title: Vichy

text: The 1950s and 1960s would become the most ostentatious period for Vichy, complete with parading personalities, visits from crowned heads (The Glaoui, the Pasha of Marrakech, Prince Rainier III of Monaco) and profits from a massive influx of North African French clients who holidayed in Vichy, spending lavishly. There were thirteen cinemas (which sometimes showed special previews), eight dance halls and three theatres. It was at this period that the station would take the title of ""Reine des villes d'eaux"" (Queen of the Spa Towns).


title: Vichy

text: From June to September, so many French-Algerian tourists were arriving that it almost seemed like there was an airlift set up between Vichy-Charmeil and the airports of Algeria. Mayor Pierre Coulon (1950–1967) decided to create Lake Allier (10 June 1963) and Omnisports Park (1963–68), giving the city its current look.


title: Vichy

text: The war in Algeria (1950s-60s), which led to decolonization, marked once again a halt in the prosperity of this city, which from then on had to deal with much less favorable conditions. The need to continue to pay the debts incurred by the considerable investments that had been made in more prosperous times obligated the new mayor, Jacques Lacarin (1967–1989), the successor of Pierre Coulon, to adopt a much more careful policy of management.


title: Vichy

text: Claude Malhuret, former Minister of Human Rights, born in Strasbourg in 1950, was mayor from 1989 to 2017. He and Bernard Kouchner are the co-founders of Doctors Without Borders ("Médecins Sans Frontières"). The city and its economic partners have concluded an important program of restoration and modernization. These projects include:


title: Vichy

text: The city was first noted for its thermal cures in Roman times. Its waters come from springs such as the Vichy Celestins and Vichy Saint-Yorre.


title: Vichy

text: Vichy Pastilles (made in Vichy) are octagon-shaped candies made from soda contained in the spring waters.


title: Vichy

text: The health and beauty business, with the laboratories of the L'Oréal company, also make it possible to publicize the city's name to a worldwide audience under the Vichy brand. (This French website discusses the history of this brand.)


title: Vichy

text: Unlike the neighbouring communes on the Allier such as industrial Montluçon and administrative seat Moulins, Vichy's economy is centred on the tertiary sector, with companies like the Compagnie de Vichy developing the health and well-being sector to mitigate the decline of medical hydrotherapy. The local market, open on Sundays, attracts shoppers from tens of kilometres around.


title: Vichy

text: The closing of two important local employers, the Manurhin company and the Sediver company, has reduced employment in the Vichy basin. Job creation by developing companies such as the NSE electronics company or the Satel call center company may not completely compensate for the removal of jobs which will result from this, despite the internet tour operator Karavel's establishment of a new call center in May 2005.


title: Vichy

text: Nevertheless, the two most important employers of the city belong to the public sector: the hospital (1,120 employees), and the town hall (500).


title: Vichy

text: Since 1989 Vichy has been one of the 7 sites of the European Total Quality Institute ("Institut Européen de la Qualité Totale").


title: Vichy

text: The "Pôle Universitaire de Vichy" (previously called Pôle Universitaire et Technologique Lardy), born from a project of thermal waste land rehabilitation and launched during the mid-nineties, is an economic priority. This campus accommodates 600 students in the downtown area, in ten areas of study including the fields of biotechnology, international trade, multi-media and languages.


title: Vichy

text: The CAVILAM - Alliance Française (Centre of Live Approaches to Languages and the Media), receives students from diverse countries who want to learn French. Created in 1964, under the impulse of the Universities of Clermont-Ferrand and the city of Vichy, CAVILAM - Alliance Française, joined the international network of the Alliance Française in 2012. After the first the COVID-19 lockdown, the center developed online courses for FLE teachers, FLE ressources pages, and foreign language courses for locals.


title: Vichy

text: The Palace of the Congresses is a venue primarily for the conferences of trade associations and learned societies. The structure is in area, including two plenary rooms and fifteen multi-use rooms. With 25,000 visitors yearly, the conferences must carry the economic role once held by the hydrotherapy industry, which today counts only 12,000 patients each year. The hydrotherapy business will now have to reorganise itself to take a less strict therapeutic-only role, and adapt to patients' stays shorter than the traditional three weeks.


title: Vichy

text: Under the authority of the local communities, much work is being done on building sites and projects, which will deeply modify Vichy in the years to come. The construction by the Hotel of the Community of Agglomeration in September 2005 on the old site of the "Commercial City" may precede the total restoration of the market hall ""Le Grand Marché"" (which would cost €5.9 Million) which would be delivered in September 2006. Other projects include the creation of a mother-child centre in the hospital complex, the restoration of the spa façade (removal of the metal boarding to uncover the original style of 1862), the transformation of the spa into a multi-use center, creation of parks with fountains in place of parking lots, the demolition and the transformation of the buildings in a congested area to create an enterprise center intended to create 800 jobs (opened in early 2008), the construction of a new aquatic stadium including five basins (open since 2008), and motorway connection (opened in early 2015).


title: Vichy

text: A wide variety of faiths are practiced. Various Christian denominations such as diverse Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant churches are found throughout the area along with adherents of Judaism, Islam, Buddhism and others.


title: Vichy

text: Vichy is accessible from departmental road ("RD") 2209, former (from the towns of Gannat or Varennes-sur-Allier), the from Thiers, the from Randan or the from Charmeil.


title: Vichy

text: In 2014, only regional two-lane highways ("routes départementales") pass through the urban ring of Vichy. The RD 2209 is the principal axis of circulation for heavily loaded trucks, from the west (via Gannat) or the north (via Varennes-sur-Allier or Saint-Germain-des-Fossés) ; other important routes are the following (listed in the clockwise order):


title: Vichy

text: The RD 67 is a loop to the north of the city created to limit traffic jams (access to Creuzier-le-Neuf, afterwards by the RD 907, Lapalisse and the RN 7).


title: Vichy

text: Vichy is served by the following train lines: TER and "Intercités" (national trains, but booking mandatory) to destinations: Paris Bercy/Clermont-Ferrand, Clermont-Ferrand/Lyon Part-Dieu and by TER, Vichy/Pont-de-Dore/Arlanc.


title: Vichy

text: MobiVie is the network of urban transport for six communes of Vichy Communauté intercommunality. This network is composed of eight lines .


title: Vichy

text: "Mobival" is an on-call transportation service for Vichy and its neighborhood. This service offers the local communes a reliable transportation service for areas that are not served by the MobiVie network. Created in October 2004, it has ten lines.


title: Gymnastics at the 2020 Summer Olympics

text: Gymnastics at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo was held in three categories: artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics and trampolining. After months of waiting due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Summer Olympics were finally held in 2021 at the Olympic Gymnastic Centre in Tokyo. Spectators were unable to attend, making this the smallest Olympic crowd. "After waves of the COVID-19 pandemic, multiple pleas for cancellation, a recent surge of coronavirus cases in Japan, and an official name that went out of date, the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics are finally on."


title: Gymnastics at the 2020 Summer Olympics

text: The program for 2020 remained unchanged from 2016, despite an application from the FIG for the admission of a new parkour based event. The application had proved contentious with specialist parkour or freerunning organizations lobbying for the sport not to be included, and to be recognized as an entirely separate sport from gymnastics.


title: Gymnastics at the 2020 Summer Olympics

text: Originally planned as a temporary venue, in 2016, the Tokyo 2020 authorities confirmed the Olympic Gymnastic Centre would become a permanent venue, functioning as a convention center after the Games. Before its refurbishment, the venue was also expected to host the Boccia event at the 2020 Summer Paralympics.


title: Gymnastics at the 2020 Summer Olympics

text: The qualification pathway for the 2020 Summer Olympics was significantly overhauled and modified from 2016. The men's and women's team events in artistic gymnastics were reduced from five members per team to four, while further allocations were available for up to two specialists.


title: Gymnastics at the 2020 Summer Olympics

text: In a further move to link several FIG competitions to the Olympic Games, qualification places will now be available based on an aggregate of scores achieved over the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup series, and the various continental artistic gymnastics championships.


title: Gymnastics at the 2020 Summer Olympics

text: Japan, as the host country, receives a guaranteed spot, in case it were not to earn one by the regular qualifying methods.


title: Sagittal plane

text: The sagittal plane (; also known as the longitudinal plane) is an anatomical plane that divides the body into right and left sections. It is perpendicular to the transverse and coronal planes. The plane may be in the center of the body and divide it into two equal parts (mid-sagittal), or away from the midline and divide it into unequal parts (para-sagittal).


title: Sagittal plane

text: The term "sagittal" is derived from the Latin word "sagitta", meaning "arrow". An image of an arrow piercing a body and passing from front (anterior) to back (posterior) on a parabolic trajectory would be one way to demonstrate the derivation of the term. Another explanation would be the notching of the sagittal suture posteriorly by the lambdoidal suture —similar to feathers on an arrow.


title: John Donahoe

text: John Joseph Donahoe II (born April 30, 1960) is an American businessman who is the CEO of Nike. Early in his career he worked for Bain & Company, becoming the firm's president and CEO in 1999. He is on the board of directors at Nike, The Bridgespan Group and is chairman of PayPal. Donahoe was named president and CEO of ServiceNow, a cloud company, in February 2017.


title: John Donahoe

text: He was on the Board of Trustees of Dartmouth College from 2003 to 2012. On January 13, 2020, Donahoe became president and CEO of Nike.


title: John Donahoe

text: John Donahoe was born in Evanston, Illinois on April 30, 1960. His father was an accountant at Price Waterhouse in Chicago. In 1978, he graduated from New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois. He earned a bachelor's degree in economics from Dartmouth College, followed by an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business. Donahoe is of Irish descent.


title: John Donahoe

text: After his senior year of high school, a friend's father asked him to work at his Schlitz beer distribution company. "You'll make good money," he said. It was a union job and the first requirement was that he join the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.


title: John Donahoe

text: Before joining eBay he worked for Bain & Company (a worldwide consulting firm based in Boston) for 20 years, starting as an associate consultant and rising to become the firm's president and CEO in 1999.


title: John Donahoe

text: In March 2005 he was hired as president of eBay Marketplaces. His role was to focus on eBay's core business, which accounts for a large percentage of the company's revenues. In 2008, He was appointed CEO of eBay. He made more than forty acquisitions, including Shopping.com and StubHub, and the classifieds sites Gumtree and LoQUo, and most recently, Shutl. After his departure from eBay in 2015, Donahoe was replaced by eBay Marketplaces president, Devin Wenig.


title: John Donahoe

text: In February 2017, he was announced as the president and CEO of ServiceNow, a software company that he became familiar with while working at eBay.


title: John Donahoe

text: In October 2019, he was announced as the next CEO of Nike, and succeeded Mark Parker on January 13, 2020.


title: John Donahoe

text: Donahoe has contributed to both of the main US parties. He contributed to Republican Congressman David Dreier of California. He also supported two Democratic Senate candidates, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, and Barbara Boxer of California.


title: John Donahoe

text: He is married to Eileen Donahoe (née Chamberlain), former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland. They have four children; three sons and a daughter, and live in Portola Valley, California.


title: Richard Scarry

text: Richard McClure Scarry (June 5, 1919 – April 30, 1994) was an American children's author and illustrator who published over 300 books with total sales of over 100 million worldwide. He is best known for his "Best Ever" book series that take place primarily in the fictional town of Busytown, "which is populated by friendly and helpful resident [animals...such as] Mr. Frumble, Huckle Cat, Mr. Fixit, Lowly Worm, and others..." The series spawned a media franchise.


title: Richard Scarry

text: Scarry was born in Boston, Massachusetts to Mary McClure and John Scarry Sr., who were of Irish-American ancestry and ran a small department store chain. Scarry had four siblings: older brother John Jr., younger sister, Barbara, and younger brothers, Edward and Leo. The family enjoyed a comfortable life at their 32 Melville Avenue home in the Dorchester neighborhood, even during the Great Depression.


title: Richard Scarry

text: Following high school, Scarry enrolled in Boston Business School, but dropped out in 1938. He then studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Archipenko Art School in Woodstock, New York, and the Eliot O'Hara Watercolor School in Goose Rocks, Kennebunkport, Maine, before being drafted into the U.S. Army in 1942.


title: Richard Scarry

text: After entering the Army, Scarry was assigned to the military's radio repair school. After a small success in that trade, he was chosen to paint a large sign and then made an art director after receiving a medical dispensation "from strenuous physical activity". Later he became "Editor and Writer of Publications for the Information and Morale Services Section of the Allied Force Headquarters", served in North Africa, and was discharged from the Army in 1946. After the war, Scarry worked in magazine and advertising in New York City, including a very brief stint at "Vogue". In 1949, he made a career breakthrough with Little Golden Books.


title: Richard Scarry

text: Scarry's most famous series of books was about Busytown and revolved around anthropomorphic animals. While his books are largely populated by common animal species, he proved to be quite adept at giving human characteristics to a seemingly endless number of creatures, machines, and creations. Many of his later illustrations feature characters in traditional Swiss clothing and show architecturally correct drawings of half-timber houses.


title: Richard Scarry

text: Scarry was a disciplined worker. Scarry was closely associated with mass-market children's publisher Ole Risom. They worked together on dozens of books, including "I Am a Bunny", which Risom wrote and Scarry illustrated. First published in 1963, it is still in print. Risom and Walter Retan also co-wrote the illustrated biography, "The Busy, Busy World of Richard Scarry". In the 1980s and 1990s, many of Scarry's "Best Ever" books were produced as animated videos and aired during TLC's now-defunct Ready Set Learn block. The Busytown books were also adapted into an animated series, "The Busy World of Richard Scarry", which was produced by Canada-based CINAR (now WildBrain) and Paramount Television and aired on the pay-TV channel Showtime from 1993 to 1997. It reran in the late 1990s on Nickelodeon and its sister channel Noggin (now Nick Jr.). A further animated series, "Busytown Mysteries", was commissioned by CBC from the Cookie Jar Group (the successor to CINAR) in 2007, and airs on the Kids' CBC morning program block.


title: Richard Scarry

text: Busytown was featured at the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh from June 13 to September 8, 2002, in an interactive exhibit, "Richard Scarry's Busytown". His books were popular with children throughout the world with over 100 million copies sold.


title: Richard Scarry

text: From 1976 to around 1978, Playskool planned "Richard Scarry's Puzzletown", a series of toy sets featuring plastic figures of Scarry characters and vehicles as well as cardboard scenery that the child could set up in a grid of trenches in a plastic base.


title: Richard Scarry

text: Books by Richard Scarry were revised over the course of their several editions, often to make them conform to changing social values. His "Best Word Book Ever", which first introduced in 1963, was issued in 1980 as a "new revised edition" which altered images and text to remove material which could be perceived as offensive due to gender, ethnic, or religious misconceptions. Characters in "cowboy" or "Indian" costumes were either removed or given nondescript clothing. Moral and religious elements and depictions of gender roles were altered or removed (for instance, Jewish object menorah was added into a Christmas scene, and the words "he comes promptly when he is called to breakfast", referring to a father bear, were changed to "he goes to the kitchen to eat his breakfast"). Characters engaged in activities reflecting traditional gender roles were altered so as to make the scenes more gender-neutral (e.g., a male character was added into a kitchen scene, a cowboy was replaced with a female gardener and a female scientist, the phrase "pretty stewardess" was changed to "flight attendant", and male characters engaged in traditionally masculine activities such as driving a steamroller were altered into female characters by the addition of hair bows or pink flowers, etc.). In some cases these changes necessitated removing whole sections altogether, including the "Out West" section, the "buildings" section (which had depicted a church, a cathedral, and a French Foreign Legion fortress), and sections on painting and music making.


title: Richard Scarry

text: While working as a free-lance illustrator, Scarry met Patricia "Patsy" Murphy, a writer of children's textbooks, when they collaborated on one such book, and they married in 1948. She is credited with writing many of the stories in his subsequent children's books, such as "Good Night, Little Bear", "The Bunny Book", and "The Fishing Cat". Before moving to Europe, the family lived on a farm in Ridgefield, Connecticut.


title: Richard Scarry

text: In 1972, Scarry and his wife moved to Lausanne, Switzerland, and in 1974 bought a chalet in nearby Gstaad, where Scarry enjoyed spending time with his adult son, Richard Scarry Jr.; skiing; coin collecting; and sailing.


title: Richard Scarry

text: Scarry's son is also an illustrator who sometimes works under the name Huck Scarry in his father's style. He moved to Vienna, Austria, and has four children.


title: Richard Scarry

text: On April 30, 1994, in Gstaad, Switzerland, Scarry died of a heart attack, caused by complications from esophageal cancer, at the age of 74.


title: Richard Scarry

text: Scarry began his book career in 1949 as an illustrator of books by other people, specifically Kathryn & Byron Jackson's "Mouse's House". He continued as only or primarily an illustrator through 1955, then began turning out original books.


title: Richard Scarry

text: Many of these titles are preceded by his name ("Richard Scarry's ..."), and may be so listed in library and booksellers' databases. Some ("Pie Rats Ahoy!", "Best Mistake Ever!" and "The Early Bird") were published under the Beginner Books (Grolier and Early Moments only) imprint, and others ("Chuckle with Huckle! and Other Easy-to-Read Funny Stories" and "The Worst Helper Ever" [Early Moments only]) as Bright and Early Books, although all are targeted at beginning readers. Scarry also illustrated a 1963 edition of "The Fables of La Fontaine", and in 1993 put his own stamp on a series of familiar nursery stories ("Little Red Riding Hood", "The Little Red Hen", "The Three Bears", "The Three Little Pigs").


title: Psiphon

text: Psiphon is a free and open-source Internet censorship circumvention tool that uses a combination of secure communication and obfuscation technologies, such as a VPN, SSH, and a Web proxy. Psiphon is a centrally managed and geographically diverse network of thousands of proxy servers, using a performance-oriented, single- and multi-hop routing architecture.


title: Psiphon

text: Psiphon is specifically designed to support users in countries considered to be "enemies of the Internet". The codebase is developed and maintained by Psiphon, Inc., which operates systems and technologies designed to assist Internet users to securely bypass the content-filtering systems used by governments to impose censorship of the Internet.


title: Psiphon

text: The original concept for Psiphon (1.0) was developed by the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto, building upon previous generations of web proxy software systems, such as the "Safe Web" and "Anonymizer" systems.


title: Psiphon

text: In 2007 Psiphon, Inc. was established as an independent Ontario corporation that develops advanced censorship circumvention systems and technologies. Psiphon, Inc. and the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto occasionally collaborate on research projects, through the Psi-Lab partnership.


title: Psiphon

text: The original concept for Psiphon envisioned an easy-to-use and lightweight Internet proxy, designed to be installed and operated by individual computer users, who would then host private connections for friends and family in countries where the Internet is censored. According to Nart Villeneuve, "The idea is to get (users) to install this on their computer, and then deliver the location of that circumventor, to people in filtered countries by the means they know to be the most secure. What we're trying to build is a network of trust among people who know each other, rather than a large tech network that people can just tap into." Psiphon 1.0 was launched by the Citizen Lab on 1 December 2006 as open-source software.


title: Psiphon

text: In early 2007, Psiphon, Inc. was established as a Canadian corporation independent of the Citizen Lab and the University of Toronto. The original code (1.6) was made available under the GNU General Public License. In 2008, Psiphon was awarded the Netexplorateur award by the French Senate. In 2009, Psiphon was recognized with The Economist Best New Media Award by Index on Censorship. In 2011, Psiphon 1.X was officially retired and is no longer actively supported by Psiphon, Inc., or the Citizen Lab.


title: Psiphon

text: In 2008, Psiphon, Inc. was awarded two sub-grants by the Internews operated SESAWE (Open Internet) project(s). The source of funding came from the European Parliament and the US State Department Internet Freedom program, administered by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL). The objective of these grants was to develop Psiphon into a scalable anti-censorship solution capable of supporting large numbers of users across different geographic regions. The core development team grew to include a group of experienced security and encryption software engineers that previously developed Ciphershare, a secure document management system.


title: Psiphon

text: In 2010, Psiphon, Inc. began providing services to the Broadcasting Board of Governors (US), US Department of State and the British Broadcasting Corporation. , Psiphon, Inc. operated on the basis revenues generated from commercial operations.


title: Psiphon

text: In 2012, Psiphon, Inc. began development of a mobile version of Psiphon 3 for use with phones running Android.


title: Psiphon

text: In 2021, the monthly user base surged from 5,000 to over 14 million due to the Myanmar protests. It is thought that the state censorship of many other social media websites is the cause. During the 2021 Cuban protests, over one million protesters began using the tool after the government shut down many social media websites.


title: Eidos-Montréal

text: Eidos-Montréal is a Canadian video game developer based in Montreal and part of Embracer Group. The studio was founded by Stéphane D'Astous in 2007 under SCi Entertainment. It became part of Square Enix Europe in 2009 and CDE Entertainment in 2022.


title: Eidos-Montréal

text: Eidos Interactive announced plans to open a Montreal-based subsidiary studio in February 2007. Eidos-Montréal formally opened with general manager Stéphane D'Astous on 26 November 2007. According to D'Astous, unlike other video game development studios, Eidos-Montréal's development cycle as characterized by smaller teams (totalling to 350) working over a longer period.


title: Eidos-Montréal

text: The same year as its founding, the studio announced to work on a "Deus Ex" project. In May 2009, the studio announced to work on the fourth installment of the "Thief" series. D'Astous resigned from Eidos-Montréal on 19 July 2013, citing irreconcilable differences with parent company Square Enix. In an 2022 interview, he retroactively called Eidos group a "trainwreck in slow motion", blaming London and Japan headquarters for failing to utilize the full potential of the studios. On 4 March 2014, Square Enix announced that 27 employees were laid off from Eidos-Montréal.


title: Eidos-Montréal

text: On January 26, 2017, Square Enix announced a partnership with Marvel Entertainment to create multiple video games based on Marvel properties, the first of which was announced as "Avengers", based on the comics of the same name, which would be developed by Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal. In May 2018, the studio had over 500 employees. In April 2018, YouTube journalist George Weidman (Super Bunnyhop) reported on a cancelled video game codenamed "Fantasy Project W" that was in development in 2012. In an interview with PCGamesN in May, studio head David Anfossi said he couldn't comment on the report, but found the video "very well done" and "very funny to watch". He explained that, within the video game industry, projects are often started but eventually cancelled. In 2019, Eidos-Shanghai became part of Eidos-Montréal. That studio had been established in 2008 to handle outsourcing for Eidos studios.


title: Eidos-Montréal

text: In June 2020, Square Enix announced new research and development studio Eidos-Sherbrooke, led by Julien Bouvrais. It was envisioned to take advantage of the nearby Université de Sherbrooke and Bishop's University and bring in new computing technology from these schools into their games. It was said to initially operate remotely, with plans move to a permanent location in southern Quebec in 2021 and to grow from 20 to 100 staff. On June 13, 2021, during their panel for E3 2021, it was announced that the company would be developing a game based on "Guardians of the Galaxy".


title: Eidos-Montréal

text: In May 2022, Square Enix reached an agreement with Embracer Group to purchase the studio and other assets of Square Enix Europe. During the announcement of this acquisition, it was revealed that Eidos had several projects in development, all using Unreal Engine 5. On 20 May 2022, Embracer Group (before the acquisition was complete) expressed interest in sequels, remakes and remasters in established franchises of the studio such as "Deus Ex" and "Thief". The acquisition was completed on August 26, 2022, with the assets being held under CDE Entertainment. In November 2022, Eidos-Shanghai was detached from Eidos-Montréal and moved to Gearbox Entertainment, another Embracer Group company, as Gearbox Studio Shanghai.


title: Eidos-Montréal

text: On December 4, 2014, Eidos revealed their proprietary technology called Dawn Engine which was to be used in future "Deus Ex" projects, first (and only one utilizing Dawn) of which was later revealed to be "". It is based on a heavily modified version of IO Interactive's Glacier 2, which has its roots in "." The engine was created after developers at Eidos-Montréal "found that [their] creative vision was somehow limited" by relying on existing engines. The graphics engine has been "almost completely" rewritten. This was done to "fully leverage the power offered by the PC and [eighth-gen] consoles". The creation of Dawn was challenging even for Eidos-Montréal's most experienced staff. The engine was later used for 2021's "Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy".


title: Eidos-Montréal

text: Dawn Engine features improved conversation system and cutscenes compared to Glacier 2. Built on an "entity system", Dawn allows designers to create new behaviours without the assistance of programmers. Hair technology is an improved version of AMD's TressFX, which has been developed by the in-house research and development team "Labs". Dawn features systems for volumetric lighting and air density, as well as support for dense indoor and outdoor areas, and many dynamic objects. Not all objects are rendered at the same time, the engine makes use of Umbra occlusion culling. With "Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy", ray tracing and DLSS support was added, as well as working in-game mirrors.


title: Eidos-Montréal

text: Eidos-Montréal subsequently abandoned work with the Dawn Engine after 2022, adopting Unreal Engine 5 for their ongoing work to "focus on content" rather than technical hurdles of developing a game and its engine simultaneously. With the foundation of Eidos-Sherbrooke, research and development work was mostly offloaded to that studio including Eidos-Labs department.


title: Shaun Wallace

text: Shaun Anthony Linford Wallace (born 2 June 1960) is an English barrister, lecturer and television personality. He is one of the six "chasers" on the ITV quiz show "The Chase". Wallace is a part-time lecturer and visits schools, colleges and other institutions to educate students on aspects of law. In 2004, he won "Mastermind" and was ranked 286th in the World Quizzing Championships in 2012.


title: Shaun Wallace

text: Wallace was called to the Bar in November 1984 and in 1986 completed pupilage. He has taken part in hearings held at both the Old Bailey as well as several magistrates' courts located in England and Wales and also in Scotland. He was a member of Farringdon Barristers Chambers until February 2012, when it was announced that he had joined Great James Street Chambers.


title: Shaun Wallace

text: On 26 October 2016, Wallace was found to have failed to comply with his duty while representing a defendant in criminal proceedings. He was reprimanded and fined £2500.


title: Shaun Wallace

text: Wallace is also a member of the southeastern circuit of the Criminal Bar Association. Owing to his heritage, he has been a member of the Jamaican Bar since 1999.


title: Shaun Wallace

text: In 2004, Wallace became a champion of the BBC general knowledge quiz, "Mastermind", which also tests a contestant's aptitude on a subject of their choice. His specialist subject in the final was FA Cup Finals.


title: Shaun Wallace

text: Wallace was a finalist on the first series of "Are You an Egghead?", narrowly losing out to Barry Simmons.


title: Shaun Wallace

text: Other shows that he has been a contestant on include "Fifteen to One" and "The Weakest Link", plus the British adaptation of "Greed".


title: Shaun Wallace

text: Since 2009, Wallace has appeared as a "chaser" on the UK television series "The Chase", a teatime game show which airs on ITV. His nickname on the show is "The Dark Destroyer". The other chasers are Anne Hegerty, Paul Sinha, Mark Labbett, Jenny Ryan and Darragh Ennis. He also appears on "The Chase: Celebrity Special", "The Family Chase", and "Beat The Chasers". In 2018, he featured as a guest chaser on the Australian version of the show, alongside fellow UK chasers Hegerty and Labbett. In Australia, he is known as "The Destroyer" owing to Australian concerns the original nickname contained racial undertones, which Wallace himself disputed.


title: Shaun Wallace

text: In 2019, Wallace appeared on the celebrity version of "Catchphrase". He also appeared as a guest in "Dictionary Corner" on the Channel 4 gameshow "Countdown". Wallace took part in the "Junk Food Experiment" in 2019.


title: Shaun Wallace

text: In June 2020, Wallace appeared as an assistant in Alan Carr's Epic Gameshow, for Take Your Pick! In October 2020, Wallace appeared as a Black history month reporter for "Good Morning Britain". In November 2020, Wallace took part as a contestant in ITV's "Don't Rock the boat", a rowing competition show.


title: Shaun Wallace

text: At the 2005 UK general election, Wallace stood as an independent parliamentary candidate, standing in the Brent South constituency in north London. He obtained 1% of the vote, losing to Labour's Dawn Butler.


title: Shaun Wallace

text: In 2022, he supported the criminal barristers' industrial action over pay. Joining colleagues on a picket line outside the Supreme Court in London, Wallace said that legal aid fees should be increased to encourage young people and those from a diversity of backgrounds to become barristers.


title: Shaun Wallace

text: Shaun Anthony Linford Wallace was born on 2 June 1960 at Central Middlesex Hospital in London. He grew up in Wembley and attended Copland School. He is of Jamaican heritage and is the eldest of four children. He is a football fan and a supporter of Chelsea.


title: Shaun Wallace

text: In 2022, Wallace appeared on the ITV programme "DNA Journey", which revealed many details about his ancestry in Nigeria, Jamaica and many other African countries.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: Daria Sergeyevna Kasatkina (born 7 May 1997) is a Russian professional tennis player. She is currently the Russian No. 1 player in singles. She made her top-ten debut in the WTA rankings towards the end of the 2018 season and has been ranked as high as world No. 8 achieved on 24 October 2022. Kasatkina has won six WTA Tour titles in singles as well as one title in doubles.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: Born to athletic parents who were nationally ranked in athletics and ice hockey, Kasatkina began playing tennis at age six at the insistence of her older brother. She excelled as a junior, winning the European 16s championship and one junior Grand Slam singles title at the 2014 French Open. Kasatkina quickly ascended up the professional rankings, reaching No. 32 in the world while still 18 years old and winning her first WTA title in 2017 as a teenager at the Charleston Open. She rose to prominence in 2018 by finishing runner-up to fellow up-and-coming player Naomi Osaka at the Premier Mandatory Indian Wells Open in a match regarded as representing a new wave of women's tennis. Kasatkina also has won the biggest titles of her career at the Kremlin Cup and at the St. Petersburg Trophy at home in Russia. Following three successful seasons on the WTA Tour, Kasatkina struggled in 2019, falling into the bottom half of the top 100. However, she had a resurgent 2021, claiming two titles to return to the top 30, and two titles in 2022, allowing her to return to the top 10.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: Daria was born in Tolyatti, Samara Oblast to Tatyana Borisovna (née Timkovskaya) and Sergey Igorevich Kasatkin. Tolyatti is an industrial city located about southeast of Moscow. Her father works as an engineer at the Volga Automotive Plant and her mother was a lawyer. Both of her parents were nationally ranked athletes in Russia (officially known as Candidates for Master of Sports); her mother in athletics, and her father in ice hockey. Kasatkina also has an older brother named Alexandr. Her brother had played tennis casually, and convinced her parents to have her also begin playing the sport when she was six years old. She initially played two to three times a week for two years. In time she began competing in higher level tournaments.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: As a junior, Kasatkina was ranked as high as 3 in the world. She began competing on the ITF Junior Circuit shortly after turning 14 years old and won her first title at just her second career event, the low-level Grade 4 Samara Cup. In early 2012 while still 14, Kasatkina won two higher-level Grade 2 tournaments in Moldova and France, the former of which was the first Grade 2 event she entered. Towards the end of the year, she helped Russia reach the final of the Junior Fed Cup alongside Elizaveta Kulichkova and Alina Silich, where they finished runners-up to the United States.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: Kasatkina began excelling at the highest level junior tournaments in 2013. She reached her first Grade-1 final in doubles in January, which she followed up with her first Grade-1 final in singles in April. After failing to win a match at her only two Grade A events the previous year, Kasatkina finished runner-up to Belinda Bencic at the Trofeo Bonfiglio in May. She then won her first junior Grand Slam matches the following month, reaching the quarterfinals at the French Open. Following this event, she did not play another tournament until late August, when she won her first Grade-1 title at the International Hard Court Championship in the United States. Kasatkina's last event of the year was the Junior Fed Cup, where she played the No. 1 singles matches. With Veronika Kudermetova and Aleksandra Pospelova, the top-seeded Russian team won the tournament, defeating Australia in the final.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: Kasatkina had her best year on the junior tour in 2014, despite competing in just five tournaments. She reached both the singles and doubles finals at the Grade 1 Trofeo Mauro Sabatini, and won the title in singles. At the last ITF tournament of her career, Kasatkina won her first and only junior Grand Slam title in the girls' singles event at the French Open. As the No. 8 seed, she defeated top seed Ivana Jorović in the final, coming back from a set down. She was the first Russian girl to win the event since Nadia Petrova in 1998 and helped Russia sweep both junior singles events, with fellow European 16s champion Andrey Rublev winning the boys' singles title. In August, Kasatkina also participated in the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing. She earned a silver medal in doubles alongside compatriot Anastasiya Komardina. They finished runners-up to Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina and Belarusian Iryna Shymanovich.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: Kasatkina began her professional career as a wildcard qualifying entrant at the 2013 Kremlin Cup, where she lost her only match. She made her professional main-draw debut on the ITF Circuit in November, and then won her first career title at a low-level $10K event in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt a few months later. She also won a $25K title in Telavi, Georgia the following September. Kasatkina again received a wildcard into the 2014 Kremlin Cup, this time for the main draw. She lost her WTA Tour debut to Alison Riske.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: Kasatkina began 2015 ranked No. 354, but steadily climbed to No. 161 at the end of June on the strength of four $25K titles. She then recorded her first WTA Tour match-win in July, against Aleksandra Krunić at the Gastein Ladies, en-route to the quarterfinals. With her rankings improvement, Kasatkina was able to enter qualifying at a Grand Slam event for the first time at the US Open. Although she lost in the last round, she reached the main draw as a lucky loser and made it to the third round, upsetting compatriot and world No. 38, Daria Gavrilova, as well as No. 79, Ana Konjuh. Before the end of the year, Kasatkina won her biggest titles to date in both singles and doubles. In September, she won the L'Open de Saint-Malo $50K singles event. In October, she won the doubles event at the Kremlin Cup with Elena Vesnina for her first WTA title. She also reached semifinals in singles as a qualifier, her best singles result on the WTA Tour at the time. During the event, she defeated world No. 14, Carla Suárez Navarro, in the quarterfinals for the biggest win of her career. She finished the year ranked No. 72.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: During the 2016 season, Kasatkina continued to rise in the WTA rankings, reaching No. 32 in the world while still 18 years old and as high as No. 24 later in the year. She began the year at the Auckland Open, where she recorded her first career top ten victory against world No. 7, Venus Williams. Kasatkina then made her Australian Open debut and reached the third round. She defeated No. 27, Anna Karolína Schmiedlová, in the first round before losing to world No. 1, Serena Williams. At her next tournament, she returned to Russia for the St. Petersburg Trophy and reached the semifinals, losing to Belinda Bencic. At the Indian Wells Open, Kasatkina then made it to the quarterfinals at her first Premier Mandatory event. She also produced one good result in doubles, a semifinals appearance at the Qatar Open with Elena Vesnina. The Russian duo notably defeated Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza to end their 41-match-win streak, the longest streak on the WTA Tour since 1990.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: In the middle of the season, Kasatkina again reached the third round at two more Grand Slam events, the French Open and Wimbledon. At both tournaments, she lost tight matches that each ended 10–8 in the third set, the former against Kiki Bertens and the latter against No. 8, Venus Williams. She had two chances to serve out the match against Bertens. Kasatkina continued her success at big tournaments at the Premier 5 Canadian Open, where she reached the quarterfinals. She defeated world No. 8, Roberta Vinci, in the third round for her second career top ten victory. Her next tournament was at the Rio Olympics. She qualified for the singles draw through her ranking, and also entered the doubles tournament with Svetlana Kuznetsova, after Margarita Gasparyan withdrew due to injury. Kasatkina reached the quarterfinals at both events, falling just short of the medal rounds. She lost to American Madison Keys in singles and the Czech team of Andrea Hlaváčková and Lucie Hradecká in doubles. At the US Open, her streak of four consecutive third round appearances at majors was ended in the opening round by Wang Qiang.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: Kasatkina's last big singles result of the season came at the Premier 5 Wuhan Open, where she made it to the third round. She had needed to qualify for the main draw after forgetting to sign up for the tournament. For the second consecutive year, Kasatkina reached the doubles final at the Kremlin Cup, this time with Daria Gavrilova. The pair finished runner-up to Hlaváčková and Hradecká. Kasatkina ended the season at a world ranking of No. 27.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: Kasatkina maintained a steady ranking throughout 2017, falling no lower than No. 42 in the world and again reaching the same season-best of No. 24 as 2016. Nonetheless, she had a slow start to the season, not winning a single match at the Australian Open or the two Premier Mandatory events in the United States, the three biggest tournaments through March. Her best results were two quarterfinals at mid-level two Premier tournaments, the Sydney International and the Qatar Open. In Sydney, she also defeated Angelique Kerber for her first career victory over a current world No. 1 player.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: After struggling on hard courts, Kasatkina had a better clay-court season on the strength of her first and last tournaments on the surface. At the Charleston Open, she won her first career WTA singles title shortly before turning 20 years old. She defeated fellow teenager Jeļena Ostapenko in the final in straight sets. Kasatkina closed out the clay-court season with another third-round appearance at the French Open, where she lost to eventual finalist and world No. 4, Simona Halep. Her only grass-court tournament was Wimbledon, where she made it to the second round.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: Towards the end of the year, Kasatkina began having more success on hardcourts. At the US Open, she made it to the fourth round of a Grand Slam event for the first time. Although she was able to defeat Ostapenko, who had won the French Open, she was upset by veteran qualifier Kaia Kanepi. Nonetheless, she built on this result in Asia, first by reaching another WTA doubles final with Gavrilova at the Pan Pacific Open. In singles at the Wuhan Open, she upset world No. 2, Halep. She also made her second career Premier Mandatory quarterfinal at the China Open, this time losing to Halep. Kasatkina closed out the year with her second best singles result of the season, a runner-up finish at her hometown Premier tournament, the Kremlin Cup. She upset fifth seed and world No. 18, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, in the first round, but was defeated by seventh seed Julia Görges in the final.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: Kasatkina continued her late season success from the previous year into 2018. After only winning one match between three tournaments in Australia, she reached the semifinals at the St. Petersburg Trophy and then the final at the Dubai Tennis Championships, two Premier tournaments. In St. Petersburg, she notably defeated world No. 1, Caroline Wozniacki. In Dubai, she saved three match points en route to defeating another top-5 player in world No. 3, Garbiñe Muguruza, before losing to the defending champion and world No. 4, Elina Svitolina. Kasatkina's breakthrough came at Indian Wells, where she reached her second final of the season. She defeated four top-15 players at that event including Wozniacki again and also No. 8, Venus Williams, in a tight three-set match. She finished runner-up to fellow 20-year-old Naomi Osaka. With this result, she climbed to No. 11 in the WTA rankings and also became the Russian No. 1, ending Kuznetsova's long run as Russia's top women's singles player.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: Kasatkina had strong clay- and grass-court seasons as well. She made the quarterfinals at the Charleston Open and the third round at the Premier 5 Italian Open. She also had another big result at a Premier Mandatory tournament, reaching the quarterfinals at the Madrid Open. During the event, she upset hometown favourite and world No. 3 ,Garbiñe Muguruza. Her best tournament on clay was the French Open, where she reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal. She defeated No. 2, Wozniacki, for the third time in 2018 in a match that was suspended midway through due to darkness, before losing to the eventual runner-up Sloane Stephens. Another Grand Slam quarterfinal followed at Wimbledon, losing to the eventual champion and world No. 11, Angelique Kerber.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: Kasatkina failed to continue her Grand Slam success at the US Open, losing in the second round. In October, she returned to Russia and won the Kremlin Cup for her only title of the season. She defeated Tunisian qualifier Ons Jabeur in the final. With the title, she also made her top 10 debut. Kasatkina was initially named the second alternate for the WTA Finals. With only one withdrawal, she instead participated in the WTA Elite Trophy, where she was grouped with Madison Keys and Wang Qiang. She began the round robin with a win over Wang, but lost to Keys in a match where she had to play on a short amount of rest while Keys was playing her first match. As a result, she finished in last place in the group through the tiebreak criteria. Kasatkina finished the year ranked No. 10 in the world.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: Kasatkina could not repeat the success from any of her full seasons on the WTA Tour during 2019. After beginning the year in the top ten, her ranking dropped throughout the season down to as low as No. 70 near the end of the year. Whereas she won at least 60% of her matches in each of her three previous years, she finished 2019 with a losing record of 12–21. She parted with her longtime coach Philippe Dehaes in February, replacing him with Carlos Martinez in April.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: Kasatkina's results did not improve with Martinez as her coach. She did not make the semifinals at any event. Kasatkina won multiple matches at two tournaments during the year, the Premier 5 Italian Open in May and the Premier Mandatory China Open in October where she won three matches and made the quarterfinals. At the China Open, she defeated No. 14, Aryna Sabalenka and No. 38, Ekaterina Alexandrova before losing to No. 19, Caroline Wozniacki. Kasatkina's losses were generally against good competition, with only seven of her 21 losses coming against players ranked outside of the top 50. The highest-ranked opponent she defeated during the year was No. 13, Angelique Kerber, in the first round of the Canadian Open. Kasatkina remained in the top 50 until the very end of the season, when she lost the points she was defending from the previous year's WTA Elite Trophy.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: In 2020, Kasatkina first participated in Auckland, where she defeated Carla Suárez Navarro before falling to Amanda Anisimova in the second round. At Adelaide, she progressed through qualifying, before being defeated by Belinda Bencic in the first main-draw round. At the Australian Open, she lost to Madison Keys in the first round. At St. Petersburg, she lost in the first round to Ekaterina Alexandrova, and, at Dubai, was forced to enter qualifying. She defeated Natalia Vikhlyantseva in the first round, but lost to Kristina Mladenovic in the second qualifying round. At Doha, she entered the main draw through qualification, defeating Vikhlyantseva and Aliaksandra Sasnovich, but she lost in the first round of the main draw to Garbiñe Muguruza. She reached her first semifinal since 2018 at Lyon where, as the seventh seed, she defeated Pauline Parmentier, Irina Bara, and Camila Giorgi, before being defeated in three sets by Anna-Lena Friedsam. By virtue of her result in this tournament, Kasatkina's ranking rose to No. 66, before the suspension of the WTA Tour due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: Kasatkina's first tournament after the suspension was at Palermo, where she lost in the first round to Jasmine Paolini, in a match that lasted 3 hours and 9 minutes; this match was the fourth longest on the WTA Tour in the entirety of 2020. She then qualified for the Cincinnati Open, defeating Kateryna Bondarenko and Christina McHale, before losing in the first round to Anett Kontaveit. At the US Open, she lost in the first round to Marta Kostyuk, winning just three games. She next qualified for the Italian Open, defeating Arina Rodionova and Gabriela Dabrowski, and reached the third round after defeating Vera Zvonareva and Kateřina Siniaková. She withdrew from the competition, however, as she injured herself during a first-set tiebreak against Victoria Azarenka. She recuperated in time for the French Open, where she defeated Harmony Tan in the first round, before falling to Aryna Sabalenka. Her final event of the year was at the inaugural tournament in Ostrava, where she defeated Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Marie Bouzková to qualify. She defeated Elena Rybakina in the first round, before losing to Jennifer Brady, despite leading by 5–2 in the first set, eventually losing that set 7–5. She ended the year ranked No. 72, her lowest year-end ranking since 2015.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: Kasatkina started her 2021 season at the Abu Dhabi Open, where she defeated Wang Qiang in the first round in three sets. She was due to face 12th seed Karolína Muchová but the Czech withdrew, sending Kasatkina into the third round. There she lost to sixth seed Elena Rybakina, in straight sets.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: She then played in the Gippsland Trophy and made the third round with straight sets wins over Mihaela Buzarnescu, with the loss of just two games, and Polona Hercog. However, she lost to Estonian veteran and eventual finalist Kaia Kanepi in straight sets. At the Australian Open, she defeated Briton Katie Boulter in straight sets before losing in two tight sets to Aryna Sabalenka despite winning more points in the first set. Kasatkina bounced back from that loss emphatically at the Phillip Island Trophy, held during the second week of the Australian Open. She defeated Katie Boulter for the second time in five days and Varvara Gracheva, in straight sets, to record back to back wins for the third time in four events that season. The Russian then came from a set down to edge Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova before dominating Petra Martić to make her first WTA semifinal since Lyon in 2020. She then defeated Danielle Collins and Marie Bouzková in three sets to claim her third title and first since Moscow 2018. The win pushed Kasatkina up to No. 57 in the world.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: However, she crashed out in her opening round match in Dubai to Alizé Cornet. She bounced back at the St. Petersburg Ladies' Trophy, halting the winning streak of rising star Clara Tauson in the first round. Kasatkina then fought hard for a three-set win over Aliaksandra Sasnovich, who served for the match. Back-to-back comeback wins came over compatriots Veronika Kudermetova and Svetlana Kuznetsova. She then defeated wildcard Margarita Gasparyan in the final after Gasparyan was forced to retire early in the second set. This was Kasatkina’s second title at home and this also made her the first two-time champion of the 2021 season, moving herself back into the top 50 for the first time since October 2019.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: Despite clay being her favoured surface, Kasatkina failed to reach a quarterfinal throughout the clay-court season. She was upset by Marta Kostyuk in the second round of the İstanbul Cup before falling to Sabalenka in the second round of the Mutua Madrid Open. At the French Open, Kasatkina defeated 10th seed Belinda Bencic in straight sets to make the third round for the first time since 2018. She was defeated by Sorana Cîrstea in straight sets.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: Seeded fourth, Kasatkina reached the final at the Birmingham Classic. This was her eighth career final, first on grass and third of 2021. Her run started with a comeback from 4-6, 0-3 against Polona Hercog in the first round, before avenging her loss against Kostyuk, ousting Tereza Martincová and CoCo Vandeweghe to reach the final. However, she lost to Ons Jabeur in straight sets. She lost in the quarterfinals of the Eastbourne International to Jeļena Ostapenko after securing her first top ten win in two years over Iga Świątek, losing just one game after dropping the opening set. Kasatkina's grass-court season ended with a second-round appearance at the Wimbledon Championships, losing to Ostapenko 6-8 in the final set.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: Kasatkina reached her fourth final of the year at the Silicon Valley Classic, beating former top ten player Caroline Garcia, in three sets before coming back to avoid the upset against Magda Linette in the quarterfinals. She then dominated top seed Elise Mertens without getting broken, but lost to home favourite Danielle Collins in the final. After early defeats at the National Bank Open and Western & Southern Open to Jabeur and world No. 10, Barbora Krejčíková, respectively, Kasatkina reached the third round of the US Open with wins over defending quarterfinalist Tsvetana Pironkova and Olympics silver medalist Markéta Vondroušová, but lost to fifth seed Elina Svitolina, in straight sets.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: Her season ended with a third-round defeat at the Indian Wells Open to Angelique Kerber, in three sets and a surprising first-round exit to Anhelina Kalinina in the first round of the Kremlin Cup.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: Kasatkina began the year ranked No. 26. She first played the Melbourne Summer Set 2, a WTA 250 event, as the third seed; here, she reached the semifinals by defeating Anna Kalinskaya, Madison Keys, and Nuria Párrizas Díaz before losing to eventual champion Amanda Anisimova. The next week, she reached a second consecutive semifinal, this time at the Sydney International, a WTA 500 event. She defeated eighth seed Sofia Kenin, Elise Mertens, and second seed Garbiñe Muguruza, before losing to fifth seed and eventual champion Paula Badosa. Kasatkina next reached the third round of the 2022 Australian Open as the 25th seed, defeating qualifier Stefanie Vögele and Magda Linette before falling to seventh seed Iga Świątek.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: Kasatkina performed poorly in the next hard court events as she was defeated by Iga Swiatek in both Dubai and Doha in the first and third rounds respectively. She lost to Angelique Kerber in Indian Wells 3rd round and to Aliaksandra Sasnovich in Miami 2nd round in receipt of first round byes.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: At the Italian Open, she reached her first WTA 1000 semifinal of the season and second of her career, where she was defeated by Ons Jabeur after having a match point. As a result, she returned to the top 20 in the rankings, becoming once again the No. 1 Russian player on 16 May 2022.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: Kasatkina entered the French Open as the 20th seed. She defeated lucky loser Rebecca Šramková, qualifier Fernanda Contreras, Shelby Rogers, and 28th seed Camila Giorgi to reach the quarterfinals, matching her best result at the tournament from 2018. She then went one step further, defeating compatriot and 29th seed Veronika Kudermetova to reach her maiden Grand Slam semifinal. She then lost in straight sets to world No. 1, Iga Świątek, for the fourth time this year. This run secured her a top 15 ranking for the first time since early 2019.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: Kasatkina played two tournaments on grass, Berlin and Bad Homburg; she was defeated in the quarterfinals by Maria Sakkari and Bianca Andreescu, respectively. She did not compete in the 2022 Wimbledon Championships due to the All England Club's decision to ban Russian and Belarusian players, in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: At the Silicon Valley Classic, she reached the semifinals again defeating Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, qualifier Taylor Townsend and world No. 6 and fourth seed Aryna Sabalenka, in three sets. She bagelled each opponent in the last set in the match. She reached back-to-back finals after defeating world No. 4 and second seed, Paula Badosa. She defeated Shelby Rogers in the final, returning to the top 10 in the rankings at a new career-high of world No. 9 on 8 August 2022. She became tied for third in wins in the season with 32, behind only No. 1 Iga Swiatek and Wimbledon finalist Ons Jabeur.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: After getting eliminated by Bianca Andreescu and Amanda Anisimova in the opening rounds of Toronto and Cincinnati respectively, Daria Kasatkina won her sixth career WTA Title in Granby. She defeated Greet Minnen, Magdalena Fręch, Nuria Párrizas Díaz, Diane Parry and Daria Saville losing just one set in route to win the title. However, she fell to Harriet Dart in the first round of US Open.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: Seeded 5th at the Ostrava Open, Kasatkina defeated Emma Raducanu in the first round before falling to Ekaterina Alexandrova in straight sets. Seeded 8th at the San Diego Open, she breezed past Leylah Fernandez before losing to Madison Keys in second round. In receipt of a first-round bye in Guadalajara, she was defeated in the third round by Anna Kalinskaya in three sets. This result made her eligible to make her debut at the 2022 WTA Finals. She also reached a new career-high ranking of World No. 8 on 24 October 2022.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: At the WTA Finals, Kasatkina lost to Świątek again in her first match. She earned her first victory of the Finals against Coco Gauff in straight sets, but she couldn't advance beyond the round robin stage as she was defeated by Caroline Garcia in a close three set match.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: Having won the Junior Fed Cup in 2013, Kasatkina made her senior Fed Cup debut for Russia in 2016 in a World Group quarterfinal against the Netherlands. She won the dead rubber doubles match with Ekaterina Makarova against Cindy Burger and Arantxa Rus as Russia lost the tie. She also participated in the World Group Play-offs against Belarus two months later and played three rubbers, as Makarova and Svetlana Kuznetsova both opted to skip the tie. Kasatkina won her first live rubber against Aliaksandra Sasnovich, but Russia lost all three other singles rubbers to lose the tie. Partnering with Elena Vesnina, she also won the doubles dead rubber. Nonetheless, Russia were relegated out of the World Group.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: In 2017, Russia played in World Group II and won their tie to advance to World Group Play-offs. After Kasatkina skipped that tie, she returned for the Play-off round. However, for the second consecutive year, Russia lost in this round to Belgium to keep them in World Group II. Kasatkina won her only singles match to set up a decisive doubles rubber. Alongside Vesnina, Kasatkina lost that match to Elise Mertens and An-Sophie Mestach. Kasatkina did not participate in Fed Cup in 2018 as Russia were further relegated to the Europe/Africa zonal group.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: Kasatkina competed for Russia in 2019 during the zonal competitions, recording a win over Karen Barritza in straight sets in the only match she played throughout the week. Russia ultimately secured a place in the World Group II Play-offs.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: She made her return to the team for the 2020–21 Billie Jean King Cup Finals, where she was nominated for the team as the second-ranked Russian. In the matches she was nominated for, Kasatkina beat Carol Zhao in straight sets for an overall 3-0 win in the group stage. She then beat Jil Teichmann in the final, helping Russia to secure their first title since 2008.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: Kasatkina is a baseline player with a crafty style of play. She employs a variety of shots including heavy topspin forehands, one-handed slice backhands, kick serves, and drop shots. Tennis journalist Steve Tignor compared her ability to naturally hit one-handed backhands despite typically utilizing a two-handed shot to that of former world No. 1 men's tennis player Andy Murray. Her coach Phillip Dehaes describes her style as "change of rhythm, change of speed, change of trajectory." She relies on outsmarting her opponents through tactics rather than hitting overpowering shots. However, she is capable of hitting powerful groundstrokes as well. Dehaes emphasizes that her key is avoid hitting the ball in her opponent's strike zone. Kasatkina's style has been praised by others including women's tennis coach Wim Fissette, who called her "the Roger Federer of women's tennis."


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: Kasatkina's favourite surface is clay. Fellow top women's player Caroline Wozniacki has commended her clay court ability, saying, "The slower the surface is, the better for her. She has very good hands and good angles and everything." As such, she also excels at tournaments with slower hard courts, such as the Indian Wells Open. Kasatkina has had a good record on all three main surfaces on the WTA Tour, winning a clay court title at the Charleston Open, winning a hard court title at the Kremlin Cup, and reaching the quarterfinals on grass at Wimbledon.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: When Kasatkina was eleven years old, Maxim Prasolov began coaching her. At the age of 14, she switched coaches to Damir Rishatovich Nurgaliev. Beginning in 2015, she moved to Trnava in Slovakia to train at the Empire Tennis Academy, citing her preference to train away from a large city, something that was less feasible in Russia. At the academy, she worked with former Slovak professional tennis player Vladimír Pláteník.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: After three years, she hired Belgian Philippe Dehaes to be her new coach in late 2017. Kasatkina had previously sought out Dehaes as a coach in late 2013 when she visited Belgium in search of funding from a foundation that was providing financial support for one of Dehaes's junior players. Dehaes has stated he has a different coaching style than Pláteník, saying, "She was working before with a coach who was really focused on the opponent and on adapting the game to the opponent. I don’t watch the opponent." He added that, "I insist on leaving her a lot of freedom when she plays, but she has to create, has to make things happen, really like an artist. I compared it to an empty canvas a few days ago, and I said she can make whatever art on that canvas that she wants as long as it’s beautiful." Kasatkina split with Dehaes in February 2019. She had only wanted to take a break from having a coach, but Dehaes could not accommodate being without a job. After two months without a coach, she replaced him with Carlos Martinez, former coach of fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova. Kasatkina's brother Alexandr is her fitness trainer.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: Kasatkina's favourite tennis player is Rafael Nadal. In the women's game, she is a fan of Petra Kvitová and Maria Sharapova. She prefers to watch men's tennis over women's tennis, saying that the players are better at serving and moving around the court. Kasatkina likes to play sports in general, including football. She is a fan of FC Barcelona.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: Kasatkina has been sponsored by Nike, Tecnifibre and Instaforex throughout her career. Her sponsorship with Nike ended in 2021, due to a series of poor results. In August 2021, Kasatkina signed an endorsement deal with Adidas for clothing, footwear, and apparel.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: In an interview in 2021 with Sofya Tartakova, Kasatkina made comments that were presumed to be discussing her bisexuality. In 2022, she clarified these comments, coming out as lesbian, and stating in an interview that she is in a relationship with figure skater Natalia Zabiiako. It became public after Kasatkina posted a photo with her girlfriend on Instagram. Zabiiako also shared several photos with Kasatkina on her Instagram profile.


title: Daria Kasatkina

text: She said that she "found living in the closet impossible" and also speaking out against the attitudes towards the LGBTQ+ community and restrictions of rights within Russia. In that same interview, Kasatkina condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine, calling for an end to Russian aggression and showing solidarity with the Ukrainian people.


title: Lucky Star (manga)

text: An audio drama CD based on the series was released in August 2005, and the series spawned four video games released between 2005 and 2009. A 24-episode anime adaptation produced by Kyoto Animation aired between April 8 and September 16, 2007. The anime was licensed in North America by Kadokawa Pictures and distributed by Bandai Entertainment; six DVDs have been released between May 2008 and March 2009. An original video animation (OVA) episode was released on September 26, 2008 accompanied by a drama CD. Bandai Entertainment released the OVA in an English-sub only version on August 4, 2009. The anime is currently licensed by Funimation, now known as Crunchyroll. Viz Media acquired the rights to publish the manga digitally in 2014.


title: Lucky Star (manga)

text: A spin-off manga, "Miyakawa-ke no Kūfuku", began serialization in January 2008 in Kadokawa Shoten's "Comp H's" magazine. An anime adaptation by Ordet and Encourage Films began airing on Ustream in April 2013.


title: Lucky Star (manga)

text: "Lucky Star"s story mainly portrays the lives of four girls attending a Japanese high school. The setting is mainly based on the city of Kasukabe in Saitama Prefecture. The main character is Konata Izumi, a lazy girl who constantly shirks her schoolwork and instead uses most of her time to watch anime, play video games, and read manga. Although she is lazy, she has also proven to be very intelligent and athletic.


title: Lucky Star (manga)

text: The serialization began with the four main characters in their first year of high school: Konata Izumi, Kagami Hiiragi, Tsukasa Hiiragi, and Miyuki Takara. As the story progresses, they move on to their second and third years. However, the anime starts the story with them beginning their second year, and the other high school girls that are seen in the opening are only introduced halfway through the series. The storyline usually includes numerous references to popular past and present manga, anime, and tokusatsu series.


title: Lucky Star (manga)

text: The spin-off manga, "Miyakawa-ke no Kūfuku", focuses on the daily lives of two sisters, Hinata and Hikage Miyakawa, who live an impoverished life due to Hinata's wasteful habits.


title: Lucky Star (manga)

text: The four-panel comic strip manga version of "Lucky Star" started serialization in Kadokawa Shoten's magazine "Comptiq's" January 2004 issue sold on December 10, 2003. The first "tankōbon" volume of the manga was published on January 8, 2005, and as of October 26, 2013, 10 volumes have been released. Besides "Comptiq", the manga was also featured in other Kadokawa magazines including "Shōnen Ace", "Newtype", "Comp Ace", "Dragon Magazine", "Mobile Newtype" and "Kadokawa Hotline" for various lengths of time. Although on hiatus since 2014, the manga is set to return to being serialized in Kadokawa's "Mitaina!" magazine on November 10, 2022. The manga was licensed by Bandai Entertainment for release in English in North America, and the first volume was released in June 2009. Following Bandai Entertainment's closure, the manga has been licensed by Viz Media.


title: Lucky Star (manga)

text: A spin-off manga titled "Lucky Star Pocket Travelers" (らき☆すた ポケットとらべら〜ず, "Raki☆Suta Poketto Toraberāzu"), which has the four main characters waking up one morning to discover they have shrunken to doll size, was serialized in "Comp Ace" between the January and August 2008 issues. A single volume of "Pocket Travelers" was released on October 10, 2008. Another spin-off manga, based on the "Lucky Star Moe Drill" video games and titled , began serialization in the January 2008 issue of Kadokawa Shoten's "Comp H's" magazine. The magazine transferred to "Comp Ace" with the June 2009 issue, and has also been featured in "Comptiq". The first volume of "Miyakawa-ke no Kūfuku" was released on June 26, 2012. An official parody manga titled by manga artist Eretto was serialized in "Comp Ace" between the July 2008 and December 2009 issues. A single volume of "Boo Boo Kagaboo" was released on March 18, 2010. Another spin-off manga, based on the "Miyakawa-ke no Kūfuku" manga and titled by manga artist Tsubomi Hanabana and cuisine supervisor Etsuko Ichise was serialized in "Comp Ace" between the November 2013 and May 2014 issues. A single volume of "Miyakawa-ke ga Mampuku!?" was released on July 10, 2014.


title: Lucky Star (manga)

text: The "Lucky Star" anime, produced by Kyoto Animation, aired between April 8, 2007, and September 16, 2007, containing twenty-four episodes. After the first four episodes, series director Yutaka Yamamoto was fired from his position and was subsequently replaced by Yasuhiro Takemoto. The reason given was that: "Our company has determined that the director of "Lucky Star"—Yutaka Yamamoto—has not reached the standard of director yet, therefore we have changed the director."


title: Lucky Star (manga)

text: Near the end of every episode, there is an additional segment called co-hosted by Akira Kogami and her assistant Minoru Shiraishi. The humor of this segment takes on a decidedly darker, mean-spirited, more cynical and mature tone than the main show, disguised as an infomercial that skims over characters who appear in the anime, but mainly deals with the progressively abusive and violent work-relationship between Akira and Minoru. Akira is a typical "cute excitable girl" character while going through her script, but instantly changes to a bored, perpetually annoyed character the moment her segment is officially done and sometimes before then too. The anime also features small cameos of voice actors besides Shiraishi that also have worked with Kyoto Animation which include Yuko Goto, Minori Chihara, Tomokazu Sugita, Daisuke Ono, and Aya Hirano, all of whom voice themselves.


title: Lucky Star (manga)

text: Kadokawa Pictures USA and Bandai Entertainment announced that they licensed the "Lucky Star" anime with a teaser trailer as a special feature on the volume 4 DVD of "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya". The first four English DVD volumes were released by Bandai Entertainment in 2008 on May 6, July 1, September 2, and November 18. The fifth and sixth volumes were released in 2009 on January 6 and March 17. However, the sixth volume's limited edition release has been canceled due to low sales of the other volumes' limited editions. Bandai released a six-disc DVD box set on April 6, 2010 as a complete collection under their "Anime Legends" line. As much as possible, the English cast was paired with the same characters as those of the Japanese voice actors from past shows, in order to translate the anime references clearly. For example, Wendee Lee voiced the lead roles for both "Haruhi Suzumiya" and "Lucky Star", in reference to their original voice actor, Aya Hirano. At AmeCon 2010, European anime distributor Beez Entertainment announced that they have the distributions rights to both TV series and OVA, and will be released in two half season sets. Following the 2012 closure of Bandai Entertainment, Funimation Entertainment (now known as Crunchyroll) announced at Otakon 2014 that they have licensed the anime television series, which they released on Blu-ray and DVD on July 12, 2016.


title: Lucky Star (manga)

text: A pre-announcement was made in Kadokawa Shoten's "Comptiq" magazine that an original video animation project would be produced for "Lucky Star". The June 2008 issue of "Comptiq" reported that the OVA was due out in summer 2008. However, it was delayed and instead was released on September 26, 2008. The OVA features six separate stories revolving around the cast, some of which border on the bizarre; one of which is an MMORPG environment being played by Konata, Kagami, Tsukasa, and Nanako Kuroi, and another in which Kagami has a 'suggestive' dream about Konata. The Lucky Channel segment is performed in live-action rather than being animated. The ending theme to the OVA, , is sung by Uchōten, which is composed of the singers Hiromi Konno and Minoru Shiraishi. The song was originally the opening theme to "Fist of the North Star". The North American release of the OVA was later licensed by Bandai Entertainment, and was released in a subbed-only DVD on August 4, 2009. As with the TV series, the OVA has also been re-licensed to Funimation.


title: Lucky Star (manga)

text: An anime adaptation of "Miyakawa-ke no Kūfuku", produced by Ordet and Encourage Films, streamed on Ustream from April 29 to July 1, 2013. The opening theme is "Kachigumi" by Konata Izumi (Hirano) and Kagami Hiiragi (Emiri Katō), and the ending theme is "Makegumi" by Hinata and Hikage Miyakawa (Maina Shimagata and Koto Kawasaki). by Hiromi Konno was used as an insert song in episode one.


title: Lucky Star (manga)

text: There have been five light novels based on the series published by Kadokawa Shoten under their "Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko" label. The three novels are written by Tōka Takei and feature illustrations by "Lucky Star"s original author Kagami Yoshimizu. The first light novel, , was published on September 1, 2007. The second light novel, , was published on March 1, 2008, and the third, , was published on October 1, 2008. The fourth light novel is written by Touko Machida and feature illustrations by Yukiko Horiguchi, , was published on April 1, 2009. The fifth light novel is written by Heisei Izu and Kei Tanaka, and feature illustrations by Kagami Yoshimizu, , was published on February 1, 2012. A spin-off light novel, based on the "Miyakawa-ke no Kūfuku" anime, is written by Touko Machida and features illustrations by Harapeko and Tsubomi Hanabana; it was published on February 1, 2014. An original novel written by Osamu Kudō was also offered as a pre-order bonus for "Shin Lucky Star Moe Drill: Tabidachi: DX Pack".


title: Lucky Star (manga)

text: In 2010, a theoretical chemistry book was published by Chukei Publishing titled , written by Takashi Matsubara and feature illustrations by Kagami Yoshimizu. In 2013, an organic chemistry book was published by Chukei Publishing titled , written by Takashi Matsubara and feature illustrations by Kagami Yoshimizu, with characters such as Konata, Tsukasa and other girls. In 2013, an inorganic chemistry book was published by Kadokawa Chukei Publishing titled ; it was written by Masashi Inutsuka and features illustrations by Kagami Yoshimizu and Sayoi.


title: Lucky Star (manga)

text: A video game, titled , was released on December 1, 2005 on the Nintendo DS. A limited edition game with many extras was sold called the "DX Pack" along with the regular version. A sequel, with the title of was released on May 24, 2007. The first game tests the player on various subjects and memorizations. The player's main objective is beating other characters in quizzes. There is also a "Drama Mode" where the game plays a mini-adventure game as the player makes their way to Akihabara, with math quizzes and mini games (about five in all). In an August 2007 survey by "Dengeki G's Magazine", "Shin Lucky Star Moe Drill: Tabidachi" was voted the 17th most interesting bishōjo game by readers, tying with "".


title: Lucky Star (manga)

text: There are two different types of one-person games: "Hitasura Drill" and "Drama Mode". The player can also link the game with another person. When this occurs, the player can use the character that is built up in Drama Mode as a selectable character. Additionally, if the player wants to use a special battle skill against his or her opponent while in link mode, the player must shout out the name of the skill into the microphone. In Drama Mode, the player partners with one of the characters, and tries to increase her parameters and have her learn new battle skills. There are five different types of "drills". One of the quizzes called "Ondoku" requires the player to shout out the answer into the microphone. Several mascot characters of large anime and dōjin shops (like Broccoli's Di Gi Charat, Animate's Anime Tencho and Toranoana's Miko) make cameo appearances.


title: Lucky Star (manga)

text: Kadokawa Shoten produced a visual novel game for the PlayStation 2 entitled which was released in Japan on January 24, 2008. A portable version was released on December 23, 2010 for the PlayStation Portable (PSP). Kadokawa Shoten also produced an SLG game for the PSP titled , released in Japan on December 24, 2009.


title: Lucky Star (manga)

text: The "Lucky Star" drama CD, aptly entitled "Drama CD Lucky Star", was released on August 24, 2005 by Frontier Works. The video game soundtrack entitled "Lucky Star vocal mini album" was released on December 22, 2005. The anime opening theme single "Motteke! Sailor Fuku" was released on May 23, 2007. An album containing the first twelve ending themes entitled "Lucky Star Ending Theme Collection" was released on July 11, 2007 by Lantis. A maxi single with the name containing two songs sung by Hiromi Konno as Akira Kogami, and Minoru Shiraishi as himself in the anime version was released on July 25, 2007. A remix single of "Motteke! Sailor Fuku" was released on August 8, 2007 by Lantis. Two more albums were released on August 29, 2007: "Misoji Misaki" by Hiromi Konno as Akira Kogami, and "Cosplay It! Oh My Honey", by Aya Hirano as Konata, and Nozomi Sasaki as Patricia. An album called "Shiraishi Minoru no Otoko no Rarabai" contains the ending themes sung by Minoru Shiraishi from episode thirteen onwards and was released on October 10, 2007.


title: Lucky Star (manga)

text: Four character song CDs were released on September 5, 2007 sung by the voice actresses Aya Hirano as Konata, Emiri Katō as Kagami, Kaori Fukuhara as Tsukasa, and Aya Endo as Miyuki. Four more character CDs followed on September 26, 2007 sung by the voice actresses Shizuka Hasegawa as Yutaka, Minori Chihara as Minami, Kaori Shimizu as Hiyori, and Nozomi Sasaki as Patricia. Another two character CDs followed on October 24, 2007: one as a duet between the voice actresses Kaoru Mizuhara as Misao Kusakabe, and Mai Aizawa as Ayano Minegishi, and the other as a trio between Aya Hirano, Shizuka Hasegawa, and Minori Chihara as Konata, Yutaka, and Minami respectively. Another two character CDs, both duets, followed on November 21, 2007: the first between Hirokazu Hiramatsu as Sōjirō Izumi, and Sumi Shimamoto as Kanata Izumi, and the other with Saori Nishihara as Yui Narumi, and Konomi Maeda as Nanako Kuroi. A thirteenth character CD, again sung by Kaoru Mizuhara as Misao Kusakabe, was released on March 26, 2008.


title: Lucky Star (manga)

text: An album entitled "Lucky Star BGM & Radio Bangumi "Lucky Channel" no Digest o Shūroku Shita Special CD 1" was released with the first anime DVD on June 22, 2007. The album contained background music tracks featured in the anime, by "Haruhi Suzumiya" composer Satoru Kōsaki, along with original audio dramas featuring Hiromi Konno as Akira Kogami, and Minoru Shiraishi, as himself. Another similar album with more background music tracks and audio dramas was released with the second anime DVD on July 27. The third volume in this series was released with the third anime DVD on August 24. The fourth volume followed with the fourth DVD on September 28, the fifth volume was released on October 26 while the sixth and seventh volumes were released on November 27 and December 21, 2007 respectively.


title: Lucky Star (manga)

text: A live concert was held on March 29, 2009 at the Budokan called spanning 4 hours, 40 minutes. The concert featured the various cast members from the anime, and was hosted by Hiromi Konno (the voice of Akira Kogami) and Minoru Shiraishi. A DVD of the concert was released on December 25, 2009 and included a 24-page booklet with 2 DVDs.


title: Lucky Star (manga)

text: A musical was held between September 20–30, 2012 at the Tokyo Dome City Attractions "Theatre G-Rosso" called .


title: Lucky Star (manga)

text: Before "Lucky Star" was made into an anime, Kagami Yoshimizu, the author of the original manga, was interviewed by "Newtype USA" in the June 2005 issue where he stated, "I don't really think my production process is anything special." However, he has the opinion that "...my personality is very well suited to doing four-panel comic strips, and I really enjoy creating this one." As if to predict the future, Yoshimizu also was quoted to say, "...but one day, I wouldn't mind seeing these characters moving around on screen." In the same interview, "Newtype USA" reported that the first volume of the manga sold out so quickly that Kadokawa Shoten had to do a rush reprint. As of April 2008, the first five volumes of the "Lucky Star" manga have collectively sold over 1.8 million copies.


title: Lucky Star (manga)

text: "Lucky Star" became an immediate hit in Japan, receiving a broad following in the anime fandom. Explaining this phenomenon, the analyst John Oppliger of AnimeNation, for example, suggested that a major factor in the series' success is its similarity to an earlier work by Kyoto Animation—"The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya" (the show itself makes numerous references to the same series). However, he also admitted that "Lucky Star" is quite different from its "predecessor" and that the second major factor is its "unique" composition that "panders to the tastes of otaku, but does so with good humor and sly wit", thus, making it "the ultimate in fan service", a "witty, self-indulgent, guilty pleasure".


title: Lucky Star (manga)

text: The Special First Edition version of the first DVD volume was released on June 22, 2007 and contained the first two episodes to the anime. The first DVD sold quickly in Japan, and it has been reported that "Amazon Japan has already sold out its entire supply of the DVD." Furthermore, "the majority of the stores [in Akihabara] with special displays for "Lucky Star" have run out." Anime News Network has noted that the anime is "extremely otaku-centric".


title: Lucky Star (manga)

text: The popularity of "Lucky Star" also brought many of its fans to the real life settings of the anime, beginning in April 2007. The August issue of the "Newtype" magazine ran a feature on the various locales which the anime is based on, including Konata's home in Satte, Saitama, Kagami and Tsukasa's home in Washimiya, Saitama, and the school in Kasukabe, Saitama. The magazine also included directions on how to reach these places from the otaku hotspot Akihabara, which resulted in massive "pilgrimages" to these areas.


title: Lucky Star (manga)

text: The most widely reported consequence of this is in the Washinomiya Shrine of Washimiya, where the Hiiragi sisters work as miko in the anime. Various Japanese news media reported that the shrine became a place teeming with photographers trying to replicate scenes from the anime, cosplayers wandering around, and ema prayer plaques ridden with anime drawings and strange prayers like "Konata is my wife". The ema were mentioned in episode 21 of the anime.


title: Lucky Star (manga)

text: The locals were initially divided on the situation, with some suggesting that it is good for the shrine to have so many worshippers, and some being concerned about the town's security. Despite the negative reaction by some of the locals, the Washinomiya Shrine hosted a "Lucky Star" event in December 2007, featuring special guests including the author Kagami Yoshimizu, and the voice actors Hiromi Konno, Emiri Katō, Kaori Fukuhara, and Minoru Shiraishi. The event attracted 3500 fans. Subsequently, the Hiiragi family have been registered as official residents of Washimiya because of the anime's wild popularity. Other fictional characters who share this honor in Saitama are Astro Boy of Niza and "Crayon Shin-chan"'s family of Kasukabe. As of July 30, 2008, sales of "Lucky Star" food and goods brought the town of Washimiya (about ) in income, described by "The Wall Street Journal" as a source of relief to the local economy reeling from Japan's economic slump in the 1990s.


title: World of Warcraft Classic

text: World of Warcraft Classic is a 2019 MMORPG video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment. Running alongside the main version of the game, "Classic" recreates "World of Warcraft" in the state it was in before the release of its first expansion, "". It was announced at BlizzCon 2017 and was released globally August 26, 2019. "The Burning Crusade Classic" and "Wrath of the Lich King Classic" versions of the game were later released to allow players to progress to those expansions.


title: World of Warcraft Classic

text: "Classic" recreates the game in the state it was in after patch 1.12.1, September 2006, before the launch of "The Burning Crusade" expansion. The maximum level of the player characters is set to 60, all expansion content is absent, and almost all the gameplay mechanics of the original version have been exactly replicated. As the game's multiple expansions have dramatically changed the gameplay over time, "Classic" allows players to relive the original experience, albeit some modern interface and functional enhancements introduced in later expansions have been integrated, as well as re-patching of bugs and exploits that were present at the original release of patch 1.12.


title: World of Warcraft Classic

text: Players can choose from the eight original races of "World of Warcraft": humans, dwarves, gnomes, and night elves for the Alliance, and orcs, trolls, tauren, and the Forsaken for the Horde. The original nine classes are present: druid, hunter, mage, paladin, priest, rogue, shaman, warlock and warrior. As in the original version of the game, only Alliance players can become paladins, and only Horde players can become shamans. Races and classes added in the expansions are not available in the game. The game world is restored to its original, pre- state, and expansion areas such as Outland are not accessible.


title: World of Warcraft Classic

text: To emulate the original game's patch release cycle, content in "Classic" was released in phases. This means that game content originally released in patches, such as the Blackwing Lair, Ahn'Qiraj, and Naxxramas raids, battlegrounds like Warsong Gulch and Alterac Valley, and certain items and quests, became available after launch according to a six-phase schedule. Unlike the content patches for the original game, these phases did not modify the core game mechanics such as character abilities in any way; the game balance has been set to the 1.12.1 version of the game since release.


title: World of Warcraft Classic

text: The option of Classic servers has been a long-standing request in the "World of Warcraft" community. Every expansion has removed or replaced old content and introduced controversial or unwanted mechanics, resulting in many players expressing a preference for older versions of the game. For example, the game's first expansion, The Burning Crusade, removed the original level-60 version of Kazzak, and in the process, all of the items that he dropped became forever unobtainable. Burning Crusade also added flying mounts, which were criticized for their effect on world PvP; raised the level cap to 70, which was criticized for making all level 60 content obsolete; and opened the formerly faction-specific Paladin and Shaman classes to both factions. The second expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, removed the original versions of the Naxxramas and Onyxia raids and all items that could be obtained from them; added a Random Dungeon Finder tool, which many players felt spoiled the "social aspect" of the game; and made certain UI improvements that were criticized for reducing the need to read quest descriptions. Blizzard repeatedly refused to create legacy servers so that players could stay on older versions of the game. One of their oldest refusals was posted on February 21, 2008, by Drysc, who stated "We were at one time internally discussing the possibility fairly seriously, but the long term interest in continued play on them couldn't justify the extremely large amount of development and support resources it would take to implement and maintain them. We'd effectively be developing and supporting two different games."


title: World of Warcraft Classic

text: Versions of World of Warcraft that existed prior to the launch of The Burning Crusade were often referred to as "vanilla" by players, but were referred to by Blizzard as "classic" at least as far back as November 29, 2009, when Vaneras wrote "We occasionally see requests for us to open pre-TBC realms, or classic realms if you prefer. Lately there have also been requests for pre-WotLK realms, and I am sure that once the next expansion pack is released there will be requests for pre-Cataclysm realms as well. We have answered these requests quite a few times now saying that we have no plans to open such realms, and this is still the case today. We have no plans to open classic realms or limited expansion content realms".


title: World of Warcraft Classic

text: Demand for Classic and other legacy realms significantly increased when the "" expansion revamped the entire original game world, making the majority of the classic or "old world" content forever inaccessible. Blizzard's response at the time, as provided by Tom Chilton, was "Currently, my answer would be probably not. The reason I say that is because any massively multiplayer game that has pretty much ever existed and has ever done any expansions has always gotten the nostalgia of, 'Oh God, wouldn't it be great if we could have classic servers!' and more than anything else that generally proves to be nostalgia. In most cases - in almost all cases - the way it ends up playing out is that the game wasn't as good back then as people remember it being and then when those servers become available, they go play there for a little bit and quickly remember that it wasn't quite as good as what they remembered in their minds and they don't play there anymore and you set up all these servers and you dedicated all this hardware to it and it really doesn't get much use. So, for me, the historical lesson is that it's not a very good idea to do". When the issue was raised at a Q&A panel at Blizzcon 2013, J Allen Brack famously responded "You think you do, but you don't", a phrase which would become the subject of ridicule years later.


title: World of Warcraft Classic

text: Meanwhile, many private servers were being created by the community. Originally, private servers were mere novelties used for experimenting with alterations to the game rules, such as raising the level cap to 255. These early servers rarely had properly scripted raids, quests, or anything else. However, as expansions progressed and demand for legacy realms grew, private servers reversed focus and were seen as a way to faithfully re-create older versions of the game. Private servers emphasizing fidelity to the official versions of the game were referred to as "Blizzlike" and included Feenix, Molten Core, Emerald Dream, Nostalrius, and Light's Hope. The most popular was Nostalrius, which opened in February 2015 and had 800,000 registered accounts and 150,000 active players when it shut down in response to a cease and desist letter on April 10, 2016. In the wake of Nostalrius's shutdown, a Change.org petition for official Classic servers was created and received over 200,000 signatures, and ex-World of Warcraft team lead Mark Kern personally delivered it to Blizzard's president at the time, Michael Morhaime. Blizzard acknowledged the community's desires, and stated they had been discussing legacy servers internally for years but technical problems prevented them from implementing them. Consequently, the Nostalrius team released their source code to Valkyrie-WoW, another long-standing private Vanilla WoW server, hosted in Russia, and the Nostalrius servers returned on December 17, 2016, under the name of Elysium Project, with the player database as it had been just before the shutdown in April.


title: World of Warcraft Classic

text: On November 3, 2017, at BlizzCon 2017, the then-Executive Producer of "World of Warcraft", J. Allen Brack, announced "Classic" on stage during the WoW panel. Details of the project were further revealed in interviews: it was going to be a faithful recreation of the original version of the game, but running on the modern infrastructure. A developer blog post published on June 15, 2018, further detailed the technical implementation, and a panel was held during BlizzCon 2018 that explained the development process behind the game. To create "Classic", Blizzard ported the original 1.12.1 game data and assets to their modern server and client infrastructure. This allows "Classic" to share much of the source code between the modern version of the game, which removes the development overhead of maintaining two different versions of the game, and also means that "Classic" will have all the performance and security improvements added to the original game server and client that were absent in the 2006 version.


title: World of Warcraft Classic

text: In March 2020 Blizzard sent out a survey to "Classic" players gauging their interest in a "Classic Burning Crusade" game. After positive reactions it was verified in February 2021 and in the last week of May it became available for download leading up to its release on June 1.


title: World of Warcraft Classic

text: In April 2022, Blizzard announced "Wrath of the Lich King Classic", scheduled for release later in the year. On July 25, Blizzard released a trailer with the confirmed release date of September 26.


title: World of Warcraft Classic

text: "PC Gamer" scored "Classic" an 80 out of 100 and wrote, "WoW Classic is more than just a new version of an iconic game, it feels like a window to a time where interacting with people online still felt novel and exciting." "Polygon" praised the difficulty of "Classic" and its overall design to nurture "social connections" in comparison to its modern counterpart, calling it a "faithful snapshot of a moment in time".


title: World of Warcraft Classic

text: Since launch, Blizzard has faced some criticism from players for their use of layering technology for the "Classic" servers. In addition to splitting the communities within each unique realm, players were found to be using the "layers" to exploit the in-game economy. However, as of October 10, 2019, most realms are down to a single layer, with only the highest population servers still utilizing additional layers.


title: World of Warcraft Classic

text: The game won the award for "PC Game of the Year" at the 2019 Golden Joystick Awards, and was nominated for "Game, Classic Revival" at the NAVGTR Awards.


title: Absorbing Man

text: Absorbing Man (Carl "Crusher" Creel) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He first appeared in "Journey into Mystery" #114, cover dated March 1965, created by writer Stan Lee and writer/artist Jack Kirby, and has over the years played a part on several Marvel Comics crossovers such as the original "Secret Wars" and "Fear Itself". Though depicted for many years as a supervillain, Creel has also been portrayed as an anti-hero, siding with characters such as Black Bolt and Alpha Flight.


title: Absorbing Man

text: Creel was given the power to take the form of any material that he touched, "absorbing" the property of the material itself. Over the years the power has worked both for and against him. The Absorbing Man was given his powers by the Asgardian god Loki in a plot to defeat Loki's brother Thor. During the "Secret Wars" storyline Creel became romantically involved with the supervillain Titania and the two were linked for decades afterward. During the "Fear Itself" storyline, Creel comes into possession of a divine Asgardian hammer, granting him amplified powers and turning him into Greithoth: Breaker of Wills.