title: Bowling for Columbine

text: The montage ends with handheld-camera footage of United Airlines Flight 175 crashing into the South Tower of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, the audio consisting solely of the emotional reactions of the witnesses, recorded by the camera's microphone. On the website accompanying the film, Moore provides additional background information for this section.


title: Bowling for Columbine

text: Moore contrasts his portrayal of the U.S. attitude toward guns and violence with the attitude prevailing in areas of Canada where gun ownership is at similar levels to the U.S. He illustrates his thesis by visiting neighborhoods in Canada near the Canada–U.S. border, where he finds front doors unlocked and much less concern over crime and security. In regards to the film, Farber states "Moore's thesis, which he later elaborated in "Fahrenheit 9/11", is that the fear-mongering that permeates American society contributes to our epidemic of gun violence". Moore shows news stories in Canada which do not follow the "if it bleeds it leads" mentality. This adds to Moore's argument that the media is driving America's fear as well as their need for protection. The cartoon "A Brief History of the United States of America" encompasses Moore's view of where the fear in America started and how it's progressed and changed over the years.


title: Bowling for Columbine

text: In this section, there is a montage of several social pundits stating possible causes for gun violence. Many claim links with violence in television, cinema, and computer games; towards the end of the montage, however, the same people all change their claims to Marilyn Manson's responsibility. Following this is an interview between Moore and Marilyn Manson. Manson shares his views about the United States' climate with Moore, stating that he believes U.S. society is based on "fear and consumption", citing Colgate commercials that promise "if you have bad breath, [people] are not going to talk to you" and other commercials containing fear-based messages. Manson also mentions that the media, under heavy government influence, had asserted that his influence on the acts of Klebold and Harris was far greater than that of President Clinton, who ordered more bombings on Kosovo on April 20, 1999, than any other day during the NATO campaign against Yugoslavia. When Moore asks Manson what he would say to the students at Columbine, Manson replies, "I wouldn't say a single word to them; I would listen to what they have to say, and that's what no one did."


title: Bowling for Columbine

text: "South Park" co-creator Matt Stone—who grew up in Littleton—agreed to talk with Moore about his hometown and the shooting in the film. Although he did not feel that Moore mischaracterized him or his statements in the film, he harbored ill feelings about the cartoon "A Brief History of the United States of America". Both Stone and his fellow "South Park" creator Trey Parker felt that the cartoon was done in a style very similar to theirs, and its proximity to Stone's interview may have led viewers to believe that they created the cartoon. "It was a good lesson in what Michael Moore does in films. He doesn't necessarily say explicitly this is what it is, but he creates meaning where there is none by cutting things together," Stone remarked in a later interview. As a humorous retort to this, Stone and Parker portrayed Moore as "a gibbering, overweight, hot-dog-eating buffoon" who ultimately commits a suicide bombing against the protagonists in their 2004 film, "".


title: Bowling for Columbine

text: Moore follows up by exploring popular explanations as to why gun violence is so high in the United States. He examines Marilyn Manson as a cause, but states that more German citizens listen to Marilyn Manson (per capita) and that the country has a larger Goth population than the United States, with less gun violence (Germany: 381 incidents per year). He examines violent movies, but notes that other countries have the same violent movies, showing "The Matrix" with French subtitles (France: 255 incidents per year). He also examines video games, but observes that many violent video games come from Japan (Japan: 39 incidents per year). He concludes his comparisons by considering the suggestion that the United States' violent history is the cause, but notes the similarly violent histories of Germany, Japan, France, and the United Kingdom (68 incidents per year). Moore ends this segment with gun-related-deaths-per-year statistics of the following countries:


title: Bowling for Columbine

text: "The American Prospect" published a piece by Garance Franke-Ruta criticizing the film for ignoring the role that municipal governance plays in crime in the United States, and ignoring African-American urban victims of violence while focusing on the unusual events of Columbine. "A decline in murders in New York City alone—from 1,927 in 1993 to 643 in 2001—had, for example, a considerable impact on the declining national rate. Not a lot of those killers or victims were the sort of sports-hunters or militiamen Moore goes out of his way to interview and make fun of."


title: Bowling for Columbine

text: Moore takes two Columbine survivors, Mark Taylor and Richard Castaldo (along with Brooks Brown, who remains unidentified during the segment), to the Troy, Michigan headquarters of American superstore Kmart to claim a refund on the bullets still lodged in their bodies, which were purchased by the perpetrators at a Kmart store. Moore and the victims wait for hours in the building's lobby, speaking to several Kmart employees, who evade the issue. Moore then decides to visit a Kmart in nearby Sterling Heights, where they purchase the store's entire supply of ammunition, and the three return to the company's headquarters the following day with several members of the local media. The company's vice president of communications is quickly sent down to address Moore and the press, and announces that the company will phase out handgun ammunition sales within 90 days. "We've won," says Moore, in disbelief. "That was more than we asked for."


title: Bowling for Columbine

text: For the final scene of the film, Moore visits Charlton Heston's home and asks to speak to him via the speakerbox in front of his gated home. Heston declines to speak to him at the time, but agrees to look at his schedule for the next day. Moore returns and first shows his NRA card, which Heston expresses pleasure at. They go inside the large property and sit down to discuss American firearm violence. Heston's response includes the suggestions that the United States has a "history of violence" and more "mixed ethnicity" than other countries. He also states that he does not believe that the United States is any more violent than other countries. Moore then asks Heston if he would like to apologize for leading NRA rallies in Flint, Michigan (Moore's hometown) after the shooting death of a six-year-old girl at Buell Elementary School and in Littleton after the Columbine shooting. Heston claims he did not know about girl's death or how soon the rally was after it. When Moore presses to know if he would have cancelled the rally, he declines to answer and walks out of the interview. Moore implores him not to leave and asks him to look at a picture of the girl. Heston turns around, but then turns back to continue his exit. Upon his exit, Moore leaves the picture outside the home. Moore was later criticized by some for his perceived "ambush" of the actor.


title: Bowling for Columbine

text: "I'm uncomfortable watching the scene now, and I’m uncomfortable sitting there with him," Moore told "Vanity Fair"'s Katey Rich in 2019. "But I wasn't going to not put it in the film either. He revealed his core beliefs. But I remember feeling kind of sad about it later. Here's a man who 40 years prior to that marched with Martin Luther King, and now in his elderly years had just turned into this angry white guy who believed that we should have these laws where it's O.K. to shoot first and ask questions later."


title: Bowling for Columbine

text: The film earned mostly positive reviews. On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a 95% approval rating based on 173 reviews, with an average rating of 8.20/10. The consensus states, "Though it may not always convince, "Bowling for Columbine" asks important questions and provokes thought." Another score aggregator, Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating in the 0–100 range based on reviews from top mainstream critics, calculated a score of 72 based on 32 reviews, signifying 'generally favorable reviews'.


title: Bowling for Columbine

text: Michael Wilmington of the "Chicago Tribune" wrote, "It's unnerving, stimulating, likely to provoke anger and sorrow on both political sides—and, above all, it's extremely funny." A.O. Scott of "The New York Times" wrote, "The slippery logic, tendentious grandstanding, and outright demagoguery on display in "Bowling for Columbine" should be enough to give pause to its most ardent partisans, while its disquieting insights into the culture of violence in America should occasion sober reflection from those who would prefer to stop their ears."


title: Bowling for Columbine

text: However, the film had its detractors as Desson Thomson of "The Washington Post" thought that the film lacked a coherent message, asking "A lot of this is amusing and somehow telling. There was a parody of this movie called 'Bowling for Midway', a conservative Utah family movie to counter Moore's movie, and this paralleled the Docudrama, 'This Divided State'. But what does it all add up to?"


title: Bowling for Columbine

text: The film was rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America, which means that children under the age of 17 were not admitted to see the film theatrically unless under supervision. Film critic Roger Ebert chastized the MPAA for this move as "banning teenagers from those films they most need to see". Ebert had criticized the MPAA rating system on previous occasions. The film was noted for "some violent images and language".


title: Bowling for Columbine

text: With a budget of $4 million, "Bowling for Columbine" grossed $58,008,423 worldwide, including $21,576,018 in the United States. The documentary also broke box office records internationally, becoming the highest-grossing documentary in the United Kingdom, Australia, and Austria. These records were later eclipsed by Moore's next documentary, "Fahrenheit 9/11".


title: Bowling for Columbine

text: During the screening at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival the film received a 13-minute standing ovation. It also won "Most Popular International Film" at the 2002 Vancouver International Film Festival.


title: Bowling for Columbine

text: Moore was both applauded and booed at the Academy Awards on March 23, 2003, when he used his acceptance speech as an opportunity to proclaim his opposition to the presidency of George W. Bush and the United States-led invasion of Iraq, which had begun just a few days earlier.


title: Bowling for Columbine

text: In 2005, it was voted the third most popular film in the British Channel 4 program "The 50 Greatest Documentaries" of all time.


title: Bowling for Columbine

text: "Bowling for Columbine" was released on VHS and DVD by MGM Home Entertainment in 2003. The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray in a digital restoration with supplementary features by the Criterion Collection in June 2018.


title: Fife

text: Fife (, ; , ; ) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i.e. the historic counties of Perthshire and Kinross-shire) and Clackmannanshire. By custom it is widely held to have been one of the major Pictish kingdoms, known as "Fib", and is still commonly known as the Kingdom of Fife within Scotland. A person from Fife is known as a "Fifer". In older documents the county was very occasionally known by the anglicisation Fifeshire.


title: Fife

text: Fife is Scotland's third largest local authority area by population. It has a resident population of just under 367,000, over a third of whom live in the three principal towns, Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy and Glenrothes.


title: Fife

text: The historic town of St Andrews is located on the northeast coast of Fife. It is well known for the University of St Andrews, the most ancient university of Scotland and one of the oldest universities in the world. From the 15th century it was the metropolis of the former Archdiocese of St Andrews, St Andrews Cathedral having been the seat of the most senior bishop of Scotland since the 10th century. St Andrews is also renowned as the home of golf.


title: Fife

text: Fife, bounded to the north by the Firth of Tay and to the south by the Firth of Forth, is a natural peninsula whose political boundaries have changed little over the ages. The Pictish king list and De Situ Albanie documents of the Poppleton manuscript mention the division of the Pictish realm or Albany into seven sub-kingdoms, one being Fife. The earliest known reference to the common epithet "The Kingdom of Fife" dates from only 1678, in a proposition that the term derives from the quasi-regal privileges of the Earl of Fife. The notion of a kingdom may derive from a misinterpretation of an extract from Wyntoun. The name is recorded as "Fib" in A.D. 1150 and "Fif" in 1165. It was often associated with Fothriff.


title: Fife

text: The hill-fort of Clatchard Craig, near Newburgh, was occupied as an important Pictish stronghold between the sixth and eighth centuries AD.


title: Fife

text: Fife was an important royal and political centre from the reign of King Malcolm III onwards, as the leaders of Scotland gradually moved southwards away from their ancient strongholds around Scone. Malcolm had his principal home in Dunfermline and his wife Margaret was the main benefactor of Dunfermline Abbey. The Abbey replaced Iona as the final resting place of Scotland's royal elite, with Robert I amongst those to be buried there.


title: Fife

text: The Earl of Fife was until the 15th century considered the principal peer of the Scottish realm, and reserved the right of crowning the nation's monarchs, reflecting the prestige of the area.


title: Fife

text: A new royal palace was gradually constructed at Falkland, formerly the stronghold of Clan MacDuff, and was used by successive monarchs of the House of Stuart, who favoured Fife for its rich hunting grounds.


title: Fife

text: King James VI of Scotland described Fife, in the golden fringe being the coast and its chain of little ports with their thriving fishing fleets and rich trading links with the Low Countries. Wool, linen, coal and salt were all traded. Salt pans heated by local coal were historically a feature of the Fife coast. The distinctive red clay pan tiles seen on many old buildings in Fife arrived as ballast on trading boats and replaced the previously thatched roofs.


title: Fife

text: In 1598, King James VI employed a group of 11 men from Fife, who became known as the Fife adventurers, to colonise the Isle of Lewis in an attempt to begin the "civilisation" and de-gaelicisation of the region. This endeavour lasted until 1609 when the colonists, having been opposed by the native population, were bought out by Kenneth Mackenzie, the clan chief of the Mackenzies.


title: Fife

text: Fife became a centre of heavy industry in the 19th century. Coal had been mined in the area since at least the 12th century, but the number of pits increased ten-fold as demand for coal grew in the Victorian period. Previously rural villages such as Cowdenbeath rapidly swelled into towns as thousands moved to Fife to find work in its mines. The opening of the Forth and Tay rail bridges linked Fife with Dundee and Edinburgh and allowed the rapid transport of goods. Modern ports were constructed at Methil, Burntisland and Rosyth. Kirkcaldy became the world centre for the production of linoleum. Postwar Fife saw the development of Scotland's second new town, Glenrothes. Originally to provide housing for miners at a new coal mine, the town eventually attracted a high number of modern Silicon Glen companies to the region. Fife Council and Fife Constabulary also centre their operations in Glenrothes.


title: Fife

text: The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889 established a uniform system of county councils in Scotland and realigned the boundaries of many of Scotland's counties. Subsequently, Fife County Council was created in 1890. Fife County Council was based at County Buildings in Catherine Street in Cupar.


title: Fife

text: From 1975 to 1996 Fife was a local government region, divided into three districts: Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy and North-East Fife. In 1996 the district councils were abolished and Fife Regional Council became a unitary authority known as Fife Council. Fife is one of the six local authorities in the city region of Edinburgh and southeast Scotland.


title: Fife

text: There was a parliamentary constituency of Fife in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom until 1885 and the Fife constituency in the Parliament of Scotland until the Acts of Union 1707.


title: Fife

text: There are numerous notable historical buildings in Fife, some of which are managed by the National Trust for Scotland or Historic Scotland. They include Dunfermline Abbey (the last resting place of Scottish royalty), the palace in Culross, Ravenscraig Castle in Kirkcaldy, Dysart Harbour area, Balgonie Castle near Coaltown of Balgonie, Falkland Palace (hunting palace of the Scottish Kings), Kellie Castle near Pittenweem, Hill of Tarvit (a historical house), St. Andrews Castle, St. Andrews Cathedral and St. Rule's Tower.


title: Fife

text: Fife is represented by five constituency members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) and four members of the United Kingdom parliament (MPs) who are sent to Holyrood and the British Parliament respectively. Following the 2015 general election, all four of the MPs constituencies were held by the Scottish National Party. In the 2017 general election, Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath was regained by Labour. At the same election, the seat of North East Fife became the closest seat in the country with the SNP holding a majority of 2 over the Liberal Democrats. Three of the Scottish Parliament constituencies are held by the Scottish National Party: Cowdenbeath, Dunfermline and Mid Fife and Glenrothes. One is held by the Scottish Liberal Democrats: North East Fife.


title: Fife

text: Fife Council's administrative headquarters and Police Scotland's P Division (formerly Fife Constabulary) are based in Glenrothes. The Council meetings take place in Fife House (formerly known as Glenrothes House) in the town centre. The west wing of the building was built by the Glenrothes Development Corporation (GDC) as their offices in 1969, which was later used as the headquarters of Fife Regional Council. The former administrative seat was Cupar. Since the last Scottish election in 2012, Fife Council has been run as a minority by the Labour party, with a total of 35 seats, with support of Tory and independent councillors. Alex Rowley was elected leader of Fife Council but demitted office following his election as an MSP. David Ross succeeded as leader in February 2014. The SNP and the other parties form the opposition.


title: Fife

text: Fife is a peninsula in eastern Scotland bordered on the north by the Firth of Tay, on the east by the North Sea and by the Firth of Forth to the south. The route to the west is partially blocked by the mass of the Ochil Hills. Almost all road traffic into and out of Fife has to pass over one of four bridges, south on the Forth Road Bridge (public transport and cyclists only) and Queensferry Crossing, west on the Kincardine Bridge or north-east via the Tay Road Bridge, the exception being traffic headed north on the M90. Tolls were abolished on the Tay Road Bridge and Forth Road Bridge on 11 February 2008.


title: Fife

text: There are extinct volcanic features, such as the Lomond Hills which rise above rolling farmland, and Largo Law, a volcanic plug in the east. At , the West Lomond is the highest point in Fife. The coast has fine but small harbours, from the industrial docks in Burntisland and Rosyth to the fishing villages of the East Neuk such as Anstruther and Pittenweem. The large area of flat land to the north of the Lomond Hills, through which the River Eden flows, is known as the Howe of Fife.


title: Fife

text: North of the Lomond Hills can be found villages and small towns in a primarily agricultural landscape. The areas in the south and west of Fife, including the towns of Dunfermline, Glenrothes, Kirkcaldy and the Levenmouth region are lightly industrial and more densely populated. The only areas which could claim to be heavily industrial are Rosyth, around the naval dockyard and perhaps the Mossmorran Natural Gas Liquids fractionation plant on the outskirts of Cowdenbeath.


title: Fife

text: The east corner of Fife, along the string of villages between Earlsferry and Kingsbarns, and along with their hinterland, is known as the East Neuk (corner, or projecting point of land) of Fife; small settlements around sheltered harbours, with distinctive vernacular "Dutch" or corbie (crow) stepped gabled and stone-built architecture. The area has amongst the highest concentration of second homes and holiday lets in Scotland. The fishing industry, on which the coastal East Neuk settlements were built, has declined in recent years with the main fishing fleet now operating from Pittenweem and the harbour in Anstruther being used as a marina for pleasure craft.


title: Fife

text: There are several islands located off the coast of Fife, such as the Isle of May, Inchkeith and Inchcolm. The former Preston Island south of Valleyfield is no longer an island following land reclamation work.


title: Fife

text: Cupar took over as county town from Crail in the early 13th century. Glenrothes is now the administrative centre, after the decision to locate the headquarters of the newly established Fife Regional Council there in 1975. Fife's three major towns are Kirkcaldy, Dunfermline (awarded city status in 2022) and Glenrothes. According to the 2012 estimate, Dunfermline is the largest settlement by population, followed by Kirkcaldy then Glenrothes. The next most sizeable towns by population are St Andrews, Cowdenbeath, Rosyth, Methil and Dalgety Bay. The rest of Fife includes smaller towns such as Inverkeithing, Kincardine, Anstruther, Lochgelly, Burntisland, Leven, Newburgh, Tayport and Cupar, and villages such as Springfield, Kinglassie, Kinghorn, Elie, Auchtertool, Crossgates, Ballingry and Auchtermuchty.


title: Fife

text: Fife contains 4,961 listed buildings and 48 conservation areas. Domestic sites of importance include Falkland Palace, Kellie Castle, Dunfermline Palace, St Andrews Castle, Culross Palace and Kirkcaldy's Ravenscraig Castle. Fife also has a number of ecclesiastical sites of historical interest. St Andrews Cathedral was home to the powerful Archbishopric of St Andrews, and later became a centre of the Scottish Reformation, while Dunfermline Abbey was the last resting place of a number of Scottish kings. Balmerino and Culross abbeys were both founded in the 13th century by the Cistercians, while a century before Lindores Abbey was founded by the Tironensians outside Newburgh; all were highly important sites.


title: Fife

text: The Stanza Poetry Festival, East Neuk Festival, and Pittenweem Arts Festival are events of national cultural importance. Smaller festivals like the Cupar Arts Festival also take place. The Byre Theatre in St Andrews and Adam Smith Theatre in Kirkcaldy are both highly regarded as touring venues, the latter also being the base of the grand opera company Fife Opera. The Byre has re-opened in Autumn, 2014 following its going into administration in 2012.


title: Fife

text: St Andrews in Fife is the home of golf, and the headquarters of The R&A, the governing body of the sport throughout the world, aside from the United States and Mexico. The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, from which it was devolved in 2004, is the world's oldest golf club.


title: Fife

text: Fife has four football clubs that play in the Scottish Professional Football League: Dunfermline Athletic, East Fife (based in Methil), Kelty Hearts, and Raith Rovers (based in Kirkcaldy); Cowdenbeath played at this level between 1905 and 2022 but are now members of the Lowland Football League. Fifteen clubs compete in the East of Scotland League while one plays in the SJFA East Region.


title: Fife

text: Fife Flyers (based in Kirkcaldy) are the UK's oldest ice hockey club and play in Britain's top flight, the Elite Ice Hockey League.


title: Fife

text: Fife is also home to eight rugby union clubs. Howe of Fife (based in Cupar), and Kirkcaldy play in Scottish Rugby's national leagues while Dunfermline, Rosyth Sharks, Glenrothes, Madras, Waid Academy (based in Anstruther) compete in the Caledonia regional leagues. University of St Andrews – the oldest rugby club in Fife – play in the British Universities & Colleges Sport (BUCS) system.


title: Fife

text: Kingdom Kangaroos are Fife's only Australian Rules Football team, with training held in Rosyth and Kirkcaldy.


title: Fife

text: Fife also has two competitive basketball teams; Dunfermline Reign, who play out of St Columba's High School in Dunfermline and compete across a number of national SBC competitions, and Fife Steel, a Kirkcaldy-based team, operating a number of age groups, with a Senior men's and an under 19's team currently playing in Division 3 of the Lothian Men's Basketball League.


title: Fife

text: Fife is the location of several of the nation's motorsport venues: Knockhill Racing Circuit, Scotland's national motorsport venue and the only FIA-graded venue in the country; Cowdenbeath Racewall, a stock car oval racing venue; Lochgelly Raceway, a venue containing the Driftland drifting course and a 1/4 mile oval; and Crail Raceway, a venue located on a former military aerodrome containing a 1/4 mile drag strip and a karting circuit, operated by the East of Scotland Kart Club.


title: Fife

text: Locally published newspapers include the "Fife Free Press" in Kirkcaldy; the "Dunfermline Press" in Dunfermline; the "Glenrothes Gazette" in Glenrothes, the "East Fife Mail" in Leven, the "Fife Herald" in Cupar / Howe of Fife and the "St Andrews Citizen" in St Andrews. DC Thomson publishes Fife and West Fife editions of the "Dundee Courier & Advertiser", and the Counties Edition of the "Evening Telegraph" is sold in Fife.


title: Fife

text: The only Fife-based radio station is Kingdom FM. There is also a community radio station that broadcasts each evening and is run solely by youths, called Fife Youth Radio. Other local radio stations, Radio Tay and Edinburgh's 97.3 Forth One, broadcast to the northern and southern parts of the region respectively.


title: Ari Shaffir

text: Ari David Shaffir (born February 12, 1974) is an American comedian, actor, podcaster, writer, and producer. He produces and hosts the "Skeptic Tank" podcast. He also co-hosts the podcast "Punch Drunk Sports" with Jayson Thibault and Sam Tripoli, and is a regular guest on "The Joe Rogan Experience" podcast. He created and previously hosted and produced the "This is Not Happening" television series, an adaptation of his monthly stand-up show.


title: Ari Shaffir

text: Ari David Shaffir was born in New York City to a Jewish family of Romanian Jewish descent. His father was a Holocaust survivor. The family was raised conservative Jewish until Ari was nine years old and the family moved to Maryland, where they adopted Orthodox Jewish beliefs. When he was 16, he worked at Arlington National Cemetery.


title: Ari Shaffir

text: Shaffir attended high school in Rockville, Maryland. He went on to study for two years at Yeshiva University in New York City before transferring to University of Maryland, where he graduated in 1999 with a degree in English literature. Shaffir played on the University's NCAA golf team in 1995 and claims he was the lowest-ranked NCAA athlete.


title: Ari Shaffir

text: Shaffir's first and only comedy performance on stage before he moved to Los Angeles took place in his early twenties at an open mic night at a "sports comedy place in Northern Virginia". Following his graduation from university, Shaffir moved to Los Angeles to improve his chances of success as a stand-up comedian. He took up work answering the phones at The Comedy Store, which led to positions in the cover booth and "the door", until owner Mitzi Shore made him a paid regular, four-and-a-half years later. His early influences in comedy include watching showcase comedy shows on television as a youngster and comedians on "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson". He cites Bill Burr as his favorite living comedian. He became bicoastal, living in both Los Angeles and New York City in 2012, hoping to advance his stand-up career further by increasing the number of sets he performed in a week at New York's many comedy clubs. He became a New York resident in 2015.


title: Ari Shaffir

text: Shaffir first became known to a wider audience with the viral video series "The Amazing Racist". He became an opening act for Joe Rogan in the late 2000s and began touring with Rogan and fellow comics Joey Diaz, Duncan Trussell, Tom Segura, Brian Redban and Eddie Bravo. In 2009 he appeared at the Montreal Comedy Festival as part of The Nasty Show. The following year he created, produced and hosted the monthly live show "This Is Not Happening", with Eric Abrams, a stand-up comedy featuring numerous comedians telling true-life stories around a theme. The show would become a regular feature at comedy festivals and debuted as a web series in 2013 and premiered in January 2015 on Comedy Central. He left the show as producer and host in 2017


title: Ari Shaffir

text: after selling his third special, Double Negative, to Netflix rather than Comedy Central. Roy Wood Jr. replaced him as host.


title: Ari Shaffir

text: In 2010 Shaffir appeared on the 3rd episode of the Joe Rogan Experience, his first of 44 appearances on the show. In 2011, Shaffir began his podcast, "Skeptic Tank". On most episodes, Shaffir picks a subject his guests (mostly comedians) can discuss as experts. While subjects are often comic he's also discussed serious issues such as mental health, suicide, rape, and prison. Every 50 episodes the comedy team Danish and O'Neill appear as guests. In 2013, Shaffir began to cohost the sports podcast "Punch Drunk Sports" with fellow comedians Sam Tripoli and Jayson Thibault. His appearances became less frequent after moving to the East Coast full-time.


title: Ari Shaffir

text: Shaffir released his first stand-up album "Revenge for the Holocaust" in 2012 which became the number one comedy album on both Itunes and Amazon in its 1st week. In 2013 he produced his first television special, "Passive Aggressive", for Chill.com. In 2015 his second special, "Paid Regular", premiered on Comedy Central the same week "This is Not Happening" premiered on the same channel. In 2017 he premiered "Double Negative" on Netflix, two 45 minute shows (based on the concept of a double album), the first titled "Children" and the second named "Adulthood". As of 2019 he's been touring with the show "Ari Shaffir: Jew", the next special he intends to film. He premiered "Double Negative" and "Ari Shaffir: Jew" at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.


title: Ari Shaffir

text: Shaffir spent several years earning a living as a commercial actor, appearing in ads for Coke Zero, Subway, Dominos, and Bud Light. He appeared in the comedy feature film "Keeping Up with the Joneses" (2016). As of 2017, Shaffir claims to have no interest in pursuing acting which could take him away from his stand-up.


title: Ari Shaffir

text: Following the death of Kobe Bryant, Shaffir caused controversy after he posted a video on his Twitter page about the event, celebrating the death of Kobe Bryant and his daughter, along with the rest of the crew and passengers. "Kobe Bryant died 23 years too late today," Shaffir says in the video. "He got away with rape because all the Hollywood liberals who attack comedy enjoy rooting for the Lakers more than they dislike rape. Big ups to the hero who forgot to gas up his chopper. I hate the Lakers. What a great day." A New York comedy club where Shaffir was scheduled to perform canceled his performance after it received phone threats.


title: Peter Gadiot

text: Peter Gadiot (; born 2 January 1986) is a British actor. He portrayed the role of James Valdez in the hit USA Network show "Queen of the South". He also played Cyrus in ABC's "Once Upon a Time in Wonderland" and Adam in Showtime’s "Yellowjackets". Additionally, Gadiot filmed for Netflix's upcoming live action series "One Piece", as Shanks and as Felix in a pilot for a new show, based on the Dutch series," Adam and Eva" for NBC.


title: Peter Gadiot

text: Raised primarily in the United Kingdom, his father is Dutch, and his mother is Mexican. He speaks fluently both English and Spanish. He has one older brother.


title: Peter Gadiot

text: Peter Gadiot trained classically at Drama Centre London and has appeared in numerous stage productions. His past credits include MTV's Hot Mess, the British series "My Spy Family" (2010) and a British horror film "13Hrs" (2010), also known by the name "Night Wolf".


title: Peter Gadiot

text: In 2013, Gadiot made his American network debut as Cyrus, the handsome and mysterious Genie, in ABC's "Once Upon a Time in Wonderland". That same year, Gadiot starred opposite Léa Seydoux in a short film (campaign) "Prada: Candy" for the fragrance Prada Candy L’Eau, directed by Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola. He also appeared in three episodes of the British series "Fresh Meat", a Channel 4 dramedy with a large cult following. And starred in the German horror film "The Forbidden Girl" (2013).


title: Peter Gadiot

text: Gadiot went behind the camera to write, direct and produce the short film "12–17", released in 2014. The short film is about young men who would deceive younger girls into falling in love with them before emotionally blackmailing them into becoming prostitutes (loverboys). The short film is called 12–17 because that’s the age of most girls who are trafficked.


title: Peter Gadiot

text: Furthermore, Gadiot played in 2014 also the recurring role of Caesar in the series "Matador" and after that the role of Ka in the Canadian-American miniseries "Tut" (2015).


title: Peter Gadiot

text: In 2016, Gadiot went back to the theater and played the lead role of Petruchio in William Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew" at the Harman Center for the Arts in Washington DC.


title: Peter Gadiot

text: From 2016 to 2021, Peter Gadiot starred as James Valdez in the crime drama series "Queen of the South", produced for USA Network, an adaptation of Arturo Perez-Reverte's best-selling novel La Reina del Sur. Gadiot won the 2017 Imagen Award for Best Supporting Actor – Television for his presentation of James Valdez in USA Networks "Queen of the South". In 2021, the fifth and final season of "Queen of the South" was broadcast on USA Network.


title: Peter Gadiot

text: Beside his role in "Queen of the South", Gadiot played Mister Mxyzptlk in CBS's "Supergirl" in the second season (2017). And Gadiot starred in the Rock ’n Roll miniseries "All You Need Is Me" (2018), which is released on Studio+ and Canalplus. Gadiot played the lead guitarist Stephen.


title: Peter Gadiot

text: In the drama film "Another Girl", released in 2021, Gadiot played Dave Hastings, the hot, married boss of Elle Overton. The film picks up where its predecessor, the cult hit "Ask Me Anything", left off.


title: Peter Gadiot

text: After the popular series "Queen of the South", Peter Gadiot is featured in another series with extremely positive reviews, namely in Showtime's series called "Yellowjackets" (2021). Gadiot portrays Adam Martin, a magnetic and curious stranger who, drawn to something inexplicable in one of the adult Yellowjackets, will befriend and provoke her at a tumultuous time in her life. The series premiered in November 2021 on Showtime.


title: Peter Gadiot

text: Peter Gadiot is filming for his role as Shanks in the upcoming Netflix's adventure fantasy live action television series "One Piece", which is based on the ongoing Japanese manga series "of the same name". Shanks is the captain of the Redhead Pirates, the man who inspired Luffy to become the King of the Pirates.


title: Peter Gadiot

text: Recently Gadiot was cast as Felix, a recurring role in NBC's Pilot based on the Dutch series "". Shooting has commenced in Montreal, Canada.


title: Peter Gadiot

text: Peter Gadiot actively campaigns against slavery and human trafficking. To raise awareness of the problem of modern-day slavery, Peter Gadiot rowed Against Slavery across the Atlantic Ocean from the Caribbean to Africa with a crew in about 39 days. A huge achievement, which attracted enormous attention for the good cause.


title: Peter Gadiot

text: Gadiot then ran The Marathon Des Sables (MDS - Marathon of the Sands), which is held for six consecutive days in the Saharan desert. The 250 km ultra marathon, includes running across ground with towering sand dunes, uneven rocky terrain and dangerous valleys, is considered the toughest foot race on Earth.


title: Peter Gadiot

text: He finally completed his journey by climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. In doing so, Gadiot completed a trilogy of extreme challenges within 1 year. In between Gadiot gave talks to thousands of school children educating them and creating awareness about the issues. With Rowing Against Slavery, Gadiot was able to raise money for Anti-Slavery International and Save the Children.


title: Peter Gadiot

text: Today, Peter Gadiot regularly uses his social media exposure to raise awareness for humanitarian organizations such as Choose Love and Survival International.


title: Weevil

text: Weevils are beetles belonging to the superfamily Curculionoidea, known for their elongated snouts. They are usually small, less than in length, and herbivorous. Approximately 97,000 species of weevils are known. They belong to several families, with most of them in the family Curculionidae (the true weevils). It also includes bark beetles, which while morphologically dissimilar to other weevils in lacking the distinctive snout, is a subfamily of Curculionidae. Some other beetles, although not closely related, bear the name "weevil", such as the biscuit weevil ("Stegobium paniceum"), which belongs to the family Ptinidae.


title: Weevil

text: Many weevils are considered pests because of their ability to damage and kill crops. The grain or wheat weevil ("Sitophilus granarius") damages stored grain, as does the maize weevil ("Sitophilus zeamais") among others. The boll weevil ("Anthonomus grandis") attacks cotton crops; it lays its eggs inside cotton bolls and the larvae eat their way out. Other weevils are used for biological control of invasive plants.


title: Weevil

text: A weevil's rostrum, or elongated snout, hosts chewing mouthparts instead of the piercing mouthparts that proboscis-possessing insects are known for. The mouthparts are often used to excavate tunnels into grains. In more derived weevils, the rostrum has a groove in which the weevil can fold the first segment of its antennae.


title: Weevil

text: Most weevils have the ability to fly (including pest species such as the rice weevil), though a significant number are flightless, such as the genus "Otiorhynchus".


title: Weevil

text: One species of weevil, "Austroplatypus incompertus", exhibits eusociality, one of the few insects outside the Hymenoptera and the Isoptera to do so.


title: Weevil

text: Because so many species exist in such diversity, the higher classification of weevils is in a state of flux. They are generally divided into two major divisions, the Orthoceri or primitive weevils, and the Gonatoceri or true weevils (Curculionidae). E. C. Zimmerman proposed a third division, the Heteromorphi, for several intermediate forms. Primitive weevils are distinguished by having straight antennae, while true weevils have elbowed (geniculate) antennae. The elbow occurs at the end of the scape (first antennal segment) in true weevils, and the scape is usually much longer than the other antennal segments. Some exceptions occur, such as Nanophyini, primitive weevils with long scapes and geniculate antennae, while among the true weevils, Gonipterinae and "Ramphus" have short scapes and little or no "elbow".


title: Weevil

text: A 1995 classification system to family level was provided by Kuschel, with updates from Marvaldi "et al." in 2002, and was achieved using phylogenetic analyses. The accepted families were the primitive weevils, Anthribidae, Attelabidae, Belidae, Brentidae, Caridae, and Nemonychidae, and the true weevils Curculionidae. Most other weevil families were demoted to subfamilies or tribes. Further work resulted in the elevation of Cimberididae to family from placement as a subfamily of Nemonychidae in 2017 and the recognition of the Cretaceous age family Mesophyletidae in 2018 from Burmese amber. The oldest weevils date to the Middle-Late Jurassic boundary, found in the Karabastau Formation of Kazakhstan, the Shar-Teg locality of Mongolia, the Daohugou locality in Inner Mongolia, China, and the Talbragar site in Australia. The extinct family Obrieniidae, with species dating from the Ladinian stage of the Triassic through to tentatively the Oxfordian, have sometimes been considered weevils. Genera of the family have been only found in three formations in Kazakhstan, with most named in 1993. However, their phylogenetic position is contested, with others considering it part of Archostemata.


title: Weevil

text: A phylogeny of the Curculionoidea based on 18S ribosomal DNA comparison and morphological data conducted by Marvaldi "et al" in 2002 is suggested below:


title: Weevil

text: "Rhopalapion longirostre" exhibits an extreme case of sexual dimorphism. The female rostrum is twice as long and its surface is smoother than in the male. The female bores egg channels into the buds of "Alcea rosea". Thus, the dimorphism is not attributed to sexual selection. It is a response to ecological demands of egg deposition.


title: Weevil

text: Another example of extreme dimorphism in weevils is that of the New Zealand giraffe weevil, males measure up to , and females , although there is an extreme range of body sizes in both sexes.


title: Scary Movie 4

text: Scary Movie 4 is a 2006 American science fiction parody film. It is the sequel to "Scary Movie 3" and the fourth installment in the "Scary Movie" film series, as well as the first film in the franchise to be released under The Weinstein Company banner since the purchase of Dimension Films from Disney. It was directed by David Zucker, written by Jim Abrahams, Craig Mazin, and Pat Proft, and produced by Robert K. Weiss and Craig Mazin.


title: Scary Movie 4

text: The film marks the final franchise appearances of the main stars, Anna Faris and Regina Hall (who portray Cindy and Brenda, respectively), and concludes the original story arc. This was initially intended to be the final film in the "Scary Movie" film series, until "Scary Movie 5" was released by The Weinstein Company on April 12, 2013, in a different storyline, with Simon Rex, Charlie Sheen, and Molly Shannon in different roles. It grossed $178 million dollars, becoming the third highest grossing film in the series.


title: Scary Movie 4

text: Shaquille O'Neal and Dr. Phil wake up to find themselves chained to pipes in a bathroom. Their host, Billy the Puppet, reveals that the room is slowly filling with nerve gas with the only way out being to make a basket and get the saws, which have to be used on their feet. Unfortunately, Dr. Phil saws the wrong foot and faints, leaving the two to die.


title: Scary Movie 4

text: Meanwhile, Cindy Campbell visits her brother-in-law, Tom Logan in New York City. Her husband George has died, and her nephew Cody has enrolled in military academy, leaving her heartbroken and lonely. Tom's attempted suicide results in his ingesting viagra, which greatly swells his penis and causes his death when he falls off the railing. Afterwards, Cindy takes a job to care for Mrs. Norris, who lives in a haunted house. Next door is Tom Ryan, who runs into George's friends Mahalik and CJ, learning about their homosexual one-night stand. He is greeted at home by the arrival of his estranged children, Robbie and Rachel. Over the following day, Cindy bonds with Tom, confiding to him about George's death in a fateful boxing match. The two realize their newfound love, but are interrupted by a gigantic triPod which disables electricity and starts vaporizing the town residents.


title: Scary Movie 4

text: Cindy converses in mock Japanese with the haunted house's ghost, Toshio, learning that the answer of the invasion is his father's heart. While Tom leaves the city with his children, Cindy reunites with her friend, Brenda Meeks, inexplicably alive after her death. Following Toshio's directions, the two head to the countryside and end up in a mysterious, isolated community. They are captured and put to trial headed by Henry Hale. The result allows them to live but never leave the village. Meanwhile, an emergency United Nations meeting, headed by the eccentric U.S. President Baxter Harris, who is reluctant to stop reading "My Pet Duck", goes awry when a weapon scavenged from the aliens renders everyone stark-naked.


title: Scary Movie 4

text: Tom and his children drive and find themselves in the middle of a war between the U.S. military and the aliens. Excited with the conflict, Robbie runs away, while Tom and Rachel are taken by the triPod. Back at the village, Henry is killed by the village loon, Ezekiel, revealing to Cindy that he fathered Toshio, who was killed during Cindy's boxing match. Cindy and Brenda are soon taken by the triPod and sent to the bathroom seen in the prologue, and they get stuck into the Venus flytrap. Cindy manages to get through Billy's challenge, but is threatened with the safety of Tom and his children, who are put to traps. Looking at a toilet with the "heart" nearby, Cindy realizes that Billy, through Henry's wife, is the true biological father of Toshio. Seeing how far Tom would go to save his children, Billy, who realizes his mistakes, apologizes for the invasion and releases them. Robbie and Rachel are successfully returned to their mother, who is revealed to have married a much older man. Brenda also becomes romantically involved with Billy's brother, Zoltar.


title: Scary Movie 4

text: An epilogue set one month afterwards, narrated by James Earl Jones who is subsequently hit by a bus, reveals Brenda's giving birth to her child with Zoltar, Mahalik and CJ resuming their relationship, and President Harris being contented with his duck. Meanwhile, Tom appears in "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and wildly professes his love for Cindy by jumping around, throwing Cindy across the room, then breaking Oprah's wrists and hitting her with a chair afterwards.


title: Scary Movie 4

text: The film was released on DVD on August 15, 2006 in rated (83 minutes) and unrated (89 minutes) editions with deleted scenes, bloopers, and outtakes. About 1,581,754 units were sold, bringing in $22,308,989 in revenue.


title: Scary Movie 4

text: In its opening weekend, the film grossed a total of $40.2 million, the third best opening weekend of the "Scary Movie" franchise. It has the best Easter weekend opening weekend ever, beating "Panic Room" which made $30.1 million in its opening and also the second best April opening, only $2 million behind "Anger Management"'s record.


title: Scary Movie 4

text: As of October 18, 2006, the film has grossed a total of $90,710,620 at the United States box office and $178,262,620 worldwide.


title: Scary Movie 4

text: Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 34% of 126 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 4.60/10. The site's consensus states, "Sure to inspire a few chuckles, but not enough to compensate for the recycled material from its predecessors." On Metacritic, film has an average of 40 out of 100, based on 23 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "C+" on a scale of A+ to F.


title: Scary Movie 4

text: Stephen Hunter of "The Washington Post" stated that while ""Scary Movie 4" never takes you close to death by laughter [...] it's funny enough to turn the hands on your watch much more quickly than you can believe." Nathan Lee of "The New York Times"' described the film as being "organized on the principle of parody, not plot, [...] it's an exercise in lowbrow postmodernism, a movie-movie contraption more nuts than Charlie Kaufman's gnarliest fever dream. It's cleverly stupid."


title: Scary Movie 4

text: The film won a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress (Carmen Electra, also in "Date Movie").


title: Ayo Edebiri

text: Ayo Edebiri (pronounced ; born October 3, 1995) is an American comedian, writer, producer and actress. She appeared on Comedy Central's "Up Next" and co-hosts the podcast "Iconography" with Olivia Craighead. Edebiri joined the cast of "Big Mouth"'s fourth season and is a main cast member on "The Bear".


title: Ayo Edebiri

text: Edebiri was born in Boston and raised in a religious Pentecostal household. Her mother emigrated from Barbados and her father emigrated from Nigeria. She first became interested in comedy through eighth grade drama class, after which she joined the improv club at Boston Latin School.


title: Ayo Edebiri

text: Edebiri attended New York University, where she received her bachelor's degree in teaching. As a junior in college, she began preparing to pursue a career in comedy and interned at Upright Citizens Brigade.


title: Ayo Edebiri

text: Edebiri is a stand-up comedian, and performed a stand-up set on Comedy Central's "Up Next". Her scripted digital series "Ayo and Rachel Are Single" began airing on the network in May 2020, which she co-wrote and costarred in with her friend and fellow comedienne Rachel Sennott.


title: Ayo Edebiri

text: She is a television writer, and wrote for the sole seasons of "The Rundown with Robin Thede" and NBC's "Sunnyside". Edebiri joined the writing staff of "Big Mouth" for the show's fourth season. After Jenny Slate stepped down from voicing the character Missy so the role could be played by a black actress, Edebiri auditioned and was selected as the replacement in August 2020. Her voice acting as the character began at the end of the show's fourth season. Edebiri was a writer and actress in "Dickinson"'s second season on Apple TV+.


title: Ayo Edebiri

text: Her upcoming projects include co-producing and writing for "Mulligan", an animated series for Netflix and voicing the lead role in the animated series "We Lost Our Human", also for Netflix. She is also slated to play a supporting role in the upcoming film adaptation of the Jennifer E. Smith YA novel "Hello, Goodbye and Everything in Between".


title: Ayo Edebiri

text: Edebiri co-hosts a podcast called "Iconography" with Olivia Craighead that features interviews with guests in conversation about their shared personal icons. The podcast is produced by Forever Dog and the second season was released in 2020.


title: The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter

text: The story details the life of Kaguya-hime, a princess from the Moon who is discovered as a baby inside the stalk of a glowing bamboo plant. After she grows, her beauty attracts five suitors seeking her hand in marriage, whom she turns away by challenging them each with an impossible task; she later attracts the affection of the Emperor of Japan. At the tale's end, Kaguya-hime reveals her celestial origins and returns to the Moon. The story is also known as , after its protagonist.


title: The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter

text: "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter" is considered the oldest surviving , though its exact date of composition is unknown. A poem in the , a 10th-century work that describes life in the imperial court, invokes the tale in reference to a moon-viewing party held at the palace in 909. A mention of smoke rising from Mount Fuji in "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter" suggests that the volcano was still active at the time of its composition; the indicates that the mountain had stopped emitting smoke by 905. Other evidence suggests the tale was written between 871 and 881.


title: The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter

text: The author of "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter" is also unknown, and scholars have variously attributed it to Minamoto no Shitagō (911–983), to the Abbot Henjō, to a member of the Imbe clan, to a member of a political faction opposed to Emperor Tenmu, and to the poet Ki no Haseo (842–912). It is also debated whether the tale was written by one person or a group of people, and whether it was written in , Japanese , or even Chinese.


title: The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter

text: The tale has been identified as proto-science fiction. Some of its science fiction plot elements include Kaguya-hime being a princess from the Moon, an extraterrestrial being raised by a human on Earth, and her being taken back to the Moon by her real extraterrestrial family. A manuscript illustration also depicts a round flying machine that resembles a flying saucer. Kaguya's story also has similarities to a modern superhero origin story, particularly that of Superman.


title: The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter

text: One day in the bamboo forest, an old bamboo cutter called comes across a mysterious, shining stalk of bamboo. Upon cutting it open, he is surprised to find an infant the size of his thumb inside. The old man and his wife, having no children of their own, decide to raise the infant as their own daughter, and name her . From that moment on, every time the man cuts a stalk of bamboo, he finds a small nugget of gold inside. The family soon grows rich, and within just three months, Kaguya-hime grows from an infant into a woman of ordinary size and extraordinary beauty. At first, the old man tries to keep news of Kaguya-hime away from outsiders, but as word of her beauty spreads, she attracts many suitors who seek her hand in marriage.


title: The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter

text: Among the suitors are five nobles: , , , , and . They eventually persuade the old man to have Kaguya-hime choose from among them. Uninterested, Kaguya-hime devises five impossible tasks, agreeing to marry the noble who can bring her the item specified for him: the stone begging bowl of the Buddha, a jeweled branch from the mythical island of Hōrai, a robe of Chinese fire-rat skins, a colored jewel from a dragon's neck, and a cowry shell born from a swallow.


title: The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter

text: Realizing the impossibility of his task, the first noble presents a fake stone bowl made from a blackened pot, but is exposed when Kaguya-hime notices that the bowl does not glow with holy light. The second noble presents a branch created by the country's finest jewelers, but is revealed when a messenger of the craftsmen arrives at Kaguya-hime's house to collect payment. The third noble is deceived by a merchant from China, who sells him a robe that burns when it is tested with fire. The fourth noble sets out to find a dragon at sea, but abandons his plans after encountering a storm. The fifth noble falls from a great height while reaching into a swallow's nest.


title: The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter

text: After this, the Emperor of Japan comes to visit Kaguya-hime and, after falling in love, asks her hand in marriage. Although he is not subjected to an impossible trial, Kaguya-hime rejects his request for marriage as well, telling him that she is not from his country and therefore cannot go to the palace with him. She remains in contact with the Emperor, but continues to rebuff his proposals. Three years pass as they continue to communicate by letter.


title: The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter

text: That summer, whenever Kaguya-hime views the full moon, her eyes fill with tears. Though her adoptive parents grow very worried and question her, she refuses to tell them what is wrong. Her behaviour becomes increasingly erratic until she reveals that she is not of the Earth and that she must return to her people on the Moon. It is said that she was sent to the Earth, where she would inevitably form material attachment, as a punishment for some crime without further description. The gold was a stipend from the people of the Moon, sent to pay for Kaguya-hime's upkeep.


title: The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter

text: As the day of her return approaches, the Emperor sends his guards to protect her from the Moon's people, but when an embassy of heavenly beings descends upon the bamboo cutter's house, the guards are blinded by a strange light. Kaguya-hime announces that, though she loves her many friends on Earth, she must return with the beings to her true home on the Moon. She writes sad notes of apology to her parents and to the Emperor, then gives her parents her own robe as a memento. She then takes a little of the elixir of immortality, attaches it to her letter to the Emperor, and gives it to the guard officer. As she hands it to him, a feather robe is placed on her shoulders, and all of her sadness and compassion for the people of the Earth are apparently forgotten. The entourage ascends into the sky, taking Kaguya-hime back to and leaving her earthly foster parents in tears.


title: The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter

text: The old couple become very sad and are soon put to bed sick. The officer returns to the Emperor with the items Kaguya-hime gave him as her last mortal act, and reports what happened. The Emperor reads her letter and is overcome with sadness, and asks his servants, "Which mountain is the closest place to Heaven?"; in response, one suggests the Great Mountain of Suruga Province. The Emperor then orders his men to take the letter to the summit of the mountain and burn it, in the hope that his message would reach the distant princess. They are also ordered to burn the elixir of immortality, as the Emperor does not wish to live for eternity without being able to see her.


title: The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter

text: Legend has it that the word for , became the name of the mountain, Mount Fuji. It is also said that the kanji for the mountain, which translate literally to , are derived from the Emperor's army ascending the slopes to carry out his order. It is said that the smoke from the burning still rises to this day. (In the past, Mount Fuji was a much more active volcano and therefore produced more smoke.)


title: The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter

text: Elements of the tale were drawn from earlier stories. The protagonist Taketori no Okina appears in the earlier poetry collection (; poem #3791). In it, he meets a group of women and he recites a poem to them. This indicates that there previously existed an image or tale revolving around a bamboo cutter and celestial or mystical women.


title: The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter

text: A similar retelling of the tale appears in the 12th century (volume 31, chapter 33), although the relationship between these texts is debated.


title: The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter

text: In 1957, (), a Chinese book of Tibetan tales, was published. In the early 1970s, Japanese literary researchers became aware that (), one of the tales in the book, had certain similarities with "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter".


title: The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter

text: Initially, many researchers believed to be related to "Tale of Bamboo Cutter", although some were skeptical. In the 1980s, studies showed that the relationship between these stories was not as simple as initially thought. Okutsu provides an extensive review of the research, and notes that the book was intended to be for children, and as such, the editor took some liberties in adapting the tales. No other compilation of Tibetan tales contains the story. A Tibetan-born person wrote that he did not know the story. A researcher went to Sichuan and found that, apart from those who had already read , local researchers in Chengdu did not know the story. Several Tibetan sources in Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture did not know the story either. The philological consensus is that the author of the 1957 book purposefully copied "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter".


title: The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter

text: The Chinese legend of Chang'e can be traced to the second century BCE. According to the main telling of the legend, a named Chang'e came to Earth, thereby losing her immortality. To get it back, she stole the elixir of immortality from the Queen Mother of the West, then fled to the moon. The elements of immortality and flight are well-connected to the Daoist figure of the , as is the appearance of unusual figures in the mountains, but the Japanese tale includes many novel elements such as the bamboo cutter, the suitors, and the night abduction by floating creatures.


title: The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter

text: "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter" is a popular folk tale in Japan. It has been adapted, updated and reworked into numerous modern media, especially Japanese pop culture media such as manga and anime.


title: Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds

text: Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds () is a 2017 South Korean fantasy action film directed by Kim Yong-hwa and based on the webtoon series by Joo Ho-min, "Along with the Gods". It stars Ha Jung-woo, Cha Tae-hyun, Ju Ji-hoon and Kim Hyang-gi.


title: Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds

text: The film was shot as one but presented in two parts. The first part, " Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds", was released on 20 December 2017. In June 2018, it was announced that another two sequels are scheduled to be filmed in 2019. The sequel, titled "", was released on 1 August 2018.


title: Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds

text: As of May 2019, "Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds" is the third highest-grossing film in South Korean cinema history.


title: Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds

text: Firefighter Kim Ja-hong (Cha Tae-hyun) dies in the line of duty and is escorted to the afterlife by three guardians: Hae Won-maek (Ju Ji-hoon), Lee Deok-choon (Kim Hyang-gi) and their leader Gang-rim (Ha Jung-woo). They are to escort and defend him in seven trials in 49 days. If he passes, he will be reincarnated and his guardians will be given credit towards their own reincarnation.


title: Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds

text: In the first court, Hell of Murder, Ja-hong is tried for the indirect murder of his colleague, who was trapped beneath rubble during a fire. About to be sentenced, it is revealed that his colleague told him to prioritize the civilians. After rescuing 8 others, Ja-hong attempted to go back for his colleague only to be held back as the building collapsed. The judge then acquits Ja-hong.


title: Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds

text: In the 2nd court, Hell of Indolence, Ja-hong's guardians presented his selflessness and diligence. Ja-hong blurts out that he only worked for money and was about to be punished when Gang-rim interjects, stating that the money was to support his brother and ailing mother and therefore acquitting him.


title: Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds

text: On the way to the Hell of Deceit, ghouls attack as the physics of Hell begins to morph. This change indicates that a member of Ja-hong's family had died and become a vengeful spirit. Gang-rim leaves the party to investigate as the rest proceeds. In the Hell of Deceit, Ja-hong is accused of writing fake letters to the family of those who had died, one of whom is Ji-yeon, the daughter of his fallen colleague. Gang-rim supernaturally links with Deok-choon from the living world to defend Ja-hong, stating that Ja-hong had also written fake letters to his mom to cheer her up, allowing her to focus on her health. And that the letters to Ji-Yeon, despite her actually understanding that her father was dead, helped her cope with her loss. The evidence is thrown out and the charges are dismissed.


title: Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds

text: Gang-rim determines that it is Ja-hong's brother Soo-hong who has become the vengeful spirit. He finds that Soo-hong has been accidentally killed while on guard duty by his partner Dong-yeon, and his death was covered up by their superior, Lieutenant Park. Gang-rim foils an attempt by Soo-hong to kill Dong-yeon and learns that the Soo-hong's grudge was not against Ja-hong but rather Dong-yeon and Lt Park. Dong-Yeon tips off Soo-hong's mother on the location of his body and attempts suicide. He is saved by Gang-Rim on Soo-hong's request after the latter agreed to cooperate.


title: Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds

text: The trio pass through the Hells of Injustice and Betrayal without trial. In the Hell of Violence, Ja-hong is tried for beating Soo-hong when they were younger while the latter was suffering from malnutrition. As Ja-hong was not forgiven, he is convicted and is about to be punished when Gang-Rim instructs Deok-choon to request for a combined trial at the next court, the Hell of Filial Impiety. The request is granted. Ja-hong reveals that, due to poverty, he intended to commit familicide but was discovered by Soo-hong. In a fit, he beat up Soo-hong and fled out of guilt, opting not to be a burden and dedicate his life to supporting them.


title: Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds

text: Gang-rim and Soo-hong arrive at the army base only to witness the mother's shabby treatment at the hands of Lt Park. Enraged, Soo-hong transforms back into a vengeful spirit and lashes out at the base by conjuring up a massive tornado, only stopping when he realizes how his actions are affecting Ja-hong in the afterlife.


title: Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds

text: At the Hell of Filial Impiety, Ja-hong is immediately judged by Yeomra to be guilty. He learns that on the night of his attempted murder-suicide, his mother was actually awake and had decided to allow it, knowing that she was a burden on her family. Soo-hong, with the help of Gang-rim and Won-maek, enters his mother's dream and learns that she had already forgiven Ja-hong for that night. Since sins that have been forgiven in the living world are not allowed to be judged in the afterlife, Ja-hong is allowed to reincarnate.


title: Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds

text: Afterward, Gang-rim realizes that Yeomra had been meddling with his investigation of Soo-hong. He decides to confront Yeomra directly and chooses Soo-hong as the group's final soul before their own reincarnation.


title: Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds

text: "Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds" was released in the Korean cinemas on 20 December 2017. The film was pre-sold to 12 countries and regions including: Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, the Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, the U.S and Canada at the Asian Film Market in Busan. Further to that, the film was pre-sold to another 90 countries at the American Film Market (AFM) in Santa Monica, California, U.S.A, increasing the number of countries released to 103 in total.


title: Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds

text: Upon its release in the theaters, the film attracted 422,339 viewers on its first day and topped the box office with nearly gross. By 22 December 2017, the film surpassed the 1 million viewer mark and grossed a total of .


title: Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds

text: By 31 December 2017, the film had attracted 8,523,149 viewers with a total earning of . As of 3 January 2018, the film attracted 10 million viewers in just 15 days.


title: Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds

text: By 10 February 2018, "Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds" grossed more than US$105 million and became the second highest-grossing film in South Korea.


title: Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds

text: Upon its release in the theaters in Taiwan on 22 December 2017, the film grossed NT$5 million. In the first week of its release, the film grossed NT$30 million, topping the weekend box office and became the second highest-grossing Korean film of all time in Taiwan. After a week of its release, the film grossed NT$50 million. On the 10th day of its release, the film grossed NT$100 million. On 16 January 2018, the film overtook "Train to Busan" to become the highest-grossing Korean film in Taiwan, after grossing near to NT$350 million. A month after its release in Taiwan, the film grossed NT$404 million.


title: Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds

text: Prior to the official release of the film, the film grossed HK$2.4 million from preview tickets sales. In the first day of its official release, the film grossed HK$5 million. As of 14 January, the film attracted more than 280,000 viewers and grossed HK$12.5 million. As of 16 January, the film grossed more than HK$16 million, surpassing "The Battleship Island" to become the second highest-grossing Korean film in Hong Kong. As of 28 January, the film grossed more than HK$40 million.


title: Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds

text: On 28 December 2017, Realies Pictures, the production company of "Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds", announced a television adaptation of the film. According to the company, the script will be written in 2018, and the drama would be produced in 2019.


title: Emmanuelle Béart

text: Emmanuelle Béart (born 14 August 1963) is a French film and television actress, who has appeared in over 60 film and television productions since 1972. An eight-time César Award nominee, she won the César Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 1986 film "Manon des Sources". Her other film roles include "La Belle Noiseuse" (1991), "A Heart in Winter" (1992), "Nelly and Mr. Arnaud" (1995), "" (1996) and "8 Women" (2002).


title: Emmanuelle Béart

text: Béart was born Emmanuelle Béhart-Hasson in St. Tropez (some sources say Gassin), on the French Riviera, the daughter of Geneviève Galéa (pseudonym of Geneviève Guillery), a former model who is of Croatian, Greek and Maltese descent, and Guy Béart, a singer and poet. Her Egyptian-born father's family was of Sephardic Jewish descent, who later sought refuge in Lebanon during his childhood.


title: Emmanuelle Béart

text: She has a half-sister, Ève (born 1959), on her father's side and six half-siblings on her mother's side; Ivan, Sarah and Mikis Cerieix from her mother's relationship with Jean-Yves Cerieix and Olivier Guespin, Lison and Charlotte from her mother's relationship with Jean-Jacques Guespin.


title: Emmanuelle Béart

text: In her late teens, she spent her summer vacation with the English-speaking family of a close friend of her father in Montreal. She stayed with Beverly Mellen and William Sofin and their two children Andrew and Sean Sofin, who took her in as their own. At the end of the summer, the family invited her to stay with them and complete her baccalauréat at Collège International Marie de France. They have remained close friends.


title: Emmanuelle Béart

text: Béart got an acting role in 1976 film "Tomorrow's Children". In her teens she appeared in bit parts in television. Upon graduating from the Collège International Marie de France in Montreal, she returned to France to attend drama school in Paris. A short time later, she was cast in her first adult role in a film, and in 1986 she achieved fame with her role opposite Yves Montand, playing the avenging daughter in French hit "Manon des Sources". For her performance, she won the 1987 César Award for Best Supporting Actress. In the 1987 film "Date with an Angel", she starred as the Angel. In 1995, she won the Silver St. George for Best Actress award at the 19th Moscow International Film Festival for her starring role in film "A French Woman".


title: Emmanuelle Béart

text: In addition to her award for Best Supporting Actress, she has also been nominated for another seven César Awards for Most Promising Actress and Best Actress. Béart received Most Promising Actress nominations for "A Strange Passion" and "Love on the Quiet"; followed by Best Actress nominations for "Children of Chaos", "La Belle Noiseuse (The Beautiful Troublemaker)", "Un cœur en hiver (A Heart in Winter)", "Nelly et Monsieur Arnaud (Nelly and Mr Arnaud)", and "Les Destinées Sentimentales (Sentimental Destinies)"


title: Emmanuelle Béart

text: In the 5 May 2003 issue of the French edition of "Elle" magazine, Béart, aged 39, appeared nude: The entire run of 550,000 copies sold out in just three days, making it the biggest-selling issue in the fashion glossy's long history.


title: Emmanuelle Béart

text: In the mid-1980s, Béart began a relationship with Daniel Auteuil (her co-star in "Love on the Quiet", "Manon des Sources", "A Heart in Winter" and "A French Woman"); they married in 1993 and divorced in 1995. Béart was romantically linked to music producer David François Moreau (from c. 1995 after she separated from Auteuil) and to film producer Vincent Meyer for two years until his suicide in May 2003. She has three children, including Nelly Auteuil (born c. 1993) and Johan Moreau (born c. 1996). She married actor Michaël Cohen on 13 August 2008 at Genappe in Belgium, and in 2009 they adopted a child from Ethiopia, named Surafel. Béart and Cohen separated in 2011. In 2011, she began a romantic relationship with director and cinematographer Frédéric Chaudier.


title: Emmanuelle Béart

text: In addition to her screen work, Béart is known for her social activism. She is an ambassador for UNICEF, and has made news for her opposition to France's anti-immigration legislation. In 1996, she made headlines when, defending the rights of the "sans-papiers" ("without papers", meaning illegal immigrants), she was removed after her group's occupation of a Parisian church.


title: Emmanuelle Béart

text: In March 2012, Béart spoke out against plastic surgery in "Le Monde", saying that she regretted having an operation on her lips in 1990 when she was 27.


title: Ebony

text: Ebony is a dense black/brown hardwood, coming from several species in the genus "Diospyros", which also contains the persimmons. Unlike most woods, ebony is dense enough to sink in water. It is finely textured and has a mirror finish when polished, making it valuable as an ornamental wood. The word "ebony" comes from the Ancient Egyptian ', through the Ancient Greek ('), into Latin and Middle English.


title: Ebony

text: Species of ebony include "Diospyros ebenum" (Ceylon ebony), native to southern India and Sri Lanka; "D. crassiflora" (Gabon ebony), native to western Africa; and "D. celebica" (Sulawesi ebony), native to Indonesia and prized for its luxuriant, multi-colored wood grain. Mauritius ebony, "D. tessellaria", was largely exploited by the Dutch in the 17th century. Some species in the genus yield an ebony with similar physical properties, but striped rather than the even black of "D. ebenum".


title: Ebony

text: By the end of the 16th century, fine cabinets for the luxury trade were made of ebony in Antwerp. The wood's dense hardness lent itself to refined moldings framing finely detailed pictorial panels with carving in very low relief (bas-relief), usually of allegorical subjects, or with scenes taken from classical or Christian history. Within a short time, such cabinets were also being made in Paris, where their makers became known as "ébénistes", which remains the French term for a cabinetmaker.


title: Ebony

text: Modern uses are largely restricted to small items, such as crucifixes, the main body of some musical instruments such as the clarinet, oboe, or piccolo and musical instrument parts, including black piano, organ, and harpsichord keys; violin, viola, mandolin, guitar, double bass, and cello fingerboards; tailpieces; tuning pegs; chinrests; and bow frogs. Many plectrums, or guitar picks, are made from ebony.


title: Ebony

text: Traditionally, black chess pieces were made from ebony, with boxwood or ivory being used for the white pieces. Modern East Midlands-style lace-making bobbins, also being small, are often made of ebony and look particularly decorative when bound with brass or silver wire. Some expensive handgun grips and rifle fore-end tips are still made of ebony, as are the butts of pool cues.


title: Ebony

text: As a result of unsustainable harvesting, many species yielding ebony are now considered threatened. Most indigenous ebony in Africa in particular has been cut down illegally.


title: Ebony

text: In Sri Lanka, ebony is a protected species and harvesting and sale of ebony is illegal and punishable by imprisonment.


title: Ebony

text: In 2012, the Gibson Guitar company was raided by the US Fish and Wildlife Service for violations of the Lacey Act of 1900, which prohibits the importation of threatened woods and other materials.


title: Ebony

text: An ebony and rosewood expert at the Missouri Botanical Garden calls the Madagascar wood trade the "equivalent of Africa's blood diamonds".


title: Beech

text: Beech ("Fagus") is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, "Engleriana" and "Fagus". The "Engleriana" subgenus is found only in East Asia, distinctive for its low branches, often made up of several major trunks with yellowish bark. The better known "Fagus" subgenus beeches are high-branching with tall, stout trunks and smooth silver-grey bark. The European beech ("Fagus sylvatica") is the most commonly cultivated.


title: Beech

text: Beeches are monoecious, bearing both male and female flowers on the same plant. The small flowers are unisexual, the female flowers borne in pairs, the male flowers wind-pollinating catkins. They are produced in spring shortly after the new leaves appear. The fruit of the beech tree, known as beechnuts or mast, is found in small burrs that drop from the tree in autumn. They are small, roughly triangular, and edible, with a bitter, astringent, or mild and nut-like taste.


title: Beech

text: The European species "Fagus sylvatica" yields a utility timber that is tough but dimensionally unstable. It is widely used for furniture framing and carcase construction, flooring and engineering purposes, in plywood, and household items like plates, but rarely as a decorative wood. The timber can be used to build chalets, houses, and log cabins.


title: Beech

text: Beechwood also makes excellent firewood, easily split and burning for many hours with bright but calm flames. Slats of washed beech wood are spread around the bottom of fermentation tanks for Budweiser beer. Beech logs are burned to dry the malt used in some German smoked beers. Beech is also used to smoke Westphalian ham, andouille sausage, and some cheeses.


title: Beech

text: The European beech ("Fagus sylvatica") is the most commonly cultivated, although few important differences are seen between species aside from detail elements such as leaf shape. The leaves of beech trees are entire or sparsely toothed, from long and broad. Beeches are monoecious, bearing both male and female flowers on the same plant. The small flowers are unisexual, the female flowers borne in pairs, the male flowers wind-pollinating catkins. They are produced in spring shortly after the new leaves appear.


title: Beech

text: The bark is smooth and light gray. The fruit is a small, sharply three-angled nut long, borne singly or in pairs in soft-spined husks long, known as cupules. The husk can have a variety of spine- to scale-like appendages, the character of which is, in addition to leaf shape, one of the primary ways beeches are differentiated. The nuts have a bitter taste (though not nearly as bitter as acorns) and a high tannin content; these are called beechnuts or beech mast.


title: Beech

text: Recent classification systems of the genus recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, "Engleriana" and "Fagus". The "Engleriana" subgenus is found only in East Asia, and is notably distinct from the "Fagus" subgenus in that these beeches are low-branching trees, often made up of several major trunks with yellowish bark. Further differentiating characteristics include the whitish bloom on the underside of the leaves, the visible tertiary leaf veins, and a long, smooth cupule-peduncle. Proposed by botanist Chung-Fu Shen in 1992, "F. japonica", "F. engleriana", and "F. okamotoi" comprise this subgenus.


title: Beech

text: The better known "Fagus" subgenus beeches are high-branching with tall, stout trunks and smooth silver-gray bark. This group includes "F. sylvatica", "F. grandifolia", "F. crenata", "F. lucida", "F. longipetiolata", and "F. hayatae". The classification of the European beech, "F. sylvatica", is complex, with a variety of different names proposed for different species and subspecies within this region (for example "F. taurica", "F. orientalis", and "F. moesica"). Research suggests that beeches in Eurasia differentiated fairly late in evolutionary history, during the Miocene. The populations in this area represent a range of often overlapping morphotypes, and genetic analysis does not clearly support separate species.


title: Beech

text: "Fagus" is the most basal group in the evolution of the Fagaceae family, which also includes oaks and chestnuts. The southern beeches (genus "Nothofagus") previously thought closely related to beeches, are now treated as members of a separate family, the Nothofagaceae (which remains a member of the order Fagales). They are found in Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, New Caledonia, and Argentina and Chile (principally Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego).


title: Beech

text: The name of the tree in Latin, "fagus" (from whence the generic epithet), is cognate with English "beech" and of Indo-European origin, and played an important role in early debates on the geographical origins of the Indo-European people, the beech argument. Greek φηγός (figós) is from the same root, but the word was transferred to the oak tree (e.g. Iliad 16.767) as a result of the absence of beech trees in southern Greece.


title: Beech

text: "Fagus sylvatica" was a late entrant to Great Britain after the last glaciation, and may have been restricted to basic soils in the south of England. Some suggest that it was introduced by Neolithic tribes who planted the trees for their edible nuts. The beech is classified as a native in the south of England and as a non-native in the north where it is often removed from 'native' woods. Large areas of the Chilterns are covered with beech woods, which are habitat to the common bluebell and other flora. The Cwm Clydach National Nature Reserve in southeast Wales was designated for its beech woodlands, which are believed to be on the western edge of their natural range in this steep limestone gorge.


title: Beech

text: Beech is not native to Ireland; however, it was widely planted in the 18th century and can become a problem shading out the native woodland understory.


title: Beech

text: Today, beech is widely planted for hedging and in deciduous woodlands, and mature, regenerating stands occur throughout mainland Britain at elevations below about . The tallest and longest hedge in the world (according to "Guinness World Records") is the Meikleour Beech Hedge in Meikleour, Perth and Kinross, Scotland.


title: Beech

text: "Fagus sylvatica" is one of the most common hardwood trees in north-central Europe, in France constituting alone about 15% of all nonconifers. Eastern Europe is also home to the lesser-known oriental beech ("F. orientalis") and Crimean beech ("F. taurica").


title: Beech

text: As a naturally growing forest tree, beech marks the important border between the European deciduous forest zone and the northern pine forest zone. This border is important for wildlife and fauna.


title: Beech

text: In Denmark and Scania at the southernmost peak of the Scandinavian peninsula, southwest of the natural spruce boundary, it is the most common forest tree. It grows naturally in Denmark and southern Norway and Sweden up to about 57–59°N. The most northern known naturally growing (not planted) beech trees are found in a small grove north of Bergen on the west coast of Norway. Near the city of Larvik is the largest naturally occurring beech forest in Norway, Bøkeskogen.


title: Beech

text: Some research suggests that early agriculture patterns supported the spread of beech in continental Europe. Research has linked the establishment of beech stands in Scandinavia and Germany with cultivation and fire disturbance, i.e. early agricultural practices. Other areas which have a long history of cultivation, Bulgaria for example, do not exhibit this pattern, so how much human activity has influenced the spread of beech trees is as yet unclear.


title: Beech

text: The primeval beech forests of the Carpathians are also an example of a singular, complete, and comprehensive forest dominated by a single tree species - the beech tree. Forest dynamics here were allowed to proceed without interruption or interference since the last ice age. Nowadays, they are amongst the last pure beech forests in Europe to document the undisturbed postglacial repopulation of the species, which also includes the unbroken existence of typical animals and plants. These virgin beech forests and similar forests across 12 countries in continental Europe were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2007.


title: Beech

text: The American beech ("Fagus grandifolia") occurs across much of the eastern United States and southeastern Canada, with a disjunct population in Mexico. It is the only "Fagus" species in the Western Hemisphere. Before the Pleistocene Ice Age, it is believed to have spanned the entire width of the continent from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific but now is confined to the east of the Great Plains. "F. grandifolia" tolerates hotter climates than European species but is not planted much as an ornamental due to slower growth and less resistance to urban pollution. It most commonly occurs as an overstory component in the northern part of its range with sugar maple, transitioning to other forest types further south such as beech-magnolia. American beech is rarely encountered in developed areas except as a remnant of a forest that was cut down for land development.


title: Beech

text: The dead brown leaves of the American beech remain on the branches until well into the following spring, when the new buds finally push them off.


title: Beech

text: East Asia is home to five species of "Fagus", only one of which ("F. crenata") is occasionally planted in Western countries. Smaller than "F. sylvatica" and "F. grandifolia", this beech is one of the most common hardwoods in its native range.


title: Beech

text: Beech grows on a wide range of soil types, acidic or basic, provided they are not waterlogged. The tree canopy casts dense shade and thickens the ground with leaf litter.


title: Beech

text: The beech blight aphid ("Grylloprociphilus imbricator") is a common pest of American beech trees. Beeches are also used as food plants by some species of Lepidoptera.


title: Beech

text: Beech bark is extremely thin and scars easily. Since the beech tree has such delicate bark, carvings, such as lovers' initials and other forms of graffiti, remain because the tree is unable to heal itself.


title: Beech

text: Beech bark disease is a fungal infection that attacks the American beech through damage caused by scale insects. Infection can lead to the death of the tree.


title: Beech

text: Beech leaf disease is a disease spread by the newly discovered nematode, "Litylenchus crenatae mccannii". This disease was first discovered in Lake County, Ohio, in 2012 and has now spread to over 41 counties in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ontario, Canada.


title: Beech

text: The beech most commonly grown as an ornamental tree is the European beech ("Fagus sylvatica"), widely cultivated in North America and its native Europe. Many varieties are in cultivation, notably the weeping beech "F. sylvatica" 'Pendula', several varieties of copper or purple beech, the fern-leaved beech "F. sylvatica" 'Asplenifolia', and the tricolour beech "F. sylvatica" 'Roseomarginata'. The columnar Dawyck beech ("F. sylvatica" 'Dawyck') occurs in green, gold, and purple forms, named after Dawyck Botanic Garden in the Scottish Borders, one of the four garden sites of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.


title: Beech

text: Beech wood is an excellent firewood, easily split and burning for many hours with bright but calm flames. Slats of beech wood are washed in caustic soda to leach out any flavour or aroma characteristics and are spread around the bottom of fermentation tanks for Budweiser beer. This provides a complex surface on which the yeast can settle, so that it does not pile up, preventing yeast autolysis which would contribute off-flavours to the beer. Beech logs are burned to dry the malt used in German smoked beers. Beech is also used to smoke Westphalian ham, traditional andouille (an offal sausage) from Normandy, and some cheeses.


title: Beech

text: Some drums are made from beech, which has a tone between those of maple and birch, the two most popular drum woods.


title: Beech

text: The textile modal is a kind of rayon often made wholly from reconstituted cellulose of pulped beech wood.


title: Beech

text: The European species "Fagus sylvatica" yields a utility timber that is tough but dimensionally unstable. It weighs about 720 kg per cubic metre and is widely used for furniture framing and carcase construction, flooring, and engineering purposes, in plywood and household items like plates, but rarely as a decorative wood. The timber can be used to build chalets, houses, and log cabins.


title: Beech

text: Beech wood is used for the stocks of military rifles when traditionally preferred woods such as walnut are scarce or unavailable or as a lower-cost alternative.


title: Beech

text: The edible fruit of the beech tree, known as beechnuts or mast, is found in small burrs that drop from the tree in autumn. They are small, roughly triangular, and edible, with a bitter, astringent, or in some cases, mild and nut-like taste. According to the Roman statesman Pliny the Elder in his work "Natural History", beechnut was eaten by the people of Chios when the town was besieged, writing of the fruit: "that of the beech is the sweetest of all; so much so, that, according to Cornelius Alexander, the people of the city of Chios, when besieged, supported themselves wholly on mast". The leaves can be steeped in liquor to give a light green/yellow liqueur. They can also be roasted and pulverized into an adequate coffee substitute.


title: Beech

text: In antiquity, the bark of the beech tree was used by Indo-European people for writing-related purposes, especially in a religious context. Beech wood tablets were a common writing material in Germanic societies before the development of paper. The Old English "bōc" has the primary sense of "beech" but also a secondary sense of "book", and it is from "bōc" that the modern word derives. In modern German, the word for "book" is "Buch," with "Buche" meaning "beech tree". In modern Dutch, the word for "book" is "boek," with "beuk" meaning "beech tree". In Swedish, these words are the same, "bok" meaning both "beech tree" and "book". There is a similar relationship in some Slavic languages. In Russian and Bulgarian, the word for beech is бук ("buk"), while that for "letter" (as in a letter of the alphabet) is буква ("bukva"), while Serbo-Croatian and Slovene use "bukva" to refer to the tree.


title: Beech

text: Beech litter raking as a replacement for straw in animal husbandry was an old non-timber practice in forest management that once occurred in parts of Switzerland in the 17th century. Beech has been listed as one of the 38 plants whose flowers are used to prepare Bach flower remedies.


title: Impera

text: Impera (stylized as IMPERA) is the fifth studio album by the Swedish rock band Ghost. Released on 11 March 2022, it was produced by Klas Åhlund who also produced the band's 2015 album, "Meliora". The release of "Impera" was preceded by three singles: the first, "Hunter's Moon", was released on 30 September 2021 in support of the 2021 slasher film "Halloween Kills" with a version being a part of the film's closing credits; the second single, "Call Me Little Sunshine", was released on 20 January 2022 and the third, "Twenties", was released on 2 March 2022.


title: Impera

text: The theme of "Impera" mainly focuses on "the rise and fall of empires". The album received widespread critical acclaim.


title: Impera

text: In a 2021 interview with radio station KLAQ, frontman Tobias Forge stated that he came up with the concept of "Impera" in 2013 after reading the book "The Rule of Empires: Those Who Built Them, Those Who Endured Them, and Why They Always Fall" by Timothy Parsons. He came across the book in an independent bookstore called Left Bank Books, situated in Seattle's Pike Place Market. When asked about that chance discovery, he explained: "I'm interested in history and culture, and how empires are built up, and how and why they always fall apart. Right there and then, I knew that at some point, 'I'm going to make an imperial record.'"


title: Impera

text: In June 2019, Forge stated that the band would be touring the United States in September and October in support of their fourth album "Prequelle" before returning to Europe. The band then entered the studio in January 2020 to begin working on their fifth album, and planned to release it by late summer that year. However, Forge stated that they would wait to until after the U.S. presidential election to release the album, concerning the event would draw public's attention the most.


title: Impera

text: In March 2020, during their final show supporting their 2018 album "Prequelle" in Mexico City, Ghost introduced a new character Papa Emeritus IV. He is expected to play a role in their fifth album and its accompanied tour.


title: Impera

text: The COVID-19 pandemic delayed the release of the album, and in October 2020, Forge revealed that the album was intended to be released in the winter. It was further delayed, however.


title: Impera

text: On 30 September 2021, the band released a single, "Hunter's Moon" for the 2021 slasher film "Halloween Kills" with a different version of the song being played in the closing credits. On 20 January 2022, the band announced their fifth studio album, "Impera", was finally set to release on 11 March 2022, and released what would be the second single, "Call Me Little Sunshine", as "Hunter's Moon" will also appear on the album. On 2 March 2022, the band released the next single from the album, "Twenties". On 27 July 2022, the band released a music video for the song album's fourth single, "Spillways".


title: Impera

text: A download of the studio version of the song "Kaisarion" was made available with a preorder of a special edition CD of "Impera".


title: Impera

text: While it was originally planned for the band to record the album in 2020 and release it in early 2021, the band ended up waiting until January 2021 to enter the studio and record the album. Recording lasted six weeks and mixing/mastering took two to three weeks. The album was produced by Klas Åhlund and mixed by Andy Wallace, who also did the same for the band's 2015 album, "Meliora".


title: Impera

text: Musically, "Impera" has been described as hard rock, arena rock, glam metal, heavy metal, and pop rock. The album's sound has been described as 1980s-style pop and rock and has been compared to ABBA, Boston, Dio, Bon Jovi, and Def Leppard. The album is themed mainly on "the rise and fall of empires". It is described to take place hundreds of years forward from the 14th century Europe Black Plague era of Ghost's previous album, "Prequelle".


title: Impera

text: The cover art by Zbigniew Bielak is a reference to a photograph of English occultist Aleister Crowley.


title: Impera

text: In January 2022, the band kicked off a North American co-headline tour with Volbeat called the "Imperatour". During the first show in Reno, the band performed "Kaisarion", the second song of the album, for the first time, as well as introduced new steampunk-inspired costumes for the Nameless Ghouls. They will also headline the UK and European legs of the tour starting in April 2022.


title: Impera

text: The band appeared on U.S. chat show "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" on 17 March 2022, where they performed the single "Call Me Little Sunshine".


title: Impera

text: "Impera" debuted at number one in five countries, including in the band's native country Sweden, and charted in the top 40 of multiple charts worldwide.


title: Impera

text: In the United States, "Impera" debuted at number two on the "Billboard" 200 chart, behind Lil Durk's "7220", selling 70,000 units in its first week, of which 62,500 were physical album sales. It is Ghost's highest charting album in the U.S., surpassing "Prequelle"s position of number three, as well as earning the largest physical album sales week of 2022 in the U.S. It also charted at number 2 in the UK, becoming Ghost's highest charting album there, behind Rex Orange County's "Who Cares?"


title: Impera

text: "Impera" received critical acclaim upon its release. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 84, which indicates "universal acclaim", based on 8 reviews.


title: Impera

text: Thom Jurek of AllMusic was positive towards the album stating, ""Impera" is the most unabashed exercise in exultant pop/rock sheen Ghost has issued to date; it establishes an exquisite front in their own quest for global rock domination." Dom Lawson of "Blabbermouth.net" called the album the "most spectacular and hook-filled heavy(ish) metal albums in recent memory." According to Mark Beaumont of "Classic Rock", "Ghost swap Medieval demons for modern-day counterparts..." and compared the album to Green Day's "American Idiot".


title: Impera

text: Manus Hopkins of "Exclaim!" called the album "more thematically interesting and more musically complex album than its predecessor" but was less positive towards the band's departure from themes of devil-worshiping and a more evil image. James Hickie of "Kerrang!" stated that ""Impera" is among Ghost's very best and sure to push them even closer to those heavenly heights." According to Dave Everley of "Metal Hammer", "Ghost have turned in a modern metal classic with an arena rock heart. It turns out the devil doesn't have all the best tunes. Tobias Forge does."