title: Little Einsteins

text: In the UK version, the Little Einsteins are voiced by Poppy Lee Friar (June), Piers Stubbs (Leo), Kirsty Hickey (Annie), and Mitchell Zhangazha (Quincy), and certain American terms are converted to the British vernacular: for example, changing mentions of "Candy Canes" to mentions of "Sweetie Sticks."


title: Little Einsteins

text: The series also had two VHS releases, one being a VHS version of "Our Huge Adventure" and the second being "Climb Aboard and Get Ready to Explore" which included the episodes "The Birthday Balloons", "Dragon Kite" and "Ring Around the Planet". The Halloween special is a bonus feature on the "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" DVD "Mickey's Treat".


title: Nifedipine

text: Nifedipine (3,5-dimethyl 2,6-dimethyl-4-(2-nitrophenyl)-1,4-dihydropyridine-3,5-dicarboxylate), sold under the brand name Adalat and Procardia, among others, is a calcium channel blocker medication used to manage angina, high blood pressure, Raynaud's phenomenon, and premature labor. It is one of the treatments of choice for Prinzmetal angina. It may be used to treat severe high blood pressure in pregnancy. Its use in preterm labor may allow more time for steroids to improve the baby's lung function and provide time for transfer of the mother to a well qualified medical facility before delivery. It is a calcium channel blocker of the dihydropyridine type. Nifedipine is taken by mouth and comes in fast- and slow-release formulations.


title: Nifedipine

text: Common side effects include lightheadedness, headache, feeling tired, leg swelling, cough, and shortness of breath. Serious side effects may include low blood pressure and heart failure. There is tentative evidence that its use in pregnancy is safe; however, it is not recommended during breastfeeding.


title: Nifedipine

text: Nifedipine was patented in 1967, and approved for use in the United States in 1981. It is on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines. It is available as a generic medication. In 2020, it was the 135th most commonly prescribed medication in the United States, with more than 4million prescriptions.


title: Nifedipine

text: The approved uses are for the long-term treatment of hypertension and angina pectoris. In hypertension, recent clinical guidelines generally favour diuretics and ACE inhibitors, although calcium channel antagonists, along with thiazide diuretics, are still favoured as primary treatment for patients over 55 and black patients.


title: Nifedipine

text: Nifedipine given as sublingual administration has previously been used in hypertensive emergencies. It was once frequently prescribed on an as-needed basis to patients taking MAOIs for real or perceived hypertensive crises. This was found to be dangerous, and has been abandoned. Sublingual administration of nifedipine promotes a hypotensive effect via peripheral vasodilation. It can cause an uncontrollable decrease in blood pressure, reflex tachycardia, and a "steal phenomenon" in certain vascular beds. There have been multiple reports in the medical literature of serious adverse effects with sublingual nifedipine, including cerebral ischemia/infarction, myocardial infarction, complete heart block, and death. As a result of this, in 1985 the FDA reviewed all data regarding the safety and effectiveness of sublingual nifedipine for the management of hypertensive emergencies, and concluded that the practice should be abandoned because it was neither safe nor effective. An exception to the avoidance of this practice is in the use of nifedipine for the treatment of hypertension associated with autonomic dysreflexia in spinal cord injury.


title: Nifedipine

text: Nifedipine has been used frequently as a tocolytic (agent that delays premature labor). A Cochrane review has concluded that it has benefits over placebo or no treatment for prolongation of pregnancy. It also has benefits over beta-agonists and may also have some benefits over atosiban and magnesium sulfate, although atosiban results in fewer maternal adverse effects. No difference was found in the rate of deaths among babies around the time of birth, while data on longer-term outcomes is lacking.


title: Nifedipine

text: Raynaud's phenomenon is often treated with nifedipine. A 2005 meta-analysis showed modest benefits (33% decrease in attack severity, 2.8-5 reduction in absolute number of attacks per week); it does conclude that most included studies used low doses of nifedipine.


title: Nifedipine

text: Nifedipine is one of the main choices for the treatment of Prinzmetal angina due to its vasodilating effects on the coronary arteries.


title: Nifedipine

text: Other uses include painful spasms of the esophagus such as from cancer or tetanus. It is also used for the small subset of people with pulmonary hypertension.


title: Nifedipine

text: Finally, nifedipine can be used in the treatment of renal calculi, which are commonly referred to as kidney stones. Studies have indicated that it helps to relieve renal colic. However, alpha blockers (such as tamsulosin) have been described as being significantly better.


title: Nifedipine

text: Nifedipine rapidly lowers blood pressure, and patients are commonly warned they may feel dizzy or faint after taking the first few doses. Tachycardia (fast heart rate) may occur as a reaction. These problems are much less frequent in the sustained-release preparations of nifedipine.


title: Nifedipine

text: Extended release formulations of nifedipine should be taken on an empty stomach, and patients are warned not to consume anything containing grapefruit or grapefruit juice, as they raise blood nifedipine levels. There are several possible mechanisms, including the inhibition of CYP3A4-mediated metabolism.


title: Nifedipine

text: A number of persons have developed toxicity due to acute overdosage with nifedipine, either accidentally or intentionally, and via either oral or parenteral administration. The adverse effects include lethargy, bradycardia, marked hypotension and loss of consciousness. The drug may be quantified in blood or plasma to confirm a diagnosis of poisoning, or to assist in a medicolegal investigation following death. Analytical methods usually involve gas or liquid chromatography and specimen concentrations are usually in the 100-1000 μg/L range.


title: Nifedipine

text: Nifedipine is a calcium channel blocker. Although nifedipine and other dihydropyridines are commonly regarded as specific to the L-type calcium channel, they also possess nonspecific activity towards other voltage-dependent calcium channels.


title: Nifedipine

text: Nifedipine has additionally been found to act as an antagonist of the mineralocorticoid receptor, or as an antimineralocorticoid.


title: Nifedipine

text: Nifedipine (initially ) was developed by the German pharmaceutical company Bayer, with most initial studies being performed in the early 1970s.


title: Nifedipine

text: The use of nifedipine and related calcium channel antagonists was much reduced in response to 1995 trials that mortality was increased in patients with coronary artery disease who took nifedipine. This study was a meta-analysis, and demonstrated harm mainly in short-acting forms of nifedipine (that could cause large fluctuations in blood pressure) and at high doses of 80 mg a day and more.


title: Nifedipine

text: Adalat was the first German pharmaceutical to be awarded the highly prestigious Prix Galien in 1980. In the same year, Ahmed Hegazy submitted his invention (in collaboration with Klaus-Dieter Rämsch) of an extended release, solid medicinal preparation of nifedipine to the German Patent Office in Munich, patenting the “use of nifedipine crystals with a specific surface area of 1-4 m2/g for the production of solid medicinal formulations for achieving long-lasting blood levels for the oral treatment of hypertension by administration 1 to 2 times”, an invention that became known as "Adalat retard" from Bayer (see letter Dr Schauerte). In that formulation, the active ingredient is released over a period of up to 36 hours. With the increasing incidence of heart disease in that period—heart failure became the first cause of death in West Germany—and the new formulation, the medication replaced Aspirine in the 1990s as the biggest single product of Bayer. As Alexander Mey noted, "[d]iese Maßnahmen führten dazu, dass der Umsatz im Jahr 2000 auf 1,7 Mrd. US-$ stieg, obwohl das Präparat bereits ein Vierteljahrhundert am Markt war." On 14 October 1991, Hegazy was awarded the Otto Bayer Medal—no relation to the company founder—for his work solubilizing poorly soluble active ingredients such as nifedipine, a prize, that the Bayer Group has been using to honor excellent research since 1984. By 2020, 528 researchers had received the award. A 1995 US lawsuit, in which Hegazy defended his patent, found that Pfizer's Procardia XL product was also based on his European patent No. 0047899, United States Patent 5264446.


title: Nifedipine

text: In India, Nifedipine is manufactured by JB Chemicals, and comes in brands Nicardia Retard (Nifedipine 10 mg, 20 mg tablets) as well as Nicardia XL 30/60 which are Nifedipine Extended Release Tablets.


title: Shrimp and prawn as food

text: Shrimp and prawn are types of seafood that are consumed worldwide. Although shrimp and prawns belong to different suborders of Decapoda, they are very similar in appearance and the terms are often used interchangeably in commercial farming and wild fisheries. A distinction is drawn in recent aquaculture literature, which increasingly uses the term "prawn" only for the freshwater forms of palaemonids and "shrimp" for the marine penaeids.


title: Shrimp and prawn as food

text: In the United Kingdom, the word "prawn" is more common on menus than "shrimp"; the opposite is the case in North America. The term "prawn" is also loosely used for any large shrimp, especially those that come 15 (or fewer) to the pound (such as "king prawns", yet sometimes known as "jumbo shrimp"). Australia and some other Commonwealth nations follow this British usage to an even greater extent, using the word "prawn" almost exclusively. When Australian comedian Paul Hogan used the phrase, "I'll slip an extra shrimp on the barbie for you" in an American television advertisement, it was intended to make what he was saying easier for his American audience to understand, and was thus a deliberate distortion of what an Australian would typically say. In Britain very small crustaceans with a brownish shell are called shrimp, and are used to make potted shrimps. They are also used in dishes where they are not the primary ingredient. The French term "" is often encountered in restaurants.


title: Shrimp and prawn as food

text: Shrimp and other shellfish are among the most common food allergens. Indeed, it is probably for this reason that the major religions of the world today find dietary rules woven into their mythology that expressly warn against eating these food items. For example, the Jewish dietary laws called Kashrut forbids the eating of shrimp. In Christianity, the King James version of the Old Testament states that it is acceptable to eat finfish, but shrimp are an abomination and should not be eaten. Finally, within the Islamic religion, the Shafi'i, Maliki, Hanbali and Ja'fari schools allow the eating of shrimp, while the Hanafi school does not.


title: Shrimp and prawn as food

text: As with other seafood, shrimp is high in protein but low in food energy. A shrimp-based meal is also a significant source of cholesterol, from 122 mg to 251 mg per 100 g of shrimp, depending on the method of preparation. Shrimp consumption, however, is considered healthy for the circulatory system because the lack of significant levels of saturated fat in shrimp means that the high cholesterol content in shrimp actually improves the ratio of LDL to HDL cholesterol and lowers triglycerides.


title: Shrimp and prawn as food

text: Shrimp are high in levels of omega-3s (generally beneficial) and low in levels of mercury (generally toxic), with an FDA study in 2010 showing a level of 0.001 parts per million, analysing only methylmercury.


title: Shrimp and prawn as food

text: Preparing shrimp for consumption usually involves removing the head, shell, tail, and "sand vein". A notable exception is drunken shrimp, a dish using freshwater shrimp that is often eaten alive, but immersed in ethanol to make consumption easier.


title: Shrimp and prawn as food

text: To shell a shrimp, the tail is held while gently removing the shell around the body. The tail can be detached completely at this point, or left attached for presentation purposes.


title: Shrimp and prawn as food

text: Removing the "sand vein" (a euphemism for the digestive tract) is referred to as "deveining". The sand vein can be removed by making a shallow cut lengthwise down the outer curve of the shrimp's body, allowing the dark ribbon-like digestive tract to be removed with a pointed utensil. Special deveining tools are sometimes used but knives, skewers, and even toothpicks can be used to devein. Alternatively, if the tail has been detached, the vein can be pinched at the tail end and pulled out completely with the fingers. On large shrimp, the "blood vein" (a euphemism for the ventral nerve cord) along the inner curve of the shrimp's body is typically removed as well. The shrimp is then rinsed under cold running water. Removing the vein is not essential, as it is not poisonous and is mostly tasteless. Deveining does slightly change the flavor and makes it more consistent. Shrimp also sometimes consume small amounts of sand and the vein might thus be gritty.


title: Shrimp and prawn as food

text: Shrimp and prawns are versatile ingredients. Common methods of preparation include baking, boiling, frying, grilling and barbequing. They are as delicate as eggs with regard to cooking time. When they are overcooked, they have a tough and rubbery texture.


title: Shrimp and prawn as food

text: Recipes using shrimp form part of the cuisine of many cultures. Strictly speaking, dishes containing scampi should be made from the Norway lobster, a shrimp-like crustacean more closely related to the lobster than shrimp. Scampi is often called the "Dublin Bay prawn", and in some places it is quite common for other prawns to be used instead.


title: Shrimp and prawn as food

text: Wet shrimp is commonly used as a flavoring and as a soup base in Asian cuisines while fried shrimp is popular in North America. In Europe, shrimp is very popular, forming a necessary ingredient in Spanish ', Italian ', Portuguese "" and many other seafood dishes. Shrimp curry is very popular in South Asia and Southeast Asia. Shrimp are also found in Latin and Caribbean dishes such as enchiladas and coconut shrimp. Other recipes include jambalaya, okonomiyaki, poon choi and bagoong. Shrimp are also consumed as salad, by frying, with rice, and as shrimp guvec (a dish baked in a clay pot) in the Western and Southern coasts of Turkey. In the subject of Japanese sushi, shrimp has long been valued as the "king of sushi-dane", as its composition can be either raw or cooked, and its latter preparation has often been considered a good introduction or choice for those unfamiliar to eating sushi, especially dishes involving raw fish.


title: Shrimp and prawn as food

text: Shrimp are marketed and commercialized with several issues in mind. Most shrimp are sold frozen and marketed based on their categorization of presentation, grading, colour and uniformity.


title: Shrimp and prawn as food

text: "Ebiko", or shrimp roe, sometimes translated as "shrimp flakes", is used as an ingredient in the preparation of sushi. There also exists popcorn shrimp, garlic butter shrimp,breaded or battered deep-fried small shrimp.


title: Ebanie Bridges

text: Ebanie Bridges (born 22 September 1986) is an Australian professional boxer. She has held the IBF female bantamweight title since March 2022. As an amateur, Bridges competed in the women's bantamweight event at the 2016 and 2017 Australasian Golden Gloves, respectively, where she won gold. She has been nicknamed the 'Blonde Bomber' due to her hair colour and her coach Arnel "Bomber" Barotillo.


title: Ebanie Bridges

text: Bridges was born on 22 September 1986 and grew up in the Toongabbie suburb of Greater Western Sydney — the youngest child of three. She is the younger of twins by six minutes, and the only girl in her family. At the age of five, Bridges's parents introduced her to Karate — in which she competed until thirteen years of age. Shortly after, she trained in Kickboxing and Muay Thai at secondary school. She later found competitive bodybuilding — under the tutelage of Arina Manta – in which she competed for eight years and won numerous regional and state titles. She spoke of her teenage years being tough, though with her parents’ help she overcame the difficulties: ‘At 18, I decided I need to change my life.’ When growing up, Bridges admired Kostya Tszyu, Anthony Mundine, Oscar De La Hoya, and Roy Jones Jr.


title: Ebanie Bridges

text: Bridges amassed a 26–4 amateur record from 2016 to 2018, during which she won the 2016 and 2017 National Golden Gloves titles, as well as the state championship titles at bantamweight. She also competed at the Australian Women Selection Tournament in Perth, however, she was defeated by Antonia Kay in the quarter-finals via a points-decision 4:1.


title: Ebanie Bridges

text: On 24 November 2018, Bridges was scheduled to take on Thai fighter Rungnapha Kaewrachang in a bantamweight contest at the Wollongong Fraternity Club, however, the fight was cancelled due to Kaewrachang experiencing fighting clearance issues. Bridges instead fought Bianca Elmir in an exhibition fight, though it was not recognised as a professional bout. Bridges made her professional debut on 8 February 2019 at the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney, on the undercard of Tim Tszyu vs. Denton Vassell against Filipino fighter Mahiecka Pareno (2–1–0), who Bridges defeated via majority decision, while having to get up from the canvas after Pareno dropped her in the first-round. During her fight with Pareno, it was later revealed that Bridges had broken her ankle but continued to carry on.


title: Ebanie Bridges

text: On 12 October 2019, Bridges fought Laura Woods, who Bridges defeated via TKO in the third-round, and then in the following month had defeated Kanittha Ninthim via second-round TKO.


title: Ebanie Bridges

text: In February 2020, Bridges signed a promotional contract with Split-T Management. She made her US debut on 8 February 2020, winning a six-round unanimous decision against Crystal Hoy at the Hammond Civic Center in Hammond, Indiana, with judges Jerry Jakubco, Nathan Palmer, and Skylar Slay scoring the fight 60–54 in favour of Bridges. In November 2020, after her defeat of Jorgelina Guanini, Rachel Ball had made her intentions known to face Bridges for the vacant WBA bantamweight title she had initially hoped to contest against Guanini.


title: Ebanie Bridges

text: On 13 March 2021, Bridges faced Carol Earl for the vacant Australian National Boxing Federation super-bantamweight title at Bankstown City Paceway in Sydney, in which Bridges secured a unanimous decision with Ian Batty, Wayne Douglas and Kevin Hogan scoring the fight 80–72, 80–72 and 79–73 in favour for Bridges. On 14 March, it was confirmed that Bridges would face Shannon Courtenay in a world bantamweight title showdown, for the vacant WBA female bantamweight title, on the undercard of Conor Benn's defence his WBA Continental title against Samuel Vargas at the Copper Box Arena on 10 April. Courtenay had initially been hoped to fight Rachel Ball, however, with Ball recovering from coronavirus, Bridges had stepped in as a late replacement.


title: Ebanie Bridges

text: After suffering her first professional loss to Courtenay, Bridges was booked to face Bec Connolly on 7 August 2021. She knocked Connolly down twice by the mid-point of the second round, before referee Kieran McCann stopped the bout. Bridges next faced Mailys Gangloff on 4 September 2021. She narrowly won the fight on points, with a scorecard of 77–76.


title: Ebanie Bridges

text: Bridges challenged the reigning IBF female bantamweight champion María Cecilia Román, in what was Román's eight title defense. The fight took place at the First Direct Arena in Leeds, England on 26 March 2022, on the undercard of the Kiko Martinez and Josh Warrington featherweight title bout. Bridges won the fight by unanimous decision. Two of the judges scored the fight 97–93 in her favor, while the third judge awarded her all ten rounds of the bout.


title: Ebanie Bridges

text: She is a qualified mathematics teacher, at Airds High School, and lives in Dural, New South Wales. While studying to become a maths teacher, she undertook a work placement at Mount Annan High School. While training as an amateur boxer, Bridges earned a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics with a minor in Physical Education at Western Sydney University, followed by a Master's degree in Teaching, during which she graduated at the top of her class. Bridges speaks three languages English, Portuguese and Spanish. She has a black belt in Karate.


title: Supervillain

text: A supervillain or supercriminal is a variant of the villainous stock character that is commonly found in American comic books, usually possessing superhuman abilities. A supervillain is the antithesis of a superhero.


title: Supervillain

text: Supervillains are often used as foils to present a daunting challenge to a superhero. In instances where the supervillain does not have superhuman, mystical, or alien powers, the supervillain may possess a genius intellect or a skill set that allows them to draft complex schemes or commit crimes in a way normal humans cannot. Other traits may include megalomania and possession of considerable resources to further their aims. Many supervillains share some typical characteristics of real world dictators, gangsters, mad scientists, trophy hunters, corrupt businesspeople, serial killers, and terrorists, often having an aspiration of world domination.


title: Supervillain

text: The Joker, Lex Luthor, Doctor Doom, Magneto, Brainiac, Deathstroke, the Green Goblin, Venom, the Reverse-Flash, Sinestro, Loki, Thanos, Black Manta, Black Adam, the Red Skull, Ultron, Ra's al Ghul, and Darkseid are some notable male comic book supervillains that have been adapted in film and television. Some notable examples of female supervillains are Catwoman, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, Mystique, Hela, Viper, and the Cheetah.


title: Supervillain

text: Just like superheroes, supervillains are sometimes members of supervillain groups, such as the Sinister Six, the Suicide Squad, the Injustice League, the Brotherhood of Mutants, the Legion of Doom, and the Masters of Evil.


title: Supervillain

text: In the documentary "A Study in Sherlock", writers Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss stated that they regarded Professor James Moriarty as a supervillain because he, too, possesses genius-level intelligence and powers of observation and deduction, setting him above ordinary people to the point where only he can pose a credible threat to Sherlock Holmes.


title: Supervillain

text: Fu Manchu is an archetypal evil criminal genius and mad scientist created by English author Sax Rohmer in 1913. The Fu Manchu moustache became integral to stereotypical cinematic and television depictions of Chinese villains. Between 1965 and 1969 Christopher Lee played Fu Manchu five times in film, and in 1973 the character first appeared in Marvel Comics.


title: Supervillain

text: The James Bond arch-villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld (known for frequently appearing sitting on an armchair while stroking his cat and often leaving his face unseen to the viewer in screen appearances) has become influential to the supervillain tropes in popular cinema, including parodies like Dr. Claw and M.A.D. Cat from the "Inspector Gadget" animated series, Dr. Evil and Mr. Bigglesworth from the "Austin Powers" film series, or Dr. Blowhole from the animated TV series "The Penguins of Madagascar".


title: Cinderella Castle

text: Cinderella Castle is Cinderella's home fairy tale castle and the icon at the center of two Disney theme parks: the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, and Tokyo Disneyland at the Tokyo Disney Resort. Both serve as the flagship attraction for their respective theme parks. Along with Sleeping Beauty Castle, the Castle is a main symbol of The Walt Disney Company.


title: Cinderella Castle

text: Cinderella Castle was inspired by a variety of real and fictional palaces. These included Château d'Ussé, Fontainebleau, Versailles and the châteaux of Chenonceau, Pierrefonds, Chambord, Chaumont, Alcázar of Segovia, Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria and Craigievar Castle in Scotland. Other sources of inspiration include the spire of Notre-Dame de Paris, the Moszna Castle in Poland, built in the 18th century, and the Tyn Church in Prague, Czech Republic, built in the 14th century. The chief designer of the castle, Herbert Ryman, also referenced the original design for the castle in the film franchise "Cinderella" and his own well-known creation — the Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland in California


title: Cinderella Castle

text: Cinderella Castle was completed in July 1971, after about 18 months of construction. The castle is tall, as measured from water-level. By adding the depth of the moat, at the bridge, it totals as indicated on Disney's castle website for the overall height. Cinderella Castle is more than taller than Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. A set-building trick known as forced perspective makes the castle appear larger than it is. At higher elevations, its proportions to full scale are reduced for elements such as stones, windows, and doors. This castle and its near-twin in Tokyo were the tallest Disney theme park castles until the completion of the Enchanted Storybook Castle in Shanghai Disneyland Park.


title: Cinderella Castle

text: Cinderella Castle is designed to reflect the late-Gothic, flamboyant style of the 1400s. Unlike Disneyland's castle, no gold is used on the exterior; all gold colors are anodized aluminum. Despite its appearance, no bricks were used in its construction; the inner structure consists of six hundred tons of steel-braced frame construction, with a reinforced concrete wall encircling the structure to the full height of the outermost stone-like walls. All of the steel and concrete works are supported on a concrete drilled caisson foundation. Much less fiberglass is used than is popularly believed. Rather, most of the exterior is a thick, very hard fiber-reinforced gypsum plaster that is supported by light-gauge metal studs. Most fiberglass work is reserved for the exterior walls of more ornate upper towers. The roofs are not fiberglass, either. They are shingled in the same type of plastic that computer monitor shells are made from, attached to a cone of light gauge steel sheeting over the steel sub-frame. These towers were lifted by crane, then welded and bolted permanently to the main structure. Contrary to a popular legend, the castle cannot be taken apart or moved in any way in the event of a hurricane. It would take months to disassemble, it would be too dangerous to operate the crane required in windy conditions, and there would have to be a more structurally sound building to keep it in. As with every other building at Walt Disney World, it was simply efficient enough in design to handle a hurricane. It can easily withstand the 125 mph (200 km/h) wind speeds in Central Florida.


title: Cinderella Castle

text: Cinderella Castle is also surrounded by a moat, which contains approximately of water; however, unlike the drawbridge at Sleeping Beauty Castle in Disneyland, Cinderella Castle cannot raise its bridge. There are a total of 27 towers on the castle, each numbered 1-29—tower numbers 13 and 17 were cancelled before construction when it was discovered that they could not really be seen from anywhere in the park, due mainly to the other Fantasyland buildings. The tower with the clock in front is number 10, the tallest is number 20. Number 23 is the other golden-roofed tower.


title: Cinderella Castle

text: Originally, a suite was planned for the Disney family and executives, but since Walt Disney died nearly five years before the park opened, it remained unfinished, and eventually was turned successively into a telephone call center, a dressing room, and is currently a hotel room. There are three elevators inside the castle. One is for guest use and goes between the lobby of Cinderella's Royal Table and the second floor restaurant. The second is for restaurant staff use, and is located in tower 2 to the left of the drawbridge. It has landings in the Utilidors, the mezzanine level in a break room, and on the second floor in the kitchen. The third elevator is in tower 20, and services the Utilidors, the breezeway, the kitchen of Cinderella's Royal Table, and the Cinderella Castle Suite. The suite is about below the level where the zipline cable that Tinker Bell "flies" on for the fireworks show is attached to tower 20. Access to the cable is by ladder. From January 2007 to December 2009 the suite was used as a prize for the Disney Dreams Giveaway at the Walt Disney World Resort during the Year of a Million Dreams/35 anniversary celebration.


title: Cinderella Castle

text: Cinderella Castle was designed so that it was tall enough to be seen from the Seven Seas Lagoon in front of the Magic Kingdom, where many guests took ferries from the parking lot to the gates of the park. In theme park jargon, Cinderella Castle was conceived as the primary "weenie" (a term commonly used by Walt and his Imagineers) that draws new entering guests through Main Street, U.S.A. towards the central hub, from where all other areas can be reached.


title: Cinderella Castle

text: On February 17, 2020, in honor of the 70th anniversary of the release of the 1950 Disney animated film "Cinderella", Disney announced the castle will be getting repainted within the spring & summer 2020 with dark blue roofs, a slight rose pink color, and will have many gold trim accents on the castle, along with darker stone. Disney has assured that the castle will still be fully visible while the work is on going, and the fireworks shows will continue. However, COVID-19 forced the park to close from March to July 2020 so most of the work was done when the park closed. The paint job was completed in July 2020 shortly after the reopening of Walt Disney World. Originally, the tower spires were painted a bluish-purple, but were painted back to royal blue in Spring 2021 as Disney began installing the 50th anniversary decorations on the Castle.


title: Cinderella Castle

text: As of late Spring 2021, Cinderella Castle is decorated with what Disney calls “Earidescent” gold and blue bunting, ribbons and other decorations. Cinderella Castle will be decorated like this until March 31, 2023, for “The World's Most Magical Celebration”.


title: Cinderella Castle

text: Generally considered to be the real and Magic Kingdom's castle the copy, the Tokyo version is tall. From 1986 to 2006, a popular walk-through attraction called the "Cinderella Castle Mystery Tour" was featured within the castle. In June 2006, the castle was repainted to differentiate it from Cinderella Castle at Magic Kingdom. The castle now has gold trimmings, the rooftops have been painted a different shade of blue, and the white stone of the turrets now has a tan/dirty-pink color.


title: Cinderella Castle

text: In 2018, Tokyo Disneyland's Cinderella Castle received water fountains installed for a new nighttime presentation "Celebrate! Tokyo Disneyland" which premiered on July 10, as part of its 35th Anniversary celebration.


title: Cinderella Castle

text: When the sun sets, the castle is illuminated by SGM Palco LED lighting fixtures placed on different castle levels and surrounding areas, providing an effective range of 16.7 million colors. The castle itself plays a role in the Magic Kingdom's former fireworks show, "", in which it changes color in synchronization with the dramatic music of the display. The same color changing and effects occurs for the other fireworks shows: "HalloWishes" (in Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party); "Magic, Music and Mayhem" (during Disney's Pirate and Princess Party); and the Christmas fireworks show "Holiday Wishes" during Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. The castle's projection mapping technology has been used in several night events, such as their current fireworks spectacular, "Disney Enchantment", and its predecessor, "Happily Ever After". During the holiday seasons, various shows have utilized projection mapping, including "Hocus Pocus Villain Spelltacular", along with the Halloween themed "Disney's Not-So-Spooky Spectacular" and Holiday overlayed show, "Minnie's Wonderful Christmastime Fireworks".


title: Cinderella Castle

text: At the park's closing, the nightly "Kiss Goodnight" was performed, in which Roy O. Disney's dedication speech for the Magic Kingdom is played throughout all over the park accompanied by Disney music which changes with the colors of the castle. Even when the park closes before 11pm (23:00), the show is performed a second time at 11pm (23:00), providing entertainment for guests of Disney resort hotels bordering the Seven Seas Lagoon. This practice seems to have ended in 2020 after the park reopened from Covid-19. Beginning November 2007, for the first time, the "Castle Dream Lights", with over 200,000 LED Christmas lights (as Disneyland Paris has since 2004), covered Cinderella Castle and was lit nightly during a new stage show in front of the castle.


title: Cinderella Castle

text: On January 18, 2011, a nighttime projection mapping show premiered at Cinderella Castle at Walt Disney World. The show featured photographs and videos of park guests, taken by Disney's PhotoPass employees, combined with projections of Disney characters and attractions and pre-selected music. "The Magic, the Memories and You" show was presented before and after the nightly "" fireworks show at Magic Kingdom, as well as presented before and after Disneyland's regular nightly fireworks, and was part of Disney's "Let the Memories Begin" campaign for 2011. A parallel show existed at Disneyland, at the Disneyland Resort, taking place at Sleeping Beauty Castle. On September 3, this show ended its run and was replaced by a similar nighttime multimedia show, "Celebrate the Magic", in 2012 and again by "Once Upon a Time" in Fall 2016. "The Magic, The Memories and You" is also inspired the similar theme song on "Celebrate! Tokyo Disneyland" as part of the Tokyo Disney Resort 35th Anniversary celebration that premiered at Tokyo Disneyland on July 10, 2018, which also created as nod and tribute for the former nighttime projection show.


title: Cinderella Castle

text: Inside the castle's archway, a series of five mosaic murals tells the story of "Cinderella". Designed by Imagineer Dorothea Redmond and crafted and set in place by a team of six artists led by mosaicist Hanns-Joachim Scharff, the ornate panels are shaped in a Gothic arch. The murals took 22 months to complete and contain just over 300,000 pieces of Italian glass and rough smalti (glass made specifically for mosaics traditionally used by Italian craftsmen) in more than 500 colors. Many of the hand-cut tiles are fused with sterling silver and 14-karat (58 percent) gold, and some are as small as the head of a tack. Looking closely at these ornate murals, one will notice that each of Cinderella's wicked stepsisters appears with a little added color - one sister's face is clearly "red with anger", while the other is a little "green with envy" as they watch Cinderella try on the glass slipper.


title: Cinderella Castle

text: As of September 10, 2007, the castle is home to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, first introduced at Disney Springs (formerly known as Downtown Disney). Inside, guests can receive a so-called "princess transformation", which features a Disney Princess make-up, one of three hairstyles, a manicure, a sash, and/or a gown, tiara, wand and shoes.


title: Cinderella Castle

text: The King's Gallery, the former gift shop in this space, has moved to the Main Street Cinema on Main Street, U.S.A.


title: Cinderella Castle

text: Inside the upper levels of Cinderella Castle, there is a suite. This space is not large, and can be compared to the size of a master bedroom and bathroom in an average house. The location of the suite can be identified from the outside by locating the stained glass windows with pictures in the center on the north and west sides of the castle room on the 4th floor, about 2/3 of the way up. The glass used contains many small, multi-faceted pieces, which slightly obscures the view of the park with fireworks show from inside the suite by added music. The suite adjoins a sizable exterior balcony on the east side. The walls around this balcony are about 5 feet (1.5 m) high. This balcony affords views to the north, east, and south. The balcony is only accessible through an emergency exit and is not a guest area.


title: Cinderella Castle

text: On June 7, 2005, Disney announced that the suite would be completely decorated and upholstered as a 'royal bedchamber', which can sleep up to six people. It was available as a prize during the Year of a Million Dreams (2007) celebration taking place at all eleven Disney theme parks, and an overnight stay in the apartment was a prize randomly awarded to a guest at the four Walt Disney World theme parks and Downtown Disney.


title: Cinderella Castle

text: Cinderella's Royal Table, formerly known as King Stefan's Banquet Hall, is a restaurant inside the castle. Located on the second floor, guests can take the circular stairway or the elevator to the restaurant, where children are referred to as princes and princesses, while the adults in the party are referred to as lords and ladies. Walt Disney Imagineers had originally wanted to give the restaurant a regal name, and since there are no well-known characters from "Cinderella" that met their criteria, they instead took a little dramatic license and chose the name of Sleeping Beauty's father, King Stefan. The name was changed on April 28, 1997, in order not to confuse tourists. The restaurant is decorated not only with a number of stained glass windows and medieval objects, but with more than forty coats of arms. Each of these is an actual family seal, and represent some of the many people that played a major role in the design and construction of Walt Disney World, including Roger Broggie, Sr. (Imagineer and railroad aficionado who aided in the design of many attractions), Marc Davis (animator and theme park designer), Roy O. Disney (Walt's brother), John Hench (who designed the castle), Diane Disney Miller (Walt's daughter), Dick Nunis (former Chairman of Walt Disney Attractions), and Marty Sklar (Imagineering vice chairman and principal creative executive who worked alongside Walt Disney).


title: Cinderella Castle

text: Cinderella's Royal Table is also the location of "Fairytale Dining at Cinderella's Royal Table." At breakfast, lunch and dinner Cinderella greets all guests in the castle foyer, and during the meal Disney princesses circulate among the tables.


title: Cinderella Castle

text: Cinderella's Fairy Tale Hall is a walk-through attraction located inside Cinderella Castle at Tokyo Disneyland. Cinderella, wanting to share her magical princess story, decided to open up the castle even during her absence and exhibit various artworks that show scenes from her story. At the lobby and corridor, guests will find eight murals showing how Cinderella changed from beloved daughter, to servant girl, and then to Princess. They will also see a diorama of Cinderella magically transformed into wearing a beautiful ball gown, and other artworks made from various materials such as paper, wood and glass. In the Grand Hall guests will find a magnificent chandelier, the renowned glass slipper, a throne, and special paintings that reveal a magical message when photographed using a flash.


title: Cinderella Castle

text: By keeping the height of the castle's spire under tall, the castle at Walt Disney World was able to avoid Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations that would require flashing aircraft warning lights at the top. The two taller attractions at Walt Disney World, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror and Expedition Everest, top out at 199 and 199.5 feet, respectively, to avoid this requirement as well.


title: Cinderella Castle

text: As a result of the September 11, 2001 attacks, amid concerns that general aviation could pose a threat to public safety, the FAA placed a permanent Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) over the entire Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. The flight restriction extends outward from an island near the Contemporary Resort () at a radius of up to above the ground level surface. Cinderella Castle is used as a visual reference. It has been a common growing legend that Disney chose to prohibit aviation above the park in order to make visitors feel even further separate from the outside world, but the true reason was, in fact, in response to the September 11th attacks. Law enforcement and Walt Disney World Cessna 172 aircraft, however, are exempt from this TFR.


title: Cinderella Castle

text: As Cinderella Castle is a Disney icon and Walt Disney World was gaining more popularity, it replaced Sleeping Beauty Castle in the opening of the Walt Disney anthology series starting in the late 1970s. Since 2006, both castles were combined to form the logo of Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Television, Disney Music Group and Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The logo is now featured on the "Wonderful World of Disney" on ABC, formerly shown on the Disney Channel.


title: Nick Fury (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: Nicholas Joseph Fury, more commonly known as Nick Fury, is a fictional character portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) media franchise, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. Fury is depicted as the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. who creates and enacts the Avengers Initiative after discovering other threats to the Earth.


title: Nick Fury (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: , Fury has appeared in eleven MCU films, beginning with an appearance in the post-credits scene of "Iron Man" (2008). He also appeared in two episodes of the television series " Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." (2013–14) and three episodes of the animated series "What If...?" (2021) as different versions of the character, with Jackson reprising the role. He will star as the main protagonist of the miniseries "Secret Invasion" (2023), with his story in the show will led into the upcoming film "The Marvels" (2023), which Fury is set to return. Prior to the formation of the MCU, Marvel Comics incorporated Jackson's likeness into the reimagined design of the character for "The Ultimates".


title: Nick Fury (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: Fury originally appeared in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer/artist Jack Kirby and writer Stan Lee, Fury first appeared in "Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos" No. 1 (May 1963), a World War II combat series that portrayed the cigar-chomping Fury as leader of an elite U.S. Army unit. In 1998, David Hasselhoff portrayed Fury in the Fox television movie "", which was intended to be a backdoor pilot for a possible new TV series, which did not materialize. In 2002, Marvel Comics designed their "Ultimate" version of the character Nick Fury after the likeness of Samuel L. Jackson. However, Marvel Studios initially discussed a potential film role with George Clooney, who turned it down after reviewing some of the comic book source material and finding Fury to be too violent of a character. According to the audio commentary of the 2007 film "", director Tim Story said the script originally contained Nick Fury, but the role eventually became that of General Hager (played by Andre Braugher), as having Fury would have forced 20th Century Fox to purchase the rights to that character.


title: Nick Fury (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: In the mid-2000s, Kevin Feige realized that Marvel still owned the rights to the core characters, which included Fury. Feige, a self-professed "fanboy", envisioned creating a shared universe just as creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby had done with their comic books in the early 1960s. In 2004, David Maisel was hired as chief operating officer of Marvel Studios as he had a plan for the studio to self-finance movies. Marvel entered into a non-recourse debt structure with Merrill Lynch, under which Marvel got $525million to make a maximum of 10 movies based on the company's properties over eight years, collateralized by certain movie rights to a total of 10 characters, including Nick Fury.


title: Nick Fury (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: Jackson was then offered the role, initially signing a nine-film contract with Marvel to portray Nick Fury in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In 2019, Jackson confirmed that, while that year's "Captain Marvel" marked the end of his nine-film contract with Marvel, he would continue to portray Fury in future films. Jackson thereafter appeared in a cameo in "Avengers: Endgame", and in a substantial role in "Spider-Man: Far From Home".


title: Nick Fury (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: The MCU version of Nick Fury jettisoned a number of details from the original comic book version. Aside from the original character having been white (a detail already changed in the comics before the MCU came to fruition), the original comic book Nick Fury was a World War II veteran who knew Captain America and led the Howling Commandos, and lost sight in his left eye during a grenade attack in that war. In both the original comic book and the Ultimate Marvel versions, Fury was able to remain active many decades after the war because he aged unnaturally slowly due to regular doses of an Infinity Formula. A popular character over a number of decades, in 2011, Fury was ranked 33rd in IGN's "Top 100 Comic Book Heroes", and 32nd in their list of "The Top 50 Avengers". He has sometimes been considered an antihero.


title: Nick Fury (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: Fury is introduced in the post-credits scene of "Iron Man" (2008), meeting Tony Stark at his Malibu home to discuss the Avengers Initiative.


title: Nick Fury (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: In "Iron Man 2" (2010), Fury sends in Natasha Romanoff to pose as an assistant to and assess Stark to see if he is worth recruiting for the Initiative and helps Stark deal with his palladium illness and Ivan Vanko. At the end, he hires him as a consultant for the Initiative.


title: Nick Fury (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: In the post-credits scene for "Thor" (2011), Fury enlists Dr. Erik Selvig’s help to study the Tesseract.


title: Nick Fury (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: In "The Avengers" (2012), Fury is present with Clint Barton when Loki arrives on Earth to take the Tesseract to lead the Chitauri invasion. After this, he, Phil Coulson, and Maria Hill decide to start the Initiative. Fury brings Romanoff, Rogers, Stark, Bruce Banner, Thor, and Barton together to form the Avengers. Noting that he does more in "The Avengers" than in any of the previous films, Jackson said, "You don't have to wait until the end of the movie to see me". About the role, Jackson said, "It's always good to play somebody [who] is a positive in society as opposed to somebody who is a negative. . . I tried to make him as honest to the story and as honest to what real-life would seem." Jackson compared the character to Ordell Robbie in "Jackie Brown", calling him "a nice guy to hang out with. You just don't want to cross him". Jackson earned $4–6 million for the film.


title: Nick Fury (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: In 2013 and 2014, Fury appeared in two episodes of the MCU TV series, "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.", "0-8-4" (2013) and "Beginning of the End" (2014). In "0-8-4", Fury appears at the end to scold Coulson over damage caused to a S.H.I.E.L.D. plane during a fight, and expresses his doubts over the loyalty of Skye. In June 2013, Jackson expressed interest in appearing in the show as Fury, which led to his cameo appearance at the end of this episode. Executive producer Jeph Loeb said "There were obviously a number of places that we thought Nick Fury would have a big impact on the show, but the more we talked about it, [the more we wanted] to get him in very early, so that it would kind of christen the show, legitimize it in its own way". It was a challenge for the showrunners to keep Jackson's cameo a surprise due to "this age of tweets and spoilers".


title: Nick Fury (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: In "" (2014), an attempt is made on Fury's life by Hydra, which is revealed to have taken over S.H.I.E.L.D. Fury fakes his death and, once Hydra's plan to control the world is foiled with the help of Rogers, Romanoff, and Sam Wilson, heads to Eastern Europe to hunt down the remaining Hydra cells. Regarding Fury's questionable code of ethics displayed, Jackson said, "Almost everything that comes out of Nick Fury's mouth is a lie in some sense. He has to ask, is he even lying to himself, too? He has a very good idea of what's going on but his paranoia keeps him from believing some of it." Jackson added, "You see Nick Fury the office guy, him going about the day-to-day work of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the politics as opposed to that other stuff. It's great to have him dealing with Captain America in terms of being able to speak to him soldier to soldier and try to explain to him how the world has changed in another way while he was frozen in time. Some of the people who used to be our enemies are now our allies—him trying to figure out, 'Well, how do we trust those guys?' or 'How do we trust the guys that you didn't trust who don't trust you?' And explaining to him that the black and white of good guys/bad guys has now turned into this gray area." McFeely said, "Fury represents an obstacle for Steve in some ways. They don't always agree on how S.H.I.E.L.D. ought to be used." The writers gave Fury a more prominent role in "The Winter Soldier", since within a plot featuring S.H.I.E.L.D. being dismantled, Fury would "take the brunt of it". They also intended on depicting a character that had so far been depicted as a self-assured, commanding man as vulnerable, to enhance the sense of danger in the Hydra conspiracy.


title: Nick Fury (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: Fury appears in the "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." first season finale, "Beginning of the End", which deals with the aftermath of the events of "Winter Soldier".


title: Nick Fury (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: In "" (2015), Fury shows up on Barton's homestead to help and motivate the team to formulate a plan to stop Ultron from destroying humanity. He and other former agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. use a helicarrier provided to them by Coulson in the final battle against Ultron. Later, he helps get things running at the new Avengers Compound. Jackson described the role as a cameo, saying, "I'm just kind of passing by there ... Because, it's another one of those 'people who have powers fighting people who have powers'. That's why I didn't get to New York in "The Avengers". There's not a lot I could do except shoot a gun."


title: Nick Fury (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: In the post-credits scene of "" (2018), Fury and Hill discuss the battle in Wakanda and Stark's current status. When Fury begins disintegrating from the Blip, he uses a modified pager to send a distress signal.


title: Nick Fury (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: In "Captain Marvel" (2019), which is set in 1995, a younger Fury appears and he is still a low-level bureaucrat. Fury appears without his signature eye patch. Feige explained that Danvers is the first superhero that Fury has come across, which sets him on a path to his role working with heroes in later-set MCU films. Jackson described Fury at this point as a desk jockey, who has not yet become cynical towards bureaucracy and who learns in the film that there are superpowered beings who could help S.H.I.E.L.D. Towards the end, Fury loses sight in his left eye after being scratched by the Flerken/cat Goose, and is inspired to create the Avengers Initiative by Danvers' example, naming the protocol after her old callsign. Jackson added that trusting Danvers plays a key role in his development, as they become "compatriots" throughout the film. Jackson was digitally de-aged by 25 years, the first time Marvel has done this for an entire film.


title: Nick Fury (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: In the post-credits scene of "" (2019), Fury takes a vacation in space on a Skrull spaceship, having recruited Talos and Soren to replace him and Hill and give Stark's glasses to Peter Parker.


title: Nick Fury (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: In August 2020, actor Jeff Ward revealed that "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." series writer DJ Doyle had pitched a post-credits scene for the "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." series finale that was not shot, that featured Ward's character Deke Shaw sitting in a S.H.I.E.L.D. office in the alternate timeline he ends the series trapped in, serving as the organization's Director and wearing an eye patch. Ward added, since it was unclear if Nick Fury was still alive in the alternate timeline, Deke would have worn it because it felt like "a power and cool thing", with Deke ultimately serving as a partial adaptation of the original version of the character.


title: Nick Fury (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: Jackson has portrayed the character in two video game products. Jackson reprised his role as Fury in the 2010 video game adaptation of "Iron Man 2", and again in the 2014 video game "" and its 2015 sequel, "Disney Infinity 3.0".


title: Nick Fury (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: Fury will return in the live action series "Secret Invasion" and in the film "The Marvels" (both 2023).


title: Nick Fury (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: Nicholas Joseph Fury was born in Huntsville, Alabama on 7 April 1950. He joined the United States Army after graduating from high school, eventually becoming a Colonel. He later left the army to join the Central Intelligence Agency, where he served as a spy during the Cold War. He was eventually recruited to the covert espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D.


title: Nick Fury (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: In 1995, Kree Empire Starforce member Vers crash-lands in Los Angeles, drawing S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Fury and Phil Coulson to investigate. In an ensuing Skrull attack, Fury kills a Skrull impersonating Coulson. Skrull commander Talos, disguised as Fury's boss Keller, orders Fury to work with Vers and keep tabs on her. Vers, escaping capture by the Skrull, uses memories they have extracted to bring Fury to the Project Pegasus installation at a U.S. Air Force base. They discover Vers was Carol Danvers, a pilot presumed to have died in 1989 while testing an experimental jet engine designed by Dr. Wendy Lawson, whom Vers recognizes as a woman from her nightmares. After Fury informs S.H.I.E.L.D. of their location, a team led by Talos disguised as Keller arrives. Fury discovers Talos's ruse and helps Vers escape in a quadjet with Lawson's stowaway cat Goose. They fly to Louisiana to meet former pilot Maria Rambeau, the last person to see Vers and Lawson alive. Later, Danvers, Talos, Fury, and Rambeau locate Lawson's cloaked laboratory orbiting Earth, where Lawson hid several Skrulls, including Talos's family, and the Tesseract, the power source of Lawson's engine. Danvers is captured by Starforce, and in the subsequent battle, Fury retrieves Goose, who is revealed to be an alien Flerken. Goose swallows the Tesseract and scratches Fury's face, blinding his left eye. Danvers departs to help the Skrulls find a new homeworld, leaving Fury a modified pager to contact her in an emergency. Meanwhile, Fury drafts an initiative to locate heroes like Danvers, naming it after her Air Force call sign, "Avenger".


title: Nick Fury (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: Later, Fury became the Deputy Chief of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Bogotá station, where he "proved his leadership mettle" by engineering the rescue of hostages captured by Colombian rebels at the country's embassy, including the daughter of then-S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Alexander Pierce, prompting Pierce to make him director of S.H.I.E.L.D., while Pierce joined the World Security Council.


title: Nick Fury (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: Six months later in 2011, Fury approaches Stark at Randy's Donuts, revealing that Stark's recently acquired new assistant "Natalie Rushman" is S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Natasha Romanoff and that his father Howard was a S.H.I.E.L.D. founder whom Fury knew personally. Fury explains that Vanko's father Anton and Howard invented the arc reactor together, but when Anton tried to sell it, Howard had him deported. Fury gives Stark some of his father's old material, enabling Stark to synthesize a new element for his arc reactor that ends his palladium dependency. Later, Fury informs Stark that because of his difficult personality, S.H.I.E.L.D. intends to use him only as a consultant.


title: Nick Fury (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: Shortly before the Battle of New York in 2012, Fury enlists Dr. Erik Selvig to study the Tesseract. In New York City, he oversees the reintroduction of Steve Rogers into society. Fury is present with his colleague and friend Maria Hill at the S.H.I.E.L.D. facility when Loki arrives to steal the Tesseract and take control of Agent Clint Barton and Selvig. Fury calls in Romanoff, Stark, Rogers, and Bruce Banner to fight Loki. Later, Fury uses Coulson's death to motivate the Avengers, now including Thor, to work as a team, leading to their stand against Loki and the invading Chitauri army in New York City. When the World Security Council authorizes the nuclear bombing of the city to defeat the invasion, Fury uses a rocket launcher to take out one of the two jets launching for that mission, but is too late to stop the second, which fires a missile that is intercepted by Stark.


title: Nick Fury (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: After Loki's defeat, Fury authorizes the use of alien technology to resurrect Coulson from death and, in response to the invasion, convinces the Council that the world needs "a quantum surge in threat analysis".


title: Nick Fury (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: In 2014, Fury trains Rogers to be a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and proposes Project Insight: three S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarriers armed with spy satellite guided guns, designed to preemptively eliminate threats. The Helicarriers are capable of continuous suborbital flight, due to new Repulsor engines proposed by Stark, their guns can kill 1,000 targets per minute, and the satellites, launched from the "Lemurian Star", a S.H.I.E.L.D. vessel, can read a target's DNA anywhere in the world. However, when the project is a few weeks away from completion, Fury grows suspicious about Insight. He hires an Algerian mercenary, Georges Batroc, to hijack the "Star" as cover to allow Romanoff onto the ship with Rogers to retrieve data regarding Insight. Though Romanoff is successful, Fury is unable to decrypt the data, increasing his suspicions and forcing him to convince Pierce to delay the project. Shortly afterwards, an attempt is made on Fury's life by Hydra, which is revealed to have taken over S.H.I.E.L.D. Fury is apparently killed by their most dangerous assassin, the Winter Soldier, but he is revealed to have faked his death using Tetrodotoxin B, a drug designed by Banner that was capable of slowing down the heart to 1 beat per minute. Rogers, Sam Wilson, and Romanoff are taken by Hill to see him alive and in a hidden bunker. After it is revealed that Pierce is working for Hydra, Fury reappears to override Hydra's control of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s computer systems, forcing Pierce to unlock S.H.I.E.L.D's database so Romanoff can leak classified information, exposing Hydra to the public. Fury reveals that although Pierce had deleted Fury's retinal scan from the system, Fury had a backup scan of his destroyed other eye. He then tells Rogers, Wilson, and Romanoff that he is to go into hiding in Europe to hunt down more Hydra cells.


title: Nick Fury (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: Once Hydra's plan to control the world is foiled, Fury appears to assist S.H.I.E.L.D. agents in the aftermath of those events, rescuing agents Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons from drowning in the ocean and providing Agent Coulson with the Destroyer gun to take out enemy soldiers, before they confront John Garrett and Deathlok. In the aftermath, Coulson vaporizes Garrett and criticizes Fury for using GH325 to revive him. Fury responds that he values Coulson as much as any Avenger, because he represents the heart and moral center of S.H.I.E.L.D., and declares Coulson the new director of S.H.I.E.L.D., tasking him with rebuilding the organization from scratch, and equips him with a 'toolbox' containing useful data.


title: Nick Fury (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: In 2015, Fury arrives at Barton's home to help and motivate Stark, Rogers, Romanoff, Banner, and Barton to formulate a plan to stop Ultron. He, Hill, and other former agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and James Rhodes use the original helicarrier to help the Avengers in Sokovia during the final battle against Ultron. Afterwards, he oversees the Avengers transition into the new Avengers Compound.


title: Nick Fury (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: Coulson subsequently reveals to Gonzalez and his board that he and Fury had discovered that the original helicarrier survived HYDRA's attack and repaired it as a failsafe in case of an emergency.


title: Nick Fury (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: In 2018, Fury and Hill are travelling in Atlanta discussing the Avengers' whereabouts when Hill suddenly disintegrates due to the Blip, prompting Fury to use his pager to summon Danvers, before he too disintegrates.


title: Nick Fury (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: In 2023, Fury is restored to life and attends Stark's funeral, reuniting with Danvers. Some time later, he appoints Talos and Soren to impersonate him and Hill while he takes a vacation in space on a Skrull ship.


title: Nick Fury (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: In 2024, Fury is informed by Talos via phone call that Peter Parker received Tony Stark's glasses. Talos then asked Fury to come back to Earth, as people were beginning to ask what happened to the Avengers. Still in space, Fury disconnects the call.


title: Nick Fury (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: Several alternate versions of Nick Fury appear in the animated series "What If...?", with Jackson reprising his role.


title: Nick Fury (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: In an alternate 2012, Fury and Barton meet Captain Carter after she arrives through a portal opened by the Tesseract.


title: Nick Fury (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: In an alternate 2010, Fury witnesses Stark, Barton, Thor, and Romanoff's deaths during his Avengers Initiative recruitment campaign. He eventually deduces that their murders were instigated by Hank Pym and temporarily allies with Loki to confront him in San Francisco. After Pym is defeated, Loki quickly subjugates the planet and becomes its ruler, prompting Fury to summon Danvers and awaken Rogers.


title: Nick Fury (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: Sometime later, Fury leads a resistance movement against Loki and his army with a new Avengers team composed of Rogers and Danvers. As they fight on the Helicarrier, Fury watches as a Romanoff from another universe appears and subdues Loki with his Scepter. Despite acknowledging that she is not the Romanoff he knows, Fury praises her for sharing the same spirit and recruits her into the Avengers.


title: Nick Fury (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: In an alternate timeline, Fury goes to Las Vegas to confront Thor regarding his out-of-control intergalactic party, but is accidentally knocked out by Korg during one of his cannonballs and falls into a coma, forcing Maria Hill to take over as acting director of S.H.I.E.L.D.


title: Nick Fury (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: In a generally positive review of "The Avengers", Associated Press reviewer Christy Lemire wrote that "[t]he no-nonsense Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), the head of S.H.I.E.L.D.—which had been entrusted with the safety of [the Tesseract]—springs into action to reacquire it by assembling a dream team of superheroes and other sundry bad-asses with specialized skills." Reviewing "The Winter Soldier", Todd McCarthy of "The Hollywood Reporter" said that "from a dramatic point of view, the greatest interest lies with Jackson and Redford, two great veterans whose presence lends weight to the fantastical proceedings and whose characters take some interesting twists and turns before it's all over." Chris E. Hayne of "GameSpot" ranked Fury 19th in their "38 Marvel Cinematic Universe Superheroes" list, writing, "There is no Avengers without Nick Fury. The former director of SHIELD started the Avenger initiative and at this point we know he's out there in space somewhere, just waiting for the change to wind up back on earth."


title: Nick Fury (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: Fury was noted to have been "largely missing in Phase Three of the Marvel Cinematic Universe", with both Jackson and fans of the franchise being "bummed that Fury was left out of "Civil War" and "Black Panther"", though he later had a substantial role in "Captain Marvel". Writing for "Variety", Owen Gleiberman said of the latter film that the "digitally de-aged Samuel L. Jackson" in "Captain Marvel" was "done a surprising favor by the visual trickery. He seems different than usual—lighter and perkier."


title: Nick Fury (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

text: honorary Oscar in 2021, he remarked in an interview with the Los Angeles Times that he prefers the role over ones in what he described as “statue chasing movies.”


title: Jayme Lawson

text: After graduating Juilliard School in May 2019, Lawson landed her first film role in the 2020 film "Farewell Amor" as Sylvia. In 2019, she gained attention when she was cast in the film "The Batman" (2022) as Bella Reál, a mayoral candidate for Gotham City. In January 2021, she was cast as a young Michelle Obama in the television series "The First Lady" (2022). In October 2021, she was confirmed to appear in the upcoming film "Till" (2022) as Myrlie Evers.


title: Nippon BS Broadcasting

text: BS11 gives high priority to news programs, sports, Korean drama, TV Show, anime including late night anime and 3D television programs.


title: Talvar (film)

text: Talvar (), released internationally as Guilty, is a 2015 Indian Hindi-language thriller drama film directed by Meghna Gulzar and written by Vishal Bhardwaj. Produced by Bhardwaj and Vineet Jain, the film is based on the 2008 Noida double murder case involving a teenage girl and her family's servant. Starring Irrfan Khan, Konkona Sen Sharma and Neeraj Kabi, the film follows the investigation of a case from three different perspectives in which her parents are either guilty or innocent of the murder charges by the police investigation, the first Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe and an investigation by a different CBI team.


title: Talvar (film)

text: It was conceived by Bhardwaj after he met some of the police officials who were investigating the case. He later met Meghna, and expressed his desire to produce a film with her; they then came up with the idea of making a film about the real-life case. They researched the case for two years and found several contradictions, with each view having some validity. Bhardwaj's script was an example of the Rashomon effect. Pankaj Kumar was the film's director of photography, and A. Sreekar Prasad was its editor.


title: Talvar (film)

text: "Talvar" premiered at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival in the special-presentation section, and was screened at the 2015 BFI London Film Festival and the Busan International Film Festival. It was released theatrically in India on 2 October 2015 to mostly-positive reviews, with particular praise for its writing and performances; however, many of the critics felt that the film was very biased towards the parents. The film was a moderate box-office success, grossing . Bhardwaj received the Best Adapted Screenplay Award for "Talvar" at the 63rd National Film Awards, and Prasad received the Award for Best Editing at the 61st Filmfare Awards.


title: Talvar (film)

text: Fourteen-year-old Shruti Tandon has been found dead at her home in Sameer Vihar in Noida by her parents, Ramesh and Nutan, during the night of 15–16 March 2008. The local police initially look for Khempal, the missing servant but his decomposed body is later found on the terrace of the building where the Tandons live. The police question Kanhaiya, Khempal's close friend and the Tandons' assistant who says that Khempal might have been involved in a sexual relationship with Shruti. They begin to suspect the Tandons, and declare the murders a clear case of honour killing.


title: Talvar (film)

text: On 25 March, the Noida police arrest Ramesh for the murders. The police chief organises a press conference, at which he says that Ramesh murdered Shruti and Khempal after he found them in a compromising position attributing this to honour killing. The victim blaming of Shruti leads to public outrage, and the case is given to Joint Director Ashwin Kumar of the Central Department of Investigation (CDI) and ACP Vedant. Kumar is contemptuous of the sloppy first responders, who botched the initial crime-scene investigation. He believes that the parents are innocent, and methodically builds a case against the father's resentful assistant. His team uses narco tests in their attempt to prove that the assistant (and two accomplices) committed the murders.


title: Talvar (film)

text: Kumar exonerates the parents on 22 June 2008, and Ramesh is released from jail. As Kumar is about to conclude his investigation, his senior officer retires and is replaced by a new CDI chief. ACP Vedant, eager to receive a promotion, begins working against Kumar. This leads to an altercation between the two officers, which results in Kumar's suspension. The CDI gives the case to a new investigative team led by Kumar's former superior, Paul, who concludes that the parents committed the murders. Both investigative teams, with opposing hypotheses, make their cases to the CDI chief. The CDI files a closure report in the Ghaziabad court naming the parents as prime suspects, but the evidence is insufficient to prosecute. The Tandons file a protest plea against the CDI report. The judge rejects the closure report, and accuses the parents in the case. The trial begins on 8 June 2012, and the Tandons are convicted of the murders several months later.


title: Talvar (film)

text: Filmmaker and composer Vishal Bhardwaj was impressed by director Meghna Gulzar after seeing the 2007 anthology film, "Dus Kahaniyaan" (in which she directed one segment), and expressed his wish to produce a film with her. Meghna said that she was "beginning to wonder what to do next" when she had the conversation with Bhardwaj, and they came up with the idea of making a film about the 2008 Noida double murder case. Bhardwaj and Meghna researched the case for nearly two years and found "several bizarre contradictions and each view had their own conviction". They decided to present three perspectives in the story: the police investigation, the first CBI probe and an investigation by a different CBI team. Bhardwaj and Meghna did not yet obtain permission from the Talwar family for the film. Meghna was fascinated by the idea of exploring the "unfinished-ness" of the case. In January 2015, it was announced that the Talwar couple (who were in prison) had approved the film. Bhardwaj, who wrote and produced the film, said that he was influenced by the Rashomon effect (in which the same event is given different interpretations by the individuals involved). According to Meghna, she tried to keep the narrative as objective as possible to let the viewer interpret it on their own.


title: Talvar (film)

text: The names of individuals and organisations were changed in the film to avoid legal issues. At a screening, lawyer and politician Ram Jethmalani, said that the trial depicted in the film was inaccurate. Meghna responded, "[The film] is more about the investigation than about the trial. In fact, the trial is not part of the film at all. It tracks the many investigations." The first draft of the screenplay was written in a year, and it took more time to convince those involved in the investigation to participate. Aarushi's aunt, Vandana Talwar (who began a campaign to prove the parents' innocence), provided some material to Bhardwaj. Some of the documents provided to Bhardwaj were firsthand accounts by Rajesh and Nupur Talwar. Earlier entitled "Nyodda", the film was renamed "Talvar". The title was initially registered with Pritish Nandy Communications (PNC), but was purchased by Bhardwaj. PNC was the film's initial co-producer, but the company withdrew from the project. About the film's title, Meghna said that it referred to justice: ""Talvar" alludes to the sword that is held in the hand of the lady of justice." She also said that the film would serve its purpose if it begins a debate about re-examining the case.


title: Talvar (film)

text: Bhardwaj was driven to write the script after an encounter with the case's first investigating officer: "There was a kind of black humour that was coming out of this tragedy. I am a great fan of "Rashomon". I found the best way to write the script in it". He was troubled by the fact that people talked about Aarushi's death, but paid little attention to her parents. Meghna and Bhardwaj began researching the case in mid-2012, during the trial. Bhardwaj said that although he took "some liberties with the script", he did not meddle with the story. About the film's purpose, Meghna said that a number of people "knew something about the case, but they didn't know everything about it or remember it". She said that the film brings out the different aspects of the case. Research continued while the film was being shot because of changes on the set or in a scene. Meghna obtained the Talwars' side of the story from a meeting with Rajesh Talwar's brother and sister-in-law, Dinesh Talwar and his wife Vandana; afterwards, she said that she "did not feel the need to meet the Talwars".


title: Talvar (film)

text: Alisha Parvin played Shruti Tandon, a role based on Arushi Talwar. Konkona Sen Sharma was approached by "Talvar" casting director, who told her about a role based on Nupur Talwar which attracted her. She said she enjoyed the script, and agreed to do the film after meeting Meghna. Sharma did not research her role (she felt that the script was "well researched"), and said that her character was about "portraying guilt and innocence according to perceptions." In November 2013, it was announced that Irrfan Khan was cast in the film. Khan did not know about the case in detail before the film. His character was based on CBI officer Arun Kumar, whom he met in preparation for the film, and he was the only actor approached to play the role. Khan agreed to do the film because he considered the story "near and frightening", and the film was not sensationalised: "It is an important case, and whatever you may think about the verdict, the film gives us a chance to look at our system and how different departments deal with a crisis." Neeraj Kabi, who played Aarushi's father (Rajesh Talwar) in the film, said: "You are making a film about people who are alive and are suffering, you have to be extremely sensitive". Tabu made a three-minute appearance in the film as Khan's wife.


title: Talvar (film)

text: Principal photography began a year later (in June 2014) on location in Mumbai, Delhi and Noida, and lasted almost a year. According to Meghna, filming was a "hugely draining" experience. The script was based on material in the public domain, and she called it her "most fragile film". Several scenes were filmed in a house identical to the Talwars', a few blocks away. Meghna said that the most difficult part for her was filming the murder scenes; although there were different weapons and different killers from different perspectives, the "one[s] to die w[ere] always the girl and the man, which did not change". Pankaj Kumar was "Talvar" director of photography, and A. Sreekar Prasad edited the film.


title: Talvar (film)

text: The film's music was composed by Vishal Bhardwaj, with lyrics by Gulzar. The album consisted of four songs, with vocals by Arooj Aftab, Rekha Bhardwaj, Sukhwinder Singh and Arijit Singh. It was released on 16 September 2015 on the T-Series label. The score was composed by Ketan Sodha.


title: Talvar (film)

text: The album received generally-positive reviews. Mohar Basu of "The Times of India" wrote, "With Gulzar saab's work at the pen joining Vishal's formidable sense of melody, "Talvar's" album [has] a heady quality". Joginder Tuteja of Bollywood Hungama said that the film "has a situational soundtrack which has a couple of heartfelt numbers connecting one to the film's theme", praising "Insaaf" for its "uniqueness quotient" and the "haunting appeal". Ruchi Kaushal wrote that "Zinda Hai" "painfully highlights the agony of the parents who have lost their daughter in a twin murder case, for which they themselves are accused."


title: Talvar (film)

text: "Talvar" premiered under the title "Guilty" at 2015 Toronto International Film Festival's special presentation on 14 September 2015, and was screened at the 2015 BFI London Film Festival and the Busan International Film Festival. The film's trailer was released on 22 August 2015, followed by two posters featuring Lady Justice and Khan. The film was released on 625 screens throughout India on 2 October 2015. Paid previews were organized a day before its public release. A special screening for celebrities was presented several days after its release. "Talvar", the second 2015 film based on the case (the first was "Rahasya"), was released on DVD on 24 November 2015 and is also available on Netflix.


title: Talvar (film)

text: "Talvar" received a positive critical reception. Rajyasree Sen of Firstpost called the film a "must see whodunnit" with a "gritty documentary feel". Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV praised its writing and performances, calling it a "gripping, genre-defying and non-exploitative cinematic examination" of the murder case. Srijana Mitra Das of "The Times of India" wrote, " ... "Talvar" is super-sharp, a sword swipe at Bollywood's song-and-dance, mehendi-fuelled escapism." Rajeev Masand called the film a "gripping, then baffling, and ultimately disturbing account" of the murder, "deliberately unsentimental and melodrama-free". Sneha May Francis of "Emirates 24/7" praised Sharma and Kabi, expressing that they "play the parents impressively, with restrained perfection".


title: Talvar (film)

text: Shilpa Jamkhandikar of Reuters noted that it is a "well-constructed, gripping film", but the filmmakers' bias about the case left a "bitter aftertaste". Nandini Ramnath of Scroll.in felt the film was a "slickly produced, tightly written and beautifully performed true crime documentary"; she also called "Talvar" a "legal petition disguised as a movie", whose sole purpose was to request the authorities to reconsider the case. Aseem Chhabra of Rediff.com observed: "very uncomfortable film to watch": "A good film should be able to get into our skin, challenge us, shake us up and "Talvar" does all of that." Jai Arjun Singh praising Khan's performance, said that his character's "commitment and comic timing" were rare in Hindi films.


title: Talvar (film)

text: Namrata Joshi of "Outlook" described its "solid writing, sharp dialogue and the spot-on performances" as the strengths. She praised its humour in the face of a serious investigation, which gave the film a "nice touch". Sarit Ray of "Hindustan Times" mentioned "Talvar" "shakes you up and forces you to think". He praised the "believable and flawed" character of Ashwini, who "drinks on the sly, out of bottles wrapped in paper bags, and distractedly plays Snakes on his phone while a parent sobs" instead of being a "punchline-spewing hero figure". Shubhra Gupta of "The Indian Express" thought that it was "a brave film that devastates, and despite its flaws, makes for a compelling watch."


title: Talvar (film)

text: Raja Sen wrote in his review: "A tightly-coiled procedural made with such dryness that it seems, in parts, documentarian – resembling a reenactment more than a feature film". Deepanjana Pal said that "Talvar" was more of a "much-needed social document than a film", and its "direction lacks imagination". Anuj Kumar of "The Hindu" reviewed, "Its intentions might be blunt but as a piece of cinema Talvar is a sharp procedural." Uday Bhatia of "Mint" praised its performances and Bhardwaj's screenplay: "A taut film on the Noida double homicide, built around an exceptional screenplay". According to Sonia Chopra of Sify, the film was a "perfect balance of sobriety and cruelly dark humour."


title: Talvar (film)

text: Among overseas reviewers, Joe Leydon of "Variety" labelled the screenplay "solidly constructed" and the film's narrative flow "satisfyingly brisk". J. Hurtado of Screen Anarchy wrote, ""Talvar" makes for gripping, infuriating, and at times illuminating viewing, and it's a film that will translate just as well to those ignorant with the case as to those intimately involved." Deborah Young of "The Hollywood Reporter" gave the film a positive review, naming it "gripping from start to finish." Rachel Saltz of "The New York Times" noted Khan's performance as the "movie's best weapon": "Playing a familiar character type, the world-weary detective, he gives a performance, full of small, sly details, that doesn't seem familiar at all."


title: Talvar (film)

text: "Talvar" was filmed on a budget of . Released with "Singh Is Bliing" and "Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon", the film grossed at the box office and earned from the paid preview before its theatrical release. It earned and on Saturday and Sunday, respectively, for a total of on its opening weekend. "Talvar" grossed during its first ten days and, by the end of its theatrical run, earned .


title: Talvar (film)

text: At the 63rd National Film Awards, Bhardwaj received the Best Adapted Screenplay Award and Sanjay Kurian the Best Audiography award. At the 61st Filmfare Awards, A. Sreekar Prasad received the Best Editing award and Shajith Koyeri the Best Sound Design award.


title: America's Got Talent: The Champions

text: America's Got Talent: The Champions (often abbreviated as AGT: The Champions or simply AGTC) is a spin-off of "America's Got Talent" (also known as "AGT"), a televised American talent show competition, created by Simon Cowell. The program is produced by Fremantle for the NBC television network, and first premiered on January 7, 2019. The program functions similar to "AGT", but involves a variety of participants taken from across both "AGT" and the "Got Talent" franchise – including winners, finalists, live round participants and other notable entries – who compete against each other to secure a place in a grand final, in which the winner receives a cash prize and the title of America's chosen "World Champion" within "Got Talent".


title: America's Got Talent: The Champions

text: The spin-off was hosted by Terry Crews, joined by a panel of judges – for season two, consisting of "America's Got Talent" judges Cowell, Heidi Klum, and Howie Mandel, and "Britain's Got Talent" judge Alesha Dixon. Unlike the standard format for any edition of "Got Talent", "The Champions" contest was not held live – votes for the best act were conducted under a different voting system, and episodes were pre-recorded and aired a few months after the competition has ended. Following the first season, NBC renewed the spin-off for a second season that premiered on January 6, 2020.


title: America's Got Talent: The Champions

text: NBC did not renew "The Champions" for a third season. However, in October 2022, the network ordered a similar spin-off known as "America's Got Talent: All-Stars", to premiere in 2023.


title: America's Got Talent: The Champions

text: Unlike the format and operations of the main competition of "America's Got Talent", including the main rounds being aired live for each season, "The Champions" operates on a different arrangement. Participants for the competition are chosen by production staff and researchers from those who are most notable within the history of "AGT" and the "Got Talent" franchise altogether – those selected with an invite to participate in the contest range from winners, runner-ups and finalists, to the best and most notable acts in the franchise. Once all places are confirmed as filled – each participant must confirm that they are eligible for participation without anything likely to obstruct their involvement – work begins on the competition itself, though unlike the main program, the competition's individual stages are filmed, before being edited by the production staff for broadcast at a later date. Filming of the competition takes place once the first preliminary is ready to be conducted.


title: America's Got Talent: The Champions

text: The contest is held within a fixed venue, with all the participants divided into five groups of ten performers, with each group instructed to be at the venue on a specific date to begin their part in the competition in a preliminary round. The preliminary round functions on a mix of formats and arrangements for judges' audition and live rounds, in that each participant is held within a waiting area, from where they can watch the performance of those before and after them, before being called out to the venue's main stage to conduct a new performance for the competition; a montage sequence, consisting of their background and performance in the respective edition of "Got Talent", is crafted by production staff, who edit it into the episode of the preliminary round they are performing in. As with the main program, the judges provide feedback on a performance once it is completed, and can use buzzers to denote an act that they do not find interesting, effectively stopping a performance when all buzzers are used. The host remains in the wings, and is filmed at times to provide commentary on the participant's performance for the episode covering the round. Once all participants in a round have completed their performance, an off-stage vote is conducted with a panel of 50 voters, dubbed the "Superfan" panel, who determine which of the ten secures a place in the next stage. Alongside the vote, participants may also advance through receiving a Golden Buzzer from one of the judges or the host, though while the rule for its use remain applicable in the competition, it was amended for "The Champions" with a condition – one Golden Buzzer can be used in each preliminary round; if three of the judges and the host haven't used it in a round, and the host should use it, then the judges yet to use it must wait for the next round to do so. A Wild Card may also be chosen by the judges for the final, once all preliminaries are completed, from any participant eliminated in these rounds. In the finals, the Superfan panel ultimately decide who reach the grand-final, and which of the grand-finalists wins the competition.


title: America's Got Talent: The Champions

text: In the first season, the competition's rules allowed for around fifty participants to compete in "The Champions". The format of the program was set around a series of preliminaries, in which a "Superfan" vote, made by a select panel of voters, and the Golden Buzzer, determined who moved on to the next stage; a WildCard vote by the judges also allowed through one more participant for the next stage. The remainder of the contest was then divided between a final, and a grand-final. By the second season, the format was changed. The number of participants was reduced to forty, with the rules of the competition modified so that each preliminary would see around three acts being advanced into a Semi-finals round – two from the Superfan Vote, and the third voted for by the judges amongst the acts placed in 3rd, 4th and 5th respectively – with those reaching the semi-final competing for six places in the Grand-final, alongside those who had advanced into it with the Golden Buzzer.


title: America's Got Talent: The Champions

text: In May 2018, executive producer and "Got Talent" creator Simon Cowell met with executives of NBC to propose the idea of a spin-off competition for the franchise. Cowell had conceived of the idea for a global competition, based on the talent that the franchise had produced across the years from its various international editions, including the American original, and suggested that the competition incorporate some of the most memorable and notable participants from across "Got Talent"s history competing against each other within a venue in the United States, where the franchise originated from. Executives favored the idea greatly, due to the success of "America's Got Talent", and opened discussions on the format of the broadcast for the spin-off, which they agreed to have the subtitle of ""The Champions"". The decision was for the contest to be held between September and October that year, but with the program pre-recorded – filming would take place throughout the competition, and episodes of all stages would be edited before their broadcast as part of the network's 2018/2019 winter schedule, thus ensuring those involved in the spin-off, both host and judges, would not have any conflicting work schedules to prevent their participation on "The Champions". The new spin-off soon gained approval for production, and its creation was announced on May 12, 2018.


title: America's Got Talent: The Champions

text: As part of the new production, Cowell decided that, alongside himself, the judges from "America's Got Talent"s thirteenth season would be involved in the spin-off competition – Mel B was the first to announce her involvement on July 27, with Heidi Klum and Howie Mandel revealed a month later. However, the main program's host Tyra Banks could not be involved in the spin-off; media outlets had begun speculating that her upcoming work schedule after the thirteenth season would likely lead to her leaving "America's Got Talent", which later proved correct in the following months. Instead, Cowell and the producers sought another television personality to take on the role, and chose actor Terry Crews to be the host of "The Champions".


title: America's Got Talent: The Champions

text: The program proved popular following its broadcast, with NBC later commissioning "The Champions" for a second season. On September 26, 2019, Crews, Cowell, Mandel and Klum were revealed as returning for the new season, with singer and "Britain's Got Talent" judge Alesha Dixon replacing Mel B, after she had left "America's Got Talent" prior to the fourteenth season.


title: America's Got Talent: The Champions

text: Around 50 participants from across the "Got Talent" franchise, ranging from winners, live round participants – both quarter-finalists (where applicable) and semi-finalists – and other notable acts, participated during "The Champions" contest in 2019, with each of the contest's preliminaries featuring around 10 participants and around 12 of these securing a place within the finals – five from "Golden Buzzers", five from public votes, and two chosen as Wildcards. The winner for the season was Shin Lim, who appeared and also won the thirteenth season of "America's Got Talent".


title: America's Got Talent: The Champions

text: Around 40 participants from across the "Got Talent" franchise, ranging from winners, live round participants – quarter-finalists (where applicable), semi-finalists and finalists – and other notable acts, will participate during "The Champions" contest in 2020, with each of the contest's preliminaries featuring around 10 participants. While those receiving a golden buzzer in each preliminary would secure an automatic place in the grand-final, remaining places would be competed for in two semi-finals, each consisting of the two highest voted in each preliminary, along with a third in each voted for by the judges from amongst those placing 3rd, 4th and 5th respectively in the audience vote. The Acrobatic Dance Group V.Unbeatable from 14th season of America's Got Talent were this season's winners.


title: Tripura Sundari

text: Tripura Sundari (Sanskrit: त्रिपुरा सुन्दरी, IAST: Tripura Sundarī), also known as Rajarajeshwari, Shodashi, Kamakshi, and Lalita is a Hindu goddess, worshipped as a principal aspect of supreme goddess Mahadevi mainly venerated in Shaktism, the goddess-oriented sect of Hinduism. She is also a prominent Mahavidya. She is glorified in many Shakta texts, with "Lalita Sahasranama, Soundarya Lahari" being the most popular one. She is known as Adi Parashakti in Lalitopakhyana of Brahmanda Purana.


title: Tripura Sundari

text: According to the Srikula tradition in Shaktism, Tripura Sundari is the foremost of the Mahavidyas, the supreme divinity of Hinduism and also the primary goddess of Sri Vidya. The Tripura Upanishad places her as the ultimate Shakti (energy, power) of the universe. She is described as the supreme consciousness, ruling from above Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. Kinsley says, "In one instance she is said to be sitting on Shiva's lap in the Kameshwara form, the 'Lord of Desire'. In another case, she is depicted as growing from the Sri Chakra, the yantra of Tripura Sundari.


title: Tripura Sundari

text: The word Tripura (त्रिपुर ) means three cities or three worlds, Sundari (सुन्दरी) means beautiful woman. Tripura Sundari means the most beautiful woman in the three worlds. She is called Tripura because it is similar to the triangle (triangle) that symbolizes the yoni and forms her circle. She is also known as Tripura as her mantra has three clusters of letters. She is called Tripura because she is manifested in Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva as the creator, preserver and destroyer of the universe.


title: Tripura Sundari

text: Tripura Sundari is most often mentioned in the Lalitopakhyana of "Brahmanda Purana" and "Tripura Rahasya".


title: Tripura Sundari

text: The Tripura Upanishad places the goddess Tripura Sundari as the ultimate Shakti (energy, power) of the universe. She is described as the supreme consciousness, above Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.


title: Tripura Sundari

text: The Bahvricha Upanishad is notable for asserting that the Self (soul, Atman) is a Goddess who alone existed before the creation of the universe.


title: Tripura Sundari

text: According to the Patala Khanda of Padma purana and Narada Purana, God Krishna is the male form of the goddess Lalita.


title: Tripura Sundari

text: According to the Tripura Rahasya, only goddess Tripura Sundari existed before the beginning of the universe. She created the Trimurti and began the creation of the universe.


title: Tripura Sundari

text: I imagine of my goddess Bhavani, who has a color of the rising sun. Who has eyes which are waves of mercy, who has bow made of sweet cane, arrows made of soft flowers, and Aasha, Ankusha in her hands, and who is surrounded, by her devotees with powers great, as personification of the concept of “I”.


title: Tripura Sundari

text: Also details of her appearance are found in the famous hymn in her praise, the Lalita Sahasranama, where she is said to be,


title: Tripura Sundari

text: She is often depicted iconographically as a 16-year-old girl (hence the appellation "Shodashi") seated on a lotus that rests on the supine body of Sadashiva, which in turn lies on a throne whose legs are the gods Brahma, Vishnu, Isvara, and Rudra. In some cases, the lotus is growing out of Shiva's navel. In other more common cases, the lotus is grown directly from the Sri Chakra.


title: Tripura Sundari

text: The "Vamakeshvara tantra" says that Tripura-sundari dwells on the peaks of the Himalayas; is worshipped by sages and heavenly nymphs; has a body like pure crystal; wears a tiger skin, a snake as a garland around her neck, and her hair tied in a jata; holds a trident and drum; is decorated with jewels, flowers, and ashes; and has a large bull as a vehicle.


title: Tripura Sundari

text: The Saundarya Lahari and the Tantrasara describe her in detail from her hair to her feet. The "Tantrasara dhyana" mantra says that she is illuminated by the jewels of the crowns of Brahma and Visnu, which fell at her feet when they bowed down to worship her. Kinsley also says that "In Saundarya Lahari and Tantrasara she is not associated with Shiva in any obvious way as she is in other depictions".


title: Tripura Sundari

text: Vaishnavism traditions have a similar set of complementary parallels between Vishnu and Lakshmi. The Tantric Vaishnava Pancharatra texts associates Lalita with Lakshmi. Author Douglas Renfrew Brooks says, "Lalita, like the Pancharatra conception of Lakshmi, acts independently by taking over the cosmic functions of the male deity; yet she does not defy the god's wishes". Brooks also says, "In contrast to most Vaishnava conceptions of Lakshmi, however, Lalita destabilizes temporarily for the purpose of reasserting order".


title: Tripura Sundari

text: "Lalita Sahasranama" contains a thousand names of the Hindu mother goddess "Lalita". The names are organized in a hymn ("stotras"). It is the only "sahasranama" that does not repeat a single name. Further, in order to maintain the meter, other "sahasranamas" use the artifice of adding suffixes like tu, api, ca, and hi, which are conjunctions that do not necessarily add to the meaning of the name except in cases of interpretation. The "Lalita sahasranama" does not use any such auxiliary conjunctions and is unique in being an enumeration of holy names that meet the metrical, poetical and mystic requirements of a "sahasranama" by their order throughout the text.


title: Tripura Sundari

text: "Lalita Sahasranama" begins by calling the goddess "Shri Mata" (the great mother), "Shri Maharajni" (the great queen) and "Shrimat Simhasaneshwari" (the queen sitting on the lion-throne). In verses 2 and 3 of the "Sahasranama" she is described as a "Udayatbhanu Sahasrabha" (the one who is as bright as the rays of thousand rising suns), "Chaturbahu Samanvita" (the one who has four hands) and "Ragasvarupa Pashadhya" (the one who is holding the rope). "Chidagnikunda Sambhuta" (one who was born from the altar of the fire of consciousness) and "Devakarya samudyata" (one who manifested Herself for fulfilling the objects of the "devas") are among other names mentioned in the "sahasranama".