title: Audi RS 6

text: Official performance figures for the Avant: 4.6 seconds for the 0- sprint, 12.7 seconds 0-, and top speed is electronically limited to , with a factory option to de-restrict the top speed to . In standard form, CO emissions are rated at 333 g/km. The saloon reaches 0- in 4.5 seconds.


title: Audi RS 6

text: The C6 RS 6 Avant was launched in April 2008, and the four-door saloon/sedan was available from August 2008. Constructed from steel in a monocoque (unibody) design, the RS 6 uses lightweight aluminium for its front wings (fenders) and bonnet (hood).


title: Audi RS 6

text: Visually, the RS 6 differed from the related S6, having flared front and rear wheel arches (fenders), harking back to the original Audi Quattro, to allow for a wider wheel track. It also had no front fog lights to allow for larger frontal air intakes (for the two side-mounted intercoolers (SMICs), and additional radiators). The ten (per side) front light-emitting diode (LED) daytime running lights (DRLs) are located within the main headlamp housing on the RS 6 in order to increase the size of the air intakes, whereas similar LEDs (but five per side) on the related S6 are found adjacent to the fog lamps in the lower front bumper. LED lighting technology was also used in the rear lights. The RS 6 also included adaptive headlights, which swivel around corners in conjunction with steering wheel movements. The facelifted Audi A6, released as a 2009 model, received similar front and rear-end LED lighting styling to that pioneered on the RS 6.


title: Audi RS 6

text: The engine (parts code: 07L, identification code: BUH) of the RS6 was what Audi claimed to be the first all-aluminium alloy even firing 5.0-litre () 90° V10 twin-turbocharged ("biturbo"), Fuel Stratified Injection (FSI), with a dry sump lubrication system. This engine is related to the naturally-aspirated V10 found in the Audi R8, S6 and S8, but the RS 6's engine has around 400 unique parts.


title: Audi RS 6

text: The engine has four valves per cylinder, with chain-driven double overhead camshafts, and variable valve timing for both inlet and exhaust camshafts. Charged intake air is cooled by two side-mounted intercoolers (SMIC)s. The engine is controlled by two Bosch DI-Motronic MED 9.1.2 engine control units, which act as 'master' and 'slave': two ECUs are required due to the high revs the engine can achieve. It also uses mapped direct ignition system with ten individual direct-acting spark coils, an electronic drive by wire throttle (Bosch "E-Gas"), cylinder-selective knock control, and cylinder bank adaptive lambda control, utilising eight lambda sensors.


title: Audi RS 6

text: A total of seven radiators and four electric cooling fans are needed to cool the engine and related components under the aluminium bonnet of the RS6.


title: Audi RS 6

text: Drive output passes through a ZF 6HP28A six-speed tiptronic automatic transmission. The gear ratios are: 1st: 4.171, 2nd: 2.340, 3rd: 1.521, 4th: 1.143, 5th: 0.867, 6th: 0.691, with shortened shift times, with "Dynamic Shift Programme" (DSP) and "Sport" mode. It has paddle-shifts mounted behind the flat-bottomed steering wheel, similar in design to the Audi B7 RS 4. The gearbox is set by default, in conventional automatic mode, to delay up-changes during acceleration, and change down earlier to maximise engine braking. Downshifts in all modes of operation include the Powertrain Control Module electronic control unit (ECU) "blipping" the Bosch "E-Gas" drive by wire throttle, for smoother shift shifts. The hydraulic torque converter includes a lock-up function in all forward gears and is able to completely disconnect when the vehicle is stationary, thus saving fuel.


title: Audi RS 6

text: Like all Audi "RS" models, the RS 6 is fitted with Audi's 'trademark' Quattro permanent four-wheel drive as standard. This version of the RS 6 uses the latest asymmetric dynamic 40:60 front-to-rear default torque distribution from the Torsen T-3 'automatic torque biasing' (ATB) centre differential. This latest incarnation of the Torsen Quattro, first seen in the B7 RS 4, can automatically dynamically apportion up to a maximum 100% torque to the rear axle, or up to 80% to the front, dependent on traction conditions.


title: Audi RS 6

text: The front and rear final drives are conventional "open" differentials (ratio 3.317) and use the Audi "Electronic Differential Lock" (EDL). EDL is a part, or "function", of the Bosch ESP 8.0 Electronic Stability Programme, which also includes "Anti-Slip Regulation" (ASR) traction control system. EDL does not 'lock' the differential in a traditional sense, but uses electronics to compare the speeds of the two wheels on an axle, and brakes any wheel that is sensed to have lost traction (by rotating faster than the opposite wheel, beyond normally accepted deviations). This braking of a slipping wheel has the effect of transferring torque across the axle to the other wheel, which is assumed still to have traction.


title: Audi RS 6

text: Like the previous RS6 and the B7 RS 4, this generation of RS 6 includes Audi's "Dynamic Ride Control" (DRC) Sports suspension system. The system is mainly mechanical, using a pump to provide additional pressure in the diagonally linked dampers (shock absorber) during cornering, to counteract rolling and pitching. The system can dynamically adjust the stiffness at each damper constantly to maintain both a comfortable ride and a high grip. In this version, it has a three-way level control, selectable from the Multi Media Interface controls.


title: Audi RS 6

text: The steering system includes rack and pinion speed-dependent "servotronic" power steering, with a ratio of 12.5, and a turning circle of 12.2 metres.


title: Audi RS 6

text: The standard brakes on the RS 6 are cross-drilled, radially vented, and floating iron discs. At the front they are diameter and thick, clamped by gloss black six-piston fixed Brembo monoblock alloy calipers incorporating the "RS" logo, and at the rear they are diameter and with black single-piston floating calipers and an integrated electro-mechanical parking brake linkage. The parking brake serves doubles as a full emergency brake whilst the car is in motion, by applying maximum braking effort to all four wheels, resulting in activating the Anti-lock Braking System (ABS).


title: Audi RS 6

text: Optional "Audi ceramic" Carbon fibre-reinforced Silicon Carbide (C/SiC) composite front brakes are available, only with 20-inch wheels, which use diameter by thick drilled, vented, and floating SGL Carbon composite discs, with grey painted eight-piston fixed Alcon monobloc alloy calipers with the "Audi ceramic" logo.


title: Audi RS 6

text: Irrespective of the type of disc construction, all brake discs are mounted via high strength steel mounting pins which connect the 'working' surface of the disc to lightweight alloy disc hubs.


title: Audi RS 6

text: A specifically 'tuned' "sport-biased" Bosch ESP 8.0 Electronic Stability Programme is standard, and includes Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) and Electronic Brakeforce Distribution (EBD), and Brake Assist (BA). This ESP system has three user-selectable settings: "ESP-on" - the standard default full protection mode, "ESP-sportmode" (which turns off the ASR and EDL traction functions), and "ESP-off" (which fully disables all 'stability' and 'traction' related functions).


title: Audi RS 6

text: Standard wheels (in the UK) are 9.5Jx20-inch '5-segment-spoke' design alloy wheels running on (eXtra Load) tyres (rated at per tyre), with official supplies being either Pirelli P-Zero Rosso or Dunlop SP SportMaxx GT. No-cost options are 9.5Jx20 '7-arm double spoke' design (identical style to B7 RS 4), or 9Jx19-inch '10-spoke' design alloys with Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 tyres.


title: Audi RS 6

text: Audi revealed the details of the RS 6 Avant on December 5, 2012. Its twin-turbo TFSI V8 engine develops at 5700-6600 rpm and of torque at 1750-5500 rpm. This will enable the RS 6 Avant to accelerate from 0 to in 3.9 seconds. The top speed is limited to by default. By adding the optional Dynamic or Dynamic Plus package, this top speed is increased to respectively or . Audi claims an average fuel consumption of and CO emissions of 223 g/km. In order to accomplish this, Audi has added a start-stop system and a cylinder on demand system. The RS 6 Avant is offered with an 8-speed tiptronic transmission.


title: Audi RS 6

text: The C7 RS 6 was not offered in North America, however that market received RS 7 Sportback which shares the same powertrain and platform.


title: Audi RS 6

text: The RS6 Avant Performance is powered by the same 4.0-litre TFSI twin-turbo V8 engine as the standard RS6, but with the help of a retuned ECU mapping, it increased power output to at 6100-6800 rpm and increased torque to at 2500-5500 rpm. While the top speed remains limited to , or with Dynamic Plus package, the 0 to time has been reduced to just 3.7 seconds at from 0 to in 12.1 seconds. Despite the improved performance, the fuel economy and CO are unchanged from the standard RS6 Avant.


title: Audi RS 6

text: As with the previous generation, the new RS6 is powered by a 4.0-litre twin-turbo TFSI petrol engine, now boosted by a 48V belt alternator/starter mild-hybrid system, which can recover up to . The engine also utilises a cylinder-on-demand system that can shut off half of its cylinders to boost fuel economy.


title: Audi RS 6

text: The acceleration to takes 3.6 seconds and in 12 seconds. As standard, top speed is limited to , with a further two levels courtesy of optional packs – the Dynamic package allows , while the Dynamic package plus grants even more headroom for a maximum of . The C8 is the first RS 6 Avant to have the hybrid drivetrain, utilising a Riemen-Starter-Generator and a 48-volt electrical system. The Quattro system has power distribution with 40% for front and 60% for rear. The system can adjust the power distribution up to 70% for front and to 85% for the rear if needed. The adaptive suspension system is 20 mm lower than standard A6 and can lower the vehicle further 10 mm during the high-speed driving or can raise the ride 20 mm at low speed. The Drive Select function gains configurable RS1 and RS2 modes, which are activated by an ‘RS mode’ button positioned on the steering wheel. As well as adjusting the engine and handling responses, they also enable bespoke information on the Virtual Cockpit system.


title: Audi RS 6

text: Under the new Euro-7 emissions law, Chairman of the Management Board of Audi, Herbert Diess recently said "The RS range set will be the biggest change in the production line since 2004. The new RS range will be the most economical, low emission with the RS6 and Q8 will both have electric hybrid engines to reduce the current emission by 27%." The new Electric range will begin production in the Audi Sport GmbH Neckarsulm factory in Germany. The new RS range is set to be in Australia and is said to have a three-cylinder hybrid plug-in, also currently being taken on by Mercedes Benz in order to comply with the new Euro-7 emission law.


title: Audi RS 6

text: The C8 RS 6 Avant will also be sold in North America, the first time than an RS 6 was offered there since the C5-based RS 6. It will be sold alongside the RS 7 Sportback and RS Q8 whom share the same powertrain.


title: Audi RS 6

text: The RS2 Avant kicked off the success story of the Audi high-performance models that continues to this day. The 2021 RS 6 Avant "RS Tribute edition" honors and pays tribute to the foundation the RS2 Avant established. These 25 year anniversary tributes were only available in North America and limited to 25 examples. They are different from the European tributes in how they were all optioned.


title: Audi RS 6

text: Exterior Highlights include Nogaro Blue pearl effect exterior paint with body-colored mirrors, black optic roof rails, front grills, spoiler, side trim, and rear diffuser, red brake calipers, 22" silver cast-aluminum wheels, and an RS sport exhaust with black tips. Interior Highlights include carbon twill structure inlays, Audi Exclusive Valcona S sport seats, lower seat panels, leather interior elements, and RS floor mats all with Denim Blue contrast stitch, and an Audi Exclusive steering wheel with Denim Blue contrast stitching.


title: Audi RS 6

text: In addition, the vehicles were equipped with a Bang & Olufsen 3D Advanced Sound System package, the Executive package, and the Driver Assistance package.


title: Audi RS 6

text: In November 2022, Audi announced a new Performance version of the RS6 Avant and RS7 models. The twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V-8 engine now makes 621 horsepower and 627 pound-feet of torque, increases of 30 hp and 37 pound-feet compared with the outgoing versions. The new 2025 C9 Audi RS6 will be a plug-in hybrid.


title: Allan Pinkerton

text: Allan J. Pinkerton (August 25, 1819 – July 1, 1884) was a Scottish cooper, abolitionist, detective, and spy, best known for creating the Pinkerton National Detective Agency in the United States and his claim to have foiled a plot in 1861 to assassinate president-elect Abraham Lincoln. During the Civil War, he provided the Union Army – specifically General George B. McClellan of the Army of the Potomac – with military intelligence, including extremely inaccurate enemy troop strength numbers. After the war, his agents played a significant role as strikebreakers – in particular during the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 – a role that Pinkerton men would continue to play after the death of their founder.


title: Allan Pinkerton

text: Allan J. Pinkerton was born in the Gorbals area of Glasgow on August 25, 1819, the son of Isobel McQueen and William Pinkerton. He left school at the age of 10 after his father's death. Pinkerton read voraciously and was largely self-educated. A cooper by trade, he was active in the Scottish Chartist movement as a young man. He was not raised in a religious upbringing, and was a lifelong atheist.


title: Allan Pinkerton

text: Pinkerton emigrated to the United States in 1842. In 1843, he heard of Dundee Township, Illinois, fifty miles northwest of Chicago on the Fox River. He built a cabin and started a cooperage, sending for his wife in Chicago when their cabin was complete. As early as 1844, Pinkerton worked for the Chicago abolitionist leaders, and his Dundee home was a stop on the Underground Railroad.


title: Allan Pinkerton

text: Pinkerton first became interested in criminal detective work while wandering through the wooded groves around Dundee, looking for trees to make barrel staves, when he came across a band of counterfeiters, who may have been affiliated with the notorious Banditti of the Prairie. After observing their movements for some time he informed the local sheriff, who arrested them. This later led to Pinkerton being appointed, in 1849, as the first police detective in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois. In 1850, he partnered with Chicago attorney Edward Rucker in forming the North-Western Police Agency, which later became Pinkerton & Co, and finally Pinkerton National Detective Agency, still in existence today as Pinkerton Consulting and Investigations, a subsidiary of Securitas AB. Pinkerton's business insignia was a wide open eye with the caption "We never sleep." As the US expanded in territory, rail transport increased. Pinkerton's agency solved a series of train robberies during the 1850s, first bringing Pinkerton into contact with George B. McClellan, then Chief Engineer and Vice President of the Illinois Central Railroad, and Abraham Lincoln, a lawyer who sometimes represented the company.


title: Allan Pinkerton

text: In 1859, he attended the secret meetings held by John Brown and Frederick Douglass in Chicago along with abolitionists John Jones and Henry O. Wagoner. At those meetings, Jones, Wagoner, and Pinkerton helped purchase clothes and supplies for Brown. Jones' wife, Mary, guessed that the supplies included the suit Brown was hanged in after the failure of John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry in November 1859.


title: Allan Pinkerton

text: When the Civil War began, Pinkerton served as head of the Union Intelligence Service during the first two years, heading off an alleged assassination plot in Baltimore, Maryland while guarding Abraham Lincoln on his way to Washington, D.C., as well as providing estimates of Confederate troop numbers to General George B. McClellan when he commanded the Army of the Potomac. His agents often worked undercover as Confederate soldiers and sympathizers to gather military intelligence. Pinkerton himself served on several undercover missions as a Confederate soldier using the alias Major E.J. Allen. He worked across the Deep South in the summer of 1861, focusing on fortifications and Confederate plans. He was found out in Memphis and barely escaped with his life. This counterintelligence work done by Pinkerton and his agents is comparable to the work done by today's U.S. Army Counterintelligence Special Agents in which Pinkerton's agency is considered an early predecessor. He was succeeded as Intelligence Service chief by Lafayette Baker; the Intelligence Service was the predecessor of the U.S. Secret Service. His work led to the establishment of the Federal secret service.


title: Allan Pinkerton

text: Military historians have been strongly critical of the intelligence Pinkerton provided for the Union Army, which for the most part was undigested raw data. In the view of T. Harry Williams, Pinkerton's work was "the poorest intelligence service any general ever had." Pinkerton's estimates of Rebel troop numbers, derived from his credulous interrogations of Confederate prisoners, deserters, refugees, escaped slaves ("contrabands"), and civilians unused to counting large bodies of men, badly exaggerated the size of those formations, sometimes almost doubling their actual strength. Pinkerton's numbers caused McClellan to consistently believe that he was drastically outnumbered by the Confederate forces he faced. McClellan's action in the face of what he believed were overwhelming odds were unduly cautious, causing him to avoid offensive actions almost completely in favor of siege warfare and taking a defensive posture. This lead to his retreat in the Peninsula Campaign, his failure to crush Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia at the Battle of Antietam, and his unnecessary delay in carrying out his orders to pursue Lee's army as they retreated from their invasion of Maryland back into Virginia. These actions were all based on McClellan's firm trust of Pinkerton's reports, although the problem was compounded by the intelligence-gathering ineptitude of Brigadier General Alfred Pleasonton, McClellan's head cavalryman and his alternate source of enemy troop information when Pinkerton did not have agents in place.


title: Allan Pinkerton

text: Following Pinkerton's services for the Union Army, he continued his pursuit of train robbers, including the Reno Gang. He was hired by the railroad express companies to track outlaw Jesse James, but after Pinkerton failed to capture him, the railroad withdrew their financial support and Pinkerton continued to track James at his own expense. After James allegedly captured and killed one of Pinkerton's undercover agents (who was working undercover at the farm neighboring the James family's farmstead), he abandoned the chase. Some consider this failure Pinkerton's biggest defeat. In 1872, the Spanish Government hired Pinkerton to help suppress a revolution in Cuba which intended to end slavery and give citizens the right to vote. If Pinkerton knew this, then it directly contradicts statements in his 1883 book "The Spy of the Rebellion", where he professes to be an ardent abolitionist and hater of slavery. The Spanish government abolished slavery in 1880 and a Royal Decree abolished the last vestiges of it in 1886.


title: Allan Pinkerton

text: Pinkerton secretly married Joan Carfrae (1822–1887), a singer from Duddingston, in Glasgow on March 13, 1842. They remained married until his death.


title: Allan Pinkerton

text: Pinkerton died in Chicago on July 1, 1884. It is usually said that Pinkerton slipped on the pavement and bit his tongue, resulting in gangrene. Contemporary reports give conflicting causes, such as that he succumbed to a stroke – he had a year earlier – or to malaria, which he had contracted during a trip to the Southern United States. At the time of his death, he was working on a system to centralize all criminal identification records; such a database is now maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.


title: Allan Pinkerton

text: Pinkerton is buried between his wife and Kate Warne in the family plot in Graceland Cemetery, Chicago. He is a member of the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame.


title: Allan Pinkerton

text: After his death, the agency continued to operate and soon became a major force against the labor movement developing in the US and Canada. This effort changed the image of the Pinkertons for years. They were involved in numerous activities against labor during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including:


title: Allan Pinkerton

text: Despite his agency's later reputation for anti-labor activities, Pinkerton himself was heavily involved in pro-labor politics as a young man. Though Pinkerton considered himself pro-labor, he opposed strikes and distrusted labor unions.


title: Allan Pinkerton

text: Allan Pinkerton was so famous that for decades after his death, his surname was a slang term for a private eye, whether they were agents of the Pinkerton Agency or not. The "Mr. Pinkerton" novels, by American mystery writer Zenith Jones Brown (under the pseudonym David Frome), were about Welsh-born amateur detective Evan Pinkerton and may have been inspired by the slang term.


title: Allan Pinkerton

text: Pinkerton produced numerous popular detective books, ostensibly based on his own exploits and those of his agents. Some were published after his death, and they are considered to have been more motivated by a desire to promote his detective agency than a literary endeavour. Most historians believe that Allan Pinkerton hired ghostwriters, but the books nonetheless bear his name and no doubt reflect his views.


title: Greta Onieogou

text: Greta Onieogou (; born 14 March 1991) is a Canadian actress, best known for her lead role as Layla Keating in the American drama series "All American" and as Soraya Duval in the Canadian drama "Heartland".


title: Greta Onieogou

text: Onieogou was born in Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union in southern Saint Petersburg, Russia to Nigerian-Russian parents. When Onieogou was five, she moved with her parents to Toronto, Canada. She used to be a rhythmic gymnast and worked with Alexandra Orlando for a couple months during her training.


title: Anvil

text: An anvil is a metalworking tool consisting of a large block of metal (usually forged or cast steel), with a flattened top surface, upon which another object is struck (or "worked").


title: Anvil

text: Anvils are as massive as practical, because the higher their inertia, the more efficiently they cause the energy of striking tools to be transferred to the work piece. In most cases the anvil is used as a forging tool. Before the advent of modern welding technology, it was the primary tool of metal workers.


title: Anvil

text: The great majority of modern anvils are made of cast steel that has been heat treated by either flame or electric induction. Inexpensive anvils have been made of cast iron and low quality steel, but are considered unsuitable for serious use as they deform and lack rebound when struck.


title: Anvil

text: The primary work surface of the anvil is known as the face. It is generally made of hardened steel and should be flat and smooth with rounded edges for most work. Any marks on the face will be transferred to the work. Also, sharp edges tend to cut into the metal being worked and may cause cracks to form in the workpiece. The face is hardened and tempered to resist the blows of the smith's hammer, so the anvil face does not deform under repeated use. A hard anvil face also reduces the amount of force lost in each hammer blow. Hammers, tools, and work pieces of hardened steel should never directly strike the anvil face with full force, as they may damage it; this can result in chipping or deforming of the anvil face.


title: Anvil

text: The horn of the anvil is a conical projection used to form various round shapes and is generally unhardened steel or iron. The horn is used mostly in bending operations. It also is used by some smiths as an aid in "drawing down" stock (making it longer and thinner). Some anvils, mainly European, are made with two horns, one square and one round. Also, some anvils are made with side horns or clips for specialized work.


title: Anvil

text: The "step" is the area of the anvil between the "horn" and the "face". It is soft and is used for cutting; its purpose is to prevent damaging the steel face of the anvil by conducting such operations there and so as not to damage the cutting edge of the chisel, though many smiths shun this practice as it will damage the anvil over time.


title: Anvil

text: There have also been other additions to the anvil such as an upsetting block; this is used to upset steel, generally in long strips/bars as it is placed between the feet of the anvil. Upsetting is a technique often used by blacksmiths for making the steel workpiece short and thick, having probably been originally long and thin.


title: Anvil

text: The "hardy hole" is a square hole into which specialized forming and cutting tools, called hardy tools, are placed. It is also used in punching and bending operations.


title: Anvil

text: The "pritchel hole" is a small round hole that is present on most modern anvils. Some anvils have more than one. It is used mostly for punching. At times, smiths will fit a second tool to this hole to allow the smith more flexibility when using more than one anvil tool.


title: Anvil

text: The anvil is placed as near to the forge as is convenient, generally no more than one step from the forge to prevent heat loss in the work piece.


title: Anvil

text: An anvil needs to be placed upon a sturdy base made from an impact and fire resistant material. Common methods of attaching an anvil are spikes, chains, steel or iron straps, clips, bolts where there are holes provided, and cables.


title: Anvil

text: The most common base traditionally was a hard wood log or large timber buried several feet into the floor of the forge shop. In the industrial era, cast iron bases became available. They had the advantage of adding additional weight to the anvil, making it more stable. These bases are highly sought after by collectors today. When concrete became widely available, there was a trend to make steel reinforced anvil bases by some smiths, though this practice has largely been abandoned. In more modern times, anvils have been placed upon bases fabricated from steel, often a short thick section of a large I-beam. In addition, bases have been made from dimensional lumber bolted together to form a large block or steel drums full of oil-saturated sand to provide a damping effect. In recent times, tripod bases of fabricated steel have become popular.


title: Anvil

text: There are many designs for anvils, which are often tailored for a specific purpose or to meet the needs of a particular smith. For example, there were anvils specifically made for farriers, general smiths, cutlers, chain makers, armorers, saw tuners, coach makers, coopers, and many other types of metal workers. Most of these anvil types look similar, but some are radically different. Saw maker anvils, for instance, are generally a large rectangular block of steel that have a harder surface than most other anvils due to hammering on a harder steel for saws. Bladesmith anvils tend to be rectangular with a hardy and pritchel, but no horn. Such designs have originated in diverse geographic locations. Several styles of anvils include, Bavarian, French Pig anvil, Austrian, and Chinese turtle anvil.


title: Anvil

text: The Bavarian style is known for the sloped brow. The brow was first used in medieval times to make armor on the church windows below the brow. Common manufactures include, Söding Halbach and Holthaus. This style of anvil is known not to sway in the face due to the extra mass with the brow.


title: Anvil

text: The common blacksmith's anvil is made of either forged or cast steel, forged wrought iron with a hard steel face or cast iron with a hard steel face. Cast iron anvils are not used for forging as they are incapable of standing up to the impact and will crack and dent. Also, cast iron anvils without a hard steel face do not have the rebound that a harder anvil would and will tire out the smith. Historically, some anvils have been made with a smooth top working face of hardened steel welded to a cast iron or wrought iron body, though this manufacturing method is no longer in use. At one end, the common smith's anvil has a projecting conical "bick" ("beak", "horn") used for hammering curved work pieces. The other end is typically called the heel. Occasionally, the other end is also provided with a bick, partly rectangular in section. Most anvils made since the late 18th century also have a hardy hole and a pritchel hole where various tools, such as the anvil-cutter or hot chisel, can be inserted and held by the anvil. Some anvils have several hardy and pritchel holes, to accommodate a wider variety of hardy tools and pritchels. An anvil may also have a softer "pad" for chisel work.


title: Anvil

text: An anvil for a power hammer is usually supported on a massive anvil block, sometimes weighing over 800 tons for a 12-ton hammer; this again rests on a strong foundation of timber and masonry or concrete.


title: Anvil

text: An anvil may have a marking indicating its weight, manufacturer, or place of origin. American-made anvils were often marked in pounds. European anvils are sometimes marked in kilograms. English anvils were often marked in hundredweight, the marking consisting of three numbers, indicating hundredweight, quarter hundredweight and pounds. For example, a 3-1-5, if such an anvil existed, would be 3×112lb + 1×28lb + 5 lb = 369 lb ≈ 168 kg.


title: Anvil

text: Cheap anvils made from inferior steel or cast iron and often sold at retail hardware stores, are considered unsuitable for serious use, and are often derisively referred to as "ASOs", or "anvil shaped objects". Amateur smiths have used lengths of railroad rail, forklift tines, or even simple blocks of steel as makeshift anvils.


title: Anvil

text: Anvils were first made of stone, then bronze, and later wrought iron. As steel became more readily available, anvils were faced with it. This was done to give the anvil a hard face and to stop the anvil from deforming from impact. Many regional styles of anvils evolved through time from the simple block that was first used by smiths. The majority of anvils found today in the US are based on the London pattern anvil of the mid-19th century.


title: Anvil

text: The wrought iron steel faced anvil was produced up until the early 20th century. Through the 19th and very early 20th centuries, this method of construction evolved to produce extremely high quality anvils. The basic process involved forge-welding billets of wrought iron together to produce the desired shape. The sequence and location of the forge-welds varied between different anvil makers and the kind of anvil being made. At the same time cast iron anvils with steel faces were being made in the United States. At the dawn of the 20th century solid cast steel anvils began to be produced, as well as two piece forged anvils made from closed die forgings. Modern anvils are generally made entirely from steel.


title: Anvil

text: There are many references to anvils in ancient Greek and Egyptian writings, including Homer's works. They have been found at the Calico Early Man Site in North America.


title: Anvil

text: Anvils have since lost their former commonness, along with the smiths who used them. Mechanized production has made cheap and abundant manufactured goods readily available. The one-off handmade products of the blacksmith are less economically viable in the modern world, while in the past they were an absolute necessity. However, anvils are still used by blacksmiths and metal workers of all kinds in producing custom work. They are also essential to the work done by farriers.


title: Anvil

text: Anvil firing is the practice of firing an anvil into the air using gunpowder. It has been popular in California, the eastern United States and the southern United States, much like how fireworks are used today. There is a growing interest in re-enacting this "ancient tradition" in the US, which has now spread to England.


title: Anvil

text: A typical metalworker's anvil, with horn at one end and flat face at the other, is a standard prop for cartoon gags, as the epitome of a heavy and clumsy object that is perfect for dropping onto an antagonist. This visual metaphor is common, for example, in Warner Brothers' "Looney Tunes" and "Merrie Melodies" shorts, such as those with Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner. Anvils in cartoons were also referenced in an episode of "Gilmore Girls", where one of the main characters tries to have a conversation about "Where did all the anvils go?", a reference to their falling out of use on a general scale. "Animaniacs" made frequent gags on the topic throughout its run, even having a kingdom named Anvilania, whose sole national product is anvils.


title: Anvil

text: Dwarves were blacksmiths who used anvils for metalworking on C.S.Lewis's "The Chronicles of Narnia", most iconically on "The Magician's Nephew" and "Prince Caspian"; as well as on J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit".


title: Anvil

text: Wagner's "Ring des Nibelungen" is notable in using the anvil as pitched percussion. The vast majority of extant works use the anvil as unpitched. However tuned anvils are available as musical instruments, albeit unusual. These are not to be confused with the "sawyers' anvils" used to "tune" big circular saw blades. Steel anvils are used for tuning for use as musical instruments, because those based partly on cast iron and similar materials give a duller sound; this is actually valued in industry, as pure steel anvils are troublesomely noisy, though energetically more efficient. The hammer and anvil have enjoyed varying popularity in orchestral roles. Robert Donington pointed out that Sebastian Virdung notes them in his book of 1510, and Martin Agricola includes it in his list of instruments (Musica instrumentalis deudsch, 1529) largely as a compliment to Pythagoras. In pre-modern or modern times anvils occasionally appear in operatic works by Berlioz, Bizet, Gounod, Verdi, and Wagner for example. Commonly pairs of anvils tuned a third apart are used.


title: Anvil

text: In practice modern orchestras commonly substitute a brake drum or other suitable steel structure that is easier to tune than an actual anvil, although a visibly convincing anvil-shaped prop may be shown as desired. In "Das Rheingold" Wagner scored for nine little, six mid-sized, and three large anvils, but orchestras seldom can afford instrumentation on such a scale.


title: Bunyip

text: The bunyip is a creature from the aboriginal mythology of southeastern Australia, said to lurk in swamps, billabongs, creeks, riverbeds, and waterholes.


title: Bunyip

text: The origin of the word "bunyip" has been traced to the Wemba-Wemba or Wergaia language of the Aboriginal people of Victoria, in South-Eastern Australia.


title: Bunyip

text: The word "bunyip" is usually translated by Aboriginal Australians today as "devil" or "evil spirit". This contemporary translation may not accurately represent the role of the bunyip in pre-contact Aboriginal mythology or its possible origins before written accounts were made. Some modern sources allude to a linguistic connection between the bunyip and Bunjil, "a mythic 'Great Man' who made the mountains, rivers, man, and all the animals".


title: Bunyip

text: The word "bahnyip" first appeared in the "Sydney Gazette" in 1812. It was used by James Ives to describe "a large black animal like a seal, with a terrible voice which creates terror among the blacks".


title: Bunyip

text: The bunyip is part of traditional Aboriginal beliefs and stories throughout Australia, while its name varies according to tribal nomenclature. In his 2001 book, writer Robert Holden identified at least nine regional variations of the creature known as the bunyip across Aboriginal Australia.


title: Bunyip

text: The bunyip has been described as amphibious, almost entirely aquatic, inhabiting lakes, rivers, swamps, lagoons, billabongs, creeks, waterholes, sometimes "particular waterholes in the riverbeds".


title: Bunyip

text: Physical descriptions of bunyips vary widely. George French Angus may have collected a description of a bunyip in his account of a "water spirit" from the Moorundi people of the Murray River before 1847, stating it is "much dreaded by them ... It inhabits the Murray; but ... they have some difficulty describing it. Its most usual form ... is said to be that of an enormous starfish." The Challicum bunyip, an outline image of a bunyip carved by Aboriginal people into the bank of Fiery Creek, near Ararat, Victoria, was first recorded by "The Australasian" newspaper in 1851. According to the report, the bunyip had been speared after killing an Aboriginal man. Antiquarian Reynell Johns claimed that until the mid-1850s, Aboriginal people made a "habit of visiting the place annually and retracing the outlines of the figure [of the bunyip] which is about 11 paces long and 4 paces in extreme breadth". The outline image no longer exists. Robert Brough Smyth's "Aborigines of Victoria" (1878) devoted ten pages to the bunyip, but concluded "in truth little is known among the blacks respecting its form, covering or habits; they appear to have been in such dread of it as to have been unable to take note of its characteristics". Eugénie Louise McNeil recalled from her childhood memory in the 1890s that the bunyip supposedly had a snout like an owl ("a mopoke"), and was probably a nocturnal creature by her estimation.


title: Bunyip

text: The bunyips presumably seen by witnesses, according to their descriptions, most commonly fit one of two categories: 60% of sightings resemble seals or swimming dogs, and 20% of sightings are of long-necked creatures with small heads; the remaining descriptions are ambiguous beyond categorisation. The seal-dog variety is most often described as being between 4 and 6 feet long with a shaggy black or brown coat. According to reports, these bunyips have round heads resembling a bulldog, prominent ears, no tail, and whiskers like a seal or otter. The long-necked variety is allegedly between 5 and 15 feet long, and is said to have black or brown fur, large ears, small tusks, a head like a horse or emu, an elongated, maned neck about three feet long and with many folds of skin, and a horse-like tail. The bunyip has been described by natives as amphibious, nocturnal, and inhabiting lakes, rivers, and swamps. Bunyips, according to Aboriginal mythology, can swim swiftly with fins or flippers, have a loud, roaring call, and feed on crayfish, though some legends portray them as bloodthirsty predators of humans, particularly women and children. Bunyip eggs are allegedly laid in platypus nests.


title: Bunyip

text: The bunyip appears in Ngarrindjeri dreaming as a water spirit called the Mulyawonk, which would get anyone who took more than their fair share of fish from the waterways, or take children if they got too close to the water. The stories taught practical means of ensuring long-term survival for the Ngarrindjeri, embodying care for country and its people.


title: Bunyip

text: There have been various attempts to understand and explain the origins of the bunyip as a physical entity over the past 150 years. Writing in 1933, Charles Fenner suggested that it was likely that the "actual origin of the bunyip myth lies in the fact that from time to time seals have made their way up the Murray and Darling (Rivers)". He provided examples of seals found as far inland as Overland Corner, Loxton, and Conargo and reminded readers that "the smooth fur, prominent 'apricot' eyes, and the bellowing cry are characteristic of the seal", especially southern elephant seals and leopard seals.


title: Bunyip

text: Another suggestion is that the bunyip may be a cultural memory of extinct Australian marsupials such as the "Diprotodon", "Zygomaturus", "Nototherium", or "Palorchestes". This connection was first formally made by Dr George Bennett of the Australian Museum in 1871. In the early 1990s, palaeontologist Pat Vickers-Rich and geologist Neil Archbold also cautiously suggested that Aboriginal legends "perhaps had stemmed from an acquaintance with prehistoric bones or even living prehistoric animals themselves ... When confronted with the remains of some of the now extinct Australian marsupials, Aborigines would often identify them as the bunyip." They also note that "legends about the" mihirung paringmal" of western Victorian Aborigines ... may allude to the ... extinct giant birds the Dromornithidae."


title: Bunyip

text: In a 2017 "Australian Birdlife" article, Karl Brandt suggested Aboriginal encounters with the southern cassowary inspired the myth. According to the first written description of the bunyip from 1845, the creature, which laid pale blue eggs of immense size, possessed deadly claws, powerful hind legs, a brightly coloured chest, and an emu-like head, characteristics shared with the Australian cassowary. As the creature's bill was described as having serrated projections, each "like the bone of the stingray", this bunyip was associated with the indigenous people of Far North Queensland, renowned for their spears tipped with stingray barbs and their proximity to the cassowary's Australian range.


title: Bunyip

text: Another association to the bunyip is the shy Australasian bittern ("Botaurus poiciloptilus"). During the breeding season, the male call of this marsh-dwelling bird is a "low pitched boom"; hence, it is occasionally called the "bunyip bird".


title: Bunyip

text: During the early settlement of Australia by Europeans, the notion became commonly held that the bunyip was an unknown animal that awaited discovery. Unfamiliar with the sights and sounds of the island continent's peculiar fauna, early Europeans believed that the bunyip described to them was one more strange Australian animal and they sometimes attributed unfamiliar animal calls or cries to it. Scholars suggest also that 19th-century bunyip lore was reinforced by imported European folklore, such as that of the Irish Púca.


title: Bunyip

text: A large number of bunyip sightings occurred during the 1840s and 1850s, particularly in the southeastern colonies of Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia, as European settlers extended their reach. The following is not an exhaustive list of accounts:


title: Bunyip

text: One of the earliest accounts relating to a large unknown freshwater animal was in 1818, when Hamilton Hume and James Meehan found some large bones at Lake Bathurst in New South Wales. They did not call the animal a bunyip, but described the remains indicating the creature as very much like a hippopotamus or manatee. The Philosophical Society of Australasia later offered to reimburse Hume for any costs incurred in recovering a specimen of the unknown animal, but for various reasons, Hume did not return to the lake. Ancient "Diprotodon" skeletons have sometimes been compared to the hippopotamus; they are a land animal, but have sometimes been found in a lake or water course.


title: Bunyip

text: More significant was the discovery of fossilised bones of "some quadruped much larger than the ox or buffalo" in the Wellington Caves in mid-1830 by bushman George Ranken and later by Thomas Mitchell. Sydney's Reverend John Dunmore Lang announced the find as "convincing proof of the deluge", referring to Biblical accounts of the Flood. But British anatomist Sir Richard Owen identified the fossils as the gigantic marsupials "Nototherium" and "Diprotodon". At the same time, some settlers observed that "all natives throughout these ... districts have a tradition (of) a very large animal having at one time existed in the large creeks and rivers and by many it is said that such animals now exist."


title: Bunyip

text: In July 1845, "The Geelong Advertiser" announced the discovery of fossils found near Geelong, under the headline "Wonderful Discovery of a new Animal". This was a continuation of a story on 'fossil remains' from the previous issue. The newspaper continued, "On the bone being shown to an intelligent black, he at once recognised it as belonging to the bunyip, which he declared he had seen. On being requested to make a drawing of it, he did so without hesitation." The account noted a story of an Aboriginal woman being killed by a bunyip and the "most direct evidence of all" – that of a man named Mumbowran "who showed several deep wounds on his breast made by the claws of the animal".


title: Bunyip

text: Shortly after this account appeared, it was repeated in other Australian newspapers. This appears to be the first use of the word "bunyip" in a written publication.


title: Bunyip

text: In January 1846, a peculiar skull was taken by a settler from the banks of Murrumbidgee River near Balranald, New South Wales. Initial reports suggested that it was the skull of something unknown to science. The squatter who found it remarked, "all the natives to whom it was shown called [it] a bunyip". By July 1847, several experts, including W. S. Macleay and Professor Owen, had identified the skull as the deformed foetal skull of a foal or calf. At the same time, the purported bunyip skull was put on display in the Australian Museum (Sydney) for two days. Visitors flocked to see it, and "The Sydney Morning Herald" reported that many people spoke out about their "bunyip sightings". Reports of this discovery used the phrase 'Kine Pratie' as well as Bunyip. Explorer William Hovell, who examined the skull, also called it a 'katen-pai'.


title: Bunyip

text: In March of that year "a bunyip or an immense Platibus" (Platypus) was sighted "sunning himself on the placid bosom of the Yarra, just opposite the Custom House" in Melbourne. "Immediately a crowd gathered" and three men set off by boat "to secure the stranger" which "disappeared" when they were "about a yard from him".


title: Bunyip

text: Another early written account is attributed to escaped convict William Buckley in his 1852 biography of thirty years living with the Wathaurong people. His 1852 account records "in ... Lake Moodewarri [now Lake Modewarre] as well as in most of the others inland ... is a ... very extraordinary amphibious animal, which the natives call Bunyip." Buckley's account suggests he saw such a creature on several occasions. He adds, "I could never see any part, except the back, which appeared to be covered with feathers of a dusky grey colour. It seemed to be about the size of a full grown calf ... I could never learn from any of the natives that they had seen either the head or tail." Buckley also claimed the creature was common in the Barwon River and cites an example he heard of an Aboriginal woman being killed by one. He emphasized the bunyip was believed to have supernatural powers.


title: Bunyip

text: In an article titled, 'The Bunyip', a newspaper reported on the drawings made by Edwin Stocqueler as he travelled on the Murray and Goulburn rivers: 'Amongst the latter drawings we noticed a likeness of the Bunyip, or rather a view of the neck and shoulders of the animal. Mr. Stocqueler informs us that the Bunyip is a large freshwater seal, having two small padules or fins attached to the shoulders, a long swan like neck, a head like a dog, and a curious bag hanging under the jaw, resembling the pouch of the pelican. The animal is covered with hair, like the platypus, and the colour is a glossy black. Mr. Stocqueler saw no less than six of these curious animals at different times; his boat was within thirty feet of one near M'Guire's punt on the Goulburn, and he fired at the Bunyip, but did not succeed in capturing him. The smallest appeared to be about five feet in length, and the largest exceeded fifteen feet. The head of the largest was the size of a bullock's head, and three feet out of water. After taking a sketch of the animal, Mr. Stocqueler showed it to several blacks of the Goulburn tribe, who declared that the picture was "Bunyip's brother," meaning a duplicate or likeness of the bunyip. The animals moved against the current, at the rate of about seven miles an hour, and Mr. Stockqueler states that he could have approached close to the specimens he observed, had he not been deterred by the stories of the natives concerning the power and fury of the bunyip, and by the fact that his gun had only a single barrel, and his boat was of a very frail description.'


title: Bunyip

text: The description varied across newspaper accounts: 'The great Bunyip question seems likely to be brought to a close, as a Mr. Stocqueler, an artist and gentleman, who has come up the Murray in a small boat, states that he saw one, and was enabled to take a drawing of this "vexed question," but could not succeed in catching him. We have seen the sketch, and it puts us in mind of an hybrid between the water mole and the great sea serpent.' 'Mr. Stocqueler, an artist, and his mother are on an expedition down the Murray, for the purpose of making some faithful sketches of the views on this fine stream, as well as of the creatures frequenting it. I have seen some of their productions, and as they pourtray localities with which I am well acquainted, can pronounce the drawings faithful representations. Mother and son go down the stream in a canoe. The lady paints flowers, &c.; the son devotes himself to choice views on the river's side. One of the drawings represents a singular creature, which the artist is unable to classify. It has the appearance in miniature of the famous sea-serpent, as that animal is described by navigators. Mr. Stocqueler was about twenty-five yards distant from it at first sight as it lay placidly on the water. On being observed, the stranger set-off, working his paddles briskly, and rapidly disappeared. Captain Cadell has tried to solve the mystery, but is not yet satisfied as to what the animal really is. Mr. Stocqueler states that there were about two feet of it above water when he first saw it, and he estimated its length at from five to six feet. The worthy Captain says, that unless the creature is the "Musk Drake" (so called from giving off a very strong odour of musk), he cannot account for the novelty.'


title: Bunyip

text: Stocqueler disputed the newspaper descriptions in a letter; stating that he never called the animal a bunyip, it did not have a swan like neck, and he never said anything about the size of the animal as he never saw the whole body. He went on to write that all would be revealed in his diorama as an 'almost life size portrait of the beast' would be included. The diorama took him four years to paint and was reputed to be a mile (1.6 km) long and made of 70 individual pictures. The diorama has long since disappeared and may no longer exist.


title: Bunyip

text: By the 1850s, "bunyip" was also used as a "synonym for impostor, pretender, humbug and the like", although this use of the word is now obsolete in Australian English. The term "bunyip aristocracy" was first coined in 1853 to describe Australians aspiring to be aristocrats. In the early 1990s, Prime Minister Paul Keating used this term to describe members of the conservative Liberal Party of Australia opposition.


title: Bunyip

text: The word "bunyip" can still be found in a number of Australian contexts, including place names such as the Bunyip River (which flows into Westernport Bay in southern Victoria) and the town of Bunyip, Victoria.


title: Bunyip

text: Numerous tales of the bunyip in written literature appeared in the 19th and early 20th centuries. One of the earliest known is a story in Andrew Lang's "The Brown Fairy Book" (1904), adapted from a tale collected and published in the Journal of the Anthropological Institute in 1899.


title: Let There Be Rock

text: Let There Be Rock is the fourth studio album by Australian rock band, AC/DC. It was originally released on 21 March 1977 in Australia on the Albert Productions label. A modified international edition was released on 25 July 1977 on Atlantic Records. It was the last AC/DC album to feature Mark Evans on bass.


title: Let There Be Rock

text: In late 1976 AC/DC were in a slump. "It was very close to being all over", manager Michael Browning said. "Things were progressing very well in London and Europe. We'd been through a whole thing with the Marquee where they broke all the house records. We'd done the "Lock Up Your Daughters" UK tour and the Reading Festival. It was all shaping up really well."


title: Let There Be Rock

text: Angus Young said, "Our brother George asked us what kind of album we wanted to make and we said it would be great if we could just make a lot of guitar riffs, because we were all fired up after doing all this touring."


title: Let There Be Rock

text: The Australian cover features the fingers of guitarist Chris Turner, from Australian band Buffalo. "There was a bloke called Colin Stead, who was in Buffalo for about ten minutes," Turner recalled. "He was also the centrefold photographer for "Playboy". He phoned me up and said he was doing the album cover for "Let There Be Rock", but AC/DC were out of town, so could I help out? He wanted a flash guitar run up and down the neck. Apparently, when he saw it, Angus said, 'He's got fat fingers, hasn't he?'"


title: Let There Be Rock

text: The cover of the international version, released in July 1977, marked the first appearance of the band's now iconic logo, designed by Gerard Huerta. The photograph used for the international cover was taken at a concert on 19 March 1977 at the Kursaal Ballroom, Southend, Essex, UK, by rock photographer Keith Morris.


title: Let There Be Rock

text: Reception to "Let There Be Rock" was generally positive; according to AllMusic, which gave the album a rating of four and a half out of five stars in a retrospective review, AC/DC played "sweaty, dirty, nasty rock" and the band had "rarely done that kind of rock better than they did" on "Let There Be Rock".


title: Let There Be Rock

text: "Cashbox" said "Heavy metal is their special forte and there is plenty of voltage displayed on this electrified disc."


title: Let There Be Rock

text: Eduardo Rivadavia of AllMusic enthuses, ""Let There Be Rock" sees AC/DC's religious-like respect for the simple art of making rock & roll brought to its logical conclusion: a veritable gospel to the glory of rock, canonized here in hymn-like worship. The near-epic title track to what is widely regarded as the best Bon Scott-era album, the song is a holy testimony, bringing good news to all those who believe in the healing power of rock & roll - amen! Oh yeah, it also kicks unholy ass!"


title: Let There Be Rock

text: David Fricke of "Rolling Stone" wrote of the album in a 2008 cover story, "AC/DC's early albums were perfectly frenetic, but inconsistent. Their second U.S. LP was almost all killer. Scott sings 'Bad Boy Boogie' and 'Problem Child' like he's the "enfant terrible"...Angus' solos are true white heat." Amazon.com calls the LP "a break from the early 'novelty' approach to songwriting and a move to the more focused album-oriented view that the band would perfect." In 2006, AC/DC biographer Murray Engleheart wrote that "Let There Be Rock" "elevated AC/DC to the status of an album band, something that had previously been the exclusive domain of the likes of The Rolling Stones, The Who and Led Zeppelin." In 2000, Angus Young recalled to "Guitar World" that producer Mutt Lange once told him "of all the many albums we'd done with my brother George and his partner, Harry Vanda, the one Mutt wished he would have done, where he was envious of George, was "Let There Be Rock"." Band biographer Jesse Fink writes, "Wherever AC/DC ended up in the annals of rock history, this album would stand for all time as an expression of their unrivaled might as a guitar band."


title: Gasoline Alley (2022 film)

text: Gasoline Alley is a 2022 American action thriller film directed by Edward John Drake, starring Devon Sawa, Bruce Willis and Luke Wilson.


title: Gasoline Alley (2022 film)

text: This film is not about or related in any way to the comic strip Gasoline Alley, or the restaurant Gasoline Alley in Akron, OH.


title: Gasoline Alley (2022 film)

text: Tattoo artist Jimmy Jayne is interviewed by Detectives Bill Freeman and Freddy Vargas, who are investigating a mass murder of prostitutes, after a lighter inscribed with his studio's name is found at the crime scene. Jayne is an ex-convict who did five years in prison for accidental manslaughter, and he was the last person to see one of the victims alive. Eventually, Freeman is revealed to be part of a human trafficking ring operating via a tunnel connecting San Diego to Tijuana. The film culminates in a shootout between Freeman and Jayne in a Mexican warehouse; with his expert marksman skills, Jayne incapacitates the rogue detective and his associate with a handful of bullets, and sets the place ablaze.


title: Gasoline Alley (2022 film)

text: Filming began in Tifton, Georgia in March 2021. In June 2021, Saban Films acquired distribution rights to the film.


title: The Blob (1988 film)

text: The Blob is a 1988 American science fiction horror film co-written and directed by Chuck Russell. A remake of the 1958 film of the same name, it stars Shawnee Smith, Kevin Dillon, Donovan Leitch, Jeffrey DeMunn, Paul McCrane, Art LaFleur, Robert Axelrod, Joe Seneca, Del Close and Candy Clark. The plot follows an acidic, amoeba-like organism that crashes down to Earth in a military satellite, which devours and dissolves anything in its path as it grows. It is the third film in "The Blob" film series.


title: The Blob (1988 film)

text: Filmed in Abbeville, Louisiana, "The Blob" was theatrically released in August 1988 by Tri-Star Pictures and was a box office failure, grossing $8.2 million against its budget of approximately $10 million. Though it received a mixed response from critics, the film has since accrued a cult following.


title: The Blob (1988 film)

text: A meteorite crashes near Arborville, California. An elderly vagabond discovers, within the sphere, a massive slime mold-like substance that adheres to his hand. Three high school students, Brian, Meg and Paul, take him to a hospital. After Brian leaves, Paul witnesses the lower half of the rescued man melting from exposure to the Blob. As he calls for help, the Blob drops on top of him. Meg arrives to see Paul being consumed by the growing Blob. She tries freeing him, but his arm dissolves off. Meg is thrown against a wall and knocked unconscious. The Blob fully dissolves Paul and oozes out of the hospital.


title: The Blob (1988 film)

text: After Brian and Meg have unsatisfactory encounters with the police, they meet at a diner where Meg tells Brian about the Blob. Brian's disbelief is shattered when the diner's handyman George is violently pulled into the sink's drain; killing him. The increasingly large creature pursues them to the diner's walk-in freezer, but it retreats after entering the freezer. After consuming the diner's owner Fran Hewitt and Sheriff Geller, the Blob reenters the sewers. Meg and Brian return to the police station, where the dispatcher tells them Deputy Briggs is near the meteor-landing site. They discover a military operation led by a scientist, Dr. Meddows, who orders the town and the two teens quarantined. While Brian escapes, Meg is taken to town where she learns her younger brother, Kevin had snuck into the movie theater with his friend Eddie. The Blob enters the theater, killing several staff and audience members. Meg arrives as the audience flees the theater, rescuing Eddie and Kevin.


title: The Blob (1988 film)

text: Brian learns the Blob is a biological warfare experiment created during the Cold War; it grew into a mixture of bacteria mutated from outer space radiation. Meddows decides to trap the Blob in the sewers even if that means allowing Meg, Kevin, and Eddie to die. Brian manages to evade military personnel by driving his motorcycle into the sewers when he is found. Meg and Kevin flee from the Blob in the sewers, but Eddie is consumed. Kevin escapes by scaling a pipe to the surface while Meg is saved by Brian. He confronts Meddows in front of the townsfolk and Briggs. Meddows attempts to convince everyone Brian is contaminated and must die. When the plan fails, Meddows tries to shoot Brian, only for his own creation to kill him via oozing into his chemical suit and violently dragging him into the sewer. The military attempts to blow it up with grenades and other explosives. Unfortunately, this only succeeds in enraging the creature as it bursts from the sewers and feasts on the population. Reverend Meeker proclaims the scene to be the prophesied end of the world, after which a failed flamethrower attack sets him ablaze. Meg saves him with a fire extinguisher and also shoots the Blob with it. When the creature backs off, she realizes it cannot tolerate cold.


title: The Blob (1988 film)

text: The survivors retreat to the town hall and hold the Blob off with furniture-barricades and fire extinguishers, but it is a losing battle; it engulfs half the building and devours Briggs. Brian goes to the town's garage and gets a snow maker truck that has canisters of liquid nitrogen attached. As the Blob is about to consume Meg and her family, Brian shoots snow at it. Angered, the Blob turns its attention towards him and knocks the truck over in retaliation; also knocking him unconscious. Meg lures the Blob away from Brian toward the canisters, which she has rigged with an explosive charge taken from a dying soldier. The Blob is about to overrun both Brian and Meg when the charge goes off, blowing up the canisters and covering the Blob in liquid nitrogen, successfully flash-freezing it. Moss Woodley stores the Blob's crystallized remains in the town icehouse.


title: The Blob (1988 film)

text: Later, at a tent-meeting church service in a field, Meeker, disfigured by his burns and driven insane, preaches a doomsday sermon resembling the Blob's attack. One of his congregation asks when the day of reckoning will come. Meeker simply replies: "Soon". He then secretly holds up a glass jar containing a live piece of the Blob, saying: "The Lord will give me a sign".


title: The Blob (1988 film)

text: The film functions as a conspiracy theory film. The threat of the original film was an alien entity from outer space. The remake differs in making the threat a biological weapon, created by a secret government agency. The Blob is closely followed by soldiers and scientists in protective suits. The change reflects the mentality of a more cynical era. The sinister government agents are opposed by rebellious teenager Brian Flagg (Kevin Dillon). His depiction as a rebel and a "tough guy punk" includes wearing a leather jacket, sporting long hair, riding a motorcycle, and distrusting authority figures. Del Close, who portrays Reverend Meeker, played an eyepatch wearing hobo in the 1972 movie "Beware! The Blob", which was a sequel to the original 1958 film.


title: The Blob (1988 film)

text: Screenwriter Frank Darabont first met director Chuck Russell in 1981, while working as a production assistant on the film "Hell Night". Before working together on "The Blob", the two also collaborated on the script for "". In 1986 New World Pictures purchased the rights to make a remake of The Blob featuring the original film's director Jack H. Harris as executive producer. A year later the production switched studios to Cinema Group Pictures.


title: The Blob (1988 film)

text: Actor Del Close had been scheduled to direct a "mock opera" about Ronald Reagan at New York's Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts during the filming of "The Blob"; however, the production was cancelled and he was unexpectedly available to audition for "The Blob".


title: The Blob (1988 film)

text: Production began on January 11, with the cast and crew of approximately 150 staying at a Travelodge in Abbeville, Louisiana. Due to the large amount of night shooting, the cast often slept during the day. On their off days, they watched videos at the hotel and ate crawfish, a popular item of local cuisine.


title: The Blob (1988 film)

text: Special effects in the film were handled by Tony Gardner. Gardner was originally supposed to provide only a few small effects, with special effects artist Lyle Conway originally being in charge of the effects. However, after personnel changes he ended up running a crew of 33, including artist Chet Zar and mechanical effects designer Bill Sturgeon. In creating the titular Blob creature, the special effects team used silk bags filled with Methyl cellulose (Fangoria reported Methacil), a thickening agent for food, creating what the team described as a "Blob Quilt". For the few minutes of screen time, near the end of the film, where Reverend Meeker has a scene with fresh burns and another with healed burns, actor Del Close required five-and-a-half hours of makeup preparation for fresh burns, and seven-and-a-half hours for healed burns.


title: The Blob (1988 film)

text: In 1987, the film's rights were acquired by Cinema Group Pictures (later Palisades Entertainment) for a Memorial Day 1988 release, before the original distributor went bankrupt, and Tri-Star Pictures acquired the film's distribution rights.


title: The Blob (1988 film)

text: "The Blob" opened in New York and Los Angeles, California on August 5, 1988. It grossed $8,247,943 at the box office. An article in the 27 May 1989 "Screen International" reported that the film’s domestic box-office gross was “disastrous.”


title: The Blob (1988 film)

text: On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, "The Blob" holds a 63% approval rating based on 27 critic reviews, with an average rating of 6/10. The consensus reads: ""The Blob" can't replicate the B-movie charms of the original, though its fast pace and gory thrills pack enough of a punch to make it a worthwhile update."


title: The Blob (1988 film)

text: Film critic and historian Leonard Maltin gave the film two out of a possible four stars, noting that "Shawnee Smith screams (and screams) convincingly in this otherwise-needless, if undeniably gooey, remake...Producer Jack Harris updates his own camp classic for the Stephen King generation, but the results are frustratingly mixed". Janet Maslin of "The New York Times" wrote that the film "is more violent than the original, more spectacular, more cynical, more patently commercial and more attentive to detail", but noted that "for reasons having nothing to do with merit, the 1958 film earned a place in history. The remake, enterprising as it is, won't do the same".


title: The Blob (1988 film)

text: Retrospective reviews have typically been more favorable. Chuck Bowen of "Slant Magazine" wrote that the film "improves on the original cult classic with inventive, gracefully repulsive special effects and an agreeable post-Watergate anti-authoritarian message". HorrorNews.net gave the film a score of "4 1/2 out of 5", writing that "the twists that this film takes that differ from the original make it all the more terrifying and oddly enough... plausible". TV Guide gave the film 3/5 stars, calling it "a fine, multilayered effort from a director who understands the genre and appreciates its traditions".


title: The Blob (1988 film)

text: Discussing the poor critical and commercial performance of the film in an interview with "Starlog", director Chuck Russell stated, "Maybe it was a mistake to do a remake of "The Blob" with a sense of humor. I thought that would be an entertaining interpretation. … Unfortunately, it was released late in a very hectic summer filled with big films and it didn't have a particularly good ad campaign."


title: The Blob (1988 film)

text: The film was released on DVD in the United States by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment on September 11, 2001. Sony again released "The Blob" in September 2013 as part of its "The 4-Movie Horror Unleashed Collection", along with "Fright Night", "Christine" and "The Seventh Sign". The film was first released on Blu-ray in the United States by Twilight Time on October 14, 2014. On October 29, 2019, Shout! Factory's "Scream Factory" imprint issued a "Collector's Edition" of the film on Blu-ray, with a multitude of new bonus features.


title: Find Me in Your Memory

text: Find Me in Your Memory () is a 2020 South Korean television series starring Kim Dong-wook and Moon Ga-young. It aired on MBC TV from March 18 to May 13, 2020.


title: Find Me in Your Memory

text: A love story between a man who remembers every second of his life and a woman who forgot her painful past to live.


title: Find Me in Your Memory

text: Lee Jung-Hoon works as an anchorman at a broadcasting station. He has hyperthymesia, a condition that allows him to remember nearly every moment in his life. Meanwhile, Yeo Ha-Jin is a top actress. She has forgotten her past. Due to this, she lives as she pleases.


title: Out of the Blue (Electric Light Orchestra album)

text: Out of the Blue is the seventh studio album by the British rock group Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), released on October 28th, 1977. Written and produced by ELO frontman Jeff Lynne, the double album is among the most commercially successful records in the group's history, selling about 10 million copies worldwide by 2007.


text: Jeff Lynne wrote the entire album in three and a half weeks after a sudden burst of creativity while hidden away in his rented chalet in the Swiss Alps. It took a further two months to record in Munich.


text: It was one of the first pop albums to have an extensive use of the vocoder, and helped to popularize it.


text: The opening track, "Turn To Stone", was described by Donald A. Guarisco as "a good example of Electric Light Orchestra's skill for mixing string-laden pop hooks with driving rock and roll", praising the "array of swirling string lines that dart in and out of the mix and some dazzling falsetto harmonies that interact with Lynne's lead vocal in call and response style".


text: The following track is "It's Over", which takes on what Billboard Magazine described as a "classical feel". "Cash Box" said that it begins "with simple chording which opens to a strumming beat" and that the "strings add panorama" and that "the vocals are characteristically crystalline and soaring."


text: "Sweet Talkin' Woman" serves as the band's "first real step into the disco sound [...] a string-laden pop tune whose dance-friendly edge helped it become a disco-era hit". AllMusic's Donald A. Guarisco attributed its disco sound to "Bev Bevan's steady drum work" and "pounding piano lines, delirous bursts of swirling strings, and endlessly overdubbed backing vocals [that] mesh seamlessly to form an ornate but driving funhouse of pop hooks". "Billboard" described the song as a "catchy rocker characterized by semi-classical elements."


text: Side three of the release is subtitled "Concerto for a Rainy Day", a four-track musical suite based on the weather and how it affects mood change, ending with the eventual sunshine and happiness of "Mr. Blue Sky". This was inspired by Lynne's experience while trying to write songs for the album against a torrential downpour of rain outside his Swiss Chalet. "Standin' in the Rain" opens the suite with a haunting keyboard over a recording of real rain, recorded by Lynne just outside his rented studio during a very rainy summer in Munich. Also heard at the 0:33 mark of the song, which marks the beginning of The Concerto, is thunder crackling in an unusual manner voicing the words "Concerto for a Rainy Day" by the band's keyboardist, Richard Tandy.


text: "Big Wheels" forms the second part of the suite and continues with the theme of the weather and reflection. Apart from its inclusion on the "Out of the Blue" album, the song has never appeared on any of the band's compilations or as a B-side until 2000, when Lynne included it on the group's retrospective "Flashback" album. "Summer and Lightning" is the third song in the suite. The raining weather theme is continued throughout the track, though the mood and lyrics are more optimistic. "Mr. Blue Sky", an uplifting, lively song celebrating sunshine, is the finale of "Concerto for a Rainy Day" suite. Again, the Vocoder is used at the end of the track where, at the 4:54 mark, one can hear "Please turn me over" as it fades out. It is the only piece from the Concerto to be excerpted as a single.


text: Mark Beaumont said that the first track on Side 4, "Sweet Is The Night", "[sweeps] from an elegant glam-funk strut to a chorus that [is] essentially All The Young Dudes base-jumping."


text: The album closer is "Wild West Hero", which was released as the third single from the album. It reached a peak position of number 6.


text: The large spaceship on the album's cover (by now symbolic of the group) was designed by Kosh with art by Shusei Nagaoka. It was based on the logo Kosh designed for ELO's previous album, "A New World Record", and looks like the space station with a docking shuttle from "" (1968). The number JTLA 823 L2 which is featured on the shuttle arriving at the space station is the original catalogue number for the album. The album also included an insert of a cardboard cutout of the space station as well as a fold-out poster of the band members. The space theme was carried onto the live stage in the form of a huge glowing flying saucer stage set, inside which the band performed.


text: The album had 4 million pre-ordered copies and quickly went multi-Platinum upon release. "Out of the Blue" spawned five hit singles in different countries, and was ELO's most commercially successful studio album. It was also the first double album in the history of the UK music charts to generate four top twenty hit singles. Lynne considers "A New World Record" and "Out of the Blue" to be the group's crowning achievements, and both sold extremely well, reaching multi-platinum according to RIAA Certification. Capital Radio and The "Daily Mirror" Rock and Pop Awards (forerunner to The Brit Awards) named it "Album of the Year" in 1978. Lynne received his first Ivor Novello award for Outstanding Contributions to British Music the same year.


text: The US release of "Out of the Blue" was originally distributed by United Artists. This changed after United Artists Records was sold by Transamerica Corporation to an EMI Records-backed partnership, which triggered Jet Records' change of control clause in its distribution contract, and Jet shifted to CBS Records as its new distributor. American cut-out copies of "Out of the Blue" soon became widely available at discounted prices in record shops in the US and Canada shortly after the album's release, affecting the album's sales and triggering lawsuits by CBS and Jet. The suits were ultimately unsuccessful in stopping the discounted sales.


text: The 30th Anniversary Edition was released in February 2007 with three bonus tracks, as part of the Sony/BMG Music Epic/Legacy series. The 30th anniversary issue was a limited pressing in hardback book with expanded 24-page full colour booklet. It includes full-length sleeve notes by Lynne and ELO archivist Rob Caiger, as well as rare photos and memorabilia. A push-out replica ELO Space Station is included as well as the standard jewel case edition with a full colour 12-page edited booklet. The album once again reached the top twenty album charts in the UK peaking at number 18. A sixth single "Latitude 88 North" was released as digital download single and as a promo 7" single.


text: In 2012, Music on Vinyl re-released "Out of the Blue" on vinyl on Epic; the first 1,000 copies were made on transparent blue vinyl and the rest were released in the standard black vinyl.


text: In 2017, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the album, a double picture vinyl disc was released by Sony Music and Epic Records.


text: In a contemporary review for "Rolling Stone", Billy Altman said that the album was "meticulously produced and performed" and showed the influence of the Beatles, the Beach Boys and the Bee Gees. However, he detected a lack of passion in the work, which he dismissed as a "totally uninteresting and horrifyingly sterile package" and "All method and no madness: perfectly hollow and bland rock Muzak."


text: Over the years a more favourable view has developed. Rob Mitchum of "Pitchfork" wrote in 2007: "Calling in the string section and commissioning the spaceship cover-art may be a big gamble, but "Out of the Blue" is proof of how good it can sound when the grand approach works."


text: In 2000 it was voted number 346 in Colin Larkin's "All Time Top 1000 Albums". The album was also included in the book "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die".


text: Axl Rose – by his own admission "an old ELO fanatic" – said: ""Out of the Blue" is an awesome record."


text: In October 2013, the album was ranked 23rd on VH1's list "Double Trouble: The 35 Best-Selling Double Albums of All Time".


title: Blues Brothers 2000

text: Blues Brothers 2000 is a 1998 American musical comedy film directed by John Landis from a screenplay written by Landis and Dan Aykroyd, both of whom were also producers. The film, starring Aykroyd and John Goodman, is a sequel to the 1980 film "The Blues Brothers." It also includes cameo appearances by various musicians.


title: Blues Brothers 2000

text: "Blues Brothers 2000" was released on February 6, 1998 to mixed-to-negative reviews from critics and grossed $32.1 million on a budget of $30 million. "Blues Brothers 2000" is dedicated to John Belushi, Cab Calloway and John Candy, cast members from the original film who had died prior to the sequel's production, in addition to Junior Wells, who died one month before it was released.


title: Blues Brothers 2000

text: Elwood Blues is released from prison after serving eighteen years for the events of the previous film and is informed that his brother, "Joliet" Jake Blues has died. He is picked up by Matara, a friend who works for his former drummer Willie Hall who wants to help him get back on his feet.


title: Blues Brothers 2000

text: Before meeting up with Willie, Elwood asks to be dropped off to see Mother Mary Stigmata who is now working at a hospital after the orphanage was closed. She informs him that Curtis has also died but fathered an illegitimate son, Cabel Chamberlain, who is an Illinois State Police commander, and introduces him to an orphan, Buster, to suggest mentoring him.


title: Blues Brothers 2000

text: Against Stigmata’s advice, Elwood tracks down Cabel at his police headquarters to inform him of his real father and asks him to join The Blues Brothers Band, which he plans on reforming. Cabel, upset by the news and offended by the suggestion to join him after seeing Elwood's and Jake's criminal histories, throws him out of the building, where Buster steals his wallet; it contains enough money for Elwood to purchase a new Bluesmobile.


title: Blues Brothers 2000

text: Elwood and Buster begin tracking down members of the former band to recruit them from their current jobs. Willie runs a strip club and joins after it is burned down by the Russian mafia because Elwood enlisted the help of Willie’s barman "Mighty" Mack McTeer to try and convince them to leave the club alone. Another member, Matt "Guitar" Murphy, joins again at the advice of his wife, with whom he now runs a Mercedes-Benz dealership. Three members work at a radio station and quickly agree to join, and finally, Murphy Dunne joins after his boss at a call center gives him permission.


title: Blues Brothers 2000

text: The newly-reformed band uses their old agent to book them a show. On the way to the show, they are followed by Cabel and the Illinois state police, who are now looking for Elwood for stealing Cabel’s wallet earlier, and believing that he has kidnapped Buster. While avoiding the police, Elwood interrupts a militia group meeting, unintentionally destroying their boat full of explosives they planned to use.


title: Blues Brothers 2000

text: The band arrives at the show to find they have been mistakenly booked as a Bluegrass band, but perform anyway. Afterwards, they evade capture by the police, but they catch up with them at a tent revival where Reverend Cleophus James is preaching. Before Cabel can arrest them, he has an epiphany brought on by Reverend Cleophus that he should join the band instead of being a police officer. The band evades capture once more, now with Cabel joining them, who the police believe is brainwashed.


title: Blues Brothers 2000

text: The band continues on to their next booking, an audition for a Battle of the Bands put on by Queen Mousette who Mack informs is allegedly a 130-year-old voodoo witch. Queen Mousette requests the band play something Caribbean; when Elwood explains they don’t play Caribbean music, she casts a spell on them to play anyway. Mousette accepts the band into the battle; however Elwood, Mack, and Cabel are turned into statues.


title: Blues Brothers 2000

text: At the show, Queen Mousette undoes the spell to allow the Blues Brothers to play against the Louisiana Gator Boys, a supergroup of blues musicians who win the battle. After the battle, the show is interrupted by the arrival of the Russian mafia and the militia group from earlier; they are turned into rats by Queen Mousette. The Illinois state police arrive, but stand down after Cabel informs them that he is all right. Elwood suggests that the two bands jam together on stage, and uses the performance as cover when Mother Mary Stigmata arrives to say goodbye to Cabel and Mack and escape with Buster, with the police giving chase.


title: Blues Brothers 2000

text: The Louisiana Gator Boys is a blues supergroup created for the film. They face The Blues Brothers in a Battle of the Bands. The band is composed of:


title: Blues Brothers 2000

text: Kathleen Freeman, Frank Oz, Steve Lawrence and Jeff Morris appeared in cameos, all reprising their roles from "The Blues Brothers" film. Nia Peeples portrays a state police officer, Darrell Hammond a militia member, John Lyons a Russian thug, and Paul Shaffer as Queen Moussette's majordomo. The film is dedicated to John Belushi, Cab Calloway, and John Candy, cast members from the original film who had died prior to the sequel's production.


title: Blues Brothers 2000

text: "Blues Brothers 2000" made it into the Guinness Book of Records for the biggest car pile-up, a record previously held by the original film. 63 cars were used in the scene after Elwood says to the band, "Don't look back." Inevitably, everyone looks back and sees the massive pile-up. Portions of this scene were filmed in Niagara Falls, Ontario.


title: Blues Brothers 2000

text: The original film had held the record for the most cars destroyed during production of a motion picture with 103. "Blues Brothers 2000" surpassed this total with 104, a mark that would stand until 112 cars were destroyed during the filming of "" in 2009.


title: Blues Brothers 2000

text: The film was originally intended to include Brother Zee Blues (Jim Belushi, brother of John Belushi). But due to an already existing television deal (Belushi had been cast in the ABC drama "Total Security"), Belushi was unable to appear and the script was altered to include Cab Blues (Joe Morton). This character was named Cabel as an homage to Cab Calloway, who died four years prior to the film's release. (His character Curtis was revealed to have died in the film along with Jake.)


title: Blues Brothers 2000

text: The Blues Brothers' original keyboardist, Paul Shaffer, had been committed to Gilda Radner's one-woman show on Broadway and was therefore unable to appear in the first film. He was replaced by actor-musician Murphy Dunne. Shaffer does appear in "Blues Brothers 2000", taking a week off from "Late Show with David Letterman" to film his role as Queen Moussette's majordomo and emcee of the Battle of the Bands (Warren Zevon took his place that week on Letterman's show). Shaffer shaved his head for the role, a change in appearance he chose to retain permanently.


title: Blues Brothers 2000

text: During the "Funky Nassau" number, Shaffer in his character of "Marco," asks to cut in on keyboards, which Murph allows. This marks the first time on-screen that the Blues Brothers Band played with their original keyboardist.


title: Blues Brothers 2000

text: Several cast members from the first film reprised their characters, including Frank Oz, Jeff Morris, Steve Lawrence, Kathleen Freeman, Aretha Franklin, and James Brown.


title: Blues Brothers 2000

text: The film received mixed reviews, averaging a 46% positive rating at Rotten Tomatoes based on 46 reviews, and a critical consensus that reads "Braving onward without the late John Belushi, "Blues Brothers 2000" gets the band back together with a spirited soundtrack, but a mission that's far less divine". It earned a D score from Entertainment Weekly. Roger Ebert gave the film 2 stars, saying, "The film is lame comedy surrounded by high-energy blues (and some pop, rock and country music)."


title: Blues Brothers 2000

text: A "Blues Brothers 2000" video game was released for the Nintendo 64 on November 17, 2000, two years after the film's release. The plot of the game involves Elwood as the main character going through different chapters and levels while trying to save the kidnapped members of the band one by one. Like the film on which it based and the video game based on the first film, it was poorly received.


title: Importance of religion by country

text: The table below is based upon global Gallup Poll in 2009 research which asked "Is religion important in your daily life?". Percentages for "yes" and "no" answers are listed below; they often do not add up to 100% because some answered "don't know" or did not answer.


title: The Brood

text: The Brood is a 1979 Canadian psychological body horror film written and directed by David Cronenberg and starring Oliver Reed, Samantha Eggar, and Art Hindle. Its plot follows a man and his mentally ill ex-wife, who has been sequestered by a psychiatrist known for his controversial therapy techniques. A series of brutal unsolved murders serves as the backdrop for the central narrative.


title: The Brood

text: Written by Cronenberg after his own acrimonious divorce, he intended the screenplay as a meditation on a fractured relationship between a husband and wife who share a child, and cast Eggar and Hindle as loose facsimiles of himself and his ex-wife. He would later state that, despite its incorporation of science fiction elements, he considered it his sole feature that most embodied a "classic horror film". Principal photography of "The Brood" took place in late 1978 in Toronto on a budget of $1.5 million. The film's score was composed by Howard Shore, in his film composing debut.


title: The Brood

text: Released in the spring of 1979 by New World Pictures, "The Brood" proved profitable for the studio, grossing over $5 million. Though it initially received positive reviews from critics, it would establish itself as a cult film in the following decades. It has attracted scholarly interest from academics in the areas of film theory for its themes regarding mental illness and parenthood. In 2006, the Chicago Film Critics Association named it the 88th scariest film of all time. In 2013, it was selected for restoration by the Criterion Collection, which subsequently released it on Blu-ray.


title: The Brood

text: Psychotherapist Hal Raglan runs the Somafree Institute of Psychoplasmics, where he encourages patients with mental disturbances to let go of their suppressed emotions through physiological changes to their bodies in a technique he calls "psychoplasmics". One of his patients is Nola Carveth, a severely disturbed woman who is legally embattled with her husband Frank for custody of their five-year-old daughter Candice. When Frank discovers bruises and scratches on Candice following a visit with Nola, he informs Raglan of his intent to stop visitation rights. Wanting to protect his patient, Raglan begins to intensify the sessions with Nola to resolve the issue quickly. During the therapy sessions, he discovers that Nola was physically and verbally abused by her self-pitying alcoholic mother while neglected by her co-dependent alcoholic father, who refused to protect Nola out of shame and denial.


title: The Brood

text: Meanwhile, Frank, intending to invalidate Raglan's methods, questions Jan Hartog, a former Somafree Institute patient who is dying of psychoplasmic-induced lymphoma. Frank leaves Candice with her maternal grandmother, Juliana, and the two spend the evening viewing old photographs. Juliana tells Candice that Nola was frequently hospitalized as a child and often exhibited strange unexplained wheals on her skin that doctors were unable to diagnose. While in the kitchen, Juliana is attacked and bludgeoned to death by a small, dwarf-like child. Candice is traumatized, but physically unharmed.


title: The Brood

text: Juliana's ex-husband Barton returns for the funeral and attempts to contact Nola at the Somafree Institute, but Raglan turns him away. Frank invites Candice's teacher, Ruth Mayer, home for dinner to discuss his daughter's performance in school. Barton interrupts with a drunken phone call from Juliana's home, demanding that Frank and he go to the Somafree Institute to see Nola. Frank leaves to calm Barton, leaving Candice in Ruth's care. While he's away, Ruth answers a phone call from Nola, who, recognizing her voice and believing her to be having an affair with Frank, insults her and angrily warns Ruth to stay away from her family. Meanwhile, Frank arrives to find Barton murdered by the same deformed dwarf-child, who dies after attempting to kill Frank.


title: The Brood

text: The police autopsy of the dwarf-child reveals a multitude of bizarre anatomical anomalies: the creature is asexual, supposedly colorblind, naturally toothless, and devoid of a navel, indicating no known means of natural human birth. After the murder story reaches the newspapers, Raglan reluctantly acknowledges that the deaths coincided with his sessions with Nola relating to their respective topics. He closes the Somafree Institute and sends his patients to municipal care with the exception of Nola. Frank is alerted about the closure of the institute by Hartog.


title: The Brood

text: Mike Trellan, one of the patients forced to leave the institute, tells Frank that Nola is now Raglan's "queen bee" and in charge of some "disturbed children" in an attic. When Candice returns to school, two dwarf-children attack and kill Ruth in front of her class before absconding with Candice to the Somafree Institute, with Frank in pursuit. Upon arriving at the institute, Raglan tells Frank the truth about the dwarf-children: they are the accidental product of Nola's psychoplasmic sessions; her rage about her abuse was so strong that she parthenogenetically bore a brood of creatures resembling children who psychically respond and act on the targets of her rage, with Nola completely unaware of their actions. Realizing the brood are too dangerous to keep anymore, Raglan plans to venture into their quarters and rescue Candice, provided that Frank can keep Nola calm to avoid provoking the children.


title: The Brood

text: Frank attempts a feigned rapprochement long enough for Raglan to collect Candice, but when he witnesses Nola give birth to another child through a psychoplasmically-induced external womb, she notices his disgust when she licks the child clean. The brood awakens and kills Raglan. Nola then threatens to kill Candice rather than lose her. The brood goes after Candice who hides in a closet, but the brood begins to break through the door and tries to grab her. In desperation, Frank strangles Nola to death, and the brood dies without its mother's psychic connection. Frank carries a visibly traumatized Candice back to his car and the two depart. As the pair sit in silence, two small lesions—a germinal stage of the phenomenon experienced by Nola—appear on Candice's arm.


title: The Brood

text: In retrospect, Cronenberg stated that he felt "The Brood" was "the most classic horror film I've done" in terms of structure. He conceived the screenplay in the aftermath of an acrimonious divorce from his wife, which resulted in a bitter custody battle over their daughter. During his divorce, Cronenberg became aware of the drama "Kramer vs. Kramer" (also released in 1979), and was disillusioned by its optimistic depiction of a familial breakdown after a couple's separation. In response, he began writing the screenplay for "The Brood", aspiring to depict the strife between a divorced couple battling over their child.


title: The Brood

text: In casting the roles of Frank and Nola Carveth, Cronenberg sought actors who were "vague facsimiles" of himself and his wife. Canadian actor Art Hindle was cast in the role of Frank, while English actress Samantha Eggar was cast as Nola. Oliver Reed was cast in the role of Hal Raglan, the psychologist who has kept Nola sequestered after her divorce from Frank. This marked the second time Eggar and Reed had starred in a film together, having previously co-starred in "The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun" (1970). Additionally, Eggar and Reed had known one another personally, having grown up together in Bledlow, England. Eggar was impressed by Cronenberg's screenplay, and agreed to appear in the film as she felt the role of Nola was "almost Shakespearean...  How could you turn this part down?"


title: The Brood

text: Principal photography of "The Brood" began on November 14, 1978, in Toronto, Ontario and continued through December. The Kortright Centre for Conservation, just north of Toronto, was used as the location of the Somafree Institute. Additional photography was done in Mississauga. The film's budget was approximately C$1,500,000.


title: The Brood

text: Eggar recalled the production crew being very small, with only around seven crew members in total while she was filming her sequences, many of them "academics and PhDs, standing there holding lights". Her scenes were shot over a period of three days. To portray the brood of children, Cronenberg cast a group of child gymnasts from Toronto.


title: The Brood

text: This was the first film scored by composer Howard Shore. Shore's work consists in a composition for chamber orchestra strongly reminiscent of the Second Viennese School's Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg and Anton Webern. The technically difficult score by Shore is performed by professional players. Shore has written the music for all but one of Cronenberg's subsequent films.


title: The Brood

text: "The Brood" had cuts demanded for an R-rating for its theatrical release in the United States. Eggar conceived the idea of licking the new fetuses that her character Nola Carveth has spawned. "I just thought that when cats have their kittens or dogs have puppies (and I think at that time I had about 8 dogs), they lick them as soon as they’re born. Lick, lick, lick, lick, lick…," Eggar said.


title: The Brood

text: However, when the climactic scene was censored, Cronenberg responded: "I had a long and loving close-up of Samantha licking the fetus […] when the censors, those animals, cut it out, the result was that a lot of people thought she was eating her baby. That's much worse than I was suggesting."


title: The Brood

text: "The Brood" was released in North America on June 1, 1979. After its screenings in Toronto and Chicago, "The Brood" grossed $685,000 over only a period of ten days between the two cities. By 1981, the film had grossed over $5 million.


title: The Brood

text: On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, "The Brood" holds an 83% approval rating based on 29 critic reviews, with an average rating of 7.5/10. The consensus reads: ""The Brood" is a grotesque, squirming, hilariously shrill exploration of the bizarre and deadly side of motherhood.”


title: The Brood

text: While "Variety" called it "an extremely well made, if essentially unpleasant shocker", Leonard Maltin reviewed the film in two sentences: "Eggar eats her own afterbirth while midget clones beat grandparents and lovely young schoolteachers to death with mallets. It's a big, wide, wonderful world we live in!" and rated it an outright "BOMB". Roger Ebert called it "a bore" and "disgusting in ways that are not entertaining; as opposed, for example, to the great disgusting moments in "Alien" or "Dawn of the Dead"", and even went as far as asking, "Are there really people who want to see reprehensible trash like this?" concluding with "I guess so. It's in its second week." Writing for the "Vancouver Sun", Vaughn Palmer lambasted the film, referring to it as "mean, foul and witless...  The people who made "The Brood" do not like people. They do not even appear to like themselves. They just like money." Kevin Thomas of the "Los Angeles Times" praised the film as "well-made" and "expertly acted," but criticized its depictions of violence, stating: "Perhaps Cronenberg means to make an extreme comment upon the irresponsibility of psychiatrists and parents, but "The Brood" is so totally sickening it's an irresponsible work itself."


title: The Brood

text: In "Cult Movies", Danny Peary, who openly disapproves of "Shivers" and "Rabid", calls "The Brood" "Cronenberg's best film" because "we care about the characters", and, although he dislikes the ending, "an hour and a half of absorbing, solid cinema". In his "An Introduction to the American Horror Film", critic Robin Wood views "The Brood" as a reactionary work portraying feminine power as irrational and horrifying, and the dangerous attempts of Oliver Reed's character's psychoanalysis as an analogue to the dangers of trying to undo repression in society.


title: The Brood

text: "The Brood" was listed #88 on the "Chicago Film Critics Association's 100 Scariest Movies of All-Time". In 2004, one of its sequences was voted #78 among the "100 Scariest Movie Moments" by the Bravo Channel.


title: The Brood

text: The film was released on DVD in its original uncensored version by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on August 26, 2003. Anchor Bay Entertainment subsequently released the film on DVD in the United Kingdom 2005.