinese character glyph images; this restriction is removed on Nintendo DSi and 3DS systems. Although the Nintendo DS of other regions cannot play the Chinese games, the iQue DS can play games of other regions. Also, as with Game Boy games, some games that require both players to have a Nintendo DS game card for multiplayer play will not necessarily work together if the games are from different regions (e.g. a Japanese Nintendo DS game may not work with a North American copy, even though some titles, such as "Mario Kart DS" and "Pokémon Diamond" and "Pearl" versions are mutually compatible). With the addition of the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, certain games can be played over the Internet with users of a different region game.


title: Nintendo DS

text: Some Wi-Fi enabled games (e.g. "Mario Kart DS") allow the selection of opponents by region. The options are "Regional" ("Continent" in Europe) and "Worldwide", as well as two non-location specific settings. This allows the player to limit competitors to only those opponents based in the same geographical area. This is based on the region code of the game in use.


title: Nintendo DS

text: The Nintendo DSi, however, has a region lock for DSiWare downloadable games, as well as DSi-specific cartridges. It still runs normal DS games of any region, however.


title: Nintendo DS

text: Nintendo DS games use a proprietary solid state mask ROM in their game cards. The mask ROM chips are manufactured by Macronix and have an access time of 150 ns. Cards range from 8–512 MiB (64 Mib to 4 Gib) in size (although data on the maximum capacity has not been released). Larger cards have a 25% slower data transfer rate than more common smaller cards. The cards usually have a small amount of flash memory or an EEPROM to save user data such as game progress or high scores. However, there are few games that have no save memory, such as "Electroplankton". The game cards are (about half the width and depth of Game Boy Advance cartridges) and weigh around 3.5 g ( oz).


title: Nintendo DS

text: Since the release of the Nintendo DS, a large amount of hacking has occurred involving the DS's fully rewritable firmware, Wi-Fi connection, game cards that allow SD storage, and software use. There are now many emulators for the DS, as well as the NES, SNES, Sega Master System, Sega Mega Drive, Neo-Geo Pocket, Neo-Geo MVS (arcade), and older handheld consoles like the Game Boy Color.


title: Nintendo DS

text: There are a number of cards which either have built-in flash memory, or a slot which can accept an SD, or MicroSD (like the DSTT, R4 and ez-flash V/Vi) cards. These cards typically enable DS console gamers to use their console to play MP3s and videos, and other non-gaming functions traditionally reserved for separate devices.


title: Nintendo DS

text: In South Korea, many video game consumers exploit illegal copies of video games, including the DS. In 2007, over 500,000 copies of DS games were sold, while the sales of the DS hardware units was 800,000.


title: Nintendo DS

text: Another modification device called Action Replay, manufactured by the company Datel, is a device which allows the user to input cheat codes that allows it to hack games, granting the player infinite health, power-ups, access to any part of the game, infinite in game currency, the ability to walk through walls, and various other abilities depending on the game and code used.


title: Roland Emmerich

text: Roland Emmerich (; born 10 November 1955) is a German film director, screenwriter, and producer. He is widely known for his science fiction and disaster films and has been called a "master of disaster" within the industry. His films, most of which are English-language Hollywood productions, have made more than $3 billion worldwide, including just over $1 billion in the United States, making him the country's 15th-highest-grossing director of all time. He began his work in the film industry by directing the film "The Noah's Ark Principle" (1984) as part of his university thesis and also co-founded Centropolis Entertainment in 1985 with his sister. He is also known for directing films such as "Universal Soldier" (1992), "Stargate" (1994), "Independence Day" (1996) and its sequel "" (2016), "Godzilla" (1998), "The Patriot" (2000), "The Day After Tomorrow" (2004), "10,000 BC" (2008), "2012" (2009), "White House Down" (2013), "Midway" (2019), and "Moonfall" (2022). He is a collector of art and an LGBT activist, and is openly gay.


title: Roland Emmerich

text: Emmerich was born in Stuttgart, West Germany, and grew up in the nearby town of Sindelfingen. As a youth, he traveled extensively throughout Europe and North America on vacations financed by his father, Hans, the wealthy founder of a garden machinery production company. In 1977, he began attending University of Television and Film Munich with the intention of studying to become a production designer. After watching "Star Wars", he instead decided to enroll in the school's film director program. Required to create a short film as his final thesis in 1981, he wrote and directed the full-length feature "The Noah's Ark Principle", which was screened as the opening film of the 34th Berlin International Film Festival in 1984.


title: Roland Emmerich

text: In 1985, he founded Centropolis Film Productions (now Centropolis Entertainment) in partnership with his sister, producer Ute Emmerich, and directed his major film debut, a fantasy feature named "Joey". He subsequently directed the 1987 comedy "Hollywood-Monster" and the 1990 science-fiction film "Moon 44". Theatrically, these were only released in and nearby his native country, although Emmerich filmed them in English and went against conventional German styles in an attempt to appeal to a larger market. This subsequently resulted in "Moon 44" being released direct-to-video in the U.S. in early 1991. "Joey" and "Hollywood-Monster" eventually also saw home video releases in the U.S. (as "Making Contact" and "Ghost Chase", respectively) once Emmerich achieved more prominence in America.


title: Roland Emmerich

text: Producer Mario Kassar invited Emmerich to come to the United States to direct a futuristic action film entitled "Isobar". Dean Devlin, who appeared in "Moon 44", soon joined Emmerich as his writing and producing partner, and served in this capacity until 2000. Emmerich subsequently refused the offer to direct after producers rejected Devlin's re-write of the script, and the "Isobar" project was eventually scrapped. Instead, Emmerich was hired to replace director Andrew Davis for the action movie "Universal Soldier". The film was released in 1992.


title: Roland Emmerich

text: Emmerich next helmed the 1994 science-fiction film "Stargate". At the time, it set a record for the highest-grossing opening weekend for a film released in the month of October. It became more commercially successful than most film industry insiders had anticipated, and spawned a highly popular media franchise. Around the time,


title: Roland Emmerich

text: Emmerich and Devlin got involved with Bethesda Softworks to develop the video game "The 10th Planet", which was scheduled to be released in October 1997, but got canceled.


title: Roland Emmerich

text: Emmerich then directed "Independence Day", an alien invasion feature, released in 1996, that became the first film to gross $100 million in less than a week and went on to become one of the most financially successful films of all time, at one point having been the second-highest-grossing film in terms of worldwide box office. Emmerich and Devlin then created the television series "The Visitor", which aired on the Fox Network during 1997–1998 before being cancelled after one season.


title: Roland Emmerich

text: His next film, "Godzilla", opened in 1998. An extensive advertising and marketing campaign generated significant hype during the months leading up to the film's release. The film was a box office success but was met with negative reviews from critics and fans. It garnered a Saturn Award for Best Special Effects, a BMI Film Music Award, and the Audience Award for Best Director at the European Film Awards while also receiving a Razzie Award for Worst Remake or Sequel. It has only a 16% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Emmerich said that prior to getting involved with "Godzilla" he and Devlin had planned a disaster movie centered around an asteroid fall, which wound up cancelled after "Armageddon" went for a similar idea.


title: Roland Emmerich

text: Taking a short break from science-fiction, Emmerich next directed the American Revolutionary War epic "The Patriot" (2000). One of only five films ("Universal Soldier", "Anonymous", "White House Down", and "Midway" being the others) Emmerich has directed in which he did not contribute to the screenplay, the film received a generally favorable critical and commercial response, and is Emmerich's best-reviewed film to date. After teaming up with new screenwriting partner Harald Kloser, Emmerich returned once again to directing a visual effects-laden adventure with 2004's blockbuster "The Day After Tomorrow", another disaster film about a rapidly oncoming ice age brought upon by the effects of global warming. Soon afterward, he founded Reelmachine, another film production company based in Germany.


title: Roland Emmerich

text: In 2008, Emmerich directed "10,000 BC", a film about the journeys of a prehistoric tribe of mammoth hunters. It was a box office hit, but consistently regarded by professional critics as his worst film, as well as one of the worst films of the year. He was slated to direct a remake of the 1966 science-fiction film "Fantastic Voyage", but the project slipped back into development hell. In 2009, Emmerich directed "2012", an apocalyptic disaster film based on the conspiracy theory that the ancient Mayans prophesied the world's ending on 21 December 2012. Despite mixed reviews, the film went on to be his second-highest-grossing film to date (after "Independence Day") and received praise from audiences. Emmerich usually finishes production of a large-scale movie both in a time frame shorter and on a budget lower than what is typically requested by other directors.


title: Roland Emmerich

text: Emmerich's next film, "Anonymous", released on 28 October 2011, is based on the premise that Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford is the real author of the plays and sonnets of William Shakespeare. According to Emmerich, "It's an historical thriller because it's about who will succeed Queen Elizabeth and the struggle of the people who want to have a hand in it. It's the Tudors on one side and the Cecils on the other, and in between [the two] is the Queen. Through that story we tell how the plays written by the Earl of Oxford ended up labelled 'William Shakespeare.'"


title: Roland Emmerich

text: In 2011, Sony Pictures had purchased a pitch for Emmerich's project "Singularity", a sci-fi epic about a man composed of nanomachines. Originally planned for a 2013 release, the project has since gone into development hell.


title: Roland Emmerich

text: Emmerich directed the action-thriller film "White House Down", which involved a terrorist attack on the White House by a paramilitary group. The spec script was written by James Vanderbilt and was purchased by Sony Pictures for in March 2012. "The Hollywood Reporter" called it "one of the biggest spec sales in quite a while". The journal said the script was similar "tonally and thematically" to the films "Die Hard", "Air Force One" and "Olympus Has Fallen" (2013). Emmerich began filming in July 2012 at the La Cité Du Cinéma in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The film was released on 28 June 2013 in the United States.


title: Roland Emmerich

text: Whenever asked about making a personal project, Emmerich thought it would be "a gay film", and after friends during production of "Anonymous" asked if he could make a film on the Stonewall riots, Emmerich got interested in the idea. "Stonewall" was released in 2015. He followed it with a sequel to his most successful film in "", released twenty years after the original "Independence Day" on 24 June 2016.


title: Roland Emmerich

text: In November 2019, Emmerich directed the film "Midway" based on the battle of Midway during the Pacific Theater of World War II.


title: Roland Emmerich

text: In 2020, it was announced that Emmerich's next film project would be entitled "Moonfall", released in 2022 by Lionsgate. The project is a space disaster film about a mysterious force knocking the moon from its orbit around Earth, sending it on a collision course with the planet. In response, a ragtag team launches a last-ditch mission to land on the lunar surface and save Earth from annihilation. with the production budget standing at $150 million.


title: Roland Emmerich

text: Following the release of "Moonfall", Emmerich said he has been working on a TV series based on T. E. Lawrence for around a decade, and stated he has three projects he would like to make, a mistaken identity period piece set in 1919 about a young writer having to take control of a film set, another about a conquistador, and a third about the death of Marilyn Monroe.


title: Roland Emmerich

text: Emmerich owns homes in Los Angeles, New York City, London and Stuttgart. He likes to decorate his homes in a self-described "outlandish" manner, adorning them with rare Hollywood memorabilia, murals and portraits of dictators and Communist figures, and World War II militaria.


title: Roland Emmerich

text: Emmerich's extensive collection of artwork includes a painting of Jesus Christ wearing a Katharine Hamnett-styled T-shirt during his crucifixion, prints of Alison Jackson's works of a Princess Diana lookalike making obscene gestures and engaging in sex acts, a wax sculpture of Pope John Paul II laughing as he reads his own obituary, and a Photoshopped image of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a homoerotic pose. Emmerich, who is openly gay, and a financial supporter of U.S. progressive politics, states that the decorations and pieces are not declarations of any beliefs, but rather reflections of his "predilection for art with a political edge".


title: Roland Emmerich

text: Emmerich has claimed that he witnessed overt racism when producers and studio executives were opposed to allowing him to cast Will Smith for the lead in "Independence Day", and reluctant to allow him to portray an interracial couple in "The Day After Tomorrow". He has also claimed that he has encountered homophobia from the same groups, and is vocal in his opposition to such behavior. He has stated that sometimes he does "[not like working in] the movie business", describing it as a sometimes "very cold, brutal business", but his motivation to keep directing is that he genuinely "like[s] making movies".


title: Roland Emmerich

text: In 2006, he pledged $150,000 to the Legacy Project, a campaign dedicated to gay and lesbian film preservation. Emmerich made the donation on behalf of Outfest, making it the largest gift in the festival's history. In 2007, on behalf of the LGBT community, he held a fundraiser at his Los Angeles home for Democratic Party presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.


title: Roland Emmerich

text: Emmerich is in favor of the campaign for stunt performers to receive recognition at the Academy Awards, and has worked to raise awareness over the issue of global warming. He once was a chain-smoker who was known to smoke as many as four packs of cigarettes a day, Emmerich has often included in his films characters who are trying to quit smoking or warn against the dangers of tobacco use. Along with several other celebrities, he is a producer of "The 1 Second Film", a non-profit project intended to raise money for women's rights in the developing world.


title: Roland Emmerich

text: In addition to film, Emmerich also co-created and produced the short-lived television series "The Visitor", and, in 2001, directed a one-minute commercial entitled "Infinite Possibilities" for DaimlerChrysler.


title: Roland Emmerich

text: Reviewers often criticize Emmerich's films for relying heavily on visual effects and suffering from clichéd dialogue, flimsy and formulaic narratives, numerous scientific and historical inaccuracies, illogical plot developments, and lack of character depth. Emmerich contends that he is not discouraged by such criticism and that he aims to provide enjoyable "popcorn" entertainment to movie-going audiences. Stating that he is "a filmmaker, not a scientist", he creates his own fiction based on actual science or history to make the messages he sends "more exciting".


title: Roland Emmerich

text: In response to accusations of insensitivity for including scenes of New York City being destroyed in "The Day After Tomorrow", less than three years after the September 11 attacks, Emmerich said that it was necessary to depict the event as a means to showcase the increased unity people now have when facing a disaster, because of 9/11. When accused of resorting too often to scenes of cities being subjected to epic disasters, Emmerich says that it is a justified way of increasing awareness about both global warming, and the lack of a government preparation plan for a global doomsday scenario in the cases of "The Day After Tomorrow" and "2012", respectively.


title: Roland Emmerich

text: Acknowledging what he was told were flaws with "Godzilla", Emmerich admitted he regretted having agreed to direct it. He stated that his lack of interest in the previous Godzilla movies, the short time he promised it would take for him to complete the film, and the studio's refusal to screen it for test audiences were all factors that may have negatively affected the quality of the final product, and cited the former reason as to why he turned down an offer to direct "Spider-Man", as he was not intrigued by comic books or superhero-related fiction. However, Emmerich still defends "Godzilla", noting that the film was highly profitable and claiming that, of all his movies, people tell him "Godzilla" is the one they and their kids watch the most repeatedly.


title: Roland Emmerich

text: Emmerich has also faced criticism from the LGBT community. His film "Stonewall" was criticized for being whitewashed and diminishing the contributions of transgender women of color to starting the Stonewall Riots, and for being sex-negative. In response to these claims, Emmerich has said the Stonewall riots were "a white event". The film received generally negative reviews from critics.


title: Roland Emmerich

text: Similarly, Emmerich touted his 2016 film "" as having a gay couple, but when the film was released, Johnny Gayzmonic of "Unicorn Booty" criticized the film because the couple in question was two trivial characters lacking in believable chemistry who were utilized solely for comic relief, one of whom was needlessly killed off in a way that was not vital to the plot (the other having been depicted as strictly heterosexual in tie-in material to the first film), the characters only being revealed to have been a gay couple during the aforementioned death scene (with references to their relationship being cut from the Chinese version of the film), a fate that Gayzmonic observed befell many gay couples in film.


title: Rina Sawayama

text: Sawayama was born on 16 August 1990 in Niigata, Japan. She lived there until the age of five, when her family decided to move to London, where she was raised and currently resides. She holds an indefinite leave to remain (ILR) visa in the UK. According to Sawayama, the family's original plan was to return to Japan when she turned ten, but they ultimately chose to stay in London. Due to her inability to communicate in English, Sawayama struggled to understand her teachers and peers. She eventually connected with others through pop music. At the age of sixteen, she began posting music covers on Myspace and during sixth form she formed a hip hop group called Lazy Lion.


title: Rina Sawayama

text: Sawayama attended Magdalene College, Cambridge where she studied politics, psychology and sociology. She graduated from the university with a degree in political science.


title: Rina Sawayama

text: Sawayama began her solo career in February 2013, with the single "Sleeping in Waking", produced by Justin "Hoost" Tailor. A 7-inch vinyl of the single, featuring a new song titled "Who?" as the B-side, was released in April 2013 through UK label Make Mine. Later that year, she released the single "Terror" on Halloween under the stage name of "Riina". Sawayama would later reveal in a 2021 "Billboard" interview that the reason she used only her first name is because her last name was "an inconvenience".


title: Rina Sawayama

text: In June 2015, she released a music video, directed by Arvida Byström, to her track "Tunnel Vision". In 2016, she released the single "Where U Are", with an accompanying music video co-directed by Alessandra Kurr. The single explored human interaction with digital media, with Sawayama explaining: "Online, you can present your best edited self [and] your overheating phone substitutes human warmth. Weirdest of all – you're together, but also very alone." The song has been described as "nostalgic greatness… ultra-sweet and shimmering pop", and "90s R&B pop perfection".


title: Rina Sawayama

text: In March 2017, her single "Cyber Stockholm Syndrome" premiered on "The Fader". Sawayama described the genesis of the themes of the track as: "the digital world can offer vital support networks, voices of solidarity, refuge, escape. That's what 'Cyber Stockholm Syndrome' is about: pessimism, optimism, anxiety, and freedom."


title: Rina Sawayama

text: In 2017, the singles "Alterlife" and "Tunnel Vision", a duet with Shamir, were released, followed by her debut EP "Rina". Sawayama was then an unsigned artist, and "Rina" was released independently; she confirmed on Twitter that she worked for two to three years to save money to release the EP. "The Guardian" deemed the EP "bracing and modern", stating that Sawayama had proven "she can shepherd pop into the future, too". "Pitchfork" ranked "Rina" in its list of best pop and R&B albums of the year. In 2018, Sawayama released the single "Valentine" on Valentine's Day. The music video for the track "Ordinary Superstar" was released in June 2018. In August 2018, Sawayama released the track "Cherry", in which she explores her sexual identity. Sawayama embarked on her Ordinary Superstar Tour across the UK, the US and Canada in late 2018. In 2019, she performed as the supporting act for Charli XCX's tour across the UK.


title: Rina Sawayama

text: In 2020, after signing to Dirty Hit records, Sawayama released the singles "STFU!", a nu-metal, heavy metal, pop and avant-pop song, and "Comme des Garçons (Like the Boys)", a "homage to early 2000s dance tracks", both from her then-upcoming debut album. A third single, the rock and 2000s R&B-inspired "XS", was released on 2 March. The following month, Sawayama released another single from the album titled "Chosen Family". Her debut album, "Sawayama", was released on 17 April to widespread critical acclaim. In June 2020, she released a cover of "Dance in the Dark" by Lady Gaga as part of Spotify's "Singles" series. The song was recorded in Sawayama's home studio, her version replacing the Europop sound of the original song with nu-metal-influenced electropop. The album and aforementioned song was primarily produced by Clarence Clarity.


title: Rina Sawayama

text: In late July 2020, Sawayama made a public tweet about her ineligibility to be nominated for major British music awards, such as the Mercury Prize and BRIT Awards, due to the fact that she does not hold British citizenship. The hashtag "#SawayamaIsBritish" became trending on Twitter in the UK shortly after. Sawayama's movement gained major support from Elton John online, who wrote that he was "happy to hear that the [BPI] are reviewing the rules that led to Rina Sawayama's well-deserved album being snubbed from this year's [Mercury Prize] list of nominees." The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) later changed the rules to allow anyone who had remained in the UK, including her, to be eligible. On 26 October 2020, Sawayama made her television debut performing the song "XS" on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon". The following month, she released a song titled "Lucid", produced by BloodPop. On 4 December 2020, a deluxe version of "Sawayama" was released.


title: Rina Sawayama

text: In April 2021, Sawayama released an updated version of her song "Chosen Family", as a duet with Elton John. The following month, Sawayama was cast in in the "John Wick" film series. In August 2021, Sawayama was included on "Newsweek Japan" "100 Japanese people respected by the world" list. Sawayama contributed a cover of the Metallica song "Enter Sandman" to the charity tribute album "The Metallica Blacklist", released in September 2021. On 3 September 2021, a remix version of Lady Gaga's "Free Woman" by Clarence Clarity and Sawayama appeared on Gaga's remix album "Dawn of Chromatica".


title: Rina Sawayama

text: Sawayama also started working on her second studio album in 2021. In November 2021, she embarked to the first leg of her Dynasty Tour, in support of her debut album where she performed songs from "Sawayama" and her 2017 EP "Rina". During her show in Glasgow on 13 November, and her show in London at the Roundhouse on 17 November, she performed a new song titled "Catch Me in the Air", from her upcoming album.


title: Rina Sawayama

text: Sawayama featured on the single "Beg for You" by Charli XCX, released on 27 January 2022 and later on "Follow Me" by Brazilian drag queen Pabllo Vittar, released on 31 March of the same year. On 16 May, Sawayama announced that her second studio album "Hold the Girl" would be released on 16 September 2022. Its lead single "This Hell" was released on 18 May. "Catch Me in the Air" was released as the second single from the album on 27 June. The title track "Hold the Girl" was released as the album's third single on 27 July. On 25 August, "Phantom" was released as another single from the album. On 12 September, the final single from "Hold The Girl", titled "Hurricanes", was released.


title: Rina Sawayama

text: Sawayama has been signed to Anti-Agency and Elite Model Management. In 2017, she was chosen for Versus x Versace's fall winter campaign. She has also starred in campaigns for Jourdan Dunn's "Missguided", and wrote and performed an original track titled "Play on Me" for Nicola Formichetti's MAC x Nicopanda. In September 2021, she walked the runway for Balmain to celebrate the ten-year anniversary of Olivier Rousteing being the head of the French House.


title: Rina Sawayama

text: In 2016, Sawayama collaborated with Taiwanese visual artist, John Yuyi, on a visual series critiquing Asian, including Japanese, beauty standards. Subsequently, she was profiled in "Vogue". In the interview, Sawayama described the genesis of the idea and collaboration: "For a lot of women in Japan, these are the expectations people put on them, from anime culture, kawaii culture… that can really put women at a disadvantage, objectifying and infantilising them." Sawayama has worked with Nicola Formichetti for MAC x Nicopanda. Formichetti also directed the music video for Sawayama's track "Ordinary Superstar". The genesis of the partnership was outlined in "i-D".


title: Rina Sawayama

text: In 2017, Sawayama was ranked in "The Guardian"s "18 for '18" list as well as "Dazed"s "100 people shaping culture in 2017" list. Lady Gaga described Sawayama as a "an experimental pop visionary who refuses to play by the rules". She has mentioned Madonna as a "huge inspiration" to her. Her main influences came from 1990s and 2000s musical acts such as Christina Aguilera, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Avril Lavigne, Hikaru Utada, Beyoncé, Britney Spears, Evanescence, NSYNC, Kylie Minogue, Limp Bizkit, Pink, Ringo Sheena, Taylor Swift, and Janelle Monáe, among others.


title: Rina Sawayama

text: In August 2018, Sawayama came out during an interview with "Broadly", declaring: "I've always written songs about girls. I don't think I've ever mentioned a guy in my songs, and that's why I wanted to talk about it." She identifies as both bisexual and pansexual.


title: Rina Sawayama

text: In May 2020, Sawayama revealed that she was doing an online course at the University of Oxford. In July 2020, she signed an open letter to the UK Equalities minister Liz Truss calling for a ban on all forms of LGBT+ conversion therapy. In a September 2022 interview with "Them", Sawayama mentioned that she has IBS.


title: Belle Delphine

text: Mary-Belle Kirschner (born 23 October 1999), professionally known as Belle Delphine, is a South African-born English Internet celebrity, pornographic actress, model, and YouTuber. Her social media accounts feature erotic and cosplay modelling, sometimes blending the two together. Delphine's online persona began in 2018 through her cosplay modeling on Instagram. Her posts on the platform were often influenced by popular memes and trends.


title: Belle Delphine

text: In mid-2019, she gained notoriety through creating a satirical Pornhub account and selling her "GamerGirl Bath Water" product through her online store. Shortly after, her Instagram account was deleted due to community guideline violations. After a hiatus from October 2019 through June 2020, she started an OnlyFans account on which she posts adult content and began uploading YouTube music videos that were markedly explicit.


title: Belle Delphine

text: Media outlets have described her as an "e-girl" and a cross between an Internet troll and a performance artist. Delphine has also been cited as an influence on the e-girl style commonly adopted by TikTok users.


title: Belle Delphine

text: Delphine was born in South Africa on 23 October 1999. She grew up in Cape Town, where she was raised in a devout Christian household. After her parents divorced, she and her mother moved to England and settled in Lymington, Hampshire, England. As of December 2020, she was living in Hove, England.


title: Belle Delphine

text: In her adolescence, Delphine was "an avid watcher of the anti-political correctness genre of YouTubers like iDubbbz" and also enjoyed watching the parody character Filthy Frank online. She attended Priestlands School in Pennington, Hampshire, but dropped out at the age of 14 due to being bullied online. Delphine expressed that she was isolated by her classmates after they disseminated screenshots of her dark humor jokes. Around this time, she was treated for depression. She found work as a waitress, babysitter, and barista. She began posting "low-res and dimly lit" pictures of her cosplay on her Facebook account, which was later deleted.


title: Belle Delphine

text: Delphine has had an Instagram account since 2015. In July 2016, she registered a YouTube account. The following month, she uploaded her first video, a makeup tutorial. In 2018, Delphine began to regularly upload pictures of her modelling on Instagram, using accessories such as pink wigs, thigh-high stockings, and cat ears to help create what she described as a "weird elf kitty girl" aesthetic. She also regularly produced cosplay-related content, which included characters such as Harley Quinn and D.Va. In March 2018, Delphine launched a Patreon account, where supporters could receive access to her "lewd" photosets. In September, she uploaded a second YouTube video featuring a tour of her room. "Rolling Stone" noted that her style in this second video is more in-line with that of the one she later adopted during her rise to prominence, which they described as "alien Disney princess porn star."