title: Ben Folds

text: As part of their 2013 "Last Summer on Earth" Tour, Ben Folds Five joined the Barenaked Ladies along with Guster for 30 dates across North America, beginning June 17 at the Verizon Theatre in Dallas, Texas and ending at the 2013 Celebrate Brooklyn festival.


title: Ben Folds

text: From November 22 to 24, 2013, Folds took part in Performing Arts' "American Voices" festival hosted by Renée Fleming at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., which featured American jazz, country, Broadway, gospel, popular and classical music. With Sara Bareilles, he conducted a pop/rock master class for aspiring singers. During the concert series he premiered his new song "I'm Not the Man" with the National Symphony Orchestra and sang "Not the Same" with Bareilles.


title: Ben Folds

text: On January 20, 2014, Folds performed at the El Rey Theatre, Los Angeles, in support of the David Lynch Foundation's celebration of Ringo Starr's "lifetime of peace and love".


title: Ben Folds

text: From July 2017 to early 2018, Ben Folds went on a tour titled "The Paper Airplane Tour", in which audience members were encouraged to throw paper airplanes with song requests onto the stage halfway through the concert. Folds would then randomly select from these requests from his extensive catalog and perform them solo.


title: Ben Folds

text: Folds is an avid photographer and cites it as more than just his hobby. His work was featured by National Geographic during the 2010 Tennessee floods.


title: Ben Folds

text: Folds made a brief guest appearance on a 1996 "Space Ghost Coast to Coast" episode, Surprise, on Cartoon Network. This marks one of Ben's first non-musical TV appearances.


title: Ben Folds

text: In 2001, Folds was an inaugural member of the Independent Music Awards' judging panel to support independent artists.


title: Ben Folds

text: Starting in December 2009, Folds was featured as a judge on NBC's a cappella competition "The Sing-Off" alongside Nicole Scherzinger and Shawn Stockman. In the season 1 finale, Folds showcased his talents and played the piano background on "Why Can't We Be Friends?" sung by the two finalist groups, the Beelzebubs from Tufts University near Boston and Nota, from San Juan, Puerto Rico. He again returned for the show's second season in December 2010, the third season in September 2011 alongside Stockman and Sara Bareilles and a fourth season with Stockman and Jewel in December 2013. The show featured several performances of songs from Ben's first solo album.


title: Ben Folds

text: Folds has also taken several acting roles in his career. He made a cameo appearance in the 2013 film "We're the Millers" playing himself as a piano teacher, although the scene did not make the theatrical cut. In January 2014, Folds had a brief appearance in the TV show "Community", in episode "Basic Intergluteal Numismatics" (S5E03) as "Professor Bublitz", a botany teacher who secretly grows marijuana in his office, as well as contributing the song that closes out the episode, "Ass Crack Bandit". This led to him taking a recurring role in seasons 3, 4 and 5 of the FXX comedy "You're The Worst" playing himself as an alcoholic. In 2022, Folds appeared as himself on 3 episodes of the 2nd season of Prime Video's drama series "The Wilds". Folds described his role on the show as playing a "twisted, dream version" of himself.


title: Ben Folds

text: Since May 2017 he has been serving as the first artistic advisor to the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.


title: Ben Folds

text: In June 2019, Folds launched a podcast titled "ArtsVote 2020 with Ben Folds" with the stated goal of getting every candidate in the 2020 United States presidential election to have "a one-on-one, 30-minute conversation with Ben Folds about their personal background in the arts and arts education, their observations and previous policy efforts to transform through the arts the communities and states that they represent, and their vision for advancing support for the arts and the charitable sector in the future."


title: Ben Folds

text: In July 2019, Folds published his first book, a memoir, titled "". This was followed up in April 2021 when Folds launched a podcast titled "Lightning Bugs". In the podcast, Folds discusses creativity with guests from a variety of backgrounds and fields and writes a song with them at the end of every episode. Guests have included frequent collaborators William Shatner and Nick Hornby, as well as other guests such as Mo Willems, Bob Saget, and Jon Batiste.


title: Ben Folds

text: Folds' personal life has inspired several of his songs; the hit single "Brick", co-written with Darren Jessee, was based on the experience of Folds' girlfriend having an abortion while they were in high school. Folds initially refused to discuss the story behind "Brick", thinking it was too serious for a pop song, but he eventually confirmed the inspiration for the song during a show on his Ben Folds Live tour. His telling of the story is included on the "Brick" track on the album.


title: Ben Folds

text: Folds leased RCA Studio A in Nashville, Tennessee beginning in 2002 and was pivotal to the preservation of the historic building during its developer controversy in 2014. His efforts, along with others, led to the creation of the Music Industry Coalition.


title: Ben Folds

text: As of 2016, he lived in Santa Monica, California. He also owned a residence in Hudson, New York from 2016, until it was sold in December 2020. As of March 2020, Folds is temporarily residing in Australia, where he was touring when travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic prevented him from traveling home.


title: Ben Folds

text: Folds has been married five times and divorced four times. He met his first wife, Anna Goodman, in first grade at Moore Elementary School, Winston-Salem and was married to her from 1987 to 1992. She co-wrote several Ben Folds Five songs, including "Alice Childress", "The Last Polka", "Smoke", "Kate", and "Lullabye". Folds has since described Goodman as his "oldest friend" and the person who originally inspired him to play music.


title: Ben Folds

text: Folds met Frally Hynes, an Australian, in January 1998 and they were married in May 1999 in Adelaide, South Australia, making their home there and later releasing a song about the city titled "Adelaide". Two months after their wedding, Frally gave birth to twins, Louis Francis (July 22, 1999) and Gracie Scott (July 23, 1999), the former inspiring his song "Still Fighting It" and the latter inspiring his song "Gracie". Hynes also sang lead on "Root to This" on Fear of Pop's 1998 album "". Folds and Hynes were divorced in 2006.


title: Ben Folds

text: Folds married Fleur Stanbrook on November 17, 2007, at The Venetian in Las Vegas. They were based in Nashville. Folds and Stanbrook ended their marriage sometime in 2011. In 2012, Folds stated that "As much as I love the idea of being married, it's not for me."


title: Ben Folds

text: Folds married Emma Sandall, a former Royal Ballet dancer, sometime before July 2020. They have been together since at least 2016.


title: Ben Folds

text: Folds received a 2002 Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) Gold Record award for Ben Folds Five's "Whatever and Ever Amen" (1998).


title: Ben Folds

text: October 29, 2015, Folds was initiated as an honorary brother of the men's music fraternity Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia at the University of Miami.


title: Hot Shots!

text: Hot Shots! is a 1991 American comedy film directed by Jim Abrahams, co-writer and co-director of "Airplane!", and written by Abrahams and Pat Proft. It stars Charlie Sheen, Cary Elwes, Valeria Golino, Lloyd Bridges, Jon Cryer, Kevin Dunn, Kristy Swanson, and Bill Irwin. The film is primarily a parody of "Top Gun", with some scenes spoofing other popular films, including "9½ Weeks", "The Fabulous Baker Boys", "Dances with Wolves", "Marathon Man", "Rocky", "Superman", and "Gone with the Wind".


title: Hot Shots!

text: A sequel, "Hot Shots! Part Deux", was released in 1993, with Sheen, Golino, and Bridges reprising their roles.


title: Hot Shots!

text: The film begins at Flemner Air Base 20 years in the past. A pilot named Leland "Buzz" Harley loses control of his plane and ejects, leaving his co-pilot Dominic "Mailman" Farnham to crash. Although Mailman survives, he is mistaken for a deer owing to the branches stuck to his helmet and is shot by a hunter.


title: Hot Shots!

text: Topper Harley wakes up from a nightmare he is having about the event when Lt. Commander Block asks him to return to active duty as a pilot in the U.S. Navy, to help on a new top secret mission: Operation Sleepy Weasel, commanded by the senile and accident-prone Admiral Benson. Harley experiences intense psychological problems, especially when his father is mentioned. His therapist, Ramada, tries to stop Topper from flying, but she relents, and also starts to fall in love with him. Meanwhile, Topper gets into a feud with another fighter pilot, Kent Gregory, Mailman's son and a former boyfriend of Ramada, who blames Buzz Harley for his father's death and believes Topper is dangerous.


title: Hot Shots!

text: Block starts privately meeting with an airplane tycoon, Mr. Wilson, who has recently built a new "Super Fighter" that will make the American pilots superior. Block reveals that he brought back Topper for the reason of making Sleepy Weasel fail. Block would then report that it was the Navy's planes that were the real reason for the mission failure and that they need to be replaced with Wilson's planes. During one of the last training missions, an accident between Pete "Dead Meat" Thompson and Jim "Wash-Out" Pfaffenbach leaves Dead Meat killed and Wash Out demoted to radar operator. Block believes this is enough to convince the Navy to buy new fighters, but Wilson calls it a "minor incident", saying the planes need to fail in combat.


title: Hot Shots!

text: Topper develops a strong emotional attachment to Ramada, but she is haunted by her past with Gregory. On the carrier S.S. "Essess", Benson reveals the mission to be an attack of an Iraqi nuclear plant and Block assigns Topper to lead the mission, much to Gregory's protest. Wilson, who is also on board, instructs a crew member to sabotage the planes, putting the pilots' lives at risk. In the midst of the mission, Block mentions Buzz Harley to Topper, who has a panic attack and is unable to lead. Block just starts to call out for the mission to be aborted when Iraqi fighters attack the squadron. All the planes' weapons fail, and Block, realizing what has happened, tells Topper that he saw what really happened with Buzz and Mailman: That Buzz tried to do everything possible to save Mailman, but ended up falling out of the plane, failing in his attempts.


title: Hot Shots!

text: With his self-confidence restored, Topper single-handedly beats the Iraqi fighters and bombs the nuclear plant, dropping a bomb directly on Saddam Hussein. Back aboard ship, Wilson's plan is revealed, and his standing with the military is lost. Back in port, Gregory hails Topper as a great pilot and gives his blessing to Ramada to be with Topper. The end credits show Dead Meat and Mailman in spirit with Dead Meat saluting, Mailman giving a thumbs up and Elvis Presley (who was mentioned earlier in the film).


title: Hot Shots!

text: Principal photography was filmed throughout California in locations such as Hollywood Forever Cemetery and San Diego.


title: Hot Shots!

text: The film debuted at number one in the United States. "Hot Shots" was both a critical and commercial success, grossing over $180 million worldwide.


title: Hot Shots!

text: The film holds an 85% approval rating at "Rotten Tomatoes" based on 26 reviews. The site's consensus reads, ""Hot Shots!" hits most of its parodic targets with aplomb, excelling as a daffy good time thanks to inspired gags and Charlie Sheen's crack comedic timing". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale. The film was chosen for the 1991 Royal Film Performance.


title: Hot Shots!

text: The Folland Gnat portrayed the fictional carrier-based "Oscar EW-5894 Phallus Tactical Fighter Bomber" flown by US Navy pilots.


title: Antonio Luna

text: Antonio Narciso Luna de San Pedro y Novicio Ancheta (; October 29, 1866 – June 5, 1899) was a Filipino army general who fought in the Philippine–American War before his assassination in 1899.


title: Antonio Luna

text: Regarded as one of the fiercest generals of his time, he succeeded Artemio Ricarte as the Commanding General of the Philippine Army. He sought to apply his background in military science to the fledgling army. A sharpshooter himself, he organized professional guerrilla soldiers later named the "Luna Sharpshooters" and the "Black Guard" with Senyor Michael Joaquin. His three-tier defense, now known as the Luna Defense Line, gave the American troops a difficult endeavor during their campaign in the provinces north of Manila. This defense line culminated in the creation of a military stronghold in the Cordillera.


title: Antonio Luna

text: Despite his commitment to discipline the army and serve the Republic which attracted the admiration of people, his temper and fiery outlashes caused some to abhor him, including people from Aguinaldo's Cabinet. Nevertheless, Luna's efforts were not without recognition during his time, for he was awarded the Philippine Republic Medal in 1899. He was also a member of the Malolos Congress. Besides his military studies, Luna also studied pharmacology, literature, and chemistry.


title: Antonio Luna

text: Antonio Narciso Luna de San Pedro y Novicio Ancheta was born on October 29, 1866, at their house along Calle Urbiztondo (renamed Barraca Street) in Binondo (now part of San Nicolas), Manila. He was the youngest of seven children of Joaquín Luna de San Pedro y Posadas (1829–1891) from Badoc and Spanish mestiza Laureana Novicio y Ancheta (1836–1906) from Namacpacan, La Union (now "Luna"). His father was a traveling salesman of the government tobacco monopoly. The tobacco monopoly was formally established in 1782. After their family moved to Manila in 1861, his father became a merchant in Binondo.


title: Antonio Luna

text: His older brother, Juan, was an accomplished painter who studied in the Madrid Escuela de Bellas Artes de San Fernando. His Spoliarium garnered one of the three gold medals awarded in the Madrid "Exposición Nacional de Bellas Artes" in 1884. Another brother, José, became a doctor. Yet another brother, Joaquín, fought with Antonio in the Philippine–American War, and later served as governor of La Union from 1904 to 1907. Joaquín would also serve as senator from 1916 to 1919. His three other siblings were Numeriana, Manuel, and Remedios.


title: Antonio Luna

text: At the age of 6, Luna learned reading, writing, and arithmetic from a teacher known as Maestro Intong. He also memorized the "Doctrina Christiana", believed to be the first book printed in the Philippines. The book consists of 38 leaves and 74 pages of text in Spanish, Tagalog transliterated into roman letters, and Tagalog.


title: Antonio Luna

text: After his education under Maestro Intong, he studied at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1881. He went on to study literature and chemistry at the University of Santo Tomas, where he won first prize for a paper in chemistry titled "Two Fundamental Bodies of Chemistry" ("Dos Cuerpos Fundamentales de la Quimica"). He also studied Pharmacy. Meanwhile, his background on swordsmanship, fencing, and military tactics came from his studies under Don Martin Cartagena, a major in the Spanish Army. In addition, he acquired skill to become a sharpshooter. Upon the invitation of his elder brother Juan in 1890, Antonio was sent by his parents to Spain. There he acquired a licentiate (at Universidad de Barcelona) and doctorate (at Universidad Central de Madrid).


title: Antonio Luna

text: Luna was active as a researcher in the scientific community. After receiving his doctorate in 1893, he published a scientific treatise on malaria entitled "On Malarial Pathology" ("El Hematozoario del Paludismo"), which was favorably received in the scientific community. He then went to Belgium and France, and worked as an assistant to Dr. Latteaux at the Pasteur Institute and to Dr. Laffen. In recognition of his ability, he was commissioned by the Spanish government to study tropical and communicable diseases. In 1894, he returned to the Philippines where he took part in an examination to determine who would become the chief chemist of the Municipal Laboratory of Manila. Luna came in first and won the position.


title: Antonio Luna

text: In Spain, he became one of the Filipino expatriates who mounted the Propaganda Movement and wrote for "La Solidaridad", headed by Galicano Apacible. He wrote a piece titled "Impressions" which dealt with Spanish customs and idiosyncrasies under the pen-name "Taga-ilog". Also, like many of the Filipino liberals in Spain, Luna joined the Masonry where he rose to being Master Mason.


title: Antonio Luna

text: He and his brother Juan also opened the "Sala de Armas", a fencing club, in Manila. When he learned of the underground societies that were planning a revolution and was asked to join, he scoffed at the idea and turned down the offer. Like other Filipino émigrés involved in the Reform Movement, he was in favor of reform rather than revolution as the way towards independence. Besides affecting their property, the proponents of the Reform Movement saw that no revolution would succeed without the necessary preparations. Nevertheless, after the existence of the Katipunan was leaked in August 1896, the Luna brothers were arrested and jailed in Fort Santiago for "participating" in the revolution. His statement concerning the revolution was one of the many statements used to abet the laying down of death sentence for José Rizal. Months later, José and Juan were freed but Antonio was exiled to Spain in 1897, where he was imprisoned in Madrid's Cárcel Modelo.


title: Antonio Luna

text: His more famous and controversial brother, Juan, who had been pardoned by the Spanish Queen Regent Maria Christina of Austria herself, left for Spain to use his influence to intercede for Antonio in August 1897. Antonio's case was dismissed by the Military Supreme Court and he was released. Upon his release in December 1897, Luna studied field fortifications, guerrilla warfare, organization, and other aspects of military science under Gerard Leman, who would later be the commanding general of the fortress at Liège. He also read extensively about the discipline when he was at the Ateneo de Madrid. The second phase of the revolution began with the return of Emilio Aguinaldo and the Dictatorial Government of the Philippines by the US Navy to Cavite in 1898. Upon arriving in Hong Kong, he was given a letter of recommendation to Aguinaldo and a revolver by Felipe Agoncillo. He returned to the Philippines in July 1898.


title: Antonio Luna

text: Luna courted Nellie Boustead, a woman who was also courted by José Rizal, between 1889 and 1891. Boustead was reportedly infatuated with Rizal. In a party held by Filipinos, a drunk Antonio Luna made unsavory remarks against Boustead. This prompted Rizal to challenge Luna to a duel. However, Luna apologized to Rizal, thus averting a duel between the compatriots.


title: Antonio Luna

text: Since June 1898, Manila had been surrounded by the revolutionary troops. Colonel Luciano San Miguel occupied Mandaluyong, General Pío del Pilar, Makati, General Mariano Noriel, Parañaque, Colonel Enrique Pacheco, Navotas, Tambobong and Caloocan. General Gregorio del Pilar marched through Sampaloc, taking Tondo, Divisoria, and Azcárraga, Noriel cleared Singalong and Paco, and held Ermita and Malate. Luna thought the Filipinos should enter Intramuros to have joint occupation of the walled city. But Aguinaldo, heeding the advice of General Wesley Merritt and Commodore (later Admiral) George Dewey, whose fleet had moored in Manila Bay, sent Luna to the trenches where he ordered his troops to fire on the Americans. After the chaos following the American occupation, at a meeting in Ermita, Luna tried to complain to American officers about the disorderly conduct of their soldiers.


title: Antonio Luna

text: To silence Luna, Aguinaldo appointed him as Chief of War Operations on September 26, 1898, and assigned the rank of brigadier general. In quick succession, he was made the Director or Assistant Secretary of War and Supreme Chief of the Republican Army on September 28, arousing the envy of the other generals who were fighting since the first phase of the Revolution. Meanwhile, Luna felt that bureaucratic placebos were being thrown his way when all he wanted was to organize and discipline the enthusiastic but ill-fed and ill-trained troops into a real army.


title: Antonio Luna

text: On September 15, 1898, the Malolos Congress, the constituent assembly of the First Philippine Republic, was convened in Barasoain Church. Luna would be one of the elected representatives, and was narrowly defeated by Pedro Paterno as President of the Congress with a vote of 24–23.


title: Antonio Luna

text: Seeing the need for a military school, in October 1898, Luna established a military academy at Malolos, known as the "Academia Militar", which was the precursor of the present Philippine Military Academy. He appointed Colonel Manuel Bernal Sityar, a mestizo who was formerly a lieutenant serving the Civil Guard, as superintendent. He recruited other mestizos and Spaniards who had fought in the Spanish army during the 1896 Revolution for training. However, the academy had to be suspended indefinitely by March 1899 due to the outbreak of the Philippine–American War.


title: Antonio Luna

text: A score of veteran officers became teachers at his military school. Luna devised two courses of instruction, planned the reorganization, with a battalion of "tiradores" and a cavalry squadron, set up an inventory of guns and ammunition, arsenals, using convents and town halls, quartermasters, lookouts and communication systems. He built trenches with the help of his chief engineer, General Jose Alejandrino, and had his brother Juan design the school's uniforms (the Filipino rayadillo). He also insisted on strict discipline over and above clan armies and regional loyalties, which prevented coordination between various military units. Envisioning one united army for the Republic, clan armies, and regional loyalties presented a lack of national consciousness.


title: Antonio Luna

text: Convinced that the fate of the infant Republic should be a contest for the minds of Filipinos, Luna turned to journalism to strengthen Filipino minds with the ideas of nationhood and the need to fight the Americans. He decided to publish a newspaper, "La Independencia". This four-page daily was filled with articles, short stories, patriotic songs and poems. The staff was installed in one of the coaches of the train that ran from Manila to Pangasinan. The paper came out in September 1898 and was an instant success. A movable feast of information, humor, and good writing, 4,000 copies were printed, which was more than all the other newspapers in circulation put together.


title: Antonio Luna

text: When the Treaty of Paris, under which Spain was to cede the Philippines to the United States, was made public in December 1898, Luna quickly decided to take military action. He proposed a strategy that was designed to trap the Americans in Manila before more of their troops could land by executing surprise attacks (guerrilla warfare) while building up strength in the north. If the American forces penetrated his lines, Luna determined that he would wage a series of delaying battles and prepare a fortress in northern Luzon, particularly the Cordillera. This, however, was turned down by the High Command, who still believed that the Americans would grant full independence.


title: Antonio Luna

text: The Americans gained the time and the opportunity to start hostilities with the Filipinos at the place and time of their choice. On the night of February 4, 1899, when most of the Filipino generals were at a ball in Malolos to celebrate the success of the American anti-imperialists delaying the ratification of the Treaty of Paris, the Americans staged an incident along the concrete blockhouses in Santa Mesa near the Balsahan Bridge. An American patrol fired on Filipino troops, claiming afterwards that the Filipinos had started shooting first. The whole Filipino line from Pasay to Caloocan returned fire and the first battle of the Filipino-American War ensued. Two days later, in response to the incident, the US Senate voted for annexation. In doing so, the conflict became the war of conquest, occupation, and annexation that Luna, Mabini, and others had predicted and about which they had warned Aguinaldo and his generals previously.


title: Antonio Luna

text: Luna, after receiving orders from Aguinaldo, rushed to the front lines from his headquarters at Polo (present-day Valenzuela City) and led three companies to La Loma to engage General Arthur MacArthur's forces. Fighting took place at Marikina, Caloocan, Santa Ana, and Paco. The Filipinos were subjected to a carefully planned attack with naval artillery, with Admiral George Dewey's US fleet firing from the Manila Bay. Filipino casualties were high, amounting to around 2,000 killed and wounded. Luna personally had to carry wounded officers and men to safety; of these, the most dramatic rescue was that of Commander José Torres Bugallón. After being hit by an American bullet, Bugallón had managed to advance another fifty meters before he was seen by Luna collapsed by the side of the road. As the Americans continued their fire on the road, Luna gathered an escort of around 25 men to save Bugallón, who Luna stated was equivalent to 500 men. Surviving the encounter, Luna encouraged Bugallón to live by giving an instant promotion to lieutenant colonel. However, Bugallón succumbed to his wounds.


title: Antonio Luna

text: On February 7, Luna issued a detailed order to the field officers of the territorial militia. Containing five specific objects, it began with "Under the barbarous attack upon our army on February 4", and ended with "...war without quarter to false Americans who wish to enslave us. Independence or death!" The order labelled the US forces "an army of drunkards and thieves" in response to the continued bombardment of the towns around Manila, the burning and looting of whole districts, and the raping of Filipino women by US troops.


title: Antonio Luna

text: When Luna saw that the American advance had halted, mainly to stabilize their lines, he again mobilized his troops to attack La Loma on February 10. Fierce fighting ensued but the Filipinos were forced to withdraw thereafter. Caloocan was left with American forces in control of the southern terminus of the Manila to Dagupan railway, along with five engines, fifty passenger coaches, and a hundred freight cars. After consolidating control of Caloocan, the obvious next objective for American forces would be the Republic capital at Malolos. However, General Elwell Otis delayed for almost a month in hopes that Filipino forces would be deployed in its defense.


title: Antonio Luna

text: Nevertheless, with their superior firepower and newly arrived reinforcements, the Americans had not expected such resistance. They were so surprised that an urgent cable was sent to General Henry Lawton who was in Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), with his troops. Illustrating the concern that the Americans had. The telegram stated, "Situation critical in Manila. Your early arrival great importance."


title: Antonio Luna

text: The Luna Sharpshooters was a short-lived unit formed by Luna to serve under the Philippine Revolutionary Army. On February 11, eight infantrymen, formerly under Captains Márquez and Jaro, were sent by then-Secretary of War Baldomero Aguinaldo to Luna, then-Assistant Secretary of War. The infantrymen were disarmed by the Americans. So, they journeyed to be commissioned in the regular Filipino army. Seeing their desire to serve in the army, Luna took them in and from their group grew and emerged as the Luna Sharpshooters. The sharpshooters became famous for their fierce fighting and proved their worth by being the usual spearheading unit in every major battle in the Philippine–American War. After the Battle of Calumpit on April 25–27, 1899, only seven or eight of them remained in the regular Filipino army. In the Battle of Paye on December 18, 1899, a Filipino sharpshooter, Private Bonifacio Mariano, under the command of General Licerio Gerónimo killed General Henry Ware Lawton, making the latter the highest ranking casualty during the course of the war.


title: Antonio Luna

text: Luna also formed other units similar to the sharpshooters. One was the unit, which would later be named after Bugallón, commanded by Rosendo Simón de Pajarillo. The unit emerged from a group of ten men wanting to volunteer in the regular Filipino army. Luna, still thinking of the defeat at the Battle of Caloocan, sent the men away at first. However, he soon changed his mind and decided to give the men an initiation. After taking breakfast, he ordered a subordinate, Colonel Queri, to prepare arms and ammunition for the ten men. Then, the men boarded a train destined towards Malinta, which was American-held territory. After giving orders to the men, he let them go and watched them with his telescope. The men, succeeding their mission, eventually returned unharmed. Admiring their bravery, he organized them into a guerrilla unit of around 50 members. This unit would see action in the Second Battle of Caloocan.


title: Antonio Luna

text: Another elite unit was the Black Guard, a 25-man guerrilla unit under a certain Lieutenant García. García, one of Luna's favorites, was a modest but brave soldier. His unit was tasked to approach the enemy by surprise and quickly return to camp. Luna had admired García's unit very much that he wanted to increase their size. However, García declined the offer. He believed that a larger force might undermine the efficiency of their work. Jose Alejandrino, the chief army engineer and one of Luna's aides, stated that he never heard of García and his unit again after Luna's resignation on February 28.


title: Antonio Luna

text: A Filipino counterattack began at dawn on February 23. The plan was to employ a pincer movement, using the battalions from the North and South, with the sharpshooters (the only professionally trained troops) at crucial points. The "sandatahanes" or bolomen inside Manila would start a great fire to signal the start of the assault. Troops directly under Luna's command were divided into three: the West Brigade under General Pantaleon García, the Center Brigade under General Mariano Llanera, and the East Brigade under General Licerio Gerónimo. Luna even requested the battle-hardened Tinio Brigade from Northern Luzon, under the command of General Manuel Tinio. It had more than 1,900 soldiers. However, Aguinaldo gave only ambiguous answers and the Tinio Brigade was unable to participate in the battle. It was only partly successful because of two main reasons. Firstly, some of the successful Filipino sectors ran low on ammunition and food and were thus forced to withdraw to Polo. Secondly, Luna failed to relieve the Kapampangan militia, already past their prime, when the battalion from Kawit, Cavite, refused to replace the former, saying that they had orders to obey only instructions directly from Aguinaldo. Such insubordination had become quite common among the Filipino forces at that time as most of the troops owed their loyalty to the officers from their provinces, towns, or districts and not to the central command. As a result, the counterattack soon collapsed, and Luna placated himself by personally disarming the Kawit Battalion.


title: Antonio Luna

text: Luna, however, proved to be a strict disciplinarian and his temper alienated many in the ranks of the common soldiers. An example of this occurred during the Battle of Calumpit, wherein Luna ordered General Tomás Mascardo to send troops from Guagua to strengthen the former's defenses. However, Mascardo ignored orders by Luna insisting that he was going to Arayat to undertake an "inspection of troops". Another version of Mascardo's reasoning emerged and it was probably that which reached Luna. This version was that Mascardo had left to visit his girlfriend. Luna, infuriated by Mascardo's actions, had decided to detain him. However, Major Hernando, one of Luna's aides, tried to placate the general's anger by convincing Luna to push the case to President Aguinaldo. Aguinaldo complied to detain Mascardo for twenty-four hours. Upon returning to the field, however, the Americans had broken through his defenses at the Bagbag River, forcing Luna to withdraw despite his heroic action to defend the remaining sectors.


title: Antonio Luna

text: Luna resigned on March 1, mainly in resentment for the rearmament of the Kawit Battalion as the Presidential Guard. Aguinaldo hesitantly accepted the resignation. As a result, Luna was absent from the field for three weeks, during which the Filipino forces suffered several defeats and setbacks. One such defeat would be at the Battle of Marilao River on March 27. Receiving the depressing reports from the field through his "La Independencia" correspondents, Luna went to Aguinaldo and asked to be reinstated with more powers over all the military heads, and Aguinaldo promoted him to Lieutenant General and agreed making him Commander-in-Chief of all the Filipino forces in Central Luzon (Bulacan, Tarlac, Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Bataan, Zambales).


title: Antonio Luna

text: The Luna Defense Line was planned to create a series of delaying battles from Caloocan to Angeles, Pampanga, as the Republic was constructing a guerrilla base in the Mountain Province. The base was planned to be the last stand headquarters of the Republic in the case the Americans broke through the Defense Line. American military observers were astonished by the Defense Line, which they described as consisting of numerous bamboo trenches stretching from town to town. The series of trenches allowed the Filipinos to withdraw gradually, firing from cover at the advancing Americans. As the American troops occupied each new position, they were subjected to a series of traps that had been set in the trenches, which included bamboo spikes and poisonous reptiles.


title: Antonio Luna

text: Earlier in May 1899, Luna almost fell in the field at the Battle of Santo Tomas. Mounted on his horse, Luna then charged into the battlefield leading his main force in a counterattack. As they advanced, the American forces began firing upon them. Luna's horse was hit and he fell to the ground. As he recovered, Luna realized that he had been shot in the stomach, and he attempted to kill himself with his revolver to avoid capture. He was saved, though, by the actions of a Filipino colonel named Alejandro Avecilla who, having seen Luna fall, rode towards the general to save him. Despite being heavily wounded in one of his legs and an arm, with his remaining strength Avecilla carried Luna away from the battle to the Filipino rear. Upon reaching safety, Luna realized that his wound was not very deep as most of the impact of the bullet had been taken by a silk belt full of gold coins that his parents had given him, which he had been wearing. As he left the field to have his wounds tended, Luna turned over the command to General Venacio Concepción, the Filipino commander of the nearby town of Angeles. Meanwhile, in recognition of his work, Luna was awarded the Philippine Republic Medal. By the end of May 1899, Colonel Joaquín Luna, one of Antonio's brothers, warned him that a plot had been concocted by "old elements" or the autonomists of the Republic (who were bent on accepting American sovereignty over the country) and a clique of army officers whom Luna had disarmed, arrested, and/or insulted. Luna shrugged off all these threats, reiterating his trust for Aguinaldo, and continued building defenses at Pangasinan where the Americans were planning a landing.


title: Antonio Luna

text: On June 2, 1899, Luna received two telegrams (initially four, but he never received the last two) – one asked for help in launching a counterattack in San Fernando, Pampanga; and the other, sent by Aguinaldo himself, ordered him to go to the new capital at Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija to form a new cabinet. In his jubilation, Luna wrote Arcadio Maxilom, military commander of Cebu, to stand firm in the war. Luna set off from Bayambang, first by train, then on horseback, and eventually in three carriages to Nueva Ecija with 25 of his men. During the journey, two of the carriages broke down, so he proceeded with just one carriage with Colonel Francisco Román and Captain Eduardo Rusca, having earlier shed his cavalry escort. On June 4, Luna sent a telegram to Aguinaldo confirming his arrival. Upon arriving at Cabanatuan on June 5, Luna proceeded to the headquarters, alone, to communicate with the President. As he went up the stairs, he ran into an officer whom he had previously disarmed for insubordination: Captain Pedro Janolino, commander of the Kawit Battalion, and an old enemy whom he had once threatened with arrest for favoring American autonomy. Captain Janolino was accompanied by Felipe Buencamino, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and a member of the Cabinet. He was told that Aguinaldo had left for San Isidro in Nueva Ecija (he actually went to Bamban, Tarlac). Enraged, Luna asked why he had not been told that the meeting was cancelled.


title: Antonio Luna

text: Both exchanged heated words as he was about to depart. In the plaza fronting the church of Cabanatuan, a rifle shot rang out. Still outraged and furious, Luna rushed down the stairs and met Janolino, accompanied by some elements of the Kawit Battalion. Janolino swung his bolo at Luna, wounding him in the head. Janolino's men fired at Luna, while others started stabbing him, even as he tried to fire his revolver at one of his attackers. He staggered out into the plaza where Román and Rusca were rushing to his aid, but as he lay dying, they too were set upon and shot, with Román being killed and Rusca being severely wounded. Luna received more than 30 wounds, and uttered "Cowards! Assassins!" He was hurriedly buried in the churchyard, after which Aguinaldo relieved Luna's officers and men from the field, including General Venacio Concepción, whose headquarters in Angeles, Pampanga was besieged by Aguinaldo on the same day Luna was assassinated.


title: Antonio Luna

text: Immediately after Luna's death, confusion reigned on both sides. The Americans even thought Luna had taken over to replace Aguinaldo. Luna's death was publicly declared only by June 8, and a circular providing details of the event released by June 13. While investigations were supposedly made concerning Luna's death, not one person was convicted. Later, General Pantaleon García said that it was he who was verbally ordered by Aguinaldo to conduct the assassination of Luna at Cabanatuan. His sickness at the time prevented his participation in the assassination. Aguinaldo would be firm in his stand that he had nothing to do with the assassination of Luna.


title: Antonio Luna

text: The death of Luna, the most brilliant and capable of the Filipino generals at the time, was a decisive factor in the fight against the American forces. Despite mixed reactions on both the Filipino and American sides on the death of Luna, there are people from both sides who nevertheless developed an admiration for him. General Frederick Funston, who received the credit of capturing Aguinaldo at Palanan, Isabela, stated that Luna was the "ablest and most aggressive leader of the Filipino Republic." For General James Franklin Bell, Luna "was the only general the Filipino army had." General Robert Hughes remarked that "with the death of General Luna, the Filipino army lost the only General it had." Meanwhile, Apolinario Mabini, former Prime Minister and Secretary of Foreign Affairs, had this to say: "If he was sometimes hasty and even cruel in his resolution, it was because the army had been brought to a desperate situation by the demoralization of the soldiers and the lack of ammunitions: nothing but action of rash courage and extraordinary energy could hinder its dissolution." Of the Filipino armed forces organized during Luna's service in the army, Major General Henry Ware Lawton commented, "Filipinos are a very fine set of soldiers, far better than the Indians... Inferior in every particular equipment and supplies, they are the bravest men I have ever seen... I'm very well impressed with the Filipinos!" Lawton later recanted this statement.


title: Antonio Luna

text: Subsequently, Aguinaldo suffered successive, disastrous losses in the field, as he retreated northwards. On November 13, 1899, Aguinaldo decided to disperse his army and begin conducting a guerrilla war. General José Alejandrino, one of Luna's remaining aides, stated in his memoirs that if Luna had been able to finish the planned military camp in the Mountain Province and had shifted to guerrilla warfare earlier as Luna had suggested, Aguinaldo might have avoided having to run for his life in the Cordillera Mountains. For historian Teodoro Agoncillo, however, Luna's death did not directly contribute to the resulting fall of the Republic. In his book, "Malolos: The Crisis of the Republic", Agoncillo stated that the loss of Luna showed the existence of a lack of discipline among the regular Filipino soldiers and it was a major weakness that was never remedied during the course of the war. Also, soldiers connected with Luna were demoralized and as a result eventually surrendered to the Americans.


title: Antonio Luna

text: Despite Aguinaldo denying the allegation of his being involved in Luna's death multiple times, an original copy of the telegram he sent to Luna was discovered in 2019 showing his order for Luna to visit Cabanatuan.


title: Halo: Reach

text: Halo: Reach is a 2010 first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie and published by Microsoft Game Studios, originally for the Xbox 360. The fifth installment in the "Halo" series and a direct prequel to "", "Reach" was released worldwide in September 2010. The game takes place in the year 2552, where humanity is locked in a war with the alien Covenant. Players control Noble Six, a member of an elite supersoldier squad, when the human world known as Reach falls under Covenant attack.


title: Halo: Reach

text: After releasing "Halo 3" in 2007, Bungie split into teams to develop two different games—what would become "" and "Reach". The developers decided to create a prequel to the original "Halo" game trilogy, freeing themselves from the obligation of addressing old story threads. As the game would take place on a human world doomed to be destroyed, they focused on making the environment a character unto itself. Longtime "Halo" composers Martin O'Donnell and Michael Salvatori returned to compose "Reach"s music, aiming for a more somber sound to match the story.


title: Halo: Reach

text: "Reach" was announced at E3 2009 in Los Angeles, and the first in-engine trailer was shown at the 2009 Spike Video Game Awards. Players who purchased "ODST" were eligible to participate in a "Reach" multiplayer beta in May 2010; the beta allowed Bungie to gain player feedback for fixing bugs and making gameplay tweaks before shipping the final version. Microsoft gave "Reach" its biggest game marketing budget yet and created award-winning live-action commercials, action figures, and interactive media to promote the game.


title: Halo: Reach

text: The game grossed US$200 million on its launch day, setting a new record for the franchise. "Reach" sold well in most territories, moving more than three million units its first month in North America. Critical reception was positive; reviewers from publications such as "GamePro", IGN, and "Official Xbox Magazine" called it the best "Halo" title yet. Critics generally praised the game's graphics and sound, but the plot and characters were less positively received. "Reach" was Bungie's final "Halo" game; subsequent games have been overseen by Microsoft subsidiary 343 Industries. The game was released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox One as part of the "" in December 2019.


title: Halo: Reach

text: "Halo: Reach" is a first-person shooter in which players predominantly experience gameplay from a first-person perspective; the game perspective switches to third-person when using certain weapons, equipments, vehicles and when a player dies. Gameplay is more similar to "" than later games in the series. The player's heads-up display shows and tracks a player's current weapons, abilities, and health; it also contains a compass and a "motion tracker" that registers moving allies, enemies, and vehicles in a certain radius of the player. The HUD changes when the player pilots vehicles.


title: Halo: Reach

text: In the game's campaign, which can be played alone or cooperatively, players assume the role of Noble Six, a supersoldier engaged in combat with the alien collective known as the Covenant. The Covenant come in eight distinct varieties with different ranks and classes for each type; for example, Elites are the leaders of a group, while Grunts are less intelligent and only dangerous in large groups. The player is equipped with a recharging energy shield that absorbs damage from weapons, fire and impacts. When the energy shield is depleted, the player loses health. When the player's health reaches zero, the character dies and the game reloads from a saved checkpoint. Health is replenished using health packs scattered throughout "Reach"s levels. The campaign's encounters with enemies are typically large, open spaces with weapons caches, cover from enemy fire and strategic vantage points. New to the "Halo" series are dogfight sequences set in space.


title: Halo: Reach

text: "Reach" features updated versions of old weapons, plus new weapons fulfilling various combat roles. In "Halo 3", players can carry single-use equipment power-ups that offer temporary offensive or defensive advantages. This system of single-use equipment is replaced in "Reach" by reusable and persistent armor abilities that remain with a character until they are replaced by a different equipment. The abilities are sprint, which allows the player to move at an increased rate for several seconds; jetpack, which allows the player to fly for a limited time; active camouflage, which makes a player harder to see (the less the player moves, the more camouflaged they will be); hologram, which creates a facsimile of the player running towards a target point; drop shield, which creates a bubble that heals those inside and protects them from a limited amount of damage; and armor lock, which immobilizes the player, but grants invincibility for a brief period of time. When the player exits armor lock, they release a close range EMP, breaking nearby players' shields and pushing away movable objects. If a vehicle rams a player that is armor locking, the vehicle will sustain heavy damage. When playing as a Covenant Elites, players also have access to an evade armor ability which allows the player to quickly dash in any direction.


title: Halo: Reach

text: "Reach" supports player-versus-player multiplayer through split-screen on a single Xbox 360, local networks (System Link), and the Xbox Live service. The game includes standard multiplayer modes such as "slayer" and capture the flag, as well as game types new to the franchise. In "headhunter", players drop skulls upon death, which other players can pick up and deposit at special zones for points. When players die, all their accumulated skulls are dropped. "Stockpile" has teams race to collect neutral flags, holding them at capture points every minute for points. "Generator defense" pits three human supersoldiers, or Spartans, against three Covenant soldiers called Elites. The Elites' objective is to destroy three generators, while the Spartans defend the installation. After every round, the players switch roles. "Invasion" is a six versus six mode with three squads of two on each team. The game type matches Spartans against Elites; Elites vie for control of territories to disable a shield guarding a navigation core. Once the shield is disabled, they must transfer the core to a dropship; the Spartans must prevent this. As the game progresses, new vehicles and areas of the map become open. The gameplay for Spartans and Elites is similar, but not identical. Elites are larger, move faster, and can fully regenerate their health. Depending on the game mode the player chooses, Spartans and Elites have different default loadouts. However, if playing locally, the player can alter the loadouts for both Spartans and Elites to be whatever the player chooses in the settings menu.


title: Halo: Reach

text: Alongside other multiplayer options is "firefight", where players take on increasingly difficult waves of foes in a game of survival. Players can customize the firefight options, including the number and types of enemies. Firefight versus allows a player-controlled Elite team to try to stop a Spartan team from scoring points. Game modes like generator defense are also playable in firefight.


title: Halo: Reach

text: Also included with "Reach" is "Forge", a level editor. Players can edit the default multiplayer maps and a large empty map known as "Forge World", adding or modifying spawn points, weapons and items. Objects may be phased into other objects, and can also be snapped to specific orientations. Other included features are the "theater", where players can watch saved films of their games and take screenshots and video clips for posterity, and the file share, where players can upload their screenshots, films, custom maps, and gametypes for public viewing.


title: Halo: Reach

text: "Reach" takes place in a futuristic science fiction setting; the year is 2552, shortly before the events of the video game "Halo: Combat Evolved", and during the events of the novel "". "Halo: Reach" largely ignores the canon and timeline of events established in the novel, leading to several plot inconsistencies in the franchise. Humans, under the auspices of the United Nations Space Command (UNSC), have been waging a long war against a collective of alien races known as the Covenant. By the events of "Reach", almost all of humanity's interstellar colonies have fallen. Reach itself is an Earth-like colony that serves as the UNSC's main military hub. The colony is home to over 700 million civilians in addition to the military presence there.


title: Halo: Reach

text: The game follows the actions of "Noble Team", a UNSC special operations unit composed of elite supersoldiers known as Spartans. Players assume the role of a new addition to the team identified by the call sign Noble Six. Noble Team's leader is Carter-A259, a no-nonsense soldier. His second-in-command, Catherine-B320 (referred to by other team members as "Kat"), has a bionic arm; together, Carter and Kat are the only remaining original members of Noble Team. The other current members include heavy weapons specialist and surviving Spartan-II Jorge-052, assault specialist Emile-A239, and marksman Jun-A266.


title: Halo: Reach

text: Noble Six meets the rest of Noble Team, shortly before they are dispatched to investigate why a communications relay has gone offline. They discover Covenant forces have invaded Reach. The team is relocated to defend Sword Base, an Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) installation, from a Covenant assault. After repelling the attack, Noble Team meets Catherine Halsey, a scientist and the mastermind behind the Spartan program and their MJOLNIR powered armor. Halsey enquires about Noble's engagement at the relay, suspecting that the Covenant were attempting to retrieve highly classified ONI data from the site.


title: Halo: Reach

text: Jun and Six discover an invasion force gathering on the planet. The UNSC launches an assault the next morning to repel the invasion. Noble Team assists the strike force, targeting key artillery stations and command posts. A cloaked Covenant supercarrier reveals itself; lacking a conventional weapon to destroy the carrier, Jorge and Six smuggle a slipspace engine onto a Covenant corvette en route to refuel at the carrier. With the timer damaged, Jorge drops Six out of the hangar of the corvette, remaining behind to detonate the engine manually and destroy the carrier. Another Covenant fleet arrives soon afterwards.


title: Halo: Reach

text: Back on the surface, Six assists with city defense and civilian evacuation and reunites with Noble Team, but Kat is killed by a Covenant sniper. Recalled to Sword Base for a demolition mission, Noble Team is redirected underground by Halsey to an ancient alien artifact, which she believes is vital to winning the war against the Covenant. Noble Team is entrusted with transporting the artificial intelligence Cortana and her data on the artifact to the UNSC ship "Pillar of Autumn", docked at a shipyard. Jun leaves the team to escort Halsey to safety.


title: Halo: Reach

text: En route to the "Pillar of Autumn", Carter is wounded and sacrifices himself to allow Six and Emile to reach the shipyard. Emile uses a mass driver emplacement to defend the "Autumn" against enemies while Six gives Cortana to "Autumn"s captain, Jacob Keyes. When Emile is killed, Six remains behind to operate the gun and ensure "Autumn"s escape. Cortana, using the data from the alien artifact, leads the "Autumn" to a Halo ringworld, leading to the events of "Halo: Combat Evolved". In a post-credits scene, Six fights a last stand against overwhelming Covenant forces. In 2589, Six's helmet remains on the grassy plains of a now-restored Reach. A narration by Halsey eulogizes Noble Team, who enabled humanity's victory over the Covenant.


title: Halo: Reach

text: "Halo: Reach" was announced on June 1, 2009, accompanied by a trailer at the Microsoft Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) press conference. A press release announced that an invitation to the open multiplayer beta of the game would appear in 2010. "Reach" is Bungie's last game development for the "Halo" series. Responsibility for developing future "Halo" games fell to Microsoft subsidiary 343 Industries.


title: Halo: Reach

text: A trailer released March 3, 2010, showcased the game's multiplayer. Bungie revealed parts of the game's campaign and Firefight at E3 2010. The game reached the "zero bug release" milestone on June 23, signifying a shift from content creation to troubleshooting; buggy artificial intelligence or other elements would be removed rather than fixed at this point because of time constraints. Bungie released the complete list of achievements for the game on July 30, including their titles, symbols, and requirements, and completed "Reach" between the end of July and beginning of August 2010.


title: Halo: Reach

text: After "Halo 3", development studio Bungie created an internal team to work on Peter Jackson's planned "Halo" game, "Halo Chronicles". "Chronicles" was eventually canceled and the team began working on a standalone expansion project—"Halo 3: ODST"—while another team, led by creative director Marcus Lehto and design lead Christian Allen, worked on "Reach". The team considered many different concepts and approaches to the game; among the rejected ideas was a sequel to "Halo 3". The team eventually settled on a prequel to the first "Halo" game in brainstorming sessions. It would take place on the planet Reach, during a pivotal time in the war. "Reach, as a fictional planet, was just a great candidate [to] play around with. It's such a rich world, with such a great fiction surrounding it," said Lehto. "We were like: 'Okay, that's it. We've just got a lot of things we can do there so we can build an immense story with it.'" No longer burdened with continuing the story threads of the "Halo" trilogy, Bungie used "Reach" to introduce new characters and settings. As "Reach" ends with the destruction of the titular planet, Bungie wanted to be sure players still felt a sense of accomplishment and success. "It is a challenge overall to ensure the player feels they're doing the right thing all the way to the end," said Lehto.


title: Halo: Reach

text: Lehto recalled that making a character-driven story was a great challenge—players would come to know more about them as they progressed through the campaign, but the Spartan characters also had to behave intelligently. The "Halo" games consistently featured protagonists that were silent during gameplay sequences. Community manager Brian Jarrard pushed for allowing players to choose a female Noble Six and have the cinematics and dialogue change accordingly. The post-credit game sequence was the subject of intense discussion; some at Bungie wanted to remove it. Executive producer Joe Tung noted, "the 'survive' component ... felt great to us. We definitely talked about different versions of how that was happening and different versions of ending [the game] cinematically, but I think the way that it ultimately ended up is just a really well-paced, significant and emotionally impactful ending."


title: Halo: Reach

text: The developers originally intended to port existing "Halo 3" assets to "Reach" and update them. For "Halo 3", Bungie had been forced to shrink parts of the game to fit the game engine's constraints, but wanted to make "Reach" look better than its predecessors. "The more we started looking into this, the more we found that realistically we could rebuild each asset from scratch with a huge increase in quality without significantly investing more time," said Bungie 3D artist Scott Shepherd. Texture resolution and polygon counts for models increased; the "Reach" assault rifle is constructed of more polygons than an entire Marine character from "Halo 3". The prequel concept also gave the art team an opportunity to redesign key enemies, weapons, and elements of the series. Artists found inspiration in the original concept art for "Halo: Combat Evolved"; the shape for the redesigned Covenant Grunts came from a sketch that concept artist Shi Kai Wang created ten years earlier.


title: Halo: Reach

text: The developers redesigned the game engine, the software that handles rendering and much of gameplay. Bungie hired an expert in motion capture to develop more realistic character animations. Building a motion capture studio in-house saved Bungie time as motion capture data could be applied to the game models the same day it was shot. The developers sought to increase replay value by focusing on improving artificial intelligence. Rather than scripting enemy encounters, they focused on a more open world or sandbox approach to battles.


title: Halo: Reach

text: Martin O'Donnell scored "Reach" with additional music by Michael Salvatori. O'Donnell wrote "somber, more visceral" music since the plot is character-driven and focuses on a planet that is already known—in the "Halo" fictional universe—to have fallen. The first music he wrote for "Reach" was played for the game's world premiere, and he used it as a starting piece to develop further themes. O'Donnell began work on "Reach" while "ODST", for which he also wrote the music, was still in production, but did not begin composing until August 2009. Past "Halo" collaborators Salvatori, C. Paul Johnson, and Stan LePard assisted O'Donnell. Both Reach and ODST don't have the Gregorian chant. With "Reach", he did not give them strictly divided responsibilities. "I decided this time to come up with some themes, tempos, keys, and other basic starting points for musical ideas," explained O'Donnell. "I shared these with all the other composers and just asked them to take off if they felt inspired by any of that material." The works-in-progress they came up with were either retouched by O'Donnell or sent back to be finished by their composer.


title: Halo: Reach

text: In previous "Halo" games, sections of music overlap and change depending on player action. "Reach"s system of interactive audio was much more complex, featuring the ability to combine up to seven layers of instrumentation compared to "Combat Evolved"s two. Developers also expanded the sound effect system. Every interacting object in "Reach" produces two sounds for respective objects; for example, a Warthog vehicle that hits an armored Covenant soldier produces a crunching metal noise based on the two colliding elements. The interaction between objects and terrain was demonstrated in an in-game environment that O'Donnell called "the stripey room" after the bands of alternating colors on the objects and environment.


title: Halo: Reach

text: "Reach"s multiplayer beta was open to owners of "Halo 3: ODST". More than three million copies of "ODST" were sold by November 2009. Bungie estimated between two and three million players for the upcoming "Reach" beta, compared to the 800,000 that participated in "Halo 3"s trial. Development schedules forced Bungie to release a six-week-old beta, fraught with bugs and issues already addressed in newer builds. Though concerned that these issues might tarnish the game's image, Jarrard noted that they had little choice but to ship it as it was and communicate with players concerning the fixes.


title: Halo: Reach

text: More than 2.7 million players participated in the beta, which lasted from May 3 to 20. The game was rolled out from an internal group of Bungie and Microsoft employees, with the total number of players in the thousands. When the beta went public, more than a million played the first day, causing back-end servers to struggle to handle the traffic. While the engineering team had overestimated server load, bugs in server clusters caused game uploads to become backed up, slowing matchmaking until the underlying issues could be fixed. Jarrard noted that the 16 million total hours of play time and large-scale rollout of the beta was vital to seeing how "Reach" would perform.


title: Halo: Reach

text: Bungie used the beta to fix mistakes, glitches, and balance issues within gameplay elements. "We needed our fans to provide feedback," said Lehto, adding that having a large audience to "hammer" on the game allowed them to gather useful feedback to mold the finished product. The game automatically collected statistics such as upload and matchmaking speeds, as well as game preferences; sorting out what Jarrard called "the more subjective anecdotal feedback" from emails, notes, and forums proved more difficult. The "Reach" beta generated over 360,000 forum posts on Bungie's community forums. Bungie created official threads for groups of issues to manage the high volume of feedback; "We tried to give people a little bit more of a direct avenue to give that feedback and to make our lives easier. It was definitely a lot to assess and digest," said Jarrard. Certain feedback from the players did not correlate with the statistical data obtained from the matches during the beta. Chris Carney, the lead designer for the multiplayer mode, recalled vocal dissatisfaction with the pistol early in the beta; by the end of the beta, the weapon was responsible for most of the kills coming from newly included weapons in the game. Bungie deployed special test matches to eliminate lurking variables, balance gameplay, and make other informed changes.


title: Halo: Reach

text: "Reach" was released in three editions on September 14, 2010. The standard edition consisted of the game and its manual. The limited edition featured an artifact bag with story information, different packaging, and an exclusive set of in-game Elite armor. The "legendary edition" contained all the materials from the limited edition, a different packaging, two hours of developer commentary on the game's cutscenes, an in-game Spartan armor effect, and a statue created by McFarlane Toys. North American players who purchased a first run copy of the game (in-store near launch day or pre-ordered) received an in-game Spartan "recon" helmet customization; players in other regions could earn it only by pre-ordering. "Reach" also came bundled with a limited edition Xbox 360 Slim that sports "Halo"-themed sounds and finish and two controllers.


title: Halo: Reach

text: Microsoft later listed "Reach" as an Xbox Live Marketplace download on August 12, 2010, at a price of 99999 Microsoft Points (~US$1250). A spokesperson confirmed the download was for media review purposes, and that there were no plans to distribute the game to the public through Games on Demand. Four days later, hackers managed to access, download, and distribute the game online; Microsoft stated they were investigating the matter. "Halo 2", "Halo 3", and "ODST" were similarly leaked ahead of their planned release. Bungie released a demo on May 24, 2011, featuring a single player level from the game's story mode, a multiplayer competitive map, and a cooperative firefight mission.


title: Halo: Reach

text: According to Jarrard, the team decided to have much more "grandiose" marketing for "Reach" than that of "ODST". Microsoft gave "Reach" its largest game marketing budget at the time, surpassing the scale and $6.5 million cost of "Halo 3"s award-winning marketing. Marketers focused their efforts on connecting with consumers via universal themes, rather than outdoing "Halo 3"s push. Interpublic Group of Companies' AgencyTwoFifteen handled strategy and video development for the marketing push, while AKQA developed interactive components. The agencies were involved with "Halo 3"s marketing. The advertisers' brief was simple: "Remember Reach. Focus on the heroes, not the victims. Expand our audience beyond "Halo" fanboys."


title: Halo: Reach

text: The advertising campaign commenced in April 2010 with the live-action short "Birth of a Spartan". A series of online videos highlighting a day in the life of average Reach citizens before the Covenant invade, began on August 23, followed by TV spots on August 29. The series concluded in late August with another short, "Deliver Hope". As part of the promotions, Microsoft created an interactive light sculpture; users logged onto a website where they could direct a KUKA industrial robot to plot pinpricks of light; over 54,000 points created a monument to Noble Team that faded unless more points were plotted. "Reach"s marketing won several industry distinctions, among them thirteen medals from the MI6 Game Marketing Conference Awards.


title: Halo: Reach

text: Several lines of tie-in merchandise were launched. McFarlane, who had produced toys for "Halo 3", created a line of five-inch action figures, while Square Enix's Play Arts toy label created additional figures.


title: Halo: Reach

text: "Reach" was released Tuesday, September 14 in 25 countries. Tens of thousands of stores signed up for midnight launch events; sponsored events took place in London, Oslo, Stockholm, and New York.


title: Halo: Reach

text: "Reach" made $200 million in first-day sales, a record for the franchise. Its strong sales suggested to analysts that core titles in the holiday season could reverse sluggish video game sales in 2010. In its first sixteen days the game sold $350 million worth of merchandise. "Reach" premiered at the top of Xbox 360 and multi-platform charts in most territories. Figures from the NPD Group estimated that "Reach" sold 3.3 million units in North America, making it the third game for its console generation (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii) to sell more than three million units during the first month of its release (alongside "Halo 3" and "Modern Warfare 2"). "Halo: Reach" became the third bestselling game of 2010 in North America, behind "" and "Madden NFL 11". It sold 4.7 million units by September 2011.


title: Halo: Reach

text: In the United Kingdom, "Reach"s opening week was the fifth-best launch in the territory, beating "Halo 3"s debut by 20,000 units and "ODST"s by 200,000 units. In its second week on the UK charts "Reach" was the second bestselling title, displaced by the racing game "F1 2010". "Reach" continued to hold the top place in North America. In Japan, the game debuted at first place with 44,413 units, but fared poorly in the long-term (as have other "Halo" games). This showing was above "ODST"s sales of 29,734 in the comparable timeframe, but below "Halo 3"s 61,143. "Reach" dropped out of the top 20 best selling titles entirely its second week.


title: Halo: Reach

text: "Reach" supports additional downloadable content (DLC). Bungie released the game's first DLC, dubbed the "Noble Map Pack", on November 30, 2010; this map pack contains three maps, unique in that they are not based on "Reach" campaign levels. Microsoft partnered with Certain Affinity, which had worked on "Halo 2" maps, to produce the second, "Defiant Map Pack", made available for download on March 15, 2011.


title: Halo: Reach

text: A "title update" was released by 343 Industries for "Reach" that modified game mechanics such as bullet spread and melee damage. The update also contained playlists for "". Purchasers of anniversary edition received a voucher to download the game's seven multiplayer maps directly into "Reach", the map pack was also made available to purchase via the Xbox Live Marketplace.


title: Halo: Reach

text: "Halo: Reach" received critical acclaim upon its release. On aggregating review website Metacritic, it holds an average of 91/100. Critics such as 1UP.com's Thierry Nguyen, the staff of "Edge", "GamePro"s Matt Cabral, and others considered "Reach" the best "Halo" title yet. Reviewers noted there were few major changes to the "Halo" formula; IGN's Erik Brudvig wrote that "Reach" was not "another rehash", though franchise veterans would feel immediately at home with the game.


title: Halo: Reach

text: Nguyen, Tom Hoggins of "The Daily Telegraph", and others wrote that "Reach" took the best elements from previous games and combined them in Bungie's final entry. Hoggins noted that this approach made "Reach" "a blistering, breathless crescendo to a decade's worth of work", but also that it was unlikely to convert non-"Halo" fans. The "Daily Mirror"s Kevin Lynch praised Bungie for introducing new gameplay mechanics like jetpacks without ruining the title's learning curve or game balance.


title: Halo: Reach

text: Brudvig praised the campaign for avoiding the "repetitive landscapes and circuitous, difficult to follow plots" of past "Halo" titles. GameSpot's Chris Watters and others felt the artificial intelligence of friendly non-player characters was less advanced than that of enemies, especially while driving. Steve Boxer wrote for "The Guardian" that "Reach"s story made previous entries feel "amateurish"; Nguyen felt that whereas previous "Halo" titles had become mired in inconsistencies and "Star Trek"-like technobabble, "Reach" told a broader and more accessible story. Despite this, he contended, the game suffered from archetypal characters with which players spent little time: "I almost forgot that Noble Four (Emile) even existed for a big chunk of the campaign, as I rarely saw him." "Wired"s Gus Mastrapa unfavorably compared Noble Team to the marines of "Aliens", writing that most of the characters were unmemorable and one-dimensional. Nguyen also faulted the game for occasional lapses in exposition, but summed these up as "minor quibbles" compared to the improvements. In contrast, GamesRadar's Charlie Baratt opined that "Reach"s campaign was better than "ODST"s, but lacked the "franchise-changing potential" it promised. Lynch judged that while Bungie still had not learned to create a perfect story, "["Reach"] does expertly set up bombastic scene after scene".


title: Halo: Reach

text: Ben Kuchera of "Ars Technica" enjoyed the multiplayer component of "Reach" for its scope—"no matter how you play, you will find something to like." Reviewers lauded the many customization options available to players: Watters and Kuchera praised the concept of psych profiles to hone more agreeable teammate selections, but questioned its effectiveness; G4 considered "Reach"s Forge World more expansive and impressive than "Halo 3"s Forge offerings; and Lynch wrote that the sheer quantity of multiplayer options would give the game a long life cycle for players.


title: Halo: Reach

text: Critics considered the audio-visual components a marked advance over "Halo 3" and "ODST"s. "The New Zealand Herald"s Troy Rawhiti-Forbes wrote that with the improved graphics and animation, "["Reach"] looks just like a big-budget Hollywood project." "Official Xbox Magazine" acknowledged better graphics in other games, but praised "Reach" for "eye-catching beauty and breathless scope", noting that the inclusion of wildlife and civilians heightened the impression of a planet under siege. Martin Robinson of IGN UK appreciated O'Donnell's moody score and the redone sound effects, writing that the new weapons "feel like they're about to tear your hands off".


title: Starling

text: Starlings are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Sturnidae. The Sturnidae are named for the genus "Sturnus", which in turn comes from the Latin word for starling, "sturnus". Many Asian species, particularly the larger ones, are called mynas, and many African species are known as glossy starlings because of their iridescent plumage. Starlings are native to Europe, Asia, and Africa, as well as northern Australia and the islands of the tropical Pacific. Several European and Asian species have been introduced to these areas, as well as North America, Hawaii, and New Zealand, where they generally compete for habitats with native birds and are considered to be invasive species. The starling species familiar to most people in Europe and North America is the common starling, and throughout much of Asia and the Pacific, the common myna is indeed common.


title: Starling

text: Starlings have strong feet, their flight is strong and direct, and they are very gregarious. Their preferred habitat is fairly open country, and they eat insects and fruit. Several species live around human habitation and are effectively omnivores. Many species search for prey such as grubs by "open-bill probing", that is, forcefully opening the bill after inserting it into a crevice, thus expanding the hole and exposing the prey; this behaviour is referred to by the German verb "zirkeln" (pronounced ).


title: Starling

text: Plumage of many species is typically dark with a metallic sheen. Most species nest in holes and lay blue or white eggs.


title: Starling

text: Starlings have diverse and complex vocalizations and have been known to embed sounds from their surroundings into their own calls, including car alarms and human speech patterns. The birds can recognize particular individuals by their calls and are the subject of research into the evolution of human language.


title: Starling

text: Starlings are medium-sized passerines. The shortest-bodied species is Kenrick's starling ("Poeoptera kenricki"), at , but the lightest-weight species is Abbott's starling ("Poeoptera femoralis"), which is . The largest starling, going on standard measurements and perhaps weight, is the Nias hill myna ("Gracula robusta"). This species can measure up to , and in domestication they can weigh up to . Rivaling the prior species in bulk if not dimensions, the mynas of the genus "Mino" are also large, especially the yellow-faced ("M. dumontii") and long-tailed mynas ("M. kreffti"). The longest species in the family is the white-necked myna ("Streptocitta albicollis"), which can measure up to , although around 60% in this magpie-like species is comprised by its very long tail.


title: Starling

text: Less sexual dimorphism is seen in plumage, but with only 25 species showing such differences between the two sexes. The plumage of the starling is often brightly coloured due to iridescence; this colour is derived from the structure of the feathers, not from any pigment. Some species of Asian starling have crests or erectile feathers on the crest. Other ornamentation includes elongated tail feathers and brightly coloured bare areas on the face. These colours can be derived from pigments, or as in the Bali starling, structural colour, caused by light scattering off parallel collagen fibers. The irises of many species are red and yellow, although those of younger birds are much darker.


title: Starling

text: Starlings inhabit a wide range of habitats from the Arctic Circle to the Equator. In fact, the only habitat they do not typically occupy is the driest sandy deserts. The family is naturally absent from the Americas and from large parts of Australia, but is present over the majority of Europe, Africa, and Asia. The genus "Aplonis" has also spread widely across the islands of the Pacific, reaching Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia (in addition one species in the genus "Mino" has reached the Solomon Islands). Also, a species of this genus is the only starling found in northern Australia.


title: Starling

text: Asian species are most common in evergreen forests; 39 species found in Asia are predominantly forest birds as opposed to 24 found in more open or human modified environments. In contrast to this, African species are more likely to be found in open woodlands and savannah; 33 species are open-area specialists compared to 13 true forest species. The high diversity of species found in Asia and Africa is not matched by Europe, which has one widespread (and very common) species and two more restricted species. The European starling is both highly widespread and extremely catholic in its habitat, occupying most types of open habitat. Like many other starling species, it has also adapted readily to human-modified habitat, including farmland, orchards, plantations, and urban areas.


title: Starling

text: Some species of starlings are migratory, either entirely, like Shelley's starling, which breeds in Ethiopia and Somaliland and migrates to Kenya, Tanzania, and Somalia, or like the white-shouldered starling, which is migratory in part of its range, but is resident in others.


title: Starling

text: The European starling was purposely introduced to North America in the 1870s through the 1890s by multiple acclimatisation societies, organizations dedicated to introducing European flora and fauna into North America for cultural and economic reasons. A persistent story alleges that Eugene Schieffelin, chairman of the American Acclimatization Society, decided all birds mentioned by William Shakespeare should be in North America, leading to the introduction of the starling to the U.S.; however, this claim is more fiction than fact. While Schieffelin and other members of the society did release starlings in Central Park in 1890, the birds had already been in the U.S. since at least the mid-1870s, and Schieffelin was not inspired to do so by Shakespeare's works.


title: Starling

text: The starlings are generally a highly social family. Most species associate in flocks of varying sizes throughout the year. "Murmuration" describes the flocking of starlings, including the swarm behaviour of their large flight formations. These flocks may include other species of starlings and sometimes species from other families. This sociality is particularly evident in their roosting behaviour; in the nonbreeding season, some roosts can number in the thousands of birds.


title: Starling

text: Starlings imitate a variety of avian species and have a repertoire of about 15–20 distinct imitations. They also imitate a few sounds other than those of wild birds. The calls of abundant species or calls that are simple in frequency structure and show little amplitude modulation are preferentially imitated. Dialects of mimicked sounds can be local.


title: Starling

text: The diets of the starlings are usually dominated by fruits and insects. Many species are important dispersers of seeds, in Asia and Africa, for example, white sandalwood and Indian banyan. In addition to trees, they are also important dispersers of parasitic mistletoes. In South Africa, the red-winged starling is an important disperser of the introduced "Acacia cyclops". Starlings have been observed feeding on fermenting over-ripe fruit, which led to the speculation that they might become intoxicated by the alcohol.


title: Starling

text: Laboratory experiments on European starlings have found that they have disposal enzymes that allow them to break down alcohol very quickly. In addition to consuming fruits, many starlings also consume nectar. The extent to which starlings are important pollinators is unknown, but at least some are, such as the slender-billed starling of alpine East Africa, which pollinates giant lobelias.


title: Starling

text: The starling family Sturnidae was introduced (as Sturnidia) by French polymath Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1815.


title: Starling

text: The starlings belong to the superfamily Muscicapoidea, together with thrushes, flycatchers and chats, as well as dippers, which are quite distant relatives, and Mimidae (thrashers and mockingbirds). The latter are apparently the Sturnidae's closest living relatives, replace them in the Americas, and have a rather similar but more solitary lifestyle. They are morphologically quite similar too—a partly albinistic specimen of a mimid, mislabelled as to suggest an Old World origin, was for many decades believed to represent an extinct starling (see Rodrigues starling for details).


title: Starling

text: The oxpeckers are sometimes placed here as a subfamily, but the weight of evidence has shifted towards granting them full family status as a more basal member of the Sturnidae-Mimidae group, derived from an early expansion into Africa.


title: Starling

text: Usually, the starlings are considered a family, as is done here. Sibley & Monroe included the mimids in the family and demoted the starlings to tribe rank, as Sturnini. This treatment was used by Zuccon et al. However, the grouping of Sibley & Monroe is overly coarse due to methodological drawbacks of their DNA-DNA hybridization technique and most of their proposed revisions of taxonomic rank have not been accepted (see for example Ciconiiformes). The all-inclusive Sturnidae grouping conveys little information about biogeography, and obscures the evolutionary distinctness of the three lineages. Establishing a valid name for the clade consisting of Sibley/Monroe's "pan-Sturnidae" would nonetheless be desirable to contrast them with the other major lineages of Muscicapoidea.


title: Starling

text: Starlings probably originated in the general area of East Asia, perhaps towards the southwestern Pacific, as evidenced by the number of plesiomorphic lineages to occur there. Expansion into Africa appears to have occurred later, as most derived forms are found there. An alternative scenario would be African origin for the entire "sturnoid" group, with the oxpeckers representing an ancient relict and the mimids arriving in South America. This is contradicted by the North American distribution of the most basal Mimidae.


title: Starling

text: As the fossil record is limited to quite Recent forms, the proposed Early Miocene (about 25–20 Mya) divergence dates for the "sturnoids" lineages must be considered extremely tentative. Given the overall evidence for the origin of most Passeri families in the first half of the Miocene, it appears to be not too far off the mark, however.


title: Starling

text: As of 2007, recent studies identified two major clades of this family, corresponding to the generally drab, often striped, largish "atypical mynas" and other mainly Asian-Pacific lineages, and the often smaller, sometimes highly apomorphic taxa which are most common in Africa and the Palearctic, usually have metallic coloration, and in a number of species also bright carotinoid plumage colors on the underside. Inside this latter group, there is a clade consisting of species which, again, are usually not too brightly colored, and which consists of the "typical" myna-"Sturnus" assemblage.


title: Starling

text: The Philippine creepers, a single genus of three species of treecreeper-like birds, appear to be highly apomorphic members of the more initial radiation of the Sturnidae. While this may seem odd at first glance, their placement has always been contentious. In addition, biogeography virtually rules out a close relationship of Philippine creepers and treecreepers, as neither the latter nor their close relatives seem to have ever reached Wallacea, let alone the Philippines. Nonetheless, their inclusion in the Sturnidae is not entirely final and eventually, they may remain a separate family.


title: Starling

text: Genus sequence follows traditional treatments. This is apparently not entirely correct, with "Scissirostrum" closer to "Aplonis" than to "Gracula", for example, and "Acridotheres" among the most advanced genera. Too few taxa have yet been studied as regards their relationships, however, thus a change in the sequence has to wait on further studies.


title: Starling

text: As of 2009, the review by Lovette & Rubenstein (2008) is the most recent work on the phylogeny of the group. This taxonomy is also based on the order of the IOC.


title: Starling

text: The extinct Mascarene starlings were formerly of uncertain relationships, but are now thought to belong to the Oriental-Australasian clade, being allied with the Bali myna. However, while the two more recent species ("Fregipilus" and "Necropsar") have been classified, the prehistoric "Cryptopsar" has not.


title: Shock G

text: Gregory Edward Jacobs (August 25, 1963 – April 22, 2021), known professionally as Shock G and by his alter ego Humpty Hump, was an American rapper and musician who was best known as the lead vocalist of the hip hop group Digital Underground. He was responsible for Digital Underground's "The Humpty Dance", 2Pac's breakthrough single "I Get Around", and co-producer of 2Pac's debut album "2Pacalypse Now".


title: Shock G

text: Gregory Edward Jacobs was born on August 25, 1963 in New York City. He spent most of his childhood moving around the East Coast with his family, eventually settling in Tampa, Florida. As a drummer he won the 1978 "Most Talented" trophy at Greco Junior High School, but after relocating to Queens, New York (as a result of his parents' divorce), he traded his drums in for a set of turntables upon discovering and marvelling over hip hop while the art form was still in an underground developmental stage. He was mentored in the craft by his cousin Rene Negron (a.k.a. DJ-Stretch), and their close friend Shawn Trone (a.k.a. MC Shah-T of the parody-rap group No Face) who suggested Greg use the name "Shah-G". Jacobs liked the idea, but mistakenly thought his friend said ""Shock"-G", and began using that name instead.


title: Shock G

text: After returning to Tampa less than two years later, he dropped out of Chamberlain High School to form the Master Blasters, a mobile DJ crew which featured three DJs and four emcees at its height. They performed at parties, and also for the crowds at Riverfront Park's outdoor Sunday gatherings, eventually capturing the interest of Tony Stone, a program director at WTMP radio, which was the city's primary R&B station. Tony offered Jacobs, who was sixteen at the time, a job DJing on the air, and for a short while, as "Gregory Racker", he was the youngest radio personality in central Florida with a regular time slot.


title: Shock G

text: After being fired for playing the fifteen-minute-long album version of "(Not Just) Knee Deep" by Funkadelic in a five-minute time slot, and also after tensions with his father escalated, Jacobs found himself backpacking the United States for a few years, drifting through odd jobs and petty criminal adventures. It was during this excursion that his focus switched from DJing to keyboard playing, and while utilizing piano practice-rooms at music stores and colleges around the country, he effectively taught himself to play the piano.


title: Shock G

text: Deciding to pursue music seriously, he returned home, quickly obtained a diploma, and began attending Hillsborough Community College, where he studied music theory under Jim Burge and piano under Patricia J. Trice. It was there at HCC that he met and formed a bond with Kenneth Waters, and the two began performing together under various names including The Chill Factor, and also The Four Horsemen, which included MC Skoobie-D, and the MD Dazzlin Doc-P who had recently moved to Tampa from the Bronx, hip hop's birthplace. Then in 1985, after two years of producing local artists for hire, playing solo piano gigs around town, performing with Kenny, and being a keyboardist in Warren Allen Brooks' band, Greg and his aspiring-actress girlfriend (Davita Watts) set their sights beyond Tampa, and eloped to Los Angeles in search of greater opportunity. There he played keyboards in Kenny McCloud's pop-funk band Onyx before leaving Los Angeles and finally arriving in the San Francisco Bay Area where he found work in an Oakland music store, and where his group Digital Underground would form a few years later.


title: Shock G

text: Soon after relocating to Oakland, California, Shock G formed Digital Underground along with Chopmaster J, and the late Kenneth Waters (a.k.a. Kenny-K). After around 15 months of unsuccessful negotiations with various small record companies, in 1988 the trio finally released a 12-inch single on Macola Records. It featured "Your Life's a Cartoon" as the A-side and "Underwater Rimes" as the B-side. Both songs were penned, produced, and performed by Jacobs, who also sketched the cartoonish cover illustrations. The record included the logo for Digital Underground's startup label, TNT, as well as Macola's logo. TNT was also founded by Tupac Shakur's management CEO Atron Gregory. In 1989, the group signed with Tommy Boy Records and released "Doowutchyalike", receiving minimal radio airplay but became an underground hit. Its video was more successful, reaching number 40 on the MTV's top 100 videos of the year. "Doowutchyalike" paved the way for Digital Underground's debut album "Sex Packets" and the highest-charting song of their career "The Humpty Dance" both released in early 1990, and both achieving platinum sales certifications by the RIAA. The latter was rapped by "Humpty Hump," the most flamboyant of Shock G's several alter egos. By that time, Digital Underground had expanded significantly, with DJ Fuze, Money-B, and Schmoovy-Schmoov joining the group, and with Ramone "Pee Wee" Gooden and Tupac Shakur joining by 1991.


title: Shock G

text: Throughout Shock G's rapping career, he created several aliases, resulting in characters that were maintained with such reality, they were believed to be separate people by some music fans, even a few industry insiders.


title: Shock G

text: As "Rackadelic" he illustrated album covers and provided art direction; as the "Piano Man" he contributed keyboard tracks and music production. His main persona "Shock G" utilized a more natural voice, while he altered his voice to become "Humpty Hump," an iconic character with an exaggerated buffoon persona, colorful clothes, and a Groucho glasses-and-nose disguise. He used a nasal voice for the character Humpty. At most public appearances, Jacobs would show up as one person or the other, but at live shows and video shoots he would use a stand-in or camera tricks to maintain the illusion. A fictional biography was constructed for Humpty, the story being that Edward Ellington Humphrey III, former lead singer of "Smooth Eddie and the Humpers," had become a rapper after burning his nose in a kitchen accident with a deep-fryer (the story was even told by Casey Kasem himself on his then countdown show Casey's Top 40). Jacobs also sometimes performed as other characters including MC Blowfish, Icey-Mike, The Computer Woman, ButtaFly, and Peanut Hakeem.


title: Shock G

text: Shock G's TV appearances include "Showtime at the Apollo" in 1992, several "The Arsenio Hall Show" performances between 1990 and 1994, and several live MTV performances, including MTV Spring Break 1990 in Daytona Beach, "Yo MTV Raps" (performing live with Ed Lover and Doctor Dré) in 1991, "Club MTV Live" (with Downtown Julie Brown) in 1992, and MTV Jams in 1994. Most of these consisted of music performances with either Digital Underground or 2Pac; however, on an episode of the 1991 sitcom "Drexell's Class", Jacobs played a small acting role as a furnace repairman. Within the show's story, the title character, Otis Drexell, insists that the furnace repairman looks exactly like Humpty Hump, but neither he nor his coworker (Jason Priestley) have heard of any such hip-hop artist, especially not one with such a ridiculous name. The episode ends with a live performance of Digital Underground's "No Nose Job" on a cruise ship full of "Sports Illustrated" swimsuit models, which is presented as a scene from one of Mr. Drexell's dreams.


title: Shock G

text: With his Digital Underground band members, Jacobs appeared in the Dan Aykroyd-directed comedy film "Nothing but Trouble" (1991) appearing as both Shock G and Humpty Hump. The group (including Tupac Shakur) makes a cameo music performance, as well as play a small character role in the film as themselves. Since then, Jacobs has appeared in a handful of music documentaries, including "Thug Angel: Life of an Outlaw" (2000) about Tupac Shakur, and "Parliament Funkadelic: One Nation Under a Groove" (1996) about George Clinton & P-Funk, both of which received heavy TV rotation, and both of which relied heavily on Jacobs' commentary.


title: Shock G

text: On June 24, 2011, Shock G was featured on an episode of the podcast "You Had To Be There" with comedians Nikki Glaser and Sara Schaefer.


title: Shock G

text: In addition to his work with Digital Underground, Shock G found moderate success as a solo artist and music producer. In 1993, Shock G produced Tupac Shakur's breakthrough platinum single "I Get Around" as well as guest starred on the single and music video, and went on to produce Tupac's "So Many Tears" from his multi-platinum 1995 album "Me Against the World". Tupac's first published work was while still a member of Digital Underground when he appeared on the 1991 song and video "Same Song", which also appeared in the Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd and Demi Moore film "Nothing but Trouble". Shock co-produced Tupac's debut album "2Pacalypse Now". Shock G appeared as a producer and guest artist on fellow Oakland-based rap group The Luniz platinum debut release "Operation Stackola" in 1995, also appearing as a guest emcee in the "I Got 5 on It" Bay Ballers Remix and video.


title: Shock G

text: In 1996 the Wayans brothers' film "Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood" featured the Shock G song "We Got More". The song, which featured Oakland rappers Luniz was used for three different scenes in the film, and is featured in two different places on the soundtrack, making it the only song to appear twice on one soundtrack. In 1998, Prince included the Shock G produced "Love Sign" on his triple-CD "Crystal Ball" album. Shock G has toured and performed on stage with George Clinton and P-Funk including a guest performance with Clinton at Woodstock 1999.


title: Shock G

text: In 2003, Shock G produced the single "Risky Business" for Los Angeles underground artist Murs, and also appeared in the video, as himself and as Humpty Hump. Murs performed this song live with Shock G at the Paid Dues festival, and also featured him as his stage DJ/music conductor on a 2-month extensive Definitive Jux label U.S. and Canada tour. On January 20, 2009, Shock G's single "Cherry Flava'd Email" was renamed and released as a special edition called "Cherry Flava'd Election" to commemorate the inauguration of President Barack Obama.


title: Shock G

text: On April 22, 2021, Jacobs was found dead in a motel room in Tampa, Florida, at age 57. On June 10, 2021, the Hillsborough County Medical Examiner announced that Shock G's death was caused by an accidental overdose of fentanyl, methamphetamine and ethanol (alcohol).


title: Munchkin cat

text: The Munchkin, also known as Sausage Cat is a breed of cat characterized by its very short legs, which are caused by genetic mutation. Compared to many other cat breeds, it is a relatively new breed, documented since 1940s and officially recognized in 1991. The Munchkin is considered to be the original breed of dwarf cat.


title: Munchkin cat

text: Much controversy erupted over the breed when it was recognized by The International Cat Association (TICA) in 1997 with critics voicing concerns over potential health and mobility issues. Many pedigree cat associations around the world have refused to recognize the Munchkin cat due to the welfare of the breed and severity of the health issues, including the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy (GCCF).


title: Munchkin cat

text: The name "munchkin" derives from writer L. Frank Baum's diminutive inhabitants of Munchkin Country, originating in the 1900 novel, "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz".


title: Munchkin cat

text: Short-legged cats have been documented a number of times around the world since the 1940s. A British veterinary report in 1944 noted four generations of short-legged cats which were similar to normal cats except for the length of the legs. This line disappeared during the Second World War but other short-legged cats were spotted in Russia during 1956 and the United States in the 1970s.


title: Munchkin cat

text: In 1983, Sandra Hochenedel, a music teacher in Rayville, Louisiana, found two pregnant cats who had been chased under a truck by a dog. She kept one of the cats and named her Blackberry and half of her kittens were born short-legged. Hochenedel gave a short-legged male kitten from one of Blackberry's litters to a friend, Kay LaFrance of Monroe, Louisiana, and she named the kitten Toulouse. It is from Blackberry and Toulouse's litter that today's Munchkin breed is descended.