title: Euripides

text: Aeschylus gained thirteen victories as a dramatist; Sophocles at least twenty; Euripides only four in his lifetime; and this has often been taken as indication of the latter's unpopularity. But a first place might not have been the main criterion for success (the system of selecting judges appears to have been flawed), and merely being chosen to compete was a mark of distinction. Moreover, to have been singled out by Aristophanes for so much comic attention is proof of popular interest in his work. Sophocles was appreciative enough of the younger poet to be influenced by him, as is evident in his later plays "Philoctetes" and "Oedipus at Colonus". According to Plutarch, Euripides had been very well received in Sicily, to the extent that after the failure of the Sicilian Expedition, many Athenian captives were released, simply for being able to teach their captors whatever fragments they could remember of his work. Less than a hundred years later, Aristotle developed an almost "biological' theory of the development of tragedy in Athens: the art form grew under the influence of Aeschylus, matured in the hands of Sophocles, then began its precipitous decline with Euripides. However, "his plays continued to be applauded even after those of Aeschylus and Sophocles had come to seem remote and irrelevant"; they became school classics in the Hellenistic period (as mentioned in the introduction) and, due to Seneca's adaptation of his work for Roman audiences, "it was Euripides, not Aeschylus or Sophocles, whose tragic muse presided over the rebirth of tragedy in Renaissance Europe."


title: Euripides

text: In the seventeenth century, Racine expressed admiration for Sophocles, but was more influenced by Euripides ("Iphigenia in Aulis" and "Hippolytus" were the models for his plays "Iphigénie" and "Phèdre"). Euripides' reputation was to take a beating in the early 19th century, when Friedrich Schlegel and his brother August Wilhelm Schlegel championed Aristotle's 'biological' model of theatre history, identifying Euripides with the moral, political, and artistic degeneration of Athens. August Wilhelm's Vienna lectures on dramatic art and literature went through four editions between 1809 and 1846; and, in them, he opined that Euripides "not only destroyed the external order of tragedy but missed its entire meaning". This view influenced Friedrich Nietzsche, who seems, however, not to have known the Euripidean plays well. But literary figures, such as the poet Robert Browning and his wife Elizabeth Barrett Browning, could study and admire the Schlegels, while still appreciating Euripides as "our Euripides the human" ("Wine of Cyprus" stanza 12). Classicists such as Arthur Verrall and Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff reacted against the views of the Schlegels and Nietzsche, constructing arguments sympathetic to Euripides, which involved Wilamowitz in this restatement of Greek tragedy as a genre: "A [Greek] tragedy does not have to end 'tragically' or be 'tragic'. The only requirement is a serious treatment." In the English-speaking world, the pacifist Gilbert Murray played an important role in popularizing Euripides, influenced perhaps by his anti-war plays. Today, as in the time of Euripides, traditional assumptions are constantly under challenge, and audiences therefore have a natural affinity with the Euripidean outlook, which seems nearer to ours, for example, than the Elizabethan. As stated above, however, opinions continue to diverge, so that modern readers might actually "seem to feel a special affinity with Sophocles"; one recent critic might dismiss the debates in Euripides' plays as "self-indulgent digression for the sake of rhetorical display"; and one spring to the defence: "His plays are remarkable for their range of tones and the gleeful inventiveness, which morose critics call cynical artificiality, of their construction."


title: Euripides

text: Unique among writers of ancient Athens, Euripides demonstrated sympathy towards the underrepresented members of society. His male contemporaries were frequently shocked by the heresies he put into the mouths of characters, such as these words of his heroine Medea:


title: Euripides

text: The textual transmission of the plays, from the 5th century BC, when they were first written, until the era of the printing press, was a largely haphazard process. Much of Euripides' work was lost and corrupted; but the period also included triumphs by scholars and copyists, thanks to whom much was recovered and preserved. Summaries of the transmission are often found in modern editions of the plays, three of which are used as sources for this summary.


title: Euripides

text: The plays of Euripides, like those of Aeschylus and Sophocles, circulated in written form. But literary conventions that we take for granted today had not been inventedthere was no spacing between words; no consistency in punctuation, nor elisions; no marks for breathings and accents (guides to pronunciation, and word recognition); no convention to denote change of speaker; no stage directions; and verse was written straight across the page, like prose. Possibly, those who bought texts supplied their own interpretative markings. Papyri discoveries have indicated, for example, that a change in speakers was loosely denoted with a variety of signs, such as equivalents of the modern dash, colon, and full-stop. The absence of modern literary conventions (which aid comprehension), was an early and persistent source of errors, affecting transmission. Errors were also introduced when Athens replaced its old Attic alphabet with the Ionian alphabet, a change sanctioned by law in 403–402 BC, adding a new complication to the task of copying. Many more errors came from the tendency of actors to interpolate words and sentences, producing so many corruptions and variations that a law was proposed by Lycurgus of Athens in 330 BC "that the plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides should be written down and preserved in a public office; and that the town clerk should read the text over with the actors; and that all performances which did not comply with this regulation should be illegal." The law was soon disregarded, and actors continued to make changes until about 200 BC, after which the habit ceased. It was about then that Aristophanes of Byzantium compiled an edition of all the extant plays of Euripides, collated from pre-Alexandrian texts, furnished with introductions and accompanied by a commentary that was "published" separately. This became the "standard edition" for the future, and it featured some of the literary conventions that modern readers expect: there was still no spacing between words; little or no punctuation; and no stage directions; but abbreviated names denoted changes of speaker; lyrics were broken into "cola" and "strophai", or lines and stanzas; and a system of accentuation was introduced.


title: Euripides

text: After this creation of a standard edition, the text was fairly safe from errors, besides slight and gradual corruption introduced with tedious copying. Many of these trivial errors occurred in the Byzantine period, following a change in script (from uncial to minuscule), and many were "homophonic" errorsequivalent, in English, to substituting "right" for "write"; except that there were more opportunities for Byzantine scribes to make these errors, because η, ι, οι and ει, were pronounced similarly in the Byzantine period.


title: Euripides

text: Around 200 AD, ten of the plays of Euripides began to be circulated in a select edition, possibly for use in schools, with some commentaries or scholia recorded in the margins. Similar editions had appeared for Aeschylus and Sophoclesthe only plays of theirs that survive today. Euripides, however, was more fortunate than the other tragedians, with a second edition of his work surviving, compiled in alphabetical order as if from a set of his collect works; but without scholia attached. This "Alphabetical" edition was combined with the "Select" edition by some unknown Byzantine scholar, bringing together all the nineteen plays that survive today. The "Select" plays are found in many medieval manuscripts, but only two manuscripts preserve the "Alphabetical" playsoften denoted L and P, after the Laurentian Library at Florence, and the Bibliotheca Palatina in the Vatican, where they are stored. It is believed that P derived its Alphabet plays and some Select plays from copies of an ancestor of L, but the remainder is derived from elsewhere. P contains all the extant plays of Euripides, L is missing "The Trojan Women" and latter part of "The Bacchae".


title: Euripides

text: In addition to L, P, and many other medieval manuscripts, there are fragments of plays on papyrus. These papyrus fragments are often recovered only with modern technology. In June 2005, for example, classicists at the University of Oxford worked on a joint project with Brigham Young University, using multi-spectral imaging technology to retrieve previously illegible writing (see References). Some of this work employed infrared technology—previously used for satellite imaging—to detect previously unknown material by Euripides, in fragments of the Oxyrhynchus papyri, a collection of ancient manuscripts held by the university.


title: Euripides

text: It is from such materials that modern scholars try to piece together copies of the original plays. Sometimes the picture is almost lost. Thus, for example, two extant plays, "The Phoenician Women" and "Iphigenia in Aulis", are significantly corrupted by interpolations (the latter possibly being completed post mortem by the poet's son); and the very authorship of "Rhesus" is a matter of dispute. In fact, the very existence of the Alphabet plays, or rather the absence of an equivalent edition for Sophocles and Aeschylus, could distort our notions of distinctive Euripidean qualitiesmost of his least "tragic" plays are in the Alphabet edition; and, possibly, the other two tragedians would appear just as genre-bending as this "restless experimenter", if we possessed more than their "select" editions.


title: Euripides

text: Original production dates for some of Euripides' plays are known from ancient records, such as lists of prize-winners at the Dionysia; and approximations are obtained for the remainder by various means. Both the playwright and his work were travestied by comic poets such as Aristophanes, the known dates of whose own plays can serve as a terminus ad quem for those of Euripides (though the gap can be considerable: twenty-seven years separate "Telephus", known to have been produced in 438 BC, from its parody in "Thesmophoriazusae" in 411 BC.). References in Euripides' plays to contemporary events provide a terminus a quo, though sometimes the references might even precede a datable event (e.g. lines 1074–89 in "Ion" describe a procession to Eleusis, which was probably written before the Spartans occupied it during the Peloponnesian War). Other indications of dating are obtained by stylometry.


title: Euripides

text: Greek tragedy comprised lyric and dialogue, the latter mostly in iambic trimeter (three pairs of iambic feet per line). Euripides sometimes 'resolved' the two syllables of the iamb (˘¯) into three syllables (˘˘˘), and this tendency increased so steadily over time that the number of resolved feet in a play can indicate an approximate date of composition (see Extant plays below for one scholar's list of resolutions per hundred trimeters). Associated with this increase in resolutions was an increasing vocabulary, often involving prefixes to refine meanings, allowing the language to assume a more natural rhythm, while also becoming ever more capable of psychological and philosophical subtlety.


title: Euripides

text: The trochaic tetrameter catalecticfour pairs of trochees per line, with the final syllable omittedwas identified by Aristotle as the original meter of tragic dialogue ("Poetics" 1449a21). Euripides employs it here and there in his later plays, but seems not to have used it in his early plays at all, with "The Trojan Women" being the earliest appearance of it in an extant play—it is symptomatic of an archaizing tendency in his later works.


title: Euripides

text: The later plays also feature extensive use of stichomythia (i.e. a series of one-liners). The longest such scene comprises one hundred and five lines in "Ion" (lines 264–369). In contrast, Aeschylus never exceeded twenty lines of stichomythia; Sophocles' longest such scene was fifty lines, and that is interrupted several times by αντιλαβή ("Electra", lines 1176–1226).


title: Euripides

text: Euripides' use of lyrics in sung parts shows the influence of Timotheus of Miletus in the later playsthe individual singer gained prominence, and was given additional scope to demonstrate his virtuosity in lyrical duets, as well as replacing some of the chorus's functions with monodies. At the same time, choral odes began to take on something of the form of dithyrambs reminiscent of the poetry of Bacchylides, featuring elaborate treatment of myths. Sometimes these later choral odes seem to have only a tenuous connection with the plot, linked to the action only in their mood. The "Bacchae", however, shows a reversion to old forms, possibly as a deliberate archaic effect, or because there were no virtuoso choristers in Macedonia (where it is said to have been written).


title: Euripides

text: The following plays have come down to us in fragmentary form, if at all. They are known through quotations in other works (sometimes as little as a single line); pieces of papyrus; partial copies in manuscript; part of a collection of hypotheses (or summaries); and through being parodied in the works of Aristophanes. Some of the fragments, such as those of "Hypsipyle", are extensive enough to allow tentative reconstructions to be proposed.


title: Euripides

text: A two-volume selection from the fragments, with facing-page translation, introductions, and notes, was published by Collard, Cropp, Lee, and Gibert; as were two Loeb Classical Library volumes derived from them; and there are critical studies in T. B. L. Webster's older "The Tragedies of Euripides", based on what were then believed to be the most likely reconstructions of the plays.


title: Euripides

text: The following lost and fragmentary plays can be dated, and are arranged in roughly chronological order:


title: Euripides

text: The following lost and fragmentary plays are of uncertain date, and are arranged in English alphabetical order.


title: Baron Corbin

text: Thomas Pestock (born September 13, 1984) is an American professional wrestler and former professional football player. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Baron Corbin.


title: Baron Corbin

text: Pestock is a former offensive lineman for the Indianapolis Colts and Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL), as well as a three-time Golden Gloves champion and former grappling champion. Pestock signed with WWE in 2012 and was assigned to their developmental brand NXT as Baron Corbin. He debuted on the main roster at WrestleMania 32, winning the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. He went on to win the 2017 Money in the Bank men's ladder match and WWE United States Championship once. In 2018, he was made the Constable of "Raw" and started a feud with Kurt Angle which culminated at WrestleMania 35, with Corbin defeating him in his retirement match. A few months later, he won the 2019 King of the Ring tournament, thus changing his ring name to King Corbin until June 2021, where he lost his crown and subsequently became destitute. However in August 2021, he adopted the new ring name "Happy Corbin" and gimmick, portraying a happy go-lucky wealthy character. He then started a brief alliance with Madcap Moss. Since October 2022, he reverted back to the "Baron Corbin" ring name and has been managed by JBL.


title: Baron Corbin

text: Thomas Pestock was born in Lenexa, Kansas, on September 13, 1984. He has trained extensively in boxing and by 2007, he was a two-time Golden Gloves regional amateur boxing champion. He participated in the 2008 Golden Gloves National Tournament of Champions in the super heavyweight division, defeating Chaen Chess in the preliminaries and losing to Andrae Cathron in the quarter-finals.


title: Baron Corbin

text: Pestock attended NCAA Division II college Northwest Missouri State University, where he played offensive guard, and he became a starter his junior year in 2007. Pestock was named honorable mention all-MIAA in 2007 and first-team all-MIAA in 2008. He was part of teams that went to four consecutive Division II National Championships and lost each time.


title: Baron Corbin

text: Pestock signed with the Indianapolis Colts on April 27, 2009, after going undrafted in the 2009 NFL Draft. While with the Colts, he was roommates with future All-Pro punter and professional wrestler Pat McAfee, a fact that was central to a feud between the two of them in WWE 13 years later. He was released by the Colts on August 13 and re-signed by the team on August 19. He was again released by the Colts on September 5.


title: Baron Corbin

text: Pestock joined the Arizona Cardinals' practice squad on December 24, 2009. He was re-signed to a futures contract on January 18, 2010, and was noted for throwing uppercuts in a team scuffle in training camp. He was released by the Cardinals on September 3 and signed to the team's practice squad on September 6. On January 4, 2011, he was again signed to a futures contract with the Cardinals. He was again released on September 2, 2011.


title: Baron Corbin

text: Pestock signed with WWE's developmental system NXT in August 2012. Using the ring name Baron Corbin, he made his in-ring debut on October 18 at a house show, losing to Dante Dash. He would work in several NXT events, usually as an enhancement talent.


title: Baron Corbin

text: On September 11, 2014, at , Corbin re-debuted as a face with a new look and ring character to defeat CJ Parker. Corbin then won numerous singles matches against enhancement talents, each in a short amount of time, until crossing paths with Bull Dempsey, who was also winning his matches quickly, beginning a feud between the two. After a staredown at on December 11, Corbin won their highly anticipated one-on-one match on the January 14, 2015, episode of "NXT", breaking Dempsey's undefeated streak in the process. Corbin again defeated Dempsey in the first round of a number one contender's tournament for the NXT Championship, but was eliminated by Adrian Neville in the semi-finals, ending Corbin's undefeated streak. At on February 11, Corbin defeated Dempsey in a No Disqualification match to end their feud.


title: Baron Corbin

text: In the following weeks, the crowd turned on him and on the May 13 episode of "NXT", Corbin turned heel by showing a cocky and banterous persona. He started a feud with Rhyno, whom he defeated at on May 20. Corbin lost to Samoa Joe at on August 22. In September, Corbin formed a tag team with former rival Rhyno to take place in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic , defeating The Ascension in the first round, and Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa in the second round. At on October 7, Corbin and Rhyno defeated Chad Gable and Jason Jordan to advance to the finals of the tournament, where they lost to Finn Bálor and Samoa Joe. After the event, a battle royal was held to determine the number one contender for the NXT Championship, which saw Corbin being lastly eliminated by Apollo Crews, who Corbin attacked during his title match to cost him the title, thus igniting a feud between the two that culminated in a match at on December 16, where Corbin defeated Crews.


title: Baron Corbin

text: In January 2016, Corbin was involved in a triple threat match between Sami Zayn and Samoa Joe on the January 27 episode of "NXT" to determine the number contender for Finn Bálor's NXT Championship, but Corbin lost after Zayn and Joe both applied their submission holds on Corbin at the same time, with Corbin submitting. NXT General Manager William Regal did not give Corbin another title opportunity, leading to Corbin stating Regal would "regret" his decision, which culminated on the March 2 episode of "NXT" when Corbin attacked Austin Aries from behind after Regal introduced him, beginning a feud between the two that culminated in a match at on April 1, where Corbin lost to Aries. On the April 13 episode of "NXT", Corbin defeated Tucker Knight in his final NXT appearance.


title: Baron Corbin

text: Corbin made his main roster debut at Wrestlemania 32, winning the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal by last eliminating Kane. The following night on "Raw", he "a"ssaulted Dolph Ziggler after their match, beginning a feud between the two. Corbin was defeated by Ziggler at the Payback pre-show on May 1 and was eliminated by him from a battle royal on "Raw". Corbin defeated Ziggler on the May 9 episode of "Raw" and in a no disqualification match at the Extreme Rules pre-show on May 22. Ziggler then challenged Corbin to a technical wrestling match, which ended in a disqualification after Ziggler hit Corbin with a low blow. At Money in the Bank on June 19, Corbin defeated Ziggler to end their feud.


title: Baron Corbin

text: At the 2016 WWE draft on July 19, Corbin was drafted to the SmackDown brand. After Apollo Crews earned a match for the Intercontinental Championship by defeating Corbin and Kalisto in a triple threat match, Corbin repeatedly assaulted Kalisto (who had been pinned in the match), eventually putting him out of action with a (kayfabe) injury. He defeated Crews at the Backlash pre-show on September 11. At No Mercy on October 9, he defeated Jack Swagger as well on the October 18 episode of "SmackDown". On the November 8 episode of "SmackDown", the returning Kalisto attacked Corbin, causing a (kayfabe) injury and forcing Corbin to drop out of SmackDown's Survivor Series team. After retaliating by costing Kalisto the Cruiserweight Championship at Survivor Series, Kalisto attacked Corbin with a chair during a match on the November 22 episode of "SmackDown", leading to a


title: Baron Corbin

text: On the December 20 episode of "SmackDown", Corbin confronted Dolph Ziggler, who had just earned a title match against WWE Champion AJ Styles. A match between the two, with Ziggler's title opportunity on the line, ended in a double countout; as a result, Corbin was added to the title match, giving Corbin his first world title opportunity in WWE. On December 27, Styles won the match by pinning Ziggler. At the Royal Rumble on January 29, Corbin entered the Royal Rumble match at #13, eliminating Braun Strowman and lasting over 32 minutes before being eliminated by The Undertaker. At Elimination Chamber on February 12, Corbin competed in the namesake match for the WWE Championship. Immediately after being eliminated by Intercontinental Champion Dean Ambrose, Corbin attacked Ambrose, causing the latter's elimination. Corbin attacked Ambrose on the March 7 episode of "SmackDown" with metal pipe and a forklift. On March 21, Ambrose retaliated by distracting Corbin in a match against Randy Orton. Corbin unsuccessfully challenged Ambrose for the Intercontinental Championship at the WrestleMania 33 pre-show on April 2 but defeated Ambrose in a non-title Street Fight on "SmackDown". On the April 17 episode of "SmackDown", Corbin failed to win a title opportunity for the United States Championship in a triple threat match against AJ Styles and Sami Zayn. After the show, Corbin attacked Zayn and also shoved an official, for which he was suspended and fined by SmackDown Commissioner Shane McMahon. At Backlash on May 21, Corbin lost to Zayn.


title: Baron Corbin

text: At Money in the Bank on June 18, Corbin won the namesake match, earning him a world title match at the time of his choosing. Corbin lost to Shinsuke Nakamura by disqualification at Battleground on July 23 and again on the following episode of "SmackDown". On the August 1 episode of "SmackDown", Corbin attacked Nakamura, who had just become number one contender for the WWE Championship, but was attacked by Cena. On the August 15 episode of "SmackDown", Corbin interrupted a match between John Cena and WWE Champion Jinder Mahal and cashed in his Money in the Bank contract, but was pinned by Mahal after being sidetracked by Cena, becoming the third wrestler to fail to win the title in a cash-in. At SummerSlam on August 20, Corbin lost to Cena.


title: Baron Corbin

text: On the August 22 episode of "SmackDown", Corbin was approached by Kevin Owens to officiate his title match against United States Champion AJ Styles, with the promise of a future championship match if Owens were to win the title; Corbin abandoned the match towards the end after heavy criticism from Shane McMahon, leaving the officiating duty to Shane instead. The following week, both Corbin and Tye Dillinger wanted to answer an open challenge issued by Styles; Dillinger was quicker but was then attacked by Corbin. Corbin defeated Dillinger the following week and on September 19, challenged Styles to a match at Hell in a Cell. When Corbin lost to Dillinger the following week on "SmackDown", Dillinger was added to the match. In the subsequent triple threat match at Hell in a Cell on October 8, Corbin pinned Dillinger to win the title. Corbin retained the title against Styles on "SmackDown" and defeated Intercontinental Champion The Miz in an Interbrand Champion vs Champion match at Survivor Series on November 19. At Clash of Champions on December 17, Corbin lost his title to Dolph Ziggler in a triple threat match also involving Bobby Roode, ending his reign at 70 days.


title: Baron Corbin

text: At Royal Rumble on January 28, 2018, Corbin entered at #4 but was eliminated by Finn Bálor. On the February 13 episode of "SmackDown", Corbin defeated Kevin Owens to earn a spot in the six-pack challenge for the WWE Championship. At Fastlane on March 11, Styles won the six-pack challenge by pinning Owens. Corbin competed in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal on the WrestleMania 34 pre-show on April 8; he made it to the final two before being eliminated by Matt Hardy.


title: Baron Corbin

text: On April 16, Corbin moved to the Raw brand as part of the Superstar Shake-up. On the June 4 episode of "Raw", he became commissioner Stephanie McMahon's representative as the Constable of Raw, a storyline position without real power in the promotion. The following week, Corbin debuted a new look, wearing a suit and a shaved head. Corbin then started a feud with Finn Bálor, to whom he lost at Extreme Rules on July 15 and at SummerSlam on August 19. On the following episode of "Raw", he was pointed as acting general manager, replacing Kurt Angle. On the September 17 episode of "Raw", Corbin booked himself against Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship, but did not win the title.


title: Baron Corbin

text: On November 2 at Crown Jewel, Corbin cost Braun Strowman the Universal Championship in a match against Brock Lesnar, starting a feud between the two. At on December 16, Corbin faced Strowman in a TLC match where, if Corbin won, he would become a full-time general manager of Raw; but if Corbin lost, he would be stripped of his authoritative powers. Strowman enlisted the help of Apollo Crews, Bobby Roode, Chad Gable, Finn Bálor, and former Raw general manager Kurt Angle to defeat Corbin. The next night on "Raw", authority figures Vince McMahon, Shane McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, and Triple H stated that they would now be running both "Raw" and "SmackDown" as a unit with no general managers. Corbin confronted the McMahons to have another chance to become the Raw General Manager. Triple H said that if he could defeat Kurt Angle, he could become the Raw General Manager. However, Triple H added Apollo Crews, Bobby Roode, and Chad Gable to make it a 4-on-1 handicap match that Corbin lost, definitively ruling him out of the position. Corbin continued his feud with Braun Strowman, being eliminated by him in the Royal Rumble match at the Royal Rumble on January 27, 2019. At Elimination Chamber on February 17, Corbin defeated Strowman in a no disqualification match, following interference from Bobby Lashley and Drew McIntyre. The next night on "Raw", Corbin was defeated by Strowman in a tables match, ending their feud.


title: Baron Corbin

text: Corbin started a feud with Kurt Angle on the March 18 episode of "Raw". Angle selected Corbin as his opponent for WrestleMania 35 in his farewell match, as Corbin had caused Angle many problems during Angle's tenure as Raw general manager. At WrestleMania on April 7, Corbin defeated Angle. On the May 27 episode of "Raw", Corbin defeated Braun Strowman, Bobby Lashley, and The Miz in a fatal four-way elimination match to earn a Universal Championship match against the champion Seth Rollins. At Super ShowDown on June 7, Corbin lost to Rollins, but during the match, Corbin got into an argument with referee John Cone, allowing Rollins to roll-up Corbin to retain the title. This led to a rematch at Stomping Grounds, where Corbin chose Lacey Evans, who was in an ongoing feud with Rollins' real life girlfriend Becky Lynch, as the special guest referee for the match; Evans was biased towards Corbin throughout the match, adding multiple stipulations in his favour. However, Lynch, who defeated Evans for the Raw Women's Championship earlier in the night, attacked Evans and took her out of the match, leading to Rollins' victory over Corbin at the event on June 23. The following night on "Raw", Corbin and Evans challenged Rollins and Lynch to a match at Extreme Rules. The match was agreed to with two stipulations: Rollins and Lynch would defend their respective championships, while the match would be the final respective championship opportunities for Corbin and Evans. At Extreme Rules on July 14, Corbin and Evans lost the match.


title: Baron Corbin

text: In August, Corbin was announced as one of sixteen competitors in the 2019 King of the Ring tournament. After over a month away from "Raw", Corbin returned on the August 19 episode, where he and McIntyre lost to Ricochet and The Miz. In the following weeks, Corbin defeated The Miz in the first round, Cedric Alexander in the quarterfinals, Ricochet and Samoa Joe in the semifinals, and Chad Gable in the finals to win the tournament, subsequently changing his ring name to King Corbin. At Hell in a Cell on October 6, Corbin dubbed Gable as "Shorty G" before he lost with a roll-up pin.


title: Baron Corbin

text: As part of the 2019 draft, Corbin was drafted to the SmackDown brand. At Crown Jewel on October 31, Corbin was a member of Team Flair, where they lost to Team Hogan. In November, Corbin began a feud with Roman Reigns defeating him on the November 8, episode of SmackDown following interference from Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode. At Survivor Series on November 24, Corbin was a member of Team SmackDown and caused his Team SmackDown partner Mustafa Ali to be eliminated, which then led to team captain Roman Reigns performing a spear on Corbin that caused him to be eliminated, while Reigns went on to win the match for his team. Corbin defeated Reigns in a TLC match at on December 15 following interference from Dolph Ziggler and The Revival (Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson). At Royal Rumble on January 26, 2020, Corbin lost to Reigns in a falls count anywhere match after interference from The Usos also involving Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode, and a steel cage match at Super ShowDown on February 27, ending their feud.


title: Baron Corbin

text: On the April 24 episode of "SmackDown", Corbin defeated Drew Gulak with the help of Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura to qualify for the Money in the Bank ladder match. At Money in the Bank on May 10, Corbin failed to win the contract after he and AJ Styles tussled over the briefcase and dropped it to Otis unintentionally. On the July 17 episode of "SmackDown", he attacked Matt Riddle, leading to a match at Payback on August 30, where Corbin lost to Riddle. He defeated Riddle on the September 25 episode of "SmackDown", ending their feud. From December 2020 to February 2021, Corbin began a feud with Rey Mysterio, Dominik Mysterio, and Murphy, which saw him form a short-lived partnership with Wesley Blake and Steve Cutler, but disbanded following Cutler and Blake's WWE release.


title: Baron Corbin

text: On the June 18 episode of "SmackDown", Corbin lost to Shinsuke Nakamura in a Battle for the Crown match, thus losing his crown to Nakamura and ending his King gimmick. The following week on "SmackDown", his ring name was reverted to Baron Corbin.


title: Baron Corbin

text: On the July 16 episode of "SmackDown", Corbin began sporting dirty clothes, an unkempt beard and an unshaved head, giving him a disheveled look. He revealed that, after losing his crown, he had lost his car, his investments, his savings, his home was to be foreclosed upon, and his wife left with their daughters. Corbin then revealed his own version of a GoFundMe campaign, called CorbinFund.com, asking fans and fellow wrestlers to donate to the cause. On the July 30 episode of "SmackDown", Corbin emerged at the contract signing between Universal Champion Roman Reigns and Finn Bálor for a championship match at SummerSlam, attacking Bálor and attempting to sign the contract. However, John Cena also emerged to the ring and took out Corbin before Cena signed the contract himself. On the August 13 episode of "SmackDown", Corbin stole the Money in the Bank briefcase from Big E before fleeing the arena. At the SummerSlam pre-show on August 21, Corbin lost to Big E, who regained the briefcase.


title: Baron Corbin

text: On the August 27 episode of "SmackDown", after turning his misfortunes around in Las Vegas, he drove into the arena in a Bentley, declaring himself "filthy rich" and demanding to be called "Happy Corbin". On the September 24 episode of "SmackDown", Corbin gained a new ally in Madcap Moss. They entered into a feud with Drew McIntyre, with Corbin accompanying Moss to his matches with McIntyre at Day 1 on January 1, 2022 and Elimination Chamber on February 19, both of which he lost. Corbin (and Moss) participated in the Royal Rumble match at the namesake event on January 29, entering at #15 and eliminating Rick Boogs and Ricochet, but was eliminated by McIntyre. On the first night of WrestleMania 38 on April 2, he faced McIntyre in a losing effort.


title: Baron Corbin

text: On the April 8 episode of "SmackDown", Corbin blamed his loss on Moss before attacking him, ending their alliance and beginning a feud between the two. This led to a match at WrestleMania Backlash on May 8, which Moss won. At Hell in a Cell on June 5, the two competed in a No Holds Barred match, which Corbin lost. On the June 17 episode of "SmackDown", Corbin lost to Moss in a Last Laugh match, ending their feud; after the match, Corbin confronted commentator Pat McAfee, who had been making fun of Corbin during his feud with Moss. On the July 1 episode of "SmackDown", Corbin competed in a Money in the Bank qualifying fatal four-way match, which was won by Moss. After Money in the Bank went off the air the following day, Corbin attacked McAfee at ringside and accepted his challenge for a match at SummerSlam. At the event on July 30, Corbin lost to McAfee after he hit a low-blow while the referee was down. On the August 19 episode of "SmackDown", he competed in a fatal five way match to determine the #1 contender for the Intercontinental Championship, which was won by Sheamus.


title: Baron Corbin

text: On the October 17, 2022 episode of "Raw", Corbin returned under his Baron Corbin ring name alongside Hall of Famer JBL and defeated Dolph Ziggler. Debuting the new moniker of "The Modern Day Wrestling God”, he would then go on for a winning streak until losing to Drew McIntyre on the November 21, 2022 episode of "Raw".


title: Baron Corbin

text: As a tribute to his father, who died in 2008 from Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, Pestock wears his father's wedding ring on a necklace. He is known for his numerous tattoos which include portraits of his father and grandfather on his leg, full sleeve tattoos on his left arm that include clocks representing family members' birthdays, as well as tattoos memorializing his friends Ryan Dunn and Zachary Hartwell, members of the "Jackass" crew who died in a car crash in June 2011.


title: Baron Corbin

text: Pestock has credited Bill DeMott, Corey Graves, Billy Gunn, Kane, and Dusty Rhodes with helping him develop his wrestling gimmick. He is close friends with fellow wrestlers Matthew Clement and Shawn Spears. After shaving his head in June 2018, he donated his ponytail to charity.


title: Baron Corbin

text: Pestock is good friends with heavy metal singer Tommy Vext, who sang Pestock's theme song "I Bring the Darkness" from 2017 until 2021.


title: Baron Corbin

text: Pestock is a Kansas City Chiefs fan. He is good friends with Pat McAfee, having been teammates at the Indianapolis Colts and lived together during their rookie year. They bonded over their love for wrestling.


title: You Don't Mess with the Zohan

text: You Don't Mess with the Zohan is a 2008 American satirical action comedy film directed by Dennis Dugan, produced by Adam Sandler, written by Adam Sandler, Judd Apatow, and Robert Smigel, and starring Sandler in the lead role, John Turturro, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Nick Swardson, Lainie Kazan, and Rob Schneider. It was the fourth film that included a collaboration of Sandler as actor and Dugan as director and tells the story of Zohan Dvir (), an Israeli army counter terrorist commando with superhuman traits who fakes his own death in order to pursue his dream of becoming a hairstylist in New York City while contending with a crooked businessman and a superhuman terrorist.


title: You Don't Mess with the Zohan

text: "You Don't Mess with the Zohan" was released on June 6, 2008, in the United States and on August 15, 2008, in the United Kingdom. The film was a box office success, grossing $204.3 million worldwide from a $90 million budget, however, despite this, the film received mixed reviews.


title: You Don't Mess with the Zohan

text: Zohan Dvir is a promiscuous, superhuman Israeli counter-terrorist of the Israel Defense Forces. Despite his success and popularity, he has grown tired of the everlasting conflicts in his country and dreams of becoming a hairstylist at Paul Mitchell's in the United States. He finally admits to his parents his desire to cut hair, but they make fun of him.


title: You Don't Mess with the Zohan

text: During his next mission against a Palestinian terrorist group led by his arch-enemy superhuman Fatoush "Phantom" Hakbarah, Zohan fakes his own death and smuggles himself onto a plane to New York City, cuts his hair, and adopts the alias "Scrappy Coco" after two dogs (Scrappy and Coco) whom he shared the flight with. Following his "success" at killing Zohan, Phantom opens a restaurant chain called Phantom Muchentuchen.


title: You Don't Mess with the Zohan

text: After his arrival in the United States, Zohan immediately goes to Paul Mitchell's salon to ask for a job where the stylists laugh at him. He tries other salons, but is also refused due to his lack of experience. Zohan befriends a Jewish man named Michael after defending him against a bullying motorist and is taken in by him and his mother Gail. Zohan and Gail have sex, much to Michael's disapproval.


title: You Don't Mess with the Zohan

text: Zohan then meets a fellow Israeli immigrant named Oori at a disco. Oori recognizes Zohan but vows to keep his identity a secret and brings him to an area in lower Manhattan populated by other Middle Eastern immigrants, including Palestinian and Israeli Americans. Zohan attempts to secure a job with the struggling salon of a Palestinian woman named Dalia, but she only allows Zohan to sweep the floors. When a stylist named Nadira unexpectedly quits, one of the customers asks Zohan to cut her hair. Zohan proceeds to give her a sexually charged but exceptional haircut and has sex with her in the bathroom. Zohan's reputation spreads rapidly among the elderly women of lower Manhattan, causing Dalia's business to prosper which upsets Grant Walbridge, a corporate businessman who has been trying to buy out all the local tenants on the block so that he can build a massive mall with a roller coaster in it.


title: You Don't Mess with the Zohan

text: Zohan is eventually identified by a Palestinian cab driver named Salim who bears a grudge against Zohan for having taken his beloved goat away in Palestine because Salim spat on him. Salim convinces his friends Hamdi and Nasi to help him kill Zohan. After several failed attempts, they are forced to contact Phantom and convince him to visit New York to find Zohan.


title: You Don't Mess with the Zohan

text: Meanwhile, Zohan has fallen in love with Dalia and comes clean to her, Michael, and Gail about his true identity. After Dalia rejects Zohan for his counter-terrorist background, Zohan decides to leave to protect her and confronts Phantom in a championship Hacky Sack game sponsored by Walbridge. Zohan's fight is cut short with sudden news of the Middle Eastern neighborhood being attacked and he quickly departs.


title: You Don't Mess with the Zohan

text: As their businesses burn, Zohan calms the Israelis and Palestinians who each blame the other for the violence and makes peace with Salim. Phantom then appears and confronts Zohan, but Zohan refuses to fight. Dalia appears where she reveals that she is Phantom's sister, and convinces her brother to cooperate with Zohan against the arsonists, revealed to be racist white supremacists led by James T. O'Scanlon. They were hired by Walbridge to instigate an inter-ethnic riot so he can get his new mall in the aftermath. As Zohan and Phantom work to save the block, Phantom admits that he always wanted to be a shoe salesman rather than a terrorist. Although the racist arsonists are defeated and Walbridge is arrested by the police, the overexcited Phantom accidentally destroys all of the shops on the block with his powerful screams.


title: You Don't Mess with the Zohan

text: With the Israelis and Palestinians united, the block is rebuilt and transformed into a collectively-owned mall. Phantom opens a shoe shop there, Oori relocates his electronics shop to the mall, Salim gets back his goat from Zohan and starts a goat ride business, and Michael becomes a hairdresser. Zohan and Dalia, having now married, open a beauty salon together. Zohan's parents arrive and approve of his new job and lifestyle before his father requests that he cut his hair, which Zohan happily does.


title: You Don't Mess with the Zohan

text: Sandler, Robert Smigel, and Judd Apatow wrote the first draft of the script in 2000, but the movie was delayed after the events of 9/11 because those involved felt that the subject would be too sensitive. Apatow left the project after the first draft in 2000 to work on his show "Undeclared" and had, for the most part, not been involved in the project since. The film is based in part on the story of Nezi Arbib, an Israeli soldier who after his service moved to southern California and opened a hair salon. Sandler trained with Arbib and his brothers, also former soldiers, for two weeks to learn hairstyling and work with clients. The movie features elements that first appeared in the SNL sketches "Sabra Shopping Network" and "Sabra Price Is Right", which starred Tom Hanks and were written by Robert Smigel. They originated lines such as 'Sony guts' and 'Disco, Disco, good, good'. The first sketch is also notable for featuring one of Adam Sandler's first (uncredited) television appearances while the second featured Sandler, Schneider, Smigel and Kevin Nealon in supporting parts. Robert Smigel worked with Sandler on past films including "Billy Madison", "Happy Gilmore", and "Little Nicky", but this was the first time in which he was credited for helping to write the script. He was also an executive producer on the film which allowed him to further contribute to the movie's comedic sensibility. The Israeli newspaper "Haaretz" commented that the movie was known in Hollywood circles as "the Israeli movie". "Haaretz" also noted that while "Israeli actors were rushing to audition [for the movie]," the response among Arab actors was far from enthusiastic. (Emmanuelle Chriqui, who played Zohan's Palestinian love interest, was raised as an Orthodox Jew.) The film poked fun at the popularity of hummus in Israeli culture. In the movie, characters used it to brush their teeth and as a method to douse the flames of a fire, as well as a hair care product.


title: You Don't Mess with the Zohan

text: Rupert Gregson-Williams composed the film's score, which he recorded with the Hollywood Studio Symphony at the Sony Scoring Stage in April 2008. The soundtrack contains many songs in Hebrew, mostly by the popular Israeli band Hadag Nahash, the psychedelic trance duo Infected Mushroom, and Dana International. The film features "Strip" by Adam Ant, "Look on the Floor (Hypnotic Tango) (Angel City Remix)" by Bananarama, the Ace of Base songs "Hallo Hallo" and "Beautiful Life", the Rockwell song Somebody's Watching Me and Mariah Carey songs "Fantasy" and "I'll Be Lovin' U Long Time".


title: You Don't Mess with the Zohan

text: The soundtrack contains (near the end) music re-arranged for the movie by Julius Dobos, based on the song "Jimmy Jimmy Jimmy Aaja" from the Bollywood movie "Disco Dancer" (1982) starring Mithun Chakraborty.


title: You Don't Mess with the Zohan

text: Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 37% based on 190 reviews. The site's consensus is that the film "features intermittent laughs, and will please Sandler diehards, but after a while the leaky premise wears thin." Metacritic gives the film a rating of 54 out of 100, based on 37 reviews—indicating mixed or average reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a grade B− on scale of A to F.


title: You Don't Mess with the Zohan

text: John Podhoretz, in "The Weekly Standard", wrote that the movie has a "mess" of a plot and features, "as usual for Sandler, plenty of dumb humor of the sort that gives dumb humor a bad name, but that delights his 14-year-old-boy fan base." But the film also has an "unusual" amount of "tantalizing comic ideas" so that "every 10 minutes or so, it makes you explode with laughter." "Entertainment Weekly" gave the movie a C+ grade, calling it "another 'mess' from Sandler" which is, unlike Monty Python, a "circus that never flies".


title: You Don't Mess with the Zohan

text: On the positive side, "Time" called the film to be a "laff scuffle". Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, and called it "a mighty hymn of and to vulgarity, and either you enjoy it, or you don't." Ebert admitted "I found myself enjoying it a surprising amount of the time, even though I was thoroughly ashamed of myself." David Edelstein of "New York Magazine" went as far as to say "Adam Sandler is mesmerizing". A.O. Scott of "The New York Times" said it was "the finest post-Zionist action-hairdressing sex comedy I have ever seen."


title: You Don't Mess with the Zohan

text: "You Don't Mess with the Zohan" grossed $38 million on its opening weekend, ranked second behind "Kung Fu Panda". , it reached a US tally of $100 million. The film grossed $204.3 million worldwide.


title: You Don't Mess with the Zohan

text: The film was released on DVD on October 7, 2008, with a 2-disc unrated edition, a single-disc unrated edition, and a theatrical edition, as well as a Blu-ray edition and UMD for PSP. It has sold over 1.2 million DVD units gathering revenue of $26 million.


title: Kind of Blue

text: Kind of Blue is a studio album by American jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader Miles Davis. It was recorded on March 2 and April 22, 1959, at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York City, and released on August 17 of that year by Columbia Records. For the recording, Davis led a sextet featuring saxophonists John Coltrane and Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, pianist Bill Evans, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Jimmy Cobb, with new band pianist Wynton Kelly appearing on one track – "Freddie Freeloader" – in place of Evans.


title: Kind of Blue

text: Influenced in part by Evans, who had joined the ensemble in 1958, Davis departed further from his early hard bop style in favor of greater experimentation with musical modes, as on his previous album "Milestones" (1958). Basing "Kind of Blue" entirely on modality, he gave each performer a set of scales that encompassed the parameters of their improvisation and style, and consequently more creative freedom with melodies; Coltrane later expanded on this modal approach in his own solo career.


title: Kind of Blue

text: "Kind of Blue" is regarded by many critics as Davis's masterpiece, the greatest jazz record, and one of the best albums of all time. Its impact on music, including jazz, rock, and classical genres, has led writers to also deem it one of the most influential albums ever recorded. The album was one of fifty recordings chosen in 2002 by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry, and in 2003 it was ranked number 12 on "Rolling Stone" magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. In 2019, "Kind of Blue" was certified 5× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments of at least five million copies.


title: Kind of Blue

text: By late 1958, trumpeter Miles Davis employed one of the most acclaimed and profitable hard bop bands. Bassist Paul Chambers had been with the band from its beginning in 1955; alto saxophonist Julian "Cannonball" Adderley joined in late 1957, and tenor saxophonist John Coltrane returned in early 1958. Drummer Jimmy Cobb replaced Philly Joe Jones in May 1958, and pianist Wynton Kelly replaced Bill Evans in November 1958.


title: Kind of Blue

text: The Davis band played a mixture of pop standards, blues, and bebop originals by composers such as Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, Davis, and Tadd Dameron. As with all bebop-based jazz, Davis's groups improvised on the chord changes of a given song. Davis was one of many jazz musicians growing dissatisfied with bebop, however, and saw its increasingly complex chord changes as hindering creativity.


title: Kind of Blue

text: In 1953, the pianist George Russell published his "Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization", which offered an alternative to improvisation based on chords. Abandoning the traditional major and minor key relationships, his concept introduced the idea of chord/scale unity and was the first theory to explore the vertical relationship between chords and scales, and the only original theory to come from jazz. These insights helped lead the way to modal jazz. Influenced by Russell's ideas, Davis implemented his first modal composition with the title track of his studio album "Milestones" (1958). Satisfied with the results, Davis prepared an entire album based on modality. Evans, who had studied with Russell but had left the Davis group to pursue his career, was drafted back into the project.


title: Kind of Blue

text: "Kind of Blue" was recorded on three-track tape in two sessions at Columbia Records' 30th Street Studio in New York City. On March 2, 1959, the tracks "So What", "Freddie Freeloader", and "Blue in Green" were recorded for side one of the original LP, and on April 22 the tracks "All Blues" and "Flamenco Sketches" were recorded, making up side two.


title: Kind of Blue

text: As was Davis's penchant, he called for almost no rehearsal and the musicians had little idea what they were to record. As described in the original liner notes by pianist Bill Evans, Davis had only given the band sketches of scales and melody lines on which to improvise. Once the musicians were assembled, Davis gave brief instructions for each piece and then set to taping the sextet in studio. While the results were impressive with so little preparation, the persistent legend that the entire album was recorded in one pass is untrue. Only "Flamenco Sketches" yielded a complete take on the first try. That take, which is not the master, was added to the 1997 CD reissue of the album as a bonus track. The five master takes issued were the only other complete takes; an insert for the ending to "Freddie Freeloader" was recorded, but was not used for release or on the issues of "Kind of Blue" prior to the 1997 reissue.


title: Kind of Blue

text: Pianist Wynton Kelly may not have been happy to see the man he replaced, Bill Evans, back in his old seat. Perhaps to assuage the pianist's feelings, Davis had Kelly play instead of Evans on the album's most blues-oriented number, "Freddie Freeloader". The live album "Miles Davis at Newport 1958" documents this band. However, the Newport Jazz Festival recording on July 3, 1958, reflects the band in its hard bop conception, the presence of Bill Evans only six weeks into his brief tenure in the Davis band notwithstanding, rather than the modal approach of "Kind of Blue".


title: Kind of Blue

text: "Kind of Blue" was produced by Columbia staff producer Irving Townsend. However, over the years there has been confusion, with Davis's subsequent producer Teo Macero getting partial or full credit. "In the case of "Kind of Blue" there were two producers: Teo Macero and Irving Townsend", said jazz historian Eric Nisenson. "Macero's role, however, was clearly that of an apprentice and observer." The recording session was also cited by Nisenson as Macero's first experience with "the highs and lows of working with Miles." From Macero's own recollection, his involvement in the recording included "box[ing] everyone in so that there would be a physical closeness among the musicians, not like today when the musicians are spread all over the place." According to "High Fidelity", "though his role in "Kind of Blue" has been disputed", the recording was "made under the auspices" of Macero. However, it is Townsend's voice heard on the session tapes, who became Davis's producer after the departures of George Avakian and Cal Lampley. Macero did not produce Davis until after Townsend took over West Coast production duties for Columbia Records, when Macero took his place. Macero's first Davis production was his next record, "Sketches of Spain".


title: Kind of Blue

text: The original LP did not credit a producer. The first release with a producer credit was the 1987 CD, which credited only Macero. However, this was in error; Macero only produced that reissue, not the sessions for the original album. The 1997 MiniDisc reissue credited both Townsend and Macero, but the subsequent 1997, 1999, 2004, 2008, and 2015 reissues all correctly credit only Townsend.


title: Kind of Blue

text: "Kind of Blue" is based entirely on modality, diverging from Davis's earlier hard bop style of jazz with its complex chord progression and improvisation. The entire album was a series of "modal sketches", with each performer given a set of scales that encompassed the parameters of their improvisation and style. This recording style contrasted with the typical preparation of providing musicians with the complete score or, for improvisational jazz, providing the musicians with a chord progression or series of harmonies.


title: Kind of Blue

text: Modal jazz was not unique to this album. Davis himself had previously used the same method on his 1958 "Milestones" album, the "<nowiki>'</nowiki>58 Sessions", and "Porgy and Bess" (1958), on which he used modal influences for collaborator Gil Evans's third stream compositions. Modal composition, with its reliance on scales and modes, represented, as Davis called it, "a return to melody." In a 1958 interview with Nat Hentoff of "The Jazz Review", Davis elaborated on this form of composition in contrast to the chord progression predominant in bebop, stating


title: Kind of Blue

text: No chords ... gives you a lot more freedom and space to hear things. When you go this way, you can go on forever. You don't have to worry about changes and you can do more with the [melody] line. It becomes a challenge to see how melodically innovative you can be. When you're based on chords, you know at the end of 32 bars that the chords have run out and there's nothing to do but repeat what you've just done—with variations. I think a movement in jazz is beginning away from the conventional string of chords ... there will be fewer chords but infinite possibilities as to what to do with them.


title: Kind of Blue

text: Bill Evans wrote in the LP liner notes, "Miles conceived these settings only hours before the recording dates." Evans continued with an introduction concerning the modes used in each composition on the album. "So What" consists of two modes: sixteen measures of the first, followed by eight measures of the second, and then eight again of the first. "Freddie Freeloader" is a standard twelve-bar blues form. "Blue in Green" consists of a ten-measure cycle following a short four-measure introduction. "All Blues" is a twelve-bar blues form in time. "Flamenco Sketches" consists of five scales, which are each played "as long as the soloist wishes until he has completed the series".


title: Kind of Blue

text: The liner notes list Davis as author of all compositions, but many scholars and fans believe that Bill Evans wrote part or the whole of "Blue in Green" and "Flamenco Sketches". Bill Evans assumed co-credit with Davis for "Blue in Green" when recording it on his "Portrait in Jazz" album and the Davis estate acknowledged Evans' authorship in 2002.


title: Kind of Blue

text: Since its release on August 17, 1959, "Kind of Blue" has been regarded by critics as Davis's greatest work. It is his most acclaimed album, and became, along with Davis's 1970 album "Bitches Brew", his best-selling record, cementing him as one of the most successful jazz artists in history. Music writer Chris Morris cited "Kind of Blue" as "the distillation of Davis's art." Cobb said the album "must have been made in heaven".


title: Kind of Blue

text: "Kind of Blue" has been lauded as one of the most influential albums in the history of jazz. One reviewer has called it a "defining moment of twentieth century music." Several of the songs from the album have become jazz standards. "Kind of Blue" is consistently ranked among the greatest albums of all time. In a review of the album, AllMusic senior editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine stated:


title: Kind of Blue

text: In 1958, the arrival of Ornette Coleman on the jazz scene via his fall residency at the Five Spot club, consolidated by the release of his "The Shape of Jazz to Come" LP in 1959, muted the initial impact of "Kind of Blue", a happenstance that irritated Davis greatly. Though Davis and Coleman both offered alternatives to the rigid rules of bebop, Davis would never reconcile himself to Coleman's free jazz innovations, although he would incorporate musicians amenable to Coleman's ideas with his great quintet of the mid-1960s, and offer his own version of "free" playing with his jazz fusion outfits in the 1970s. The influence of "Kind of Blue" did build, and all of the sidemen from the album went on to achieve success on their own. Evans formed his influential jazz trio with bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian; "Cannonball" Adderley fronted popular bands with his brother Nat; Kelly, Chambers and Cobb continued as a touring unit, recording under Kelly's name as well as in support of Coltrane and Wes Montgomery, among others; and Coltrane went on to become one of the most revered and innovative of all jazz musicians. Even more than Davis, Coltrane took the modal approach and ran with it during his career as a leader in the 1960s, leavening his music with Coleman's ideas as the decade progressed.


title: Kind of Blue

text: One of the most acclaimed records of all-time, "Kind of Blue" frequently appears on professional listings of the greatest albums. In 1994, it was ranked number one in Colin Larkin's "Top 100 Jazz Albums". Larkin described it as "the greatest jazz album in the world". In 2002, it was one of 50 recordings chosen that year by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry. In selecting the album as number 12 on its 2003 list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, maintaining the rating in a 2012 revised list, "Rolling Stone" magazine stated: "This painterly masterpiece is one of the most important, influential and popular albums in jazz". The rating descended to number 31 in "Rolling Stone's" revised list in 2020. On December 16, 2009, the United States House of Representatives passed a resolution honoring the 50th anniversary of "Kind of Blue" and "reaffirming jazz as a national treasure". It is included in the 2005 book "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die", described by reviewer Seth Jacobson as "a genre-defining moment in twentieth-century music, period.". It was voted number 14 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums 3rd Edition (2000). "The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings" lists the album as part of its suggested “core collection”, and also awards it a crown, indicating a recording of particular merit. Based on such honors and listings, the aggregate website Acclaimed Music ranks "Kind of Blue" as the 29th most acclaimed album in history.


title: Kind of Blue

text: "Kind of Blue" remains popular with listeners. Between 1991 (when Nielsen SoundScan started tracking sales) and 2016, the album sold 3.6 million copies in the US. In 2019, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified the album five-times platinum, indicating five million units recorded there.


title: Kind of Blue

text: The album's influence has reached beyond jazz, as musicians of such genres as rock and classical have been influenced by it, while critics have written about it as one of the most influential albums of all time. Many improvisatory rock musicians of the 1960s referred to "Kind of Blue" for inspiration, along with other Davis albums, as well as Coltrane's modal records "My Favorite Things" (1961) and "A Love Supreme" (1965). Guitarist Duane Allman of the Allman Brothers Band said his soloing on songs such as "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed", "comes from Miles and Coltrane, and particularly "Kind of Blue". I've listened to that album so many times that for the past couple of years, I haven't hardly listened to anything else." Pink Floyd keyboardist Richard Wright said that the chord progressions on the album influenced the structure of the introductory chords to the song "Breathe" on the album "The Dark Side of the Moon" (1973). In his book "Kind of Blue: The Making of a Miles Davis Masterpiece", writer Ashley Kahn wrote "still acknowledged as the height of hip, four decades after it was recorded, "Kind of Blue" is the premier album of its era, jazz or otherwise. Its vapory piano introduction is universally recognized". Producer Quincy Jones, one of Davis's longtime friends, wrote: "That ["Kind of Blue"] will always be my music, man. I play "Kind of Blue" every day—it's my orange juice. It still sounds like it was made yesterday". Pianist Chick Corea, one of Miles's acolytes, was also struck by its majesty, later stating "It's one thing to just play a tune, or play a program of music, but it's another thing to practically create a new language of music, which is what "Kind of Blue" did."


title: Kind of Blue

text: Gary Burton, of Berklee College of Music, noted the consistent innovation present throughout the album, stating: "It wasn't just one tune that was a breakthrough, it was the whole record. When new jazz styles come along, the first few attempts to do it are usually kind of shaky. Early Charlie Parker records were like this. But with "Kind of Blue" [the sextet] all sound like they're fully into it." Along with "Time Out" by the Dave Brubeck Quartet (1959) and Coltrane's "Giant Steps" (1960), "Kind of Blue" has often been recommended by music writers as an introductory jazz album, for similar reasons: the music on both records is very melodic, and the relaxed quality of the songs makes the improvisation easy for listeners to follow, without sacrificing artistry or experimentation. Upon the release of the 50th anniversary collector's edition of the album, a columnist for "All About Jazz" stated ""Kind of Blue" heralded the arrival of a revolutionary new American music, a post-bebop modal jazz structured around simple scales and melodic improvisation. Trumpeter/band leader/composer Miles Davis assembled a sextet of legendary players to create a sublime atmospheric masterpiece. Fifty years after its release, "Kind of Blue" continues to transport listeners to a realm all its own while inspiring musicians to create to new sounds—from acoustic jazz to post-modern ambient—in every genre imaginable." Renowned hip-hop artist and rapper Q-Tip reaffirmed the album's reputation and influence when discussing the significance of "Kind of Blue", stating "It's like the Bible—you just have one in your house." The singer Bilal names it among his 25 favorite albums and "an important record" for him. The 2014 album "Blue" by Mostly Other People Do the Killing is a note-for-note reproduction of "Kind of Blue".


title: Kind of Blue

text: The "Kind of Blue" musicians appeared together in further recorded ventures through the 1960s. Davis had made a rare post-1953 sideman appearance in 1958 on Adderley's "Somethin' Else" album; Evans and Adderley collaborated on the latter's LP "Know What I Mean?" from 1961. Kelly and Chambers backed Hank Mobley on "Soul Station" in 1960, and Evans and Chambers played on the sessions for "The Blues and the Abstract Truth" by Oliver Nelson in 1961. The rhythm section of Kelly, Chambers, and Cobb backed Coltrane for "Coltrane Jazz" and one track on his landmark "Giant Steps", which featured Chambers throughout. That trio stayed with Davis for the recordings "Someday My Prince Will Come" and the live sets at the Blackhawk and at Carnegie Hall.


title: Kind of Blue

text: Late in his life, from the electric period on, Davis repeatedly disregarded his earlier work, such as the music of "Birth of the Cool" or "Kind of Blue". In Davis's view, remaining static stylistically was the wrong option.


title: Kind of Blue

text: When Shirley Horn insisted, in 1990, that Davis reconsider playing the gentle ballads and modal tunes of his "Kind of Blue" period, he demurred: "Nah, it hurts my lip."


title: Kind of Blue

text: "Kind of Blue" was released as a 12-inch vinyl record, in both stereo and mono. There have been multiple reissues of "Kind of Blue", with additional pressings throughout the vinyl era. On some editions, the label switched the order for the two tracks on side two, "All Blues" and "Flamenco Sketches". The album has been remastered many times during the compact disc era, including in 1982 by CBS/Sony Japan catalog number 35DP 62 and the 1986 Columbia "Jazz Masterpieces" reissue. The significant 1992 remaster corrected the original recording speed for side one, which had caused all prior releases to be slightly off-pitch. The 1997 reissue added the alternative take of "Flamenco Sketches". In 2005, a DualDisc release included the original album, a digital remastering in 5.1 Surround Sound and LPCM Stereo, and a 25-minute documentary "Made in Heaven" about the making and influence of "Kind of Blue". "Kind of Blue" was re-issued on a rare 24-carat gold CD collectors version. A two-disc CD box set "50th Anniversary Collector's Edition" was released on September 30, 2008, by Columbia and Legacy.


title: Carrie Brownstein

text: Carrie Rachel Brownstein (born September 27, 1974) is an American musician, actress, writer, director, and comedian. She first came to prominence as a member of the band Excuse 17 before forming the rock trio Sleater-Kinney. During a long hiatus from Sleater-Kinney, she formed the group Wild Flag. During this period, Brownstein wrote and appeared in a series of comedy sketches alongside "Saturday Night Live" alumnus Fred Armisen which were developed into the satirical comedy TV series "Portlandia". The series went on to win Emmy and Peabody Awards. Sleater-Kinney eventually reunited; as of 2015, Brownstein was touring with the band as well as in support of her new memoir.


title: Carrie Brownstein

text: Brownstein was born in Seattle, Washington, and was raised in Redmond, Washington. Her mother was a housewife and a teacher, and her father was a corporate lawyer. They divorced when Carrie was 14, and she was raised by her father. Brownstein has a younger sister. Her family is Jewish.


title: Carrie Brownstein

text: She attended Lake Washington High School before transferring to The Overlake School for her senior year.


title: Carrie Brownstein

text: Brownstein began playing guitar at 15 and received lessons from Jeremy Enigk. She later said: "He lived in the neighborhood next to mine, so I would just walk my guitar over to his house. He showed me a couple of open chords and I just took it from there. I'd gone through so many phases as a kid with my interests that my parents put their foot down with guitar. So [the instrument] ended up being the [first] thing that I had to save up my own money for and maybe that was the whole reason that I actually stuck with it."


title: Carrie Brownstein

text: After high school, Brownstein attended Western Washington University before transferring to The Evergreen State College. In 1997, Brownstein graduated from Evergreen with an emphasis on sociolinguistics and stayed in Olympia, Washington, for three years before moving to Portland, Oregon.


title: Carrie Brownstein

text: While attending Evergreen, Brownstein met fellow students Corin Tucker, Kathleen Hanna, Tobi Vail, and Becca Albee. With Albee and CJ Phillips, she formed the band Excuse 17, one of the pioneering bands of the riot grrrl movement in the Olympia music scene that played an important role in third-wave feminism. Excuse 17 often toured with Tucker's band Heavens to Betsy. The two bands contributed to the "Free to Fight" compilation. With Tucker, she formed the band Sleater-Kinney as a side project and later released the split single "Free to Fight" with Cypher in the Snow.


title: Carrie Brownstein

text: After both Excuse 17 and Heavens to Betsy split up, Sleater-Kinney became Brownstein and Tucker's main focus. They recorded their first self-titled album in early 1994 during a trip to Australia, where the pair were celebrating Tucker's graduation from Evergreen (Brownstein still had three years of college left). It was released the following spring. They recorded and toured with different drummers, until Janet Weiss joined the band in 1996. Following their eponymous debut, they released six more studio albums before going on indefinite hiatus in 2006. In a 2012 interview with "DIY" magazine, Brownstein said that Sleater-Kinney still planned to play in the future. On October 20, 2014, Brownstein announced on Twitter that Sleater-Kinney would be releasing a new album, "No Cities to Love", on January 20, 2015, and would tour in early 2015. At the same time the announcement was made, they released the video for the first single from the album. The single, "Bury Our Friends", was also made available as a free MP3 download.


title: Carrie Brownstein

text: Critics Greil Marcus and Robert Christgau deemed the band one of the essential rock groups of the early 2000s. In 2015, "Stereogum" Chief Editor Tom Breihan called them the greatest rock band of the past two decades.


title: Carrie Brownstein

text: Brownstein and former Helium guitarist/singer Mary Timony, recording as The Spells, released "The Age of Backwards E.P." in 1999.


title: Carrie Brownstein

text: Also in 1999, Brownstein, Lois Maffeo, and Peter Momtchiloff released a single ("The Touch"/"Louie Louie Got Married") on K Records as The Tentacles.


title: Carrie Brownstein

text: In summer 2009, Brownstein and Weiss worked together on songs (produced by Tucker Martine) for the soundtrack of the documentary film "!Women Art Revolution" by Lynn Hershman Leeson.


title: Carrie Brownstein

text: In September 2010, Brownstein revealed her latest project was the band Wild Flag, with Janet Weiss, Mary Timony, and Rebecca Cole, formerly of The Minders; according to Brownstein, about a year earlier, "I started to need music again, and so I called on my friends and we joined as a band. Chemistry cannot be manufactured or forced, so Wild Flag was not a sure thing, it was a 'maybe, a 'possibility.' But after a handful of practice sessions, spread out over a period of months, I think we all realized that we could be greater than the sum of our parts." They released a self-titled album in September 2011.


title: Carrie Brownstein

text: In 2006, Brownstein was the only woman to earn a spot in the "Rolling Stone" readers' list of the 25 "Most Underrated Guitarists of All-Time".


title: Carrie Brownstein

text: Brownstein began a career as a writer before Sleater-Kinney broke up. She interviewed Eddie Vedder, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Karen O, and Cheryl Hines for "The Believer" magazine. Brownstein has also written a couple of music-related video game reviews for "Slate".


title: Carrie Brownstein

text: From November 2007 to May 2010, Brownstein wrote a blog for NPR Music called "Monitor Mix"; she returned for a final blog post in October, thanking her blog readers and declaring the blog "officially conclude[d]."


title: Carrie Brownstein

text: In March 2009, Brownstein was contracted to write a book to "describe the dramatically changing dynamic between music fan and performer, from the birth of the iPod and the death of the record store to the emergence of the 'you be the star' culture of "American Idol" and the ensuing dilution of rock mystique"; The book, called "The Sound of Where You Are", was planned to be published by Ecco/HarperCollins. In an April 2012 interview on Marc Maron's WTF podcast, Brownstein said she was no longer working on the book.


title: Carrie Brownstein

text: Brownstein's memoir, "Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl," was released on October 27, 2015. The book was published by Riverhead Books, an imprint of Penguin Books USA.


title: Carrie Brownstein

text: In 2020, Ann Wilson, lead singer of hard rock band Heart, announced in an interview that Brownstein was writing the script for a Heart biopic.


title: Carrie Brownstein

text: Brownstein has acted (what she calls a "mere hobby") in the short film "Fan Mail", the experimental feature "Group", and the Miranda July film "Getting Stronger Every Day". Brownstein and Fred Armisen published several video skits as part of a comedy duo called "ThunderAnt". She also starred opposite James Mercer of The Shins in the 2010 independent film "Some Days Are Better Than Others". The film had its world premiere at SXSW on March 13, 2010.


title: Carrie Brownstein

text: After their ThunderAnt videos, Brownstein and Armisen developed "Portlandia", a sketch comedy show shot on location in Portland, for the Independent Film Channel. The two starred in the series and wrote for it with Allison Silverman from "The Colbert Report" and Jonathan Krisel, a writer for "Saturday Night Live". The show, which featured appearances of some of the characters from ThunderAnt, premiered in January 2011. The series received positive feedback and concluded after its eighth season.


title: Carrie Brownstein

text: From 2014 to 2019, Brownstein played the role of Syd in the Amazon Studios original series "Transparent".


title: Carrie Brownstein

text: In 2015, Brownstein portrayed Genevieve Cantrell in the Todd Haynes film "Carol", based on Patricia Highsmith's novel "The Price of Salt". However, the majority of her scenes were cut due to the film's length. The film had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on May 17, 2015. It began a limited release on November 20, 2015.


title: Carrie Brownstein

text: Brownstein has also appeared as a guest on "Saturday Night Live", "Curb Your Enthusiasm", and "Man Seeking Woman", among other shows.


title: Carrie Brownstein

text: Brownstein starred in and wrote the screenplay for "The Nowhere Inn", a 2020 tour mockumentary thriller, with Annie Clark (St. Vincent).


title: Carrie Brownstein

text: Brownstein was outed as bisexual to her family and the world by "Spin" when she was 21 years old. The article discussed the fact that she had dated bandmate Corin Tucker in the beginning of Sleater-Kinney (the song "One More Hour" is about their break-up).


title: Carrie Brownstein

text: In 2006, "The New York Times" described Brownstein as "openly gay". In a November 2010 interview for "Willamette Week", she stated that she identifies as bisexual. She says, "It's weird, because no one's actually ever asked me. People just always assume, like, you're this or that. It's like, 'OK. I'm bisexual. Just ask.'" In a 2020 article, the "Los Angeles Times" noted that Brownstein and Annie Clark (who performs as St. Vincent) "dated years ago."


title: Carrie Brownstein

text: Since working together on ThunderAnt, Brownstein and Fred Armisen developed what Brownstein has called "one of the most intimate, functional, romantic, but nonsexual relationships [they have] ever had." According to Armisen, their relationship is "all of the things that I've ever wanted, you know, aside from like the physical stuff, but the intimacy that I have with her is like no other."


title: Prayut Chan-o-cha

text: Prayut Chan-o-cha (sometimes spelled Prayuth Chan-ocha; , ; born 21 March 1954) is a Thai politician and retired army officer who has served as the Prime Minister of Thailand since he seized power in a military coup in 2014. He is concurrently the Minister of Defence, a position he has held in his own government since 2019. Prayut served as Commander in Chief of Royal Thai Army from 2010 to 2014 and led the 2014 Thai coup d'état which installed the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), the military junta which governed Thailand between 22 May 2014 and 10 July 2019.


title: Prayut Chan-o-cha

text: After his appointment as army chief in 2010, Prayut was characterised as a royalist and an opponent of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Considered a hardliner within the military, he was one of the leading proponents of military crackdowns on the Red Shirt demonstrations of April 2009 and April–May 2010. He later sought to moderate his profile, talking to relatives of protesters who were killed in the bloody conflict, and co-operating with the government of Yingluck Shinawatra who won parliamentary elections in July 2011.


title: Prayut Chan-o-cha

text: During the political crisis that began in November 2013 and involved protests against the caretaker government of Yingluck, Prayut claimed that the army was neutral and would not launch a coup. However, in May 2014, Prayut launched a military coup against the government and assumed control of the country as dictator and leader of the National Council for Peace and Order, a military junta. He later issued an interim constitution granting himself sweeping powers and giving himself amnesty for staging the coup. In August 2014, an unelected military-dominated national legislature appointed him as Prime Minister.


title: Prayut Chan-o-cha

text: After seizing power, Prayut's government oversaw a significant crackdown on dissent. He formulated “twelve values” based on traditional Thai values and suggested that these be included in school lessons. Measures were implemented to limit public discussions about democracy and criticism of the government, including increases in Internet and media censorship. Prayut was re-elected as Prime Minister of Thailand following the disputed 2019 Thai general election. In August 2022, the Constitutional Court of Thailand suspended Prayut from his duties pending the court case on whether he had exceeded the term limit for the office of Prime Minister. On 30 September 2022, the Constititutional Court of Thailand ruled that he had not exceeded his constitutional term limit for the office of Prime Minister. As such; his premiership resumed and his principal deputy, First Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan ceased to act as the Acting Prime Minister of Thailand.


title: Prayut Chan-o-cha

text: Born to an army Colonel, Prapat Chan-o-cha, native from Bangkok, and a school teacher, Khemphet Chan-o-cha, native from Chaiyaphum province, he was the eldest child of four siblings. He studied at Sahakit School in Lopburi (now known as Lopburi Technical college), where his mother taught. For junior highschool, he spent only a year at Phibulwitthayalai Lopburi School because his father, an army officer, moved often. Then at the grade 8, he moved to Wat Nuannoradit School in Phasi Charoen, where he was selected as one of the best students in a student magazine.


title: Prayut Chan-o-cha

text: In 1971, Prayut spent his senior highschool year at the Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School (AFAPS) Class 12, and in 1976, became a cadet at Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy Class 23. He graduated with a bachelor of science degree. While in the academy, he finished Infantry Officer Basic Course Class 51 in his first year and Infantry Officer Advanced Course, Class 34 in 1981. Before starting his military career, he graduated from Command and General Staff College (CGSC) Class 63 in 1985.


title: Prayut Chan-o-cha

text: After graduating from the Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy, Prayut started his career as a Major. He was a royal guard under Prime Minister Prem Tinsulanonda in 1987. Three years later, Prayut served in the 21st Infantry Regiment, which is granted Royal Guard status as the Queen's Guards (; lit. "Queen's Musketeer"). In 2001, he served as a deputy commanding general in the 2nd Infantry Division, becoming its commanding general one year later. In 2005, he became a deputy commanding general of the 1st Army, which included the 2nd Infantry Division. He was seen as one of the leaders of the alliance behind the 2006 Thai coup d'état.


title: Prayut Chan-o-cha

text: Like his direct predecessor, Anupong Paochinda, and former defence minister Prawit Wongsuwan, Prayut is a member of the army's "eastern tigers" faction. Most of them, like Prayut, began their military careers in the 2nd Infantry Division, headquartered in eastern Thailand, particularly in the 21st Infantry Regiment (Queen's Guards).


title: Prayut Chan-o-cha

text: After the 2006 Thai coup d'état, Prayut was appointed to the National Legislative Assembly. In this capacity, he joined the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources. Prayut sits on the executive boards of a number of companies including a state electricity utility company, the Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA). From 2007 to 2010 he was independent director at Thai Oil Public Co, Ltd. Since 7 October 2010 he has been a director of Thai Military Bank and chairman of the Army United Football Club. Prayut attended management course in the National Defence College of Thailand (NDC) Class 20, in 2007. He was the chief of staff of the Royal Thai Army from 2008 to 2009, and in 2009 he was appointed honorary adjutant to the king.


title: Prayut Chan-o-cha

text: In 2010, he succeeded Anupong Paochinda as commander in chief. On taking over, Prayut had stated that his mandates would be to maintain Thailand's sovereignty and to protect the monarchy. His uncommon promotion was seen as a revealing of the influence of the Queen's Guards.


title: Prayut Chan-o-cha

text: Amid the 2010 Thai political protests, Prayut was the part of executive of the Centre for the Resolution of Emergency Situations (CRES), a special government agency that was found by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and Deputy-Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban. Queen's Guards army general, Anupong Paochinda was the leader of the violent 2010 Thai military crackdown before Prayut stepped up to replace Anupong. Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a visiting scholar at Stanford University's Centre on Democracy, commented that Prayut was seen as more hardline than Anupong, and in April 2009, during the red shirts' uprising, Anupong was nominally in charge but Prayut appeared to be directing the dispersing the red shirt protesters.


title: Prayut Chan-o-cha

text: Prayut had led the CRES from 5 October to 21 December 2010, in which he used authoritarian methods to control a political situation. The CRES banned symbolic political-dividing products such as Prime Minister Abhisit face on a sandal. After the CRES dissolved, in 2011, Prayut became part of the opposition to Yingluck Shinawatra's Pheu Thai Party in the 2011 Thai general election. He told the media that he stood in the middle, but urged Thai people not to vote for Pheu Thai, saying it would lead to "chaos and violence". He intended to stop a violation of monarchy defamation law by red shirts activists who support Yingluck. He vowed to sacrifice his life to protect the monarchy. Before the election date, he urged the people to vote for the party that would protect the monarchy. Eventually, Pheu Thai Party won the election in a landslide. Pavin Chachavalpongpun called on Yingluck to sack Prayut, in order to remind the military to stay out of politics.


title: Prayut Chan-o-cha

text: In the late 2011, Prayut heavily criticised the "Nitirat" group, led by Worachet Pakeerut and Piyabutr Saengkanokkul, who campaigned for constitutional reform and a change of Thailand's lèse majesté law. Prayut warned them that they would violate the rule of law in Thailand.


title: Prayut Chan-o-cha

text: In July 2012, during the GT200 controversy, a fraudulent "remote substance detector", Prayut opined that soldiers were confident of the effectiveness of the technology, because it performed well in the field. This was contrary to the outcomes of scientific tests by the Department of Special Investigation (DSI). Later, in 2013, Prayut asked people to stop criticizing it.


title: Prayut Chan-o-cha

text: In August 2012, Prayut sued Robert Amsterdam, a lawyer representing the UDD and exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and Amsterdam’s translator, who delivered a speech at a Red Shirt rally in Bangkok, on Thai military defamation. Amsterdam alleged the Thai military committed brutality against demonstrators. Prayut also told the DSI to stop implicating soldiers in the killing of Red Shirt demonstrators during the 2010 Thai military crackdown and not to disclose publicly the progress of its investigations. Prayut had denied any army abuses in which at least 98 people died and more than 2,000 were injured, despite on scene witnesses and evidence. Prayut said that soldiers did not kill anyone during the conflicts. He argued that soldiers seen in photos and videos armed with telescopic rifles were not 'snipers,' but were only using them for self-defense. He also adopted a policy that soldiers could be regarded as witnesses in the investigations and protected them from criminal charge.


title: Prayut Chan-o-cha

text: In May 2013, Prayut sold nine plots of land in a Bangkok suburb to a company called 69 Property for 600 million baht. Reporters subsequently asked him about the land sale, and the prime minister's position was that the media had no business questioning him on the matter, saying: "The land has belonged to me since I was a kid, it belonged to my father. So what's the problem? Please stop criticising me already."


title: Prayut Chan-o-cha

text: In 2013-14, political conflict broke out with the involvement of the anti-Yingluck Shinawatra People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC). In late 2013, the Network of Students and People for Reform of Thailand (NSPRT), a sub-group of PDRC, tried to seize army headquarters, demanding that the military join the protests. In response, Prayut urged protest groups, led by Suthep Thaugsuban, not to involve the military and called on rival sides to resolve the crisis peacefully. Suthep's actions were supported by former defence minister General Prawit Wongsuwan and former army chief General Anupong Paochinda. The two generals had had close ties to Prayut through the Queen's Guard unit. They could help influence the military to intervene or even to seize power on the excuse of national security, if Suthep’s group lead to violence. By the end of 2013, Prayut called for end to violence but hinted possibility of a Coup d'état.


title: Prayut Chan-o-cha

text: On 20 May 2014, amid the 2013–2014 Thai political crisis, Prayut attempted to bring the rival parties of Yingluck Shinawatra and Suthep Thaugsuban to an agreement, and declared martial law. He insisted that they had not staged a coup, despite being in control of key levers of power. Yingluck had already been removed from office on 7 May by the Constitutional Court, in a controversial transfer, and Niwatthamrong Boonsongpaisan was acting in her place. Prayut did not inform the caretaker government of Yingluck to declare martial law, and also ordered 14 TV channels to stop broadcasting and warned Thai people not to use social media to stir up disturbance. When a meeting failed, he staged the coup against the caretaker government on 22 May. Prayut quickly cracked down on dissent. He seized control of the media, imposed Internet censorship, declared a curfew nationwide, banned gatherings of five or more persons and arrested politicians and anti-coup activists, some of whom were charged with sedition and tried in military courts. These limits on freedom of speech were justified on the basis of promoting national reconciliation.


title: Prayut Chan-o-cha

text: On 26 May, King Bhumibol Adulyadej endorsed the coup, formally appointing Prayut to "take charge of public administration" as of 24 May. The royal endorsement was seen as key to legitimising the coup. On 30 May, Prayut gave his first of a series of Friday night speeches on national television. Preempting normal broadcasting, including Thai soap operas, Prayut sometimes spoke for more than an hour, explaining government policies, warning the media to cease spreading dissenting views, and complaining that people weren't heeding him.


title: Prayut Chan-o-cha

text: After the coup, PDRC leader Suthep Thaugsuban told PDRC supporters that he had been in talks with Prayut since 2010 about how to exclude Yingluck's brother Thaksin Shinawatra and his family from power. He also claimed that before declaring martial law, Prayut told him that "Khun Suthep and your masses of PDRC supporters are too exhausted. It's now the duty of the army to take over the task". Similarly, Reuters reported in December 2013 that close friends of Prayut, former army chief, Anupong Paochinda, and General Prawit Wongsuwan were supporters of the PDRC.


title: Prayut Chan-o-cha

text: The NCPO was promoting the campaign to restore "happiness" to the Thai people following six months of political turmoil. Prayut wrote a song, titled "Returning Happiness to the People." It released on early June 2014, and played on state radio and TV stations. The meaning of the song was that the Thai people had not been happy as a result of the political crisis, and that the junta had come to return happiness to the people. In 2016, Prayut released "Because You Are Thailand". In 2018, Prayut released "Diamond Heart", the lyrics urge his lover, presumably Thailand, to "...build our hearts and dream together...". In April 2018, Prayut released "Fight for the Nation". In January 2019, ahead of the general election, Prayut released "In Memory", about the conflicts before the coup. The singer goes on to say that reconciliation has been difficult but he will never forget the heartbreaking past. Also in 2019, Prayut released "New Day", and his tenth song, "Thai is Thai March", the latter inspired by the king's coronation.


title: Prayut Chan-o-cha

text: On 22 July 2014, Prayut issued an interim constitution granting himself an amnesty for leading the coup and new sweeping powers. In particular, Article 44 of the new constitution was criticised for allowing him undertake 'any action' on the basis of social harmony or national order and security. On 31 July 2014, a military-majority national assembly was established according to the constitution. The legislators were mostly senior military and police officers, and even Prayut's younger brother handpicked by him. The junta legislature unanimously voted Prayut, the sole candidate, as the new prime minister. The formal appointment was made on 24 August 2014, in which King Bhumibol Adulyadej officially endorsed Prayut as prime minister. Prayut became the first coup leader to serve as prime minister in almost 60 years, the last was Sarit Thanarat, and his appointment was condemned by opponents. The royal endorsement also allowed Prayut to establish an interim government until elections were held in late 2015.


title: Prayut Chan-o-cha

text: In August 2014, Prayut held three positions: army chief, NCPO leader, and prime minister. He retired from the army chief post in October 2014. His appearance in Milan at the 10th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) on 16 October 2014 drew protests. Although Prayut claimed the coup was needed to combat corruption, some members of his own cabinet and members of the appointed national legislature, including his brother Preecha Chan-o-cha and Minister to the Office of the Prime Minister M.L. Panadda Diskul, have themselves been beset by various corruption scandals. However, the Office of the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission concluded that Panadda was not involved in the alleged case. Prayut then prohibited any criticism of his government. In February 2015 he explained, "If people want to do opinion polls, they are free to do so. But if the polls oppose the NCPO, that is not allowed."


title: Prayut Chan-o-cha

text: In September 2014, following the murders of British tourists David Miller and Hannah Witheridge, Prayut questioned what they, and other tourists who have been killed in Ko Tao recently, were wearing at the time. Prayut commented, "They think our country is beautiful and safe and they can do whatever they want, wear bikinis wherever they like. I'm asking, if they wear bikinis in Thailand, will they be safe? Only if they are not beautiful.", he later apologized.


title: Prayut Chan-o-cha

text: In his mandatory asset disclosure to the National Anti-Corruption Commission, Prayut listed 128.6 million baht (US$3.9 million) in assets and 654,745 baht (US$20,000) in liabilities. His assets included a Mercedes Benz S600L, a BMW 740Li series sedan, three additional vehicles, nine luxury watches valued at three million baht, US$200,000 in jewellery, and several pistols. He also reported the transfer of 466.5 million baht (US$14.3 million) to other family members. As army chief, prior to his retirement at the end of September, the general received a 1.4 million baht (US$43,000) annual salary.


title: Prayut Chan-o-cha

text: According to Human Right Watch report in 2015, the military junta had sent human rights situation into "free fall". The NCPO had severely repressed freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, detained hundreds mostly without charge, and tried civilians in military courts with no right to appeal.


title: Prayut Chan-o-cha

text: Prayut is known for often mocking the media. In late September, Prayut mocked a journalist during a press conference with his infamous sentence "I’ll smack you with the podium" after he was asked whether he intended to be Prime Minister from a coup d’état only, but not from an election. In November, Prayut pulled the ears and ruffed the hair of a reporter while the reporter was reaching out with his microphone. In December, Prayut was caught on camera, threw a banana peel at a cameraman’s head after getting annoyed by reporters.


title: Prayut Chan-o-cha

text: When Prayut was speaking at an event in Khon Kaen on 11 November 2014, five students called 'Dao Din group' from Khon Kaen University sitting near the podium stood up and flashed a salute seen as a sign of silent dissent against a brutal authoritarian state, inspired by Hollywood film series the Hunger Games, the three-fingered salute was widely used by protesters since May 2014. Army officials later took them to a military camp and were detained for "attitude adjustment". One of the five students, Pai Dao Din, is co-leader of the monarchy reform movement.


title: Prayut Chan-o-cha

text: In February 2015, Prayut declared he had the power to forcefully close media outlets. In March, when asked how the government would deal with journalists who did not adhere to the government's laws, he replied jokingly, "We'll probably just execute them" His remarks were condemned by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ).


title: Prayut Chan-o-cha

text: Prayut said in March that his government had elevated the fight against human trafficking to the top of the national agenda, along with drug suppression. He blamed Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, on inaction and ignorance by the Yingluck cabinet. He vowed to ban fishing operators if they are found to violate laws and abuse workers, and that could be extended to other Thai exports like rice or rubber. He warned the media that reporting on slavery labour in the Thai fishing industry could affect national security. Prayut also supported providing more aid to farmers, increasing the sale of Thai rubber to China, and completing a potash mining project to cut farmers' cost of fertiliser. He also encouraged manufacturers to cut packaging costs, particularly "beautiful packaging".


title: Prayut Chan-o-cha

text: In late March, Prayut announced that he had asked the king's permission to revoke martial law, which had been in place since the coup, to be replaced with Article 44 of the interim constitution. It authorises Prayut to issue "any order to suppress" any act that "undermines public peace and order or national security, the monarchy, national economics, or the administration of state affairs, whether that act emerges inside or outside the Kingdom." Prayut told reporters that he would not use Article 44 to violate the civil rights of anyone who is innocent. Prayut was not required to inform the government before issuing an order, but must notify the interim parliament "without delay". He pledged to use Article 44 powers to address the nation's failure to meet the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) aviation safety standards. He blamed this on staffing issues, noting that the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) only has 13 aviation safety inspectors, the DCA employed 1,514. Prayut later conceded that Article 44 will not be enough to resolve illegal fishing issues within the six-month period stipulated by the EU. He noted that it was a long-standing problem. He reported progress on tackling forest encroachment, saying the government had reclaimed more than 35 million rai (56,000 km) of illegally occupied public forests. In June, Prayut vowed to eliminate corruption and repair Thailand's tarnished international image.