title: Antonov An-70

text: Similar to the An-124, the An-70 design makes extensive use of titanium and composites to keep weight to a minimum and increase damage resistance. Approximately 25 percent of the airframe is made of carbon-fibre composites, which are primarily used on control surfaces and the tail assembly, while aluminium and steel alloys are used for the rest of the structure. The An-70 has a designed life of 45,000 hours over 15,000 flights. The prototypes had a fly-by-wire flight-control system that comprised three digital channels and six analog channels; it was expected that production aircraft would have a four-channel digital fly-by-wire system. Aircraft and system information are mainly relayed to the pilot and co-pilot via six large multi-function CRT displays, with secondary electro-mechanical instruments and head-up displays; a flight engineer position is also present on the prototypes.


title: Van der Graaf Generator

text: Van der Graaf Generator are an English progressive rock band, formed in 1967 in Manchester by singer-songwriters Peter Hammill and Chris Judge Smith and the first act signed by Charisma Records. They did not experience much commercial success in the UK, but became popular in Italy during the 1970s. In 2005 the band reformed, and are still musically active with a line-up of Hammill, organist Hugh Banton and drummer Guy Evans.


title: Van der Graaf Generator

text: The band formed at the University of Manchester, but settled in London where they signed with Charisma. They went through several incarnations in their early years, including a brief split in 1969. When they reformed, they found minor commercial success with "The Least We Can Do Is Wave to Each Other" (released in early 1970 and their only album to chart in the UK), and after the follow-up album, "H to He, Who Am the Only One" (December 1970), stabilised around a line-up of Hammill, Banton, Evans and saxophonist David Jackson. The quartet subsequently achieved significant success in Italy with the release of "Pawn Hearts" in 1971. After several exhausting tours of Italy, the band split in 1972. They reformed in 1975, releasing "Godbluff" and frequently touring Italy again, before a major line-up change and a slight rename to Van der Graaf. The band split in 1978. After many years apart, the band finally reunited at a gig at the Royal Festival Hall and a short tour in 2005. Since then, the band has continued as a trio of Hammill, Banton, and Evans, who record and tour regularly in between Hammill's concurrent solo career.


title: Van der Graaf Generator

text: The group's albums have tended to be both lyrically and musically darker in atmosphere than many of their progressive rock peers (a trait they shared with King Crimson, whose guitarist Robert Fripp guested on two of their albums), and guitar solos were the exception rather than the rule, preferring to use Banton's classically influenced organ, and, until his departure, Jackson's multiple saxophones. While Hammill is the primary songwriter for the band, and members have contributed to his solo albums, the band arranges all its material collectively. Hammill's lyrics covered themes of mortality, due to his love of science fiction writers such as Robert A. Heinlein and Philip K. Dick, along with his confessed warped and obsessive nature. His voice has been a distinctive component of the band throughout its career, described as "a male Nico". Though the group have generally been commercially unsuccessful, they have inspired several musicians across various genres.


title: Van der Graaf Generator

text: The band formed in 1967 at the University of Manchester, after Chris Judge Smith, who had already played in several British rhythm and blues groups whilst a pupil in Oundle School, returned from a trip to San Francisco and, inspired by the bands he had seen, put together a list of possible band names to form a new group. After an unsatisfactory audition they had both attended in response to an advert to form a band, he met fellow student Peter Hammill, who was playing some of his original songs. Hammill had begun writing songs and poetry at the age of 12 while at prep school, and progressed to playing in bands while a pupil at Beaumont College. He was then briefly employed as a computer programmer, during which time he subsequently claimed to have written much of the band's early material, before enrolling at Manchester. Smith was so impressed with the quality of Hammill's original material that the two agreed to form a band together. The band name chosen from Smith's list was based on a Van de Graaff generator, a mechanical device that produces static electricity with lightning-like flashes – the misspellings are accidental. Smith recalls the reason for this may have been that Van de Graaff died in 1967, which was widely reported in the media.


title: Van der Graaf Generator

text: Among the bands that regularly played the university, including Cream, Jimi Hendrix, and Pink Floyd, they were particularly impressed by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, and recruited an organist, Nick Pearne, to match the format of Arthur Brown's band. Along with two female dancers, the initial line-up was Hammill on guitar and vocals, Smith on drums, wind instruments and vocals, and Pearne on organ (though he did not initially have an instrument). According to Smith, the band initially played as a two-piece, with Smith occasionally using a typewriter as a percussion instrument; their first gig as a three-piece was in the student union, which lasted five minutes before the group's amplifiers blew up.


title: Van der Graaf Generator

text: The band managed to persuade fellow student Caleb Bradley to manage them, and by the start of 1968, the band had managed to record a demo tape influenced by blues and jazz, sending it to Lou Reizner, then the U.K. head of Mercury Records, who offered the trio of Hammill, Smith, and Pearne a recording contract in May. At this point, the band had to make a decision whether to stay on at university, or quit their courses and move to London to turn professional. Pearne was not keen to abandon his studies, so decided to leave the group.


title: Van der Graaf Generator

text: On arrival in London, Hammill and Smith met up with classically trained organist Hugh Banton, who was a brother of one of their friends back in Manchester. Later that year, they met Tony Stratton-Smith, who agreed to sign a management contract with them in December. Through him, the band acquired a bass guitar player, Keith Ellis, with drummer Guy Evans joining not too long afterwards. This line-up recorded a series of demos for Mercury, before recording a single ("People You Were Going To" b/w "Firebrand") on Polydor Records, which was released in January 1969. "Melody Maker" said the single was "one of the best records of the week". But the single was quickly withdrawn under pressure from Mercury, since it violated the contract band members Hammill and Smith signed the previous year. Smith, feeling superfluous to requirements, left the band, amicably, shortly after the recording of the single. He later released demos featuring his time in Van der Graaf Generator on a CD, "Democrazy". The remaining 4 members performed for John Peel on BBC Radio 1's Top Gear radio show in November, and played several gigs in England in the next months.


title: Van der Graaf Generator

text: Meanwhile, Mercury refused to let the band record, and at the same time Stratton-Smith refused to let the other members of the band sign to Mercury too, as he did not think the deal was fair to the band (only Hammill remained now of the original three who had signed with Mercury). On top of that in late January 1969 the band's van and equipment were stolen. The theft aggravated their financial difficulties. Although the band was touring successfully, which included a concert in February at the Royal Albert Hall in support of Jimi Hendrix, it broke up in June after playing a final gig at Nottingham's Pop & Blues Festival on 10 May entirely with borrowed equipment. John Peel, who was compering the show, announced their break-up to the audience.


title: Van der Graaf Generator

text: In July 1969, Hammill had begun performing solo at the Marquee Club in London, and since there was no group, he decided to record what was intended to be his first solo album at Trident Studios on 31 July and 1 August, with Banton, Evans, and Ellis as session musicians. However, through a deal worked out by Stratton-Smith, the album, "The Aerosol Grey Machine", was released in September 1969 by Mercury under the group's name in return for releasing them from their contract. The album was initially only released in the United States with hardly any promotion at all, so sales were minimal, but the group decided to reform in the middle of the recording session. Ellis had already committed to joining Juicy Lucy and was replaced by Evan's former bandmate in The Misunderstood, Nic Potter. The band had also enjoyed flautist Jeff Peach's contributions to the album and wanted to recruit a further instrumentalist. "There was always the idea of having another melodic instrument," recalled Evans. "He [Banton]'ll play a solo, sure, and really give it something, but he doesn't want to do that all the time." Peach was approached to become a full-time member, but dropped out after one rehearsal as he didn't think his playing style fitted the band. The position was eventually filled by saxophonist and flautist David Jackson, who had previously played in a band called Heebalob with Smith. Hammill had already sat in with Heebalob at the Plumpton National Jazz Festival on 9 August, and, impressed by Jackson's playing, invited him to join the band, partly because he also needed a flatmate to help pay with the rent.


title: Van der Graaf Generator

text: In September, the new five-piece band began rehearsals in Notting Hill Gate and began to change its sound. Banton, influenced by the effects pedals popularised by Jimi Hendrix, used his electronic skills to modify a Farfisa organ, giving it a wider variety of sounds. Jackson was inspired by jazz musicians, particularly Rahsaan Roland Kirk, and began to play multiple saxophones (usually alto and tenor) simultaneously. Hammill, for his part, elected to sing in received pronunciation, exploring the full range of his vocal capabilities. "We were all megalomaniacs," said Banton. "We grabbed our own space as best we could." The band started to gig regularly, including the first of several live appearances at the Friars Aylesbury in November.


title: Van der Graaf Generator

text: Tony Stratton-Smith formed Charisma Records and signed the band as his first act, who recorded their second album, "The Least We Can Do Is Wave to Each Other" from 11–14 December 1969 with producer John Anthony in Trident Studios. Hammill's voice was electronically treated on "After the Flood", while "Refugees" and "White Hammer" featured cello and cornet respectively. Because the band finished ahead of their rehearsal schedule, Potter decided to overdub some electric guitar – an instrument he had never played before. The album was released in February 1970 and made the top 50 in the U.K, "Melody Maker" said "If all our groups were as together as this, the British music scene would improve ten-fold."


title: Van der Graaf Generator

text: Potter, however, did not feel he fitted into the increasingly experimental sound the band was developing and tended to wait until the others had worked out their parts during rehearsals, adding his bass lines on top at the last minute. After recording three tracks of their third album, "H to He, Who Am the Only One", he decided to quit the band. His last gig was on 9 August at the 1970 Plumpton Festival. The remaining members auditioned Dave Anderson, roadie for Brinsley Schwarz and friend of the band, but after a week's rehearsal found that things weren't working out musically. Banton, meanwhile, had become influenced by Vincent Crane's work in Atomic Rooster, where Crane played the bass lines on a Hammond organ's bass pedals and suggested that he could do this as well. With just days to go before the next gig, they tried rehearsing as a four-piece, and it was successful. Banton later played bass guitar on certain songs, having already learned the instrument in the mid-1960s, and Hammill expanded his instrumental capabilities on stage to cover piano and keyboards as well as guitar. Jackson modified his saxophones to be completely electric, as opposed to simply being amplified through a microphone, and combined the sound with a wah-wah pedal and an octave divider.


title: Van der Graaf Generator

text: "H to He" continued to be recorded sporadically throughout 1970, and featured Robert Fripp of King Crimson contributing guitar on "The Emperor in His War-Room". Producer John Anthony knew Fripp socially and invited him to a session as a guest, something Fripp had never done before at that point. According to Jackson, Fripp "put headphones on and started searing away", listening to the track once, then performing two takes. "Killer", later to become a live favourite, recycled a middle eight from an old Heebalob song, and Smith received a co-composition credit on the track. The album was released in December, but didn't sell as well as "The Least We Can Do..." because of the lack of a hit. Charisma proposed "Killer" as a single, but the band rejected this. Reviewing the album, "Sounds" particularly praised Jackson's saxophone work, but critical reception overall was mixed.


title: Van der Graaf Generator

text: The Hammill/Banton/Jackson/Evans quartet that resulted from "H to He, Who Am the Only One" is now considered the "classic" line-up. The group played on the 'Six Bob Tour' in early 1971 with fellow Charisma labelmates Genesis and Lindisfarne. Despite the complexity of their music, the band were well received on the tour, with Hammill noting "at nearly all the gigs, most of the audience have known most of the songs ... It was like a big family actually, exactly as all of us had pictured it in our wildest dreams."


title: Van der Graaf Generator

text: While on tour, the band started working out compositions between gigs for their next album, which would become "Pawn Hearts". The intention was to release a double album, and the band recorded the material; however, for economic reasons, the released recording was a single album containing three tracks – "Lemmings", "Man-Erg", and the 23 minute concept piece "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers". Reflecting on this, Hammill said: "Charisma Records felt that it wasn't appropriate for us to release a double album and they vetoed the live studio recordings and the solo tracks by Guy, David, and Hugh." The master tape of the recording sessions has been lost. Fripp again provided a cameo appearance on guitar. While "Man-Erg" had already been performed on stage, "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers" evolved in the studio, recorded in small sections and pieced together during mixing. According to producer John Anthony, the track features a lot more studio experimentation than on previous albums, saying "we pushed the facilities at Trident to the limit and had involved the use of every single tape machine in Trident at some stage." The experiments included tape manipulation and Banton playing Mellotron and synthesizer. According to Jackson, one section of it features the entire band overdubbed 16 times. The album was released in October 1971 and was not a success in the U.K, but proved highly successful in Italy, topping the chart there for 12 weeks. The following single, "Theme One", reached number one in Italy, too. "Theme One" was an instrumental piece, originally written by Beatles producer George Martin as a fanfare for the BBC radio station Radio 1, later to appear on US pressings of "Pawn Hearts".


title: Van der Graaf Generator

text: Following commercial success in Italy, the band did a six-week tour there at the start of 1972. The band were apprehensive about touring there, concerned they might be playing to half empty venues, but they were all shocked by the sheer volume of the crowds that came to see them. ""Pawn Hearts" was seen as the ultimate album by the ultimate band," said Jackson, who at times found it difficult to walk down the street in parts of Italy without being recognised. "The tour was like the prophets have landed ... you couldn't go anywhere without this lunatic 'Generator Mania' breaking out." After the tour, the group was immediately offered another Italian tour, this time doing up to three shows a day. In between the tours, the band made an appearance on Belgian television performing "Theme One" and "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers". Since the studio recording of "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers" was a collage of multiple recordings, impossible to reproduce live in one setting, the band simply filmed individual sections of the song and spliced them together in the editing suite. It was the only live performance of the song until 2013.


title: Van der Graaf Generator

text: By June, the band had performed another Italian tour (the third that year) and wanted to start recording new material (some of which ended up on Hammill's 1973 solo album "Chameleon in the Shadow of the Night"). However, the combination of working for too long without a break, combined with a lack of support from Stratton-Smith and Charisma and continued financial difficulties caused the band to implode, and Hammill left to pursue a solo career in mid-1972.


title: Van der Graaf Generator

text: The three remaining members recorded an instrumental album with Nic Potter, Ced Curtis, and Pietro Messina, under the name 'The Long Hello'. Their self-titled album ("The Long Hello") was released in 1974.


title: Van der Graaf Generator

text: Hammill's split with the group was amicable, and Banton, Jackson, and Evans, among others, all contributed to his solo work at various times. By February 1975, the members of the band were ready to work with each other in a full-time capacity again, and they decided to reform the band. All the members were keen on carrying on with new music, with no nostalgia for their previous era, and did not want to play earlier stage favourites such as "Killer" (the opening track on "H to He, Who Am the Only One") and "Theme One". "We didn't want to continue as if nothing had happened," said Hammill. Banton was in the middle of building a custom organ at the time, and halted the project to join the reformed group, using a rented Hammond C3 organ instead. Hammill began playing electric guitar in the band, which had been conspicuously absent earlier in their career.


title: Van der Graaf Generator

text: The reformed band worked at a prolific pace, rehearsing, and touring France before recording three new albums in just 12 months, beginning with "Godbluff" (October 1975). Unlike the earlier work with John Anthony at Trident, the sessions were produced by the band themselves, and both the "Melody Maker" and "Sounds" thought they were a tighter and more cohesive unit than previously. The album in particular saw Hammill making significant use of the Hohner clavinet keyboard. "Still Life" followed on 15 April 1976. Banton considers this album one of his favourites by the group.


title: Van der Graaf Generator

text: In the summer of 1975, the band gigged in Italy without incident, but when they returned to tour there in November, the intense political situation the country was going through caught up with them. The opening concert in Padua was marked with clashes with communists delivering political speeches, and the audience started throwing missiles towards the stage. After a gig without incident in Genoa, the third day of the tour at the PalaSport in Rome, in front of 40,000 people, saw similar confrontations to the Padua gig. A fire broke out at the venue, but was brought under control. The next day, the band learned that most of their gear had been stolen from the tour van, including Hammill's blue Fender Stratocaster, christened "Meurglys". Despite threats from promoters that the band would continue the tour using hired equipment (which Jackson considered impossible given the electronic modifications he had made to his saxophones), they abandoned the tour. Miraculously, all of Jackson's saxophones had survived the theft.


title: Van der Graaf Generator

text: In December 1976, following the "World Record" tour, Banton quit, and in January 1977, Potter returned to replace him alongside the violinist Graham Smith (formerly of Charisma folk-rock band String Driven Thing). Jackson then decided to leave, resulting in a four-piece line-up with a quite different sound, and a shortened name of Van der Graaf, to play the spring tour. They produced the album "The Quiet Zone/The Pleasure Dome", released in September 1977; cellist and keyboardist Charles Dickie joined the band in August and remained with them for their last year. A further studio album was never recorded, but this line-up recorded a live double-album "Vital" in January 1978, featuring several new songs. Jackson reunited with the band for these concerts and appeared on six tracks. By the time the album was released in July 1978, the band had already split because of lack of record company support in the United States and financial difficulties.


title: Van der Graaf Generator

text: In 1982 a collection of out-takes and rehearsal recordings from the 1972–1975 hiatus was released (initially on cassette only), called "Time Vaults". Intended only as a gift for hardcore fans these are mostly not studio-quality recordings, some of them have even a quite bad audio quality full of distortions.


title: Van der Graaf Generator

text: Despite the 1978 split, Banton recalled that the group "never descended very far into our sub-conscience". Banton, Jackson and Evans appeared on Hammill's solo albums, and all four occasionally played together. In 1996, the quartet appeared on stage during a concert by Hammill and Evans at the Union Chapel in London to perform "Lemmings", which was later in March 1997 released as "The Union Chapel Concert". In 2003, Banton, Jackson, and Evans joined with Hammill to perform "Still Life" at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London.


title: Van der Graaf Generator

text: Following the Queen Elizabeth Hall performance, the band members discussed working together. In mid-2004, they began to write and rehearse new material. The result was a double CD, "Present", released in April 2005. Critical response was favourable; BBC Music's Peter Marsh said the group was "willing to push the envelope a little, and bless them for that", while AllMusic's Dave Thompson said the group "never made a less than fabulous album in their lives. And they're not about to start now." A reunion concert took place at the Royal Festival Hall, London, on 6 May 2005, which was released as "Real Time" in March 2007. The Festival Hall concert was followed by several European dates in the summer and autumn. The concert in Leverkusen, Germany on 5 November was filmed for the Westdeutscher Rundfunk TV show "Rockpalast", which was broadcast on 16 January 2006.


title: Van der Graaf Generator

text: Hammill stated in a December 2005 newsletter that there were no plans for further recordings or performances by the "classic" Van der Graaf Generator line-up of himself, Banton, Evans and Jackson. Hammill subsequently announced that the band would be continuing as a trio, for live and studio work, without Jackson. He later stated that the reason for Jackson's departure was that he "seemed to have difficulty in understanding what we had mutually agreed" and that he clashed with the other band members. Relationships between Jackson and the others became strained, and Hammill, Banton and Evans realised that the only way the group could continue was without him.


title: Van der Graaf Generator

text: After Jackson's departure, the group took a break before touring as a trio in April and July 2007 over Europe. A concert on 14 April 2007 in the Paradiso in Amsterdam was recorded and streamed on the FabChannel website until March 2009, and was released on DVD and CD that June.


title: Van der Graaf Generator

text: The first trio recording, "Trisector", was released on 17 March 2008. Live concerts were played in Europe in March and April, and in Japan in June, among them, one at the Gouveia Art Rock Festival. There were further concerts in January 2009 in Europe, and the band played several concerts in Canada and the United States in the summer of 2009, among them a performance at NEARfest in Bethlehem PA. It was only the second time Van der Graaf Generator had visited the United States (their first being in New York City in 1976).


title: Van der Graaf Generator

text: In spring 2010, the group recorded a new album in Devon. "A Grounding in Numbers" was released on 14 March 2011. "Live at Metropolis Studios 2010" was released as a 2CD/1DVD set by Salvo/Union Square Music on 4 June 2012. The band then toured the eastern part of the United States and Canada during June and July 2012, including an appearance at NEARfest Apocalypse in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania on 22 June. An album of out-takes and in-studio jams, similar to the second disc of "Present", called "ALT" was released in June 2012. Hammill has stated that he has enjoyed the current reunion, as "the activity has reinvigorated me. Going from one thing to another is an energizing thing."


title: Van der Graaf Generator

text: Hammill revealed via his website that the band's former bassist Nic Potter died on the night of 16 January 2013, aged 61. The group continued to tour in 2013, including the first live performance of "A Plague of Lighthouse Keepers". In 2014, the group collaborated with Soviet dissident artist Vladislav Shabalin for an art venture titled the Earlybird Project. The title comes from the track of the same name on "ALT". In 2015, the group released the live album, "Merlin Atmos" featuring tracks recorded during the 2013 tour, and "After the Flood", an album of BBC recordings from 1968–1977. A new album, "Do Not Disturb" was released in September 2016. It included the song "Alfa Berlina" which documented the group's 1970s Italian tours. Critics speculated that it would be the band's last album, though this has not been confirmed.


title: Van der Graaf Generator

text: In 2021 the band embarked on a European tour, due to continue until May 2022. On 24 and 25 October 2021 the band played for the first time in Finland, in two concerts at the in Helsinki. The band performed as a duo as Evans was not allowed to cross the border when his passport was found to be no longer valid, due to recent increased severity in the Brexit regulations. The passport issue was resolved before the band went on to two shows in Stockholm and Gothenburg, Sweden and one in Oslo, Norway.


title: Van der Graaf Generator

text: Due to the time-frame of the original band's career, Van der Graaf Generator have been frequently referred to as a progressive rock band. Writing in Record Collector, Toby Manning said the music was "philosophical, even intellectual, complex .. at times, terrifying". While the music on "The Aerosol Grey Machine" (September 1969) has a more pastoral, hippie feel, with prominent use of Hammill's acoustic guitar, later work featured more complex instrumentation and arrangements. Hammill thinks the style of the band evolved due to the culture of music in the late 1960s, stating "the whole of music was laid out in front of you ... it was the blues in wonky time signatures." Both Hammill and Banton have stated that Jimi Hendrix was an influence on the band's sound, with Hammill remarking that "there'd been distortion before, but there hadn't been that real out-there attitude to sound in itself". The group's experimental style has also been compared to Krautrock bands such as Can. Because of their musical influences and line-up, the band tended to play darker musical themes than other progressive bands, with the possible exception of King Crimson. However, Hammill has stated that the group is still fun to work with, stating "as far as we're concerned, it's serious fun, but fun nonetheless." Promoting "Do Not Disturb", he said "We love making a racket, and that has to do with chaos, which is pretty punk".


title: Van der Graaf Generator

text: Hammill's lyrics frequently covered themes of mortality, due to his love of science fiction writers such as Robert A. Heinlein and Philip K. Dick, along with his self-confessed warped and obsessive nature. His voice has been a distinctive component of the band throughout its career. It has been described as "a male Nico" and would later on be cited as an influence by Goth bands in the 1980s.


title: Van der Graaf Generator

text: Unlike several other notable prog rock keyboardists, such as Rick Wakeman or Keith Emerson, Banton considers himself primarily an organist, due to his background in classical and church music, and only ever used that instrument on stage, albeit heavily modified with customised electronics and devices. Hammill said that "Hugh is one of the most instinctive, baffling, and brilliant people I've known and his intuitive hold on the worlds of music and electronics has always astonished me." Banton used clonewheel organs during the 2005 reformation, but since 2009 he has used the Hammond XK-3c, and thinks Hammond have "cracked that sound at long last".


title: Van der Graaf Generator

text: Although Hammill has written the vast majority of the songs in the band's catalogue, and all of the lyrics, he is keen to stress that the arrangements of the music comes from all the group's members. In 1976, being interviewed for the "Melody Maker", he said that "VDGG is a band, a real band ... of course [it] is something special, it releases in individual terms parts of us that wouldn't be aired otherwise. In 2013, he reiterated, "Some people don't think Van der Graaf is a democracy, but believe me, it's entirely democratic, with everyone having very vocal and forceful opinions." Since the band has stabilised around Hammill, Banton and Evans, the members think there is a good balance of opinion, with somebody always having the casting vote.


title: Van der Graaf Generator

text: The band have been compared with Genesis due to being label-mates at Charisma Records, sharing management with Tony Stratton-Smith and performing on the same bill on the 'Six Bob Tour'. Hammill and Banton both reject this comparison, with Hammill noting that Genesis were far more driven to be commercially successful, whereas he prefers to release music without interference from record companies. In particular, he has mentioned that while he himself continues to release albums on a regular basis in the 21st century, Peter Gabriel's "average output has been about 0.2 albums a year".


title: Van der Graaf Generator

text: Though the group have generally been commercially unsuccessful outside of early 1970s Italy, they have inspired notable musicians, including Rush, Julian Cope, and Marc Almond and was namechecked by the likes of Graham Coxon and John Lydon.


title: Van der Graaf Generator

text: Coxon is particularly fond of "House with No Door" from "H to He" (1970), saying the track is "extremely beautiful, with Jackson's truly lovely sax-and-flute instrumental section." Almond recalled hearing "Killer" for the first time saying, "I'd never heard anything like it before. It wasn't just Peter's snarling operatic vocal, it was the mix of instruments ... I became an instant fan." Mentioning their reputation as something of an acquired taste, Lydon said, "There's a few Van der Graaf things I like, but I'm not going to recommend anything to anyone. It might not be for them. Music doesn't come with a set of guidelines." Bruce Dickinson – a fan of the band since he saw them at Oundle School aged 13 – hailed Hammill as one of his childhood heroes.


title: Van der Graaf Generator

text: Although Van der Graaf Generator are generally categorised as progressive rock, Cope is keen to distance the band from that movement: "Their music was like some Brechtian bar band – the opposite of prog rock, really". Nevertheless, the band have been acknowledged as an influence on the neo-progressive rock subgenre that emerged in the 1980s and of which Marillion were the most successful proponents. Hammill's singing style influenced Marillion singer Fish and he was a support act on Marillion's first album tour.


title: Van der Graaf Generator

text: "The band we really cared about was Van der Graaf Generator," said Philip Oakey of The Human League. "That music was so committed."


title: Goose (American band)

text: Goose is an American jam band from Norwalk, Connecticut. The band consists of Peter Anspach, Jeff Arevalo, Ben Atkind, Rick Mitarotonda, and Trevor Weeks.


title: Goose (American band)

text: Goose was formed in 2014 by singer and guitarist Rick Mitarotonda, drummer Ben Atkind, bassist Trevor Weeks, and Jon Lombardi. Rick, Trevor, and Ben had previously played together in the band Vasudo. Multi-instrumentalist Peter Anspach joined the band in 2017, followed by percussionist Jeff Arevalo in 2020.


title: Goose (American band)

text: The band garnered praise for their performance at the 2019 edition of The Peach Music Festival, which gained them popularity in the jam band scene and has been viewed over 341,000 times on Youtube as of March 2021. The band's rise in popularity resulted in booking larger venues for their 2020 tour, such as the Bowery Ballroom in New York City, but they canceled the tour after the COVID-19 pandemic shut down live music performances worldwide. Instead, the band livestreamed eight concerts without an audience from a barn in Virginia in June 2020, called the Bingo Tour. The Bingo Tour grossed more than $100,000 for the band.


title: Goose (American band)

text: Goose released a 20-minute jam version of the Vampire Weekend song "2021" in February 2021 at the request of Vampire Weekend singer Ezra Koenig, who is a fan of the group.


title: Goose (American band)

text: Following the pandemic, Goose booked a series of performances at large venues in 2021 and 2022, such as Radio City Music Hall in New York, Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado and their first-ever arena concerts at the Mohegan Sun Arena in their native Connecticut. On June 24 and 25, 2022, Goose played two shows at Radio City Music Hall. The June 25 concert featured appearances by Father John Misty and Phish guitarist and lead singer Trey Anastasio, the latter of whom played with Goose for their entire third set. Goose and the Trey Anastasio Band performed together in an eight date co-headlining tour in November 2022.


title: Goose (American band)

text: Anspach personally mixes the band's live performances for release shortly after the band finishes their concerts.


title: Goose (American band)

text: Goose have been regularly compared to jam bands such as Phish and Umphrey's McGee, both of which the band's members count as influences. Goose describes themselves as an "indie groove" band, but does acknowledge their jam band influences; speaking to Uproxx music critic Steven Hyden, guitarist Rick Mitarotonda said "Frankly there are a lot of cheesy and not great jam bands that have existed over time. Obviously, we’ve strayed away from that for obvious reasons, or tried to at least. But, I mean, we are a jam band. We jam, and we improvise a lot." Hyden wrote that Goose's indie rock and trance influences contrast the funk and progressive rock influences of Phish and the folk, jazz, and blues influences of the Grateful Dead.


title: General Atomics

text: General Atomics is an American energy and defense corporation headquartered in San Diego, California, specializing in research and technology development. This includes physics research in support of nuclear fission and nuclear fusion energy. The company also provides research and manufacturing services for remotely operated surveillance aircraft, including the Predator drones, airborne sensors, and advanced electric, electronic, wireless, and laser technologies.


title: General Atomics

text: General Atomics (GA) was founded on July 18, 1955, in San Diego, California, by Frederic de Hoffmann with assistance from notable physicists Edward Teller and Freeman Dyson. Originally the company was part of the General Atomic division of General Dynamics "for harnessing the power of nuclear technologies for the benefit of mankind".


title: General Atomics

text: GA's first offices were in the General Dynamics facility on Hancock Street in San Diego. GA also used a schoolhouse on San Diego's Barnard Street as its temporary headquarters, which it would later "adopt" as part of its Education Outreach program. In 1956, San Diego voters approved the transfer of land to GA for permanent facilities in Torrey Pines, and the John Jay Hopkins Laboratory for Pure and Applied Science was formally dedicated there on June 25, 1959. The Torrey Pines facility continues to serve as the company's headquarters today.


title: General Atomics

text: General Atomics's initial projects were the TRIGA nuclear research reactor, which was designed so that it was guaranteed to be safe by the laws of nature, and Project Orion.


title: General Atomics

text: On March 15, 2010, Rear Adm. Thomas J. Cassidy stepped down as President of GA-ASI's Aircraft Systems Group, staying on as non-executive chairman of the company's management committee. Frank Pace, the executive vice president of Aircraft Systems Group, succeeded Cassidy as President of GA-ASI.


title: General Atomics

text: General Atomics is also developing a Generation IV reactor design, the Gas Turbine Modular Helium Reactor (GT-MHR). In 2010, General Atomics presented a new version of the GT-MHR, the Energy Multiplier Module (EM2), which uses fast neutrons and is a Gas-cooled fast reactor.


title: General Atomics

text: General Atomics, including its affiliate, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, is San Diego County's largest defense contractor, according to a September 2013 report by the San Diego Military Affairs Council. The top five contractors, ranked by defense-generated revenue in fiscal year 2013, were General Atomics, followed by Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics-NASSCO, BAE Systems, and SAIC. A separate October 2013 report by the San Diego Business Journal ranked contractors by the number of local employees. The top three contractors were General Atomics, Northrop Grumman, and General Dynamics NASSCO.


title: General Atomics

text: In September 2020, a $7.4 billion contract for MQ-9 Reaper drones was announced between the U.S. Air Force and General Atomics. The contract calls for the delivery of up to 36 aircraft per year.


title: General Atomics

text: General Atomics Global Corporation appointed Indian-American defense industry veteran Vivek Lall as its new Chief Executive. This is Dr. Lall's second stint with the company as he has worked with General Atomics from August 2014 to December 2017 before joining Lockheed Martin.


title: General Atomics

text: On 30 September 2020, General Atomics bought the Dornier 228 production line in Oberpfaffenhofen, along the business aviation and helicopter MRO operations of RUAG, pending regulatory approval.


title: General Atomics

text: Since 1992, the General Atomics Science Education Outreach Program, a volunteer effort of GA employees and San Diego science teachers, has worked with Science Coordinators for the San Diego Schools to bring the business and research side of science into the classroom. The goal is both to improve the quality of science education and to encourage more students to pursue science careers. In addition, the teachers' interactions with the scientists and exposure to everyday uses of their disciplines help them to be better educators.


title: General Atomics

text: In 1995, the program was expanded, and the General Atomics Sciences Education Foundation [501(c) (3)] was established. The General Atomics Sciences Education Foundation's goal is to play a major role in enhancing pre-college education in science, engineering, and new technologies. To attain this goal, four areas of core competency at General Atomics were initially selected to form the basis for the development of inquiry-based education modules and associated workshops. Scientist/teacher teams wrote these modules, which fuse the content and methodology of industrial research and development with the teaching skills of experienced science teachers.


title: General Atomics

text: Since 2005, the Center for Responsible Politics reported General Atomics had spent over $1.5 million per year in lobbying efforts from 2005 to 2011.


title: General Atomics

text: In April 2002, the company paid for Letitia White, who was then a top aide to Representative Jerry Lewis, and her husband to travel to Italy. White left Lewis' office nine months later, to become a lobbyist at Copeland Lowery. The next day, she began representing General Atomics. Lewis, her former boss, was at the time chairman of the House Defense Appropriations subcommittee.


title: Komondor

text: The Komondor (), also known as the Hungarian sheepdog, is a large, white-coloured Hungarian breed of livestock guardian dog with a long, corded coat.


title: Komondor

text: Sometimes referred to as 'mop dogs', the Komondor is a long-established dog breed commonly employed to guard livestock and other property. The Komondor was brought to Europe by the Cumans and the oldest known mention of it is in a Hungarian codex from 1544. The Komondor breed has been declared one of Hungary’s national treasures, to be preserved and protected from modification.


title: Komondor

text: Komondors were brought to Hungary by Cumans, the Turkic speaking, nomadic people who settled in Hungary during the 12th and 13th century. The name Komondor derives from "*Koman-dor", meaning "Cuman dog". The breed descends from Tibetan dogs and came from Asia with the Cumans, whose homeland might have been near the Yellow River. In the late 10th century, Mongols began to expand their territories at the expense of the Cumans, forcing them to move westwards. Fleeing from the Mongols, they reached the borders of Hungary in the 12th century. Cumans were granted asylum and settled in Hungary in 1239 under Köten Khan. Komondor remains have been found in Cuman gravesites.


title: Komondor

text: The name "quman-dur" means "belonging to the Cumans" or "the dog of the Cumans", thus distinguishing it from a similar Hungarian sheepdog breed which later merged with the Komondor. The name Komondor is found for the first time written in 1544 in the "History of King Astiagis" by Kákonyi Péter, in Early Modern Hungarian. Later, in 1673, Amos Comenius mentions the Komondor in one of his works.


title: Komondor

text: Today, the Komondor is a fairly common breed in Hungary, its country of origin. Many Komondors were killed during World War II and local stories say that this was because when the Germans (and then the Russians) invaded, they had to kill the dog before they could capture a farm or house that it guarded.


title: Komondor

text: The Komondor is related to the South Russian Ovcharka, the Puli and, by extension, the Pumi, the Mudi, the Polish Lowland Sheepdog, the Schapendoes, the Bearded collie, and the Old English sheepdog. In 1947, the Komondor was used to acquire fresh blood in the rare South Russian Ovcharka. In the 1970s, another Komondor cross was made. It is also believed to be related to the Briard, the Catalonian Sheepdog, the Cão da Serra de Aires, the Pyrenean Shepherd and the Bergamasco shepherd, but the Bergamasco has flocks unlike the Komondor.


title: Komondor

text: The two Hungarian breeds of livestock guardian dogs have evolved independently. This is because the Komondor was developed by a group of people who called it the Kuman-dor, the dog of the Cumans, and the Kuvasz was bred by a different people - the Magyars. For much of Hungary's early history, these two peoples lived in separate areas in Hungary, spoke different languages and so did not mix. As a result, their dogs have little, if any at all, admixture.


title: Komondor

text: The Komondor is a large breed of dogmany are over tallone of the larger breeds of dog. The body is covered with a heavy, matted, corded coat. They have robust bodies, strongly muscled with long legs and a short back. The tail is carried with a slight curl. The body when seen sideways, forms a prone rectangle. The length of body is slightly longer than the height at the withers, approximately 104% of the height at withers. The Komondor has a broad head with the muzzle slightly shorter than half of the length of the head with an even and complete scissor bite. Nose and lips are always black.


title: Komondor

text: The minimum height of female Komondors is at the withers, with an average height of . The minimum height of male Komondors is with an average height of . No upper height limit is given. Komondor females on average weigh between and Komondor males weigh on average between .


title: Komondor

text: The Komondor's coat is a long, thick, and strikingly corded white coat, about 20 – 27 cm long (the heaviest amount of fur in the canine world), which resembles dreadlocks or a mop. The puppy coat is soft and fluffy. However, the coat is wavy and tends to curl as the puppy matures. A fully mature coat is formed naturally from the soft undercoat and the coarser outer coat combining to form tassels or cords and will take about two years to form. Some help is needed in separating the cords so the dog does not turn into one large matted mess. The length of the cords increases with time as the coat grows. Moulting is minimal with this breed, contrary to what one might think (once cords are fully formed). The only substantial shedding occurs as a puppy before the dreadlocks fully form. The Komondor is born with only a white coat, unlike the similar-looking Puli, which can be white, black, or sometimes grayish. However, a working Komondor's coat may be discolored by the elements and may appear off-white if not washed regularly. Traditionally, the coat protects the Komondor from possible wolves' bites as the bites would not penetrate the thick coat. The coat of the Komondor takes about two and a half days to dry after a bath.


title: Komondor

text: The Komondor is built for livestock guarding. Its temperament is like that of most livestock guarding dogs; it is calm and steady when things are normal, but, in case of trouble, the dog will fearlessly defend its charges. It was bred to think and act independently and make decisions on its own.


title: Komondor

text: The Komondor is affectionate with its family, and gentle with the children and friends of the family. Although wary of strangers, they can accept them when it is clear that no harm is imminent, being instinctively very protective of its family, home, and possessions.


title: Komondor

text: The Komondor is very good with other family pets, often very protective over them, but is intolerant to trespassing animals and is not a good dog for an apartment. The dog is vigilant and will rest in the daytime, keeping an eye on its surroundings, but at night is constantly moving, patrolling the place, moving up and down around its whole territory. The dogs will usually knock down intruders and keep them down until its owner arrives.


title: Komondor

text: Hungarian Komondor breeders used to say that an intruder may be allowed to enter the property guarded by a Komondor, but he will not be allowed to leave or escape.


title: Komondor

text: The breed has a natural guardian instinct and an inherent ability to guard livestock. An athletic dog, the Komondor is fast and powerful and will leap at a predator to drive it off or knock it down. It can be used successfully to guard sheep against wolves or bears. It is a big, strong dog breed, armored with a thick coat. The coat provides protection against wild animals, weather and vegetation. The coat looks similar to that of a sheep so it can easily blend into a flock and camouflage itself giving it an advantage when predators such as wolves attack. The Komondor is one breed of livestock guardian dog which has seen a vast increase in use as a guardian of sheep and goats in the United States to protect against predators such as coyotes, cougars, bears, and other predators.


title: Komondor

text: Due to the Komondor's size, power, speed and temperament, a lack of obedience training can result in danger to others. Komondors generally take well to training if started early (ideally between 4–8 months). A Komondor can become obstinate when bored, so it is imperative that training sessions be upbeat and happy. Praise is a must, as are consistent and humane corrections. Once a Komondor gets away with unfriendly or hostile behavior, it will always think such behavior is appropriate. Therefore, consistent corrections even with a young puppy are necessary to ensure a well-adjusted adult. Socialization is also extremely important. The Komondor should be exposed to new situations, people and other dogs while still a puppy. Because it is a natural guard dog, a Komondor that is not properly socialized may react in an excessively aggressive manner when confronted with a new situation or person.


title: Komondor

text: Given the proper environment and care, a Komondor is a responsible, loving dog. It is devoted and calm without being sluggish. As in any breed, there is quite a range of personalities, so your needs should be outlined clearly to your breeder. An experienced breeder can try to identify that personality which would be happiest as an independent livestock dog, or that which wants more to please and would make a good obedience dog or family pet. Adolescence can be marked by changes in a Komondor's temperament, eating habits, trainability, and general attitude.


title: Komondor

text: Breed-specific legislation requires some breeds to be muzzled in public places. Romania is the only country that requires Komondors to be muzzled.


title: Komondor

text: "Odelay" is the fifth studio album by American musician Beck, released on 18 June 1996 by DGC Records. The album's cover features a Komondor jumping over a hurdle, taken by canine photographer Joan Ludwig (1914–2004) for the July 1977 issue of the American Kennel Club's "Gazette".


title: Neerja

text: Neerja is a 2016 Indian Hindi-language biographical thriller film directed by Ram Madhvani and written by Saiwyn Quadras and Sanyuktha Chawla Shaikh. It was produced by Atul Kasbekar's company, Bling Unplugged, alongside Fox Star Studios. The film stars Sonam Kapoor as the eponymous lead, with Shekhar Ravjiani, Shabana Azmi, Yogendra Tiku, Kavi Shastri and Jim Sarbh in supporting roles.


title: Neerja

text: The plot is based on a real-life event: the attempted hijacking of Pan Am Flight 73 in Karachi, Pakistan by Libyan-backed Abu Nidal Organization on 5 September 1986. The film is shown from the point of view of head purser of the flight, Neerja Bhanot, who thwarted the hijack attempt by alerting the pilots, thus grounding the plane. Bhanot died trying to help save the passengers and crew, of whom 359 of the 379 on board survived.


title: Neerja

text: Development began in September 2014, when Kasbekar signed Madhvani and Kapoor for a film to be made by Bling Unplugged and Fox Star Studios. Saiwyn Quadras and Sanyuktha Chawla worked on the script, with principal photography taking place in Mumbai. The film features music by Vishal Khurana, with lyrics written by Prasoon Joshi. "Neerja" was released on 19 February 2016 to critical acclaim, and became one of the highest-grossing Bollywood films featuring a female protagonist. The film grossed at the box office.


title: Neerja

text: The film received high critical acclaim and numerous accolades from Bollywood award organisations, with particular praise for Kapoor's performance and Madhvani's direction. It won 2 awards at the 64th National Film Awards - Best Feature Film in Hindi and Special Mention (Kapoor). At the 62nd Filmfare Awards, "Neerja" received 8 nominations, including Best Film and Best Director (Madhvani), and won a leading 6 awards, including Best Film (Critics), Best Actress (Critics) (Kapoor), and Best Supporting Actress (Azmi).


title: Neerja

text: 22-year-old Neerja Bhanot arrives late for a house party one evening. Her mother, Rama, expresses concern about Neerja's job as a flight attendant, suggesting that Neerja should return to her old modelling career. Neerja insists on keeping her job. She is driven to the airport by her friend Jaideep.


title: Neerja

text: During the flight, Neerja reflects on her brief, unhappy arranged marriage to Naresh, a professional in Doha, Qatar, who abused her over her small dowry and inability to perform household work. She eventually returned home for a modelling contract. Naresh sent her parents a letter complaining about the dowry and their daughter's lack of domestic skills, demanding that Neerja either bring back the money or not return it at all. Neerja left Naresh and landed a job with Pan Am Airways.


title: Neerja

text: As Neerja boards Pan Am 73, it is meanwhile revealed that the Abu Nidal organisation, a Libyan-sponsored Palestinian terrorist group, plans to hijack the plane in Karachi. The plane takes off from Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport and lands in Karachi's Jinnah International Airport, where the four Abu Nidal terrorists, disguised as security officers escorting a Libyan diplomat, hijack the plane. Neerja quickly alerts the cockpit, without the terrorists knowing, and the three American pilots escape through the overhead hatch, fleeing to the terminal under fire from the hijackers. The American pilots had just enough time to escape, as the hijackers did not realise that the cockpit of a Boeing 747 is located upstairs.


title: Neerja

text: When a Kenyan-born Indian American passenger reveals himself as an American, one of the terrorists murders him and dumps his body off the aircraft in front of the Pakistani negotiators. The terrorists try to locate a radio engineer among the passengers by ordering Neerja to make an announcement over the intercom. When Imran Ali, a Pakistani radio engineer, begins to stand up, Neerja signals for him to sit down. The terrorists have the flight attendants collect all passports to identify the American passengers and hold them hostage; Neerja and her colleagues collect the passports, disposing of any American passports by throwing them down trash chutes or hiding them under seats. Dejected over not finding any American passports, the hijackers instead take a British passenger hostage.


title: Neerja

text: The Pakistani negotiators inadvertently reveal the name of radio engineer Ali, whom the hijackers bring to the cockpit to use the radio for negotiations. Meanwhile, the Pakistani authorities try to stall for time. When a younger terrorist assaults the passengers and molests the attendants, the terrorist leader chastises him; humiliated, the younger terrorist storms into the cockpit and shoots Ali, screaming wild threats over the radio. While negotiations with the Pakistani air controllers drag on, the negotiators slowly lose control of the situation, with the hijackers becoming more agitated by the minute. Meanwhile, Neerja, who had her birthday 2 days later, had an envelope and when she has kept away from other passengers, opens that envelope given to her by Jaideep, her friend, which was his love confession and a cookie, Neerja reads that and eats that cookie which symbolizes her acceptance of his love, but on a little sad note Jaideep never gets to know that she has accepted his love.


title: Neerja

text: Around 17 hours later, the plane loses auxiliary power, and the lights go out inside the plane. Despite Neerja and the other attendants' attempts to explain, the terrorists assume the Pakistanis cut the power deliberately, and anticipate an imminent Pakistani raid on the plane. The panicking hijackers begin shooting down passengers indiscriminately; at great peril to her own life, Neerja opens the emergency exit door and deploys the chute, directing passengers out of the plane. Choosing to let the passengers escape first, Neerja is shot three times by a terrorist as she tries to shield three young children from the gunfire. The children escape the plane, and Neerja then drags herself out of the doorway and down the emergency slide before dying. The Special Service Group storms the plane and kills all the terrorists.


title: Neerja

text: The film ends with a tribute to Neerja, who was eventually honoured posthumously with the Ashoka Chakra, India's highest military decoration awarded for peacetime valor, courageous action or self-sacrifice.


title: Neerja

text: Pre-production work on "Neerja" began in September 2014, when the film's executive producer Atul Kasbekar said that his company, Bling Unplugged, would co-produce Ram Madhvani's film along with Fox Star Studios. Kasbekar later tweeted, "Do U Know Who Neerja Bhanot Is? No? Well U Really Really Should...". He said, "For us [...], a story of courage as exceptional as Neerja's simply deserved to be told. We just decided that we would do our bit to ensure that India would remember one of its great heroines."


title: Neerja

text: The film's script and screenplay were penned by Saiwyn Quadras, and the dialogue was written by Sanyuktha Chawla Sheikh. The director of photography for the film was the cinematographer Mitesh Mirchandani, who had been previously associated with 2012 film "Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana". The editing for the film was done by Monisha R Baldawa and Manohar Verma served as the stunt director for the film.


title: Neerja

text: Kapoor was contracted by Kasbekar to play Neerja Bhanot, the senior flight crew member. On receiving the role of Neerja in the film, Kapoor told Press Trust of India, "I thought doing this film just reaffirms that it is about not bowing down. It is an inspiring story for me to do. I am blessed." It was reported in May 2015 that Shekhar Ravjiani, one half of Bollywood's performing/producing duo Vishal–Shekhar, would play a short role in the movie, marking his acting debut. Shabana Azmi played the role of Neerja's mother Rama Bhanot in the film. In an interview with "The Indian Express", Azmi describes her character and explains, "It was very difficult to play her, particularly the last scene where Rama addresses an audience. It is an extremely well-written emotional scene, which does complete justice to the moment."


title: Neerja

text: Principal photography of the film commenced 19 April 2015 in Mumbai. After two months of filming, the shooting was wrapped up on 19 June 2015. Kasbekar tweeted, "Amazing! And it's a wrap on "Neerja" !!! 32 shooting days!!! That's Two More days than Birdman took!" During the principal photography of the film, many Bollywood celebrities visited the film's sets, including Vidya Balan, Boman Irani, Anil Kapoor, and Raju Hirani. "I knew that getting Aamir Khan, Boman Irani, Vidya Balan, Raju Hirani and Anil Kapoor to speak to the 220 cast would help instill dedication and effort that this film would require," director Madhvani said in a statement.


title: Neerja

text: During production, the actors playing the crew and the passengers of the flight were put in separate hotels from the actors portraying the hijackers and ate their meals separately, ostensibly to create an air of antagonism in the film between the two groups. This element was applied earlier to the 2006 film United 93.


title: Neerja

text: The makers of the film acknowledged the responsibility of portraying the story. One challenge faced was acquiring an actual Boeing 747 for shooting. Director Ram Madhvani and Rucha Pathak initially thought of shooting in Abu Dhabi, UAE or the United States due to the convenience of leasing a retired 747 but later decided to re-create the plane because a major part of the film required shooting against the plane backdrop. The plane set took 48 days to built and closely resembled the actual aircraft.


title: Neerja

text: The film's visual effects (VFX) were by Tata Elxsi. VCL produced a wide range of visual effects, including the creation of Karachi airport and buildings, and also helped in creating the 1986 period restoration for various locations.


title: Neerja

text: The film's soundtrack is composed by Vishal Khurana with lyrics written by Prasoon Joshi. The first song from the film, "Jeete Hain Chal", was released by Ram Madhvani, Sonam Kapoor and Prasoon Joshi at a launch event held on 1 February 2016 in Mumbai. The entire soundtrack album was released digitally by T-Series on 5 February 2016.


title: Neerja

text: The soundtrack received a positive critical response. Mohar Basu of "The Times of India" gave the music a 3.5 out of 5 ratings, saying that it "is beautiful, pensive, touching and all of it sans melodrama," and that it "is straight from the soul." Joginder Tuteja of Bollywood Hungama said that "the songs of the film heard are strictly functional and won't really be into play once the film is through." He added that the songs "Aankhein Milayenge Darr Se" and "Gehra Ishq" would make the most impression. A critic of "The Quint" praised the music album and said, "The brilliance of this album is that it features songs which will not hijack and/or disrupt the flow of the narrative. The sound is delicate, fearless, vulnerable and always intimate."


title: Neerja

text: The film had a special screening on 16 February 2016 in Mumbai, which was attended by celebrities, including filmmaker Karan Johar; Subhash Ghai; Kapoor's father, Anil Kapoor; Sachin Tendulkar; Yuvraj Singh; Sunil Gavaskar; Ayushmann Khurrana; and Amit Sadh. The film received a positive response from many Bollywood celebrities, with Tendulkar calling Neerja Bhanot a "Braveheart" and saying that "the people should definitely watch the film."


title: Neerja

text: The film was released worldwide, in approximately 671 theatres, on 19 February 2016. Upon release, "Neerja" received positive reviews, with praise directed to Kapoor's performance, and was a huge box office success. The film was also praised by Delhi's Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal, who tweeted that the film's message was, "Live for others, die for others." The film emerged as one of the highest-grossing Bollywood films featuring a female protagonist.


title: Neerja

text: "Neerja" was banned in Pakistan since the film shows Pakistan in a negative light. The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) maintained that the film should not be considered "banned" in Pakistan because it was not submitted to them.


title: Neerja

text: The Finance Minister, Jayant Kumar Malaiya, said, "The movies "Neerja" and "Jai Gangaajal" will be free from entertainment tax in Madhya Pradesh on account of International Women's Day which was celebrated yesterday." Producer Kasbekar, replied on Twitter, "Big thank you to MP Poonam Mahajan and the Hon CM Devendra Fadnavis in declaring "Neerja" tax free in Maharashtra. Quick and decisive decision."


title: Neerja

text: On its first day, the film earned about net, much of it from Mumbai and Delhi NCR. It collected net on Saturday and on Sunday, with a weekend total of .


title: Neerja

text: On Monday, the film netted around , with only around a 20% drop in revenue compared to first day. On Tuesday, the film earned around . The film's Wednesday, Thursday and Friday earnings were , , and , respectively. On Saturday and Sunday, "Neerja" had a massive jump and earned and respectively, for a total collection of at the box office.


title: Neerja

text: On the 11th day (Monday), "Neerja" collected ; on Tuesday; on Wednesday; and on Thursday. By the end of its 38-day run, the film had grossed an estimated domestically and internationally, for an approximate worldwide total of .


title: Neerja

text: "Neerja" opened strong, collecting in foreign theatres. The film had the highest opening weekend for a female-led film in the US and Middle East; in the UK, it had the second-highest opening weekend of 2016.


title: Neerja

text: Upon release, the film, as well as Sonam Ahuja's performance, received praise from film critics around the world. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 100%, based on 9 reviews with an average rating of 8/10. Shubha Shetty-Saha of "Mid-Day" gave the film 4.5 out of 5 stars, calling it "a deeply moving experience", and writing for Kapoor deemed it as "her best performance till date". Meena Iyer of "The Times of India" gave "Neerja" 4 out of 5 stars and said, ""Neerja" raises a toast to the daunting spirit of India's daughters; every one of us must salute Neerja." Bollywood Hungama gave the film 4 out of 5 stars and said, "As a movie watching experience, "Neerja" is flawless. There's not a single false note." Writing for "Hindustan Times", Anupama Chopra awarded 4 out of 5 stars, saying that ""Neerja" is a truly inspiring story that will grip you from the first frame till the last." Sarita Tanwar from "Daily News and Analysis" gave 4 out of 5 stars, writing, ""Neerja" is quite easily the finest film in recent times (on par with "Talvar" (2015)) based on a true story." Raja Sen from Rediff.com gave 4 out of 5 stars as well and called it "an absolute must-watch," adding that "Sonam Kapoor is exceptional as Neerja Bhanot." Suahni Singh of "India Today" rated the film as a 3.5 stars and stated, "Sonam Kapoor delivered her career-best performance as she assuredly plays an abused wife, a beloved daughter and a flight attendant caught in her worst nightmare."


title: Neerja

text: Rummana of "Yahoo!" gave it 4 out of 5 stars, stating, ""Neerja" deserves loud applause because not only is it an exceptional story of courage but because it is an ode to the undying spirit of humanity" and called Kapoor as "the star of the film". "The Economic Times" also gave a 4 out of 5 star rating: ""Neerja" is a must-see, not just for its cinematic value, but also as a reminder to salute Neerja's spirit." Rajeev Masand of News18 gave a 3.5 out of 5 rating and said, ""Neerja" is "a well-intentioned, heartfelt film that pays tribute to a real hero." Shubhra Gupta of "The Indian Express" also gave the film 3 stars out of 5, writing that "Minus the songs and the excessive schmaltz, "Neerja" could have been outstanding. But still, the film holds, and hold us with it."


title: Neerja

text: Manjusha Radhakrishnan of "Gulf News" rated the film 4 out of 5 stars; while she criticised the terrorists' lack of depth and weak points in "Neerja"'s second half, she wrote that "the climax of the film is powerful and makes up for that blip." Jason Klein of "Variety" declared that DAR-Film Leaderboard was notably absent of Oscar-nominated films, but part of the gap was filled by "Neerja". Sonali Kokra of "The National" praised the film: ""Neerja" is a great story told well. Mitesh Mirchandani’s jerky camerawork does a great job of using the claustrophobic confines of the aircraft to showcase the oppressiveness of the situation and the terror of the hostages."


title: Vudu

text: Vudu is an American digital video store and streaming service owned by Fandango Media, a joint-venture between NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. Discovery. The company offers transactional video on demand rentals and digital purchases of films, as well as integration with digital locker services for streaming digital copies of films purchased as home video at retail.


title: Vudu

text: The service initially focused on a digital media player known as the Vudu Box. In 2010, the company began to abandon its hardware business, and focus on integrating its service and associated app platform into third-party devices such as televisions and Blu-ray Disc players. The company has since offered its services online, via mobile apps, and on devices such as digital media players and smart TVs.


title: Vudu

text: Vudu was founded by Tony Miranz and Alain Rossmann (the creator of WAP). The Vudu Box had been secretly in development since 2004, but in April 2007, "The New York Times" revealed that Vudu had signed deals with several movie studios and independent distributors to deliver access to nearly 5,000 films.


title: Vudu

text: , Vudu had received $21 million in venture capital funding from Greylock Partners and Benchmark Capital. The company is based in Santa Clara, California.


title: Vudu

text: In May 2008, Vudu began displaying and selling its set-top box in Best Buy stores. Before this, the box was only available via online retailers. In October, Vudu announced that it would begin to stream films in 1080p high definition, branded as "HDX". These films would feature a series of encoding and processing techniques branded as "TruFilm", including the dampening of artifacting and pixelation associated with darker areas of pictures, film grain preservation, "color gradient processing" to improve appearance on flat-panel televisions, and "statistical variable bitrate" to optimize streaming performance.


title: Vudu

text: On February 24, 2009, Vudu became the first on-demand service to offer high-definition movies for download to own. Prior to Vudu allowing users to purchase high-definition movies, studios only allowed their films to be purchased in standard-definition format. LG was the first to integrate Vudu into its HDTVs, with access beginning in August 2009 through the television's NetCast application.


title: Vudu

text: On January 8, 2010, at Consumer Electronics Show, Vudu announced that it would phase out its in-house hardware business in favor of focusing on integration of its rich Internet application platform, "Vudu Apps" (which featured Vudu as well as other streaming video and internet services), directly into internet-connected televisions and Blu-ray players, with initial hardware partners including LG, Magnavox, Mitsubishi, Samsung, Sanyo, Sharp, Toshiba, and Vizio.


title: Vudu

text: On February 22, 2010, Walmart announced its intent to acquire Vudu. The company had previously attempted to offer digital video sales in 2007, but the service folded due to competition with the iTunes Store. In order to comply with Walmart's content policies, Vudu subsequently discontinued its "After Dark" service (a collaboration with AVN), which offered pornographic content.


title: Vudu

text: In 2012, Vudu partnered with UltraViolet, an industry-backed digital locker offering online streaming of retail DVD and Blu-ray disc purchases. In 2014, Vudu also joined Disney's competing Movies Anywhere initiative.


title: Vudu

text: In February 2020, it was reported that Comcast (via NBCUniversal) had entered talks into acquiring Vudu from Walmart.


title: Vudu

text: In April 2020, it was announced that NBCUniversal subsidiary Fandango Media would acquire Vudu for an undisclosed amount; the sale closed on July 6, 2020. Fandango is minority owned by Warner Bros., and operates the similar service FandangoNOW. As part of the sale, Walmart will maintain its relationships with Vudu, including account integration and promotion of the service via Walmart's website.


title: Vudu

text: On August 3, 2021, FandangoNOW was merged into Vudu, with Vudu replacing FandangoNOW as the official video store on the Roku platform. Fandango chose to retain the "Vudu" name as it was the larger service with a loyal customer base.


title: Vudu

text: As of June 2019, Vudu's selection contains over 24,000 titles in their catalog and over 8,000 television shows. Titles range from major motion pictures, independent films, documentaries, children's programming, anime, musicals, recorded musical performances, cartoons, and television series. Vudu has established content licensing contracts with all major movie studios as well as over 50 smaller and independent studios. Films are available to rent in standard-definition, high-definition, and 4K ultra high definition formats, with Dolby Atmos, Dolby Vision, and HDR10 available on supported devices and content.


title: Vudu

text: In October 2016, Vudu added a free, ad-supported streaming library to its platform in the United States branded as "Movies on Us", featuring recent and classic films.


title: Vudu

text: In October 2018, Vudu partnered with MGM Television to develop and acquire original programming for Movies on Us, with a focus on "family-friendly, advertiser-friendly content" derived from existing MGM properties. Vudu premiered its first original series, "Mr. Mom"—a continuation of the 1983 film of the same name, on September 12, 2019.


title: Lie with Me (film)

text: Lie with Me is a 2005 Canadian erotic drama film directed by Clement Virgo, based on the 2001 novel of the same name by Tamara Faith Berger. The film stars Lauren Lee Smith and Eric Balfour. Its plot concerns an outgoing, sexually aggressive young woman who meets and begins a torrid affair with an equally aggressive young man, which brings a strain on their personal lives. The film contains graphic, unsimulated sexual content.


title: Lie with Me (film)

text: The film was set and shot in Toronto (primarily The Annex). It premiered at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival.


title: Lie with Me (film)

text: The camera slowly zooms out on a young woman masturbating to a porn sex tape. She gets up abruptly and goes out to a party, looking for sex. Leila has learned she has some power over men with sex but feels a part of her is still untouched, holding back, despite her assertiveness. Before she can choose a partner for the night she is corralled by David, into a bathroom, while his girlfriend calls through the door. She leaves, but keeps her eye on David as she picks up a shy guy, with whom she has sex against a fence outside as David watches from his car while his girlfriend, Victoria (Polly Shannon) fellates him. Leila is in complete control of her encounter while David remains completely passive.


title: Lie with Me (film)

text: He next sees her walking down the street and follows her. She smiles but does not speak to him and breaks into a run, leading him to a playground. They crouch inside a small tunnel and watch each other as she begins to touch herself. But this time he leaves.


title: Lie with Me (film)

text: When Leila sees David again, they finally speak to each other, and he takes her home, where they have sex. He asks Leila if she will go out with him on a real date, giving her his number when she leaves.


title: Lie with Me (film)

text: They finally do go out and begin a real romance. She meets his father, who is physically fragile but very funny, teasing her about having sex and making noise in their apartment. David cares very tenderly for his father, who is charmingly brusque. Leila is still skittish, although she is not intimidated when David's old girlfriend, Victoria (Polly Shannon) confronts her at her job, warning her that David has intimacy issues. When they go back to the club again, Leila dances suggestively with a couple of men while watching David's reaction, and he is hurt and angry when they return to his place. She brushes off his fears when he confesses that he thinks of nothing but her, that he needs her, but she acts like it is all a game. He begs to her to promise that she will not leave him, and she does, but does not believe it herself.


title: Lie with Me (film)

text: When David finds his father dead, he turns to Leila for consolation, but she does not know how to comfort him. This leads to conflict and ends with him asking her to leave. Later, he reconsiders; but he is unable to find Leila again, as he knows nothing about her except her first name. Leila finds her sexual world more and more unsatisfying and becomes increasingly frustrated. She picks up the shy guy again, but strikes at him in anger when he is unable to follow her peremptory commands, and throws him out of her apartment in disgust.


title: Lie with Me (film)

text: Leila spends time with her parents as they go their separate ways and gets ready for the wedding while the summer is coming to an end. As she rides her bicycle to the ceremony, David sees her and follows in his truck. He waits outside the synagogue and approaches her as everyone floods out onto the sidewalk following the wedding, and then Rachel (Kristin Lehman) grabs Leila's hand and she calls out to David, to ask if he is coming. At the reception David watches Leila dance with an old man, but she runs away again when he approaches her. This time he follows her all the way home, and all the way inside, telling her he will not leave her again. They reunite and the film ends with the two engaging in a passionate kiss.


title: Lie with Me (film)

text: Lauren Lee Smith said that when she got a call from her agent on the requirements for the role of Leila, which clearly included not only nudity but on-camera live sex, she thought he was kidding. Then she read the script and recognized its origins. Clement Virgo asked her to audition with Eric Balfour, whom he'd interviewed in Los Angeles. Virgo got them into a room to see the chemistry between them because he knew that without chemistry they had no movie. "There was apparently chemistry," Smith later affirmed, giving a giddy laugh.


title: Lie with Me (film)

text: "Lie with Me" received a 38% "Rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Writing for "Variety", Leslie Felperin says that "Barry Stone's lensing, favoring a soft, Northern-climes afternoon light for the sex scenes in particular, looks dreamy throughout", but that "with its drawn-out last act and sentimental ending, [this] pic is a long way from being the Gen-Y "Last Tango in Paris" it would like to think it is."


title: 20th Century Ghosts

text: 20th Century Ghosts is American author Joe Hill's first published book-length work. A collection of short stories, it was first published in October 2005 in the United Kingdom and released in October 2007 in the United States.


title: 20th Century Ghosts

text: "20th Century" Ghosts is the first publication made by American author Joe Hill in October 2005 by PS Publishing which is based in the United Kingdom. The original release was available for pre-sale only through the publisher's website.


title: 20th Century Ghosts

text: The collection has won several awards including the Bram Stoker Award for Best Fiction Collection, as well as the British Fantasy Award for Best Collection and Best Short Story for "Best New Horror." The hardcover editions are collectable, especially the signed slipcased edition that had a print run of 200 copies.


title: 20th Century Ghosts

text: In October 2007, HarperCollins Publishers released the first public edition of Hill's collection. This edition also contains the short story "Bobby Conroy Comes Back from the Dead," which was not previously published in the UK edition. Also in October, Apple Inc.'s United States iTunes Store released audiobook versions of the stories in this edition, at US$0.95 per short story, through 29 October.


title: 20th Century Ghosts

text: Released in October 2005, this short story collection was released in a limited edition format only. The three formats available before publication were:


title: 20th Century Ghosts

text: Eddie Carroll is the editor of an annual anthology entitled "America's Best New Horror". As part of his job he has read and rejected many thousands of derivative stories, and he has become jaded by the process. When he reads the strangely disturbing story "Buttonboy" by Peter Kilrue, he regains his passion for his work. The plot concerns his search for the elusive Kilrue in an attempt to procure "Buttonboy" for the anthology.


title: 20th Century Ghosts

text: The Rosebud Theatre is an old style movie palace, haunted by the semi-legendary spirit of a young woman. The girl died during a screening of "The Wizard of Oz", appears infrequently throughout the twentieth century, and occasionally starts conversations with a select few moviegoers. The story is told by Alec Sheldon, the theatre owner, who worries about his approaching mortality and what will happen to the Rosebud after he retires.


title: 20th Century Ghosts

text: This story was originally published in 2001 in an anthology titled "With Signs & Wonders" by Invisible Cities Press. In 2007, Subterranean Press produced a limited edition chapbook of "Pop Art" limited to 150 numbered copies and 52 lettered copies. These books were only available through the publishers website.


title: 20th Century Ghosts

text: The plot concerns the friendship of two socially outcast boys: the narrator, who has a dysfunctional home life, and his only friend, a human boy made of inflatable plastic who has loving and supportive flesh-and-blood parents. Christopher Golden called it one of the best short stories in years.


title: 20th Century Ghosts

text: Abraham Van Helsing, living in America following the events of "Dracula", tries to teach his sons about vampires.


title: 20th Century Ghosts

text: Thirteen-year-old Finney is kidnapped by a man named The Grabber. Trapped in a basement room, the boy's only hope may lie in a mysterious disconnected black phone hanging on the basement wall. The phone rings at night with the whispers of the kidnapper's previous (and now dead) victims. In 2021, this short story was adapted into a film of the same title, with Ethan Hawke as The Grabber.


title: 20th Century Ghosts

text: Seven-year-old Eric learns that he can fly (well, sort of) while wearing his blue cape. After suffering a terrible injury he thinks the cape is lost, only to find the cape again years later.


title: 20th Century Ghosts

text: The story concerns Dr. Allinger, an old man who runs a "Museum of Silence" which contains the last breaths of various people, some being famous figures such as Edgar Allan Poe.


title: 20th Century Ghosts

text: During the Great Depression, a drifter encounters a widow whose offer of food and fresh clothing may be too good to be true.


title: 20th Century Ghosts

text: Thirteen-year-old Jack's parents take him on an unexpected trip to their cabin on Big Cat Lake. Along the way they play a game made up by Jack's mother in which they are being chased by the "playing card people". At the cabin Jack finds various masks, which he is told must be worn to disguise themselves from the playing card people. Jack grows weary of the game, but soon he finds that it may not be a game at all.


title: Dani Filth

text: Daniel Lloyd Davey (born 25 July 1973), known professionally as Dani Filth, is a British singer who is the vocalist, lyricist and founding member of the extreme metal band Cradle of Filth. He has a five-octave vocal range.


title: Dani Filth

text: Daniel Lloyd Davey was born to Susan Janet Moore and Laurence John Davey in Hertford and is the eldest child of four.


title: Dani Filth

text: He married his wife Toni on 31 October 2005 in Ipswich. The couple have a daughter, Luna. Filth and Toni had been separated since 2018.


title: Dani Filth

text: Dani Filth's present and primary band is Cradle of Filth. He also has been lending his voice to the band Devilment, a side project that has taken off into a full-time job in between Cradle records. His earliest bands were Carnival Fruitcake, The Lemon Grove Kids, PDA, Feast on Excrement, the Bondage Boys, and Hash Gordon and the Drug Barons. He named Judas Priest, Venom, Emperor, Destruction, Slayer, Iron Maiden, Sabbat, Misfits, Paradise Lost and Tim Burton's "The Nightmare Before Christmas" among his major influences.


title: Dani Filth

text: At the age of eighteen, Filth took up a job at a Chinese restaurant. He later chose his career in music over an internship at a newspaper, although his "Dani's Inferno" column ran for two years in "Metal Hammer" during the late 1990s.


title: Dani Filth

text: He has co-written and released "The Gospel of Filth" with Gavin Baddeley. The book, which Filth describes as an "occult study," features contributions from Clive Barker, Christopher Lee and Ingrid Pierson. He had been accused many times of being a Satanist, but has denounced such rumours, claiming instead to being "more of a Luciferian."


title: Dani Filth

text: Away from Cradle, Filth appeared on the "Roadrunner United" CD in 2005 (contributing vocals to "Dawn of a Golden Age"), and recorded the song "(She's) The Mother of Tears" with Claudio Simonetti and Simonetti's band Daemonia, for the soundtrack of Dario Argento's film "The Mother of Tears".


title: Dani Filth

text: Filth participated in the Temple of the Black Moon project in 2012 with guitarist Rob Caggiano, black metal musician King ov Hell on bass, and drummer John Tempesta. The supergroup aimed to combine rawer, extreme metal with the softer more melodious sounds of progressive rock, describing the band's sound as a "cross between Celtic Frost and Tool". Filth has also released two albums with Devilment since 2014.


title: Dani Filth

text: His high-profile has led to a handful of film and television roles. In 2003, he provided the voice of the eponymous main character in the feature-length animation "Dominator". Moreover, Filth has appeared numerous times on British television, most notably 1998's "Living With the Enemy", "Never Mind the Buzzcocks" in 2001, "Big Brother's Big Mouth" in 2008. He has also appeared on the American series "Viva La Bam" in 2005, and was interviewed for two episodes of the "Metal Evolution" series, on shock rock and extreme metal in 2012 and 2014 respectively.


title: Dani Filth

text: Scottish death metal band Party Cannon dedicated Dani the song "I Believe in Dani Filth", released in December 2021 with an animated version of Dani in a "Street Fighter"-styled video.


title: Dani Filth

text: In 2000, Filth appeared in the movie "Cradle of Fear" as The Man, a deranged psychopath taking revenge on his father's persecutors. "Cradle of Fear" unfolds four stories all linked by the thread of an incarcerated child killer wreaking vengeance on those responsible for his imprisonment. The movie's tagline on some posters was, "It's not "if" they die... It's "how"...".


title: Samsung Galaxy A53 5G

text: The Samsung Galaxy A53 5G is a mid-range Android-based smartphone developed and manufactured by Samsung Electronics as a part of its Galaxy


title: Samsung Galaxy A53 5G

text: A series. The phone was announced on 17 March 2022 at Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event alongside the Galaxy A33 5G and Galaxy A73 5G.


title: Samsung Galaxy A53 5G

text: Galaxy A53 5G Phone's price is $449 for a 128 GB model. The size of the screen is 6.5-inch which runs on Samsung's Exynos 5 nm processor. The phone has a quad-camera system featuring 64 MP main camera with 32 MP front camera.


title: Samsung Galaxy A53 5G

text: The design of the smartphone is similar to its predecessor, but as in the Samsung Galaxy A33 5G and Samsung Galaxy A73 5G, the rear panel is now completely flat, and the transition between the rear panel and the camera unit is smoother. The Galaxy A53 5G, unlike the Samsung Galaxy A52, does not have a 3.5 mm audio jack. Also Galaxy A53 5G has protection against moisture and dust according to the IP67 standard.


title: Samsung Galaxy A53 5G

text: Below are USB-C connector, speaker, microphone and depending on the version slot for 1 SIM card and microSD memory card up to 1 TB or hybrid slot for 2 SIM cards. The second microphone is located on top. On the right side are the volume buttons and the smartphone lock button.


title: Samsung Galaxy A53 5G

text: The smartphone is sold in 4 colors: black (Awesome Black), white (Awesome White), blue (Awesome Blue) and orange (Awesome Peach).


title: Samsung Galaxy A53 5G

text: The Galaxy A53 5G is a smartphone with a slate-type factor form, which is 159.6 × 74.8 × 8.1 mm in size and weighs 189 grams.


title: Samsung Galaxy A53 5G

text: The device is equipped with GSM, HSPA, LTE and 5G connectivity, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac dual-band with Bluetooth 5.1, Wi-Fi Direct support and hotspot support with A2DP and LE, GPS with BeiDou, Galileo, GLONASS and QZSS and NFC. It has a USB Type-C 2.0 port. It is dust and water resistant with IP67 certification.


title: Samsung Galaxy A53 5G

text: It has a 6.5 inch diagonal Super AMOLED display with Infinity-O-type punch-hole camera, rounded corners, FHD+ resolution of 1080 × 2400 pixels, with an adaptive refresh rate up to 120 Hz protected by Gorilla Glass 5.


title: Samsung Galaxy A53 5G

text: The chipset is a Samsung Exynos 1280 with an octagonal CPU (2 cores at 2.4 GHz + 6 cores at 2 GHz). UFS type 2 internal memory is 128/256 GB expandable with microSD up to 1 TB, while the RAM is 6 or 8 GB (depending on the version chosen).


title: Samsung Galaxy A53 5G

text: The rear camera array features four cameras, a 64 MP main camera, a 12 MP ultrawide, a 5 MP macro, and a 5 MP depth.


title: Jeroboam

text: Jeroboam I (; Hebrew: "Yārŏḇə‘ām"; ) was the first king of the northern Kingdom of Israel. The Hebrew Bible describes the reign of Jeroboam to have commenced following a revolt of the ten northern Israelite tribes against Rehoboam that put an end to the United Monarchy.


title: Jeroboam

text: Jeroboam reigned for 22 years. William F. Albright has dated his reign from 922 to 901 BC, while Edwin R. Thiele offers the dates 931 to 910 BC.


title: Jeroboam

text: The name "Jeroboam" is commonly held to have been derived from "riyb" and "ʿam" , signifying "the people contend" or "he pleads the people's cause". It is alternatively translated to mean "his people are many" or "he increases the people" (from "rbb", meaning "to increase"), or even "he that opposes the people". In the Septuagint he is called "Hieroboam" (Ἱεροβοάμ).


title: Jeroboam

text: Jeroboam was the son of Nebat, a member of the Tribe of Ephraim of Zereda. His mother, named Zeruah (צרוע "leprous") was a widow. He had at least two sons, Abijah and Nadab, who succeeded him on the throne.


title: Jeroboam

text: While still a young man, King Solomon made him over his tribesmen in the building of the fortress Millo in Jerusalem and of other public works, and he naturally became conversant with the widespread discontent caused by the extravagances which marked the reign of Solomon.


title: Jeroboam

text: Influenced by the words of the prophet Ahijah, he began to form conspiracies with the view of becoming king of the ten northern tribes; but these were discovered, and he fled to Egypt, where he remained under the protection of Pharaoh Shishak until the death of Solomon. After this event, he returned and participated in a delegation sent to ask the new king Rehoboam to reduce taxes. After Rehoboam rejected their petition, ten of the tribes withdrew their allegiance to the house of David and proclaimed Jeroboam their king, forming the northern kingdom of Israel (Samaria). Initially, only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin remained to form the new kingdom of Judah, loyal to Rehoboam.


title: Jeroboam

text: Jeroboam rebuilt and fortified Shechem as the capital of the northern kingdom, and fearing that pilgrimages to the temple in Jerusalem prescribed by the Law might be an occasion for his people to go back to their old allegiance, he built two state temples with golden calves, one in Bethel and the other in Dan. Although criticised for his cultic activities in 1 Kings, calf worship was not new in Israelite ritual, but a reintroduction of earlier ritual. Bethel and Dan were already established cultic sites. According to Rabbanic Literature Gehazi possessed a magnet by which he lifted up the idol made by Jeroboam, so that it was seen between heaven and earth; he had "Yhwh" engraved on it, and in consequence the idol (a calf) pronounced the first two words of the Decalogue (ib.).


title: Jeroboam

text: According to 1 Kings, while Jeroboam was engaged in offering incense at Bethel, a "man of God" warned him that "a son named Josiah will be born to the house of David", who would destroy the altar (referring to King Josiah of Judah who would rule approximately three hundred years later). Attempting to arrest the prophet for his bold words of defiance, Jeroboam's hand was "dried up", and the altar before which he stood was rent asunder. At the entreaty of the man of God, his hand was restored to him again, but the miracle made no abiding impression on him. Jeroboam offered hospitality to the man of God but this was declined, not out of contempt but in obedience to the command of God. The prophecy is fulfilled in 2 Kings.


title: Jeroboam

text: The wife of Jeroboam is a character in the Hebrew Bible. She is unnamed in the Masoretic Text, but according to the Septuagint, she was an Egyptian princess called Ano:


title: Jeroboam

text: In 1 Kings, Jeroboam's son Abijah gets sick, and he sends his wife to the prophet Ahijah. Ahijah's message, however, is that Abijah will die, which he does. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia the good that Abijah did for which he would be laid in the grave:"Rabbinical Literature:The passage, I Kings, xiv. 13, in which there is a reference to "some good thing [found in him] toward the Lord God of Israel," is interpreted (M. Ḳ. 28b) as an allusion to Abijah's courageous and pious act in removing the sentinels placed by his father on the frontier between Israel and Judah to prevent pilgrimages to Jerusalem. Some assert that he himself undertook a pilgrimage."


title: Jeroboam

text: According to the Hebrew Bible, Jeroboam was in "constant war with the house of Judah". While the southern kingdom made no serious effort militarily to regain power over the north, there was a long-lasting boundary dispute, fighting over which lasted during the reigns of several kings on both sides before being finally settled.


title: Jeroboam

text: In the eighteenth year of Jeroboam's reign, Abijah (also known as Abijam), Rehoboam's son, became king of Judah. During his short reign of three years, Abijah went to considerable lengths to bring the Kingdom of Israel back under his control. He waged a major battle against Jeroboam in the mountains of Ephraim. According to the Book of Chronicles Abijah had a force of 400,000 and Jeroboam 800,000. The Biblical sources mention that Abijah addressed the armies of Israel, urging them to submit and to let the Kingdom of Israel be whole again, but his plea fell on deaf ears. Abijah then rallied his own troops with a phrase which has since become famous: "God is with us as our leader". The biblical account states that his elite warriors fended off a pincer movement to rout Jeroboam's troops, killing 500,000 of them.


title: Jeroboam

text: Jeroboam was crippled by this severe defeat to Abijah and posed little threat to the Kingdom of Judah for the rest of his reign. He also lost the towns of Bethel, Jeshanah, and Ephron, with their surrounding villages. Bethel was an important centre for Jeroboam's Golden Calf cult (which used non-Levites as priests), located on Israel's southern border, which had been allocated to the Tribe of Benjamin by Joshua, as was Ephron, which is believed to be the Ophrah that was allocated to the Tribe of Benjamin by Joshua.


title: Jeroboam

text: The account of Jeroboam's life, like that of all his successors, ends with the formula "And the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he warred, and how he reigned, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel".


title: Jeroboam

text: "The Chronicles of the Kings of Israel", likely compiled by or derived from these kings' own scribes, is likely the source for the basic facts of Jeroboam's life and reign, though the compiler(s) of the extant Book of Kings clearly made selective use of it and added hostile commentaries. His family was eventually wiped out.


title: Jeroboam

text: The prophecies of doom concerning the fall of both the House of Jeroboam and the northern kingdom as a whole ("For the Lord shall smite Israel..., and he shall root up Israel out of this good land, which he gave to their fathers, and shall scatter them beyond the river", might have been composed retroactively, after the events described had already come to pass. Alternatively, the prophecy could have been a logical deduction. Judah had just been conquered and turned into a vassal of Egypt, while Israel stood between the Egyptian and Mesopotamian empires.


title: Jeroboam

text: It is likely that the story of the golden calf in the wilderness was composed as a polemic against Jeroboam's cultic restoration by claiming that its origins were inconsistent with worship of YHWH.


title: Jeroboam

text: Jeroboam is portrayed by Nickolas Grace in "Solomon & Sheba" (1995) and by Richard Dillane in "Solomon" (1997). Both of these are television films.


title: Million Man March

text: The Million Man March was a large gathering of African-American men in Washington, D.C., on October 16, 1995. Called by Louis Farrakhan, it was held on and around the National Mall. The National African American Leadership Summit, a leading group of civil rights activists and the Nation of Islam working with scores of civil rights organizations, including many local chapters of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (but not the national NAACP) formed the Million Man March Organizing Committee. The founder of the National African American Leadership Summit, Dr. Benjamin Chavis Jr. served as National Director of the Million Man March.


title: Million Man March

text: The committee invited many prominent speakers to address the audience, and African American men from across the United States converged in Washington to "convey to the world a vastly different picture of the Black male" and to unite in self-help and self-defense against economic and social ills plaguing the African American community.


title: Million Man March

text: The march took place in the context of a larger grassroots movement that set out to win politicians' attention for urban and minority issues through widespread voter registration campaigns. On the same day, there was a parallel event called the "Day of Absence", organized by women in conjunction with the March leadership, which was intended to engage the large population of Black Americans who would not be able to attend the demonstration in Washington. On this date, all Blacks were encouraged to stay home from their usual school, work, and social engagements, in favor of attending teach-ins, and worship services, focusing on the struggle for a healthy and self-sufficient Black community. Further, organizers of the Day of Absence hoped to use the occasion to make great headway on their voter registration drive.


title: Million Man March

text: A conflict arose about crowd size estimates between March organizers and Park Service officials. The National Park Service issued an estimate of about 400,000 attendees, a number significantly lower than march organizers had hoped for. After a heated exchange between leaders of the march and Park Service, ABC-TV-funded researchers at Boston University estimated the crowd size to be about 837,000 members, with a 20% margin of error.


title: Million Man March

text: Two years after the march, the Million Woman March was held in response to concerns that the Million Man March had focused on Black men to the exclusion of Black women.